Scent Makes No Sense

I like candles.  I’m not sure what I like more, the tiny little flame or the aroma it puts off.  It may be a tie.  I don’t know if my smeller is off a bit or I just smell things differently.  I like carmel candles.  People in the office refer to the carmel candles as pancake candles.  They say that the scent is like syrup?  Don’t get it.

We went to Bed Bath & Beyond about a week ago.  I saw all of these candles out that were like the NEW fall scents.  I opened one that was labeled Cupcake.  Hailey smelled this and closed her eyes and moaned, “hmmmmmmmmmm.”  We smelled some others and before long she was back holding the Cupcake candle.  We had to pull her away.

Some just don’t make much sense to me.  Here’s a new one, Be Thankful.  ”Appreciate nature’s goodness in the warm, inviting aromas of a Thanksgiving kitchen.  Moonlight Harvest: hints of pumpkin and spice from the kitchen window float on the cool breeze of an autumn night.

Maybe the scents smell good but who needed to prove themselves as a writer to write descriptions for candle scents?  Who am I kidding, I would soooo do that!

Fresh Cup Vol. 3

What a great weekend. My good friend Chris Fleniken came for a visit.  We played some Beatles Rock Band and watched some comedy shows.  Chris and I went to the Aggie game and had a blast.

Chasity and the girls went to our niece’s birthday party in Houston.  They had so much fun.  It’s been great being closer to family so we can be a part of family events.

It was great to find ourselves doing what makes us happy. Chasity had time to read the first two Twilight books.  Now that she’s done with school she’s free to do what she enjoys a little more.  Hailey was busy working on projects that included glue, scissors, markers, and paper.  Macey played and slept in her princess tent.  I got to watch football.

I think one of the things that made it so great was knowing that everyone was so happy doing what they liked best!

Red Ring of Death

This is not the title of a low budget film using PBS actors and the special effects crew from Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames. When I heard about the Red Ring of Death I can’t say I believed it to be true, but I do remember pausing and briefly contemplating how bad it would be if it was.

Xbox 360 owners know the Red Ring of Death as a broken, good for nothing gaming platform.  If your system gets this, forget searching YouTube for a fix and simply open your trashcan lid.  I was playing Halo 27 (not true, it was halo 3) when all of a sudden the system shut off.  This isn’t uncommon.  In fact for a video gaming generation kid this was not the big of a deal at all.

With Nintendo games you just took them out of the system and blew dust out of the open end of the cartridge.  I’m not sure if you were blowing dust out as much as you were blowing spit in but regardless it did the trick.  Anyone have to use the slide and scrap method?  Some halted frozen game screens required inserting the game in ever so slowly with a slide and scrap down the console as it was being inserted.

No big deal.  I’ll just turn the 360 off and eject the game and put it back in.  When I pushed the power button to turn the system back on the lights around the power button turned red instead of green!  Red Ring of Death.  I couldn’t believe it.  I just turned it off again and then turned the tv off and quietly went to bed.  There was nothing I could do.

I was devastated and turned the system on at least three times a week just to make sure.  I decided to google for help.  I was directed to several options to try.  The towel trick and the eraser trick.  The towel trick required a towel.  The eraser trick required cutting a piece of plastic into a home made key set and a torx 10 driver.  Which one did I try?  One that required a trip to Sears to buy a torx 10 driver of course.

Guess what?  IT WORKED! For two hours.  Red ring came back and I went to bed.  I decided to take the 360 apart one more time just to make sure the erasers had held strong and partly because I just felt like taking the thing apart one more time.  Same song, second verse.

I then tried the towel trick which resulted in no change from red ring to green ring.  So the next step, open the trashcan lid and place unit inside.  The following technique did work however and I haven’t had any problems since.  I went to Best Buy and bought a brand new 360.  I already had a ton of games for the unit so I couldn’t see buying a PS3 or something different.  I did get the warranty this time!

According to GAMEINFORMER, Microsoft is setting aside $1 billion to deal with the situation.  Quite a commitment to a problem that has already exceeded that billion dollar mark with no signs of stopping.  Ouch.

You’re Not Paying Attention

I feel sorry for people who have to watch commercials anymore.  I don’t hate commercials, I just hate when commercials get in the way of watching my tv shows.  I would probably even watch a 20 minute show of commercials. It would have to be twenty minutes long because you can’t cut to a commercial in between a show of commercials.

With a DVR you should be able to sit down and enjoy pure tv minus the ads.  Once I’ve seen a commercial I’m able to tune it out.  Unless of course I like it and then I’m tuned in of course.  Directv must know I apply this trick while watching live tv.  When they are promoting a fight or some new package they want you to know about, they sabatoge your tv’s volume control.

I can move my eyes from the tv to my laptop or focus on something else while barely listening for the cue that my show is back from commercial.  Not possible when Directv wants to grab my attention.  All of a sudden it’s like someone held down the volume up button on the remote as I’m startled out of a mild chill position.  I’m jumping up trying to find the remote to turn the volume down.  Gosh.  What’s next?  The black box they use for censuring to cover up the entire screen with a Directv ad covering up my show?

Fresh Cup Vol. 2

The cup of the week was a Christmas gift from a good friend of mine Cody Holtz.  He got me a coffee gift set from Starbucks that had the coffee mug and the Christmas blends for my enjoyment.

This fresh cup of coffee found me in between clicks checking my fantasy football teams.  I already knew that with a solid game from Peyton Manning on Monday night that my three league teams would go 2-1 for the week.

I wanted to see how my salary cap on Fanball team did on Sunday.  These two teams were 17 and 18 after week one and I was hoping for a climb of 5 or 6 spots.  I would have been ecstatic to see 10 next to my teams name. I was floored to see the number 2 beside Show Me Squid!

I was telling Chasity the results while pumping my fist in the air celebrating a “I’m the man” moment.  To climb from 18 to 2 was amazing.  If I finish first in that league of 25 I get $100.  Chasity commented, “That’s it?”.  She knew the big prize was a bit larger.  I told her that if you finish number 1 overall among all 3,000 people you get $5,000! I looked at my overall record to see 51.  Woo hoo!

There’s also a weekly prize winner for the person who scores the most points among all 3,000 teams for the week.  Hmm.  I wonder where I sit on that list.  I must be pretty high to climb from 18 to 2 in my league. I was ONE!  Show Me Squid team Glyndon Greer owner number 1!!

Before I know it I’m engaged in a two handed fist pump in the air.  I enjoyed my success for a moment and quickly thought about what I would spend the $100 bucks on.  I realized that I didn’t have any other players going on Monday night but my competitors (the guys below me!) could have someone from the Colts or Dolphins still to play.

Team six has Reggie Wayne a WR for the Colts.  My number one ranking will fall tonight at around 8:15 CST.  By then Wayne will have a touchdown or two and a few yards to accumulate enough points to climb from 6 to 1.

Oh well.  It was fun while it lasted.  So tonight I’m going to watch the game. . . .wait, the game just kicked.  I’m going to pray for a stomach virus to hit #87 right now.  Maybe even a turf tackle that claimed Wayne’s counterpart Gonzalez in week 1.  As I type Manning hit Clark for a TD.  I will pray the Colts are up so big that they take their starters out after the first quarter with Wayne strangely exiting the game with zero catches!

**never mind.  Dallas Clark blew up and guys further behind the Wayne owner passed me and the other guys below me.  I finished 10th overall for the week but it was still fun!

Shoe Shocked

I haven’t had a new pair of shoes that I wear on a day to day basis since 2005.  I got the new Air Jordan’s but those aren’t a day to day shoe for me anymore.  I started running a bit (don’t get all crazy, it’s not a big deal.  i can run a mile on any given day but i’m still fat).  One pair of my old shoes gave me a blister on my heal and the one pair hurt my big toe on my right foot.  We were told not to go out and buy the most expensive Nike shoe and start running.  We were sent to Road Runner Sports to get some help from Shoe Dog.

You enter in some information and they find a shoe that fits the way you run and the arch of your foot.  This was very helpful.  I looked at the two pair of shoes that I wear regularly and noticed that both of my left shoes have worn down on the right side of the shoe at the heel.  It was really strange.  How in the world does that happen?

I know I have a high arch.  If you look at a pair of my sandles then you will see the outline of my toes, top part of foot, and my heel.  What connects these outlines to make up my foot?  A straight line. One thing is sure from this brief expiriment, I have a new conversation piece.  If I’m bored I can ask people if they have a high arch or ask them to take off their shoes and see if it’s worn down anywhere inside their shoe.  Heck, if there’s food at the boring event I might grab an extra piece of bread and have them step on it to compare arches.

Fact or Fiction Vol. 2

Fact or Fiction is a little way for me to give you quick updates on what I’ve been up to without, telling you what I’ve been up to.  Click on your answer and find out if you are right.  Scroll down to read more about the topic but let’s not cheat.

1. We got a brand new TV! Fact or Fiction

2. Macey will be my football watching buddy. Fact or Fiction

3. The past month I have spent more time playing Wii than Xbox 360.  Fact or Fiction

You can read below the reason behind the correct answer.  Don’t scroll down and read first!!

1. I wish. We bought a projection tv that was HD ready in 2004.  It’s a bigger picture than we would have gotten had we gone with a flat screen.  We are happy with it because it’s got a great size to the picture.  It’s also HD.  We can watch all our favorite channels in HD so we are happy.  Happy until, cobwebs showed up in the nice big size screen.  Now we hate it.  From the top left side all the way to the bottom at an angle is a line.  There are other lines that grace the screen like cracks on a busted sidewalk.

When we moved and I was looking at the back and I thought I would give cleaning it a try.  I took the back off and cleaned out the cobwebs.  I also noticed the dust on the three lens that projects the picture.  I cleaned off the dust that was pretty thick.

Let me tell you, it’s like we have a brand new tv!!  The screen is incredibly bright and there are no dark lines running into the picture.

2. There is still time for this to change but right now it looks like Hailey will be the football watching buddy for Dad.  Two weeks ago we took the girls to their first game.  Both of them had fun and really seemed to enjoy their experience.  Hailey watched a little closer.  Hailey joined me in yelling while the Ags were on defense.  She even commented on a punt return.  She said, “He did good Dad.  Number 2-2 ran with the ball.”

She followed that up with a great week 1 of NFL.  She remembered the teams playing on tv and called them by name and then asked where the Eagles were.

3. When the Wii came out I have to be honest and let you know I mocked it.  I talked about having Mario as a spokesman.  At this point I guess having a working Wii would be better than the red ring of death.  What good is having Master Chief of Halo as a spokesman if the system doesn’t turn on.

As a family we have thoroughly enjoyed the Wii.  Chad and Teresa brought the new Sports Resort over one night.  Awesome!  Well, besides playing nine holes of frisbee golf.  I struggled quit a bit and it seemed to take forever.

We got the game and have played it for everyone who has come to visit so far.  09.09.09.  Anything big happen for you on this cool date?  For the Greer family something big happened.  Beatles Rock Band was released.

The girls always loved playing it any chance they got.  Chasity waited for an 11 year old boy to get off the drums so she could take a turn.  He got off and finally walked away.  She tried to start a game and couldn’t get a song to come up.  The boy made another appearance offering to help get it started.  The problem, when he got it going he didn’t pass her the sticks!  The kid kept playing.

We haven’t played Guitar Hero or Rock Band but now we own The Beatles Rock Band and have fun jamming as a family.  Chasity is our guitarist, Hailey, Macey, and I play the drums, and Hailey and I do the vocals.  It’s so much fun.  I’ve spent more time playing Wii than playing Xbox 360 which never happens especially during football season.

5 Teams, 1 Goal

This is no passing fad.  This is no attempt to try something new and fail to commit.  This is no joke.  This isn’t a brand new journal eagerly awaiting ink.  This isn’t a bass guitar that I’m going to teach myself to play.  This isn’t a Wii Fit board that hasn’t seen the outside of it’s box since our move from San Diego.  This is a celebrated love that may be an addiction.  This is Fantasy Football.

You pick NFL players that play on the 32 teams that make up the top professional sport.  When the players play you get points for the stats they accumulate on the field.  If a player runs for a touchdown you get six points and so on.  You manage your team throughout the week.  You can trade players and even drop the less effective or injured players for the up and coming guys or ones riding hot streaks.

The first year I played Fantasy Football was 1995.  I was a freshman at SAGU.  I made it to the championship game (you don’t have to ask if i won, if i had won i would have said that i won the championship instead of mentioning my team played in the big game).  I’ve played ever since.  I talked some old friends into playing and we formed SERG (Seth, Eric, Rabi, and Glyndon).  We added Mark and JC a few years later and this year we have 8 teams.

When I was on staff at Victory in San Antonio another staff member (Ross) was addicted, I mean enjoyed playing as well.  I played in the VFFL league for four seasons.  The game grabbed another victim through the process and Charles is playing in multiple leagues now too.  When we left one San for another we started another league “Playing for Keeps” with some friends there and Ross who is now in Arizona.

Upon arriving in the new San I joined a league with Josh, Jimmy, Chad, Judd, Brady, and Mark.  This is the Dixon Insultation league.  Not a typo.  It was a typo, but now it’s the name of the league.  Dixon Insulation had t-shirts made and were insulted that they read Dixon Insultation.

A family member who has been very successful in the fantasy variety mainly in baseball got my hooked on salary cap leagues.  I also remember Michael telling me to grab as many Bears players as I could.  Let’s just say their defense had a good year but that’s about it.  So now I manage two teams in that competition that has around 3,000 guys.  Teams are broken down into leagues of 25.

My friend Taylor even joined his first league this year and it was clear during week one another person has been claimed as a fantasy football fanatic.

One of my favorite parts of fantasy football aside from the research, watching the games, reading the magazines, talking strategy, and making fun of bad draft picks is naming your team! You know me, I can’t just come up with a name, I have to make a logo.

In SERG we started by using our favorite NFL team as our team name.  Creative I know.  A few changed the trend and since I had won two championships at the time I decided to give my team an identity.  The Glynville Gamers were created.  I won another championship and then lost this past year by one point.  I changed my team name to remove the pain as much as I could.  Waiver Wire Hawks are now attached to the three championships.

The next team to be named was my salary cap team.  I’m a Letterman fan and loved the impromptu shouts by him as if he were the host of Family Feud asking if an answer was on the board.  ”Show me squid!”  Enough said.  Show me squid! now had fantasy relevance.  I’ve done well in this league before but still haven’t claimed the number one spot among the other 24 strangers I play against.  I’ve finished third, fourth, and even fifth.  Ever heard the old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join’em.”?  Well, I haven’t beat ‘em so “Joining Them” is team number two.

The “Playing for Keeps” league has kept with the tradition of using the city where you live and a noun as your team name.  The past two years I kept with the squid theme for some reason.  The San Diego Squid Donkeys took home the championship last year!  I didn’t keep with that tradition and forgot to change the team name after we moved and I lost in week one.  I’ve remedied that and the College Station Cobras are ready for week two.

Keep in mind that with the DI league I joined it two years ago and at that time the squid theme blah, blah, blah.  Super Squid.  Any questions?  This year some guys were pretty clever in naming their teams so I based mine off of my number one pick which was the first pick of the draft Drew Brees.  “Playoffs Are A Brees” is in the win column after week one!

This is so much fun and it’s only been one week of the new season!

Fresh Cup Vol. 1

Elmo and Grover just hugged four times.  Seems a bit excessive but I’m sure there’s some life changing lesson that was just taught to Macey.  I didn’t hear the lesson because I have my headphones on listening to a new album that released last week.  (You can take a guess.  The artist is building off of early success in their career and is finally getting back to their roots.  Two letter artist in pronunciation.)

So I got this cup while in LA with my good buddy Chris Fleniken.  Chris and TJ came for a visit while we were in San Diego (There were only four visitors mind you but PLENTY of “I’m – We’re coming to visit for sure!”  Liars!).  We drove to LA for a night and had a great time.  The next morning we took a picture of the Hollywood sign and then for our drive back Chris and I stopped at Starbucks for a wake me up cup.  So this is the cup of the week and no I don’t wash it each day.  I rinse it.

How many journals do you have?  I have like six.  They have a combined seven pages half filled with words.  One journal has a sketch.  I don’t think I sketched the sketch so that is a little scarey.  Oh, I bought a new journal.  Don’t judge me, it was on sale and has the handy little strap that is attached to the back of the book that goes over the cover to keep it closed.  That strap will be useful as I write in this journal everyday and the book’s spine is stretched so much that the cover pops up like bread when it becomes toast out of an appliance.  Probably not going to happen.

I unwrapped the journal last night and flipped through the empty pages.  Last night I was determined to put words to the first page and continue to add to this little journal.  I placed it by my bed and then put my iPhone on top of the black journal.  My phone is the first thing I grab when it’s time to start my day as I head down stairs.  I thought, I will remember to grab the journal and have it on my mind first thing.

It worked!  I brought it downstairs.  I placed it on my end table with my stuff.  Time to take Hailey to school so I grabbed my wallet, keys, and journal.  Journal?  See, it worked!  The problem?  I meant to grab my iPod that was underneath the journal.

I got home and decided to put some thoughts down.  I brewed a cup of coffee and thought about using, “Fresh Cup” as a weekly category posting a picture of the coffee cup of the week.  So, here I am typing a blog post that I haven’t written in since August 6th.  Ha! (I don’t type LOL or use LOL)  I rarely Laugh Out Loud.  Even watching funny shows.  I do however say, “Ha that’s funny.”) Ha, that’s funny.  I can always find a way around doing what I intended on doing.

Maybe later I will plan on posting a new blog post and trick myself into writing in the journal.  Nah, I’m too smart for that.  That was the plan last night going to bed to trick myself into posting a new blog post.  Wait a second . . .hey!

Fact or Fiction Vol. 1

Simply guess which is fact and which is fiction.  There may be a prerequisite to this quiz like Glyndon 101.  Don’t feel too bad if you don’t know me well enough to get these correct.

1. I love books.  I love bookstores.  I love buying books more than anything.  So, fact or fiction: I just started a book?  This is a trick question because it’s rare that I finish a book which could be an option if you are thinking things out.  If you are flipping a coin for your answer then it probably doesn’t matter.  You would be more right if you guessed that I finished a book or started a book than if you guessed I was in the middle of a book.  I never find myself in the middle of a book.  It’s weird.  I don’t know how I ever finish but that’s how it goes.  Click here for the answer.

2. Printers bug me as much as someone calling a wrong number and leaving a message for someone even though they didn’t hear the person’s voice they were trying to reach.  The main reason printers bug me is because the ink drains from printers faster than spit falls from the Empire State Building.  So, fact or fiction:  My printer has both the black and color cartridges full!  Click here for the answer.

3. Last one.  It’s fun isn’t it?  Click here for the answer.  So we got a three month pass to Legoland.  We have had a ton of fun going back each time.  The girls have a blast and Chasity loves to compete against other families in the Fire Truck Competition.  We’ve won twice in a row and are still undefeated.  Yep.  So in the seven or eight trips to the land of legos I have been able to walk to the parking lot empty handed of a lego set.  Click here for the answer.

A little more info on the answers.

1.  I just finished a book!  Yeah for me.  I just finished The Watchmen.  A friend let me borrow it and since we are moving in seven days I figured I should finish the book so I could give it back.  Oh, it was good.  It kinda dragged in the middle but the ending really picked up as the pieces fell in order.

2. I can’t keep the printer cartridges full if I put new ones in after printing a page every single time.  What a waste huh?

3. Believe it or not, this is my first lego set.  I never really cared that much for legos growing up.  There was something about seeing a 12 foot creation of Albert Einstein’s head that made me want to create something.  Darth Vader was the way to go.