Has This Thing Really Been Around That Long?!?

OK, I'm bored. I was working from home today because like most of the region, we got slammed by a snowstorm today. It wasn't the worst I've ever seen but it conditions outside were not good either. I think the thing that got me was how quickly the the road conditions deteriorated...the fastest turn of events I've ever seen.

Anyway, was checking out my old blogs and noticed this page has been active since May '06...not bad...of course, I neglect this page more than I write on it. Anyway, I've officially taken up two hobbies in the last 12 months - cooking and wine. I've found the cooking has really provided me a good creative outlet that I was previously lacking.

Work is good but busy as always. I wonder if I'll ever complete some of the projects I want done.

Other than that, I'm sick of the winter cold and snow. I want warmer weather so I can fire up the grill, play some golf and enjoy the outdoors again! God, oh god, oh god, please bring me an early spring...I promise I'll savor every moment of it!

Sirius-XM Merger

I hate the Sirius-XM merger. At first, I thought it might be a good thing since both companies were struggling and needed each other to survive. Now, I'm not convinced. Last week, the new company blew up the channel lineups of each service and merged them. A lot of great channels on each side were scuttled and now you have nearly identical channels on each platform. The only real choice you have is if you want to buy the "best of" packages which should honestly be renamed the "who gives a shit" packages! I have XM. I liked XM's alternative rock stations better than Sirius's. I liked Sirius's jazz station better than XM. Of course, Sirius-XM totally got it wrong in my opinion and dumped the XM alt rock stations and kep the XM jazz station. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dumping my satellite radio because the terrestial stations where I live SUCK but I really thought we weren't going to see this latest turn of events come to pass given the FCC's restrictions placed on the merger.

Needless to say, I'm bummed out and just wish I had someplace else to turn.

It Hurts...

When it rains, it pours. It's coming to August and work is kicking my ass - it's the busiest time of the year and I'm down a staff person and everyone that I have interviewed since having to repost the position sucks. I'm frustrated and disappointed.

I met a really great woman a few months ago and we started dating. She was unlike any woman I've known and really the complete opposite of what I was looking for in a woman. She was divorced with two kids which is normally a deal breaker for me. But wouldn't you know it, I ended up falling in love with her. Well, despite really getting along with each other and truly looking forward to seeing her each day that we were able to get together, there were some things that just weren't working for her with our relationship and she broke up with me a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with being dumped but this one really hurts - I'd have to say more than all the others - and I've had some pretty painful breakups in the past. I guess what really sucks is that for the first time, I really saw a future with someone. I really thought that she was someone I could spend my life with and I really liked her kids on top of that. I've never wanted kids of my own (and pretty sure I still don't), but for the first and probably last time, the prospect of a family kind of excited me. We're still friends and I've met her for lunch and we've chatted here and there since the breakup, but this one is going to take a long time for me to get over. I've never enjoyed spending time with anyone the way I enjoyed spending time with her (and her kids). That's a tough thing to find in this world and I'm sad that it's something I've lost.

In other news, I got my motorcycle lisence last weekend. I took the basic rider course and passed to earn my endorsement. Learning to ride was a fantastic experience! Believe me, if you've never driven a manual transmission car before learning to ride a motorcycle, you'd have a tough time, but having that under my belt helped immensely. I love riding a motorcycle (I had never ridden before last Saturday). I still don't know if I'm going to buy a bike because I don't know if I can take on the financial drain of the payments and the insurance. On top of that, I don't like the idea of worrying my mom to death - she hates motorcycles and can't think of anything more dangerous than riding one - even if you practice safe motorcycling (which is the whole purpose behind the class - to make you safe so you can avoid accidents and stay alive). By the time I'm able to purchase a bike, I'll probably have lost interest in it! At the very least, I can say I know how to ride and hop on a bike and not look like an idiot!

No News Is Good News

I have nothing to report today. I have golfed the past two Saturdays and manage to tear up the front 9 and then get myself into a complete funk on the back 9 and literally forget to how to swing a club. I bought 2 new clubs this spring - a 60 degree lob wedge - LOVE IT! and a 25 degree hybrid to replace my 5 iron. I didn't swing the hybrid well at all on Saturday but I think I worked out the kinks on Sunday, so I'll keep the club!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

The most wonderful time of the year has got to be March. It's college basketball nirvana...the NCAA and NIT tourney along with some new tourney called the CBI. Have you completed your bracket yet? Who do you having winning? My final 4 is complete chalk - Tenessee, Kansas, Texas and UCLA. Kansas wins it all over Texas in the finals. A monkey could have picked that! Inevitably, 30 seconds after the first game begins, my bracket will blow-up and I'll be done.

Anyway, it's a slow time at work, so I'm just working on a couple of projects and researching wine cellars for the home.

Soft Game

Either I am a much better player than I think I am or I have found one of the softest games in the world. A friend of mine invited me to play poker at the house of a guy he knows. They usually play a couple of tournaments and low cheap buy-ins but a good number of players to make it worth while. They're a good bunch of guys, so it was an enjoyable evening. Let's just say that I'm not playing any better than I have been over the last few weeks, but I managed to go deep in these tourneys with little trouble. The guys I usually play with would rob these guys blind. I finished second in the first tourney (with literally no chips going into the final table), 4th in the second tourney and 4th in the 3rd tourney. The third tourney is where I lost money because we weren't paying 4th place at that point - had a bad beat to lose literally all my chips.

A Bad Day At The Table

What can I say? I had no game over the weekend. I was at my friends house over the weekend hanging out with some of my friends from college - drinking beer and playing poker. Let's just say that I got my ass handed to me at the poker table. Regardless, I had fun and it was good to see my friends again.