15 Day Challenge, Day 12

In an attempt to finish strong, here's today's 15 Day Challenge prompt:

What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?

Like yesterday, I can answer this one pretty easily: early October! In the span of two weeks...

• We finish The Dwyer Group Annual Reunion at work, a three-day convention that hosts as many of the corporate personnel, our franchisees and vendors as we can get under one roof (this year at the gorgeous Gaylor Texan Resort in Dallas). It's going to be hectic leading up to the event, but it's incredibly rewarding once it gets started.

• After that, my sister is getting married! She and Jess will be tying the knot at the Earle-Harrison House and Pape Gardens here in Waco, then flying off to Seattle for their Alaskan honeymoon cruise. Jess is a welcome addition to the family - incredibly nice guy!

• Once the wedding is done, I'm then hopping a redeye to Las Vegas for the Direct Marketing Association Conference. I've thoroughly enjoyed the DMA Conference the last two years (once in San Francisco, once in Boston); I always come back energized with new marketing ideas. But this will be especially fun since it's my first trip to Vegas.

And upon my return, I will be collapsing in a heap and sleeping for a few days.

15 Day Challenge, Day 11

Okay, so trying to sit down and blog daily is tougher than I thought! I'm even getting called out for it. Harsh, Sar.

Today's 15 Day Challenge prompt is...

What's one thing you would never change about yourself?

Easy answer: my sense of humor. I rarely (if ever) take anything too seriously, and if I do have a bout of Seriousness, it passes quickly. I try to address any problems or concerns or stresses as they come up. If I can't address them, no sense in angsting over them.

On an unrelated note (unless I can use "general foolishness" as a segue), I dropped by my dad's place during the 4th of July. My sister, Brittany, tried to talk him into getting some fireworks with no luck. I gave a brief rendition of this scene before we settled on misbehaving with sparklers.

Yes, some of the sparks did go in his mouth and his mustache.

The wind picked up during my turn.

Brittany had to work up to holding it close.

15 Day Challenge, Day 6 and 7

I could be doing better at this 15 Day Challenge business. I'm following up my last post about missing a day and doing two at once with...a post about missing a day and doing two at once.

DAY 6: WHAT HAVEN'T YOU DONE?
So the post I skipped yesterday first...

What's something you've always wanted to do, but haven't? Why not?

I was going to put down "drive construction equipment" but did something this week about which I'm pretty excited. Coming out of college, my student loans from Baylor (sic 'em) were (are) astronomical. Mix that with not landing a great job after college, and I never got started investing. 

Well, this week, I started.

I'm a few reasonable payments away from Student Loan #1 being done, ditto car payments, and I've moved up into the aforementioned great job. I just figured it was about That Time.

(Side Note: if anyone wants to let me drive their Cat construction equipment for a couple hours, let me know. I'm willing to work for free as long as I can play with a large pile of dirt for, like, 20 minutes.)

DAY 7: BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Meanwhile, the second prompt is...

Recommend a book for us to read. Why do you think it's important?

I'm a huge fan of satirist Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series. Each novel takes on a topic in an environment detached from but similar to our own. Although I love many of his books, I think my favorite of the bunch is Small Gods. 

Yes, you can read it as a standalone.

Don't worry, it doesn't poke fun at anyone's religion, but touches on the meaning of religion, faith and treatment of others different from you.

15 Day Challenge, Day 4 and 5

Eep, I managed to miss yesterday's 15 Day Challenge, so I made sure to include a make-good today. 

DAY 4: CHILDHOOD MEMORY
Ehh, this question is the reason I missed yesterday. The goal was...

What is your favorite childhood memory?

I sat down early in the day to write and couldn't come up with anything. Is that sad?

I did think of something earlier today though. I grew up near an elementary school that was overrun with geckos in the evenings. My folks explained to me that the geckos were hunting bugs and keeping their numbers in check. My Little Kid Brain started connecting a few puzzle pieces:

• Our house was overrun with bugs.
• Geckos eat bugs.
• Our house had no geckos.
• The elementary school had many geckos.
• Malaria is bad.

I spent that summer collecting gecko after gecko with a couple friends and transporting them back to my parents' house. I'm not sure if the bug population went down, but to this day, the geckos' descendants are still around my dad's house.

DAY 5: DINNER FOR FIVE
Meanwhile, the question I'm answering late in the day is actually one that I submitted:

If you could have dinner with any five people, who would they be?

As much as I tried to make use of this dinner, I really couldn't. Taking people like Neil deGrasse Tyson or Nelson Mandela is going to be a lost cause on me; I'm not able to take in their knowledge and apply it in a meaningful way. So instead I went for entertainment in form of the Older Comedian All-Star Team:

1. John Cleese, for his eulogy at Graham Chapman's funeral.
2. Stephen Fry, for his brilliant piece on language.
3. Bill Murray, for the No One Will Ever Believe You stories.
4. Jon Stewart, for destroying Crossfire.
5. Bill Cosby, for teaching us chocolate cake for breakfast is good for you.

I'm not sure how much I would learn, but I bet it would be an entertaining dinner nonetheless.

15 Day Challenge, Day 3

Per the previously mentioned 15 Day Challenge, today's topic is:

[3] Tell about an article of clothing that you're deeply attached to

This one is actually ridiculously easy for me! I have an old busted Nike hat that I've owned since college. It's seen better days...

My hat's seen better days.

It lost its original black luster within the first six months, as I walked almost everywhere out at Baylor. I pretty much lived in the thing, to the point where people didn't recognize me without the hat (no, really). It's the only hat I've ever owned that got worn so much it required regular washing. I don't wear it that much anymore, but it hangs on my wall above all other hats. Like, one hat to rule them all.

MY BALLS HAVE BEEN BUSTED
I've had a rough go of it recently with a friend from work. On three occasions in the last two months, she's told me my work lacks value to the organization (twice directly, once indirectly). Tonight was doubly tough when she informed me I wasn't qualified for advancement. I know both to be untrue statements, as my boss and his boss say otherwise. Nonetheless, it's a gut punch when I hear something like that from someone who's opinion I value so highly.

We've talked about how shitty that is, usually after I respond in kind by saying something I later regret. And yet, we wound up back in the same place this evening. [Full Disclosure: I'm also fairly accused of feeling the need to always be right and unfairly accused of feeling I'm better than her.] I don't have a solution beyond (a) take the abuse or (b) lose the friend. I don't like the idea of (b), so it's (a) for the foreseeable future. Blah.

DAMN NATURE, YOU SCARY
I try not to end any post on a down note, and that last one was definitely a downer. With that in mind, watch this video:

So, yeah, that actually happens. I expect to see that repeated on Shark Week next month. Oh yes, friends, Shark Week begins August 12. Whaaaaat?

15 Day Challenge, Day 2

Continuing on the 15 Day Challenge, today's goal is a six-word memoir. Colette recommended this one, citing Ernest Hemingway as the source. Hemingway was challenged to write a complete story in as few words as possible. Being quite the cheerful fellow, Hemingway submitted: "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."

Hemingway's feet feat turned into A Thing, prompting a slew of books, competitions and compilations. So taking a crack at summarizing my life into six words...

Flight, via seat of my pants

How's that for abstract? Many people around me have grandiose plans for their present and their future; meanwhile, I struggle with planning a six-day vacation. I tend to live very much in the now and, as far as Important Things go, let nature take it's course. Sometimes it works out well for me and sometimes it costs me. I suppose I could plan more in the future, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

15 Day Challenge, Day 1

So I've been talked into doing a blog event, the 15 Day Challenge, wherein I'm to respond to a question or prompt every day for 15 days. Full disclosure: being talked into doing a blog event sounded like...

Sarah: "Hey are you doing the 15 Day Challenge?"
Me: "Yup!"

Today's prompt is 15 Fun Facts About Yourself. Let's go with...

1. I don't type with my pinkies. I learned incorrectly during the AOL Era and haven't cared enough to relearn. And yes, they do jut out English Tea Style.

2. I plan on watching a ridiculous amount of the Olympics. I love (a) sports and (b) seeing people achieve their dreams, so this is pretty much the perfect storm of awesome. Plus, everyone in the nation can agree on their favorite team! What's not to like?

3. The only times I sing or dance are in the car or while cooking. What I lack in skill I make up for with exuberance.

4. Television shows featuring antiheroes are almost always a hit with me. (See: Breaking Bad, The Wire, Game of Thrones or Dexter). Or at least that's how I'm justifying a Netflix queue filled with shows about drug dealers and murderers.

Seriously, I can't wait for this to come back. Two more weeks!

5. I'm going to start doing yoga in the morning this week. I can't get myself to go for a run that early, so yoga sounded like a reasonable compromise. 

6. I think debating music is one of the silliest things possible. "This rhythmic sound I enjoy is better than the rhythmic sound you enjoy! Here are subjective reasons why!"

7. I can't gain weight without considerable effort, and I carry it well even when I do. I accidentally dropped 20 pounds within recent memory (185 to 165) and no one noticed.

8. My greatest motivator is others' lack of belief in me. If someone tells me I can't accomplish something, I only want to do it more so I can throw it in their face. Sports writer Bill Simmons often brings up the No One Believes in Us Theory as a motivator for teams. It's real.

9. My adorable mutt, Banjo, was almost named Tupac. I called him different dog names and let him choose which he would like. He was responding to both Banjo and Tupac, but I decided a dog named Tupac wouldn't be nearly as funny to me in 10 years.

Banjo / Tupac on his first day home.

10. My hair is shorter now than it's ever been. I had hair down to my chin in high school and it's gotten progressively shorter since.

11. I have a tiny family consisting of my mom, dad, sister, aunt and uncle. Five. That's it until October, when my sister's pre-husband ups the family count by 20%.

12. This week, I'm taking my first extended break from work in 2012. I haven't been out more two days since Christmas 2011. I have no clue what to do with myself, but one day will definitely involve Six Flags.

13. Although I managed to injure myself semi-regularly (See: The Midnight Thumb Massacre), I have never broken any bones or done enough damage to require surgery. Knock on wood.

14. I've been pulled over my the police five times in my life: three times for speeding, once for having a taillight out and once for an out-of-date inspection sticker. I have yet to receive a ticket. Again, knock on wood.

15. I love thunderstorms, the more violent the better. I'm the person who stands near the window to look during tornado watches. The window hasn't blown in yet. Knock on w--you know what, nevermind, bring it nature!