What's Your Fantasy?

Mine's Football. No I don't fantasize about playing football or being a football player or even some homoerotic dream of being with a football player (shiver). I love Fantasy Football. For years I have been playing Fantasy Football and what was originally mocked for being silly has become a multi million dollar industry that almost everyone plays. I mean everyone knows someone who plays fantasy football, men and women. While their reasons for playing may differ, the joy of playing is still there. Here are my Top 5 Reasons for playing Fantasy Football.

#5 - Every game means something.

Used to be you may love watching football but many just watched their home team or the marquee matchups. With fantasy football every game now has meaning. That Thursday night game with Detroit playing Cleveland? I got a running back in that game and I need the points. All of a sudden that game means something to me.

#4 - Women play too.

As I mentioned above, fantasy football has this unique ability to bring men and women together in liking football. How many guys have lost to a girl in their fantasy leagues? Yeah I thought so. Me too.

#3 - It's more fun.

It's great watching a game now and even though it's your team playing, one of your fantasy players is on the other team. You route for the player but not the team because you want to pad your stats. It's a catch 22 and it makes it a lot of fun.

#2 - It's Free.

While many leagues can be played with an entry fee and have year to year leagues where you keep your players, most are free. As in zero cost to get more enjoyment out of something you already love.

#1 - The players are aware of the game too.

I have seen multiple players in interviews, sound bites, etc. talk about their awareness of FB and their stats. One player last year went down early before the goal line to run out the time on the clock and preserve a win. After the game he mockingly apologized to the fantasy football owners out there who he cost a touchdown. The self awareness is awesome and sometimes really funny.

Got Glue? GetGlue!

Well it's been more than a little while since the last time I blogged here. I feel like I have been cheating on my blog by updating Twitter, blogging for the SD Fair, and generally just not having anything interesting to say. I plan to change that today. I have been applying for a ton of Social Media jobs and claiming my blog as an asset, time to make use of it once again.

While reading Mashable early last week I came across an article discussing websites and APPS for Social Media Check-Ins for when you are watching a movie or tv show, or playing a game, or reading a book, or listening to your favorite music. The website that really stood out to me through use is GetGlue. GetGlue is a website and iPhone/iPad app that lets you Check-In while doing one of the activities I listed above. Not only that you can "Like" or "Favorite" all those same things and earn Stickers or Badges for being a fan. How awesome is that! I have quickly become obsessed with earning cool stickers and discovering how to earn rare stickers by liking or checking in to certain items. Check it out for yourself at www.getglue.com. I have so far earned 30 stickers in just under a week. Here is a quick way you can earn 5 stickers for yourself.

#5 This sticker from Clash of the Titans (2010) can be earned by simply Checking In while watching the DVD of this movie.

#4 Fan of Entourage on HBO? Watch an episode and Check In to earn this badge. There are more badges for watching this show, I will leave those to you to discover.

#3 The sticker that set off my explosive obsession. I checked in while watching Scott Pilgrim on Friday and was surprised to earn this sticker. So cool!

#2 I earned this for watching the Season premiere of Weeds on Showtime. There are more badges for watching this show, I will leave those to you to discover.

#1 How cool is this? The fist-bump. Find yourself with another friend also on GetGlue? Head to their page and find 10 things they like that you also like, and you will earn this cool badge for both of you. How awesome is that?!

That's it for now. Check out the website for yourself and start earning some cool stickers. If you earn 7 they will even mail them out to you for free! I will be back later in the week on earning badges and stickers for Yelp, Foursquare, and Miso.

Back in the saddle again

It's been a few weeks since I last blogged. After my photo-a-day experiment derailed I sort of lost steam for a few weeks. That and I picked up Borderlands from GameFly shortly followed by Mass Effect 2 coming out. Amazing how two great video games can absorb your attention sometimes. This last week though, I was back working in an office for the first time in 6 months. 6 MONTHS?! Yeah the last full time job I had was last July working for the San Diego County Fair. Well I am back working for the Fair once again and glad to be a part of a great team. I really hope that this coming Jul/Aug I will be able to find that job that helps me take that next step in my career, but in the meantime I am going to keep striving to push the envelope in Entertainment and Competitions for the San Diego Fair. Hey, I'm good at it.

T-Day Success!

Day 22 of the Blog a Day, and I can report that the Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving party was a success. It was really an odd mix of friends this year. Not in a bad way. My roommates Matt and Cindy had their friends, who I have come to know over the years. And my roommate Christin had her friends who I have come to know the last few months. Only a few of my actual friends showed up, but everyone had something going on. The turkey turned out phenomenal. Everyone brought something to share, and everyone WAY over ate. We even ended up watching Star Trek at the end of the evening. All in all a great success and a lot of fun. Can't wait for next year, mark your calendars. Oh and of course the ACTUAL Thanksgiving is this Thursday. Sweet.

Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving

Day 21 of the Blog a Day leads me to party ideas. By no means do I claim this to be an original idea, I must have heard of it somewhere, but a few years ago my desire for more great T-Day food and the need to throw a good party converged into The Annual Thanksgiving Before Thanksgiving party. Let me give you some backstory.

When I was kid growing up, my Mom was a single parent and all of our family lived in Los Angeles and San Bernadino. So every year at the Holidays my Mom and I would drive through Southern California. She later married my step dad and we introduced his family tradition of driving to his Dad's house in La Jolla for Thanksgiving. But by the time my Mom and Dad decided to stop driving for Thanksgiving I was old enough to decide for myself that I wanted to drive to my Cousin's or my Aunt's house in LA. But growing up I never spent time at home with my friends. Thus the Thanksgiving Before Thanksgiving party was born. It allowed me to have a party with friends the Sunday before Thanksgiving Thursday. Something local in town, where everyone young and old could come and eat great food and maybe get drunk. Plus I had a Turkey Deep Fryer I wanted to try out, and you can't cook a big Turkey for 3 people. Well it's been two years since the last party, which was a 3 year tradition before that. The party is back, and this year I am baking a Turkey for the first time. Tonight I am creating my own recipe for Cranberry Relish that I hope turns out. Tomorrow morning the roommates and I are getting breakfast together and then the bird goes in the oven. Chargers vs. Broncos at 1:15pm and people start arriving around 4. Should be fun. Cheers to traditions!

NovemBeard

Day 18 of the Blog a Day leads me back to my discussions on facial hair. It's my current obsession. I cannot for the life of me grow long hair, the longer my hair gets the more it drives me nuts. I seem to be in the same place with growing a beard. Facial hair on men is not a social disgrace, in fact it can look quite distinguished. So why do I feel like shaving my beard every single morning instead of letting it continue to grow out? Because it itches. It's in this weird place between beard and half beard. Not the best blog topic I know, but I'm obsessing people, deal with it.

Living with Image

Day 15 of the Blog a Day. Every felt like you had to live up to an expectation you didn't even know that people have? First off I would just like to say, that I have some truly great friends, and seeing and hanging out with people you have not seen in a long time really reminds you how cool you really are. See I ALWAYS think my friends are cool, and wish I could spend more time with them. So when I spend time with them and the love overflows back? Makes me feel special.

On to the topic at hand though. Went to two parties last night and ran into two instances of battling my personal identity. Since High School I have always been that guy that has some nickname or another, and for the most part I sometimes don't hear my own name (Jeff) when someone calls it from across the room. For the last 9 years I have been known as Farley. It was weird to get used to at first, but you start hearing it enough it sticks with you. To the point where you don't even flinch when you tell someone's parents that your name is Farley. The great part about a nickname though is that you can almost be someone else while being yourself. Sure Farley and Jeff are the same person, but Farley was more of who I was in the moment for many years, while Jeff was the guy I thought did not have much to offer the world. It's almost like when someone wears a mask or drinks to be social. I would literally become this gregarious, over the top, drinking, being lewd, loud, obnoxious, and fun "character" who would do ANYTHING. Like working a night club the night before Christmas and just tearing the place down with antics and fun, and then on Christmas being the youngest in the family and only boy. Like Superman and Clark Kent.

Well with me having less and less exposure in Radio the last few years I have been struggling with my personal identity. When I would work at a new job and meet someone new, was I Jeff or was I Farley? There the same person in my mind, but how professional is it to be called Farley? You know what I mean? So the first party I was at last night was for my good friend Tiffany and there was a bunch of young kids there that I have never met. I went to introduce myself as Jeff to one cute girl and someone else walks up and says "Jeff? Your fucking Farley!" She replied "Oh my God. Your Farley? I've heard about you. (coyly) Hi." While that reaction is awesome, my reaction is "What the fuck have you heard?!" What do I have to live up to or live down? The second instance was at Noel's birthday at Dave & Busters. I was meeting a girls boyfriend that I have never met, and went to introduce myself as Jeff. If at first you don't succeed....Well the gal says "Jeff? Your Farley." To which my new best friend the boyfriend replies, "Oh shit?! Your the guy who was in that menage a three or whatever! Your a legend!" Menage a trois not with standing, I have to wonder if this guy was messing with me or is there really a story out there about me in a threesome. I mean there is a story out there like that, but not with this particular group of friends. Basically my point is that as I am transitioning my life from Radio into whatever it is I may be doing next in my life, I find myself constantly battling the perceptions of who I am and who I want to be. As to the menage a trois story? What happens in Vegas when I am close to blacked out drunk, stays in Vegas.