Greatest time of year

Can you feel that? You know. The electricity in the air that preceeds football season. I can feel it. I crave it. It is only a few more weeks until the OSU football season kicks off and the Browns have their first pre-season game tonight. Shit yeah!

I'm sure the Browns will probably suck this year, maybe pulling out an 8 and 8 record. I wish they would get better, but it just never seems to happen. It is the bane of being a Cleveland sports fan. One think I wish they would figure out is what the hell they are doing with two potential starting QBs. Anderson has done well the past few year, but the Browns used their first round draft pick to grab Brady Quinn a while back. Now, he is sitting on the bench getting paid a ton to be a 2nd stringer. WTF?

The Buckeyes are picked to have a good year in the Big Ten. I see them being dominant in the league until their trip to Happy Valley. Penn State always makes me nervous. The REAL road bump in this upcoming season will be when USC comes to town. I fear that this game could get ugly unless OSU's offense will be able to match USC's production. We will have a lot of young players on defense. The offense should be good if the young recievers starting this year can step it up. Prior will have a TON of weight on his soulders to make things happen.

On a side note, my bowling league starts in less than a month. WOO HOO!!! I caught myself looking at bowling balls on the web. I don't need one, I just like looking at what's new out there. Our league merged with another league this year, so now we have 20 teams instead of 12. It shoud be interesting to see how things work out with the new teams and bigger league. Personally, my main goal (beyond winning) is maintaining a 200+ average. I bowl a few games here and there over the summer with mixed results. I tried two different bowling alleys near my house and did terrible at on and OK at the other. Last week I bowled at my normal bowling house and rolled a 204 and 216.

Zombies Zombies Zombies!

What can I say? I love killing zombies. Well, Xbox zombies, at least. If I saw a real zombie, I would probably pee myself. Anyway, I think I can say, with a great deal of honesty, that I could play the Call of Duty World at War zombie levels for the rest of my Xboxing days. The first zombie level was OK: a small map with limited weapons. The second was much more fun: a bigger map with more challenges, more weapons, traps, and player perks. The third was even more fun with even more weapons (Wonder Waffe), more traps, and more challenges. A new zombie level came out for COD WAW last week and it is AWESOME WICKED FUN!!! It is also wicked hard, but that is OK. The map is huge and there are even MORE weapons, traps, and challenges. Then add a teleporter, a weapons upgrade machine, and exploding monkeys, and you get GREAT good times. Yes, I said exploding monkeys. I played last night with a group of online people and had loads of fun. I had a Wonder Waffe (lightening gun) and a ray gun (both updraged to more powerful weapons with bigger clips) and exploding monkeys. They look like wind up monkeys that play the cymbals, but they attract the zombies and then blow up. Wicked fun. We did really well until I ran out of ammo. The Wonder Waffe shoots a bolt of electricity and if you hit a zombie, it spreads to all of the zombies around it. It is great for groups, but not so much for individual zombies. That is where the ray gun comes in handy. I can't wait to play again. The WAW people could make a complete zombie game and I would be happy beyond belief.

Harry Potter was pretty good

I went to see the new Harry Potter movie yesterday with Jessica and the kids. It was a pretty long movie, but Gabe and Ally did pretty good with it. They talked a little and started to move around a bit, but they weren't too bad. The movie was pretty good. I have been a little frustrated with the last few films because they seem to be a little lacking to me. The first few books were shorter, so it was pretty easy to get all of the relevant information into the movies. However, as Rowling's writing improoved and the stories became more elaborate, the movies have had difficulty getting all of the good action and story telling into a feature film. The movies have all of the main action and story, but they seem rushed to cram everything into 2 1/2 hours.

What they were able to cram into The Half Blood Prince was pretty good. There were some good action scenes and character development. The love triangles were done pretty well and there was a good mix of comedy in there as well. Jessica already wants to go see it again. I could stand to wait until it is on DVD, but if she really wants to take me to a movie, I won't complain. My one beef with the film is that it seemed very anti-climactic to me. Yes, what was supposed to happen happened, but it just seemed rushed. The final chapters in the book were action packed and then very somber and sad. The movie made the last two chapters happen in about five minutes. Oh well. All in all, it was a pretty good movie. They just are never as good as the books.

Which is better? Trek or Gate?

As you know, I am a huge Sci Fi fan. I am not a stay in my basement dressing up like Spock kind of fan, but I must admit that Sci Fi is my favorite genre of movie and TV show. BSG is my favorite sci fi show, but I also watched all of the Star Trek series and am currently watching Star Gate shows. I started backwards, with Star Gate Atlantis, but lately have been watching SG1. The other night, I started to wonder which series I liked more: Trek or Gate. I think I am actually leaning towards Gate. I guess they are different 'verses, with different qualities, but Star Gate Atlantis and SG1 are both well written and exciting shows.

Of all of the Star Trek shows, I guess Voyager was my favorite. Lots of space battles and a good story line. It is really rather similar to SG Atlantis in that, both shows take place in distant galaxies. Both deal with exploring the galaxies and dealing with aggressive aliens in those galaxies. Probably these similarities are why I like Atlantis so much.

One thing I thought interesting was how the different series used sexuality. Star Trek did little to hide the flaunting of women. The original series had half nude green girls and skirts cut REALLLY high. TNG had Troi in tight outfits all the time, but decreased number of the sexy aliens. DS9 had little in the line of sexy women beyond Dax and of course, when Voyager started to loose ratings, they added 7 of 9 to the cast. Hot Borg in skin tight outfits. Even Enterprise followed the sexy girl formula with T'pal, a Vulcan in skin tight outfits. I guess Star Trek people thought that a scantily clad woman was essential to a good show.

Star Gate is a bit different. The women are treated in the show more as equals since the story is based in our society present day. The 'sexy' women are dressed in military garb and the actresses are 'typical' women. None of them are oozing sexuality, but when put in certain situations and outfits, they pull off the hot girl role very well. Of course, the very first SG1 episode has a full frontal nude scene, but it went with the story line and wasn't in there just to seel a sex image. It sounds strange, but I actually like Star Gate's approach to women better that Star Trek's in-your-face flaunting of women. Don't get me wrong, when 7 of 9 walked around in her unitard, it was nice. However, there is something to be said for subtle sexuality. Like, when a lady puts on a nice dress instead of her daily work clothes.

Wow. Did I ramble on about nothing forever? Sorry.

Grumpy much?

I don't know why, but I have been in an awful mood over the last day or so. It started last night and continued this morning when I got a parking ticket on my van. I moved into the street so that the kids could shoot hoops. I just pulled out and parked facing the wrong way. Did you know you can get a ticket for that? I now owe the city of Columbus $20 for parking next to my house in the street so that the kids could play. How stupid is that?!?!?

Excited about movies

I saw some new movie trailers this weekend. OK, I had seen them before, but I am still excited about some films coming up. I saw the Transformers preview online and it looks pretty exciting. Some of the new Transformers introduced look a little strange, but the movie still looks pretty good. Putting Megan Fox in hot little shorty shorts always makes for good entertainment.

GI Joe looks interesting. It could end up being too cheesey to be good, but I still want to see it. Seeing Snake Eyes in the trailer is pretty cool though. By far a fan favorite from the cartoon. Well, my favorite at least. The only thing I may not like is the exo-suit thing. Not part of the original Joe show, but it could add for some cool special effects. We'll see.

I can't tell you how much I want to see the next Harry Potter movie. Half Blood Prince is probably my favorite book in the series. Very dark, very exciting. Is there anyone left in the world that hasn't read and loved these books?

I also saw the first trailer for New Moon, which is the next movie in the Twilight series of books. I know. It is a series intended for teen girls, but you put werewolves and vampires in the same story line and you get something pretty exciting. There are some parts in the books that make you want to put it down for being too girly, but then the good parts make up for that. It looks like another good film.

Anything else I need to see?

Another Facebook Victem

My blog is being neglected lately. It is a good blog. It never bites or pees on the carpet. I just don't seem too interested in keeping up with it these days. I am not going to take it into the woods and shoot it, but I don't see myself posting too often in the future. Maybe a weekly update now and then. Mainly the reason for this is bercause of Facebook. I don't post on that as much either, but it seems like more people check my Facebook page than my blog. Poor blog. So, for frequest updates, I am on Facebook, or you can just check here from time to time for bigger posts of bigger events.

New Toy

So, my PC went ka-put last week. It's had an OK run, since I bought it several years ago. I would like to say it ran perfectly, but I would be lying. It was oober slow and multi-tasking was impossible. I took it to Geek Squad to see if it would be an easy fix, but I was told the error message usually meant my hard drive was failing. Minimum repair cost, $300. So, I said forget it and bought a lap top. I am a total impulse buyer. I knew I wanted HP, which is what I have been using lately, but I was torn between screen size and battery life. I went with the better battery life, in case I wanted to travel with it. I figure that I can hook up my HD monitor when I am using this at home. I still have another PC for Jessica and the kids to use, but I wanted a lap top so that I can do stuff upstairs when watching TV with the family. This one is pretty nice, I guess. It has 4 USB ports, a webcam, mic, HDMI input, plenty of memory and is pretty quick. The biggest downer is that I couldn't save my music that is on ITunes on my old computer. This means that I have to upload all of my CDs again. After about an hour or so, I am up to the letter C. I have a hundred or so more to do still. UNGH!!! Luckily, I had the forethought to save all of out family photos onto a removable flash drive. I can't imagine losing all of the family pictures. Anyway, I might be posting more often, now that I have computer access in places other than my basement.

A Week In the Life......

Time for a weekly recap:

-Ally turned 4 Monday. She had fun at her party. We got her a new bicycle, which she seems to like alot. It was basically just a few family members and friends, but I think fun was had by all.

-I am having a hard time watching the Cavs series in the NBA play offs. It is frustrating knowing that they have the best record in the NBA, have swept their first two series, but now are barely hanging on to life, being down 3-2 to the Magic. They have had big leads in two of the games they've lost. Each game has been close though, so I guess anything can happen still.

- Does anyone think it is possible that a network will realize how great Firefly is and let Joss make a few more seasons? I am hoping that Dollhouse keeps going too, but I am watching Firefly today (again) and I am amazed at how great this show is. How it only lasted one season on the air makes no sense to me what-so-ever.

- Poker game tonight. I have not been doing too well lately. I have played well, but my luck has been crappy. Hopefully things will change for me tonight.

Does Anyone Esle Find This disturbing?

Has anyone seen the White Castle commercial for their pulled pork sandwiches? You know. The one with the person in the pig costume dancing on stage like a stripper only to end up doused in barbeque sauce. That commercial creeps me the fuck out! I think it is because they are painting pigs in a sexual light. OK, maybe they are painting people in pig costumes in a sexual light. Still, doesn't this creep anyone else out? At least, it fills me with even more desire to avoid White Castle.

Ouch

This weekend my parets came for a visit. Partially because Ally's birthday is next weekend and they wanted to bring her a gift and celebrate a little, but mostly they came to give me my annual infusion of plants for my garden. So, I was super busy planting things in my garden. I also planted a whole bunch of plants and flowers in my fron flower bed. I tried to put in a lot of perennials so that I don't need to re-plant every spring. Still, I put in a bunch of annuals too. It looks pretty good, if I say so myself. My dad helped alot. He is crazy about getting things planted just right. He is very meticulous about his gardening. That is fine by me. It means that it is done right. So basically, I dug the holes and he planted. It worked out pretty well. I did all of the annuals myself though. That was a chore! I love spring time. Fresh tomatoes in the summer....YUM!!!

FINALLY!!!

As mentioned, Jessica and I went to see the new Star Trek movie last night. This took some doing since Jessica lothes the old Star Trek show and movies. Actually, she just doesn't like William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy freaks her out. A fun fact: As a baby, William Shatner was on the same plane as Jessica and her mom. He (the Shat) commented on how cute Jessica was. Anyway, back to the movie. I mentioned that Jessica had dragged me to see Twilight, which I had resisted, and I liked it. Anyway, she agreed and we went. The first ten minutes of Star Trek were the most intense ten minutes of possibly any movie I have ever seen. It was AWESOME. The rest of the movie slowed down here and there, but the first ten minutes alone made the movie worth the $16 we paid. The rest of the movie was very VERY good. It gives some history of Spock and kirk, and also goes into how the crew met and came aboard the Enterprise. I won't go into the plot too much, but it was similar in some aspects to Generations, when Picard met Kirk. (Spock meets Spock) I can understand how some people (die hard Trekkies) might not like some aspects of the movie. It basically changes some of the aspects of the Star Trek verse that are present in the entire history of the movies and shows. I will say that I liked the casting. It was a little hard to see Sylar as Spock, and I kept expecting zombies to attack and Scottie chuck records at their heads, but beyond that, the casting was spot on. The story was good and the effects we stellar. It is definately worth paying to see Star Trek in the theaters. It is a visually stunning film. A- (the minus is because Smock and Uhura were hooking up. That was one thing I didn't like much.)

Going Boldly Where No One Has Gone Before

To an exciting Star Trek movie. Hopefully. My report tomorrow.

A few thing

1. Manny Ramirez is a dumb ass. I don't follow baseball much, but when one of the "top" players gets suspended for using illegal drugs, after all of the press and attention that has been on drugs in baseball, you HAVE to be a fucking idiot. COME ON!!! You have a list of what you can and can't use, so get your perscription, read the lable, read the banned drug list, and then decide if you should take the drug. I have always disliked Manny. "Manny being Manny" is a phrase that makes me throw up a little in my mouth. Translated it means that he is an idiot and a dumb ass, but hey, he can hit the ball well, so who cares? Well guess what, Dit Shit. You got caught cheating and you are out.

2. Can someone please do something that will keep Brett Favre from coming back to the NBA? "I retire." "I'm back!" I retire" "Maybe I'm back!......for my old team's rival!!" Enough is enough already! Retiring means you are done. There should be a rule in the NFL stating that, if you retire, you are allowed ONE comeback. Not two, not three. Who the hell does he think he is? Rocky Balboa? I am SO sick of Sports Center being filled with stories of Favres comebacks to the NFL.

Sorry, I just hate when two stories monopolize my sporting news.

Big Tournament tonight

Sorry that I am lacking in posts lately. Not too much to post about lately, I guess. Plus, I feel like a broken record sometimes. Anyway, I am planning on playing in a poker tournament tonight. It is way out in BFE (Baltimore, about 40 minuted from me) but it is a big game. There should be 70 players, or so. I usually play in cash games, so a tournament will be a bit of a change of pace. I played in this game last year, and there are a few rules that I am not a fan of. First, if your chip stack is below the big blind (if you have 100 in chips and the BB is 125) you are out of the game. That happened to me last time. Second, if someone goes all in, their chip count is the maximum bet. So, if they have 200 and go all in, you can only call the 200. This is done to iliminate side pots, which I don't get. I guess it gets confusing with side pots, but it limits what you can do in the hand. If I have pocket aces and 4000 in chips, and someone goes all in for 200, I can't raise to get other players out of the hand. This leaves good starting hands, like the aces, vunerable to drawing hands (straights, flushes, etc.) I was dealt a good hand last year, someone went all in, I couldn't raise, and I lost the pot to a weaker starting hand. Still, these rules are a small price to pay to have the chance to play a big tourney for a big prize pool. I think first place gets over a grand. Anyway, I am looking forward to the game and a chance to text my poker skills.

Better Off Ted - Give It a Try

If you have not watched Better Off Ted, I highly recommend it. It is HI-larious! It is about a product development company. I know that sounds dull, but the products are outrageously, silly and the characters are equally silly. I really can't go into the details of the stories. Really, it is something that you have to see for yourself. One of the funniest episodes involved the motion sensors in the labs that turned on and off the lights in rooms. New sensors were installed that were cheaper and worked by detecting the light reflecting off of the skin of the workers, but it had one glitch: the sensor did not recognize black people. It was hilarious. Rather than fixing the system, they hired white people to follow the black people around so that they, the black people, could do their work. This cause issues in the legal department, who claimed that they needed to open the position to black people, which in turn would require the hiring of more white people. Portia DeRosi is one of the characters and she had a great line in the show. It went something like, "We should not be focusing on the fact that the system can't see black people. We should be proud that we have a system that can see Asians, Hispanics, and Jews." I laughed my ass off. Every episode I have seen has made me laugh out loud. Everyone that likes to laugh should watch Better Off Ted.

Making Memories

I guess "Saving Memories" would be a more appropriate title. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I have started my 10th year working for Nationwide. It is definately the longest I have ever been at a job. I am not sure if I will be doing this for the rest of my life, but for not, it works. Anyway, for my 10th year anniversary, Nationwide let me choose a gift. I got to choose from items like a golf club (driver), a DVD player, poker chips, and other items. I chose a LCD picture frame. It probably wasn't the most expensive of flashy item, but I have wanted one for a while. If you are unfamiliar with them, you can load digital photos on a memory card and display them on the LCD screen as a slide show. The only card I has was 4MB, so I could only unload a few pictures. So, I checked the best buy ad and they had 8 GB memory cards for $20 off. Now I have a good five minute slide show going on. Another think I saw was 8 GB flash drives $20 off. Now, I have all of my digital pictures saved on my computer and a flash drive. I tried putting them on CDs, which I have done for most of them, but it was getting tiresome.

Fun Night, Living Up To Its Name

Last night was the last night of bowling for my league. We ended up in 4th place, which is OK. Last night's games were, basically, meaningless except for a handicap bracket we do to make things a little more interesting. The #1 position bowler on team A bowls against the #1 person on team B, #2 bowls #2, and so on. You take your score plus handicap and the high game moves on to the next round. The next round whomever won the #1 position game bowls against the #2 position and the #3 position bowl the #4 position winner. The two winners bowl against each other in the third game. There are eventually six final winners and of those, the top four high series with handicap win money. I won first place and took home $50! Woo-hoo! On top of that, I bowled my second best game ever. A 266. I was perfect through the first 8 frames. My ninth ball looked perfect, but I left a solid 5 pin. I was irritated. It is the closest I have been to a perfect game. When I rolled a 279, I rolled a spare in the 4th frame, so I knew a 300 was not possible. Still, it was a good run.

On top of a good night of bowling, I played cards very well afterward. I won almost $90. I was getting pretty good cards and played them well. I lost a few big hands here and there, but won more than I lost (obviously). It was pretty nice. I went to bowling with $17, knowing that I didn't need to pay this week. I came home last night with $180+. Good times.

Something Kinda Cool

I got a call yesterday from US Bank. Usually, I don't answer calls from banks or mortgage companies, but this one came up as a 614 (Columbus) area code, so I anwered. I had a loan though them before, so I thought maybe there was something important. I was wrong. Kind of. What happened is this: When we go to Giant Eagle, our local grocery store, we put the kids in the Eagle's Nest. It is a play area that you can take your kids to while we shop. We like the Eagle's Nest and so do the kids. Anyway, the Eagle's Nest was having a coloring contest for Easter and it was sponsored by the in-store US Bank. Well, Gabriel won second place in his age group and Alydia won first place. US Bank wanted to let us know that we could pick up their prizes. The prizes weren't anything too big, but the kids were super excited and proud of each other. It was so cute. I need to go to Giant Eagle so that I can see the pitcures.

Spring is in the air!

I love the Spring. Winter is coming to a close and the warm air is starting to roll in. It's time to stop sitting on my ass all the time and get out into the yard. I have already done quite a bit in the back. I trimmed my roses, butterfly bushes and other shrubbery (NIEGH!) in the back. I still need to clean out the flower beds and get the garden ready. I think I am also going to expand my flower beds in the back. It is a pain in the ass, but it is something I would really like to do. The goal (eventually) is to have my entire back yard surrounded by flower beds all along the fence. It will take me a long time, but if I do it little by little, it will eventually get done. I am really bad about planning though. I would like to be able to get a variety of plants that match in color and range in size so that there is there is the greatest visual impact. I also need to worry about poisonous plants with the kids and dogs.

Weekly review

There hasn't been too much going on lately. You probably guess that by the lack of posts. My bowling league is coming to a close, which is a bummer, but I think I am going to join a summer league this year. I want to maintain my good skills. I am going to end this year with an average just under 200. A 199 is awesome in my book. I would say that I am probably in the top ten of my league. A 220 average would be nice, because I would be able to joint the PBA, but as far as a local men's league goes, 199 is not shabby.

Spring always makes me happy. I have a LOT to do outside. The garden is the priority, but I also need to spray weeds in flower beds and put stuff on my grass. I keep playing with the idea of hiring True Green, or something like that, to spray my weeds. The pokey weeds get pretty bad in my back yard. I want to put some lattice around my deck so that the dogs can't get under there anymore. I have some already, it is just a matter of putting it up. I also think I am going to add a flower bed in the front. I will put a rock border around it a perhaps plant a weaping cherry tree and suround it with tulips. I don't know for sure. Maybe I will just cut down the ugly tree we have out there now and put the cherry tree in its spot. The tulips are a must though. I had a bunch at my old house. If I had more time and more money, I would put in a munch of flower beds all around my back fence. Now I get to contend with a chronic back issue too.

Remember when I said my back was hurting? Well, I have arthritus (sp?) in my lower back. Let's hear it for an older person ailment showing itself in my 34 year old back. Awesome. There isn't anything I can do about it other than take anti-inflamatories and asprin. Like I said, AWESOME. The pain hasn't been too bad lately. Still, it makes me less likely to want to do things that require me to get up and move around. Still, I always find a way to get done what needs to get done.

Full tilt

I've played poker online before, both on my computer and on my Xbox, but never for money. Well, that has all changed. Today, I opened an account on Full Tilt Poker. I started out safely, playing only with pretend chips, but today I put in $60 just for a little bit of gambling fun. And fun it is! So far, that $60 is over $300. I really don't know how or why. I am not a great card player. I guess I am getting good cards. Plus, insteadof playing people, I just play my hands. If I have a good hand, I bet. I have been doing pretty well. I did have two hands that really hurt though. One hand I flopped a flush but one of my opponents caught a full house. Then it happened again. Only I had a straight. I started playing Texas Hold'em, and I won a little over $100. Now I am playing Omaha, which is a little different. It is played like hold'em, but you get four cards to start out. It is wicked fun. You have to use two and only two of you cards, plus the five community cards, to make your hand. Basically, you look at your four cards and see how many hands you could make. What can draw into a straight, or a flush? If you have enough good combinations, you are usually good to go. I usually play if I have 4 or more good starting hands. For example, if I have A, K, 2, 5, with two hearts and two clubs, I have two flush draws (the hearts and clubs) and four straight draws (A-K, A-2, A-5, and 2-5). It is a lot to keep track of. When people are betting, the pots can get really big. Fun times.

BSG Bummer

Well, BSG is all done. The show finale was this past Friday. I must say, I was a little bummed to see the show end, but am glad that it is over. The last season was pretty weak an the finale was pretty lame as well. The show started out great and sustained for several seasons, but this last season had the feeling like they were just throwing eposides together just to fill up the last season. The last few episodes were full of flash backs that made no sense and seemed pointless to the show. There was one good battle scene in the finale, but then the show just kind of gave up on itself. The questions were never really answered. Oh well. The one thing that I really wanted to know was, what the hell was Starbuck? She died, came back, found her own corpse, and then vanished again. Wasn't she supposed to be lead the human race to their doom? It made no sense to me. I guess if you think about it, the way the show ended,with the flash forward to the colonist's future being our present, maybe Starbuck did lead the people to their doom. If "all this has happened before and all of this will happen again" then the human race must be in some sort of loop that repeats. They advance their technology, build the cylons again, get killed by the cylons again, kill the cylons again, and then start all over. Again. I guess the BSG people wanted to make a statement about how technology would be our doom.

I Bowl With Teenaged Girls

Well, not really, but there are similarities. First, let me tell you a few rules we have as a team:

1. We play poker. $1 ante the first two games, $2 ante the last game. If you get a strike or a spare, you get a card. If you bowl a turkey (three strikes in a row) you get a bonus card. If we all bowl a strike in the same frame, we all get a bonus card. If you bowl a gutter ball on the first ball of your frame, you must put an extra dollar in the pot. The person with the best had at the end of the bowling game wins the pot.

2. We kind of do a beer frame thing, where if everyone but one person gets a strike in the same frame, the person that does not get the strike is supposed to buy the next pitcher. We don't really enforce this because we usually only buy one pitcher each per night. So, if the person that gets stuck already bought a pitcher, we let it slide.

3. (the important on to the story) If you bowl below 100, you must go to the front desk and have your name and score announced over the PA. Basically, we want to you "man up" if you bowl like crap. It's a bit of a deturant. We don't normally enforce this one either. It is something we are supposed to do, but when someone bowls under 100, it doesn't always happen. (I never bowl under 100. I get mad if I am below 150.)

Last week, Rick bowled a 97. It was the last game of the night and after, he went straight to the front desk. It was suprising because, as mentioned above, we usually let it slide. Rick is the weakest link on our team, he has had his poor scores announced before, but we usually have to do it for him (which is why we usually let it slide). Anyway, a minute or so after Rick is at the front desk we hear the announcement congratulating JESSE for his 97. Well, Jesse was not happy by this. Going into the tenth frame, Jesse had 8 strikes out of 9 frames. He had a great game going. As expected, everyone in the league started laughing and poking fun......at Jesse. Jesse got distracted and screwed up in the tenth frame. He blamed Rick. Since I am in the last position to bowl, I missed all of this, but apparently Rick and Jesse exchanged words. No blows were exchanged, but Rick basically quit the team and Jesse was not saddened by this. WHAT???? Are you kidding me? I was very much reminded of some of the tiffs and spats that were common back in my highschool days. I tried to mediate, but to no avail. Jesse won't budge, Rick won't budge. Craziness.

Going Dancin'

Ohio State has made it into the Big Dance. After a pretty good season and a good showin in the Big Ten tournament, Ohio State get the nod as an 'at large' selection into the Men's basketball tournament. The Big Ten tournament was pretty fun to watch. OSU made it to the finals after beating up on favored Michigan State. they lost in the finals to Perdue, but that is OK. They showed they can roll with the big boys by taking out MSU, but won't be too cocky. I don't know how far they will go in the tourney. they should make it past the first round, but will likely meet #1 seed Louisville in the second round. If they play as well as they did against MSU, I think the Buckeyes have a good shot at going pretty far in the tournament. I guess we shall see what happens. All in all I am glad they have done well so far and hope they put on a good showing for the little respected Big Ten.

Who Watched the Watchmen? I did. B+

There may be some spoilers!!!!

I went to see Watchmen this weekend. I was looking forward to the movie, mostly because the trailers kicked ass. I honestly had no idea what the graphic novel was about, other than it was a superhero type story. It is set in the 80's and is in a world where America won the Vietnam war, Nixon never left office, and the Cold War is raging. Oh, and there are masked vigilanties that catch criminals. The story does a lot of flashbacks between the current set of heroes, called the Watchmen, and the original group, called the Minutemen. There are connections between to two groups that are really the catalyst of some of the plots. Also, the 'heroes' are only that because they focus their energies on catching bad guys. In general, some of them are flawed people with violent tendancies and contrast greatly when compared to groups like the X-men or Fantastic Four. I guess what I am trying to say it that they have little regard for the life of the bad guy. One of them is a war mongering psycho and another is a sadist nut job. There are others that aren't as bad, but they clearly have an 'above the law' attitude. It was really a very interesting film. There was a twist at the end that you could kind of see coming, but other than that, the effects were spectacular, the characters were interesting, and the action scenes were bad ass. The one thing I couldn't quite get was, why were these people considered superheroes? Aside from Dr. Manhattan, a blue man with the power to do, basically, anything, none of the Watchmen seemed to have super powers beyond the ability to kick ass. Maybe it was all super speed and strength. Other than that, no one could fly, shoot eye beams, or control the elements. It added a neat demension to the film,in that it seemed like these were normal people that put on masks in order to stop crime. I think I want to get the graphic novel so that I can get the whole effect.

Aside from the general goodness of the movie, Watchmen had one of the sexiest love scenes I have ever seen in a movie. Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl II go out and do some crime fighting and after, they hook up in their ship. The Silk Spectre II is probably the hottest superhero ever to grace film. I think it is a combination of her hot latex outfit and my latent teen superhero sex fantasies that made the scene so hot. (sorry for that glimpse into myself that may have made you all throw up in your mouths a bit.)

My one beef about the film: Too much blue dong. Dr Manhattan was turned blue in the acident that gave him super powers, and apparently, he no longer feels the need for clothes. When out in public, he would wear a suit or a cod piece, but in general, there was a lot of blue dong when he was on screen. It was CGI blue dong, but still, blue dong. A great update to the movie would have been to make Dr Manhattan a woman! :-) (Sorry. more latent teen perviness!)

BSG Bye Bye

Well, there are only a few episodes left of one of my favorite shows, Battlestar Galactica. The show has been great over several seasons, but I think it is a good thing that it is coming to an end. The edgy, exciting, high speed, kickass show has crawled to a crawl-like funeral march. It's sad really. I have enjoyed the show SO much and now I am looking forward to it being over. I'm not too sure when BSG jumped the shark. Maybe when all of the remaining Cylons turned out to be main characters in the colonial fleet. Last Friday's episode was almost a 'goodbye' episode. Galactica is falling apart and is projected to be useless sooner rather than later. Friday's episode had Adama walking around lovingly carressing the inner supports in a drunken stuppor. I'm really not too sure how the show can end to my satisfaction. Earth was a bust and I don't see three or four episodes being enough time to resolve all of the show's conflicts. Well, I am hoping for the best.

New Glasses, Back Pains, and Guy's Night

I went to the eye doctor last week to order some new glasses. I mostly wear glasses now rather than contacts because I work from home and glasses are easier. I have eye insurance, so it is pretty cheap for me to get new glasses. I think the pair I am getting is $70, including the exam. Without insurance, they would have been over $400. This is the one insurance that is actually worth what I pay. It is a good thing because the glasses I have are all scratched.

My back has been killing me the last two days. I am not sure why. The only thought I have is that I pulled something bowling Thursday. It seems to be getting worse though. Maybe I slept on it wrong or something. I have been trying to stretch and have been taking pain pills, but nothing seems to be helping. Hopefully one more night will make it better.

Tonight it going to be just me and the boys. One of Jessica's co-worker-s mothers passed away and Jessica wanted to go to the funeral in Toledo. So, she is taking Ally up to T-town tonight where they will be staying with my parents. Then, Ally will spend the day with my parents while Jessica goes to the funeral. My parents and Ally will enjoy it, at least. As for me, I wanted to go bowling, but my back (see above). Maybe I will take my .38 and do some target practice. I haven't done that for a while.

Do People Really Do That?

I was playing around with Face Book a little bit just now and I came across something interesting. I have received and sent flair and other things to friends, but today I tried to send something to Jessica and came across a snag. I was going to send an "I love you" bear to her (I know, I am sweet) and I saw it cost 100 gift points. Thinking that gift pioints were something that I would just have, I proceeded only to find that you have to buy gift points. This is new to me because I have received paranormal gear and flair, as well as other free gifts, so I thought that all gifts are free on Face Book. Usually, when you send things, you get the ability to send things yourself. Anyway, you really need to pay money for gift points. Weird. Face Book is fun and all, but I am not going to pay money on a social site. Is that weird?

A Sci Fi Summer

OK. I admit it. I am a sci-fi geek. I am not as bad as some people who may dress up in Star Wars garb, but I enjoy sci-fi TV, movies, and books. The next few months are looking to have some high quality sci-fi movies coming out. I am looking forward to:

Star Trek: JJ Abrams is taking a crack at the Star Trek franchise. The trailers look great. I just hope Sylar as Spock does not cause too much of a distraction for me. Due out May 8th

Watchmen: I have to be honest, I don't know much about this comic book/ graphic novel. However, the trailers look terrific. The effects look good and the story line sounds intriguing. The TV has been flooded with Watchmen trailers, so I hope it is not one of this movies that sucks beyond the trailers.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Wolvie is my favorite X-man. I am not totally in love with Hugh Jackman and Wolverine, but the trailers I saw for the movie so far look good. Anyway, It is about Wolverine origins, which is always interesting. It looks like they are trying to make out Wolverine and Sabretooth as brothers or something. We'll see how they adapt this story to film.

Terminator Salvation : I've like the Terminator seeries since the beginning and really like the TV show (Sarah Connor Chronicles) so I was pretty psyched about Salvation. I think Christian Bale is John Connor (also plays Batman). I like him, but am not really a fan of one actor taking on more than one major icon in movies. Much like I am not thrilled about Syler and Spock being the same actor. Still, Salvation is about the story after Judgement Day. The machines are running amuck and the human resistance is starting to fight back.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - What do I need to say about this? If you haven't read the book, DO IT!!!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Michael Bay again. Ungh. I liked the first movie, but am not looking forward to Revenge of the Fallen. I guess I will watch it, but the trailer I saw looked like a bad Roger Rabbit knock off. You remember Roger Rabbit? The live action mobie with cartoons added in? Well, the Transformers trailer I saw looked like a cartoon with real people thrown in the mix. I don't mean ILM kick ass animation, I mean old school cartoons with prople thrown in. It may suck.

I want to catch all of these in the theater. Terminator can wait until DVD, but I think that the rest should be seen on the big screen. What else do I need to see this summer?

Xbox Revisited

So, lately I have been getting a little tired of the same old same old Xbox games I have been playing. Mostly because I play shooters online non-stop. I played Halo 3 for the longest time, then moved on to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and lately Call of Duty: World at War. I played the solo games, of course, but my main game was the multi player action. Fun times. I guess I am getting tired of the multi player stuff. So, I am taking a bit of a break. I went back to Halo 3 and played the solo game on Heroic, which is one step higher than the normal difficulty level. I guess I am better at shooters now because I breezed through it. Now, I am going through Bioshock again. It is another shooter. Fun times. I don't know what I am going to do if a new game doesn't catch my attention soon. I was thinking about getting Guitar Hero or Rock Band , but I don't if I would like them. I may play Dead Rising again or Fable 2. It's weird, I have Left 4 Dead and Quake Wars, but they really don't seem to be doing much for me. Any new or cool games I should check out?

A Night of Near Superhero Proportion

Bowling was pretty fun Thursday. Granted, bowling is usually always fun. I enjoy it more whn I roll 600+ series, which I have been doing lately. My average is 196, which is probably the best I've ever maintained through a whole year. I would like to see it pop up to 200, but I doubt it will happen this late in the season. Anyway, back to Thursday. I was having a rough go at bowling in the first game . I was rolling where I wanted to roll and everything felt good, my ball was just coming up a little soft in the pocket. This means I was too far right of the head pin. In the 7th frame, I think I has a 115, which is about 30 pins behind where I need to be to hit my average. My team was struggling too. We were down about 60 pins. I made a quick change and nailed five strikes in a row and ended up with a 190+ helping my team win by 20. The second game I hit a 200, we won again. The third game I was doing pretty well, but my team was struggling again. We were down significantly. I rolled five more stikes to finish off my game and we ended up losing by only two pins. Damn. A near superhero performance. Still I ended up with a 616 series again, which always makes me happy. We bowl the first place team in our league this week. We are only down 11 points in the standings, so winning would be huge for us. They ae all good bowlers though.

Should I worry?

I have been getting all sorts of magazines lately. Only I don't order magazines. I used to, but I am letting my subscriptions run out. I always would order a magazine, thinking I would read it, but I would get bored or the content would not be very interesting, so I decided to give up on magazines. However, I have been getting several magazines lately. Specifically, Rolling Stone and Spin. Maybe a few others, but I am not sure of all of the titles. Really, I just get them and then throw then in the recycling. My concern is that I may be charged for these somehow. I have not received a bill or any other verification that I would be getting a new subscription. I suspect that Noah may be ordering them under my name thinking that I would just throw them out or give them to him. He never asks about them or for them, so I could be wrong. has anyone ever had problems with magazine subscriptions? Would there be any reason for them to be sent to me without my asking for them?

Lovin' Those Brits

I am seriously starting to enjoy British television a lot lately. I have been a huge fan of Doctor Who ever since the new version of the show has been airing. I also watched a BBC series called Robin Hood, which was pretty good. Recently I found a BBC series called Jeckyll, which was a modern day Jeckell and Hyde story and was pretty good as well. I now have a new BBC infatuation in a show called MI-5. In a nut shell, MI-5 is a spy show. James Bond is a member of MI-6, which deals with international spying and MI-5 focuses only on internal matters in the UK. It has been highly entertaining. The seasons are not very long, only about 7 or 8 shows per season. The stories have been very interesting and there have been some pretty well known guest stars. Giles, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dr. House, from House, and the doctor from Star Trek DS9.

Probably one of the most interesting things I have seen is the show's treatment of America. There have been a few shows regarding visits from Prez Bush and each visit from Dubya had lead to protests by the British people. Granted, I don't like our ex prez either, but I found it a little suprising that protests of our ex president have been central in this show. It makes me wonder if everyone in Europe hates all Americans or just our dumb ass ex prez.

Anyway, if you are looking for a new show to watch, MI-5 has been great fun for me.

Test

I am looking at my blog and I can't see any of the posts. What the?????

Bathroom remodel

We are working on changing around one of our bathrooms this weekend. Actually, Jessica is doing most of the time consuming work while I am working this weekend. I am just planning on taking credit. Just kidding. I am doing the tool work and she is painting. She actually did a pretty good job taking down the old mirror, the old lighting, and the HUGE towel bar mounted to the wall. The job really isn't all that big. It is our half bath that we are fixing up. The towel bar was a little extreme. It was one of those that you could use as a shower towel holder. We bought a new one that is for a hand towel as well as a new shitter paper holder that matches. My biggest thing I wanted was a medicine cabinet. Most of our medicines are in one of our kitchen cupboards, which irritates me beyond belief. I try to get some thing out of the cupboard and five pill bottles fly out at me. Well, not any more! Is it silly that I am excited by nothing more than a medicine cabinet?

BSG Revelations and the Dollhouse

So, last night's BSG episode was pretty informative. We learned a lot about the Cylons and their origins. It turns out Tigh's wife, Ellen, is also a Cylon, which we learned last week. The most interesting thing to me is that Cavil, or a Cavil model, knew all of the final five Cylons. When Ellen resurrected, a Cavil was there with a centurion in a room that looked like a cell. It is my guess that only one Cavil was designated to know the truth about the final five in case one of them died and they resurrected. Kind of like a caretaker. Otherwise, it would have implied that all of the Cavils knew who the final five were and still allowed Saul to be tortured and still fracked Ellen while watching the other five lead the resistance. I have to believe that only one Cavil knew of the final five's identities, or the show would lose a bit of credibility for me. I guess it is not unreasonable that all of the Cavils knew who the five were, because he was quite vocal about the others not learning their identities, but again, if Cavil knew that Ellen and Saul were Cylons, his actions on New Caprica would not make much sense.

We also learned that, apparently, the final five were the first five in the Cylon family tree. They created models one through seven. This being the case, if Cavil knew about Ellen, it would be like he was fracking his mom. Iew. Anyway, we learned a lot about the 'skin jobs' last night. It was not an exciting episode, but it was informative.

I also watched Dollhouse last night. I am undecided about my feelings towards Joss' latest attempt at a TV show. I LOVED Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, so I think my expectations about Dollhouse may be a bit high. The show has an interesting concept. People enter the program, get their minds wiped clean of all but the most basic memories and thoughts, and basically become puppets that can have any memories and skill sets downloaded into them. At first, I thought it would be some government project, like creating super spies, but it is more like a high tech whore house. If you want a hot woman for the weekend that has all of your likes, dislikes, sexual preferences, and is basically your ideal, you can rent one. If you need someone that can kick ass and be the perfect bodyguard for a specific situation, you can rent one. Anyway, the pilot was entertaining and interesting, but I am not sure how long Dollhouse will last. Joss' main problem is that he pushed the boundaries of TV and doesn't just make different versions of CSI. So the typical TV watching American sheep don't seem to get him. I do though and I hope Dollhouse stays around for a while.

Posting Pics

I added some new pictures to my Flickr site. There are some of my team's bowling shirts. We wore them last night to some pretty good reactions. Some of the other teams made fun a little because we were all wearing the same thing, but I think they were just jealous. Some strangers, including a VERY cute girl, said they liked them. We didn't bowl great, but the shirts added some fun to the evening.

There are a few pictures of my completed poker table online too. I was really suprised at how relatively easy ti was to put together. I would say, all in all, the production too about five hours and cost me a little over $200. I took some crap last night from my poker buddies about how I made a Barney table. I think that the purple felt looks good. "Tight" I think the kids are saying these days.

There are also pictures from Gabe's birthday. It seems like all of the pictures of Gabe show him making weird faces or closing his eyes. He had a good time though. Oh and cute pictures of Ally. No, not cute....adorable! And here's Ally and Noah with Brutus. I think Gabe finds people in suits, like Brutus and Mickey Mouse, a bit creepy. Ge was a little leary of Brutus and steared clear of Goofy when we were at Disney.

Anyway, enjoy!

Can you believe he's 7?

It seems like just yesterday that I was crapping my pants at the thought of fatherhood. I'm sure I felt like every first time parent: full of doubt, fear, and a general sense of holy-crap-what-do-I-do-now? Fun times. I finally got used to the idea, then excited, and then elated to see my little boy. That was seven years ago. Am I really that old? Jessica had to work on Gabe's actual birthday, but I made him a cake and he asked for cheese burgers for dinner. We got him a few presents, some Transformers and Bakugons (some weird ball creature things that turn into robots) and he seemed happy. Yesterday, we continued the celebration by taking the kids to Dave and Busters. It is an arcade typle place that has a lot of games you can win tickets for prizes. Gabe had a blast, so it was well worth the trip. It was a good few days.

A Pleasant Suprise

In an attempt to find new and exciting things to get via NetFlix, I tried out Stargate Atlantis. I had seen the movie Stargate and thought it was OK, but I had never seen any of the shows. I am glad to say that Atlantis has been hugely satisfying to me. I thought about getting Stargate SG1, but something about seeing McGayver every episode turned me off to the show. Maybe I will have to try it later. Anyway, Atlantis is a great Sci-fi drama with a good story and good effects. It has become a show that I am excited to watch.

I am also excited that seasons 2 and 3 of Doctor Who are available to watch online via NetFlix.com. I added them to my online queue, so that means that I can watch the episodes online through my Xbox on my flatscreen TV. I forgot how truely great these seasons of Doctor Who have been to watch. I am delighted to revisit them. Wheeping angels, Daleks, The Master......enough said.

I think I am going to try to build a poker table

I have a few folding poker table tops, but have wanted a "real" poker table for some time. The table tops that I have have room for 8, but they don't really fit my kitchen table and aren't the best quality. My friend Mike builds poker table tops that you can put on a table that are pretty neat, but I kind of want to make one of my own. I looked online and found buildyourownpokertables.com which has some pretty good step by step instructions for the table. It is pretty much how I expected. You cut out the shape you want, cover it, and put on your bumper around the edge. It looks like you can also add cup holders and other things if you want. I am going to have to print out the specs and maybe ask my friend Mike for some help. The way he does it is a little different. His tables are modular so you can make the table into an eight seater or a ten seater. They are very nice, but I want to try to make my own. His bumpers are wood and I want to try to make mine with foam and leather. My one concern is that I want to make only a table top so that I can put it on my kitchen table when I have a game, but I fear that these instructions may make a really heavy table top. I will need to think it through and see what happens.

Finally, a GOOD BSG Episode

Over the last few episodes, my favorite show, Battlestar Galactica, has basically be stinking up my television. It has been a great disappointment over the past few weeks. The plot slowed, the drama became watered down, and any action was almost absent. The big reveals and cliffhangers were boring and not very shocking. Last week was OK, finding out a few odd secrets here and there, but last night's episode was finally back up to par with the episodes that have made BSG stand above all other shows on TV (in my opinion, of course). There was action, plot twists, drama, and all around BSG goodness. I am finally interested in what is going to happen next and was on the edge of my seat for almost the whole show. I'm not going to get into any details, but there is some serious doubt on who may live and who may die next episode. YIKES. I really don't have any idea how this show may end. I hope it finishes up as well as it started. I can still watch the BSG premiere mini series and be riveted.

Dreams or Nightmares? You decide.

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are stuck in one of your old 'college' or 'high school' type jobs? You know. The kind of jobs that you work so that you can eat and buy stuff while in school. Well, I had one of those dreams last night. I was waiting tables at Friendly's. It was weird. It wasn't a terrible dream with mosters after me or anything like that, but I was waiting tables in a busy dining room with all of the customers from hell in my section. If you ever waited tables, my section was filled with all of the people that run you ragged and then tip you a dime. Theone that stands out, probably because she was predominant in the dream, was a little old lady. The elderly are notorious bad tippers no matter how good the service may be. Anyway, she had me running back and checking ingredients on things she was considering ordering, she was changing tables every five minutes, she was back in the kitchen harassing the cooks, and basically being a pain in the ass. The dream turned funny when she was asking me if an ice cream treat she wanted contained any ice cream. She was sitting in the deep fryer basket at the time. By the time I came back to show her the box of ice cream to prove to her that there was, in fact, ice cream included, she was gone. Then I was forced to work with teeny bopper girls that were trying to hog all the tables and I wasn't making any money. Thankfully, I woke up. All in all, although it wasn't a terrifying dream, I think I would prefer dreaming of zombies trying to eat my brains.

It wasn't as bad as a really bad Friendly's dream I had a long time ago. I was the cook and there was a time stamp that the waitresses used to show when the orders were put in to the kitchen. The bad dream came in when we finished cooking all of the orders, were getting ready to close up, and more orders were time stamped. I didn't see the orders, I just hear that terrible stamping sound. This went on for a while and really made me have a bad nights sleep. That was years ago. Anyway, I wonder why I had a dream about a place I worked at over ten years ago.

Bowling Blarg

My bowling game is seriously starting to frustrate me. The last two weeks, I am driving myself crazy. I am not sucking completely, and am actually still carrying a 196 average. What is driving me crazy is how inconsistant I am. The last two weeks I rolled over 600 series, but I was all over the spectrum. Last week I started out with a 246 but followed it up with a 160 and then a 190. Last night I started out with a 244 and followed it up with a 150 and then a 215. I am SO frustrated with starting out strong and then taking a dive. My biggest issue is hitting spares. More specifically, the spares on the right hand side of the lane. Even more specifically, the ten pin. I actually got a new ball entirely dedicated to picking up the ten pin. It slides and goes straight instead of hooking. It works perfectly, but I have not had a really good chance practice with it. So, I am still about 50/50 when it comes to the ten pin. This frustrates me to no end. If I were to hit my spares, I would easily have over 200 as my average. SO frustrating!

Poo is great

Well, poo in the potty is great. Alydia has been a great pain in the neck about potty training. We would ask her to try and she would say, 'Tomorrow." or "I will in five days." So finally, I told her that she was wearing underwear from now on and that she had better not mess them up. She has been going on the potty ever since. I am SO psyched! No more buying Pull Ups at $10+ a package. We will be able to afford more stuff for me!

Bloggin' Blahs

I, like Mona, have been pretty bah-humbug about blogging lately. Her reasons, lack of material and using Facebook more, my reasons, lack of material and plain old fasioned laziness. I have facebook too, but don't use it for too much. I just haven't had much in mind for blogging. I lead a boring life, I guess.

I guess I can bitch about TV. I am pretty mad that I am so invested in Lost and BSG. Both shows started out GREAT with mind blowing plots, good acting and great effects. Now, they are kind of pissing in the hay. I watch the Lost premire last night and was SO confused. Maybe I should re-watch the other episodes to try to remember last season, but I don't think it will help. Lost just jumps around too much. If you blink, you miss what is a flash back and what is supposed to be current day. BSG is a little better, but the story has gotten stale and a little boring. I think they are trying to add shockers into the plot to shake things up though like (*****SPOILERS********)

Adama and the prez in bed together and Chief's baby not being Chief's baby. I guess the uprising lead by Gaeda is adding a little bit of interest in the show, but I don't know what can happen in the shows final episodes that will make me feel good about the show's ending. Are they seriously letting the final Cylon reveal to be Sol's dead wife? Boring.

The Next Firefly?

Did anyone know that Joss Whedon, creator of three of my favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, has a new show coming out in February? It is going to be called Dollhouse and is about a group of people that have their minds wiped regularly and imprinted with new memories for different reasons. It sounds a little weird, but Joss has been TV money in my mind. The show is going to air on Fox, and as usual with Joss' shows that fall out of the main stream, it is already getting the shaft. Fox has been moving the air date around and switching the day the show will run. It is almost they are shelving Dollhouse before it can get going, much like they did to Firefly. I LOVED Firely's short season, so I am DEFINATELY going to give Dollhouse a try. If nothing else, Eliza Dushku will be some nice eye candy. She was in Buffy and made some appearances in Angel. From the commercial I saw, it looks like when she gets her new memories, she is lying nekked on a table with little towels or something covering her naughty parts.

Hey Woody

If you read Woody's blog, you know he is not as excited about 24 as he has been in the past. I guess I can understand why. Last season was a memorable as a fart in the wind. I remember that Jack left the country. Other than that, I don't recall much of the show. 24: Redemption was pretty good, so I decided to DVR the new seacon of 24 for watching on my days off. So far, 24 has been pretty good. I am still amazed by the ease that Jack gets out of jams and gets the bad guys. I don't believe that this sort of thing could happen in real life. I know that there are soldiers that could kill me with a piece of paper if they put their mind to it, but I just can't think that one person could get himself into so many jams and come out alive. Oh well. That is why we have suspension of disbelief. Just because I can't truely believe in Jack living such a blessed life doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the plot twists and turns of the show 24. So Woody, don't be afraid of getting into 24. So far it is pretty good, and there is a hot red head by Jack's side through the first three or four hours.

A Good Night

Thursdays are great. Am I a broken record? I know I spout off on how much I love going out with my friends Thursdays. Really, it is my only chance to blow off steam in the week. I guess I play on my Xbox most other days, but I am still at home, probably cleaning or cooking as well. Thursdays are just about me and having a good time. I was getting pretty grumpy stuck at home three weeks with Christmas and New Years Eve both falling on Thursdays this year. All work and no play make Eric something something. Last night I bowled well except for my first game. 160 followed by two 220+ games. I was pleased overall. Poker went OK. I lost my first $20 playing sloppy, but cleaned up my game and left up $20. Considering we only had 5 people playing, that is pretty good. All in all, fun times.

A Tough One to Swallow

The Fiesta Bowl was a tough one. Ohio State played a tough game against Texas and was leading by 4 with two minutes in the game. Of course, Texas scored the winning TD with only 16 seconds to go. Texas seemed to get alot of favors from the refs. Oh well. I am not too bitter. I half expected OSU to get blown out. Instead they kept it close and lead for most of the game.

Big Game Tonight

Ohio State is taking on Texas tonight in the Fiesta Bowl. I am not too optimistic about the Buckeyes chances, but anything is possible. They are a good team that has been flat a few games this year. Texas, on the other hand, is a great team that lost one game in the final seconds and got screwed out of the National Title game. Texas is going to have a huge chip on their shoulder, but Ohio State is going to have a 'nothing to lose' mentality towards the game. I don't think anyone, outside of Ohio, thinks that the Buckeyes can win tonight. I think that the spread is 8 points. Hopefully, Ohio State will have a good game and proove to the country that the Big Ten can still roll with the big boys.

One thing that really gets me is all of the weird names of the bowl games. It's less about the sport and more about sponsorship and money. Not the Orange Bowl, it is the FedEx Orange Bowl. Not the Gator Bowl, it's the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl. The best is the Capital One Bowl. they aren't even trying to make it look like anything but a bowl game created to make mo' money. Let's not forget the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. I think they should call that one the Focker Bowl. It kind of makes you wonder about the games without sponsorship in the name: Motor City Bowl, Emerald Bowl, Independence Bowl........aren't these games good enough for some company to glom on to? I also can't believe the number of bowl games. There are 40 or more bowl games and only 120 or so teams that are able to play in the games. So, 8o of the 120 teams get a bowl game. Seriously? Why not just let everyone get their 'participant ribbon' bowl game. Just think of the possibilities. M*ch*g*n could have played in the Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Bowl this year.

Zombie Killin' Fun

I discovered a little fun tid bit on my newest Call of Duty game. After completing the whole game, a new level is opened. It is a level full of Nazi zombies for you to kill. GREAT fun. You are stuck in a building with several windows blocked off. Slowly, Nazi zombies start to tear down the barriers and try to eat you. You start off with a pistol, which sucks, but you can buy more weapons when you gain points. You can also open additional rooms and better guns are in the different rooms. Shot guns are pretty effective in large groups of zombies, but you have to watch out with grenades. They tend to blow the legs off the zombies, which leaves you with zombie torsos crawling on the floor trying to bite your knees. The game doesn't really go anywhere, but it you go up levels the more zombies you kill. Higher levels mean more zombies and faster zombies. It is creapy fun.

Anyone remember Buck Rogers?

I got off of my NetFlix system and haven't had any DVDs to watch lately. I have been getting movies that I know Jessica wants to see, so I haven't been able to watch a disk and send it back the same day. Plus, the holidays put a kink into the Post Office deliveries, so not as many movies coming in. So, I have been watching the 'B' movies and shows that NetFlix has available online. I went through Jericho, which was great, and now I am watching Buck Roger in the 25th Century. If you don't know, Buck Rogers is a 1980s astronaut that gets frozen in space and then thawed 500 years later. I used to watch the show a lot as a kid, so I am pretty much refreshing my memory. It is great seeing the cheesey effects, the cheesey acting, and the rediculous 80's view on what futuristic clothing would look like. Basically, all the women wear lycra pants that are super tight and tops that show off boobs and bellies. They look like futuristic hookers. Fun stuff. It isn't a great show, but it is fun to watch.

I also got a DVD of Babylon 5 in the mail. I thought I would give it a try, since it went on for so many seasons. It must be good then right? I haven't decided yet. It made me wonder though. What is better? 80's special effects that are basically models and props, or newer CGI effects that that are obviously fake and a little rediculous looking? Babylon 5 is DEFINATELY not a product of George Lucas's crack team of animators. I think I am going to go with the retro look. Yes, it is cheesey and plastic looking, but at least it has a real look. The cartoony CGI stuff in Babylon 5 might actually throw my interest in the show.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I never really got into New Year's Eve too much. It just seems like another day and time to buy a new calendar to me. It used to be exciting when I was a kid because I was allowed to stay up late. I still stayed up late, but I was playing Xbox. Pretty exciting, huh? New Year's Day was kinda fun though. I went bowling with two of my bowling teammates. The bowling alley that we go to had an all-you-can-bowl special: 3 hours for $10. We rolled seven games. Fun times. I used one of the games for practicing picking up the ten pin. It is the hardest spare for me since my ball hooks so much. I think I got it figured out now. Honestly, it will help my game a lot.

My resolution is to lose weight and cut back on my drinking. Honestly, I think these two are linked. I drink too much which makes me have more calories in my diet. Also, when I drink, I snack. I am going to try Adkins or South Beach again. They worked out pretty well for me in the past. The hard part will be motivating myself to excercise. Ungh.