Happy New Year

I'm off to celebrate the New Year! I'm joing some friends for a small get together at a local state park. Group of friends were able to rent a small cabin. Shoulb be fun. I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back. I just wanted to type and wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope all of you have a succesful New Year! Good Luck with your resolutions! Be Safe, and I'll be blogging again in 2006!

Singles Organization

Many of you know I'm always full of ideas. Recently I was talking to some of my friends. I was joking around about starting up and Cleveland Singles Club/Organization. My friends told me it would be a great idea.

I have a lot of friends male and female who are really good people, but are unlucky in relationships. Just like me they are single, and looking for things to do to fill their schedule. A lot of people always ask me for ideas on things to do, because I always seem to be doing something. I like going out to the bars and clubs from time to time, but theress always so much more to do. I'm not rolling in the money, but I often find more to do than just sitting on my couch. Some things cost money, but I also to a lot of free things with my friends. Maybe it's just because I'm a "planner and organizer." I also get bored, so I try to organize social activities for my friends.

The tough thing is, us "Third Wheels" get a little worn down going to couples functions, and we also get bored going to the bars and clubs.

So, that gets me to my idea. Listening to some of my friends vent about their "singleness" or how "nice people" get tread over, I told them I was going to form a "Third Wheel Organization" for 25-40 somethings in Northeast Ohio. I would come up with a variety of social functions that singles could show up too to have fun and do something different to get them out of the house.

I'm starting to wonder if this idea is possible. I know of at least 5 friends who are interested. I'm going to have to pursue this more. People continuously tell me I know everybody and I'm always busy doing something, maybe I can share some of my ideas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Trip to Florida!

I just got back from Florida; and it's time to get back to my blogging, so here's a review of my trip. The picture above is a picture of my mom, my grandmother and me. My grandparents surprised all of us by stopping in for a visit. They were on their way to see the rest of the family in Miami. They're both close to 80 and looking good! I got to see my grandmother, grandfather, four aunts, 2 cousins, my mom, my sister, my sisters dog and little brother. My brother's friend Cari joined me on the trip. My mom was also watching 3 children on the trip, so at one point there were over 15 people in the house!
The picture above is of my brother Jim, my sister Melissa, Cari and my mom at the Tampa Airport. Talk about a crazy airport to get in and out of. I think I circled 3 times trying to find the departures terminal. On the way back the pilot mentioned that the temperature difference was 50 degrees. It was 68 and sunny when I left Tampa and 18 when I got back to Cleveland! The weather wasn't the best in Florida for this visit, but 50's and 60's are better than single digits and snow. It was cloudy and rainy most of the time and got sunny the day I left, but no complaints here. The craziest story is, I took my mom, brother and Cari out to dinner at waterside restaurant on Monday night. While eating, we saw dolphins swimming by. 24 hours later, I was back in Ohio scrapping snow off my windshield.
This picture is of me and my brother at dinner at the City Pier restaurant. I don't think his sunglasses came off during my visit! He's cool like that! My family is about an hour away from the beaches in Tampa area. Everytime I go to visit, we go out exploring. On this visit we did some sight seeing on Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, Florida. Saw some dolphins jump out of the water at the beach; collected a ton of sea shells; and bought some beach souvenirs at the tourist shops.
This is another picture of the family. Mom always has to have a picture of her kids! She was busy the one night, so "the kids" snuck down to downtown Tampa to check out the sites. If you're ever in Tampa, you need to visit Splitsville. Splitsville is a bowling themed restaurant. The tables have personal bowling lanes set up infront of them. The food is really good and it was fun to have our own private lane. None of us were great bowlers, I tied for first place with a dominating 103! The good thing was I won a free game of bowling by getting a strike when it counted. Splitsville has a free game contest. If you get a strike when the head pin is pink, you win a game. My brother missed the free game by one pin. A little while later, Mr. 103 got a strike! My sister has the coupon as a early X-Mas gift! Melissa, you better use it!
This final picture is of the man I'm named after. My full name is Frank Cornelius Kitchen. This is my grandfather Cornelius Mack. He just turned 80. He's had some heart problems recently, but he's doing a lot better lately. The miracle of medicine!

Thats the cliff notes version of my trip to Florida. I'll add some more pictures in future posts!

Off to see Mommy!

Christmas is coming a little early for me this year. Airfares are ridiculous, so I'm off to Florida this weekend to see my Mom, brother and sister. I won't see my family on Christmas Day, but I get to see them during the season. I twill also be nice to experience some warm weather! 60 and 70 degree temps sound great compared to the snowy cold weather here in Ohio! I'll be back next Tuesday, so I'll post info about the trip and some more pictures when I return!

Another Cavs Game

Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets tonight! I've been to two games now and the Cavs are 2-0. As you can see the final score was 94-85.
Nike hung a banner of LeBron James outside of the arena when the season started. It's 225 feet long and 10 stories high! Hopefully the cars at the bottom of the picture give a clue to the size of the HUGE banner!

King Kong

I went to see King Kong tonight, and here is my review. Very Good Movie, Great Special Effects, could be a little shorter. The movie is over 3 hours long, so make sure you're ready (your butt is ready) to sit in a chair for 3 1/2 hours by the time all the previews and commercials are done. The movie is a cross between Jurassic Park, Titantic and Lord of the Rings. If you're squeamish, there are definitely some parts that will have you moving in your seat! If you're a animal lover/love your pet, you'll probably shed a tear. With any big special effects movie there are some scenes that get a little carried away. There are also a lot of times in the movie where you're trying to concentrate on the story without concentrating too much on the background and special effects. The movie was entertaining. I don't want to give away much, so go see the movie for yourself! On my movie rating scale I rate King Kong as a 4.

Movie Rating Scale: 5 - Must Own/Pay full price
4 - Go see the movie at the theater, full price or matinee
3 - Rental/Discount Theater
2 - Wait for Cable or TV
1 - Waste of time!

Christmas Spirit

I'm sure some of you wonder; "do people still have the Christmas Spirit?" I found out the answer over the past couple of weeks. The answer is YES! There are still some people out there who understand the spirit of the Season. I posted information about my cousin and his fellow troops in Iraq. I also posted information at work. I expected to collect a couple of items to mail my cousin. If you look at the picture to the left, you'll see I have more than a "few" items. I pretty much collected a car load full of food. One anonymous donor dropped off easily $100 worth of food at my office. I mailed out 3 boxes of food over the weekend. I also found out that several friends mailed boxes to Iraq and some other friends had their churches mail items. Several people have written letters. I am very thankful to be surrounded by a lot of caring people. I can't send all the food at once, so I'll be shipping it out every couple of weeks. I'm hoping to have everything shipped by February.

I told my cousin about all the well wishes and items coming his way. He sent me a post card, and here are a few lines: "Thanks for all the support and things are going well over here. I feel blessed, but of course, I can't wait to get home. Take care and Happy Holiday!"

New Year's Resolution?

It's getting close to that time of year when we start thinking about our New Year's Resolution/s. I looked up the definition online and found this link http://www.thefreedictionary.com/resolution . Call it a semantics thing but I like to make New Year's Goals. I'm definitely a goal oriented person so I like having something to shoot for. No matter if you call it a resolution, goal, oath, promise, decree, declaration or pledge make sure you share this information with people close to you.

This year I started meeting with my friend Kyle. We would meet to share our personal and professional goals with each other. We would also share information that could help the achieve his goals. Everytime we would meet, Kyle and I had the pressure to prove to the other that we were working on our goals. Kyle and his wife moved to Virginia in August, but we still keep in touch through e-mail. I wrote Kyle once and he thanked me for reminding him about his goals. Kyle e-mailed me this morning to ask me how I was doing. I have to thank him for the little push. I set a lot of goals last December and I'm proud to say I met or surpassed a lot of them. I didn't recognize this until I wrote Kyle to give him a "progress report." While typing my report I started to think about 2006. I always plan to have a better year than my previous year. I also realized this year, it's hard to achieve your goals if you don't share them with people close to you. I read a book that talked about setting up a "dream team." This a group of people you trust and are there to help push and support you. I feel I have a strong "dream team" and by sharing my goals I had the pressure of not only letting myself down, but also letting down my support group. I truly believe you can't reach your goals if you keep them inside. If you're proud of something you have to show or share it with other people.

So, I end my ramble with this... While you're thinking about your New Year's Resolutions, also think about the person or people you're going to share this information with. Call them you're dream team and let them know you're asking them to help you with your resolutions. Type up or write up your resolutions and put them somewhere you can see them (just to remind) after that, give that same list to your "dream team" and ask them to remind you about or help you with your resolutions. Who knows they might ask you to do the same thing. Its amazing what you can do or achieve when you're constantly reminded about it, or you have help. Good Luck to everyone in 2006! Think positive! And make those resolutions realistic!

Wishing for a Snow Day!

It's still snowing here in Ohio. Working at a college, I'm hoping, wishing, praying for a snow day. The weather people with their "Mega Power Triple Doppler 5Billion Radar" are predicting another 6-8 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow morning. This morning the temperature dropped to Zero! So, I'm a little tired of cleaning my car off every morning and I'd love to just lay in my bed Friday and have my weekend turn into a 3 day weekend!

News and notes the week:

Monday- Returned to my acting classes. It was a lot of fun. I was nervous and rusty at first, but I found my footing and by the end of the night (5 hours later) I did a scenes from CSI with another actor and I did a monologue from "Black Hawk Down." The classes are a lot of fun and a great way to just getaway. For 5 hours I thought about nothing else other than my lines and acting out my scenes.

Monday Part 2- Got to work to find a car load for food waiting for me to send to my cousin and his fellow troops. I know people have big hearts during this time of year. But an anonymous donar has a huge heart. So right now I'm trying to figure out a way to send everything I've been collecting at work. For everyone who's been mailing items to his unit....THANK YOU!

Tuesday -Got offered my first Professional Speaking date. Yep, I had a college offer to pay me some big money to come talk to students at a conference. I had to turn the offer down though! =0 ( The date was for April and I'll be in Australia.

Wednesday - Met up with my "Lost" group to watch the show only to discover that the show was a repeat!

Thursday - I went to the Gwen Stefani concert with my friend Rachel tonight. My first big concert ever. Ciarra was the opening act. There was a big difference between the "opening act" and the "main act." Ciarra can't sing live. I was impressed by Gwen Stefani. She sounded better live than she does on her cd/radio. The tickets were free, so that made things even better. My co-worker won them on the radio, so Donna...THANK YOU very much!

Time for me to go to bed. I have to get my rest for the "Snow Day" I know I won't get. I also have to get ready for 2 Holiday Parties this weekend! That's my life, busy busy!

Still Snowing in Ohio

I haven't typed much lately, I apologize. Since I've been away, its has snowed just about everyday. Today we're getting killed. There's at least a foot of snow on the ground. I rediscovered my snow driving skills this morning. "Turn into your slide." I had to remember that several times. Here are few pics from my office window and around campus. Yep, school didn't close. Even the employees were praying for a snow day!

Team Australia

Today I finally met the team that will be going to Australia in April. I also met the Rotary leadership. The people in the picture are (R to L) First Row: Al (District Assistant Governor), Amy (Team Alternate), Cynthia (Team Member), April (Team Leader); Second Row : Jack (District Governor), Dave (Team Member), Me, and Patty (Team Member). The group is a lot of fun, there were a lot of jokes at meeting/lunch. We have a lot of work to do before we leave. It looks like we'll leave March 30th and return April 30th. Several team members and myself are planning on staying a few extra days so we can see more of the country. Cynthia is talking about going diving at the Great Barrier Reef; I might have to take some scuba diving lessons. As of now, I'd like to stay in Australia for an extra week and visit some of the places we won't see while we're working. (Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and possibly New Zealand)

For more information on Rotary and the district, go to: http://www.rotarydistrict6630.com

More Cavs Game Pics

Here are some more pics from the game on Wednesday. Thank you for the invite Seidel Family!

My Christmas Tree is up!

I was a little behind schedule this year, but my Christmas Tree is finally up. With all the political correctness the season, is it ok to call it a Christmas Tree? My "Holiday Tree" is a towering 6 feet tall. I would call it a fake tree, but I've been informed that I must call it a "Permanent Tree." My good friend Rachel came over to help me with my "permanent" "Holiday Tree. " I would post a picture of Rachel, but she is camera shy. I guess my tree is the 4th tree she's assisted with decorating. It doesn't hurt to have a future interior designer assist you with decorating. I had to take two pictures of my tree because the flash was on and you can't see the lights. So, that's the story of my permanent Fake Holiday Christmas Tree!

Holiday Season or Relationship Season?

Relationships….This subject has been coming up a lot lately. I think it’s just that time of year. Every commercial or advertisement is about getting the perfect gift for that special someone. This is the time of year you’re supposed to be with your special someone or family. The weather is cold, so we spend a lot of time inside; and it’s boring to sit around by yourself. I’ve been talking to a lot of friends and relationships seem to be the #1 subject. The funny part is a lot of people come to me for advice or someone to listen too. That’s pretty funny considering I’m single!

“Do you have any romantic ideas?” “What would you do?” “Things aren’t working!” “Why/How are you single?” “I think my relationship is over!” “I’m so happy!” “I don’t understand men/women!” “Thanks for listening.” “What should I do?” “I want someone.” “I want to be in love.” “We need to find you someone Frank.” “What’s everyone doing for new years?” “I’ve met someone who doesn’t have the same dreams and goals as me, but I’m tired of being alone.” “Am I too picky?” “I’m never getting married!” “I’m too nice!” “I’m tired of being alone!” I’m getting too old!” “How does (blank) have a girlfriend/boyfriend and I don’t”

That’s just some of the comments I’ve heard. It’s just that time of the year and people want someone to share our time with. We all have to be true and honest to ourselves. We have our good points and bad points. These points may keep us in a relationship or make us single. Being true and honest to ourselves may not always make us happy, but at least we won’t be lying or cheating ourselves.

Just like a lot of people I’d like to have someone during this “relationship” time of the year, but I can’t just jump at the first woman breathing or shows me interest. I want that woman who gives me butterflies in my stomach and I think about constantly. Unfortunately I haven’t run into her yet. I have to be honest with myself and look myself in the mirror. Do I know what I like and don’t like; what personality I can get along with and what I can’t. For those of you who are lonely, don’t sacrifice yourself so you’re not lonely. For those of you in bad relationships, are you in the relationship just to be in one? For those of you in good relationships, just remember, all of us are jealous of you and you make us sick! LOL (Just Kidding) Honestly, the people who are in happy and good relationships are honest with themselves and each other!

So, to close my relationship ramble, I truly hope everyone finds that relationship they’re looking for. If you’re not in one, make sure you’re genuinely interested in the person you want to ask out/be with, not the fact of “I just want to be with someone.” If you’re not in a good relationship, ask yourself why you’re in it and are both of you truly honest with each other. And for those of you in a good relationship, don’t rub our noses in it, and share the knowledge of your success!

Movie Trailer

I love movies and I really love the trailers. Pirates of the Carribean has a sequle that comes out next summer. Here is a link to the trailer.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/piratesofthecaribbeandeadmanschest.html