Life Is Good

• Sandy Springs (where I live) and Atlanta (where I work) are beautiful in the month of September. Every day is a good 10 degrees cooler than it is back in Louisiana, and clouds are a rarity rather than an omnipresent expectation. For the first month and a half here, at least, it seems like a beautiful place to live.
• The Saints defeated the Vikings in regulation, owning 3 quarters of play and limiting Brett Favre to mediocre statistics. And then the Colts lost....
• At last, my Pandora station is customized sufficiently so that it no longer plays Nickelback.
• I have finally found the opportunity to award my first nickname to a deserving party at Georgia Tech. There is a young lady in one of my classes who, although I've never met in person, is undoubtedly deserving of her new nickname. This is because she has demonstrated in class a remarkable capacity for asking questions related to a complete and utter misinterpretation of simple concepts. For instance, after a teacher says, "Two plus two equals four," she might be expected to reply, "Why do you say that two plus two equals fish?" Thus, her nickname is Fish. I'd be more patient with Fish, I promise, if she wasn't always ignoring the professor and talking to one of her friends.
• I just discovered Plumb. Brilliant music. Go check it out.
• I'm getting a new laptop from Georgia Tech! It's an uber-powerful netbook (honestly, I didn't know they even made netbooks this powerful, but I guess with the iPad and all, they had to do something to compete...), just perfect for loading up with MAME and playing some Frogger and Simpsons Arcade. Anybody remember that game? It was a big arcade cabinet in the early nineties, and the first arcade game in world history where you could play as a woman with a towering blue updo, whacking nefarious never-do-wells with your trusty vacuum cleaner. How can you not love that?
• Kenny Chesney is not currently represented in the Billboard Top 10 for Country... wait... damn. Never mind.
• I have noticed that my cohort (which is, apparently, a fancy word for "the people in graduate school who started at the same time you did and are also majoring in the same subject) seems quite a bit closer than other cohorts. My two partners, Elliott and Kerry, are admirable, generous, and brilliant. It's an honor to be a part of such a high-quality team, and I'm learning a lot from them... a big difference from my last corporate position, where my manager... no, shut up, Jim. Be nice.
• I've unpacked all of my books. I experience an odd feeling of joy every time I look at the living room bookshelves. Not entirely sure why, but I enjoy it. The Orphans of Chaos trilogy, in particular, makes my leg tingle.
• I live within a block of Panda Express!
• Some people were nice enough to link up their favorite Nevertown posts on Facebook, which got the blog a nice bump in traffic. Thanks!
• I have learned an amazing and intimidating amount within the last few weeks, about both organizations and science in general. It's fascinating stuff (that psychology post is coming up next, I promise!), and it really spotlights both how little I've known, how little I know, and how much I can learn, if I pay attention. It's amazing how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to organizational psychology in general and leadership studies in specific. I recently came up with my first theoretical model explaining some unexplained aspects of leadership... which will undoubtedly be ripped to shreds and revealed as naive or simply wrong by my professors, who are the experts. But that's okay. It's fun to think about it.
• I got a brand new green t-shirt.
• Justin's coming to visit! It's been far too long since I've learned about recent developments in gay culture in California, and had anyone hit on me. Well, except Clayton, I guess. But he says he was just joking. And I believe him. I think.
• I've discovered Netflix! While I'm still disappointed that it's the twenty-first century and I don't have a flying car or a hoverboard, this, at least, is sufficiently futuristic to distract me. I just turn on the PS3, and I can watch... anything I want!
• I haven't given a speech or led a seminar in a little over a month now, which may be the longest I've gone without in my adult life. I'm happy to be able to just sit, listen, and learn for a change. Although I've gotta admit, it does feel kind of weird... Hey, I haven't sold any copies of Business Defined in about a month either! Anybody? Anybody?
• The Louisiana FFA Alumni, which I stepped down from last June after five years as an officer (and the last year and a half as the president) is doing swimmingly... raising a ton of money, staying in the black, and creating new programs that have major positive impacts on the lives of Louisiana's youth. This organization is literally creating opportunity and changing lives for high school students. I'm proud of the small part I played in helping the Louisiana Alumni get to that point, and overjoyed that it's making such a difference. The new president, Corey Broussard, should be very proud.
• I recently sent in a ThinkGeek order with some leftover Paypal money... I'm getting an eighties-style metal Empire Strikes Back lunchbox! And I also ordered babies' first Halloween costumes....
• Speaking of which, the boys (we still don't have names) are growing well in their warm and undoubtedly increasingly cramped quarters within the confines of my lovely wife's belly. One's at five pounds, and one's just a bit lighter, with just a few weeks to go! (you can probably expect to see an obnoxious number of pictures in this space starting next month, and ending in about twelve years when they stop being cute.) They're healthy, growing, and, according to the ultrasound tech, relatively tall. Although my wife and I are both of above average height, I'm taking this as circumstantial evidence that the kids will inherit the standard Lemoine male physique - tall, slender, and generally fit. Hopefully they'll also inherit a bit of rhythm, a penchant for cheeseburgers, and that general je ne sais quoi around the ladies that has always caused them to look in my direction... and say with great emotion... "Uggh." Well, at least that would make their teenage years easier on me and Debby.