Before I get to the reason for this post, I want to make a couple of admissions.
First, I am not a very good writer. (The fact that I've rewritten this post about a dozen times would be proof enough of this fact, at least in my mind.) It's not that I don't enjoy writing, I do. But when I sit down at my computer to compose a blog post, I get often get frustrated that the thoughts bouncing around in my skull do not end up coming out as I want them when I attempt to put them to paper (or in a blog post). And that bugs me and often keeps me from posting as often as I'd like to my blog.
Second, of the nearly 4000 songs in my iTunes library, I do not own one single Bruce Springsteen song. I love classic rock, but have never found Bruce's music to be enjoyable.
So when I read an essay such as this, by my favorite blogger, Joe Posnanski, I am both inspired and depressed. Reading this post makes me wish I had one-tenth the writing ability of Joe, but knowing I never will write this well is quite depressing. At the same time, I am inspired to keep trying to reach the bar that Joe has set so very high.
Joe is a guy who can take a topic with which I have no interest and keep me interested. I am jealous of his gift, yet am so very glad that he shares it with his readers. I have no idea how the guy can make me cry with a topic as simple as a Bruce Springsteen song, but I am so very thankful that he did.
(And I may have to give Bruce another chance and buy one of his cds.)
____________________________________________________________
SONG: "The Promise" by Bruce Springsteen
CARD: 2010 Allen and Ginter Mini Luke Hochevar Yellow Printing Plate, serial numbered 1/1
A few years ago, my Grandma Eva began asking what items from her house we would like to have once she had died. While none of us were looking forward to that inevitable day, I believe it gave her comfort to know that some of her worldly possessions would be in the homes of her family.
The only item I asked my Grandma to give me was her dinning room table. Of all of her possessions, this one carried with it some of my fondest memories. In my mind, if I could no longer enjoy a home-cooked meal from my Grandma (man, that's a tough set of words to type out), then I want to forever be able to sit at the table where those meals were presented.
After Grandma passed away back in July, my wife and I stayed in Grandma's house the nights before and after her memorial service. It was a bittersweet night. It was tough because she was no longer there with us, but it was a very important way for me to cope with her death.
After Grandma's memorial service, my parents mentioned that my wife and I should take a few items home with us if we wanted. That night before bed we took a moment to look through the house and picked out a few items to take home with us.
First we selected a set of blue canisters. For as long as I can remember these four canisters sat on Grandma's kitchen counter holding her flour, sugar, and other cooking items.
We would later find out that these canisters were made by L.E. Smith and are quite the collector's items. Since we found these canisters, the wife and I have tracked down a few other L.E. Smith items, including these:
Another item I picked out that day was the candy jar that always sat upon Grandma and Grandpa's refrigerator. I always loved sticking my little arm deep inside this jar and pulling out a treat.
As you can see from this picture, this jar will continue to house my favorite candy treats.
When I went back to Colorado for Grandma's memorial service after her remains were cremated, the family spent a few hours at her house digging deep into her closets and cabinets and I discovered some other gems that I brought back to Nebraska to enjoy.
I added a few more glass items to our collection.
I also laid claim to this glass container that Grandma always kept vinegar in for use at the dinner table. Whenever Grandma made "California Blend" for dinner, I would douse the veggies in vinegar using this jar.
While digging through Grandma's bedroom closet, I stumbled upon this picture of her and her parents and siblings. I love this picture and will display it proudly. Grandma Eva is in the center of the back row.
I also found this electric football game in her basement. I found out that my father and his brothers would spend hours playing this game when they were kids. My Dad said that the only thing missing from the game was the piece of metal that was used to kick field goals. It will look so cool in my "man cave".
Finally, my sister and I found this notebook in Grandma's kitchen. Inside it were pages and pages of hand-written recipes. What an amazing piece of family history. I can't wait to recreate some of the foods for which Grandma was so famous.
Grandma Eva was not a wealthy person, but being able to have some of her possessions in my house is more than priceless. These items would be worthless to anyone who was unfortunate enough to have known her, but to me they contain a lifetime's worth of memories.
Based on your love of theater in high school, did you ever consider doing something professionally in that area?
When I was in elementary school, I was certain I was going to be in the NBA. I spent hours at the basketball court across from my house practicing to become the next John Stockton. My friends and I would spend hours having dunk contests on their back yard basketball hoops. Our junior high basketball team was pretty good.
Then came my freshman year of high school and everyone around me got taller while I remained short and skinny. Everyone became faster, stronger, and better than me in sports. This was a very unwelcome wake-up call to me that my dream of playing professional basketball would remain just that, a dream.
During my sophomore year, on a whim, I auditioned for the school drama club Fall production of M*A*S*H. I had no illusions of getting a role. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I hoped that I was rooting that I wouldn't get a role. I am pretty sure that I only auditioned because my cousin Brian was trying out and I was with him at the time. Yet, for some reason, the drama teacher cast me in one of the lead roles as Hawkeye Pierce.
And somehow I was good. And I loved being on stage. I loved getting laughs. I loved the costumes and learning lines and rehearsing with my friends. I especially loved being able to escape and hide behind all of the characters I played on stage.
As high school progressed and I still wasn't growing as quickly as my peers, I found that in drama, my size and speed and strength were irrelevant. I found that I had a previously undiscovered knack for theater. And my insecurities were dulled with this success. On stage, my wise-ass, theatrical, do-anything-for-a-laugh personality was not only encouraged, but I received praise and accolades. It was a win-win situation.
The summer before my senior year of high school, my friend Brad and I put together an improv/variety show with members of our community. As much as I loved scripted drama and comedy, I really found my wheel-house with improvisational comedy. I loved thinking quickly on my feet. I loved being able to showcase my wit and sense of humor without being restricted by a script (even though I would often go off script during drama productions just for fun and to see how my co-actors would react). We continued our improv acting in college when we put together a show with some fellow thespians. It was great fun and my love for getting a laugh never waned, even though it would end up being my last stage performance.
Yet in all of those years, it never occurred to me that I might be a wise decision to try to earn a living in theater after college. As with sports, acting was always just something fun for me to do. So while I still enjoy comedy, going to the theater for the occasional performance, and might dabble in community theater sometime down the road, I am certain that I'll never have the drive or ambition necessary to do it professionally.
Public Service Announcement commercials;
Jillian Michaels;
press conferences;
flavored iced tea;
sweet tea;
Allison Krauss;
the phrase "on a scale of 1 to 10";
my alarm clock;
national holidays that fall on a Monday;
carrier pigeons;
the word "whom";
GoDaddy.com commercials (especially ones that star Danika Patrick);
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (especially Ty Pennington);
picking up Brodie's boom-booms;
one-word text messages;
ball-point pens;
Yoko Ono;
people who don't hate cancer enough;
exercising; 60 Minutes;
diet soda;
every other person in the grocery store;
GLEE;
humidity;
the "Green" movement;
Sean Hannity;
Keith Olberman;
facebook memes;
John Lennon's song "Imagine".
Things I really like a lot at this moment:
Chick McGee;
Dirty jokes;
Calvin and Hobbes comics;
Gold Bond Medicated Powder;
Movember;
Justin Timberlake on SNL;
buying polo shirts at thrift stores;
Chris Turkelton and Johnny Dorian;
Brodie eating watermelon;
iced tea;
home-made fruit pies;
pulled pork;
my snowblower;
eBay;
free golf;
Stana Katic;
shredding junk mail;
Modern Family;
Rob Huebel on Twitter;
Charlie Day;
comedy club names;
podcasts on my iPod;
Amazon.com's MP3 Daily Deal;
Tootsie Rolls;
when you go to a Hall and Oates Tribute Band concert and it turns out to actually be Hall and Oates;
President Obama hasn't quit smoking;
YouTube videos of puppies;
1980s Bobcat Goldthwait;
KC Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop;
former NBA player Mitch Kupchak;
Dr. Pepper; Yakity Sax;
the wagon my wife's draggin';
UFC;
poker;
"Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem w/ Rhianna;
Phil Dunphy quotes.
6:47 - 6:49 -- I finally awaken enough to get up and hit the snooze button. (Which means that the alarm has been repeatedly beeping for a solid 3+ minutes, which gives my wife an interesting soundtrack while she is getting ready for the day in her bathroom. If she ever gets around to murdering me, this will be one of the top reasons for doing so.)
6:50 - 7:10 -- repeatedly hit the snooze button, with the hope that the Rapture will occur during this time so I can skip work.
7:10 -- drag my lazy butt to the shower. During the shower, it is my hope that the Rapture will occur so that I can skip work.
7:20 - 7:40 -- eat breakfast, let the dog outside to do his business, stop the dog from eating students from the nearby high school, check my email/eBay/Facebook/Twitter, sync my iPod, all the while hoping for the Rapture.
7:40 -- fight rush hour traffic to work, flipping between AM radio stations hoping that one will announce the impending Rapture.
7:59 -- arrive at work. Resign myself to the fact that another Rapture-free day is upon me.
8:00 -- arrive at my desk. Spend the next five minutes shuffling papers, checking that my stapler is full, emptying my two-hole punch, etc.
8:05 - 10:59 -- wander around the office asking coworkers for work, especially work that is VERY time consuming and menial. Such work includes breaking down old files, shredding old paperwork, stuffing envelopes, making copies, putting together new file folders, and preparing mortgage files to be sent out via UPS. Occasionally I'll be sent downstairs to the bank to get cashier's checks and to pick up the mail. During this time I listen to the previous day's Dan Patrick Show podcast.
11:00 - 12:00 -- drive home for lunch. Let out the dog to do his business. Yell at him to stop sniffing the grass and to come inside. Listen to the Jim Rome Show. Eat lunch, check my email/eBay/Facebook/Twitter/blogs, sync my iPod, get the recently delivered mail, open any recently delivered packages containing baseball cards, log said cards into my Excel spreadsheet, talk to my friend Burt Near Denver about the Jim Rome Show via Twitter, grab a couple of sodas, and drive back to work.
12:00 - 5:00 -- repeat the morning routine, but this time I listen to today's podcast of the Bob and Tom Show and the previous day's Mike Rosen Show podcast.
5:00 -- fight rush hour traffic home.
5:15 -9:00ish -- make and eat dinner with the wife. Watch any newly arrived Netflix. Take an evening walk with the wife and the dog. Watch more Netflix and/or television.
9:00ish -- tuck the wife in as she goes to bed.
9:00ish - 11:00ish -- surf the web, monitor my email/eBay/Facebook/Twitter. Also, during this time I'll go outside and check for a blue moon. If I see one, I'll head back inside and write up a blog post.
11:00ish -- crash into the bedroom. Startle my wife out of her deep slumber. Assure her I'm not a killer. Let her curse at me for a minute or two. Fall asleep immediately.
At the Category Thirteen blog, my friend Joe listed the best nonfiction books he'd personally read. I love lists, and his list had no mention of Tom Wolfe, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents on the subject.
13) Give Me a Break -- John Stossel -- this book was my written introduction to "classical liberalism".
12) The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections -- Tom Brokaw -- really powerful collection of letters from WWII
11) The Life of Reilly -- Rick Reilly -- a great collection of Reilly's Sports Illustrated articles.
10) Tales from Q School -- John Feinstein -- Making this list reminded me of how many golf books by Feinstein I still need to read. The man is a machine, churning out at least one riveting sports book each year.
9) Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court -- John Wooden and Steve Jamison -- this book taught me more about being an effective teacher then I learned in five years of college.
8) Freakonomics -- Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt -- interesting book that challenges conventional wisdom.
7) Blind Side -- Michael Lewis -- much better than the movie (but aren't they all?).
6) Everything is Wrong with Me: A Memoir of an American Childhood Gone, Well, Wrong -- Jason Mulgrew -- funny memoir written by one of my favorite bloggers.
5) Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test -- Tom Wolfe -- the second best book I was assigned to read in college.
4) The New New Thing -- Michael Lewis -- the best book I was assigned to read in college
3) Who's Your Caddy -- Rick Reilly -- the funniest sports book I've ever read.
2) Friday Night Lights -- H.G. Bissinger -- hands down, the best sports book I've ever read.
1) Mere Christianity -- C.S. Lewis -- my favorite book by my favorite author.
While surfing through Amazon as I was trying to jog my memory as to which books I've actually read in the past decade, I stumbled into tons of books that I really need to read. I think I'll order a few with the little bit of money I have leftover in my Amazon account from my birthday. I'll probably grab one of John Feinstein's many golf books that I've yet to read and I'll pick one from Joe's list. If I do so, I'll surpass my personal goal to read five books this year.
In 2001, I was a sophomore in junior college. One of the best parts about my two years in junior college was that two of my best friends were my roommates -- Brad my freshman year and Brian my sophomore year. One of the perks about having a life-long friend as your college roommate is that he is morally obligated to get you a birthday present. While I have no recollection of what Brad got me as a gift in 2000 (probably booze), I will never forget the gift I received from Brian.
Brian's grandmother (my great-aunt) and grandfather were Denver Bronco season ticket holders for as long as I can remember. I remember, when I was in elementary school, going with my dad, Brian, and Brian's dad to a Bronco game at Mile High Stadium. I have no memory of the game itself, just that the four of us went. Traveling to the big city of Denver was a rare occasion in my youth, and attending a Bronco game was even rarer.
So, imagine my surprise when Brian told me that he, along with my great aunt and another cousin, would be taking me to the Denver Broncos' season opener for that season. Not only that, but this game would be the first game played in the new Mile High at Invesco Field. And, to top it all off, this game would be the first Monday Night game of the NFL season. What a great present.
My memories of that night include:
The atmosphere at the stadium was electric. People were excited to get inside and see the new field. At the gate, we received a commemorative ticket lanyard and bought a commemorative Game Day program (both of which I still have, boxed up somewhere in my garage). On the way through the stadium corridor we saw one of the Bronco cheerleaders talking to fans and signing autographs. So, of course we ran over and got our tickets signed.
The stadium was beautiful and the seats were amazing. We were on the north 40 yard line on the visitor's side of the field, about 15 rows up. Outstanding seats. (Incidentally, years later my wife would get us tickets to the game through her work which were in the first row, and while being that close is pretty cool, it's actually not the best place to watch the game. You really need to be a bit higher to see the action on the field well.)
I remember that the Broncos were playing the NY Giants. I couldn't tell you what the final score was (I'm pretty sure the Giants won), and the only part of the game I still remember was the play when Eddie McCaffrey broke his leg. As I remember, it was a brutal hit and when Eddie didn't immediately pop up after the tackle and the stadium crew didn't replay the play on any of the screens in the stadium, I knew something bad had happened. I didn't actually see the play happen until a few years later when I looked it up on YouTube.
Not a ton of memories, but I know I had a great time. It was a night game, and Brian and I had class early the next day, so we didn't have the option of staying the night in Denver. Since our drive home was so late at night, the four of us spent the more than 3-hour drive home talking. I have no idea how the topic was brought up, but one of us asked my great aunt about Pearl Harbor (I imagine we were talking about movies and since the movie "Pearl Harbor" was released earlier in 2001, we asked her about it). I don't remember what she told us about it, just that we spoke about the topic for a little while.
I doubt that I'd have remembered half of this information as well as I do, but the next day, September 11, was (and always will be) my birthday. Brian and I followed our usual morning routine, with Brian awaking before me and showering, and once he was out of the shower, I showered. Brian would always turn on the television and watch the news as he got dressed and I can distinctly remember him telling me to come watch the television. This is what we saw:
As I sat down onto the bed and we watched the coverage about a plane that had crashed into the World Trade Center building, we witnessed the second plane fly into the second building live.
My memory of the rest of my birthday that day is fuzzy. I believe Brian and I went to a high school volleyball game to watch our sisters play and then had dinner with my parents at a Mexican restaurant. I'm pretty sure my parents gave me a television for us to use in our dorm room as a present. But other than those two facts, what would normally have been a happy occasion for me, instead became anything but happy.
So, each year, on September 10th, I fall asleep replaying that 24 hours over in my head, wondering why, of all the topics we could had talked about that night, we happened to talk about one attack on America just hours before another attack would occur. I know the two are unrelated, but my mind still wanders back to that night's events. Tomorrow morning, as America morns the horrible tragedy of that day, I will be celebrating the passing of another year of my life.
In the past couple of weeks, two of our best friends and their spouses had babies. The wife's best friend M and her husband M gave birth to little J.H. And my cousin B and his wife K had an early surprise when their son E.C. (also my initials. Coincidence? I think not.), was born a few weeks earlier then expected. Both parents are now home with their new sons, and everyone seems to be healthy, happy, and doing great. One of the hardest parts about being in another state is not being able to share in the joy of new babies in person. Pictures and phone calls are great, but it would be so much more fun to be there with them. And, while they never say it out loud, with the arrival of new babies in the family and friends circle, I'm sure many people are wondering why the wife and I are babyless (that's a word, right?).
In my circle of friends and family my age, I was one of the earliest to get married. And six great years later, I'm one of the last holdouts in the baby making category. So, why have we waited so long, and why are we planning on waiting even longer before we have kids? (I'll give my Mom a chance to pick herself off the floor after a panic-induced heart attack after the last part of that last sentence.) Four main reasons come to mind.
1) Financially speaking, we are not in a great place to have kids right now (and probably won't be for a couple of years).
Of the six years we've been married, we've only had one year where we were probably financially stable enough to consider having kids. When we first got married, I still had one year of school remaining, and the wife was just starting her job. We lived in a 1-bedroom apartment and drove less then reliable cars. Kids didn't make much financial sense. Year two I was starting a new job and we'd just bought a house. Kids still didn't make sense at the time. During year three we were a two income family with a house and two cars, so, financially speaking, we could have had kids and been fine. But we didn't (mostly because of the reasons explained below). Year four, with no kids, we decided that we were in a good place to be able to leave for law school, which bumped us back into the "it's not the wisest time to have kids financially speaking" category for three years. After law school, we'll (probably) be moving back to Colorado and reentering the job market, so it may be a few years before we're back to a financially stable situation.
2) We've never really had a long enough period of time of calm in our lives for the subject of having kids to make sense (or, life's stresses have always gotten in the way).
Year one was filled with learning how to be married, my finishing school, and the wife's new job stresses, so throwing the a kid into the mix would have been a big overload. Year two was filled with my being in survival mode as a first-year teacher (and the wife was overcome with the stress of being married to a first-year teacher. I think she got the tougher burden to carry that year.) and buying and fixing a house.
At the beginning of year three, we were in a less stressful phase of our lives, which lead to us getting a cat and a dog (usually the gateway drug for baby making). But, eventually the wife's job stagnated, so we spent a year preparing for law school, and goal number one of that preparation was staying baby free. The following couple of years were filled with the stresses of moving, law school, my new job, my being unemployed, my finding a great new job, etc. All of which would have been much more difficult with a child.
3) Married life without a kid is a ton of fun (or, less responsibility is a ton of fun).
One of my favorite comedians, John Heffron, has a bit about how he was at a point in his life where he had to choose between having a kid and buying a jet ski. And he chose the jet ski. At this point in my life, if I had to choose between having a kid and golf, baseball cards, nights at the ball park, weekly poker games, going out to eat as often as possible, spur of the moment trips/vacations, shopping sprees, hours on the couch watching tv and movies, blogging, etc., I'm going to pick the latter choices every time. Would it be possible to do those things with a child in our lives? Sure. But it is so much easier to do them, and to do them more often, without the child.
4) We're still relatively young and the so called "biological clock" hasn't really begun ticking.
Because we got married as youngsters, we were given a larger window in which we could have kids. We live in a time where it's not imperative to have kids at an early age. It's both scientifically possible and socially acceptable to have kids at an older age then ever before. My parents were both in their thirties when they had my brother. So the wife and I are in no hurry to have kids, biologically speaking.
With each passing year, the choice of having a kid becomes less and less appealing for many reasons, especially those listed above. Will we have kids in the future? More then likely. But right now (and for the next couple of years), it just doesn't make sense for us.
Well, technically, my 1st Blog-aversary isn't until the 18th, but being married to my wife for 6 years has corrupted me to the point that I can't wait until the actual day to open my presents.
Last year, around this time, I was chatting with Friar Tuck on Facebook and he suggested I start a blog. I told him that I'd started a blog a few years back, but, as with most of my childhood pets (frogs, lizards, turtles, etc.), I grew bored with it after a few weeks and my parents were forced to take care of it. Unfortunately, my parents didn't know the first thing about how to care for a blog, so they took it to a nice farm out in the country where it still lives to this day, right Mom?
Friar Tuck suggested that I give it another try. So, I reestablished "87 Murphy Squirrels" on August 19, 2009, with the following words:
It's finally time for me to get off the sidelines and finally put my opinions where people can read them, critique them, and challenge them. It is my plan to make a blog entry at least once a day.
I have enjoyed being able to use Facebook & Twitter status updates to express myself, but have always felt limited by space.
I also apply a heavy filter to my Twitter and Facebook writings due to the audience. I do not feel like alienating my friends and family by forcing my views/opinions/thoughts onto them via their news feed. I would rather have people show up on their own, when they want, and if they want.
So..............here goes nothing.
A year later, I feel I have accomplished everything I set out to accomplish with my blog. Over the past year I have written 160 blog posts (a bit shy of my idea to post daily, but not too bad). My blog has allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings about politics, movies, music, and golf. It has allowed me to brag about myself, my wife, and my dog. It has been an outlet for my frustrations, sadness, and anger.
I tend to have obscure hobbies and interests (i.e. baseball cards, golf club building, eclectic music, among others), and writing in my blog allows me to explore those topics in my own way (and hopefully educate others about the things that I enjoy).
Also, over the past two years, my wife and I have been living far away from our family and friends, so my blog (as well as Twitter and Facebook) allows anyone of those friends or family members to know what has been happening in our lives. It's a nice lifeline as we float along in this scary world.
Towards the later months of this past year my blog started running out of steam. I'd grown sick and tired of politics (and sick and tired of how angry my political posts had become). I'd said nearly everything I've ever wanted to say about golf in general. My movie and television reviews and recommendations had become cliche and trite. And while I'd found a new hobby in card collecting, those posts were slowly morphing into "look at these pictures" posts (which are not much fun for anyone other than me). In short, my blog was getting stale and boring. I had lost the passion and fervour that my posting once contained.
So, imagine my surprise when I found a "Happy Blog-aversary" card on the counter from my wife (and don't worry, there is still plenty of time for everyone else to send me and my blog something to celebrate our day. Not much time. But, technically speaking, there is still time. But not much. So hurry.) I opened the card and found this note written inside.
As much as I love reading your blog, I grow a bit tired of posts about golf, politics, and Luke Hochevar baseball cards. As such, I am giving you this gift of inspiration. Each week I will ask you a question for you to answer on your blog. This answer can be one word or one thousand words, but you must answer my question, and you must do so weekly. If your readers have questions they would like answered, please have them post the questions in the comments of your blog and I will work them in as the weeks go by. Hopefully, you will get at least a weekly blog post out of this deal and I will get to know more about you at the same time. I'll even help you with the name of this feature, "My Wife Asks..."
--- Your Wife
I am so very excited by this present. For me, the hardest aspect of maintaining a blog is finding topics that interest me enough to spend time writing about. And I can't believe I missed the most interesting topic there is for all of this time -- ME! And, since this is my party, I'll open one more present. This one is my Wife's first question.
My Wife Asks... what is your all-time favorite song?
There are thousands of songs that I love. I have favorite country songs, favorite rock songs, favorite DMB songs, favorite oldies, favorite hymns, favorite instrumentals, favorite rap songs, favorite classical pieces, and favorite heavy metal songs. But if I were forced to pick an All-Time Favorite I would have to pick
"Right Now" by Van Halen.
I love Van Halen and I love everything about this song. In my mind, every aspect of this song is perfect. Musically speaking, this song is awesome. This piano solo should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Add to it the world's greatest guitarist, a fantastic drummer, and an under-appreciated bass guitarist, how could you go wrong? But as good as this song is instrumentally, the lyrics are what nudge it to the number one spot. Give the song another listen, and read these lyrics as Sammy sings them.
Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow
Why put it off another day?
One by one, little problems
Build up, and stand in our way. Oh
One step ahead, one step behind it
Now ya gotta run to get even
Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey!
Come on turn, turn this thing around
(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything
Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm
An nothin' falls into place. No!
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace. Oh!
The more things you get, the more you want
Just trade in one for another
Workin' so hard to make it easy
Whoa, got to turn. Come on, turn this thing around
(Right now) Hey, it's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) catch that magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything
Pure genius.
If I was stuck on a deserted island and could only listen to one song the rest of my life, this would be that song. I have listened to this song hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times, and it always feels fresh to me. There are songs that I greatly enjoy the first couple dozen times I hear them, but soon they soon tire. Before long, I'll hear the first few bars of the song and hit skip on my iPod (or change the station in my car). But not this song. This song, I listen to the entire song, every time.
When I was in high school, I would listen to this song, and only this song, when I was in my car on game day. Before football games, I would drive to Loaf 'N Jug to buy a Gatorade just so I could listen to this song multiple times (I wouldn't have been able to finish the piano solo at the beginning of the song if I'd have driven straight to the gym from my house) and I wouldn't leave my car until the song ended. I am pretty sure that my playing this song over and over at a very high volume blew out a couple of speakers in The Celebrity. To this day, just like Pavlov's dog, my adrenaline starts pumping while listening to this song.
For the past 12+ years, "Right Now" has been my favorite song, and I don't know how any song will be able to overtake it.
The wife scored us another set of free sporting event tickets through her school for the dozenth time this summer. This time, it was for the USA vs. Sweden Women's Soccer game. The game was played at the Creighton University soccer field and was the first time that Team USA has played soccer in Nebraska.
Since kickoff wasn't until 8:00 pm, we only stayed for the first half of play. It was our first experience with a soccer game in person and we both left pleased that we'd went, but sure that we never would have gone had the tickets not been free.
Everyone knows soccer is a low-scoring, high-boredom game with sporadic bursts of excitement.
Not once did I see this:
Nor did this ever occur:
Or this.
So, during the 40 minutes of down time during the 45 minute first half of the game, I decided to be a problem solver and come up with some ways to make soccer more exciting.
Option 1: "The Duel"
This option is fairly simple: every game would now be played with TWO soccer balls in play at all times. We may need to tinker with the number of players on the field (probably add 2-4 players per team), but there should only be one goalie on the field. That is non-negotiable.
Option 2: "The Red Rover"
At any time during a game, two teammates can connect hands, yell "Red Rover", and run at an opposing player who may or may not be in possession of the ball at the time. If the two Red Rovers can knock the opponent to the ground, they take over possession of the ball and get an immediate free kick from the spot the opponent was knocked to the ground. However, if the opponent can break through the Red Rover attack, that person gets an immediate penalty shot, one-on-one versus the goalie.
There may need to be a few caveats to add in later, but the gist of this rule change is solid in my opinion.
Option 3: "The Freezer"
Each team would have a player (who we'll call the Freezer) who is on the field the entire game. This player will wear a brightly colored jersey to differentiate them from the rest of their team. The Freezer will wear a special contraption that straps their feet together in a way that forces them to hop around the field. At any point during the game, if the Freezer touches an opponent, that player is frozen in place until the soccer ball passes through their legs. (We may need to have the Freezer's hands be covered in chalk or paint or something else that would prove that they touched an opponent). Also, the goalie could never be frozen. That would just be crazy.
As you can see, there are many different ways to spice up the game of soccer without compromising its integrity, but these aren't the only changes that can be made. What kind of changes to the rules of soccer (or any other sport) would you like to see?
The wife is officially done with her second year of law school!!!
I walked into the kitchen to find my dog's head buried deep into the trash can that I had mistakenly left out. The look on his face after being caught red-handed was priceless. We stood looking at each other, both dumbfounded at what the other is seeing, for a beat. Then I said, "What are you doing?" He responded by sending himself straight to timeout down in the basement. It was flipping hilarious.
Found a great deal on KC strip steaks at the local grocery store. And they were delicious.
Got a call back for one of the jobs for which I've applied. Alas, it's only part-time, so I'm not certain I'll take it. Yet I was still pleased to get a nibble on one of the lines I've cast.
SWAT team breaks into home, fires seven rounds at family's pit bull and corgi (?!) as a seven-year-old looks on.
They found a "small amount" of marijuana, enough for a misdemeanor charge. The parents were then charged with child endangerment.
So smoking pot = "child endangerment." Storming a home with guns, then firing bullets into the family pets as a child looks on = necessary police procedures to ensure everyone's safety. Just so we're clear.
2) The reason I found out about this story is because I was able to read most of today's tweets on Twitter. The reason I was able to read most Twitter tweets today is because today was the first day of my new job search. I had to make up a resume and have sent out about two dozen applications. That pisses me off.
3) As I was listening to sports talk-radio, one of the hosts announced their poll question of the day: "Should Cinco de Mayo be a national holiday?" Are you freaking kidding me? Seriously? There are people want to make a national holiday out of a date that gets limited (at most) celebration in Mexico?!?! I imagine that these same people who would make it a U.S. national holiday are the same ones who mistakenly believe that May 5th is the Mexican Independence Day. Those idiots piss me off.
The Phoenix Suns delivered a powerful statement Wednesday night with a relatively subtle gesture: a three-letter addition to their uniforms.
Their jerseys said “Los Suns” — a Spanish-English combination intended to acknowledge the Cinco de Mayo holiday and, more broadly, to express opposition to Arizona’s new law dealing with illegal immigrants.
You have got to be kidding me. I'm sure that the people who see this act of solidarity by the Suns would be completely horrified if the owners of the Washington Wizards had pulled out their old "Washington Bullets" jerseys to show solidarity after D.C.'s handgun ban was struck down in the Heler case. Bringing politics into sports pisses me off. Can't I have one escape from politics?
5) My iPod pissed me off when it re-synced my entire library just as I was trying to get out the door to walk the dog with The Wife. I about threw it across the room, I was so pissed.
Honorable Mentions:
Only 4 people showed up for Tuesday night Volleyball, so we had to borrow players from other teams. Freaking weak.
Our culture is so intrigued by "sex scandals" that even B-level celebrities like David Boreanaz get press for cheating on their wives.
My best Facebook update/tweet of the week got very little reaction, which pissed me off because I thought I was such a genius for thinking of it:
I'm waiting for Alan Jackson to come out and say what everyone is thinking about the flooding in Nashville: President Obama hates country music.
Hopefully the rest of this week is better. I feel that after identifying the items that are causing me to be in a pissy mood, I can get on with the rest of my life.
SONG: "Sante Fe" by Drive-By Truckers --- I just got this album by DBT and I love it. This band is what would have happened had Tom Petty been the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Great stuff.
MOVIE: Young @ Heart --- this is probably the most powerful documentary I have ever watched. Touching, inspiring, and entertaining. Whether you rent, buy, or steal it, you must watch this movie.
Here is the trailer to give you a taste of the Young @ Heart group:
TELEVISION: FRINGE: Season 1 -- The Wife and I have started watching this show on Netflix and it is very interesting and entertaining. I knew I would want to watch this show one episode right after the other. I knew I'd never be able to stick with it watching with a week between each episode, but back to back viewings are quite entertaining. This show is a Sci-Fi version of Bones and/or House, which is a good thing.
the more I wish I'd have been able to see George Carlin live. This little bit of wisdom from the late, great genius seems fitting for Future Enviromentalist Indoctrination Earth Day.
(And, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you can expect some salty language in this piece.)
I'm not an economist, but I play one online. One of the things about economics that fascinates me are "bubbles" within an economy.
My wife and I barely got out of the recent "housing bubble" just before it burst and the housing market went to hell. While we ended up losing around $2000 (if not more, I don't remember the numbers at this moment) on our house, at least we got it sold before we came out to Omaha. We got lucky and we made a wise decision, because in all reality, we could still be the owners of a home in different state than the one in which we are living.
So, while I have a little bit of life experience with regard to "bubbles", I should probably have more. I missed (or wasn't paying attention) to the "Tech Bubble" of the late 1990s, nor did I feel much pain within the current financial recession/bubble. With that said, there was one "bubble burst" that occurred during my lifetime that has had a lasting and impacting effect on me personally: The Baseball (and, in my case, Basketball) Card Bubble Burst of the 1990s.
Last month, Slate printed an excerpt of Dave Jamieson's book Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession. While Mr. Jamieson's book focuses on the baseball card bubble, I can attest that the same thing was happening in the basketball card market, which is where me and my friends invested our money during our preteen years, and, unfortunately, we had entered the market when it was in its decent during the mid-90s.
By the '80s, baseball card values were rising beyond the average hobbyist's means. As prices continued to climb, baseball cards were touted as a legitimate investment alternative to stocks, with the Wall Street Journal referring to them as sound "inflation hedges" and "nostalgia futures." Newspapers started running feature stories with headlines such as "Turning Cardboard Into Cash" (the Washington Post), "A Grand Slam Profit May Be in the Cards" (the New York Times), and "Cards Put Gold, Stocks to Shame as Investment" (the Orange County Register). A hobby bulletin called the Ball Street Journal, claiming entrée to a network of scouts and coaches, promised collectors "insider scouting information" that would help them invest in the cards of rising big-league prospects. Collectors bought bundles of rookie cards as a way to gamble legally on a player's future.
Unfortunately for investors, each one of those cards was being printed in astronomical numbers. The card companies were shrewd enough never to disclose how many cards they were actually producing, but even conservative estimates put the number well into the billions. One trade magazine estimated the tally at 81 billion trading cards per year in the late '80s and early '90s, or more than 300 cards for every American annually.
Precious few collectors seemed to ponder the possibility that baseball cards could depreciate. As the number of card shops in the United States ballooned to 10,000, dealers filled their storage rooms with unopened cases of 1988 Donruss as if they were Treasury bills or bearer bonds. Shops were regularly burglarized, their stocks of cards taken as loot. In early 1990, a card dealer was found bludgeoned to death behind the display case in his shop in San Luis Obispo, Calif., with $10,000 worth of cards missing. A few weeks later, Bob Engel, a respected National League umpire, was arrested for allegedly stealing more than 4,180 Score baseball cards, worth $143.98, from a Target store in Bakersfield, Calif., and attempting to steal another 50 packs from a Costco.
(...)
In 1989, the Upper Deck Co. would transform the industry with flashy, high-priced cards aimed at investment-minded collectors. As the sales of new sports cards swelled to more than $1 billion a year, children began to flee the hobby, turned off by the pricey packs and confounding number of sets. The baseball strike of 1994 ushered in an industrywide hangover that still hasn't ended. Revenues from new sports cards have fallen to around $200 million a year, roughly one-seventh of what they were at their peak. While vintage cards like the T206 Honus Wagner and the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle have continued to soar in value, baseball card's boom times produced no such valuable merchandise. Those 1988 Donruss cards, once considered a savvy investment, can now be bought in bulk for around 1 cent apiece.
{Emphasis mine}
Mr. Jamieson brings up some very important points that take me back to my card collecting hayday.
He says that "unfortunately for investors, each one of those cards was being printed in astronomical numbers." Even as a kid, I had figured out that many of my cards could be worth more money if it they weren't so easy to come by. I would open pack after pack of cards, only to end up with maybe one or two unique cards and a boatload of duplicates.
I collected basketball cards fanatically for about 4 years in the mid-90s, and the fruits of that labor has been distilled into one shoe box of cards that I consider to be worth keeping around. I continue to drag that box around mostly because of sentimental value and not because I hope that one day they may become monetarily valuable. (Ah, who am I kidding? Of course I hope that I'll be able to take that box to the Antiques Road Show and be surprised when one of those cards is appraised at thousands of dollars. Every kid who ever collected cards has this hope deep down inside of them.)
And, as Mr. Jamieson points out, I was one of those children who fled the card collecting market because I was being priced out of the market. And, looking back, it kind of pisses me off that that happened. In the years before I left, the lure of finding a "gem" of a card (rookie, autograph, etc.) was the driving force when buying pack after pack of cards. By the time I'd left collecting, the trading card companies had taken all of the work out of getting these cards by pulling them out of the standard packs, and instead sold packs of cards that were "guaranteed" to contain one high priced card. But, the catch was that these packs of five to ten cards cost $20 or more.
In addition to being priced out of the "unique" cards of the time, the market was also getting completely saturated with card companies. During Michael Jordan's rookie season, there was one card company, which meant that there was one Michael Jordan rookie cards, which meant that it was a rare and valuable card. However, ten years later when Kobe Bryant was a rookie, there were at least six major card companies (and each with countless different branches/brands within a company) putting out Kobe Bryant rookie cards, which meant there were literally hundreds of different Kobe Bryant rookie cards in the market. And it was like that for every other player in the league.
As I've mentioned before, my favorite player in the NBA was John Stockton, which meant his cards were the ones I sought out the most. I have a couple hundred unique cards of his, and I didn't even collect during the final 10 years of his career. (I have however picked up a few of his later cards in the past few years.) The only cards that I would actively seek to purchase would be one of his rookie cards or an autograph card.
One advantage to collecting his cards and not those of, say, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Lebron James, is that I would hypothesize that his smaller fan base lead to a reduction of John Stockton cards in the market. Where everyone who has kept their cards over the years made sure to keep their Jordan/Bryant/James cards, if they ever did throw out cards, 2nd tier players would have been the first to be thrown away. And every Stockton card that is taken out of the card collecting community makes mine that much more valuable.
Just as in baseball cards, the basketball card market tanked in the late 1990s due to over-saturation and artificially high prices ("unique" cards that weren't really that unique) and a dwindling fan base. I would say that there was a correlation between my fandom of card collecting and my interest in the NBA: when I stopped collecting cards, I stopped caring about the NBA.
It's a terrible shame, but a great lesson in economics: the card companies were short sighted and thought that interest in their product would continue forever. Rather than building their industry with the idea of "life-long collectors", they sought to increase their current sales no matter how it affected their futures.
Getting away from the business side of card collecting, I wonder if the internet has improved or ruined the personal aspect of card collecting. When I was a kid, the only people who I could trade cards with were the only two other people I knew who traded cards, my friends BJ and Eric. We would haggle, barter, and trade cards for hours at a time. I wonder if anyone does that anymore when you can put your cards online for the world to bid on. Then again, it has never been easier to get into contact with other collectors, even if they never come face to face.
I will admit that writing about my card collection has lead me to go dig them out of a box in the garage. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to relive my youth for a few moments as I look through my inventory.
The Wife and I have been talking about getting Brodie a friend to play with, but concerns over our eventual move back to Colorado and our lack of space has led us to sidebar this plan for now. Little did we know we had multiple options in friends for our pooch.
(Also, I find this video much more enjoyable on mute.)
In related news, chalk a victory up for K-9s everywhere.
This past Saturday, the wife and I went to the Bob and Tom Comedy Tour stop in Sioux Falls. It was a bit of a drive, but was well worth it. It was a night of a bazillion laughs.
The show started with my favorite member of the Bob & Tom crew, Chick McGee, opening the show. He did a little comedy to whet our comedy appetites. I'm pretty sure the constraints that the FCC puts on him during the radio show is very frustrating for him, because he let loose with all the "blue" comedy that he's not allowed to use during his day job. Chick introduced all of the comedians for the night and did a few jokes in between acts. He was great.
Then Greg Warren did a half hour show and he was awesome. He did about a half hour of material from his latest comedy album, "One Star Wonder", which I had bought before the show, along with one of his "One Star" t-shirts. It was hilarious. Greg is of the Cosby/Foxworthy/Gaffigan school of comedy, in which he tells stories and is a fairly "clean" comedian (I'd say it's PG-13 at worst). Our favorite line of his (and probably of the night) was "Shut your whore mouth, Shannon."
After Greg Warren was Bob Zany. Bob is a veteran comedian, and when a drunk/retarded heckler started acting up, Bob put him in his place in the funniest way. Bob did more crowd work than Greg Warren, which was a nice change of pace. Bob does a weekly piece on the Bob & Tom show, called the "Zany Report" where he uses a news story as the setup and then gives a punchline about the story. His comedy routine is similarly structured: setup/punchline, setup/punchline, etc. He was very funny.
The low point of the night was the half hour of "Donnie Baker". Donnie is a character that calls into the B&T show a couple times a day. Donnie is big on innuendo, which once or twice a morning is fairly funny, but is pretty intense when you're bombarded by it for a half-hour. He had a few funny lines, but all-in-all it was a waste. I'd have rather had an extra ten minutes tacked onto the other comedian's time than to sit laughterless for that time.
The closer of the night was the absolutely crazy Greg Hahn. Words cannot explain Greg Hahn's act. Go here to see his promotional video. The guy slays me when he's on the B&T show, but to see him in person was an experience. His material is fairly constant every time he performs, but his rapid-fire delivery and high-energy physical comedy are top notch. There were moments during his act that I was not breathing because I was laughing so hard. There could not have been a better way to end the night than his act. OUTSTANDING!!!
While I wish we could have seen the show at a closer venue, we could not have asked for a better set of guys to spend the evening making us laugh (less Donnie Baker). If you see that they are in your area, I highly recommend you go see Greg Hahn, Bob Zany, and/or Greg Warren. You will not regret it.
With the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, I thought I'd take a moment and recognize my favorite Canadians. Often, our neighbors to the north are a forgotten sibling, but I thought it would be nice to shine a light on Canadians who have made an impact in my life in one way or another.
Athletes:
Georges St.Pierre -- The best pound for pound fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (and my second favorite French-Canadian).
Wayne Gretsky -- The Great One.
Patrick Roy -- The goalie for Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche. He is my favorite French-Canadian on the list, and the only person on this list that I've seen shopping in a Denver Golfsmith (he's shorter than I would have guessed).
James Naismith -- Inventor of basketball.
Steve Nash -- A great basketball player.
Comedians:
Martin Short -- I love him in the Three Amigos.
Jim Carrey -- The movies Dumb & Dumber and Ace Ventura helped me become the person I am today.
Phil Hartman -- Best straight-man to ever be on SNL.
Leslie Nielson -- The Naked Gun series is one of the most underrated comedies of the 1990s.
Harland Williams -- If you don't know who Harland is, rent the movie "Rocketman". You're welcome in advance.
Musicians/Singers:
Bryan Adams -- I love his album "Reckless".
Celine Dion -- My heart will go on.
Shania Twain -- The sexiest woman in country music history.
Gordon Lightfoot -- When media outlets and Twitter announce your death (even though you're still alive), you know you've reached the "Big Time".
Geddy Lee and Neil Peart of the band Rush -- Their cameo in the movie "I Love You, Man" was Oscar worthy.
Actors/Actresses:
Rachel McAdams -- Sexy, funny, and half of the reason I've watched The Notebook more than once.
John Candy -- Uncle Buck.
Dan Aykroyd -- Was one of the most important comedic actors of the 80s.
Micheal J. Fox -- He will always be my Teen Wolf.
Mike Myers -- The first Austin Powers movie is one of the funniest movies ever.
Others:
John Molson -- founder of the Molson Beer company.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier -- Inventor of the snowmobile.
Peter Jennings -- Probably the best news anchor of my lifetime (so far).
Lorne Michaels -- the creator of the most important television show of my lifetime (so far, but it's going to hard for any show to catch up with SNL's current lead).
Alex Trebek -- One of the saddest moments in my television viewing life was the death of Alex's mustache.
______________________________________________________________________ Favorite song on the iPod Shuffle: "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra Looking forward to: I've been watching the Top 100 UFC Fights through Netflix. I'm half way through the series, and I can't wait to see the top 50 fights, because, so far, the bottom of the list has been outstanding. If someone wants to find out what the UFC is about, this DVD series is the perfect introduction. Thinking back on: the two hours I lost tonight when the wife and I meet some of her law school friends at the movie theater to watch "Valentine's Day". While it was amusing at times, the story was severely lacking. It was so cliched that the wife was predicting "plot twists" well ahead of the story line. They used every romantic comedy trick in the book. But, a bad movie with the wife is better than a good day at work.
The wife and I found out we'll be getting a decent chunk of money (which had been stolen from us over the past year) returned to us in a few weeks. Yup, it's tax season. Not only is my mom-in-law willing to smuggle 6 Pass Key sandwiches into her carry-on when she comes to visit us, she's also our personal accountant, and she said we'll get a nice return this year.
This news led us to go out shopping for some new pants for me to wear during the work week. We ended up hitting the jackpot at Old Navy. They had men's pants on sale, down from $30 to $18, and the entire store was 30% off. After paying $12 each for three pairs of nice fitting pants (which are harder to find than one might think) at the mall, we headed to the other big mall in town and bought four more pair of pants. I can now Goodwill half-a-dozen ill fitting pants that I've been wearing for way too long.
Speaking of Goodwill, we stopped by a local thrift store and found three really nice golf-logo polos (and one not so nice shirt that I bought anyway because it was a buck). I have started accumulating a nice collection of golf course logo polos, and all at thrift store prices.
Earlier this week, my wife informed me that the Horse Shoe Casino in neighboring Council Bluffs, IA, is hosting the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit tour during the last half of February, culminating in a $5000 buy-in Hold'em tourney on March 1st. The winner of the March 1st event earns a seat in the Main Event in Las Vegas this summer. But a $5000 buy-in tournament prices out most poker players, so the casino hosts dozens of "satellite" tournaments before hand. A satellite tournament is a way for the average Joe to buy in for a modest price ($40-$65) and, should they do well and make it to the final table, make enough money to buy-in at a higher price. Should a fellow get on a roll, he might parlay a $40-tournament into a $235-tournament into a $5000-tournament into the Main Event in Vegas (not probable but possible).
Needless to say, the thought of the WSOP in Vegas got my poker playing juices flowing. I found the poker room at the Horse Shoe's February calendar and began plotting my schedule. I found that there would be over a half dozen $40 tourneys over the next few weekends. The first available $40 tourney was today (Sunday) at 2:00. I called the poker room and they explained that the event would not be held in the Poker Room (which only has about 20 tables) and that they would accept entries up to 40 minutes after the event started. The person I spoke with also said that it wouldn't sell out, so I figured I'd show up at around 2:00 and play some cards. My friend Ron and I showed up to find that everything I'd been told about today's event was false. The event was in the poker room and it was sold out. Bummer.
We ventured over to the table games and settled on the "Let it Ride" game. Ron explained the rules of the game to me and we sat down. I got $50 in chips and 30 minutes later I colored out my chips after he lost his. I cashed out with $65 in profit, so it looks like I'll be playing on house money this weekend. Score one for the little guy.
Also poker related, on Friday, I went to one of my co-worker's fiance's bachelor party, where we played poker. It was a $10 buy-in Hold'em tournament, with unlimited re-buys the first two hours. I made it to the final three (and without re-buying) before being knocked out. Very fun.
Last Friday, my wife did her iodine treatment to fix her hyperactive thyroid, and I'm happy to report that she's on the mend. She's still taking beta-blockers to help slow her heart rate, which she's been able to decrease her dosage over the past few days, which is a great sign. Also, I'm sad to report, no super-powers resulted from the iodine radiation. Bummer.
Tonight I watched the Grammys and wrote down some thoughts that I had, which I recorded on Twitter. (Yeah, I use Twitter. Jealous?) During the live-tweeting, I responded to SarahK47's question about who was singing with Taylor Swift with the following tweet: "I believe she's singing with either David Crosby or Stevie Nicks. I can never tell the difference." That tweet resulted in a re-Tweet and a "haha" reply from SarahK, of which I will forever be proud. (It should be noted that SarahK has about 1400 followers, so, yeah, it was awesome.)
Other tweets from my live-tweeting:
New Rule: Drummers for rock bands are not allowed to wear eye-liner. Let the lead singer/guitarist get glammed up, but not drummers. (regarding the drummer for Green Day)
"Imma Be" putting on the mute until the Black Eyed Peas finish this song.
Wow, Stevie Wonder is reading off the teleprompter. Impressive for a blind guy. Wait, what? That's not Stevie? Who is it? Lionel who? Oh.
Apparently Hudson, Celine, Smokie, Usher & Carrie are such bright stars, the audience has to wear sunglasses.
Holy crap, Micheal Jackson's kids look like they are 30 yrs old. It seemed like just yesterday they were being dangled over a balcony. (Too soon? Sorry.)
If I promise to buy a concert ticket will Bon Jovi promise not to do the "everyone-sings-into-the-microphone-at-the-same-time" move. I hate that move.
"You & Me" + choir and orchestra + wacky Dave dancing = best performance of the Grammys.
I love that "Honey Boy" Edwards is wearing a hat with his name on the front. I could learn a thing or two from him about self-promotion.
Quintin Tarintino thinks hes cooler than he really is.
As much as I hate baggy jeans on rappers, I hate skinny jeans more. Did Lil' Wayne borrow a pair of jeans from a fan in jr high school?
Do Eminem and Lil Wayne understand that each curse causes CBS to cut out 7 seconds of performance, including the music? Horrible.
How much more attention does Lady GaGa need before she'll go away?
Taylor Swift just slayed some musical giants: Beyonce, DMB, Lady GaGa, Black Eyed Peas. Impressive and well deserved.
I used our new Craftsman snow blower on fresh powder today, and I couldn't be happier. This will go down as one of the smartest investments the wife and I have made, as well as one of the funnest.
While I'll never be able to put together as amazing a "Year In Review" as my comedy-writing hero does every year, I thought I'd list some high points in the year for your enjoyment.
I went down to Kansas to watch my cousin Kyle drag race. It was a great weekend, even though I only saw him take one trip down the track.
I got to watch one of my high school classmates, Luke Hochevar, pitch for the Triple-A Omaha Royals and Kansas City Royals baseball teams. I watched more baseball games this summer than I have my entire life. What a great experience.
My wife and I paid a $269 electric bill at our first rental-house in Omaha last February and had our Jeep broken into so that the perp could walk away with a radio face-plate and some change from the center-console. Needless to say, we hightailed it out of that neighborhood as soon as possible.
Which lead to my wife's brother traveling to Omaha on one day's notice to help us move into our new house. It would be one of three trips for him to come see us this year. He is such a trooper and an all around great guy.
We also had my little sister spend the summer with us in Omaha while she interned at the Bemis Art Center. Having her out here encouraged the rest of my family to come visit multiple times. Together, we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo, to Schramm State Park, down to KC for a couple Royals games, spent time at the roulette tables, and took in some great concerts (O.A.R. w/ Brett Dennen; Mat Kearney; and The Script).
My cousins from Denver came out for a weekend of fun. We played golf at three different courses, went over to the casinos, and drove out to Des Moines to see the Dave Matthews Band. We had general admission tickets that allowed us early admission, so we ended up center stage and 5 standing rows back. It was a great experience and great to spend quality time with the cousins.
Back in January, I submitted a picture my wife took to the "View from Your Window" feature on Daily Dish blog, which is run by Andrew Sullivan. On January 19th, it was published on the blog's front page. Then, we discovered that Andrew was going to be publishing a "View from Your Window" book that would be a collection of all the entries over the past few years. We couldn't be happier that her picture made it into the book. It is so much fun opening up a professionally published book and seeing a picture taken by my wife. It will forever remind us of our time out in Omaha. (You can see her picture in book form HERE. Her picture is on page 195, which you can find on the scroll bar at the bottom of the page.)
This year was also a major milestone year, as my wife and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. When planning a trip to celebrate, we noticed that my parents would be celebrating their 30th year of marriage and my wife's mom and husband would also be celebrating their 5th year being married. So we decided to go on a cruise together. The six of us set sail with Carnival Cruise from San Diego, stopped for a day at Catalina Island, and spent another day on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, before returning to San Diego. It was a great trip and a great way to spend a weekend with our parents.
Since we'd missed their 25th wedding anniversary, my siblings, my wife, and I decided to plan a surprise weekend getaway to Estes Park over the Labor Day weekend, where all of us kids would entertain our parents in a cabin. Estes Park was where they went for their honeymoon, so we thought it would be fun for them to return 30 years later. It was a great weekend.
I once again participated in Movember, which is a month-long mustache-growing fund-/awareness-raising event.
And, 2009 was the year I re-started blogging here at 87MurphySquirrels. I had initially started this blog a couple of years ago while I was a budding teacher. I've been able to put up 75+ posts in the past 5 months, and I've developed a nice readership. And for that, I'd like to thank you, dear reader, for stopping by.
I can hardly wait to see what 2010 has in store for me, my wife, my dog, and my family and friends.
So, Happy New Year and may your 87 Squirrels be Murphy! I know mine will be.
I spend my time chasing Murad T51s, building mustache franken-sets, tracking down eBay one-of-ones, and convincing my wife that manupatches aren't lame.
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