Busy Day

I've got breakfast in about an hour with soem friends, a poker game at noon, I have to make a seven layer dip for a party tonight, and THEN a party tonight.

Then tomorrow I have another seven layer dip to make and then the big and last game of the season! The Super Bowl!

More than likely out of ten games Pittsburgh would win seven to eight games. Playing one game though...well lightning can strike. Fitz can make a big play. Boldin can be healthy and a threat. Warner can make that super accurate throw. Big Ben can throw a couple of picks. Ward might not be 100%. A lot can happen in one game.

This could either be a Steeler's blowout or a slim Cardinals win. The key is how the Arizona D stops the Pittsburgh O. The interesting match up will be the opposite. How will the stifling Steel Curtain contain the explosive Cardinals offensive unit that can score on any play.

I've got no dog in the fight, just want to see a good game and spend time with my friends. Bring on the Super Bowl commercials! Not thrilled about Springsteen though. Always felt he was pretty overrated and bigger on the East coast than in the middle of the country where I live. Never saw his appeal. Tom Petty was far better as a choice last year.

Truly Historic

With all of the history being made in the month of January one of the most historic events of all time happened today.

Michael Steele was elected as the first black chairman of the RNC. To tell you the truth yeah, Obama is historic but so was Condi Rice and she was subject to daily ridicule and abuse. Her story was every bit as compelling as Obama's story. She is far more qualified to be President than Obama is. She is definitely smarter and more professional. It's just her politics were wrong from the left's point of view.

Michael Steele is another American success story and he will undoubtedly come under intense scrutiny and personal attacks. Instead of being praised for doing things his way without government help he will be accused of being not black enough or some other such silly attack. Instead of being a role model for all kids on what is possible, Steele will be vilified for his beliefs of personal responsibility and tradition.

Where are the commemorative coins now?

Big Weekend

Got a lot on the agenda this weekend. Have a somewhat business meeting Friday night with my date, and a long time friend with his wife.

Turns out I might find a part time gig for some extra cash. Something creative and something that might actually be marketable. Who'dathunkit? I might have a marketable skill....

Anyway there is a lot to be discussed before anything is for real yet.

Then Saturday I'm having breakfast with the date, and friends. Saturday afternoon I have a poker game and then I have to make some snacks for Super Bowl Sunday at Beersnob's house!

Yes Beersnob is back in town after his tour in Qatar! It will likely be too cold for cigar smoking however. No big deal, Spring will be here soon enough! By the way, my payday that is supposed to be in my account isn't there like it should be. I'll be calling as soon as they open their doors...

Started Fine!

After the Sun came out yesterday and I got my charger on it for about fifteen minutes the truck spun over fast enough to start. Woohooo!

Most of the icy roads melted off yesterday, roads are safe and clear. Supposed to get up to about fifty today! Almost a heat wave. I hope Spring is around the corner. Some warm weather sounds really nice now!

Yesterday cost me less than an hour of leave. I worked until the normal time so I saved quite a bit by going on in. Tomorrow is payday in my new checking account. The problem is that the company can't change my deposit information that fast. It is going into my closed checking account. The bank said they would catch it and reroute it.

I hope they do. This concerns me!

Too Cold

For my diesel to start today. I've almost ran down the batteries this morning to get it to start. I've got my battery charger, which was on loan, on its way back to me already. It was plugged in all night but it can still have problems in this kind of cold.

I might need some Power Service for the fuel. I don't think it has gelled up but it might have. It had plenty in the last tank and I only put a few gallons in the other day so it should have had enough in there to prevent gelling.

Once it warms up today it should be fine though. I just need a bit more cranking power to kick it over.

Now for the real problem, I had to close my checking account yesterday and open a new one. I won't get my debit card or checks to access my cash until next week. The bank notified me that their processing center was compromised and I needed to close my account as a precaution.

Yes I have some temporary checks but most places don't take checks anymore and opt for cards or cash, and these are temporary checks on top of that. I've got cash with me but if this is a costly repair which I don't think it will be, then I'm screwed.

I believe that a battery charger and a little Sun and I'm golden.

Ice Storm

My work place is closed right now. Don't know if it will be open later on today or not. I've got the Suburban warming up, I'll let it run for an hour or so.

Does a diesel good to be warm anyway. This isn't as bad as the 2002 storm that we had that took out our power lines for a few days but as for driving it is just as bad. The radar shows more coming in for today.

All of the schools are closed. I'm sure most of the businesses will be closed. It's a good day to just stay at home. It's cold out, it's nasty out, and there is more coming. Perfect recipe to call in if I have to!

Graycliff Espresso Robusto

Yesterday I had a Graycliff Espresso. Graycliff is a brand of cigars that originates out of the Bahamas and has a small company there. The story is that they have a dozen rollers and that's it.

The Espresso Robusto is a dark wrapper, it looks like a Dark Sumatra or Oscuro. I originally thought it was an Oscuro because of its super full flavor, however the description says it is a Costa Rican Maduro wrapper. Some descriptions call it a dark naturale so I'm not exactly sure which it is.

This is like drinking black coffee, which is how I drink coffee. Full on flavor. The Espresso isn't a bargain cigar. Some in the Graycliff line command a full price as well ticking in at over twenty dollars apiece.

I purchased these on Cigarbid.com a few months ago for less than twenty dollars for five of them. Now you can find them priced as high as ten dollars apiece.

The Graycliff is a truly good cigar. Graycliffs are about quality over quantity and their limited production can speak to that. If you find one you'll be doing yourself a favor if you have a palate geared towards the full flavored cigars before lighting one. Otherwise a lot of it will be lost on you but that's ok too, at least you can say you had a Graycliff!

Joya De Nicraragua Celebracion Consul

Yesterday while sitting by my bedside window in a love seat I had a Joya de Nicaragua Celebracion Consul. It was a 4 inch by 52 ring gauge, crillio wrapped cigar. The Winter has really put a crimp into my cigar smoking so the Sun had really warmed up my bedroom and it was pretty warm by the window. It made the perfect place!

I was listening to the Cigar Dave Show online and there was a nice draft taking the towering plumes of smoke outside into the Arctic chilled air. This was a very nice cigar, it was a smooth, medium flavored stick. A bargain at just around two dollars too. The construction was solid, no draw problems at all. It had a little heft in the hand. The wrapper did start to come apart towards the nub but that is generally expected but not to the degree it did on this cigar.

The flavors were consistent all the way through. To start it was a bit spicy then it was a little cocoa and a little fruit, so it ran along the sweet line instead of the earthy or leathery side. I'll definitely pick up a few more and perhaps in a different size next time. This was great for about an hour of smoking time. Not a beginner's cigar at all but for a seasoned cigar smoker it would fit the bill as a go to smoke.

I'm down to about one cigar about every two or three weeks right now. A far cry from the cigar per evening in the Summer. I can't wait for Spring....

Orb Live

One of the most amazing apps for the iPhone I've found is called Orb. The problem with the iPhone is the limited storage. You can get up to sixteen gigs and that's it. That isn't very much.

Yes there was a time when sixteen gigs was "more than you would ever need", those days are long gone. I've got the eight gig 3G model of the iPhone and I can easily fill it up, I could fill up a sixty four gig model if it were available!

So along comes the app store and some great developer content! Orb was actually around long before the app store but I never jailbroke my iPhone to use it.

So what is Orb? Orb is an application that you install on your PC and your iPhone. You create playlists on your PC, all of your audio files, all of your video files, all of your pictures, all of your documents and then you can stream that to your iPhone!

You aren't limited by the iPhone's limited storage anymore! I've ripped lots of movies to put on my iPhone to watch but I had to choose what to put on there because of the space. NOW I can take all of that off of my iPhone and just stream it there over the cell network!

HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?!?!

A Good Night!

I got a text Wednesday evening about meeting Chianti and a few friends for drinks Thursday night and a light supper. I'm all for that! Love my friends!
Unless I'm busy I'll always make time to spend time with my friends. So we are at Wild Wings and I've had a craving to play some trivia most of yesterday so I get a playmaker thingy and proceed to take first a handful of times!

Then J shows up! Trivia king! He always pushes me to play better! We spar a few questions and then its on like Donkey Kong! I beat him by a mere eighty points! A few of the group decide they want to go karaoke and I decide I'm not going to go karaoke so we all hug, say goodbye, and head in our own directions.

So if you are ever at the local BDubs, look me up. I'll play ya some trivia!

Vacation Approved!

The end of March a group of friends, my date, and I are going to Vegas for a few days! It is a group celebration of birthdays that happen to be within a few weeks or months of each other.

I can't wait! We are all staying at the Luxor! So it will be great to stay and organize what we are going to do from the same place.

I plan on going down the Caesar's Place and going to Casa Fuente! A large cigar lounge and the only one licensed by Arturo Fuente. They make some great cigars! Including the expensive Opus X line. I had two of them resting in my humidor and gave them away so I really haven't tried one yet.

People are mixed on them. Some believe the scarcity and price of an Opus X is what makes it a great cigar while others feel it shouldn't command the price it does because it is an average smoke at best taste wise.

I believe my taste has developed enough to tell if it is good or not. No one argues the quality or the construction of an Opus X, just if the taste should demand the price it does.

Anyway I hope to give a couple of those a try in late March!

Siriusless

So I get to work yesterday and turn the shop's power on. Lights, heat, and Sirius radio right? What happens? The Sirius receiver says no antenna detected.

So I go outside where the antenna is and find that the wire has been pinched apart and in fact no antenna is hooked to the receiver. It was right!

So the entire day there was no Sirius radio in the shop and it was too quiet. It sucked! Once you are used to that kind of entertainment it is tough to go without. I listened to a few podcasts while working. That made the day easier but still everyone who came in the shop asked why it was so quiet!

So hopefully we can get the antenna fixed today.

Great Day Off!

Yesterday was a federal holiday so I had the day off. First of all my date and I and two others had lunch at Chili's and then later on for supper a group and I drove to Stillwater and ate at the Texas Roadhouse and had steaks.

Good time, good food! Great day off!

It was worth the drive and it is worth it to spend some quality guy time with a great group of guys.

Cardinals Steelers

This is going to be a great match up!

I am pretty sure that the NFL wanted an all Pennsylvania Super Bowl however it wasn't to be. I believe most of America just likes a underdog story.

The Cardinals haven't won a championship in sixty one years which is the longest drought in sports aside from the perpetual championshipless Chicago Cubs.

The Steelers have five Lombardi trophies and are one of the most successful franchises in NFL history.

It will be a really good Super Bowl! It could make Kurt Warner a guaranteed hall of famer. He took two franchises to the big game, NFL MVP twice, Super Bowl MVP, one of the most accurate passers ever. Yeah he has the credentials. If he wins this game it is a lock.

The Steel Curtain D, well if any D out there right now can shut them down it will be this one. Although you couldn't really tell against a weaker Baltimore offense yesterday but the Steelers really held them in check most of the game.

Both games were really good but when the Eagles made the third quarter comeback yesterday and the Cardinals knew they were finally in a dog fight it got really good! The Cardinals put together a game winning drive and held the Eagles in check to win the game.

Yeah this will be a really good game coming up!

AFC/NFC Championship Games

Two good games are on tap today. First off I'd like to see the Cardinals and the Steelers play. I wouldn't have a problem with the Cardinals and the Ravens as that would have the best QB storyline.

You would have the veteran Kurt Warner, the feelgood story of the NFL against the rookie Joe Flacco. Both have skillfully guided their teams thus far and are almost willing their teams to win.

The match up I really don't want to see is the Eagles in any match up. I'm just not an Eagles fan. I don't care for them what so ever. I do think that Arizona can beat Philadelphia today at Arizona.

A lot of people believe that Pittsburgh/Philadelphia is the best game for the Super Bowl but eh....I just don't see it. Arizona has been very bad for very long. I have blogged a few times about how bad they are most notably when Edggerin James went there in free agency and I proclaimed he had retired from the NFL.

I had Larry Fitzgerald on my fantasy team this year so I feel a little loyalty that way. I like watching the Steelers play and that would be a great game for the Super Bowl. The Eagles just don't have anyone exciting to watch outside of Westbrook. McNabb is ok but he is just so erratic and tends to collapse in big games. Granted he has no big name receivers to throw to.

So my hope for a good Super Bowl match up is Arizona/Pittsburgh. Big Ben against Kurt Warner!

Great Evening Out!

Met some friends with my date at Buffalo Wild Wings around six and played trivia there for a while and got supper and a couple of drinks. Then we headed over to the pub, I thought I scored the best table in a very crowded place however it was reserved so we decided to head over to the best place in town to get a quiet drink.

The Blue Note! Love that place! Not crowded usually, great juke box, you can talk and watch hdtv without any problems. Then we decided we wanted more trivia so we headed back over to BWW and played and got a late night snack around eleven.

Then it was time to go home! I was exhausted, well fed, had lots of great moments with my date and my friends, and I wanted to go to sleep!

I love payday Friday's on three day weekends!

Payday Friday And A Three Day Weekend!!!!

These happen rarely at my place of employment however they are a great thing when they do happen! The calendar falls just right and everything falls into place.

Who doesn't like a three day weekend?
Who doesn't like payday?

Two great things that go great together!

Not too many plans this weekend. I thought I had a poker game to go to tomorrow but I haven't heard back from the guy. If that doesn't happen then there are two good football games on.

The season is three games shy of being over. No one watches the pro bowl anyway so I really don't count that game. It won't be long before I turn my attention to college basketball. I enjoy that quite a bit as you long time readers will know. March Madness is just incredible! Love that time of year!

The Arrival

The cigars were between my screen door and door yesterday after I got home from work!
I was excited to see the works of art I had ordered, the Padrons.

I unboxed them and took them to my humidor. Putting them into my humi I noticed the bands were not what I ordered. They were Padron 1926 40 Anniversary and not the 80 year.

I contacted the company and I could either ship them back and they would credit me shipping or I could keep these and they would refund the difference. I chose the latter. These are also super premium, a tad cheaper but not much. The taste profile is full and rich. The shape is more of a pyramid instead of the torpedo.

Both are maduros. So that's what I did, kept these and when I order the 80 again I'm positive they will send the 80s!

Raul Julia And My Dog

There is a great quote by the late Raul Julia, "Maybe it's like becoming one with the cigar. You lose yourself in it; everything fades away: your worries, your problems, your thoughts. They fade into the smoke, and the cigar and you are at peace."

For you long time readers you will recall when my dog Ace died. The truth is that I understand this quote after discovering it last night. During his last few weeks I could see Ace was getting feeble and having a harder time getting around.

So every evening I would go outside in a lawn chair, a drink, a cigar, and my dog. We would spend a couple of hours together, his head on my lap and I'd scratch his ears. The evenings were mostly quiet and peaceful, if they were anything other than that I never noticed or cared.

Ace would lay down at my feet and I'd rub him with a foot. Enjoying his fading company and a cigar at the same time, they enhanced each other while I was merely a bystander. He would nap and I would savor his company regretting that I didn't spend more time with him when he was younger.

I wasn't a very experienced cigar smoker at the time, only a few months and maybe a few dozen sticks into my journey. Now I can look back and really appreciate those times even though it was just this past Summer. They are something I'll remember for years, how perfect the evenings were, how soothing his company was, how great the cigars tasted.

The world fell away. The everyday grind wasn't as bad. Nothing much mattered except my dog and my cigar.

The Devil Site

After my friend Bob introduced me to the world of cigars, very generously I might add. I started my journey into learning more about them. It was quite overwhelming at first. I didn't know a Maduro from a Churchill.

Once I learned that there are different sizes and wrappers, not to mention brands, then it was easier. The guys on the message boards were and are very helpful...and again generous with newbies and helped guide me into what I should know.

One thing I learned by reading is about the devil site or cigarbid.com. This is a place where you used to be able to buy cigars cheaper than catalog prices and get a fairly good deal. Now a lot of people know about it and tend to bid just to bid and the prices frequently go higher than what you can buy them from Cigarsinternational.com which owns Cigarbid.com.

You really have to pay attention when bidding and make your maximum bid just that. Well this past week I purchased two five packs of Joya de Nicaragua brand cigars. They are known as some of the strongest made. After they rest in a humidor for a while the harshness goes away but the strength is still there. These are for seasoned cigar aficionados and not for newbie smokers who would likely toss their cookies.

I had one this previous Summer and it was strong. Very rich in flavor though. Not harsh but it was very full flavored. I only had one at the time which is why I decided to stock up over this Winter for Summer time.

It is great when you can sit outside on the lawn with a drink, most times water for me, in the evening and relax after work with a cigar. I spent many evenings like this over the past Summer and warmer Fall days. This Winter I have had exactly three cigars and all of those were on very nice days.

So I've learned it isn't an addiction. You don't inhale them and you don't see cigar smokers rushing off of a three hour flight to the smoker's lounge. You find the right time and the right place and hopefully have good company with you to enjoy a relaxing cigar with.

Padron Serie 1926 80 Years Maduro

I decided to get a special cigar for when Beersnob comes back from his deployment in Qatar so I settled on this cigar!

It is a masterpiece of cigar making. Watch the video review and you'll see why this one is very rare. They have one buncher and one roller making this perfecto sized cigar. That means its shape is sort of like a torpedo and its size is 6 3/4 inches long by a 54 ring gauge or 54/64s of an inch. It is a big cigar.

It is also the most expensive cigar I've purchased and likely will be the most expensive cigar I'll ever purchase. I've had some Padrons in the past and they all have been among the best I've tried.

The Maduro wrapper will lend a full rich flavor and account for about half of the taste of this cigar. The wrapper will always account for about half of the flavor. If this had been wrapped in a Connecticut wrapper it would have been a more mellow cigar. Around the medium range.

I ordered four of them as I couldn't afford a whole box and the individual piece price was well over thirty dollars per. I got this just a shade under the MSRP. They are extremely hard to find online as this is a rare cigar and very limited in production. It will be a worthy evening when my friend Beersnob and Bob (my friend who introduced me into the world of cigars) light these up. I'll have one left over and I will likely save that for a special event. It will likely get better over time in my humidor.

Everyone Picked The Panthers

I think Arizona saw how all week long they were told they had no chance since they were 0-5 when heading to face the Eastern teams. They had no Anquan Boldin to pull the double team off of Fitz. And they hadn't won two playoff games in forever and a half.

All of the Fox announcers picked Carolina to win. All of the ESPN announcers picked Carolina. No one had Arizona winning this game.

What happened?

Arizona intercepted Jake Delhomme five times and Arizona took advantage of those chances with points!

Now Arizona will either travel to the Giants next week for the NFC Championship game OR host Philadelphia! That adds quite a bit more drama to that game as the Giants will be an overwhelming favorite at home against the Cardinals.

It will be a great day of football today!

NFL Playoffs

This week is one of my favorite weeks of the NFL! Yeah there are only four games but they are really good games!
The wild card games are over with and this is the first week that the top seeds play! That means that either there is an upstart underdog team who could knock off a top seed or that the favorites won and the match ups will be a LOT better!

This weekend we have Baltimore vs. Tennessee: Should be a solid defensive match up as Baltimore should neutralize the potent Tennessee running game. If you want to see prime time D, this is your game!

It is almost universally accepted, except in Arizona that Carolina will win this game. Now that Anquan Boldin likely won't play I'd say that Carolina is the easy favorite here. Not much confidence in the Arizona D to put the brakes on the Carolina running tandem of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

Tomorrow the most even game out there with the Eagles and the Giants. Two teams who pay big when they have to and really not until. The Giants have had tons of drama due to Plaxico and just being the Giants. They are like the Eastern version of the Cowboys off the field. Then you have the Eagles who are always looking to part ways with Donovan McNabb, no they aren't, yes they are, no they aren't....well you get the picture. If Westbrook gets to running well then more than likely they can dominate time of possession and have a great shot at winning this game.

Then the late game on Sunday is Pittsburgh and San Diego. This will be the game I am most interested in seeing! Is Big Ben healthy enough after his concussion to lead the Steelers? Will Rivers guide the Chargers into the AFC Championship game? Will this be LT's last season as a Charger? Will Sproules take over as the feature back for the legendary LT?

Yeah, this is a great weekend!

The BCS Champion?

Is Florida really the best team in the nation? I would argue that Utah deserves to play for the title now against Florida. USC might have a historically dominate defense but they lost a game to Oregon which got beat later by Utah.

Utah suffers from a lack of exposure and an unfairly weighted conference that isn't recognized by the BCS. If there is going to be a national championship game then they really need to include any undefeated team out there and do away with the automatic bid system.

The Rose Bowl gets the PAC 10 and the Big 10 champs....well who cares. Those two conferences are riding on their history of when they were dominate conferences. Do yourself a favor and research their bowl records this season.

The Big 10 especially is in decline and will continue to decline as more and more premier talents go to warmer weather schools. Who wants to go to Michigan when you can go to USC where it is sunny and warm year around?

Simply put the BCS is busted. Unless it includes all of the conferences then you will continue to get deserving teams left out of the equation. The mid-major conferences now that get left out of the BCS games are deserving of playing in the top tier games. If Ohio State can play and get beaten every year in a bowl game and keep getting asked back then I know that Utah or Boise State deserve to give it their best shot.

Thursday

Not a lot on the schedule today. Work and watching the game tonight at the pub. I didn't get paid yesterday but for sure today. I received an email from our treasurer and he said to drop by anytime.

I told him I'd come by today at lunch and then I can get to the bank. Its best not to be walking around with a few hundred dollars on you. LOL!

I really don't care about who wins the game tonight. It is best that there would be a playoff system. I believe Utah has a legitimate right to be there. Now they likely will finish about fourth if they are lucky in the polls.

Merging Two Favorite Things!

For those of you long time readers and longer time friends you know I love me some satellite radio. For those of you long time readers you know I've had my iPhone for almost a year now and love it to pieces!

Now both of them are going to come together better than chocolate in my peanut butter and peanut butter in my chocolate.



This is simply an amazing app that is now in beta. Yes you could get some unofficial apps if your iPhone is jailbroken. My iPhone isn't jailbroken as I have been waiting on some apps that I really would like to have such as the above app.

I also want a great customization app but it doesn't appear to be happening right now. I get sick of staring at the same icons on my iPhone and would just like to change them up from time to time like my wallpaper.

I'm excited about this app coming out though! It will be great to have access to some great mobile music where ever I'm at...over a cell network!

Payday!

Our fantasy football treasurer has had surgery on his wrist and elbow and on top of that has the flu so he really hasn't been up to dividing up the money as of yet. He promises that it will be today and gave me a brief account of what I've won!

Nearly six hundred dollars! I'm sure he will email me later on when the funds are divided up and I will be able to swing by his home after work. That's really nice when you can get an in between paychecks paycheck!

Which reminds me this is also a three paycheck month! Those rare times of the year when the dates fall just right and we get two full paychecks without union dues taken out and one paycheck when dues is extorted....I mean paid.

Going to be a good day!

First Day Back To Work

It went alright. I knew that I was either going to be very busy or very unbusy. Turned out to be in between. So-So busy.

I had subscribed to the Tedtalks podcasts a few days earlier and had about twenty talks loaded into my iPhone. Ted.com rocks. It stands for Technology, Education, and Design.

They have people from all fields come to their place and give talks. From life on Mars to Billy Graham, from a guy who talks about gangs work when they sell crack to how Chinese food has changed the world. John Hogeman (from Pc vs. Mac fame) has a particularly touching talk about missing time.

Ted is great and if you have never been you should visit and watch a couple of talks.

I also loaded up a few talks by my favorite theologian R.C. Sproul. He is simply brilliant especially in terms of making very complex matters very simple and understandable.

After that I subscribed to a couple of other podcasts but they are alright but not as good. So I've got plenty of entertainment at work to keep me going until work picks up as 2009 starts. This time of year is slow but picks up dramatically when Spring rolls around.

Bret Michaels Can't Find Love

So now he is taking his show, once housed in a mansion, to the road on a tour bus.
Rock of Love 3 is now on the air. I gotta tell you, there must be a silicon shortage because these women have it all.

Somehow I don't believe that Bret will find love this time around either....well not if the ratings are good anyway.

I guess he has had his fill of mystery groupie STDs so how do you kill two birds with one stone? You take your show on the road and essentially turn this into a thirty day party where he gets his choice of producer screened adult industry women (read strippers) and mentally unbalanced chicks to have crazy monkey sex with....and you film it.

So exactly how bad do you have to be to wind up on the third show? You weren't quite good enough to be reality famous on the first two shows of psychos and drama queens so you get to be on the third show?

Perhaps Bret needs to break down and date Flavor Flav. NOW THAT would be quite a show!!!!

Fun Evening

Last night I went to Nathan's house and everyone played board games. That was a lot of fun! Yesterday was gorgeous out! I decided to go to Starbucks and get some coffee. Weird for me but I did go and got a big cup. It was free because they didn't have what I ordered ready. I tipped them anyway because they were nice.

So then I went home and decided that since it was barely over seventy degrees out it would be great for a cigar. So I went to the humidor and picked out a Gurkha Nepalese Warrior. A great tasting, mild/medium cigar. About an hour of enjoyment was had outside with my coffee and the cigar.

That will likely be the last warm weather cigar I'll be able to enjoy until possibly Spring. It just doesn't seem likely that it will warm up again in the next few weeks.

Later on yesterday afternoon it started to get windy and then cold. So literally in the matter of a few hours it went to seventy two down to twenty eight last night when I got home.

....And So It Begins

AS I wrote earlier this morning there was a ground incursion in waiting....well now it has begun. Tanks are repositioning around Gaza and preparing to enter, escalating this conflict to a war.

It won't be long before Iran stirs the pot.

Two Days Left

Of my vacation. Today and tomorrow and that's it. I've got to go to work again. I'm hungry but have some seven layer dip in the fridge from supper last night.
There is a place here that makes some great seven layer dip! That and some chips and you have a great meal!

Oh well that's the worst thing that I've got on the horizon. At least I'm not a Hamas terrorist in Gaza. Now THAT is having some problems! Israel is poised for a ground incursion and are just biding their time before wiping out the Hamas leadership.

I've seen and read reports online about who broke the ceasefire and I side more with Israel than Hamas. Hamas has been firing up to eighty rockets per day over the past few weeks into southern Israel and call me crazy but that seems like breaking a ceasefire agreement.

Gaza is a tiny, densely packed place. Over one million Palestinians live there. There is little in the way of jobs and nothing in the way of prosperity. They are a people pretty much dependent upon food and financial aid. That's a place I would never want to be let alone live.

So yeah, I'm going to work in two days. I've got a great paying job to go back to and I'm not in Gaza.

NASA's Wacky Sense Of Humor

I was watching the NASA channel the other day, I wish I had blogged about it then but I didn't. Anyway it was live mission coverage of the International Space Station or ISS.

The astronauts were unpacking a piece of exercise machinery and having problems with a bolt. They were taking off the launch restraint packing and a bolt that had the nut taken off was in a bind. The astronaut had tried a punch and hammer, vice grips, and a pry bar. It still was in a bind so they talked to mission control about the problem and mission control was really trying to be helpful with the most obvious things such as a pry bar.

At one point the NASA engineer mentioned that there were activists concerned about the welfare of any sardines being harmed in the removal of the bolt. The astronaut misinterpreted the remark as serious and thought it was about them being sardines in the ISS. So essentially it was joke fail.

It was really fascinating to see this happen. I had to leave while this drama was happening so I am not sure if the astronauts got the bolt removed to assemble the exercise machine or not.

The things you will see on the NASA channel....

Self Reflection Time

As per most people's custom, well those who are self aware enough to know that you should occasionally reflect on where you have been and where you might be headed, I've spent a bit of time reflecting today....in between naps....and getting fuel and food.

2008 was a good year for me. It had its down moments but I believe overall it had at least twice as many up moments. Yeah my retirement fund tended to collapse a little bit towards the end of the year. That kind of sucked, especially if I had been close to retirement age. Didn't get me down too much though, I even bumped up my contribution by another two percent. Why not take advantage of a down market?

I met someone who is very smart, nice, and fun! That was in around October, we'll see where this is headed but it is looking good! Planning a trip to Vegas in March. That was a good thing.

My dad and brother put aside their differences last week on Christmas and have started out fresh. This is something that has bothered me for the last couple of years and I believe that it is going to be pretty good now.

My dog died. Not a good thing but I still had my cats which as quirky as they are, kept me happy.

I was introduced in March to a brand new simple pleasure in life which in hindsight I probably should have blogged about more as it was pretty interesting material. I mentioned to my friend Bob that I was interested in sharing a cigar with him someday. He responded by giving me a humidor and about forty premium cigars. I was completely astounded. I started out researching all things cigar. Every Summer evening that was pleasant I spent about an hour in a lawn chair with a cigar, my iphone's music files, and a drink of some sort....mostly water but sometimes one of a more adult nature.

Anyway I have learned a lot about cigars and since it has been cold out I also learned I don't need them at all. Cigars are about relaxing, preferably with a friend if you can, a beverage, a nice evening, and enjoyment. As you don't inhale a cigar you don't do it for a nicotine fix. You don't see cigar smokers running off of an airplane to light up a Padron 1964 Naturale. Anyway that was a good thing that happened.

I had my twentieth year class reunion which I blogged about quite a bit. I enjoyed that!

Had that bout with kidney stones early last year, that did kind of sucked but since then I've really kept up on drinking tons of water. I am more aware of a lower sodium diet but haven't kept to it like I should be the past few weeks.

I was more involved with the theatre this past year than I ever thought I would have been. Turns out I have a hard time saying no if someone asks for help on a project. Really enjoyed my time at the theatre and I've learned a lot. We'll see how many projects I get involved with in 09.

As far as being a bit more introspective about 2008 I guess that I've gained a few scars, healed a few older wounds, and I'm anxious for more. I've still got a selfish streak that I fight constantly. I've had stumbles and set backs to plans and machinations of grand design. I've wondered lots of why, lots of when, and even more how. I don't reckon that this self introspection will even be fully complete as it is a sign of self growth, learning, and evolving. I was in a living rut for a long time and since I've started writing this blog I made marathon like strides away from that rut.

Away from living decay and mental atrophy. Yeah I've got my down times but who doesn't. They are fewer and farther between now than ever before. More often than not things get better now than before.

2009 is sure to be just as good and likely better!

Happy New Year!

It was a roller coaster year for sure but overall I enjoyed 2008. The party I went to last night was pretty raucous. I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I stayed sober. I was the DD twice. At least two people got sick. One, my date, injured her knee exiting the house when she stumbled from the step as I was trying to catch her.

I bought breakfast stuff yesterday to make breakfast for everyone who stayed over and I'm headed back over there in a few minutes to cook. I'm sure that no one is up but it will give me time to get things ready and get me some coffee.

My friends are the best. Last year we all became a lot closer as friends and a sort of family. Love my friends.

2009 will be a great ride with them!