Respect

Wow. So delinquency has definitely set in here on "the Buffness". I'd love to chalk it up to the awesome weather but that's not the case (although I have noticed that other bloggers have fewer posts than usual).

Anyway, I had a great time this past weekend in Ohio. Over the weekend I got to see a lot of family that I typically only see about twice a year. Here's just a dew of us at our place (Blogger really messes with pics - click on it for a better image).



I've always been close to my family and this past weekend helped me to remember why. My family has a tradition of going to my Aunt's on the 4th Sunday of the month. On a typical Sunday there would be about 10 to 15 of us there and my Mom, Dad and I would be the three youngest ones. Although throughout Elementary and Middle School I would complain about it ad nauseam that there wasn't anyone there that was my age, I would still get into some good conversations with my Great Aunts & Uncles at least once a month with discussions varying from "How tall are you now?" to "I don't understand this new music in church. Why do we have to sing the same words over and over?". I don't know why it took me so long to realize it, but this weekend I realized that the time I spend with the older generation of my family teaches me respect. It teaches me that no matter how much I've experienced life, no matter how much I think that I know everything, there's someone who has already gone through that phase and has learned from it. I think there's also a lesson on humbleness in there too. Our generation may have the power and the familiarity of technology, but there's something to experience. And you have to respect and honor that.

After reading the words above, I know that I'm hardly doing justice to my family. I can't wrap it up in a single blog entry. It's tough. But it was something that was on my mind while driving back to Michigan last night. Just thought I'd write it out and share.

Hanging it up

Not gonna lie. Today while I was cleaning, it felt good to put the winter coat back in the far corner of the closet. I might open the windows while I'm at it too.

¿Dónde está el cuarto de baño de la Biblioteca¿

Qué un gran día. Yo siempre he admirado a esas personas, típicamente los que trabajan en la televisión, la radio o en el internet que abraza el primer de abril. Así que este año que pensó que comenzaría a contribuir en mi propia manera impar a estas seudos vacaciones. Doy mis disculpas a los que saben realmente español porque estoy seguro que yo lo destruyo. y ahora por añadidura, yo le doy: El perro en un Sombrero



Cuando termino este poste que querría pasar por a usted alguna música inspiradora. La música que ha resistido a la prueba de tiempo, o quizá acaba de ha resistido a los pasados dieciséis años. Espero que este video inspire como a usted como estuvo a mí.

It's the hap-happiest season of all

Let's play "Guess When"! OK, now guess the when I took these pictures outside my front door:



Is it
a) The day I left to go to Ohio for Christmas
b) Right before the first big snow storm
c) A freakin' week after the start of spring

If you guessed "A freakin' week after the start of spring" you're correct! I try not to complain about this too much. I'm sure that there are other people who got more. The only problem is just that it never seems to stop. Maybe the start of baseball will make it end ...

Bracket

I love this time of year. No, not the start of spring - the NCAA Tourney! The sports fan that I am just loves to engulf myself in basketball to almost an overdose level. At what other time during the year would I care about a game between Stanford and Cornell (also known as the "GPA shootout")? What other reason would I have for watching CBS 4 hours straight?

How's your bracket? I've got my multiple brackets filled out and ready to go. But what seems to happen every year is that I play it safe and one of my choosen teams that I have going to the Championship game in a few weeks ends up loosing in the 2nd round a few days from now. As a result, the rounds to be played in the coming weeks on are wrong calls for me and I go down in the bracket ranks.

I guess there's a life lesson here. How many times have I told myself what will happen in the future? "I'm going to find a job here" "I'm going to meet this person" "I'm going to have my schedule empty so that I can do this or that". When in actuallity what happens is that a more recient event plays out, one of those distant plans ends up taking a different turn early on and a whole new path is laid. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad thing. But many times I psych myself up for the Championship when I need to instead focus on the 2nd round game.

So here's to enjoying sports as entertainment and treating life with respect. By the way, I've got UCLA winning it all.

Comedians

Hope you all had a great weekend. Friday night I went to one of the local churches here for Comedy For A Cause, a benefit that helped to raise interest and funding for an area home for abused and neglected children. About 5 minutes before the show started they announced that they had to open up some overflow rooms because the 2500 seat church could hold the crowd. The 3 hour show(!) featured 2 clean comedians. The opening act, as usual, was decent. But Tim Hawkins, the headliner, was great. I really like a comedian who can be funny and raise a valid point at the same time, without being overly offensive (e.g. Seinfeld). I encourage any of you who love stand-up to check him out the next time he's in your area (Tim Hawkins, that is...not Seinfeld. But if you can get tickets to Seinfeld by all means do that too [tangent anyone?]). If there is such a thing as edgy clean/Christian comedy, Hawkins be one of the best. Check out the clip below. Enjoy!

I'll take one with extra stupidity

Looking for a way to impress those potential clients at your next sales meeting? Nothing says "Professional" and "Classy" better than taking your laptop to the meeting in a pizza box.

But before you judge. Keep in mind that it's made using "genuine italian-style pizza boxes for maximum authenticity". That's pretty authentic people!
Still interested? You can get one here. But will it be delivered in 30 minutes or less?