Congrats Colts!

Well, after 7 hours spent on the couch today watching the AFC and NFC Championships, I have two things to say....

1) My days of cheering strictly for specific teams -- as most fans do -- are over. The NFC game taught me this today. I found myself cheering not for the Bears, for whom I have been a fan since I started watching football in the 80s, but for the Saints. Why? Because the drama of this game for me lies in the people involved, not the teams. I wanted to see Drew Brees (a fellow Boilermaker) light up the scoreboard or Reggie Bush fake yet another player out of their pads. I also found myself no longer finding any joy in cheering against a team as I have done many times before in my life. This practice now seems distasteful to me... What if someone in my community spent their entire lives applauding my every professional failure or shortcoming in a public forum? Not a very appealing thought, is it? Why then would I do the same (even though I don't really have a public forum)? Do the fates care less? Will karma be more kind to me as I am but a piss-ant on this pale blue dot?

2) I will be placing my urine for sale on eBay. I have lived in 3 metro regions in the last 10 years and within one year of moving to each of them, I have brought the local teams national acclaim.

1997 - Moved to Longmont, CO, Denver Broncos win their first Superbowl after many attempts
1999 - Moved to Columbus, OH, Ohio State wins their first NCAA Football Title in many years in 2000
2006 - Moved to Indianapolis, IN, Indianapolis Colts win their first AFC Championship in my lifetime. Anecdotally, Ohio State also looses to Florida in glorious fashion with my departure.

Coincidence? Buy a sample and see...

We're still out here

Thank goodness Indiana lifted their ban on Blog updates.... thanks for the motivation L8-10C :)

Doob (Russell Unit #2) was 3 months old yesterday and I figure it's time for a new post. He is starting to move into that toddler phase and RU#1 is becoming a full on little man. #1 LOVES #2 and speaks of him constantly. They also bear a stricking resemblance at the same age.

What can I say, the last few months have been hectic, to say the least. To give you an idea of how hectic, consider the following:
- This post is being written from Texarcana, TX (this being my 4th trip to TX in 6 weeks)
- The fam and I have spent over a month of the last 3 months in Chicago
- I was recently promoted to Systems Engineering Manager for my company's Western Region: Indiana to Hawaii, Canada to Mexico. As part of the promotion, I have to fill the position vacated by my old manager. In the meantime, I have to cover his territory. This brings the territory to 16 states (IN, IL, MI, WI, MO, MN, ND, SD, IA, NE, KS, OK, TX, AR, NM, CO). It's a great opportunity, and I love what I do, but it is cramping my blog posting ability.

I also recently celebrated my birthday. On the downward slope to 40 now. Good times.

I managed to pick up a PSP over the holidays and I must say, for me, it is the perfect mobile device. I have 8 full length movies, 150 MP3s and a number of games to keep me entertained on the plane (see above for frequency) or to keep RU#1 from wigging out if he is force to be away from the Cars movie for too long -- damn you Pixar and your 3 year old crack. TOOO handy. Anybody want to buy a 60GB Video IPod?