A Blog About Food ?

What a brilliant idea!

My buddy, Matt Barlow, travels A LOT for work.  This affords him the "opportunity" to eat out at restaurants across the country.  He's not a "food critic" in the traditional sense, but he does have a similar taste (mostly ... he definitely likes spicier food than I) to mine for good food.

Today I was able to "catch up" on his first dozen-plus blogs about his food experiences.  And it made me SOOOO hungry!  :)

Be sure to check his blog out HERE if you like food and would be interested in reading about it from a "normal" human being and not a "paid food critic."

Thanks Matt for making my mouth water!  Your blog is fun to read but also will be useful down the road when I find myself in any of the cities you've visited.  Thanks for making it easy to pull your blogs by city too!  :)

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What is your Money worth ?

I might be a hypocrite.  I might be a cheapskate.  I might be an overspender.  I might be subject to the whims of any given situation.  I might be confused about the value of a dollar.

But I AM aware that there is a direct proportional relationship between my concern about the "cost" of something and the total dollar amount being spent.  And it is an ILLOGICAL relationship.

Consider the following and let me know if you are like me (and if so, let me know how we can get out of this odd pattern of behavior!):

 - I will order fast food off the dollar menu

so I can eat for $3 instead of $5

BUT

 - I will gladly pay $15 to play 9 holes of golf,

instead of just $9 to play the Par 3 course.

 - I will drink water with my meal at a "sit down"

restaurant, to avoid paying the 200% markup

on a cup of soda (saving myself maybe $2-$3)

BUT

 - I will stop by Sonic during Happy Hour and

pay that same 200% markup for a Green Apple

Slush (when I could make my own at home for

pennies on the dollar)

 - I will cancel cable tv, DirecTV, or any other

satellite-type of broadcasting in order to save

roughly $100 a month

BUT

 - I thought nothing of the $150 a month we

pay for PMI (Principal Mortgage Insurance)

on our still new to us home.

There are literally hundreds of other examples, but these few illustrate my concern that I am not consistent AT ALL when it comes to the value of my dollars.  How can I be such a penny pincher when it comes to certain things (food, entertainment, clothes, etc.) and then turn around and throw money away on other stuff (food, entertainment, etc.) ?!

I understand the concept of supply and demand.  I know that "wanting" something makes us more willing to pay for it "on the spur of the moment."  But even outside of those situations, I don't get nit-picky nearly enough to call myself a savvy consumer.  Worse yet, I'll buy things "on sale" only to forget I have them and let them go to waste (I've tossed more than a half-dozen pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream).

Anyone have any suggestions for how to change this?  Is there a way to at least be more consistent?  A dollar should be worth a dollar no matter where I'm spending it.  I don't want the total amount being spent to lessen the value of each individual dollar.

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What's wrong with being a "fair-weather" fan ?

Way to "jump on the bandwagon."

You're just a "fair weather fan."

I say ...

SO WHAT ?!

I enjoy watching athletes (gender does not matter) compete, especially at the "top level" of their discipline (I would say "sport" but that starts a whole battle I prefer not to get into).  There is something gratifying about seeing someone actually achieve the success they have spent hours practicing for.  In no other area of life are we able witness THAT moment.

I am a fan of several teams.  I've been a BYU Cougar fan since Vai Sikahema was running back punt returns for touchdowns and before Shawn Bradley or "The Jimmer" lit up the college basketball scene.  I swore I'd never be a Denver Broncos fan, but when they changed their uniforms and helmet logo I converted.  At various times I have been a Chicago Bulls fan, a Utah Jazz fan (not at the same time of course), and a Denver Nuggets fan.  I love my Colorado Rockies (especially because I've seen most of those players at AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox games!)


But my favorite team has always been ... the underdog!

I love upsets, but I get upset when "my" team gets upset.  I mean I really get upset.  Or at least I used to.  I would invest 2-4 hours of my time to watch a game, only to hate myself later for wasting all that time (if my team lost).  After years of this experience I gained wisdom (you can call it something else if you prefer) and I no longer root for "my" team.  Instead, I root for exciting plays and exceptional competition.

I have found that watching college football is a much more enjoyable experience now.  I can get just as excited when the "underdog" dominates a POWERHOUSE team, as the excitement I feel when the higher ranked team makes a spectacular comeback to save their perfect record.  This works for other sports too.  At the Winter or Summer Olympics, it doesn't matter deeply to me if the USA team comes in second, as long as everyone is trying their hardest and pushing the competition level to newer heights.

So call me a "fair weather" fan, but know this ... at least some of the time, you and I will be rooting for the same team.  You can either enjoy that excitement with me or not.  But I will sleep good that night no matter which team wins!

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How do you open your Fortune Cookie ?

I bet you don't do it like me.

But if you do, let me know ... 'cause then we can be cool together!

Here's a picture ... notice the wrapper is unopened and the cookie still has nice bite-sized pieces (which I will never eat because they taste disgusting!)

If you can't make out the "fortune" it reads:

Life to you is a dashing, bold adventure.

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What Two Items would YOU choose ?

This past Thursday at work I attended a meeting with my soon-to-be boss' boss' boss (the Manager of our newly formed Onboarding Group).  As usual at these kinds of meetings, he wanted us to introduce and say a little bit about ourselves ... but his creative twist on this was to have everyone bring two items that will "help describe who we are and what is important to us."

I have to admit I struggled with this, even though I knew it was more of an ice-breaker activity and not something that was SUPER IMPORTANT (in the grand scheme of things anyway).

At length, I decided on the following:
 - My Progressive shirt of the day (since I always wear Progressive attire that was an easy one to say that representing Progressive is who I am and what is important to me).
 - The following two pictured items (they really do go together!):

This is a birthday (or Father's Day) card that
Ben (6 or 7 at the time) made for me.
I LOVE how he spelled "special."

And the above pictures are the "re-created" version

of that same card by my team at work.

(From the same year, for Boss' Day)



I just didn't have any idea what to choose as the ONE best item to represent the importance of my family and how THEY are who I am.  But I was happy with what I landed on because it went over well (everyone chuckled) and gave me a chance to speak about my TWO "families" - the eternal one (Karen and the kids) and the work one.

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When did THIS start happening ?!

A few weeks ago I was using a tiny mirror at my desk to clean some goop out of my eye (if you think that's gross you better quit reading!) ... and I noticed something that I thought could NOT be what it appeared to be.  But it was!

Here is what I saw:


Right there at the top of the picture ...
it's a ROGUE EYEBROW HAIR !!!

















I swear I'm not old enough for this!  I have been slowly collecting gray hairs in my hairline above my ears and my dark, dark beard is continually turning more salt than pepper.  But I think those "changes" look good!  Bring on the whitish-gray "old guy" hair color.

This rogue eyebrow junk, however, is for the birds!  They can take their ear hair homeboys (none yet, but worried more than ever now) and extra-long nose hair friends (sad to say I've plucked more than a few of these) to any party that is nowhere near my person!

Wrinkles are welcome.  My receding hairline will just make it easier to shave my head.  Heck, I'll even wear glasses again (for reading and stuff) ... but I don't want to become this guy ...


Nobody wants to become ...
THAT GUY !!!

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Remember The Cosby Show ?

Another cool thing about Instant Netflix through the Wii is that there are many old TV series' that are available.  One of my all time favorites (and even moreso now that I can appreciate the humor from the "parents" side of things) is The Cosby Show.

We made the kids watch a few episodes this past Sunday afternoon and I thought we got mixed reviews.  The kids didn't LOL very much (like they do with more recent shows).

I was mistaken.

They LOVE the show!

I found this out yesterday evening when I gave the kids the choice to "go play" or "maybe watch some Cosby show on Netflix."  They all shouted: Cosby Show!  :)

I like that the topics of the shows are still very relevant.  One episode was about Clair (the mom) feeling overwhelmed by being a mom and full-time lawyer all at the same time.  Another episode was about Theo (the teenage "middle child") learning lessons about getting good grades in school and doing your best instead of just the minimum.  The last episode we watched had me in stitches!  It was about all the terrible Father's Day gifts Cliff (Bill Cosby's character) has received over the years from his thoughtless children.  The most funny part was Rudy (the "baby" girl) getting him tennis balls.  She was adorable!  :)

There are over 200 episodes of this show, so I am certain we'll be watching them all as a family in the coming months and year(s).  I know there are episodes that teach important lessons.  Hopefully they lead to conversations where I can further connect with my kids about "life" in general.

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