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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

This week end was pretty action packed. I went to the Blues game with the extended family on Friday. We normally get upper deck tickets each year but we decided to go all out this year and get a suite. We invited some of the ladies too since we needed a minimum of 16 people. I was a little concerned with paying $75 a person with no drinks but the view and ability to walk around made it worth it. I would love to do it with a group of friends. The Blues blew the lead with 5 seconds left in the game and lost in a shootout so it was a disappointing outcome.

Becki and I tried out racquetball (first time for Becki and the first time for me since MU) on Saturday morning. I loved it but definitely need a new racquet. Let me know if anyone is interested in playing at the Downtown Y as I can get you in for free. Saturday night was a Valentine’s Day night for Becki and I since I thought I would be out of town on Monday. We grilled bacon wrapped filets, baked potatoes, and an awesome salad. The potatoes and salad turned out amazing. The steak did not as much as the grill in my building is a little broke plus I did not nearly cook it enough. We threw it on the grill for another 5 minutes then broiled it for another 10 and it was finally edible but it killed the mood. I would get it next time though we try. We also watched Social Network which I thought was awesome. I was expecting something much different.

I detailed my car on Sunday since we had awesome weather. It really needed it. I also repaired some things on the inside. Besides that, it was a pretty lazy day.

This weekend was a long weekend which is good. Becki and I did a little bit of everything and it was quite nice. I also got some decent sleep in too.

Friday night was a “date night.” We got some Crazy Bowls then headed back to my place. We watched Jersey Shore (which is not in HD after all) then played Kinect. I realized that I needed a rug mat after playing Kinect since my rug was going everywhere in all the jumping action. We also watched Dinner for Schmucks. This movie went well with Jersey Shore since it was also a trainwreck. It was one of those movies that made you laugh but I would never watch it again. It was so weird though that I would recommend watching it. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

I watched the devastating loss by MU on Saturday. They really needed that win and should have it. They missed a lot of free throws and made a lot of bad decisions. Their age really showed. I was impressed by their shooting though. The 3’s were really raining down.  We went on a couple date with Becki’s sister on Saturday afternoon/night to the Science Center for the Grossology exhibit. The exhibit sort of sucked as it was really geared towards kids but it was fun never the less. We rounded out the night with an early dinner at Drunken Fish followed up with dessert at the Cupcakery. I have been to DF a bunch but never had sushi. All I have to say is that it is expensive but it was my best sushi experience. We had 4 kinds of rolls and all were delicious. The Red Velvet cupcake was delicious too. I loved the cream topping.

Sunday was an errand day. I got that rug mat that I needed Friday night. We also watched the season premier of Big Love. This season sounds pretty exciting since the family is falling apart and a lot of secrets are going to be revealed.