Video of the Week

Picture of the Week

Avatar

Went and saw Avatar yesterday with the in-laws, the movie was awesome.  Not sure I was a huge fan of the 3-D experiece, but the movie was, for lack of a better word, beautiful.  The CGI was flawlessly integrated into the picture, at no point that I can recall did I notice a clear distinction between "green screen" or CGI and the real living breathing actors and sets.  The plot, while simplistic and slightly transparent, remained very entertaining and kept your attention, keeping you excited and engaged enough that you really don't notice the nearly 3 hour run time.  So don't listen to the boo birds out there complaining about the plot, sorry critics no meaning of life in this movie, but it will entertain you from begining to end for sure.  You got invested in the characters and they did a really good job of not prolonging certain scenes that could very easily have gone the way of Dances with Wolves and just made you want to claw your eyes out in bordem; it refrained and kept a good pace that made you feel like you knew what you needed to know without taking forever and a month full of Sundays to get there. 

Bottom line I give this movie an amazing and it's probably the best I've seen this year with Watchmen being right up there as well.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the sci-fi type movies I will most certainly be adding this to my Blu Ray movies to buy list.

Video of the Week

Changes...

So, it's been awhile now and I kind of figure it's time to get a better title.  There's nothing "wrong" with the old one but I started off with the pretty nondescript (Insert Title Here) and I really had initially planned to put something in there eventually but just never got around to it.  And to be honest I really didn't get around to it because A) I play Video games in the majority of my spare time and 2) well my attention span is not the greatest so I figured I'd drop the blog in a matter of a few weeks.  That being said, the search, nay, the quest for a new title has begun.  I'll likely have a rotating variety of titles over the next weeks to "try them on for size."  SO if you happen to see a good one that you like, leave a comment... see one that is most heinous (thank you Bill & Ted) then let me know that too.

Response to a Christmas List...

To Whom it May Concern:

GI Joe and Transformers 2 were horrible abominations, masquerading as movies. I refuse to spend my hard earned dollars to in any way encourage a 2nd and 3rd installment, respectively. My childhood memories have been trampled on enough... while we're at it let's just add Russell Crowe as Robin Hood to the list of atrocities that Hollywood continues to put out at my childhood's expense. It's not officially out yet but I saw a trailer and it looks like Gladiator in the woods, in fact I'm pretty sure there's a scene with a horse that they just photoshoped woodland gear on Maximus's body.

I urge you to do the same, boycott these two movies and pass the word on to anyone you feel may fall victim to the temptation that is a shiny box with the promise of taking you back to simpler times of fruitt by the foot and slap bracelets. Please.

10 year old Ben thanks you for your time and attention.

Video of the Week

I love Trans-Siberian Orchestra, probably my favorite  Christmas music.  This is an old video but pretty amazing when you consider what was probably involved in getting it set up.

Christmas

So yesterday's post was a bit... angry and it's the holiday season and I shouldn't be so angry, but those two stories in my mind have some parallels that just anger/scare me.  That being said... enough with the negativity it's the holidays and to kick that off, here is my favorite Christmas decoration:

I honestly don't even remember where or when we got this little guy but when I think Santa, this is what I think of not the big fat red guy with the snow white beard that invites strange children to sit on his lap... (am I the only one that thinks that's wierd? Parents spend 364 days keeping thier kid AWAY from strangers and then 1 day in December, plunk them down on a strangers lap... It's wierd, but hell when I have a kid I'll plunk them down on the jolly man's lap on that one day too).  I think of this guy, kinda mountain manish with a hint of Gandalf.  He's not to flashy and very unassuming, well except for those bells I mean you'd hear a guy coming that was waving around a string of bells as he walked.  I could share some hot chocolate with this guy.

Price of Fame?

I can't recall if I've commented on my thoughts on the Jon and Kate Plus 8 television series but to put it lightly I think that all parties involved should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting these kids as long as they did.  At the center of this whole mess are two individuals who are selfishly addicted to money, attention, and free stuff.  Proof of this fact is that they'd rather head to the divorce court and keep the show on the air than exit the show and try to work out their issues, that at least on the surface seem to have originated because of the show, or at a minimum were amplified by it.  And the kids not only lost their family unit but now it turns out they are probably going to need some professional help the following article says the kids are 'sobbing' at loss of cameras, this is just sad.  I feel bad for them, because their lives are so jaded at such a young and age that they require the attention of cameras.  I hope that they get them the help they need, because in this day where it seems like everyone is trying to get there 15 min. I'm truely scared about what self-destructive things these kids may do in the future to get back in the spotlight. 

I mean just look at all that is going on now, women openly admiting they are essentially morally corupt, just for a bit of air time and the hope of a primetime interview.  I of course I'm speaking of the Tiger Woods women.  I mean I in no way shape or form think what he did is okay; it's terrible.  But it takes two to tango, and these women knew he was married and in my opinion are equally guilty but yet they are so willing to sell out their values for the hopes of some small "fame" if you can even call it that.  I mean who freely and openly comes out and disgraces their family and themself by admiting to sleeping with a married man?  Who does that?  I mean their just jumping on TV as fast as they can to say I slept with Tiger Woods!... And the worst of it is some of them try to make it seem as if they feel "bad."  No, if you truely felt "bad" and remorseful you wouldn't run to US Weekly you'd run to tell your priest and then take that to the grave.  Zero reason to admit it to US Weekly other than selfish spotlight seeking.  I mean if you think about it it's pretty terrible all around the way around. 

Bottom line I hope that these to numb skull parents are smart enough to realize that the show had a damaging impact on their kids and learn from the self-destructive path that so many child stars have followed, set aside their own selfish need for spotlight, and get these kids as far away from spotlight as possible.

The Gym

Nearly everyone I know has "Gym Stories" about their fellow patrons, which had me concerned because I didn't have any.  Seriously.  Not a one I must go to the most "normal" gym in the world, which has me doubly concerned because what if I'm the wierd guy that everyone tells stories about?  Kind of makes me self concious.  Anyway, no stories until... yesterday, now these aren't "wierd" as much as bothersome to me, which considering I've been there a year and not found any annoying patrons was awesome.  My gym is a typical monoploy gym, super expensive (which sucks) personal training sessions run you about $45 per 1 hour session.  I saw this girl, kid you not, checking email on her iPhone for about 15 min. sweetie... the photoshoped picture of the kitten with the M16 can wait till after you stretch.  The chick was cluesless to the obviously annoyede trainer who I could tell wanted to "accidently" drop a kettle bell on it.  Story number dos' same phone different girl, elevated cluelessness... girl number two was actually doing her ab excercises whilst discussing what I can only imagine was the cure for global warming or a breakthrough in cancer research.  Again, trainer annoyed.  Girl clueless.  Tres'.  Guy reading a book, while pumping iron.  Because when I want a place to curl up with the latest Twilight book I think clanking iron, grunting men, and idle female chit chat.  And last but not least the award for funniest guy goes to the locker room.  So I saw this guy leaving when I was arriving and he was in the locker room at the conclusion of my workout.  So do the math on that, we worked out the same amount of time, about 45 min.  He, in that 45 min, forgot which locker he put his stuff in.  And I'm not talking he was one or two off, because I've done that, he was entire sections of the room off, in fact he may still be searching for it as we speak.

Picture of the Week

After seeing the forecast... I wish I were here:

Coogee Beach Australia

New Year's Resolution Phase II (II and a Half) Update

I decided that while technically this will count as my resolution I think I'm going to begin start the executions now, that way I have several weeks to get myself over my addictions (i.e. cheating is allowed until 11:59:59 PM on 12/31).  

The first two e-stractions to walk the green mile: 

Farmville & Mafia Wars

It's not that these were "bad" applications and when the votes were counted and pros and cons were reviewed these were the bottom two.  So alas I'll be retiring from the mob and the farm.

Childhood Memories Ruined...

The utter destruction of my childhood televison heros was complete on Saturday with the viewing of GI Joe Rise of Cobra.  As if the Chevy commercial, I mean Transformers wasn't bad enough... this movie was such a disappointment.  I was going to write a lot on it, and actually had a rant all written up but deleted it because it made me sad.  I'll just say this: perhaps the saddest and most disappointing thing was the lack of the "moral" or "lesson" at the end of the movie, GI Joe fans know what I'm talking about.  And knowin is half the battle... this small little 1-2 min. clip could very well have saved the movie in my mind, but without it I'm left with a very bitter taste in my mouth, and that's all I have to say about that. 

Video of the Week

New Year's Resolution: Phase I

So I know this is super early but on my 10 hours worth of Trukey Day driving I began to cook up my New Year's Resolution which is to declutter my life.  I decided I have way to many e-stractions (electronic distractions)  I started a list:

Blog

Youtube

Farmville

Mafia Wars

Bejeweled Blitz

Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy Football

Facebook

Pandora

iTunes

Gmail

PS3

So in short Phase I is the discovery process, the identification of the time thieves if you will.  Phase II is to evaluate the pros and cons of each and then Phase III which will take place shortly after Christmas will be execution.  Somethings have just got to go, I am judge, jury, and executioner and like Highlander, "there can be only one"... not really I'm keeping more than one, but that saying is just so darn dramatic.

PS Don't underestimate my dorkiness....I did infact order them so they would look like that

Picture of the Week

Right about Christmas time in Denver 2007?  I think...

LEGO Land

Thanksgiving brought the usual fare of family, turkey, stuffing, mashed taters and legos.  We treked down to Saint Louis to see the inlaws and much to my surprise and delight Brett (my cousin inlaw) asked me not long after I had finished off roughly my wieght in delicious Emo's pizza, if I wanted to play with LEGOS?  To which I replied "ABSOLUTELY."  To understand my excitement you must look back a few visits to my adventures with Mr. Thomas T. Train (the T stands for 'the' I think T. is more sophisticated), because Thomas what his toy of choice and while fun, there's only so much you can do with plastic train tracks and he had all sorts of "rules."  Legos however are a big box of random.  Thousands of multicolored blocks just waiting to be snapped together into something awesome.  Brett told me we were building war ships.  So I proceeded with my marching orders and began to transport myself back to childhood.  Below are my ships, I think for my first LEGO adventure in about 15 years, I did a pretty good job.  I built him four ships (from R to L), an attack plane, a radar plane the big white and red, a bomber and a boat.  The childhood break was a nice departure from my normal "thoughtless" activity of Call of Duty or some other video game.  Hopefully he'll have more LEGOS next year though cause we ran out.

Video of the Week: Extra Mayo? You say, YES...

Good call King Carl you idiot, way to invest the Chiefs cash wisely in LJ he is awesome, oh wait, that's right, he's a Bengal now and Allen is in Purple instead of Red and is one of the best Defensive Ends playing today... to quote the fine people at Guinness "BRILLIANT!"  and... to add further insult to injury he's funny too:

Music and Me

In the wake of the shinanigans that were the AMA awards... (no not going to go into the performance), I got to thinking about music in general; my tastes, likes, dislikes, etc and as many well know I am what I consider a lover of music, all music.  I will listen to everything from Jay Z to Cross Canadian Ragweed to Greg Laswell to Three Days Grace; Bottom line when someone asks me what my favorite kind of music is my honest answer is "If it's good I like it, basically, I like what I like" I don't like to be labeled as a "rap fan" or a "country fan" I just like good music, which started in college and has only grown since.  Finding new music that I enjoy is like a game to me, a constant search for new stuff that not many people are into.  I hate the radio - the radio takes a good song and plays it so many times in a given day that you want to never hear the song again, which is disappointing.  The best, the Holy Grail if you will, is when you have some music that no one else has. In my life I have been lucky enough to have some of this music literally dropped right into my lap (save for my brief stint in Denver). In college it was my good friend Jon Robins, Garrett Lucas, and Grant Hamilton (part of which are now The Plainsmen) and here in Chicago its been Chris Jerles, Borrow Tomorrow, and Adam Richardson.  Finding music that no one else has heard is awesome.  There is nothing better than playing a song on my computer or iPod and having someone say "who is this? I like this" I honestly have a Mr. Burns-esque "excellent" moment everytime this happens.  Aside from getting to brag a bit about my quality musical collection thus casting a shadow on the embarassment that is the Lady GaGa and Beyonce on my iPod... Just Dance, Check; Halo, Check, (hey... I like it but that doesn't mean I don't catch some grief from others...) I get to introduce people to something that they may not have otherwise listened to which I like because I want more people just appreciate good music rather than follow the top 100. 

I've posted as hyperlinks a few of the artists in the text above that I enjoy to "share the wealth" as they say.  Hope you guys enjoy as well.

Newest on my radar that I'm getting into:  Guster, really like the song Demons

P.S. As for the AMA's I hate music award shows.  All music award shows.  They lost all credibility a few years ago when Coldplay beat Mettalica for best Rock Album

Christmas

This is a delayed post of sorts but it seems like Christmas is coming earlier and earlier every single.  I don't mean ealier in the sense of time because that would just be silly.  I mean the time in which people (stores) start breaking out the snowflakes and garland.  This year I saw stores that had forgone space for halloween costumes and delcious sugar loaded treats to make way for Santa.  I'm all about getting into the spirit of things but Christmas is kind of starting to be kind of a bully.  Halloween and Thanksgiving aleady have a tough time living up to the mere anticipation of Christmas that comes with the leaves starting to turn, now we have stores and municipalities throwing it in our faces in October.  I think if we hit September than a line will have to be drawn.  I understand the connection and advertisement of the holiday before Thanksgiving because that's one of the first big shopping weekends.  I honestly think that part of it is the economy.  Businesses are trying to get a jump start on the shopping season.  Along that same point I truely hope that "Black Friday" does not turn into a massacre.  With the economy still struggling and less folding money in the pockets I seriously worry about people and what they will do to get the "deals" offered this Friday.  I also hope that stores are smart enough... to handle what I suspect will be record numbers of people trying to get ahead of the spending this holiday.

View from a Hotelroom... Vienna, VA (Washington DC)

2 windows means, you guessed it 2 views, a double feature if you will.

Night View of the atrium:

Morning View out the back:

It's a Big Deal Because... It's a Big Deal

So I wrote this a few days ago about this video where a soccer player lost her cool and well frankly flipped out.  She expressed disappointment in herself and remorse for her actions, kind of... she followed up her apology with this statement:

“I definitely feel because I am a female it did bring about a lot more attention than if a male were to do it,” Lambert said. “It’s more expected for men to go out there and be rough. The female, we’re still looked at as, Oh, we kick the ball around and score a goal. But it’s not. We train very hard to reach the highest level we can get to. The physical aspect has increased over the years. I’m not saying it’s for the bad or it’s been too overly aggressive. It’s a game. Sports are physical.”

I disagree 100%.  This story brought attention to you because you flipped out in a game and after several questionable actions, went out for a big finish by yanking an opposing player to the ground by her pony tail.  The media coverage had 0 to do whith your gender.  I repeat ZERO.  I didn't even see this as a headline on ESPN.com, a site I visit regularly.  I can without thinking name four players all male who flipped out in games committing acts of "violence" that were a) front page news and 2) still talked about to this day:

LeGarrette Blount

Brandon Spikes

Zidane

Albert Haynesworth

That was easy, I'm sure there are a few more (how could I have forgotten: Latrell Spreewell).  Bottom line, your apology means slightly less in my eyes since you threw that comment in there.  Almost trying to dismiss some of the gravity of it by making it sound like it was blown out of proportion because of her gender.  It's time to take responsibility, full responsibility for what you did and the fallout.  As a serious college athlete, you can't expect to do something that out of left field and not land on ESPN.

Picture of the Week

Location: Downtown Chicago

Greinke's World!

So there is justice in the world after all!  Kansas City Pitcher Zack Greinke today won the AL Cy Young which is awarded to the league's best pitcher.  His numbers for the year were in a word, phenominal.  Especially given the fact that he played for one of the worst teams in all of Major League Baseball.  At 16-8 with 242 strikeouts and a league leading 2.16 ERA he dominated all he faced.  While it's not like I know the guy personally or anything, I write congrats to him.  It's a pretty big accomplishment, based on quotes from him throughout the season I'm sure he'd have traded this award for a few more Royal's victories, but neverthless I'm glad to see he got the individual recognition that he rightly deserved.  Hopefully, next year will bring a few solid youngsters and perhaps some surprise free agents to get us and Greinke a few more Ws next season and perhaps a Cy Young repeat? 

Here is a pretty funny interview with Greinke, he's got some "unique" responses to questions,  kinda goes without saying but, I'm a big fan: Greinke likes Chipotle too!

Video of ... um yeah ... the Week...

Uhh... this sad/funny I mean I would consider myself a pretty hardcore fan of the Call of Duty series, but wow this guy is off the rails.

Restaurant Review: HB

Last night we checked another Chicago restaurant off of our Chicago list HB (Home Bistro), it was just as good as we thought it would be we had the Beer Battered Haddock on Snert and Lamb Merguez Sausage.  Elizabeth was the big winner of the night with the Haddock, it was really really good.  But while the food was delicious the most impressive item of the evening was the aged Gouda with cumin seeds.  Cumin is my favorite spice and the seeds in the cheese... awesome.  I'd highly recommend HB to anyone in Chicago looking for a good/nice place to eat, BYOB no corking fee.  And I'd highly recommend the Beer Battered Haddock, the snert looks scary but it is super good.  

I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.  0.5 short of the full 5 just because while I would return, it's not a place that would be on the top of my mind when choosing a place to eat, it's more of what I'd consider an "occasion" restaurant.

Transformers 2 Revenge of a Movie That Made Me Sad

So I was looking forward to seeing this movie, not with the child like eagerness that was attached to Call of Duty, but still I was really wanting to see the second installment of the Transformers movies.  The first one was good and I liked it a lot save for the fact that they sold out to Chevy by making iconic Bumblebee a Camero versus the true to form, VW bug.... but that's a different rant and I've since moved on and accepted that when the opportunity to seel out for money presents itself, you can count on Hollywood.  I digress.  SO Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen.  SOOOOO LOOOOONNNNNGGGG.  This move was about 30-45 minutes longer than it really needed to be.  I found myself sitting there and I literally said outloud (I was alone, Elizabeth was in Cali), "Seriously, this isn't over yet?"  I mean it took them roughly an hour to cross this little patch of sand.  All in all it was a decent movie, I was very upset that I didn't catch it on the big screen, on a postive seeing it made me happy that I spent $1.08 at Red Box versus $20+ at the theater.  Since everyone is doing the trilogy these days, there's little doubt there will be a Transformers 3 in the future and lets hope they can redeem themselves, cause this one fell short.  Sadly though, based on my lukewarm feelings toward the Fallen, I think it'll be a renter.

Video of the Week 2: Oh Charlie...

First of all Charlie is huge... and sorry big brother but at the rate he's growing you might as well surrender your Halloween candy now because he is going to own you.  Second, I don't like your chances of out smarting you bigger-little brother considering that the "bite heard round the world" started with you sticking your little finger in his mouth, I mean the kid looks like he eats entire sides of beef for breakfast, he pry thought it was a sausage link.  The look on the kid's face the moment it goes from fun and games to pain is hilarious, the best is then Charlie looks at the camera and laughs...  I mean biting is wrong and kids in pain isn't "funny", but come on you can't tell me honestly that you didn't laugh.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - The Review

In a single word, perfect.

This game is so breathtakingly amazing that I seriously struggle to find words to adequately describe it.  This game has more drama and plot twists and turns than a Hollywood blockbuster.  The plot, the music, the visuals, all were top notch.

To clear up the biggest bit of "controversy" (Not sure if any readers will play this but **SPOILERS** are sprinkled throughout, so if you don't want anything ruined skip to the last paragraph now)   their was a stage that involved participation in a terrorist attack on unarmed civilians in an airport.  First off, it should be no surprise that the media blew it out of proportion and took it completely out of context.  In the context of the game and the games stoyline it made sense.  Was it disturbing, absolutely.  But the game's theme is meant to be so, one of Modern Warefare's goals is to get you emotionally involved, emotionally invested in the game.  This disturbs a lot of people because it's new, I mean it's hard to get emotionally involved in jumping on a turtle or getting a fireball flower.  The scene certainly was hard to watch but it was very powerful and spoke to the absolute worst side of humanity, that like it or not does exist.  And to further clarify, you don't have to participate in the executions, you walk through and watch, but you dont' have to actively "do" anything.  Nevertheless, it DID fit the game's plot it was not an unecessary attempt to add violence and gore.  **Big Spoiler** Essentially, your character was an undercover agent that infultrated a Russian Terrorist ring, at the end of the airport attack, they shoot you and leave you there.  Leave you an American there.  Which then leads Russia to attack the U.S. bringing the war to the U.S. views of DC in ruins were pretty gripping.

Alright, I've gone on about this for far to long and the geekiness has shown through way too much.  My bottomline point is that I equate this more to a movie than a video game.  There were plot twists, betrayals, an amazing score, and you were truely emotionally invested in the story and characters from the moment you hit the start button. 

All that praise and I didn't even talk about the online gameplay.... 

Changed my Mind

Wait... Changed my mind I do have words for this, and by this I'm refering to this weeks Video of the Week, see it below.  I think this is a classic double standard.  You know WHERE I found the link to that video?  Not on ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC Sports or one of the probably dozens of other media outlets where I cruise for my sports news throughout the day, no I found it on perezhilton.com (we'll discuss the embarassment of admiting to visiting perezhilton.com at a later date, right now, eye on the prize).  Now I understand that soccer doesn't have the popularity of football but this year when Oregon's LeGarrette Blount punched a Boise player after a loss, a huge to-do was made about it and he ended up getting suspended (since reinstated), more recently Brandon Spikes of the University of Florida was caught poking the eyes of a Georgia RB (idiot) he too was front page news and subsequently suspended for a game.  These two stories were front page news and they were vilified by the media.  What they did was absolutely stupid and deserved suspension.  But for this to not even get a mention?  I mean in watching that video this girl should be suspended for the duration of her time left in school.  Spikes and Blount had momentary lapse is sanity and did something deplorable and frankly stupid.  This girl was doing those same acts over an entire game until she was finally caught in the act and Red Carded by the referee.  I just hope that the same media voices that put all the pressure on Urban Myer and the Oregon coach to suspend there players for their actions, are putting at least equal energy into making sure that this girl's actions are publicized enough that action is taken.  There is no place for that kind of stuff in any sport.

Woot!

So in my internet travels I come across a variety of websites, a great many of which aren't worth the time I spent looking at them, however there are times when I come across sites that are worth sharing.  Enter Woot!, Woot.com is a retail site of sorts.  What they do is the sell one item a day and only one item, when it's gone it's gone.  From what I've seen after a few weeks of checking in the items are usually at a pretty good price, most of the electronics are referbs, but at the price they are selling them it really doesn't matter (i.e. 37" LCD HD TV for $300, which I missed out on... dangit).  I reasearched them and found pretty good feedback about their services, however the rub is that they are strictly a seller.  If you have a problem with the merchandise 10 days down the road, your stuck dealing with a manufacturer because they don't "stand behind" products they sell.  I haven't personally bought anything from them yet, but I now check the site daily as part of my morning web check, hoping for a good deal to come my way.  Might be worth checking out especially with the holidays right around the corner.

Video of the Week

Umm.... I really have no words for this.

Couldn't Resist, I Apologize... 19 hours 22 minutes

PoW (Picture of the Week)

New Series, Intro gives you a Double Shot!

Taken by Chris Jerles... "Clark Street with a touch of lonliness" Awesome Pic, especially if you've ever seen Clark in its full alcohol fuled glory

Bar Golf 2009

Cookbook

Yesterday I finally started to get rid of my massive cooking magazine pile, which I believe had grown to about 20+ magazines and an additional smattering of loose papers and printouts.  The "plan" is to take all the tried recipes as well as some prospecitve ones and create a personal consolidated cooking binder.  I ended up with quite a pile so I'm thinking I may have a good little binder.  I just need to figure out how to organize everything an make it make sense.  So stay tuned, given my history of not finishing things I expect it to be completed in late 2012.

Great Song

Recently my Pandora station has picked up a lot of Jay Z songs from his new album  Blueprint 3, I'm not a huge rap fan but I do like to listen to it every once in a while, this album I may actually buy, lots of good stuff.  So far this is one of my favorites.

She got me....

I really debated putting this up here because it is a pretty big "burn" on me, but I keep replaying it in my head and it really was pretty good and my wife's delivery isn't usually this deadpan, there's usually a chuckle or smirk that makes her attempts pretty tranparent... but this one got me:

The backstory.... we bought new sheets the other weekend at 3B (Bed Bath & Beyond), and in the store they looked like normal sheets, upon unpackaging them we, or rather I, noticed they were abnormally "shiny" and I have a thing against shiny things... not going to even attempt to explain that because it's frankly an odd quirk and not relevant to this story.  So in the process of making the bed I was complaing about the "shine" factor of these sheets commenting on how I was going to have a hard time sleeping on these sheets.

I'm paraphrashing here the general idea of the conversations...

Ok... fast forward to Monday

Beth:  How'd you sleep?

Ben: Terrible, because of those sheets.

Her smirk gave her away that she was attempting to make fun of me about the sheets.

Fast forward again to Tuesday

Beth: What's that on your arm?

Ben: My arm? what (as I'm turning it over looking)

Beth: Yeah your arm it's almost reflective (straight faced and serious as can be)

Ben: (still searching my arms) What do you mean? Where? (still turning my arm over and over)

Beth: It's on your arm, it's almost like the sheets...

Ben: (still searchi.....) Wha....damn.... I don't even like you anymore (Ben exits stage left)

She got me...

Beer of the Month: Bud Light Golden Wheat

I consider my self a beer guy.  I like beer.  I'm not an expert by any means and there is much more that I would like to learn.  The newest attempt at a Big 3 product to crack the "craft brew" market is Bud Light Golden Wheat.  Now I had very very low expectations for this beer.  No way can a light beer formula give even the slightest bit of the flavor of a craft.  I was wrong, sort of.  First off let me say that the beer is pretty darn good.  But as I suspected it does fall a bit short on flavor, it does lack the complexity of a true craft beer without a really big, bold flavor.  Which, I think would be expected to some extent.  So, that's maybe not a truly fair comparison because after all this is a light beer formula so it's not a true apples to apples comparison, so in a comparison to Bud Light/Coor's Light/Miller Lite it's got, IMO, substantially more flavor.  It comes with a bit higher price tag, but I think it's worth it for a light beer alternative for those of us that prefer beer with a bit more flavor to it.

In terms of calories here's a breakdown:

Bud Light:  110

Bud Light Golden Wheat 118

Sam Adams Light 124

Magic Hat #9 146

What I want to test is which is better in terms of flavor... Bud Light Golden Wheat or Sam Adams Light?  4 extra calories isn't a whole lot in the scheme of things so I think that should be the true measure on this beers flavor.

So Excited...

Life Update: October in Review

I skipped a few months on this but I'm determined to get back on track here so... away we go.

Started off October in beautiful (lol) Twin Falls, Idaho.  For my college friends (James) yes it's true Idaho does exist.  I know.  I was shocked to discover this as well.  For those not in the loop on this, one night when we were up later than we should have been my friends and I realized we knew no one from Idaho, we could think of aquantances from nearly every state but Idaho, thus the theory evolved that Idaho did not really exist.  That's logical?  Right?

Ocotober also brought us Man Chili.  Man Chili was a vegitarians worst nightmare.  We killed every animal Old McDonald had to get this chili, Breast of Chicken, Loin of Pig, Ground Beef, and Beef Steak... and some beans in there for good measure.  The chili was pretty good, however the saddest part of the whole affair was the loin.  I tried about zero on the loin because it was going in chili... turns out it was the bestest most juciest loin I'd ever cooked... and I put it in chili...

October ended with cold #1... awesome I love breathing out of one nostril at a time. 

October brought a new niece to the family Kaydee Ella can't wait to meet her at Christmas.

Last but not least, my geekiness would not be complete unless I mentioned that October also brought the pre-order of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  I will do a full review of this game next week, it comes out exactly one week from now.  Infact 1 week from this very moment I will be walking to the bus to go to Best Buy to purchase my copy.  For those wondering, Yes, I did use a day of vacation for a video game.

Remember the Alamo

Last week while at a work conference in San Antonio I had the opportunity to visit the Alamo it's a pretty sobering place to visit when you consider what happened there.  The actual iconic building (below) isn't all that big, but the Alamo "compound" it self was pretty big, and when you consider how few people there were there to defend it, it adds even more weight to my thoughts on what these men did.  As far as "tourist" spots go it was neat to see but I wouldn't recommend treking down to San Antonio just to see it, to be honest I was not a fan of the city.

**For those of you with iPhone or iTouch the above was manipulated using Photoshop Mobile (PS Mobile) it is awesome)

Myth Buster

Many a man subscribes to the logical theory that since alcohol kills germs, that if alcohol is introduced into the body it simply must do battle the germs that cause sickness and emerge victorious.  Turns out alcohol introduced into the bloodstream does not infact kill germs and keep you from getting sick.  Because I went bar golfing wich introduced many forms of alcohol into my bloodstream and woke up sick on Sunday.

BUSTED!

Video of the Week

View from a Hotelroom... San Antonio, TX

Oh Work...

Work Emails:

Email #1 (from agency)

News Flash:

When accessing the FCA website you must use the prefix www you can not simply put fca.gov in the address bar, you must use www.fca.gov.  

Email #2 (from co-worker)

[sarcastic] What, what's this www thing is it new?

Email #3 (my response)
It’s pretty advanced technology, it’s this virtual “web” if you will, that links computers “world wide” together.  You can access news, information, and clips of cats playing the piano:

Personally I think it’s a sham and will never take off.

Get on the Bus

I discussed this with a co-worker yesterday, in business there is a popular metaphor that floats around about "seats on a bus" often times it is associated with a change in direction or a restructure, basically it's meant to "get people on board" get them a "seat on the bus" to move them into the future, new direction whatever.  Well, we happend to be discussing some pending organizational change and this metaphor came up, it got me thinking though; who really wants to be on a bus?  My experiences with buses by and large are not all that stellar, they are usually cramped and smell funny (in the case of CTA buses) which begs the question why was a bus the vehicle of choice?  Why not a limo?  I mean that is a vehicle people can get excited about having a seat in (in not on ala George Carlin), if given the choice between a bus and a limo I'd bet people choose limo everytime.  So... from this point forward my team at work (MRD) is herby known not as a bus but a Hummer stretch limo, which of course runs on ethanol, (yeah farmers). 

I anticipate moral jumping at least 54%, very nice.

SAMCRO

Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Rewood Original (SAMCRO)

Best show on FX you pry aren't watching.  I thought this show looked stupid as could be last year when it was advertised, no way can a drama about a motorcycle club be that good.  I was wrong... the show is awesome, great characters, great stories.  Ron Pearlman (Hellboy) is awesome and  Katy Sagal (Married with Children, Futurama) is also awsome as the bad arse queen bee of the whole works.  But by far my favorite is Jax played by Charlie Hunnam, you can't help but love the character.  Any without going on and on about it, I highly recommend you tune in it's on Tuesday's at 9:00 and replays a few times thoughout the week, it's worth the hour.

What's a Hutterite Anyway?

The Hutterites are a religious colony similar to the Amish or Mennonites.  I had the pleasure to visit the Mountain View Colony just outside of Billings, MT while I was on a bank job up there last month.  This was my second trip up there and it was just as impressive the second time around.  The Hutterites colony is on a big patch of land, they have unassuming buildings or 7-plexes where the families live, surrounded by various out buildings that house their enterprises.  Mountain View for example has a Chicken laying barn, Hog facility, Dairy milking facility, butcher shop, wood shop, metal shop, and a large large garden.  For the most part the colony is very self sufficient, they raise all their meat, grow nearly all their vegetables, and make nearly all thier furnishings.  The colony is really something to see.  I found myself a bit envious of their lifestyle, while I would certainly miss my blog, facebook, gmail, House, MD, and Sons of Anarchy (more on SAMCRO later), I thought about all my rants on here about politicians and the general insanity of people.  They are, for the most part isolated from that, one because they are in middle of no where Montana and two because they aren't bombarded by 17 different forms of media.  I honestly don't think I could ever give it all up and "unplug" but walking around with them you can't help but think that it might not be a bad way to live.

From FCA Farm Tour

From FCA Farm Tour

If you want to read a little bit more here is a link to wikipedia entry on Hutterites

Welcome Back.....Again

So I've pretty much done as bad a job as I possible could have done over the past weeks of posting.  No real solid excuse aside from being just plain lazy.  I would use the trendy "work" excuse, but lets face it posting video clips, pictures, and nonsensical rants and raves, really doesn't take a whole lot of time or thought.  I once again will make the promise to do better.

Vaction...

I've taken a break a vacation if you will because so far any ideas I've had have been extreme rants on politics or the insanity of people.  Such as Republicans continuing to just belittle everything the president does, I mean they guy has made some mistakes for sure, but criticizing him for going to support the UNITED STATE'S bid for the 2016 Olympics... sure it's in Chicago, but come on I live in Chicago and last I checked it was in the US and the face it given our image with some countries abroad, hosting them in international competition might be a good thing... If it was a Republican representing Dallas's bid I guarantee not word one would be said.  Pettiness like this is exactly why nothing will get done for the next 3.5 years.

"Fair & Balanced"... Fox, You're the Red Team - MSNBC is the Blue Team

Politics are a Joke, Fire Everyone

I think it's time for a fresh start in Congress. I think we need to sack the entire lot of them (man I wish I talked British), we need new ideas for new problems and the old timers sitting on Capital Hill aren't getting it done. Exhibit A: Senile old man with a Dragon flip chart. That is not a product of photoshop, that actually happened. Seriously it looks like a page from a deranged conservative children's book. For the Sunshine Days Preschool story time totally appropriate, but on the floor of a house of Congress, come on man get serious.

Now I'm not just picking on the Republicans, although that had to be one of the more blatant displays of "what the hell was that?" that I've seen. Exhibit B: Harry Reid saying that Ted Kennedy's death would "help" them on the health care bill. Really. You think that's just what you needed to push it over the edge, to give you the votes you need a guy dying? I mean who's mind is so easily corruptible that they say "hmm well I was against this, but Ted died and he was for it, so... in his memory I vote yes."

Last but not least we have the general public. It's our fault too, it absolutely is. We voted for Sir George and the AARP club that sits on the hill. But perhaps my biggest beef with the general public has come about as a result of the recent "town hall" meetings on healthcare. What a joke these things are. I would bet money, serious money. That these people who grab the mic know zero about the health care plan other than what they've heard from Olberman, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. And you think that is a balanced argument? About as balanced as the teeter-totter would be if my nephew and I were to have a go at it (British again). There may be some well informed people out there but by and large the people making the biggest deal of it are simply parroting what they heard from their respective "talking head" which makes great headlines but gets us nowhere.

It's just sad how two colors, two directions, two parties (Red/Blue, Right/Left, Rep./Dec.) have trumped common sense. For one side to say they have all the right answers is lunacy. But each are too immature to work it out... On second thought... maybe Mr Grassley's picture book style dragon flip chart was appropriate.

9

Once again a movie that I am super excited about is one of the animated variety. This takes me back to Mr. Tim Burton which I think is a brilliant, brilliant film maker. This movie just looks plain awesome. The only unfortunate thing is that Frodo is the voice of the main character, not a fan of Frodo outside of his Hobbit gear. Sadly, I doubt I'll drop the $18 for 2 tickets to the movie, I'll wait until it comes out on DVD and will likely purchase it for $16 and take the remaining $2 to buy some candy.

Is Tim Tebow Real?

I'm convinced now more than ever that Tim Tebow is a robot. First of all, the guy is a phenomenal college Quarterback, they guy has a won nearly every award a college football player can win and I'd go so far as to say that if he wins the title and the Heisman this year, he will go down as the greatest quarterback in college football. Ever. Now that's all well and good, but perhaps more importantly he's a phenomenal human. The guy does more for charity with his "celebrity" than probably anyone, and for sure any athlete. I would challenge anyone to find a professional athlete (other than Lance) that does more for charity and mankind in general. And I'm not talking simply about writing a check for a tax write-off, because they have millions. I learned how to write a check in I think 5th grade, a monkey can write a check. I don't know if Tebow will make it in the NFL, but I sincerely hope he does because I would love to see what he does with millions and millions of his own money at his disposal. I also think it will be great to see him make the rest of these NFL "stars" look like the big babies that they truly are.

Visit MSNBC for a full article on Tebow.

Block

I've been having a bout with writers block and have been working so much that I'm short on both time and material to write about. We'll see if we can get a big more done here in the coming weeks.

Video of the Week

I may watch the show solely because of this:

Where's the Sun?

This is what an O'Hare gate/terminal looks like at 5:15 in the
morning. In another hour and a half the flood gates will open and
it'll be standing room only. As much as I HATE getting up at 4 in the
morning I love being able to sit in relative silence with my coffee,
rather than jockey with wayward tourists for gate side seating.

Truckers and Ice

If your heard the words Female and Trucker... what are the first thoughts that come to your mind? I tell you my first thought: Rosanne Barr. Sterotypical? Absolutely. But you thought it too. Now why in the world would I be thinking about female truckers? Well I was watching Ice Road Truckers this morning and their happens to be a female trucker this year, Lisa. And needless to say she does not look like Rosanne. Beth and I thought for sure this was a trick, she was a host or something, not an "actual" trucker, I mean one toothless man is nicknamed Polar Bear and rumor has it he hasn't bathed since the Carter administration. So we continued to watch to see what type of a rouse we were witnessing, because I mean she was not trucking across the plains of Kansas, she's trucking in Alaska on the ice roads, which for those who have ever watched the show knows it's no messing around. Below is a picture of Lisa.

Apparently I'm a Fat Loser

So I play video games. A lot of video games, I'd say on average I hit the 8-10+ hours a week mark. On my off days I've been known to be "on the sticks" for 6+ hours in a sitting. I think that qualifies me as a gamer. According to the CDC the average "gamer" is 35, Fat, and lacks social skills. They came to this sweeping and generalized assessment by conducting a survey of 552 adults in the Seattle area.

I'm sorry, but I have a problem with a Federal Agency basing and publishing it's assessment of "gamers" on a survey of 552 people, what were there parameters? and honestly can you really extrapolate the results from 552 people over the entire population? The United States has 304 million people, so they surveyed 0.0002% of the population, from one single geographical area, and from that they decided that was sufficient to publicly call out that gamers are Fat, Social Outcasts. Ya know what... I could survey 552 adults in Clay Center, KS; but extrapolating the results of any survey conducted there across the entire United States would be inaccurate and would require the largest jump to conclusions mat ever created. I mean who's to say that the average Seattle resident isn't 35, overweight, and lacks social skills? Maybe the problem is Seattle? I mean it is very close to Canada.

I understand that the Federal Government and adults in general over the age of 40 have a large, Paul Bunyan size ax to grind against video games, but seriously....

A link to the insanity:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32463904/ns/technology_and_science-games

Live Long and Prosper

Finally saw Star Trek on the plane this morning. If you have not seen it, stop reading and go rent it NOW, fantastic movie. I was blown away it was WAY more than I expected. I plan on renting it immediately when I get home because I couldn't see it very well on the plan so I feel like I missed the full effect. But my excitement for the movie (which was moderately high) was increased exponentially.

***UPDATE Star Trek doesn't come out on video for purchase/rental til Nov

Tractor Beam

Once again Mountain Dew suckered me in with that magical phrase... NEW! This time it was "Ultra Violet" a new diet form of Mountain Dew.

**UPDATE Mt. Dew Ultra Violet was "good" nothing too special, just a grape soda.

Word of the Week: Man Crush

My initial thoughts on this post was to craft and weave a long explanation about the "man crush" however, Urban Dictionary, did a pretty darn good job of it and I really don't know that I could get it any better. Urban Dictionary defines a Man Crush as:

When a straight man has a "crush" on another man, not sexual but kind of idolizing him.

Video of the Week

Can't wait for this movie, looks weird but I am curious. For those who were unaware, this was Heath Ledger's last movie, he was working on it when he died. Colin Ferrell, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp finished it up.

Video of the Week

Are you smarter than a monkey.... I'm wasn't and yes I did buy some bananas this method works way easier.

Morning Excitement

Big goings on this morning in the neighborhood. A propane tank exploded on the roof of an apartment building just across the alley setting it on fire. According to the news, the building was undamaged (for the most part). Fire Dept. got there super quick. Below are a couple pictures, the bottom one someone took from a neighboring high rise. The top one is the one I took from outside our alley.

Word Vomit ... Apology

I just realized that the reference to Word Vomit that I used in an earlier post, which I thought a clever way to describe my free-flow of thoughts of a non-homogeneous content. However, I realized that that was not in fact an original idea. It struck me last night like a big awkward slap in the face... (apologize mom for the language but)...Oh Shit... (I literally said that out loud) the phrase Word Vomit came from Mean Girls... I just quoted Mean Girls, What the hell? I was instantly embarrassed. I immediately left the Call of Duty game I was in the middle of and drafted this apology. I was embarrassed for several reasons, mainly though because by using said phrase, which shall not be uttered from my lips or typed by my fingers hence forth, I was in fact admitting publicly for friends and family to read that I had viewed the abomination of a movie that was Mean Girls. And if the aforementioned action was not egregious enough, I was giving it "street cred" worthy of only quality motion pictures and anything that is uttered from Will Ferrell's lips by quoting it. I truly do apologize to anyone who was offended and I will make better choices in the future by not watching every terrible move the TBS throws at me just because it is on (which sadly in my case is easier said than done).

Farming Update

Below is a picture of my 1 lonely tomato plant. She's getting bigger and so far has one little guy turning red. Got several green ones that will hopefully hurry up and turn. I want to make some salsa. Pry the only idiot out there that would choose to utilize his space by growing a veggie for a single solitary purpose on his tiny 3'x5' porch in the middle of Chicago ( I HATE with a capital H tomatoes).

Side Note: got some red chili peppers from my father-in-law last weekend which means operation spicy pickle can commence. My plan is head down to the farmer's market and procure some cucumbers and attempt to turn those nasty little suckers (don't like cucumbers either) into some deliciously spicy pickle slices.

Yep growing tomatoes and making pickles... I'm a ball of thrills on the weekend people.