FL Bound!

Well, for better or worse, we are driving to FL starting around 3 pm today. Samantha for the most part does well in a car but this is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. We are driving through the night so hopefully she will sleep for most of the ride. I am sure there will be some meltdowns along the way. Pray for us...

Paying off bets - Thanks Fubar!!!

So, Dallas played Denver earlier in the year. The loser of the bet had to wear the winning team's jersey for a day of football at the Otter and buy the giant appetizer, Otter Feast for the two of us to split. Well, Denver won and Fubar was destined to wear a Bronco jersey. The bet was repaid last Sunday.

Elway looks very natural behind a bar!!!!

Time to EAT!!!!!

Since it is Christmas time, I gave him the Elway Stanford jersey to wear for the 3 o'clock games.

Here is Fubar doing his best Superbowl XXXII impersonation...NICE!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas came early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I am sooooooooo happy!

Juan Pierre is no longer a Dodger. He is due to make 18.5 million dollars over the next two years. I think the Dodgers still have to pay 10 million of the contract. The Dodgers also get two minor leaguers in return. Finally, my wish has come true!

Now, Juan Pierre last year had a good year for him. It was quite unusual given his past, a 50 point blip in his OBP. Do not expect it to continue especially in the AL. His OPS might be 650 next year...maybe. Yuck.

Good bye and SO LONG! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!

OTBs, Chick-fil-a, wedding and a Christmas Party

Lets just say that any weekend that I am able to eat Chick-fil-a for just one meal, there is about a 95% chance of that weekend being a good weekend. Well, this weekend was not part of the 5%.

Friday started off the weekend at Stretch Run. This is another sign that a good weekend is coming. Well, Smitty flew in Friday so a bunch of us decided to sit and gamble, drink a few beers and wait for Smitty to arrive. No one was winning. Even Smitty who had not walked in was down. He was real happy to hear that when he walked in. The night was uneventful and ended by midnight for half of us.

Saturday was Chris Phelan's wedding in South Bend. Samantha, Michelle and I all went to it. Samantha was really good overall. She didn't sit well during the ceremony but was a rock star for the reception (uh oh...did I just write that about me or her???). She was a in santa clause dress and gaining lots of attention from the crowd. We ended up leaving the reception about 9 our time and heading back home. It was a great time and it was so good to see the Phelans and the cottage crowd.

Of course on the way to South Bend, we stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch. Samantha had a couple nuggets (chopped up of course) and some oranges from the fruit cup. As you can see below. She loved it! It is hard not too!

Sunday was a good day of resting. I am pretty sure Michelle and Samantha both took three naps. Sunday night was the Purple Otter holiday party. We went there around 6 and stayed for a couple hours. It was more socializing and Samantha was a trooper!

This Friday we head to Florida for 11 days. Consider me excited!

Biggest Loser Finale Thoughts

This one is going to be bullet point form. Next time they have a finale I think I am going to do a running diary.

1. My math was good. Danny won easily. Really, his starting weight was more impressive than anything else. 5'10" 430 lbs...wow just wow.
2. Shay looked much slimmer and she is STILL 300 lbs. Wow. Well, she should easily win 100k from the subway challenge of 1k per pound from now until the next finale.
3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Rebecca! What were you thinking???? You were turning into a hottie. Your hair was so bad. It was so short and dirty blonde. It looked terrible. Way to work out ass off for a good body and still ruin your appearance. She was too skinny too but I am sure she will gain a few lbs back now that she won the 100k.
4. BIGGEST SURPRISE: Abby!!!!!!!!!! Hello Abby! You were a favorite on the show anyway. Her story, her personality - how could you not love her? She was smoking at the finale. Her new hair looked great and she looked great as well. I thought she looked the best among the females. Good for you!
5. Another surprise - Tracy. You maybe crazy but you did a great job. Maybe a little too skinny but you had no saggy skin and had some muscle not just skin and bones. You looked great. I was shocked.
6. Antoine, Julio and Allen - I thought these were the top three guys. I barely recognized Julio. Danny (orange team) finally looks normal. Good for him.
7. Yeah John Elway!
8. It annoys me that at the beginning of the show, the weigh-ins are shirtless and the finale of the show is with a shirt on. Can we switch this???? PLEASE!
9. How many contestants have skin removal surgery when all is said in done? I am just curious.
10. I was happy to see that most people had healthy weights this season.

Tonight is the finale of Top Chef. The Neyers are going DOWN!

Biggest Loser Math

Yes, it is back. The biggest loser finale is tonight and I have to break it down.

Danny - He was 430 lbs. Last time we saw him he lost 59 lbs in 60 days at home. He was 229 lbs. Yes, he had already lost 201 lbs in total. I found out that he is only 5'10". 5'10" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? I am guessing he will be 185 at the finale. That is around a 57% weight loss. I am not 100% sure but I think that will be the biggest loss ever and he is doing it.



Rudy - Rudy is 6'4". Honestly, I thought he was taller. Good to see I would look like a giant if I were ever on the biggest loser. His starting weight is 442 lbs. If he is 190 lbs at the finale, he could have a chance of winning it. At 6'4", getting to 190 lbs is way harder than a 5'10 getting to 185.

Amanda - Lets be serious. She is getting voted into the final 3. You and I both know it. She started at 250 lbs. I didn't realize she is only 19 years old. Now I understand why she was crying all the time. Well, she is 5'6". She would have to get down t 108 to have a chance. NO CHANCE. She will come in around 125-130 which is amazing but no way.

Liz - She is 5'7" and her original weight was 267. I just do not like Liz and my guess she will be 140-145 lbs. She needs to be 115 to have a chance at Danny. I don't see it.

I am excited for tonight!

Operation 160 and Dish Network's channel NFL RedZone

Today is the best I have felt in almost a week. I am finally getting over that nasty cold I had. Woohoo. To celebrate, I went to the gym at lunch and got workout #1 of 160. I like to call this mission operation 160. That sounds a little better than December 1 resolution.

Now, I want to profess my love for the NFL RedZone channel on Dish Network. It is new this year and let me tell you I LOVE IT!

First, it has no commercials. None. I can watch from 12:15 to 6:30 without seeing one commercial. Thank God! The NFL is the WORST when it comes to TV timeouts.

Scott Hanson hosts the show and he does a good job staying on point with it. He realizes the fans don't care about him. All they care about it are the games. He runs a good point. You see, this channel does not wait for a team to get into a redzone to be show. They fly around from game to game showing different situations. If there is more than one game that is coming down to the wire or are about to score, they split the screen.

If every game is on commercial (which happens all the time because the NFL is a commercial whore), they show highlights from prior games or earlier in the game. They really do a good job of keeping you informed of every game going on.

Lets just say that I really don't ever want to watch just one regular season game on Sunday ever again.

I am not waiting for New Years!

Lets just say that the last 9 months (okay 8.5 months) have been great and hectic all at the same time. One thing that has really been impacted are my workouts. Between losing workout partner after workout partner and a new born at home, my ability and motivation to go to the gym has died down. Well, that all ends now. Starting December 1, I am challenging myself to 160 workouts over the next 12 months. I am bring back my counter on the left side of the blog to keep track. Enough is enough!

Screw you new years resolution and hello December 1 resolution!

Top 5 - Cable Channels!

Well, there were some rumbling about a top 5. Not to disappoint my readers, today is the top 5 favorite cable channels. I had to think about this one for a while. Really, ESPN is my issue. I am not really a fan of sportscenter. I usually watch ESPNNEWS for summaries of games but ESPN shows sporting events and specials like 30 for 30. Anyway, ESPN was really my hardest decision. Also, no movie channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. I think my list will be similar to most other guys. I think my female readers will have a very different list.

1. TNT - It is usually the first channel I go to. It has NBA games throughout the season. It covers golf and has a nice mix of movies. Sports, movies, I am sold.

2. ESPN - If we could bundle all of ESPN channels into one, I would have said ESPN is #1 in a heartbeat. It shows too much sports not to be in the mix.

3. USA - USA has the best tv shows of the cable channels. Monk, Psych, Royal Pains, reruns of House and NCIS - I am hooked. It also shows WWE, the Masters and some tennis.

4. TBS - Baseball playoffs, weekly sunday baseball games, good movies, and they have the best comedy show reruns on (i.e. Seinfeld, family guy, the office, etc.)

5. FX - Any channel that gave me the Shield and now gives me It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has to be on my top 5 list.

Anyway, that is my list. As you see, I don't watch many news shows. It usually revolves around sports and movies and sometimes tv shows.

Happy Tuesday!

Thanksgiving weekend

Well, another Thanksgiving, another great year. This year was very different than every other year. In the past, my entire mom's side of the family would get together but this year was a new beginning. We went to my brothers house. When my brother says, there were 13 at the house and food for 3o, he was not kidding.

Here are some notes from Thanksgiving day.

• Cheryl made her first turkey. It was great. She is a natural.
• Joey made a cheesecake from scratch. When I was 18, I could make a can of ravioli...sometimes. Consider me impressed.
• Football was muddy. It was awesome! Muddy fields are so much fun.
• I missed Euchre. Rock band was fun but playing cards is the best.
• Samantha had turkey. My mom pureed some of the leftovers. Samantha likes turkey.
• Michelle's chocolate chip pudding cookies are always good. Always.
• I always think of a drink for Thanksgiving. This year was red neck lemonade. The first batch was great. The 2nd batch I made a little too strong. Oh well.

So the last few years, the day after Thanksgiving has turned into a golfing day with my dad and usually my uncle pete and one other person. This year was no different. I woke up on Friday not feeling well but decided to go golf anyway. It was low 40s out but no wind and sunny. I didnt golf very well on the front nine but played much better on the back 9. I am looking forward to golfing around Christamas in Florida. I wont need a stocking cap and sweater then! Mike was our fourth and I had a ton of fun golfing.

Friday night or should I say afternoon Michelle and I went to see Blind Side and then to dinner. My parents watched Samantha. Our date was over at 8 pm. I was in bed, drugged up by 8:30...man I am getting old. Blind Side was a really good movie. It is crazy to think that the kid is now rookie in the NFL, a starting lineman on the Ravens. Wow.

Saturday, we headed back into the city and went to an LU game at 3 pm. We met my dad and Jackson at Carmen's before the game for thier 5.95 all you can eat buffet. What can i say? Loyola is awesome and they won by around 40! We had another early night. I was pretty sick.

Sunday was a lot of laying around trying to recover from a stupid cold. It also felt great to do nothing.

All in all, a great Thanksgiving weekend...samantha's first!