2010: One of the Best Years of My Life

The title pretty much says it all: at age 27, 2010 was one of the best years of my life. But what made it all possible? Easy. I attribute it to a new mentality on life that all originates from a motto I concocted as my resolution for the year: Make It Happen. And the biggest key for making it a success was to never give up on it. As 2010 comes to a close, I feel like I've accomplished so much in one year that I have in say the previous 3 years. While this new look on life can be very demanding on my schedule and energy, I don't feel like I'm more exhausted from it all and in fact, I feel better than ever! Probably because the happiness I endure from it translates to near-zero stress in my life. :)

It all started on New Year's Eve in 2009. I hadn't actually come up with the motto "Make It Happen" yet, but I was with great company and close friends. We took advantage of an all-you-can-drink deal at Angels and Outlaws in Scottsdale and after several comical stories on the night that you may or may not have heard about, the tone for the new year was set. It was going to be a good one.Early in the year, I decided I should be more active in the "going-out" scene. I really made a conscious effort to make an appearance when invited. I hardly ever said no to any vacation or event...of course being single with a nice-paying job helps me accomplish that, for which I am grateful. It helped that I had friends who had so much going on this year in their own lives too. Thus, I would be invited to a handful of bachelor parties and weddings as well, which are always fun! ;)It wasn't all a breeze tho'. There was a 2-week stretch where I was hopping back and forth from home to Vegas to home to Vegas to Tubac and literally trying to make it to everything I could. The key was that I just stopped caring about whether I might feel tired from it all. I could afford it and I could afford the vacation days, so I just went out and did it all.That's a pretty important factor for me: being able to muster up the energy when I don't think there's any. Forcing myself to just, well, make it happen. I think that it's stuff like that that can be a big obstacle for people. "Oh, it's too far" or "I'm kinda tired, I think I might just stay in" are things I hear all the time and things I stopped using as excuses.However, I also honestly believe that you can make the time for someone if really want to, people usually just don't choose to. Of course, the flexibility of my life is also really huge. It's pretty awesome when I can go out on the weekdays and stay out late to hang out with friends and not have to worry about getting into the office early. I can stay rested with a normal amount of sleep each night and continue to have a good social life.But don't get me wrong here. IBM is still very important to me and I've always been the overachieving type anyway. If there's a job to be done, I will usually get it done and try to do it well. I think that's been important at the workplace. My colleagues all know I am a late-bird, but they know that I'm still effective at my job and it even showed this year when I got a promotion, something that I'm very happy for and also contributes to the great year that was 2010. :)Even with all the trips and going-out and more stuff on the agenda, I tried to not let it dominate my life either. I still continued to enjoy the things I love: video games, watching sports, working out, and playing basketball. I just found ways to make it all work. For example, Monday would be my day off where all I want to do is play basketball at night. Tuesday I would go lift at the gym after work and then get ready for a night on the town. Wednesday was usually a basketball night with going-out an option. Thursday is bowling followed by more hanging out. And then Friday-Sunday was a mix of all of the above. :)So all that is good and gravy. I'm going on trips, hanging out with friends and making new ones, keeping up with the stuff I love, staying successful at work; but another big thing for me this year was the luck with the ladies. I don't really blog about it because I try to stay humble (and secretive? haha), but I will admit that this year was one of the best in that realm. I took my "make it happen" mentality to the courting plate as well. When I saw someone that I was interested in, I wasn't being the shy guy in the corner. Instead, I stopped caring about the outcome, just went up to them and started talking and being myself. If they wanted to talk some more, great! If not, no big deal and move on. I understand that there's some level of confidence you have to find first and for me, I think the whole "making it happen" mentality really helped with that.Now one might argue that I'm ending 2010 the same way I started it: single. In the end that's definitely true, but the dates and experiences I had this year helped me learn more about myself and what I'm looking for, which is the ultimate accomplishment and something to build on for the future.Alright soooo: 3 trips to Vegas, 4 weddings (Vegas, Tubac, Michigan, Tucson), 4 bachelor parties, 2 trips to Mexico (San Carlos, Cabo), Dana Point, Scottsdale resorts, Payson, my first Cardinals game, repeat bowling champion, basketball champion, fantasy baseball champion, fantasy football champion, IBM promotion... While those all definitely contributed to the great year, I couldn't do it without the people and friends in my life. That was a challenge for me. Since I still live in Tucson some 5 years after I graduated, you can only imagine how the people I knew when I went to school at the U of A had all moved on with their lives and gone up and left Tucson. In fact, before this year, I struggled to find people to hang out with in town. That might be why I had to make things happen. My generation had left Tucson, so I was forced to make new friends, but I feel like I accomplished that this year and now my life is like that Over song by Drake.Ahh, but with new friends comes newer responsibilities. It's a lot to keep track of all the people you have to keep up with. However, I never quit. For example, you could literally see my text messages per month grow from 200/mo in the first quarter to 700/mo halfway through the year, to over 1100/mo by the end of the year. I aimed to be very reliable in returning every call and text I got. I stopped caring about whether someone wasn't at the same level as me, I just took what I could get and tried to be the best friend I could.Maybe that's it too. I stopped letting the silly things bother me. I had always considered myself pretty easy-going, but I think I took it to a new level. Yeah, there's things out there that can annoy you, but you have to ask yourself, "does it really matter?" and if you say yes ask yourself again, "really?", with more emphasis this time. ;) Then again, I will admit that I feel pretty lucky and that helps me to live this lifestyle. I'm blessed with a job that not only pays well (good enough for me!), but I can do it on my schedule. I have a great circle of friends who enjoy my company (I think) and want to invite me and be a part of their life. But I think if you have a good attitude on life, people will notice and want to share that with you. Happiness can be contagious. :) I'm also pretty fortunate as well. I know there's people out there who have serious problems: unemployment, debt, family or friends in unfortunate situations, etc. That's not something that can just be ignored. I'm very lucky to not have to deal with those kind of problems.I also wonder how my lifestyle could change if I weren't single. It's one thing to be on your own and not have to worry about tending to someone else or family. I'd like to think that until I actually settle down, I could continue to make it happen with a significant other in the picture, but I guess in time we'll find out. Until then, I'm just gonna enjoy what I have.Now that I think about it, didn't someone already come up with my motto? I think it goes something like "Just Do It." Haha. I like mine better though. "Just Do It" sounds kinda forceful whereas with "Make It Happen" you actually have to take a look and ask yourself what you have to do to make it happen.By no means am I saying that I'm perfect now. I still make mistakes, I can't be there 100% of the time, and even I have to cut back every now and then. The point is that I'm trying to do more and with that effort I'm happier than ever. I'm definitely in a much better spot than I was a couple years ago! I'm sure some of you remember the gloomy days of "poor Andy." Well, I'd like to think those days are behind me now. :) Okay, so we all know that 2010 was a great year. The question now becomes, how can we top it off? I think the answer is, you don't ask that question. Don't look at it as some yearly basis but instead just build upon the great year that was 2010. Meet more new friends while keeping up with the old ones, keep going out and planning fun trips, and continue the pursuit of those ladies! And so that's just what I'm gonna do. Already planned in 2011 is another trip to Vegas, snowboarding for the first time in my life, vacations in Orlando, New Orleans, DC...and we're just barely scraping into April. ;) I know Austin's on my list as well and I'm gonna want to visit Matt and Pamela when they move out to California. On that note, I will continue to try and make my blog happen. I know there are times when I'll go awol for a while, but it is some extra work to put these posts together. It's worth it though and it's fun for me to look back on my past. I hope whoever reads it gets some kick out of it too. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! 2011 is on it's way and I can't wait! :D

IBM Bowling League: The Road to the 3-Peat

You may recall from an earlier blog post in March that my bowling team in the IBM Bowling League was successful in repeating as champions. :) Bowling has already started back up and unfortunately our team didn't show up in the first half, which ended just last week. I blame it to the number of times several of us were absent and had to rely on subs. I personally missed 4-5 of the 12 weeks.

So tonight begins the second half and if we want to have any chance at a pulling a Michael Jordanesque 3-peat, we'll have to finish the 2nd half of weeks in 1st place so that we can get into the title game. It won't be easy, but I vow not to miss another game for the rest of the year. I want back-to-back-to-back championships that bad! DO WORK SON!

Thankful for a Weeklong Thanksgiving Vacation

This year for Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to take a whole week off and make a 9-day vacation out of it. :D Mike was here for the same amount of time, so we usually coordinate being in town at the same time. Here's a wrap-up of all the crazy crap I did last week.

Saturday: The vacation began with an awesome trip to Pamela's cabin near Payson: Forrest Lakes to be exact. We had a huge group at the cabin that included myself, Mike, Matt, Pamela, Kim, Claudia, Jonny, Jody, Alex, Doug, Cristina, Shannon, and Tom.We enjoyed plenty of good eats, smores, catch phrase, and did some hide-and-go-seek in the woods - a painful task for me since I was the seeker and had zero finds. :( Do you know how hard it is to find people in the woods when it's dark and all you have is the light from your iPhone?

This would also mark the beginning of my "bros icing bros" craze. The game is simple and you can refer to one of my earlier blogs where it first happened to me, but I'll restate it here: if someone stumbles upon a Smirnoff Ice, they have to get on one knee and chug it on the spot. The only protection is if you have a Smirnoff Ice on you, in which case you counter them and the person who attempted the ice has to do the chugging. :) Unfortunately/fortunately depending on how you look at it, girls are exempt from the game.

I iced Matt, Jonny, and Doug, but unfortunately the best ice of the night was Mike icing me. :( Just before I was about to hit the hay, I took my sleeping bag to the area of the floor I wanted to crash and out rolls a Smirnoff Ice. BOOOOO! I take it like a man even though I'm ready to go to bed soon. However, the best part is next: I go to my sleeping bag and start unrolling it and out plunks ANOTHER Ice! FML! Mike had somehow managed to sneak in another one while I wasn't looking. I really struggled to finish the 2nd one back-to-back since I was already hammered, but Mike was nice enough to help me finish half of it...probably 'cause he felt sorry for my drunk ass. Ugh, but I tip my hat to Mike, that might go down as one of the greatest icings ever.

Sunday: It snowed on Sunday at Pamela's cabin and so the bunch of us played in the snow that morning. Most of the fun came on a trampoline covered in snow that Jonny had found earlier that morning. I will say that this was the first time I've ever had to drive Lexi in the snow, but she handled it really well. Before this, it had really been a long time since I've seen snow like this...it was very nice and refreshing.

After the cabin trip, Mike and I somehow had enough energy to meet up with Nate at Yardhouse in Desert Ridge to watch the Eagles-Giants game. I was pleased to see Vick have another strong performance for my fantasy team. :)

Monday: Mike and I met up with Kyle K this night at Goldie's to play some Golden Tee and Buck Hunter. Mike also thought it'd be a bright idea to order a plate of the "Extra Hot" wings here, something we tried the last time he was in town. Their wings are made with habanero peppers and it definitely has a kick that not everyone can handle. We each ate 4 without much problem, although I always eat the them fastest but I might be able to handle them the best. :) Today was a pretty chill night, which was good considering how much else would transpire the rest of the week.

Tuesday: Tuesday was Kevin's birthday, so Mike and I took him out for lunch at the Tilted Kilt on Bell & Scottsdale Rd. I've never been but man, I am definitely gonna go back. Not only for the very good-looking girls in their cute Scottish kilts, but they have a great venue complete with pool, shufflepuck, and yes, Buck Hunter! The only downside is that it's not as close to home, but when you live where Mike and I do, everything's far.

We also made a casino run this day. I had told Mike about the $1 Video Craps game at the Talking Stick casino along the 101, so we decided to check it out. Mike was making a killing with his field bets and eventually was up $60, but that quickly went away after a couple $25 field bets that didn't hit, lol. I didn't have any luck on this game playing my normal style (2x odds on the pass line with 6 and 8 place bets) and ended losing $25 to the machine. But the good news is that we played some Blackjack afterwards and I ended up winning $60 there before heading home. :D

Wednesday: Mike, Nate, Kyle K, and I had lunch at Big Daddy's BBQ on Shea. After having hot-hot wings on Monday at Goldie's, Kyle suggested that we try the "Smokin' HOT Habanero Wings" at this place. I'll rate them as about as hot as the one's at Goldie's, give or take a few thousand scovilles, although the smoky flavor was a really nice taste. Mike had 3, Kyle had 4, and yours truly took 5. Definitely recommend the mac 'n cheese here by the way; it's good.

Later that night, I met up with Chris and iced him in the car when I picked him up, lol. Then we met up with Kyle E, Brian, and Kelly at Applebee's. Back in high school, our group would always hit up the Bees for late night happy hour. No big stories here, but I did ice Kyle before he went home by leaving a Smirnoff Ice on his windshield, haha! He didn't chug it there because he had to drive home, but he promised he'd take it like a man on Friday night at his place when I'd see him next.

Thursday: On Thanksgiving morning, I got up at 8am to play football in our annual Turkey Bowl. There are about 14-18 of us from high school and it's been a 12-year tradition to play football on this day before all the Thanksgiving festivities. I was held to 0 touchdowns on the day, but that doesn't say much seeing how our team took a bad 3-8 pounding. UGH.

I made it home by noon to have "turkey dinner" with the folks and my sister's family. The turkey, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and mushrooms are some of my favorites in this meal. But I would have to save some stomach because I also had dinner later that night with Mike and his family - turkey dinner #2 - where we had more turkey, more mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

Greatly stuffed with so much Thanksgiving food, Mike, Chris, Nate, Elizabeth, and I went over to Kyle K's house for desserts, another annual tradition we have on Thanksgiving day. It was a pretty chill night and we mostly just hung out in the gazebo next to the fire and reminisced about stories from high school and college, bachelor parties, etc, basically all our memories. Oh, and I found a way to sneak in some icing as well...yeah, finally got Mike back for his ices at the cabin. ;) Unfortunately, I didn't protect myself from getting iced when I could've easily just taken an extra ice with me, but oh well, just gotta step up my game next time.

Friday: On Friday night, Kyle E had people over to watch the UA-Oregon game and essentially watch our team get their asses handed to them in the second half. He and Jamie also arranged a Thanksgiving dinner do-over, which would be turkey dinner #3 for me on the weekend so far. I enjoyed watching Kyle chug his ice that he was supposed to have on Wednesday and I got Puza in the meantime as well. :) It was also nice to see Brian and Kelly one more time before they took off.

Around 11pm, I was ready to just call it a night, but Terry called me up and asked if I wanted to clubbing in Old Town Scottsdale. Terry's from Tucson and we had always talked about going clubbing in Phoenix, so seeing how this might be the one opportunity we'd get for a while, I figured I'd Make It Happen some more, so I met up with Terry to hit up Martini Ranch and Axis-Radius. Oh, and I'll mention that he brought me a plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing from his home, lol; turkey dinner #4.

Saturday: Woke up and had lunch at home with the family and afterwards my sister and my brother-in-law played a round of Settlers: Cities and Knights. It was a dominating performance on my end mostly do to the lack of 8s rolled and my opponents were relying heavily on that number. In the late afternoon, I met up with Sam and we hit up the Cajun Seafood Corner in Tempe - fried alligator, fried okra, and fried quail was on our menu (try the alligator if you go there, it was the best of all 3!). Instead of trekking back home after happy hour, I made my way to Goldie's to meet up with Kyle K, Brad, Chris, Mike, and Nate for more happy hour, the UA-Kansas game, Buck Hunter, pool, and shufflepuck. Oh, and my drunk ass decided it would be fun to do ANOTHER order of their "Extra Hot" wings. Unfortunately, my friends were all "hot-winged out" from earlier in the week (can't blame them), so I ended up pounding down 9 of those f*ckers, lolololol! We also saw there a girl we knew from high school and eventually I said hi to Cilla and all of us spent some time catching up. It was a good end to what would be Mike and Chris's last night in Scottsdale.

Sunday: Today was fairly chill. I just went to dim sum with the parents and my sister's family, followed by watching the Eagles get worked by the Bears (booooo!), watching the Chargers run the Colts out of their own building, and eventually making a run to Senor Taco late at night to snack on when I got back to Tucson around 1am. :P

All-in-all, it was a great vacation and I just can't believe how much I was able to get in (and how I drank basically everyday from Saturday to Saturday...eek!!!). Anyway, be back to Scottsdale in a few weeks for Christmas and New Year's!!!

Veteran's Day Adventures!

I've never had a reason to really celebrate Veteran's Day in the past, but for some reason this year there was quite a bit going on. On the Wednesday before the holiday, a somewhat random group of us went camping on Mt. Lemmon. It's random because we were hanging out at the Hut on Sunday night for Day of the Dead and decided it'd be fun to have a camping trip later that week. So Jonny, Jen, Deanna, Vanessa, Carla, Eli, Matt, and myself (some of us who had just met on that Sunday) all made the trek up to Mt. Lemmon and camped overnight. I had never been to Mt. Lemmon before despite having lived in Tucson for almost 10 years, so this wasn't a trip I wanted to pass on. Unfortuntaely when we got there, it took forever to find a campground because it was so crowded due to the holiday. We literally drove up and down the mountain for 2 hours looking for a spot before we settled on a campground in Molino Basin, which was fine with me since it was dark and it wasn't like I could really tell what my surroundings looked like anyway. :) It was your typical camping trip: drinking, bonfire with smores, grilled dogs, and a fun group of random people. I also like the "Tent Projects" we set up for overnight where we passed out in around 3 in the morning.
On Veteran's Day, I woke up at 7:30am (I know I know, how's that even possible for me) to get ready for a road trip to Bisbee with Brooke and Courtney. Our trip started around 10 in the morning and we decided to take the route through Tombstone on our way to Bisbee. I'd never been to either city and among good company this was a real fun day!

There's not a whole lot to do in Tombstone, but it seemed like there was plenty to look at the few hours we were there. We stumbled upon the part of the city that has a bunch of museums, shops, and saloons. The girls were quite funny, running around all day like kids in an amusement park and at other times wreaking some havoc as well. ;) It was hilarious when the clerk at the Shady Lady told Courtney "don't bother on coming back." LOL!

Our ultimate destination was the city of Bisbee. I didn't really know what to expect of this place, but it's actually a pretty cool town! As you can see in the picture below, all the homes rest all over the mountains and that with the lush, green environment really give it some kind of old-European-town type of feeling.Bisbee only has a couple main streets where all the restaurants, bars, and stores reside. The rest is just enjoying the atmosphere and the small-town vibe this city emanates. :) I hear the city of Bisbee throws some bitchin' New Years and Halloween parties and I could definitely imagine them packing the few streets they have in town. A quiet little town that is just beautiful to look at. I'm really happy Brooke and Courtney invited me on their adventure!

I also don't know how I survived the rest of the night. After only getting 4 hours of sleep in a cold tent the night before and adventuring all day long, we still managed to hit up the bars on 4th when we got back to Tucson, hahaha. Great times with great people and loving every minute!!!

Indian Food: A Coworkers Treat

On occasion, my coworkers and I will bring in for lunch homemade leftovers for each other. One of my coworkers, Kaisar, is indian and him and his wife make the greatest meals. Well, not that the dishes from other teammates are any bit subpar, I just happened to have his most recently. The picture to the top left is some lamb curry that Kaisar brought for me and it was DELICIOUS! I am convinced that any food prepared correctly can be scrumptious - even eggplant. Yes, eggplant. That gross purple vegetable that nobody likes. ;) Well Kaisar gave me an eggplant that was cooked in lentil juices (I assume, I'm not actually sure and I'm probably way off here) and it was excellent! It's not shown above 'cause I ate it already. Haha.

The picture to the bottom right is another meal that Kaisar brought for me but that time it was fishhead curry. OMG, so freakin' tasty and although I know that Americanos will think that anything out of the ordinary is gross, like heads, stomachs, intestines, livers, etc. All I can tell you is that you're missing out. Like I said, anything prepared well can be good (although fishhead is good in any form) and everything in the world is worth trying at least once in my opinion. If I were to ever lose my sense of taste I don't know if there'd even be a point to living anymore. Anyway, thanks Kaisar and thanks to his wife as well. I swear, I'd marry that woman for her cooking alone! :D

NBA Season Tips Off Tonight!!!

It's no secret that I love sports, but when it comes to favorites, basketball is the one. I have been anxiously waiting the start of the 2010-2011 NBA season and tip off is just moments away from the time that I'm writing this entry.


The season opener features the Miami Heat @ the Boston Celtics and it should be a good one. I have LBJ drafted on both my $$$ fantasy leagues and am so excited to see what the Heat will look like this season. I know there are a lot of haters out there thinking they "stacked" them team or that LBJ left for the wrong reasons (maybe only Cleveland thanks that actually) and Bosh shouldn't be playing 3rd fiddle on any team, but hey, we've seen these superstar assimilations before: Garnett and Allen joining Pierce happened most recently but not as many critics complained. Maybe the talent of LBJ, Wade, and Bosh is so great that people just can't help but talk about it. I know I can't!
[picture courtesy of ESPN.com]

Watching basketball actually has another effect for me: it makes me want to play more as well. It's not like I've dropped basketball in the last few months, but with all the travel I haven't been able to get in there as often as I'd like. There'd be weeks were I didn't even pick up a ball and it sucked. Now that the vacations have subsided and I've more free time on my hands, I'm trying to go to the rec for pickup 2-3 times a week and so far I've been doing that and it's felt great!

So yep, totally ECSTATIC for this season! Now if we could only get some consistency from Gil' this year...

Mass Update

It's becoming more difficult for me to be updating my blog as regularly as I used to. When I started this thing back in January, it was like a hip new fad that I wanted to update every week. These days, I've been pretty busy with traveling, work, StarCraft II, and just life in general, so I guess I'll just have to do my best and write on my blog whenever I get a chance. So my apologies in advance to all my loyal fans! With that said, let's have a nice Mass Update Blog Entry! Although I'm probably gonna try and write this in 30 minutes or less, so I might just blast through the last 2 weeks of my life.

Last month I went on several trips out of town: Vegas, Scottsdale, and Michigan. At the beginning of October I went to Cabo with Matt and Pamela who invited me to stay at their cousin's timeshare suite and for this trip I brought Maddie with me! :)
This was the second time I've been to Cabo. The first time was 2 years ago with Peyman and Kyle. That time was pretty awesome because we stayed at an all-inclusive resort and definitely took advantage. But this traveler is never one to complain! The suite we had this time in Cabo - Playa Grande - was very nice as well!

Playa Grande is towards the southern area of the touristy area of Cabo. I went to San Carlos earlier this year and Cabo is WAAAY more touristy in my opinion. Anyway, we had to take the water taxi to get to the popular beaches each time, but the fare was cheap at like $3 a person and it was the only time during the trip that we were really on a boat anywhere.

I can imagine Cabo being a huge destination spot for Spring Breakers. You can easily drink your ass off silly here. Shown below is me somehow getting convinced to join a break-dancing contest where we had to do our best to copy a b-boy dancer's moves and he was actually pretty damn good. The winner by audience decision received a bucket of beers. I didn't win the contest, but I didn't lose either...my opponent and I ended up splitting the bucket 'cause it was a tie, lol.Sand bars are quite common along the beaches of Cabo. It was funny because every time we were at one, Maddie would always get involved in a drinking contest or have access to some kind of open bar. Girls get sooooo many free drinks in this city, it's kinda ridiculous. Haha. And I might add that Maddie destroyed the competition each time, but there's nary a girl out there who can outdrink her. :) Below is a video off Facebook showing the utter domination.

The nightlife in Cabo is about the same anywhere else, probably due to the large number of Americans visiting the city. I had been to most of the popular bars before the first time with Peyman and Kyle. And this trip around, there was so much laying out in the sun and day-drinking going on that we didn't always have the energy to stay out late each night. Wow, did I just say that? Am I getting old? Haha.

The popular beaches are nice, but there are a ton of vendors and it gets annoying after a while always trying to shoo them away. So one of these days we made our way out to Pelican Lover's Beach, which had zero vendors and a ton of beautiful rock formations.

Another highlight of the trip was the all-you-can-eat-and-drink beach party at our resort. What can I say, I just like when there's not a limit to how much your heart can consume! :) I think if I were to ever go back to Cabo, it would be back at an all-inclusive resort. Whether you actually save more money in the end is a another question. It's a little on the unlikely side that I'll go back here though because I've been there twice already and think there are more entertaining places to see in Mexico.

It's no secret to anyone that I LOVE Mexican food. Actually, I just love food in general! But anyway, I definitely enjoyed eating at little Mexican fast-food trucks like the one shown below. I'll have what the locals are having please! :P Cabo was fun for me and Maddie's presence probably was key in making it an enjoyable trip. Always nice to get away and experience another country whenever you get a chance!Shortly after I got back to Tucson, it was time to get ready for the next big events...Mike coming home to Arizona with his girlfriend Keri to show her the area and then a bachelor party for Matt in Glendale.

Mike and Keri actually drove down to Tucson a night to visit me and so we showed her the various nightlife along 4th ave and took her to Lindy's the next day for lunch. The rest of the weekend was spent in Scottsdale. Such outings included hanging out at the Hyatt Gainey-Ranch resort (a place I am all too familiar with now) with Nate and Elizabeth, shopping at Fashion Square, and hitting up Old-Town Scottsdale with Kevin, Sam, Jeff and Ashley.

We eventually made our way to the Lodge, where I played a round of Buckhunter - woot woot! - and Keri and Mike engaged in an intense game of over-sized Jenga. It was more hilarious just watching how loooooong it took Mike to make his moves. But I suppose all that extra time helped as Mike and Keri came out victorious!

Sunday was Matt's bachelor party in Glendale. We started by attending the Cardinals-Saints game and this was the first time I've ever been to our new stadium! To say the least, I was quite impressed (the only other NFL stadium I've been to is Arrowhead in KC). Lucky's seats are on the 4th row behind the endzone, so we had a pretty good view of the action, especially when the teams were in the redzone on our end of the field.

If you ever decide to eat here, I strongly recommend the AZ Big Chili Dog. It's a hot dog topped with cheese and chili, but did I mention that it's like a foot long!?!? Haha, that's what she said...and then she ran away. ;) Anyway, shown below is a picture of me about to eat this monstrosity, which I finished completely I might add. :P

Another highlight with our seats was that Kid Rock was sitting in the front row...or at least that's what everyone calls him. Definitely a "superfan", he did his best to get the crowd involved and always displayed humorous poses when the Cardinals either got a first down or scored a touchdown.

After the game, the 4 of us went to Pink Cabaret in Glendale. You know, bachelor party business as usual. So I'll skip that story and head straight to the rest of the night, which we spent at Westgate by the stadium. I really wish Tucson had places like this and Tempe Marketplace...they make for great spots to take dates. :( At the Yardhouse, we each polished off a "yard" of Sunshine Wheat before we eventually hit the road back to Tucson at about midnight. I was definitely happy to be a part of another bachelor party...you can never be involved in enough. ;) We got home around 2am, and I literally made it to the gas station by my house running on fumes. I think this is pretty much the closest I've ever gotten to 0 miles of approximate mileage left in my tank.

So there are my updates for the last two weeks. Life has been great and I'm really enjoying myself! Now I gotta bounce to bowling league, which I wish I could say is going well, but we're getting our asses kicked right now, probably 'cause our teammates have missed several games this year already...whoops! Oh well, we can still get that 3-peat, just need to DO WORK SON!