The Game XVII

It went down. The epic yearly battle. With ten showing, it was one of the best turnouts in years. It was Matt, Luke, Ben, Andy, and Josh versus Chris, Josh Flemming, Jason, Noah, and myself. I wasn't really keeping score, so I can't say who won (cough, cough). It was a fun game and we kept everyone out of the hospital. Flem had a bloody nose and a couple of people puking, but that's pretty 'clean' for us. As always, awesome to see everyone. It will be interesting to see how the conditioning is next year! Special thanks for Cindy and Lora for braving the cold and fog to watch us. See the pictures (thanks Cindy!).

Cool Cards

In what is a first, I believe, since my divorce, I sent out Christmas cards to the family. But, a regular card just would not do. I heard about a great piece of software that enables you to take movie files and print them on Avery business card stock to make flipbooks. I went out to my local running trail, recoded a quick little Merry Christmas movie, and went back to the house. I played with the software just a bit; it's very easy to use. In a few minutes, I had what I wanted. I printed everything out on the business card stock then separated all the cards. Now I had nice 1/2" high flipbooks, but needed to bind them. I got some 3/4" staples to staple everything together, knowing work had a heavy-duty stapler. Unfortunately, the one at work would only take 1/2" staples. Off to Kinko's! They had a big one, and they let me use it for free. I had a bunch of 4"x6" padded envelops for sending photos, so I used those to send the flipbooks out. A bit more expensive than a normal card, but a lot more fun!

Resources:

• Free Flipbook Printer software from DonationCoder.com
  
• Avery Business Cards
  
• Kinko's
  

Gift Collection Phase: Complete

As of 10:45 this morning, my last gift that I needed was secured. Now, on to the wrapping and distribution phase...

As I am getting older, finding gifts is becoming more fun than the receiving gifts. Sure, it is hard to find the right gift for some people, but there are always those one or two gifts per year that you think "That's so cool! I can't wait to give it to them!" As I used to have a hard time waiting for presents, now I have a hard time not telling them about the gift...

Airline Club Rooms

I am currently sitting in the main lounge at Heathrow. I flew in on United and have a four hour layover until getting on my Turkish Air flight to Istanbul. If I was on a continuing United or Star Alliance flight, I could use United's Red Carpet Club, but I'm not. As I look around at the cacophony of people around me, I realize what an oasis it is... The Heathrow "Bing-Bong" attention tone is quite grating. I wonder if I could take out the speakers with my luggage???

Update: After checking in for my Istanbul flight, I learned that I am in business class for this leg (didn't know that) and that gets me admission to the American Airlines Admiral's Club. Gone is the "Bing-Bong" and the leather chairs are quite inviting. It's amazing how quickly a luxury can be taken for granted...

The Big Game

The Christmas Eve Day Football Game XIV - 2002

The big game is coming. Christmas Eve Day Game XVII. The annual game is the 17th incarnation, at least
according to our commissioner. How will the game go down? Who knows, but we can speculate. Prange is coming in with fistfuls of experience. He's the pro coach, so we know his team will be lining up with that perfect nickel-D. Of course, a love affair with the current McMenamin's product offerings might cost him a step or two. Flem? He's gone serious. This will be his first year back at the game after two years of training at his high-altitude camp in Salt Lake. Will that make the difference of him walking off a champion or not? Time will tell. Babcock is always a dark horse. A key player if he can stay of the IR list. Now he has been living in Nor-Cal, so hopefully that hasn't made him too soft. Klofstad sounds to be in change as well. Word on the street is that he is combining football with acting. Will he still jump up for a ball when going across the middle? Baldasin. If he shows up, we know there is only one thing he wants. I don't think he cares about winning or losing; he's out to hit. That leaves me. I've squandered my time training by playing Ultimate. Will the soft, no-touch game get me ready for some full hit football? I'll tell you the night of the 24th.