Thresholds.

i'm not sure if i've ever talked publicly about thresholds, but inside the deceptively small space in my head, i have set thresholds for many items that determine if i will make a purchase or not. For quality beer (outside the realm of Bud, Coors, Miller, etc), if you can get it for less than $1 per bottle, it is under threshold and i have a duty to purchase. Even better if it is a beer i know i have enjoyed in the past. Along comes the Abita Party Pack that i found at World Market. The sign said $9.99 or so and i thought, "Score that is under threshold!" then when i got rung up, it was only $7.88!! So i bought two. Then today, i went back and bought four more! A few will expire in December, but i have a feeling i can finish those (especially with guest coming to town in October). Another bonus is that it is a variety pack with 6 different taste per box so i shouldn't get sick of any of them. Almost all are enjoyable to me aside from a weak wheat beer in the bunch, but so be it.

When i'm out, less than $3 per decent beer is acceptable, or $2 for domestic. Either way, i typically find it hard to shell out money while i'm out for a beer, proving once again i value money more than alcoholism. 

Weekend in NYC

The wife and i spent last weekend in New York City and had a really good time. i can't say we'll be planning any trips to return, but we enjoyed our time there. One of the highlights of the trip might have actually been something that is not one of the typical NYC attractions. Wherever a waiver is necessary is where Megan wants to be. One of the nights before we left, we were searching Yelp for various activities and sights to see and came across the Trapeze School New York with rave reviews. So we signed up and took a two hour course that by the end had us being caught by one of the instructors swinging from another trapeze. Pretty unique and definitely exciting.

You can read both of our full thoughts here.

Other highlights included the usual: a bus tour to see the city, Top of the Rock, American Idiot musical, a little shopping, San Gennaro festival in Little Italy, Museum of Natural History. Hayden Planetarium, Bodies exhibit. It was definitely a full weekend.

ITTPMO

In other Insignificant Things That Piss Me Off, how can the Entertainment Book not have an iPhone app? It is always the thing that prevents us from using the stupid thing in unfamiliar parts of town. Couldn't they partner with someone to simply notify someone that this location does have coupons available, with or without checking in. It would increase the value of the Entertainment Book significantly.

I heart NYC

After two strongly dissatisfying trips through New York City in the past, Megan and i will give it a go this September. i figure if we're not in a car we can't be forced to pay a toll to go across a bridge that we had to cross due to construction, only to have to turn around and cross the same damn bridge. i haphazardly started looking at flights yesterday and they seemed pretty reasonable (cheaper than flying to Indiana), so that 3 day weekend in September is now booked. 

For the first time ever, i have decided to actually use some Hilton points to pay for a room. i'm not sure what i've been waiting for, i guess i've been holding out for my 7-night stay in Hawaii.

Any suggestions for NYC?

going on.

Last week was full of activities that i haven't done in years.

First, wifey and i went to the batting cages. It took me more swings than usual for the bat to go where i thought i was telling it. Although Megan claims not to be a baseball player at all, i was shocked and embarrassed when she hit better than me. i did win at putt putt, so if you're keeping track, the summer series is now tied at one apiece. Then one day i played some actual 3-on-3 basketball which last occurred sometime before 2003. For some reason, basketball left me almost as sore as dodgeball used to. Luckily, it was a quick recovery and to finish the week, i played a few hours of sand volleyball.
This week has been rough for Megan. First off, her laptop gets stolen from work which has an alarm system on the building meaning it was stolen during work hours with essentially the only possible suspects being employees. When the cops showed up to the scene of our fender bender today, we asked if they had any leads on the laptop case. No dice. 

And now it's July.

The deed is done. Cancun was fabulous. Now instead of having a smart, sexy, fantabulous girlfriend or fiancee, i have a smart, sexy, fantabulous wife!
We had a wonderful time at the resort and even with good old Tropical Storm Alex passing through, everything was perfect. Here is a link to a little video montage provided to us by our photographer:

My, my heart's like a kickdrum
http://video214.com/play/SiBv1UKjDo0jdkTt4abZVg/s/dark 
(you'll probably have to copy and paste the link to open it)

It doesn't look like we have many trips planned the rest of the year, yet.

Remember we welcome all guests*!! Free weekends fill up fast, so book your stays soon!

*all guests approved by a majority vote and with a clean visitation record with a revisit stamp of approval

Claiming another Phillips.

It won't be long now until we add another Phillips to the population. Oh hell no is it a little one. It will be an applesauce affiliated beautiful young lady. We are overly excited for our trip to Cancun and the impending wedding. Should be a good time starting next week.  Just four lousy work nights left.

Tomorrow morning is game 2 for the USA in the World Cup. i've watched way too much games this year. While i've never watched so many in the past, i feel like this World Cup is lacking great goal scoring and there seems to be a plethora of own goals and crappy goalkeeping. 

Of course the NBA finals nails in the coffin are put in by none other than some Slovenian Sasha Vujacic. That better be the last highlight i see from a Slovenian this weekend since they will be put in their place in less than 12 hours. 

And now it's June.

Time flies. Fun or otherwise. Even the ten-day work week flew by. Nothing passed time quite like playing Red Dead Redemption this week. While i do enjoy playing, the fun to time-flew-by ratio just doesn't work for me. Every time i would look up at the clock, 40 minutes had gone by. i was so frustrated by the unbelievably quick passage of time, i haven't touched the game in three days.

The one thing i accomplished this week was replacing the needle on my record player. All this time i thought i was going to have to order one and there was one up there in a baggie. i just had no idea what a new working one was supposed to look like. The other highlight of the week so far was going to Carowinds. It was the perfect day at the amusement park. Essentially no wait for any ride thanks to kids still being in school and a early rain. The awesome thing about living less than 20 minutes away is we got to come home and get our bathing suits, grab lunch then head back to the water park. Awesome.

In great news, i will be in a location to watch USA take on England. In bad news, Dick's Sporting Goods was out of stock on the jersey and the only thing they did have that i wanted in my size had seems already coming undone. Must have been made in America.
Also, there is actually a chapter of the American Outlaws USA soccer supporters in Charlotte. i'm guessing it is a small contingency, but would still would be fun to watch with others that know that the world cup is happening at least.

Can't wait for June!

June looks like a fantastic month. Wedding, World Cup, not much Work.
As it stands, i am scheduled to work just 8 nights in the month of June. (Sorry Carl). How is this possible you might ask? Well, i swapped to work Memorial Day weekend for the June 5th weekend. Not my choice, but i didn't have any plans for Memorial Day so why not. Also, i am taking 3 nights off for this little wedding vacation we're taking to Cancun. What up? To be fair, i am working a 10 night stretch to finish off May.

So yeah, just over one month before we get married. Kind of a big deal. Then there is the 2010 World Cup.
Let's take a look at the USA games.
June 12th - England 2 PM ---Perfect. i have no obligations this weekend and invite all to come for the sorta-annual Beer-BQ....i immediately digress...this is lake weekend...could be a major soccer viewing problem.
June 18th - Slovenia 9:30 AM --- i work this weekend, i will be off to watch the game but it falls in my 12 hour window of off-work time, so enjoyment will be limited.
June 23rd - Algeria 9:30 AM --- This is the one that sucks.  i'm not sure who scheduled our flights to Cancun at 11:30 AM, but that essentially means i'll be watching this from the airport and could elevate or damper my initial mood in Cancun.

i almost hope USA finishes 2nd in their division so i can watch the game Sunday morning instead of the alternative which would be a kickoff time just 4 hours before the wedding ceremony.

Feeling Blue

Less than two years old, this computer is experiencing blue screen symptoms. Not sure why it works in safe mode with networking, but not in full mode. Even after a system restore of about a week ago, it still won't load. Who knows. Aside from being able to play iTunes, all i use my computer for is Internet anyway and i can do that which gives me time to consider my options. It's definitely time to finally buy a hard drive to back up all the goods (music and photos). Any recommendations on that stuff? i heard one recommendation to abandon the laptop and go for an iPad. Seems too early for me to adopt that technology.

Time to go back to work tonight after a nice week off. Only signs of the severe sunburn are some minor itching and the final stages of shedding my skin. Speaking of grossest things ever. We were eating outside at a restaurant this week when my face was in full peel mode. There was a strong breezy current blowing from our table inward toward the rest of the tables. At one point, i'm pretty sure a skin flake may have blown inward toward the other people's table. i'm sure they couldn't even taste it.

Appreciating Nothing

You never truly appreciate what you don't have until you have it. That's what they always say, or should have said anyway. In this case, i'm talking about little things that can affect your everyday life to the point of being aggravating and disruptive. Some people have headaches or muscle spasms or trouble sleeping.

i thought things were getting better with my sunburn when i was able to sleep half-way on my side last night, but then today i itched. i've never experienced such a dramatic sunburn itching irritation. At times the itch was so intense i was screaming profanities at the cats. After taking a shower (i think the spray just helped scratch areas i couldn't reach), i used aloe which felt like it intensified the itch, i took another shower to wash it off, then i even tried vinegar (desperate times call for Google searches), then i starting popping pills (some Benadryl and ibuprofen). Finally i used some CVS cream with vitamin E i found in my bathroom supplies. After thinking, i am gonna lose this battle, i threw on a shirt and left to run some errands. They sort of subsided to a tolerable point, but now that i'm just sitting here thinking about it, i feel like they're creeping back.

Just be thankful for everything you have and more importantly, the things you don't have.

Savannah Recovery

We had a really great weekend in Savannah and now i sit on the couch wondering why the hell i thought spending several hours on the beach without sunscreen would be a good idea. Fortunately it is gloomy outside because just seeing the sun makes my skin hurt more. i really just want to lie in bed until after i shed off the painful skin, but it is impossible to lie down comfortably. i keep getting cold but i can't put on a shirt. Luckily, i can justify my lazy day because i am waiting on the cable guy to show up between 8-noon.

Friendly reminder, taking sunscreen with you on the trip does no good if you don't take it with you to the beach and actually apply it.

Return of the Allied

On the road again with the Allied...


I hope someone has been keeping track of all the places the Allied frisbee has traveled.
Feel free to share your favorite Allied memory.

Runner up.

The other weekend was an amazing weekend in Indianapolis despite not winning the national championship. It wasn't too long ago that making it to the tournament was the ultimate success to the season. The drive home with a Butler painted car was filled with thumbs up from random West Virginia fans or fist pumps from unidentified cars and the occasional mocks from Duke fans. More people know Butler now. It's different to have people at work in NC know some of the Butler players names.

I got to see a plethora of old Butler friends walking around downtown or meeting up at the bars. It was like a huge unplanned homecoming.

One more trip to Indiana this weekend for a wedding and that should be it until maybe the end of the year. We have so few weekends off together, going to Indiana every time isn't what we have in mind.

Follow the Bulldogs home.

It figures that Butler finally plays some NCAA tournament games in Indianapolis and now i live 9 hours away. Fair Enough, i'll get there. While i am sad we're missing the chili cook-off this Saturday, i'm obsessionally obligated to make another trip to Indy (wouldn't be so bad if i wasn't planning on going back for a wedding in 3 weeks). That will put my 'annual' trip to Indiana count at 3 in just two months time. Oh well. Some people say this is a once in a lifetime chance, but i'm not buying that. 

If you haven't listened to Gordon Hayward's musical debut from the link i attempted to post last night, you should (link for your convenience). The best part is how he maintains the Butler Way even in rap form.
"But it's not about me, it's about the team. Going to the tourney with a full head of steam. Shits so close, it's at our backdoor. Get a few loves, we'll be in the Final Four. Not stopping there, that's not in store, push it to the limit, we want more...Too Big Yo." (not positive if i translated it all correctly)

i really do want someone to make a t-shirt that says, "the Butler Way...Too Big Yo."

If Butler were to win their next two games, i would like to hear Lucas Oil Stadium chanting "Too Big Yo" and have G-Time rap it one time live for the fans.

Too big yo!

If you haven't listened to this yet, you need to. Go here:

www.midmajority.com/2010/03/too-big-yo.php

Sorry in a rush, got to work...

Three more wins to go.

It’s no secret, I immediately hate teams that beat Butler (particularly in the post-season) and pretty much hate them until Butler ends up beating them. i sometimes even end up hating entire states just because Butler lost a few games there (NY after '02 and '03, there is a HATE on that heart).
Ever since an overtime loss to Syracuse in 2002, I have been eyeing scenarios for the rematch. I don’t think anybody else cares or even faintly remembers that game. I heard no mention of it on the broadcast last night. I suppose it was just an NIT second round game, but it was an overtime loss where Syracuse won by just one point with Butler unable to make a final layup as time expired. Last year in the South region, I was looking forward to meeting Syracuse in the Elite Eight, but neither of us made it. Back in 2003 if Butler could have won just one more game and advanced to the Elite Eight in Albany, we would have had a chance for our revenge. Finally, we met again. Syracuse loss avenged.

The whole game I was hoping it wouldn’t be another memory of how Butler played the eventual tournament champion tough, but just couldn’t pull it out. We pulled it out. Some Syracuse fans are saying how they gave us the game and while they admittedly did have some awful, careless turnovers, Butler’s defense was tough. It’s not like Butler was on fire as they were in the second half vs. UTEP, we struggled shooting. Yet we still managed to beat the best team in the Big East. Their asterisk next to this game will read that Syracuse beat themselves and didn’t have center Arinze Onuaku. Ironically, before the game nobody seemed to think that would matter much as they were predicted to win anyway. As a side note, I prefer playing a press. They don’t challenge dribbling or passes around the perimeter which usually makes me nervous. It seems to give good looks from 3 and around the free throw line. Butler played another subpar game, yet somehow managed to beat a top Big East team and #1 seed? I don’t know if I’ll ever figure out how they pull out these wins. Even against Horizon League teams all year, I wondered how they came out on top many times.

After every win against one of the big schools, they attribute the loss to how they beat themselves or if they had played their best game it wouldn’t have been close. There always seems to be an excuse when Butler beats a good team. Will Butler ever get credit for winning? Maybe after its 26th straight victory?

We beat Ohio State this year, but the asterisk reads “Almighty Evan Turner was hurt” (reasonable asterisk because he totally changes that team but we get to play them again anyway). We beat Xavier this year, asterisk reads “The clock malfunction caused them to lose” (despite a real time countdown showing our last second shot would’ve counted either way). After three more wins, Butler would be crowned National Champions of college basketball with an asterisk that reads “They have their excuses, we have a national championship.”

Even Hitler picked Kansas

i feel like i've seen something like this before, but i still enjoyed it this time.

funny

i guess it may have been around a while, but i first saw this Axe Dry commercial last week and it is pretty funny.

One down.

After playing the way i feared we’d play in the first half (sloppy, uninspired, careless), Butler returned to winning form. Not to a winning form they’ve seen this year, but the second half was more reminiscent of Bulldogs past. Limiting turnovers, hitting 3’s, and forcing UTEP to turn the ball over. A first round record setting 3-point shooting made up for Nored’s poor performance taking care of the ball and abhorrent free throw shooting (1-7). Another surprising statistic was Hayward going 0-6 from 3-point land! At the end of the game, they were practically giving him the 3 like he was Nored.

After the game i went to the IndyStar Web site and saw this headline…i thought it was going to be about Butler’s hot shooting, but was saddened to learn some dogs had actually been set on fire.