I’ve been to NYC, but without Wife. She’s been to NYC, without me. Before you wonder why we took separate vacations there, we didn’t. I went on a trip to see family when I was dating Wife, and she went before we met. I’d love to go with her, and stay in the city. Maybe I can convince her if I promise to take her to see a Broadway show, and a taping of Saturday Night Live? If I take her to see things she wants to see, it will be easier to convince her to let me contact a New York ticket broker about some high priced seats for a sporting event at Madison Square Garden.

It annoys me when I write a check somewhere, and it’s processed instantly as an electronic payment, and the check is given back to me as my receipt. It’s a waste of a check. If I knew in advance it was going to be done that way, I would have rather just paid cash instead. It’s all part of this accounts receivable conversion banks are doing so you can’t float a check anymore. I get that part of it, I just don’t like taking the time to write a check out and then it’s handed back to me as a receipt.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are on a losing skid that happily ended on Thursday night. Now I know “losing skid” and “Devil Rays” are synonymous, but this year’s team shows a lot of promise. If only they had legitimate major leaguers in their bull pen.

If you’re looking for a place to form a fantasy football team and compete for huge pay-out prizes, look no further than AFFL.com The American Fantasy Football League is an elite, high-class venue in which to showcase your skills for a chance to win huge prizes. Check out the prizes for the 2007 season at http://affl.com/prizes.asp

I can’t wait for the next couple of months. Now that the NFL draft is over, it’s time for all of my favorite sports publications to put out their annual cheat sheets & pre-season draft projections for Fantasy Football. Last year, I drafted #3 in both of the leagues I played in, and drafted the stud player in both leagues - L.T. (San Diego Chargers). He was truly a man amongst boys out there last year, and while his production will surely drop a bit this year, he’s going to be the #1 pick if you have the chance to take him.

This Fantasy Football is definitely more elite than the leagues I’ve played in, with payouts up to $100,000. I wouldn’t mind winning some jack like that. I might join one of those - I know it’s a long shot, and against the odds, but hey - if you don’t take your shot, you never know. Joe SixPack can win it just like some fantasy nerd who spends 30 hours a week studying stats.

Wednesday night is now hockey night for Jim. On Wednesday nights I attend an adult clinic on hockey from 9:30-10:45. I’ve gone three times now and what a blast! My skating is already improving, and I have four more Wednesdays to go to before I miss a session for our family vacation to Canada.

I’ve been trying to find time slots that I can take my son to parent/player skate and shoots at the ice rink we go to. Unfortunately, most of the ice time available does not lend itself to working parents that live 50 miles from the ice! I hope I can get out there soon with the little guy.

Since we live in a society of addictions and addicts, everyone probably has been impacted by having a friend or loved one addicted to drugs. I found this drug rehab website, 1800nodrugs, that helps refer people to high quality care while keeping costs at a minimum. Not everyone is a Hollywood star and can afford to check themselves into some country club for three weeks of treatment. This site caters to first time treatment seekers, relapse patients and their families that are impacted by this devastating behavior. At work, I’ve seen how devastating addiction can be to a person’s career and I always feel sad to someone’s talent wasted. I can only imagine what it is like for their families.

Wife’s tech site, which is called GeekySpeaky, has really taken off in the 6 or so months it’s been online. She’s not only got a blog there, but forums where people can talk about paid blogging (and face it, the phrases “get paid to blog” and “make money blogging” are synonymous with Wife’s name. She’s earned over $10,000 from PayPerPost and she’s not doing too shabby with the other paid blogging she does.

Anyway, her link directory over at GeekySpeaky has really taken off in the past few months. In fact, the directory, which was started only a few months ago, is now a PR 5 - not too shabby, eh? Good job, wife! You can submit your site for free or pay for a special upgraded listing if you choose. It just amazes me that something she decided to do on a whim turned out to be so successful.

Something I have found to be true is that the more organized I keep myself at work, the more successful I am. One thing that I can’t stand is when people are late for appointments (Wife can testify to this).

I found this site aimpromote.com that offers CRM software to help keep yourself organized. This stuff looks like it would be great for sales people, ever been kept waiting by a Realtor? Some cool features are schedule trackers with pop up reminders and fields that highlight in different colors to remind you of calls or appointments that are coming due or are past due. Plus, the site offers support to help with utilizing and implementing the software. So when things go wrong, you still have an IT person to blame it on! Sweet.

Wednesday, Coach John Tortorella and GM Jay Feaster had a two hour interview on the Sports Animal 620 WDAE. Unfortunately, I missed all but the first twenty minutes. Boo Hoo. However, they did announce the re-signing of third liner Jason Ward. I like the toughness he brings and he can float on the second line once in a while.