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.

Bothered

Is anyone else bothered that certain movie and TV celebrities seem to carry just as much weight with political and international issues as the “experts” do? This bothers me. Why do we put value on what these people think? Aren’t they successful in the first place because their industry is designed to entertain us and provide a temporary escape from real-world issues? What qualifies these people to have their opinon valued or respected so much?

Some actually do have designated responsibilities by the U.N. (George Clooney, Angelina Jolie) which I respect, but even that status shouldn’t elevate these people to being considered experts on anything other than the abilities which made them successful in the first place; whether acting or singing or writing or whatever.  Granted, they have a platform to express their views and make themselves heard – so I guess I’m not so much bothered by the celebrities themselves as I am the people who are influenced by these celebrity-opinions.

How ’bout this – do some research on your own – don’t let a video of Danny Glover hanging out with Hugo Chavez make your decisions for you. Draw your own conclusions and opinions based on your beliefs, then you can talk about it with others who have done the same.

Enough soap-box for now…

Musical interests

My 10 Favorite musicians in no particular order (let the discussion commence):

Tom Jones, Rascall Flatts, U2, Aerosmith, Coldplay, Ronnie Milsap, Counting Crows, John Mayer, Southern Gospel (yes, the entire genre), BoyzIIMen.

RE: BoyzIIMen – in Jr. High and High School my friends and I attempted to “woo” the ladies with our rendition of such classics as “It’s So Hard to say Good-bye” and “Yesterday”. I’m unfortunately certain that there is video of this floating around somewhere.

Bye Bye #1

Dear Vols,

I hope you enjoyed your 31 hours as the #1 Team in NCAA Men’s Basketball. Your reign won’t technically end until next week when the new polls come out, but tonight’s loss at Vandy guarantees that you will be a one-hit-wonder at #1.

Please use this as a reminder that the real UT with an orange-ish color – that’s BURNT ORANGE BABY! – is in Austin.  HOOK’EM HORNS!

Yours truly,

Bevo

Not a good diet day

How about starting the day with Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts at 9AM, then ending the day with two pieces of birthday cake at 9PM. Between my purchase of these two tickets to Heartburn Harbor, I did manage to eat salmon for lunch and a meal replacement shake for dinner, but the health benefits of those two meals were far outweighed by the vat of sugar that I happily shoved down my throat as the bookends of my sustinence.

Go me, so glad that I’m sticking to the diet on a regular basis. Seriously, if I could eliminate the sweets I bet I would lose 5 pounds within 2-weeks. Let’s see how that goes…

I Love Sundays

Steph and I had a great day today – you have to love a Sunday full of relaxation and rest.

We started by going to our new Church (new to us that is) and there we enjoyed a great message on spiritual gifts and how they are often confused with talents. There are several great tests out there to see what your spiritual gifts are – one good (but long) one is here. If you don’t already know what your gifts are, it is a great way to gain perspective on your life and what you have to offer.

After church, we enjoyed a great meal at Asuka in Spring Hill - the wife and I threw down 3-rolls each – 48 pieces of sushi. It was terrific. That place will become a regular for us.

Then this afternoon we just rested, napped, watched TV and enjoyed not having anything to do. We went on a walk tonight and watched part of the Oscars (which I thought were rather boring, but I do want to see a few of the nominated movies). Jon Stewart is the only thing that kept me watching.

Anyway, it was a great day – enjoyed by a happy couple. A new week awaits - and it has the potential to be very exciting.

Mavs trade

The Mavericks traded for Jason Kidd this week, giving up several good role players, two future 1st round draft picks as well as a strong young point guard in Devon Harris. I’m against the trade for one main reason – I think giving up two future picks is too much for a 35-year old point guard who is suspect on defense to say the least. I would have been more okay with it had the Mavs only given up one pick, but if it leads to a title this year then I will be happy to admit I was wrong.

The main problem still remains that the Mavericks have no tru presence in the middle to deal with players like Duncan, Stoudamire, and O’Neal. Dampier has flashes of being good, but he can’t carry the load by himself. We’ll just have to see how they respond in the playoffs. As Dirk and JHoward go, so goes the Mavs. 

Married vs. Single

The atmosphere at work is something very unique - a great group of guys that all get along (except when they steal from each other) and are able to have a good laugh most every day. 5 of the guys are married, including yours truly, and one is single. The differences between the single and married lifestyle are blatantly obvious and they are a reminder for me as to what “single life” was like.

Every once in a while, there is something that I think I miss about being single, but those thoughts don’t last long. I quickly remember how lucky I am to be married to the person I was made for. My marriage is infinitely better than anything that I could have accomplished while single. That is not a knock on the single guy in our group at work, but for me marriage is the way to go.

Thanks to my wife for being beautiful, patient, a terrific cook, and my best friend! For those of you that are still searching for that special someone…keep the faith, they are out there.

Primary Schedule

Someone please explain the logic behind having state primaries on separate days – leading to the nominees being chosen before each state has a chance to vote. This makes several states irrelevant in the selection process. Why not have each state’s primary or caucus all on the same day? Give each state the chance to have their voice heard.Instead, we have the current system with primaries and caucuses being spread out over the course of several months, leading to voter-apathy and a lack of interest in some states. I am sure there is some previously thought out political justification for this current approach, but it feels like logic is often lost or overlooked in some “established” methods.

Political Coverage

Preface:   I admit that I might be completely wrong on this because I didn’t watch the primaries in ‘04.

I am paying more attention to this political season that I ever have in the past, but I am blown away by the similarities between campaign coverage and sports coverage. It feels as though CNN and FOXNews have been watching ESPN for the past 4-years and they’ve pulled several different elements from shows like the NFL Draft and NCAA Tournament Selection Show. There are so many analysts on each network, they are usually in teams of 4 + a host, and there are two or three teams like this constantly rotating on each channel.

It feels overdone to me, but then again, I love the NFL Draft. So maybe political junkies are loving the coverage.