Today I did one of those Boot Camp deals. It was through Operation Boot Camp and I was able to do it for free for a day (lucky me) on a ‘Bring a friend to Hell class Day’. It was pretty much what I expected and I did about as well as expected, too. That said, I was the last person trailing behind. But, I did make a few people laugh so all in all, it was a win for me.

It was cold though. Damn cold. Steve Jobs told me it was 28 degrees when I left the apartment at 5:40a to do this nazi ritual.

I knew it was going to be cold so I headed out to Dick’s (fyi, dicks.com is not the website of Dick’s Sporting Goods, found that out the hard way … at work) last night to pick up some warmer gear. Exercise clothes if expensive but I reluctantly picked up a pair of pants, a long sleeved Under Armour shirt, and a pair of gloves. Each of which are about $30 a piece. I didn’t like the idea of dropping $100 for one morning’s workout but whatevs, I didn’t want to freeze my ass off either. So I take my goods to the counter and I notice as the chick is ringing everything up, she fails to scan the shirt.

Moral/Ethical Dilemma: Do I tell her? Do I take the free shirt?

I took the free shirt. I feel kind of bad about it now. I thought I was more ethical than that. Guess I’m not.

I bring this up because last night I was smote (really, smited is not a word? thanks spell check) again. I was hanging out at bar with some people, one of which was a girl I had just met. She was hot enough for the amount of alcohol I had in me and her friend (who I did know) was all ‘thumbs up’ on the two of us getting together. Things were going well and then a friend of hers showed up. After a few minutes of her talking to him and ignoring me the two of them start making out at the bar. That, in it of itself, is no biggie. What I failed to mention is the dude was in a wheel chair. I got cocked block by a guy who potentially has no ability to function below the belt! I got my tab and went home… Pathetic.

Before you leave a comment saying that just because someone is in a wheel chair does not make them any less hook-up-worthy than someone with fully capable legs, I know. It’s just amuses me. Get over it and yourself.

As could be expected, the post office closest to my apartment is not the post office which had my packages. Fortunately the other one was only a couple miles in the other direction. I arrived and there was a line of at least a dozen people. As for postal workers, there were two. One of which voiced very loudly upon my arrival her shift was over and she was leaving for the day. So now we’re down to one person to handle the line of people which is growing by the minute. I’ve worked retail before and this would never happen. You never pulled someone off the floor when the line was backed up. On top of that, I immediately thought of an experience I had at The UPS Store a few weeks ago. I went in to get some copies made and there were at least four people working and helping customers. They were pleasant and helpful. I was in and out in no time.

So why did the post office only have one person? Simple, to cut costs. Why did that second worker not stick around to thin out the line before leaving? Simple, no reason to. How does this happen? Simple, government run organization. There’s no incentive to exceed or help customers. Your job is secure and there for you no matter how well you perform. This is an example of what our future holds as we give more and more of our services up to government control. Hope you’re ready for doctors and nurses who care as much about helping you as postal workers do. It’s not as far of a stretch as proponents of universal healthcare would have you believe.

Then, like most things on my calendar, I forgot about it.

A couple weeks ago a buddy of mine suggested we take a day off work and go get drunk. Hey Brody, have you heard finding reasons to drink is a sign of alcoholism? Just saying… So I pulled out the iPhone and started looking for ideal dates and noticed I had something blocking out the entire day of December 5th… what could this be? Why, it’s Repeal Day!

That was all the urging I needed. I set up an event on Facebook and was off. So far we’ve got 15 confirmed and many more mabyes for the day. I’m pretty excited. Some of us have even found clothing from the 20s/30s to wear. If you would like to join us, we’ll be starting at Vickery’s off Crescent and doing a pub crawl through Midtown. Should be a blast. I’ll post updates afterwards… if I survive.

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• The Natural Born Kickers were born in the GA Lightning Division of WAKA on Sundays at Hammond Park in Sandy Springs. We started off strong but ended the season 3-5. We quickly become known as the party team in the division and became close friends with most of the members of the play-off champion team, We’ve Got the Runs. A trip to Vegas was planned over Labor Day Weekend for The Founders Cup which is WAKA’s answer to national kickball play-offs. It turned out our friends in WGTR would receive a bid to play in Vegas which made the trip even that more exciting.
• NBK returned to Hammond Park on Sundays for the GA Lightning Summer Season. This season didn’t end much better kickball-wise but we had an absolute blast and made even more new friends as well as retained our title as Social Champions. WGTR would become the regular season champ but ultimately lose to a new team, It’s Business Time, in the championship game.
• The trip to Vegas was a success in every way possible … except for kickball. The teams in Vegas play with an intensity we had never seen. The first game would end on account of a mercy rule (13-0 at the end of the 3rd inning). The second game would be much closer but, playing one man down, The Runs were not able to recover from a late inning rally. The third game was also close but resulted in two more players leaving with injury and a loss. One item to note however is this team would end up winning the whole sha-bang so not a bad showing all in all. For many of us this was our first trip to Vegas and was simply amazing. It would be several posts to recount all that went down.
• At some point in here I took over web responsibility for our two divisions GA Thunder and GA Lighting. There isn’t much to the pages now but I’m working on revamping them for the Spring Seasons.
• The NFL would be the end of the Sunday games for the year so a couple members of NBK (including myself) joined We’ve Got the Runs for Thursday games in the GA Thunder Division. This was a much more solid division and many said we would not be able to handle it. That would be the furthest thing from the truth. With a disappointing and embarrassing 16-3 route by the #2 team in the division, Balls of glory, the only loss we encountered, we ended the regular season 6-1-1 including a tie with the six-time defending division champions Out Sick on Friday. The play-offs would be our feeding ground as we won four straight games to be crowned 2008 GA Thunder Fall Season Champions. With the help from NBK, We’ve Got the Runs is the only team to win both the GA Lightning and GA Thunder divisions. The pic above is from our championship night. This earns us a bid in Vegas next year … oh the debauchery!
• Also during this time I was elected (more like appointed) to the Board of Directors for our two divisions. I was Vice President for the Fall Season and am currently President-Elect for the Spring Season. How did this happen exactly?
• Unfortunately WAKA will not be hosting a Winter Season but that’s not stopping us. Many of us from Natural Born Kickers, We’ve Got the Runs, and It’s Business Time have teamed up with a few others to play as WAKA WAKA WAKA in GoKickball’s inaugural Winter Season at Piedmont Park. The season starts December 6th and we couldn’t be more excited about showing this second rate league how real kickballers play!

I’ll post more as events arise… who knew playing kickball could be so much fun and take up so much of our time?

As for training, the coworker showed me this 12 week training plan which is supposed to help prepare you for such a race. Although the race isn’t until the end of March (which is much more than 12 weeks away) I went ahead and started the training program. I plan on re-starting the program at the appropriate time in January but figured getting a jump on it now would help me get into better shape and make the real training easier.

I’ve recruited a few friends to run the race as well and I’m hoping this will encourage me to stick to it. If so, this should be one of many training/race posts to come.

Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

So I beg of you Republican voters, drop the whole abortion thing. Hell, let’s start encouraging them!

* It’s not that I’m die-hard Republican, it’s just that I’m die-hard anti-Democrat.

This weekend I head to Las Vegas (my very first trip) for the WAKA Founder’s Cup aka the national Kickball Championships. No, my team did not make it. We’re just going to watch. We will be traveling/staying with a team who is playing in the games though so that should provide an additional level of excitement.

Anyways… how fitting that it will be raining in the desert nearly my entire trip. Looks like if I want any pool time at all it will be Friday.

Wish me and my wallet luck.

1. Your housplants are alive, and you can’t smoke any of them.
Houseplants? WTF? +1 for not old.

2. Having Sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
At this point I’m taking sex from wherever I can get it. +1 still young

3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
Seriously? +1 young!

4. 6:00a is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
It’s more like 7a but damnit… +1 old

5. You heaer your favorite song in an elevator.
Damn Debbie Gibson selling out to the elevator greatest hits collection. +1 old

6. You watch the weather channel.
If it’s not in HD, I ain’t watching. +1 young!

7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of “hook up” and “break up”.
My friends marry. I hook up (rarely, true). even split.

8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
I have 24 days of vacation by my calculation that means it’s only +0.913793 old.

9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up.”
Still rocking the jeans. +1 young

10. You’re the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won’t turn down the stereo.
I’m typically too drunk to hear the stereo. +1 young

11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
Unfortunately +1 old.

12. You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
Who care? The Krystal outside the Pony is open 24 hours! +1 young

13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
If you keep hitting shit with your car your insurance does NOT go down. +1 young

14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonadl’s leftovers
It’s Iams but damnit… +1 old

15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
After a drunken night the couch is so enticing. It’s also some quality time with Dog. +1 young

16. You take naps.
Hate naps. +1 young

17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
Dinner and a movie is normally a 4th or 5th date kind of thing. I never make it that far. +1 young

18. Eating a basket of chiken wings at 3a would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
Wings, anytime of the day, are the most awesome food I can consume. Alas, a 3a feeding of wings would destroy my diet. +1 old

19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
Aleve and condoms? even split?

20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good shit.”
Not a wine drinker but my drinking buddies tell me the Two Buck Chuck is some good shit so I’m taking their word for it. +1 young

21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
No time is a bad time for eggs and bacon. +1 young

22. “I just can’t drink the way I used to” replaces “I’m never going to drink that much again.”
Are you kidding me? My tolerance is so high right now I should get +10 young … oh well, +1 not old!

23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
Only if assume I’m working 90% of the time I’m at the office … +1 old

24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
I drink at home because I can. Money never enters the picture. even split?

25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking “Oh shit, what the hell happened?”
+1 old

Final count: Young 14 to Old 7.913793

Woohoo! I’m not old!

If you haven’t seen the movie, check it out. Really good / scary.