The Guest

A couple of years ago I did a documentary at Witchy's request on the play Red Hot Mamas. It was the story of a man and wife who when the man's mother was widowed she was lonely and she moved into their house. The wife's mother felt left out so she was also invited to live with them.

Decades ago this was a common practice, families lived together for generations under one roof. Tribes still do. Now I am. The Date's father's house burned up in early December. He was lonely not living in his house anymore and didn't like the apartment he was set up in. The Date finally convinced him to come and stay with us.

For how long, I don't think any of us knows for sure. Might be a few weeks, might be longer. It'll be an interesting experiment to see how this goes.

Just over a year ago it was just me, Rocket, and Patch. Now it is me, The Date, The Things, Zip, Scrat, Scotch, and The Guest.

So far it has been peaceful. He has a hard time hearing and the TV is up a little louder than normal but no problems. He seems a pleasant gentleman and is content to watch TV and drink coffee.

Sometimes It's Too Cold

For a diesel to start. I was running out of starting fluid and used the last 1/3rd of a can this morning trying to get my big diesel to turn over and catch. A quick rummage around the house for The Date's keys yielded no results so I had to wake her up briefly to talk to her. I learned the keys were in her coat pocket! Now we are getting somewhere.

I quickly located them and was off to the quick shop to get more starting fluid. I found what I needed to purchase and jetted back home to see if my new purchase had more umph than the last can with little pressure in it.

It did. The fluid was finely atomized and had plenty of pressure to get the needed ether down into the air intake! Now to try the engine itself. It didn't seem to want to catch. I added more ether to the engine thinking that if it didn't start this time I was going to have to use more leave up which I didn't want to do after yesterday.

It hit, the big diesel roared to life, literally a roar because it started to suck all of the extra ether in the intake in and burn it. I was so happy! Now it is warming up and getting itself ready for a chilly day!

I keep the water dripping during the Winter, I've crawled under the house too many times to fix busted pipes in the mud to let another one happen. I texted The Date to let her know if she heard water rushing under the house there was a shut off valve in the front of the house under the metal cover. She looked and saw water standing and texted me back that something had broke.

I took off work and rushed home to investigate the damage, dreading going under the house again in the cold mud and water to fix something. It was only the drain pipe to the sewer. Leaving the water drip had built up some ice and the water was going to an overflow which was spilling out onto the ground.

I boiled some water and poured it down the bathtub drain and fixed the problem:) The day was saved!

No Snow

It is cold though, about ten this morning. The truck is warming up, coffee is brewing, The Date, and The Things are still in bed. I'm up and it's peaceful as Scrat and Scotch are eating. Soon they will start their morning run through the house.

It's Thursday out and on the downhill side of the work week. A coworker who has been off work for the last six months with a liver transplant has rejoined our shop. Well not my shop but our shop in general. He has had it rough over the past two years. He had hernia surgery, when he had they they discovered he has prostate cancer, then the first hernia surgery didn't work so they redid it and took care of the prostate cancer. During all of this they discovered his liver was shot and he needed a new one so he was put onto the transplant list. Now he will be on several medications the rest of his life.

He still has to get his knee replaced but in order to do that they have to break his leg and straighten it first. That'll take a few months to heal before they can do the knee operation and possibly a hip replacement as well. He is looking at being off for at least another six months soon.

So if you are thinking you might have it rough, something just isn't going your way today, you feel cranky and irritable or are experiencing some kind of mishap in your life...be thankful instead. You probably have it better than a lot of people out there, let the small stuff go.

Mend fences, tend to your family, and don't sweat the small stuff.

Cold Snap

Yeah, tonight and tomorrow it's supposed to get cold out, like below ten degrees out. I know The Date will be hating that. I don't mind as much, yeah it's cold but I know I'll want it to be cold when it's one hundred plus degrees in the Summer time!

The cold keeps things from getting boring. If you just had perfect weather all the time, well what fun would that be? I need to see some epic thunderstorms! Blizzards! I'd love to experience a hurricane someday! Just to see nature on display like that is something to behold.

Someday.

Anyway it would be cool to get some snow with the cold, makes it that much more fun. I'm pretty good at driving in the snow and have few problems with it. When I was a freshman in high school I ran the paper route in a small town. I was driving it at five thirty in the morning with the town cop's permission no less, by myself. Through all the different kinds of weather I learned quite a bit and it's really a skill. Give me adverse conditions! Love it! I need the challenge most of the time.

Not A Bad First Day

Yeah it was super busy, I'll have my hands full for most of this week catching things up. I can handle it though. I've done more with less.

This week is Armageddon week on History channel. Love this channel! After a some doom and gloom I watched Russia: Land of the Czars. It has been on many times before but it's still interesting. To see a country that big and with that many natural resources just not make it to the level of America because of the monarchy and their backwards attitudes.

As Americans we kind of have a built in allergy to monarchy. We don't understand it or understand what it would be like living under one. We'd also flip if someone tried to create one here in the States and quickly depose such a ruler.

They only got the UK, France, and Russia so far and then....yeah. They kind of plateaued and got stale. Our Founding Fathers took their cues, learned from them, and laid the foundation to one of the fastest growing countries in the history of the world.

That's kind of why I don't feel there will be a Armageddon as the History channel points out. Barring a natural disaster of epic proportions like a asteroid, America will go on. It's too strong and resilient not to. Not because of the government but because of the people and what we represent to people of other countries. Freedom, a better life, opportunities. No President can destroy it in two terms and no President can build it in two terms. As we go through these dark days of pop politics keep that in mind.

I'm so looking forward to the mid-term elections! They will actually be the report card on how President Obama is doing, the people will decide again and adjust accordingly. Exciting times!

Back To Work

Yeah today is going to be a busy day indeed. Regular work and two projects to kick off the new year with! I'm prepared for the project I haven't mentioned yet. I'm doubly prepared for the documentary!

I've got my partner on the same page on both projects and I'm waiting just a couple of more days before telling everyone what it is here. I need some paper work finished and I need to get the rest of the ground work done. I've actually got two parts of the project to do this week in the evenings.

It'll be good, I can just feel it!

We will be starting filming on the documentary very soon until the duration of such. I don't know how long it will last right now and neither do the subjects.

I'm excited to finally get started on the new year, vacation is nice but I'm used to working. So look out 2010, I'm on my way.

Day By Day

I'm currently reading Day by Day Armageddon. A journalized account of the survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse of Doom. Riveting read, I wanted to put it down last night but I couldn't until I just gave up and went to sleep.

It is the first hand account of a Naval officer living in San Antonio and how the world falls apart around him. He learns all he can about his adversaries to defend his homemade fortress and survive in a deadly new world. The journal is complete with reproduction torn pages and coffee stains.

Day by Day begs to ask the question, are the dead really the lucky ones in such a horrible world. The sheer force of will to survive in such a monstrous and terror filled world is monumental.

With that being said I'd be hard pressed not to be excited about it...

Project Two

Is coming along better than I had hoped. I got some unexpected additional help the other evening with it and soon I'll be able to post here what it is! I'm very excited about it even though it'll tie up a lot of my free time to start with. I'll have a partner in this project and that'll be great as I won't be doing everything on my own.

Yesterday was really pretty nice even though The Date has had to work her tail off since Wednesday. I think she has put in close to thirty hours on two nights and yesterday as the store inventoried everything. It's been insane, she has been worn out the past two days.

I had a meeting with Beersnob last night and we discussed Project One and some of Project Two. I can count on him to give honest feedback! Today appears to be a day of homework. Project Two homework, I've got notes to take and logistics to figure out!

Promises Of A New Year

This morning is bright, shiny, cold but nice. As the new year and I get acquainted I'd just like to say that I'm looking forward to all of the opportunities and promises that come with a clean slate!

Not that it's completely a clean slate as there are always things that carry over but all in all it's just like hitting a reset button and trying to do better this time because you know a little bit more and are a bit wiser because of the past experience.

My simple pledge this year is to try to be a better person than I was last year. Nothing outrageous, nothing too small, I just want to do the right thing when the situation arises.

I pledge to do right by my friends, all of them even in the most difficult of situations. Even if there is a fine balancing act to perform.

I pledge to be a better man.

2009: Literally The Best of Times And Worst Of Times

The year started off with something I hadn't had in a few years, a full time girlfriend that I dubbed The Date. After a few more months I decided that it was high time that I moved her and The Things in with me and see if that was going to go as well as dating had gone. It obviously did:)

I developed closer relationships with my friends Court, Bobo, Skate, Teehee, and The Invader while maintaining my older friendships and rekindling at least one friendship that could have died on the vine had it not been harvested again.

Last Christmas I finally got my brother and dad to talk again after a couple of years of fighting. I had prayed for that daily. Their reconciliation was long enough.

The first six months of 2009 went very well even though we were facing an economic downturn of Carteresque proportions. The election of the first black President, to start with, brought a new tone to the country. A better tone or worse tone, well we just don't know yet. Suffice it to say we could have been out of this financial disaster long before unemployment reached the double digits it now sits at.

As May and June rolled around things started taking a turn for the worse. In May my cat of almost nine years died. Her brother remained my loyal and loving lap kitty. June and my company and union could not agree on a contract so I walked off of a job I had held for seventeen years with no guarantee of returning.

I was unemployed for the first time in almost two decades. I got a job delivering food from a delivery restaurant. Honestly the one time I felt any kind of peace in that span was when I was alone in the back of that place washing dishes. It felt honest and peaceful. No labor disputes, no anger, nothing else to do. The job helped me pay the bills as I got to keep the tip money which was instant help.

During this time my dad also took a turn for the worse. I was able to spend some time with him and make sure he made his doctor appointments. Then he called and said he had fallen and needed help. I loaded up and drove to his place, my mom was already there and had called 911. He was talking to her and then just kind of passed out. They drove him to the hospital and the next day he died.

If the strike were ever a blessing, I began to see this as the reason. I was able to take care of everything and literally not have to worry about work interfering. My Northern Brother came down to help me get through those very tough days, I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't. The Date stood by my side every step of the way as well, never wavering in her love for me. I'll never be able to thank them enough for the support they gave me, nor my friends who came to my side. That was literally the worst two weeks of my life, no exceptions. That was rock bottom of the ocean and couldn't go any deeper.

I worked three shows total this past year, Broadway Bound, Into The Woods, and Christmas Carol. Thing 2 endeared herself to any director who worked with her as a painter. She just went crazy painting sets and whatever else they wanted. Zip joined our family over the Summer. A little wired haired doggie who has fit right in.

October came and things started to take an upturn. By the end of the month I had decided to ask The Date to marry me. November came around and we married at the Theatre. My other cat, Patch's brother was killed in a dog attack. Scrat and Butterscotch joined our family shortly after.

I'm nearly recovered now from the financial mess that the strike caused. I had part time work and it still messed with my finances for months on end. Now as a new year dawns I've got two brand new opportunities! One I can't talk about yet and the other is a documentary I'm able to shoot!

2009 was without a doubt the most difficult year I've ever had and the best year I've ever had. There were no medium as it contained drastic turns up or down. On the very cusp of 2010 I look for the good to continue, my other project to manifest and become successful as I continue to film the documentary with the help of Beersnob, Jamal, and Mozart. Jamal, Thing 2, and I had a nice talk over coffee last night and talked about protecting our respective projects. Starting out on the same page and just making sure everything and everyone is covered and protected. We were in total agreement and really enjoyed the hour or so of talking!

2010 is going to be so much better in terms of stability, growth, and hopefully many projects becoming fulfilled! I wish you, dear reader a better 2010 than I plan on having and I plan on having a great year!

Yesterday Was Spent

Not doing a whole lot but preparing for a dud of a snowstorm. Yeah it snowed for a while and was really nice to watch but it's melting away and it is nine o'clock in the morning.

I had coffee with Chris last night (one of the few people who doesn't have a nickname) and we had a wonderful conversation about pretty much everything. It was super nice!

I took little Butterscotch to the SPCA and they scheduled him for a ringworm treatment today after ten AM so I'll have to get cleaned up shortly and get things underway to get him there in time.

Tomorrow is my end of the year wrap up blog. 2009 was a mixed year for sure.

A Great Outlaw Canadian Comedy!

I'm new to this amazingly lowbrow but hilarious comedy, Trailer Park Boys. It's on channel 101 on DirecTV and I've been recording it but I also found it online and have nearly watched the whole series.

It's the story of Sunnyvale trailer park in Canada. The main characters are Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles. They have two stupid helpers Corey and Trevor. They also have two antagonists in Jim and Randy Lahey, the trailer park supervisor and the assistant trailer park supervisor.

Ricky is just about too stupid to live. Julian always has a drink in his hand and is the idea man. Bubbles is mildly retarded but is sometimes the smartest one of the bunch. They are really pretty likable guys but Ricky can be annoying.

Over the five plus seasons I've watched so far the shows revolve around Ricky and Julian staying out of jail and avoiding Jim Lahey's attempts to get them arrested for any number of infractions such as growing weed. Ricky's only real skill in life is growing weed. However they never have enough money to get a crop going and if they do it always befalls some sort of tragedy in which it's destroyed.

This show really is at times hard to watch, it can be that lowbrow. When it's funny though it is brilliant if you don't mind the Cheech and Chong style drug humor. These characters really don't have much at all going for them, Ricky has lived in a car for nearly the entire show's run while only briefly living in a better place when he is in jail.

The sad thing is that this series has ended. It has gone onto make two movies I believe. I could be mistaken about that. The entire show is only fifty some episodes so it is fairly fast to watch the whole run. I would liken it to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia but before that show came out. TPB kicks the language up a few notches and the characters aren't as self absorbed like they are in Sunny. Many of the characters will go to great lengths to help out another character where as in Sunny they backstab them.

This show is a definite watcher though for some people. If you think you might be one of those people then it's for you! I'd recommend checking out the first couple of episodes though for anyone but keep in mind it doesn't get really good until the story lines unfold during the course of the coming seasons.

The Start Of A New Week

And the countdown to the start of a new year begins. T-Minus four days! I'm going to save my critique for 2009 for the first but I've got a lot to say about the current and almost former year.

Today I've got to take Scotch into the cat clinic and have this spot on his head looked at. The Date thinks it might be mange, I'm not sure so he is going to the vet and get checked out.

I'm off all week long! I'm going to enjoy this as well! I so needed a vacation. Towards the end at work I got to where I dreaded coming in. It'll be nice to usher in a brand new year and a brand new start.

I guess that's what everyone wants from time to time, a brand new year, a clean slate, and a reset button. I don't feel I need all of that but maybe a little time off will do just nicely.

Fun With Weezy At The Blue Note

Yesterday was really pretty nice all around! Thing 1 got to drive her new WoW character around for a little bit. I took Thing 2 to a local store to exchange a book I got her for Christmas which was one she already had.

Weezy put out a clarion call to meet some place last night for drinks before she jets back off to her LA life as a newly represented actor. She leaves tomorrow but that's ok, we got to spend a lot of time with her and catch up!

Beersnob and Mrs. Beersnob showed up as well as Actor, Red, and Court to my favorite place in town, The Blue Note to see Weezy off as she has lots of family plans today and wouldn't be around much.

Actor, Red, and Court left around a quarter til ten to catch Sherlock Holmes. It was sold out earlier so they had late tickets. They were very happy to spend some time with Weezy and Weezy was happy to hang out with everyone for a while.

I had a La Aurora Platinum cigar with a Bushmills and water on the rocks. It was a gift from a guy on a message board I'm on and I've got to say it was an amazing cigar! Full flavored but not harsh at all. Well constructed, no burn problems, and it was a delight to smoke with the company and conversation!

I also brought along a St. Luis Rey Habano that I really didn't want to smoke but I figured in a pinch I'd smoke this Cuban if Beersnob wanted the La Aurora. I guarantee though that the La Aurora was a far superior cigar than any of the Cubans I've smoke thus far and that numbers around two to three dozen. They all just seem a lower grade to me for some reason. They are either harsh, have major construction problems, or are plugged and won't draw properly. I've yet to enjoy smoking a Cuban cigar over a Fuente or a Padron with Padron being my preference.

They are widely available, a better value, and are quality all the way. I've never had a burn problem, a plugged cigar, or a foul tasting Padron, let alone Fuente! A common Cuban would cost two to three times as much and in the end it would fall flat and disappoint me, as they have already. But as Beersnob is my friend I would have offered up my La Aurora to him before choking down another Cuban.

The Crackheads Are Back

So I kind of got The Date the fifth season of Lost for Christmas. After Christmas breakfast with my mom we came back home. The Date put Christmas dinner in to cook and then camped out on the couch with Thing 2.

Episode after episode they went! I'm not sure what time it ended but I was fast asleep by then. Thing 1 is still on the couch this morning, likely didn't have the stamina that The Date and Thing 2 have built up for marathon Lost watching.

All in all it was a good Christmas. Dinner was really good, time with the family was really good, and it was still fairly white out but it was blustery cold. I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and remembered the real reason for the season.

Merry Christmas

Peace on Earth and good will towards all men!
Hallelujah!

Christmas Eve!

Yes it is. The winds are howling outside, a massive Winter storm is on its way, and all is right with the world right now! It appears that my first Christmas with my family will be a White Christmas! The storm is very slow moving and it is now on our doorstep.

I'm on vacation, yesterday's Christmas party was a success. Three briskets, a full pork loin, and some sausages for meats. Then everyone brought the salads and desserts. The past two days were spent smoking the briskets and yesterday I grilled the pork loin.

All in all everything went well.

Thing 1's Christmas is installed and I tested it last night. She will be happy with WoW and it'll be fun both of us.

The one movie I've seen more than any other starts tonight at seven. Twenty fours of A Christmas Story begins tonight on TBS. I always catch it four or five times a year and sometimes more.

Today Is It!

Today's the last day of work before my vacation begins! I won't be back to work until the fourth of January, 2010! Yayyy!!!!

ok so against The Date's wishes I purchased Thing 1 World of Warcraft. I've played every MMORPG that's come down the line since EQ. The list is very long, trust me. WoW has legs though, easily being the most complex and rich environment in an online realm since real life.

I've got a level sixty warrior sitting on one of the servers that I'll have transferred and she can play without the basic level grind. She can jump right in essentially.

Thing 2 and I have bonded, long ago but I feel I have a tough time reaching Thing 1. Maybe this is a way for her and I to have something in common and we can share together. It just so happens her boyfriend who I'll name Fuzzy, has three pretty high characters too so I've asked him questions (that I already knew the answers too) to basically have something in common with him as well. He fears me, good. I don't really want him to dislike me, bad. A healthy respect is good though and if there is a clear line that he sees that will invoke my wrath, all the better.

So this is as much a present for Thing 1 as it is for Fuzzy as I know they will be able to play together online and adventure until she is burned out on the game in a month or two.

We'll see how this exercise in bonding 101 goes. Perhaps if we speak a common language then great things can happen!

Fun Evening

While The Date had to work last night and The Things were out of town at a relatives house I spent the evening with Beersnob, Skate, The Invader and Weezy at Buffalo Wild Wings for some football watching!

It was nice, the conversation varied but seemed to last on Long Beach, which sounds like an amazing place and fantasy football. Much to the arguments of The Invader, but cheerleading is still not a sport. She does argue strongly though, just not strong enough.

I took Weezy home and headed on home to meet The Date to finish off a quiet evening with no Things.

Today will be busy at work. There are some things to wrap up before the New Year but my vacation starts Thursday and I won't be back until the fourth. So what we are going to do it better get done today, tomorrow is a big meal at work so no one works.

Good Thing One Is A Go!

The first good thing that is happening, that I blogged about last week, is officially a go! I loaded up Beersnob and went to a meeting at Director's house (though that nickname will officially be changed now to Jamal, there are simply too many directors I know and they can't all share the same name) and we met with Mozart. They are writing an original musical and plan to take it to work shops and get it produced.

Jamal is the lyricist and writer of the project while Mozart is the composer. They have been working on the project for a short while and are about a quarter of the way done. That leaves me in the perfect position as there is some foundation laid down and I can easily recap what has been done thus far.

We had a wonderful supper cooked by Jamal and we discussed both projects as we ate. I did what a documentarian did and watched, observed, and listened. Beersnob asked the questions and got a feel for where they saw their project going. It'll officially be dubbed Project X in this blog until it gets an official name from Jamal and Mozart.

They played some of the musical score from the opening and all I can say is that I was blown away by it. It was simply amazing and to be able to document a project of this nature from its beginning is something few ever get the chance to do.

This is a wonderful opportunity that I know I can make the best of and make something both Mozart and Jamal will love but at the same time make something an audience might enjoy watching. I'm really excited to put in the work, which could be a year or longer, to make sure this project is everything it can be.

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.