RE: Blogging

What I have noticed over my five years of blogging is that blogging is very much about the moment. If I try to get to something later, maybe even get a few paragraphs into a draft version here, it never happens. Or, if it could, it doesn't seem relevant anymore. (To either reader or writer.)

That's one reason why this blog has been so silent lately. It's not that there are not things to comment on, or discuss... it's just that there is never enough time to sit down and post something "in the moment". I really thought there would be more here as I am taking several days off in a row, but there has not been. My days used to freer somehow, and I was already sitting at my computer... so posting to the blog in a sort of "stream of consciousness" way was very natural. Not so any more!

I have thoughts on the whole political race. Actually, much of what I think of senator Obama remains true. Read here and here if you are interested. (Posts from March and April of this year.) I have been working on our Buffalo Bills Show. Super fun stuff going on there! And I would love to share more stories from our family... always learn a lot from interaction with my kids!

I could also tell you about the crazy environmental "humans are bad" speech we got at the aquarium yesterday during the sea lion show...

But... at least... not right now.

So, from experience... never. You'll have to hear that one from me in person. :-)

The blog will roll on. Life will shift again, and there will be moments to jump into the e-stream of consciousness. There are still plenty of thoughts from Greg's Head... but the "moments" to share them have been fewer and much farther between!

Stay tuned...

Special Guests at the Apple Store

All kinds of people come into the Apple store. I get to meet and talk with people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities. That's a pretty fun part of the job, actually.

A couple days ago, I got to meet a few guys that were even more fun to chat with, being a long-time (big) Buffalo Bills fan.

I was working in the iPhone section, and a couple guys came up to check out the phones. One of them was studying it, so I offered to answer any questions, and began chatting with him.

The weird thing was, his friend looked a LOT like Ashton Youboty from the Buffalo Bills. I took a couple glances, but kept thinking, "Nah... he's too young... too small. But it sure looks like him... Maybe a brother?"

As I was talking with Ashton-look-a-like's friend, another guy from the store came up and said, "So you guys from Ohio State?" They were both wearing OSU garb, so it was a valid question. The guy is a Purdue grad, so it was a Big Ten thing... I didn't bring up my MSU affiliation, as I was trying to be helpful with the iPhone, not play on long-standing college rivalries, which are an important part of life amongst Big Ten schools... :-)

The guy who was checking out the iPhone said they did attend OSU, and they played football there. That of course intrigued me, as I knew that Ashton Youboty played football at OSU. Now I was pretty certain this was Ashton's brother or something. Well, as I was going to ask, he left to go check out something else, but I asked his friend... and sure enough, it WAS Youboty, and the guy checking out the iPhone was another young Bills player, Dustin Fox!

After he revealed his "secret identity" I paused for a moment, then said, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but... I just... thought you'd be bigger."

He laughed and said, somewhat sheepishly, "Everybody does..."

We chatted a bit. Dustin said he's the "team techie" and I showed him around to a few other toys in the store. They left and I was glad to have gotten to meet two of the (well, really just one) Buffalo Bills!

But the night was not over.

Much later in the night, I looked up at the big board that shows the names of people with appointments at the Genius bar, where we offer tech support on our products. One of the names on the board was Ashton Y. Now... there could be another person named Ashton. And perhaps even another Ashton with a last name starting with the letter Y. But, the likelihood of Ashton Youboty and this other potential Ashton Y. being in the same Apple store on the same night... not very likely. :-)

So, apparently, Ashton was coming back.

And indeed... not long before closing time, Ashton (but not Dustin) and maybe four other friends strolled into the store. I was still manning the iPhone station, so I greeted them and helped one guy out, giving him an overview of what the iPhone does. Since they all came in together, I figured they were all Bills players, but honestly, I did not recognize any of them. Except Ashton, who was sitting at the Genius bar, getting some help from the Geniuses.

Well, as we were finishing up (it was just about closing time) the store cleared out - except for our Buffalo Bills friends - and I was no longer needing to stay at my station, so... I went over and introduced myself to Ashton. (Who, at this point, was just sitting at the Genius bar, waiting for something.)

"So, you're Ashton Youboty," I began. He nodded. "I just wanted to come say hello. I'm a big Bills fan, and your friend Dustin said you who you were when you guys were in here before." I told him the story of how I thought they'd be bigger, and he said, "Man, I am bigger. I'm fat! The coaches want me to lose weight!" Then he added with emphasis, "It's hard to lose weight!" Ha! He didn't look like he needed to, but I'm sure his coaches know what they're talking about. :-)

After wrapping up a few other things, I had a moment to say hello to the other guys. I made sure that there were not other customers in the store, and that they (the Bills players) were not busy being Apple customers, and I finally got to say hello.

"So are you guys all Bills players?" I asked.

"Yeah." (Their unified, hushed reply was a little less forthcoming than I had hoped...)

"Well, I have two boys at home, and they will want to know who I got to meet tonight, so... what are your names?"

The guy immediately to my right said, "Jabari." I actually didn't quite hear him, so I asked him to repeat and when I understood him that time I said, "Jabari Greer! Nice to meet you." Ashton was next to Jabari, and then we went around the circle of guys and they all introduced themselves as I shook their hands.

"Reggie."

"Reggie...." I said in a leading tone.

"Corner." He smiled when he said it. Some of these guys are not really that outgoing... :-)

"Reggie Corner! Nice to meet you." (It really was. This was fun!)

We got to the last guy around the half circle, who said, "Jon Corto." I heard him just fine, but I asked him to repeat it, because I had never heard of Jon Corto, and I know my Bills! So I probed a bit further, asking what position he played, and where he was from... still no luck.

As I was probing, Jabari said, "Well, tell us who you are!" So, I laughed and introduced myself. "My name's Greg... Campbell. Actually, I have a Bills show..."

"Really?!" said Jabari, "Here in Rochester?"

I explained the Buffalo Bills Review, and actually, I thought I remembered that Jabari had been in the running for - or possibly won - an award from our show this past season, but that turned out to not be true. I did let him know that though, and he said, "I'm gonna have to check that out!"

In explaining the show, I mentioned that I grew up in Buffalo, and that's how I became a big Bills fan. That's when Jon asked where I was from in Buffalo. Turns out he is from Orchard Park - where the Bills play! So I talked with him a bit about that, how cool it is that he is from there and now playing for the Bills! Kinda living vicariously through that for a moment... :-)

They didn't stay much longer, but it was very cool to meet them all and chat a bit about Bills football, even the Buffalo Bills Review. When I started working at the Apple Store, never imagined that I'd get to meet five Buffalo Bills in one night! Was definitely a fun experience.

Wonder who will be coming in today?

Brett Favre is now a J-E-T

I just posted an article on this to my Buffalo Bills blog, but wanted to also post here...

Brett Favre is a NY Jet!

Holy cow. That's crazy. I won't elaborate here (as I already did there) but suffice it to say, our division (the AFC East) has gotten significantly more interesting.

Bills first pre-season game in two days! Whooohoo! :-)

NFL Football Is Back!

OK, once again I'm a little slow on the draw here, but it's been to crazy around here! AND, I actually do most of my NFL-related writing for our Buffalo Bills site (which we have beefed up a bit this year... if you haven't been over there in a while, check it out! The articles page has a pretty decent list of contributers, and we're going to be doing a lot of special/bonus shows this summer leading up to the regular season in just a MONTH!!)

We watched the official 2008 season opener this past Sunday... the Hall of Fame game. Sometimes this pre-season kick-off game is a joke, but honestly, this was a GREAT game! The 'Skins and the Colts should both be pretty good this year. (I know... it's only pre-season, but really... they both looked quite talented, and deep. Maybe especially the Redskins.) It was super fun to see football on our TV again!

The Bills play both of those teams this pre-season. First against Washington this Saturday (can't wait!) Washington has a rookie QB from the University of Hawaii that set all kinds of records during his time there... and looks like he might do the same in the NFL! He's got a crazy release... but it worked! He came in as the third QB of the game, and threw the tying and winning TDs! And I think he was something like 9 for 10 or so. Watch for Colt Brennan in the years to come. Should have a pretty decent NFL career! (If you can predict such things...)

So, if you're into football... the wait is finally over. First official weekend of pre-season is this coming weekend, and we're only a month away from the real deal! Whoohooo!

NFL in Thirty-Seven

I checked my countdown calendar widget today and folks, believe it or not, there are only THIRTY SEVEN DAYS until NFL football begins with the Hall of Fame (pre-season) game!!! 37!!! Whoopeee!! Seriously. Can't wait.

And the best part? I think my Bills have a very solid team to begin the year! Lots of optimism here in Western New York. Check out what I have been writing in the off-season at our Buffalo Bills Review Articles page.

Bring on NFL football!!!

Hit-N-RunShawn Lynch

Now, I'm not one to make light of others' misfortunes (usually) but I have to share a funny line regarding Bills RB Marshawn Lynch and his alleged involvement in a recent hit-and-run accident resulting in a minor injury of a pedestrian:

"All his life, he was taught to hit people and keep running. Now it gets him into trouble."

Thanks, Chi. :-)

Bills Update

Been writing about the Bills this week. A two part, detailed preview of the 2008 team. Most of it is now in place after the draft, they even had Rookie mini camp last week. If you're interested in such things, check out our Buffalo Bills Review: Articles page.

Title of the articles, "The Team The Bills Will Field"

Buffalo Bills News

If you are an NFL fan, you know that the annual college draft took place this past weekend... and perhaps you are happy (or unhappy) with your team's picks. Well, the Bills used all TEN of their picks and have some pretty great new players. If you are interested in seeing what I wrote about the new guys, you can read my article here, or you can just head over to the articles page and browse the many videos and links I posted yesterday. Oh yeah... maybe even more fun... we also did a show last night, with four of the possible five BBR Guys in attendance! Fun stuff. Enjoy :-)

Trade Deadlines and Free Agency

It's that time of year again, in fact this year it's one week of craziness in my two favorite sports.

On the one hand, the NHL has set tomorrow at 3pm as the deadline to deal players. A couple trades have already occurred, more will come tomorrow. The NHL is pretty good at keeping things fresh, to be sure. People get caught up in the frenzy of the deadline as Sabres' GM Darcy Regier says above.

The main name on the board for the Sabres is all-star defenseman Brian Campbell. (Note: had my sister have been a boy, that would have been her name!) Campbell is fantastic, and could be a foundational piece for the Sabres for years to come, but for some reason, they have not come to terms on an extension. He's set to be a free agent come July 1st of this year, so the Sabres are certainly considering a trade in order to get something out of losing him (if he were to choose to leave).

On Friday, we have the other side of things. Free agency begins Friday Feb 29th for the NFL. That means players whose contracts have expired can shop around to the highest bidder. Last season the Bills knew exactly who they wanted, and they got them within half a day of the free agency period starting gun! Will that happen again? Not sure. We had some big name guys who were set to leave last year, not so much this year. And there aren't a lot of big name players on the market who have generated the press you might expect leading up to such a deadline.

One deadline ends with a frenzy, the other begins with a frenzy. And all in one week!

So, stay tuned, I'll probably have a report here, and definitely on my Buffalo Bills site.

Buffalo Bills Things

For those of you who do not regularly follow along at my Buffalo Bills podcast website... I posted a few things there this week and just thought I'd link to them here. First I wrote an article responding to all the speculation about the Bills moving to Toronto. Then we did a special edition of the BBR where we talked about that and more.

Check it out if you are so inclined...

Why The Super Bowl Is Not A Big Deal

At least, not to me. And, I actually mean that more as a compliment than a slam. Let me explain.

When it comes to the playoffs, and especially the finals of most sports there is an intensity like no other time during the season. The players step it up, the fans step it up... the atmosphere and the play on the field, court, ice are electric. There's a big difference for example between a regular season hockey game and a playoff hockey game of any level, let alone the Stanley Cup Finals or especially a Game Seven of the finals!

Other sports are the same way. Looks at the fantastic athletic event that is March Madness in college basketball. Play in the regular season may be exciting for die-hards, but come March, tiny schools who weren't even on the national fan or media's radar are suddenly playing like - and becoming? - champions.

There's just a different level to the playoffs in most sports.

Except the NFL.

I don't mean that as a knock on the NFL players, coaches, fans or anything. Again, it's really more of a compliment. I don't know if it's because there are fewer games, or because of the sheer intensity of the sport, but I believe every NFL game offers the same level of competition, energy, atmosphere, and fun for the fan. Now, there are some that are a small step up. The Bills hosted their first Monday night game in over a decade this past season and their stadium was rockin'! Fans were totally pumped up. The team played out of their minds. But what for? Just a regular game.

This is my point. The NFL has the best overall product because every game can be - and usually is - as intense as if it were for the ultimate championship.

But then we have the Super (Hype) Bowl. Two weeks of incessant media hype, covering every story from every possible angle ad nauseam. We don't watch much TV around here lately, so actually I haven't been bombarded as much this year as past years. But it's still there. I've caught the fringe stuff. And tonight there will be all the flashiness that the NFL wants to bring to their "showcase event".

Does that make it better? Does that make it a more competitive game? Do we really need all that stuff?

In the end, I've already seen all the best games this season. (I could be surprised, but usually the Super Bowl does not live up to its hype...) The Patriots vs Dallas, Indy, and even Jacksonville in the playoffs. All the Bills games... ;-) And a handful of other very exciting competitions. Probably were better games than tonight's game will be. At least they were better than some other Super Bowls I have seen.

So, I'll stick with my vote for the NHL playoffs, March Madness, and maybe even a few others as being a bigger step up in the post season than the NFL offers. I'd rather watch most any NHL playoff series than the Super Bowl most year.

(Of course, it would help if my team was in the Super Bowl... then I might be saying, "This is going to be the best game EVER!!) ;-)

Nah. Gimme some NHL playoffs and March Madness. I'm good to go.

Crazy New Yorker!

Today was the coldest day of the winter so far here in Western New York. How did we spend it? Well, in the morning, we toyed with the idea of playing outside under the beautiful, clear, sunny skies... but eventually thought better of it. But later in the day, following the pregnant urges of my wife, I put on the parka and fired up the grill on our deck for the first time in a couple months! I was grilling hamburgers at temps in the low double digits!

Only in upstate New York, folks.

Speaking of NY... it is a complete shock to me that the Giants are in the Super Bowl. Complete. I mean, with each game I thought, "You know... they have a chance to win!" but really, in the end, no one thought they would be in the Super Bowl this year! And, even though I really don't like the Giants, I will be rooting for them to finish what they started in week 17 and put the perfect exclamation point on the year for the Patriots and for them. They will be 12-1 on the road this year (winning 11 straight) and the Pats will go 18-0 ... only to LOSE THE SUPER BOWL.

Man that would be awesome. And I don't even like the Giants! :-)

So, from the Frozen North.. here's hopin' the Giants can pull off one more major upset in the Super Bowl.

(Did I just say that????!!)

Flip Flop

I am a late night person. I love it, always have, and don't really get into the morning thing. Mornings for me start around 9am.

Somewhere near the beginning of the Buffalo Bills Review season I began moving toward a VERY late night schedule. I would stay up till 4 or even 5am at times to finish editing and publishing our show and website on a weekly basis, and that got me to a regular bedtime around 3am. That's pretty late. And shifted everything on me. Days seemed sorta rushed if I was trying to have any evening with my family after work. We don't mind it being kind of later, but it's been later than I like for sure.

So this week, following the final show of the year, I am trying to shift to an earlier schedule. Would like to get back to walking in the morning before I come up to the office. And get started on stuff here by 8:30 or so. We'll see how it goes. Pretty well this morning. Only 10:30am now, and have made some organizational process that would usually take me till noon. So, that's good!

Hopefully my bedtime will get back to a more normal 1am or so. We'll see...

My Teams

As many of you know, I am a sports fan. Many sports, but not all sports. (You won't find any baseball, golf, auto-racing, or gymnastics being discussed here...) Well, there's a good deal going on with all of my favorite teams, so I thought I'd give a brief update to those who might be interested (or wonder what sorts of things I and the Campbell fam are doing these days...)

Buffalo Bills
Obviously I am following this team the closest, as I still have the number one Buffalo Bills show on the internet! :-) The Bills are also making it fun! Two weeks ago they benched last year's starter - for good - and brought in the first year guy Trent Edwards, who after a 4-touchdown game last week is now 5-1 as a starter! That's fairly amazing for a rookie, but when you factor in the unprecedented amount of injuries this team has suffered, and the already "green" talent that he has to work with anyway... that's almost impossible!

Believe it or not, the talk around Bills country is that this team of injury replacements actually has a very good shot at making the playoffs! If they win their last three games, they will finish 10-6, and the best the other two teams they are contending with can do is 10-6. Now, if they all finish with that record it's bad - crazy tie-breaking procedures - but, if just one other team is tied with them... the Bills will go to the playoffs. (I know... ridiculously hard to understand, but I do think I finally get it.) Basically, if we win all our games, and Tennessee loses just one... we'll go to the playoffs for the FIRST TIME since 1999! Wow!

So, we're pretty excited here, and had one of our most fun shows last night. If you've never checked out our Buffalo Bills show, click the link and check it out. You might like it even if you're not a Bills fan. :-)

Buffalo Sabres
I got to see a Sabres game last night - which is rare these days, since we're not paying the outrageous price for cable just to get the channel that carries their games! - and it was ... not so good. Strange, really. The Sabres (if you'll recall) were the President Trophy winners last season. That means they finished the season with the most points and the best record. Of all the teams... they were the best.

BUT, this year has been very different. They are near the bottom. Were AT the bottom at one point. Bad bounces, players lost in the off-season, injuries, strange bad luck. I saw more of it last night. They outshot the other team more than 2-1, but only scored one goal! Goal posts, great saves, missing the net, more great saves... it was crazy. And so, they are 13-14-1. I don't think they had 14 losses till March last year! :-)

Michigan State Football
Yes, my Spartans are in a Bowl Game! December 28th at 5:00pm you can catch the Spartans and the Boston College Eagles on some channel somewhere. :-) They have a pretty good team this year. Some stars on both sides of the ball... lost a lot of close games in a very tough conference. They hung with the #2 team in the country, Ohio State. (Or are they #1? I forget...) They are all a bunch of young guys, too... so expect to see them near the top of the Big Ten next season!

That's a pretty good update for now. There might be more, but I need to get back to working on websites :-)

Go Bills, Sabres and Spartans!

Some Teams...

There are just some teams that I never like to see win. I know, I should root for a team instead of against the other one, but ... that's just the way it is.

Tonight I am rooting for probably my second favorite team, the Cincinnati Bengals, but it's not looking good for them. The Steelers (one of those teams I never want to see win...) are getting lots of "homer" calls, and it's pretty annoying. Probably wouldn't be as annoying if I didn't like the Bengals and so strongly dislike the Steelers...

Just so it's in writing, here are the teams I always root against (and if they are both playing, I usually just don't even watch the game!) :-) Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, Giants, Eagles, and Ravens. So yeah, remember those two Super Bowls that featured Giants vs Ravens and Eagles vs Patriots? Didn't see 'em. :-)

There are some other teams in other sports, but since it's primarily football season, I'll leave it at that.

On a more positive note... my Bills did pull out a last-second, one-point victory today! Nice job, Bills!

On Sean Taylor

The Bills play the Redskins this weekend, and the importance of the game has been seriously diminished by the killing of safety Sean Taylor. Taylor is one of the Redskins best players, leaders, and loved by all of his coaches and teammates.

A lot of people think that will motivate the Skins this weekend, but from what I have read, and especially heard and seen in press conferences and interviews, they are not thinking about football. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling the Bills will end up winning - maybe easily - and they won't get the credit for it. The Redskins are definitely mentally and emotionally somewhere else.

There is a bit of "good news" regarding the murder. I found this article today which says that the police have charged three suspects and detained a fourth. The "good" is that they have the people who are responsible (and confessions from them) but it's really sad that these guys are just teenagers. And, according to the story, were not intending to kill Taylor, just got "unlucky".

Not sure I'm buying that.

So, it's a really sad series of events, and certainly overshadows any of the fun of this game. It was going to be kind of fun, two 5-6 teams, Trent Edwards starting, London Fletcher playing against his old team, Derrick Dockery for the Bills doing the same... but sometimes there are things more important than football.

Picks

This season I have been asked to join a panel of "experts" in predicting the outcome of each week's NFL games. So far I am in second place, behind my Buffalo Bills Review partner, Dave Drake, and another guy who are tied for first.

This week, after hearing the boys subtly add their voice to the discussion of my picks each week, I decided to let them in on it! So I made up little sheets for them to each make their picks and we'll see who ends up with the best record by the end of the season. :-) (Actually, you might be surprised... there's a good chance they will!)

It's fun to see how excited they are about it :-)

Even funnier was seeing how Alex changed a couple of his picks after announcing the games he was not going to get right - only to find out he could still change his picks up to kickoff time. :-) He's pretty cute. He now assures us that he will go 16-0 this week.

The big game of course is tonight, where our Bills face the New England Patriots. Ian and I have our Bills winning in the end (good boy, Ian!) and Alex changed that one... which will of course help him go 16-0.

We'll see!

Go Bills!

A Lunch Meeting, And The Bills Won

We headed out the door at 12:45pm, knowing that Character's Sports Bar was not too far from where we were staying. I had seen on the map where we needed to go, and was confident we could find it.

That confidence was misplaced.

When we got to where I thought we needed to turn, the road that was supposed to be there was not!. I improvised, and ended up in a maze of one-way city streets, going in circles. Argh. It wasn't really a problem, except that we did not want to be late for kickoff.

Well, we finally found the place, and in time for kickoff, but then found out that the parking spaces out front were 24-minute parking spaces. Off we went to find a parking garage two blocks away. Double argh.

That's when we met him.

As we were walking out of the garage, in a bit of a hurry to get back to the Bills game that was now two blocks away, we passed a man sitting on the cement planter next to us. When we passed he said, "Can you guys help me out? I'm kinda hungry. I just need some food." I was intrigued by the request (he didn't ask for money, that I remember) and so I said, very spontaneously, "Well, we're headed up to a sports bar right now?" As I said it, I sorta invited him by gesturing.

To my surprise, he got up, and sort of gestured back, making sure I meant it, and I did. So, he followed us up to the restaurant.

We got to know Darren as we went. First names, then where he was from, and how he got to Monterey, CA. We sat down at a table and continued to talk. We don't have a lot of money, but we had saved some up for a little splurging for our 10th anniversary trip—and we got to share some with a homeless man named Darren.

He has a sad story of lots of broken family relationships. He has slight learning disabilities, and told us a crazy story about waiting for five years for social security benefits or something. Not sure the details, really, but I could tell what we have that he doesn't are the generous and loving family relationships, as well as close friends.

He stayed for the meal, and then thanked us again and took off. Not exactly how we had planned to spend lunch watching the Bills, but we were glad we could share.

The rest of the afternoon was a bit quieter (except for a rowdy table behind us) with only the occasional outburst from me and/or Jen when the Bills did something good. (It wasn't that often, so it really was kind of quiet.) :-)

The Bills did win, so that was awesome! JP Losman got into the game due to an injury to Trent Edwards. That should make for some crazy off-the-field drama this week. That's pretty annoying, but, that's just how it is.

We came back to our place and listened to the Bills post-game interviews, and got to talk with our kids (about the Bills game and more!) and then headed out for the rest of the afternoon/evening at the Fisherman's Wharf back in Monterey.

You never know what's going to happen when you head out the door. Today, we got to see the Bills win (as we hoped) and we also got to share a meal with Darren.

Very cool.

Thwarted!

Last night we recorded our Buffalo Bills show after a few technical difficulties to start. First, when we initially connected, there was a very bad echo on my Dave's side, but not on mine. He reconnected, then I did, then we started a whole new call... no luck. Was not going to work. I had told John to join us in a specific way using that service that was now too echo-y... so we scrapped that, and I called up John using Skype. All seemed well until the airport annoucements behind John nearly took over the conversation! It was frustrating, but kind of funny. Eventually, John was disconnected entirely, and we finished the show... glad to have gotten that over with.

When I came back to the office to do the final edit... I began listening and could not believe my ears. The echo was there—even though neither of us had heard it during recording—and it was unbearable. I could not go with what we had recorded. It was almost midnight, so we could not record again till the next day at least... I was not sure what to do.

I decided to post a note to the website saying we were having technical difficulties, and go get in bed with Jen and watch a movie on my laptop. I had one sitting around all week that I had gotten from the library, but never had time to watch. As I started watching it, though, the intro seemed familiar. It was a part three of a series, so I thought it was a recap. But the recap was taking a very long time. And it was all exactly what I remembered seeing before.... because.... I HAD seen it before! :-)

So again, my plans were thwarted. I ended up watching a TV show online that a friend had recommended on his blog. It was pretty interesting, but then... I just ended up going to sleep. :-)

The best laid plans...

So Far

I forget if I have posted the plans for this extended holiday weekend here or not (yes, it's Columbus Day on Monday... technically a holiday weekend...) so in case I haven't I will post retroactively:

• Thursday:
  • My sister and family come to town late at night, we hung out in the kitchen enjoying some homemade skyline chili and various other treats.
  
  
• Friday (ALEX'S BIRTHDAY!):
  • A special "Buffalo Bills pancakes" breakfast with the cousins
    
  • A trip to the community center to play in the gym (which was ruined first by an aerobics class taking up the whole gym, to which we adjusted by playing foosball and other things, until we could no longer take the way the staffer on duty kept making us feel thoroughly unwelcome in our own COMMUNITY center!!)
    
  • A nice walk through our town, tossing footballs to each other, followed by playing in our yard with all the kids (since we couldn't use the community center!)
    
  • Homemade Skyline for lunch (and some other stuff), and making Alex's birthday cake
    
  • Various games while the youngest ones slept
    
  • Grammy & Grandpa arrived for cake, ice cream, and opening presents!
    
  • Head out for dinner at Red Robin, only to find the wait at least one hour... so we went to Wendy's instead!
    
  • Chuck E. Cheese, where the Velasquezes joined us! Tons of games, and lots of tickets won! Alex got a little tiny football for his efforts. :-)
    
  • Kids in bed, adults play Apples to Apples and enjoy some nice adult conversation, as well as a few caramel pecans from Esther Price!!! (Thanks, Mom!) :-)
  
  
• Saturday:
  • Grammy & Grandpa are still in town, so we'll be spending the day with them at their camp site. Swimming, mini golf, and other fun stuff!
  
  
• Sunday:
  • Breakfast with Grammy & Grandpa before they leave
    
  • Apple picking with friends, an annual tradition!
    
  • FOOTBALL!! (But not the Bills...)
  
  
• Monday:
  • Free lunch in the late morning from the new Lowes (grand opening special invite to local businesses)
    
  • Drive to Clarence for a fun Columbus Day Kids Festival event at Grandma & Grandpa's church
    
  • Naps, and/or hanging out with family/friends in the afternoon
    
  • MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: COWBOYS @ BILLS ... watching with friends in HD, eating CHICKEN WINGS! Then, driving home after the game.

Yeah, that about does it. :-)

Looking (Linking?) Back

What a week! I'm sitting here on my porch with a nice hot cup of tea, at one in the morning, following an hour of trying to restore the network here in my house... have I mentioned before that I have four routers on my network for six or seven computers? Yeah... I need an IT department...) and I finally feel relaxed. :-)

It's been that kind of week. I actually don't think I took any sort of real break today. I know I didn't eat anything until dinner. That was kinda crazy... I just couldn't stop. Too much to do. At least, that's how it felt.

I mentioned earlier this week that the blog has been silent not because there's nothing to say, nothing to share... just simply because there was no time where I could sit down and share. Here's a quick overview of the past while for the Campbell family...

Work
Some people still have no idea what I do, but if you look at our income taxes, you can see that the majority of our money comes through my web design business. Just a couple weeks ago that picked up again big time! I got a few new clients (The Center For Body Wellness, First Church of Christ Binghamton (still their old site), and I'm working on a brochure for Angel Eyes Security), and lots of new work for current clients (Houston Nutraceuticals, The Scarlet Thread, Orient Express Band, Christian Way Farm, and Project URGE) and some stuff that I have not gotten started on yet for other existing clients (In House Graphics, Cross Creek Church, and Aussie Hill Alpacas.)

Whew! And the crazy part is, I'm sure I forgot a few! (By the way, if you clicked on all those links, you should get a prize. I'm not sure who you'll get it from, but you should get one.) :-)

Add to that all of the hosting accounts that I must regularly maintain (email problems, hosting questions, domain renewals, hosting invoices, technical support, and the list continues) as well as my OWN sites I need to maintain (GregsApples.com and BuffaloBillsReview.com get the majority of my attention. Though, my blog does get updated now and then. My web design site is horribly neglected, however. I did post a few links to the ol' Link-O page I maintain this past week...

Apple Sales
ON TOP OF ALL THAT... I have about a dozen peoples and/or businesses who are maybe at step 3 out of 5 in the purchase process for a new Mac. (OK, yes... I made that up. I just mean they are all pretty close!) So I've been doing a lot of research, communication, and question answering there. Even sent out a newsletter last week. :-)

If you're interested in a new computer, or even an iPod or AppleTV... stop by my store! Or, shoot me an e-mail. I can probably help you out.

Buffalo Bills Review
In talking with a few friends this week, I realized that some folks don't know that I - along with my partners in crime Dave Drake, John Dupra, and Dre Smith - am something of an international celebrity. :-) OK, not entirely, but we have found a small bit of success with our little show, now in its third season. It's a fun hour of Bills fans talking Bills football. We have guests on now and again, including some current Bills players like Brian Moorman the Pro Bowl punter. The team is 0-3 this year, but that hasn't stopped our downloads, and iTunes ranking from continuing to rise. Guess we're doing something right. :-)

And, it's tons of fun. :-)

Well, as I said, we must be doing something right, because all of a sudden we have had three websites contact us to purchase ads on our website! That's great! The site is finally not only paying for itself, but even making a little money. (Just a little, mind you... but it's a start!) I've been busy the last couple weeks setting up our various advertisers as well. (And of course, keeping up with all the latest Bills news. Anyone aware of all the insane injuries the Bills have sustained through only three weeks this year?? It's just nuts!)

Family
AS IF that all was not enough... we still have four kids to take care of, and boy do they need taking care of! :-) Hehe... :-)

One good thing, family-wise, has been that Jen & I have been trying to get one night (or even daytime) out per week. We have an awesome babysitter, and we try to take full advantage of that. :-)

Facebook
Oh, and I mentioned this before, but I must say I am enjoying the wonder that is Facebook. I have reconnected with - and stayed connected with - so many folks through that site over just about a month's time. Very cool. Almost too addicting, though!

MONK!
Oh yeah... the other thing that has taken some of my time over the past several weeks... we're Monk junkies! We're most of the way through season four now, and looking forward to seasons five and six! We are getting them on DVD from our library system! AWESOME! Free Monk! :-) The show is hilarious (we think) and such a breath of fresh air compared to just about EVERY other current TV show. Even though it's about a homicide detective, it's not over the edge as far as graphic grossness. The language is tolerable. It's just nicer on the soul. And, it's funny. :-) (Plus, it has revealed the OCD in me. I find myself straightening things all the time, and cleaning things... pretty funny.) :-)

Man. No wonder I never post anything here anymore. :-)

Anyone Still Here?

It's been a quiet week at GregsHead.net, but as I'm sure you all know, that means it has not been at Greg's House. The Campbell home has been busy with everyday things that a growing family of six has to do. Regular everyday things. But Dad has been super busy with lots of new work! This is a super blessing (which I mentioned here on the blog some time recently) but has left my head spinning at the end of most (abnormally long) days last week. And I'm still behind where I want to be.

This week promises to be more of the same, but I do think I shall chime in here with a link or two, maybe time enough to post an original thought or two. Or three. I do love to (almost need to) process life here on the blog, and love that you join me in the process. I have been reading many blogs (that belong to many of you who read this one) over the past week or so. Perhaps it's more of a soak in time than a release out time?

What I do know is that BuffaloBillsReview.com is certainly keeping me busy, but less happily so! Our team is a dreadful 0-3, and has sustained such an incredible number of injuries as I have never seen for any NFL team in my history of watching. Crazy.

I'll check back in later. Hope your week is full of Life.

Interesting Articles: Space, The Web & Miracles

I found a couple articles that interested me in my news feed this morning...

One Small Step Toward a Mars Landing ... at Sea
Reid Stowe is a "professional adventurer" (what exactly is that?) who is 100 days into a 1000 day stay on a small boat in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. His goal is to help NASA prepare for what it will be like to have a very small group of people on a small vessel for close to three years. Interesting research project. He also has a website aptly named 1000 Days At Sea.


How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform
With my recent delve into the world of Facebook (finding and reconnecting with friends whom I have not had any contact with for over 20 years!) I noticed this headline, and found the article quite interesting. I had heard earlier that Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, had refused a $1 Billion purchase offer, but did not know the rest. Including the estimate that Facebook is now worth at least $5 Billion. Good job, Mark.

'Minor Miracle' For Everett
This is the best article, at least regarding the substance of its content. As you likely know, Buffalo Bills TE Kevin Everett suffered a life-threatening spinal injury on Sunday during the Bills/Broncos game. We were there. It was awful. Even worse was the report from the doctor who performed surgery the next day. (Watch Monday's press conference at BuffaloBills.com.) But last night, reports began surfacing that Everett was able to move his arms and legs, and doctors are actually optimistic that he will walk out of the hospital. That's just insane!

If it's true.

I would suggest guarded excitement as I am having trouble corroborating this story. There are no updates on BuffaloBills.com, which is extremely suspicious. I'll keep digging, but the linked article above does seem quite hopeful, and credits a few trustworthy sources. We shall see. From what I heard on Monday, even Kevin's survival is a "minor miracle".

More Kevin Everett Links:

• Send Kevin a Message of Support
  
• Shocked, Soaked, and Sad (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)
  
• Week One Overview: Some Highs, Too Many Lows (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)

Bills Lose More Than a Football Game

We were four of the 74,000 fans in attendance at yesterday's home opener for the Buffalo Bills, and we were four of 74,000 shocked fans at the end of the game thanks to a winning field goal with only one SECOND left on the clock (which was still running down when they snapped the ball!)

Unfortunately, we were also four of 74,000 stunned and silent fans when Kevin Everett made a tackle that may have paralyzed him for the rest of his life. He suffered a cervical spine injury (I believe that's a neck injury) when he tackled the return man on the opening kickoff of the second half. He was down for around 15 minutes, and when I saw the hit I reacted audibly, thinking it was a super hit. A little too super. The ambulance came out on the field, and I was just hoping he was not dead.

He's not dead, but I bet he's scared. A lot.

The Buffalo News reported last night that he had surgery, and the doctors want to wait till later today to make any further diagnoses. We can still hope for the best. Certainly God can heal/restore anything. But for now, it does not look good for this young man. So sad.

We'll be doing a show tonight, and I'm sure talking about that. Strange how that is in the forefront of the minds of most Bills fans today, rather than the shocking last second loss by one point on a day when the Bills led for 59 min and 59 seconds of the game.

Perhaps our priorities are actually in the right place.

Countdown To Opening Day!

I am writing a series of short articles for the Buffalo Bills Review highlighting what I think are probably the top four questions (at least, they are for me) heading into the 2007 season. Stop by our articles page to read them all. I posted the third of four articles today. I'll link them individually below.

4: Can We Stop The Ru(i)n?
3: RB By Committee... Will It Work?
2: Moss & Chambers & Coles... Oh My!
1: Are We Too Young?

Bloggifying

Every once in a while... the blog gets all backed up. I have about 5 or 6 blogs in the queue... at various stages of completion. It's been a full week of working on various things (like an interview with Brian Moorman for the Buffalo Bills Review tonight) and now working on a video project for some friends. They just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic. Plus there are a few new jobs I am setting up, as well as still trying to sell our trailer.

Stay tuned... there will be a content explosion sometime soon at GregsHead.net...

Just thought I'd warn you. ;-)

Go Bills!

I just noticed that it's been three days since my last post! (Not really, but by the calendar days here, it looks like that!) That's crazy! Didn't really take a vacation, just been writing elsewhere. It's Buffalo Bills season! So, in addition to my article following Friday night's game, I've been spending a little time chatting with fellow Bills fans on the Buffalo Bills forums. (As well as some other forums - here, and here.)

Tomorrow night (um... tonight, if you're going by the date posted...) we'll be heading up to St John Fisher College with the boys to go to the Bills' night practice! Never been to one of those. I hear they are a blast. Some more "real" action than the daytime practices. A bit more for the fans.

Then Friday night we'll see our first live action of the season. We'll be in attendance (with our boys again!) at Ralph Wilson Stadium for the Bills/Falcons game! It's just pre-season... so, definitely not the same as regular season. But you try telling that to our five and eight year old boys. ;-) I'm sure they'll be having "regular season" fun!

Never been a better time to subscribe to our Buffalo Bills Show! New hosts, more articles, even new t-shirts (info coming soon). You can use the regular old RSS feed, or subscribe at iTunes!

Go Bills!

BUFFALO BILLS FOOTBALL IS HERE!!!

Yes that's right... it's officially here. The Buffalo Bills 2007 season begins tonight. The first official game, although technically "pre" season. They will play the New Orleans Saints on their home turf... on national TV! That means YOU can see it. It will be on CBS at 8pm EDT. I hope you'll stop by and watch a bit. There are some exciting new players on this team.

We'll be watching Marshawn Lynch, who will get a good number of carries/touches. We'll be watching Paul Posluszny, our 2nd round pick, rookie LB. We'll be watching DT John McCargo, coming off a bad foot injury. We'll be watching new O-linemen Langston Walker and Derrick Dockery. We'll be watching Trent Edwards... rookie QB battling for the back-up job. Should get a good bit of playing time.

But mostly we're just happy to be watching!

The BILLS ARE BACK!

Go Bills!!!

Thurman Thomas in the Hall of Fame

If you missed it, Thurman Thomas was enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend! That's fun stuff for Bills fans! Thurman was definitely one of the key elements of our FOUR CONSECUTIVE Super Bowls. He and Jim Kelly definitely deserve to be the first two from that team (besides Coach Marv Levy) to be added to the Hall of Fame.

There's a bunch of great stuff about Thurman online... check out the article I posted tonight at BuffaloBillsReview.com. There are several links there including a couple to videos of his speech given yesterday at the NFLHOF in Canton, OH.

He was an incredible player, and it was fun to re-live the memories as I read the articles and watched the videos this week. Congrats, Thurman!

This Is New...

I was checking out our Buffalo Bills Review page at the iTunes store tonight. A few people have added some reviews of our show, which I think helps people find and decide to subscribe to the show. That's cool, and we appreciate the comments/reviews.

But I noticed in the "bread crumb" navigation at the top that there was a new main category called "Amateur". That's new. One of the amazing things about iTunes for podcasters is that everything is equal. Our show is just as available as one put out by ESPN. And, it still is that way... but I wonder if they might be moving toward separating them?

Just for fun, I clicked on the Amateur tab and found out that our show is one of the Featured Podcasts! So, that's pretty neat.

But overall, I really hope they don't separate the "amateur" and the "professional". I know I don't get paid to do BBR, but man, I think it's (at least pretty close to) professional quality? (Have a listen if you've never caught an episode. Good stuff... especially for Bills fans.) There are way too many super bad amateur podcasts on iTunes, so I understand the idea of separating them, but I would hope that they don't ever completely separate them. We'll just have to see...

But for now, we're a featured Amateur podcast! Sweet! :-)

The Weekend That Was, Is, And Is To Come

Usually I don't tell about a busy weekend in the middle of it, but I thought I'd make an exception today. I told a friend via e-mail (actually, it was on Facebook) that this weekend was going to be packed full... and I just wanted to write it down so I could remember what a crazy weekend the fifth weekend of July 2007 was. (And I can use this as a sort of "To Do" list for the things that we have yet to do ...) :-)

Last night I stayed up pretty late working on the song set for Sunday morning (read below) and chatting with various folks on the internet. (Why was everyone else on so late??) I was also doing a little prep work for a possible interview with Brian Moorman, the Buffalo Bills punter. All of this while knowing the day today would begin quite early. It didn't matter... something kept me going. The tasks, yes, but somehow I was just awake.

I finally hit the sack around 3:45 or so, and just felt really awake. So, sometime after 4:00 I finally drifted off to sleep, only to hear the shrill sound of my alarm at 8:00am. It seemed like mere moments. :-)

I think I hit snooze. :-) Then I rolled out of bed around 8:15 or so and tried to wake myself up with some tea and reading emails and blogs. (Yes, believe it or not, some had been updated between 4:00am and 8:00am...) I did a little more prep for the potential interview with the Bills punter, and got a call around 8:50am from our friends for whom I had so early arisen. They needed help moving, so I offered to help before training camp began that afternoon.

Well, turns out they had packed their computers already, but had forgotten to check the emails for where to get the moving truck. :-) So, my friend joined me at our breakfast table for a quick check of his email, and then was off to get the truck with his wife. Good thing we were running a little behind, though. I had a few errands to run.

At 9:30 am, I headed out on foot to get the song sheet prepared the night before to the church on the corner. I delivered that, then headed to our library to drop off a video. Off to the post office next (a few blocks away) to check for a hosting payment that has STILL not arrived. Box was empty. (Except for a decent Pizza Hut coupon...) So, scratch that trip to the bank I had planned.

Instead I just headed straight over to our friends' house to start loading up the truck. Except... no truck. They hadn't left right when I thought they had, so it was going to be a while. Already 10:00, I decided to walk back and check on Jen. That was probably good as when I got back, I was able to reply to a phone message regarding a meeting later on that day to get our new Buffalo Bills Review t-shirts!

(Are you still with me?) :-)

So after about 30 minutes at home, I headed back to the moving house and the truck was there! We managed to move a decent amount of boxes and firmly entrenched furniture. So, even though I had to leave around noon, I felt like my time had been at least slightly useful to them. That was nice.

When I got home, I helped get lunch ready (at least helped Jen decide what to warm up from the fridge!) and showered, then checked on the interview one more time. It just felt rushed in the middle of everything else we were trying to do - so I decided to postpone it. I eventually e-mailed my Bills contact and asked to set it up for later.

But we still had plenty to do.

1:30pm, all are fed, most is ready for the trip to BILLS TRAINING CAMP!!! We were to meet our friends the Drakes there (he co-hosts the Buffalo Bills Review with me) as well as that t-shirt delivery guy. That all went off without (much of) a hitch. We ended up even parking in the VIP parking lot, since we looked sort of official. Yes, it was a bending of the rules (I need an official pass to do that) but we were treated kindly by an understanding parking lot attendant.

Bills camp was fun! Weather was decent (not too hot!) and it was just SO FUN to see the Buffalo Bills right in FRONT of us again!!!! It was a relatively light workout, but was still fun to watch. Some good plays made.

In addition to the football, I was there on official business. A friend loaned me his iPod recording device (you stick it in your iPod) and so I went around to various fans asking them if they'd like to be on our show. A few politely declined, but most said, "Sure!" It was a lot of fun. Really perfect stuff for our show, which we say is "The Show By Bills Fans, For Bills Fans". It even says that on our shirts. :-)

After camp was over we headed out for some dinner together at a nearby McDonald's. It has a great PlayPlace, so that was the perfect choice. I had a fantastic Asian salad, by the way. Hadn't ever had their fancy salads. Marie got one, and it looked good... so I did too :-) Thanks, Marie! :-)

The PlayPlace was a good idea... but... it got WAY too loud. So we decided to hang out a bit more, and finish the afternoon/evening with some ice cream!!! (Yes, in fact, it IS National Ice Cream Month...) We got some Abbott's custard (a Rochester favorite) at Bill Gray's (add that to the ice cream list for the month!) and then finally parted ways as all of our children were just about completely exhausted.

I was getting there, too!

But one of the coolest parts of the day happened AFTER all of the other cool stuff! As we left the restaurant, it had just finished raining, and the sun was coming out again. Looking toward the eastern sky, there was a humongous FULL rainbow from one side of the sky to the other. Even a bit of a double rainbow on the left side. It was just fantastic!

BUT WE WEREN'T DONE!

As we drove home... another rainbow appeared in the Eastern sky... this one WAY more colorful, brighter, or whatever the proper description is. It was a full rainbow across the sky in front of us. It as quite bold, and just really amazingly beautiful. There was definitely a double rainbow this time. In fact, the double was almost complete! Simply incredible! I think the best rainbow I have ever seen. Certainly none top it. Could only equal it.

After the spectacular shows in the sky, we finally were home... and just got everyone ready for bed. We watched a quick episode of the Little Einsteins, then did baths/showers/etc. Once everyone was in bed, it was time for Dad to make Skyline for tomorrow's lunch, so, Jen & I spent a little time in the kitchen, listening to this week's God Journey podcast as I cooked and cleaned up a bit.

Oh yeah.. did the laundry in there too... :-)

Whew. Glad Friday is over. But there are TWO MORE DAYS!

Quick preview...

• Our friends are bringing their girls over tomorrow so they can have a kidless day