Winter in MN ...

Sucks.

Hearts

These hearts were accidentally made by a car that pulled into a space and then backed out. A neat surprise outside my bedroom window this AM.

It's Christmas ... and that's OK

It's the Christmas season and that means BUTTONS! Time for me to relaunch my little side business of selling buttons that tell people it's OK to say Christmas in this PC World of ours. This year I have more time to dedicate to this little venture, so it should be a good season. If you haven't yet read about this project, visit my site at http://www.oktosaychristmastome.com .

I heart LA

Here are some pics from my trip to LA. Please create your own captions.

Had a blast at the State Fair!

We went to the fair again on opening day, just like always. This year my food-consumed list included:

• Pork chop on a stick
• Fudge Puppy (waffle on a stick with chocolate and whipped cream on it)
• Sweet Martha's Cookies (freshly baked choc chip cookies)
• Cheese on a Stick (corndog shaped kind)
• Fried Pickles
• Cheese Curds
• 3 Beers
• Lemonade (fresh squeezed!)
• Fried Green Tomatoes
• Fried Corn Bread

While at the fair, my MOM got interviewed by the local FOX affiliate and she wound up on the news. She's now known as her 0n-screen graphic: ELAINE KANFLA - LOVES PIGS.

Here are some other pics from my trip to the 2008 Minnesota State Fair:

The main entrance.

I didn't buy this hat, and I'm glad I didn't.

I didn't buy this hat, but I should've.

Topiary gorillas & me.The biggest pig (and me -- I'm the one in the yellow shirt).

As of this morning

I am no longer employed by the company where I worked for over 13 years. This is the start of the next chapter in my life. I'm excited.

My New Bed

Here's my new bed and temporary bedding. I went with the white theme as you can see. I got the whole show ... mattress, head/foot board, pillows and an on-sale comforter. So far she sleeps pretty well!

I met Ernest Hemmingway

He was in Key West. He told me of a time he was arrested for burgulary and molestation. Molestation of a palm tree. You see, he burgularized a house (years ago) and when a neighbor noticed him in the house he slid down a palm tree that was just outside an upstairs window. The police came and arrested him. Upon their arrival, they noticed he slid down the palm and some of the branches got torn off. Hence the Molestation of a Palm Tree charges. Totally unfair.

I like the sunset behind us.

I also went on a biplane tour of Key West. Here's a pic and a movie:

I saw a ton of cool stuff, but most importantly, I finally made the voyage to the birthplace of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. I've always wanted to have my picture taken by the Southernmost Point marker ... so I did. Twice.

Nawlins

I went to Nawlins for a little fun. I also drove east to see some relatives in Biloxi, MS and Panama City.

Here are some of the finer shots from my trip to New Orleans:

Me on a Segway tour of the city. It was pretty neat zooming all over Jackson Square, Moon Walk and even over the levees on a Segway. Life list item crossed off!


An artistic shot I took on Bourbon Street.

Me on the Riverfront. I got a new job while I was there! But they fired me. I was taking baby sips from the beers as I was selling them and they no longer qualified as HUGE ASS.
Talking to statues. And making them understand.

It was great to get to the Crescent City again, and even better to see my Gulf Coast Relatives. Another terrific trip in the books.

One story from the trip: I checked into a seedy hotel in Panama City, FL. It was probably about 11:30PM when I did and I had to ring a bell to get the worker to come check me in through a bank-style window you walk up to outside the front lobby (which was locked). I buzzed the buzzer a few times ... wondering WTF and finally this middle-eastern man man withbloodshot eyes and pillow wrinkle marks on his face came to the window and checked me in. He must have some kind of sleep there deal or sumptin. Anyway, I stayed there 2 nights and when I went to check in for my 8AM flight ... yep, you guessed it. BUZZZZZZZ. BUZZZZZZZZ. [Several Minutes]. Here comes sleepy head, this time his hair was all messed up too. Poor guy - he was probably thrilled to see me go.

Sam's Sleeper

I renewed my membership at Sam's Club recently. I typically don't purchase my pretzels in 20 pound bags, or my milk in 5 gallon jugs - so I'm always fascinated by Sam's. Anyway, I digress. I needed some stuff for work so I headed on into "The Club" with my jumbo cart.

I came across come mattresses that seemed pretty good. They had most of them stacked up on their sides, but there was one you could try out, but you had to pull it out from under the shelf. Here I am goofing on the fact that you could just pull out the mattress, lay down, and then put yourself away!

Good Times Never Seemed So Good ...

I had a ball in Boston. The conference was good, the games at Fenway were awesome and I saw a ton of incredible sights.

Here's a shot of me with some new friends I made in Beantown.

On Sunday, part of the conference was to tour some advertising agencies in Boston. There were some really fun stops ... like this one:

And this one:

It was also inspiring to see all of the cool work and talented people along the way. Check out these awards at one of the larger agencies:

After the tours, I was onto Fenway Park to see the Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers. This is somewhere I've always wanted to go, and it was even better than I'd imagined.

I got to see the Left Sock and the Right Sock:

Fenway is known as America's Most Beloved Ballpark, and I can see why. It's not just going to a game, it's being a part of something.

I ran into a guy with a hilarious t-shirt. I smell a business venture here! (Or maybe that's my garlic french fries.)

One day for lunch I ate a lobsta roll, a cuppa chowda, and some Boston Creme pie. I believe in the 360 experience!

The next night I was back at the game. And what a game it was! Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter. Incredible! Here's the final box score shot:

Me outside Fenway...

I got a good dose of Boston and then it was time to move on down the road. Or in this case, the tracks. I took the Acela Express (Amtrack) from Boston to NYC.

As noted in previous posts, I had tickets to a Yankee game for me & 3 friends. We were a little scared it might get rained out, but everything turned out fine. The friend who was responsible for transportation to & from the game surprised us all by booking us aboard The Yankee Clipper - a ferry that takes fans around the island to the Bronx. This was so much fun it was just ridiculous.

We got to the game and endured about 1 inning of rain, then it cleared up and the Yanks won big over the O's.

A-rod hit one homer, then had another called a ground-rule double. Then with bases loaded, new Yankees Manager Joe Girardi pulled him for somebody the Yank's don't even have a photo of ... check it out:

Didn't matter though. It was another great game and I saw some incredible things. I literally thanked God for all the neat things I did & saw.

The End (for now).

For the Love of the Game

Well next week I'm off to Boston for a design seminar. As luck would have it, the Red Sox are in town each night I'm there! I have a seat in the bleachers for the Sunday afternoon game, and then for Monday night I have a Row 2 seat behind the Sox dugout. I'm so excited. I might event sign up for a tour of the stadium as well. I have a book on Boston so I'm going to be sure to hit as many of the cool sites as possible. I'm also staying at the Nine Zero hotel, so that will be really nice!

But wait, there's more! After my seminar ends on Wednesday, I'm hopping on the Acela Express train in Boston and speeding toward New York at up to 150 MPH. This is all to sit in the FRONT ROW at Wednesday evening's Yankees/Orioles Game! For my regular readers, you'll recall I did this about a month ago and it was a once in a lifetime experience. It was truly magical and I'm very fortunate to get to do it again. It's not often when you get to live a dream once, let alone twice. Stay tuned for lots of pics and stories! If you have pic requests, as always - send them my way via email or a comment on this entry.

Finally, yes yes yes I'm fully aware that it's virtually impossible to be a Yankees Fan AND a Red Sox Fan. I'm still working on those issues, but c'mon! You know if given the chance to go to a game in both stadiums in the same week, you'd do it! I am doing it. And that's why this post is called for the love of the game. :-)

Skydiving Video

At long last, here is the video of me skydiving. Enjoy!

Getting My Hair Done

My mom has done my highlights the last few times, as a cost saving measure. She’s actually getting really good at it. What’s really funny is that the whole time it’s going on, our little dog Mickey wants to be in my lap giving me kisses.

I think he thinks it's the equilavent of me having to go to the vet or something and he feels bad for me. Below is a pic from the latest session. My mom digs in kind of hard with the hook thing but if I complain she tells me to shut up and that she will give me Paulie Walnuts side wings if I say another word.

The last part is the best. When my mom gets done pulling my hair through the hat and applying the solution, we wrap it up in a plastic bag just like at the real salon. But then I hop in my car and head home to wash it out. I've got things to do! LOL

Pimped My Gas Mileage

This is my new ride.

It's a 2005 Kia Spectra and it gets close to 30MPG. My former ride was a 2001 Lincoln LS with a V-8 engine. It got about 15 miles to the gallon.

This car doesn't match the profile of the last few vehicles I've owned, but it's time for a change. Out with luxury, elegance and frozen leather seats in the winter. In with zipping around, great mileage, and parking in tight spaces.
This Kia also has a spoiler, fog lights and a moon roof. So I've still got some features to enjoy, plus it has a Five Star Crash Rating (airbags galore). And as you can see, they transferred my "BUFFETT" plates over, so I'm in great shape.

Again, this car is a 2005 Kia Spectra EX. Not to be confused with IKEA, although they offer a fine product line as well.