Goin' Back to Cali

It isn't going to be until July, but Jessica and I are taking the kids to California. I have been there once before, when I went to the Rose Bowl with the OSU Marching Band, but Jessica was actually born in California. That's right, I landed me a California girl. Anyway, Jessica has a lot of family in California still, so we are going for a visit. Her Grandma (whom she doesn't speak with) and some aunts, uncles and cousins all liveout west. On her dad's side, I believe. Well, we are going to try to pack in a whole lot of family fun and visiting of relatives. To kick things off, Jessica's cousin is getting married some time or other. That is going to be the major family commitment. Jessica's cousin, Christie, lives out there as well, and Jessica wants to spend some time with her family. I think the plan is to go to Lego Land with them, which should be fun. I'm a bit scared about going to an amusement park made completely out of Legos. It is a bit expensive, but we are probably only going to have the one chance to go. We are also planning on going to Walt Disney Land/World (whichever). We have our flight booked and hotel reservations (5 nights near cousin Christie) and one night at Disney. Basically, it is going to be out whole tax return and will probably also result in maxing out the Discover card. Seeing as how we've never had a real vacation as a family, I guess it will be worth it. I know Jessica is excited. I am just not looking forward to the whole family deal. There's nothing quite like being scrutinized by family members that you have never met before. Hopfully there will be an open bar. I'm really not one for family gatherings. Nervous about meeting new people I guess. Oh, and we are going to try to go to the beach for a day. It should be fun with the kids. I worry about driving over there too. We will have several hour-plus long drives to get to all of the places we are going. I know how to drive in Columbus, but I hear that LA traffic is CRAZY. I will be getting the insurance on the rental. The plane trips should be fun (not) with three kids in tow. I just hope that Gabe and Alydia will be able to sleep and won't freak out on the ride. They are both good in the car, so hopfully they will be OK in the air too.

The hotel that we are staying in for most of the week has two bed rooms and a pull out sofa. There's no way that I would want to sleep in the same room as all three kids. I'm sure it would result in little sleep and less sex. Say what you will, but if I am on vacation, there had better be sex. We bought a DVD camera so that we can take movies and lots of pictures of the kids. I hope that we run into some of the Disney characters so that we can get pictures of the kids with them. I will be sure to post them, of course. I know, it won't be until July, but I really didn't have anything else to post about.

Almost Five and a Question/Something Interesting

Can you believe that, in nine days, Gabriel is going to be five?!?!? I can't He's growing up so fast. We are going to go to Chuckey Cheese's to celebrate. It won't be too many people: my parents, a few friends for Gabe to run around with, us (of course), and probably Jessica's dad and brother. I think I want to get him the Cars game for the Xbox. Maybe a few Transformers too. It's so fun to shop for him because he likes a lot of the same toys that I like. Yes, I just admitted that I have the same interests as an almost five-year-old. It's how I roll.

Question for you: Which show can first? Firefly or StarTrek Enterprise? I ask this because, on Monday, the SciFi channel has been running several Enterprise episodes back to back and I have been saving them on DVR so that I have something to watch in my down time. One of the characters on Enterprise is Malcolm (no, not Reynolds) and he was having a delirious dream about T-Pol (the smoking hot Vulcan science officer on Enterprise) and she was seducing him. Well, while seducing him she said that, in the Vulcan language, Mal-colm means 'serenity'. COINCIDENCE???? Malcolm Reynolds is the capitan of Serenity in the show Firefly. Wow. It is amazing how the universe unfolds.

To Valentine or not to Valentine

So, Valentine's day is coming up soon. A little more than two weeks away. I have been going over in my mind what I should get for Jessica this year. She told me I didn't need to get her anything, but I saw an episode of The Office where Pam told Roy not to get her anything because they were saving up for their wedding, and then she was pissed at him for not getting her anything. I'm not going to make that mistake. I doubt Jessica would get mad if I didn't get her something, but it's the gesture that is important. Even if I just get a card I will make her happy. Still, I think I'd rather go beyond the minimum effort of getting a card. But what should I get her? I've been getting her flowers quite a bit lately (roses for Christmas and more just because) and I bought her a ring for Christmas and our anniversary combo gift. She doesn't really wear bracelets and has errings and a few nice necklaces. Chocolates would be OK, but we are trying to behave ourselves and eat right. I looked on the internet for ideas and there were some pretty weird options out there: Sex games, panties, pajama's, sex books, a million variations of fake flowers and flower shaped items (candies, candles, etc). Still, nothing really caught my eye. Really, Jessica has all that she wants or needs. So, what do I do? I think I am leaning towards flowers again. I guess I'm just not really all that creative.

Flickr

So, I added more pictures to my Flickr page. Mostly, they are pictures of the kids. I arranged my picture files on my computer so that each kid has their own folder. I was adding Alydia pictures to flickr, so that's why there are a lot of her pictures at the top. I have run into a a bit of a snag with flickr. A cross road if you will. Apparently, you can put of all the pictures that you want, but only 200 are viewable by others unless I upgrade and pay money. I'm not sure if I am dedicated enough to do that. Really, do people care enough about my pictures for me to fork out money to have all of them out there? They are just family pictures and some vacation pictures. I have all of my pictures on CDs, so I'm not worried about what would happen if my computer dies. Plus, it seems to take a while to load all of the pictures up. I should be more selective, I guess, but Alydia is too cute to cut out any of her pictures. Well, I guess take a look if you have the time and let me know if the pictures are interesting enough for me to add more.

Poker Poker Poker

I have a few big poker games this week. First, tonight is the conclusion of an eight week tournament thatI have been participating in. First place gets $700. I don't really need the cash, but it would sre be nice. The way it worked out is, over the past few months, there have been 7 games where the winner gets the most points and the other players get fewer points on a sliding scale depending on what place they ranked. Really, no one has run away with the game. Everyone has gotten a failry equal amount of points. Tonight, we get chips equal to the total amount of points we've won so far. I think that, out of eight people, I am 5th or 6th, but there are only a few hundred points separating everyone. It should be fun.

Tomorrow, I am hosting a tournament at me house. I am expecting 10-20 players, depending on who all shows up. It's difficult to gauge the nember of people coming because most people don't RSVP. Honestly, I don't care as long and there are enough people for a good game (8 or more). Last time I played, I got my ass kicked in, so I am hoping that I can have better luck with the cards and can control my gambling nature. I tend to play hands that I should fold. Sometimes it works out when the right cards some up, but if they don't I get killed.

Great BSG episode last night

It was strange watching Battlestar Galactica on Sunday Night. It was kind of nice though. Desperate Housewives followed by BSG makes for a pretty good TV night. Plus, Friday is now free for going out or doing something other than watching TV. Actually, Desperate Housewives was pretty good too, come to think about it.

So, the teaser for this half of the Battlestar Galactica season implies a few things: one, that one of the main characters is going to die and two, one of the main characters is a Cylon that we don't know about yet. Let's consider this, shall we? First, do you think that the person that dies will be the Cylon? It would be a good way to proove who the Cylon may be, since they are reborn into a new body when they die. Honestly, I thought that they were showing Baltar download then Lucy Lawless' model downloaded. There was a BSG marathon on MLK day, and there was a ticker at the bottom of the screen with online comments of watchers speculating who the Cylon would be. I think Baltar is too obvious. Maybe the assistant to the president? I don't see it being a major officer on Galactica though. Maybe Duala? Who will die? I think either Duala or Anders. That will open up more possibilities for the Starbuck-Apollo sexual tensions. Honestly though, I think whomever dies is going to end up being the Cylon. what do you all think?

On a side note, Heroes is supposed to be a "question answering" episode tonight. Apparently there is a list that, if you are on it, you will end up having a power. Or something. Honestly, this show is one big tease after another. I doubt any questions that are answered will just lead to more questions. Still, I'm hooked.

Funniest Damn Thing I Ever Seen

I was flipping through the channels Friday night looking for something to watch, now that Battlestar Galactica has been moved to Sunday nights, and I found the most HI-larious thing I think I have ever seen in my life. Think about that. I grew up with Woody, Moe, Herb and Bryan. We had some pretty funny times together. This, my faithful reader(s?), took the cake, the blue ribbon, and all of the other prizes. I turned the channel to STO (Sports Time Ohio) and saw something I couldn't believe: Cleveland All Pro Wrestling. Picture this: A high school gymnasium (or maybe a middle school gymnasium, as it was very small) with a wrestling ring in the middle, metal blockades to keep out the swarming tens of fans (50 tops), and two lights (the kind from a cheesey DJ turn table that you'd see at a wedding reception) high lighting the wrestler's entrance(covered by a black sheet). I paused a moment in wonder. I couldn't believe my eyes. The amazement turned to mild amusement when I noticed that the announcers were calling out the wrestler's obviously scripted moves BEFORE THEY HAPPENED!!! I began to chortle a little. Still I was about to change the channel from this ridiculous farce of pro wrestling. WWE, it was not. Then, it happened.... the one legged wrestler lept into the ring. I kid you not. My eyes widdened. My jaw dropped. Was I really seeing this? Did Industrial Lights and Magic lend some CGI magic to Cleveland Pro Wrestlers? Nope. It was for real. A one legged man. I guess you could have called it a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. That was not the funny part. He was actually getting around the ring pretty well, and I do not want to poke fun at someone that obviously suffered a terrible accident. The funny part was that he was holding his own. Hopping around on one leg, he was trading blows with the other wrestlers who were acting like they didn't know that they could take him down if they swept the one leg out from under him. I guess it wasn't in the script. It amazed me further when the other wrestlers would pick up the one legged man and body slam him, atomic drop him, and many other moves. I kept wondering to myself if it would make the other wrestlers feel strange beating up the disabled. I guess he moved around pretty well, but still...come on. I also wondered, did they use the easily accessible penis as a handle? My amazed amusement climaxed (no, not THAT kind of climax. pervs) when the one legged man hopped to the top rope and leapt off onto his opponent, knocking him down, and eventually winning the match. Seriously, tears were rolling down my eyes. Now, you may think me a terrible person for laughing at a disabled person, but really, if you are going to put yourself into the situation where you look rediculous while performaing a rediculous showin a rediculous setting ending with rediculous results, and expect people to take it seriously, I am going to laugh. And honestly, I wasn't laughing at the man. He overcame his disability to be able to do something that he obviously loves and I praise him. It was truely amazing how well he could move around that ring. It was just the absurd nature of it all. I have the next CAPW show set to record on my DVR.

Mullet Man

Well, no one wanted to play my game, Which One's the Woman, so I will just cut my losses, show you the provile of the man's 'stache and move on. Also, since Mona likes my butterfly picture, I am posting another one. This butterfly was actually outside at the "War of 18 Holes" mini-golf course (the War of 1812 is the war that Commadore Perry fought in.) W e were able to get inches away from the lil' fella when we took the picture.

Oh, I have put a bunch of other pictures up on Flickr.com. Check them out if you'd like.

American Idol: The Show I Hate to Love

It's that time of year again. Time for American Idol to polute our TV sets. I wish I could say that I am one of the few American's that tunes to something else when Idol is on, but I'm not. I held out for the first few seasons, refusing to jump on the band wagon, but I finally caved a few years ago. I think it was the 'She Bang's" guy (William Hong, I think). I love the first few weeks for the absolutely terrible singers that are hilarious to watch. Plus, I hate to admit that I really like Simon's razor tongue. Not in some homo-erotic sort of way, I think he's brutally funny. I have to say, so far this season, I am not really thrilled with the show. There have been a fair share of people that think they can sing, but really can't, and they always get angry when they don't make it through. I think that the problem is the severe lack of good singers this year. Usually, there are some good singers that catch my eye early. Not yet. At least Jewel was on the first episode for some eye candy. She's is a very attractive woman. Really, I think that the problem so far is the focus the editors are putting on the criers. This is for two reasons: 1. there are SO many criers this year that it is getting old and I stop caring. 2. How can these people put so much hope into their poor talent that they actually bawl their eyes out on TV when they get cut? It's not like they go to Hollywood, get their hopes elevated, and they get cut. You don't have the talent, the looks, or the personality to be a pop singer superstar....get over yourself. At least you got on TV.

Put-in -Bay pics

So, I finally posted some pictures that we took while on South Bass Island (aka Put-in-Bay). I hope that these post the way I want them to. I usually just post pictures any which way they go up. I'm hoping that they stay on the left and that I can caption them.

This first picture is the sun set one of the nights that we were on the island. We were standing at the base of Perry's Monument. For those of you feom NW Ohio, Perrysburg was named after Commadore Perry. He was in charge of a small fleet that protected Lake Erie shores in one of the wars (French/India, I think)






This picture is for a game I want to play called WOW (Which One's the Woman?). You may need to save the picture to your desktop and blow it up so that you can see it better. There are two people in the picture, a man and a woman, and you need to guess which is which. Also, you have to admire the SWEET mullet on the one that is actually a man. I'll post the results on a later date.








The third picture is of the Crystal Cave at Heineman's Winery. It's a giant geode that you can go down into and walk through. Worlds biggest geode, I think. They did cut out part of it so that you can go in and out, but it's still pretty cool. Apparently the crystals are really heavy and really worthless (except for bringing in the tourists). By the way, if you like wine, Heineman's has some good stuf and they deliver. We like the Pick Catawba, Sweet Concord, and Niagra wines.





We went to a butterfly house on the island too. This is one of the butterflies that we saw. There were a BUNCH of them in the habitat. You get to walk through and sometimes they land on you. You need to make sure that they are off you before you leave, because they are not indigenous to the area and would cause damage to the eco-system if they escaped.

I need to look into that web site where you can add a bunch of pictures for free (Flickr?) I could just add all of the pictures at once instead of posting a few at a time, occasionally. We'll see.

Trying to think of something new

I have been pretty one dimensional with my posts lately. TV, TV, TV, and movies. Sorry about that. I really haven't done too much exciting lately. I guess I'm not a very exciting person. I think that comes with the kids. It's hard to get out and about when you have to either drag along three kids or find a sitter crazy enough to watch three kids. Still, I should try to put a little bit more effort into this blog than just recapping my daily TV and movie watching.

POKER UPDATE:

I've been playing in a poker invitational over the past few months. Nothing too big, just some of my poker friends getting together to play on Thursdays for an eight week tourney. Instead of winning money at the end or each night, the winner gets the greatest number of points, second place gets fewer points than first, and so on all the way down to last place getting the fewest points. On the last night, we get chips in the amount of points that we accumulate. I haven't won one of the nights, but have come in high enough positions that I am in the middle of the pack. The last night, we play for the real money. I think first place gets a couple hundred dollars. It's been pretty fun. I'm having a one night game at our house in a few weeks (the 26th if you are interested). I still want to try to get into a big tourney sometime (like at a casino) but need to look into when and where they are held.

I'm drawing a blank on anything else interesting to write about, so I suppose I will cut this short.

Have I Mentioned that I am into Smallville Now?

I'm sorry that my blog has seemed less like a window into my life and more like a TV/movie review page. To be honest with you, TV and movies and my life are kind of intertwined. I's not that I am a looser, I just have access to DVDs all of the time. (I mentioned, I am a DVD whore.) Well, my latest TV series I have been watching is Smallville. It's weird that I like a WB show so much. I used to associate the WB with bad teen Spelling-esk dramas and African American sit-coms that are so silly that the main four networks won't pick them up (Moesha comes to mind). Anyway, Smallville is a really fun show. If you don't know, it is about the adolescent life of Clark Kent, aka Superman. It starts off in his freshman year of highschool. The show is fueled by the meteor shower that followed Kal'el (Clark)'s ship from Krypton after the planet blew up. The kryptonite caused some people to gain strange powers. Clark goes through his days fighting these super powered people and fighting his urges to tell his friends his secret (and fighting his urge to get it on with is hot female friends, like Lana and Chloe).

The frst season had mostly one episode stories where Clark would discover a bad guy, batle a bit with the bad guy, and defeat the bad guy. He'd get close to hooking up with Lana (a hottie, by the way) and flirt with the idea of telling his friends his secret. One of the interesting things about the show is that Lex Luthor becomes one of Clark's friends. If you don't know, Lex becomes Superman;s arch nemisis. Lex and his father suspect that there is more to Clark than meets the eye. They try to get to the bottom of why Clark is saving the day all of the time.

The story takes a weird twist when Clark discovers a cave with old Native American writings on the walls. The writings end up being Kryptonian and lead Clark to some answers about his parents and destiny on earth. I'm not too sure if I liked the fact that there are all sorts of Kryptonian artifacts all over the place that give Clark clues of his past and future. I'm not too familiar with the comic books and all of the Superman history, but it all seemed a little weird. I guess it add a lit of a twist to the show. Especially since Lex and his father are finding the artifacts and are getting close to the truth about Clark.

In the perverse nature of my blog, I will give you the hotties list from Smallville, ranked by me, of course. I am not going to include the guys, but it is my guess that women would find Clark a bit attractive. Anyways, the girls are:

5. Mrs. Luthor (I forget her name)- Lex gets manipulated into marrying a hot brunette who tries to kill him and then disappears. I forget her name, but she was quite attractive. Actually, Lex only hooks up with hot women and there are a lot of them.
4. Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) - Clark's best friend that could be more, but they are scared to cross that line and loose the friendship. She has very pretty eyes. Chloe and Clark go to the Spring Fling dance together and almost hook up, but then Lana gets caught by a twister and Clark has to run off to save her. Chloe realizes that Lana will always be #1 with Clark and gives up.
3. Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) - She would be #1 if I hadn't watched seasons three and four yet. That's when Lois and Alicia entered the picture. She is Clark's high school crush. They go back and forth bewteen almost dating and not dating that it gets a little tiring.
2. Alicia (Sarah Cater) - Clark starts dating this girl after she discovers his powers. She also has the power to teleport. She doesn't last long, since she goes crazy and tries to kill Lana and then gets offed herself, but she is definately a cutie. Great smile.
1. Lois Lane (Erica Durance) - This future Daily Planet reporter enters the world of Smallville in season 4. She has a real 'girl next door' look. (I like that) She is definately far more attractive in Smallville than she is in the old Superman movies with Christopher Reeve.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKFUCK!!!!

If you watched the national title game and know I am an OSU fan, you know why I am saying FUCK!!!!!!Dammit!!! That was a horrible game. It was never close. OSU got their asses kicked. FUCK!!!!!!!! No posts for a while. Sorry. I am in mourning. FUCK!!!!!

One To Go

Tonight is the night. #1 Ohio State will be taking on #2 Florida in the BCS National Title Game. At first, I was confused. I thought that the game was going to be the Fiesta Bowl, but I guess they create a new bowl game for the National Title. Am I just a little dense, or is this the first time they did this. I was a little thrown when I saw that the Fiesta Bowl was played last week. I guess that the hundreds of bowl games that were already played weren't enough for the college football community. Woody's Bearcats needed their match up against Western Michigan in the International Bowl. There is a funny You Tube link in his rescent archives with a song about the Dot Com Toilet Bowl. Well, the important game is tonight. I haven't really looked into the point spread or anything like that, but I believe that Ohio State is favored by a bit. The media is making a big deal about how fast Florida's team in and speculate that the Buckeyes won't be able to keep up. I think that the media is forgetting that we have a wide receiver that is an Olympic hopeful. His name is Ted Ginn Jr and he is an Olympic hopeful for a running event. I guess that they need to talk about something. I'd rather have them say that OSU will not keep up with Florida's speed than have them say that OSU will kick the crap out of the Gators. I liked seeing a Florida Gators linebacker talking smack about Troy Smith. Nothing too bad, just that he wasn't worried about Troy's skills. Say that now, because I have a feeling that, tonight, Tressel is going to tell Mr. Heisman that he can run, pass, and do whatever he needs to to win the game.

Well, I won't go intot he game too much. I am just looking forward to it. There have been a few other interesting things that I have thing about the whole BCS Title Game experience:

1. There is a small town in Arizona that was named or founded by an Ohio native called Buckeye, AZ. They are about an hour or so from Glendale, so they trick out the town in scarlet and gray and try to draw the visiting OSU fans in to by their trinkets. By the way, the only fire engine in town was names Brutus (OSU's mascott).

2. In the town of Buckeye, AZ, there is a guy that makes T-shirts that say 'Ohiozona, Where Gators Come to Die." I thought that was pretty original.

3. The #1 team gets to choose if they are the home or away team. Since OSU has been the away team each time they have played in the Fiesta Bowl, Tressel chose to be the away team for the upcoming game. This way, they stay in the same hotel, practice at the same field, and keep the same routine as in the previous years.

My prediction: OSU 24- Florida 10

M. Night Shablamblam

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

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

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

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

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

Waiting.....

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

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

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

Merry Christmahoniquanzika, or Happy Festivus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charmed is So Much Better with Rose

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

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

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

Sorry, I'm being lazy.

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

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

Title Game Played, and Won! Plus, Quitters.

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

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

Bowling and Poker

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

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

Anyone Else Live?

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

Did Michigan Get Screwed?

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

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

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

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

BSG Update

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

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

I Likes Me A Good Deal

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

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

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

A Higher Power?

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

De Ja Vu

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

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

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

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

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

Fiesta Bowl Bound

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Game

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

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

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

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

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

What to Post?....

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

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

Democrat Man, the Fixer-Upper

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

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

Two Dissapointing Games

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

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

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

Go Bucks! and BSG comments.

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

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

Prey....Pretty Kick Ass

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

Bowling Fun and NCAA '07

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

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

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

Another Day Closer to Checkout Time

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

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

A Hurtin' on the Hoosiers

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

So Good I watched it Twice. No Kidding!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My List

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I won't laminate it though.

I Gotta Name this? The Broker Record.

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

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

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

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

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

Those are all real names that I have really heard.

It's been a while

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

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

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

First a quick recap of the weekend:

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

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

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

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

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

Two Hours of BSG Magic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Show on TV tonight

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

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

Cool Write up

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

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

Cool Write up

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

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