Good But Short Evening

About mid way through yesterday my stomach started doing back flips on me. I don't know why, this morning it feels a thousand times better. Regardless I got the turkey baked and went to the framily supper.

Most everyone was there to celebrate the season, even three very dear friends flew in from LA to visit family, Weezy being one of them:) She told us her great news of landing an agent, which is big in the business, puts her in a different league from now on. That was awesome news! I couldn't be prouder of her accomplishments and hard work!

Anyway back to the main point, I carved the turkey and we waited for the rest of the guests to show up. Red, Court, Actor, arrived soon after. Then our out of town friends.

Witchy declared it was time to dig in! And we did! It was very good, everyone had brought something and it was awesome! About half way through my plate I started feeling bad, it was so good that I didn't want to stop despite my mild nausea. Well that was my mistake. I got sick in the bathroom. Made my apologies to the host and went home to rest. I felt badly naturally, but I couldn't help my situation.

Thing 2 had her first Winter formal last night with a real date. She was very happy about that! Earlier in the day we went to file a police report and as she was talking to the patrolman she actually forgot her birthday. The officer offered a few words of encouragement and she calmed down.

She felt a lot better about her violin now being recovered. I did too but hopefully it is just a mistake and someone took it home thinking it was theirs. That's the best case here:)

Great Night!

I took off early yesterday to make the turkey brine for tonight's shindig. So I met The Date and Witchy for lunch yesterday afternoon after work. That was fun! After that I came home, took a short nap, mixed up the brine and got the turkey in it.

The Date went to get Thing 2 from school only to find out her violin had been stolen from the music room. There were school owned violins in there and possibly someone had picked up the wrong one by mistake but we are going to file a police report anyway just to make sure. Seriously, who steals a violin? It wasn't paid for either but that was secondary to the fact that it really hurt Thing 2 a lot.

I'll get her another one if it doesn't show back up after Christmas break.

After dropping off Thing 2 to babysit for Witchy I headed over to Beersnob's house for a drink and a cigar in his garage. That was probably the first cigar I have had in a month, maybe longer. It was a nice set up, space heater, drink stuff, a radio on a sports station, and a couple of chairs. It was really nice to just sit and talk with Beersnob for a few hours!

We kicked around several ideas, the two I blogged about yesterday and he was on board and ready to help! Naturally he was excited and wanted to help with both projects. I'll be able to blog about both projects very soon, one maybe as soon as Monday morning and the other probably the week after this upcoming one. I just want some set in stone things before jumping the gun with announcing things.

After that I headed for the Pub to meet a handful of friends there for a drink, I had coffee. Court, Red, Actor, and The Date were there and we had a wonderful time! Really enjoyed it! They are some really good, genuine people and it was great to just chill with them:)

Good Things

Some very good things are happening. I can't go into detail just yet but there are at least two things that can possibly happen that are very good! When things are set in stone believe me I'll be posting them here!

I'm very excited about both and will be talking with Beersnob tonight over a cigar and a drink about one of them for sure. The second I'll be talking over on Sunday evening with a couple of guys so it really won't be long before I can post something definitive here!

Some very good news is that my frother Skate was asked to audition for Tops in Blue, an Air Force traveling show that contains music and song. This is a big big honor as many many people apply to be part of this show. It will be a full year of touring and then with any luck he will return here with many stories!

Purchased the turkey last night and some stuff for the brine. When I get home I'll be boiling the brine and letting it cool then putting the turkey into the ice chest for twenty hours or so before cooking it on Saturday! I'm excited! This will be much fun!

Been A Busy Week

Yeah real busy. My coworker has been out all week with the flu and that's made my work load that much heavier. It used to be we had three people in my shop and could easily handle it. Now I just get behind when it happens after they laid off two people out of our department.

Nothing I can do about it but do what I can do. So that's what I do. Going to pick up the turkey for the Christmas meal at Witchy's house on Saturday evening. A tradition that was started last season at The Date's house, everyone loved doing it so we are continuing it, hopefully well into the future!

So it'll be another Alton Brown baked turkey for supper and I hope it tastes as great as the last one I made on Thanksgiving!

Tarantino's Masterpiece?

If you read a handful of reviews for Inglourious Basterds (yes both are misspelled as in the title) and you'll see the term "masterpiece" bandied about, perhaps too freely.

I'd say it is Mr. Tarantino's most mature movie to date, surpassing Jackie Brown in terms of maturity. I'll say for a fact that after Death Proof (the oddly ironic movies which cost a lot to make to look cheap, you can find my review if you look back in my previous blog posts) Mr. Tarantino needed a win.

Inglourious Basterds is that win but masterpiece? Could this movie surpass the mighty Pulp Fiction?

To start with the dialogue is trademark Tarantino, his witty banter is the tent pole of this movie. Quite honestly there isn't as much violence as the trailers imply. You'd think there would be wall to wall gore and you'd be wrong. Yes there is some graphic violence but for the most part it is either very quick or almost comedic.

Brad Pitt heads the cast but Christoph Waltz's Colonel Hans Landa is the star of the movie, and possibly on screen more than Pitt and the Basterds. His honeyed conversational manner, the perfect vessel for Tarantino's dialogue, hides a mind as sharp as fictional character Sherlock Holmes and a viciousness as cruel as any in all filmdom. He is simply masterful as the Jew Hunter.

The opening scene brings back memories of the beautiful Tarantino penned scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper from True Romance. The tension so nonexistent that you never notice it until it is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I'd say it easily goes down as one of Tarantino's best scenes he has ever written and you veteran Hitchcock fans will notice one of Hitchcock's basic suspense building blocks.

Again if you read any reviews you'll also see the term "revenge fantasy" and that's definitely true. I'd like to say it's a cliche but it really isn't, it's that but it's so much more. The story isn't that complex but the way it is told, in five chapters, makes it so much more than it really is.

Pitt seems to revert to Jeffery Goines as Lt. Aldo Raines, the pseudo psychotic/sadist Nazi hunter sent to cause terror among the Third Reich foot soldiers. The disappointing thing is that you really never get to know any of them other than director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) as the Bear Jew. His standout scene is in a ditch where the Basterds interrogate a Nazi officer about where a nearby patrol is. In fact that is really the lone scene where you see the Basterds as a group for any length of time.

You really don't get to know much about them as you would in say The Dirty Dozen or a true masterpiece Seven Samurai. The Basterds are really a secondary plot line to the revenge plot of Shosanna Dreyfus who you'll briefly be introduced to in the opening scene.

Again not exactly what you would infer from the trailers you might have seen. So once again we return to the term "masterpiece" and is this movie deserving of that title?

Offhand I'd say it still ranks below Pulp Fiction and possibly on par with the Kill Bill movies. Pulp Fiction is a movie where everything works on every level and with every line. This movie does work but you might not be expecting so much story with your violent movie.

Without the hated spoilers that's about as much as I can talk about without giving anything away. I'd say watch it, temper your expectations, and just enjoy it for what it is. A witty movie with Tarantino dialogue!

It's Cold Outside

Yep, really cold and still no snow. Fourteen degrees and the diesel cranked a little slow this morning. It still started but it took a bit.

Just as a reminder to my regular readers I did double post yesterday, once in the morning and once in the evening so you can peruse that post as well and see what you can do about it;)

Little Scotch wound up sleeping between The Date and I while Zip camped at the foot of the bed. Scrat slept up stairs I believe where it is always warm!

I made Thing 2 watch It's A Wonderful Life last night, about mid way through she decided it was boring and snuck off up stairs to nap and I pulled her back down to finish the movie. She said it was really good after it finished! It's one of my all time favorites if not my favorite movie.

It's a rare movie that can be watched again and again and you really don't get tired of it. If Capra only knew how his masterpiece would still be revered today. If you haven't seen it this season, try to watch it. Try to do the right things as George Bailey does. He complained a bit but in the end he never thought of himself over others.

How our society has changed over the years...

Amazing

Imagine if you will if someone were to buy your breakfast, lunch, or supper. What would you do about it?

Just a stranger or two in a diner. Would you let it end with you or pass it on in the holiday spirit? Well those of you who know me know I'm not a guy who would let it end with me, I'm just curious what you would do.

Would you be brave enough to start such a chain reaction?
Would you be brave enough to pass it on and talk to the waitress about buying the meal for a stranger?
If everyone who read this bought one person one meal and in turn they bought one meal for someone else, imagine how how far it could reach!

And yes, all the hyperlinks go to the same site:)
Just trying to get something going!

Done

The show closed yesterday and after a couple of hours of striking the set we were finished with A Christmas Carol. Seven shows, that's a lot of a community theatre. It wears on the actors and the crew. Mid way through act two I closed the script and did the cues from memory.

It makes me wonder how touring companies do this, well other than the fact that they don't have a day job and that's what puts bread on the table. When everyone has a day job and they just do this as a hobby then it's different though. It's even more different for me because its not even a hobby, I just need the challenge that my work stopped providing years ago.

I believe I've been tapped to help with the teen show in teaching the light and sound crew what to do as well as Tech Guy (who will really be doing the teaching, I'll likely just demonstrate things) and then lights for the dinner theatre in a couple of months. Four shows there instead of seven.

All in all its been very busy the past couple of weeks and now I get a nice rest in the evenings! It'll be nice, really nice. I'm ready for it and I'm sure The Date is ready for me to be home for a few nights, well she is ready for the evenings that she doesn't have to work that is.

I've got to get a turkey this week as well for the framily dinner on Saturday at Witchy's house! I'm very much looking forward to that!

One Show Left

One more producer's show to go! Last night's show was really good, the audience really enjoyed it and were into the whole show. The cast party was really pleasant as well. The director hosted it so I stayed behind to lock up the theatre.

The Date and a few others are going caroling tonight. She says she hasn't gone in years and it would be fun. I'm just looking forward to the show being over with and possibly enjoying a victory cigar after set strike.

Just fixed some breakfast, pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and now I'm almost ready for a mid morning nap....

Two Left

Last night's show was a good one. The audience was good and laughed at the right places. Came home right after the show but we are going to the cast party tonight at the director's house. She went out of her way to invite me and it's always a fun time!

Coffee is brewing right now and it's a little bit chilly but not bad outside. It's nearly forty. Yesterday at work the company bought us all lunch under the guise of a safety meeting. They had a couple of videos playing but barely any sound. The new program manager (the top guy) had it catered out of his own pocket! I like the guy, if he were in charge months ago I don't think we would have ever gone on strike.

He really seems to be making some changes in how the supervisors and managers do their jobs which means its a lot less adversarial with the union. He seems to be a good and decent man, not the automatic opponent we have been used to.

I'm hoping tonight's show is as good as last night's. Skate was in the house as well as The Invader (who was child wrangling) and she did a good job after having a bad day;) Bdub was on sound cues and we experienced something very bizarre.

This was the Thursday night show and we heard knocking on the door on the South side of the tech booth. Not a faint knock, we heard a steady knock on the door, light but not feint. I could hear it even with my ear piece in for communicating with the stage manager which cuts down on your hearing of the outside world. The thing is that there is no way to get to the South door except through the tech booth. There are no other paths to get there and nothing there.

In addition to this the big, heavy door in which we get from the lobby area to the tech area slammed at least twice. We heard it and thought that the director was coming up to the booth to watch the show as she had done with almost every performance. Alas no, she was back stage and no one had come into our area. We heard the costume room door sound like it was trying to be opened but it was locked tight and lots of bumping of things and moving around in the pathway to the tech booth. Things are stored there like cords (neatly hung and coiled) lights (all in order and stacked) nothing was out of place and yet there was a genuine ruckus going on so loud that I thought the audience could hear it below us!

Throughout the whole show Bdub and I looked at each other and I even left my post (really to chew someone out for making the racket they were) to check the pathway to the tech booth, nothing and no one was there with the door shut tight. After I did that nothing seemed to happen and the remainder of Act II went well. I'm a skeptic meaning I don't believe in paranormal (UFOs, Bigfoot, Chupacabras, 2012, Planet X, or President Obama's hope and change) things unless I actually experience something. I'm not calling what we heard paranormal by any means but I don't know what all of the noise was.

The knocking on the South door is what really stood out to us. Neither of us can explain it at all. I didn't even blog about any of this until I talked to Bdub again and we talked about what we heard and our experiences coincided. I've spent many many hours in the tech booth and never, not once have I heard anything like went on Thursday night which leads me to believe the Theatre is not haunted.

Nonetheless I'm still at a loss as to explaining everything.

Four Down

Three more to go! Last night's show had a couple of rough spots in it but overall it was a decent performance. The Ghost of Christmas Present is really making the assistant director who is also doing sound cues, crazy. Some nights he will throw his glitter every chance he gets and some nights he just won't. The problem? There is a glitter sound cue!

It's become a game to see what he adds to or subtracts from any given scene he is in as every night is a new performance from him. The first night he used so much glitter that it actually covered the stage and found its way up into the audience!

Tech Guy made more wassail last night for cast and crew! I can't believe how good this stuff is! If its Winter and he is making wassail I'm there, that's all I'm saying...except to post the recipe he emailed me!

1 quart Apple Cider
1 pint Cranberry Juice
1 cup Orange Juice
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
2 cups Tea (or more)
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Whole Cloves
1 teaspoon Allspice
3 Cinnamon Sticks

Combine all liquids in an automatic percolator. Place sugar and spices in percolator basket. Allow it to go through percolator cycle. Serve hot.


It is cold out this morning but not nearly as cold as yesterday. Low twenties. I'm ready for the weekend. Been a long week at work, pre-holidays are either very slow or very very busy, this year it's the latter. It's still not as bad as last week was. I can't believe how busy we were last week, then tack on the show on top of everything else...yeah last week was tough!

Scotch pulled through his little operation fine yesterday and The Date will pick him up this morning:) Fun little guy! Once he gets a bit bigger Scrat won't be able to push him around as much and that'll be fun to watch!

Showtime

Yep, have the start of a four run stretch of shows tonight. I enjoyed last night's restful evening. Three evenings in a row was wonderful! I know that next week I'll be free but it'll be different as I won't have a show to do on the weekend, it'll just be in between shows at that point.

Scotch is going in this morning to get fixed at nine AM. He is such a fun kitten, he just runs around after Scrat or from Scrat (who himself is a kitten, just a few months older) and just plays. It's nice to have that kind of energy in the house!

It's nine degrees outside, the truck has been warming up for about twenty minutes so far. It's cold out. Northern Brother was trying to send me pics from his phone to mine yesterday of the eighteen inches of snow they got. Now that's what I'd like! If it's going to be cold it might as well snow too! At least that's the fun stuff and usually with that kind of snow everything is shut down. You get to spend the day at home or playing in the yard. You can watch movies, eat hot Winter food, drink doctored hot chocolate!

I know we'll get some snow soon enough, it'll be a few inches and we'll feel like we are being persecuted for something bad somehow. It'll be fun though to me and I'll enjoy the snow:) I am probably in the minority of people who enjoy Winter. I don't mind the cold weather, I don't mind the weather, I look forward to the year's first snow and watching the blinding snow storms that happen in this area.

It's Been Nice

To have the past two evenings in a row off. I did have the Winter Orchestra concert last night though for Thing 2. It was my first middle school orchestra concert. The Date had to work so it fell to me to make sure the first chair violin player was in place by the start of the show.

After the show was over I stopped by the grocery store to get some hot chocolate for the blisteringly cold evening. There were some poor city workers in the parking lot in barely double digit temperatures fixing a water leak. I felt so sorry for those guys at eight o'clock at night in thirty mile per hour gusting wind.

Thing 1 has an MRI on her wrist this afternoon. It is unsure if she has a fracture or just the x-ray wasn't accurate. Her soccer fall has really damaged her but she is still in good spirits and will be fine.

Scotch is quite the character. He will bug Scrat and then when he gets in trouble comes running to me. He has spent the majority of the time I'm home on my lap. Exactly what I wanted, another lap kitty:)

One more evening off and then tomorrow night is the start of a four day run of the show. I'm enjoying this show so I really don't mind. It's not as difficult as Yes Virginia or as technically demanding as Into The Woods. I've barely got over fifty cues and I'm running them flawlessly now. It'll be a good stretch of shows!

Ice Storm

As I'm typing this out an ice storm is pelting us with BB sized pellets. My windshield is frozen over with maybe 1/16th of an inch, maybe a bit more. The streets are dangerous.

My truck is running and defrosting right now. It appears from looking at the radar that it'll be here for another hour or two before quitting.

Personally I enjoy the weather. I like the way it feels. I like the way it makes people stay home while I can get out in it. I do wish it was snowing right now but I'll take ice:)

A Day Which Will Live

Until the schools quit teaching about it. After hearing about some of the horror stories The Date has told me about how ignorant some of the college aged students are about American history it makes me wonder what our future is.

Some make common spelling mistakes, some don't know Lewis and Clark from Amos and Andy, some couldn't pick out Thomas Jefferson in a lineup. It's embarrassing. The day that will live in infamy is the day we fail to teach the nation's youth our history.

Where this country has come from, how we got to be where we are in such a short amount of time, and where we can go. I love this country, we are a noble and good country. We've made mistakes but we were strong enough to correct them.

You don't see people risking their lives to escape into Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or any other country but you see people coming here and in the most haphazard ways to escape oppression.

Freedom is our natural state, endowed to us by our creator, we strive for it, we find it in every nook and cranny, and we empower those who seek it to find it.

Whether we are on the wrong track or not right now is debatable, I say we were getting off on the wrong track a couple of years ago and we are dead wrong now, others believe we are headed in the right direction with massive government interference in our lives and the erosion of our personal freedoms.

Where we are headed now is anybody's guess but on this infamous day in history I wonder how many actually realize it or care...

Not Half Done Yet

Today's show was good, a good solid show. The audience was dead though. They sat through the show and nary a peep was heard from them except for the occasional squeaky chair and crying child.

When the curtain call ended the show it was the most life the audience had produced as they rose to their feet and applauded...promptly followed by a quickly thinning crowd. It was a shame that the audience wasn't as good as the cast deserved. The show was really good.

I thought that the run was for six shows and that today was the half way point. Mistaken I was as there are four shows left. Thursday through Sunday. I'm off until Thursday night though and it'll be nice to be able to have a few evenings free!

Butterscotch

The new kitten is named Butterscotch....Scotch for short:) He was the youngest kitten the SPCA had and the last of his siblings to be adopted.

He will go in next Thursday to get fixed. Scotch is a happy, playful kitten who is helping me type this all out. I've backspaced a dozen times to correct Scotch's typing additions.

All three animals got baths upon Scotch's arrival home so they smell the same. It helped with Scrat's introduction to Scotch. They ran and played for quite a while. Scrat took a couple of hard swipes at Scotch but over all they were fine! Scrat is a young enough kitten to bond with Scotch and Scotch is plenty young to bond with all the animals.

The second show went very well. No major gaffes and the tech side of it went smoothly. It really came together as all shows do, at the end. Today it'll be half way over with when the matinee closes out the weekend run. Next week and then that's it!

Opening Night

The show came together, it simply came together. Last night was better than all of the previous rehearsals so far. Our Scrooge had gotten tangled in the bed sheets on final dress, tumbled off of the bed fracturing his wrist. He has a cast but was in very good spirits.

Tech Guy made some wassail last night, all I can say is AWESOME!!!! That was some of the best holiday (alcohol free) drinking I've done in a long time! At halftime I got a cup and gave a cup to Bdub and the director and stood outside the back of the theatre for the ten minutes and was warm.

I've got to make some! It is incredible!

I'm off to find a new kitteh today! I'm really looking forward to that! I need a little, tiny fuzzball in the house to play with Scrat and Zip:)

FRIDAY!

I feel like I just ran a marathon that lasted a week. The show is the show. Last night was the first night we had time to use the correct sound cues. That's final dress night. Everything is just really behind. I think I've got my sound cues ironed out and where to wait on the actors for time, when to have the stage manager cue me, and when to just hit the lights.

Today is going to work and I actually get a brief rest before heading to the theatre. Skate's audition tape went well. The first song went very well and the second took three takes but he got it.

Thing 1 tripped over a log in soccer and fractured her hand and possibly her knee. The coach thought an ice pack would fix it while the doctor said it was a good thing The Date didn't delay in getting her there as it would have gotten much worse without treatments. She is now camping out on the couch under a mountain of blankets. Honestly it's not that cold in the house. The thermostat is at seventy after all. I'm comfy, they are freezing.

I'm just glad she is ok and in good spirits.

What Day Is It?

Well I know what day it is, it's Thursday. I'm just tired enough to not really care what day it is. I slept well but I'm tired when I woke up this morning. Coffee is brewing, the truck is running and warming up, and I'm trying to wake up now.

The lights to the show are set. Everything will be a go for tonight's final dress and then three shows in a row. I'm very much looking forward to Saturday! First it's because I get to rest, second I am going to find a kitten and I'm very much looking forward to that.

I'm looking for one that's about four to six weeks old, a tiny one. One that'll be here for years and years and fit in well with Zip and Scrat who are also very young. I want to be over fifty by the time they move on.

Skate is having his audition done tonight and I'm going to shoot it and then give him my camera to digitize the tape and upload it. I'm excited that he could be picked for this, it is a brilliant opportunity! I'm excited for him!

Wearing Down

I arrived at the Theatre (with Thing 2 in tow) at a couple of minutes after five thirty last night and stayed until nearly ten. Tech Guy and I discussed lighting placement and positioned the tall ladder under the light bar to add lights and adjust them.

Once that was accomplished we hooked up the lone special effect, the black light over Scrooge's tombstone to illuminate his name. I say special effect because you really can't see the name until the light is turned on. The stone looks blank! It's kinda cool!

I've got a lighting snafu in the early second act that I've got to iron out tonight as well, so I'm meeting Tech Guy at the Theatre tonight again at five thirty and we are putting the final touches into the design. Normally this would have been accomplished last week and since Friday is opening night I'm still pretty nervous about the show's tech. This is cutting it way too close for me.

It's really wearing me out. The show itself is fairly simple and it's not the kind of work that Into The Woods was with over one hundred cues and paying attention every single line to a change. This is just we are behind and need to button up the play before opening night, so it's a rushed work.

Skate still has his project going and that has to be filmed and if I'm working these hours on the show I'm not sure where I'm going to fit it in. Last time I talked to him he was unsure of where we would film it and then I understand it is an online submission form so the tape will have to be digitized and uploaded somewhere and that'll consume some time on top of shooting and the show. I've got faith in my frother (new word I invented, faimly+friend in the singular male = frother) but if one thing goes wrong there won't be enough time to complete his task.

Wow...It's Only Tuesday

Yesterday was so busy I was hoping that the week might fast forward a couple of days for me. Today will be busier.

After work yesterday I came home and got a sandwich to eat and then was able to relax for a little bit before rehearsal. It's opening week also known as tech week and we have just now got the rough light cues set. This is something that is usually done a couple of days earlier.

They are set now but we still have a sign that needs painting, a couple of more lights that need hung and focused, and the tweaking since one of the main actors wasn't present last night. We only guessed where he was going to be and worked accordingly.

Tonight I won't have near as much time after work either as I'm going there by five and getting the last buttons buttoned up. I've got an audition tape to shoot for Skate (if he gets this part it'll be amazing! I'm so hoping he does!) sometime this week, tables to move, the show, and I've still got to work in eating somehow....

Busy, busy, busy.....

Storm Chasers

The entire current season was shown yesterday leading up to the season finale. What a great show! I watched the previous seasons and this one was by far the best! The show takes place in our part of the country with two teams stationed about two and a half hours from where we live. Saw lots of familiar looking country and have seen the storms roll through our town as they did in the show.

The Date and I really enjoyed watching it. There was drama from all sides, naturally the weather, then the interpersonal relationships between the different chase teams. I do wish they would have explored the relationship between Dr. Wurman with Vortex 2 (the most technical and biggest team with tons of funding) and Sean Casey with TIV (an IMAX filmmaker who has staked his life on one shot) a bit more. That seemed to have been the most tension packed relationship going but was swept to the side.

Dr. Wurmer sort of came off as unlikeable and prone to making forecasting mistakes while Sean's own forecasting team seemed to be able to put the TIV at the right places and the right times even though they had lots of mechanical problems.

Reed Timmer with the Dominator and Sean Casey did seem to have some tense moments but they kind of went their separate ways. They did have a rivalry going but it wasn't what it could have been.

It was a great day of entertainment with a compelling show and some very tense moments! We zoomed right through the commercials more than one time to get back to the show (DVRs ROCK) and see what was going to happen next!

I do hope the show will be back next season with Sean, Reed, Dr. Wurmer, and everyone else.

Kinda Numb

Usually when I blog I had Rocket in my lap. Pretty much over 95% of my blogs were written and posted with him right here with me, purring in my lap.

I got up this morning and made breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, hash browns, coffee. I feel ok, my stuffed up head is disappearing now. I'm wanting a kitten, a black short haired kitten. I've had two cats in the house for nearly ten years now. Even when Patch died Howie was right there within a couple of days. After Howie disappeared we got Scrat, who is starting to settle in and become more friendly.

As much as I want to be angry over losing my cat I can't. I can really only blame myself as he got out through a hole in a window I should have fixed long ago. The owner of the dog wasn't home, he had a really high fence up around his yard anyway. I'd like to blame the dog but dogs do what dogs do.

Yeah, me. That's who I'm angry with.

Rest In Peace Rocket

My most loving cat was killed today by a dog. All he really ever wanted was to be in my lap and love me. I'll miss him greatly.

Half Way Over

Yep as of today my four day weekend is at it's fifty percent mark. Hung out last night with the family and the framily:)

Have set call this morning for Christmas Carol, then football, then Thing 2 is going to the movies with some of her friends. It's sure to be a busy day!

The Date and I enjoyed a wonderful evening then after arriving home we watched the remainder of Son of Flubber on TCM. Such a great channel!

What A Day

First off I took the turkey out of the brine in the morning, rinsed it, and gave it an olive oil massage. Next up was putting it into the oven at a blistering five hundred degrees for a half hour to brown it up. Then down to three fifty until the internal temperature of the white meat is just over one sixty.

It only takes about two hours to accomplish this instead of the low and slow method which generally robs the turkey of its juices and produces the dreaded dryness. Think about it, a large bird in a dry hot oven for hours? It's bound to dry out.

Remember your grandparents doing the constant basting thing? Unnecessary now and much faster to produce a better tasting bird:) Thank you Alton Brown! You do this and you are guaranteed to produce a turkey that can't be beat!

That was round one of yesterday which went very well. The parade was on, which I enjoyed until football came on of course. Then we ate, and ate, and ate:)

After that I pulled out the Cure 81 ham and put it into the oven to bake at three twenty five for about two hours. These are precooked hams so they are really simple to do. Then we loaded up and headed to Beersnob's house for round two!

Witchy, Chianti, Chianti's beau, and my clan and Beersnob's clan all enjoyed each other's fellowship as a turducken was devoured as well as many sides and the ham. An outstanding second round of food, fun, and frivolity was enjoyed on this very memorable day:)

Again I'm very thankful for all of my family, and my friend/family:) You all add to the quality of life that few enjoy as I do!

Happy Thanksgiving

I've got a turkey in brine at the moment, been there for about eleven hours now. I'm following the Alton Brown preparation method which should get the bird done in about three hours.

Today is the day for all American to reflect on what they are thankful for.
I'm thankful for my family and my friend/family.
I'm thankful in this economy I have a solid job.
I'm thankful for the roof over our heads and the ability to pay for it.
I'm thankful for the food that's being prepared.
I'm thankful for our troops who keep us safe at home.
I'm thankful to live in the freest country in the history of the world.
I'm thankful to you, the reader and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving feast!

Got A Lot To Do!

The turkey is thawing, has been since Monday. It'll have to be prepared tonight for the oven tomorrow! Woohoooo! Can't wait!

Then tomorrow I've got to bake a ham (Cure 81 spiral cut ham! AWESOMENESS!!!) and get over to Beersnob's for supper! I'll be super stuffed when this is all over with and we'll have left overs for days!

Going to try and watch the parade in the morning, Macy's parade. I love the balloons and the little handlers who always look like they are having a tough time holding the bigger ones down. Wonder what those people get paid, maybe nothing but what seems odd is they always have people who are fairly thin and young holding them down instead of bigger people who could do a much better job at it. Seriously they usually look as if they were plucked right out of high school!

I'd much rather have a handful of sumo wrestlers in full sumo garb roaming the streets at parade time holding Snoopy and his doghouse at street level and keeping it from escaping into the flight path of all of New York instead of some teens who have no work ethic yet.

Last night I made my first rehearsal to the Christmas show at the Theatre. A Christmas Carol. The normal lighting designer has his hands full this year and asked if I'd design the light plot. I eagerly said yeppers and we sat in the audience to go over how to light it and where to put the cues.

This will be a great show!

Captains Courageous And His Rascals

The Date was less than 100% last night so I made her stay on the couch and I put in the Spencer Tracy classic, Captains Courageous featuring Freddie Bartholomew. The Date and Thing 2 were glued to the screen with rapt attention.

Zip played on the floor, Scrat was trying to make up his mind to be a lap kitty or not, turns out not, Rocket found his way to my lap. All in all it was a great movie watching experience:)

Next up was a disc from my Little Rascals collection! Hal Roach really had a good thing going! Yeah they are a little crude (and un-PC) by today's standards but they were fun and millions of children grew up watching and loving them.

I was looking for a specific episode but couldn't remember the title so I'll have to do some episode reading tonight to find the right title. Spanky and Alfalfa were private eyes and they get locked in a fun house. Scary for a kid but it watches as intended for an adult!

Yeah it was a good evening:)

Short Week

That's a good thing too:) This is going to be a good week, it kicked off with a NASCAR league championship, a win over Skate in my keeper league (effectively ending his season and the final nail in mine) and a quiet and peaceful Saturday.

The turkey will get moved from the deep freeze today and start the thawing process, it'll take a while. The ham is ready to be baked. Groceries have been bought, the house has been rearranged, and all is right with the world.

I enjoy four day weekends. It'd be nice if more weeks had them but then again I guess that would take the special out of them and it'd be like any other week. Last week I finished all of my paper work to change beneficiaries, insurance is updated, and dependents are added. It wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be and now I don't have to worry with it.

All in all it's a good start to the holiday season:)

Victorious!

I won Cigar Asylum's fantasy NASCAR contest! First place out of seventeen teams and the only team to break ten thousand points:)

Jimmie Johnson won his fourth consecutive title and I won my first in my inaugural foray into this league! The margin of victory was one hundred sixteen points and I put points onto second place this week. I had a good qualifying round and went from fifty seven points to seventy and gained the remaining points by performance today.

I finished the season with twenty eight top tens, sixteen top fives, and seven wins totaling ten thousand fourteen points! Second place had twenty eight top tens, eighteen top fives, and three wins for a total of nine thousand eight hundred ninety eight points.

What a good start to a good week!

Quiet Day

And it felt really nice:) The Date had to work open to close. The guy who was supposed to go to work at four called in sick and they didn't have anyone else to work. We had dinner plans at six but canceled them. We actually wanted to enjoy the meal but she would have been rushed to get ready and would have had to go back to work afterward.

We now will have a nice meal at a later date. Thing 1 went out with her bf and played video games for hours on end, Thing 2 had a birthday to go to. That left me home alone with The Venture Brothers!

A fabulous cartoon series that is a take off on the classic Johnny Quest, not the idiotic remake. Johnny Quest is a legendary series, bad guys got killed, good guys won. There was a clear definition between good and evil and there was NO Political Correctness on understanding the villain's viewpoint.

The Venture Brothers features Rusty Venture, a washed up (and standing in the shadow of his legendary genius father) scientist who has a one man killing machine as a body guard, Brock Sampson. Brock is easily my favorite character, a muscle car driving, cigarette smoking, John Wayne of a character who does his job with either his bare hands or his ever present knife at his side.

The actual brothers are Hank and Dean Venture, the main charge of Sampson and you do tend to wonder how well Brock does his job as the boys get killed off numerous times. The Monarch is Dr. Venture's main archenemy with his ever present henchmen. The Monarch is inept at almost everything he does but he is a pleasure to watch as his hatred for Dr. Venture and the family just exceeds rational thought.

The show is irreverent, crude, at times vulgar, but always a self parody and satiric. The season three DVD set is uncensored so you get the whole enchilada and more. Watch it from start to finish (season four is airing now on Cartoon Network) and you can knock off a day on the couch:)

My Mistake

After all of the running around yesterday I did and errands that were erranded I forgot to get coffee! The Date has to have coffee in the morning, it's safer for everyone involved.

Right now she is sound asleep but I know it won't be long before she is awake. So I'm going to put on my hooded coat and head down to the store and get a bag of coffee for her first thing this morning after posting this.

The smoker at my dad's place will not work. It was older than I thought and had rusted through in several places. I'm stuck with an oven and baking the turkey and then later on the ham for Beersnob's Thanksgiving with football:)

I had my second film festival meeting last night. I've got to say I'm thrilled at the progress being made thus far. This town can use a film festival! We plan on utilizing the Theatre as well and with any luck it might bring them some revenue!

Had an awesome lunch yesterday with Witchy, a great evening with Beersnob, Bunnicula, Skate, Invader, Witchy, and of course The Date (for whom I'm now headed out into the cold to get her coffee so she can have it when she wakes up in a very short while).

I Love Three Day Weekends!

Yep I'm off this Friday and next. One of the benefits of my job and one of the benefits of working there over seventeen years. I have utilities to pay today, went shopping for two Thanksgiving dinners last night, headed to my dad's place today to see if his smoker is still there or if it has been stolen.

It was barely used and brand new before he passed and I know he'd be proud if it were used for Thanksgiving smoking! I'm really looking forward to smoking a turkey and a ham this year. The turkey for my blood family, the ham for my friend family who is meeting at Beersnob's later in the day.

Turns out I'm heads up with Skate today in my keeper league and Ricky Williams actually scored! Amazing...it really is. My season ended a few weeks ago but its a building project. I've got a decent chance at winning this week. It would likely end Skate's season which would be regrettable but its the game we play.

Watched The League last night, this show keeps getting better and better! The show really focuses on the lives of the owners with references of the league thrown in as a supplement. I can see some parallels between the fictional league and the keeper league. Mainly in the friendships and the smack talk, everything else is really overblown and embellished for comedic effect.

I Love Sirius Holiday Channels!

They turned them on Monday and I've been enjoying Christmas songs all week thus far:) It really puts you in the mood for the holiday season!

Channels three and four are on right now while they will turn on a country themed channel on sixty two in December. Three is modern Christmas songs, four is laced with classic Christmas songs that you grew up with making this the most wonderful time of the year!

I set my fantasy NASCAR lineup last night. If I pull off a two hundred and fifty point day my opponent will have to hit over three hundred. Very good weeks are in the three hundreds so he will have to be a top five team while I just have to be top ten to win. I did my homework, saved selected drivers so I have first class talent at the end of the season and now I'm poised to win the whole thing.

Giddy really isn't the word if I win, my humidor is getting low anyway and a win like this will easily replenish my supply for the Winter months:) There is a prize for second as well which would be nice but it's not first place.

Stupid Ether

So I go out to warm up my truck this morning, I leave the ether in my truck all the time as my glow plugs needs fixing. I didn't buy the usual brand I normally do for some reason and now the cap fell off and it won't spray right.

So now I'm headed to a quick shop to find a can of ether to start my truck so it can warm up:)

You know something, it's alright! In the scheme of things buying a can of ether before you normally do is no big deal, I'm just out of the house earlier than I would otherwise be but I'm coming back quickly!

Three Episodes Of SG:U

Over the past three weeks I've let the episodes build up. Last night while The Date was working I took the opportunity to watch all three episodes to pass the evening away.

I fixed some hot chocolate with Irish cream and a dab of Kahlua. Awesome way to keep the chill out:) The drama started immediately and never let up. People are starting to deal with the fact that they are billions of light years away from home and slim to no chance of returning. That doesn't stop the finest minds on Earth from trying though as they believe they can fix the situation while the one expert on board says no, they can't.

I love the fact this is a serialized show. I like my shows to continue instead of the X of the week situational shows. This one fits the bill, especially so since it is practically the only scifi on TV right now. Yeah I'm discounting V as I hate remakes. I do appreciate the swipe at the Obama administration though:)

Regardless SG:U is great drama and worthy of several seasons:)

Sons of Anarchy ride tonight! Another wonderful serialized show and the best show on TV right now. It'll be interesting to see who the Sons take their revenge on tonight as they learned last week that....well you know that I hate spoilers so you should really catch the show yourself;)

Monday Monday

I actually like Monday. It's one more day for anything to happen and since Monday isn't going away anytime soon I figure I might as well like it. It's not like they will ever cancel it.

The only way it wouldn't apply to anyone is if they have no job in which case the entire calendar wouldn't apply to you anymore. Lottery winners? Yeah Monday wouldn't apply to them either but since the odds are more in your favor of being struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark....in South Dakota.

So Monday is here to stay:) You can't have a weekend without a Monday to kick things off for you so I'd suggest that Monday get a better PR rep and get out there and change people's minds and hearts:)

Go get'em Monday, you're not that bad!

Regaining My Winning Edge

That's right! I recaptured first place in my NASCAR league! Not only that but I have a fifty seven point lead going into the final race while winning this week outright!

My seventh win of the season, three more than anyone else and the third of the Fall session. Couple all of that with season stats of twenty seven top tens, sixteen top fives, and seven wins and you have a great season in the making:)

I'm glad I saved some of my star drivers until this final leg. It's difficult to wait on some of your starters but you just have to save some of them. I'm thrilled to be in this position, especially out of seventeen teams!

It is still possible to lose but it would be a perfect race from my opponent and my team, headed by Jimmie Johnson, collapsing in spectacular fashion. It can happen but it isn't likely to happen if Johnson does what he does best.

Homestead is a bland race track too, not very exciting and really an anticlimactic race to finish a marathon long season on. My starters from this week might very well do the same next week. I'm excited! It would be great to win this league, it'll pay over thirty cigars:)

Nice Trip

The trip to the City was nice. Thing 2 played her heart out along with the best seventh graders in the state in Honor Orchestra. We grabbed a going home snack from Walmart and headed home so The Date could get to work on time.

Mom texted me on the way home to see if I could give tech support for her computer. Stopped off and fixed it while The Date and Thing 2 bonded with their new mother in law/grandmother.

It's raining out right now and under fifty degrees. I believe we are in for a cold snap very soon. Not a lot of plans today. My NASCAR team cuts its deficit from first place to twenty seven points yesterday! I had eighteen points from qualifying while first place had none! I'm closing the distance fast and I'll take first place this weekend or next weekend (which is the last weekend of the season).

My football teams are in definite looking to next year mode now. On paper they were outstanding, their on field performance wasn't. That's why I love this game and hate this game:)

Long Day!

Friday was a very long day. Thing 2 had to get to the school by 6:15 yesterday morning. She had a rehearsal in the City for the North Central Honor Orchestra. Today she has to be back in the City by 9:30 this morning.

It was a busy day at work and it was all week long. I was by myself all week which is nice from time to time. I am about the only one in my shop who can handle being that kind of busy for a week so I don't mind it:)

Last night Beersnob and I as well as Bunnicula (formerly Chis the filmmaking partner and three others I don't have nicknames for right now) attended a meeting to assemble a film festival in town. I am very encouraged that this could happen! The lady in charge is very likable and ready to make this happen.

Afterward we headed to a restaurant to meet for Teehee's bday dinner and to talk things over. Skate, Invader (formerly Jassie), Court, Bunnicula, Beersnob, BR (Bunnicula's Roommate, there you go folks, on the fly nickname making in action), and of course Teehee. The Date was able to make it by for a few minutes after work to help celebrate Teehee's big day.

It was a blast from start to end! All topics were bandied about including the Zombie Apocalypse of Doom and where we will be headed once it happens. I believe the hardest thing we will have to deal with is pretending not to be excited that it's happening.

Lastly but not leastly it was my one week anniversary!

All in all it was a productive and great day:)

Friday Part Two

I could really deal with a holiday in the middle of every week.
Work two days, one day off, two more days, and then a weekend. Yeah every week like that would be great!

It's alright though, I can deal with five straight days of work and two days off. That's the American way:) Last night The Date, Beersnob, and Chianti went to Bdubs for a bit and watched a little of the Thursday night game. We had a short discussion on the NFL network and how Beersnob doesn't like the exclusive games on the channel.

Our local cable company doesn't carry NFL so the majority of the town doesn't get the Thursday game. I on the other hand have DirecTV and not only the NFL network but the Sunday Ticket:) I couldn't ask for more football! I'm thinking Beersnob might be considering a dish before long, LOL!

I'd like to give a shout out to Teehee, it's his birthday today.

Great Day Off:)

Woke up, blogged, watched Venture Brothers for a while (and The Date watched with me) then we went to Applebee's for lunch with Reporter, Skate, and Beersnob.

Topics of conversation included how steak should be cooked and the zombie apocalypse of doom and our roles when it happens. Then Beersnob and I picked up his broken plasma TV and took it to his garage. It appears that the capacitors are out according to a website so that will likely be a future project to fix.

Then we sat outside and had a couple of cigars until at 4:30 I had to pick up Thing 1 from soccer practice. All in all it was a great day off:) The temperature was great, not a lot of weather to speak of, and had the company of The Date and friends:)

Who could ask for more?

What If I Said

Disney and Pixar put out an expose on mortality, regret, living in the past, and unaccomplished dreams? Kind of deep subjects for a child to digest but they successfully did it while mixing in plenty of sadness. The more I watched it though the more I thought I was sort of watching It's A Wonderful Life. One of my favorite movies of all time.

Up is a movie I really had to have time to think about when it was over. There is so much sentimentality laced within so many scenes that Frank Capra could have been the inspiration behind it and easily directed it.

The foundation on which this movie is built, on which every topic I listed above stands is family and love. This was one really good movie if you can stand it tugging on your heartstrings every few scenes.

The DVD transfer was flawless, the audio track was booming and clear, the content was better for an adult than a child though. Yeah there was plenty of comic relief when things were emotional so this might be more along the lines of Old Yeller as far as life lessons go for a kid. It is an animation masterpiece though and the story is equal to the animation. Watch it.

Sons of Anarchy is starting to wind down for the season. Last night was a real turning point in the show and things are starting to be revealed that were once secret. The crimes committed early on in the season that Samcro was holding off on (and didn't know about) are now going to come to a head. Last night proves why this is the best drama on TV today. Outlaws doing outlaw things that no normal law abiding citizen would do but outlaws you get behind and support.

I see a fully satisfying conclusion in store in a few more shows!

Today is Veteran's Day. If you see a Veteran give them a thank you. They did a lot for you that you'll never know about.

Amazing Surprise!

So there I am after a meeting at the Theatre about the lights for the next show. I'm on my way home when I get a text from Skate if he can come over in a bit. I had the garter he caught from the wedding, I found it Saturday morning and told him I'd hold it for him. I was sure that was what he was coming over for and to watch some football.

I was on the phone offering tech support on video codecs and Skate knocks on the door. I let him in and give him hand gestures to relax and have a seat. He and The Date sit and talk while I continue my tech support.

I'm actually thrilled to give this support by the way as the person I'm giving it to always wants to help me fix something or anytime I need something he is right there and will stay until there is nothing left to do. He never asks for anything in return or accepts payment, ever. I keep telling him to please call me when he needs something and he does every once in a while when he has a computer problem.

Ok back to the post, Skate is sitting on the couch when he gets up and says lets go out back. Perplexed The Date and I head to the patio door and I see a fire outside on the patio. I turn on the light and there is a big Sputnik looking fire pit! It is amazing! It is a big hollow ball made of steel screen with a door that raises and you throw wood in there. The screen allows you to see the fire from any angle and also keeps the sparks to a minimum.

Out jumps Mr. Feeny and Teehee from the shadows! I finish up my tech support and we all sit down to watch the fire grow:) We have a great talk for nearly three hours! Witchy came over to bring Thing 2 back home after babysitting most of the evening and she loved it too!

Skate explains the intricacies of the plan and how it arrived on the day of the wedding and they couldn't do anything about it until today. He was a distraction while Teehee and Mr. Feeny placed it on the patio and got it going, it was a great story!

The Date and I have the best family ever:) I look forward to growing old with all of them and having many decades of fun and frivolity with each of them!

Who Had A Good Weekend?

I did! From the well documented Friday all the way up to yesterday evening with many of the same family members for football Sunday, it was one to remember!

The only fantasy team I had that did well was my NASCAR team and I cut his lead from ninety nine points to forty five! I've got two more races to take the lead!

Last night I broke out the celebratory cigars for Beersnob and Teehee. I've been saving Padron's when I came across them and had four in my humidor. I took the one saved for me, a Padron 1927 80th Anniversario and two 1964s for Beersnob and Teehee.

Special occasion and Friday night counted as a big one. Teehee hadn't had the Padron experience yet. I'm glad he got to share his first one with the two of us. Beersnob has had a handful of Padron's before with me and each one has been magnificent!

You simply know you are having a quality cigar if it has Padron on the cigar band. Side note, my every day cigar if I should win the lottery....the same one I had last night but at thirty dollars apiece you can tell why I saved it for a special occasion:)

Day Two

I've still not come up with a good nickname for The Date yet but after the reception while we were at the after party in a club she asked me if I felt any different. I, being the honest and sometimes to a fault person I am replied, "Not really." At that moment I wondered if I had said the wrong thing but to my relief she said, "Me neither!"

That might have been my first "Wheww" moment.

Since she has been understandably giddy. I'm not sure if it is because of me or the present we received from Witchy. The gray, walking, meowing present:)

One more wedding thing, the cards got separated from the presents at one point when I picked them up Saturday morning. We received many generous and gracious gifts but the one we can't figure out who it was from is a family album that was engraved with Friday's date.

We know all of the other presents but we want to make sure that everyone is properly thanked and we can't figure this one so any help would be appreciated in fixing this embarrassing mistake on my part.

My fantasy football lineups today look like normal as everyone is off their bye weeks but Percy Harvin. My NASCAR team has ninety nine points to make up in three races. My opponent has used up most of his drivers already while I have Gordon and Johnson for the remaining races as well as some quality B list drivers. I'm in no danger of slipping to third as I hold a commanding lead over the other fifteen drivers except one. I'll catch him!

Wonderful Evening!

From all of the preparation to the after party at a club everything couldn't have been better! I had to arrange for a guest blogger for the ceremony, Teehee, and then at the reception I handed my blog over to Skate. Both were awesome in their duties!

Two more wonderful friends showed up after ten at the reception Mr. Feeny (again formerly Baker) and Red. Everyone had so much fun in the celebration!

I want to keep my Northern Brothers in my thoughts as one of them had surgery yesterday. I pray you have a swift recovery!

Thank you everyone for helping make this one of the best nights ever:)

Receptionary Enjoyment

The ceremony went very well and we moved onto the reception!

Candy is being passed out as the newly weds share their first dance.

Smiles are abound, including the usualy stoic groom. Surprised at the lack of tears.

The food supply is almost exhausted, thankfully the alcohol is abundant.

The background music is quite delightful. It is being provided Elton Joel. All of it is played from memory. Really talented young man.

A lot of well dressed good looking people are still here being social. The groom left his t-shirt at home is adorned with a sharp looking black dress shirt with subtle stripes.

Beersnob continues to look for people to add to the video.




-- Post From My iPhone

The Ceremony

Definatly moving along. The guy is even entertaining.

I am surprised TC hasn't killed me yet. Blogging during a wedding...HA

The intamcy of this ceremony is...wow. Awwww...blu and his the one.

Tears....

Sadly I don't know the lords prayer....

What a kiss....
-- Post From My iPhone

The Minutes Before

Everything is set, my shirt is tucked in, much to my dismay...at least my jeans are acceptable although The One accused them of being stained earlier.

Tricia is being so difficult not letting me blog during the ceremony. I'll show her.
-- Post From My iPhone

All Prepared

Everything is as ready at the Theatre as it can get. I'll have a guest blogger to blog the ceremony while I'm busy.

We have a plethora of food and drink! The license is all squared away, Beersnob is going to shoot the ceremony.

Witchy is taking care of The Date right now and getting her and The Things ready.

T is dealing with the bulk of the food and Chianti is on music.

I've got Engineer doing lights and sound

-- Post From My iPhone

Here

The day two weeks in the making is here. It's been fairly smooth thus far and I expect it to continue:) Everything is decorated, food is ordered, and guests are notified!

I have some cooking to do today to make sure we have more than enough food for everyone:) Witchy and I are going grocery shopping later on for the ingredients.

The Things are officially playing hooky today. I'll be blogging from when I get there to when we leave the theatre tonight, well except for the times when I'm a little busy with the ceremony.

The Date is still sleeping away since there is no reason to get her up right now. Thing 2 is in the bathroom, Thing 1 is still out cold up stairs and will probably be sleeping well into the morning.

I'm looking forward to all of it and spending time with all of my family tonight!

Almost There

One more day.

My aunt will be coming in from out of town today. The food gets ordered today. I'm making a pasta salad tomorrow when I'm off work. All in all there is quite a bit left to do but it'll be fine. The Date will look back on it as one of her best days once it is over with, the little stuff will either be a footnote for laughter later on or completely overlooked by the good memories.

The Yankees won number twenty seven last night over the Phillies. I watched it for a while but it seemed to be a blow out after a few innings. It continued to be a blow out as well as the Yanks won 7-3.

Sometimes I wished I actually liked beer. I was on You Tube last night watching old beer commercials that I remembered from when I was young. The Hamm's bear commercial playing baseball was the best! Also came across some very cool motion sign videos. I ran the very common idea of getting a motion beer sign for the bedroom by The Date and she didn't even have to see it before shooting the idea down:( I told her it was a motion sign and had a very cool scrolling scene and still no....

Billy Dee Williams pitching Colt .45 was pretty funny, but not as funny as The Commodores singing for Schlitz!

Yeah sometimes I wished I liked beer but that in no way prohibits my enjoyment of these old commercials or my quest for a motion beer sign:)

Half Way There

Witchy, The Date, and I were cleaning out the little theatre last night to get things prepared as best we could for Friday.

I took off yesterday afternoon to get the counseling done and thankfully the preacher fast tracked us. I was very grateful:) He seemed like a pleasant man, understanding and good.

This will go very smoothly, with all of the support from everyone it's been a very nice experience. I've dreaded the wedding ceremony since I was a child after attending (In my mind forced to attend and be part of an epically long drawn out and boring ceremony) the weddings of relatives.

It wasn't until I was much older that I didn't mind going to weddings. I still prefer a short ceremony though over the epic three hour variety. There is no way I could stand up there for that length of time and pretend to be happy about it. The preacher explained and gave me a rough time estimate of about twenty minutes. I can deal with that.

The guest list appears to be bigger than the room so there might be some people standing during the ceremony as well. It'll be packed for sure. We might have to put some people on stage to make room for everyone.

Criticism Kills

Be thankful you are where you are my American readers. This article takes place in Iran but it might as well have taken place in Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea.

If you don't click over to it I'll sum it up. A math student dared to ask the Ayatollah Khamenei a question about why no one is allowed to criticize him, how he has shut down all of the media outlets and the ones that remain open are controlled by him. He told the grand leader he is lying to the people.

According to the article the Khamenei evaded the question and told him that he is criticized every day and he listens to the complaints and fixes his errors. Also according to the article the student was later arrested.

Arrested for criticism. Our Founding Fathers knew what a free press was for. It was part of the checks and balances system that keeps the elected leaders honest, or supposed to. Government should never dip a single fingernail into controlling the press. Talk about a slippery slope, that's the fastest way to get to Iran.

I keep up on lots of news sites, watch lots of news, read lots of articles from many sources. I know it has been suggested that the next bailout target should be....wait for it.......newspapers! Whether the administration is liberal, marxist, or conservative the government has to be kept in check by the press. Now these proposals were thought of during the height of the bailout bonanza that went on earlier this year and now the administration is occupied with more important issues such as destroying health care and controlling how the population can live, what they can eat, and how much exercise is acceptable so they can get onto the public option. We just can't have people being too free, they don't know how to handle it.

What newspaper would dare criticize an administration that kept them in business with taxpayer money? How could that newspaper be trusted by the public afterward? How in the world could it be suggested in Congress unless they wanted to be less accountable?

Lot To Do This Week

Yeah a lot! I'm off Friday anyway for obvious reasons but I might have to take off one afternoon as well to get things squared away. The Date is going to find out for sure today what, when, and everything else the court house needs, the preacher needs, and all the loose ends.

People constantly ask where we are registered, we aren't. Between The Date and I, we have blankets, towels, knives, plates, etc. We are good. If you feel that showing up to share the special day and celebration isn't enough (which I feel it is plenty as does The Date) then I'd suggest gift cards from Amazon.com would work very well. They are basically an online Walmart and if we found ourselves out of X then we could promptly obtain it thanks to your generosity:)

Really though, show up, have a great time after the hopefully brief ceremony, and enjoy yourselves!

My fantasy teams, well it appeared to be a down day for all three as my best performing team (fantasy NASCAR) was doing very well and poised to capture my overall lead back with ten laps left! The overall leader was a mere fifty five points away from my grasp and his team was showing badly! Ryan Newman took out one of my drivers and they stopped the race:( I finished with a top ten but the leader's drivers found their way to the front on a chaotic restart. His lead is now one hundred seven points over me with three races left.

I'll catch him though.

Great Day!

Halloween was a mish mash of family, good times, and heartbreak. First of all (with apologies to Skate, I'm going to borrow B12 as the new nickname for Director 1) the party was a rousing success! Pretty much most of my local family was there except Beersnob and wife.

I always enjoy hanging out with B12 and he always delivers a first class shindig! Baker, Skate, Teehee, and Jassie were easily the best costumes as they were the (in order) The Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Dorthy! A lot of time and work went into their reproduction of the costumes and everyone enjoyed them and their effort!

The Date had to work up until closing at her job and showed up after, she was warmly greeted by all party goers and showered with congratulations galore! A wonderful time, it really was very memorable!

I've got to give major props and respect as filmmaker buddy Chris experienced the heartbreak of a lifetime. His premiere didn't go as planned or hoped and what would have caused a major meltdown to a lesser soul he refused to be defeated that easily and proceeded as planned. Food was still to be eaten, people were still on their way, and door prizes were still to be given away and he did it without an external tear. I know he had to have been torn up inside, I know him pretty well and internally he was crushed and felt horrible.

He picked it all up, put on a happy face, and did the best professional job he could in the situation he was put in that was none of his fault. If I could have switched places with him to spare him that kind of pain I would have in a heartbeat as I would with any of my family that was suffering. I felt so bad for him as did his entire audience. I know he will recover though!

My fantasy football teams are tanking. This season is just not a good season for me in two different leagues. I'm just middle of the pack in one league and aiming for a really good draft pick next season in the keeper league. It happens, all owners have gone through it, and I'll get them next season!

Wonderful Friday!

Beersnob and Teehee came over and had a cigar with me last night. Wonderful conversation for well over an hour as our Churchill sized cigars relaxed us on a crisp evening. Our coffee warmed us up and everything was peaceful and calm.

We talked past, present, future, goals, and dreams. That's one thing cigars can bring out in a conversation is plenty of honesty and frank talk. If more Washington politicians would talk things over like the three of us are able to then our country would probably be on a better path than it is right now.

But of course cigar smoking is surely banned in congress, forever dooming them to a life less lived than what Beersnob, Teehee, and I are capable of...go figure:)

Turns out Beersnob and wife were married on the exact same day five years ago, November 6th. The Date has been very excited and the family (I'm not using the term friends anymore when referring to my circle of friends) has shot down the next nickname for her after The Date. I was thinking Ball and Chain and got a menacing look and a No. I've shot down her suggestions such as Light of my Life, Reason for Living, etc.

The Date might just very well stick if I can't come up with something else. Everyone knows who I'm referring to by now anyway.

I watched The League after work yesterday. Great show! More adult than I was expecting but incredibly timely! No one has delved into the comedy that is fantasy football! How many posts have I dedicated to my prime diversion? Many! It's about time a production company catered to me!

This is a brilliantly low brow show, the writing is good, the comedy made me laugh out loud, the characters have lots of room to grow into themselves! I LOVE this show!

Seventeen Hundred Posts

Yeah, that's a lot of posts about pretty much about everything and nothing.

Got off work last night, The Date had supper fixed when I got home (very cool) she went to class and I headed off to have drinks with Chianti. Had a great time for a couple of hours, Witchy showed up and then The Date after class let out early:)

So we all got to sit around for a while in my favorite watering hole and relax as we talked. It would make for a great Mastercard commercial tagline, Priceless.

I've got the most amazing friends/family ever. I know I've blogged this before but my friends really are family. You all know who you are too, if I've hung out with you then you are included, you are my family.

I DVR'd The League, I hope I'm able to watch it tonight. I'm really looking forward to a show all about the funny side of fantasy football! I know it'll be reviewed on Two Guys, A Girl, and a TV Set so you can check that out but be aware they are probably spoilers. I know Mr. Feeny does an outstanding job of reviewing shows and I look forward to reading it after I've seen the show:)

World Series Game One

Though I'm not much of a fan of baseball anymore I do try to catch a game or two of the World Series and if a playoff series becomes compelling I'll catch one or two. I love the NBA playoffs, I watch a few games of the regular season of that though, way more than baseball.

Cliff Lee pitched an amazing game last night. He kept the Yankees at bay by pitching a complete game and allowing six hits. It was really fun to watch, well until I went to bed. They start these games just too late in the evening for people who work for a living.

I can't imagine how they are going to promote the game to children when four innings into the game they have to go to bed. MLB has problems. The Obama count stands at one as Michelle was there.

Had quite a storm last night! I love it when I get woke up by thunder and get to sleep with that as background noise:) It's very good for inducing a restful sleep!

Going to grab a drink after work with Chianti. Been ages since she and I have been able to sit down and have a quiet drink. She (as well as TC and Witchy) are knee deep in planning the reception right now.

I've got the best friends in the world!

Two Blogs Of Note

The Lost and Found Section and The Cauchy Sequence. Both are slices of American life as these gentlemen see it. One is very very new as there are two posts with one very good explanation on how the name The Cauchy Sequence was derived.

I'm a math guy as long as it is simple math and I have a calculator handy otherwise I don't bother. The point the author is driving at is what I connect with though, through its complexity I see the abstract idea that the author was aiming for. It is brilliant in its conclusion and has the cool cerebral edge to it. I feel I can read his first post and actually gain IQ points.

The Lost and Found Section is as the author explains, a blog simply about nothing. So far it is compelling as it is updated daily and we see how the author thinks about....um...nothing!

If I may offer advice to both authors, stick with it. Update it daily, let the readers inside and hold very little back on what you think, how you think, and why you think it. Reality TV as we know it has been around for over a decade now and it just isn't going anywhere but blogging...blogging will be around for decades to come.

Americana has evolved, some might think it has devolved (I think in some ways it has) but it is changing and some change is good. From journal writing with a quill to typing on an illuminated keyboard with the cool glow from LCD monitors staring back at you, our thoughts count for a little too, not in an egocentric way but in the way that gives voice to the voiceless.

These slice of life diaries in the virtual nonexistence existence will be out there for decades. I mean they aren't carved in stone for eternity or anything but for someone who wants a lonely, tiny voice in the dark they are the perfect medium.

The Sons Roll

With Jax and Clay fighting for control of the MC chaos is erupting around them all. As last night's show ended they were all further apart than they had ever been. I believe next episode Clay's secret will come out and either turn the entire club against him or they will be so disillusioned they will end the MC as a chapter.

I doubt that will happen, the show is getting better ratings than The Jay Leno Show. No doubt that has some NBC suits very nervous about their long term employment! In any event I am sure that by season's end everything will be up in the air and the table set for next season!

Tonight the World Series throws out its first pitch. I wonder what the over/under is on Obama appearances. I'd say three either video taped or live from the White House or possibly a live showing.

Watched Ice Age Three last night. Very funny, I love me some Scrat! They really created one of the funniest characters that never utters a syllable. Does Scrat find love? I'd recommend this movie for anyone, Simon Pegg has a great character and it's a fun, funny movie!

I'm disappointed in some of the cable channels this year who aren't showing classic monster movies as they have done in years past. I'm looking at you TCM! I enjoy black and white monster movies and with five hundred channels you'd think you could find one leading up to Halloween!

My Friends

Are the best ever. When they found out about the impending events three of them took it upon themselves to secure the lobby to the Theatre for the reception! I kind of got choked up over the matter.

Love my friends dearly and believe me I count them as family and I'm blessed to have each one of them in my life. I'm looking forward to decades of fun and frivolity to come:)

Each one of you who personally know me, and you know who you are, thank you for being my friend and I hope The Date and I bring as much enjoyment to your lives as you do to ours:)

Life Is Going To Get Good

Yep today I did it, I talked it over with the iPhone and Rocket the cat and we decided to ask The Date to become The Wife and The Things to well remain The Things but to become my family.

November sixth will be the day. Was considering October thirtieth but there is just way too much going on this weekend to get things in order by then.

Yeah, it's good already but it'll be that much better in two weeks:)

My expansive family of friends and family of family have given us their wholehearted blessing and I couldn't be happier:)

Nice Sunday

Although my fantasy football teams went 0-2 my fantasy NASCAR team took second place this weekend and cut the lead of the first place team in half. If I can keep this up then I'll have my overall lead back in a couple of weeks as the season winds down.

The Date and I went to Chianti's house and watched the Dallas game in the afternoon. Beersnob came over a little later on and he brought cigars so we stood outside and enjoyed them and conversed. I had a 5 Vegas Gold and he had a CAO Italia.

It was chilly out but it really didn't matter, the moment was good and everyone had fun.

I'm blessed to have friends like them but more than that I'm blessed to have The Date and The Things. It's getting hard to remember what life was like before they moved in.

Week 7

Well this week is going to be a tough one. I've got three WRs who are on a bye. No big deal, I'll chalk this week up as a loss and be full strength the rest of the season. Hopefully they will pick it up from here on out and be a force in the league.

In my main league I'll have a full roster but it won't matter as I'm still middle of the pack. I fully expect to be 0-2 this weekend at this point. I've become the Titans in both leagues. High expectations after a stellar last season and a better team than is showing up on the field but still not producing.

It sucks but such is the world of fantasy football. It happens in this game and in one league I can build on and field a better team next season, in my main league it's time to fold the tents and donate the rest of my weekly payments to the eventual winners.

Yeah it's tough to take, it really is but again this is the game I love to play and this is what can happen even if you have one of the best teams on paper.

Friday Was Fun!

Yes my day off was really nice. The Date and I spent pretty much the whole day together until she went to work in the late afternoon.

At seven on TCM one of the best thrillers of all time, Night of the Hunter with one of the most iconic villains of all time (Reverend Harry Powell) with his Love and Hate tattoos.

Robert Mitchum burns up every scene with his menacing presence as he hunts down ten thousand dollars he believes a condemned man hid with two children. This classic was Charles Laughton's directing debut and the end of his directing career as well. As with many movies of the time it was a box office failure that found an audience years later.

It is hard to imagine how this movie would have been received. It is a very dark movie as Harry Powell stalks and terrorizes children while beguiling the adults with his prison charm. Laughton did a masterful job of using shadows, room angles, and camera trickery to bring you into the scene with Powell and all of his malevolence.

It is a shame that he only directed one movie. Laughton was a brilliant actor in his own right from the blood thirsty Captain Bligh to the sympathetic Quasimodo, his acting range was untouched by many of his peers.

After Night of the Hunter was over I flipped channels for a while until Stargate: Universe came on. Again this series shows me why it is quickly becoming one of the best scifi shows on TV today. I wish I could get into the details of this episode however you know I hate spoilers and won't. It is worth it to watch it for yourself though and see what I'm talking about. So I'll give a spoiler free summary for those of you not inclined to take my advice.

SG:U isn't becoming an episodic show with the alien race of the week format. Instead it is more serial in nature with the story carrying on episode to episode. The imminent threat that was to destroy The Destiny in the last episode wasn't neutralized and in fact became a very good thing. The Destiny is a very smart ship, almost with a life of its own. Ancient technology, again the race that built the Stargate system, has a way of taking care of the things it has set in motion. Not so much a deus ex machina as it is just plot point of not knowing what The Destiny is capable of.

Without spoiling things The Destiny is in trouble and a lottery is held to draw the people who are to be sent off to safety. The emotional effect of the lottery on the characters was heart stopping as they knew they were going to certain doom. The survivors were certain to deal with their own issues as they were to be saved from a horrible fate by the luck of the draw.

I'm hoping SG:U enjoys several seasons of twenty episodes each. It is that good to me.

Who Left The Fridge Door Open?

It's cold all of a sudden! It's in the low forties right now!!!
I took off today as my leave was about to breach one hundred hours:) Don't want it getting too close to the magic mark. Had a good time last night with The Date and Jdub at Bdubs playing some brutally hard trivia.

When The Date and I showed up we played some even harder trivia based on the periodic table, if you think you could do it I'd say I doubt it. It was things like who discovered element 79 and things like that. I'm just going to go on record right now and say that the periodic table does not a good trivia game make.

After that was a long game called Six. It was more trivial pursuit based as there were categories. The questions progressively got harder as the game went on. I wound up fourth overall and won one block of questions out of four. Jdub did very well and landed very high despite missing out on the first block all together and having a bad playmaker to start. The Date also finished in the top ten again with playmaker problems as the battery went dead.

It was a fun evening for sure:)

Thursday:)

Had a really good evening. It was Ghost Hunters night and that's always a good night:)
They investigated a theatre in Chicago that really had some weird activity going on. The bad thing is that they didn't capture a lot on film though but they did get some thermal images that were very bizarre.

Before that I had built a good fire of charcoal in my charcoal chimney for grilling chicken. We made a grilled chicken pasta salad that was very good:)

The Date had purchased some Mexican hot chocolate in these hexagonal blocks and we had hot chocolate. It really is very very good! It has more of a cinnamon taste to it than our hot chocolate.

It was rainy and drizzly outside so it was perfect for hot chocolate and a cigar on the patio:) That was really fun! Me and some country legends on the patio just enjoying the weather and cool evening. Loved ones inside all warm and snug, sometimes life is better than you hoped it would be.

New Favorite Starship

A few hundred posts ago (I looked and couldn't find it) I listed my favorite starships and proclaimed the USS Cygnus as the best looking one. I'm going to update that and bump the Cygnus to number two on the list.

The Destiny from Stargate: Universe by far looks like a starship I'd like to be on. Well not in the situation that the occupants of the Destiny find themselves on by any means but say if the ship was in optimal condition.

Destiny is really a work of art among the geek world of starships. It has long and fluid lines, narrow in the front and flares out wide like an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars. It is really quite the opposite of the more gothic styled USS Cygnus.

Destiny is massive but not nearly as big as Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer, The Executor. Probably far bigger than The USS Enterprise from TNG which is pretty large but again not the behemoth Executor.

There are starship comparison charts out there for the searching but none of them have the Destiny on it.

Stargate: Universe is quickly becoming the best (and sadly very few) Scifi show on TV. This show rocks. The show is still really dealing with the basic conditions on board the Destiny. Food rations, air problems, water rationing, and power shortages.

I'd like to compare it with something but unfortunately the only thing that comes to mind is the new Battlestar (now deceased and someday in rerun heaven) Galactica. It has lots of human drama, lots of potential for more, and a premise that has really intrigued me in the Stargate realm.

The characters are developing. There are more than a few who you really don't have a handle on as of yet. One guy for sure is very unlikable and unsympathetic and it isn't Rush the doctor. Dr. Rush is just very high strung but he also has everyone's survival interests at heart and will work on them nonstop despite his social shortcomings.

I'm hoping for a few seasons:)

The Ballad Of Anita Tse Tung

Ok I want to provide the context of the following clip of video. Mao Tse Tung (or Zedong)was one of the absolute evil men of the twentieth century. He was the direct cause of death for over seventy million people. He was more lethal than Hitler and Stalin. Mao is also one of the heroes (unbelievably so) of the unreasonable left.

Not all the left, just the loony left. I know lots of very reasonable lefties who would spit on Mao if given the chance. I just want the video clip to be in context.



This is Anita Dunn. As you can tell if you venture over to the link she is the White House Communications Director. I am forced to ponder if there is anyone in the administration who doesn't look up to leaders such as Hugo Chavez, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, Castro, or other radicals. I'm just not wired to see how these people who either suppress or promote the suppression of freedom loving people should be admired.

What's wrong with a White House official saying how they admire George Washington, Ben Franklin, or John Adams? Without splitting hairs the Founding Fathers believed that man's natural state was one of freedom. That men were given that state of freedom by their Creator NOT by any government institution. This was written out, debated, and finally approved as our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Our President has described the Constitution as a document of negative liberties or in other words what I see as a document that limits what government can do to you he sees as something that keeps government from doing something on your behalf. Which leads directly to the nanny state and redistribution of wealth (stealing from one person to give to another) debate which I'll not delve into here. It would be similar to FDR's Second Bill of Rights which is right out of Marx's playbook.

You are guaranteed a house, job, practically everything so there is no reason to do anything. The government will take care of you because you are too stupid to do it yourself, just keep voting for X and the checks will keep coming.

Ok so to wrap this up Anita Dunn, White House official, admires Mao one of the most murderous leaders of the twentieth century and hero of the unreasonable left. She does not cite the Founding Fathers of her own country.

Just ask yourself, would you hire someone such as her to be in YOUR administration?

A Win Anyway

I won one game in my keeper league so that'll bring my record to 2-4 which is nicer than 1-5. Tom Brady's magic arm saved the day as the Patriot's offense appeared to click but it was against the hapless Titans. Brady was lights out yesterday tossing five TDs in the second quarter alone. They called off the dogs in the third quarter after his sixth TD pass.

Spent football Sunday at Skate's house with friends, great time too! Good food, good friends, good football to watch, it was even nice outside! It was a good end to a good weekend:) Got it? Good!

The Date and Thing 2 finished off the fourth season of Lost. Now it is a long wait until December when season five comes to DVD. She also finished John Adams on Saturday. Brilliant series and it helped her with her history class, lending perspective and context to her book.

It is a great series and John Adams is often overlooked today as a Founding Father in lieu of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington. Adams did a lot of the unsavory work that never got the attention.

Well I'm off to start another week!

Fantasy Drought

I'm doing poorly in both fantasy football leagues this season and now I've dropped to second place in NASCAR after dominating for a couple of months. After being a couple of hundred points ahead I now find myself seventy seven points down.

In my keeper league today I'm going to drop LenDale White and pick up Cedric Benson who has really re-energized his career this season.

As I predicted earlier in the season my teams would succeed or fail on the RB position's performance. They have failed to deliver the goods thus far. In my main league I'm up and down. I'm decent points wise, middle of the pack, but my record is 1-4. I'm bad in my keeper league points wise and share the identical record of 1-4.

I'd have to win out in both leagues to have salvaged season and I don't really see that happening. Never say never but it would be a feat on par with the Miracle on Ice at the Olympics.

Really Nice Friday Evening

After a particularly long week at work and a very slow Friday afternoon I decided it would be time for Irish Coffee and cigars in the evening. My friend Narrator came over but I'm going to have to come up with a better nickname for him, I'll think it over.

Anyway we are chatting on Facebook and I mention my plans and invite him over to share in the relaxation that is my evening. He agrees and heads over. I make coffee and prepare a cup until he arrives.

When he does get here we go through the humidor and I explain what a few cigars are that he might enjoy, the kind, shape, flavor profile, etc. He says surprise him so I select a Oliva Serie O, a mild to medium cigar that will go well with the coffee. I make my selection, an Ashton VSG and we head outside with our coffee in tow.

We set down and we just chat. It was very nice. Yeah it got kinda chilly but it wasn't distracting. After the first cigars I offered a second so I selected two more, Cubans. I found a Partagas and something else I knew was Cuban but unbanded. I gave the Partagas to (I'm going to call him Teehee, I know everyone who knows him will know who that is) Teehee and we enjoyed some small Cubans. Fortunately these were actually good! I've found that about 50% of the Cubans I've had have construction problems and quality issues, but are generally smooth. These were good.

After that we joined The Date and Thing 2 inside as they were watching John Adams, the miniseries. Great show:) Teehee played with Zip for quite a bit and thankfully wore him out:)

All in all it was a very nice evening and the perfect capper for my week:)

Captain Queeg

-- Post From My iPhone

Whewwww

Made it! It's Friday after a particularly grueling week at work. I know The Date is frustrated with me at times because she will ask about my day at work and I really just say it was fine or some such nonsense. I know she is concerned and wants to know but I don't like talking about work.

I forget it exists until I have to clock in the next day. I'm appreciative of my job, the benefits, and the strike taught me how perilous I'd be without an income however I don't want to talk about it when I'm off the clock. I like a lot of the people but it is getting to where they make you jump through so many hoops just to accomplish the smallest thing.

Things have to be checked out of a secure location, signed out, inventoried, and put into a portable secure box for transfer just so you can go to where the job is, that is before you even do one shred of work. It is very demoralizing and it's ridiculous and lately a lot of it is because of Captain Queeg the inspector.

He is disgruntled. He came here a few months ago because he didn't get a transfer to a place he wanted to be. He feels personally slighted by life I guess and is taking it out on everyone, abusing his power because he is mad at the world. He has made every section slower and more inefficient because of his write ups.

Our supervisor, a former inspector, believes he is an idiot as Queeg's citations are dubious and have no merit. He writes things and then you are supposed to cite the source where you are in error, Queeg's sources are 90% wrong, they are either old and not valid, they apply to other sections and not the work section you are in, he is essentially making things up to prove he is right.

He is just one facet of my job though and the day to day stresses I forget about after I clock out. There is one good thing though, today is doughnut day! For a small donation each week you get doughnuts on Friday!