A couple of days ago we opened up the iPod mini that I mentioned winning earlier. Kim was going to start using it while running, since she lost her little radio on a business trip. I spent a little time the past couple days looking for cases that would protect it during runs. Through my research I realized that using the mini for running might not be the best idea.

Like the full size iPod, the mini actually has a hard drive inside of it. Although you aren’t likely to notice problems right away, continuous running actually could damage the moving parts of the hard drive. The hard drives are what allowed manufacturers to get large amounts of storage space in a small package.

Now they are capable of the large storage space using flash memory, which has no moving parts. Therefore, running should not have any affect on the device. The new iPod nano is one example of large flash memory storage.

I am now thinking that a flash based player would be best for us and am seriously considering selling the mini on eBay. I should have followed your advice before Andy! I hope the fact that it isn’t in a sealed box doesn’t hurt it, but I should be able to get over $175 for it. I’m still considering the nano as a replacement, but I’d love to hear any other suggestions that you might have.

I am so much better at fantasy football than most of you probably ever would have thought. I just had another 3-0 weekend, bringing my grand total up to 12-3. That means I am now winning 80% of the games played. I need to make a few roster changes this week, hopefully those don’t end up hurting my teams.

We originally thought that we were gonna have another homework night with Dominique and Bianca last night, but we never heard back from them. Instead we made a big Italian dinner and watched TV. Oh yeah, we also secured 25 tickets to the Bengals/Chiefs game, and helped some of the visitors with hotels on priceline. They ended up getting the Sheraton for $85 a night, which is a phenomenal deal. Typically the rooms go for $150 a night and every room is a suite! Let me know if you are reading this and need help securing a room, although I think everyone who wants a hotel has been taken care of.

With the lack of much else going on, I’ve added a new song of the moment from none other than O.A.R. Just in case you were a little iffy about buying the CD, “Wonderful Day” is one reason to do so.

Friday I felt worse and worse as the day went on. I think I had my first cold of the upcoming winter season. Because of this, we didn’t do much on Friday night. Just sat on the couch and watched some TV. I felt much better on Saturday morning.

Saturday we took care of some things around the apartment and then headed down to the Falloon to watch the Ohio State – Penn State game. We had the usual crew with us, most of us being Ohio State fans, but of course Amanda was rooting for Penn State. The end result, Amanda was happy and the rest of us were taking shots in an attempt to forget about the game. From there we had most of the group over our apartment for a little bit and then off to bed.

We had lunch down on Southwest Boulevard on Sunday afternoon at Taqueria Mexico. Maria’s family is from Mexico but she had never been down on the Boulevard before, so we decided it was time. The food did not disappoint. From there we checked out these condos that caught my eye earlier in the week. Now I just need some more money. :) Then we bought a new hockey stick for my game later in the night. It was nice to be back on the ice, after taking a month off. It was also nice to come away with a win! Our team is looking pretty good.

Somehow I was convinced to take a country line dancing class with a few of our friends. I don’t like country music and I really hate line dancing, so go figure. Our first class of four was last night. Basically for an hour we learned how to do the electric slide, the reggae cowboy, and the blue rose (well partly). I’m not sure that I remember how to do any of them right now, but it actually wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I did make the instructor mess up when I busted into a river dance after doing one of the steps wrong. :)

From there we hit up Tomfooleries for a few drinks and some music. This definitely made up for the punishment earlier in the night. I figure that if we go out after each class I’ll likely complain a lot less.

Overall I don’t hate line dancing as much as I used to, but I still don’t think you are gonna see me out there at the next wedding I attend.

We hung out with the kids again last night. They didn’t have much homework, so we had them read for a little bit while we finished making some pizza. We had dinner and then played a few rounds of spoons, while listening to O.A.R. I’m not sure if they actually enjoyed the band or were just impressed by my love for the band, but they took home a ton of my promotional postcards and a couple of posters. I told them to pass out the cards at school to all their friends. Maybe I can even turn this into an outing with them, we could hang up posters all around town for the upcoming concert. It would be much more entertaining that way and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.

I put up a couple of pictures from the weekend. I meant to include one of my new framed poster collection, but I forgot this morning. Gallery, the photo manager I use, was giving me all sorts of problems on the new webserver. I think I’ve worked all the issues out, so hopefully I won’t have any more problems. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I may have mentioned this somewhere before, but serious plans are in the works for the Bengals vs. Chiefs game out her in KC on New Years Day. My parents have already confirmed that they are coming, along with their good friends the Hemmelgarns. My Aunt Chris and Uncle Steve are also confirmed. Kim’s parents and potentially other family are seriously considering it. My buddy Fighty mentioned it before. This is shaping up to a huge party!

I looked on ticketmaster and we can still get tickets up in the rafters for $59 a person before fees. The nice thing is that we can get a whole bunch of them together, probably close to 20, and maybe even more if we called in and ordered them. We just need to get a final list ASAP so we can buy these hopefully this week.

If you want to make the trip or are already in KC and want to go, let me know and I’ll pencil you in. This is surely going to be a weekend not to miss!

This week my fantasy teams went 2-1. I beat my brother in a blowout match 133-81, eat that Tim! :) I also won in another league 109-70 and lost my final in a heartbreaker 73-87. My overall record is now 9-3, so I am winning 75% of my games, not too bad at all.

Not much exciting to report today. I spent last night at my boss’ house once again. That should be the last time I have to do an update with him. The next time I will be on my own from my own home. Sounds like fun huh?

O.A.R.’s new CD, Stories Of A Stranger, is in stores today. Let me know what you think of it, I think it is their best CD yet and I cannot wait to see it take off! If you actually do pick up a copy of the CD (and don’t just download it) check out my name in the liner notes. :)

This weekend was the famous American Royal Barbecue. As I mentioned before Phil, Todd and a handful of their fraternity brothers were once again in the competition, competing as the ‘Triple Fat Back’ team, aka TFB BBQ. I wanted to get down there earlier this year than last but of course I was stuck at work until nearly 5:30.

When I finally got home a group of our friends were already gathered on the porch, pregamming for the event. Before too long we were up at the bus stop waiting for the MAX to take us to Union Station. The city was offering free parking and shuttles to the Royal from Union Station (and a couple other stops downtown). We stood at the front of Union Station in a pretty short line until one of the shuttles flew right past us. At this point we realized that the people at the front of this line had just assumed they were in the correct spot, when in reality the line was behind the building.

At first glance of the real line, we decided that we need to find a different way to get there. The line was massive, at least a thousand people. So we just started walking in the direction of Kemper Arena and the Royal. After a quick stop at a bar, and nearly two miles of walking, we were at the gates of the party!

This year, the TFB team had reserved an even larger spot than the previous year. This meant more people and more beer than ever before. Soon after we got there, their 5th keg ran dry. Once the random party-goers realized this, they all left and then it was just friends of the team hanging around. So the team got a couple more kegs, which actually only lasted another hour or so. It was a kickin’ party!

No official word on the standings of their meat entries, but I believe they are hoping to place in the top half. There are 500+ teams, and anything above 200 would be a great finish. I also heard that the team took in over $600 in donations for the ALS foundation! I’ll keep you posted on the results…

The rest of the weekend was fairly boring when compared to Friday night. Saturday we had breakfast at the Classic Cup on the plaza, which I highly recommend. After that I framed some of my O.A.R. concert posters and hung them on the wall. Kim did some other cleaning of the office, her closets, etc. We never really made it out of the apartment the rest of the day.

Sunday I finally got a haircut, I really need it. We then hung out with Dominique and Bianca for a few hours and then from there met up with the regulars up at the Brooksider for the end of the Chief’s game. We were supposed to do some more errands from there, but somehow we were convinced to head over Doni and Phil’s to watch some TV, eat some pizza and have a couple more drinks. Before we knew it, it was 10PM and so we headed home to end the weekend.

A very rare weekend post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I have finally moved my webserver to the machine that Phil gave to me. All of the kinks should be worked out by now, but if you notice something strange, please let me know. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Its official, we have spent a good chunk of our cruise refund. We have a reservation at the Mountain Green Resort in Killington, VT from January 26th through the 29th with two day lift tickets included. My friends Aaron and Tracey will be joining us in the room. Another group is working on reserving an additional room for the same time, hopefully that works out.

We booked our flights last night, so pretty much everything is taken care of already. We fly into Manchester, NH where Aaron will pick us up on his way from Boston. We will then head right to Killington to start off the weekend. I cannot wait!

This trip will add two states to my list of visited states. Why don’t you count up your total number and post it in the comments section? Currently I’ve been to 30, after this trip it will be 32. Remember that airport layovers do NOT count but DC does.