Chili Burgers and assorted ramblings

Hi, I'm really not dead

2008-07-22T20:07:00.002-04:00

Greetings all. I have been lazy not dead. Not much going on around here but here is the quick and dirty version of the last 2 months...we went to New York City for a great 4 days, Jennifer changed jobs (back to an old one), we found out Jenn was pregnant and due in February (I'm not allowed to say that the original due date was Super Bowl weekend...oops I did it...), Jenn's fun little Jetta had massive engine issues and we had to buy a new car, my Saturn needed about $500 in brake work and we finally made the effort and put the money down to get the MGB that has been in parents garage for 20 years fixed and running.

I think that is about it for now, but I am getting my mojo back for this blogging thing.

Take care all!

My God, I swear I am not high...

2008-05-16T20:56:00.003-04:00

So, we had this American Idolesque talent contest at work and they bribed people into trying out with a $50 Best Buy gift card. Amazingly out of all the tryouts, I was one of 6 finalists, not sure how, I think it was some Equal Employment Opportunity thing or something.

Anyhow, here is my interview video that they showed before my performance...I am noting the following for the record:

1. I was not high, nor had I been in the immediately preceding 10-12 years. 8-)
2. I was actually dead tired. The interview was at 10 a.m. normally not bad, but it was 10 a.m. the morning after Jenn and I had flown back from Mexico.
3. The camera added 20 pounds. Lord knows I am starting a workout/diet routine tomorrow because I am no longer my svelte 215 pounds, that said, I'm looking a bit like Jared in this video. Horrid.

Enjoy. I think I might actually end up with a recording of the performance shortly, but for now, this is the best I can do. Oh and as for the results, I didn't win. A guy from the DC that rocked out La Bamba in Spanish as well as playing guitar won...he totally deserved it.

Where have all the Bugs gone?

2008-05-09T15:58:00.003-04:00

Many years ago, my brother and I played a game called Punch Bug. I have no idea where it came from but I know we didn't think of it.

Essentially the rules of the game were two fold. First, the first person to see a VW Bug and this was in the mid 1980s when they were everywhere, said "Punch-Bug Red" and then Second slugged the opposing player in the arm. You also accumulated points, 1 for all colors except Red which you got 10 points. You could also get bonus points for a convertible or other variations.

Unfortunately those Bugs slowly dwindled until the new Bug came out in the early 2000s I think. Anyway, at that point, I couldn't stay married very long playing punch bug with Jennifer so we altered to the rules to make it win-win shall we say. However, without the loveable old Bug, it wasn't quite the same.

That is until we went to Mexico. I suppose Puerto Vallarta is where all Bugs go to die. I mean, I wouldn't mind going there to die. But check out the photos below. These were all taken within about 1 hour stretch on the same block and I likely only took photos of about 1/2 of the ones we saw. (Pardon the photo quality...they are from my cellphone). Oh and we snuck in a photo of a VW bus and one photo where there were 2 Bugs in the same photo (far right on top row)

Later in the trip on a 30-minute bus ride to down town at night we decided to count how many we saw. We made it somewhere around 40 in 30 minutes. Amazing.

So there you have it...if you need parts or an old-school VW, you know where to go. South of the Border baby!

Enough said

2008-05-05T18:36:00.002-04:00

Why?

2008-05-05T17:58:00.006-04:00

So, if you are a dedicated Mississippi Raw Footage reader you already know that my lovely bride and I are in sunny Mexico for Cinco de Mayo. Woohoo! I won a contest through work and the payoff was four nights, five days all expenses paid at the Vallarta Palace on the ocean with the following view from our room.

Ignore the chubby guy in the middle of the view and suffice it to say that you have plenty of sunshine, plenty of warmth and plenty of friendly people. Oh yes and that is the Pacific Ocean and some mountains in the background.

Oh and a tap in the entertainment center including Cuervo, Dewars, Bacardi and Smirnoff.

Not mention the fact that we are here on no less than Cinco de Mayo. Sounds like a barrel of laughs, right? But wait, the Mexicans do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo. "What's this?" you say "That's impossible...shouldn't they be eating a bean burrito with some chips and salsa and a frozen margarita or Corona? At least that is what I expected." Silly ethnocentric American!

So, my inquisitive nature leads me to question a friendly young Mexican waiter at lunch.

"You guys don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo here? In the U.S. we celebrate it in a big way."

His response, a simple one..."Why?"

Nice... Oh, and he didn't really elaborate...beyond asking how we celebrate. He's like, "Do you eat tamales?" Sure, tamales, burritos, tacos carne asada, corona, margaritas...all the stuff you are supposed to do on Cinco de Mayo.

Apparently Cinco de Mayo, while it does commemorate the Battle of Puebla where the Mexicans demolished a larger Frenchie army, it is not a significant Mexican Holiday. My impression is that it ranks with the Mexicans somewhere around Flag Day and Arbor Day in the U.S. Maybe it is similar to the Grenada Day, the day the U.S. had about a 45 minute "war" with the island nation of Grenada.

The real Mexican Independence Day is September 16th with a full fledged parade, party, ringing of bells. It is the Grito de Dolores. Who knew? I guess we have to come back down here in four months to really get our party on South of the Border style.

More later from the beach!

Size does matter

2008-04-04T23:26:00.004-04:00

Ok, I realize I have not posted in something like 2+ months. I have no real excuse other than laziness, but in my defense I was sick from something like a month. Nothing major serious, just a cold/cough that was annoying and made me just want to sleep.

So I am back...

So what has gone on in the last couple months.

I went to San Antonio for a conference. I think it was my first time there. We lived in Texas when I was little (maybe 1-2 years old) but obviously didn't remember it.

Mostly work on the trip, but knowing the famous landmark of the city, besides the Riverwalk, the Alamo was in the middle of downtown, I did go in search of it. When I found it, I had an immediate reaction of, that can't be it, its really small...My guess/estimate is that the front of the building is maybe 35 feet tall. I mean if your life depended on keeping thousands of angry Mexicans from killing you, wouldn't you want more than 35 feet of stone and brick work in their way. No wonder Davey Crockett and others bit it there.

So anyways, I will close with a funny story from Jenn's travels with Good News TV about the Alamo. (Jenn - No corrections on facts, I am paraphrasing and generalizing for time and convenience) Jenn used to travel 100 days a year with Good News and many of the crew members were high school and college interns and summer help. On a trip to San Antonio, they stayed in a hotel right downtown near the Alamo. They left the hotel for dinner on the first night and walked outside. Immediately outside the lobby, they realized they were right next door to the Alamo. The immediate reaction of one future brain surgeon, "Why did they put it so close to downtown." Wow, I'll be here all week, try the steak and don't forget to tip your wait staff, they work hard for you.

There is much more to talk about from the last 2 months, but for now, goodnight Internet.

Sgt. Barry Sadler is my Home Boy

2008-01-26T23:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, most of you know I am a bit of a sports geek. My darling wife is a literary, music type of girl so when we play Trivial Pursuit it is pretty much a battle of attrition. I get Yellow, Blue, Green and Orange (History, Geography, Science and Sports), she gets Pink, Brown, Green and some Blue/Yellow (Entertainment, Arts and Literature and the others).

So tonight, partially because we were horribly bored with the same old same old (scanning Tevo), partially because of the writer's strike and partially because we just plain need to spend more non TV/Internet time together we decided to play Trivial Pursuit.

The first game was rolling along in typical fashion. I was doing well rolling all over the board looking for Roll Again and Orange Sports Spots to keep my turns going, till inevitably I had five pies and needed Pink to fill the pie and then of course to win I would have to answer another pink.

Then fate Smiled on me with the following two questions in succession on Pink (And Nathan will love the first one):

Q: What artist had a 1966 hit with Ballad of the Green Berets?
A: (And I love this song) Sgt. Barry Sadler

and then...even better....

Q: What name was given to the genre of Italian Cowboy movies (or something like that)
A: Spaghetti Westerns.

For me it doesn't get much better than that on Pink in Trivial Pursuit. Maybe something about Snoopy....what was Snoopy's buddy bird's name or something. So Barry Sadler, this Bud's for you. Oh and I lost the second game so the Ramsey family ended 1-1. BTW, watch out for us as a team, we won't lose. 8-)

Couldn't have one without the other

2008-01-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

Jenn and I went to BW3 for dinner the other night after grocery shopping. After figuring out that we were standing at the maitradee stand instead of just ordering we were greeted by a quite competent girl working behind the counter and training a new but challenged employee.

The competent girl had two necklaces, one with the star of David and one with three crosses on it. I found that a bit odd. The Jewish people I know wouldn't wear a cross and the Christian people I know wouldn't wear a star of David. So knowing me, ya'll know what came next.

Bryan: So you have the Star of David AND crosses. What's with that? Couldn't decide?

BW3 Girl: Well, just thought you can't have one without the other so I have both.

Hmm....can't have one without the other. Christians might say that since they know Jesus was a Jew. Jews however might not agree. In fact my boy Baer chuckled out loud when I told him this story. In my honest opinion Judaism could exist and does possibly exist without Jesus and Christianity. They don't need us, but we need them so to speak.

So to my friend at BW3. I love your ambition, but you could be mistaken. Just a bit, maybe.

Childhood nutrition

2008-01-12T19:32:00.000-05:00

I remember one trip to my Aunt Jo's house where I chewed a Ham sandwich bite or several bites maybe for the entire road trip to my Aunt's house. She lived in Orlando. We lived in Kissimmee. I believe it is about 30 miles, maybe more. That was the story of my childhood nutrition. I was picky and stubborn. I assume my parents just gave up trying after a certain point.

However, I think they missed the point. They never gave me the options the kid I saw in Mieneke Car Care this morning. I'm sitting there minding my own business waiting for my car to be finished and a girl, maybe 8-to-10 years old comes in with her mother. She sits down at the table I am at with a bag from Taco Bell and a bag from Wendy's. My kind of nutrition. So a couple of bites into one of her tacos, she lays it down and proceeds to dig into some fries from Wendy's. Moments later he mom says, "No more fries till you eat your taco."

I had a double take because when I was a kid it was no more dessert till you eat your veggies or no more something good till you eat something bad. This kid was getting no more fries till she ate her taco. I used to eat those Tacos and trust me they are both good tasting and bad for you. Hmmmm. I'm probably 60 pounds over weight right now. Imagine if I had those options as a kid. Good job mom!

US Postal Service, neither rain nor snow...

2008-01-02T00:28:00.000-05:00

So the other day I go to the mailbox as is typical when I get home from work. I would say about 1 time a month or maybe less we get a piece of mail for one of my neighbors. I don't think that is a bad amount.

The most recent takes the cake.

Come to find out about 5 houses down from me lives someone who retired from the U.S. Postal Service.

So when I check the mail, in it is an incorrectly delivered piece of mail from the U.S. Postal Service Retirement Organization. If there was one piece of mail you would think they could deliver correctly, it would be mail to former compatriot about their retirement. So I enjoyed that little moment of irony. That the US Postal Service is not discriminating about what the don't deliver properly.

Disturbing News

2007-12-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

I will get back to fun stuff soon I promise.

I am not going to go into much detail hear as I don't like having work discussions on the WWW, but this is a bit disturbing.

I am quite certain there will be appeals and other cases and all sorts of things I don't understand, but for now, just questions I guess.

What do you feel?

2007-12-19T21:29:00.000-05:00

Just warning you this is pretty stream of consciousness. As most of you know by now, Jenn and I found out yesterday that we had lost the baby. What do you feel at a time like that?

I really don't know. It actually is a terribly mixed bag of things some of which I wonder if I should feel bad about feeling. I think all of it comes down to the fact that we heard a heart beat and that heart beat isn't there any more and that really sucks. Regardless of all the other stuff related to the pregnancy or now lack of pregnancy, we had created something and it is gone. Fears about money or health or being good parents, excitement over the new addition, a chance to be parents and a chance to raise a child; They are all gone for the moment.

I'm sure, God willing, there will be another pregancy and hopefully we will have a baby one day, but today just sort of stunk. It was my first day back at work and the fact that I had to tell a few people why I wasn't in yesterday stunk. The fact that when the girl who sits next to me asked when our baby was due, I had to tell her stunk. The fact that in a meeting, someone in reference to a product assortment life cycle said they wanted to know birth to death and all I could think about was an ultrasound two weeks ago that was loud and proud and an ultra-sound yesterday that was silence stunk. Like the silence on the other end of a telephone or a radio when communicating with someone and you aren't sure they are ok, only this silence represented the end of something small. No flat line tone like in the movies, just a silent audio track.

I guess I feel that it sucks. That's about it. We will move on. We will try again. I know God has his reasons and more than likely they include the fact that the baby didn't have a shot at survival or health. We didn't do anything wrong and Jenn did everything she could, bless her heart, to give that baby a healthy body to grow in. It just didn't work out and that sucks.

I guess that's it for now. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. I have talked to a ton of people about this and well, what do you say? I have told the same story over and over again. I hope the next story I tell over and over again is about how I witnessed the birth of our baby girl or boy and how that really didn't suck. Not at all.

You get your Mojo, I get da ba-be!

2007-12-06T19:47:00.000-05:00

Well folks, Chiliburgers has officially gone mad. I have resorted to posting pregancy posts. Jenn has beat me to the punch with a couple, but here is my first. Color me papa-to-be, baby daddy or something. 8-)

Found below is the first ultrasound of our "bean." Following the ultrasound we determined that the baby is due on July 28, 2008. That means Jenn is about 6.5-7 weeks right now.

This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. However, it comes with a few notes and comments as usual.

1. You always hear expecting parents talk about their first ultrasound and you think, "Wow that must be huge, like a big deal or something." The actual event is actually pretty depressingly anti-climactic in the fact that it was in the Doctor's office and took all of about 4 minutes not including the paperwork and prep and such. Don't get me wrong. The 4 minutes were really cool. Hearing the heart beat of our baby was super cool. Seeing something we created at the earliest stages of development. Crazy. But the process and the event, kind of sedate. Not sure what I expected, maybe trumpets and an announcer...maybe Michael Buffer.

2. Hearing the heartbeat was crazy cool. I never got into all the abortion debates about when a child is a child and la de da, but hearing a heartbeat of a child at 6.5 weeks knowing that in about 7-8 months that kid will be in our house. Purely Crazy.

3. When making this wave file, and hearing the heart beat again, all I could think of was the scenes from The Hunt for the Red October where Seaman Jones is talking about all the stuff he hears in the sonar.

Capt. Bart Mancuso: [after hearing Jones's findings] Have I got this straight, Jonesy? A $40 million computer tells you you're chasing an earthquake, but you don't believe, and you come up with this on your own?
Seaman Jones: Yes, sir.
Capt. Bart Mancuso: Including all the navigation maps?
Seaman Jones: Sir, I-I've got all the...
Capt. Bart Mancuso: Relax, Jonesy. You sold me.

Enjoy your viewing. Glad we could share through magic of technology. Sorry about the quality. We didn't have a blank VCR tape and forgot to buy one so well, it was recorded over some Sink the Bismark History Channel special. From the VCR into the hard drive and then the MPEG. DOH. gotta love technology though. When I was born, my mom was probably lucky to have baby photos AFTER I was out, much less 32 weeks before I was out.

Just an FYI -- Make sure you have volume up. At about the 1:55 point you can hear the audio of the heart beat. Woohoo!

Hail Dear Old Croom for Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

I don't typically spend a lot of time talking about serious issues but today is one.

Most of you know I grew up in the South. I went to high school and college in Georgia. I married a girl from Mississippi and the vast majority of my immediate family is from the South. As such I have seen my share of race issues at times through my life. Surprising considering I was born after the civil rights era of MLK and Malcolm X, but true all the same.

I have heard my grandfather tell me and my cousin that he didn't want us to repeat the mistakes or have the same feelings he had. He grew up in Alabama and went to college in Birmingham in the 40s.

I have heard people say it was nice to not see black people. I have seen racism in EVERY state I lived in, yes, Indiana included.

I have had friends here questioned or looked at funny despite acting and wearing the same type clothing as everyone else. I have had friends not allowed into clubs for no reason.

However as a kid, I pretty much learned the right way to treat people. Actually I never thought anything about the fact that many of my best friends, especially in middle school and high school were African American or Hispanic. I just treated them just like any of my other friends.

So today was a nice day for me for lots of reasons.

My wife Jennifer is a lifelong Mississippi State fan and her older brother went to school there. A such I have adopted the Maroon Bulldogs as my second favorite SEC team. Mississippi State was a pretty decent team in the 1990s on the strength of some cheating by Jackie Sherrill, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sherrill got in trouble with the NCAA and his recruiting left something to be desired. So when Sherrill won 5 games and only 1 in the SEC in 2002 and 2003 it was time for him to leave.

The coach selected to replace Sherrill was the lily "white" Sylvester Croom. Croom was lily white in reputation, but he is African American. He was one of the first African American's to play for Bear Bryant at Alabama. He then played 1 year in the NFL before coaching as an assistant at Alabama and in the NFL for about 30 years. Finally he took over as the head coach of one of the two major state universities in one of the nation's most historically racially heated states AND also the first African American Head Coach in Football in the Southeastern Conference.

I loved the choice from the beginning not just for the race relations aspect, but for the fact that I felt he was one of the best coaches in the country that never got a head job when people like Norv Turner in the NFL and Bob Toledo or Butch Davis in college keep getting jobs.

For his first three years it was a massive struggle for Croom. He took over a team that was attempting to compete in the toughest football conference in the country with a team that lacked talent and was on probation with the NCAA. For three years he finished with 3 wins per year but improvement was there. They beat Florida to get Ron Zook fired. They beat Croom's alma mater Alabama last year to get Mike Shula (the man who got the Alabama job when Croom wasn't hired) fired.

Finally this year, the Bulldogs had broken through. They got blown out to start the season versus LSU, but plugged away through the season with wins over ranked Alabama and Kentucky. The five losses this season were against teams that had combined records of 44-19 including 19-3 by LSU and West Virginia.

So when the Egg Bowl was played today Mississippi State was in line to finish the regular season 7-5, go to a bowl game with their best record since 2000 when they also went to their last bowl game. It was also Croom's chance to put the exclamation point on the comeback for the Bulldogs and finally get people to believe the t-shirts that were sold early in Croom's career with Maroon is all that matters.

The Bulldogs made a huge comeback to overcome a 14-0 deficit for a 17-14 and Croom was speechless with emotion at the end of the game. This is one of my favorite sports moments of all time. Sly Croom, the first African American Head Coach in the SEC, beats one of the most historically racist schools in history to finish 7-5 and get to a bowl game doing it with integrity the whole way.

I loved it. Some of you know (well and all of you do now) that Jenn and I are expecting. I hope that our child will not have to witness the racism that has been in this country. I'm not naive enough to believe that it will never be there, but in baby steps walls are being broken down every day.

Cheers Sylvester...here's hoping you had the best Thanksgiving ever. I sure enjoyed it. I'm cheering you any week you don't play Georgia. 8-)

Coincidental fun note

2007-11-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

While catching up on my Sports Illustrated reading tonight, I was thumbing through the 11/5 edition from the Red Sox win over the Rockies in the World Series.

Nice story on the Red Sox, but the interesting fact to me was a mention for my brother's alma mater, Osceola High School in Kissimmee, Florida, as well as my mom's alma mater, Fort Walton Choctaw High School in the same issue. The Osceola reference was in a high school football section about a big game with Lakeland High School. The fun note for me was that SI wouldn't lower itself to mention the OHS nickname. They are the Kowboys...yes, with a K. Anyways, the Fort Walton Choctaw mention was for a 14-year old swimmer in the Faces in the Crowd.

Meaningless to most everyone outside my family, but fun for me. 8-)

Cya folks...I promise I'll write more soon.

Peyton Gives Back

2007-10-24T22:26:00.000-04:00

A friend emailed me this the other day. I really am not a Peyton fan, especially living in Indianapolis with their hero worship BS...but this is funny. I believe this is from his winter/spring appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Crowe Chizek RULES!!!!!

2007-10-24T16:59:00.000-04:00

Crowe Chizek is the greatest accounting/consulting firm in the world...and my friend Kathy, she's the greatest consultant ever!!!!

For those of you wondering if I have lost my mind, I actually am playing an Internet game. 8-) Turns out my story about how Kathy and I were born in the same hospital a month apart showed up on the desk of the Communications folks at Crowe Chizek. Their Web-crawling software or service provided them a hit on my wonderful blog when I put the company name in there. That blog should have but did not end up in the daily/weekly news at Crowe newsletter. I mean come on, what could they have possibly reported on that was better than that fine piece of work.

Now I want to do it again and see if I can get them to be regular readers or better yet, even commenters. It does make you wonder though. How many things you throw on the WWW get picked up or read by people you have no clue would be reading. Maybe I should Google myself more often. Yikes.

Darth Vader of Connect Four

2007-10-23T16:49:00.000-04:00

I like to hang out with out technology people at work. I know, they are all Trekies and Star Wars freaks and nerds, well so am I, I suppose. Except the Trekie thing anyways.

So last week I was upstairs chatting them up and I saw some of their toys. When you sit around writing code all day, you really need an occasional distraction. I understand that. Among the toys were Rubik's Cubes, Nerf Basketball, these cool magnetic connector toys and a game of Connect Four.

Connect Four, for the uninformed is a 30-year old game with the concept of tic-tac-toe but with way more possibilities.

While I chatting, one of the other developers challenged one of his compatriots to a game and everyone sort of cringed and someone said. "oooo, you are challenging, Obi Wan?"

Of course my response was, "Obi Wan? Of What?..." Well Connect Four of course. Apparently this young man has won so much Connect four he has reached legendary status.

So I couldn't let that go. After he got done with his friend I joined in the fun. He immediately pounded me twice.

Those of you that know me, know two things about me. 1. I am competitive as heck. 2. I don't like losing much. I guess those are one in the same, but losing twice at Connect Four when I couldn't imagine going in that I would have had that much trouble sort of woke me up. In game 3 I finally paid attention, worked through possibilities in my brain and won the third game.

This did not go over well with Obi Wan, much like the Darth Vader, Obi Wan confrontation in Star Wars didn't go well. My competitor mumbled under his breathe and sulked back to his desk. Needless to say I celebrated and bolted the department before hazed into a rematch where Obi Wan could come back from the dead.

I am now Darth Vader to his Obi Wan. Stand in amazement at my Connect Four superiority!

Didn't die and other random notes about my guyhood

2007-10-08T19:28:00.001-04:00

So I made it through the flight to and from Vegas without passing on to meet my maker. Apparently it wasn't meant to be and the fact that it is safer to fly in a plane than drive a car came through with the law of averages again.

Anyways, just a few random thoughts.

** Vegas is a complete cess-pool. Everywhere you turn you are attracted by the lowest common denominator of human life...the folks on the street side smacking cards for escort services, massive amounts of retail, flashing lights, loud noises, fireworks, fountains, and lest we not forget the gambling. About the only part of Vegas that TRUELY attracts me are the sports books in the major casinos. In a sports book, you can see about 3,000 televisions including typically a personal one at your table and you can sit there all day, betting or not and watch sports with waitresses bringing drinks if you act like you are betting. Oh well, three times to Vegas and now, the more I go, the less I like it. Does that make me less of a guy? I don't know. I just reach a point where it is tiring, all that noise and lights. I just go hide in my hotel room.

** The Cameron Crowe movie Elizabethtown is amazing. I saw a portion of it tonight for about the 30th time. For those of you who don't know it, check out the link, but it is the story of a guy (Orlando Bloom) who works for a massive shoe conglomerate in Oregon (sounds like Nike to me). Bloom has a disastrous shoe come out and the same week his dad dies and he has to go to Elizabethtown, Ky. for the funeral service. He meets a flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) along the way and it is an AMAZING romantic comedy. Quite possibly for the humor and irreverence toward a lot of things, but also because of the impressive music collection. I think it is actually the numerous number of quotable lines. Check it out if you haven't already. Somehow the critics typically killed this movie, but I LOVE it...again, does this make me less of a guy?

** So last night after I concluded watching the 4 p.m. NFL games to ensure that my fantasy team was ensured a HORRENDOUS week (I won't bore you with that though), I watched in succession my favorite show NUMB3RS, and then Gray's Anatomy from Thursday and Private Practice from Wednesday night. Private Practice is the Gray's Anatomy spin off featuring Addison (Kate Walsh) from Gray's Anatomy. So I repeat the question, for the third time in the same post, does that make me less of a guy? Who knows.

Toodles for now. Hopefully this week will bring more posts and less dead space. Maybe using the phrase Toodles makes me less of a guy!

Irrational Fear #13,462

2007-10-01T23:54:00.000-04:00

In about 11 hours I have to get on a Southwest Airlines direct flight to Las Vegas and I'm not looking forward to it. Oh don't get me wrong Vegas is swell and it should be an entertaining seminar/convention for work that I am going to, but I really don't like to fly.

I don't know when this started, but I feel vaguely akin to Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men." Actually a lot like him.

Kaffee : I get sick when I fly because I'm afraid of crashing into a large mountain, I don't think Dramamine'll help.

I don't know why or how, but I just do not like it at all! Typically I am good somewhere about 5 minutes after takeoff, approximately when the ding and the seat belts sign go off, until about the point where they start making the perpare the cabin for crash landing...err...approach and landing messages come on. That is of course unless it is in the rain or wind and turbulence, then I white knuckle the arm rest.

Making matters worse, I am flying at noon and have to meet some work folks in the late afternoon so drinks are out pre-flight. Oh and my security blanket travel partner, Jennifer isn't their either.

Guess I better go to Legalzoom.com and make sure I have a Last Will and Testament.

Deja vu all over again..

2007-09-30T11:35:00.000-04:00

So I learned something amazing and new last night at the wedding without the wedding. Jennifer and I are friends with a group of folks from Crowe Chizek, an accounting/consulting firm that Jennifer used to work for.

Included in that group is Kathy Koehler who was there last night. As we made our move to the finger-food table which included one of the oddest items I have ever tried (more on that later) we had a discussion about the fact that Kathy was on vacation and leaving Monday I believe for a vacation on the New England coast.

Upon learning this I mused that while I was born in Massachusetts, I had unfortunately spent no time there since my birth. Kathy looked at me amused and said, I was born in Massachusetts too. Where? Shirley, Mass at the Fort Devens Army Hospital.

At this point Jenn's face and I'm sure mine as well, were showing a "you're screwing with me right?" look. I was born in that same hospital in September of 1971. Kathy in October of 1971. Her father spent a short time in the Army and they moved to Germany shortly after her birth. My father was in the Air Force for 21 years and we hopped all over the place before he retired in 1976. I think the link above is the right hospital, I found two names, Lovell and Cutler, but either way, the hospital at Ft. Devens was closed in 1996 as part of the military's down-sizing.

My take is that after 25 years of trying they couldn't come close to duplicating their successful deliveries of Kathy and I in the fall of 1971.

Anyways, I was completely amazed that despite knowing Kathy for about 6 years and spending a pretty significant amount of time over a bar table and some drinks we never figured this out.

As for the odd finger food? How about this...candied crabs... Yes, entire crabs about the size of a dime. The cook said they were candy...ok, I'll bite. So I try them, they taste like fish, as you would expected and nothing like the candy I like, say Butterfinger, Reese's Cup or Snickers. Oh well. Can't complain too much considering the lack of the service.

Finger Foods and beverages

2007-09-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Jen and I have the pleasure of going to a wedding tonight...oh wait, we aren't going to a wedding, we are only going to the reception. Now before you start getting judgemental about how we are crashing someone's wedding reception to get finger foods and a couple drinks, we know these people and they asked us to.

How great is that. They had a personal family only small wedding service this morning at the Botanical Gardens in Indy. Tonight they invited everyone to get their party on in celebration. Perfect!

We get the finger foods and the drinks and we don't have to suffer through a bad rendition of the Wedding Song or Butterfly Kisses. Someone please slap my hand for that one.

Anyways, I feel a bit like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn tonight! Loving every minute of it though.

Superman wears Mark Richt PJs!

2007-09-23T09:55:00.000-04:00

I'm sure all of you saw ESPN Gameday yesterday morning where the Alabama fans in preparation of thier thrashing of my Bulldogs had signs of all shapes and fashion in support of their Crimson Tide and head coach Nick "$32 Million" Saban and bashing possibly equally, Georgia and Auburn.

I felt two particular signs should be edited morning following the Bulldogs' dramatic 26-23 win in Overtime. Here are the new wordings.

"Superman wears Mark Richt PJs"

and

"Chuck Norris tells Mark Richt jokes"

I guess Alabama and Nick Saban aren't quite back to the days of Bear Bryant yet.

Making an Impact

2007-09-21T17:06:00.000-04:00

Many of you know that I work for the Finish Line. We have an employee newsletter that included the letter below to our home office from a customer. For me, it is really exciting to see that something we did as a company had a much broader impact that perhaps increasing sales or profit margins. It isn't often that a company can say we changed or improved someone's life, but apparently in this one we and more specifically the manager at this store did so. A little background is needed here. We recently launched a Finish Line Brand campaign called Be Heard. (Check out the link as it shows some of the marketing materials that fill in the blanks a little bit). It included tv advertising, in-store marketing displays and employee t-shirts that were all black with the block letters BE HEARD across the chest. The idea here is that your shoes, clothes and attitude tell alot about you and your personality as well as what you stand for without speaking. So on to the letter. I don't know if this is open game or not, so I changed the names that were in it.

Sir or Madam

My name is Samantha, and I was in your store about two weeks ago. I need to tell you what an impact you made on my son's life. My son is 12 years old and a deaf child who cannot speak very well. He has always been a quiet type, never wanting to be noticed. He always wore grays and blacks.

We were in your store looking for school shoes, and I think the young lady's name who helped us was Melissa. While she was getting our shoes, a young gentleman who introduced himself as George asked how we were doing and I told him we were being helped. He told me that was fine and explained about a backpack sale you had going on and socks that were on sale. Before he walked away, my son asked him what "BE HEARD" meant. He told my son that it was an advertisement campaign by the Finish Line that meant through you are, what you wear, and the attitude you have, you could be heard without saying anything. He said like Forest Gump said, you can tell a lot about a person from their shoes.

We ended up purchasing some shoes, a backpack and a few sale shirts they had and left. We had a lot more shopping to do that day, and for the first time, my son was looking at shirts that I never thought he would ever pick out. He was going for the bright colors, and he even picked out a dress shirt that was blue, orange and white. When we got home, and we were putting away his clothes, he turned to me and said, "Mom, I'm ready to be heard." I cried that night for a long time because of the impact that young man had on my son. He is ready to start the school year and is not afraid of what others will think of him.

Thank you very much.

In appreciation,
Samantha

Wow...That is all I can say...I almost cried the first time I read it, the first time I told Jennifer and now again typing it for cyber space.

Priceless Vick Jury Selection Cartoon.

2007-09-19T09:54:00.001-04:00

Feels like the 1990s all over again...

2007-09-18T00:15:00.000-04:00

I generally dislike Tony Kornheiser as an announcer on Monday Night Football, but he said something Monday night I found amusing, albeit a quote from someone else...I can't remember his quote or the original source 100% but the gist of it was, the Cowboys, Packers and 49ers are all 2-0 and O.J. is back in jail. It feels like the 1990s all over again. That was awesome. For the uninformed, the Cowboys, Packers and 49ers have been moderately bad to terribly bad for the last 5-10 years each and well, you know about O.J. Cheers Mr. Kornheiser.

Why should she have all the fun?

2007-09-13T20:08:00.000-04:00

So Oprah has this annual, semi-annual or somewhat regular show about her favorite things. Well, actually I don't know it might be once a decade, I don't know, I just know she has done it at least once, I got stuck watching one of those with Jenn. Anyways, I was thinking, why in the world should she have all the fun.

So here is my edition of My favorite things...some of them I have, some of them I want, but all of them, in my eyes are super cool.

I'll start with something that anyone can have, well provided you have an internet connection, and considering you are reading this, I would assume there is a check mark in that column.

First on my list is this web-page: MIT Open Course Ware. What is it you may ask? Well, consider yourself however many years ago that it was that you attempted to gain entry into the college or university of your choice...You there with me yet? Or did you kill those brain cells during said college or university years. Anyways, if you were anything like me, there were some schools you could get into (Georgia and many other fine public Universities) and some that I couldn't (well I didn't try, but I would put Harvard, MIT, Princeton etc. on that list).

Now, through the miracle of A. the internet and B. a huge wave of shared knowledge and broad based collaboration (i.e. Wikipedia,.......) You can do the reading, see the lectures, take the exams of any of the courses at MIT. For some of you, this may seem odd. Afterall, why would one want to take college classes when:

A. Your parents aren't making you.

B. You already have the sheepskin.

C. You already have a job.

Yeah, I wonder myself, but I have found myself in the last couple years trying to learn more and more. Maybe it started with graduate school at the University of Phoenix brick and mortar campus in Indianapolis for my MBA, or maybe it was the discovery that my PR degree from Georgia with a business minor wasn't terribly relevant in my current gig. I don't know but I dig this site. Check it out, peek around, maybe you will find something you like and take on the challenge.

Next on the list is this fine object to the left. Jennifer and I first saw this on Home and Garden TV last year sometime. Yeah, I know, Home and Garden TV, but it is about the only thing we can both agree to watch...she watchs Scrubs, the View and other miscellaneous drivel and I watch Law and Order, war movies and sports. Oh well, we are still a match made in heaven. Anyway, this is the coolest aquariam ever. First, it hangs on the wall. Second, the cat can't get to it because it hangs on the wall. Third, it looks like a picture frame. In fact at last year's Ramsey Family Christmas Party a couple people went through the night thinking it was a picture until they finally saw the fish moving within.

Of course some good things have a down side and this one is that with an aquarium this size (about 9 gallons I beleive) it is very hard to keep the water balanced for the little fishies. We lost a couple early on. a couple more later on, we will soon attempt round 3. 8-) Here is Jennifer's take on the death of one of our favorites.

Next on the list is a simple t-shirt. It is barely imaginative, given that it is stealing the well known "Got Milk" ad campaign. But as a Cowboys' fan I couldn't resist.

Yes, we are America's Team and yes we have five Super Bowl Rings. And yes, I can call us, us, I've been a fan that long. 8-).

Number 4 is a thing that I actually purchased last year, despite the ridiculous price tag, well for what it is, which is a 2 6-packs of Jones Soda.

Anyone who has had Jones, knows that it is first of all wonderful, but also typically has two identifying factors from many other Sodas, fruit drinks, etc. First and foremost they have interesting pictures that are contributed by their many drinkers across the country. Second they have a saying under the cap that is usually fun or inspirational.

At the link above you can actually turn in your own photo and have it put on a bottle for your personal enjoyment. I did this last year with the photo below of Jennifer and I. It was supposed to be for Valentine's Day, but first off it was late (the first shipment broke in transit, I assume a occupational hazard). Second off all I am a moron so I put Happy Anniversary. Anyways, fun all-around.

And finally, here is the long awaited Number 5 on my current list of my favorite things....my wife Jennifer! Here is a scene of her adorable little behind at the end of a long day of tailgating and football at my alma-mater University of Georgia last year. God love her, she had the jersey, the hat, the I'm Georgia towel and a smile.

Georgia v. South Carolina In-game thoughts

2007-09-08T20:20:00.000-04:00

Pardon me, non-Georgia football fans while I digress and talk about my beloved Bulldogs for a moment.

Just some thoughts from things I am seeing during the game.
** First loss against South Carolina in 6 years, that completely blows, but there were signs of good and bad. This team isn't bad. The defense was ok. The offense was ok, they actually outgained Carolina, I believe, but couldn't get in the end zone. I think South Carolina is finally reaping the benfits of the recruiting Spurrier has done. They are a pretty good team. They had some undisiplined penalties, but they had ZERO turnovers and essentially the difference was the fact that they were able to get in the endzone and Georgia wasn't.
** It was overall a clean game. Only 12 penalties between the two teams.
** After being unstoppable in the red zone against Oklahoma State, the Dogs couldn't punch it in against South Carolina.
** This is totally not a shot at Brandon Coutu, or the kicking game in general, but the playcalling at the end of the game would have been completely different had he made the 48 yarder in the first quarter.
** Mike Bobo is again calling a ton of short passes, wide receiver and running back screens and such in the first half. Is it conservative by nature or is he concerned about the OLine's ability to hold up to SC defense? Last week it worked to perfection with the yards after the catch, but that obviously wasn't a SEC defense.
** The ironic thing here is that late in the game (specifically the 2nd half) when Georgia was behind in the game and Bobo HAD to open it up, the boys reacted. The protection for Stafford was average to slightly better and some holes were being opened for Moreno.
** On the subject of the OLine, I think Moreno and Brown are a good fit for this offensive line. I feel bad for Lumpkin, but with this line, I haven't seen a ton of big holes. Those guys are a bit shiftier than Lumpkin and without a stud OLine that is a good thing.
** Continuing the offensive theme, I feel like this team is REALLY close to being the best Richt has had offensively. That might be a bit premature, but there are a TON of playmakers out there and with Stafford and Moreno there is long-distance potential on any play. I still wonder who is going to step up among the WR to be the go-to guy...Massaquoi and Bailey are showing flashes, Wilson has played alot, but isn't producing much. Mike Moore and Kenneth Harris are pretty invisible. Bryant got hurt again and Henderson still seems more of a screen guy, although he had a nice play on a out in the 4th quarter.
** Just a statement about pass protection and such, on the final drive, Thomas Brown was in the game and they were putting him or Southerland on the side of Sturdivant to chip the Carolina DE and help the Frosh out.
** I loved Greg Blue and Thomas Davis for their hitting ability, but I am excited to see what Reshard Jones, Kelin Johnson, C.J. Byrd and Quinton Banks can do as more athletic playmaking and coverage guys than Blue or Davis were capable of. I remember the days of Sean Jones and company from the SEC Championship Team and they combined the occassional big hit with great playmaking in general.
** The wide receivers aren't getting open a ton, but are making plays when they can. Massaquoi just had an amazing play on 3rd and 23 to move he chains in the 4th quarter.
** I love the play fake, hold the ball play that David Greene was great at and honestly, I think that 3rd quarter sack by Carolina on that play might be the first sack ever on that play. Greene usually had an incomplete if it wasn't there, but Stafford, either waited too long or Carolina didn't buy it or something...not to mention good coverage by Carolina. Still, I am not sure that was the spot for it. I know Bobo (or Richt) was shooting for an all or nothing, but down 7 with a struggling offense, perhaps just trying for a 1st down was the call there. Huge balls to call that play when if it fails, Carolina takes over on downs.
** I would LOVE to see Moreno in more pass plays like the fly pattern down the right sideline that Stafford overthrew. Back in the day that was a staple of Wayne McDuffie's offense with Garrison Hearst. There was a game in 92, I believe Auburn where Hearst was miserable on rushing but had about 100 yards receiving including a long TD. In man-to-man situations, that is a winner because there isn't a LB in the league that can cover Moreno. Even in zone it would be darn good getting him into the open field.
** I hate to say this but Blake Mitchell is not playing like a complete moron that we have seen in the past. Maybe some of Spurrier's coaching is finally sinking in. He has been solid today with very few if any boneheads...besides a couple slippery fumbles. I say that and then he almost gets a pick on the slant to Freddy Brown in the 4th quarter. Actually could have been offensive pass interference.
** What happend to the days where we had Boss Bailey and others leaping in the middle to block kicks. We haven't blocked a placement from the middle in a while that I remember. In 2001 they seemed to come every game.
** I feel alternately great that Sean Bailey and Thomas Brown are back on the field and bad that Antavious Coates can't play. Coates reminds me of Albert Hollis a few years ago. He was supposed to be a great kid and just couldn't get healthy to get on the field. Great to see Howard wearing 17.
** I couldn't tell where Coutu missed the first kick from but the next four were money. He is back 100% if there was any doubt.
** After settling down in the third quarter, the defensive line and linebackers are getting GASHED again in the fourth quarter. Garner and Martinez must have made some adjustments, but in the fourth quarter on two straight drives, Davis and Boyd were strolling through the middle.
** Great play again by Marcus Howard on South Carolina's attempted reverse with McKinley on 3rd down under 2 minutes.
** Oh and just for the record, where the heck are Mike Gottfried and Ron Franklin. I hate these two bozos they have doing this game tonight. They didn't say that Thomas Brown missed the whole year this week but did put that on a graphic saying he missed the season on a graphic late in the game after his block in the back. They also told a couple of the same stories (i.e. Moreno backflip). Oh and Mikey Henderson again shown on the offensive line graphic. That is HORRIBLE! I liked Ron Franklin much better.

L.J. Smith and the Good Samaritan

2007-09-08T08:52:00.000-04:00

Most of you know that I am a bit distracted at times. In grade school, I once got in trouble with a teacher when I got busted for talking to another student but then recited to the teacher what she had said...yes, my smart ass streak started early.

I like to multi-task, but the gist of this is that sometimes I have a VERY hard time concentrating on the task at hand. My brain will get pulled in another direction by darn near anything and it's over for whatever was happening. Some people call this ADD, but I have a hard time believing that myself. Some people call that denial.

So last Sunday in church we had a visiting preacher. Our pastor is in Uganda on a mission trip teaching student pastors about the bible.

The text for our visiting pastor's sermon was the Good Samaritan story from Luke. Some of you know it, but for those who don't a quick summary. A lawyer is questioning Jesus about who is my neighbor in the Love thy neighbor text. Jesus replies with a story of a man who is beaten and left for dead, and two men a Levite and a priest cross to the other side of the road and leave him there. Finally a Samaritan comes along, helps the man, carries him into town and leaves money to cover his tab at the local Hampton Inn.

In part of his sermon the pastor used the phrase, "There but for the grace of God I go" about the Samaritan thinking, that could be me beaten and dying on the side of the road.

Here is were context is needed for the remainder of the story. Most of you know I am a bit of a fantasy sports fan (i.e. fantasy football, survivor pools, rotisserie baseball and such. ) So I had a fantasy draft the last 2 weekends, including the day before this sermon. So in my research I had come upon in Pro Football Prospectus, the biography of L.J. Smith, a decent tight end from the Philadelphia Eagles.

The first section of Smith's write-up goes like this.

If he's honest with himself, L.J. Smith looks at Billy Miller and says, "There but for the grace of God go I."

I won't bore you with the details of why L.J. Smith and Billy Miller are essentially the same player in different circumstances, but suffice it to say that that sermon was in affect over. Man I wish I had better brain power to keep my self from going down some opposite path when something rings a bell. It's like I'm Pavlov's Dog with more than one catalyst.

7 years later, I get my lunch...

2007-09-06T18:53:00.000-04:00

Greetings world of cyber space and welcome to Chiliburgers. This blog will start with a 7-year old story that finally reached resolution this week with an email from my loving brother-in-law.

For those of you not in my immediate family the photo at the left is of the snack bar menu at Mt. St. Helens in Washington state. Why, pray tell would I show you a snack bar photo? Here's the scoop.

Seven years ago, just before Jennifer and I were married, we decided to take a vacation to visit her brother Jeff in Vancouver, Washington. I was there the day before Jennifer arrived from a work road-trip, so Jeff, his step-son Ryan and I went on a sightseeing trip to the National Park at Mt. St. Helens.

Exciting park and story of the volcano eruption in 1980. However, the eruption is not the point here. At some point, the three of us decided we needed food, growing boys as we were.

Now, many of you don't know this, however considering my blog is named after a chili burger, I like to eat, and typically it is bad for me. So this particular beautiful day I decided that I would like a nice chili burger.

It wasn't on the menu, but I pride myself on the Burger King "Get it Your Way" theory of food and well, they had the Lava Dog which included chili and cheese and Hamburgers...couldn't be that hard right?

Well, this is a reasonable facsimile of the conversation that has become my brother-in-laws favorite story.

Hungry Bryan: I would like a Hamburger with chili on it.

Fearful Attendant: We don't have hamburgers with Chili on them.

Hungry Bryan: But you have Chili Dogs, right?

Fearful attendant: Yes.

Hungry Bryan: And you have hamburgers, right?

Fearful attendant: Yes.

Hungry Bryan: But you can't put the chili from a chili dog on a hamburger?

Fearful attendant: Nope.

Now I'm sure there are 1 million reasons why that attendant couldn't make a chili burger including possibly not noing how to ring it up or having the food pre made, so the chili wasn't by itself to be scooped, but actually on all the hot dogs they had, but I wasn't hearing it...I continued to ask...

Hungry Bryan: Well what would stop me from buying a chili dog and a hamburger, and spooning the chili onto the hamburger?

Fearful attendant: Well nothing I suppose.

But at this point I was too irritated to spend the extra money and well, Jeff had enough ammunition for the coming seven years. It is the perfect number, correct, seven. Well, seven years later, my father-in-law and new wife are visiting Jeff and they take an expedition to Mt. St. Helens.

The next day I get the following emal:

-----Original Message-----

From: Jeff

Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 12:09 PM

To: Bryan

Subject: We Did IT!
Bryan:

We got them to change the menu.You're not going to believe this, but we went to the snack bar at Mt. St. Helens and lo and behold...They Now have a chili cheeseburger! They call it a Blast Burger. I guess that's because it makes hot lava run down your leg as your are trying to get home. I didn't have the nerve to try it for that very fear. However, I did get you a picture of the menu.. Just in case you question my integrity, I have witnesses that will testify that we really were at the Mount St. Helens Snack Bar. And yes I did make a spectacle of myself when I saw it.I guess that the word got around because I told the story so often. In any event, you should get this one framed.

So there it is, seven years later some retail genius at the Mt. St. Helens snack bar has done what I wanted to do, scrape the chili from the hot dog onto the Hamburger and then charge $6.95 for it...a full $2.20 more than just your average Cheeseburger...err. Truman Burger.

So now, as I join the world of blog-o-mania, there is a story that provides my blog name. The future of this blog will be all over the place. Who know's where it will land...God only knows as my brain goes in a few directions.

But as we move along, please feel free to comment, provide topics, ask questions or any of the above. Viva la chiliburger.