So, lots of spam comments of late...

so now, you have to enter five random letters if you want to comment. I'm hoping that this will stop the spam, and not stop the rest of y'all from commenting.

And yes, I used the word y'all.

That's because I spent the weekend in Texas with Julia's family. All in all, a good weekend, and the Stacklers/Doyles treated me very well. I realized it'd been a long time since I'd spent 5 days with any group of people, let alone my family. England, with Holly and Hot Jen...but that's about it for the last 5 years. I tend to do a day or two with family, and maybe a 3 day trip with some friends. Weird. Not good or bad, just different. So that's kind of weird, I guess.

So, it is Cyber Monday, and I think I'm going to try and do some shopping this evening. I'd like to get half of it done today, just so I can be done. I've already given Glenn his gifts, so he's taken care of, which is good. But yeah, the rest of y'all? Feel free to shoot me ideas.

reminder for myself

If I ever have children, control them while in flight. Stop kicking my seat little girl. Mommy? Pay attention to your child and the fact that their feet are constantly in my back. Thanks.
Also, wireless internets on the mobile devices are awesome.

Lots of neglect on this blog.

My apologies. It's not going to get much better until next week.

I'm headed to Texas in a couple hours, to spend Thanksgiving with Julia's family. While it's an exciting opportunity to get to know her family a little more, and meet her sister, it's also going to be tough to not see my family as well. Today is my Grandma Cation's birthday, and it will be a tough thing not getting to see her tomorrow. These are the sacrifices you have to make from time to time in relationships, which I know. It doesn't make it easy, though.

So, wish me luck in Texas. Most of my friends know my feelings on the state, which I make with ridiculous generalizations. They have rattlers, and guns. Should be a fun time, though.

Random Musings

So, as many of you know, I have some knee issues. Most of it is just having to do with the fact that I run a lot, and for a while, I was running on old shoes. Bad idea jeans, am I right? But then I also read plenty of things about how to make it better, and one of them is to make sure that your legs are stretched out with your feet in FRONT of your knees. Well, I have a problem at work in that when I type at this computer, I have no leg room in front of me. None. It is several pieces of electronic equipment. This is bad. So most of the time, I have to put my legs up on the counter. All bad things.

That's a random thought for you.

Still no movement on the insurance thing. I'm hesitant to go to my insurance company, mostly because I do not want to have to pay any money for this jerkoff's delays. I know I'd get it back, but after how long. It's been over a month now since he told me this was his top priority. I've lost all respect for him. Very kind man, who has been dealing with some horrible things in his life. That doesn't mean I should get screwed over because of his ineptitude.

Julia and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Friday night. And true to form for both of us, we were so tired that we couldn't even make it out for a drink after dinner.

Basketball season has officially started. 2 games in, and my throat is OK, but that's about it. This year should be a little bit easier than last year, in that there's no Chester Frazier to worry about. But I'm already pushing the humidifier in to use so that it hydrates a little better.

Speaking of which, this weekend should be a blast. Basketball game at 7 Friday night, followed by a work obligation from 10-12, then an 11AM football game. I'm sure I'll be in great shape on Saturday night, huh.

And then Tejas in two weeks. Wow.

Oh, and Vegas in 4 months. Leigh and Louis were there this weekend...I was jealous. Oh so jealous.

OK, off to Sam's Club. Best membership I've ever gotten.

OK, give your opinions, please:

As some of you know, last December, a co-worker ran in to my car in the parking lot. The damage was not extensive, but caused a significant crack in the paneling directly behind the rear driver's side door. I went and got the estimate, and it was roughly $1700. The man who hit me is a kind guy, very nice...but weeks kept going by with "I'll call my insurance guy today" and "You didn't get a call yet?" and "Shoot, I forgot yesterday, I'll make sure to take care of it."

After about 2-3 months of that, I learned that his wife had (I think) cancer, and then 2 months later, there was a health problem involving one of his children. Obviously, I backed off, trying to give him some time and space to deal with all of that.

About one month ago, I sent him a firm, but respectful reminder that I still have not received any type of compensation for the accident. Immediately, I received a response of "I thought it was taken care of, I'll start taking care of it today." Oy. One week later, I received an email saying, "This is still very important to me. I'm discussing the matter with my financial planner to come up with a solution."

Now, we're 3 weeks after that, and still no word, no check, no call from an insurance agent.

So, now I've got a damaged car, which is a bit older, so I'm getting to that point where I have to start thinking about getting a new(er) one. Obviously, a massive crack back there (hey yo!) will hurt the trade-in/resale value. If he pays with cash, I may use that as part of a down payment, and sell the car to a brother/cousin.

So...the debate is, if I don't receive any type of response within the next two weeks, what's my next step? Do I go to small claims court? Do I press the issue within my workplace? Do I send a letter to his home?

Honestly, I'll take any solutions any of you may have, even if it is anonymous. I'm at a loss for how to get reimbursed for his hitting my parked car.

The one negative about being involved with college athletics.

As I've said before, I'm extremely lucky to be involved with college athletics, and the opportunity to work with these student-athletes helps keep me feeling young and involved, moreso than a lot of other people my age. Each week, hosting Corner Kicks, I get to interact with the soccer players. They're honestly the nicest team I've had a chance to work with over the last 8 years, just good kids who have fun, and work hard.

Unfortunately, things have not quite worked out the way that they would have hoped this year. Some injuries, some missed opportunities...little things in soccer that end up costing you. They lost their final home game on Sunday, to a team they're clearly better than, 1-0. It was senior day. 4 players who have dedicated immense amounts of time, incredible effort, and their bodies (3 have had surgery, another might need it at the end of the year) were forced to walk off their home field for the final time, and did so with a loss.

It's just heartbreaking, and I'm certainly not doing it justice in terms of how strong the emotion is...but it is a miserable thing to have to watch them come off the field. I don't know how they do it year after year. I have an incredible amount of respect for them, and their level of dedication.

Anyway, that's the hard part. I get to experience mostly good things. The interactions on corner kicks (this week's off the air stuff with Jenna was hilarious), Dominique Keller coming over and taking the Werther's Originals, rain delays in the baseball press box...all these things are great. I'll try to focus on those.

In the meantime, here is this week's Corner Kicks. Hope you Enjoy!