"Now I Can Die in Peace"

So I have completed "Now I can die in Peace" unlike the last book I have no review. If you are a Red Sox fan or even a fan of the sports story I believe this is a must read. Simmons is great which is pretty much all I have to say on that topic.

I also just went back and added pics to the race for the cure post. As and editors note i would say i sound a little snobbish in that one when I talk about raising money. It shouldn't matter who raised it just that it was raised. Since i don't want this to be a revisionist history I am going to leave it in there. I am still waiting on the pic's from Phish, They should be good. I am excited for them. More to come...

Festival 8

1st off Festival 8 was amazing. The setting was unbelievable, the Polo grounds were amazing and they did so much to make it visually appealing. There was all kind of things with fire shooting out of them, a Farris wheel, and a huge TV for anyone who wanted to watch World Series or NFL games. The weather, I did not do such a good job of preparing for, it said 90 during the day was accurate but i failed to realize that it would be in the 30's and 40's at night. I of course didn't bring any pants just shorts and only one hoodie so once the sun went down I struggled to stay warm. I prob spent more money than I planned but after it was all said and done I would do it again in a heartbeat. The only thing I would change is I would like to go with more people, I love Domsky but he is a difficult person to follow on a weekend like that and I hate playing games. If we had a group of 10-12 or more I bet that it would be amazing. I feel like a broken record but there will be pictures coming, I still don't have a camera so I must relay on others. I know I said I might change a list item and I still might, i will have to review the list and see if there is an area I could make that happen. I did make some actual progress on the list this weekend however. I am about 40 pages shy of finishing "Now I can Die in Peace" and i found a trinket that i plan on carrying around for the next year then giving it away. I wanted to make it a key chain thing but was told that would break it so I will figure it out. again Pic's coming. I also am going to try and just type more on here. I have found that I write things in word or OneNote then they never make it to the web, so hopefully that stops now.

Been doing some cooking

So I have been meaning to write here more, it doesn't keep an accurate record if you don't put anything down. So I have been cooking more. So far i have made 3 things out of the how to cook everything book, I made some stur fry with beef, sauteed some pork, and made some carmel. The Carmel was the only thing other people tasted but i got good reviews. I also made some chili in the crock pot. Getting better but still need to keep it up

I am thinking about changing one of the list items to going to some number of festivals. On Monday Domsky called me and told me he was going to Festival 8 and I should go, at first I just laughed, I mean its in Indio CA, I am in Arkansas. Then I realized that pretty much every time I want to see someone now a flight will be involved so why not, I will give Domsky credit, if he hadn't called back Monday after work to try for a second time I might not have switched over. Tuesday morning I went online and bought a plane ticket. I still don't have a ticket to the actual show but I'm sure I will find one of those once we get out to CA . I will have a costume for Halloween, i was informed I would be the only one without a costume at the entire festival. Heather has a camera so I will wait for the pictures when we get back to let you know what I choose. One thing i didn't pick but would have been awesome if i had thought of it before I committed to the one i did choose, is Michael Phelps. just get either a speedo or a warm up suit, dangle a bunch of gold metals around your neck and walk around the Phish festival asking people to smoke pot. too bad, it would have been a good one

I will be back with pictures

Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure & updates

I have been in AR for almost 3 months now, It has been interesting to say the least. I have had my car totaled (some moron backed out of a parking spot w/o looking), bought a new one( 08' Camry SE, see pic), both my power and water shut off at different times, the water was my fault the power was not, I made a payment, they told me after they shut off my power 3 weeks later that it didn’t go thru, but no notice before than.

Above all else I have struggled to become part of the area, so yesterday I volunteered at the Susan G. Koman Race for a Cure. It was something one of the diversity groups at work was doing and I figured if we want them to participate in our YEN events we need to do there's. They had a fundraising goal of $500 for the HP team, I personally raised $205, I would like to thank those who helped me in that effort, Steve & Katie, my parents and grandparents. Because of you guys I raised a little under 1/3 of the $650 we raised as a team. Yesterday I was in downtown little rock at 5:45 to start handing out Yogurt at the Yoplait truck for 4 hours. This works nicely for my volunteering hours since I have been slacking on them. I have done some helping putting up a tailgate for the UCA Bears but that doesn't really feel like I should count it. Again I don't have pics cuz I don't have a camera (which is also why their is the cheesy car pic above cuz i need something to break up the words) but I know there were a bunch of pics taken so once I can get my hands on a few I will post them (Just for the record that is 6/101)

I have also been working on cooking more, my parents were here last weekend and my mom did an unbelievable job outfitting my kitchen, just to name a few things I have now that I didn't before: Crockpot, coffee maker, cheese shredder, large baking pans w/ tops, mixing bowls, dish drying rack, and a ton of spices and all of those other things that I need to season which I never would have thought of on my own. Which brings me to the fact that I am currently making Chili in my crock pot right now. This will be the 1st non hunk of meat and one side meal that I have made on my own

A final note of updates, I am going to join a Racquetball league soon, I have looked a couple up and just need to make a call and get signed up

Paintballing & #88

So in reviewing the list, I noticed that I actually have crosses off something other than buying a TV. I went paintballing a few weeks ago. It was a great time and fairly cheap. Like $30 for 500 Paintballs and all the rentals. #81 I think I might have to go back for seconds

So I haven't done the math but if I am not at 200 days something is wrong. I am going to add an Item to the list and that is "Complete the UFO clubs 200 Beers @ The Flying Saucer". I started this quest a few weeks ago when I got here. The basic idea is drink 200 different types of beers at the bar. Biggest catch, only 3 beers per day, which means 67 visits to complete. I am currently at 20, but they didn't register one of my tickets last time I went so I will have to have that fixed.

I don't own a camera so recently I have been forced to search the Internet for pics like I did above, I plan on rectifying that at some point but until then this blog will be more words than pictures which I don't think is a good thing.

The glass is half full....

AR- 6 Weeks in

So I shaved my beard off yesterday. What does this have to do with my list you might ask, a couple things. 1st I have gained at least 15 lbs since I moved to AR, prob a combination of less exercise and eating like crap (Fucking Sonic). Second when I 1st shaved I was quite distraught at the neck flab I had going on which I might not have noticed except that the last time I was cleanly shaven was right after I ran the marathon (list item) and I was in much better shape. I have only completed only 1 list item since the move and that was to buy a HDTV (prob also contributing to my weight gain)

The point of me telling you all of this is I am getting back on the list bandwagon. I have not done a good job of assimilating into AR. From what I have been told in the last couple weeks I have started just complaining and no one likes a complainer. I enjoy sarcasm but I apparently am now incapable of simply being sarcastic. When a friend from MA asked me if I had shaved my angry beard that is when I knew what had to be done.

There are a lot of list items that can help me both lose weight and get better acquainted with AR. I still have to run races of 5K, 10K and 1/2 Marathon, although I am willing to substitute 5 and 10 Mi's for the K's if that is how the races present themselves. I also need to take kickboxing & Yoga classes as well as join a racquetball league. That is just the physical aspect of my current problem. I also need to learn how to cook better so I don't end up eating shit all the time like I do now. Hopefully good cooking with help me impress the ladies, if I ever meet an attractive one that isn't married.

Overall this last 6 weeks have been a struggle for me. I am searching for my place down here and not finding many answers. Everyone else down here came in a class or with people they knew, friends and wives or are from here. I came as me, alone, and I don't fit into any of the defined categories at work (Since I only know people from work). I am not supposed to be friends with the reps because I am a manager but I don't have a common theme with the other managers. I am putting on my best face from here out but I won't be surprised if I am not excited about the results (sorry to any Arkansan who doesn't understand where I am commin from)

Here's to keeping my pursuit of living deliciously alive

#87- Buy a new HDTV

It has been purchased but it is to large to fit in my car so I will find a larger car tomorrow to go pick it up. They couldn't deliver it until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and I could not handle not having a TV for my 1st weekend, which I plan to sleep though with a few rounds of golf in-between. The weather has been shit this week so I am hoping for some Sun since I haven't gotten a chance to take advantage of one of the main perks of the complex. And when you pick a place site unseen that can be quite the determining factor.

If you are the type who enjoy specs, it is a 55" Samsung /1080p / 120Hz / LCD w/ 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio

Next up in the purchase department is the PS3 to go with it, I mean I need to do something for me. Right? (In my head that sentence sounds like Arty Lang was saying it)