Shane Life

I haven’t posted in what seems like forever.

So I had an awesome Christmas. My wife, who rules all, got me a beautiful black ipod nano. I am having so much fun with it, especially since I lost my ipod shuffle about 2 months ago.

It is so stinking small.

Our parents went way above and beyond what we ever thought. We got enough money so that we can tile our kitchen (can’t wait for that) and I got 2 pairs of shoes. And I love me some shoes. My parents got me some custom Nikes (or gave me money to do so) and my brother gave me some retro sneaks. I also got Season 1 & 2 of Scrubs…can’t wait to watch. Awesome show.

And now, our friends are here for the new year…good times. I have made a decision this year (similar to last year’s new year’s resolution) that I am going to read 2 books a month + 1 this year. This will go from Christmas to Christmas. I have the list and I’ve actually already read my first book, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I’ve been waiting to read this for a while and I liked it a lot. More than How to be Good at least.

Next on the list is How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young, a memior about the rise and fall of a British journalist on the New York and Hollywood social scene while he worked as a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it and it is pretty funny. I’ll be blogging all my books so stay tuned.

Happy New Year and all that. Good times.

What a great movie.

Peter Jackson is so hot right now. So hot. Kong is awesome. Jack Black…best acting since High Fidelity (though he was hardly acting in that). Naomi Watts was great. Adrien Brody was…whatever.

A great 3 hours and 15 minutes of moviemaking. Good times.

I don’t know if it’s that I’m enamored with Donald Trump’s hair or that I just like a reality show that focuses on talent, rather than drama, but ever since the first season, I’ve been a loyal watcher of The Apprentice.

The 2-hour (semi) live season finale was last night and pitted Randal against Rebecca in a competition of charity events. I really enjoyed the finale a lot until the end of it (but we’ll get to that a little later). Randal and Rebecca both had to overcome enormous obstacles on their final tasks…Randal’s charity softball game was rained out and Rebecca’s celebrity emcee, Joe Piscopo, backed out at the last minute.

Both made the proper adjustments and held extremely successful events. It started to become very clear as they made it to the board room that both candidates were very successful and it was possible that Trump might hire both of them.

SPOILERS AHEAD

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I got to go to the Chiefs game on Sunday. It was cold, but it was totally worth it…

The later start meant that the game would end in the dark and with a forecast of…well…COLD, I bundled up, excited for the game.

And what a game. It started off badly, with Denver scoring on its second play from scrimmage. However, the Chiefs battled all game and Jake “the Snake” Plummer turned into his old self and managed to hook up with two different Chiefs for interceptions at key times during the game, one particularly in the endzone to Patrick Surtain.

During the game, I looked up to the jumbotron and read the words:

“Arrowhead is not what it once was. It has lost its mystique.”
-Steve Young, NFL Countdown, December 4, 2005
PROVE HIM WRONG!

I’ve been to plenty of Chiefs games in my life to know that something like that is plenty to motivate the fans to bring the thunder. And that’s what it felt like. It was so loud, everyone was yelling. And I lost my voice by the second quarter.

Young, you need to shut up. You haven’t been back to Arrowhead since you got rocked there the last time. How about the Arrowhead mystique on Denver’s 4th-and-2 play where the Chiefs needed replay to have the refs get it right (everyone in the stadium could tell he was short).

Sadly, however, I lost my cell phone in the parking lot and I think it got run over, so if you try to call me, you’ll get a weird message…hopefully, I can fix that today.

No, not a Friends reference.

It’s a reference to another one of my favorite shows, which is unfortunately getting cancelled after the end of this season. Since my friend Sarah introduced us to Alias midway through Season 2, we haven’t missed an episode of this show.

Season 4 SPOILERS AHEAD

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This last day of November, I’m really thankful for the thankfulness project (thanks, Rachel!). I have really enjoyed thinking about all of the things that I’m thankful for in my life. It’s been a good experience this month, forcing myself to post every day (although they may not have been released exactly on the day)

It was fun though…and it was the most regular posting that I have done on here in a really long time. As a review, here’s the stuff I was thankful for this month:

Free Stuff, Days Off, Alli, My Company, Chili, Burritos, My Computer, DVR, Fall, TV Shows on DVD, My Music and my iPod, My Dog, Technology, Our House, JJ Abrams, Good Books, My Friends, My Family, “Friends” (the TV Show), The Chiefs, Freedom, My Church, Thanksgiving, Lazy Days, My Camera, Life, My City, and Alli (Take 2).

So the project is over…Alli had the idea to maybe do something for the month of December where I reviewed a new Christmas movie every day…I like the idea, I don’t know if I could watch and post every day. Might be kind of difficult. I haven’t decided if I’ll give it a shot yet or not, but keep your eye on here…there’s a possibility I might move this site soon. Stay tuned.

Now, I know I don’t ever talk about my wife on here, but I have to close this month out by reiterating how lucky I am to have such an amazing wife.

Her business is starting to pick up and I’m very excited that she is doing exactly what she wants to do with her life. She’s also beautiful and she’s my best friend. I’m so thankful that I get to go through life with her.

Technically, I live in a suburb of Kansas City - on the Kansas side, but I consider the Kansas City metropolitan area my home.

I lived in Iowa from the ages of 1 - 4 years old (and also during college, sort of), but outside of that, I have always lived in the KC area. When Alli and I got married, we moved into an apartment in the suburb of Lenexa, then got a house in 2001 in Olathe.

Suburban sprawl runs rampant in Kansas City. Unfortunately, the metro is so geographically large that it is difficult for the city leaders to develop an identity because everyone lives outside of Kansas City proper.

However, that suburban sprawl does not prevent a fierce loyalty to our sports teams, particularly the Chiefs. In addition, there is an intense movement to revive the downtown area right now and I am hopeful that it is successful because I would like to see Kansas City return to its status as one of the premier cities in the country.

One of the things that I have always loved about the city is that it has all the amenities of a large metropolis, but the attitudes of the people are significantly less harsh.

Not only that, but we also have WINTER.

I’m a big “changing seasons” kind of guy. I couldn’t live on a coast where the weather is always the same. It snowed today in Kansas City and it was glorious.

So I’m thankful for where I live.

I know.

It sounds corny. It’s a corny thing to be thankful for. But this evening, I’m very thankful for it.

Tonight, we went to see RENT. I’ve been looking forward to this movie since I first saw the trailer, but as it approached the release date, I became more and more skeptical. Would a film be able to capture the incredible lyrics and music of the late Jonathan Larson?

Alli and I first saw the musical in 1998 (or was it ‘97?) in Des Moines at the Civic Center. The musical was touring and we had seen lots of advertisements for it in our small Iowa town where we were attending college. We had a couple of friends who had seen it and highly recommended it, so I got us tickets and we went to “the theater”.

I was so taken by the story and the musical that I went out and bought the soundtrack. Alli got sick of me listening to it over and over again.

It’s weird. I can’t figure out what it is that makes me identify with this story so much. I’ve never been a starving artist like the characters in the movie and I’ve never been diagnosed, nor have I known anyone who was diagnosed with HIV. But this story rings true to me because the characters in it are real and they are dealing with real issues and real life. RENT captures the early ’90s extremely well (as I remember them) even though the musical did not reach the stage until 1996.

What makes this story resonate so much is that the main characters create a family that is non-traditional, but functions as a support group and I think that everyone looks for something like that in their life. I’m fortunate enough to have that familial support in my life. Not only that, but I’m so thankful to have a life as blessed as mine is.

RENT is about finding life and love amidst the chaos of life and love. It’s about struggling to find the one thing that makes everything worthwhile through it all. That thing may be different for others, but for me, it’s love. And I am truly thankful for that.