M. Night Shablamblam

I know, I know. His last name is Shyamalan, but if he has people call him Night instead of whatever the M. stands for, I can call him Shablamblam. Anyway, I think that he is probably my favorite movie writer/director. I used to like Stanley Kubrick, wich great movies like The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, but think that M. has moved to my favorite director spot. Probably because he writes all of his movies and they have all been pretty original. Plus, they usually have a shocking twist at the end.

The first movie by M was The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis, about a kid that sees dead people. Talk about your shocking twists. There was also Unbreakable, which was like a real live comic book, again staring Bruce Willis, who ends up having super strength. Signs was about an Alien invasion and The Village was about an old fashioned town plagued by monsters (that one had another suprise ending). The latest fillm by M is called Lady in the Water. This was probably the strangest of all of the films. It is based on a bed time story that M tells his kids. It amazes me that he just thinks up all of these stories on his own. All of them are so interesting to me. Like I said, Lady in the Water is about a sea nymph that ends up in a swimming pool of an apartment complex. She has to give a message to a specific person by a specific time so that she can go home to the sea. It sounds a bit out there because it is. Honestly though, it was a really good story. There are some scary parts and some funny parts. I got it through NetFlix, but think that I need to buy this film. I have all of M's other movies on either VHS or DVD. I watch them all several times. Well, except for maybe The Sixth Sense. Once you know the secret ending, there doesn't seem like much of a point watching it again. I really like the use of color in that movie. If you didn't notice, all of the hints and clues pointing to the suprise ending are all red. There is alot of red in Unbreakable too, if you know to look for it. Come to think of it, the 'bad color' in The Village is red too. I guess it's M's favorite color or something.

Johnny Knoxville is Going to Hell....I May Be Too.

So, using NetFlix (which I LOVE) I rented The Ringer. It is a movie staring Johnny Knoxville as a guy that decides to participate in the Special Olympics so that his uncle could bet on it to make $$. His intentions are noble (he is trying to raise money for an operation for his friend) but the methods are less than noble. If you can imagine, there are a lot of ball shots and other physical gags that are really funny (seeing a mentally challenged kid sling shot a water balloon at Johnny Knoxville's balls is alot funnier than you'd think). Plus, the movie also starred Katherine Heigl, whom, if you remember, is number 2 on My List of celebrities that I would allow myself to sleep with if I had the opportunity. She looked great all through the film. Anyway, the movie was not great, but there were a few good laughs. It was very predictable though.

We also got The Decent. It is a scary movie about seven women that go spilunking (cave exploring, spelled incorrectly) and scary things ensue. It was pretty creepy and quite scary. Some of the plot twists were pretty weird and it seemed like they were trying too had to make a subplot happen that didn't really need to happen. All in all it was a good scary movie. I won't go into too many details, since it would give away too much of the story, but it is worth the watch.

Waiting.....

So, I got a movie called Waiting... through my NetFlix this past weekend. It is about a day in the life of the workers of a resturant called Shananigans (a Flannigans spoof). As a former resturant worker (several years at Friendly's) I was able to relate to all of the jokes. The movie was HILLARIOUS. Not Eurotrip hillarious, but pretty close. They tried to justify the pranks and jokes by putting a serious story in the movie (one of the waiters was trying to figure out what to do with his life) but honestly, the story was secondary to the funny parts. Probably the funniest part of the movie was the running joke about a gag the male prokers tried t play on each other. If you could get one of your male co-workers to look at your bare private parts, you got to ridicule them for being gay and then kick him in the ass based on the degree of effort that you put into the prank. It was broken down like this (it's a little gross, by the way) :

-The Pole- If you get the guy to look at your pole only, you get to kick him in the ass once.
-The Brain- If you get the guy to look at the 'brain' (testicles) only, you get two kicks.
-The Chicken Wing- If you get the guy to look at your scrotum, while stretching it out to look like chicken skin, you get three kicks.
-The Goat- If you get a guy to look while tucking your junk back (like in Silence of the Lambs) and bend over so that it is poking out the back (like a goat's tail) you get four kicks.

On paper, this doesn't seem too funny, but looking at the actions these guys took to make others look at their junk, was HILLARIOUS!!! They weren't allowed to walk around with their polls out yelling, "hey, look at my poll!" they had to be discrete and trick unsuspecting co-workers to look. If you are into juvenille humor, giv Waiting...a try.

Merry Christmahoniquanzika, or Happy Festivus

Depending on your denomination, Happy Festivus or Merry Christmahoniquanzika. We don't discriminate here. Considering the insane 'poo' comments on my last posting, I thought I would add a link to the untimate holiday poo, Mr Hanky, The Christmas Poo. If you don't know, he is a character on South Park. "Hi-dy-ho!"

We get to have everyone in the family come over to our house for Christmas this year. My parents, brother (his wife), aunt & uncle, and cousins plus Jessica's dad and brother. It won't be too exciting, just some food and presents. I am actually looking forward to it, since the kids are going to be SO excited. I just hope that they sleep in a little bit. I guess we should get up early, since we need to get everything ready.

Since I may not be able to post before New Years Day, I thought I'd share my resolutions with you. I never keep them, but this year I am really going to try:

1. Lose enough weight to be back down to my college weight. I have been off of the diet wagon and think I have gained back some of the weight I lost.

2. Drink less alcohol. Maybe one night a week I'll allow myself a Manhattan, but I really need to cut my my drinking. I think it is part of the reason that I eat too much. I just hope all of the holiday cookies and food are gone by the New Year.

3. Spend more 'quality time' with the kids. Not that I ignore them, but I could probably play a bit more with them

That's about it. In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite quotes from the best Christmas movie EVER. A Christmas Story.

1. "You'll shoot you eye out." - Ralphie's mom, teacher, and Santa
2. "FFFUUUDDDGGGE.... Only I didn't say 'fudge'." - Ralphie
3. "I triple dog dare you!" -Schwartz
4. "Sons of Bitches!!" - Raplhie's dad
5. "Fra-gee-lay.... It must be Italian." - Ralphie's dad
6. "Not a Finger!" - Ralphie's dad

There's more, but I don't want to post all day. Have a happy holiday!

Best Buy, My 'On Again Off Again' Favorite Store

I love Best Buy. I've loved Best Buy for as long as I can remember. Of course, there was this time that I bought cell phones from Best Buy, bought the 2 year protection play, and then got pissed off when my battery died and they wouldn't replace my phone because there was a crack on the display. I wasn't returning the phone because of the display. I was returning it because the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore. I was SO pissed that I boycotted Best Buy for almost two years. (Don't ever piss me off. I hold grudges.) I started to get my electronics, games, and movies from other stores, like Target and Circuit City. It worked, but it was not as satisfying. Then, the temptation became too great when my office moved from down town Columbus to Dublin Ohio. Five minutes from Best Buy. The day came that I needed a movie or a CD and lifted my Best Buy ban. I took baby steps. A CD here, a DVD there, and then my Xbox died. I needed a new one. I broke down and dropped a ig load of cash as Best Buy. After that, it was like two long lost lovers that were reunited. I now buy all of my movies, electronics, and game from the same place, once again. As an added bonus, I can go to Giant Eagle ( the local grocery store that gives you $$ off per gallon of gas for spending money there) and buy Best Buy gift certificates when I know I'm going to buy something big. If I buy $300 in Best Buy gift certificates at Giant Eagle, I get $1.20 off per gallon of gas. Anyway, I bought a gift for Jessica as Best Buy (a DVD video camera) and she bought me my big screen TV at Best Buy (plus my Xbox 360) . I'd say the ban is over.

THE BEST THING ABOUT BEST BUY: I guess lots of places do this, but Best Buy has a 30 day price garuntee. If you buy something there and find it advertised cheaper somewhere else, Best Buy will pay you the difference plus 10%. If the product is advertised at Best Buy cheaper than what you paid for it, they will give you the difference. Well, the TV we bought was advertised $300 cheaper this week than what we paid for it. So, we loaded up the car, drove up there, and got paid or looking at ads. It was a Festivus miracle! I am not Best Buy's crack whore.

Charmed is So Much Better with Rose

I have posted before about my DVD fetish. It is no secret that I have a weakness for cheap DVDs of movies and TV series that I like to watch. One of my more recent purchases was Charmed, seasons 1 through 6. They were all on sale at Target for $20 each (usually $40). I have seen all of the episodes before, some more than others, but at $20 a pop, I couldn't resist. I also thought it would be something that Jessica would enjoy too. We started watching season one together, but I forgor that it was a pretty cheesey Spelling-esk season, so Jessica never really got into it. I now got through seasons one through three and am on season 4.

Ok. Let me back up a sec. Just so you know, Charmed is about three sister witches (Prue - Shannen Doherty, Piper - Holly Marie Combs, and Phoebe - Alyssa Milano) that go around fighting warlocks, demons, and other bad beasties. They are known as The Charmed Ones (hence the name Charmed) and are the ultimate power of good. The stories are pretty good, but sometimes cheesey, in the first season, but things pick up a bit in seasons two and three. then the best thing happens at the end of season three. They kill off Shannen Doherty's character. I think that she quit the show, but I never really liked her character too much. Too bossy and bitchy and she has a really bad looking boob job (in my opinion). Enter Rose McGowan (Paige) in season four. Paige is a half sister that was kept hidden from the original three sisters. Yes, it is a lame ploy to keep the show going, but Rose McGowan is much more attractive that Shannen Doherty (again, in my opinion) and I like her character more. The show transfers from a bunch of little one episode stories to an ongoing saga type deal. I think that the writers took a page from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (another one of my favorites).

Well, if you are looking for something to add to your NetFlix queue or something to give to someone for Christmas, consider Charmed. If you are female, there are lots of romantic situations and emotional ups and downs and if you are male, it has Alyssa Milano. And she dresses slutty quite frequently. Plus there is lots of action and good stories. Though it is not my favorite show ever (that would be BSG) Charmed is always entertaining. Oh, and in the final season, a super cutie joins the cast (for you guys that care about such things). Kaley Cuoco plays Billie, a young witch that the sisters take under their wing in hopes that she can take over the demon killing.

Sorry, I'm being lazy.

Not too much to post about lately. We've got our holiday shopping done already. I say holiday because we are all trying to be PC here at my blog. I guess I could say happy Festivus, the day where we all pass around an aluminium pole and tell each other how we really feel about each other, but I like holiday better. I guess there's Chrismahoniquuanzica, but that's such a mouthful.

As I said, nothing much going on around here. Jessica's work had their Christmas party last night, which was boring, but at least she got her bonus and we got free dinner. I also got a few nex Xbox games. Rainbox 6, Las Vegas and Elder Scrolls VI, Oblivion. I'll let you all know how they play.

Title Game Played, and Won! Plus, Quitters.

So, this was my weekend off, so I played a few games of NCAA 07 on Xbox Live. It's really fun. I used Ohio State for a few games and Wisconsin for another game. Basically, I try to pick a team that is equal to the team I am playing against. The first game was OSU vs. Texas. The game was going back and forth, since it is harder to play defense, but then something weird happened, the other player just quit out of the blue. I was a bit irritated. I think he/she probably quit because I was winning. So, I found another game. My opponent selected Colorado, so this is the game that I picked Wisconsin. Not because I like Wisconsin, I just figured they were equally matched to Colorado. Then, the same thing happened. The other player quit half way through the game. I played one last game on Saturday, another OSU vs. Texas game. This player, again quit. Sure, I was up 42-14, but quitters never win and winners never quit.

Sunday, I played another game. Ohio State vs. Florida. For those of you that live under a rock, that is the upcoming National Title Game. I got the ball first and was stone walled. Usually, Pittman and Smith can run all over every defense that I played. Not this time. I had to punt the ball on my first possession. The person I was playing then went and scored on my like I was a drunk sorrority girl. I got a little scared. I got the ball back and was able to drive down the field....for a field goal. Again, I got a little more nervous. Thankfully, my opponent threw a pass into triple coverage and I got an interception. This time, I realized that my opponent was playing to stop the run. I started passing all over the place. Post routes, corner routes, slants, screens, they all worked. Or I'd roll out and have enough open field in front of me to get first downs running with Troy (cal me Mr Heisman) Smith. Unfortunately, I was still unable to stop Florida's offense. Fortunately, my offense became unstoppable as well. We went back and forth into the fourth quarter. I tied the game with a minute and 35 seconds left to play. Hoping for over time, I started playing four deep on defense...... and got burned for a TD. I had 57 seconds left to score and tie things up. My opponent had the same idea that I had and dropped everyone back deep on defense. With the middle wide open, I started throwing short passes over the middle (I had all three time out left) and was able to drive down the field for the score. the 15 second I left on the clock was not enough for my opponent to score, so we went to OT. I got the ball first and scored a TD. My opponent scored a TD as well. I went on defense and, after a GREAT goal line stand, stopped my opponent on the 1 yard line when he went for it on 4th down. I then used Pittman up the middle just to set up the winning field goal, but he broke through for the winning TD instead. It was a really fun game. You all need to get Xbox live!

Bowling and Poker

I rocked bowling last night. Check out my second game. It is probably the best game I have bowled in league play. I think I got a 270+ once, but that was just screwing around. Anyway, I had nine strikes in a row. Three away from a perfect game. It was pretty fun. Needless to say, we won all three games by a lot. I was getting nervous though. I get antsy when I have more that three strikes in a row.

Poker was pretty fun too. I played Wednesday and lost a bit of money. I had pocket aces and lost to pocket kings. He hit another king on the flop. I vowed revenge and got it last night. In the second or third hand I played, I got pocket jacks. The flop came up 7,7, J. The guy that took my money on Wednesday went all in with pocket aces. Needless to say, my full house won out. It was fun.

Anyone Else Live?

So, I went out and got a wireless router, a wireless adaptor for my Xbox and a 12 month Xbox Live package. I now have 365 days full of online gaming to look forward to. The only thing I am missing are the people to play with online. My friend, Jesse, has Xbox Live so I will be able to play with him. Jessica's brother has it too. What I want to know is, how does one go about joining other games? Do I just search for a game and say, "Here I am. Deal with it."? It seems to me that that would be a good way to have everyone gang up on me. I need to read my Xbox Live information to see what all I need to do to set up games, join games, etc. Does anyone else have Xbox Live for the 360? My online ID is EZE2112. I have Gears of War, NCAA 2007 (football), Kameo, and a poker game. I can't wait for Halo 3 to be released. Still a whole year to wait, at least. Well, if anyone wants to play, send me a friend invite.

Did Michigan Get Screwed?

First suprise of the weekend: USC lost to UCLA. This basically screwed up what everyone thought would ne the National Title game of OSU vs. USC. So, who would get the #2 spot in the rankings and be lined up to play the Buckeyes for the title?

Thursday night, this question came up while I was at the bowlling alley for my league (I rolled a 620 series by the way). There was a group that said it would be Michigan and a group that said that it would be Florida. Tommie, a guy in the league, said that it would be stupid for florida to be allowe to jump Michigan in the rankings. I brought up the fact that Florida played more top ten ranked teams that Michigan and he sort of blew off that fact. Let's see, Michigan beat Notre Dame and...... Wait, that's the only ranked team they beat. Florida beat at least four. Yes, the only loss Michigan suffered was to Ohio State, the #1 Team, but Florida's only loss was to #9 Auburn.

Well, here's my opinion: Michigan had their shot. They played well against the Buckeyes, but they lost. I don't think they should get another shot when there are other teams out there that have only one loss. Maybe they are the second best team in the country, but how can you really say that when it is so rare that top ten teams get a chance to play each other in the regular season? I personally think that OSU vs. Florida will be a great game.

I do have to say that the BCS system is not working out too well this year. When there are two teams that are undefeated, it is clear who should be in the title game, but when you have a year like this, when so many one loss teams feel they should have a shot, how can you let voters decide? They need to look at the system and try to improve it.

BSG Update

I'm a little bit on the fence about the last few BSG episodes. I still think that it is the best show currently on TV, but the past few episodes have been a little bit, I guess, different. I guess they all can't be special effects filled cliff hangers, but those are my favorites. I guess last night's episode was pretty interesting. I was wondering for a while why Apollo and Starbuck were on the outs. It makes sense now. It was just weird how the episode flowed. It also bugged me the the Chief beat up Admiral Adama. Especially because Adama held his own against Apollo in an earlier episode. Whatever. I was certainly glad that Baltar wasn't in the episode. I am tired of his character and don't really like how his story has developed. Anyway, it would sure be nice to be able to get into a boxing ring with anyone that you felt like beating up. All businesses should have a "Kick The Crap Out of Your Co-Worker Friday." I have to say, Apollo sure fights dirty. After kicking the shit out of Hot Dog, you'd think that she could hold her own against Apollo without resorting to kick boxing.

I didn't quite get the whole point of last week's episode. It was strange that they would introduce a new character (Bull Dog) for just one episode. I guess they need to have a few episodes that are separate of the main story line. I guess it is too late to say that Bull dog is not going to be in any future episodes, but I just figured that he was going to become a central character. We'll see, I guess. He is a viper pilot and they are in short supply.

I Likes Me A Good Deal

So, I went shopping for a few things last Friday. Normally, I would not go to any store on Black Friday, just because it is so crazy out there, but I needed a six foot RCA cable. So, I went to Target to get the cable. While I was there, I looked at DVDs and some other things like I always do when at Target.

Before I go on, just know that I am a DVD whore. I see a DVD I want, I buy it. Well, as long as it's not too pricey. Fopr example, I wanted to get season one of the new Dr. Who series, but it was, like, $80. Too much for my taste. But a new movie release for $15 or $16, I'mm all over it. As another example, I saw all of the Charmed TV series seasons for $20 each (usually $40) at Best Buy and I grabbed them.

Wel, on Black Friday, I saw seasons 1-3 of Smallville for $15 each (normally $40). DVD whore as I am, I grabbed them. I love finding things for cheap.

A Higher Power?

It kinda makes you wonder if there is a God and if he is a Buckeye. Not only did OSU prevail over the Wolverines this Saturday by a score of 42-39, but the Ohio Lotto pick four numbers for Saturday night were 4-2-3-9. Not shit. It makes you wonder if The Big Guy is up there and if her is wearing scarlet and gray. What a weird coincidence.

De Ja Vu

I received three envelopes from NetFlix on Thursday. I opened the first envelope and saw an advertisement for the new Denzel Washington movie called DeJa Vu, a movie about group of people that figured how to go back in time.

I received three envelopes from NetFlix on Thursday. I opened the second envelope and saw an advertisement for the new Denzel Washington movie called DeJa Vu, a movie about a group of people that figured how to go back in time.

I received three envelopes from NetFlix on Thursday. I opened the third envelope and saw an advertisement for the new Denzel Washington movie called DeJa Vu, a movie about a group of people that figured out how to go back in time.

I don't really get the premise of the movie. I have seen a few commercials and to be honest, the film looks a little dumb to me. Didn't Jean Claude VanDamme do a movie like this called Time Cop? I didn't go see that and I doubt I will see DeJa Vu. I mean come on. If time travel were EVER possible, don't you think that we'd have people from the future coming back in time already? Or is it like Star Trek and they have a Temporal Prime Directive that forbids time travelers to change the past? Otherwise, why wouldn't someone come back to stop 9/11 or the Kennedy assasination? Heck, if I could go back in time, I'd probably change some things in my life too. There's also a TV show that deals with DeJa Vu. I think it is called Day Break. It involves a man that lives the same day over and over until he makes things right. Hello. Ground Hog Day anyone? I guess I just don't get the whole point of making these shows and movies that have been done already in one form or another. I seem to recall another show called Seven Days where they are able to go back in time, but only seven days in the past.

I guess if you really think about it, there aren't really any original stories out there anymore. Most movies and shows are recycled ideas from other movies, plays, and TV show. I think the last movie that I saw that really blew me away because of it's original idea was The Matrix. What really gets me isn't that some movies and shows rip off ideas from other meduims, it's that some movies and shows are exact copies of old shows and movies. Take the latest version of The Omen. It was done almost exactly the same as the original version. What's the point? Same thing with that Adam Sandler movie about the prison football team (The Longest Yard?). It was a remake (and a bad one at that, from what I hear) of a 70's movie of the same name. It's just silly. Why can't people come up with new ideas anymore. I guess it is hipocritcal of me since my favorite TV show it Battlestar Galactica, which is a remake. The difference is, the definately improved on the original. Better acting, better stories, and better effects.

Fiesta Bowl Bound

Wow. What a game! 42-39 was the final of this incredibly year's OSU vs UM game. ESPN.com has a pretty cool write up and some good video clips. I have to admit, I was nervous going into this game. My nervousness was well grounded. I had some pains in my stomach as the Wolverines scored easily on their first possession. OSU rallied and scored the next 21 points of the game. That made me relax a bit. I was worried going into the game because UM's defense is (statistically speaking) the best the the Buckeyes had to face this year. They only allowed the opposing offenses an average of 29 yards running the ball. That is crazy! Of course, that stat was destroyed by the Ohio State offense who put up 187 yards on the ground, including two 50+ yard runs for touchdowns. Troy Smith threw the ball for 316 yards, and Ohio State ran up 42 points. Really, this game was never as close as the scoreboard made it look. 10 of Michigan's 39 points were off of OSU mistakes: an interception and a fumble. Even with these errors, there was never a moment in the game (well, except for when UM scored the first TD) that I thought OSU was going to lose. Take away the 10 points from OSU mistakes, and the score would have been OSU 42 UM 29.

Since I haven't had a chance to watch the local news, I don't know if campus blew itself up after the game or not. One of the embarassing things about being an Ohio State fan is that everyone thinks we are all obnoxios pyromaniacs looking for a reason to light transh and couches on fire. As I was sitting beside my couch fire in the back yard, I was wondering, 'Why?'. Just kidding. It was way too cold for a couch fire in the back yard last night. Seriously though, a few crazy students have really put a bad face on the proud group of OSU students, alumni, and fans. Not all of us are crazed pyros. And really, look at other cities in the country. Didn't Detroit have the same problem a few years back when the Pistons won the NBA title? Well, all I know is, Ohio State and it's Alumni are trying very hard to change the behavior and image of the OSU students and fans. I just hope that it worked.

The question now goes to who will play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl? The #3, #4, and #5 teams all won this week and all of them have only one loss. Come to think of it, the #2 team has one loss as well. Let's take a look:

#2 Michigan
#3 USC
#4 Florida
#5 Notre Dame

Michigan has already lost to Ohio State. Yes, it was a close game, but do they deserve a remach? If you watch the clips on ESPN.com (follow the 2nd link on this post) you can see UM running back Hart saying that he thinks UM beats OSU in a rematch. Honestly, I think UM is the second best team in the nation and deserves to play in the title game, but if OSU already beat them, why should they get a second chance?

USC plays Notre Dame next Saturday. That will knock off one of these two contenders. If USC wins, it will probably put them in the Fiesta Bowl vs. OSU. However, if Notre Dame wins, how can you tell Michigan that the Irish get to go to Tempe when Michigan STOMPED the Irish earlier in the season?

Florida should be the team that will go to the Fiesta Bowl if Notre Dame beats USC and Florida wins the rest of their games. They had a rough schedule and, with only one loss, would deserve the nod if they only lose one game.

The bottom line is that the BCS sucks when there is one unbeaten team and several one loss teams when it comes down to selecting the national title game. In my opinion, the best bet is to take the top four teams and have a little play off. That was, there is a clear champion and no one can whine about being left out of the picture.

The Game

Saturday, November 18th at 3:30 PM is probably going to be the biggest OSU vs M*ch*g*n game in the history of the rivalry. Yes, there have been big games. Countless encounters have decided either the Big Ten title or a which team would be able to play for the National title. Back in my college days, I remember a few heart breaking losses by the Buckeyes in The Game that cost them trips to the Rose Bowl and their National title hopes. It was very hurtful to me. However, there has never been an OSU vs. scUM game when both teams were ranked #1 and #2. Also, this is the first time that the winner of The Game is definately going to play for the National title. Yes, there have been games that OSU has spoiled scUM's title hopes and vice versa, but this is the first time that the winner of The Game, no matter which team, is going to play for the title. It's a pretty big deal. It's even possible, if not probable, that both teams may play for the National title no matter who wins this Saturday. The BCS is so screwy that way. I would just rather OSU stomp on scUM this Saturday so that their spot in the Fiesta Bowl is a lock.

To kick off the weekend, I am taking tomorrow off so that I can participate in HyperFriday. HyperFriday is an OSU Alumni Band tradition where buses take former band members (hence the word 'alumni') around the city to play school songs at various pep rallies. There is lots of free food and drink envolved. It is the first time I am participating in an Alumni Band event. I've wanted to do HyperFriday in the past, but have never had the vacation time available. I am also taking Saturday off so that I can watch all of the pre-game hype. I'm not planning on going anywhere to watch the game, since everywhere is going to be a mad house. Campus is going to be CRAZY. I just hope that the students don't act all stupid like they have in the past.

In honor of OSU vs scUM week, here is one of my favorite M*ch*g*n jokes:

Q: How many M*ch*g*n freshmen does it take to to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. That is a sophomore course at scUM.

What to Post?....

OK, I mostly want to write about Gears of War, a new Xbox 360 game I bought, but I just want to say realy quike that OSU kicked the crap out of Northwestern, 54-10. Now, both OSU and scUM are 11-0 going into the big game this Saturday. The teams are ranked 1 and 2 for the first time ever. WOW! Exciting!!!

OK, Gears of War. As you may know, I am a fan of the first person shooter games. Halo and Halo two are the best I've played, but I have played many other games of this type. Doom 3 was really good, Half Life was pretty good on the PC, along with Quake 3 and UnReal I've played a few stinkers as well. I can't really remember them because they weren't memorable. I mentioned that the Halo games have been my favorites. Pretend that you are playing Halo (if you've ever played it before) and are pinned behind a big rock by a couple Hunters. Don't you wish that you could pop around the corner, shoot a few rounds, and duck back? The one thing that irritated me about Halo, is that you can't really use cover too well. Gears of War changes that. If you see a tree, you can hide behind it a shoot around the edge. A low baricade? Duck behind it and shoot above it or around it. The creater of the game had a 'Why I Made This Game' intro and he said that he played paint ball and wanted to simulate the experience in a video game. Crouch and run from cover to cover, peer around doors, shoot above and around cover. Gears of War is actually a third person game. You see your character from above, but the game still plays like a first person shooter. It's really cool. The graphics and action are actually better that Halo and Halo 2. However, there are a few things that I don't like so much about Gears of War. First, you have a squad of commandos helping you out. The problem is, in a fire fight, it is hard to tell friend from foe. They all look the same from a distance. I guess that is how it is in real life, but it makes it hard not to shoot your own guys. Second, to take cover, you hit the A button. Seems easy, right? The only problem is, if there are multiple places where you can take cover near by, you don't always go to the one you think you are going to. Or, if you are next to a spot where you can take cover, like a tree, you may end up diving infront of the tree instead of behind the tree. I guess it is something that I am getting better at handling as I play along, but it is an irritant. I guess another thing that bothers me is that, in order to throw a grenade, you have to have grenades be your equipt weapon. You can't run around with a gun and throw grenades with your other hand, like in Halo. It make throwing a grenade a harrowing experience. Still, all in all, this has been a great game. I won't put it above Halo, but it is way better that all of the other shooters I have played. Lots of action, great graphics, good story line, and it causes my adrenaline to get going. If you have a 360 and like shooters, get Gears of War.

Democrat Man, the Fixer-Upper

So, I voted Tuesday. I usually don't get political on my blog or in my personal life, but I did want to comment on this year's vote and the outcome. I basically voted for anyone with a D next to their name. The Republicans have been in control of Ohio for about 16 years and it seems like the state has been steadily going down hill in those years. I felt that it was time for a change. Jobs are flooding out of Ohio. School costs and taxes are going through the roof. Not to mention the taxes that have been sky rocketing through the years. As far as the people that were not specified as Democrat or Republican, I voted for whichever name I liked or thought funny. Probably not the best strategy, but that's what I did. As far as the issues, I voted to raise the minimum wage (which passed), voted to allow the slot machines (which did not pass. I didn't care either way), I voted 'no' to allow smoking in bars and bowling alleys (which was shot down. YEAH!), and voted yes to ban smoking in public places (which passed. YEAH!) The other issues did not really matter much to me. So, the vote went pretty goo in my book. We have more Democrats in office, so hopfully there will be some positive changes. Probably not, but what can we really do?

I am a fixer-upper because, on Tuesday, my disposal died. I changed the disposal in my old house, so I wasn't too concerned with taking the project on myself. Really, the only hard part of the task is getting the old disposal out of the sink. They are usually in so long that they rust a bit or get stuck some other way. That is what happened in this case. What I needed to do was use a hack saw to cut off the bottom part and then use a wrench to bend the top part so it would come out of the sink. Putting in the new one was relatively easy. On top of the disposal, our dishwasher died. I was going to replace it myself, but I couldn't get it out from under the counter. So, I left it and paid extra to have a plumber remove it and install the new one. We should have it in a day or so. It figures, we had a home warranty and it expired a month ago. Otherwise, all this crap would have been free.

Two Dissapointing Games

This weekend was a little painful for me, football-wise.

Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes barely pulled out a win against Illinois. I guess it wasn't "barely". OSU controlled the game until the last four minutes of the fourth quarter. The first half started OK and Ohio State was up 17 to zero at half time. The second half, the Illinois defense stepped up and the OSU offense got cold. Troy Smith and the crew couldn't move the ball. Illinois' offense started working and took advantage of some OSU turn-overs. The last few minutes of the game got scary sine OSU had to punt the ball away again. Illinois tried to block it, but failed and the punt went to thier 3 yard line with 4 seconds left in the game. I guess it was exciting, but nerve wracking as well.

Sunday, I watched Cleveland play San Diego. It was a really good game, except that Cleveland endedup losing it. It was SO frustrating since Cleveland basically controlled the game offensively and defensively, but they couldn't get the ball into the endzone until it was too late. When your field goal kicker gets six field goals, there is a problem. The Browns finally did score a touchdown, but only after the game was out of reach. Really, they should have won, but San Diego got a TD after Frye fumbled the ball into the endzone and the Chargers recovered for a score. Well, it was still a good game and Cleveland prooved that they can play with the 'good' teams.

Go Bucks! and BSG comments.

Wow. Can you believe that I haven't commented on the OSU vs. Minnesota game last weekend? Probably for two reasons. One, I haven't really had alot of time and two, the game was a real bore. 44-0. I guess it wasn't that boring. When your team scores 44 points, it is always fun to watch. It's even more fun when the defense totally shuts down the other team. However, it is much more exciting seeing a game that is at least a little close. Basically, everything that was supposed to happen, happened. Troy Smith played well, Antonio Pittman played well, Ginn and Gonzalez played well, and the defense played well. Today, the Buckeyed go to Illinois. This is another game that OSU is 'supposed' to win. Illinois is not having a great year this year. They do have a freshman quarrterback that is supposed to be pretty good, but I don't think that the OSU defense will give him much time to work.

So, what does everyone think about the last few BSG episodes? I liked last week's episode with the jury getting rid of all of the calaborators. Glad they didn't kill Gaeda though. He just tried to make the best of a bad situation. Last night's episode was interesting. I'm not too sure where they are going with Baltar. He is becoming much more dislikable. I knew he was a self serving coward, but they are now hinting that he may be a cylon. I don't think that he is, only because there aren't more of him on the Base Star that he is on. Why would the Cylons keep it a secret from Baltar if he were a Cylon. There is nothing to gain from it (other than plot twists). I'm glad that Apollo is back in shape and back in a Viper. Fat Apollo was very dislikable. Last night's episode was interesting to me. A lot of character development. I am a little suprised that Tigh seems to be leaving the ship or even the show. I guess killing your wife can cause some bitterness. We all knew that Starbuck would get over her loss of Kasey and stay on the Galactica. I still can't believe that she thought Kasey, a two year old, was her daughter when she was on New Caprica only a year ago. Anyway, I am going off topic. What really interests me is the Cylon killing bio-weapon that was discovered. Does anyone think that it was left there by the 13th Colony (Earth) just in case the Cylons try to track them down? It would make sense. We Earthlings likes our bio-weapons. Now, in the old BSG, Earth was discovered by the Galactica and it was a 1980's Earth. Not mych help in a was against the Cylons when 90% of the populace is walking around with boom-boxes on their shoulders and wearing parachute pants. The bio-weapon makes me wonder exactly how the writers of the new BSG will depict Earth. Well, I guess we will have to wait and see. Oh, and did anyone other than me notice the nekked Sharron/Boomer excercising on the Base Star. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...Boomer.

Prey....Pretty Kick Ass

I think that I mentioned that I bought a game called Prey for my Xbox 360. Well, it was a frst person shooter game and it was pretty damn good. You play a Cherokee that wants his girlfriend to move off of the reservation for bigger and better things. She wants to stay. Well, in the middle of the fight, aliens attack and transport you (Tommie), his girlfriend, and Tommie's grandfather up to the mother ship. Sounds pretty weird, I know. I actually put the game away for a while because it started out a little slow. Basically, you need to find gramps, your lady, and get off of the ship. This game is similar to most shooters, in that, you run around shooting things while navigating the maze-like ship. What makes this game unique is that there are anti-gravity ramps that you need to walk on and other things that make the whole room turn and flip. It is pretty disorienting at times. You also need to figure out puzzles in order to get though the ship. You get all sorts of cool weapons. Another thing that is unique is that when you die, you enter the spirit world (you're a Cherokee, remember.) and you need to shoot these wraiths to give yourself life again. It was strange at first, but all in all, I really enjoyed playing the game. I stayed up until 1:00 last night to beat it. The game, sick-os. If you have a 360 and like shooting games, give Prey a try. It's not Halo good, but it is good.

Bowling Fun and NCAA '07

Last night (every Thursday, actually) was my bowling night. I've been in a league for a few years now. The first year, I was pretty consistant with a 185 or 190 average. I was quite please with myself. Then, the bowling alley when I bowl changed their lane type. They had natural wood lanes, but switched to synthetic. What's the difference? Well, wood lanes traditionally allow the bowing ball to break, or 'hook' more. My average dropped about 20 pins immediately (170's). I just couldn't figure out the new lanes. My ball just wasn't reacting anymore. Well, I got a new ball a few years back and it helped a little. This year, I have been tearing things up a bit. I started with an average in the 180s, but now have it back up over 190. It was 192 as of last night and should go up again. Two weeks ago, I bowled a 606 series, last week I bowled a 590 series, and last night I bowled a 646 series. I bowled a 212, 213, and 221. I was pretty excited. The second game irritated me because I missed a few spares. 9 strikes and 3 open frames only gets you a 213. I just hope that I can keep this up.

I finished my first season of NCAA '07. I won't get into too many details, but OSU won the National Title. The Troy Smith character came in 5 in the Heisman voting. I need to work on that. I guess he did get hurt for one game and I needed Justin Zwick to step up. A few things that were weird about the NCAA '07 season, compared to the real football season:

1. Michigan was 6-3 after 9 games. Apparently, the 'experts' at EA Sports didn't think that UM would do much this year either.
2. OSU was knocked to #2 after a few games (I won them all) by LSU. LSU eventually lost though.
3. I put up 40+ points in several games, but that wasn't good enough to win the Heisman.
4. Notre Dame was my opponent in the Firsta Bowl.
5. Ted Ginn didn't break a punt return back for a TD. That may be because I don't know how to spin or 'juke' effectively, but as fast as the player was, it shouldn't have mattered.
6. OSU's defense is just as good on the Xbox as they are in real life. A few shut outs and many games allowing only one score.

Another Day Closer to Checkout Time

October 26th 1974. A day that will be remembered like a fart stain on the underpants of space and time for all eternity. For on this day, I was born. To celebrate, I am working. I guess tonight is my bowling night, so that will be fun. Jessica will be making my favorite dinner of schnitzel and mashed potatoes. YUM. Cake too. Double YUM. And I will probably have beer while bowling tonight. If I am going to eat cake and fried foods, I might as well go all the way, right? I'll probably skip my Thursday poker game though. I have a feeling that, if I come home early, I may be rewarded with a make out session on the couch. It's hard to say though. CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and ER are on tonight. I guess it depends on if the episodes are good or not.

Please, don't buy me presents, just send me money.

A Hurtin' on the Hoosiers

This was the first OSU football game this season that was not televised on normal cable networks. It's crazy that the number one team in the country isn't on a channel that everyone in Columbus can watch. It was on ESPNU which is only available on satellite or Insight Cable (I have Time Warner). So, what I did was, I went to Roosters to pick up some carry out (I had to work this Saturday) so that I could have a few beers and watch the first quarter. The rest of the game I listened to on the radio. It was weird, I felt really pumped up by this game. Maybe because I couldn't watch it all. I have to say, watching the first quarter, I got a little nervous. The OSU offense wasn't clicking and Troy Smith did not look like a Heisman candidate. IU scored first after returning an OSU punt to the OSU 15 yard line. Luckily, the OSU defense looked great and stone-walled IU's offense all day. The OSU offense got it rolling and racked up 44 points. The final score was 44-3. I can't believe that there are onle four more games left this season. why is it that baseball, which I don't like so much, lasts FOREVER, but the best time of the year (OSU football season) only lasts 12 weeks? The next three games, leading up to The Big One, are against teams that are collectively 6 and 15. Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern are not the best in the Big Ten. As long as Ohio State doesn't have a serious let down, it is looking like they will be undefeated when M*ch*g*n rol into town. It also looks like scUM will be undefeated as well. How huge would it be if both teams are #1 and #2 going into that game. Already, tickets for the OSU vs M*ch*g*n game are running over $1000 a piece. The local news said that four tickets in one of the boxes are going for $6000 on Ebay. $1500 per ticket. And I was bitching about the face value of the tickets going up to $64 a piece.

So Good I watched it Twice. No Kidding!

For those of you that haven't been bitten by the Battlestar Galactica bug, go out and rent, buy, borrow, or steal seasons one and two of this spectacular show and catch up on the bestest (yes, I said bestest) show on TV today. Last nights episode was spectacular. It was amazing. It was super fan-diddily-tastic. You know that if a Flanders-ism is used, it must be good. As amazing as this episode was, I still have a few issues and I must say that it was a bit predictable. I am bout to go into details, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, you may want to stop reading. There will be some spoilers.

Ok, first off, Starbuck and Kasey. I sorta figured that the Cylons were frakking with Starbuck. If Hera (Helo and Sharon's baby) was concieved on Caprica before Starbuck was captured by the Cylons, how would Kasey appear to be considerably older than Hera? If both Hera and Kasey were human Cylon hybrids, they should age the same, right? This goes to show that Starbuck is a bit gullable. How can a kid would be one year old or so, look like a three year old? It also bothered me that, when Starbuck got Kasey back to the Galactica, they happened to find Kasey's real mother immediately. In all of that confusion, the probability that Kasey's mother would ever show up is slim.

Second, Since I have seen the old BSG shows and knew that the Pegasus was sacrificed while saving the fleet and the Galactica, I kinda saw how this episode was going to play out. Last week when Adama told Apollo that the Galactica was going to go back to New Caprica alone, I knew that Apollo was going to disobey, the Pegasus would show up in the nick of time and would be sacrificed to save the Galactica and the fleet. However, that did NOT change the fact that the battle scenes were amazing. Watching the Pegasus come in and blast the crap out of the Cylon Base Stars was incredible. I get chills just thinking about it.

Probably the most amazing scene in the whole show (yes, more amazing that Pegasus charging in to save the Galactica) was the Galactica's rescue and liberation of New Caprica. I knew that they were going to send deycoys. That is a typical strategy. However, I thought that the Galactica was going to jump between the two base stars and blast the crap out of them. I did not see an in atomosphere jump in order to launch Vipers to help the troops on the ground, only to jump away right before crashing into the ground. WOW. That was cool. I bet the Cylons crapped a giant metal turd when they looked up to see the Galactica plummeting towards them.

Some things that I saw coming and also that bothered me:

1. The Cylons got a hold of Hera. I saw that coming.
2. Gaeda let Baltar live. I saw that coming AND it still bothered me. Why would it matter if Baltar stopped the Cylons from setting off the nuke? Most of the humans were off the planet already. I know that Baltar is meant to live because he is going to have a part in the storyline, but come on Gaeda. Kill him and take his head back to the Galactica with you!
3. They made a point to have the guy that joined the Caprica Police end up protecting Roslin while she went to Colonial One, but nothing really came of it. I was expecting that she would run into some Cylons, they would identify the guy (Crashdown?) as a CP officer, and he would have to choose between the Cylons and Roslin. It didn't happen and it appeared that Roslin just had a leisurely stroll to Colonial One.

Well, I think that is enough for now. Any thoughts or comments? Best episode ever? I think it could be. It's certainly the best episode so far this season.

My List

I'm sure that you've all see the Friends episode where Rachel lets Ross make a list of five celebrities that he is allowed to shag and get a free pass. I'm sure that everyone (well, men) has contimplated a similar list for themselves. I have given this topic much thought. I have to say, compiling a list is not as easy as you may thing. I think Woody podted his list a while back, but I am not above ripping off someone else's blog idea. At least I'm not having a quote contest. Yet.

Anyway, I feel that you really have to put some thought into a list such as this. You can't just put down the first five girls that come to mind. You need to consider all of the different types of women and your different tastes. Personally, I can find many different types of women very attractive. Tall, short, skinny, chubby, red heads, blondes, dark skin, light skin, it really doesn't matter. I can find something attractive about any woman. I guess if a girl looks like me, I may have some issues. I mean, come on, I'm not exactly a great looking guy. I'd make an UGLY woman. Still, I am getting off the subject.

You really need to look at several different angles when you contimplate your list. Do you want any porn stars? Do you want any foriegn women? What is your age limit? How diverse do you want to be? Back in the day, when the Friends episode first came out, I wanted to be pretty dverse. I did want a porn star (Jenna Jameson) just because you'd think porn stars would be great in the sack. In my older age, I have removed porn stars from list contention. As you may have noticed, my list is not set in stone. I will not laminate the list. What if someone on the ilst gets some bad plastic surgery or gets an eating disorder?

Anyway, The first slot on the list goes to the most attractive actress that I have seen in a very long time: Scarlett Johansson. If you look at the picture from the link, you can see that she is virtually perfect in every way. Great hair, great smile, great skin, a beautiful face, and spectacular body. I first noticed her in "The Girl With the Pearl Earring." She was in a dress that covered her completely and all you could se was her face, but I was still mezmerised.

The second post on the list was going to be Linday Lohan, but lately she has lost a TON of weight and is no longer attractive to me. She is still pretty, but way too skinny now. She could get back on the list is she puts on a pound or two. Now #2 is Katherine Heigl. For all of the reasons listed for Scarlett, Katherine Heigl adds some serious heat to Grey's Anatomy.

The third slot goes to Alyssa Milano. Ever since seeing her on Who's The Boss, I have had a serious crush on Alyssa. We were the same age (still are I guess) and very cute. Now, she is a smokin' hottie. Though it is a good show, I probably wouldn't have been nearly as interested in 'Charmed' if Alyssa wasn't scantily clad in half the episodes.

Number four on my list is Vida Guerra. Vida first came to my attention through FHM, a magazine that I sometimes peruse. Known for her big bootie, this Latina is in magazines all over the place now. Me, I likes me a big bootie. Women are supposed to have hips and Vida has those too.

Finally, the athlete on the list to round of the five: Amanda Beard, Olympic swimmer. I know that I mentioned that skinny women don't do much for me in regards to Lindsay Lohan, but Amanda Beard isn't skinny, she is fit, tall, and toned. I believe the term is 'swimmer's body'. Plus, most of the time that she is on TV or in magazines, she is soaking wet. Something about water glistening on a woman's body is HOT. The athlete on the list previously was Anna Kournikova, but she has kind of fallen off of the radar lately. Besides, she is into hockey players, which I'm not.

Well, that's it. Let me know what you think. Who's on your list? To recap mine for those of you that don't want to read all of this:

1. Scarlett Johansson
2. Katherine Heigl
3. Alyssa Milano
4. Vida Guerra
5. Amanda Beard

I won't laminate it though.

I Gotta Name this? The Broker Record.

So, I read Woody's post from yesterday and he basically gave props to all of his highschool friends and their blogs. His recap of my blog was that I write about BSG and OSU football. Boy, am I a two trick pony or what? I looked back through the past few weeks and Woody is right. Most of the posts are BSG or OSU football related. Sorry about that. I guess the reasons for that are 1. I don't post much and BSG and OSU football are the most exciting things going on in my life at the moment, and 2. I am really not very creative. I found it very funny that the most comments on one of my posts was 11 and that was when I asked what I should do if I were rich. Thank you Amy and Mona for spending all of my fictional money on yourselves. When I post about BSG, I may get a comment or two and when I post about OSU football, nothing. I guess I need to broaden my horizons to keep everyone's attention.

While reading about Herb and Amy's encounter at the Woollybear Festival in Vermillion OH (don't laugh, Waterville has a festival for an island named for a buffalo) I started thinking about my past, both in highschool and college, and ralized that I have had a heck of a lot of nick-names in my day. I guess 'Eric' is just too much of a mouthful for some people. (Wow, that is a loaded sentence.) Seriously, I have a lot nick-names:

Tiny - freshman year in HS Marching Band
Wog - HS (WOG! FROG! WOODY! and Herb)
Ogre - College marching band
Ogs - short for the above name
E - Poker Night
EZE - Bowling Night
E-rock - Bowling Night
Rhodes-e - Work (my userID is rhodese1)
Big E - Poker Night

I'm sure there is more. I just can't think of them at the moment. Can anyone think of any other names that I may have been called in the past (not the bad ones, thank you)? How about your nick names? I know Woody probably doesn't have too many since Woody stuck so well. At least I didn't have any of the following unfortunate nick names:

BABS - Big Ass Boobs
Tic Tac - Takes it in the Cornhoe Take All Cocks
BAFT - Big Ass F-ing Tits
PITA - Pain In The Ass
Huggies - Ha! Rinnert!
FS - F--- Stain, or Stain for short

Those are all real names that I have really heard.

It's been a while

Sorry for the delay between posts. Things have been a bit crazy around the house lately. I don't really want to get into it though. I'd much rather talk about the 38-7 smack down that OSU put on Michigan State.

The first possesion of the game was pretty scary as OSU fumbled the ball and MSU recovered on their own 30 yard line. The next play MSU took the ball down to the OSU 1, but the play was called back on a holding call. The Buckeye defense woke up and backed MSU up after sacking Drew Stanton for a 16 yard loss. The OSU offense took over and started wracking up the points. Gonzalez seemed like he was open every play. Troy Smith seemend unstoppable. Ted Ginn took a punt return back for a touchdown. I was probably the best offensive display I have seen from Ohio State this year. The defense was tough too. Big hits on the QB, interceptions, tackles for losses. Ohio State is definately hitting on all cylinders. They are ranked #1 on all of the polls. It is starting to look like The Game this year (when the team from up north comes to town) could be a #1 #2 match up with the National Title game on the line. Ohio State just needs to stay focused and take care of Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern. They are all four teams that Osio State is capable of beating, but anything can happen in the Big Ten.

If I Had a Million Dollars......

First a quick recap of the weekend:

-OSU beat Bowling Green 35-7. They didn't beat the spread, but a win is a win. It was a pretty boring game. I think the Bucks used standard offensive plays in order to work on the basics and keep their big weapons as a suprise.

-The Browns lost. Again. They are really not so good this year. I thought they'd do better since some of their starters are healthy now, but I was wrong.

Ok, if I had a million dollars, I would:

1. Buy a boat for on the lake.
2. Buy a house on South Bass Island (ok, I'd need more that $1mil).
3. Pay off all of my bills.
4. Buy an RV to take down to campus for the home OSU games.
5. Buy OSU season tickets.
6. Enter the big tournament for the World Poker Tour.
7. Get a pool in the back yard.
8. Get a hot tub in the back yard
9. Buy a Harley
10. Buy a widescreen plazma TV with sound system. (One for each room)
11. Travel (Cruises, trips to Europe, Mexico, East Coast, West Coast, everywhere I feel like.)

I'm sure there is more, but I cannot think anything else right now. I'm sure there is more that I can do, but I can't think of anything. Any ideas of what I should do if/when I get rich?

Two Hours of BSG Magic

A two hour premire. Awesome. I didn't realize that it would be a two hour premire. Awesome. All in all it was excellent. Twists, turns, action. Two hour show seemed like one hour and I was pissed off everytime there was a commercial and down right angry when the show ended. After the long wait, I have to say the first show of the season of Battlestar Galactica was great. I did have a few problems with some of the things that happened, but just little things:

DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT DETAILS OF THE FIRST EPISODE!!!

1. They made Lee fat. I guess they did this to show Lee's sense of hopelessness and apathy, but Lee has been down in the past and didn't go off to gain 50 pounds.

2. Anders is alive and well. In last season's finale he was in bed with pneumonia and no medicine. I doubt that the Cylons would watch out for the well being of Starbuck's husband. Unless they helped him to keep her happy.

3. Staubuck's "child" looked at least three years old. I don't think that would fit the time line in which Starbuck was on Caprica and in the hospital. Maybe I am being a bit too crital about that. Anyone else think that KC's "accident" was staged to get Starbuck to care about the kid?

4. The made a piont to say that the Centurions can't tell the difference between one 'skin job' Cylon and another. A #6 looks like any other #6 to a Centurion. That's why they sent Sharron to New Caprica. Yet, when the resistance was ambushed after Sharron arrived, she didn't just yell 'hold your fire.' to make them stop shooting.

5. They make you believe that Laura was shot by the Cylons, but show her in the 'next time on Battlestar Galactica' preview after the show.

6. Gaeda would not be working for Baltar. I guess they are playing it like he is the spy on the inside and is helping alot, but I would think that he would tell Chief Tyrel or Col. Tigh so that he wouldn't get killed as a calaborator.

7. The Cylon's say they want to 'help' the humans and live in peace, but are detaining people and killing them for no apparent reason. I guess history shows that most conquering people feel that they are 'helping' their subjects.

Enough. I don't want to seem like I am complaining because it was a great episode, which I plan on watching again. Soon. It's hard to see what will happen in the coming shows since the fleet seems to be facing impossible odds to free the people on New Caprica.

Best Show on TV tonight

Battlestar Galactica season 3 starts up again tonight at 9:00 pm on SciFi. Great show. Make sure to tune in.

Hey, for those of you that watched the BSG webisodes on SciFi.com, is it just me, or are they trying to shift Col. Tigh to having a Scottish or Irish accent? It was pretty apparent in webisode 6.

Cool Write up

ESPN.com had a pretty cool write up regarding Script Ohio. They interviewed a susaphone guy to get an idea of what it is like to 'dot the I'. Honestly, as a percussionist in the OSU Marching Band, I never had any desire to dot the I. We were always 'first on the grass' during the pregame show, which is an adrenaline rush in itself. Still, it is good to see the OSU band get a little attention, considering the media circus that is surrounding the #1 OSU football team.

Oh, one error in the news story: They neglected to mention that ex-OSU president E. Gordon Gee also dotted the I once.

Cool Write up

ESPN.com had a pretty cool write up regarding Script Ohio. They interviewed a susaphone guy to get an idea of what it is like to 'dot the I'. Honestly, as a percussionist in the OSU Marching Band, I never had any desire to dot the I. We were always 'first on the grass' during the pregame show, which is an adrenaline rush in itself. Still, it is good to see the OSU band get a little attention, considering the media circus that is surrounding the #1 OSU football team.

Oh, one error in the news story: They neglected to mention that ex-OSU president E. Gordon Gee also dotted the I once.

Sorry about that.

Sorry for the heavy topic last post. It was just something that I saw and had strong feelings about. I promise that this post will be lite and lively. Not to mentioned filled with Buckeye goodness!

Ok, this week, OSU went to IOWA and blasted the Hawkeyes 38-17. Tate for Heisman? Not anymore! He was picked off more than a and sacked repeatedly. The Ohio State offense was able to move through the Iowa defense like a warm knife moves through butter. Iowa's crowd tried to intimidate the Buckeyes by wearing all yellow and were being rowdy. It worked last year at Penn State (OSU's last loss) but the Buckeyes were able to make the crowd sit down and shut up by taking their first possession and driving for a touchdown. "Troy Smith to Anthony Gonzalez." seemed like the catch phrase of the day, seeing as how Gonzo always seemed to be open at the right time and always seemed to get either a first down or a touchdown. The best play of the game was when Smith hooked up for Gonzo and Gonzo was able to weave through the Iowa defense and make it to the endzone. Probably the best part of the play was the blocking that the other receivers were throwing for Gonzo down field. This OSU team is really living up to the word 'team'. They are unselfish when playing and give each other the credit for their success when interviewed.

Most people agree that Iowa was the last real challenge for the Buckeyes until November 18th when the team from up north comes to the 'Shoe for the last game of the regular season. The remaining games are against Bowling Green, Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern. These games aren't garunteed wins, but all of the teams mentioned have lost several games and none are ranked in the top 25. As long as the Buckeyes don't fall asleep, they should be 11-0 when M*ch*g*n rolls into town. On the other side of the coin, M*ch*g*n will more than lakely be undefeated as well. Depending on what happens around the country, OSU and scUM could be #1 and #2 when they meet in November. If that is the case, OSU will be playing their second 1 vs 2 game of the season (having won the first one against Texas). Wow. I am pretty excited about where this season is going.

Dumb Ass Creeps

Jessica and I were going to watch a movie last Friday after the kids got into bed. It was a bad TV night (but it will be the best TV night when BSG starts 10/06) so I just left the TV on whatever channel it was on until Jessica came back down after putting Alydia to bed. The show that came on was Date Line (or Night Line, something like that) and they were having one of their "To Catch a Predator" specials. It's probably not so much of a 'special' anymore since they have these episodes almost every week. Anyway, if you don't know the premise of this show, they have undercover people in chat rooms posing as under-aged girls and setting up meetings with sick fucks that want to have sex with children. (Pardon the f-bomb, but that is all I can think to call these creeps.) Basically they set traps for sexual predators. They have a house somewhere and the undercover cops set up meetings with these sick fucks so that they can catch them in the act. To add insult to injury, these sick fucks are taped and televised on national TV. As a father of a little girl, I say they are getting exactly what they deserve. Although this sounds like trash TV, I was riveted. It was amazing how some of these men reacted when the cameras came out. Some ran (only to be tackeled by the police waiting outside.), some cried, and most of them lied. The reporter would ask why they came to the house with a teenaged girl and they would say stuff like, "just to talk." or "I wanted to be friends." COME ON!!! One guy said that he came to talk, but brought a bottle of whiskey and a box of condoms. Right. Talk. There were even some military guys that showed up to the house. (One of the criers was a Sargent or something.) The best was the guy that had seen the Date Line specials in the past and knew that the cops were setting up stings like the one he walked in to. Dumb ass. Anyway, watching this show made a few questions pop into my mind:

1. How does a grown man think that it is OK to have sexual chats with a teen aged girl and then set up meeting to initiate sex? I guess I can understand how men can see teen aged girls as attractive. It seems like young girls are in a huge hurry to grow up and become sexual creatures. Look at some of the outfits that teens wear these days. It's not uncommon to see a teen aged girl with a thong popping up out the back of her too-tight jeans or in a top that is cut too low and too tight. I get that it's the fashion, but it is no wonder that some men can look at these little girls in a sexual manner. Parents need to put their foot down and try to tone down their girl's outfits. I know, that is easier said than done. Also, it seems like girls are getting physically mature at a younger age. There are sixth grade girls in Noah's class (11 or 12 years old) that look like they are 16 or 17. Still, you can't cross that line as an adult male.

2. In this day and age of technonogy where anyone can access your computer with spyware and knowing that there are police stings out there to catch on line predators, how do men get up the balls to try something like that? I'll admit it, I have had some dark thoughts at one time or other in my life, but I could never cross that line to act upon them because 1. I know it's wrong and am not a sicko. and 2. I have a fear of jail and know that it would destroy my life and my family. Not to mention the mental scars that the girl would have. I am getting away from the point. It just seems too easy to get caught. How can you risk something like that? I guess if you are sick enough to try to have sex with a teen, you don't care about the risk that you take. But seriously, don't these guys see the Date Line show catching guys? Don't they see the set up?

Something else that throws me is how much kiddie porn is out on the internet. I saw a show last night that said there is a ton of kiddie porn out there and more is being added daily. Again, how does it get out there with all of the laws and spyware out there? I guess there are proxy servers overseas that throw off investigators and most of it is probably posted in different countries, but there is still a huge risk just by viewing a site with kiddie porn. Besides, how would you even find these sites? I doubt that you could do a Google search. I guess there would have to be chat rooms whee people share links. It's all a bit sick if you ask me.

Now, I hope that you did not read this post a think that I am a perve because I'm not. I'm not researching ways to get around the laws so that I can meet a teen. I just don't understand what these guys are thinking. I know I have probably checked out a girl that is too young, but looking is one thing. Doing something about it is entirely different. Besides, I am perfectly happy with my wife. Honestly, knowing that there are people out there that try to have sex with girls scares the crap out of me. If anyone tried to do anything like that to my little girl, I would end them. I wouldn't care if I went to jail. It would be slow and it would be painful.

Well, I'm sorry that I was a bit heavy with my topic today. It's just something that I thought was worth sharing. It is a scary world out there.

As Promised, Woodrow's Words of Wisdom

I mentioned a whiles ago that Jessica, my wife, was lucky enough to be gifted a booklet full of Woodrow's Words of Wisdom. In case you haven't know Woody as long as I have, he's basically the same guy now that he was back in highschool. We had some study halls together that we used to create some funny stories with Herb called The Bat Notes. OK, maybe they weren't too funny, but they were creative and Moe seemed to like them. It was perverse stories about Batman (written by Woody) Robin (written by Herb) and The Wolverine (me). It's not important how Wolvie got stuck with the Dynamic Duo, it just happened. Anyway, I am getting away from the topic at hand. I mention the Bat Notes because they had the same type of comedy and the WWWs. It's about 15 to 20 pages of witty advice to help Jessica "be as successful as Jay Leno and not as successful as Bob Craig." Anyway, enough talk up, here are some words of wisdom from Woodrow (aka Woody). I won't write them all down because there ae over 50 and I just don't have the time.

WWW#1 Don't Drown
WWW#13 There is no WWW#13 because 13 is an unlucky number.
WWW#32 50 Watts per channel!
WWW#33 It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milk bone underwear
WWW#63 What if... everyone in the world farted at once?
WWW#69 Ha Ha Ha ZEX!!
WWW#72 Life is hazardous to your health
WWW#75 What if someone actually laughed at these jokes?
WWW#83 Kinky sex toy!
WWW#89 At BASF, we don't make alot of the WWW's that you read. We make alot of the WWWs that you read stupider.
WWW#110 This is a test. This is only a test. This is not a quiz. This is a test of the Emergency Comedy Broadcast System. If in the event that this was a real joke, you'd be laughing.
WWW#111 Word or the day: Weinerschnitzel. (don't aks me. It's Rinnert's word.)
WWW#125 WOMAN!!!!!
WWW#137 WAH! (another Rinnert word)
WWW#169 One Hundred and HA HA Ha ZEX!!!
WWW#175 Pain don't hurt.
WWW#194 If you show these WWWs to anyone, I will find you and I will kill you.
WWW#206 Hello, I'm Woody. But in a way, aren't we all?
WWW#227 I was an Etch-A-Sketch artist until I realized women had better knobs.

Well, I think that is a large enough dose of Woody for today. I will post a few more WWWs on a later date. I hope that #194 is not true or else Woody may find me and kill me (my wife too). For more of Woody's brand of Tim foolery, check out his blog. It's quick, it's easy, and it's FREE!

Oh yeah OSU beat Penn State. Good game.

Fun Playing With My Balls

So, my bowling league is started last night. That balls did you think I was playing with? Sick-os. As you may or may not know, I have been bowling almost all my life. I started out pretty well with a 201, followed up with a 191, and ended the night with a 160 (I was getting tired). Since I haven't bowled for almost five months, I am happy with the performance. I think it turned out to be a 180 average, or something like that. It's about normal form me. I'd like to push it up to about a 190 or 195, but after all of these years of bowling, I don't see it happening. I did have a good pick up though: the 3-6-7-10 split. That's three pins on the right side of the lane and one in the back left corner of the lane. Of course, no one was watching.

One thing that is convenient about my bowling league on Thursdays is that the poker game I like to play in on Thursdays is just down the road from the bowling ally. I will be able to get out to play card a little more often now that I will be in the area. I played for a few hours last night and only won $10. I see it as a good night though because I was getting terrible cards all night, but still left with more money than I came with. I made a few calls that I won the hand on the river (when the last community card is turned up) and some of the players (the ones I beat in the hand) were like "How can you call that?" In other words, they felt I should have folded since I didn't have the best hand until the last card came up. Well, it is called gambling, right? Besides, if I am already invested in a hand, I am usually going to see it to the end, unless I know I have no chance. So, I say to the haters, "Screw you! I won some cash!!" I have three goals when I play poker with these guys:

1. Win as much money as possible.
2. Don't lose any money. I usually only buy in with one $20, like last night, where other players buy in with up to $80 or $100. If I leave with as much money as I came with, I am happy.
3. Have fun. I like playing with most of these guys. There are just a few babies some nights that are sore losers. These punks are just lucky that I wasn't getting cards or I would have cashed in. I was on my game last night. I folded when I knew I was beat and bet when I knew I was in the hand. The one bad call I made was when I had two pair and knew that the other guy in the hand had a straight. I called him though, because I was already invested in the hand and thought he may be bluffing. Oh well. Honestly, I like when people get angry at the way I play. It means that I am getting under their skin and they won't play as well against me.

Big Game tomorrow: OSU vs Penn State. Ohio Stateis looking for some payback after losing to PSU last year. It should be a good game. Starts ar 3:30.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No, it's not Christmas time. It's New TV Show Week!!! For months we have been subjected to reruns and bad reality TV. To be honest, we have been watching alot of old shows on DVD that we didn't see the first time around. For example, the 4400, which is suprisingly good. Anyway, that time is over and now is the time that our DVR will be working overtime. No longer will we need to think about which show we should watch when there are two good shows on at the same time. Tonight, for example, CSI and Grey's Anatomy both start at 9:00. We can watch CSI and record Grey's Anatomy for a later date. Well, I'm sure that most of you know of the wonders of DVR and TiVo, so I won't get into it too much. Here's a list of shows that we are excited about:

1. Battle Star Galactica - Season 3 starts 10/06/2006 and if you've ever read my blog, you know that this is my favorite show.

2. Heroes - I have never seen this show, and it could be a big flop, but the commercials look pretty good. It looks like a bunch of regular people wake up one day with super powers. One can fly, one is invincible (a hot cheerleader who saves people in her cheerleader outfit. Nice.) and one can see the future in his paintings. They are marketing this show alot. I hope it's worth the hype. I think it starts this Sunday. It may be a rip off of M. Knight Shamalan's Unbreakable, but it looks good.

3. Desperate Housewives - Yes, it's basically a soap opera, but the stories are engrossing and the housewives are hot. Eva Longoria, enough said.

4. CSI - Not Miami, not NY (which I think was cancelled), I'm talking about the original. This show has been on for a long time and is still very good. They definitely have not jumped the shark yet.

5. Grey's Anatomy - I like this show alot, but I think they are starting to recycle content. If you watch this show, aren't you tired of the whole Merideth-Dr. McDreamy sexual tension? It can only go on for so many seasons, can't it? Plus, it looks like they got rid of Izzy (Catherine Heigel). They killed off her love interest and the last episode of the season shows her telling the chief that she is done. Izzy is an interesting character and HOT HOT HOT!!! Not that that's important. Anyway, the show is interesting and pretty funny.

Other shows that we watch and are new this season are:

1. Vanished, about a US senator's wife gone missing. It's not my fav, but it's OK.
2. Criminal Minds, about an FBI profiling team. Another one that is OK.
3. Justice, about a legal firm that defends murderers. You get a behind the scene look at all of the tricks and stunts that lawyers use to get their clients off. Plus, at the end of the show they show you what really happened (if they did it or not). So far they have gotten off all of their clients who have proven to all be innocent. The ones we are looking forward to are the when they get off a guilty guy or can't get off an innocent one.
4. Deal, or no Deal, ok, it's not new, but it's like video crack to me. It amazes me that people are so ready to risk thousands of dollars in order to win more. Some times it works out for them but mostly it does not. Monday I saw an episode where the guy playing could have won $3mil, but he took the deal after the money got up to $650,000. When they opened his case, it was the $3mil case. Throw in Howie Mandel and HOT HOT models (not that that's important) and you get video crack.
5. Eureka, about a US Marshal that stumbles into a high tech research town and becomes the new sheriff. It is pretty interesting and worth the watch.

Any more shows out there that I should watch?

A good weekend

So, I took Friday off and Jessica took the weekend off, and we took a trip north to Put-In-Bay. For those of you that don't know, Put-In-Bay is the tourist name for South Bass Island in Lake Erie. We drove up to Port Clinton and rode the Jet Express (a fast ferry boat) to the island (about a 25 minuted ride). South Bass Island is one island in a cluster of several islands in the middle of Lake Erie. For you historians, South Bass Island is where Commadore Perry docked his fleet during the war of 1812. His victory over the Brittish fleet is why we (those of us born in Toledo, Ohio) are Americans instead of Canadians. Something else I found interesting is that Lake Erie has the highest (or maybe second highest) number of ship wrecks on a body of fresh water. We took a tour of the island, which included stops at Heineman's Winery, which has some GOOOOD wine and a cool tour of a Crystal Cave, the largest geode in the world. We also say Perry's Cave, which was kinda interesting. There was an underground lake which was crystal clear water from Lake Erie that was naturally filtered by the limestone rock in the cave. Native Americans living on the island showed the lake to Commadore Perry who used the water for his troops since the water out of Lake Erie was unsafe to drink. Just a bit of history for you all. The tour also had a stop at the "War of 18 Holes" which was a mini-golf course (notice the name-spoof: War of 18 Holes, War of 1812. Those island folk are clever.) The historical information from the tour guide was kinda funny. We learned about all of these grand hotels that were built in the 1800's that could hold so many people, and then burned down. At least 8 historical buildings on the island (mostly hotels) where burned to the ground. It was funny because the tour guide would tell us that we were approaching the site of a historical hotel or other building, "However, it was burned to the ground in....." The main street on the Island (Delaware Ave. I think) was kind of like a mix of Cedar Point's shopping area the French Quarter in New Orleans. It was a long line of shops, resturants, and bars. The crown that wandered the streets resembled a mix of the crowds of Cedar Point (families that go for the touring and family activities) and the crowds in the French Quarter (drunks guys that make fools of themselves and drunker girls that want to show everyone their boobies). since Jessica and I were in the previous group of people, we hung out in our room after we went to see all of the things we wanted to see. We had a jaccuzzi tub, candles, and plenty of wine, so we were able to entertain ourselves. All in all, it was a good time. I will post some pictures later. Oh, and if the pictures we took came out OK, I have a game of WOW for you all to play. WWW is a game that I invented called "Which One in the Woman". On the tram we took for the tour, there was a man and a woman sitting next to each other and from behind, it was tough to tell which one was the woman. I hope the pics come out OK.

In football news, OSU beat Cincinnati 37-7 and M*ch*g*n stomped Notre Dame by some rediculous score of, like 976 to 24. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it made me gain a bit of fear for the OSU vs UM game at the end of the season.

Lone Star Ass Kickin'

#1 Ohio State rolled into Austin Texas this weekend to take on the #2 ranked (and defending National Champions) Texas Longhorns. I think is it pretty safe to say that this is probably the most looked forward to game of the college football season. #1 meets #2 in the second week of the season. It is the first time that #1 played #2 in the last ten years in a non conference match (other than in the Title game, of course). After Texas beat OSU last year in the Shoe, OSU fans have been looking forward to this rematch hoping for some payback. Well, we got it. Ohio State defeated Texas 24 to 7. It was great watching the Buckeyes live up to their hype as the #1 rated team in the country. The offense was stellar and the defense was able to shut down the Texas offense when it counted by forcing a fumble and an interception. The Longhorns only touchdown came after a questionable 'roughing the passer' penalty that gave Texas a first down inside the OSU ten yard line. By 'questionable' I mean bullshit. Anyway, I think the playeer of the game had to be Anthony Gonzalez, OSU wide receiver. IT seemed like every time OSU needed a completion to keep the drive alive, 'Gonzo' was the go to guy. Well, I won't go into too many details of the game,but it was awesome to watch and I could not hope for a better outcome. There were also some other interesting games this past Saturday:

Notre Dame stomped Penn State 41 to 17. I really thought that this game would have been closer than it was. Man, what a shocker.

Iowa had to go to OT to barely beat Syracuse. Another suprise since Iowa is expecting a good year. In their defense, they were missing their starting QB due to injury.

The other Big Ten teams that OSU will face this year did about as I expected. I must say that I really like how this OSU team is not looking beyond any opponent. The first week, all they talked about was NIU. The second week, they would only talk about Texas. When asked about the upcoming Big Ten season, the responses were all geared toward this coming week's game against Cincinnati. Concidering the problems that the Bearcats have given OSU, I am glad they the Buckeyes aren't over looking UC.

The Resistance

Scifi.com is webcasting a little mini series called The Resistance. It is updated every Tuesday and Thursday and is based on Battlesta Galactica, the best show on television. The webcasts are little two minute bits telling the story of the humans on New Caprica, now occupied by the Cylons. I watched the second clip today, but I missed the first one that aired Tuesday. Since I couldn't figure out how to watch the first episode today, my guess is that you can only watch the webcast on the day that it premires. I'm hoping that changes since I'd like to see all of the episodes. Apparently, it is about how some of the humans start to fight back against the Cylons and their occupation of New Caprica. Anyway, after the episode, there were some clips of the new BSG season that starts in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!! (Oct 6th, if you didn't know) I was hoping that the second half of season two would be released on DVD before the new season starts, but it doesn't look like that will happen. However, thanks to the incredible invention called DVR, I can record the back episodes of BSG (airing on Scifi at, like, 2:00 am on Saturday) so that I can refresh my memory of how season 2 ended. It's not as good as a DVD, since there are commercials, but at least I can fast forward through them. I'll probably DVR all of the new season so that I can go back and watch the episodes over and over and over. You may think that a bit extreme, but I think that I've watched the first season seven or eight times. Yes, the show is that good. Buy the DVDs, get caught up, get hooked.

1 and 0 and Ready To Go!

Ohio State won their opener against Northern Illinois yesterday 35 to 12. I won't bore you with all of the details, since you can click on the link and check out ESPN.com. I will touch on a few things though:

Good:

Troy Smith looked GREAT as he passed for over 72%, almost 300 yards, and for 3 TDs.
Ted Ginn Jr. like he could get open at will. He had 4 catches for 123 yards and 2 TD
Antonio Pittman ran for over 100 yards.

Bad:

The offense lost the ball twice inside the red zone, costing two scoring opportunites
The kicking team missed two field goal attempts that, in the past, would have been a sure thing

All in all, I was happy with the offense and the defense. The defense gave up a few big plays, but was able to rally and hold NIU to 12 points. Next Saturday is the Big One doen in Austin Texas. It should be another good game and hopfully the Buckeyes will be able to come out on top this year. If the defense can improove a little bit and the offense can hold on to the ball, I think they have a good chance of winning.

Poker Dreams

I've been doing pretty well with my poker playing lately. In six of the last four games that I have played in, I have won money. I have come in second in two tournaments and I have won money in four cash games. I guess the point I am trying to make, is that I am becoming pretty confident in my poker playing. Lately I have been thinking about trying to take my game up to the next level. I'm sure that many of you have seen World Series of Poker tournaments on ESPN or the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel, but what you may not know is that there are regional tournaments throughout the country. In fact, there are WSOP tournaments as close to me as Ceasars Casino in Indiana. My worry is that I am either just getting lucky lately, or the people I play cards with just aren't too good. Maybe it's just a combination of the two. No disrespect if you've ever played with me, of course. Honestly, I think I have just been lucky lately. Still, I would like to have the chance to play in a big tourney to see how I fare. In all likelyhood, I will be one of many who think they are good at poker, but they get their asses handed to them by the real pros. I am amazed at times by some of the play I see from the pros in the WSOP games I see on ESPN. One of my favorite pros, Daniel Nagranu (probably spelled wrong, sorry) was on the other night and he was nailing every call. It's like he could see everyone elses cards. It's a little scary. I guess I can always give it a go and see what happens. I have plenty of time to think about it. The next game in Indiana that I would probably be able to make would be in 2007.

Something Funny (I think)

While going through the Sunday paper coupons, Jessica found something that I thought was kinda funny: A coupon for Vagasil. Now, I don't think it's funny that there was a yeast infection treatment coupon in the paper. I know it is a reality for some women and it's good that there is a product out there to take care of the situation. What I found funny is that there was a September 29th expiration date on the coupon. I guess if a woman is prone to getting yeast infestions on a regular basis, she may buy a supply to have on hand just in case, but the first thing that I tought of was a coupon crazed woman seeing that coupon and thinking, "Boy, I hope I get a yeast infection before this coupon expires." Maybe it's not as funny as I think it is, but I had a good chuckle. To be honest, I really don't see the need for these types of products to advertise. If you need vagasil, you know about it. It's like those commercials for medications perscribed by doctors. If you have herpes, you've gone to your doctor (hopfully) and he gave you (hopfully) the correct medication. If you have high blood pressure, your doctor should know about the different treatments. Sorry, I don't mean to get off track. I just don't see why some medications need commercials.

It's about that time again.

It's time for most of my female readers to look at the title of my post, see that it is OSU football related, and them move on to a different web site. Well, sorry ladies, but the Buckeyes kick off the 2006 season in six days against Northern Ilinois University. At first, I wasn't too concerned about this game. But then, I saw some clips of the NIU running back out running entire defensive squads, including a 70 or 80 yard run against M*ch*g*n. I mean, this guy was FAST. With Ohio State's line backer corps depleated by the NFL, a fast running back could really cause some issues this coming Saturday. Something else that causes me some concern is that ESPN 'experts' have picked Ohio State to win the National Title. Add that to the pre-season #1 ranking and you might as well draw a big bullseye on the Buckeye football team this year. I liked it better when we started out low in the national rankings and OSU fans had to listen to all of the commentators talk about how badly Miami was going to kick Ohio State's ass in the title game. Well, I will remain optimistic, but will try not to get my hopes up too high. The game in Austin Texas in two weeks will probably be the best gauge as to whether or not the Buckeyes can reclaim the National Title this year.

Galactica vs. a Star Destroyer

I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask the question: If Adama and the Galactica crew were to stumble into the Star Wars 'verse and run into an Emperial Star Destroyer, who would win? As you know, I have been collecting both Star Wars and Battle Star Galactica miniatures. Yesterday I found a Viper Mark VII to complete my BSG collection (there were only three ships: The Galactica, the Viper Merk VII, and a Cylon Riader) and this morning I put the ships on my desk. I have an A-Wing and a Star Destoryer up there too. Seeing the Star Destoryer and the Galactica next to each other, the previously mentioned question popped into my head. I have to admit, I am a bit stumped by the question. Here are my thoughts:

1. A Star Destroyer has energy weapons. Galactica has projectile based weapons. Advantage Star Destroyer

2. A Star Destroyer has energy shields that can be taken out if you hit the shield generator. Galactica has an outer hull that can withstand a nuclear blast. Advantage Galactica

3. The Star Destroyer has squadrons of TIE Fighters. Galactica has squadrons of Vipers. In my opinion, the Vipers are much more manuverable and the pilots are better (TIE fighter pilots always seem to fly right into an X-Wing's line of fire). Also, the Viper can perform a 180 turn in a split second. Advantage Galactica.

4. If this battle were to take place in the Star Wars 'verse, the Star Destroyer would have all sorts of back up, considering there are hundreds of Star Destroyers. So, if the Star Destroyer would get into trouble, they could call for help and several more Destroyers, or the Executor, Vader's Super Star Destroyer, could come in and mop up the Galactica. Not to mention the Death Star. However, if this battle were to take place on neutral ground, I like Galactica's chances. They have been up against the odds many times. In a neutral setting, advantage Galactica.

5. The commanders of Star Destroyers always seemsed to be cocky and stupid. Whenever they'd fail (which was often) they would go apologise to Vader thinking that he would forgive them and respect the fact that they took responsibility for thier screw ups. Come on! Vader force-choaked more Star Destroyer commanders than I can count. Adama, on the other hand, is smart and daring. He took two to the chest and was too stubborn to know that he should have died. Advantage Galactica.

Having never seen a Star Destoryer and the Galactica next to each other, I can't really judge the size differences. I tend to think that the Star Destroyer is bigger (the Emperor seems like the kind of guy that would buy big, fancy rides to compensate for some short comings) but I think that the Galactica is built sturdier and could be functional after taking more punishment. So, my verdict is this: If the Battlestar Galactica went one on one against an Emperial Star Destroyer, I think that the Galactica would come out on top after a long drawn out battle. Yes, the Galactica would be severly damaged, but Adama would pull out all of the stops in order to insure a victory, where as an Empirial commander would pee himself and worry too much about getting force choaked by Vader. The winner: Galactica