Hi everyone! Tony usually is here blogging the first Sunday of the month. However, he was with Ellie all day yesterday while I ran off and played {thanks, hon!!}. He has 2 finals tomorrow and 2 more on Tuesday and yet another on Thursday. Needless to say, blogging was not at the top of his list…go figure!
He’ll be back next week {right, hon?} with some weight off his shoulders and some wit and wisdom to share.
I always cringe when I’m watching or listening to sports news, and some athlete is listed at 80%. What exactly does that mean? You can run at 80% your normal speed? You will get a hit 80% of the time that you normally would?
Well, never before have percentages meant so much to me, in both directions.
Our patio is probably 95% complete. Of course, the last 5% might take until 2012 for me to complete, and Jen will just have to deal with it. But for the most part, you can tell it’s a patio, and if you stand on it you will not die. These are the goals of a registered Structural Engineer? (Did I ever tell you guys I passed last October’s exam? I remember whining about studying but don’t know if I ever shared the good news. But I digress…)
Simply put: yes – those are my goals and I’m damn proud of them.
My ego doesn’t permit me to believe any of you show up on the first Sunday of the month to read my blogs, and don’t make any other appearances on Jen’s site. But just in case that’s the case, let me sum up the case for you.
Last Christmas, when I went to hang lights along the roof, the exterior brick veneer decided I was too husky for its liking, and shifted about 2 inches. 4700 threatening phone calls later (Jen can be MEAN!) we finally got the builder out here to repair the wall. As some sort of olive branch, he left us the excess bricks for our use.
I figured with $1500 worth of free bricks, I was probably $1000 away from a sweet patio in my backyard. Well, the quotes from the pros came back more to the tune of $3500, and to channel my inner Damon Wayans, homey don’t play dat.
After some sort of mind meld, hocus pocus or other some such, I was magically convinced that I could undertake this project myself (I told you Jen was mean). As one of my wife’s friends so cleverly put it, “it only takes them 30 minutes on HGTV. What’s the big deal?” (I’ll take care of her later.)
Well, needless to say I almost quit about 17 different times. My hands look like I ran them through a meat grinder and I’ve pretty much had a permanent charley horse for 3 weeks. But it’s all worth it to save a few bucks, right? Right!!?
I’ve still got work to do as I mentioned before. Unfortunately that “some” work can also be referred to as cleaning/spreading/removing 3 tons of dirt and rock. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go convince Jen that my back is at 40% right now… anything higher and I’ll be carting rocks till sundown.
Td
As far as I am concerned, Spring sprang on us a few weeks back when pitchers and catchers reported. Many moons ago the family used to trek out to Arizona for spring training. It has always held a special place in my memory bank; mingling with ballplayers and sitting in seats so close you can hear every pop of a mitt. And many of you may not know, but I shanghai-ed Jen for a long weekend to Peoria 5 years ago this month. I managed to sneak in a conversation with her folks for their blessing, and popped the question our second day there. We haven’t been back since – bad memories for Jen? Hmmm…
On top of baseball coming back, with March comes Madness. No two words go as well together this side of “free” and “beer.” College basketball is about to take center stage on 90% of your cable stations so be prepared. I used to have to take naps to stay up for the all the basketball opening weekend.
We’re also that much closer to championship golf. And my man-crush on Tiger Woods continues to grow to unhealthy levels.
Throw in an interesting NBA season for the first time in a decade and I can’t wait to figure out what in the heck-fire is happening!
I mean of course, all of those wonderful things have started or are starting without me (the nerve!). I have been completely lost in my own little world. I’m actually grateful for the writer’s strike, because there is no way Jen would have waited for me to watch CSI or any of our other favorite shows.
Classes this semester are kicking my butt. They are all over the place time wise; I leave here at 8am some mornings and don’t get home until almost 11pm. And of course, it’s all coming to a head this week, as mid-terms cometh.
But let’s pretend that I don’t have 2 papers, 2 projects and 5 finals in the next 4 days, and focus on the positives baby. Positives being that March is upon us, and greatness is about to unfold. Plus, win or lose, pass or fail this week, the week after is Spring Break. And I haven’t had one of those since… well, in too long. I might even take a nap one of those days.
Td
Admit it - you’re watching tonight’s game just for the commercials.
I’m not afraid to say that’s the reason I’ll be watching – and it has nothing to do with the fact that I have a homework assignment related (thank you Integrated Marketing Communications!)
In all honesty, as much as I love football I just can’t bring myself to watch the entire “big game” anymore. In fact, I don’t know that I ever watched it for the love of football. It was just what we did. All the boys in my family got together, maybe barbecued or ordered some pizza. Drank a few beers (as I got older) and complained about what a terrible game it was. By half time someone was already channel surfing or restlessly juggling the football in their hands – just waiting for someone to suggest we go out and toss it around.
Now that we’re older, someone throws a party for the game, and we usually end up going. Again, not so much for the game but to hang out with friends and BS. (why it takes a football game for us to do this is beyond me.)
So why exactly does the Super Bowl have this spellbinding effect on the American populace? The majority of the world plays an entirely different game called football, and they could give a crap about ours. But we’re shoving it down their throats with two weeks of pomp and circumstance that will culminate in New England pomping the Giants in their circumstance.
Throughout the course of this week, the Super Bowl has been mentioned roughly 32,872,081,927 times. From billboards to Coke cans, Letterman to Oprah, national broadcasts to local rabbit ears.
But what exactly has this game given us lately? Lopsided scores, geriatric half time acts (thanks Janet!) interminable pre-game shows and a “live” feed that’s actually several seconds delayed (thanks AGAIN Janet!)
Ahhh, but those commercials. Pure entertainment brought to you for the tidy price of $90,000 a second. (which is slightly better than PAYING $10.75 to see a movie and have to watch commercials - don’t get me started) Thus, we shall wait with bated breath to see what shenanigans the Bud Light crew have dreamed up. I know I have the DVR set to pick up whatever shear genius the folks at GoDaddy bust onto my screen (pun intended.)
But let’s stop with the charade. Call a spade a spade, and admit that the real show tonight happens between whistles, when advertising’s best takes the stage.
Td
Ps.
Speaking of pop-star train wrecks (weren’t you?) here is the single greatest rendition of our nation’s anthem, courtesy of Super Bowl XXV
We don’t get out to the movies much anymore. Arranging for a babysitter and paying some astronomical amount to see a bad TV show retread isn’t high on my to-do list. However, there has been some serious buzz about some of the movies out this winter. While we were in San Diego, my mom bribed us with movies passes in exchange for alone time with Ellie. You would have thought we were jurors on a double murder trial as long as we deliberated over which movie to see. We settled on “No Country For Old Men” and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Another finalist was Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd,” a film I wouldn’t mind catching while it’s still in the theaters. But it is from Burton’s 1989 franchise rejuvenating “Batman” film that Jack Nicholson uttered the catchy phrase I used for my title today. I remember enjoying the movie, and I am sure I would enjoy it if I watched it again. However, it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because it spiraled out of control, and eventually spawned the debacles that were “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.”
Around the same time (19 years ago!!) I spent a tremendous amount of time avoiding homework while tapping the buttons on my Nintendo gaming system. I had a barrage of games and was deft at them all. Most red-blooded males can still recall the “99 lives” code to Contra (quiz your husbands, and post if they know what I’m talking about.) Eventually, the Nintendo wore out and I had to move on, much like I moved on from those Batman movies.
Alas in 2005, Batman was resuscitated thanks to Christian Bale’s performance as Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.” I love every second of this movie and have watched it countless times. I find it fascinating that Nolan essentially went back to the drawing board, ignoring the fact that any previous Batman movies even existed. He takes another swing at the franchise with “The Dark Knight” later this year.
So while Batman has been revamped, the Nintendo has been completely re-born. Yes my friends, I speak of the Nintendo Wii.
(pause for spotlight and a chorus of ‘aaaahhhhhh’)
When I first started seeing commercials, and otherwise hearing about the Wii, I had no interest. I already had a PS2 collecting dust (in Jen’s stamp room no less) so there wasn’t a burning desire to drop a few hundy on another paperweight. But it took just one night in Wii-land for Jen and I; hook, line & sinker. We had so much fun, Jen was as enthused about it as I was - I knew we had to get one.
Being the lunatic that I am, it was less than a week later that I tracked one down and we now have it proudly installed in our living room. We had friends over tonight, and those that didn’t already have a system themselves vow to have one within days. Wii-itis is spreading, and it is borderline ridiculous.
We won’t be seeing Sweeney Todd until it hits Blockbuster. We have a permanent date night waiting for us in our living room. I could continue to sing the praises of this miracle of molded circuits, but I’d rather get my Wii-ness on. See you in Mario’s Galaxy.
