#1 Nicest Thing

I'm thinking this is more of a entire body of work of nice things, but this goes to my sister Linda. She used to work as the promotions director for the local ESPN radio station in Milwaukee (1510). As I clear Chicago on my drive back to Milwaukee for the holidays, I start to pick up the Milwaukee station. My sister calls and says Pat McCurdy (a local guy who does a music/comedy type thing in Milwaukee, and he's very popular... I used to go see him back in school!) is going to be on the air. As I'm listening, my sister tells them that it's my birthday, and Pat makes up a birthday song for me and sings it on the radio! I have a clip of it here (it's about one minute long).

Linda has also done numerous other really nice things for me, including:

1. Planning a graduation party (including the tent, the invitations, and ordering the food)
2. Getting a bunch of Green Bay Packers from the '96 Superbowl team to sign hats for me

And much more.

Just goes to show how blessed I am for what wonderful friends I have, and these are just the top 5. There's a whole long tail of stuff people have done for me, things like keeping up with my job search, helping me with my dating life (i.e Dave and his BCS ranking method), continuing to encourage me in all of my goals, inviting me to dinners, etc. I hope to do the same for all of you!

Why we love Wisconsin

So I'm still here in Wisconsin, as a snowstorm hit yesterday during my scheduled flight back to Ohio. I think my plane did leave, after a 2 hour delay, but I decided to take advantage of Skybus's relatively cheap change fee ($40) and flight prices and change my ticket to leave today instead. I took advantage of the additional time here in Wisconsin and with my family to do something I haven't done in a long time... build a snow fort with my sister, just like the old days!
















We think it kinda looks like the Alamo!

Quite a popular day

December 23, 2007... My 30th birthday, which is quite a milestone I guess. But there will be a plethora of reasons this day will be special to some of my friends and family this year.

First, I got to celebrate my 30th birthday with the Zeroth birthday of my friends Jason and Linda's twin daughters. She was being induced for the 22nd, but I was rooting for the 23rd just so I could have the same birthday as them... and my wish came true (I'm sure Linda's didn't!) when the labor lasted until 3AM on the 23rd. I don't know why, but I feel really honored to share my birthday with their daughters!

This morning I got a text message from Amit, saying he was "officially" engaged. I guess I need to confirm that it happened on the 23rd, but nevertheless I'm very happy for him. He was obviously very excited about it all week, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Then to top it all off, I got word this morning that my cousin Delson had proposed to his girlfriend Julie. Delson had been getting a lot of slack because my sister had gotten engaged this August. So congrats to him too!

So my 30th birthday, a birth day (literally), and 2 engagements... If that's not karma, I don't know what is!!!!

#2: The Promotion Dinner

#2 on the list of nicest things people have done for me... This goes to Tom and the promotion dinner, which made Tom's top 6 list of best dinners. I was probably one of the last, if not THE last, person in my new hire class to be promoted. So when it happened, it was that much more sweeter. Tom, along with Dave, Jim, and many others, continued to give me encouragement and a chance to vent throughout the winding road that has been my career.

Tom suggested celebrating at the Precinct, an upscale steak place. It was great to be able to get Dave and Jim (and their spouses) all at the Precinct that night. Karen was 8.9999999999 months pregnant at the time, which actually worked in our favor because that meant she couldn't schedule any outings and therefore was available on short notice. So we were able to get some good company!

To top it off, we were somehow given a private room with service fit for kings. I believe when Tom made the reservation, he mentioned it was for a promotion. We speculated maybe they thought some newly anointed CEO was celebrating with a dinner there. Nevertheless, it was a great dinner with great friends. Thanks to Tom for having the thought to set it up!

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #3

As I near my 30th birthday, #3 nicest thing someone did for me was for my 21st birthday. I didn't really drink before I turned 21 (I guess growing up around all that beer desensitized me), and with my birthday being so close to Christmas, the campus was pretty deserted when it came time for my birthday. Gretchen, one of my Chem E classmates, insisted that we do something on my 21st birthday. So around midnight on December 22, after exams were all done, she and I bundled up (it's really cold in Wisconsin in the winter) and headed down to the Nitty Gritty, which is known on campus as the Birthday Bar (they sing a very annoying birthday song to everyone who celebrates a bd there... "Happy Birthday... Happy Birthday... Happy happy birthday to you!" over and over again). There I had my very first legal beer... A Leinenkugel's Red (I still drink this beer). I also had some fruity shot, the name I can't remember, some other shot, and I was required to do a "muffdiver" which was a shot of something buried in whip cream and I had to down it without using my hands.

This was about as much alcohol as I had ever had in my life. I called it a night after shot #3,
and was OK enough to board the 2 AM free bus back to my dorm (appropriately named the "drunk bus"). Gretchen took a cab back. Back in my room, I looked in the mirror and saw the most bloodshot eyes ever! But all in all, I did surprisingly OK and I don't remember stumbling around or anything.

But to this day, I still remember how Gretchen insisted I go out on my 21st birthday, even though she was the only person I knew who was still around campus. She even didn't let me pay for anything, saying I shouldn't be buying on my birthday. Probably one of the most lamest 21st birthdays by most standards, but one that really sticks out in my mind!

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #4

#4 on the list is Jim and Karen acting as wing-man/woman for me about a year and a half ago... I think I blogged about this back then. The story is Jim and I went to a middle/high school science fair to be judges for the kids science fair projects (no, we did not attempt to pick up a high schooler). We got hooked up to this particular fair because Karen's friend was a teacher and had some students in it. After the fair, Jim and I sat down for some lunch and Karen's friend came over to talk to us, along with a female colleague of hers (who Jim pegged as looking like Elisabeth Shue, of Karate Kid/Back to the Future fame).





(This is a picture of Elisabeth Shue)








After they left, Jim shot me a look of "so, what do you think of her?" I said yeah, she's pretty attractive. Jim goes "I'll mention something to Karen." I'm thinking, all right, worth a shot.

This was Saturday afternoon. Monday afternoon at 5 PM, Jim called me and gave me her name and phone number. This had to be record time, because it had to go from Jim to Karen to Karen's friend to Karen's friend's friend, back to Karen's friend, Karen, and Jim in the span of 48 hours. Anyways, we ended up going out a few times before she moved away. But the bottom line is, it's very flattering to have Jim and Karen be so willing to go to bat for me. And this doesn't count the countless other attempts that Karen (and apparently her grandma too!) has made as well. So in honor of this and all of her other attempts, this is #4 on the list.

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #5

Thanks to Tom's blog post for providing the inspiration for this...

I racked my brain and thought of the Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... These were blow me away, wow that was REALLY nice type things. I know there's a Long Tail (see future post on what that is) of little things people have done for me that I also treasure very much, and maybe other big stuff that I just haven't thought of yet. This list also does not include anything my parents did for me (which of course would fill a book, starting with #1: Giving me life) or ex-girlfriends (gets kinda awkward). So this will be a 5 part blog, starting with #5.

#5. High school graduation gift

My good friend Jason, who I was best man for in his wedding, gave me two tickets to a Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert for my graduation present... one ticket for me, and one ticket for my girlfriend at the time. Back then we had talked all the time about women (or womyn, as he liked to call them) and our trials and tribulations. We were in this weird coincidence... He started dating a girl. They broke up a few months in, and within like a week I started seeing this girl (we met in the pit orchestra of our school musical, she played the flute, I played the violin). So he was happy for me, but with a bit of a heavy heart. So it was incredibly thoughtful of him to spring for these tickets, giving me and my date a great time at a very appropriate event (since we met because of the orchestra).

Before you feel sorry for him, to complete the coincidence, the girl broke up with me after a month of dating. And I think it was maybe that weekend when his ex-girlfriend came to talk to me (we were also good friends) because she wanted him back. They are now married, with a beagle named Bucky and twins on the way. And you know how my dating saga goes since then. :)

Some pics from Dallas

So who do you think I was rooting for? Answer: I was completely torn. I confused a lot of fans with this outfit.

Here's my dad and I at the infamous "Grassy knoll" (the place where JFK was shot). They marked X's in the road where the shots took place. The museum was awesome, got to look down from where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched when he took the shot (or did he?). Then for good measure we drove down the same road on the way home. Freaked out my sister. :)

Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college

Interesting post on a blog...

Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college

One interesting thing, note how deeply ingrained the idea of getting good grades is in our heads... This guy makes some very good points, but some of the comments he got were pretty scathing.

An email to Office Depot customer service

I wanted to compliment the service I received today from store number 287 in Blue Ash, OH. I had lost my receipt for a Lenovo notebook computer for a rebate that was worth $70. The store manager, I believe her name was Bev or Beth, offered to look up the receipt for me and print up another copy. When she found out that the computer was purchased at another store, she said that I needed to go to that store to pick it up. Then she thought of a better idea, and called the store herself and had them fax over the receipt, saving me a trip.

I wasn't expecting to be able to get this receipt, but the store manager not only solved my problem but went above and beyond to contact the other store to have the receipt faxed to me.

Please recognize this store employee as a shining example of great customer service.