Saturday is here...nothing new to really report.

Last night I was in a pub mood and wanted to go and hang out.  Drink beer and socialize like people do in their 20's and Lord knows I'm down to 9 months of my 20's.  Unfortunately no one wanted to go out with us so we ended up eating and awkward meal and headed home.  The meal wasn't awkward because it was just Amanda and I but it was awkward because they sat us at the H U G E 6 person table right by the door.  So everyone that came in eyed the table and then just saw the two of us.  I couldn't think of a worse seating position....

We came home and I fell asleep on the couch. 

That was our Friday.  Pretty Lame-O. 

Tonight is the Christmas party.

Next week the Colts play the Jacksonville Jaguars at Jacksonville.  I SO want to take a Wed-Sun trip and go see the Colts but Saturday is my family's Christmas and Sunday is the extended family's Christmas.  I am still seriously contemplating how to arrange this but Amanda says that she cannot get out of work.  Drat...so much for being the crazy fans that go to see someone out of town. 

I'm excited, on January 3rd it looks like we are going to have three other couples over.  I'm really looking forward to it.  It seems that the last few months have been friendless.  I can't even remember the last time when we had someone over.  Yeah, it's been that long.  Last year we had people over at least once a month if not more.

Ok, enough for this update...I'm going to go do something else...

Wow, it's the weekend.  Sweet!  This week was busy but good.  The next two weeks will be even crazier so I am really going to enjoy this weekend.  Tomorrow is the work Christmas party, we are going to dinner and then going to see The Lion King.  It should be fun. 

Sunday is the Colts game.  We are going to go and watch the game.  We picked up a handful of cheap seats and are going to go and eat peanuts and drink beer   The game should be a blowout since we are playing the Lions and they pretty much suck.

Yesterday I went to St. Elmo's with the CEO, VP and one of our vendors.  It was a kick as dinner.  It's nice drinking $60 bottles of wine and eating a 10 oz medium rare fillet mignon on someones else's dime. 

We still have lots of Christmas shopping to do, so we are going to try to do that tomorrow before the Christmas party.  I wish that I would have gotten my Christmas bonus today but it won't hit until Monday.  It will be the largest bonus that I've received at work and it is much needed! 

Not sure what we are going to do tonight, maybe Amanda has some plans or something for us. 

What is up with gas prices?  Yesterday it was like $1.40 and today it's like $1.75?  That just makes no sense..have I ever mentioned that I hate the gas industry?

Ok, time to relax...

Kind of funny, I posted yesterday about going to Grad school and when I got home and checked the mail there were two envelopes from the school.  I figured that was a good sign.  I opened the right one first because it was the standard acceptance letter, "I am pleased to inform you....".  The second letter was telling me what my e-mail and login would be.  I'm glad that I picked the former first! 

I'll be going to school for my Masters in Business Administration with a focus in health care management.  It's a 42 hour program over two years.  It's more of the executive MBA type that allows you to work full-time while technically going to school full-time.  You take one class at a time in sequential order with the classes 5 or 6 weeks long.  I had the option of doing it online but I don't think that I would bode well with that choice so I will be going to class on Wednesday night from 6-10pm. 

I wanted to start the program last year but I never got around to applying.  This year I basically had to do everything as fast as I could otherwise I knew I would just put it off again. 

It will be interesting going to school again.  It's already been 3 1/2 years (wow) since I last left the school house.  I think that it's about the right time to jump into this. 

In other news I have been told to put more stuff on my Christmas list...so I better do that tonight. 

Amanda is working until 10 tonight.  I'm hungry but don't feel like cooking or going someplace since the December monsoon is still going on.  I think that I may just eat a Jack's Pizza but that doesn't sound good either.  Ugg...this is what I get for being all dopey Sunday night at the grocery store and not getting groceries.  What was I thinking being all sick and not focusing on the true purpose of grocery shopping!

Ok, time to spend a few minutes working on my Christmas list...then dinner...then ???

Hello Xanga world.  I've been kind of MIA for a while because things have been busy.  Unfortunately this isn't going to be that great of an update since I'm only wasting a few minutes before I head out for the day. 

I cannot believe that we are in December and bearing down on Christmas.  It just doesn't feel like it should be Christmas AGAIN!  This past year flew by...

Anyways, this past weekend was pretty good even though it was a drill weekend.  I was sick but things still were good.  I'm actually glad that I had drill this weekend because I probably would have slept most of the weekend away since I felt like poo. 

On Friday Amanda and I ate at this new Brazilian restaurant in Indy.  The place made me happy to be a meat eater.  There was so much meat it was silly...beef, chicken, lamb, pork, and more beef.  All served at your table on huge sticks.  I love meat and I really love all you can eat meat!  The only problem with the place is that there was so much to eat, that in order to really enjoy the place you need to condition your stomach for the week leading up to the big event. 

On Saturday we wanted to go watch a movie but we are in the post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas lull when there aren't a ton of new releases. 

Yesterday after the Colts game we took a much deserved nap.  I think that I might take one tonight too since I'm still not feeling well.

Oh, I don't think that I've mentioned it on here, but I've applied to Grad school.  Hopefully I get in (which I should), and that means I'll be starting class in January.  Work has also agreed to pay for a heft portion of the tuition which really rocks.  I also inquired and I have like 16 months left of the GI Bill which will give me just a little bit extra income while I work on my Masters.

Hopefully all of you are doing well.  These are scary times with tons of people getting laid off.  Hopefully good fortune stays on your side.

Ok, time to sneak out and see if I can leave!

I really am around still.  Things have just been really crazy lately.  Like right now it is 1:21am and I'm up baking rolls for tomorrow. 

Today was a crappy day at work.  Tomorrow will be better since there is no work. 

My shoulder is killing me but my chiro took care of me and did some fancy tape stuff called kinesio taping to help me along.  I didn't 'injure' my should but I think that it is more stress related.

I have been twittering lately since those take 3.9 seconds, so you can follow me at www.twitter.com/mrmysterious .  Yeah, twitter is cool and if you were cool you would be on there already.

Damn my rolls look good in the oven. 

Time to take them out.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.

Here you go, just a quick little update before I continue driving on with the new work week.

Friday nothing too exciting went on.  We ate dinner at Mongolian BBQ and that was about it. 

On Saturday I went to the Poker tournament.  AH and I got there about 9:15am, play started at 10am.  We were in the third of three qualifying rounds for the finals.  Total was about 400 entries.  The top 15% moved on to the finals at 6pm.  Around 4pm I made the top 15% and had about an hour and a half to relax before the finals.  At 6pm the finals started, there were 56 of us in the finals, the tournament had a 6 hour time limit.

Throughout the night people kept dropping and I kept my consistent game going.  I really didn't have a lucky streak.  Finally we got to the final 15, which mean that everyone was getting prize money.  Finally, there were 10 of us and we moved the the final table. 

I was probably about 4-5/10 in total chips.  Over time people kept dropping.  Finally we got down to the final four.  We were all pretty close to each other in chip counts.  We also only had about 25 minutes left to play since the tournament had to end at midnight.  We decided that we would just split the final four prizes instead of having the final order decided by chip count.  That mean that each of us walked away with nearly five grand!  How awesome is that!!!

That was definitely one of the high points of the weekend  

After the tournament we went to see the movie 'Role Models'.  It was actually quite funny!  I would recommend it! 

On Sunday I cooked breakfast for Amanda, Susan, and their cousins.  After that we watched the Colts game, which was awesome!  Then we took the girls home.  In the evening we just lounged around. 

That is the weekend!

I've been bad about posting.  I have a meeting in a few minutes and I'm giving myself about 10 minutes to type something up, so don't look for any in depth discussion here. 

I'll admit the iPhone has been sucking down my Xanga time since I don't really have to get on the computer anymore.  Yeah, it's that neat.  Every day since I've had it, I have found something new and cool to do.  It has definitely lived up to the hype that was touted. 

I also picked up the new Call of Duty game when it came out Tuesday and it is definitely bad ass.  It is so much fun!  I didn't have *that* high of expectations for it, but it is unbelievable.  The single player is immersive and the multiplayer is a blast! 

Work has been ok, just pretty busy.  I am in love with noise cancelling headphones at work.  They block out all the machinery noise and wrap me in wonderful silence.

I had an interview with Big Brothers Big Sisters yesterday to be a big.  The interview was interesting.

They are calling for snow this weekend.  No accumulation though so that is good.

This weekend Amanda's sister and her cousins are coming over.  I don't know what they are doing.  I have a poker tournament Saturday morning. 

The Colts play Sunday.  They played great last weekend so hopefully they kick some ass this weekend too!

Ok, I am going to go now.  Thanks for playing.

I'm so glad that the weekend is here.  This week at work was full of work so it's nice not to worry about work for two days. 

Last night Amanda and I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday.  The salad bar was good but my ribeye steak was bleh.  I didn't know that it was possible to have so much connective tissue in a single steak.  On the bright side I didn't have a live caterpillar crawling on my salad plate like I did a couple of years ago at a different Ruby Tuesday. 

After dinner we went to see a movie.  We were going to see 'Role Models' but we got there late.  We watched 'Zach and Miri Make a Porno" instead.  I think that it worked out pretty well since it was another movie that I wanted to see.  The movie was pretty funny and quite entertaining.  Don't bring young kids to it though!  It was the first comedy that I have watched in the theatre since "There's Something about Mary" that the entire audience was dying.  It sucks being the only one to get a joke or think something is funny....thankfully our fellow movie goers last night were with it.  It's amazing how much a 'with it' audience can improve a movie.

No big plans for us today.  We are leaving for breakfast/lunch in a bit.  Not sure what we are going to do the rest of the day.  Amanda is going to work tomorrow so I'll have the day to do stuff.

Ok, Amanda is waiting impatiently for me to wrap this up so that we can go eat.

Now that the election is over it seems like we are finally getting back to normal.  The signs in the yards are slowly coming down, the radio commercials are over, and the cars are full of bumper stickers.  There were so many this year I'm sure we'll be seeing them for years to come. 

The rhetoric on the news stations is full of talking about what the future holds and who the cabinet appointees will be.  It appears that my beloved country is ready for a change.  Whether or not you like Dubya is not relevant, we have had the same President for 8 years ago and a lot has changed.  George W. Bush was elected way back in November 2000!  Boy that was a different time. 

I was just recently 21 years old.  I just moved in with Amanda and my friend Wes.  I was an E-2 in the Army and fresh out of basic training.  I was going to Purdue.  I was skipping class to play Counter Strike.  My brother had just graduated from high school.  My sister was 7 years old.  The twin towers were still standing.  It was just a different world.  Heck I didn't even own a cell phone yet!

I'm curious about how future generations will look at these eight years.  Will they look at us and see a nation that stood together with tear filled eyes on 9/11?  Will they reflect upon the horrors of Katrina?  Will they pictures of empty subdivisions full of foreclosed houses?  Will they be proud of what we did? 

I don't think that W was the best president in our history, but he was tested in more ways than many of his predecessors. 

---

Hopefully things continue to get back to normal for everyone.  For Amanda and I we have a free weekend coming up.  It will be nice to not have any commitments.  These next six weekends will be busy with family gathering, work functions, dinners, and shopping.  Thing will begin to feel really rushed and really busy really fast (yes, I said really three times a sentence).  Thankfully this week has been one of the most beautiful Novembers that I can ever remember.  It's been gorgeous outside...it's almost like God is giving us something wonderful to reunite everyone after the last few months.

Amanda and I both treated ourselves to iPhones on Monday night.  It was pretty spontaneous but we are both pretty happy.  We each had the Mogul from Sprint and it was terrible.  I had went through 4 of them in a year.  I was just sick of having to deal with it.  The iPhone just seems like a breath of fresh air.  It really stands above any of the other PDA type devices I have owned.  I think that the hype about it is justified.  On the plus side Amanda and I were both on expensive plans and by switching over to AT&T we should save about $40 a month on our cell phone bill, but that's in theory...you never know with cell bills!  Sadly, after nearly 8 years with Sprint they let me go without a fight, and I had been paying $125 a month for my cell phone.  So much for customer loyalty. 

Amanda is sick with a cold.  I thought this morning that I was coming down with one also, but so far feel fine.  Tomorrow will be the real test.  If I feel a little sick then....I will be screwed and get to feel like crap next week.  It does seem like a lot of people are sick right now though....

I cleaned my office at work today.  I mean really cleaned.  I unloaded a bunch of spare parts out of my closet and cleaned off my entire desk.  It feels so much better in here now! 

Ok, I'm going to leave work early today since nearly everyone else is gone. 

I've written this without reading a single post-election blog....

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President Elect Obama-

It is now Wednesday, the day after.  You have emerged as the winner in the longest and most expensive campaign in the history of the world.  Record numbers of Americans voted yesterday and many of these were first time voters.  The responsibility trusted unto you is not as simple as winning a race, it means that you become the voice of America. 

In a few short weeks you will become the 44th President of this great nation.  You will be taking over at one of the most delicate times in our nation's history.  You inherit an economy on the decline, two wars, and the realization that the promises that you have spoken of for the last 21 months now must come true. 

You will also become the first black President in our nation's history.  I hope that every vote that was cast for you or McCain was based on beliefs, opinions, party lines....just anything but race.  I hope that race had no bearing on the votes.  It is my dearest hope though, that when you place your hand on the Bible and take the Oath of Office, we can finish the last chapter in our long and painful race relations book. 

The current state of the economy is tumultuous.  This uncertainty had a large bearing on the undecided voters casting a vote for you.  While I know that one person cannot change the economy, you are in the position to steer us into calm seas again.  Please guide our country with the utmost care because for many Americans they will be feeling every bump along the way.  The middle class cabins are taking water please don't let us drown. 

There are two wars in far away lands right now.  The blood of my brothers have been spilled in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan.  You will become my Commander in Chief and as a good officer I will salute and do my duty. 

The war in Iraq has turned the corner and you have promises to uphold there.  You have promised a withdraw of combat troops within 18 months.  I hold you accountable to that promise but remember that blood of America's finest young men and women have been spilled so that Iraqis can experience a taste of democracy, do not let the blood of men like SPC Frantz be in waste.

Afghanistan has long been forgotten by the media and the American public.  Only recently has it moved to the forefront once again. You have promised resource in capturing or killing Bin Laden somewhere in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Afghanistan was once a progressive country full of hope before it was destroyed by the Soviet Union and then the Taliban, help us to finish the progress we have made, but do not let the blood of men like SGM McLochlin be in waste.

You will be taking the following oath:

Do everything in your power to discharge your duty and please always keep the Constitution in the front of your mind.

Now, I'm going to talk to you man to man.

I'm not sure what the next four years will bring us, but we are all on this path together...and here are a few hints to help you along.

Do not do anything in your personal life to give fodder for the media or anyone else to feed off of.  As a nation we do not need another Watergate or Monica Lewinsky.  Do not violate the integrity of the office you sit.  While many people would love to see the drama of an impeachment, the American people should not have to bear witness to another three ring circus.

I hope that you keep an open White House like the Kennedy's (well, except for the cheating).  The American public wants to see how your children grow with you and your wife's guidance, because Lord knows if you can't manage to raise good kids how can you run the country? 

You already have a couple of books published, wait until you are out of office to start on your next.

You've set some pretty lofty expectations for the American public, do everything in your power to live up to them.  Just remember, if you cannot come through on your promises, we deserve to be told that something isn't working.

Finally, two years from now, when you are in the middle of your term, do not start campaigning. If the change that you promised comes to fruit, then the American people will vote you in for a second term.

Mr. Obama, good luck.

Sincerely,
Me