SC (right) and myself at Monaco Bay for JoePalooza XXIII

When you live life in the fast lane you work hard, and play hard.  You set the tone, bring in your all-star lineup, and let the scene play out.

This past weekend to celebrate my 23rd Birthay I orchestrated Joepaloooza XXIII, an annual event which my closest friends get together and cut loose, leaving a path of entertainment in our wake. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who attended for making the event memorable.

Thus far 2009 is going in the right direction.

Rules of the Game:

1. You are playing the game.
2. Whenever you think about the game, you lose.
3. Loses must be announced.

The objective is to forget that the game exists.

JV (left) and myself pose at Wild Bull a few weeks back.

February 3, 1986, I was born, and the world was not ready.

Okay, well I’ll drop the ego, but today I am celebrating my 23rd birthday.  It’s been a crazy ride thus far, with any luck 23 will be less dramatic and more successful than 22, but as far as I’m concerned the sky is the limit!  I want to thank my family for putting up with me all these years.  I’m a stubborn SOB sometimes, but my stubbornness has paid off many times, and has paved a way for me to be where I am today.  I also want to thank my friends, especially JV, CB, & LS.  You guys have been there for me for anything and everything, I owe you each many times over.

To me, 23 is not any birthday.  It is a significant milestone, specifically because my birth date is 2/3.  To commemorate the occassion, I’ve decided to add to the collection of ink on my body today by getting the roman numeral XXIII tattooed after work today.  I’ll post a picture up later once I’ve gotten the work done.

As far as celebrations are concerned, tonight will more than likely be low key.  Possibly dinner and a movie or something along those lines.  Saturday however, we’re going no holds barred at Monaco Bay, I’ll recap the event after the weekend (with pictures).

CB (right) and myself pose for the camera at Monaco Bay.

January 2009, hopefully not the highlight of the year, but successful overall.  To recap the month:

• Successfully reduced my debt by paying off two credit cards in the month of January
• Picked up a part time job working at the retail fashion store Express as a Sales Associate on nights and weekends.
• Read the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• Filed both my Federal and State taxes
• Moved into a new apartment
• Got into a car accident (not at fault, but now we have to plan the repairs)

My hopes are that February will be more successful, less eventful.  We’ll see how that goes.

(copied from Facebook)

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. All of my fingers and thumbs are double jointed at the knuckle
2. I know movies like people know pro sports statistics
3. I put Tabasco sauce on most things I eat
4. I own a game ball from Super Bowl I autographed by all of the Green Bay Packers
5. I don’t like regular computer mice, I always get a trackball for my desktop computers
6. My two favorite bars in Kalamazoo are Monaco Bay and University Roadhouse
7. Not only do I work full time 40 hours a week, but I also picked up a part time job for nights and weekends at Express
8. I have both a Blackberry and an iPhone.  (I like my iPhone more though)
9. After 5 years at WMU, I bleed brown and gold.
10. Since I started syncing my face book status with twitter in august, I’ve updated my status at least 730 times (twitter sync was down a few times).  People started to notice how often I’m updating.
11. I own an amazing lab mix by the name of Keifer.  70lbs at 7 months… he’s a beast.
12. I think Louies Trophy House Grill makes the best hamburgers around.  I won’t get a hamburger anywhere else in Kalamazoo now.
13. I was raised Mormon, but now am agnostic.  I respect your belief in a faith, respect my belief in no set faith.
14. I get by with a little help from my friends is a lyric that has very deep meaning to me
15. I like to host dinners for my friends.  We made a large turkey dinner infact couple days ago
16. Fellowship – the right way to start the weekend during college football
17. I’ve put carmex on my eyelids before… it’s a cooling sensation
18. I typically text what the plan is in some type of analogy
19. Homecoming 2008 – Roadhouse.  The bar has been set.
20. I’m not sure if I’m staying at WMU full time past my contract.  If I do however, I’ll start my MBA this fall.
21. My newest goal is to take a trip to Vegas here before the end of the decade.  Time’s running out!
22. I listen to rock and alternative mostly, from The Beatles to Foo Fighters
23. I have a blog, twitter account, facebook, myspace, linkedIn, and InCircle profiles.  Today it took me over an hour to update them all.
24. Katie… BEAR.
25. I’m in the IT sector and I prefer Apple over PC.  My collegues think I’m crazy.

When it rain, it also seems to pour.

Wednesday Morning as I was driving back to my apartment my recently purchased Grand Prix was struck by another vehicle.  I had been in the right lane heading on W. Michigan Avenue and he was at the intersection of Jack Pine and W. Michigan Avenue turning left.  When I came around the bend in the road I noticed he was halfway in my lane, not moving.  Being a defensive driver, I moved over to the left lane to avoid him but luck was not on my side.  As I got into not only the left lane, but also part of the turning lane, he turned out into W. Michigan Avenue and struck my rear passanger side.  When the cops arrived they issued him two tickets (he was also driving on a suspended license) and I was left with the unfortunate situation of figuring out how to get my car fixed.

You see, Michigan is a No-Fault state.  No-Fault legislation limits the extent of which persons can recoup damages, in my case I’ll receive a $500 check from either the other individual or his insurance.  The problem I’m having with this is the fact that the damages caused by his negligence has been estimated at almost $2500.  While, yes I should have had full coverage on my vehicle at the time, I had not been in a position until recently to pay for the increased coverage, and had planned on elevating my coverage when my new policy starts in 2 weeks.  I however, am a firm believer in accountability, and the state itself is the one who is at fault for No-Fault legislation.  This legislation may reduce litigation in the courts, but it denies victims a right in my belief to seek proper compensation.  Legislation should have never been passed that benfits the state and private business at the cost of innocent citizens.  The state’s sole purpose is to serve the people, even if that means an increased number of court cases revolving around automobile accidents.

So, now begins the process of putting money aside to repair the GT.  As I set aside each dollar I’ll think of how I would have attempted to stem auto accidents in the state to avoid this No-Fault legislation.

You likely read it in the news, but Circuit City announced that it is closing all of its domestic stores for good.  The #2 electronic retailer folded to the pressure that the current economic conditions have pressed on both the consumer and businesses, leaving some 34,000 employees now seeking new jobs.

While most media reports I’ve read about relate their business model to their shortfalls, I would like to think that the level of customer satisfaction played a role in the downfall.  I’d say for about 9 years now stores like Circuit City and Best Buy amongst others have been a favor of mine since I’m more technologically adpt.  While I originally only had the option for Circuit City growing up, it became clear to me and numerous others that the service they were providing was inadequate after rival Best Buy opened it’s doors back home around the turn of the decade.

Between the dimly lit stores, oddly arranged merchandise on shelves, and below acceptable performance by sales associates, I feel like no one really is surprised in their demise.

Now as for Best Buy, let’s hope that they continue the same drive for customer satisfaction as they did when Circuit City was in the picture.

So I started working full time not less than 6 weeks ago, and tomorrow afternoon I will be interviewing for a part time job on top of my existing full time job. While I’m doing this to keep myself occupied and earn additional income, am I out of my mind? I’m looking for an additional job in a state with the worst unemployment rate in the country.

How many of you have or currently juggle several jobs? Why did you decide to go that route and how do you feel you are at doing it? This is a first for me, my previous job held a 24/7 on call commitment (which was used regularly and at some exotic hours of the night), so it was impossible for me to try this earlier.

I’ll post how the interview goes. At this point the only limiting factor that might work against me is if they are looking for someone to commit significant hours or work during the day on weeks.

Now that Christmas and New Years have come and gone, getting back to the work grind begins tomorrow.  While I did enjoy the freedom of the last week and a half (and the trip to Texas), it will be nice to get back into the routine and start working on my goals.

Things start to get real this week.  I’ll establish a routine for support now that my staff will have regular schedules; in addition to paving the way on several projects on the table.  In short, I’ll be DWS (Do Work Son).

I’m a geek.  I mean, I have 7 years of work experience, a bachelors degree, and thousands of hours of reading related to technology.  I also switched over to the dark side (as the PC die hards will say), becoming a fan of Mac for your generic computing needs, so it was no suprise when I purchased an Apple iPhone as a graduation present.

I loved that phone.  To me, it was more than a phone.  A phone allows you to make calls, receive and send text messages and emails, and other core functions related to what you would expect for business purposes.  I don’t need to tell any of you that the iPhone was way more than that.  I utilized that phone to it’s fullest extend, I couldn’t keep my hands off it.

Let’s just hope my addiction wasn’t the reason for its downfall.  While in Houston for the 2008 Texas Bowl my phone began to act up, not receiving a cellular signal.  While I would normally have just brushed this off as being in a location that interferes with the network, it wasn’t the case when I’m sitting next to JG and KC and both of their iPhones are not having a single issue.

But whatever, phone dies since searching for a signal eats battery life (and I was already at half battery before this occured), so I deal with the loss of connectivitity (even though it cost me a chance to see my uncle in Houston), and watch the remainder of the game, head back to the hotel and charge the bastard.  After drinking away my sorrows from our loss I make a trip back to my room and grab my phone.  Works.  Perfect.

Now fastfoward to Wednesday Afternoon.  We’ve just landed at the airport in Lansing and begin our bus trip back to Kalamazoo.  While I was able to make and place phone calls at first, I notice halfway between Lansing and I94 that the same problem is occuring.  I restart the phone, no luck.  I figure this is a sparsely populated area, maybe by chance there’s no service.  I look over at KC, whos in the seat across from me, and her phone is working.  I decide to be patient, knowing that I’ll be able to receive service once we pass through Battle Creek.  No such luck.

After that, I think I was able to get the phone working a total of 3 times since Wednesday night.  I’ve done everything to try to fix it myself, and have spoken with AT&T to make sure that there wasn’t an account or network issue on their end.  No go.

Now, I’ve found the downside to owning my iPhone.  I have to drive up to Grand Rapids today to their retail store to get the phone serviced or replaced.  While this wouldn’t be an issue at all with my macbook, it’s definitely a downside for the iPhone, since in the 5 years of having a cell phone I only needed to drive a few miles to get service, not an hour drive like I will take today.

I understand why Apple exerted control over their device.  I’m not complaining over their model, my hope is that they will begin to expand their retail outlets or establish a service presence in other locations to bring their model in line with the expectations of cellular customers.

And while I’ve ranted, I will make one thing clear:  This is not a showstopper in any way for me.  This device delivers the most utility of any phone I’ve ever had.  And I’ve had a lot of phones.