Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my sister Gina's fiance's birthday. Feel free to drop by his newly created blog, "Who Needs Saving" on the right, and leave him a nice comment.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Flickr

My sisters and I before a game last season.

So I am trying out Flickr as a new way to post photos to my blog. It looks like they offer more in terms of flexibility with things like layouts than "Hello" does. We'll see how it goes!

The Bourne Supremacy

Well I finally finished reading this. I had been slacking on reading for a couple weeks but I made up for it the past couple days. Really good book. I would really like to know how they can say the movie is "based on the book." I guess in order to base a movie on a book, all you have to do is steal the title and main character name and write your own movie, because that's what they did here. None of the detail in the book was in the movie, which is great actually if you're reading it after seeing the movie like I did. The whole story takes place in Asia where a Jason Bourne imposter is killing people and so the US Government has to get the real Jason Bourne to go after him. They entice him into doing it by kidnapping his wife...real nice. Anyway, it was a great read. Two books down, one to go. I'll start The Bourne Ultimatum later this week.

I guess it comes with being successful...

Sad day for UWM fans. Bruce Pearl is leaving as men's basketball coach. I guess I can't be too suprised given the success the Panthers have had under his command. He takes over the program at Tennessee for quite a hefty raise.

Pearl replaced Bo Ryan who left for the Badgers after a short stay at UWM. Hopefully we can strike gold in that way again.

"Bruce...clap clap, clap...Pearl..."

Weekend

Wow, was that a fast weekend or what. Friday night I didn't do anything but read & relax. I was still feeling some of the effects from Thursday night and UWM's demise. Saturday I went up to the parent's house in Green Bay. Good time, very relaxing. I read a lot. Finally almost done with The Bourne Supremacy which, I admit, has taken way too long. It is a really good book by the way. More on that when I finish it. Sunday we went to church and then had a delish brunch.

After that I downloaded a nice software program for my Dad to use for his new company that he just started. It's a pretty slick little program. If I remember right, it's called Volutive. It manages all his customers (1 at the moment), types of work, and invoices. Pretty good deal for free! Hope everyone has a nice week...

What's in your bag?

Interesting site that I stumbled on from someone else's blog.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/whatsinyourbag/

Interesting to see what people carry around. There is a common theme in most of them...iPods.

Bittersweet 16

Well it had to come to an end sometime. UWM gave the #1 team in the land a good run I think which is all I could ask for after making it to the Sweet 16. Great team, great season, great ride. They lose a couple seniors this year, but they should make it back to the big dance next season as well. We'll see how much better Joah Tucker is next year. He was a man among boys last night (and no, no need for Michael Jackson jokes about that comment).

A little slow moving today. My friends and I watched the game at The Lodge where they have a deal on Thursday nights...free pizza with each pitcher of beer. Great deal. We had to call off the pizza orders after a few pitchers though because we were out drinking our eating. No doubt that this will be one long day at work.

Happy Birthday BigDubb!

Even "sworn enemies" have to put aside the differences for someone's birthday!

Happy xxth birthday to BigDubb (thanks, Stacy). Drop by his blog, posted on the right, and leave him a nice comment. While you're there, check out some of his very interesting posts.

Raar Raar!

The US Bank building in downtown Milwaukee was giving props to the Panthers this week. If you would have asked me 5 years ago if ANYTHING like this would ever happen with UWM, I would have said you were crazy. It feels good to finally say that your alma mater has a successful sports program!


US Bank Building Downtown

How Sweet It Is

They did it again. UWM pulls another upset and beat Boston College to go to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. What a game. Unfortunately it now sets up a matchup between them and #1 Illinois. I hope they can keep it close. By the way, I would have posted this last night after the win, but Hello wasn't letting me send pictures. It still isn't. I'm sure it's a Blogger problem since everything in Blogger (comments) seems to be crashing lately.

Showtime!

Woohoo! UWM pulled the big upset and beat Alabama badly and earning the first NCAA Tournament victory in school history. UWM led the whole game and had as much as a 17-point lead. Very fun. The St. Patrick's Day Guiness was flowing. Next up, the winner of the Boston College/Penn game on Saturday.


Showtime

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Half day of work today so I thought I would just write a quick post. I am heading out at 11:00 today to go watch UWM (hopefully) pull an upset in the NCAA Tournament and beat Alabama. I'm meeting a couple friends at Hooligan's. Should be a good time. That's all for now. Have a great day and be safe!

WARNING: Boring Read

I haven't posted anything since Friday and since I seem to give my sister a hard time for taking a few days off, I better heed my own advice, or torment, however you want to describe it, and post something. This past weekend was very low key. I was dogsitting Rocky again for the weekend which was fun. She's such an easy dog to watch. If all dogs were that easy, I would have one for sure.

Saturday night Kirsten and I went out to dinner to Buca's with her good friends Christy & Josh and their 16-month old, Elijah. This was the second dinner that week with one of her close friends. We are finally finding time to go out to dinner with people and get to know each other's good friends better. For those unaware, we were dating about 9 months when we got engaged. Most of her friends are either 1) married and/or have kids or 2) nurses that work nights like she does so it has been tough to find a lot of time to get to know everyone.

Another New Toy

OK, so I' falling even deeper into the core of Apple. (wow, bad pun). I picked up the new iPod Mini yesterday just because for some reason "I had to have one." I went with the Mini because A) it's cheaper than the iPod, B) the new 6GB is plenty big enough for me and 3) I like the way it looks better than the regular iPod. Looking forward to see what this thing has to offer.


iPod Mini (6GB)

100 Things

Since I've enjoyed reading the "100 Things" others have (see: BigDubb, Katie), I suppose it's my turn so here goes:

1. I grew up in Green Bay
2. I live in Milwaukee now
3. I moved here to go to college
4. I went to UW-Milwaukee
5. I graduated with a degree in Management Information Systems
6. My birthday is January 31
7. Which makes me an Aquarias
8. I have two younger sisters
9. Both live in Green Bay
10. I am getting married October 29
11. To a girl named Kirsten
12. She is a nurse
13. My sister Gina is getting married in May of 2006
14. To a guy named Chris
15. He is a volunteer fireman
16. My sister Jessica has no plans of getting married yet
17. Probably because her boyfriend is in Iraq
18. My favorite food is steak
19. But I love Qdoba burritos
20. And Miller High Life
21. Definitely not Budweiser
22. Growing up I wanted to be a History teacher
23. But I'm afraid of speaking in public
24. So I'm a software developer
25. And now I've had to get glasses
26. But I only wear them when I drive at night
27. I once painted a snake silver when I was a kid
28. I was grounded for that
29. I played tennis in high school
30. I've played twice since
31. I am working at my second job since college
32. It won't be my last
33. Growing up, I lived in 2 houses in Green Bay
34. In both neighborhoods my best friend's name was Chad
35. My parents have been married 30 years
36. And I'm sure they'll make it another 30
37. My Dad is the person I most admire
38. My first cassette was "Born in the USA"
39. My first CD was "C & C Music Factory"
40. Both were mistakes
41. I went to school in Mexico for a summer
42. I learned more there than in 4 years of high school
43. I got a perfect score on my driver's test
44. I doubt I would get one now
45. I seem to communicate best through movie quotes
46. I am trying to learn to cook more
47. But meatloaf seems to be my apex
48. My favorite restaurant in Milwaukee is Il Mito
49. I think cats are sneaky
50. I'm half way through this list
51. My family had a dog named "Ernie"
52. We had to put him down a couple weeks ago
53. My favorite thing to do is hanging out with friends at a pub
54. Or hosting a cookout
55. Apparently I have anxiety issues
56. Or so the doctor thinks
57. I think I am just nervous
58. I was prom king
59. I got to keep the scepter, but not the crown
60. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat
61. I just want our country to be the best
62. My favorite season is Fall
63. Primarily because it is Packers season
64. I was one of those kids that let Packers players ride their bikes
65. I get goosebumps in Lambeau Field
66. What relaxes me most is having a glass of wine and watching "The Thomas Crown Affair"
67. I prefer Pinot Noir
68. But not because of the movie "Sideways"
69. Which is a movie I loved
70. I have smoked cigarettes
71. But not regularily
72. I have a hard time pronouncing "regularily"
73. I may or may not have smoked other things
74. But not since college
75. I have many nicknames, but "Double-D" seems to be the most popular
76. I have great friends
77. And not too many enemies
78. Except for the Minnesota Vikings
79. I recently started drinking coffee
80. I drink Starbucks Breakfast Blend
81. I want to move somewhere warmer
82. But I probably won't
83. My New Year's Resolution was to get in better touch with friends
84. Since most of my friends are married and/or have children
85. I think staying in touch is very hard work
86. Blogging is my new favorite past time
87. I think it's a good way to vent
88. And I am grateful for the people that read it and leave comments
89. For some reason I put almost everything into a spreadsheet
90. I guess I'm organized
91. A guilty pleasure is watching "The O.C."
92. My favorite show is "CSI: Miami"
93. I like Thanksgiving the best
94. I own my own home
95. I get distracted easily
96. Where was I
97. Oh yea, I try to be a good listener
98. I like helping people with problems rather than focusing on my own
99. I believe in ghosts
100. This was pretty hard to do, but worthwhile. Jogged a lot of old memories!

Yuck

Milwaukee's 7-day Forecast

Airport Express Update

Well I finally finished importing all my CD's into iTunes on my laptop to play through my new Airport Express. It came out to be roughly 9 GB for I believe approximately 180 CD's? I didn't count. Anyway, putting that into perspective, the new iPod holds 60GB. Wow, That is enormous. Whoever can fill that thing up must be quite the music mogal.

Finally...

Finally the weather has brightened up! It's in the mid-fifties today. I'll be heading out to enjoy it as soon as my laundry is done. In the meantime, I'm watching the instant classic, Zoolander. Pretty good weekend so far. Friday night I went to happy hour which turned into happy night which turned into not-so-happy morning. Oh well, good times were had. Yesterday afternoon, my Dad came down to visit from Green Bay. We went to the Bucks game with some tickets I got him for Christmas. Good game. Bucks beat Chicago. This morning we got up and went to church at St. Hedwigs which is where Kirsten and I are getting married. After that we headed to Ma Fischer's for breakfast. So tasty. That's it for now. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Wash On, Wash Off

Alright, I need to vent about this. It can be ignored no longer. I started working at my current job 6 months ago. When I started, like most people, I went through an orientation. They tell you many things about the company. Benefits, expectations, etc. One thing they do not talk about, but the should, is WASHING YOUR HANDS AFTER GOING TO THE BATHROOM!!! I am going to say roughly 35% of people that work where I do, actually do it. Today, I was in the bathroom sitting, pondering life's unanswerable questions. During that time THREE people came in at different times, went to the bathroom, and left without washing their hands! Does this happen everywhere? I never noticed this at my prior job but it happens all the time where I am now. Grrr...

You Gotta Love Technology...

Last Wednesday night I filed my taxes online. This was the first time I did them myself (thank you, thank you). Anyway, today, much to my surprise, my state refund was direct-deposited into my bank account! How nice is that? Usually if I remember right, when I sent in my taxes it would take a couple months to get anything back. While this is nice, I'm sure the balance of my refund is spoken for by the wedding account. Booooo.

Speaking of, I am supposed to be planning the honeymoon so if anyone has any suggestions or nice places to share, leave a comment!