Recomend some Music

Since I have received some good recomendations on movies, I thought I would seek some help for taking care of my ITunes gift card. Leave me one song choice to download.

Thanks

Recommend a Movie

HELP!! I have a good amount in gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. Please recommend a movie for me to purchase at Best Buy. I have a fairly eclectic movie selection already so I am ready for any and all suggestions. These are the movies I received for Christmas this year.

Rififi
Raging Bull
Double Indemnity
The Killing
The Darjeeling Limited

Here are some more helping hints.

If you have peiced together the name of this blog, and my screen name, you may have realized I am a fan of Wes Anderson, I have seen, and aside from Bottle Rocket, own all of his movies. Something from the next Wes Anderson, or from one of his inspirations might be a good choice.

I am a sucker for epics. Braveheart, Bridge on the River Kwai, Appocalypse Now, Lawrence of Arabia. I enjoy them all. I am willing to sit through an epic.

Something from Japan. I already have Seven Samuarai in my basket at BestBuy.com. I love it. I also really enjoyed the Hidden Fortress. I also thought Battle Royale was great. Two different movies, but came from, the same place. Hey, I even like Lost in Translation.

I have also gotten into Noir films, since I saw Brick.

I love a good heist movie.

Any 80's movie that has a Unicorn in it.

It may even lead to you getting a shout out on this very blog.

So comment away, let me know what to buy.

Christmas Spirit

They say that Christmas is the season of giving. Which is why I decided to stand up on a soap box for this blog and tell everyone to try and support those less fortunate during this holiday season.

(Stands on Soap Box)

This morning on my day off, I went over to our companies Airplane Hangar, loaded up my car with groceries and toys, and made deliveries to those in my area that need some help this Christmas. My company is heavily involved in Operation Bootstrap, that around this time of year, collects basic food items, food for a Christmas meal, and gifts for the kids and has them delivered. Between today and tomorrow over 200 families in the area will receive what they need to have a good Christmas.

Three of the last four years I have helped. Typically I work in the hangar and load cars with the boxes of food to be delivered. This year, since I had the day off today, I decided to bundle up Sophia, and with a friend of mine, make deliveries. With just a donation of my time, I helped make someones Christmas a happy time of year. At one of the houses there was a boy, maybe 3. When we brought the gifts in (they come in black garbage bags so the kids don't see it is toys) he asked his dad why we were bringing in garbage. He will wake up Christmas morning, and have items under the tree to open. He will be excited to see what Santa brought, and his parents will know that while times may be tough for them. There truly are "Santa's" that are helping keep that youthful excitement alive, while they use what money they have to pay the bills, and put food on the table. They won't have to try and explain why Santa didn't come this year.

I encourage those of you that I know, and those of you that have somehow stumbled across my little blog, to if possible take some time to help others. It may be to late to help out this year, but keep your eye open for ways to give back. Maybe it is some change to the Salvation Army, a gift for Toys to Tots, or a gift off of a giving tree.

I delivered items to houses I drive by everyday. You never know who needs a helping hand. You never know when you may need a hand yourself.

From a couple dollars to a couple of hours, please do what you can this Christmas, and the Christmas's to come, to keep the Christmas spirit alive.

(steps off of soap box)

Thanks

An Open Letter to ABC

Dear ABC,

Let me start off by saying that I am a big fan of your network. You hooked me with TGIF when I was a kid, and since then I always gravitate towards your shows. Which is why it pains me to write you this letter.

In a world of CSI's, NCIS's, Criminal Mind's, and Law and Order's how can you cancel a series like Pushing Daisies.

To start off Pushing Daisies resides in a world, that seems to be pulled from a child's imagination. One in which a Pie Shop is in the shape of a Pie, and a pie maker can bring people back from the dead with the touch of a finger. A world where you never know when someone will break into song or end up dead.

You have a show in which a viewer can become invested in if they want, waiting to find out if Ned and Chuck will ever be able to touch again. Or if you would prefer you can drift in and out, and enjoy each shows encapsulated plot.

The casting and cameos are terrific and the plots are always slightly out of the realm of realism without being unbelievable.

I wanted to follow the stories of the inhabitants of the Pie Hole for years to come. Unfortunately I only have three more episodes left to enjoy. You didn't even give the creators of the show the courtesy of informing them in time so they would be able to tie up loose ends. From what I hear, the show ends in a cliffhanger. One that you seem okay to let hang forever.

Next year, if you come out with some reality show, or a standard crime drama, you will have moved one step closer to losing me forever.

I hope that in the future you allow shows that buck the mainstream trend the ability to grow.

Disapointedly Yours,
Eric Powers

PS: To the creators of Pushing Daisies, I have heard that you are looking at completing the story with either a comic book or potential movie. Please do so. All to often I have been left at the end of a TV season looking forward to what the next season will bring. Only to have it canceled and be left wondering forever. I hope that you can wrap up the story you started. Oh, and I am sorry that ABC canceled your show.

Carol of the Belles

Tonight the cub scout pack went to Whispering Pines, an elderly care facility for caroling. Not everyone came, and we were not the best singers, but we got through the carol book, and it seemed that everyone had a good time.

I admit that I missed singing Christmas songs, and look forward to it next year.

Who throws a Shoe?

My Grandfather

December 7th 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. This is a story that most of you already know. A story that most don't know involves my Grandfather. My Grandfather was not at Pearl Harbor this day, he was a Marine that was stationed in China. On December 7th 1941 he was taken by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. He remained in Japanese prision camps until September of 1945, after the dropping of the Atomic Bombs ended the war with Japan.

I unfortunately was never able to meet my Grandfather, he passed away when my mom was only 9. It was only a couple of years ago that I learned about his experiences in the war. The North China Marines have a yearly reunion. In some research my father was doing, he stunbled upon the group, and has been actively involved with them ever since. He helped host the reunion in Appleton a couple of years ago. He also has put together a website, that expalins what these brave Marines went through.

This group of men didn't raise a flag or storm a beach, they just tried to survive. If you have a moment visit the website and read about their story.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

For some reason little things have been spurring memories. I ate Burger King fries the other night and it reminded me of when I was in High School and Jeremy Hanson and Mark Resch went from Burger King to Burger King in Wausau the day they launched their new french fries, and gave out free fries that day. We hit up most of the Burger Kings twice. I also think that might have been the day, when we almost got in a fight from an old lady from Oregon. That is a story for another time though.

The biggest spurring of memories was when I got to spend some time chatting with Gary Clark tonight. I saw Mr. Clark at a Cub Scout/Boy Scout Leadership meeting. I got to catch him up with what I was up to, and discuss scouting activities.

While I had only one class with Mr. Clark, he was one of my favorite people from High School. Mr. Clark directed me in 3 plays and 1 musical. Some of my favorite moments in High School were late nights or weekends in the auditorium making sets, or running lines. He was always good for a story, from his days in the Air Force to the time Jimi Hendrix said good night to him as he left a concert. I can't believe that he left a Hendrix concert early, but since it lead to an amazing story I can forgive it. He is the only teacher I know that had been suspended (it was for showing the unedited version of Excalibur) and one of the only teachers that treated me more like an equal than a student.

I am happy that fate has allowed us to stumble back together after almost 10 years.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for a boat ton of things. I have great friends, a job that I enjoy where I get to interact with a bunch of awesome people.

While I would love to focus on everything, for today(and everyday), I am most thankful for my family. I have two amazing children and a wonderful wife.

The wonderfulness that is my family can be summed up with a short story from today. I hunt, my family is not too keen on the whole hunting thing. My son loves nature and animals, and other than crows, doesn't want anything dead. My wife also has a difficult time with me killing something. Today on the way home from my parents, we drive by where I hunt. They agreed to let me grab my gun, and sit in the car in a field, while I sat on the bumper waiting to kill Bambi's dad. I didn't, but as they say it was the thought that counts. They were willing to spend 40 minutes "hunting" with me, because that's how great they are.

Never hug a Panda

Some people are AWESOME!.

What do you think the thought process was for this guy? Wakes up in the morning. Realizes that in a country with a billion people, he can't find one person to love him. So he decides that he would go to the one place where he can see creatures sadder than him, a zoo. Then he walks by the Panda pen, and sees cute and cuddly Yang Yang. He thinks maybe some good old fashion Panda spooning will put me in a better mood. So he hops over the fence, throws open his arms, and gets mauled.

Life lesson learned. No matter how sad of an existence you have, Never Hug a Panda.

Checks....Whats up with that?

So I was in line at Fleet Farm, waiting to claim my free tiny knife (don't ask). When I picked what appeared to be the shortest line. (which always ends up being the line that takes the longest) The guy in front of me had two items, and one of them was scanned already when I got in line behind him. After the second item was scanned, I saw him pull out his checkbook. It seemed like a relic, it was like he was talking on a Zack Morris Cell phone.


After what seemed like forever, the clerk gets the check, and looks at it like he filled it out in French. He literally stared at it, looked at the guy, looked at the check, and called over his manager over. The manager had to come over and show the clerk how to enter a check into the system.

Ridiculus.

Secret Santa

As Christmas draws closer, so does the day when I will need to fill out my Secret Santa list at work. I enjoy asking for ridiculus things, one because it would be awesome if I actually got it, and B because I think Secret Santa in general is ridiculus.

Here are some previous items I have asked for and recieved:
Movie Poster from Bio Dome
Pink Unicorn
$5 worth of Dimes
Captain Planet T-Shirt

Here are some I have asked for and not recieved:
Signed Cast picture from the Muppets
Life Sized Poster of Bruce Campbell
ThunderCats Lunch Box with Thermos


Here are some ideas that I have for this year:
Movie Poster from the Dark Crystal
Gumby
An original peice of art from you, framed, and signed
A bust of Art Garfunkel
Muppet Babies Lunch Box with Thermos

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Movie Pitch

So I continue to kick around what I am going to base my screen play on so I can cross that item off of my 30x30 list. I have one script started, but have had another idea pop into my head. I thought I would run it by you kids to see what you think.

It will be done in a mockumentary style. Similar to Christopher Guest movies such as "Best in Show". The basis is a documentarian sets out to show the protesters on both sides of an issue. It starts out as any documentary would, focusing in on one set of protesters. The pace picks up on the second day when the focus switches to the the protesters on the other side. The documentarian realizes that a person that was in the opposite crowd the first day, is now in the crowd he is filming that day. Which is when his focus switches to strictly this individual. We find out that this person is addicted to protesting. He doesn't seem to have any loyalties to an issue. He just likes to stand around with a bunch of people and yell things. We follow him from day to day, each one a new protest more ridiculous then the next.

I just find the idea of someone who just likes to protest things, hilariously funny.

Simple Things

I love cookies dunked in milk.

Updates

Since I don't seem to get to blog as much as I would like to these days, I thought I would put out some updates.

1. If you are keeping track at home cross # 24 off your list. I bought a snowblower on Saturday. That's right, I now own a snowblower. No idea how to use it yet, but it has six forward speeds and two in reverse.

2. I bought an Ipod Touch. With my recent raise at work, and a bonus long in coming, I decided that I wanted an Ipod Touch. It is fairly awesome. The video has great quality, and it has been easy to navigate. I haven't had time to find some games to download, but from what I have heard they have some fairly cool ones.

3. Trevor seems to be an amazingly well behaved kid at school. We had parent teacher conferences today, and his teacher let us know that Trevor is probably the best listener he has had in class in years. He is always attentive, and actively participating. Now if we can only get him to listen at home.

4. Weight loss challange 2 has started at work. I am aiming to lose 26 pounds this go round, which is ten more than last time. This time we are partnering with a local fitness center, they seem to be taking a very active roll in the contest this time, and providing a lot of resources and support. I will try and update as we go.

That is about it for now.

History

In 1863 Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1865 the states ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
In 1870 the states ratified the 15th Amendment to the Constitution.
In 1955 Rosa Parks sat down.
In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.
In 1965 the National Voting Rights Act was created.
In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.

Our country has come a long way. With millions of votes cast, voters not only voted for our future, but served the memory of those that came before us and fought for equality for all people. A precedent has been set. One of change, equality, and hope.

VOTE

Ten Years Apart

I went to the State Cross Country meet today. I love Cross Country, and the State Meet brings the best teams and runners to one spot. I saw some great races today, and the weather was beautiful. This race also marked the 10th year since I ran at the state meet. I was the fifth runner for our team (finishing close to the back of the race), and from what everyone remembered we finished in the top 10.

The reason I went, along with my friend, and fellow WBHS CC team member, Andy, to the meet today was to see our High School coaches son run in his last High School CC race. First off, it was crazy to see how much he and his brother have grown over the last 10 years. It truly made me feel old.

Unfortunately today's race was eerily similar to the race I ran in 10 years ago. Aaron went into the meet as a winner of his Sectional race and conference champion, the same as did Nate Wolff (who was the #1 runner on our team). Both were coming off great seasons, and were mentioned among the possible winners (Nate was probably the favorite ten years ago, while Aaron was listed as one of the contenders to win). Both unfortunately had races that didn't live up to their own expectations, and failed to medal. Today Aaron finished 12th. He did improve on both his time and finishing place from last years race though.

Cross Country to me, is the hardest sport in High School. Over the course of 3.2 miles your mind has a lot of time to tell you that you are doing something crazy with your body. Mainly running way to fast for way to long. Also, you are running as an individual, in a team sport. Once the gun goes off, your teammates are limited in what they can do to help you. Especially in the case of Nate and Aaron. Aaron qualified as an individual, so he was running the race without a team. Nate was so far superior to anyone on the team, that after the gun sounded, none of us would be close enough to Nate again to offer any encouragement. I will never know, what caused them to have off days, but I hope that both of them will look back on their respective races with pride.

While both of them did not have the races they dreamed of, I applaud both of them for their accomplishments. While neither would probably admit this, it is very difficult to be a successful CC runner at Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Both lived in the shadow of two of Wisconsin's greatest runners, John and Cathy Easker. John ran for Wittenberg, and I would argue had the most successful post high school athletic career as a WBHS graduate. Cathy, while she did not go to WBHS, she is the Cross Country coach. While both of the were able to give Nate and especially Aaron (since he is their son) great insight in what it takes to be a top runner, it had to have added some extra pressure.

Even if you would just look at their High School CC accomplishments, they set some lofty standards to live up to. Cathy still holds the two fastest races at state by a girl in Division 2, and John holds the second fastest race at state in Division 2.

I would imagine that there are very few other runners in Nate's race 10 years ago, and Aarons race today, that were not only running against the people in the race, but were running against history. Which I imagine makes for a difficult race.

My Son is going to Hell

People handing out candy in our neighborhood today, received what seemed like a cute gift in return. A boy, maybe 5, was giving out one million dollar bills, as repayment for candy. I thought it was so cute, that I gave him extra candy. I thought it was cute until the misses got home and looked at the bill, advising that on the back was some sort of religious statement.

Since I am not one to get my religion from a fake million dollar bill, I didn't bother reading it. Until my son after reading it exclaimed he was going to hell. This declaration made me wonder what was on the back of the bill.

So here goes....
The Million dollar question : Will you go to Heaven when you die? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on judgement day? If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in hell. That's not God's will. He sent his son to suffer and die on the cross for you. You broke God's law, but Jesus paid your fine. That means he can legally dismiss your case. He can commute your death sentence. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Then he rose from the dead and defeated death. Please repent (turn from sin) today and trust alone in Jesus, and God will grant you the gift of everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it.

After reading this out loud to my wife, my son said, "so then I am going to hell." I advised that it seems that he could turn to Jesus, repent, and read the Bible every day. To which he replied, "Straight to Hell"

Happy Halloween!!!!

An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama,

I voted for you today. I went to the polling place and voted early. I wanted to be sure that I was able to cast a vote for you in this Presidential election. I take voting very seriously, it is not an honor that evey nation gives it's people. I feel that my vote today, may be the most important of my life. I know for a fact it is the most important vote I have placed thus far.

That being said, if you are elected, you have to deliver on your promises. You have to leave partisan Washington politics behind, and truly bring the change that you have talked about during your campaign. If your Presidency turns into empty promises and failed initiatives, you will have wasted my vote, and the vote of millions of other people.

You can not go down in history as just another President. You need to be the catalyst that takes our country beyond what is imaginable.

I have done my civic duty, and hopefully helped helped you reach the Presidency. Please don't let me down.

Respectfully,
Eric Powers

Kids keep you busy

It has been some time since I have wanted to take peices of my free time to sit down and blog. The past week was my first week back at work after having three weeks off. While Sophia has done a good job of sleeping at night, she is still under a month, and needs to get up to eat. Since I can't do any of the feeding at this point, I try and get up, and change diapers, burp the baby, help out where I can. Since work frowns on people who nap at work, I have been fairly tired at night, and instead of blogging, have taken to sleeping. So since I am home ill today, I thought I would take some time to catch up on blogging. Well, that and planning my first cub scout meeting. 40+ scouts and parents all looking at me, wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Mandy

It is my lovely wife's birthday today. So I wanted to take a minute and say Happy Birthday!!!

Colin Powell

Colin Powell, a Republican, African American, and the Secretary of State under George W. Bush, today has come out and endorsed Barack Obama.

I won't dwell on what he said other than this. Something that I think more people should be saying. I will try and find a slimmed down clip, the peice I keyed in on starts at 4 mintes 27 seconds, if you would like to just skip to that.



I wish more people would come out and say this. While I understand that there are people of the Muslim faith that have done some horrible things, and it is a faith that a lot of people (including me) do not know a lot about. Someone being of the Muslim faith should not disqualify them from anything (I guess other than being a Rabbi or Priest). If you decide to start looking at religion, and what has been done in the name of religion you stand on the edge of a very slippery slope.

Dragons or something profound

I've been meaning to write a really deep and profound post for some time. Nothing that will change the world, but something that will rattle some things. I thought that being off for three weeks would allow me to sit and create. My time to sit and ponder things bigger than me is wrapping up, and still nothing.

So let's talk about Dragons.

For those of you who don't know this about me, I love movies with Dragons in them. I just watched Reign of Fire, which is awesome...and has dragons (and Christian Bale which makes it awesomer).

I prefer movies with talking Dragons, if they can be voiced by Sean Conner, bonus. Maybe it started with Pete's Dragon. I believe that is the first dragon movie that I saw.

My favorite Dragon movie would be Dragonheart. It's cheesy, has Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery as the Dragon, and they go around hood winking people. You can't help but love some Dragon shennanigans.

If only they made a Muppet Movie with Dragons. Have I mentioned that I also loved the Muppets? No? I will have to save that for another post.

Back to Work

Today is the offical last day of my "bonding time" with Sophia. Come Monday I am back at work. Since my first go round with a newborn took place while I was a sophmore in college, I didn't really go through this. While I was away at times, I was home a lot as well. While I enjoy my job, I am not looking forward to having to go back to work.

This is the first time that I think I have really though that I would love to be a stay at home dad. If I was independantly wealthy, I would be taking the next five years off, to hang out with the kid. While babies are great. The thought of getting to spend a lot of time with her while she is 2-5 would be amazing. When she is learning to walk, talk, and put her stamp on the world.

The time would also give me the time to get into shape, read more books, write a book, meet more people in the community, and still have the same time for the rest of my family that I do now.

I am not independantly wealth, so it is back to work for me.

Joe the Plumber in 2012

I think we just all watched (well those of us that watched the debate) the launch of a new political career. If Joe the Plumber does not run for some sort of political office, Senator, Assembly Man, Dog Catcher he is waisting this golden opportunity. In at least a third of the questions asked tonight, Joe came up in some way shape or form. He is going to be swamped by all of the major news organizations with interview requests, and can become a folk hero for the working class.

Go get'em Joe!

Dear John

Dear Senator McCain,

Up until the last week, I may have disagreed with your campaign, but I believed that you were still a good person. You served our country not only in the Vietnam War, but as a member of the Senate. You cared enough about our country to serve it in one form or another for many years.

This past week though, your campaign has taken, what I feel is a dangerous turn. You have tried to peg Senator Obama as someone whose judgment you can not trust. In doing so, you have brought up his connection to Bill Ayers, who at one point in his life was a domestic terrorist. What Bill Ayers did and was involved in was horrendous, this is not a letter to defend his actions, but to discuss my disappointment with yours.

The anger and hate that this strategy has unleashed among your supporters is incredibly dangerous. When a member of the crowd at one of your campaign stops yelled out "A terrorist" after you had asked who the real Barack Obama was, you were presented with the opportunity to put an early halt to the boiling rage of some of your supporters. You chose to ignore the comment.

It took a woman at one of your rallies calling Obama an Arab for you to speak up and try an put a stop to these dangerous antics. While trying to explain to your crowd that Obama was a good individual, you were booed, or at least the idea that Obama was a good person was booed.

It is the year 2008 and we for the first time will either have an African American President or a woman as Vice President. It should not matter the color of a candidates skin, their gender, or sexual preference. We should be looking at issues, and discussing the future of our country. What gets me more than the accusation that Obama is an Arab, is that to this woman, him being an Arab was a bad thing.

I understand that you can not control what people at your events say. These things were not said though until your campaign starting the accusations of Obama palling around with a terrorist. The negative tone that your campaign took, has given credence to the negative feelings of some of your supporters.

It should not have taken a woman with a microphone for you to step in. You should have done this the minute your crowds started shouting "terrorist". Your campaign has unleashed some potentially harmful feelings, feelings that if acted upon could lead to violence.

With the election less than a month away, I should be focused on looking at your plans for economic recovery and reestablishing our relationships with foreign countries. I should not be chastising you for fostering hatred towards your opponent.

I am disappointed with where your campaign has gone, and hope that in the remaining weeks you decide to refocus on the issues. You are currently at a crossroad where you can continue to take a stand against your supporters and quell a very dangerous storm that is brewing, or you can decide to watch the storm come.

Please show me that their is some good left.

Respectfully,

Eric

100

So it seems that this is my 100th post. Which seems pretty crazy to me. Not only that I have had enough to say to warrant 100 posts (though some may argue that I have not had enough to talk about to warrant 100 posts)but that I have stayed at this long enough to reach 100.

To commemorate my 100th post I tried to think of what approach I wanted to take. Should I work it like a clip show, and discuss previous posts that I enjoyed. Such as my post about mermaids or bigfoot or Sarah Palin. I thought it may be a bit of a cop out though. I always hate clip shows.

Then I thought I could talk about being a father. Now that I have a complete set of children (one boy and one girl) I feel that I am filled with insight into parenting. Not only am I dealing with an eight year old, who I see slowly turning from a kid into a pre-teen, but I am going through the night time feedings (not so much me doing the feeding) and diaper changing that comes with a newborn. It is two very different times in each of their lives, and it sure keeps me on my toes. I didn't set out to make this a blog about my life as a dad, so many people do that much better than I do.

So I thought I should go back and recap why this blog came about. It started as a combination of my attempts to lose some weight (and by doing so winning a competition) and crossing off items that I wanted to take care of before I turned 30. While I didn't accomplish my weight loss goals (still planning on hitting them though) I did win a spot on a dinner cruise. I slowly am chipping away at my list of 30 things as well. Weight loss and exercise get me closer to the physical list items. I have traveled to see the Pacific Ocean, seen some of the movies I wanted, and laid the ground work for others. My blog has grown to be more than just a recap of these endeavors. While it started out that way, I didn't want to go back to pigeon hole myself.

I then thought I could make a long and well thought out commentary on our current race for the White House. I could talk about the issue I want someone to raise. I understand why McCain is bringing up William Ayers. With the images of 9/11 burned into all of our brains, terrorist is a label that incites more feelings than it used to. I get why he is trying to link Obama to him. If this connection was so bad, and we should all be so worried, why hasn't he brought it up sooner. Why didn't either McCain or Palin talk about it a month ago at the convention. Was it because was not politically safe for them to go that negative at that time? If a campaign is doing okay, that it is to risky for them to talk about Obamas past, but now that McCain is behind in the polls, including in some that are typically Republican strongholds. It is okay for them to bring up Ayers. If this is as big of an issue as McCain wants us to believe (I don't think it is) he should have been shouting this from day one. I can't believe that the issue is of any importance to me, if you were holding it as an the ace up your sleeve if things go bad. Though once I get going on these things I get all worked up, so I won't.

I then thought that maybe I would just to a little of everything. So I did.

My Friends

If you are a debate watcher, as I am. I urge you to watch the final debate on CNN. They have a group of 25 people who declare themselves as undecided voters. They give them all perception analyzers (dials that they can turn up or down based on their reaction to what the candidate is saying)that chart on the bottom of the screen the reaction of the group.

It is very interesting to see how people react. One thing that I noticed was anytime a candidate mentioned the other candidate, mostly to bring up their record, the peoples perception of them went down. Which goes along with the conventional wisdom that negative campaigning typically will back fire.

Overall I took that Obama typically had higher ratings over the course of the debate. Especially with women.

Anyway, I like debates, but the perception analyzer added an interesting twist.

Baby and Bear

Elizabethan Collar

This post will not be discussing 16th century wardrobes, but the ridiculus cone that my dog has to wear. She seems to have some sort of inflamation of her front left paw. Licking it seems to make it worse. Since it is her front paw, keeping her from licking it is near impossible. Thus enter the Elizabethan Collar.



I have also found that not only does it work as a deterant from licking, but it also makes her very easy to keep track of. Since she has had it on her, she moves around very little. I am sure that it takes a little getting used to.

While discussing this with a friend of mine, he mentioned how he had to put one of these on his Guinea Pig. It had something that made it eat it's own skin. I think it was barbeque sauce or something. Dosen't really matter. The part that matters is that I think that would be the funniest thing I have ever seen. Did at anypoint he think, this is hilarious, I need a picture of this to show my friends. No, he did not. No visual evidence that he had a tiny collar on a tiny pet.

Brewers

I have been a Milwaukee Brewers fan for a long time. To be honest I am not sure where I get it from. Other than my Grandma, I don't really know of any adult in my adolescence that liked the Brewers. Regardless of how it came to be, it did.

I remember going to County Stadium as a Cub Scout, and yelling until I could not yell anymore. One game was in early April. It was freezing out, probably in the mid to low 40's. In one of the first innings, the guy behind me spilt his beer all over my feet. The Brewers won though, which is all that mattered.

I remember listening to games on the radio and writing down the lineups so when I would play baseball in the yard the next day, I could pretend that I was on the team. Paul Molitor was my hero. I still have his poster in my basement. I haven't put it up since the day he left the Brewers and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. I couldn't believe that he left, but he did. I remember watching Robin Yount, Jim Gantner, Pat Listach, Teddy Huigera, Chris Bosio, Gary Shefiled, Rob Deer, among others. I remember watching young players develop and get traded away. I remember losing seasons, a lot of losing seasons.

Tomorrow I get to go to Miller Park, and see my Milwaukee Brewers play in the playoffs. Before I go further I have to thank my wonderful wife for letting me go. Sophia will be one week old, and Mandy will be going it alone (aside from Trevor, who may be help or may cause more problems) for the day. I know it seems silly, but this is one of the best things she has ever done for me.

Tomorrow that boy listening to Brewer games on the radio, gets to go see Brewers Playoff baseball.

GO Brewers!!

Finally Home

After six days, five nights, a 9 pound baby, lots of dirty diapers, 48 hours of IV antibiotics, two spinal taps, and getting to know about every nurse and nurse tech we are home.

Everyone is happy and healthy. Here are some pics.

Quick Update

Well the little one could not wait until Monday. Mandy and I went into the hospital Saturday night (thanks Heather and Sergio for coming back) and Sophia Belle was born at 8:41 AM on Sunday. She weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces.

We hope to come home on Thursday. We were supposed to come home today, but she had a bit of a temp at one point last night, so they keep her for 48 hours to watch her, and run some tests.

I will blog more and post pictures once we get home. For now you can see some here

8 years

So it is my son's 8th birthday today. Which seems pretty crazy to me. Especially since it is coupled with the impending birth of my second child. It is amazing how far out family has come in 8 years.

My wife and I found out that we were going to be parents our second semester our Freshman year of college. She was 19 and I was 18. We were basically kids finding out that we were going to have a kid of our own. I still remember the campus nurse letting us know the results of the test, siting in my dorm room, when Nelli came in and we told the first person about what was in store for us. I remember calling home (there was no way I could have gone and done it in person) and talking to my mom about it.

I can't believe how we (mainly my wife) survived in the dorms during the first few months of her pregnancy. We then moved into a little one room apartment in Stevens Point, and readied ourselves to be parents.

We were lucky. Numerous friends and family stepped up to help us out. From Becca bringing us food in the hospital, Nelli helping bring Trevor home, financial support from our parents, my aunt watching Trevor while we went to classes, and the numerous others that would stop by, stay in touch, and assure us that things were going to work out...and they did.

We both graduated in 4 years. Mandy and I both have great jobs, and have been fairly successful at them. I have said it many times, but Trevor was the best thing that has happened in my life (sorry dear, you are second). I can't imagine life without him.

So today, I want to celebrate my son. He has amazed me since the day he was born. He was a gigantic baby (I wonder where his sister gets it from), weighing in at 10 pounds 5 ozs. His first word was duck, and he has been in love with animals and nature ever since. He took his first steps to earn himself a future million dollar pay day from Andy. I remember when we finally had to take him to a day care, and he cried every day for weeks when I dropped him off. Which makes me realize how far he has come when he willingly gets on the bus for school.

He has come so far and learned so much, and I can't wait for him to start passing it all on to his baby sister.

Newest Offering, Baby Zilla, Drops on September 29th

That's right. At the latest, Monday September 29th is the day when our newest child will come into the world. It's pretty crazy to have a final date give to it all. We have waited for quite some time (some of us more comfortably than others), and come Monday we will have a new (gigantic) baby girl.

It is crazy to think that this is the last Tuesday that we will be a family of three. This is the last full week that the boys out number the girls.

Soon I will have sleepless nights, diapers, crying babies, and bottles. I am looking forward to it.

I am sure that I will post pics upon the release.

Baby Godzilla

So we are now much closer to finally having our gigantic baby (as of today's ultrasound the estimated weight is 8 lbs 9 oz.) While we didn't get what we were looking for today, which was some clarity on what the doctors are going to do about our gigantic baby. We did get to see the baby one more time via ultrasound.

I think that the misses and I are both now fully trained ultrasound technicians. Seeing as we have done around 6 or 7 ultrasounds this baby alone.

I am finally starting to wrap my head around the fact that our family of 3 plus dog, gecko, fish is going to be a family of 4 plus zoo. I am pretty excited about it. I remember how fun Trevor was as a baby. He was first of all darn cute, the gigantic cheeks seen on the ultrasound point to Baby Zilla being cute as well. I also remembered how Trevor became my confidant. Babies are great people to vent to, the listen very well, and never tell anyone what you say. Since I am someone that constantly is playing out conversations in my head, a baby gives me someone to run them by.

I also look forward to her growing up. As much as kids can be a pain, drive you to gain weight and lose your hair. I loved every minute of watching Trevor grow up. I still choke up almost every day that I get him on the bus. I can't believe that he rides a bus, or is in school, or likes girls, or has a basic understanding of the current election (I still remember when asked who the president was he would say the white monkey in the white house). I can't wait until Trevor is a big brother, he has so many things to teach Baby Zilla.

I look forward to what having another girl in my life brings. Growing up I had my mom, then I was married and I had the misses. I never have had to deal with more than one female on a regular basis. I welcome the challenge with all that it brings.

I think I am finally ready for the baby to come, and it appears it is just in time. (Did I ever mention I went to High School with Justin Time?)

I still have a job.....but I might now work for the government

As some of you know, I work for a company that is owned by a much larger company. That much larger company seems to be in a bit of trouble lately. Going out of business, bankruptcy, needs 40 Billion dollars to operate trouble. Which leads me to have to answer the following question a lot. "I saw your company is in trouble, are you going to lose your job?"

I do still have a job, and plan to have one for quite some time. I don't know what exactly my current and parent company will look like at the end of the week, but, I will still have a job.

Just wanted to put that out there.

Addendum
So it looks like Uncle Sam opened up his checkbook and bailed us out. I imagine that this is only the beginning of the saga. I wonder if I get a cushy government pension now?

Certain Death

Sometimes the people in the media make me laugh. How can they go on TV and chastise people for not evacuating Galveston, when they themselves are in Galveston. I have seen coverage on three networks where their reporter on the sea wall in Galveston is comentating on how people are crazy not to have evacuated, especially after the warnings of "certain death" came out. THEY ARE IN GALVESTON THEMSELVES!!!!! Are they not also in the path of "certain death", are they not crazy themselves?

BAHHH

aaaaaand I'm back

Hello my name is Eric and I am addicted to Weed(s). The TV show that is. I have spent the last few days watching (netflix online is awesome) the first two season of Weeds. The show is great. I feel bad for bad mouthing the show and Emmy nominations that it has received in the past. The show is well written, acted, and funny. Who would have thought that a story about a suburban drug dealing mom would be as good as it is.

I am disappointed though, that the 3rd season is not something that can be viewed online. I have to wait for the discs to come in the mail. BOOOO

USA USA USA

Sorry, my wife was heckling me, so I am just trying to drown her out.

USA USA USA USA

There, she's quited down, on with my blog.

I wanted to blog about John McCain, I wasted enough time watching it, I don't want to spend anymore time on it than I already have.

The one thing that I did take away from his speech is that he really hates George W Bush. I don't think he can stand the man. It has to be hard for him to have to play nice in order to keep the Republican base together.

Bah, alright, so I just saw a sign at the RNC that said, "The Mavrick". Really? You bring a sign and then spell it wrong? (No comments about my spelling ability please, I realize I have no right to mock anyones ability to spell.)

Alright, enough of that.

This week Trevor started second grade. This year he is riding the bus to school. I can't believe how far he has come. I remember dropping him off for his first day of organized day care, where he cried and cried and cried and cried. I was the only one choked up a bit on Tuesday, and he was the one who new it would be okay.

Gustav

Before you read further, here are two people, who understand what may happen much better than I do.

Here is a post by someone that comes highly recommended by my sister-in-law (and many others), many people are much better people than I am, here is an example of one. I hope that if Gustav is what Katrina was, that many more people take up the cause like Lance has.

I also stumbled upon a blog of someone from New Orleans, she has gotten out, and I hope she has something to go back to.

As landfall draws near of potentially a catastrophic hurricane, I wanted to take a moment and say that I hope everyone in the Gulf Coast Region gets through this as best as possible. The unfortunate disaster of Katrina has taught us all valuable lessons, lessons that I hope lead to a minimal loss of life. I think all of us, those such as I, safely in my home in Wisconsin, and those fleeing New Orleans, realize that homes and property will be lost. Homes can be rebuilt, a life cannot.

As I watch coverage of the evacuation, I see highways that I was on only a couple of weeks ago. I drove past the levees that were rebuilt, that millions of people now hope hold up during the next few days. I stayed in a hotel, which had to renovate 60%of its 41 floor building, and stayed closed for over a year after Katrina. I walked Bourbon street, and listed to brass bands on the street. Filling the streets again with music that helped bring New Orleans back. Both the hotel and street most likely stand empty today. It is amazing to think that a major city can be turned into a ghost town. Mother Nature can be one powerful woman.

This next part is not exactly the place for this, but I also wanted to comment on the naming of Hurricanes. Not that Gustav is a popular name in the US, but I feel that it wrong to attach names to things that could cause massive devastation. Their are millions of Katrina's who are now associated with one of the worst events in US history. Why do they need names? Their has to be a better system.

WHO?

Sarah Palin has been named as the VP choice for John McCain. Some of you, I am sure know all about Sarah Palin, from her days on the pageant circuit, to her days as mayor on the means streets of Wasilla, and her current 20 month stint as the Governor of the great state of Alaska. Those three people can skip this blog, you probably won't like what you are going to hear.

I think that this may go down as the worst VP choice ever. That's right, ever. From what I have read about Sarah Palin in the last few days, I think that she might have a bright future in the Republican Party, she is a hunting, pro-life, NRA member, Caucasian (the only thing she is missing is she is not a man). I think she is jumping to the national stage way to soon.

Here are some issues I have.

1. Woman are not lemmings, they will not vote for John McCain just because he has a woman candidate. I don't think the only reason he picked her is to get the Hilary voters, but I think it is part of the reason.

2. John McCain only met her twice before Friday. With only a few phone conversations. The VP spot is pretty important, I am not sure if it should be selected after only a few meetings.

3. John McCain is 72. Now I have nothing against someone in their golden years, I would think everyone would agree that there is a higher chance of John McCain dying of natural causes while in office than any of our recent Presidents. Does anyone think that Sarah Palin will actually be able to run our country if he dies? Based on attach ads against Obama, McCain can't even believe that she is prepared.

If I were a Republican I would also be worried about the Vice Presidential Debate. Joe Biden is going to destroy her. Not only because Biden has the experience of numerous debates, but he has experience. Unless the question is about great ways to prepare moose (Palin has stated this is her favorite meat) Biden will have the upper hand. Obama has been spending the past 4 years preparing to run for President, while McCain has been around longer, Obama has been able to build similar experiences. Palin herself, only a couple of months ago didn't think she would be the VP pick, she has prepared herself for nothing.

Big Boat

As part of my reward for finishing as one of the top weight loss members of my team in the recent weight loss program my work put on, I got to take a bus to Door County, and have dinner on my CEO's yacht. While I am sure that it isn't the biggest boat in the world, it was by far the biggest boat I have been on. Once I have access to some pictures I will put some up.

The yacht was amazing. It is 112 feet, has 4 state rooms (bedrooms), a galley (kitchen), living room (can't remember the nautical term), a deck on the front of the boat, a deck on the back, and an upper deck, along with crew quarters, and the place where you run the boat. It had 4 bathrooms. The captain lives on the boat, he has no other home.

He keeps the boat in the Caribbean during the winter, in the spring sails it up to the St. Lawrence seaway, through the Great Lakes, and down to Milwaukee for the summer.

Each engine cost $450,000 (it has two), it holds over 5000 gallons of gas, and when running at full throttle can go through 200 gallons an hour.

Most of the time, I would feel a little bitter about someone with a boat such as this. While talking with my CEO, he told a story about the name of the boat. The boats name is ________ ___________ II (I prefer not to mention what the name is). He asked if we new why it was II. None of us did. He let us know that when he and his wife got married that they had about $20 in the bank, and borrowed money to buy a trailer in a trailer park. The name of the trailer they lived in was the ________ __________. So when it came time to name their boat, they only thought fitting to name it after the trailer they started out in. A fitting bookend to where they came from and where they had gotten together. I can't feel bitter about someone who worked hard to get where they are. I can only hope that someday I can achieve a small piece of what he has.

I also got to have my very own paparazzi type moment. When we docked the boat in Sister Bay, and were getting ready to head back to the bus, another boat came over, and the group on board started taking pictures of us and the boat (mainly the boat). It was cool to be able to be on the thing that everyone else was in awe of.

"My mom told me to"

So I got to spend some time on Bourbon Street in New Orleans last night, after dinner. It is quite an experience. Great music, interesting people, fun atmoshphere.

We were at, The Famous Door, and as they do in New Orleans, they were trying to entice people (females) to take their shirts off for things. In this case bud light T-Shirts. Seeing as it was for Bud Light T-Shirts they didn't have any takers. Then one brave soul took the stage. The MC asked her if she was going to show her goods to get the goods, and she said, "Well, my mom told me to, she is right down there." Sure enough, their was mom, waving to the crowd, supporting her daughters efforts in showing her chest for a cheap T-Shirt.

None of us were quite sure what to make of that. I am sure that Thanksgivings are very interesting at their house.

New Orleans

So I left early this morning to travel down to the Big Easy. I am headed to New Orleans for a work trade show. I have been to New Orleans once before, and love the city. The last time I was in New Orleans, I was given a first hand tour of the lower 9th ward by a police officer. The devastation was horrible, but it was amazing to hear stories from someone who stayed to help protect the city while everyone else had to evacuate. Enough can't be said or written about to give credit to what people did in the time of tragedy.

I am excited to get to go back, and see how far things have come. We are staying downtown, so I hope to get some time to walk around.

Foiled Again

Like the ending of every Scooby Doo episode, the rubber mask was pulled off to reveal the space monster, pirate ghost, and in this case Big Foot, was not what we thought it was, but Farmer Jenkins.

You can read a story here.

I have to admit that I am disapointed. I am not sure why I thought that someone had actually found Bigfoot, but I did. The twelve year old boy inside of me, wanted to believe.

So now I fall back into the real world. One in which Bigfoot does not exsist

The Results are In

My companies weight loss challenge is over. I lost 18 pounds and 4% body fat. Which at the end of the day is not all that bad. It is not what I set out to do, but it is a great start.

The silver lining though is that I did win the IT weight loss challenge, that a few of us did, making me over $100. Also I was 5th overall in weight loss on my team, which earns me a dinner cruise on the CEO's yacht. Not such a bad result.

While I still haven't been exercising like I would like, I have tried remain on a healthier diet.

I will continue to provide updates on my progress. I still hope to give my 5:30 mile a shot next year, and I still have a long way to go.

A curious recomendation

As I have noted in previous blogs, I am a big fan of Kevin Smith movies. His newest movie is Zach and Miri make a Porno. I had heard that they were aiming at having the first trailer for the movie run before Pineapple Express. Seeing that both movies star Seth Rogan, it made sense.

Since I haven't seen Pineapple Express yet to see if the trailer is before the movie, I went over to IMDB to see if I could find the trailer. I couldn't but I came across something that I found very interesting. At the bottom of the Zach and Miri page, IMDB had a couple of movie recomendations. Saying, if you enjoy this movie, you may enjoy these. Listed were:

Rich Kids
For Pete's Wake
Chasing Amy
Jersey Girl
The Lizzie McGurie Movie

If this were Sesame Street, the one of these things is not like the other, music would be playing. If you guessed, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, you are correct.

What does the Lizzie McGuire Movie have to do with a movie about two 28 year olds who decide to go into the adult film industry because they need some cash. For those of you who don't know what the Lizzie McGuire movie is, Lizzie McGuire was a show helmed by Hilary Duff on Nickolodean.

I am not sure how their rating system works, but few people looking at the Zach and Miri page, will be eager to check out Lizzie McGuire.

Holy Bigfoot Bloggers!!

Since I snagged the awesome Julia Child is a spy story, I thought I would wait a bit, and let someone else blog about this.

Since no one seems to care about the biggest discovery in any of our lifetimes, I will break the Bigfoot silence.

So, two guys in Georgia found Bigfoot. Dead. They then dragged him out of the woods, and put him in a freezer. For a month or two. Then finally decided to start telling people, and releasing photos.

While I realize that this will end up being an elaborate hoax. I hope that they really have found Bigfoot. How crazy would it be, if they let reputable scientists examine the body, and they confirm it is some sort of monkey/human/other hybrid.

The 10 year old boy in me has come out, and I can't wait to see my first Bigfoot.

Arsenic and Old Lace

I love a good spy movie, or book, or story. Basically I enjoy spies. It would be awesome to serve our country as a member of the CIA, using my job as a cover to travel the world and spy on our friends and enemies.

So when I came across this story this morning, it blew my mind.

Julia Child, yes that Julia Child, was a member of the OSS, which was a precursor to the CIA. She was stationed in Sri Lanka and China as a researcher for the head of the OSS.

I can't wait for the upcoming move: Julia Child, The Spy who Sauteed Me.

Cheersanity

So it seems that I am a sucker for the "Bring it On" movie series. I have a very hard time not stopping on them while I flip through channels, and I currently am watching "Bring it On: All or Nothing". Though it doesn't hold a candle to the original, it is a mildly entertaining movie.

Answer: Barry Manilow and Kenny G

Question: Who are people that have blogs that are whiter than mine.

Actually I am not sure if they actually have blogs, but if they did, I am sure that they would be whiter than mine.

Now that we have that setteled, just some random white person observances:

1. Aaron Rogers is off to a good start, and I admit that I was excited by his Pre-Season touchdown pass.

2. The Chinese Womans (Girls) Olympic Gymnastics team has 12 year olds on it. I am sure of it.

3. Michael Phelps is a Beast.

4. Today I have seen rumors that John McCain is going to have former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman as VP and Obama is going to have Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as VP.

5. I hear that Estelle Geddy died recently. I belive she was 114. The biggest traveisty is that this eliminates the possibility of a Golden Girls reunion. Tear.

I think Matlock is on, got's to go.

Dennis Hall

Dennis Hall is an olympian from Stevens Point. He competed in Barcelona, Atlanta, and Athens in Greco Roman Wrestling. In Atlanta he won a silver medal. I got a chance to hold that medal today.

At our companies Summer Picnic, which was Olympic themed, Dennis came and gave a speech. One of the things he does when he speaks places is passes his medal around. As you may have noticed I really enjoy the olympics. Getting the chance to hold an actual olympic medal was a pretty awesome thing.

08-08-08

Happy Triple 8 day. More importantly Happy Olympic Opening Ceremony Day. As I type I sit in front of the TV, and take in the opening ceremony. As I have mentioned previously, I love the Olympics.

Trevor was born during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I spent many a night watching water polo or handball while feeding or changing Trevor. Also since we were in School at the time, my schedule was more condusive to watching hours upon hours of Olympic coverage.

This years Olympics is chalk full of story lines. Not only is it taking place in China, which has loads of stories an intrigue. Will the "Dream Team" take gold, will 40+ year old swimmer Dara Torres medal. Who will win the showdown between the US and Chinese woman's gymnastic teams. The best things about the Olympics is the stories that come out of no where.

Go USA.

Vote Powers!

No, I am not currently running for a political office. My dad is. Since it is his birthday today, I figured I would take some time and tell all of you why you should vote for him, or at least tell all of your friends that live in the 6th Assembly district to.

To start off, this is my fathers second foray into the political world. For a time in 2006, he had declared his candidacy for the 6th District Assembly seat. For a myriad of reasons, he ended his candidacy early, stepping aside to let another Democrat run for the position. After a recent death in the family, he realized that you don't always get second chances, and decided to run again.

My father is a Democrat, Vietnam Vet, Father, Husband, Grandfather, retired teacher, former Boy Scout Leader, and all around amazing person. I am partial since he is my father, but you ask former students, co-workers, acquaintances, and they will tell you the same. For example, I met a co-worker of mine today, that is from the same town that I am. Once he found out who my father was he let me know that my dad was the reason that he started out as a History Major in college. He followed that up with that he dropped History as a major after realizing that not all teachers were as cool as my dad was.

I also saw another former student of his changed her Facebook update to: ANOTHER POWERS CAMPAIGN. THIS TIME WE WILL WIN.

If you would like to know a little bit more about his candidacy you can see his website here.

At the end of the day, I know that my father is someone that I want in Madison working towards making our state a better place. He will hit Madison with fresh ideas, the desire to make a difference, and a work ethic of getting things done.

So if possible, please support my father in any way that you can. In State elections word of mouth can go a long way, so please spread the word. Regardless of the district you live in, my father will be working to move our state Forward. With people like him in Madison, everyone wins.

I think I broke my foot...

So I went for a jog today.

Not my whole foot though, just my pinkie toe, and who needs a pinkie toe anyway. For those of you curious as to how I (potentially) broke my pinkie toe, I will tell you.

I was bringing laundry to our laundry room, and stepped on a golf ball. I think it was Mandy's golf ball so I am blaming her. She is always leaving her golf balls all over the place. Anyway, my foot rolled forward and under the golf ball, while my knee buckled and I fell backwards. I really should be happy I didn't rip up my knee, since the way I fell could easily have lead to a torn ACL. Well, while most of my toes rolled under the golf ball I am fairly certain my pinkie toe decided to go the other way.

I am hoping it is either sprained or dislocated. Since I refuse to go to the doctor for a hurt pinkie toe, I will never know.

For those of you that overlooked it earlier in the blog. I went for a jog today That's right I am officially back on the exercise band waggon. My toe actually hurts more when I walk (it hurts with every step I take) than it does when I run on it. So that's wierd.

Also, our company weight loss program is over. I ended at 217 and 24% body fat. That is a loss of 18 pounds and 4% body fat. Which while it isn't what I wanted to do, is respectable. More importantly puts me on a path to being physically fit. Which is something I haven't been in a long time.

The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger will win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars this year, you heard it hear, well, like 98th. Only because his performance is that good. If his life would not have tragically ended to early, I would still be saying the same thing. I also think that the movie has an outside chance of being nominated for Best Picture. It's a huge outside chance, because the Acadamey rarely nominates this type of movie, if it is going to happen someday, this movie just might do it. It is that good.

I won't give a full recap, so I won't spoil anyone who wants to see the picture. Since I hate nothing more than being spoiled myself. If you get a chance, go see the movie for yourself.

"Two lovely berries molded on one stem"

That's what she said!

I guess in this case, it literally is what she said. As most of you closet Shakespere fans know, the above is a line from, A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I had the pleasure of seeing in Spring Green last night at APT. The play was excellent. The classic dialouge was used (for the most part) but the cosutmes were all contemporary. Which added a modern twist to a classic play. The was my first time to APT and will hopefully be the first of many visits. The night was perfect for an outdoor play, the crowd was lively and seemingly appreciative. (During intermission I eased dropped on more than one conversation taking place analyzing the meaning of the themes in the play, and the actors takes on the characters, not something often overheard in Stevens Point)

More importantly though, I got to go with 5 excellent people. My wife, Jeff, Natalie, Snoop, and Alexis are all amazing people, we always have a blast when hanging out. I consider myself lucky that they still seem to put up with me on a regular basis.

Not only did we see a show, but spent some time in a cabin in the woods. Playing Yahtzee, Bocce Ball, Catchpharse....No Bingo....but we did play Scene It. Other than some singed arm hair, eveyone came out of the weekend happy and healthy.

Over the past few years this group of people has grown to be some of my best friends. I look forward to the adventures that the future brings.

Oh...and, So's your face.

Sleeping with the fishes

I watched a beer commercial today, where the main character describes his perfect beer heaven. First off if you decide that you want to go to beer heaven you are an alcoholic. Please get yourself to an AA meeting immediately.

Then he describes how he would get a cold glass....from a mermaid. Why a mermaid? Does he like mermaids, or does he just want them to be his servants. I hope the later. I can get on board with turning the merpeople into our aquatic slaves. I can't get on board, if he digs (and by digs I mean wants to sleep with) a mermaid.

While I grant you the media and movies portrays mermaids to have a torso and head of a beautiful woman. The bottom half is a fish. A FISH! Imagine if the reverse was true. You had a pair of legs, with the toros and head of a fish. Would their be sailors throwing themselves into the water, chasing these long legged sea bass to their watery graves? I think not. The thought of snuggling up with Mrs. Fishhead sounds disgusting. So what is mans fascination with a finned lady.

I just don't get it.

Dirty Rotten Liar

So I lied to you. I am man enough to admit it. I haven't exercised, I still remain fully off the ladder.

I am not about to make excuses, but here are my excuses.

We stayed longer at my parents on Saturday than I thought we would. We got home in time for me to watch the season finale of Avatar. It was awesome by the way. I am actually looking forward to the live action movie they are doing, even if M. Night Shamalamalanalanalan is directing and writting.

So that took me to late in the night.

Sunday, I spent the first part of the day hanging out with the fam, and cleaning up the house, since I new that I had to go to work at 3pm. I didn't get home until 3:30AM. That is a long time at work on the weekend, and late at night. I then got up to go to work at 8 AM.

The past few days have been busy. As we are in the process of trying to launch a new software. Trying is the optimal word, as IT has not yet finished fixing the software. My team currently has a list of 100 agencies that have called in wanting the new software. So it has been a bit stressful for me.

Anyway, so that is why I haven't worked out. My new goal is to be under 200 by baby time.

Amyway, no more exuses.

Tomorrow Starts a New Day...........

for my diet and exercise program. I admitedly have been holding status quo for the last month. I went to California a couple weeks ago, as you know if you read the blog, and since then I haven't really exercised. No real reason, other than I always seemed to have something better to do, or an excuse. With our weight loss chalange ending in a couple of weeks, I figured it was time to get back on the proverbial horse.

With that, you should see more blog enteries. I noticed that a lot of my blog ramblings came from my journies out to excersie. Hopefully I will have lots of crazy stories to share.

I also decided it was time to start looking at what next to cross of my 30 x 30 list. With a little one on the way, I am not sure how often I am going to get to work on crossing things off. On the same note, if anyone runs into a fairly cheap Unicycle, either let me know or pick it up for me. They seem to be fairly expensive new, and I think I would prefer one with some character. I don't want a tall one though, just a normal size one for now.

Battle Royale

Netflix recomended this movie to me, and to Netflix I am grateful. The movie takes place in future Japan. Society is crumbling, and the youth of the nation have started rebeling. They go to class when they want, assualt teachers, and disobey the adults. The government as a way to try and reign in the youth institute the BR Act. The BR Act sends one class, chosen by impartial lottery, to a deserted island, provides them with weapons and tells them to kill all their classmates. The last one alive can go home.

Along with the class that was chosen are two other "students" that are there to help the game along. The weapons that are given to the students vary as well from assult rifles to pot lids.

On first glance it looks like it should be a ridculus blood path, filled with campy violence. It is far from it. Is it the best movie I have ever seen, no. The movie needed to be about 20 minutes longer, and provide more backstory on the program itself. It was good enough to Netflix the sequal, and if I came across it I would watch it again in a heartbeat.

I would love to see this done as a remake. I would like to see Alfonso Cuaron or Quentin Tarantino direct. I think both of them would be able to add their styles to the story and enhance upon it.

The Count

I saw this a while ago on another blog. I meant to post a link to it here, but cannot remember what blog it was. Here is what may be one of the funniest videos I have ever seen.

An American Tradition

Happy 4th of July everyone. Being that today is the birth of our great nation, I wanted to take some time and talk about something very American. I though I could talk about freedom of speech. Something that helped pave the way for all of us bloggers. Than I thought maybe I would talk about our troops, and how even if you don't support the war, you should always support our troops. I then leaned towards baseball. Nothing is more American, than the great national pastime.

I then turned on ESPN, and the Nathans Hot Dog Eating Championship. Which is starting as I type this. Nothing is more American than a table full of people stuffing their faces with hot dogs for 10 minutes, only to purge themselves of them shortly after the competition.

First of all we have hot dogs. A food with no real nutritional value, and that is thrown together from the parts of the pig that no one would eat on their own. Ground together and shoved in a tube, it becomes this magical piece of heaven.

Than there is the competition. Turn something into a competition and us Americans will partake. We called the massive building of weapons an "arms race" with the former USSR.

You have the story line of USA vs Japan. With Joey Chestnut vs Kobayashi. Kobayashi was a 6 time champion, it seemed that no one in the US would reclaim the mustard belt. Then a true American Hero, Joey Chestnut comes on the scene, and reclaims the belt. One man today tries to prove he was not a fluke, and the other tries to reclaim glory.

Lastly you have the waste factor. Us Americans do nothing better than waste things. As we have people starving not only around the world but right here in the US, we have a competition where people fill themselves with food as fast as possible, only to purge themselves once the competition is over.

This competition really highlights a lot of the traditions that bring out the worst in Americans.

I can't get enough of it though. I want to chant USA USA, as Chestnut and Kobayashi match dog for dog as they enter the last minute.

It's over, and it is two close to call. Will we have OT? They currently stand on 59dogs a piece.

A TIE!! A TIE!! A five dog eat off. That's right. The man that can eat five dogs fastest wins. Ten minutes of pure gluttony couldn't settle it.

CHESTNUT WINS!!! He keeps the Mustard Yellow Belt!!!

USA USA USA

Happy 4th of July Everyone.

Olympic Trials

For those of you who don't know already, I am a sucker for the mile or any middle distance race for that matter. Tonight is the semifinal heats of the 1500 at the US olympic trials. The race is ripe with story lines. Will Benard Lagat qualify in the 5000 and the 1500, will Alan Webb live up to his potential, will Gabe Jennings come back to qualify? Since the trials are taking place in OR, coverage does not start until 10 PM CST. So it will be a late night of track and field watching.

The 1500 finals is the last event of the trials. Fitting for a town where Steve Prefontaine ran.

Though as much as I am looking forward to watching the trials coverage. I am more excited for the olympics. I remember sitting on my parents bed watching the Olympics in Seoul in '88. I love the thought of competing for something as big as your country. To stand on a podium while they play your national anthem, has to be an amazing thing to experience.

Whirlwind of a Weekend

I had an awesome weekend. For those of you that don't know, Snoop and Alexis (friends of ours) got married. They both looked great (I am comfortable enough to say Snoop looked good) and the whole weekend was a blast.

Other than a little rain here and there, everything went off without a hitch. Snoop and Alexis appeared to have a great time (which is most important) but everyone else seemed to have a great time as well. The ceremony was standing room only. I have been to very few weddings that pulled the crowd that their ceremony did. The reception was a blast as well. The food was great, speeches were touching (maid of honor) and funny as hell (Best Man), and the dance drew people from the other wedding (bridesmaids).

I know that I have a lot of the summer left, but I think that this might top my list as weekend of the summer.

An interesting article title

I stumbled across an interesting article on SI.com, if I wouldn't have known otherwise I would have sworn it was from the Onion. Check it out here

Shameless Plug for Beck

Modern Guilt, 07/08/08

R.I.P. Mr. Conductor

Pics

Full House Didn't Do It Justice

Mandy read no further, so you won't want to hit me.

Now that she is gone, the rest of you can keep reading.

Today after we were done in Scotts Valley we took the scenic route up to San Fransisco. We drove up Hwy 1 along the ocean. It was gorgeous. Each time I thought that I had see the most scenic stretch, we drove a mile, and then I was amazed again. I had a disposable camera on me, and I will try and get pictures up at some point.

We made it into San Fran, and drove the Golden Gate bridge. Stopped on the other side for the scenic look over the Bay and back to the city. It was a clearer day than most people said, and it was an incredibly hot day. We made our way down to Fisherman's Wharf, where we did a little touristy things, saw Alcatraz, watch a guy save a another guy in the water, and then went to dinner.

The real fun started on our way back to the hotel. I would come to San Fran just to drive the streets. They are some of the craziest I have been on, it was like a roller coaster. Up and down and Up and down.

Anyway, it is a town I hope I can come back to and get to spend more than a couple of hours in. It is a very beautiful part of America.

#14

I saw the Pacific Ocean today. The group of people whose office I was at today, took us to Santa Cruz on the wharf to an Italian Restaurant that looked out over the ocean. The food was great, the view was amazing, and the people were awesome. Overall it was a great night, and a great way to cross one of the items off of my list.

This area of CA, is very beautiful. I would love to have more time to spend. Santa Cruz has a board walk and the wharf, with all the tourist attractions. I hear there are some very pretty red wood forests around here. The terrain is nothing like I have been in before. Very mountainous, and then bam you are at the ocean.

Tomorrow back to the office, to finish up our work related things, then we plan to drive the ocean back up to San Fran, where we will hopefully be able to spend some time. Not that anyone from my work reads this, so I don't need to type, work comes first, but it does. So I am not sure how much time we will get.

We will see what tomorrow brings. Though this is an area, that I would love to come back to, and spend time in.

CWA

I have come to the conclusion that the sadest airport on earth is the Central Wisconsin Airport. For some crazy reason, I thought we should be at the airport 90 minutes before our flight to CA. After 10 minutes in the security line, we are sitting at our gate (well every gate since they are all right here) at no one else is in the terminal. No passengers, no employees, nobody.

It is 1:30 on a Wednesday and the airport is empty.

Pacific Ocean

Much to my wife's chagrin, I will be able to cross another off my list of 30x30 when I head to CA next week for work. Admittedly I was asked to go somewhat short notice. Meaning I finalized trip plans yesterday and leave on Wednesday.

That being said, she so far, has been incredibly nice to me. I know she doesn't like it when I travel, and I love her for letting me go.

I will be flying into San Fransisco, and then driving down to Scotts Valley, which is near Santa Cruz. I will be in town for two days, and flying back on Saturday. A fairly quick trip, but I will get to see the Pacific Ocean.

Depending on plans, I hope to drive into Santa Cruz, and eat somewhere on the ocean Thursday night. Friday night, I plan on making reservations at a Vietnamese restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco (the last night we are staying in San Fran so we can make our 6 AM flight back).

I wish I could have had my family with me to sign off on this one, but I will take what I can get. An all expenses paid trip to CA is hard to pass up.

A Bit to Far

A school in CA recently decided it was a good idea to have a police officer come into the school to tell the kids that numerous friends of theirs had been killed the previous night by drunk drivers. This was done in attempt to "scare kids straight" when it comes to drunk driving.

Before I go on, I want to make it clear that drunk driving is dangerous and often results in tragedy. Within the last 2 years two kids from my hometown were killed by drunk drivers. One, after recently graduating and learning he was accepted into the Air Force, was hit by a drunk driver and killed. The other was in a car with someone who was driving drunk, the car crashed and he was killed. While I was much older than these two kids, I know the loved ones they left behind, and know that scars were left that probably will never heal. Drunk Driving is not something that should be taken lightly, and not something to be joked about. At the end of the day, this school played an elaborate joke on it's student body.

That being said, while I appreciate the effort of the school to try and limit the amount of teenage drinking and driving that takes place. I feel they took measures that were much, much to far. At no point should you ever tell a group of teenagers that their friends and classmates have died. While I am not about babying the youth of the world, teenagers are fragile individuals, and something like this could have permanent effects on them.

If you wanted to have a scared straight program, I am sure there are numerous individuals in the community who have been hurt tragically by drunk driving. People who could come in and share their stories and their pain. You don't need to lie and tell a school of 3,100 that 26, yes 26, members of your student body were killed by drunk drivers.

Anyway, the story is here

My Son and I must be Terrorists

Fox News has hit a new low. I understand peoples fascination over Obama and his wife bumping fists last week. It is not a gesture that is mainstream in America. People associate it with athletes, gamgstas, and young punks. To associate it with Terrorism though is just wrong.

I associate it with one of the first things I taught my son to do. Since then it has evolved into more of an elaborate hand shake, for the two of us, but is started as the simple touching of knuckles. Though thanks to Fox News, and one of the most irresponsible statements I have ever heard, I will now be worried that I will be detained and questioned about my ties to Osama Bin Laden next time my son and I touch knuckles in public.

Though I do give credit to the body language expert that they brought on. She didn't lend any credibility to the terrorist comment, and said if you really wanted to find out what the fist bump meant, you should ask the Obamas. I hope they do. I would love to see Bill O'Riely ask Obama if his fist bump is the secret handshake of his Muslim terrorist cult. To which Obama would then fist bump his face.

I saved a turtles life...

so it peed on my leg. Damn turtle.

Girl Fight.....Well Almost

I took a walk to the Little Plover River Park tonight. At the park they have a couple of ball fields. On one of them their was a girls softball game going on. It seemed to be 10-11 year olds. For a brief moment I thought a fight had broken out. I looked over at the field, and saw, what I believed to be the two sides rushing at each other, and partaking in a girly slap fight. On a closer look, it was a very unorganized high five line, after what I imagine was the end of the game. The excitement of the two teams, and energy they threw into this end of game exchange, helped lead me to believe a fight had broken out.

Alas, no massive brawl by a bunch of pre-teen girls.

7 Years

As of today I have been married for seven years. Consecutive years and to the same wonderful person no less. Though I feel it is pretty crazy that I have been married for seven years.

2-1-7

After my last official weigh in I was down to 217 and change, which means I have lost appx. 17 pounds so far. I can't remember the last time I weighed under 220 pounds. I am looking forward to hitting the 20 pound loss mark. Which means I would be half way to my goal of 40 pounds.

I am happy with my progress so far. I have been dropping weight consitantly, and have stuck with excersising on a regular basis. I still would like to get my milage up more. I think it is more psycological at this point than physical. I just need to go our and run 3 miles non stop, so I know I can do it. Once I prove to myself that I can, it will get easier from then on.