Once again, the business and busy-ness of Team Redd has prevented any sort of frequent blogging. Here's a brief glimpse:

* I attended my first Catholic funeral, for Allison's grandmother. I was deeply impressed and encouraged by the hope of resurrection that permeated the service. The liturgy did not contemplate the fact that Mrs. Lee is in some ethereal better place; it turned our hope and faith to the Scriptural proclamation that those baptized into Christ will ultimately be resurrected as He was.

* We stayed with my family the night before the funeral. We discovered that no alarm clock can substitute for Zoe, the new family dog, who enjoys licking faces and chewing on ears (even at 5 AM).

* Tech played an uneven game on Saturday, but ended up beating NC State 24-14.

* Allison continues to prove her graduate student mettle with one outstanding grade after another. She's also getting to flex her creativity, as evidenced by the spoooooky (well, not really) witch hat and dry ice used in her group presentation on Macbeth. (I also get to embarrass her by bragging about her grades.)

* My parents got me a copy of the Star Wars boxed set for my birthday. Allison got me the first season of Arrested Development, which finally started its second season on Sunday.

* Although we missed the Tim LaHaye prophecy conference, we got to attend something just as funny. Actually, much funnier. The Reduced Shakespeare Company rolled through Madison, GA, and we were present to see their performance of "All the Great Books (Abridged)." It was my third time seeing RSC (Allison's fourth), and our second time seeing "All the Great Books." These guys are brilliant and hilarious. For those unfamiliar with the RSC, their deal is that they compress all the works of Shakespeare, Western Lit, etc into a zany two-hour romp. The three-man cast rotates over time, but this weekend, we were fortunate enough to see a performance starring both the script-writers. The show appeals to an interesting demographic, because it really helps to have familiarity with the works they cover, because there are a ton of subtle references. But one also has to be well-versed in pop culture to get many of the other references. For example, a rollicking survey of War and Peace discusses Napoleon's defeat while Abba's "Waterloo" is briefly played over the PA. And who can forget the synopsis of Little Women, as detailed on white board by the P.E. Coach (a la half-time locker room strategizing). The cast are also good at improvising, as they were humorously sidetracked by some tangents from the audience, especially concerning the Election Day fallout. (Although, I am intrigued yet somewhat frightened to know what their survey of the Bible is like ...)

* And our search for a replacement Allison-mobile continues.

Perhaps this week will be more blog-friendly.