Dan in Real Life...

I watched a movie tonight called "Dan In Real Life." Steve Carrell is in it... and all I can say is it's NOT a typical Steve Carrell movie.

The plot deals with a guy who is an advice columnist who is raising his 3 daughters four years removed from his wife's death.

To me, there were a lot of similarities to life as I know it. First of all, the "repetition of the day. The opening scene begins with him waking up and beginning another day reluctantly. Now, part of me related to that - not because of his depression for his wife. More like, "here we go again" when I start another day. (Maybe I need to find another job... ha!)

Now when it comes to my views on "love," I gotta say... he really nailed some of my experiences and current feelings.

There is a moment towards the end of the movie that really captured that for me. I won't give anything away (because I think you should really see this movie), but he explains why he has been living "life" for the past few years and going through the motions. He further details what his "plan" will be going forward. Which, to those listening in the scene, they didn't buy it. In fact, they told him what he needed to do.

Now I'm not saying it will change my life. But, it was interesting to watch a movie that dealt with some of my thoughts and attitudes over the past few years.

And Steve Carrell? Well, he showed quite a bit of depth. I hope to see him do more movies like this in the future.

Oh the JOY of Business Traveling...

Yes... I know... I haven't been writing much this summer. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm just a little bit busy these days... or tired when I get home... or "insert other excuse here."

Well, I've got a bit of a story to tell...

Monday morning I left for Washington DC for 2 days of meetings. I'm working on a project that will eventually lead to a new external website for my company - it'll launch next summer.

Anyway, woke up around 3:45 AM and headed to the airport around 5 (it takes me a while to get going in the mornings). I was actually running a little late and it took me longer than I expected. Not to mention I got caught up in "overnight contruction" as I approached the airport.

Well, it was raining pretty good and I missed the North Express Parking upon entering the airport... so I headed to the South Express lot. Now it's about 6:00 AM and my flight is at 6:45. I'm thinking, "Great... Rob (boss) is probably wondering where I am."

Once on the bus, I noticed someone was staring at me. Sure enough, it was Rob. At least I wasn't the only one late! Going through security was a breeze... no line! In fact, as soon as we got to the gate, the plane was already boarding - it was 6:10! Well, that's one thing that bugs me about American Airlines - they board WAY too early. Once you're on, you're jammed into a seat with a bunch of grumpy people and then you just sit there.

Lucky me... I got to ride the center seat for the 3 hour flight! (Surely you know me well enough to identify sarcasm!). Not only that, no arm rest due to the two jerks sitting on either side of me. And, to add just a bit more frustration, there was a guy behind me who snored the entire flight. I'm not lying... he was a loud snorer and he made sure everyone knew it!

We landed around 10:30 at Reagan National. Now, if you're familiar with DC, that is the airport (of the 2 area airports) that is closest to everything. One of the things I was looking forward to was to look out at the famous buildings as we were landing... but unfortunately, the jack-ass sitting next to me kept his blinds closed the entire flight!

Now I don't mind if you keep your shade down during the flight... but for goodness sakes, open the dang thing when you're landing as a courtesy to your seat mates! GRRR...

We met up with Joe & Shelley (coworkers from Atlanta) and jumped into our COMPACT car - 2-door Chevy Cobalt. Vrrroom Vrrrrrooom.... not! Headed to the office and began our afternoon meetings after lunch.

That night, we all went out (there was a group of 15 or so) to, what I would describe, as "Uptown." We were in Arlington, VA, at this point. It was a nice area - very young and some cool buildings. After dinner, we walked across the street to a bar called Whitlows. Got some pitchers of beer, and played games - pool & foosball. It was a ton of fun!

Now I made it back to the hotel (Marriott Tyson's Corner) around 11:00. Went to bed... figured I'd get a good night's sleep. Well, right around midnight all hell broke loose! I was unfortunate enough to have a room that was next to several SCREAMING high school girls! Uugh. From midnight until 4 AM (Seriously!) they screamed, giggled, laughed, cahorted, etc. It was misery! I ended up putting cotton balls into my ears after 1 AM. That seemed to help... I can't believe I forgot my earplugs!

So a very tired and grumpy Regan began the next round of meetings. They went just as I expected, and at one time I actually got irritated at someone and barked at them. Oh well... no harm, no foul. I guess I was just tired of listening to nonsense. Or I was just tired.

We then headed to the airport and I was subjected AGAIN to the middle seat. This time, it wasn't as bad as the previous morning because I at least gained control of the armrest (one). But the worst was a 2-3 year old boy who would scream bloody murder every 15-20 minutes of the 3-hour flight. I'm serious... he had some lungs on him! And while I normally can sleep on planes, this time it wouldn't happen. I'd just reach that point of serenity and then "WHHHAAAAA!!!!!"

Well, we landed on time and I was back at my house by 7 PM. I was very tired, and I think I crashed around 9 PM that night.

Smoke-O-Licious!!!

Last Saturday I went a little crazy... I smoked just about everything in my house that I could think of. OK, not like a "cigarrette," but more like "meat."

For quite some time, I've thought about getting into the "smoked" method of cooking. For those that don't know, smoking is a slower and longer process than grilling. The temperatures are a lot lower, and the goal is to produce a lot of smoke and steam to add flavor to your meats.

So I went to WAL-MART on Friday and bought a cheap smoker for $28. It's the Brinkman "Smoke N Grill" that you see here. It has 2 grills to place the meat products on, a water pan, and then a charcoal pan at the bottom.

My main reason for "smoking" was to smoke a brisket. But before I got it home, I perused the meat section and bought a whole chicken ($4), sausage, and chicken breasts.

Putting this together took about an hour. No big deal. It's small enough that I did it in my living room - and avoiding the 105 degree temps we've been having!

On Saturday, I began getting everything ready. I used lime juice to season the brisket and the chicken, as well as an assortment of onions, salt, pepper, garlic, and other seasonings. For the chicken I added one extra ingredient - beer! I let everything marinate for about two hours. (NOTE: Looking back, I probably should have done this Friday and let it marinate overnight.)

After building the fire, I placed the brisket and chicken on separate grills. The smoke was crazy! I thought if my neighbors were looking, they might think there was a REAL fire behind my house!

I noticed after 2 hours that I was going to have some problems. First, the fire would have to be "re-fueled." This means I needed access to the fire bowl to add more charcoal and wood (I was using oak). Second, this same fire bowl seemed to just hold all of the ash... which means it was smothering the hot coals.

Anyway, I had to make numerous adjustments throughout the day as I cooked everything. I also had picked out a nice looking slab of brisket, but later discovered the meat should have more fat on it. This led to the meat being flavorful, but too tough to chew. Let's just say my jaw muscles got sore!

Now the chicken turned out amazingly good! It was probably the best I've ever had. One other thing I did was to add beer into the water bowl (half beer/half water). This meant I had a nice "beer steam" flowing up through my meats.

Along with the chicken and the brisket, I also smoked: Boudain, sausage, brats, and 2 chicken breasts. Why so much? Here's my reasoning:

Boudain: I've been wanting to grill it for a while, so why not try it smoked?
Sausage: I will freeze this for now, but later cut it up and use it in my pasta sauces.
Brats: Hot dogs anyone? Easy to throw one in the microwave for a quick meal.
Chicken breasts: Cut them up and added to pasta that I'm eating for my lunches.

I'm still eating on the smoked chicken and brisket this week. However, after doing a little searching, I found someone who has modified their Brinkmann smoker that I think is going to be a worth-while project for yours truly.

Here is what I plan to do:

Link

We're #4!!!

I found this humorous blog where a guy ranked the "20 Coolest College Football Logos." In fact, he also ranked the "29 Most Boring College Football Logos."

The good news is we came out as the #4 coolest logo. However, he writes with A LOT of sarcasm. (Now you know why I'm recommending these blogs!) If you're interested in viewing both, read on:

Coolest Logos
Boring Logos

Update on My Mom...

As some of you know, my mom underwent a lumpectomy today to address the cancer in her breast. The good news prior to this procedure was that it was contained in a duct, and that it appeared to have not spread. Also, she would not have to undergo chemotherapy. Instead, they would do surgery and then radiation therapy.

Well, we've been waiting to hear from Joel on how the surgery went today. He called my sister around mid-afternoon to let her know that mom was now in "Recovery" and would be allowed to leave around 4:30. The doctor did not think any cancer was on the fringes of the tissue he removed, but they will know for sure on Friday when they hear from the Pathologist.

I will be going over there tomorrow to check on her, but I wanted to let those who have asked that she's doing great and the power of God's healing hand is at work!

Thank you again for your prayers...

That's so CUIL...

A new search engine was launched yesterday. It's called "cuil," and pronounced "cool." It was started by former Google employees who hope to give web surfers a better "search" experience.

One thing you'll notice immediately is the "text dropdown" as you type in your query. And when you've completed your search, it will provide a lot more information than other search engines.

Instead of showing snippets of of your search results, it displays longer entries and uses more pictures. It also provides tools to help users refine their searches.

The site boasts a database that searches over 120 billion web pages - larger than any other search engine. The company uses a form of data mining to group web pages by content, which makes the search engine more efficient.

So check it out. www.cuil.com

How Great Thou ART...

I'm a HUGE Baylor fan... much to the chagrin of most of my friends and family. We've taken our lumps in the Big 12 since it began in 1996. However, across the board, we're competitive (if not champions) in most sports. And last year, in men's basketball, we had a great team that made it to the NCAA Tournament! Sic Em!

But alas, when you're in the Big 12, football is what matters. And yes, we haven't done a very good job of taking care of what matters. When we were in the old Southwest Conference, we were typically in the top 3 teams... not the cellar dwellars of today. It kills me that we've only won 11 conference games since 1996.

So here we go again... hired a new coach. His name is Art Briles, and I have a feeling he just might turn things around. He comes from the University of Houston, and he is extremely positive and has a penchant for producing champions.

A recent article was posted in the Tulsa newspaper. I thought I'd share with everyone why we're all hoping ART will be our next "Grant Teaff."

Link