Superbowl Sunday – Fabulous For New Orleans Saints

February 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I loved today’s Superbowl Sunday. It was a fabulous day for the New Orleans Saints, for the City of New Orleans, and for the fans of the New Orleans Saints. Now it is true that everyone who knows me know me as a staunch Pittsburgh Steelers fan, but today I rooted for the Saints. I have had a soft spot in my heart for the Saints since I lived in New Orleans back in the mid 1990′s.

It is nice to see the New Orleans Saints get their first Superbowl ring. As the Steelers who have 6 Superbowl rings know so fondly, the Saints can savor being the NFL World Champions for the next year.

Congrats Drew Brees and the rest of the Saints for a great season. Sorry to the Colts fans – the game really did come down to the deciding factor in so many Superbowl games – that of who made the mistake and who didn’t. Payton Manning probably had his best career of playing this year – especially in playing under pressure, but in this game he threw one errant pass and it will most likely haunt him for a long time to come. Too bad the critics will haunt him too. Congrats to Payton too for having an awesome year.

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An Update: The Shoes Fit Great And I Played In Them Last Night

January 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I wore my shoes with pride last night as I stepped out onto the chilly Chandler Tennis Center courts. I think if was around 52 when I finally zipped up my tennis bag on my way out after three hours of tennis.

I hadn’t played in a few weeks because of all the rain we got (yes it rains in the desert for those people who want to know). Nor have I played much since before Christmas. But, it seems as though the schedule will be getting back to pretty regular again (yes I’m pretty regular too) with 3 days a week.

As for the shoes – they fit great, and they are still a work in progress. The guys like em!

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Daddy's New K-Swiss Tennis Shoes – A Raelin Art Project

January 19, 2010 By 3 Comments

Raelin Starting To Color Daddy's ShoesI thought I had given up the deep seeded human need to look good, but apparently my wife, Diane, hit a nerve earlier today when she commented on the fact that my new tennis shoes actually make me look like I was wearing some pair of geriatric grandpa shoe. No offense to you grandpas, but I trust you all know what I mean and will not be offended by this assessment of my shoes. See the picture to the above.

Now, when Diane expressed her loving assessment of my shoes it dawned on me that I have a budding artist who loves to color and draw (still outside the lines at this age). I decided that I would let Raelin have a go at my shoes. What the heck I thought – I can only go up from here. And, they were only $40 shoes (on sale of course down from $70 or something like that) that I will wear out and throw away probably in the next 6 months provided I stay healthy and keep playing tennis.

So, Raelin and I sat down to start working on daddy’s shoes (see the action shot). We colored on my shoes for about 15 minutes until something else captured Raelin’s attention. I don’t think we’re done with this fun project, but for today we are. Here is a picture of the product in progress.

Diane’s assessment of these shoes has been modified to something like: “your shoes now look like they are a child’s art project.” Phew I said, I can now wear these with pride as I go about my tennis practices and matches here in sunny Chandler AZ. No more grandpa shoes for me. And, I hope this can provide some inspiration for those of you who have kids and want to spruce up an old pair of shoes. I’m sure Raelin will love to see daddy wear them. (I hadn’t worn them as of when Raelin went to bed – we wanted to make sure they were dry).

Oh, we just used the basic dry erase marker – the warnings on the back suggest to not use on porous material. My assumption about all that was that it was because they would not be so erasable. And they aren’t. Enjoy.

Shoes in Progress

Semi Finished Shoes

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WordPress Training Class at GIOS ASU

January 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We delivered our first WordPress training class for non real estate agents today at the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University today. The class was great and we learned a lot about what to do the next time. Thanks to all who attended for your valuable feedback.

For more information about more WordPress Training Classes in Phoenix AZ contact ExcelnetMedia.com or me!

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Service Techniques Car Garage In Chandler AZ – 480-961-1483

January 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Service Techniques of Chandler AZ – owner’s name is Kevin – is a great place to get your car worked on and taken care of. My experience with dealerships and many car places is that they can pretty much charge what they want for the services they provide because mostly they deliver a service that is highly essential to our daily existence with little choices for competition.

Kevin, and his crew, do an awesome job of working on our cars and do an even better job of charging a fair price and telling it like it is. If you don’t need something done on your car, they don’t do it. If they can’t do something they tell you that. They are also great at explaining what’s wrong – what’s needed to fix it – and what options you may have to get it fixed. When they explain the options they always throw in other places to get the work done so that you have some choice in the matter. I have done the pricing and Kevin’s quotes are always the best and his quotes of his competitors are always right on.

The service is great, although when you walk into Service Techniques you will not be greeted with doughnuts and Starbucks coffee. What you get is a artful display of old blown parts from previous customers that Kevin has on proud display. These items serve several functions that I know of – one to show how some people don’t really take care of their cars. And the other is so that Kevin can point out what something will look like or does look like if the display item relates to your car.

Kevin gets his business from word of mouth – so here is my attempt to spread the word about Service Techniques – If you want a great mechanic and want someone to watch out for you and your car call Kevin: 480-961-1483.

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Well – I Guess I Will Root For The Saints and the Colts

January 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

After a long season that started out with me going to Heinz field for the first pre season game against the Cardinals and ending with a win against the Miami Dolphins (sorry Mark Thompson if you are out there) I’ll be rooting for the Saints and the Colts to reach the Superbowl.

The Saints have my eye because of the several years I spent there in the mid 1990′s getting my master’s degree and the Colts due to my friend Danny Geduldig.

It was a very weird season to say the least – The Titans started out 0-6 and them made a season of it, only to fall a little short at the end. The Broncos started strong but fell apart after the Steelers beat them. Oh yeah – the Steelers – ahem – lost to Chicago, KC, Oakland, and at the time the lowly Cleveland Brownies – but beat the undefeated Broncos and Vikings. The Steelers just didn’t have the knockout punch that they have had to keep opponents out of the endzone in the fourth quarter like they have in years past. So we go on to next year.

We’ll see what it brings in training camp this year. Hopefully, Tomlin will step it up this year and get the guys playing with their hearts instead of their egos.

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Oh To Be Playing Tennis Again – A Short Holiday Break and Now Back To 3.5 USTA

January 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Went out and played tennis today again after two weeks off. Body needed the rest, now the body needs to play to work off all the extra calories I ate over the holidays. My serve was on and so were the rest of my shots.

I’m going to make a big push this year to play “Zen” tennis as my doubles partner Doug calls it. “Zen” tennis is playing tennis without getting mad. I don’t get paid to play tennis – I’m playing tennis because I can – because my body still allows me to. I do love the game. There is nothing better than hitting a winner, or a good serve for an ace.

Well, hitting a good spike in volleyball is pretty good, but haven’t done that in a long time and am not sure if I’ll ever hit them again as my knees don’t like me playing anymore. Oh well, getting older has it’s perks. Soon, well sooner than it used to be – I’ll be in the masters league age where I don’t have to move much and I just hit great shots back from all the balls that are hit right at me. I have always been amazed at playing volleyball and tennis against players older than me who move a lot slower than me that hit amazing shots but don’t chase too many balls down. Always been a head scratcher to me. Once I hit 60 in 14 years I’ll be able to hit those shots then.

For now, I’m left with chasing balls down and over hitting the easy ones and wondering when I’ll make the transition to being to always hit a lob on demand.

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Happy New Year 2010 – Prosperity and Abundance For All!

January 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hey Everyone,

Happy New Year 2010. It feels good going heading into this year. Family stuff is going well, although my mom’s health is not on the top of its game. I’m loving working on the Internet with business owners and their websites as well as maintaining the our own sites. Diane and I are excited about our future together and we continue to choose each other daily. I’m looking forward to working off the holiday gains on the  tennis court and Diane is looking forward to working on hers through yoga.

As for Raelin, what can I say – I hear so many parents comment about her age – 2.5 years old – “oh that is such a great age!” And for us it is true. We are loving every minute with our little girl. Right now she is saying something like: “It’s too noisy in here, I gotta turn up the heat.”  And then she proceeds to some imaginary wall heater adjustment and makes a sshhing noise as she turns up the heat. I have taught her to make the “sshhing” noise with just about every pretend thing she does. Very cute.

So we’re doing well, our Christmas and New Years were great. Hope yours was too. Catch up with you soon. Love to all. Dale and Diane and Raelin.

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