Renting a Cabin

A friend called me yesterday and told me that his wife had a great time recently on an all-girls outing to a cabin that sits near a huge lake about thirty miles away from our home town. The cabins there don’t really sound like cabins though. They have heat (a major plus during the winter months in the Midwest), real beds, televisions, kitchens, and even multiple floors. Sort of sounds like a house to me, but that’s my kind of cabin.

My friend wants to get a few of the guys together at one those cabins for a little guy time. We could bring the sports movies (yes, somebody would have to bring a DVD player, but that wouldn’t be difficult), and the board games, and the cards, and lots of junk food (hey, if we have to cook, it isn’t going to be healthy). I told my friend that I’m in and that I’m already looking forward to it.

I go fishing about once a year, but I wasn’t able to swing a trip this year, so I haven’t been out of town with the guys for a long time (well, unless you count a number of baseball trips to Kansas City every year, but those are mostly about the baseball). Depending upon how long we are there, we may end us just staring at each other most of the time, but I doubt it.

The group of guys that I hang out with aren’t afraid to talk about real life and I’m anxious to find out how things are really going in their lives. So we’ll have our fun, but we’ll also have some great conversations. Hopefully I’ll be able to snap a few photos to post here.

Voting is Open

Voting is now open for the 2006 Weblog Awards. Little Nuances is a finalist in the Best of the Rest of the Blogs (8751+) category. If you'd like to vote, please click on the banner below:

Here are the rules, taken from the Weblog Awards website:

* Polls close at 11:59 PM (US - Eastern) December 15, 2006.

* You may vote once every 24 hours in each poll.

* After voting in an individual poll you will be locked out from voting again in that poll (on the computer you voted from) for 24 hours.

* Each poll has it's own separate 24 hour lockout control. Voting in, for example, Best Blog will not lock you out of voting in other categories.

* Vote totals are not final until certified.

* Vote totals are subject to periodic correction for identified cheating.

* Cheaters will be banned from the site.

* We reserve the right to close some or all polls earlier than the posted end date.

December 1 Winner

I forgot to announce the winner for the December 1 drawing. Kathy C. won a copy of my latest book, The Experience of Christmas. Congrats Kathy. If you are interested in being eligible for future drawings, just place your e-mail address in the subscription box on the top right hand side of the page. You’ll begin getting updates once a day that include the most recent post(s).

Rocky Balboa

In 1976, my mom took my sister and I to see Rocky. I was ten years old, and much like every other boy anywhere close to that age, I wanted to be Rocky. I had the boxing gloves, I drank the raw eggs (don’t try this at home), and even started jogging (hated it). Something about seeing an average guy filled to the brim with guts living out his dream inspired me.

Over the years, I saw all of the Rocky sequels, many many times. Then, this summer I heard about another Rocky movie that was being made. I pointed you to the Rocky Balboa Blog. It only had a few pictures and a couple of posts, but it still got my blood pumping. You’ve probably seen previews for the movie because it is about to be released. People can say what they want to about how ridiculous the premise is (a very old fighter climbing back into the ring), but many of those same people will go to see the movie.

Why?

To a degree, all of us are Rocky. We’re all either chasing dreams or trying to relive them.

Check out the trailer for Rocky Balboa and see if it doesn’t get your adrenaline running on overdrive:

I love this line from the trailer (from Rocky’s trainer): “To beat this guy, you need speed. You don’t have it. You’ve got calcium deposits on most of your joints. So sparring is out. So, what we’ll be calling on is blunt force trauma—heavy duty punches that will rattle his ancestors.”

2006 Weblog Awards Finalist

I’m thrilled to say that Little Nuances has been chosen as a finalist in the Best of the Rest of the Blogs (8751+) category for the 2006 Weblog Awards. Voting begins tomorrow. I’ll put a link here when one becomes available so you can vote for Little Nuances if you are so inclined.

Starting a Blog

Blogs aren’t for everybody, but I like to ask people who don’t have a blog this question: If you were going to start a blog, what would it be about? Some know right away, some have no idea, and some just say, “I’ll never have a blog.” All three answers are perfectly acceptable, but I enjoy seeing some people’s faces light up as they say, “Oh, I know…” and then they go and and tell me about it.

But then they usually quickly follow it up by telling me that they couldn’t set one up or that they couldn’t think of something to write every day. Setting a blog up is so easy it’s almost ridiculous. Customizing and tweaking it takes some work, but neither are absolutely necessary. But these would-be bloggers do have a point—blogs need to be updated frequently.

I have three blogs, but I often only tell people about two of them. I just can’t keep the third blog updated often enough. My blogging time is limited and I just choose not to spend any more of my free time on another blog. But enough about that.

I’d like to encourage the person who has been thinking about starting a blog, but is a little afraid of the time commitment. While the concern is legitimate, you also need to consider the reward. When you start a blog, you’ll be scratching an itch that has been driving you crazy for a long time. And you’ll get to meet some great people online who have the same interests as you do.

Here are a few links to free blog hosts. Just click on one (I’m partial to Blogger because it is so easy to use) and you’ll be up and running in minutes:

Blogger (Blogspot) 
Windows Live Spaces 
Blog City
Diaryland
Live Journal