Christmas Day 5 - Christmas Eve in Nashville

Christmas Eve morning, we woke up and went to the gym with Rachel's mom - More on that in "Reflections". That afternoon, Mrs. Hargis gave Rachel's dad his BIG present for Christmas - an XBOX 360. She gave it to him while I was there so I could help him hook it up on his big screen TV downstairs (Rachel also has a bunch of male cousins who were coming over for Christmas eve, so I think she wanted to contain them in the basement as much as possible).

In a single day, I learned that my father-in-law is more "hip" than me (I don't have an XBOX 360, and this was before my Wii), and that my mother-in-law can kick my butt in a gym (again, more on that in "Reflections").

It was Rachel's family's turn to host the rest of the Hargis's for Christmas Eve. Dr. Hargis's sister, Ginger (2nd from right), her husband Ricky and two sons Neil and Patrick, as well as Dr. Hargis's other sister Judy (far right) and her two sons Daniel and Jonathan came over for dinner and to play Dirty Santa. To clarify for pervs like Hennessy, that is where everyone draws numbers. The 1st person blindly selects a gift. The 2nd person can steal that gift or pick an unknown gift from the pile. You proceed until the last person has selected a gift. Most of the gifts are gags, but also include something of value. I got a $15 I-Tunes card and $5 cash (gifts are to be $20).

It was a good time. Rachel's cousins (clockwise from upper left - Patrick, Jonathan, Neil and Daniel) provide good entertainment. Patrick and Neil are musically talented and Daniel is a complete cornball. The four of them should go on the road with a comedy variety routine. After they left, we went to bed in anticipation of Christmas morning.



Reflections - The QUAD MILL
A picture does not do this diabolical machine justice. The Quad Mill is a new and innovative piece of work-out equipment. The U.S. Olympic Ski Team, the NY Giants and now the Tennessee Titans are using these machines for training world class athletes. The mill has front and back platforms that oscillate up and down. You stand on one or both platforms, depending on the exercise, and attempt to keep your eyes level with the horizon for 60 seconds, by doing repeated squat thrusts. The catch is that since this thing oscillates, the actual pressure of these thrusts is magnified many times over. If you are a Titan, you may last 5 minutes. The gym record was set by an Iron Man Triathlete, who managed 10 minutes on the device.

Proudly, Rachel and I both managed 5 sets on the Quad Mill, and were able to walk the next day. My mother-in-law, whose age shall not be revealed here, did 10 minutes. I would be humiliated, but she can also out-swim, out-run and out-bike me, so I had reasonable expectations.

Some little known facts about the Quad Mill:

1) Lance Armstrong used the Quad Mill to win his 15th Tour de France in a row.
2) St. Tebow uses the Quad Mill to help him walk on water.
3) Henry the VIII was said to favor the 'Torture Rack' because he considered it too inhumane to put people on the Quad Mill.
4) The Quad Mill once defeated Chuck Norris.
5) Count Dracula would have been known as Vlad the "Quad Miller" instead of Vlad the "Impaler" if the Quad Mill had been around.