In case you aren't a faithful reader of mine, check out my first ever blog for my New Years Goals. So I finally began my quest to achieve Goal #1, which is to start drinking scotch/whiskey on the rocks. This past weekend my buddy Adam came down from Elkhart and he brought a nice gift w/ him - Bulleit Bourbon. It took us both nights but we polished it off. The initial glass was tough, but the next few came a little easier. By night #2, I was beginning to enjoy it. Needless to say, the quest shall continue!
Oh, what else?? Well, Adam also stumbled into a good opportunity for us to become Colts season ticket holders for next year, so obviously we jumped on that. So, for the 8 home games and hopefully a playoff game or two next season, you can find us in the club level, Section 435, Row 7, seats 15 & 16. That happened so fast that I don't think I've actually realized that in a couple weeks, I'll be official Colts season ticket holder!
I also found out some news this weekend involving a good friend of mine, but I'll have to let that person break the news. Once that person has made it public, I'll bring it up officially on the blog. Nice teaser, eh?! don't worry, no one is dying or been diagnosed w/ a disease (as far as I know), so it's nothing that serious.
Work is really starting to weigh me down. Not that I'm overly swamped w/ tax returns in my office, but knowing that I have most of my big returns getting ready to commence very soon, mentally I'm a little concerned that its going to be overwhelming. Oh well, i've been through it five times before and I'll survive again this year.
Basketball leagues have been less than stellar lately. I'm accepting the fact that I've lost a step (or five)...can't play defense like I used to. It's still fun though, so that's the important part. Tennis league though is a different story. Assuming I don't have a massive meltdown, it looks I should win the sunday night doubles league I'm in. Last year I got treated to a free round of golf at Prairie View, so that was a nice victory prize. Sounds like golf is going to be the prize for the winner this year also, so hopefully I can hang on and repeat.
Today was Ash Wednesday. I thought long and hard about what to give up for Lent and I decided I don't want to give up anything. done and done. I thought about giving up gambling for about half a second, then i realized March Madness starts in a few weeks and it's state law to get in an office pool or two, so that was out of the question. it could have been worse...I could have given up red meat (disclaimer: video is probably R rated)
2008 Taxable Income reviewed to date: $4,412,774
until next time
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Are you feeling stimulized?
So Congress and the Prez finally passed Stimulus 2.0. I have to say, overall i'm pretty disappointed in it. Why can't we all get $400 lump sum check instead of the stupid withholding option. Seriously, do our lawmakes in Washington really feel that $13 a week or whatever it's going to be starting in April is really going to stimulate the economy? That isn't even enough for me to play one hand of a blackjack on a weekend in Vegas... Anyway, that got me thinking about random benefits or experiences in my life that people are "handing" me in 2009, so I felt I'd share w/ you.
In no particular order:
1. So Nick (a coworker) and I have the opportunity to go play Oakmont Country Club on someone else's dime this summer. We both have to go to Pittsburgh for a conference and it's only about an hour from there, so this is in the works. According to Golf Digest, it's ranked as the #5 overall course in North America. They've hosted a few small tournaments you may have heard of like the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.
2. Trip to Cancun --- so my cousin Kerry who is a realtor here in town owes me a trip for a few days to an all-inclusive resort. I referred him two customers last year, so that's his repayment to me....i'll obviously take it.
3. The fact that i'm lucky/fortunate enough to currently have two roommates that help pay my mortgage and utilities! thanks guys!
4. My lease is up on my car in June. Normally I would dread the fact that I have to do some car shopping, but hell, I'm practically expecting dealerships to give away deals on cars, so this could be somewhat exciting. Yeah, technically i'll be spending money, but I need a car so I was gonna do that anyway, but there could be a lot of potential savings
5. Pacers tickets -- these are practically being given away, so i've been the beneficiary of some sweet seats this season so far and hopefully will get a few more of those before the season is over.
6. My family's love - this is free 99.9% of the time (unfortunately, there are exceptions). Love ya Mom and Dad (and every other family member that reads this)
So, even though I wasn't too pumped w/ the actual stimulus package, there are many other ways that I've realized are making me say that "I'm feeling stimulized!" Hopefully all of you have some good things going for ya as well this year!
2008 Taxable Income reviewed to date - $3,680,947. I have a long way to go to hit my $103 million guess, but I think I'll still be somewhere in that area when it's all said and done.
Until next time, I leave you w/ this and also an all-time classic!
In no particular order:
1. So Nick (a coworker) and I have the opportunity to go play Oakmont Country Club on someone else's dime this summer. We both have to go to Pittsburgh for a conference and it's only about an hour from there, so this is in the works. According to Golf Digest, it's ranked as the #5 overall course in North America. They've hosted a few small tournaments you may have heard of like the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.
2. Trip to Cancun --- so my cousin Kerry who is a realtor here in town owes me a trip for a few days to an all-inclusive resort. I referred him two customers last year, so that's his repayment to me....i'll obviously take it.
3. The fact that i'm lucky/fortunate enough to currently have two roommates that help pay my mortgage and utilities! thanks guys!
4. My lease is up on my car in June. Normally I would dread the fact that I have to do some car shopping, but hell, I'm practically expecting dealerships to give away deals on cars, so this could be somewhat exciting. Yeah, technically i'll be spending money, but I need a car so I was gonna do that anyway, but there could be a lot of potential savings
5. Pacers tickets -- these are practically being given away, so i've been the beneficiary of some sweet seats this season so far and hopefully will get a few more of those before the season is over.
6. My family's love - this is free 99.9% of the time (unfortunately, there are exceptions). Love ya Mom and Dad (and every other family member that reads this)
So, even though I wasn't too pumped w/ the actual stimulus package, there are many other ways that I've realized are making me say that "I'm feeling stimulized!" Hopefully all of you have some good things going for ya as well this year!
2008 Taxable Income reviewed to date - $3,680,947. I have a long way to go to hit my $103 million guess, but I think I'll still be somewhere in that area when it's all said and done.
Until next time, I leave you w/ this and also an all-time classic!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
V-Day Special
So a friend of mine asked if he could do a guest posting on my blog - he'll explain below. Evan "Diddy" Dyer is a former roommate, a current co-worker, a Tarheel fan, and a better than average friend. And he is right, this does count as my post this week. oh, and i can't remember the last time I was referred to as "Brandon" this many times....my frickin mom doesn't even call me Brandon. But Diddy felt compelled to keep this somewhat formal, so for those of you who may get confused, Brandon is actually my name. Cook is my last name for those still confused...
In the words of Evan, "without further ado...."
The following was written by Diddy...
Welcome to the blog of Brandon Cook. A week or so ago I came to Brandon about writing a guest blog, inspired after reading a guest blog on Club Trillion. Much to my surprise, Brandon agreed to let me post a guest spot on his blog. I am guessing that he is only letting me post so that he can count my writing as his post for the week, thus giving him the week off. He IM’ed me today, Thursday, in what I can only describe as a semi-panicked manner asking when my post would be ready, since I am guessing he was having trouble figuring out when he would have time to come up with a post if I bailed.
I decided it would be a good time to post with Valentine’s Day only two days away. My two ideas were 10 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome and Girls Should Want to Date Him or 10 Characteristics a Girl Wanting to Date Brandon Should Have. Since I am not sure I can think of 10 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome, I settled on writing 5 of each.
Although I could have come up with some reasons why Cook is awesome like that he buys overpriced university sweatshirts as gifts and he is the self-proclaimed Vincent Chase of his friend group, even though we all see him as Andy Bernard, I decided to be a little more serious. So without further ado…
5 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome and Girls Should Want to Date Him
1. Two words – Karate Kid
I decided it would be a good time to post with Valentine’s Day only two days away. My two ideas were 10 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome and Girls Should Want to Date Him or 10 Characteristics a Girl Wanting to Date Brandon Should Have. Since I am not sure I can think of 10 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome, I settled on writing 5 of each.
Although I could have come up with some reasons why Cook is awesome like that he buys overpriced university sweatshirts as gifts and he is the self-proclaimed Vincent Chase of his friend group, even though we all see him as Andy Bernard, I decided to be a little more serious. So without further ado…
5 Reasons Why Brandon is Awesome and Girls Should Want to Date Him
1. Two words – Karate Kid
2. Networking – Brandon is friends with 75 percent of the people in Indy, and has dated the other 25 percent. Do the math, Cook has dated roughly half of the women in the greater metro area, including all of the ones named Sarah. Of course, this all means that he is friends with everyone in Marion County since he has this uncanny ability to remain friends with his ex’s.
3. Guitar Hero band – Cook is the lead member of a Guitar Hero band. I know it sounds dorky, but you have to see him walking around with the miniature guitar, it is even dorkier. Seriously though, we all love Guitar Hero and we all look like tools with the guitar strapped around us. What makes Brandon great in a band is that he knows all of the words to every Toto song ever recorded…legendary.
4. Self-made Handy-man – Brandon was my inspiration for doing home improvement projects myself, rather than paying someone else to do it. My projects never seem to get done quite as quickly though, perhaps because I don’t have an in-house crew to help me with the work. If you ever have the pleasure of being in Brandon’s house, take note of the quality workmanship of the walls in the dining room foosball room, then ask Matt how much fun we had stripping off the old wallpaper.
5. House in Broad Ripple – Brandon’s house in Broad Ripple is a definite plus…as long as you don’t open your car up to a hit and run by parking in front of his house, you take steps to avoid having large rocks hurled onto the hood of your car, you watch out for armed robbers running through the front yard to toss their gun in the bushes, you don’t kidnap a young girl and hold her in the basement, you avoid the random violence at Broad Ripple High School, you don’t run or ride your bike on the Monon…wait, why is the house in Broad Ripple a plus…oh yeah, it is within walking distance of the bars.
I think we can all agree that those are Brandon’s most awesome qualities. I once asked Brandon how he ascertained such awesomeness, or was it ascerned (told you I would work that non-word into the blog) such awesomeness, oh well, it makes no difference. He explained to me that he was once just an average man, until he learned all of the ingredients to the Casba shot, then the awesomeness just fell into place.
Since Brandon is so awesome, he cannot just date any girl. She must have certain qualities. Now stop, get your heads out of the gutter, these are not going to be physical characteristics (but i'm sure he'd be OK w/ this). On with the blog…
5 Characteristics a Girl Wanting to Date Brandon Should Have
Must be Independent – The last thing Brandon needs is a clingy woman strapped to his side all the time. That would be very un-Brandon. He has way too many things to do to worry about entertaining his girl all the time. Important things like online poker, watching Sports Guy’s podcast, keeping up with his Tivo’ed shows, practicing with the Guitar Hero band, and the list goes on and on.
Must like Sports – Brandon reminds me of myself when I was a child, in lots of ways, but particularly by all of his involvement in his sports activities. He is like a little kid trying to get to all of his sporting events, except replace the soccer mom, mini van, Gatorade, and orange slices with himself, the Maxima, beer/liquor, and Qdoba.
Cannot be the Jealous-type – Brandon has a lot of activities, and they aren’t always going to require/accept having his girl present. For example, all of the dates Brandon goes on. How would Matt feel if Brandon’s girl tagged along on one of their ice cream dates; and how would Dave feel if Brandon’s girl was playing third wheel on their cruise together? Not very good I am guessing.
Must not Oppose Gambling – Ok, so Brandon is involved in a handful of friendly wagers. One of which is our annual March Madness bet. Now I have won a lunch from Cook two years running, and I am not about to let some new girl of Cook’s screw up this good thing I have going. Plus, Brandon was 6-5 on his NFL Playoff betting…fantastic.
Must have Sense of Humor – First off, she is dating Cook. Second, Brandon has created a certain persona for himself. One of bachelorness, dating around, etc. Any girl who ends up with Brandon for any period of time will no doubt be subjected to surprised comments, strange looks, and double takes (to make sure it really is the same Brandon Cook). She will have to understand the Brandon we all know and tolerate, and she will have to be able to get through attending firm events with Brandon.
If you are, or know of, the woman possessing these five characteristics, and you don’t yet know Brandon, please contact this blog following busy season. Brandon is far too important to our firm for a new girl to screw up his focus on taxes at this time of year.
Now, in the spirit of including a video, here it is D*** in a Box.
I’m out,
Diddy
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Who's Bad?
I can't believe it's been a week since I've last posted anything. One of my goals for this year was to make a posting at least once a week, so I'm cutting it close this week, but I'll meet the deadline. Really not a lot has happened since my last postings about the man crushes. The Steelers won the Super Bowl, but the Cardinals covered, making me 6-5 for the NFL playoffs and 4-0 w/ the Cards. I put a little more money on the Super Bowl then I did on the other games, so I was sweating that one out a bit until the Cards caught fire in the 4th qtr.
IU finally won a game in the Big Ten, but then got thumped yesterday by Sparty...1-9 in the conference now, but threatening to catch Iowa for 10th position in the conference. I played bball twice this past week....played great last Thursday night up at The Fieldhouse helping our team to victory, but then regressed today w/ an awful performance in the first week of the Ritter alumni league. oh well
Enough sports. So I went out to the bars both nights this weekend, which is rare for me these days, especially during tax season. However, it was fun both nights. Friday night I finally got to see the #1 Michael Jackson tribute band in the world, Who's Bad. It was everything one would hope for. The Vogue was packed and I was dominating some rum-n-coke's. Funniest part of the night was this douchebag sitting near us who actually thought he was Michael Jackson and tried to mimmick some of his dance moves, but mainly the moonwalk. Honestly, he couldn't have been worse. You could have pulled some random stranger off the street and told them to do the moonwalk and I'd bet that the stranger would be better. He was definitely not this guy
work sucked on saturday, but a friend from high school and my cousin were in town Saturday night, so I got back on the rum-n-coke train and proceeded to close down the bars last night, only to have to get up and go play ball this morning at 10...maybe that's why I sucked.
Matt and I were productive this afternoon though...we took out his old toilet and put in a new one and it actaully worked w/ no leaking water, so that was a relief.
My least favorite holiday, if you can call it that, is this upcoming weekend...Valentine's Day. I've never really enjoyed this day, and it's not just because i've happened to be single the past few years on it either. Even during high school and college I just don't remember having a memorable one. Interesting though is that it falls on Saturday night, so I'll be curious to see the bars. In theory, all the couples will be doing 'couple' things and may not be as many at the bars, so us single people should have free reign on each other. could be interesting....!!!
Taxable Income reviewed so far - $2,168,779 (I know,not much more than a week ago, but i've had a few clients w/ some losses due to the rough 2008 economy)
i just found this funny - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3SwaOAW3BE&feature=related
Until next time
IU finally won a game in the Big Ten, but then got thumped yesterday by Sparty...1-9 in the conference now, but threatening to catch Iowa for 10th position in the conference. I played bball twice this past week....played great last Thursday night up at The Fieldhouse helping our team to victory, but then regressed today w/ an awful performance in the first week of the Ritter alumni league. oh well
Enough sports. So I went out to the bars both nights this weekend, which is rare for me these days, especially during tax season. However, it was fun both nights. Friday night I finally got to see the #1 Michael Jackson tribute band in the world, Who's Bad. It was everything one would hope for. The Vogue was packed and I was dominating some rum-n-coke's. Funniest part of the night was this douchebag sitting near us who actually thought he was Michael Jackson and tried to mimmick some of his dance moves, but mainly the moonwalk. Honestly, he couldn't have been worse. You could have pulled some random stranger off the street and told them to do the moonwalk and I'd bet that the stranger would be better. He was definitely not this guy
work sucked on saturday, but a friend from high school and my cousin were in town Saturday night, so I got back on the rum-n-coke train and proceeded to close down the bars last night, only to have to get up and go play ball this morning at 10...maybe that's why I sucked.
Matt and I were productive this afternoon though...we took out his old toilet and put in a new one and it actaully worked w/ no leaking water, so that was a relief.
My least favorite holiday, if you can call it that, is this upcoming weekend...Valentine's Day. I've never really enjoyed this day, and it's not just because i've happened to be single the past few years on it either. Even during high school and college I just don't remember having a memorable one. Interesting though is that it falls on Saturday night, so I'll be curious to see the bars. In theory, all the couples will be doing 'couple' things and may not be as many at the bars, so us single people should have free reign on each other. could be interesting....!!!
Taxable Income reviewed so far - $2,168,779 (I know,not much more than a week ago, but i've had a few clients w/ some losses due to the rough 2008 economy)
i just found this funny - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3SwaOAW3BE&feature=related
Until next time
Sunday, February 1, 2009
I'm a hetero...I swear!
Most guys won't admit it, but we all have at least one guy that for some reason or another we are infatuated with....
I'm actually going to list five of them. it was actually kinda hard to come up w/ 5, so maybe I should have stopped at 2 or 3, but I was thinking about the satisfaction of my readers and I knew my fans would be cool w/ 2 or 3, but would be really cool w/ 5....without further ado
(In no particular order)
1. Matthew McConaughey - look at this frickin guy. He can get any girl he wants, has a southern accent/twang thing going on (a.k.a - he can get any girl he wants), obviously a multi-millionaire (which also helps out w/ the girl thing), loves sports, and I'm told isn't hard on the eyes. So, he's my Hollywood man-crush
2. Andy Roddick - i'm not exactly sure where this came from, but my friends would not let me do this list and not included Roddick. I guess it's the whole tennis thing. Anyway, yeah, I'm a Roddick fan and I guess he's my favorite tennis player, which is my favorite sport, so he's on this list by default. So here's my Roddick story. Back in the day, Roddick used to date Mandy Moore, who in my opinion is 'alright.' They split and then Roddick had a new girl for a while who was 41.8 times hotter than Mandy. Anyway, Dave & Matt always said Mandy was hotter (they are idiots). Roddick is now engaged to Brooklyn Decker, who is definitely hotter than Mandy Moore. If you don't agree w/ this statement, quit reading my blog. So, Roddick because of his consistency on the tennis court (Top 10 for 7 straight years) and being my favorite player for my favorite sport, he gets one of my athlete nominations
3. Peyton Manning - my other athlete nomination. Ever since I moved to Indy back in 1999, i've been a Colts fan. This is good because I really never had a favorite team growing up...i normally just rooted for players and by default the Bears since we weren't too far from Chicago. Everyone knows Peyton is a great quarterback, but that's only part of the reason why he made the list. He's also very hilarious and has sweet dance moves.
4. Justin Timberlake - seriously, JT is my generation's Michael Jackson - which is kinda funny given the whole Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Anyway, any guy between the ages of 20-35 that says they wouldn't trade their life for JT's is flat out lying. The intro on his Wikipedia page says it all:
"Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981)[1] is an American pop singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He has won six Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award."
He's like Tupac, except white and hasn't been shot and killed by his rivals. Oh, and not to mention he's like a 5 handicap on the golf course
5. Bob Knight - I love Bob Knight. His nickname's The General for God's sake. He's old school to the bone. I love the fact that ESPN realized that he captivates audiences and hired him on as a college basketball analyst. Now I can see or hear him weekly. Sure, he had a temper and had some over the top tirades in his career, but you can't argue w/ his results:
I'm actually going to list five of them. it was actually kinda hard to come up w/ 5, so maybe I should have stopped at 2 or 3, but I was thinking about the satisfaction of my readers and I knew my fans would be cool w/ 2 or 3, but would be really cool w/ 5....without further ado
(In no particular order)
1. Matthew McConaughey - look at this frickin guy. He can get any girl he wants, has a southern accent/twang thing going on (a.k.a - he can get any girl he wants), obviously a multi-millionaire (which also helps out w/ the girl thing), loves sports, and I'm told isn't hard on the eyes. So, he's my Hollywood man-crush
2. Andy Roddick - i'm not exactly sure where this came from, but my friends would not let me do this list and not included Roddick. I guess it's the whole tennis thing. Anyway, yeah, I'm a Roddick fan and I guess he's my favorite tennis player, which is my favorite sport, so he's on this list by default. So here's my Roddick story. Back in the day, Roddick used to date Mandy Moore, who in my opinion is 'alright.' They split and then Roddick had a new girl for a while who was 41.8 times hotter than Mandy. Anyway, Dave & Matt always said Mandy was hotter (they are idiots). Roddick is now engaged to Brooklyn Decker, who is definitely hotter than Mandy Moore. If you don't agree w/ this statement, quit reading my blog. So, Roddick because of his consistency on the tennis court (Top 10 for 7 straight years) and being my favorite player for my favorite sport, he gets one of my athlete nominations
3. Peyton Manning - my other athlete nomination. Ever since I moved to Indy back in 1999, i've been a Colts fan. This is good because I really never had a favorite team growing up...i normally just rooted for players and by default the Bears since we weren't too far from Chicago. Everyone knows Peyton is a great quarterback, but that's only part of the reason why he made the list. He's also very hilarious and has sweet dance moves.
4. Justin Timberlake - seriously, JT is my generation's Michael Jackson - which is kinda funny given the whole Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Anyway, any guy between the ages of 20-35 that says they wouldn't trade their life for JT's is flat out lying. The intro on his Wikipedia page says it all:
"Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981)[1] is an American pop singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He has won six Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award."
He's like Tupac, except white and hasn't been shot and killed by his rivals. Oh, and not to mention he's like a 5 handicap on the golf course
5. Bob Knight - I love Bob Knight. His nickname's The General for God's sake. He's old school to the bone. I love the fact that ESPN realized that he captivates audiences and hired him on as a college basketball analyst. Now I can see or hear him weekly. Sure, he had a temper and had some over the top tirades in his career, but you can't argue w/ his results:
- He's won 902 Division I men's basketball game - 1st all time
- 3 National Championship Teams, including the last team to go undefeated (1976)
- 11 Big Ten Titles
- National Coach of the Year 4 times
- 1984 Olympic Gold Medal for coaching the US Men's BBall team.
- NO NCAA violations
Sure he has a ton of critics, but he's also won of the most respected coaches of all time. He ran a clean program and won fair. His players graduated and went on to be good citizens. Here's a few links to some of my favorite Knight clips
Alright, so there ya have it. Now, no way does this blog make me any less of man. I'm comfortable enough w/ myself that I can talk about these things.
Alright, Superbowl begins in 90 minutes. I got the Cards +7, looking to go 6-5 for the 2009 playoffs (and 4-0 w/ the Cards). IU is still alive for the 0-16 feat, although, they are playing better.
2008 taxable income i've reviewed = $1,873,356
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