Worst Christmas Song

Congrats to "Christmas Shoes" for dominating the WORST CHRISTMAS SONG EVER poll.  

I have been meaning to post this photo of two of the three* most important women in my life.

*Amanda not pictured

Biggest Loser

We are going to start the biggest loser at work on January 1st.  I am going to take my second serious shot at weight loss.  Last time I did great for almost a year, I had lost 46lbs and over the last year I have found each and every one of them, plus three.  During this time, I would like to loose 30+ lbs but my overall goal will be to loose 55-60 lbs.  Even better, just a healthier lifestyle and a longer life.  

In the pursuit of this goal, I will need your help.  I will have my work family to hold me accountable while I am there, I will need all of you for the rest of the time.  I am going to post my weight every Monday on the blog, if I don't post call me out, make me.  If I step out in your presence, call me on it.  I will not take offense because I know you have the best intentions for my well being.  Other than that, if you have any tips, want to do something athletic or healthy, please include me.  I don't like to exercise for the sake of exercise, but I do love playing sports, riding my bike, all that junk that has a purpose.  So if I accidentally work out, then awesome!!!

That is all I ask of you.  This should be a lot of fun!  I loved the way I felt about myself when I was 49 lbs thinner than now, I look forward to feeling that way again.  

Meeting someone you already know.. kinda.

On Sunday I got to go to a Charlotte 49ers game with Dawn, a long but not lost friend from Jr. High School.  While at the Northbeast, I shared several classes with Dawn, I know we ate lunch at the same table at times and would also talk in the mysterious wasteland that was the grouping of benches behind the cafeteria.  After leaving grade schools we never really had any contact.  Hence the beauty of facebook.  

Through facebook, I got to learn about what she was up to now.  I read through her profile and she even posted a picture of me from the eighth grade.  I would read her blog (to the right on my links) about parenting, she would comment on mine.  

I posted available tickets here, she took me up on the offer.  As an aside, we got four adults and three kids in for free, wicked awesome.  I met her husband and kids, got to know her a little bit about what she did in the 9 years or so that had passed between us.  

The best part and to me most interesting part was getting to know someone you kind of already know.  Most of time when you first meet someone you are trying to figure out if they are a good person, you are hoping that they are not crazy.  You are trying to see if there is something about them that would prevent a friendship.  This time is different because those questions were answered a long time ago.  So I just had to listen to what she actually had to say and get to know all about her.  So really, I was getting to know someone I already know.  

 

No clue wether that makes sense.  I look forward to hanging out with Dawn and family again soon.  

New Poll!!!

To the right you will find the latest edition of Jon's polls.

What is the worst Christmas Song?

If you do not see your worst song, please comment below.

WINI's Extreme Makeover is complete (for now)

She has a new middle name now too, introducing:

WINI McMINI Cooper

WINI's Extreme Makeover

Oh boy, 6:40pm and she is going to the plastic surgeon to get a nose job and new hair plugs... pictures tonight when she is all done.

***update 11:26pm, the car will not be ready tonight because it cannot be driven in the rain, hopefully tomorrow morning***

***update 9:33am, WINI is due back shortly***

***update 9:52am, WINI is home.  She needs a gentle bath (tough because I cannot get the graphics wet, then I will take photos and post them.

49ers Tickets

Up for grabs, I have two lower level seats, I will be sitting in one of them and two upper level seats for the Charlotte 49ers game on Sunday @ 2:00pm.  If anyone wants to join me or wants the upper level seats, let me know.  100% free.

Jon's Opinion of the Big Three Bailout

Wikipedia

I love Wiki, I am feeling blue today and I was looking for the reason.  I know people get sad in the winter time due to Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I know that it certainly had an affect on Amanda when we were in Chicago.  Ever since the forecast called for 70 degrees this week and I have worn shorts to work three days in a row, I have been in a very fowl mood.  I have diagnosed myself, I have Reverse Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Basically, heat causes high levels of anxiety.  I am anxious for some cold weather.

Worst Part of the Holidays

I love spending time with friends and family, but the busy schedule of the holidays is absolutely nuts!!!  Here is what our Sunday looks like:

1pm- Steelers v. Titans (the new biggest game of the year for my Steelers)

2pm- Charlotte 49ers home game

Afternoon/Evening- Family X-mas gift exchange

Evening- Jason's Christmas Party

Of course, with the exception of watching the Steelers game, I will have perfect attendance, like I did that one year, 4th grade*.

*please note I was in love with my 4th grade teacher

Delinquent Poster

I guess I just ran into some blogger apathy. I have been working on some stuff. I have a rough draft of a letter to my 18 year old self that I plan to post on my 28th birthday. It just seems like with the house built, the election over, the economy in the tank, I just have nothing to talk about. Snippits follow.

We had some family, friends, and neighbors over for Amanda's birthday party this Saturday.  It was pretty fun but we did learn some lessons about hosting people in our house.  The first thing is that we have a sever seating shortage.  There are only four places to sit in our living room.  Six is max capacity if you include the rocker and ottoman as separate seating surfaces.  The kitchen is huge, but we need a table that seats six instead of the pub table we currently have that seats a meager two.  Lastly, the dining room seats six, which is great, but it is separate from the living spaces in the house so it tears the group apart.  The solution is to add a love seat in the living room, we want a big gathering height butterfly leaf table for the kitchen, and have some more folding chairs available for hosting.  

We are not going to host any holiday festivities unless asked to do so, so I guess we won't have to worry about that until the spring time house warming party.  Then we can use the garage and driveway for the guys to hang out... maybe we will have grass then so we can play some games.  

Speaking of yard games, I am searching for a "cornhole" set.  This game is the best for those who do not know.  I want a substantial set though, heavy and sturdy, either unpainted or with Steelers or Charlotte 49ers logos painted on.  I am a craigslist junkie and I know I will find some soon.

Okay, well sorry it was boring but it does break a long drought without posting.  I will post before Christmas, but I hope everyone has a very safe and happy holiday season.  I look forward to seeing my long time long gone friends.  

TV Stand Shopping (update)

Oh boy, what a day!

It started off great, the alarm company showed to activate right at 8am. They gave me the time frame 8-12, I liked that I was first so I would not have to waste all four hours waiting and then another two hours while he did his thing. The crappy part, well it turns out that the phone jack next to the stove is inop. The required fix involved removing drywall, potentially all the way from our access panel to the outlet, including taking off cabinets. This broke me down to tears thinking about putting a band aid on our brand new house. I am thinking about leaving well enough alone and jut leaving it broke, my fear is that when we go to sell the house, it will have to be fixed after inspections are done, on our dime. I may just have them take out the phone jack and hope that when we sell the house, no one will notice in a decade that there is no phone jack downstairs. They are coming tomorrow between 8-12, so probably noon.

I then headed to the Max to pick up my pickup. Drove to Carolina Place to pick up the t.v. stand. I loaded it in and was very happy that it weighed a million pounds. I brought it home and brought it in the house. By then the anger over the phone jack worked a headache on me, I took some advil and took a nap for the first time in a while. I woke up feeling better and assembled the t.v. stand. Amanda came home, tossed the t.v. on top.

I will take pictures but I have to say, the best part is that I am in my chair, typing, I can look up and see the entire screen. It also helps the audio being up higher.

Icing on the cake, the price on the website today is $60 higher than last week. Holla!

I motor to work... I do not drive or commute.

I am often explaining myself and my love affair with my car.  Unlike the horsepower muscle head guys, or those euro tuned Bimmer/Benz/Audi/V-dub dudes, or even the Evo/WRX/potato cannon rice rocket roadies, it is about motoring.  I have pulled this off of a fellow enthusiasts blog.

In the MINI community, the word ‘motor’ is used a great deal, but never in the same way it is used outside the MINI community. To most people, the word motor is used as a noun to define some sort of engine. To MINI owners, however, it means something entirely different. MINI owners use the word motor as a verb. When most people drive places, MINI’s owners (commonly known as motorers) motor. You go driving, they go motoring. It’s important to note that driving is not simply motoring and vice versa. Driving is getting from point A to point B. It is about the destination. You drive to the store. You drive to work. Motoring is about what’s in between A and B. It is about the journey. Motorers motor to the store. They motor to work.
Now that’s not to say that motorers never drive. Sometime you just need to get to a destination. For example, over the holiday weekend, I needed to get to the airport. It was about a three hour trip and because of time constraints, I needed to travel on I-95 (NOTE: I never drive on I-95 unless time is an issue). It was during this stretch that I had a bit of an epiphany. I’ve never driven on I-95 and enjoyed it, but this day was different. I wasn’t motoring (because the trip was mostly about the destination and by definition, that’s driving), but I was still enjoying it.
So, I set about to determine what was different. Everywhere I looked, people were angry. Everybody drives angrily anymore. How does this happen? And why am I immune (at least for the most part…my wife will argue that I’m not)? I think at least a portion of the answer lies deep within the creative minds behind particular automobile manufacturers. Take MINI for instance. It’s clear after spending a few minutes in a MINI that anyone who drives it can’t help but have fun. The feature that seems to entertain most passengers is the mood lighting. It’s basically a series of LED lights (activated by the headlights) strategically placed throughout the interior of the car that are designed to reflect off various surfaces giving the entire cabin a glow. It can be adjusted to illuminate in 6 different colors ranging from red to blue. This feature comes standard. MINI’s also come with a secret compartment that truly requires discovery from others who have found it. This feature is standard. To put a real thrill in driving, MINI also included a start button. It sounds small, but pressing a button to start a car is much more of a thrill than turning a key. This feature is standard. The convertible MINI’s come with a gauge that displays the percentage of time that the top is down on the car. This feature is standard.
The point is, that MINI has taken into consideration that for most people driving is a chore. So they’ve countered that attitude with more ways to make driving (or motoring) fun with (the key factor) standard features. My question is why haven’t other automobile manufacturers caught on and why don’t more people drive cars they really like? Is it so hard to take the time to make minor and inexpensive adjustments to put the joy back in driving? The brilliance comes in the fact that the features I outlined above are standard equipment. Which means you can buy a used MINI with no bells and whistles and still get the same nifty features. Again, I ask why more manufacturers haven’t caught on to this. Maybe once they do, more people will start waving with all five fingers instead of just one.

My poor niners

Uh-oh, one and six and Niner Nation seems to have given up all hope for decent year.

BOLD PREDICTION:  The Niners will end the regular season .500 or better AND we will win the conference tournament as a 4 seed upsetting Xavier in the semis.

Of course, Lamont Mack can not end up in the poster of some guy from Cal State Fullerton like below.  (Please note the huge crowd in the background)

Since the Tarheels have nothing but themselves standing between them and the NCAA tournament, I just want to do well in the A-10 and get rocked in the first round.

Holiday Festivities

I was sitting here wondering if I have anything to blog about.  I kept thinking that I was out of ideas.  I am in the new house, I really don't have much coming up, just waiting on WINI's graphics to come in a be installed.  Then I remembered, oh yeah, Jesus' birthday is coming up.  Our holiday schedule is nuts this year.  The calm of last year's holidays was so enjoyable I must admit.  I love seeing all of you, but, I have to admit it rocked not to go anywhere or have any plans.  It was a touch sad though.  So on to this year.  We have:

December 6th- Eli & Colleen's party, Tim & Sara's party

December 10th- Amanda's Birthday

December 13th- Amanda's Birthday party (details to come family and friends)

December 19th- David & Rege's birthday bash

December 21st- Family Christmas gift exchange, Charlotte 49ers basketball game.

Other than my retail work schedule, I will try to make all events I possibly can.  I hope to get invited to many more events and just forget to sleep.