Monday, November 15, 2010

Ohh you know....

So since I travel so much I get my choice of several amenities when I check in. Most people choose 500 points to be banked into their account. This week, I threw a curve ball and chose the option saying, "2 Beers and Popcorn." Well turns out room service is pretty freaking fast when they want to be. After getting into my room I chose to use the restroom, and while in the process, room service walked right in asking where they could serve the beer.

Who should feel worse? The poor guy who walked in on me? or me? I'm surprisingly ok with the whole thing, but I can understand where the Room Service Fellow might have felt out of place. In the end I told him to give himself a tip, and sign for him. I kind of think that might be the best news he heard in a while.

Today was a long day.

My hair is starting to get pretty long. If it weren't for the fact I pull and twirl it non-stop, I think I'd grow it out. I know I'm going to make myself go bald though with all the playing I do to it. It's the worst habit in more ways than one. Mostly because it's a pretty girly habit. Maybe I'll have my stylist, yes, I have a stylist, do some trimming so I can get adjusted to the length a little at a time.

Thanksgiving is coming up. It's gotta be my favorite holiday. I'll save all my favorites of it for a little while so I have more to blog about. For now, I'm just trying to get back into the routine of keeping this blog updated.

Things to look forward to with future blogs (also called a teaser): thoughts on movies coming out soon, Thanksgiving, video games, The Lion King.

Good night and good luck everyone.

Monday, November 8, 2010

I've been just aweful with this whole "blogging" thing.

Geez I think the last couple blogs have all started with... "I should really keep this more updated."

So what's new? I'm still in Dallas. I see my last post was in September so I'm trying to think about what I've done since then.

I finished the Urbanathlon (see http://menshealthurbanathlon.com/). It was actually a lot of fun. I finished about 7-8 minutes off the average pace, which I don't think was too bad. I don't think I'd ever run more than 4 miles at a time before that, and it was a 9 mile race. So considering the running joke (no pun intended) was that I'd have to call my roommates for a ride home, I'm pretty happy with the end result.

I also went to Europe for a few days. I really just decided I needed a change of pace back in September and booked a trip with all of the points I've been earning from traveling non-stop. I was in London for 3 days and Madrid for two days. I had an amazing trip, but decided that I enjoy going on trips with other people. I really enjoyed the freedom of being alone, but it's nice to share the experience with others. That being said though, should the opportunity to travel be presented to myself again, I wouldn't hesitate to go solo again. Photos are on facebook.

My hair is starting to get long(er) again. Since it's Movemeber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember) I think I might have to just shave my head and grow out my beard. I've reached the official 1/2 way point for my project so it could be a nice way to mark it. I'm starting to look for new projects to get scheduled for this coming May so I don't get extended. I'll not go too much into my job though.

So based on my experience with the Triathlon and the Urbanathlon, I need to keep setting goals for myself to keep motivated. When I signed up for those events, I knew I had to work out to perform well and not get hurt. I've been watching The Buried Life on MTV and decided that a good way to keep myself motivated to keep trying new things would be to write down everything I want to do. So far I've been able to cross 3 things out of 27. I'm still constantly adding to the list though. I wrote a piece about this earlier, but I've started expanding my list. I think the next most feasible items are holding a tarantula (I'm terrified of them) and finishing an eating challenge.

Overall the new challenges I've laid out for myself that I'm most excited for are: 7 Continents and 4 Oceans (although I guess now there are 5), and standing on top of a mountain. I've got the mountains narrowed down to Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. Go big or go home right? I'm dead serious when I say I want to do this, and anyone that wants to join is more than welcome to.

I feel like this blog has turned into a bit of a carousel going around and around to the same topics. It's either revolving around work, what I want to do with my spare time, or me griping about airports. I'll try to work some new topics into the fabric.

The new Harry Potter movie comes out in 2 weeks. I'm very excited for this. I'm glad that I'm vindicated in the fact that back in High School I stated with confidence that Emma Watson (Hermione) would get hot, and she did. I can say this now because she's 20 (thank you Wikipedia). That's not the reason I'm excited for the movie though. I was, and still am a huge fan of the books. I believe I've seen the last three movies at the midnight showing. I've got to keep the tradition alive and watch this one (and the 2nd part when that comes out) at midnight. I'm sure I'll wind up watching it twice so I can see it in IMAX with my roommates. I think my favorite memory of the movies isn't even from the movies.

The fifth movie (Order of the Phoenix) came out after I'd just moved to Chicago. Boomer and myself had moved to the city, but still hadn't started our jobs so we decided what the hell and went to the midnight showing. When we got there I remember seeing a dad pull up in his car with his daughter who must have been 8 or 9. Now you need to realize most of the people at this showing were either kids in High School, college students, and a couple young 20-somethings like myself so this dad actually stood out a little.

Anyway, he got his daughter out of the car, and I vividly remember she was still in her pajamas and wearing a coat over everything. She looked exhausted and the dad actually seemed really excited. I never talked to this father and daughter, but I honestly believe he surprised his daughter in the middle of the night, told her to get her coat, and told her she was going to see Harry Potter before her friends. I also have a vision of the mom not knowing anything about this. Now for all I know, this dad actually just relented and finally got his daughter a ticket after she cried and moaned for hours. I like my version of him surprising her though. It just reminds me of the awesome things my parents used to do for me.

One of my favorite memories as a kid is a weekend I spent with my mom. Both my older brother and I had hockey tournaments at the same time when I first started playing goalie (4th grade, so I was 9). So my dad took my older brother to his away tournament for the weekend with my younger brother and I stayed home with my mom. It wound up seriously being one of the best weekends ever. My mom took me to a hockey game at Clarkson and out to a restaurant called Angleo's for dinner on Friday night. Saturday night we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and then saw Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog. It's crazy how I remember these details, but I really recall that being one of the closest weekends with my mom.

One of my favorite memories with my dad is this one time he took my older brother and me to a Burger King for no reason. I think he just wanted to treat us to something nice. We got french fries and milk shakes and sat down at one of those tables with the booth seats and the regular seats. We just talked and sat huddled together at this tiny table. It's crazy how you remember those little details about some of those seemingly insignificant moments, but I think those are the moments you cherish the most. Those are also the moments I swear I hope I remember to create when I have a family of my own.

It's really amazing how I can remember some of the most insignificant details about my life, but still not be able to recall the names of sites or locations. I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of this world with my family, but it's always been the stories after I remember the most. It's the ones that make me laugh that I like the most. I think from my vacations the two New Years Stories I have are the best.

Anyway, again, here's another promise to keep the blog more updated. Until next time everyone....