Sunshine State

You gotta grow, you gotta learn by your mistakes
You gotta die a little everyday just to try to stay awake
When you believe there’s no mountain you can climb
And if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time (next time).
Gerry Rafferty

One week into January, forty some bowl games watched, a new football coach at Maryland, a Republican house working hard to accomplish nothing but show, no real snow on the ground, a doctor telling me my knee seems mostly healed and my normal $125 bill costing me zero to hear those words, some really good movies watched, a plane ticket purchased for Utah and hotel reservations for March Madness, and most exciting to me, next week I get to be at my parents' house in Venice Beach, Florida.

So the "lazyman's" ironman triathlon we are doing is almost wrapped up. We have to finish by Monday and happy to report one of us is done and the other two will finish easily. I have 3 miles left to get done on the treadmill. I finished my 2.5 miles of swimming this week. I have a new friend at my gym, the exercise bike. I love it and have been spending more and more time on it. As of today I have done 190+ miles on the bike, and topped out Thursday doing 42 miles. 23.3 miles in 82 minutes and 18.7 miles in 61 minutes. My hamstrings hurt but mot as much as my butt. But truthfully it is a really good pain because it comes from pushing myself further than I ever imagined. This challenge has been really rewarding. I never imagined I would be writing I rode a bike for 42 miles. Thanks to my fellow competitors for inspiring me to keep moving.

I have seen some really good movies recently. I really liked True Grit. I loved The Fighter. And I thought I would hate The Black Swan but I didn't. True Grit is really well done and all 3 leads in the movie do a wonderful job. I was certain that it would be my favorite movie of the year, then I saw The Fighter. It's the best boxing movie I have ever seen. Christian Bale, who plays the brother to Mark Wahlberg's lead, gives the most amazing performance I have seen in a long time. You can pencil his best supporting actor Oscar in right now. And while I hate movies that mix reality with dreams and hallucinations (Inception), I thought The Black Swan did a manageable job of making it work. Go see all of them. My next movie trip is to see The King's Speech and I am really excited for it too.

The NFL playoffs start this weekend and that means only one thing....4 weeks 'til the return of the annual Super Bowl Party, which took a one year hiatus last year due to my Utah/CNBC adventure. And even though there has been a request to pare the guest list by the hostess, if you're going to be in Madison on February 6th, I will make sure you get in :)

I leave Tuesday flying into Tampa. Get to see my old college roommate that night and spend the following afternoon at Tampa Bay Downs watching real live horses run around in circles. I will be in Venice that night at my parents, whom I haven't seen in a year. Very excited. Plus my aunt is flying in and my uncle is driving in, my middle brother is driving in and Jacky is joining us on the weekend. It usually takes a funeral or wedding to get this many of together at one time. Happy that I get to see all family members.

Took today's blog song from the very talented but extremely troubled Gerry Rafferty. Best known for Baker Street, Right Down the Line, and Stuck in the Middle with You, he sadly passed away this week at the age of 63... Big game Monday night, in fact the only NCAA game played in the last month that really means anything. Shame on the BCS, Shame on the NCAA, and Shame on the Big Schools that a playoff still doesn't exist. But I got to root and one team has a QB who shouldn't be playing because his dad thought auctioning his son to the highest bidder was ok. The other wore 12 different uniforms this year. It helps the old budget when Nike writes your university a blank check. So give me the ever changing green and gold and black and white and silver of Oregon. Go Ducks!!! Peace, Love, and Sunshine, Jim