2012 Year End List- Music

With it being a few days till the end of 2011 I guess it's time to do my end of the years list for top everything of 2011 according to me
Best Music of 2011:

Top Albums that I listened to in 2011

1. Drake- 'Take Care':  This is one of those I can listen to front to back, in any mood, and it was played non-stop in my car for 2 months before I even thought about taking it out.  It's too hard to pick a favorite song since so many of them are good.  There is a different style and pace from his previous release,'Thank Me Later', with tracks like 'Crew Love' that have a house beat to them and would be done well sped up in Ibiza but then brings back the familiar sound with the Nicki Minaj duet 'Make Me Proud'.  Top tracks: Marvin's Room, Over My Dead Body, and Headlines.
2. Jay Z and Kanye West- 'Watch the Throne': Jazy Z and Kanye, what more needs to be said?  Top tracks: Otis, The Joy, and Niggas in Paris
3. My Chemical Romance- 'Danger Days': I still have some early 2000's teeny punk pop style in me and MCR definitely filled the void for me.  Gerald Way's classic angst filled voice combined with a catchy electronic beat was a completely different sound from their previous record but still did the job.  The radio friendly 'Sing' has a good cadence for running and 'Na Na Na' captured the violent tone that drew me into them.  For once I also liked the interludes between tracks with Jet Star and the Kobra Kid.  Top tracks: Planetary (Go!), Destroya, and The Kids from Yesterday.
4. Swollen Members- 'Dagger Mouth': A Canadian hip hop duo that most people won't know.  They are huge in Canada (eh?) and those that listen to Del, Atmopshere, Dialated Peoples and the like will probably have heard their voices on tracks before.  Dagger Mouth was classic Swollen, Prevail and Mad Child had great lyrics and rythum while Rob mixed up some great tracks.  The video for 'Night Vision' gets extra points for their "dia de los muertos" theme.  If Mad Child wasn't banned from entering the US (and I'm banned from Canada for the next 10 years) I would have a few dates in 2012 set to see them in concert, alas... sigh... Top tracks: Bring Me Down, Mr. Impossible, and Night Vision.
5. The Roots- 'Undun'- The Roots defy everything that music has come to be known.  They release a ton of records (11 and counting), are the house band for Jimmy Fallon, and change their sound continuously while still keeping the sound genuine and unique.  I can't really put my finger on what I like about them, Maybe it's Questlove's giant afro, it could be that they play actual instruments, maybe it's their soul influence, possibly that when i listen to them I feel like I'm a better person then when I started, I'm not really sure.  Undun was just released and I already love it- it's amazing.  Top tracks: Make My, The Other Side, and Redford.

Top Songs of 2012

1. 'Seven Nation Army Remix'- The Glitch Mob:  Originally a great song by The White Stripes Glitch Mob took it and made an industrial version of it.  In constant rotation on my shuffle when it comes on during a run I unknowingly speed up with a rush of angry adrenaline.  Leaving Jack White's voice uninterrupted (for the most part) but adding a transformer/ dubstep-esq beat makes this redux fantastic for working out; it's the mental equivalent of downing a 5 hour energy on top of a Java Kona Monster.
2. 'Opposite of Adults'- Chiddy Bang:  This track makes me happy.  When I hear the MGMT kids beat laid down with the lackadaisical kiddie rap style lyrics I smile.  I have to give credit to MGMT as well- the beat is a classic and the 'I once was a kid all I had was a dream' hook reminds me of being some place warm with a beach or lake and everyone dancing and singing having a great time.
3. 'Let's Go'- Travis Barker: This was the year Busta Rhymes KILLED every track he did bars for.  As he comes out and starts the high energy flow you know the track is going to be dope.  Add Twista, TelaWolf, and Lil John doing what he does best (adding a 2 second hype up here and there) with Travi playing drums and you've got gold.
4. 'Look at Me Now'- Chris Brown, Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes:  Anyone who was in a club in 2011 heard this jam.  Probably a few time during the night as the track is just that good.  It has a loopy beat, a jazz style insert reminiscent of Wreck N Effects, and Busta Murders his part.
5. Tie 'Right Above It'- Lil Wayne & Drake/ 'Otis' Jay Z & Kanye West.
   I'll tackle 'Right Above It first- Drake has his typical cadence style flow going with Wayne singing the hook.  When Wayne starts in with "Skinny Pants and some Vans call me triple 8 get my advance in advance" the tract escalates to new levels.  The YMCMB family is beating everything else out there in quality these days, this track with Drake and Wayne is one the best examples of it.  It's a catchy uptempo song that starts with Drake bringing some of his best lyrics ever and ends with Wayne.
   
   'Otis'- Another collaboration with some of the best in the music business right now.  Taking Otis Redding's 'Try a Little Tenderness' (which is amazing by itself) and then adding Jay Z and Kayne, speeding up the tempo, and then looping the piano with Otis' voice in the background was genius.  The video screamed excessive waste of money to us as they sliced and diced the doors off Maybauch, added a bumper sticker to it and then turned it into a Mad Max style drifter.  To Jay Z, whose net worth is close to 1 Billion, this was more of a fun experiment.  Which pretty much explains this album- a fun experiment that went so horribly right we're clammering for another.
   

2 Movies with the Same Plot, Different Results

Last weekend I saw 'Friends with Benefits' with Justin Timberlake and Milia Kunis, this weekend I just finished 'No Strings Attached' starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman.  The premis of both movies are essential the same, 2 people who are friends that only want to use each other for sex.  It's basically a mutual use for both parties.  Even though both movies has the same plot they tackle the subjects differently.  FWB has more of a witty sense of humor compared to NSA going the more vulgar route.  I really enjoyed both, but found NSA a little more to my liking.  I laughed out loud more during FWB but I think it was Natalie Portman and her character that didn't draw my attention near enough as Milia Kunis'.

I think it's strange that both movies came out right around the same time in theaters and on DVD.  Audiences basically would pick which actor actress combo was more to their liking.  From the previews both movies have funny one liners so you can't tell the chemistry that is developed during the movie.  FWB did $55.8M domestically, $149.8M world wide while NSA did $70.6M domestically and $149.2M world wide.  NSA was released a few months prior so maybe the US audience had their take on the theory and skipped FWB, but world wide FWB out gained NSA but they are about the same (in theater dollars).

Since the dollars don't seem to tell the story my take is the witty comedy, FWB, was done just a little better than NSA.  NSA had a lot of humor that seems dumb down for anyone that reads or puts forth much thought in behavior and events.  Natalie Portman's character has the traditional man stance of wanting to keep it platonic while Ashton's character wants things to take a more traditional role.  I know people like this in my personal life so this was definitely a believable written role.  The things I didn't care for were everything that was written around Ashton's character's father.  The entire dialog and actions didn't seem at all on par with reality.  The other character were consistently in the background but didn't add anything really too the story.  Ludacris' character and Jake Johnson's character the friends had some humerus lines as did Mindy Kaling's character, but nothing really stuck out and their parts seemed more filler than anything.  Lake Bell, who usually cracks me up was an odd, socially awkward boss that didn't have any funny lines.  From her previous performance's (most notably What Happens in Vegas) when paired with great writers she can deliver the funny moments very well.

While I enjoyed NSA, I just thought that FWB was better written.  There was more depth to the characters while the writting and non-verbal communication between the stars was received better by the audience.  Or at least me.  the co-stars played more of a role giving a stronger, more "full" feel to lives of the characters.  Woody Harelson and Jenna Elfman's characters both had a strong presence with sound advice and very funny lines.

Both were humerus and tackle subjects that make anyone above our generation cringe but happen regularly in the world we live in.  If you have to pick one I saw go with FWB, but don't shoot down NSA- from the opening scene you'll be laughing in have the raunchy sense of humor that I do.

Complete Ignorance by the Dallas County Medical Examiner

After hearing the medical examiner's response of "accidental death" in the case of Elizabeth Lightfoot I was outraged.  It was almost hysterical; a drunken (0.31) female manages to slowly drive her car up a curb and through two cement pillars barley wider than her car (right side, by the dumpster in the pic below) then park it and set it on fire from the inside, pass out, and die from smoke inhalation.  It's laughable and fucking ridiculous that someone "educated" would come to this conclusion.  Then today, Scott Goldstein, of the Dallas Morning News writes an article that anyone involved or following the case was desperate for.
His article (http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/12/accident-or-murder-what-really.html) States the following:


"To accept the Dallas County medical examiner's ruling that the 22-year-old hairdresser's death was an accident and not a murder is to accept that she drove her Mazda 6 into the relatively small space between a dumpster and the side of a strip center at 16000 Preston Road. My photos at top right show the spot, which is probably not much wider than Lightfoot's car. 
The photo at bottom right is a WFAA-TV (Channel 8) image from the night of Lightfoot's death.
Lightfoot's blood alcohol content at the time of her death was 0.317 percent, about four times the legal limit. That's probably about 15 to 20 drinks."



In business there are always things that look great on paper but the real world application isn't feasible.  This appears to be one of those instances where the ME didn't take into account all of the factors.  I'm guessing the ME hasn't ever had 15 drinks at a bar and then tried to wedge a vehicle in a space with about 6- 10 inches to spare.  No one I can think of has- but I've definitely had 15 drinks before and the way it affects your motor skills and night vision is significant.  With someone making a salary up to $192K (http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/dallas-county/departments/medical-examiner/3485/) that sure smells like shit coming from their mouth, good luck getting anyone to buy that story.    Damn even the cops say that isn't possible we KNOW they drink a good amount.


The worst case scenario is there are a number of cases the Dallas county has for open murders.  By the ME declaring this an accident it effectively closes the case on their books.  They can use lip service to assure everyone devastated by the loss they are still investigating this as a homicide but it won't go against them as an open/ unsolved murder.  I'm not sure if their physical year is October to October or January 1 to December 31st.  If it's the later then the finding of "accidental" comes at a very damn convenient time for their EOY statistics.

If it turns out to be later case and politics is involved then the city of Dallas has fucked up again...  We've all seen how Texas leads the nation in overturned convictions from DNA use and Dallas specifically leads all states but 3.  The continued bungling of evidence seems to have a strong pattern in Dallas with Elizabeth Lightfoot stuck in the middle of it.

It's Official, I'm not White

Last week friend of mine, Jesmi, had a birthday wish- to see Wilco at Fairpark.  Having never listened to them, but knowing they have a cult like following and some of my friends like them I obliged with purchasing the tickets.  Some pre-show observations:

• More plaid patterns than I've ever seen before in my life
• So many scarves. on both guy and girl
• Everyone, less Jesmi who is 1 part Korean and 1 part Puerto Rican, was white.  No Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, etc were in sight.

At first glance I figured I walked into an apple commercial; skinny jeans were everywhere and the hipster look was on full steam.  We waited about 20 minutes in line as they had both beer and liquor at the bar with 1 bartender at each station.  It's never functional to have 5 bars serving 800+ adults and the planning was piss poor to say the least.  This did give me ample people watching time.  I had misgivings about the show as I could listen in on the conversations that were happening around me.  It was pretty much apathetic talk from people that place too a heavy self image on not liking anything in the "mainstream".  The metaphorical gun was cocked and loaded while suicide thoughts were playing out in my mind.

The opening act was someone that I'd never heard of- Nick Lowe.  He sounded exactly like a combo of James Taylor and Garrison Kehler singing Lake Wobegon stories.  I guy with an acoustic guitar sinnging story teller songs.  Fucking shoot me in the face.  The highlight of his set was checking in on Foursquare and getting enough points to be ahead of Sed.  After he finished and bored me to death I asked the plaid tortise shelled framed gentleman who it was, in an expected condescending tone he replied "Nick Lowe".  At this point there was an intermission- my first thought was I need something with a beat or screaming to wake me up.  We got up and walked around while purchasing another 2 beers.  At this point I knew nothing would save me, less a bomb threat.  Which I almost called in on Jesmi's phone... well, I at least thought about it.

Wilco- I really don't understand the attraction.  As with when Nick Lowe was playing middle aged hipsters would jump up and yell "yeah!!!" then whistle extremely loud.  Nothing was going on that denoted a yeah.  In fact I thought a "I have a better time on Ambien" was more appropriate.  They had nothing that appealed to me but everyone around me was dancing... or white people concert dancing.  It appeared like every black comedian ever's impression of white people dancing without rhythm.  I was constantly checking my twitter feed and FB to see if anything else was going on while getting in depth knowledge on Weather.com about the impending el Nina winter.  If this is the music driving the hipster generation they can have it- that shit Meh'd me to death.

Getting in the car I threw on the new Drake and blasted it... with the beats and methodical rap of "Over My Dead Body" I came to the conclusion that if this is what 25- 35 year old white adult professionals listen to that isn't country these days I'm Black.  Black or something other than white.

In short, Jesmi received exactly what she wanted for her birthday, Wilco is never going to make it to my iTunes, and we're in for a wet winter so boarding should be good in the North West.  Oh- I'm claiming minority- "Other" on every application from now on.

Things I don't understand

After walking through the breakroom today at work and hearing numerous people talk about the Kardashian divorce I started to realize that maybe I don't understand why or what is on people's minds these days.  In honor of being out of touch with current events I figured I'd make a list of some of the things that I still don't understand.

• Algebra- I get the basic concept of it but I don't get why you have to go through 3 years of something that doesn't matter once you graduate.  In today's modern world a simple class in excel learning pivot tables and formulas does a lot more good than memorizing the quadriatic equation does.
• Reality TV- We spend more time watching people cook than actually cooking, watching people remodel their bathroom than learning what a drywall screw is, or seeing people put forth physical effort in the woods than just walking outside.  The parrells' between that and idiocracy are phenominal.  
• StarF***ing- These days there seems to be a lot of focus on what celebrities are doing, but not a real focus on how their life is going.  Spending mental drain and effort on things that play absolutely no part in your real life confuses me.
• Debating Gay Marriage- This issue is something the media plays up, yet I don't know one persona that has any sort of objection to it.  It's 2011, most of us work with and know numerous gay people and don't care at all if they marry.  Even the hardened religious types I know don't care because now they have a face and someone they know who is gay.

That's about it for now- I've got a pork loin I'm cooking and I need to get ready for work tomorrow.

A strange 5 days...

In the last 5 days it's been a very interesting time in my life.  It started with a trip to LA and ended with the announcement that my company, Morgan Stanley, has sold the division that I work in to Ocwen.

 LA- The trip was awesome.  It was a lot different than I thought it would have been since Cris, Maily, Nate, and Josue were all there as well.  Torr was our guide and the trip was centered around food and sights.  Friday was filled with numerous stops of amazing architecture and art deco sights from the early 20th century.  the restaurant that we went too was originally a theater so the ceiling (listed below in white) had so much detail to it.  The food... man was it stellar-

Ceiling of Mas Malo

So far there hasn't been a lot of news about the sale.  Right now about all I know is from what I read about on the net and lets just say the details were speculative at best.  I have about as much re-assurance as I can get at this time that I'll be heavily involved in the transition portion until the sale is supposed to be completed at the end of February.  At that point I'll see what my options are.  I have some more info and plans that I can't go into but once the options are more public I'll be able to talk about them more.

The LA Skyline

Ed Helms and Mark Maron at UCB

Breakfast at the Standard

Julie and Cris on Venice Beach

Best Fish Taco's Ever!!!

We all have strange days, this was one of them

Today was the day of strange quotes.  I'm not sure what the heck was going on but it sure was a weird one to hear what some people were overheard.  Here are the ones I could remember-

"I shaved my legs this week and started a diet.  I'm becoming a woman"- late 30's frumpy woman from work

"I'm wearing deodorant, but since I didn't shower yesterday I didn't re-apply" - same frumpy woman from above in response from her co-worker asking if she smelled a strong vinegar smell.  It was also in the break room at work where someone was making fish.

Damn... wish i could remember more of them from earlier.  This wasn't so much a quote, but a strange occurrence.     All day long I was emailing Kristin at work on a project.  After a little while i noticed the context of the emails did't seem very feminine.  Later in the day I had a meeting and found out why.  Kristin is a middle aged black man who pronounces his name "Christian".  There has to be a lot of bitter emotions towards his parents or the nurse that spelled out his birth certificate.

Texas OU and the weekend that started to suck since Friday

Texas OU weekend usually sets my state of emotional happiness for a good week.  If UT wins I'm in a euphoric state that lasts well into Sunday night and carries me through until the next weekend.  With that little bit of info I'll start with Friday night....
Friday
I was supposed to meet 3 separate groups of people out at New West to see Gary Hobbs.  New West is a Tejano country bar so to say I would be out of my element is a huge understatement.  One of my friends was going to meet me here first but she had to get her tires changed in Garland and it took about 2 hours longer than she thought so i was going to meet everyone there.  The arranged time was 9:00 and being accustomed to WPT I showed up at 8:50.  By 10:30 Vicki text and had decided to bail- Joe was being lame and I hadn't heard from Nora.  So at 11:15 I left the Tejano bar after waiting at a table and being propositioned by over 45 year old divorcee's.  Total damage was $12 cover for the concert I didn't see and 3 Coors lights at $1.75 each.  Once I got on the 75 and 635 mixmaster Nora txt and had just arrived.  I was just about to turn around and head back to meet her when my passenger side rear tire blew.  So I exit, hang out and wait for Triple A to change my tire.  The full size spare was already used when I purchased the vehicle and the previous owner didn't replace it so I had the slightly smaller dounut. With this recent chain of events I decided to head up to a closer spot and meet some friends that were at Logan's.

Logan's was a lot of fun and I saw some old wakeboard friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.  One of them asked if I could take him and his girlfriend home and of course I obliged.  Once we left at 2:00 and hoped on Bush he told me that he now lives off Renner and 75, no longer off frankfurt and tollway.  For those not familiar with Dallas this means I'm now driving 30 miles out of the way on a dounut tire.  Needless to say I got home about 4am....
Saturday
Dropped the car off at NTB for a new tire, Texas lost miserably... The End

Sunday
Still in a funk from Texas losing....

Tim Ferriss is a Genius and some other tidbits

10/1- Weight 208, last week- 214
In a week I went from 214 to 208.  I know all the tricks and when to weigh yourself, I was a personal trainer before and learned a good number of ways to manipulate the system.  Since I've been able to start working again I started doing more cardio and focusing on my diet.  After coming across Tim (I detailed the history) and starting in on his diet plan I've dropped a great amount of real weight.  I also started in on adding a tablespoon of almond butter every night before bed.

I hoped on an outdoor team for a tournament that's coming up in a few weeks.  It'll be the first time that I've played since the tear in my knee.  After ridding 10 miles off road Saturday I had to ice it on Sunday for a good deal.  I don't think it helped either standing for a good amount of time at Jordan's party or with Joe later that night watching the Rangers game.  All in all I'm very happy about playing, I just hope my lack of cardio doesn't hurt the team and I'm able to have a good range of movement for the games.

Ranger up 2-1 on Devil Ray, Cowboy implodes on the 4th, Man U wins record 19th at home...

Test Ride of the new 29'er

This morning I went out to Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine to give my new bike a good test.  Also to see how I would fare since I haven't ridden for any length of time in over a year.  I started out on the trail about 8:45.  There were already a good number of people out there ridding but it didn't feel crowded by any means.  There were a few groups of riders out there hauling ass through the singletrack but it was a good ride in the section that I was in.

I had one good fall when I didn't judge the distance between two trees appropriately and drilled my left bar end against the tree throwing me to the ground.  It caused my crank arm to spin up and slam into my shin too during the fall.  Not the most pleasant experience that I've had but after a calf tear and peiliteal tear this wasn't much.  I had another incident of riding through some thorn bushes while letting a faster rider pass me.

The bike did really well throughout the ride.  I had a lot of fun with the ride.  It was a tad over 9 miles long and really did me in.  I can't wait to get back out there during the week and again next Saturday though.

 Next week it will be a lot more fun with more trails to bomb down and a ton more energy to knock those miles out.

Back Again

It's been a damn long time since I've written anything.  Looking back I see some of it was definitely way too dark and angry.  That has to be from where I was at that point in my life.  Since then things have changed and I'm planning to give this more of a direction than just venting out my frustrations.  There will still be quite a bit of random things going on in it but I think the focus and consistency will be improved.

With that in mind.....
9/24-
214 lbs
TI: 118.75 = Stomach 41, hips 38, Bicep 13.5, thigh 26.25

I read an article on Tim Ferriss a few weeks ago in Outside magazine.  He had some interesting things to say so I was intrigued.  I also listen to a number of podcasts; Joe Rogan and the DeathSquad crew with Brian Redban, Tom Segura, Ari Sheifer (no way I'm spelling that name correctly and I'm too lazy to look it up), and that comic crew has to be my favorite.  Rogan had on Tim for one of the podcasts and he went into a lot more detail from what he normally has a platform to speak from.  He was also on Adam Carolla's, but he didn't get near the time.  His rational and motives seemed to make sense so I bought the book, "The 4 Hour Body", last Friday.  Within the first chapter I was hooked.  I started the diet this Wednesday along with working on the sleep portion.  I won't go into all the details of the diet, buy the book if you want to know.  Honestly it's easy and makes a damn good amount of sense, especially once you look at all of the science behind it.  As for the sleep portion I started doing a table spoon and a half of Almond butter before bed and I can tell the difference in my activity level.  Or as he puts it my I feel like shit when I wake up level.  I've always been a morning person so I went from waking up and being functional to waking up with the energy level of a speed freak.

Exercise:
9/24- A tad over 9 miles hiking with some light jogging out on the grapevine lake northshore trails with some friends.
9/28- 3 mile mountain bike ride out at the GL trails.  I have to say too- Wednesday's short trail ride was a lot more of an ass kicker than Saturday's 9 miles.  I'm still sore today in my triceps and shoulders from the ride.  I've got another ride planned for tomorrow morning.
El Soccero

Hopefully I'll be less fat by the end of January when the outdoor soccer season kicks off again.  I thought (per my first doc) that my ACL was torn.  Turns out it was pelital muscle and no surgery is needed.  Since I tore both that and the calf this year in the same uni and I'm superstious as hell when it comes to sports I figured it was time for a change.  My new outdoor cleats came in today from www.WorldSoccerShop.com and the look sweeeeeet!  The Diadora Kobra KPro's in high vis orange were my choice.  I've always loved Diadora since I used to wear the Brasil's back in HS.  My last pair was Umbro Specialai's which weren't too bad, but were pretty heavy compared to what was out there now.  Now it's time to get some new indoor shoes for the season starting in November.   I've attached a pic of the Kobra's- the carbon fiber sole is pretty awesome and a huge weight saver.  I also like the cleat position and the way they are formed.  Next week sometime after work I plan to start kicking the ball around with Peter to test out my lateral movement.

After tomorrow's ride I'll give a review of my new bike too- it's been a beast so far!!

Been a while

I’ve been pretty busy with the new job so I’m just now getting back into the swing of things and budgeting time for this again.  For now I’m going to stick with the random thoughts and quick topics although I do have two other column topics in mind.  One is sports related and the other is based off the Hannibal Lecture quote “we covet what we see” but is in reference to dating.

Hates:
Driving
Everyday I have between a 40-60 min commute to work.  It takes me from downtown Ft. Worth and into Las Colinas.  During this drive I see so many asshole drivers.  I really don’t understand how someone can be nice in person and then a complete cocksucker when they get in their vehicle.  People will ride the shoulder as far up as possible when the lane is closing, driving past numerous signs telling them the obvious and they have to get as close as possible to an accident before merging.  What in the hell is wrong with people?  Why do they think it’s OK to have such disregard for other people when they are surrounded by half a ton of aluminum and plastic but if someone were to do this in the grocery line they would be flabbergasted?  I wish people would start doing the right thing more often for their fellow man than be conceded enough to believe the world revolves around them.

I think all the NFL owners are all douche bag jerk offs (more on this later)

I think all of the banks and finance companies that recevied bail out funds shouldn't be allwoed to give any sort of bonus to their execs.  They should also have their books scrutinized or the Ex Committee gets waterboarded- their choice

Network TV

Politically censored thoughts

Over-serious people

the cocaine and boob job crew at the playoffs.

bland food

Questions:
Concert Tickets-
My favorite band is coming to House of Blues in July, the tickets are $57 each.  I saw them two years ago with 2 other bands at The Palladium Ballroom and the cost was $31.  What in the hell is going on with concert ticket prices?  The band isn’t one heard on regular radio, they don’t have a top single not are mentioned in critically acclaimed lists or were on the Grammys.  So does it cost so damn much to see a band at House of Blues on a flipping Tuesday night???
Is online dating now an acceptible form of introduction
Is gas ever going to go down
Why do people cling to end of the world date theories?


Likes:
Turkey, bacon, and avocado
Spy Sunglasses
1953 Bowman Pee Wee Reese Color baseball card
DVS Heir Enduro- black and white color way
Monster Coffee
Summer Moon Ale
Jalapeño Cheetos
Reef Flippers
College Football season is almost here
Bolivia
EOTech Sights
Oakley Si Assault Boots
Carnita’s
1310 The Ticket
The Big German AKA DIRK!
Red Texas Rangers uniforms
Bill Simmons

Comedy Central

Things are Looking Up

Things are looking very positively up.  On my drive into work on Monday I was coming over a hill on I-30.  The weather was very overcast with a slight drizzle of rain, as I came over a hill approaching Weatherford I could see a defined horizon with the sun adamantly making its approach towards me.  I’m not one to liken a random weather occurrence to life’s up and downs but this time I had an instant feeling of calm over me.  I can’t really explain it other than the oh so obvious metaphor of a bright light shining through dark times was exactly how I felt. 

On the previous Friday I had an interview with a new company that I’ve been looking forward to.  I didn’t feel incredibly confident with the interview as a whole.  They gave me a written SQL test which I’m pretty sure I failed.  I informed my recruiter that I didn’t get a warm and cozy feeling from the interview.  Then yesterday I was offered the position, got all my paperwork done and put my notice in at my current job.  I’m very excited about the new job and its possibilities for growth.  Learning some more in depth SQL coding is another very appealing aspect of the job too.  My last day here will be 3/16 and I start the new job 3/17.  I tried to work it with a couple days off in-between but my boss said that he needs me here until he can get someone in from Houston. 

Sunday I had an indoor game pretty early in the morning.  It was my first game back since tearing my calf the second weekend of January.  The team we played wasn’t very skilled so we won 15-0.  This provided me with the opportunity to work myself in slower than normal which was good for me and the team.  Once I got home I spent almost 3hrs on the phone with AC.  It was a great conversation where we talked about everything in the world.  The conversation flowed as if we had known each other for years.  This chick blows me away.  She’s the easiest person to talk to while projecting a relaxed confidence that very few people exude.  We’re having dinner on Friday night in Austin so I’m sure we’ll pick right back up where we ended Sunday. 

Those two things together will be a great start to this weekend.  I’m heading to Austin on Friday to celebrate and the Houston Crew will be there for a mini-vacation.  I’m going to dinner with AC Friday night and then meeting everyone out at the Perd to do some ridding on the lake.  Hopefully Austin will be everything I expect it to be and then next week a new chapter will start in my life. 

Random thoughts

*I still love the line in Mall Rats with “Breakfasts come and go, Renee, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime”

*The two best lines I heard today came on the hardline this afternoon.  “It smells like fart and loneliness in there” and “throat yogurt”

*In order of most excited list of movies this summer I really want to see:

3. Priest

2. Atlas Shrugged

1. Hangover 2

Atlas Shrugged would be number one but I can’t see how it will fare to the screen.  It’s an amazing book, but the thoughts and ideals that Ayn Rand put forth won’t translate too well.  I am excited for it though.

*In and Out Burger is coming to Dallas this weekend.  I’m interested to try it but I think it’s going to be overrated.  I hear The Habit is better.  I still want to try the burger and I hear it’s pretty great, but I’m not waiting in lines for it.

*I’ve got Mexican food on the brain, after last night’s waste of Mexican food I’m going to hit up Mexican Inn tonight.  Although I have to do laundry so maybe I’ll just order Chuy’s Take Out.

*I’m ready for the temperatures to heat up now.  It’s been chilly the last few days; ready for the warmth to kick in.  I’m also ready for this freaking calf muscle to start its healing process jump started.  I’m going to try and run or cycle tonight to loosen it up.  My training for the MS 150 has gone to crap with the injury. 

*I’ve recently found fig newtons again.  Very solid snack and underrated.  Fig Newtons, Flips, and Twizzlers are currently my favorite ones. 

*I ran out of toilet paper Sunday (today is Tuesday), I wonder at what age I make a special trip to the store for toilet paper when I run out as opposed to using the left over chipotle napkins I have.  I guess tonight since I have to stop by target I’ll get some.  I also want a new trash can for my kitchen, the one I currently have sucks.  When it’s full and you try and remove the bag it always rips multiple holes in the bag.  It’s pretty annoying.

*The funniest people on twitter are NikiWithIssues, Just_Alison, and JennsDrunk.  None are professional comedians and all have a dark sarcastic sense of humor.  All 3 are apparently hot in their 0.28”x0.28” photo on my black berry as well.  The fact that two of the 3 names give them away for loony is also a turn on.

2010- The Year for Sports Heartache

2010 was a horrible year for my favorite football teams.  Both the Longhorns and Cowboys played at a ridiculously bad level.  The Stars were… well, pretty much the same team they were from the year before.  The Mavs and Rangers were the only bright spot.  The Rangers, of all sports teams were the glowing star on top of my sports Christmas tree.  Yup, the Rangers of all teams not only made the playoffs but gave us an American League Championship Series win over the Baseball Anti-Christ Yankees.

Texas was bad, very, very bad.  The highlight of the season was the Nebraska game which gave us hope; it was more of a tease.  We thought after that game the ship was righted and they had their swagger back.  The Longhorns wouldn’t lose again for the rest of the season or at least that was what my thoughts were.  The decisions Mack made and the defense slipping so far were heart wrenching.  Even with the offense firing on 2 cylinders we thought the defense would keep them in the game.  I’m not sure what Will Muschamp was drawing up but it seemed to work for about 15% of the time.  Texas was consistently punched in the mouth by every running back they faced.  The inept offense continued running my kryptonite offensive play: throw across the field behind the line of scrimmage to the wideout and hope he can break a tackle.  It worked as well as their non-existent running game.  Saturday’s became so disheartening that I began to dread any highlights of UT’s game knowing full well it would showcase their opponents running skills.  The only benefit from their horrible performance was “cheating” time.  I snuck a few Pac 10 games, a little more SEC, and devoted more than a few afternoons watching TCU.  I purchased a couple purple shirts of my new adopted city’s home team and cheered them on with great fervor.  When UT lost to Aggie in their final game of the season I was slightly relived I wouldn’t have to see ads for “Your University of Texas Longhorns will be taking on the Winona State  Warriors in the Aladdin Cups Car Care Cup Holder Bowl”.  With a new season brewing I was once again ready for National Signing day and looking to see what recruits committed to them.  The whole team knowing McCoy and Shipley 2.0 were in the making while hoping the new coordinator faces bring some life into this team.  I sure hope UT gets a running game this year too….

Dallas looked equally incompetent and clumsy.  Once Romo was lost the team gave up and you could see it in almost every play.  Keith Brooking looked every bit his 35 years of age, the secondary couldn’t cover anyone, and every shot of Wade Phillips from the sideline looked as if he was starring at the Burger House menu but couldn’t quite figure out what to condiments and sides to order.  Once he was finally fired by Jerry a collective sigh of relief was instantly heard from the Metro-plex.  The move to Jason Garrett was initially thought of as a band aid until the season was over and (fingers crossed) Chucky Gruden or bill Cowher would land at DFW wearing silver and blue.  Then a strange thing happened; Jason Garrett knew what he was talking about and his game plan was followed.  Garrett followed a few Jimmy Johnson theories: Practice in pads, practice as you will play, and dress nice on the team charter.  These little changes along with the major ones helped Dallas psyche tremendously.  You could tell the team had talent, but it wasn’t being put to use.  I have high aspirations this year due to the return of Romo and Dez, the draft (did we really buy the BS a few years ago of drafting for special teams), and mainly due to Garrett being able to implant his system from the start of camp. 

I’m going to skip over the Stars and Mavs for now.  The Stars missed the play offs again and the Mavs went about as far as they were expected to.  I think the Mavs are pretty fairly rated on a consistent basis.  They are one of the few teams that isn’t over or underrated, they are rated correctly.  I’m a huge fan of everything that Cuban has done and I go to 4 or 5 games a year and catch another 20-25 or so on TV.  Since they are playing right now it’s more relevant to focus on this year and I’ll postpone that topic for another day.

The Rangers.  The wholly shit did that actually just happen Texas Rangers.  The MLB season is looooong.  Unless sports is your job there just isn’t a way to catch three quarters of the games on TV.  With the day games, the time changes from East to West coast games, and double headers it’s almost impossible to catch a majority of games.  Listening to baseball on the radio is horrendous.  Baseball is a game of anticipation which doesn’t translate well to radio broadcasting IMHO.  With that in mind I still caught a decent number of games on TV during the week nights, on the weekends, or heading out to the ball park to see them live.  The rangers have always been treated as the metro-plex’s red headed step child (sorry Jerry) since their lack of consistency and notorious failing.  This season had a different aura on it pretty much from the start.  Nolan Ryan’s presence in pitching made me feel good.  I can still remember the days of Ryan playing and man was he an intimidating presence.  Here was a guy who was in his forties and throwing at an amazing speed racking up career milestones.  Then came August 4^th, 1993; the Robin Ventura episode.  If you have to ask about it, you should be shot.  That day entrenched Nolan into the Ranger Faithful, hell even Astros fans loved it.  But I digress…  Ryan in the bullpen teaching to pitch more by feel and fatigue than pitch count seemed odd to everyone under 40.  I remember talking to my dad about this.  He told me that when he was in high school in Hereford, he pitched one game, and then caught the next game of a double header.  He went on to play a little college ball, but that was the mindset back then.  When the pitching and the bats were on point very early on people were heading out to the ballpark, but the mindset was to see a fun game with the undertones of “knowing” this won’t last.  About midway through the season there was still a strong buzz about the Rangers.  Towards the end of the regular season the DFW area had a sports boner for the Rangers.  They made the play offs and had a great chance to get to get to the ALCS if they beat Tampa.  During the telecast (which was shown during the worst possible windows ever) every sports bar was packed, blue and red were prominently seen on people who couldn’t tell you who Toby Hara, Juando, or Pudge were.  The atmosphere was awesome throughout the DFW.  Once Texas dispatched of the Rays and the Yankees were the ALCS opponent people were still pretty confident in Texas.  I remember seeing a sports graph ESPN put up where you guess the outcome and the show the results by state.  Texas and Oklahoma picked the Rangers, but the rest of America had the Yanks, in a sweep I might add.  The games were great from start to finish, awesome endings, A-rod going down looking and before you know it the little Rangers (not the little Mavericks) were headed to the World Series.   It wasn’t the ending we all hoped for; I’ll leave the story here. 

With so much sports drama in 2010 I sure hope 2011 fears better.  I’m not sure how well my Saturday and Sundays will fare if my teams are in the same category as Cleveland.

Retort: Where have the good men gone- WSJ, Kay S. Hymowitz

This morning I was reading through the journal and came across this article by Kay Hymowitz.  The gist of it is women are set to start making a family and become an adult well before men who now relish in video games, one night stands, and binge drinking trips to Vegas.  From spending time in 3 major cities from my early twenties to now being thirty-one I’ve come to dispute this to a degree.  Each city has its own culture and within that you have multiple sub-cultures that exist.  The singles scene in Dallas is entirely different in LA and neither is like Austin.  From everything the author says I’m going to assume that she lives in NYC.  Her opinions as well as the comedian, Julie Klausner, she references are ripe with prejudice from their industry and cities.  As a comedian making a living your living situation isn’t stable.  You’re constantly on the road, working late hours due to the scheduling of comedy shows, and the allowance for routine isn’t readily available.   As a writer almost the same situation applies as above.  I also know from personal experience the dating pools in both LA and NYC are fairly lacking.

The mindsets of women who are dating in today’s time are considerably different in the real world then the writer gives credit for.  Women in major economical powerhouses such as Dallas, LA, and NYC aren’t mainly focused on settling down or dating in the traditional sense in their early to mid twenties.  I think a portion of this comes from the “I deserve this” attitude handed out by Sex and the City, the reality TV shows, and idolizing people for their whorish ways.  Women want to be neck deep in the scene factories these cities produce.  They want to be with the $30,000 millionaires, they want the appearance of living the lives of celebrities and all that entails.  The women in Dallas have an idea that you should provide for them the life they think will make them happy.  More often than not this revolves around materialistic items as opposed to emotional support.  The women I’ve hung out with and dated in and around these major metropolitan cities will let you in their body in a heartbeat, ask them something to let you in their mind or heart and you have a better chance of winning the lottery.  Women these days want a guy that is built in the image they have for prince charming.  This idea they have built up to have every piece exactly as imagined is a humorous all be it ambitious way to go about dating.  From my experience the majority of women in these cities aren’t looking for an emotional need; the ones that are have been the exception.  Women don’t seem to want to settle down until they start getting near their 30’s.  They don’t want a relationship with someone who is emotionally available.

Guys, in general, seem to see how far they can take something before they get their hand slapped.  In the case of relationships or as a lot of people call it these days, “hanging out”, guys will continue on the one night stand/ hook up with someone until they aren’t allowed.  From an age of friends with benefits where courting someone has become such an oddity can you really blame the guy for the situation?  I have a good number of girl friends that have fallen into the trap of allowing the following scenario.  They meet at a bar with their friends, later in the night the guy shows up with his friends and they leave together at the end of the night.  The next morning the guy or girl leaves bright and early.  This also happens when one person sends a txt around 1:00 with the intention of meeting up after 2:00 when they leave.   This relationship of sorts continues like this for weeks or a months until one of the people assumes they are dating and they wither become a couple or separate because of differing opinion.  The differing opinion is what gets me.  There is a test I use when I look to see if dating is in play or this is just hanging out. 

1.       Do you see each other in environments that do not involve alcohol?

2.       Does the communication routinely start before 9:00pm

3.       Is there an assumption from either group of friends the other will be joining you for plus one situations?

4.       Have you had any sort of in-depth conversation where drugs, sex, cartoons, or movies weren’t the main focal point?

5.       Have you ever spent the day with them, tubing down the river, partying on the lake, attending a beer garden or football games does not constitute spending a day with this person.

If the majority of the answers are no then you aren’t going to end up dating the person you are hanging out with anytime soon.  Most likely never unless the hanging out had recently started.  I firmly believe you can’t force the transition from hook up to dating.  If one party’s idea of taking the relationship to the next level is inviting them to pre-drink with you before going to the bar things won’t work out.  Girls, for some unknown reason, tend to gravitate towards project guys.  They want to fix and mend then mold this person until the person they really think they are capable of being.  The problem is, most guys don’t care who you want us to be.  You push, we run.  Numerous relationships start out with both parties not looking to be in a relationship.  Girls see a guy (or vice versa) who they think is very attractive and has a devil may care attitude which they find sexy.  They’ll date him for a few months, usually finding out very quickly in the relationship they are low on this persons priority list.  I’ve found that girls want a guy that isn’t too available.  Since they aren’t looking for a relationship they continue on this redundant process. 

I think the author of this story negates to address the problem as a whole.  Guys or boys or men all have routines.  We are simple creatures by nature and easy to understand.  The issues come when a woman tries to apply her logic to a guy; it’s nowhere near the same.  It’d be like comparing simple arithmetic (guys) to wave mechanics (girls).  We just don’t over analyze and complicate things as much as you all.  One of the funny quotes in the article, “They watched movies with overgrown boy actors like Steve Carell, Luke and Owen Wilson, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Will Farrell and Seth Rogen, cheering their awesome car crashes, fart jokes, breast and crotch shots, beer pong competitions and other frat-boy pranks”.  What the author doesn’t seem to understand is that this really is the essence of the male.  At some point we all partially grow up.  By partially I mean we can be corralled into doing dinner functions and present acceptable behavior in some public situations.  I have some very intelligent friends (I don’t lump myself into that category); more lawyers than I should know, a soon to be dentist, investment bankers, network administrators, and a doctor.  Yet we all go into hysterical laughter when someone gets hit in the nuts.  We get speechless at the site of a beautiful woman who is a little cold and “it’s a wee bit nipply” style jokes come out in droves.  These same people do and say everything the author things is boyish.  As a man, in age only, this is who I am.  It hasn’t changed since the dawn of time, yet for some reason women tend to believe they can change who a man is fundamentally.  Note the author in the article cited multiple physiological experiments, DNA tests, statistics to come to her conclusion.  She could’ve gone to a local pub and done an hour of observation to get the same loop sided conclusion.

Teaching/ Union rant

There is a big stir going on right now about the pay cut to teachers in Wisconsin.  There was also a huge out cry when “Waiting for Superman” suggested that bad test scores were brought on by bad teachers.  I think if anyone is honest with themselves they know bad test scores are a combination of bad teachers, students not paying attention, and teachers having to teach for a test as opposed to real world applications.  Everyone had teachers growing up throughout the course of their educational journey who were horrible.  They treated everything as black and white (unless the subject is math it doesn’t hold water) and ruled the classroom with an iron fist.  We also had teachers that could care less about anything that went on in their classroom.  They were usually older and tenured treating the class with the same enthusiasm of a bad marriage; going through the motions just enough to get by.

My personal issue with unions of any kind boil down to protecting the weakest members at the expense of the public.  They are also ripe with corruption.  There are always hundreds of stories of corruption, walk outs, picketing, etc from every labor, police, or teaching union every year.  Its basely politics with a pyramid scheme in play.  The closest thing I’ve ever come to being involved in a union type job was when I was in the military, so I don’t have direct firsthand knowledge.  From the research I’ve done unions aren’t beneficial in today’s modern society.  In the public sector you don’t get a blanket raise every year regardless of performance, you can be fired at any time for any reason, and you climb the promotion ladder based on your talent level, not seniority.  I manage a good number of people now and I filter out and fire (I know management would rather I say release) whoever doesn’t make the cut.  I don’t care if they have been with the company for years, if they don’t perform then I let them go.  Now I do try to see if their skill set is better put to use in another department before I fire them and I give them an opportunity to improve their performance.  More often than not though they go the way of the word processor.  This isn’t so in Unions, you have to show just cause for firing someone and you have to put in multiple corrective action forms along with continuing education training before showing a panel someone should be released.  That’s ridiculous!  It constantly allows people to perform at a certain base level instead of achieving a bell curve like result that a normal company has in its employees.  If the employee performance is flat it shows collusion between employees not to beat certain levels of performance and production.  The standard theory is if you can make x widgets x hours then that is your base, some people will do x+5 and some x-2 widgets but you have a base.  The whole theory in unions is everyone always makes X widgets. Period.  If you make X+5 widgets then management expects the base to increase to X+5 and you should only increase your base when it’s time to negotiate a new contract.

In teaching it’s a lot different, but their some best practices that need to be put in place.  I strongly feel education as a whole needs to be overhauled.  The same basic education system hasn’t been touched in 15 years.  The subjects taught need to be re-vamped and updated from Kindergarten through high school.  I think cursive writing should be taken out, foreign languages should be installed way earlier than junior high, mathematics should be applied and budgeting along with computer courses that teach excel should be mandatory.  History in general needs to be updated.  There are huge portions of world and US history that are routinely left out or given a small paragraph on.  Teaching for a test doesn’t impress upon a student the need for continuing education throughout their life time.  All it does is reinforce to students they are only learning this portion of information to score well on a test.  It’s a short term goal that doesn’t continue to long term learning. 

Teachers that provoke our thoughts and challenge our minds are the ones we remember.  Those are the teachers that should be getting paid a lot more.  Yet they are usually the ones that are ostracized by the masses.  I do think as a whole teacher’s should be paid more, a lot more.  If you job is to train societies next batch of humans to contribute to society the goal should be to get the best and brightest people in there.  Private Schools act this way and make a large profit doing so, public schooling should take a clue from the public sector and start operating under this notion.  They can’t though; the union wouldn’t allow hiring the best person for the job because they are available.  They wouldn’t allow replacing someone who has constantly let down the students and treated teaching with indifference.  They can’t truly gauge how a teacher interacts with his or her students because they have to give adequate notice on reviews.  Is it any wonder the profitable companies become so by their actions and governments at every level are going broke due to their operating procedures?  Would Warren Buffett, Gordan Bethune, or Michael Dell even consider operating their companies in the way a union or government does?

ATX Job Hunting

I’ve recently decided to move back to Austin.  I was talking to Lani on the phone last night and she made a lot of good points for coming home.  My reason for staying in Dallas was always worked related.  Since I changed jobs and this one wasn’t anything near what I thought it would be I might as well start looking in ATX.  The market in Austin is definitely more competitive and the pay isn’t the same, but I think the quality of life in Austin is so much better. 

The last weekend being in Austin reaffirmed by belief in this.  We didn’t do anything we wouldn’t have done any other weekend but it’s the people that make the experience so much better.  Being able to hang out with my really good friends and reminiscing about things from the past was great.  Most of my friends are now married, have a kid on the way, or are engaged but being able to sit and talk with them through dinner or over drinks was great.  People in Austin don’t have the initial reaction to judge you based on your appearance, job, or vehicle.  It’s all about who you are and what values you hold true.  Even with random people in Austin I’m able to hold debates on subjects that would inspire fury in Dallas due to a difference of opinion.  Austin people just seem more open minded about everything.  The women are hands down better than Dallas; each time to go to Austin I meet someone new that is great.  She is entertaining, has a unique style, and seems like a genuinely good person.  It’s about 1% of the girls in Dallas that come off to any of this degree.  The ability to road bike and mountain bike is way better, the food isn’t a competition, and the lake scene is the best in Texas.  I know that I mentioned the women, but when you combine a healthy city, with 3 colleges, and good industry you have a Mecca for the most beautiful girls ever.

I applied for a few jobs at a company in Austin today and I’m going to start blasting out the resume tonight when I get home.  I definitely have a high outlook for a possible future if I can just get back to ATX and find a job.  So if anyone out there knows of a company in Austin that is looking to hire someone with Crystal/ SQL/ Access/ Excel certs for a business analyst I’m all in!

The dating questionaire... shoot me now

History:

I met someone online and she sent me this questionaire to fill out.  I didn't realize how friggin long this thing was until I got to page 3.  I definietly deleted some of the questions as they were just dumb and I didn't think she'd notice 4 or five random questions over 6 pages long!!!!  (simmered down)  Anyway, we've been talking off and on for a few weeks and we're supposed to go out this week.  This questionaire makes me re-think everything.  If you actually get to the end you'll see I started to get annoyed at this... Anyway Iv'e emailed it back to her.  I'm already 100% less interested in her, but that's because someone else I met is about 1,000 times cooler than her.  Plus if this is what it's like in the early stages you may have to hid all of my guns, knives, and brass knuckles as it would be down hill.  FM for saying I like filling out survey's or interviews- maybe she read the blog, maybe she's reading the blog now... meh

Where did you grow up?

All over the place; I was born in Hawaii, then moved to California, followed by Colorado, Tennessee, Texas with a part time NY residence, then back to Texas for jr. high and on.

* Do you have any brothers or sisters?

I have 2 half sisters, a step brother and a half brother.

* Where did you go to high school?

L.D. Bell

* Where did you go to college?

Northlake, SMU, and a few credit hours at UT. 

* What was your major in college?

Business Management

* What are your favorite sports?

Soccer, Football, MX, Wakeboarding, Snowboarding, baseball too but it has to be in person

* What sort of work do you do?

I manage some finance locations around the Ft. Worth area and hate it.  I never thought I’d say this but I miss writing code and being fully immersed in the BA world.

* Which three (3) famous people do you admire most?

Truman, Rommel, Galileo

* Which three (3) famous people do you NOT respect?

Hitler, Clinton, Stalin/ Mussolini

* Which three (3) famous people would you most want to be like?

Lance Armstrong, George Patton, Albert Einstein

* What personal values and principles are the most important to you?

Intelligence, honesty, fearlessness.

* What marriage values and principles are the most important to you?

Honesty, trust, openness, humor

* Using single words or phrases, how would you describe yourself?

Mildly retarded, awkwardly random, enthusiastic, open minded, energetic

* Where do you see yourself in five (5) years to 10 years?

Either A) settled down with a wife and family or B) continuing to be a work-a-holic, partying like I’m 18, and traveling non-stop.  It’s the bi-polar in me that drives the oxymoronic portions of my life.

* What are your favorite websites?

ESPN, eBay, FB, Fox News, and CNN

* What are your favorite television shows?

Top Gear, Family Guy, Tosh, South Park, mainly comedy and history

* What are your favorite movies?

Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers, Inglorious Bastards, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Meet Joe Black, Hangover, Kill Bill,

* Who are your favorite bands?

My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Rise Against, Swollen Members, White Stripes,

* Who are your favorite singers?

Randy Rodgers, Eminem, Wade Bowen, Mazzy Star, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Otis Redding, I love music so much that it’s too hard to narrow down things.  It’s the sound track to my life and I look at music the way most pregnant women roll through emotions.  Each song has a time and place for me on how I felt at that moment.

* What type of books do you read?

Biographies, philosophy, and fiction.  I love to read so this is pretty open

* What is your favorite food?

Mexican- hands down Mexican

* What is your favorite dessert?

Either Cheesecake, crème Brule, or anything chocolate

* What is your favorite snack?

Flips or twizzlers.  Salt and vinegar potato chips with a turkey samich is also great

* What is your favorite way to spend an evening during your workweek?

Come home, work out, cook some food, watch a little TV, then read a few chapters of a book and rack out.  It’s a standard day, not my favorite but pretty standard operating procedure these days.

* What is your favorite way to spend an evening during your days off from work?

Hit the lake during the day followed by either grilling out or going out to eat with friends and end up listening to some live music with drinks.  That’s kind of a realistic perfect day.

* Do you look at the nutritional information on food labels as you shop?

Unfortunately yes.  I have curbed a lot of the things I used to eat and I miss them

* Do you take vitamins and supplements?

Yup.  I need to.  I don’t eat veggies so I take vitamins and during training for century rides I take supplements.  I love Cliff bars, Cliff gels, and Cliff Chews and fruit protein smoothies.

* What kind of exercise or sports activity do you like to do?

Cycling, running, soccer, mountain biking, wakeskating, hiking, snowboarding (horribly), and shooting

* Do you look at price tags when you shop? Or do you just get what you want and not worry about the price or getting a deal?

Yes, I splurge on some things but I’ve never been in the mindset that cost doesn’t matter.  I think you have to balance cost vs quality and need.  Something’s may seem expensive but the longevity of the item will be worth it.  My road bike was pretty steep but it’s going to last for a long time.  Quality dress shoes are like this as well.  You could spend $300 for handmade Italian loafers, $150 for Cole Hans, or $25 for payless brand.  I go with the Cole Hans since they offer the style, craftsmanship, and value between the three.

* If you could afford any car, which one would you buy?

If money and practicality weren’t an issue then it would be an exotic such as a Buggatti Veyron, Ruf CTR-3 or a CCXR.  As for real world application I would go with speed, style, and functionality for a Mercedes E63 AMG.

* How would you describe the perfect house including the décor, furnishings, appliances, and landscaping?

This is a damn detailed question- The perfect house to me would be on the lake or ocean and have a Mediterranean look to it.  Pool and hot tub are a most in my dream world; I’d like it to be fairly open with a lot of windows but with a contemporary décor.  With all of the advancements in appliances I’d want it to be done with an energy star mind set, tank-less hot water heater, and radiant barrier.  I’d also like solar panels and a generator for energy storage.  As for appliances… The standard ones are cool with me.  I’d be happy as long as I have a rocking kitchen.

* Is punctuality important to you or are you usually a little late?

I’m usually too early.  I plan to be 15 minutes early and plan our contingencies in case something happens along the way.  It really annoys me when I’m supposed to be somewhere at a certain time and I’m late.

* Do you like everything to be well planned and organized or are you more casual?

I’m definitely a planner.  Although my home is a zone of organized chaos, I plan for things and I’m very organized on my planning.  I use MS Excel for my packing and grocery lists and if I had MS Access on my home computer I’d have a database set up for things.

* Do set short and long-term goals for yourself?

Yup.  I have numerous short term goals that lead to my long term goals.  I think you have to keep an eye on things that are important to you

* What is the formula for good communication in a love relationship?

Openness and honesty.  Sometimes honesty does hurt but I personally feel that I’d rather be in trouble for being honest than lying.  The old quote of “you never have to try and remember the truth” holds true.  Lying leads to all kinds of trust issues that I feel hurt and hamper growth in a  relationship.  If you’re open with your significant things just flow better.

* What do you see as the best way for a couple to resolve conflicts?

This is a dumb question to me, but talking about it with an open mind is the best way.  Compromise has to be in play too.  You shouldn’t dig your heels in on unimportant matters or things that won’t be a factor in the long run.

* How would you describe your needs for affection in a relationship?

It’s needed; don’t treat me as just a friend but don’t treat me as if I’m being deployed tomorrow. 

* How would you describe your needs for sex in a relationship?

Often and Frequent?

* What is your greatest achievement?

EIB

* What is your greatest disappointment?

Losing a very close friend

* What is your best attribute?

I’m not good at self praise so I’ll defer on this one

* What is your worst attribute?

I can come off cocky at times.  I also get frustrated filling out long questionnaires.

* If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My all or nothing attitude

* What is your greatest passion?

The pursuit of knowledge.  I think you should always want to better yourself and learning about people, places, culture, and history are keys to that enlightenment.

* What do you enjoy doing the most?

Learning and being outdoors.

* What are your top three (3) most important dreams?

A) Travel the world

2) Find someone to be with were the look and thought of me doesn’t make her vomit in her mouth and settle down.

E) Enlighten and mentor someone

* What are your favorite songs for love and romance?

“Long Way Down”- Swollen Members with Sarah McLaughlin

“Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”- Otis Redding

“Smother Me”- The Used

* What are your favorite men's/women's colognes/perfumes for love and romance?

This question is confusing and I don’t understand the “love and romance” part- so favorite cologne is Diesel Green or Burberry Touch; pretty much all the Burberry cologne’s are good.

* What are your favorite scents for love and romance?

Again, the 2^nd part is weird.  The scents I like are female, outdoors, and ocean.

* What are your favorite foods for love and romance?

What’s up with this “love and romance” portion???  I guess for a special night out I like steak.  Then again who doesn’t love steak.  I also love Sushi for a nice dinner.

* What are your favorite places for love and romance?

This sounds so cheesy… Um, the 96^th floor of the John Hancock building in Chicago is pretty sweet for romance, if you aren’t scared of heights.  Also Taco Cabano after 2am is a breeding ground for love and romance.  Ask anyone there.

* Would you describe your perfect love affair from the beginning to making a commitment to each other if I do the same?

No.  I don’t know you and this is a little weird via email and not in person.  Lame too…

* Would you describe your perfect romantic evening if I do the same?

Please see above

* What are the top three (3) places you would like to go together?

Since I don’t know you that well I’ll keep it simple with possible scenarios where it’s unlikely to end up hating you (and vice versa).

1) Dinner

F) A walk at Grapevine lake

21)  an evening of listening to some jazz at Button’s or Brooklyn Jazz club

* What are the top three (3) famous places would you like to see together?

If it turns out that we are compatible:

D) The Met in NYC

11) The coliseum in Rome

A) Tokyo

* What are the top three (3) amusement parks would you like to enjoy together?

In reverse order

3) Sesame Street land

2) Six Flags

1) Atlantis

* What are the top three (3) concerts, plays, or musicals would you like to see together?

Vans Warped Tour

Chris Botti

Taking Back Sunday

* What annual community events would you like to attend together?

Taste of Addison

St. Patty’s Day parade on Greenville

Oktoberfest

* What annual family events would you like to attend together?

Flietz family Memorial Day boat ride

Middleton Family camping trip

Jantoberfest at the Middleton’s

* Would you come up with three (3) usual ways we could spend a day or an evening together if I do the same?

Book a flight to some city neither of us has ever been to hang out for the day

Go on a Hog hunt in East Texas

Head to K town and sing bad karaoke

* Are there any projects or activities we can do together?

Attend a cooking class at central market

Go camping and then mountain biking

Scuba diving