I have been a BlackBerry user for the past 4 years and it has been the only smart phone brand I have owned. It all started with the original BlackBerry Bold 9000 in 2008 and the original BB Torch 9800 in 2010. Thus I guess I am an early adopter to their new form factors. I have been a BB user out of necessity as it is mandated by my work. There have been rumors that we were going to be allowed to use the iPhone soon so I have been holding out for a new phone even though my contract was up. My phone took a turn for the worst on Saturday so I was forced to get a new one. I was really torn. Should I go with the upgrade model of my current one (the Torch 9810) or go to a new form factor like the BB Bold 9900 or the Torch 9860? I wasn’t happy that the 9810 looked the same as the 9800 even though it had different insides. I guess I expected a change when buying something two years Iater as people expect things to improve. I immediately discounted the new Bold because of its width even though I liked my original Bold and the new touch capability would be cool. It is just not very pocket friendly. I instead leaned towards the 9860 because of its great feel, size, and it looked up to date with other phones on the market. Thus I took a plunge and went with a totally touch 9860 unit that did not have a qwerty keyboard.

A day later, I am not sure if I am going to keep this phone. For someone who actually wants to use their phone for messaging and emails, a touch screen just isn’t practical. Maybe I am old school but a qwerty keyboard is so much easier to type plus it’s more natural. If your main purpose for a phone (besides talking) is media and web browsing then a full touch is all you need. But when I travel, I rarely break out my PC and instead use my BB to answer all my emails. With this new phone, it would take 4 times as long and it is just awkward. So I have 4 weeks to make a switch. I will give it two more weeks until I make my final decision.

That brings me to another point. Why does everyone hate BlackBerry so much? Even the AT&T guy asked me why I wanted a BB. BB sure is in trouble if the company responsible for selling their product is recommending against it. At a recent Windows phone event, I had a discussion with a Microsoft product manager on why I loved BB. First the qwerty keyboard is the best in the market. Everyone is on this iPhone craze and has lost their way in my mind. A good keyboard makes it so much easier. I can type with great accuracy and speed with both hands on the keyboard without even looking at it. I just don’t see this happening on a touch device. The second is the track pad. In my opinion, every phone should have this. It is the perfect mouse like device for selecting things without zooming in. I remember reading BB users reviews on the Torch when it came out and they were questioning why the track pad was still there. I think they are crazy for not utilizing it. It is so easy to select something or go back in the middle of a sentence to make a correction. Also, with BlackBerry’s trade in program I am going to get money back to make the switch as the phone cost $100 but I am getting $160 in trade-in. I don’t understand why they would do that but I’m not going to complain about it.

That is my two cents. What do you think?

As most of my friends know, I have a bit of a TV addiction. It all started with my first DVR. I can’t recall ever watching a series repeatedly before a DVR. I chose to instead watch sports and what not. My have things changed. The first big show that I was addicted to was Carnivale on HBO. That got cancelled but I really got into Lost after that. Now that Lost has been gone for over a year, I really needed a new show. There are a couple that are definitely in the running. Keep in mind that although I like 1 hour series, I am not into any of the law, cop, or doctor dramas out there.

Homeland on Showtime

All I can is that this show is amazing. The story line is very unique and suspenseful. For those who have not watched it, you really need to. The storyline basically revolves around a returned POW that may or may have not “been turned” and working for the other side. We have been led to believe that he has been turned but has not really shown us any evidence . This is the best show of the year.

Once Upon a Time on ABC

Like Homeland, this show has a very unique plot (probably even more unique).  It is understandable why the networks went into a bidding war for this show. Plus the show was conceived from several of the Lost writers and they have said that there are multiple allusions from Lost.  The show basically revolves around a bunch of fairy tale characters who were sent to the present under a witches spell but do not know it. A baby of Snow White’s who escaped the spell is now working with her estranged son to fix the spell which she doesn’t even really believe. Pretty cool, aye?

Terra Nova on FOX

I thought this was going to be my “it” show to replace Lost. It was promised as Lost meets Jurassic Park. I loved both so of course I would like this. The show definitely has lived up to expectations but the two above are still leading the pack for me. The shows plot basically revolves around that the current earth was dying from greenhouse gas (Al Gore was right) and people had to wear specially breather devices. Somehow, people found a hole in the space time continuum (Back to the Future reference) in which they could go back to the dinosaur days. Thus there has been like 10 waves of specially chosen people to go back in time. The show revolves around these people (and one specific family) and living back in this time with future amenities but there is an unknown twist with some outside rebels that may or may not be associated with the missing son of the leader of this new planet.

Dexter and Boardwalk Empire

Both of these shows are not new but still awesome. With that said, I would not rank them with the first two above.

New Comedies

There are a ton of new comedies and I have watched almost all of them. I am actually impressed that a lot of them got picked up for a full season. I felt like hardly any of the shows last season were picked up. New Girl has to be one of my favorite but I also like Suburgatory, 2 Broke Girls, Man Up, Up all Night (2^nd best new comedy), and Whitney. I also think Happy Ending is much better this season and is up there with HIMYM, Big Bang Theory, and Rules of Engagement.  I have basically phased all the Fox Sunday animation shows out of my repertoire which is a big surprise. Not sure why though as I do watch them once in a blue moon and still find them very funny. I guess you can only watch so much TV. Fringe is still good even though I am not sure how much longer it can last in its Friday time slot (which I feel is a death slot).

There are so many exciting things to talk about these days so I figured a blog post was due.  I think I could list double the items below since I have so much on my mind but this is a good summary.

• Missouri dominated Texas this week. It has been an insane run the past two months for the Cardinals and it all culminated with a come from behind win against Texas. Missouri took notice and did the same against Texas A&M.
• What to do with Pujols is a very interesting question.  It is hard to see him leave knowing he is one of the best players ever in the MLB and in the midst of his prime.  It is also hard to pay him a long term contract for $22 million plus a year knowing (1) that could get the Cards two good free agents (2) a 5 year plus contact seems scary after seeing a chink in Pujol’s armor this year after having an “off year” (3) Pujols seems to be a little more dinged up and his feet issues don’t seem to be going away. Imagine what it’s going to be like in 3 or 4 years.  There does seem to be a lot of good free agents this year too.
• I am extremely disappointing in the setup that the St Louis ball park bars put out on Friday. Did they not expect thousands to be there? In 2006, we watched the game at Al’s under the tent in horrible weather conditions but there was huge portable tvs and the game was blasted over the loud speakers. I was expecting more this year as they was more hype and better weather.  Instead, it was the same setup at PaddyO’s . They did not even have the game playing over the speakers so the majority of the crowd there could not hear or see the game. They really needed to step it up. By 7, they were also out of almost every food item. How do you run out of hot dogs???? Kilroy’s had a TV on top of their building but the bathroom and beer line was so long that it was not worth staying.  At least they stepped it up a little. I was expecting beer vendors and a good spread. I was disappointed. Luckily Joe Bucks was a little more prepared and we had a great time there.
• So pumped about our Honeymoon to Maui. The hotel looks awesome and glad we got upgraded airline seats for the total experience.
• Totally addicted to credit card perks right now. I feel like I have spent hours on the Points Guy’s website researching the best deals.  Also, I have never gotten more compliments over my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The Cards is like a piece of metal and weights about 3 times more than a standard credit card. Everyone I hand it too says how cool it is.
• The housing market sucks! I would be happy selling just one place for a fair price.
• My fantasy team continues to find ways to win but I am not invincible as I once thought I was. My defense is weak but improving based on some of my pickups the past two weeks. My defensive draft was basically useless as I only have 1 or 2 players left I drafted. My wide receiver stable is not excelling like it was which is giving me my doubts. I am also not happy that a couple players that I drafted and held onto for several weeks like Demarco Murray (who I had the first 5 weeks) which are doing much better.  At least I will be 7 and 1 and walking away with the Hodge Podge division title.
• Should I be getting back into video games? The new COD and Battlefield both look pretty awesome.
• I am really excited about Black Friday this year. There are a lot of new gadgets and electronics that I am interested in if the price is right.

Where to even start? I have been a bad blog writer this year. A combination of an extremely busy work load, selling two places, traveling (work and pleasure), and general lack of a personal computer have all contributed to not keeping up. Thus I thought I would give a brief run down of whats going on.

• Daytona with the family was awesome. It was relaxing on the beach plus I did not get burnt which is always good. The biggest surprise of the trip was visiting St Augustine. I had never been and would recommend it. It is a very European town (which you would expect from the oldest city in the US).  I would recommend Pizzalley’s Chianti Room (one of the best meals we had all trip). I would not recommend San Sebastian winery. Florida is not and should not be known for their wine. I did not like it at all.
• Work is insane. We are super busy which is great but extremely overloaded. On top of that, I have a lot of travel. I am definitely looking forward to my Germany/UK trip next month.
• Selling of the two homes is progressing. Very little activity on the condo which is disappointing. The house is looking good. We finished the upstairs this weekend and have just one more project left before it can be listed.
• We registered (and de-registered at another place…lol) over the past week. It was a lot of fun. We also went cake testing and picked one that is going to be awesome.
• I am despising my car. My extended warranty ends in two weeks and not sure what I am going to do. The truck broke again. I am really disappointed in the quality of Infiniti. I will never buy again and has me seriously reconsidering buying a Nissan too.
• The Cards are a huge disappointment. The Rams are a surprise….let see if they can keep the momentum. They have a lot of good players. Not sure what to think of the Tigers. The game this weekend will be a good test.
• We made some awesome chicken parmigiana last night after our first attempt failed. I love making new foods with my fiancee.
• I am not a fan of the stock market right now. It has not been good to me.
• Went to Iron Barley with some friends for my late bday present. It was awesome. It is in such a weird location but so good. I had the Schnitzel & Spaetzle. I saw others with the Prime Rib special which looked amazing. The sausage platter was good too.

That’s all I got for now.

What a great weekend! The weekend seemed to last forever which is sort of funny since I has extended weekends for the last 3 weeks and this was the standard workweek.

On Friday we celebrated my birthday and had a last hurrah at the condo. We timed it with a free Bel Biv Devoe concert that was only blocks away. The party was pretty awesome. We had some great food and fun times with friends. I forgot how much I loved Rock Band (you will see a post on this later). The BBD concert was okay but I was not expecting much since they are in theory a one hit wonder (I know they have two songs that were “hits”). We unveiled our first run of cake pops along with a buffalo chicken dip that were both awesome.

We moved most of the essentials out of the condo on Saturday so I can officially say I am moved. Now I am in process of selling the unit. On Saturday night, we went to a friends new house and had dinner. It is a great house and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends again.

Sunday was a jammed pack day as we unpacked, went to our new gym for the first time, did a lot of shopping, did some house work, etc. I also watched the World Cup game (or at least the 2nd half). It was very exciting but disappointing. A lot of blown chances and bad mistakes. On Sunday night, we grilled some bacon wrapped fillets and corn plus made some baked potatoes. It might have been one of the best meals we had ever ate. We are really starting to get good on the grill with cooking and seasoning.

Becki and I did a Discover Scuba Diving class at the SoCo Y with Y-kiki Divers last night. It was a $25 program that we got for $10 with a Groupon. I think paying $25 is a great value so $10 was one of the best deals I have ever got.

As you may or may not have known, I have been talking about wanting to get my scuba certification for years.  I love the tropics, snorkeling, fish, and the ocean. Thus why would I not want to scuba. The high cost have been holding me back so far.

The class and out instructor was awesome plus we were the only two in the class. We went through about 15 minutes of training out of water then suited up in shallow water and went through another 15 minutes of training. After that, we basically swam around in the pool. Becki and I both loved it. Becki had never snorkeled before and doesn’t get along too well with confined spaces but had no issue diving.

I only wish we had a camera so you could see us in wet suits with all the gear. It was such a fun time and can’t wait to get our certification in the future.

This thing still on? In all serious, I have been super busy thus have not been blogging. Plus, I like to normally blog in order but I have been sitting on my New York blog post for like two months. All I need to do is add pictures so I should just post it.

Becki and I had a great time at Lake of the Ozarks over the weekend (the weekend before this). Even though the weather was not the brightest, we still made the best of it. We actually stayed another day more than planned to get more action in the sun. Below are some quick thoughts.

• I still want a lake house or something on the water.
• Buying a boat might be too expensive but will definitely consider a waverunner next year.
• The outlet mall in Osage is amazing. I have been on a huge Izod kick for work cloths in which I thought I was getting a steal at Macy’s with $25 shirts that don’t shrink and actually fit. I got the same shirts for $9 at the outlet mall. There was a Memorial Day extra 30% to 50% off but still. Also, got some sweet deals at Banana Republic. Not $10 good but $20 which is hard to beat. The Polo store was not quite as good. We ran out of time so we did not check out the Brooks Brothers store.
• The strip at the Lake is changing a lot. The new highway system is very convenient but it has taken away a lot of the allure that I remember as a kid driving on the strip. To that point, we were the only one on a miniature golf course on a Friday night at 8PM. Sort of sad on a big weekend.
• I did not realize it but there is a huge difference between a 35ft and 27ft boat. The 35ft boat takes the waves like your riding on smooth asphalt.
• There is also a huge difference between 40 and 50 mph on the water. 50 mph makes your face deform and is painful…lol.
• Coving out and docking to other boats is one of the best times to be had.
• Can’t wait for the next trip down!

I am extremely excited to say that I am now engaged to my beautiful fiancée Becki. It is sort of a funny story but I had been carnying the ring in my pocket for the 3 days we were in New York City for vacation. The weather was miserable so all the opportunities I had planned out beforehand just were not the right opportunity. On the last night in the city and right after we just had a conversation at dinner where she thought I was going to propose on this trip and I made some excuses to why I couldn’t this weekend, we went to Times Square one last time in which she was taking some pictures. I surprised her when she wasn’t looking and got done on one need and proposed. The rest is history and I could not be happier.

I was in Vegas for the ConExpo show a couple weeks ago. It was my first time at the show and it was an awesome show for my company. The show was huge….even bigger than SEMA which I did not think was possible.  I had some friends meet up with me over the weekend. It was a lot of fun since it at the same time as the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 NCAA basketball tourney.

Some of the highlights were the following:

• Watched  some very good entertaining college basketball games in which I placed and won my first sports book bet. I won my second too on the Lakers (of course)
• Saw Zumanity at New York, NY. It was basically a big porn in my eyes but it was entertaining and funny.  I still think Love is the best Cirque de Soleil in Vegas by far.
• Had some really awesome meals. Especially the Sunday brunch buffet at the Wynn and at Comme Ca in the Cosmopolitan.  Comme Ca was Ted’s recommendation and was awesome. My favorite meal of the trip.  All three of us had the Beef Bourguigno which was amazing.
• Watching the Dancing JCB tractors at the show. See the image below.

Another jammed packed weekend for Becki and I. On Friday, we went out to dinner with another couple. We tried going to Lola but it was too loud and they were going to charge us a $5 cover even though we were having dinner there which is totally wrong in my eyes. We ended up that at Bridge further down Locust. It was my first time there and I was impressed. Their dinner menu was a little on the light side but the vast assortment of cheese easily made up for it. We asked our waitress to surprise us after we gave her some suggestions on our preferences. She came back with a large spread of cheese, nuts, berries, sausages and bread that was awesome. We ended the night playing Kinect and the dance game.

Saturday was an awesome day. Downtown was packed with people for St Patty’s day. Unfortunately, Becki and I had a packed day so did not take part in the festivities. We hit the gym first then headed to Good Works warehouse to pick up a high chest and night stand. These last two items were to complete my bedroom set that I bought 3 years ago. Luckily they still had the same set available. Unfortunately, we had a problem. Upon unpacking them at Becki’s we found that the unit had some kind of mildew/mold on the bottom of it and the back. We were really disappointed. The box was clean so it had to be packaged like this from the supplier or packages wet. This is actually the second bad experience with this set as my hardware on my dresser had oxidation on it when it was unpacked and had to be replaced. The good thing is that GoodWorks is replacing the unit and offering free delivery. I’m still a fan of the store as I basically furnished my whole condo from it.

We went to a friend’s birthday party at Sol Lounge in the CWE that night. Amazing enough, it was the first time I have even been there. This is odd in my eyes because it is a 3AM bar in the CWE. You would of thought we would have gone to this while living in the area for 1.5 years. Needless to say, the place is odd. Its basically in a house that has the front entrance of a house in which you then go through a bathroom to a huge bar/night club. It is almost like it is a secret underground bar that they are hiding. Not sure why. The place is basically a larger Pepper Lounge. We did not stay late and it was pretty empty when we left but I was told it would fill up around 1AM. I guess I am getting too old but this is a kind of place I sorta phased out of my life.

Sunday was an errands day. I ran all kinds of them in prep for playing a real ice hockey game for the first time in 10 years and other things. The second to last  Big Love show was awesome too.