Pit stop at the Days Inn

It's 4am eastern standard time and I finally got sick of Adri's bitching and moaning so we stopped. I had at least another hour or more of driving but she's been complaining for at least 3 hours. I tried to trick her by changing the clocks in the car while she slept but she caught on. doh!

We covered about 550 miles in just under 8 hours; we were making great time! Many thanks to Keith and Jessie for letting us borrow their cooler and a high five to Michelle for letting us borrow her Garmin GPS thingy. Between these two essential travel items, it's made our trip enjoyable and on-track so far.

I'm still wired from the stress of driving so I'm taking advantage of the free wi-fi while I can. We will get about 5.5 hours of sleep and then head back on the road. Only another 150 miles or so to the in-laws.

Oh ya, for those uninformed about this road trip, we have embarked on a roadtrip that will span at least nine states and cover almost 2500 miles over the next 12 days. We will begin with xmas at the in-laws, then visit friends in Northern Virginia, Richmond and a business meeting in VA Beach, then to my Mom's in Greenville, NC, a quick stop in Raleigh at Phil's on our way to Charlotte to spend New Years Eve with Charlie and Ash-uh-lee, before we travel all the way back to Chicago.

To Mohawk or Not

I'm trying to kill about 20 minutes until I have to leave to start my afternoon errands; haircut, pickup dry cleaning, meet Ryan about some cold calling stuff for Liberty, go to my office to meet Terrence and a client, etc, etc. And I was thinking about doing a mohawk. Just a raw, buzzed up, hacked up and spikey mohawk. Nothing says "trust me to do your taxes" like a mohawk, right?

Well, here is my logic: I don't want to do tax returns. I want to do the market development activities; co-op advertising, joint marketing programs, charitable fundraising, press releases, interviews, media planning, waver training, B2B marketing and door knocking. Having the mohawk will certainly preclude me from staying in the office because I don't want to scare customers away... and if I am out in the field, dressed as lady liberty or uncle same, will anyone care that I have a mohawk? Probably not...

To mohawk or not
Crazy, Spikey. Liberty.
Taxes can be fun.

Startup Indiana - Rural Entrepreneurship Conference

Last week I was in Indiana for 3 days for Diabco work. On Wednesday, December 12th, we attended the first annual Startup Indiana conference at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. To start, we arrived nearly 2 hours before the welcome event began so that was a bummer - especially considering we drove an hour to get there. We listened to exciting advancements in the Indiana economy and bla, bla, bla. I wrote two haikus during the most boring parts:

Headwind of change
Bank and turn the ship around
Sail forward. Tailwind.

Rural business
Investing with confidence
Come quickly. Join us.

The interesting parts were when the entrepreneur experts shared their stories with the group. Wow! I have never seen so much passion among the members. The guy from Triton Energy was spitting with enthusiasm as he stormed around the room throwing out vials of biodiesel and the CEO of Lone Pine Farms choked back tears when he showed a slideshow of his father and four generations of his family working on their farm. Our presentation was professional and insightful but lacked the passion of these folks. Maybe it's because we still haven't achieved the success.

One thing I was reassured about is that many of these folks have been down and out, and plugging away for years, before they caught a break. Our little venture has endured a couple angel investor rounds and many setbacks but we keep on kicking. I keep telling myself that no story ever makes Entrepreneur magazine that wasn't "almost" a failure.

Our one-on-one pitch with the angel investor panel went well and we should hear something soon. Crossing our fingers as we head into the holiday season... wishing for a break!

Recent Haiku Revelations

I've mentioned the book Crypto-Nomicon in previous posts and this epic novel of 1100 pages is a monster. In fact, it's fascinating. One of the main characters injects random haiku poetry throughout the novel. Considering this and a recent inspiration, I've decided to apply myself to the art of counting syllables. A traditional haiku is three lines and is constructed of 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second and 5 on the third.

The following is a series of haikus about my visit to Pittsburgh:

Tunnel thru mountain
Front door of city opens
three rivers converge.

Little big city
The former steel capital
Now title Pittsburgh

Walk briskly downtown
Before the bridge, on the left
Dance without blushing.

Go out of the Gateway
Around the hilton downtown
And pass the Highmark.

Lunch at Max Erma
Fun times had in Station Square,
Tiki and Fatheads.

Old Skool Ghetto

I was in Pittsburgh last weekend to visit my oldest college buddy Brent. We met freshman year in the dorms, lived together in various places with a number of different roommates over the course of 6 years and became best friends. We reminisced about old stories, ridiculous acts we barely survived and the touching moments that forged the bond of our friendship. It was awesome!

In the spirit of sharing old memories, Brent managed to find these old photos of us, from our freshman year in the dorms. These are from the Fall of 1998. Get ready to laugh!

Yeahhh, that's definitely Olde English 40oz's of beer and thug hats! The next one is even better...

This was our freshman year crew from the O'Shaughnessy (a.k.a. O'shag) dormitory at the Virginia Tech campus. And yes, I am wearing a sweater vest. Wow!

Life at a Crossroads

Ever heard the saying about coming to a fork in the road? Taking the road less traveled or being stuck at a crossroads? Imagine being stuck in a spot with about a dozen different roads. That's just about where I am right now. So many choices, too little information and gut feelings I can't figure out how to read. The map blew out the window a few miles (years) back and the windows are blacked out, covered in snow and I'm blindfolded.... and driving about 90mph.

Yeah, it's something like that.

Back to the Grind

For many people, yesterday marked the return to work after a long weekend, or maybe even a full week of holiday vacation. Today was our torturous trip back to reality. It began at 5am EST... and we finally arrived in Chicago around noon CST. I drove Adri straight to work and came home to prepare for my next trip which will begin tomorrow at 4:30am CST. I absolutely must be on the road by 5:30am tomorrow to reach my destination on time.

Welcome back to the real world! /me trout slaps myself. This saying may be a little old, or a little too techie for some of you, but wow did that just bring me back to my old irc days.

Anywho, the blogging will resume. I've got a few funny stories and some interesting things I've learned and explored over the past week on Cape Cod that I'm eager to share... when my eyelids aren't drooping so low you question my ethnicity.

Winning Streak!

Well boys, today marks my second fantasy football win in a row! I think two wins constitutes a streak, right? It sure beats my 7 week LOSING streak! In a league of twenty guys, I've been constantly getting pounded by the seasoned fantasy players in this intense league. Going in to this week my record was 2-8, the worst in the league. Now, with my second win a row under my belt, my record improves to 3-8 - tied with four other teams for the leagues worst records!

Nobody on my team had a particularly stand-out day today but everyone decided to show up for work and put in a solid shift today. The real disappointment of the year has been Laurence Maroney. For the entire season, he is my second WORST scoring player. With all the hype around him I hang on to him and play him every week waiting for the break-out performance... but it never comes!

And why should it? With Tom Brady and the New England passing game, they can continue adding wins week in and week out without Maroney! Randy Moss is a beast and Brady is not afraid to throw to everyone. I just might get the courage to drop Maroney from my starting lineup next week as I go for my third win a row.

My playoff hopes are a long shot but I can definitely be a fun "spoiler" for all the wanks that take this league too darn seriously!

Motorola Q

How many people have cellphones that can take pictures, video, browse the internet, bluetooth, infrared, beam contacts and do a thousand other features they will never use?

I've had a pda phone for over a year now and only in the last month have I begun the realize how much easier this little sucker can make my life. It had so many features that it overwhelmed me.... so I did nothing with the mini-computer except make calls. Well, occasionally I would snap a picture message and I love to text message.

A recent problem I had was the growing discrepancy between my calendar reminders in my phone and on my computer. I'm slowly stepping away from the paper lists and piles of sticky notes (I said slowly!) and beginning to rely more on my devices for scheduling my days. The problem was that I could be on the road and set a reminder or appointment into my phone or I'd be at my computer and copy/paste an event into my outlook and neither device was synced with the other.

I set out on the daunting task to install the Motorola Q software on my laptop and it was surprisingly easy. Then I thought that this software must be cumbersome and annoying to navigate... or at least hog my memory (RAM). And again I was surprised; the software was super easy to use, doesn't require a lot of resources and automatically detects when I plug my device into the computer.

A simple connection via usb, the phone syncs my contacts and calendar in about 30 seconds, does a cute little beep and I'm done. Voila! It's that simple to synchronize my life... I mean, my devices.

I had been holding out for an over the air syncing solution but for now, the manual syncing for contacts and calendar is OK. I won't even begin to mess with email until I can get over the air syncing. The possibilities for uber-cool scheduling over the air is nice for when I have a secretary, but for now, I'm glad I finally decided to install the software. It only took a year... who knows what I might discover about this device in the next year before my contract is up!

Lesson: maybe you should make it a goal this week to try one new feature on your over-featured phone and post the results of your attempt right here!

Marriage Is About Compromises - right?

Adri and I made a deal last week. Each night this week we will each take turns reading something the other really has no interest in. Well, it's a little deeper than that but here's the scoup. I've agreed to read a chapter in His Needs, Her Needs by Willard Harley for every chapter she reads in Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

I think it's a fair compromise because it gives her an insight to my financial thinking - retirement, family planning, asset building, etc, and it gives me an opportunity to get an insight into the crazy mind of a woman through an unbiased third party. Really, it's a win-win for me; I can understand how to enhance our relationship and Adri can share in my financial plans for our family.

Random Bookmarks

As an avid reader, I find myself rarely using the same bookmark more than once. What's interesting, or strange, about this is the choices for my bookmarks. I typically just grab any random piece of paper within reach and stick it in the book and it stays until I'm done with it.

My current bookmark is a movie ticket from "We Own The Night" that happened to be on my nightstand when I needed to mark my spot. Other recent bookmarks include business cards, candy wrapper (Now and Later... mmm), sticky note, dollar bill and an express gift card.

Do you have a standard bookmark or do you use whatever is close by like me?

Partial Book Review - Crypto-Nomicon

My friend Jesse is a pretty smart guy. He's always reading these big titled books and whatnot so I figured that if I read a couple of the same books as him that maybe I could learn a thing or two... or at the very least have something else to talk with him about. Upon his suggestion, I've read End of Faith by Sam Harris and Ice Hunt by James Rollins.

The End of Faith is a nonfiction piece that attempts to dismantle the sanctity of religious faith and explains the roots of some of our worldly conflict (Israel-Palestinian, Shiite-Sunni, Muslim-therestoftheworld, etc). It's deep and the bibliography is almost as long as the actual text of the book. James Rollins is a fantastic fiction writer and a new favorite of mine. Brain-candy as I like to call it - easy, quick reads with suspense and no real factual basis.

This leads me to my next book, an epic of 1100+ pages titled Crypto-Nomicon by Neal Stephenson. I'm only a hundred something pages into it and I ran across a quote today that got me thinking. It's about the super smart main character, Lawrence Waterhouse, who is a genius cryptographer (Page 90):

"At about the same time, Waterhouse has made a realization about himself. He has found that he works best when he is not horny, which is to say in the day or so following ejaculation. So as a part of his duty to the United States he has begun to spend a lot of time in whorehouses."

This got me thinking - is there a real correlation between the cycles of when you are horny and your measurable productivity? I've never thought about it before but I think I'm going to conduct a self-study about the relationship between my relative level of horniness and my productivity - or at least my drive for productivity.

I tried to find some legitimate research online to support either position of this suggestion but the only thing I found were a bunch of porn sites. I guess it's up to me to develop this theory in more detail!

Blondes and Automobiles

The following is a transcription from a real live conversation that took place today, November 8, 2007 at approximately 2:13pm:

ME: Hello?
Adri: hey dave, I think I'm locked in my car...
ME: Huh?
Adri: I just had the battery replaced at autozone
ME: OK...
Adri: and I drove the car back to work, parked in the parking garage and now I can't get out
ME: Are you serious? Quit messing around
Adri: I really can't get out... what should I do?
ME: stick the key in, start the car, use the keyless entry button, roll down the window
Adri: nothing works
ME: put the car in ACC mode, does anything come on?
Adri: No. and I have to pee!
ME: call the autozone guy and tell him what's wrong... [me thinks: there's no way I'm driving all the way up there]
Adri: Will you google the number? oh wait, I have it on the receipt.
Adri: Dave, I really have to pee and I'm starting to freak out...
ME: I can't believe you are locked in your car. I guess the battery came loose and the alarm is triggered or something
Adri: I just called my boss and told him I'm stuck in the car and he's like "you're locked out?" and I had to tell him that I was LOCKED IN!
ME: did he believe you?
Adri: He said he would send a search party if he didn't hear from me in 20 minutes.
ME: Haha, it won't be hard to find you if you are actually locked IN your car!
Adri: OK, let me call autozone, I'll call you back.
ME: Good luck!

[approximately 25 minutes pass]

ME: hello?
Adri: I'm so embarrassed!!
ME: What happened?
Adri: The autozone guy drove out here, knocked on the window and told me to unlock the window. I pushed all the buttons, banged the steering wheel and threw up my arms...
ME: ok...
Adri: He told me to manually move the unlock lever and not push the electronic button. I did and the car opened.
ME: HAHHAahhaHAHhahahHAhaaaahHAHHA... so you spent 25 minutes, locked inside your car in the parking lot of your work? hahahahaaaa!!!

I Am A Pepper Freak

I LOVE peppers. I love hot peppers, cherry peppers, crushed peppers, pepperoncini, pepperoni, mild peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, chili peppers, bell peppers, sweet italian peppers, stuffed peppers, habanero peppers...

I think you get the idea. I LOVE peppers. I have peppers in every sandwich I ever eat from Subway, Jimmy Johns, a deli or wherever; I put peppers, hot pepper sauce or a pepper derivative on almost every meal I have. And, I often eat peppers just for a snack.

In fact, I stopped having Adrienne buy me the little jars of peppers at the grocery store because I am buying the HUGE restaurant size jugs of peppers from Sam's Club. This is my quirk; hear me roar... I AM A PEPPER FREAK!

This picture is exactly what I have in my refrigerator. Even though it says 1 gallon, it dwarfs my milk container.

Summer Semester 2007 Dean's List Letter

Dear David,

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, is known as one of the most important leaders of our great country. Many would consider his life a legacy of success; however, this could not be further from the truth. According to several historical records, between 1831 and 1859, Lincoln lost 5 political bids and suffered a complete nervous breakdown. In 1860, after many failed attempts, he won the bid president of the United States. President Lincoln once said "If you give me six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend the first four sharpening the axe". Through your continue academic growth and excellence, you've been preparing the way for your future ambitions, hence... sharpening your ax. Your superior academic achievement during the Summer 2007 semester proves that this is true.

Because of your dedication to your future and to your academic studies, we at DeVry University feel that you deserve to be recognized for your accomplishments. We know that achieving a term GPA of 3.5 or higher is not an easy task. This distinction makes you an academic leader among your classmates, so we are proud to recognize you on the DeVry University Dean's List. Congratulations! We hope that you continue to be successful throughout your academic and business career.

Sincerely,

Judy Kristin
Dean of Academic Affairs

Turkey Day Countdown

I'm so stoked to be in Massachusetts for an entire week this Thanksgiving. It will be the longest stretch on Cape Cod since I was in high school, almost 10 years ago. Speaking of which, we will be having our 10 year (9.5) year reunion the friday after Thanksgiving. Sandwich High School class of 1998 and 1997 will be having a joint reunion. Oh, and Adri's birthday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, too. Fun times will be had!

T-minus 13 days, 20 hours until I land in Providence.

Halloween Grinch

I am officially the jerk of Halloween. I did not expect to be home during Trick or Treating hours so we didn't even get any candy. As it turns out, I ended up at the house. If it was anything like last year, we might get one doorbell ring. This year it was four doorbell rings but I didn't answer any of them because I didn't have any candy for the kids! I felt like such a jerk. I thought for a minute that maybe I could run out and get some candy but by the time I would get back it would probably be over. Then I thought, maybe I could trick the kids instead of treat them... open the door with a chainsaw or something and scare the crap out of them. As much fun as that sounded, kids these days wouldn't appreciate the horror humor of 'trick'.

Anyway, I guess that makes me the grinch of Halloween.

Domain Swap

You may have noticed that the blog now loads on www.davidrocci.com instead of davidrocci.blogspot.com - Blogger has a function to allow custom domain name usage at no additional cost and still allows you to utilize their tools. I hope this is the beginning to building up my custom site... a goal I've procrastinated for a long time. I have a lot of plans for expanding this domain; I'm looking into a new design, integrating some real estate MLS/IDX searching as well as some other fun stuff.

Great Time to be a Massachusetts Sports Fan

Moving from state to state has it's benefits. You shed the less desirable memories and retain the best. You share stories of triumph and leave behind the blemishes. This is one of the few benefits of frequent moving.

But, lately, it's been a chest puffing, pride enfusing moment to acknowledge my New England roots as a Massachusetts native. Our sports teams are kicking ass and taking names. The Red Sox just sweeped the Colorado Rockies in a World Series that was shockingly abrupt. After 80+ years with no world series title, the Boston Red Sox now hold two World Series Championship Titles in the last four years. Wow!

The New England Patriots (Foxboro, MA) are stomping on asses every week. Last week they destroyed the Miami Dolphins and this week they annihlated the Redskins (sorry Brent). Even the Boston Bruins kicked the crap out of the Chicago Blackhawks... and landed a few cheapshots while they were at it.

I doubt this series of goodwill towards New England sports will continue with the Boston Celtics but who knows... maybe they will have a break-out season, too.

All in all, I'm proud to originate from Massachusetts - even from my cushy suburban hometown of Sandwich. When it comes to game day, we are all from the same home state and we all cheer together!

Late Night Mutterings

desperation in my glance;
hoping for acknowledgement;
feel the pain from my stare.
prescribe an antidote.
long for the connection;
to cure the pain.
confused by emotions,
frazzled by feelings;
come take it all away.
free my soul from agony;
i cant stand the pain.
you think you know me,
but all you want is selfish.
understanding me;
is part of us,
but the disconnect is too far,
too far to bridge the gap.
love and compassion,
is about giving it freely.
sharing in pleasures,
and the sufferings.
i wish you could see,
the suffering.

Confessions from Sunset Ridge MX

This past weekend was fun... well, mostly fun. I spent saturday traveling with my supportive wife to the middle of nowhere, Illinois - a little town called Walnut. Actually, Walnut is so small, the closest hotel was 17 miles away in Princeton... which is still about 2 hours west of our suburban locale. The track is called Sunset Ridge MX and they were only track within driving distance that still had any races left for this season.

We made it out there around noon so I could sample the track I would be racing on Sunday. I explored in my first 3 laps, then got another good 5 under my belt. In my last set of timed practice, I was pushing my 6th lap in an effort to increase my stamina for the upcoming race. I let off the throttle just a dab too much over a huge double. I cased (landed too short) and endoed (nose first) the landing and went flying off the bike. Another head crash, smashed up elbow and such a deep tissue bruise on my hip/thigh that the bruise is only just now starting to surface. Damn that hurt, maybe I should stop pushing so hard?

After two ibuprofen, as many beers and some pizza, the pain wasn't so bad. But the truth is, I was already questioning if I should race on Sunday. As anyone that plays sports will attest, confidence, or lack thereof, will make or break your performance. And so went a weekend race down the tubes.

I woke at 6am on Sunday, wondering if the Red Sox pulled off another win against the Rockies and wincing in pain as I rolled to get up. I almost tripped over my dirtbike on the way to the bathroom and wondered if I would make it through the day. Oh yea, I brought the suzuki into the hotel room so nobody would steal it off my trailer. :) Thanks to the unsuspecting foreigner at the Econo-Lodge (classy joint) for allowing me to bring it in. I'm pretty sure he thought I meant a pedal bike.

ME: I called and asked for a ground floor room with exterior access.
GUY: We have ground floor. No exterior access.
ME: I can't leave my bike on the trailer. Can I bring it in?
GUY: OK sir... I guess. Please pay for room now.
ME: Great, I'll go wheel it in now.



C class started practice at 8:30am and we were the first class on the track. It's freezing cold, the track is freshly groomed, wet and deep loamy dirt; nothing like the actual track conditions during a race. Not only was it a waste of three freezing cold, mud splattered, partly visible and torturous laps, I slid out on the final turn before the finish line, flopped over the handle bars and knocked the wind out of myself.

Can you remember the last time the wind was knocked out of you? It felt like a 300 pound gorilla sucker punched me in the gut. I gasped for air and wondered if it would reach my lungs before I blacked out. I crawled off the track, moaning a deep, guttural groan as I tried to avoid getting hit by any bikes behind me. Panic swallowed me as I ripped off my goggles and helmet and struggled for breath. It was almost as painful and challenging to exhale as it was to inhale. I could hear people talking to me but couldn't make out the sounds. I was sure my groans were freaking people out. It seemed like forever passed but I finally caught my breath. Phew... maybe I should call it quits already?

I was in the first practice class that started at 8:30am but I didn't have my first race until another 1.5 hours of practice and 13 other races ahead of me. The ibuprofen was still working, the pain seemed manageable and it was showtime. I wandered to the starting gate to wait my turn to be called. Begin butterfly swarming.

The gate finally drops and I'm off to a decent start. The track is beat up with lots of deep ruts but at least it is dry. I make the second turn and my mouth feels completely parched. Not just thirsty but actually parched; lips feel ready to crack and breathing seems to scrape through my mouth and into my lungs. My quads are burning over the first set of whoops and I'm only on the first damn lap. Halfway through I feel completely exhausted. Yesterday I was pushing 6 laps and today I feel whipped and I haven't completed one.

Then, it gets even better. On the final lap after I've completely given up hope of actually competing in this moto and just trying to finish, I get caught with my front tire in one rut and my rear in another and pancake down to the ground AGAIN. I angrily pick myself back up to finish 8th out of 13.

The pain and exhaustion compounded to a point I'm ashamed to admit. The fear, anxiety and lack of confidence combined for a terrible performance and at least another week worth of nursing injuries. Maybe I started racing too soon... maybe I just need more practice... I thought I had conquered some milestones with motocross racing but this last weekend chopped me down a couple notches.

New Nutraceutical Supplement Provides Simplified Approach to Diabetes Management Programs

Diabco Life Sciences, the company I work for is in the news again. Check out this story for additional information about Type 2 Diabetes Diets, treatments, information and natural insulin resistance. Diabatrol offers a simple, natural and supplemental approach to diabetes management and diabetes treatment.

From the PRNewsWire article:

The new product Diabatrol, a performance-proven nutraceutical supplement produced by Diabco Life Sciences in Carmel, Indiana, works by helping to reduce oxidative stress and insulin resistance, two key concerns for Type II diabetics and pre-diabetics. Not a prescription pharmaceutical, Diabatrol is a nutritionally balanced, gluten-free, low glycemic, hypoallergenic neutraceutical that contains more than 80 antioxidants from whole grain derivatives. Consuming Diabatrol is a simple act of opening a small pouch containing the water soluble product, mixing it with a favorite beverage, and consuming it twice a day.

The desired result for patients ismore balanced overall nutrition and a convenient, simplified approach tomanaging a blood glucose metabolism and helping reduce the complications associated with the daily routines of diabetes management. A typical diabetes patient often takes several medications each day, including two or three different pills to control blood sugar levels, one or two to lower cholesterol, two or more to reduce blood pressure and a daily aspirin to prevent blood clots.

http://www.healthydiabetic.com

Sandwich High School 9.5-year Reunion

It looks like I'm officially getting old. I thought I had at least another 8-10 months until our 10 year reunion since it's not officially 10 years until June 2008! But, the powers that be have decided to combine the class of 97 and the class of 98 into one big happy reunion. And, they will be holding it on Friday, November 23rd.

I feel bad for all those people that planned weight loss or gym trips or artificial enhancements to 'wow' their former classmaters because the timing of the announcement is pretty short-sighted... and leaves a very narrow window for body image improvements. Of course, not everyone is concerned about body image but I'd be willing to bet $1000 that every single female in the class of 97 and 98 from Sandwich High School had a passing thought about what can be accomplished in the next 41 days.

Where: Aqua Grille, 14 Gallo Road, Sandwich, MA 02563
When: November 23, 7PM-12AM
How much: $30 per ticket in advance (purchased by November 15) or $35 at the door
Ticket includes light appetizers and drink ticketsTickets can be purchase online at Sandwich High School reunion.

I'm looking forward to the event. I hope the notice wasn't too short for old friends to make accommodations to make it.

Davey Does Dallas

I was trying to think of something funny for the subject that had a ring with Texas or Dallas and here is my thought process: debbie does dallas...oh! davey does dallas... wait a sec, isn't that a title of a porn movie? hmmm, and davey does dallas sounds like gay porn. Maybe I should change the title... ?

One of my best buds, Jesse, has a place just outside of Dallas where he recently began working as a Quantitative Analytics Manager for some fancy pants financial institution. He travels frequently from our home town (suburbs of Boston) to Dallas and we finally decided to connect in Texas since I've never been to the state coined with the phrase, “Everything is Big in Texas.”

I cashed in a voucher from American Airlines and flew for free - my favorite price. The visit was generally fun and catching up and re-telling stories we've each told each other a dozen times is still amusing. In our cultural exploration of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we discovered some truisms about the Dallas Cowboys - they ought to be called the Dallas Cougars... for their agility, prowess and cunning. These 'cougars' are ogled and admired even as the franchise begins to age; crowds cheered and sang jubilantly as they scored. Even considering this AA-game performance, the Patriots are better!

...it was almost as fun as watching the alma mater play college football… or the Minnesota Twins in St. Paul/Minneapolis.

Not to mention the fact that our New England Patriots rocked the crap out of Miami and the Boston Red Sox won the American League division to secure another trip to the World Series. It’s been a fantastic season to proudly lay claim to our Massachusetts roots – we have a lot to be proud of.

All in all, it was a perfect guy’s weekend of beer and sports and reconnecting with a great old friend. I look forward to visiting again soon.

Motorola Q

How many people have cellphones that can take pictures, video, browse the internet, bluetooth, infrared, beam contacts and do a thousand other features they will never use?

I've had a pda phone for over a year now and only in the last month have I begun the realize how much easier this little sucker can make my life. It had so many features that it overwhelmed my to inaction.... so I did nothing with the mini-computer except make calls. Well, occasionally I would snap a picture message and I love to text message.

A recent problem I had was the growing discrepancy between my calendar reminders in my phone and on my computer. I'm slowly stepping away from the paper lists and piles of sticky notes (I said slowly!) and beginning to rely more on my devices for scheduling my days. The problem was that I could be on the road and set a reminder or appointment into my phone or I'd be at my computer and copy/paste an event into my outlook and neither device was synced with the other.

I set out on the daunting task to install the Motorola Q software on my laptop and it was surprisingly easy. Then I thought that this software must be cumbersome and annoying to navigate... or at least hog my memory (RAM). And again I was surprised; the software was super easy to use, doesn't require a lot of resources and automatically detects when I plug my device into the computer.

A simple connection via usb, the phone syncs my contacts and calendar in about 30 seconds, does a cute little beep and I'm done. Voila! It's that simple to synchronize my life... I mean, my devices.

I had been holding out for an over the air syncing solution but for now, the manual syncing for contacts and calendar is OK. I won't even begin to mess with email until I can get over the air syncing. The possibilities for uber-cool scheduling over the air is nice for when I have a secretary but for now, I'm glad I finally decided to install the software. It only took a year... who knows what I might discover about this device in the next year before my contract is up!

Lesson: maybe you should make it a goal this week to try one new feature on your over-featured phone! Feel free to post your results as a comment to this blog.

First Motocross Podium Finish

As mentioned earlier in the week, I placed 3rd in the last race of the year at JolietMX. I'm extremely proud of how much I've learned in the past 13 months of riding and this plaque represents many hard crashes and overcoming a lot of fear.

New Race Results

My first race experience a couple weeks ago was not so successful, however, this past Sunday I mustered up the courage to race again and took home a 3rd Place Plaque! This race consisted of two motos which were reduced from five laps down to four because of the number of riders at the track and the time constraints of allowing every class to race.

I raced in the 250-C class again and I'm very happy I stepped up to challenge myself in this class. There were 9 riders again and I took home 3rd overall. I managed to stay on the bike and not crash at all. I've eased up on the wholeshot (this is when all the bikes line up at the gate and everyone races to the first corner after the gate drops) and aimed to keep a steady pace in lieu of burning out after two laps.

I almost thought I would not be able to participate in the last race of the season because I crashed really hard in practice after the last race and bent the bolts on the bar clamps that hold the handlebars onto the bike. After two hard crashes and three days trying to get the bike fixed, the guys over at DGY finally helped me get it repaired on Friday afternoon.

Adri got some great footage of me passing a guy in mid-air over a huge stadium jump. I passed another guy through the whoops because I finally learned how to double them instead of dinking over them one by one. The video footage is on our digital video camera. Thanks to Tom we finally have a firewire cable to hook it up to the computer but the only computer with the firewire port has 250MB of RAM and video editing is not such a great idea on that computer.

I will post a pic of the plaque soon and hopefully upgrade the RAM in our PC with the firewire connection to get some video action going on.

World's Longest Paint Job

We started painting our two-story foyer and the wall leading up the stairs and into the loft back in May. Needless to say, getting paint up to the peaks of the two-story foyer is pretty difficult so we stopped painting. We intended to get some scaffolding or hire someone to finish the paint job.

After the second coat of paint in the areas I could reach I noticed the colors were drying in two different shades of 'Country Club'. I gave it a couple more days thinking it may still be wet but the color differences were still obvious. I checked the codes of paint mixtures on the top of the cans and everything matches. A few more days go by and I still cannot figure it out... finally, I realize the bright chap at Home Depot mixed one of the four gallons of paint with the wrong base!

So now the whole painting attempt has officially turned into a fiasco. Two colors, half-painted up to the ceiling... what a mess! This lead us to a terrific solution: ignore it for almost 5 full months. When people came over we laughed and joked and everyone got used to the two-tone color and only half the foyer being painted. We got a few quotes to paint but there is no way we were paying $1000+ to have a couple walls paint.

This last weekend we finally picked up the paint brushes, rollers and this time we armed ourselves with a ladder (thank you Andy and Panita)! For anyone who cannot appreciate the height of a two story foyer, check out the picture attached to this post. I'm 6'2" and standing on an 12 foot tall ladder holding a 5 foot long extension pole with a paint roller attached to the end. It's a tedious and dangerous task to paint like that.

Needless to say, 2 gallons of primer (to cover the original attempt) and almost 4 full gallons (2 coats) of a fresh new color, the paint job is finally complete! If I ever see a paint roller again, it will be too soon. I HATE painting.

Here is a preview of the previous half-finished paint job:

Applying the first coat after the primer:

Recipe Fun with 100 Calorie Snack Packs

OK, so everyone has noticed that every snack making company out there has 100-calorie packs now, right? You can get Orville Redenbacher popcorn, yogurt, oreos and whatever else in cute, convenient, to-go size pouches and monitor your calorie intake all at the same time.

This concept is a worthwhile venture in that it allows people to snack but prevents them overeating. The problem is that 100-calories worth of oreo's or chips ahoy cookies is only like 20 thin wafers worth of cookies.

So I've created a solution to this problem. I tried it yesterday and it works perfectly. All you have to do is dip each chips ahoy cookie wafer from the 100-calorie pack into Jiff Extra Crunchy peanut butter! And Voila! You've created a much more filling snack and at the same time, increased your calorie intake from 100 to about 860. haha!

Jiff Extra Crunchy peanut butter is 190 calories for every 2 Tbsp. 2Tbsp covers about 5 of these little cookie wafers and there are about 20 per bag. Do the math and you've turned a healthy concept into a fat generating fiasco.

Rocci Genealogy Tree

I made an offer today to Lenny Rocci to purchase rocci.com from him. The guy has owned the domain since 2000 and it doesn't expire until 2011! His site is permanently under construction and I offered to turn it into a Rocci genealogy tree where members of our family, from all over the world, can attempt to trace our roots. I have no idea if I am related to this Lenny Rocci or not... but wouldn't it be kind of cool to find out?

A quick google search shows Riva Rocci is a Belgium rock band and Rosanna Rocci is a German pop singer. It seems our Italian roots have grown all over the world. And there was an internist and pediatrician named Scipione Riva-Rocci that lived from 1863 until 1937. In a strange twist, my brother is James Rocci and there is also a James Rocci that is the President and CEO of Rocci Insurance Agency in Louisville, Ohio. David Rocci has a realtor website but it's pretty amateur right now.

I was also thinking that in addition to the family tree we could also create subpages for each family that registered with the site and they could have their own blogs and photo albums and whatnot. Hopefully this Lenny guy will transfer the domain to me so we can finally put it to some good use!

First Competition Motocross Race Results

Well, my first competitive motocross race was this past Sunday. I crashed within the first 3 seconds of the race! As I inched my way up to the gate for my first race I was extremely nervous; butterflies swarming in my belly, nerves firing, arms twitching nervous. I lined up 3 slots to the right of the gate box along with 9 other riders.

Instead of hanging back a little and testing it out, I went balls out straight out of the gate. I was pulling ahead of the small pack when the rider to my right hit me... which bumped me into the rider on my left... which resulted in me flying over the handlebars and smashing into the ground.

I recovered quickly, kick-started the bike and got back on the track. I was so shaken up that I barely completed the first lap. I cased at least two more jumps and slid out in a few corners. I wouldn't be surprised if I had a mild concussion.

So, the first moto was a complete disaster and the second one went a LOT smoother. I actually finished this one. I placed 6th out of 9 riders on the second moto. I should have raced in the D class but I wanted to challenge myself so I raced in the 250C class.

I feel relieved my first race is over and the pressure is off. I feel like I was hit by about 14 baseball bats all over my body... and I have the bruises to prove it. I'll try to get some photos up soon.

All in all, some may say that David Rocci is best suited for practice and not competition but without competition, what's the point? I like to win! I plan to train harder and race another day.

John Chow Blog Contest

John Chow is a self-proclaimed dot com mogul. He started his own blog on his namesake domain a little less than a year ago and has grown his blogging revenue streams from $300'ish per month to over $17,000+ per month! Pretty impressive feat...

I first learned of John Chow from the Young Entrepreneur blog in an article that was describing John's issues with Google penalties. Apparently, Mr. Chow violated the terms and conditions of Google's guidelines for the search terms "make money online". John describes his woes with Google in detail in this blog post.

After reading through his site a little more, I came accross a cross-promotion contest he is offering with the Million Dollar Wiki. He's giving away a 24" LCD monitor and a signed copy of the best selling book, The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. The contest is sponsored by The Million Dollar Wiki. You can use coupon code JohnChow to save $10 on a MDK page.

Who drives off without paying for gas?

I did. A complete and total accident. On Monday, we loaded up four dirtbikes, all the gear, Adri and the boys and headed for a full day of riding at Buffalo Range Riding Park in Ottawa. We stopped at the same BP gas station we stop at every time we come to Ottawa. The boys ran in for Subway and Adri helped me combine 93 octane fuel with the 2-stroke premix into my 5-gallon container.

As we finished re-loading the container back into the truck, a couple random guys approached us for directions to the dirtbike track. After a few minutes of small talk about riding experience we agreed to show them how to get to the track by following us. By then, the boys had come back out with their Subway sandwiches and we took off... with the other two guys following.

After a few hours of riding, we were enjoying some much needed rest. As we were hanging out on the trailer we noticed a LaSalle County Sheriff driving around. Pretty weird place for a Sheriff is what we were all thinking.... even weirder that he has now stopped next to my car. He is talking into his radio for a few minutes and finally comes out.

"Are you David Rockey", he says. Completely stunned I manage to mutter, "Ya...yes sir, what seems to be the problem?". The sheriff then asked if I got gas at Conroys Amoco and I say yes... still not knowing what the heck is going on. Then he prompts me, "Son, did you forget to pay for your gas?". "Holy crap!!", I exclaim.

With the distractions of the guy asking for directions and the boys and their sandwiches, I completely forgot to pay for the $11.67 worth of gas that I had pumped. What an idiot! Thankfully, the officer could sense my genuine mistake and allowed me to call the gas station and pay with my visa....and not arrest me or anything.

Phew! That was kinda scary but it worked out OK.

Unlocked iPhone - Apple's new phone gets HACKED!

George Hotz, also known as "geohot", is making the media rounds with his new unlocked iPhone. Apple, in a profit-sharing deal with AT&T, have restricted the phone's use to only the AT&T Wireless network. An unlocked phone can be used on other carriers, such as T-mobile and other GSM networks. You can read about George's trials and tribulations with spending nearly 500 hours to unlock the iPhone on his blog: http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/

It seems to require a fair amount of technical manuevering, a little soldering and some programming to accomplish the feat of unlocking your iPhone. Personally, I can't imagine tinkering with a $500 piece of equipment knowing full well that I could ruin the unit... only so I can switch from one crappy cell phone carrier to another.

While George is enjoying the spotlight before he packs up and heads off to start his college career at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, I sure hope he has consulted an attorney. The gray area of unlocking the iPhone, or any cellphone for that matter, could potentially spell disaster for this 17 year old.

Last year, a team of lawyers from Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, an exclusive legal group lead by Jennifer Granick, were able to get the Library of Congress to add an exclusion to the DMCA. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 was enacted to criminalize software copyright violations, among other harsh penalties to protect the profits of big software companies. The Copyright Office ruled that it's legal for people to unlock their own cellphones. It's also legal to sell or buy a phone that has already been unlocked. However, there are some other less clear distinctions...

The complication is this, as Granick says, "The Copyright Office only exempted the act of unlocking your phone, not the act of providing tools to unlock all such phones. Thus you may violate the law if you provide software, hardware and perhaps even instructions to help other people unlock their cellphones."

When the dust settles on George's little media blitz and 10-seconds of fame for unlocking the iPhone, will he be heralded as a technology guru pushing the envelope of technological reverse engineering? Or, will he be sued by Apple, AT&T and have crimincal copyright infringement charges brought against him?

Liberty Tax School

It's about that time again. My office will be hosting our 10-week long tax course; the class meets twice per week for 3 hrs per class. Class starts in September. Day and evening classes are available. The tuition is FREE and there is a small fee of $99 for books and course materials. Upon completion of the course, certification is available to those that pass a test. There may also be employment opportunities available.

Take the class to pickup a new skill, sharpen your pencil for your own taxes or to make a few extra bucks during tax season. Email me at shorewood at(@) libertytax.com if you are interested in taking the class. Seats are filling up quickly so register today!

Password changing humor

Yea, so last night we went out and had a few cocktails with dinner. Then a couple more cocktails. One thing led to another and of course, we end up in an argument. The wife takes my laptop and locks herself into our room. Knowing full well she has taken my primary source of entertainment, she thinks she has the upper hand. In an effort to stave off her temptations to dig through my computer, I had the forethought to change the password. I sure taught her a lesson!

This morning I went to check my email and up comes the login screen. This is where the funny part kicks in. I cannot remember the damn password! I remember thinking to myself as I was changing it to make it something simple. 42 password combinations later I still can't remember the freakin' password. Now I'm getting worried. Twenty google searches later and I realize there is a slim chance I will recover this password for less than $50.

I finally find some website that describes a wacky security loophole during the windows xp repair process that will allow me to reset the administrator password... two hours later I have access to my computer again! wh00p!

The moral of the story, do not change passwords while intoxicated.

hi ho, hi ho, off to wi we go

Heading up to Wisconsin this afternoon for the weekend. Well, it's really only for the day since it takes almost 8 hours to get there. We will spend most of today and most of Sunday on the road and hopefully Saturday will be relaxing enough to fight traffic back to IL on Sunday. The only thing going for us is that with July 4th smack in the middle of the week some people took their trips last weekend - cross your fingers the traffic won't be too bad!

I charged the camera so hopefully we can get a few decent photos.

Ink Jet Printer Thieves

After my earlier post about my ink jet printer problems I began to think about all the other issues with inkjet printers that annoy me. The first thing that came to mind was the cheap printer, hugely expensive ink routine. It dawned on me that I always feel slighted when the machine tells me to change ink when i can visibly see ink left in the cartridge. So I did a little research.

I found this interesting study:

The study by TÜV Rheinland looked at inkjet efficiency across multiple brands, including Epson (who commissioned the study), Lexmark, Canon, HP, Kodak, and Brother. They studied the efficiency of both single and multi-ink cartridges. Espon's printers were among the highest rated, at more than 80 percent efficiency using single-ink cartridges. Kodak's EasyShare 5300 was panned as the worst printer tested, wasting 64 percent of its ink in tests. TÜV Rheinland measured cartridge weights before and after use, stopping use when printers reported that they were out of ink.

Can you imagine going to the gas station, paying for a full tank and only getting 40-50% of a tank? This is down right criminal! How do these big companies get away with such flagrant trickery? Only recently has one company improved their reporting, and it's only been by a little, so I commend Epson for their efforts but it leaves the rest of us wondering: how long have ALL the major printer companies been colluding on this activity of cheating their customers?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070618-study-inkjet-printers-are-filthy-lying-thieves.html

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the celebration of the birth of our great nation. Four score and a zillion years ago.... just kidding. Most people will spend today with cookouts, down time and trying to prevent their drunken loved ones from blowing themselves up... cops are out in full force so don't drink and drive!

Adri and I have spent most of this morning sticking 18"x24" American flags into the front lawns of 500 of our closest neighbors to Liberty Tax Service. It's been tiring but we've received terrific feedback so far from the residents. Nice little promotional tool, a little exercise and everyone feels warm and fuzzy about it.

After we finish our last leg of flag distribution, we will clean up and head out for lunch, courtesy of Ryan and Paula Lafler and their generous gift card for the Lettuce Entertain You family of restaurants. Then, off to Naperville for their Ribfest '07 firework celebration. I hope you enjoy your day as much as we will.

God Bless America!

Buffalo Range Riding Park Liability Waiver

Many of you read about my weekly adventures in Dirtbiking - the mild success stories, the high flying, adrenaline packed exercise... and the extremely painful injuries. I thought you might get a kick out of the liability waiver I have to sign every single time I go to the track. I scanned the original right into this sucker. If this doesn't make you think twice about dirtbiking... the photos of my injuries should!

(click the images to view a larger version of the text)

Printer Problems - Machine Error 41

For the record, I rarely print anything. 95% of my communication is done via email, text messaging, web posts, etc - it's a rare occasion to print or need something to be printed. Murphey's Law, I needed to print something just now and fax it somewhere immediately and my printer just took a crap.

"Machine Error 41, unplug machine and then call Brother" - what kind of crap is that? Unplug it, reset it, hit it a few times and nothing, still the same stupid error. I attempt to navigate Brother's website and cannot find a toll free number to call them so I call an authorized dealer; surprise, they have no clue what the problem is but they will call me back.

As I sit and google the possibilities of Machine Error 41, my hopes of repairing this machine today have gone from hopeful to a scene pictured from the movie Office Space, where me, myself and I will be pulling a beatdown on the printer with a bat to the tune of 2Pac.

A few annoying phone calls later I've learned the printer head needs to be replaced. Now, this machine has ripped me off on ink for 3+ years and now the printer head just craps out.... for no good reason! $65 for the labor to replace the part and $50 for the part - I think I can buy a new printer for that much, right?

Severe Ankle Sprain Courtesy of Dirtbike Sunday

Well, I was getting faster and faster around the tracks in Ottawa as the first few rides of the season gave way to my confidence. I've dropped the bike a few times over the last couple weeks as I try to increase speed through the corners; no major crashes, just a few slide out, burn out, bog down... whatever you want to call it.

This Sunday was going perfectly. The track conditions were money, lots of riders but not too many, my stamina is picking up and my confidence is getting pretty solid. And then I hit a teeny little (5-6 footer) and the lip has a potch in the jump, my rear end kicks up and knocks me off the pegs. I recover and get my feet back to the pegs before I hit the ground and manage to keep the bike stabilized and continue riding, BUT, I was only able to get the toe of my left boot onto the pegs and when I landed awkwardly it jammed my toes backwards towards my shin.

Youuch! That smarts.... but I keep riding. It doesn't feel too awful bad. Within 20 minutes it started to really hurt standing up, but it didn't hurt that much to ride, so I kept riding. Big Mistake! By the time I got back to the trailer to pack up and head home, my ankle had swollen so much I could barely get my boots off. And now, two days later, I'm still limping with an ankle brace. Doh!

Bachelor Party Re-cap: Paintball

This photo is a snapshot of the killer times we had during my bachelor party weekend. On this day, Charlie, my best man, rented out an entire paintball course that included 13 fields. We shot through almost 15,000 rounds of paint and everyone went home with a few welts. In the back row you have Brent and Woj, the front row is Jesse, Phil, Me, Jim, Charlie and Justin.

At the very end of the day, my brother and I had a standoff. We gripped each others hand, facing opposite directions and on the count of three we sprinted to our respective bunker that were equidistant from our starting point. Then, we turned to fire the last hopper full of paint. We both reached our cover about the same time and turned to fire. As we wound through the last rounds of the day we came out from behind our bunkers and faced each other about 50 feet apart and circled each other, firing, firing and firing... neither of us were going to give in. Wham! Wham! Wham! My paintballs were blasting Jim in the soft tissue of his belly and kidney areas and I caught one in the face.

Final Trip Evaluation - Worst Traveling Experience EVER!

I'm finally back in Chicago. Thank God! Here is a breakdown of what was supposed to happen:

6/27/07 - 10:30a depart Indianapolis, 8:29 depart NYC
6/27/07 - 10:43p arrive back to Indianapolis

As an illustration, I will use: IND -> LGA -> IND

What actually happened (I'm leaving out the million changes, tweaks and 5 cancellations in between):

6/27/07 - 10:30a depart Indianapolis
6/28/07 - 2:15p depart NYC, arrive at Washington National (Reagan) airport
6/28/07 - 5:00p depart DCA via cab to Dulles International Airport, overnight stay near Dulles
6/29/07 - 3:30a depart hotel, arrive at Dulles for 5:30am flight - realize we are at the wrong airport.
6/29/07 - 4:05a depart Dulles via cab to BWI, arrive at BWI approximately 5:00a.
6/29/07 - barely make our 5:30am flight from Baltimore Washington International Airport - arrive in Charlotte around 7:10am
6/29/07 - 7:45am depart Charlotte for Indianapolis
6/29/07 - 9:45am depart Indianapolis via my car and drive 3.5 hrs back to Chicago
6/29/07 - 1:50pm arrive back home after 2.5 days of city hopping, $500+ in taxi fares, $400+ in hotels, $300+ in meals wearing the same suit I was wearing when I left Indy on Wednesday

Visually, this trip looks something like this: IND -> LGA -> DCA -> IAD -> BWI -> CLT -> IND

I've been delayed before and even had a flight or two canceled but I have NEVER had such an atrocious traveling experience in my life as I did the last 3 days. What an f'ing nightmare!

A Quick Day Trip Gone TERRIBLY WRONG

As I mentioned briefly in the post below, the Diabco Life Sciences team was headed to NYC for an investor presentation on Wednesday. We left Indianapolis at 10 something in the morning, arrived in NYC with a few hours to kill and had our investor presentation at 5:30p. Then, we were scheduled to leave NYC at 8:30p and be back in Indy in time for a decent night's sleep.

BUT OOOOOOOOOOHH NO, the plan was not just tweaked and turned a little bit....it has been obliterated! The plane leaving NYC was delayed and delayed at least a half dozen times before they finally cancelled it. Passing thunder showers were cited as the reason. So as we, and a thousand other passengers with cancelled flights, including David Wojdyla, scrambled to re-book alternative flights we got stuck in NYC for the night. No big deal, crap happens. We'll catch a flight to DC and then to Indy on Thursday.

Then, on Thursday, 3 cancelled flights and 4 alternative "plans" later, we finally get on a plane to Washington DC. We land in DC around 3:15p with plenty of time to catch our connecting flight to Indy at 4:30p. We are confirmed WITH seat assignments, because the normal "confirm" really has no value because you can be confirmed without a seat and still get bumped off the plane. Yea, we learned that one the hard way. So we are on schedule to catch our flight to Indy and it gets cancelled.

The weather is good, the skies are clear and the planes are a little overcrowded but things are going fine. This time, they cite "air traffic" as the reason for cancelling our flight. And, they have no other flights leaving from Washing National Reagan airport to Indianapolis until 5pm or later on Friday!

To recap, we are now talking about spending two additional nights in random cities and still no closer to getting home. We have no clothes, luggage, toothbrushes, contact solution OR clean underwear!

THENNN, we take a $100 taxi from National to Dulles airport area, book a hotel at the Quality Inn and Suites and will be spending the night in the DC area. Tomorrow morning, we take a cab at 3:50am to Dulles Airport to catch a 5am flight to Charlotte. Why Charlotte? WHO THE HELL KNOWS?!?! Then, we have yet another connecting flight from Charlotte to Indy sometime around 9am.

If things go as "planned" this 17th time of "planning", I will arrive back into Indy wearing the same suit for the THIRD day and then still have to drive three and a half hours back to Chicago.

Wow, so much for an in and out trip. Oh, and PS. DO NOT FLY US AIRWAYS! EVER! Their customer service really SUCKS!

Random Woj Sightings

It's very rare for people to have a crazy encounter with an old friend, girl/boyfriend, estranged colleague or former classmate while out of town or in a completely unexpected setting.... you do the triple take passing through a random city for someone that looks like 'Old Johnny' but then, holy crap, it really is him/her.

The point of this post is that on Wednesday I left Indy with Diabco to travel to New York City for an investor presentation. Our plan was to fly in and out the same day, do our presentation and get home.

Long story short, (I'll add detail in another post) I'm sitting in a restaurant/bar, killing time with our crew, and one my best friends in the whole world, David Wojdyla, walks from around the bar and heads right at me. I jump up and scream "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE??!" ... and he responds in kind.

Here we are, at La Guardia airport, one of the largest airports in the nation, in the same terminal, on the same day, in a city a thousand miles from our respective homes and we've been sitting in the same restaurant for hours without knowing the other was there. Holy Crap! It turns out that both of our flights have been delayed and delayed and finally canceled and we get to hang out all night. Now, this isn't just a bud I once knew - this guy just stood up with me in my wedding barely a month ago and was my roommate through college.

You can't make this kind of shit up and you couldn't have asked for a more pleasant surprise to an otherwise drab day of traveling. Thank you, David Wojdyla, for being in New York City on a totally random day and getting to hang out with you!

Muddy Dirtbike Photo

Posting from Indy - the Diabco Life Sciences team is fast asleep, dreaming sweetly about our trip to vulture capitalists of New York City tomorrow. Did I say vulture? I meant to say venture.


Anyway, I got a minute of alone time before bed and it's two hours before my normal bed time so it's tough for me to get to sleep. I forwarded the photo of the mud infested dirtbike from Sunday that was on my cellphone to my email and into this blog. I hope it sheds a glimpse of perspective into the chaotic, yet amazing time I had on Sunday! :)

Busy Week with Diabco Life Sciences

I leave tomorrow morning at 7:30am to head down to Indianapolis. We will be finalizing and rehearsing our presentation materials for an investment meeting in New York City on Wednesday. Then, one more day of meetings, project updates, review and delegation and I will be back on Thursday night or Friday afternoon.

If I can get online I will attempt to post again.

Great Day at Buffalo Range Dirtbike Track

Sunday was a mud-filled day of perfect riding out in Ottawa. I picked up the usual suspects, DJ and Chad, and one suspect returning to the lineup, Dean. We managed to load all four bikes onto my trailer made for three bikes, pack into the truck (well, sorta) and off we went. My POS 4-banger Amigo was really grinding with the extra weight.

Anyway, we got to the track and everyone was moaning about the rain and how the tracks were flooded. They were wet, and pretty muddy, but they were not impossible to ride. In fact, I had one of the best rides I've had in the last two seasons. The bikes came back weighing an extra 40-50 pounds with all the sandy, muddy clay that was caked ALL over the bikes and our gear.

I have a quick pic I took with my cellphone camera to give you an idea how muddy it really was - I will upload it when I get back my Indy/NY trip this week. We had to pack it up and head in a little sooner than we had hoped but the boys were running fast, Dean had a blast for his first time of the season and I couldn't have had a better day.

My confidence is coming back, my speed is up, air control is improving as well as physical conditioning.

Neat Money Trick - (not for the poor money manager)

I read about a neat little money movement idea from this super average guy at mymoneyblog.com - this is a "duh", why didn't I think of that sooner type of thing. The philosophy is to take your 0% APR credit card offers and make money on it.

Here's how: most of the card issuers offer 0% balance transfer rates for 12 or up to 18 months. They send you blank checks that can be written to anyone - they intend them to pay off other credit card balances but they can be written to yourself, deposited in your own accounts or used to buy a car or whatever. See where this is going yet?

Then, you open a savings account at ING for 4.25% or a 9-month CD from ING for 5.25% - you use the 0% balance transfer checks, write yourself the money and deposit it into one of these accounts. Now, you are using free money to earn yourself 5.25%!

Example: You get a $10,000 credit limit with 0% balance transfer rate for 12 months. You put the money into a 9-month CD, earn $525 in interest, then payback the credit card. You've just earned $525 by using someone else’s money and it didn't cost you anything!

WARNING: This type of investment is only for the disciplined!

Blogger blogged down

Something is whacked out with the blogging software. It appears as though the new posts are not being posted and that refreshing is the only way to view them. Then, they are still appearing whacked out. I'm hoping this post will flush out some of the bugs.

*UPDATE: It is still totally screwed up. You have to add a ? to the end of the url (http://davidrocci.blogspot.com/?) AND hit refresh a few times and still only barely works. Hopefully the kinks will work themselves out.

Relationship Cycles

Adri's aunt Rachel sent us a wonderfully thoughtful email on our wedding website, http://www.rocciwedding.com/, about the cycles and natural progressions of relationships. From the specific comment:

The Five Stages of a Committed Relationship: Everyone knows that relationships grow and change. What we don’t always realize is that their growth always tends to follow a natural progression. As our relationship develops, we naturally move from one stage to another. Although some of these stages are more pleasant than others, they are all essential to the ultimate fulfillment of every partnership. Understanding these natural stages helps us to work with them in the most constructive manner possible.

So, the stages are the Romantic Love Stage, the Power Struggle stage, the Doing stage and finally, the Being stage. It all made perfect sense. Adri and I agreed we are somewhere between the power struggle and the doing stage.

But, and there's always a BUT, now that we've identified that we are in the power struggle stage, we find ourselves clamping down even more. Before we knew what 'stage' we were in we were a bit confused about the emotional tug of war. Now that it is defined, I almost feel empowered for my struggle!

Does that make it worse or better? I hope it makes it better over time... but I hate butting heads with her!

Mastering a Skill Set

Do you ever wonder what in the world you're supposed to do for a living? Everyone always says that if you do what makes you happy, the money will come. But how do I know what will make me happy? Some even go so far as to ask the proverbial question: What would you do with a million dollars? And, inevitably, the answer is what you are supposed to do with your life. The problem is that if I had a million dollars, I'd put half in an interest bearing account and not touch it, pay off debt, then use the rest to invest in various projects or business ideas. Then, I would travel a lot, learn to sail, fly or bungee jump every bridge in America.

So where the heck does that leave me? What does that say I should do for a living?

I've even taken personality profiling tests that suggest job opportunities (tickle.com has a ton of neat tests - you should check it out) but they never really capture my attention. I ponder the idea of going back to school, becoming a lawyer or an engineer or both but I worry that I'd be bored half-way through. I can't see far enough ahead to commit to that type of education or training.

This brings me to the subject line of this post. I've never specialized in anything. I can do a whole lot of things OK but I can't really do anything fantastic. I'm mediocre at many sports but not a superstar at anything. I always felt that knowing a little about a lot is better because I can always hire/find/recruit a specialist but the specialist may never see the whole picture.... but I'm starting to question that philosophy.

When do you clamp down and commit to mastering a skill set, career or career path? And when do you find your calling? I know the harder I look the further I am from finding it.... but, I feel a bit lost.

Car Problems

I know there is someone out that there that can back me up on this - why does your car take a shit at the worst possible time EVER? You never get a speeding ticket when you aren't already late for something - you never get a flat tire when it's daytime - you never have car problems when you can afford to fix them...

I've driven the same PIECE OF GARBAGE for almost four years. I've sacrificed the minor luxuries of life, such as air conditioning (yes, it's over 90 degrees today), power windows, power door locks, a cd player or automatic transmission - who needs those things? Overrated, right? I've gone without these fine automotive advancements in an effort to save money, start a business and travel. BUT, the straw has broken the camels back...

This vehicle only has 76k miles on it and I haven't had any major problems since I first bought it (then immediately afterwards had to spend $1200 on a head gasket replacement) but of course, just as the money crunch after the wedding gets a little tighter, the car begins this terrible clunking.

After visits to three different auto shops I finally learn the true meaning of irony (considering the first paragraph of this post) that the timing belt is about snap. It's frayed and almost fallen off one of the tensioners. I leave the car and it gets fixed the next day. Chalk one more charge on the credit card and move on...

Some would say it's time to get a new car... but who wants to spend all that money to drive a car off the lot and have it lose 80% of it's value. Arrgggg!!

Is winning ever a real possibility? ... ever?

As I've come to realize through the years and in my relationship with Adrienne that I can count on a lose-lose situation about 95% of the time. No answer is correct, no suggestion is casual and no advice is from a friend anymore. I'm the bossy, know-it-all, critic that can't let her figure things out on her own.

God forbid I make suggestions to positively affect the outcome of whatever she is endeavoring ... because, (shocking!) I actually care that things go well for her. Gone are the days when she soaked up everything I had to say as gospel - now I'm just the over-read, analytic, optimist that spews nonsense about making everything the absolute best they can be...and consequently ignored as the know-it-all. God forbid I impart the knowledge I've obtained to better her and us...I'm just a know-it-all.

Do I really have to let her learn all the same lessons I've already learned? I always wished I had a mentor, big brother or role model that fed me the lessons I try to share. I never had that guiding light. I learned EVERY lesson the hard way. How does the saying go? A smart man learns from his mistakes but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others? I always thought Adri was the wise one but now she wants to learn on her own.

This is a recurring theme lately that surfaces in everything from a critique on a blog post to a suggestion to add more spices to a dinner. I do it with the best possible intentions and I've always been like this... why is it that now it's become a problem?

Charter One Pavilion concert

Since we never do anything fun that Adri wants to do, I broke down about two months ago and surprised her with tickets to The Fray concert. Anyone that's heard them knows how sappy, slow paced and tweeny-bopper this music sounds - but Adri loves them. I'm not a particular fan of live music but again, Adri loves it. The concert was this past Tuesday.

Luckily my fears of a parking disaster were averted without extra concert traffic, easy maneuvering and free parking. Imagine that! Without even knowing it, the tickets for the concert acted as free parking passes, too. That's one annoying anticipation of the evening I scratch off my list. Even though it took us 2 hours to get into the city.

The show starts without a hitch and we find a piece of pavement to put our blanket. A couple $10 beers later we realize we are probably in the oldest 1% of the crowd. With this event coming only days after my 27th birthday, which Adrienne reminded me about getting old for the past 3 months leading up to it, the pre-teen audience reminded yet again of how quickly the aging process can sneak up on you.

All in all, it was a pleasant evening - Adri got what she wanted, I scored some brownie points (which are forgotten in less than a week for sure) and everyone is peachy-keen.

Post Honeymoon Depression

As I mentioned briefly in the camping post, returning home after such an incredible 12-day trip was a mixture of relief and depression. It felt soooo good to be in my bed but after almost two weeks of getting up early, exploring and adventure seeking, I immediately began procrastinating the thought of getting out of bed. The shock of constant stimuli, activities, friends and family has finally climaxed and 'back to the grind' doesn't cut it.

Adri returned to work with a more profound sense of hatred for it than before she left, the house (after being home a week now) is still an absolute disaster and she is depressed she gained 5 pounds. I loath the idea of working a normal job, have no interest in doing any home projects and I'm annoyed that my tan is already starting to fade...not to mention the fact that I refuse to look at my credit card statement because I know how pissed I'll be at myself for how much we ended up spending on the wedding.

Sometimes there is comfort in a routine but I refuse to fall into a routine of post-nuptial boredom, aggravation and cyclic stimulation. I want to spice it up and keep it fun but now we are broke and forced into the rat race. Hopefully it's only temporary.

Camping Fiasco

After 12 days on the road with wedding planning, honeymooning and all the activities and buzz we had our first weekend at home this past weekend and GOD, it was BORING! I mean, B-O-R-I-N-G. Of course there is some painting to do or 15 loads of laundry but after a week of fun adventures, bridge jumping, boating, jeep renting, 4x4'ing, hanging with friends and family, etc - who wants to come to household chores? Bla!

So, in an effort to spice things up, we took one of our wedding gifts from Amy and Phil, a 4-person Coleman tent, and headed out to find a campground for the night. I wasn't as thrilled about the idea because I thought it could have been just as fun in the back yard. But whatev, princess Adri wanted to be at a campground.

We arrive at the first camping joint to a swarm of police cars and a toothless security guy telling us to drive around and not worry about it. Then, the pregnant woman smoking a cigarette informed us it would be more than we were willing to spend to sleep in the woods for one night. Adri frantically called a half dozen other camp sites and after throwing a temper tantrum or two, we finally ended up in Channahon.

By this time, it was getting dark very fast. She set out to assemble the tent and I went to gather wood for a fire. She spent almost an hour setting up the tent and blowing up the air mattress and I fumbled through the woods in the dark to get firewood. We finally got everything setup and it felt like it was midnight after a few minutes.

We woke at 5:00am, 5:15am, 5:38am and increments of 12-15 minutes thereafter from the excruciatingly obnoxious birds. Finally, we had enough and left the campsite around 7:00am.

Doesn't that sound like a fun night of camping?

Hotels and Losing Your Stuff

Why is it that no matter where you stay the housekeeping department NEVER finds ANYTHING you left behind in your room by accident? Adri and I were rushed out of our lovely beachfront hotel at the Days Inn in Virginia Beach during our honeymoon and I called within 48 hours to inquire about a pair of missing shorts. I know I had them in that hotel room and I didn't have them when I returned home. Adri left her cellphone charger there, too - but, of course, neither item was "found" or reported to the appropriate staff.

Why is that we have to expect people to steal our stuff that we leave behind after we pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to stay at their hotels? And it never fails - whether its the $300/night bed and breakfast or the $50/night Knights Inn. ANNND, to top it off, it's not like it was a wristwatch or jewelry (which I may understand for someone only making $6/hr to stumble upon) but a pair of shorts and a cellphone charger? PUHLEASE!

Love and Marriage

Well, I'm officially a married man. After 14 months of engagement, I became a married man on May 27, 2007. My wife and I (man, I need to get used to saying that) just returned to Chicago yesterday after our honeymoon.

It doesn't "feel" any different just yet but I have my ears perked for the slightest bit of "I swear things won't change when we get married" to start "changing". I'm looking forward to seeing the photographs and will share some as soon as they are available.

Painting blunders

In my haste to complete the house painting before my friends arrived for the weekend I did not notice the fine folks from Home Depot screwed up my paint order. I actually painted different parts of the wall with two different paint colors. The lids match but the paint does not. Arggg!

Bachelor Party Festivities

Wow. That's just about all I can say about this past weekend. 7 of my best friends, including my little brother, flew in to Chicago from all over the country; North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and one from the UK. These fine gentlemen treated me to the best damn bachelor party any groom-to-be would die for.

It started on Wednesday evening last week when I picked up my little brother from the airport. First thing on Thursday morning we packed up the dirtbikes and cruised out to Ottawa to Buffalo Range Riding Park; 2 dirtbike tracks and 400+ acres of trails. We got the weekend started with some adrenaline pumping riding and we didn't even crash!

Thursday afternoon and most of the evening was spent at the Hilton Chicago right at the O'hare airport while everyone arrived from their flights. It was amazing to watch each person find their way down to the bar and meet us. It was a cavalcade of best friends from college and my childhood. I was thrilled.

Friday, my best man, Charlie, rented out an entire paintball park for ourselves. No, not just a little private group, but the entire park! I rented a minivan from Enterprise to get us all there and spend some time together catching up on old stories. 8000 rounds of paintball later, a dozen bleeding welts, paint covered pants and thoroughly exhausted, we began the trek back home.

We stopped on the way home to get some things to grill out. "Some things" turned into $329 worth of groceries! We had a massive and killer grill out at the townhouse and a few of my local friends joined in the festivities. After scarfing down hand-made burgers, sausages, potato salad, kabobs, chips, salsa, melon, cookies and having some drinks we rolled out to a local bar for some added fun.

Saturday brought some much needed rest in the morning because Saturday night was fit to be a long one. Just before 6pm a 24-passenger stretch hummer with 3 axles (6 tires) from Exotic Coach rolled into my neighborhood!! I knew Charlie likes to go over the top, but holy crap...this was over the top!


We started at the original Morton's Steak House and had the most amazing time. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. We were all sober, enjoying a fantastic meal and great drinks, great conversation and a great staff. Our waitress was a sweetheart, my 4 pound lobster was to die for and we drank Cristal and Veuve! I even got to keep the bottle stopper for memorabilia. Oh, and Charlie ate a fistful of wasabi for $80! haha!!

Then, off to Coyote Ugly, Buzz night club, a few random stops, a short stint at the gentleman's club and back to the hotel for a night cap. Most everyone rolled out throughout the day on Sunday and I took Charlie to the airport today.

Wow. What a great weekend! I can't wait to see them all again at the wedding! Only 13 more days!

Stressed Out? Or Burned out?

My brother sent me an interesting article about the different types of stress associated with cycles of success. The article uses CEO's as examples but that be easily substituted for any worker bee out there busting his butt. The short and skinny of the article is to continually challenge yourself; refuse to sit on your laurels and bore yourself. The five ways the author suggests for challenging yourself include diversifying your skills, teaching, planning your succession, networking and renewing your passion.

It also discusses the most common ailments of those facing burnout and how to spot the trend of negative burn out. The author cites the "Four A's" as a result of denying the severity of burnout and the self-destructive patterns that emerge: aloneness, arrogance, adventure seeking, and adultery.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960301/1586.html

I can relate in some ways to those cycles. I can see the "eustress" of the building phase and I hope I never see the complacent stage of success that bores me to death!

Last minute dash to ORD

Friday was a nightmare. Waking at 6am to travel halfway to the city for a job interview, rushing back, packing, eating and finishing errands before bolting to pick up Adri from work and get to the airport on time. Luckily, we didn't have any mishaps at the airport and we arrived on time in Charlotte about 6:45pm.

So, by now, the day is starting to look up. We catch a cab to meet our friends at the local Hooters and of course, the cabbie gets lost and takes us to the wrong place. My patience for non-english speaking cab drivers is very low. After explaining to the gentleman that we are from Chicago and have NO idea where the bar is and that's why we hired him...we were able to reach our friends on the phone and have them guide us in. What's the point of driving a cab if you don't know your way around the city? Arg!

Then, as I was saying, things started looking up. We met our friends that we haven't seen in months and all is grand. We slam a few wings and commence drinking. Lucky for me, my friends are so understanding of my newly developed low tolerance, they resort to force-feeding me shots. Between the exhaustion and the drinks I was completely wiped out. Sometime just after midnight at the second bar, I could no longer function. I promptly took a seat in the corner, rested my head against the wall and pouted until we left.

Adrienne Desmedt - The Future Mrs. Rocci!

Adrienne's maid of Honor, Tricia, has made our prenuptial madness quite a bit of fun. She sends little notes and gifts that have been really uplifting. Ash and Charlie sent us an early wedding gift, too. We are blessed to have such great friends. Eww, I just said blessed.

Anyway, here is the latest of maid of honor brilliance:

For more fun details about the upcoming rocci wedding you should surf on over to our blog @ http://rocciwedding.com.