93) Vedder

Erin bought Stephen and I tickets to the Eddie Vedder concert (Stephen's Valentine's Day present) that took place in Dallas last Thursday.  The concert was originally scheduled for April, but Eddie suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery and he was unable to play.  Eddie Vedder is a personal hero of mine, so needless to say I was extremely excited about the show.

Something funny to note:  Originally, the concert was set for April, and Stephen received the tickets in February.  A couple of months passed and one night I was watching TV with L.  and I noticed that it was already May.  I yelled, "SHIT!!!  I missed Eddie Vedder!  What the F... was I thinking!!!"

I called Stephen to tell him the horrible news and he calmly said, "We didn't miss the show.  It got postponed for November."

Obviously, I was relieved to hear this.  Seven months went by and L. and I were once again watching TV.  Out of nowhere she suddenly yelled, "OH MY GOD, when is the Vedder concert!?"  I looked at my phone and realized it was already November.  I yelled, "SHIT!  Who misses the Eddie Vedder concert TWICE!!!"

This time L. looked online and discovered that the show was four days away.  I decided to set four alarms, 1 for each day, so that I would not miss the concert a third time.

The day of the concert arrived.  I brought to work a compilation CD of music I thought Vedder might play so that I could get familiar with his acoustic/ukelele songs I did not know so well.  In my morning status meeting I informed the people I work with that I was leaving promptly at 5p to see Eddie Vedder at Fair Park.  I work will all girls, and 5 out of the 6 of these girls looked at me quizzically and said, "Who is Eddie Vedder?" I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not.  The girls I work with range in age from early twenties to early thirties.  I am thirty five years old and am definitely older than the people I work with.  However, I did not think me so old that the dominate American cultural influence in my life could be completely unknown to an entire team of young workers.

I was wrong.

I feel like I am an old man holding on to the important things from my youth.  I feel crotchety.  I feel like the kids of today have no idea.  I feel like the people I work with are unaware of something seriously significant. And I feel like there is little I can do!

I went to the show and was impressed with the performance.  Vedder still has it, and I felt privileged to be in the same room as him.  I drank a lot of scotch.  And when the show ended I spent 3 hours burning every relevant Pearl Jam song for the 7 coworkers who had no idea who Vedder or Pearl Jam was!

92) A Problem

I teach a college level class each semester at a community college here in Dallas.  I arrived to the classroom early this past Saturday in order to set up and I discovered the following poster on the wall:

This is a "Student Participation Chart" that is lower budget looking than what I remember seeing in elementary school.  I do not like criticizing a fellow professor, but any student seeing this on the wall will fail to take this class or professor seriously.  Engaging your class is at the heart of what it means to be a teacher.  This simply is not going to cut it.

And we wonder why we as a society have unemployment issues.

After reading through this, I feel sort of bad for calling this out.  Is this because I am too nice of a person?  Because I feel like this should make everyone mad.

91) Kids and Career

Been thinking about grown up things recently, which is strange because tonight I am going to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and most of my free time is split between playing in a band, playing soccer, or drinking until 3 in the morning.  The 2 topics that have been surfacing and resurfacing are kids and career.  I'm only going to address one of these right now, and that is career.

I'm not convinced I chose the right career path.  I like what I do, and I am decent at it.  I feel challenged, yet not overwhelmed.  However, I am not inspired.  I am not making a difference in the lives of others.  I am not creating anything unique or beautiful.  I am not inspiring others to think of things they normally ignore.  And for this I am slightly unhappy.  

I know there must be balance in life, and one of the things we must balance is money.  I like that I make some money, that I am employed and have the ability to sustain employment because I have learned an industry to some degree.  Recently I've felt as though I am not putting in all the effort I could into my career in order to spend time writing music or playing sports.  Or spending time with my wife.  I do not regret that.  Instead, this situation forces me to think that if my career is not competing for my attention, then I am in the wrong place and wasting my time.

So, what would not be a waste?  

* Documentary film maker

* Mediocre amateur musician

* College professor

* An MLS scout for FC Dallas

As of now I'm not brave enough to drop what I have spent the last 10+ years doing, but a larger side of me has recently thought, "why the hell not?"  

So beware, there is a chance you will see me around Dallas holding a camera and filming a documentary...

90) Political Time 2

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are over, and I must admit that I did not watch them.  But I have heard references to the 2 keynote speakers (besides the candidates themselves) in the media recently and decided to check them out for myself.  What I watched was interesting and entertaining enough for me to dedicate my second non-partisan exploration of politics blog post to linking you to these two speeches.

Clint Eastwood speaks for the Republicans and his speech is just over 11 minutes.  Bill Clinton speaks for the Democrats and his speech is just over 49 minutes.  I do not wish for you to watch all of Clinton's, but watch 11 minutes of both so that you can get a feel for what the different parties (not necessarily the candidates) stand for in the upcoming election.



Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933hKyKNPFQ


Bill Clinton at the 2012 Democratic Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5knEXDsrL4

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89) Political Time 1

The last few elections I have taken more of an active interest in educating myself so that I could at least on some level feel like an informed voter. And while there are a number of things that annoy me as it pertains to politics, I think the most annoying is when uninformed people push their thoughts/beliefs onto other people, and then get angry when you disagree or present evidence that disproves their thoughts/beliefs. So, heading into the upcoming election my mission is one of learning to inform myself.

A few caveats:
* Doing this is difficult. It is hard to find information on really what is at stake by voting one way or the other.
* My goal is to uncover facts, or help lead others to uncover facts. My goal is not to project my opinions onto anyone.
* I admit at the beginning that my knowledge and resources are limited, so any guidance by fellow readers is encouraged.

To begin, I found a website that allows you to score your stance on major issues. Once you submit, the website shows you how major political figures feel about the same issues. The most helpful aspect of this site is the descriptions of the issues. If you click on the statement you are asked to either support or oppose, there is a detailed description of that each answer represents. This helps in actually determining how you feel about a particular issue. Having one place to see the major issues will help individuals understand that a president should not be chosen on how he/she feels about one issue. Going through this quiz is the first step to understanding how you really feel, and how you should cast your vote.

More to come...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Quiz/Quiz2010.asp#sec1

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88) Wednesday Morning Story

A quick story for a Wednesday morning. A year ago Liz and I went to California to visit friends and family for a long weekend. Our friend works on the set of Hell's Kitchen and was able to get us in for one of the tapings of Season 11. We've been watching this year in order to see ourselves on TV. The pictures below were taken from this week's episode. You can see Gordon Ramsey clearly in the first picture. If you look just above his sous chef you may see in the background a blurry couple eating dinner and watching the chefs. That blurry couple is me and Liz. I know it isn't much, but it is our moment in the spotlight.

87) XXX Olympics

Every four years we get to watch the Olympics. Honestly I have not paid much attention the last 30 years, but this year was different. Maybe it was the extensive coverage that caused me to watch more than I have before, or maybe it was because outside it was 100+ degrees every day over the last few weeks. Following are snippets I remember from all Olympics I've watched over the years: * I remember watching the 1984 Olympics with my mom in the game room. She introduced me to BBQ flavored Ruffles dipped in sour cream. Sounds like a strange combination, but we ate almost a bag of chips and 1 container of sour cream per night. Specifically, I remember watching men's volleyball. * In college, I guess maybe 2002, I discovered Curling. I thought it was the most ridiculous sport ever. And then I watched it for almost 2 hours, really impressed with Canada's overall broom speed and precision. * I remember watching the Winter Olympics in 2006 at Tiffany's house during band practice. Any time Apollo Ono competed we had to shut everything down and watch. We would watch his events, his interviews, his stretching, his walking around the arena multiple times because Tiffany had the biggest crush on the guy. * In elementary school our history teacher showed us the long jump during class. When they announced the distance of the gold medal jump he took us outside and put tape on the concrete of exactly how long that was. I remember seeing how many jumps it took me to make it from 1 piece of tape to the next. I don't remember how many jumps it took. * This year I watched Water Polo with Stephen, Nick and Haddiebug. I have decided that I do not care for Water Polo. It is too much of the same thing and lasts too long. I respect their athleticism, just can't get into the competition. * Watching Water Polo with L. and Dee. Same as previous bullet, except it was more fun listening to L. and Dee trying to understand the sport. * Anytime I turned the TV on and looked through the guide I saw several channels airing XXX Olympics. And for a quick second I wondered/hoped they were airing several channels of porn Olympics. * We watched the dancing with a bouncy ball event. Not sure what this is called, or why it is an event, but we watched it. I must admit, the women could do some cool things with the bouncy ball, but I feel that this is more of a circus routine and not an olympic event. It isn't fair to jugglers that they allow this event in, but not juggling. * We also watched the dancing with a hula hoop event. Same as previous event. * Usain Bolt is a freak of nature. We watched him sprint in the 100m and 200m, but missed the 4X 100m relay. That sounded like the best event of 2012. * I watched at least 30 minutes of the Women's US Soccer gold medal game. We have an awesome team, and they are fun to watch. * I feel like the story trying to come out of these Olympics was USA verse China. And throughout the games, the top two medal winning countries were USA and China. I don't think it matters much to me if we are the most medal winning country in the competition. I like all of the athletes and I want them all to do well. I like good, wholesome competition, and I feel like the Olympics take out Fandom from the equation for me more so than other sports, which makes it less stressful to watch. That being said, the US won the most medals and we took home the most gold. While watching, I felt like US Women dominated everything, and so I found the following graphics which illustrate how the medals are broken out. Sure enough, US Women dominated the games, and that gave me a great sense of pride. In this time in human history I have the good fortune to live in the country with the greatest women in the world. It doesn't get any better than that!

CubeJoy 1

I have decided to document the strange things I hear while sitting within my cube. I will call it CubeJoy...

86) Dorkiest Team Ever!

Stephen moved to Dallas recently and we formed a soccer team. We play in a local coed rec league where so far this season we have not won a game. This is the first time our team has played together, and that certainly shows. And of course, winning is not the most important aspect to this league. But I must say, there is no doubt we win "The Dorkiest Team Ever" Award! Just check out our uniforms...

Yes, that is a T-Shirt with a blue print of the Millennium Falcon.

85) Confusing Morning

I had a confusing morning and am not sure exactly how it happened. I woke up and went through my routine as I do every morning. I brushed my teeth, put my contacts in, got dressed. As I washed my face and messed with my hair I noticed that my right eye was a little blurry. I adjusted the contact several times, but the blur never cleared up. I took the contact out and looked at it closely, thinking that I must have put it in backward or something. The contact looked strange, almost like it had split and had two flaps going in different directions. I was not quite awake and could not see so good, but I played with the thing until I realized it was actually 2 contacts stuck together. I looked at my contact case and realized that I just came home from vacation and opened a new package of contacts the day before. My thought was, I must have left the old contact in the case, and then last night put my new contact in the same case. So I pulled the two contacts apart and tried to determine which was the old and which was the new. I could not tell them apart so I blindly chose one and decided to keep the other one in case I learned today that I was wearing the old one. I continued getting ready, made my lunch and then went to find Liz to say goodbye for the morning. While talking with her I felt like my left eye was blurry and immediately assumed that I was wearing 2 contacts in my left eye. By this point I was running a little late, so I hurried to the bathroom to dig out the 2 contacts and see which was the older. I peeled my eye lid back and could not see a contact. I felt around in there and discovered that I did not have a contact in my eye. So, I went to my case and took the other contact out, the one I thought was older, and put it in my left eye. I guess this morning I put both of my contacts in the same eye. This is the first time I have done anything like this. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

84) Destination Wishlist

Following is a small list of places I would like to visit. I know I am leaving many off, but this is as far as I was able to get over lunch:
















Pyramids: I have always been intrigued by the pyramids. I like ancient stuff, and these simple and magnificent structures stand for no reason in the middle of the dessert. For that reason, I would like to touch them.

















Grand Canyon: I would like to go river rafting through the grand canyon, making sure to spend at least one night deep in the middle of the thing.



















Wurtzburg, Germany: I would like to visit Dirk Nowitzki's home town of Wurtzburg, Germany. I want a picture of me standing at the city limit wearing my Dirk jersey. Ok, maybe I do not need that picture, but I would like to see where my favorite athlete was born.




























Wallace Monument: Since Braveheart came out (saw it 5 times in the theater) I have been obsessed with William Wallace. In Stirling, the location of one of his finest victories, stands a monument just for him. I must see it.






















Taj Mahal: Supposedly this amazing structure is a mausoleum built in memory of an ancient shah's wife. She must have been an amazing woman.

















Old Trafford: I would like to visit Manchester, England to watch Manchester United play a game at Old Trafford. Not sure I want to do this to see the awesome display of skill, or if I will be more interested in watching the drunk, English fans getting worked up. Probably both.

83) Music Listography#2: Top 20 Albums If I Had To Leave Planet Earth

The second assignment in our Music Listography book is: List 20 Albums You'd Bring If You Were Leaving Planet Earth On A Spaceship

I found this assignment to be especially hard. Much more difficult than the first assignment, which is post #80. I thought about this assignment and how different the list of albums would be based on when you ask me. So, this list is as of 4/8/2012. Just to note, one of the reasons I like this question so much is because it forces me to think of an entire work in and of itself. A song represents a story, an idea or an emotion. An album represents everything the artists were living, feeling, thinking, hoping during a specific period of their life. The album is a complete work that somehow makes me feel closer to the artists than my favorite songs alone.

Friends introduce me to songs I may like. But those songs lead me to exploring the band's album. It is that exploration that deserves this list. And the most difficult thing about this assignment is that we are leaving planet earth. Any album left behind will be lost forever...and that makes this list so bloody stressful!

Top 20 albums I'd bring if I were leaving planet Earth on a spaceship:

Pearl Jam: Ten
Pearl Jam: Verses
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Blind Melon: Soup
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Coldplay: Viva La Vida
Coldplay: Parachutes
Tool: Aenima
Rush: Moving Pictures
U2: War
Franz Ferdinand: Tonight
Oasis: What's The Story Morning Glory
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium
Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
The Police: Reggata de Blanc
A Perfect Circle: 13th Step
NIN: Downward Spiral
Sublime: Sublime

82) Letter To Copyright Law

Recently I became inspired to create 2 minute vignettes documenting events/evenings/fun times that I have with my friends and family so that I can post them on Facebook and have them live in my timeline for me to revisit anytime in the future that I wish. I toiled over buying a camera, but worried about spending too much money on something I might not have follow through on. I talked with my good friend Craig about possible solutions. He suggested using my iphone, because the video quality is good, transferring the data to my computer and into imovie is easy, and it would not cost me anything extra. And then, if this becomes I hobby I wish to take more seriously, I can buy another camera.

My first opportunity to test my inspiration came when a group of us went to a concert for the band Fun. If you are not familiar with this band, they sing the song, "Tonight...We are Young!" I went to the concert and annoyed the group with my phone out. I captured a total of 16-17 minutes of video and edited it into a simply vignette over an audio bed of Fun. music. I spent about 2 hours on the editing process and ended up with a simple, yet compelling tribute to our Wednesday night concert. I posted the video on youtube in order to share with friends and family. Within 30 seconds, the video was banned due to copyright law!

So now I am confused. I can go on youtube and find videos on any and everything that exists or has existed dating back to the beginning of television. Or I can find dozens of recorded or live versions of random songs, either local bands or professional bands. Yet, 30 seconds after I post a homemade video, it gets flagged and restricted. And I could possibly be prosecuted for violating copyright law.

So, if I had to write a letter, I would write to Copyright Law and I would ask, "Why was my video flagged so quickly, while other videos are free from restriction?" And next I would ask, "You're not gonna to prosecute me, are you?"

81) Funny Story

Got a call from Chris White at 8a. His morning routine was interrupted by several power surges that caused his security system to beep loudly every fifteen minutes or so. This interruption began in the wee hours of the morning and continued on until it was time to go to work. He begrudgingly rose from bed, got dressed and drove to work, wondering why in the heck power surges caused him to get so little sleep. The one thing he did not do was look at his feet.

He arrived at his office on a typical Tuesday, one in which he has a weekly status meeting with his team first thing in the morning. Our friend, Chris White, walked into his meeting where his fellow employees noticed him wearing 1 brown shoe and 1 black shoe. I am not sure what part of this situation I like better: the funny reveal at the office where his team members get a good laugh at his expense, or the hour and a half drive of shame where he had to go home in order to get 2 matching shoes.
























This story inspired me to devote a post to instances where the brain did not work properly and someone ended up at work wearing mismatching shoes.


* I made it to work one morning with my shirt inside out. In my defense, the stitching on the outside of the shirt looks similar to the stitching on the inside of the shirt.

* While in college I took a class with an Italian exchange student. He was extremely Metro and rode around campus on a smallish motorcycle. I lived far off campus and parked no where close to my classes. He drove by me one day and offered to give me a ride. I declined. He persisted with his thick Italian accent, letting me know it was common practice for 2 dudes to ride a smallish motorcycle together. Reluctantly I got on. Out of the 12,000 or so students attending Baylor at the time, Britt was on campus and saw me riding. He assured me it was more than unacceptable for 2 dudes to ride a smallish motorcycle together.

* At least once a month I forget my laptop at home and must turn around to get it. Each time, I discover the fact I forgot my laptop in the parking garage. However, I wait until I get inside my office so that I can be seen getting to work on time. I have to walk into my cube and pretend that I just realized my laptop is missing. My acting is good and works every time, but that does not make the drive of shame any less annoying.

* I teach a class at a community college and once showed up to the wrong classroom. I sat in there alone for 20 minutes before discovering I was in the wrong room. Amazingly, my students did not institute the 15-minute rule.

* To avoid using the office refrigerator, I bring my lunch in a small cooler (the bag-type, not the hard, igloo type). One morning, the plastic bag I use to hold ice did not work properly. The ice melted enough on my drive to work that water slowly dripped down my leg while I carried my lunch through the parking garage and up to my desk. My leg was so wet that I had to go home to change.

* I made it to my class one time without bringing my briefcase, which is to say I did not have any of my materials for the class. So I made up a class on the fly where I threw together random images in 4 different power point presentations and asked the students to deliver an impromptu speech using the random images as guides. The lesson was designed to show that you do not need words on your power point to spell out what you are trying to present. I now use that class each semester.

* I know a guy (promise that this is not me) that once put on shirt covered in dog urine. He did not notice until someone pointed it out to him. His response upon discovering the mistake was, "I wondered what that smell was?"


I know there are more, but have run out of time...

80) Insecurities

Getting back to the blog challenge put to me last summer, I am to write about something I am insecure about. This is a tough assignment because I worry about it coming across as whiny. For instance, I could write about my extraordinarily large nose that bends slightly to one side. Or I could write about how I am too short to be taken seriously in either high school sports or any of the construction jobs I've had. I could talk about my inadequate ability to grow facial hair even though I grow long thick, dark hairs on my ears, nose, unibrow area and all over my back. I could describe my smallish hands, or the fact that my toes are too webbed for me to move them independently of each other. I could tell stories about how my loud voice gets me into trouble, or that I snore so ferociously that I often wake up with a sore throat. I could write about my coarse Japanese hair that has so many cowlicks that my last stylist could not find where my hair is supposed to part.

I could write about these things, but the last thing I want to be is whiny. So instead, I am going to write about how I impressed a beautiful woman. I impressed her enough to spend her free time with me. I impressed her enough to marry me. Instead of whining, I am going to write how despite all these crazy truths I am the luckiest guy in the world. This is the point in the story where you say, "Awww."

78) The Little Things

A tragedy occurred this past Christmas. 2 men jumped a co-worker of mine in an attempt to rob him and his brother. Details are sketchy, but a struggle broke out that ended in my co-worker being shot from point blank range. He died on the streets of Little Rock just after 2am on Christmas morning.

I learned of this 2 days later via fb, and have had many troubles reconciling in my mind what has happened. The senselessness of the crime forces me to realize how little we actual control in the grand scheme of things. What sort of barriers truly exist between me calmly returning to my car after a dinner with friends or me being jumped and shot by someone desperate for what cash I may have on me? How many times do I leave my office after dark and walk the nearly deserted streets of downtown Dallas before reaching the security of my car without thinking once that my life were in imminent danger? Dozens? Hundreds? Infinitely more than my co-worker will ever again.

I returned to work on December 27th. Our agency closes the week after Christmas and I was the only person present in the office. I booted up my computer and before I knew what I was doing, I walked over to my co-worker's cubicle on the other side of the building. Everything was how he left it the day he departed for Christmas vacation. Toys and trinkets cluttered his messy workspace. 10 bottles of various liquors stood atop his filing cabinet out in the open, a blatant disregard for normal office protocol. Perhaps a clever case of hiding in plain sight. His cubicle walls adorned with posters of obscure bands he'd seen or festivals he'd attended.

I stood in his doorway and wondered what was going to happen to his things. I wondered who would have the unenviable task of cleaning out his cubicle and disconnecting his computer. Who would end up with all of his liquor? Or his toys? I thought about all the time he spent at his office and how his space reflected the playful sort of person he was. And sometime soon his cube would be cleaned and there would be very little trace that he was here at all.

That was when I noticed a postcard pinned up to the inside of his cubicle wall just behind one of his computer monitors. It read, "Don't Sweat The Little Things". It is a simple enough message, the sort you see all over the place. A positive mantra that reminds us not to worry too much because throughout our life there will be plenty of big things to worry about.

For 2012 I resolve not to sweat the little things. Life is too short and too important. Much positive can be said about Keye and the life he led. It is certainly true that he was taken from us far too early. But it is also true that we must enjoy as much of our time here as possible, because we never know when one particular day could be our last.

79) Music Listography 1

Favorite 20 Bands:

Pearl Jam
Pink Floyd
Jethro Tull
Blind Melon
Led Zeppelin
Rush
The Beatles
A Perfect Circle
The Police
Blind Melon
Yes
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Nirvana
The Doors
Alice In Chains
Tool
Franz Ferdinand
Coldplay
U2
Radiohead

To make this post a little more interesting I decided to predict the bands that would have been included on the following people's list:

L.
The Cure
NIN
Better Than Ezra
The Killers
Ke$ha
George Strait
50 Cent
The Counting Crows

Stephen:
Kings of Leon
Muse
Incubus
Hootie and the Blowfish

Chris:
Our Lady Peace
311
Chevelle
Squirell Nut Zippers
Weird Al Yankovich

Craig:
Ozzy
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
The White Stripes
John Denver
Danzig

Michael:
Staind
The Raconteurs
Stone Temple Pilots

Britt:
Al Green
Guns & Roses
The guy who sings "A Country Boy Can Survive"

Joe:
Bob Dylan
Bruce Springstein
The Supremes
Neil Young

77) 2012 New Year's Resolutions

I suppose its time to think about resolutions for 2012. I feel like Wheel of Fortune where the contestants were saying the same 5 consonants each episode so the producers finally included those 5 consonants on every final puzzle.

R: Cut out the junk food (in my case it is tone down the beer)
S: Eat more healthy (I need to strive for portion control. No more eating the entire pizza!)
T: Make sure to work out more (I am trying to improve my speed and agility so that I can do better on the soccer field. I feel strange for wanting to improve my performance, but sometimes I get driven over the strangest things. And I am tired of being the slowest guy out there...)
L: Continue to improve my career (I have been working hard to strengthen the account I work on, and am excited to see what can be accomplished in 2012)
N: Strive to be a better husband (honestly I do not see this resolution on many lists. But it should be on every husband's list)

E: My final resolution is to watch The Wire. I've heard nothing but great things about the show and have wanted to watch it. However it gets pushed back by other shows such as Dexter, True Blood, Damages etc. So this year I want end the excuses and finally watch The Wire.

76) 2011 Year In Review

2011 has been an amazing year for me. In general, I focus my efforts on balance between my family, my career, my physical health, my artistic expression, while at the same time making sure not to let stress negatively affect my overall well-being. I have been successful in doing this in 2011 and hope to continue in 2012.

Here are a handful of snippets from 2011:

* Feeling a 7.5 earthquake in the mountains of Japan. I was in a small town and when I walked outside to see what happened, no one stirred. The next morning I tried asking the couple who ran the hotel if they felt the earthquake. It took 20 minutes and no matter what I said, I could not get the message across.

* Waking up in the middle of the night unable to move my leg. A collision in a soccer game caused my knee to swell so much. L. reminds me of this night in an attempt to tell me I am too old to play. What she doesn't realize is that I will never be too young to play.

* Watching L. dance around a halloween party with Bruno while wearing a skin-tight Avatar costume.

* Watching a hoard of gigantic, crazy-looking caterpillars devour our peppers.

* Joining the Pen 15 club. Thanks, Erin!

* Making homemade pasta with L. It took 4 hours to make enough for one bowl of pasta.

* Playing guitar with Doss. My 72 series Tele Deluxe sounded so good coming through my VOX AC30. So good, in fact, that I could not really hear anything else that was going on.

* Reading Dugat's Maverick articles throughout the season thinking how awesome it is that he got such a cool gig. And wondering when am I going to see him hosting the post-game highlights.

* Exploring beer. I love IPAs and Stouts and discovered the following list of beers: The Harry Eyeball, Dogfishhead 90 minute IPA, Ten Fidy, Gubna, Yeti Imperial Stout, 400 Lb Monkey, The Gonzo from Flying Dog, Vanilla Porter, Left Hand Milk Stout, Real Ale Coffee Porter, The Hop Wallop...among others.

* Getting in a fight with an Italian woman on a train. She was mad at me because I had a lot of luggage that she felt should not have been in her way.

* Giving Stephen his first electric guitar. May it lead to much bad music!

* Spending a full weekend with Craig watching multiple documentaries.

* Making my crappy helmet out of paper mache.

* Making my first batch of homemade scotch. It tasted so sweet that it was undrinkable. I am on batch #3 and though the scotch has improved (just barely drinkable), it is still not as good as buying a bottle from the liquor store.

* Watching the Mavs win the 2011 NBA Championship!

* Sending air lanterns up into the Dallas Skyline for Lindsy's birthday. My favorite part was watching Lindsy get stressed when the lanterns flew above the freeway or got stuck in a tree.

* Helping my brother through one of his toughest experiences.

* Listening to my mom sing about her red converse shoes.

* Watching Stephen dressed as a 90's, poetic, high-brow Avatar trying to high five a ghostbuster. The ghostbuster stopped and said, "Oh, ok. We can high five if you want."

* Talking on the phone with Tomoko for more than an hour on multiple occasions. We do not speak the same language and much of the call is spent nodding and repeating the same phrase, "Domo for the Pakeji."

* Walking around Pompeii and seeing the ancient city that was destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 ad.

* Eating sushi with L. at Skiji Fish Market

* Watching the Rangers get to their 2nd consecutive World Series.

* Finally met Boo, an English Bulldog with a big heart, a playful left paw and a large bulldog tongue.

* Spending 80 hours a week for consecutive weeks putting together the largest presentation I have had the pleasure of working on. We presented early in 2011 and the account has grown leaps and bounds since. A huge win for our team.

* Slipping inside the Coliseum and falling so hard that the Italian police asked me a dozen times if I was ok and if I was going to press charges.