John Totty sent me this picture today of my buddy Chad and I playing ladder ball last May in Gulf Shores, AL.
This picture makes me really wish winter was over. I’m ready for warm weather and sunshine. I’m ready to go to the beach!
Good Things
A while ago my cousin called me up and said, “Blake! I just heard your song!”
Confused, I asked him what the hell he was talking about.
It was at that moment when I was introduced to an Indie Rock band from New York called Vampire Weekend. He told me to listen to this song called One (Blake’s Got A New Face). At first I chuckled. I thought it was funny. I had never heard my name in a song. I mean let’s be serious; Blake really isn’t really a common name and if I were to put it in a song, it would have been something about cake, lakes, snakes, or snowflakes. But that’s just me.
Since then I’ve been a big fan of Vampire Weekend and have really wanted to see them in concert. Sadly, since I’ve known about them they’ve yet to come to Nashville. Then yesterday I heard on the radio that they were coming in April. I was stoked!
Today as I was sitting at my desk, listening to the radio, just finishing up lunch, and I hear, “The first caller that can correctly tell me what song Vampire Weekend is giving away free on their website will win free tickets.”
I pulled up the website and immediately dialed the radio station.
Busy. Hang up.
Dial again.
Busy. Hang up.
Dial again.
Ring. Hang up. CRAP!
Dial again.
Ring.
And just like that, I answer the trivia question and win free tickets to their concert!
Two weeks ago my buddies and I decided to take a trip down to New Orleans, LA. Flights were ridiculously cheap and all of us had a few vacation days to burn. As one might expect on a trip to The Big Easy by a group of five, twenty-something year old guys, debauchery ensued and it was an absolute great time.
Just to share one of the many stories from this trip; one night three of us ended up in a strip club on Bourbon Street. However, before I go any further with this story it should be noted that I do not know how to interact with strippers. They make me uncomfortable and I am always very standoffish with them. I feel like they’re used car salesmen trying to sell me something I don’t want. I always want to tell them, “I don’t want you to come talk to me, I’m just looking.” Needless to say, strip clubs aren’t places I generally hang out in.
However, one of my buddies is very comfortable with strippers, and even seems to speak their language (I think it involves clicks and some form of sign language). So as we’re sitting there drinking a few beers a blonde stripper comes over and sits with my friend. As they’re chatting I couldn’t help but notice her thick Russian accent. It was then that we had the following conversation:
Me: I like your accent. Are you from Russia?
Russian Stripper: No I am from Virginia (Said in a Russian accent)
Me: Are you sure? You sound like you might be from Russia.
RS: No I am from Virginia. I dance for money now. (Said in a Russian accent)
Me: I don’t think you’re from Virginia. You sound like you might be from the Ukraine.
RS: You shut up. I dance for you now. (Said in a Russian accent)
Even though I was worried she was up to no good and ultimately just out to get “moose and squirrel” I couldn’t help but laugh.
Last Monday some of our insurance underwriters came in to meet with us and tour two of our facilities*.
Later that night at dinner the insurance underwriters presented my boss with this really nice crystal vase to commemorate the 30 year relationship that my company has had with them**.
When my boss showed me this vase on Tuesday morning my first reaction was, “What the hell are we going to do with that?” When he told me that he was going to just set it there in his office, I immediately said, “That vase would be really good to put a beta in.”
At first my boss kind of scoffed, but literally not five minutes later when my grandboss laughingly agreed that the vase would in fact be perfect for a beta, we were out the door headed to Petsmart.
We decided to name him Chubbs after the insurance company that gave us the vase (Chubb Group of Insurance Companies).
*I work in Risk Management. It’s my job to meet with the people that provide us insurance and whatnot.
**I was in class and missed out on the free dinner.
Last week my youngest brother, Gates, got his senior pictures.
The Future Rock Star Pose
The Deep Contemplation Pose
The Classic Graduation Pose
And my personal favorite, The Over The Shoulder Pose. Hahahaha!
Congrats on graduating soon littlest brother.
As part of being an active young man I often find myself being invited to various events and social happenings such as get togethers/parties/cook outs/boat outings/game nights/canoe and/or camping trips/football games/weddings/baby showers/housewarmings/christenings/ bar mitzvahs/etc. In most cases, being invited to any, if not all, of these things requires the use of a cooler.
While I’m not saying my cooler is the best cooler around by any means; it still ranks pretty high on the cool cooler list, even though it is sans wheels.
I learned a little over a year ago after leaving a cooler at my friend Mandy’s house, that there is a possibility that you may never see it again. Especially if it doesn’t have your name on it.
Yesterday as I was cleaning out my storage closet I decided I needed to put my name on my cooler. However, since I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to the look of having your name written on your cooler in sharpie, I thought it might be a good idea to use some leftover stencils I had lying around.
It might have been a little bit of overkill. No?
Saturday I attended the 8th annual Music City Brewer’s Festival with some friends.
Here are the highlights:
- I enjoyed tons of wonderful beer
- Stepped in dog poop (On the way there)
- I finally met my friend Cory’s lady friend. (I was starting to think she might be fictional. Turns out she is really cool.)
- Had a buddy get in my face because he was mad and tell me that I “really eff’ed him”. (It was determined later that he was just drunk and I didn’t actually do anything to him).
- Had a Jewish guy ask me if I was “of the faith” when I said “Mazel Tov” to a toast.
- I spent $7 on a cigar.
- Realized that I may have had too many when I thought that PBR was one of the best beers I had tried all night
Overall: Good times!
Today when I got home from work I was standing in the kitchen having a glass of juice when then doorbell rang. Much to my surprise when I opened the door there was a really beautiful girl standing there. She was wearing a pair of short shorts and a tank top. She looked like she was roughly about nineteen and had really long curly hair that was a lovely sandy blonde color.
Initially I thought she was one of those annoying kids that randomly comes around selling magazines so they can win a free trip to some exotic location. However, she said that she worked with the decorator that staged the model homes in the neighborhood and they were selling a few left over decorations.
As a stumbled through a brief conversation with this stunning girl I mentally checked my list of things I’m not particularly fond of. As one might expect, buying things from the back of a van was on there. So as tempting as her offer was, I had to politely decline.
However, after this encounter, my list of things I’m not particularly fond of has now been amended so that buying things out of the back of a van is acceptable if a pretty girl is involved.
Surely nothing bad could come from this.
For a long time I’ve been talking smack to my friend Whitney about how I could beat her at a 5k. I did this knowing that I really couldn’t. Whitney is 5’11”, a smile, and all legs. She’s even been described as “cheetah fast” by our mutual friends who’ve run with her before. However, Saturday morning Whitney and I ran the Ellie’s Run For Africa 5k.
We both started the race off really strong and cranked out the 1st mile at a 7:30 pace. At the second mile Whitney pulled ahead of me. At this point I was still running at an 8:00 minute mile pace and I was certain she would tire and I would have an opportunity to catch up… Sadly, this was not the case. The combination of various hills, my allergies, and the fact this was a trail run really took a toll on me.
Whitney finished the race with a time of 25:34 (8:15 min. mile pace) and I finished with a time of 27:48 (8:58 min. mile pace).
Yeah she smoked me.
This is my kickball team - Cobra Kai. We recently came in second place in our kickball tournament.
