Andrei Arlovski's nose

I was watching mixed martial arts and my favorite fighter, Andrei Arlovski was in one of the matches. I enjoy watching him and noticed that his nose is flatter and in a much awkward shape then I remember. He must have broken it and did not have it looked at because it has not healed well.

I was excited to see him fight & win as his career as doing well & he was the UFC heavyweight champ for a while before leaving the UFC. He has had a rough career for the last few years but he had a great comeback message in his interview. I am glad he is still fighting and winning & hope he continues to do well.

BTW - I did some research and it turns out he suffered a broken nose a couple years back. I guess it was before he was suppose to be in a K-1 event. K-1 is a world reknown martial arts competition that draws elite fighters and would have been a great venue for Arlovski. Hopefully one day the pit bull makes it there!

Board games aren't as fun online

While celebrating thanksgiving with friends we played a insanely fun & competitive board game, Settlers of Catan. I have not played in years and I never do all that well and I have never even won (Don't get excited because I did not win on Thanksgiving either). But I was reminded of how much fun the game can be and how much I enjoy playing it.

Today while avoiding items on my to do list I found the game online. It is free so I signed up for an account and played a few games. It took me a while to figure out all the controls & the maps are small online (When I played the board game at Thanksgiving we used an expansion pack we basically makes the playing board larger which allows for more room per player). I enjoy playing it but it is different when it is played online. I missed the feel of the cards in my hands, seeing the actual board & touching the game pieces. When it is played as a board game you enjoy the companionship of people you know around you. When I was playing against other people online I could not see them and interaction is limited in that I can type & to send them messages but usually there is not much communication & I don't know the people.

Maybe this is why I have not bought any electronic reading device, taken online classes, don't like texting or using facebook all that much? There is something about the touch & feel of an event when it is live that cannot be duplicated. It is nice to know I can jump online to play the game when I have the urge to play but I would rather play with friends. Maybe I should use this to start a board game night at my house & open it up to friends? HHHHHHmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............

Thanksgiving

Today I spent the day with Jeff & Michelle Saeger’s with Jeremy & Jody Thorne & Michelle’s brother Andrew & his wife Judy as well as Jeff’s brother Dustin & his wife Saka. It was a fun day spent with friends and Jeff & Michelle who in many ways have become my adoptive family. I had planned to spend the day at Magianno’s and then go watch movies but today was fun with them and I enjoyed the social time. Lately I make plans to do my own thing over the holidays but I usually end up with friends or their families. I keep thinking I will go start my own family but who knows when that will happen? Who knows when I will get out on my own and do my own thing?

I was struggling to think of things to be thankful for and I realized I am thankful for my friends and their families. They have invited me to their family events and included me like I am part of their family. We not agree over many things like politics, views on entertainment, and the environment but they know how to love people. They treat people with kindness and humility. Thank you God for the Person & Saeger families and please help me find a way to give back to them and repay them the countless kindness they have showed to me.

So web friends, what or who are you thankful for this time of year?

Documenting a lazy Saturday in November

Sleep in until 10 a.m.

Fix breakfast while watching Get the Gringo.

Pause movie to start dishwasher and take a shower.

Get dressed & have a snack & finish movie.

When movie ends finish drying clothes and cut up a fresh pineapple.

Watch The Vow.

While watching movie start load of laundry in washing machine.

Finish movie and surf web to get information about where to watch UFC 154 tonight.

Prepare a quick lunch.

Return movies to Blockbuster & drop off old clothing at Good will.

Drive to Sloan's lake for a walk.

Call a friend to see if he has plans for the UFC event.

Get McDonald's sweet tea on the drive home.

Buy tickets to UFC event.

Start watching preliminary UFC fights on T.V.

Finish laundry, cut up onions & garlic.

Cook dinner & eat dinner.

Drive to theater and watch UFC 154.

Drive home, prepare for bed.

Movies, movies, and movies

As I examine my blog I realize I have not kept up on movie reviews. I saw a few movies and forgot to blog about them and since it is so late in the season I won't write reviews but I will encourage anyone to see the movies. I recommend The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises, and Total Recall. They were all good summer action movies that were completely enjoyable!

I recently viewed Looper & Seven Psychopaths, my thoughts are below.

Looper
This movie is set in the future where time travel is used by the criminal underworld. Hit men are in a different time with their targets sent back to them so they can eliminate them & destroy evidence of the crime so the authorities in the future do not catch them. When fulfilling a contract with the mob the last person a hit man eliminates is the future version of themselves. One hit man is unable to do so and all sorts of chaos erupts as the mob & his younger self chase him. Well written with great effects & strong performances by the entire cast. Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt gave amazing performances! This is one of the most original sci fi movies I have seen & enjoyed in a long time. GO see it!!!

Seven Psychopaths
Is about a writer who is attempting to write a movie about Seven Psychopaths. The movie is a comedy with drama and both are done well although the comedy is superb! Another original idea with insanely great writing and plenty of great lines. I usually don't laugh at comedies anymore but I laughed in this movie. While it is not the type of movie I would see over and over again I do recommend it if one wants to see a well written & clever comedy.

Gratefullness

Today at work a few of my coworkers brought me food. It was a pleasant surprise and while it usually is the type of thing that turns into teasing today I was insanely thankful which lead to joy. I was not very joyful this weekend as I discovered a girl I am interested in is seeing someone. I did not think it was big deal but I am pretty down about it which tells me I had a bigger crush on her than I originally thought (Everyone reading this must be laughing at this point as all they see is a man out of touch with his emotions...what is new? I am just like every other man!).

I did realize one way to deal with the girl Like dating another guy is to focus on things I am grateful for like the following:

- Having only one gray chest hair
- Free food
- Cost of living has not risen much
- Roasted Turkey
- Hard wood floors
- Favored frozen yogurt
- Winning at Fantasy football
- IRS refunds

The more I think about these things I feel so much better (I also realize I need to adjust my list as it makes me look really shallow...which is depressing. I am just now figuring out the relations between gratefulness & how my attitude or outlook is related). I need to practice this grateful bit more often!

And if this gratefulness deal does not work out then there is always ice cream. Eating ice cream always makes you feel better and makes many problems seem smaller (Not only I am shallow but I have an eating disorder! I better stop writing as this blog post just makes me realize how unbalanced I am & how many faults I have).

Old

I pulled a gray chest hair this weekend. Wow...it makes me old!

Another festive Halloween costume competition

This year our office Halloween theme was pirates. We dressed up as pirates and put together a short skit where there are pirates leading some prisoners to a treasure chest. The prisoner's break free and grab bags of candy from the chest and run about the room giving away candy before the pirates capture them. It was more fun be in the skit & rehearse it then it is to watch. The video does not capture all of it and it is from a vantage point on the far side of the room where it is difficult to make out all that is going on. All the fun stuff happens in the first minute. Check it out below.

Click here for pirate clip