An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

Three of my colleagues and I have continued our monthly rotation of board games playing during our lunch so I thought it was time for an update on what we've played. With a few exceptions for vacations, we've all played every week. It's been good bonding time and generated some great memories. I think my favorite takeaway over the past few months is my colleague's extreme bitterness on his multi-month second place finish streak. I would have been ecstatic. He was frustrated beyond belief and finally broke it with a first place last week. Evolution Grrr. This game. You build your own species and try to collect the most food for the win. I was pretty good at building my defenses and stuck to the herbivores but one of my colleagues was the king of switching back and forth from carnivores and killed me. Literally, a few times. I never won. I did call my colleagues jerks. A lot. Carcassonne Carcassonne is a tile laying game with meeple placement. Where you put ...

I've seen  Tools of Titans  on several Must Read book lists this year and was intrigued enough to put it on my hold list for the library. Before I could get it, one of my colleagues read it and recommended it highly so I was even more eager to peruse it. Broken into three sections (Healthy, Wealthy and Wise), this book is jam packed with anecdotes, strategies and suggestions made by various "titans" of industry, healthcare, sports, entertainment, science and other fields.  I chose to take my time reading this instead of my usual speed reading rate and took a break about half way through to absorb what I'd learned. I also implemented some takeaways from Ferris' personal daily rituals with my own interpretation. In the morning: List three things you're grateful for. Big or small, write them down and ponder for a few moments on why you're grateful. This was just like the "3 Gratitudes" exercise I did on the blog a few years ago. I...

This text message from my son today sums it up well:  1 more day till football. I'm ready to get mad about fantasy. Here are my drafts from my two leagues. With the #5 pick out of 12 teams: QB Aaron Rodgers (I took him in the first round because he's so dreamy and I wanted to be able to fully root for him and my team). QB Jameis Winston RB Jay Ajayi (my #2 pick who's not playing week 1 thanks to Hurricane Irma #firstworldproblems) RB Mark Ingram RB Darren Sproles RB Robert Kelley ( I literally didn't know who this was which shows how little attention I pay to the Redskins) RB Alfred Blue (my last pick and a total throwaway who is also hurt so a total throwaway) WR TY Hilton WR DeAndre Hopkins (totally disappointed me last year so why not let him hurt me again?) WR Emmanuel Sanders WR Kenny Britt WR Mohamed Sanu TE Delanie Walker D Kansas City K Matt Bryant I have the projected #1 WB, K and D. How can I possibly lose? With the #11 pick out of 12 t...