If you're a hiker, don't fear the bears.
We had 6 bear sightings last week in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on 2 hikes. Five were from the hike up the Appalachian Trail from Fontana Dam to Shuckstack.
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Fontana was as beautiful as ever.
Boating to Great Falls at Rock Island State Park and a wilderness hike up Pine Creek
Flowers are looking nice by the pool here at Bill's TN Paradise.
It's one of those secret places. A place that's shady, cool, beautiful.... an undeveloped wilderness where I have never seen another person in the several times I've hike here.
BJ Golden wins First Prize in the collegiate division of the Classical Minds Guitar Competition in Houston on July 2, '09. The Classical Minds Competition is part of the Texas Music Festival at the University of Houston.
Fontana Lake was beautiful as always. The best way to visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
MTSU Music Faculty Tornado Victims Benefit Concert
Erol Ozsever wins First Prize at the Rosario Guitar Competition in Columbia, South Carolina.
Storm Chasing in Murfreesboro
(Updated) MTSU Guitar Grad Silviu Ciulei has been selected as one of 5 finalists in the Parkening International Guitar Competition at Pepperdine University on May 28, through Saturday, May 30, 2009.
Maybe I'll run a few 5k races. I really hate this training but part of me loves it, I must have a masochist streak in me.
Yes, this is what I do.
Here at Bill's TN Paradise, I can't be happy just building an ordinary snowman...
Valentines Day event
I saw him again... that cat.
The mint condition 2001 Kawasaki Super Sherpa.
UPDATE: I will be running in masters sprint races this season.
My 1989 Honda Civic recently turned 200,000 miles. 
Finally, I'm getting some time to put up pictures from my August trip to Fontana Lake, NC. 
When I started the hike along the rock faced Shawangunk Ridge, I never imagined what I would see on the other side. A mountain lake, a mountain top castle, a lake side hotel so grand it looked like a Bavarian Castle. For a moment, I [...] 
There has never been a sprinter in history that has dominated the Olympic games like Usain "Lightning" Bolt. Bolt not only broke the 200m world record... but it was Michael Johnson's record (19.32) - the record that was set in 1996 by a miraculous 0.34 seconds, [...] 
Acrylamide forms naturally when starchy foods are baked or fried. Studies have shown the chemical, which also has industrial uses, causes cancer in lab animals and nerve damage to workers who are exposed to high levels.LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — The ban on Iraq competing at the Beijing Olympics next month has been lifted, the International Olympic Committee announced here on Tuesday.
Iraq's compact Olympic contingent was cleared to take part in the 2008 Games after agreement was reached between [...]
Awesome weather tonight, clear enough to see the top of the BellSouth tower in Nashville with binoculars from my favorite sky viewing spot in Murfreesboro.
I've never had a cool phone. I've had the same ATT (formerly Cingular) cell phone and plan for several yrs.... up until this week.
Super Sherpa gets a new shield.
The mountain summit weather reporting station at Mt. Leconte in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park has been showing some really cool temperatures this late spring and summer. 
I found a way to take both my motorcycle and my boat. With a front hitch receiver fitted with auxiliary driving lights I can carry my bike in front and tow my boat behind.
I found this very pretty spider outside on my windowsill. She was guarding an egg sack and her web. So I collected her to take some photos and play with her a while. Such a pretty spider!
What a gorgeous day up on the Cumberland plateau, cool and clear. After visiting some friends in Sewanee, I took off toward Monteagle and Coalmont where I entered the wilderness on Palmer Firetower Road on the Grundy/Marion county line off Rt. 108. The next 15 [...]
I hadn't seen Manuel in 4 or 5 years, since he played the Aranjuez Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony.
Up on Murfreesboro's "altiplano" - (otherwise known as secret place #1) I watched the sunset and the day turn to night.
I really have no interest in attending the Bonnaroo Music Festival - not really into big crowds - but I wanted to see if I could find the "back way in" because directions seemed deliberately vague and I've heard a lot of stories of mass [...] 
Dr. Elrod was recommended to me as the premiere knee guy when I ripped my acl skiing in '91. After 17 years, I saw him again yesterday.
The Aptera - yet another entry in the new breed of ultra fuel efficient cars. 
The Flat Rock Cedar Glade and Barrens State Natural Area is just down the road from Bill's TN Paradise. It offers some nice hiking amid some splashes of rare and delicate wild flowers.
UPDATE:
Paella, wine, music, and everyone in the pool. It was great.
I love teaching Music Appreciation in summer session. On the first day of class, I come in early and sit in the class, posing as a student. I chat with the members of the class, ask them why they're taking it, what their major is, and, [...] 
The next generation of fuel efficient cars is coming
After watching my training shoes sit idly by the door for 3 weeks, I returned to running this week ... in small measure.
My cat Emma recently celebrated her 10th birthday. 
The wolf spider is very common spider around TN. Bill learned first hand today that they give a painful bite.
With about three dozen potted tropical and annual plants outside here at Bill's TN Paradise, I'm not really happy about the frost advisory tonight (4/29/08) for Middle Tennessee.
The Collins Gulf Trail on Monday, April 21, 2008.
It's not officially summer yet, but for me it is! The regular academic year ends this week at MTSU and my pool is open and heated... so that means summer vacation here at Bill's TN Paradise!
So, this weekend might be my last 5K race... the last for a while. Whatever ... it would be good to end with another PR.
Saturday, I performed at the Seventh Annual Radford International Guitar Festival at Radford University in VA.
Pyne's Ground Plum
No complaints. It was definitely worth cleaning the dog shit off my Adidas.
The final party was pasta and wine. 
It's that time again where I work my tail off to host a great concert series of guitarists, the biggest festival of it's kind in the state.
He talks about workout types in terms like: cp/power, anaerobic capacity, aerobic capacity, anaerobic threshold, lactate threshold, aerobic, etc... Joe Page is an experienced endurance athlete, cyclist, skater, etc... like me, into fitness, health, diet and athletic performance... but far more consistently over the years than [...] 
