Best Holiday Invented

Thanksgiving has to be the best holiday ever. Off school for three days, tons of food, football, family, no gifts, no commercialization, and a meaningful beginning that makes you really want to give thanks. This week was great! It started off kind of bad with a test at 9:00 o'clock Monday morning. Things got better fast though. Wednesday we didn't have classes, so i got up in the morning and hiked Squaw Peak with my buddy Chris Sutter (from Okla. City). It was a nice hike. (Pics to come) I'm sure the view would have been beautiful too, but right as we ascended to the peak a cloud rolled in and covered our whole view. Inside the cloud was neat though. Much better visibility than i would have expected and the little ice flecks looked like tiny glitter all around. It was nice to get back in the canyon and see some trees. I enjoyed it. Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at Kelly's brother Nick's house. His wife Megan made a wonderful meal with all the traditional food. Kelly made pies. Everything was great. i just sat around watching football and playing with the kiddos. Every five minutes or so i just thought to myself, "man, i really am grateful for my family." Then Friday, the Hogs go out and beat #1 LSU. We saw the action in HD on Nick's big screen. NICE! I feel like I've learned a lot this week. Mostly I've been inspired to be better by some people. You may or may not know these people but here are some people that are close to me and things they've inspired me to be lately: My home teaching companion Casey Kennington has inspired me to take better care of myself, (I've been working out for three weeks now) and to cherish my wife more deeply. My home teacher, Chris Sutter, has inspired me to be a better listener, and to take the time to get outside and do things i really enjoy instead of making excuses why not to. My sweet wife Kelly has taught me to be more positive and has helped me see a little bit of what she sees in me. She's helped me to see past myself and realize my place as a Husband and Father is needed and wanted. My brother Taylor has taught me once again that family is more important than any thing we can own, that money is just numbers, and has inspired me to be less materialistic and more connected. I have a wonderful family. My wife and children are amazing and so sweet. Today i am so grateful also for the family i came from. I wouldn't trade my Dad and Mom or Brothers and Sisters for anyone. I'm so glad to be able to spend the holidays with my own new little family AND my old big family. Now, before i get too mushy here's ten things i think i think:

1. I think Frank Calliendo might be the best impressionist ever. I can't think of five voices more different than Jim Rome, Pres. Bush, John Madden, Jerry Seinfield, and Charles Barkley but Frank hits every one square on the head or i guess the trachea. If you've never seen him, try FrankTV on TBS (10:00pm Eastern).
2. I think it about time something went right for the Hogs this year. (50-48 win @LSU)
3. I think the comment boxes of my blog post vs. the comments on Kelly's posts proves my hypothesis from last week. (see thought #1)
4. I think Hillary's shots at Barrack Obama for him saying that living overseas for 4 years as a child in Indonesia helps his foreign policy experience are completely idiotic and clearly spoken by one who has never lived in a foreign country. There's an element to living in a foreign country that you can't explain and that you cannot get from simply visiting. Vacations don't do it. Barrack likely learned more about real foreign relations between the ages of six and ten in the diversity of Indonesia than Hillary has learned from all her time in politics and law. I'm not saying i support Barrack I'm just saying that if he were chosen over Hillary he'd have the same access to leading experts in foreign relations plus the benefit of having lived in a foreign country. I lived in El Salvador for two years and came back a different person. I feel i am much more Human than American and while my patriotism runs deep, i feel the best way to help America isn't by making her blind to the rest of the world. Real people, human beings like you and i are affected all over the world by the White House's foreign policy decisions. It means something when you can put a face to those people as opposed to a page number from the book you read it in. It makes you more hesitant to do something that might hurt someone. It makes you think a minute before you pop off that memorized answer from your briefing on Monday.
5. I think a lot of people get paid a lot of money to write columns and analyze stuff on TV that make much less valid points than i do on a weekly basis, especially the part last week about sandwiches and plastic baggies.
6. I think the stupidest time to 'buzz' your head would be at the beginning of winter. Take that one on personal experience. At a windy 19°F, the cold goes right through your beanie and then says "what? no hair? I'll have a free shot at your head then." (in an English accent) and then continues to elbow drop you in the head because there is no hair there to wrestle it out of your hat. and the Cold is a really good wrestler, just think of the Ultimate Warrior back in the early nineties, the Cold is at least that good, maybe even on the same level as Hulk Holgan.
7. I think if anybody but D-Mac wins the Heisman than they'll need to rename it "The Best Quarterback On The Best Team Award" or "The Best College Football Player in the Nation Need Not Apply if His Team Has No Passing Game, A Junior High Quarterback, and A Mediocre Defense Award" or even "This Guy Had Great Numbers in College But Has Less Chances of Being a Decent Pro Than Mr. Irrelevant"
8. I think I'm actually excited about Christmas this year. Bring on the carols and egg nog! Hot chocolate, toffee, and whatever those chocolate-covered coconut balls Kelly makes are called. I haven't been this excited for Christmas in years, that's not to say i haven't had good ones, i just haven't been this excited.
9. I think it's absolutely ridiculous how many people think Tryptophan makes you sleepy. Furthermore, turkey doesn't have so much more Tryptophan than other meats that they shouldn't make you sleepy too if, in fact, the Tryptophan myth was true. Tryptophan is a precursor to Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine). But serotonin doesn't inherently make you sleepy either. I'm convinced that what makes you sleepy is eating too much so your body diverts energy from your brain to your digestive tract. It's either that or watching the Cowboys demolish the Jets, what a snoozer.
10. I think Iowa's gonna surprise a lot of people early next year in the primaries. That said, i also don't think Iowa will have as big of say in what transpires over the course of the primaries as it has had it the past (see Howard Dean). Here are some predictions: Hillary doesn't win Iowa but it doesn't kill her like it did Dean, and Romney wins (or near wins) Iowa but it doesn't get him the nomination. I also think that people won't vote for Romney not because he's Mormon (okay maybe some in the South will) but because they don't think he can beat any of the top three Dems.