Crooks

With no taste.

Infestation

Somehow my two sons, ages 6 and 8, have started to creep back into the parental bed. They come in at 2 or 3 when nobody is willing to put up a fight to send them back to their beds.

Any suggestions for how to deal with this (and we are not above chaining them to their beds, but only after exploring a few other options).

Thanks!

Music appreciation

This is so cool!

Lively

While my kids have been in school now for two weeks, my "other school," Aims Community College where I work, just started this week. It is really invigorating to have students back on campus (and as marketing geek, I'm glad there are more of them). It is so fun to hear voices in the halls and all of that. I'm guessing that is what the folks in my kids' school think, too. But my kids are not so much invigorated (much like the students at Aims). They seem tired and unable to focus as they readjust to a school schedule.

We went to the kids' Back to School night last night and I always enjoys meeting the teachers, but I can't stand the school functions when EVERY SINGLE parent is there at the same time. The halls are crowded and it's just a madhouse.

But then I had my first racquetball class of the year last night also. I absolutely love racquetball. It's one of the few physical activities I can play for hours without getting bored. It is such a mental and physical game. The physical side kicked my butt last night. I played two games and thought I was going to die. I'm hoping that my buddy Dan will be done climbing mountains soon so we can play some games to supplement my Tuesday night class.

Deadwood

OK, so Donovan and I watched the last episode of Deadwood last night. We have been fully addicted to this show for some time now. Honestly, all kudos to 24 and all, but Deadwood has the best writing in all of TV, movies and most novels. It's brilliant.

But last night was the last episode. Literally, the last. Not just for the season. From some stuff I've read, they will make two two-hour movies to wrap up the details, but I have no idea when those will be coming out. Does anyone know? God, I hate this waiting around stuff! I have to know what happens!

Can't teach an old dog...

New tricks.

Should I be worried?

For the longest time, my tastes and those of the general critical elite who hand out awards were at complete odds. But, then it started with "Crash" winning Best Picture.

And then, last night, my favorite drama, 24, and my favorite comedy, The Office, took top honors at the Emmys. Plus, Jeremy Piven from Entourage won. I have to tell you this is a little unsettling for me.

The only good news is that the entertainment rags are complaining that the awards have stunk lately. So many people were mad that Brokeback didn't win (I still think it was an average story). And now people are complaining because Desperate Housewives wasn't even nominated. The only thing I agree with the complaints on is that "Lost" wasn't nominated. That show is incredible. It's not quite as pulse pounding but somehow the writers make me think it's OK that polar bears and magic numbers can exist on this island, because I had a really hard time with a lot less crazy things happening on 24 (i.e. the freakin' cougar, the atomic bomb in the desert, the deadly virus that clears a room in 2 seconds just by turning on the air conditioning, etc.)

So, I guess I have become mainstream and, according to the rags, the mainstream sucks. I guess I can live with that.

Fun site

This is one of most addicting sites. Go to the old contests and try to figure them out. I usually get 5 or 6 out of 8. FilmWise.

Don't mess with the Swiss Army!

You don't want to be looking into the business end of one of these.

That'll teach 'em

Don't make Dave Mustaine angry.

TV for kids

I came home the other night and Andy was vegging out ... zoning out ... spacing out ... whatever you call it ... in front of the TV.
He didn't notice I came home, but then at the commercial he turned and saw me and got excited, "DADDY!"
After giving him a hug, I said, "If you were watching TV, you wouldn't notice if a spaceship busted in here and landed on the couch."
Without even a second's thought, he replied, "Yes I would. They would show it on the TV!"

SOAP

So, after one of the crappiest weeks I've had in a long time, I went with three of my buddies to see "Snakes on a Plane" this weekend.

Like any good cinematic experience, we started the night off with nachos and drinks at Old Chicago's. Plenty of drinks.

From all the crap I read about this movie, I was expecting something along the lines of "Return of the Living Dead," a decent horror movie that was freaking hysterical because it went crazy. I have seen ROTLD and I can tell you that SOAP is no ROTLD (not even ROTHLD II).

Basically it had a few over-the-top moments, but took itself WAY too seriously (it took like 20 minutes just to get on the M***** F****** PLANE! Nobody needs that much set up! Titanic didn't take that long to get on the damn boat!). There were some fun over-the-top killings (I won't ruin them here, but e-mail me and I'll spill it) but not enuf for me.

We did see Little Miss Sunshine on Sunday, also. Absolutely loved it. Steve Carrell should be in every movie. I also rented "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" over the weekend and I am convinced that Robert Downey Jr. should narrate every movie for the next 40 years. He's awesome.

Ebert out.

First day

Yesterday was the boys' first day back at school. Andy in first. Alex in third. It was pretty different than any other first day, because Tracy wasn't there. (See previous post).
I was pretty lost for what to do on the first day. In the past we I've dropped off the kids, Tracy tells me where they line up from the playground to go inside. I had no idea how she knew that.
Fortunately, there were some other parents I knew who helped me.
This was Andy's first time to be in school all day and he was a little nervous. He wore a t-shirt and shorts that he picked out (meaning they didn't match). Alex was so excited, he wore a collared shirt and jeans (this is a new thing for a kid who used to live in shorts and sweat pants!).
After school, I took them out to dinner with my mother-in-law to hear about their days. Andy seemed to have a good time, but didn't want to talk about it much. Alex was babbling about every second of the day.
As we went to bed last night, Andy picked out a nice, collared shirt and "hard shorts" (that means his nicest ones that aren't very comfortable) to wear the next day. Not sure what happened at school yesterday, but it's already affected his clothing choices (this is a kid who once cried because he had to wear a collared shirt to hit a ball at the golf range in California).
Guess they're both getting older.

Joe

Tracy's dad, Joe, died last weekend.
Joe and Tracy's mom divorced when Tracy was just 4 years old. She kept in contact with him for years and saw him every so often.
He was a former cop when I met him, which was more than a little intimidating. He was socially awkward, but he knew that and he worked very hard at not being that way. I always appreciated the effort that he took and how nice he was to me all these years.
My fondest memory of Joe was on one of his trips through Colorado on his way to Illinois in his RV. He always stopped by Greeley on the way out there and on the way back to California.
This time, we decided that he'd help us decorate my downstairs area of our house with a dart board. Joe loved darts (as well as softball and bowling). It was probably the first time Joe and I really connected... you know the way two guys connect when working on some project involving lots of tools and a goal in mind has no real asthetic or helpful goal, but is just fun. We found just the right electronic board, based on his recommendation. Bought a nice case for it and then set upon putting it up. Cutting through drywall, brackets, placement. It was fun.
And then we spent the next several hours playing darts until I thought my arm was going to fall off. I had never been sore the next day from playing darts until that day. Of course, Joe wiped up the floor with me. He knew all the plays ("All I need is a triple 16 and a 3" and then HE'D DO IT!!!).
Tracy and I tried a couple times to recreate that moment on subsequent visits (like going to a Rockies game with him), but it never quite lived up to that one.
Today, Tracy and Greta are in California with their half-sister Kelly at a memorial for Joe. Since I couldn't be there, I thought I'd do my memorial here.

Mountains

My buddy, Dan, loves to go to the mountains. He likes to climb and push himself to the most extreme end of his endurance.
Fortunately, Dan also likes hair metal and poker because otherwise we'd have nothing in common.
I enjoy the mountains as well. However, I like to go there, maybe go on a leisurly trail ... maybe just sit out by a pond ... more likely, play miniature golf in Grand Lake and sip on a margarita on the porch of the Grand Lake Lodge.
Guess everybody has their own thing.

Gay marriage

I don't understand why so many people are against gay marriage. I don't know why someone else's marriage has to do with your own. But they say that having gay people married ruins the sanctity of marriage as a whole.

But here's why I've been thinking about this... Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson ... Britney Spears and that guy with the ugly hat ... Rene Zelwegger (sp?) and that country guy ... Madonna and Sean Penn ... Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman ... *** and the list goes on (feel free to add your own in the comments)...

If these people haven't messed with the sanctity of the institution of marriage, I really don't think Adam and Steve will either. Just my rant. Sorry.

I'm not political

But there are somethings worth protesting for...

Withdrawls

Softball's over (at least until later this month). The boys' baseball is over. We're going to Grand Lake in a bit. But this week is actually slow (at least at home). Came home from work last night and Tracy and I were shocked to realize we didn't HAVE to be anywhere. So, of course, we went about organizing our mucked up storage area. So much for rest.