Friday, August 31, 2007

The Power of Compounding Interests

Don't worry, I'm not going to pretend to know about finances. I was recently thinking about why certain things I do are always fun. Not only that, but they seem to get better each time they happen. Each year I say that Summer Camp was better than the year before, or the hockey trip was somehow more fun, or Men's Group is getting better, or I love my wife even more now than the day we got married.

So here's what I've come up with (which I'm sure someone else has discovered and said more clearly, so I apologize in advance for what is sure to be rudimentary psychology). Say you have the best day of your life while you're surfing in southern California. The next time you go out there, it reminds you of how awesome that first day was and you have a similar awesome day. But this time, it seems even better because it reminds you of the awesomeness of the previous day and is combined with the present day's awesomeness. This feeling gets compounded every time you go surfing and just keeps getting better and better.

Another interesting thing is that the same feelings work with people. I had awesome friends growing up. I was really attached to these guys and when I met their grandparents, I seriously felt like they were my own. So then I liked the grandparents more, which made me like my friends more and it all just kept growing on itself, especially when mixed in with the awesome times we were having. One thing would remind me of the other (even if subconsciously) and I'd just be happy being around them.

The point of all this is that next week's season opener for the Colts is going to be amazing.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Catching up with the Times

I've been slacking in the blog posts lately and many things have happened that I would normally have blogged about. So now, I'm just going to run through a ton of them and briefly make comments about each one. This may take a while, but it'll be fun to catch up.

Micah's house burns down. Not much to say here. It was surreal going to see the place the next day. The siding had melted like wax on the house next to his. Unfortunately a dog was killed in this fire, but luckily, that was all. Probably arson, but I haven't heard yet for sure. This was like a month ago, and there used to be good video footage of the fire, but now all I can find is this article.

Summer Camp 2007. Every year seems better than the last. Chief Tim, Reid, Deubs, Boog and I manhandled a record 14 Jr. High Boys. We had a great time. Some highlights were: a deer that licked a few folks, a junior high boy lighting four farts in a row, and a funny No-Talent night. There's an awesome video up that you should watch if you have time. You have to register to see it. Check out the camp blog here.

Slowbie gets married. On the hottest day of the freaking year in an outdoor wedding. I'm just thankful I wasn't in a suit. And he's not Orthodox.

Colts pre-season. The last year in the Dome. I'm sure I'll have much more to say about the Colts in the near future. Huge loss with Tarik Glenn, but hopefully Ugoh is a quick learner. So far though, the Colts have looked pretty solid during the pointless (or point-few) preseason. One week left. GO HORSE!

Fantasy football. Joined my first fantasy football league. We'll see how it goes, but I feel like a huge underdog in my league. It should be fun, regardless of the outcome. Lots of trash talking. My team name is Off Constantly. This guy is our mascot. You can put two and two together for yourself. Yes I know it's very immature.


Arthur loses another job. In my ongoing quest to find a new job every 12 months or less, my department was informed that we would be eliminated within the next three months or so. Every job is going to be lost and we have to reapply into new positions and compete against whoever else applies. I'm actually going to stick this one out and hope to get a new job, but it's been a scary few weeks. The kind of thing that you never think would happen to you. It's karma for me though, because I'm always leaving new jobs after a few months. Still though. Bastards.

18 month wedding anniversary. The past eighteen months since I've been married have flown by. Marriage has been great and I have an amazing wife. It's fun for me to see how much we keep learning and changing. It really is true that if you want to understand women in general, the best way to do that is to try to understand just one of them. That's hard enough. Actually, it's impossible. But still, I recommend marriage to everyone. It's a great way to find out who you are. There's much more I could say here, but I'll just leave it at that.

Joel and Tessi expecting. First, we had an awesome reception for them back home again in Indiana. That was a lot of fun. Anyways, Joel's gonna be an awesome dad. And he's been a great son. Tina and I are so proud. It's also been great seeing him on the webcam at Men's Group and such. Hopefully they'll move back home soon. To keep up on their lives, click here.

Men's Group breaking records. I always look forward to Friday nights with the guys. Last week we broke a record in attendance. Joel and Tim showed up on the webcam and we had the house full. Not much to say here, other than group is great.

Rab's Farewell. Last week we said farewell to Rab. He's heading off to Pennsylvania for bigger and better things. I'm really gonna miss Rab. In honor of his farewell, I created a t-shirt that you can purchase. So far, I've had no takers. If you're interested, click here. Be sure to check out the back of the shirt. To keep up with Rab's wanderings, click here.

Phil's Engagement. The last bit of news happened Monday night when Phil got engaged. Yes, you read that right. Hell has also frozen over and pigs are flying as you read this. We all gathered together to wish them well and that was a lot of fun. It's great to see them both so happy and I just hope they'll continue to be a part of my life. One of the best parts of the night for me was remembering my own engagement. If you're at all interested, you can read about that day here.

So that's about it. Hopefully I can find more time to update on a regular basis, because each of these moments deserves more attention than I gave them. Dangit.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Dear Black People

Another lazy post. This video is hilarious to me for some reason. Yes, it's highly inappropriate. I apologize. If you're at work, keep the sound low. But you do need sound.