Today...is a great day!!!

For the past 12 years or so, I have been on the contact list for a research group that finds people for focus groups. In the past, I've been on studies for Klondike bars, gatorade gum, and cell phones.

So, earlier this week, I get this email from Flagship Research looking for people to participate in a golf study for $50. There are 2 focus groups that I have been dying to get on: a Beer focus group and a Golf focus group. This one is like the holy grail of focus groups.

I didn't know what I'd be doing at this group but it didn't matter because it was free golf at a country club. And they'd be paying me a $50 cash incentive for my time.

So, I show up early and check in. They give me a free Titleist hat and 2 sleeves of golf balls that they insist I use for my round (at about $4 a ball, the value of my "incentives" started adding up). They say we will be getting filmed answering questions about our equipment and golf in general.

The first group goes out around 9:45am. There were a lot of no shows so they put me in the second group. We waited for about an hour to tee off and they still wouldn't let us off. They said they wanted to leave at least 2 holes in between groups. Not a problem. I was still going to play golf for free AND get $50 for it. I didn't quite understand why they needed so much room in between groups.

So we go through the first 2 holes playing terrible and then get to the third hole. As we were walking up to the tee box, a cart pulls up. Who's driving, you ask? None other than Phil Mickelson, the #2 golfer in the world. He gets out and says, "Hey guys, I'm here to help out your game!"



As he's walking up, we go through the introductions, shake his hand and then he calls down his cameraman, Ron. We look behind us and some guy in camouflage comes out of the bushes on the hill (pretty cool!) Anyway, we hit a drive with our driver and he has us hit one with a new Callaway driver. The first guy hits his ball great and then screws up his shot with the Callaway. Mickelson takes the driver back and says, "We can't help you out today."

My turn. I hit my drive pretty well but in a bunker. I then hit the Callaway pretty good but it hits the trees overhanging the fairway. The next two guys are older guys who hit the Callaway driver much better than their own. As they were walking back to the cart, Mickelson hands each of them a driver and says, "You try this out for the rest of the round, and if you like it, keep it." Me and the other guy were a pretty bummed we blew it.

We drove up to our second shot, and realized there were about 10 people there hiding behind trees (producers, ball spotters, GPS distance markers, etc.) They tell us our balls would be waiting for us when we came back down the next hole. Mickelson comes up behind us and asks me and the other sap who didn't get a club to try out this other club. He says he thinks it will help better than the one he had us hit before. I hit mine perfectly down the fairway. The other guy screws up his shot again. As I walk back to the cart, I was told the same wonderful words, "You try this out for the rest of the round, and if you like it, keep it." YES!!!!!!!!!!!



Not only do I get to play at a country club for free, I get paid $50 for it, get a free hat, $25 in free golf balls, get to meet Phil Mickelson, and get a $425 driver FREE...from Phil Mickelson.

To top it off, before my boss went home for the night, he offered to buy me breakfast tomorrow at the Family House of Pancakes. Today was great!!!!!!!!

Perhaps...the best food ever

Megan made a chicken broccoli braid tonight that she has made in the past, but tonight I think I realized it is one of my favorite dishes EVER!!!!

Drop her a line if you want the recipe.

Fantasy Christmas List

Here's a Christmas list for those of you with boatloads of cash to spare on ME.

GUITAR STUFF
Dr. Z Maz 18 1x12 red combo amp w/reverb
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Freakshow Brown Rabbit distortion pedal
Xotic Effects RC booster pedal
Line 6 DL4 delay modeler pedal
Line 6 MM4 modulation modeler pedal
MXR Dynacomp compressor pedal
Ernie Ball Volume pedal
Jettergear Gain Stage Red overdrive pedal


OTHER STUFF
Trip to Nashville
Keith Urban w/Carrie Underwood concert tickets
A new job for Megan in Chula Vista that appreciates her

Monday, December 17th

My mother's birthday...

My friend, Mark's, birthday...

My friend, Darren's, birthday...

THE DAY WE FIND OUT THE SEX OF BABY #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Weekend

This weekend was well overdo. Megan and I had a great time on Saturday. We started off the day by going to the zoo at noon (that's as early as we can get out of the house these days). We hung out for a few hours and it was by far the best time I've had at the zoo. Ryan is old enough now that he sees the animals and will try to interact with them. It is so great. Anyway, we rode the skyfari, ate a churro, watched an elephant poop, you know, normal zoo stuff.

Afterward, we went to "December Nights." Megan insists on calling it "Christmas on the Prado" which was its previous moniker, but I insist on calling it "December Nights", especially in light of one of the attractions that were performing that night...The Gay Men Chorus of San Diego!!! I'm pretty sure that group would probably be discouraged from performing at a Christian festival. We did have a great time for the couple of hours that we spent there. It was kind of cold and a little rainy, but it just made the atmosphere more festive. We ate a lot of little stuff and checked out the San Diego Hall of Champions. By the time we left, it was only about 6pm and Ryan was beat.

When we got home, we decided to go out to the movies. Ryan was asleep so we figured he'd be fine on his own...just kidding. Donna was kind enough to watch him. We saw "Enchanted." It was a pretty good movie and I'd recommend it to just about anybody but some high school boys. Speaking of...there were 3 guys, looked to be around 17, in the theater and they only lasted about 5 minutes after the animated Giselle started singing a song about cleaning up the house. All in the all, the movie was really corny but very appropriately corny. Also, there was an older guy sitting at the end of our row who was asleep when the movie started, woke up for about 2 or 3 minutes in the middle, then fell asleep until the end.

After the movie, I obliged to Megan's desire to go to Macy's and look for a certain pair of shoes. Unfortunately, they weren't there but we ended up with a new pillow (SCORE!!!)

We finished off the night going to get ice cream, and ending up getting Jamba Juice smoothies. At least I know there is a minuscule amount of self restraint in there!

On Sunday, we went to go get a tree after church. I had the Chargers game Tivo'd so I made sure nobody at church would give me any updates. Much to my dismay, Megan watched the start of the game, listened to the game in the car on the way to church, and on the way home, then opened up the laptop and got updates on the game until the end (of regulation). She hinted at the goings of the game and basically just spoiled the experience of watching the game. Since Ryan wouldn't go down for a nap, we went to Home Depot to get a tree. Megan spilled the beans on the way and said the game was tied at the end of the game. I was a little mad but at least didn't know the final score. As we were paying for the tree, the radio happened to be on. As we walked up, I hear "The Chargers pull to 8-5 and the Titans drop to 7-6." RUINED!!!

At least I got to go home and watch the game without getting a heart attack during the 4th quarter. I made my super-hot chili that turned out to be mildly hot. After I cut up the habanero chili, I must have rubbed my nose or something because I have never felt that much pain on my upper lip/nose in my life. I didn't know what to do. I tried rinsing it off, but it just spread the pain. I read up on what to do about the pain and some suggestions said milk or bleach. I tried soaking a towel in milk and holding it on my lip. That didn't help. I skipped the bleach idea, but tried putting canola oil on my lip and in my nose (in most circumstances, I wouldn't try this but if you ever get habanero chili oil anywhere on your body, drench yourself in some kind of vegetable oil). I smelled really bad and felt funny but did the trick. I celebrated the relief from pain by having a few beers.

To top off the weekend, I strung some lights on the tree and was told that the tree wasn't covered well. I took all the lights off and added another strand to the mix. When I was done, the lights didn't come on. I gave up for the night. I jumped on the computer before I went to bed just in time for the tree to fall on me. Luckily Home Depot opened up early this morning so I could get another stand.

That's all. If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading.

Ipod :(

Unfortunately, last week I misplaced my Ipod. I'm about 80% sure it was stolen from my office but I may have left it somewhere. If anybody happens to run across a white 30GB Ipod (since everybody finds those on the street corners) hit me up.