Sunday, August 30, 2009

My Wife's Heart is Bigger than our House

We live in a 1400 s.f. house. It is even smaller than that sounds. The wife and I love to entertain. There are times when I wish our house was bigger. We have a lot of great friends. We want to invite them all to our game nights. The problem is we have room for 8 to 10 people and we would like to invite 20.

My wife would feed and entertain the world if they could fit into our house. She loves have a large circle of friends and would do about anything for them. I hope they realize how lucky they are to have her as a friend.

If it were up to me, we would keep the circle smaller. I like knowing and liking a lot of people, but I believe in only having a small group of Best Friends. I like to have one or two guy buddies that I can call on to play tennis, go workout, play a game, or just hang. My wife would say they same thing, but the exception would be the number of buddies.

I'm lucky she likes and cares for so many people. I get to meet a lot of great people that way. I get to have a lot of great times entertaining and playing games. Just remember if I get a hold of you alone to do something, you are considered a best friend. And that is an exclusive club. Hopefully, you feel the same about me.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Fry Daddy

I am frying some chicken to serve to our guests at game night. The theme is a picnic. We are having cold fried chicken, potato salad, chips, and watermelon. The recipe I'm following is from this website http://gregbeckchicken.blogspot.com/






Chicken marinating in a bowl. Waiting for their turn in the fryer. Patience my pretties.






It's frying time. Everyone in the pool! The sound of something frying makes me salivate. Don't worry I kept it contained.









The first batch all done. Of course we sampled one. It was surprisingly good. Only five or six more batches left. It is going to be a late night.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Back At It

Tonight I started working on my assignments for my class this fall. I'm giving an online class a try this semester. I picked this format because I didn't feel like driving to classes. I know this format creates more work than the traditional classroom, but I am up for the challenge.

The class I'm taking is Political Science. I haven't taken a US government class since high school. The prof sent out the syllabus today. As expected, this class will require hours of reading. I'm not opposed to that. There is a lot of busy work as well. You can't get away from busy work in college. Luckily, this is the only class I'm taking this semester. I can sink some time into it. An added bonus is my father in-law has a degree in Political Science. That will give me another resource. Wish me luck.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Correction

In a post earlier I said that my wife likes light and fluffy, feel good movies. That wasn't a totally accurate assessment. Truth be told she has a better understanding of movies than I. In truth I am easily entertained. She has introduced some great movies and we have had a lot of interesting discussions on these movies. So don't think her taste in movies is chick flicks. It isn't. In fact she does not like romantic comedies. For this I am grateful. I never have to sit through on at the theatre. It will be just large explosions for us.

Who am I?

When I was four my parents divorced. My biological father made the decision to let mom and my stepdad raise my sister and myself without inteference from him. Don't feel too bad for me. My stepdad (who will be refered to as dad) is great. He is the only dad I know. He helped make me what I am today.

I knew that my biological father lived in Texas, but that was about the extent of my knowledge. My sister had contacted him and actually went to live with him. I really never thought about contacting him. It wasn't that I had any bad feelings. I just didn't care to engage someone I don't remember.

A few years ago my sister tells my wife that my biological father has expressed his desire to get to know me. The wife sent a letter to him to make sure his intentions were just. We received a letter back from him and that got us started on a relationship. It started as letter writing and it progressed to phone calls.

Then one day on my way to work, he called me to say that he and some family were coming up and wanted to know if I wanted met him. So, we set up a meeting. I was curious to meet the man. Mainly because I am not like anyone in my family. I mean completely different. I was hoping that this meeting would shed some light on who I am.

After meeting him and his family, it was obvious that I am NOT like any of them either. I will discuss the meeting in another post. I was a little disappointed, but not terribly that I didn't see any of my traits on display by another person. So, I'm not like my mother, father, biological father, brother, or sister. Somewhere there may be a milkman that acts just like me or I'm one of a kind.

I am very analytical, quiet, and easy going. Everyone in my nuclear family is boisterous, out going, and always has some drama. My biological father is quiet like me, but has a different value system and is very southern. I guess I would be a combination of the two families. Yup. That sounds right. I'm going with that.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Saturday night live music

Last night we watched live music at a bbq joint. It was nice. The drummer is a friend's husband. It was nice to support a local band. It was better to know one of the musicians. To make a great night even better the band played the song "Rubber Ducky." Yup, it was that kind of fun.

Since it was a bbq joint, we had food to go along with the entertainment. Being a resident of the KC area I know bbq. This place was pretty good. It was enhanced by Dave the night's bartendar and another friend.

All in all the night was enhanced by friends. Not only the friends at the two tables we filled, but as well as in the band and bringing drinks. Where would we be without friends? I don't know for sure, but I'm sure last night would not have been nearly as fun. And I'm lucky I have really great and interesting friends.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Mad Men

Watching Mad Men is interesting. I wonder if the corporate world was really like this. I can't imagine working at a place in which everyone smoked and drinks at the office. Offenses that would get you fired on the spot today.

The advertising game in the TV show seems very interesting. Hard work with creativity sprinkled in. Does today's advertising firm operate that way? One thing have gathered from working in the corporate world is that creativity takes a back seat to hard line production. Creativity takes time and time is money. Hard line production is effecient. Is being creative allowed in corporate America or is it just not allowed in Engineering?

Sunday, August 16, 2009

District 9

So, saw District 9 today. I liked it a lot, but the better half hated it. Her hatred of the film has nothing to do with the quality of the film. It has more to do with the content. She likes light and fluffy, feel good movies. These things cannot be said about District 9.

This wasn't the movie I was expecting. I knew it was a social commentary style movie, but I didn't see the main plot line coming. Even though the movie was not what I thought it was going to be, I still dug it.

I'm not a movie critic. So, I won't be going into the critic blathering. I will just say the movie was intense, graphic, and poignant. Things happen in the movie that have you thinking this is exactly what would happen in the real world given these circumstances. I guess it feeds my general distrust in the world's governments.

Go see the movie if you like sci fi that makes you think. It makes you think while putting you through some intense action and graphic content. Don't cover your eyes. Take it all in. You will be glad you did.

Pre-District 9


Meeting friends at the theatre to see District 9. I haven't been this pumped to see a movie in a while. Probably since Lord of the Rings. I've read the reviews, read the tweets, and listened to friends. Enough already. I have to see it for myself.


We saw two movies yesterday: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe was a dumb movie. In fact, I think the script was written in crayon, but it was entertaining. The biggest issue I had with the movie was the overuse of CGI. The parts I liked best were stuffed into tight outfits worn by Scarlet. I recommend watching the movie if you want mindless entertainment. Otherwise, avoid at all costs.


Harry Potter was a good film. As with the whole series, the latest was the best. The "kids" have improved with each offering. I enjoyed the movie to the point I didn't want it to end without wrapping up the story line. Alas, we have to wait a couple of years to see the end. I can wait. Probably. I have NOT read the books. So, I clueless how it all ends. I'll let the movies tell me. I have too many other books I'd rather read.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Vick to the Eagles

So, Michael Vick signs with the Eagles. I was hoping that no team would want him for at least a year. Maybe I'm not being fair. In America, serving your sentence should balance the books on your crime, but I'm having a hard time with this because it deals with innocent animals.

I hope Vick is truly sorry for what happened on his land. The public persona he put out during the ordeal was one of a person sorry for being caught not for abusing dogs. I could be wrong. I think the whole scene must have been overwhelming.

Vick and the Eagles will endure booing for the whole of preseason and when Vick steps on the field during regular season games for a while. When the season is in full swing and playoff positions are being formed, fans will forget to boo Vick. The NFL puts a product on the field that is electric. The charge should drown out the boos in December. Michael Vick will not suffer much this year, and the NFL will suffer even less.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Movie Wish List

The five things I want to see at the movies.
  1. District 9
  2. A Robot Chicken version of GI Joe
  3. Movie adaptation of the book "Ender's Game"
  4. Free popcorn!
  5. A money back guarantee

I don't think these are unreasonable.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Fable II

I am not at work today because I don't feel well. If I start to feel better later, I will play my all time favorite game - Fable II. I can easily spend hours playing this game. I have never seen a game with such a rich environment. Though have already beaten the game, I love to keep playing. There are plenty of quests to complete, gargoyles to kill, and gold to find to keep me entertained for a while.

I played the game as a good guy this time. It may be hard to tell if you saw my character. He is overweight, wears Elvis sunglasses, and has some scaring on his face. When I'm done with this game, I will play again as a bad guy. That should be fun. It should create a whole new experience. What game can claim that.

That is enough of that. Nyquill is kicking in. Time to take a nap.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

College Football EA Sports Style

I am loving NCAA 2010 from EA Sports. I got my first when at 3:20 this am. Yup. I wouldn't go to bed until I had a win under my belt. Thanks to Mizzou for being gracious enough to fall to my Huskers 30-0. I hope that happens in real life. Go Big Red!!

True it shouldn't have taken me so long to get a win, but I was confusing Xbox 360 buttons with their competitors. The X button is in a different location than what I'm used to. The poor X receiver never got the ball when he was wide open. Don't worry I'll get it worked out.

I turned on the Xbox and started the game. It proceeded to tell me that an update was available. I pushed the "go for it" button and was delighted to see the rankings update to match the newly released Coaches poll. Excellent.

I love this game because I couldn't beat the game 70 -0 on my first try. In fact it took a few games to get the first win. The NFL version should learn something from this. The only thing I don't like is the lack of a speed burst. If it is there and I haven't found it, help me out.

I'm new to the Xbox 360 experience. I just got the console in June for my birthday. Man. I shouldn't have waited so long. I love the Live add-ons, the ability to play on-line (I know. Nothing new), and the current ESPN feeds.