Day Zero Project #78: Ask 5 friends to suggest one book, and read them all.

Whew, it's been a little while since I've been on here and I suppose it's time to kick it up a notch if I'm going to finish my list on time. The good news is that I haven't been entirely idle during this break from my regularly scheduled posts. I have managed to read a few books that my friends suggested.

I don't know if it is more surprising that I have friends who read or that they suggested some good books, but I was thankful for the chance to read some things outside my general norm (Top 100 book lists and Hubert Selby Jr novels).

I don't fee like typing today so here's a quick review of what was suggested, who suggested it and a thought or two on the book.

1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King - suggested by Vicky.

I have my own mom (who is always referred to as Madre). I have my Aunt Cheryl, whom we can also call Mom #2a. And then there's Vicky, my friend's Mom who I probably saw more of than either of the other two due to the fact that I was at her house so much I had my own bedroom there. We can call her Mom #2b. She's a librarian so I expected her to suggest something a bit more obscure, but in my book snobbery I tend to overlook popular authors and that's a shame. Stephen King is a great author and this is another in a long line of good books. The main problem was that it was something like 900 pages and I think it probably could have benefited from being a little shorter.

2. 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James - suggested by Kelly.

Kelly is a friend. She watches Bad Girls Club. I'm not 100% sure what that is, but if it's anything like this book, it's horrible. Seriously, why did 50 bazillion people think this was good? The grammar and writing style was atrocious. I guess including one or two sex scenes is all it takes to be good.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells - suggested by Annie.

Annie is my wife's cousin. I don't know her very well, but judging by her Christmas letters she's actually a little bit more interesting than me and my wife, which is very difficult! This book, also interesting, was hampered by the fact that I feel like 50% of everything someone writes in a memoir is B.S. "I remember being three years old, staring at the skies and being amazed at the wide open dessert" No you don't. People don't remember being three that vividly. Or maybe they do and my memory is just horrible since I can just vaguely recall something about G. I. Joes.

4. Anthem by Ayn Rand - suggested by Traci.

I met Traci on vacation and she was interesting enough for me to take her advice and read this book. It was good, maybe even great. I'm not happy that I liked it because Ayn Rand fans tend to be more fanatical than a die-hard Philadelphia sports fans with the exception that Rand like guns even more.

5. Long Time Gone by David Crosby - suggested by Jerry

Jerry is my uncle and studying to be a DJ. That's probably cooler than whatever you are doing right now. This book was probably my favorite of the five. I already like biographies of musicians, so this is right up my alley. And who knew wholesome looking, sweet voiced David Crosby was that crazy. The guy constantly lived with at least two girls and took more drugs than Ozzy Osbourne. Amazing stuff.

Day Zero Project #30: Take my parents out to dinner.

You know that saying "Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"? Sometimes I think that someone took this particular apple and flung it as far from the tree as they could. The apple bounced around a little bit, took some detours and finally ended up in Florida.

The saying has to do with how kids turn out to be like their parents and more times than not it turns out to be true. How often do we find ourselves thinking that we just did something that is "just like our Mother?" My wife is a shining example of someone who seems to do something every day that is exactly like something her parents did while we were growing up.

But myself? Sometimes I feel like I forgot to pick up all of those habits from my Madre. I don't know if it was splitting my childhood years between two parents that caused this or if is simply the fact that I never did spend much time at home, but a recent visit home just drove the point home even more.

Before I continue, don't be misled. Just because I am unlike my Madre does not mean that I do not like my Madre. As a matter of fact, I don't think that anyone could ask for a better Mother. In a nutshell, she's pretty much the best. No offense to your mother, but mine is better.

Back to the topic onhand. Here's a little table to highlight our differences:

HOME
Madre: Iowa. Always.
Myself: Left Iowa as soon as legally allowed.

HOBBIES
Madre: Video games. And lots of them.
Myself: I do not remember the last time I played video games. When I was a kid, I didn't get to play the Playstation because Madre was playing Final Fantasy. To this day, I find a weird enjoyment in watching people play video games. It's the only sort of TV that I enjoy. Speaking of...

TV
Madre: American Idol. All Dancing reality shows and something called Catfish that she got me temporarily hooked on during this particular visit.
Myself: I do not own a TV. Outside of Catfish, I can't recall the last show I watched.

And finally, and in a way that relates to my Day Zero List.

RESTAURANTS
Madre: I said let's go somewhere awesome, and she said Applebees. It's her favorite.
Myself: I really try not to eat at chains. I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a snob about it. It's a problem I need to work on.

That said, on this particular night, Applebee's was my favorite restaurant, too. Because it doesn't have anything to do with the food, or who owns the corporation or where the tax dollars are going. It's about who you spend your time with. And on this night, in an increasingly rare instance, I was able to sit down and have dinner with my Madre.It was probably the first time in years that just the two of us hung out.

And just in case she got the idea that the apple was rolling back closer to the tree, I made sure to order a beer knowing full well that she's not a drinker. But, like a good sport, she ordered the the menu item with the most meat knowing full well that I don't eat it.

P.S. There are no pictures of this historic dinner, because I do not believe in ruining my first dinner in two years with my Mom in order to get out my cellphone and snap a picture. I'm old-fashioned like that.

Day Zero Project #3: Buy a new suit

I headed to Men's Wearhouse on a mission. I wanted to buy a new suit. And since I will rarely wear the thing, I needed it to be a style that would work for weddings or job interviews or trips to the bar where I want to wear a jacket to fit in with rich dudes sippin' on Scotch.

And I need all of that at less than $300.

I relayed all of this to the salesman and he said, "No problem, sir" and proceeded to tell me the color I would need (charcoal) and then took my measurements before saying, "I've got just the thing for you."

He grabbed a jacket off the rack and helped me into it. "How's that?" he asked.

I turn to the mirror and then to my wife, then back to the mirror. And I'll be damned if that jacket didn't magically transform me into someone as suave looking as James Bond. Who knew a simple article of clothing could make that big of a difference?

"I love it," I told him. Even better, I'd already told him my price range so I knew I would be able to afford this image-transforming piece of fabric.

"Great, and at only $550, it's a steal," he replied.

ERRRR. Slam on the brakes. $550? Sneaky move Salesman Guy. He put me in something he knew I'd love and then tried to upsell me.

Well, I showed him. I took his color recommendation and his measurements and went to the mall where everything I tried on paled in comparison to the $550 jacket. The salesman had managed to ruin every other suit that existed by showing me one I can't afford.

Eventually, I found something at Macy's that worked. Not quite James Bond, but for the amount of times I'll wear it, it will work just fine.

It was later that I learned that you don't button two buttons!

Day Zero Project #87: Take Part in a Pub Quiz

We did this months ago so the memory is a bit hazy, but if I recall correctly there was a random Tuesday were we thought it might be fun to not sit around the house doing nothing. We knew that our local World of Beer had a trivia night, so we got ourselves off the couch and walked over to accomplish #87: Take Part in a Pub Quiz.

We signed up, were handed our pencil and paper and then proceeded to order delicious beers and get our butt's kicked at trivia. There's a few lessons here. 1) Contrary to popular belief, alcohol DOES NOT make you smarter. 2) Trivia is better with a big team. We don't own a TV, so every time they asked a TV question we knew we were out of luck. Winning pub trivia requires a well-balanced team of drinkers, tv/movie watchers and people who are way too into sports. If you can get that, you have hit the Pub Trivia jackpot.

But, like a trooper, we toughed it out and managed to get 2nd to last by overbidding our final points in an attempt to get first. I wish I remembered the final question so I could post it for you, but it was way too long ago.

Thank you trivia for making me feel guilty about having a lack of knowledge about everything pop culture...

Two of my favorite things: beer and pointless knowledge.

Day Zero Project #74: Donate money to charity

I think it's important to try and donate when you can to whatever worthwhile charity you like. It doesn't have to be money, many charities need things like stuff we have around the house that we don't need or just someone to give some time. What's important is that you do something.

I figure that if I've got the extra money to go around doing 100 random things, then I should be able to spend some of that on charities. There are all sorts of great organizations out there that you could help, here's two that I like:

1) The Children's Cancer Center in Tampa, FL - This one hits close to home for us and they do a ton of really great things for kids who have cancer and for the families of those kids. They have fundraisers all over the place or you could sponsor a family for the holidays or you could just buy some Christmas cards.

2) Daystar Life Center in St. Petersburg, FL - I won't hold it against them that they are a religious organization, because they do some good work in my immediate area. I hadn't really spent much time thinking about homelessness when I lived in the suburbs outside of doing my best to stay away from them, but now that I live in an urban area I see how big of a problem it is and I decided that I need to try and do more. I gotta think more about what I can do in 2013, but donating to these guys was a start.

Day Zero Project #86: Send someone an anonymous gift

Four random people are going to get $5 gift cards to Publix in the mail this week. How did I pick who gets them? There is this little building on the way to where I buy my daily rations of soda and Funyuns and there's always people grilling and hanging out and I thought, "Hey, those guys could use a random holiday gift." So that's who's going to receive these little anonymous gifts from the Postman.

I wanted to write something witty and/or sarcastic to include in the envelope that I'm mailing, but Kate talked me out of it, so they are just going to be receiving plain ole gift cards. Lame, but probably a lot less confusing than a letter saying that you won a prize for being awesome.

From: Me, To: Someone Random-ish.

Day Zero Project #92: Go to a NFL game

In my family we were raised with two important principles: 1) veggies are not good and 2) there's one thing above all others that you should dedicate your Sundays to. No, not church, but football.

And while I've managed to become the family rebel by learning to love all sorts of vegetables, my love for professional football remains.

Despite this love, I've only been to two football games in person, partly because they are ridiculously expensive, partly because football is best while watching 14 other games, eating fried food and drinking beer and, lastly, because I live in Tampa and I have no desire to see the Buccaneers.

But when a friend said that he had extra tickets to the Patriots / Dolphins game, I gladly accepted, threw on my lucky Pats jersey and made the four hour trip to Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

The view from the top. Literally, our seats were at the very top!

And for all my trouble I was treated to three hours of tailgating with a parking lot full of fans of the visiting team (fairly common in Florida), followed by a game that alternated between light rain showers and blistering sun (also fairly common in Florida).

The game. I really need a new phone with a good camera.

 The end result: a Patriots victory and a great day at the stadium

P.S. Dear NFL, is it necessary for everything to cost 15x what it would outside the stadium? I have no idea how the family of four in front of us managed to afford their trip. Second mortgage, perhaps?

This is what happens when Kate tailgates too long.