A comment on a blog entry from February alerted me to the fact that since they moved my blog to 925thewolf.com, none of the entries I’ve posted there have showed up here. I will double post in the future (for anyone who cares). 
That is the reason for different posting dates and article dates in the blog entries below. If you are finding and reading this blog… thanks!
June 17th, 2008 – Yesterday, Jesse James and I had a $20 bet on whether or not the lawn sprinkler watering days change from year to year. He said yes, and I said no. After the show I called my water company and gave them his address. I asked if they also service his house with water. They said they do. Then I asked if the watering schedule changes from year to year and they said no. Specifically, it has not changed in the past several years, and they do not anticipate any changes in the “foreseeable future”. Sounds like a win to me.
This is why you don’t bet with Jesse James. While a few bets are cut and dried as to who wins (usually him), on the rare occasion that he is wrong, you can count on one or more of the following:
1) He’ll ignore the bet as long as he can.
2) He’ll try to find a loophole that allows him to avoid paying you.
3) If you can actually get him to admit he lost, (fat chance) he’ll claim he’s paid you already with an excuse like, “I bought lunch yesterday, so we’re even.”
4) He’ll try to get you to go “double or nothing”.
5) Although he INSISTS that you have your money up front, he’ll wait to pay you until an opportunity arises where he can “just call it even”.
Notice that the topic never came up this morning. I will never see my $20… and I won’t bet him ever again. I mean it this time!
UPDATE: Jesse says he has this year’s water card and is looking for last year’s. He plans to bring it tomorrow.
UPDATE: Still no mention on the air… and still no money!
June 10th, 2008 – I’m Distraught! Jesse accused me of “re-gifting” his birthday present this past spring. The worst thing is that he’s been thinking this since April and if it hadn’t come up in random conversation on the show today, I’d never have known!
Jesse tells everyone not to get him a gift. Not because he doesn’t want them, but because he doesn’t want to feel obligated to get YOU one on your birthday. I always get him something funny and inappropriate, usually from Spencer’s. This year I decided to do something more thoughtful. Big mistake! Now, as often as I get accused of not having my “man card”, I am still a guy. I went out the day of Jesse’s birthday, bought him a gift and a card, threw it in one of my daughter’s recycled gift bags and dropped it off at his house. The entire transaction took scarcely an hour and I never left my truck. (A man always keeps a pen in his truck in case he has to sign an emergency card. i.e. wife birthday, anniversary, etc.)
When it came up this morning and I swore it was a real gift, he says “Show me the receipt, then!” What an ass! I shred my receipts, as everyone should. I do have the reconciled transaction from my Quicken account, though.
I went to the Aurora Mall, bought him a Packer hat that I thought looked cool and that he didn’t have and dropped it off. He claims it had cat hair all over it. I call bunk on that!
Let’s face it. If I was going to re-gift Jesse, I’d do something big, funny, and obvious, not try to sneak it under the radar. As with everything else, he’s going to believe what he believes and never come around. My honor is being questioned though, and I’m actually kinda bummed about it. I guess I’ll have to actually do what he’s been telling me too all these years and just stop buying him a birthday present.
June 6th, 2008 - My wife and girls have gone back to Wisconsin to visit with family and I’m living the bachelor life for ten days. Also, for the first time, my wife hasn’t left me a huge “honey-do’ list, so I literally get to do whatever I want. Now I just need to think of something to do.
They’ve been gone for three days now and I had to remind myself yesterday to go get the mail. It’s funny. I complain to my wife every weekend that we can go anywhere or do anything because the kids always have their friends over running around the yard and never want to leave the house. Now they’re gone for a week, I can go anywhere I want, and I can’t think of anywhere to go. LOL.
Plus, I have to get my own beer.
(June 2nd, 2008)
Definitions:
schmo – “An idiot who doesn’t know what’s going on.”
schlub – “A person regarded as clumsy, stupid or unattractive.”
My cousin Kelly called me last Wednesday and asked me to go pick up 25 Colorado brochures and overnight them to her. She explained that these would be handouts for her son’s class report on the state of Colorado. I said “no problem” and went down to the Denver Visitors Bureau and got the stuff sent out. I called Kelly that afternoon to tell her the job was done and when to expect the package. While I was on the phone with her, she asked me if I would say hello to Tyler’s class on the radio Friday morning right at 9 o’clock. She was hoping for about 9:15am, but I told her that we’re into our 50 in a row music sweep at that point and don’t talk. She said she’d talk to Tyler’s teacher and get back to me.
I received an email from her Thursday afternoon saying everything was a “go” if I could do it. I assured her I could. Little did I know that they we re going to pull the kids in from recess 5 minutes early to make sure they didn’t miss it. The appointed time came on Friday monring… and I spaced it. Thinking about the weekend, Vicky’s new nickname of TROUT, I can come up with lots of excuses, but the bottom line is, I BLEW IT. So I essentially left the poor kids sitting in front of his class, listening to our show, and NOT mentioning them. I suck!
I feel terrible and I tried to make it right this morning by getting either the teacher, my cousin, or her son on the radio to give me some much deserved hell. Nobody responded… which is almost worse.
May 28th, 2008 – Today is my fourteenth anniversary. I met my lovely wife Amy when we were both in college in Eau Claire, WI. She lived next door with three other hot girls. We met the first day she moved in when I helped her dad haul in some furniture. I used to stop in and visit often – sometimes with fresh baked cookies. I even went over and cooked them all dinner a few times. Amy had a boyfriend – some tool named Tim – and I had a few girls I was hanging out with. We started dating on Valentine’s Day of that first year and after about five months, I asked her to marry me. I think she felt sorry me because I swallowed a bug, but either way she said “yes.”
Over the next fourteen years, she’s given me two beautiful girls and many years of love and laughs. I’m a lucky guy. Happy Anniversary, honey… I didn’t get you anything, but I’m coloring a card as we speak.
May 20th, 2008 – Like many of you, I’ve got a busy weekend coming up. My niece is graduating from high school in Fredrick on Saturday. She’s a great kid. Smart, beautiful… I’m very proud of her. She’s going to college to be a psychologist.
Well, I’ve been designated as videographer – not so much because of my glorious skills as the fact I’m the only one with a digital camcorder. The program starts at 10am, but I need to be there by 8. Then a party afterwards at my sister’s house. Her dad is out of state and her step-dad is serving in Iraq, so I’ll be editing it down, burning DVD’s and shipping them out right away. Should be a busy day!
I can’t believe the little four year old flower girl from my wedding is heading off to college. Getting old sucks.
May 14th, 2008 – So Vicky was talking about the car accident she was in yesterday, and it got me thinking about the last accident I was in.
Sometimes it’s funny how things work out. I remember that it was about six years ago and I had met my wife and kids for dinner after work. We had driven seperately, and after dinner we were taking different routes home. My wife asked me if I wanted to take the kids with me and my oldest said she wanted to stay with mom. That was fine with me.
It was raining really hard. Torrential downpour. I was driving through this little town and the route I took curved along the side of a river. I was driving a Jeep Cherokee at the time, and as I went around the corner, my truck hydroplaned and I swept across the center line. I crunched into a little Nissan and completely totaled it. Thank God no one was injured. Because of the bad weather, neither of us was going more than 15-20 mph. Since it was raining so hard, I let the other couple sit in my truck while we waited for the cops to show up.
I wasn’t ticketed, but I was listed as “at fault”, which I obviously was. To this day, I think about it everytime I drive around that corner. Knock on wood, I’ve been lucky since then. Drive safe!
May 12th, 2008 – Well, I’ve been lax at going to the gym lately because of the pain in my shoulder. I’m heading back today. Jesse was bagging on me about not running again today. Then I got this email saying that walking is just as good for you as running. Check it out…
(From Healthwise)
The U.S. Surgeon General recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity (walking, bicycling, yard work) on most or all days of the week. Walking is one of the easiest ways to increase your physical activity and improve your overall health. Not only does regular walking strengthen your heart, lungs, bones, and muscles, but it also helps your body resist and fight illness. Perhaps the most noticeable benefits of walking are an increase in energy and a positive impact on mood—regular aerobic exercise helps prevent anxiety and depression
Walking and Weight Loss!
Three universal goals most of us share are: to live longer, to live free of illness and to control our weight. Interesting enough, normal walking lets us achieve all three. In fact, walking may be man’s best medicine for slowing the aging process. First, it works almost every muscle in the body, improving circulation to the joints and massaging the blood vessels (keeping them more elastic). Walking also helps us maintain both our muscle mass and metabolism as we age. It also keeps us young in spirit. For anyone out of shape or unathletically inclined, walking is the no-stress, no-sweat answer to lifelong conditioning.
All it takes is a little time, common sense and a few guidelines. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around regarding fitness walking, weight-loss and dieting. Walking is one of the best exercise for strengthening bones, controlling weight, toning the leg muscles, maintaining good posture and improving positive self-concept. People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising daily.
To lose weight, it’s more important to walk for time than speed. Walking at a moderate pace yields longer workouts with less soreness – - leading to more miles and more calories spent on a regular basis.
High-intensity walks on alternate days help condition one’s system. But in a waking, weight-loss program, it’s better to be active every day. This doesn’t require walking an hour every day. The key is leading an active life-style 365 days a year.
When it comes to good health and weight loss, exercise and diet are interrelated. Exercising without maintaining a balanced diet is no more beneficial than dieting while remaining inactive.
The national research council recommends eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Fruits and vegetables are the ideal diet foods for several reasons. They’re relatively low in fat and calories, yet are often high in fiber and rich in essential vitamins and minerals. Remember that rapid weight-loss consists mostly of water and muscle – - the wrong kind of weight to lose. To avoid this, set more reasonable goals, such as one pound per week.
Carbohydrates are high-octane fuel. They provide energy for movement and help raise internal body metabolism. They’re also satisfying. The key is not adding high-fat toppings to your carbohydrates.
It’s everyday habits which define our weight and body composition. A three-minute walk after each meal is worth four pounds less body fat annually. Two flights of stairs a day burns off half a pound of body fat in a year. On the other hand, one candy bar eaten daily will cost you 20 pounds annually.
That last bit is probably my problem.
May 9th, 2008 – I had an unexpected pleasure last week. A new author from the Denver area sent me an email about a new book she’d just written. She mentioned in her email that – like me – she was a big Harry Potter fan, and thought I might be interested in reading her book that had just been published. I told her I’d be happy to!
“The Secret Prince of Tir-na-nOg” arrived a few days later. M.J. Bell has written a wonderful book and I encourage anyone who loves young adult fiction as I do to read it. Here’s the description from the website:
“When twelve-year old Deston Lespérance stumbles into the magical realm of Tir na-nOg, little did he know that his greatest adventure was about to begin. Together with his friend, Margaux, they embark on a dangerous quest to find the seed of the universe and return it to Tir na-nOg before the full moon rises. His courage will be tested as he battles horrifying creatures, comes face-to-face with a monster of profound evil, and discovers a hidden truth along the way that will change his life forever.”
I personally like young adult fiction because in my opinion, it moves faster than many adult fiction books. I also find that you don’t have to digest so much background information in order to enjoy the story.
This book was terrific! It’s a great story about a boy trying to find his mother who had disappeared mysteriously. Along the way he discovers the truth about who he is and where his destiny lies.
It should be at the Tattered Cover and Barnes & Noble around the 1st of June, so look for it there.
M.J. Bell has started a great trilogy, so go get this book so I can find out what happens in book two!
Happy Reading!
