Congrats Are In Order...

Tonight, a 27 year old NFL record was broken.

Dan Marino set the record for passing yards in a single season in 1984 at 5,084 yards.

Tonight, Drew Brees threw a 9 yard TD pass with 2:51 seconds left to put him at 5,087 yards...with a game to go.



So, congratulations to Drew Brees. A guy that nobody ever though would be an NFL quarterback. Then nobody ever though he'd be an NFL Champion. He just keeps proving everyone wrong. And all the while, he just continues to be one of the most team oriented and humble players I've ever seen.

Seriously, it couldn't have happened to a better guy!!!

A Good Christmas...

So Christmas is pretty much over for Cathy and me.

We've been to her dad's house and to my parents house.

We got a lot of good stuff. We gave a lot of good stuff, as well. We had a couple of really great dinners.

But most importantly, we had a lot of fun. Hanging out at Cathy's dad's was a blast, even though we were tired because we went there after work. We had a lot of fun at my parents' house, today, as well. We also had a lot of fun exchanging gifts with each other.

Now we look forward to the New Year. It's time to start thinking about resolutions!!!!

To The Playoffs!!!!!

Today the Lions put together what many would say was their most complete game of the season. They beat a good team, albeit a good team that hasn't played that well this season. But that doesn't matter. The Lions looked like a hungry team today. A team that knew if they win, they were in.

And win they did.

They will now be going to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. They still have no idea who their opponent is, but right now that doesn't matter.

Schwartz's post game comments summed it up perfectly, as he sent the players onto the field to celebrate with the fans: "There will be a time we won't celebrate making the playoffs. That won't be tonight."

Congratulations to the Detroit Lions. You're making your fans, and your City, proud!!!

It Has Been Brought to My Attention...

...by my lovely wife that my post the other day about our bad luck had something incorrect in it.

I posted that the stove cost us $400.

Actually, the stove cost us $600.

So that extra $200 puts our total cost of Bad Luck up to $1400 instead of $1200.

Either way, seems like a lot of money!!!

Fantasy League Updates...

So, I made the playoffs in both of my leagues.

In one, I went in as the number one seed. In the other, I went in as the number four seed.

In both games, I absolutely dominated my opponent, to punch my ticket to two Championship games!!

The game that I was the number four seed in is probably my most impressive victory that I can remember in fantasy football. It was over last year's champion in that league, and he had a 13-1 record going into the game. I sat at 9-5. That one loss he had?? To me. My five losses?? Four of them by a total of about 15 points. So my team was a lot better than my record indicated, and I knew he was beatable. And something about this week just made me think it was his time to lose again.

So next week I'll battle in two different championship games...and I'm guaranteed to add two more trophies to my Online Trophy Case!!!

Spending Some of My Bonus Money...

So I've been wanting to spend some of my bonus money when I get it on something fun that I otherwise would probably never buy.

So I've figured out what I'm going to get.

This.


That's a Stand Up Paddle Board.

Now, why, oh why, would I want something like this?? Easy. They are supposed to be spectacular workouts, and they seem like they would be a blast on some of the lakes around here.

There's something that I'll be getting to go with it, of course.


That's a Whiskey Jack hand made paddle. Why hand made?? Because it's better than anything a machine could put together.

The paddle is hand made in Montana. The board is actually made here in Michigan. See, stand up paddling has become pretty popular on flat lakes here on the mainland, and it's definitely popular anywhere that there's waves that you can even remotely come close to surfing on.

Of course, you may be wondering why I would really want any of this stuff. Well, there's a goal to all of this.

And that, is this...


The Traverse City TC Waterman SUP Challenge. This, of course, is the 2011 logo and design. However, in October of this year, the challenge got "annual" status from the Traverse City City Council, so it will be going every year. This year the challenge is on August 18th.

Now, what is the challenge?? Simple. It's a 9 mile paddle in Grand Traverse Bay that is basically a race.

I know I can't win it. I know I won't win it. I just want to enter it, and FINISH. I've set it as a goal, and I really...REALLY...want to stick to the goal. I think if I work hard and exercise and practice, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to finish the paddle and have accomplished something that I think is pretty great.

So, it's going to cost a few hundred bucks...but I've shopped and shopped and found deals. Basically, I'm getting a bunch of good stuff for not anywhere near what they should cost, so I'm spending money but saving at the same time.

And hopefully, I can get my training going and actually complete the TC Waterman Challenge!!!

If It Wasn't For Bad Luck...

...I think that Cathy and I would have no luck.

Going back a couple of weeks, this is the list of things that have gone wrong, and approximate values that they have cost us to fix.

First, it was a tire went flat on Cathy's car. It got a hole in the sidewall, and that required a new tire. Well, of course, you can't get just one tire without replacing at least one more, so two tires were purchased. Cost: $200

Next, it was a spring on the garage door snapped. I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself, so we had to call someone in to take care of it. Of course, like a tire, when you replace one of them you pretty much have to replace the other one. Cost: $200

After that, it was the graphics card on the computer went bad. We couldn't get it to work at all, so we had to replace that. Cost: $100. Unfortunately, that $100 card didn't work either. So we had to go back to the store and get ANOTHER one. Luckily, this one cost a bit less. Cost: $50

Next, we had the stove go out. The heating element in it went bad, and after doing some research it was going to cost us at least around $200 to get that fixed, and the stove was pretty old, so we decided that instead of putting several hundred into a dying appliance, we should probably just get a new one. Cost: $400

Last, we came home from work tonight and it was cold in our house. Luckily, it was pretty warm outside for Michigan in the middle of December. So I looked and sure enough it wasn't lighting at all. We ended up calling Aspen's 24 hour emergency service, and they sent a technician out at around 10:00 PM. It was only an extra $50 for the emergency service, and it was probably worth it because otherwise we'd have had to take some time off of work. After checking a bunch of stuff, the tech told us that it MIGHT be a transformer, but he didn't think it would fix the issue. The problem?? If it was the thing he was pretty sure it was, it was going to be a $900 repair. So we opted to try the transformer and see. LUCKILY, the transformer fixed the problem. We are still working with a 22 year old furnace, and we may think about having someone come out to give us some options on replacing it soon. Anyways, we had to pay for the service and the part. Cost: $350

So that puts our luck lately at a total cost of $1200.

Nothing like spending $1200 on things that aren't any fun at all to spend money on in the month before Christmas, and the three months before the trip to Hawai'i.

Oh, and just to finish up on the bad luck part...when the guy was fixing the furnace, he managed to turn the hot water heater all the way to it's lowest setting...so this morning?? Yah, I got to take a shower in 40 degree water. Awesome.

Christmas Shopping Nearly Done...

I've got most of my Christmas shopping done, with quite a bit of time to spare this year!!!

The only thing I've got left to do is get something for my Grandma...who is apparently the most difficult person in the world to find something for. Well, I guess it would be easy to find something for her, but it's been difficult trying to come up with something that she'll actually enjoy.

I'm going to have to give my mom a call to see if there's anything that she can suggest. As soon as I get my Grandma done, though, I'm done with everything.

Shoot. I forgot that I will still need to get some stocking stuffers for Cathy, but that shouldn't be too hard!!!

Yearly Bonus...Part II...

We found out what our yearly bonus is going to be this year.

I managed to get the maximum possible bonus, which means I'll get a total of $4500. Not too shabby. I was HOPING it would be a bit more, but I can't complain with what amounts about a 10% increase to my salary for the year.

Of course, after taxes it will probably come out to around $2700.

I'm planning on immediately putting $2000 of it away for the trip to Hawai'i, and then MAYBE trying to find myself something fun to spend the other couple of hundred on.

Cathy also made out pretty well. She's going to be getting $3750. I'm HOPING that she will put away about $1500 for the trip and then spend about $700 on something cool for herself, as well. That way we'd have a total of $3500 spending money for the time in Hawai'i, which would pretty much put us at the point where we could buy pretty much whatever we want and do whatever we want while we're there.

We'll also be getting a tax return in a month. I'm hoping that will be enough to cover the dog's boarding while we are gone and our small share of the extra nights worth of accommodations while we're there.

Either way, it's a pretty nice year end bonus...and I'm happy to have it coming!!!

Lions Pull One Out...

...and guarantee themselves of a non-losing season for the first time in a long time.

Sure, they could still end up at 8-8, but that's a vast improvement from the 0-16 from a couple of seasons ago.

At 8-5, many people are a bit disappointed by them after a 5-0 start...but I was hoping that this season would end up at .500 or maybe a game better, so the 5-0 start excited me, but I thought it was a bit misleading.

What has happened over the last 8 games is we have seen a team that has shown it's age. They're young. They all need to mature a little bit. Stupid penalties have really hurt them, and it didn't help that Stafford hurt his finger and started throwing some pretty wobbly passes.

I'm still hopeful that they can win another game or two and MAYBE make an appearance in the post season. But what I'm really hopeful for is that they can continue to build on the success they've had this season and keep building. They're getting better...now they just need to become good.

Night Out with Friends...

So Cathy and I don't get much time to hang out with friends from work. The drive to and from home to work always seems like it's so long, and it makes staying in Lansing late to hang out seem like such a chore.

But tonight we ended up staying. We were going to go bowling with a bunch of people from work from 7-9, but when we got there the bowling alley didn't have any lanes open. So we quickly came up with a backup plan and headed to Frank's Press Box, a sports bar in town, to just hang out and play some pool.

I spent my time there just talking with friends and one of our new girl's husband. It was a really good time.

Makes me want to actually do it more often!!! Maybe after the holidays we can start making it kind of a regular type of thing. Who knows.

Fantasy Football...

This year I haven't done much updating on my FFL teams. That's because I didn't seem to be as into it this year as I have been in the past. Not really sure why. Normally I do at least five teams and two pick 'em leagues. This year I did two teams and the pick 'em leagues.

So, as the seasons get to the playoffs soon, I figured I'd at least mention where I stand.

In the "survival pick 'em," I was out in the like fifth week. This was mainly because I forgot that there was a game that very first Thursday evening, and when I hadn't made my pick by then it automatically became a loss.

In the standard pick 'em, I'm in second place, about 25 points behind the leader. This is mainly due to my stubbornness, and the fact that I have picked the Lions to win EVERY week and put the maximum number of points on them. Let's put it this way, had I just picked the Packers and the Saints, like I would normally have done, with high points on them, I would currently be leading the league by at least 5 points. Oh well, sometimes you have to be a fan first, right??

Finally, in my two leagues...I am making the playoffs in both of them. I currently sit at 11-2 and I'm in first place going into the last week of the season in my SBN league. That league is crazy...I'm at 11-2, the guy in second is at 10-3...then we have FOUR people at 7-6 for the last two playoff spots.

In my work league, we once again had two guys quit...but that's alright. I'm at 8-5 and currently have the fourth place playoff spot locked up. I can move up to third depending on what happens this week. Oddly enough, I managed to salvage a playoff spot with that team despite going on a four game losing streak that just ended this past weekend.

So, I have some chances to get some more trophies to my profile...here's hoping for the best!!

Comics...

So, I've been using my Kindle Fire to read a comic collection. I've never really read a comic book before. Sure, I've read EVERY strip of "Calvin and Hobbes." In fact, I own one complete limited edition collection of "Calvin and Hobbes."

But this is an actual comic that was released as comic books for years.

It's called "Bone."



It's a story about these three guys that live in Boneville. They get run out of town, lost in a valley, and then an adventure awaits them. So far, they've found a girl and her grandmother, a town, and a dragon. Not to mention they are being chased by these really vicious looking rat things.

Overall, it's been REALLY entertaining. I've enjoyed the first volume, which was about six books total, so much that the moment I was done with it I bought the second volume, and started on that tonight.

It's nearly 60 books long, so I look forward to reading it all the way through. It's been great so far, and every "issue" just seems to get better!!

It's Time to Play the Music...

...it's time to light the lights.

It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet show tonight!!!!


Today, Cathy and I FINALLY got around to going to see "The Muppets."

I'm going to save a lot of typing and just say this...awesome.

I really liked it a lot. It was self aware, which made it that much more funny to me. The characters were good, the events leading up to the actual "Muppet Show" were good...but the show itself was just amazing.

It really makes me think that "The Muppet Show" would still thrive today if it were on weekly...probably even more than it did when it ran 30 years ago. They're owned by Disney now, who owns ABC...so who knows, maybe one day we'll see them back on TV.

Until then, I highly suggest going to check this one out. It's one of the better movies I've seen in a while!!

Yearly Bonus...

I'm really anxious to find out what kind of dollar amounts they have for the year end bonuses at work this year. Even though they are trying to make some budget cuts, the money for the bonuses is always set at the beginning of the year, so they SHOULD still be fairly significant.

I'm hoping to have a BUNCH of money to take to Hawai'i with me...and I was thinking about maybe trying to get myself a new computer if I get enough. I'm thinking about going with a nice little gaming laptop, like an Alien M11 or something, but that will only be in the cards if I manage to get enough to take the amount that I want to take to Hawai'i with me.

Hopefully they'll be able to let us know a little bit about dollar amounts this coming week. They normally give them to us in the paycheck that comes right after Christmas, so we should be finding out sooner rather than later!!!

Movie Trailer Time...

Looks cool!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Love it!!!!