We've been reading "Think And Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. We read out loud, a chapter a week, and then we discuss what it means to us, and how we can benefit from it. We just read Chapter 2 last week, and were about to read Chapter 3 tonight.
Chapter 2 is about getting specific with your goal. I know I definitely have mine, but I have more than just one. I've got a few I've realized, and I thought that it would be good to post them on here in an effort to "Burn my bridge" or "Throw my hat over the fence" or whatever you wanna call it. To me, it's my commitment, I'm in this all the way, and there's no going back, it's as they say in Chapter 2 time to "win or perish." So here I go.
1. Get my web based business off the ground. I've been thinking about this business for the past 3 years. I've done quite a bit of the formatting and design work for it (on paper) and I've written a bunch of the wording for the website so far. I really need to get in touch with a good programmer who does MySQL and builds websites. I need someone who knows about text messaging, and I need a good business lawyer to make sure I do this all right legally. But I am bound and determined to get this thing off the ground. I'm shooting for July 20th of this year to have a working website.
2. Learn how to play the piano. I grew up in a house that had a piano most of my life, and I've never had one piano lesson. I was even in Madrigals and Jazz Choir in high school, and I couldn't tell you if I was singing an F or and F#. I had no clue, I just knew that when the note was higher on the scale, I needed to sing higher, and I knew rhythm from playing drums in 9th grade. I've always wanted be able to play the piano. We have my step-son in piano lessons, and we bought him the beginner books to learn. He practices every day for 30 minutes, and I figure that if that's the way it's supposed to be done, then why not do it at the same time? I should be able to learn how to play the piano at least as quickly as him, right? I think I'm doing pretty well. I learned how to play a small part of Beethoven's 5th already. I don't know why, but I've always had the ridiculous idea that playing the piano should come instantly to me. In the ripe age of 36 I've realized that some things just take time and action by you to become a reality. It's perfect that I'm going for two pretty big goals at the same time. I'm going to be able to judge my progress in both and be able to see if I'm falling behind.
3. Get into the best shape of my life. I love to mountain bike. I went 3 times last year, and all three times I felt like I had my ass handed to me on a platter. I was getting smoked by my fellow riders, and I used to do pretty well on uphill, but not last year. This year, I'm devoted to get back to the fitness level I was at 7 years ago. I started swimming at the local rec center. I swam 2-3 times a week for the month of February, and I was increasing the number of laps I could swim in 30 minutes every time I went. I need to get another pass this month, but I should still be able to do some stuff at home. If any of you have a Bowflex that you haven't been using, let me know. I'm the kind of person who would exercise more often if the stuff was right in my own home rather than go to the gym. I'm going to start doing push-ups and sit-ups daily as well, that can't hurt.
4. Simplify my house. Alright, what that hell are you talking about, simplify your house? Well this is what that means. My garage is full of crap that I don't need. In fact, there is a lot of stuff in my home that I haven't used or even looked at in over a year. My house is full of clutter, and I used to believe that a clean room or desk or what have you, was the sign of a sick mind. In truth, I'm sure it helps keep your mind clear. I've been thinking that the clutter of the house is like a metaphor for the clutter in my brain. With reading this book, I'm getting focused on what I truly want, and I'm going for it. In order to do that, I have to eliminate outside distractions that prevent me from putting in the effort and taking the necessary actions. So I should also clear out any unnecessary clutter from my eyesight as well. I recently visited a friends house, and they took us on a tour of their huge house. The one thing I noticed throughout the tour was how clean the house was. There was virtually no clutter! Their bedroom looked like it was about to have a picture taken of it for some magazine insert. All of the kids rooms were impeccably clean. I'm sure it's a team effort in their house, but really it starts from the top down. I wouldn't want to bring anyone into my room except family at this point. We're not slobs, we just have a lot of clutter. I know a good portion of it is me, and I'm working on that. Spring cleaning is going to have a whole new meaning for me this year though. It's starting to warm up now, and my garage is calling me in my sleep to clean it out. Can you say yard sale? Target date for completion: garage 3/29/09; upstairs 4/30/09; downstairs 5/17/09; basement 5/31/09.
5. Start getting to bed at 11:00PM. I have realized that I am not getting enough sleep for the past few years. My excuse for this has been that I'm used to it now. My body is telling me otherwise. I'm not going to hold myself to this bedtime every night, but if I can manage to be in bed by eleven 4 nights a week my body will thank me for it. Eight hours of sleep has got to be better than the 5 1/2-6 1/2 I've been managing lately.
So there it is. My 5 commitments. I know it's pretty ambitious, but it's also very doable. I'll be sure to write updates on how it all goes. Any encouragement would be much appreciated.
I'll finish with this quote by Les Brown:
"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." Well, here are my first 5 steps to greatness, and now I can't say that I don't know what it is that I need to do either.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The cross country road trip
So I flew to Baltimore, MD last Saturday to drive my mother-in-law back from the Washington D.C. area. It was quite the adventure, and quite the drive. We journeyed 2130 miles, most of it on I-70.
The drive started in Takoma, Maryland. The night before we went to Virginia, and right into the downtown D.C. area where we ate at Ben's Chili Bowl. It was really cool. There was great music blaring inside, and a line that snaked around the counter to where we were finally able to order
the Chili Half-Smoke. This is apparently the same thing Barak Obama orders when he goes there. Many famous people have eaten there in fact, and there is a sign behind the counter that says, "Allowed to eat free here, Bill Cosby, and the Obama Family." Bill Cosby went to Howard University which is not far from Ben's, and he visits often. There are pictures all over the wall of famous people who have eaten there. This picture was taken outside of Ben's. There is this statue of a bear that is painted all over.
From there we went to see the Capitol Building. I've always wanted to see the Smithsonian, but we didn't have time to even get out of the car. As a matter of fact, we passed all sorts of buildings, and I didn't take any pictures of them, because I was more concerned with Michele's driving. She
was freaking me out. I did manage to get this one picture though. This is where it all happens for this country. I was able to see the Washington Monument, and get a quick glimps of the Lincoln Memorial from about 400 yards away, but like I said, I was busy being worried about my life. So We packed up all the boxes from Michele's apartment into the Penske truck and loaded her car on the towing trailer, and hit the road. So far we traveled through Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland. We drove out on Sunday afternoon. On the way we passed through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and stopped in Richmond, Indiana. It was a smooth drive, and a new record for me to drive in 5 states in 8 hours.
The next morning we hit the road and drove through the rest of Indiana, Illinois and almost all the way through Missouri. We stopped at a little town called Blue Springs, Mo. while we were shooting to get to Salina, KS. We were way off on how much distance we could cover in a day in that huge yellow beast.
Plus when we reached St. Louis, we stopped to check out the arch. I'd watched an episode of 'Modern Marvels' about the Gateway Arch. It was pretty cool to see it, but it was even cooler to go up inside of it.
If you never get the chance, then enjoy what I have here, and maybe one day you'll have an opportunity to post about your national monument experience, and return the favor. Here are just a few of the photos from the excursion. I've got a video from going up inside it. Those carts were tiny. So here are some pictures from the little window looking west towards downtown St. Louis. Wanna go up? Check this out? So I took these from left to right. There is where the St. Louis Cardinals play. Home of the great slugger Albert Pujols.
In the middle there is the courthouse. 
On the right is the Edward Jones dome. Home of the St. Louis Rams. 
Rumor has it that the Larry H. Miller family is going to try to buy the team and bring them to Salt Lake City. Only time will tell on that one.
Here are some other great shots looking down
from the top. Here are a few more images from the arch. Me from the peak of the arch at 630 feet up.
Here is a barge pushing three loads down the Mississippi. 
It was quite the adventure. I'm glad that we stopped.
So we take off the next day and enter Kansas. This has got to be the flattest piece of earth on the planet. So flat in fact, that you can see the curvature of the earth.
I wish I would have taken more pictures, but this will have to do. This is one huge country we live in! What was really cool about the whole trip was that each state had it's own terrain. I mean, if you were to show me a picture of Wyoming, or Kansas, or Indiana, I would be able to tell the difference just from the terrain. Here is the path we took.
After Kansas we drove into Colorado, and then headed north and just into Cheyenne, Wyoming. From there we were going to make it to Salt Lake City the next day around 5PM. The only problem was, while parking that night in Cheyenne, I had to back up the truck to park, and in the process I ended up jack-knifing the trailer and bent the tongue of the trailer. I was so pissed at myself, because we had managed to be incident free throughout the drive. I got some help from another trucker and straightened it out somewhat and then we hit the road again.
The next day we drove through The Cowboy State and finally into Utah. I am so happy to be home with my family again. I am also extremely grateful that we made it alive and nothing really bad happened. Driving through 12 states and one district in 5 days was more than I ever want to do again, but if I had to pick a sponsor for our trip it would have to be "5 Hour Energy" I never would have made it without that tiny little bottle. It truly kept me awake and alert behind the wheel, and I didn't have the sugar crash when it wore off either. That stuff really works. I was so motivated to get home to my wife and boys, I had to use what ever would work. I'm so thankful for technology today. That trip would have been tons worse had it not been for cell phones and hotels that have internet access. And screw ONSTAR and Qualcomm we had an even better navigation system. We had RACHEL. Not only did she have a sexy voice, and I knew she equaled that voice in looks, but she would look for Motels that we were approaching and make sure there was availability and what the parking lot situation was like for our truck and trailer, and then would call back and give complete directions including the exit to take, and how far it was. Then she would plot out our course for the next days travel. It was pretty awesome let me tell you! I love that woman. If you want to hire her, it'll be $1200 a day.
The drive started in Takoma, Maryland. The night before we went to Virginia, and right into the downtown D.C. area where we ate at Ben's Chili Bowl. It was really cool. There was great music blaring inside, and a line that snaked around the counter to where we were finally able to order
the Chili Half-Smoke. This is apparently the same thing Barak Obama orders when he goes there. Many famous people have eaten there in fact, and there is a sign behind the counter that says, "Allowed to eat free here, Bill Cosby, and the Obama Family." Bill Cosby went to Howard University which is not far from Ben's, and he visits often. There are pictures all over the wall of famous people who have eaten there. This picture was taken outside of Ben's. There is this statue of a bear that is painted all over.From there we went to see the Capitol Building. I've always wanted to see the Smithsonian, but we didn't have time to even get out of the car. As a matter of fact, we passed all sorts of buildings, and I didn't take any pictures of them, because I was more concerned with Michele's driving. She
was freaking me out. I did manage to get this one picture though. This is where it all happens for this country. I was able to see the Washington Monument, and get a quick glimps of the Lincoln Memorial from about 400 yards away, but like I said, I was busy being worried about my life. So We packed up all the boxes from Michele's apartment into the Penske truck and loaded her car on the towing trailer, and hit the road. So far we traveled through Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland. We drove out on Sunday afternoon. On the way we passed through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and stopped in Richmond, Indiana. It was a smooth drive, and a new record for me to drive in 5 states in 8 hours.The next morning we hit the road and drove through the rest of Indiana, Illinois and almost all the way through Missouri. We stopped at a little town called Blue Springs, Mo. while we were shooting to get to Salina, KS. We were way off on how much distance we could cover in a day in that huge yellow beast.
Plus when we reached St. Louis, we stopped to check out the arch. I'd watched an episode of 'Modern Marvels' about the Gateway Arch. It was pretty cool to see it, but it was even cooler to go up inside of it.
If you never get the chance, then enjoy what I have here, and maybe one day you'll have an opportunity to post about your national monument experience, and return the favor. Here are just a few of the photos from the excursion. I've got a video from going up inside it. Those carts were tiny. So here are some pictures from the little window looking west towards downtown St. Louis. Wanna go up? Check this out? So I took these from left to right. There is where the St. Louis Cardinals play. Home of the great slugger Albert Pujols. In the middle there is the courthouse. On the right is the Edward Jones dome. Home of the St. Louis Rams. Rumor has it that the Larry H. Miller family is going to try to buy the team and bring them to Salt Lake City. Only time will tell on that one.Here are some other great shots looking down
from the top. Here are a few more images from the arch. Me from the peak of the arch at 630 feet up. Here is a barge pushing three loads down the Mississippi. It was quite the adventure. I'm glad that we stopped.
So we take off the next day and enter Kansas. This has got to be the flattest piece of earth on the planet. So flat in fact, that you can see the curvature of the earth.
I wish I would have taken more pictures, but this will have to do. This is one huge country we live in! What was really cool about the whole trip was that each state had it's own terrain. I mean, if you were to show me a picture of Wyoming, or Kansas, or Indiana, I would be able to tell the difference just from the terrain. Here is the path we took.After Kansas we drove into Colorado, and then headed north and just into Cheyenne, Wyoming. From there we were going to make it to Salt Lake City the next day around 5PM. The only problem was, while parking that night in Cheyenne, I had to back up the truck to park, and in the process I ended up jack-knifing the trailer and bent the tongue of the trailer. I was so pissed at myself, because we had managed to be incident free throughout the drive. I got some help from another trucker and straightened it out somewhat and then we hit the road again.
The next day we drove through The Cowboy State and finally into Utah. I am so happy to be home with my family again. I am also extremely grateful that we made it alive and nothing really bad happened. Driving through 12 states and one district in 5 days was more than I ever want to do again, but if I had to pick a sponsor for our trip it would have to be "5 Hour Energy" I never would have made it without that tiny little bottle. It truly kept me awake and alert behind the wheel, and I didn't have the sugar crash when it wore off either. That stuff really works. I was so motivated to get home to my wife and boys, I had to use what ever would work. I'm so thankful for technology today. That trip would have been tons worse had it not been for cell phones and hotels that have internet access. And screw ONSTAR and Qualcomm we had an even better navigation system. We had RACHEL. Not only did she have a sexy voice, and I knew she equaled that voice in looks, but she would look for Motels that we were approaching and make sure there was availability and what the parking lot situation was like for our truck and trailer, and then would call back and give complete directions including the exit to take, and how far it was. Then she would plot out our course for the next days travel. It was pretty awesome let me tell you! I love that woman. If you want to hire her, it'll be $1200 a day.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Anthony tells all! Exclusive interview.
So I read my wife's blog and saw a meme, that I commented on and lo and behold, here we are. Five questions that she wants the answers to.
1. What one film do you think everyone should see?
Well that's really a toss up. It boils down to two films:
Shawshank Redemption is probably one of my all time favorites, and it's always been in my top 10 list. I just looked it up on IMDB in the top 250 movies, and it's there at numero uno.
Schindler's List is the second film, and I would have to go with this film as the one that I think everyone should see. Spielberg did an amazing job with this one. This is a moment in history that we should never forget, and it gives a pretty good idea what those times must have been like.
2. Name the best TV series of all time & why?
This is a tough one, but the first series that I was ever hooked on, and that I watched every night and saw every episode of was Moonlighting. I loved David and Maddie's conversations where they would both talk at the same time, and how they seemed to be able to say what they were saying and still hear what the other one was saying. This series had everything though, mystery, comedy, romance, drama. I thought it was very entertaining. Bruce Willis at his best.
3. What would you do if your spouse asked you to unplug their life support machine?
Wow, really? This is a question that comes from my spouse and I'm not sure what I'd do. It really depends on how coherent she was. I'd want to spend as much time with her as possible if she could communicate with me still. But if she told me in advance that she didn't want to be plugged in anymore if she was a vegetable, then I'd pull the plug, but that would be really hard for me to do.
4. What is the hardest thing you've ever done?
Well everything that I've ever done that seemed hard, turned out to be not too difficult when all was said and done. The hardest thing for me to do now, is to get some kind of business off the ground. So the answer to that in a nutshell is, not following the path to what I want to be when I grow up.
5. You have been named personal adviser to Barack Obama. What is your first piece of advice to him?
To throw some kind of mandate at credit card companies that they need to lower their interest rates if they are getting part of that bailout money. They are just as bad as cigarette companies I swear. They are killing people. If they would take the time to do some kind of education on how to use credit wisely, that would be a good start towards correcting their image, but when they charge interest rates that are as high as the Mafia would charge, there is something messed up with that. Then the next thing to follow would be to do something about those Payday Loan centers. They're worse than the Mafia when it comes to rates.
****
Here are the meme details:
If you'd like to play along, just follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." (And realize I might
take a while to get back to you.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the
questions. (Eventually!)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be
sure you link back to the original post.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.
1. What one film do you think everyone should see?
Well that's really a toss up. It boils down to two films:
Shawshank Redemption is probably one of my all time favorites, and it's always been in my top 10 list. I just looked it up on IMDB in the top 250 movies, and it's there at numero uno.
Schindler's List is the second film, and I would have to go with this film as the one that I think everyone should see. Spielberg did an amazing job with this one. This is a moment in history that we should never forget, and it gives a pretty good idea what those times must have been like.
2. Name the best TV series of all time & why?
This is a tough one, but the first series that I was ever hooked on, and that I watched every night and saw every episode of was Moonlighting. I loved David and Maddie's conversations where they would both talk at the same time, and how they seemed to be able to say what they were saying and still hear what the other one was saying. This series had everything though, mystery, comedy, romance, drama. I thought it was very entertaining. Bruce Willis at his best.
3. What would you do if your spouse asked you to unplug their life support machine?
Wow, really? This is a question that comes from my spouse and I'm not sure what I'd do. It really depends on how coherent she was. I'd want to spend as much time with her as possible if she could communicate with me still. But if she told me in advance that she didn't want to be plugged in anymore if she was a vegetable, then I'd pull the plug, but that would be really hard for me to do.
4. What is the hardest thing you've ever done?
Well everything that I've ever done that seemed hard, turned out to be not too difficult when all was said and done. The hardest thing for me to do now, is to get some kind of business off the ground. So the answer to that in a nutshell is, not following the path to what I want to be when I grow up.
5. You have been named personal adviser to Barack Obama. What is your first piece of advice to him?
To throw some kind of mandate at credit card companies that they need to lower their interest rates if they are getting part of that bailout money. They are just as bad as cigarette companies I swear. They are killing people. If they would take the time to do some kind of education on how to use credit wisely, that would be a good start towards correcting their image, but when they charge interest rates that are as high as the Mafia would charge, there is something messed up with that. Then the next thing to follow would be to do something about those Payday Loan centers. They're worse than the Mafia when it comes to rates.
****
Here are the meme details:
If you'd like to play along, just follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." (And realize I might
take a while to get back to you.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the
questions. (Eventually!)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be
sure you link back to the original post.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
25 random things, facts, habits or goals about me.
I got this thing that said:
You are supposed to write a note with 25 (or thereabouts) random things, facts, habits or goals about you.
So I thought I'd give it a whirl. Let me know what you think.
1- I've never been farther east than Denver, Colorado, but I've been to 9 states, and lived in 6 of them. I think that's all about to change though because I'm flying to Baltimore to drive my Mother-in-law and all her stuff back to Utah from Washington D.C. during the second week of February. My two ventures outside of our country was to Tijuana, Mexico and Alberta, Canada each for less than 12 hours. So I haven't even been out of the country for an entire day.
2- Because I moved around so much, I went to 9 different elementary schools, 1 middle school, 1 Jr. High, and 1 High School. By the time I got into High School, I moved in with my grandparents. I was determined to go to the same high school all the way through. It was rough going to so many schools. As soon as I would make good friends and start to get comfortable in my surroundings, we would pack up and move again, and I'd have to start all over again as the new kid in school. I guess that's why I've never had a problem finding friends. It was either that, or be a loner all through grade school.
3- I've been married 3 times, (some of you already know this) but I married my first wife twice. We were much better as friends. They say third times the charm, for me it is. Truthfully, I realized what I really wanted in a life-long partner, and waited until she came along, I just didn't think it would be someone I had already known. I have never felt this way about another woman before, and the day Rachel and I got married, was one of the happiest days of my life. (definitely top 3).
4- I've written a book (more of a guide really) called, "So You Wanna Get Married, Huh?" So far I've managed to sell about 35 copies. It's a book of universal truths that nobody ever tells you about, you end up having to learn them after you've been married, which is where I gleaned the information in this book. My previous 2 marriages taught me a lot about tying the knot. If you want a copy, I still have about 200 copies to sell. LOL
5- I broke up with my girlfriend and got a new date to my Senior Prom just hours before the dance. There was 2 great reasons for this: 1) I was avoiding asking my girlfriend, because I was planning on breaking up with her, but I was having a hard time finding a date, and she was expecting me to ask when really, I was just trying to find a way to get out of the relationship all together. 2) I had asked a certain gal to dances before, only to find out she had a date like 3 months in advance. At the Senior assembly, I sat next to her and found out that remarkably she had not been asked to go with anybody, and this was my last chance. My friend John Ricks was sitting with me in the assembly, and knew my predicament. He asked me what I was going to do, and I told him he would have to see who I showed up with at the prom. When I walked in with the gal from the assembly and not my (ex) girlfriend, he was stunned, and quite frankly, so was I.
6- I've written 4 screenplays. Only 2 are prepared for the screen now, so if you know anyone looking for a good script to turn into a movie, send them my way. Actually the last one I co-wrote with my brother in law, and we'd like to shoot it ourselves, but we're short of fundage right now, but please feel free to let us know if you would be willing to donate to the cause, and we'll see if we can set something up for it.
7- I have a forked tongue. Well, not really, but I can make it fork so that I can whistle really loud without using my hands.
8- All the way up to my 18th birthday, when I blew out the candles on my birthday cake, I wished that I could fly like Superman. I never told anyone either, and it still never happened. Whoever said that it won't come true if you tell was full of it!
9- I'm in the opening scene of the movie Boogie Nights. I had no idea what the film was about until my 3rd day on the set. I knew my parents would be proud after I learned that it was about a porn star with a huge member. If you look for me, I'm like the 3rd person in line waiting to get into the club when Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds pull up in their car to go inside. At that time in my life, I had hair down to the middle of my back. Don't bother looking for me in the rest of the movie. I was in some other scenes, but I'm so far in the background, or I'm like 2 feet out of the picture.
10- I hate not having my watch on. I wear my watch all the time, sometimes even to bed. We don't have an alarm clock in our room, so when Noah wakes up in the middle of the night, I like to be able to look at my wrist and know at what ungodly hour he's interrupting my sleep, so I can torture him later when he's a teenager and I can get even. Besides, my watch was given to me as a birthday present from my lovely wife when we were dating. She had it inscribed, and it's got a ton of sentimental value to me.
11- I once left my watch as collateral at a cowboy boot store, so that I could borrow 3 pairs of authentic cowboy boots worth about $450 for a skit I was asked to perform within 2 hours. The skit was awesome, and we got lots of compliments on the boots.
12- I like to cook. In fact I cook about 90% of my families dinners.
13- I can solve a Rubik's cube in less than 3 minutes.
14- I'm really good at starting things. Coming up with great ideas. My self assessment has revealed that I lack at getting things finished. The hard part for me has been implementing these ideas and taking action on them. That is one of my goals this year. To take action! So I'm not really going to care so much how pretty or perfect the idea is. It will never come to life if I don't take some kind of action to bring it to life, even if it turns out at 75% of what I expect it to be, it's still something. And I don't know who said it, but it's fitting "If you fall on your face, at least you're moving forward." How very true, and 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
15- I'm a total night owl. I stay up most nights until 12:30, but I succeed at getting to bed at 11:30 from time to time. On weekends the wife and I sometimes stay up til 2AM, but it really hurts the next day because for some unknown reason, our nearly two year old, Speed, is waking up at the butt-crack of dawn. I'm lucky if I can sleep past 7:30 on the weekends.
16- I've personally trained my blue-tick Beagle "Callie" how to perform over a dozen tricks on command (of course I have to have a treat in hand or she won't budge) including Roll Over, High-Five, Dance, and her best performed, highly dramatic, Play Dead.
17- I'm into the "Green Movement". I really believe that every single one of us can make a difference on this planet, and in what we leave behind for our children. I'm a little perturbed that in my little cul-de-sac, I am one of 3 out of 8 neighbors who puts out the recycle bin for collection, and that I only take my garbage to the street every 2 weeks. I think some people don't care, but in reality I think it's more that they just don't know. So here is a little tidbit. Did you know that 40% of landfills consist of paper that could have been recycled? Or this one: It cost's 90% more money to mine and refine aluminum than it does to recycle it. There is plenty more where that came from, but I'll stop now.
18- I've been a bartender ever since I was 22 despite having an alcoholic for a father. The amazing thing is, I know how to whip up a tasty drink, but I can count on one hand how many times I've been drunk in the past 3 years. Some of you may have known that, the bartending part, but not all knew that I worked most of those years slinging drinks at a gay bar. There will be no coming out the closet for me. I am comfortable enough with my own sexuality to know that I'm not gay, but I don't have anything against the gay boys or girls. They really know how to party, they are great tippers, and there is rarely ever a fight at a gay bar. Not to mention that while I worked in a crowd of people that was 98% male, the females that did come were usually smokin' hot. Let's just say, that I went home with more hot straight women's phone numbers in my pocket on gay nights than on non-gay nights. Plus it was never dull, I always saw something different every night that I worked.
19- I really enjoy coaching youth sports! I've only played baseball on two official teams in my life, but I've coached youth soccer for the past 8 years, both recreational and competitive teams. I also tried my hand at coaching Jr. Jazz one season. I was assigned a team that lost every single game the previous season, and we won 8 straight games before losing the last 2. I was really proud of that team for coming together. I've only had a child of my own on 6 out of the 12 teams that I've coached, so I'm definitely doing it for the love of sport. I get excited about seeing them improve throughout the season. I think I'll be taking on a 4th grade baseball team this spring due to the Kiddo branching out and trying a new sport.
20- I am a happily married man. My wife and I have been crossing paths over the past 13 years. I'm so glad we finally had some decent timing and I was able to move to Utah so I could marry her in front of my family and friends. Now more than 2 and a half years of marriage, and I love her more now than the day we said, "I do."
21- I love the outdoors! I love to mountain bike, go camping, hiking. I used to love to go rock climbing until I got banned from it by the wife, but hey, what can I say, she loves me.
22- I have never bowled a game above 200. I've been really close a few times, but I don't go often enough to get there. Maybe I'll cross that threshold on the Wii soon though.
23- I was in the Jazz Choir and Madrigals singing groups in my high school. I'm still not really sure how I made it really. I couldn't tell you what note to sing without doing the Every Good Boy Does Fine, and FACE. I just blended really well. I think it's was all that singing in the car my Mom and I did when I was a kid. Because of that, I've been known to belt out some beauties at Karaoke Night.
24- Every day I'm thankful to be alive. My mother gave birth to me at the tender age of 15, and has taken care of me mostly on her own. We ended up growing up together through life, and I'm thankful that she brought me into this world and did everything she could to take care of me growing up into who I am today.
25- I'm dedicating 2009 to getting into the best shape of my life. I'm ready to push my body through the aches and pains of starting up a new exercise regime. I don't think I'll do any Marathons this year, but I might just hike to a few peaks this summer.
So you can either take this upon yourself to write your own 25 list. And if that seems to daunting for you, do a 16 list. But don't feel pressured by me.
You are supposed to write a note with 25 (or thereabouts) random things, facts, habits or goals about you.
So I thought I'd give it a whirl. Let me know what you think.
1- I've never been farther east than Denver, Colorado, but I've been to 9 states, and lived in 6 of them. I think that's all about to change though because I'm flying to Baltimore to drive my Mother-in-law and all her stuff back to Utah from Washington D.C. during the second week of February. My two ventures outside of our country was to Tijuana, Mexico and Alberta, Canada each for less than 12 hours. So I haven't even been out of the country for an entire day.
2- Because I moved around so much, I went to 9 different elementary schools, 1 middle school, 1 Jr. High, and 1 High School. By the time I got into High School, I moved in with my grandparents. I was determined to go to the same high school all the way through. It was rough going to so many schools. As soon as I would make good friends and start to get comfortable in my surroundings, we would pack up and move again, and I'd have to start all over again as the new kid in school. I guess that's why I've never had a problem finding friends. It was either that, or be a loner all through grade school.
3- I've been married 3 times, (some of you already know this) but I married my first wife twice. We were much better as friends. They say third times the charm, for me it is. Truthfully, I realized what I really wanted in a life-long partner, and waited until she came along, I just didn't think it would be someone I had already known. I have never felt this way about another woman before, and the day Rachel and I got married, was one of the happiest days of my life. (definitely top 3).
4- I've written a book (more of a guide really) called, "So You Wanna Get Married, Huh?" So far I've managed to sell about 35 copies. It's a book of universal truths that nobody ever tells you about, you end up having to learn them after you've been married, which is where I gleaned the information in this book. My previous 2 marriages taught me a lot about tying the knot. If you want a copy, I still have about 200 copies to sell. LOL
5- I broke up with my girlfriend and got a new date to my Senior Prom just hours before the dance. There was 2 great reasons for this: 1) I was avoiding asking my girlfriend, because I was planning on breaking up with her, but I was having a hard time finding a date, and she was expecting me to ask when really, I was just trying to find a way to get out of the relationship all together. 2) I had asked a certain gal to dances before, only to find out she had a date like 3 months in advance. At the Senior assembly, I sat next to her and found out that remarkably she had not been asked to go with anybody, and this was my last chance. My friend John Ricks was sitting with me in the assembly, and knew my predicament. He asked me what I was going to do, and I told him he would have to see who I showed up with at the prom. When I walked in with the gal from the assembly and not my (ex) girlfriend, he was stunned, and quite frankly, so was I.
6- I've written 4 screenplays. Only 2 are prepared for the screen now, so if you know anyone looking for a good script to turn into a movie, send them my way. Actually the last one I co-wrote with my brother in law, and we'd like to shoot it ourselves, but we're short of fundage right now, but please feel free to let us know if you would be willing to donate to the cause, and we'll see if we can set something up for it.
7- I have a forked tongue. Well, not really, but I can make it fork so that I can whistle really loud without using my hands.
8- All the way up to my 18th birthday, when I blew out the candles on my birthday cake, I wished that I could fly like Superman. I never told anyone either, and it still never happened. Whoever said that it won't come true if you tell was full of it!
9- I'm in the opening scene of the movie Boogie Nights. I had no idea what the film was about until my 3rd day on the set. I knew my parents would be proud after I learned that it was about a porn star with a huge member. If you look for me, I'm like the 3rd person in line waiting to get into the club when Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds pull up in their car to go inside. At that time in my life, I had hair down to the middle of my back. Don't bother looking for me in the rest of the movie. I was in some other scenes, but I'm so far in the background, or I'm like 2 feet out of the picture.
10- I hate not having my watch on. I wear my watch all the time, sometimes even to bed. We don't have an alarm clock in our room, so when Noah wakes up in the middle of the night, I like to be able to look at my wrist and know at what ungodly hour he's interrupting my sleep, so I can torture him later when he's a teenager and I can get even. Besides, my watch was given to me as a birthday present from my lovely wife when we were dating. She had it inscribed, and it's got a ton of sentimental value to me.
11- I once left my watch as collateral at a cowboy boot store, so that I could borrow 3 pairs of authentic cowboy boots worth about $450 for a skit I was asked to perform within 2 hours. The skit was awesome, and we got lots of compliments on the boots.
12- I like to cook. In fact I cook about 90% of my families dinners.
13- I can solve a Rubik's cube in less than 3 minutes.
14- I'm really good at starting things. Coming up with great ideas. My self assessment has revealed that I lack at getting things finished. The hard part for me has been implementing these ideas and taking action on them. That is one of my goals this year. To take action! So I'm not really going to care so much how pretty or perfect the idea is. It will never come to life if I don't take some kind of action to bring it to life, even if it turns out at 75% of what I expect it to be, it's still something. And I don't know who said it, but it's fitting "If you fall on your face, at least you're moving forward." How very true, and 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
15- I'm a total night owl. I stay up most nights until 12:30, but I succeed at getting to bed at 11:30 from time to time. On weekends the wife and I sometimes stay up til 2AM, but it really hurts the next day because for some unknown reason, our nearly two year old, Speed, is waking up at the butt-crack of dawn. I'm lucky if I can sleep past 7:30 on the weekends.
16- I've personally trained my blue-tick Beagle "Callie" how to perform over a dozen tricks on command (of course I have to have a treat in hand or she won't budge) including Roll Over, High-Five, Dance, and her best performed, highly dramatic, Play Dead.
17- I'm into the "Green Movement". I really believe that every single one of us can make a difference on this planet, and in what we leave behind for our children. I'm a little perturbed that in my little cul-de-sac, I am one of 3 out of 8 neighbors who puts out the recycle bin for collection, and that I only take my garbage to the street every 2 weeks. I think some people don't care, but in reality I think it's more that they just don't know. So here is a little tidbit. Did you know that 40% of landfills consist of paper that could have been recycled? Or this one: It cost's 90% more money to mine and refine aluminum than it does to recycle it. There is plenty more where that came from, but I'll stop now.
18- I've been a bartender ever since I was 22 despite having an alcoholic for a father. The amazing thing is, I know how to whip up a tasty drink, but I can count on one hand how many times I've been drunk in the past 3 years. Some of you may have known that, the bartending part, but not all knew that I worked most of those years slinging drinks at a gay bar. There will be no coming out the closet for me. I am comfortable enough with my own sexuality to know that I'm not gay, but I don't have anything against the gay boys or girls. They really know how to party, they are great tippers, and there is rarely ever a fight at a gay bar. Not to mention that while I worked in a crowd of people that was 98% male, the females that did come were usually smokin' hot. Let's just say, that I went home with more hot straight women's phone numbers in my pocket on gay nights than on non-gay nights. Plus it was never dull, I always saw something different every night that I worked.
19- I really enjoy coaching youth sports! I've only played baseball on two official teams in my life, but I've coached youth soccer for the past 8 years, both recreational and competitive teams. I also tried my hand at coaching Jr. Jazz one season. I was assigned a team that lost every single game the previous season, and we won 8 straight games before losing the last 2. I was really proud of that team for coming together. I've only had a child of my own on 6 out of the 12 teams that I've coached, so I'm definitely doing it for the love of sport. I get excited about seeing them improve throughout the season. I think I'll be taking on a 4th grade baseball team this spring due to the Kiddo branching out and trying a new sport.
20- I am a happily married man. My wife and I have been crossing paths over the past 13 years. I'm so glad we finally had some decent timing and I was able to move to Utah so I could marry her in front of my family and friends. Now more than 2 and a half years of marriage, and I love her more now than the day we said, "I do."
21- I love the outdoors! I love to mountain bike, go camping, hiking. I used to love to go rock climbing until I got banned from it by the wife, but hey, what can I say, she loves me.
22- I have never bowled a game above 200. I've been really close a few times, but I don't go often enough to get there. Maybe I'll cross that threshold on the Wii soon though.
23- I was in the Jazz Choir and Madrigals singing groups in my high school. I'm still not really sure how I made it really. I couldn't tell you what note to sing without doing the Every Good Boy Does Fine, and FACE. I just blended really well. I think it's was all that singing in the car my Mom and I did when I was a kid. Because of that, I've been known to belt out some beauties at Karaoke Night.
24- Every day I'm thankful to be alive. My mother gave birth to me at the tender age of 15, and has taken care of me mostly on her own. We ended up growing up together through life, and I'm thankful that she brought me into this world and did everything she could to take care of me growing up into who I am today.
25- I'm dedicating 2009 to getting into the best shape of my life. I'm ready to push my body through the aches and pains of starting up a new exercise regime. I don't think I'll do any Marathons this year, but I might just hike to a few peaks this summer.
So you can either take this upon yourself to write your own 25 list. And if that seems to daunting for you, do a 16 list. But don't feel pressured by me.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sharing time
This is from a journal entry I wrote last night. Enjoy.
HA HA HA! :) I laugh as I look at my watch to figure out what the date is. For posterity sake - It's January 13th 2009.
I'm watching the damn History Channel and "The Universe" is on. This silly show just blows my mind every time. And while I'm in an entranced and enchanted (read: sucked in/duped/slapped in the face/punched in the gut) sort of way, I really realized how very lucky and fortunate I am to even be living and breathing in this insane, chaotic, unpredictable, AMAZING Universe, let alone the Galaxy, or even the life sustaining, free thinking, fast moving, communicative, goal chasing, hard working, insanely great feeling baby making, ever progressing, always learning, critical decision making, creative and daring, colorful and melodic life this planet has to offer. I am thankful to be able to love and enjoy the people who love and enjoy me, and to be able to plant my foot, raise my flag, scream from the highest mountain, take care of my family, and not worry that my neighbor is trying to take what I love away. Oh, that and I'm thankful that we have a good Jupiter in our Solar System that protects us from all the outside bad shit that could wipe each and every one of us out in two minutes, and there is nothing we could do about it. Thanks History Channel.
Be thankful that you have the eyes to be able to read this, and a brain to understand it (maybe). I'm just thankful I have the wherewithal to be able to write it in the first place. I'm thankful that I even have a place in this Universe to be able to live out this life, which begs the question:
Why the fuck do we (and I say "we" as in the entire Human Race) need to be fighting in wars with one another?
How hilarious it would be if some old planet near our solar system blows up and sends a "cosmic burp"thanks to HC right at us and blows the atmosphere clean off the face of our planet! Those men with guns pointed at one another better start laughing soon because there wouldn't be enough oxygen to make it past 2 minutes, and they'll barely have time to wonder what the hell happened. Let alone what they were even fighting for. In the words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
Enjoy this life! It's that simple. Oh, and another thing, be nice to one another, and other people will be nice to you. Because the truth is, we are all miracles! Each and every one of us.
Do whatever it takes to do these two things and you will live with a smile on your face, and hopefully a ton of laughter. I love this life! I wouldn't want to be any other place than where my wife is and where our children are, wherever that may be on this one-of-a-kind planet, in the great free-thinking and innovative nation of the United States of America. Why do you think so many people have (and still do) immigrated to this country? I feel incredibly lucky to be here, where I am at this moment and that I have a mind that can figure out a way through many things in this life, but not anything beyond it. So I'll choose to enjoy my life today, tomorrow, and always - RIGHT NOW!
HA HA HA! :) I laugh as I look at my watch to figure out what the date is. For posterity sake - It's January 13th 2009.
I'm watching the damn History Channel and "The Universe" is on. This silly show just blows my mind every time. And while I'm in an entranced and enchanted (read: sucked in/duped/slapped in the face/punched in the gut) sort of way, I really realized how very lucky and fortunate I am to even be living and breathing in this insane, chaotic, unpredictable, AMAZING Universe, let alone the Galaxy, or even the life sustaining, free thinking, fast moving, communicative, goal chasing, hard working, insanely great feeling baby making, ever progressing, always learning, critical decision making, creative and daring, colorful and melodic life this planet has to offer. I am thankful to be able to love and enjoy the people who love and enjoy me, and to be able to plant my foot, raise my flag, scream from the highest mountain, take care of my family, and not worry that my neighbor is trying to take what I love away. Oh, that and I'm thankful that we have a good Jupiter in our Solar System that protects us from all the outside bad shit that could wipe each and every one of us out in two minutes, and there is nothing we could do about it. Thanks History Channel.
Be thankful that you have the eyes to be able to read this, and a brain to understand it (maybe). I'm just thankful I have the wherewithal to be able to write it in the first place. I'm thankful that I even have a place in this Universe to be able to live out this life, which begs the question:
Why the fuck do we (and I say "we" as in the entire Human Race) need to be fighting in wars with one another?
How hilarious it would be if some old planet near our solar system blows up and sends a "cosmic burp"thanks to HC right at us and blows the atmosphere clean off the face of our planet! Those men with guns pointed at one another better start laughing soon because there wouldn't be enough oxygen to make it past 2 minutes, and they'll barely have time to wonder what the hell happened. Let alone what they were even fighting for. In the words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
Enjoy this life! It's that simple. Oh, and another thing, be nice to one another, and other people will be nice to you. Because the truth is, we are all miracles! Each and every one of us.
Do whatever it takes to do these two things and you will live with a smile on your face, and hopefully a ton of laughter. I love this life! I wouldn't want to be any other place than where my wife is and where our children are, wherever that may be on this one-of-a-kind planet, in the great free-thinking and innovative nation of the United States of America. Why do you think so many people have (and still do) immigrated to this country? I feel incredibly lucky to be here, where I am at this moment and that I have a mind that can figure out a way through many things in this life, but not anything beyond it. So I'll choose to enjoy my life today, tomorrow, and always - RIGHT NOW!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
So it's officially 2009
Good bye 2008, and hello 2009. You know, in all honesty, 2008 was a pretty good year for me and my family. No broken bones, doing much better financially, and we got a new bed right at the end of the year. I'm really looking forward to this year. I think this is exactly the time for me to kick it into high gear and really start going for my dreams. I've been doing a little personal education, and I'm going to start a study group this month. We're going to be reading "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. I think that this is exactly what I need. A personal study group of people who are looking to better their life. I don't want anyone attending to try and recruit people to join their MLM or even for the group to say what company they work for. I just want them all to be people who are skilled and have some brains, and are creative, and for us all to help collaborate and help each other with their ideas and help encourage them to keep pursuing their dreams. I think it's easier to do when you have people like that backing you up and holding you accountable for your actions. This year my theme is going to be, Improving my life in more ways than one! I know that sounds pretty basic and simple, but I don't think I've ever consciously thought about it every day. Things improve in my life, but I don't always see a daily progress towards improvement, hell sometimes I don't even see a weekly improvement. Not so this year. It's going to be on my mind everyday. I'm so thankful that I have today to do something that will get me closer to my dreams becoming a reality. I'm tired of barely making ends meet. Now is the time to make something happen. I found this quote by Ray Bradbury - "You've got to jump off cliffs all the time, and build your wings on the way down." Of course when he said this, he was pertaining to getting into a relationship, but I think it's fitting for many things. You can't just stand at the top of the cliff and work on making your wings so you can eventually jump. Otherwise you'll second guess yourself and find excuses to not jump. If you just jump, now you'll have to take some kind of action to build those wings.
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