I may need to come up with a solution to my phone dilemma quicker than I originally thought. Currently I have 3 anytime minutes left on my plan until December 26th. Yes, 3. That number may not even be completely up to date either. I’d love to up my limit for this month, but I think the only way to do that is to sign a new contract with Sprint. I don’t want to do that though, since I’m considering getting a Denver number with Verizon after the move, or hoping for a new cell phone from work. Either way, I probably won’t answer your calls for the next couple of weeks, so be sure to leave a message and I’ll call you back from another phone.

I had my final game with the Kansas City Moose hockey team last night. I’ve been playing with this group of guys for a couple of years now (minus the summer months) and have really enjoyed my time on the team. It’s unfortunate that my final game ended up being a loss, but it felt good knowing that we were still in first place. I hope that the winning tradition can continue on for the second half of the season and in all future sessions. I also hope that I can find a team in Denver that I will enjoy as much as I have enjoyed my time with the Moose. In closing, please retire the #17 jersey.

We had a white elephant gift exchange at work today and the best gift of the day was a shirt that said “Regift Responsibly” on it. The words were small and below a recycling symbol with a wrapped gift box in the middle. It definitely received a ton of laughs from the crowd. I may have to find one of these shirts for additional gift exchanges in the next couple of weeks.

If you have some extra time today, you may want to keep your eyes on Woot.com. On a normal day Woot sells one item until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced by a new item. And not only do they typically sell the item before the allocated 24 hours, they sell the items for really good prices. Today is not a normal day, however, as it is part of a Woot-Off. According to their FAQ:

In Woot-Off mode, a new product is launched immediately after the sellout of the previous deal. There is a half-Woot-life of 12 hours maximum on any product within a Woot-Off that does not sell out. The number of Woot-Off items, sequence, and quantity will not be announced.

So far this Woot-Off has gone through nearly 40 items.

With the upcoming move I’ve been considering how I will communicate with my colleagues back in Kansas City. I can easily forward my phone here to another number automatically, so everyone in KC should be able to call me just as before. However, I have realized that this could quickly eat up all of my cell phone minutes. Currently I do not use my work phone often at all, but I can see using a phone much more when I can’t walk down the hall to ask a simple question or have a longer conversation that wouldn’t work well in email.

I’ve come up with a few options to solve this. First, I could ask for a company cell phone just like most of the trainers out on the road all the time have. Obviously I wouldn’t have to worry about the minutes or the bill. The other option is to get another phone, but not a cell phone, one of those fancy internet phones. I’m not sure if the company would pick up the bill for this or not, but there are affordable plans, some even include unlimited minutes. I’ve looked at Vonage and Skype very briefly, but I’m still fairly new to all of this.

Are there any other options that I haven’t considered? If both options were free, which would you choose? I’m trying to keep my options open since I have no idea what will happen, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the future, right?

My predictions from last week for many fantasy football leagues have all come true. I will be facing off with my brother this coming week in one league and I have a first round bye in the second league. The last time my brother and I played I won 111 to 102. I’m expecting that this game will be just as close, if not closer. Current projected points have my team winning 130 to 126.

Kim is also playing in the playoffs, but it appears that my parents’ team just missed with an eighth place finish. I think their downfall was not having enough Cincinnati players on their team, because the Bengals have been on a roll! Next up: Oakland.

One of my favorite things about this time of year are the different seasonal beers that seem to find their way into my fridge. A couple favorites of mine that I have been enjoying again this season are the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and the Boulevard Nutcracker Ale. In addition to these fine beers I have also discovered a couple of new ones this year.

First up is New Belgium’s 2°Below Winter Ale. This deep amber brew is quite hoppy and malty. Another blogger has said, “It tastes like a fuller version of their flagship Fat Tire Amber Ale, bolstered with a tremendous amount of hop flavor,” and I would have to agree. I hope to have a few more of these while they are in stock and luckily I have even seen it on tap in some of the local bars.

The second comes from St. Louis and Schlafly Beers. It’s simply called the Christmas Ale and for me it’s the best tasting beer that uses the traditional Holiday flavors and spices. The addition of orange peel tends to help this beer be on the sweeter side of the spectrum. I just had my first one last night, so I will have to see if my opinion changes after a few more of these sometime this week.

There is still time to try a few more so feel free to leave any suggestions.

The past two days have been my first experience working from home and I must say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. When we make the move to Denver I’ll be doing this full time for at least a couple of months. And you know I actually was working since this post is coming so late in the day. My day is just about over though. Happy Friday!

I’ve been debating giving away my turtles for awhile now. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, but I think taking them to Denver would be a big pain. The tank itself takes up the entire back seat of the Jetta. So last night I decided to create a listing on craigslist in an attempt to give them away (with a small adoption fee).

I must say that I am amazed by the response. I didn’t think anyone would respond for at least a week, if not more, but so far I have had five different people contact me. Furthermore, I didn’t post the listing until around 10PM so I’ve averaged about one person every three hours. I’ll be sure to use craigslist more often.

One of the people who has contacted me seems like a great fit as a future home for my turtles. They already have two turtles, tree frogs, fish, and birds. And to top it all off they have plans to build an outside enclosure that they could use in warmer weather. They wouldn’t want to be outside right now, it’s snowing like crazy!

After this weeks fantasy football games, I have clinched a playoff spot in both leagues. In one league, a win for my brother this week could setup a potential first round playoff game with me. This shouldn’t be too hard for him. After all he is playing the worst team in the league, which is led by our friend Doni, aka The Doninator. If I do play my brother again I’m predicting the same results as the first time, another victory! In the other league I have the opportunity for a first round bye in the playoffs, as long as I hold my current 2nd place position. It’s good to see that my teams are finally over the injuries that plagued them earlier in the season.

With the worries of fantasy football out of the way, there remains only one question. Where to watch the big game tomorrow night? It doesn’t appear that Time Warner Cable and the NFL Network are going to ever work out their differences. Anyway, I know that the game will not be on in my house tomorrow, so it looks like I’ll be out at a bar. Is anyone else planning on braving the first winter storm of the year and heading out?