Belle is a Collie Mix pup.

So an unexpected turn of events earlier in the week gave a friend of mine the opportunity to take a trip to New York City, and I got the lucky task of watching the calmest pup I’ve ever met, Belle.  Although she was scared to death upon arriving at my place Friday afternoon (her first time staying somewhere else) I was able to calm her down and now shes a happy little dog trotting around the apartment.

Belle is gonna be around until Tuesday, maybe i’ll update on our adventures if anything exciting happens.

I noticed I was spending a significant amount of money on food, and we’re not talking groceries here.  My best estimate is that over the past few months I’ve spent over a quarter of my paychecks on eating out at various restaurants around town.

With the rising cost for mostly everything, I opted to work on changing my current eating habits.  Starting this pay period, I’ve resolved to give up eating out.  No restaurants and no delivery if I’m paying for it (I will not turn down an offer to go out for food of course).  I’ve made only one exception to the rule, which is the Kalamazoo Ribfest that’s going on this weekend.

We’ll see how my resolution holds in this coming week.

Tomorrow morning it begins… again.

For those of you who aren’t close friends who check on my blog, I oversee the technology operations for a NCAA Division I athletics program, and tomorrow, unfortunately is the day when fall sports start back up.  Gone are the days where half the staff are off on vacation, deadlines were negotiable, and hours were at my discretion.  Tomorrow, pre-season starts.

Now, I didn’t dig this hole persay, but i jumped down into it willingly.  This will be my third time around this block, and I know full well what to expect.  Early mornings, long nights, and coaches who want their requests done yesterday.  In this world, results are key.  Who cares if the referee made bad calls, at the end of the night it’s the score that reflects the tone.  Results are key, and results I will be expected to deliver.  Results, that I will deliver.

Now where is the significance about my pre-season jitters?  Well, first off this is the first time in three seasons that I feel jittery (and I know the main reason why - but thats another post in its own).  I guess the second and more prominent reason is that I feel these jitters have put me in a position my friends feel like I have turned my back on them.  Most of them don’t care to comprehend the pressure and responsibility that I carry during this time of year.  In this part of the game, I don’t control my moves, they are determined by the luck of the draw.  The freedoms and liberties bestowed upon me during the rest of the year comes with the price that I pay in full during these crucial weeks.  You won’t ever hear victories being the result of those who work in the background, but we know that our roles can disable opportunity if we don’t fulfill whats expected of us.

For now we’re going to take it day by day.  Im going to do everything to ensure that results are delivered, and hopefully I can reclaim the confidence that I misplaced so many months ago to help me succeed through this.

Some of you may remember last year when the FDA issued a recall of Castleberry’s Hot Dog Chili Sauce due to several individuals contracting food posioning from the sauce.  Well, the other week I was in the grocery store shopping when I found out that they had started selling the hot dog chili sauce again, much to my delight.  I myself love chili dogs, typically I have chili dogs once every other week, and I especially loved to have my hot dogs with Castleberry’s Chili sauce (I blame my dad for getting me addicted to the brand).  For the past year I’ve had to substitute Castleberry’s with Hormel, Value Time, and others, but none of them really fulfilled the expectations that Castleberry delivered.

So, Castleberry, now that your back on the market, do us a favor, and keep your equipment properly maintained, so we don’t have to go another whole year without your delicious hot dog chili sauce.

Dave Grohl, in my opinion, is the one of the most infamous and influential rock musicians of the 90s and 2000s. His contributions to numerous bands (most notably drummer of Nirvana and Founder/Lead Singer of the Foo Fighters) have shaped an entire generation of music, and this week I had an opportunity to watch his band, the Foo Fighters perform at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Now this was not my first Foo Fighters concert. In October of 2005, I watched them perform with Weezer and the Kaiser Chiefs. I had already experienced the atmosphere that Grohl’s band brings to the stage, which set expectations for this second time. Expectations, that ended up being blown away. The Foo Fighters came out playing many hits off of their entire discography, and even lowered a second stage specifically for an acoustic lineup about halfway through the performance. My favorite part during the entire performance was after they finished their acoustic set, where Grohl played most of the song solo on the guitar (the rest of the band came in to finish the song after the actual guitar solo part). Following the completion of their performance the Foo Fighters came out for a three-song encore, capping off the night with “The Best of You”.

To me, the Foo Fighters are as iconic to my generation as The Beatles are to the 1960s. Their albums and live performances are defiantly an experience that should be shared by all fans of rock.