Alright, alright, I haven’t posted in a long time (7 months or so).  In my defense I have had some things going on.  But someone has been bugging encouraging me to get back to it. I argued that I have better ROI spending time with them, when I was politely informed that I don’t really need the full 6 hours of sleep I attempt every night.  So I’m typing this up at 11:30 pm while the rest of my family is asleep so please read quietly so as to not disturb anyone.

Now that I’m typing and you’re reading quietly, on to the reintroduction: here I am, over here to, also mentioned here and here.

As to why no activity lately, to be honest I have had a lot to say and I have a whole list of ideas for blog posts however as soon as I start to write one, my perfectionism comes into play and I never have time to create what I think would be a perfect post, so I don’t.  I look up at what I don’t know and decide I don’t know enough, instead of looking down or around at what I do know to talk about.  This is the beginning of the effort to change and just put some thoughts out there (for better of worse . 

For those keeping score at home I’m still at Magenic and while a couple good friends have left, we’re hiring.  In fact in the Chicago office we have had 3 people start in the last 2 weeks (including here)! So if you are looking, hit me up and we’ll see what can be done.

Other than that, I’m still doing all things SQL Server from SSIS to Service Broker to CDC to Replication to CLR to encryption to SSRS to data modeling and of course VSDBPro.  Basically the entire stack and oh by the way, still loving it!

For review this post had 3 purposes:

1. Begin Momentum
2. Remind everyone I’m still around
3. Fulfill my promise to Ted

Mission Accomplished!

Well my wife and I received our Itinerary for our Holy Land tour coming up in November. We are really looking forward to it.

• Wednesday, November 5
  • Depart Chicago
• Thursday, November 6
  • Arrive Tel Aviv early afternoon
  • Visit Caesarea
  • Transfer to Tiberias
  • Dinner and overnight in Tiberias
  • Free Evening
• Friday, November 7 – Galilee
  • Breakfast
  • Capernaum, Tabkha, Mt. of Beatitudes
  • St. Peter’s fish lunch
  • Communion with Dr. Barclay on Sea of Galilee
  • Jordan River baptism
  • Dinner and overnight in Tiberias
  • Free Evening
• Saturday, November 8 – Nazareth
  • Breakfast
  • Cana, Nazareth
  • Jezreel Valley, Megiddo (biblical Armageddon)
  • Mukrakah
  • Dinner and overnight in Tiberias
  • Free Evening
• Sunday, November 9 – Jerusalem
  • Breakfast
  • Drive through Jordan Valley, Beit Shean
  • Ascend to Jerusalem, Thanksgiving Service on Mount Scopus
  • 1st Century Model of Jerusalem, Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Yad Vashem
  • Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem
• Monday, November 10 – Jerusalem
  • Breakfast
  • Mt. of Olives, The Tomb of the Prophets
  • Garden of Gethsemane
  • Pool of Bethesda
  • Communion with Dr. Barclay at the Garden Tomb
  • Ancient pavement, Ecce Homo
  • Overlook of Temple Mount
  • Fellowship dinner with Dr. Barclay
  • Overnight in Jerusalem
• Tuesday, November 11 – Jerusalem
  • Breakfast
  • Jerusalem/Old City
  • Jewish Quarter, Roman Cardo (ancient road)
  • Rabbinic Tunnels, Davidson Center
  • Shopping
  • Bethlehem (pending)
  • Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem
  • Free Evening
• Wednesday, November 12 – Dead Sea area
  • Qumran Caves
  • Valley of Elah, Cave of Adullam
  • Oasis of Ein Gedi
  • Dead Sea swim
  • Dinner and overnight at Dead Sea
• Thursday, November 13 – Tel Aviv, Jaffa
  • Mini-Israel – models of major churches
  • Ancient Jaffa
  • Modern Tel Aviv
  • Shopping
  • Dinner and transfer to the airport
• Friday, November 14
  • Depart from Tel Aviv – early morning
  • Arrive in Chicago (afternoon)

A couple weeks ago ESPN has their yearly fundraiser for the V Foundation.  During which they replay Jimmy Valvano’s acceptance speech from March 4, 1993 ESPY’s (transcript and video) where he accepted the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award and announce the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research (he passed April 28, 1993 from cancer).

In his speech he said "To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special."

We certainly know the saying "Laughter is the Best Medicine" and it has even been researched.  However I was thinking about that and I was trying to remember the last time I really, truly laughed, or even heard another adult really laugh?  You know what I mean…lost it with tears or milk through the nose or something like that.  Certainly I type and see others type LOL in twitter, IM, email, etc. but to be honest we don’t really Laugh Out Loud, it might be a smile or chuckle or a smirk or even an occasional "Ha" (like when I saw Joker’s disappearing pencil trick ).  I’m not saying we’re depressed or aren’t enjoying our lives, jobs, families, but there’s a different between a smirk and an all out guffaw.  Perhaps it’s just that the humor today is either sexual, predictable or so dry it borders on sarcasm.  Or perhaps we’re just becoming too serious/jaded.  Or maybe it’s just me.

So when was the last time you really, truly laughed?  Heck when was the last time you even saw someone smiling in their car?