Back in Action

My fantasy football team, the Slangwhangers, are taking the Bethel league by storm. At 3-0, they are alone atop the league standings. The CW is there will be a 3-out-of-4-peat, but I'm not taking any chances.

This week, Tom's Rubes had a chance to be saved by none other than Denver running back Mike Anderson. Go Slangwhangers!

The Spirit Lives

The first Notre Dame home football game is today versus Michigan State. There are a couple of important questions that this game will answer. Will graduated MBAs drink as much as they did a year ago (half a case each)? Will the student section wear 'The Shirt' for 2005 and not rebel against its goldish/yellow color? Can I stand on my feet all the way from my 10am tailgate to the 6:30pm game win? I will know all the answers shortly...

If you are lucky enough to have 'The Shirt' -and you know who you are- wear it with pride, and remember, "Go Irish!"

Sheraton

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. I finished my first week of work, Notre Dame destroyed Michigan, Sarah has been to New York for a business plan competition and now I'm in Minneapolis!

If you missed the ND game, it was pretty exciting. They beat Michigan, the #3 team in the country, really bad. Now they're in the top ten and I'm going to the first home game on Saturday. Go Irish!

Sarah's Licketyship team was in New York presenting their business plan for the Fortune Small Business Plan competition. It went quite well, and Sarah survived the Cincinnati airport during a fire alarm!

Finally, I'll be working in the western suburbs of MN for about 4 days a week over the next couple of weeks (or months). I've been at Sheraton by Lyndale Mall this week. There's a pool and jacuzzi, so feel free to stop by and say hi!

Running

Wow, check out Sara, the newest model for a health advertisement. After being discovered on a run around Lake Calhoun, and a 5am early-morning shoot, she will not grace the inside of some medical journals. Doesn't her running outfit match nicely? Even the shoes!

Fantasy Football

Sarah and I conquered another fantasy football draft yesterday, pulling in an impressive list of veteran players sure to put up good numbers. Will everyone quit the league if I win 3 out of the last 4 years? Go Slangwhangers!

Even a sneaky Swan couldn't steal ALL of my great picks!

Gas Prices

So Sarah's sister comes back from town and tells us New Orleans is under water and the whole town is evacuated. I didn't exactly believe it, but it turns out to be true, and of course you all know that gas prices shot up. Ever notice how the big news items always happen when you're on vacation? Last time that I couldn't check the news, there was a bombing in the area.

Rock Ranch, Indiana

Sarah took the week off and we went down to the "Rock Ranch" - 2 hours from South Bend. Sarah's hippie sister and husband live at this old quarry with small lake during the summer (in a one-room cabin with no electricity). Sarah and I camped, fished, and didn't check email for 3 days - it was great. It was a great bass lake too!

Cake

Notre Dame tries to bring in high quality entertainment once a year, and this year it was Cake. After the LicketyShip photo-op, Sarah and I headed to campus to see Cake perform. Akon (singer of Lonely) started off the show with a lot of energy and had everyone singing 'ghetto' for a chorus:

Akon: I love to live in the...
ND Students: ...Ghetto
Akon: I love to eat in the...
ND Students: ...Ghetto

Even the guy in front of me wearing a Polo with upturned collar joined in!

Cake came on later and sang a couple of songs no-one knew. It didn't get much better and they don't put on a great show. They did sing some good songs including, 'She's going the distance' but didn't have much energy. I seriously think the lead singer was heavily stoned at the time.

Fortune Small Business Magazine

LicketyShip is in the final round for this years Fortune Small Business Magazine's business plan contest (see last years winner here). Here's a pic of the proper photographer from Chicago who came in to take some action shots. If they win, they'll get the front cover of the magazine which might be a picture of a 'delivery box' in mid-air or the team wearing frog hats! Oh yeah, and $50,000.

Waterloo, Iowa

Check out what I scored on my Grandparent's 'moving to a retirement community' sale. It's croquet, the favorite sport my cousins and I used to play at Grandma & Grandpa's house in Iowa. Most everything had already been claimed from their house by family, but I found this tucked away in the attic over the garage. All the cousins are going to be mad I though of it! (Bonus: It has a sticker that says, "Made in South Bend"!)

Chicago, Illinois

Whew, it's been busy for me this last week and there have been few posts as I've been away from my computer. Sarah and I camped (and fished!) at the 'Rock Ranch' during the week and have been matress/sheets/duvet/rug/couch/table/etc. shopping the hot Labor Day sale weekends. Whew! Btw - did I mention I start work tomorrow?

LicketyShip

Big changes for Sarah over at Licketyship. This past Friday, Fortune Small Business Magazine sent a professional photographer to South Bend to take pictures for an upcoming cover story. Licketyship has made the final round of the business plan competition and will grace either the cover or be in an article of the magazine in October. This makes it 5 business plan competitions that MBAs Sarah, Justin, and Radu have won awards in, and the main way they have generated a buzz for their ideas amoung investors (both plans they worked on have gone on to receive funding).

In other news, LicketyShip will be moving its home base from South Bend to California to better pursue start-up programming talent. As the company can't financially support their current staff, Sarah will be staying in the Midwest. I hope she get a new job near me in Chicago!

Here's some clips I made from the LicketyShip office last Friday. Click on 'Problem', 'We're putting covers on all the TPS reports now', 'Apparently didn't put cover' and finally 'We should have talk'.