Tyler and Bryan - heading home again

Sitting in Tampa waiting for their plane to leave the gate. I snapped this picture quickly before they revolted! We had such a great 8 days ... Lots of good talks, hanging out and spending time with each other.

What awesome young men these kids are turning into. I had quite a few friends tell me how amazing they are ... So polite, so sweet, so pleasant to be around. I am very proud of Tyler and Bryan ... I can not wait for the day when they can live with Dawn and I.

Q&A With Tyler And Bryan

I finally got these two boys sitting still long enough - the other day I asked them to answer the following three questions ... nothing earth shattering, I just wanted them to put their thoughts down so I could post it up here! If you have questions for Tyler and Bryan, leave a comment and I'll have them answer it.

Tell me about your most memorable Christmas:

Bryan – My memorable Christmas is flying on an airplane and seeing my dad and my step mom. It was the first time I saw Ms. Dawn.

Tyler – My most memorable Christmas was when I was about five or six. I visited the doctor about three or four times that week due to the fact that my parents had put angel hair on the tree and it severely screwed up my asthma. It was awful and I was miserable. That was my most memorable Christmas.

Tell me about the best present you gave someone:

Bryan - The best present I got someone was a watch for my mom. The watch has silver bars crossing each other.

Tyler – The best present I ever gave someone was my mom and it was a shrinky dink in the shape of a dog. The dog was green, red, burgundy, black, and brown with a purple head. My mom still has it and I complain to her to throw it away cause it’s cracked and chipped and has been thrown everywhere. That was the best present I gave someone.

What do you love the most about visiting your Dad?


Bryan - We do a lot of fun things. For example we went to Disney World, MGM, and Universal studios.

Tyler – What I love about visiting my dad is that when we come down we always do different things; like going to Universal, Disney World and Downtown Disney. I also love visiting their friends because they give me good advice just in case dad and Dawns’ lecturing doesn’t do the job. That’s why I love visiting my dad.

Caroling in Celebration!

Every year we (24 or so of our closest friends) all have dinner @ Cafe
D'Antonio's and then we break out the Christmas Carol books and sing
songs while the people visiting Celebration walk by looking at us funny!

Here is Tyler and Dawn doing their best at holding a tune!

Tyler and Bryan can actually share!

We stopped in Tampa to grab some sustinance before our hour long trek
home.

Here they are showing me how well they share ... Ha ha

Tyler And Bryan Arrive Today

We are getting ready to have Tyler and Bryan come chill for the next 8 days. Dawn just got back home from a quick trip to Kentucky and I just landed a 4 week job helping a local marketing agency on the social media side of a campaign for one of their clients. Its really exciting, because my plan is to show them what I can do on this project and hopefully they will ask me to help them out on future projects.

So ... stay tuned for updates this week. I'll be posting pictures, stories and such. Maybe I'll give Tyler and Bryan a writing project to post here on the blog. Hmmmmmmmm

Anyway - hope you all are well ... more to come later.

Politics And The Game

Well - my first election has come to a close. Not even close, I had my ass handed to me by an arrogant, self serving opponent who played the game better than I. I walk away with my head held high, my integrity intact and my pride a tad bit bruised.

That said - what I also walk away with is the knowledge of who is actually in my corner and who is on the fence, I walk away knowing who I can turn to and who I should avoid and the greatest lesson I learned was who I know to be my true supporters are actually and honestly behind me 100% of the way!

I was just taught a very valuable lesson today - one that someone has to walk through to learn. Its not something that can be told and understood, its not something that you can read in a book and practice it. Its the lesson of great loss. I am not talking a loss of a hockey game, or a loss of a poker hand ... its not a loss of a "sure thing" wager where the underdog pulls a miracle out of nowhere in the last seconds and wins it by one point. This is the pain of true failure - an epic loss by 60+% ... one where you look back and say ... even if I did try a little harder, I would have still failed.

So - right now, I am raw ... not really enjoying this feeling, but knowing I have to make it through, I have no choice - this is not the end. Its just another lesson that I needed to learn ... something that has forged my character to become even sharper, clearer, stronger. This is not a stumbling block, this is not an obstacle - this is only a learning experience - this is ONLY what makes me stronger.

Politic Is Synonymous With Pander

As I run for our local community development district (CDD) seat I am finding it a learning experience every time I turn around. I was looking up words online last night for another post I did regarding the NHL and I ran across the synonyms for "Pander" and there it was "politic" ... it gave me a chuckle.

Does it strike anyone else as humorous that these two words can be associated with eachother? The more I walk around town, talking to residents of Celebration, asking for their vote - I am realizing there are quite a few distinct types of people here.

1. Those who dont really know what a CDD is or does
2. Those who do know, and really WANT something done
3. Those who do not know what a CDD does, yet still want something done
4. Those who do know, and want something done that the CDD has no control over

I do not know which type of person I am going to come across until I am allready knee deep into the conversation ... this might seem fun at first, but lemme tell ya!!! I really enjoy talking to those who do know what a CDD is yet want something done that the CDD has no control over. It gives me a new found respect for elected officals.

As I sit and watch the barrage of presidential commercials on TV ... and the more and more vague these two candidates are in their messages I realize they have to talk this way in order to survive. Everyone has heard the saying "you cant please everyone, all the time" ... I would like to reword it by saying "you cant please everyone ... EVER!"

It is pretty awesome running for office ... I am crossing my fingers and really want to be elected. I think that in the end, it is every politicians desire to contribute to our foundation as a country, to be part of the solution and do good. I will always look back on this experience as an incredible lesson.

Salem Cemetary

This place has one of the original Mayflower passengers. There are
also other historical people buried here ... Along with a bunch of
people convicted of witchcraft.

This trip has been really interesting today ... I did not think I
would enjoy Salem as much as I have.

Dawn is dragging me on a walking tour of "haunted" Salem tonight ...
Hopefully I don't scream to loud! Ha ha

From Sam Adams to Cheers!

We started off the afternoon doing a brewery tour of Sam Adams!
Finished the afternoon @ Cheers for a quick bite ... And NO ... They
did not know my name!!!

Looking for a jumpin breakfast joint

Ran across this delicious dive ...

The View From Our Seats!

So - here is the view from our seats when we go watch the Lightning play. I am sooooo very excited about this ... not only do I get to watch the BEST sport in the world, but I get to watch it from nice comfy leather chairs, right behind the goalie, and Dawn will be with me!!!

So - stay tuned this year for my mobile updates during the games. Oh yea - did I mention that these seats come with free food and drinks??? *smile*

THATS how I roll!

**Click on the picture for a better look.

Heading Home

What an awesome weekend ... The concert was a hit - my boys like Swing
music now! I am surprised how fast this weekend went. In just a
couple months the will be here for Christmas .. For a whole week!

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

This has to be one of the BEST bands to see live!!! I looooooove this
group.

On our way out of the park

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was a hit - we had such a great time with the
boys - Dawns mom and sister joined us in the evening and shared dinner
with us and the boys! Kinda sad for it to be almost over ... But MAN
am I tired!!!!!! Overall ... it was a wonderful weekend and I would not trade anything in the world for the past 48 hours.

Wasabi Pea Eating Contest!!!

Dawn and Bryan are going toe to toe seeing who will give up first. My
money is on Bryan at this point ... He can still talk! Ha ha

Epcot - just got here, at least they are smiling! Heading to England for a beer then off to explore the wonderful countries and their different foods!

The Arrival Of The Boys!!!

That's right, Tyler and Bryan are heading down to Orlando this weekend. I get so excited every time they come to visit ... and I am doubly excited this time because we are going to Epcot! Not only is it cool taking my boys to Epcot, watching them run around, pulling Dawn and I here and there ... they laughing, the fun, the "magic" ... this weekend is also the kick off to the International Food and Wine Festival in Epcot. This even runs every year for about 8 weeks and every country puts out a little booth and serves samplings of food from their country, along with a beer and wine *smile*. So not only do we get to have fun with the boys, take them on the rides, laugh, play and skip (OK, maybe not skip) ... but we also get to force foreign food down their throat and watch the different faces they make when we tell them they just ate a duck liver, or a snail, or even worse ... A VEGETABLE!!!

It just warms my heart to prepare and think of all the torture I get to put my wonderful sons through this weekend ... *giggle* Now ... for the BIG news!!! My FAVORITE band is playing in Epcot tonight too. That's Right ... not only do I get to see my Bad Ass kids ... Take them to Epcot for hours of laughable fun ... threaten them with bodily harm if they don't eat snails *snicker* ... Enjoy the BEST food and wine festival in the world ... I also get to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!!!!!!!! For a sampling of BBVD's smooth and tasty digs check out this little homemade video from one of their concerts last year *no - not mine!* - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_sH04aRcGk

Other than that ... its going to be a lighting fast weekend with the boys ... I am sure I'll be posting some pictures of the festivities here on the blog so keep checking (if you want to) - or you can just come back another day and catch up on all the fun we had! *grin*

Is Social Media Worth The Time?

Recently I have been engaged in a few heated discussions regarding the value of “Social Networks” and Social Media. It seems to me there is a rather large group of people in society that believe Social Networks (MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter) are for kids or single people looking to “hook up!” I also listen to their reasoning that some people use social media as a shield to hide behind in order to avoid actually meeting people in person. I personally believe social media has more pluses than minuses and can be used to not only improve your network of knowledge it can also help your business and your brand. There is a long list of benefits, for me, regarding social media ... here are a few that come to my mind:

Information Exchange : Social Media is the vehicle available to everyone for information. Depending on what information you are looking for will depend on the response you get from a social network. The trick is, to just start using social media and try out a social network before you tell me it’s full of perverts who just want to talk about sex.

Commonality : Using social networks you can find people or groups who share views, beliefs, or business ideas. These same people own businesses, manage people, work in a technology field, want to learn from you and your failures, just as you will learn from their lessons.

Familiarity : Once you begin to use social media and social networks and develop “relationships” with the people you talk to, Twitter with or post for, you will begin to learn about them as a person. View their pictures on Flickr, read their personal blog and learn about their families. It is what happens when you have a conversation with people on an ongoing basis. People I have never met and probably would never have had the opportunity to meet if not for social media have introduced themselves to me either after I’ve connected via Twitter, commented on one of their blog posts or referenced a post in one of mine.

Learn : Just as you are posting your thoughts, your business ideas, your opinions – you are also reading others … I learn something every day through a blog, a Tweet, an email. My social network teaches me something new about this medium 7 days a week.

Communicate : I belong to a few different groups – I use Twitter to get my message to many people at once when I need instant communication. Yet another benefit of social media.
I know there will be those skeptics out there when it comes to social media. My suggestion is, you need to try it in order to understand the value it can be to you and your business. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s OK - it may not be the right marketing activity, it may not be the right avenue for your success, but if you are considering social media as a marketing strategy, start with the basics - a blog, LinkedIn and a Facebook profile. Once you get these going, then add Twitter. After that, it’s up to you to determine which other tools may be beneficial to you based on your target market and how you want to reach them. Social Media is all about how you use it, keep in mind that it is a mindset and not a product!

How do you use Social Media in your business? How have you incorporated Social Networking into your business plan and how has it affected you and your company, department, product?

Happy Birthday Tyler - 16 years old!

16 Years ago TODAY I was introduced to my first son … August 22nd 1992 … William Tyler Samuel Brister was born. Weighing in at 5 pounds 6 ounces (or something like that) he was bound and determined to let us all know that we needed him more than he needed us. He didn’t like to be held, he preferred being wrapped in a blanket and left alone. If you tried to pick him up, he would scream and well … not much has changed in 16 years.

You should see the agility in this young man when I (or my Mom, Dad, Dawn, anyone) tries to give him a kiss. Evidently, these days its sooo not cool to let your dad hug and kiss you. I am glad I was not this difficult when I was 16 … its also refreshing to know that I had it so much more together than Tyler does now. *smile*

What an amazing 16 years this has been with Tyler. I am so proud of him as a young man, his maturity and his ability to carry on a conversation will take him far in life and his heart is soooo caring. Its been said before that Tyler and I are identical (although I would probably guess that most would say I was the better looking one) … I think I would have to say that I am proud to call Tyler my son … I am proud to introduce Tyler to my friends and I am never, ever concerned about what Tyler is going to do, say or how he will behave. Tyler is an AMAZING role model for his brother (however, his grades could use a little help) but who am I to talk about grades? All I can do is support him and guide him.

Another thing I am proud of is the relationship Tyler and Dawn have developed. From the first time they met Tyler greeted Dawn with open arms and a huge smile. Since then they have grown closer and have become pretty tight. Its pretty cool having so many people love and cherish your kids ... the coolest thing is Dawn's family and how they have included both Tyler and Bryan in their lives.

Here is where it all started ... the first time Tyler and Bryan and Dawn met. December 2004 ... Thank god they all liked each other (secret is I threatened them with bodily harm if they didn't like Dawn! *grin*)


















Here is a picture of Tyler @ Epcot during.























Another picture @ Epcot























Yea - Driving - I know - Dont remind me!























Tyler and Bryan @ the airport - heading home from a wonderful visit!

Its amazing to see how much they have changed in only 4 years ... I can not wait to see the next 4 and the 4 after that! I am VERY blessed.

Excuses are like ...

How many times have I said I am going to focus on posting to my personal blog? How many times have I told both of you (I would be surprised if I had more than 2 readers - ha ha)? Ok, once again, I am going to put my blog on my "To Do" list and commit to posting at least ONCE A WEEK! So, what I need from anyone reading this stale and stagnant repository of personal content is if you see me go more than 7 days without posting - send me an email and ask me why I dont care enough about my friends to keep them updated on my wonderful and exciting life! ha ha ... we'll see how that goes.

To catch you all up to speed, Dawn is in her final days of her 9 day Singapore trip ... she flies home on Monday, arrives @ 8pm and turns around Tuesday afternoon to fly to Dallas for 2 days. She is going to be destroyed when she gets home next week ... My plan next weekend includes drawn shades, calm music, a massage and NO plans. She has had a hard trip this time ... in 5 weeks, she will have been home 7 days! Thats right ... out of 35 days, my poor wife has spent 7 nights in her own bed. I think she deserves and has earned a nice Spa day ... dont you?

For me ... I have been working, playing and posting (www.dailydeke.com) yea, I know ... the "other" blog. I am also 3 months into learning and playing Hockey! So far, it has been beyond GREAT ... it has been incredible and insipring. I am having sooo much fun learning how to play the sport I love so much. I'll be talking more about my lessons and the skills I learn.

I am in the red - ready for the faceoff!

Ready for the break away ... rushing the net!
















We spent 9 wonderful days in California with my parents and the boys ... Tyler and Bryan spent 3 weeks in July with the Grandparents and then Dawn and I joined them for the last week. It was non-stop ... Dawn and I were ran into the ground by the time we got home, but it was awesome hanging with the boys and my parents. So - for now ... till next time!

Welcome Home!

Dawn gets home from a 9 day trip to Singapore and I must make sure I
have her favorites available - yea, I'll be here too!

My Wife ... For President???

I could not believe my eyes when I saw this ... I was flipping channels last night when I saw this news story break. How could I not have known this was happening? I know my wife is brilliant ... I know she would be an amazing leader ... I just didnt know she had so many backing her!!!

Hockey Blogs And Internet Talk Shows

Hey all ... me again to announce a GREAT new endeavor. I have joined forces with another hockey blogger out of Denver. Grant and I met through Twitter (www.twitter.com) about 2 months ago and we have started doing a weekly podcast (Internet talk show) regarding the NHL and whats going on with the sport. Things have gone so well, we decided to merge our 2 blogs. So ... moving forward ... http://icejunkies.blogspot.com is now www.dailydeke.com

So - check us out over there ... listen to our weekly podcast about the NHL and Hockey in general and let me know what you think.

Not much else going on here ... Dawn is getting ready to jaunt off to London for another week starting June 2nd - 7th ... and it looks like Singapore will be next for her.

Hope you all are doing well and don't forget -

www.dailydeke.com

Updates and Hockey!

Dawn is heading back to England in 2 weeks ... then she is working on a Singapore / Australia jaunt. She has been busy busy with Cisco and her customer videos. I am sooooo proud of her and the product that she is giving to Cisco has been well received.

With me ... I am working with my boss on QA metrics for measuring how the company is functioning. I have never been in QA before and I am learning some great skills in analytics. Who knew excel could do so many things. Another great addition to my life is a Hockey team. I have joined a beginners Hockey league and start playing actual hockey every Monday night. I'll have Dawn come out and take some pictures of me and my mad stick handling skills. HA

The boys are going to San Francisco to spend 3 weeks with Grandma and Grandpa in July ... they are very excited about that. Dawn and I will be heading out the 3rd week in July to hang out with everyone.

Other than that ... life goes on!

Habits - Hard To Break, Hard To Form

How many times have I told myself, along with the 2 readers of this blog that I plan on posting more frequently here. I think about it each day (seriously) ... something will cross my mind, I'll hear something that conjures up a memory of something and I will think "Oohhh - I should post something about that!" To no avail ... weeks, months go by no postings!

Well ... its time to do something about that. It is so easy to get all wrapped up in daily life and not have the time to sit and reflect on little clues that life throws at you to help you make the most out of it as a person. 2 days ago (April 24th) Dawn and I did our very first 5K jog/walk (walking being the key word) ... but it was still a fast walk. We did the 5k with 10,000 other Orlando area people and it turned out to be an amazing event. Dawn and I, walking and talking, and sharing and laughing and just being out was so cool ... some of the conversations that came up between us during the walk were deep and insightful and some of the discussions were focused on those silly people ahead of us who decided to take heart in the "jog" aspect of the "jog/walk" portion of the 5k. All in all it was wonderful walking with my wife and sharing yet another memory with her.

I am also working on expanding my knowledge of things ... internet and computer related things. Social Media and Social Networking being the main focus for me right now. I think that there is so much potential with this new Social movement going on out here in TriDub land (www) ... everytime I turn around there is another company being launched that will help you do something - save time here and there, communicate with your friends, make new friends, dont forget the birthday reminders! Speaking of ... Its my birthday today ... which explains why all the deep thought and thinking in retrospect.

I have had this blog now for 16 months ... I have blogged about my wedding to Dawn, our honeymoon, our vacations, our kids, our trips away, Dawn's business trips, my company I started, my company I closed down. I have also included stories and pictures of my family and especially Tyler and Bryan, both who have grown into very smart and adoreable young men.

My goal for this blog going forward is to create an online journal of my life, my thoughts, passions, beliefs and convictions. My love of gadgets and technology, my journey through life alonside Dawn and my roll as father to the two greatest boys on earth. Every once in a while I'll force Dawn to contribute to this blog and throw her 2 cents into the mix.

So dont give up on this blog quite yet ... leave comments, ask questions, thats what this Social Media is all about! Its not a technology or platform or offering some new Web 2.0 company brings to you. Social Media is a mindset ... its a way of living and thinking and it is what will revolutionize the current way we use the World Wide Web from now on.

Peace to you all ... till next time.

Daytona 500 - Pictures

Here is a slideshow of our trip to the 50th Anniversary of the Daytona 500. I'll add more later ... but this was one of those moments in life that will be remembered forever!

Finally - A Post From Dawn!

So many things to say. . .

My big news today. Bernardo had a bath. He hates me, especially because I tried to be "nice" and blow dry him so he would not be cold. He was NOT amused. He is however enjoying being cooked for. Our friend Robin has me convinced the dog food will kill him, so now he's on a people food diet. Today's menu, rice, mixed veggies and ground turkey. Smells awful, he loves it. I guess if your basis of comparison is Iams lamb and rice -- it is nirvanna.

Billy may be the nicest husband in the entire world. He braved the 46 degree temperatures (Ok, laugh if you want, but I cannot be that cold, I'll die, it's true) to walk our puppy for me. AND he just refilled my wine glass just to be nice. Seriously, I married well.

My last random thought tonight -- perhaps I should buy a 4 quart duch oven. Why? Well, here's my problem, when I start to make "soupy" items that go in the duch oven (Chicken & Dumplings, soup, chili verde, stew etc) The recipe magically swells to consume all 8 quarts of capacity my two current duch ovens offer. When you are a couple living alone, this is a bit absurd -- imagine if you will, 8 quarts of alphabet soup. For the record, we ate it all in two days -- I especially enjoyed mine with goldfish in the bowl. What could be sillier than an grown-up eating alphabet soup with goldfish in it? I don't know, but I was pretty happy.

Oh wait, one more rant, if you read this soon, send Bill and email and tell him that we'll have a GREAT time on a float at Orlando's Mardi Gras and he should take me! I'll be your best friend!

LA Bound

Wrapping up a "leave early" Friday - heading to Southern California to hang with the Lindley's and also meet up with some friends. Watching the Super Bowl on Sunday (3rd year watching it at Brian and Michelle's) ... looks like this is turning into a tradition!

Not much else to report on - been crazy at work. I'll post more later ... maybe I'll jot something down on the plane!

New Year, New Challenges, New Possibilities

If you know anything about me - my life is less than dull and boring. Sure I spend way to much time on xbox and the Internet being a geek ... but when it comes to ideas and formulating the next "great idea" my mind never rests. Recently, as you all know, I tried to start a company that was going to revolutionize the real estate market and help agents generate leads on houses - well, seems I was about a year to early with my idea ... which has taught me a valuable lesson:

1. Timing is almost everything!

There are a few other nuggets of wisdom that I now carry with me from my 9 month experience, but timing is at the top of the list. How can you convince someone that your solution can solve their problem, when they don't know they have a problem yet ... at the same time, how can you convince someone that you can solve their problem when they have either become complacent with their problem or there are 15 other solutions out there because so many people have the same problem.

This has been on my mind lately because I have had a couple new ideas tossed around in my head ... and one idea brought and placed in my lap. Before when I was starting my company, last year, I thought about to me ... it worked. Now, I am turning it around and asking "is society ready" ... will this solution be accepted by the masses in general? Its a gamble and a science all rolled into one. The science is being able to see the trends before they happen and the gamble is having the means to build your vision.

This year I am going to focus my senses on looking for trends, seeing what is on the horizon and using what I have learned to create my ideas. How many times have you said ... "That seems so simple, why didn't I think of that?" Well friends - you think about it everyday. You think about those simple solutions all the time ... you just need to tune your logical brain in with your creative brain.

And that is how empires are built!

Till next time ... (and next time will be very soon)

Christmas, New Year and The Bristers

Well it is now 2008 and the holidays are over, life is getting back to a reasonable pace and the boys are wrapping up their 2nd week long trip to see us. It has been an amazing 2 weeks spent with Tyler and Bryan. We have had some good laughs and some very good conversations (however, the boys call them "lectures") ... but overall it has been a good time and I am very proud of my boys.

We are focusing this year on planning for the future ... goals, dreams ... What they wanna be when they grow up! So far all I have been able to get out of them is "I don't know!" So, I guess persistence is going to be my focus for 2008.

Dawn and I have been talking allot about "resolutions" for this year ... she jokingly says her '08 Resolution is to be more mean! ha ha ... I nervously laugh at her when she says that (don't want to give her a reason to start living her resolution) *smile* - My resolution this year is to be a better friend to those that are worth my friendship. I have many acquaintances, a good group of people I call friends and a few great friends. I am going to focus on investing more of myself into my great friends and core group of friends. Open myself up, become an example of how a friendship works. I'll write more on this later ... since I have Tyler and Bryan peering over my shoulder while I type this - they are waiting for us to head over to Universal Studios today!!!

The boys go home tomorrow - it will be sad to see them go, and I will look forward for the next time they come down here to visit.

Oh yea - my other resolution is to commit to this blog more. Make frequent updates and use this as more of a "life journal" for me.

I wish you all a happy and wonderful New Year ... I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday with laughter and family!

Till next time ...