Uhhh No M!ch!gan

Usually when I'm discussing where in Michigan I'm from, it inevitably happens during the conversation that I'll just hold up my right hand and use it as a visual aid and point in the general direction of the middle of my thumb, to signify where North Branch is, since Michigan is in the shape of a hand/mitten/whatever you want to call it.









At some point whenever I do this, I get mocked by my wife who I always thought was just jealous because I could use a visual aid to show-off my home state, while she couldn't. Lately I've started to realize that she mocked me because it was a pretty dorky thing to do. Well today I saw this (the offical Christmas card for the Governor of Michigan):





I've come to the realization that it is indeed, a pretty dorky thing to do. And for full disclosure, I have in the past used my left hand to signify the U.P. (that would be Upper Peninsula for any non-Michiganders reading this).

Here's to 2006

So 2006 is just about over, and I must say, it was the most exciting year of my life. The most exciting thing to happen to me was getting married this past summer. Sara and I got married on the beach in Myrtle Beach in June, with a small ceremony with all of our close relatives and friends there to watch us. Along with being married, I moved in with Sara and Blake, we've becaome a family, and as a result I guess I offically became a grown-up (although Sara would probably disagree with that assumption). I wouldn't trade my life with anyone or for anything. Life is really really good, and I can honestly say that I've never been happier.

Here's some random lists of some of things from this year - "High Fidelity" style..

Websites/Programs I Got Highly Addicted To:
Deadspin (Especially the comments section to each story)
Woot (Click here for an explanation as to what exactly this website is)
Gizmodo
Flickr
Google Earth (more of a program, than an actual website)
iTunes (great way to preview songs/artists/albums, and to get music recommendations based on what you own

6 Favorite Sporting Events from 2006
Tigers having a record better than .500
Tigers making the playoffs
Kenny Rogers masterpiece in Game 3 of the ALDS and being there in person to see it.
Tigers Beating the Yankees in the ALDS
Tigers Beating the A's in the ALCS and going to the World Series!!!
Playing in the Wiffleball Tournament in London, OH

5 Favorite Albums I Bought This Year*:
Continuum - John Mayer
Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
Funeral - Arcade Fire
The Californian - Bob Schneider
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
(* Not necessarily released this year)

Few Albums that Disappointed Me This Year:
Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat - Carbon Leaf (should have been called zzz,zzz,zzz,zzz)
Sam's Town - The Killers
Under the Iron Sea - Keane

Songs That Kept Getting Stuck In My Head This Year:
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
Put Your Records On - Corrine Bailey Rae
The Big Guns - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
C'mon - Guster
Waiting on the World To Change - John Mayer

I can't wait to see what 2007 is going to bring. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I Want That Blender!

The other day I was looking around some of the gadget blogs that I read on a regular basis, and came across a posting on one of them, that was bragging about the awesomeness of the Blendtec Blenders. The blog was telling about how powerful these blenders are, and how there is video of them on Youtube.com. After watching a few of the videos, I am in awe. Below is video of the hockey pucks getting turned to dust.



Albums I've Been Listening To Lately:
Different Stages - Rush
Continuum - John Mayer
Light Grenades - Incubus
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists

Speaka ze Deutche?

When I found out that I would be coming here to the Netherlands, one of the first things I wondered, was..would I be able to communicate with everyone both in public interaction, and in the office while I'm working. I was told by numerous people who had already visited our office here, that I would be just fine, and that everyone for the most part is taught English as a second language when they are in school. So I figured that I could at least get around alright, and that hasn't been a problem at all. Everyone initally greats you in Dutch, but the minute they hear me say "Hello", they immediately switch to English. I must say that everyone here is also extremely nice. Whenever you ask for directions, everyone is always ready to help out.

Anyways, the other thing I wondered was, in my down time when I'm in my hotel room..how am I going to watch TV? When I got back to my hotel room about 5:30 tonight, I found the following on TV...

Yep, that's right, Dr. Phil, telling someone that they need to get real, or something in plain English..and its subtitled in Dutch, so the people here can learn the ways of the Good Doctor.

I decided to keep turning the channel to see what else I could find and I stumbled across this:

Puff Daddy and Ma$e (oh, and Biggie appearing post-humously through archived video), telling everyone about the dillemma that more...er 'Mo Money brings 'Mo Problems. Unfortunately there were no subtitles in Dutch for this.

If they're at least going to show some American stuff on TV over here, couldn't we at least give them some better material?

On The Road..International Style

I think anyone who knows me, know that I like to do things on the spur of the moment. I've been known to make a trip to McDonalds at 1:00 in the morning, take a roadtrip to go to a concert in another state with very little notice, or decide the night before I'm to leave to go to the beach, to leave that night instead..rather than wait for the next day because it uses up time we could be at the beach. For once I had to do something spontaneous that even I think is a bit overboard. Last Thursday, when I get into work, my boss sends me an urgent email followed up immediately with a phone call telling me that it would be awesome if I could take a trip to our new office in the Netherlands...and to be there by Monday. I knew that a trip was in the works, but just earlier in the week I thought it was decided that it would wait until after the New Year. That plan changed very quickly. After talking with Sara, finding a corporate credit card I could use, and booking my flight, it was settled that I was flying to Amsterdam on Saturday. Nothing like planning an international trip in less than 2 days.

I flew out of D.C. on Saturday afternoon, caught a connecting flight in Newark, NJ that evening and landed in Amsterdam at 8 in the morning on Sunday. Oh and I met up with some people from our Kansas City office at the airport that I've never met before, so I could catch a ride with them up to our office in the small northern town of Zuidlaren. Everything went smoothly overall. Just had a 1 hour delay where all planes were stopped from taking off for awhile from DC, but since I had a 4 hour layover scheduled after that flight, it didn't bother me any, and I didn't get any sleep on the flight over thanks to the crying baby in the row in front of me.

Amsterdam was nice, it would have been better had it not been cold and rainy. From what I was able to see, it looked very cool with the canals that run all through the town. The village where the office is located, is a small village with little pubs, and restaurants spread out. Unfortunately my hotel is nowhere near the village, its out in the middle of nowhere..but we do have a Texas Roadhouse restaurant across the street!

Oh and each room comes with a queen sized bed! two twin beds!!



Last 5 Songs I've Listened To:
Tiger the Lion - The Tragically Hip
Amsterdam - Guster
John Brown - Agents of Good Roots
New Years Day - U2
Amsterdam - Coldplay