No big party this year, Aaron and his girlfriend and I went out to dinner at this neat little Spanish restaurant near our house called Tio Pepe's. We ate tapas and paella and drank sangria.

Late.

Writing sucks.

Late.

Every time I have a big project that is intimidating, I manage to find every possible distraction imaginable. My apartment in college was never cleaner than during finals. "Oh, this tub needs scrubbing! How could I have let it get this dirty?"

Late.

Rick and Claire brought the boys over and we had another Christmas for them, it's always more fun when there are kids opening presents. I'm definitely getting old, by back hurts from throwing the kids around, I almost seriously ate it on the skateboard trying to show Callum some tricks, and all I talk about with my parents is health issues. Also, I turn the big 4-0 next year.

Late.

I've been thinking about writing a book, well, I started about a year ago, but I've been thinking about it lately. Not a novel, but a technical how-to book. I'm not going to say what the topic is until I get closer to finishing a draft, but it's one of the interests listed on my website. The whole website, and this blog, are about writing, to see if I can produce (so far so good), to see if I can write (getting better all the time), to see if people are interested in what I have to say (yet to be determined).

I was asked to write an article for the Pipeline & Gas Journal about a presentation I made last month, so if that goes well I'll be published.

When I was in college, I thought that the English classes I took were a total waste. Now, the majority of my interests are in reading and writing. Funny how things work out.

KIDS, WORK HARD IN SCHOOL! Late.

Bills, bills, bills.

Late.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Peace.

Once again, I put off my shopping until the last possible moment. Now I'm in trouble.

Late.

Christmas shopping today, I'm halfway through, but screwing around on the computer instead.

Late.

nancyboyz.com Wins 2003 KFFL Championship!

SPORTSWIRE - PRESS RELEASE - 22-DEC-03

AUSTIN, TX In an extremely tight game that went down to the wire, the nancyboyz.com fantasy football team defeated the Wandering Snails 51 to 47 late Sunday night. Both teams' star quarterbacks were shut out, Peyton Manning for the boyz and Trent Green for the Snails.

Co-owners Drew Hevle and Kevin Kerner were pleased. "I was more relieved than anything, we've lost two championships before in tight games, I couldn't relax until the next day when it was official" Drew said. Kevin could not be reached for comment, and did not return telephone calls Sunday and Monday.

This is the first championship for the nancyboyz.com franchise after three attempts, they lost to the Mountain Oysters in 1999 and the Gooey Black Death in 2000

Game update, it's now 44-27 in our favor. We've got a little cushion going into the late game, still a little more opportunity to get some insurance.

Late.

It's down to the wire. The KFFL Superbowl will probably be decided in the Sunday night game, we've got Peyton Manning going, and they've got Edgerrin James, Rod Smith, Vanderjegt and a defensive player.

Right now its 18-22.

Late.

Drove up to Austin to watch the football games with Kevin. We shut them out today, but we didn't score either, so with each having two of the ten players going, it's still 0-0.

Tonight, Matt's El Rancho, then a little pool, then the Horseshoe Lounge.

Late.

Our best receiver just went down for the season. Everything else was looking pretty good. An ill omen. Perhaps a harbinger of doom.

Some phrases I need to start incorporating into my lexicon:

doom loop

Late.

Some phrases I need to start incorporating into my lexicon:

or whatnot

Check this site out, the dictionary.com Word of the Day.

Late.

Had meeting, drove home. I was sitting there, working on my computer, thinking that I'd always liked to write a book, or be published with something, and then I got an email asking me to write an article for a magazine. There must be an underlying matrix of synchroneity in the universe.

Late.

Meeting in Cleveland (Texas), drove to Natchitoches, Louisiana (pronounced nak-a-tish or nak-a-dish, I don't know why, some old native american name). Another meeting tomorrow.

Late.

Jury duty today, got picked for a panel of 60, but I was number 58, so I didn't get picked for the jury. A couple of years ago I was on a panel for a murder trial and I tried to weasel out because I had things to do, the trial would have taken three weeks or longer. The guy ended up plea bargaining before the jury was selected, but I felt guilty for skirting my civic duty. So, I decided this time I would do it no matter how inconvenient.

Late.

It's official, nancyboyz.com are going to KFFL Superbowl XIII. If I wasn't so hung over, I'd be really pleased.

Late.

Amazing nancyboyz.com win in the first round of the playoffs!!!! The games aren't over, but we're up 60-9 over the Albino Rhinos, Mike Ruocco's team. Mike was the dominant team all season, but in the playoffs, one off week will cost you a chance at the playoffs.

Next week we play the winner of the Wandering Snails and the Bad Monkeys.

Late.

Going to Kenneally's with Aaron and a couple of his friends. I always end up with a huge tab and a huge hangover after going to that bar, I'm not sure why it's different.

Late.

Christmas party at work. Didn't get anything done, but had fun. We had a white elephant gift exchange, where you get to take a present or one someone else has already opened, and some are nice gifts and some are crap. I brought in a roll of trashbags. I guess that's one of the crappy ones.

Late.

Missed the book club meeting, had to work late, and by the time I drove by I didn't see any cars, so I went home. I made homemade peppermint ice cream for the office party tomorrow. Stayed up too late watching TiVo and drinking scotch.

Late.

Drove to Corpus Christi last night, had a great seafood meal at Two Georges Seafood, a restaurant similar to the famous King's Inn in Kingsville. Took a meeting, drove home.

Late.

nancyboyz.com are in the playoffs!!!!!!!

Late.

Really funny concept if it was true, the idea of frozen shaving cream expanding and filling up someone's car or room is hilarious.

Late.

Our players are done, for the most part, and now we have to sweat it out. We're only up by ten points right now (32-22) and Todd came from way back to make it close. Tony pretty much already won. We need to win, and Todd to lose, in order to make it into the playoffs. If we do, then we're the third seed, which is good, we'll stand a slightly better chance against the Snails than against the Rhinos.

Very stressful. I'll post again when the late games are done.

Late.

I have a bunch of work to do this weekend, but I've been screwing around surfing all day. I bought some speculative domain names, about a half dozen, that may be worth something down the road.

Our big day for fantasy football is tomorrow, we need a win and a loss by Tony or Todd to make it into the playoffs. All our players go at noon, so we'll know pretty early how we did, but may have to sweat it out until Monday night. We probably don't deserve to go this year, but we've been the best team before and not made it, so what goes around should come around, right?

Late.

Worked late tonight, 'til about 8:00pm, grabbed a bite and went to bed.

Late.

Our book club meeting was scheduled for tonight, but no one showed up. I found out later that it was canceled at the last minute by one of our group that doesn't have a computer (!!!) and couldn't email everyone. Hard to imagine someone not having email this day and age.

Late.

Went to see Elf with Will Farrell tonight. We went to the wrong theater and saw the ending first, then the middle, then the first half-hour. Mildly funny, I expected a more radical performance from Farrell.

Late.

Tongue splitting? When the hell did this start? I'm definitely too old to handle this. Piercing, sure. Tattoos, fine. I am seriously out of touch.


Photo by Joe Imel, AP

In case you're thinking, "Dude, WTF? That looks stupid bad!" read the tongue splitting FAQ.

Late.

First day back at the office since November 3rd. I've got a pile of stuff in my Inbox literally two feet high, and a to-do list of 25 things, each will take a day or so.

It looks like the fantasy football playoffs are still up in the air, we need to win next week and have either Todd or Tony lose one.

Late.