Final 9?

I think this is my 9th Final Four. Let's list them out shall we?
Minneapolis 2001 (thank goodness for autocorrect)
Atlanta 2002
Indy 2006
Atlanta 2007
Indy 2010
New Orleans 2012
Dallas 2014
Indy 2015
Houston 2016
And Phoenix 2017

Oh wow. I was wrong. This is number 10. You don't see as amazed as I am.

Caracas

Caracas in the East Village is definitely a place to eat again. Amazing Arepas and cool atmosphere. The restaurant only holds about 15 people at a time.

Unreal

Unreal to witness Carolina winning 4 games in 9 days to make it to the Final Four. I'm so happy for the kids and coaches. What an amazing accomplishment and I'm so thankful to have seen it with friends and family. Go Gamecocks!

The Spotted Pig

Mom and I made it to The Village and ate a late lunch at The Spotted Pig. The wait was worth it. Such a cool place and great food. The bathroom tripped me out. One bathroom. Two stalls. Male and female welcome! When I walked out of my stall there was a woman washing her hands. I said, "never been in a bathroom like this." "First time for everything" was her reply. I think she's right. Very lovely spot that I would go to again.

What a Night

What a night in NYC last night. From getting to see the old crew at the Mason Jar before the game, to watching the Gamecocks advance to the Elite 8 for the first time ever.....what a night.

Morandi

We had dinner at Morandi in the Village last night. Nice Italian spot. Would go back again.

Coach Cartier

I laughed.

What a cool experience at Cartier on 5th this morning. Such care and attention by the saleswoman. I cringe to even call her that because she was more than that. She took us to a private room to have Angie try on bracelets. Very attentive, caring, complementary and sweet.

Ali

Everyone this is Ali.  Ali this is everyone.  

So the first thing about tonight is that I scheduled a car ahead of time to pick me up.  That was nice. Ali was the driver.  That was even nicer.  Ali is from Pakistan. During our 30 minutes together, Ali shared his thoughts with me about the world and gave me back stories about Pakistan and Afghanistan.  That was cool.  

But the cooler part was him showing me(as he is in this picture) pictures of his 19 month old son. Now, I've been shown many pictures of kids(and dogs....and yes I'm one of those guys that shows you pictures of my dogs) over my lifetime.  But I've never seen someone that showed as much love and enthusiasm about a child before.  He showed me picture after picture and video after video of his beautiful son.  I can't tell you how much he loves his boy.  

Ali has a 16 year old and a 19 year old son and he even admits that his new boy wasn't in the plan, but wow, what an amazing love he showed for his boy.  I can't help but think what a wonderful life his new boy is going to have.   I can only say that based on the 30 minutes I spent with his loving, caring and compassionate dad.  

What a great day it's been getting and being in NYC.  Thank you Ali for a wonderful time in your car.  

Pretty Cool

So I listened to a podcast this morning from James Altucher where he interviewed Jessica Banks(don't worry.  You don't know her.  She's not that famous).  She talked about an idea she follows called Dare of the Day.  Basically if there's something she doesn't want to do, she does it as a way to stretch herself.  One example she gave was when she was a party and a bunch of her friends were dancing and trying to be attractive doing so, she got up and did the robot.....more than likely a very ridiculous version of the robot.  

To me, it's a way to get out of my head.  Well I just did a dare of the day.  I sat on the bus across from a lady as we traveled from the parking deck to the terminal. I knew I needed to do what I did, but I didn't want to.  I did it anyway and asked her where she was heading.  

What transpired was beautiful.  She told me she's flying to philly to meet the brother she never had.  She had just found out that her dad had a son by another woman and she couldn't be more excited. In fact, her brother has already become fast friends with him!

For me I think is going to help me and my idea that I have to be perfect.  If you're reading this, which I know you're not, you potentially may be thinking, "You don't have to worry about that, dude."   Thanks for your honesty, to be honest.  But when I'm at my unhealthiest, I do strive to be perfect.  The reality is, no one cares if I'm perfect or not.  What I'm striving for at my core is acceptance and a lot of times I look for that through the perfection or the pursuit of it.  

The Journey Begins

Heading to New York to watch the Gamecocks play in their first ever Sweet 16(since the tourney expanded to 64+ teams!

Back

You didn't think I'd be back did you?  Don't worry, normally I probably wouldn't but I had started that post last night and just posted it in the security line at IAH.  It's a significant line so this will be a significant post more than likely.  Not significant in the sense that it will be significant to your life but who knows

Just took an uber to the airport leaving the hotel at 3:10am.  Never woken up at 2:44am that I can remember.  This uber driver literally was one of the nicest people I've ever met.  Such a gentle spirit.  Former football player at a college here in Texas.   Super friendly and super honest.  He did make me chuckle quite a bit though.  When I told him I was from South Carolina he proceeded to go into a wonderful sales pitch about sc and how beautiful the water is and everything is there.  I agreed.  He then told me he traveled through there a lot to visit his fiancé when she was training in NY.  I was thinking it may have been a little out of his way to go through the carolinas to get to NY, but who am I to judge.  He brought the conversation back to the lakes and asked, "Isn't Lake Tahoe in SC?"  I'm not sure I had ever been more confused in my life than I was at that moment. I gently mentioned that Lake Tahoe is in Nevada (turns out part of it is in California so we were both wrong) and then he mentioned the Great Lakes.  So yes, my confusion level went up again.  I mentioned that the Great Lakes are up near Michigan(he had mentioned Chicago earlier so things were starting to make sense in a weird way).   Then he said, "Aren't the Great Lakes near the carolinas?"  At this point I had to take a step back, a deep breath, smile a little, wish someone else was there to here this, and then say, "Well, no.  SC is above Florida and Georgia if you're familiar with those states."   I'm not sure he was, so we moved on.  When he mentioned this was his second day ubering I began to get a little concerned I would make it to IAH on time but I did.  Like I said, great guy.  Just a little geographically challenged, but who isn't?  Well at least I know I am. 

Ok back to Houston. I think it's a decent city for a final four.  If I was ranking the cities in my rankings, and I am, here are the current standings for best final four cities:

1.  Indy

2.  New Orleans

3.  Atlanta

4.  Dallas

5.  Houston

6.  Minneapolis 

Indy is by far my favorite.  Still my favorite city in the world too. 

Anyway, my experience in Houston provided a lot of good memories.  I saw former co-workers, walked in the middle of the street with one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, made new friends, listened to great men speak about leadership and their rise in the business, and I was strengthened by being around first-class people throughout the weekend.  This was a different final four experience than others.  I was in bed at decent times and I'm not completely exhausted as I stand in this security line.  Yep still here.  Ok now at the end.  Maybe I'll write more later.  

Sunsetting

The sun is setting on another Final Four.  I believe this is number 8 for me in 6 different cities.  Houston is not too bad.  Not great but not too bad.  Hard to get a feel for the city.  More to come in a sec

Houston

DC and Chucktown

Let me tell, Snapseed is awesome.  It's an app.  App is short for application.  Applications help people get jobs in some cases.  In other cases, it helps people like me edit photos into award winning photos.  I couldn't keep a straight face either.  

Anyway, I had the chance to go to the ACC tourney in DC and I took it. 

Yes, Steve Robinson got on tv when ESPN was showing Tony and I. DC was great.  Walked to many a monument, went to the Holocaust Museum(can't recommend this enough) and saw some awesome basketball.  

I flew from there straight to Charleston for the SCAAA Conference.  The old me said, "Yes.  Great idea.  Spend three days in DC and fly to to Charleston for 4 days."  The new me still thought it was a good idea.   And boy was I tired when it was all over.  

#Snapseed

Indy Redux

Ever use words that you don't know the meaning of?  Yeah me too.  I think redux means "re-do" and even if it doesn't, I'm going with it anyway.  

Indy!  This is my 6th trip to Indy I believe. Truly I'm losing count and that's cool to me.  This trip was born out of a want to see my boy MJ, his Xavier Muskateers, Hinkle Fieldhouse and also another chance to hang out in my favorite city.  

The trip got much better when big Chap himself decided to drive down from Milwaukee and join in the fun.  Shootaround Friday night in Hinkle was awesome. There's a decidedly different feel at night in that building versus during the day:

Yeah, I agree.  Putting 9,000+ fans in there changes the feel too. 

In true Hoosiers fashion, I took this photo just to make sure the FT is 15ft:

And it is. Or at least it looks like it is.  

Where'd we stay you ask?   Great question.  Arrangements for lodging weren't made until I passed through DCA on the way up to Indy.  I was torn between the Indy Hostel and trying Air BNB for the first time.  I went with the BNB and had a fantasic experience.  Our host was Chanh and regrettably I didn't get a picture, but here she is from her Air BNB:

Ok so you're unfamiliar with the Airbnb process? That makes two of us.  This being my first experience with the service and app I didn't really know what to expect.  My understanding that people can rent homes from folks that are out of town or can rent rooms while the owner is in town.  Chap and I experienced the latter.  Chanh was an amazing host.  I arrived around 5:15pm on Friday, she greeted me and showed me around her home and introduced me to Ruby, one of the sweetest Pit Bulls I've ever seen.  Such a great dog. 

Chanh is an extremely peaceful person and open about her lifestyle which includes meditation, yoga, and an extremely simple life.  Part of her house rules on Airbnb says, "Imagine staying at your best friend's house."   That is exactly how I'd describe staying at her house.   Sitting and talking with her this morning was amazing.  Discussing meditation, journaling, work, the world and more was a reminder that's what I love most about traveling.  Being able to talk with people I would normally not get to meet and to find out about their lives is one of the joys I've discovered in traveling.  

I'm bouncing all around here but I don't care.  So, the game.  Amazing. Xavier was fantastic and is a true top 5 team in my opinion.   They have weapons all over the floor and can play 10 guys.  They will be tough in March and April.  Hope to see them in Houston 

Not sure why but the lights hanging down from the rafters fascinated me hence the picture of them above. 

I have been in Hinkle before and seeing a game is truly something I'd recommend.  This was a big game for Butler.  However the reality is they haven't had much luck against Xavier over the years.  Fans still showed up and were loud until Xavier took over.  

Hanging out at night in Indy has always been enjoyable for me and this trip didn't disappoint.  Broad Ripple has a lot to offer and Lupe Fiasco was playing there last night which may have been a reason things were a little more crowded. We got to meet a high school hoops coach from up there too.  Good dude.  Oh and I got to see my boy Chris too.  Haven't seen him in almost a year since he left Columbia.  Catching up with him was good.  

No trip to Indy would be complete without me posting pictures from the airport.  Has to be one of the most beautiful airports in the country

I also went through my first plane de-icing

Oh and the food.  Yes.  The food.  Weber Grill again for some grilled coffee(it's not really grilled but everything else there is just about.  At least I don't think the coffee is grilled.  Who knows)

Cafe Patochau this morning with Chap was great too.  Might be the most packed restaurant I've seen.  We literally had people standing around our table just waiting to have their named called for a table. 

I also saw some pretty cool leadership related things around Hinkle.  

Since this is the most random post ever, let me see what I can find.  Oh yeah, I had to be prepared for several different scenarios for the Region finishes in girls and boys basketball.   Now I did, in fact, use my laptop in airports and on the plane.  But it was amazing how much business I could conduct on my phone.  Here were the final standings for the boys:

So in summary:  Indy didn't disappoint again.  Getting to see Matt and Xavier play in Hinkle was awesome.  Getting to stay at Chanh's house was incredible.  Meeting some locals and seeing the city was great.  And being able to do it all with Chap made it all the better.  

If you haven't seen Indy, just go.  Pick a weekend.  And go.  

And for extra points, stay with Chanh and tell her I sent you.  

See you soon Indy!

Lahujebslldno

I don't think the above spelling can be found in Wales but I'm honestly not sure.  Wales was amazing.  The spellings of words and towns are unreal.  I honestly thought they were just messing with me and making up words.