Merry Christmas...(from the office)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

In the middle of some crazy stuff, but thought this would be a good time to take a quick break and thank all of you for being such wonderful friends. If there's one thing this year has taught me, it is that my life would not be nearly as rich and exciting without the love and support of all of my friends and family. Often times we forget to acknowledge the effect our friends have on our lives, but I want to let all of you know right now that you mean everything to me. I consider myself a relatively upbeat, outgoing, enthusiastic person...and I credit all of that to you. You make my life exciting and worth living, and I appreciate each of your individual roles in my life.

WORK UPDATE
Poinsettia Bowl went great. Our radio air-waves were dead all night, meaning there were no issues with people trying to get hold of someone to fix the problem. I actually had to check the batteries on my radio numerous times because I was convinced there was no way the game was running that smoothly from a logistical standpoint.

The game was weird. Cal jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead with two touchdowns in 11 seconds, but then Utah scored 27 unanswered points to take control, but then Cal battled for a bit before Utah put it away late in the 4th quarter. Good game that was close enough to get some good ESPN television ratings late into the game.

CHRISTMAS UPDATE
Had two Christmases so far today! Mom's for X-Mas eve and this morning (home-made cinnamon rolls, ambrosia and orange juice), then Dad's for lunch (ham, potatoes, green beans, fruit, crescent rolls). Now I'm at the office, and about to go to airport and hotel for Nebraska team arrival at 7:30pm tonight. After that, I'm off to Miss Julie's to have my third Christmas in one day!

I hope all of you are doing well! And I promise, after Wednesday (Holiday Bowl), I will have a life again!

IT'S GAME DAY PEOPLE!

In the office on Poinsettia Bowl game-day. Morning is always slow, and then around 10/11am it picks up big time for rest of day.

Kickoff is 5pm, and it's on ESPN if you wanna catch a glimpse of Utah vs. Cal.

Otherwise, hope you all are enjoying your holidays!

Rare Job Post

I will rarely post about my job, but I know that this time of year is actually somewhat interesting to some of you, so I thought I'd let you know what's going on...

This coming Wednesday is the Poinsettia Bowl, and the teams (Utah and Cal) arrived last night at their respective hotels. We had a big team Welcome Dinner for them, and then let them settle in. This morning I woke up and met Utah at SeaWorld (Cal went to the Zoo) and took 4 of Utah's captains to a private animal interaction with the sea lions and otters. The players got to pose with a sea lion, then they had an otter crawl up their back leg, up their back, and to the top of their head...


Yep, it's my job. I'm swamped, but I can't complain about this stuff.

Tomorrow the players go to Miramar Speed Circuit and get to race the karts around 1/4 mile track and Oggi's comes in and feeds them. Tuesday they go to a lunch aboard the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, and then they play the game on Wednesday. Pretty rough week, huh?

Balancing Life with Some Relaxation...or Trying.

Is it possible for Marc to cool his jets every now and then?

When given an option, I have always been a proponent of getting out and doing something and staying busy. It's no secret that I love being outdoors, and will almost always rather be throwing a frisbee or going to the beach than watching a sports game on TV (which is saying something, come from a sports nut). And at night, I would rather be going for a drive, grabbin' a beer, or shooting pool (or even playin some night frisbee too) than watching TV or sitting at my computer.

When I'm at home doing nothing, I get really antsy. I get lethargic. And worst of all...I feel unproductive. I don't like the feeling of sitting around on my own doing nothing. It drives me batty.

That being said, things seem to be changing for me, but in a positive way. I certainly am still the first to suggest an activity or outing, but for the first time I can remember, I have found myself sitting at home...and enjoying it. So what changed? I learned how to cool my jets.

When I'm alone, I'm always thinking of the next thing to do, or what I SHOULD be doing, or reflecting on work...or, my most frequent vice...overthinking every situation. Recently I have found myself sitting in my apartment and just enjoying the life I've established for myself. I'm sitting in my own apartment, taking a break from a busy day at work, having a day where I don't have evening plans...and just breathing. It's amazing how refreshing it is for me to just take a deep breath, look around my living room, go grab my pint of ice cream, and just jump on my huge L-shaped couch and know I have nowhere to be...and know that that's a GOOD thing.

I love being busy. I love experimenting with new activities, new foods, and new friends. I will always be an outdoors guy, looking for the next fun excursion I can create for myself (the list is growing as we speak)...but I'm developing balance. I'm noticing people who run themselves into the ground, and the effects it has on them. I want to be able to kick it and not be antsy. I want to be able to enjoy my activities to the utmost degree...and I think learning to rest and charge my battery can only enhance those times.

I probably still don't relax "enough", but I have learned to take advantage of the times I do. That's gotta be good for something, right?

LIFE UPDATE!!

Sorry for the delay in posting!

Things are crrrrrrazy at work right now. We announced the Holiday and Poinsettia Bowl teams this past Sunday, so we're all out from now until Dec. 30th. And the teams are:

Poinsettia Bowl - Utah vs. California (Dec. 23rd)
Holiday Bowl - Arizona vs. Nebraska (Dec. 30th)

Worked most of the weekend, but was still able to get out a bit and see friends. Went out to dinner Friday night to "When In Rome" (I highly recommend this place), and had a wonderful evening with great food, which was only topped by the company. A recap of the phenomenal meal:

-Silver Palms Cabernet Sauvignon (Santa Rosa) - Great bottle of wine. Full-bodied, not too fruity, great aroma, and great dinner wine.
-Cheese Plate - Great selection of thinly sliced salamis and meats mixed with some great soft cheeses. Can't remember the cheeses we had, but it was a great appetizer.
-Split an order of ravioli (we had 3-4 each)...in maybe the most phenomenal sauce I have ever had. Super rich, super addicting, and if I wasn't in a nice establishment, I probably would have licked the plate clean.
-Had an order of Tuscan Chicken (Pollo Toscana)...and it was realllly good. Chicken topped with asparagus and cheese. MMMMMMMM.
-Tiramisu - I don't like tiramisu...and this was really good.

Spent Saturday with some friends at Oggi's...just pizza and beer (can't go wrong there). I got good friends.

Other than the two games, tomorrow night is my biggest event of the year, so needless to say I have a lot to do and am a little amped up...but I don't like leaving this blog unattended (especially for all you eking by every day just WAITING for me to post some inspirational comments).

So today, I thought I'd use a line I made up when I was in 7th grade, and have used it ever since:

"Success comes before try only in the dictionary"

So simple, so corny, so 7th grade. Yet, so true.

Why We Love Suspense

Has anyone ever realized how much of a weird role suspense plays in our lives? We love suspense so much that we create products and entertainment just to extend the suspense as long as physically possible...

A Few Examples:

1) Wrapping Paper - we designed some fancy paper, just so we could hide the identity of the gift underneath for the additional 11 seconds it takes to unwrap the gift.

2) Sexy Lingerie - fancy cloth designed as a (hopefully) brief tease to what's underneath (and it ultimately ends up on the ground)

3) Action Movies - we PAY to watch action movies and cling to our seats to see if the hero survives...when we already KNOW he's gonna survive (he's the hero, duh!), it's just a matter of HOW. It's not even suspense...it's just seeing how creative a director can be in finding new ways to have the protagonist avoid 800 men firing bullets at him or how he escapes the burning building from 30 floors up...

This was what was on my mind. Bizarre. I know.

Posting Delay...My Apologies

Well, for those of you that haven't figured it out yet...I just got really busy.

Work is swamped. We announce teams this weekend (12/6), so needless to say I am neck-deep in football and everything Holiday Bowl/Poinsettia Bowl related.

I apologize for the delay in my posting. They will be scarce this month, no question about it. I am going to bed right because I am exhausted, but felt like I had neglected this too long to not at least give you guys a reason why I'm not posting my normal lists or rants.

In the meantime, I would love to get some feedback or ideas for new blog posts, what you would like to read, or hear me write about. Or just what you think so far.

Thank you all for reading!