I Need Your Help!!

Friends & Family - I need your help w/ a very important crossroads decision of my life. For you long-time followers of my blog, you may remember that I started this blog early in Jan 2009 as one of my goals for 2009. Well, 2009 is almost over and I can proudly say I achieved my 2009 goals which included beginning to drink whiskey/bourbon straight, write and update my blog weekly (ok, so i didn't achieve the weekly part, and then break 80 on the golf course (did it twice). Now, I need YOUR HELP

It's time to start setting my 2010 goals. Again, I'm gonna go w/ 3 goals, some silly, some serious. I have determined 2 of the goals, but I want your help w/ the 3rd. Over the next few weeks I hope for all of you to give me suggestions on what my 3rd goal for 2010 should be. Then after I have a few choices, I'll put a poll on my blog for everyone to vote on. Deal?

So, my first two goals for 2010 are:
Goal #1 - To be able to do the whole Thriller dance on cue. This wasn't necessarily spurned by MJ's death this past year...after all, I liked him before he died, but more brought on by seeing a group of people randomly do it at a bar around Halloween. So, I feel like I want to be able to bust it out at some random place in 5 years....hence, I have to learn it now.

Goal #2 - I'm taking up Boxing. I don't really want to fight people, I just want to train. Everyone says its the best workout as it works all parts of your body, so I feel like I can devote 60-90 minutes a week doing this. I'm also going to try and convince a friend or two to do it with me. A friend of mine from high school started boxing/training earlier this year and he absolutely loves it, so props to him for doing it and putting the idea in my head. I've already looked into possible gyms to train at and there is one only a few miles from my house that offers "Executive Classes" - meaning people like me who just want to do it for fun 1 night a week, so I think I may join this class.

Goal #3 - ??????????? I'm very excited to hear your suggestions!!!

Life has been good lately. I'm very happy w/ my career, love my friends and family, and am just overall blessed to be acquainted w/ all of you. Other than that, no new updates. I'll be in Elkhart for Xmas Dec 24 - 28th. A little disappointed that Mom/Rick won't be around as they'll be in FL visiting my grandma. Also means I won't see Tad & Kimberly or Wes & Elka (my step-bros).... oh well, I'll have fun w/ Dad's side of the family!

NFL Gambling update: I felt it last week...typically I only bet on 2 games, but for some reason I decided to up that too 4 due to many perceived locks in Week 14. Well, I went 3-1 (and 1-1 for my showdown w/ Evan). Overall i'm now 18-15, which is 55%, so i'm a little short of my 62% goal...better sweep these next few weeks! Evan also went 1-1 last week so he still maintains a 2 game lead on me (17-11 to 15-13) w/ 3 weeks to go.

Bobby Knight - gotta love him!

pocket 10s

Pocket 10's - that's the hand I had when I won my first online poker tournament two weekends ago. As most of you know, I've dabbled w/ some low limit online poker over the past 4-5 years. I don't really play many tournaments, normally I just play cash games for maybe 30 minutes a few times a week. However, the night of ND versus Stanford (aka - Weis's last game), I decided to enter a tourney as I had a few hours w/ nothing to do but watch football. I think there was around 105 people in it and I somehow was lucky enough to come out on top...good little payout as well! So, i may try to play a few more tourneys in December and see if the luck can continue!

Speaking of Weis, what a f'n debacle the last 4 weeks of ND's season was. Now Clausen and Tate are going pro, which isn't that shocking, but it doesn't bode well for next season. Who knows, maybe the Ewing Theory (credit to Simmons) will prevail w/ those two guys leaving....

I had a great Thanksgiving and I hope all of you did as well. It was nice to get home and see some of the family. Also got to spend some time w/ Craig, who lives in Georgia, as well as a few other people from high school.

For the first time in my life since moving out of Dad's house 10 years ago, I actually put up a Xmas tree in my house. It even has lights on it. Granted, it's only about 2 feet tall, but I got it setup on a little end table right in one of my front windows. I felt like I needed to prove to my neighbors that I wasn't a complete Scrooge since I haven't ever put up lights since I've owned this house.

Dad & I's annual college bowl tourney is officially underway, which is really a pain in the ass to setup on the front end. After I have all the entries submitted, it's a piece of cake, but the 6-8 hours of data entry on the front end really sucks. I don't know how Dad used to do this by hand back in the day. Once again, I assume my picks will get demolished by multiple women, 11-year olds and people that don't even know how to keep score.....

NFL Bets - been rough lately, going 1-1 the two weeks prior and 0-2 this past week. Diddy is 16-10 through 13 weeks and I'm 14-12 in our picks against each other. Overall i'm 15-14 on my cumulative bets. Still trying to figure out how Scott went 0-6 on his picks during our Vegas trip (shaking my head).

My two videos this week come courtesy of Adam. Words of wisdom from Jared Allen and Tiger Woods new #1 single hit the charts

Vegas Baby, Vegas

The trip came and went w/ out too many good stories to bring home, unless you want to count the one of me passing out in our hotel bathroom at 5am. One might think that since I blacked out at 5am, we probably stayed up way to late partying/gambling/drinking, etc... I wish that were true. For those of you who haven't heard yet, I got the flu (and probably the H1N1 virus) while out in Vegas. I actually probably got it in Indy before I left, but the virus finally kicked my ass out there. Long story short, I wasn't feeling well Sunday evening so i went back to the room around 7. Got up at 10 to go eat something light (fruit cup), met Dave at the tables to gamble a little bit, finally decided I really was sick, then went back to the room. After a few hours of sleeping, I woke up to use the bathroom and after was done, proceeded to get really dizzy, lose all strength and crumble like a ton of bricks to the floor, knocking my noggin on the floor as well as scraping my back against the wall or countertop...something to cause me to bleed. After 30 seconds or so I finally decided I needed to call out to Scott or Dave as I realized I really didn't have any strength to move. Of course after about 10 seconds of concern for my well being, they realized I was just sick and wasn't anything too serious, so the jokes and hazing of my mishap began. We did call the Bally's medical staff to come take my blood pressure and just to see what they could do. It was just an EMT, so I'm sure Scott's tee-shirt he was wearing "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor" may have been a little intimidating to this guy as he seemed more concerned w/ wanting to hang out w/ us then about my low blood pressure and 102 degree fever I was running. Once he left it was good for a laugh, which revitalized me enough to shower/shave and head down to tables at 7:30 before trying to eat some food. The rest of that day involved about 2 hours of gambling then 2 hours of sleeping, then repeat. So that put a little damper on our trip, but luckily neither Scott or Dave got sick from me. Unfortunately for Scott, the gambling gods didn't shine well on him as he took a beating. I actually won a few hundred bucks and Dave held his own, maybe losing a little bit.

I went to my 2nd high school 10-year reunion this past weekend as I was invited to the Indianapolis Ritter class of 99 reunion. I was only there for about 2 hours, but I knew maybe 30-40% of the people there, thus reaffirming my Ritter status. Their reunion sucked though in comparison to my actual Jimtown reunion.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. Spending the day at my mom's w/ my step-brother and his wife & kids, so should be fun. It'll be good to have a nice long weekend as I'm only working Monday & Tuesday next week.

Just watched IU get beat by 20 to Mississippi...IU is really young and did not look good. Could be another long year for the Hoosiers.

Vegas is starting to catch up w/ me on my NFL bets. The weekend I was out there was a tough weekend from an NFL perspective. I went 3-4 on my bets against the spread, bringing my record at the time to 12-9 for the year. Scott went 0-6 on his NFL bets, so it could have been worse.... I went 1-1 last weekend bringing my actual bet totals to 13-10. As for my picks against Diddy, i'm 12-8 while Evan is 13-7 w/ his 2-0 week last week...so its important I nail a few of these upcoming weeks as I do not want to lose another lunch bet to a guy from Wabash Indiana, seriously.

I'm too tired to post a video, but this website has been getting a lot of pub lately, so here's the link to the beautiful people of Walmart. Oh wait, I just remembered this wonderful video of Cleveland, which apparently caused a little bit of an uproar on the local Cleveland news stations

Halloween surprise

So I threw my 3rd annual Halloween party this past weekend. A little smaller party this year than last year, but we still finished the keg off (minus half a pitcher), had some good beer pong games, and good times hanging out w/ friends. I went as the Pope, which was my costume 4 years ago. I think the best costume at my party was "Alan" from The Hangover, complete w/ baby Carlos. A new addition to this year's party was the cops showing up at like 1am when only like 5 people were left. I hadn't turned the music off outside, so one of my neighbors must have finally been fed up....oh well. I've probably thrown or "co-hosted" w/ roommates maybe like 10 parties in my life that were loud/wild enough to have the cops called. This was the 2nd time in my life the cops have came to a party i hosted, so 20% isn't too bad I guess. Overall, Halloween was another success.

Heading to Vegas w/ Scott and Dave this Saturday, will be there till Tuesday, then when I get back I have the rest of the week off work. definitely looking forward to my vacation. I have a good feeling about this Vegas trip....i feel some magical blackjack sessions coming for all 3 of us, which will definitely make the trip that much better!

The NFL season is halfway over so it's a good time to check in on my predictions I made 9 weeks ago....this is gonna be ugly.

• The Colts go 11-5, but lose to the Chargers in the 2nd round of the playoffs, again, for the 3rd straight f'n year [Since we are 7-0 now, we should finish better than 11-5, however our schedule gets much tougher the rest of the way. I'm thinking 13-3 now]
• The Cowboys finish 8-8 or worse [5-2 now, w/ four easy games left on schedule (Wash x2, Oakland, home against SD, along w/ a few tough divisional games left. 10-6 is looking for like it for Big D]
• The Packers will win the NFC North [The Pack are struggling, but I still think they'll eek into the playoffs. I just wasn't buying the Viking hype before the season. I was just plain wrong]
• The Vikings will miss the playoffs, but the Bears will make playoffs 8 [See above about Vikes. The Bears are 4-3, but really haven't beat anyone outside of getting lucky against Pitt. Remaining schedule isn't easy w/ only 2 "should-be locks" (St. Louis/Detroit). 8-8 or 7-9 sounds about right for them, missing the playoffs]
• AFC playoff teams - Pats, Chargers, Colts, Titans, Ravens, Steelers [midway prediction: Pats, Broncos, Colts, Cincy, Pitt, Houston]
• NFC playoff teams - Eagles, Pack, Saints, Bears, Giants, Seahawks [midway prediction: Saints, Eagles, Vikings, Cowboys, Arizona, Pack. The Giants have a tough schedule rest of the way and they just haven't looked good the last 3 weeks, so I'm dropping them.]
• Super Bowl Champ will be the AFC rep, which will be either the Pats or the Chargers, and they will defeat the Packers [I'll leave the Pats here, but will sub in the Colts. Also, the Saints or Vikes are gonna represent the NFC...and please God let it be the Saints so we don't get bombarded by Favre media coverage for 2 weeks leading up to the game]
• Michael Vick throws/runs/catches for at least 5 TD's this year [I have the same amount of TDs as Michael Vick has this year...nuff said]
• The Raiders finish 2nd in the AFC west...at 6-10. [not happening. maybe 5-11, but not 6-10. Luckily the Chiefs are in their division, so they'll only finish 3rd in the AFC West]
• The Bengals finish 8-8 or better (i love Hard Knocks). Vegas has the over/under at 7 wins (and yes, i already have that prop bet booked) [Definitely my best prediction. currently 5-2 and still have the Browns, Chiefs, Lions, and Raiders left on their schedule. Good job, Me!
• I will dominate my work fantasy football league. Seriously, I possibly have the greatest team ever assembled for a league that has 10+ teams [I have a good team, but got off to a slow start, however, I'm still 5-3 and should still be a force to reckon w/ come playoff time]
• I will win at least 62% of my bets. I'll explain... [Yep, 9-4 on my actual bets this year....so far so good. Diddy and I are both 10-6 in our picks against the spread, but there have a been a few weeks where I haven't been able to get to a computer to check the spreads for the early games, so I haven't actually "bet" on 2 games every week.
• I hope that at least 3 of my predictions above come true [I'll say that I have 3 of my predictions right (Bengals, Bets, and 1/2 correct on AFC rep winning Super Bowl prediction and 1/2 of my playoff teams right)]

Let's see, what else... Mackey (my cat) had a bladder infection last week. Apparently urinating blood isn't a good thing. Poor guy, but I got him on some antibiotics now and he has responded nicely. Back to his same old self, which is terrorizing everyone that walks by him.

My sister turned 26 today...Jesus that's old! which just means that i'm 28 and even older! oh well, such is life. Yanks about have the World Series up as I type this (up 7-3 in the 7th)....although it'd be sweet to see a collapse so that we get a Game 7 tomorrow night. I'm afraid we aren't that lucky though.

Reunion

I'm getting a little lazier w/ my blog postings considering its been 2 weeks since my last post. But that's OK, I'm back like Mickey Rourke, except not as crazy (or funny, successful, popular, etc...but possibly better looking).

So some quick updates on a few things that were in my last few postings. Vegas - room is booked for Nov 7-10th. Bally's Casino was nice enough to comp my room for 3 nights, including a Saturday night...obvious evidence that Vegas is struggling! Scott is in for sure and it appears like I have 2 other friends that are going to go. Highlight of this trip is going to be spending all day on a sunday in a sportsbook. I plan on betting on every NFL day game. None of us going have ever spent a day in a sportsbook betting on a bunch of games and it's obviously something that most guys must do once in their life, so we are crossing it off our lists this year!

Speaking of NFL and betting, i've gone 4-0 over the past two weeks to increase my record to 8-4 on the year. Diddy is also 8-4.

Halloween party is scheduled for Oct 31st at my house and I'm looking forward to it. I've also decided on my costume..The Pope will once again be in attendance for Halloween (my costume from 4 years ago). The party should be fun, that's for sure. Last year we blasted through a keg in about 2 1/2 hours...had around 40 people so it was a good turnout. I'm expecting around 30-40 again for this year.

I've also come out of 8-week retirement from tennis, so that's been fun. Another great athletic achievement came yesterday at my firm's annual outing. We went to a city park out in Danville, IN and had a great time. Part of the day me and few of the guys in my firm went over to the football field nearby and decided we'd try to kick field goals. None of us had really ever done it before. Out of the 10 people or so that tried to kick a 20-yarder (a PAT), only 4 people actually made it. Diddy and I both hit 25 yarders and I hit a few from 30 (one that would have been good from 40). however, i never did hit one from 40 when I tried from that distance. It was a lot of fun and much harder than it looks. Also, I definitely strained/pulled some sort of muscle/ligament in my upper leg...sorta hurt to go up and down stairs today. But well worth it!

And I guess the biggest thing that's happened to me over the past 2 weeks is that my high school 10 year reunion was this past Saturday up in my hometown of Elkhart. I'd say around 40-50 people from my class of 110 made it out, so that wasn't too bad. I had a blast up there all day, which included tailgaiting at Notre Dame for the USC game w/ some high school buddies during the day, then the reunion at night. Great to see everyone. Hopefully our 20 year reunion doesn't end up being something like the Fox show Reunion, which sadly only made it through 9 of the 20 some episodes before being cancelled. Matt and I were bummed at the time, but after learning the future outcome of the show, i'm glad I didn't waste 11 hours of my life on it.

I ended up going w/ Kelvin Hayden for my Colts jersey, but thanks to all of you for voting. I realize that he wasn't even on the original poll...a slight oversight on my part. Unfortunately he's been hurt the last 3 weeks and has only played in the first 2 games this year. He's one of the starting cornerbacks for those of you who don't know.

A friend of mine sent me this video...hope you all like it!

The countdown is on

That's right, the countdown to the 3rd Annual Cook Halloween Bash taking place on Halloween night this thanks to it falling on a Saturday. Still not sure on costumes yet, so I gotta get on that soon. My initial thought was a golf caddy, but I'm not sure I really want to carry around golf clubs the whole night, but I may go w/ that still. It's early in the process so I'm sure I'll change my mind about as much as Scott did when he was deciding what kind of doctor to be because apparently some are better than others...who knew?

So just a quick update for this blog:

Went to Athens, GA this past weekend w/ Adam and Scott to visit my high school buddy Craig, who lives about 1/4 mile from the University of Georgia's campus. Got down there real early friday morning, spent Friday afternoon walking around (aka, scaling/climbing the massive hills) the campus. Best part of this was actually sneaking "Between the Hedges" (Georgia's football field). It's amazing what you can do if you just act like you know what your doing. So we got some decent pictures from that. Tailgate was very sweet on Saturday. A lot of great scenery down on Georgia's campus... Didn't actually go to the game as scalpers would not come below triple digits for a single ticket as the game featured two teams in the Top 20. So we ended up watching the game at a bar...great game, wish we could have gotten in, but not for $125/ticket. The rest of the trip was an assortment of bar hopping at the college bars....Craig said it was the craziest he's ever seen it. Weather was great (high 70's, blue skies), so all in all a great trip.

Is Jimmy Clausen going to win the Heisman? I'm being serious.... he's got a much better shot then I initially would have thought. something to keep your eye over the next few weeks, especially if ND pulls out a victory over USC. Speaking of that game, I'm tailgating w/ some high school friends for that game as it's the day of 10-year HS Reunion, so I'll be in Elkhart that day. Not sure if I'll go to the game or not, but I wouldn't rule it out.

My 10-year reunion...holy smokes. Time has gone pretty fast. I am looking forward to it though. I know many people, including some of my blog readers, who aren't looking forward to their's and some that did not (will not) go. Hell, I may even go to Ritter's 10 year reunion as well since I know a ton of people from their 99 class plus some people actually think I went there...like their alumni office. I got an invite to go the Alumni Dinner for Cardinal Ritter HS. It was addressed to me and everything, so somehow the school as me in their alumni database. too make it even funnier, Andy & Scott, two of my friends, that actually graduated from that HS did not get invites!

Went 0-2 in my picks against the spread last week, bringing my record to 4-4. In all fairness to me, since I was in Georgia Thursday-Sunday and driving back from GA on sunday, I didn't have access to any of the spreads until the afternoon games, so I essentially had to pick from just 5 games. Didn't get a chance at the 1pm games. Also, since I didn't have computer access in the car, no money was actually wagered...so a good week to go 0-2 since nothing was lost! Diddy went 1-1, so he is now 5-3 on the year w/ the early advantage over me.

Vegas trip in November is picking up steam as I have 2 guys that seem to be committed as well. Can't wait for my vacation...I need one desperately

I'm out. I leave you w/ this. And parents thought monkey bars were the most dangerous recess activity

What should I be?

For Halloween that is...what should I dress up as? I have to determine this in the next 4 weeks or so before the 3rd Annual Cook Halloween Bash. I also need to decide if i'm throwing the party on Friday night (Oct 30th) or Saturday night on Halloween. I see pros & cons to both.... Some of my costumes over the past few years have included:

• Ghostbusters
• The Pope
• Pirate
• Tony Montana (Scarface)
• Daniel LaRusso (Karate Kid)

so I have a lot to live up too....

Played golf about a week ago and broke 80 again, so i've done it twice now. I shot 78 at Eagle Creek on the Pines course...i had previously shot a 79 at Eagle Creek, but on the Sycamore course. For you out of towners, Eagle Creek has 36 holes. This round was particularly sweet as I took an 8 on #9 to shoot a 42 on the front, but then fired a 36 on the back, and had a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to shoot a 35. I missed, but was definitely pleased w/ shooting even par on a nine.

Remember how I started 0-2 in my NFL picks this year after week 1 and i said I wasn't worried, well...i knew what I was talking about. I've rolled off 4 straight through Week 3 and am 4-2 on the season. Diddy is currently 3-2, w/ one of his games in process as I'm writing this posting.

I'm heading to Georgia next Thursday w/ Adam and Scott. We are going to Athens & staying w/ Craig. The weekend should be a good time as we are planning on scalping for the LSU/Georgia game. LSU is currently ranked #4 in the country and Georgia is ranked in the high-teens I believe. should be a good time....the Univ of Georgia is a beautiful campus and a prime tailgating venue. I believe there is a bar or two (or 100) right on campus, so we'll survive!

Some other random events of this past week

• Dominated a whole chicken (w/ assistance from my mom). I'll explain - I bought a chicken from the grocery store (already cut up) and fried it up. I'd never made friend chicken before, so it was fun and was pretty tasty! I had to call Mom at the grocery store to see exactly what I would need to do it. I think some other people shopping were getting a kick out an obvious bachelor calling his mom to get cooking assistance!
• Been on a few college campuses recruiting/interviewing for work. Very busy time of the year for me w/ recruiting. I've already done 20 interviews or so and have around 30-40 more in the next 7-10 days. I actually had a kid tell me one of his hobbies was reading Simmons and listening to the BS Report (ESPN columnist - see my link on the right for the Sportsguy)....unbelievable. I had to stop and explain this to Jim, one of my bosses who was conducting the interview w/ me, in the middle of the interview. I'm actually going to email this to Simmons to see if this is worthy of making his mailbag...
• Ran a 5k yesterday morning for the Indianapolis Corporate Challenge. My goal was to do it under 23 minutes and finished around 22 min 30 seconds, so I was satisfied. About a 7:15/mile pace.
• The Vegas trip for 2nd week of November is starting to take shape. It appears Scott is going to go, so still looking for a few more. Debating on going out Sat-Tues or Mon-Thurs. If we go Saturday, i'd have to sell my Colts tickets for that game, but I would get to spend all day Sunday in a Vegas sportsbook for all the NFL games, so that's intriguing. We'd also be in Vegas for the Main Event final table of the World Series of Poker...so that would be kinda fun to go to, seeing $9 million up for grabs!

Well I'd love to hear your thoughts/ideas for my Halloween costume. Until next time, go IRISH and Colts!

Because we can never get enough Peyton

I think I'm in love

Just kidding, wanted to an excuse to work Eddie Money into my blog

Not sure if the roommate thing is still going to happen, so yes Kimberly, the pros to living alone outweighed the cons to having a roommate. Looks like I'll be by myself for the foreseeable future. Alright, it's been a very busy past 10 days. I've been to IU, Colts opener, Matt's housewarming party coupled w/ ND/Mich game, saw Who's Bad (michael jackson cover band), Pittsburgh for 3 days, oh, and my firm kinda split, got a raise, made final table of an online poker tourney, dominated both fantasy football leagues in week 1....whew, just a typical 10 days!

Let's see, Colts home opener. Adam was in town for like 4 days last week, topped off by the Colts hanging on against the Jags 14-12. sole possession of 1st place in the division already...chalk it up, another division title is imminent. Adam's tailgaiting grill didn't work, so we made some friends quickly as we needed to gank their grill.

Gambling - well, i didn't get off to the start I was hoping for, losing both of my games last week. So 0-2 to start the year, but that's alright. Gotta love the spread as I went 13-3 in picking straight up winners, but 0-2 against spread. Oh well. I started off 1-3 last year in route to my 28-17 finish a year ago, so i'm not too concerned. Week 1 is always tough. Diddy accepted my challenge and he went 1-1, so he has an early advantage. On a positive note, i'm 1-0 in both of my fantasy leagues, and see no reason why I won't be 2-0 after this week.

Pittsburgh - I was there for a leadership/management training course, so it's obvious i'm bringing this trip up for another reason. The exciting part was that I got to see a blast from my past who just moved out there. She made a great tour guide and by the end of the night, I was drinking a beer w/ Hines Ward....right place at the right time. I had two different friends text me to say something to him about his fumble in the NFL opener...i passed on that opportunity. He's a stocky man plus had just bought me a beer, so I made the safe move and kept my mouth shut. So some good stories from that trip...definitely one of my better work related training trips.

Speaking of work, it's no secret anymore, so I feel like I can mention it here. One month ago we had close to 60 employees....today we have around 45. Quite a big change for a firm that has had less than 10% turnover since I started working there 6 years ago. One of our senior partners, whose name is part of the firm name, decided to take his practice elsewhere and start a new firm. Some good people and friends of mine followed him. Obviously we lost some clients as well, but nothing that's going to cripple my firm. anyway, it's been a hectic and challenging past 4 weeks at the firm as all of this has unfolded. I wish my prior coworkers well in their new endeavor.

For my faithful readers, you may remember that I had a possible hookup to play Oakmont Country Club this year (which is related to my Pittsburgh training), but unfortunately it fell through for this year. However, since i'm the luckiest guy I know, MAY 18, 2010, I have a tee time to play the course that has hosted eight US Open's, most recently in 2007. I'm not exactly sure yet if i'm playing in a foursome and if i'm allowed to take anyone, but if so, maybe one of my lucky friends may get to make the trip to Pittsburgh w/ me to play it.

I'm throwing this out there...i want some people to go to Vegas w/ me the 2nd week of November as i'm on vacation that week. Let me know if interested...i can get a room for free at some of the hotels on the strip, so let me know!

Marko sent me this video, i thought it was good...enjoy! Speaking of the Croatian, him and Jenny and their first child 2 weeks ago, congrats!

ahhh, football

So I may potentially have a roommate...a boyfriend of a girl that I casually dated for maybe 4-6 weeks a few years ago. So as I presented this idea to a few friends/coworkers, I discovered this intriguing trend. Women gasped at the idea and guys couldn't have cared less.

Seriously, I think every woman I told made a comment similar to "won't that be weird/awkward?" The guys reaction was, "oh, that's not a big deal at all." Even before this whole idea picked up steam, i ran it by the girlfriend of the potential roommate to make sure she was OK w/ it....she didn't mind, although, i'm sure there was some hesitation at first. Now i'm fairly certain she doesn't care because, well, it was 4 years ago. As for the potential roommate, he obviously didn't care, and if he did, it was like for a milli-second. So, hopefully it works out for me as the extra money would be nice.

I had two separate requests from readers for my NFL predictions, so here ya go:

• The Colts go 11-5, but lose to the Chargers in the 2nd round of the playoffs, again, for the 3rd straight f'n year
• The Cowboys finish 8-8 or worse
• The Packers will win the NFC North
• The Vikings will miss the playoffs, but the Bears will make playoffs
• AFC playoff teams - Pats, Chargers, Colts, Titans, Ravens, Steelers
• NFC playoff teams - Eagles, Pack, Saints, Bears, Giants, Seahawks
• Super Bowl Champ will be the AFC rep, which will be either the Pats or the Chargers, and they will defeat the Packers
• Michael Vick throws/runs/catches for at least 5 TD's this year
• The Raiders finish 2nd in the AFC west...at 6-10.
• The Bengals finish 8-8 or better (i love Hard Knocks). Vegas has the over/under at 7 wins (and yes, i already have that prop bet booked)
• I will dominate my work fantasy football league. Seriously, I possibly have the greatest team ever assembled for a league that has 10+ teams
• I will win at least 62% of my bets. I'll explain...
• I hope that at least 3 of my predictions above come true

I bet on 2 games a week against the spread, plus every playoff game. There are 17 weeks, so 34 bets in the regular season and then 11 playoff games, for 45 total bets. last year I went 28-17, my inaugural year...so not a bad year! Now i'm not betting a lot per game, but enough to keep it interesting! this year, i'm looking to basically replicate my record from last year. Week 1 and 2 is always tough as it's hard to have a real gauge on the teams.... I'll keep a running total of my wins/losses for the year during the NFL season.

Now I have two main rules when it comes to gambling on NFL games. First, never bet for (or against, obviously) "your team." Trust me on this. Second, you better have 5 good reasons that can be verified by two separate friends to bet on a road team. In other words, stick to the home teams.

I'd now like to take this opportunity to challenge Diddy to pick against me in my betting format. Now I know he won't put up his own money every week like I do since he's not a compulsive gambler (and his wife wouldn't let him), but I propose that he picks two games against the spread each week, just like i do, and we'll just keep a running total of who does the best during the year. Diddy, you have been officially challenged.

And my pick of the week - ND 27 Michigan 20. Highlights from the 2008 Wolverine turnover display, six to be exact. I personally like Tate's move at the 1:59 mark of the video

living by myself

So, I've learned and experienced the many pros & cons over the past month of living by myself. Some pros:

• House is cleaner...and if it is dirty, it's my own mess!
• Always have priority to family room & HDTV
• Utility bills are way cheaper, although I now have to pay them on my own
• I only wake up on my own accord, or my alarm clock (which is kind of my own doing since I set it)

Cons:

• No rental income
• It's sometimes nice to just have someone else around...now I don't have that
• Less stories

So, at the moment, I don't really have any good stories for my blog because outside of the weekend, this past week was fairly routine...go to work, come home. I did have an adventurous weekend though. Probably drinking a little too much each night, but having some fun, nevertheless. Did rattle off 7 straight, victorious games of beer pong. As most of you know, "winning" that many games in a row takes an effect on one's soberness - so we then lost our next 2 and I retired from the game for the night, immediately switching to water! Other than that though, still no good story for the blog. Alas, I'm stuck. But let me tell you what I am looking forward too....The Fall!!

Sometimes I feel as if the fall in Indiana can be better than the summer...especially the Sept/Oct weather when we get those 60-70 degree days, just perfect temperature. I love waking up on Saturday's with nothing too do except to devote my day to the TV to watch college football. Oh, and then I get to back it up on Sunday by watching the NFL, and now this year, going to the all 8 of the Colts home games! I love the first two weeks of September as the US Open is going on. I love the way the fresh fall air smells. I love following my fantasy football teams along w/ trash talking w/ my friends & coworkers about our teams. I love reading/listening to Bill Simmons NFL columns/podcasts. I love the random treat of playing golf in late October/early November when you thought the golf season was over but you get just a great day to go play. I love my new tradition of going to Athens, GA, in October to visit Craig and go to a SEC football game (Univ of Georgia). I love the anticipation of my Halloween party and what stories (that I can't share here) will come of it. I HATE RAKING LEAVES. I mostly love my job during this time as I get to mingle w/ college students in the form of career fairs, job interviews, and schmoozing dinner/drinks. I love picking up the tennis racquet come Oct/Nov and starting the indoor season. This fall I will love my 10-year HS class reunion, even though some of my good friends won't be there. I love the 5-day weekend in late November that is Thanksgiving. Goodbye August. Hello September! man this year has flown by

Thanks to all of you who voted in my jersey poll. I haven't fully made up my mind, but I'm still leaning towards Kelvin Hayden. I have 2 weeks to decide & buy.

No video this time...it's 11:30 and I don't have any bright ideas.

2009 Goal update

As most of you know, I started this blog w/ my original posting of my lofty goals for 2009. I then added the "Breaking 80" goal in April once I got the golf bug. And a quick update...

Goal #1 - Drink scotch/whiskey on the rocks, and enjoy it. DONE

It took a lot of practice, but I did it and can now enjoy a "drink" w/o having to suck it up and drink it. Having done this, I've also realized that I'd rather just drink beer...so don't get the wrong impression here. I'm not sitting in my chair every night drinking whiskey and smoking cigars. The point is though that I now could do it!

Goal #2 - Update the blog weekly. FAILED

Tax season made it tough and just being active in the summer hasn't helped. However, I did achieve Goal 2A, which was to have people other than my family read. I've liked the friends that have gotten involved w/ leaving comments....thanks for reaffirming that I'm not wasting my time.

Goal #3 - Break 80 on the golf course DONE!!!

August 14, 2009, I shot a 79 on the Sycamore course at Eagle Creek golf course. We played from the whites and its only about 6100 yds, but it counts! These days I'm typically playing from the blue tees at most courses anywhere from 6300 - 6700 yds. I backed it up this past friday w/ an 82 at Dye's Walk, which I had never played before. So, the golf game is going well right now.

Quick update on my poll question about which Blue Colts jersey I should buy. Thanks for all your votes and I've narrowed it down to 3 individuals: Reggie Wayne, Donald Brown, and Kelvin Hayden. I realize I didn't even put Hayden on the poll, but I think this is who I'm leaning towards. I love DB's and he just signed a 5 year deal....now if I can just find one!

Went to Cincinnati last night for the professional tennis tournament and saw Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic play. These are two of the top 5 players in the world for those of you who aren't huge tennis fans. Djokovic beat Rafa relatively easily, 6-1, 6-4. Fun match and good to see Novak play so well. I didn't care who won....I really just wanted to see a 3rd set. Also so the #1 doubles team in the world play (Bryan brothers).

Alright, big week this upcoming week, mainly because my fantasy football drafts start up tonight at Scott's house. I then have my work draft a week from monday. Love football season. Speaking of football, went to the Colts 2nd preseason game, so I was finally able to see my season ticket seats that I have w/ Dave. Very good seats in the corner of the end zone. Unfortunately I won't be sitting in these seats the rest of the year as I sold this pair of tickets for every game already, but it's ok...I still have my ticket w/ Adam on the other end of the stadium w/ basically the same vantage point.

Video of the week Seriously, how do you build a $1.2 BILLION stadium and not get this right? Well done...

Video #2 - for you college football fans, if you did not see this, you need to check it out. LET'S GO IRISH!!!! (Lou is possibly crazy)

quicky

Hey Everyone! I'd like to report that Michael Vick has just signed a 2 year deal w/ the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, and Madden 2010 comes out tonight at midnight. And in more NFL news, I've sold my 2 Colts tickets that I have w/ Buell for every game this year (assuming Dave/Mo family's take my remaining 3 games). I of course have held onto the New England game, hoping both teams are undefeated or at least division leaders...definitely could get some cash for those. The Colts first preseason game is Friday night, but unfortunately I can't go due to traveling to Ft. Wayne (more on this later). So I need your help...I need to buy a new Colts "blue" jersey as Marvin Harrison no longer plays for us. I'd like your opinion, so please vote in my poll to the right. The results of this poll in no way will decide what jersey I decide to buy, but I'll give it consideration! The reason Peyton isn't listed is because I own a "white" Manning jersey already.

So I ordered a Wii last night online from Walmart mainly because they had a few "bundle" packages that I was able to get a free game or more accessories and still pay less than I'd pay going to the store or going to Target/Best Buy, etc... So anyway, I purchased it at 5:30 Wednesday evening and selected normal shipping. My receipt said it would ship in 7-10 days (to my office). Well at work today I got a call from our receptionist that I had a delivery from Walmart...yep, it was delivered a mere 16 hours after I ordered it. Oh yeah, and I can buy Madden this weekend....sweetness! It's been 2 years since I've bought a Madden game, so I'm pretty excited!

For an update from my last posting, my 4.5 tennis team won the Central Indiana tennis champtionships last weekend. Very good match, but our experience (i'm youngest guy on the team) overcame the youthful team we played (oldest guy they had was maybe 25). Me and my partner (53 years old) played their #1 team and won 6-3, 2-6, 10-5 tiebreaker for the 3rd set. We are playing for the state title on Saturday up in Ft. Wayne. I've never been this excited to go to Ft. Wayne, except for maybe Landon's wedding last summer. I'm looking forward to the match...this is the furthest that I've personally made it in league post-season. If we win the state, then we host the Midwest Regional at the Indianapolis Tennis Center next weekend. Hopefully we get that opportunity!

Nothing much else to report. Playing golf for work both Friday (Eagle Creek) and Monday (Bridgewater CC). Never played Bridgewater before, so very eager to get out on that course!

Everyone have a good weekend!

where to begin...

Alright peeps, i'm lying in bed w/ no shirt on (that's for all the ladies, er, except for any family), listening to some 38-Special (for Diddy), DJ Sammy (Utterback), E-Money (everyone, because we all love Eddie Money), some Akon (Buell), Coldplay (Scotty & Sara) and even some back-to-back Neil songs have creeped up (see, even something for you Dad). It's definitely bloggin time!

JFC, a lot has happened in the past 8 days. Where to begin.... let me take you back to the US Senior Wednesday practice round. So this was Day 2 of me heading out there. This time Dr Scott Cline accompanied me. Two highlights for the day, besides the obvious highlight of being out at such a beautiful course surrounded by great golfers. First, of course Scott and I had to hit up the golf simulator and tackle the Par 3 160yd 14th hole at Bethpage Black. You get 3 shots at it...unfortunately I didn't hit a hole in one or anything, i think my best shot was 35ish feet from the cup, but it was good enough to dominate Scott, so that's the important thing. Second highlight was Scott and I walking down the par-4 4th hole, which is kind of in a secluded part of the course, so not many people were around. Naturally we were holding hands since we were on Scott's dream man-date so I had to make him feel good, but we quickly were distracted by a golf ball that was hit in our general direction and came to rest in the left rough underneath a tree. Now the reason there was really no one else around besides us is because it was John Ward's foursome. For those of you who don't know who John Ward, don't feel bad, we didn't either...but he's probably the coolest golfer out of the Denver, Colorado area. How many of you have your own golf website?? And to further cement himself into greatness, he invented his own putting system.... So what if he didn't make the cut because he shot an 81 in Round 2... Anyway, back to why I bring up Mr. Ward. Scotty and I were interrupted from our romantic walk down #4 fairway by his ball coming to rest on the left side of the tree trunk. In the practice rounds, typically the pros would just move their ball back out to the rough/fairway and hit a normal shot in since they don't really keep score. However, as he came over, we said that he should play the shot? He then looked back at us and asked what type of shot he should hit along w/ club selection. Now, with my girth of caddie experience I gained caddying for Austin in the qualifying round of the 2003 Indiana Amateur, I knew he was about 200 yds out and could run his ball up near the right side of the green, so I calmly said, "see that window, you can punch a 3-iron through it and run your ball up to the right side of the green. His response, "Aw, what the hell, let's give it a try." Sure enough he pulled the shot off, nestled it up within a few yards of the green, about holed out his birdie chip and had a tap-in par. At that point he told his caddie he was fired and told me to get on the bag. Of course he was joking, but it made our day...yes, Scott said a few things too, but Johnny Ward obviously knew I had some caddie experience which is why I got the nod over Scott.

Scott and I went back out to round #2 on Friday as well and had Pepsi Suite/Tent tickets, so we had free food/beer, which was awesome. I once again dominated Scott on the par-3 14th hole @ Bethpage on the golf simulator. Unfortunately for Scotty, I put one within 10 feet and at that point of the day was 8th place for all contestants for the day. We ended up following our favorite Senior PGA golfer Johnny around a little bit on Friday, even saw him birdie his first hole of the day, which at that time cemented him as a darkhorse shot to win, but then he proceeded to shoot 10-over the rest of the way....so much for John Ward. Friday was a great day at the course. Norman and Funk were putting up awesome scores and the galleries were pretty big following them. Great day!

So the city championships for my 4.5 tennis league is this upcoming sunday, so I've been playing a lot of doubles recently w/ my team in preparation. For those non-tennis people, there are basically two "levels" above the level I play at, and then the level after that is basically considered a low-level professional. I think my team has a good shot of winning. If we win, we advance to the state finals up in Fort Wayne the following weekend. After that we would move onto the Midwest tourney against the state champs from the surrounding states. I've never made into the post-season before, so this is very exciting for me. 10:30 at IRC-Dean Rd on Sunday morning if anyone wants to watch a has-been play some dubs.

Got a new sofa and chaise chair thingy for my family room. It's kind of like a light chocolate color and actually matches the room fairly well. I was a little worried about that at the store because, well, basically I'm a straight guy, so matching furniture w/ other colors and pieces of furniture isn't a skill that I have in my repertoire (I dare any of you to try and work in "repertoire" into normal conversation, but since I'm such a skilled writer it just comes naturally to me.)

Hmmm, went to the Cubs/Reds game in Cincy this past Monday. Cubs won 4-2, but the frickin bullpen made it interesting again in the 8th/9th. However, they are tied w/ the Cards for first place in August...life isn't all bad for the north-siders.

Marko and Jenny are due in September (Marko is my old college roommate/teammate for those who don't know him.) Well they are having a "couples" baby shower and of course I'm invited. Unfortunately i'm like the only single guy on the list of invitees....seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do at this thing? Fortunately i don't have to pick out my own gift as the hosts are organizing a big gift from the whole party. So I just have to pay my share of the gift, so I dodged a bullet there. Laramore, the other single guy invited, better go....in fact, I may go kidnap him and force him to go w/ me.

And last but not least, i have some potential good news on the way. Even though living by myself is great, it isn't as financially rewarding as say having two roommates pay my mortgage for me. Since I'm the luckiest guy I know, of course a roommate has magically fallen into my lap. So I think I'll have a new roommate in the next month or two....nothing official yet, but it seems promising. Vegas, here I come! Mom, if I win some money at the tables, I may even be able to afford to buy you an X-mas present!

Video of the Week - it's long (10 minutes), but very funny and comes to you via Andy Roddick's twitter account. If you don't like tennis and don't have a sense for how fast a 145 serve would be to hit, then don't waste your time... I feel if me or one of my buddies made it big, we'd do stupid videos like this weekly...it'd be in our unwritten/understood entourage contract!

all alone

It's true, i'm officially alone in my house now. For all 27 yrs and 2 months of my life, i've lived w/ someone else, with the exception of 4 months my sophomore year of college. Matt moved out last weekend. A few funny stories about that. So Matt rents a UHaul to move all his things out, as well as pick up a new couch he bought. So he goes to the store first thing to pick up the couch and then when he gets back to my house we loaded the rest of his things. As we are driving down to his house, the furniture store calls and says they gave him the wrong couch (wrong direction for the chaise on his sectional couch). The couch was also wrapped up, so Matt really didn't inspect it too much. Then, at his new house, he discovers that a water pipe busted underneath his kitchen floor...the kicker here is that his water hadn't even been turned on yet...how in the hell does that happen?? Not the greatest start in the world for Matt w/ his new purchase.

So I've been on vacation the past week. It's been alright, just stayed in Indy, so nothing too exciting. Helped Matt and another friend move, went out to the Indy Tennis Championships one day, had a behind the scenes tour of Lucas Oil Stadium (basically went everywhere except for the Colts locker room), went out to the US Senior Open practice day on Tuesday (and going today), and that's about it I guess.

Fantasy football leagues are getting close to being underway. We drew for draft positions this week in my friends league and I got the #2 pick, so very excited about that. And my keeper was Chris Johnson (TEN-RB) and he only costs me a 14th round pick...looking forward to complete domination this year. (To uphold the integrity of my blog, I should point out I didn't make the playoffs in this league.) Work league, which I dominate in every sense of the word, hasn't really started yet. more on that as the season gets closer...

Dave and I (and maybe a few others) are heading to Cincy next Monday to watch the Cubs/Reds play. Speaking of the Cubs, did you notice it only took them 10 days to make up their 3 game decifit to the Cards? I'm having some good dialogue w/ Diddy (a f*n Cards fan...I know, he sucks), about how these next 2 months are going to play out. In fact, it may be time for Diddy and I to have a podcast/running diary on the Cubs/Cards battles down the stretch.....I'll get back to you on that.

Video of the Week - I'm sure some of you have seen this as it got some pub on CNN and other websites last week. But if not, you need too! You'll forward this video to your friends, trust me. It's definitely why YouTube is one of the greatest websites ever! If I end up marrying someone half as cool as this, then I've succeeded in life (and the bride in this video has to be AWESOME if she would do this on her wedding day). Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) most of my friends make me look like MJ on the dance floor, so not sure my guys could pull it off....prove me wrong bitches! Also, look at about the 2:30 mark...this guy is giving Matt a run for his money, but a little less awkward! Happy Viewing

10 long days

That's right, it's been 10 days since i've made a posting...long time. In fact, check out these historical events that happened quicker than the time between this posting and my last posting:

• Ground assault from Operation - Desert Storm (that's the Gulf War back in 90-91, Mom)
• Longest recorded cricket game
• MC Hammer's stardom
• The seven times Jack Bauer has saved the world (7 days to you non-math majors)
• My personal favorite - Tom Brady's 2008 NFL Season

So, 10 days is a long time, but i've already broken my posting per-7 day rule, so I don't feel I'm bound by it anymore. So what have I been up too?

Went to Elkhart last weekend and played in the Jimtown HS Alumni golf outing. Caleb and my foursome finished 2nd in our flight and like 5th or 6th overall...not all bad. I shot an 87 in the morning round (afternoon round is the scramble), so that was OK as well. Got my Colts season tickets in the mail last week...so now it's officially official, since I have tickets in hand.

Work has been interesting the past few weeks and will be even better over the next 7 days....CAUSE I'M ON VACATION! (in CAPS for my co-workers that read this so they can be jealous.) I'm staying around Indy because i already took a vacation back in January in the form of buying a brand new furnace/AC unit for the house, so that took most of my excess funds for the year. A lot going on around Indy right now though to keep me busy. The US Senior Open is in town next week, so I'm going out to that at least one of the days.

Matt is moving out this weekend, much to my dismay. I'll miss the Big Fella. Now I'm officially roommateless. Part of my vacation involves helping him move on Saturday...awesome. But to make it even awesomer, I'm helping another friend of mine move on Friday....sweet, back to back days of moving people. Matt is also insisting that he take his couch, his Wii, his TV in the adult room, along w/ some other miscellaneous items (selfish bastard), so I need to do some shopping to buy some furniture along w/ a Wii, so that may take up some time next week.

I also plan to drink everyday on my vacation...it's a lofty goal, I know, but w/ some help and support from many different friends, I have a good shot at achieving this milestone.

So I was going to post the Erin Andrews hotel room video as my video of the week, but figured I'd pass on it since some kids read my blog. Plus it may get some of my male family members in trouble, along some married friends, in trouble w/ their spouses. So instead, I leave you w/ this

Xtreme Yogurt

Admit it, my subject line to this blog intrigued you, didn't it?? You may have said, "What the Hell" subconsciously in your mind. Well welcome to a brief period of my Saturday night as one of the fighters at UFC 100 was decked w/ this website all over this warmup and trunks. Thank you Dan Henderson for getting paid by this yogurt company so that millions of us viewers were educated that this company has two locations, both in CA.

I've never really gotten into the UFC, but I did decide to go over to one of my co-workers houses to watch it. There were some very good fights and I was extremely entertained. Shorter than boxing matches, most fights are three, 5-minute rounds, w/ only 60 seconds between rounds. Every fight leading up to the main draw, the heavyweight championship, was awesome, including the Welterweight championship match. Most of the earlier fights that were televised went the distance, so people definitely got their money worth. The fight w/ the aforementioned Henderson did not go the distance...check this out and be happy w/ your day job. It had been a very even fight up to that point...you hear the announcers say that his opponent had never been knocked out. Luckily I'm sure he won't remember this one....ouch!

One more thing on UFC 100. For those of you who didn't hear about Brock Lesnar's post-fight speech, it's a classic....check this out. Tell me this guy isn't on steroids. and by the way, I forgot that I hated Joe Rogan until I watched this fight...I'd pay to see him get in the ring w/ one of these guys.

Alright, so that was my Saturday night. Played Trophy Club up in Lebanon w/ Dave on Friday after work. They have a great deal after 3pm on Fridays...all you can play for $29, including cart. We played the blue tees (6600 yards) on a very windy course. I for some reason forgot how to hit a drive, so I was scrambling on basically every hole, ending w/ a 94. I'm definitely heading up there a few more times before the year is over. It's a great course and I definitely need to get my revenge on it....I've broken 90 on that course before from the blue tees so I know I can do it. My game has been suspect lately, so we'll see how the Jimtown Alumni Outing goes next weekend.

Overall the summer is going very well. my summer tennis leagues have been a lot of fun and i'm winning more than I'm losing, so that's a plus. Summer dating has been decent, so hopefully that can keep up...definitely have a girl or two that I'm keeping my eye on! Also, it's getting close to football season, thus fantasy football leagues are starting to be formed. Time to start counting my future winnings!

Placed in the Top 10 of another online poker tourney...that's 2 in the past 3 weeks, and considering i've only played in 3-4 tourneys, that's pretty good! I have to supplement my lost rent income somehow! Enjoy your week!

The halfway point

Happy belated 233rd b-day America. As the country celebrated it's independence day last night, or at least tried to through all the rain we had in Indiana, I felt it would be appropriate to rave about an HBO Original Series that I just finished watching for the first time, Band of Brothers. For those of you who haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend it. It essentially is a story about a US Army Paratrooper division and their stories leading up to D-Day and then the year in Europe after D-day. It definitely gave me a new sense of appreciation for not only the greatest American generation, but also for the men/women who currently serve in the armed forces.

Alright, another week down...can you believe 2009 is halfway over already?!? seems like yesterday when we were breaking it down, white man style, at the Vogue for NYE 2009! Let's have a quick recap of the first half of my 2009:

• Jan-April....worked a lot (not cool)
• Can now drink whiskey (learned that this may not be a positive...)
• Got Colts season tickets for next year...twice (suddenly my family wants to visit more often for the upcoming fall)
• Shot an 80 (along w/ some not as good rounds)
• Soon to be roommateless...I have mixed feelings on this
• Economy has sucked, which has led to some great deals on things, but overall has a negative impact on my day-to-day life

Alright, my 2009 everyone! Obviously a lot more has happened and so far I'd rate this year a better than average year in my life, so I'm definitely not complaining.

So I went to Elkhart for a quick 2-day trip last Thursday-Saturday. Played an up & down 36 holes of golf on Friday w/ my step-dad/step-bro. I suck at putting...seriously, at one point, I had six 3-putts on one 9-hole stretch. Not having my best game w/ me, I was still able to salvage both rounds for a 90 & 91, which is disappointing by my standards, but considering I started both rounds +7 after 3 holes, I suppose I can't complain too much. Best shot on the day came during Round #2, and I had just 3-putted for the fifth time on the front 9. I tossed the ball up in the air w/ the back of my putter and swung at it w/ my putter like a baseball swing. Now I was aiming in the general direction of our cart and next tee box, which in baseball terms, would have been to straight-away centerfield. However, I got in front and pulled that sucker to deep left field....so deep that it went onto another nearby green where people were putting....OOPS. let's just say I didn't go retrieve that ball. I did start to play better after that though, so that was a plus.

The Wimbledon final today was unbelievable. That had to be so crushing for Roddick, to be that close and come up short. If you ask me (which I will since it's my blog), Roddick could (should) have won in 3 or 4 sets...he was up 6-2 in the 2nd set tiebreak, already having won the first set, and blew it. Oh well, still an awesome display of tennis by both guys. This Wimbledon run should solidfy that Roddick finishes the year in the Top-10 for the eighth straight year, so their is still a glimmer of hope for American men's tennis....about as much as American soccer

Ahhh yes, in one week from today, IT'S BACK!!!

where'd the time go?

So summer must be in full swing judging by the 12 days between my last posting and this masterpiece. Weather has been great and thus I've been doing many different things, mostly outdoors. In the last 12 days I've seen the movie The Hangover (very funny), almost wrapped up the Band of Brothers mini-series, had a roommate move out, mourned the death of The King of Pop, gone to a wine tasting seminar along with winery tour, visited w/ both step-bro's, (even the one from the UP of Michigan!), had a top 10 finish in an online poker event, and survived a marathon day of drinking on 6/27. It's been a fun 12 days!

The NBA draft also occurred in the past two weeks, so let's take a minute to reflect on this. The Pacers drafted Tyler Hansbrough, which I'm a big fan of, although I refuse to acknowledge his Psycho T nickname. The draft wasn't loaded w/ a bunch of superstars, so the Pacers weren't going to find a franchise savior with the 13th pick. They need a lot of pieces and Hansbrough does bring a physical presence and winning attitude along w/ his skills and bball intelligence. All in all, the team is a little better today then it was 2 weeks ago.

So the Cardinal Ritter HS Alumni golf outing was yesterday at West Chase golf course. Most of you know that I didn't go to high school at Ritter, however, I participate in many of their events that they put on, including the alumni basketball league, golf outing, and various fundraisers throughout the year. I think i've played in 7 of the last 8 golf outings and it's always fun. I normally play w/ the same foursome (Scott, Dave, Andy, and me). Unfortunately Dave couldn't play yesterday, so Matt Taylor, who has really never played golf before stepped in. Related to the golf outing comes one of the greatest mysterious of the 21st century....WHERE DID ANDY'S GOLF GAME DISAPPEAR TOO??? It has yet to be solved by any of us and we, along w/ Andy, have had to resort to humor to get through 18 holes of torture. Now Andy used to be a decent golfer. When I started playing golf w/ him 8-9 years ago, we both would shoot mid-low 90's consistently. Then about 5-6 years ago he just forgot how to hit a golf ball...it's like he has amnesia and had to learn how to play all over again, except that his brain cells related to golf no longer exist. I'm not sure it's possible, but I think he gets worse every time he plays. It's like watching a former great athlete try to make a comeback, except that the former athlete has no arms or legs and is still trying to compete....yeah, that about sums it up.

Now i'm sure you're thinking that i'm being mean here, but he'd be the first to admit it and i'm sure he won't mind me writing about it. After all, it is in all of our best interest to help him conquer his golf struggles in order to improve our Ritter foursome. We still shot 6 under and Andy did hit a decent putt or two. I eagled a hole by myself, so that was the golf highlight of my day. It also never ceases to amaze me the amount of beers that we can put down in 90-95 degree heat. The same thing happens at the Jimtown outing...ridiculous amounts of alcohol are consumed, but it's so hot that you just sweat it out...good times.

I'm looking forward to a good week this week, capped off by having Friday off for the 4th holiday. should be a great weekend!

And now a tribute in the only means I have....the other MJ. On a side note, I believe this is at least the 2nd time MJ has been featured in a video on my blog, which I believe puts him into legendary status for my blog video hall of fame, joining Peyton Manning.

The all sports posting...

This posting will be dedicated to many different sport topics, so there's your warning if sports isn't your thing. Also, I'll try to pick up the frequency of my posting. i've been slacking lately and going about 7-9 days w/o posting.

Topic #1 - Roger Federer.

Greatest Ever, hands down. He'll cement that by walking through Wimbledon and then capturing the US Open Crown in September. A friend of mine is actually going to Wimbledon this year, so i'll be looking forward to his random facebook updates and then hearing what he has to say when he returns.

Topic #2 - NHL

It's back!!! For those of you who did not get into the NHL playoffs, you missed some great sporting moments. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals had the highest rating for an NHL Final in 36 years...and it was on a Friday night, historically the worst night for TV. Hopefully for the NHL's sake, ESPN gets back in the game and is able work out a deal w/ NBC/Versus to carry some of the playoffs next year. That will help it continue to garner support/attention from the casual sports fan. On a random note, I made a woman who I met for the first time during Game 6 despise my existence because I told her I was rooting for a Game 7 and not her beloved Red Wings to close it out in 6. She was actually disgusted w/ me that I was sitting at the same table as her and blamed me for their loss. This was about an hour after I got rear-ended by a woman who didn't have insurance. However, not all was lost....my pitcher of beer that I consumed during Game 6 was only $5. Beer - it's cheaper then gas.

Topic #3 - NBA Finals / Kobe Bryant

OK, the NBA playoffs were pretty solid overall, but the finals sucked. I blame some of that on all media by basically instilling in everyone's mind that a Cavs/Lakers finals was inevitable. I was happy to see Kobe get his 4th title though. I'm not a Kobe hater, in fact, I find myself normally rooting for him. Not sure what Kobe ever did to make people either love him or hate him. And this goes deeper than his Colorado incident w/ the hotel employee. I couldn't care less about that. But he's obviously one of the Top 10 players of all time, and probably the 2nd best shooting guard ever behind Jordan. I grew up in Jordan's prime and I just don't remember people hating MJ. Now, to be fair, a lot has changed since the 90's. Thanks to this wonderful invention none as the "Internet" information is easily accessible and you can read/hear/view so many different avenues of info/video/articles/blogs, etc... So obviously there is more coverage today and you naturally hear more opinions. With that being said, I still just don't think MJ would have been villified as much as Kobe has even if he had played in today's era. It just seemed like everyone loved and rooted for him. Now maybe it's because I grew up relatively close to Chicago (~2 hours), so naturally most articles I read in the paper were "pro-Chicago." Jordan had plenty of his own vices, including gambling, women, alienating teammates, etc... Many of these flaws can be attributed to Kobe as well. Just not sure where/when the public decided to turn on Kobe, arguably the best player over the past 7-8 years.

#4 - US Open / Bethpage Black

Very excited for the US Open this week/weekend. So much so that when Dave asked if I wanted to take Friday afternoon off and go to a bar to watch it, my response basically was, "Which bar..." An intriguing storyline for you to keep your eye on during the first two rounds is the IU sophomore, 19 year-old David Erdy, who just got in as an alternate after one of the Japanese players dropped out. He's not even the best golfer on IU's team.... So we'll see how he does at one of the toughest courses in the US. I'm guessing he shoots around 10-15 over par for the two rounds... One thing i'm not looking forward too is the constant media coverage that is going to be around Phil Mickelson, playing so shortly after he took a leave from the Tour after his wife was diagnosed w/ breast cancer. Obviously it's a feel good story and we all hope that his wife fights and beats the disease, but I just don't want to hear about it 300 times over the tourney's 96 hours. There is a such a thing as beating a dead horse, and I think this may start to qualify. After all, it's his wife who has cancer, not him. Don't take it as me being insensitive. I have plenty of family members and friends that have fought or are currently fighting cancer, but I think you can get what i'm saying. Frickin Tiger won last year's US Open on a broken leg and a torn ACL.... Phil's battle will be more mental as he obviously will be playing w/ some heavy emotion on his sleeves. Which brings up another question...every time he walks by the gallery he's gonna here some sort of comment about his wife's health and that people are wishing her well. Do you think this will help him? If anything, I think it may hurt him as he definitely needs to keep his mind focused on his game if he has any chance of winning.... my prediction is that the winner of the tourney shoots Even par for the tourney.

Topic #5 - my own tennis game

So both of my summer leagues have started. I'm 2-0 at #1 doubles in my 4.5 Summer league on Wednesday nights. In the Indianapolis Draft League on sundays, i'm basically playing guys that are a little better than me. I'm currently 1-2, but have played decent for the most part. No shame in losing to guys that played Division I college tennis. I'm having fun, meeting some new guys, playing well, and also may get some business out of it, so that would be nice!

Topic #6 - Jetskis

I forgot how awesome they are. I spent last Saturday up at Morse Resevior in Noblesville/Cicero at a friend's lake house. It had been a few years since i'd actually rode one...man it was fun to get back on and cut loose on the water.

I feel like i'm rambling, so I'm cutting this posting off now. Don't be this guy....kids, don't play w/ power lines

Music to my ears

So the Coldplay concert last Friday night was frickin awesome. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the term 'auditory orgasm' should about sum it up. Just an absolutely amazing show...they were already my favorite band of the past 3-5 years, so finally seeing them live was a real treat. As Scott, Sara, and I sat in my car waiting to leave after the show, it got me thinking what my all-time favorite concerts were. So, here's my list....

#1 Live (summer 2002) - so Live was the headliner of the first (and last, i think) Indy Summer Stage concerts downtown at Military Park. Indy Summer Stages was to be an annual music festival downtown. I believe it was held right after the 4th of July over a 3 day span. Live was the headliner on the final night. This whole event was just one awesome weekend and Live topped it off Sunday night. Matt and I went to all 3 days, all day, every day. Our Lady Peace headlined Friday night, which was sweet and then Lit headlined on Saturday night. Lit is where Gaddis and I got to sing the chorus to My Own Worst Enemy w/ their lead singer...pretty awesome. Other notable bands at this festival were: Seven Mary Three, Foreigner (before I recognized how awesome they were), Ted Nugent, Better Than Ezra, The Roots, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Sugar Ray, along w/ about 30 other bands. It was a damn good weekend.

(sidenote: can't wait till Entourage sixth season starts in July)

#2 Coldplay (June 2009) - Like I said above, it was awesome. Here is a video of their final song...wish I could have been this close to the stage! The crowd of approximately 25,000 people was electric. and just because Youtube is awesome, here is part of Clocks. My desire to pick back up my piano skills has never been higher....

#3 Neil Diamond (1991 or 1992) - enough said...the rest of you are jealous that you have never seen Neil. This was my first concert ever...Dad took me to Indy to see them at the old Market Square Arena. I'm pretty sure I knew every word to all of his songs thanks to DC spinning Neil's vinyls (yes, records) all the time when I was a kid.

#4 Aerosmith (1993 and 1998) - So many great songs and Steven Tyler is a maniac on stage. Don't remember too many details from the concerts except for the amount of awesomeness that they brought. The one in 1993 was at Verizon (Deer Creek at that time) and I remember it poured down rain the whole time, which sucked during the show, but looking back now it seems pretty cool.

#5 Journey (2006 or 2007) - I've seen Journey twice. Granted, Steve Perry was no longer singing for them, but their new singer at the time sounded just like him. the first time we saw them, they kinda sucked...played too much new stuff. However, the 2nd time i saw them was w/ Adam, Dave, Craig, and Diddy (i think), and it was 2 1/2 hours of nothing but their classic hits...pretty good show.

Honorable mention - Hootie & the Blowfish, Def Leppard, and May Day 2001 (Staind, Oleander, Nickelback...before Nickelback was big). Diddy claims that Tom Petty a few years ago would have cracked my Top 5, but I couldn't go w/ him as I had my last final for my MBA. He claims if I already had my MBA, I would have been smart enough to realize to skip it and go to the concert...maybe.

So after three grueling years on the Colts season ticket wait list, Dave and I got our 4 tickets. You can find us in Section 404 (club level), Row 9, seats 11-14. Now I have 3 tickets for next year..if you remember, Adam came through for two tickets earlier this year (Section 435, Row 7). Ummm, anyone want to buy tickets for face value?? let me know!!

Alright, it's getting late and i'm tired of typing. Hope you all liked my Top 5 concert listing...I assume all of you have yours as well, please share!

500, The Fox, and Vulcans?

The last 10 days have been very busy, thus, the lack of a posting. However, I'm here to rectify my tardiness. After waking up this morning I had to decide to either go to church or write a blog posting...you can figure out which one I chose. Onward...

So the 500 weekend was crazy as always. About 8-9 of us picked up the RV Friday morning and got out to the track around noon on Friday. WAIT...backup to Thursday night. Craig and his buddy Keith came up from Georgia. Naturally after an 8 or 9 hour drive in a car the only thing left to do was to go out to the bars and get obliterated before a long weekend of drinking. 4 hours later and a 2am trip to Qdoba, everything seemed great, until we had to get up at 8am friday morning to prepare for a weekend of no sleep, booze, exhaustian, awesomeness, etc... So maybe it wasn't the greatest decision, but I think Keith is convinced he's going to open a franchise in Athens, GA, since according to him, it's the greatest thing ever. Back to the track. So Friday was relatively low key. Only about 8-10 of us, drinking off the keg, doing random octabongs (not us, but you get the picture), grilling, drinking games, and Adam staying strong late in the night and protecting his dignity. Woke up saturday morning (after sleeping on the unpadded ground) and was immediately concerned w/ our lack of ice/warm beer situation. Luckily a few hours later the rest of crew - about 20 more people - started showing up. The first keg from Friday was quickly polished off and keg #2 was floating by 5pm. Saturday afternoon included plenty of jello shots, a big frickin slingshot, a football, cornhole domination by the epic duo of Brandon & Brandon (never lost), hillbilly horseshoes. Keg #3 was done by 11pm and we were out of draft beer, which basically began to shut down our 30 person party. Race Day came and was very fun as well as Craig and I continued our tradition of knocking off a case of beer at the race. Got home sunday night around 9:30 and took the greatest shower ever, thus completing another successful 500 weekend.

Saw the new Star Trek movie on Memorial Day, which was really good. It should be noted that I had never seen an episode of the old TV show or any of the previous movies. I was still able to follow it and enjoyed the movie immensely.

Played golf yesterday for the first time since I shot an 80 four weeks ago. The four weeks off did not treat me well as I consistently mishit putts and failed w/ any shot that required any type of finesse. Dave and I played at The Coffin and after the front 9, it was Dave w/ a shot to break 80. But that all came crashing to a screeching halt on #11. As we approached the tee box, coming off a double bogey and triple bogey on #10 for the two of us, there was a fox right out in the open, barking into the small wooded area to the left of the hole. It clearly had something (or a female fox) trapped and was circling in on his prey. then he started moving towards us, and kept moving toward us, picking up some steam.... So Dave and I, naturally, "hustled" back to our cart ready to flee if we feared for our lives. Luckily for us, the fox diverted from us and went into the woods, but only to come back out again and repeat the process over again. If someone was looking at us, but couldn't see the Fox, it probably would have been very confusing to them as to what the hell we were doing. Finally we were able to tee off, but it clearly flustered Buell as he took another triple and thus the quest for 79 was over. I didn't fare much better taking a double on that hole and the next as well. Anyway, shot a 91 for the day, which is probably the worst I've shot on that course in 3 years. Dave finished w/ an 89 and had to drain a 12 footer on #18 to seal that....obviously both of us weren't too happy w/ parts of the day.

Should be a good week coming up. Both of my summer tennis leagues kick off this week, starting today in the inaugural Indianapolis Draft League. Have a golf outing on Thursday and then the Coldplay concert Friday night. Cubs are in Cincy next weekend, so I'm going to try and find some people to make the quick 2-hour trip to Cincy to go to the Saturday night game. If that doesn't pan out, Rabby is hosting a big poker tournament w/ some of the Indy Star sports reporters, so that's my fallback plan...always fun!

Video of the Week - this is what used to happens on Matt's field day at the end of the school year in Shelbyville. After they found about his shenanigans, he had to switch to Whiteland schools

Birthday posting

So I turned 28 today and I feel that 28 is gonna be a good year. Alright, enough about that....now, what to write about....

Even though I turned 28 this week, i acted like I was 22 again last weekend by going out to the bars, not one night, not two nights, not even three...that's right, FOUR nights in a row! To be fair, I didn't really partake in very many alcoholic beverages on the first two nights (Wed & Thurs) due to me having to be a responsible adult and work the next mornings, but still, I feel it was a feat worth mentioning. Friday & Saturday night were a different story though...and how about meeting some people at 4 in the afternoon saturday and not getting home from the bars until after 2am..didn't think I had it in me anymore. I met some new people and had fun w/ a variety of different friends, so it was well worth it.

Hit up the Broad Ripple Art Fair on Sunday w/ Kara - damn, there was some cool, but very expensive items there. It was interesting to see all the different styles as well as the random people watching. Let's just say there was more than one homosexual couple there, and that's OK, nothing wrong w/ that.

So the Indianapolis Annual CPA Bball tourney was this week. My firm was the #4 seed (12 teams participated), which was based upon last year's results. Unfortunately we gave away our first game after being up 12. Luckily it's a double elimination tourney so we got to play again the next night. We won our second game, but then got drubbed in our 3rd game to finish tied for 7th place. Highlight of the tourney for me was getting my first ever 4-point play of my career...unfortunately we were down 20 in our last game when it happened. Overall we played OK as a team. could have played better, but cut us some slack...we sit behind desks all day, although I do have some wicked paper ball shots into my trashcan. Some day I'll be as good as this guy.

So this upcoming weekend is the annual Indy 500 weekend that we've essentially taken to the next level year after year, although it'll be tough to top last year's setup. There are 28 of us who are renting a 2009 RV and camping out Friday-Sunday at the track. 4 kegs, a big gatorade cooler full of everclear/vodka/fruit, cornhole sets, an outdoor firepit & grill, tons of food, and good weather should make for your better than average weekend. Oh, tickets at the top of Turn 3 don't hurt either. Every year I say i'm not gonna do it again, but as the time draws near, I can't turn it down and am very excited to see what kind of debacle we can make it this year.

Just to get all of you pumped up for Sunday, here ya go. Hopefully I'll have some decent stories (that are clean enough to share) for the blog next weekend.