OUCH!!!!

My eyes hurt. This TETRIS addiction is bad!!!! I've been "single" this weekend, and other than deer hunting, cleaning, working-out, laundry, cooking, reading, I have played TETRIS (go to http://www.tetrisfriends.com/). This is bad!!! I mean BAD!!!!

Anyhow, I've established a new HIGH SCORE.... I have attained a score of 227,705, and simply could NOT believe it. The game just kept going.... You have to focus on what's coming next... And plan for it....

My eyes hope Marie gets home soon. They can't take any more of this Tetris game!!!!

Saturday...

Today has been a busy day. Got up this morning, and Reed and I made pancake breakfast for everyone. Reed even made coffee for mom - and he did a great job. Then Noah, Sam and I cleaned the house and left for errands. We got some of our stuff done, which was good.

After that we needed to get the oil changed in "Red Danger". While waiting to get the oil changed, the "Red Danger" died while sitting at Rapid Oil Change in line. The battery was old, and while listening to the radio with the engine off, the battery died. I didn't want to leave engine running, as it's incredibly hard on engines to idle for a long time, and I wanted to save fuel and "be green". I am a conservationist. :). Anyhow, the short time in line quickly became a 2 hour challenge. Eventually we got the battery changed, and got the oil, oil filter, air filter changed. We added power steering fluid too - which helped the car. And, we added air into the tires. "Red Danger" should be just about set for winter....

Then we got home and made some brats - we (Noah, Sam and I) were SUPER hungry - since they'd only had 1/2 banana each since breakfast - the banana we found in "Red Danger" - and I hadn't eaten at all since breakfast. We ate and all feel better.

Now I'm sitting by the fire in my cozy clothes, watching Reed play James Bond on N64 and getting ready to read. I'm tired. But happy. Enough for today....

addicted to Tetris...

OK. Marie got me hooked on this game Tetris that can be found at http://www.tetrisfriends.com/. It's ADDICTING. My eyes hurt. I haven't played in a while - only one or two games this week, and not many for the last two weeks.

I played tonight. I played "my butt off". My eyes hurt. They're feeling really funny. So anyhow - I scored HUGE points tonight. My previous high score was 127,690, but tonight, I obliterated that score. I now have a new high score of 174,118. Did I tell you though, that my eyes hurt? Uff da. I don't think I blinked for 22 minutes.....

Now it's time to go watch "Kung Fu Panda".

Saturday Update

Today has been a great day. We got up to a nice, cool, cloudy day and got going. Marie took off for work, and I drank some coffee while reading "Dr Zhivago". I am really enjoying this book - great prose. I know that sounds geeky, but it's got some really great writing in this book. Then my good friend Steve and I went to the rifle range. He was able to get his 7mm all dialed in for deer hunting, and I was able to play with a couple of my .300's. I just love that Sako - so smooth and such an accurate rifle. But the Weatherby has a really nice smooth trigger. :). I like them all.... Then we came back and measure bullet weights of bullets from Africa. I have to tell you that the Barnes bullet that I recovered from my kudu weighed 179.7gr (it was originally 180gr). Steve's bullet from the zebra was about 153gr (it was originally 175gr). And the bullet from his bush pig had lost just over 60% of its original weight.

Then I played some Tetris online. Marie got me to playing the game online at www.tetrisfriends.com and I have to tell you that I'm hooked. And given the competitive nature of myself, when Marie hit over 50000 points the other day, I had to practice. Well, practice I did and pretty soon had hit a score of 94,414 points!!!! My goal now is to exceed 100,000 points!!!

Then this afternoon after Marie got back we hung out for a short time and then I went deer hunting. It was a gorgeous day!!!! I was so happy to be out in the woods - LONG walk to get where I hunt - it's about a mile or mile and half before I get where I hunt after parking. But I did get to see one small buck - he was about 60 yards away. I had my bow in my hand, arrow knocked, release on the bow string, but didn't draw. The deer was just too far away for me to feel comfortable and confident that I'd make a clean shot. So I didn't shoot and just watched him walk away. I used my grunt a few times to call at him, and he looked towards me, but then just moseyed away as quitely as he'd arrived..... Deer hunting is funny sometimes - - - you'll be sitting in your tree and then all of a sudden, there's a deer. It's like he was there all the time, but you just didn't realize it. They just appear.... And sometimes, they just disappear....

The evening was beautiful - I got to see little song birds, hear woodpeckers, hear an owl, coyotes and the deer. It was a great evening. I even kept in touch with Marie with text messages while I was out there in the woods - it was cool. :).

Well, after getting home, you guessed it, I played more tetris online. But no new high scores. Maybe tomorrow. :).

Have a great night.

Life

Life is an interesting thing....

• What is life?


• What does life mean? What brings meaning to life?


• Why are we here?
  

Things like that often go through folks minds when they ponder life....

But life, in my opinion, is about those who you love, and those who love you, and what you love to do with life and those with whom you surround yourself. Parents. Siblings. Kids. Hunting. Scrapbooking. Driving. Writing. Traveling. What ever it is... That is what your life is....

The most important thing is that you know what's important to you - "Know Thyself" - as my high school teacher Mr Vaughan used to say. And that you grasp every single day with your future life goals balanced with enjoying the day at hand and pursue that vigorously.

And, in the end, be kind to others, even those to whom it's very hard to be kind.

Been a little while....

Well, things have been CRAZY busy with work, starting a new quarter and traveling to FLA for our annual TC Conference. This year's TC Conference was interesting, but I missed being home for some AWESOME fall weather here in Minnesota - nice and cool and would have been great deer hunting weather..... I also very much missed being home with Marie and seeing the boys too.... The weather in FLA was nice - not so hot as last year - with temperatures in the mid-80's during the day and comfortable humidity levels. We got to learn lots this year, but I can't talk about what, lest one of our competitors be reading this page. ;). But I can tell you - when the economy improves, we're going to be VERY well positioned, and I think we are in great shape even with the economy/election what it is....

When I got home, I had a grand greeting Sunday morning from Marie and the boys. Placesettings with names for each person, sausage, waffles with homemade whipped cream, bacon from Mackenthun's, coffee were all prepared for the breakfast of a king. :). I had a birthday card from each of the boys and Marie. It was a great way to start the day. Then we went to Lynn & Tim P's to celebrate their son's bday, spend some time outside playing football and walking and enjoying the autumn weather.

This week has already been busy with business reviews at work, Swedish class, day trader's meeting, and just general life. It's been a good week. Busy, hectic, fun, learning, challenging. I'm very excited to continue to work on my business plans, improve my execution there and make that my career within 2-5 years!!!! :).

That's it for now. Hope you all are doing great. Keep smiling, especially when it's hardest to smile.

1 YEAR

Today marks the 1 Year anniversary of when Marie and I met. I remember like yesterday when we met, how radiant and energetic Marie presented herself. We met at the Chatterbox in St Paul - I had to do mapquest to figure out "where in the city I'm going" to get there. I was early - anyone who knows me knows that is a surprise!!!! I was anticipating and excited to meet this woman, Marie, who I met on match.com (it's ok to look - and I'm glad I did!!!!). We met and had appetizers and beers. It was SO EASY to chat with her, and I was struck by her intelligence, her ability to talk about many different topics. I was struck by her beauty and her smile. Marie has a radiance that captivates - if you know her, you know EXACTLY what I mean.

Well, we continued to date and talk - third day we knew each other we couldn't meet, but we talked on the phone so long my battery died. Never fear - I had a charger and was able to call her back. :) We've been together for a whole year now, and it's been a very interesting year with many ups and downs, but that's the way life is. A couple observations about our year's adventure:

• I love Marie more now than ever, and I am looking forward to the future, but enjoying the present!
• Marie is one of the strongest, smartest people I know.
• We can accomplish so much together, and we are already.
• Look out future - the future is ours (the future called and told me).
• Marie is beautiful & I love being with her.

I'm very much amazed at the past year - how the highs of life are magnified by our partnership, but more importantly how we've gotten through the bumps in the road and have stuck together through tough times we've both had. I'm there for her, and she's there for me - even when I'm not there for me....

I love you Marie!