Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
blogging from my blackberry
Does this actially work? It could be cool if I can somehow use this like a tweet or facebook status update on my site...oh right, an update to my site would be nice. I don't even have a picture of little Annie yet on here...for shame!
Monday, February 09, 2009
Random thoughts: Stimulus, Trades, and Books
I don't pretend to be a political person so I guess this post is my first shot at understanding it all. I watched the President's nationally televised news conference. I have watched our previous president's addresses and honestly cringed at every word he uttered. With President Obama, it honestly seems that he knows what he is talking about. So let's move onto this stimulus package we have been hearing about so much.
President Obama is pushing for a bill that would cost $800 billion that will supposedly surge the US economy. He stated in his address tonight that doing nothing is not the answer and we must act swiftly and aggressively. And if we didn't, this economic crisis will end up being a catastrophe. Now, these are all words that would scare the commoner [like myself], and I would normally say "Well, what are we waiting for? Hand out that cash!" Obviously last year's stimulus package did not do well for the economy, so in order for this one to work it has to be vastly different from last years. I believe this package will put more money into the middle class than to the wealthy [where last year's package was geared for?]. But one huge difference between Bush's package last year and this year's package is the amount Bush - $170 billion compared to Obama's $800 billion. What worries me is if this does not work, will this just cripple the economy THAT much more? Republicans and Democrats, school me on this.
Alright, onto something I know a little more about. Amar'e Stoudamire to the Bulls? Why not? Sure it's just speculation at this point and honestly just fun to talk about, so let's talk about it. There were a couple of different scenarios, but most deal with Tyrus Thomas since he has been playing well as of late. It's no secret that the Suns lack any type of defense whether perimeter or inside, so the long reach and spring of Tyrus Thomas would be a great asset for them. Would they get any further in the playoffs? I'm not so sure about that. Amar'e is a much bigger offensive threat compared to Tyrus because he is such a bigger presence down low. He can use brute force to get his points where Tyrus needs an opening or an alley oop. Tyrus can't even post up Earl Boykins where Amar'e will dunk [or at least try] to dunk on your entire family. I am sure any deal that the Bulls make would have to involve Drew Gooden or Larry Hughes. I think money contract-wise this would make sense because I think Tyrus is on his rookie contract with his option exercised so we would need to give up another contract closer to $11 million or so. With Gooden looking to finish his contract this season with around $7 million, he would fit in well with maybe a Joakim Noah. So yes, there goes pretty much all of our "big men" but what would you really be losing? I am tired of waiting for our draft picks to figure things out, with the exception of Derrick Rose. We need to also clear up that logjam at the guard position: Rose, Gordon, Hinrich, Sefolosha, Hughes, and Hunter. We can deal pretty much anyone but Rose. Gordon once again showed why he is no better than a 6th man when he turned over the ball twice in two important possessions at the end of regulation against Dallas. He is not your go-to guy. He is best when a play is designed for him to be wide open, and unfortunately, with the new coach, those plays do not exist. It will be hard to trade him because he can say no to a trade in his last year of his contract. Hinrich probably carries the most value of the tradable guards. I think his defense is overrated, it just looks good on this team where no guard can play D. He is a hard worker and will do well on any team...who needs him? Thabo is actually pretty good at defense. With his length it is easy for him to get in the passing lanes and distract an offensive player. Remember how he did against D-Wade in the 2007 playoffs? Shut him down! Thabo just needs to be given a chance. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...PLEASE MAKE A MOVE, PAX!!
Jaz has been reading a lot lately with her Twilight books and some books she has borrowed from her co-workers. So I decided to take up reading again. The last book I read was the last Harry Potter book. I got this book "Anything Goes" by Madison Smartt Bell quite sometime ago and have never gotten through it. I probably only got 50 pages in during the four times I tried. So I am going to finish this one this time! I'll write a review when I actually finish it THIS time!
Friday, February 06, 2009
Panini takes over the basketball card hobby
Well it was announced sometime last week that the company Panini will be the exclusive trading card company of the NBA. I've had some time to think about this and I am still not sure what I think about this news.
I grew up with companies like Upper Deck and Topps, and each year you knew what to expect. I'm more interested in the "mid-level" products like Topps Chrome and SP Authentic. I love the superfractors that comes out of Topps and the on-card autographs that SP Authentic gives you. But starting next year all that is gone. Of course the higher end products like Exquisite are great to ooh and awe at but $500 for a 5 card pack...what the hell are people thinking? That is when this hobby became way out of hand. I love the idea of possibly pulling a Michael Jordan/Lebron James dual logoman autograph 1/1...but to bust through cases of this stuff to try and get it? Wow. You can get a house, or a couple of houses with that money. Now everyone is obviously welcome to spend their money how they see fit, but it simply amazes me that people have that kind of coin just laying around. After selling a whole bunch of cards I finally had enough to get just ONE case. And dude, that was scary! Haha. Would I do it again? I don't know. I like paying off bills a little more than a nice rookie autograph of Marco Bellineli [true story].
Now what didn't I like about these companies? I think they were just lazy! Products starting looking a lot like each other so there was no effort from a design perspective from year to year. Maybe they needed to maintain a certain "look" so you knew which was Topps and which was Upper Deck, but it's like they didn't even try. And customer service...WHOA! I have heard so many horror stories on HobbyKings dealing with the customer service representatives from both companies. Simply terrible! And of course redemptions. Why would you release a product if it did not contain all of the items that you used to market it? It's like buying a car and then finding out that it didn't have seats because the company wasn't quite ready. Now I know that players have very busy lives and such, but don't these companies have contracts with these players? Aren't they obliged by a binding contract that they need to sign these cards? It just drives collectors crazy when they see that thick white cardboard or with small printing on it. And now what of these redemptions? Now that Upper Deck and Topps won't be producing cards starting next year, are they just going to not care? Initial signs are starting to say "No they don't". In THIS LINK a guy had a redemption for a card that probably booked around $1k, and got three cards probably booked together at $500. It's the shape of things to come.
Now Panini...what can they bring new to the hobby? It sounds like they are looking to get more into the retail business, like Target and Walmart and stores like that. So what happens to all the Hobby exclusives? What happens to the players that have exclusive contracts with Upper Deck or Topps? Will those rights be sold to Panini? I'm assuming Panini is going to want to make some money, and to make money, you need player like Kobe or Lebron or Garnett or of course Jordan on your side. Unfortunately, it sounds like there will still be sticker autographs on new products...already off to a bad start. Apparently they have a good presence overseas, so I guess the NBA is more interested in expanding their market than pleasing their fans in the US. It was a business decision, and the NBA could honestly care less about products like Exquisite and Triple Threads. One good thing that I think will come out of this is that kids can now come back to the hobby. I remember how happy I was to complete a set back when I was 10. Even a basic Exquisite base set [with no autographs] is too expensive for the common junior high kid. So it will be nice to have them back enjoying the hobby.
Panini's got a long road ahead of them. Assuming that their bid was way higher than that of Upper Deck or Topps without having any of the big names nailed down under contract, I don't know how they will be making money. The quality of these cards better be amazing in order for them to not become the biggest joke in the sports card collecting hobby. Good luck Panini...you'll need it!
I grew up with companies like Upper Deck and Topps, and each year you knew what to expect. I'm more interested in the "mid-level" products like Topps Chrome and SP Authentic. I love the superfractors that comes out of Topps and the on-card autographs that SP Authentic gives you. But starting next year all that is gone. Of course the higher end products like Exquisite are great to ooh and awe at but $500 for a 5 card pack...what the hell are people thinking? That is when this hobby became way out of hand. I love the idea of possibly pulling a Michael Jordan/Lebron James dual logoman autograph 1/1...but to bust through cases of this stuff to try and get it? Wow. You can get a house, or a couple of houses with that money. Now everyone is obviously welcome to spend their money how they see fit, but it simply amazes me that people have that kind of coin just laying around. After selling a whole bunch of cards I finally had enough to get just ONE case. And dude, that was scary! Haha. Would I do it again? I don't know. I like paying off bills a little more than a nice rookie autograph of Marco Bellineli [true story].
Now what didn't I like about these companies? I think they were just lazy! Products starting looking a lot like each other so there was no effort from a design perspective from year to year. Maybe they needed to maintain a certain "look" so you knew which was Topps and which was Upper Deck, but it's like they didn't even try. And customer service...WHOA! I have heard so many horror stories on HobbyKings dealing with the customer service representatives from both companies. Simply terrible! And of course redemptions. Why would you release a product if it did not contain all of the items that you used to market it? It's like buying a car and then finding out that it didn't have seats because the company wasn't quite ready. Now I know that players have very busy lives and such, but don't these companies have contracts with these players? Aren't they obliged by a binding contract that they need to sign these cards? It just drives collectors crazy when they see that thick white cardboard or with small printing on it. And now what of these redemptions? Now that Upper Deck and Topps won't be producing cards starting next year, are they just going to not care? Initial signs are starting to say "No they don't". In THIS LINK a guy had a redemption for a card that probably booked around $1k, and got three cards probably booked together at $500. It's the shape of things to come.
Now Panini...what can they bring new to the hobby? It sounds like they are looking to get more into the retail business, like Target and Walmart and stores like that. So what happens to all the Hobby exclusives? What happens to the players that have exclusive contracts with Upper Deck or Topps? Will those rights be sold to Panini? I'm assuming Panini is going to want to make some money, and to make money, you need player like Kobe or Lebron or Garnett or of course Jordan on your side. Unfortunately, it sounds like there will still be sticker autographs on new products...already off to a bad start. Apparently they have a good presence overseas, so I guess the NBA is more interested in expanding their market than pleasing their fans in the US. It was a business decision, and the NBA could honestly care less about products like Exquisite and Triple Threads. One good thing that I think will come out of this is that kids can now come back to the hobby. I remember how happy I was to complete a set back when I was 10. Even a basic Exquisite base set [with no autographs] is too expensive for the common junior high kid. So it will be nice to have them back enjoying the hobby.
Panini's got a long road ahead of them. Assuming that their bid was way higher than that of Upper Deck or Topps without having any of the big names nailed down under contract, I don't know how they will be making money. The quality of these cards better be amazing in order for them to not become the biggest joke in the sports card collecting hobby. Good luck Panini...you'll need it!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bulls playing well?
Don't let them fool you. Sure they have won 4 out of their last 5 games. But 2 of those games were against two of the league's worst - the Clippers and the Kings. And one of them were a Chris Paul-less Hornets team. Alright, the Suns win was legit and they just outplayed them. I will admit, I have been enjoying watching the Bulls during this stretch. They are moving the ball so much better and they are getting the ball to their big men for some high flying dunks. The team still looks so much better when Derrick Rose is on the court. Kirk's return has helped greatly, since Rose doesn't have to think to do it all on his own. With players like Tyrus and Luol finally figuring out how to play with Rose, there may be better days for this Bulls team. Who knows if they will actually be part of the puzzle at the end of it all, but they can contribute in "other" ways - i.e. as trade bait. It seems that if something has clicked with the team. I'm sure it is no coincidence that they started playing well after Bulls Chariman Jerry Reinsdorf called the organization a "disaster". Looks like the Bulls listened. If they will continue to play this way, they have got a chance at the playoffs - as sad as that sounds. But let's remember the trade deadline is approaching quickly. Will the Bulls pull the trigger on a trade? Hughes for Simmons? Hinrich, Nocioni, and Tyrus for Monta and Maggette? Go after Brand? If Paxson can let go of his love for the guys he stands a chance at saving his job, and rebuilding [again] a new team. With guys like Kobe and Lebron dropping 61 and 52 at MSG, it just shows how far the Bulls really are from being a competitor in the league. If they want to be in the race for the 2010 free agent market, it's time to clear some space. Can you imagine having just one of those big players and Derrick Rose on the same team? Wade? Bosh? Stoudamire? Damn...the possibilities. The Bulls can be fun to watch the rest of the year, but don't expect anything huge from them, like winning a playoff series. So watch them like you watched them in 2002. It's fun to watch basketball for basketball, cheer for your team, but be realistic. They are not the Bulls of old
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Nothing
We didn't do anything today. It was a lazy Sunday, and just stayed home pretty much all day watching movies and TV. Didn't clean up like we wanted to. If I wasn't sick, we probably would have gone to my two games this week. But man, being sick sucks!! I can't do anything I want to. I actually miss working out and running and playing ball right now. If I want to hit my 50lbs of weight loss this year, I'm going to need to get started early!
Off to bed...maybe.
Off to bed...maybe.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Holidays = Family
With winter officially arriving today in full force, it's time to warm up next to your families in the form of parties and dinners and in our case, family pictures. For years I have been wanting to get some pictures with the family, so finally this year I set it up that we were able to get it done. We went to Portrait Innovations in Glenview. My biggest worry was the kids and how they would do with the pictures in the studio. As expected, both girls had a meltdown almost exactly when we started taking pictures. The boys did well and the whole time Daniel was trying not to laugh, so of course I tried making him laugh the entire time. It was a great day. Jaz, mom, and I stuck around the studio for the pictures to print out. Just went to a Starbucks down the street and came back. We picked them up and brought them back to her house. When we laid them all out, it seemed like she was going to cry. I guess I never thought about how it would effect her. She brought up the fact that it had been 18 years since the last time we took a professional family picture, and obviously the first one since my dad passed away in '97. She looked at the pictures for what seemed like hours. I am so glad she enjoyed the pictures the way she did. She just kept saying "This is my family!" almost making me cry everytime. She just had so much pride in it. So I guess this year, this picture is what defined the family. I'm sure we will look at this same picture in 10 years and just laugh at how small the kids were, or comment on how young we looked. For now, it will be a captured moment of time of my beautiful family. Right now we are in San Francisco dodging the bitter cold winter in Chicago and more importantly, spending time with Jazmine's family. No portrait pictures here, just good times with her family. Sometimes I feel bad that we are able to spend so much time with my family and pretty much no time with hers. So it is important for us to come back to San Francisco so she can reconnect with her family. Sure I miss my family, but I know she misses hers a majority of the year. Plus, her godson is turning one this year so she definitely had to be here for that! Pictures will be up in the next week or so!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Larry Hughes and chocolate dipped bacon for the win....
GAME! The Bulls beat the injury-stricken Jazz on a last second jumper by Larry Hughes snapping a 6 game home winning streak. Derrick Rose traded baskets with the Jazz for 8 straight points, and went for the win with 4 seconds left, but missed, Hughes got the rebound, and double clutched a fadeaway with no time left on the clock after the swish from the left wing. I got a text from Chris today basically saying that Noah was garbage. I am going to have to agree with him! Aaron Gray who came from the same draft class as Noah is coming around nicely. He does not have a quick step or have that many post moves, but he is dedicated to the game. He lost 30lbs in the off season meaning he was serious about cleaning up his NBA body. Is he going to be an all-star? Probably not, but he may give you a legitimate big man down low if you invest in him. I'm just not seeing it in Noah who was picked 40 picks before Gray. If Noah can get you 12 and 10, you got something! I figured it was good to talk about someone besides Rose for once.
The Packers are getting SPANKED! Double success for a Monday!
But I will talk about one fail! On Saturday night we were looking for a place to get some pasta by my mom's house since I had a 5K on Sunday morning. We hadn't been to Giordanos in quite some time since we live up in BG, so that sounded good. Jaz wasn't quite hungry yet so we went to Best Buy first so I could drool over SLR cameras and then when we went out to the car, we looked across the street to find that the Giordanos is no more!! I had so many pizzas from that place living at my mom's it was actually kind of sad. The service wasn't always that great, and honestly, the place very rarely had business when we were in there, but it was a nice restaurant to go to avoid the big crowds and enjoy some gooood stuffed pizza. Luckily there is still a Giordanos by our place in BG, but it just isn't the same. Am I getting sentimental about a pizza place? Yes...yes I am.
Tried chocolate dipped bacon today - not bad, not bad at all. I know it sounds gross, but don't knock it till you try it. But be warned, you may die.
Did I work out today? Not a chance. I was still tired from yesterday's 5K. I really wanted to tonight during the Bulls game, but I ended up putting something up on ebay that really takes too long to do sometimes. I'm selling an Aaron Brooks Exquisite RC AUTO 225/225. This card has been selling for around $40-$45 on ebay. I'm hoping I can pull in closer to $50 since it's numbering is nice and the patch is decent. I also have been getting some free cards from some of the guys from HobbyKings for my birthday and early Christmas gifts. I never have anything to pay them back, so I just keep the site up and running for them :) Here's the HobbyKings thread with all of the free cards.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Bulls fans, you have your go-to guy!
Now I know it is only 13 games into the season, but I really think Derrick Rose is the real deal. You can use pretty much every basketball cliche to describe this guy: he's got plenty of upside, he's knows the game, etc. And more importantly he is exactly what the Bulls needed. They needed a vocal leader, someone who can drive to the basket, someone who can run the team, and someone who distribute the basketball. When he is on the court, you can tell he demands to be respected. He's had one bad game against Portland, but then he comes back against Golden State to score 25 points [23 of them in the 2nd half]. He was the only one scoring in the 4th quarter for about a 5 minute span, trading baskets with the Warriors on his own until he got knee'd in the junk by Maggette. He did have 5 turnovers which is way too many, but he will learn to take care of that ball in the next couple years.
Some other points on the game tonight...
Thabo started out hot scoring 10 points in the 1st quarter. He picked up his 2nd foul late in the 1st quarter so they took him out but never really got good minutes going back in. I think he would've done more on the offensive end if del Negro put him back in earlier in the 2nd quarter, but I guess he wanted to save him.
Hughes scored a team high 26 points going 5-7 from behind the three point line shooting 50% thoughout the night. Now I'm not at all a big Hughes fan, but he actually did decent today. Will he stay consistent? Probably not. But I'll give him props since he earned it for once. I will also drop a plug for this guy's website: http://heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com/
HAHA
It's games like this that reminds me why we didn't sign Gordon for a big contract in the past two years. He went 1-7 from behind the three point line shooting 40% for the night. It's been said over and over, but he is just undersized! It will be nice to clear out his contract at the end of the year.
The Bulls went small most of the time to match the lineup from the Warriors which is fun to watch, but also just reminds Bulls fans that they have no solid big men. Instead of making them have to go big against us, the Bulls had to adapt their lineup.
Chauncey and Melo on Sunday...
Also, the Knicks made some moves today to potentially to go for Lebron, Wade, or Bosh in the next couple years. I wish Chicago could land one of those big names. I'd like Wade for the Bulls and have the hometown guards play together.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I'm not even gonna wait for the 4th quarter
The Bulls have definitely taken about two dozen steps back from what they were just a couple years ago when they made the playoffs and swept the Heat in the first round. The Bulls are currently down THIRTY-THREE points in the third quarter of the game against the Blazers. I think the Blazers are a good team, but they should not be beating us by 33 points! Well, I guess the combination of them being good and us being god awful. With three minutes left in the 3rd quarter the Bulls have only scored 48 points. What the hell? Well, I guess this is what this circus trip does to the Bulls. I just saw the stat that the Bulls have been 6-53 on this circus trip since '99. Wow..that is BAD!! The Blazers have done a good job at exploiting the fact that the Bulls don't have any big men. Penetrate and dish, and slam. I can't even count how many times the Blazers scored on a dunk.
The Bulls have no offensive sets. It just seems like they are playing pick-up ball. A LOT of one-on-one basketball and quick shots early in the shot clock. I understand del Negro needs to find out what he has got, but would a simple play every now and then kill them? It reminds me of the years of Jamal Crawford and Jalen Rose. It basically looks like they don't practice or have ever practiced.
I think this is the first time that Rose looked like a rookie. Who would've thought that Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez would be the combination to break Derrick Rose? Well, I guess it's good to see he is human. And this will be the first game that he didn't score in double figures.
The "big" men might as well be walk-ons who are trying for a spot on the team. None of them can show any sort of consistency. Well, they can consistently get into foul trouble trying to stop the Pau Gasol and Dwight Howards of the league.
Luol didn't play today because of a hamstring injury. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. He hasn't earned the contract he got in the off season up until now.
By the way they are now down 43 points...
Nocioni will always play with heart, but he is a role player at best.
Hughes and Gordon are basically the same player but Hughes is a little taller. They both shoot way too much and both don't play enough defense. Hughes was good a couple years ago getting averaging almost 3 steals per game...but that was 4 years ago.
I know it is early in the year but a 20 point loss is something that I can work with, but a 40+ point loss? Completely unacceptable, no matter what time of the year
The Bulls have no offensive sets. It just seems like they are playing pick-up ball. A LOT of one-on-one basketball and quick shots early in the shot clock. I understand del Negro needs to find out what he has got, but would a simple play every now and then kill them? It reminds me of the years of Jamal Crawford and Jalen Rose. It basically looks like they don't practice or have ever practiced.
I think this is the first time that Rose looked like a rookie. Who would've thought that Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez would be the combination to break Derrick Rose? Well, I guess it's good to see he is human. And this will be the first game that he didn't score in double figures.
The "big" men might as well be walk-ons who are trying for a spot on the team. None of them can show any sort of consistency. Well, they can consistently get into foul trouble trying to stop the Pau Gasol and Dwight Howards of the league.
Luol didn't play today because of a hamstring injury. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. He hasn't earned the contract he got in the off season up until now.
By the way they are now down 43 points...
Nocioni will always play with heart, but he is a role player at best.
Hughes and Gordon are basically the same player but Hughes is a little taller. They both shoot way too much and both don't play enough defense. Hughes was good a couple years ago getting averaging almost 3 steals per game...but that was 4 years ago.
I know it is early in the year but a 20 point loss is something that I can work with, but a 40+ point loss? Completely unacceptable, no matter what time of the year
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I got the fast heartbeat
Let's take care of some business first:
What's making my heartbeat fast? Well first off, I just finished a good workout at home. Read more about that on my other blog at JoeyLosesWeight.com :) But even more so are these fricking Bulls! I will start off with something good. Derrick Rose is the real deal. In a couple of years, I predict Rose's name can be said in the same sentence as Chris Paul and Deron Williams. He is probably the ONLY bright spot in the future of the Bulls. Now that you have got that solid piece of the puzzle, build around him. Forget everything that you have got up until now. EVERYONE is tradable except Rose. Each player on the team has THEIR strengths, but none of them are superstars or even potential superstars ON the Bulls. But just like every other player that leaves the Bulls, THAT is when they become potential all-stars. It actually makes me kind of sick knowing that we really could have had Pau Gasol. He just dropped 34 points on the Bulls tonight. And who didn't we want to give up for Gasol? Yup Luol Deng, who scored a lowly NINE points tonight. Really? Potentially paying Deng $80Million? He's a nice player to have on your team, but not $80 Million-nice. One thing that was driving me crazy in tonight's game was Gordon was bringing up the ball a lot. I think they just need to put the ball in Rose's hands and let him create for himself or someone else. The problem is that the "someone else" needs to hit some shots! Rose can easily average 10 assists if the other players would hit their open jumpers.
These are all obvious observations to any Bulls fan, so it's probably nothing new. So where do we start? I say package up Kirk [when he gets back], Tyrus, and Nocioni for a big man or a scorer. I would love to throw in Hughes or Deng, but no one would take their contracts. I need to do more research to see who would like to come to the Bulls. there were rumors last week saying that Wade would like to come to the Bulls. Man I would love it if that could happen. Two Chicago-raised players playing in Chicago. You just can't write that stuff. So here we are, one game into the Circus trip at 5-6. They've got Portland tomorrow against all-star Brandon Roy and Chicago drafted Lamarcus Aldridge. They are on the other side of .500 at 6-5 and have a lot of talent, but just like the Bulls, don't have a "go to" guy. Roy is good, as he proved against the Rockets:
Maybe that was luck, but damn...nice shot! Anyways, tomorrow is another day to play, and hopefully the Bulls will forget the disaster that was this Lakers game. They can definitely get past the Blazers, only if they can slow down Roy and don't forget about Fernandez and his three point threat and runner in the lane that we got so familiar with in the Olympics.
- Breakfast - Bowl of Fiber One
- Lunch - Smart Ones: Creamy Rigatoni w/chicken and broccoli and low fat yogurt
- Dinner - Macaroni and Cheese and Ramen
- Work - Worked on terminated users script; Tested Control-M to see if you can send sysout in a shoutout: you can't haha
What's making my heartbeat fast? Well first off, I just finished a good workout at home. Read more about that on my other blog at JoeyLosesWeight.com :) But even more so are these fricking Bulls! I will start off with something good. Derrick Rose is the real deal. In a couple of years, I predict Rose's name can be said in the same sentence as Chris Paul and Deron Williams. He is probably the ONLY bright spot in the future of the Bulls. Now that you have got that solid piece of the puzzle, build around him. Forget everything that you have got up until now. EVERYONE is tradable except Rose. Each player on the team has THEIR strengths, but none of them are superstars or even potential superstars ON the Bulls. But just like every other player that leaves the Bulls, THAT is when they become potential all-stars. It actually makes me kind of sick knowing that we really could have had Pau Gasol. He just dropped 34 points on the Bulls tonight. And who didn't we want to give up for Gasol? Yup Luol Deng, who scored a lowly NINE points tonight. Really? Potentially paying Deng $80Million? He's a nice player to have on your team, but not $80 Million-nice. One thing that was driving me crazy in tonight's game was Gordon was bringing up the ball a lot. I think they just need to put the ball in Rose's hands and let him create for himself or someone else. The problem is that the "someone else" needs to hit some shots! Rose can easily average 10 assists if the other players would hit their open jumpers.
These are all obvious observations to any Bulls fan, so it's probably nothing new. So where do we start? I say package up Kirk [when he gets back], Tyrus, and Nocioni for a big man or a scorer. I would love to throw in Hughes or Deng, but no one would take their contracts. I need to do more research to see who would like to come to the Bulls. there were rumors last week saying that Wade would like to come to the Bulls. Man I would love it if that could happen. Two Chicago-raised players playing in Chicago. You just can't write that stuff. So here we are, one game into the Circus trip at 5-6. They've got Portland tomorrow against all-star Brandon Roy and Chicago drafted Lamarcus Aldridge. They are on the other side of .500 at 6-5 and have a lot of talent, but just like the Bulls, don't have a "go to" guy. Roy is good, as he proved against the Rockets:
Maybe that was luck, but damn...nice shot! Anyways, tomorrow is another day to play, and hopefully the Bulls will forget the disaster that was this Lakers game. They can definitely get past the Blazers, only if they can slow down Roy and don't forget about Fernandez and his three point threat and runner in the lane that we got so familiar with in the Olympics.
Monday, November 17, 2008
I've gotten old
Today at dinner I could not figure what it was that I did last Monday to have missed Chuck and Heroes on NBC. For about 10 minutes Jaz and I were trying to figure out what happened that night that made us miss those shows. Now I know this isn't a big deal, since it's just some TV shows, but it was really bugging me that we couldn't figure it out. So I had to do my research. Sadly the only thing that had my actions recorded a week ago was my Facebook profile. So I checked my status update for last Monday, and sure enough I found what I did last Monday: Joey just took an unnecessary nap.
Which brings me back to the blog. DAMN I'm old! We were watching the tape I made for Jaz 7 years ago of all the performances we had on tape of Stages. Everything I remembered about us still held true. We were just having fun in the beginning of our "career", but by the end of it, we were decent. When we sang "I Though She Knew" at one of the showcases, even now, I thought we did well! Some of the early performances were shaky at best, but we always had dope choreography, thanks to the likes of Vanessa and Lora! And there was a lot of bad hair back then. Jaz kept commenting on the fact that it looks like I am skinnier now than what I was then. I don't know what my weight was then, but I might have to agree. I moved pretty good back then...I can't say the same holds true nowadays. I'm just waiting for the day I can bust this out and show Haley how her dad and Ninong used to hang out before she was born. Jaz summed it up best when she said "Good thing there wasn't YouTube back then!" HAHA...so true, but it doesn't mean it won't happen now!
- Breakfast - Fiber One cereal
- Lunch - broccoli, potatoes, cheese, and chicken
- Dinner - Roasted potatoes and veggies, fries, popcorn chicken
- Work - Re-racked an ESX server
- Watched Chuck and last week's Heroes
- Watched Jaz's Stages tape
Which brings me back to the blog. DAMN I'm old! We were watching the tape I made for Jaz 7 years ago of all the performances we had on tape of Stages. Everything I remembered about us still held true. We were just having fun in the beginning of our "career", but by the end of it, we were decent. When we sang "I Though She Knew" at one of the showcases, even now, I thought we did well! Some of the early performances were shaky at best, but we always had dope choreography, thanks to the likes of Vanessa and Lora! And there was a lot of bad hair back then. Jaz kept commenting on the fact that it looks like I am skinnier now than what I was then. I don't know what my weight was then, but I might have to agree. I moved pretty good back then...I can't say the same holds true nowadays. I'm just waiting for the day I can bust this out and show Haley how her dad and Ninong used to hang out before she was born. Jaz summed it up best when she said "Good thing there wasn't YouTube back then!" HAHA...so true, but it doesn't mean it won't happen now!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Trying something new!
Mavericks 110 - Bulls 102So I have decided that I am going to try something new this year with my blog so I can actually have something to talk about. For every Bulls home game that I attend this year I will write a detailed blog about what I saw. And for the 2008-2009 season, I start out with the first preseason game against the high octane Dallas Mavericks. As you can imagine it wasn't a pretty sight!
Dallas pretty much owned the Bulls all night. From Jason Kidd initiating the new kid [Derrick Rose] to Brandon Bass dunking on the entire city of Chicago. The absence of both Ben Gordon and Joakim Noah due to injuries [sore ankle and poked eye respectively] was pretty noticeable in that the Bulls couldn't get a run going and lacked a sense of energy. Since it was their first preseason game, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt like I gave them last season and move on and find some high points in their game and some points to improve on.
High Points
- Derrick Rose - It looked like Coach Vinny del Negro decided to give a proper homecoming starting him at point guard opposite Jason Kidd. Rose definitely has the quickness that was advertised and his crossover is deadly. He definitely is not afraid to take it to the hole as he was sometimes the only one cutting to the basket, even more so than some of the Bulls bigs
- Drew Gooden - He is going to be the work horse for the Bulls. Gooden looked like he dropped some weight and would even bring up the ball on occasion when a guard wasn't open. He has that veteran big man 18-footer down, and has a couple of post moves that can be promising.
- Tyrus Thomas - It appears has been working on his jump shot. He made a couple of jumpers around the 15 foot mark. Didn't look bad on them, but he still needs to get some alley oops to make the fans happy
- Aaron Gray - Don't sleep on this guy! He has decent footwork but just needs to get a little tougher against the big men of the NBA. He can be a 15 and 10 guy if given the right team or system
- The rotation - Obviously it being the first NBA game together under the new coaching team, there is going to be some confusion on who plays well with who. Since the Bulls a packed with talent but with no "superstar", this rotation will take a while to figure out. And this was without Gordon and Noah to throw in the mixer
- Free throws - Seriously, these should be cake to these guys. Seeing Nocioni and Deng clank one off the back iron doesn't give me any warm fuzzy feelings about the season. They should be able to make these with their eyes clothes. You get paid MILLIONS!
- Offensive sets - Now this could be due to the whole preseason game thing, but it didn't look like there were barely any offensive sets. I would hope you could see one or two sets that looked like something, but not so much.
Thanks for reading! My next home game is against Dallas once again on November 13. Be sure to check back then for more!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The last repair for Jerry
Yesterday when I went to pick up Jaz from work, my car started overheating. I saw the smoke coming out of the hood so I thought i just needed some coolant. I have two jugs of coolant in my trunk so I pulled over to add some. I pop the hood and what do I see? Coolant spewing out of the radiator. I called Abby because she's probably the one friend I know who knows about cars and she said it might be a hose. By the way it was just pouring out of the radiator, I knew it wasn't just a hose. I called the nearest auto shop which happened to be a Shell gas station about a mile away to see if I could get a tow truck there. They referred me to some tow company and I got them to come and get us. Since the guy told me that they were open till 10, I was hoping they would be able to check it out. The tow truck came but they only had room for one of us. So we had to walk a mile to the shop. Half way there I thought that I should call to see if the shop is open until 10, apparently the mechanics left at 6. So we had to figure out what to do. I called a couple of people and my cousin Jim was nice enough to come get us even though he was watching 4 kids. THANKS JIM!!
So now fast forward to today. I call pretty much every 2 or so hours to see what's going on. Turns out I need a new radiator, just what i was afraid of. Cha-Ching - $600 including the tow truck. Man, I've spent a lot of money on this car the past couple of years that I could probably make car payments with. So I've decided that this is going to be the last repair for my Saturn, Jerry. So let me take you back a little bit of why I call him Jerry. I got this car the year after my dad died and he was well known around his work as "Jerry" and all my cousins knew him as "Uncle Jerry". Always dependable and there when you needed him. But I just think it is time to move on from Jerry the car. We've been through a lot, but it's just that time buddy. Thanks for the 10 years of getting me where I needed to be even though I am always late, but that's probably my fault. I'll hand you over to Jaz when she's good and ready. She'll take care of ya!
So now fast forward to today. I call pretty much every 2 or so hours to see what's going on. Turns out I need a new radiator, just what i was afraid of. Cha-Ching - $600 including the tow truck. Man, I've spent a lot of money on this car the past couple of years that I could probably make car payments with. So I've decided that this is going to be the last repair for my Saturn, Jerry. So let me take you back a little bit of why I call him Jerry. I got this car the year after my dad died and he was well known around his work as "Jerry" and all my cousins knew him as "Uncle Jerry". Always dependable and there when you needed him. But I just think it is time to move on from Jerry the car. We've been through a lot, but it's just that time buddy. Thanks for the 10 years of getting me where I needed to be even though I am always late, but that's probably my fault. I'll hand you over to Jaz when she's good and ready. She'll take care of ya!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
MLB All-Star Game
I've been watching since the 9th inning..and now it is the 15th. I better see a good ending, or I'm going to be mad. It's 12:23AM here [1:23 AM in NY] and it sounds like it might end up in a tie. Of course this game is big because the league that wins this game is supposed to get home field advantage in the World Series, which still seems pretty goofy to me. Why not just have the team with the better record have home field advantage. After finally admitting that I am a Cubbie fan, I do want the NL to win just in case the Cubs somehow make it to the World Series, but how sweet would it be if it was the Cubs vs White Sox? That would divide the city more than anything else.
Top of the 15th is now done. Ugh...no one can score.
I decided to write in here because I wanted to stay awake while watching so hopefully this will help. Let's go back to the 9th while I have some time. The rookie Evan Longoria hit a game tying RBI in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings. What's funny about collecting is that I knew about Longoria like 2 years ago or something when he was drafted. He was a hot prospect when he was picked up. While I got some time, let's see what it goes for now: Rookie Refractor AUTO. Looks like it's about the same from when I remember it a while back, actually maybe even less. That's why it's hard to understand baseball. You would think after a player makes it to the big leagues that their rookie cards [especially from bowman/bowman chrome] would jump to. According to the two prospector collectors I knew a little while back, they said that is not the case.
Bases loaded bottom of the 15th only 1 out. I don't care who wins now. Ah finally a sacrifice fly for the win. At least it's over...time to sleep.
By the way, worst all-star ever goes to Dan Uggla...look at his errors and at bats during the All-Star Game..terrible.
Top of the 15th is now done. Ugh...no one can score.
I decided to write in here because I wanted to stay awake while watching so hopefully this will help. Let's go back to the 9th while I have some time. The rookie Evan Longoria hit a game tying RBI in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings. What's funny about collecting is that I knew about Longoria like 2 years ago or something when he was drafted. He was a hot prospect when he was picked up. While I got some time, let's see what it goes for now: Rookie Refractor AUTO. Looks like it's about the same from when I remember it a while back, actually maybe even less. That's why it's hard to understand baseball. You would think after a player makes it to the big leagues that their rookie cards [especially from bowman/bowman chrome] would jump to. According to the two prospector collectors I knew a little while back, they said that is not the case.
Bases loaded bottom of the 15th only 1 out. I don't care who wins now. Ah finally a sacrifice fly for the win. At least it's over...time to sleep.
By the way, worst all-star ever goes to Dan Uggla...look at his errors and at bats during the All-Star Game..terrible.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Finally, the Bulls catch a break!
The Chicago Bulls finally caught a break last month when they received the right combination of numbers to land them the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. They had a small 1.7% chance of actually getting this pick, but they got lucky that night like a leprachaun with a horse shoe up his arse. I was at Hooters with Jaz, Erick, Abby, and lil' Annie and I'm pretty sure Jaz, Abby, and possibly Annie were embarassed at the behavior of me and Erick during the lottery. Who cheers for a boring NBA Lottery...that's right, Bulls fans did that night! And so we did.
So a month went by with specualtion and rumors of what the Bulls would do with the #1 pick. Would they pick Derrick Rose, the Freshman point guard from Memphis who led his team to the NCAA title game only to lose to Kansas [shot out to Potter!] or Michael Beasley, the scoring beast from Kansas State who could turn an entire franchise around, OR trade the pick to a team for some proven NBA star like Dwyane Wade. I kept saying all month that I wish that I could sleep and wake up right before the season started so I don't have to sweat out the trades and picks and signings witht the rest of the fans of the Bulls. But obviously, unless I am hit by a bus and fall into a 4 month coma, that isn't possible. Well one of the answers was finally given on Thursday, June 26. Derrick Rose will be the new point guard for the Chicago Bulls. But now this creates a new question. Will he be the starting point guard of the Bulls? When this was asked of Paxson, he pretty much said that they wouldn't throw Rose in without any guidance and experience, which leads us to believe that he would keep a "veteran" [and I use that term LOOSELY] in Kirk Hinrich, which would mean Gordon is out the door. Of course, that's just speculation.
The potential trade packages the Bulls could give up can be quite attractive to a team looking to rebuild - Hinrich, Gordon, Tyrus, Joakim, Hughes, Gooden, Nocioni. Any combination of those players would be killer. Personally I would like to get someone like Al Jefferson. Too bad we couldn't have picked him up last year before he started playing well in Minnesota. I honestly didn't understand the hype behind him, but he's coming to play now. Of course a veteran like Elton Brand would be nice. You could get a consistent 20 points and 10 rebounds out of him per game, but who knows how his health is? I would love to see Rose and Tyrus play on the same team just for the entertainment factor. Tyrus could easily be how Chandler is in New Orleans now. Just get rebounds and an occasional alley-oop now and again.
So hopefully I haven't jinxed myself and won't get into a bus accident so I can see what develops over this off season. Plus the olympics are around the corner and hopefully the USA Basketball team doesn't screw this one up! The Bulls have so many options in making there team better. What are those options? I don't know, I don't run the Chicago Bulls. But as long as they are better than what they were last year...which shouldn't be too difficult.
So a month went by with specualtion and rumors of what the Bulls would do with the #1 pick. Would they pick Derrick Rose, the Freshman point guard from Memphis who led his team to the NCAA title game only to lose to Kansas [shot out to Potter!] or Michael Beasley, the scoring beast from Kansas State who could turn an entire franchise around, OR trade the pick to a team for some proven NBA star like Dwyane Wade. I kept saying all month that I wish that I could sleep and wake up right before the season started so I don't have to sweat out the trades and picks and signings witht the rest of the fans of the Bulls. But obviously, unless I am hit by a bus and fall into a 4 month coma, that isn't possible. Well one of the answers was finally given on Thursday, June 26. Derrick Rose will be the new point guard for the Chicago Bulls. But now this creates a new question. Will he be the starting point guard of the Bulls? When this was asked of Paxson, he pretty much said that they wouldn't throw Rose in without any guidance and experience, which leads us to believe that he would keep a "veteran" [and I use that term LOOSELY] in Kirk Hinrich, which would mean Gordon is out the door. Of course, that's just speculation.
The potential trade packages the Bulls could give up can be quite attractive to a team looking to rebuild - Hinrich, Gordon, Tyrus, Joakim, Hughes, Gooden, Nocioni. Any combination of those players would be killer. Personally I would like to get someone like Al Jefferson. Too bad we couldn't have picked him up last year before he started playing well in Minnesota. I honestly didn't understand the hype behind him, but he's coming to play now. Of course a veteran like Elton Brand would be nice. You could get a consistent 20 points and 10 rebounds out of him per game, but who knows how his health is? I would love to see Rose and Tyrus play on the same team just for the entertainment factor. Tyrus could easily be how Chandler is in New Orleans now. Just get rebounds and an occasional alley-oop now and again.
So hopefully I haven't jinxed myself and won't get into a bus accident so I can see what develops over this off season. Plus the olympics are around the corner and hopefully the USA Basketball team doesn't screw this one up! The Bulls have so many options in making there team better. What are those options? I don't know, I don't run the Chicago Bulls. But as long as they are better than what they were last year...which shouldn't be too difficult.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
High School Yearbooks
So today Jaz and I stopped by my mom's house after hanging out with the Vigans and watching "Get Smart" at Muvico [I'll get back to those topics a little later]. We decided to go back "old school" and order a pizza like we would used to when we still lived at my mom's, but we weren't hungry enough for an entire pizza, so we decided to just get the pasta [which I recommend!] and quepapas, and boneless wings from Pizza Hut. Of course that ended up being bigger than if we just got a normal pizza. Ah well! Anyways, as we were hanging out in the basement just watching "You've Got Mail" on TV, I started getting nostalgic. We were talking about how that movie came out around the same time we met on good ol' AsianAvenue.com. I can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since we started talking online. Anyways, I just started thinking about the good times that I had growing up in my parents' house, so then I found a couple of old yearbooks from high school and just looked through them. There was a lot of bad fashion back then, but I think I have remained somewhat consistent with my style - kind of "preppy", but also likes jerseys. I still like sweater vests [that's for you Ingrid] and collared shirts like polos or button-ups.
So anyways, here's the reason for this blog. I was reading some of the extremely huge and overly long entries by some people wrote in my yearbooks. One long one-pager stuck out and just got me thinking. It was from my sophomore year, and it was from a girl named Tracy. Now let me give you a little history about us. We had been friends since the 5th grade. We were what I considered at the time to be best friends, but of course I wouldn't have minded it to be more...but that was like with EVERY girl. Damned adolescent hormones haha. She wrote a huge page long entry in my yearbook just about how I was a good friend and some of the things that happened that year and how we'll always be friends. Now even then, I knew that finding good friends was hard to come by, but I genuinely thought we would stay friends for a long time. So then I look in my junior year yearbook...and she didn't even sign it. Checked my senior yearbook, and no Tracy to be found. I don't really remember the details of our "fallout" but I guess it was something that kinda just ended. High school was a time where people learn a lot about themselves and about other people. It's amazing how much can change in a year of high school. So Tracy, if you're out there SOMEHOW reading his...I hope you are doing well!
And now back to the present. Jaz and I met up with Mike, Tracy, and Haley at Golf Mill [another old school hangout!] ate and walked around. It's still pretty amazing to me that Mike and Tracy have almost an 8 month year old girl! She's growing up pretty quickly, and has two cute little teeth. I always want to see her being that she's my goddaughter and all. And when I pick her up she laughs, and it really melts my heart. It's because of her I will be bankrupt in like 5 years! ;)
Now onto "Get Smart". It's sometimes good to go into a movie not having too high of expectations. I figured this movie would get some cheap laughs and some missed jokes. And yes, that's what I got. It was one of those movies that you knew wasn't going to be incredible, but you still needed to see it. Jaz and I like Steve Carell because of "The Office". His physical comedy always gets me laughing but his humor can get old, especially during a 2 hour movie! I think Anne Hathaway is a good actress, but it was just kind of weird that she was the love interest since she is like 20 years younger than him...ew. Overall I thought "Get Smart" was a cheap laugh kind of movie but had its moments of hilarity. On Joe Kho's "deek scale", I'd probably give it a 5/10 deeks.
So anyways, here's the reason for this blog. I was reading some of the extremely huge and overly long entries by some people wrote in my yearbooks. One long one-pager stuck out and just got me thinking. It was from my sophomore year, and it was from a girl named Tracy. Now let me give you a little history about us. We had been friends since the 5th grade. We were what I considered at the time to be best friends, but of course I wouldn't have minded it to be more...but that was like with EVERY girl. Damned adolescent hormones haha. She wrote a huge page long entry in my yearbook just about how I was a good friend and some of the things that happened that year and how we'll always be friends. Now even then, I knew that finding good friends was hard to come by, but I genuinely thought we would stay friends for a long time. So then I look in my junior year yearbook...and she didn't even sign it. Checked my senior yearbook, and no Tracy to be found. I don't really remember the details of our "fallout" but I guess it was something that kinda just ended. High school was a time where people learn a lot about themselves and about other people. It's amazing how much can change in a year of high school. So Tracy, if you're out there SOMEHOW reading his...I hope you are doing well!And now back to the present. Jaz and I met up with Mike, Tracy, and Haley at Golf Mill [another old school hangout!] ate and walked around. It's still pretty amazing to me that Mike and Tracy have almost an 8 month year old girl! She's growing up pretty quickly, and has two cute little teeth. I always want to see her being that she's my goddaughter and all. And when I pick her up she laughs, and it really melts my heart. It's because of her I will be bankrupt in like 5 years! ;)
Now onto "Get Smart". It's sometimes good to go into a movie not having too high of expectations. I figured this movie would get some cheap laughs and some missed jokes. And yes, that's what I got. It was one of those movies that you knew wasn't going to be incredible, but you still needed to see it. Jaz and I like Steve Carell because of "The Office". His physical comedy always gets me laughing but his humor can get old, especially during a 2 hour movie! I think Anne Hathaway is a good actress, but it was just kind of weird that she was the love interest since she is like 20 years younger than him...ew. Overall I thought "Get Smart" was a cheap laugh kind of movie but had its moments of hilarity. On Joe Kho's "deek scale", I'd probably give it a 5/10 deeks.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Changes
I've been going through a lot of changes the past couple of months. I left my beloved Compass team in the middle of March. I worked with them the past 6 years and felt that it was just time for a change. I didn't really see what more I could learn on that team after 6 years. I wanted to possibly get into management, but I just didn't feel like I could learn that on the team. So instead I moved over to the Network Support team where I pretty much know NOTHING! My new team are really awesome, willing to help out and very engaging. I could talk to any of them at any point. I am glad I made the change!
Another big change in my life is how I eat and exercise. I've been playing basketball at least once a week and also been working out a couple times a week. And I've been doing it since middle of March. Also around the same time I switched teams. I think my co-worker having heart surgery really scared me and I wanted to change my life so Jaz and my familt will never have to worry about me like that. So I started joeylosesweight.com so check it out when you get a chance!
There will always be change in life, so you have to take things as they come. The past couple months have been great for me so far, but it doesn't mean the next couple will be just as great. You just gotta be ready!
Another big change in my life is how I eat and exercise. I've been playing basketball at least once a week and also been working out a couple times a week. And I've been doing it since middle of March. Also around the same time I switched teams. I think my co-worker having heart surgery really scared me and I wanted to change my life so Jaz and my familt will never have to worry about me like that. So I started joeylosesweight.com so check it out when you get a chance!
There will always be change in life, so you have to take things as they come. The past couple months have been great for me so far, but it doesn't mean the next couple will be just as great. You just gotta be ready!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Yeah I'm still awake
Just been messing around on facebook in the dark living room of our condo. I normally stay up and do whatever online while Jaz sleeps for a little while, because apparently my snoring keeps her up. I just can't seem to go to sleep tonight. I always feel like I want to update one of the websites I run, either deekin.net, or jaosite.com, or hobbykings.com. But I never know what I want to do, so I end up doing nothing. And then sometimes I feel like starting a whole new site. Sooner or later I'll update on of those sites...just don't know when I will come up with something to update it with.
I've been thinking a lot about just growing up and being responsible over the past several months. When I look back at my years in high school and college, I always thought every little thing was like the end of the world. Man was I wrong back then. There is so much more to life than just partying and getting drunk and acting stupid with friends. I've come to realize the importance of a true friend. Someone who you KNOW will always be there in a split second if you need them. I look at some of the friends I have now. Sure we don't hang out as much as I would like, but I know I can depend on them with just a phone call. I miss a lot of them because we have all started our own paths in our lives with marriages and kids and careers and so on...but at the end of the day, I know I can give a call to any of them and just go chill and escape the reality of life even for an hour.
And of course the importance of family in my life has grown exponentially. I'm ashamed to say it, but I used to think of family as something we all just have...and I know I took it for granted. I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews and I see such promise in what they can become. Sure none of them are over the age of 10, but their incredible and unique personalities are reflections of their environments, and right now their environment is family. I don't know when or how it happened, but they are growing up FAST! And I truly love being around them. My brothers and my mom too. I never enjoyed just being in the same house as them more than I do now. I don't see them as much as I used when I was Chloe's age obviously, so I try to have them come up to our place or hang out at mom's. It's real special to me...more special than it has ever been in the past.
So with that I will now try to get some sleep. I could've talked about how crappy the snow is or even how much crappier the Bulls are, but I wanted to have something nice in my mind before I fell asleep. I think I got it now...
I've been thinking a lot about just growing up and being responsible over the past several months. When I look back at my years in high school and college, I always thought every little thing was like the end of the world. Man was I wrong back then. There is so much more to life than just partying and getting drunk and acting stupid with friends. I've come to realize the importance of a true friend. Someone who you KNOW will always be there in a split second if you need them. I look at some of the friends I have now. Sure we don't hang out as much as I would like, but I know I can depend on them with just a phone call. I miss a lot of them because we have all started our own paths in our lives with marriages and kids and careers and so on...but at the end of the day, I know I can give a call to any of them and just go chill and escape the reality of life even for an hour.
And of course the importance of family in my life has grown exponentially. I'm ashamed to say it, but I used to think of family as something we all just have...and I know I took it for granted. I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews and I see such promise in what they can become. Sure none of them are over the age of 10, but their incredible and unique personalities are reflections of their environments, and right now their environment is family. I don't know when or how it happened, but they are growing up FAST! And I truly love being around them. My brothers and my mom too. I never enjoyed just being in the same house as them more than I do now. I don't see them as much as I used when I was Chloe's age obviously, so I try to have them come up to our place or hang out at mom's. It's real special to me...more special than it has ever been in the past.
So with that I will now try to get some sleep. I could've talked about how crappy the snow is or even how much crappier the Bulls are, but I wanted to have something nice in my mind before I fell asleep. I think I got it now...
Anxiety
Tonight Anxiety has kept me up. It was a pretty anxious day on Tuesday. I had to tell my boss and my boss' boss that I applied for another position in the company. I find out tomorrow [actually today] if the other team want me to join on officially, so that is what is on my mind tonight. I obviously hope I get it because it will be something completely new, but at the same time change is sometimes scary. But if I do get it I will dive in 100% and learn all I can from it. If not, then I will be sure to be happy in my current position as well. In the end it all comes down to happiness and getting what you want. I will make sure I will at least go for what I want because I can't ever complain about any situation if I don't even try to make it better for me. So however today ends, I know that I will have at least tried to make my life better.
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