Day 223

Very busy work day for me today and I'm dragging a little bit, so this is going to be short. Casey had some stomach issues last night at 3 am, 4:30, and 5:45. She was trying to tell us she needed to go out and we just ignored her. Finally at 5:45, I let her out and she went three times immediately and again at 9 am. My poor dog. All I could think was that she was trying to help Leah and I prepare for getting up multiple times in the middle of the night for the baby. Very smart dog I have huh? It has snowed for about 6 straight days here and the snow is starting to swallow Casey. I played outside with her in the front yard yesterday for probably a half hour. When we came in, she had all of this snow frozen and caught in her torso hair. It was like she had extra ice nipples. It was hilarious, but I felt so bad for her. I tried to get them out, but just had to let them melt. Made us laugh, that is for sure.

I am flying in and out of Chicago tomorrow for the day - Vendor Friday at the client. Jessica is flying back with me as she is coming to visit to help Leah prepare for the baby. They are going to be getting all of the essentials - Diapers, bottles, car seat, nursing stuff, etc. Then Sunday morning at 7 am I leave for Des Moines for essentially 36 hours. I have a trade show Monday where I have to have my booth set up Sunday. I come home Monday night and this is my last business trip until after the baby is born. Another thing I am sad to miss this weekend is my boys annual trip back to Lawrence for a basketball game. This year was going to be different, as all of the wives are going as well. Leah obviously cannot travel at this point and I was maybe going to go solo, but as it turned out, this trade show would have become a hindrance either way, so I am missing it for the first time. Fun is always had down there and nobody loves Lawrence more than I do. I'm just glad I got to go last month and experience it with MD. The classic thing about this trip is that the Buatch is already down there. why you ask? Believe it or not, he is speaking to 4 different classes and a giant lecture room full of business school students about becoming a success in business and being a product of the KU B-school. I know, stop laughing. This is true. The clown prince himself was a straight A student in college and a very successful businessman in Chicago. Evidently they want him to speak to the students. I don't know how he is going to do it; he is literally incapable of not saying the F word every 5 minutes.

On the subject of sports tickets, there is an interesting racket going on these days. It seems as though unless it is a season ticket, every good seat at any sporting even is held by ticket brokers. These brokers are all a part of a network and are a good service for those people who can afford it. But if you can't, you seem to be shut out. I have used brokers from time to time, but I find myself overpaying excessively for something I could have gotten from a scalper outside of the venue for half the price I paid. Case in point, last year, Leah and I went down to Lawrence and took two clients to the KU/Kentucky game. Since it was two traditional powerhouses meeting in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time, tickets were outrageous using online brokers. Because my company was paying for them, I had to use a broker so I could turn in a receipt. Scalpers don't take credit cards, you know. So I ended up using Stubhub, a popular ticket site where season ticket holders can sell their tickets to others. To get four good seats together was impossible, unless I wanted to pay almost $3000. I ended up with average seats and spent about $1300 for seats that were $160 face value. Walking into the game I talked to a few scalpers and could have had better seats for $400 total. In the meantime, the NFL continues to screw their real fans. A bunch of my friends from Chicago explored looking into Super Bowl seats. They were all appalled to see that seats were at a minimum $3000. Face value on the worst seats in the house are $300. The general public only gets a shot at about 10,ooo tickets. The other 65,000 or so are corporate seats. Nice of the NFL to shut out its fan base. The Super Bowl game itself is secondary to the parties and corporate shill fest that has become Super Bowl week. I think its just a real shame that so many real fans can't afford to go to the biggest game in their franchises history. It's the only sport that is this way. You never hear that much of an outcry on this either. The NFL is Teflon like that. So many arrests, steroid abusers, a product on the field that probably has never been worse, yet its as popular as ever.

I won't bother you with discussing W's State of the Union address the other night. More of the same bullshit from that buffoon. I am very excited for the 2008 Presidential race though. We have some very interesting names already in the race, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama (its all but a formality that he is in), New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson are amongst the Democratic contenders. John McCain is expected to be the top dog Republican candidate. I still don't get how that clown Dennis Kucinich of my home state can mount a candidacy again. The man with the Spok ears was the worst Mayor in the history of Cleveland. He clearly has no shot and wastes more money for a second time on a run which will undoubtedly fall way short. Interesting.

My Cavaliers are in major trouble. They are playing like absolute garbage and offering Lebron James no help whatsoever. This is a flawed roster of bloated contracts and players who look older and older each day. Zydrunas Illgauskas has 4 more years left on his deal and the guy can barely move. Larry Hughes is clearly not a $12 million dollar player and not the right kind of Robin for Lebron's batman. GM Danny Ferry desperately needs to shake up this roster. The countdown to Lebron leaving is ticking.

Song of the Day: "Against The Wind" by Bob Seger