Movie Reviews

So over the past week, the wife and I have watched three different movies. Two very good, one so-so.

Up, is the new Pixar flick, which we watched this evening. What an interesting movie. Animated, but not so much a kids movie. Dare I call it a deep cartoon. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be, but much much better than I thought it would be. If you get a chance, check it out. It's not as funny as other Pixar movies, but it's more of a movie than just a popcorn flick...

Star Trek... the new one, the wife and I watched the other night. Awesome stuff. Sooo much better than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting just another sci-fi action flick, which it was, but a really good sci-fi action flick. This is another one where you won't be disappointed.

Finally, we watched Four Christmases. Reese Whitherspoon was good in it, Vince Vaughn was the "i'm getting paid in cash, right?" Vince Vaughn. Could have been a lot better, but then again how much do we really expect from a holiday romantic comedy?

Christmas And A Book Review

So how was everyones holiday? I trust Santa was good to everyone. My two bestest gifts were a new ipod touch (so many apps, so little time! and so little free wifi, but thats ok, its still fun to play with), and a new gps. At work, all my buildings (21 in all) are scattered around the city, so now I'll actually be able to find them! Good times..

Book review time..
Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite authors. Everything he writes, I love to read. His newest book, What the Dog Saw, is a collection of his essays written for the New Yorker. Same general thought provoking questions as his other books, just in essay form. If you're looking for a good, very interesting read, I highly recommend picking up this book, or any of his past writings, you won't be disappointed.

Another Reason To Always Pay In Cash

So I'm up in Maine this weekend, doing a little Christmas shopping for the wife. I've done my price shopping online and down in Boston, so now I'm checking prices in Maine. I figure, hey, the wife and I have been together for a while now, so far she's decided to stick with me, so why not upgrade her engagement ring, add a little more bling. Since I'm fresh out of knock out gas, and can't get the actual ring off her finger, I figure I'll buy diamond stud earrings, give those to her and then she can pick out the new setting after Christmas.

So I find exactly what I'm looking for for the right price up in Bangor. Good times, right? Well... I pay, using my only credit card (which has next to no balance on it), do some more shopping (again using the same card, but only for small purchases) and head home satisfied that I'm a great husband.

When I get home, the wife heads out shopping. About an hour later I get a call, and Sarah and I have the following conversation:
her: "so umm did you go shopping for me this morning?"
me: "sure did"
her: "ok, cuz the credit card company just called me to verify a purchase made on the card (its a joint card)"
me: "you've got to be kidding me"
her: "nope, they called and asked if I recently spent $xx at Xxx Jewelers, to which I said no, but my husband was just out shopping for me, so thanks for ruining my Christmas surprise."

As you can imagine, this really pissed us both off. I make a purchase and they call her, not me? They have both our cell numbers, it's just that the idiot at Citi Card didn't look carefully enough. So the wife basically found out what I got her for Christmas six days early.

The good news, since the surprise was blown, I showed her the earrings, we returned them and just picked out a new setting etc, so it cuts out a step. The bad news, it's no longer a surprise. Although it was really funny to hear Sarah rip into the Citi people while we were paying for the new ring, asking them (in the most sarcastic voice possible) if it was ok if was made a purchase. Good stuff...

Goings On

So let's see, both the wife and I have started new jobs. So far so good I'd say on both ends. One of the percs of my new job is a free apartment. Nice huh. Good location too, located in Boston, right between my job and the wife's, so it'll hopefully work out well. The only bad part though, is the size. We're going from a 2300sqft house, to living with the in laws, to a 700sqft apt. Big big changes. I think it'll be fun living in the city again, I'm actually pretty excited.

Let's see, what else. My xbox died, but was recently returned to me, free of charge and all fixed, by Microsoft. So thanks Bill Gates, thanks for fixing my beloved xbox.

I'm just about done with my Christmas shopping. Just need to pick up a couple quick things for the wife and I'll be done. We have an understanding, that anything that doesn't fit, or she doesn't like, Sarah can return guilt free. I'm hoping this is the first year she doesn't partake in that policy. I think I did really really well, but we shall see.

Judge Me If You Will...

But you know that show, The Sing Off, on NBC... the show that features all the a cappella bands? Yeah well we've been watching it.. mostly for two reasons. One, there's really nothing else on opposite it. And secondly, my dad's cousins kid is in the Beelzebub's out of Tufts. So what's that, my second cousin? Is that how that works? Anyway, they're really really good, so if you've got nothing else going on you should check out the next episode ( i think its the 21st)

The Divorce Maker

Or as Nintendo is calling it, Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. It has all the fun of the original Mario, except you can play two players in a level at the same time, which makes the game way much harder. You wouldn't think that it would, but timing jumps, and getting the screen to move at a pace that you can both manage is really hard. Never mind the fact that when one person dies, the game pauses for half a second, throwing off the other person.

You can play up to four people at a time, but if two people is like this, four people must be insane.

So far we've managed to keep the yelling at each other to a minimum, but the closer we get to beating the game, the closer we get to killing each other..

Big Day Tomorrow

As it's the first day of my new job. I feel like a kid on the first day of school. Gotta iron some shirts, pack a lunch, and I'll be good to go..

Harry Potter

So the wife and I went to the Museum of Science yesterday and saw the Harry Potter exhibition. Believe it or not, it was actually really good. It wasn't all that crowded, which made it easier to see all the exhibits etc, and it was all the actual movie props. I know it's a little odd for two adults without kids to go see something like this, but if you're looking for something fun and a little out of the ordinary to do, I recommend taking a trip to MoS.

The most interesting part was, you forget just how little they were when all the movies started. When you see they're clothes from the first movie, there were like 9-10, and now they're 18-19 or whatever. That's a heck of a long time to be involved in what's essentially one project. But I'm assuming their bank accounts don't mind...

What Was Once..

The best comedy on tv, Scrubs, is back tonight. The first five or six seasons were all on NBC, but last season (which was supposed to be the last) and this season, will be on ABC. Changing networks is pretty unheard of nowadays. The good news is though, that the creator and main writer of the show has stayed on to run things

The thing that scares me though, is that they changed the show. It used to take place in a hospital, now it takes places (with 3/4 of the cast returning somehow) in a medical school. I'm a little apprehensive, but still optimistic...

We'll find out at 9pm tonight...

Mmmm Fast Food

Well kinda. The wife and I tried Sonic the other day. They just put one up on route 1 in Peabody, and every time we drive by, it's packed. Sunday though, it wasn't. We just did the drive thru, not the drive up spots, and I think that hurt us. The menu on the drive thru didn't seem to have all the items on it. The menu's at the parking spots seemed to be bigger...

Sarah went with the slush and chicken sandwich and I went with the burger and fries. Fries weren't very good, chicken sandwich was ok. The burger was above average, and the slush was basically a Slush Puppy. But for $8 total, I'd say it was worth it...

Turkey Anniversary?

Wait, I mean Thanksgiving and my anniversary. Two great days in history. In one, the "invaders" and natives learned to share and eat in peace (or at least that's what we were taught in the third grade).

On the other, a lovely wannabe princess wouldn't let anyone talk her out of it, and decided to slum it by marrying my sorry arse.

Like I said, both great days.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, see you at the gym tomorrow!

Happy anniversary darlin!!

The Muppets...and Queen?

If you're a fan of the muppets, you need to watch this. And watch the whole thing, cuz it just keeps getting better and better..

Movie Review

So the wife and I saw 2012 this weekend. Wow. Horribly awesome movie. And by that I don't mean that it's a bad movie, because it's not. There's not a shred of reality to it, but it's still a great blockbuster movie. Not a film, but a movie. A film makes you think and usually involves subtitles. This was really the type of movie that should have been released in July and is usually made by Michael Bay (who loves to blow things up).

If you're looking for two and a half hours of escapism entertainment, then I'd recommend this flick. If you want to think while watching a movie, then bring a book. And to top of it, Woody Harleson puts in one of the great bit parts of all time.. fantastic stuff..

Book Reviews

Just finished reading two books...

Jackie McMullen's When The Game Was Ours, is about the Magic Johnson, Larry Bird rivalry. If you're a fan of basketball at all, I recommend picking this us and reading it. Lots of stories I've never heard (and I've read a million Bird books), highly entertaining and well written. I ploughed thru it in a couple of days. Granted I was sitting by the pool in Vegas, so I was umm distracted by the scenery from time to time, but this book still kept my attention, somehow...

I also just finished reading Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. It's a series of essays, written mostly about pop culture and things like that. 90% of them interested me, but there were a couple that I could have done without. FOr the most part though, a very good read.

Next two book, The Book Of Basketball by Bill Simmons and What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. And it just so happens that I'm a big fan of both of the previous writings...

Ho Hum

Not much really going on. Sad huh. In fact I'm so bored lately, that I'm giving yet another attempt at growing a beard. Granted I'm only five days in, which is equal to like twelve hours for most of my friends, but it's still impressive for me.

Yesterday was the wife's birthday. I bought her an Instyler and a Snuggie. Both of which are widely scene on "as seen on tv" ads. For someone who doesn't have the patience to watch commericals, apparently they still work on me..

Ahhh Modern Medicine

So we're watching tv toinght (Castle, in case you were wondering, a show you should be watching) and there was an ad from one of those miracle drugs out there. Abilify I think, not that I know what it does.

The commercial states that the drug may cause thoughts of suicide, which really isn't a good thing. But here's my question. I've never thought of suicide, buuut.. have you ever thought of driving off a bridge? Not for the the landing and dying part, but for the free fall, soaring thru the air part? Or what about getting into a car accident on purpose, just so you could take some time off work?

I'm not saying I would ever do that, but I could use a couple of days off. The dying part is something I have zero interest in, but the adrenaline part I can get on board with. Is that weird?

Is It Just Me?

So does this happen to anyone else? Not this specifically, but this scenario.

Every morning the alarm goes off at 6:03 so I can go to the gym before work. Now in July, Aug, Sept, I went 4-5 times a week. For some reason in Oct I lost my mojo and didn't go much at all, but I've started to go sporadically (3 times a week) in November. So here's my question, does anyone else have the argument with themselves when the alarm goes off? Like one side of my brain is saying, "get up you lazy piece of crap, get up and go to the gym! See that thing under your chin? Yeah that's a second chin, now get up!"

While the other side of my brain just counters with, "ahh just calmly turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. I'm mean, c'mon who doesn't love sleep, I know you do. You can go to the gym tomorrow."

Meanwhile the real me is like an innocent bystander during this discussion. I just go along with whichever side wins, which lately has been the stay in bed, it's cold, side.

Kinda weird huh..

What Does This Say About Me?

So this weekend, a good weekend by the way, I watched a bunch of great shows on the History Channel that I highly recommend.

First I saw a show on the Berlin Wall. Fascinating stuff. It was all about why it was built, how it was built (starting out as a fence and eventually becoming layers of walls in places), various ingenious escapes (with interviews with the people that actually escaped) and why it was finally torn down. It ran two hours, but it was so interesting, even the wife was watching (which she never does).

Second one was on death masks. They took the supposed death masks of Caesar, Napoleon and Shakespeare and the legit masks of Lincoln, Dillinger and someone I'm forgetting. They then gave you the history of the masks and used a laser scanner to produce a color 3-D image. On the Napoleon mask, there were actual eyebrow and nose hairs suck in the plaster from when it was done. And in case you don't know what a death mask is... when the person died, a plaster imprint was immediately made of their face. Don't ask me why this was done, all I know is I think I want it done now too.

And lastly, feel free to judge me, was Pawn Stars. It's all about a pawn shop in Las Vegas and the weird, rare, expensive and not so expensive stuff that people sell. Pretty interesting stuff really, and it's fun to watch people who are that desperate for cash...

Worst Thing Ever

Well I was going to write a review of a book I just finished, but that'll have to wait.

The saddest thing ever just happened to me. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago, our computer died. A friend of ours, generously, reimaged it for us, saving us the money of having to buy a new computer. In the process we lost everything we had on the cpu, which for the most part was no big deal. Our iTunes libraries were lost, but that was ok because we had all the songs on our ipods.

Tonight, I tried reinstalling iTunes on the computer. Somehow, in doing so, EVERYTHING got erased off my ipod. EVERYTHING! Over 4000 songs, at least 1100 of which I purchased from iTunes directly. I haven't bought a cd in six years.. everything was downloaded and now it's all gone.. pooof, just like that...

I can't remember the last time I was this pissed/sad at the same time... stupid me being stupid and not backing up my purchases/library. Stupid iTunes for deleting everything!

Vacation Pics

New York, New York and it's roller coaster..
The Stratosphere...

Yep, that's 900 feet up and we rode it..

See how tiny it is?

Paris at night, with the Bellagio fountain in the foreground...

Me at the fountain...

The wife at the fountain...

The lovely wife, on Halloween. Isn't she the cutest flapper you ever did see? Makes you want to go to a speakeasy with your tommy gun...

I went with the gangster look, but she looks way much better than I did

Tales From Vegas

Oh what a time we had. Where to start?? I'm going to go with the bullets to best shorten my ramblings...

• Remember when I said I thought I found the world's happiest place? Terminal E at Logan (the international terminal), well I found something happier. A flight to Vegas. Everyone was in a great mood for that early on a Saturday morning...
• On the flight there, the 730am flight there, we get stuck sitting next to the whacked out 50 year old who thought she was still 23. Pretty sure she was drunk, and if not, I feel sorry for her friends for having to deal with that all the time. Not the brightest bulb on the strip if you know what I'm saying. While flying over the mountains, she and her friend couldn't agree where we were. She thought we were over the ocean and her friend thought we were over the ocean (on the way to Nevada, there's an ocean right?). Painfully annoying. Thankfully I just fell asleep..
• Discovered a new fast food joint. FatBurger. Holy crap are their burgers great! And the best part is, their burgers come in like 5 different sizes, so someone like the wife can get the little ity bitty one and not not finish her food for the first time ever..
• I don't know what it was, but there was pro football jerseys everywhere! Easily dominated by Green Bay Packer shirts. Not in large groups either, just here and there scattered about the crowd. The only thing that outnumbered the Packer fans, were the University of Texas fans. These people love the color orange and apparently that's all they own...
• Took many long walks down the Strip. It's amazing the things you see. Best costume on Halloween we saw, Jabba the Hut and Princess Leia. Kinda disappointed otherwise. Too many store bought costumes, although I really didn't know that "sexy sailor" (female of course) was that popular...
• Weird thing about Vegas, no animals, pets, or bugs. None...
• Did one of the rides up on top of the Stratosphere. It's basically a claw arm that holds you out, over 900 feet above the ground, and whips you around in a circle. I loved it, not sure if the wife did though, as her eyes were slammed shut the entire time...
• We saw a couple of exhibits while there too. Titanic and Bodies. Titanic was amazing. They really did a great job bringing all the objects to life and tying them in with the people who once owned them. Bodies.. well once you got over the fact that everything you were looking at was at one time walking around, it was amazing. See what the human body looks like under all this skin was really interesting to say the least...
• Interesting question. Husband and wife in their 50's, stood next to us in line. We bought tix for the two exhibits mentioned above. They bought tix for Fantasy. No idea what he did to convince his wife to go, but I salute you sir..
• Did the roller coaster on top of New York, New York. Once again, great stuff, and this time the wife even kept her eyes open..
• We didn't really gamble at all. I think we lost $70 and that's it. Over 3+ days, that's not all that bad. Tons of people there, but no one was gambling. There were even $5 tables everywhere, which I've never seen before...
• All in all, a great great great trip. So good in fact, that I won't have to beg the wife to go again. She loved sitting by the pool all afternoon, as did I of course. Only problem was there wasn't enough waitress's to bring me beer.

Almost There...

Just one short day of work left before Vegas. If you can't tell, I am very very very excited. We haven't been on a vacation in a while, and this will be exactly what the doctor ordered...

We get back Tuesday, so hopefully Wednesday we'll have some good pics to post..

Death and Rebirth

So our computer died last week. A big ole mean virus killed it.. not cool right...

Well you want to know what is cool? Rob... my buddy who is in the process of fixing the computer right now. So instead of going out and buying a new one, all this will cost me is a case of beer and an offer of free babysitting so he and his wife can enjoy a night out without their wee one.

On a completely unrelated note, five days till Vegas!!! Now here's the question, should the wife and I bring costumes and get dressed up Saturday night? We're assuming that many bars will be having festivities in the area, so it's a safe bet we won't be the only ones dressed up. Then again, it's a safe bet we wouldn't be the only ones dressed up in July in Vegas. The problem is finding costumes that we can pack... Thoughts? Suggestions? And no, I'm not going to wear any "sexy" school girl, or sexy witch costumes. I found an Elvis costume that was great, but it was $50 for a jumpsuit, scarf and belt. A little much for my taste.

Vegas Baby! VEGAS!!

So off we go, the trip has been booked. Three nights in Vegas...including Halloween night. Does this have the potential to be legendary or what?!?

We haven't been on vacation in two years, so this is exactly what we need, and to top it off, it's at America's adult playground. And thanks to a couple of friends suggestions, we're staying at Mandalay Bay which just looks frickin awesome. Awesome pool area, great rooms, great location, I can't wait. This is exactly what the doctor ordered...

Adoption Update

Why hello there faithful readers...

We've got some news to pass on re: the adoption. The wife and I have decided to part ways with our current agency. We simply weren't comfortable with the direction things were headed in, and felt like we weren't receiving the level of guidance we were looking for.

So for now operation baby, is on hold. But that's ok, because someday we'll have a place of our own again and will be able to start fresh with a new agency...

So Sorry

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, not much to really blog about. Sad huh. I'm sure I'll find something to write about sooner or later though.

Best Picture Ever

So up in Maine, there's this place, Dave's Movie Center and Romantic Supermart. As you can assume from it's title, Dave's is an adult type store. Every season the window displays change, and this was the most recent Halloween display.

I mean, c'mon, how cool is that? A dinosaur on the roof, eating a sexy (or what was at one point) cave woman! Pure genius if you ask me. And if you look at the window display on the left, more sexy cave people. Now I've never been inside this particular establishment (no need to go in, that's what the internet is for, anonymity), but this display almost made me want to.

Things That Annoy Me:

• People who go 65 or slower in the left lane. Move people! That's what the other two lanes are for, slowpokes like you!
• Bartenders who don't pay attention. Stop watching the tv; those glasses can wait to be cleaned... take my money and get me a drink. I may not have boobs, but you still need to pay attention to me buddy..
• The Red Sox getting swept by the Angels. Celtics start in a matter of days thankfully..
• People who drive 10 mph under the speed limit, don't move when I come up behind them, then shoot me a dirty look when I pass. If you just stayed out of the left two lanes and stayed in the right lane when out for your Sunday drive, you wouldn't have to waste the energy giving me the stink eye grandma...
• Bartenders at Oktoberfest's who don't wear lederhosen. I mean c'mon, if you're gonna work and serve beer at a traditional festival, you should at least look the part..

I'm sure there's more, so I'm leaving this list open to additional pet peeves when they occur to me...

Well How 'Bout That

All this time we've been staying with the in-laws, I've missed my satellite dish more than the wife understands. Not so much the dish (which i definitely miss) but the selection in channels as the in-laws have basic basic basic cable.

Well low and behold, earlier today, on the date we celebrate the discovery of North America by Christopher Columbus, I stumbled upon more channels. Discovery, TLC, ESPN, ESPN2, History, NESN, Comcast Sports, Comedy Central, and many more! No idea why or how, but somehow all these channels remained hidden all while I sat around watching the four basic networks. I just started randomly flicking threw the channels and happened upon them by chance. My life just got a wee bit better...

Another Reason Why The Wife REALLY Needs A Job

So before she got laid off, I did most of the grocery shopping. I actually like going, I like cooking so why not pick out the food, and there's almost always good music playing at the store.

Well not anymore... the wife goes now, and tonight was a prime example why this is a HORRIBLE idea. For dinner tonight, we had corn (normal), potatoes(normal) and fish sausages (very unnormal). They were perhaps the worst thing ever. I tried one, because I had to be the good husband, but I covered it in honey mustard to ease the pain. The worst part, I was promised a burrito if the sausages were a no go. Did I get a burrito... nope... so sad.

Ummmm Ok...

So the wife and I were walking around Home Goods tonight, and stumbled upon the following item...

Does anyone else out there find this just a "wee" bit inappropriate? Needless to say, we had to take a picture to let you judge for yourselves...

And for anyone out there thinking of buying their favorite blogger a present, I'll take one of these please...

New TV!

Ok, not a new tv, but something similar. The wife and I don't have our satellite dish or real cable in our new residence, so we've been surviving on the networks and that's about it.

Yesterday though, we hooked up the PC to the tv and watched some shows on hulu.com. Gotta say, the picture quality is pretty darn good, but the only problem is that the sound runs thru the computer, not the tv, so we have to turn the speakers up nice and loud.

It's very weird seeing the computers desktop that big though.

And no Sarah, this will not push me away from having satellite tv, nice try...

Links

• Apparently some Tufts students don't want the full college experience. A couple people complained that they're roommates were doing the hibidy dibidy while they were in the room, so the school banned it. These sourpusses need to learn to put on their ipod, face the wall and go to sleep. Problem solved...
• This could be perhaps the coolest clip of the year. You'll need sound though, and don't worry, it's safe for work. (for the record, I realize it probably just involves math and probability, but the wife and I both ended up exactly where he said we would)
• Another sex related link, sorry. It tries to explain why women have sex. Pretty simple for us guys, it's fun. You ladies think waaay too much. (no worries, its a cnn link)
• I had two sex related links, so it's only fair to have two prediction type links. This one takes place at a recent Mariners baseball game... unbelievable really....

Weekend

Interesting weekend...

Thursday, awesome night. My most favoritest uncle in the whole wide world, gave me four tickets to the Bruins game. The Bruins played like crap, but the game was still a blast, and the seats were amazing.

Friday, I went to the Red Sox game with my brother and a couple of his friends. Again, great time was had by all. And apparently the beer at Fenway is lased with alcohol steroids as it's extremely potent. I somehow returned to my younger days of 10 or so years ago. The problem is, my tolerance isn't even close to what it was back then. The bar had a breatlizer, so of course we had to try it. Somehow, even though we all had the exact same amount of beer, I only blew a .17 and they blew much higher than that. The night did prove to be a learning experience though, I learned that I'm old now...

Saturday and Sunday were somewhat uneventful as we basically just hung out and watched football. I've got a good feeling about this week though, we'll just have to wait and see if I'm right...

Is It Just Me?

• Is anyone else still weirded out by a non mustachioed Alex Trebec? He shaved it off forever ago, yet it still doesn't look right every time I watch Jeopardy;
• The wife and I hit Legal Seafood the other night. O-ver-Ra-ted (clap clap clapclapclap) The food was pretty good (her chowdah was good, so I was told, but our pasta was COVERED in butter even though it wasn't listed in the description), the drinks were expensive and the service was decent. For my buck, it's a very overrated place, I'd rather hit Naked Fish. But the best part was paying. Not the amount of course, but the method. Instead of giving the waiter my credit card, he brought over a wireless thingy for us to pay at the table. It even figured out the tip for us (in increments of 15%, 18% and 20%). So the food was alright, but the paying technique was pretty cool;
• Anyone watching any good new shows this year? We started watching Glee, which is very entertaining, but that's really it. Otherwise we've pretty much stuck to the same shows as last year. Any suggestions?
• The weirdest/coolest thing just happened. I'm sitting here writing my blog entry, minding my own business (i'm using my mother in laws laptop while she is in Turkey), when all of a sudden we got a Skype call. It was my brother in law and nephew in California. I've never used Skype before so I hit answer and next thing I know I'm seeing and talking to my CA family. How cool is that? And it's free! I think I might have to look into this Skype thing..
  

The Amazing Race

Anyone else out there catch the season premier tonight?

Good stuff so far, one couple got eliminated immediately, which was fine cuz they were yoga instructors and seemed pretty dumb. The couple (or guy) I can't stand, the lawyer and his wife, are of course from Massachusetts. I would tell you what my lovely wife thought of him, but it's not suitable for print. Also not a huge fan of the poker players. Karma always comes back to get you in this game, and they started out lying, which doesn't bode well for them.

Not sure who my pick is yet though. The two friends (one with autism) are entertaining as all heck, but I don't think they can keep it up for the entire race. Right now I guess my top three would be the dating couple (he has the spikey blond hair), the Globetrotters, and the two friends I mentioned above.

Thoughts?

Little Of This, Little Of That

• Is anyone out there watching the new Jay Leno show? I never watched it before it moved to 10pm, so I really don't see why I'd watch it now. All it's doing is pushing me towards other networks and their 10pm shows. Good job NBC.
• Ever wonder why 90% of the knowledge we have is useless? Or is that just me? I can tell you which Roman emperor built a wall thru England in the first century A.D. (Hadrian), but have no idea how to change the oil in my car. One of these things is useless (unless you're on Jeopardy of course) and the other will save you $40 every 3,000 miles.
• Caught an old episode of Seinfeld tonight (the one where Elaine admits to faking it with Jerry). It was funny as all heck and reminded me what a great show it was. Consistently funny too. Has there been another sitcom that week in and week out was that good? Even the first couple of seasons, when the ratings were horrible, were funny. The Simpsons had a good run there, but it's long past it's prime. Seinfeld went out on top.
• Even wonder why or how salt and pepper got paired up. I'm told that both were used as preservatives before we had artificial preservatives, but why are they on every dining room table in America? Who decided that this needed to be so? Why not salt and cinnamon? Who doesn't like cinnamon? Everybody likes it, so why isn't it on our tables? I'm thinking it's some grand conspiracy by an early version of Crate & Barrel, or the united souvenir sellers of America, to sell shakers. You can buy the things in any shape and size you want, they're their own cottage industry. Sorta like how Hallmark invents holidays so it can sell cards.

Death of a Trusted And Loyal Friend

This is a friend that I've grown very close to over the past five or so years. This friend has always been there for me when I needed him most. Whether I was flying on cloud nine, or down in the dumps and needed a pick me up, this friend has always been there to give me the support I've needed..

Yes, after five years together, my Xbox360 died. We had such good times, lots of late nights killing aliens or talking in my headset to a buddy on the other end while playing Madden. I'll miss you buddy... god speed..

Links: Update From Yesterday!

So remember the video from yesterday, with the little girl throwing the foul ball back her dad caught. Well, a local tv station interviewed her yesterday...

And I just had to post this. This is what every bully (especially those who feel the need to not wear a shirt) deserves.

Off to Maine for the weekend... for a couple of days of eatin', shootin', drinkin' and golfin'. Not necessarily in that order of course...

Links

Could this be the video of the year? And I just know, someday, it'll happen to me...

This site... well this site I wish I had thought of 2-3 years ago. And I really believe I could have made it happen. I dunked a tennis ball twice in high school, so I don't see any reason why I couldn't have gotten back to my former glory. I suppose I'd have to lose 15 pounds first, but it could happen...

I'll Take It...

But there's no way the Patriots deserved to win that game tonight. That's a case of a good team pulling a win out of their arse against a young team that doesn't know how to win yet.

Should be fun listening to TO tomorrow though, complaining that he didn't get the ball enough..

Adoption Update

Well, there's not really a whole lot to update you on. We just sent another batch of profiles to the agency to distribute to potential birth mom's (our agency sends them to other agencies who then presents them to the birth mothers). This makes thirty, yep 3-0, copies we've sent out. Luckily, all costs related to the adoption are tax deductible.

It's funny though, lately the universe has done nothing by mock the wife and I. Everywhere we look, there's adoption. We went over to my uncles house the other night and the King of Queens was on, , and what's the episode about? Adoption.

We turn on the radio and there's adoption commercials running constantly.

Jordan's Furniture is having and adoption/foster care info session, so we keep seeing those ads on tv, etc.

There have been a million of these little things lately and frankly I'm not that happy with the universe. Did we do something to scorn it? Maybe the wife cut him off in traffic? Maybe I led his daughter astray in my single days and this is how he's getting his revenge. Who knows... All I know is I'm sick of it. Maybe we'll sacrifice a goat, or toss a virgin into a volcano or something. That should help right?

Please Don't Fondle Then Guns

I'll get to the meaning behind that phrase in a moment.

After a great dinner with great friends Friday night, the wife and I headed on up to Maine for the weekend. It was good timing by us, as it was "walk around town without a shirt on even though there should be laws against you not wearing a shirt at all times", weekend. I swear, every time we left the house, we'd see guys walking around town without their shirts on. And it wasn't even that hot out, probably in the 60's and low 70's. Not that they were missing much clothing as these were the type of guys that normally only wear wife beaters, so to them it was no biggie. I don't need to see your cheap tattoo's, I don't need to see your beer gut (no i'm not describing me), just put a shirt on and go away. Plus, if it's warm enough to not wear a shirt, then why are you jeans and not shorts?

Saturday night was movie night, outdoors again, and we watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Not to say it was horrible, because it had it's funny moments, but it really wasn't very good at all.

Sunday was a very interesting morning. Got a call at 9:30am, waking me up (i never sleep past 730, never mind 930). It was my uncle asking if I wanted to go to the gun show down at the Civic Center. Now, I don't need a gun, but I sure couldn't pass up this opportunity. Plus, I love making gun show jokes, usually while kissing my biceps..

The first thing you see, right before you hit the ticket booth, the NRA booth. Thanks guys, I'm good. Right when you walk in the room, the first thing you see is this bad boy. I'll tell you what, you go huntin' with this little lady, and Bambi better be wearing a whole lot of Kevlar.


This is what most of the show looked like. Just tables and tables of guns and more guns. New, used, from the tiniest .22 to the barely legal assault rifle. And seriously, do we need it to be ok to buy an assault rifle? Last I checked, the Canadians were a peaceful bunch, so we really don't need to lock and load any time soon.
On one of the tables, there was a small sign that read "please don't fondle the guns". How does one fondle a gun? Over the holster, no palm? Buy it dinner and a movie first? For safety sake, I just didn't touch anything. Heck, I was afraid to even snap the two pictures that I did take...

And for the lady in your life.. the tiny pink .22. It might not kill him, but it'll do just enough damage so he won't mess with you again. Plus, you'll look cute shooting him...

Of course we had to follow up our trip to the gun show, with a trip to WalMart. Boston, I've never missed you more...

New Beer

Tried a new beer the other night, and if you're into fall beers, I highly recommend you check it out. You can read my thoughts here... www.beercrusade.com . Enjoy!

I Should Probably Be Watching The President...

But instead I'm blogging. It's a generational thing. I have no attention span, it's not my fault. If I was ten years old now, I'd be on 17 different kinds of meds probably.

Anyway, in my younger days, I was quite the optimist. The glass was always 3/4 full and I always managed to see the silver lining in things. I'm finding though, as I get older that I'm becoming more and more of a pessimist. Ok, maybe not a pessimist, but more likely a realist. Is this something that happens to everyone? Is it just the current state of my life that is driving me down this avenue? Adoption stuck in neutral, wife still unemployed, house won't sell, those are all things that aren't exactly good, but they're not the end of the world either.

I'm thinking this transition is more likely something that happens as you age, as you start to see the world in a different light. I wouldn't say I'm a glass half empty guy now, but it's definitely not 3/4 full anymore.

I Saw God Today

Those immortal words were sung by the great George Strait, granted his song is about the birth of his daughter, but that's neither here nor there.

My story, well my story is about the greatest invention ever! Ok, so who out there loves breakfast? I sure do. If I had it my way, I'd have breakfast at least twice a day. Know what else I love? Pancakes. Pancakes, with a side of eggs, bacon and fried potato's. Heaven. At least I thought it was heaven until I had my lunch today.

The wife and I stopped at the Purple Cow House of Pancakes for lunch today (its in fairfield, me, exit 133). We've eaten there before and knew it was good, so we figured why not. Since it's on the sign, I figured I'd get some pancakes for lunch. But not just any pancakes... no sirrrree, these were some special pancakes, or more specifically, bacon pancakes. Yep you read that right, these pancakes had bacon in them! Sooooooo good. I only had one, but it was the size of my plate, so one was plenty and it was absolutely to die for.

That restaurant is 50 miles from Bangor, and 200 from Boston, and I'd be willing to drive from either just to have some more bacon pancakes, they were just that good...

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times.

I'll let you figure out which is which...

So this weekend the wife and I were up in Maine. I took Friday off, so we went up Thursday night. Spent the day Friday hanging around the house, doing errands, cleaning, that sort of thing. Friday night though, we went to the Dierks Bentley concert with my uncle and cousin. Normally, I'm a HUGE fan of live music. This should have been the case here, except the acoustics in the arena where the show was were HORRIBLE. Really, it's physically impossible for them to have been any worse. If I hadn't known any of his songs, I would have been clueless as to what the lyrics were, just noise bouncing all over the place. Other than that, it was a great time though. Bentley could have really half-assed it for a show in Maine with 4,000 people there, but he didn't which was cool.

Saturday, we had our yard sale. It was scheduled from 8-3, but people started showing up at 7. I'll tell you this much, yard sales bring out the weirdo's. And after 8 or so hours of standing in the driveway, we walked away with a nice addition to our baby fund.

Now for the bad... my hair is gone, it's essentially at really really short wiffle status. Saturday I thought I'd try to shave it bald. While in the shower, I grabbed my razor and shaved it, but it wasn't cutting it short enough. So when I got out, I put some shaving gell on my head and shaved away. Aside from two cuts (which i didnt even feel) and some razor burn, I was in good shape. Until later...apparently I had a reaction to the gell, and my head starting oozing puss. Nasty stuff, really nasty. Thankfully, it has since stopped... But it can't be a good thing that puss was coming out of my scalp right?

After stacking some wood for my uncle Sunday, we headed back to their house later that night for dinner and a movie. Dinner, smoked pulled pork, smoked ribs and burgers, along with some other non meat products I ignored, was fantastic. I have to get a smoker, everything that comes out of that thing tastes soooo good. And the movie? Pyscho, watched outside using their new projector. Really, does it get any better? I don't think so...

And on the way home today the wife stopped at Douney and Bourke and did some damage while I bought a pair of $15 sunglasses at LL Bean. I finally found a pair that fit my lopsided head!

Hmmm

• Ever wonder why people from Massachusetts have no clue as to how to drive thru a rotary? It's not like they're some new futuristic type of intersection that just confuses everyone. Right outside the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain is the rotary from hell. People coming from one direction don't stop, don't look, they just go, which is scary if you happen to be coming from the opposite direction. Everyday, I go thru it on the way home from work, and I'd say at least twice a week I end up leaning on my horn at someone (those who know me, know I never use the horn on the car, just ask the wife)
• Walking thru Boston today I had a scary moment. The wife and I were walking down Newbury Street, just out for a walk, and we passed the location where I thought Daisy Buchanan's was. Daisy's was a favorite bar of ours in our early 20's. I had a moment of sadness until I realized that it was actually on the next block and still alive and well. Who's up for a night of reliving 23? I just might be...
• Saw a great license plate the other day in Maine... OMG MOVE(!) I put the exclamation point in there obviously. For the old among us, OMG means "oh my god". Just a nice way of asking all those people going 65 in the left lane to get out of the way!

What I've Learned

• Nuns wear wedding rings? Did anyone else know this? I had no idea until my lovely wife informed me. (we were driving and passed a nun and you could see her wedding ring on her finger as she drove) Apparently it's to symbolize their "marriage to Christ". So because there are like a billion nuns, does that make Jesus a Mormon?
• A Sonic opened up on the north shore! I'm not sure if I should be excited as I've never eaten at one, but the commercials sure make their food look tasty. We were going to go tonight, but it was PACKED, like 100 cars just waiting to get into the lot to order food, packed, so we figure we'll try again another night.

What A Weekend

Fantastic weekend in Maine the past couple of days. It poured, so our yard sale got postponed, although you wouldn't know it by asking the people of Maine. We have one guy stop by at 7:30 Friday night asking if he could look at what we were selling. We have another guy ring the doorbell at 7:15am Saturday, looking to pick stuff off before we opened up shop (even though it was pouring out). When we told it it was postponed, he asked why. I said because it's raining and we don't want our stuff to get wet. This confused him to no end.

In the next two hours we had 4-5 more people ring the doorbell asking if we were still have the yard sale. One person responded, when told it was moved to next week, ooh you mean tomorrow? To which we replied, no next week. Again, this confused the bejesus out of him. It got so bad (with people milling about and cars constantly parking in front of our house) that we made up signs to hang off the porch saying that it was cancelled and would be held next weekend. Yard salers are a weird bunch.

But besides that I got to sit on the couch and watch tv all day (with alllll my channels, ooh how I missed my satellite dish) and hit the casino buffet for dinner. All you can eat for just under $13. And the food is surprisingly tasty! I made that buffet my bitch. I'm not proud, ok maybe a little proud, to say that I made 4 trips up plus desert... mmm mmm good.

Now I can't wait for next weekend.. Labor Day in Maine.. can't wait!

Catching Up

Not much really going on lately. Sad huh...

I bruised the crap out of my hand last night, which isn't very fun. By my thumb (on the palm side of my hand) and up in between my thumb and pointer finger is all swollen. I know how it happened, or more specifically when it happened just not how. At my baseball game last night, I grounded out to short, somehow when I made contact the bat moved too much in my hand and did the damage, go figure. So now my kung-fu grip is essentially crap...

We're having a yard sale Saturday, trying to basically get rid of as much stuff as we can so we don't have to move it when someone eventually buys our lovely home. The couches are going, along with stuff like my rollerblades, vcr, old stereos, stuff like that that isn't getting used, will hopefully all be sold. It's supposed to rain, so hopefully all the buyers will come early while the sun is still shinning.

I would just like to publicly thank my father for giving me his cold. We were at my cousins wedding on Sunday, and the waiter filled up an empty water glass. Without thinking, I grabbed it and chugged it down. As I did this, my mother said to me, "I wouldn't do that, it's your fathers glass and he's been sick all week" To which I replied, "I'm not worried, I never get sick." That being said, for the past four days I've been hacking up brown and green goo. Gross. Weird part is, I don't really feel sick, just sound it.

So I had a friend tell me about the xbox version of the game show "1 vs. 100". It's free, you play on line against other people, and there are real prizes if you're good enough. The wife and I figured we'd give it a whirl tonight, and ended up playing for an hour and a half (each game is about 30 mins long). Between the two of us, our trivia skills are pretty darn good, although you get points for how quickly you answer, and frankly she's not that quick.

Quick Question

Ok readers, I pose to you the following question. Now search your soul for the answer, ponder it until you've come to what you believe to be the right answer...

Here goes...

Do I talk too much? Sober, drunk and everything in between, it doesn't matter.. I need to know. I know I talk a lot.. I've been called loquacious more than once, but is it too much? No matter your answer, I most likely won't change my ways, I was just curious as to what my friends and family thought. So fire away...

Oh No She Din't!

But oh yes, she did indeed. So we're sitting in church yesterday, waiting for the ceremony to start for my cousins wedding. We're talking, trying to figure out if it's a full mass (boooo) or just a quick 20 minute ceremony (YAY!)

First, the wife asks if it's wrong to pray for a short ceremony. After conferring with the family, we decide that no, it isn't wrong at all, and we all join her in her prayers. (it was like 90 million degrees in the church, so you can understand our thought process)

About 15 minutes later, as the ceremony is at, what we hope to be, it's midpoint, the wife let's out an eff bomb in church! Not a loud one, in fact it was very soft, so only I could hear it, but it was an eff bomb nonetheless. So I did what any smart person would do. Immediately disavowed any connection to her, and slid down the pew a few feet as to not get hit by the impending lightning bolt heading straight for her. Although it was pretty funny, it's not every day you hear that in church.

Just one picture, showing that everyone had a good time.. and to show that the wife was not actually hit by lightning.

Movie Review: GI Joe

I'm not going to bother being nice, or elaborating on the plot. I'm just going to say this... this movie was so bad, it made me want to swear off movies all together. It was so bad, part of me didn't even want to admit seeing it. It was so bad, it somehow managed to go back in time and ruin a part of my childhood.

That being said, it did take me back to those days, when you're a kid just starting to figure "things" out, and remind me just how hot the Baroness and Scarlett were...

Add Another In-Law To The Mix

Well not really another, as I only have two now.. but this weekend my younger brother got married and what a time it was. I feel like I haven't slept in a week, which is actually mostly true. Lots of late nights with his friends, trying to prove I can still hang, when in reality that couldn't be further from the truth.

The rehearsal dinner was a blast. Went off without a hitch, dinner itself was yummy and the bar is always a delight.

The wedding, well that took fun to a whole new level of awesomeness. My new sister in law looked amazing, my brother looked very pale (like puke on his shoes pale. he didnt, but there was like an 80% he was going to he was so nervous) The ceremony was lovely and all that, but the real fun started in the limo when one of the groomsmen thru out the line of the night..."all this limo is, is a cage for this party animal!" Awesome line right..

The reception was a blast, dj did a great job of keeping the dance floor packed (the only time I left was to hit the little boys room), and the bartender knew me by my 2nd trip up. I would post some pics, but I'm on the road blogging right now, so when I'm home with my computer, I'll put some up. I can't wait to see the video, as there were many WOW/hilarious moments, including some bowling and my wife dominating the dance floor..

A fantastic time was had by all. In fact, I think this was easily a top 3 wedding for me. Great time, with zero complaints....

I'm Mad As Hell And I Won't Take It Anymore!

Ok, maybe not mad as hell, maybe just a little perturbed.

You see, tonight the wife and I hit the mall, and randomly had dinner at Friendly's. Food was fine, service was friendly enough, but then dessert came. Yep, the wife had ice cream and I just had to sit there and watch. Not a single item on the menu for we lactose intolerants out there.

If someone in a wheel chair came rolling in, they could still use the bathroom cuz there's a special stall for them. If a child comes in, they can still sit at the table, cuz they'll provide a booster seat for them. But no, when someone with my condition comes in, it's just a quick turn of the back and a "i say good day sir!" as they walk away.

But this doesn't just happen at Friendly's. Dunkin Donuts only has milk, no soy or lactaid (Starbucks has soy, but they're coffee is just too expensive to make up for it)

So I want to start a movement, a movement to make the world less lactose intolerant intolerant! Who's with me?!?! I would advise you all to join my cause, because if I ever have an dairy and you're around, you're going to wish that I had had soy instead..

I'm Too Sexy For This Blog

Well maybe not.. but according to this Boston.com article, most men would think that they are. The article stated that 60% of American men thought themselves to be sexy, and why wouldn't we? Well, some of you out there should invest in a floor length mirror, but is sexy all about looks? I think not, I think it can also involve a sense of humor or intelligence, right? If not, then I'm sh*t out of luck, ya know.

It's all about confidence. I say, that if you don't like yourself, then why should anyone else? And if you're not happy with yourself, then change. By new clothes, go to the gym, read more interesting books, anything to make yourself more interesting which others might find to be more sexy.

I gotta say though, I've never been a big fan of the word "sexy". It used to be one of those words that made me uncomfortable, now it just makes me think of Fat Bastard.

Adoption Update

I realized this morning that I haven't really given you an update on the adoption lately, and that's mostly because there is nothing to report. The agency we are using recently reorganized so we were assigned a new case manager. Our new cm has the same first name as the wife and they went to the same college, so you figure those would be good signs right, but to date, nothing else has really changed.

July though, does mark the one year "anniversary" for us, because it was July of last year when we started all the paperwork etc. We weren't officially good to go until late December though. So we've been on the list since January 1 basically, with nothing to show for it. We did have the hiccup in Akron, but it's been six frustrating months since then.

Somehow we managed not to get all down in the dumps with everything too, which is actually really amazing if you think about it. No job since January for the wife, no baby yet (with the nursery all done and just staring at us every time we walk by), house still won't sell, never mind the usual crap that everyone has to deal with. Not that we need it, but it sure would be nice if we got one piece of good news soon! With the three things in flux in our life, baby, job, house, is there anything major that isn't changing for us? All you employed, breeders with a solid roof over your head have it easy! But as they say though, we still have our health.

Maybe we'll hit the lottery, although I guess we'd have to play in order to win huh...

We do have a couple of good events coming up though. Family reunion is this weekend which should be fun (provided it doesn't rain as it's outside) and my brother's getting married in a couple of weeks, which will be a blast.

I'm Officially Old

Great weekend up in Maine, seeing the house and family. It's amazing how clean our house is now by the way..

But tonight, I'm feeling old. We had a baseball game tonight, and I'm paying for it now. In my attempt to stay young, well, let's just say the body doesn't respond the way it used to. I've spent most of the evening with my hamstring wrapped in ice, something I've never had to do before. The problem is, I don't think I'm ready to be old yet....

Randomness

• If you've ever been to a boring wedding, and let's face it who hasn't, then I highly recommend you check out this video. It's the complete opposite of that. And I'm mad that the wife and I didn't think of this...
• Randomly today.. walking down the street at lunch time, middle of JP, to hit the store for a snack. All of a sudden I hear someone YELLING out my name. I look up and this woman, who I kinda recognize but not really, is walking quickly toward me. When she reaches me, she gives me a big hug and starts talking to me, "how are you", etc that sort of thing. At this point I vaguely recognize her, but have NO idea who she is. So she continues going on and on about her four kids (rut row) and how we need to hang out. I get back to work, still baffled as to who this is, and email a couple of friends to ask if they know (I got her first name). Her name, coupled with a description, leads a very wise friend to remind me who she was. Apparently I worked with her 9-10 years ago at a law firm. I was a paralegal, she worked in the copy room. That information put my mind at ease...I could stop wondering who the heck she was, and I was now positive that none of her kids were mine...
• If you like volleyball, you need to check out this link. It's the longest volley ever...
• Did everyone hear that there's a new sports radio station coming to town? August 12th, the new station starts up, which will bring even more competition to the local behemoth WEEI. I can't stand EEI's early morning or afternoon drive shows (and i cant get espnradio reception in my office), so I'm very excited for the alternative...
• The other day, the woman I work with called a local hardware store to order a light fixture cover to replace a broken one. She gave the person on the phone the dimensions, 10"x6", to which the person responded, "is it round?" Ummm...think about it...
• You know what I hate? When you call someone, for whatever reason, and they don't answer so you leave a voicemail. Not two minutes later, your phone will ring, it's that person you just called and the start off the call by saying, "did someone there just call me?" Listen to the stinkin message I just left you and you'd know the answer to that question!!!
• I don't think I posted this before (but of course I can't remember and I'm too lazy to check), but this commercial is actually pretty cool. And I still can't remember the product, but babies and roller skates are always funny to me...
• And lastly, ever heard of Clamato? Or Chelada? Yeah, they're disgusting. If you're curious, check out this link. I'm not sure who wrote it, but I can guess that he's a really great writer, who also happens to be really really exceptionally good looking and funny too..

New Favorite Summer Show?

So the wife and I are sitting there watching tv tonight.. it's the summer, so there's not much on, right? Wrong... there was this new show, Dating In The Dark, on ABC (monday at 10pm) and it's fantastic.

Now mind you, the last dating show I watched with any regularity was Blind Date, and that was mostly just to laugh at the running commentary that would pop up on the screen. This show, however, was different. Three guy, three girls. Living in the same house, but they don't get to see each other, at all, until the end. They each get to meet whomever they like (and the "experts" tell them who they're most compatible with via a questionnaire etc), but only in a pitch black room where they can't see each other. Over the course of 3-4 days they have a bunch of "dates" in this room, but still can't see each other

At the end, they go back to the room, where a light will illuminate them and the person they picked, one at a time, for a quick ten seconds. They then choose if they want to leave the show together or leave solo.

So basically they make a connection without seeing each other, and the final test is whether or not looks actually do matter. For the record, tonight, two of the three couples left together, the third, well...let's just say that she was really really shallow..

I may not have done the best job describing it, but it's definitely entertaining tv. I'd like to think I wouldn't judge someone on their looks in that situation, but you never know I guess...

The Weekend..In Pictures

So we had a great weekend. The wife's brother, sister-in-law and their new baby are all in town so we got to spend quite a bit of quality time with them as you'll see...

Here's me with my nephew Michael (or Mikey). He's a cutie and the happiest little guy ever. He's actually the best audience you could ask for, cuz he smiles and laughs at all my jokes, which doesn't happen much in real life...

And here he is with the wife...

This morning, we got to go see the Stanley Cup. A friend of ours heard it was coming to BC and told us about it, and there's really no way I'm going to say no to that invite. In the picture is me and the wife along with the former BC player (and current Pittsburgh Penguin) who brought the Cup in. Gotta say, it was really really cool to actually touch it...(insert, "that's what she said" here)Tonight, we had another baseball game. The wife came, and snapped a few pictures. First one is me on first base after my first hit of the day...

And then this one is me again, at bat. I'm kinda surprised about the whole baseball thing. As my buddy Phil said on the car ride home, "Jason , who would have thought that you'd be a better player now, than you were in high school. Either you were a good player then and didn't play cuz of crappy coaches, or you've somehow gotten better over the past fifteen years without playing once." I'm gonna go with option A, but its more like dumb luck...

Great weekend overall. But I'm not really looking forward to a week of work, as usual...

Movie Review: Harry Potter

So the wife and I went and saw the newest Harry Potter movie this evening. We saw it at one of those premium theaters where you have to reserve a seat, have to be 21 (cuz they sell alcohol) and can get dinner while you watch the movie. I'll tell ya, short of sitting on my couch, it's the only way to see a movie..

Well the movie itself.. was GREAT. If you've seen the others and liked them, then you'll love this one. It clocked in at about two and a half hours, however, it was the fastest 2.5 hours ever. Flew by... like at the climatic scene (which you know from the books is at the end), I knew there was only a couple minutes left, but figured there had to be at least another half hour, cuz it didn't feel like 2.5 hours had gone by yet. The writing was fantastic, lots of laugh out loud moments, and they really did a fantastic job of setting the scene for the final book (which due to the amount of content, will be two movies)

And if you do go see it, bring tissues ladies. It wasn't all that dusty to me, but otherwise there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Now we just have to wait until 2010 for the next one...

I Like The Weather..

Sure it's nice out side, but I'm looking beyond that.

Every morning at the gym as I'm doing what you do at a gym, I watch tv. And every morning around the same time, all the networks do the weather and go to the local affiliates for the local forecast. ABC, NBC, and Fox all trot out these very knowledgeable, but also very young and cute meteorologists. CBS on the other hand, in an effort to counter program maybe(?), throws a squared jawed young man out in front of the camera.

Do we think this is on purpose? Do you think CBS intentionally didn't go the cute girl route, and choose the attractive male? I say yes to that, but no thank you to CBS... I'll stick to NBC, ABC and Fox thank you very much...

My Apologies

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Either nothing interesting has happened to me, or I've been too lazy to post. Most likely it's been a combination of the two.

Tomorrow however, we are going to see Harry Potter, so you can expect a full review Thursday morning..

This And That

• So I joined a Boston area gym. $20 a month, and I can bring a guest with me every day if I want. Problem is, no one wants to go. Anyway, I've noticed something...married people versus single people. At the gym, the singles (those without wedding rings) tend to dress all trendy, wearing all the latest gym fashions etc. We married folk (those with rings) tend to wear whatever we grab in the morning. That's just this mans observation...
• Also, there are eight tv's I can choose from. I listen to my ipod, but I still like to watch the news etc. Five of the channels are showing various news programs. Two are showing sports (NESN and ESPN) and one is on TBS, which shows Saved By The Bell and Married With Children. The other day, Matt LeBlanc from friends was on MWC. Did you know that he starred in a spin off (Top Of The Heap) from that show? I had no idea. Learn something new every day I guess.
• I have to drive from one location to another every day for work, sometimes multiple times a day. On my drive, I go by English High School, and there's always kids out on the baseball field practicing. And every day I drive by, I want to stop and hop into the game. Or at least stop and drop off some decent equipment for them..
• And if you haven't been checking out beer crusade, I highly recommend you do. They have some of the most talented authors around...

Movie Review and General Thoughts On Movie Etiquette

Saw Transformers last night. No need to really review it as you all most likely know what it's about. Lots and lots of great special effects followed by a half decent plot. Movie itself was fantastic summer blockbuster viewing, a movie that most definitely is best served by being seen on the screen as opposed to your tv at home.

More importantly though, I pose this question. When did it become socially acceptable to talk throughout the entire movie? The past couple of times I've gone to see a movie, people have been carrying on conversations as if they were in their own living room. This is not ok people. I want to go and enjoy the movie, not listen to your phone ring or hear your play by play for what's going on on screen. Just zip it, sit back and enjoy the flick. You'll have plenty of time to discuss it on the car ride home...

Did I Just See That?

I won't bore you with the weekend details. Although Saturday night, we had the worst thunder storm ever. Started around 2am and lasted for an hour or so. We lost power a couple of times and again in the morning, but thankfully the house didn't get hit by lightning. We're the tallest house in the neighborhood, so I was just lying there waiting for it to happen...

Oh and Saturday, we went to a cookout at my uncles house and he busted out the smoker. Sausages and ribs, smoked for eight hours.. wow, there's nothing better...

So today.. I'm driving down Washington Street in JP around 10:30 this morning... Ok, you know when you see someone driving down the street and they have a mattress tied to the roof of their car, and the driver/passengers have their arms out the window holding on to the mattress, like their kung fu grip will be strong enough to keep that thing from flying away... yeah I saw that. Only it wasn't a mattress, it was a couch, and it wasn't tied down! There were three guys in this little 1990's four door sedan, with a couch balanced on the roof and I kid you not, there was no rope involved, just three hands reaching up and holding it. I was tempted to turn around and follow them just to see if they made it wherever they were going without dumping it, but I had to get back to work, so we'll never know...

Movie Review

The wife and I saw the Hangover last night. I thought it was awesome, she...not so much. The resurrection of the "R" rated comedy is one of the more pleasant surprises to come about in the past five years. Lots of hysterical jokes, lots of inappropriate /hilarious sight gags, really just a great fun movie which I think I need to see again. We had a bunch of drunk teenagers in the theater with us (which definitely took away from the movie) who were just being really obnoxious the entire time. We did however, exact our revenge on them...

Upon leaving the movie theater, we saw them try to start a fight with some random guy and take a leak on a parked car. The wife wouldn't let me go over and say something to them, so we did the next best thing... tattled. Yep, we took their license plate and called the local police, telling them there were three drunk kids (which they were) getting into their car and driving away. No idea if the cops caught them or not, but it made us feel better. I really wanted to go with the citizens arrest, but the wife was completely against it. I figure I've seen Police Academy enough times that I could pull it off.

The Weekend

Just a quick post tonight. Friday I hit a friends party, which was fun, but sad at the same time. She's moving out of her apartment in Southie, which is great, but we had so many fantastic parties, etc there, that it's almost like the end of an era.

Saturday was the brother's bachelor party. We played golf and hit the casino's. No, I don't have any pictures, sorry to disappoint. I will say that everyone involved had a great time and there were a lot of hung over guys waking up this morning..

Today we had a baseball game, which was a nice treat seeing that the past two have been rained out. I used to play a lot of softball and loved it, but now that I'm back playing baseball, I love it. I didn't realize how much I missed it either. I'm the oldest/second oldest guy on the team depending on who shows up, but I'm trying my best to keep up with these young whippersnappers...

Now if we could only get the sun to come back and hang out for a while...

They Come In Threes

Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucet and Ed McMahon. Doesn't it always seem that way? Whenever a celebrity dies, two more follow. Somewhere Walter Cronkite just let out a sigh of relief...sorry, I couldn't help myself there.

Think about it though, each of these three really symbolized a generation. Everyone knows Farrah from that iconic poster and her one season (yep, everyone always forgets it was only one season before she left over a contract dispute) of Charlie's Angel's. All those old people that loved The Tonight Show, knew Ed McMahon along with all us kids who used to watch Star Search (umm what I meant was all "those" kids who used to watch Star Search. I never watched it, I was too cool for that) Never mind the fact that every time your doorbell rang, part of you always wished it was him with that giant check from Publishers Clearing House. Then there's Michael Jackson. Is there a better song than Billy Jean? I'm not sure that there is. Try to forget the creepy stuff (sorta like how we like to remember Elvis as young and skinny) and just remember the good times. Sad to see all three pass away.

So I was thinking. John and Kate of John and Kate Plus Eight have been on the covers of those gossips magazines an awful lot lately. So I had a thought. People Magazine should just change it's name to Person Magazine (as either john or kate are always on the front), and US Weekly should now just be Them Weekly. It's like they're completely consumed by these two people, as if there's no other gossip to be found out there. The problem is, summer is late in getting here this year, so all those drunken clubbers (you know who you are Lohan) haven't been out and about yet..

My brother's bachelor party is this weekend. Golf followed by drinking and gambling. Should be a great great time, but I'm just hoping not to look too old to all his little buddies. I was going to go to one of his friends show tonight (he's in a band), but then I found out they weren't taking the stage until 11, and that's just too late for me. I just can't hang like I used to. So might say I'm washed up, others might say I'm just saving up for Saturday.