Greg's Blog

Nice Weather

With the 80 degree weather finally returning to Spartanburg, it is time to get out the basketball, volleyball, football, and soccer ball and start utilizing Sherman's athletic facilities. Currently, Sherman students have been playing soccer on Thursdays and Tuesdays around 6 at Sherman. I think this might be changing though to 5 at USC Upstate on Saturdays.
I have been playing basketball a lot lately and have noticed that the world has gone mad. My friend Jake bought this brand new Spalding basketball that is basically as close as you can get to an official NBA ball. He brings the ball to every pickup game we play. lt has an unbelievable grip because it has not been worn down by time and Jake takes care of it pretty well. The strange thing is that whenever we begin to start a game, everyone finds the oldest, slickest, most beat up ball to play with. Yesterday I practically forced everyone to play with Jake's ball despite the protests of the group. They felt it was too small for some reason and were looking at it like it was some kind of alien device. This happens every time I force people to play with the new ball, and five minutes later everyone starts hitting every one of their jump shots because of the outstanding grip on the release. Yes, Will Ferrell, I do feel like I am taking crazy pills.

Somebody should organize some weekly volleyball games. It seems like everyone always wants to play but nobody wants to organize a game.

On a side note, I have been getting hassled a lot for drinking 1% milk by both sides (the 2% and the skim milkers). I can never win because each side feels that the other milk is gross and since I am apparently the only 1% guy in the world, I have no common ground with either. So for you readers, if you see a 1%er downing a glass of delicious milk, give him a thumbs up and not a disparaging remark.

NBA PLAYOFFS ARE HERE!

      For those of you who are unaware, the NBA playoffs have begun! Although we are only 4 days into the playoffs we have already had an unbelievable Phoenix-Spurs double overtime thriller, a Philadelphia win over heavily favored Detroit, and memorable games from Chris Paul, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan.

      In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers have been blowing the doors off their opponents. All three teams should be shoe-ins to make it to the next round. Although the Detroit Pistons lost their first playoff game, they should be able to bounce back and win a tough series against the Sixers.

      In the Western Conference, the L.A. Lakers have shown why they were able to get the top seed by outscoring a talented Denver Nugget team. We will more than likely be seeing them match up against the Utah Jazz (2-0 against Houston so far) in the second round. San Antonio managed to sneak out a double OT victory against the Suns, but I think this is going to be the year that Phoenix finally gets their number. I see Phoenix advancing in 7 to play New Orleans.

As far as the Finals are concerned, I have to remain in the front seat of my "homer" bus and pencil the Celtics in the Eastern slot. The West is more difficult because of the talent level of the teams. I like the Lakers, Suns and Jazz, but I am familiar with the NBA's need for a Boston-LA finals so I imagine the Lakers will be getting every close call imaginable.

Pau agrees with the picks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSaR38uAiBI Here is LeBron's ridiculous game 1 dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD6yHYo58qo Some C's playoff action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWlGXya4124&feature=related The best game of the playoffs so far

New Spartanburg Restaurants

I decided to write about some of Spartanburg's new restaurants. In the last year or so we were lucky enough to have a Copper River Grill put up about 5 miles from Sherman College. They offer a similar menu to that of Outback or Chile's but the food is significantly better. They make their own croissants as well which are outstanding.

Another place that has just appeared is Heart's restaurant, located on the same street as Copper River Grill. They have a similar menu to that of the Clock,specializing in "southern" food.

Ron's Barbecue is another southern style restaurant that has opened within the past year. They specialize in pulled pork and their spicy mater barbecue sauce is phenomenal. Their prices are a couple of dollars too expensive, but if you get a sandwich instead of a dinner plate you can get a good deal.

Mini Golfing in Greenville

On Friday I waited patiently for patients to walk into the health center for 6 hours but had no luck. To cheer myself up I went to Frankie's Fun Park in Greenville with my girlfriend Jaclyn and my friend Phong. Located about half an hour from Sherman College, this is one of the more entertaining places to go in the Upstate area.
When we got to the park, we quickly found out that it was packed. There were about 20 people waiting in line for miniature golf alone. Delighted that there was a black ball I could choose from, I ended up playing some of my best mini golf and won the first game we played. We decided not to play the 18th hole so that we could pick up our ball and go back to the beginning hole and play again (the 18th hole sucks in your ball unlike the regular holes).
Frankie's Fun Park has 3 mini golf courses so we went to a different course, where Jaclyn managed to win a hard fought contest (despite my record 5 hole in ones). Phong continues to improve his game. Below are some of the pictures and videos I took of our time. Please enjoy.

Back In Business

I have taken a little time off from blogging because school was getting a little stressful and I lost a little motivation to write. Since March, I have taken the National Boards and finished my 10th quarter at Sherman College. The boards were pretty terrible. I had never even heard of some of the things they were talking about, so I hope I can get a passing grade.
I realized that I really enjoy working in the Health Center instead of sitting in classes all day. The hardest part of Clinic is finding patients to come in and get under care. Since we are required to be in the Health Center 240 hours this quarter, it doesn't leave a lot of time to get your business cards out around town. Hopefully I can continue finding patients to work with through our school's "walk in" list. I think a lot of people don't realize that their first visit is free so they don't want to take the time to find out what chiropractic is all about.
Currently our school is under a lot of construction. Things should be all cleaned up by next month, and should look fantastic.