Go Spartans!

Thanks to some great play by Michigan St., my bracket is at the top of my office pool. As you can see, the sweet sixteen games were very good to me!

I Don't Think Of Myself As A Complainer

But sometimes I just want things to be over with. In this case, I have been trying to sell the rings, more specifically the diamond, from my failed marriage. This is a total nightmare. No one really wants 'failed' jewelry apparently. So the ex knows I haven't sold it, and I assume she's complained about it to her friends because she sent me an email asking what I thought about having a friend of hers try and help us sell it on eBay.

OK, so I think to myself, I hate this ring, I want it gone, fine, anything to unload this thing. I send the ex a response saying OK, but lets sign a selling agreement, just to be safe. Dumb. So she forwards her friend's response to my request to have something signed before he sells the thing. Not helpful. At all. I'm not really surprised, I mean, the only reason I can think that he would be wanting to help her sell this thing is to get in her pants, and damn it if his email doesn't basically tell her she should just ask for the ring from me straight up.

I now know myself to be dealing with an ex who's deciding to ask all kinds of 'what if' questions and feel all sentimental about our marriage from hell. Can't tell you what kinds of warm fuzzies that gives me... cause they ain't warm or fuzzy.

If anyone reading this wants to buy the ring or stone, let me know, cause I'm ready to entertain just about any offer just to get the thing off my hands...

Its Nice To Know You Have An Impact

So I was sent an article for which Doba's founder Jeremy Hanks was interviewed. The article is focused on how Doba's restructuring over the last year or so is creating a stable company despite economic trouble. The bit that talks about me:

It took considerable resources to build the data warehouse and BI capability — around $100,000 including six months of a top engineer's time, Hanks says — but it's already starting to pay off.

"We go and we say, 'Greg, I need this and this and this' and he can get it out of the system for us," Hanks says.

Now his team can see, for instance, not just the average monthly retention rate, but the retention rate for customers who found the service through Google ads versus those who came through partners.

He can see whether an alternate sign-up process the company tests makes a difference, or whether customers attracted by search ads with particular keywords behave differently than those lured by other keywords.

That kind of real-world information really helps you marketing team understand what pays off — and to continue to invest in their most winning campaigns.

Makes a guy feel good to know the head honchos like what he does. Thanks Jer!

Go White Boy!

PG-13 Hilarity

see more pwn and owned pictures

My Kid Missionary Brother

So my brother included this in his weekly letter home, and it struck a strong chord with me.

Elder Maxwell said: “Most of all, revelation requires us to have a sufficient degree of personal righteousness so that on occasion revelation may come to the righteous unsolicited.” That is the reason why merely “not crossing the line” isn’t good enough. You have to be doing your best to do what you know to be right in order to be worthy of having the Spirit to that degree.

(My brother is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Guatemala, and I consider him to be one of my spiritual heroes. For any who don't know what that means or want to know more about why the above quote means so much to me, please ask!)

New Favorite

All American Rejects - Gives You Hell: this video really hit the spot for me. Wish I could embed it for you here, but copyright laws, blah blah blah.

You might have to try another location to see the video.

Why Do We Do This To Ourselves

As I sit here at work, really wishing that it didn't feel as tired as I do, I can't help but be angry about having lost an hour in my schedule over the weekend. Even the best explanations about why we do this ridiculous thing with our clocks leaves a logical mind wondering why we don't just pick one version of the time and stick with it. As far as I can tell, the reasoning from the opposition camp is way more sound than anything else you ever hear. I could almost move to Arizona just for the lack of daylight saving.

---

So not many have commented here, but I've heard from many people in person and on facebook that they agree with my thoughts here. Not one person has said they like daylight saving time, so what is it that keeps us practicing it? Is there someone out there that likes this and just hasn't said so? Please comment if you're out there, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Contemplations On Insanity

I think everyone asks themselves if they are insane from time to time. I feel like the frequency of this idea has gone up for me lately, so I thought I'd get some expert opinions on the subject:

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
Oscar Levant

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage.
Ambrose Bierce

When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain

The sanity of society is a balance of a thousand insanities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allan Poe

In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
Oscar Wilde

Insanity is hereditary; you can get it from your children.
Sam Levenson

My Recently Favorite Playlist

The Party's Crashing Us - Of Montreal
In This Life - Delta Goodrem
Fall For You - Secondhand Serenade
Sideways - Citizen Cope
How I Could Just Kill A Man - Charlotte Sometimes
Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Shattered - O.A.R.
Chasing Pavements - Adele
Shadow On The Wall - Brandi Carlile
Love Song - Sara Bareilles
All I Got - Newton Faulkner
Midnight Bottle - Colbie Cailat
Best Days Of Your Life - Kellie Pickler
Ashes - Embrace
Better In Time - Leona Lewis
Believe Again - Delta Goodrem
Loving You - Paolo Nutini
You Picked Me - A Fine Frenzy
Wake Up - Coheed & Cambria
Viva La Vida - Coldplay