Wake Me Up When September Ends

So my relocation choices have come down to this...St. Louis, Little Rock, Kansas City or stay in Colorado.

All 3 out of state options offer regular pay, benefits (including health insurance, something we're without at the moment) and work I know how to do in a familiar industry.

OR, I can stay here, continue to work part-time at an internet start-up company and try and start a real estate investment business...what should I do??? Wake me up when September ends (phee-NOM-in-al song by Green Day by that title)

Oh, and when I went to the unemployment office to apply for benefits (read: cash from the govt.) I think I raised the average IQ in the room by 20-25 points. I just looked around and thought, 'I DO NOT BELONG HERE!' There was some guy next to me in very baggy shorts not hanging on his waist and a wife beater shirt holding 3, count them, 3 cell phones. I was the only one there, including the employees, wearing a tie, or even slacks.
I was denied benefits/cash anyway. Guess because I only have one cell phone.

Cell Phone Warning System

I remember when cars went from having two rear brake lights to three, the third one being added to the rear dash. I feel it's time to add another light to each and every car. It would light up "ON CELL PHONE"
This sign lighting up would say to you 'hey, avoid coming close to my car now as I may sway into another lane or drive the speed limit'
Perhaps if people protested, we could add an optional 'H' to the end to indicate that at least this driver is using a hands free system...just a thought.

Five Random Things, Part II

1. Dog leashes that are 30 feet long. Spare me...Seriously, as someone who has been attacked by an unrestrained dog, please, do everyone a favor and cut the leash in half...you can use the half you cut off as an emergency tourniquite for the victim of your precious Cujo.

2. My 2 and a half year old son singing along to Peter Cetera in the car. I've signed him up to play football this year, you know, just to be on the safe side.

3. Salad Bars/All-You-Can-Eat Buffets...ugh. Do I really need to feel the way I do on Thanksgiving any other day of the year? No, and neither do you, so put the fork down and push yourself away from the table.

4. Job Interviews...please, tell me about yourself...what do you hope to be doing in 5 years?...what are your strengths/weaknesses?
I'll have to do a longer post on this so as to include my experience with the Unemployment Office. Best not to get started now...speaking of which...

5. Altar calls.
I'm fine with having them (although I'm generally not in favor...rats...this is going to have to be another post too...so forget #5...the new #5 is....

um


uh


5. The commercialization of the Little League World Series. Major League Baseball has enough problems for all other organized sports combined...why do we need to watch 11 and 12 year old boys play out the vicarious dreams of their parents on national TV while Bank of America (sorry Cade) reminds us every 2 minutes that it's the official bank of Little League Baseball. And it's a good thing, because before you know it, every Danny Almonte out there will have an agent and be signing endorsement deals...and Bank of America will be there. Bank of America, the offical bank of Little Leage Baseball. Now with the call of today's action, here's Brent Musberger and Harold Reynolds.

5a. The neighbor kid across the street who learned to play AC/DC songs on his guitar...over and over and over and over...

Pardon Me...

while I screw around with the colors...thanks for your patience...


yeah, I think I'm done for now

Raging Popularity

Lots of new people have started taking an interest in my blog...I'm working on a remedy.

Meanwhile...thanks for the relocation input. The NE and NW are both appealing. However, St. Louis has quickly become a frontrunner. Too bad I freaking hate the Cardinals.

On another note, the Anaheim Angels new name is ridiculous as referred to by Cade in the previous post's comments.

When Vladimir Guerrero tells his spanish speaking friends what team he plays for, how ridiculous would it sound to say..."I play for the The Angels Angels of Anaheim"

dumbest thing ever in baseball? Maybe after the All Star Game tie and the 94 strike...

Donde esta?...Estoy Boston?

I am one of those people who have a hard time making a decision without any rules or boundaries. For example, if you asked me what, of anything, I would want to have for dinner tonight, I would spend the next 2-3 hours trying to decide. If you asked me if I prefer Italian food or Chinese food, that's easy, and now I want spaghetti.
Anyway, here I am in Colorado, barely employed (part-time at a start up company, my office is the owner's garage) and I find myself in a situation where most likely, we'll need to move to another city or state to find the type of work I've been doing for over 10 years now (radio broadcasting).
So, the million dollar question is...where in the world, acutally, United States should I live? It could be anywhere...so I'm having a difficult time nailing down where I most want to live...I can't really identify what region I'd like to call home.

Please send me your suggestions...I'm begging you. Tell me where to move!

Two parameters:
Nowhere in the southeast, and nowhere in Missouri or Minnesota.

UPDATED STANDINGS
Boston - 2
LA - 1

sounds like a potential AL playoff score...

Need A Ride?

As gas prices continue to rise, it brings me comfort to know that if I can no longer afford to drive my cars, I can get around with any one of the nine or ten transportation vehicles that belong to my children.
When I was younger, I had one personal mode of transportation. First the stroller, then a wagon. I graduated to a big wheel and finally a bicycle. My children have no fewer than two of each. My garage looks like a parking lot for a Wiggles fan club meeting.
I'm not against choice in transportation or anything, I just can't imagine my two-year-old strolling out to the garage and thinking "I need to go ride something perilously close to the street today...do I feel like the tricycle or the wagon?" (By the way, he is able to steer neither)
I'm really afraid this is setting them up for disappointment later in life when they turn 16 and their options for vehicular transportation are less than one.

Spheres of Gold

Not until a couple of years ago was I introduced to the concept of arriving at a professional baseball game as soon as they let people in to attend batting practice in the hopes that you could catch or retrieve a ball hit into the stands.
Admittedly, arriving early dramatically increases your chances of going home with an official major league baseball. There are less people in the stands and there are more balls flying your way than in a game.
I have been fortunate enough to come away with several baseballs in my trips to Coors Field, but each time I go it seems to me that the competitive frenzy to capture one of these spherical treasures has increased, and not in a good way.
Grown men, fighting and clawing their way to reach a ball sitting underneath a row of bleachers that, if they tried to sell it on e-bay or something, would be worth maybe $5. The way people chase after these baseballs, you'd think they held the cure to cancer inside.
One instance in particular bothered me...there I was in the left field bleachers and a ball was hit right at me...I had it locked in and just as soon as it was to enter my glove, some yahoo sticks his glove in front of mine and stole it...there should be a common etiquette about this type of thing...maybe I'll develop it someday...but I'm too emotional now to be objective, if you have any input, please contribute.

Beware the Ides of August

Two baseball related items
1. The Colorado Rockies are an enigma. Two nights in a row, they got more hits than the Washington Nationals. Night #1, 14 hits, no runs. Night #2, 11 hits, 2 runs. Meanwhile the Nationals scored 17 runs in those two games. Rockies brass needs to remember, chicks dig the long ball.
2. The Kansas City Royals have lost 15 games in a row.
With the Jayhawks bowing out of the dance in the first round for the first time in 20 years, the Chiefs not making the playoffs, the Royals setting new records for futility in the AL and the Rockies cleaning the bottom of the barrell in the NL...this means that off all the teams I cheer for, the DENVER NUGGETS are on the top of the success list right now. I must now go vomit...

New Belgium Headquarters

Twice now I have visited this brewery

It is the New Belgium Brewery World Headquarters in Ft. Collins Colorado. My friends Pete and Brian went with me to visit the place that brings Fat Tire to the happy beer drinkers of the U.S.

This place is awesome...it's exactly as a brewery should be. There's a large restaurant style area as you walk in with a long bar, probably 80 feet long. And employees everywhere bringing you free beer. Between us we tried 8 different beers. How were the beers you ask? Well, you know how most CDs only have one or two songs you like but the rest of the songs are bad...this is how beer is brewed at New Belgium.

Of the 8 beers we tried, we only really liked one enough to drink it all. It was Biere De Mars, and it's only released in January, February and March. It's really very good, but when we started to complain to the employee in the kilt about it's limited, Disney like release tactics, he explained that it's a very difficult beer to brew. Whatever, mark the price up and tell the brewers to get their act together. I'd buy some, and I know two other guys who would too.

Anyway, plenty of merchandise with Fat Tire and other beers were available for purchase. Overall, I'd highly recommend visiting if you're in the area. If you do come, make sure it's not the Saturday before the fall semester starts at Colo. St. I'd recommend making a weekday trip unless you like big crowds. But whatever day you go, the beer is free. It costs no money.

Then, we took off for Coors Field in Denver to sit in 50 degree weather to watch the Rockies out hit the Washington Nationals 14 to 13 and still manage to lose 8 to 0. Just in case you're confused...well, it's August, and I was wearing a sweatshirt...the lady next to us had a ski hat on...and remember, this is a morning post the day after a trip to the brewery, not the best circumstances for clarity.

Journey to Mecca

Today I am traveling north with my compadres to the place where they brew the best beer in the entire world...Fort Collins, Colorado to the New Belguim Brewing Company, home of Fat Tire. I'll file a full report soon, assuming I come back.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" -- Benjamin Franklin

Why...the infinite question

My two-year-old son has begun asking why...to EVERYTHING. The following is an actual conversation that took place on August 11, 2005...it is just one example of what my entire day has become...

Dad: Stop playing with that knife, please.

Son: Why?

Dad: Because it's sharp and I don't want you to get hurt.

Son: Why?

Dad: Well, I don't want to have to stitch you up.

Son: Why?

Dad: Because I get lightheaded around blood and cuts and things like that.

Son: Why?

Dad: Well, I guess that's just the way God made me.

Son: Why?

Dad: (Sarcasm coming forth like a geyser) So I would have an excuse not to watch medical based dramas on tv like ER or Hill Street Blues or House.

Son: Why?

Dad: Well I have a refined sense of television taste, and some others with less than perfect discernment sometimes get offended when I tell them the real reason I won't watch their lousy show...so it makes for a more pleasant atmosphere than me informing them of my superiority.

Son: Why?

Dad: Hey...here's that knife you wanted.

Son: THANKS!!!!

Dad: (beaming) No problem son.

A Cadely Visit

I am a most fortunate individual for this last weekend I had a chance to sit and visit with Mr. Cade. I was afforded this opportunity because he was staying at my house while he was in town to attend a wedding.
This was a most pleasant turn of events for me, for I needed a few days distraction, and Mr. Cade, along with his old college roomate, Just Dave, were exactly what I needed. (Along with Dr. James, the four of us occupied two rooms on the 5th floor of Ellsworth dormitory at the University of Kansas, 1993-94)
Golf and bowling, culture trivia and roof ball. Just an awesome experience all around. I even saw a snake out in the wild whilst I was golfing. Crazy I tell you!
Each of us got sunburned, each of us ate beef and each of us successfully navigated a blue rubber bouncy ball through a hole in a children's playset after throwing said ball onto my roof.
A new standard has been set for all future houseguests of mine...Mr. Cade and Just Dave set the bar pretty high.

Five Random Things

1. Todd Bertuzzi...you'd better get someone to install a rearview mirror on your helmet
2. Kirk Herbstreet from ESPN thinks the KU Football team can contend for the Big 12 North title. Someone had better check his 'drinking water'
3. Columbia landed safely...don't know about you, but it seems strange to me to launch a shuttle into space so the astronauts can get out and repair it so that it can come back to earth.
4. This morning, I had eggs cooked in olive oil and I added dill weed. Delicious!
5. I'm addicted to Family Feud.

Have a pleasant day!
Muffin

Welcome to Fantasyland

If you're like me, you belong to a fanatsy sports league. For those not familiar with the concept, you pick players in a particular sport to be on your team and their performance earns you points which determines your standing in the league. Also, it's a way for grown men to generate interest in any sporting event, plaguing their significant others with the excuse 'I just want to see how my players do'
My players. That's right. I bet you didn't know who owned Michael Vick. You may think it's the Atlanta Falcons, but really, it's me. He's been there to help me out on a few occasions when I've needed to move my piano.

Anyways, in my particular league, there always seems to be a cloud of controversy or mistrust or something in the air which inevitably leads to me finding myself in the middle of a big mess. This isn't fair and this doesn't make sense...trading draft picks for players you're going to cut anyway and the number of players you can hold over from the previous year have been two major negotiating points over the past few years. Every year I tell myself this will be the last year, but I can't seem to get away from it. I've spent a lot of time, and money, on my 'team' and something in me just can't let go.
It's not all bad, I do have fun and I'm learning how to resolve major conflicts between multiple parties.
Years from now, when I'm negotiating peace deals with foreign nations for the US, people will ask me how I'm able to find common ground and come to a reasonable solution. "I used to be a fantasy football owner" will be my appropriate response.

Pack Rat

Well, I'm officially unemployed (my mom the Democrat convinced me to file for unemployment...she says because I've paid into the system for years I deserve to reap the benefit...I don't disagree, but I also think she wants me to do it so unemployment numbers will increase affecting President Bush's approval rating...whatever)
anyways, this having no income in a new thing for me and I'm realizing how much junk I have lying around that I never use and never will need again.
I never thought of myself as a pack rat or someone who just hordes stuff, but I keep finding drawers and closets full of stuff I really don't need and I find myself wondering why I still have this psychology book from college, or this 1987 Kansas City Royals Media Guide, or this afro wig...

Unemployment is awful in many ways, but it's helped me realize how very little I need in this world and reminded me again that happiness comes not in material form, but in the love and respect of those you love and who love you back and the God who loves you no matter what.