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1. Anonymous commentors
2. Holier than thou type folks
3. Spitefulness
4. Ganging up on folks
5. Smacking food
6. Seeing people’s nose hairs
7. Chunky turtlenecks on dudes
8. Pastel colored Crocs on dudes
9. When chicks hike their thongs WAY above the waist of their pants
10. Shopping at Walmart or Costco
11. Poor customer service
12. Going through a drive-thru and they don’t say anything, but just hand you your food
13. When guys walk around with no shirts on at ball games

1. Bennigan’s: I’ve been going to these since I lived in FL and have loved their Monte Cristo sandwich ever since. We have one in Santa Clara by Great America; so I make it a point to eat there whenever we go.
2. Chilis: This is our random joint and is the most frequented place for my family and me. I tend to like the 1/2 sandwich and soup combo where I’ll take a cup of their chile combined with their turkey sandwich with some bacon on it.
3. Famous Dave’s: I love their brisket, but their chopped pork is good too. Lately, I’ve been doing salads there, which isn’t right for a BBQ joint.
4. Olive Garden: My favorite thing here is their salad and breadsticks.
5. Red Robin: Ahh… speckled lemonade and turkey burgers… what more can I say?
6. Subway: Love getting the veggie on honey oat bread or their turkey breast in salad.
7. Black Angus: Usually I get the salmon, but I do occasionally get their prime rim too. It’s all good
8. Chevy’s: Had the fish tacos tonight. I can’t eat them anywhere else, but Chevy’s uses salmon and they just don’t taste fishy.
9. Bobby Van’s Steakhouse: If you ever make it to NY, go for their lemon pepper shrimp. I love this place when I travel there.
10. P.F. Chang’s: Their mongolian beef is quite good. But I just had their stir-fried spinach with garlic and it was pretty good. A lot of spinach, without much else. But it was still good.
11. Sbarro’s in most malls: It’s like those Jack in the Box tacos… not really sure what that greasy mess is, but holy cow it goes down well. Just slick stuff But actually like their pasta salad.
12. My step mom’s: She just cooks very well. But her shortribs, when she makes them, are to die for.
13. My mother-in-law’s: Funny! She’s all Thai and cook everything but Thai. But I love it when she has a vegetable tray for me. I love veggies with a little salt. But everything else is good too. The only downside of doing dinner with her is that I can gain 10lbs per weekend. At least it feels that way.

Okay… so this really is what we look like in our family. Now, this happens to be a bit of an extreme. Normally I’m working in my office there. Yep… that’s my office. No kidding! But Chelle is usually sitting at the dining room table in the background. In fact, she’s back over there now. LOL! And Brendan is usually sitting in the living room sofa playing his games or printing things out to color. BTW, I’m in our family room, in case you were wondering about layout.

Yes, we’ve been like this for years. Brendan’s been on his own computer since he was only 2 years old. And Chelle…

But what you can’t see is that while we’re doing this, we’re actually enjoying family time of watching Bad News Bears (the remake). I’m not kidding. And this just what I’ve grown used to doing. I do all my best work (well… almost all) in that little Love Sac. I can go at it for up to 16 hours without getting up for food. Seriously, this is what I did when Chelle and Brendan were in NC last month.

Anyway, I looked over and saw Brendan and it occurred to me that I should snap a shot to share. Otherwise, you might be inclined to think I was making it up. Know what I mean?

1. Meet Joe Black: I can remember when Chelle and I first saw it. We were in the Porsche and watching it in the in-dash DVD. We went and got some philly cheesesteak sandwiches from Steven’s, which I really miss since they closed the one in Milpitas. …but that scene with Brad Pitt getting struck by the taxi still gets me to this day. Anyway, there we were, back home, in our garage, still watching the movie. I was an absolute mess. Between the Louisiana Hot Sauce and the absolute tear jerking drama, I must have had all sorts of snot running down my face. I know… real sexy, huh?
2. For Love of the Game: This is another one of those movies I absolutely love. I really love the chemistry between Costner and Preston. But I cannot watch that movie without crying like a little girl. I’m a real sucker for a good romance story.
3. Dodgeball: I hated this movie when it first came out. Hate’s a strong word, but I did it. I hated it. And I’m not talking about the very first time when Brendan puked all over… EVERYTHING in the theater. [mental note: when Brendan says, "My tummy hurts", don't just assume it's because he doesn't want to eat that theater hot dog.] But now, I love all the subtle humor in the movie. I think I watch it on average once every other day while I’m coding stuff. It’s one of my favorite coding movies these days
4. Hunt for Red October: This is one of the very few movies I like Alec Baldwin in. But it brings back fond memories of my nuclear days. [Gordan, curious on your take since you went through the same stuff and at the same time.]
5. Lord of the Rings (all of them): This is one of those movies that Chelle and I were like anxious little kids waiting for. After the first one, we were hooked.
6. Miracle: Okay… for those who haven’t seen this movie, see it! An incredible feel good movie and it makes me realize I forgot to list Rudy. Oops!
7. Angels in the Outfield: Hey, “It can happen”. Not much to say, except that I cry during this one too– especially when Roger finds out that Tony Danza’s character is going to die soon.
8. Cinderalla Man: No crying in this one and Renee Zellweger gets on my nerves big time. But I love Russel Crowe’s part in this. And Paul Giamatti is fantastic. Again… I love feel good movies like this. I need them to keep me going in my little David vs. Goliath startups I do.
9. Major League: Okay… bad acting, bad hair, bad everything. But I still love this movie and I always love it when they start playing “Wild Thing”.
10. Armageddon: So, don’t shoot me when I say that I’m not exactly wild over Liv Tyler in this movie. Her voice has little inflection in it and fortifies my thought that she’s merely eye candy. But I love the comaraderie in it. That chemistry between Harry’s crew is the kind I try to build in my startups. You absolutely NEED it!
11. The Right Stuff: Another feel good movie. I like the dude who plays Chuck Yeager. He’s just doing his “thing” in the background of all the hype. Guys… this is what heroes are made of and what I aspire to be. Just doing stuff in the background. I’ve had hype and so on. I prefer the quieter aspects of pulling off the impossible.
12. Wedding Crashers: Um… Vince Vaghn’s character is hilarious in this. What else can I say?
13. Field of Dreams: I must have watched this 20+ times in the past 2 months. Again, it’s in the background while I’m coding or doing business plan stuff. But that ending with he and his dad kills me every time. That is EXACTLY how I feel these days when I go riding motorcycles with my dad. We had our falling out years ago. But these days with him are simply cherished. And yes… I cry every time I see this. Gee, go figure.