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.