Saturday, February 28, 2009

The New Regime

Along with being a huge Jayhawks fan, I am also a huge KC Chiefs fan. When they went 2-14 last season, it sucked. Then we fire Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards, a good start. Enter Scott Pioli, he only helped to put together the Patriots Dynasty the last 9 years, and new Head Coach Todd Haley, offensive guru from Arizona. So, things are looking up, particularly going into Free Agency with a ton of cap space and the #3 overall draft pick this year.

Scott Pioli just finished up his first trade for the Chiefs, and I got to tell you, it is a great trade. We pick up Mike Vrabel(solid linebacker and locker room guy) and Matt Cassell(the QB we drastically needed), for only a 2nd round draft pick. I would say this is very successful, get a starting LB and QB for a 2nd round pick, can't go wrong.

I know that people wanted to give Tyler Thigpen his chance next season, but if you really look at what he did this year, you will see that he is not a starting QB in the NFL. His success this year was due to the ability of OC Chan Gailey to realize his QB's limitations and run an offense that plays to the strengths. Unfortunately, it was an offense that is not sustainable in the NFL because it can't score if you get inside the 5 yd line. Oh yeah, Thigpen can't hit a receiver deep to save his life, he lacks arm strength and accuracy. I gladly welcome Matt Cassell as our next QB and get even more excited about what the future holds.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Boomer Sooner gets Rock Chalked!

You know, no matter how bleek the economy gets, how crappy work gets, or how cranky my 3-yr old daughter gets, there is always one thing that will put a smile on my face. My University of Kansas Jayhawks!!!! For those that don't know, I am a diehard Jayhawks fan and alumni.

After spending a shitty day at work which started at 5:30am, working from home, then getting into the office at 7:40, and not leaving until 12 hours later.......it sucked. I did get 10 minutes to eat lunch, though. Well, there was only one thing that could brighten my day, the BIG MONDAY matchup pitting my #15 Jayhawks at #3 Oklahoma. Now, to put into perspective the magnitude of the game, and what it means to KU, this is a team that was supposed to be rebuilding. They are fresh off a National Championship, losing their 6 top players, 5 to the NBA, with a Junior PG in Sherron Collins with significant playing time, they were picked to finish 4th or 5th in the Big 12 and have a so-so year!

Well, they go into tonights game, 11-1, and 22-5 overall! Well, they play OU who has been dominant all year, but they are playing without player of the year candidate Blake Griffin. And we capitalized, coming back from down 14 in the first half, to lead by 7 at half, to up 20 in the second, to exchanging 3 pointers to keep the score from 3 up to 6 up!!!! KU WINS!!!!!!! Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, and Tyshawn Taylor lead the team to an 87-78 victory, tops in the Big 12 and on the cusp of winning 5 straight regular season titles. I Love IT!!!! So, forget about work, this has been a great day, especially watching those Boomer Sooners get ROCK CHALKED!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

A Fogo Valentine's

I make it no secret that I am not a believer in Valentine's Day. To me, it just seems like a pointless holiday truly designed so retailers could make some extra cash between Christmas and Easter. I realize that there is an actual history to Valentine's Day, but I still don't think it warrants a night of celebration.

That said, I have still had my fair share of Valentine celebrations. Hey, I am not an idiot, if the guy doesn't at least make an attempt at remembering Valentine's Day and doing something special, then it is a one way trip to the doghouse. Luckily, I married a woman who shares my dislike of v-day and so at most, we may have dinner, if we feel like it.

Well, Saturday night we actually had the opportunity to get out with a couple of clothes friends and celebrate v-day, though we were more celebrating my wife not having to work and the fact that we got a sitter for the night. In honor of this special occasion, we decided to hit a new restaurant that opened up on the Country Club Plaza. This just isn't any new restaurant, it is a brazilian steakhouse, where they specialize in Meat, Meat, and more Meat!!!!! The name of this grand place is Fogo de Chao!

If you have never eaten at a brazilian steakhouse, I give it a must try. If there is a Fogo de Chao near you, then I definitely recommend you go there, it is awesome. What makes a brazilian steakhouse different from other steakhouses is choices. See, at other steakhouses, you have to choose what steak you want, or maybe chicken, or lamb, whatever your appetite, but you have to choose only one. Well at a brazilian steakhouse, you can have it all, over and over again! The concept is simple, start with a really good salad bar, then move on to the main course. They start by bringing out your side dishes, no choice needed, you get some Polenta(fried cornbread), carmelized bananas, garlic mashed potato's, and cheese bread. They will bring all of it to you, and if you eat it all, they will bring you more, no extra cost. Then, it is time for the walk to heaven.

When you are seated, you are given a little card, looks like a coaster, one side is red, the other side is green. When you are ready for your entree, simply flip the card over to green and wait for a slice of bliss. Gaucho's will come around to your table, each carrying a giant skewer of meat that, at your request, they will cut a slice off for you to eat. So, you don't have to worry about making a bad choice, if you don't like what you got, don't eat it and wait for more meat to come by. However, I have yet to try any of their meat that isn't good, it is all delicious. You can get sirloin, ribeye, filet mignon, bacon wrapped chicken, parmesan pork, and lamb just for starters.

They offer 15 different types of meat that you can eat, and you can eat as much of it, the salad bar, and side dishes that you want. They have a great wine selection, and the dessert was amazing, if you can save room. If you love red meat, like I do, then you will never go to a better place. We stuffed our face for a good hour and a half and left extremely satisfied. The meal is one flat price, beverage, taxes, dessert are extra. The best thing is, if you are wanting to save a buck or two, then I recommend a lunch date. All the same great food, half the price.

Needless to say, this was a great Valentine's Day, and I will definitely be back to get some great food. So, if you haven't been to Fogo de Chao, go, if you haven't eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse, go!

Friday, January 30, 2009

It's a beautiful day

This week I got the greatest news I could possibly get while at work, and it is not a promotion. I know what some of you might be thinking, how could something work related be better than more money and greater power? Well, for me, it is finding out that my boss of the last 6 months is leaving the company.

I work in the planning organization of a large retail company and for the last 6 months, I have had to report to a director who had very limited planning experience, but he did work for prominent consulting companies working on retail strategies. For those that do not work in the corporate world let me make something very clear, Consultants are idiots. They are, they come in ask a lot of inquisitive questions, come up with a lot of ideas on how to improve processes and make things more efficient(most of which have already been thought up by people within the company), make pretty graphs, and then collect a paycheck. They never see their ideas through or even think that the failures are because they have no real clue as to what goes on.

Anyway, my boss is a consultant, so basically an idiot. In his short 6 month stint he managed to learn nothing about how the business works, work at the office from 8am - 8pm everyday, without actually doing anything, alienate every single one of his employees by not actually talking to any of them, and in general make bad business decisions that have cost our company money. However, he did make pretty graphs. So, as much of a headache he was for me, I am ecstatic that I no longer have to deal with him, making this a beautiful day!!!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Vanity Cards

One of my favorite television shows on tv today is The Big Bang Theory. It has what I consider to be the three ingredients to making a successful comedy, originality, is actually funny, and has a hot girl for real sex appeal. However, it wasn't until the other day when I was watching on my DVR that I realized a new factor that makes it even more interesting, the blog factor.

If you ever watch the show, I urge that you wait until the end of the show to truly enjoy all elements. After the credits are shown and right before commercials begin, you will notice a white screen that pops up with paragraph of writing with a random # at the top. This screen is only up for a couple of seconds, so unless you have super speed reading abilities or a DVR, you won't read them all, but this is what Chuck Lorre calls his Vanity Cards. Basically, as one of the creators of the series, he has decided to take excerpts from his own blog and post them after each episode. I strongly encourage checking in every so often to see what he has to offer, it is truly funny stuff.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Define Sportsmanship!

It has always been a topic of debate in the sporting world; at what point is scoring too many points a sign of poor sportsmanship and lack of respect for the opponent. Is is Tom Brady and the New England Patriots putting up 52 points against the Washington Redskins, throwing deep passes late in the game? Some say yes, some say they are paid professionals, they get paid to put up points. Well, what about amateurs, like high school football.

This brings me to the Smith Center Redmen. Apparently, they have taken the act of scoring to a new level, an art form really. In nine games this season, this small town high school in Kansas has been outscoring 640-0 this season. That is an average of 71 points per game. Most recently, racking up 72 points in the 1st quarter. I understand the argument that a team is just doing what they are supposed to, but come on, how hard is it for a coach to send in the C squad, dummy the offense, and run up the middle when the score is 40+ to zero? Talking to friends who have watched this team play, they haven't done much to pull starters and simplify the offense, they continue to do what they do. Great team, probably, respectful, no way!!!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Ahhhhh, Flowers!

I have been married now for 5 and a half years. I can still remember back to the day that I got married, it was a beautiful summer day, an awesome ceremony, and a wonderful reception. Of everything that went on that day, of everything that we did to prepare for one of the biggest days of our lives, there is only one thing that I remember vividly that made the day the best ever. That was the flower arrangement, I mean, without those flowers, the day would have been ruined.

I hope that you could sense the flowing sarcasm in that statement above. Honestly, of all the weddings that I have been at and been apart of, I can say with certainty that the flowers are the last thing that I notice and remember, heck, I don't even remember what flowers we had at my own wedding or even what color they were.

However, for Elana Glatt, the flowers are apparently the only thing that she can remember. She spent over $27K on the floral arrangement at her wedding. So, you can imagine that she was upset when the flowers were not the correct color, and apparently somewhat wilted. She has decided to sue the florist for ruining her wedding. Now, at this point I can see her point. If I paid that much for flowers, I would expect them to be correct. I get upset when I read the next fact of the case.

She isn't sueing to get her money back, instead she is sueing for more than $400K. Yes, that's right, more than $400K. Now, I understand wanting your money back, but come on do you really need 14 times what you paid, especially for something as insignificant as flowers. This is what I dislike about our justice system, someone can sue for any reason and any amount and the courts will hear it and sometimes side for stupidity because of some loophole or other retarded reason.