Big Game Tonight

The Packers play the Dallas Cowboys tonight to determine the best record in the NFC. It may also determine who had the #1 seed in the playoffs, but that's a little premature. I will be watching some of the game in the basement of Webster Hall eating tacos as part of the Webster Taco fiesta (WTF). I am hoping we have a high turnout.

As for who will win the game...I really would love to see the Packers win. I hope I'm wrong, but I think the Cowboys are going to win tonight. I see it being high scoring and definitely exciting. I think we have some problems with injuries and that will play a factor. My guess: Cowboys 31, Packers: 24.

Winter Is Here!

The winds are swirling, the temperatures are dropping and we recently had our first snow fall of the winter season. More is predicted for today. Winter has arrived.

I know my Mom is cringing right now because the first measurable snowfall of the year means that I start to grow a beard. This will last until Good Friday. It is beginning to fill in nicely.

Birthday/Election Celebration

I just looked and saw the November 4, 2008 will be election day for the new president. It's also my birthday. Exciting!

Just How Specialized?

When Christa and I bought our new car, it came with XM Satellite Radio for 3 months free. We decided to continue the subscription. We like it a lot. We are especially fans of the Cinemagic station that plays nothing but movie soundtracks. They have all sorts of good stuff.

What blew me away was the POTUS 08 station. It is a station that provides 24-7 coverage of the presidential election. Wow. When cable station moved toward 24-7 news in general I thought that was a stretch. But, this takes a step further. Don't get me wrong, I like the station, but who knew we needed wall to wall election coverage.

Life Question

This came up as a topic of conversation at a recent viewing of the Monday Night Football game. Some colleagues of mine were contemplating this question: If someone could narrate the story of your life, who would it be? Think of it like this. If someone could watch you go through your day and narrate over the things that you do, who would you want that to be.

My choice is Marv Albert. "Jim takes out the bread and peanut butter...YES, a perfect sandwich!" It would be pretty sweet. I would also advocate for Ron Jaworski. I can see him going to the tape and breaking down my latest student conduct meeting.

What would your choice be?

Weekend Checklist

I was struggling to think of what to write for today. I present to you my weekend to-do list:

• Try out the new game I downloaded for free for the 5th Anniversary of XBox Live. It's called Carcassonne. It's usually a table top game, but they converted to computer.
• Try to get to the level of Lieutenant - Grade 2, or by some miracle, Captain in Halo 3.
• Try to get some achievements and find the skulls on Halo 3.
• Continue work on the candidacy guidebook ans psychological assessment paperwork.
  
• Enjoy Packer game!
  

Things to Look Forward to...

Tonight will be the second session in a role playing game campaign for the Scion game. It has been a little while since we played, but it will be nice to give it another try. It is markedly different than any game I have played before. I am usually pretty skeptical of games from the White Wolf company...them makers of Vampire. That game creeps me out. This game doesn't. Ryan does a good job running the games as well.

I also got a call from my friend Renard. He invited me to the Packer game on Sunday against Carolina. I am really pumped for that. This would be my fourth Packer game, but this would be the first one with the Packers actually doing really well. The atmosphere should be awesome.

Back on Track

I had a wonderful meeting with my candidacy mentor regarding Methodist ministry candidacy. It had been almost one month since our last meeting. She had some well-deserved vacation and we have both been very busy over the last few weeks.

As the time between our meetings increased I started to stray a little bit from my diligence in completing my ministry requirements. Having now met with my mentor, I feel more back on track.

It reminds me of the one on ones I have with my supervisor. They serve as an opportunity to ask questions, receive feedback and receive motivation. That's how I felt in my meeting. It makes me realize that regular meetings are a healthy part of this process.

So, I keep moving along. I should be finishing my final paperwork for the psychological exam over Thanksgiving Break. I am hoping to make my way to Minnesota for the assessment over Christmas Break. Then, I prepare for the April 10 meeting with District Committee on Ministry.

That's where we're at.

Yep..That's How This Week Feels (sorry for the swears)

Clinton Calls For National Week Off To Get National Shit Together

Free Speech

"It is now common for campuses to set aside specifically designated areas known as "free-speech zones," which used to comprise a somewhat larger zone known as "the United States of America." (from Ann Coulter's book, references yesterday)

I love this quote...quite true. I am saddened by the kid gloves that we treat many issues with these days. Political correctness has destroyed one of the fundamental purposes of the college environment: open discussion on tough issues. We go to college to learn and to be challenged, from all sides and viewpoints...even those that may be uncomfortable or frustrating.

I would appreciate a collegiate environment where I could openly express conservative viewpoints and not be viewed as over-religious, bigoted, old-fashioned or non-compassionate. I think the liberals of the world can feel pretty safe expressing their views. I suppose that's why they created the free speech zone for us. *sigh*

Ann Coulter's New Book

One of the two books that I bought for my birthday was Ann Coulter's new book: If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans. If you check the amazon.com link I provided, you will notice that the vast majority of the reviews are either 1 star or 5 stars. She is definitely a polarizing figure. I find her format for the book to be a little disappointing. After a brief topic introduction, she simply provides quotes from previous books and columns for those topics. Seems kinda cheap and easy for such a gifted writer.

Coulter doesn't seem to pull any punches in this book, although she hasn't pulled punches her entire career. She has offended others and honestly there are times when she offends me as well. I do find, however, underneath the sarcasm and periodic offensiveness, she makes some good points. As someone who considers himself conservative, she and I are on the same page on some stuff.

It will be an entertaining read to say the least.

Birthday

To those that might have asked me before, I had an enjoyable birthday weekend. The party was again great fun, although we did not quite have the attendance that we had last year. There was still plenty of root beer to drink and lots of Guitar Hero to play.

On Saturday I went home to have dinner with Christa and my parents. I had a 20 oz. prime rib. Yum!

Sunday was a game video games and football. I got enjoy a great Packer victory, but also saw a crushing fantasy football defeat...oh well. The books I ordered were in the mail when I checked on Sunday so I picked those up as well. I have some good reading material for the next few weeks.

I don't feel 31, but you are only as old as you feel. ;)

The Guitar Hero Community

If you click on this link: http://www.guitarhero.com/accounts/232539, you will taken to my profile in the Guitar Hero III community. If you actually do much navigation, there is not that much to the site. I do get a kick out of the fact that it tracks your progress in on-line matches as well as career earnings.

If there was a module I could add to the blog, I would add it. You can't have enough of those. Besides, my Halo 3 score doesn't seem to be going anywhere anyway. ;)

Fantasy Football

I am currently 7-1 in a fantasy football league with nine other gentlemen. We paid $20 to be in the league, so the though of placing high and winning a little money is quite exciting. I wish I could say my amazing drafting and trading skills had something to do with my first place showing thus far, but that would be a lie.

In fact, my drafting pretty much sucked. He are in a "keeper" league which means you have the option to keep certain players from year to year. I drafted a lot of older dudes that probably won't improving over the years...my bad. I did, however, manage to pick up Tom Brady who is a fantasy football goldmine. Having picked up Wes Welker as well, they make a potent combination.

That's all...I hope to see many of you tonight!

Guitar Hero 3 Madness

I was able to purchase Guitar Hero 3 on Sunday and have been working my way up from the easiest level. I have finished the "Career Mode" on easy and medium and have found the medium level to actually be quite challenging.

So, now that I have begun the career mode on hard, it is getting really difficult. And I'm on level one of eight! Yikes. It is definitely true that each version of Guitar Hero gets more difficult than the previous.

To combat this concern, I could take advantage of the "practice mode" to get better at certain sections. Seriously...practice? We're talkin' about practice! For Guitar Hero...

The Weekend Festivities

This Sunday I will be 31. I haven't necessarily finalized the plans for the weekend, but here's the general idea.

Friday - From 6-11 PM is the birthday bash in Webster Hall. It should prove to be a fun time. By the time that's over, I will want to be going to bed.

Saturday - Sleep in! Yay. Get some good video game action in during the day and then make my way to Mequon, WI with Christa to have a birthday dinner with my parents. I am not sure where to go, but Porterhouse is always a good default restaurant. Drive back late Saturday.

Sunday (the big day) - Attend church in the morning. Enjoy some great football games in the afternoon. The Packers play the Chiefs at noon. The Patriots and Colts play in the late game. I am thinking Christa and I will grab dinner out after that. Then, it's off to E-Board and duty. I look forward to a duty night of giving out candy for my birthday. Should be fun!

Mission Accomplished

Many things were accomplished this weekend. I managed to complete 6 of 8 documents for the psychological assessment. I have made a pretty good dent in the other two, but they will take some time. I am hoping to complete them by the end of next weekend so that I can schedule an appointment for the assessment before the end of the year.

I managed to clean the apartment and do a good deal of filing. I need to make sure that it stays clean throughout the week for the party. Christa and I can do a pretty good job of messing up the apartment throughout the week.

I also managed to earn my one promotion in Halo and 3 and getting pretty close to another one. You can read about this in the new application I added to my blog. I am hoping to get in some Halo 3 time on Tuesday. Most of tonight will be spent watching the Packer's Monday Night Football game.

I also purchased Guitar Hero 3 for the XBox 360. Very fun...I am starting on easy and working my way up. It should be a fund addition to the upcoming birthday celebration!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

This coming weekend I will be the Residence Hall Directory on duty for the weekend. So, I can't leave the city of Oshkosh. Usually, these are productive weekends because I am around so much. This weekend will be no exception.

On the To-Do list for the weekend:

• Finishing the various checklists, inventories and assessments for the ministry psychological assessment.
• Working on the ministry candidacy guidebook.
• Play some serious Halo 3 (yeah, it's on the to-do list)
• Do a serious cleaning job on the apartment in preparation for the birthday party.

That should be enough. It will be busy, but fun!

The Power of Packer Games

I am a fan of the Green Bay Packers. I enjoy watching their football games. Unlike the Brewers and Bucks, I am not a fair-weather fan. I have watched the Packers both when they have been good and when they've been terrible.

As a member of our church choir, we have sometimes done a special Christmas Cantata concert in December. When we schedule this concert, we were very conscious about making sure that it was not scheduled during a Packer game. One time, they scheduled it during a game and their attendance was way down.

Not necessarily being in a position before where I needed to schedule events, I now think about Packer games when I schedule anything. In fact, The minute the Packer schedule comes out, I add it to my Palm so that I don't schedule anything over it.

What are your thoughts? Should you schedule (or re-schedule) an event because it would conflict with a Packer game?

31st Birthday Party

The publicity is officially making its way out. The 2nd Annual Birthday Celebration is on! I will be celebrating my 30th+1 birthday in the Webster Lobby & RHD Apartment. It will be taking place from 6:00-11:00 PM on November 2, 2007.

Here is the Facebook invitation if you use it:
http://uwosh.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6885468627

Please let me know if you want to come to the celebration.