Yum in Smoke

Today I put my new ($10 used) smoker to use for the the first time. I have never used a smoker before so I wanted to do a trial run before I do it for other people on Thanksgiving. I did an over night brine and was up at 6am this morning to get it started. I thought this is silly all this work for one part of a meal? I was wrong, it was worth every minute I spent working on it today. Today a man that smokes meat was born.

It's time to expose myself to the Neighborhood.

I have had the inside of my house decorated for Christmas for weeks now and it is time put the lights up outside. I have kept my holiday decorations from my neighbors long enough. Today I will start the process of off my lawn blow-ups and some lights in the yard then next weekend I will tackle the roof lights. I will post pics of my final product next weekend.

I have a wiz kid!!!

Today I was able to get off of work early to make my daughters principles list luncheon. She got straight A's in the first semester of 1st grade and we are extremely excited about this. She is on the younger side of her class so I have always been concerned that she would fall behind because of her age. She but away a lot of that doubt today with her grand achievement. It is very important to me to make sure she makes school an important part of the next 20 years of her life.

Keep up the great work Jenna, I'm very proud and happy to be your father.

Company Growth

Today my company has launched a new business. They are getting into the wine business. They have started a new company with new employees and a new image. I think it is great and they have a great business plan to rapidly grow into being very successful in AZ. I just couldn't help but think where does this leave me the rough and tough beer salesman? It looks I will be on the outside looking into the wine part of the business. Which is probably a good thing since wine drinkers can not be approached like beer drinkers can. Maybe the 2 buck chuck guy can be but that is not what our new company is looking for. The first 50 plus wines will be from Europe and will be imported by my company to the state of Arizona for the first time. 80% of our wines will be great wines for under $20. Have not been able to taste any yet but that is coming soon. I guess I should start to learn more about wines if I want to move up in the company one day.

Veterans Day

Freedom is not free and many people give there time and lives to keeping our country free. The world is getting crazier and angrier it seem like everyday. I go to sleep every night knowing that Americas bravest are ready to protect me from the evil that is out there. Thank you to all that are and have ever served in the armed forces. You give so much, so I can have so much. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

The speed of time.

It always seem there is never enough time in this life to accomplish everything you want. There are always those thing you wish you had done and said that never get accomplished. Today I talk to an Uncle of mine that I want to say I haven't talked to in years but I think it has been like 10 years now. I don't know were the time has gone and I don't think he has ever met my wife. I'm looking to right some wrongs in my life because life is getting faster and faster everyday. Make time for priorities that are being put off for things that can wait. Life will continue to get fast until it is over. Then it is too late!

Children melt away the day

My 2 little girls are amazing and always make bad days better and good days great. Today after a bad day I walked in the door to a girl with her arms hugging each leg screaming daddy. I made it home just in time to put them to bed. 5 minutes after I walked in the door, my day was a thing of the past and everything was great. I'm scared of them growing up and losing the innocents of there word that makes me king.

It was a tough citrus sugar scrub

Tonight after spending the day in the sun working in the yard I came in to take a shower and my skin felt so dry it actually hurt. It had been flaky for days and was in desperate need of moisture. I asked the wife if she had a good lotion I could put on after my shower to help with my dry skin. She suggested I use her sugar scrub in the shower. "It well get rid of you dead skin and hydrate the rest with oil" she said. So I figured I would give it a shot. Not sure how it is good to rub what felt like wet gravel all over your body to make your skin soft but I still did it. After scrubbing my body with sugar I got out of the shower and my skin felt like a baby's butt. It left me smelling like an orange but my skin is happy again. Not sure how I feel about the experience yet but I'm not sure that I would do it again.

Life is how you see it

"Life sucks, life is hard, life handed me a bad deal, I'm this because of that." These are excuses not answers. Life is not easy and you will always be faced with major problems. How you choose to deal with every situation does affect how you view life. When you get in a car accident you can be mad about your damaged car and the idiot that hit you or be happy and thankful to be alive. If a loved one dies you can be upset about the dead or be happy for all of the good times and be thankful for the living. When you get passed up for a promotion, you can get pissed or work harder to make sure you get the next one. Life is amazing, great, and wonderful. Life only sucks when you look at it that way. STAY POSITIVE!!!

I already miss it

Tonight we lost the first round of the playoffs. The season has ended and hours later I'm already miss it. I'm sad that I will not get to watch the kids grow and be there outlet from the bad things they could be doing. You don't know what it is like to watch a kid become a better person because of you until you have done it. I love being apart of the program and I want to thank everyone that aloud me to be involved. I can't wait until spring when we start training.

Dedication, who is that? said the teen

It been another challenging year of football. Started the season with 22 guys and this Friday we will head in to our first game of the playoffs with at the most 11 guys for 8 man ball. I hate to generalize but according to my last 2 years off coaching football 1/2 of high school students are quitters. This is probably very inaccurate data I have put together, but when I end the year with less then 1/2 of the guys I started with 2 years in a row its what I'm going on. I have 11 loyal dedicated guys and 2 guys that just got hurt that I'm proud to call the future of America. The rest have quit and I'm scared to call them the future. I'm not sure what to do or how to change this. I'm trying to do my part but I can only do so much as a coach. If you don't come to practice you will not win or play in the game. When these guy show up to their first business meeting unprepared I hope they understand how important practice is. In life you are always preparing for the big game. When you win or lose that game, you get up, learn what you did wrong or right, and then get ready for the next game.
Please take interest in a young adult and try to make them understand the importants of hard work, integrity and dedication. Improving our country is going to require that we invest in the future today. Our children are the future.

From being a coach to being a player? (need your input)

I have been helping to coach the a high school football team again this year. The head coach of the team this year is going to join an adult football league in January. He is trying to talk me into it and I'm not sure. I would love to do it but, I think that I might get hurt and the fact that its not cheap. Playing the game would make me a better coach next year. I love the game and I know that putting the pads on again after 12 years sounds awesome. I'm just not sure how my body would feel about it after 12 years. What do you think? Is 30 to old to be slamming your body into others?

Life is halarious!!!

I'm definitely a glass 1/2 full type of person. I usually find the silver lining in everything and look for comedy at every turn. Its always right around the corner and I always know were to find it when I need it. Watching people can always be extremely entertaining. Fact: people are crazy and do crazy things. Find the funny place in your head and go there as often as possible. Life is always better after a laugh.

Swine Flu Shot in the Schools

I have been hearing about the local schools giving the H1N1 shot to children. I understand that they will be able to get the shot to children that might not get it from the doctor. I would just caution all schools to make sure they are communicating with parents, because if that shot ends up in my daughters arm without my permission somebody will have a serious problem on there hands. I have my view of the shot. I refuse to allow my daughter to be a guinea pig. I have never given my daughters the normal flu shot either. I have personally only had the Flu shot once. 1 month later I got the (a different strain then I was vaccinated for) Flu. Since then I have not gotten the shot or the flu again. The flu and the H1N1 will make many people sick this year and some that don't get treated for it will die. I feel that being healthy, taking your vitamins, and using common sense hygiene will keep my family healthy. Good luck this winter it will be quiet the adventure for all.

Party overload

This was a wild weekend for us. We attended 3 party's and had some people over for football and food today. Looking forward to a hopefully quiet weekend next weekend before we get into the full swing of the holidays. Thanks to all that had us over this weekend it was busy but very fun at the same time.
I'm going to attempt to give you 30 days of Mitchells brain this month. Every night before bed I will give my blog its much needed attention. Stay tuned!!!