Its 8am Sunday morning and I’m getting ready to go to what will be my last full practice leading into our mambo on Monday night.

We have been working incredibly hard. 6+ hours yesterday. A split practice of 3 hours in the am and 6pm to 9:30 at night the day before. We will go another 4 hours till 1pm, then head over to the studio where the show is filmed and do it in front of the cameras so they can block it out for the live broadcast. Then if we have time we will get together tonight for a shorter practice.

No question I’m tired. It was a short week to get everything together and the Mambo is not the easiest dance for me. Being 6′ 3″, i have to keep my knees bent pretty much the entire dance so that i don’t like I’m stiff or tower above Kym. That’s not a problem at the beginning of practice, but an hour in, my left leg in particular starts to get tired. (when they replaced my left hip, whatever they had to do left my left thigh about half the size of my right. Now its about 3/4 the size of my right. A lot stronger than it was, but far from full strength). I’m so stubborn, I won’t let Kym stop at all.

OK, that’s not entirely true. My wife brought our daughters to practice yesterday. We needed to cheer up Alexis. She got sick during our trip to LA for the 1st week’s taping and had a bad fever. We took her to the doctor who recommended that we cancel her birthday party since and keep her separated from her sister since she was probably contagious. It took until yesterday afternoon for her to get back to her usual perpetual energy self, so Tiff brought her to practice so she could dance with Kym and I. She loved it. She and her sister got to dance to our song and twirl and twirl and run around. She wanted to help daddy, so we let her hit the start button before a bunch of runthroughs. By the time we got home, I was her hero again and she was her beautiful self again.

All the hard work has rewards beyond getting my entire family involved . I’m under 200 pounds for the first time since college. At 49 years old, I would be lying if I said I knew I could get down to my college weight again. Losing 20 pounds is not something I thought was even remotely possible. Like any other dad my age, working out is enough of a challenge. Not having fun after dinner making “daddy treats” for my kids is impossible. (of course no treat goes unfinished by dad !). My kids definitely keep me young. I don’t ever want to let my age define the activities I undertake. At 49, I dint want to do an “age appropriate ” dance. I tell Kym all the time that if Joey or Emmitt could do it, I’m going to do it. Albert may be 27 years younger than me , but if he can do it, I can do it. The dance steps that is. I promise I wont take my shirt off. A lot of things have grown on my body in those 27 years and I’m not a “just wax it off type guy”.

Back to dancing….Our Mambo is fun. We have some great moves that hopefully the crowd will love. There are some tough timing moves that I have to get right , but no matter what, I promise that its going to be fun !!

And one last little thing in terms of blogging. For the past 8 years since I bought the Mavs, I have kept my private life 100pct private. In the sports world I expected everyone to characterize me as “the guys who yells at the refs
. I really didn’t care what they thought. It isn’t the real me. But it served its purpose. Every interview I ever did,. Every description of me. Every reference to me, Every picture of me always had me yelling in one way or another. My friends, my family, the people I work with, all know that its not me. That’s not to sayI dint get emotional at Mavs games. I do. That’s where I release. But even there, If i stand up and act like a fan, its a picture that lives and is used forever. Doing DWTS has allowed me to show the real me. Its actually fun.

So when you see someone describe me in that way, the only thing you know for certain is that they don’t know me.

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Wow. Talk about a range of emotions and a humbling experience.

I was suprised at how I wasnt as nervous as I thought i would be during the day on Tues. I got a good nights sleep. I was excited, but not overwhelmed. I think a lot of it had to do with all of the guys hanging out together during the day telling jokes.

As we got closer to showtime, the nerves definitely started to build. It was fun to watch the others dance. The entire group, competitors and pros get along so well. Everyone is truly nice to each other. But it was obvious the tension was building. Whenever we had a break, I would go off to the side to practice. My mental hump was making sure I got the first few steps right. Once i got past that, I thought I would be alright.

When it was our turn, we walked out there and took our places. I got to see my wife and family which calmed my nerves some, but then they started the video package. I couldnt watch. I didnt want anything distracting me. When they announced our names, Now dancing the Foxtrot….I just thought to my self to trust our practice and make sure to have fun.

I have to say that the first couple beats I felt like I was in total control. Then its a blur. We got into the dance, and I literally barely remember the dance till the end. I could see Kym in front of me. I felt like things were moving good. I literally could not hear a thing other than the song. I dont know if Kym said anything to me during the dance. I dont know what the crowd cheered to (or didnt). I didnt see anyone’s face in the crowd. Then we got to the end, I did my jump, and when i landed and pointed at Kym, it was the ultimate rush of excitement. I cant explain it. I just wanted to scream to release all the energy that had been building up over the last several weeks.

Standing there in front of the judges. Honestly, I was just happy that they were smiling. I didnt really know how I did, but I saw my wife and family smiling as I glanced over there. I could tell they all were proud of me. When their comments were honest and actually encouraging it made the night even more special, and when we hit 21. I was thrilled. I was happy for me, I was happy for kym.

Wednesday was actually a relaxing day. I got to the studio about noon. Had to get the costumes and everything on for rehearsal. I brought my computer with me so that during the hour or so down time we had, I could answer emails.

The energy of the day was exciting, with a little dread. Honestly, I didnt think I had to worry. But i knew that someone had to go, and that despite getting a 21, that there still were only 4 out of 12 with lower scores, so that it could be me. All day long and through most of the show, everyone was telling each other to be confident and to have fun.

Going out there on the stage as the different people were being “saved” to dance another week, and then people with lower scores were “saved” I realized that Kym and I might be in trouble.

It did not feel good to be standing up there having the lowest score for Tuesday night. It definitely hurt. I kept looking to my family as they struggled to smile and show their support. I definitely did not want to go home. I didnt want to go home for my dad, my brothers, my wife, my daughters. For every bit of work i put into the last few weeks. For everytime I went home struggling. They were there to pick me up. When I hurt , my wife let me slide on things. When I felt bad because I was leaving the house to go to practice, my daughter was there to encourage me and to cheer for me when I came home and showed her what I had learn. Thats what I was thinking about.

When they called out Josie’s name. I honestly didnt hear it. I was looking at my family. My brother stood up and gave me the thumbs up and I realized that it was ok. We had survived another week. That set off another set of emotions. I was happy. I was mad. I was upset.

What had I done wrong ? Had i not worked hard enough ? Did people really not care enough about me to vote for me ? Its a weird, humbling experience. But its one I signed up for.

I have to take the bad with the good. Ive got to turn this into a positive. We are the underdogs. When I signed up, I knew that everyone thought i was going to be the one guy who couldnt dance. I think, and I hope I surprised a lot of people. The emails and calls of support I have gotten the last 2 days have been incredible.

Now everyone thinks we are the ones to go next week. Hopefully people will rally to support us. I know that Kym and I will be working harder than ever. We have practice scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. We have a great Mambo routine worked out to a fun song. When I walk out there next week, I will probably have the same wave of emotions, and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

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You didnt really think i would miss out on the chance to pump up the votes for Kym and I did you ?

I’m up against all the pretty boys , athletes and entertainers tonight, but the vote counts for 50 pct of our total, so jump on board and vote for us !!

Am I nervous, absolutely. My knees aren’t shaking, yet, but im guessing they may be come gametime.

As far as a hint for tonight, all i can tell you is that I couldn’t get the lawnmower or sprinkler in tonights routine, but I did get “churn the butter” in. So when you see me pull it out, dont laugh too hard . And since Jane Seymour is on the show (she is amazing), I promised I would try to get the Motorboat in a future routine as a tribute to her making it famous in The Wedding Crashers.

As you can probably tell, I’m having a blast with all of this. I can promise everyone that no one is having more fun than Kym and I. That Im going to be the guy with a big smile on his face, singing and dancing my way through tonight’s show.

Tonight is important in many ways. Not only for my dancing future, but….

Hopefully, tonight will lead the way so that future generations of guys can walk into any wedding reception or nightclub knowing that Churn the Butter and in the future , the Sprinkler, Lawnmower and the Motorboat can bring joy and happiness to your wives and girlfriends. That they will finally be accepted as a proper dance routines they are. Maybe we can see Ballroom competitions for traditional guy dances ? “Now dancing the Sprinkler…”

Voting for Mark and Kym tonight and hopefully on future nights will be one small step towards bringing couples out of their chairs and on to the dancefloors where man and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend and any combination there of, can proudly do the dances that we guys excel at.

If you have made it this far.. thanks and Vote for Mark and Kym early and often and ask your friends to do the same ! hopefully you will have as good a time watching as I will be dancing

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There is nothing wrong with the new HDTV that you just spent a fortune on.

It’s not yours’ or the TV’s fault that the picture quality you are seeing on your brand spanking new TV looks like crap compared to what you saw in the store.

It’s not your fault that you signed up for and paid extra for the HD package from your video provider, got all excited about your favorite network and shows finally being in HD and then looking worse than it did on your old TV. Its not your fault because what far too many TV networks are trying to pass off as HD isnt really HD. Its not even close.

TV Networks are misleading consumers into thinking they are getting HD versions of their networks. Which leads to a simple question. What makes a TV Network HD ?

If a network calls itself an HD Network, does that make it an HD Network ? Or should the network be required to actually have content that is of high definition resolution ? And if they have HD Resolution content, how much should they actually have before they can call themselves HD ?

In the coming months cable, telco and satellite providers are gearing for a marketing battle over who has the most HD channels. Ads will be everywhere touting big name networks finally bringing HD versions to the masses.

Unfortunately for consumers, the schedules of many, if not most of those new channels will have less than 10pct of their content actually produced using HD cameras and shown at HD resolution. Few will have more than 3 hours a day of HD resolution content.

I think a lot of consumers are going to be very, very disappointed.

When you turn the channel to an HD network that you are paying for, shouldn’t you have the right to expect to see content in full HD Resolution ? Of course. Unfortunately you won’t. For many “HD” networks, you may go DAYS without seeing any real HD content.

That’s not right.

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“All publicity is good publicity” It may have been true at some point, but it certainly is not true today. Nor will it be true forever more.

Instead, the motto has changed to “All Publicity is Abused Publicity”

The reality is that in todays ultra competitive chase to get your attention , if something you say or do is seen by more than 100 people, someone is going to attempt to re-purpose it to their own benefit or amusement.

In essence, the internet has put us all under a form of digital arrest.

“Everything we say or do, can and will be used for or against you on a website somewhere at some time, from now and ever-more”

There will be someone there with a camera phone to memorialize the mustard that dripped on your shirt from your hotdog and some website will use it to explain how the stress of “fill in the blank” is getting to you.

Someone will keep a picture from your 5th birthday party when your sister dressed you up as a Spice Girl. Your local newspaper will write an article saying how cute it was. Then some website or tv show, produced by someone who doesn’t like you, will use it to try to convince their readers that you are gender confused and here is proof that it started at an early age

Silly examples for sure, but real.

The one thing the internet lacks that will forever change us all is Context. There is no way to retain context when you cut and paste. No matter the original intent of the words or pictures, anything on the net probably will find its way into situations for which they were never intended

Publicity, in fact all information used to have a shelf life. Newspapers were relegated to the hassles of microfiche. TV became a box or tape on a shelf somewhere. You could find it, but the cost in dollars and time were significant. Which of course reduced its use.

Thats no longer the case. Between the internet archives and search engines Everything is Everywhere. Forever.

The Net is a beautiful, wonderful utility but it certainly not an innocent medium.

The internet has put us in interesting times.

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“All publicity is good publicity” It may have been true at some point, but it certainly is not true today. Nor will it be true forever more.

Instead, the motto has changed to “All Publicity is Abused Publicity”

The reality is that in todays ultra competitive chase to get your attention , if something you say or do is seen by more than 100 people, someone is going to attempt to re-purpose it to their own benefit or amusement.

In essence, the internet has put us all under a form of digital arrest.

“Everything we say or do, can and will be used for or against you on a website somewhere at some time, from now and ever-more”

There will be someone there with a camera phone to memorialize the mustard that dripped on your shirt from your hotdog and some website will use it to explain how the stress of “fill in the blank” is getting to you.

Someone will keep a picture from your 5th birthday party when your sister dressed you up as a Spice Girl. Your local newspaper will write an article saying how cute it was. Then some website or tv show, produced by someone who doesn’t like you, will use it to try to convince their readers that you are gender confused and here is proof that it started at an early age

Silly examples for sure, but real.

The one thing the internet lacks that will forever change us all is Context. There is no way to retain context when you cut and paste. No matter the original intent of the words or pictures, anything on the net probably will find its way into situations for which they were never intended

Publicity, in fact all information used to have a shelf life. Newspapers were relegated to the hassles of microfiche. TV became a box or tape on a shelf somewhere. You could find it, but the cost in dollars and time were significant. Which of course reduced its use.

Thats no longer the case. Between the internet archives and search engines Everything is Everywhere. Forever.

The Net is a beautiful, wonderful utility but it certainly not an innocent medium.

The internet has put us in interesting times.

ShareThis

“All publicity is good publicity” It may have been true at some point, but it certainly is not true today. Nor will it be true forever more.

Instead, the motto has changed to “All Publicity is Abused Publicity”

The reality is that in todays ultra competitive chase to get your attention , if something you say or do is seen by more than 100 people, someone is going to attempt to re-purpose it to their own benefit or amusement.

In essence, the internet has put us all under a form of digital arrest.

“Everything we say or do, can and will be used for or against you on a website somewhere at some time, from now and ever-more”

There will be someone there with a camera phone to memorialize the mustard that dripped on your shirt from your hotdog and some website will use it to explain how the stress of “fill in the blank” is getting to you.

Someone will keep a picture from your 5th birthday party when your sister dressed you up as a Spice Girl. Your local newspaper will write an article saying how cute it was. Then some website or tv show, produced by someone who doesn’t like you, will use it to try to convince their readers that you are gender confused and here is proof that it started at an early age

Silly examples for sure, but real.

The one thing the internet lacks that will forever change us all is Context. There is no way to retain context when you cut and paste. No matter the original intent of the words or pictures, anything on the net probably will find its way into situations for which they were never intended

Publicity, in fact all information used to have a shelf life. Newspapers were relegated to the hassles of microfiche. TV became a box or tape on a shelf somewhere. You could find it, but the cost in dollars and time were significant. Which of course reduced its use.

Thats no longer the case. Between the internet archives and search engines Everything is Everywhere. Forever.

The Net is a beautiful, wonderful utility but it certainly not an innocent medium.

The internet has put us in interesting times.

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I sold and bought my first PC a long, long time ago. Back in the late 80s I owned a Mac, I think it was a Mac2. I honestly thought there would never come a time where I would buy a Mac. Ever.

Then I upgraded my PC to Vista. What a disaster. I had grown accustomed to my PC freezing every now and then. Enter Vista and my PC was frozen more often than it was working. The biggest culprit was MicroSoft Outlook.

The application has to have a memory leak. I could follow memory numbers as they grew and grew. Then as my email was downloading, the rules would stop working and everything went straight to my inbox. Spam and all.

When you get as many emails as I do. Thats a problem. When it also causes the system to freeze, its more than just a problem.

My first step was to get a copy of CPU Magazine with Vista tricks. The tricks helped. Everything froze or crashed less often. Significantly less often. But the annoyance factor was beyond belief. I dont run any special applications. I run outlook, Office and firefox. Thats it.

I had gotten to the point where I was embarrassed to be a PC owner. The thought of someone calling me and asking me to go to my computer to find something was paralyzing (ok, not that bad, but it sounded cool writing it).

This wasnt just a problem on my Desktop, it was a problem on my laptop with Vista as well.

So a few months ago I made the executive decision to buy a MacBook to replace my laptop.

I haven’t looked back.

Its not that there arent hassles with the Mac. There are two. One there isnt a version of Outlook for the Mac. As someone who has more than 10 years and gigabytes worth of emails in multiple outlook files, the concept of exporting and importing wont fly. So i am keeping my PC Desktop purely to download my emails into Outlook so I have a master database. But I only do so after deleting unimportant emails from the server using my Macbook.

The 2nd problem is the lack of the right mouse click. I know its a Mac thing to only have one button, but its a hassle. Sure there are work arounds, none of which are quick and easy for a longtime PC user.

Both of these are easily offset by 3 simple Mac elements that make me very happy.

First is that when I close my MacBook without turning it off, it doesn’t lose power. It can sit there for hours and then work when I open it up.

The 2nd is that it rarely freezes up. Maybe 3 or 4 times in months.

Finally, i LOVE the fact that it boots up in 1/1000000000 of the time it takes my PC. It probably will add years to my life .. (ok an exaggeration).

Im not an Apple fanboy, but I love me some MacBook

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A couple years ago I got asked by the CBS Evening News to do an interview. They wanted to interview me just before a Mavs game and the reason I said yes (I saw no to 99.99pct of interview requests), is because they were curious as to what I was “saying” during the National Anthem before every game.

They had noticed that before every game I was “talking to myself” during the Anthem. On this day, September 11th, I decided to share some of what I say before every Mavs game, and on almost every day, and to also ask a question.

Here is what I say:
“Thank you to all those who have fought before and are fighting now to make this country great. I will never take my freedoms or opportunities for granted. Here is to …. then I go through a list of family members and thank them and hope that they and their children are healthy, happy and can always look up at a blue sky and be thankful for all we have.” Then at Mavs games, I give thanks to all the players on the court , fans in the seats and hope that they stay healthy, happy and that the Mavs win. “

I dont ever want to take for granted what I have, what my family has and how fortunate we are.

Six years after September 11th, I wanted to also ask the question, what should we do for those who serve our country ?

Is The Fallen Patriot Fund enough ? Is it just about money ? Is it about politics ? Is it about time ? Are we as individual citizens just along for the ride ? Should we trust our elected officials and government to have the best interests of our servicepeople ? Is trusting the government in that capacity the wrong thing to do ?

Is generating discussion and inquiry a positive or a negative ? Should the marketplace of ideas, as it applies to the military and our government be expanded or contracted during a time of conflict and war ? Why is it that so many seem to speak so authoritatively when I have so many unanswered questions ?

I wonder how future generations will look back at these Post 9/11/2001 years. Will they see us as Enlightened ? Barbaric ? Confused ?

I get emails every single day from soldiers and their families. All give me a sense of pride that they would want to contact me. All make me sad that they are at risk and I dont fully understand why.

What should we as American citizens do to help, honor and serve those who are serving our country ?

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The first question every always ask me is “Why ?”, Why would I do it ? The answer is simple.
Because I can.

It actually is more surprising to me that some people would even think twice if asked to participate on the show.

I’m the first to admit that I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I can honestly say I wake up every morning with a smile knowing what a wonderful family, friends and life I have. It’s the exact same way I felt when I was broke.

Money makes so many things in life easier, but it can’t buy you a positive outlook on life. Fortunately, how any of us approaches each of our days is completely up to us. It’s not something you can buy or sell. It’s not hard to put a smile on your face every day, but for some reason some people find it impossible to do. Not me.

The opportunity to do something unique that makes me smile is something I try not to pass up, Dancing with the Stars is just that.

It’s not about how well I can dance. Its about the opportunity to compete at something I enjoy. Its about doing something that makes me smile every minute I’m doing it or even thinking about it.

Why am I competing on Dancing with the Stars ? Because its an opportunity to have a blast. Its a blast practicing. 2,3, 4 or more hours just blaze by is if its just minutes. Its hysterical what they are going to make me wear. Yesterday I felt like they had found Ricky Ricardos garage sale and bought up his clothes just for me. I’m going to be out there to win, but I promise you no one is going to be having a better time than me. I can promise you that.

When I’m 90 years old and talking to my grand kids and hopefully great grand kids, I won’t be the grandparent who tells them about the things I wished I had done and how they should experience life, I will be the grandparent with tons of great stories that hopefully inspires them to live their lives to the fullest .

That’s why I’m doing Dancing with the Stars,

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