Ten years of Butler Basketball

The shots just didn't go in. i was so confident that Butler was not going to lose and we would have won on just a decent shooting night. Matt Howard and the other seniors deserved to end with a national championship. That's what hurts the most. One of the 5 principles of the Butler Way derived from the "Non-Negotiables" according to Dick Bennett "Thankfulness: Graceful gratitude for every experience, each high win, low loss and hard practice. The pleasure of realizing that each occurrence is a teaching opportunity, a lesson that can be applied to a future challenge." On first thought, the experience gained would be applied to the game of basketball, but for this group of seniors, that was it. Somehow the tragic shooting night from hell will have to be translated into a life lesson off the court. The Butler seniors all took blame.  

But maybe it was my fault. While i wore the same unwashed shirt/jeans as the previous games. i wore a brand new pair of socks, didn't make everyone sit in the same seat as the night before on the couch, relocated the Butler basketball bone the day of the game, and maybe i should have went with the Bulldog boxers. i even denied friends from coming over to watch the game as not to introduce any type of jinx. One reason i decided not to go to Houston was simply because i have seen Butler lose in person to finish their post-season NIT and NCAA tournaments every year since 2002. i figured if i wasn't there, it could not end in a loss. But as the dude at midmajority.com says, "It always ends with a loss."


In the past ten years i've driven over 6698 miles for Butler basketball, not counting regular season games or Horizon League tournaments. We've participated in two NIT tournaments and made six NCAA appearances resulting in two Sweet Sixteens and finished as the National Runner-Up two years in a row. Not bad for a mid-major. i am definitely thankful to be a fan of a team that has seen as much success as we have and can't wait to see where the next 10 years will take us.
  
The past 10 years - who we lost to  (miles i traveled per tournament):
2002 - Syracuse (NIT) 66-65 OT (649 miles...not counting additional miles for a stop at Niagara Falls)
2003 - Oklahoma (Sweet 16) 65-54  (486+810 = 1296 miles)
2004-2005 - no post season tourney
2006- Florida State (NIT) 67-63 (845 miles)
2007- Florida (Sweet 16) 65-57 (526+277 = 803miles
2008 - Tennessee (Round of 32)76-71 OT (490 miles)
2009 - LSU (First round) 75-71 (93 miles)
2010 - Duke (Championship game) 61-59 (568 miles)
2011 - UConn (Championship game) 53-41 (405+704 = 1109 miles)

Minor League Shenanigans

Minor league baseball is just not meant to have a huge following. Who really wants to watch players that just don't have what it takes to play in the major league of any sport. That's why they have a never ending array of stunts, gimmicks, and random ploys to bring in fans along with well-priced food and beer. Okay, so it really can be a good time, but the extra incentives are still vital for people to be interested.

Coming soon to the home of the Gastonia Grizzlies (of the collegiate wood-bat summer Coastal Plain League...if i say so)  just down the road is none other than the first player to ever hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season....Jose Conseco. Not only will he be there for a meet and greet VIP hang out session with all you can eat and drink, you can also participate in a softball Home Run Derby! Sounds pretty sweet. All of that for just $50. If you make the finals, you will get a chance to hit after Jose Conseco. You could be his next Bash Brother or maybe just a Roid Relative. Maybe he'll sign the picture of his infamous ball off his head home run. Fortunately for him, i pretty much stopped watching baseball when he was still on the A's so i'd still be impressed to see him.


Other fun minor league fun...

• Human Home Run - man will be shot from cannon from home over the fence after the baseball game. It sounds pretty cool, plus i've never actually witnessed someone's death. 

• "Jose Canseco Juice Box Night—Jose Canseco finished his tarnished career with the Long Beach Armada and long time rivals Fullerton Flyers. The Flyers gave 500 boxes of juice away when Canseco came to town, mocking the release of Canseco's book, Juiced. "

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Thanks be to Mint

i use two credit cards on a regular basis. Basically so it doesn't appear quite as large because it is divided on two bills. i always hear about those scams where bad guys charge small amounts to people's credit cards unknowingly. Geniuses. Just $1 to 100,000 credit cards is a decent payday. Do it once a month and life is good...until you get sent to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
Despite my knowledge of these potential fraudulent activities, i typically don't peruse my statements too intently on a regular basis.  Every once in awhile, i go through them using the Mint app on the iPhone. In doing so this past week i noticed two charges from Buy.com on the same day at the end of December. i order so many random unnecessary items from so many different places online, it's hard to keep track. However, i would remember two purchases the same day from the same company. After not finding any order history through Buy.com...apparently i don't even have an account. That's what they get for making it so damn easy to use other payers (paypal, google, even amazon).
So to Paypal i went where i found the two payments for the same item. If you must know, it was a 12-month Xbox Live card. i still have no clue why they got paid twice, maybe there was confusion since i purchased the item from Buy.com via Ebay using Paypal. After just one email to Buy.com, they apologized and said they saw both charges but only had one linked to any purchase. i guess they thought i was trying to get in my charitable donations at the end of the year. Either way, they told me they would refund the money. i was very satisfied with their speedy response to my concern. So no hard feelings. Moral of the story...you should be using Mint to monitor your financial well-being.
i suppose i should probably keep an eye on my statement to see if i ever actually get my refund. 

Incredible and Edible.

In an attempt to make some sort of breakfast the other morning, i came across two easy recipes. The easier or the easiest (which is in turn the easiest of them all) was the Breakfast Burrito. It gives me an easy way to use up some additional taco shells that are leftover from taco night and a super easy breakfast that isn't cereal. You can click the link for the official directions, but basically you just:
1. Put a paper towel in a cereal bowl
2. Put your taco shell on top of paper towel
3. Break egg into taco shell (*hardest step)
4. Gently fork it up a bit
5. Microwave for 30 seconds
6. Fork it up some more
7. Microwave an additional 15 to 30 seconds
8. Remove from microwave
9. Lift by holding paper towel and set on counter
10. Add salsa, cheese, whatever.
11. Fold it up.
12. Enjoy.

Work sucks, i know. (it's not really that bad)

Nights at CVS have become very un-nightly meaning there is work to do the entire night. It may sound odd to complain about having something to do the entire time while you're at work, but it is so far from the position that i signed up for. Two years ago, i would fill maybe 20 scripts on a 'busy' night, but now it can easily be 120 or so with DreadyFill™  (for those of you just tuning in, this is in reference to the automatic monthly prescription refills that pop in to the computer ever night) and especially if there are a few pages left in the cue upon arrival. In all my complaining, i would never wish to be on the day side and i don't blame them for ever leaving work to do. As with any company, the goal is to do as much as possible with as little as possible. i'm not sure i could deal with that nonsense for any extended length of time.

Why the hell does the Emergency Department have to send 6 people over at one time? Having 9 scripts as waiters working by yourself is a real pain in the ass. Newsflash to everyone who feels the need to tell me that they just came from the ER, no shit, nobody is just here hanging out because they heard there is no wait to use the back massaging chair late at night.

i used to be much calmer in my everyday life, but at work every little thing pisses me off. Nothing is worse than bending over to pick something up and having my pens fall out of my pocket! Oh my God, it pisses me off just thinking about it.  i mouth silent swear words so often at night at the smallest annoyances and give the middle finger to the computer screen for asinine, unnecessary actions that waste my valuable time i could spend simply not doing unnecessary work, it's ridiculous. 

Why in the hell would you send DreadyFill™ in before 1 AM?? Sure it gives you 30 minutes extra to start working on it, but then you have to wait until 1 AM to filter through the 3 goddamn pages of rejections because half of them are simply based on the fact that the insurance is in the central time zone and think we are somehow transmitting from the fucking future. Then every time there is a prescription that gets filled or is rejected because somebody filled a prescription that is already on ReadyFill (DreadyFill™) and failed to remove the scheduled refill, an empty vial (preferably 40 dram) get's thrown angrily yet harmlessly to the floor. i try to call the help desk at least one night per week i work in hopes that they will come to their sense.

Seven to nine nights used to be no problem, but the angry pharmacist seems to erupt around night six these days. Oh well, more work for me equals an actual contribution to the betterment of our store and hopefully the shit i do makes life easier for the unimaginable hell that is working days in the pharmacy.

Last night, everything just went wrong. There were a few pages in the cue when i arrived, which is fine, i can handle that. But for some reason i kept grabbing the wrong bottle not realizing it until i scanned them and kept having to go back and forth to get the right one, there was a compound hiding underneath the stack of scripts. Luckily there was only one rush of people (last week, every night they didn't stop coming), but then i got a paper cut, the robot ran out of labels, the printer ran out of labels, Medicaid patient came right at midnight when Medicaid goes down for at least an hour, some drunk chick tried to hand me her pregnancy pee stick and confirm the results as she explained her sexual history, got to answer pharmacy questions for someone who doesn't even use our pharmacy, got to enter 2 prescriptions for someone who decided they had to have brand which we didn't have so backed those out...on top of the usual happenings...i'm going to bed, one more night to go. 

Christmas 2010

For all those that couldn't make it to our Christmas morning gift opening, here it is.

Weather is frightful.

i'm officially sick of winter. After barely escaping the snow this weekend on a rushed trip from Chicago to Indy (botched trip to Chesterton), coming back to Charlotte has given little escape from the cold aside from a lack of snow. But if it's going to be this cold anyway, you might as well have snow.  Am i wrong?


What kind of morons run Walmart? How can you not have, at the very least, an end cap of tissue near the pharmacy section? i'm not going all the way to the paper section a half a mile away, it's easier to stop at CVS on the way home to get some.


Christmas. Creating that need to spend money on unnecessary items to make others feel loved, creating stress to find the right gift or any gift for that matter...oh well, it works for me. i don't think i stepped into a store this year for Christmas gifts, aside from one for my mom. The cats remain terrified of every truck noise that stops near our house, especially around the 7 pm UPS delivery hour. Their fear of someone coming to the front door and God forbid ringing the doorbell is frightening.

Still holding.

Does anyone know if there is a way to put money toward a particular loan within a group of Sallie Mae loans? i assume i can just send in a payment via mail and specify the exact loan to pay on, but i just wanted confirmation that this is acceptable. Yesterday, i was on hold for 10 minutes then had to do something else so hung up. Today i provided a callback number and when i got called back, somehow we got disconnected (twice). AT&T sucks as well. i just lost connection again. You rat bastards. i can't stand when a simple task take 10 times longer than it should. Decided to just send an email. Found their auto reply in my spam folder.

Speaking of email, it's that time of year when i try to clear out my email inbox. Why or how i let hundreds of emails build up is ridiculous, but i do nothing to stop it. Worthless. Also worthless is the fact that it gets dark by 5:30. i don't recall this ever bothering me before, but this year i can't stand it.

Entertainment Coupon Book App

It's finally here

i don't know if my complaint just one month ago inspired them to release their iPhone app but it is finally available. At first glance it is exactly what i expected and wanted it to be. It tells you what coupons in your book are actually useful to you in wherever area you may be. We no longer have to flip through the book and try to guess what places might be nearby. We'll see if it actually works out in the field, but it's nice to get what i want.

Coupons continue.

Good news is that we survived the half marathon. i felt surprisingly good the whole race and even had enough for a kick with the finish line in sight. i was hesitant to speed up any sooner based on past results.
After the race, we rested for a bit then went out on the town for sushi (restaurant.com coupon), went to the Charlotte Symphony (Groupon) and ate Cold Stone (Groupon) for dessert. We did stop at Dick's Sporting Goods so Megan could get a new winter coat and even used two coupons there. So far, a good month saving by spending.

In other relatively good news, i only have a 5 night work week this week.

Dreading.

Have you ever just really dreaded something that is coming up, but you can't really get out of it? This weekend is the mini-marathon we signed up for in Charlotte. To recap, the last time i attempted to run a half marathon such as this back in Indianapolis in like May 2007, i remember reaching the 12 mile mark of the 13.1 mile race and attempting to speed up to finish faster. Eye witness accounts confirmed that after i went down the first time, i attempted to get up and run again before finally blacking out completely. The next thing i remember was waking up in an ice bath followed by an ambulance ride to the hospital. Legend has it that my temperature was somewhere near 105 degrees or so. The worst part about the whole thing, aside from not finishing the race and the stupid medical bills that followed was the fact that they put my iPod in the ice bath with me.
i wish i had thought about this sooner, but i should've made this shirt just in case for this year's race.

On the back, i'll just have my name and insurance information.

 

Coupons in November

We eat out more than we probably should, but it's just one of the things we enjoy doing. We love trying out new places and searching for new favorites. In an effort to potentially save money, rather than lying and saying we are not going to eat out at all, we will only eat out at places where we have a coupon.
The month is young, but so far we've enjoyed two meals out with a successful two coupons used. Order waters to drink and it's practically just as cheap as making dinner at home...ish.

So far...
Taxco Mexican restaurant in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. From the expiring 2010 Entertainment book.
Sake Express in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. Printed from the Entertainment.com Web site.

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.