My company, Intermec, is one of the companies that's joining Big Brothers Big Sisters in a fundraising event at the Cedar Rapids Bowling Center. It's called Bowling for Kids' Sake and I'm the team captain for "Me, Him, & Them". I wanted to know if any of you would like to be one of my sponsors for the event. Any amount helps and it all goes to BBBS. There is a secure link for those that want to donate online. Otherwise, a check made out to Big Brothers Big Sisters would work fine. 

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPle dge.asp?ievent=257070&lis =1&kntae257070=90DE29 089C1B4A15A1F43A749A03169 9&supId=197902754

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

If you haven't heard of "The Second City", you're missing out. They are an improv comedy group that's based out of Chicago. There are other locations but I live in the Midwest so deal with it. Anyway, they came to Iowa City this past weekend and I jumped on the opportunity. I got RJ and Marvin to come along and once Monica found out, she joined in too. We started the night out with some red wine at RJ's place. There's more on that later. After a glass or two, we headed to Bob's Your Uncle for some outstanding pizza. I'm still mad that I left my to go box on the table.

We got to Englert Theater and the laughs came instantly. We timed it up perfectly. We sat down and had just enough time to browse through the program and then the lights dimmed and the show began. We had two or three intermissions and the show lasted 3 hours. It went by soooo fast. I almost cried laughing. Some of their sketches were rehearsed but the improvisation was hilarious. Some funny quotes from the show...

- "He's just the right amount of black" (about being in love with Obama)
- "Just because he buys you dinner, doesn't mean he gets to fingerblast you"
- "Hi, I'm the date rape puppet"
- "Medulla Oblongata... GET IN THE FUCKING CORNER!"

I'm sure it was funnier in person. On the way back, RJ got pulled over when we were 3 minutes from his house. The Sheriff was kind of a dick. RJ didn't have his registration in the car, he had the wrong insurance card. Out of nowhere, the sheriff said, "I smell alcohol, how much have you had to drink?" Keep in mind, this is 5 hours after we had the wine. RJ was lost. He was quick to point out that it was way earlier in the night. While this was going on, the other sheriff kept going around on the passenger side with his damn flashlight. I know they're thinking of safety first but get off my sack. And you couldn't smell any alcohol. The sheriff claimed that he could smell more alcohol than RJ was admitting. He then asked the rest of us how much we had. WTF, mate? He then took all of our drivers licenses and went to his car. He later returned and knocked the ticket down to speeding 1-5 mph over when he was 11 over. What a great way to finish the night.

Through pure luck, Andy managed to become the winner of a suite at the RoughRiders game on Friday night. I guess the person who won decided to cancel so the radio station called Andy and he jumped on it. We started the night off with free food at Buffalo Wild Wings. The party that cancelled decided to show up. The dude's mom came over and was touching the bag of Budweiser goodies that Andy won. Yes lady... the name on the bag isn't your son. Step off. I guess they contacted the radio station and talked to the manager at B.W.W. and got something worked out.

When it was time to go, our group and the other group jumped in the Hummer limo and made our way to the CR Ice Arena. They had all these glasses and no booze in there. Cheap bastards. So we talked it up on the way there and the other group was stone silent. It was kinda funny. I sat next to the dude's mom and made some small talk. She didn't have a ring on so I figured I'd give her a little attention. She looked like she needed to get some.

The game was cool. The RoughRiders played like crap and ended up losing. I ran into a couple of guys that I played hockey with this summer. I chilled in their suite for a little while and then headed back during the 2nd intermission. There's something about a fridge full of beer that really keeps you coming back. I forgot to mention the egg rolls. Those things were money. Me and this one guy were eating them like they were our last meal of the year. This one chick from the other group was in there doing journalism homework. Talk about antisocial. They should've been kicked out for being lame. All in all, it was a good time.

Since graduating from college, my only planned trips back home to CA have been around Christmas time. This year was no different. I was home from Dec 20th til Dec 29th. It went by so fast. It started off a little bumpy. The TSA employees took forever to get our luggage on the plane so our departure was delayed 45 minutes. That turned out to be just long enough for me to miss my connecting flight in Denver. So I had to catch the next flight which was almost a 3 hour wait. I filled time by watching some episodes from the first season of The Boondocks. And then came the proposition.

Some guy kept looking at me and he looked familiar. I thought he was a football referee from our conference so I asked him and he took it as his chance to strike up a conversation. It wasn't the referee by the way. He moved closer by one seat and we began chatting away. Eventually, I asked if he had kids and he responded with, "No. I'm gay." I'm not a homophobe so we kept talking. I think he was fishing to see if I had any interest. He threw some flattering comments my way. One unforgettable quote was, "... a cute guy like you with a smile like that... how do you stay single?" This guy was a very wealthy, older guy. After I watched his luggage while he used the restroom, some kid took his seat. So when he returned, he grabbed his stuff and came over and asked if I'd like him to fly me out to New York for a trip some time. I politely declined.

The rest of my trip was clubbing with family and friends, Monday Night Football game to watch the Chargers and Broncos, Holiday Bowl to watch Texas and ASU, hanging out with friends & family, and of course eating all the tasty food that adds some junk to that trunk. I miss the real Mexican food. I got a new video camera. Hopefully someone does something stupid so I can catch it and post it on YouTube.