I found a cool pick-em at PicksPal.com. You can join my league “Rusty Lugnuts” there, and compete against me. It seems their servers are a bit overloaded this morning due to a surge in press coverage for their site. So, be patient and check back later in the day if you are experiencing significant delays.

Life is full of ups and downs. Tests and trials. Wins and losses. Challenges and successes. Highs and lows.

You gotta weather the storms brought on by the lows, and appreciate the sunny weather of the highs when they come your way.

After a year of playing poker every week with my friend, Greg, tonight was finally the night that I busted out. I’ve become a pretty good card player at our regular game (50-70 people play a Texas Hold-em tourney in town). After going out in two hands the first time Greg and I played, I now regularly make the final table. And I often do well at the final table. I think I have finished 2nd six times. I was wondering when or if I’d ever win one of these things.

Tonight was the night! I won! Finally.

The turning moment was at the final table when I had a modest stack. Brian (the town ringer) raised my small blind of 2000 to 16000. I had A-2. I took a while to think. It was a tough decision. There were only 4 players remaining and I knew that if I called no one else would. I’d be head’s up with an ace in hand. I had enough chips to call to see the flop, but not enough left to bet significantly to bluff if I missed. An ace fell on the flop. Brian pushed all in. I called. He had pocket J’s. My aces held up, and that gave me a significant lead. I felt bad calling Brian’s raise and winning, but the odds were worth it. And if I lost, I feel I’m a good enough short stack player to still have a shot. Man, did it feel good to win!

I guess that makes up for both Clemson and the Carolina Panthers losing this weekend.

Can you believe it’s been over 13 years since Jim Valvano’s untimely death? For those of you who don’t know, Jim Valvano was a well known and respected college basketball coach. He was most known for leading NC State to the national title in 1983. After his retirement from coaching, he became an incredible sportscaster. He, teamed with Dick Vitale, made for some of the best color commentary during a basketball game. (I even remember Jim and Dick appearing on an episode of the Cosby Show.)

As I was peering in my “blog this” file, I realized that these Jim Valvano videos have been stuck at the bottom of my list for sometime now. Nothing against Jim. But, a while ago I made a pretty hefty list of inspirational video’s I found sprinkled across the internet YouTube. As I began blogging about them, I didn’t want to overload everyone on video after video. So, I have tried to space them out. (sprinkle in a little real estate here, a little photo show there, some cool website announcements… You get the idea!).

As Jim battled cancer, (Continue reading…)

What a weekend! (except for the collapse of the Panthers against the Bengals today. Thanks to bumbling, fumbling Jake Delhomme!) Two of my brothers and I got together for a fun weekend of football and comradarie. We missed having Kari and Grace, but a brother’s weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

Noah and I played a quick game of cards at my buddy’s house. Played some ping pong at my crib. Wesley showed up at 11am after driving from DC starting at 4:30. And we were on the road to Clemson by 12:30. We snapped this photo right before we took off.

A 2-hour car ride later and we arrived in ESPN-crazed Clemson, SC. Before settling in to tailgate, I had to take Wes and Noah on a quick trip to the ever famous rollercoaster road. It was certainly steep, but somehow it wasn’t as fun as I remembered it being. I was driving my low-riding magnum and I was a bit too scared of bottoming out at the bottom of the hill. So, I ended up taking the hills a little too slow for excitement. But, still good fun nonetheless.

After a few hours of tailgating and being harassed by real life yellowjackets (actual bees, not the crazed GT fans), Wesley went and grabbed a ticket with his buddies, and Noah and I went off to scalp tickets of our own. I couldn’t believe it. Tickets were going for $150/seat on the street. There was no way that I was going to pay more than $50 for a ticket. (face value was $48). After battling the fans in downtown Clemson, Noah and I ventured up near the stadium and the ticket prices were still the same. I was getting a bit discouraged because Noah came all the way up from Beaufort to visit and to come to the game. And I was hoping to show him a good time in classic Clemson football fashion.

We were in the middle of all the ticket scalpers and still no economical options were available. Then, a miracle happened. A cadillac pulled up, parked, and I guess the driver saw me holding up my fingers gestering that I needed 2 tickets. He popped out of his car holding 2 tickets. Long story short - I scored two tickets on the 45 yard line for $60/each. I couldn’t believe it. Even though I paid a bit more than I expected, it was so well worth it. These were some of the best seats in the house, and Noah and I were up close and in the middle of Clemson fans for one of the best games we’ve seen in a long while.

Wes & Noah - I can’t tell you how great it was to hang out with the both of you this weekend. I can’t wait for our trip to the Grand Canyon!

Click on any photo above to see all the photos. All the game day videos can be seen at this link.

A friend of mine, Asher Matsuda, has launched a new service. it’s called Pickheads. Asher is the same guy who brought us the home listing service Postlets.com. And what is even more amazing, is that these are both side projects for him. He’s still gainfully employed, working for one of the most popular internet sites on the web.

Pickheads is a web site which manages collaborative sports predictions. “Intelligence of the Mobs” and “Collaboritve Inetlligence” have been a hot concept recently in the internet world. The concept behind group-smart-websites is that any one person can be wrong more often than the overall judgement of many. So, if you are having issues with making a decision, it’s best to get the opinion of many rather than relying on your own discretion.

This is how our stock markets work, this is how political polling and elections work, and with Pickheads, this is now how your sports predictions work.

I don’t know what it is about these stories, but something jerks at me inside each time I see them. Jason McElwain’s story is one of the most inspirational stories of our lifetime. It’s a great story of fulfilling a dream. A modern day Rudy. And the story of Rick and Dick Hoyt is an amazing story of love, commitment. Both are undeniably inspiring.

I feel that this world is full of traps and pain and it is so easy to wear emotional scars. But, in the fogginess of this world, these stories of Hope and Love stand out. It’s something I believe in. It’s something that I feel that Christ himself stands for. He tells us that He came so that we may have life, and have it the the full. That He came into this world as a light. That’s His story - Hope. And this is our story - wading through the darkness. The chord that pulls within us when we see these stories is the sweet knowledge that someone out there has succeeded. These stories charactarize obstacles larger than those in the average person’s life. And that’s what makes them useful to us.

Here is a dream fulfilled.
As the narrator says: “What we all want in life, is a shot. But what we do with it - that’s the story we all want to tell.”

And this is love. Where does your strength come from?

I’m trying to include my son in everything, so that he can live a life like everybody else.

The quote above was spoke by Dick Hoyt about his son Rick. And, to me this sounds very similar to the wishes that our heavenly father has for us.

The below video shows Team Hoyt competing and completing the Ironman race. I dare you to watch as Dick and Rick sprint across the finish line and not be touched. Their story is nothing short of incredible. I hightly recommend buying their Ironman story on DVD. It’s a great story of love, devotion, inspiration and determination.

I woke up on Monday morning at 3:30AM to catch 6AM flight to San Diego. Boy is that early! After a connection in Cincinnatti, I was off to San Diego in a nice comfy seat on a Delta flight. (Props to Delta for finally having comfortable seating in coach class!) Of all the random people in the world who I could have sat next to, it turns out I sat next to the youth pastor of my brother Wesley’s chuch. He and 13 kids from their church were on their way to a week long mission trip in Mexico. Small world.

So, I arrived in San Diego, went to the car rental place to pick up my economy class vehicle. When I got there, they were all out of economy cars, so they had to upgrade me for free to a Dodge Magnum - nearly idenitical to the car that I own. Crazy! Sweet!

So, then I was off to meet Micheal. Michael’s a domain name guru. He and I are brainstorming on ways to monetize Realty.com and our other assets. The meeting was great. Lunch was good. But, taking in the Padres game at the end of the night was the best. Thanks for a great time Michael! Cheers!

Here’s the photos.

I went and visited my brother, Matt, over the July 4th weekend. It was really great. Matt lives in a posh neighborhood of Birmingham, AL. Very nice place, nice restaurants, nice hang outs, cool pools, and great weather. For the 4th, we went to a Birmingham Barons baseball game. The Barons are the AA team for the Chicago WhiteSox. (Michael Jordan played here when he was trying to play baseball). The team had a fireworks display after the game, all set to patriotic music. It was well worth the $6 entry fee.

Here are the photos.

It was probably the most all-American 4th of July I ever had. We ate at Johnny Rockets for lunch. I had apple pie ala mode. We went to a baseball game. I ate a hot dog and a coke. And we watched fireworks to cap off the night. Good times.

Thanks for a great time, Matt!

This is the video I took of the fireworks grand finale! Pretty well done for a minor league baseball team. (They played “Sweet Home Alabama” as the closing song. Awesome!)

I found this video of the Panthers’ Super Bowl appearance against the Patriots. I can’t tell you how excited this makes me for this upcoming football season. Every team has gotten better. The Panthers have added a bunch of new players who should make a great impact. But, we do have tough schedule to overcome. But, this video has me so psyched! I can’t wait for the season to get here. SPOT THE BALL!!

One of the craziest mascots in all of sports is the Stanford Tree. Well, last night I got to see it in person. Only an hour after arriving in San Francisco I drove down to Palo Alto (home of Stanford University). It is a georgeous area. Pristine yards, streets, great weather. I didn’t realize how close I actually was to Stanford, and once I did I had to drive through.

Driving through the campus I began to notice tons of people walking to a building. It meant only one thing - a basketball game! I had time to spare, and I figured “carpe diem”. $37 later, I had a ticket in the upper level (real small arena, so the seats weren’t too bad) for the Stanford vs. #9 Washington Huskies game.

I stayed only through the first half, but it turns out that Stanford won! For me, the $37 ticket was much worth it just to see the tree. How funny is it to have a tree dancing around the floor trying to pump up the crowd. “Who were the ad geniuses to come up with that one?”