Family additions

Last week Laura and I welcomed two new additions to our little family.

A new laptop computer and desktop computer!

The best part is that they are fully potty trained, don't wake us up in the middle of the night, and they'll never have to go to college (although they have had the tendency to talk back once in awhile).

Laura and I had been considering a laptop for awhile. When Laura visits her family in Iowa she would take it with her so she'd never be out of touch with work, not to mention her friend. And I would be able to use it when meeting with my freelance clients to share design ideas and demonstrate website functionality. We share. We're good like that.

We decided on an HP Pavillion Laptop available at Best Buy.


It's a gorgeous, roomy laptop covered in a bronze color accented with chrome. It has Laura's eyes and my love of cheese.

On Friday, we were blessed again with the arrival of my new desktop computer from Dell. I ordered an XPS 420 with a few upgrades and, so far, am very pleased with it.


I've been running Vista for awhile now and my old computer was struggling to keep up with it. I didn't even realize that I purchased that computer over five years ago, which is ancient in terms of performance, so it was time for something new.

Check out the difference in Vista system performance scores! 5.9 is the highest score you can receive with today's hardware (at least that's what I've read). Saweet! And, seriously, it has already saved me time working on things, which is huge!


Not to worry, we aren't abandoning the old system. We have many years and fond memories between us - so I'm going to put it to good use for various testing purposes.

Please join us in welcoming our new additions. We look forward to many years of productivity, games, communication, and browsing.

Did I mention they don't spit up? Awesome.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving - it signals the beginning of the holiday season and encourages indulgence. Thanksgiving also gives us pause to reflect and count our blessings, the things we are thankful for.

This year I gave sincere thanks for my family, my friends, my job, and, of course, Laura. I am defined by those I am thankful for and, in turn, am eternally grateful. I am luckier than most - and I am thankful for that.

On Thanksgiving, my parents and I descended on my sister's house for an awesome meal (and football). Laura left earlier that morning for Iowa to visit her parents, but left me instructions on how to prepare an awesome salad (she's so awesome).

It was great to catch up with my parents and watch football with my dad - he was an excellent advisor for my football picks, although I did blow it big time on the Philly/Arizona game (ugh).

My niece, Sarah, played the shy girl with me for half of the day, but she and I met across from each other at the dining room table and I was able to get some fun photos of her.


After dinner, Sarah warmed up to dad a bit and let him read to her. I love this picture!


She let me read to her too, but we don't have a record of that. Trust me, it happened! It was a book with a lot of flaps in it, so hidden characters were abound.

We had a great day overall - and it's great to think that mom and dad will be back in three weeks to celebrate Christmas!

I'm back

After a few months on hiatus, I'm back. To usher in my return, I thought I would indulge you (and myself) by participating in THE TAG! I've been tagged by a couple of friends, so I felt it was a good way to get back into the groove.

What's THE TAG? Thanks to a little copy and paste from my friend, Erin, here's the deal:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you are tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along!

Okay, so the rules are now posted. It's time to reveal 6 random things about myself:

1. I am a closet rock star. Depending on the song (and my mood) I am the singer, the lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar (my favorite), or drums. Give the keyboard to someone else. I know it's completely dorky, but I love to jam out to my favorite songs, sans any instruments.

2. I'm a morning person. I would never have thought I would turn out this way given the fact that I slept in very late during my high school summer vacations. I'm sure my years at Target as Logistics Manager (at the store by 4:30 a.m.) helped mold me in this regard. Depending on what I'm doing, I can be a night owl too, but typically I'm done by 10:30 p.m.

3. I have Amish heritage. Yep. My dad's side of the family is Amish. I am very thankful my dad had the courage to leave his family and blaze his own path. Otherwise I would be on the other end of a horse and buggy right about now.

4. I am a very optimistic person. I approach each day as an opportunity to achieve goals and make today better than yesterday. Along with this, I tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt on just about everything - I'm not a very suspicious person. But don't let that fool you - if you're trying to screw around, I'll get it.

5. I love golf. Even though I'm really just a hack, I love getting out on the course. My dad has commented that golf is a game for optimists. I think he's 100% correct. Even a lousy day of golf is better than any day at the office.

6. I'm a comic book fan. I've collected comic books since I was old enough to read them. For me, a good comic book has to have a good story and really great art - I'm a very visual guy. I'm a mainstream DC and Marvel fan (The Avengers, Spider Man, Justice League of America, Ultimates, X-Men, etc.) and can tell you pretty much about any of them, so if you have questions, just ask. Riiiiiight.

I'm supposed to TAG 6 more people, but I don't have that many people on my blog list, so I'll just pick KATIE and JODIE (if they haven't done this already).

More to come!

The stuff of nightmares

Courtesy of www.coryhollenhorst.com.

Laura's birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful girlfriend, Laura!


To celebrate Laura's birthday, we met Amy and Dewey at Wildfire in Eden Prairie on Saturday evening - Laura absolutely LOVES the Halibut at Wildfire, and it did not disappoint. Afterwards we finished the evening at the ever popular Redstone restaurant and enjoyed their patio since the weather was nearly perfect.


A little plug for the iPhone. I had installed a free application called Shazam earlier in the day and it really came in handy at Redstone. Shazam is a song recognition application - it's really amazing. If you hear a song on the radio or in a restaurant and want to know the name of it and the artist, just press the button. For about 20 seconds, the iPhone listens to the song, analyzes it, and then displays the information - from there you can buy it from iTunes if you so choose. We did this probably a dozen times on the patio at Redstone, it was really fun! For the record, they played tunes by Jimmy Doresey, Fred Astare, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Krall, and Earth Wind and Fire, just to name a few.

Sunday was Laura's actual birthday and the first words out of her mouth were "I want pancakes". And since it's a rule in our home to give the birthday child whatever they want for breakfast, I placed an order at Perkins and picked it up so we could eat in our pajamas.

In the afternoon we saw The Dark Knight at the local AMC theatre. I read a headline today that said The Dark Knight has grossed over $300 million in the past 10 days and is poised to beat Titanic as the highest grossing film of all-time. Laura and I both thought The Dark Knight was FANTASTIC!! You don't even have to be a Batman fan to appreciate the movie.

Keith Ledger's Joker was brilliant. I read the reviews and thought, "Yeah, I get it, he died and we're honoring his memory by giving him good reviews". That is definitely NOT the case. He brought an entirely new dimension to the Joker character I've known since I picked up comic books as a child. I am sad that he's not around to reprise the role - he was amazing.

You won't believe this part. Laura had a hankering for White Castle.

Yeah. Sliders.

So she went to the grocery store to get stuff for salads, and I went to White Castle to get the burgers.

We ended up skipping the salads. Ha!

I just have to say - there is something about birthdays. It's a special day for both the birthday boy/girl and those around them. We tend to measure the day's success on the happiness of the birthday boy/girl, and I'd call this day (weekend) a success. Laura's happiness is of paramount importance to me every day, but especially on her birthday. And if I can make it a good day by doing even the simplest of things, then it was a good day. And it was.

Happy birthday, Laura - I love you!

iPhone

I've been waiting for June 11, 2008 for over a year.

On June 11, 2008 I waited even more.

In two lines.



Apple launched the original iPhone on June 29, 2007 and I immediately wanted one. But with a $599 price tag, I just had to be patient and hope that the price would fall out of orbit in the future. I just couldn't justify spending that much money on a mobile phone. I mean, c'mon. Really.

So when Apple announced the new 3G iPhone and cut the initial price point in half, it had me at hello.

On Friday, June 11, 2008 I woke up at 4:00 a.m. determined to get a new 16GB black iPhone. During my morning shower I actually heard the Rocky theme echo in my shower. Not the "Eye of the Tiger", but the real Rocky theme. With a splash of my aftershave, a zip of my jeans, and a gulp of orange juice, I was out the door on a mission.

My first stop was the AT&T store in Maple Grove. I did a drive-by and saw a line of people wrapped around the building in their comfy nylon chairs. I contemplated on joining them, but declined given that it had rained overnight and the mosquitos and gnats would be incredibly annoying (the line had extended into the grass next to the building).

I opted to stand in line at the AT&T store located in the Eden Prairie Mall. A week prior I had spoken to an AT&T employee and they said the mall would open at 6:00 A.M. to allow iPhone buyers a chance to wait inside. An additional bonus for me was the mall was five minutes from my place of employment.

I arrived at the Eden Prairie Mall at 6:25 A.M.

I was the 20th person in line.

AT&T employees surveyed the crowd one-by-one asking what kind of iPhone they wanted, if they were changing carriers, things like that. They were also handing out free bottles of water and some snacks from a nearby Caribou coffee.

Around 7:45 A.M. people started showing up in front of me, courtesy of people holding a spot for them. Hey, nice.

8:00 A.M. the doors opened.

Groups of 10 were being allowed inside.

At 8:30 A.M. I was the fourth in line to get in the door. I looked inside the store's window to see the action inside. It looked like an airline counter with half a dozen people behind the counter with a line of buyers in line.

One of the AT&T guys came out and said, "We're almost out of 16GB black iPhones" and indicated with his hands where he thought the supply would end. He estimated a few people behind me.

I hoped against hope. I thought, "C'mon, I was the 20th person in line, even though five inconsiderate and disrespectful jerks cut in front of me during the last few minutes. It just can't happen this way."

Then the hammer fell.

"We are out of the 16GB black iPhone."

There were three people ahead of me. I didn't even make to the doorway. I was four people away from getting what I wanted. F*ck. I was pissed.

I left the line. I left my spot. Gave it to someone else. Seeya.

I jumped in my car and drove to Southdale mall. Southdale had an Apple store and I thought they might have more in stock than an AT&T store.


I walked in to see every high school student in the south metro standing in line to get one. Seriously, it looked like an America's Got Talent audition line, although I didn't see any juggling acts or acappella boys bands. I turned around and thought, "forget it."

I went to work around 11:00 A.M.(hello, gotta work) and was not happy. Got through the day and thought about stopping at the Ridgedale Apple store on the way home.



Sure enough, a long line, but not quite a long as I had imagined. I walked by the Apple store and asked a clerk if they had any 16GB black iPhones left. "Only white", she replied. I left and went home.

Once home, Laura and I went to the grocery store and began talking about what we wanted to do that evening. Go out for dinner? Rent a movie? Wait in line all evening for an iPhone?

After expressing my disappointment at not getting an iPhone, Laura suggested I call the Apple store at the Mall of America. I told her there was no way they'd still have any in stock at that time. In her infinite wisdom she casually said, "Well, you'll never know unless you call." So I called.

"Hi, I'm wondering if you've ever heard of the iPhone", I joked with the guy who answered.

"Hahaha! Yes, I just heard of it today. In fact, you're the first person to call about it." (I always love retail humor.)

"I know this is a longshot, but I'm wondering if you have any 16GB black iPhones left."

"Yes we do!"

"You do?!?"

"Yes, but we have about 200 people in line right now..."

"Would you say you have enough 16GB black iPhones for, say, half of them?"

"I really couldn't say..."

I hung up the phone and told Laura the news. Then she asked me, "If they run out of black phones, are you going to be happy with the white one?" I pondered her question, "At this point, I think I would be."

She continued, "Because, really, it's the same phone. And you're going to have a cover on it 99% of the time protecting it anyway", and even though that basic reasoning made perfect sense, the fact is that I didn't even think of that. I was stuck on the color black, but the fact of the matter is that it wouldn't matter 99% of the time. This is one of the many reasons I love Laura.

We hopped in the jeep and headed down to the Apple store at the Mall of America.



We arrived at 7:15 p.m. and, to our delight, the line didn't seem to be that bad. We had fantasies of getting through the line, driving back to Maple Grove and hitting Champps for a late dinner and drinks while playing with our iPhones.

Maybe not.

We stood in line for two hours when we were finally ushered inside...where we waited in another line for another hour. It was a little stuffy in the Apple store, but I guess that will happen when you cram a couple of hundred people into a box.

After an hour we were greeted by our personal shopper, Zack. Or, as Laura and I like to call him, "Zack on Crack". Zack on Crack had been working since the store opened and was supposed to go home an hour before he helped us. But due to the heavy volume of traffic, he was asked to stick around to help. Lucky us.

If you've never been to an Apple store, here's the scoop. They don't have cash registers or your typical check-out counter. Each sales person has a handheld device which can swipe your credit card and send your receipt to your e-mail address. So when you're ready to go, you just tell any available rep anywhere in the store and they'll take your money and send you on your way.

Zack on Crack dropped is handheld device right in front of us and the touchscreen didn't respond too well after that. And to make matters even more enjoyable, it seemed like Zack on Crack was exhausted and wasn't too confident in his abilities to transfer our accounts from Verizon to an AT&T family plan. He asked multiple questions of his co-workers, asked us for the same information about a dozen times.

Finally, around 11:00 p.m. SUCCESS! Laura's phone was activated and working! Her number is the primary number in our Family Plan, so she had to have her phone activated before my phone could be added.

But Zack on Crack was having problems porting my existing number to the new iPhone. The shift manager, Matt, stepped in to help out and figured out that Zack on Crack was trying to activate one iPhone while trying to port my number to a different iPhone.

It was 11:45 p.m. - the Apple store was closed, employees had gone home, but Matt had stayed late and solved the problem. He even gave us a $50 gift card to thank us for our patience. Awesome.

And was it worth it?

Considering you can't just walk into an Apple store and buy an iPhone today (there is a waiting list of 2-3 weeks), the answer is a resounding YES! Despite my personal enjoyment of the iPhone, my biggest smile came from Laura's reaction the next morning. As I was finishing the activation process on Saturday morning via iTunes, Laura was downstairs playing with her iPhone. I'd hear giggles and laughs as she discovered how to do different things.

Finally she said, "This is so cool! Why would anyone ever have a regular cellphone?"

Exactly.

P.S. The white iPhone is HOT!

Summer must be on the way

This past weekend was a busy and fun one! Dare I say summer is on the way?

As noted in the previous post, Sean, Ed, and I golfed in the MCD Open and took first place honors in their scramble tournament Friday evening. I can think of one or two worse things than starting the weekend a little early with some golf. Afterwards we all met at Jethro's Bar and Grill where Jay proceeded to dish out the door prizes and awards. Did I mention I had the world’s best patty melt there? Mmmm.

Saturday started out early as Laura and I hit the LifeTime Fitness for 45 minutes of cardio. We were trying to be good and rev up the metabolisms in leau of the day's activities. Vroom! Vroom!

Jill and Jeff invited a bunch of us over to their place for a little BBQ in the afternoon. It was really nice to see everyone after being virtual shut-ins for most of the winter. I was especially happy to finally meet Hannah, Chris and Katie's daughter. She is absolutely cute beyond words – nice work, you two.


Chris and Katie's oldest, Caleb, and Jay and Beth's youngest, Nicholas, became fast friends while playing together in the backyard. Somehow the playset became a ship sailing the seas with sharks surrounding them – I love that about kids!


Nick was the proud owner of his mom's golfing trophy from the tournament the evening before and would not part with it. Caleb created his own trophy from a TruGreen yard sign. Crafty Caleb, who knew?


The older boys, Ian and Jacob, spent their time in the basement playing games on the Nintendo Wii. Oh, they resurfaced when the chow was ready, but quickly resumed the gaming. You have to admire their dedication and persistence. Right?


The Stanton family pooch, Cleo, got into the act by playing a little baseball with Jeff. This particular pitch resulted in an inside-the-fence home run and Jeff was pulled after only one inning. Better luck next time, kid. Pack your bags, you're going back down to the minors.


Laura and I really enjoyed seeing everyone, filling up our tummies with some great food, and look forward to seeing everyone in another month at the annual Stanton summer party at the cabin.


Later that evening, Laura and I attended a wedding reception for friends that were married several months ago in Mexico. We met Amy and Dewey out for a few pre-reception cocktails. The girls chatted and got caught up while Dewey and I kept our eye on the U.S. Open at the bar. Go Tiger!


The reception was at Dellwood Hills Golf Club in White Bear Lake, MN. The bride, Tiffany, greeted us at the reception entrance where the girls visited and listened to all the juicy details of the wedding and recent life thereafter.


While the girls mingled inside during the reception, Dewey and I stepped outside to admire the gorgeous course. C'mon. Was there really a choice? You might as well dress us in metal pants and turn on a gigantic magnet. It was a perfect evening for golf, but it just wasn’t in the cards (deep sigh).



Sunday was a little less busy, although I did get to golf with Sean, Jay, and Ed at Cedarholm again. Not one of my better games, so we'll just leave it at that.

Isn't it great that summer seems to finally be here?

1st place

Sean, Ed, and I played in a golf tournament this evening at Island Lake Golf Center in Shoreview, MN. Our buddy, Jay, was the coordinator - it was his company's tournament, Medical Concepts Development (MCD).

Island Lake Golf Center is a nice 3-par course (par is 28) and we played a scramble format. Our group won by shooting one under - we shot a 27 - amid strong wind and minor drizzle.

We won super cheesy trophies!

Sweet.

The next chapter

Our friend, and former colleague, Jodie, is leaving Minnesota to pursue a career opportunity on the east coast. Being from Pennsylvania, it was always part of her plan to eventually move back east to be closer to friends and family, however that plan moved up on the timeline quicker than she ever imagined when she recently accepted a position with General Electric (GE).

Jodie made a huge impact while working at Achieve. She had new marketing ideas on a daily, if not hourly, basis, and was not afraid of taking on new challenges. Her enthusiasm was contagious and her personal stories hilarious.

It was Jodie's idea to bring all of our advertising and promotional efforts in-house. Our team of Jodie, Erin, Jaime, Mark (our fearless leader), and I developed concepts and materials rivaling (and surpassing) those we had hired agencies to do. The portfolio of our work was the largest the company had ever seen.




The decision to bring everything in-house had a profound impact on me and my career. It opened my mind to new possibilities, pushed me to learn new skills, and really unlocked my passion for creativity and bringing ideas to life. Every completed project increased my confidence. It really changed my life!

For that, Jodie, a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU! We had the best team ever.

Jodie has started a new blog The Davis's - The Next Chapter to help keep us all connected with her and her husband, Andy. I'm really looking forward to seeing where their journey takes them!

Why don't they just use a gun?

When I left for work this morning, regular unleaded was going for 3.85 a gallon. When I came home, regular unleaded was feeling a little deprived so it jumped to 4.09 a gallon.


Are you kidding me?

During the summer of 1987 I had a summer job delivering pizzas. After a long night driving all over the northern metro area, I stopped to fill up my tank. The price was .99 a gallon. For some reason I was musing about the future (yeah, I know, friggin' pepperoni), thinking "Boy, wouldn't it suck if gas was, like, $3.00 a gallon?" Then I tried to do the math, which I'm sure wasn't even close to being accurate at 2:00 a.m., but I knew it would be a lot.

Yeah.

Today I filled 'er up (had about a 1/5 of a tank left).

My pizza money flowed into my gas tank.

Best golf game ever

Today Jay, Sean, Ed and I had a 6:00 p.m. tee time at Cedarholm golf course. A very nice three par course we've played often. Today, however, was different.

Maybe it was the impending storm clouds on the horizon. Maybe it was the cloud to cloud lightning flashing overhead. Maybe it was the rain. Maybe it was the tornado sirens in the distance.

Whatever it was, I golfed my best game ever.

I shot a 36. Par is 27. Pure bogey golf, baby!


The photo above is courtesy of the Kare11 website, but we saw this exact same cloud pass overhead as we finished the round, with tornado sirens blaring.

Sean, Jay, and I tee'd off the first hole at 6:00 p.m. as we heard tornado sirens in the distance and were poured upon by the time we reached the green. Luckily there was a shelter between the first and second holes, so we waited out the rain for about 10 minutes. As you might imagine, the rain slowed the greens a bit, but they dried up quickly and ran pretty well.

Ed was running late and joined us on the fourth hole. On the way to the course, he had heard on the radio that Plymouth was using snow plows to clear the highway of the large amount of hail from the storm. Plymouth is only a few miles south of where I live.

The skies cleared, the sun shone, and the humidity was high. The gnats swarmed above our heads as we played through.

Then the second round of storms came through. The sun disappeared. The wind whipped up. The tornado sirens blared.

We had one hole left and were determined to see it through. The course sounded the horn indicating everyone was to suspend play due to weather.

Nah.

We had to finish, and we did. That's when we saw the cloud pictured above pass over us.

For the first time ever, I tied Sean. And Jay beat me by only two strokes.

What was the difference (besides the weather)? My drives were good and my chipping and putting were much improved. I picked up a chipping tip while up north last weekend and it has really helped.

Then we all went to Ol' Mexico and had food and beer.

Just an awesome Saturday evening.

Giant's Ridge

I love summer holidays. They are a time to get out, play, and enjoy the weather. My buddy, Jay, and I did exactly that over the Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday morning, we drove up to Giant's Ridge in Biwabik, Minnesota to play golf at The Legend and The Quarry.

Our tee time at The Legend was 2:00 p.m. Friday and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Jay and I both started really well by launching great drives and shooting par to bogey holes. To illustrate, pictured below is the third hole, 454 yards from the whites, major dogleg left, we both launched our drives well past the giant's foot sand trap. Just awesome.


The front nine went pretty well, but the back nine beat us up a bit. Especially me. I think I lost a ball on every hole on the back nine - good thing I stocked up!

Afterwards, we went back to our villa and enjoyed watching the Twins game and each devouring a Poor Gary's sub. Pure heaven!


The next morning we had a tee time at The Quarry at 9:00 a.m. Surprisingly, it wasn't as chilly as we thought it would be and ended up being another beautiful day. Neither of us golfed particularly well, but I know I enjoyed every minute of it. We both made a few nice drives, some killer putts, but overall not our best games by far. Both courses are incredibly huge, much larger than any course you'll find in the Twin Cities area, and it can beat you up.


Golf can make a couple of guys hungry (and thirsty), so Jay and I drove to the town of Gilbert and enjoyed some dinner and a few drinks.


After dinner, Jay and I spent some time on the lake behind the villa getting their boat ready for the summer and cruised the lake.

Buzz

Took the plunge.

Decided that I would do a buzz cut for the summer. I told Laura what I was planning. She commented, "I like hair", but she didn't really stand against it. She's cool like that.

So I did it.

Today.

About eight hours ago.

And I'm diggin' it.

Good weekend

This past weekend I had a little bit of religion, a little bit of friends, a little bit of family, and a little bit of golf.

My parents flew in for a quick weekend to visit and stayed with my sister and baby Sarah. Unfortunately it was a packed weekend for me and I only had half the day on Saturday to spend with them, but it was time well spent. I cannot believe how big Sarah is getting!


This little chick is mobile!

And chatty!

The following day, Sunday, was the baptism of my Godson, Rowan. His parents, Jeff and Jill, invited close friends and family to share in Rowan's big day. He was pretty calm and collected, already not sweating the details, and sailed through the service without incident.

After the baptism and service, we all enjoyed a nice lunch and spent some time with the little man of the hour, Rowan.


Later that afternoon and into the evening, I was lucky enough to golf 18 holes with a group of friends. Overall, a pretty good Sunday, I'd say.

Iron Man

It's here!

Iron Man, the movie.

On Friday evening, Laura and I saw the all digital version of 'Iron Man' at the AMC in Maple Grove. Let me get this out of the way - the picture was amazingly clear and crisp. No movie film jumps or skips that you might experience with traditional film material. If you have a chance to see it digitally, DO IT.

Onto the movie.

AWESOME.

For those of you that know me, you know I'm a big comic book fan. I've been a fan of Iron Man for a long time, know all about his history, the supporting characters, villains, storylines, etc.

The movie does a great job keeping true to the character of Tony Stark (Iron Man's not-so secret identity) as well as the characters that surround him. Not only that, but the storyline is believable - seriously! Let's face it, if you were captured and abused by terrorists, only to escape and develop some technologically advanced, fully loaded, kick ass suit of armor, you'd unload some seriously deserved payback too.

More than that, however, is the way Robert Downey Jr. captures Tony Stark's personality. It's not one of those superhero movies where you impatiently wait for the hero to put on his costume and do his (or her) thing. The scenes where Iron Man takes over are awesome - full of amazing effects and superhero stuff, but it's the character of Tony Stark that keeps it fun and engaging.

Even if you aren't a comic book fan, but enjoy a good action/fiction film and pure escapism, go see it. You'll like it. Really!

Human barometer

I am a human barometer.

Yep, when you have plans to picnic with the family, just give me a call and find out if I have a headache. If I do, you'd better bring an umbrella.

Today was one of those days at work where I felt great! Getting things done with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. "Hey, how the heck are ya?" was my chosen salutation for the day.

Then around 2:30 p.m. I felt the twinge. The tiny itty-bitty throb behind my left eyeball soon to be followed by my right eyeball. Soon to evolve during my drive home into larger throbs behind both eyes that extend to the base of my skull. Hmm, I noticed some whispy high-level clouds moving in and, hey, it is a little windier than it was over the lunch hour.

Now? I'm at home, just a little after 5:00 p.m., and I have it. The full-blown barometric pressure / weather front-induced headache. Just for sh*ts and giggles I went to my favorite weather website to see if I was correct. The image in the post tells the story - HEY, NICE WEATHER FRONTS! (The yellow star indicates my relative location. Neat, huh.)

So, you see, I have a gift. I am a human barometer. Thanks for the genetics, mom.

A hieve

Sometimes there are no words.

49

Yesterday I took the day off work and went golfing for the first time this season.

Yep, I went golfing.

In gale-force winds.

The sun came out and the temperature reached the high 60's. But, hey, who ordered the constant 30 mile per hour wind with gusts up to 40?

The course I played is a local 3-par, French Lake. 9 holes, no frills, no water, no sand, but a great little place to work on your short game (along with two holes that let you open up your driver a little bit).

Here's an example of how strong the wind was. 6th hole. 153 yards. Wind at my back. Took out my pitching wedge (typically hit 120-130 yards). Yeah, the ball landed a good 20 yards past the green. 170 yard pitching wedge?

Wind. Go figure.

During the warm-up on the driving range and even the nine holes, no whiffs. Topped a couple of balls, but overall a pretty good first round for me. Par is 29. I scored a 49.

I'll get better. And next time, keep the wind at home, whoever you are.

Facebooked

I've done it. I've done what so many others before me have done. I've taken the plunge. The point of no return. Life changed forevermore. Will you respect me in the morning?

I've joined Facebook.

I've persuaded some of my friends to join Facebook.

It's now a Facebook world.

"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you." That's what it says on their website. Yeah, it's a social networking site so much better than MySpace. Clean design, nicely organized, simple (and FREE) to use, with a large number of customized applications available.

The downside? Spambots. You'll see messages posted by fake users promoting other applications or websites, which is extremely annoying to those wanting true feedback from a real person. But, really...so far...that's about it in terms of the downside.

I joined a couple of weeks ago and have already connected with people I haven't seen in years (even from high school). You can share photos, videos, public comments, private messages, and more. Like everything else in life, it is what you make it.

So if you have thought about it but weren't quite sure, go ahead and join. Don't be afraid. Then look me up and be my friend. Or just be my friend anyway. Whatever works.

URL: www.facebook.com

On a steel horse I ride

One week ago tonight, Laura and I saw Bon Jovi in concert with opening act, Daughtry. The tickets were a last-minute purchase and a surprise for Laura since she had always wanted to see Bon Jovi.

We had great seats two rows up from the floor and left of the stage. We were probably 20 rows back which was a nice mix of being able to see the band members clearly and the entire stage set-up with the various video screens.

Daughtry was impressive. The bass player rocked. Vocals were right on and powerful (what do you expect from an American Idol finalist).

Bon Jovi played for over two hours and showed everyone how a rock concert should be done. After all, they've been playing to audiences for 25 years, and they know how to entertain and put on a show that all kinds of fans can enjoy.

Please realize that I'm not a huge Bon Jovi fan. They've been in town more times than I can count (and I can count pretty high, really) and I've always passed at the opportunity to see them. After finally seeing them in concert I can honestly say that I would definitely see them again.

The concert was on a school night (Wednesday) and we didn't get home until after midnight. Call the press! Laura and John stayed up past 11:00 p.m.!!

Don't fear the robot

The Onion produced this little gem of science fiction. It's hilarious!

Our secret identities

Laura and I took a quiz to find out which superhero best matches our personalities.

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

John is Iron Man

Wow! I am the upcoming box office hit of the season! Who would have thought? Now I just have to figure out how to get these darn repulsor rays to work...

Honest and a defender of the innocent.

Laura is Supergirl

It's a good thing I like blondes. I'm thinking if Laura could really fly, she could sleep in another hour and completely avoid rush hour.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Sarah's first year

Happy first birthday, baby Sarah!

It was one year ago today that we met my niece, Sarah, for the first time. This angel took our breath away and continues to bring an indescribable happiness to all of our lives everyday.

We've really enjoyed watching Sarah develop from an infant to an active and engaging little girl.

Personally, I've never been this close to a baby entering the world, and it's amazing at how exciting every little change becomes. When Sarah was able to smile and react - wow! When Sarah was able to sit up on her own - wow! When Sarah was able to start eating 'real' food - wow! When Sarah pulled herself up and stood up - wow! And all the little things in-between, it's just amazing.

It's going to feel like a single heartbeat has passed when we look back at this day because she's going to grow up so fast. But I'm going to enjoy the journey being the proud uncle and make sure she know how much we love her and are thankful she's part of our lives.

Happy first birthday, Sarah - it only gets better!

Honored, humbled, and completely hornswoggled

It has been said that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. However, it has never been said about my sister and my girlfriend.

Even though I unknowingly threw many a monkey wrench in their plan, Laura and Lisa managed to pull off an incredible surprise birthday party for me last Friday evening.

As noted in my previous post, my 40th birthday was last Thursday, February 14th. Laura and I had planned a low-key evening celebrating at home. We grilled some steaks, had a few drinks, and played Guitar Hero until midnight - it was a blast!

Both of us had taken Friday off for a long weekend. My plan was to hit the gym in the morning, do a little freelance web work in the afternoon, then go out with my buddies, Jay and Jeff. Simple. Easy. Just the guys. (P.S. Laura said she was going to a happy hour with her friends.)

Jay came over around 3:30 p.m. and the good times began! We fired up the Xbox (I swear to God it has literally changed our lives - High Definition gaming - but more about that in another post), cracked open some cold ones, played games, had some munchies, and watched some videos from the good ol' days.

I called Jeff to check his status (since he had called earlier to say he would be running late) and he said he would just meet us out later. Cool. Okay.

Just before 7:00 p.m., Jay was getting the vibe to go out, so I pulled on a quick sweater and we headed out the door. He said he and Jeff wanted to have a few beers and play some games at Dave & Busters. Again, cool. Okay.

We pulled into Dave & Busters around 7:10 p.m. and walked in.

To screaming.

But wait. I should describe the environment. When you first enter the building, there is a glass wall with a path that curves to the left and right. To the left is the gaming area, and to the right is the bar/restaurant. The screaming crowd was coming from the elevated billiards area to the left and my initial thought was, "Hey, those people are having a great time" and then I glanced toward the bar.

Then I looked back to the left. Is that Laura? Is that Lisa? Is that Erin? Wait, are those screams for me?!?

Jay and I walked toward the familiar faces screaming and waving at us and it finally dawned on me - this is a surprise birthday party!! I think I was in shock, honestly. Nobody had ever done anything like this for me in my entire life.

I ascended the stairs and was greeted by Laura with a big hug and kiss. I looked around the room and saw familiar smiling faces and felt slightly overwhelmed and still a bit bewildered. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see my mom and dad (from Richmond, Virginia), and sister, Patti (from Ohio). "What are you doing here?", I asked while in shock and hugged my mom for (what felt like) many minutes.

It was during that hug that the moment hit me and I became a little emotional. These people were here for me. Me. Wow! WOW! This is a surprise birthday party and I was completely caught by surprise! Bamboozled! Hornswoggled! Eeek!

I was sincerely honored and humbled that people would rearrange their personal lives to attend an event celebrating my birthday. And some of these people drove over an hour to be there, some flew across country, some just gave birth a week ago. Life is busy and we all have things to do - and for these people to stop and take time to spend with me to celebrate my birthday - well, it was just special, and really meant the world to me.

As it turns out, Lisa and Laura had been planning this party for months. Are you kidding me?!? And since the party, Laura has told me all the wrinkles I unintentionally created for them in the process. Too many to go into here, suffice to say it's really funny to look back on and compare notes.

I am so appreciative of everyone that attended - and for those that couldn't make it, I completely understand how life's commitments get in the way, so don't sweat it. I'm am truly thankful that every single one of you are a part of my life.