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.

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.

I have been slacking on post in the past two or three weeks. There has just been so much going on. I’ll try to sum up the highlights.

KC Wedding

Becki and I went to KC (Liberty to be exact) for her sorority sister’s wedding.  It was a fun trip and a really nice wedding at a country club. It was great finally meeting the people that Becki spent 4 years of her life with.

San Juan, PR

I went to San Juan for a work trip. I was unfortunately sick again like I was when I went 5 years ago for work. Luckily, I just had a cold instead of the flu so it wasn’t too bad. I stayed at the Caribe Hilton which was the first international Hilton according to a History Channel documentary I watched while at the hotel (weird coincidence). The resort was huge and very luxurious.  The weather was not the best though. It was very windy and a little rainy.

I had one free day when I arrived so I decided to do a snorkeling excursion. I almost did not make it because of over capacity but we were able to find another company. The experience was pretty cool. For $85, they picked you up at the hotel at 8AM, provided food and drinks (adult beverages too) for breakfast and lunch, took you on a catamaran all day, and stopped at an island for snorkeling and also another snorkeling spot (with gear included).  The meals and transportation alone were worth the $85. The water was warm but the snorkeling sucked. The water was very disturbed due to the wind so the visibility was poor. I wasted $30 on a waterproof disposable from the overpriced hotel gift shop.

We also had some dinner in Old San Juan which was pretty cool. There are a lot of forts over looking the ocean and has a very small town feel like in Europe. I guess that is because the buildings are 400+ years old.

Here are some more pictures.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras was very fun despite the cold weather. St Louis has been on a bad run of weather for this awesome holiday and the weather toyed with us again since it was nice the day before and after Saturday. Needless to say, Becki and I had a great time hanging out with friends. We even went to Maurizo’s after trying to get into other places that had over an hour wait. It was good but it was too early for the buffet. Mardi Gras still is one of my most favorite days in St Louis.

I went to Las Vegas last week for the SEMA and AAPEX show.  This show is a very good perk for working in the automotive industry. The cab driver said that this show is the biggest week for Vegas as it is slightly above CES (consumer electronic show). I have been to this show 3 times before but I missed last year. It is always pretty awesome to see all the cool cars and accessories.

This year was a little different than usual. I think it was a combination that I am really busy at work, don’t have the same enthusiasm for cars as I use to, and the fact that I was by myself. This all led to me only spending a couple hours at SEMA. I saw some cool stuff but was pretty bored.

The highlight of the trip was definitely the food. I ate Asian food 3 out of the 4 nights and also had the best steak I ever had.

The first night I went to The Paiza Club in the Palazzo. This is actually my second time eating there but the first time it was in the Venetian before the moved it to the Palazzo.  I am extremely fascinated by this place. It is on the top level of the hotel and it over looks the strip. It is hidden between rooms on the top floor and you need a key-card to get in. Once your in, your greeted at a front desk into a large room with a piano, gambling, tables, and a couple private rooms. According to Yelp this is an extremely high profile place that only Asians get into with big pockets. I wouldn’t doubt that knowing my guest. We ate traditional Chinese food and the highlight was Kobe beef tips.

The second night we went to Lotus of Siam with my work group. Our Director said this was the highest rated Zagat restaurant in Vegas along with one of the best Thai places in the US. You wouldn’t tell that from the outside or in since it was way off the strip and not in the best part of town. The inside was very plain but there were tons of pictures of celebrities on the wall. This was my first experience with Thai food. I thought it was pretty good but honestly can not tell that much of a difference between this and other Asian foods.

The third night I ate at Delmonicos in the Venetian. I got the fillet (along with everyone else) and it was the best steak I have ever eaten. That Emril really knows how to cook a steak. I was told you can make the seasoning from his website….I am going to definitely give that a try. I also tried scotch for the first time. It was very tasty but I also think we were drinking some expensive scotch (aged 14 years) so not sure if I would ever buy it on my own.

The last night we ate at Sushi Roku in the Venetian. I was with some people from Taiwan and Mexico so I thought it would be interesting to get sushi. The view was awesome as it was 4 floors off the ground and looked down the strip. The food did not disappoint either. We shared some awesome chicken and beef skewers, edamame, and assorted vegetable tempura. I got confused with the sushi menu and ordered way to much but the table was able to eat it. The warm sake was also much better here than Lotus of Siam.

I also ate the breakfast buffet at TI a lot. I really do not understand why everyone doesn’t eat there at the hotel. There is a coffee shop there that is huge and always packed. For $25 you can get a small OJ, a couple eggs and hash-browns (no meat if you did not notice). For $18 after a tip, you can eat at the buffet where they have fresh pastries, omelet stations, all kinds of meat, fruits, smoothies, and unlimited juices. Its also a nicer atmosphere but I guess there is stigma against buffets.

I also really enjoyed being in Vegas too. I just like the atmosphere. I did not drink much and did not gamble one dime but I watched a lot of NBA games and roulette. It is just relaxing to me. I did go to a pretty cool place next to Tryst in the Wynn along with going to Crush so did get a little night club experience in (although brief).

Pictures of my trip are here.

This past weekend was pretty awesome. Too bad I only slept like 7 hours the whole weekend but it was well worth it.

I went to a friend’s wedding on Friday that my girlfriend was in. The wedding was at a small church in Affton and then the reception at Andre’s. I was impressed with the whole night knowing how much they spent and how well it was put together. It gives a little hope…lol. Becki and I had a blast at the reception and we danced a ton.

I woke up 3 hours later after going to sleep to drive down to Columbia to see ESPN’s College Gameday. After a car pickup and a car switch we finally were on the road. We got to COMO and headed for our favorite new tailgating spot. We were extremely excited to see that we could tailgate in the lot next to Reactor. I am not sure what happened to the rule that you could only tailgate 3 hours before the game but I am glad to see it’s gone.  We walked to the Quad and it was packed. I didn’t know what to expect and it exceeded my expectations. Supposedly we set a record for Gameday attendance. We walked back to the tailgate to begin the party. We cooked some good brats and hamburgers courtesy of Ted. The weather was great and I even wore flip flops. Not bad knowing it is late October and it was supposed to rain all day.

The game itself was awesome. In case you didnt hear. MU defeated #1 OK. The opening kickoff got the party started and it did not stop. We played pretty awesome but we did make some major mistakes. Field the first punt was a big one. We had huge momentum and great field position. The wind was swirling so the return man should have made no attempt on the short kick. The other was clock management. I have no clue why we chose to pass on 3rd down with the time winding down. I also like my friend Matt’s conspiracy theory that Bob Stoops punted at the end of the game because they knew they were going to lose and didnt want to risk MU scoring again so their BCS number wouldnt hurt since that would have made the game a blow out.

I don’t know what happened on Sunday. All I know is the Rams lost a game that they should have won. The dropped so many easy interceptions and seemed to dominate the first half only to totally fall apart in the 2nd half (didnt we see that last week) and lose the game. Also, where was Denario Alexander?

Picture of the week are here.

This was a jammed pack weekend.  There was oodles to do in St Louis this weekend which worked out well since the weather was amazing.  Unfortunately, there was so much going on that I missed out on the Soulard Oktoberfest but I hear it was a lot of fun.

This was reunion weekend at Washington University. There was a reunion reception at school, a gala, and there were supposed to be individual class parties. Our class party (albeit for only a 1 year reunion) sort of fell apart in the last week when we lost our venue so we decided to go see Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps. My fellow MBAers always talked about this movie and Gordon Gekko. Thus I watch the original 1987 movie on Thursday and loved it. It used a ton of financial buzzwords that we used pretty regularly in our studies plus it was suspense and action packed. We had a group of about 10 or 12 people hit the Esquire Theater on Clayton. First off, that theater sucks. The seats were uncomfortably small, there was actually a tear on the screen, and we could hear sounds from other theaters. There were probably only 10 other people in the theater on a Friday night so not sure how they stay in business. The movie was okay. The movie was basically based on the financial meltdown two years ago with aspects of the 1^st Wall Street movie. It would probably be cool for the average moviegoer but we discussed this crisis in great detail in school so it wasn’t any insight that I already didn’t know. The movie was also a little too sappy for me and didn’t have the action as the first one. Thus, I only give it a C. Everyone else were a little disappointed too. We went to Brandt’s for a couple free adult beverages courtesy of AB. I had not been there in a long time and I guess they changed management and structure. It was fun catching up with some of my classmates. Some of us went to Blueberry Hill to meet others and grab some snacks. I finished the night at “T Town” as my friend Mike puts it. Talayna’s is right next to his house so I went for an hour or so. It will probably be the last time I go back…lol.

I ran some errands on Saturday waiting for Becki to return from Sweden. I have a funny story. I have been searching high and low for a shower organizer that I actually like. It seems like no one makes a wide but short organizer. They either come in small or large where the small one is short and narrow and the large one is tall and wide. I might make one myself. Needless to say, I’ve bought some really expensive ones only to take them back. Why make a top shelf that is only 12”s from the shower head? Just doesn’t make sense to me.  After my second run to Bed Bath and Beyond in a week (and not last), I watched all the great college football games on before meeting up with Becki. Becki and I had dinner at Onestos in SOHA (as Matt puts it) for a friends bday dinner. The place was pretty good and we ordered way too much. We went back to the bday couples house to sit by a fire, talk about transgenic rats (we really know how to have a good time), and play with some dogs.

Becki and I went to the country on Sunday for Becki’s grandma’s 85^th bday. We were a little past Gerald, MO. It is sort of funny because it is very much like the area I grew up in but seems like a lifetime ago that I lived in that surroundings. We went on a hay ride and saw cows (both a first for my girlfriend), rode ATV’s, and had some good food. The ATV trails were pretty awesome. There were like 6 or 7 ATV’s with trails though fields and the woods over 50 acres. I had a ton of fun. The only bad part is that my throat is killing me today. I am hoping it is just irritated from all the dust and grass getting in my face from off-roading.

And that is it. I am glad to see Mizzou won its football game. I watched the first quarter and was a little scared. The same goes for the Blues winning their first game. Hopefully the Blues come out to a strong start. I can not say the same about the Rams. It looks like they got a little of a reality check. I did not watch the game but I heard the Rams started with an onside kick that was not recovered. I do not agree with that strategy and it probably put a bad tone on the game. At least we held them to a field goal that drive. I think we can squash any hope of winning the division despite how weak it is. I also looked to put up a strong week in fantasy football….possibly the best of the week.