Things I have learned since my last blog

August 23rd, 2010 No Comments

Current situational events in my life have steered me in a new direction and mindset…all for the better I believe. Thought I would put my thoughts into a list, be thankful its not in excel…which would be my preference if I could figure out how to make that work on this blog…

1) Downsizing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sold my truck, got an old jeep, and each month I get richer faster. Cutting costs is the same as making more money…Live well within your means and you will be happier with less stress. (remembering this when times are good financially is important)
2) Spend more time with those that really matter. Working on spending more time with my son and family…and also working on allowing my son to spend more time with the rest of my family…still a work in progress since they live 3+ hours away, but working on it nonetheless.
3) Minimize worrying over actions outside your control. Others around you are going to make bad decisions. If you can’t control those decisions nor influence them…let them go. Focus on what is within your control and maximize your efforts there.
4) Enjoy the little things…a nap with Boss (my son who is 2yrs old), a lunch at my dad’s sandwich shop, the sound of Boss’s laugh, read more, eat what tastes good, enjoy a cold beer on a hot afternoon…keep it simple.
5) Cut out some time regularly to focus on long-term goals and big picture thinking. Make lists, and don’t focus on failure, but note progress points on the list’s task items. (in other words, turn the list into what it really is…more of a flow chart)
6) Look to those around you at work, or in your social time, and see how you can help them. It makes you feel better about yourself when you help others.
7) Listen more…try to keep listening. There is always something to be learned when listening…even if its learning that the person who is talking is an idiot…just sayin.
8) Keep your emotions in check…working on this one lately at both work and outside of work. Stay calm, and think it through before responding…It helps.
9) If you drive close behind a semi, you are probably going to get a rock chip in your windshield if you aren’t driving a lifted truck anymore.
10) Found out I am in perfect health according to my doctor. This means 3-4 cups of coffee in tandem with 3-4 sodas per day and a diet of eating whatever you want works just fine for me for now…along with occasional beers about 1 or 2 times a week and a couple days of light activity i.e. volleyball, softball, running around the park with Boss.
11) I don’t want to talk about what needs to get done, more than what needs to be said in order to understand what needs to be done…lets just get it done…then we don’t need to talk at all…sounds amazing doesn’t it? Right? I know.
12) iPhones suck. As much as I have wanted mine to work for me, it doesn’t. You can’t type on it, the battery doesn’t last, it drops calls, they can’t even figure out how to make a damn antennae…lets just call it how it is…it sucks. The facetime video calling…never use it. Sorry but I am not sorry for being a substance over style kind of guy, but I am.
13) To be continued…

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The 6G iPhone…will I still have to charge it every day?

December 7th, 2009 29 Comments
What's the best technology for your needs?

What's the best technology for your needs?

Is there such a thing as having too much technology? I find myself constantly wanting the next best gadget regardless of whether or not it will really add any value whatsoever to my life. Working for a tech company helps me stay in the know…So, I want an LCD Flat Panel TV, that is my next technology purchase. Will it add any value to my life? None whatsoever. I get all the same tv channels with my regular tube tv, but I want the flat panel. I just like the display of the new technology. It makes the living room look better to me. I don’t even want it for the “better resolution” or whatever it is they try to sell you on – “HIGH DEF” – you can hardly even notice that crap – and how much better is the viewing experience in “HIGH DEF” anyways? I got the buddies that look down their nose at anything that isn’t viewed in “high def” too. Like the TV I am watching that is picking up signals from satellites in outer space is totally barbaric because its not in “high def”. Re-read that sentence if you didn’t pick up on what I am saying there. Ever see anything on high def that you couldn’t see on regular tv? NO. Does the picture look a little better? Yes, but does that change the content? No. But still, I want one.

Ever wake up to your cell phone and laptop looking back at you in bed? Because you fell asleep using them both…blackberry light is blinking – who emailed me since I fell asleep? I need to know! Then you are disappointed because it was some stupid spam, like you really thought somebody was up at 3am with an important and or relevant email that would be worth waking up for? From the Blackberry to the iPhone to the Droid to whatever is next? I want the next best thing, and until its out, I want the current best technology if I can afford it. Where is the Droid with the cool look and feel of the iPhone and the legit keyboard of the Blackberry? Where is the Blackberry with the Droid’s 5MP camera and iPhone’s cool apps? Where is the iPhone with the keyboard of the Blackberry, a FLASH camera and a battery that lasts longer than a half hour? Why do I have to charge my iPhone all day even when I don’t use it?

Now here is my real issue, we all know that Apple could develop a longer lasting battery, a flash camera for the iPhone and make the keyboard situation better…but if they did that all now…who would buy the next iPhone? The iPhone 4G will have the flash camera so we all upgrade to it…then the 5G will have a better battery, then the 6G, will they have a decent keyboard setup by then? How about a menu button within each app? Even if it’s a touch screen menu button, just try it Mr. Jobs…see if people like it. Sometimes functionality beats style…I’m just sayin…

When it all comes down to it, the technology game is extremely fast-paced, there are no time-outs and you can’t tivo it to catch up at a later time at your convenience. (need help with your technology? Call Make It Work!) So when do you draw the line? How many is too many gadgets? iPhone, iPod, laptop, desktop, digital camera, kindle, blackberry, droid, flip digital video camera…etc. When is there a time when you have too much technology? Do we already have too much in our lives?

My thought is this, when you have 2 or more pieces of technology that execute the same function just as well for what you use them for…its time to cut one out of your life. Redundancy due to familiarity serves no productive purpose. Re-read that sentence if you didn’t pick up on what I am saying there. If you just re-read it, do you feel kind of dumb now? Moving forward, laptops now do everything a desktop can do and they also give you portability. The desktop needs to go. If you have an iPhone, sell the iPod. If you have a Droid, sell the digital camera. And when Mr. Jobs finally pushes out the 6G iPhone with a battery that lasts, a keyboard that doesn’t misspell 50% of the words attempted, a 5+MP flash camera, and updated software that allows for functionality within each application including email (more like the blackberry)…then we will all be set, won’t we?

Or will we?

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Saturday Morning With Boss

November 16th, 2009 6 Comments

Saturday morning rolls around, and its another one waking up with Bossman. After a half hour of thrashing toys everywhere in the living room and grabbing Dad’s cell phone every chance he could…Dad decided we were going to the park and I was going to get some much needed coffee!

So, we went to the park and then to the coffee shop. He didn’t stop running for an hour. This consists of him running and me chasing to make sure he doesn’t run into the road. Think of a cd skipping for an hour…it was over and over and over…but a blast to see him light up when he would turn around to see if I was chasing. I decide we are done, and we head to the coffee shop. No seats inside so we sit outside. All boss wants is down and to run around. Which I love and totally understand except all he wants to do is run right into the street then gets mad when I dont let him…lil monster.

We get a crepe and mocha and boss has his juice. Then this guy brings his dog and ties the dog to the chair at the table next to us. The dog’s name is Mo. Mo and Boss become instant friends and Mo licks Boss’s face right away to say hi. So the guy that owns Mo is with his elderly parents and the mom wants to sit inside because of the breeze its a lil’ chilly. So I hear the guy saying to his dad – I can’t just leave him (Mo) tied up out here. So trying to be the good samaritan – I say, “Hey, you can go in and sit with your folks and we’ll watch Mo until we are done then I’ll come tell you when we are leaving.”

What an idiot I am. I can’t even handle Boss and now I just volunteered to watch Mo too. I’m not going to lie, its a comedy routine with Boss, Mo and I out there. I set Boss down, he runs towards the street. I chase Boss down and Mo has tipped over the chair he’s tied too. All that are under my supervision are causing complete chaos. Boss is fighting me to get back down and Mo is barking nervously wondering why his owner left him with us and wanting attention. I try to sit with boss and get him to eat. That lasts 10 seconds for one bite and some juice then he instantly returns to “fight dad to get down” mode. Mo starts barking. Im trying to calm Mo down so I put Boss down take a bite, pet Mo, keep my eye on Boss, then Boss is running towards the street. I chase Boss down before he gets to the street. Now Mo is barking at us. Please calm down Mo, I have everything under control. Back to the table for a bite and juice and then back to “fight Dad to get down” mode to run around. The circus act continues and Mo keeps barking but overall I give Mo credit, pretty mellow for what we were putting him through.

Then I get a brilliant idea – I put all the chairs in a circle around Mo and I put Mo’s new best friend, Boss, in the circle with Mo and I sit down to finally eat. I feel like a genius for 20 seconds. 20 seconds later Boss walks over to one of the chairs and just pushes it right out of the circle and into the open patio area. Once he gets it out of the circle area and is in the clear, what does he try to do…just keeps pushing it as far as he can towards the street.

It was at this point that I get up, get Boss, get the chair and I catch a glance inside and there is a table of 5 20-something year old girls watching this ridiculous chain of events. Every one of them is either laughing or has a big smile on her face. It had to be good entertainment. I give a smile and a shrug and said in my head…”Welcome to your life single daddy day care”.

All this continues for another 20 mins to a half hour until I finally finish the crepe with a little help from Boss, and finish the mocha via one sip and one bite every 5 mins or so in between quick jogs to grab Boss before he gets close to the road. (disclaimer here…he’s nowhere close to actually going into the road or even getting to the sidewalk…but he just wanted to run in the direction he knew I didn’t want him to go)

The girls from the table all walk out past us as they are leaving and Boss flirts with them, by flashing the big signature Boss smile and baby blue eyes…then makes his laughing noises. Thats all he’s got so far but I’m not going to lie, its working for him. Then lil’ man tries to follow them and wants to go home with them, they all oooh and aaaah over him and then they leave. Kid has more game than his Dad, by far.

Then we get things cleaned up and get Mo calmed down and Mo’s owner’s dad comes out and I let him know we are leaving and he says thanks for watching him – I say oh no problem, piece of cake, what a good dog. (note sarcasm)

I put boss in the stroller to walk home after we left and within 30 seconds – he is sound asleep.
Oh the life, the little monster just keeps getting funner and funner. In other Boss news, he now does complete handoffs to touchdowns, spikes the football and puts his hands up for touchdown then claps for himself. Its hilarious.

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“Stage 5 Clinger”…Boss, I can’t carry you everywhere bud

November 9th, 2009 5 Comments

As mentioned in the “Who Is This Guy” section, I have an amazing 13 month old I call “Boss”. Let me start with this, Boss is all fun. He’s the biggest blessing that has ever entered my life and he gives me purpose that I have never felt before.

So, with that said, Boss is going through a “stage 5 clinger” phase right now. He follows me like a shadow all around the house, into the kitchen, into my room, into the hallway, into the living room, into the bathroom…everywhere. I walk to take the trash out…boss follows me to the door, looks out the glass pane and just stares like, “Dad, why can’t I go out there too? Why Dad? Why? Jerk!” jk, I don’t think he calls me a jerk in his head…well maybe. Then I come back inside and he is there waiting to follow me back into the kitchen to replace the can liner in the trash…sweet. Sometimes I just walk around in circles in the living room or the kitchen to see if he’ll keep following me, which he does, just like clockwork. Its comical sometimes, but other times, not so great. As his Dad, I want him to be sociable and his own little man (the one that I see all the time when he’s not clinging) especially when friends are over at the house or we are out in public, or when I take him into the office at MIW, so when he is clinging like static electricity around my leg…not always the funnest situation.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand he is only 13 months old is and is just going through this “stage” and that he’ll grow out of it. And I can love and appreciate the fact that he just wants to be around me and close to me. Its a love and a bond that is like no other. But, (and this is a big but, a J-LO butt if you will) I just don’t want to do anything that extends the stage at all. So when I don’t pick him up and he is in the clinger mood…he gets all mad, busts a couple crocodile tears out, sits down wherever he is and acts like the world is coming to an end at that very moment. Its hard not to laugh at times, and its the worst thing to do…to laugh – makes him think its all good, because the little ham loves to make people laugh. If he does something and can get a laugh, that is just the green light to keep doing it over and over with a big grin and laugh himself until you stop laughing. (no idea where he gets that from, no way its from his father (note sarcasm, its all my fault))

All in all, his mom and I are working to get through this lil’ clinger stage and I am sure bossman will come out of it and be the completely independent little man I see glimpses of every day. (he already has his own little language that only he understands) And at that point, guess what?…I’ll miss the stage 5 clinger phase…(insert sigh here)…damnit.bossman and I watchin football

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How to turn every Sunday afternoon into a 12 Game Parlay…Fantasy Football

November 4th, 2009 10 Comments

How do you take what used to be a nice simple Sunday afternoon and turn it into an event filled with emotional highs,lows, and a lot of stress? A little thing called Fantasy Football. (1st off – to the idiot that named it “Fantasy Football” – why? Couldn’t think of anything else? Really?) Anyways, did FF happen to you? Happened to me. I love football, always have and always will. To sit and watch football all day Saturday, then again all day Sunday, is what some would call obsessed, or a waste of time…but I would call it a great weekend, possibly a dream if you will (for a few years when I was in a serious relationship…it literally was a dream).

I am the guy that loves football, follow it religously, but I always thought fantasy football was flat-out stupid. Child’s play. I made fun of my buddies that played it. Told ‘em it was for the nerds that didn’t ever play football and just wanted to feel good about statistics and somehow being a part of the game, right? Then last year, I got a little caught up in some drama amongst some female friends. These girls decided it was a good idea to put together a girls league for fantasy football so they could enjoy it with their husbands…etc. Dumb idea, but whatever…chics will always be chics. So these girls think they know everything as most women do, and we happen to get into a little poolside debate one day about whether or not actual football knowledge is a significant factor in the winning of fantasy football. One girl says no, its all luck of the draw, like gambling…etc.

This says 2 things to me- A) I will never go gambling with her. B) She knows nothing about what she is talking about
A friend in this girly league asks me for help after 2 games cuz she is getting killed and doesn’t know a thing about football. I help her and we win every game…then her little girlfriends get all bent out of shape over me helping her out, cuz next thing ya know, she is 1st in her league. But that is a whole different story about how women will blow ANYTHING out of proportion given the chance…

So this introduced me to the whole world of FF. What can I say, I enjoy winning at everything. So now, I can’t just watch the games on Sunday and root for the teams and players I like…I watch players on Sunday and root against the teams I like if the players I ended up drafting are on the opposing team. 2 years ago I would have sat and watched the Broncos play the Colts and would have been cheering on Manning and the Colts. Simple, right?

But NOW, I’m siitting there with Reggie Wayne on my FF roster and also the Broncos defense. So I am rooting for Manning to only throw 2 touchdowns, both to Wayne, but to also throw a couple interceptions and for it to be a low-scoring game. Its a very complicated situation now and at times I am rooting against teams and players I like because of damn Fantasy Football!!! Ever find yourself working out in your mind some of the dumbest weirdest scenarios that would help you out in the middle of a game? Like, well what would really help me, would be if they just kicked a field goal with Vinateri since I have him, even though its only 2nd down with 45 seconds left…then on the ensuing kickoff if Hester could just run it back for a TD, then I win for sure. As ridiculous as all of that may sound, the upside to FF is this, if you are in a league with your friends, bragging rights, possibly cash winnings…AND here is the big kicker, it keeps you interested in all the games that you used to never care about. You could be sitting there rooting on the Rams to beat the Lions because you have Steven Jackson on your roster, where as without FF…you would be wondering why they don’t move the Rams, Lions and the Raiders to the CFL and leave them there..fantasy_football_ninja

So it brings me to the title of this whole deal…how to turn your Sunday into a 12 game parlay every week…well Fantasy Football will do just that. So if you are reading this, thinking the way I was 2 years ago, saying to yourself…”stupid, I still think its retarded. Fantasy Football is gay.” Well, Im not going to lie, sitting at 6-2 this year so far and in 1st place in my league amongst some of my good friends and able to talk crap to them about it constantly…it feels good. So get off your high horse and stop judging people…I did.

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Just another day another dollar…

October 30th, 2009 4 Comments

Back in the saddle again here…for some good friends of mine, they see this as my 2nd venture into the world of blogging, for most though, this will be their first viewing.  I hope to keep you at least entertained or informed depending on the nature of the blog posted.

Look for more to come this weekend! I am sure I will have some “boss” stories from Halloween trick-or-treating! If you are sitting there thinking, “why is he going trick-or-treating with his boss?” and then you start judging me…read my bio real quick and you’ll get it.

Things to look forward to:
1) Stories about Boss
2) Q and A sessions about relevant financial current events or topics
3) Excel formula help and quick tips (only when I have no entertaining content, I promise)
4) Personal stories/life experiences
5) Rants and Raves about that which I don’t like or understand (be prepared for #5 to dominate my entries)

Here is a quick preview to #5:
To the guy with the bike rack on the back of your toyota prius…you know who you are. Really? Is that necessary? Ok, we get it – you are an environmentalist AND an outdoorsman, a double threat kind of guy! You are so green, you are the gatekeeper of carbon emissions. Here is a newsflash for you though Mr. Prius driving bikeriding greenpeace tree-hugger, your car is ugly. It may be energy efficient, but it looks like the coupe that came out of the factory “womb” with down syndrome, and you spent $30k on it. In conclusion though, I need to thank you for being the offset of what is me, the ying to my yang if you will. (lifted truck, 35inch tires, custom exhaust, no bicycle rack) So, congratulations buddy…feel good about yourself and your car and the bike rack on the back that you had custom installed…I just think its ridiculous and ugly (double threat kind of guy!)

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