Fun times in Cleveland!

As expected, this summer has been quite busy in every which way. Time is flying and I can't believe it is mid-July already. It's been quite a great run so far and as I always like to say, the pieces are coming together.

My brother and his family just bought a very nice boat which I've been fortunate enough to go out on Lake Erie a couple times now. I've been more interested in fishing lately and I have to say I enjoy it more than ever. That, and actually eating the fish I catch! Didn't think I'd enjoy swimming in the lake as much as I did either, but there's nothing better on a hot day than to jump in a lake.

Season 1 of League of Legends is beginning on Tuesday and I've definitely been getting my game on. I'm excited about many of the new features such as draft mode, bans, and actually knowing where you stand in the ratings. I'm not overly competitive and have no real aspirations of being an elite player, but I still like to know where I stand in the grand scheme of things. Oh, and that "other" game Starcraft 2 is coming out in just a couple weeks. Seems like there's not as much excitement surrounding it around my circles of friends as I thought there would be, but I'm still quite pumped up.

Softball has been going very well, as we've seen steady improvement in my work league and the church team split into 2 teams, which was much needed in my opinion. I haven't been able to play much basketball lately as priorities shift to the outdoors and my Achilles' continues to strengthen. I really should be doing more yoga/stretching. It has helped immensely so far with managing my foot issues among of course, being more flexible. I'd still be interested in learning to play tennis sometime soon as well.

On the technology front, I received an iPad from work for testing. I was quite skeptical at first however I now believe that it definitely fills a certain niche somewhere, somehow. The biggest challenge I see is management of the device between the home and workplace. With the rise of smartphones and now iPads, there is a huge blur between where business use ends and personal use begins. I find this inevitable, and even a good thing since it encourages personal integrity between home and work. More about this in my futurist blog. Also of note, I'm still looking into possibilities for my "computer empire". Not much yet out of the laboratory, but the gears are still turning!

I've taking a step back and re-evaluated my goals for the future. Part of my problem is that it's difficult for me to make clearly-defined goals. When I do, I end up losing interest or neglecting them within a few weeks or months. I'm still on the right track, and my recipe for success is still a combination of reading, writing, experiencing new things, enjoying the work I do and understanding it all. I still find there are some contradictions in my personality, with certain ideas and visions playing tug-of-war with each other, but I'm starting to be able to identify these and figure out what I really want.

Lastly, a few words regarding the Lebron James departure. As many of you know, I'm a very avid Cavs fan and am as disappointed as anyone to see him leave. Yes, I express most of the same sentiments that most Clevelanders share, including Dan Gilbert. There's not much more that I can possibly add that hasn't already been said. Over the past few years I've become more of a basketball fan in general, and so I plan on continuing to follow the league (and root against the Heat) even though my interest in the Cavs might drop off a little. We'll see...I think we might still have a decent team, especially if we can pick up another big name or two. But I'm glad the Lebron free agency hype is all over and we can move on now having a lot less pressure on us to cater to his every whim. Which admittedly we have done and probably did more harm than good from the beginning. The way I see it, he's someone else's problem now.