Crazy Weather

While growing up in Michigan, the months of December and January usually meant the weather was cold and snowy. It was that way most of my life. I honestly can't remember a Christmas or New Years where there wasn't snow on the ground. One of the main reasons (aside from the crappy economy) that I moved out of Michigan right after I graduated from EMU, was to get away from the dreary never-ending winters that we got every year. I love the climate here in Virginia. The summers are hot, and they last longer than 5 weeks. Spring is awesome, and the Fall season is great, with the temperatures staying on the warm to cool side. The Winters are 10,000 times better. The temps are usually chilly, and we usually get one or two decent snowfalls, and when it does snow, its gone within a couple days. The first full winter I lived here (2001-2002), we got something like 6 inches total for the entire season. Awesome!

This year has been completely unlike anything I've ever experienced. It hasn't been all that cold yet. Its a littly chilly in the morning on the way to work, but I've only had to scrap a light layer of frost off my car maybe 3 times so far. This past Saturday it was in the high 70's, and I for a time, contemplated wearing shorts...just because I could. Coming back from Blake's basketball practice, we noticed that trees around his school were budding. While this is completely out of the ordinary, the most bizzare thing that I've seen took place while we were in Virginia Beach over New Years weekend. When we got to our hotel room on the beach on December 30th, we stepped out on the balcony to check out the view and enjoy the sounds of the waves, but we were unable to hear the waves due to the maintenance man mowing the grass below us. He wasn't mowing the lawn just to mow it, the grass was actually needed to be cut.

Of course now that I've bragged about the awesome weather we've been having here, I'm sure that I've completely jinxed myself, and we'll probably be hit by a Nor'Easter this weekend. Because I have awesome luck like that.

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

The Man in Black

Sara directed me to this video today. I think its a great song..a bit haunting, which isn't surprising since he covered it right before he died. I think the video captures the mood quite well. In a way, it reminds me of his cover of NIN's "Hurt".



A few of the cameos could be up for debate, but still I think its pretty cool overall.

Recap..

I realized that it's been awhile since I've written anything on here. I've been pretty busy at work, and outside of work, I haven't really had a desire to be in front of a computer much. I've also had a brain fart as to what to write about even when I've thought about writing something on here. I guess I could give a quick recap and some random thought as to what I've been up to and thinking lately..

- Watched the Tigers go down to defeat in the World Series. I was a bit disappointed, but seeing as I was hoping for 82 wins this year, I couldn't be too disappointed. They got a lot farther than what I ever thought they would. It was just awesome to see them knock the evil Yankees out of the playoffs. 145 days until Opening Day, and this off-season should be a lot of fun seeing what moves the Tigers make in order to try to get back to the World Series once again.

- A couple weekends ago we had 3 of Sara's sisters kids stay the weekend with us - well the 2 nephews stayed with us, and the niece stayed with Sara's mom for some "girl time". The 2 nephews - Peyton and Tyson are 5 and 3 years old, and the niece Jordan (notice how they're named after athletes)is 7, and then of course Blake who is 6. I must say it was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. Just sitting back and watching them all play together (although the opportunities to actually sit down were few and far between) and listening to the things they said/asked, made for some pure comedy moments. I was wore out after the weekend was over, but I think it was worth it, and can't wait to do it again. I definitely can't wait to have a couple of my own.

- Big election night last night. I usually keep up to date with the news, and keep an eye on the political scene, as I like to try to be well informed (or at least think I am) as to what's going on in the world. I must say, I am very pleased with the outcome. I never realized before just how dangerous it is for one party to control both the White House, and both houses of Congress, until I've watched what has gone on these past few years, and how Bush has had everything he wants rubberstamped by this Congress. I think its a good thing that the Dems won both the House and (apparently) the Senate. I think both the President and Congress need to be the check and balance for each other. The biggest and best suprise is that Rumsfeld is quitting. I guess he realized he would no longer have a free pass to "stay the course" and screw up Iraq as badly has he (and this administration) has done. Now if Cheney and Rove would quit as well. I don't think everything is going to get instantly better in Iraq, but I'm hoping there will at least be some progress. I still think it was a waste to go there in the first place, but that's another topic.

- Still in a bit of a music rut. I found some good stuff like new albums from The Decemberists and John Mayer, and started listening to some other stuff I hadn't tried before, but that's all I've been listening to, and its starting to get old. One thing I would really like is to go to a awesome, knock your socks off concert. Its been way too long since I've been to a show like that. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon..

Last 5 Songs I've Listened To:
Mrs. Vandebilt - Paul McCartney & Wings
Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
The Worst Joke Ever - REM
Promenade - U2
Dancing Days - Led Zeppelin

Crazy Superstitions

(Photos by the Detroit News)

Up until the awesome events of the past few weeks, the above images from the sacred year of 1984, pretty much capture everything I've ever known about the Detroit Tigers being a good, let alone great team. Granted I was only 7 years old, so that makes the memories even more fuzzy. How much of anything can anyone remember from back when they were 7 years old (especially when you're pushing 30)? I remember watching Jack Morris' no-hitter on TV against the White Sox on a Saturday afternoon in April of that year, and I remember bits and pieces of the playoffs and World Series from that year - mostly Kirk Gibson's clutch home runs, and the celebrations after they won it all. Oh and I also remember going to a game against the Blue Jays at Tiger Stadium that summer with my mom and dad, sitting in the left field upper deck, and seeing the old guy sitting next to my dad stand up to do the wave, only to have his pants fall down to his ankles (true story - I couldn't make that up if I tried).

Anyways its been a long time since the Tigers have had a team that has been good, and given me something to really cheer and be absolutely thrilled about. Seeing as how they've got a good thing going, I've noticed that I've suddenly become superstitious. I have a lucky t-shirt which, when I've worn it, the Tigers are 7-0. I didn't wear it for the first game of the Yankees series, and they lost. I didn't discover the luck that it brought until after the third game of the ALDS. I went up to Michigan specifically for the 3rd game which I was lucky to get tickets to (see previous post). I watched the 2nd game (the Tigers 1st win of the series)at my parents place where I was wearing my Old Navy American Flag t-shirt. When I went to bed that night, I threw the shirt on top of my suitcase and forgot about it. The next day as my brother and I were getting ready to head down to Lloyd's, I knew I needed to dress in layers, so I just picked up the t-shirt and wore it under my long-sleeved shirt. We went to the game, Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life (at that time), and the Tigers shut out the Yankees. I proceeded to come back home to Virginia the next day, and got home in time for the 4th game. As I was cleaning out my suitcase I saw the shirt, and realized it was 2-0, so I figured "what the heck?", and I put it on before the game. Another game, another win. I've proceeded to wear it every game day since then, and as I said earlier, the Tigers are undefeated. I tried to tempt fate during the 2nd game against the A's. I had been wearing it all day. Sara and I were watching the game, the Tigers were up by a couple in the last inning, so we decided to go and watch the bottom of the 9th inning in bed. I took the shirt off, and Todd Jones managed to get a couple runners on base, with Frank Thomas (the winning run)coming up to bat. Realizing what was going on, I jumped up quick, put the shirt on...Frank lined out to centerfield to end the game.

Coincidence? I'm thinking no (I'm sure as heck not willing to find out either!)

Bless You Boys

Last 5 Songs I've Listened To:
Ruby Falls - Guster
The First Cut is the Deepest - Cat Stevens
Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen
Speak - Nickel Creek
King of Comedy - R.E.M.

How I spent my Friday night..

The view from my seat at Comerica Park for Game 3 of the ALDS:





By far and away the best sporting event I have ever been to. First home playoff game in 19 years, and completely shutting down the evil Yankees..what's not to enjoy!? It was definitely worth the 1500+ mile roundtrip.