Thanksgiving is tomorrow and outside of watching football games, the best thing about the day is the food. I guess if you add in spending time with friends and family that's good too. Thanksgiving dinner growing up was an absolute event. Primarily because I got to sit with all of the grown up guys and watch football and then eat WAY more food than what could fit in my little belly only to fall asleep shortly after. The scene after dinner in front of the TV after dinner was always classic. Just picture 10 men, maybe a couple of women, all asleep within 30 minutes of the last bite of pumpkin pie. Tryptophan is a wonderful thing.
6. Turkey: I love turkey but there is no way that I could put this higher on the list. If cooked too long, you have to drink a gallon of water just to wash it down. But if cooked right, mmmmmmmmmm. And the sleep that follows it is always well received.
5. Mashed potatoes and gravy: The best mashed potatoes is the kind with chunks of potato still in it. Oh, and with the skin also. And my family made the best gravy. I'm not sure who was in charge of the gravy but I miss it now that I'm not there. Great stuff.
4. Rolls: Sure there are starchy and full fatty butter, but I could not get enough of the rolls. And it had to be the right kind of rolls. Only the brown and serve rolls will do. I was sent this year to buy the provisions for the meal and while looking through all of the different kinds of rolls the store had to offer, the brown and serve kind were the only ones I saw.
3. Stuffing: I could absolutely eat my weight in stuffing. It's only too bad it's inappropriate to carry 3 plates through the buffet line at dinner because I would so fill one of those plates with stuffing. And when you top it off with just a little bit of gravy, mmmmmmmm mmmmmm yum!
2. Pumpkin Pie: For the first 10 years of my life, I was sure that there was only 1 kind of pie and my family made it only for me. It was generally understood that one of the many pumpkin pies brought to dinner was mine. Only mine. As long as you keep you grubby little fingers away from it, everything will be OK.
1. Noodles: Words cannot properly describe my love affair with my family's noodles. Not every family makes noodles for Thanksgiving dinner and not every outsider that comes to our dinner appreciates our noodles. But for those within the family, a Thanksgiving diner would not be complete without the noodles. It only makes an appearance on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm sure that it might lose some of it's luster if it came out more often but thank the good Lord it doesn't. And now that I am away from my family, I don't get the noodles as often as I would like. I tried to get my wife to make it but she simply doesn't understand the love affair my family has with them. So for anyone in my family that might read this, grab about 4 lbs of noodles at dinner, freeze them, and mail them to me. If you love me, you will respect my wish (I don't really expect you to send it, although it would be awfully cool).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
My College
At the youthful age of 33, I have decided to go back to college. It's something I decided to do when I was 18 when I graduated from high school also. And again when I was 27 when I left the Navy...and again when I was 30 when I had hopes of being accepted into a very competitive Navy program. No, I was not accepted into this program which explains why I am still trying to find my way. All in all, I have attended 5 different colleges, one of them twice. That is just enough to make a list.
6. University of Kentucky: I attended UK in the fall of 2006 when I was attempting to get accepted into a very competitive program in the Navy that paid you to go to graduate school and upon graduation I would be an officer. I was in the master's program for Healthcare Administration. The program wasn't bad and neither were the classes. But UK is in Lexington, KY. I live in Louisville, KY which is about 80 minutes away. I was also working a 40 hour/week job while commuting to Lexington 4 days/week. The schedule was absolutely brutal. And to top it off, I didn't get accepted into the Navy program. Boooooooooo! These are the reasons why UK is put at the bottom of my list.
5. Scott Community College (1994): I went to the great SCC immediately upon graduating high school. I didn't exactly have good grades in high school so none of the major universities wanted me. So me and all my fellow rejects went to SCC and pretended to study. I guess it worked because I was only there for 1 year. My biggest memory of SCC this year was when I was sitting in my Psychology final and my good buddy Jeff Cunningham dared me to give a primal scream immediately before the test started as a tension breaker. Never one to back down from a dare, I did it. Hilarity ensued and I passed the class. Fun times.
4. Scott Community College (2003): When I was discharged from the Navy in December 2002, my plan was to become a police officer. I was on the selection list for the Moline, IL PD but I had no idea when they were going to hire, if they were at all. My best option was to suck it up and go to college. I began my post-Navy education here. It was funny because after everything I dealt with in the military and now that I had a family, college learning was easy. I got straight A's which for me was unheard of. I was absolutely amazed at how easy it was and pretty pissed off I couldn't do this well my first time in college. Because I took so many credits, I earned both an AA and an AS here. Oooooooooo, I know you're jealous.
3. University of Louisville: This is the school I am currently attending. I am currently in graduate school, again, this time for Exercise Physiology. There are a few reasons for this current venture, the main one being that I wanted to get into aerospace physiology. That may or may not happen but I am finally back in a program that I am comfortable with, and I don't have to drive 80 minutes each way for. It's a little weird being the "old guy" in the program. I am currently 33 and the rest of the students are 23-26. Oh well, I like to refer to it as being well seasoned.
2. Saint Ambrose University: I earned my BA in Fitness and Human Performance here after my second stint at SCC. I learned so much about the fitness field here basically because I was an absolute sponge while attending here. I had my nose in every journal and textbook I could find. My advisor, Heather Medema-Johnson was a wealth of knowledge and helped me a ton. It was a little torturous to see the football team practicing right outside my building and I couldn't be out there with them. Especially when I knew I could have easily gotten on the team. Stinkin' family obligations. Oh well.
1. Iowa State University: Sure most of this year was spent in a drunken stupor and a little blurry. Sure I made some really stupid mistakes here. Sure I quite the football team too soon. Those things being said, I absolutely loved ISU and have held all my subsequent schools to the standard the Cyclones have set. I vividly remember the phone call I received from the football coach asking if I could be at the school in 2 days for mini-camp. I would've been there in 2 hours if he needed. That was the start of my time there. Living in the Theta Delta Chi house was a blast, but I think academically I would have been better in a dorm. The guys I met there are still friends to this day. ISU is in my blood and I will always be a Cyclone. Unfortunately I married a Hawkeye. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
6. University of Kentucky: I attended UK in the fall of 2006 when I was attempting to get accepted into a very competitive program in the Navy that paid you to go to graduate school and upon graduation I would be an officer. I was in the master's program for Healthcare Administration. The program wasn't bad and neither were the classes. But UK is in Lexington, KY. I live in Louisville, KY which is about 80 minutes away. I was also working a 40 hour/week job while commuting to Lexington 4 days/week. The schedule was absolutely brutal. And to top it off, I didn't get accepted into the Navy program. Boooooooooo! These are the reasons why UK is put at the bottom of my list.
5. Scott Community College (1994): I went to the great SCC immediately upon graduating high school. I didn't exactly have good grades in high school so none of the major universities wanted me. So me and all my fellow rejects went to SCC and pretended to study. I guess it worked because I was only there for 1 year. My biggest memory of SCC this year was when I was sitting in my Psychology final and my good buddy Jeff Cunningham dared me to give a primal scream immediately before the test started as a tension breaker. Never one to back down from a dare, I did it. Hilarity ensued and I passed the class. Fun times.
4. Scott Community College (2003): When I was discharged from the Navy in December 2002, my plan was to become a police officer. I was on the selection list for the Moline, IL PD but I had no idea when they were going to hire, if they were at all. My best option was to suck it up and go to college. I began my post-Navy education here. It was funny because after everything I dealt with in the military and now that I had a family, college learning was easy. I got straight A's which for me was unheard of. I was absolutely amazed at how easy it was and pretty pissed off I couldn't do this well my first time in college. Because I took so many credits, I earned both an AA and an AS here. Oooooooooo, I know you're jealous.
3. University of Louisville: This is the school I am currently attending. I am currently in graduate school, again, this time for Exercise Physiology. There are a few reasons for this current venture, the main one being that I wanted to get into aerospace physiology. That may or may not happen but I am finally back in a program that I am comfortable with, and I don't have to drive 80 minutes each way for. It's a little weird being the "old guy" in the program. I am currently 33 and the rest of the students are 23-26. Oh well, I like to refer to it as being well seasoned.
2. Saint Ambrose University: I earned my BA in Fitness and Human Performance here after my second stint at SCC. I learned so much about the fitness field here basically because I was an absolute sponge while attending here. I had my nose in every journal and textbook I could find. My advisor, Heather Medema-Johnson was a wealth of knowledge and helped me a ton. It was a little torturous to see the football team practicing right outside my building and I couldn't be out there with them. Especially when I knew I could have easily gotten on the team. Stinkin' family obligations. Oh well.
1. Iowa State University: Sure most of this year was spent in a drunken stupor and a little blurry. Sure I made some really stupid mistakes here. Sure I quite the football team too soon. Those things being said, I absolutely loved ISU and have held all my subsequent schools to the standard the Cyclones have set. I vividly remember the phone call I received from the football coach asking if I could be at the school in 2 days for mini-camp. I would've been there in 2 hours if he needed. That was the start of my time there. Living in the Theta Delta Chi house was a blast, but I think academically I would have been better in a dorm. The guys I met there are still friends to this day. ISU is in my blood and I will always be a Cyclone. Unfortunately I married a Hawkeye. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Monday, October 12, 2009
My Days
There are 364 days in a year. Of those days, I can think of about 20 through the entire year that I circle on the calendar because I anxiously look forward to them every year. For the sake of space and time, I will narrow those twenty down to six. If I didn't I might have to change the name of this blog.
6. January 1: No, not New Year's Eve. I love New Year's Day. I love this day for 2 reasons. My son, Abe, celebrates his birthday on this day. He was born on January 1, 2002 at about 6:30 in the morning. While in the hospital with my lovely wife and beautiful newborn baby, I had the pleasure of enjoying my other favorite part of January 1, New Year's Bowl Games. Does it make me an insensitive dirtball because I watched football games in my wife's hospital room while she was resting and recovering from childbirth? I hope not. But New Year's Day bowl games are incredible. They used to be even better before the BCS started dragging games out all week long. It watered the day down a little bit but it's still a great day for football...and my son Abe.
5. November 9: This incredible day was the day I was brought into the world. That's right, my birthday. It seems the older I get the less celebration is involved with this day but now that I have kids they seem to enjoy it just as much as me. This particular date is in the middle of two friend's and my wife's birthdays. So now we all have a tradition of planning some type of event to celebrate everyone's birthday at the same time. It's nice and it makes for more memorable birthdays.
4. Halloween: I have already expressed my love for this holiday in a previous post. This year, I get the extreme pleasure of attending a wedding on this day. Of course it is a dress up wedding due to it being on Halloween. My wife and I have decided to go as "Wal-Mart Customers". For the past couple of weeks I have been taking notes at the local White Trash Outlet in order to create the most authentic costume possible. I can't wait to unveil it. Candy, costumes, and scaring the crap out of little kids just make this day even better. Love it, love it, love it.
3. NFL Draft day: The NFL has turned into a year-round sport with the climax of the "off season" being draft day. I absolutely love to see the drunken Jets and Eagles fans screaming at every pick that walks across the stage like they have any idea of how the draftees will wind up performing. For every Payton Manning that walks across that stage there is also a Ryan Leaf. Because I am a Bears fan, I usually see my team picking in the middle teens of each round and that is usually when the talent is fairly watered down. But it's still awesome to see what happens.
2. Day 1 of the NCAA tournament: At the end of March the NCAA men's basketball tournament begins in full swing. From noon until midnight CBS is full of wall to wall coverage of the tournament. The biggest memory I have of this day was in 9th grade when Northern Iowa was playing Missouri and Mr. Johns had the game on in gym class. UNI wound up pulling off the HUGE upset and beat the Big 8 powerhouse. Nowadays, I look forward to having my tournament brackets ripped apart after only the first day. For me, this is day is easily the most exciting sports day of the entire year.
6. January 1: No, not New Year's Eve. I love New Year's Day. I love this day for 2 reasons. My son, Abe, celebrates his birthday on this day. He was born on January 1, 2002 at about 6:30 in the morning. While in the hospital with my lovely wife and beautiful newborn baby, I had the pleasure of enjoying my other favorite part of January 1, New Year's Bowl Games. Does it make me an insensitive dirtball because I watched football games in my wife's hospital room while she was resting and recovering from childbirth? I hope not. But New Year's Day bowl games are incredible. They used to be even better before the BCS started dragging games out all week long. It watered the day down a little bit but it's still a great day for football...and my son Abe.
5. November 9: This incredible day was the day I was brought into the world. That's right, my birthday. It seems the older I get the less celebration is involved with this day but now that I have kids they seem to enjoy it just as much as me. This particular date is in the middle of two friend's and my wife's birthdays. So now we all have a tradition of planning some type of event to celebrate everyone's birthday at the same time. It's nice and it makes for more memorable birthdays.
4. Halloween: I have already expressed my love for this holiday in a previous post. This year, I get the extreme pleasure of attending a wedding on this day. Of course it is a dress up wedding due to it being on Halloween. My wife and I have decided to go as "Wal-Mart Customers". For the past couple of weeks I have been taking notes at the local White Trash Outlet in order to create the most authentic costume possible. I can't wait to unveil it. Candy, costumes, and scaring the crap out of little kids just make this day even better. Love it, love it, love it.
3. NFL Draft day: The NFL has turned into a year-round sport with the climax of the "off season" being draft day. I absolutely love to see the drunken Jets and Eagles fans screaming at every pick that walks across the stage like they have any idea of how the draftees will wind up performing. For every Payton Manning that walks across that stage there is also a Ryan Leaf. Because I am a Bears fan, I usually see my team picking in the middle teens of each round and that is usually when the talent is fairly watered down. But it's still awesome to see what happens.
2. Day 1 of the NCAA tournament: At the end of March the NCAA men's basketball tournament begins in full swing. From noon until midnight CBS is full of wall to wall coverage of the tournament. The biggest memory I have of this day was in 9th grade when Northern Iowa was playing Missouri and Mr. Johns had the game on in gym class. UNI wound up pulling off the HUGE upset and beat the Big 8 powerhouse. Nowadays, I look forward to having my tournament brackets ripped apart after only the first day. For me, this is day is easily the most exciting sports day of the entire year.
1. December 26: In 1996 this was the day I joined the Navy. In 1997 this was the day I married my wife. In 2002 this was the day I was discharged from the Navy. This December, I will have been married to my wife for 12 years. We have had to endure a lot of ups and a lot of downs in the last twelve years with this past year possibly being the toughest year so far. But in the end we made it. December 26 is a great day and it's definitely one I, along with my wife, will be looking forward to.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
My Sitcoms
We all love TV. Unfortunately I don't get to watch so much of it anymore because I am currently enrolled in my fifth college and my time is consumed with exercise physiology textbooks. Yay, right? Anyway, I still love TV and always have. Reality TV seems to have taken over the tube right now and I can't stand it. Save the sitcom, is what I say. That being said, this list deals with my favorite sitcoms, post 1980. I say after 1980 because I was only 5 that year and while I still see quite a bit of reruns from shows aired prior to that, I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy them while they were originally airing. So that means there will be no Welcome Back Kotter, WKRP, or Brady Bunch.
6. Scrubs: This show would be further up the list had it not been for the last couple of seasons of the show. The first 5 or 6 seasons were absolutely hilarious. I am a huge fan of shows where I am not taught any lessons and I don't have to think. Which is why my number 1 show is where it's at but I'll get to that later. What really helped me with this show is that my wife is a nurse so I get to see how the show puts a comedic spin on what she does, albeit extremely exaggerated. Dr. Cox is one of my favorite all-time classic characters and never ceases to entertain.
5. How I Met Your Mother: Is it possible that one supporting character completely carry a show by himself and make it his own without actually going away from the supporting role? YES! Barney Stinson is an absolutely classic character and carries this show beyond what anyone expected. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't even watch the show. Doogie Howser certainly outdid himself in this one.
4. Saved By The Bell: How could I write any list dealing with TV and not include Zac Morris and his pals. When I had broken my leg in high school and basically immobile for a couple of weeks, I am pretty sure I saw every episode of the show. Between WGN and TBS, they aired the show from 1:00 in the afternoon to about 4:00. That's right, 3 hours of Kelly Kapowski. This was fairly good entertainment for a 17 year old full of testosterone.
3. Cheers: Come on, a show set in a bar. What better place for a tv show center itself around. I was a little kid when this show was originally airing but I still remember when Coach left the show and Woody came in. This show was also very personal to me since it reminded me of the old Rusty Nail back home in Davenport. It was a bar I grew up near and I knew a lot of the people there and people in Cheers reminded me of people at the Rusty Nail (of course my dad was Norm). The final episode where Sam Malone turns out the lights as he leaves was incredible. Great show, great cast.
2. Cosby Show: Cliff Huxtable always reminded me of my dad a little bit. Granted, my dad was a little grumpier and not a doctor, but they each had the same sense of humor. Sure the Cosby Show was very idealistic and everything just seemed to work out perfectly for the Huxtable family and it wasn't very realistic but they seemed like a family you knew from down the block. I always liked Theo and always related well to him. Perhaps the funniest, and most real, line I've ever heard on any tv show is when Cliff tells Theo "I brought you into this world and I'll can take you out". In the stand up performance Bill Cosby goes on to say that he'll make another one just like him. Classic.
1. Seinfeld: The Contest is possibly the greatest sitcom episode ever. There is so much this show contributed to the lore of the sitcom world. When I say Art Vandalay, Soup Nazi, shrinkage, yada yada yada, master of your domain, puffy shirt, or sponge worthy, you know exactly what show I'm talking about. Seinfeld and company hit a grand slam with this show about nothing. Critics talk about how the series finale of the show was such a disapointment but it was exactly what the show was about, nothing. The finale wasn't supposed to be much more than what it was, nothing. Which to me is what made it that much better.
6. Scrubs: This show would be further up the list had it not been for the last couple of seasons of the show. The first 5 or 6 seasons were absolutely hilarious. I am a huge fan of shows where I am not taught any lessons and I don't have to think. Which is why my number 1 show is where it's at but I'll get to that later. What really helped me with this show is that my wife is a nurse so I get to see how the show puts a comedic spin on what she does, albeit extremely exaggerated. Dr. Cox is one of my favorite all-time classic characters and never ceases to entertain.
5. How I Met Your Mother: Is it possible that one supporting character completely carry a show by himself and make it his own without actually going away from the supporting role? YES! Barney Stinson is an absolutely classic character and carries this show beyond what anyone expected. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't even watch the show. Doogie Howser certainly outdid himself in this one.
4. Saved By The Bell: How could I write any list dealing with TV and not include Zac Morris and his pals. When I had broken my leg in high school and basically immobile for a couple of weeks, I am pretty sure I saw every episode of the show. Between WGN and TBS, they aired the show from 1:00 in the afternoon to about 4:00. That's right, 3 hours of Kelly Kapowski. This was fairly good entertainment for a 17 year old full of testosterone.
3. Cheers: Come on, a show set in a bar. What better place for a tv show center itself around. I was a little kid when this show was originally airing but I still remember when Coach left the show and Woody came in. This show was also very personal to me since it reminded me of the old Rusty Nail back home in Davenport. It was a bar I grew up near and I knew a lot of the people there and people in Cheers reminded me of people at the Rusty Nail (of course my dad was Norm). The final episode where Sam Malone turns out the lights as he leaves was incredible. Great show, great cast.
2. Cosby Show: Cliff Huxtable always reminded me of my dad a little bit. Granted, my dad was a little grumpier and not a doctor, but they each had the same sense of humor. Sure the Cosby Show was very idealistic and everything just seemed to work out perfectly for the Huxtable family and it wasn't very realistic but they seemed like a family you knew from down the block. I always liked Theo and always related well to him. Perhaps the funniest, and most real, line I've ever heard on any tv show is when Cliff tells Theo "I brought you into this world and I'll can take you out". In the stand up performance Bill Cosby goes on to say that he'll make another one just like him. Classic.
1. Seinfeld: The Contest is possibly the greatest sitcom episode ever. There is so much this show contributed to the lore of the sitcom world. When I say Art Vandalay, Soup Nazi, shrinkage, yada yada yada, master of your domain, puffy shirt, or sponge worthy, you know exactly what show I'm talking about. Seinfeld and company hit a grand slam with this show about nothing. Critics talk about how the series finale of the show was such a disapointment but it was exactly what the show was about, nothing. The finale wasn't supposed to be much more than what it was, nothing. Which to me is what made it that much better.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
My Beer
I have a facebook account. Then again, who doesn't. I don't really do much with though. Mostly I just sit back and see what everyone else is doing and if I feel like talking to that one guy/girl that I barely knew in junior high school that somehow found me and asked to be my "friend", I can do so. One of the things I recently saw on there was that everyone is passing around this top 5 list of beers and naming what they like with absolutely no explanation. I consider myself quite the beer connoisseur. Some of my friends call me a beer snob because I would not think about putting the likes of a Natural Light or PBR up to my lips. I have developed a little bit of a taste over the years for certain beers, especially those a little on the dark side. I welcome the opportunity to drink a few with any of your reading this, but please don't offer me a Bud Light.
6. Smithwick's: This is an Irish ale that is currently under the Guinness (more on this later) umbrella. When ordering a Smithwick's, especially if you are at an Irish bar or better yet, if you are in Ireland, please do not pronounce the "w". The name is pronounced 'Smithicks'. The dark amber appearance should tell you this beer is extra yummy. (hint: most dark amber beers are yummy)
5. Harp: This is another Irish beer but in contrast to Smithwick's, Harp is a pale lager. This beer used to be under the great Guinness umbrella but broke away a couple of years ago. You will notice that there is no longer an actual harp on the logo as that image is owned by Guinness. This is a great beer to drink in the summer time. You can definitely taste fruit, especially a hint of lemon in every bottle. Again, great summer beer for when cooking around the grill.
4. Leinenkugel's: A microbrew out of Chippewa Falls, WI, this beer not only tastes incredible but also brings great memories of my younger college days. In the early to mid 90's, it was a regional beer that you could only find in the Midwest. Being a poor college student from Iowa, I was quite fond of the fact that I could find a 12-pack of this for less than $10. Eventually the world found out how unbelievable this line of beer was and Miller Brewing Co. wound up buying it. Now you can find a different bottle for every season. My favorite is the Sunset Wheat, which is a summer ale made to compete with Coors's Blue Moon....
3. Blue Moon: I couldn't have Sunset Wheat on here without having Blue Moon. Another reason why Blue Moon is great is that my wife will drink it. She normally does not like any beer but she will drink this. I'm thinking she would drink Sunset Wheat too, but I haven't given her any. And anytime I can feed her more beer is fine by me. As you can see, I am fond of brews geared more towards the summer. It just makes grilling out a little more enjoyable.
2. Corona: There is only one reason for this being on the list and that is because every time I drink, I am having a great time. Whether it's a beach, bar, or bbq, this beer symbolizes fun. You simply have to love the beer that is 100% associated with fun.
1. Guinness: Could there be anything else at the top of this list? Come on! There has only been one time in my life were I didn't like Guinness and that is on New Year's Day in 1999. I spent the previous night enjoying my share of Guinness's at a party my buddy Ryan was having. I didn't realize how many I drank until I saw them come up the next day. Needless to say it does not taste the same coming up. Anyway, bad story aside, this is simply God's gift to beer. I'm sure when I go to heaven, there will be beer-falls flowing with this sweet nectar. MMMMMMM Guinness!
6. Smithwick's: This is an Irish ale that is currently under the Guinness (more on this later) umbrella. When ordering a Smithwick's, especially if you are at an Irish bar or better yet, if you are in Ireland, please do not pronounce the "w". The name is pronounced 'Smithicks'. The dark amber appearance should tell you this beer is extra yummy. (hint: most dark amber beers are yummy)
5. Harp: This is another Irish beer but in contrast to Smithwick's, Harp is a pale lager. This beer used to be under the great Guinness umbrella but broke away a couple of years ago. You will notice that there is no longer an actual harp on the logo as that image is owned by Guinness. This is a great beer to drink in the summer time. You can definitely taste fruit, especially a hint of lemon in every bottle. Again, great summer beer for when cooking around the grill.
4. Leinenkugel's: A microbrew out of Chippewa Falls, WI, this beer not only tastes incredible but also brings great memories of my younger college days. In the early to mid 90's, it was a regional beer that you could only find in the Midwest. Being a poor college student from Iowa, I was quite fond of the fact that I could find a 12-pack of this for less than $10. Eventually the world found out how unbelievable this line of beer was and Miller Brewing Co. wound up buying it. Now you can find a different bottle for every season. My favorite is the Sunset Wheat, which is a summer ale made to compete with Coors's Blue Moon....
3. Blue Moon: I couldn't have Sunset Wheat on here without having Blue Moon. Another reason why Blue Moon is great is that my wife will drink it. She normally does not like any beer but she will drink this. I'm thinking she would drink Sunset Wheat too, but I haven't given her any. And anytime I can feed her more beer is fine by me. As you can see, I am fond of brews geared more towards the summer. It just makes grilling out a little more enjoyable.
2. Corona: There is only one reason for this being on the list and that is because every time I drink, I am having a great time. Whether it's a beach, bar, or bbq, this beer symbolizes fun. You simply have to love the beer that is 100% associated with fun.
1. Guinness: Could there be anything else at the top of this list? Come on! There has only been one time in my life were I didn't like Guinness and that is on New Year's Day in 1999. I spent the previous night enjoying my share of Guinness's at a party my buddy Ryan was having. I didn't realize how many I drank until I saw them come up the next day. Needless to say it does not taste the same coming up. Anyway, bad story aside, this is simply God's gift to beer. I'm sure when I go to heaven, there will be beer-falls flowing with this sweet nectar. MMMMMMM Guinness!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My Man-Crush
Guys don't like to admit they have them, but every guy does. It's a man-crush. It's whenever you see another guy on TV or in the news and you stop everything to see what they are doing. Most guys don't think it's very macho or masculine to have a man-crush but after being married for eleven years, I am perfectly accepting of mine. I'm OK with that, and you should be also. Stop laughing, I know you are, stop it! These won't be very long descriptions because, well, I don't want to sound too gay.
6. Samuel L. Jackson: He is the epitome of cool. Every movie he is in, he's cool. Ev
ery time I see him on TV, I think of how cool he is. Plus, he was in the absolute craziest movie of all time "Snakes on a Plane". Granted the plot was extremely dumb but the action in the movie was absolutely insane and there is no other actor on this planet that could have been the lead in that movie. Cool.
5. Tiger Woods: The dude is amazing. He is well on his way to becoming the first BILLION dollar athlete. That's right, BILLION! He completely revolut
ionized the sport of golf. I remember sitting at some friend's house with him and his wife and my wife Kate in 2000 when Tiger was battling Bob May (who!?!?) at the PGA Championship. We cooked dinner and watched the entire final round of this epic battle where Tiger won at the very end. Golf is not the most exciting thing to watch on TV but we did and all four of us found it extremely exciting because of Tiger. In his injury related absence recently, golf sucked. Who cares about Phil Mickelson, Zac Johnson, or Sean O'hare? Tiger is the man, he has been for a long time and remains the only reason at all to watch golf on TV. BILLION dollars for playing golf!
4. LaBron James: I grew up watching Larry Bird battle Magic Johnson and eventually got to witness the greatness of Michael Jordan. That trio kind
of spoiled me when it came to watching the NBA. When Bird and Magic left and Jordan kept trying to come back with the Wizards, the NBA became unwatchable. There was about a 5-7 year period where I thought the league absolutely sucked. Then LaBron came along. This kid is absolutely ridiculous. He stands at 6'8" and 260 lbs...ROCK SOLID. His movements on the court are effortless and he seems he can do whatever he wants to do with a basketball. Michael Jordan is generally accepted as the greatest basketball player ever but when it's all said and done, James will pushing Jordan off that mantle. He is the sole reason why I started watching the NBA again.
3/2/1: Justin Timberlake: First of all, I only could come up with 4 for the list so that is why he is 3/2/1. It's not because I like him that much, although it's
close. Second of all, I better be secure in my masculinity because I know I'm catching some flack for this one. Justin Timberlake is must see TV anytime he is on. I never really paid much attention to him until I saw him host Saturday Night Live for the first time. Hilarious! Then he hosted again and had the legendary "Dick in a Box" video. I nearly peed myself laughing so hard after watching it. His performances on SNL made me appreciate him as an amazing performer. Eventually I began to even like his music and dancing. Stop laughing! Now, he appeals to me on another level in that he is an extremely avid golfer and even hosts his own PGA Tour event where all of the proceeds go to a children's organization. Lately I heard he turned his living room into a makeshift golf room with all of the furniture turned upside down and he lays blankets down to simulate really bad rough. I promise I'm not stalking him, it was in a golf magazine...stop laughing. Plus, all of his girlfriends are fairly easy on the eyes too (Britney Spears (pre-crazy), Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel, and Allysa Milano). So yes, I am a big Justin Timberlake fan, he's a great performer musically, comedically, and athletically. I should hate him with extreme envy but I can't. He's just too cool.
6. Samuel L. Jackson: He is the epitome of cool. Every movie he is in, he's cool. Ev
ery time I see him on TV, I think of how cool he is. Plus, he was in the absolute craziest movie of all time "Snakes on a Plane". Granted the plot was extremely dumb but the action in the movie was absolutely insane and there is no other actor on this planet that could have been the lead in that movie. Cool.5. Tiger Woods: The dude is amazing. He is well on his way to becoming the first BILLION dollar athlete. That's right, BILLION! He completely revolut
ionized the sport of golf. I remember sitting at some friend's house with him and his wife and my wife Kate in 2000 when Tiger was battling Bob May (who!?!?) at the PGA Championship. We cooked dinner and watched the entire final round of this epic battle where Tiger won at the very end. Golf is not the most exciting thing to watch on TV but we did and all four of us found it extremely exciting because of Tiger. In his injury related absence recently, golf sucked. Who cares about Phil Mickelson, Zac Johnson, or Sean O'hare? Tiger is the man, he has been for a long time and remains the only reason at all to watch golf on TV. BILLION dollars for playing golf!4. LaBron James: I grew up watching Larry Bird battle Magic Johnson and eventually got to witness the greatness of Michael Jordan. That trio kind
of spoiled me when it came to watching the NBA. When Bird and Magic left and Jordan kept trying to come back with the Wizards, the NBA became unwatchable. There was about a 5-7 year period where I thought the league absolutely sucked. Then LaBron came along. This kid is absolutely ridiculous. He stands at 6'8" and 260 lbs...ROCK SOLID. His movements on the court are effortless and he seems he can do whatever he wants to do with a basketball. Michael Jordan is generally accepted as the greatest basketball player ever but when it's all said and done, James will pushing Jordan off that mantle. He is the sole reason why I started watching the NBA again.3/2/1: Justin Timberlake: First of all, I only could come up with 4 for the list so that is why he is 3/2/1. It's not because I like him that much, although it's
close. Second of all, I better be secure in my masculinity because I know I'm catching some flack for this one. Justin Timberlake is must see TV anytime he is on. I never really paid much attention to him until I saw him host Saturday Night Live for the first time. Hilarious! Then he hosted again and had the legendary "Dick in a Box" video. I nearly peed myself laughing so hard after watching it. His performances on SNL made me appreciate him as an amazing performer. Eventually I began to even like his music and dancing. Stop laughing! Now, he appeals to me on another level in that he is an extremely avid golfer and even hosts his own PGA Tour event where all of the proceeds go to a children's organization. Lately I heard he turned his living room into a makeshift golf room with all of the furniture turned upside down and he lays blankets down to simulate really bad rough. I promise I'm not stalking him, it was in a golf magazine...stop laughing. Plus, all of his girlfriends are fairly easy on the eyes too (Britney Spears (pre-crazy), Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel, and Allysa Milano). So yes, I am a big Justin Timberlake fan, he's a great performer musically, comedically, and athletically. I should hate him with extreme envy but I can't. He's just too cool.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
My Unfavorite Cubs
Baseball season begins in less than 2 weeks and as I stated in a previous post, I am getting ready for another extremely disappointing season from my beloved Chicago Cubs. There have been many players I have enjoyed watching over the years and that list will come at some point. But for now, I would like to introduce you to several of the players that have contributed to the extreme crappiness that has been the Chicago Cubs over the last 30 years.
6. LaTroy Hawkins: In 2003, Hawkins was signed as a free agent from the Minnesota Twins to provide help in the Cubs bullpen. In the previous couple of seasons with the Twins he was an absolute monster providing relief in the 7th and 8th innings as a setup man for their closer. He was brought to the Cubs to perform the same duties and failed miserably. It's not completely his fault because the Cubs closer, Joe Borowski got hurt early in the season and Hawkins got thrust into a role that he was not suited for. Needless to say Hawkins failed for 2 seasons with the Cubs and in 2005 was finally relieved of his duties after a disastrous performance in Philly. The guy was a horrible failure and contributed to many losses.
5. Fred McGriff: The Crime Dog arrived to the Cubs via a trade at the deadline in 2001. He was to provide power for a team that desperately needed it and desperately needed a 1B since they had cut ties to Mark Grace the year before. The rest of the season he really didn't provide much help and the Cubs had a losing record with him on the team. The following season McGriff did moderately well but his presence and his quest for 500 HR's caused the Cubs to keep a young and promising Hee Seop Choi on the bench. Since the Cubs were terrible this year, it would have been a great time to see what Choi could do but instead McGriff's personal stats meant more and his needs came before the teams. Oh, and the bum didn't even get his 500th HR.
4. Kyle Farnsworth: If you were to simply look at this guy, you'd get scared. He stood about 6'6" and easily threw a 100 mph fastball. Unfortunately, that's all he could do. His off-speed stuff was junk but he was insistent on trying to prove that he had it. Then, when he would throw the heater, it had absolutely no movement on it and hitters timed it perfectly. Nolan Ryan and Rob Dibble both threw over 100 but they had a lot of movement on their balls which kept the hitters on their heels. Not Dr. Tightpants. Nope, all he did was throw a 100 mph fastball down the center of the plate and giving up numerous late inning home runs with it. It's sad that you are best known for pummeling Reds pitcher Paul Wilson. It was a great fight though.
3. Leon Durham: All in all, I love the Bull. But he made one MAJOR error during the playoffs in 1984 against the Padres that puts him on this list. I spoke about it before, but he was Bill Buckner before Bill Buckner was Bill Buckner. The Cubs were in control of a best of 5 series and Durham allowed a ball to roll between his legs allowing the Padres to score and win the game, and eventually the series. Ugh. Not much can be said about this other than this was my very first memory of the Cubs breaking my heart.
2. Mark Prior: Coming out of USC, Prior was an absolute stud. He almost completely bypassed the minor leagues altogether and joined the Cubs in the summer of 2002 and was amazing. He had great mechanics and his arsenal of pitches threw batters off guard all summer long. The following year, 2003, was a magical year for the Cubs but ended in great tragedy. I really believe this was Prior's undoing as a pitcher. He was 5 outs away from sending the Cubs to the World Series and then Bartman happened. This, along with a critical error by the SS Gonzalez, proved to be the last time Prior pitched well for the Cubs. The following year he was riddled with an achilles tendon injury and when he came back his mechanics had changed for the worse and simply was not that effective. In '05 he was injured again, but one actually wasn't his fault. He was hit in the elbow by a line drive traveling 117 mph. Every season after that he has had various arm problems that have led to him finally being let go in '08. An absolute ton of money was wasted on him and a lot of prospects were put on the back burner so he could have his spot on the rotation. He sucked and to this day still hasn't played an inning for his new team, the San Diego Padres.
1. Sammy Sosa: In 1998, Sosa provided a summer to remember with his effortless home runs and great batting average. Sure his arms ballooned up to small canons and he was no longer the base stealing threat he was known for in previous years. He continued to hit a ton of HR's in the next few years but just like an onion, there were many layers to his personality that slowly came out. In hindsight, it's extremely obvious he was on steroids so I won't even debate that. His me, me, me personality was shown more and more and it's been said that he is one of the reasons that Mark Grace left the team. It finally became obvious to everyone when on the last day of the season in 2004, he was benched by the manager. Instead of staying and watching the final game with his teammates, he chose to just leave the game because he wasn't involved. This wound up being his last game and was traded to the Orioles in the off season. Too many of his HR's were meaningless and none of them seemed to come at a time when the Cub's needed them. He was an extremely selfish player and to this day and I hope he never gets in the Hall of Fame because of his (alleged) steroid use.
6. LaTroy Hawkins: In 2003, Hawkins was signed as a free agent from the Minnesota Twins to provide help in the Cubs bullpen. In the previous couple of seasons with the Twins he was an absolute monster providing relief in the 7th and 8th innings as a setup man for their closer. He was brought to the Cubs to perform the same duties and failed miserably. It's not completely his fault because the Cubs closer, Joe Borowski got hurt early in the season and Hawkins got thrust into a role that he was not suited for. Needless to say Hawkins failed for 2 seasons with the Cubs and in 2005 was finally relieved of his duties after a disastrous performance in Philly. The guy was a horrible failure and contributed to many losses.
5. Fred McGriff: The Crime Dog arrived to the Cubs via a trade at the deadline in 2001. He was to provide power for a team that desperately needed it and desperately needed a 1B since they had cut ties to Mark Grace the year before. The rest of the season he really didn't provide much help and the Cubs had a losing record with him on the team. The following season McGriff did moderately well but his presence and his quest for 500 HR's caused the Cubs to keep a young and promising Hee Seop Choi on the bench. Since the Cubs were terrible this year, it would have been a great time to see what Choi could do but instead McGriff's personal stats meant more and his needs came before the teams. Oh, and the bum didn't even get his 500th HR.
4. Kyle Farnsworth: If you were to simply look at this guy, you'd get scared. He stood about 6'6" and easily threw a 100 mph fastball. Unfortunately, that's all he could do. His off-speed stuff was junk but he was insistent on trying to prove that he had it. Then, when he would throw the heater, it had absolutely no movement on it and hitters timed it perfectly. Nolan Ryan and Rob Dibble both threw over 100 but they had a lot of movement on their balls which kept the hitters on their heels. Not Dr. Tightpants. Nope, all he did was throw a 100 mph fastball down the center of the plate and giving up numerous late inning home runs with it. It's sad that you are best known for pummeling Reds pitcher Paul Wilson. It was a great fight though.
3. Leon Durham: All in all, I love the Bull. But he made one MAJOR error during the playoffs in 1984 against the Padres that puts him on this list. I spoke about it before, but he was Bill Buckner before Bill Buckner was Bill Buckner. The Cubs were in control of a best of 5 series and Durham allowed a ball to roll between his legs allowing the Padres to score and win the game, and eventually the series. Ugh. Not much can be said about this other than this was my very first memory of the Cubs breaking my heart.
2. Mark Prior: Coming out of USC, Prior was an absolute stud. He almost completely bypassed the minor leagues altogether and joined the Cubs in the summer of 2002 and was amazing. He had great mechanics and his arsenal of pitches threw batters off guard all summer long. The following year, 2003, was a magical year for the Cubs but ended in great tragedy. I really believe this was Prior's undoing as a pitcher. He was 5 outs away from sending the Cubs to the World Series and then Bartman happened. This, along with a critical error by the SS Gonzalez, proved to be the last time Prior pitched well for the Cubs. The following year he was riddled with an achilles tendon injury and when he came back his mechanics had changed for the worse and simply was not that effective. In '05 he was injured again, but one actually wasn't his fault. He was hit in the elbow by a line drive traveling 117 mph. Every season after that he has had various arm problems that have led to him finally being let go in '08. An absolute ton of money was wasted on him and a lot of prospects were put on the back burner so he could have his spot on the rotation. He sucked and to this day still hasn't played an inning for his new team, the San Diego Padres.
1. Sammy Sosa: In 1998, Sosa provided a summer to remember with his effortless home runs and great batting average. Sure his arms ballooned up to small canons and he was no longer the base stealing threat he was known for in previous years. He continued to hit a ton of HR's in the next few years but just like an onion, there were many layers to his personality that slowly came out. In hindsight, it's extremely obvious he was on steroids so I won't even debate that. His me, me, me personality was shown more and more and it's been said that he is one of the reasons that Mark Grace left the team. It finally became obvious to everyone when on the last day of the season in 2004, he was benched by the manager. Instead of staying and watching the final game with his teammates, he chose to just leave the game because he wasn't involved. This wound up being his last game and was traded to the Orioles in the off season. Too many of his HR's were meaningless and none of them seemed to come at a time when the Cub's needed them. He was an extremely selfish player and to this day and I hope he never gets in the Hall of Fame because of his (alleged) steroid use.
Monday, March 23, 2009
My TV Characters
Throughout my lifetime, I have been able to witness many TV characters come and go. I love watching them develop on whatever show they happen to be on. I love seeing them grow and take on a life of their own. Some TV characters are pretty crappy (I'm talking to you Two And A Half Men cast) but some are simply awesome and make me make it a point to get to the TV every week to watch them.
6. Norm Peterson: In a bar where everybody knows your name
, the sure knew his name. What bar doesn't have Norm sitting there? When I was growing up, my dad was Norm Peterson. Everybody at the Rusty Nail knew who he was, and by proxy, knew who I was. Norm didn't have a mean bone in his body unless it was time for last call. He was simply that overweight guy at the end of the bar that smiled, told stories you want to hear, and was friendly. I guess that was my dad at the Rusty Nail.
5. Hayden Fox: Let me first start by saying that I absolutely hate the Iowa Hawkeyes. I never have liked them and probably never will. But this character, who is based Iowa coaching legend Hayden Fry, is a classic. He was a mumbling, bumbling, mistake making head coach of the fictional Minnesota State Screaming Eagles. He certainly picked a lame-o for a wife but I guess he can't be perfect.
4. Zac Morris: This dude was the original pimp of Bayside. He made all the ladies tingly and made all the guys think that if they wore a yellow and blue
striped shirt with the collar turned up and spiked hair, they could get the ladies just as easy. Not so fast. Zac made it look too easy and in turn made me look stupid. If not for that, he would be higher on the list.
3. Cliff Huxtable: Bill Cosby was incredible as this character that was loosely based on himself. He was the dad that everyone wish they had. Loving, caring, funny, and wore the ugliest sweaters imaginable. But he was hilarious in every episode and, in my opinion, seemed to improvise scenes in almost every show. Only Bill Cosby could do something that original and funny.
2. Jerry Seinfeld: Both the TV character and the person are legends. This is definitely my favorite show of all time. Sure the show had many legendary characters but without Jerry there holding them all together, they would be lost. Seinfeld brought the most obviously funny things to life. Only on his show could he talk about masturbation and not actually use the word. He and Larry David were geniuses together.
1. Barney Stinson: The newest character on this list is from one of my favorite shows, How I met Your Mother. I am slightly disappointed with the direction, or lack of, this season is going but Barney stands out as the greatest thing on this show. You know that you have created and incredible character when you make people forget about your last memorable character and Neil Patrick Harris has done that. When I watch it, I forget the fact he 
was the legendary Doogie Howser M.D. Barney is a legendary character himself and is pretty much the reason why I still watch the show. He proves himself week in and week out to be awesome. What cracks me up even more is that Barney is the sleaziest of all womanizing creatures and Neil Patrick Harris is gay. So you know when his is making out with all of those women on the show, the only thing going on in his mind is, "icky, yucky, gross!" While I cannot understand that at all, I think it's a testament to how good he plays that character because you would never know it. Awesome!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
My Bracket
Today marks day 1 on the greatest sporting event of the entire year. The NCAA basketball tournament in my opinion is the most exciting, captivating, and dramatic event in sports to watch, especially the opening weekend. The first two rounds are awesome. The drama is truly unreal and I love every second of it. One thing that makes the tournament even more dramatic is predicting who will win. We all fill out our brackets with our friends and coworkers, throw in $5, and hope for the best. Usually after the first weekend, our brackets are blown up and we don't really have any hope of winning the money. But I have been somewhat successful in my brackets. While I have not been immune to getting my bracket smashed by the perennial Cinderella, I do think I have found a method of doing fairly well. Listed below are my thoughts on how to do a little better in your pool.
6. Pick Favorites: Obvious right? When people fill out their brackets, the first thing they look for is that great upset pick that they think they only know. But in reality, the favorites are there for a reason and when Marge from accounting wins this years pool and you wonder why a woman that doesn't know the difference between Stephen F. Austin and Stone Cold Steve Austin won, it's because she simply picked the favorites.
5. Guards: If you want to a little more research, learn which teams have the best guards. Historically, in the NCAA tournament, guard play has determined the outcome of many games. If you take a look back a couple of years when Illinois went to the championship game, they had a three guard lineup that completely mesmerized opponents. This is just one example of how guards completely own the tournament.
4. Seniors Rule: Historically, teams with upper class men tend to do better than teams that don't. Maturity, both physical and mental, has a major role in this. Experience is also a key factor. So if you are insistent on finding that one team that might be this year's Cinderella, look for a senior filled team and pick them. They will probably do fairly well.
3. Vegas Knows: Las Vegas is not in the business of gambling to lose money. So pay attention to the lines Vegas gives out on the games. THEY KNOW MORE THAN YOU ABOUT THIS! I can't emphasis that enough. This year, the sexy pick is VCU over UCLA. Everyone seems to think this upset is going to happen. But when you look at the line Vegas is giving, UCLA is a clear favorite. Another example is the USC vs. Boston College game. BC is the higher seed but Vegas has USC favored. You might want to pay attention to that.
2. Know the sites: The first couple of rounds of the tournament are located in specific regions. Teams get seeded accordingly and sent to regions that are generally close to them. Louisville is a number 1 seed and is playing in Dayton Ohio, fairly close proximity to Louisville. It's close enough to where enough fans will make the trip and probably make it a virtual home game for the Cards. Similarly, North Carolina plays in Greensboro, N.C. Enough said there. If a team is playing close to home, it will be more comfortable for them and they will have more fans there. That's always a bonus.
1. Guess!: You know that IT nerd that did well last year but he has absolutely no idea why. It's because he reverted to the previously discussed number 6, and he guessed. We can never predict the crazy upsets. When George Mason went to the final 4 a couple of years ago, you would think it would be impossible to predict that. But, some people did because they either liked the name, liked their colors, like the mascot, whatever. But some people did and it was complete guess because any logical person picking the games would not have picked them as a 12 seed to go to the final 4. But it happened and some people picked it. Good luck and have fun, I know I will.
6. Pick Favorites: Obvious right? When people fill out their brackets, the first thing they look for is that great upset pick that they think they only know. But in reality, the favorites are there for a reason and when Marge from accounting wins this years pool and you wonder why a woman that doesn't know the difference between Stephen F. Austin and Stone Cold Steve Austin won, it's because she simply picked the favorites.
5. Guards: If you want to a little more research, learn which teams have the best guards. Historically, in the NCAA tournament, guard play has determined the outcome of many games. If you take a look back a couple of years when Illinois went to the championship game, they had a three guard lineup that completely mesmerized opponents. This is just one example of how guards completely own the tournament.
4. Seniors Rule: Historically, teams with upper class men tend to do better than teams that don't. Maturity, both physical and mental, has a major role in this. Experience is also a key factor. So if you are insistent on finding that one team that might be this year's Cinderella, look for a senior filled team and pick them. They will probably do fairly well.
3. Vegas Knows: Las Vegas is not in the business of gambling to lose money. So pay attention to the lines Vegas gives out on the games. THEY KNOW MORE THAN YOU ABOUT THIS! I can't emphasis that enough. This year, the sexy pick is VCU over UCLA. Everyone seems to think this upset is going to happen. But when you look at the line Vegas is giving, UCLA is a clear favorite. Another example is the USC vs. Boston College game. BC is the higher seed but Vegas has USC favored. You might want to pay attention to that.
2. Know the sites: The first couple of rounds of the tournament are located in specific regions. Teams get seeded accordingly and sent to regions that are generally close to them. Louisville is a number 1 seed and is playing in Dayton Ohio, fairly close proximity to Louisville. It's close enough to where enough fans will make the trip and probably make it a virtual home game for the Cards. Similarly, North Carolina plays in Greensboro, N.C. Enough said there. If a team is playing close to home, it will be more comfortable for them and they will have more fans there. That's always a bonus.
1. Guess!: You know that IT nerd that did well last year but he has absolutely no idea why. It's because he reverted to the previously discussed number 6, and he guessed. We can never predict the crazy upsets. When George Mason went to the final 4 a couple of years ago, you would think it would be impossible to predict that. But, some people did because they either liked the name, liked their colors, like the mascot, whatever. But some people did and it was complete guess because any logical person picking the games would not have picked them as a 12 seed to go to the final 4. But it happened and some people picked it. Good luck and have fun, I know I will.
Monday, March 16, 2009
My Pets
If you think about some of the pets you have had, you surely have had a favorite. Conversely, you have also gotten that one pet where you wish you could just find a way to make it leave for good without having PETA knocking on your door. I have had quite a number of pets in my life. From dogs to cats to birds to fish, my family and I have had quite a few. Below is a list of my favorite pets I have had.
6. Abe's Fish: When Abe was about 3 years old, my wife a
nd I thought it would be a good idea to buy Abe some fish. I can't remember what kind of fish we bought but I made sure it would be the kind that lived longer than 48 hours. I didn't realize that I had bought bionic fish. One afternoon while Abe was supposed to be taking a nap, he decided to empty all of the contents from the fish food jar and bowl cleaning chemicals into the fish tank. What resulted was a toxic fish tank. You would think the fish would have croaked but I think it just made them stronger, like The Toxic Avenger. A couple of months later they were moved cross country from Iowa to Kentucky and survived completely unharmed. They lived for about 3 months in KY before dying. But these guys were fighters!
nd I thought it would be a good idea to buy Abe some fish. I can't remember what kind of fish we bought but I made sure it would be the kind that lived longer than 48 hours. I didn't realize that I had bought bionic fish. One afternoon while Abe was supposed to be taking a nap, he decided to empty all of the contents from the fish food jar and bowl cleaning chemicals into the fish tank. What resulted was a toxic fish tank. You would think the fish would have croaked but I think it just made them stronger, like The Toxic Avenger. A couple of months later they were moved cross country from Iowa to Kentucky and survived completely unharmed. They lived for about 3 months in KY before dying. But these guys were fighters! 5. Buzzard: While living in Virginia Beach, my wife and I somehow adopted a love bird named Buzzard. We should have known by the name what kind of personality this vicious little creature had. He did not like us one bit and every time we opened his cage to clean it he would fly around the house. Getting him back into the cage was an hour-long process that involved many towels and band-aids. But it was fun little bird to have. We didn't have Buzzard very long though. After letting a friend watch him for a weekend while we went away, and watching how well behaved he was with her, we allowed her to keep him. That's a good thing because I was running out of places for the vicious thing to claw.
4. Scruffy: This was my first dog, which is really the only reason why he is on this list. Scruffy was a pure mutt, he slept all day long, didn't really play much, and was probably retarded. But he was a nice dog to have around while growing up. Towards the end of his life, he couldn't really see very well, which would explain him getting hit by a car in front of my house. That wasn't a good morning before school.
3. Lemon: OK, let it be known that I generally am not a cat kind of guy. But this cat was pretty cool. It had a very distinct personality that made me laugh. My favorite memory of this little feline was waking up in the middle of the night and seeing Lemon perched on the nightstand staring at me as if to say, "I could kill you anytime I want". That didn't happen just once, it was something that happened quite frequently. If not for the physiological inability to hold its urine, the cat would still be alive today.
2. Jake / Zen: When this dog was born, he was given the name of Zen by a couple of friends of my brother Mike. When they moved and couldn't take care of it anymore, my family took him and renamed him Jake. Jake was a half chow-half bullmastiff mix and was about 150 lbs worth of muscle and stupidity. My favorite story of him was that one time when he was left in the garage, he chewed the top off of a bottle of Captain Morgan's Rum and drank the whole bottle. Needless to say, he didn't feel very good for a couple of days and even vomited a few times. There's another story of him finding a way to escape the garage by breaking through the fiberglass garage door. Yes, he was that strong. Eventually he got too much for my parents and the original owners came back to the area and we returned him. He was an awesome dog though and an absolute blast to play with.
1. Frankie: This is my little diva. Frankie is a 9 lb. miniature dauchshound with the attitude of a 100 lb pitbull. My wife Katie actually stole (rescued) Frankie from a couple that was not treating her very nice. I came home from work one time and there she was. She is now 10 years old and starting to slow down a little bit but she still has every bit of attitude she has always had. She completely dominates the Scottish terrier, Mazzie (notice how she is NOT on the list). It will be a sad day in the Arnold family when Frankie visits the great farm in the sky but until then I am very happy to have her curled up on the chair with me. 
Thursday, March 12, 2009
My Anti-Holiday
As previously stated, I told you I had a love/hate relationship with holidays. On one hand, holidays celebrate religious days, remind us of important events, or simply give us reasons to consume large quantities of beer. That's the good side. On the other end of the spectrum, holidays can be over-commercialized, made up, pointless days that celebrate absolutely nothing. Today, I will be happy to present to you my least favorite holidays.
6. Washington's Birthday: With all due respect to George Washington, I find this holiday quite silly. I completely agree that this should be a day of observance and that our children should be taught the importance of this fine gentleman. But in no way should this be a federal holiday. Let me get this straight, a guy that reluctantly became our first president receives a federal holiday and I don't get any mail just because he was born. Sorry, I fail to find any reasoning that makes sense.
5. Columbus Day: You have got to be kidding me on this one. Here is a guy that accidentally "discovered" this country after having thought he was in India. Yet another federal holiday is given away and yet another day I can't get my mail. Again, I fail to find how this makes any kind of sense.
4. Groundhog Day: The only good thing to have ever come from this completely
pointless holiday is an incredibly funny movie that I likened to all of my days on deployment. It's the same day over, and over, and over, and over again. The day is so completely pointless that I can't believe I am even giving it recognition here. We're supposed to believe that a flippin' groundhog is able to predict when Spring will be here. Well I guess that makes sense when you see how accurate the triple Doppler meteorologists are. Silly, stupid, and pointless.
pointless holiday is an incredibly funny movie that I likened to all of my days on deployment. It's the same day over, and over, and over, and over again. The day is so completely pointless that I can't believe I am even giving it recognition here. We're supposed to believe that a flippin' groundhog is able to predict when Spring will be here. Well I guess that makes sense when you see how accurate the triple Doppler meteorologists are. Silly, stupid, and pointless. 3. New Year's Eve: While this may technically not be a holiday, it is treated as one. Back in my wilder days, I was known to drink a few beers and partake in a party or two. Passing up a party really wasn't an option. But I always found it extremely difficult to find the sense in going out the night before New Year's Day, paying an obscenely high cover charge at a bar/hotel/wherever, paying triple price for drinks, and celebrating something that happens every year like it's a surprise. Now, if New Year's Day didn't come every year and kind of snuck up on us as a surprise, that might be a little different. But the way this is celebrated and the crowds that come out for this I find extremely childish, pointless, and silly. And now that my son's birthday is on New Year's Day, it gives me a reason to turn down requests to go out. Thank you Abe.
2. Christmas: That's right, Christmas. Yes, it was on my list of favor
ite holidays. But I also hate this holiday. I'm going to sound really preachy for a second so be ready. I love the fact this holiday is about giving. But I'm pretty sure that Jesus doesn't expect you stand in line outside of Best Buy at 4 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving so that you can get the best deal on that Wii for your spoiled kid that thinks the PS2 is too old and outdated. Every year I see the very worst out of our society during this holiday season. Greed, anger, frustration, gluttony, and impatience all show their ugly heads. This holiday has become an over-commercialized day in which people expect to be given the biggest and best gift possible. Jesus has been completely removed. My son's public school cannot sing Christmas songs that talk about what the season is supposed to be about. They have to stick to "holiday songs" so that nobody gets offended. Sorry, but I have a problem with that. I could go on for a while, but I will stop there.
ite holidays. But I also hate this holiday. I'm going to sound really preachy for a second so be ready. I love the fact this holiday is about giving. But I'm pretty sure that Jesus doesn't expect you stand in line outside of Best Buy at 4 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving so that you can get the best deal on that Wii for your spoiled kid that thinks the PS2 is too old and outdated. Every year I see the very worst out of our society during this holiday season. Greed, anger, frustration, gluttony, and impatience all show their ugly heads. This holiday has become an over-commercialized day in which people expect to be given the biggest and best gift possible. Jesus has been completely removed. My son's public school cannot sing Christmas songs that talk about what the season is supposed to be about. They have to stick to "holiday songs" so that nobody gets offended. Sorry, but I have a problem with that. I could go on for a while, but I will stop there. 1. Valentine's Day (aka Hallmark Day): I just love the kind of holiday in which Hallmark and all of the jewelery stores try and make me feel guilty if I don't go buy my beautiful wife something expensive and give it to her on this day. Forget the other 363 days out of the year. If you don't do it on this day, you suck and you should have your testicles cho
pped off. Oh, and is there anything expected of women? No. If you pay attention, it's a day in which they try and make the guy show how much he loves the girl. It's a completely stupid holiday and I have never once celebrated it. Sure, I might get my wife a card or simply say "I love you", but I absolutely refuse to give any recognition to this day. I refuse to let Hallmark dictate when I should show my wife love and when I should buy her a present. You want to know the best part of all of this, my wife agrees with me completely. She has never once expected anything on this day. And she shouldn't. This day needs to be removed from the calendar and never heard from again. But then again, if we did that Hallmark might go out of business.
pped off. Oh, and is there anything expected of women? No. If you pay attention, it's a day in which they try and make the guy show how much he loves the girl. It's a completely stupid holiday and I have never once celebrated it. Sure, I might get my wife a card or simply say "I love you", but I absolutely refuse to give any recognition to this day. I refuse to let Hallmark dictate when I should show my wife love and when I should buy her a present. You want to know the best part of all of this, my wife agrees with me completely. She has never once expected anything on this day. And she shouldn't. This day needs to be removed from the calendar and never heard from again. But then again, if we did that Hallmark might go out of business. Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My Holiday
I have a love / hate relationship with holidays. Some holidays I looked forward to as a child and now that I have little mini-me's running around, I get to enjoy those holidays again. There are also a few holidays that I rather enjoy as an adult due to large quantity of alcoholic beverages that I am expected to drink on said holiday. With St. Patrick's Day quickly approaching, I am reminded of one of those types of holidays. Today's list will consist of my favorite holiday both as a child and as an adult. Conversely, there will be another list tomorrow of my least favorite holidays (I'm looking at you Valentine's Day).
6: Independence Day (Fourth of July for you non-patriots): This is one of those holidays where it is expected of me to consume a few alcoholic beverages. And anytime I can combine that with detonating small explosives, count me in! While I am not a huge fireworks kind of guy, the older I get the funner it is because I have kids that like them. This is a holiday that you can get together with a bunch of friends, drink a few beers, play some horseshoes (I'm coming to get you Allison), and make stuff explode. What more could a guy ask for.
5. Veteran's Day / Memorial Day (sorry, no jokes on this one): Because I am a veteran and a huge proponent of honoring those that have given their lives for this country, I love these two days. I felt I had to combine them since they kind of represent the same thing. I do find it odd however that Memorial Day is a federal holiday and Veteran's Day isn't. Oh well. We cannot do enough to honor those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and I feel that not enough attention is given to these days. Sure we get one of them off of work but we don't celebrate them like we do others. I do and will forever honor these two days.
4. April Fools Day: While this isn't officially a holiday, it is definitely one of my favorite days of the year. I remember making my mom so paranoid when I was younger that she would be walking around with extreme anticipation trying to figure out what I would be doing to her. That alone made the day fun for me. Now I get to play jokes on my kids and what is more fun than playing tricks on little unsuspecting children? The greatest April Fools joke I ever had was me actually being the victim. My loving siblings started setting me up months in advance when I was about 10 years old. They told me the story of a hot dog factory where all of the workers got sick and vomited in the hot dogs. They kept talking about this for a while and then on April 1st, they made me a hot dog with chili on the inside. I took a bite and all of this stuff came out. They were saying I must have gotten one of the dogs with puke in it. Thanks guys, that was real freakin funny!
3. Christmas: As a child, Christmas meant presents under a tree and
a big family get-together. There was a lot of innocence associated with Christmas as a child. Now that I have children of my own, I get to celebrate that innocence with them and hope they have similar fond memories of this day, even if they don't get everything they want. Now I celebrate it because of its meaning with Christ, not Wal-Mart.
a big family get-together. There was a lot of innocence associated with Christmas as a child. Now that I have children of my own, I get to celebrate that innocence with them and hope they have similar fond memories of this day, even if they don't get everything they want. Now I celebrate it because of its meaning with Christ, not Wal-Mart. 2. St. Patrick's Day: There are a couple of reasons for me loving this holiday. The aforementioned obligation to drink alcohol is one of them. This is a day where I can drink my weight in Guinness and it's perfectly acceptable. You got to love tha
t concept. It's also a day where I can pinch someone for not wearing green. That probably got me slapped a few times growing up which is why I don't do it a whole lot anymore. But I still love the concept. And finally, this holiday reminds me of my sister Erin. She absolutely loved this holiday. Surprise there, a red-headed, Irish, (semi) Catholic loving St. Patrick's Day. She passed a few years ago but I still think of her on this day and make sure to dedicate at least one of my many Guinesses to her.
t concept. It's also a day where I can pinch someone for not wearing green. That probably got me slapped a few times growing up which is why I don't do it a whole lot anymore. But I still love the concept. And finally, this holiday reminds me of my sister Erin. She absolutely loved this holiday. Surprise there, a red-headed, Irish, (semi) Catholic loving St. Patrick's Day. She passed a few years ago but I still think of her on this day and make sure to dedicate at least one of my many Guinesses to her. 1. Halloween: Could there be anything else? You get to dress up in some crazy costume, go to some stranger's house and ask for candy, receive candy, and
it's perfectly OK. This is the most amazing concept for a holiday ever. When I was in Virginia, my brother and I had a tradition of setting up a table at the end of the driveway with a cooler at our side and handing out candy, while consuming a few adult beverages. Now I get to walk around with my boys and carry on the tradition of begging strangers for candy. Another reason is that during the month of October, a few cable networks feel it necessary to show plenty of older horror movies throughout the month. Awesome! Great holiday with lots of candy, you just can't beat it.
it's perfectly OK. This is the most amazing concept for a holiday ever. When I was in Virginia, my brother and I had a tradition of setting up a table at the end of the driveway with a cooler at our side and handing out candy, while consuming a few adult beverages. Now I get to walk around with my boys and carry on the tradition of begging strangers for candy. Another reason is that during the month of October, a few cable networks feel it necessary to show plenty of older horror movies throughout the month. Awesome! Great holiday with lots of candy, you just can't beat it. Thursday, March 5, 2009
My Cubs
With the baseball season quickly approaching, and being a continuously disappointed Cubs fan year in year out, I felt it necessary to talk about the top 6 disappointments I have experienced. I know, it seems that every year has some kind of major disappointment with the Cubs, but I will be the first to admit that some years I fully expect them to be crappy. Needless to say, those years probably won't make this list. This list will only feature events that have happened in my lifetime. As much of a disappointment 1969 was, I cannot put that on here because I didn't experience it.
6. 1998: Kerry Wood was a rookie in 1998 and was coming off a Rookie of the Year win and, in my opinion, the greatest pitched game I have ever seen 
when he struck out 20, walked none, and gave only 1 hit. But the playoffs were a different story. The Cubs had to beat the Giants on a play-in game just to be the wild card that year. They wound up drawing the Atlanta Braves that year and faced, in order, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux in the the playoffs. In hindsight, this doesn't sound like too much of a disappointment. Actually, during the regular season the Cubs had a winning record against the Braves and my opinion at the time, a better team. Needless to say, the Braves swept the Cubs in 3 games with only one of them being remotely close.
when he struck out 20, walked none, and gave only 1 hit. But the playoffs were a different story. The Cubs had to beat the Giants on a play-in game just to be the wild card that year. They wound up drawing the Atlanta Braves that year and faced, in order, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux in the the playoffs. In hindsight, this doesn't sound like too much of a disappointment. Actually, during the regular season the Cubs had a winning record against the Braves and my opinion at the time, a better team. Needless to say, the Braves swept the Cubs in 3 games with only one of them being remotely close. 5. 1989: In 1989, the Cubs had a great duo of rookies in Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith, who finished first and second in the Rookie of the Year voting, respectively. If you couple this with Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux, and Mark Grace, you had the makings of a really big season. They seemed to breeze through the season only to meet the San Fransisco Giants in the playoffs. They probably would have been OK if anyone other than Will Clark was playing first base for the G-men. He batted .650 with 2 HR's and 8 RBI in the series and completely took the wind of the sails for the Cubs.
4. 2007: This was a strange matchup because the Cubs SHOULD have played the Phillies since they were both division winners and the D-backs SHOULD have played the Rockies since that would have been a 1-seed against the wild card. But since divisional teams can't meet in the first round, the Cubs had to play the D-backs. The Cubs had an OK team this year and I really didn't expect them to make the playoffs but they got really hot at the end of the year and headed to the playoffs with a lot of momentum. But the lack of offense from the Cubs finally caught up to them and they got completely shut down by the D-backs. The only positive from this series was that Geovany Soto used this as his coming out party and it propelled him to a Rookie of the Year campaign the following year.
3. 2008: Here are where the fun ones begin. 2008 was a year that marked a century since the Cubs last won a world series. That's right, 100 years! So coming off of a good campaign in '07, everyone thought the Cubs would finally get that title. Almost for the entire season, the Cubs had the best record in the major leagues. They won 97 games and had all of the cylinders hitting for the entire season. The starting pitching was great, the bullpen was lights out, the lineup was extremely productive. But just as they did in '07, they completely pissed down their legs in the playoffs. Watching them in the regular season was a complete joy. Conversely, I could not bear to watch them in the playoffs because they could barely hit the ball out of the infield. The Cubs had only one less hit in the series than the Dodgers but had FOURTEEN (14) fewer runs. Let me say that again, one less hit and FOURTEEN fewer runs. Talk about a complete lack of focus. This series made me so extremely disappointed that I swore I would not watch them in the playoffs until they actually win a playoff game. Now we all know that's a lie but that's what I felt.
2. 1984: Before the ball rolled through Bill Buckner's legs for th
e Red Sox, Leon Durham thought that actually catching a softly hit ground ball with runners on base would have been right thing to do. Unfortunately, his body did the opposite and he did not catch the ball and the Padres wound up winning the game and the series. The Cubs were up 2-0 in a best of 5 series only to lose three straight (that happens frequently with them). They had a great team of Sandberg, Jody Davis, Ron Cey, Gary Matthews, Rick Sutcliffe, Bob Dernier, and Lee Smith. They simply should have won this series. I will give great credit to Steve Garvey for batting .400 and knocking in 7 RBI. But the Cubs collapsed big time on this one. At the time, they hadn't been to the playoffs in over 40 years. This should have been the one and it wasn't. F'n Leon Durham!
e Red Sox, Leon Durham thought that actually catching a softly hit ground ball with runners on base would have been right thing to do. Unfortunately, his body did the opposite and he did not catch the ball and the Padres wound up winning the game and the series. The Cubs were up 2-0 in a best of 5 series only to lose three straight (that happens frequently with them). They had a great team of Sandberg, Jody Davis, Ron Cey, Gary Matthews, Rick Sutcliffe, Bob Dernier, and Lee Smith. They simply should have won this series. I will give great credit to Steve Garvey for batting .400 and knocking in 7 RBI. But the Cubs collapsed big time on this one. At the time, they hadn't been to the playoffs in over 40 years. This should have been the one and it wasn't. F'n Leon Durham!1. 2003: Here we go...5 outs away, Prior on the hill, Cubs in the lead...then it happened. I'm not going to say that Steve Bartman cost the Cubs the game because any fan would
have attempted to catch that foul ball. But the fact that happened causing Alou not to catch the ball which gave the Marlins another chance completely shifted the landscape of that game. The very next batter hit a (very) soft ground ball to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who during the regular season committed only 9 errors. Just as Leon Durham did 19 years before, Gonzo booted the ball and allowed the go-ahead run to come in and score. The next night Kerry Wood was pitching and one could just feel that things weren't right. Forget the fact that Wood and Prior hadn't lost back to back games all year. Something just didn't sit right that night and you could just feel that every time the Cubs did something positive, like Wood hitting a HR, the Marlins would counter. Sure enough, the Marlins won the decisive game 7 in Wrigley and danced their way to a series title over the Yankees. Did I mention that the Cubs had a 3-0 lead in the best of 7 series and wound up losing 4 straight? I told you it was a common theme. Words cannot begin to describe the disappointment I felt after both games 6 and 7. I'd like to think that as a somewhat intelligent adult, I wouldn't get too caught up in the emotional impact of a loss, but 2003 was painful. 5 outs...
have attempted to catch that foul ball. But the fact that happened causing Alou not to catch the ball which gave the Marlins another chance completely shifted the landscape of that game. The very next batter hit a (very) soft ground ball to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who during the regular season committed only 9 errors. Just as Leon Durham did 19 years before, Gonzo booted the ball and allowed the go-ahead run to come in and score. The next night Kerry Wood was pitching and one could just feel that things weren't right. Forget the fact that Wood and Prior hadn't lost back to back games all year. Something just didn't sit right that night and you could just feel that every time the Cubs did something positive, like Wood hitting a HR, the Marlins would counter. Sure enough, the Marlins won the decisive game 7 in Wrigley and danced their way to a series title over the Yankees. Did I mention that the Cubs had a 3-0 lead in the best of 7 series and wound up losing 4 straight? I told you it was a common theme. Words cannot begin to describe the disappointment I felt after both games 6 and 7. I'd like to think that as a somewhat intelligent adult, I wouldn't get too caught up in the emotional impact of a loss, but 2003 was painful. 5 outs... Wednesday, March 4, 2009
My job search
As some of you may know, I am currently unemployed. Well, I sort of am working for a startup business opening at the end of the month but I haven't gotten paid yet. So I guess that doesn't really count. In my time of being unemployed, I have had a lot of time to think about how to attack my job search. I found out VERY quickly that my current job search is not like any other job search I have ever done. Below are the 6 biggest observations from my job search.
6. My degree stinks!: After I got out of the military, I went back to college to finish my degree in exercise science. I did this because I absolutely love fitness and thought that after a bruising time in the military, I deserved to do something I loved. It is awfully nice to go to work in sneakers every day and not have to worry about ironing that tie crumpled up on the floor of my closet. But at the same time, I'm finding out that in our current economical situation, my degree may as well be a BA in history, or art, or Indonesian anthropology. My degree is not what people look for right now regardless of what my experience is. I guess I should have listened to my dad, again, when he said he didn't think this was the right move to make.
5. Job search engines stink!: Currently there are 3.8 job seekers for every job opening in our country. So when a job is posted on a job search engine, every flippin person with a resume applies for it. So what happens is recruiters get tied up in hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. Basically, my application turns into a needle in the haystack of everyone else's application. Also, I'm finding out that job search engines, I'm talking to you indeed.com, absolutely love health care. I'M NOT IN HEALTH CARE! If my wife was looking for a job, it would be no problem. Grrrrrrrrr!
4. My experience: My biggest problem that I am realizing I have is that I have a ton of work experiences from a lot of different backgrounds. Because of this, it is hard for me to come across as an "expert" on a particular subject matter. I guess I could right up a few different resume's that each showcase me as an expert in a particular field, but who has time for that...wait don't answer that.
3. Unemployment pay: This could be seen one of two ways. I could look at it as a huge blessing in that I am getting free money. Because it is a set amount per week, it is extremely easy to budget and I am really not in any dire straits financially because of this. On the other hand, because of this great comfort, it limits the job search a little bit. I have passed up on a couple of jobs because they didn't pay as much as unemployment does. While these particular jobs didn't pay a whole lot now, they could in the future if I stayed there long enough. But with my family, that a risk I'd rather not take.
2. My computer stinks!: I need a new computer. The more I am doing on it now, the more I realize that it is holding me back. The only problem with that is that I just paid off a ton of credit card debt and am simply unwilling to use that credit...EVER! So, until I get another good job, I'm stuck with this piece of crap.
1. The search stinks!: I'm a worker. I was a worker before the military, during the military, and after. I need to be working. The problem with that is that I am currently not working. There are a lot of emotional problems that go with this that I might get into some other time but not having a job stinks. If you are reading this and you have a job, or better yet, a career, feel blessed. You could be one of the millions of Americans like me who don't. It will get better and I will continue to have a positive spirit (that's who I am).
6. My degree stinks!: After I got out of the military, I went back to college to finish my degree in exercise science. I did this because I absolutely love fitness and thought that after a bruising time in the military, I deserved to do something I loved. It is awfully nice to go to work in sneakers every day and not have to worry about ironing that tie crumpled up on the floor of my closet. But at the same time, I'm finding out that in our current economical situation, my degree may as well be a BA in history, or art, or Indonesian anthropology. My degree is not what people look for right now regardless of what my experience is. I guess I should have listened to my dad, again, when he said he didn't think this was the right move to make.
5. Job search engines stink!: Currently there are 3.8 job seekers for every job opening in our country. So when a job is posted on a job search engine, every flippin person with a resume applies for it. So what happens is recruiters get tied up in hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. Basically, my application turns into a needle in the haystack of everyone else's application. Also, I'm finding out that job search engines, I'm talking to you indeed.com, absolutely love health care. I'M NOT IN HEALTH CARE! If my wife was looking for a job, it would be no problem. Grrrrrrrrr!
4. My experience: My biggest problem that I am realizing I have is that I have a ton of work experiences from a lot of different backgrounds. Because of this, it is hard for me to come across as an "expert" on a particular subject matter. I guess I could right up a few different resume's that each showcase me as an expert in a particular field, but who has time for that...wait don't answer that.
3. Unemployment pay: This could be seen one of two ways. I could look at it as a huge blessing in that I am getting free money. Because it is a set amount per week, it is extremely easy to budget and I am really not in any dire straits financially because of this. On the other hand, because of this great comfort, it limits the job search a little bit. I have passed up on a couple of jobs because they didn't pay as much as unemployment does. While these particular jobs didn't pay a whole lot now, they could in the future if I stayed there long enough. But with my family, that a risk I'd rather not take.
2. My computer stinks!: I need a new computer. The more I am doing on it now, the more I realize that it is holding me back. The only problem with that is that I just paid off a ton of credit card debt and am simply unwilling to use that credit...EVER! So, until I get another good job, I'm stuck with this piece of crap.
1. The search stinks!: I'm a worker. I was a worker before the military, during the military, and after. I need to be working. The problem with that is that I am currently not working. There are a lot of emotional problems that go with this that I might get into some other time but not having a job stinks. If you are reading this and you have a job, or better yet, a career, feel blessed. You could be one of the millions of Americans like me who don't. It will get better and I will continue to have a positive spirit (that's who I am).
Sunday, March 1, 2009
My Hometown
You may have noticed that I was absent this past week. Last Wednesday, I took my family to the great metropolitan Quad Cities for a mini-vacation. That's right, I voluntarily went to Iowa for a vacation in February. Don't ask me why, it's a long story. Fortunately I get to make up for it in April when I go to Cancun. While in Iowa, I was reminded on numerous occasions just why I don't live there anymore, thus the inspiration for today's list.
6. My friends: The close friends that I still talk to are all gone. There still remains a couple of people there that I would happily get together with, but for the most part, they have all gone away and spread themselves across the country. I completely understand why as the next 5 reasons will explain.
5. Too cold: As I have gotten older, my tolerance for snot freezing cold weather has gotten lower and lower. I simply cannot stand the ice cold weather there. And it wasn't even that cold this past week. It's just colder than what it is in Louisville. Ugh, I need to move to Arizona.
4. No jobs: Because I am currently at a crossroads in my professional life, I notice the job outlook in various places. The great city of Davenport currently has a pretty crappy outlook on the employment front. Then again, so does everywhere else. But it seems to glare at me everytime I go there whether I have a job or not.
3. Western Davenport: Holy cow! I drive through the West end of the city and it looks vacant. Businesses are closed, people are moving, and my great alma mater is a joke. It seems to get worse and worse every time I go there.
2. Parks: Living in Louisville, I have grown accustomed to great parks. I'm serious, if you ever get the chance to come to Louisville, the parks here are one of the few reasons why I love this place (notice I said few). When I go to my hometown, the parks stink. There is one really good park in the entire place and that is in Bettendorf. Outside of that, the playgrounds are old and dirty and I feel I need to give my kids a tetanus shot when they are done. And outside of Scott County Park, there is really no place to go for walks. As someone with a couple of boys that love going to parks, I got to say Davenport stinks.
1. It's depressing: Whenever I drive around the city, a sudden depression comes over me. I"m not sure if it's just one of the previous reasons or a combination of all, but whenever I come there, I can't wait go get back home. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love to visit my wonderful family and friends, but outside of that, I have absolutely no reason to go there. Oh well, it's like the saying goes, you can never home.
6. My friends: The close friends that I still talk to are all gone. There still remains a couple of people there that I would happily get together with, but for the most part, they have all gone away and spread themselves across the country. I completely understand why as the next 5 reasons will explain.
5. Too cold: As I have gotten older, my tolerance for snot freezing cold weather has gotten lower and lower. I simply cannot stand the ice cold weather there. And it wasn't even that cold this past week. It's just colder than what it is in Louisville. Ugh, I need to move to Arizona.
4. No jobs: Because I am currently at a crossroads in my professional life, I notice the job outlook in various places. The great city of Davenport currently has a pretty crappy outlook on the employment front. Then again, so does everywhere else. But it seems to glare at me everytime I go there whether I have a job or not.
3. Western Davenport: Holy cow! I drive through the West end of the city and it looks vacant. Businesses are closed, people are moving, and my great alma mater is a joke. It seems to get worse and worse every time I go there.
2. Parks: Living in Louisville, I have grown accustomed to great parks. I'm serious, if you ever get the chance to come to Louisville, the parks here are one of the few reasons why I love this place (notice I said few). When I go to my hometown, the parks stink. There is one really good park in the entire place and that is in Bettendorf. Outside of that, the playgrounds are old and dirty and I feel I need to give my kids a tetanus shot when they are done. And outside of Scott County Park, there is really no place to go for walks. As someone with a couple of boys that love going to parks, I got to say Davenport stinks.
1. It's depressing: Whenever I drive around the city, a sudden depression comes over me. I"m not sure if it's just one of the previous reasons or a combination of all, but whenever I come there, I can't wait go get back home. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love to visit my wonderful family and friends, but outside of that, I have absolutely no reason to go there. Oh well, it's like the saying goes, you can never home.
Monday, February 23, 2009
My workout songs
For those of you who know me, you know that I love exercising and working out. After all, that is my chosen profession. You also know that I love music. Go ahead and blame my 9 siblings, but I grew up with an appreciation to good music. If you combine these two loves, you get my workout playlist. These songs are essential to my workout. If I am having a bad day, bad workout, or simply need a quick pick me up in the middle of a 4 mile jog, once I hear these songs I am good to go. Please keep in mind that this is a WORKOUT playlist. You will not be seeing Dave Matthews, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, or Prince. While those guys are on my list of favorite musicians, it's kind of hard to get fired up listening to Purple Rain or Wind Cries Mary.
6. "Orion" - Metallica: This list would be incredibly incomplete if I didn't put any Metallic
a on it. It's kind of hard to choose from all of the Metallica anthems but I had to go with Orion. This 8 minute instrumental is pure genius. The song has more build ups and explosions than any song I know. While it may not be my favorite song in the Metallica catalog, it is my favorite song to work out to.5. "Till I Collapse" - Eminem: That's right, I am a bit of an Eminem homer. His songs are so aggressive that they simply have to get on this list. This particular song is features Nate Dogg and the lyrics are incredible. The song starts out with this great motivational message:
'Cause sometimes you feel tired,
feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.
I"m a sucker for motivational lines and this gets me every time I hear it. Good stuff. By the way, this will not be Eminem's last entry on the list.
4. "Hell Yeah" - Rev Theory: This is a fairly new song and new band but they have rock
eted to the top of my list with incredibly high tempo song. I can't help but get hyped when I hear this going. I also can't help but think of Stone Cold Steve Austin when I hear it, which is another good motivator.
eted to the top of my list with incredibly high tempo song. I can't help but get hyped when I hear this going. I also can't help but think of Stone Cold Steve Austin when I hear it, which is another good motivator. 3. "Lose Yourself" - Eminem: Not only is this song on my top 6 workout songs, it's probably on my top 6 songs of all time, period. I know I will take a lot of flack from various family members for that one, but this song lights me up every time I hear it. The song came out when I got out of the navy. I was taking a big chance getting out and I had a lot riding on my decision to go back to college. This song features this great motivational line:
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Eminem may have a lot of faults in his personal life and he may have some songs that talk negative about a number of topics. But the guy is a lyrical mastermind and knows how to get his message out.
2. "Paradise City" - Guns N Roses: Simply a ridiculous song. Whenever I hear this song, I envision (a younger) Axl Rose stomping across the stage, Slash wailing away on his L
es Paul, Steven Adler smiling and pounding the tar out of his drums, and Duff and Izzy stoicly playing backup. The song was written as an ode to the city of Los Angeles when GNR was on their first road trip to Seattle. The trip didn't go well and they lost all of their gear, but it produced this magical song that will forever be tied to my workouts.
es Paul, Steven Adler smiling and pounding the tar out of his drums, and Duff and Izzy stoicly playing backup. The song was written as an ode to the city of Los Angeles when GNR was on their first road trip to Seattle. The trip didn't go well and they lost all of their gear, but it produced this magical song that will forever be tied to my workouts. 1. "Break Stuff" - Limp Bizkit: I am not a big Limp Bizkit fan. They were not very creative and had a very short window. Fortunately, they made this unbelievable song that makes me want to jump through the roof every time I hear it. It doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in. Listening to this song, especially in the gym, will get me completely wired. Absolutely insane. If I were a UFC fighter or a boxer, this song would be my entrance song. I know putting any Limp Bizkit song on top of any list is a little strange, but believe me when I say that once you hear this song, you will understand. Oh, and if / when you hear this for the first time, try not to get too offended by the "F" bombs being dropped.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
My world
For those of you that don't know me too well, I was in the Navy for six years. During those six years, I was blessed to travel around in a 600 foot gray floating dumpster for days, weeks, even months on end. My first deployment in 2000 (pre-911) was basically a humanitarian cruise showcasing our ship and maintaining peace throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The second was in 2002 (post-911) and we actually had to work for 7 months. At one point we were at sea for over 90 consecutive days. In these deployments, I was able to see many places that I probably will never visit again. If you couple this with where I've been on my own travels, I would consider myself moderately traveled. Below is a list of the top places I've been on this world. Keep in mind it will probably change once I go to Cancun in April.
6. Rota / Malaga, Spain: Spain was absolutely beautiful. I absolutely loved Spain and the fact that I could use what I remembered from 4 years of Spanish classes in high school definitely helped my time there. Rota will most be remembered because that is the checkpoint we always stopped at upon getting to the Med. Sea. Rota was a tiny town but had this great Irish bar that me and my friends would go to and play checkers, darts, and drink. The only problem with Spain was that the portions of food were tiny. I always left hungry. Oh well, the price of beer more than made up for it.
5. Split, Croatia: At the time we visited Croatia, I was told we were only the second U.S. Navy ship to go there. The city welcomed us with open arms. I guess they didn't realize the squids would come in and take over the town for a few days. The town was amazing and we realized we weren't in Kansas anymore when we saw a U.N. vehicle blown up on the side of the road. Just a little scary. But again, the beer was cheap and the food was good.
4. Seychelles: This is a group of islands off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean just south of the equator (that's right, I'm a shellback). The island we went to was a resort island and we were there for 2 days. Of those days, I was in a hotel for both. The water was warm, clean, and beautiful. The only problem here is that it was a place where a lot of extremel wealthy people traveled so everything was extremely high priced. I paid $8 for a beer and $10 for a hamburger. It would have ranked higher if not for the empty wallet I had when I left.
3. Nassau, Bahamas: This place was absolutely amazing. I could not find anything wrong with this destination. My fondest memory of here was walking from the ship to Paradice Island with an open bottle of local rum and having a steady diet of said rum throughout the stay. This is also where I blew out my eardrum when I got swept under a wave. It's a little strange to have blood coming out of the ear and not being able to hear for a few days. This is also where I got to see way too much of one of the girls I worked with at the time when she showed up at the beach in a swimsuit...um...how can I say this...with a little extra hair. Not a pleasant moment. But that did not take away from the beauty of the island.
2. Rome, Italy: Up to this point, every visit was pretty fun and care free. But my visit to Rome obviously was a little different as I got to visit the Vatican. Touring through St. Peter's Cathedral was something I will never ever forget. I actually got to travel the spiral staircase all the way to the top of the cathedral and look out to the whole city. Simply amazing and breathtaking. I only had one complaint here though. While walking through Rome seeing the Vatican, the ancient ruins, the Roman Coliseum, and back to the train, I must have walked about twenty miles. The following morning, my feet were so blistered I couldn't even put on shoes. Needless to say I turned down a trip to go back to the Vatican. What I missed that day was the Pope giving mass. An amazing event that I found out after everyone got back to the ship. Oh well.
1. Israel: This is another place that is on the list because of things other than drinking and fun. While in Israel, I got to visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Jerusalum, the Wailing Wall, and was able to see where Jesus is burried. Talk about life changing. Words cannot describe how much this visit meant to me as a person and as a Christian. I have said on numerous occasions that the highlight for me was the Wailing Wall. To see the impact this had on people's lives was simply breathtaking. If you are unsure of what this wall is, I highly advise you to google it. This visit was the highlight of my deployment and ranks as one of the top 6 moments of my life.
6. Rota / Malaga, Spain: Spain was absolutely beautiful. I absolutely loved Spain and the fact that I could use what I remembered from 4 years of Spanish classes in high school definitely helped my time there. Rota will most be remembered because that is the checkpoint we always stopped at upon getting to the Med. Sea. Rota was a tiny town but had this great Irish bar that me and my friends would go to and play checkers, darts, and drink. The only problem with Spain was that the portions of food were tiny. I always left hungry. Oh well, the price of beer more than made up for it.
5. Split, Croatia: At the time we visited Croatia, I was told we were only the second U.S. Navy ship to go there. The city welcomed us with open arms. I guess they didn't realize the squids would come in and take over the town for a few days. The town was amazing and we realized we weren't in Kansas anymore when we saw a U.N. vehicle blown up on the side of the road. Just a little scary. But again, the beer was cheap and the food was good.
4. Seychelles: This is a group of islands off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean just south of the equator (that's right, I'm a shellback). The island we went to was a resort island and we were there for 2 days. Of those days, I was in a hotel for both. The water was warm, clean, and beautiful. The only problem here is that it was a place where a lot of extremel wealthy people traveled so everything was extremely high priced. I paid $8 for a beer and $10 for a hamburger. It would have ranked higher if not for the empty wallet I had when I left.
3. Nassau, Bahamas: This place was absolutely amazing. I could not find anything wrong with this destination. My fondest memory of here was walking from the ship to Paradice Island with an open bottle of local rum and having a steady diet of said rum throughout the stay. This is also where I blew out my eardrum when I got swept under a wave. It's a little strange to have blood coming out of the ear and not being able to hear for a few days. This is also where I got to see way too much of one of the girls I worked with at the time when she showed up at the beach in a swimsuit...um...how can I say this...with a little extra hair. Not a pleasant moment. But that did not take away from the beauty of the island.
2. Rome, Italy: Up to this point, every visit was pretty fun and care free. But my visit to Rome obviously was a little different as I got to visit the Vatican. Touring through St. Peter's Cathedral was something I will never ever forget. I actually got to travel the spiral staircase all the way to the top of the cathedral and look out to the whole city. Simply amazing and breathtaking. I only had one complaint here though. While walking through Rome seeing the Vatican, the ancient ruins, the Roman Coliseum, and back to the train, I must have walked about twenty miles. The following morning, my feet were so blistered I couldn't even put on shoes. Needless to say I turned down a trip to go back to the Vatican. What I missed that day was the Pope giving mass. An amazing event that I found out after everyone got back to the ship. Oh well.
1. Israel: This is another place that is on the list because of things other than drinking and fun. While in Israel, I got to visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Jerusalum, the Wailing Wall, and was able to see where Jesus is burried. Talk about life changing. Words cannot describe how much this visit meant to me as a person and as a Christian. I have said on numerous occasions that the highlight for me was the Wailing Wall. To see the impact this had on people's lives was simply breathtaking. If you are unsure of what this wall is, I highly advise you to google it. This visit was the highlight of my deployment and ranks as one of the top 6 moments of my life.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My Cars
I have had a total of 6 cars in my life. Quite a coincidence, huh? Although I haven't always been nice to my cars, I have loved every one of them. Below is my ranking of the cars and my thoughts/feelings toward each one.
6. 1989 Ford Tempo: This thing was a beautiful piece of automotive craftsmanship. From the sever hail damage on the body to the thing just dying for no apparant reason, thing car had American inginuity written all over it. This was my second car and my first manual transmission. I remember the day I got it and asking my dad if he could teach me to drive stick and he gave me the keys and told me no. Thanks Dad. But I did learn on my own and after having the car for about 2 years, I crashed it into a telephone pole. Fun stuff.
5. 1998 Ford Taurus: This brown beauty was what I traded in my Jeep for after my first child was born. My wife and I (regretfully) decided that a Jeep was too unsafe to drive my newborn in so we got this turd on wheels. Once again the folks at Ford proved to me what a dud they made and it is because of this and car #6 why I will never own a Ford again.
4. 1987 El Camino: Holy cow, this thing was the reason my girlfriend, now my wife, was embarassed to be seen with me. I absolutely loved the thing and thoug
ht it was a nice ride but I have to rank it low on the list because of the embarassement it brought her. Towards the end of the car's life, it did have some issues though, even though it had over 160,000 miles. The rear brakes didn't exist, the electric windows did not roll down, the heater didn't work, and the stearing column moved around in about a 6 inch radius. The kicker though was that I had to peel the window tinting off which left a film on the windows. This film was an open invitation for anyone riding in the car to scribble their name or whatever dirty picture came to mind on that window. Classy.
ht it was a nice ride but I have to rank it low on the list because of the embarassement it brought her. Towards the end of the car's life, it did have some issues though, even though it had over 160,000 miles. The rear brakes didn't exist, the electric windows did not roll down, the heater didn't work, and the stearing column moved around in about a 6 inch radius. The kicker though was that I had to peel the window tinting off which left a film on the windows. This film was an open invitation for anyone riding in the car to scribble their name or whatever dirty picture came to mind on that window. Classy. 3. 1983 Buick Skyhawk Stationwagon: This was my first car. My dad told me what I was a kid that he would match whatever I had saved for a car. Well, I saved about $700, he matched, and this was the best he could find. Granted he didn't have to look very far because it was for sale in the parking lot of The Rusty Nail. But I got this car and drove it proudly because at least I had a car. At the time, nothing else mattered. Unfortunately things did not turn out well for this car as I ran a stop sign and crashed it into another car. Not a very good day for me as a 16 year old kid as I watched several people, including a couple of friends, go to the hospital because of my bonehead actions. On a lighter note, the thing had a killer sound system.
2. 1998 Jeep Wrangler: This was the first car that I actually bought. The story goes that I was living in Virginia Beach without my wife while in the Navy. I went car shopping, without my wife, and saw the car I've always wanted. I bought the car, without my wife, and absolutely loved driving it to the Outer Banks and through VB with the top off. Then my wife visited me...SURPRISE! She did not get outwardly mad at me but I knew she wasn't happy. In time though she grew to love the vehicle. I loved the car and wish I still had it but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Oh well, with the way gas prices were last year, I probably would have traded in anyway.
1. 2002 Honda Accord: Flashy? No. Sporty? No. Reliable? Yes. Paid For? YES, YES, YES! Sorry if those yesses sounded a bit orgasmic but it really is quite a good feeling to know that I finally own a car that is completely paid for. Sure it took to me when I'm 33, but I own it and I am not making any payments on it. As the great Ric Flair would say, "WOOOOOOOO!" I currently have about 143,000 miles on this beast and it still rides just as good now as it did 100,000 miles ago. The only maintenance I have performed on this car is changed the tires, front brakes, and oil regularly. Nothing else. I love this car. I plan on driving it until it dies. If it goes to 1,000,000 miles, great. I'm driving it because I enjoy not having a car payment and I enjoy having a car that gets me to where I need to go without any hassle getting there. Great car! 
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My Childhood Movies
I am a child of the 80's and early 90's. Yes, I got to see first hand the transition from where rock stars wore eyeliner, hairspray, and sang about how great their life was to where they didn't shower, wore nothing but flannel, and sang about how crappy their life was. There will be lists for that type of stuff too. During my wonder years, I saw a lot of movies. After all, it was the time were VHS beat out beta in the battle of VCR's. This list will consist of my favorite movies from this time period which for the purposes of this article will be from 1980 to 1990. Anything before '80 I was too young for, although I have a great apreciation for now, and anything after '90 was in more my middle to late teens and really didn't have much influence on my life.
6. A Christmas Story: We all know the famous line from this movie. Every time my 
child asks why he can't have a BB gun, I tell him in the voice we all know, "You'll shoot your eye out." This movie is so completely true when it comes to how children view Christmas time and the things that go on in a cold town in winter. Simply a classic!
child asks why he can't have a BB gun, I tell him in the voice we all know, "You'll shoot your eye out." This movie is so completely true when it comes to how children view Christmas time and the things that go on in a cold town in winter. Simply a classic! 5. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Admit it, Freddy Krueger scared the crap out of you. The first Elm Street movie absolutely freaked me out. Let's face it, a guy that is completely burned up that has knives as fingers is not exactly what you want to envision when going to sleep. Out of all of the horror movies that hit theaters in the 80's, that includes you Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, Freedy easily had the best. Besides, even DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were freaked out by him.
4. Fast Times at Ridgemont High: I will admit that when Fast Times originally came out, it was slightly over my head. It wasn't until my early teen years in the later 80's that I fully gained an apreciation for what this movie had to offer. That being said, Phoebe Cates will forever have a place in my heart, and other things, for her award winning role in this movie. Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Nicholas Cage, Eric Stoltz, and Anthony Edwards all had roles in this classic. Great cast, great story lines, and great movie.
3. Caddyshack: GREATEST SPORTS MOVIE EVER! Sure Hoosiers had a more se
ntimental story line and Rudy was more personal to me, and maybe the end of the movie didn't quite make sense because it actually ended in a tie, but this movie is 100% classic. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are absolutely brilliant. There are more one liners in this movie than I can get into now. Actually, that sounds like a great idea for another list. I've seen this movie more times than I know and still laugh at something new everytime.
ntimental story line and Rudy was more personal to me, and maybe the end of the movie didn't quite make sense because it actually ended in a tie, but this movie is 100% classic. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are absolutely brilliant. There are more one liners in this movie than I can get into now. Actually, that sounds like a great idea for another list. I've seen this movie more times than I know and still laugh at something new everytime. 2. The John Hughes Franchise (Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink): Wow. Simply amazing. That's right, one guy is responsible for all of those movies. For me it is completely impossible to rank those seperately since they are all in a class by themselves. I'm not even sure where to begin with this whole franchise. It gave Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Matthew Broderick, and countless others a name. To me, one phrase sums up all of these movies..."You mess with the bull, you get the horns."
1. Stand By Me: It's not too often that, as a man, I get warm fuzzies from a movie. Sure Rudy does it, and maybe Brian's Song. But Stand By Me makes me smile when I see it. We all had that group of friends when we were in our formative years that we always hung out with. We spent every single day together. Then as we got older, we kind of drifted apart just as they did at the end of the movie. This movie takes me to that time and to those friends. This is the only movie that seems to bring that childhood innocence out in me (even though I wasn't that innocent). I can still remember wanting to take walks on the railrood with my friends just as they did in the movie. We knew we weren't going to find a dead body, but we just wanted to do it simply because they did. Classic movie that makes me remember all the great times I had with my buddies growing up. I miss every one of them and am thankful this movie comes as a reminder to how great our childhood can be. 
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