TV RANTS AND REVIEWS
Well, my favorite show recently got canceled and I'm still seething over it. NBC pulled the plug on Journeyman just 13 episodes in. They let them air the full lot of episodes they produced in order to give the show some form of a ending so it would work if they got picked up for the following season or give some of the viewers at least a few answers to some of the questions the show produced.
I thought the show was great and had started with a sort of x-files direction with the introduction of a rogue FBI agent and then the sudden death of this agent, a professor who knew about time travel but acted strange whenever the main character Dan questioned him about what was happening. Then the last episode Dan meets another time traveller. I thought the storyline was really picking up and starting to stretch out from the standard "Quantum Leap" storyline and brought a much more humanistic feel to it. I'm told this was due to the producers from the West Wing working on this show.
I recently read an interview with one of the producers and you could tell he was upset over the fact NBC never properly promoted the show, which I believe. The time slot wasn't the best, and you never saw and promotions for the show during football games or on the weekends. To me, this was a biggie. Bda time slot, poor promotion = low ratings.
In any case, I hope NBC releases the rights to the show so another channel can pick it up and continue the series. I more pissed I really found a show I like on mainstream tv, and then it gets yanked. Brutal, just brutal.
The other thing which really puzzles me is how "Chuck" got picked up for a full season as well as "Life". I've seen Chuck a few times and the show seemed so one dimensional.
Geek has hot CIA agent and CIA sidekick. Geek saves the world every week after having an entire database full of information. The acting was lame, the dialogue was even worse and after a few weeks, it just seemed like the same show over and over again. No character development and nothing really exciting because you already knew how it would turn out. As far as "Life" goes, I have to admit I've never seen the show, but I thought the premise was cool - cop gets locked up for a long time, then gets out and goes back to being a cop, but never played by the rules - a little Dirty Harry if you will. Then I read the reviews and it just got torn apart by the critics. I just checked out and never watched it. Again, I'm surprised why it got picked up for a full season.
Keeping on my TV rant, let's try and tackle The Real Housewives of Orange County on Bravo. I watched the first season and it was like a train wreck. Arogant rich people, arogant rich
kids and all the "drama" which followed. The only thing which was interesting about the show was all the women had big fake boobs. Nearly every outfit they wore had plenty of cleavage. Beyond the low grade T & A, the family drama was pretty humerous for me. It was like I was routing for bad things to happen to t his rich, spoiled snobs. When things did happen, I was talking to the tv saying, "Serves you right you dumb mother fuckers."
One of the more interesting themes was the enpowerment of women on the show. A majority of the women were all very successful. The two who stuck out were Jeana and Vicki. Jeana was a real estate baron and Vicki was an insurance agent.
Jeana was successful enough to have purchased a house for each of her three kids. She married a pro baseball player who got beaned in the dugout (imagine that) which almost killed him and turned him into a surly, quick tempered husband. He was never on camera much, but when he was, it was funny. He was like the grumpy old man, cursing and yelling at everybody for no reason. Hilarious. In the new season, Jeana's now talking divorce. Then again, she was saying the same thing during the first season, so I'm wondering how much of this is scripted for the cameras.
In the first season Vicki's husband got laid off from Home Depot and in need of a job so this meant Vicki was the sole provider for her family. It seemed like it wasn't a big deal since Vicki had been so successful as an insurance broker. After he finally got a new job, it meant they didn't see each other very much and the dreaded "D" word was uttered. She was totally neurotic and really got on my nerves. Her voice was like hearing two cats humping in my back
yard.
This new season was a lot like last season. Jo and one of the other Blondies moved on and are no longer part of the show - thank god. Jo was a total gold digger. She wanted all the $$$$ and no responsibility and her boyfriend wanted some woman who stayed home with the kids, cleaned the house and humped him when he wanted it. Dude just didn't get she was still like 23 and needed to be out there and be wild and crazy when she wants to - she was no where near what "smiley" really wanted. it was funny to see her just walk all over him and then watch him cry when she would break up with him.
ANYWAYS, getting back to this season. More moronic kids and arogant a-holes who don't seem to appreciate what the value of hard work. I felt bad for the girls whose dad Lou died. He was the guy last year who got the girls set up to market their "OC Energy" drink. I guess his Thai mail order bride took off with all of his money and told the ex wife and kids to F off. NOW THAT was funny. Although the two daughters seem to be the only grounded kids on the show. I guess not having all the money and power will do it to you huh? Looks like Jeana strapped on about 15 pounds since last year. She looks like crap, her face is all puffy and youc an see she's packed on a few. At least her two sons are getting along and her daughter seems to have her head screwed on straight.
There's some new blonde on who has the fake rack and is in real estate and last episode landing two big clients and then took them out and then proceeded to act like awhore in front of them. It seemed rather scripted for the show, but she comes off like a stupid blonde.
Oh well, we'll see where this season goes, but I just thank the lord when I see these people I feel like I have a "normal" life.
This is all I have for right now. What a day, only about 15 mintues left and then its time for me to pack it in for the day.
I'm sure I'll be writing more now I'm transitioning out of my current job. I already made my numbers for the year and I'm going to coast till the end fo the year.
LATERS BRAH!!
RAMBLIN ON
Wow, its already been another month? Jesus time flys when you get old. There's been so much going on, I've just been riding the wave right now and trying to stay out of the fallout.
In a nutshell, here'e what's transpired in the last month at work:
Our department continues to expand and contract. We added four new positions. These "team lead" positions were just filled afew weeks ago and now they need to "backfill" the rest of the positions. This included around 11 open positions.
Here's where it gets interesting. . . .
I had the opportunity to interview for the position directly below the Team Lead, whcih would mean an increase in responsibility, an increase in salary and some other duties. I was also working on the training agenda and program for next year (which is a totally different story) but it's about to get shelved.
I decided to take another gig on another team and leave my nice comfy job I'm currently in. This will effectively end our training program because I'm really the only guy working on it and trying to get the materials together.
The new position is more programming oriented and I'll be doing a more developement stuff, which is what I'm really interested in. It's a lateral move, but next year I'll get another raise so at least the future looks bright.
I'll lament later on what a weird process it was for me to get the new job.
What else? Meh. Still arguing with the mother of my son about various things, including sending him to a military school, visitation and the cost of future traveling costs. I just wish she'd get a clue, wise up and actually compromise. I guess you can't win em all huh?
Man, I gotta change the station I'm listening to right now. My creative juices are lacking because I'm listening to the history of Howard Stern and its really confusing to try and recall everything that's happened over the past
month and be witty and thoughtful
when I'm half listening, half thinking about what to write. In any case, the show's been awesome
thus far. Lots of things I never knew about Howard and how his current show on Sirius is really
the evolution of something he's been working his whole life on. Its really cool.
I switched it up and am now listening to Trance music on my Sirius streaming player which at least has me able to concentrate better on what I want to say.
I guess over the next few weeks I'll have to post something witty about the year, review what's happened in my own life and what else is happening aroudn the world. I know I posted a cool timeline last year, so maybe I'll do something similar.
I think tonight I'll have some commentary on my United Red Devils, how I feel about NBC cancelling my favorite show Journeyman, ( I might have to re-do the link to Wikipedia or something because I'm fairly certain the show is canceled) and my thoughts on the new season of Housewives of Orange County.
Till then homies, keep your sticks on the ice.
ITS WAS A GOOD WEEKEND.
This past weekend was a nice one. I went to Fargo for the annual Flatlands indoor tournament. WE kinda took the gas pipe and went 1-3. We barely lost our first game 1-0 to some chippy Crookston team, then beat up on a Grand Forks team 4-0. The GF game we pretty much dominated the entire game. Then on Sunday, we needed to win to stay alive. I personally didn't care too much since I was ready to go home at that point. We played some young, fast team, and our keeper let in some "soft" goals, but we kep tit close the whole game, but lost in the end 6-4. As fate would have it, we played the GF team we smoked 4-0 on Saturday for our last game to decide 5th or 6th place (out of 6 teams mind you). It hought we had the game bagged when we went up 5-4 with less than 3 minutes to play. Yeah, they scored and we went to sudden death overtime. Basically, whoever scores first, wins. They had one really good forward. Guy had some moves and played clean, so I gotta give him some props. Of course he got free on a break one v. one and had a nice slip move to the corner and toe poked it in for the win.
Besides playing well despite a pulled calf muscle and not playing the last two weeks, I still managed 4 goals and several assists. I kept my head and my mouth shut the whole weekend except when we played the coorkston team who's goalie elbowed me in the neck, the punched me in the back of the head. No call either time. So I boarded the shit out of him
and got a two minute penalty for it. Then when I was wrestling int he corner, I checked him again pretty hard and did some damage to his elbow. I didn't care, their team was a buch of hacks, and I was all to happy to lay out some hits and damage to their guys.
Besides the good soccer, my friend Dave ordered UFC 78 so we got to watch some pretty good fighting. It was funny to hear the guys who were unfamiliar with MMA and the UFC talk about it. I was dropping all the lingo like, half guard, full guard, back control, full mount, etc. Everytime Dave and I would use these terms people would ask me what they meant, it was funny.
When I left on Sunday, I was glad I came. I know last year I was poo pooing the whole affair, but I really did enjoy myself this year, and I'm pretty sure the guys were glad I played.
The ride home was long, but worth it.
The only thing worth mentioning is my son's mother is going to take me back to court to try and get my child support increased to pay for his military school ($26K per year). I've already spoke to several attorneys and they all say I shouldn't even be scared. When we did the calculations online at the state site, it actually came up lower, so the odds of her getting a court to double my support simply to pay for his school is not going to happen.
Anyways, turkey day is right around the corner, so we'll see how the rest of the week and the holiday goes.
LATE
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FALL OFF THE NETWORK?
Jesus time flys when you get old. Like I always say, "There's always too mcuh going on to say up with." Not to mention to try and Blog about my boring, domestic life.
Of course, the last two months have seen some pretty funny stuff happen, some pretty stupid stuff and everything else in between. My cousin is going back to Iraq. He was just recently pinned as a Major and is moving up the ranks FAST. He told his parents he wants to get involved in politics. It wouldn't be so bad, but his parents are bleeding heart Liberals and he said he'd run as a Cnservative. I had a good laugh when my Mom seemed so shocked. The poltiical divide in out family is a whole nother conversation for another day.
The second big topic is my son getting sent away to a military school. I could probably write five pages on this topic alone, but will spare you all in the internal drama and back stories. Let's just say my son's mother is now paying the price for being so controlling when it comes to the time she allows me to spend with him. Every time I wanted to get some form of physical or joint legal custody, she fought me tooth and nail When I wanted to re-do our visitation schedule just to get more time to see him, she fought me every step of the way. Now, those choices are coming back to haunt her in spades. Some ofthe decisions I really question, but then again, its always been about her and only her. She always told me she wanted a father for her son, and wanted to have a stable home life and stable life for Cody since he needs structure so bad. Ummmm, so why did you marry a military guy who moves about evey 2-3 years, and is gone most of the time? Really stable there princess. cody oftent ells me his step father could care less about him and never has time to do stuff with him. Again, another fine example of something you wanted to give your son, but your own choices came before those which affected your family.
This is merely a nice transition to the current topic of her once again trying to rectify a probelm she created by shipping out our son to a military school without really considering all of the options first - like coming to live here with me. The one huge fucking problem this is going to create is the issue of my child support.
Now, I went through this little battle with her a few months ago when after my arrearages ran out - or had almost ran out, she called, looking for more money. I was like, "You're such a cunt, I can't handle it sometimes." After some testy conversations (mainly on my side, mind you) we agreed on a slightly increased amount per month. One thing she said, which I now harken back to, is her saying, "Do I need what the state minimum is? No. Do I think its a bit excessive, YES. Let's just find a decent amount and we'll go from there." Those words are so haunting now she needs to pony up 26K to send him to this school, and bascially threatened me when I said both my gif and my Mom (who loves my son to death and will do or pay pretty much anything to get him whatever he needs) put the kybosh on my idea of getting any financial support.
This leaves me in a very precarious position. I've contacted an attorney to find out what my options are and to try and determine how much my support would actually go up. This story isn't over by a long shot.
This has been by far the biggest story the last few weeks. The only other minor thing is I got screwed by my D1 soccer team. After a full year of playing as a sub, filling in, being dependable and playing well, I get kicked to the curb again for the next indoor league. At least I found a great replacement for them. I got picked up by an MASL team who play in the 4th division which is actually above the MRSL league I've played in for the past few years. I got picked up by their indoor team, and now I'm playing with them and another group of guys who quit my summer D3 team the Wolves.
It was funny to see the email from my manager Tony saying it was a minority of players who had egos and now they're all gone. Well, if you mean 12 guys out the 20 we had had, if that's a minority, then I'm Chris Rock.
The new team is called the St. Paul Celtics and I think we have a great squad. If we play in D3 again, I think we'll do just fine. Monday nights is probably where we'll end up. There's too many "legacy" teams in the Sunday night league. You know, the teams who lose just enough games to stay where they're at and not move up, but have enought alent to beat just about anybody? Pikers I call them.
Anywyas, more personal stuff later. . . Sunday is Beckham at the dome which should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I even rocked my LA Galaxy jersey today.
LATES 4 NOW
IT'S BEEN A LONG FEW WEEKS. . .
Well, I was going to start a post about three weeks ago when all hell was breaking loose in the sports world. All summer long its been about Barry Bonds and his steroid use, then it was all about Michael Vick and his dog fighting ring
and getting charged, then having the NFL commish bar him from going to training camp. THEN
as a cycling fan, I tuned into the 2007 Tour De France only to see several riders test positive for doping and three teams drop out and then the leader Michael Rasmussen who held the yellow jersey for ten days, was removed from the tour by his own team and fired because of the skepticism about his whereabouts prior to the tour starting and his skipping of the pre-tour doping tests.
Just about the time I was getting over this, another bombshell dropped. An NBA ref was charged with betting on NBA games and fixing games.
Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn talk about a fruitful summer. So much going on, the sports talk radio shows have had plenty of fodder. Besides Barry breaking Hank Aaron's coveted home run record. We also have A-Rod about to pass 500 home runs and Tom Galvine about to get this 300th win as a pitcher.
If all this wasn't enough, David Beckham finally made a short debut for the Galaxy after a TON of speculation all night long. I did see his feverish 12 minutes on the pitch and the crowd went nuts everytime the ball was near him. Good to see Becks finally getting comfy in LA.
Okay, so after all the sports hoopla, last night turned into a nightmare for local residents here in Minneapolis. A bridge collasped over the Mississippi river around 6:30pm and a highway which was packed during the back end of rush hour traffic. Witnesses said the bridge was bumper to bumper when it gave way.
Pictures here
Video here
Yeah, its been a hectic few weeks in my world to say the least. So many shoes dropping all over the place it's been fun keeping track of all the comings and goings in all of my favorite sports.
Changing gears slightly, one of my summer soccer teams is about to end our season on a very, very sour note. We started out 7-2, and then the wheels completely fell off. People wouldn't show up, people skipped practice and a cadre of other things which lead to our downfall. One of the other big issues was the manager/player Tony. I think people had issues with him from day one and just never tried
to talk to him about it. The issues just continued to pile up until the last few games when people were absent and we finally lost to the worst team in the league last week - it spilled over. Several emails went back and forth, accusations were made, several players piped in and said they bailed because of issues with Tony, other chimed in and supported him. Its at a point now where lines have been drawn and people are choosing sides and I have no idea where I should end up.
I live down south and driving 45 minutes up north to our home field in Andover is a haul. The team they're forming is for indoor and I'm not sure I want to have to drive 40 minutes to play indoor when I can drive 15 minutes and drive to a facility and play with guys who I've played with for much longer. Right now, I dunno.
On a higher note, I've been playing lights out for my first division team and they have will be playing in Roseville in their outdoor season, and then they also want me to play with them at the Augsburg indoor league which we did very well in last year. I'm excited to conitnue to play with these guys and leave some of the drama with the Northland Wolves beyond me for now.
Right now, this is all I got. . .
LATE
LIFE MUST GO ON
What a weird couple of days. Sunday night we lost another soccer game. I can't put my finger on what's wrong with our team, we're still 7-3 and firmly in control of first place in the 3rd division. We still haven't put it all together yet, and I don't know when it will happen. There's a few things stuck in my craw so to speak about certain players and they're selfishness when they play, but nothing too major. I mean, we're still in first place, and we've missed a few guys over the past four games - so maybe when we get everybody together we'll click.
The big thing right now
is "practice". Like Allen Iverson once said, "We're talking about practice - practice. No no no not a game,
practice." Why should I drive an hour in rush hour traffice to do 6th grade drills and a little scrimmaging? It's not worth it to me. Since there are several people who never show for practice but routinely start games, but if I miss practice, then I won't start, I just really wonder about the consistency of how certain decisions are made. Since my son is here now, it won't really matter the rest of the season because I won't be going to practice and I'll be putting in my time and playing hard and I'll just leave it at that.
At least my 1st division team is doing better. I always play well when I play with those guys. Last night was no exception. I had some great chances and also had several really nice crosses into guys. We did we ended up winning 2-1 which felt good. My legs felt great and I still had plenty of energy when the final whistle blew. I've really fit in well with this team, which makes the struggles I'm having with my 3rd division team all the more mysterious. Maybe it's because I can give a cross or a pass to someone on my Monday night team and I have full confidence they will get to it and make something happen, as opposed to some guy(s) on my sunday night that when I don't pass to them, they cry like babies. I don't get it, they want the ball all the time, but then don't go to the ball when I cross it in, or pass to someone else. After a while, if there's no effort on their part, I'm just going to go to someone else. I just have to play my game and not think about the cry babies I guess.
Besides having to get that off my chest, some other things have come to my attention. It finally became official last week - I'm going to be a daddy again. Our adoption plans finally came together and we matched with a couple and by the end of this week we'll have a baby girl come home with us. This has lead me to email or call all of my friends to let them know what's going on. I hadn't talked with my best bud Mozi for about four months and felt awful for not calling sooner to keep in touch. We talked for about an hour last night about everything, it was really cool. He's dating some woman he's really happy with, just interviewed for a new position with his company and might be moving out to Syracuse NY. He said its doubtful since there's 7 people in the running for the job, but you never know. I might actually join his fantasy football league this year since I keep sandbagging on him every year saying I'm in, but then something comes up. Anyways, it was a great conversation and he was really excited for us - which was really cool.
On a more sour note, I finally tried to extend the peace sign to PK over the whole Manchester thing, our impending adoption and trying to repair our "friendship". Oh well, so much for that effort. I emailed him on Friday and its Tuesday now and nothing yet. No call, no email, no nothing. I guess I'm not too surprised. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but pretty much anybody I've told has been all over us congratulating us and wishing us well. Maybe its just time to burn the bridge and move on for good. I can't say I didn't try and repair our "friendship", and beisded, I think I'm better off anyways.
To me, this is why I am the way I am. I only have a few close friends and I prefer it that way. It's just shit like this that drives me insane. You think people are your friends, then they cut your throat and stab you in the back every chance they get. I could go on for hours about this, but its not worth the long rambling diatribe. I'll unload sometime later.
The point here is the people I've always been close with know what's going on in my life, everybody else I could give a shit about. I guess it's what happens when you get married, settle down and start your own life. I just don't need people around who are going to treat me poorly and not act like a friend. My life is pretty complete as it is right now. I've got a son,
I've got a wife, dog, cat, a great house in the suburbs, soon to have another daughter, a nice car,
a great job, incredible co-workers, I play on two soccer teams. I finally achieved a huge personal goal this past season by getting on a first division team. I've really gotten much better and have brought my game up another notch. I could never have done it with the
Manchester guys - pure and simple. If anything, now I see how much they were holding me back.
Right now, I have the world by the tail and I'm loving every minute. There's a minimum amount of stress in my life and everything else just feels right. And it doesn't really get much better than this.
Sorry, no pics for today - maybe tomorrow.
I still have to address Beck's coming to America since he's here now, getting out of Iraq, and some other strange things which have been on my mind lately.
AM I OFFICIALLY OLD NOW??
My most recent post (ahem, over a month ago now) talked about my mid life crisis and my fears of growing old. My fears have been somewhat confirmed. Like my lack of committment? I do, it allows me to talk about getting older, without actually admitting it. Better my ego and my subconscious don't take it too seriously. But I digress. I had an eye appointment a few weeks back and was dreading it. I know I squint a lot and since I sit in front of a computer all day, I figured I was about due. I go in and the first thing is the doc asked me if anybody in my family has glasses. I said yeah, they all do - except me. After a few quick tests, he gave me the "good" news. I have astigmatism with my eyes and over time, it will most likely get worse. Since I stare at a PC all day long, he thought glasses
would help me see better and of course it will be easier on my eyes. The perscription he gave me was
pretty weak compared to my family members. When I showed my father my perscription, he basically laughed at me and said I was lucky. Without his glasses, my Dad is basically blind. Needless to say, it made me fell better I needed glasses, but not that bad. So now I have a pair of glasses I use at work and they work awesome. I can really tell my eyes don't have to work as hard anymore. I think I'm still in the breaking in period because when I take them off, my eyes take a minute or two to adjust to not wearing them. Hopefully soon I'll be ok either way.
Here I am on a Saturday night, listening to Leo Cohen's "I'm Your Man" cd. Its an old CD and it reminds me of Fargo. Which is a nice transition into the next topic at hand. I'm having a LOT of dreams about NDSU again.
least I think I'm finally coming to terms with these demons. Instead of the agonizing, depressing, lost dreams I used to have, they've become more joyful at least. More laughing, more interesting and less sad. I dunno how to address this
new take on these dreams, but it has been something I can ponder during my 35 minute drive to work in the morning.
Soccer is going well. My 3rd Division team is 6-1 and on top of the divison. My 1st divison team isn't doing all that well, we're 3-2 and in the middle of the pack. I dunno why I don't get more playing time on my 1st division team. In our last game, I had two assists on both goals. If not for our sweeper, we would've won 2-1, instead of losing 3-2. I guess that's why they play the game huh? Oh well, at least that "other" team isn't doing so well either. 2-4 and sucking fumes at the bottom of their divison. They also went 0-6-1 in their indoor league. I'm jsut wondering when their going to get sick of losing and wise up. Guess its not my place. I was considering contacting PK, but just haven't had the balls to yet. I mean, it was probably the best thing for me since I dropped about 10 lbs, got quicker and my shot is harder than it was in college. I've also achived my goal of finally playing on a 1st division team. I'm pretty sure afte this year, I'll get more playing time. Our team is just so deep at the midfield position, its hard to play well when all the guys are so good.
Just as an update, the immigration bill failed and thank gawd for that. It would have granted a sort of "amensty" to illegals already here and allow them to get citizenship. What a stupid bill. I seriously doubt anything will get done with any of these major issues till afte the election. Bush is too lame duck right now and both parties are posturing for a shot at the white house.
The Apple iphone was finally released this week amid a ton of speculation and long lines at AT&T stores nationwide. You can read all about it
at Engadget. I'm not even remotely interested in it, but it's been about the biggest hyped techno gadget over the past 5 years or so. There are many cool things about like the removal of any keys and an all touch screen interface. Only time will tell if its truly worth its weight in gold.
Anways, no soccer on these days, just this stupid soccer show. Which is sad considering I'm kinda getting into it now that I've attempted to get through a
whole episode. I cound it curious the show's team Harchester United sounds remarkably similar to my other favorite premier league team Manchester United. I can't say I've ever delved into investigating if there are any links intentional or not. All I know is there are some serious betty's on the show:
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?
I've often wondered when my mid-life crisis will hit. I'm quickly approaching 40, and after listening to people, I'm at a ripe age for this to happen. For some reason, I just don't think its going to happen to me. I've often thought of who I really am, and tonight was no exception. Went to the new movie The Invisible and it was rather depressing. It was about a guy who almost gets killed and then is in a state of purgatory and has to find out who jacked him. The irony is the girl who he knows does this to him dies at the end and in effect saves him. Of course she dies, but he lives - weird. On the way home, in the darkness, my mind once again started to wonder.
I saw the dark lights of the highway and saw a few cars passing by, I've always loved the darkness and the night. The wind blowing over the concrete and grass and the trees singing their song to the shadows. It made me think again about who I really am. This is by all measures, what 20 minutes of deep thinking got me.. .
I am for all intense purposes a chameleon. Not by the usual standards mind you. I blend. Into everything and into any situation, group or conversation. I like to think of myself as somewhat undefineable. I love sports but follow few teams closly. I watch ESPN and get enough info to hold a decent conversation at the lunch table with the other people I work with. I listen to talk to radio and get enough fodder to hold my own with either conservatives or liberals. I literally stand for something but nothing, all at the same time. Right now, I'm in a more conservative phase. One of my true loves is really music. I have such diverse tastes in music (thanks mom and dad) I can hold any conversation and actually know quite a bit about everything from the Stones to black metal, punk and trance and techno. Its probably the only thing which a spend a considerable amount of time studying and loving. As far as dress goes, I can go with the three piece suit, or dress down with the long baggy shorts, t-short and baseball cap pulled down low. I can walk into any situation and instantly blend in. In order to do so, you must not stand out, but simply the opposite. You can't be too boisterous or loud, you can't be staunch about anything and above all - OBSERVE EVERYTHING.
I feel I don't mislead people, but merely change what their perceptions of me are. Once, when my friends and I were in Wisconsin on a snowboarding trip, we ended up at a strip club. We were early and went to a side table. Lucky for us, two dancers just got done and came over to talk with us. I hate strip clubs since I don't get the premise for guys anyways. You go somewhere, have some half naked woman rub her tits on you. You can't touch her, but you willing give her $20 for her trouble??
You pay some women to get you all aroused and hard as hell, but you can't To me, this is just another classic example of how women really do run the world. ANYWAYS, two strippers come over and sit down. Now my friends are big fans of the strippers - me not so much. My friends attempt to start several conversations. I find out one of our half naked friends likes Marilyn Manson and I notice she has a small lunch box. If you're a Manson fan, you know Ol Marilyn used to haul around a small lunchbox. His fans caught on, and then they too started this fad of carrying aroung a little aluminum lunchbox. Urban Legends abound about his minions bringing the lunchboxes to gigs and passing out X to everybody. So I make light of this and ask if the lunchbox had anything to do with her fondness for the band. All I got was a deer in the headlights look. I quickly realized I just tried to start a conversation with someone with little or no knowledge about music, she just liked his music, and really didn't care too much beyond this. After several more attempts to start conversations by my friends with really nice ones like, "Are your tits fake or real" and several other gems, I decided I would have a little fun with our new friends. I leaned over and told her I was josing for some nose candy and its been over six months since I got out of treatment. Now, I've never been in treatment, and no, I've never even done coke. I was merely drawing on my knowledge of strippers, and going with thlowest common denominator - drugs. What followed could only be described as radio gold. Of course she was going crazy too, did I have any? Did I want to go in the back room and do some bumps with her before her act? After some careful wording of my reply, we continued to talk about her addiction and the cruel world of hole-in-the wall strip clubs, and life on the road. Jesus, there are just sometimes you wish you could tape record what people say just to play it back later and muse at the funny situations you talk yourself into. Even though I was half in the bag, it was still hilarious to me.
There ya have it. If you asked all the people I work with about who I am and what my tastes are, or what I stand for, you'd probably get 20 different answers, but this is how I want it. I want to be mysterious, I like keeping people at a distance, and not completely giving up all of my secrets. Here's another reason for my blog. Not too many people know about it even now, and I would venture even less read it on a regular or semi regular basis. I do not look at this like a diary, I do not give up my secrets that easily (and I have few doozies, let me tell you) and doubt I will anytime soon. As being a stundent of time, I hope my writing will do the same.
I guess you never know. Loreena Mckennitt playing on youtube, this on my laptop, and the dog at my feet, quietly breathing, dreaming about chasing the deer out of our yard. After my experiences with D (more secrets - actually just an earlier post) she said she could never listen to Loreena again because of our mutal connection to her music. I still get pretty emotional from it too, but I still listen to it, she has such a haunting, emotional voice. It just naturally puts me in a trance, just like Enya's voice. I thing I've always known is there's other places beyind what we perceive as reality. The gateway to these places, I feel is music like this. It strikes you so deep in your soul, you can't help but let your soul take your heart and your mind away from this mind numbing, cold place. It's like setting yourself free, if only for a few minutes. Sometimes its all you need to fiind your center again.
How can you not think these are rather powerful lyrics?
May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
A promise lives within you now
Yeah, pretty intense shit. Anyways, here's a pic for the day. I was listening to the song and the images from the Lord of the Rings movie is pretty intense.
On that note, here you go:
PURE AWESOMENESS.
Till the next time. . .
TOP 5 BREAKUPS OF ALL TIME
I just finished watching "High Fidelity" with John Cusak. If you're not a fan of music, or were living under a rock in 2000, then you missed one hell of a great movie. I've already seen the movie multiple times, but thought I would watch it tonight to get some writing ideas. Boy, did I come up with a great idea. I'm going to do the same thing Cusak's character does - go through my top 5 breakups of all time. . .starting of course in 9th grade with Anne Nelson. In order to completely expose the innocence, I will use their real names. the chances they'll actually read this is about a million to one - I betting the one will take a long long time to arrive - so here goes.
#5 Anne Nelson
It was 9th grade and I had exactlY three girlfriends prior to Anne. She was really the first time I really felt like I was in love with a girl. To be frank, I had never even kissed a girl before her. Oh sure, some pecks on the cheek and stuff, but not like kissing ya know? Our cute puppy love lasted almost a year. Everything was great until she went out of town. The few weeks prior to this, the school slut, Colleen Thomas was flirting with me nonstop. She'd say hi in the hallway, smile at me and flirt with me all the time. Anne went out of town and suddenly Colleen was all over me - at my locker, talking and calling me. Needless to say, I got taken in by the trashy whore and felt like Anne and I were over. It was hard, Anne and I stayed friends for a while and me and Colleen only lasted a few weeks. I tried to get back together with Anne, but it was to no avail, she already moved on. I broke her heart, then let her break mine - I was a victim of the "one in the hand, two in the bush" thought. There were several valuable lessons I learned here. A) Never drop someone you love for something you think is better. B) Don't try and stay friends with your ex's, it only severly complicates things and C) Never give your ex a shoulder to cry on, she'll only use it to make you feel guilty and a bunch of other lame stuff.
#4 Kristine Woodruff
She was blonde, smart, had a decent body and was a femminist. The femminist didn't bother me too much. I was a sophmore in college, and it was 1991. I had just finally gotten over my last ex of two and some odd years Kathie (#3 on our list) and was ready for something fresh. It lasted anout 6 months. I knew her roommates and it was a weird situation at first. The first time we met and hit it off, I was drunk and high and her roommates had lined her up with 5 guys at one of their house parties - I got lucky and survived the cut because I could carry a decent conversation, and I didn't pull out her panties and use them as a toy to play with her new kitten. Kristine enjoyed sex (rare for a femminist I know) and we got along well. She was pretty quiet, but smart and determined. I was also dating a few other women at the time and after I kissed one of my friends on the lips good night after getting dropped off, she found out and abruptly broke up with me. I told her what had happened but it was of no use. Since I had other women I was dating, it didn't kill me, but it sure irked me for some strange reason. I ran into her a few times later and her femminazi attitude had gotten much worse and far more radical. When I spoke to her, it really bugged me. I wouldn't doubt if she was a lesbian by now.
The next three are awfully tight, but #1 will never change, but the next two are neck and neck. Some days I think one is #3 and the other is #2, depending on how much I analyze it.
#3 - Kathie Musch
I was still a sopmore and she was a freshman. We hit it off right away and had a lot in common, We dated and it was very much a love/hate relationship. We argued and fought a lot, but we were both sexually adventurous. She was the woman who taught me a LOT about sex. She also taught me how sex can used as a weapon. I fell in love and when things were great, they were awesome. Unfortunately, she was from rural america and I was a suburban boy with rich parents. Her parents were farmers. We were from to different backgrounds and I think it never could have lasted. I really did lover her and we were off and on for for about two years, until I finally gave up and she moved away with the guy she dated right after me. This seemed to be a pattern with me, most the women I dated married the guys they dated right after me. I really have no idea how to take this, but it has happened more than once - this being the case here. The funny thing about Kathie is right after she started dating her present husband, he left for summer vacation and Kathie stayed in Fargo. I got several calls to come over and satisfy her. I guess I was the only guy who ever figured out how to give her the big O. It happened three or four times, and I'm sure he probably will never know. I guess he didn't like me much. I have no idea why, since after I finally got over her, I decided never to get involved with my heart unless it was absolutely necessary. As far as I was concerned, I knew how to use sex as a weapon, and how to not get emotionally involved unless absolutely necessary.
#2 CJ
Probably one of the hardest relationships I had to give up. Several years out of college, several years removed from realtionship breaker #1 on the list (Karis), several years of a stable job, living alone and enjoying my bachelor lifestyle. Lots of partying, even more women, and comfy with where I was in my life. We met at the Gasthoff in Minneapolis and we found out we had a TON in common. She was a jock, I was a jock. She liked hard rock music, I loved hard rock music. She worked with kids, I had a son. There was a lot of stuff we hit it off with right away. The realtionship lasted several years and I was off and on with her. I couldn't really make up my mind. She was great in bed, wore sexy clothes, and got along great with my son. The breakup was the hardest for me because I was ready to settle down and was also dating tow other older women who made over 100K per year, owned their own house and wanted me to get serious with them. At the time, I felt our future together did not look well. Lots of struggling financially, and the feeling of never getting ahead really scared the hell out of me. I already had three friends who were in the midst of divorces and they all said it was mainly over money. It was hard to say goodbye, but I had to. It was a shile since I really cried over a woman and I really miss her still. I was emotionally involved to the hilt and the pain lasts to this day.
Four down and one left. This one is at the top of the list for several reasons. I'll keep it short and sweet, so here's #1 with a bullet - KARIS.
#1 - KARIS
we hit off strong and fast. I was a junior in college, she was senior. She was graduating in two weeks and I had another full year. Once again, I found out we had a ton in common. We were both sexual dynamos in bed, we were both jocks, we both wanted to go to grad school together. Within six months, she made me move out of the house I was living in with my soccer buds, was pregnant, and wanted me to settle down with her and give up my partying ways and not hang out with my friends. I didn't want to get meoitonally involved. I just got out of my realtionship with breakup #3 and was just getting my life bacj in order. One night, with only several days left in her college life, Karis rolled over and asked me what I wanted to do. After only two weeks I had to decide if I wanted to get serious or walk away. It was a major crossroad I was not prepared for. I took the relationship but was not prepared at ALL for what was about to happen to my life.
In 6 months, my life was turned upside down. In another year I had a beautiful baby boy, we moved in and then she moved back to Minneapolis. We broke up and got back together seveal times. I moved several times and was under the impression we'd get back together (her words) and now 11 years later and I still ove my son dearly and have an awesome relationship, but the tremors from our relationship are still being felt today. We're as unpleasant to each other as ever, and I don't think it will ever get settled. Did I fuck up a few times while we were datiing and she was pregnant? You bet. However, the only thing which has brought me any happiness has been my son. The pain, agony and misery she has caused has crossed 11 years. For the most part, I'm over it, but the bitterness will always be there. The only thing which could take away a remote amount of paing would be her admitting she did some wrong things too - but it hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it ever will.
LONG TRIP AHEAD. . .
What a week this has been. My son was here last week and he left on Saturday. Now, the big news is the terrible shooting massacre at Virgina Tech college. Now I'm sitting here in the airport on a low battery (pos laptop) and typing furiously to try and get this entry hammered out before I get on a plane on my way to Portland for my trip. My sidekick Steve is already out in Portland, having taken the early flight out. Being a night owl, I opted for the late flight. I can sleep or read, whatever. Three and some hours to kill – f u n
Today is the day after the massacre at VT, and now the names are being released of the 33 people who were killed. What a sad and depressing day for a LOT of people. I can't imagine sending my son of to college, never to have him return. Guess they're having a hard time finding out information about the shooter as well. He was a pretty big loner and had a lot of issues he was probably dealing with, In one of his classes, he refused to say “hi” to anybody, and simply signed in with a “?” instead of his name. His creative writing professors also mentioned his writing was rather disturbing. So much so, they referred him to counseling. This story is going to have a ton of legs and will probably dominate the headlines for some time. Read all about it here
Anyways, what else is new? Not much, my son came and went in a flash, It's like I always say, it goes by way too fast. My job has been rather taxing as of late. I'm the point person for this new AM training program the director requested. I wanted the program to be for all incoming AM's, as opposed to all of the existing account managers like the director wants. This last week was pre-testing for the first module and it was a bit rocky. Some people can really get on my nerves and I have no idea how Jon keeps a level head dealing with these people. It seems like no matter what, they're never happy. One woman is married and I don't like her – she bugs. She always has a chip on her shoulder and no matter what I do and try and accommodate her, its just not good enough. Oh well, she can STFU and FO for all I care. Other than some really minor push back, things finally went a lot smoother. This next week (April 23rd) is the start of normal training. It will be nice to not be so responsible for so much because I didn't get much done last week, which sucks. If I didn't have the training program to take of, I'd probably be around 60K in renewals. I'm still closing in on 40, so it's all good. I figure if I can book a half million in renewals, get my star and pull this training program off, I'm in for some major bonus points with Pat our director.
More later. . . .
ITS OVER. . .
Not anything you might think is over, but something near and dear to my hear. The people who bought my parents quaint 1950's style rabler have chosen to level the house. I went by the house and the place I knew as home for over 20 years is now gone. A very large, muddy crater is all that's left. As I drove by, my heart sank and it wa hard not to ball my eyes out. I feel like these rich assholes are coming into Edina everywhere, leveling these houses, and putting up these obscene 8 million dollar homes. They don't fit into the area, and stand out like sore thumbs.
In the old neighborhood, within a block of my parents house, I counted 4 places this has already happened, count my parents house and another one around the corner and it's 6 total.
Awful, just awful. Usually people say, "There goes the neighborhood." when some white trash people or folks from the inner city move in, but its very fitting in this case.
I drove home, letting all the memories flood my brain and allowed me to shut everything out till I was aware I was parked in my garage for who knows how long. I can't call my Mom and tell her because of her frail state right now - she'd probably have a fricking heart attack. We all knew this was going to happen, but to stand there, looking into a place I spent so many happy times, was devastating for me. So much, and nwo its all gone.
I don't have anything else to say, other than to feel the sorrow and try to move on. I have no pics to post, I just want to keep those happy memories - happy.
R.I.P.
6320 Westwood Court
1985-2007
OUT
TOO MUCH GOING ON. . .
Wow, where do I start? So much has happened since the last post about a month ago. My parents renovation has turned into a disaster, my Mom is having a nervous breakdown because of how slow the guys working on the house are going, my Dad is ready to fire them all and finish it himself, my son attacked his Mom and is now in line for Juvi court, and I'm still here, half awake (soccer game last night at 10:00pm) and trying to keep my eyes open.
Yeah, the remodeling job is not going well. My Mom has decided to just flip the house and move on. The contractor is an asshole (friend of the family)and continues to drag his feet, much to the dismay of my parents. Their project is one the largest he's had and on top of this, he continues to take on more work. I went over and spoke with them on Monday and my mom said he now has 8 projects he's working on - 8!! The guy is spread so thin, and they're only about halfway through my parents deal, which should be DONE this month. I feel for them, this has been an awful experience for my parents. I'm sure the house is going to turn out nice, but theys till have to knock out two walls, redo the kitchen, the living room and put on siding. This is in addition to the rest of the stuff they only have half done. I'm thinking maybe they'll be done by May or June. My mom wants to get this house on the market as fast as she can, even in lieu of the poor market. I could be wrong about the market though, her real estate agent told her she's closed 8 deals in the last two months, and says the market is fine. Well, yeah for a millionaire it probably is.
The nice thing was at least Moms got to take a week off and go to Florida with my gif. They both had a great time, got some sun and relaxed quite a bit. I got a sweatshirt outa the deal and a t-shirt which was cool. While they were away, my Dad and I got to chill and spend some time together. We took in a few high school hockey games (poor Edina, they lost to Grand Rapids in the semi's of the State Championship) and got dinner on two of the nights. It was an exceptionally cool time for me because I learned more in those few days than the last 30 years I've know my father. I found out he had a fricking Q Clearance which I never knew about. He told me some funny stories about being in the military, how he joined, and what he did. All these stories were great because I always thought he was just a telecom guy and had a mathematics degree. He told me about how even his CO in his reserve unit couldn't ask him about what he did because of his clearance - funny stuff. He also shared some more college stories about him and his frat buddies and some of the crazy stunts they pulled. He told me a story about how they somehow got a hold of a mine sweeping boat and they had planned to take out for a summer and just drift up and down the coast of California with his frat brothers. the crazy thing is this was back in the 70's when there was no internet, they did all this stuff with just their brains and some crafty engineers and some basic knowhow - insane. In any case, I hope to make out trek to the pizza joint a weekly or monthly trip, I really feel much closer to him now.
For the past two weeks I've been trying to get a hold of my son, and it seems I didn't get to him in time. A few days ago, things a bit out of hand with his Mom and he had quite the meltdown. Throwing things and really going off. He called his Mom a few choice things, then threw a drumstick at her, then threw two D batteries and hit her arm (she was holding her baby daughter Kate at the time) so she called the cops. Cops filled out the form, and told her they would be in contact with her. I guess the cops asked her if she wanted him removed from the house and she said "no". The cop went over to my son and told him the only reason he wasn't going to jail was because of his mother and he should feel lucky and thank her.
I have no idea where this is going, but it doesn't sound good. I could've told this has been a long time coming. His mom said they think it's his meds, but I disagree. She's going to try and get him into to see a psychiatrist so they can prescribe more drugs for him - fucking brilliant. What a great way to take care of a problem, medicate him and forget about him. I asked where all this anger is coming from and she just mumbled something and then said she thinks its his meds. Whatever. You're oppressing the poor child. sooner or later, all this anger has to manifest itself. she grounds him for weeks on end, takes away all of his stuff and trys to control his life WAY too much. His stepdad could give a shit about him, and she's wrapped up in her new baby, leaving him on the outside looking in. What a brutal way to live. I surprised it hasn't happened sooner. Like I've always said, I feel for him. His mother is a control freak and he's a teenager trying to find his way and get some form of independence from her. I'm thinking he'll be up here within the next year or so at the latest, which I'm looking forward to. Her family has always been so dysfunctional, and now this. Soemthing has to change, and no amount of drugs or therapy I feel is going to do the trick. I just hope he can hold on long enough. . .
On to bigger and better things - sort of. My first divison soccer team has been taking the gaspipe as of late. We wrapped up the championship in the rec league over at Augsburg, but then moved up the open division which was a great big eye opener. We won two games and we have our last game next week. The two games we won came against the same team - funny huh? After this session we're moving over to another league in Plymouth. I have no idea how hard this league is going to be, but it will be good prep for this usummer, which is another story. I guess there was so much discrepencies between the teams coming up from the 2nd division to the 1st division, many teams didn't want to go up for fear of getting smoked on a weekly basis. On team quickly came to mind - my old nemesis Manchester. They won the league two years in a row and still wouldn't go up - pussies. The irony here is they had no problem getting smoked on a weekly basis in the comp indoor league, but for some reason didn't want to move up with their outdoor team. I don't think I'll ever figure those A-holes out. I won't have to now anyways.
My other team, Northland Wolves FC is really ramping up. I think we're going to smoke the Broze divison. We have two more scrimmages on a larger field, so the next couple of weeks, I'm really going to try and relax and work on my individual skills. I still need to find a couple of decent one-v-one moves to break guys down. I've lost enough weight where I'm much quicker, but I just need a move to creat enough space for me to blast into and get by a guy. I've playing a LOT on the right side on both Sundays (rec indoor league) and on Tuesdays (Augsburg open league). I'm just not comfortable on the right side. I had some good stuff last night, but I'm just not satisfied yet. Once we start practicing more, I'll be able to hone those skills more. Oh well, practice, practice, practice - right? More downstairs sessions I guess.
I have a lot more I could scribble here about music, my upcoming trip to Portland, old girlfriends and current events (Anna Nicols saga, Richard Jeni killing himself) but I'll let it go till next time. I thinking I'll bust out another post tomorrow when I get bored.
Oh yeah - almost forgot. . . 
Rammstein. They kick MAJOR ass. I've been listening and watching their stuff on youtube quite a bit lately. Its made me want to start taking german classes again. Fun stuff.
LIFE CAN BE RATHER DEPRESSING SOME TIMES
News flash - right? I just got back from watching, "The Good Shepard" which was quite depressing. The movie is essentially about the "humble" beginnings of the CIA. It focuses on Matt Damon's character and his life while all this was going on. I'm not going to bore you with any long winded review, but at the end of the movie, nobody gets what they want. And Damon's character is never happy, even when the CIA is officially formed and he has reached the #2 spot in the agency. Sad, so very sad.
I guess when I see a movie I feel is this depressing, it really makes me stop and look at my own life and take stock. I dont want to end up like the charcaters in the movie did. Alone with nothing. All the characters seemed to find happiness, but it was only fleeting. The son has his girlfriend (a KGB agent) who falls in love with Damon's son. Only to get murdered (because she was a security risk) before ther wedding. Damon and his wife (Angelina Jolie) are estranged throughout the movie and never connect. Damon falls in love with a girlfriend from college, only to have Jolie get pregnant and so he has to marry her - negating his love for his college sweetheart. All in all, everybody was looking something they could never find or have.
Sometimes I'm really thankful for what I have. It's not to think where I could be right now without the life I have now. I feel sorry for people who fractered realtionships and search their whole lives and come up empty. This brings me to the next point - my annual snowboard trip.
I haven't gone the past two years, and this year I was hoping things would be different. Friend 1 rolled his ankle and is still recovering. Friend 2 got screwed and work and has to work over the weekend we were supposed to go. Its hard to think something which brought me so much happiness over the years has faded rather quickly. After thinking long and hard, I felt my heart just wasn't in it anymore. Maybe it was the weather - no snow for the first few months of the year, then we got snow, and then the temperature dropped off well below zero. Maybe I'm just a snowboarding snob, but I want the conditions to be almost perfect. In any case, the trip is going ot be cancelled. My buddy asked me if this was possibly the end of our annual trip. I didn't have a good answer. I guess when things are good and fun, you never want it to end. It's hard to end something that's been going on for so long. At my age, I'm coming to the realization all good things must come to an end, which is happening all too frequently.
Anyways, I don't have a nice pic of the day, just some depressing views of reality.
I'll have more "happy" news later. . ..
LATE
A SHOT AT THE TITLE
. . . . . This week brought good news. For the past few years I've been looking for a good team to play on and find the next five to seven years of my soccer career and play with a team that wanted me and utilized my skills. My New Year's resolution was to drop 10lbs and get back to a manageable weight. I felt like this would allow me to get my quickness and agility back that I'd been missing for so long. This indoor season has been forgettable. Playing for the Thomson team has been terrible. I never got a spot on my Harveys team and quite frankly I don't care anymore. they sucked it too. I was hoping to catch on with the Hurricanses team, but Dennis, the manager, already had enough guys -s so I thought a bold move was in order.
I posted a note ont he MRSL (minnesota recreational soccer league) messga board that I was looking for a team to play for. Sure enough, I got picked up by a new team forming called the Northland Wolves (I love that name). Tony, the guy running it is doing everything right. We have a website, someone video taping the games, and a great field and a horde of young talent. We're starting out in the Bronze league, but I'm confident we'll move up fast.
The other bit of good news came earlier this week when I had another manager email me about possibly playing for them. They're a first division team and thought I would be a natural fit for them. After several emails back and forth, they invited me to play with them on Monday night at Augsburg. If all goes well - which I know it will, I'll probably get asked to play with them. this would be a dream come true. Finally playing withs ome great talent and pushing my fitness and soccer skills to the next level. Its a challenge I'm willing to take on. My only concern is my game fitness. I've already dropped several pounds after a diet change, and hopefully will continue to drop pounds till I get back to 160-165. I just have a good feeling about this. It made me feel even better knowing the team I was "trying out" for is 5-0 in the league, and we're playing a 1-3-1 team. Exactly the circumstances I need to excel. Oh yea, and they don't play in the competitive league - they play in the rec league so I know I have the skills to take guys on and make things happen - should be fun!!!
UPDATE 10-17/07
The game on Tuesday went well. I scored once and got a two assists. The manager said he had already committed to another guy, but this other guy won't be playing outdoor with them and he'd much rather have someone who will play through indoor and outdoor with them instead and find a permenant replacement for the outside midfielder they lost.
My son's birthday was this week and he was happy to get all the gifts he did. Lots of gift certificates and other stuff. He got an i-pod for Christmas but his Mom can't make sense of the I-Tunes site so he hasn't been able to download any more songs to his i-pod shuffle. I guess his step Dad doesn't have time to show either one of them how to use it - pretty funny stuff if you ask me.
Anyways, besides the new Northland Wolves site, not much is going on at work. Our FindLaw CEO just got snatched up by the Inside Sales organization - which is funny. Hopefully
He can turn that place around - God knows is a STEEP nose dive right now.
Some more good news I got last week was there will an opening for a Premier AM position after they fill the current Senior position and the senior in my group told me he'd like to see me apply for the position. This is good news for me - at least I can move up a bit faster than I had previously thought. I do enjoy my current job - the customers are pretty low maintenance to begin with and its fairly easy for me to keep up with them. The only kink in the plan I'm expecting is when our new system "FUEGO" fires up next week. This system will start shooting through accounts which are due for renewal and are eligible for refreshes. I'm wondering how this will affect my mundane day-to-day tasks.
The other HUGe news is David Beckham is finally coming to play in the US. He signed a 5 year $250 million contract to play for the LA Galaxy. Too bad for him, he still has 6 months remaining on his old contract at Real Madrid. This led the GM at Real to start running his mouth and taking pot shots at Becks. The coach also benched him for the rest of the season as well. The Galaxy are now looking to try and get h im out of his contract and bring him here early so he's here for the start of the new season.
Read all about here. . . .
http://www.alaskareport.com/reu77277.htm
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/6358544
So in lieu of Becks coming here - here's some pictures for the day. . .
And see plenty of goals like this. . .
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a9G_aT43rrU
All in all - its good news.
JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. .
Another year, another set of big changes in my life. Hopefully this year will see more stability and less dramatic change, but who knows - right?
In case you missed it, here's a timeline from 2006.
This year ended pretty messy. The Vikes went down in flames, the T-Wolves are .500 at best, and Michigan lost to USC - I HATE USC and Pete Carroll!!! On the bright side, Texas won their bowl game so that was good news.
My son left early, early yesterday morning. Getting up at 5am to take him to the airport was hard. After staying up well past midnight we all had to peel ourselves off our beds to get up - it was brutal. And of course we got lit up (finally) with some snow and freezing rain, so the roads were less than perfect. It was cold, it was dark, and the airport was jammed thick with people heading home. Afterwards I went home and crashed HARD. We had friends come over at 1pm for the two bowl games, so I woke up at 10:30am and had to snowblow out the driveway and then get cleaned up before everybody shoed up. They stayed till almost 8pm (the end of the USC/Michigan game) which is a long long day for me.
I played some SoCom II for an hour then watched the news and then fell asleep shortly thereafter. If was a long weekend, and was sad to see my son go home, but I'm pretty sure he got all the presents he wanted for X-Mas. New shoes, a Texas jersey, and I-Pod (so his freaky Mom can control his life just that much more) and some cool stuff like an I-Pod jukebox that pulses when you put your I-pod in its dock.
Sunday night (new years eve) was hard for my son. We couldn't stay late to see the ball in NYC drop because we all had to get up early, and then he got pissy with me so we sat down and spoke about a lot of things. I felt better after we spoke, I hope he did too.
What else is going on? Been at my job almost a year and am loving it - big time. This time last year, I was hating life being in inside sales on the West side of the building. Life kicks ass here at FindLaw.
Soccer was been a dud. I though it would turn out better in terms of indoor teams. I thought my summer team was going to pick me up (Hurricanes) but after telling me they wanted me to play for them, they trun around and tell me the team is full. Then, my Sunday night team (Harvey's) totally blew me off and I'm gald I'm done with them because they suck anyways. They only won as many games as they did because I was averaging about 3 goals a game when I was playing for them. Instead of being one of the top three teams, they're back down in the gutter. This will set up an interesting situation when summer starts becuase I joined a new team which just got started up by a guy who's going to do things right. I've waited so long to find a team and a manager that's going in the right direction. We're going to start in the Bronze division (same as Harvey's) and see what happens. I think we'll do well, and I'll look forward to kicking their asses when we play. Playing with the Hurricanes again will be great as well. It should be an awesome summer. My son coming back will be great as well.
The other big news is my parents are buying a new house and actually moving out of Edina to Minnetonka. It's only a few miles from where they live now, but all the same, it's a big move for them. Of course my Mom's going to do her bit and completely remodel the house - but it sounds like its going to be pretty nice when they get it done.
More calls to make - I'll try and be a bit more prompt on my writing this year and keeping this thing up to date. Not too many stories to tell right now.
Photo of the day. . . 
Paul Scholes - "He scores goals."
Best news of the weekend. United up 7 points at the top of the Premiership. I'm hoping they can hold on and usurp Chelsea this year. It will give me plenty of bragging rights with one of my co-workers who's an ardent Blues fan.
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