99.9 percent of the time when I book a hotel room, I do it by naming my own price on Priceline.com. By planning ahead, I'm able to avoid overbidding on a room.

    In this hypothetical situation, I want to book a 4-star hotel room in Denver. I specifically want to stay at a hotel downtown, so I can walk to and from a Rockies game at Coors Field.  I start out by low-balling Priceline. After entering $20 as a bid, Priceline tells me, "Based on recent data, your price has almost no chance of being accepted." I disregard this message. As in the words of Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber, "So you're telling me there's a chance. Yeah!" Priceline will only let you make the same exact request once a day, although they will let you add areas or star levels to a request anytime. I'm stubborn. I still want to stay in a 4-star hotel in Denver. I wait until the next day, and up my bid by $5 the next day. I up my bid by about $5 each day until I have one accepted.

Here are the bestdeals I was able to grab using this process:

• I was able to stay at the Hyatt Regancy Tulsa through the duration of the NCAA basketball tournament at a price of $40 per night. Valet parking at the hotel was advertised at $15 for 24 hours, but I was not charged for it.
• I will be staying in two different 4-star hotels in Chicago at a rate of $60 per night. I couldn't ask for a better location. Both hotels sit next to the Chicago River, and are also just off Michigan Avenue.
  

My resume of auto-corrects is quite impressive. Here are just a few of the ones I've sent out on my phone:

• I'm feeling quite ubersexual today. (numerous times)
  
• I hope you have a boob day!!!
• You're such a sperm demon.
• I'm thinking about tit today. (This is just one example of many variants)
  

What are some of your best/worst auto corrects?

There's this game I play with friends at times.  A word or idea is said, than your partner has to sing the first song that comes to their mind.  If you say "car," I might begin singing "Baby you can drive my car. Yes I'm gonna be a star. Baby you can drive my car and maybe I'll love you." It's quite an entertaining game.  You can make it as fun or serious as you make.  One time while playing this game, I went out on the limb and said "me." My friend started singing the words to the Goo Goo Dolls' song, Iris.

And i don't want the world to see me,
'Cause i don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.

I love this song. It's one of my favorites. At the time, I couldn't understand how this song had anything to do about me.I had to ask why. She replied, "Brian, you just want people to know you are." I saw some truth in that, but didn't think about it much, so I just continued with the game.

As time goes by, I can see more and more how these lyrics are about me..  I have a fear of letting people see the real me.  Do I try to hide who I am or be deceptive of who I am? Definitely not. I even got some input concerning this week. I live behind a shell.  A soft shell, my friend says.  I can't argue with that. 

Here's what I ask of you: Stick with me until I can break though my shell.  If you get tired of waiting, break it for me.  The truth is, although I'm scared, I just want you to know me.

In just a few more days, I leave for Chicago. I believe in being well prepared when I go anywhere. When I travel, one of my strategies is to attempt to pay for everything well in advance. For me, it's much more enjoyable when I am able to partake in activities without thinking how much I paid for them.

• It all started with buying 2 tickets to a U2 concert. I sold both of these tickets, and bought a much better ticket. Even after upgrading my seat, I was able to turn a profit.
  
• I bought an airline ticket through American Express, which I will not be using. I later booked another ticket on Pricline, and will not be using the $29 ticket I bought through AmEx. I decided to extend my trip.
  
• I actually will be staying in two different hotels; the Regancy Hyatt and Chicago River Hotel. Both were booked on Priceline. I will post later on how I get the best rates possible using Priceline.
  
• I bought 2 tickets to a White Sox - Cubs game at Wrigley. I later sold these tickets on Stubhub. I then purchased a ticket to watch the same game from a rooftop. The rooftop ticket includes unlimited food and drink.
• I found a coupon, and was able to buy a Royals - White Sox ticket at half price. SlickDeals is a site i check daily, and this coupon code just happened to posted on there.
  
• I bought a Go Chicago Card from Smart Destinations. I can get into 28 attractions in Chicago over 5 days at one price.
• I’ve been browsing Explore Chicago. It's the official tourism site for the city of Chicago and has great information for those visiting Chicago.
• I never visit any city without buying an updated guide book. I downloaded Frommer’s Chicago 2011 on my Kindle.
• I've even already purchased a 7 day Chicago Transit pass. I wanted to avoid having to protect my wallet and my luggage at the same time while I purchased a pass.
  

I began showing traits of a perfectionist during my elementary years. If I made a mistake while writing, I would rarely use an eraser. I would simply take out another piece of paper and start over. Why? An eraser mark on my paper would have had my assignment appear less than perfect. Needless to say, I didn't score a 100% on every assignment. I still made mistakes. The difference was that I was not aware of the mistakes until after the assignment was graded.

For the longest time, I always expected perfectionism out of myself. Why? Part of the reason was because I wanted to control how people perceived me. The bigger reason was that I wanted to know in my own mind that I was without fault. When I did find fault in myself, major disappoint would be in my heart.

Fast forward to about four years ago. Some friends and I were providing the musical entertainment for an event. Our performance was approximately one hour in length. Once finished, I was overly critical of my vocals on one song. I shared my thoughts with one of my band mates. She had no idea what I was talking about. Then she spoke words that I remember for the rest of my life, "Maybe God is showing you now that you can't always be perfect." Ouch!

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ~2 Corinthians 12:9

I had spent my whole life trying to be this person that I could not be. I was so ashamed of my shortcomings that I denied God of glory that He deserves. How sweet it is now to be able to say I am not perfect, but God is still able to work through me!

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.