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