Sunday review

Stephanie came back tonight (finally!). It felt like much longer than 4-days for me, but it seem to go by too quickly for her. I’m glad that she got to spend time with her family, but I’m more glad that she’s back home.

I slept a lot today, more than I normally do on a weekend. And it felt great. I usually don’t sleep that well during the week so sleeping in and napping on the weekend is a welcomed occurrence because it doesn’t happen too often.

Speaking of sleeping, this blog is going to be short because I am headed to Sleepsville. G’night! 

Greatest Video Games Vol. 2

Today’s list focuses on SuperNintendo games, again in no particular order:

• Super Mario Kart
• Aladdin
• F-Zero
• Super Mario World
• Madden
• NBA Jam
• Super OffRoad
• Bulls versus Blazers

Happy Birthday

A good friend at work, who is also on my blogroll, is celebrating his birthday today. And by celebrating, I mean he is at home being sick with the rest of his family. He gave it a “go” at work today, even tried to sleep it off; but when your entire family has been passing it around to each other, that makes it difficult to avoid.

So here’s to you, Hanks - this wasn’t a great way to celebrate, but at least you didn’t have to hang out at the office with us all day!

Happy Birthday. (also, don’t forget that you are 7-years, 1-month, and 6-days older than me)

Greatest Video Games Vol. 1

In Volume 1 of this series, I will give you my favorite video games from the original Nintendo gaming system (which my brother and I saved up for for months when I was 7-years old, we paid over $100 in mostly coins…you are welcome ToysRUs) in no particular order.

• Excite Bike
• Double Dragon
• Super Mario
• Kung Fu (yes, KUNG FU!)
• Double Dribble (four teams to choose from)
• Tecmo Bowl (four plays to choose from for every team, Bears and Dolphins were the best)
• Mike Tyson’s Punchout (I wasted many many months of my life on this game)
• CONTRA (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start! Boo-yah = 30 lives, those chumps don’t stand a chance when I have my spread and laser guns)
• RBI Baseball

 Vol. 2 will be games from Super Nintendo.

Back to Bachelor life

Stephanie left for Dallas today, so I am on my own until Sunday night. It’s back to ramen noodles, cereal, and fast food for a few days. It’s tough to make the transition now that I am used to coming home to someone. The good news is that there will be a plethora of sports on the TV and I’m sure I’ll find a way to work in some shoot-em up movies as well. Or, I’ll end up staying at work extra-late each night. Either way, the seat will be left up

Kudos to Governor Huckabee

Congratulations Governor Huckabee, on a well-run and successful campaign. Although you fell short of the ultimate goal, you finished much better than anyone would have ever predicted. I am a fan of not only your policies and your ideas for our country, but also of the public stance that you have chosen to take on your personal faith in Christ. We need someone who is confident in their beliefs, regardless of the opposition that they receive, and you fit that description.

Full disclosure - I have had the opportunity to meet Governor Huckabee and speak with him in person. I personally believe that he is as genuine a politician that we’ve seen in a long time. Whether you agree with him or not, you cannot argue with his conviction. Our country will have a new leader in November, and while it will not be Governor Mike Huckabee in ‘08, I will hold out hope that his time will come in 2012.

Side note - no matter where you fall in the political spectrum, I urge you to vote in the Presidential election in November. This is why our country is great, we the people get to decide who leads us as a nation. Contribute, participate, vote.

Blog topics

In my recent efforts to blog every day (which I’ve done fairly well) I have started to have problems coming up with new topics to write about. Some days it’s easy, others it’s very tough - like today. I couldn’t think of anything so I chose to blog about blogging. Something tells me that this won’t be the last time that I do this.

Either way, it’s good to write. I’ve read several books that suggest writing anything, even if it is random and unplanned, is better than not writing at all. Just typing whatever is on your mind can get the creativity flowing.

But for today’s post, my creativity isn’t working that well. Better luck tomorrow.

Prediction

After watching two difficult Maverick-defeats this week (to the Spurs and today to the Lakers) I’m not feeling very confident about their Playoff chances. They will make the playoffs as maybe a 5th or 6th seed, and I actually believe that they will win the first-round series. But unless they start to mesh better with Kidd, and unless they start closing out games well instead of falling apart, they are going to make an early exit from the playoffs again. I think it will actually be in the second-round this year, but still. This team has so much talent and potential on offense, but they haven’t shown that killer instinct yet and they still don’t have a great defense.

Kidd makes Dampier (and everyone else) a much better player…on offense. But Kidd, Dirk, Damp, Terry…none of them are fantastic defenders. Bass and Howard are great, but they can only do so much.

Because I am a die-hard fan, I will continue to hold out hope that the Mavs can pull it together. But it is obvious that they have a lot of work to do in the next 6-weeks.

Arrington Vineyard

 Steph and I, along with Mike and Jen, enjoyed a great Saturday outside at the Arrington Vineyards. The weather was perfect, it’s so nice to see and feel spring again (even though it’s supposed to be freezing again in 2-days). We had a great time, and Steph and I actually won a game of spades - a first for us against our rivals.

We are always looking for new and different things to do, and this fits the bill. Check it out sometime this spring - free winetastings, beautiful scenery, great deck to hang out on, along with music on the weekends in the summer. Bring your own cheese and crackers and other picnic items. Enjoy!

Month to Month

The job that I have is great - I am blessed to have it and thankful for the opportunities and friendships that it has given me. But it is still a job and there are always some things that challenge me on a regular basis. For instance, what I do could be considered “sales” although I don’t really classify it that way. The bottom line is the same as sales though - you must produce. We measure ourselves on a monthly basis, making the last week and the last day of each month exciting and intense. Don’t get me wrong, no one is applying any stress or pressure on me that I haven’t already applied to myself. I am most critical of my own performance, and I actually think each person in my position at our company is the same way. We are all very competitive, but not so much against each other as against ourselves.

The issue is being able to finish a month strong, and then turn around and start all over again. Such is life I guess…following through with what you start, give everything your all, then when it comes time to start over or start something new - you do it all over again…but hopefully better each time.