Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

I walked in late to a happy hour this week and my co-worker Mallory asked what took me so long. Kristen suggested that I couldn’t get away from my desk because I was too busy working on Fantasy Football.

Is it sad that she was right?

I don’t spend all day working on my team but like Facebook or Google Reader- it’s something I check on a daily basis. In the mornings and evenings I like to see what activity is happening on the waiver wire. As I read and learn breaking news from Google Reader I like to check my sites to see if I can take advantage of an injury or promotion.

I have my fantasy football obession down to a weekly routine:

Monday

There’s still some football left to play but I’m already analyzing the week that just finished- who were the top performers? What injuries might come into play for the upcoming week? Who is out there that I can pick up to improve my team?

Tuesday

The week in football is officially over and my victories and losses have been officially tallied in my leagues. The big goal on Tuesdays is to look at my team and the upcoming week- where am I going to be strong, where am I going to be weak? This is also the day I’ll make all my waiver wire claims in my work league (my Yahoo leagues let me add/drop at will, so by Tuesday I’ve already picked up all the players I need.)

Wednesday

Now that Thursday Night Football is back in style I make all my picks for the week. Both for my money pick’em pool and the side competition I have with my intern Peter. I also do a quick look at my lineup make some preliminary changes.

Thursday

By Thursday all the podcasts I regularly listen to have posted their thoughts on the upcoming week. It makes great listening material when you are on the Metro or in the gym.

Friday

I will look at my lineup and the rankings out there and make and adjust my lineup for Sunday. Using a lot of the rankings I read I will make choices on which kickers/defenses I should add/drop. I always play matchups with those positions. If I have time I’ll post my weekly rant on football on my blog as well.

Saturday

Am I caught up on those podcasts? Just getting excited about the next week in football!

Sunday

The big day! If I have a lazy Sunday I’ll have time to watch some of the pre-game shows for some last minute news and prep. I will have set my final lineups set and I have my computers ready to crunch scores as I watch the games! I cross my fingers and hope I win my games; if not I know that tomorrow I get to start all over again.

So maybe football does take a lot of my day- but to me it’s a fun obsession hobby and hey it only lasts 16 weeks.

Now on to week 10!

TMG Sportsline League (6-3)

Pho Sho vs. Wide-Eyed Pumas

Thanks to soild performances from Brandon Jacobs, Matt Forte, and even my kicker Rob Bironas; I was able to take out Josie last week. There are a few more weeks to go and it’s definitely crunch time in my league as I hope to clinch the wild card spot and make the playoffs! This week I play Lisa in what I hope to be another victory. Hopefully this will be the last week before Tony Romo (he’s my quarterback) can get back into the game.

Yahoo! League (5-2-1)

Pho Shizzle vs. Roondogs

Last week wasn’t so great in this league- my team was weakened due to the bye weeks and I had no chance as Falkor rolled me like a lollipop. I now owe him a case of beer. My team is back at full strength with LT and I should be able to take on Sean and his Favre-led team. Trust me I know what it’s like to have Favre on your team, wasn’t as great as I thought. In this league I’m also waiting for Romo to return and I am handing the ball to Chad Pennington, the quarterback I used in my first fantasy football team. Problem is that two years ago he really sucked but now he’s looking really good. Let’s hope I see more of the new Chad and less of the old one.

Diet Yahoo! League (7-2)

Donte’s $37 Million vs. CoolMyTeamSucksNow

I got the L last week in this league too. I was kinda surprised to see my opponent go up really quick but taking a second look at his team I saw that I clearly underestimated his receivers. Now I am tied for first place in this league and I hope to stay up there with another win. But no promises in a league where everybody such ridiculous rosters.

I was hoping to be able to watch some of the Patriots this week but I’ll be in the middle of moving my life- more on that soon.

Tags: brandon jacobs, chad pennington, facebook, fantasy football, google, ladanian tomlinson, matt forte, metro, rob bironas, tony romo

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

This is a post that’s I have waited a long time to write.

Now that some time has passed and I feel that I am finally able write about a big change in my life.

It all starts with a story.

It was the Tuesday before Halloween, I had just got back from the gym and I was in the kitchen preparing my usual post-workout shake. As I was mixing the whey with the milk I heard a distant crash. I thought it was a glass bottle that Simon, my roommate upstairs, may have thrown out his room. Knowing Simon that wouldn’t be something out of the ordinary. It was when what I heard next that told me that it was something totally different.

“Oh my god! Jeff are you ok? Somebody call 911!”

With those words my life took a sudden turn to the unexpected.

I ran outside around to the side of the house, where Simon has a staircase that goes directly into his second story bedroom. I look up and I see Simon in a frantic state. I asked him what happened and he told me that Jeff fell off the staircase.

It was around 11:30 PM and pitch black- I ran back into my room to grab my trusty Mag-Light and ran back outside. I flicked it on and I immediately saw Jeff in the brush next to the stairs. He landed on the concrete walkway leading up to the stairs. A wooden bench next to the stairs broke the fall for his legs.

As Simon ran back into his house to grab his cell phone I walked up to Jeff. I was immediately relieved to hear him breathe- although he struggled to do so and it sound more like snoring than breathing. There was blood coming out of his nose and it looked as if he cut his hand on the way down. It goes to say he wasn’t conscious at all.

Simon ran down while talking with the 911 operator and rambled on and on as panic just took over him. I tried to take control of the situation- telling Simon not to move Jeff and handed him my flashlight. I knew that help was right around the corner and I ran back into the house to get another flash light.

I stood in the middle of the street and waived down the on-coming Calvary of help. fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers arrived within minutes of Simon’s call. The one good thing about where I live is that it is close to everything.

I watched from the porch as they worked on him. Police were already interviewing Simon about what happened. It appears that both of them had been drinking and Simon suspected that Jeff stepped out onto the staircase for a quick smoke or piss. An officer walked up to me and took my statement.

Slowly Jeff was taken away and one by one the authorities left the house. Simon was still in a state of shock and anger. Jeff was his best friend and I could see the emotional toll it had on him. He was calling everyone on his phone and couldn’t stop talking.

I drove Simon to the hospital where we found out that Jeff was in critical condition. However since we were not family the information we had access to was limited.

It’s now two weeks since the accident occurred. Jeff is recovering slowly and steadily from a broken neck, back, and ribs- amongst many other injuries. It goes without saying that he’s lucky to be alive after that night.

Today Sarah and I have signed a new lease with a new house nearby. It’s a smaller house but it’s in great shape and Sarah and I look forward to moving past this incident and starting a new chapter of life in Arlington.

There’s a whole lot I’m leaving out of this blog. I feel that it maybe too soon to talk about all the details and there are a lot of feelings associated with those details I’m not ready to write about. The accident started a chain of events that brought a lot of stress and turmoil to my life. That Tuesday was the first week after a long stretch of work and I was looking forward to being able to relax and recenter myself. The accident has kept my life in constant motion but the move this weekend will bring some closure.

Life sometimes brings unexpected events through no fault of your own. While you can criticize and lay blame to these moments, I feel that it is exactly these moments that define who you are as a person. I didn’t ask for these things to happen to myself but I am damn proud about the way I handled it and I walk away from it a better person.

Now it is time to start a new chapter in my life.

Tags: arlington, blog, clarendon, favorites, feelings/reflections, roommates