Well, today is such a slow day at work, so all I have to post is my most recently played tunes on the iPod. This is basically a filler post, since my brain is not in any mood to do much of anything.
Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
PHD - Crystal Method
W.M.A. - Pearl Jam
Devils Haircut - Beck
Warning - Incubus
What You Are - Dave Matthews Band
Precious - Depeche Mode
The Wretched - Nine Inch Nails
Hero of the Day - Metallica
Sister of Mine - Foo Fighters
Not My Idea - Garbage
Que Onda Guero - Beck
New Life - Blind Melon
Soldier Jane - Beck
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
Lifevest - Black Crowes
House Full of Bullets - Joe Satriani
Crack Baby - Urge Overkill
Geek Stink Breath - Green Day
On a Plain - Nirvana
Alive - Andy Hunter
Army Ants - Stone Temple Pilots
A Higher Place - Tom Petty
The iPod is favoring the 90's music today, especially Beck.
1. Which cable news channel will have the best "2006 In Review" ?
2. Which network will have the lamest New Years Eve bash?
3. Why do people feel the need to say "See you next year!" and think it is clever?
4. How many times will Pam Anderson get married/divorced in 2007?
5. When will the media realize that we don't care what Paris and Lindsay are doing at the clubs?
6. Will K-Fed make a comeback? (assuming he was ever good)
7. How many more terms will G.W. come up with in 2007 to avoid using the word "Civil War" in Iraq?
8. How will O.J. Simpson spend his new year?
9. Will Hollywood realize that Russell Crowe is a jackass, and his window of fame is closed?
10. Could 2007 possibly be a year without having to attend a wedding? The odds are good!
11. Which celebrity will go on a drunkin, racist rant?
You see, these go to 11, because 11 is better than 10.
Read these over, discuss amongst yourselves, and post your answers if you like.
The Lake has posted his answers to my list. Go check them out!
Not sure if this is really in the works or not, and Apple is not talking about it. looks cool, but I have to wonder how good the phone quality will be coming from Apple.
You know, all this media attention on how busy the shopping is the day after Christmas is overshadowing something more important.... Just imagine how busy the garbage men are this whole week! They have it worse I think, they have to be outside, picking up all the cardboard and garbage that was the result of all the holiday shopping prior to Christmas.
Just a little shout-out to the garbage men, courtesy of the B.M.I.
Well, the Christmas hangover starts today and I am exhausted. I feel like I have been running at a constant speed of 60 MPH all weekend. Making me feel like I am in the age range of the numbers on this photo!
After 3 days of running around, opening presents, and eating too much, I am looking forward to having some quiet days at work actually. Have to rest up for the Bears game on Sunday night!
Hey all you fellow bloggers, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Enjoy the holidays!
This weekend will be filled with so much running around, everything will be a blur, and it will be time to go back to work before you know it!
The title of the entry is Tagged With a Movie Meme.
Popcorn or Candy? My sweet tooth will tell you Candy, but I prefer Popcorn with a Coke.
Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever. Blade Runner
Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. The Orange and Blue tuxedos from Dumb & Dumber.
Your favorite film franchise is: I would have to go with The Matrix trilogy. The Back to the Future trilogy is second. Oh yeah, and the Indiana Jones series.
Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them? Vince Vaughn, Steve Carrell. I like to laugh, and I think these guys would have me cracking up all night. Daniel Craig and Clive Owen- because these guys are the coolest. And probably throw in Salma Hayek for some eye candy. I would feed them Buffalo Wild Wings and Beer!
What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater? Everyone gets to throw food and hard candy at them the whole movie, or until they leave.
Choose a female bodyguard: Ripley from Aliens, Mystique from X-Men, Sarah Connor from Terminator 2, The Bride from Kill Bill, or Mace from Strange Days. The Bride from Kill Bill. Nothing says “Don’t mess with me” like a tall blonde with a sword watching your back.
What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie? I don’t really get too scared at movies anymore, but when I was younger, In "The Shining" when the blood flowed out of the elevator doors and they kept showing those two creepy twin girls. And also in Blair Witch Project, I know it was staged, but at the end when they showed that dude standing in the corner of the basement, freaked me out.
Your favorite genre (excluding "comedy" and "drama") You mean there are other genres??
You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power? I would enlist my good friend McGone and his creative mind to help create the best movie ever! I picture it involving K-Fed as the star, Tara Reid as the costar, and I see Elephants, Robots, spiders and clones, LOTS of clones of K-Fed. I figure K-Fed’s celebrity weight will gross us over $500M!
Bonnie or Clyde? Never seen it, but I will choose Bonnie because she sounds like a badass.
Since this is right up your alley, I TAG you McGone, and also Single Girl, Jessie, Dagger and Reynolds Rap.
McGone did this last week, and I thought it was pretty interesting, so I decided to follow his lead. After all, I am just a lemming. (Click on picture to enlarge to see the numbers. You may want to open in a new window.)
Above is a panoramic view of my desk/cube/work area. I spend roughly 40 hours a week here, so I have to keep it entertaining somewhat.
1. A distance chart of the walking paths around the grounds of our building. These are part of the Wellness Center we have in the basement. Total perimeter distance is 2.6 miles. I try to run on this when it is warm, but seeing as how my body hates me when I run, I don't run very much.
2. Picture frame. Photos include (clockwise from top left): Our wedding, Ryan and Brett, our dog Molly, Brett on his 1 yr birthday. I know, I don't have one of Isabel in here, but there are a few of her in this photo.
3. My RAZR phone that MamaSlinger got me earlier this year. Love this thing, and LOVE that she bought it for me, even though it was HER birthday. Thanks baby!
4. Every cube needs this. An oscillating fan. This one is nice because it is tall and doesn't take up much space. I am not sure if everyone else's office is like mine, but it is a given that the building heat/AC be reversed with the seasons. In the summer, when it is 95 outside, it feels like 85 in here, and in the winter when it is 18 outside, it feels like it is 45 in here. I do not have a heater though, those things are major fire hazards. Shhh, don't tell the hundreds of ladies here that use them though!
5. Photo sheets of Brett on the left, and Isabel on the right. We got these from Sears Photo. They are a huge hit in the office. The surrounding grandmothers drool over the setup, like they have never seen 5 pictures on one sheet of paper before. it helps that the kids are cute!
6. Ryan's on his way to becoming an artist. here is a watercolor painting of a snowman. The babysitter assured me she did not help him do this. Not bad huh? The colors are a bit off though. Worries me that he depicts Frosty as having abdominal bleeding!
7. My trusty old work laptop. I actually LOVE this thing. I just got it earlier this year, and when everyone else was getting Dell's, they gave me an HP Compaq. I would probably never buy an HP by choice, but this thing is awesome. But the bad thing about having a laptop? You can work anywhere, and in my job that is so true. I was actually logged in one day in Arlington Hghts. sitting on a side street, tapped into someone's wireless router. AND, now they took away Admin rights, so I am not able to install anything on here without Desktop Support knowing. So I lost iTunes, and that makes me sad. BUT, if I had it, I would probably be spending way too much $$ during the day.
8. My wonderful 5 year anniversary gift from the company that employs me. At 5 years, there really isn't much to choose from, and this is actually a really nice clock. So I can't complain.
9. 30G iPod Video. Do I really need to tell you how much I love this thing?
10. More family photos. I try to change these out from time to time. Have Ryan and Brett on the left, Isabel's 3 month photo in the middle, and MamaSlinger and Ryan from Halloween 2005.
11. More of Ryan's art work. Here is his depiction of "DAD" I obviously have a big head, AND HAIR. At least he gave me skinny legs.
12. Hand Sanitizer. If you work in an office, this is a necessity. Especially when you walk out of the restroom, and the jackass in front of you did not wash his hands, but you are already reaching for the door by the time you realize it. So hurry back to your desk and use this, then go wash again just to make sure.
ALSO in this is my phone. I spend quite a lot of time on this, and if you call me and it shows OUTSIDE CALLER - you can bet I won't answer. Anyone that needs to call me shows up on my caller ID. I know, I'm a jerk. But that is what voicemail is for.
13. The cords that bring life to my toys. My iPod charger cord, and my cell phone cord. Because you know the iPod gets charged about every other day.
14. Important numbers I need on a daily basis. Numbers to my team members, and also numbers to our repair centers that I call daily. Without these I would be lost.
15. My little attempt at organization. Sure, it may look organized now, but keep in mind that I threw all of the paper on my desk into here so this photo would look like I actually keep a clean desk. I will be going through all of this crap this week.
16. Showing my patriotism! The good old American Flag, the best flag in the world (sorry Single Girl!). My neighbor on the other side likes it too, he is the ex Navy guy.
So, that is a rundown of my desk. Not glorious or anything, but it is where I spent most of my day on my ass. My home away from home (I hate that term by the way). What you can't see here is my wonderful chair, that obviously failed the ergonomic test in the factory. It is about as comfortable as sitting on a milk crate some days.
I am not tagging anyone to do this, but if you feel inclined to do so, be sure to let me know.
And oh how sorry I am that I did it. I have seen on other blogs this link to http://www.myheritage.com/ and you can put in your picture and it will match you with celebrities. So I did a few pictures (bad pictures at that) and after it did the "try to be cool like in Face-Off"" scan thing with a graphic of a head, I got the following results....
First attempt - Ok, Two of these dudes I don't even know. But I got linked to the HOFF! WOOHOO! But, WTF?!?!?! Annette Bening? Really? SERIOUSLY?!?!?! I guess I can kind of see how she looks like me, being a bit man-ish and all. But damn, that made me laugh. At least it evens out with the ex James Bond.
Second attempt: Ok, now this thing is just trying to piss me off. I was happy when I saw the first face as Edward Norton. But then I look at the whole picture and see not one, but TWO women! And, I think just to mess with me more, and to elevate the humor level, they throw in James Doohan and WILLIAM McKINLEY!!! Very funny guys.
This was pretty funny, and I tried it a few times and got pretty much the same results. But if you are curious, you too can go to the link on the above pictures and try it out.
As I sit here listening to my iPod, I find that I have a few bands on here that have been around for about 20 yrs or longer. And I got to thinking about how good/bad they are and what has changed over the years. So here is a little breakdown...
Van Halen
Whether you are David Lee Roth fan or a Sammy Hagar fan, you have to admit that Van Halen can rock. Eddie Van Halen - incredible guitarist. I am not a huge David Lee Roth fan, his constant screeching kind of bugs me, but there are some songs from VH that just rock with his voice. Plus he was a pure showman on stage. A few of my faves:
Unchained
Everybody Wants Some
Panama
And a lot of fans will say that Van Halen went soft when they replaced DLR with Sammy. And yeah i will admit, their style changed, but I still like it. A few of my Sammy faves:
Cabo Wabo
Get Up
Poundcake
I would have to say that my favorite Van Halen albums for each singer are:
David Lee Roth - Fair Warning
Sammy Hagar - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Even though I liked Extreme, let's not even talk about Van Halen III with Gary Cherone as lead vocalist. He was a good singer, just not a good fit.
U2 
I didn't really get into U2 until around 1989 when I heard Desire from Rattle and Hum, and I was hooked. I had heard a few of their songs from earlier albums, but was never really a huge fan. Then when Achtung Baby came out in 1991, I was blown away. "How had I not been a fan of these guys already?" Thus began my love affair with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. I had bought every new album since that day, and a few of the older ones.
Once I got Joshua Tree, I was again baffled at how I did not already own that album. I must have been in a daze from the whole transition from 80's rock and pop, to the grunge of the 90's.
As for a band growing over the years, U2 is the perfect case study. Achtung Baby was a different style for them, but it worked wonderfully. Then came Zooropa which I liked, but found a hard time listening to the whole album. They had gone toward the techno/dance side here, and continued that way on Pop. I liked that style, but still found it hard to listen all the way through Zooropa. Pop is considered to be their worst album, but I have to disagree. I think Zooropa is their worst, but we all know I am no music expert.
We all know the huge success that All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb has seen around the world. I do love these albums as well, but I am starting to get annoyed with Bono and all his world missions. Not to mention the stupid U2 iPod frenzy that they inked with Apple. Thank god I didn't buy one of those!
I do recommend anyone to go see U2 live in concert, they are incredible. The Zoo TV tour was incredible, but I have only seen it on video. It is amazing how U2 has survived for almost 30 years in the music world, given all of the style and genre changes. They are definitely here to stay, and I will continue to buy their albums.
Well, for all of those future model hopefuls, this is GREAT news. Just get busted doing Cocaine, and you too, can be a million dollar model!
We live in a messed up society these days. How is it, that a model that was caught doing cocaine, attended rehab, and even was given the nickname 'Cocaine Kate', is now making 3 times the money she was before rehab?!?!
Wow, what a nice message we are sending the young female population these days. I just watched a video clip on CNN and they referred to her as having "a wavy figure"and the style that used to be know as 'heroin sheik'. I don't know about all of you, but this woman disgusts me. I have never found her to be attractive.
It just amazes me how society is applauding her for making a comeback! Before her rehab, she was making $5 Million, now, thanks to the white powder in her nose, she is pulling between $17-20 Million. Yeah, she won't be buying any drugs with that money! Amazing, just utterly amazing.
Now, I need to go to bed, so I can rest and go to my job as a grunt worker, and make enough money to support my family. And while I am sleeping, Cocaine Kate will be snorting rows of Coke with $100 bills, and will probably net about $750,000 while my brain is in R.E.M. state. SWEET DREAMS!
So last week or so, I was tagged by RR and Jessie to do this "Post a picture of you as you are right now" challenge. It took me some time to do it, but here it is. As I am a guy, with no hair, I have no primping to do, so any picture of me is pretty much "as I am". I took this one of me as I was driving to work last week. I am not too happy about pictures of myself as I have a knack for looking like a deer in headlights, but this was good enough.
So now is the part where I am supposed to TAG someone else right? Well, the few people I would tag I know will not do this, so I am going to do a pseudo-tag to Utah Dagger, who already posted a picture of himself last week. Go check it out and enjoy!
Lately I have heard a lot of people say something, followed by "Knock on Wood" and then do just that. I have done it as well, but today I got to thinking..."Where did this everyday phrase come from?" So I went to my trusty Internet and did some digging. Here is what I found:
1. Most do not know that the origin of the phrase and practice comes from the rosary. Rosaries in the old days were made of oak wood and were fingered in time of distress or trouble. Thus, holding on to or rubbing the wooden rosary or its wooden crucifix when danger was near became a common way for Christians to deal with hardships and difficulties. The practice slipped into common use as "Knock on wood."
2. Meaning:
An expression said when knocking on wood in order to keep from having bad luck.
Origin:
One theory is that it originated in the middle ages when there were in circulation, pieces of the Holy Rood or Cross on which Jesus was crucified. To touch one of these was supposed to bring good luck hence touch wood for good luck.
Alternative: The Druids, who worshipped trees, especially Oaks, wore a piece of Oak around their neck to ward off evil spirits. Hence touch wood for good luck.
Alternative: You knock on wood because of those wily Wood Sprites. In medieval times, people believed in mischievous creatures known as sprites. Sprites are actually spirits or ghosts who were reputed to enjoy causing trouble and wreaking havoc in the lives of the living. Among the most mischievous were wood sprites.
If you were to mention something good, the wood sprites would try to foul it up. The thought was that if you knocked on the wood when you said these things, the wood sprites would not be able to hear you because of the knocking sound. Hence they would leave you alone.
There is your nugget of useless information for the week. Enjoy! And watch out for those Wood Sprites!
Lately my memory has not been all that good. And it is usually on small things. And usually MamaSlinger is there to keep me in check and remind me. But sometimes I do something that is totally stupid, and there is no one to blame but myself.....
Well a few nights ago we were downstairs cleaning up after the kids went to bed, and I let Molly out around 10pm. Then after a while we went up and went to bed. I remember checking to make sure the lights were off, and the doors were locked. The normal routine before heading upstairs. Everything was done and good to go, or so I thought.
Around 2:20am I was woken up by Brett crying and I went to get him. Now usually when I get up in the night, I have to be careful as I walk around the end of the bed because that is where Molly sleeps. Well I noticed she was not on her bed, so I figured she was sleeping in the boy's room. I look in there and nothing, then as I turn around I catch a glimpse of the playset out the spare bedroom window, and I can tell that our back porch light is on. Then, as I am thinking "That's weird.." it hits me....HOLY CRAP! I FORGOT TO LET MOLLY IN! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN TO LET HER IN?!?!?!
So I lightly jog downstairs and open the curtains and there she is, laying on the deck against the door. I open the door and she jumps up and runs in, not even stopping to look at me. I stop her and kneel down to pet her and tell her that I was sorry. She just looked at me and just sat there, I actually thought she was shivering. She was pretty cold, but thank god it was one of those days that it only got down to 35-40 overnight, as we went through a warm-up this week. You think she would have barked or something to let us know, but nope, nothing!
So still holding Brett, who by now was wide awake and watching daddy freak out about Molly, I was petting her feeling so bad for forgetting her out there. As I turned to turn off the light and lock the door, I hear her run upstairs. All I can think is that she probably thinks "Jerk, I am not waiting for you, I'm going to bed where it is warm!"
So I got Brett a bottle, put him back in bed and then went to check on Molly. There she was, all curled up on her bed, already asleep. She still felt cold, so I went and got a blanket, and covered her up.
I know she was fine, I just felt so bad for her. Even though she does love snow and the cold weather, she is an indoor dog, a spoiled one at that, and she was probably thinking that we abandoned her out there for 5 hours in the middle of the night, never to let her back in.
Now when I let her out at night, she always looks back at me like "Make sure you don't forget me, old man!"
If you work in an office, specifically a cube environment, you need to follow these 10 rules:
1. If you need to listen to your radio "programs" please do so at a reasonable volume. Others may not be interested in the current Dow index or how to make the perfect holiday fruitcake.
2. DO NOT leave banana or orange peels in your garbage overnight. The result smells up the whole cube area.
3. If you need to drink something all day, do not SLURP it.
4. No need to be the office weatherman, the Internet does just fine. If Internet is down, I will look out the window.
5. Take note of the person you are going to visit. If they are eating, on the phone or have headphones on, do not start asking them questions. Go away and come back later.
6. Ziggy is not funny, remove all Ziggy pictures, calenders, comics.
7. If you walk by an area that has a party and there is food out, and you were not invited, do not help yourself to anything. People tend to NOT like that.
8. When you leave your desk for an extended amount of time, please take your cell phone with you. Your neighbors do not like to hear the polyphonic version of "Mambo #5" over and over for 20 minutes when people keep calling you.
9. If you really need to discuss your fantasy football team scores and the previous night's drinking and sex Olympics, take it into a conference room. The older ladies do not like to hear "man I was so drunk I don't even remember taking her home! But at least my boy Sean Alexander got me a lot of points!"
10. Chew with your mouth closed. That sound carries farther than you think!
Ok, so I just wanted to let a few fellow bloggers know that YES I did see the tag regarding the photo post. I have not blown you off, but I have been busy and not had time to do it as of yet.
So in the mean time, go watch this hilarious video and enjoy the holiday season. I found this on Land-o-Lulu, but some have had problems. So I updated the link below.
A Charlie Brown Christmas - SCRUBS style!
* is above link does not work, it is on You Tube also. Click HERE.
Or you can go read THIS for a nice laugh, as well as a reminder on one of the "unwritten rules" of commercial air travel.
Apparently Blogger has been picky with people trying to post comments to some of my entries. I guess the Word Verification was not showing up so you could not see what to type. If you have had this problem, please let me know. I turned off Word Verification for today to see if that helps. I posted a comment to this entry just fine.
Please try to post and let me know if you see the Word verification show up still. If not, post a comment and let me know. Thanks!
Everybody wants a guy like this on their team. 2 Kick Returns for TDs tonight, and damn that guy is just ridiculously quick. And he is a rookie! Hester set an NFL record with his fifth and sixth returns for touchdowns this season. He reminds me of Dante Hall a few years ago for Kansas City. Just makes plays happen and is exciting to watch every time he touches the football.
I have to feel bad for Rex also. Yeah he is inconsistent this year, but give him some slack. When they were 4-0, everyone praised him and said the Bears were going 16-0 , then all of a sudden Rex started his downward spiral. Yeah he has had some horrific games, and has heard it from every media outlet. So now tonight he goes 13-23 200yds 2 TD and 0 INT,s and they are saying how calm and collective he looks in the pocket, and that he is out of his funk.
He did look good, but I would not praise him just yet, given the way this season has gone. Not trashing the guy, but it just kills me how the media is so quick to label players either Great or a Bust from week to week. I will admit, I thought Brian Griese should have been in there weeks ago! That is the beauty of pro sports, the level of play fluctuates, and that is what makes for great games and great upsets.
Thank god the Offense showed up tonight, because it is obvious that the defense is getting burned out. They can only do so much before they start to get injured.
Tonight's win gives them a First Round Bye in the playoffs, another win should shore up Home Field in the playoffs. Go Bears.
I was in a different office today for a staff meeting, and had to sit through something very annoying, and funny. One of the 15 people in the room was breathing heavily through their nose, and every time they exhaled, you could hear their nose whistle. And it was a very clear whistle. I am not sure who it was, but I had to hold back my laughter from time to time. And I am sure others were doing the same.
I am a pretty laid back person, in general, but there are certain things I see on a daily basis that annoy the hell out of me. Allow me to spread my misery with all 5 of my readers...
Lazy Business Men: You know the ones I speak of. They have to have the bluetooth earpiece for their phone. But the biggest thing is when I see them pulling a laptop case/briefcase on wheels. Come on guys! A briefcase, or a laptop is not that heavy. I can understand women using these, because let's face it, they put more stuff in there than needs to be (make-up, pager, the days lunch, a copy of the latest People and Working mother magazines) which all add weight. For a guy, if you really need to use that thing while you carry your bottle of Fiji water, and talk on your bluetooth, then you are not a man. It is obviously not that heavy because I see them pick it up to walk down stairs and swing it up to put in the car. I just find this to be lazy for something so small.
Bad drivers complaining about other bad drivers: A coworker here likes to drive when we go out to lunch. I agree, saves me gas and I don't lose my spot in the lot. The only downfall? His driving sucks. He rides peoples asses all the time, and is always late on the brake! I sit there quietly pressing my foot on the floor hoping he will pick up on my vibe and apply the brake sooner. My main complaint is, he is always bitching about other drivers as he is driving. A guy pulls out of a driveway ahead of us, he will wait till the last second to brake and ride his ass, even though the guy did not cut us off. But the best part is, when I drive, he is always saying things like "Look out for this jackass!" and trying to tell ME how to drive! Drives me nuts.
People on your heels in line breathing down your neck: Everybody has been here. You are in line waiting to get your lunch, groceries, coffee, whatever....and the person behind you is in such a hurry that they think by standing on your heels, huffing and puffing about how slow the line is, will actually make the line move faster. (coworker above is also guilty of this when we run errands on lunch) You have the people that mumble under their breath, and you also have the people that either smack their gum, or breath like a bull in the streets of Pamplona. We live in a rushed society, I understand this. But breathing down my neck and complaining under your breath is not going to make the old lady behind the counter speed up any.
Chris Daughtry, of American Idol fame has a band, and an album. Band name is, get ready.... DAUGHTRY. HUH? you ask. yeah it came out Nov 21st. A friend of mine here bought it on iTunes, and I heard a little of it.
First song - sounds like Fuel. Fuel offered him the job as their new lead singer, but he turned it down.
Other songs sound like Nickleback, Live and Matchbox Twenty.
Surprised? Check this out....
Though Chris is a singer-songwriter, he still collaborated with several other songwriters, such as LIVE's Ed Kowalczyk, Fuel's Carl Bell, Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, SR-71 singer Mitch Allan, and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.
Band members are:
Chris Daughtry - Lead Vocals
Jeremy Brady - Rhythm Guitar
J.P. Paul - Bassist
Joey Barnes - Drums
Josh Steely - Lead Guitar
Wow, they should have named the band something like "The 4 J's", or "J4". Is there a pool of musicians that a new solo artist can pick from to form a band? A bunch of guys that are talented but are just sitting around waiting fro a job? Kind of like Sammy Sosa in the MLB is doing?
Also, is there a hat full of band names that people can pick from, names that other people think suck. I would hate to think that someone actually suggested the following band names, and that they were just picked from a hat: (just a small sample of some sucky names)
Candlebox
Bush
Sponge
Supergrass
Mens Wear
*coincidentally, all of these bands suck.
For no apparent reason, the Internet gods have pointed me in the direction, twice, of Face, B.A., Hannibal and Murdock. On totally separate sites, I have come across references to The A-Team.
On Flickr I saw a picture of a post with the words Murdock and the description mentioned A-Team. Then whilst surfing blogs, I come across an entry reviewing 1983 and The A-team was on there.
Sadly, I remember taking piano lessons (yes, mom made me) on the same night A-team was on. So I would go to the ladies house early, and if I timed it right, I was able to catch the first 30 minutes of it before it was time for my lesson. I sucked at piano because I hated going there, and that's all I have to say about that.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
Santa is obviously messed up on his naming sequence.
Well today is no different. Being a Monday, a COLD Monday at that, and my body still a little achy from the 10+ inches that I shoveled from my driveway Friday night, I get to work, and have a few things to deal with. So right away I can already see the potential that this Monday has. I turn to my trusty iPod. I put all my songs on shuffle and start plugging away at the work. Then, like someone was in my brain monitoring my moods and sending the signal to my iPod through my ear canal, I start to hear one of the best play lists on my iPod in quite a few weeks. Really got me in a good mood too.I stopped at 20, and actually, after the 20th song, I started to skip past songs.
This site is really cool. I see it on Headline News in the morning and the above picture is a real-time snap shot of all the of the commercial and general aviation aircraft currently in-flight in and around the United States. Click HERE to check it out.
And check out this video clip showing the global view of all airplabes in the sky:
As I have said before, I loves me some good music. Well thanks to my brother from another mother, [McGone] I have been introduced to some more good music. He gave me Rocco Deluca & The Burden - I Trust You to Kill Me this past weekend, and I LOVE this album.
I had never heard of Rocco before this, but McGone generally has the same taste in music as I do, with the exception on Blues. But thanks to him, I am starting to like the more Bluesy music.
Anyway, first time through this CD I was in the car, and really liked what I heard. But listening to it with the ear goggles on improves it by 100%. The beauty of the guitar merging with his vocals is incredible. I could seriously listen to this all day, and I just might!
I suggest this album to anyone that likes music, in general. it is a genuine country/blues rock album that never stops amazing me. Go get it today!
Go watch THIS and laugh your ass off. The music on the trailer is perfect!
Then go watch Spider-Man 3 trailer and see the next big blockbuster of 2007.
And, for some nice suspense, watch ZODIAC. Based on the real events, looks pretty cool IMO.
As BPDP pointed out to me Saturday night as we left for the show at 6pm and it was 60 degrees on Nov 25th...."Global Warming has finally caught up to us." Ain't that the truth.
Here it is, 4 days away from December and the weather gods on TV are still predicting near 60 for the next few days. But then on Thursday they say it will be 30 and chance of snow. You have to love Midwest Winters! I can remember some years when we would have a ton of snow at Christmas, but others when I was outside riding my bike in a sweatshirt on Christmas. It is actually pretty scary to think about where our world is heading.
All joking aside....I am not a big tree hugger, or Greenpeace advocate, but when you see the effects of mankind over the years, it is pretty disheartening to think about what the planet will be like when my kids are in their 30's. Man has evolved and advanced so much in technology, that we are killing ourselves.
As Perry Ferrel put it:
My friend says we're like the dinosaurs
Only we are doing ourselves in
Much faster than they
Ever did
It just amazes me that in almost 20 yrs since I did a report on Chlorofluorocarbons for a a junior high report, not much has been done to decrease the effects of global warming. All the governments talk about it, but the rich claim it will cause them more money to implement methods in their power plants. So the rich stay rich, and the world continues to die.
Sorry, I normally do not go all "earthy" but when I watch a program on how the Northern Arctic ice sheet is smaller every year, and it is causing the natives to lose food, it really spells out how bad this is.
Then I saw this photo on Google and it makes you think about what the future holds:
So... HAPPY MONDAY!!
Saw Casino Royale last night with McGone and BPDP. Daniel Craig is by far the best James Bond, IMO. I have no review on this except that it ROCKED!
Go read THIS for a full take on it from McGone.
Well, another Thanksgiving has come and go, and I will be eating Turkey for the next week. It's all good though. This year we went out to Thomson to have Thanksgiving at Gramma E's place. Majority of my dad's family still lives there, and it has been a few years since we had it out there. Was nice to go back, even if dad was not with us. My cousin Dawn has 2 boys and they play well with Ryan and Brett, so we knew the kids would have fine.
I can sum up yesterday with a few choice words:
1. Travel - 2 hours drive each way, over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house. Seriously, we go over a river and through some woods.
2. Snots - all 3 kids have come down with colds, so there were lots of sneezes, coughs and running noses. The van was full of soiled Kleenex when we got home.
3. Turkey - no explanation needed.
4. Vomit - Isabel decided to show off her projectile vomiting skills right before we left the house. Not something you want to see before you get in the car for a 2 hour drive.
5. Wet Pants - on the way back home, about 40 minutes into the drive, I have the following conversation with Ryan:
Ryan - "Daddy, I have to go pee pee"
Me - "Oh buddy, can you hold it for a little bit till we stop?"
Ryan - "OK"
................. 2 minutes later......................
Ryan - "Daddy.... I went pee pee in my pants"
Me - "What?! Really?"
As I lean back to check his pants, all the doubt in my mind was erased as I felt his soaked jeans. Now when I say soaked, I really mean drenched. The boy was literally swimming in his own urine. He shirt was wet all the way up his chest, and his pants were soaked down to the knee.
I know what you are asking yourselves.. "Did you have him go before you left?" Well..no. But he was asleep when we left, then woke up after he started driving. Thank god we had an extra set of clothes. I changed him in the back, and we were good till we got home. This amazes me.... he can survive a 12 hour trip to PA without an accident, but 2 hours to the western border of IL? Nope. We drove home with the back windows vented the rest of the time.
So I can be thankful that the pee incident was the worst thing that happened, and that everyone arrived back home safely, and fun was had by all. The kids still have the colds today, but seem to be getting a little better. We have one more place to go on Sunday, but that is only 40 minutes away, so lets hope for no accidents.
So about a month ago I picked up The Information by BECK. And it came with a bonus DVD of videos for each track. I am just now watching the videos and have to laugh at the obvious poor quality of them. Granted, I know to make a real video for a song costs a lot, but these are so low budget it is funny. They consist of Beck, and some other people - probably his friends - playing various parts, with various costumes. One video involves someone in a Grizzly bear costume, playing the drums. Looks like it was done with a hand-held video camera, then edited using some bad 80's video effects.
But I have to give Beck credit for being creative enough to do this for every song on his album. You don't see that everyday.
My second day of staying home was not too bad. Very tired today though. My day included the following:
Today I was home with all three kids while our baby sitter is on vacation. Was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Read about it HERE.
While I was surfing some of my fellow bloggers' pages, I came across a post from the MANSIONMOGUL that links to a Flickr site for Michael Hughes. He is taking pictures of his hand holding up souvenirs over the actual landmark/object.
Go check it out HERE. It is pretty funny, and pretty damn creative.
Today is Friday, and for some reason it feels like a Monday. Probably because I watched the news this morning and was so annoyed at what I heard as news.
Celebrities:
Tom & Katie’s wedding in Italy. – Do non-celebrities really care what celebrities do in their own life? I don’t. It amazes me at how much time the media spends covering crap like this. Just like RSM said in her post about celebrity break-ups being headline news, it’s retarded. AND, they show Tom and Katie (I refuse to call them the standard media combo name TomKat) and there are flashbulbs popping like crazy, and what do you see? There baby looking like a deer in headlights. So sad that their kid will need glasses at the age of 3.
K-Fed: Should we really be surprised at the events in the past 2 weeks? I think not. We all knew he, and Brit, were trash.
The Duchess wants to be a dancer. :
Play Station 3 – people waiting outside all night in freezing temperatures, thinking they will get one, for a measly $599. I doubt that each store has more than 50 units, but I think most stores were running a lottery type system to see who gets one. Still, retarded if you ask me. And this guy probably agrees with me now.
Christmas /X-mas: I have noticed that we, as a human race, have become lazy. Even when it comes to saying and writing things. Christmas has been shortened to X-mas. Good Morning is usually heard as ‘Morning. And don’t get me started on the LOL and LMAO. Granted these are easy for text messaging, so I can see that. I really do not like the X-mas title, but will admit that I typed it this morning! D’oh!
Well I am working from home today, and there is NOTHING on TV. I am surfing between various channels and some shows on DVR.
Things I have learned so far:
You have to love moments like these.. I am busy today working a few issues all morning, so after lunch I put on the iPod, and what comes on? Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue! YEAH BABY! Just what I needed!
About 7 years ago I saw a special on TV about Mt. Everest and was amazed that people actually pay up to $40,000 to climb it and risk their lives. I was in awe of this mountain and decided to pick up a book about the deadliest expedition on the history of the mountain.
This book details the deadliest day in the history of Everest. 15 people died on May 10, 1996, including 2 very experienced climbers leading the expedition, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. Jon Krakauer was on this expedition on an assignment for OUTSIDE magazine. It was found that an analysis of weather conditions on that day suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge by around 80%. 
So I was over at the IHoB for my daily does of Blogcakes, and stumbled on a past one about music and it got me to thinking how much I love music. I am not, nor have ever been, in a band, and I am not musically talented at all, but music has always played a big part in my life. Well, not that it really plays a part in my life, but as far as I can remember, I have listened to and bought album after album, and gone to various concerts. I just love music. As I mentioned before, I can pretty much relate a memory to an album or song that I bought. McGone has the same thing, but his memory is much more detailed than mine. No thanks to my time at NIU with Hopkins and Herman, I am sure. Anyway....
My tastes in music range pretty widely. My favorite genres are Rock and Alternative, but I do dabble in some Rap, mainly older stuff, and a smidgen of Country. Actually, a lot of the music on my iPod is classified as Pop, but nowadays, Pop is such a broad genre, pretty much anything can be put in Pop.
Today, my band of choice is The Black Crowes. I first heard the Crowes when I was a junior in high school. Shake Your Money Maker came out, and of course the big singles then were Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels, which to this date, were never huge hits with me.
I actually did not buy The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion in 1992, but liked a few songs. Over a few years, I kind of forgot about the Crowes.
It wasn't until 1994 in Denver that I had heard part of Amorica and really liked it, so I bought it. To this day I still own the CD that I bought at a used CD store in Aurora, CO., complete with generic price tag on the inside. That album is so good it is ridiculous, I can listen to that CD over and over. After that they had By Your Side and Lions and they were OK, not huge hits though. So for a few years, it was just standard "old" Crowes songs.
Then McGone copied the Greatest hits album for me, and the love affair was renewed. And as the time went on, and the glory that is the Internet came to life, good old McGone stumbled upon the Aquarium Drunkard.
Oh how we love the AD. Free song downloads of unreleased music, including 2 albums from The Black Crowes! Are you kidding me? FREE music on the internet?!?! It was beautiful! Granted the quality was not 100%, but it was good enough to play back on the iPod. And there is some DAMN GOOD tunes on these albums. The Tall Sessions and The Band , as we came to know them, are now morphed into one album on iTunes called The Lost Crowes. 
Yeah the quality is much better, but I kind of like the lower quality that I have, gives it a more personal feeling. Almost like I was in the studio with them when they recorded them.
As if I didn't already love the Crowes...on the day my daughter was born, the doctor had his iPod playing on a stereo. And right before she was born, I heard a beautiful sound, one of my favorite Crowes tunes... Thorn in My Pride. It almost brought tears to my eyes before she was even born. Not that the song relates to children or anything, but I just love that song and now it is tied to my memory with one of the most glorious days of my life.
More of my favorites:
Paint an 8
Descender (love the piano in this song)
Remedy
A Conspiracy
Wiser Time
Lifevest
Gone
I could really go on, but you get the idea...
So to sum up.... The Black Crowes rock. I love the Black Crowes. If you have any Crowes albums, go give them a listen and enjoy the audible beauty, then go download The Lost Crowes. If you do not own any albums, then DAMMIT! GO BUY SOME!
Most of these usually come in the form of a chain email, but I do not send those out. So click on this link and check out some interesting facts:
I do not have a true flashback for today, but I am turning back the clock a bit. I have been listening to nothing but the Led Zeppelin 4 disc Box Set on the iPod. So in a way, I am going back in time. Because listening to Zeppelin makes me think of my time in Colorado with Dahootie. Driving in his little Honda Civic hatchback listening to Zeppelin.
So I am just sitting here listening and chilling out whilst at work, not working very hard.
A few of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs:
Tangerine
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Ramble On
Travelling Riverside Blues
Misty Mountain Hop
Going to California
In the Evening
Ten Years Gone
Hey Hey What Can I Do
Over The Hills and Far Away
Gallows Pole
When the Levee Breaks
Communication Breakdown
Kashmir
Stairway to Heaven (good tune, but really gets good at the 6 minute mark)
Yeah, I know... this list is more than a few, but there are so many good songs it is hard to chose just a handful.
In closing, anyone that has some Zeppelin albums, tapes, CD's or mp3 files, go give them a listen and just enjoy the beautiful sounds.
As you all know, I have a Flickr page to share my photos, and I have noticed that I am somewhat addicted to Flickr. So I was playing around on the tools and created myself a little Flickr badge. I feel so cool now!
Flickr has a lot of really cool tools on it, and one of them is you can create a photo book of your selected photos. They will print it up and ship it to you, in a soft cover, bound book, or even a calendar. I have seen a few shots of some and they look really good. Could be a good idea for a Christmas present to the family.
For anyone that uses Flickr, go check this out, it's called QOOP.
We have this internal messaging program at work called Q, like Yahoo messenger. Well It allows us to talk to other groups we work with, or coworker friends. Thus eliminating the need to call every time.
Well my buddy PH is working from home today and we just had the following conversation. I was laughing so much because PH is a germ freak and always has to clean after every little thing that happens....
PH(15:20:03): they delivered the new furniture
EE(15:20:10): nice
PH(15:20:11): dks
EE(15:20:18): what happened?
PH(15:20:24): the guy asked to use the latrine
PH(15:20:28): DOOKIE
EE(15:20:28): did he ask for a magazine?
PH(15:20:31): not cool
PH(15:20:42): got stains all over toilet
PH(15:20:45): F***
PH(15:20:50): i had to sanitize
EE(15:21:00): HAHAHAHAHA
PH(15:21:12): it stunk up the joint pretty bad
EE(15:21:15): damn
EE(15:21:22): well, when you gotta go, you gotta go
PH(15:21:35): yeah but chk the bowl
PH(15:21:50): make sure there is no chocolate surprise left
This is by far one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I would love to see it in person, but have only seen photos and a few videos of it. It is in Scotland and is an engineering marvel.
This is a rotating boat lift system, connecting the lower Forth and Clyde Canal with the higher Union Canal, which at this point differ by 24 metres, roughly equivalent to the height of an eight story building. The end piece actually rotates to life the boats up to the canal. Amazingly cool. 
Check out these links to read more about it:
I hate the first week of November during an election year. With all the political commercials, and mass phone calls to my house. Now I have to hear about the flawed voting system, the delay in counting of the ballots (for a race that is already decided) and have to look at that hag Topinka on TV talking about what a great race her team ran. Blah. Blah. Blah.
How is this country ever going to get anything right if year after year we can't even figure out how to vote correctly? Yeah the voting machines may be hard to figure out, if you are a dog, or any other 4 legged animal. As a society, we are just dumb if we can't properly select one choice over the other. Whether it be electronic, or a punch card. I bet the people who say "The voting was too hard to figure out" spend hours sitting on their computer clicking their mouse on the selections they want to purchase from eBay. So if you can figure out eBay, why can't you figure out a simple multiple choice ballot??
/Rant.
Britney Spears filed for divorce today from her Rap Mogul husband K-Fed. Wow, who didn't see that coming?
It's called technology. Words of advice:
1. If you can't operate the stylus pen on the touchpad, you should be paying with cash.
2. If you have to call your wife to get the PIN for your debit card, you should be paying with cash.
3. If you are getting upset at not knowing how to use the touchpad, and getting mad at the cashier for YOUR stupidity, YOU SHOULD BE PAYING WITH CASH!!!
63 years ago today, my father came into this world and lived a full, eventful life. He was able to travel the world, retire at an early age (55) and do the things he wanted to. He did it the right way, and for that I am grateful. He passed earlier this year, and even though I think his life ended way too soon, I cannot feel bad for the things he was able to do. I only hope that I live my life the same way he lived his.
"You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen"
A few days after my father passed, an old friend of mine sent me an email (she lives in Colorado) and said a few nice words. Then she ended it with a simple phrase:
"Don't think of your father as gone, think of him starting a new journey"
And that is so true. He may be gone from this world, but I know he is on a new, wonderful journey. Driving his old '57 Chevy hard top, and smoking a cigar. All the while, looking down on us and his 3 beautiful grandchildren. He was so proud when Ryan and Brett were born, you could see it in his eyes. I just wish he would have been here to see Isabel come into the world, because he always wanted a little granddaughter.
It gets easier every day now, and it has been 7 months. I know he is no longer suffering, and he is in a better place in that aspect. But his life here was his BEST place, and I would much rather him be here, healthy, but I know I can't have that.
Like we always did on his birthday, we probably would have been going out to dinner, and all having a drink. So in his honor, I am sitting here, updating the blog, watching Ice Age and enjoying a nice cold beer. Because I know that he would have been doing the same, minus the blog and movie though.
Happy Birthday Dad! We miss you every day and hope you are looking down on us! And I will drink one for you tonight.
*Note: He was not an alcoholic. Like me, he just enjoyed a nice cold beer once in a while.
Since I am doing the NaBloPoMo - I have to post everyday, so needless to say...my weekend posts may be pretty boring.
But today I got a lot done. I had the boys outside again playing in the leaves. Then my father-in-law helped me put up shelves in the garage, much needed too! Now I can organize!
Then we watched the Bears get stomped by the Dolphins 31-13, COME ON, The Dolphins? REALLY?!?! Bad game. But I then watched my other team, the Broncos, beat up on the Steelers 31-20. A little payback for the AFC playoffs last year.
So, this ends my first weekend blogging, as part of the deal I made with Fussy. Hopefully they will get better from here on out.
Adios!
Here it is, Saturday night at 7:43pm and I am still working an issue from last night. I was working from home until 12:30am last night, and had to keep an eye on this all day today. So much for a weekend!
I did get to spend some time with the kids today though. I raked up all the leaves so they could jump in them. It was in the 40's here, so it was not all that cold. They had a blast.
** UPDATE ** Here it is 9:33pm and I am STILL working on this same issue from yesterday. Unbelievable! Looks like this may run into tomorrow as well. Damn! Good thing I took Monday off!
This week's flashback comes to you courtesy of Blind Melon. For those of you not familiar with Blind Melon, click [HERE]. I can remember listening to Blind Melon while sitting in my car on my lunch break. (more than likely I was eating Taco bell, it was all the rage back then)
Blind Melon brings back memories of working at the car wash with many of my friends right out of high school. McGone and Utah Dagger being 2 of those friends. (Sorry BPDP - you sucked back then.)
Originally it was Turtle Wax, then became Softee Wash.
Anyway, there are WAY TOO MANY stories of those few years of our lives to include here, so I will just summarize a few of my favorites. Most of these events happened at the car wash, the others happened elsewhere, but involved coworkers.
- Utah Dagger getting wasted at Gary's place, falling down the stairs, then puking up all the fruit loops he chowed while getting his ass handed to him in Quarters.
- Playing Pictionary on the inside windows on rainy days
- Fooling Bumgardner into thinking he had to check the oil on cars that he dried off
- Climbing up on the roof and dropping various things onto coworker, during work hours.
- Having to go wake up Olie's drunk ass in the morning because it was past 8, and we had no way to get in the building. Then Olie giving us the keys, and money to get donuts.
- "someone" stealing the bubble gum machine
- Harvey and Murphy putting a chicken nugget in the microwave, and cooking it on high for 99:99 minutes. Which resulted in this horrible stench followed by the blackest smoke I have ever seen.
- Putting a HUGE dead rat on Jeremy Johnson's car, and hearing him scream like a 12 yr old girl when he found it.
Ah, the days of working at the car wash. Like I said, I could go one for a while, but it would be the biggest post ever. Was always nice to go home with a pocket full of cash you earned while screwing around. By far, probably the funnest job I ever had.
So last night I was thinking. "hey, I have a nice camera, let's try to take some nice photos of the boys. Kind of like our own photo studio" So we got the boys dressed in something decent, put up a nice sheet as a back drop and I got the camera ready. BTW, the sheet looked totally trashy.
What followed in the next 15 minutes convinced me that we will be taking them to a professional studio from now on.
Ryan did nothing but act goofy, Brett would not sit still, and the little table I put together for them 2 weeks ago, lost a leg. Seriously, I was sweating so much from trying to get them to sit together, and keep Ryan from jumping all over the place! NEVER. AGAIN.
I will admit though, what shots I did get of them, made us laugh so much last night, so I decided to share them with you all. Yeah, they may not be professional quality, but the fact that they made Mama Slinger and I laugh so much, made it well worth the pain we went through.
ENJOY!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=u7auutw.b28vn25g&Uy=-k26kh9&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1
* You do not need to login, just click on the picture to access the photos.
I know, you are probably thinking...HUH?! Well thanks to my cube neighbor, I just got a 20 minute rundown of the storyline behind the new Battlestar Galactica, and how it differs from the original. I don't watch it, don't remember the original, yet he kept telling me about all the characters. Thanks dude. Feels like Monday now.
And so it begins. Last night Ryan and Brett were fighting over candy, while were still out trick-or-treating! I had Brett in the stroller and Ryan was walking, but once Ryan's bucket got full, I gave him Brett's to use.
This is so pathetic, but you knew this was going to be a costume idea this year. I just can't believe a celebrity - wait is Bill Maher really a celebrity? - stooped this low to wear this out in public. Funny thing is, he looks frickin' WASTED in this shot. And DAYUMMM he has got a huge nose!
It is so sad that people are going to dress up as Steve Irwin. But it would be pretty easy, I am sure a lot of people have khaki shorts, so all you need is a khaki shirt and some construction boots. (I admit, I wore them with my tightrolled jeans in the late 80's!)
