Dark Angel, revisited

I used to watch the show Dark Angel when it was on. If you don't remember, it is the show that introduced us to a young, HOT, Jessica Alba (she on my list). Well, introduced me to her anyway. I thought it was a pretty good show back in the day. It is a look into the future brought to you by James Cameron. The basic story is that there was a nuclear blast in the US that knocked out most technology, so everyone is living in the dark ages. The corrupt rule and the little guy gets walked all over. Jessica Alba plays Max, a genetically engineered super soldier who broke out from where she was being held and trained as a kid. She's all grown up now and HOT. Have I mentioned that? Well, the show isn't as good as I remembered, but with the improved writing of TV in shows like BSG and Lost, all old shows are cheesey in comparison. She hooks up with a do-gooder and starts fighting the good fight. I don't remember the show well enough to go into details, but Jessica Alba is HOT. The show is pretty good too. I'm getting it through NetFlix, so it seems like it is free since I don't see a bill.

A few side notes: Cameron from Ferris Buller's Day off is in this show and so is a, corn-rows-headed Lt. Gaega from BSG. I recognize a few other people, but don't know from where.

I like shopping

I have two personality issues (ok, probably more): 1. I eat when I am in a bad mood. 2. I shop when I'm in a good mood. Today, I will touch on the second issue.

Last week, you know that the kids started school. To celebrate, Jessica and I both too a day off so that it was just us and Alydia in the house. It was nice. I was in a great mood. Anyway, our couch is falling apart. It has a hole in it and the cushins are getting deformed. They are pillows instead of the attached chushy back things. Also, since my parents come to town alot, I wanted to get a pull out bed rather than making them use an inflatable bed on the flood. It will be more comfortable for them and anyone else that may need to stay the night. Anyway, we went to get a new couch. Actually, it is a sectional shaped like an L with a chaise (sp?) lounge on the side. It will replace the couch and the chair. I also stopped at Best buy to pick up seasons 1-5 of Angel, which was on sale for $15 per season (I am still a DVD whore).

My grill died. I could probably have it repaired, but I was wanting a new one that was bigger. So, I upgraded. I got a Kenmore four burner grill and a rotisserie attachment. I can't wait for it to get here. On top of that, I got myself a father's day/early birthday gift of a workbench for the garage. I had tools all over the place and was tired of the mess. It's pretty nice. One side has three drawers and the other has a cabinet. It was a pain to put it together, but I managed.

Oh, on my previous list of DVDs to get in the coming months, I failed to realize that Heroes is out on DVD this Tuesday. I am looking forward to seeing it again from the beginning. I worry a little about next season a little bit. I wonder where they are going to go with the story. I guess they implied that Sylar was still alive. I think I saw a commercial saying it starts in a month or two. That will be nice.

School Fun

Gabriel and Noah started school Wednesday. Both seemed pretty excited about going. Especially Gabriel. He has been wanting to go to school ever since we moved to Hilliard and took him out of his daycare. He is a very social kid. He is also very clumsy. He already fell at recess and we got a call from the nurse. Just a few bruises, but they always call. He has also met a friend on the sdchool bus that lives a few streets over from us. Gabe's firend's name is, what else? Gabe. If they start hanging out, one will need to be Gabe R (mine) and the other Gabe W (the friend). I'm sure that he will be making more friends from his class, but I am still glad that there is a kid in our neighnorhood that he can play with. Anyway, the house is very quiet during the week. Just me and Alydia on my days off. Plus, when the boys are home, they are more worn out for a long day of classes. Less butting of heads. Hopfully Noah will start making more friends so that he actually goes out and does something. I don't remember sitting around doing nothing when I was a teen. Well, not all the time at least. Oh well, what can you do?

When Hilliard Plays Against Hilliard, Does Hilliard Win?

We had our first central Ohio highschool football experience last night. I had a great time in my highschool days going to football games on friday nights and playing in the band. Hanging out with my firends, playing music, it was a good time. Anyway, now I am getting old and have kids in school. Not highschool, but Noah will be there soon. We live in the Hilliard school disctict. Currently, there are two different highschools in the Hilliard district: Hilliard Darby (our school) and Hilliard Davidson (last years state champs). A third highschool is in the planning stages. Hilliard is a good school system and alot of people (like us) move out here to take advantage. There are currently 9 K-1 classes at Gabe's school. Last night was the first ever meeting between Davidson and Darby. Since it was a bit of a big deal, they held the game at Columbus Crew Staduim. Maybe they wanted a neutral site. You can imagine that the kids of Hilliard like to have the whole 'we're better than you' attitudes when it comes to Darby vs Davidson. Times just don't change. I remember feeling the same way about Rossford or Springfield. Another thing that doesn't change is the circles of kids hanging out and talking rather than watching the game. I would talk to my friends, but I liked watching the game as well. I think that everyone, Darby and Davidson fans alike, expected the Davidson team to win. They were picked as a preseason favorite to go into the playoffs again. Darby was also picked to be one of central Ohio's top teams. Let me tell you, football has changed a bit since my highschool days. they ran alot of misdirection runs and options. Both of the teams QBs were quick and good at running the different plays. One of the Darby playes went for about 80 yards but was called back on a bone head block in the back. There were probably less than ten passes the whole game. It was still an enjoyable game to watch. The Davidson kicker made a 44 yard field goal. The final score was Darby 21 and Davidson 10. Looks like no repeat for Davidson. Alydia likes watching the cheerleaders and the boys seemed to enjoy the game. I found it funny that Darby's mascott was named Bruiser (a panther). The team colors are black and blue. You know, like a bruise.

The bands were OK. Davidson was a little weak and hard to hear at times, but Darby was pretty good. they both played bits of their competition shows. It was weird, both schools had a piece where the director was in the middle of the band with a cow bell keeping time. I had never seen that before. My guess is that it had something do to with the competition aspect of the shows. I thought it was a little cheesey. Especially since the cow bell didn't go with either og the pieces.

TV on DVD to get

It's going to be an expensive next few months for me in the TV on DVD department. I am such a DVD whore and junkie. I already own several seasons of several different shows. Here's what is coming out soon (according to several different sites):

- Charmed, season 8 - The final season of hot witches. To make it hotter, they add two blonde witches to the show that are almost as hot as the Charmed Ones. I know it is kind of a chick show, but I like it. The stories are good and the women are often partially clothed. Out 09/11

- Lost, season 3 - The show I hate to love. It is SO frustrating, but SO addictive all in one. I have all of the shows from this season on ITunes, but it isn't the same watching the show on my Ipod when I have a 42'' flat screen HDTV. Out 12/11

- BSG,season 3 - I hope they do this as a one shot deal. It irritated me that they released season two in two parts. I guess it was good to get 2.0 earlier than if we had to wait for the whole season, but it seemed like a ploy to jack up the price. Out 09/03 in the UK. I could not find a USA release date.

- Smallville, season 6 - Seaon 5 ended on suck a cliff hanger. I wish I would have DVRed season 6, but I forgot until about half way into the season. I didn't want to start watching and find out later that I missed a few shows. Out 9/18

The Sopranos, season 6 part 2 - I heard that the final season was weak, but I need to know what happened to the family. Who got wacked? Who got pinched? Who got pinched and then wacked? Out 10/23

Lefty Tagged me. I usually don't like these chian letter type things, but this one seems interesting.

Here are the rules:
- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.

I don't know how indepth I am going to delve into my personal side, but here are my 8 facts about myself:

1. When I was small (3 or 4 years old) we had a miniature poodle named Lady. Once Lady escaped our back yard, I chased after, and was found later by a neighbor several streets away.

2. I once broke my humerous (upper arm bone) into three pieces after being checked into the wall while playing indoor soccer. I have a steel plate and several screws in my arm and a wicked scar. It's strange, but breaking your humerous really isn't very humerous. What a dumb name for a bone.

3. Most people know that I was in the marching band in high school and the Ohio State University Marching Band for four years, but you may not know that I sometimes wish I would have played football in highschool instead. I think I may have been big enough and fast enough to have played in college somewhere. The truth of the matter, is that I was too scared of hurting people to go all out when playing football. I would always hold back a little when tackeling or running the ball.

4. I like to garden, but hate pulling weeds. I have great flower beds and a big veggie garden, but some of the weeds are as big as the pretty plants.

5. I once played in a World Series of Poker tournament and lost miserably, but plan on trying again next year.

6. I love Lego Star Wars toys and wish that I could have a room dedicated to displaying a Lego Star Wars battle scene, complete with a Death Star, several Star Destroyers, and an assortment of other Imperial and Rebel ships. I just don't have the room or the funds. Plus, my kids would want to play with the ships too much.

7. I want to go on a reality show. Sure, they are the cause for the end of most good TV as we know it, but I think it would be fun. My first choice would be Hells Kitchen, where I could cook with and be abused by Chef Gordon Ramsey. If you do poorly, he yells at you and calls you names. If you do well, he yells at you and calls you names, but in a complimentary way.

8. I am not very good at these types of lists. If you have read my blog for any period of time, you probably know half of the things I just wrote about. Honestly, I guess I'm not really too interesting.

Since I don't really know too many bloggers, I guess I will have to tag the few that I do know:

Amy, Rinnert, Mona, and Woody.

Sorry. I'm Lazy

Ok, not really, I just haven't been able to post much. I was off Sat and Sun, then had to go into the office Mon, and was off again Tue and Wed. I know.... rough week. I think I am going to take tomorrow off too.

As a side note, today was Gabriel's first day of school. he was SO excited and SO cute getting on the bus. I'm SO proud of my little boy. This is why people have kids. Yes, it is rough and hard work, but rewards like this are great.

Another side note, my job seems to think I am worth while. all of the work from home peeps actually. I got a new IBM desktop and new 19 inch flat screen monitors. They ROCK. I can totally see what I'm doing now.

We also bought a new couch today. The old one is falling apart and the new one is a pull out bed. Since my parents visit alot, I thought it would be nice for them. I got the upgraded matress. It is actually a sectional, with a couch and a chaise (sp?) lounge attatched. It shoudl fit well in our living room. we also got a coffee table that has four stools/ottomans stored underneith (imagine a Trivial Pursuit dick and pie pieces). It will provide more seeting when necessary.

That's all for now. Back this weekend.

Free Shows on NetFlix

I've mentioned it before, but you can watch TV shows and movies online with your NetFlix membership. I think this is GREAT. Not only do I get to watch the movies and TV shows I really want to see on DVD, but I get to browse some 'B' (let's face it, some 'C', 'D', and 'F') movies as well. I probably watch too many movies and shows, to be honest with you. I have been watch ing some old Dr. who shows, and season one of the new Dr. Who series was recently added. I've also watched some ok movies. They weren't great, or else I would probably remembe them better. Anyway, I was excited when I saw a blast from my past added to the 'Watch Online' portion of NetFlix: Voltron, Defender of the Universe. I'm sure that I won't like it as much as I did back in the day, but i bet I wll get a good kick out of it. It's the cool one, with the lions, not the one with the little ships. if you don't remember, Voltron was the Power Rangers of the '80s. Five lion-robots piloted by five teen-types that form into a kick ass robot with a huge sword. It would fight other huge robots sent by bad guys trying to take over the planet. Loads fun to watch. It made me think, what other cartoons did I HAVE to see when I was little?

-Voltron - the one with the lions
-Transformers - With Optimus Prime, instead of Rodamus
-GI Joe - before Cobra-la
-Thundercats - is it weird that I thought the female one was hot?

Then when I was younger:

-Smurfs
-Snorks
-Gummy Bears
-Dungeons and Dragons

Anyone have anymore movie ideas for me to add to my NetFlix queue?

Fun and Strange Stuff

Sorry for all the rantings and ravings yesterday. I guess I was a little worked up. On the lighter side of the news:

Thursday I had the best poker night of my life. I was getting great hands and playing them well. Full houses, straights, flushes, three of a kind, it was great. The best part of it all is that the other players kept thinking I was bluffing or something. I would bet, they would raise, I would call and win. The biggest hand I won was for about $160. I went home with $270 more than I went with. I only made one or two bad calls, which only cost me a few dollars here and there. I'd like to think that I won because of my supurb card playing, but really, it was more the great cards I was getting.

Last night we stepped back into the 80's for some hair metal. We went to the fair to see Slaughter and Quiet Riot. It was OK. I didn't really want to go, but it was a night out without the kids. The crazy thing was that both bands played new songs instead of playing their classics. I guess that they each played two 'classics'. Slaughter played Fly to the Angels and their other big song (I forget the name) and Quiet Roit played Bang your Head and Come on Feel The Noise. Side by side, Quiet Riot played the best set. Not because I liked the music more, but because the mixing for Slaughter was awful. The guitar TOTALLY overpowered Slaughter's singer. All in all, it was an ok time. The best part was making fun of all of the people stuck in their 80's fasion. I saw fishnets and a permed mullet! Not on the same person, of course. There was also a for-the-hearing-impaired signer that they put up on the big screen. It was funny watching her rock out while signing the lyrics of cheesey 80's songs.

Don't Fuck With My Bowling!!!

I almost got nasty with someone last night. I was one more drink away from starting a confrontation. I hate confrontations though. I am a very passive person when it comes to arguements and heated situations. Last night could have been bad. There are very few things that I take very seriously:

1. Don't fuck with my family. If anyone were to do anything to my family, well, let's just say that I have a 38 in my closet and am a pretty good shot.

2. Don't Fuck with my friends. If anyone tries to start something with one of my boys, I totally have his back. (female friends too)

3. Don't be an asshole at the poker table. If I am in the zone and winning, I get pretty quiet and a little intense. I think that is enough to get into people's heads. I see no need to talk trash or be ignorant to throw people off their games. So, if someone is being an ass, I ignore them and remember never to play with them again. (My IPod works well for tuning them out.)

4. Don't fuck with my bowling game. There are few sports that I play and take seriously. I like playing most sports, but if I lose badly, I can brush it off. Bowling is one, however, that I take VERY seriously. Yes, I drink beer while bowling and think it is alot of fun, but if something happens that thows my game, I get PISSED. For example, if I am getting ready to roll and the person next to me jumps up and goes before me, I might suggest that, next time, they may want to wait their turn.

Last night was Jessica's work 'picnic' and it was at a local bowling ally. We went for the free food and free bowling. I didn't really want to bowl at first because there were a bunch of kids running around (their parents seemed to be ignoring them) and I hate bowling next to kids that have no concept of waiting their turn. After a while, I did start bowling because Jessica and the kids were having fun and I wanted to join them (I guess I was being a bit of a stick-in-the-mud). Then, some woman a few lanes down thought it would be great to blow a loud fucking whistle non-stop, thus, fucking with my bowling. Since I was pretty much screwing around, I ignored her. Believe me, I wanted to rip that thing from her and shove it up her ass, but I refrained (it was Jessica's co-workers after all. Did I mention that I take bowling seriously?). Then it happened. A drunk ass, bumbling mother FUCKER stumbled down into the bowling area and spilled his fucking drink on me. Thus, fucking up my $60 bowling shoes and fucking with my bowling. Now, THIS is the prick that almost got his ass kicked. I am a non-violent person by nature. Hurting someone would make me feel guilty. I almost made an exception. Not only did he spill on me, fucking up my shoes, he didn't even bother to make an attempt to clean it up or tell the management so that someone else could clean it up. If you didn't know, wet bowling shoes are a bad thing. You can't bowl in wet shoes. You would stick to the lanes and probably fall. Then, you would transfer the liquid to the lanes, making them wet, so that other people would stick and fall. Drunk fucker almost got a beat down. Again, I refrained. If I wasn't at my wife's work function and in a place with alot of kids around, it may have been a different story.

Shaken, not Stired

Sorry for two posts in one day. I was having Blogger issues. I tried my Dr Who post three times and it wouldn't show up. Now, it is there, out of the blue. Weird.

I watched the latest 007 movie, Casino Royale. It was probably one of the better Bond films that I have seen. They have been pretty cheesey, honestly. Cars that turn into motor boats, insane chase scenes that could never happen, silly weapons that are unrealistic and silly.... you get the idea.

A FEW SPOILERS!!! BEWARE!!!

Anyway, this was a weird scenario. It was supposed to be James Bond just becoming a "00" agent. That would put the time line in the 70's or something, if you follow the previous movies. However, there were references to 9/11 and the cars and equipment were all present day (like Bond's Blackberry). One thing I liked was, there weren't any of those crazy gadgets, like laser pens or wrist watches that had climbing ropes and millions of other accessories. Everything was realistic. The story was good and believable. The one problem I had with the movie was the poker game at the end of the film. In the last hand, one player had an ace high flush, another had a full house, sixes over aces, another had a better full house, aces over eights, and James had a straight flush (best hand). It is nigh impossible for four monster hands that to come up all at once. It was a little cheesey.

The coolest 'Bond' moment was when he was getting tortured. Bond was tied to a chair that had the seat cut out of it so that his ass and balls were exposed. The bad guy was bashing his balls with a homemade mace-type thing trying to get some information. After the third hit, Bond told the guy that he had an 'itch down there' and asked if the guy beating him would scratch it. WHACK!! Another ball shot. "NO! NO! NO!!!" cries Bond. "It's a little bit to the right." I though that was a GREAT line.

Doctor Who Question

Something always kind of bugged me about Dr Who. First, I want to go on record that I LOVE the new Sci Fi Channel version. I liked the classic episodes, but they were always a little cheesey. Anyway, I have been watching some of the older shows on NetFlix and the new shows on SciFi. If you've never watch Dr Who, the Doctor (yes, that's his name) is a Time Lord that travels through space and time foiling the plots of evil doers. In the older version, there are a few other Time Lords and the Doctor was sort of an outcast/black sheep of the Time Lords. Still, they made him their bitch on a few occasions to do things that they couldn't. There was also a bad Time Lord know as The Master (not big on names these Time Lords). In the Newer version, The Doctor is the only survivor of the Time Lords after the Last Time War against the Daleks (evil cyborg killing machines). OK, to my question: If The Doctor can travel through time and space to foil plots of evil doers, why can't he go back and save some of the other Time Lords? I guess that the arguement is that he cannot go back and fix things that have already happened or else it could have negative effects on the present/future, but that's what he does. He goes back and forth in time fixing things and stopping the bad guys. You could say, "Well, he's stopping the bad guys." but what if time dictates that the bad guys were supposed to win? He's altering the present/future to suit what he feels is the correct route. If he goes back in time to stop the Cybermen from dominating the galaxy, isn't he having a negative effect on the time line of the Cybermen? I really like the show, and my question/concerns are not going to discourage me from enjoying the next episode. It's just something that sometimes pops into my head from time to time.

Xbox Ups and Downs

The past few days have been full of Xboxing ups and downs. I think that there may have been a problem with the World Series of Poker servers. On Saturday night, every game I got into had crazy high blinds. At first, I thought someone was setting them like that, but it was four games in a row with $2500 ante and $2500 big blind. So, it was $5000 to play a hand (you start with only $25000). It was really irritating. Then, when I played a game of NCAA 08, I got my ass kicked. That game is SO frustrating. For no rhyme or reason, you fumble or throw in interception. I threw two passes to wide open receivers, but for some reason, my QB thought it would be better to throw it to a saftey five yards away. Whatever.

The bright point of the weekend was when I downloaded Pac Man, Championship edition. It's like the classic Pac Mac game, but different. The maze changes as you clear the dots away. It's difficult to explain, but the game is f-ing addictive. First off, I LOVED Pac Man as a kid. I was a machine when it came to chomping those dots and eatin' ghosts. I forget my high scores, but I would get to the levels where the power pellets lasted less than a second and the ghosts were faster than Pac Man. The Championship Edition is really quite challenging. You have a time limit, and you are supposed to get as many points as you can in that time limit. That means you have to actively go after the ghosts instead of just clearing dots. Xbox Live tracks high scores on the Championship mode (there are five or six different modes to chose from) and there are some crazy high scores (my high is, like 120000, but there are people with 300000+). It's crazy because of the five minute time limit. I think Lefty Brown has a high score of around 250000. How, I do not know. you get bonus points for eating a bunch of ghosts in a row, but a limited supply of power pellets. I don't see myself getting near Lefty. Still it is a fun game. There are alot of fun games that you can download onto your Xbox from Xbox Live. I think Bomber Man may be my next download.

Almost Done.....

I have only 100 pages left in the last Harry Potter book. So far, it is really good...in spurts. There is alot of back story about Dumbledore and some slightly lame side stories. Still, the main plot of Harry, Ron, and Hermione tracking down Voldemort's Horcruxes is great. Lots of action and good story lines. Also, some twists and turns that keep you off guard. One thing that really catched me off guard is when someone important dies. It's not that I don't expect characters to die, but the way that some deaths are presented is a little suprising (I guess that it is the word.) I won't say who died, of course, but it is a few important characters. My biggest complaint about all of the Harry Potter books is that Harry is such a whiney little bitch sometimes. I understand that it makes him seem more human and he is only supposed to be 17, but I just want to tell him to get over himself sometimes. Life is shitty for everyone in the wizarding world in this book. Still, I am reaching the climax of the story and can't wait to see how things end. J K Rowling has really created a great world and a wonderful set of characters. If I were her, I would keep milking the Harry Potter cash cow for all it is worth. I guess if, in the end Voldemort and/or Harry die, alot of the drive and tension behind the story will be gone, but there is still alot that could go on the the world of Harry Potter. Look at all of the Start Wars books out there. Sure, some are complete garbage, but alot of them have some really good stories. Just because Luke offed the Emperor and Vader doesn't mean that he eliminated all of the Empire's forces. The same can be said for the Harry Potter universe. Well, we shall see. Maybe J K Rowling will start seeling licensing rights and let other authors take a stab at Harry's 'verse.

This Season

The 2007 Ohio State Football Season is just around the corner. I have faith that the OSU defense will be dominant with their tight line backer corps, but am a little concerned with the offense. Most of the receivers have gone to the NFL and Heisman winner QB Troy Smith is right there with them. The younger running backs showed some good potential, but the big question mark is going to be which QB is going to step up to lead. I don't know the preseason rankings yet, but here is a look at the upcoming games:

Youngstown State - 09/01 nickname: Penguins I don't really expect this to be too much of a game. The first few game of the Ohio State season aremore like warm up games.

Akron - 09/08 nickname: Zips Another in state game. I don't know much about the Zips, but expect a snoozer.

Washington - 09/15 nickname: Huskies Here is where the season starts to get interesting. Since the rankings are not out yet, I am not sure how good Washington is supposed to be. It could be a pretty tough game

Northwestern - 09/22 nickname: Wildcats The Mild Cats have not been doing too well in the past few seasons. They have some good players, but have not been much of a factor in the Big Ten lately.

Minnesota - 09/29 nickname: Golden Gophers They had a rough year last year. I expect Ohio State to win again.

Purdue - 10/06 nickname: Boilermakers The Boilermakers are always a tough game for OSU. They were almost the one loss to ruin OSU's 2002 undefeated season.

Kent State - 10/13 nickname: Golden Flashes Another instate game. I guess this is as close to a by-week as the Buckeyes will get.

Michigan State - 10/20 nickname: Spartans The rough part of the season really starts here. All Big Ten teams all the way out.

Penn State - 10/27 nickname: Nittany Lions A big one. Penn State is always a tough game, no matter the rankings or where the game is played. Jo Pa may be getting up there in years, but the past few season have shown that he still has the magic.

Wisconsin - 11/03 nickname:Badgers The Badgers are always another tough opponent. They always have a huge O-line and running game.

Illinois - 11/10 nickname: Fighting Illini A mild break before The Game. the Illini have fallen on hard times the past few seasons. Still, they can't be overlooked.

M*ch*g*n - 10/17 nickname: Wolverines THE BIG ONE Any season is a good season with a win over the Wolverines. ESPN has picked them to finish #1 in the Big Ten, with OSU #2. The game is in the Big House, so it is going to be tough for the Buckeyes to come out on top.

Ohio: The Number Two State

Once again an Ohio team got to the title game of a sport and came in second. It seems to be our lot in life. OSU got to the National Title Game for football against Florida, and lost. Then, they got to the National Title Game for basketball against Forida, and lost. The Cleveland Cavs got to the NBA Finals, and lost. Now, the Columbus Destroyers got to the Arena Bowl, AND LOST!! Anyone see a pattern? I didn't watch a single game of the Destroyers season until the Arena Bowl yesterday, and then I only half watched it as I worked. It really isn't my bag, but I wanted to witness an Ohio team, ANY Ohio team, bring home the gold. My first taste of bitterness at a loss of an Ohio team was when the Cleveland Browns lost to Denver in the playoffs, twice, years ago. I've also seen the Cleveland Indians get close to the World Series and the Cavs get close to the NBA title. I'm probably wrong, but the only title that I can remember an Ohio team winning in my lifetime is Ohio State's win in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Ever since then, it has been close, but no cigar. A perfect year for me would be a National Title for Ohio State in ALL sports and the Cleveland Browns, Indians, and Cavs to win their respective titles along with the Columbus Bluejackets and Crew (the Destroyers too, I guess). Sorry Woody, but I gotta put the Bowns above my desire to see the Bengals win the Super Bowl. Of course, it is more likely that the Bengals will do it first, but I a not a huge Cinci fan. Anyway, the Arena bowl was close in the first half, but they the Destroyers ended up losing by about 22, I think. I forget who they played, but they got an ass whoopin'.

Instead of a Summer Cookout.....

Sorry folks. This summer has just gotten past me too quickly. What with going to California and trying to keep up with yard work and other things, planning a cookout just slipped my mind. Besides, most of the people that I would have invited have moved out of state or are having kids this summer. So, I dicided to put off the summer cookout and will plan an early fall birthday party. Jessica's birthday is in September, so I will tempt the fates and risk having a party during football season. It will probably not be anything too big, but I will certainly include your names on the invite list if you feel the need to come to C-bus for some Rhodes home cookin'. Again, I am sorry to those of you that were looking forward to a summer cookout here. It just doesn't seem like it will work out. It would probably be on the 8th or 22nd of September. More likey the 22nd, since I have the opportunity to go to an OSU football game on the 8th. Still, I need to check the OSU football schedule (yes, I plan things around the OSU season) and also check with Jessica to see what would work best for her. I may go with a Friday or Sunday date instead. We'll see.

I need to check and see if I have a vagina

Not only do I watch homo-suspicious shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance (mostly Jessica watches them and I don't NOT watch), but lately I have been we have been watching an old show called China Beach. It is an '80s show about a R&R site/hospital in Vietnam during the war. It's a pretty good show, actually, but has some bad acting and an occasional cheesey story. Typical '80s TV. I would class it as a chick flick-type show, but it's not bad due to the occasional war action and attractive women. One of the show highlights is Dana Delaney (seen on the left here). I always thought she was attractive. She is a nurse in the show and apparently, likes to run around in her bra and panties. Marg Helgenberger from CSI and Robert Picardo from Star Trek Voyager are both in the show. I don't know that the show would be for everyone, but Jessica likes it because of the nurse connection. I won't go on too much about China Beach, but it is sometimes on the History Channel or the Halmark Channel. It's a decent show if there is nothing else on.

As a side note, Dana Delaney is reported to be one of the newest cast members on Desparate Housewives, one of my guilty pleasures. If you follow the link, you will also see that Mal is joining the cast too. Nathan Fillion will be Dana Delaney's husband on the show. It is good that Mal keeps getting jobs. It will be weird watching him as a resident on Wisteria Lane instead of shootin' bad guys and delivering clever one liners.

A Few Updates

HARRY POTTER MOVIE - As mentioned in the comments of my last post, I went to see the latest Harry Potter film. It was really good. Therre was alot of action and good special effects. The story was good too, of course. Order of the Phoenix has been my favorite book to date. The only issue I have with these movies is that there is SO much more in the books that never makes the silver screen. The same is true for Order of the Phoenix. I guess the same is true for any book turned into a movie. Still, a good movie. The only issue I had was with the theater. We went to the Movie Tavern, where you can order food and sit at tables, and they did not turn the lights off until all the food was served. That means that we had to watch several minutes of the movie with lights glaring off the screen. I'm doing pretty well with the latest book. I get a little tired of all of Harry's whining though. He's going up against the most dangerous and evil person in the world. Get over yourself!! I know teens are full of hormones and aggression, but it gets a little old after a while.

DEAD RISING - I finally beat Dead Rising. The real ending this time. I got through the game once, but did not make it back to the helocopter in time, so I didn't really beat the game the first time. This time I got to the chopper, which caused 'overtime mode'. It took me a long time to get through overtime mode, mostlt because the commandoes kept kicking my ass. They had body armor, so guns were not too effective. I figured out swords worked well though. I got through to the end and completed the game, causing infinity mode. I haven't played it yet, but am hoping that there are no time limits for any of the quests. I should be able to get more, if not all, of the quests completed.

FUNNY ONIONS - I went to the Sam's to pick up some things (when you have three kids, you need to buy things in bulk) and I went to grab some onions. They were the funniest onions I have ever seen. Not actually the onions themselves. They were orginary run of the mill onions. It was the packaging. Did you know that NASCAR sponsored onions? I found this to be HI-LARIOUS. Don't believe me? Well, that's why I added the photo. Now, I get Wheaties boxes, even some of the special edition cans of pop and packages of snacks, but who knew that a bad of vidalia onions peaked enough of a buzz to make NASCAR want to sponsor them. I mean, how ofter do you peal an onion and think to yourself, "I needs to watch me some NASCAR."? I chuckle a bit just thinking about it.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE? - I watch too many of these stupid talent/reality shows. Mostly because there is nothing else on and Jessica likes them. One of the shows is So You Think You Can Dance? It's like American Idol, but with dancers. I was actually reading the latest HP book last night, more than I was watching the show, but it was on. I mostly look up to see hot women in the sexy dancer outfits. Also, the dancing can be a little interesting. It amazes me how these people can make their bodies twist and move. Some of the dances they have to do are a little silly sometimes though. Another fun side effect is that Alydia always dances when this show is on and it is SO CUTE!! I enjoy watching her dance. I should really video tape it some time, since we have that fancy video camera.

Harry Potter Mania

Lefty's posting about it: Harry Potter mania is sweeping the globe this month with both the release of the latest Harry Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix) and Saturday's release of the final book, The Deathly Hallows. 11 million books sold in one day? Are you kidding me?? That's amazing. Did you know that J.K Rowling was broke and living on the streets when she wrote the first Hary Potter book? Can anyone say, "multi-millionaire?" I knew you could. Anyway, due to the lack of a reliable sitter, we have not yet seen the latest movie. I think that we are going to go tonight. I did, however, add myself to the 11 million people that bought the book Saturday. I have read all of the books to date and have been looking forward to the release of The Deathly Hallows. I am not the fastest reader in the world, and I really don't have a ton of time to read, what with my enormous Xbox habit, but I am already several chaptes into the book. I was up until 2:30 am on Saturday night because I got caught up in an exciting chapter. Needless to say, so far this has been the darkest and most grusome book to date. And I am not even half way into the book. It will require some serious editing to avoid an R rating in the movie theaters if the gore continues. It's not the movie Hostle gore, but still, some gross parts so far. I think that I was fortunate in the fact that I saw some of the movies before reading the books. The First book, The Sorcerer's Stone, was a bit weak and definately more of a kids book. The same was true for The Chamber of Secrets. Rowling's writing improved and The Prizoner of Azkaban really got good and all the other books to date have been excellent. If you have never ead them, give them a try. My favorite book so far has probably been The Order of the Phoenix. I can't wait to see the film. I was suprised when I asked one of my co-workers, April, if she was getting the new book and she said she had never read any of them or saw any of the movies. Are you kidding me? I thought that everyone has read at least one of the books. You should really start at the first book though so that you get all of the back story and character develpoment. The movies do a good job of telling the story, but you really miss out on some good subplots and side stories if you don't read the books.

NCAA 08

I went ahead and bought NCAA 07 Football. It's pretty good. I haven't had too much time to play yet though. I started a dynasty and played a few online games. It's amazingly easy to gain ahievements. I picked up a bunch yesterday. One just for playing a game online. I also got others for multiple sacks and big plays. The game plays like the 07 version, but there are some changes. There are more audibles and moves. It's taking me a while to get used to them. My biggest beef with the game is that, after your opponent picks an offensive play, you only get seven seconds to pick one on defense. this was OK in the old version because you could view six plays at a time, but the 08 version only shows you four. It takes time to scroll to the play you want, so sometimes you don't get to the right play in time. As a result, I only played three or four different plays on defense. I think my mistake was playing online before playing a few more games in my dynasty. the AI in the game is easier to beat than an actual person. I would also have a chance to learn more plays. I also need to set up audibles. I used a few back in the day, but I think they will really be beneficial in the new game. My other beef is that it is about ten times easier to throw an interception. The second game I played, I threw easily six interceptions. Pissed me off. Two went back for TD's and I lost the game by 3. I caught 3 or 4 myself, so it's not just that I suck on offense. Ohio State is more average than last year. I never played against them then someone played them online and I never played as them online because of their insane speed on offense and defense. It was unfair and even no talent people could win with OSU in the 07 version. Now, the game has them ranked #12 and they are more average. No Troy, Teddy, or Gonzo. The running game is still pretty good and their linebackers are good too, but the QB and receivers are average. Another thing that suprised me about this game was that, when I started my dynasty, I played a school that I never heard of. In the 07 version, you played the actual 07 season of your team. If that were the case here, I should have played Youngstown State. I have no idea who I played in my first dynasty game on 08. UNW FC or some crazy acronym like that. I clobbered them 52-0.

All in all, I think I will enjoy NCAA 07 Football. I really need to take the time to master the more subtle skills if I am going to be competative online. Otherwise, I will get my ass kicked all over the place.

I need to start writing stuff down.

I can't believe it. At age 32 (I had to do the math real quick) my memory has turned to shit. It's my mom's fault. Genetically, at least. My grandma had altzeimers real bad and my mom fears she will be the same way. I will probably be right there in years to come. Why do I think this? I come up with ideas and think of things that I need to do, but if I don't write them down, these ideas and plans are forgotten quicker than water through a strainer. I usually don't post Tuesday and Wednesday because I don't usually come down to my office. I think of things to post some times, but if I don't write the ideas down or post right away, I usually forget what I am posting. Anyway, I had a senior moment a few minutes ago when I forgot I was going to post about Doctor Who and Eureka.

THANK GOD FOR SCI FI IN THE SUMMER

Otherwise my summer viewing schedule would suck. Doctor Who and Eureka are two good shows that supliment my summer viewing. David Tennant is starting to grow on me as the Doctor. I really liked the second episode when the hospital he was in was transported to the moon. He absorbed some radiation and then shook it down into his shoe in front of his new friend. He took his shoe off, she said he was mental, and he agreed because wearing only one shoe looked silly. It translates poorly on a post, but was funny in the episode.

Eureka is about a top secret, hidden, town of geniuses that invent new wave high tech stuff that often malfunctions. The sherriff, a US Martial who stumbled into Eureka, kind of stumbles into solutions for the malfunctions. It is a pretty good show with neat ideas.

As a side note, the commercials I am seeing for BSG are a little troubling. Admiral Cane was in one. I hope they are not jumping back to before she was offed. Maybe they are going to go in depth about the Pegasus' crew and their route after the Cylon attack. I hope not. It would piss me off if they would drop the "these guys are all cylons" bomb on us and then avoid that whole story line next season.

First picture used from my Flickr page

I got a suprise the other day when someone asked me to use one of the pictures I posted on my Flickr page for another internet site. It is a pretty cool picture. It's a full sized Volvo made of Legos. I guess I am more of a photoprapher than I thought. Anyway, here's the link to the story. Does this mean I should expect a royalties check?

I'm not Rinnert

If you check out Rinnert's site, you can see some pretty cool pictures. One of these days I need to look through all of them. Anyway, since I own a camera, I figure I should use it right? The problem is that I own a crappy digital camera and the zoom sucks. Actually, I have two cameras. One is a DVD camera and also takes stills and the other is a normal digital camera. Well, the two pictures here are with my non-DVD camera. I like it because it is small and easy to use. The problem is, when you zoom, you can't move at all or the picture blurs. These pictures are the best that I tried to take of these two butterflies in my back yard. The white one had blue on the inside of it's wings, but it wouldn't hold still with it's wings open. It was about the size of a dime, so I had to get really close. You can see from my Flickr page that some of my pictures aren't too great. Probably because of the fact that I don't really know how to use the camera correctly. If the light settings are off, there can be a lot of glare. The beach pictures are the most obvious example of this.

California Trip

Day one: Thursday, we packed the kids up and went to Columbus International Airport for a 10:40 flight to LAX. Oh, first we had a quick lay over at Cincinnati Airport. It was pretty quick though. We got off and right back on to another plane. We landed in LA, got our baggage, picked up our rental car, and then stopped by Jessica' s aunts (Becky) for dinner. We hung out there for a while (pretty late, I guess if you consider we were on Ohio time) and eventually got to our hotel in Palmdale around 11:00 (2:00 Ohio time). I ran to Walmart real quick for a few things, and went to sleep.

Day two: Friday we went to Jessica's cousin Christy's house. Her grandma and other aunt came over too. We ordered Pizza and eventually went home. Christy and Jessica's grandma are pretty religious. I guess Jess' grandma hasn't spoken to her Aunt Becky for years because of their different views on faith. Also, her grandma has avoided all contact with her dad since he came out of the closet. Anyway, it was about 110 degrees out, so I stayed in the AC on the couch.

Day three: We left hotel #1 and went to the beach and then checked into hotel #2 for a night. The beaches were nice. It amazed me the temperature differences from Palmdale (about 100 everyday), to the LA (about ten degrees cooler), and the beach (low 80's). Noah had fun in the waves and Gabriel and Alydia got their feet wet, but were too timid to go in too deep. At hotel #2, the kids all enjoyed the pool. It was a little cool in the water, but we all had a blast. I think we may get a pool next summer. We definately need to get the kids swimming lessons.

Day four: We left hotel #2 and went to Legoland. It was pretty fun. There were all sorts of cool things made by Legos. There are lots of pictures on my Flickr page. Gabriel said that he liked Legoland the best. He had a lot of fun on the rides and checking out Legos. Back to hotel #1 again.

Days Five and Six: We basically chilled out at the hotel and at Christy's again. We swam alot in the pool and went to see Jessica's grandma again. A funny red neck side note: Jessica and her cousin are both on her Grandma Burkert's side. The other grandma is Jessica's dad's mother. Cousin Christy's mom died a long time ago and Grandma Walters divorced and remarried........Christy's dad (Jessica's uncle). So, Jessica's grandma is her aunt and her uncle is her step-grandfather. "You know you're a red neck when....."

Day seven: We left hotel #1 again and went to hotel #3 and Disneyland. It was really weird. The streets and walkways in Disney were packed with wall-to-wall people. Images of standing in line for hours or sitting with Alydia for hours while Jess took the big kids on rides flooded my brain. However, the longest wait that we had for any ride was 45 minutes (Jess took the boys on Space Mountain while I played Galaga and watched Ally). Everything else was 30 minutes or less. If there was a line that looked long, there would be another ride next door that would have no line. The only thing we wanted to go on but didn't was the Finding Nemo submarine ride. We couldn't even find the end of the line for that. One cheesey thing was the Pirates of the Carribean ride. It was just the Pirate Ride, but with "Where's Capitan Jack Sparrow?" dialogue added in. At the end, there was a Johnny Depp animatronic puppet sitting on a pile of gold singing a pirate song. Cheesey. (I had been on the Pirate Ride back in the day)

Last day: Did I mention Hotel #3 was a dive with black mold in the bathroom? Luckily we were only there for one night and only to sleep. Next time (if we go back to Disney) I told Jessica that we can spring for a Disney Resort hotel so that it will be clean. It was nasty. Anyway, we went back to Disneyland and also to Disney California Adventure, which is more of a 'big kid' ride. I got stuck with the little ones while Jessica and Noah went on a roller coaster. We went on a carosel and had some ice cream. I got my turn to go on a 'big kid' ride when we went on the Tower of Terror. It's a left and drop kind of ride. Gabe didn't like it too much since it literally lifted you out of you seat when you fell. The ferris wheel was interesting. most of the cars were on tracks so that you would go up and down and swing back and forth as the wheel revolved. We left the park around 7:00 (after the parade) and made it to the ariport with plenty of time to check and grab some dinner before the flight at 10:40. We arrived back at Columbus at 5:50 am. (remember the time difference) It was a pretty miserable flight since Alydia was having trouble sleeping and there was some turbulance. Still, we made it home in one piece. I am going to add beach pictures to my Flickr site soon.

I lied

I know I said that I would post more about our trip to California, but I have a few other items I feel I need to address first:

First, a few trip tid-bits that I should have added to yesterday's post: 1. there are more Spanish TV channels in LA then English speaking channels. 2. Denny's is a heart attack waiting to happen. We don't have Denny's in Columbus (that I know of) so when we went to one in CA, I was suprised a the about of meats on each breakfast. Each egg dish came with bacon AND sausage as a side. There were other dishes that included extra bacon and sausage, plus even more that had ham and smoked sausage added to the meat mix. The craziest, heart-stopping meal was the 'caver omelet' which was stuffer with ham, sausage, and bacon, then topped with cheese sause, and served with a side of bacon and sausage. I needed a triple bypass just looking at the picture.

Xbox news: To NCAA 08 or not to? NCAA Football 08 is coming out this week. Do I want to buy it? I sort of do because all of the online gamers will be upgrading and I will need to as well if I want to play any online football games. Still, I have a few other games I need to attend to first and may not have the time to give the game the attention needed for me to be competative online. I'll probably cave and get it.

I beat Dead Rising last night. Well, sort of. I should say that I completed the game. I killed the last 'boss' the butcher, but the these army commandos came in and kicked my ass, tied me up, and I missed the deadline to escape with the truth. The game saved and I now haev to start over. I will probably keep playing so that I can kill more bad guys and save more people. Plus, there area alot of achievements that I need to complete. Still I was frustrated that I got to the end of the game and then got my butt kicked in a heartbeat and catipulted back to the beginning of the game.

TRANSFORMERS: I took the boys to see Transformers this past Friday. I figured it was a good way to unwind and also give the girls some alone time. Plus, I really wanted to see it. It was pretty good. There were a few editing schemes I would have avoided (like the smattering of slow motion action segments here and there) but all in all, I thought it was pretty well done. The effects were neat, there was plenty of action, and a hot girl. What more do you need? I didn't like that the Autobots were all Chevys. Bumblebee is supposed to be a VW Beetle, not a Camaro. Still, other than that, I was pleased with some of the old school dialogue like, "One shallstand and one shall fall." Oh, and did I catch that Prime and Megatron are supposed to be brothers? Hmm. All in all, this is a movie that I will probably buy when the DVD comes out.

I still need to see Harry Potter. The new book is out this month too.

Flickr Pics

So, I added all of the interesting pictures from our trip to my Flickr page. I hope you like them. I will post more content tomorrow, but here are a few observations that I made about Cali:

1. in California, they say 'soda' not 'pop'.
2. in California, every highway is preceeded by saying 'the'. The 104. The 14. The 405. etc. In Ohio, we just say the route number: "Take 315." rather than "Take the 405."
3. driving in LA brought out a whole new aggressive driving style I never knew was in me. No one yields to merging traffic and keeping 'safe distance' from the car infront of you is open invitation to others to cut in front of you.
4. LAX is a pain in the ass compaired to Columbus Internation Airport
5. 'Dry heat' is bull shit. Hot is hot.
6. LA has TONS more fast food options. They have the McDonalds, BK, and Wendy's options, like in Ohio, but also, Jack in the Box, Popeyes, Weinerschnitzel, an In'N'Out Burger. Funny since California is supposed to be a 'healthy' state co0mpaired to Ohio.
7. POP (remember, they say 'soda') is way over priced in CA. Here in Columbus, I can get a 12 pack of pop for $3.99, sometimes 4 for $10 if they are on sale, but in California, it was $5.50 for a 12 pack.

A few interesting things we saw:

1. Barbed wire on the bottoms of interstate signs to prevent grafitti
2. A highway sign indicating illegal immigrant crossings on the highway (like a deer crossing sign in Ohio)
3. A brush fire
4. Mountains
5. 110 degree temperature. It was a 'dry heat' though.
6. I saw a child on a leash. I thought of Woody, took a picture, but it was kinda far away, so it looked like I was taking a picture of the mom's ass. It was a nice ass at least, but I deleted the picture.
7. A lotof people swim in shirts. I do it to spare the world from the sight of my grossness, but there were alot of kids in shirts swimming too. Probably because of the intense sunlight.
8. Smog is gross. On a perfectly sunny day, thereis a gray haze over LA.
9. There weren't as many women with obviously fake boobies as I thought I would see. A few, yes, but my guess is that the local women that would (steriotypically) have the fakies probably don't hang out at Disney or Lego Land.

More Tomorrow.

I'm Baaaaack

We arrived in Columbus at 5:50 am this morning. The flight was pretty miserable withAlydia not wanting to sleep. It wasn't too bad though. All in all the trip was pretty good. Some low points, but mostly a good time. I will go into details as the week goes on, including pictures and commentary about Lego Land, Disneyland, California Adventures, the beach, and other general happenings. I am pretty beat today, so the plan is to relax and recover from vacation. I think I will take the boys to see Transformers today and Jess and I might go see Harry Potter tomorrow. So, I should be chalk full posts in the next coming days. Also, be sure to check my Flickr site for pictures. I had to go through and delete some pictures from the memory card (like blury pics and similar pics) because I took so many (over 200). So, more later.

Last Post For Awhile

Well, we are leaving for California on Thursday. I don't own a laptop and am not sure if I will have any computer access, so this is going to be the last post for a while. We get back on the 13th at the butt crack of dawn (like 6:00 am). We should all be pretty wiped out, since we will have a week chalk full of activities. Lego Land, Disney, the beach, and family gatherings... should be fun. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures to share. Now, I'm not going to be as organized as Mona was with her European escapade, but we do have a list of things to pack and times that we need to be places. I'm going to be taking my IPod as my main source of entertainment in our down time. I have all of the last season of Lost to watch. I'm also going to take an old Game Boy with Tetris. I love that game. We also have a portable DVD player for the kids to watch in the car and on the plane. I feel a little nervous taking all this high dollar stuff on a trip out of state. If forget something in Cali, it will be harder to retrieve than if I forgot something at my parent's house a few hours away. I just hope that I will be able to survive a week without my Xbox and computer. I do like my high tech toys. I'll be off for the next two days, so hopefully I will be able to get in a good zombie killin' fix. I don't know how I'm going to go back to work after being off for 12 days. It is going to be tough dragging myself out of bed. Well, I guess I will be back online in a few weeks. Be sure to check back for trip updates and pictures.

Garden Before and After and Pansy Final

Not much to post today, so I thought I would post a few pictures. I took a picture of my garden a while back and another one today. You can see that most of the plants have gone crazy. There is also a picture of that pansy I was posting about from time to time. Lame, I know, but I have lots of time on my hands. The last picture is of a cucumber and yellow squash out of the garden. I am looking forward to eating them. We picked enough green beans of a meal too. YUM! I just hope that the tomatoes start turning red soon. They are the whole reason that I grown veggies. Home grown tomatoes are the best.

Knocked Up is funny. If it doesn't happen to you.

Jessica and I went to see Knocked Up. It's a movie about an unemployed stoner getting lucky with a E! online talent and getting her knocked up. It was a really funny movie, with bits of immature humor for the guys and bits of "chick flick" for the girls. It was a pretty good movie. The E! talent was Katherine Heigl , who is on my list. She looked really hot in this movie, even with the preggers-belly prosthetic. Personally, I think pregnant women are sexy. Maybe cute would be a better term. Anyway, they show Katherine in several revealing outfits and she is in several, non-nude sex scenes. These were probably some of the funniest scenes. Anyway, my attraction to the lead aside, Knocked Up really was pretty funny. Two people from different worlds (stoner vs E! on screen talent) get drunk at a bar, hook up, and she gets pregnant. It ends up being a one night stand until she discovers she is preggers. You can imagine their respective reactions. There are a lot of jokes based on all of the pregnant/birthing steriotypes and experiences as I'm sure you can imagine. I won't give anything away, because this was a pretty good film and worth the watch. It is a bit painful, in a way, if you ever went through this situation. Some of you may know that it happened to me. Luckily, it worked out for me and the wife in the end, but hearing 'I'm pregnant' when you aren't expecting it is a helluva shock. Honestly, it makes the movie a bit funnier to me since I lived through the situation. Sure, it was different for me (It wasn't a one night stand, I knocked up my girlfriend.), but some of the jokes play on the reactions that you have when a child is, unexpectedly, thrust into your life. Still, as mentioned, this flick is worth the watch.

It is Still a Vacation if It's Going To Be a Pain in the Ass?

We're leaving for California next Thursday. I was started to look forward to getting away from the daily routine for a while and relaxing a bit. Now, I am starting to rethink that. Initially, we were going to go to a wedding, but it was cancelled. I was happy about this, since I don't really like huge family engagements. Especially when I don't know any of the family members (it was Jessica's cousin getting married). We also planned on a trip to Disney, the beach and a pace called Lego Land. Jessica got the hotel rooms booked and plane tickets paid for, and I was starting to look forward to a fun week. We are going to stay most of the time in the city that another one of Jessica's cousins lives in (not the one gettign married) and then go to the beach and Lego Land from there, and then go to a different hotel near Disney for one night, go to Disney, and then leave for the airport from there. This was the plan for months. Now, this is where I start getting irritated.

Last night Jessica is talking to her cousin who tells her the Lego Land is three hours away. She wants to dive there day one, stay the night, and then go to Lego Land the next day. Well that's some great f---ing information to get a week before we fly out. As I mentioned, we already have the rooms booked. See, this is why I don't like family obligations. I love my family because they are mostly rational and plan things out well in advance. They don't wait until the week before and then suggest plans. We have alot of money rolled up into this trip and to make changes now is going to cost us more money. Plus, now instead of me drivin from the airport to the place we are staying, then from then to Disney and from Disney back to the airport, I have to add six additional hours of drive time. YIKES! I am really not looking forward to all this driving in CA.

Want to know another reason why I hate family obligations? As you may or may not know, After Jessica's mom passed away, Jessica's brother moved down to Columbus in January to be closer to us and their dad. He didn't have a job yet, but moved down anyway. He ended up getting a job, but was let go after oversleeping the first week. Apparently, after that he couldn't find another job until last month. So, for those of you that don't like math, he was living here unemployed for five months. Since he had no money, guess who he asked to pay his rent? Yup. Jessica. So, instead of having money saved up for our vacation, I had to pay our mortgage by myself for several months and everything (hotels, Disney, car rental, food, you name it) is going to have to go on my credit cards. Needless to say, I am irritated by this since I was finally able to get my credit debt down from $10000 to $2000 this past year. I know. It was bad. Now, it is going to go right back up.

OK. I am done bitching now. I really am looking forward to our trip. I just need to look beyond all of the irritants and try to have fun with the wife and kids. I will besure to take tons of pics and will recap when we get home. I just hope that the hoops we will need to jump through will be worth the effort.

More Dead Rising (sorry)

I know that most of my readers don't care, but I feel the need to post more about Dead Rising. Honestly, there isn't much else for me to post about at the moment. It's been a 'same-old-same-old' kind of week. I played alot over my past two days off. It's freaking fun and freaking frustrating all at the same time. Oh, and a little gross.

First, the fun: I keep finding new weapons to use in my zombie killin'. I went to the gun store, put five clips of ammo into the owner, and have access to shot guns and sniper rifles. Also, just around the corner is a knife/sword shop. The katana is a kick ass weapon in close quarters. After killing a psycho clown, you get a small chain saw which is better than the big one. It's quicker and lasts longer. I think I have Frank up to level 21.

Frustrating: I touched on this before, but I am still having trouble with completing some of the quests presented to Frank. The problem is that it is hard to kill the main bad guys and still have enough ammo and weapons to get the survivors back to the security room. Currently, I have been trying to kill this fat ass female cop that is holding four women in a store. I can kill the cop, but have yet to even get the women back to the park. I can get about half way there, but not with all of the girls. I have to use all of the rounds in the sniper rifle and half of the shot gun ammo just to bring down the fat cop. Then, the zombie amount seems to double and I am dealing with these freaky green faced guys. Ican give a katana to one of the girls, but the others always seem to get killed or zombiefied no matter what I do. Some of the 'bosses' are just impossible. There is a huge marine gut in a hardware store that LOVES to kick my ass. I'm just avoiding him now. There is also a group of convicts in a jeep with a machine gun on it in tha park that enjoy killing me. I try to keep away from them too.

Finally, GROSS: If zombie killin' isn't enough to gross you out, there are some pretty nasty animations in Dead Rising. The previously mentioned psycho clown falls on two running chainsaws. Iew. Sometimes when survivors are turned into zombies, there are some other gross animations. One guy was taken down and had his balls bit off and one of the girls gers her guts ripped out threw her mouth. It was nasty.

I Totally Get It Now

I now understand your obsession with Dead Rising, Woody. For those of you that didn't notice the many posts about Dead rising on Woody's blog, Let's just say that there are several. No, I am not being compensated for putting, not one, but three links to Woody's blog. I'll sum up the posts for you: Woody likes to kill him some zombies. And so do I!! I had started Dead Rising a while back, just to see what it was like, but I didn't really sit down to play it seriously until this weekend. Fun with a capital F. There are a few things that bother me, but the good things about the game out weigh the bad. I guess I will go into what bothers me first:

1. There is no auto-save. Most games that I play save themselves automatically when you pass a check point or change areas on the map. Dead Rising doesn't have that function. You need to go to one of the save points (the bathrooms or the security room) if you want to save the game. Sounds easy enough, but when you are knee deep in zombies and enthralled by the killin' you tend to forget to save. This happened to me several times. I got so wrapped up, that I completely forgot to save, then I died, and had to start all over again.

2. The survivors that you are supposed to save and escort back to the security room are morons. You have the ability to call out to people, but they don't listen. You can run into them, knock them down, and yell at them, and still they ignore you. I try to save as many people as I can, but to be honest, I have not done too well.

3. Too much to do, not enough time. There is not enough time to save the survivors and complete the main quest of the game. I guess that you need to pick and choose what you do, but why would they give you so many quests if you couldn't complete them?

What I like about the game is that it is not your everyday FPS (first person shooter). Yes, you do get a gun, but I think that it is the least useful weapon against the hordes of zombies. You need to pick up other weapons through out the shopping mall. So far, my favorite killing toy has been the lawn mower, followed closely by the chain saw. What I don't understand is why all of the weapons eventually die out on you. I get the chainsaw running out of gas, or a wooden bench eventually breaking, but things like a lead pipe or a rock should last forever. How does a rock break? I guess it adds to the game, in that, you need to constantly find means to defend yourself.

There are a few aspects of the game I am having troubles with. You are supposed to take pictures of the zombies and the things that are happening. I forget to do this. I have gotten some good pictures, one worth over 5000 prestige points (it was Kent shooting a zombie in the head and the blood spray shooting back) but I get into the killin' and neglect the picture taking. Also, when the screen is loading, you see diagrams of different martial arts moves you can do. I have not yet figured out how to do any of them. I think I need to go back and read the instructions manual. Or, I need to ask Woody for some pointers.

Best Call and Worst Beat Ever. In the Same Hand

After winning my last tournament, I decided to play in a cash game last night. We started with four players and I started out pretty strong. I was making good calls and getting good cards, and was soon up $40. I was feeling pretty good as more and more players showed up. We maxed out at 12 players at the table. As the night went along, I was still playing well, but my hand quality was going down. I was hitting fewer big hands, so I started playing more defensively. I hit more big pots when I had the cards and around midnight, I was up to $240+/-.. No kidding. I was feeling GREAT about myself. I was playing really tight because some of the bets were getting out of control. I was playing with some guys with some serious cash and some of the bets were getting up to $70+ range. Now, I don't nomally do that. I can't afford it. Then is happened. Throughout the night, I noticed that Bennie (one of the players) was making big bets at odd times when he didn't hit his hand. It was only when there was already a lot of money in the pot. Basically, he was trying to buy pots. I noticed this on several occasions. Anyway, I was dealt 8-6 of spades. not a great hand, but this was one of the rare occasions that the opening bets were below $5, so I played them. Two spades came up on the flop, giving me four spades towards the flush (5 cards of all one suit). The turn card was another spade, so I had a flush. It was a low flush though. Remember that I only had 8-6 of spades. Two higher spades would beat me. Anyway, I bet big. Maybe $10 (big for me, but not for the table last night). Bennie goes all in, which turned out to be another $73. YIKES!!! Now, remember, I was plus $220 for the night, so I was thinking about this. I would still have alot of money if I called and lost. Remembering his tendancy to make a big bet with nothing, I called Bennie. AND I WAS RIGHT!!!! He had a jack of spades and a six of clubs. I was dominating him with only one card left to come up. The only thing that could beat me was if another spade came up, giving him a higher flush (jack high vs 8 high). there were literally seven cards that he could hit to win. Seven. Anyone want to guess what came up? A MOTHER F*#&ING SPADE!!!!! After that hand, I was crushed. I should have left with my $100+, but wanted to hang out more. I didn't win another hand for the rest of the night. I left with more money than I went with, but having $74 at the end of the night feels alot different than leaving with $300+. I guess I souldn't be too angry about it. I made a great call, but just got unlucky. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Can you see my Xbox?

I was at Sam's picking up some food for the kids (they tear through a box of chicken strips like you wouldn't believe) and on a whim I checked out the Xbox 360 stuff. They have a few games and carry systems and sometimes have some other supplies. Well, this time they had a prety neat 'cool down' kit. Basically, it was a set of fans that you plug in the back of you Xbox to decrease the over-heating issues suffered by the Xbox 360. Along with the fan, it came with four re-chargable batteries and charger, and the cammo face plate that you may or may not see in this picture. To be honest, I needed some help last night when I wanted to play. I couldn't find the damn thing! Maybe I should have gotten the kit that had the red face plate. I'm SO stupid!

On a serious note, here is the first flower on the pansy I have been tracking.

Pan's Labyrinth

One of the latest things I got through NetFlix was a movie called Pan's Labyrinth. I don't remembering hearing much about it when it came out into the theaters, only that I thought it looked interesting. I think it wan several awards. As you can read (if you follow the above link) it is a fairy tale for adults. The description on the NetFlix sleeve was a little bit off. It said something to the effect that it was about a little girl in WWII times needing to rely on her imagination to excape the ugliness of her life. If that is the case, it is a really sad film. It was really interesting to watch though. Basically, the girl's mother married a prick of a Spanish military capitan who is in charge of eliminating Spanish freedom fighters. This guy is a real asshole. I don't know how much I want to get into the details of the movie, because it really was quite interesting. It kind of reminded me of Lady in the Water. At least that kind of feel. Basically, you learn at the beginning of the movie that a child of the Underworld leaves (goes to Earth) and becomes lost and forgets what she is. Her father has portals opened to the world in hopes that she will be reborn and return to him. Sounds, weird, right? Anyway, she finds the portal in the Labyrinth and has to complete three tasks before she can open it and return home. If you don't like fantasy-type movies, skip this one. There are fairies, monsters, and a pan (up right walking goat lookin' thing). There is also some pretty brutal violence, so this is not a film for kids. I had to turn away once. Oh, and my biggest concern before watching the movie: it is in Spanish. So, if you hate reading sub-titles, skip this film. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this movie. It has a sad ending if you don't buy into the 'princess of the underworld' aspect but a happy ending if you do buy into it. It certainly isn't a movie for everyone, but I recommend it if you like Grimm Fairy tales. I'm not talking about the Disney fru-fru sugar coated versions with mice and birds makeing a dress for Cinderella. I mean the original versions where Cinderella's evil step mother had her eyes pecked out by birds at the end. I think I will probably watch it again. I give it 3 and a half start (out of 4).

Pansies

So, I posted about growing a pansy on June 1st. It;s not too exciting, really, but here is the pansy today. As you can see, it is about to flower. I have no idea why some pansies that I planted are this advanced, and others are barely the size of a quarter. They were all planted the same say in the same kind of dirt and get comperable sunlight and water. Of well. I also put up a few more nature-type pictues on my Flickr page. They are all from around my house. I like this picture of a rose.

Got that Poker Monkey off my Back

So, I finally won a card game that wasn't played on my Xbox. I hosted a game last night and was able to come out on top. I know that makes me a rude host, but I don't care. It was about time that the cards came my way. I hit two huge hands back to back and eliminated two played from the game. Two pair followed by a straight. I even hit a full house in a hand. The best hand of the night was a straight flush(someone else's). I think it was the first time I've ever seen that happen in real life. Anyway, I think I ended up taking out 5 of the 15 people playing. I was being brutal. I was getting good hands and making great reads. I think I playedone hand wrong, but was anble to recover to win. I could afford to take a chance with my huge chip lead. We played a second smaller game after that, which I lost, but I was playing with other people's money. It took forever though. The first game with 13 people took 3 hours and the second game with 7 people took 4. I wanted to kick eveyone out, but I try to be a good host.

Dinner and a Movie, Re-defined

I wanted to go see a movie Tuesday. I was hoping to catch Spiderman 3 at around 2:00, but it was not playing at the time. Instead, I took the kids (never gonna do that again) to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. Unbeknownst to me, I went to Hilliard's new hot spot, Movie Tavern. See, it used to be a regular run-of-the-mill movie theater, but it was converted. Now, when you go see a movie, you get to sit at a table and order food and drinks. This was good because, now I could get the kids some substantial food other than pop corn. Plus, they could stuff their mouths while watching and hopfully sit still the whole time (didn't work). The food was pretty good, but pretty pricy. Remember how they screw you at the concession stands? $4 for a pop and $5 for a large pop corn? Imagine a plate of nachos or a chicken basket. Oh, and the drinks are still $4. I will never take the kids to this place again. The food is too expensive for kids that only eat half of it. Also, there were spinning chairs (like desk chairs) that the little kids were spinning in non stop. It is definately a place that I would go to with Jessica. Perfect for a speed date, and for those of us with kids, speed is good.

As for the movie, it was OK. I was a big fan of the first film. It was fun, exciting, and totally entertaining. The second, was OK. They moved away from the action a little bit and added a bit more plot. This final installment of POTC was a little disappointing. A lot of dry plot, a surreal sceen of the afterlife, and even less action. Good guys are now bad guys, bad guys are good, and a whole bunch of new and different characters were introduced. It was not the best of the three films. It's was almost like they just wanted to wrap up the story. I may have missed alot, since I had to chase the little kids all over the place.

It's almost over

So, my choice was to play Halo 3 as much as possible this weekend. I think that today is the last day that it is available. I wish it were going to be available for longer. I played several matches this weekend. It looks like most of the same games from the old Halo multi-player matches are available on H3. I played a team slayer match on a HUGE map, getting my ass beaten. I played individual slayer matches (I did pretty well in these), odd ball (keep away), king of the hill, and two other slayer variations: rockets (everyone has a rocket launcher and unlimited ammo) and 'snipes and shottys' (everyone gets a shot gun and sniper rifle). I did the best in a snipes and shotty game, taking first place once. My basic strategy is to try to sneak up on people trying to snipe and then shot gun them in the back. There are some cool new weapons in the game too. A Spartan Laser, which is a HUGE laser rifle that will take out anything it hits. The draw backs are that it is slow as hell and you only get 5 shots. There was also a chain gun or something, which shot explosive shells and was slow like the laser. Still, there are a lot of fun additions to the game. I hope I can play a little bit more before it is off Xbox Live. I am DEFINATELY going to buy H3 when it is released. The only online drawback is that there isn't anything that will separate the good players from the no-so-good players. I was in a few games with killing machines. I am OK, but was getting beat down a lot by these people. Hopfully I will be able to meet a group of people that are on my same level when the game comes out and we can have private games.

I'm done (sorta)

So, I finished the quests in Crack Down on Tuesday. Really, I was a little disapointed. I had a great time with this game, you get to kill gangstas and complete quests, with you ultimate goal to clean up the streets of a violent city. Yo are a super-cop with super strength and healing abilities. You also get to look for hidden orbs and agility orbs that give you more strength and abilities. Plus, there are races that you can compete in to give you more experience points. When I say I am done, I mean that I have killed all of the bad guys. I still need to find a bunch of hidden orbs and agility orbs. There area bunch of races I haven't done either. I'm just not sure if I want to committ the time though. What's in it for me? I guess there is bragging rights, like Woody has for Dead Rising and another person I found through Woody, Lefty Brown, has found all but one of the Hidden orbs in Crack Down. I guess that there are more weapons to find too, but is there a point? Wil they be better than my favorite machine gun/rocket launcher combo? I guess I can move on to the next level and play again, but I have Dead Rising, Rainbox 6 LV, and Oblivion to play. Not to mention my online poker addiction. I suppose that I could complete Dead Rising and then revisit Crack Down.....

So, I have also been playing the Halo 3 Beta. The one thing that I have noticed (and my number one pet peeve about first persone shooters) is that I am getting my ass kicked because when I try to reload I am hitting the reload button for Crack Down (that's not the right button for Halo). Plus, I am getting my ass kicked because I basically suck in the rumble pits. AI opponents are easier to kill than real people. I started playing the old Halo story line to see if I could get my reaction times back up and get used to the controls again, but it hasn't helped much. My guess is that I will get into it more and be more successful online after H3 is out and I have gone through the quest. I will get used to the new equipment (bubble shield and portable lifts) and weapons. I heard somewhere that the release date was pushed up to September, but I doubt it.

Rain, Rain...Keep coming!

I know, I know. I sound like a farmer. I guess I am in a way. A gardener at least. 12x24 garden and I like planting flowers and stuff around the house. I finally got everything into my garden a while ago and have been fighting a several week long dry spell. I don't mind watering, but it gets expensive after a while. The weather people kept saying that it was going to rain for the longest time, but it didn't until yesterday. We got some much needed H2O. I know that this isn't much of an exciting topic of conversation, but am running dry too. I have had to work all weekend, so I'm a little drained mentally. Anyway, The rain was good for my garden. I'm sure that the plants don't get enough water when I use the hose. Mother Nature does a much better job. Anyway, here is a picture of my garden. The tall plants on the left are all tomatoes. They have grown about a foot since my dad and I planted them on the 20th last month. I LOVE home grown tomatoes. The ones you buy at the store are crap. If/when we have our cookout, hopfully we will have plenty of home grown vegies for you all.

I also am posting the pansy after about four weeks of growth. They are going a little slowly due to the lack of rain, but they have really sprung up lately. Probably doubled in size. I expect some flowers to pop out in a couple more weeks.

I Can't Believe I Almost Missed It!!!

Who said that there was no point to reading Woody's blog? I may have been me, but if that is the case I TOTALLY take it back. On a whim, I followed one of his links to Lefty Brown's blog. BOY am I glad I did! I figured that there may be some interesting Xbox content since he taught Woody how to create his own 'Achievement Unlocked' notices (see Woody's post today). I scrolled down a bit and Lefty's 05/31/2007 posting and saw that the Halo 3 Beta test was up and running. Not only that, but there is only a limited time left for me to play. WHAT!?!?!? Are you kidding me?? The entire reason for my buring Crack Down was to play the Halo 3 beta test. Now, my window of opportunity is down to 8 or 9 days!!!! I just down loaded the demo and played for about thirty minutes I had time for two fre-for-all games. The forst one, I got my ass kicked. Not just a little. Totally. I'm talking zero kills by EZE2112. The second game I did better scoring five kills. Seeing as how I have never played Halo 3 before, I think that is OK. I'm sure that some of the guys I was playing had already played several hours already and knew all of the nooks and crannies of each map. I played really well. The graphics were great. My only complaint about any of these games (I mean first person shooters) is that they all have different controller set ups. Right now I am used to Crack Down controls, which are majorly different from Halo controls. I tried to throw a grenade and hit the whong button (it was the right one for Crack Down though). But MAN did it feel great to play Halo again. Even if I was getting my ass kicked. I was planning on starting Dead Rising after finishing Crack Down, but I may need to go back and revisit Halo and Halo 2 just to that I can get geared up for Halo 3. Or at least until my controls get figured out again. Just another reason for loving myself for signing up for Xbox Live. FUN SHIT!!!

Poker Problems

So, lately I have been getting my ass kicked in poker. I'm not really sure why. I guess it's been really bad luck. I played last night and started off OK. There were several hands that I was one card away from a killer hand, but kept missing. I guess I need to stop chasing hands like that. The thing is, if I hit one of those hands, it would be killer. The hand I went out on last night, I had a flush draw, a straight draw, and a striaght flush draw. Basically, I needed one of 13 cards. Missed them all. I had a few hands like that. It is very frustrating. Then, it seemed like everyone in the game would hit their hands against me. I guess it's just terrible luck. I guess I should say that when I play on my Xbox, my luck is pretty good. I've won several games, and my online ranking is pretty good. Of course, I'd rather win money. I guess I should quit crying. I know my luck will turn around. I just wish it were sooner than later.

The Life of a Pansy

No, this is not a posting of my day to day life. Nor is it a post about any of my friends. I just thought that this would be an interesting posting idea. I plan on taking a picture of a pansy (plant) every once in a while and we can watch it grow. OK. Maybe I am a bit of a pansy too. I can't think of anything else to post at the moment.

I started these at the beginning of April and this picture was taken a few weeks ago.