Sayola?

I've worked in the radio industry for what is going now on my 5th year. Mostly behind the board, rarely behind the mic. I run that big fancy sound board that controls what goes over the air. Not a prestigious PT job but it helps pay some bills (mostly gas to and from the station).

Around when I first started I remember having to sit through a "Payola" online presentation mandated by my then employer Clear Channel Communications. It was an informational piece about "Payola". If I recall correctly, it had to be watched annually.

To give a little background to those unfamiliar with what "Payola" is: Payola is basically an under the table exchange of money to either play certain songs or talk favorably about certain businesses, products, etc . Radio personalities must disclose tot their audiences if they are getting paid by a company they are talking about.

There are certain word or phrases that indicate people are promoting products on the square.

Typically you'll hear commercials saying "This is (radio personality) for (endorsed product)". You'll also hear them disclosing that they're getting paid (one way or another) for something they're doing/promoting. A good example is when Dan Cole on KFAN talks about an upcoming boxing match, and where the fight is being held (a certain casino). He then states "He is getting paid handsomely" to ring announce at the event. Thereby disclosing to the audience that it is a paid endorsement.

The line between payola and a legit endorsement can get tricky, hence the need for radio companies to clarify it with On-Air Staff on an annual basis.

Social Media Muddies the Water

When I first started in radio(way back in 2006), Twitter was in its infancy, blogging was reserved for nerds discussing the finer points of Star Trek, and Facebook wasn't nearly the household name it is today.

Now with over 500 million users on Facebook, businesses cannot ignore this chance to connect with potential consumers. The radio industry has done just that. Today, many radio personalities interact with their fans either through individual personality pages and twitter accounts, or through station pages and twitter accounts. The more followers or fans you have, the better the opportunity to turn listeners, into loyal listeners by giving listeners the sense of being actual friends with those personalities or stations.

This also creates a possible "sayola" issue. (I think I created the term)

While the FCC looks at broadcasts for payola violations, they do not (as far as I can see) cover social media.

A radio personality gains Twitter followers or Facebook fans from their broadcasts. (often by directly or indirectly promoting each on the air). They can then direct these followers/fans away from the non-revenue generating Facebook & Twitter to revenue generating products they offer, like tuning in to the station or logging on to their website.

Of all the benefits those social media entities can bring, it can also bring in problems.
Those personalities could also work under the table with other businesses for exchanges in the way of trading status updates/tweets for $, goods, or services. Going outside the obvious "Man, business X has the lowest prices in town", something as simple as a Connect-4 "Check-in" can possibly be seen as an endorsement of that business.

While I don't see this as currently being a major issue, it is an issue that was not even possible only 5 years ago.

United we Run

A few weeks ago I had the engine on my old silver Grand Prix blow out. It was a reliable car over the time I've had it, never needing a lot of expensive fixes, just replacing old parts that wore out. It had seen 2 major hits via winter collisions in its lifetime but rebounded, ready to go again. When faced with a complete engine overhaul, I started looking at what it wasn't, over what it was. Its better days had passed. A dinged door here, cracked weather stripping there, there wasn't much of an incentive to repair something literally being held together by duct tape in some places.

Looking for a replacement vehicle that had (presumably) longer life span, I found a Kia Sportage, a newer (younger) vehicle that didn't quite have the power of my older car, but was built for the future. More room for our family to grow. I've already taken it for 2 test drives and liked the way it drove, and looked overall. For better or worse, I'm going to ride with this vehicle, and see where it takes me.

Do you see what i DMB?

I had the pleasure last night to attend the Dave Matthews Band concert. As I was standing in the crowed, taking it all in, I couldn't help but identify certain individuals that fall into concert goer stereotypes. Perhaps its because we're going over segmentation in my marketing class right now, but I've broken them down into a few categories listed below. You may fall into one or two of them. I know I do. If you can think of any more categories feel free to post comments to add them.

The Paparazzo: With enough flashes to give the band a seizure, these photographing phenoms love watching the concert through their 2" digital camera screen. Lookout facebook, here comes 50 pictures of a blurry stage!

The Cinematographer: They've got an iphone an they're not afraid to use it. They also watch the concert through a screen, but a kick-ass 4" screen instead of 2". Sure you can't fully take in the visual experience that you put money down to see, but at least you can re-live the experience with speakerphone quality sound over and over again.

The Karaoke Superstar: Everyone likes to sing along at a concert, but these rock stars feel the need to scream every word of every song, and just to let you know that they know all the lyrics, they sing them well ahead of the band. If I wanted to hear you sing I wouldn't have put down 75 bucks for tickets. I would have went to the local corner bar to hear you butcher songs.

Dancing with the (or while seeing) stars: Again dancing is part of a concert, i get it, but like Lincoln Hawk, these twinkle toes take it over the top. Expecting you to get out of the way for their personal soul train dance, they'll take whatever room they need to show their moves. This usually involves stepping on your feet, and throwing their often girthy size into you, oblivious to your show experience.

The Day Tripper: These party hardy souls usually need a designated driver to get TO the concert. For them, this isn't a 3 hour concert, its a 24 hour event. With a pre-party schedule that would make Ozzy Osborn blush, they rarely make it through the entire show, or at times, make it to the show at all. These people are the reason I don't wear good shoes to concerts.

The Crowd Climbers: Sure you arrived after the opening band and just before the main act, but who cares? Your ticket may say "GA" but to you it says "Front row center". You're going to elbow your way to the front, crushed toes and spilled beers be damned.

Corporate Carl: Sure you got off work at 5pm and the concert wasn't until 8pm, you're wearing that expensive suit to the concert anyway. Bring a change of clothes? Heck no! You're important and people need to know that.

The Phone-o-graphers: Texts, Facebook, or Twitter, you're constantly relaying messages or checking on what else is going on. Its a concert, set down the phone and enjoy it.

The post concert screamer(town crier) - As everyone is shuffling out of the venue and through the plaza, every minute on the minute this guy screams "Woooo!"

Lay-Z-Boy

Yes it has been over a month since my blog post, so I do understand the humor in it being about laziness.
As I start my next attempt in a long line of attempts to lose weight I find my own laziness to get out and exercise is my biggest stopping point. (yes a bigger stopping point than even my belt has become)
The deterioration of my conditioning was shown to me very clearly as I "sprinted" to first base while playing my first softball game in years. Gasping for breath I couldn't believe how a short run could take so much out of me.

While I am reflecting back on my own laziness, it was the acts of two others that inspired me to write on the topic that forced me to take a look at myself.

The first act I witnessed on campus. While walking to the student union from my office I neared the door to see a student flick his cigarette on the ground and walk in. My only issue besides littering on my campus is that he was 10 feet from one of those cigarette disposal tubes. I would have said or done something but I was on my way to a meeting, and talking sense into someone like that would have required far more time than they were worth.

The second act I witnessed while at Cub Foods (I'll save the Cub vs Cubs rant for another time).
While standing in the checkout line I peered through the large glass window in the front of the store in time to see a large lady parked in the closest parking spot loading the rest of the things in her trunk. After closing the trunk she proceeded to push the cart over the curb and onto the rocks in the median directly next to her car, rather than pushing the cart 50 feet to the nearest cart return.

I could easily get angry over their laziness. Instead chose to seek out a valuable lesson: That sometimes it only takes few extra small steps to change myself, my environment, and how others see me.

Its going to be a beautiful night, I think I'll take a walk.

Doing the Cha Cha

I recently became an independent contractor for ChaCha.com. Its a text your question, get an answer kind of site, like KGB. You text in your question, a real person has it pop on their computer screen and they answer everything from "whats the twins score right now" to "why doesn't he like me?"
I make about 2 cents an answer, but some answers only take a couple of seconds to answer since I have access to the answers given to previously asked questions. Its not a bad thing to pick up if you're bored on a snowy/rainy day. I think I made about 20 bucks a week the last couple of weeks in my spare time.

As you can imagine, you get a lot of questions from teenagers. It is the questions from that age that make me laugh/concerned the most. I have seen 2 trends from the questions I get, and I thought I'd share.

1. Lock up your meds parents! Don't laugh at the PSA's about kids stealing pills from grandma. I can always count on a few questions during the time period between school getting out and parents getting home from work asking what Pill has "X" number on the side, is "X" color and can you get high from it?

2. Technology is hamstringing education. I get a lot of requests to summarize a chapter in the Great Gatsby or asked other questions that seem oddly close to questions I was asked in tests in middle/high school. If we wanted the answers to these questions we'd have to do them the old fashion way....buy the cliff notes.

3. I know I said only 3, but 80% of the questions with the word "does" in it, is spelled "dose". We can't even spell fowr letter words right.

Overall its been fun answering questions at ChaCha.com. You log on when you want, answer for as long as you want, and learn along the way. Did you know NCAA Basketball broadcaster Clark Kellogg is 6'7"? I didn't know either until someone asked me. Trying to remember the name of Kevin Garnett's High School? Want to know what movies and the times they're playing in Sioux falls, SD? Need a Chuck Norris Joke to lighten your day? Text it to 242242. Unlike KGB(.99 per question), Its free! Who knows, I might even be the one answering it!

The Ben Identity

I got a phone call on Tuesday night from my dad. He was calling to relay a message from someone identifying himself as a welfare fraud investigator from Olmstead county (Rochester).

With my mind racing on what it could possibly be about, i called the number he had left. He said they were looking for me in Blue Earth County (Mankato) but they thought I had moved back home with my parents. He said that he had to serve me papers to appear in court in May, but didn't elaborate. He said he'd refer my paperwork back to his partner in Blue Earth County and I should hear back from him next week.
NEXT WEEK?
I got a random phone call out of the blue, saying i needed to appear in court for an ungiven reason. But I won't find out WHY until NEXT WEEK?
What was this about? Was my identity stolen? Did they get the wrong Ben Nelson? Helpless, I had to sit and wait......
Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep wondering what it could possibly be.
The next day I called the guy that I had talked to the day before to see if he would elaborate on what the summons was about. He was just as uninformative as the day prior.

Putting pieces together, I made the assumption that I was being summoned by Blue Earth County. So I called the Blue Earth County Attorneys office to see if I could get to the bottom of this. They said that they did have a affidavit for me to sign about a court case in which I was listed as a victim of a Mr Gleason. Talking with Lisa, the person assigned to the case, she asked me to send her pictures of the scars on my face. She also said the court date was in May, as referenced by the process server that I had talked to on Tuesday. But she said the Ben they were looking for was in California.
They obviously had the wrong guy. However, Lisa said that they had not sent out a summons for this case, so no one should have been looking for me. She also said that they don't use private investigators, so the person looking for me, wasn't from this case.

So I was back to square 1 with even more questions than answers. I decided to follow up with the Blue Earth County Sheriffs office to whom Lisa said was holding the affidavit for me (well the other Ben Nelson) to sign. According to the Sheriffs office, they had nothing for a Ben Nelson to sign and there was no summons for a Ben Nelson, directly contradicting the County Attorneys office.

Frustrated, I gave up and just decided to wait until next week, and be served the papers from the Blue Earth private investigator.

Before coming into work this evening, i received a phone call from the local process server that I wasn't expecting until next week. He wanted to meet me and give me paperwork for the exact case I talked with the Blue Earth County Attorneys office about. He was looking for a Benjamin Joesph Nelson born 2 years after me.

One kicker is that about 2 years ago I hired a Benjamin Joseph Nelson at FedEx that was 2 years younger than me. So not only was i mistaken for him, but our paths had crossed before.

Even though its been sorted out and I know I have nothing to worry about, I still have a ton of questions. Like how did the system fail so bad that talking to 3 different parties about the same case, none could come to a consensus. Why did someone contact my parents, Identifying himself as an Olmsted County Welfare Fraud investigator?

As frustrated as I am, I can't help but laugh when im reminded of Allen's line in The Hangover "Classic Mixup"

How close is too close?

Last night, for the second home game in a row, the Minnesota State Men's Basketball team lost a game in the closing seconds. For a team that has mostly dominated their NSIC competition, MSU has yet to show that they can hit that cold blooded shot as time expires, or make the big defensive stop when it counts.

The average margin of victory for MSU this season has been in the neighborhood of 20 points. But the last couple of home losses in close games is a concern as they enter the NCAA tournament next week.

Sunday the Mavericks will find out if they will host the regional tournament, or will hit the road in their pursuit of an NCAA DII Title. With other regional front runners Mesa State and Augustana also getting knocked out of the first round of their conference tournaments, my money is on MSU still hosting despite the loss.

Netflix...those Inglorious Bastards

On December 15th the movie inglorious bastards was released to DVD. A few days earlier, I had it in my Netflix queue. When it release its expected availability was "Very long wait" which according to nextflix "30 days, usually less". Two months later, its status "very long wait".

I'm typically a big fan of Netflix. I even bought a blue ray player with internet availability to stream movies directly to my TV. Recently I've streamed 5 seasons of the TV show lost.

But right now, it seems my best case senerio to see a good new release is 3 months or a quarter of a year AFTER it was released to DVD and they know it. When you click on "new releases" all of the A-list movies aren't even listed. They instead steer you towards the B-list releases as if they are what you were really looking for.

Other new releases that are in my queue yet not available That weren't even blockbusters:

And reminder, Very long wait = about a month.

Couples Retreat - Released Feb 9 - Very long wait

ZombieLand - Released Feb 2 - Very long wait

Paranormal Activity - Release Dec 29 - Very long wait

I can only imagine the wait for "Up in the air", the next movie i really want to see.

Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I continue to see prices of media access (cable, internet, netflix) going up, without quality and availability moving along with it.

Delivering the shopper vs littering

Here is the deal..... pardon the pun.

As i stepped out of my front door this morning, only to trip over a shopper wrapped in one of those weather condoms. I walked further down my front step to see another one in the snow in my yard.

I take partial blame, I don't always pick them up on my walk into the house, and throw them away. But then again, why should I have to? I did not ask for this role of ads to be thrown on my front lawn. In my whole time in mankato, i have never read one.

I can't just start throwing things on peoples lawns without getting ticketed for littering. So why can they? Can I gather up all the ones thrown in my yard, and throw them in the yard of the guy delivering them? Can he get mad or should he just be grateful for all the money I just saved him?

I hope you can reference this rant when you hear on the news "Man trips and dies, reason is classified"

No news is Good news.

Stepping away from Sports, Sports, Sports, Sports for a second to take a brief look at the rest of the news.

Its True.

Ignorance is bliss.

Over the past couple of years, I've tuned out of the news.

Not that I don't care about being informed, I just don't want to be mis-informed. It is almost impossible to read or view a news story that doesn't have some sort of political slant to it.

CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Telemundo, they all inject a political view into even non-political stories. Each network also parades out their best pundits to either rial up the opposing political view, or stroke the egos of those who agree.

This has turned any kind of rational political discussion into a vomit-fest. Each side regurgitating the same talking points they heard on their respective network the night before.

So I confide in sports. Why? Because it doesn't really matter.

Subtraction by Addition?

Rumors continue to swirl about a Mauer deal in the works, with both sides inching ever closer to a long term deal. WCCO's Mark Rosen, aka Joe Mauer's real father, has stated for months now that a 10 year deal is in the works. But only recently has WCCO actually gone with that as a story. The report was immediately scoffed at by ESPN's Buster Olney, and Joe Christiansen of the Star Tribune, them citing their own sources to the contrary.

Rewind to this past summer:

Rosen was among the first to actually accurately report the Favre agreement. A report that was blasted by the national media who failed to get it right, time after time, only to have Rosen proven right a short time later.

Whether a deal is done or not, the two sides have been talking.

The recent Thome signing and current Orlando Hudson speculation leads me to think the Twins are taking a Subtraction by addition approach. Subtracting the, no doubt, enormous Mauer asking price, by adding talent in other areas.

When asked if he wanted to stay at home in MN, or Win, Mauer answered with a question of his own: "Why can't we do both"

I think the Twins are wisely bringing in talent, realizing that a supporting cast, is just as important as a deep wallet when it comes to signing Mauer and securing the fan base for years to come.

And We're baaaack.

Like the Vikings Bryant Mckinnie, I stopped caring about football in the middle of last week. But unlike Mckinnie, i stopped twittering as well. The only player that i've ever heard of being kicked off a pro bowl team, Mckinnie has added insult to injury for Vikings fans.

In response to criticism for missing 4 out of the 5 pro bowl practices and not showing up for the team photo, Mckinnie tweeted: "HATERS MAKE ME STRONGER SO THANX 4 THE FAVOR! I DON'T BREAK SUCKAS"

Haters? Your first pro bowl selection, you spent all of your time partying, not showing up to practices, and then pulling out the "I'm injured" card after people finally became fed-up. People that call you out on that aren't "haters", they're just calling a douche bag a douche bag.

I can't show up one day out of the work week, and then call the HR department haters when I get fired.

I think removing the word "pro" from his Pro Bowl Selection would be accurate.

I guess I would be more upset about his representation of my favorite team if this years pro bowl setup wasn't already a joke.

This is the first year the Pro Bowl has come BEFORE the Super Bowl. Which may sound like a good idea, to keep a captive football audience in the bye week prior to the super bowl.

This leaves out the logic that the best two teams will not only have the most pro bowl selections, but will be playing the following week in the Super Bowl and won't have their selections attend. If the Vikings had made it to the Super Bowl 10 pro bowl selections would not have played.

Despite that flawed logic, the masses tuned in anyway to watch their favorite pro bowl replacement, replacement, play a half hearted football game. Unfortunately the ratings were up over years past, assuring the same format next year.

All the Negativity thats in this town Sucks! (Mankato Edition)

The Vikings are done, Timberwolves are horrible, and the Wild are treading water. If you're waiting for those three to come walking through the door with a championship you're going to get grey and old.

Rick Pitino had it right. Stop worrying about what you don't have and look at what you do have.

Minnesota State's mens basketball team is 17-1 is atop the NSIC, and is the 5th ranked DII basketball team in the country.

Coach Matt Margenthaler, now in his 8th season, has continued his tradition of putting a exciting basketball team on the floor.

Minnesota State never seems to re-build, just reload. Players like Jefferson Mason, Travis Nelson, Jermaine Davis, and Jesse Clark, may not be household names, but they bring the tempo, and excitement that fans crave without the price tag they don't.

Also don't forget MSU's Women's Basketball Team. I have only three words to describe them: Defending, National, Champions.

This weekend the Mavericks take on Bemidji State on Friday and the Univeristy of Minnesota - Duluth on Saturday with both womens games starting at 6:00pm, Men at 8:00pm.

Check out more at www.msumavericks.com

Mankato sports fans, don't stay negative about what you don't have. Go down to the Taylor Center this weekend and cheer on what you do.

Outside of Mankato: you have pockets of positivity to hold on to as well. You just need to look for it, even if its a local high school team.

You betcha Minnesota Signed Thom-Eh.

Minnesota signs another aging veteran as Jim Thome agrees to a 1 year deal.

Pieces are in place?

Well, it certainly hedges the Twins bets that Delmon Young's bat will heat up and stay consistent. The low price tag of the deal makes it a no brainer. Thome will be making less than 1/2 of Nick Punto's salary.

Thome, who provides a solid bat against right handed pitching, also relieves the Twins right handed pitching of having to face him. Thome who is 12th on the all-time home run list (564) has hit 57 of those round-trippers off of Minnesota pitching, most of any other team in his career.

Some fans are scoffing at signing another aging player at the end of their career. But most of them will admit this isn't the Rondell White's, or Brett Boone's that have played that role for the Twins in recent history. And Unlike those previous players, (White and Boone), Thome has continued to produce after the MLB's crackdown on steroids.

The Twins are obviously excited about bringing Thome to Target field at a reasonable price. They've already implemented a Thome ticket deal, for 8 bucks you get a seat, the only catch is you have to move 1 section over when Thome comes to bat.

Despite this good signing, it only leads Twins fans to ask, when are we going to get to the one that really matters? When are we going to sign Mauer? The speculation continues to be an announcement at Twins-Fest. We'll just have to wait and see if they'll roll the stone away and announce he will be siteth in the right dugout Target Field almighty after this season.

The "Mission Miami" turns to "Target: Home Field Advantage"

I had the opportunity to attend the Twins Winter Caravan last night. Aside from the Video promo, left over dome dogs, and canned questions to 'B' list Twins Players, the Caravan served a more valuable purpose. As a hope re-filling station.

Attendees, before arriving, likely pulled out and dusted off their favorite Twins clothing as they tucked their Vikings wear to the back of the closet for a 6 month hibernation. Perhaps their Favre Jerseys for good.

Conversations about football, fumbles, Favre and F-Bombs, turned to baseball, Bert, and blue skies. The hot dogs, chips and pop filled their stomaches, while talk of outdoor baseball re-filled their hopes.

Like an amusement park, we've just gotten off an up and down roller coaster, feel a little sick to our stomach, but run to get in line for the next one. I'm not sure if this 2010 Twins ride will have more ups than downs, but if the Vikings have taught us anything, its just to enjoy the ride.

Brett's career Favre from over?

Out of all the things being talked about after the Vikings loss this past Sunday:

"Why did we throw there?" "Is AP ever going to hold onto the ball? "

One thing seems constant on everyones mind. "Well Favre come back? We need him back."

No one can argue against the fact that statistically he had an amazing season.

4202 Passing yards, 33 TD's, only 7 Int's

Favre is easily the most efficient passer the Vikings have seen since Dante Culpepper had close to the same numbers (3937 Passing yards 33 TD's and 16Int's) in 2000. A season that also resulted in a NFC Championship Loss. (The infamous 41-0 loss to the NY Giants)

Aside from the stats, Brett seemed to find a locker room and offensive scheme that he connected with. Anyone that has seen the human interest pieces that ESPN or Fox did throughout the season, showed how Brett has taken players like Harvin and Rice under his wing, elevating their game higher.

Very few signs exist as to Brett's plans on 2010, they are wishy washy at best. Former Packer teammate and Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell has said that Brett has had a lot of fun this season, and that he likely made up his mind to come back months ago. Though the words "Brett" and "made up his mined" would cause most to chuckle in skepticism.

I also saw on the ESPN crawler this morning that a Favre return is "very unlikely." Then again ESPN has gotten it wrong before. (See: Ed Warder).

The only thing we can all say with confidence is.....we don't know. Despite that, I'm still looking at this next season with cautious optimism.

Playing Ketchup

This has been bothering me for some time now and now that I've started writing/ranting again, it needs to be addressed.

Why do I have to ASK for Ketchup when going through a drive through. They used to just throw a few packets in the bag. Never enough, but at least something.

They put ketchup inside the restaurant. Why? Because they obviously understand that it is the national condiment of choice for burgers and fries!

Even when you ask, they give you 2 packets wouldn't cover 4 fries. So you ask for more and you get a look like they're about to call the pit boss because you're cheating them out of precious ketchup.

Knowing this dilemma do I always remember to ask for my packets?

No! I drive away, forgetting to ask, because I'm in a hurry (hence the drive through)

I guess this is good enough reason as any to stop going to fast food places.

Trade AP?

Ok before all Vikings fans throw me off the bandwagon (too late, jumped off seconds before the loss) hear me out. Also please understand I've had this take before the season started. Its not a knee jerk reaction to Sunday.

Take a look at all the major running teams in the this year NFL. Jets, Bungles, Titans, Vikings until mid season. They can put up a winning regular season, but when stacked up to a good passing team in the playoffs, they're overmatched, even with a good defense (in the case of the Jets).

Yeah I get his stats 18 TD's and 1300 yards.

Im sure 1/2 of those TD's could have been handed to pat williams on the goal line instead and have him roll into the end zone. Doesn't mean he is a good runner. Now lets subtract the TD's and yards given up after an AP Fumble. The Numbers fail to be as impressive.

We will be short 1 hall of fame after next year (if he even comes back for a 2nd). Why not trade AP while his stock his high enough to demand a good QB?

Recent history has shown a efficient passing offense is a winning team.

Twins Water Park, No Splashing!

With my focus now set on Target Field and the Twins (in that order) I can't help but wonder why the Twins, year after year continue to NOT sign a big name free agent. The state invests tax payer $ into a building to make the Twins more revenue. They can at least make an effort to improve the product. Honestly, I challenge anyone to name a big name Free agent that they have wooed away from another team?

Perhaps they don't realize that even if the lakes are frozen, you CAN still make a big free agent splash. At least stop dicking around with Mauer and get him signed....NOW.

Give and Take

As made the walk from my office, bitter cold wind blowing snow directly into my face and eyes, I thought back on all the things I like that were taken from me this weekend.

Friday night we said goodbye to Conan O'Brien and his run on the tonight show. Recently taking a job that allows me to stay up past 6pm, I've rediscovered my love for late night TV, only to have it taken from me a couple of months later. I'm now stuck with Leno again, who I'm certain owns more cars than has written funny jokes.

Saturday. My day off from most everything. My only responsibility was to produce a basketball game later that night. I was lucky enough to not only wake up with a headache but an upset stomach. I ended up spending the rest of the day doing shots of store brand pepto and generic tylenol (hey I'm on a budget here). I did feel well enough to get to the radio station, where I got to listen to the only college basketball team I give a damn about have their undefeated streak snapped.

Sunday. The Vikings game, though exciting throughout, ended in disappointment. The conclusion of that game took away my Vikings season, Super Bowl hopes, probably Brett Favre, and a good nights sleep all at once. I ended up staying up watching a movie, a few Hero's and Lost episodes finally falling asleep around 5am.

This morning I was woken at 6am to my alarm and meandered through my daily routine. Walked to my car to warm it up, noticing the door cracked open. It happens from time to time, my seat belt gets caught in the door stopping it from closing all the way. I opened it up to see the tray to my center console tray had been removed completely and was missing, along with its contents of about 1.78 in change. Other than that, nothing else missing. Well except my sense of security that we live an a safe neighborhood.

With my eyes watering from the wind and snow, I finally made it to the building, reminded life is full of give and take. Even if what you're given is a renewed sense of pessimism.