Peery Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 has come and gone so I thought I would share with you how our Christmas went.

This Christmas was different for us on a lot of levels.  We did things we normally do, mixed them in with things we have never done in the past and had a great time.

I guess you can’t start any Christmas story off without talking about the tree.  When Christmas 2010 was over, we decided that we were going to get rid of our tree.  Now we had said this in the past but we never did.  I figured the only way that we would get a new tree is if we didn't have one at all.  So last year when Christmas was over, we threw away our tree.  This sounded like a GREAT idea at the time.

So Christmas time rolls around this year and we realize we have no tree.  Now that we are in an apartment, having a big/tall tree just isn’t an option.  But we still needed a tree!  We checked out the Black Friday ads and found a nice, small, cheap tree at Lowes.  We think it did a great job!

Moving on to the Christmas cards.  We always do a family picture card and it became quickly apparent that for some reason we only had one picture taken of the 3 of us in the past year to use on our card.  Being that we needed to get them ordered and mailed we didn't really have time to get a picture taken, so we used one that our friend Katie took of us.  Even though it was not my first choice, Heather thought it summed us up well since it was taken at the Ballpark.  Looking back on it, she was right.

Now the budget this year was a lot tighter than in years past.  The only thing Alexis wanted from Santa was a Barbie Dream House so we saved some money, shopped around and were able to locate one at a good price.  But since I was a tad more than we wanted to spend, we were thankful that was all she really wanted.

We decided that we were going to do photo books for the family.  They were “cost effective” and people always seem to like them.  So we go through all the pictures, find the best ones and make the books.  We confirmed our order and sent it off.  We were pretty excited and couldn’t wait to get them.

When they did come, they came in one small box.  I really was expecting something a tad bigger.  But once we opened the box, we saw why all 9 were in a small box...because they were SMALL!  They were about the size of a business card!!  This was bad!  How could we wrap these up and give them as gifts?  Well, we couldn’t so we went with the not as creative Plan B.  Problem solved.

One of the things that we did different this year was spending the night at my Dad’s and doing Christmas morning with him and my step mom.  Looking back on it, I haven’t woke up on Christmas morning in the same house as my dad in almost 20 years.  It was kind of nice!  

On Christmas Eve, we opened presents with my brother, step-sisters, their husbands and our nephews.  We had a great time!  Thanks to my Dad and Beth, we all have waffle makers and Alexis has a very cool toy box!

However, we had a long night and a early morning.  Santa stayed up until almost 1 putting a Dream House together.  And then Lex woke up at 4 ready to get up.  We fought with her off and on until about 5 when she fell back asleep with her and Heather in one room and me in another.  Not quite the way we drew it up!  But I never really did go back to sleep, so I was not off to a good start!

One Alexis woke up, we were eager for her to see what Santa had left her.  I had placed a video camera inside her Dream House hoping to catch her reaction that would be a YouTube video hit.  Instead this is what we got:

Yep, she had no interest in it what so ever.  It took her almost 5 minutes to wake up and get in the spirit of the day I guess.  But once she did, she loved it and had a blast.

For Heather, I was thankful that I had shopped for her back in July otherwise with our budget I wouldn't have been able to get what I got her.  She loves Michael Young and I have gotten her a couple of his All-Star jerseys.  As you can see, I was able to surprise her this year!

I was pretty easy.  I didn’t want too much, but one thing I did want was Star Wars on Blu-Ray.  So between Heather and my step sister I was able to get it!  Heather also got me a nice pair of tennis shoes and renewed my SiriusXM radio in my car, which I love so that might have been the best gift!

We had breakfast, help clean up and headed back home to get some rest before dinner.  We went back over to Dad’s around 4:30 for a great dinner!  From there we went to Heather’s Grandmothers house and then over to our friends house for “drinks and desserts” at 7.

Now by this time in the day we were all pretty beat, but we thought Lex and Macie would have fun playing together for a bit.  On the way to their house we had agreed that we would leave around 8:30 with a goal of being in our bed by like 9:30.  We had a plan!!  Well, the plan was shot out of the water pretty early on!  We got over there, had a few drinks and some laughs and next thing you know it is 11:30.  Whoops.

Getting Lex to leave her friend Macie at 11:30 after a LONG day with no nap just wasn’t an option so they were nice enough to let her spend the night.

We got home and crashed!!  Looking back on it now that the Christmas is put away and New Years is around the corner, it really was a great couple of days.  We had a lot of fun and Lex loved it.  Everything we did, new and old, was a lot of fun!

As 2011 wraps up and the calendar turns to 2012, Heather, Lex and myself just wanted to take a second and wish all of our friends and family a Happy New Year.  We hope that it is filled with many laughs and successes!

Waiting

Probably one of the worst kept secrets in the world is I do not like to wait.  I am not a huge fan of it.  I don't like to stand in line at amusement parks (or ride the rides, but that is another blog), not a fan of long waits at restaurants, and if the drive through line is too long I will just go in.

DISCLAIMER: I have stood in line for 2 iPhones (below) and loved every minute of it.

I handle waiting better than most, I would like to think.  I don't drive 100mph to go 10 miles.  I don't huff and puff if I do get stuck in a long line.  I don't berate people if dinner takes a little longer than it should to be served.  But I know I should handle waiting better than I do.

But it seems here lately waiting is all I am doing.  Not sure if this is God’s way of testing me or if I am just running through a stretch in life that requires waiting or both.  

As I write this, I am currently waiting on carpet cleaners to call.  In the past few days I have waited for possible interviews, for the State to respond to applications, people to get back with me and I even got stuck in an ungodly line at Starbucks that I couldn't get out of.  

And almost on queue, I read an article this morning from a friend about taking things one step at a time and that a lot of the great things in life do require waiting.  He talked about (and reminded me) that the design for the iPhone OS was actually created on the iPad.  And for those of you that know about these products, the iPhone was released to the public 3 years BEFORE the iPad.  But they waited until the time was right to release the iPad.  Keyword...waited.

Side note: I strongly encourage you to subscribe to his blog

So whatever this is in my life right now, I accept the challenge and will keep waiting because eventually what I am waiting for has to show up...right?

Life and Perspective

To say that life has been challenging over the past few years would be an understatement.  It seems that every turn we have made there is something there to set us back.

I don’t say that to imply that there haven’t been good times or that we have it bad, because that is far from the truth.  No matter what obstacles we face we are quickly reminded that there is someone that has greater obstacles.  However, the struggles are always more grand in scale than the successes.   And that becomes hard to face on a daily basis.  Kind of like “what’s next?”.

But last night I realized something.  I realized that maybe all the bad things that I thought were bad really weren’t.  And that for every 10 things that I thought were bad, maybe only a handful are truly “bad”. 

I think that we have been hit upside the head with one thing after another that our perspective has become skewed.  Somewhere along the way I lost confidence in myself and that has lead to this assumption that everything is “bad”.

Last night we met with some friends of ours that are working to start a church in New York.  And as they are laying out their vision for the church and their future for their family, Heather and I were both struck by the passion that they have for this.

The reality of it is that churches in New York do not succeed.  There is a list of reasons a mile long.  Space, time, money, effort…the list goes on and on.

But this is when I realized MY perspective was off, not theirs…

Them:  48 people visited our website to get information on our Bible Study!!

Me:  Why did only 48 people visit my website?

Them:  We had someone from Russia check out our site!!!

Me:  Why is someone from Russia even reading my blog?

Them:  We sold a “brochure” to help us out and in turn there was a company that provided clean water to 29 people for an entire year!!!

Me:  Just 29?  There are 29 people at Starbucks…in the drive thru.

You get the picture?

But this is what astounded me the most…at the beginning of every month; they only have enough money that just 70% of their bills are paid.  Think about that… on the first of every month they have NO IDEA how 30% of their bills will be paid.

This isn’t just a husband and wife. “winging it” through life like in the 60’s.  They have an amazing daughter and another son/daughter on the way.  This is a family.

I look at Team Peery and in the 10 years of our marriage we can count on one hand how many months this was an issue for us.  And they are going through life monthly wondering where the other 30% will come from.

I am pretty sure you are thinking “that must suck” or looking down on them with pity.  But here is the thing…they were EXCITED that 70% of their bills were paid.

There are 33 “individuals” and 5 churches that help them along the way, as well as an organization that “matches” donations to them.  How cool is that?

Again, my perspective was way off!

Them:  We have 33 “individuals” and 5 churches that help us along the way, as well as an organization that “matches” donations made to us!! 

Me:  Only 33?

That is when it hit me. Yeah, life has been tough.  It has dealt us some crappy cards here lately.  Not going to lie. 

But here is a family that moved from Dallas/Fort Worth to Annapolis, Maryland to work towards starting a church in Manhattan where just 3% of the 1.7 MILLION people are Christians. 

They are excited about reaching 48 people.  They are excited about reaching someone from Russia.  They are excited about 29 people having clean water for a year.  And they are excited that 70% of their bills are paid.

Would they like to reach a thousand people in a thousand countries?  You bet!  Have 100% of their bills paid and provide clean water to a thousand people for a thousand years?  Of course!  It is all about perspective. 

Heather and I learned a lot last night.  And I can promise you that our friends had no intention of teaching us what they did.  Until they read this, they really have no idea.  But “thanks” for helping us!

In closing, I would ask that you check out their sites and keep them in your thoughts and prayers on their journey.

Eikon New York

Echoes Of Redemption

And in the mean time, since we all need a reminder now and then, here is our perspective:

20 Years Ago

I always enjoy this time of the year.  We have the baseball playoffs, my birthday, Halloween, the State Fair of Texas and the weather finally cools down!!

But one of the little known facts about why I like this time of the year is that it marks the time of the year when Heather and I first started dating our Sophomore year of High School…and this year it has been 20 years!

You can all read the entire story here, but it basically breaks down to two weekends in October of 1991.

The first weekend, we went to the State Fair with Heather’s Future Homemakers of America class.  She invited me, so I went.  We spent the day running around the Fair flirting and being 15.  We had a great time and she slept on my shoulder all the way home. 

Now I am notorious for remembering really small details about things and one thing that I remember is when her mom picked us up was the song that was playing was “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane.  I have no idea why I remember that, but I did and our life together has been a highway just like the song...kind of ironic. 

The next weekend was a Friday before a football game.  It was after school, we were talking on the phone and Heather was getting ready to head back up to school for Band.  Right before we hung up I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said “yes”.

I remember thinking “Great!  Now what?”.  But I went to the game and after the game we went and got pizza with rest of the band and our relationship went on from there.

This picture was taken around that time as well.  This was our first date as boyfriend/girlfriend…granted it was with my parents at my birthday dinner, but still.

Now I am pretty sure that you are thinking the exact same thing I am…what in the heck did she see in you?  Believe me, I wonder the same thing.  This is our first “date” and this is what I am wearing?

You can tell from Day 1 that I “married up” and this is the proof!!

While we were friends long before we ever started dating, those two weeks in October are two that I will never forget.  It has lead us to where we are today and I couldn’t be more happy to have her by my side after all these years.

Love you babe!!!!

My 2011 MLB Postseason Picks

My favorite time of the year is finally here…Major League Baseball Postseason!  There is really nothing like it!  If you say you love baseball, but you aren’t stoked about this postseason then you really don’t love baseball!

Now I get not all the games are dramatic!  They don’t all have the bloody sock, Gibson’s blast, Luis Gonzales’ blooper, The Catch or The Shot Heard 'Round The World and I get that.  But each game has the potential to be something that you will always talk about.

For me, it was attending Game 3 of the World Series last year…the only game of the series we won.  The Cobra dealt and Mitch Moreland had the big home run!  I honestly will never forget that game or anything about it.

Me, Heather and my Mom. Upper Homerun Porch.

Me and my sexy better half!

Every year I do this.  I sit here and type who I think will win each series and ultimately win the World Series and each year it goes about as well as my Final Four bracket…not well!

So without further adieu, here are my picks:

ALDS

Rangers vs. Rays (Rangers pitching/offense is just too much)

Tigers vs. Yankees (Verlander 2 times is plenty)

ALCS

Rangers vs. Tigers  (Rangers have 7 games worth of pitching.)

NLDS

Diamondbacks vs. Brewers (Dbacks have slightly better arms)

Cardinals vs. Phillies (Phills have pitching, Cards dont.)

NLCS

Diamondbacks vs. Phillies  (Phillies are just too much)

Word Series

Rangers vs. Phillies   

(Goes 7 games…CJ vs Lee in Game 7 and Hamilton has the big hit)

Winner:

TEXAS RANGERS

Now I get that it might be a “homer” pick…and you are right!  But I think they have a great shot to make it!

So there you go.  There are my picks!  Who do you think will win?  Leave a comment below and lets have some fun! 

PLAY BALL!

The Gallbladder Story of 2011

I have struggled for the past week or so to write a blog updating everyone on my gallbladder, or lack of one.  I have started 3 or 4 blogs now and quit half way through…one I never even made it out of the first paragraph.  And I never finish them mainly because I just hate talking about myself. 

Want to talk about sports or Facebook or Alexis?  Sure…all day!  No problem!  Talking about me?  Not so much.

But a lot of you are still checking in with me so I figured I needed to update everyone and give you all “the scoop”.  So here we go...

Saturday 2am:  I woke up with what I thought was heartburn.  In full disclosure, it has happened before, but usually after a big meal, a late meal or a greasy meal.  This time was different…we had eaten early in the evening (like Senior Citizens discount early) and had something small and not greasy.  So automatically I knew this was different.

Because I couldn’t get comfortable I just came in the living room and watched tv.  By about 530 I realized that we were going to have to go to the ER.

6am:  Finally woke up Heather and Lex and we made our way to the hospital.  From the moment we got there, the lady at the check in desk with no medical degrees or college classes said it was my gallbladder.

7am:  They get me processed and triaged and back to a room.  First nurse comes in and says “pretty sure it is your gallbladder” followed by the doctor who says the same thing.  At this point they hook me up to an IV and give me some morphine to help with the pain I was still in 5 hours later.

Note:  Since they were pretty confident that it was my gallbladder and the only way to resolve the issue is to remove it, I was no longer allowed to eat or drink!  Keep in mind, we ate with the Senior Citizens the night before.

730am:  Finally started letting people know what was going on.  We waited to wake people up mainly because until now we still weren’t 100% sure what was wrong.  All though it was looking more and more like the lady behind the desk that checked us in had been brushing up on webMD and was right.

Another Note:  Poor Alexis had a skating birthday party at 1 and her best friend in the whole wide world was supposed to spend the night Saturday night.  To say that she was excited about this would be an understatement.  This day was like her Christmas morning!!  In the car on the way to the ER she even asked if it was time for the skating party yet!  We knew this might be an issue today!

830am:  My dad and step mom came up to keep us company (and entertain Lex) while we waited!  Because as we soon learned, since I wasn’t dying I was no longer an emergency.  If there were 20 rooms, I am pretty sure I was the 25^th  important person there.

10am:  They finally come in to do the blood work and take the sonogram.  For some reason the sonogram aggravated my gallbladder so they brought more morphine.  I was a happy camper at this point!

11am:  The doctor comes back in to tell me that I have “gallstones and sludge” and they would like to admit me and have it removed.  However, they didn’t have any rooms at the hospital since they are remodeling some floors so I had to wait in the ER room.

At this point since we didn’t have any idea when I would be moved or when surgery would be, Heather took Lex home and they got ready for the skating party and went to it.  Lex had a blast, but all week she wanted me to teach her how to skate, so I was pretty bummed I had to miss out.

Thankfully my Dad and Beth hung out with me and watched football until he had to go to work at 1.

Note 3:  I am beyond starving at this point and I have lost my voice since I cant drink either.  But I am higher than a kite.

2pm:  They come to move me into an actual hospital room.  As I mentioned above, they are remodeling and the floor they would have normally moved me to was part of the remodel!  So I got my own room downstairs!  So I get settled in and watch more football!  Thank goodness this was on a Saturday or I might have gone crazy!

430pm:  Surgeon finally comes to meet with me and lets me know that we do need to take the gallbladder out and they would try and get me scheduled and he would “be back in 30 minutes or so” to let me know if they could get me in Saturday night or Sunday some time.

He did mention that this surgery is the most common surgery that he does!  I really had no idea it was so common until after I had it.  Seems like everyone I talk to has had theirs taken out.  Crazy.

I texted Dad to let him know so he left work to come hang out with me some more and be there for the surgery.

Heather and Lex finally made it back to the hospital and I got to hear all about her party.  She had a really good time!

Since the sleepover was the major event for Lex this day, we were so very thankful that Mike and ReJana Krause offered to have the sleepover at their house.  This helped more than they will ever know.  We knew that if Lex couldn’t have her sleepover that her hanging out in the hospital was going to be really rough!!!

615pm:  (More than 30 minutes later, if you are keeping track) The nurse comes in to wheel me down to surgery.  So this answered a lot of our questions…lol.  Said the surgery would be about an hour long.  The last thing I remember is the gas man saying “take one more deep breath of oxygen” and I was out!  Guessing it wasn’t oxygen.  Lol. 

8ish (fuzzy):  Wake up in the recovery room and I ask for pizza and if I can keep my gallbladder.  Shockingly I was told “no” to both.  Heather did let me know that the Rangers had won and the Angels had lost and I remember being really happy!

930pm:  Finally back in my room.  Dad and Beth headed home for the night and Heather headed over to see our friends Chris and Nick, who happened to be passing through town (Nick was passing through town).  They were nice enough to feed her and give her a break while I was sleeping.

11pm:  Woke up and I was HUNGRY!  Been almost 30 hours since I had anything to eat or drink.  They brought me pudding and graham crackers.  In my eyes they looked like a 5 course meal from Al Biernet’s! 

Heather got back around this time as well and settled in to spend the night with me.

5am:  Since I had been sleeping for a while, I was ready to get up.  Still being hungry I asked for some ice cream and watched a movie on my iPad while Heather slept.

The rest of the morning was spent trying to get up and move around.  They brought me breakfast and I had lunch there.  We were able to head home about 4 or so.

The first few days at home were pretty rough.  I felt like I had done a million sit-ups.  Took a lot of naps (and pain pills) and took it easy!  They said it takes about a month to get back to normal. I can’t lift anything over 10lbs for 3 more weeks…which has made it tough.  I can’t even take out the trash or pick Lex up.

I am still kind of sore and have issue sleeping at night…mainly when I roll over.  I am off the pain meds during the day and just take them to help sleep at night.  So all in all, I am doing pretty well.

I do have to stay away from spicy or fried foods.  I guess the gallbladder is what processed those for your body.  To be clear, I can have them, but the results wont be pretty.

I know that this has gotten long, but it is my blog.  But I cant wrap it up with out thanking everyone for their support and concern.  We got calls, texts, emails and all kinds of messages from everyone checking in on me and offering their support.  It really did mean a lot and it was all greatly appreciated by myself and Heather.

Dad and Beth…thanks for staying with me and bringing us dinner when we got home.  It meant a lot and it was good to have someone to watch football with!!  Without you there, I know Heather wouldn’t have taken Lex to the skating party so Lex thanks you as well!

But I cant finish this without thanking my wonderful wife Heather.  Team Peery has been playing a “man down” for 10 days now, but we haven’t missed a beat and it is because of her.  I am so very thankful that she is my wife and my best friend.  I couldn’t imagine going through life with anyone else.  Love you babe.

So there you go.  The great Gallbladder Story of 2011.

Caring About Shades of Yellow

I always thought that “writers block” meant you had nothing to say and you didn’t know where to start. But I have come to realize that a form of writers block isn’t just that you don’t have anything to say, but it is also that you have so many small things to say that together they make no sense!

THAT IS ME! It is not that I don’t know what to say or where to start. I don’t stare at a blank page hoping something will just come to me. I do have lots to say and opinions on just about everything. But together they don’t make a best seller nor do they make much sense.

Want some examples? Here you go:

-There are two books coming out that I cant wait to get my hands on. And if you know anything at all about me, I haven’t read a book since college and that is not a lie. I will read newspapers, magazines and articles online all day long, but books have never been my thing. I will read the Wikipedia version before even thinking about getting the book.

But there is a book out next week by the founder of TOMS Shoes called START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS by Blake Mycoskie. It “tells the story of TOMS, one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in the world, and combines it with lessons learned from such other innovative organizations as method, charity: water, FEED Projects, and TerraCycle.”

The other comes on in late November and it is the authorized Steve Jobs bio. Now there have been a lot of books written about Steve, but not one of them has he authorized. It is said to include details about his resignation and I cant wait. It should be great!!!

-I am in need of a technology upgrade. My 2006 Black MacBook has finally died on me. Now, I could spend a couple hundred of dollars to upgrade the hard drive and memory and get another year or two out of it, but I would really like a new MacBook. Sadly the budget does not allow for it.

-I really would like a nice camera to take good pictures of things. However, this is a ”want” and right now we have so many “needs” we have to take care of first. But one day I would like to have a good camera and maybe create a coffee table book of some kind. I think it would be fun!

So there are some examples of what goes on in my mind but just wouldn’t make good blogs. But there are two more things that I have been kicking around in my head.

The first one is a story about Charity : Water and a girls birthday wish to raise $300 dollars to provide water to those in need. Her name was Rachel. Long story short, she ended up $20 short and then weeks later passed away in a car accident. Since then people have donated over $1.2 MILLION dollars! That is enough to provide water for over 61,000 people.

Check her Charity : Water page out HERE.

Here is her story:



The other one revolves around the resignation of Steve Jobs. In reading about him over the past week one of the things that stood out to me was that his name is on 313 patents and he is the lead designer on 33 of them! While he is not Thomas Edison, who has over 1,300 patents, Steve Jobs amassed over 300 patents in a time when so many things have already been created! Just unheard of.

But what caught my eye was a post by Vic Gundorta. I know most of you have no idea who this is, but he is the head of Google’s Mobility program and works really close with Steve Jobs and Apple on how Google essentially looks on the iPhone and iPad. And this was his post:

Icon Ambulance

One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said "Caller ID unknown". I choose to ignore.

After services, as I was walking to my car with my family, I checked my cell phone messages. The message left was from Steve Jobs. "Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss" it said.

Before I even reached my car, I called Steve Jobs back. I was responsible for all mobile applications at Google, and in that role, had regular dealings with Steve. It was one of the perks of the job.

"Hey Steve - this is Vic", I said. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn't pick up".

Steve laughed. He said, "Vic, unless the Caller ID said 'GOD', you should never pick up during services".

I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?

"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve.

"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject "Icon Ambulance". The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced.

But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I'll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

To one of the greatest leaders I've ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.

Now I know I just made this post really long and I am sorry. (It is my blog after all). But the line that I have not been able to shake all week is this: CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

That is what transforms good companies into great companies…good CEO’s into great CEO’s…but most importantly good people into great people.

So my goal is to care about shades of yellow even on a Sunday and I challenge you to make it your goal as well!

What If?

What if you could go back in time?  What if you could go back and “take the road less traveled”?  What if you could go back and start all over?  Would you?

I always see people talk about doing it over or if I could go back I would do it differently.  But would you really?

I am a person that believes the series of choices you make puts you on a path to where you are today.  I don’t regret choices I have made.  Do I wish maybe I had handled some things differently?  Sure, we all do.  But saying you wish you could “do the whole thing over”?  No thanks.

Looking back on life, no matter how old you are, it is easy to say “maybe if I had done this” or “maybe if I had done that” things would be different.  But would that be a good thing?

Looking back at some of the major decisions in my life, I cant say I regret the choices that I made at the time…but I do I wish the outcome had been different, you bet!  

For example, I always wished that I had just gone to college.  It is easy to sit and say that I “regret” it because it has had an effect on my career.  But I don’t.  Why?  Well, let’s take a look.

If I had gone to college, I probably would have went to one of the handful of colleges I was accepted to…all of which were out of Dallas/Ft. Worth.  When I graduated, would I have moved back to D/FW?  Who knows?  I might have met someone in school and stayed there.  I might have gotten a job that required me to move.  Any of a number of things might have happened. 

But I can tell you what wouldn’t have happened…

Eleven year ago I wouldn’t have run into a buddy from High School (Chris Childress) and swapped phone numbers.  And Heather wouldn’t have run into him a few weeks after that and got my number from him.  And ten years later, I wouldn’t be married to my best friend with an amazing daughter living this thing called life.

Every decision you made impacts where you are today. 

Sounds simple, but have you embraced that? 

Or do you wonder ‘What If’ all the time?

Here We Go Again...

I really haven't felt like writing a blog here lately, so I thought we would have some more fun with some pictures of me when I was a kid!
 

 

This is me back in 1976 enjoying my first birthday.  Love how the high chair matched the wall.

 

Here I am at the age of 2...I matched the rug.

  

 My best guess is I am 7 in this picture.  Rockin the knee highs.

 

More soccer...I think I am 8.

 

And since the back of the card tells me I am 9, that is how I guessed on the other ones!

 

This was 1986.  I was 10.   

 

My best guess has me at 12 in this pic...mainly because I know I am 13 in the next one!

And here I am at 13...I met Heather at the beginning of this school year.  :)

Like I mentioned, I know this isn't an exciting blog, but I have a had a really good time going through all these old pics.  I promise this is all of them of me.  I can't promise I won't find some of Heather.  Remember peeps, we grew up in Texas in the 1980's...lots of BIG hair!!!

Hope life is treating you all fair and you are surviving the heat of the summer!!!

The Way Back Machine

Today we are going to jump in the DeLorean, hit 88mph and go back in time!

A few months I ran across a couple of boxes of OLD pictures that my Mom and Dad had taken.  I got pretty excited about it, not going to lie.  I think of all the pictures that Heather and I take of Alexis, different events and just random things and I figured that I would find all kinds of neat things.

I learned a lot looking through the pictures and truth of the mater is that was a different time!   Now a days we have a camera and/or camera phone every where we go.  We don't have to get pictures developed if we don't want to either! 

Back then, the only way to see the pictures you took was to head to the store and pay money to get them developed.  Then and only then do you realize taking a picture from 30 yards away with a point and shoot camera wasn't a good idea!

It seemed that pictures were only taken at events like birthdays or holidays.  Not many random pictures taken.  The other thing that kind of surprised me was that my parents were at just about all of our sporting events growing up...and there were a lot of them.  But I ran across very few pictures of either of us playing sports. 

But I digress and will give you all what you came here to see!

First up is a baby picture of me at about 5 months old.  Funny looking back at Lex’s pictures, she has my nose.  And just like today, I don’t have any hair!  Lol. 

I am throwing this one in mainly because Lex just wrapped up TBall.  I am about 5, so 1980ish, in this pictures I think.  Boy could I rock the knee high socks!!  

Look, I have hair!  Probably the last time I ever had that much hair.  And no, I have no idea why my name is on my shirt.  Need to check with Mom and Dad about that one.  Was “Mike” not easy enough for people to remember?  Were they just helping me get something right on a test?  Who knows...

The last one is probably one of my favorites.  It is Sam and I with our Grandfather...my Dad’s Dad.  My Grandfather, like my Father, was not very photogenic and I ran across very few pictures of him, much less pictures of him with either one of us.  So this one stood out.

I found a lot of other pictures, some were great and brought back a lot of memories and others I had no idea why the film was even wasted on!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  I will try to post more later!!!

My dog ate my homework!

“My dog ate my homework!”  Whatever age this phrase was uttered, this is when we started blaming other people instead of looking in the mirror and accepting responsibility for not completing our “homework”.

I got to thinking about this today because I read that Tiger Woods fired his caddie. Stevie, his best friend, best man at his wedding, the man that has been on his bag for 13 years helping Tiger win over $100 million in winnings during that time.  When Tiger hit the fire hydrant and we all discovered what really happened, it was Stevie who kept his mouth shut and stayed loyal to Tiger.

But the more I looked at it; I realized Tiger has “fired” everyone around him since then.  Fired his caddie, two swing coaches, “fired” his wife and his putter.  That’s right…he even switched putters!  Tiger fired everyone except the person actually responsible for hitting the shots and putting himself in those situations…TIGER!

At what point do people quit blaming others and look in the mirror? 

I personally love the people that blame their parents for their lot in life.  Really?  Your parents caused you to spend all your money on frivolous things and now you are broke?  Mad at your Mom and/or Dad because of where you are today?  Really?

Looking back at the past 5 years for Heather and I, it would be really easy to blame others for things that have happened to us and around us, but why? 

Could we blame Wells Fargo for the issues with our house?  Sure.   

Could we blame others for Heather losing her job?  I mean, the company did go out of business so it really wasn’t her fault, right?   

But what good does it do?  Blaming Wells Fargo or Heather’s old bosses get us nowhere.  We still have to get up in the morning and deal with it.

Any time Heather and I are faced with a tough situation and we think it cant get it worse, we are very quickly reminded that it could be much worse!  Be thankful for what you have and where you are and work to make it better!  Sitting around blaming others will only make things worse…for you and for those around you!

I will end with a phrase I will borrower from a co-worker:  It’s not the nuts and bolts in life that matter.  What matters is how you show up in the face of those nuts and bolts.

Are you quick to blame others and sulk or do you accept it and try to make the best out of it?

Life is short!  Let's make the best of it!!

My Review of Google+

Unless you were living under a rock, most of you know that I searched high and low for a Google+ invite!  I was finally able to get one and since I have been using it for about a week now, I figured I would let you know my thoughts.

The first feature I really like is call Circles.  This is just what it sounds like.   You can add your friends to circles you create.  What’s the point you ask?  Well when you post something to your wall, you can choose what Circles will see your post. 

You want to post something that you know all your friends in your Work Circle will love but your Family Circle would care less about, this is the answer!  I love this feature.  I know my work peeps, for the most part, could care less about pics I post of Lex that are really meant for my family and close friends.  You can also add multiple people to multiple circles.

You can share your content with specific Circles, all your Circles or you can make your content public and anyone on the Internet can see it.  Very simple concept.

Now finding friends is still pretty difficult since Google+ is still in Beta.  Not nearly as many people are on here as on Facebook, but give it time.  For the most part, most people have anywhere between 5 and 30 friends in their circles.  Obviously people like Mark Cuban have a few more.  This will get better with time.

The next feature is the Stream.  Think your Facebook wall.  Ciricles are integrated here too, so if you only want to see posts from your Work Circle, you can.  Easy to use and very simplistic.  You can +1 something to “like” it and comment just like you would on FB. 

Adding video and pictures is extremely easy.  You can drag and drop your pictures and adding your YouTube videos is probably the easiest thing I have ever done.  Now I know you are thinking that adding videos on FB with YouTube “share” button is easy…but what if you didn’t have to go to YouTube to find your video?  That is what Google+ does!  You can search YouTube videos from within Google+!

Two features with good potential that I think will go under used until there are more people on Google+ are Sparks and Hangouts.

Sparks are like keyword searches about your interests.  So if you are interested in Social Media, you can “Spark It” and you get a news feed with Social Media articles.  Interesting concept to incorporate into your social media.  I could see this morphing into an actual news/sports/entertainment feed. 

Hangouts are group video chats.  The main issue that there is right now with this is that there are not many people on here yet and some of those people don’t have webcams to take advantage of it.  But when it works, you and 9 of your friends can “Hangout” and chat.  Cool idea, will take some time to get some traction.

A few other quick thoughts…I really like the integrated “tool bar” within Gmail.  You can see if you have any Google+ notifications and even post to Google+ from Gmail!  Very handy to use without even having to go into Google+.

Currently the only mobile app is the Android app, naturally.   The iPhone app is in development, so hopefully I can get my hands on it soon.  However, I have heard good things about the Android app and the ease of use.  I hear the picture feature is especially cool!  Cant wait. 

Probably the biggest plus for me (not sure if this is plus or minus for you) is there are no apps in Google+, which means no stupid Farmville or Mafia Wars or anything of the like.  Personally I hope this stays this way.  It makes things much cleaner.  Plus I don’t have people asking me for a pig farm.

Overall I am very pleased with Google+.  I still have no idea where this fits in with my Facebook and Twitter usage.  I don’t see myself leaving Facebook or Twitter and I don’t see myself using 3 mediums for Social Media.  And will people really care if I post the same thing in 3 different places?

I think it has some cool features and I really appreciate the easy of use, but more than anything I hope Facebook is paying attention and incorporates some of the bigger features (like Circles) into their application.

So tell me what you think.  Will Google+ replace Facebook?  Will you use it along with Facebook?  Any features you would like to see?

If you read this and want to know what all the fuss is about, let me know and I will send you an invitation to join the madness! 

I want to be @mike!

I know I wasn’t the first one on Twitter so I didn’t get a cool username or anything, but now I want one. 

The one I really want is @mike, but that is taken.  Being somewhat in the loop, I know that @mike either has worked at Twitter or knows the guys that do since most all of them have those “cool” usernames, while the rest of us get @mike123x or something of the like.  I could be wrong though.

Now I am not mad at @mike, just jealous.  He actually is actively using his account, has followers, follows people and even has a picture.  He is account is “protected” so I am fairly confident this is a legit account.

In full disclosure, I will say my username of @mike_peery isn’t bad.  It could be a lot worse.  When I first signed up, I even had @mnpeery, which I use for a lot of other things and was happy with it.  But I quickly realized people were using their names, hence why I changed.

But the “underscore” in my username is really starting to bug me!  I started digging around last night to see what is available and what isn’t.  What I found I think frustrated me even more.  So here are three of the usernames I looked at and what I found:

@mike – Already mentioned.  Account is being actively used.  No complaints here. 

@peery – Being used by someone name Peer Desilva.  Not even named “Peery”!  To top it off, they have NO tweets, NO profile picture, NO followers and they are only following ONE person!  Big time squatter. 

@mikepeery – This account is interesting.  Looks to be a real person.  He is a “Husband & Dad, Catholic, CFD and Scientific Viz.”  He is following several dozen people, has people following him, but he has ONE tweet…back in March! 

I started digging around to see what I could do to maybe acquire either @peery or @mikepeery since it seemed pretty obvious that these two accounts were not being used.  It appears that unless I trademark “peery” or “mikepeery” I really don’t have a claim to either of them.

But it got me to thinking…should I try and trademark and/or copyright “mike peery”?  I have a website (www.mikepeery.com) that I post pics and blogs to and it is my brand.  I have a very active Facebook page, Twitter account and a YouTube account I post a lot of videos to…I would say that I have an Internet presence.  It might not be as big as others, but I am out there.

So those of you with blogs and an “internet presence”, have you ever thought about doing this?  Let me know your thoughts!  Oh, and if you know how I can get @mikepeery or @peery, let me know that too!!!