Night Vapor...

This past Monday was my 33rd birthday. I got some good loot. Some cash, a horse head mask (hopefully pictures of that soon), a book, a pinata filled with candy, and an ultra-micro RC airplane called the Night Vapor.

Here's the Night Vapor.


It's a very small little plane, and it weighs next to nothing. The lights on it are very bright, and it's designed to be flown in little to no light, and pretty much no wind.

Well, the last couple of nights have been pretty still, so I have flown two batteries through it each night.

What an incredible little machine.

It's slow so it's easy to control, it's EXTREMELY quiet so there's no reason to worry about the noise, it's bright so it's easy to see even when it's kind of dark, and it's just ideal to fly around.

It's very relaxing, and I've been trying to do some things to reduce some stress in my life since I got back from vacation. Even though it was only about 45 degrees each night, I stood out in the street for the better part of 30 minutes each night with the biggest grin on my face.

I can't wait for it to get a bit warmer outside. I'm going to grab a lawn chair, a drink, and just hang out in the driveway flying this thing around. It's a very interesting experience, and I'm loving every second of it!!

Long Time, No Post...

I figured tonight would be a good night to get back to the blog.

I've been sick since we got back from Hawai'i, and this week I finally made it back to work.

Anyways, something that I have been interested in for a long time was poi. It's the art of spinning and twirling things that are hooked to your hands with cords.

I tried it out in Hawai'i for a few minutes, and when I got home I ordered a set of glowing poi from a place in New Zealand.



I've practiced with them just a few times, but so far I've had quite a bit of fun with them. They are entertaining and a pretty decent workout for your hands and mind.

I'm hoping to get back to regularly posting on the blog. Maybe I can try and get some pictures of me twirling the poi with my new camera??? New camera, you say?? Yup...but that's a post for another day!!

Experimenting With Hanging Photographs...

So we got some good pictures while we were in Hawaii.

I've been experimenting with hanging them in different ways, and this is what I've settled on in the living room...for now...


I may keep moving them a bit more, and I also have some other pictures that I would like to get printed that might make them look different in the end, but for now I think they look pretty good!

Day Two...

I had the alarm set today for 9:00...but then were woken up at 7:00.

We hit a place called "The Gazebo" for breakfast. Waited about an hour, but it was worth it. The food was AMAZING.

When we got back, everyone got ready and we hit the water. I skipped the pool and went right straight to the Pacific Ocean.

The water was great, and it was a bit windy. We swam in the ocean for a while, then hit the pool for a bit. After that, we came in to get dried off and get some renting done.

Cathy, George, my dad, and I went to rent me a paddle board. It ended up being a bit more than I had planned on spending, but the place I had planned on renting from wasn't open. Oh well. It's vacation, right?? We then hit Snorkel Bob's to get some rental snorkel gear...which was awesome. They rent prescription masks, so Cathy and I both got prescriptions that match us perfectly.

We came back, and I figured that it was time to try out the board...I spent enough on it, might as well get some money's worth out of it.

It was windy and choppy, and I was not very successful. At first, though, I couldn't even get up on the board on my knees, which is how they suggest to start. I was able to get around on my knees pretty well, but every time I went to stand up I fell off almost instantly. I think a lot of it was the wind and waves. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning I'll be able to get a bit better cooperation from the ocean, and hopefully that will translate to a bit more success. If not, I may have to travel a bit south to get some flatter water. I found a couple of places that I saw already that was a bit flatter, and the guy that rented me the board suggested that if I headed further south I'd find really good water.

The good part about the day was the weather cooperated pretty well. It rained off and on, but nothing that really put a damper on anything. It's supposed to rain a bit more tomorrow, but then the forecast is looking a lot better for the remainder of the trip.

The rain that has happened over the last couple of days has made some of the snorkeling not very good, but the guy that rented us the equipment told us a good place to go. So we might give that a try tomorrow, as well.

I also got a souveneir. It's a tiki that was hand carved. Really cool.

Also, so far, every single person that I've interacted with here has been SO friendly. It's definitely a change of pace from pretty much everywhere I've ever been. Awesome.

Day One...

The flights today seemed to last FOREVER.

When we arrived in San Francisco, we got to sit on the runway for an extra 30 minutes or more while we waited for a gate.

I finally got some sleep on the flight to Maui. That was after not getting any sleep the night before, and not really much the night before that, either.

We arrived in Maui at about 6:00 PM, got the rental car, and made it to the condo.

The condo is AWESOME. Since it's dark, it's difficult to see what's around...and it's raining. Bad news, there is lots of rain in the forecast.

We ordered a couple of pizzas, ate those, and are now getting ready to hit the sack. We'll see what day two brings.

New Handheld...

Today a Playstation Vita arrived on our doorstep, courtesy of Cathy.

I've only had a few minutes to play around with it, but the hardware seems absolutely amazing.

Time will tell how awesome the thing really is, but for now it seems like it's going to be pretty solid. Games are available in a WIDE price range...from a couple of bucks for downloadable games (stuff similar to the ones for iOS and Android) to $50 for full blown console like games.

If we both end up really liking it, I may have to look into getting one for myself so that we both have one.

I know that we both have a 3DS, and neither of them gets used very often...but the thing about the Vita is that it solves pretty much my only gripe about most handhelds, the lack of a second analog stick. The Vita feels just like a real console's controller.

Sick Friend...

So my buddy at work Scott is sick.

The thing is, the doctor's don't have any idea what's wrong with him. MRI, X-ray, and blood tests all come back negative...but his stomach is causing him so much pain that it hurts when he walks, eats, sits...really all the time.

He's scheduled to go in for a HIDA scan in the next week here, but they can't get him in sooner because of some confusion with his personal doctor and the ER.

Either way, I'm keeping him in my thoughts and hoping for the best.

Bills=Paid!!!

I normally get paid late on Friday nights...like around 11:15 or so is when my paycheck shows up in my checking account. I normally wait until Friday nights to set up all of my bill payments, because like most 30 somethings I still do a lot of paycheck to paycheck living.

However, because of the money I've been saving for the trip to Hawai'i, I had a bunch of money in my savings and checking account right now. I figured, you know what?? I'm going to go ahead and pay those bills early, so that they are already out of my checking account when Tuesday rolls around and we start our voyage to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

This way, when this paycheck comes in, I will know EXACTLY how much money I can spend while I'm on the trip...and it's looking like I'm going to have a pretty good amount of money to have some fun with!!!

Let's just say, I'll have enough money that if I manage to spend it all on the trip, I'll be really upset with myself that I was able to go through that much money in 10 days.

I don't think I've ever paid my bills this early in the week, but it's nice to be able to. And it's especially nice to know that money left in my account come Tuesday will be all mine!!!

One More Week!!!

It's been a while since I hit the blog.

I'm not really sure what I've been doing, other than buying RC helicopters...but I guess I've been too busy to post.

Hopefully I'll get a better chance to post after we get back from vacation.

In less than 7 days, we'll be hanging out in Hawai'i...for a MUCH needed and wanted vacation.

I'm taking the computer, so maybe...just maybe...I'll get to post a couple of times FROM Maui!!!

One of Those Movies I Can Never See Too Many Times...

This movie is on HBO about twice a week...which means that, about twice a week, I watch it.

It's just awesome. Oddly enough, Aldous Snow and his band, Infant Sorrow, only exist in fiction in this movie and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." However, they are my favorite band and singer.

It's just awesome.

Why am I posting this?? Obviously because it's on right now...and I'm sure it will be on again later this week, and I'll be watching it then, too!!

Valentine's Day...

Today is Valentine's Day.

Cathy and I already decided we weren't really going to do anything for this "holiday" and instead would save our money for our upcoming trip.

So, for the day, we both sat around doing pretty much nothing. We then went to McDonald's to get some food, then came home and watched "50/50" on DVD, which turned out to be a pretty amazing movie!!!

Overall, it was a pretty good Valentine's Day!!!

Three Weeks!!!

There are exactly three weeks to go before our trip to Hawai'i!!

Hopefully, everything goes as planned. So far, the flights have been a little bit wishy-washy, with times moving and destinations for layovers changing. Hopefully it will all be sorted out by the time the day actually gets here.

Gross...

So tonight, Cathy and I went out to Bob Evans for a nice quick dinner.

We both like Bob Evans. We usually get breakfast while we're there, but this time we both got a dinner type meal. She got some glazed pork chops and I got a roast beef sandwich.

These both seemed like fine meals, but then these two older people showed up and sat next to us.

It was clear right off the bat that the man was sick. He was coughing and sneezing all over the place. That alone was pretty nasty.

However, what ruined the meal...and I mean, actually ruined the meal, mine didn't taste right afterwards...was when I heard him tell his wife that he was about to throw up. The woman got a waitress, and then the manager brought a bucket to his table for him to apparently puke in.

It was at this point in time that I literally lost my appetite, and my meal started to actually disgust me.

Luckily, he didn't end up throwing up in the bucket. He ended up going to the rest room, and Cathy and I quickly finished our meals and left.

Talk about a quick way to ruin a tasty meal. I also wanted to point out how inappropriate it was for these two individuals to actually go out in public for a meal with the man in the condition that he was in.

All In...

Why is it that whenever I get into something...anything...I want to be all in right off the bat??

Radio control cars?? I bought one, and then the next thing I knew I had seven of them, ranging in cost from $80 to $500.

Now, it's helicopters. I got one, and bought another one within days. I'm now looking for another one to use this summer when I get the hang of the two beginner models that I have right now.

I'm looking for deals, like I usually do, so it's not costing me an arm and a leg...but sometimes I wish I didn't get so invested in new things!!!

Oh well, it's only money...right??

Single Rotor Heli...

I had purchased a Blade 120 SR from The Toy House last week. It's a single rotor fixed pitch heli, which makes it quite a bit more difficult to fly than the mCX that I also got.

I found out, however, that mine was extra difficult to fly because it was missing a vertical tail fin, so I ordered one on Ebay.

It showed up today, so I had to try out the 120 in the basement.

Now, this heli is actually designed to be flown outdoors more than it is indoors, so I was really just trying to get it to hover, to see how much different it actually is from flying the mCX.

After a bit of trying, and quite a bit of trimming, I was finally able to get it to hover in one place in the basement. I then started giving it a bit of control input, and noticed immediately how much faster it is than the mCX.

Overall, I think it's going to be an amazing thing to fly. It seems pretty quick, yet it's also stable. Everything that a beginner wants!!!

That Owl I Posted the Other Day...

Well, he's a Southern White Faced Owl.

They can do pretty cool tricks.

Basically, they change their appearance when scared or angry.

In that video, when the owl is put together with an owl that is bigger than it, but not by much, it puffs itself all up.

But when it's put together with another owl that is MUCH larger than itself, it completely changes the way it looks. To me, it almost looks like it's trying to make itself look like a hawk, or some other bird of prey, that maybe most owls wouldn't try to mess with.

Pretty cool.

Stupid Computer...

Tonight while I was doing some typing, my space bar started sticking. I was able to kind of get it to work again by kind of pressing on it pretty hard. But then a few seconds later, the "x" button wasn't working right.

I was trying to press it and pull it a bit to try and free it up. It didn't seem to want to work. Then, while I was pressing it, it just fell off of the keyboard.

Upon further inspection, the little metal clip that holds it onto the computer was broken, and the plastic clip that is basically like a lever to keep it in place was also broken.

Had it just been the key, I probably could have ordered just a replacement key...but seeing as the metal on the computer itself broke, I ended up having to order an entire new keyboard.

Now, let's just hope it gets here fast, and when it does, let's hope I can actually put it on the dang computer.

Plane!!!

Today my Super Cub arrived...and this time it was the right one!!! Awesome.

Since I can't fly it right now, I promptly took the DSM radio out of the box and bound it to my mCX helicopter and went flying in the basement.

With the higher quality radio, the helicopter really works well. It's easier to control and seems to be faster.

I built the Super Cub and set it downstairs. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try to learn to fly it on my own or if I should get help. The manual, DVD, and box make it seem as if it's something I could do on my own...but I'm not sure.

Besides, joining the club would give me something to do. Who knows, maybe even I could talk Cathy into trying it!!!

I Like This Owl...

I don't know why, but it doesn't even look like a real animal to me. It looks more like a puppet, or a strange cartoon character.

After All These Years...Still One of the Best Ever...

"E.T." was on AMC tonight, and even after nearly 30 years (it will be 30 years in June of this year), it is still one of the most magical and amazing films that I've ever seen.

It still elicits laughs, tears, jumps, and drama...even after the multitude of times I've seen it.

I'm wondering if there's going to be an epic Blu-Ray 30th Anniversary release. Hopefully.

15 Seconds of Awesome...

Comeback Player of the Year...

So Matthew Stafford has been named NFL's Comeback Player of the Year for 2012.

Over 5,000 yards. 41 touchdowns. 97.2 QBR.

Remind me again why Cam Newton is in the Pro Bowl???

My Quest...

...to obtain one of every type of RC vehicle has taken another step forward.

I ordered a Blade mCX micro helicopter to play around with in the basement. I cleaned the basement up a bit, and realized how much room there is down there.

Should be fun to fly around!!!

Stitches Out...

This morning while I was getting ready for work, Cathy came up and told me that she had noticed some blood on Cooper's paw.

I checked him out, and it looked kind of swollen and it was definitely bleeding. Time to go to the vet.

I called work and told them I wouldn't be in while Cathy made the call to the vet's office. They got me right in, even though it was right between surgeries.

I took him there, and the vet looked at him for a moment. He said he thought that the stitches were starting to irritate the skin, and that it looked like they needed to come out. He said that the rest of the paw looked really good, and got to cutting the stitches out.

He told me that after stitches have served their purpose, they can start to irritate the skin as an animal (or a person, even) starts to use the part of the body that has been stitched again. I had noticed that Cooper seemed to be favoring the paw again a little, and as soon as the stitches were out he was putting weight on the paw and running around again. I think that the stitches knots were digging into his skin, and it was bothering him.

He's been sleeping most of the day, and already this evening the area looks less inflamed than it did when I took him in this morning.

He has another appointment on Monday, so the vet will check him again then. Hopefully, he'll be all good!!!

Airplane...

I had a radio controlled airplane quite some time ago. I want to say I got it when I was 18 or so. I never ended up flying it, mainly because I had invested hundreds of dollars into it and I was afraid that I would crash it. At the time, finding people to help you learn how to fly was pretty difficult, and couple that with my anti-social tendencies and you have a recipe for trying to teach yourself to fly.

Well, here we are about 15 years later and I am ready to give it another go.

I really like all of my cars and trucks, but there is only so much you can do with them without going to the track, which is over an hour away.

However, there is a GIANT field about three minutes from my house, and the local RC Plane club's private field is only about ten minutes from the house.

So I figured I'd give it a shot with a new electric trainer...a Hobbyzone Super Cub DSM.


It comes with a nice four channel DSM radio by Spektrum which can be used with future planes. It's three channels so it's very beginner friendly. It looks like a real plane, which was important to me.

It's designed as a plane you can use to learn to fly by yourself, but I'm contemplating joining the local club. It costs money, but you get access to their flying field and they have people with "trainer boxes" that can help you learn to fly. Basically, they have a transmitter that binds with your transmitter, then if you get into trouble up in the sky they can "take over" with the flip of a switch and bring the plane back to earth safely.

I ordered this plane off of Amazon, and got the wrong item shipped to me instead. I ended up getting it returned, and found a better deal on the same item at A Main Hobbies, so I ordered it from there. It should be here next week.

This plane qualifies as a "park flyer," which means it's legal to fly it at any local park as long as the city doesn't have any ordinances against it.

It's got amazing reviews, and the best part is that there is a progression that you can get into that allows you to move up as your skills improve.

I look forward to getting it and learning how to fly. It's something that I wanted to do for a long time, but was always afraid of the costs and risks. Maybe it's time to get over some of that anti-socialness and get out there and have someone help me learn!!

Facebook Games?? Me???

For the last few days I've been pretty much hooked on "Margaritaville Online," which is a Facebook adventure game based on Jimmy Buffett's...well, everything!!


I've found it to be quite engaging, and it's got a LOT of things to do.

I got Cathy started on it, too, so that's cool. The only problem is we don't have enough friends playing so we have to do some extra things to get some of the tasks completed. Oh well, doesn't make the game any less fun if you ask me!!!

The Last Two Januaries...

...have been the two lowest posting months on my blog pretty much since I started it.

I wonder what it is about the start of a new year that makes me not really interested in posting on the blog so much?? I know that I've been just kind of "blah" a lot lately, and I don't seem to have much energy. I don't know if that has something to do with it or not, but it's just something I noticed that seems strange.

Graphic Picture...

I'm going to note right now, the picture below might seem kind of graphic. It's Cooper's paw after we have taken the bandage off. You can see the stitches, and it's seeming to heal pretty well. It was a bit difficult getting it off. I'm not sure if it was actually hurting him, or just startling him, but the bandage was stuck to two small spots that when we were removing it we basically had to pull small scabs off. We finally got it all off, though. Now that it's open to the air, it should start healing really well. He wanted to lick it a tad, but I think he was more interested in the fresh blood. I've been watching him, and he just did a good thorough licking of the REST of his paw. Basically all of it that was covered by the bandage, other than the hurt toe...so that's okay.

He's seeming to feel much better. As soon as we took the bandage off, he was walking on the foot a little and barking for treats. I'm happy that he's seeming to be doing so well.

Anyways, below is the picture.

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Dolphin Tale...

Tonight Cathy and I watched "Dolphin Tale," which is the story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin that was trapped in a crab cage and lost her tail. She was taken to an aquarium in Clearwater, Florida where she lives today. Shortly after taking her in, she was fitted with a prosthetic tail, which allows her to swim like a normal dolphin.

Here's a quick Discovery News segment about the actual dolphin.



I know that the movie was pretty "dramatized," but I thought it was really good. One of those movies that makes you feel like you are about to cry for almost the entire thing.

One thing that wasn't dramatized was the dolphin herself. Winter steals the show, and upon first site you can't help but be absolutely amazed by this animal.

Circus!!!!

Today Cathy and I took the day off and went to the Shrine Circus in town.

It ended up costing us $14 total because we had a coupon for a free ticket. We got there and the lines were HUGE. We got in and got some seats, though, and enjoyed the show quite a bit.

We had about an hour and twenty minutes of show time before what we thought was the end. It turned out to just be the intermission, though, so we got a drink and a couple of inflatable animals (what trip to the circus is complete without some inflatable animals?) and waited...and waited.

Turns out the intermission was nearly an hour long. After about 40 minutes, we both decided we were hungry so we ended up leaving before the second part of the show. Cathy heard some people mentioning that the second part of the show wasn't nearly as long as the first, so we don't really think we missed much.

Either way, we had a really good time...and we definitely got our $14 worth out of the tickets.

After that, we headed to Logan's Road House for dinner. It had been AGES since I had been to Logan's, and the dinner was great.

We then headed home. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day. Lots of fun!!

Awesome...

It's a teaser for the Volkswagen Super Bowl Commercial...

New RC Truck...

Well, I got an Amazon gift card for spending a bajillion dollars with my debit card this last year, so I put it to good use.



It's a 1/18th scale Electrix Smash. It's tiny. It's slow. But it's pretty cool.

I ended up ordering some LiPo batteries for it right away, which should liven it up quite a bit. See, it runs stock on 4 AA size batteries, which are going to give it anywhere between 5.2 and about 5.7 volts on a good day...especially with the cheap batteries I had laying around. The LiPo packs will put it up to 8.4 volts, so that alone should make it quite a bit quicker.

I plan on using it to drive around the yard and the street and stuff. It's definitely not designed for a track, but with this I can focus on getting the other cars all set for the track. I have the Circuit, the Boost, and the XT2e for the track...so this little guy will be awesome around the yard!!!

Livid...

I can honestly say that I have NEVER been this upset at the officiating in a football game.

You know, I THOUGHT that the Lions would lose. But the fact that the loss comes not only at the hands of the Saints, but also at one of the poorest examples of officiating I've ever witnessed really makes it seem different.

The Lions should have had a defensive TD on the Drew Brees fumble return, but for whatever reason the play was whistled dead. The Saints got a tick-tack penalty that took what would have been a decently long field goal and made it a chip shot to end the first half. Then to start the second half, on third down and long the Saints got a first down...on a spot that put the ball a good 4.5 feet farther forward than the player had actually gotten. This all goes hand in hand with the Drew Brees "fourth down leap" where he put the ball forward...okay, forward progress...but then dropped the ball while he was being tackled and recovered his own fumble. That nullifies forward progress.

This all doesn't even come close to explaining the amount of blatantly obvious holding calls were not called against the Saints. I'm not talking just holding, either...I'm talking "here, let me bear hug you to the ground" type of holding.

Unbelievable.

Sure, the Lions doomed themselves as well with their inability to tackle and the fact that they couldn't get off of the field on third down...but the refs played MUCH more of a part in this game than they should have. The Lions deserve better.

Paddle Board Is Here...

Over the last few days I have gotten my entire paddle board setup.

I got the board, the paddle, the leash, a new life preserver, the straps to hook it to the roof rack, some pads for the roof rack, and everything that I could possibly need to get into this.

I'm hoping to get a chance to use a board when we're in Hawaii, so that when I get back I don't have to worry about "learning" how to do it.

Now all I've got to do is start working on getting into shape.

The goal is still to do the 9 mile race in Traverse City in August. I can register on March 1st, so I've got that date circled on my calendar.

One quick note...the board is HUGE. I had no idea that it would be as big as it is. I mean, sure, I knew the dimensions, but I guess I just wasn't putting them together right in my head.

I'll try to get some pictures of it up when I get a chance.

Ready for a Vacation...

Is it the first week of March yet??

I'm really...REALLY...ready for a vacation.

Work has been a drag, the drive to work has been a drag, and it seems like all that I do is go to work then come home to wait to go to sleep.

Even our days off these last few weeks have been packed to the point of not even really seeming like days off.

Hopefully this coming weekend for us we get to finally get some relaxation time in. I could definitely use it.

But anyways...March can't come soon enough...

Tintin...

Tonight, Cathy and I went to see "The Adventures of Tintin."

I had read that it was pretty good, and it was getting good reviews. We wanted to go see it last week on our days off, but thought better of it when we realized how busy it would be.

I will keep this post short, and just mention that I really enjoyed the movie. The story was solid and the voice acting was great, but the star of the show was clearly the animation. There were times when I forgot I was watching an animated movie...it was that good.

We did see it in 3D, and I thought the 3D presentation of it was very good. It didn't seem to lose anything with the 3D, and it used it rather subtly.

Victory for MSU!!!!

Today the Spartans dug themselves a pretty huge hole. Down 16-0 at the half, with less than 80 yards of offense, they looked to me like they were getting ready to lay down and take a whipping similar to last year's bowl game debacle. I watched the first drive of the second half, and when it ended the way that pretty much every drive of the first half ended, I changed the channel and started watching the NHL Winter Classic.

But then something funny happened. Somehow, the Spartans decided that they knew how to play football. They moved the ball after an interception and got on the board. The two point conversion made it 16-8. A few plays later, a pick six with a missed two point conversion made it 16-14.

I turned the game back on. I watched Georgia move down and put a field goal on the board to go up 19-14. Then I watched the Spartans take about a minute and a half to get themselves another TD and take a 20-14 lead after another failed two point attempt.

That lead would last about a minute and a half itself, as Georgia walked right down the field to score again. Their two point conversion was good, and set up a 27-20 lead.

On the Spartans next drive, quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a pick that I thought would end the game. But the defense stepped up and forced a punt, giving the Spartans one last chance at a drive to tie it up.

With just under two minutes to play, the Spartans took 1:36 to move the ball 85 yards and cap it with a touchdown for the tie. On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia took a knee to head to overtime.

As the teams were getting ready for overtime, the Spartans were visibly hyped up, and Georgia looked a bit tired.

Georgia won the toss and gave State the ball to start. Cousins promptly threw an interception. Game over, right?? Not today...

The Michigan State defense stepped up, again, and held the Bulldogs to zero yard on their possession, and then the field goal was wide right. On the next series, the Bulldogs again did nothing with the ball, but this time hit a field goal.

Now the Spartans take over, and Cousins throws ANOTHER pass right into a Bulldog's hands, but this time the interception wasn't made, the ball was dropped. State moved the ball a few yards and ended up settling for a field goal themselves.

On to overtime number three. The Spartans started with the ball and moved it seven yards before kicking a field goal for a 33-30 lead.

The ball then goes over to Georgia, who ends up throwing a ball right into a Michigan State player's helmet...he tips the ball, but doesn't end up getting the pick. At this point, I figured that Georgia had just dodged their bullet, and they would end up with a TD on the drive for a win...but I was wrong. State's defense stepped up again, and after a loss of four yards on the drive Georgia would have to settle for another field goal attempt.

Blocked.

Today, Michigan State survived a scare and won a bowl game for the first time in over a decade. They ushered their seniors out with Coach Dantonio's first bowl win for the Spartans, and gave their fans something that they had wanted for a LONG time.

I said at the start of the season, it's one thing to go to bowl games every year...but at some point you need to start winning them. This year they did that.

Let's hope that they can continue this trend.

Resolutions for 2012...

I know, I know.

Resolutions.

Why even make them, right?? Very rarely does someone actually stick with the resolutions that they make. But I guess that old stop smoking ad of "Never Quit Quitting" kind of takes effect, right?? Even if you quit the resolutions, never stop making them and trying.

So to that end, let's go ahead and get some resolutions going here.

1. I want to run the 9 mile Down Winder race at the 2012 Traverse City Waterman competition. I've purchased a paddle board and all the gear, now all I need to do is get training so that come August I'm in good enough shape to do it.

2. Speaking of getting in shape, I want to lose weight. But I don't want to lose weight. I simply want to be more healthy. I'm guessing that by just trying to be more healthy, instead of watching my weight, I'll actually start losing weight. So I'm going with "be more healthy."

3. I want to have the time of my life 4,373 miles away from home.

4. I want to continue having a great time with my wife and pet family.

So, hopefully, these four simple resolutions will be something that I can work towards. I hope to complete them all. Luckily, two of them are easy...3 and 4. The other two tie together pretty well, so I'll be working the hardest towards those two things.

Wish me luck.

New Year's Eve...

For New Year's Eve this year, Cathy and I actually decided to be social.

We have a friend at work who started a few months ago. Her name is Jamie Lee. She invited us over to her in-law's house for the night just to hang out and have some food and play some games. We decided to actually go.

When we got there, there were already quite a few people there, but even more showed up after us. We ended up playing cards for a while, then switched to another board game.

All in all, it was actually a pretty good time. We ended up leaving shortly after 12:30 because we had been up all day and we had to go to work again the next day.

But, I'm glad we went. We don't get to get out too much, so it was fun to actually go out with a friend for a change!!