Birfdays

This year marked the first time in...6 or 7 years I worked on my birthday. It had been a habit to always take my birthday off. But with me being 2 months into a new job and needing to save up vacation time for my wedding, it didn't happen this year. If you can do it, I enthusiastically recommend taking your birthday off from work. Even if you do absolutely nothing, it's still better than working. I've spent some of my past birthday days off watching Stanley Cup playoffs, going to the beach, getting a tattoo, watching a movie by myself and visiting the Kevin & Bean show.

Perhaps next year I'll finally get around to taking those surf lessons.

Bolivia = not so smart

This has been making its rounds across the interwebs, but apparently a Bolivian newscast thought this footage was from the crash of Air France Flight 447...it's from LOST. *sigh* Are people that eager to get breaking news that they don't bother to verify anything these days?

There's also an email going around (that my fiancee's Dad forwarded to her) with images from this scene of LOST and saying that a memory stick was recovered from the wreckage. Riiiiiight...because technology loves saltwater.

Staff Meetings

Ever since getting laid off from the bad place, I work in fear of getting one of those "mandatory staff meeting" emails. Nothing makes my stomach more uncomfortable. Take for instance, Monday morning. I came in to work early, opened up my email and there was a message from one of the managers that came in late Friday evening - it said "staff meeting on Monday at 10am." Grrrrrreat - now I have 2 hours to worry.

10am rolls around and we have said staff meeting...about time off and the upcoming holiday. Wow. I mean, WOW. Couldn't you have sent a frickin' email about that?! In this economic climate, couldn't you have said "Monday meeting about the holiday"? Is it too much to clue people in - especially one who's 2 weeks away from getting health care and is in fear of getting laid off again?

Superpowers?

Sadly, I think the superpowers I've long been awaiting have finally developed. You would think I'd be excited but I recently learned I have the ability to nap for at least 10 minutes through any sound. I slept while my 2-year old nephew ran around and made noise in the very same room. And last week, I napped in my car with the windows open while they were running generators and testing chainsaw sharpeners nonstop. *sigh* I don't see how this ability will be helpful for mankind.

Favorite Comic Fridays - Lou Santini and Ken Napzok

Sure, I know him personally and play softball with him, but Lou Santini is one of my favorite comics. And! He's playing this weekend in downtown Los Angeles, so you get a Favorite Comic Fridays post one day early. Lou was the host at my first comedy show and he's an all around great guy. I'd be a fan of his clever comedy even if I saw him randomly. We're going to check out one of his shows this weekend - probably the Saturday show. They're a bit long, but please enjoy these clips to whet your appetite!

Lou Santini Standup Demo


As a bonus this weekend, my other comedian friend I would be a fan of regardless, Ken Napzok is opening up!

Crazy Hair Kenny

Twitter Than Ezra

I hate to mention Twitter for a third time on my blog, but Better Than Ezra is actually doing something really cool with their Twitter page. Around 5pm on the day of a show, they tweet the location / photo of some backstage passes they've hidden near the venue. One was hidden behind an ATM near the House of Blues in New Orleans, and another was taped to a parking sign at a hotel in Tulsa.

I think it's a very cool interactive thing for the fans. A little Amazing Race. When they come out here in August or September, I might have to have someone log onto Twitter at 5pm and tell me where to go. Either that or spend $300 on a iPhone. Any volunteers?

Catholic Engaged Encounter Pt. 2

You socialize with other couples during meal times and breaks but we didn't expect to make any new friends out of this weekend. Everyone was nice but ultimately, you're there to focus on your relationship and not to make new ones.

The majority of couples were Catholic or some form of Christian. There was discussion about God and faith but I'd say it was not preachy. I would recommend this retreat to anyone interested in building/improving a strong foundation for their marriage regardless of faith. Just listen to this for a reason why - at the conclusion of the weekend, one couple wanted to share their story. They said they had been fighting for most of the week and hadn't spoken to each other on the 3-hour drive up to the retreat. They weren't even sure if they wanted to go at all, not believing this weekend would change anything. But on Sunday afternoon, they were beaming with happiness and said it felt like each had their fiancee back.

I don't mean to make it sound like the weekend is all sappy crying and lovey dovey - there were quite a few hysterical moments over the two days, both between ourselves and with other couples. It's not all heavy stuff.

With divorce rates on the rise, it's amazing to think investing one weekend can make you stronger as you enter marriage. As the tagline on the website states - a wedding is one day, a marriage is a lifetime. Check out the Engaged Encounters website for more information and please help spread the word to those you think might be interested.

My fiancee and I were really into the weekend and overall experience. We want to do anything we can to help curb future divorce and build stronger relationships, so we signed up to volunteer on future retreats! Go CEE!

Catholic Engaged Encounter Pt. 1

My fiancee and I recently went on a Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend. Its goal is to make the couple better prepared for the lifelong commitment of marriage through discussions and exercises. Attendance is required if you want to get married in a Catholic church, but we thought it would be a good idea anyway - just to make certain we haven't skipped or buried any issues over the years.

We've been very open and honest with one another so I didn't think this retreat would unearth anything major. We found some little things we addressed and know we need to work on, but I now feel 101% confident I've chosen the right person to marry. It was an emotional weekend for us and even moreso for some of the other 40 couples in attendance.

The retreat was led by two older couples who would read from papers they'd prepared. Some of these felt really long and dry - they write them ahead of time so they won't get sidetracked telling a story. If it's written out and read, they know exactly what to cover and how long it will take. I felt this took some of the emotion out of it but I do understand the reasoning behind it.

After each topic presentation, couples would split up and answer questions in our workbooks. Then we met up and discussed our answers. The majority of the weekend was this - listen, write, share; listen, write, share. While it gets repetitive, I think it works because you're given time alone to think and collect your thoughts before talking with your partner. If you don't finish, or if something turns into a bigger issue than you'd realized, then you can come back to it later.

I overheard some guys talking in our dorm room about how good the weekend was for them. They admitted they were avoiding some issues as a couple, and there's only so many times you can put it off.

We had a group discussion with anonymously submitted questions that was intense for everyone. I thought some of them might be silly questions or they would just be too generic. But the ones shared were very honest and personal problems in need of advice on a couple's specific problem. Some couples even stood up and expanded on their questions, and got great input on tough situations.

Back tomorrow with the second half of this post.

'90s Memories - Failure

"Stuck on You" by Failure



Greatness.

Do It Again

When talking with fiancee the other day, I said even at my thirtywonderful years of age, I can tell some of my ships have sailed. She thought this was depressing and said I should never give up on something I wanted to achieve. My response was this isn't depressing because ultimately, I'm happy with my life and decisions I've made. I have a beautiful fiancee I can't wait to marry, a great family and friends I wouldn't trade for a crate of apples.

Still, I was thinking about it. Given a clean bill of health and a chance to do my career path over again, there are a few options I think would be fun to attempt:

- President. Why the hell not go for the biggest job there is. If Dubya could be elected twice, anything is possible. There's something cool about a politician that works his way up from local city councils to Mayor to Senator to President. Plus, seeing Obama in office and his commitment to changing things is inspiring. America has been around for over 200 years, and only 40 or so dudes have held this job. That would be cool to have your name on the list.

- Astronaut. If my brain had any capacity for science, this would have been fun. Again, the number of people with outer space travel on their resumes isn't that high, so it would be cool if I could do that, too. I don't reallly know what NASA does anymore besides send satellites up and occasional shuttle missions.

- Guidance counselor. This was actually something I seriously considered after getting laid off. Going back to school for this would have taken way too long for my patience level, and would have required well over 3 years to get the proper psychology degree(s). I talked to my guidance counselor 2 or 3 times in high school, and I always thought this was a way overlooked job. Especially nowadays, I think kids could use someone cool and easy to talk to more than ever. Unfortunately, I never considered a career path in psychology and now it's too late.

- Hollywood mogul. I think it would be fun to start off as some crappy production assistant and get to see all of this behind-the-scenes stuff. This occured to me when I saw The Price is Right and these 19-year old kids were directing people where to go. I thought to myself, "That looks like a crappy job...but they get to work on the set of TPIR every day." Fortunately, my parents had more ambition in mind for me than to toil away as a PA hoping to catch a break somewhere along the way. I like to think I'm good at networking and bullshitting with people so I think I could be good at that.

Perhaps in another lifetime. If I never get to be President, I'm okay with that. Like I said, I'm happy with the life I have!

Softball Team Names

I signed up for another softball team starting in July. There wasn't any discussion as to what to name the team, so there wasn't a chance to submit any of my genius ideas. I always think a team in a parks & rec league should inspire as much fear in the other team as it possibly can. Sure, you can go with something like The Destroyers of Death or something. But for my value, nothing could be scarier than either one of these two team names - We Have to Talk or I Think I'm Pregnant.

Nothing will make a guy's ass clinch up tighter more than either one of those Four Words of Fear.

TP

I don't know how long they've been doing this but I noticed patterns embroidered on our toliet paper the other day. Hearts. Flowers. Neat designs or whatever. Considering what it's used for and its ultimate destination, isn't this one of the last things we should be decorating or sprucing up? Is anyone and/or their ass happier because it was wiped with a heart patterned paper??

Restaurants

So I was thinking about going to Les Sisters for dinner on Saturday night until I looked at their menu. Don't get me wrong - it's a small New Orleans style restaurant with delicious food. But they're one of those restaurants that mysteriously raises their prices and slashes the lunch menu after 5pm.

When I go out to dinner, most of the time I'm ordering off the lunch menu. I just prefer a sandwich or a burger over something like pot roast or a stuffed chicken breast. (Maybe I just like eating with my hands.) The point is at this restaurant, and many others - when "dinnertime" rolls around, 90% of the lunch menu is unavailable and whatever's left goes up in price a couple of bucks.

I can go get a po' boy sandwich at noon for $6.95 but I show up after 5pm, it's gone up to $9.95 for the exact same sandwich. I hate restaurants that do that. I call bullshit. I shake my fist at your dinner menu, Les Sisters. But I'll see you in the lunch hour sometime.

Deadliest Warrior

I had little interest in watching the show Deadliest Warrior on Spike when I saw the TV ads but after seeing my first complete episode, I declare this show AWESOME. Each episode takes a look at two different classes of fighters, analyzes their weapons and fighting styles, and uses "state of the art" technology to determine who would win in a fight between the two. It's a total guy show because only guys would sit around and debate would win in a fight between a Samurai and a Viking. Or a Spartan and a ninja. Or Superman vs. Thor.

It's an hour of testosterone that should come with the same warning as Cialis does - may cause an erection that lasts more than 4 hours.

Road Trip?

My fiancee got invited to a bridal shower for the fiancee of my cousin, neither of whom she's ever met. And it's in Michigan.

Whaaaaaaat?