What I'm Thankful For

I was reading an article today about investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway fame. In this Thanksgiving season, I'm really thankful that I've not lost near as much money in the stock market as he has. Believe it or not, Buffett has lost 13.6 BILLION dollars this year! If I'd lost that much, I'd be owing somebody about 13.599999999 billion dollars.

I'm pretty sure he's not downsizing his turkey for tomorrow - he's still worth $48.1 billion.

Being a big fan of the Oracle of Omaha, I've noticed that he's been buying stocks for the last few weeks so he must think a turnaround in the stock market must be in sight. Of course the Dow, NASDAQ and the S&P are all down nearly 50% for the year. Think about it for a second: If you went to the supermarket and everything was 50% off, wouldn't you be stocking up, too?

Now to what I'm really thankful for: A great family. Outstanding friends. Lessons learned from my parents about the value of hard work. Enjoying coming to work. Knowing that my kids are going to be tremendous adults. The ability to help others in need. Good health.

The list could go on and on. I've truly had a blessed life.

For Men Only

I noticed on the MSN homepage today that there was a link to an article about 100 Things Every Man Should Know How To Do. Thinking I'm pretty handy around the house and growing up with a dad who could fix anything and a mother who cooked, sewed and generally ran a tight house, I figured I'd surely ace this thing. I only know how to do 77 of them.

Here's the link to the story.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/bigger-picture/articlepm.aspx?cp-documentid=11258170&GT1=32001

Let me know how many of them you're able to do. By the way, I was disappointed that "filet a fish" was not on the list!

My Brush with Greatness

I had written about my daughter's chance meeting with Paula Abdul. Honestly, I was a bit jealous because I never meet anyone famous or even semi-famous. Okay, there was the one night I saw Peyton Manning in the men's restroom at the Murat Theater in downtown Indianapolis but looking at a guy while standing at the urinal is generally frowned upon so we just won't mention it.

Anyway, every once in a while I work concessions at a Colts, Pacers or Indianapolis Indians game to raise money for my daughter's dance. It's not a bad deal - sell a little food, a little beer and collect money to help pay for her costumes and lessons. This past Saturday night we were prepping the stand and food when a tall older gentleman walked up to the counter and asked if we had any coffee ready yet. I got him a cup, he paid me and as he walked away, nearly everyone in the stand yelled "Boom Baby!". It was Bobby "Slick" Leonard - former coach of the Pacers in the ABA days and current color man on the Pacers radio broadcasts.

Charlie's Angels

Since my oldest son, Kyle, has been singing a capella music for the past few years, I've become a big fan. A few of Kyle's friends graduated last year and moved on to Ball State University. They've now formed an a capella group there, Charlie's Angels.

The name comes from the fact that the Ball State mascot is a cardinal named............you guessed it.........Charlie. Anyway, here's a shameless plug for them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtXuhpLOxnU

Also, if anyone likes this music, check out Straight No Chaser. SNC started as an a capella group at Indiana University and the group still exists. Anyway, most of the original guys in SNC were recently signed to an Atlantic Records contract and just put out their first CD, "Holiday Spirits". Their most well-known song "12 Days of Christmas" can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Hope you enjoy it!