Magic: The Gathering - An Old Addiction

Back in highschool, I was addicted to comic books. I would go with Woody and Moe in the Woodmobile to JC's Comic Stop or the crappy discount comic book place behind JC's and blow all of my hard earned money on my weekly fix of comics. That is what we did. Good times were had by all. As I entered my college years, I started running out of money and cut back on comics. I started working at Friendly's to help fund my lifestyle. I met a guy named Brandon, who turned me on to Magic: The Gathering. I thought comics tore through my money.......DAMN.

If you don't know, Magic is a collectable card game. You buy cards, make decks, and play games against other people. The concept is that you are a wizard and the cards are your spells. You use your spells to conjure creatures and other things to defeat your opponent. To win, you have to get his/her life count from 20 to 0. The kicker is that you have to buy cards to play with. The more cards you have, the more spells you have access to. I bought cards buy the boat load. The makers of Magic, The Gathering really know how to milk it too. Every couple of months to a year, they would release a new generation of cards. The newer cards were more powerful or had different abilities that the older cards could not combat. So, you needed to buy new cards to stay current and competative. I have thousands of cards. Literally. I was starting to look at them as an investment. However, like with every other collectable that is currently hot, the makers flooded the market. Now, they may be worth a little but, but nothing nearly as much as I thought they would be. Oh well.

Anyway, I got all of my cards out over the weekend and went through them. It took a while to go through them all, believe me. I thought about making some decks to play with, but I don't really have anyone to play with anymore. It's not like Magic is the hot game that it used to be. I could probably find some people to play with if I tried, but I would have to reload with newer cards and catch up on all of the new tricks. It could get costly. I guess I could start trading in some of the old stuff, but I would need to research and do procing and a whole lot of work. I should just put them, and all my old comics, on Ebay. More work.

Back to School - yippie!

The boys go back to school tomorrow. The end to a long summer. Gabe is looking forward to it. He really likes school. He's going to be a first grader now. His school has kindergarten and first graders in the same class rooms, so he has the same teacher and room as last year. I kind of doubt that Noah is looking forward to school as much as Gabe is. He said he wants to see his friends, but I doubt he wants to go to classes all day. Plus, he has to be up before 7:00 am to catch his bus. No more lounging in bed until noon.

The only downside for me is that I have to be up early to get Gabe up and ready for school on my days off. Granted, I am usually up early with the kids anyway, but the possibility of sleeping in is better than not having the option at all. Other than that, it will be just me and Ally home during the days. No more bickering to deal with, just one kid to feed, and a much more relaxing atomosphere.

mmmmmmmmm.....veggies

I'm sure Woody would disagree, but the best thing about summer is all of the great veggies I get out of my garden. It has been a pretty good growing season so far. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, green beans, and all sorts of herbs. YUM. I have commented on my gigantic tomatoe plants, but really the most producing plants have been, by far, my zuchinni plants. Last year I planted 4 and this year I planted three in order to reduce my crop. Well, no such luck. I have had SO many that I can't give them away fast enough. Next year I will plant two so that I have more room for green beans.

My favorite veggie is tomatoes. I have maybe six varieties this year. Yellow and red grape tomatoes, and then red, pink, yellow, and orange big tomatoes. YUM!! They are SO much better than anything you can find store bought. My dad starts them and then gives me the plants when they are about a foot tall. I am sure that is why they do so well. Plus, I fertilize and water and take care of them. This year has actually been a bad year for my tomatoe plants. Yes, they are tall, but I think they have a fungus or disease that is making them produce less. I still have had plenty of them for me and the family, with a few to share, but not nearly the amount I had last year.

This year was a first for me. I actually made some pickles and some salsa. The pickles are OK, but I think they needed a bit more dill. The salsa is GOO-OOD. It was really easy to make too. Basically, it was just chopping up tomatoes, peppers, and onions, then adding cilantro, lime juice, salt and garlic. I added one of my hot peppers too for some heat. The first batch, I used a red hot pepper and it about burned my mouth off. I made a second batch today with a green hot pepper (the more red, the hotter the pepper) and it is not nearly as hot. I also have had all sorts of terrific salads and dishes made with fresh yummy veggies. I am sad that the summer is almost over.

Why didn't anyone tell me?

Hey, how come no one told me about FaceBook? I started blogging so that I could keep people up to date with me and so that I could keep in touch with them, but FaceBook seems to work a lot better. Well, at least for keeping in touch. The 'wall' feature seems to make it easier to post quick messages to people and have little conversations. fun stuff. I wa suprised by some of the old AWHS people I found. Some old friends, like Anne Marie, Alana, McNutt.....some people I forgot about too or was never really close with. It's Mona's fault. She prompted me to check out her reunion postings on FaceBook and I needed to join so that I could view what she posted. Now I have another fun little site to play with while I am bored as hell at work. I haven't really done too much with it yet, just put my name up and sent some friend requests, but I will probably add pictures and stuff like that. Are there anymore features I should be aware of?

Anyone watching the Olympics?

The Olympics are a double edged sword for me. On one hand you have the hours of TV programming that is not airing because of this every-four-year sports fest. Nothing but reruns and bad reality TV. On the other hand, you get sports to watch all day. Of course, the sports themselves are another double edged sword. For example, while eating lunch today, we watched Olympics women's team sabre fencing with the USA going for the bronze medal. Seriously? Now, I am all for the thought and spirit behind the Olympics: Nations coming together in sports competitions rather than in war. However, do we really need to watch all of these 'B' competitions? I know I, personally, don't need to watch them, but do they really need to take up valuable air time? If people don't usually watch the sport all year round, why must we be subjected to them once every four years? Is there really an interest in sports like rowing, weight lifting, shooting, synconized diving, and so on? Ok, Ok, there are some Olympic sports that I enjoy. I actually tune into the Olympics when there is nothing on, hoping to catch something interesting. What I like:

USA Basketball - With the talent they have, if they do not win the gold medal, we should quit playing basketball and Lebron should personally pay each US citizen $20. He can afford it.

Phelps - I usually don't like watching swimming, but this guy is amazing. Going for eight gold medals? Are you serious???

Sand Volleyball - I prefer the women to the men, yes I am a perv, but the sport is fun to watch.

Women's gymnastics - I can't believe what these girls can do with their bodies. It amazes me. Not just in a perv way either. I can see Alydia getting into gymnastics. I would enjoy the men's gymnastics more, but they make me feel like a weakling. the arms on these guys are HUGE.

Soccer - I like soccer.

Well, that's my two cents on the Olympics. I like some of it, don't like other parts. Probably the most interesting thing has been the microscope that the Chinese people have been under. They have done some really crazy stuff. Forcing cab drivers to learn English, making female guides with 'unshapely' legs wear dark stockings, and having a 'pretty' little girl lip sync to another 'unappealing' looking girl's singing on live TV..... Craziness.

Where will they go?

I was thinking about the upcoming Harry Potter movie, The Half Blood Prince, and thought about reading the book again. The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows are the only two books that I have not read more than one time. Anyway, I started thinking about the new movie, out in November, and then started wondering about the actors. The kid actors, more specifically. Some of the adult actors, like Alan Rickman (Snape) already have extablished carreers and should be able to find more work. However, after seven movies, being cast in such huge and popular roles, what will these kid actors do with their lives? I'm sure that none of them will be wanting for money, but will they want to retire in their early 20s? Can you see Daniel Radcliffe as any other character than Harry Potter? Or Emma Watson as anyone other than Hermione Granger? Will they be doomed to the child actor curse of falling into depression and a life of drigs after ther carreers are over, like so many child actors before them? Look at the Coreys, Haim and Feldman. What have they done since their childhood glory days other than get in trouble or do bad reality TV? Will Harry and Ron show up in ten years in some mansion surrounded by cameras and young girls trying to win a date with a has been? Will Hermione end up gracing the pages of adult magazines in order to make a buck because no movie makers will put up with her poofy hair and snotty attitude? I guess there are exceptions to the rule. Alyssa Milano was a child star, appearing in Who's the Boss and some movies, and she ended up making a mint with Charmed. But really, how many child actors are out there that made it just as big in their adult careers? I am trying to think of more child star examples, but I guess my point is made by the fact that I can't.

Gonna have a Cook Out

With the upcoming Ohio State football season coming up, Jessica and I decided we are going to have a cook out for the home opener. If any of my faithful readers are going to be in town on the 30th of August, send me an email and I can send you the information. We usually go all out for these things: food, drink, the game on the big screen, games, maybe some poker after the game. It should be a good time. Kids are welcome, of course. Hopfully, they will play out in the back yard rather than tearing up my basement. I can hope, I guess.

Doctor Dark Knight

Jessica and I went to see Dark Knight last night. I have to say , it was a really good movie. Lots of action, a good story line, good effects......no Katie Holmes though. I don't mind that, since she really isn't a great actress, but the girl they got to replace her was like a poor man's version of Katie Holmes. Not really attractive. Anyway, I digress. Heath Ledger was a TERRIFFIC Joker. It's too bad it was his last roll. If the Joker is in any future Batman films, it will be some cheesey actor trying to act like Heath Ledger being the Joker. A few things that bugged me though:

-Batman had a lisp. I think that he had some kind of retainer or mouth piece that made his S's lisp. It really started to bug me. What criminal would be terrified of a Dark Knight with a lisp?

-They keep killing bad guys. This was something that bothered me in the older Batman films. How can you re-use villans when they are dead? I thought that Two Face was going to be the third Batman foe for the next movie. Nope. At least they didn't make the Michael Keaton's Batman error of killing the Joker. The Joker is probably the greatest of the foes.

I wonder who the next villian to go up against batman will be. I hope they keep the stories fresh and non-cheesey. There's the Riddler, the Penguin, Mr Freeze, and of course, Cat Woman. Will there be a Robin? A Bat Girl? If they keep the movies more realistic and less like a comic, I think this franchise will go far.

We also watched the season finale of Dr Who last night. I'm not too sure what I thought of it. I think I need to watch parts one and two again so that I can get the story all at once. I think I am a little miffed by it all. It seems like it was chaulk full of plot conveniences and things happening just because they needed to happen so the Doctor would live to fight again. I am glad they are keeping David Tennant on. I was concerned that a new Doctor might come along to ruin things, like after Tom Baker left the old school show.

What's with the Hate?

I played cards last night, won some money, but heard something interesting. Someone at the table asked, "Have you seen the story on ESPN.com?" Well, I hadn't so I ask what he was talking about. Well, the story stated that, my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes are now the nation's most hated college football team. When did this happen? I guess some good natured hate comes with all of the winning seasons the Buckeyes have been having lately. A bit of jealousy much? Of course, it could be that people (like me) hate seeing the Buckeyes go to the National Championship game and losing two year in a row. I love seeing them go to the title game, HATE seeing them lose. A lot of people seem to think they have a good chance of going again this year. We'll see. Anyway, I know there are OSU haters, even here in Columbus, but when did we become the nation's most hated team? I guess it had to be someone. My guess is that people are tired of hating Notre Lame since they suck so bad lately, and I know not everyone can share my healthy hatred of M*ch*g*n, but I am a little suprised that OSU jumped into the throne of themost hated.

Another interesting story I heard this weekend was about all of the troubles Penn State has been having lately. Apparently JoePa has been having a rough time keeping his players in line. My understanding is that the kicker was talking smack at a party (or people were talking smack to him) and he started a fight. He got beat up a little, so he called the rest of the team and, to proove their team work skills, they kicked the crap out of some students. Then there is this: "According to an "Outside the Lines" report this week, since 2002, 46 Penn State football players had criminal charges filed against them and 27 either pleaded guilty or were convicted." True, all teams, including OSU, has off the field troubles, but damn.

29 day until kick off!!! GO BUCKS!!!

My one beef about shooters

I have mentioned before that I love first person shooters on my XBox 360. I guess it is the rush you get from the (mock) kill or be killed situations. I am not great at these games, but I can hold my own. Lately I have been playing Call of Duty 4 alot over Halo 3. My Halo 3 disk got scratched, or I probably would have never tried COD 4. Anyway, I am better at H3 in that I win more games. I win a few COD 4 games, but not as much. ANYWAY, the main point to this post is that there is a HUGE difference in the two games. Yes, they are both shooters. the big difference is the controls. The right trigger is shoot for bother games and A is jump, but beyone that, there are HUGE differences. You may think that it wouldn't make much of a difference, but it does. I got a new H3 game this week, tried to play it, and got SMOKED. The biggest difference is that the melee button is different for each game. It is a big deal when you try to hit someone in H3, but kneel instead. Or vice-versa. I guess I am going to have to go one month playing COD4 and then another month playing H3 so that I can keep the controls straight in my head. I wish that each game would use the same basic controls for each action. Maybe I can change them in my options menu.....

Vacation, sorta

I took a few days off last week and took the family to meet my parents at Great Wolf Lodge. It is an indoor water park in Sandusky, OH. It was pretty fun. I say that it was vacation sorta because we had to chase Gabe and Ally all over the place. Mostly Gabe. He LOVED the water slides. The picture is the result of a huge bucket of water getting dumped on a bunch of people. Noah is in there somewhere. It was cold water compared to the heated pools, so I avoided it. Gabe's favorite thing was the leasure creek thing. He woud get into the tube and run around the creek. It was cute. Ally seemed to enjoy the little kid things. she went on this one slide over and over again. She would squeel each time down. It was cute. There is also an out door pool, but the main fun was indoors. It was a little chilly outside. I took a few pictures, but didn't really want to take my camera around too much. I was worried it would get wet. Plus all the lockers were full and I was worried about it getting lost or stolen. I also didn't want to look like a perv trying to take pictures of little girls in their bikinis. That scares me a little. One day my little girl is going to be a teen wanting to to wear tiny bikinis. I think it is a little scary that they make bikinis for young girls. Why do little girls need to be showing so much skin in public? Seems to me that it would fuel sickos and perverts. I will get off my high horse now.

Yup. It's Bigger Than a Baby's Arm!

I've been picking crazy big zuccinis from my garden lately. Plus a bunch of cucumbers and some yellow squash. Still, not too many tomaotes yet. Just little ones. The big ones are starting to get ripe though. It is so exciting having fresh yummy tomaotes. I am a little worried about my tomato plants though. They have some brown leaves at the bottom. I hope they are not diseased. That six foot plant I posted about before is now bigger than ever. I can't even reach the top anymore. I guess I will have to get the tomatoes that grow too high after they fall off the plant. I just love fresh veggies. The picture of my hand and the plant is me reaching up as high as I can and still not reaching the top.

Ramblings

1. I got the latest NCAA 2009 football game. I'm not really too sure why, other than I like how it gets me pumped up about the upcoming football season. I like playing the game as well, I just am not too good at it. Yet. I played four online games and lost two. The other two, I was winning and my opponents wussed out and quit. You don't get credit for a win if your opponent quits. I was urked. Really, there aren't too many changes to the game from the 2008 version. Most of the same plays and such. There are a few new bells and whistles, but nothing jaw dropping.

2. Is BSG ever coming back? I hope that the lame finding Earth episode wasn't the show finale. There has to be more right? We still need to know who the last Cylon is and what happens to everyone in the fleet. I hope they are just putting the finishing touches on the last several episodes. I am jonesing.

3. Shows I am excited about returning: Eureka at the end of the month, Heroes in September, Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles in September. There was another one, but I forget what. Speaking of TV, everyone should watch Wipe Out at least once this summer. The first time I saw it, I about died laughing. People go through obsticle courses and challenges in order to win $50000. It is something you have to see. Describing it won't do it justice.

What is it about Zombies?

What is up with zombies? I mean, why do I like the zombie movie genre so much? Not just the movies, games and TV shows too. I have seen almost any George Romero movie out there and their remakes. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, all are great fun for me. Add to that Resident Evil flicks, 28 Days later, 28 Weeks Later, you name it, I've probably seen it. Let's not forget two HILARIOUS zombie spoofs: Shawn of the Dead and Fido. The whole idea is rediculous though, the dead rising to feed on the living. Rediculous. It could never really happen, right? I think we all would like to think it could happen though. No hear me out. I think everyone has a bit of a killer spirit inside them. Not enough that any sane person would act on it, but it is there. Now, if an event arose that would make it acceptable to go on a zombie killing spree, it could be exciting. Scary as hell, but exciting. I would definately go for the old school slow and stupid zombies though, rather than the scary as shit modern day fast running zombies. Look at one of my (and Woody's) favorite games on the Xbox: Dead Rising. Basically it is a zombie killin' fun fest of happiness. I hope another one comes out soon.

There are a few things about zombies though that I do not understand. A constant in all zombie movies is that the living dead all want to eat human flesh. Why? I guess the only reason that counts is "just because it is scary." Living dead that just walk around eating plants or plain not eating would be lame. The biggest thing that always bothered me though is why don't they eat each other? I guess they like the freshness, but you see movies where the dead are eating corpses they have killed. Why do these dead (the ones getting eaten) not rise up and say, "stop eating me bitch"? At what point does tasty live people turn into icky dead people?

A side note: Jessica and I watched a cheesey zombie movie where one of the dead (before he died that is) said that he was a vegitarian. So, after he died he did not eat people. I thought this a rediculous notion, but hilarious. Could you imagine the living dead vegitarians walking around looking for fresh veggies to kill and devour? My guess is that the people eaters would make fun of them and cast them out of their zombie society.

Damn I am weird sometimes. And NO. I don't really want the dead to rise and try to eat my ass. I am just trying to understand my zombie facination.

Fun Weekend

I guess Friday was pretty uneventful. We watched some TV.

Saturday, I went to play some cards. I usually don't go out on the weekends, so that I can stay home with the family, but for some reason, I felt the need to get out. I guess I was feeling tired of the same old-same old. I ended up winning $80. I beat up on my buddy Hasan most of the night, which made me feel a little bad. I had a huge suck out against him. He went all in for $30 and I called him. I had a pair of aces with a 10 and he had a pair of aces with a jack. The last card to come up was a 10, giving me two pair. Another hand against him, he his a full house and I hit the hand of all hands: a Royal Flush. I had never seen a royal flush in real life. It was fun.

Sunday was more fun for Gabe than is was for me. Actually, it was a little irritating for me. Gabe was invited to party at Pump it Up, which is an inflated play ground of sorts. there was a bouncer castle, a big slide, and an obstacle course. He had fun and was running around like a maniac. Actually, about 20 kids were. It's amazing how weird some kids are. One asked if I wanted him to tickle me. I said no. He then tickled me and said it was opposite day. Are you serious? What kid would do that to a stranger? Then, the birthday boy started crying because his mom told him to wait and eat his cake after everyone was served. Well, she didn't tell everyone this, so all the kids were eating cake before the birthday boy. I can see how he could be upset, but to go on and cry like that (for a while) seemed a bit much. It really makes me feel better about Gabe. Now I know his whining and overreacting is normal for the age. He was pretty well behaved at the party. Accident prone though. He scraped himself up a but on the slide. I think it happens alot there since the staff people had a big supply of bandages. It was frustrating for me because the place was in the middle of nowhere and the sign was on the back of the building where you couldn't see it. I looked for it for about 15 minutes until I found it.

The Key to Victory

I finally have this Call of Duty 4 game figured out. I have been stuck at the bottom of the pack in my multi player matches. I usually have an equal kill to death ratio and often have the fewest deaths of all players, so I was confused as to why I never won or came into the top three. The key: air support. One this about this game that I find unfair is that all players are NOT treated equally. The higher ranked people get better perks and weapons, making it easier for them to kill us lowly folk. Still, I didn't understand how the top people would get 25 kills before everyone else got 10 or more. It seemed so unlikely. Then, it happened. Yesterday, I got three kill right off the bat, which give me a radar perk (so I can see where everyone is on the map). Then, I got two more, giving me an air strike (I get to call in jets that bomb an area I specify, which gave me another kill. After my seventh kill in a row, I got to call in an attack chopper. This is where the fun starts. A chopper comes in a guns down everyone else in the game. I started getting kills on top of kills. I didn't win the match, but I came in second, scoring 20 kills. I was pretty stoaked. I quit playing right after that so that I wouuld end on a high note for the day.

Six foot Maters

As I commented on Betsy's blog, I have some big ass tomato plants this year. My dad starts tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and several other plants in his basement every spring. No, not pot. As a result, we get a jump on the growing season and more yummy veggies every year. It is no trick of the camera or a weird aspect, that plant in the back is taller than my fence. My six foot fence. It is a cherry tomato plant, so it has about 50 little green tomatoes waiting to ripen. someare about ready. We also have yellow cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and pink tomatoes. YUM. One of the best things in the summer is cutting up some tomatoes, adding some fresh parsley and onion, and putting Italian dressing on it. It is great! See some more plant and kid pictures on my Flickr page. Here's a close up of the six footer.

Xbox Live WTF

I was playing on my Xbox yesterday and got booted from a Call of Duty game I was in. I then received a message that stated that my Live ID was logged in at a different location. I thought it weird, but turned off my Xbox to do some things around the house. Later, I tried to play again and when I logged into Xbox Live I got a message stating that my profile had been suspended. Huh? The message also stated that I could log back in today, but it did not say why I was suspended. This morning I called Xbox support and talked to someone that gave me no information at all. So, I check my email and saw one from Microsoft stating that my account was suspended because they received complaints about some inappropriate content on my account. Huh? I have no idea what that could be because I have no idea how I would go about putting up inappropriate content on my Xbox Live account. So, I am clueless as to why I have been suspended from Xbox Live. I don't talk trash, I don't have a camera to take naughty pictures, and I don't post nasty comments anywhere. the only thing I could think of is that someone gained access to my account somehow or someone just filed a complaint against me just to fuck with me. I am hoping that this was some sort of fluke and won't happen again. I would hate to have to start a new Live account and lose all of my achievements and gamer stats.

General Posts

- I played some cards last night. It was my first good night in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. I was hitting HUGE hands and making good plays with them. I ended up winning $215. The biggest hand I had was four queens. I think I won about $40 that hand. I also hit some straights and a full house. I'm still WAY down for the year, but it was a nice night. It's alot easier to win when the cards fall your way.

- Happy 4th everyone! I have to work Saturday and Suday, but I get to have tomorrow off. The boys will be out of town. Gabe is staying with my mom for the weekend and Noah is with his bio-dad again. It will be just me and my girls for the long weekend. I don't think we have anything exciting planned, but it will be nice to have a break from the boys' fighting.

- I bowled a 289 the other night! On the Wii.....I finally figured out how to be pretty consistant rolling the Wii ball. I was perfect until the tenth frame. Then I got robbed and left a ten pin. Oh well. I would much rather roll a 300 in real life. I think I am going to get a new bowling ball for the next bowling season.

Finally!!!

Someone with a brain finally came out and made my satellite TV work. He had to move the dish. I am a little irritated that I have a dish arm sticking out of the side of my house, but I will be able to remove it. The dish is now up higher near the second floor. It is silly, I know, but it was very exciting to watch something on a local network. I am just glad that most networks have their shows online to watch.

Fierce Storms Last Night

Last night Noah came into our room and told us he could hear the tornado sirens. Great. We tried to turn our the TV to see what the weather report was, but since we don't get any networks (yup. still) we had to rely on The Weather Channel and the radio. Basically a huge line of storms was traveling straight down I-70 towards Columbus. We live off of I-70. We are all fine and the house seems like it is all in one piece, but the wind and rain last night was a bit scary. I would like to turn on the TV to see what, if any, kind of damage was done, but as previously mentioned, we have no local networks. There were a few thunder booms that literally shook me. It is the only time that I can remember actually FEELING thunder. It was a little scary.

Open letter from Time Warner to Eric - I told you so.

You may remember that I switched from Time Warner Cable to Dish Network a whild back to get the Big Ten Network. The OSU vs. Wisconsin game was going to be on the Big Ten Network and I wasn't going to miss it (Time Warner doesn't carry the network). I was pretty happy with Dish Network. More channels, more HD channels, more DVR space, Sirius radio, and The Big Ten Network. All for, basically, the same price as cable. HOWEVER, things have since changed. If you don't know, when you use satellite TV, you pick up different channels from different signals from different satellites. I have counted three satellite signals that we recieve. Two work, one does not. Satellite 129 is seriously making me consider cancelling our satellite service. It is pretty hit and miss as to whether or not satellite 129 will work or not. Rain ir shine, it doesn't matter. You may think that this is not a huge deal, but satellite 129 carries all of the HD channels and our local networks. So, we can't watch the local news or local channel programming without some SERIOUS signal breaks or no signal at all. We have called, they have sent techs, four times. Each time, they fiddle with the dish, it gets better for a day or so, and then it goes back to crap. We are supposed to get someone else out here to fix the dish AGAIN this Thursday. If they can't get it righ this time, I am going to ask what we need to do to get rid of the service. I think Insight Cable carries the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately, they will probably try to hit us with an early contract agreement charge. I think it is $200. AAARRGGHHH!

New Music

I got a few new albums in the last few weeks. I haven't have too much time to listen to them though:

- Disturbed - Indestructable - I like heavy rock music. Not ear bleeding gives you a headache speed metal, but some good hard rock. That's Disturbed in a nutshell. I have always been a fan. So far so good. Another solid album.

- Seether - Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces - I haven't listened to this one too much yet. I usually listen to music in the car. I need to listen to my IPod more when I play Xbox rather that my Sirius radio. Again, I like all of Seether's old music, so I am hoping that this new album is just as good.

- Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True - Nice, long album name, eh? This is a different kind of album for me. As mentioned, I listen to Sirius radio when I play Xbox. Well, they play two songs on this album that I really like. All in all, I really like the whole album. The singer's voice is kind of schrill at times, king of like a young Geddy Lee from Rush. Maybe that's why I like them. They have a Irish feel about their music. It is different and I like it.

- Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Maddness - Another mouthful of an album name. I just got this yesterday, so I haven't listened to it much. Again, I heard a song I really liked on Sirius called Welcome Home. It is very good. The rest of the album has a The Mars Volta feel. I don't know how much I'll like it. I need to give it a few listens.

I bought the first two albums at Best Buy, so I have the CDs. The other two I bought on ITunes, so they are only on my computer and IPod. I can back them up on a CD, but probably won't. It seems a little weird though, buying music that is not on a CD.

The Happening

I mentioned yesterday that Jessica and I were going to see M. Knight Shyamalan's lastest film, The Happening. As mentioned, I have really enjoyed all of M's previous movies. They are all original ideas and usually have a big shocker at end. Bruce Willis is already dead, Samuel L Jackson is the main villian, etc. Some of the films are a bit 'out there' but if you can appreciate a good story, M knight tells some of the best. Anyway, The Happening probably won't go down as the greatest film ever, but I liked it. I can understand how some people may not like it because it requires some suspension of disbelief. It's a pretty intense film though. Some gore, some funniness, some action. I don't really want to go into what all happens, because Betsy wanted to see it, but it kind of makes you think about where our world is heading. The ending is a little anti-climactic, but all in all the movie was pretty intense. I also saw an X-Files movie trailer. I'm not sure how I feel about this after the X-Files have been on the shelf for so long. I'm sure I will see it, but will probably wait for NetFlix to send it to me. Oh and Zooey Deschanel has the most beautiful blue eyes. I give The Happening a B, but can see how others might not like it.

I guess I can go into the story a little. I had already figured out most of what was going to happen from the previews. Stop reading if you don't want to know.

OK. Basically, people living on the east coast start killing themselves due to a toxin in the air. If you've seen the previews, you see people jumping off roofs, stabbing themselves, jumping into lion's cages, etc. A lot of the deaths are pretty graphic and gross. The toxin first starts in large populace areas, so everyone starts leaving the cities and towns, but then it starts spreading. You follow Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as they try to survive. They basically find evidence of the toxin wherever they try to go (seeing dead people), so they keep trying to evade it. It's a good thing that this movie was kind of short or else I would have gotten tired of seeing Mark and Zooey running all over the place seeing dead people. All in all The Happening is M Knight's 'save the planet' message. The toxin is occuring naturally from plants where people are, like Mother Nature warning us they she can kill us if we don't stop our distructive ways. Also, it shows how people are really kind of crappy to each other as everyone adopts a "save yourself" kind of attitude. The acting wasn't great, the ending was ho-hum, but the story and suspense made this movie worth the watch for me. No big shocker though, like in some of M's other films. You basically figure out where the toxin is coming from about half way through the movie.

Just what I ordered

Some fun things planned now. I'm not exactly going to be a social butterfly, but at least I have some things to look forward to.

- Tonight Jessica and I are going out for dinner and a movie. We LOVE the Movie Tavern. We actually went there a few weeks ago to see Kung Fu Panda, which was pretty good. Well, tonight we are going to see The Happening. I have heard mixed reviews, be we really like all of M Knight Shymalan's other movies. Hopfully the bad reviews are just from low brow people that don't get M Knight's films or they were expecting something different. I am going to keep an open mind.

- I got good news in regards to my Ohio State footbal tickets this year. Instead of getting a crappy 'pre-season' game like Younsgtown State, I am getting tickets for a Big Ten game. October 11th I get to go see the Buckeyes stomp all over Perdue. I think the Perdue Boilermakers are on a team low lately, but it's still a Big Ten game. It is a different feeling in the Shoe when it is a Big Ten game.

- I have decided to get some Indians tickets for a game in September. My dad is a fan, and I am trying to be one too. At least a better fan. I thought that it would be fun to take the boys and dad to see an Indians game. I think I am going for the September 21st game against the Detroit Tigers. Hopfully, it will be a game with some play-off implications. Of course, the way they have been playing lately, the Indians might be watching the play-offs from their couches in their living rooms. Still, it should be a fun time.

- My mom wants to take us (my family) to a resort in Upper Sandusky for a couple days. She is thinking either Cedar Point or one of those water parks up there. I am a little on the fence about this one. We will go, of course, but it may be frustrating chasing the kids all over the place. I know, I am a stick in the mud. I just need to learn how to go with the flow and enjoy myself.

I need to get out more

I have been kind of bored with life lately. I think that my problem is lack of motivation and interests. Plus, it is hard to do stuff when you are either working or home with the kids while your wife is working. I know I could do things with the kids, but adult interests and kid interests aren't quite the same. Plus, most fun things cost money, which I have none. Given the chance, I'm not too sure what I would do with myself. Probably try to join a soccer team or something. I am pretty out of shape though, so that might be a bit too much. I should get out more to excercise, but I hate excercising in front of people. Maybe I am just making excuses for myself to be lazy. Probably. I just wish that there was something out that that I would enjoy and could take my kids. That is harder than it sounds when dealing with a 14, 6, and 3 year old. Do something the little kids like and the big kid gets bored. Do something for the big kid and the little kids get excluded. Maybe I just need to get out of the house. It's been two weeks since I've had a 'break' from being at home. I have gone to the store, sure (with all the kids in tow), but that is far from recreation. I think I am going to go play poker tonight. I should have joined a summer bowling league. That one night a week out keeps me sane during the fall and winter. Boy, I sound like a whiney bitch and a bad parent, don't I? I think I have just been cooped up too long. A night out will do me some good.

In the week of Eric

A few things going on this week:

1. We are painting the basement. I don't mind painting, but the basement has a bunch of weird corners and angles. We are going with a light green. I was hoping that one gallon and one coat would do, but it looks like I am going to need to get a second gallon. The hardest part was moving all of the stuff away from the walls. Also, manuvering around the kids' toys. Oh yeah, since I have maniac children, there were a few holes and dents in the wall. Really, those are the main reason for the painting. four real holes and about fifteen or twenty dents. Fun stuff.

2. In the Best Buy add, I saw a new Quake game for the Xbox that was being sold with a free copy of Call of Duty 3. I bought COD 4 a while ago and went through it pretty quickly. I want to get into the multi player part of the game. I play Halo 3 multi player ALOT, but wanted to try something new. Anyway, a free game is enough for me to buy another game. Fun stuff. Especially if the free game is something I am interested in. I love first person shooters.

3. As mentioned above, I have been playing COD 4. The game itself is WAY fun. You vs. terrorists. It was too short for my taste (I was done in about a week) but I am really trying to get into the multi player mode. It's quite a change from Halo 3. Instead of charging in, guns blazing, you need to be careful and sneaky. It is realistic in that, if you get shot, you get killed. Halo 3 allows for you to take some damage and still keep going. I have my work cut out for myself if I am to get good at this COD game. One negative is that, even if you are a newbie, you get tossed in with experienced players. I am level 1 playing against level 34 players. H3 was better in that level 1 players get matched up with level 1 players.

4. There are new pictures on my Flickr page. See the link to the right.

drawing a blank lately

Not many posts of late.....sorry about that. I guess I have been drawing a blank when it comes to what to write. I guess I can give you a general update:

- We took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really good. Some of it was silly Jack Black comedy that could have been left out, but the animation was great, the story was good, and the kids really liked it. I did too.

- BSG finally seems to be taking off this season. It had better. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. The last Cylon, Earth, Starbuck, why did they turn Apollo into a whiney bitch, etc. Last episode was really good.

- Noah met his bio-dad this weekend. they had been chatting on the phone and via internet for some time now, but they had never met face to face. Mostly because the guy is a bit of an asshole. I won't get into it too much, but Noah said he had a good time visiting with his 'other family'. I am hoping that it makes Noah appreciate what he has here. I would like to think that a weekend in a trailer park would make him see just how hard Jessica and I work for him and the other kids. Not that there is anything wrong with trailer parks, but I think Noah was happy to be back in his own room. With three other kids, I have no idea where they would all have slept. We (Jessica and I) are never going to have a relationship with these people (I think that someone who is behind on child support and has never sent his child a birthday card or Christmas present is a scum bag) but if Noah wants to, there is really nothing we can do about it. I just don't understand why he would want to see them. Personally, I would be pissed at someone that has never really made any effort to be in my life. I just hope that these people don't expect invitations to summer cookouts and family gatherings.

Going to try Poker again

I am hosting another card game tonight. I've been on a run of horrible luck lately. I took a few weeks off to try to get my head straight. I was starting to sit at the table expecting to lose. That usually means that I am going to lose. The lasst few times I've played haven't been too bad. I've played well and only lost due to bad luck. Plus, I usually play to have fun more than to win. That means I am a little more wreckless. I am going to try to keep my head tonight and play smart. I need to start recouping some of my losses over the last few months.

Will they be Worth the Dough?

There are alot of movies Jessica and I want to see this summer. I love movies. I mostly buy DVDs, but a 42 inch TV just isn't as good as going to the big screen for the full theatrical experience. DVDs are a hel of a lot cheaper though. $15-$20 for a DVD makes more sense than $20 for the tickets, $10-$20 for drinks and snacks, and $30-$40 for a sitter. Plus, you can watch a DVD over and over, plus you can pause it to go pee. Anyway, here are the films we want to see, in no particular order:

Get Smart - Could this have been cast any better? I watched Get Smart re-runs as a kid, so this should be a cool blast from the past.

The Hulk - Jessica has a thing for Edward Norton. This will probably be delegated to a DVD watching.

The Happening - We love M Knight Shyamalan movies. They are always off the beaten path and pretty original. Some are scary, all are good.

Indiana Jones - This will be the first Indy film we have the chance to see in a theater. If Harrison Ford keeps this up, he may break a hip.

The Dark Knight - I hope this is at good as the last Batman flick. It looks like it is going to be great.

Hancock (maybe, probably a DVD pick) - Will Smith as a grumpy, moody superhero. It looks interesting. We'll see.

Of course, there is the new Harry Potter movie in November and Star Trek in December, but I am talking summer movies here. Did I miss any?

Busy Weekend

Saturday - Alydia's party was fun. She got several nice presents from family and friends. Her favorite seems to be clothes. She is SUCH a girl. Oh, and she got some little kid make up. Nothing whorey, just stuff like lip gloss and nail polish. I think Jessica likes playing dress up as much as Ally does. The food was good, the drink was good, everything was good.

Sunday - Since it was so nice out and I had my parents around to help out with everything, I was able to get a lot of yard work done. I started the day by putting in the veggie garden. YIPPIE!! So far, I have tomatoes, peppers, and cucumers going. I still have room for green beans and squash. I just LOVE summer time fresh veggies. Especially the tomatoes. they are SO much better than the store bought ones. I also cleaned out my garage. It ws getting pretty bad. Now that I have a shed and all of the gardening stuff is in it, I have alot more room in the garage. Plenty of room to park in there again. I think I am going to let Jessica park in there from now on so that, when it is snowing, she will be able to go to work without needing to scrape her car off first. Plus, her car is in better shape than mine now. I have scratched and dings all over my car.

I will try to put pictures from the party up n my Flickr page soon.

Almost Party Time

It's hard to believe that, in two days, my little Ally is going to be turning three. It's true when they say that kids grow up too fast. Sure, it will be nice when she is five and gets to go to school, but for now I am more than happy to have her be a little gorl for as long as possible. She is so sweet (most of the time). Tomorrow, we are having a little party. Friends are welcome to pop over. Unfortunately, most of my readers live hours away from me. Still, if anyone feels like popping in, we are kicking things off tomorrow at 4:00 (Saturday). We will have:

Tony Paco's hot dogs
Burgers
Chips
German Potatoe salad
fruit salad
veggie salad
sourkraut balls
dips
cake
drinks (of course)

I am guessing that there will be too much food, since that is how we Rhodes folk roll. YUMMY!!

Busy Day

Yesterday, Jessica took the day off so that we could do things to get ready for Alydia's party this Saturday. I was a busy fella. We went shopping in the morning and then I went to work on projects around the house. I mowed the grass, sprayed the grass with some weed killer, dug up the garden, and completed a border around the flower bed in the back yard. It took me a while and was bery tiring. Still, I always feel good when I get a lot of work done. You would think that I would try to get more things done, but it doesn't happen. We still need to clean the house and get the food ready, but mostly we should be ready to go for Saturday.

If anyone wants to come to the party Saturday, feel free. We are kicking off at 4:00.

Gas sucks

I went to get some gas Friday before having, yet another, bad week at playing cards. I have stopped filling my tank all the way. I drive a minivan, which isn't as bad as you think (I have a comfortable seat and plenty of hauling room in the back), but I have a 20 gallon tank. When gas prices are almost $4 per gallon, you can do the math. Since I don't do most of the driving anymore, I only put in about a half tank every time I fill up. Sure, I could get a full tank and go to the gas station less often, but I just have a problem with paying $80 for a tank of gas. In the meantime, gas and oil companies are still posting record earnings. Anyone else think that they are gauging the American people? If gas prices are really as high as we need to pay, and people are buying less gas because of the costs, how are these black souled companies still posting record gains? I'm just glad Jessica has a car that gets good mileage. Hopefully Bryan and Gretchen don't go broke paying for gas on their country wide trip.

Wii Fun

I have been playing Super Mario Galaxy lately. It is a load of fun. It is like the classic Super Mario games in that you have to save the Princess from Bowser by going through different levels and defeating different 'bosses' at the end. Actually, sometimes you need to complete difficult tasks. The setting is different though, in that you need to go through galaxies instead of the traditional levels. Each level is a different planet in the galaxy or the galaxy itself. Jessica is playing it too. She is irritated that I am further along in the game than she is. She is stuch on a level that you have to cross floors that move and have holes in it. The floor moves away from your goal, so you need to move fast to jump all the holes (different shaped holes). It is pretty rough.

I am also pretty good and Mario Carts Wii. I think I mentioned it before. I now have almost all of the races completed and have a gold cup on all but two levels. The hardest race for me to beat was the Rainbow Road. I kept falling off. I want to take my skills online and see how I measure up.

"I'll Ro-Sham-Bo you for it"

Ok, maybe I am stupid, but I didn't know what ro-sham-bo meant. I'm sure I have heard the term several times in my life, but the time that sticks out for me is when I watched South Park on DVD (season 1) a few weeks ago. There was a dispute between Cartman and Stan. Cartman suggested they 'ro-sham-bo for it'. When asked what that meant, cartman said that you take turns kicking each other in the nuts until someone gives up. The person that doesn't give up, wins. I thought it was hilarious because someone was getting kicked in the balls.

Last night I watched Criminal Minds and a police officer offered to 'ro-sham-bo' someone for the ugly job of telling a father that his daughter was found dead. I giggled a little (inappropriately due to the situation in the show) because I pictured two grown men kicking each other in the balls on network TV. Now, I know what ro-sham-bo really means. Wikipedia layed it down for me. Rock Paper Scissors would be the game. I don't know why I didn't make the connection when I saw that south Park episode. I guess I am a little dense.

Go read Betsy's blog. The link is on the right. Yet another highschool chum of mine had joined the bloggin' world. Soon we shall take over the internet! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!

More

I think I am getting a little irritated with BSG this season. What started out as a kick ass show with all sorts of action, drama, and great effects has turned into an almost boring show with little action and infused with heavy religious overtones. Baltar is turning into some sort of Christ figure, Roslin is turning into some sort of Moses, Starbuck is being painted as the anti-Christ and the show is more about One God verses many gods than it is Cylons verses humans. Last week's Cylon civil war was exciting, but little else is going on that I am interested in. I'm glad this is the last season. I REALLY hope that there are some exciting changes and revelations to come. The more they say that Starbuck is going to lead the fleet to distruction, the more I think Earth is going to be bad news for the fleet and the Cylons.

I watched an interesting show on NetFlix.com called Dexter. It is a Showtime show about a serial killer with morals. Like Morbius, the comic book vampire, Dexter only kills the wrong doers of the world. Sounds like it would be a weird show, but it is pretty good. Dexter actually works with the police as a CSI. He finds proof of killers and, if the system lets them go, he kills the bad guys. I really liked the show.

As promised, I put more pictures on my Flickr page. Lots of pictures of the kids, the puppy, and some flowers in our yard. There is a link on the right.

stuff

I went ahead and ordered tickets for this coming Ohio state football season. If nothing else, I can go, tailgate, and have some fun. I still hate the idea of paying $130 for two football tickets. I guess that's the price you pay when youare a fan or a perennial powerhouse. The Buckeyes are pre-season number one. It doesn't mean much, seeing as how no one has played yet, but with 18 returning starters, they should have a good team.

I played poker last night. I did pretty good for a while, but then the cards got cold for me. Still, I played for seven hours on my first buy in, so I guess it was an OK night. Some guys bought in several times. I wish I could have taken some of that money home with me, but that's how it seems to be going with me. I walked away when my ace high straight lost to quad kings. Damn. THAT's not something you expect. I did make a great play earlier in the night when I had pocket tens. Another play kept calling me as I bet and then he bet $40 after the last card came out. I read the hand right and made the call on his bluff. He was not happy. I was a little irritated when he said he didn't know if I was a good player that made a good call or a bad player that made a bad call. Whatever. I read him right and won a big pot.

I am going to try to upload some pictures to my Flickr page this weekend. Sorry for the delay.

JJ, I'm sorry

A while back I bashed the idea of Cloverfield. I think I said something about how the 'Godzilla thing' had been done before. SOOOOO SORRY JJ Abrahms! I am about half way though and I engrossed. SO intense! Gotta go!!!

OSU Tickets

Ohio State found a new way to insure sell outs and stick it to us OSU Alumni. There is a new way that they are distributing tickets to alumni. I guess it may be a little better in some ways. Instead of getting stuck with tickets based on how much you donate to the university, all alumni get put into a lottery for all the games. The tickets are then selected randomly. So, instead of getting the crappy first game like usual, I could get Michigan tickets. The down side is, the choice to NOT get tickets because of the crappy game is eliminated. If I get a crappy game, I am stuck with the tickets. I guess I am going to start getting tickets again. If they are for a crappy game, I know some people that I can tail gate with, get some beers into me, and still have a good time.

There was an OSU football "inside the practice" thing on ESPN. Exciting stuff. 18 out of the 22 returning starters are back for a final season together. One last shot at a National Title, I guess. Let's just hope that they don't make it to the game only to lose again to an SEC team. I don't think I could handle that. "We're #2! Again!!!" not a chant I want to be a part of.

Multi Post Maddness!!!

I tend to go days without thinking of things to post, then I get all sorts of stuff at once. I guess it makes sense since I only get the chance to post every once in a while. I could make several posts, save them, and post them periodically, but I am a lazy creature.

Iron Man - I took noah to see Iron Man last night. The previews had me really pumped up for this movie. I was a little worried though because previews tend to show only the good bits of the movie and the rest of the film could suck balls. Plus, Robert Downey Jr is not my favorite actor. However, after seeing the movie, I can't picture another actor playing Tony Stark. He did a good job. All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. the effects were really good, there was good action, some levity, and I think it did pretty well for a 'superhero origin' movie. I am not sure how accurate it was compared to the comic book, but I liked it. The ending was a little predictable, but there aren't any more original ideas out there. It would be difficult to make a movie that didn't have a predictable ending. If you didn't hang around for the final scene (after the credits) you didn't miss much. Apparently, Samuel L Jackson is going to be playing Colonel Fury of SHIELD. I don't see that as a good fit. I like Sam L, but don't see him in this roll.

The Wii is going pretty well so far. The kids love it. I went and bought a few more games and accessories for it yesterday. I got Mario Carts Wii with a racing wheel, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4, and a gun thing that came with a Zelda game. The gun and racing wheel are just molded pieces of plastic that the Wii remotes plug into. They just provide stability and a life like feel to the games. When you tuen the wheel right, you turn right. Really, you are just turning the Wii remote, but the wheel helps a little. The gun is a little different. I thought that with Resident Evil 4, the gun thing would work like a gun. Pull the trigger and you shoot. Not quite. If you pull a different trigger and press A, you shoot. Kind of akward and it has turned me off the the game so far. I will go back to it when I have more time. I am tempted to get a classic controller or a Game Cube controller to see if that will make the game play more like Halo 3 on my Xbox 360.

The People Hate Me!!!

"I know! I will pay them to like me!" At least that is what I imagine George Bush though when he decided to give the American people and advance on their tax returns. We should be getting $2100 next week. At least I am doing what he wants me to do. I am spending the money. Fun stuff. First, I bought a new shed. It was on sale at Sears, so I saved $100. It was pretty easy to install. The hard part was trying to get the ground level. I don't think it is quite right, because the dorrs are a bit hard to close. It is hard to make the ground perfectly level.

Next, Jessica just called me to say she found a Wii at Target. I hope she will get a few good games too. I know we should probably pay off bills and try to save some of the money, but it is hard not to be impulsive.

Finally, we have a new addition to the family. I may have mentioned that I've wanted a Boston Terrier for a long time. A guy I know from college had two. I guess they were his mom's, but they are SO cute and fun. Anyway, we got one yesterday. I didn't really want to spend as much as I did, but I was able to talk them down to about half price. We made up for the discount though by buying a cage, bed, and toys. Her name is Daisy. So far, she has been the best behaved puppy ever. Lexie will always be my favorite puppy, but Daisy is right up there too. Only one accident in the house so far. Not too bad for a little doggie. Pictures coming soon.

Even More Stuff

Prom Night was pretty good. It was typical 'crazy person kills teens' movie with a few twists and turns here and there. It was rated PG13, so there was none of the usual 80's slasher film TnA. Still, some of the stereotypes were there. The dumb girl with big boobs was killed first, the girl that was about to screw her boyfriend was killed, and the main character was saved at the last minute. It was a little scary here and there. It was worth the watch.

I don't remember if I mentioned, but when I was at Sears picking up a new lawn mower, my van was clipped by a big ass truck. Granted, I was parked in from of the store waiting for the mower to be loaded (there was no loading zone, but the guy was in a big ass truck and was trying to get passed me and an oncoming car. There just wasn't the room. Personally, if I don't KNOW that I have enough room to get buy, I wait. Apparently, this guy was in more of the "I can make it." mind set. I guess he was in too much of a hurry to wait 30 seconds. Now my car has a nice big dent.

More stuff

I got a call from Herb yesterday. Quite a suprise, since I haven't heard from him in a while. We wanted me to pass the word that he and his wife had another kid. A boy this time. This makes 4.

I got my ass handed to me all night in poker again. My cards just aren't hitting. I did get quads one (four of a kind) but was only able to win $10 out of the hand. It would have been better if there were more people in the hand and someone else had a pair, giving them a full house. Oh well. Life goes on.

Jessica and I are going out tonight. We are going to the Movie Tavern to see Prom Night. It looks like a slasher film. Could be good. Jessica wanted to see it because there are so few 'good slasher movies' out there anymore. It was a toss up between that and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I think it looks funny. I will let you know how Prom night is. It has that cutie from American Dreams and John Tucker Must Die, Brittany Snow. OK, she is pretty hot in that picture, not just cute.

I also started a new NCAA 08 football season. It's been a while since I've played it. I decided to try to get a Heisman Trophy using Hawaii and their quarterback. Basically, pass a lot and all of my run plays are the qb as well. I got an achievement for over 350 passing yards in one game. The Xbox automatically pulled my QB and put in the second stringer. It was fun. I smell Heisman!

Various posts

I've been neglecting my blog. Sorry. I just haven't really been too into it, I guess.

-I am trying to play some cards tonight. I haven't won playing cards for a while. Terrible luck and, let's face it, bad card playing. Hopfully things turn around for me tonight.

-I really would like to become more of a baseball fan. Specifically, a Cleveland Indians fan. I was really into their play off run last year, but for some reason, I just can't get into the regular season. When you can say something like, "The Indians are 2 games below .500 with only 114 games to go." you know that the season is just too long. At least thatis my opinion. The people I really can't understand are these guys that play fantasy baseball. Who has time to track all of those stats? I don't. I think that my baseball fan status will have to be limited to checking out the scores on Sports Center.

-I was really disappointed with one of my NetFlix picks that I watched this week. It was a Simpsons compilation called Bart Wars. It shows a picture of homer and Bart in the Luke/Vader get ups crossing light sabers. I thought that maybe it was a Star Wars spoof, ala Family Guy's Blue Harvest, or at least some episodes with Star Wars references. I was wrong. I guess that's what I get for adding a DVD to my queue without reading the explaination. the DVD was only a set of four episodes with little to do with Star Wars. There was one episode that had Star Wars references, but the rest were old shows that I had seen and were second rate at best. Oh well. You live and you learn.

-I want to go on record that I STILL love my DVR. Last night we watched Grey's Anatomy while recording CSI and then watched CSI while recording Lost and ER. AWESOME!

Jumping the Shark?

Jump the Shark: When the Fonz went water skiing and jumped a shark, it was considered the moment in Happy Days that the show was coming to an end. Has my two favorite shows, Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who jumped their sharks? I have written about these shows often. I love them, have loved them since they started. However, the debut of Dr Who and the beginning episodes of the last season of BSG have been kind of weak.

BSG - I thought that, since we are in the last season, we would be getting answers and the story line would start to progress. Instead, we are getting weak subplots that are taking the show in weird directions. Apparently, Baltar is some religious vessel and hot girls are hiding him in a 'secret' room on Galactica, Apollo wants to be a political pain in the ass of the president, instead of a kick ass viper pilot, and we needed a whole episode to show that at least one of the new Cylons is a murderous bitch. Oh, and Calli can't hold her breath in space. The one saving grace so far has been all of the Cylon in fighting. It has been interesting and had a few suprises here and there. Other than that, this season has been kind of boring.

Dr. Who - I wasn't too thrilled with the season debut of Dr Who. It was an hour and a half long, instead of the normal hour episodes. It was pretty weak. Robots reprogrammed to kill instead of help people. I think they used that plot already. And why are all of the season debuts of Dr Who taking place on Christmas Day? I guess they are trying to show a linear progression of time somehow, but I don't see why when time travel is one of the show's cornerstones. They also seem to be trying to make the David Tennant Dr Who all bad ass. "I'm the Doctor and I'm the one that is going to save you. Any questions?" That may not be the exact quote, but it is close.

I am not going to stop watching these shows, but I hope they get better soon.

How they have fallen

I just saw a commercial for the new Speed Racer movie. The first time I saw a preview/trailer for Speed Racer, I thought it looked retarded. Yes, I watched Speed Racer when I was knee high to a grasshopper, but I have NO craving what-so-ever to see this movie. What makes me sad is that the commercial said that Speed Racer is from the makers of the Matrix. I LOVED the Matrix. How can you make a kick ass movie and then stoop to a corney kid film? Maybe I need to see more before I judge, but I prefir to jump to conclusions in this case.

Hey, did anyone see Cloverfield? It is coming out on DVD next week. I added it to my NetFlix queue. Is it worth the watch?

Starting to get that Football feelin'

Although it is only April, and there is still about five months before the OSU football season officially kicks off, I am already starting to get the OSU Football jones. Probably because the Spring Game is this Saturday. I don't kow if we will be going to the game, but it officially indicates the start of the 2008 season. It is the first taste of the football team as they shake the winter rust off and prepare for another run to the National Title. Honestly, I think it is going to be a great season this year. The Buckeyes only lost four or five starters, so they are basically fielding the same team that went to the title game last year. This is the season that they were suppsed to go to the title game. Last year was supposed to be a 'rebuilding season'.

Another thing that is exciting is that Ohio State signed the top ranked QB prospect, Terrelle Pryor. It was between Penn State, M*ch*g*n, and the Buckeyes. People are already compating him to Vince Young. He is big, fast, and has a cannon for an arm. He never had any real competition in highschool, so going to the college ranks could be a shocker to him. I saw an interview and he seemed pretty full of himself. I am hoping that we don't have another Clarette on our hands. One good thing is that I think he wears number 13, so if he lives up to the hype, I won't have to hear anymore Clarette comments when I wear my number 13 jersey.

Big games of note: at USC, at Wisconsin, Penn State, at Illinois, and M*ch*g*n. The biggest challenge will probably be the game against the Trojans. I remember the home/away series against Texas a few years ago. It was a great series.

For You, Betsy

A while back when I was asking what movies I should add to my NetFlix queue, Betsy asked me to review There Will Be Blood. I had seen commercials and thought that the movie lookes interesting, so I added the movie to my list. It arrived yesterday and I watched it today. Honestly, it was nothing at all like I thought it would be. The previews I have seen made the film look like an old Western movie. I was expecting shoot outs, stage coach chases, you get the meaning. Although this movie was based in the west, it revolved around the big oil rush to Texas. No shoot outs, no chases. Daniel Dey Lewis played the main character, who was an oil prospector that hit it rich. If you remember Gangs of New york, Daniel Day Lewis played the leader of the racist gang and was a real bastard. He is kind of a bastard in this movie too. Although, I won't be buying the film to watch over and over, I somewhat enjoyed the movie. It was very well acted and there were some very engrossing scenes. I guess if you are interested in this film, be wary that it may not be what you expected. Still, entertaining. It is long though, almost three hours. There are some slow spots, but not enough to really turn me off to the movie. I may even watch it again if Jessica wants to watch it tonight or tomorrow.

It Didn't Go Well

Monday and Tuesday I was in Indiana playing cards at Caesar's Casino. I would love to say that I played brilliantly and hit all sorts of hands. It wasn't so. I got OK hands and played them poorly. On top of that, when I got killer hands, I would always get a bad beat. It was terrible. I have never had such piss poor luck when it comes to cards. Examples:

1. I was dealt two kings. That is the second best starting hand in Texas Hold'em. I played them, bet a lot of money, and got my ass handed to me by someone that had pocket aces. The best starting hand.

2. I hit a jack high straight on the river, giving me the best possible straight. Unfortunately, the jack was a spade, giving someone else a flush. A flush beats a straight.

3. THE WORST HAND OF THE TRIP: I was dealt two queens. I bet, was raised, I called. The person betting me had Ace-King of clubs. The flop came up 2, 4, 5 which was OK, except that there were two clubs. So, he needed an Ace, King, any club for a flush and a three for a straight. That makes 17 cards in the deck that will win the hand for my opponent. The turn card came up a 9 of hearts. Then the three of diamonds came on the river. I could have lived with an Ace, a King, or a diamond, but for the lowest possible straight to come on the board was just PAINFUL. It was the last hand I played for the whole trip. I figured that the poker gods were set against me and I needed to cut my losses.

I did play a few other fun games. I didn't win anything, but it was fun. There was Carribean Stud Poker, where you get five cards and try to beat the dealer's five cards. There are also bonuses when you hit big hands. There was a jackpot of about $52000, and if you hit a royal straight flush, you would win the jackpot. It was fun. We played three card poker too, which is similar. Actually, I just watched that. We played blackjack as well, and the bealer was being brutal. When we would hit 20, she would hit 21. The worst was when she had a 6, which is a great card for the dealer to have. It is easy for the dealer to bust. She then dealt herself a five and a ten....21. We walked away from that table. All in all, it was fun. The dealers were nice and helped if you didn't understand the games.

We Are the Champions

You 2008 NIT National Champions: THE Ohio State Buckeyes!!!

Is a national champion still a national champion even if they won the consolation tournament? Last night Ohio State proved that they are the best of what's left by winning the NIT title. I would be excited by this, but really, who cares about the NIT? On one hand, it is a title, and Ohio State may hang a banner in their arena, but on the other hand, there are basically 65 teams that the powers that be thought were better than the Buckeyes. Otherwise, wouldn't they have been invited to the NCAA Tournament? Screw that! We are the Champoins! WOO HOO. We Buckeye fans need SOMETHING to hang our hat on after all of the big games we have lost in the past few years. In reality, if they had gone to the 'Big Dance' they would most likely have been bounced out by the second round.

You would think that the NIT champ would then go on to better things, but out of the last four NIT champs, only one has gone to the NCAA tourney, one went back to the NIT, and the other two (including M*ch*g*n) did not go to any tournament. I doubt that will be the case, seeing as how OSU is getting a seven footer that would go to the NBA, if not for the new rule requiring all NBA players to go to their first year of college.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

I know, a lame title that has been WAY over used, I'm sure. Anyway, since the kids were on spring break and we wanted them to enjoy themselves, they went to both the Circus and the Zoo. I didn't go to the circus because Jessica took them on the same night as my big poker game. I kinda wanted to go just to watch the kids have fun. I guess they were a little leary of the clowns. Still, they rode rides and watch circus-y stuff. Pictures are on my Flickr page. I did go to the zoo though. I am not really a huge zoo fan, but I again wanted to watch the kids have fun. Ally touched a snake, but Gabe was a little scared, I think. It seemed like animals were attracted to him though. One snake followed him (in it's cage) as he walked by and a stingray came right up to him (in it's tank) as he walked by. Again, pictures on my Flickr page. the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, so it was worth it.

The wait is almost over

I saw in the weekly television guide that Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday at 10:00. WOO HOO!!! This will be the last season of my favorite show. Last season got a little weird for me, what with all the major characters ending up being Cylons. I'm still not sure if I buy that. Anyway, it was really frustrating knowing that the season was ending and that we has over a year to wait for new shows. At least we got Razor to tide us over a bit. We know that they will find Earth, but not much more than that. I am excited to see where they go with this season. I can only assume that it will be chalk full of plot and excitement. If they are going to end the story there is alot of things that will need to happen. I only hope that there won't be a shitty spin off like there was after the original BSG. There was a group of kids stranded on Earth with two Viper pilots. Since the gravity on Earth was 'less than they were used to' the kids were able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Vipers could also become invisible to be hidden on earth. It was a really bad show. Still, BSG in five days! WOO HOO!!!!

What a CRAZY Night

I went to play some cards last night. It was a damn long drive from my house, but all my friends told me it was worth the trip. The night started out with a big tournament and ended with some cash games. There were 64 people in the tournament and the payout for first place was over $1000. I was looking forward to the challenge. Things started well for me in the first round, as I more than doubled my chips. I hit three ace high flushes in the first hour. Then, we switched tables and things went south. My cards got cold and I started playing sloppy. I think I was getting cocky. Anyway, out of 64 people, I came in 13th. I didn't win any money, but I still did pretty well in my book.

There were a few things I didn't like about this game. First, you changed tables after every round. This is usually not done. Usually, when a table loses people, that table is mixed up within the other existing tables. You get to stay where you are (unless you are at the table that needs to move). It threw off my game a little. I got a feel for the table I was playing at and then we had to move. Second, there were no side pots. If one person had five chips and went all in, the maximum anyone else could bet was the five chips. If not for this rule, there were a few hands that I could have bet more to get weak hands out, giving me a better chance of winning the pot. Oh well. I won't complain much. I just probably won't play there again.

The cash games were poker, only in the loosest terms. Anyone in the hand would basically throw their money into the pot and then hope their cards hit. For example, I had pocket queens to start. I bet big and several people called me. The flop came up COMPLETE garbage, something like 9-4-6, all different suits. I bet big again, got another call. The turn was another 4, I bet, get called. The river card doesn't matter because the person calling me played with a 7-4. He called a five dollar bet with a 7-4. I guess it worked because he won the hand, but I was just amazed. Whatever. I probably won't play there again.

I Never Got This Much Crap

So, I a my parent's house for Easter. My cousins, Carrie and Jason, and my Aunt Carol and Uncle Terry are here as well. Jessica got suck working this weekend, so I am handling kid wrangling myself. Ok, not really. For those of you with kids, you know that, having relatives around is like having free day care. It is nice. My mom, aunt, and cousin Carrie are handling all of the kid stuff: baths, changing, dressing, teeth brushing, etc. It is like a little vacation. In my new found free time, I am going through all of my mom's digital pics and uploading them to my Flickr page. There are alot and it is taking em a while. My parents have broad band internet, but not my blazing fast business class Road Runner that Nationwide is paying for me to have at my house. What would take me a minute to down load is taking me five minutes here. Plus, there are ALOT of pictures. You know grandparents and taking pictures of their grand kids. I think my mom may actually have more than I do! Ok, maybe not. Still, if/when you check my Flickr page, there will be some pictures that are not in chronilogical order. Sorry.

So, the rest of the day is going to be filled with family time and then the traditional eating too much. We will have the usual ham, potatoes, and green bean caserole. My mom also request that Jessica make her sweet potatoe caserole. Yum. Not to mention, last night my mom get these bake-at home- pizzas from Papa Murphy's (I think). They were pretty good. She got three family sized pizzas for 10 people. These things were HUGE. Pretty good too. They had a stuffed pizza which was really good. I think that there are some in Columbus, but I don't know that I liked it ehough for me to want to get them myself. I prefer Donatoes.

I don't remember ever getting as much candy as my mom got for my kids. She bought all the candy so that I didn't have to hide it on the trip up to Monclova. There were SO many bags of candy that I only put about half of it in their baskets. Yikes. Anyway, I hope that all is well with everyone and that you are all eating way too much with your friends and family. Happy Easter!

Hoppy Easter

I hope everyone has a nice holiday. I will be taking the kids up to my parent's house. I am dreading the car ride since I will be taking the kids solo. Jessica has to work this weekend. Yikes. It shouldn't be too bad. We will probably pick up my cousin on the way, so she will hopfully be able to help out a bit. It should be OK. I will probably be bored all by myself (wife-free). Oh well.

Scroll down a bit for a cute picture of Ally in bunny ears.

Funny Stuff about Dookie and Pee

Sorry if this is a gross post, but I think poo and pee are funny. Especially when there are foods and drinks that alter poo and pee in funny ways.

Asparagus - I LOVE asparagus. It is SO good sauteed with butter, some salt, and pepper. YUM. However, I get 'asparagus pee' after I eat asparagus. It smells weird. Not necessarily bad, but weird. It certainly does not smell good. Anyone know why that is?

Heineman's wine - I ordered some more wine from the winery on Put-In-Bay island in Lake Erie. They only deliver to Ohio. It is GOOD stuff. If you order a case, you cost will break down to about 7 or 8 dollars per bottle, which is what you'd pay for a pretty good bottle in the stores. Anyway, I don't know why, but when I drink this wine, it makes my poo smell weird. Again, not bad, but weird. Certainly not good either. Maybe it is the sulfites in the wine.

Red white and blue sprinkles - When I used to work at Friendly's in my college days, we would screw around and eat rainbow sprinkles. They were there for Fourth of July sundaes. Anyway, large quantities of red white and blue sprinkles will make your poo blue.

Beets - Pickled beets will make your poo turn red. THAT is a shocker the first time you see it.

This used to be my favorite picture of Ally. It is still SO cute, but here are a few more that may challenge it as my favorite. Both have been taken within the last few months. It is pretty rough having the cutest girl ever as my daughter. For one thing, it is hard to get angry at her when she is rotten and shen she is bigger, I am going to have to beat the boys away with a stick. Oh yeah, plus she knows I am her bitch. I am in SO much trouble.

Yes, It Was a Schload

As Mona commented, we got a "schload" of snow a week or so ago. Some areas of Columbus received about 20 inches of snow, but we only got about a foot. Still, it sucked. I have a small driveway and it still took me a hour to shovel. Not much fun. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow though. The snow came while Jessica was at work and she got stranded there. She had to work the next day, so she stayed the night and came home the following day after the roads have been cleared a bit. Luckily, when our street was plowed, then snow was pushed to the other side of the street so I didn't have to shovel again. Our dog, Moose, had a hard time taking his pee breaks in the back. He is only about a foot tall, so he needed to bound through the snow. I think he liked it, except for when the snow was above his head. It was HILARIOUS to watch. There were circles in the snow from where he was leaping through the snow.

More pictures on my Flickr page.

Good Night Bad Morning

I played me some cards last night. I did pretty well, ending up with $120 more than I started with. :-) The night started out slow, with my losing $50, but I turned things around, started playing smarter, and began hitting hands. The hand of the night was a Royal Flush (A, K, Q, J, 10 of clubs) and unfortunately it was against me. Still, it only cost me $10. What sucked is that I started the hand with two pair (AA and 10 10). Oh well. A great hand like that is rare. The ride home was interesting, what with the pea soup fog and barely able to see five feet in front of my car.

This morning was rough, waking up after four hours of sleep. Coffee is good. It was bad because, apparently, we have vandals in the neighborhood. Several of the mail boxes in the area have been knocked down. Boo. I must say though, I am proud of my workmanship. I put up a new mail box post this summer and my mail box is NOT knocked down. It is at an angle, but not knocked down. Hoodlems SUCK.

Movies Update

I watched a bunch of movies this week. In case you care:

The Lookout - This starred the kid from Third Rock From the Sun. It is about a guy that gets into a car wreck, loses his short term memory, and then gets invilved with some bad guys that want to rob a bank. It sounds a little out there, but it was actually pretty good.

No Country for Old Men - I had high hopes for this one, but was a little disappointed. It was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be. It was totally against the normal movie line. The hero dies, the bad guy gets away, and Tommy Lee Jones just kind of fades away. I am glad I didn't buy it.

Dejavu - Should have been called DejaBOO. It had some good action sequences, but was REALLY dumb. Like Time Cops, only less likely. I won't go beyond that.

Scrubs really rocks still. LOVE this show.

NetFlix woes

I am running out of NetFlix ideas again. It's my fault, really. I had all six season of Scrubs lined up, but I decided that I liked it so much that I went out and bought them all. Best Buy had them for $20 each. I can't resist a good deal. Plus, Scrubs makes me laugh out loud and I knew Jessica wanted to see it too. I guess I have a few things in my queue still, 11 to be exact. Five movies and the first season of Prison Break. I never really wanted to watch Prison Break, the concept seemed dumb, but my friend Jesse said I should give it a shot. Really though, how much can you do with the story line of breaking out of a jail? Then, they get stuck in another jail. I will keep an open mind. The five movies I have lined up are:

Beowulf: I don't really like the whole "cartoon based off of real people's images" concept, but the movie looked OK.

American Ganster: I hear it is really good.

Michael Clayton: ditto above

Mad Max: an oldie but a goodie

Grindhouse: Planet Terror: Looked silly in the trailers, but I saw Deathproof and it was really entertaining. I figured I'd give the other 'Grindhouse' film a shot.

So, when I am done with these movies and Prison Break, I am out of movie ideas. I guess I watch too many for my own good. Another thing is that my DVD burner has pooped out on me. I guess I just have to buy them now if I want to keep the movie.

Good Bowling Night

I rocked out on the bowling lanes last night. Three 200+ games. I love it when I am on my game. It hasn't happened too much this year. My average is respectable in the 180's, but last year it was in the 190's. I'm not sure why I am off pace this year. The final tally for my night: 215, 220, and 243 = 678. I was hoping for a 700 series, but I had a few bad breaks. Still, it is my best night of bowling this year. Even better is that my team won all of our games. The first game, we were down going into the tenth frame and we rolled ten strikes in the tenth frame to win the game. It was sweet.

Scrubs is Fun

I have been watching the back episodes of Scrubs lately. It is HI-larious. Great characters, good story, oh and HI-larious!!! Plus, there are all sorts of hot girls in the show that often show up in skimpy outfits. I guess it is very realistic too. Jessica works with several doctors and they say that Scrubs is the most similar to real life hospital work. I am on season three now. Tara Reed is joining the show this episode. I don't get why everyone thinks she is so hot. She is OK, I guess, but is WAY to skinny.

To MySpace or Not to MySpace

I have a MySpace account. I never use it, have never really done anything with it, and was suprised when I already had friend requests. Granted, they were all friend requests from porn sites or dating services, not real people, but I was still suprised, considering I have really done nothing with the account. I am really on my fence a bit as to whether or not I want to do anything with the account. It has been open since September. I put all of my pictures on Flickr and all of my bloggin' here, so do I really need a MySpace page? I guess if I want to become a sexual preditor, it is the way to go (I am SO joking about that). Is there really anything that is better about MySpace, as opposed to Blogger?

I don't think I am a fan of MySpace. Not necessarily as a user, but as a parent. As you may or may not know, teens LOVE myspace. They get to act all big and important in the non-parental-supervised world of the internet. Noah has a MySpace page. It is a little funny how kids try to act all bad-ass. Still I digress. Although I do not think any perverts have contacted Noah, his biologocal father's family has. We are not thrilled about this. I guess it was inevitable, but MySpace gave these people an opening into our lives that is shady and cowardly. They owe us THOSDANDS of dollars in child support and have never been involved in Noah's life (no birthday presents, no Christmas presents, etc). I say it is shady and cowardly because they are bypassing us to get to him. We are not forbiding the contact, but we told Noah to watch out and not to give them any personal information. He is acting all excited about the whole 'new family' idea, but I don't think he is thinking about the fact that these people have never really tried to be in his life for 14 years. I don't think they should be able to visit even see him until they are paid up in child support. WOW!!! Did I get of the subject!

I guess I may play around with my MySpace page, but not too much. I will add a link to my blog if I ever set up the page.

General Postings

1. My card game Friday was fun. I had a really rough night though. I couldn't hit a hand to save my life and some of the people I play with play with garbage that they should fold. Then they hit their hand and win. It is a little rediculous, but it backfires on them when they don't hit their hand. I played with WAY more money than I wanted to. I wanted to play with no more than $100, but I lost that, then another $100, and finally, with my last $40, I won back most of it. All in all, I am down $50 for the night. The last hour saved my ass. I doubled up twice. I am glad I have a forgiving wife. She could get mad with my gambling, but she knows I usually win more than I lose. All of my card playing for the year, and I am only down $50. Not bad, in my opinion. Especially since, after I win the WSOP Main Event, I will be a millionaire.

2. You know it's a slow sports day then ESPN is carrying speed billiards. I didn't really watch much of it, but from what I saw, they had to make all the balls as fast as then could. I'm not sure if they had to go in a certain order. If they missed a shot, they were penalized and if they didn't call a shot (aka "slop") they were penalized.

3. My bank sucks right now. It is transitioning from a credit union to a bank. I don't know the differences, really, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Anyway, this week they were converting a lot of things to different systems and everything got all screwed up. My ATM card stopped working, I had to re-register for online banking, and apparently, several people were having their checks bounce. I didn't have that issue, but it has been a pain not being able to get cash out of the ATM. Anyway, I got a message this weekend stating that all of the issues are supposed to be fixed now. Let's hope so. I I have to go another week without being able to get cash, I will have to change banks.

Big Game Tonight

I am having a card game tonight. It should be a good time. It is not going to be a big game, only ten people, but it is going to be a high dollar cash game. I made the buy in $50. Since people can buy in several times, I am thinking that there will be about $1000 on the table. Fun stuff. I would like to win it all, but will be happy with doubling my initial $50 buy in. I would love to get enough to pay for my entire Caesar's Indiana trip. Still, just as long as I have fun and win a little bit, I will be happy.

Speaking of my Indiana trip, I just found a voucher for a free room. This means that I only will need to pay my buy in and for food and drink. I am hoping to do well in the tournament so that I spend all the time playing in the tourney and not much time at cash tables. That is where I could potentially lose alot of money. Still, I am getting mu bonus from work this month, so I have the costs covered. Fun stuff!

Halo 3: The new Love Affair

As you know, I play Halo 3 alot. I love that game. Lately, I had been getting a little tired of playing, since I don't seem to be getting anywhere with my ranking. I have been yo-yo-ing from level 25 to level 30. I guess it depends on if I am on my game or not. Some days I play better than others. Anyway, I found a new spark to feul my Halo 3 obsession. Team Slayer. I played a little with some friends I know, but their ranking for team slayer is much higher than mine. I should say WAS a lot higher. they are all mostly level 20 or higher and I was level 3. It made finding a match harder because of the different skill levels. Anyway, I started playing team slayer on my own (just searching for a game and finding random players to play with) and in a span of two days, I have brought my level up to 17. Of course, since I am a level 25-30 Major in solo slayer, I was basically kicking the shit out of inexperienced players for a while. One game, I had 20 of my team's kills (out of 50) and died only eight times. I was ROLLIN'! Anyway, I have met a few players that I like playing with, so I guess we sorta have a set team. We sometimes win, sometimes don't. It is a helluva lot of fun though.