And here's a group from the corporate communications office hawking our new coffee, LIFT. 

That being said, I'm giving this another go. Some random observations from the past several months:

• If you find yourself feeling blue, come to my house and watch my son play the Wii. His joy at the tiniest little accomplishments is infectious! His favorite thing is to play golf and hit the ball into the ocean every single time! That's more important to him than a birdie (and why am I using so many exclamation points)?
• Working with truly wonderful and good-hearted people is such a breath of fresh air. I have a hard time calling what I do work! What a difference a year makes.
• I'm almost finished with my breakfast taco detox plan. Since moving from San Antonio it's been a slow process not scarfing down a couple of congealed meat products wrapped in enriched, gluten-laden flour patties. Mmmm...tasty.
• Man, I really like Irish Whiskey
• I'm pretty close to begin writing my first book. More on that later...
• Did I mention, how much I like the Whiskey?

Stay tuned...

First, if you catch more misspelled words than usual it's because I'm high on meds battling the flu. Being sick sucks. As I lay sequestered in my room I realized that I really miss NOT being sick. The weekend is the time when I recharge the batteries. My son literally and figuratively becomes my shadow. My daughters grit their teeth as I inspect their disaster area rooms but cheer when I go out and grab donuts and buy them all kinds of crap that they don't need. Spending 48-hours in a darkened room made me realize a few things:

1. Blowing your nose every 5 minutes and having a nice, thick goatee...not a good idea. And, it's a little gross.
2. Girl Scout cookies really take the edge off the fever.
3. Disclaimer: #3 might have been caused by my flu medication, but I actually sat through the movie Billy Elliot. I think I might have teared up a bit....again, it was the meds.

Other than that, work is good, family couldn't be better, and I'm gearing up to drop some coin on my new hobby, photography. I'm purchasing a Nikon D60 and taking some classes. It's all part of my plan to corner the market on a very specific photographic need...over-80 boudoir photography. That's a joke! Or, is it?

Not too bad. But, 2009 has already started off with a bang! Job of a lifetime, the discovery of a new chicken place whose food just might play a part in solving the mid-east peace crisis, and Flight of the Conchords begins anew. What more can you ask for? I blame the black-eyed peas and steamed cabbage for this run of unbridled fortune. My buddy Gary and his daughter came over on New Years day with black-eyed peas and cabbage in tow, beginning this run of luck.

Cue announcer voice, "Coming soon in future episodes of..."

• Seriously, Paul's going to learn to converse in Spanish this year. ¡Ningunas excusas! Soy muy serio sobre esto (Translation: The work cubicle smells like leathery soup). I really need some help with this.
• Half-marathon. My and my clicky calf are going to cross the finish line. 
• Fly. I am now free to roam about the country. I am taking FULL advantage of this perk of perks. I hear Cleveland is frigidly funkalicious this time of year.
• Learn how to speak "tween" so I can communicate with my oldest daughter. LMAO, TTYL, N-Y-C-W-M-R-N-O-K-M-L-G (No, you cannot wear makeup right now. OK, maybe lip gloss).
• Start giving back. Since we've moved to Dallas, I haven't given back to my new community. Time to roll up the sleeves..

Now, about that vietnamese fisherman story...

You see, I'm what you call a video game born again virgin. The last video game I played was at the "arcade" and involved a donkey named "kong" throwing barrels at Italian guys trying to climb ladders. Yea I know, the 80s were kind of messed up. But now, I gaze in wonderment as I hit home runs in my living room, shoot virtual pool, bring heavy weight boxers to their knees, and watch my Mii character do and achieve more in 10 minutes than I ever did on the hallowed fields of my youth-**sniff**

My best to friends and family in '09 and I promise to update this thing a bit more often (Resolution #15). 

(1) Thou shalt not have excessive amounts of friends. 
While you might think it's cool to have 1500 "friends," everyone knows you're just one of those people who adds every person they ever come in contact with. You know, the guy who has submitted a friend request by the time you get home from the grocery store where he was ahead of you in the checkout line? Yeah, that guy. The average person can count their real friends on their fingers, so keep your numbers in the low 300's.

(2) Thou shalt not fake caring. 
I'm not saying you don't care deeply about guy-who-sat-behind-you-in-grade-nine-math, but it's completely unnecessary to write "Happy Birthday! Go get trashed!" on his wall just because you saw his name in the "today's birthdays" section of your homepage. You wouldn't have even known how old he was if his profile didn't tell you, so don't bother pretending you care about the joyousness of his date of birth. If you care, send a card or pick up the phone. If you really care, show up at his party with a 40 oz in hand. 

(3) Thou shalt not marry thy best friend. 
"Girl-who-sits-behind-you-in-English is now married." What? Check her profile, quick! She's only 19 for goodness sakes! Under info: "Married to girl-who-sits-beside-girl-who-sits-beside-you-in-English. Har har har. That is just too cute. While you might think it's adorable to be fake married to your BFF on Facebook, it's actually vomit-inducing. Everyone knows you're besties for life. Take it easy.

(4)Thou shalt not indulge in excessive applications.
A lot of Facebookers have gone application-happy. Accepting every "guy-from-dance-class has sent you a dinosaur egg!" request causes your profile to become a maze of cuddly characters and puzzling point systems. Friends will tire quickly of trying to navigate through your Pokemon characters, and "Which Disney princess are you?" quizzes to write on your wall. They'll probably also begin to have homicidal thoughts following the 5000th "guy-from-that-party wants to tell you who has a crush on you through the 'who's your true love' application!" message.

(5)Thou shalt not type unintelligibly. 
Oooommmmmmggggggg whennn you typeeeee likkkkee thissss itttt makessss me wanttt too giveeee uup onnn humanityyyyy. My brain aches when I try to decipher some of the gobbledegook that is written on walls and under pictures. Must every letter be repeated? Must every sentence contain the words "loveeee" and "hottttt"? Please, spare my brain cells. Keep it down to "g2g" and "brb." 

The other day we were driving through McKinney when Riley out of the blue announces in a very monotone, dead-pan voice:

"The other night, I dreamt that I was riding on top of a flying monkey. A flying squirrel passed us by. The flying squirrel asked me, 'What the heck are you doing on a flying monkey?' Then I woke up."

I hear this while at the same time my four-year old,  squirming in his car seat, announces that his pee-pee is coming out..."hurry, hurry daddy! I have to make a yeddow pot! Park in front of da house..in da front!!"

Work is chaos, the economy is going to hell, and father time isn't being kind, but life doesn't get any better than that!

I was enjoying my evening run, cool, crisp evening running weather making it just right. iPod was blaring in my ear, I think it was Incubus singing something about "not letting life pass you by..." In other words...I was in the zone.

Then it happened. The dog. I know the dog, I recognize the dog. I know his owners...but there he was. As I rounded the corner to my street I saw him SPRINTING towards me. "He's harmless," they always say. "He's just a big teddy bear," they chuckle. Well, that big teddy bear (German shepherd mix) sprinted toward me scaring the $#&@ out of me. 

I love dogs. I also love jogging. But the two don't mix. And, I'll pose the same question I posed several entries ago, "If a grown man screams like a girl at the sight of the aforementioned dog and nobody is around, does it make a sound?"

However, it took my eight-year old to knock me back down to earth. On the morning after the election, she asked me who won. I told her Obama, and the FIRST thing out of her mouth was, "Did anyone try to assassinate him?" She's eight, did I mention that?

Living in Texas has it's perks: no state income tax, great Mexican food, tornado warnings, the Jonas Brothers AND Jessica Simpson all live here. But, for us Independent types, living in a scarlet red state can be a beating. And, per my conversation with my daughter, it starts early. My prayer is that all of us: Republicans and Democrats, Independents and Libertarians, Christians and Agnostic, we all come together and give President-Elect Obama a chance. He earned it. WE -- the people-- earned it. 

I picked the picture above not because of McCain's, "Frankenstein doing the wazzzuuuppp guys from the Bud commercial" impersonation. I picked it because it struck me of the diverse choice we have in front of us. POW vs. Harvard educated community organizer. Maverick vs. Change Agent. Privileged upbringing vs. humble beginnings. The choice is immense, but the payoff could be historic. I admire both of these men greatly, and whomever wins....we are going to be ok. Life will go on, the birds will still chirp, beer will still taste good, and my weight will still fluctuate. Unless something happens to McCain and Palin becomes president. If that happens, I say we invoke the Tina Fey clause. Look it up...