A Little Holiday Style

V Style Layering has to be complimentary on all accounts

I was toying with a few articles in my wardrobe one morning, it was chilled outside, but nothing worth a leather or wool jacket/coat but certainly worthy of a sweater. I'd been having this 120's wool full zip sweater in my possession for a while but had not yet merited an outing worthy of it's accompaniment. After buttoning the grey Jos. A. Bank Executive shirt and swiftly tying a turquoise tie with white and brown polka dots compliments of Salvatore Ferragamo, I began looking for the missing link. It came with a cashmere maroon/burgundy sweater vest by Pronto Uomo and here was my opportunity for this wool Jos. A Bank Zip Sweater to bring it together for me. When wearing a sweater vest, it is imperative to pair any outer wear according to that sweater vests' drape/silhouette. Given the V style from collar to vest, it was only fitting I do a full zip (although a 3/4 zip would've sufficed) for the necklines denouemont.

The Perfect Fall

It's important not to over-think slacks in this situation or ever for that matter (traditional navy blue Canali), but your shoes... that's where creativity is at it's most assertive. There were a few options I had at my leisure, the first was a pair of brown chelsea style boots by Donald Pliner, a python boot I've owned for years, always a great look; I had also a pair of antique calf amber Romano Martegani, a hard to come by shoe, but if it's in you, I strongly recommend them. But for the final choice I went with a very classic cap toe Donald Pliner Radley-61 antique calf. These shoes are 8 years old, but thanks to shoes trees and a little OCD, I can keep them looking great all the time. The color is what sold me on these, as it extended the simplicity of the vest through the entire outfit with a design as classic as they are stylish.

An ideal Crescendo for Time...

Playing with colours

I was given this beautiful sweater as a Christmas gift from my mom, I am still to this moment impressed by its color. You can imagine my surprise to learn it's a Merona from Target, so I pair it with a Pink and White Ghilardi dress shirt.

For all your shopping needs in the Greater Lafayette area, please visit F Camalo Men's Wear in the Oil Center. Frank (owner) is the best dressed man I know, and if I aspire to be dressed the best, I must address the best.

P.S. Just picked up a new Ralph Lauren Suit, photos to come, no it's not a Purple Label, but one day....

Dayton Marze Signs with Blue Jays

Dayton Marze

Approximately one month ago we hired a young man here at Seatrax Marine Cranes by the name of Dayton Marze. Dayton is a wonderfully intelligent and athletically sound individual with quite the story behind him. Dayton is/was the closing Pitcher for University of Louisiana at Lafayette for the past two years, with an amazing record to boot. Upon my interaction with Dayton I found out he was signing a contract to play baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays and was leaving for training camp in March. Taken back by his poise and nonchalance in this statement, I found this staggering 21 year old was more mature than his youthful exuberance lead on. Drafted by the Blue Jays in the 14th round, 426th overall, Dayton was the #39 best prospect for the Jays in the Jays Journal top prospects and picks. He signed his contract with a guaranteed paid education and a cost of $112,500. You can read his entire article here. All of his stats and accolades are listed there. A very well written article complimenting and accentuating the greatness Dayton has brought to the forefront of ULL's success and his own personal success. Although my words in this article and meant to promote the talents and support we here in Lafayette should have for a local going Pro, don't be mislead, Dayton is quite the character. He's a thrill junkie, no other ways to describe him, I will spare the details of some the stories he's shared with me suffice it to say, he would find himself in comfortable company with the likes of Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville in an episode of Jack Ass.

Ever Wanted a Yeti Cooler...

Ever wanted a Yeti Cooler but couldn't justify the price? Yeti is the only cooler in the world to be Grizzly Bear Approved.

Conversation

Me: Eden, baby let me wipe your face please!?
Eden: Wait daddy, you gonna wipe off my lipsticks!
Me: Oh I'm sorry, we can redo it, I promise.
Eden: (now crying) But daddy I just did it and you're gonna wipe it off, please don't wipe it off daddy!!!!
Me: But baby your face is crusty, let's go redo your make-up princess...
Eden: (sniffling) O-o-o-o-o.....ok.

Tournament Champs

We had a great weekend here at STM Kawanis Tournament. We out scored
our challengers 19-2 this weekend. Both goals against were in the
finals against Vanderbilt. Puttin more hardware in the case at LHS, I
think I'm spoiled with these freshman classes I've been having. After
taking a year off I feel honored to be rewarded with such an amazing
squad upon my return.

Typical Morning at Seatrax

I've had a weight problem since I've started here at Seatrax. This is
a pretty good indication as to why. Boudin, cracklin', boudin balls,
cake, kolaches (not pictured bc they're all gone), and icing cookies
all make for a wonderful breakfast. I do my best to avoid indulging
every morning (I failed epically today) but I'd be rude to not
acquiesce to my reps' offererings. So every now and again I partake in
the morning ambrosia in an effort to pass some early morning time.

YMCA Bans Santa in California

A YMCA in California says that Santa is a member of the Christian Community and is not inclusive enough for all of the kids because of his Christian heritage. They want to be more inclusive and non-offensive so they are banning Santa and bringing in Frosty the Snowman to appeal to all the kids. Here is my qualm, YMCA stands for "Young Men's Christian Association" . I'm an atheist and I find this preposterous. How pathetic and cowardice to deny the very foundation of your organization, which has been around since 1809, for the sake of a bunch of pufters who refuse to assimilate or just ignore the basis of certain rituals and/or traditions. My daughter goes to a Christian School, my wife is a devout Christian, just because my beliefs don't necessarily adapt to theirs doesn't mean the world is over. I feel, as of late, that we are slowly becoming a country not of our own origins. America was founded and built to escape the tyranny of Totalitarian and Dictatorship style governments. Socialism was not in the foundation of America, but it has most certainly become more and more prevalent in our society today. We, at one time, were a county of Neo-Judaic philosophy, of Christian Theology. There was a time when kids were allowed to practice their religions without the fear of persecution, such is the foundation of our country. Now our freedoms are snuffed by overzealous right and left wing douche bags for the sake of fairness. Fairness for whom? Is it not the speakers of Islam and Christianity that are offending the patrons of Islam and Christianity. Islam, is an Arabic word meaning, "to be submissive" but it seems that our country, our traditions, our theories, our philosophies are the ones being sacrificed in the name of submissiveness. If you live in America and choose to practice the Muslim faith, you are most entitled to that lifestyle choice, if you are a Christian, you too are permitted the freedom of religion, and the Atheists have their place to be who they want to be, but to come out against another person for what they believe or don't believe is absurd. If you don't like Joel Olsteen on your television, then don't watch that channel. I don't want my daughter watching certain cartoons, do I call and protest the television stations and the creators of the show, no, I just don't let her watch those stations. It is absolutely perplexing how freedoms can go one direction for one group of people, but not for another, it begs the question, what is freedom? Miriam-Webster defines freedom as: the quality of state of being free, a political right. Very vague and ambiguous. But nonetheless we as people once possessed a freedom that was indeed free, and everyday our politicians are taking it away from us one day at a time. It will only be a matter of time until we are warned about our Prayers before our soccer games at Lafayette High School, or the prayers we have on my club team with CSC. I allow my kids this freedom, this Divine Right, for it is the way in which they were brought up, who am I to take that away from them? If I move to Palestine, and my family is a Christian family, I will most assuredly not attempt to remove Muhammad from the curriculum they teach. Public schools can teach you about Darwinism and Confucius (two men whom I study diligently) but mention the name Jesus Christ or speak a mere ounce of his work and there will be an uproar from some enraged moronic parent. They justify this by stating the offensive nature of the material to non-Christians, then there is the argument of separation between church and state. Allow me to clarify the concept of separation of church and state. It signifies the distant between organized religions and the nation state, by in which, no state shall name themselves as a specific religion. Louisiana cannot, under "constitution" (remember this phrase), claim to be a Christian, Muslim, Nihilistic, or any religion State. The term has been misconstrued and distorted for years. It was first written by Thomas Jefferson to the Dansbury Baptist's Association in 1802. The original text reads, "...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." The phrase was quoted by the Supreme Court in 1878 and then again in a series of cases starting in 1947, but this phrase is not and cannot be found in the U.S. Constitution. Now, the First Amendment does state, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 


We have come to quite a crossroads as Americans. The world is laughing at us. We have organizations to protest other organizations. I'll be honest, it's embarrassing. When I read a story of a 6th grade boy in California who put an American Flag on his bicycle on Veterans Day in support of his fallen Grandfather and then gets threatened with suspension if he does it again because it offends the Muslims, and Jews in the school, it breaks my heart. 

Saints Oust the Rams 31-13

I had the pleasure of attending the saints game last night with my boss, his buddy Tim and a good client and friend Mike. We sat in section 134 at the field entrance/exit for the saints. At one point I was able to reach down and touch the helmets of the players as they entered the field. It was amazing. The atmosphere was tremendous. It's easy to see how people can get addicted to this lifestyle of game going. I had a wonderfully exciting experience, to top it off, the Saints won pretty handily. Another cool point is, for the New Orleans Rock & Roll Half Marathon, if I use the coupon code "saints" I will get a discount of however many points the Saints won by. So if I register now, I will get $18 discount off of my registration. Pretty cool. I researched this for other cities that host a Rock & Roll event, and Dallas only gives a max of $9 credit. HAHAHAHA!!!!

Classic Dilbert

It's Official, Eden has a Sibling on the Way

My wife and I are proud to announce the coming of our second child. The unofficial due date is July 20, 2011. That's 3 weeks after Eden's birthday and 2 days after my Ashley's birthday, and 19 days before my birthday. So it'll make for some fun summers in the future.

The Orange Tree

Eden learning to twist off the "Onjarange"

The animals don't waste.

We have a beautiful Orange Tree in our yard, that has produced amazingly sweet oranges over the past 3 years for us. As we returned from our morning activities Eden asked, "can we go pick some Onjaranges daddy?" Although cold, it was a beautiful morning so there was no hesitation to say yes. Furthermore, across the street was a burning Sugar Cane field, a smell both my wife and I love. So with a bit of warmth behind us we picked to our hearts content. I lost count somewhere around 125, but that's the number of oranges I counted whilst walking around the tree. I guess there is around 175 in total. I can't seem to pick them all, but the squirrel's and Racoon's absolutely love them. Thusly, I will comply to sharing.

Sunday Morning Track Workout

 This morning I decided I would give in to my crave to go at a few track workouts at St. Martinville Senior High School's track which is open to the public. I haven't run from a sprint position in a while, but felt pretty good on all my starts. I ran 4x400's, 5x100's, and 5x200's. I tried to keep my pace consistent. After my San Antonio Half Marathon I am really interested in increasing my times. I think/hope this is the answer.

Really Big French Fry

Me and Fam went to see "Tangled" tonight and post haste Eden was wanting to go eat Waffle House. Well on  our way in she thought she would show me, "a huge french fry". She was in awe over how big this French Fry was. It was hilarious to watch her gleam over this phenomena.

Bridges

I have been a big fan of a website called thechive.com. Most of their website is NSFW but this most recent post was amazing. They had users take pics of their daily drives over bridges to work, very nice. View more here.

FIFA Announces WC Bid Winners

2018 - Russia (not going)
2022 - Qatar (not going)

Another Danny Macaskill Video (aptly named cyclist)

Danny went home for this video, this is the journey from Edinburgh to the Isle Of Skye where he is from. Enjoy this eight minutes of brilliance.