I had the greatest middle school math teacher. His name was Mr. Panning. He was a great teacher. He was a great cross country coach. And especially at that point in my life - he was a great role model.

I remember sitting in Geometry my 8th grade year and numerous times hearing students (*cough* myself) saying, "when the heck am I going to need to know this in the real world."

More on that later...

We decided at last week's creative strategy meeting that one thing we wanted to do with the website was to "localize" it to the market we are in. So, for example, if someone from Tucson visits the website, the design reflects the fact we are on KQTH in Tucson. Or if in Fort Wayne, it reflects WOWO. You get the idea.

Pretty unique, huh? Problem is: this is not an easy thing to do.


Crazy I know. But what does this have to do with math?

Taking someone's lat/lon coordinates and figuring out what zipcode that coordinates to (and therefore what radio market) incorporates some crazy math. Mainly using the Great Circle Formula to determine proximity:


Take that formula, incorporate with a MySQL database schema, sort by distance from nearest to furthest, limit your results to 1 (the nearest) and bam! You've figured out figured out the radio market a web visitor is in.

I guess my punk-8th grade self has his answer 12 years later.

There was a lot I learned back then I never knew how I would use.

I think about the only web programming class I have ever taken was in 7th grade. And the only video editing class I ever took was in 8th grade. The only design class I took was Sophomore year of high school. All while I thought I was going to be a doctor or an attorney.

On top of that, my last math class was pre-calculus my Junior year of high school.

10 years later, and with out a single college class in any of those fields, I find those classes were a great foundation.

What do you think you are learning today that you will utilize 10 years down the road?

I know as I get older I have become less teachable. We become "experts." We think we know what we need to know and ignore the rest. But like 8th graders in math class, just because we can't foresee what we need down the road, it never hurts to learn new things.

As my Uncle once told me, "you are either learning or you are dying." It's your choice.

Tonight I was moving some current financial records from my "active" filing box to my "archive" filing box and I came across some old letters I had saved. There were some from my dad, some from professors in college, and a few others I had saved along the way. But one was from my Grandpa shortly before his death.

I thought I had remembered this letter with great detail.

I remembered the paragraph that is redacted (which will not be elaborated on publicly), and I remember the paragraph about the U-boat and WW2.

Strangely I did not remember the paragraph about my Uncle, nor the paragraph about my Grandfather's regrets, nor the paragraph about the, then recent, ex-girlfriend whom he had met the previous spring when we went skiing in Colorado.

I pulled out the type-writer paper from the flax stationary envelope and began to read...




He died a month later.

My Grandfather meant a lot to me. I always felt that out of my two parents, and four grandparents, my mother's father always understood me the best. He always treated me like I was an adult, even when I was 7 years old.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my Grandpa was shortly after my dad left. We were in my home's living room and amongst tears - which I later found out that very few people have ever seen him cry - talking about our family's current situation. He looked at me and said, "Andy, you need to be the man of the house now. Your mom needs your help."

I was 14.

It is something my mom to this day can't believe he said. But it is a moment I will remember forever.

His death came 3 years later, almost to the day, of that afternoon in the living room. It was odd for me. I don't remember being all that sad - even though he meant the world to me.

I was in hotel at 14th and Spring Street in Midtown Atlanta of all places (at that time I lived in Indiana) at a journalism conference with some fellow classmates. I flew to the funeral in Denver. I remember not crying during the whole trip. I found this odd, but I didn't force it. I then flew back to Indiana on Thanksgiving by myself.

As I have gotten older I have had moments where I wished he was still around. Moments where I feel he would get what I was dealing with better than anyone. Moments where I wish I could shoot ideas and offers and decisions off of him.

So tonight I sat at my desk up in my loft and I took a moment while everyone else watched The Bachelor and read his note again from from almost nine years ago.

I remembered what a great man he was.

And I cried a little...

I am not really a big fan of resolutions. I sort of think they are stupid. But I will say this, I miss the 2,164 mile, 28-hour drives I made 4 times a year at the beginning and end of every semester in college. Most of you are probably cringing at the thought. I loved them.

They were always such good times to either reflect a.) what the next four months would be about, or b.) what the last four months ended up being about. It was really good for me. I miss them a lot.

I don't have much like that now. Even long road trips aren't great reflective times, but rather my mind racing at a million miles per hour about what needs to be done when I am gone and when I get back. So I guess resolutions might be the best thing to do now that the road trip is gone.

So here are my 2009 "resolutions."

1. I am not going to miss big events in my family and friends lives - I missed a lot of stuff in 2008. Mainly weddings of people I very much cared for - but other things as well. It's hard with the show on Saturday nights. But this year I am taking steps to fix that. In November I booked a flight for my friends wedding in Oregon in August. I am also going to go out and see Sarah after she has her baby.

2. Take more "weekenders" - As I have blogged before, I love weekenders. Whether running off to the beach at Hilton Head in the summer or hoping on a plane and going far away. 48 hours away is great for me. I am going to go skiing with my sister in February. Visit Sarah in March. Probably get up to DC and visit Nathan in April. And a trip to Chicago in June. All Thursday - Saturday trips. Then it is beach time in Hilton Head all summer long. Actually trying to take a "weekend" this year. Anyone else want me to come and visit? I'll add you to the list.

3. Finally complete the new Allen Hunt Show Website - I have literally been talking about this for well over 18 months now. It's needs some serious revamping. Now that I have an intern this Spring, I might actually be able to get it done.

4. Paint the inside of my home - I'll be honest. I am not a big fan of the interior of my house. It's so bland and uncreative. Thus, by the end of 2009 - and maybe with some help by CJ and Andrea - the interior of my house will be completely re-done.

Well that's it. Enjoy. What are your resolutions for this year?

I have made it no secret that I have political ambitions. I'd love to be a Mayor, and then a Governor, and then President.

I used to imagine what my Presidency would be like while mowing the lawn. I would give imaginary speeches in my head. I would come up with administration policy positions on a whole slue of issues. I would even think about what "common" events I would attend and how to build morale in the country. I know this will probably never happen - due to reasons I have blogged about in the past - but I still think about it.

There is though another reason that I think may prevent me from being President. Even if I got into politics, I wonder if all I would ever be is Vice President...

I just got into watching a show called Damages on FX. Fantastic work. Really. About an intelligent, driven young woman who just passed the bar and got accepted into a high-profile firm in New York. And even though there is a definite bad guy in an opposing law suit, the real antagonist is her boss: Patty Hewes. It's kind of like the novel The Firm, but with women.

I watched 9 episodes in a row on Friday. This scene hit a little too close to home.


One of my biggest fears - I would even go as far as saying my largest professional fear - is that I will always be a number two.

It has happened at every stage thus far. In high school I was number two to CJ in my leadership role with the youth group. In college, I was number two to Bryan. Now, I pretty much make a living being Allen's number two.

The only time I ever got to be number one was as Editor-In-Chief of Yearbook and I was awful at it.

Don't get me wrong. Being number two is great when you are good at it. It beats being number three or four or worse, so far down the list there is no number. There are a lot of people who would love to be the number two. I know this because of the animosity received being the number two. Everyone always sucks up to number one, they take their frustration out on number two.

But I am not going to lie: as great as it is at this stage, the idea of being number two my whole life haunts me deeply. There is something deep inside that desires to be number one, but the older I get the more I wonder if I'll get there.

So what if Patty is right? What if, like Tom, I am a great number two and that is my limit? What if I am only destined to be Deputy Mayor, a Lieutenant Governor, and a Vice-President?

My faith teaches me that I should accept how God created me, as this will ultimately bring the most fulfillment. But I have to say I would be very disappointed.

Well I have had some serious posts recently so I figured I would lighten it up a bit.

First of all, who saw Scrubs last night? Seriously! I am so glad it is back on the air. The first episode of the evening wasn't all that great, but the second was phenomenal. And mad props to my brother for catching the coincidence of the episode subject and my previous blog on death. Crazy. I think someone at Scrubs is reading my blogs and coming up with shows really quickly afterward. If you are out there...I know you are there!

If you missed this show, you can catch the full episode here. Great job capturing the universal fear of death. Hmm...it was good.

Second bit of light-heartedness. I am going to kill Paris Hilton. Now I know that isn't particularity light-hearted nor am I the first one who has said this. But I bet I am the only with my reason.

I was listening to WSB-sister-station 95.5 The Beat this morning on the 5-minute drive to the office and they were talking about some ground breaking piece of important news: Paris Hilton thinks she will be ready to have children in 2 years or so.

But here's the worst part: she is going to name her first girl London.

Ever since watching the Seinfeld episode where George wants to name his daughter Seven - I decided I was going to name my daughters Paris and Sydney - after my two favorite cities. Mind you this was circa 2000.

But then in 2003, Paris Hilton becomes famous because she doinked some genius from New Jersey that somehow let the tape get on the internet. Lesson to all you young ladies out there: if you are going to make a sex tape, make sure you keep it.

Thus my plan of naming my daughter Paris is completely thwarted. And even though I am sure Paris will die of syphilis before I have a daughter, I still won't be able to name my daughter Paris.

But now this! She is going to name her kid London. That is like one step away from Sydney. Who is to say she won't name her second daughter Sydney - thus one woman will have essentially ruined both the names I wanted for my kids.

I guess I am going to have to marry Nicky Hilton (she's the cuter one anyway) and then we'll pop out a kid before Paris can and thus I will get my revenge! Yeah...that's the plan...I'll work on that one for a bit.

If you knew your death was imminent - like within minutes - and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it, what do you think you would do?

Would you freak out?

Would you pray? Especially for forgiveness?

Would you try and call loved ones? Which ones?

What if you couldn't contact anyone?

For some reason I think about this when I fly. Not with any morbid panic, "we're all going to die" mindset. But just in a subdued fact of reality that it could happen.

I know what I would do. I would grab the iPhone and pull up I Can Only Imagine. I am not usually a big fan of Christian music, but I Can Only Imagine is great simply because it has no answers, just one open-ended statement-question: I Can Only Imagine?



If I had an extra couple of minutes I would probably pull up one more: Brooke White's performance of Let It Be on American Idol. I often listen to this after I have had a really bad day. It is incredibly calming.

.

Other close contenders were Come What May the Moulin Rouge version and Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World.

I think I would also try and get off one quick text message - hoping that I would get cell coverage before impact. It would probably go to Allen - strange I know - but I don't know anyone who empathetically, but helpfully breaks bad news to people better than him.

It would read:
Going down. All is well. Tell all I love them, not to be angry, and to keep living life to the fullest

It wouldn't be long, and I wouldn't send out more than one. I'd get that off, sit back, and let the moment of worship take me into eternity - whatever that may be.

I don't really know why I blogged about this today. Maybe it was last night's show. It just came to my mind for some reason and I figured I would share. That's what I would hope for in my final moments, what do you think you would do?

It has been another long day. Up around 8 when Jadyn gets up after a night of minimal sleep due to Asher not sleeping through the night. The next 14 hours are spent non-stop taking care of the kids and tending to the new house.

She walks down the stairs after a very long process of putting Jadyn to bed - as breathtakingly beautiful and sexy as she was before popping out two kids - and instead of passing out on the couch next to her lazy husband and her lazy husband's lazy friend, she looks at CJ and I and asks, "would you guys like fruit smoothies."

This is Andrea. She is amazing. And she more than anyone deserves to be a woman we love.

More on this later...

I once went to a church service that had a silhouetted drama skit of two scenes: a groom with his best man and a bride with her maid of honor. The skit was about conflicting expectations after marriage.

It became painfully obvious the antagonist in this story was the best man - mainly due to the new wife's low opinion of her new husband's best friend. I remember nothing else from the service but one single thought: "man am I glad Andrea is as cool as she is."

It is one thing to have a best friend in life as cool as CJ. It is quite another to have my best friend's wife be my second best friend.

She works at least twice as hard as I do - and complains half as much.

She is more patient and nurturing with her kids than anyone I have ever known.

She unconditionally loves and respects her husband - even when he doesn't deserve it.

She lets her husband's best friend spend weeks at her house, including over their anniversary, with out blinking an eye.

Simply put she is the most wonderful woman I know.

Some may look at this and think it isn't very feminist, but I would argue she is a perfect model of feminism because she is living the life she set out to live.

I don't feel that it has to be a woman's place to stay home and raise the kids. And even though I have spent most of my 20-something existence making financial decisions that will hopefully enable my wife to stay at home if that is what she wants, I also have no problem if pursuing a career is something that is important to her.

But feminism is about choice. This gets forgotten. It isn't doing about what is expected - albeit a career or homemaker. It is about knowing what one wants in life and not having anyone prevent that. Andrea knew what she wanted out of life, and is phenomenal at it.

I have (probably mistakenly) told more than one girlfriend that I don't really care what my mom thinks of you, it's Andrea who you really have to be worried about. She is with out a shadow of a doubt Supermom and Superwife and definitely a woman I love.

The second in the Women We Love - Andy's Trip Edition isn't a woman at all, but a beautiful young girl: Jadyn.

Since Jadyn graced our lives over three years ago she has changed my outlook on life so much - and she isn't even my kid.

For the past 8 days Jadyn has been my alarm clock. And if waking up to a beautiful woman who I get to sleep with is the best way to wake up, waking up with a beautiful young girl saying, "come on Uncle Andy, let's get up and play" has got to be an extremely close second.

The usual morning routine involves playing a quick game of hide and go seek, which transitions into a game of tag, and then ends with some version of dolls in her bright pink room.

The other day after tag, she was getting out her dolls and I decided to try and steal a quick moment to check the iPhone for email - which is usually literally the first thing I do in the morning (before even getting out of bed).

But as she sits down by me with dolls in hand, she looks up and sees me checking the iPhone.

She responds, in the sweetest little girl voice, "Uncle Andy, can you not check your email right now and just watch me play."

I respond, "Of course."

As I sat and watched her play, I thought to myself how important - regardless of age - it is to have people who are there just to watch us play. And sure, as we get older, "play" becomes a bit different. Play becomes work. Play becomes being a husband or wife. Play becomes raising a family. Play becomes serving our community. Play becomes a whole slue of things.

But we all need support in the things we do. We need people in our lives that essentially "watch" what we do and give us the encouragement and support that we are valuable and what we are doing is valuable.

Jadyn will grow from a young girl I love, to a young woman I love, and finally to a woman I love. And I will always be there to watch her play - no matter what that play entails. And I am grateful for those who have and continue to watch me.

Now back to playing dolls...

I love coming home to Indiana for vacation. I have great friends in CJ & Andrea that feel like family (more on that later this week). I get along better with my real family now more than I ever have, and I truly enjoy spending time with them.

But one thing I have really grown to love is the "once-a-year" meals I share with people I don't get to see very often. The conversation is always intriguing; hearing all about what has happened in the time apart. Seeing how we have grown to who we are today, compared to where we were the last time we talked.

And, since by some natural law of the universe that states I am only allowed to have one guy friend in any given region, these conversations are usually with women (hence the mini-blog series). This Christmas I met up with a long-time-ago exgirlfriend named Ashley.

I hadn't talked to Ashley in over 8 years. The last time I saw her was at least senior year of high school. She was a cheerleader in high school, but incredibly intelligent. She went on to Purdue and eventually took a job in engineering.

We had "talked" a few times on Facebook this year about various things, and so decided to get together for lunch over Christmas.

Ashley has grown into an incredibly beautiful, successful, and talented engineer at a large cooperation in Kentucky. And our conversation seemed to end too quickly.

But you want to know what I loved most about our lunch at Yen Ching? Well...I can't tell you.

Now I know Erik is probably thinking up some salacious reason as to why I can't tell you, but that isn't it. Really, I can't tell you because most wouldn't understand. I would come off even more conceited than I actually am.

So if I can't really tell you, why blog about it? Because we all need people in our lives that "get" where we are at. We need people - who sometimes may not have been really close friends - but who understand what is great about our current place in life, while at the same time understand the struggles and insecurities that come with it.

Ashley gets what it is like to be the youngest person by 20 years in meetings. She gets what it is like moving away to a town where you know no one in pursuit of career aspirations. She gets what it is like owning a home in the burbs while the rest of the 20-somethings live in the city.

It is a similar reason as to why I love CJ as much as I do. We get each other.

In January I mentioned the Duke University study that states Americans have fewer friends and confidants than they did 30 years ago. I have been blessed to have some amazing friendships. And the lunches like the one I shared with Ashley are what keep me from going nuts.

I know I have been awful at blogging recently, but I took a break. I have had a wonderful time up in Indiana and still have another 5 days or so.

Hanging out with CJ & Andrea is always a blast. I am the only person I know who wakes up at 11 am for work most days, but on vacation gets up at 9 and is generally exhausted all day. But I love it. Nothing like being woken up by a beautiful girl, even if she is only three.

Some of the cutest things Jadyn has said this trip:

• Uncle Andy, can you wear your hat? You look cool.
• Can we play hide and go seek? ... (1 minute later before she counts to 10) ... ok you go hide in the closet ... (don't think she quite gets the concept of hide and go seek)
• Can you not check your email and just watch me play?

And not to leave the Ash-man out of things. I figured I'd post of video of Asher and I. He can't rollover yet, but I swear I am going to see him walking before I leave on Saturday. His legs are crazy strong - as you can tell by the video. Be sure to wait for the end.


Between being spit up on all week and the fumes from the midget racing inside the Memorial Coliseum, I pretty much have smelled this entire week.

Well that's some fun stuff for now. I am going to blog later on this week about four of my favorite women of the trip - which include one of the Stolen girls, an exgirlfriend I haven't talked to since senior year of high school, and of course, Andrea and Jadyn. Think of it my own version of Esquire's "Women We Love."