Texas Thunder Thighs

I'm sitting here all fat and sassy in my recliner watching the Sunday Night Football game, feeling somewhat nostalgic and contented. You see, I have played in the same fantasy football league since 1993, and a few moments ago, my running back scored the winning touchdown for my fantasy team in the semifinals, making next week my first ever trip to the highly coveted Fantasy Bowl. I have made the playoffs a few times in my 13 years, but never the Fantasy Bowl. Ahhh...what a nice feeling! I'd love to bring home the trophy next week!!

It's been quite awhile since I've posted on here. I don't even keep up with everyone else's blog anymore. Sorry guys! I want to get back to focusing on the game, so I'll make this quick and random -

I downloaded the full Diana Krall "Christmas Songs" CD from iTunes and I love it! If you enjoy jazz, this is a must have CD! She's a great singer and piano player and it's fun to hear her "skat".

Our 10th year wedding anniversary is next March. Jenn will still be nursing, so we won't take a big trip or anything then, but we're thinking about maybe going to New York next Octoberish. The perfect trip would be to enjoy New York, maybe take a side trip to Niagara Falls one day and then fly to Green Bay Sunday morning in time for a Green Bay home game at Lambeau Field to see Brett Favre in person, then fly home Sunday night. It is still uncertain as to whether Brett Favre will retire or not this year. I sure hope not....

We watched Love Actually again last night - and I'm comfortable enough with my masculinity to admit that I love that movie without any regard to what others may think. HA! Especially the writer and the girl from Portugal - that is awesome! Hugh Grant rocks too!

I'd like to watch more Christmas movies this week. All I've seen so far is Polar Express, which I highly recommend. I like Santa Claus 2, National Lampoon's Christmas, and of course Charlie Brown's Christmas. What are some of YOUR favorite Christmas movies?

Home Sweet Home

Well, we had a good visit in Wichita Falls with friends and family, but it was sooo nice to get back home. I am so thankful for our home and I'm glad we love it so much. We've been here over 8 months now and it truly is home. The most relaxing thing in the world is to plop down in my recliner at home with my family. I've never been much of a TV-watcher, but over the past 8 months that has begun to change a little. This, I'm sure, has a lot to do with why I've gained 15 pounds since moving here! Yikes! I have finally reached a weight that I feel will keep me motivated to improve my overall health. I have been looking into the South Beach diet, but I really don't believe in dieting. I know they can help you jumpstart weight-loss, or teach you how to eat better, so I'm not going to say diets are bad. I just think there is no substitute for exercise, increased water consumption, and sensible eating. I heard a comedian say that with all the liposuction and stomach-stapling surgery and everything else, people will do anything but diet and exercise to lose weight. HA! Anyway, I didn't mean to chase that rabbit. I've been thinking that I need to lose about 30 pounds, but now it's more like 40-45 pounds!! Wish me luck!

We finally feel "plugged in" at church. We have a GREAT small group that meets every Sunday night. Two of the guys in the group also work downtown, so I've had lunch with both of them and I'm sure we'll do that often - I hope so anyway! We finally got to meet the pastor last Sunday. He went to Dallas Theological Seminary with our pastors from Grace Church in Wichita Falls.

I'd rather lick my armpit than go Christmas shopping. My wife is so organized and motivated to get it finished early, but I'm so mentally challenged in that area, I know it's frustrating for her. To my credit though, trying to buy the right gifts for our four children without buying too much for one or too little for another seems to resemble the organization efforts of distributing aid to thousands of Katrina victims!

This Friday at work, the owner of our company is going to give all of us debit cards as sort of a Christmas bonus. He's letting the girls all go to the mall together until 12:30 and then the guys get to go to the mall together until 4 or 5. That should be fun!

Overused Cliches

Do you have a phrase that drives you crazy if you hear it? Something like - when someone asks what day it is, you tell them, but then they have to add "all day long" to it? That always makes me roll my eyes and think "that is stupid". Or when people pronounce Target like it's some European designer shop or something. Well, I think I've discovered the most overused cliche. It is somewhat fascinating, yet highly annoying, to realize just how often this cliche is used. Maybe it's just because I've grown to hate it so much, so now it stands out blaringly obvious to me. Like when the only time you hit your finger on things is when it has a sore. Or when all of a sudden you notice how half of all vehicles are a certain color and style. White truck, red car, etc. Anyway...the most overused cliche is "at the end of the day." I mostly hear this while watching CNBC or Apprentice, so I think it's probably just a business cliche. It is used to minimize the events of a day or a project and focus on the end result. Makes complete sense, I have no problem with the logic or usage of the cliche. Other than the frequency. I'm thinking of putting together a top 10 list of overused phrases/cliches that are really bothersome. Please, leave me a comment with one or more overused phrases/cliches that you can think of!! :)

I'm getting pumped about NASCAR this weekend! Especially since Carl Edwards won last week and is now in 4th. That would be awesome to see him win again in Texas! The only bad thing about the race on Sunday is that it starts at 2:50pm, and the Packers are actually going to be on tv at 3pm this week! I will just record it and watch it Sunday night instead of the Sunday night game.

The Cowboys are doing great this year. Despite a few late in the game mishaps. Looking at the NFC, I really think their only real threat is the New York Giants. I think they could handle Atlanta...and Carolina is still so overrated. I'm going to jump out on a limb here - it would be difficult to convince me that the Cowboys don't have as good of a shot as any other NFC team to make it to the Super Bowl. I know that's a big statement, but considering their competition, I think they could do it. It would not be easy, and I'm assuming no injuries or episodes of stupidity, but from what I've seen so far, at this point I pretty much expect them to win against all of the NFC teams. Go Cowboys!

The acquisition fell through at work. That's good and bad. Good because that was going to be a LOT of work for at least 6 months. Bad because it was going to present some great opportunities, both for myself and for the company.

A friend at work gave me 6 free tickets and a parking pass to the Shrine Circus on November 18th. They are box seats, and we'll be the only ones in the box! How cool is that?! So the kids can be silly and disruptive, and they won't be bothering anyone! That was very cool of my friend to do that - it cost over $100 for all of that! She said her and her husband donate to the Shriner's (?) Club every year by buying a bunch of circus tickets and then giving them away to people who have kids. We all know there's no shortage of kids in OUR household! HA!

Leave a comment and HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

Costume Ideas

Just a quick post before I go to bed. I just caught up on all the blogs I read and thought I'd pose a question to all you bloggers out there in blogland. In my last post, I requested ideas for my Halloween costume for my office party. However, I received no responses. So, I will list a few ideas and ask you to give your opinion on what I should do.

1)Money Launderer - Get a large mesh laundry bag that I can cut holes for arms and legs and then fill it up with fake money.

2)Dead (or severely injured) Hockey Player - I have a complete uniform, but also attach half of a puck to my forehead with a lot of fake blood and cuts and bruises, etc.

3)Peeping Tom - Put a cardboard box on my head, cut out a window and make some little curtains, and then wear a trenchcoat with a name tag that says "Tom".

4)Holy Cow - Buy a cow costume and then wear a halo and wings with it.

5)Smartass - Dress up like a donkey and wear a graduation cap and carry a diploma.

6)Wear blue scrubs with cotton attached to look like clouds and carry a water gun. When asked what I am, respond "partly cloudy with a chance of showers" and squirt the person with the water gun

7)Proctologist - Wear scrubs and a stethoscope, smear chocolate pudding on the shirt and let it dry. Wear a nametag that says "Dr. Ben Dover, Proctologist". Just had another thought - I could wear a dreadlock wig and be Pokemon - a Jamaican Proctologist!!

What do you think? There are prizes, and everyone is dressing up, so I want to be creative and make it fun! Luckily, I'm losing my voice, so I won't have to karaoke!!

I'm getting excited about next weekend! I'm going to the NASCAR races!! I have tickets for the entire weekend, but I will probably just go to the Truck races and Busch practice Friday night, and then the Nextel race on Sunday. I'd like to see the Nextel qualifying on Saturday, but that might be a bit too much time away from home for one weekend. :) I'd really like to see Carl Edwards win it all, but I think I'll just be happy if Tony Stewart doesn't win. Jeff, are you going??

Conglomeration of Updates

It's been 17 days since my last post, and I am finally updating. I'll just start off with a brief rundown of my day, and I'll try to stay away from economics and sports today. I was running late this morning so I left for work (after taking Karissa to school and coming back home to finish getting ready) without eating breakfast. Jenn picked me up at noonish and we went to Bennigan's. It took them 15 minutes and 37 seconds to bring us our food, so we got it for free. They have this program now where they start a stopwatch after they take your order and if it takes longer than 15 minutes, lunch is on them. We felt a little bad for our waitress and offered to still pay since she was real close, but she insisted that it was free, so we thanked her and left a nice tip. Back at the office a broker from Ohio arrives, but I lucked out and go to miss out on all the afternoon meetings, aside from a quick little 15 minute exchange regarding his portfolios' performance numbers. Just as I'm finally starting to get some things accomplished, Jenn calls to see if I'll be able to leave at 5pm so I can make it to Math Night at Karissa's school. Realizing it was already 5pm, I start winding down and finally get out of there in time to pick up a pizza on the way home, scarf 2 pieces down, and then off to Math Night. Aside from being very unorganized, confusing, crowded, and extremely silly, it was an ok thing, mostly because the kids probably enjoyed it. I guess. They just went from table to table working out math problems while the parent helped them. I still don't understand the reason for having it, but I wanted to support Karissa and her school activities, so I went and didn't complain until I got home and told Jenn how silly the whole thing was. We put the kids to bed and then started Survivor. Half way through, our electricity goes out. This just happened a month or two ago and it stayed out until around 10am the next morning!! I drove around in the van and discovered that half of Saginaw was without power due to a fallen power line. I was thrilled about this, since everything I veg out to/with is electronic. However, it did allow Jenn and I to spend some time talking about stuff, so it wasn't all bad. Finally around 11pm, the electricity came back on, just as I had resigned to the idea that once again, I'd be taking a cold shower in the dark tomorrow morning.

I had some terrible news last night. A good friend of mine just pled guilty to an embezzlement charge and now will most likely face prison time. I won't go into detail here, but it has made Jenn and I both sick to our stomachs all day thinking about it. This guy is one of the last guys on earth you'd expect something like this from.

We have a very diverse group of people at work, in terms of spiritual beliefs/disbeliefs. We have me, the self-proclaimed "knowledge SEEKER", the agnostic college student, the 7th Day Adventist, a northerner whom is Catholic and democratic :), and the new, gung-ho, cliche-dropping, christian buzzword dropping, gullible believer who has not yet come up with his own thoughts on anything. Not that I'm judgmental or critical! HA! I admit, I struggle with that, and I'm not proud of it. Anyway, I had a brief conversation today with the agnostic and the new christian. It was an interesting struggle, trying to tame the grandiose cliches and buzzwords from the new christian and respect the agnostic's views while also putting in my two cents occasionally. The new christian couldn't understand how someone could NOT believe God exists. While I sincerely hope the agnostic finds faith, I found myself defending him against the new christian's onslaught of church phrases attempting to convert the agnostic right then and there. HA! The new christian had the bible and faith as his basis, but I had to explain to him as politely as I could that he is assuming the bible is a credible book, and he is assuming there is a God to have faith in. Neither of these assumptions are true to the agnostic's beliefs, so the new christian, therefore, has no meaningful evidence to provide to the agnostic. I personally don't think there's any way to "logically" prove the existence of God on strictly a cerebral level - the only thing that makes it logical and believable is faith. Without an inkling of faith, I don't think anyone can ever be convinced there is a God, definitely. Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation.

I can't wait for the weather to get cool enough to use our fireplace! I need to buy some firewood and a rack to store it on outside. Do you think it would be ok to store next to an external brick wall? I don't want to get termites!!

At work we are about to acquire up to $200million in assets. I think $100-125million is more likely, so it will almost DOUBLE our assets under management!! This will be a HUGE undertaking and we are looking over resumes now to hire 4 more people to assist us in the acquisition. I have never interviewd people before, so I'm actually looking forward to that a little. I'm hoping that with my increased responsibility, additional monetary compensation will follow. :) There's also a chance I may go up to Philadelphia for a few days, where the company is located that we are buying assets from. That would be fun!

I only have about 35 pages remaining in the Biography of John Nash and then I can start my book on the theological explanation of evil. I also had a friend give me a book titled "Raising A Modern Day Knight". It looks pretty good. Have any of you fathers out there read it? It's about a father's role in leading his son to authentic manhood.

Next Friday night we have the office Halloween party. I'm not sure what I want to dress up as...do you have any costume ideas?? Well, hopefully it won't be 17 days until my next novel, I mean post. I do enjoy reading your comments, so please leave me one! ?

A Tribute To My Hero, Brett Favre

I sit here in my recliner, heartbroken and dejected after yet another dramatic and painful Brett Favre comeback that falls short by one play. Tonight, the Green Bay Packers traveled to Carolina for a Monday Night Football matchup. Going in to the game, I had the feeling that we may see some Favre-magic tonight. If you've seen him play then you know what magic I'm referring to. The Packers were 0-3 going in to the game against a 1-2 team whom many bandwagoners predicted to go to the Super Bowl this year. Favre always performs well on MNF and he is hungry for a win like never before. Never in his career (which he has not missed a game since 1992) has he started out 0-3. After a rough first half full of Green Bay injuries, the Panthers were up 23-7, and then went up 26-7 midway through the 3rd quarter. Then something happened. Something a defensive player should never do. A defensive lineman got to Favre right after he unleashed a pass, and tweaked Favre's ankle enough to make him cringe and limp. Those who weren't familiar with Favre would have thought he'd gingerly limp to the sideline for at least a play or two. I knew better. I immediately made the comment to my wife - "He's about to throw a touchdown, watch this." Favre didn't go to the sideline, he gathered his team back up for another huddle and gave them their instructions for the next play. The pocket collapsed behind him and a huge hole opened up, and on his freshly twisted ankle, Favre scrambled 12 yards for a first down. Three plays later, he hit Donald Driver in the end zone for a 26 yard TD pass! It was no surprise to me, but just like Favre does when he scores, I couldn't help get giddy, and I couldn't help but smirk at the Panthers, knowing full well what was probably about to happen.

Favre is THE ULTIMATE competitor. You see, when Brett is hurt, mad, or emotionally distressed, something from deep within gives him the ability to overcome physical and emotional pain and he becomes a maniac on the field. Looking back just over the last year and a half alone, we see this time after time. Literally the day after his father passes away, he goes crazy on MNF and leads his team to victory, completing some 4-5 TDs and throwing for some 400 yards, give or take. A short time later, his brother-in-law was tragically killed in an ATV accident, and a week after that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. How did Favre respond? He turned a 1-4 Packer team into division champions and playoff contenders. Most recently, his parents' house was completely washed up in the aftermath of Katrina. So far this year, 6 points is all that separates them from being 3-1 instead of 0-4.

Tonight, after the third quarter Donald Driver TD mentioned above (which gave me my 4th win in fantasy football!), that started a comeback, down from 19 points. However, with a minute left to play in the game, Panthers only leading 32-29, Donald Driver misses a short pass that would convert a 4th down around the Carolina 35 yard line. Worst case scenario, with that first down, they could kick a field goal and send it to overtime. But, no such luck. My stomach is still sick from this defeat. They have lost the last 3 games by 3pts, 1pt, and 2pts, respectively.

Even the naysayers said before preseason that offseason player movements made Green Bay a weaker team, but I sure didn't jump on that bandwagon. Sure, they lost a few good players, but you can never take anything away from that Favre-magic. Even with the loss of his primary receiver, Javon Walker, and the 4 key players that were injured tonight, even with the makeshift line and backup players, he still lead his team to a near comeback win over the team that so many have proclaimed to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year. But, I know it makes his job a lot more difficult, and admittedly, a weaker team, but I will never count the ol' beat up Packers out of any game. Bring on Indianapolis, San Diego, Pittsburgh...because with Favre, truly anything can happen.

I know you people who don't care about football or Favre just think this is another boring ol' blog by Kirk, but at least it's not about economics or work, right? I know you may think I'm just fantasizing about some football character whom I over-sensationalize...but ask me if I care. HA! Everybody should have a hero, and Brett Favre is mine. After the game tonight, there were more Panthers (including the Panther coach) than Packers that hugged Favre and congratulated him on his performance and professionalism, and unbelievable determination to not give up, almost winning what would have been one of his greatest comebacks ever. I have never talked to anyone who didn't like Brett Favre. You just have to like him. When his wife was going through chemo treatment, he shaved his head to be like her. You can see it in his eyes that he loves what he does, and you can see it in his team and opponents how much everyone respects him. I recall one game several years ago that he got tackled and dislocated his finger. He ran to the sidelines, gave his hand to the medical staff and turned his head while they yanked his finger back into place - and then he immediately went back in the game and played the rest of the game! Last year he suffered a concussion and the coach took him out, not knowing he had a concussion yet. A few plays later, Favre convinced his coach that he was ok and he went back in the game and immediately threw a touchdown. Unbelievable.

I will wrap this tribute to Brett Favre up now. I just have to voice my feelings after such a dramatic loss. Favre, you still rock! The silver lining is that Green Bay happens to be in a weak division, and even at 0-4, they're only 1 game behind the division leader! HA! I'm not giving up on Favre and the Packers.

Brett Favre. Resilient. Focused. Family-centered. God Loving. Determined. Persevering. Self-confident. Uplifting. Encouraging. Competitor. Winner. Champion. My hero.

Caleb knows football

Wow, it's only been a few days and I'm already blogging again! I promise I won't bore you with work stuff or economics. HA! I'm really bummed because I have to go back to work tomorrow and I'm a little nervous that we may have some mistakes from last week while I was out. My trader called me 5 times while I was at the hospital!! Oh well, it's only peoples' money! HA!

It feels good though sitting here in my recliner, legs kicked up, Sunday Night football game on my new TV in our new entertainment center, Dr. Pepper nearby, and my laptop in my lap...and oh yeah, winning BOTH of my fantasy football games! Also, after all of our company from the weekend left, I spot cleaned the carpet tonight and it looks a little better, so I feel a little more relaxed. Spots on our carpet drive me insane, which by the way, is not very convenient with 4 kids now. I think our next meaningful purchase will be a steam cleaner. Being anal about things can be very good at times, but other times it can drive you crazy.

Caleb watched some of the Cowboys game today with me, so I have officially introduced him to the NFL. I'll give him another few days to get settled in, and then I'll start working on his precision passing and distance. He already can throw his arms up and scream, so I think he's been working on his touchdown celebration dance. Such an overachiever already!

Thanks to Kelly and Alicia for stopping by this evening. It was good to see the both of you again! Alicia, I'll be waiting for your blog address. :) Kelly you don't look prego. Hopefully my directions to Joe's Crab Shack didn't send you to Mexico or somewhere else!

Last week I finished a novel. I don't read books a lot, but I enjoy them when I do. I read a lot of news and sports and economic commentaries, but it may take me 3-6 months to read a book. This most recent book was "The Broker" by John Grisham. I vowed a few years ago to never read a Grisham book again because his endings are so weak. He does good with story and character development, and even builds a good climax, but his endings always leave me feeling like I just wasted the last 3 months. I decided to read "The Broker" because it is set in Italy. I really enjoyed that aspect, but the actual plot was not very impressive. I think Grisham just loves Italy and wanted to write a book about it. Can't blame him. Anyway, now I'm going to try and hurry up and finish the biography of John Nash (the guy in the movie, A Beautiful Mind). I started reading it in June 2003 when Kylie was born. It has been a slow read, mostly because I would go 3-4 months without reading it and then pick it up again. It's been a very interesting book, but when it delves into some of his mathematical and economical theories, or details some his delusional experiences, it gets a little hairy and you have to read (study) some paragraphs 2-3 times. I only have about 60 pages left, so I hope to finish it in the next few weeks. One motivation I have to finish the book is a new book I bought that I'm anxious to start reading. I say new book, but it was actually written in 1978, and I bought it from someone over ebay. It is called "The Roots of Evil" by Norman L. Geisler. It's a christian philosophy book on evil, or maybe it sounds better to say it is a theistic explanation/exploration of evil. People always ask, 'Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?' This book does a great job of explaining evil. One may say, "If God created all things, and evil is a thing, then God created evil." The book proposes that evil is not a "thing", but a depravation of good. A blind man does not have blindness, but he is instead deprived of sight. It's the absence of something. Another topic the book explores is why God doesn't stop evil, or why he allows it. One could say "God won't let anything bad happen to my spouse, so if I throw this knife at her, God will alter it's course so that it will miss her." Obviously, this is silly, because God isn't in the business of breaking the laws of physics. Of course he can, but can you imagine a world where God constantly intervened against the laws of physics? Anyway, I just realized some of you are probably bored by now, so I'll quit. The book explores many other theistic ideas of evil, and I think it will be very enlightening, so I must hurry and finish the biography of John Nash!! I think it's important to understand evil and where God fits in because it's so easy when times get rough to question why God is allowing something bad to happen.

I've found myself, once again, looking forward to watching Survivor and Apprentice. I think they're both kind of silly to watch, but for some reason, they are the only two shows I watch regularly. Donald Trump is a dork.

Twas the night before...

I fully expect that all of you have stopped checking my blog. It has been 16 days since I have last posted. What can I say...I'm not the internet junky I once was. My level of internet-addiction has downgraded from "junky" to "moderate surfer". However, thanks to Josh's comment and my wife's suggestion, I am finally posting a new message. We'll just see how many of you leave a comment!

It is 11pm, the night before we "induct" our son into the Hall of Life. Moments ago, I ask my wife, "So...what are you thinking you'd like to name our son?" I got a laugh and a "I have no idea." I have four names I like: Colin, Michael, Alexander, and Zachary, but I don't know which one I like as a first name and/or middle name. Maybe we'll put the names in a hat and just draw. HA! I guess it may be interesting to some people to finally find out what we will end up naming him. Others probably are rolling their eyes in disbelief at how ridiculous it is to not have a name picked out!

Today was absolutely the busiest and most stressful day at work. I sat at my desk from 8:30 this morning until 8:30 tonight, only getting up a time or two for a brief moment. I knew going in this morning we would most likely hedge our high yield positions with some inverse high yield moves (not that anyone cares, but that allows us to reduce our high yield bond exposure without actually having to sell bonds, thus creating a taxable event), however, our forecasting model this morning showed a significant weakness in equities, so we had to scale back some of our large cap and international postions as well. For those of you still tuned in, I'll give a very brief rundown of what this entails. We have about 900 accounts ($145million) spread out among 25 different custodians, mutual fund companies, and annuity companies. Each one of these 25 companies has between 2 and 10 different allocation styles. Today we made between 2 and 5 exchanges in each of these allocations across all 25 companies. Sound like a lot? Well, it is. My portfolio manager (and boss) gives me new "targets" for each allocation and then I have to decipher what he's wanting to do, calculate the most efficient way to buy and sell to arrive at the new targets, and then delegate these moves to my operations staff, HOPING there are no mistakes along the way. A significant amount of these moves today had an early cutoff of 12pm, so we were racing frantically to get them done, and then some other funds had 2:30 cutoffs, and then the rest at the normal close of market (3pm). My boss was coming in frequently to see how things were going and questioning whether or not we'd finish them all. It was very stressful. A HUGE amount of work to do in so little time. Well, we did not finish, but completed about 85% of them. My Trader will finish the remainder tomorrow while I am at the hospital. Anyway...I know I've lost Alyssa by now so I'll start a new paragraph.

Alyssa, it's still boring, so skip to the next paragraph. If anyone is interested, the reason we reduced our market exposure is actually the result of many things. I personally think the impending hurricane and the 52nd straight rate hike (ok, maybe not that many) is what sent our model over the edge. The last report I saw was that approximately 70% of our oil refineries in the Gulf were closed/evacuated, which obviously reduces oil supply further. Just when we think we are seeing relief in gasoline prices, there is renewed fear of rising oil/gasoline prices. Inflation has also been a recent buzzword in the market commentaries. Barges are still moving slowly along the Mississippi river, straining the supply of grains and other commodities, thus increasing prices (inflation). There's also the fear by some of tax increases to fund the New Orleans recovery, despite the opposing "claims" by the government. It's a little surprising to see Bush creating a "big government" to help control the recovery. A little ironic for a republican who is such a big believer in entrepeneurialism. I love our president and I support the idea of recovery, but I don't know why he hasn't pushed more for privatization. Has anyone heard of any municipal bonds being issued yet?? Anyway...I just pray that hurricane Rita weakens and stays in the southern Gulf, missing as many refineries as possible.

I spent all weekend putting together our new entertainment center for our new 36" tv and surround sound system. I still need to install the rear speakers, but I haven't felt motivated to climb up in the attic and fish wires yet. I have thoroughly enjoyed the TV though! Football is great on the bigger screen, and I know hockey will be too!! With my son!!

Speaking of, it is 11:40pm and we are getting up at 4am to go to the hospital, so I better sign off and get in bed. Maybe Jenn and I can decide on a name...

Hope all is well and I hope you all leave comments!

My 30th Birthday

Saturday was my 30th birthday. I feel so old saying I am 30 years old, but I know 30 is still pretty young. My weight gain and increase in gray hair is actually more troubling than turning 30. I had a great day Saturday! Jenn and I and the girls woke up and drove to Wichita Falls in time for my fantasy football draft at noon. It was another fun and successful draft. I've played in this same league since 1993, but I'm the only one who remains from back in the day, besides my good friend Wendell, who joined the league in 1995. However, over the past 4 years or so, we've had a good return of the same guys each year, and now we finally have a core group of 8 guys (thanks to our addition of Jeff Trimble this year!) who play year after year. This is great because we are building a history and legacy, and lots of fierce rivalries! To those who have never played, you make think it sounds silly, but it's a lot of fun! At the draft, Wendell brought a birthday cake and party blowers and a HUGE party hat for me to wear. It was a fun time!

After the draft, we went to Brian/Kay Chance's house to see them and the Hitchcock's. Dean & Tanya finally came back to the US (now in St. Louis) after being in Turkey for 2 years. It was great to see them and spend some time visiting with them. It was nice to catch up with the Chance's too. I had hoped that Marina and Lucas would have come with them, but they stayed in St. Louis. I was really wanting to hug Marina's neck, after her very scary "bleeding on the brain" incident last year. I guess we'll just have to visit them in St. Louis soon! Tanya put forth a very thoughtful effort in picking out an NFL baby outfit for our son. I guess the more traditional thing would be to pick out a team that you think the recipient supports, but Tanya bought a St. Louis outfit. HA! We razzed her a little, but in all seriousness, I love it! When our son wears his St. Louis Rams outfit, we will think of the Hitchcock's! Really, it means much more than if it were just some Dallas Cowboys outfit or even a Brett Favre outfit! Thanks Tanya (and Dean)!!

We ditched the kids and the 6 of us went to Texas Roadhouse for a nice dinner. I had never eaten there before -it was good! Brian went to the "bathroom", and then coincidentally, about 5 minutes later, about 7-8 servers walk up to our table and bring a saddle on a stand for the birthday to sit on. I tried to refuse, but you never win in those situations, so I played along and sat on the saddle. Of course, I look around and see the very crowded place looking at me as it is being announced that I just turned 30, and lo and behold, there are 2 people I know sitting at the table right next to us, and someone else on the other side of us. Somewhat embarassing, but it was fun.

We went back to the Chance's house and played Scene It the TV version. How Tanya could look at a big pink blog (literally) and know that was Tom Hanks is still a mystery. It was a fun game! Afterwards, the guys watched the TIVO'd A&M game, and with 2 seconds left, and the game on the line, with Clemson lining up for a potential game winning field goal...the recorded program STOPS!! HA! Brian had planned for the possibility though, so we were able to see A&M lose on another recording. Very good game though! I'm sorry for Brian, but I bet a guy at work $25 that UT would beat A&M at the end of the season...so it's fun in that respect to see A&M lose. Anyway, I had a great birthday and have my wife, the Chance's, Hitchcock's, and the OFFL to thank! THANKS!!

Sunday we had a family party for myself and my cousin, Paige, who turned 23 on Sunday. My uncle cooked some VERY GOOD filet mignons. Then today, I went and drolled in Circuit City for an hour, and when I returned, Jenn and the girls had decorated our dining room for a Happy Unbirthday party for me!! It was a very nice surprise!! Since we were busy with other stuff on Saturday, I didn't really get to see the kiddos much on my birthday, so itwas fun to have a little party today. Thanks!!

Probably one day this week I will be using my birthday money to help purchase a new TV. I would love to get the 52" widescreen that is onsale for $900, but I'd rather not go into debt, so I think I will get the 36" RCA. It will be a huge jump up from our current 25" that we've had for almost 10 years! I should have it in time for the first week of NFL football!!

We're starting to get more and more excited about the arrival of our son. Last week, we decided to name him Zachary Alexander, but now we've decided on Colin Michael. Next week, it could be something completely different. I think we got so burned out trying to think of names, that now it's hard to latch on to something we like. Maybe we'll go to the hospital with a few in mind, and when we see him we'll know what his name should be. We're crossing our fingers for next Thursday as the "induction day". If not then, it will be the 20th...unless he comes sooner on his own. Well this was quite a long post...

Real Quick Before I Go To Bed

Hey, just thought I'd post a quick blog since it's been so long. I'm sure you guys stop checking after awhile. We went to church this morning and I instantly loved our pastor even more when he proclaimed, "We are against legalism!". We also went to small group tonight at church and had a good time. The only downside to all this is that we literally drove 80-85 miles today, just going to church and back twice!! That's $12-13 every Sunday for gas! Oh well...small price to pay for proper theology and fellowship, right?

We saw Million Dollar Baby Friday night. It was very good until the end. I just don't see the point in ending that way. Someone slipped and told me what happened, so I was expecting it, but it really disturbed me. It was an unneccesary ending to a potentially GREAT movie. I think I'm just especially sensitive to death right now for some reason. Our old friend, Tori, really got to me, and I even grieved over the 49er player from Ft. Worth who died last week whom I didn't even know! It is also sickening to know that in a matter of hours, people will die in New Orleans. Even if I didn't have a car, I think I'd find SOME WAY to get the heck out of dodge! Anyway, I'm not depressed, I think I've just become more sensitive to death.

Well, I'm less than a week away from turning the big 30, and probably less than 3 weeks away from being the proud father of my first (and only) son! WAHOO! OK I'm probably forgetting some stuff, but I'm going to bed now, so I'll blog more later. And sorry to disappoint you Jeff, but I don't have any fun happy hours or partying scheduled for this week. HA!

Funday Friday

We're two weeks away from two significant events in my life. The 1st is my 30th birthday - wow, I'm getting old, but I still feel like a kid. The 2nd is the 2005 OFFL draft! This is the Our Fantasy Football League (OFFL-prononuced "awful") that I have been in year after year since 1993. OK, I'm a nerd, whatever! Anyway, draft day is the biggest day of the year. We all get together and have a live draft, choosing the NFL players that we think will take us to the top and earn an OFFL Fantasy Bowl championship. Well, last year I made about a 20 minute DVD for the draft - The OFFL Preseason Show. It was pretty funny, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Because it takes so long to put together, I almost decided not to do it again this year. But...as it gets closer to the draft, I just can't resist the temptation. So last night I began my creative brainstorming. I think this one will be even funnier than last year's, if I'm able to pull it off technologically. I have some neat special effects ideas...hopefully I'll be able to do it. Look out Jeff...

I'm sorry, that was probably boring to read. Once my creative juices start flowing, it consumes my mind 24 hours/day, so I guess that's all I have to talk about right now. Tonight we are having happy hour with my coworkers and their spouses. Jenn is coming for the first time, so it should be fun! After happy hour, we're going to Four Day Weekend, an improv comedy club, similar to the show, "Who's Line Is It Anyway". Jenn and I went a few months ago and it was HILARIOUS! We should all have a good time. OK, I better get to work.

Do You Want To Go To A Pants Party?

I normally dismiss the idea of typing a new blog because I haven't spent any time thinking of what to say, but I'm throwing caution to the wind tonight. This will be a brief post, since I need to go to bed. It is midnight now. I stayed up later than normal last night, and shortly after I went to sleep, Cara decided she'd throw up the rest of the wee morning hours. She has fully recovered today, but I only got 2-2.5 hours of sleep last night. OK, here's a few brief notes:

A lady from Christ Chapel Bible Church called Jenn out of the blue on Monday and they talked for 45 minutes! Amy, she told Jenn about the Trinity Church (?), but it is closer to Hulen mall, which may actually be a little further then CCBC...or at least not any closer. Anyway, after reading my blog mafia's comments suggesting we just suck it up and go wherever it is that we like...after Jenn's conversation with this lady (interesting the timing of this phone call, wouldn't you say?)...and after reconciling with myself that no matter how long my list of pros/cons may get with regard to settling for a religious churchianity church (excuse my sarcasm) as opposed to a well grounded bible church, nothing will top my preference for biblical teaching. So, we will join a small group at CCBC (similar to a k-group, for you Grace folks) and begin attending CCBC again. I look forward to attending this coming Sunday!

Tomorrow night is the first BRETT FAVRE preseason game!! I can't wait to watch it! Jenn and I talked again tonight about whether or not we could work things out to go see Favre play at Lambeau Field. Even if it means we take OUR 1-2 month old Favre with us...that would be too cool! I must admit, I'm pessimistic, but I don't give up easy!

I watched Anchorman last night. It was pretty funny, but overall, I was somewhat disappointed. I think I expected it to be side-splitting HILARIOUS. Don't get me wrong, I laughed quite a few times, but it still wasn't as funny as I had expected it to be. The guy who played the retarded weatherman (Steve Carell, also in Bruce Almighty and The Office) definitely made the movie funnier. He's not the same style as Jim Carey, but he's the only other guy besides Carey (I can think of) who can make you laugh without even having to say anything. By the way, the title of this blog is a line from Anchorman that Steve Carell says as a pickup line. He just doesn't understand what he's trying to say...HA! OK, I'm going to bed.

6 More Weeks Until Favre Arrives!

Well here it is, 1am and I'm just now starting my blog. There's so much to catch up on when I finally get to sit down and cruise the net! Work has been VERY busy the past week and a half, but should start slowing down in about another week or so. Tomorrow evening three brokers are coming down from California for a little "educate and entertain" session. It will be fun! They're coming for business, but we will have plenty of fun. Together, they have around $60 million with us, which is a little less than half of our total assets under management. Tomorrow night, me, JAckie (dir.of Marketing) and Byron (owner)will go pick them up at the airport, get them checked into their hotel, and then go eat at a nice restaurant. A nice juicy steak with a fine glass of sangiovese should do the trick for me! Afterwards, we'll either go to Four Day Weekend (improv comedy show) or to Pete's Dueling Pianos bar for some drinks and laughter. Friday morning they will trickle in to our office whenever they want, and mingle with the office until lunch. We'll take them to a restaurant downtown and then come back for the meetings. They will pitch their new business direction with 401k's and we will convince them we can handle it from an operations, compliance, and portfolio management standpoint. I've never had to "present" to such a meaningful audience, so it will be fun and a very valuable experience. We'll see how well my presentation skills from my MBA translates into the real world. I'm not nervous, but I also know they could easily ask some questions I won't know the answer to. Anyway, they really like us a lot, so it won't be a hard sell, and it could grow our business quite significantly! At 5pm, we'll change into very casual clothes, go eat another nice dinner in the Stockyards, and then go out to Eagle Mountain Lake to stroll around on Byron's new pontoon boat. We'll float up to Kelly's, which is a lakeside sports bar with live music, food, and plenty of adult beverages. I'm looking forward to it!! One of the brokers races a car in the NASCAR division that is just below the Busch series...maybe the Winston West?? I look forward to chatting with him about that!

I'm researching TVs. I can't afford a big widescreen plasma, and I think the normal bigscreens are still too grainy and distorted for the most part...so I'm thinking about getting a 32 or 36 inch TV. It is amazing the price difference between a standard 32" and a 36"...more than double usually!! I want to pay cash, and I'm really wondering how much difference the extra 4 inches would make. I'm sure it's noticable, but the price jumps from like $300 to $800!! Our couch is a good 15 feet or so from the TV, so it needs to be big. Right now you can't read the DirecTV menus on our little 25". What do you guys think?

Today was a rollercoaster ride in the world of hockey and the future of Dallas and the Stars. Last night Mike Modano was trying to negotiate a contract with Armstrong and Hicks, but by this morning, a deal had not been reached. I checked online briefly on and off all day, just KNOWING that he would sign. Then by late afternoon, I saw that Modano had rejected the Stars' offer, and was talking to other teams. My heart sank. However, much to my relief tonight, I saw where they had FINALLY reached a 5 year deal, almost ensuring Modano would retire a Star. That is how it should be done folks. His entire 15-20 year career will be in Dallas (Minnesota before they moved to Dallas, but still the same club).

I've been spending a little time thinking about churches. We found one we like, Christ Chapel Bible Church, but it's a good 20-25 minute drive. If we only went on Sunday mornings, we could possibly make do, but we'd like to get more involved than that, especially with 4 kiddos. The bible church in Saginaw is just too down home country. There's not really any other bible churches around though, so that presents us with a dilemma. We don't like the legalism and extreme evangelism of the baptist church...we disagree with too many of the armenian Church of Christ beliefs...and really, we don't like the religious customs of any religion. We don't disagreewith all of them, we just want a church where God's Word and his grace is the main focus, as opposed to a religion full of rules and customs. This is the problem. We either have to drive a long ways to church all the time, or find a "religious" church nearby. So, I've been thinking of making a list of things we'd like, prioritizing it, and making a decision based on what gives our family the greatest good with what we have to work with. So I'll close this blog with a few things I'd include on this list, in only the order that they come to mind...I'll prioritize them later. Trimbles and Turners (and whoever else from Grace reads this), maybe you could help with some things to add to the list...as well as anyone else who may have some good ideas. Thanks!
- close proximity
- more cerebral approach to the bible (minimal storytelling, only when absolutely necessary)
- less sensationalism (developing a deeper understanding of who God is instead of just trying to stir up emotions and manipulate you)
- plenty of couples our age in our stage of life we can relate to and build a support system with
- opportunities to serve individually and as a family
- help build a solid foundation in Christ for our kids, free from guilt and confusion (as a result of measuring their level of spirituality by how well they follow rules, read their bible, and become "do-gooders" versus simply understanding grace and focusing 100% on God (not shoulds/shouldnt's) so that the fruits of the spirit can more naturally flow)

Sideways

We watched this movie last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I love wine, so I found that element of the movie particularly entertaining. I was quite surprised that Myles' favorite was Pinot Noir...from my understanding, that's not one of the more popular wines. I also didn't know there was a white sauvignon! Anyway, when Mia was describing why she loved wine, it was awesome! There was one point in the movie when Jennifer got up to get a drink or something, so I paused it. She was really taken back and said "You PAUSED it?!?! It's not like you'd miss anything!" Obviously, she was not amused by the movie. I loved it! It was definitely on a much different level than your typical comedy. I thought it was a REAL movie. I could have done without the big ugly overweight man running naked, but it was short lived. A few observations: when tasting various wines, they never rinsed out the glass or got a new one, they just dumped it out and poured the next wine in, even with the remaining drops of the previous wine still at the bottom of the glass. How can you scrutinize the next wine at the level Myles and Mia did if there were always traces of other wines mixed in?? Secondly, everytime Myles hit a golf ball, it was a horrible shot, not even in the same zip code as his intended target. However, when it came time to hit a ball at the people trying to play through, he hit their golf cart dead on! I can appreciate the humor in that, but it didn't go unnoticed. I thought it was very tasteful when Myles and Mia stayed the night together. They went in to her house for the night, but the camera did not follow. Darkness faded to morning light and then the camera entered Mia's house. They made their point without including a sex scene. Not that there wasn't a sex scene...who could forget that! I think that scene should be shown to 12 year old boys who pray to God to please let them see a naked woman. Wow. They'd never forget that. Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie. I laughed quite a bit. Loved the scenery. One thing I can't figure out still is why they named it Sideways? I've been searching for some deep meaning or relevance, but I come up empty. Any ideas?

I've Been Tagged

Been a while, huh? Well, my wife interrupted my intense game of Madden '05 to inform me that I really need to update my blog because people tagged me or something. So, I told Brett to hang on for a minute while I answer these questions...

10 years ago today- I had been dating Jenn for 2 1/2 months and was working at a bank and about to enter my sophomore year of college. I lived at home, played racquetball all the time, and drove an obnoxious looking pickup with a lift kit, mud tires, roll bar, and KC lights.

5 years ago- Was working for Monte J White & Associates, waiting to go to Officer Training School in USAF, but my horrible shin splints prevented me from doing that!

1 year ago- Recently finished my MBA and was feverishly searching for a new career.

yesterday- Worked all day, came home to eat dinner, go swimming with the family, told Jenn I SERIOUSLY want to try to see Favre and the Pack play at Lambeau Field this year, paid some bills and went to bed.

Tomorrow- Work all day, then come home and start the weekend, doing whatever comes next. I should finish mowing, but my lawnmower dies every 15 minutes...are you supposed to put oil in those things?

5 snacks I enjoy- extra super ultra movie butter lover's popcorn with a cup of salt, anything chocolate, Velveeta & rotel, El Chico's chips and queso, fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies

5 adult beverages I enjoy- dry red wine (preferably Italian), Shiner Bock on tap, shots of Premium Wild Turkey or Crown Royal, Killian's Red, margaritas

5 bands I know the lyrics to- Bon Jovi (dont laugh), Poison (stop laughing), Kenny Chesney. Uh...Celine Dion, New Kids On The Block, MC Hammer...just kidding. Garth and Tim McGraw.

5 things I would do with $100 000 000- buy a villa in Tuscany, buy nice cars and houses for friends and family, build a HUGE log cabin (with my own hands) in Colorado and host Christmas every year, make millions more in currency arbitrage and commodity futures, and oh yeah - tell Donald Trump he can be my apprentice

5 locations I would like to run away to- Italy, Rocky Mountains, Swiss Alps, Vegas, Italy

5 bad habits I have- grinding my teeth (I've had 2 root canals!), staying up too late, being lazy, getting the newspaper in just my underwear (just kidding), eating too much

5 things I love doing- playing with my girls, having friends/family over, traveling, going to NFL and NHL games, eating

5 movies I like- How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Radio, Shawshank Redemption, Top Gun, Varsity Blues, anything with Julia Roberts

5 famous people I would love to meet- Brett Favre, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Condoleeza Rice, Larry the Cable Guy (JK!)

5 biggest joys at the moment- my wife & kids, waiting for my son to arrive, living & working in Fort Worth, not having to study for anything, upcoming NFL & NHL season!

5 favorite toys- new laptop, Playstation 2, Polly Pockets, Barbies, costume jewelry - HURRY UP SON, SAVE ME!

5 people to tag- Jennifer, Wendell, Paige, Laura, Josh


OK, we're 2 months or less away from the birth of our son and we still haven't named him yet. For months now, we've just been calling him Favre. This seems really crazy, but the name is actually starting to stick!! Maybe we'll name him Michael Favre Wimberley...or Colin Favre Wimberley...what do you think??

Was That A Compliment?

* As I was waiting in the parking garage for my truck to come down, a very respectable looking man in a business suit approaches me and nods his head, so I politely nod back. He casually comes over and stands next to me with a smile on his face. I don't feel threatened and he doesn't even seem like a weirdo...maybe just one of those real nice guys who doesn't know a stranger. He says "How's it going?" like we've been friends for some time. I politely say "Good. Glad the day's over." Then, he asks me if I'm an attorney. I tell him no, and he says "Really? You look like an attorney." He's being friendly and a little soft spoken...so I think he was just simply trying to strike up a conversation...maybe a new guy in town trying to meet people...but it was kind of weird. Luckily, about that time, his truck is brought to him so he says "See ya later man" and leaves. So of course, my mind is racing, overanalyzing this encounter, and I think...is that a compliment? What does it mean to look like an attorney??

* Question. Can you lose your man card if you get a pedicure? A very clean cut guy I work with admitted today that he went with his wife to get a pedicure. He said he sort of felt uncomfortable, like he was gay or something, but he actually really enjoyed it! He's definitely the metrosexual type, so maybe pedicures are ok for those types. However, picture this...I'm out in the woods somewhere with some buddies of mine, and we're all decked out in our camo hunting gear (I've never been hunting) with face paint, the same underwear we had on 3 days ago when we started the hunting trip, all carrying guns and wearing deer urine scent on our clothing...spitting in the fire, scratching ourselves, lettin 'er rip, peeing on trees...ya know, acting like guys do when the girls aren't around....and then I pull off my boot and sock and show a perfectly pedicured foot and I say "Hey guys, check it out. I got a pedicure and it truly felt sensational!" I believe I'd be staring down the end of 3 rifles listening to threats and being called names I think I'd prefer not to be called. I don't know...what do you think? Can you lose your man card over something like this?

* Last Friday night I went with my uncle to Texas Motor Speedway. WOW! I was truly in awe the entire 4-5 hours I was there. When we first arrived, Danika Patrick and the rest of the Indy cars were practicing. My eyes about popped out of my head when I saw how fast those cars drive, with such amazing skill to be going around a corner at 215MPH only 3 inches away from another Indy car going the same speed, and they don't touch each other!! It is impossible to appreciate the speeds that these cars travel from watching it in tv. Also, if you don't wear some sort of ear protection, it is so loud, I think your ears would literally be bleeding by the end of the night. We had headphones and a radio so we could hear the drivers and announcers. It was very cool! After the Indy cars practiced, we saw the NASCAR Trucks race. Man, that was so much fun!! I loved it!! Jack Sprague ended up winning (Jeff, you may be the only one who even knows who that is), but for probably 90% or more of the race, Mike Skinner was leading by a mile. I was cheering for Ron Hornaday ( I think he races for Kevin Harvick's team?? If so, I think I will start following Kevin Harvick in the Nextel. Is that respectable Jeff?). Ron started out in like 20th place, and the whole race I watched him work his way up, and he was the only car to finally beat out Mike Skinner and then stay ahead until he had to pit. Anyway...I HIGHLY recommend going to a race. It is awesome!! Bring some ear protection, and bring your own beer. It's a good thing they don't do sobriety testing when you leave the parking lot...I dont think anyone would be allowed to leave!

* Last Saturday, I took my family to Cabela's...an outdoors store like Bass Pro Shop. It is a really cool place. If you're ever in the area, set aside an hour or two to go check it out. It's fun for all ages and genders, whether you're interested in hunting/fishing/camping equipment or not. There's so much other stuff to see! They have taxidermied animals in various exhibits all over the place...and I don't mean they just stood a deer up in the middle of the aisle. It's like going through a museum. The kids loved it!! The have a stream in the middle of the store with trout sitting in the current trying to catch food to eat. It's really neat! They also have a huge aquarium exhibit you walk through and see all sorts of game fish.

* Jenn and the girls have been in Wacky Falls since Tuesday. Her dad had heart surgery to clean out one of his main arteries that was clogged over 80%. He's doing good and will most likely go home Friday. So I've been a bachelor almost the entire week. I miss my four girls (and baby Favre in the oven) and I'm ready for them to be home, but I also enjoyed the brief time at home alone. Tonight I cried. Twice. Why, you ask? Well, when I got home from work, I sat in my recliner in the living room in front of the TV and I watched the rest of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again. Oh my gosh...that is some of the funniest stuff I have heard in a while!! Larry the Cable Guy made me cry TWICE I was laughing so hard!! I won't repeat the jokes that made me cry, but if you've seen that...you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about. I like Ron White too...I laughed pretty hard when he said his dog ran away for ten hours...gone all day long...so when he finally came home, just to piss him off, he took him for a walk!! HA! GIT 'ER DONE!!!!

Some Thoughts and Highlights

*I started the week off with a fun-filled visit to the dentist in hopes of curing my excruciating toothache. First thing Monday morning, Dr. Beck drilled a hole in my tooth and dug the nerve out! Root canals are awesome!! Just kidding. In all seriousness, they really aren't bad. I've had two now (because I grind my teeth and kill them) and I've gone immediately back to work afterwards, pain-free! If you ever have to get a root canal, don't sweat it. It's not really that big of a deal. I did start to get a little paranoid about cleanliness at the dentist office. I noticed that Dr. Beck didn't wear gloves, and he seemed to go from room to room without washing his hands. I hope I'm wrong... :)
*A few weeks ago, Cara, all by herself, said I could throw her pacifier in the trash and she hasn't asked for it since!! Amazing!
*I finally fixed my AC in my pickup, so I'm going to sell it and buy a Jeep Wrangler or CJ-7. Wahoo!
*We've decided to decorate the baby's room in farm stuff. My brother is a very talented artist, so I want him to come over and paint a barn and some tractors and some farm animals on a wall in the nursery. Whaddya think?
*We still haven't come up with a name for our son. I'm predicting we will decide in the first few moments of his life outside of the womb. AGH!!
*Is it just me, or do those membership cards at grocery stores make you uncomfortable. I don't like the idea of them tracking my purchases. I'm anti-Big Brother. I would rather pay more for my groceries than give in to that invasion of privacy. For the record, I have NEVER signed up for one of those, and I never will.
*My free 3 months of movie channels on DirecTV is about to expire...I'm somewhat depressed over that.
*What is the deal with modern day cartoons? Every single one of them is about people and their lives with all of this drama and stuff...or they're about fighting the bad guys in outer space...or the characters speak rudely enough that you don't want your young children watching them. Whatever happened to the good ol' cartoons? As I was watching Tom & Jerry the other night with my kids, I realized how incredibly genius that cartoon is! The central theme is very simply...comedy! You don't hear words and you don't have to try to figure out who is who. It's a simple game of cat and mouse with perpetual mishaps, one right after the other. Colorful and very funny. But why do kids watch cartoons more than adults? And why do most of today's cartoons seem to be adult cartoons? I think adults see things from a conceptual basis and kids see all the details. Think about it. When you read a child a book, you see a nice picture and when you finish the words, you just turn the page and look for more words, not paying much attention to the pictures. However, when you try to turn the page, the child is still fascinated by the details in the picture. We just see an overall picture, but the child is fascinated by the tiny raindrops on the grass and the prickly caterpillar on the leaf. Maybe we think the old concept of cat-and-mouse chasing is boring, so we think we have to create a new cartoon that is more advanced, but what we end up with is a cartoon that doesn't hold the attention of our children. There are some good modern-day cartoons and Disney movies (cartoons), but MOST of teh time when my children watch one of these, they must also have toys to play with to help keep them stimulated. However, when I watch Tom & Jerry with my kids, their eyes are glued to the TV, they don't blink, and they laugh every few seconds. It is awesome! I think I will introduce them to the Looney Tunes! Does any of this make sense or am I just rambling? The next time you watch a cartoon, try to imagine how a child sees it, and see if you don't find more humor in it!

Does Anyone Still Read This?

This will be an interesting Thursday. Survivor is over...Apprentice is over...Jenn and the girls (and boy) will be in Wichita Falls...what ever will I do? I dunno...I'll probably work until 8 or 8:30 and then come home and watch some tv. I've recorded 10-15 movies on TIVO that I haven't watched yet, so maybe I'll watch a movie. I'm ready for the 3 day weekend coming up. We are anticipating that our neighborhood swimming pool will open this weekend! I sure hope so! We will probably spend the entire summer there. At least then we'll feel like we're getting some value from our homeowners' association dues! I hate to think the administrator spends all that money on Christmas gifts for her family at the end of the year! HA! I find it interesting that we paid $250 in our closing costs for membership dues, but we haven't heard ANYTHING from our homeowners' association! Hmmm...oh well. As long as we can figure out the code for the swimming pool lock, I could care less. :)

So how do you guys feel about the markets? Do you pay much attention to what's going on? Well, I'm bullish on the market, and I think that despite the Fed's attempt to control our economic growth, and because energy prices have shown some resistance finally, unemployment numbers are good, home construction/purchasing is GREAT, commodities as a whole are improving, inflation fears have subsided, and the markets are starting to react less to negative economic indicators...PLUS the fact that the Dow has finally broken through its resistance level...I think we are staged for a period of growth in equities. The only thing that the bears (market pessimists) can argue is that the Fed's monetary policy (raising rates) is flattening the yield curve, which is historically the most accurate prediction of a near term recession. I'm a little confused by that, but I think there's enough strength in the economy and markets to correct that. If you've studied the business cycle, then you know we are at the base of an expansion, and historically, financials and technology stocks have performed well in this stage...so if you've had cash sitting on the sidelines and you haven't invested it in equities yet - NOW IS THE TIME!! Despite the bears' speculation, there's a LOT of signs pointing toward an uptrend in the stock market...so put your money to work!

On a lighter note...has anyone seen Sandlot 2 yet?

Checking In...

Hey! Just a quick blog since it's been so long. We're doing pretty good here. I think the air is worse down here or something because we've all had more sinus/allergy issues in the last 2 months. I've also had truck issues. After 3 upper radiator hoses, a failed attempt to repair a radiator crack with JB Weld, and hopefully a successful radiator repair (finally), I will have saved at LEAST $200 I was not expecting to have to spend anyway. So now the question...do I get rid of my pickup while it's still running? If so, do I go for the Jeep I've always wanted and never had? I told my wife we could buy a brand new one, and then I could give it to my son (that sounds cool, huh!) in 16 years! But then she reminded me that a new Jeep comes with a new payment.
Know what I'm sick of? The NBA playoffs. I have listened to the Ticket (sports talk radio) every minute I have been in my truck, but all they talk about now is basketball, and it is SUCH a beating. I can't wait for the season to be over.
Friday night Jennifer and I went to eat at Razzoo's in downtown Ft. Worth and then went to Four Day Weekend, an improv comedy club in the old Caravan of Dreams. It was HILARIOUS!! I highly recommend it to anyone! Afterwards, we got some homemade ice cream at the Marble Slab and strolled through Sundance Square. I love that place!! Especially on Friday nights...it comes alive. Saturday we went to the Stockyards with my parents and had a fun time! Karissa rode the mechanical bull, and Cara and Karissa both had their picture made on a longhorn!! Sunday we had a good Mother's Day hanging out with the extended family.
Saturday night I went to see "Kingdom of Heaven" with my dad. I thought it was a pretty good movie, but I have never seen a bad epic adventure. I'm not sure about the accuracy of the movie...I think the setting and the time period was accurate, and the Muslims really did take over Jerusalem, but I doubt the story line was accurate. One thing it did was reignite my hatred for Arabs. I know, thats a blanket statement...maybe it's more Muslim terrorists than Arabs, I don't know.

Life Keeps Getting Better

* Watching, playing, coaching (?) football, baseball, hockey, etc...
* Camping, fishing, hunting, etc...
* Teaching lessons on what it means to be a man...
* Having someone else in the house that better understands your gender...
* Coaching how to pee on a tree for the first time...
* Hearing a voice imitate explosions and gunshots instead of conversation with toys...

These are only a few of the wonderful things I will get to experience now that I will finally have a son!! The sonogram was today and the tech was 100% certain that it's a boy!! He showed us the "stem on the apple", thus providing evidence of his complete and total certainty...and while I am skeptical by nature, I was also completely convinced that it's a boy!! WAHOO!!! It is such an awesome feeling to finally have a boy on the way! We're so excited!! This is very new for us, and the beginning of a fun adventure! We know all too well what it's like to have little girls, so it will be fun to add a boy to the mix. Today was literally one of the best days of my life!! Thank God for accidents...or surprises! Now...everyone post your ideas for a name! I will go ahead and announce that we will not name our son a cutesy, trendy name, so you can feel free to leave out those names. :) Any other ideas would be welcomed!! Examples of what I consider cutesy and trendy are (hopefully this won't offend anyone) Dylan, Tristan, Hunter, you get the idea. I like strong and full names like Alexander, William, Michael, Zachary, etc. Jennifer likes Caleb and Cameron. Go ahead - post your ideas!!

Life Is Good

OK Jeff, I'll update my blog. Somehow, I have been cured of my internet addiction. I spend very little time online anymore. Once the kiddos go to bed, I'm either watching DirecTV, playing with TiVo, or working. I can log in to my computer at work from home, so I've been doing some work from home at night. I've actually had a night or two recently where as I was getting in bed, I realized I had not even checked my email that day!

We had another great weekend! Saturday morning, we chatted with our friends in Milan, Italy, and let the girls act silly on our webcam for Laura and Marco to see. It's fun! You should get a webcam if you don't have one. After we finished chatting, we all went to the Water Gardens in downtown Ft. Worth. The main areas were turned off, and the part where you can walk down inside was fenced off and closed. Last year, a few people fell into the little pool at the bottom, and because it was deeper than it was supposed to be, the pumps sucked them down and they drowned. I did not know about this before we went. Very tragic and unfortunate...the thought of drowning makes me cringe. Anyway, after that, we walked down Main street, but first we saw some sort of pep rally in front of the Tarrant County Convention Center, so we stopped to check it out. There was a high school band playing and some cheerleaders were performing. I asked a guy what they were doing and he said it was to honor some of the local basketball teams...the girls' teams of TCU, FW Dunbar, and somewhere else. The girls enjoyed watching that for a little while but then we headed down Main Street. Have I mentioned before how much I love downtown Ft. Worth?? We drove down to the other end of the courthouse and walked around in Heritage Park. It's pretty nice. There are fountains and walkways that lets you look out over the "mighty" Trinity River. On our way home, we stopped at the Stockyards and walked around for over an hour. It was pretty cool! The girls got to see some longhorns up close and personal, as well as a horse with a real cowgirl riding it! :) It was a fun and relaxing day...I'm very happy in Fort Worth. We went to church again Sunday and enjoyed it. We met more people and signed up for small groups. I'm optimistic that we will be "plugged in" in no time at all! In Sunday School, we sat by the girl who Jenn said reminded her of Alyssa and Kelly. I didn't pay mucha ttention to her previously...but WOW!! It is so strange...imagine taking a picture of Alyssa and a picture of Kelly, and then morphing them together.

We have our first baby doctor appointment tomorrow with our new doctor in Ft. Worth. We expect her to schedule a sonogram pretty soon. We'll keep you posted! Pray for a boy!! Jenn is finally feeling better for the most part.

Work is going well. It is still pretty stressful trying to get everything done before the market closes each day. On top of all the daily work that must be done every day, I am trying to revamp the policies and procedures in operations and shift some of the duties around in an attempt to increase the efficiency of our operations team. It's a big chore, but I wouldn't trade it for anything right now! Interestingly enough though...I noticed a call on the caller ID from Bass Enterprises the other day. Oh well...I'm not interested! :)

What a Great Weekend!

Well, after my bout with strep throat and my family's various illnesses, everyone finally seems to be healthy. We had a very good weekend! Saturday morning, after the DirectTV guy finished installing the right face plates, surge protector, running a new phone line through the wall to the bedroom, and breaking our entertainment center (whole other story), we decided to spend the day at the Fort Worth Zoo. I normally only enjoy the zoo for about 30 minutes, but I actually had a good time the entire time we were there. Karissa's favorite is the Komodo dragon, Cara's is the lion, and Kylie's is anything but the big gorilla. My favorite has always been the Bengal tiger, and I think Jenn's is the Lemon Chill - just kidding! I looked, but I never saw a liger (Napolean Dynamite). We had a good time, and we thought about buying a season pass. Four trips and it's paid for!

Saturday night was a night I had been anticipating for over a week. Do you know what the Ultimate Fighting Championship is? My brother and I used to watch it in the early-mid nineties when it was brand new. Basically, two fighters are put in an octagon cage, and they fight whatever style they want until someone either gets knocked out, gets their arm/leg broke, or "taps out" from a submission hold that will break a limb if they don't tap out. Saturday night was a live event, a very first for the UFC. The main event of the evening was a new and rising UFC star taking on one of the greatest legends in the UFC, Ken Shamrock, who has been fighting since the very first UFC in 1993...he was beat by Royce Gracie. The other two bouts were championships from the realith TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV. It was sooo awesome!! Much to my surprise, Ken Shamrock actually lost by TKO in the first round to this new guy. I could not believe it!! Anyway, I love the UFC and it was great to get to see a live UFC event. Next Saturday night, my man Chuck Liddell gets a rematch against the current light heavyweight fighter, Randy Couture for the title. It's only on Pay-Per-View, but I may be spending the money on this one!!

This morning we went to Christ Chapel Bible Church in Ft. Worth, which was highly recommended by our two pastors at Grace Church in Wichita Falls. They went to Dallas Theological Seminary with the pastor of this church in Ft. Worth. The morning went perfectly well! We actually left the house on time, made it to church, found where to drop off the girls - who all three went in to their classes without a fuss - and then we made it to the sanctuary for the "acoustic" service. They have other services that are more traditional. The music was incredible!! Very powerful, strong power chords being played on a wide open 12-string guitar (so it sounded anyway), bass guitar, piano, talented drummer, a violin player (interesting), and a man and woman who could sing very, very well! Ya know, I played the strings patch on the synthesizer at Grace Church, but the sound guys never mixed it right, so the strings were always too soft. Well, this morning, that single violin player added so much depth and richness to the sound, it was awesome!! I'm going to recommend it to Grace's worship team! You just can't beat a well balanced acoustical mix! The songs were fresh and very worshipful too. Jenn and I both loved it! Dr. Ted Kitchens is the pastor, and though he may be more of a storyteller than I like, his teaching was interesting. After the service, we went across the street to where our Sunday School class was. I was amazed at how welcoming and inviting the people were. There were about 30 people there, and probably at least half of them introduced themselves to us and talked for a few minutes. They made us instantly feel welcome. The class is for young marrieds, and my guess is that most people were late 20s and early 30s, and only 2 couples did not have children! How perfect for us is that?! Then the guy who was teaching is about to graduate from seminary, so he dug pretty deep in the bible, which is exactly what I love! Jenn really liked it a lot too! So we're going to signup for a small group, and Jenn already signed up for the MOM's group. I think we found a church home! It was funny in Sunday School...meeting all these new people...several of the people reminded me of people from Grace Church. We found people who looked like Heather Zauner, Pete Vitt, John Lane, and Jennifer thought this one chick was a mixed-breed of Kelly Trimble and Alyssa Turner! HA! Can you imagine that?!

The rest of Sunday afternoon was spent resting (the girls) and working around the house. I cleaned the van inside, outside, and everywhere. Then I turned the sprinkler system on for a few minutes to wet the grass, and got out my spreader and put some weed killer/grass fertilizer on the yard. Ahhh...I've never had that feeling before...taking care of a house that actually belongs to me! How cool is that! It rained a little bit this evening, and the girls ran out to play in the rain. I took some cool pics of a rainbow behind our house, as you can see below. Have a great week!

New Level of Maturity In a Small World

I will admit something about myself I'm not proud of that I know other people feel the same way. Whenever I see a retarded person of any sort, I just want to avoid them and not make eye contact with them. Again, I'm not proud of this, but facts are facts. Well, several months ago, I was brought to tears while watching the movie, "Radio." It didn't make me want to change professions and become a special education teacher or anything, but it forced me (through media, albeit) to connect with a retarded person, and it was very moving. A month or two after watching this, Jenn and I went to the Rider football playoff game in Denton against Aledo, and when the Aledo team entered the field, a student in a wheelchair followed them out onto the field. I thought that was pretty cool since that's what "Radio" did, and still does to this day, though he's not confined to a wheelchair. Well, yesterday as I'm walking Karissa into her new school, a little boy about 8 or 9 who appears to have downs syndrome was greeting everyone at the door. He was such a happy kid, and it was very obvious that the students loved him. So as we arrive at the door, he very respectfully says to me "You look very nice, sir." Im wearing a suit and tie. I kindly thanked him and didn't think much of it as I raced down the hall with Karissa trying to beat the tardy bell. As I'm leaving, I walk out the door, and he's still there, and he reaches out his hand for me to shake and says again "Sir, you look very nice!" So, I went against all my previous tendencies to ignore, avoid, and not make eye contact with this little guy, and I shook his hand, smiled intently at him and said "Well thank you sir, you have a nice day." Walking to my truck, I could hear other people exchanging very friendly greetings with this boy, and I must admit, I was somewhat moved. So this morning as I walk Karissa to the front door, I see him greeting everyone at the door again. I smile when he sees me, because with a wide-eyed grin he says "Wow! That's a cool outfit!" I thank him and tell him he has some pretty cool sunglasses on. After dropping Karissa off at her class, I head back to the front door and there is "Nick". He tells me again I have a cool outfit, and he shows me his shirt to see if I like it. I tell him I think it's a cool shirt, hold out my hand for him to give me a five, and tell him to take care. As I'm pulling out in my truck, I see that he has found a dirty diaper that has fallen (hopefully on accident) out of someone's car...he picks up and starts saying EWWWWW while he holds his nose, still holding on to the diaper with the other hand. It was hilarious! I look forward to seeing him again tomorrow.

Being in such good spirits after leaving school, I stop by the donut shop before leaving Saginaw, and I get 2 dozen donuts to take to work for my coworkers and I. Needless to say, they were all gone by 3pm, and it felt good to have everyone thank me for bringing them! I know what you're thinking...you think I was kissing up for losing $100 of the companies' money! HA!

I went to the bank today after the market closed to deposit my paycheck. It was a very enjoyable walk, as the weather was beautiful, and the streets were buzzing with activity. I love downtown Ft. Worth!! So as I hand my check and deposit slip to the teller, I notice another girl beside her, and she says to me, "I had to come over here to be nosy...did you just move to Willow Vista?" Somewhat perplexed, I say, "Yes...why?" She's our neighbor!! HA! WOW! Small world! She recognized me when I walked in the door, so she had to see if I was her neighbor! Her and her family just moved to our block recently, but they live several houses down. Her and her husband have an 11yr old girl and a 7yr old boy. I told her maybe Karissa and her 7yr old could play. She said yeah, and maybe we'll have a babysitter in a few years! Anyway, we talked for a few minutes and as I was leaving the bank I thanked her for being nosy! HA! That would be cool if we get to know them!

We didn't watch Survivor or Apprentice tonight, but have no fear! I Tivo'd them! WAHOO! I even set it up to record those shows every week...and it will even record them if they change days or times! TIVO ROCKS!! Well, have a happy April Fool's Day!

Update From Saginaw

OK, I'm finally updating this thing because Jeff told me he'd pay me big money to change it. I have not thought out any elaborate prose, I will simply type for a few minutes.

Work is going very well! I love what I do! It is very stressful right now because we have acquired so many assets under management. There is a lot of trading going on because we have to allocate the new clients' assets, but with the markets a little fuzzy, and no general trend established, we're easing the money in on an incremental basis...which translates to more work on the trading side. In fact, all I did today (in between the small issues that popped up in operations) was trade. It is very stressful at times when there are a lot of trades to be executed, and not enough time before the markets close. I had an unfortunate experience today. Last Thursday we made some pretty big exchanges, but amongst the chaos, we didn't get them uploaded by 3pm, so we had to upload them yesterday. Well, I reallocated about 30 accounts today that were off target, but I failed to realize that I had reallocated 2 of them last Thursday, so the trades were executed twice. To make a long story short, I had to cancel out some of the trades, and I cost the company about $100. That is a very small amount in comparison to other trading errors that have occurred, but I still beat myself up over it. I tucked my tail between my legs, went in to Byron's office (the owner) and explained to him the problem, how and why it happened, and what I will do to prevent it from happening in the future. As expected, he was very cool about it, and was pleased with how I handled the small error in a very serious manner. What a cool boss! Anyway, this was a great example of how stressful the job can be under big time constraints. An error on 2 accounts is not too threatening, but an error that effects 400 accounts could be very damaging to the company. And, as Director of Operations, it falls on my shoulders to make sure this never happens. As stressful as I may make it sound...it's really not too bad, as long as the procedures are followed and you don't get in too big of a hurry. It is a lot of responsibility, and I LOVE IT!!

The house is awesome! It's noticably bigger than our house in Wichita Falls. In fact, I told Jenn tonight that you have to walk a lot more in this house going from room to room! HA! We're slowly getting settled in. We got DirectTV a few days ago, and I love it! It came with a free dual receiver TIVO, and that is way cool! DirectTV is cheaper than cable, so it was an easy decision. I look forward to buying a new grill this weekend so we can cookout on our covered patio while the kids play in the backyard. Our backyard gets the morning sun, so in the evenings there is plenty of shade back there. No trees though...I guess that comes with the territory of buying a new house. At least I won't have leaves to rake this fall!

Jennifer has been very sick lately due to her pregnancy, but just a couple of days ago she started feeling a lot better! She's beginning her 2nd trimester. We haven't found a new doctor down here yet, but she's not scheduled to go back until around the end of April. She'll probably find one by the end of this week. We should be having a sonogram in the next month or so. Kylie was sick for about a week, running fever and stuff. Cara was sick for several days, then got better, but then got a bacterial infection in her eyes, and started running fever again, so now she's on an antibiotic. So, it's been difficult to establish a routine so far, but hopefully in the next few days everyone will be healthy. Karissa has not been sick, thank goodness, but she got her toe jammed in a bicycle she was riding barefoot, and had to get 6 stitches!! Her 10 days were up yesterday, so I removed the stitches last night for her...which she thoroughly enjoyed! HA! She started school today, and hated it. She said they didn't have music class or PE, and she had homework!! She learned at her old school that you only have homework if you don't finish your work in class. Well, today at her new school, she was assigned homework, so she thought she was getting in trouble. She also said a mean boy stepped on her toe and laughed at her. They eat lunch at 10:30 and don't have any snacks or anything until she gets out at 3pm! She had snacks at her old school twice a day!! She didn't get to play at the "centers" and they don't get to sit on a "rug" for story time. She also doesn't like her table partner, but she hasn't said why. :) She will adjust to her new school in due time. I don't think I will ever like public schools, mostly due to the stupid TAKS test. I have a feeling my mouth will get me in trouble when my kids are old enough to be involved in all that crap. I won't bore you, but here's what I think about the TAKS. The idea of having a standardized test for all schools to compare each other with is a great idea, so we all know how each school compares to our entire education system, and the strong schools can continue to foster their success, and the weaker schools can adjust their programs to provide the children with a higher quality of education. However, the underlying incentive structure is damaging the most important element of our education system...and that is the quality of education our children are receiving. Our teachers are pressured into teaching the kids how to score higher on the TAKS, and are sacrificing education out of fear of losing their jobs. You can't put all the blame on the teachers, because they need their job just as bad as you and I. That is why the incentive structure is what is corrupt, in my opinion. Don't link school funding to TAKS scores, or at least not as much as it is now. I could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up with this: The current system is preparing high school graduates to go out in the real world and do really well at multiple choice exams...but they are lacking in problem solving and critical thinking skills (this is obvious anytime you ask for help in any retail establishment). Just teach the subjects and they will naturally score well on the TAKS because they actually know the material. Don't hand out TAKS practice exams and fool yourself into thinking you are teaching something! Anyway...this makes my blood boil, and when my kids are of "TAKS age", I will not be able to keep my mouth shut. Maybe I will lead a movement against it or something! HA!

WOW! I only intended on typing for a few minutes. I better end now before I think of something else to blab about.

Quarterbacks, FBI, and Sports Coats

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! Why you ask? I'll tell you. Yeah, it was a great day on the new job, a beautiful day outside in beautiful downtown Ft. Worth, but what topped the day off for me was a little piece of news I read before leaving work tonight. Brett Favre is returning next year!! WAHOO! There was a possibility that he was going to retire, but since his wife is doing very well and is well on the road to recovery after a bout with cancer, he has decided to return next year and maybe even beyond that!! I'm relieved his wife is winning her battle, happy that she wants Brett to keep playing, and ecstatic about my hopes of Brett leading the Packers to a Super Bowl next year!! True, the Dallas Cowboys are my favorite team, but they will not be Super Bowl contenders this year, despite some decent offseason moves so far. OK, enough about football.

The job is genuinely going great! It is quite a new experience taking on a supervisory role. I've always been pretty independent and have completed all of my work on my own, without asking for help...but I must learn the fine art of delegating now. I've always been a team player, and I always have the team concept in mind, but I've always been the running back. Now I must shift positions on the team and become the quarterback. The operations department is full of hard-working, internally motivated people, so I feel pretty good about managing these people. It will be a transition, but I'm confident I will succeed, thanks to the great support of the Operations team!

The house is coming along. They have knocked out the wall in the garage and installed a garage door! The workers are supposed to be finished up with everything tomorrow...but I went by there tonight and there seems to be quite a bit of work remaining. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I'm tentatively scheduled to meet the builder and real estate agent at the house next Tuesday for the final walk-through. The plan is to close towards the end of next week and move in Saturday the 19th. Any help on either end would be GREATLY appreciated!

Something kinda funny happened today at work. I received a call from the FBI this morning saying he wanted to interview me regarding a friend of mine as part of a background check. It sounded a little shady at first just because I had no way of knowing if he was legitimately with the FBI or not. I said "Sir, I've been here for a week and a half - how did you know how to get in touch with me here?" He kinda laughed and said "I AM the FBI." HAHAHA!! It was funny. Then he said he got my work number from my wife and he said "but I won't tell you how I got your home number." HA! He was pretty cool. Anyway, he wanted to meet with me in person, so I told him I would check my schedule and call him back. Then I made a few phone calls. I called Jeff Trimble (since he is good friends with the guy the FBI was referring to) and left a message, but then I remembered Trimble doesn't talk on the phone unless he's held at gunpoint, so I figured he wouldn't call me back...so I called Lance and found out that he is the one who gave the FBI my name. So, being satisfied that it was legitimate, I called the FBI guy back and setup an appointment. So I warned Byron (my employer) and a few coworkers near the front door that the FBI was coming, but don't be alarmed. HA! So shortly after 5pm, the FBI (that sounds cool) shows up and I greet him and we go back to the plush conference room for about a 30 minute interview. Fortunately, this friend of mine is a great guy, of high integrity, and someone I respect a lot, so it was easy for me to be very complimentary and give him a very good reference. Best wishes to my friend and good luck in your endeavor!

I just LOVE listening to the Ticket down here. That's a really cool sports talk radio show, for those of you who don't know. The hosts were all making fun of Greg-o, one of the other hosts, and telling him he's been gaying out on them by wearing his new blouses to work. HA! They were making fun of his new warddrobe. Then they started teasing him about how he always tucks EVERYTHING in...and Corby said he even tucks in his sports coat! HA! The mental image just killed me and I laughed so hard a tear came to my eye! Well, I hope everyone is doing well. Jenn, I miss you and the girls and I can't wait to get all of us moved down here!! Hope you're feeling better!

First Day of Work

I was out the door at 8am and on my way to work. As I drank my Slim-Fast (doesn't work) and drove down Main Street toward downtown, I reminisced about how I used to make the same drive 6 years ago. Past the Meacham airport, through "little Mexico", the stockyards, more little Mexico, tattoo shops(with layaway!), across the bridge, over the river and through the woods...ok, not that last part. I make my way through downtown to my building, pull into the parking garage, place my pickup in park, take a ticket from the attendant, and walk inside the building while they go park my pickup! COOL! I spent the first 2-3 hours receiving a brain dump from James (the guy I'm replacing), learning how much GIM has changed in 6 years. Then I moved to a computer with the lady who does the new accounts processing. After I thought I had a grasp on how to process new accounts, I took a stack of about 15 new accounts and proceeded to set them up in our system. By 12:40pm I still had not seen anyone get lunch, so I HAD to say something since my Slim Fast ran out 3 hours ago. So in my true otter fashion, I stood up, looked around, and said "Does anyone eat lunch around here?" I got a few laughs, but most importantly, a date to lunch at Mi Cocino's with James and Trey (the owner's son who works part time). I was told that I would be frowned upon if I did not get the #7, so the #7 it was. It was nice to get outdoors and walk the streets of downtown (I love it!) during lunch. Back at the office I continued where I left off until 5pm snuck up on me. I actually felt very productive! They are so swamped in operations right now, so it felt good to be able to help them catch up a little with the new accounts on my first day! I went in to James' office and talked for about 30 minutes, then we both took off. We walked down the hall, out the doors, and handed a valet attendant our tickets, and 2-3 minutes later, there were our vehicles! How cool is that! I left downtown and went to Ridgmar mall to look for some shoes and one more suit. I found some pretty hip flat toe'd dress shoes, but I couldn't find a suit I liked that was in my price range, so tomorrow after work I will probably go to Men's Wearhouse to see what I can find. Tomorrow at work I will start executing some trades for several accounts, so that will be fun. I was very pleased with my first day, and I really think this going to be an awesome job! I love it! It is sooo nice to be back in the industry. I think I may actually look forward to going to work! No more internet surfing or personal emailing or blogging at work though. The SEC is very strict on investment firms, and the IT manager told me today that she has to keep a copy of every single email that comes in and out of the office. WOW! That may be a culture shock for me at first, but I think I will stay so busy I won't even think about it.

I watched part of The Amazing Race tonight, mostly because Rob and Amber from Survivor are in it. It was kind of fun to watch, but I must admit, I did more browsing on this laptop than paying attention to the 2nd hour of the show.

Jeff, I just saw that Dexter Coakley was released...what's up with that?!?

Twas the Night Before My New Job

It seems like this blog thing has either gotten old or people just don't post comments. Even the other 3-4 blogs I read don't have as much commenting as they used to. In my opinion, that's what is fun and addicting about this. So again, don't be a blog voyeur...post a comment! :)

I'm sitting here in Saginaw, the night before my first day on my new job. Normally, I'd be a little nervous, but I'm not now. Probably because I've worked there before, so I know what to expect. My role will be different, but the environment is still pretty similar. Everyone asks, "So what will you be doing?" Well, it's a little difficult to fully explain if you're not familiar with what "money managers" do, but I'll try to simplify it. GIM (Green Investment Management) markets their services to brokers across the country. These brokers generally offer full service investing to their clients...everything from small cash accounts to indivdual stocks to bonds to mutual funds, etc. However, you've heard the old saying "Don't put all your eggs into one basket", right? Well, when a client has a significant amount of money, it is essential that they diversify, but they don't have the knowledge, time, and/or desire to do so, so they hire a money manager. Money managers, with respect to the industry terminology, are not brokers, and likewise, brokers are not money managers. So brokers defer these larger accounts to money managers, who then diversifies the client's money and watches it on a daily basis. The money manager earns a fee, let's say 2% of the account balance, and the broker earns a smaller percentage, say 1%. So the client effectively pays 3% for the money managers' services. GIM has a unique style of management. Not only does GIM employ an asset allocation strategy, they integrate an active style of management, commonly refrred to as "market timing." Byron Green, the owner of the firm, has developed a sophisticated economic model that forecasts the direction of the economy. As he sees definite trends forming, he moves in and out of the market to take advantage of various opportunities in the market. For example, if his model signals an upturn in equities (or stocks), then he will sell a percentage of bonds among the various allocations and buy a healthier position in equities. The actual investments are almost exclusively mutual funds. If you have a long time horizon, and you're comfortable with a little more risk and fluctuations in your portfolio, then you may have a "growth" asset allocation, which may consist of 85% equities and 15% bonds/cash. The 85% equities may be made up of 4-5 different mutual funds, making sure there is no duplication of holdings within each mutual fund. OK, I just realized I'm babbling and you're probably about to fall asleep. So in short, GIM is an active asset allocation money manager. My role as Director of Operations is to ensure that all of the operations of the business are completed in an acceptable manner. Why couldn't I just leave it at that?!

Well, the commuting has begun. I am staying my aunt and uncle's house now, and will during the weekdays, and then I will go back to my family in Wichita Falls on the weekends. We are scheduled to close on our house around March 16th (our 9 year anniversary!), so hopefully we'll only have to do this for 2-3 weeks. We had the house inspection Saturday, and the appraisal should be completed tomorrow. HOpefully the builder will begin reconverting the garage and some other projects this week! I'll post some more pics of the house in a day or two. But now I will go to bed and get a good 6 hours of sleep before my first day on the new job. I'll try to post more often to let you know how the new job is going.