BSG WDF x 3

For those of you not down with the lingo: BSG = Battlestar Galactica and WTF = What The Frack? I watched the season finale of BSG this past Sunday. I think that it left a bad taste in my mouth. If you haven't seen it yet, I am going to spoil it for you. That's just how I roll.

As I have mentioned previously, I have been less than impressed with Battlestar Galactica recently. It is still my favorite show right now, but I have stopped watching the episodes twice. I have them all saved on my DVR and could rewatch them on a later date, but none of the episodes have left me with a "I gotta see that again" feeling. It is disappointing because season three started out with a bang. However, it has left me with an 'In with a lion out with a lamb' feel. The episodes leading up to the season finale have been like filler just to get a full season.

Ok, so, this episode, we find out what happens to Baltar. Does he get air locked or set free? Honestly, if would be better for him if he had been tossed out the air lock. If someone that hates him gets a hold of him, he's fracked. I still don't get why Apollo insisted on defending Baltar. Does he just want to piss off his dad? Well, it worked. Well, I'm not going to break down the episode scene by scene, I will just touch on my WTF issues:

WTF 1. Four of the final five revealed? I don't think I buy it. Can Tigh, Samuels, the Chief, and the president's aide ALL be Cylons? Really?? Does that mean the Starbuck is the fifth? She appears out of nowhere in her Viper that was blown up a few episodes ago. Honestly, I do not think that they are all cylons. Why would the Cylons take out Tigh's eye if he were a Cylon? I guess the Cylons don't know who the final five are, but could so many of the Galactica's vital people REALLY be Cylons? It would certainly throw the entire BSG world into a tizzy.

WTF 2. Jimmy? They REALLY hear Jimmy? That is how they know that they are Cylons? First of all, I believe that Cylons could listen to Jimmy, but they could not HEAR, Jimmy. I thought that it was a bit cheesey that 'All Along the Watchtower' was the music that these four were hearing. Come on! I am thinking that maybe they are picking up a radio broadcast from Earth. Would it be playing only one song though? I gotta say, that the whole 'hearing music' thing was weird for me. I did notice that the four hearing the music were four people that were all on New Caprica in the resistance.

WTF 3. New episodes in 2008?!?! We have to wait a minimum of nine full months for new episodes of BSG? That is the biggest WTF. It is kind of arrongant of the writers to think that the public will wait patiently for new episodes. I am not happy about this. Last year, it was 'no episodes until October'. What do they need to do that is going to take nine months? Are they actually going to go into space to film the show for a more realistic feel? Maybe the idea well is dry and they need time to develop the story. I don't know. Hopfully, I will forget about the show so that the wait isn't too bad.

People Need to Remember HD TV is Out There.

I have mentioned before that I have a HD plasma TV now. It is pretty cool for gaming, DVDs and general television watching. One draw back is that some networks don't broadcast in HD, so the picture can look a little pixilated. Thankfully, the networks all have HD channels now and ESPN is in HD. In most cases HD is great. Crystal clear pictures can be a good thing for sporting events (you can see better than the referees sometimes) and other shows, but there are a few cases where HD may not be the best choice. For example, Desparate Housewives. Yes, I know I am girly for watching the show. I've accepted it, so should you. Anyway, on normal TV, Terry Hatcher is HOT. In HD, not so much. She is definately an attractive woman, but she has some unfortunate lines and wrinkles on her face that HD brings right into focus. I don't mean to pick on Terry, but there was a list I heard on the radio about actors that should not be in HD and she was #1 on the list. Example 2, BSG, aka BEST SHOW EVER! HD really makes the effects pop and is great for the show in general, but Edward James Almos is NOT an attractive man. In analog TV he is not attractive, but in HD, he is NOT attractive. Still, a great actor and a great show, don't get me wrong. The final example is beauty pagents. Before you get on my case about watching beauty pagents, it is NOT an normal thing for me. I generally do NOT watch them. I think they are silly. Sure, there are pretty girls walking around in next to nothing, but there are many other things that can occupy my TV time. Friday was an exception since there was nothing on that Jessica and I agreed on and she sometimes likes pagents. Mostly she makes fun of the super skinny girls. Anyway, it was the Miss USA Pagent. The girls were all pretty and HD really showed off their physique, but some of them had unfortunate marks here and there that jumped right out in HD. One had three very big, very black moles on her tummy, one had weird face lines when she smiled, and, probably the biggest thing to consider when wearing a bikini in HD is that viewers could definately tell which of the girls were, um, I guess 'well groomed down there' would be the best way to describe it. You would expect T.H.O.s perhaps, but you would think that they would attend to too-tight bottoms to avoid unfortunate climbing of the bottoms into unfortunate places. It was funny too, because one to the pagent directors told the girls that, "if they get a wedgie, don't pick it out." Well, camel toe is a bit more extreme that wedgies, I would think. Another thing is that these girls tended to get higher points than the others. Anyway, I would think that something like that would need to be pixilated in the future. Sure the girl parts are covered, but there was not too much left to the imagination. Another funny thing is that, at first, when they announced the finalists, they would show them at an angle that made the tightness of their bikini bottoms VERY apparent. After a few girls were shown in this manner, the director must have noticed the extreme details because the camera was raised to an above-the crotch angle. I doubt that this has ever been an issue in the past, but due to the current female grooming tendancies and the popularity of HD TV, some changes may be made. Honestly, I could care less, but I'm sure that there are some up-tight right wing religious fenatics that will have issue.

WSOP Tourney

As you may all know I am participating in a World Series of Poker satellite tournament on Monday March 26th. Well, things could have gone alot better. I lasted a couple of hours, but that's about it. I started out really well and was up about $1000 in chips, but then I tried to chase a straight and lost about $1200. Not soon after, I was dealt pocket 8's, so I bet $400. Some one called me and when the flop came, there was a king and a Jack. The other player quickly bet a large amount, which made me fold. He turned over his king and jack. I was glad to get out of the hand, but now I was at about $800 in chips. and the blilnds were $100/$200. After folding several hands, I was dealt pocket 10's and went all in. I was called by someone with pocket kings. OUCH!! It prooved to be the clincher. Three nines came up to tease me (SO close to tens) and we both ended up with full houses. Mine was just a little lower than his. My friend Jesse was in the tourney too and would up in 75th place. Not bad, but they started paying out to people that finished 73rd or better. He was a little pissed.

All in all, it was a fun experience. I really learned alot. I think that this will help my overall poker playing. I may make an annual event of this. I can't afford to play in these events too much though. Once a year is plenty. I'll stick to the low dollar games I can get into around here.

The Elite Eight to the Final Four

After OSU's win over Tennesee Thursday night, OSU made it to the Elite Eight. Other teams in the tourney still are Florida playing against Oregon, Kansas against UCLA, North Carolina against Georgetown, and (of course) OSU against Memphis. FINALLY, Ohio State played a game to prove that they are worthy of their number one ranking. The defense was great, the offense was great, and their over all performance was great. The Buckeyes put up over 90 points against a Memphis team that allowed an average of just over 60 points in the rest of the tourney. It was a close game at frst. Ohio state controled he lead most of the game, but Memphis kept it close and eventually took the lead for a while. However, with under ten minutes left, Ohio State took control of the lead and never gave it back and won the game 92-76. The Buckeyes will play either Georgetown or North Carolina next Saturday. I won't recap the whole game for you. You can read about it on ESPN.com if you really want to. Bottom line is the Buckeyes are going to the Final Four! Go Bucks!

So, I think I have finally caught up With Lost

As you may know, I have been getting caught up on the show Lost. I didn't watch it at first because it looked too far fetched. Plus, it was in a bad time slot. I finally caved in a got the first disk of season one through NetFlix. After that, I was hooked. I went out and bought the first two seasons on DVD. Jessica decided that she liked it too. Since I have posted about this all before, I will fast forward to my point. Since I bought my Ipod, I have also gained access to ITunes. I guess you can access ITunes without an IPod, but you need to have access to Itunes in order to put music and other things to your Ipod from your computer. Basically, ITunes is a media player (you can play music, movies, pod casts, and TV shows using ITunes) but it also gives you a link to a media store. Once you sign up, you can buy and download all of the things previous mentioned to you IPod. I bought and downloaded Lost season three. OH-MY-GOODNESS!!!!! How good is that show getting?!?!? The one bad thing about the download from Itunes is that I either had to watch it on the IPod (a 3 or 4 inch screen) or on my computer and the computer screen kinda stretches out and makes the picture a bit jerky. Still, it doesn't take away from how good the episodes are. At first I thought that the show would make me angry because of all of the secrets and teasing, but I think that watching all of the shows in a short time took away that possible irritant. I learned secrets faster and if there was a cliff hanger ending for one show, I would just watch the next show right away. This will all change now since I need to start watching weekly, like normal people do. Still, Lost is on during a different show that we watch (Criminal Minds) but thanks to the lovely invention of DVR, I can record it and watch it on a different day while fast forwarding through the commercials. Isn't technology great? There was one 'episode' that was kinda interesting and kinda irritating. It was a show to catch up people with the show. Basically, a flash back show where they introduce the characters and update you on the basic plot. Usually, I hate these shows, but this on had a few neat insights. They talked about the 'Easter Eggs' or little secrets within the show. Like, when one character is linked to another character, but they don't know it, or throwing the numbers into an unexpected scene. One that was kinda neat was when Hugo was in the hatch drinking milk from a carton and Walt was on the carton as a 'missing person'. I thought it was crazy weird at first since Walt was missing, but then I remembered it was a dream of Hugo's. Oh well, the point of it all is that I am now caught up and can joint in all of the Lost conversations around the water cooler. Fun stuff. Jack and Claire? Who knew?

Comeback of The Season

To all of you Ohio State haters out there, I hope that last night's OSU vs. Tennesee basketball game gave you just a little bit of respect for the Buckeyes. Some of the fouls that were called against OSU to put star center, Greg Oden, on the bench in the first half were BUUUUUUUULLLLLLLSSSSSSHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!! If the fix wasn't in last night to give Tennesee the W, I'd be suprised. Good thing the Volunteers began to suck ass in the second half because they were on fire in the first half. They had a twenty point lead over the Bucks until .1 seconds on the clock in the first half when OSU converted an old fashion three point play (lay up, foul, and making the free throw.) Down 17 at the half, coach Thad Matta must have lit a bon fire under the teams collective asses. The Buckeyes stepped it up on defense and offense and began cutting into the 17 point Vols' lead. Then, the improbable happened when OSU went up after a 60% free throw shooter hit both. To make a long story short, OSU cut the 17 poine deficit and won the game by 1 point. WOW! I was so hyped last night that it was hard to go to sleep. We are now on the was to the Elite Eight to play Memphis for a chance to go to the Final Four.

Thieves Beware

I went ahead and ordered a security system yesterday. It is somthing that Jessica and I had talked about before. True, we move to a beter neighborhood a while ago, but it seems to me that robbers are more likely to rob people in better neighborhoods due to the probability of better things to steal. Also, we used to sleep on the first floor, so I was more likely to hear something in the middle of the night, but now we are on the second floor. There are also times that I am out late and a security system gives me the peace of mind knowing that Jessica and the kids have an extral layer of protection while I'm out. There are also times that I hear noises (probably just car doors opening outside) in the middle of the night and I get paranoid. I have an active imagination at times.

The good thing about getting a security system is that I already have one, but it's never been activated. Apparently, MI homes puts in Brinks security systems in all of their new builds. We have an MI home. The previous owners just never had the service activated. The reason it is good for me is that we get the premium system without paying the installation. Plus, since we are a new activation, we get some free stuff too. I could have gotten motion sensors, but it seems to me that dogs (and people waking up in the morning) would set off the system. So, I got a glass breaking sensor for the back windows. Basically, it picks up the sound of glass breaking in a fifteen foot area. If I had not gotten that, the alarm only goes off when a window or door opens. I need to ask them ifthe alarm is set to go off if the upstairs windows are opened. The control panel is nice because we have three buttons that individually call the police, ambulance, or fire department. Like panic buttons, I guess. Also, the smoke detectors call the fire department when they go off. That could be a problem if we burn dinner. When the weather is nice, we like to have the windows open while we sleep. Well, I really hope that the system is a complete waste of money.

360 Weirdness

Is Weirdness a word? Well, I'm making it a word. As you may know, I like playing my Xbox 360 online. Well, a strange thing happened Saturday when I tried to login to Live and could not. It was telling me that my network could not be found. When I checked the settings, my network was on the list of networks it detected, but Live would not use it. I asked my brother-in-law, Toby, over to see if he could figure it out. After several hours of tinkering, he determined that someone else in my area bought a wireless router liked mine and the Xbox was having issues separating them. Toby tried to rename my server, but it did not work. We gave it up for a night, and I tried calling Xbox support Sunday. 40 minutes on the line later (after trying all of the things that Toby and I had already tried) I called Toby again and he came over a took my Xbox to his house to see if his network would work. No such luck. Since I had bought the replacement plan, I decided to get a new Xbox. Sure, I could have gotten a ethernet cable and hard wired to my router, but I didn't buy a wireless router and wireless connection for my Xbox to end up hard wiring my Xbox. Now, I have had issues with Best Buy in the past, but this time they were awesome. I told the service guy that I was no longer connecting wirelessly and he gave me a new Xbox. I had to take everything back (controller, cords, headset, etc.) but forgot the power box (a separate box that the power cord plugs into and then you plug the power source to the Xbox. probably a surge protector type thing). The service guy said that it was OK and traded out the new power box saying that they are all the same. Well, he was wrong. The new one had two prongs and the old one had three. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a three prong plug into a two prong slot. So, I took the power box back and got the correct one. Toby then did some tweeking on my network and I am up and popping on Live again, which is good becauseI went out and bought Crack Down. The game in itself is not why I bought it. I bought Crack Down because it gives me access to a Halo 3 online Beta test. (Online, which is why I needed to get Live working again.) I just need to download the demo and then I can play it though the Crack Down game menu. I can't wait to see all of the new toys that the Master Chief gets to play with.

300 was pretty good

Jessica and I went to see 300 this past Friday. I had high expecations for the film based on the good marketing job that movie folk did for the movie. The commercials showed several of the cool scenes, but not all of them. I had mentioned before that the basic story is 300 Spartans holding off thousands of Persian warriors. It was pretty neat. Basically, all of the Startans are bad ass soldiers that are trained in war as soon as they can walk. I won't go into the film too much, because I don't want to ruin anything and there really isn't too much to get into. It is like Braveheart in ways because of the epic battle scenes, but to be honest, there wasn't as much plot. There is enough for you to get behind the Spartans and hate the Persians. I was listening to a radio show this morning and their movie critic gave 300 a D (-on a A-F scale). I think that he was a bit harsh. True, no one will win best actor, but there are some cool effects and great battle scenes in this film. If you liked Sin City (a movie also based on a Frank Miller graphic novel) you will probably like 300. If you put any weight into critic's words, wait for the DVD or go to a dollar theatre. I will probably buy this movie when it comes out. there was enough cool stuff in it for me to get past it's short comings. Jessica said she liked it too. It is a very macho movie though. It made me want to go out and kill Persians. Not really, but it gets your adrenaline pumping a bit. I probably owe Jessica a chick flick now.

Wow. What a game.

A little history:

OSU's coach, Thad Matta (yes, that's his real name) used to coach Xavier. He took Xavier deep into the NCAA tourney back in 2002. He was recruited by OSU, but told Xavier fans that he was not leaving. Well, he did and the Xavier fans felt betrayed and don't like coach Matta too much anymore.

Today, Ohio State's men's basketball team faced off against Xavier for the opportunity to go to the Sweet Sixteen. Things were looking a little shakey in the first half. The favored Buckeyes weren't taking control of the game like I had hoped. It was OK though, because OSU has been know to keep games close against opponents they are 'supposed to beat' and then pulling it out at the end for the win. However, as the second half progressed, it was looking grim. Xaxier opened a lead and was keeping it. With only a few minutes left, Xavier was up by nine. There was plenty of time, but Ohio State needed to get going, and quickly. The game picked up and OSU drained a three and then scored two more quickly after a steal. With the clock winding down and the margin only two, Ohio State stole the ball again, but missed two shot attempts. Xavier got the rebound and OSU quickly fouled them with only 9 seconds left in the game. Going to the line with two foul shots, the Xavier player made the first one, but missed the second giving OSU one last shot to tie the game. Ron Lewis did just that making a three pointer with two seconds left on the clock. The game went into overtime where OSU scored the first seven points and never looked back. Wow. I was literally onmy feet for the last ten minutes of the game. It was the most exciting win I have seen in a long time. I'm sure that it had to be bitter sweet for Coach Matta since he recruited several of the Xavier players and was good friends with the current Xavier coach. Still OSU is going to the Sweet Sixteen to face either Tennesee or Virginia. GO BUCKS!!

The Public (ok, just Amy) Has Spoken

Thanks to Amy for giving me some feedback regarding my blog. Honestly, I was not fishing for comments, although they are nice, I was just out of ideas. I don't want to bore you all by posting the same thing over and over. As expected, Amy said that she skips over my sports postings. They should really decrease after the NCAA tourney is over. After that, I could care less about sports. (I hate baseball. Do they really need to play 5000 game per season?) One quick sports note, OSU won their basketball game last night and advance in the tournament. Yippie!

Amy's comment and the local radio station's website gave me an idea fot my next posting:

The internet. Is it just me, or does the internet scare the bejezzes out of you? Actually, that question is aimed more towards parents. On one hand, the net is wonderful and amazing. Want a gift for someone, but don't have time to run to the store? Buy a gift card that you can print out or a gift that can be delivered to your home. Want to test a new album before buying it? Listen to it on ITunes or Napster. Want to research something for school or something like a trip? Any information that you may want is at your finger tips. Basically, it can be a very cool thing.

Why does it scare the bejezzes out of me? Because I have kids. Why, you ask? The first thing that comes to mind is the Dateline stings on TV 'To Catch a Predator." If you've missed it, the cops set up stings to catch pervs trying to have sex with a teen girl. SinceI have a little girl, I fear the time when she is wanting to be in a chat room. There are SO many pervs out there and the internet makes it SO easy to gain access to children.

The second reason is something that I touched on just a little bit ago. The most viewed picture that I have on my Flickr page is one of Gabriel. I see that it have been looked at 34 times and wonder why. I don't even know 34 people that would want to see my pictures. Mona touched on it in a comment on the post when se said that a picture of her pregnant friend was linked to a sex-type web page. I think pregnant women are cute, but to take a picture off of someone else's baby belly and liking it to an adult oriented site is a little sick. You can also find innocent pictures of little girls in swim suits at the beach that some perves like to adult type sites. Now, I like girls in swim wear, but there has to be a line that you just can't cross. The thought of someone looking at my little girl like that make me a little sick and a lot angry.

Finally, the final reason that the internet scares me is that there is really nothing to prevent children from viewing sites that they shouldn't. The first thing to pop into my mind is nudity sites. The local radio station has a web-cam so you can view the shenanigans in the studio. You are supposed to be 18. Yes, there is a prompt that asks how old you are (so I've heard) but it doesn't take a genius to fake your date of birth. I guess it is not the worst thing in the world for a teen kid to see nekked pictures, I know I saw[pictures of nude girls as a young teen, but there is some pretty gross and intense images out there (like gross and gory things along with gross sex stuff). If you haven't noticed, there is alot of trash on the internet and kids are all about checking out trash. Another child-unfriendly site is the Heineman's Winery site. I know that I have posted thatit is good stuff, and it is, but there is nothing to check the age of the buyer. All you need is a credit card to have cases of wine mailed to your house. I had a credit card my freshman year of college (I was 18 or 19). You know there are kids out there that have no problem lifting their parent's credit card to order online. I don't know how you would be able to prevent under aged kids from buying wine online, other than stopping all online sales.

What do I do? I just don't let Noah use the internet without supervision. I could add parental blocks, but there are ways around them and they are irritating when you don't need them. I know that may make me look like a hard ass, but there are some trust issues in our house. The home computer is in my office and I don't like kids in my office unsupervised. I don't want to air the family's dirty laundry, so I won't get into why. I may buy another computer for the kids to use and add parental controls for the internet. Not sure though.

What to Post, What to Post

I don't know how Woody does it. It always seem that he has something new on his blog every day (I can't see the posts today Wood, so I don't know if you are having issues again. Maybe I am just barred from it, like so many other things in this world.). Sure, sometimes I am not really interested about some of the things he posts (like the Bengals and some of the TV shows he watches that I don't watch. No offense, Woody) but he always seems to have new and original content. Honestly, that impresses me. I try to post daily and I always try to post original items, but sometime (like today if you can't tell from this weak topic) I just can't think about anything to write about. I could tell you how I lost some money playing cards last night (shitty cards ALL night) but I thin I've milked the poker topic plenty. I know that half of my readers stop reading as soon as they see the words Buckeyes, OSU, Go Bucks, or any other sport related words, so posting about the NCAA tourney starting tonight for the Buckeyes would be pointless and irritating for some. I could post about my hobbies, but I don't really have many (other than the afore mentioned poker. I guess I could post about poo-ing. I got TONS of comments when poo came up in the comment section of a post a while back. Mona wanted to use it as a survey topic, so I left it alone. Maybe I'll take it back! What do you all think?
What is interesting? What is dull? What makes you read on and what makes you move on to the next blog?

One thing that I am excited about is this new movie called 300. It looks AWESOME!! This is definately NOT a chick flick. It looks like lots of violence will full this flick. It is based off of a Frank Miller graphic novel. If you saw the movie Sin City, that was also a Frank Miller deal. I thought that Sin City was a really neat. Maybe not the best acting or story line, but the imagry was great. I can sit through two hours of a crappy movie if the special effects and imagry are good. Not that Sin City was crappy, I liked it, it's just not an Oscar-type movie. Still, the sroty behing 300 (if you missed the thousands of commercials all over the place) is that there are 300 Spartans (bad-ass Roman-types. If you remember your Greek/Roman history, the Spatrans were the muscle of the area and were slaughtered by all of the other armies in the area because they were getting too strong and scary) fighting againts everyone else. I'm sure there is much more to the story than just the violence and war. Two bad-ass lines from the movie:

1. "This is where we fight. This is where they die."
2. "Our arrows will bot out the sun." "Then we shall fight in the shade."

I hope we can go see it tomorrow night.

IPods are Neat

So, this weekend Jessica decided that she wanted an Ipod. Honestly, I had been looking at them for a while, I just didn't know which one to get. Anyway, Jessica said that she wanted one to listen to while she is excercising or doing house work and ended up getting a 2 gig IPod Nano. It is the generic white color since I told her it was dumb to pay $50 extra for a pink or blue IPod (she wanted pink). I was nice and let her use my gift cards that I won a while back. I figured I'd be nice since I didn't know what I wanted to get with the gift cards and I figured it best to spend 'free' money rather than dipping into our checking accounts. Of course, this was when I thought that I would have some access to the Ipod. I was wrong. It's OK though. I don't like half of the songs that Jessica put on her Ipod. Alot of classic rock that is alright, but not really my cup of tea. I must say, the Ipod is making me feel old already. I have always been pretty good at figuring out technology, but the Ipod is a completely different monster. I tried to add songs to it and was immediately frustrated. I tried to use Media Player, but apparently, you can only down load songs from ITunes. It's OK though, because it is free and you can transfer songs already saved on Media player over to the ITunes format. It was irritating because, they only gave you a little hand out about loading music. No real step by step directions. I guess they figured that people are smart enough to figure out how to add song. Apparently, people like me weren't in the test group. Still, I think that I am bitten by the Ipod bug. I think I may get one this week. The reason why I didn't get one when Jessica did is because, 1. I thought I would be able to use Jessica's and 2. I didn't want to spend all of our money with bills on the way. All that has changed though since we received out tax return. Now, there is plenty of extra cash to blow on shiney new trinkets. I am thinking about getting a 30 gig IPod so that I can put all of my music on it and put my CDs in storage. I may just go with the 4 gig IPod. It depends on the price and features. Do any of you have an IPod? What do you like/not like?

Hoops Dreams

March Madness, I believe they call it. I am not a huge basketball fan, but I really like when the tournaments start. I always pull for the Buckeyes, but I also love to root for the underdogs. There is nothing more exciting in play off sports than a 'Cinderella Team' taking a top ranked team down on a buzzer beater. You can almost feel the emotion of the game pour out of the television as the under dog's fans flood the basket ball court in celebration. Could I tell you the name of a team that pulled off a 'Cinderella' like win last year? No. I could care less who the team is. I just like the emotion of the moment. The best time is the first week of the tourney when there are a bunch of games going at the same time, but they are staggered a few minutes so that you can see the last few minutes of each game. there is all sorts of potention for tight finishes with the under dog coming out on top. Just DON'T let it happen against my Buckeyes.

With a lofty #1 ranking, the Buckeyes are being projected as a #1 seed. Not too sure why they call them 'seeds'. I guess they need to call them something. The Buckeyes haven't done too well in the Big Dance in the last few years. I guess they emposed a ban on themselves for O'brien's misconduct (he gave some players $$), but they seem to have trouble getting beyond the first few rounds. They did make it to the Final Four several years ago when they had Michael Red and Scoonie Penn, but haven't done much since then. Hopfully they can live up to the hype and move deep into the tourney. A National Title would be nice.

Most Viewed Picture

I really don't now why this picture of Gabriel with a 'boo' (what he called his pacifier) in his mouth has been viewed so many times (34). I guess it is an OK picture of Gabe, but he looks tired or pissed (or both). Maybe people just want to see the bar graph in the back ground. There are many cuter and funnier pictures on my Flickr page, at least in my opinion. For example, Gabe's 'monster teeth'. That always make me chuckle a bit. It has been viewed 15 times, but I think it is a much more entertaining photo. The only comment I have on any of my photos is on a Storm Trooper pic and it's from someone that I don't even know. I guess it is neat that people I don't know find my pictures interesting, but I wonder how this photo was found. I guess if you are looking for Storm Trooper pics, you could find it, but I didn't 'tag' it or anything. Personally, I would think that people would view pictures of Alydia more. She is just too cute for words. I must say, I am a little concerned that this picture of Gabe has been viewed so many times. I don't think I know 34 people that know of my Flickr page. I guess people could be viewing it multiple times, but I guess I am a little worried about perverts looking at my kids. I won't put any inappropriate pictures on the site, but there could be some creep that likes little boys with pacifiers checking out this picture. I am not concerned that anything would ever happen. I don't think there is any way for people to track us down. I just think it is weird that this picture of Gabriel is the most viewed picture that I have. Do you hane any favorites?

I remember why I stopped watching 24

When 24 came out a few years ago, I started watching it. It was an interesting concept, having one day in the life of a government agent (Jack Bauer) trying to stop an assasination attempt on the president. Terrorists kidnap Jack's wife and daughter and make him jump through hoops to save them. It was pretty neat. His daughter, Kim, is played by Elisha Cuthbert. She used to be on my list, but that has changed, as you can see. Still, she is very attractive and played a hot role in the movie The Girl Next Door, a very funny movie about a guy that falls for a porn star that moves in to the house next to him. Anyway, I liked season one of 24. Then season two came around. Same basic concept, only this time Jack has to stop terrorists from blowing up LA with a nuke. Again, a pretty good show. HOWEVER, one thing soured the experience. The afore mentioned Kim. I enjoy some eye candy in TV shows. Kate, in Lost. Sharon in BSG. All of the girls in Charmed (except Shannon Doherty). You get the idea. It all started pretty well in season 2 of 24. Kim running around trying to protect a little girl from her abusive father. Mmmmmm......running. But then it turned into something that seemed like the writers were trying to think up new ways to put Kim in trouble. She has to be the stupidest character on television. Here are some thoughts that I think must have gone through her head throughout the show:

"Someone kidnapped me, but then he helped me escape. I think I will call him for help and then get arrested when he is involved in a drug deal."

"I'm getting arrested for kidnapping a girl, stealing a car, and murdering her mother. Sure the father killed the mother and is an ass, but I will run anyways."

"Hmm...I was in a car wreck. My boyfriend is hurt and a cop is also hurt. I think I will run into the big forest when the sun is going down."

"Uh Oh! My leg is caught in a simple snare trap designed to befuddle bunnies and a mountain lion is after me!! Sure there are sticks and rocks I could throw at it, but I think I'll just sit here and wait to be eaten."

"Hmmm.... This guy that found me in the forest is living alone, has guns, built a bomb shelter, and seems a little crazy (and a lot horney too). I think I will take a shower, put in this revealing tank top, let my nipples get all hard, and hang out with him for a while."

I could go on forever. I just couldn't take how many improbable situations Kim got herself into and got herself out of. How can a character be stupid enough to get in trouble 35 times in 24 hours but then be smart (or lucky) enough to get out of the situations. The only redeeming values the character Kim Bauer had in season 2 of 24 were the running in tight tops and the afore mentioned hard nipples (I know, I am a perve. Get over it.) It did not add anything to the story. The only reason I am watching again (I got the DVDs on NetFlix) is because Woody always posts positive reviews of the latest season and I want to get caught up to see what the hub-bub is about. Season 2 has a good story, but I just kept wishing that the mountain lion ate Kim.

Dead, a Prisoner, or a Cylon?

If you haven't seen last night's episode of Battlestar Galactica and you don't want to know what happened (or yo just don't care) STOP READING IMMEDIATELY!!!!! I WILL be ruining the ending for you.

So, last night's episode of BSG was actually interesting for a change. They really started going into the mind of Starbuck and her past. You get a bit of an idea why she is the way she is. There are a bunch of flash backs to her life with an abusive mother. It really explains her motherhood issues. The premise behind the episode is that the fleet is getting refuled by the one fuel ship in the fleet. It is taking a while, so they are hiding out by a planet that is giving out a lot of radiation that will throw off Cylon sensors. The problem is, it throws off Colonial sensors too. While patroling the area, Starbuck keeps seeing a lone Cylon ship that no one else can see. She thinks she is going crazy and people are starting to agree. She is also seeing herself as a child all over the place and also the Cylon that took her captive on New Caprica. To cut things short, she goes out on patrol again, see the Cylon ship again, goes after is, and the last you see of her is her ship blowing up. It is seen from a distance, so you really don't know if she ejected. The problem with that though, is that the planet has wicked storms and a crushing atomosphere, so she could not live on the ground. So, is Starbuck:

1. Dead? Was Katie Sackhoff sacked? Did she quit the show? I hadn't heard anything about that, but I guess it is possible. Woody is usually on top of things posted on the internet, so I think he'd mention something if Starbuck was out. I think this the least likely option.

2. A Cylon? Honestly, when her ship blew up, I half expected to see Starbuck wake up in a vat of Cylon goo. Could she really be one of the final five Cylons? That would really blow me away. I know that they are saying that one of the caracters on the show is going to be outed as a Cylon, but could it be Starbuck? If so, would she have all of the childhood injuries and memories? I guess that could be how she was programmed. I really don't know about this. It would blow me away.

3. Captured? I think this is the best bet. Leoben said that Starbuck has a destiny and he was in a lot of her flash backs. Maybe she got into her head like Caprica Six is in Baltar's head. No one saw the Cylon Raider, other than Starbuck, but maybe it was real and on a mission to capture her. Leoben said that he was going to see her again (on New Caprica). I think that this is the most likely possiblity. I don't think they are going to kill off such a popular character and I don't think that they will make her a Cylon. I am sure that, if she is alive, Galactica will find her and suspect her to be a Cylon. Either way, I was blown away when I saw Starbuck ger blowed up.

Spring is in the Air

I think Spring is my favorite season of the year. The temperature is perfect, there are no bugs out yet, and plants start to bloom. Sure, the Summer is nice, warm, and sunny, but there are the bugs. Fall is nice too, what with the trees changing color, but there are still bugs. Do you get that I don't really like bugs? Winter is just too cold and dreary, and I always feel lathargic in the winter. Back to spring. At our old house, we had about ten years of overgrowth to deal with. The previous owner was elderly and couldn't really keep up with the yard work. It took the whole time that we lived there for me to get the yard under control. The house we are in now is more of a blank slate. The back yard was mostly all grass, except for a few pre-existing and nice flower beds. I've put in a garden and a few more flower beds. Still, I have a lot more that I want to do. There is an ugly bush on the side of our house that I want to dig up and some other plants that I want to get moved about. I've doubled the size of our vegetable garden and am planning on adding more flower beds. It's alot of work, but it can be fun. Especially when you get to see the results. My parents bought me a tiller for Christmas, so that will help with digging up the dirt. There is a great green house down the road from us, and I could easily spend several hundred dollars there. I just need to make sure that I don't bite off more thatn I can chew. I don't really have the time to do all of the things I really want to do. A few things that I definately want to add to the back are, Wisteria, a wheeping cherry tree, and perhaps a grape vine (for wine making). Our veggie garden will have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, green beans, and melons. I also grow herbs like rosemary, cilantro, basil, parsley, and dill. I need to make sure to add a small mesh fence all around the vegetable garden to keep the rabbits out. They liked the lettuce. One thing I need to do, and some advice if you are planning to start a garden, is plant my lettuce on different days. All of my lettuce was ready at the same time and some of it went bad before we could use it. The same goes for cucumbers, as they don't produce all summer long. Well, it's only a few more weeks until spring. If all goes well, when we have our cook out his year, you will get to enjoy all sorts of home grown goodies.

I'm not as smart as a 5th grader

If you have been watching American Idol the past few nights (We have not been. Thankfully, it seems like bot Jessica and I have completely lost interest. There isn't much talent on the show anymore.) then you have seen a new game show called "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader". The gist of the show is that they bring in adults, some with college degrees, and ask them questions from elementary school books. There are also five kids (5th graders) on the show that the adult contestant can use as ''helps". The adults are then asked to pick from categories, like 1st grade art or 4th grade math (1st through 5th grade questions of various subjects) and answer a question from the category. The first question I saw was a social studies question: "what month is Columbus Day celebrated?" I was stumped. I now know it is October, but I could not for the life of me remember before hearing the answer. Another question was a math question: "If the area of a triangle is 4" and the base of the triangle is 2", what is the height of the triangle?" I got this one correct. 1/2 base x height = the area of a triangle, so the answer is 4". Still, I missed about half of the questions. I felt dumb. I think I would like this show, but there are a few things that will keep me from adding it to my normal rotation. First, Jeff Foxworthy. Don't get me wrong, I like Jeff Foxworthy as a comedian. As a game show host, he sucks. He is very dry and tried to incorporate his act into the show. It doesn't work too well. Second, it is only 30 minutes long, so it over before it really gets started. This goes into the third reason, which is the pacing of the show sucks. They are trying to make it all dramatic by adding pauses between the contestant answering the question and finding out if they are right or not (like they pause in Deal or No Deal). As a result, there are only, like, four or five questions asked per game. If I am watching a quiz show, I need it to be fast paced so that it keeps my interest. The long pauses don't work.

All in all, I guess I like the show enough to watch it if there is nothing else on, but I don't think it will go too far. Everyone knows that we, as adults, dump information from our minds that we don't need. I don't need a game show proving that to me daily. I have kids and I know I will feel dumb enough when they ask me for help on their homework. It's already happened.