My Name is Bill & I'm a Fantasy Football Owner

Recently I had a good friend point out the reasons that he chose not to play fantasy football. Check out the full article here: Finding Manhood

As soon as this article was written, another friend called me and asked if I had read M&M's blog and my thoughts. While I admit that fantasy football is by far not the coolest thing to do, I felt the need to explain why I play fantasy football. So here goes:

1.Camaraderie- Guys need to hang out with other guys. Typically I am not a guy that will just call up a friend just to chit chat, I need to have a reason. What better reason than to discuss last weeks fantasy football matchup which either you annihilated him or vice versa. Fantasy football is a great starting point for a conversation and a good reason to talk with friends. With that said I think there should be some guidelines for fantasy football, such as always play with people you know or have met personally. This will cut down on real trash talk when you have to see that person eye to eye.

2.It Keeps the Boring Games Interesting- I love football, my wife can attest to this. As soon as the season turns to fall I literally get giddy. There are some games that I just cannot get into. Unless you live in Jacksonville or Tampa Bay no one wants to see the Jags take on the Bucs. Its a boring matchup. Almost every week there is at least one stinker game that no one cares much about. Fantasy football gives me the opportunity to stayed tuned in somewhat to a game that I previously would have turned off. A good case and point of this would be a few years ago I drafted Marshawn Lynch. Since I grew up as a Cowboys fan I was already inclined to not like the Buffalo Bills. I started tuning into the games b/c of Lynch, but I kind of started to enjoy watching the Bills. Even if Lynch had an off game I still enjoyed watching the Bills try; they usually got beat but they always competed. To top it all off they have an awesome team name. Me and another guy named Bill could be their mascot.

3.Don't Knock it Until You've Tried it- I freely admit that fantasy football is not for everyone. I am not sure it is fair to say that you don't like it though without trying it. This would be the equivalent of me saying I don't like anchovy pizza without having ever tried the topping. Our natural predisposition is to say we don't like it b/c most all of us have heard anchovy pizza is disgusting. I had the same thought and never ordered the pizza. Recently the pizza guy delivered the wrong pizza to my house. He brought an anchovy pizza, so I ate it. I didn't like it at all, it was like drinking salt. Not tasty to me. But I tried it and so now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that topping is not for me. Some people like anchovies though, why else would it be a topping?Fantasy football is an anchovy pizza, not all people are going to like it, but you'll never know if you do until you try it.

4. Football is a Team Sport but... Can you honestly tell me that the Vikings would be the same team without Adrian Peterson? Although this is one individual and I freely admit that no one person can do everything, there are certain individuals that a team cannot do without. Before the season even started this year the sports analysts were claiming that with Brett Favre on the Vikings squad they were a team that could be right back in the mix to be a Super Bowl contender. Without Favre the Vikes would be lucky to get to the playoffs. I agree that football is a team sport, but there are certain positions that you have to be good at. Just like real football I would much rather have Favre on my roster than Tavaris Jackson when it comes to fantasy football.

5. Fantasy Football Never Supersedes Real Football- Although some of my fantasy football brethren may argue with me on this point I think this is a major Fantasy no no. Being a Favre fan I want the Vikes to win every time they step on the football field. I don't care if the other team is chalked full of guys that are on my fantasy team. Fantasy football should always come in 2nd to real football. For me it just makes the tough losses a little less tough. As I stated before I grew up a Cowboys fan, therefore I could never wholeheartedly cheer for the Giants, Redskins, or Eagles. I drafted Desean Jackson this year. Chance are good that he will get in the end zone at some point. When this inevitably happens the first thought that will run through my head will be pure disgust followed by oh well at least I got points for that. Allegiances should never change with fantasy football

More to say on this topic coming soon....


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Social Experiments 3 & 4

Experiment 3: "The Superman Truck Test"

The Test: I have a toy Superman monster truck that a good friend gave me. I began working at my current occupation a year and a half ago. The day after I was hired I displayed this truck in an upper shelf by my desk. In that timeframe to my recollection not one time has anyone ever touched that truck. I moved the truck from its usual resting spot on my upper shelf to the side of my desk and wanted to see if there would be anyone who would play with the truck.

Expectations: I have a work friend who had conducted a similar test the week before, so I automatically expected the results to be skewed because some people would know exactly what I was up to. I expected 1 or 2 people to pick up the truck while discussing work matters with me.

The Results: Despite some of my colleagues being privy to what I was doing, I still had a solid showing. I expected for some to casually hold it but many of my colleagues started conversations centered around the truck. One colleague took a piece of paper and pretended to drive the truck up the paper. I definitely helped encourage the behavior. It was a fun and successful experiment.

Experiment 4: "The Hi Test"

The Test: Not too long ago a group of my colleagues and I decided to eat downtown in the underground tunnels. On the way there I was being myself and saying I am going to say hi to everyone and see how many people return the gesture and how many ignore the gesture. One of my colleagues suggested that I take it a step further and say hi the way I would normally say it (cheerfully) ten times and do it straight faced another ten times.

The Expectations: I expected for people to react to the cheerful response with courteous smiles and then to move on, maybe a few to say hello back.

The Results: When I said hello in my normal tone 7 out of 10 people said hello back. I was really happy with this number. When I said hello in a monotone and did not act happy to be saying hello 3 out of 10 people said hello back. This confirmed something that I always believed to be true. People react to your attitude, whether it is good or bad, and we have a lot of control on determining if someone is going to have a good or bad day. This is a test I would love to see conducted in different states to see what the different results would be

I am filling up the pipeline with ideas for my next social experiments, so if you have an idea shoot it my way and I'll see if I can accomplish it.

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Location:Red Oak Dr,Choctaw,United States

My Lawn (The Lighter Side)

The last 3 weeks or so I have been fertilizing like a mad man trying to get some green grass to grow. I am proud to report in most places of the yard my efforts have not been in vain. Dark green grass is starting to become evident all throughout my yard. There is one exception to this green grass taking hold and it has been driving me bonkers. All that changed Saturday.

I have a sprinkler system that has made by job much easier. I did start to notice that one place in my back yard was not getting any greener, as a matter of fact it was becoming more yellow. I started watching the spray patterns of my sprinkler and to my chagrin I realized that my entire right hand side of my yard was receiving no water. I started to hand water the area, but to be honest it was still not getting the water it needed in this crazy 100+ degree weather we have been having.

At some point last week my beautiful wife pointed out that there was a sprinkler head that didn't seem to be coming up. I was thrilled because I didn't even know there was a sprinkler there. I tried to see if I could fix it, but since I have no freaking clue what I was doing I was pretty useless. I called my dad and told him about the situation. In my head I theorized that this sprinkler head would hit the entire section that I had been missing. I asked him if he knew of anyone that may be able to fix the broken sprinkler head. He responded by saying he knew of two capable men that could fix it and wouldn't charge me a dime. That sounded too good to be true. It was. I soon realized he was talking about me and him.

We got to work on the project early on Saturday. I pointed out the sprinkler that was the problem to my dad. I thought if I could just get a new sprinkler head we would be good to go. Dad wanted to test out the sprinkler system though. When we arrived at the zone that the sprinkler resided at I noticed something interesting. I heard a gurgle sound directly across from the sprinkler. I walked across the yard and found that there was a hole that had become filled with water. My thought was that this hole was the result of water that could not flow to the sprinkler head because it was broken. My thought was also wrong and Dad knew it.

He said that we needed a new sprinkler head. I agreed and we headed off to get one. What was interesting to me was while we were there he was picking up supplies I wasn't sure what their use was for. He picked up some adhesive and an elbow of PVC pipe and a cap and some nylon string. At the point I am utterly confused about what is about to happen. We get back to my house and he goes to the hole that the gurgling noise came from earlier. By now evaporation has set in and there is no water left in the hole.
I can clearly see now there are 2 pipes. The bad news is that both pipes run directly into the cement that was laid when a fence post was dug out. Dad pointed out that whoever had my fence built broke the water line and knew it. Instead of fixing it or doing anything about it they just poured cement on the top of it. He gets out the nylon string and wraps it around the pipe and starts rubbing the pipe with the string until the pipe snaps clean across. At this point I still have no clue what my dad is thinking and now I am freaking out a little in my head. then he takes adhesive and starts rubbing it on the cut he just made in the pipe and asks for the sprinkler head. This whole time I was under the impression the sprinkler head was not for this hole, but instead to replace the sprinkler head that Amy discovered. I reluctantly handed him the sprinkler head and he glued it in place. After a few minutes he says OK lets go try it out.

My thought is if this works I will have 2 new sprinklers I did not have before, which I would have been more than please with. He turns the station on and both sprinklers started to work! Then I get another surprise. Three (yes I said 3) other sprinkler heads popped up and start hitting the areas that I was having trouble with. I had no idea they were even there! I was thrilled to say the least! So I started the day thinking I will have 1 more sprinkler at the end of the day and instead I ended up with 5! We still had to fix up the other pipe that was broken by capping it off, but it was great news all the way around. Just goes to prove you're never too old to learn something from your old man. Thanks Pop!!



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My Lawn

About a month ago I looked at my lawn and I realized I am not taking care of my lawn the way I should. As a matter of fact I realized that even though I thought I knew about keeping up a yard, I didn't know the first thing about lawn care. My grass was starting to turn yellow and it was crunchy, there were even ruts where no grass was growing at all. The last straw for me was when my niece came over and walked in our backyard barefooted. She questioned why our grass hurt her feet and was not soft like theirs was. I was distraught about the situation. A lawn is supposed to be the man's domain and he should be proud of it. Here I was purposely neglecting my lawn because I was too lazy to do anything about it. I started making changes. I started reading about lawn care. Turns out I didn't know the first thing about lawn care. For instance, I didn't know that lawn blades needed to be sharpened, I didn't even know that oil needed to be changed in a lawnmower. There were a lot of things I had no idea about. So I am starting over, Im mowing every week now. I read about and study how I can care for my lawn better than I used to. I am consulting with people that know much more about lawn than I ever could like my dad and my brother-in-law. I would love to say that now my lawn is a plush green, but changes like this take time. The good news is that even though I still feel places where my lawn is crunchy I can see patches of green coming in.

I think is symbolic of what has been going on in my personal life and my Christian walk. I had become consumed with selfishness and was just becoming lazy. Other than reading a powerpoint slide of scripture on Sunday I had neglected reading the Bible. I could see that my relationships with the people that meant the most to me were suffering as a result. Much like my lawn I could see the ruts and dead places, but I was too lazy to do anything about it. When I did things that were selfless it was usually not done with a cheerful heart, rather it was done with disgust. The crazy thing was, even though it was all out of selfishness and you would think I felt great, I was a mess. Im trying to make changes now. I have changed my daily routine, I wake at 4 rather than 6:30 as I used to. I read scriptures, pray, give thanks at what I have been blessed with rather than think about what I don't have like I used to . I take the dog for a walk in the morning and read stories that I would have previously done throughout the day. This gives me more time to concentrate on my family. Like my lawn, the ruts are still there but the green is starting to come through. I hope very soon to have a plush green lawn and a newfound love and apprection for what the Lord has given me. Next time you see me, ask how my lawn is.

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Social Experimenting-Experiments 1&2

I have a coworker that directed me to a website www.improveverywhere.com. The site is more or less a site where a group of people conduct experiments in public just to see what reactions will occur. One of my favorites is "Where's Rob?" This social experiment was conducted at Madison Square Garden. The premise was there is a guy named Rob that gets lost coming back from halftime while looking for his friends. His friends see him and are yelling for him. The goal was to see how many people they could get to yell for Rob. By the end of the game there was a whole section yelling for Rob. Funny stuff. With this model in place I decided to conduct a few experiments of my own.

Experiment 1 "The Ring Test"-

The Test:I have been married for 7 years now and one of my coworkers recently became married. I wanted to see if I took off my wedding ring how long would it take before my wife realized that it was missing. My friend took his off at the same time I did. We started this experiment on Friday after our work day.

Expectations: My expectations were my wife would not realize it at all and I would come back Monday with little to report. I thought that due to the length of marriage my coworker's wife would immediately recognize that his ring was missing and by that evening he would be wearing his ring again

Results: I stuck my ring in my pocket on Friday and went home that day. My wife and I had a nice evening with no questions asked about the location of my ring. Saturday I awoke and transferred my ring from the pocket that the ring was in the previous day to the shorts I was wearing at the time. Again nothing was said, although I did not factor in that we had pictures scheduled that day. So if you see these pics posted somewhere, there is a reason my ring is missing. That night I decided I did not want to really lose my ring, so I placed it on a drawer and went to sleep. Sunday we awoke and as we were heading to church my wife asked where my wedding ring was. I pointed at her as if to acknowledge that she just caught me. I thought I could officially take her off the clock, but then she said she had saw it earlier and was wondering why I wasn't wearing it. I chalk this up to a botched experiment. Id like to replicate it again, but my wife is definitely going to be on the lookout for it. My coworker said he had similar results, he placed his ring in a jewelry box that his wife never gets into, but she just happened to look inside and saw it on Saturday afternoon. All in all it was a fun first experiment.

Experiment 2: No Talking (internally)

The Test: A lot of my internal interactions are conducted by instant messaging. I thought it would be fun to see how long it would take for my coworkers to figure out that I was only speaking through Instant Messaging or facial gestures. I also wanted to see what reactions I would get after people realized that I was not talking.

Expectations: I expected my coworkers to be oblivious to the fact until around 4-5 P.M. Emotionally I expected a sympathetic reaction.

The Results: I started the experiment at approximately 9:30 AM. Almost immediately someone asked me a question. I typed furiously to get the answer out. She read my response and was happy with it. The next person that realized that something was going on asked me if I lost my voice. I lipped that I was trying to preserve it. He wanted to see if I was ok or if there was anything he could do. The sympathy expectation was definitely achieved. I then went back to work. Our admin. assistant asked me some direct questions not pertaining to work that I could not respond to. I tried to divert, but she knew something was up. She is an incredibly nice person, but I could tell she was getting frustrated, but I stood my ground and didn't say anything. The next gentleman that arrived was asking me some questions that I couldn't answer except through IM. Luckily I had my phone headset on. He asked if I was on the phone. I nodded my head and he said I'll catch up with you later. I was pretty proud of that so I did a celebratory dance. The bad news is the admin assistant saw me do the dance. Now she knew something was up. She asked another coworker that feared my peculiar behavior was due to something they had done. I had lunch with both the admin. asst. and the other coworker. The minute I stepped out the door I was grilled about what was going on. I fessed up and they giggled about the whole ordeal. Ultimately the test only lasted for about 2 hours, but in that timespan I realized if you don't talk, many different emotions are felt including sympathy, anger, and paranoia.

Look for more experiments to come soon!

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A Letter to My Daughter

Dear Kaitlyn,

In the past year I have had the extreme privilege of being your father. I never would have believed that someone that couldn't speak could make me want to be a better man, but you have. You'll probably rarely see your old man shed a tear, but I want to let you know that the day you were born I weeped like a school girl that just skinned her knee. Those tears were tears of pride and Im not ashamed of them. It has been amazing in the short span of a year to see you go from rolling over to crawling and walking and talking. I am so proud of you and always will be. When you look me right in the eye and say "dada" and smile at me it absolutely melts my heart. I have had some things on my mind that I know if I explained them to you now it wouldn't make too much sense. So this is a letter of advice for when you get a little older:

Love the Lord. This is a vital piece of growing up. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be bombarded with advice that will point to the Bible being a hoax or trying to disprove religion. Stay strong in your faith. If you feel that your faith is slipping pray and study the Bible. The answers are there, sometimes we just have to look for them. Surround yourself with friends that are righteous and those friends will be your friends for life.

Love your Momma. I love seeing the way your mother interacts with you. The moment I think no one could love you more than me, I look over at your mom and realize there is someone in this world that loves you just as much as I do. She is an amazing woman and you are a lucky little girl to have her as your momma. I know that as you grow up you may not always see eye to eye with us on every subject, but I want you to know that we love you more that you will even able to comprehend until you too have children.

Give 100%. I don't know what you are going to be when you grow up. I cant wait to find out. Your mother and I have decided we are not going to push you toward any one thing. We want you to find out what you want to do. Once you do find your niche we want you to put everything that you have into it though. If you have given everything that you have into whatever you decide to do, that will be good enough for me. I could care less if you are the best or the worst as long as can honestly tell me you gave 100% that will be good enough for me.

Find a man that will treat you like the princess that you are. When you hit 35 or so, I believe I will let you start dating (don't worry thats a joke). My approval will be contingent on a few traits this man should possess. Does this guy love the Lord? How does he treat you? Does he strive to be a better man because of you? Does he make you happy? There may be more questions, but I illustrate these questions because they are questions that I try to be accountable for with your mother. She is my princess.

Live every day like it was your last. The unfortunate truth is we all have an expiration date. God did not mean for this to be our final destination. While we are here though, have some fun. Go traveling, be silly, do something adventurous. Dont sit around and watch life pass you by, go out and take it. you will be happy you did.

One last piece of advice and I will leave you alone (for now). Dont go to bed angry. If there is something on your mind that causes you not to be able to go to sleep, see if the issue can be resolved. Even if it cannot, at least you will know that you did everything that you could. This is an important lesson no matter how old you are.

As I am writing this I am still a fairly young man. I am sure I will have more wisdom to impart as we grow up together. I just need to figure out what it is first. I love ya Katie Lou and am so happy to call you my daughter.

Love,

Dad



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Routines

Does everyone have a routine schedule as crazy as mine? I know my wife has a routine when she wakes up, but I would like to see how our routines compare to other peoples lives.

Up until recently I would wake up every day at 6:20 AM. I would take a shower, brush my teeth, shave (if necessary), and put on some clothes. Usually about the time that I would complete this routine Kaitlyn (my daughter) would awaken. I take her out of her crib, change her diaper, and then sit her in bed with her mommy and Jacey (her dog). I would get up much earlier than I needed to so that I would make sure not to forget anything. I have a problem with forgetting, so this did help. My routine did not stop at home though, it extended to my work. Every day I would get to work unload and dock my computer. After this is done I look at each support member and simply say "drinks"? The few that accept my offer go to the other side of the office where the water cooler is locate, I extend a greeting to the IT staff that has undoubtedly been there hours before I would even think of arriving. and the routine goes on and on and on.....

I imagine we all have routines to some degree, I also think mine is a little more strictly adhered to than most. I am a creature of habit, so routines work well for me. I do not say this to boast, but more so just to laugh and how ridiculous my routine can be at times. I was reading a friends blog and it got me to thinking about my routine and if it was a healthy routine and I came to the conclusion that it was not. Although I took time out so I could avoid hurrying around, I did not take time out for things more important. I decided I wanted to be more active physically and spiritually and not become so dependent on a routine.

I now awake at 4am and begin my day by catching up on the latest stories from around the internet. After that I spend some time reading the Bible (this was a big part of my old routine that was completely neglected). The rest of the time is usually allotted for a period of self reflection and just enjoying life. Although waking up early is not always an easy thing to do, I feel that it has changed me and pray that change continues to happen.

In closing I'd like to ask the reader of this blog a few questions. Do you have a routine? If so, is it a healthy routine? I am far from where I should be as a Christian and as a man. I think this is a step in the right direction though and I encourage you to make changes if you are stuck in a rut too. If you happen to see me, I would ask that you come up to me and ask how the new routine is going. I can easily slip back into my old ways if I am not careful and I think being held accountable is a good way to ensure that I will not. Til next time, Im off to finish up my new routine :). Later.


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Location:Red Oak Dr,Choctaw,United States

Lebron is Le-Gone

Wow. Last night the Miami Heat took a gigantic step forward by landing this year's greatest free agent, Lebron James. While I cannot blame Miami for going after a player of Lebron's caliber, I must say that I am disappointed by Lebron's decision. Here are the reasons that I don't like this move:

Lebron should have stayed true to the team that drafted him:

I am starting to think that I am a purist of all sports b/c I love when players stay with the team they originally signed with. For instance, I am not a Kobe Bryant fan (not even a little bit). I can appreciate and respect 2 things about him though: 1. At this moment it would be difficult to debate he is the best player currently playing and 2) He has worn the same uniform since he came into the league (granted the number changed). Some would argue with me that is because LA is a much easier town to play and live in than Cleveland. If you had this same argument I would offer this counterpoint. I am from Oklahoma and our hometown hero, Kevin Durant, is the current reigning scoring champion. There was much debate within the press if he would sign on for more years or try to make a bigger name for himself in a bigger market. Durant says on more than one occasion that OKC is home and he wants to be in OKC. I am proud to say that he signed the max contract for 5 more years in OKC. I think that is a really classy move.

I dont think it is all about winning:

I am a hardcore Oklahoma State fan, and have often been criticized for it. Although OSU does not have a bad team, Oklahoma is primarily a Sooner state. I have watched both OU and OSU go through their ups and downs. Although it kills me to say it, OU has seen much more success throughout the years. I cannot argue that OSU is superior in football b/c OU has the national championships to prove otherwise. At any moment growing up and now I could have switched my colors and said OK, now I am a Sooners fan because they win more. That wont happen, while I enjoy watching the Sooners and will be happy to cheer for them, when Bedlam arrives you best believe that I will be donning the Orange and Black. Lebron said I could have made more money if I would have remained a Cavalier, but winning was more important. Essentially he has told his fan base that winning is more important that being on a team that would do anything for you. I truly believe that Cleveland was prepared to go out and recruit the best talent so that Lebron had the best chance to win. They proved this thought last year when they went after Shaq and somehow kept Ilgauskas. Rather than seeing the effort that was made he turned his back and want to win now.

It does take 5 to win:

Lebron gave many examples of how it takes 5 players to win a championship and even the best had to have help. Specifically he mentioned Bird having Lambeer, and Jordan having Pippen, Kukoc, and Rodman. I grew up a Jordan fan and there is no doubt that was Jordan's team. It did take 5 players, Jordan was the leader though. Kukoc was a role player, as was Kerr, Horace Grant, and Rodman. I believe that was a statement that he was trying to reason out his decision. With the current dynamic in Miami Lebron will not be the only leader. I would say there will be 2 leaders (Lebron and D-Wade) a Sidekick (Bosh) and 2 other guys that will be role-players. This is a much different dynamic than when Jordan played and LJ can try to reason it out as much as he wants, but I think he knows that too.

The Decision? More Like the Spectacle:

A one hour national time slot just to announce the team that Lebron would be joining? I have never seen something so ridiculous. Even if I did believe that Lebron's decision was all about winning I lost a lot of respect for LJ to make this decision and not even inform his current team beforehand. I think that is so disrespectful and egotistical. Admittedly, I was never a huge fan of LJ to begin with, but even if I was, I would not be anymore. I do understand that all proceeds went to the Boys and Girls club, but still there is no doubt this conference was done to draw attention to Lebron and I think it was entirely uncalled for.

Parting words: With all this said I am now a huge Cleveland fan and wish them much success!! This season should be interesting. Go Thunder and Go Cleveland!!

12 Reasons we Could be Friends

1. If you are a sports enthusiast we could be friends. Sports are engrained in me. Some of my earliest pics included me holding some kind of football, baseball, etc… At an early agemy dad and I watched the Dallas Cowboys, went to 89ers games, Bedlam baseball, and went to see Magic Johnson play basketball. From then on I was hooked on baseball, basketball, and football. I am not great at all of the sports, but I have a deep appreciation for most, if not all, sports. I can’t get enough of sports and if you love them too we have something to talk about and could be friends.

2. If you have an appreciation for music we could be friends. I have no idea how to describe my affinity for music. My Ipod is crazy. There are songs from nearly every genre. I really have no preference on genres of music. As long as it is good music I love listening and always love to hear what other people enjoy listening to. If you are a music buff we could totally be friends

3. If you are eccentric/impulsive we could be friends. I really enjoy doing things on a whim with no reason. I love having no plans and making plans sporadically and I especially love when friends just go with it. I was having a rough week a while back and conveyed that to a good friend of mine, Michael. He said let’s go to Padre Island! I said when and he said let’s just go over the weekend. That Saturday I was soaking up some rays on the beach without a worry in the world. Eccentric makes for great times

4. If you like technology we could be friends. I could wear the same clothes for years and years and never have a care in the world about it. I have a shirt that I still wear on a regular basis that I have had since my senior year of high school. That is a 10 year old shirt! Stuff like that doesn’t matter much to me, but when it comes to have the latest and greatest gadgets I’m like a little kid at a candy store. I’ve owned 3 of the 4 iphones, have and ipad, own a MacBook, have a nice HDTV and multiple gaming platforms. Every time something interesting and new comes out as far as electronics go I really want it. If you get this same enjoyment out of technology we could be friends.

5. If you are a gamer we could be friends. I must admit, my gaming time is not what it used to be. I used to be able to play games for days and days at a time. Growing up and being a dad has limited my gaming, but I still enjoy playing video games when I can. I enjoy it so much in fact that I have all 3 gaming platforms (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii), even though I don’t really need them all. Although I hardly play anymore I still really enjoy playing when I can and enjoy talking to people that enjoy gaming.

6. If you have a good sense of humor we could be friends. I love being around people that can make me laugh. I love all kinds of humor (dry humor, political humor, physical humor, fart jokes…). I could be friends with you if you didn’t have a sense of humor, but I am pretty sure if that was the case you wouldn’t want to be friends with me.

7. If you like traveling, we could be friends. I always thought when I was younger someday I want to go to New York, Boston, California, Florida, Las Vegas, Ireland, Australia etc… Some people don’t like traveling b/c they feel lost. I am not great with directions in the first place so I am always lost, therefore I have no fear about feeling lost. I love being able to say I have seen the Statue of Liberty, a game in Yankees stadium, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Liberty Bell, Disneyland, the Rocky steps, the ocean, Favre throw a TD pass at Heinz field, been snow skiing, had Tamales in Mexico and many more. I love traveling so much and look forward to it every time.

8. If you like cooking we could be friends. In Junior High I was in a shop class. The teacher really did not like my friend Chad and me. He would call us clowns and really not be happy with our work. To the teachers credit we didn’t take anything seriously and in shop I guess you have to. It got to the point that I just dropped the class and was told I needed to pick another elective. I chose cooking for two reasons: 1. It sounded like a blow off class and 2. Lots of pretty girls were in the class and hormones are raging in junior high. To everyone’s surprise I ended up having a real knack for it. We aced the class easily, and I’ve been cooking ever since. I am more of a griller than anything, but I really enjoy cooking and the food usually turns out pretty decent.

9. If you are insightful, we could be friends. I have a few friends that challenge the way I think and sometimes cause me to think differently. I admittedly am very stubborn, it’s a weakness. I love it when someone can challenge my thinking with logical arguments and causes me to step back and think differently on subjects. It is not always easy to sway me, but when someone does I really feel that person has helped me to grow.

10. We could be friends if you love being a parent. I absolutely love being a parent! In the last year I watched my little girl say her first word (Da Da), see her learn to roll over, crawl, smile, stand up, and walk. I am just amazed that she is already 1. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home. There are tough parts to being a parent (cleaning up dirty diapers, waking up early every morning), but the good parts make the tough ones seem minuscule. My daughter has my heart; I could not imagine my life without her in it. Every time she looks at me and smiles it takes everything I have not to tear up from sheer joy. Being a parent is a love that is hard to explain if you don’t have it. I’m sure there are many parents that know that joy and because of that bond we could be friends

11. We could be friends if you are a dreamer. I loved growing up and listening to Casey Kasem. His signature sign off was “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." I believe that is a great way to live your life. I love to have grandiose ideas and talk to people that believe the same way. I love hearing crazy ideas that may someday work out. I’m sure at one point someone was laughing at Bill Gates when he said wouldn’t it be cool if we could all be connected through the computer on some kind of internet? Dreamers are what make this world continue to evolve. Bill, if you’re reading we could be friends (P.S. cool first name).

12. We could be friends if you are everything I’m not. I have some friends in the world that as an outsider looking in you may ask yourself why are you friends with that person? The truth is sometimes I need friends that are completely the opposite of me so that I can remain balanced. These are the friends that are more difficult to get along with, but I usually also have the strongest relationships with.

I’ll be working soon on 12 reasons we couldn’t be friends. That’s going to be a tougher list, but I’ll see what I can do.