2010 Ends Tonight... with a resounding MEH

What a year.

It started out with loss. It began with death. Granny passed away. The ramp was dismantled. Kelsey lost her braces. The Vikings lost the NFC championship. I lost a bunch of weight. Toby lost his damn mind and jumped onto a hot stove top.

Things leveled out a bit after that. I won the Biggest Loser competition at work. The fam went to Washington, DC and had a blast. The new Brinley.com launched (and I still like the look-n-feel). The World Cup was awesome. Work and art and life all balanced out.

Then things went up and down pretty wildly with more losses. I lost the Jeep... but the money from the sale helped pay for Kelsey's new car. I lost Brinley.com... but it turns out that I didn't really lose it and I was so happy. I lost consciousness at the doctor's office and went to the Cardiac unit... but it turned out to *not* be a heart attack. I lost track of the painting I donated to the Julep Ball... but "found" it when Michelle saw it in her friend's house outside Memphis. And I broke my damn pinky toe and then suffered a double-ear infection.

Things kind of turned around too. Jooj's dad responded well to treatment and the Cancer news (which really is never good) turned out to not be quite as bad as it could be. Kelsey got her license and yours truly had to drive a little less. I started the NFL season with three FFL teams. Little Babuke was rushed to Kosair's but it turned out to be nothing too serious. Will's football team and JV football both won their respective championships. Kelsey started the school year with a 3.9. The Halloween party was OFF THE HOOK!

Things got weird a little too. Bret Farve sucked. Randy Moss became a Viking again. Then he wasn't. And then being a Viking's fan just wasn't cool any longer. I shared by shoe neurosis with the world. I attended 4 midnight releases to buy the video games that Will wanted. I came out of retirement from soccer and never won a game after our first. Thank gawd that's over but I can't wait to play again. And my FFL seasons were just falling apart.

But the year ended with a bang (in a good way). Eric Brinley - Artist, LLC was born. I took down a tree and felt like a red-blooded man doing it. We refinanced and are saving a ton of money. Black Friday was cuh-razy! The Oil group is rocking and bringing in some serious $$$ for the company. I was nominated for Employee of the Year. We have a new kitchen (nearly). We have a new fence. We had a great Christmas. We even got a bonus check from some extra escrow laying around. The L'ville Hotspurs are heading to the Super Bowl (along with a year worth of bragging rights if I win).

Overall, I give the year a "meh". I'd like to spend this year out of the hospital (both as a visitor and a tenant). I'd like to continue paying off bills and getting ready for college and private high school tuition. I'd like to continue kicking ass at work. I'd like to see the Vikings play better next year. I'd like to see nothing but good fortune for everyone I love. And I'd like to continue being a good husband, a good father, a good worker, a good son, a good brother, a good uncle, a good artist, a good goalkeeper, a good budgeter (that's a word?!?!), and - most importantly - a good man.

Peace out, 2010!

Christmas Recap Haikus

Christmas came and went
Everyone loved their presents
Food was terrific

Lazy over break
Played video games galore
Up 'til two each night

Going back to where?
To Isle of Palms this summer
Fam'ly vacation!

Back to work today
Much too busy and too loud
For a quiet week

What'd we have for lunch?
Wednesday J. Gumbo's, of course
On the house... bonus!

L'ville Hotspurs won
Going to the Super Bowl
Go 'spurs, go 'spurs, go!

Mortgage escrow check
Wondering where it will go?
Six O Four Hatler

Christmas Eve Eve

It's the Eve before Christmas Eve... and that means Christmas Eve at our house. Santa comes Christmas Eve morning at the Brinley/Bearden household. And what are the kids and I doing to celebrate? You'll probably never guess but we're watching South Park: Season 8.

The kids have some nice surprises waiting for them in the morning. We're looking forward to it :)

Holiday Party, Employee of the Year, and the PS3 Giveaway

The Genscape Holiday Party was this weekend. It was a Viking blast (haven't pulled that one out in a while)! The party was at 21C again and they do such a fantastic job. The appetizers were out of this world. The bison sliders and brats were to die for. Watching Mike M. dirty dance with Coach Linahan was priceless (after which he leaned over to my wife and slurred, "You're pretty"). At one point I felt a pinch on my butt. I asked Jooj if she pinched my ass. She said no and I turned and there stood the CEO. Nice! I had a round of shooters with Hillary and the gang and then followed that up with another shooter with Brown-Downs. I looked over at Jooj and told her we had about 20 minutes before we needed to be home so we left, post-haste :)

So, a while back I mentioned that I had been nominated for Employee of the Year. I was deeply honored. As I stated before, I knew my chances were the slimmest of slim. So leading up to the announcement I was neither excited nor nervous. I did not win but Hillary, a close co-worker of mine, won the honor (and sweet piece of glass hardware!). She cried as she accepted it and it was very touching. She came down from the stage and came straight to me and told me that it was as much mine as it was hers. That was very sweet to hear. Even sweeter was when the CEO came to me later and told me that my name was seriously deliberated on for the award. That was very encouraging and makes me want to work *that* much harder to earn it next year. Keep your fingers crossed.

And finally, remember how I went to go see TRON and totally went to the wrong theater than my friends? Well, I later found out that a PS3 was given away that night. And then it turns out that it went to one of the tickets from our group. But then I misunderstood the story and realized every ticket holder walked away with a free PS3. Just my luck, right? I suppose that is what led me to believe this all to be true. HOWEVER...

It was all a gag. Steve and Eddie got me and they got me good. So if you heard me tell you the story about the free PS3s, please disregard, shake your head, roll your eyes, and call me a grade A moron. Sheesh!

TRON Post-mortem

TRON was awesome. The movie was formulaic and a tad soulless, but the action was great, the 3D was well done, the effects were pretty sweet, the Daft Punk soundtrack was thrilling, Jeff Bridges was an awesome "Lebowski/Flynn", and Olivia Wilde looked pretty cute. It by no means blew my mind but I look forward to seeing it again. It didn't capture the magic of the original (I wasn't expecting it to). It was a pretty standard, by-the-book, Disney movie. But fun, you know?

Do you know what would have made it more fun? It would have been a lot more fun had I gone to the right theater!!!

The original plan was to meet Eddie and Steve at the theater. With ten minutes before showtime I got a text from Steve. I told him I was in the lobby. He asked where. I said by the door. And then my heart sank. I already knew what I had done and what was coming next. Moments later I received this text: "Please tell me you are not at Tinseltown."

No no no no no no no no no no!

(more Bit humor there, you *GEEK* [I'm pretty much making that joke for me but if you laughed, you too])

Kelsey was already with her friends and had retired to their respective theater. I purchased a single ticket to the 3D show at 12:05 AM, picked up my glasses, and enjoyed the show solo. I hadn't gone to a movie by myself since being blown away by "Spirited Away" after getting fired from an "ugh" job back in 2003 (I was excelling at making bad career moves during that period in my life). And before that it had been in 2001 to see a double-feature of K-PAX (great movie!) and Thirteen Ghosts (horrible, horrible movie!) in Lewisville back when I lived in Texas.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Disney does with their "The Black Hole" remake.

TRON at Midnight

Need I say more? Am I a geek?

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

(if you are a real geek you'll get the reference to the Bit from the original)

Fantasy Updates (Updated)

The season is over for one team. The post-season is looming for another team. The post-season is raging for yet another team. And the season is just getting started for one more!

The poor, poor L'ville Red Devils ended their season and entered the loser's play-offs last week. I believe I have the worst record I have ever earned in football at 4-8. I'm not trying to make any excuses but I will point out that I was in the hospital when this team was drafted. It's been one helluva ride, making trades and digging ourselves out of a hole, but it wasn't enough in the end.

The L'ville Gunners are currently in a heated battle in their first game of the post-season. They ended the season at 9-4 and are doing their best to pull out a victory tonight. With a little luck and some effort from Adrian Peterson I'll pull it out. Unfortunately, Will.i.am's team is not doing so well and will be bowing out of the play-offs after tonight.

The surprise L'ville Hotspurs are playing the #1 team in the league and are on track to pull out a victory in the last game of the season. If so they will end their season at 10-4 with plenty of momentum heading into the play-offs.

All toll, that is a combined record of 23-16... not too shabby in my book.

Finally, the L'ville Blues are entering the 7th week of the FBL season at 32-21-1. Pretty impressive for a guy who knows only two things about the NBA - Jack and Shit (name dropper!).

UPDATE: Hells bells! This just in from NFL.com regarding Adrian Peterson...

"Analysis: This was pretty much worst case scenario for anyone relying on Peterson in the fantasy playoffs as the Vikings never had a prayer. It's hard to verify if the Giants ever put nine guys in the box, but it sure seemed like it."

Gunners are out and playing Will.i.am next week. Hotspurs lost but enter the playoffs as a #5 seed.

Spike TV Video Game Awards (UPDATED)

I'm sitting here watching the Spike TV Video Game Awards. As I mentioned almost the exact same time last year, I wouldn't normally go out of my way to watch the show. But tonight, as I was this time last year, I am waiting/hoping for a special announcement.

Once again Star Wars Battlefront 3 has been rumored to be announced. Rumors over at battlefront3.net and other sites are pointing virtual fingers at Infinity Spark as the developer (with LucasArts as the publisher I would imagine). We're 90 minutes into the scheduled 2 hours and nothing yet. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced and Will will be stoked about that.

This Battlefront 3 debacle (in the sense that a follow-up to the highly-acclaimed and successful - I'm not making that up... I read it somewhere) has been going on for so long and the game's development has switched hands so many times that a wiki page for Star Wars: Battlefront III actually redirects to a page devoted to its muddled history and rumors.

I'm crossing every finger I have for good news. I'd hate to be disappointed yet again :(

DISAPPOINTING YET EXPECTED UPDATE: Well, I guess I don't even really have to say it. Crickets.

Employee of the Year Nomination

I was surprised to find out that I've been nominated for Genscape's Employee of the Year. I am deeply honored by the nomination and grateful to share space on the list of nominees. I think my chances of winning are slim at best, but it is still a glorious thing to be nominated.

Yay me!

A lot can happen in a week

And obviously one can completely forget to blog during that time too.

Following the tree saga things have been pretty calm. Work was busy yet steady. Will.i.am went through his Confirmation and took on the name of Saint Louis. That appealed to all households as everyone had a Louis in the family if you went far enough up the family tree.

The fence has been installed (or is in the process of being installed - don't know how much progress they made today). That's super exciting.

The cable was cut during the process of post hole digging and Insight was quick enough to get out to us Saturday. However, it did cause a 36-hour Internet blackout. We all coped with it well enough - except for the one whom I thought it would affect the least (I'm not naming names, Jooj, but I'm staring at you with an accusatory look).

Accusatory. Really? That's even a word? I thought I just made that shit up.

Good times!