Motivation, Inspiration, Determination, and the Key to Life

Be patient, and listen to this guy. A great message for the American public of why we fight for and defend freedom. This is an amazing video from a well spoken Marine. I'd have this guy in my corner any day. Here's the text of his prose... Will Smith tells the kids at a Nickelodian Kid Awards show what the key to life is. He says it's Running and Reading. I think he may be right. Give a listen.

technorati tags:marines, war, iraq, freedom, Will Smith, Key To Life, Motivation, Inspiration

Isreal - Lebanon Protest

I am attending the Inman Connect conference this week. After a long day I got hungry. So I walked outside the Palace Hotel in San Francisco yesterday in search of some authentic SanFranciscan food. Out to the streets I went, and this is what I ran into right on the corner of New Montgomery and Market Streets. Local citizens had arranged a protest at rush hour yesterday afternoon to state their opposition to the Iraeli offensive in Lebanon. Personally, I feel Israel is justified. (I appreciate Andy Monfried's take on the situation). Here are the rest of my photos... On a lighter note. I had dinner with the crew from RealtyTracker.com last night. Thanks to Sean, Tom, and Colette for a good dinner and great time connecting. The Clift was a great place to hang. And at the end of the night as I was walking out the door, in walked...HULK HOGAN. So surreal. What the heck was he doing in San Francisco??

technorati tags:ConnectSF, protest, war, Israel Lebanon, San Francisco, RealtyTracker

Long time, no see

What a great night. Last night I had dinner with an aunt I haven't seen in 10 years, and a cousin and her fiance whom I haven't seen in probably 15-20 years. Crazy! It was funny... We agreed to meet each other in the bar at the hotel I was staying. I knew that we hadn't seen each other in a million years, but I never doubted that we would recognize each other on first sight. My aunt Suzanne and Nikki always had piercing baby blue eyes. An undeniable trait. And what I discovered, is that they recognized me by my body hair. UGH! What's up with that!?! I guess the Denton family is famous for their extreme amounts of body hair. I have no idea how this happened, because apparently our family has English roots. Who knew?! But, I can't tell you how incredible it was for me to reconnect with Nikki and Suzanne. They, along with Tim, are a riot. We had a great time. They made me feel so welcome. And I honestly can't wait to find an excuse to come back to San Francisco to hang out with them again. Here are the photos... (what's up with my hair in these photos? Better question: What's up with my hair all the time?!?) We met at the famous Palace Hotel. Took a cheaufered car to the North Shore district. And ate a great meal at an Italian restaurant, called Calzone's (i think).

Free food

So I'm back from my business trip to San Diego. And boy, I gotta do another one of these trips soon, if not just for the free food. Of the 4 days I was on the road I think I paid for only 2 of my meals. Thanks to Michael, Craig, Mark, and especially Dawn & Ian for their great hospitality. Great times, great food, and great company. Here's a photo of Dawn, her new husband Ian, and myself. Now, it's all of your turn to come visit me! ;)

Love is a marathon

Yesterday was a tough ride home from San Diego. The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was fine. But, by the time I made it to Atlanta I was wiped out and just ready to get home. Then, they announced the flight was delayed for 45 minutes. UGH! Then we finally boarded to find that I was sitting against the window with a young mother and her 2 year old son sitting next to me. That little guy was all over the place, whining, crawling, screaming. Then 2 minutes later another kid the same age sat directly behind me on their parent's lap. That kid was constantly kicking my seat. So, as a defense mechanism I strapped on my headphones and blasted my MP3 player. A little POD, Switchfoot, Keane, and Staind was the perfect remedy. I quickly fell asleep in my attempt to tune out the world around me. I woke up to the rugrat next to me crawling between my legs. It was an hour and fifteen minutes later and we still had not left the gate. HUH?!? Needless to say, when I was supposed to be home by 8:30, I didn't get in until 11:00. But, when I awoke for the last 15 minutes of the flight this song was blaring in my headphones. The height of the volume allowed me to clearly hear the words for the first time. And I don't know why, but these words made me think of my buddy, Jared. He's been in a dating cycle for the last 5 years which he thinks he can't get out of. Maybe it was the unbelievable bad luck of flight delays and screaming and kicking babies... because this is EXACTLY the type of stuff that happens to Yerg. And specifically the crap he tends to write about on his blog. Whatever the reason, it's clear that this song is for him. So Kasey Kasem, would you please play Teddy Geiger's "Love is a Marathon" for Jared. And let him know that bad luck doesn't just happen to him. We're all in the same boat, and it's all going to be ok. Jared, this song is for you... Love Monkey style!

The Lord's Prayer

You aren't going to believe this. This has to be the cutest thing I've seen in a long while. I visited my old friend Craig Rickabaugh and his family last night. This is video of Craig's little girl, Reese. She recites the Lord's Prayer on queue! I said hi to Craig, his wife Carlee, Reese, and their 10-month-old Chey. Then Craig, Mark Thompson and I went out to dinner. Here are the photos. Good times!

Padres game

I woke up on Monday morning at 3:30AM to catch 6AM flight to San Diego. Boy is that early! After a connection in Cincinnatti, I was off to San Diego in a nice comfy seat on a Delta flight. (Props to Delta for finally having comfortable seating in coach class!) Of all the random people in the world who I could have sat next to, it turns out I sat next to the youth pastor of my brother Wesley's chuch. He and 13 kids from their church were on their way to a week long mission trip in Mexico. Small world. So, I arrived in San Diego, went to the car rental place to pick up my economy class vehicle. When I got there, they were all out of economy cars, so they had to upgrade me for free to a Dodge Magnum - nearly idenitical to the car that I own. Crazy! Sweet! So, then I was off to meet Micheal. Michael's a domain name guru. He and I are brainstorming on ways to monetize Realty.com and our other assets. The meeting was great. Lunch was good. But, taking in the Padres game at the end of the night was the best. Thanks for a great time Michael! Cheers! Here's the photos.

Lunch with the guys

I met up with the old JA Jones crew for lunch on Friday. We ate lunch at Mac's. But, by the editing of this photo you would never be able to tell. Let's just say there was something in the photo which seemed to fill the frame more. Lunch was fun. Will was on the phone with the wife for half of the time. Yerg filled us all in on the latest of his dating escapades. And we all just sat there trying to think of some good ways to work IT into the conversation for Seth. Then, when the bill came we spotted that Will owns a Old Navy credit card. How cute! Thanks for the good time guys! We should do lunch more often. Here's the rest of the photos.

4th of July

I went and visited my brother, Matt, over the July 4th weekend. It was really great. Matt lives in a posh neighborhood of Birmingham, AL. Very nice place, nice restaurants, nice hang outs, cool pools, and great weather. For the 4th, we went to a Birmingham Barons baseball game. The Barons are the AA team for the Chicago WhiteSox. (Michael Jordan played here when he was trying to play baseball). The team had a fireworks display after the game, all set to patriotic music. It was well worth the $6 entry fee. Here are the photos. It was probably the most all-American 4th of July I ever had. We ate at Johnny Rockets for lunch. I had apple pie ala mode. We went to a baseball game. I ate a hot dog and a coke. And we watched fireworks to cap off the night. Good times. Thanks for a great time, Matt! This is the video I took of the fireworks grand finale! Pretty well done for a minor league baseball team. (They played "Sweet Home Alabama" as the closing song. Awesome!)

I don't understand the difficulty, people!

...Love your brother, treat 'em as an equal! (Greg, this one is for you!)

technorati tags:self destruction, krs-one, d-nice, kook mo dee, heavy-d, public enemy, doug e fresh, q-tip, mc lyte, just-ice