I recently had the opportunity to make a return visit to the State of Wisconsin, the state where I was born and raised. The reason for returning to where I grew up was due to the fact that my younger brother Steve was getting married to his fiance and long term girlfriend wife Amanda on October 3,2009.

The wedding was a very fun time and near perfect experience. Everything fell in to order perfectly with essentially no flaws. I had never really been to a wedding before and the ones I had been to, I was not paying much attention. But for this wedding, I had the honor of being the best man which was an entertaining experience to say the least. I was taking on roles the were completely foreign to me not just as the best man but also just being part of the wedding party. It was very interesting to see how everything came together.

After the wedding ceremony, the wedding party rode a bus throughout Waukesha and Milwaukee taking pictures along the way as well as stopping at some local establishments The wedding reception was also something knew where I had to give a best man speech in front of everyone. The entire experience was one that I enjoyed and am happy that my brother has found happiness.

In order to view wedding pictures of the event, you can go to Wedding Photos and find the Amanda and Steve’s Wedding slide show. As pictures become available, I will also post links to those.

After coming in and out of retirement the past couple of years, Brett Favre has done it again and this time signed with the Minnesota Vikings division rivals of his former team the Green Bay Packers. I spent the first 22 years of my life in Wisconsin and since the age of 7, Brett Favre had been the Green Bay Packers quarterback. Watching him has always been a thrill for me and I would have to say that he was probably my favorite Packer growing up. I still have his jersey that I got in 1995 for Christmas and have worn it out to Packer bars in Arizona.

Brett playing for the Vikings is something that has troubled me for a while especially since he was my favorite player growing up and I still consider him one of the most fun players to watch. My fan allegiance is to the Packers, but as a player I love watching Brett Favre play the game of football. Even last year I enjoyed watching him play for the Jets, there is just something special about him on the football field.

My point of view on Brett playing for the Vikings basically comes down to this. I am a Packers fan and always will be. Brett is my favorite player and hope that he does well. But when Brett is playing the Packers during the regular season or in the playoffs, I will not be rooting for him to succeed. In the unlikely event that the Packers do not make the playoffs, I would be rooting for Brett to get another Super Bowl ring. When he no longer plays for the Vikings, I would not wish the team to do well.

I believe that the media has blown out of proposition his retirement coming in and out and that he has always wanted to play. I think ESPN just needs something to fill the broadcast with to draw the attention of viewers. Even with all his off the field drama though, I still enjoy watching him play the game of football and will be cheering for him to do well, just not when he plays the Packers. What do you think about it? Comments?

The Scottsdale Mighty Mud Mania Event is an annual event that takes place in the middle of July at Chapparel Park in Scottsdale Arizona. Mighty Mud Mania is an exciting event that features nearly 7,000 kids getting down and dirty in the mud in order to cool off from the hot summers in Scottsdale Arizona.

The event starts at 8:30am and ends around 2:00.  Participants are asked to bring in a food donation for one of the local food  banks in order to participate. Besides cooling off in the mud, kids can get a variety of free gifts from many vendors throughout the park area including water and Blue Bunny frozen yogurt!  As part of the Blue Bunny promotion that I executed over the past month, this event was on our list of places to stop at and spread the cool taste of Blue Bunny frozen yogurt.

You can see me in the photos to the right and below here actively passing out the product and interacting with the public.  In the photo to the right you can see all the kids soaked in mud in the background and the firetrucks to create the mud.

In the photo below you can again see me handing out some of the product to parents and kids feeling the heat from the Arizona sun. The event is a lot of fun and even though its really hot, the kids bring a lot of energy and are very excited and seem to be having a lot of fun.

This is an annual event so in case you missed it this year, check back again next year for more fun in the mud.  If you would like to be part of the action, the event also looks for volunteers every year to help run the events and clean up the kids. For more information about Scottsdale Mighty Mud Mania Event, you can check out the official Mud Mania website on the city of Scottsdale website by clicking on the Mighty Mud Mania Website.

For the past two weekends and for the entire month of July, I will be working for Blue Bunny in the streets of Phoenix handing out free samples of Blue Bunny particularly their new product, Aspen Vanilla Raspberry Frozen Yogurt Granola Bar. The target market for the sampling is moms between 25-50 but the product can be enjoyed by anyone. Along with a free sample, free photos that look like a postcard are taken and given away free on the company website at BlueBunnyFrozenYogurt.com Here is a picture of me with the backdrop along with the uniform I wear to stand out and attract attention of people.

The company website says this about the product: “The benefits of yogurt and granola in a great tasting treat! Creamy raspberry low fat frozen yogurt with a layer of raspberry fruit filling topped with crunchy granola crumbles covered in a vanilla yogurt coating. 8 bars per box.”  The frozen treats really are quite tasty especially in Phoenix during the hottest time of the year.  With only 150 calories per bar, the are quite addicting and not detrimental to your health.  The product is available at Walmart, Bashas, and Albertsons throughout Phoenix.

Look for me at venues throughout Phoenix every Thursday through Sunday in the afternoons delivering free frozen yogurt, coupons, and smiles to those who are receiving it.  Often times our team will be at Bashas particularly in the east valley so if you would like a free sample that is your best bet at finding us or you can leave me a comment and I will try and direct you to where I will be on a certain day.

When I am not doing work online, I am doing promotional work for many event companies around Phoenix. If you have an event you would like me to work, you can email me at gbzstyle@gmail.com with your event and specific details. You can see my promotional resume by clicking on the promo link on the side or by following this promotional marketing link.

I just had the privilege of attending jury duty in Phoenix Arizona. After only living here for a year and a half, my name was pulled from the near 4 million residents that live in Phoenix. I know I was curious as to what happened at jury duty and how it all worked but upon searching on the Internet for answers I could not come up with the process. I will give a brief description of what happened on my time at jury duty.

The selection process begins at 8 am so one as to be there long before then to get parking and actually be in the building. I live in Tempe about 10 miles away and I left at about 7:15 to arrive at the parking ramp that all jurors who drive can park in for free. If you do not have a car, you will receive a bus pass in the mail good for one all day bus pass.

The parking lot is off of 8th avenue downtown and the courthouse is on 2nd avenue so you will have two choices. You can either walk the 6 blocks to the building, or you can take the shuttle which will drop you off for free at the front of the courthouse. I opted to go for the short walk. Upon arriving at the courthouse, you are required to walk through a security check point much like in airports except you get to keep your shoes on.

After walking in the building, there should be a large line of people heading to the waiting room where you present your summons to the group of people working for the state of Arizona checking people in for jury duty. When I arrived in the room it was rather large and I estimated about 350 people were in the room that day called to serve. The person you present your summons to gives you a form that you fill out and they then collect.

At this time, a short movie about jury duty is played on the TV’s throughout the room and upon completion, the person collecting the summons called the first group of people to go with the bailiff to proceed to the courthouse. This continued throughout the morning as random groups of 30-50 people were selected to appear before a judge and a group of attorneys for jury selection. This went on all morning and I was not selected or even had my name called to appear before a judge.

It was then lunch and everyone was excused at 11:30 for lunch and were to return at 1:00. I was curious as to why my name was not called and was wondering if something was wrong since I moved up my jury day. The person in charge said everything was fine and that sometimes people are not called all day, but they still need people there to select from a pool. I was then informed it was completely random and if someone was called in the morning, they could be called again in the afternoon before me as I might not even be used at all.

After an overpriced lunch at the food place in the building, I was back to wait around in the waiting room. I really wish that I would have brought something to do as I just basically sat there and played on my iPhone the entire time till the battery almost died and then was stuck watching whatever movie was playing.

The person in charge said they would call 5 groups in the afternoon and then everyone would be dismissed. I was called in group 4 as juror number 7 of 45. The next proceedings were once your number is called is to head to the front of the room and pick up your number. When they call your name you are supposed to say here so that way they can see who is there and not there in case they have to call more people.

After I picked up my number, I stood and waited for our bailiff to take us to the judge. The bailiff led our group to another part of the building where we ascended to the 11th floor. A brief wait of about 15 minutes followed and we were led into court room by number. Jurors are always referred to by number and not name as to remain confidentiality.

The case that I was to hear was for identity theft over $3000. The judge explained all the rules and started to disqualify potential jurors. Two jurors were immediately disqualified because of their inability to be fair. After the fairness and background info was given, the judge asked if the case would cause anyone a hardship or for any reason would not be able to attend. The judge went in order as the jurors explained why they would not be able to serve and the judge and attorneys took notes.

I explained to the judge that it would be a financial hardship at the time as I would be losing out on a potential large amount of money if required to serve on one certain day. After the judge had gone through everyone, the attorneys joined her in her chamber and returned to further dismiss jurors. I was one of the jurors dismissed and was sent back to the waiting room.

Upon returning to the waiting room at approximately 3:45, it was now empty and I went to the front where the person in charge gave me a piece of paper stating that I had completed jury duty on such and such a day. They also explained that I would be paid so much per mile to the center of my zip code and would receive a check in the mail in about two weeks for compensation for my gas. No compensation is given for jury selection. If you are selected though, you are to receive $12 per day of service.

That pretty much sums up what is involved in jury duty in Phoenix Arizona. The latest you could possibly be there is till 5 pm so if you are selected for jury duty in Arizona, plan to have the whole day off of work because you most likely will be there all day.

After along run with my hp and Dell computers, I finally decided that it was time to upgrade to a MacBook.   I have wanted a MacBook for almost 2 years now but have never had the initiative nor funds to get one.  The best part about the purchase was the fact that I got the refurbished macbook white for under $800!  I’m pretty excited about that since now I will be able to not worry about viruses and all the crap that has happened on my windows computers.

The Apple MacBook includes a hard drive of 80gb, 1gb ram, 2gHZ, and an Intel core duo.  The owner is also including a carrying bag with it. The coolest thing about macs though I think is that you can run both windows and leopard on them.  So all my windows applications I am comfortable with I can still easily use on my new mac.

It should arrive in about a week and I can’t wait to get to work on it.

The place I purchased the macbook for was on ebay and there is still 9 available at this price so if you are interested in possible getting one by going here.

MacBook Auction

Since I purchased the MacBook, the next step is to format my Dell and get it ready for its own auction on eBay.  I will provide the listing on here when I have it ready.  I plan to include a Windows XP installed along with Microsoft Office Enteprise, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Quicken 2008.

Dell Latitude D520

In order to format the computer, I had to get in contact with Dell and they assisted me with the format by walking me through.  One good thing I can say about Dell is dispite their product not being top of the line, their customer service and tech support has been top line in assisting me with any of the many issues I had with them.   But having had to contact tech support 6 times in over a year is unacceptable and I will not be going with Dell again for anything.

After getting a virus on my new computer, I decided that it was a good idea to get a new external hard drive to back up all my important information in case a disaster would happen and lose everything.  Losing my hard drive would be a disaster I hope to never have to deal with again and I hope all my readers would never have to experience it either.

With that said, I went ahead and purchased the Seagate ST310005FDA2E1-RK FreeAgent Desk 1 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (Silver)

Its a pretty simple hard drive and I will let you guys know how the performance is.  I’m pretty excited to get a much larger external than my old 120gb and to have something more reliable.  For only $100 its hard to go wrong with it and 1tb is going to take a while to fill up…at least thats my hope.

This is my first blog post and I am still in the process of designing and constructing this site. Check back later for the real deal.