You make me wanna Snoop

In honor of Snoop's birthday I just wanted to give him a shout out.

I've known Snoop for quite a few years now. We met through a mutual friend (thanks Chief and Natalie). He has been a great friend ever since.

He is a master googler, a damn fine golfer, a fan of the bobblehead, a master planner, a great husband, and an awesome friend.

Hope your birthday was filled with Unicorns and Pixie Dust!

Straight to the top of my Netflix Queue

They sure knew how to scare you in the '70's

Jumping out of a Pool

You may have seen this already, but it is pretty impressive. They guy was just drafted by the Bears. He weighs 290, and is jumping our of a pool three feet deep.

Happy Earth Day!!

In celebration of Earth Day, I decided to give a shout out to one of my closest friends who now lives so far away...Nelli.

It really is perfect timing. As today I received a jar of her amazing mustard. I can't tell you how great it is. I literally wanted to eat it with a spoon. I refrained, but it was hard. I have two pork chops waiting in the fridge for the mustard to arrive, and lunch tomorrow will be heavenly.

So, the mustard's arrival, coupled with a day that Nelli holds dear, I thought it would be a good time to talk about all things Nell.

I have know Nell for over 20 years now. My memories go back to pre Kindergarten. I remember a birthday party at her house. I was the only boy, because Nate had to go to some wedding. The only thing I remember was Becky Beversdorf (from what I remember) slammed her hand in the door.

The first bike I rode, was Nelli's. I am sure it was pink and frilly.

After Kindergarten Nelli and I parted ways, I went to Eland she went to Wittenberg. We met back up in 6th grade in Middle School. We hung out in the same circles through High School and into College.

It was always a fun timing hanging out with Nell. From late nights roaming the neighborhoods of Wausau or hanging out on Alanna's trampoline, it was always a good time.

She was the first person that found out we were having a baby in college, and helped bring Trevor home from the hospital.

One thing has been constant throughout the years, that Nelli has been an amazing friend. Even though she now lives, like a million miles away. She is still a great friend, and sends me mustard.

I enjoy reading her husbands blog (by the way, Austin is a great guy as well, and I am happy the two of them met) and keeping up on the adventures that they take. I look forward to hearing about the newest chapter and their time in Alaska.

So, thanks for being awesome Nell, and Happy Earth Day.

Oh, PS, today for each policy sold, we donated a tree.

Triva Post Mortem

The one thing would really like to get my hands on is how much of an impact Trivia has on the Internet. With a couple thousand people all searching for the same thing, during a short span, has to result in some pretty interesting Google Analytics pages. It would be crazy to look at your blogs stats, and see that 5,000 people in Stevens Point were at your blog. Yay bloggers for blogging about some obscure things. It came in handy.

Not that I didn't have a fun time last year, but this year's Trivia was much more enjoyable for me. We had a better set up, more people, and no one wanted to kill anyone come the end of the weekend (at least not that I know of).

I also start to see things we can do, to move up even further in the standings. The biggest tip I got was from a guy I work with on the team that finished 8th. He said, they don't do much prep work, they don't assign anyone specific jobs or things to study. They just record all of the questions and answers. Then once the contest is done, they go through the ones they got wrong, and look for ways they could have found the answers. Then log potential solutions, along with the questions and answers. That way they can use it as a giant reference the next year. He advised that as you look at questions year to year, you start to see paterns and common themes. Which only helps.

The other thing I was thinking about doing, was building a database of info. Sports records, TV show casts, slogans. That way it can be searched without relying on the Internet. I noticed that a lot of times I was waiting for a page to load, because 7,000 other people were trying to look at the same thing, at the same time.

I think that if we keep building on what we have, the Loonery will be a team cracking the top 50 on a regular basis.

For Austin

The Mustached Falcon

TRIVIA 40 BABY!!

It's that time of year again, when hordes of people, well 10-20 show up with laptops sit in my basement, and search for ridiculus answers to ridiculus questions. As my friend Jerry says, it is more of the worlds largest research contest, than the worlds largest trivia contest. Either way you cut it, it is a fun time.

This won't be the last update tonight, or this weekend. Currently I am on 13 hours awake, 2 hours of contest.

On the 8th day he joined Facebook

Al Qaeda is recruitting Possums

From CNN:

Weeks after the National Park Service caught a raccoon who'd been stalking White House grounds, Capitol Police nabbed another furry fugitive Monday: a possibly rabid possum spotted near the Rayburn House Office Building.

As the possum took refuge in a nearby tree, officers isolated the area and called for animal control officials. Animal control caged and removed the animal from the scene so its condition could be determined.


Hey Possum, who the hell do you think you are. What gives you the right to wander around our nations Capital, and with rabies none the less. Is this how it's going to be. Try and take over the world one rabies victim at a time? Don't think playing dead is going to get you out of it either. One more false move and you will have this to deal with...

Thank You Baby Jesus

Wow, two posts about Jesus in a month, but I was reminded of something today, that has bothered me for a long time.

Why do people thank Jesus after winning things? I never see people thanking Jesus for giving them the ability to cross the road, or brush their teeth. They always thank Jesus after winning something. Today I watched the end of one of the Women's Final Four games, and in an interview with one of the girls from the winning team, stopped to thank Jesus. Like Jesus had an interest in the outcome of the game. I am fairly certain he did not. I coached basketball at a Catholic High School. We won one game all season. We had someone from the school come in and lead us in prayer before each game. The only thing we could do to make our team closer to God, would have been to fill the water bottles with holy water, and we won once. Jesus has more important things to do, than watch a basketball game.

What really blows my mind is when people thank baby Jesus. Why baby Jesus? I am pretty sure baby Jesus didn't do much more than eat, sleep, and crap in his Holy Huggies. I mean at least the older Jesus, did things, spread the word, taught people to fish, walked on water, and rose from the dead.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that out. I promise no more Jesus for a while.