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I talked with Mike about this recently, but I was surprised to realize that my entire family blogs. Brother, Sister, Mother, and of course myself. I started back in January 2002, my Sister started a couple years later, my Brother a year after that, and my own Mother soon thereafter. I find it pretty amazing that we all are doing this blogging thing. It’s a great way to keep up on family especially when all three siblings are in different time zones. I’ve been able to learn so much about my family that (due to my poor phone skills) I probably never would have learned otherwise. So congrats and thanks to my fam for taking part in the blogging revolution! In any case, back to a little vino, work, and the UConn game - go Huskies!

I’ve been pretty busy with work lately. I’ve gotten some great opportunities and have been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I grow up. I’ve also been thinking about how I’ve been able to achieve what I have. Most of that can simply be attributed to my father who instilled in me some of the best work ethic one person could ever hope for. This has also led me to think about success and how one defines being successful. The truth is, everyone defines it differently. I suppose it’s what is important to you that determines how you can be successful. Which leads me to ask, am I successful? Sure. Can I be more successful? Of course. But what is it that defines success for me? Well that’s frequently a moving target, but here’s what a few other people think. ...

Leo: Now is not a good time to photocopy your butt and staple it to your boss's face. Eat a bucket of tuna-flavored pudding, then wash it down with a gallon of Strawberry Quik. I totally agree…I’m off to find the nearest 24-hour Kinko’s. Let me know if you want a copy…

As I walked out of the Safeway (yes…I’m in Seattle again) tonight sporting my week’s supply of Gatorade, I caught a foldable table out of the corner of my eye with stacks of rectangular shaped boxes and a sporty mother and daughter team standing behind them. “Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?”, the young girl blurted out. I paused. Visions of peanut butter patties, thin mints, and classic shortbread cookies danced through my head like a heroin addict making a score. My mind had already turned toward the table and it was a simple matter of making my body follow. ...

So if you’re thinking about hopping on the Dan Ryan (90/94 South out of Chicago) in the near future…don’t. It’s a simple as that. At least, not until 2008. Chicagoist reported that the Dan Ryan is undergoing repairs (including shutting down half of the lanes) to improve capacity. In other words…a six-eight lane highway that is currently handling double it’s intended capacity will be cut in half for two years in order to ultimately increase the capacity. Joy. ...

I spent the past weekend with Mike D in San Francisco - what a great time. We did some touristy (Golden Gate) and non-touristy (Haight & Ashbury) things and then hit up a club to dance into the night with a couple friends. It’s been a long time since I went out like that and it felt good to be able to let loose and have a good time. I hope to be able to post a little pictorial of the whole event, but we’ll see how late I manage to stay up tonight. I think the thing that amazed me most was the crazy streets. I’ve been to downtown San Fran several times, but not to the surrounding neighborhoods where the hill grades are utterly relentless. ...

So I was in San Fran this past weekend visiting Mike D, or as it will be known for the context of this post: “The City of Eating”. Yea, we ate quite a bit. I got in late Friday and we hit up a local bar for a quick drink where I fashioned my cell phone as illumination for the menu in the dark interior. After a couple more drinks than intended, Saturday morning was late in coming. Not to be stopped, we headed across the Golden Gate bridge and went to a great restaurant called Sweden House Bakery and Cafe. We got a nice seat out by the bay, where the seagulls and pigeons were very close neighbors: SF-March2006/IMGP2353 They weren’t kidding either. As soon as the couple next to us left, a seagull and a few pigeons clattered onto the table nearly knocking over some glasses to get…a packet of butter?! Crazy birds. ...

The Slanket - The Best Blanket Ever. This thing looks pretty cool. I came across it on one of my favorite sites for interesting and useful stuff. Just in case you need an idea for my birthday…hint hint What happens when you want to snuggle with a friend under The Slanket, though? Is it only a single-user Slanket? Or does one person get each arm hole? Perhaps one person manages the arm holes, while the other gets all…slankey.

Over the course of the past month or so, I’ve been receiving a call from this 800 number (800-946-0075) every couple days or so. I always pick up with my standard ‘Hello, this is Damon’ and get nothing. Then the line goes dead. I’ve tried calling it back, but merely get a ’the number is out of service’ message. This has been going on for a while and it’s been starting to annoy me. So this morning, the phone rang again from that number. I picked it up and gave a very annoyed ‘Hello’. Finally somebody on the other end spoke and said “Fortino?”. Shocked into standard operating procedure, I said that no, they had a wrong number and they hung up on me. ...

Well it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, mostly because I’ve been extremely busy with work. 2006 has definitely hit hard and I’ve spent most of it on the road so far. I’ve hit up Sarasota, Miami, New Jersey, Denver, and most recently Seattle. …yea, I think that’s it. So what do you do when you’ve been away for a while? Take a nice night out. :-) Stacey got all dolled up and we went out to the Kinzie Chophouse for some quality steak. It was a great time. And what better to do after a full meal and a glass of red wine…pass out. ...