quit taking life so friggin seriously

Seriously, this will be fun to film, but I won’t win, not even with my shrimp mac n cheese.

click here

wait.. what? Please note: If you are under consideration as a potential finalist, you will be asked to provide up to 30 ORIGINAL recipes on very short notice. Please begin assembling recipes now.

1) Shrimp Mac n Cheese.
2) split pea with ham soup.
3) Buttermilk biscuits

“thank you for coming, Bill … next”

I saw this a year ago and didn’t buy it for $19.99.
I’m buying 3 now at $2 each
I’m certain that I need one at that price. And one for Dad. And one for a spare.

“opening soon”

and “Lucky You”

n.b. the “lucky you” is only visible if you unzip the jeans.

I’m just saying.

_{“If you can read this, consider yourself lucky”}

for that, I’ll need some bacon.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but once in a while even I get lucky!

and let you draw some of your own conclusions.

it took me along as a “wingman” for the sweater.

there is video

My reservation for the bar was under the name “Wild Bill” and this table of ladies were VERY excited to meet the person named Wild Bill who had a reservation for 12 at a bar. I told them stories.. they were at the table next to my party … and people from my group kept coming over and saying “Dad, we want you to come back to our table” ... Sheesh

to take life a little more seriously, once in a while.

Be less frivolous.

Be more careful.

is here somewhere.

October 19th, 2006, a day I remember well because it is my brother’s birthday and I had just called him.

It was a long day at a company meeting / pep rally / conference, and I was the last speaker. I got to tell the story of a success I had had, and I used a electronic presentation (like a powerpoint slide show) to tell the story. It was already 4:30 PM and my flight at Dallas-Fort Worth airport was scheduled for 6 PM or so.

The presentation went well, and after a short delay giving copies of it away on a memory stick (each person seemed to want it on their hard drive) I packed my laptop into my backpack and headed to the garage.

I walked out of one building, across the atrium and into the next building. Think of it as a baseball diamond, where I came in at first base and had to exit at 3rd base. I was reading something on my blackberry, and was quite distracted by it, and I walked off the end of the patio and fell directly in to a two foot deep water fountain.

I was lucky not to have been impaled on a water jet, but my sensations at the time were “I’m falling” followed by “I’m flying” followed by “I’m under water” then “hmmm the water is warm” and “am I in my mother’s womb again, about to be reborn and see my life flash before me?”

I dropped my blackberry to the bottom of the fountain.

My backpack went floating away.

I lost my expensive fountain pen and my company badge.

I was shocked, but not in shock. I knew I had a flight to catch, so I picked up my things and headed for the garage.

Then I realized I didn’t have the pen or the badge.

I like that pen.

So, I went back to the fountain.

The ‘guard’ saw me driping water and makign a mess and said “sir… Sir…. SIR!”

To which I replied “GET someone from housekeeping down here right now to get this water cleaned up… someone might slip.”

He nodded, but when it became obvious I was going back in to get he Montblanc Meisterstruk 149 he said “Sir, I can’t let you get back in the fountain!”

To which I replied, “I don’t think you can stop me,” since I have a keen sense of the will of others and I noted he didn’t have a gun.

I found the pen, but never did find the badge. It had a bad photo anyway, so it was time for a new one.

Just about this time, my friends from around the country who were also at the meeting came out… and, fortunately one had a camera phone.

My company laptop did not survive the water. It was replaced by the company (lucky for me the disk survived). The berry was out of commission for a week, but it too was replaced.

My clothes dried out as I flew from DFW to ORD (it’s very dry in the airplane) and only my shoes remained damp until the next day.

Not the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s in the top ten.