School daze

In high school in the San Fran Bay Area, I went to concerts a lot. Now, not so much.

But when Poison and the Spin Doctors were signed up to play the Greeley Stampede, I begged Tracy for tix for my b-day and she hooked me up (as well as my buds Dan and Dono). And then, days before the show, Dan worms his way into three backstage passes as well. It was set for a freakin' awesome time (I love the funk rythmn of the Docs and Poison is OK, too).

The pass:


I had images of drunken groupies backstage, but, sadly, it was not to be. "Backstage" at the Stampede means you get to hang out in the dirt and wait for the bands to walk to the stage.

This is what I'm talking about ...

(Hard to believe the girls stayed away from them, huh?)

Dono was still excited ...

But no groupies, so this was the only boob they got ...

But we saw a couple interesting things. Like, the Docs apparently used Van Halen's old sound equipment (see below) ... I picture there's a store where all hair bands buy and sell equipment ... It would be a fun place to visit...

And you know those "HUGE" walls of speakers at a concert? Well, a look behind the curtain reveals there were only six or so speakers (it was still plenty loud, tho!). Kinda sad to know this...

So, the Docs were late in starting because two of the four guys in the band were lost (only us cool backstage people knew this ... woo hoo!). And then, this cab pulled up and Chris Barron, the lead singer of the Docs popped out! The day is saved!

OK, at this point of the story, I should probably also note that I was rather intoxicated. I figured I'm going to a metal show, Dono was driving and WTF, right? Anyway, drunkedness equals bravery and it helped a lot because it gave me the cojones to walk up to some of these folks and get pics. Here's me with Barron on his way to the stage ... and the bass player (after the show)

And below is the drummer. His name is Aaron. From the stage, I thought he looked just like me. Upon closer inspection, he's not a twin but could be a long-lost brother (except he has rythmn which means he's not a blood relation)...

During the Docs show, I stood close to the stage. Like I said it was loud, but I haven't been up front at a show in years. The funniest part was a song that featured the phrase "big, fat, funky bootie" several times. The hearing impaired person had to sign the words and it cracked me up as apparently the sign word for "bootie" is pointing to your ass. Here's a video (I was drunk so I straigtened it out a couple seconds in ... gimme a break)

The Docs did a great show and then we went backstage again (because we are so cool!!!).

I also want to comment on my attire. I was able to fit into my "Don't Blame Me. I voted for Bill and Opus" shirt from the '80s thanks to losing part of my fat ass so that also made the night special.

Anyway, we were waiting around for Poison and Dan spotted Rikki Rocket, the drummer, standing by a bus. He was far away and if I had been sober, I probably just would have watched. But I was drunk and said WTF and went over to him. Super nice dude (even with eye shadow and mascara!). A pic:

For Poison, Dan, Dono and I went back to the seats which were in the 4th row of the arena floor (behind the pit I stood in for the Docs). Poison put on a great show and we were screaming and bouncing around like it was 1987 all over again.

After the show, we went backstage again (because we're that cool). Nothing really going on but I got this pic that sums up backstage at the Stampede pretty well.

All in all, it was a great night. And, yes, Dan, next time I'll take the pics so you can get in them with the famous people. Sorry about that.

Countdown

Weekend:
Picked up Tracy from the airport.
Saw Wall-E (cute and engaging ... loved the fat people ... can SO relate!)
Taught my grammar and punctuation class Saturday (I love the class but can't get many people to come ... shocking, I know!)
Watched the newest "Rambo" flick on NetFlix (bloody violence, good ... dialogue and plot, bad)
Saw "Son of Rambow" an English flick about a kid who makes his own Sly movie (cute but not great) with Christi and Andy.
Took the kiddos to the pool.
Watched a couple episodes of Season 2 of "Dexter" (love this show almost as much as the books!)
Finished reading "Heartsick" by Chelsea Cain on the recommendation of my buddy, Dan. What a great book. I know I'm sexist but I normally don't like female thriller writers, but this one is awesome. Great story.
Started the new Odd Thomas book by Dean Koontz. I love Dean. Not a huge fan of this series, but it starts off pretty good.

So, now the countdown begins. Short week this week because of the Fourth and then we prep to head out for our family reunion in Seattle. I can't wait! I'm so excited to see my neice and nephews (and my sis, her hubby and my mom and dad). Golf. Beach. Not working. I can't wait!

Live Like Harv!

My new hero ...

The Mist

On a recommendation of a friend, I rented it.
I'm sure this was WAY better as a book. King movies often feel that way (except Misery which was equal to it).
Anyway, it's a bizarre story. Has some interesting elements about religion and faith driven by fear ... which certainly was a major theme.
The ending, however, was so sad and shocking, that I just had a hard time with it. As a parent, it was brutal to watch. I think it would have been better with a better actor. The main dude just doesn't look nearly as shocked as a real person would be.
Anyway, I guess it's worth a rental, but plan on having bad dreams.

I miss college

This is from one of my new fav sites:

http://www.photobasement.com/

Brilliant

My friend Eric posted this on his blog and I thought it was just brilliant.
This is a site for cubicle workers to fake work while reading great works.
http://www.readatwork.com/
Not sure if a Mac version is planned.

Wedding weekend

So, we went to a fun wedding on Saturday. Greta Willoughby used to work for me at Aims and she's just a hoot. She got married at a rodeo arena and then had the reception at a bar (that is being closed and will soon be a church!?!?).
Pics below, me and the bride at the reception and then Tracy sitting on a hay bale for the ceremony (the boys are standing behind her under umbrellas because it was freakin' hot!

Other than that, we had a low-key poker game on Friday (everybody but Dono and I finished early. He and I stayed up late drinking, playing cards and arguing politics ... fun).

On Sunday, the whole family (including Ruth and Greta) went to see "Get Smart" (funny flick but not as slapsticky as the TV show). After dinner together, we did a short tour of the tornado zone in Windsor and Greeley. This was my first time out there (the tornado hit a month ago). It's amazing to see some people already rebuilding. But the devastation is incredible.

A moment of $%&#ing silence

George Carlin is dead. Truly sad day.
Say at least one of the seven words today in his honor.

Daddy day

Had a great Father's Day weekend. A little swimming. Saw "The Happening" with Dono (I actually liked it and he hated it but he hates everything right now and somehow he ends up comparing every movie to a flaming bag of dog poo ... ).

On Sunday, Big Andy (as opposed to Little Andy, my son) and some other friends played the Eaton Country Club in our continuing quest to play the local courses we haven't played before. It's a nice course ... not great, but nice. So far this summer we've added Marianna Butte, the Olde Course in Loveland, Highland Meadows in Windsor, Thorn Creek in Thornton and I got to play the Greeley Country Club in a tourney last week. Marianna and the Greeley CC are my favs so far, but I'm such a hacker that I still enjoy Mad Russian more than any of them. Currently my game sucks. My drives are pretty good (hit one 298 at the GCC!) but I can't pitch or chip or putt to save my life.

After golf, I got to go home, open some nice gifts from the fam, call my dad to wish him a good one and watch the Tiger/Rocco show that continued into the work day yesterday which was awesome.

Tracy wanted to take a pic of me and the boys to show to a friend of hers, so I thought I'd share it here.

Exhausted

This is Alex after staying up all night for the Relay For Life on Friday/Saturday.

He was excited to stay up, but he couldn't even keep his eyes open once the sun came up. All night long, he was putting entries into a raffle for a portable bike that one group was selling. He waited for them to do the drawing, but fell asleep on the sidewalk. He didn't win, but the lady who did win wanted Alex to have it.

We tried to wake him up to show him, but he was dead to the world. I picked him up from the sidewalk and he stood up, but he was still pretty out of it and didn't even register the bike. He started to stumble and I caught him and placed him in this chair. About 30 minutes later, he woke up, saw the bike and said, "Whose is that?"

All in all, it was a great Relay. Alex's team won Bronze status (I've never had a ranked team ... must help to be cute!).

This is an amazing community and even after the horrible tornado and the more than $250,000 raised in relief for the victims there, this event still raised $417,000 for cancer research and programs.

The rest of the weekend was a blur ... sleeping (lots), saw "Don't Mess with the Zohan" (terrible!), watched the first disc of Season 3 of Weeds (hilarious!), almost finished Season One of Veronica Mars (pretty darn good but not as "top 5" brilliant as Kevin Smith says), took the boys to "KungFu Panda" (OK, but the voices were under-used), bought some more plants for my garden (my volunteer pumpkins didn't volunteer this year ... got some more, some watermelon, tomato and cucumber), killed three wasp nests in the backyard (I hate those buggers) and watched a HUGE fire just down our street as one of my neighbors was later arrested for setting his own house on fire.

Yesterday I played in an Arizona Scramble golf tournament at the Greeley Country Club. It was the first time I've played that course and it was awesome. I didn't play particularly great but we used my drive about six or so times. The best was on the last hole which also happened to be the long-drive competition hole. I cranked one right down the middle and it measured 298 yards! (ended up being halfway between the women's long drive and about 30 yards shy of the men's). That was probably my best drive ever and I was pretty darn giddy. Then watched Alex's baseball game and then played softball. No wonder I'm tired.

Nice

10-hour days suck, but having three-day weekends is nice over the summer.

Sure, I spend most of my Fridays doing work around the house but then that leaves Saturday and Sunday for a little more fun.

This weekend, the boys and I did a massive cleaning job on their activity room on Friday and Tracy went to the Sex and the City movie with her chick friends (woo-hoo! I don't have to go!).

Saturday, I had to do a work thing in the morning and then Tracy and I went out to see The Visitor (not bad, Tracy liked it more than me but it still wasn't as good as the director's The Station Agent) that night.

Sunday was chill day. A little cleaning. A little laundry. I got to read a bit on the back porch ... until I started noticing all the weeds and so I started pulling. And then Tracy came out to help.

And then we realized we hadn't heard from the children in a while... They are at that age when you think you can leave them unsupervised for long periods ... And then you go to the front yard and see this ...

Yes, Alex and his goofy sidekick, Andy, had built a mud dam to block the gutter and then gotten in a mud fight (Alex took the worst of it). The worst was their mud dam was not in front of our house but rather a house three or four houses down and we had to carry buckets of water down there to wash it out.

Yes, I was pissed about it, but boys will be boys and it's good to see my kids getting in trouble outside for stuff like this than inside vegging all summer.

14

It was 14 years ago today that a lovely woman agreed to be my lovely wife.
In that time ...
* We've had two amazing kids who make our lives even better every day.
* I gained and lost 50 pounds (ouch!)
* Both my best-man and Tracy's maid-of-honor got married and divorced.
* And my best-man got re-married (this last weekend ... congrats, George!)
* The Rockies made it to the World Series (probably another 14 years before they win the damn thing)
* The U.S. has been involved in several bloody wars that didn't do diddily-squat for anyone
* George Lucas finally finished the first three Star Wars movies
* The Broncos won the Super Bowl ... twice!
* We own two mini-vans
* I've had five different jobs (still would rather be writing full time)
* Tracy's had three
* My mother-in-law moved to Greeley from Fort Morgan (woo-hoo!)
* My father-in-law passed away (we miss you, Joe!)
* We've made many friends and lost contact with a few, too.
* I discovered I really like shrimp
* Brussel sprouts ... not so much
* Tracy has probably had less than 10 glasses of wine (I may have had a few more than that)
* Terrorists have done a number of really bad things
* So have US politicians
* We've only had two presidents (that's strange, huh?)
* We've seen hundreds (if not thousands) of movies (include bad TV shows and we're easily there)
* I am now comprised of 90 percent ice cream and popcorn
* I've published one book and several hundred columns (see many of 'em here)
* I've written several novels ... edited a couple and pitched to one agent
* My parents have moved from a gorgeous lake in California to Texas (please forgive them)
* We have killed at least two hermit crabs, countless sea monkeys (although two live!), a couple goldfish, a strange swimming frog and not nearly enough mosquitoes.

And through it all, I have been the most fortunate person on the planet because I have been able to experience it all with my incredible wife. She's my best friend and the hottest chick ever ... it's an awesome combination.
ILYM!!!

Whew!

In case you didn't know, our county has been dealing with the aftermath of a horrible tornado that hit about 10 miles from our house on Thursday. It's been a scary couple days. On Thursday, Tracy and the kids spent much of the afternoon under the stairs (Tracy has a nice area set up ... since Y2K!!!). I was at work but I was at the gym for the lunch hour and we all had to go into the basement aerobics room to wait out the tornado warnings. Tracy's mom, Ruth, was driving home to Greeley from Windsor and went right through it. The baseball-sized hail caused extensive damage to her car and her nerves, but she's OK.
On Friday, Alex and I went to the mall to get me some clothes that fit (finally) and while we were there, another tornado warning came up and the power in the whole mall went 0ut. We were kicked out of JC Penney's until we found out that store is one of the "safe" areas. (duh!). With the power out, the pretzel guy was giving away pretzels, so Alex was OK.
All in all, it's really a miracle only one person was killed. We don't have sirens in Greeley or Windsor. But I guess we really are connected enough these days that nobody was really caught off-guard (although some kids in the day care in Windsor were nearly sucked away).
So, the rest of our weekend ...
* Took Alex and a friend to Indiana Jones. Not bad. Not great.
* Tracy and I were going to see a double-feature of Married Life and Baby Mama on Saturday but the theater was doing construction (not tornado-related) and they failed to tell people until the last minute. So, we had a good dinner and went home to see the Savages on OnDemand. Good flick.
* Spent 3 days cleaning the kitchen (and we're not done). We emptied and cleaned every cabinet. It's amazing what crap you collect over 12 years! Should be done today!
That's about it.

B-day week(end)

On Friday, I turned 39. I had a pretty good week, too.

On Wednesday, I was part of a drinking study for the Tribune as several of us got loaded to see how fast someone can get drunk and its impact on driving. See the article (with a link to video ... what was I thinking?!?!?) here http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20080518/NEWS/950371384

On Friday, I was off work because we're on 4-day weeks this summer (nice, but 10-hour days suck). Anyway, Andy Segal and I went (with a friend of his, Rob, from Denver) to play 18 at Marianna Butte in Loveland. It was great! I actually hit a shot that skipped across water (twice!) and landed in a great spot. Andy and I had such a great time that we decided to play the Old Course in Loveland when we were done. Yes, 36 holes of golf in one day. It was a good day.

The diet is going OK. I lost another pound last week and I bought a pair of shorts that were 8 inches less than all the others I own. That felt good. I actually bought another pair that is two inches less than that but they are a little too snug right now but it gives me something to shoot for. The hard part with the diet is my birthday. With the drinking before and during as well as the tasty ice cream Tracy bought me and the amazing cake my mother-in-law made me (glutten-free!!!) and the banana bread Tracy made (GF!), I have eaten more than I have in a long time. I know they say you can just bounce back, but it's tough. I feel like poop. But I had some good fish and veggies last night for dinner, so I hope that will begin to cleanse out the body again.

As for movies, Tracy and I went with Christi and Andy to "What Happens in Vegas" (after going to PF Changs which was awesome ... but stuffing also). It's a pretty good movie, actually. Lots of good laughs. The hardest part for me was the gambling. It was totally wrong. They won the slot jackpot ($3 million) with ONE QUARTER. Any moron could see the machine said it needed TWO to win the big one. And, earlier they were playing craps and with a table full of money (including money on the Come line), they were cheering for a seven. (Of course, they hit and they win). Anyone who has played craps knows this is crap. Sure, they could have been playing the no-pass line, but they had their money on pass. Stupid thing to complain about, but still. It wouldn't have been that tough to make it right.

Watching Veronica Mars (Season 1) and The 4400 (the newest season) on DVD. Both very good. Can't wait to see where The 4400 is going.

Movie weekend

Trying to stay out of Tracy's hair, I spent a lot of time in the movie theater this weekend.
On Saturday, I took the boys to Speed Racer. If you loved the cartoon, you'll love this. I remember loving the cartoon for a short time. I didn't like the film for the same reason I stopped liking the cartoon. Still was amazing to see the visuals.
The boys then stayed at Grandma's and I went to Harold and Kumar with Dono. Fortunately, we went to a bar beforehand which put us in the right mood. Still wasn't as funny as the first one.
On Mother's Day, Tracy still had to work so I took the boys (plus Grandma Ruth) to Iron Man. What a great flick. Robert Downey Jr. was awesome.
Also this weekend we had our last soccer game of the year. We lost but the boys played well. The wind came up at the end and that was no fun whatsoever.
Pretty sick of the wind right now.

Good weekend

So, Friday, I gave the boys the option of going to a really cool new model train exhibit and museum that's only open once a month or staying home and watching a couple old Star Trek Next Generation episodes from NetFlix. Pikard won out. Although I'd like to go see the exhibit some time, I'm pretty happy that both of my sons are into Star Trek as much as I was. They use ST refs all the time and talk about phasers and posotronic brains and, yes, I have created two total nerds ... and I love it.

Saturday, we had Andy's second to last soccer game and the kids played amazing. By far their best game. My assistant coach was blown away. It was incredible.

Then, Andy went to a friend's house for a birthday party and Alex and I went to see the play "Annie" at the UCCC with Ruth, Greta, Alex's friend, Ryan, and his mom Kristie. Tracy couldn't go because she's snowed with a major work project. The play was pretty good. I'll admit I am not a big fan of the music in it, but the staging was impressive.

Alex then had a sleepover at Ryan's house and the next morning I picked up Andy and his friend, Cameron, and we met Dono and Sara for the Rockies game against the hated Dodgers. And the Rox actually won one!!! Woo-hoo.

During the game, I also got to meet up with a friend of mine from California, Mike Ingraham. Mike and I grew up about four houses from each other in the Bay Area from 4th grade through high school. Growing up, we had a lot of fun together (he went to my first rock concert (Van Halen, May 11, 1984) with me) and we also fought a lot (about nothing ... which sounds about right). Anyway, I hadn't seen him since high school graduation. He's now re-married to a cool lady named Jen and they recently moved to Colorado Springs. He looks just like his dad (so do I, I think). It was a short visit but it was great to see him.

Finished Sunday off by watching "Dead Alive" on DVD. This was Peter Jackson's first movie and it was so darn funny. Absolutely laugh-out-loud cheesy. WAY over the top fake gore. Really funny lines. Really bad special effects (the rat monkey is now my fav!). Horrible acting. Really fun.

What's up? Not much

Pretty laid-back weekend... lots of time with the boys since Mom is working on her HUGE work project ('til May 22, it's gonna be quiet on the Tracy front)...

Friday took the boys to their school's family fun night. This used to be an event where you paid a lot of money for the kids to play stupid games and win crap prizes. This year, the games were still there, but they were free! Woo-hoo! Much better. They also had a band playing outside and I got to hear the worst version of Hotel California ... EVER!

Saturday was crappy weather but the geniuses who decide to postpone soccer apparently can't look out a window. We got to the field and after a couple minutes, the snow and wind were so bad, I got together with the other coach and we decided to cancel our game and we alerted the refs. The girl ref (who was on the field AND bundled in a big blanket) turned to us and said, "Thank you."

Alex had a play-date for most of Saturday and into Sunday. So, Andy and I went to the city courts and played racquetball. I can't believe this little stinker is only 8. He has a good head for the game and is really impressive. Does a dad's heart good.

Sunday we did some cleaning around the house and then rode our bikes to the Library and the Family FunPlex (the boys couldn't pass it without wanting to play 18-holes of mini-golf!). There is a new (I think?) bike path that runs almost all the way to our house and to the FunPlex. It's a great trail and made the trip a blast. There's a killer hill at the end and the boys walked their bikes up it, but I was able to make it (kinda nice not hauling an extra 50 pounds up it).

As far as the weight goes, I'm maintaining. Seems like I'm down a pound or so. But I'm still exercising and eating good, so that's what matters.

54

Just did my last weigh-in. I was really pushing to lose at least a pound to get me to a total of 30 for the Biggest Winner program at Aims.
And, even though the “good room” scale was unavailable (We weigh in two rooms and most of us have noticed one room is definitely better than the other and I was pissed it wasn't open on the last day!!!), I still lost 5 pounds, an inch in the belly and another in the chest as well as nearly one full point in BMI.
I am on Cloud 9!!! Can’t believe it!
My final numbers … Lost 34 pounds (plus 20 before BW beginning Jan. 1 … puts me at 54!!!)
Lost a total of 24 inches
And BMI dropped 4.4. (why I can’t get this one down as fast is a little frustrating!)
So, now this part of the weight loss is over (although we have awards being presented next week and I'm thinking I'm doing well), the big question is will I keep it off.
A lot of people ask me that.
Honestly, I'm not that concerned about it. I don't know why this time is different. I don't know how I was able to stick with it this far when I never could in the past. All I do know is that I won't be going backwards (well, I might celebrate a little this week!).
The other question I get is: How much are you trying to lose?
This is another easy one. My answer is simply: I don't care.
When I started all this, my goal was to lose the 50 pounds I have gained since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. That mission's accomplished.
So, my next goal is just to be healthy.
I'm going to continue my workouts like I have been. I'm going to continue to be good about what I eat. And that's it. It really hasn't been that tough. And I'm not going to kill myself trying to lose weight. If the pounds continue to drop (and I think they will), that's great. If not, then this is the weight I'm supposed to be at to still be healthy and fit.
I can't tell you how much it meant for me to get all of your kind words of support through this whole thing. It really did make a difference.

Wrap

Busy but fun weekend:
* Coached Andy's soccer team Saturday. We didn't play well, but the weather was great.
* Played 18 at Highland Meadows. This is a newer course in Windsor. Really nice although a little expensive. The greens were incredible.
* Saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Good flick. Very funny. Definitely worth a rental if you miss it in the theater.
* Rented "Founding Fathers" from the History Channel. This was Vol. 2. Great stories to accompany the last showing of "John Adams" on HBO on Sunday. The documentary was enlightening. The John Adams miniseries was spectacular.
* Played racquetball with Kevin H. at the city courts. I played pretty good but it was just nice to get a good sweat.
* Took the boys to the FunPlex for a swim. We had a great time coming up with diving games with quarters. Who needs slides and lazy rivers?
* Bought fabric for a beaver pelt for Alex's class. At first, I bought black, but Tracy informed me I was an idiot and I returned it for brown. Tracy sewed black tails on and I guess Alex's class is doing "trading" for a Mountain Man project at school.
* Doing OK on weight. I need to lose a couple pounds to ensure that I hit the 30 pound mark for the competition at Aims which will also put me at 50 pounds since Jan. 1.
*Almost done with my Illustrator class. I'm taking it online through Aims and it's really cool. A little frustrating at times, but I dig it overall.

22

Nope that's not the weight thing. Actually, that's how many innings the Rox played last night.
Got over around 2:30 a.m. I watched it at home and just couldn't believe it. Incredible that the game was only 2-1 after that long. Dono and I were texting through most of the game which was fun to have someone else to complain about how annoying George Frazier is.

Since I brought up the weight thing ... Lost another pound this week as well as four inches (waist, hips and arms) and .2 on the BMI. Next week is the last weigh-in. According to the Biggest Winner thing, I've lost 29 pounds. I had lost 20 the month before it started. So, basically, my goal now is to lose at least 1 more pound this week so I can get to the magical 50. We're walking 18 holes on Saturday on a new course so that should help as long as I don't drink too many beers along the way (HA!).

Spring Break

Took off three days last week to spend time with the kiddos and give Tracy a break.
Had a great time. Just had some fun guy time.
New stuff:
* Lost 4 pounds in last week's weigh-in. Kinda surprised by the amount. Also lost .5 in BMI and another inch in the belly. Need to add another notch to the belt (I love that!).
* The boys now want a guinea pig. They are actually pretty cool. Anyone have any experience with them?
* Saw Nim's Island with the kiddos. Not bad.
* Saw 21 and then The Ruins. 21 was pretty good. Loved the casino stuff. Fun story. The Ruins was mediocre. I had to see it because I read the book. Pretty true to it except for the ending which now makes no sense.
* The Rox finally beat the Dbacks on Sunday. Been a painful stretch so far.
* My fantasy baseball team is currently in second place. I was in first for a week or so. I'm thinking I'll end up in the middle of the pack like always unless I can make a few good pickups.
* Went swimming a couple times with the kids recently at the Rec Center. Fun just hanging with them.
* Andy's soccer team (that I coach) won their first game on Saturday in one of the worst wind storms we've had. And, believe it or not, most of our goals were against the wind.
* Been watching the John Adams mini-series on HBO. Absolutely amazing. Incredible how much of this stuff I never knew before.
* Also trying to get caught up with Battlestar Gallactica Season 3 (as 4 is taping). I have to agree with Entertainment Weekly that this is one of the best shows on TV. It's got the depth of Lost with the intensity of Heroes (when Heroes was good). Great stuff.

Glory Days

So, this was Opening Weekend for the Rockies. I went on Friday and then on Sunday. The Rox lost both times plus Saturday for good measure. I know it's early, but this team looks blah right now and I have no idea why.

Now for the good stuff ... Tracy told me that I should count my blessings right now because I had a couple really good days ... so consider this counting.

1. Didn't have to work Friday.
2. Played nine holes of golf at Thorncreek with Andy, Dono and Randy.
3. Had a doublt Crown on the rocks before the game.
4. Went to Opening Day.
5. Came home and played poker with everyone.
6. Woke up without a hangover and coached our soccer team (we lost, but oh, well)
7. Went to see "Leatherheads" with my beautiful wife (good flick, actually).
8. Dinner at PF Changs (good stuff ... low-cal, too!)
9. Went to Sunday's game with Tracy and my two cool kids as well as my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law and had a good time despite the score.

I know the blessings are WAY more than 9, but that certainly was fun counting.

Ones

Lost one pound, .1 BMI, one inch on the waist and one inch on each leg.

Not as great as last week, but it's something.

I did win the Biggest Winner week last week. So, I got that going for me.

AND, the Rockies won (see one!) their first game last night.

Re-do

Yesterday was Opening Day for baseball.
And then it rained.
And now today is.
And then on Friday we have our Opening Day in Denver.
Woo-hoo!

It's official

Had my official weigh-in this morning. I'm down 9 pounds from two weeks ago (had to skip last week because of Aims Spring Break). Also I'm down another inch in the belly and 1.1 in BMI (still don't know what that is, but apparently that's a pretty big drop).

So, what this means is that my bathroom scale was correct. I am now down 23 pounds since the Biggest Winner thing started and I was down 20 pounds before I started it. So, a little bit of simple math puts my total at 43 pounds (my bathroom scale says 44 but who cares?) since Jan. 1.

I am obviously on Cloud 9 right now. Everyone keeps telling me I should get new pants, but I just can't believe it (although I did buy some jeans the other day that were two sizes smaller than what I was wearing and now they are a little loose!).

Still have a long way to go, but I can't tell you how good this feels now. I really appreciate everyone's words of encouragement. It means a lot.

Stuff

So, now I'm coaching Andy's soccer team. Our first game is Saturday. I'm just hoping the other team doesn't score more than the Nuggets the other night (168).

Alex and Andy and getting ready for a one-time performance in a school play called The North Star. Tracy is doing the costumes (silly girl).

Saw Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell a couple weeks ago. Silly fun. Not his best, but worth a DVD rental.

Saw Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day also. Thought it would be a chick-flick but I really liked it. Felt a lot like an old Carey Grant movie with acting way over the top but still believable. Fun story. Not great, but worth it.

Took the kids to Horton Hears a Who and really loved it. Fun flick. Good adult stuff in it also.

Thanks to NetFlix, I have hooked the boys in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." I had them watch the two-part Borg episodes and they are loving it. It makes me so proud to hear them playing with each other and saying, "I'm loading my photon torpedoes." Small things in life make me happy.

Got a new cell phone. I switched to AT&T. Love the phone but the service stinks in my office. Everywhere else it's great. The phone is great because I can get e-mail and check the web and play games. I think it makes phone calls too.

The weight? Well, I am currently leading all of the Aims Biggest Winner contestants as we enter the seventh week. Since Jan. 1, according to my home scale, I'm down 40 pounds. I'm not sure I buy that, but it sounds good. With Spring Break this week we aren't weighing in at Aims this week, so I don't know what they have me at right now. I am down two pant sizes and added five notches to my belt. Just want to keep it going (long way to go still).

Can't believe this Sunday is Easter. It's strange having it so early this year.

Been busy

Sorry for no updates.

Was in Georgia for a conference.

How about a quiz? What famous movie featured this steeple in the opening scene?

(tilt your head)

Answer below ... (no cheating)...

Forrest Gump ... the feather flew past this steeple and landed at his foot as he was sitting on a bench in a nearby "square."

Crock

I always knew Daylight Savings was a crock.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120406767043794825-UOLcfJA8x9Gw9ozbCz77MiLmtaE_20080327.html

Why can't we just keep one time all year like Arizona (Spring Training and the clock are the only things I like from there).

Fun

So, last weekend I saw a couple flicks -- one in the theater and one on DVD.

"Vantage Point" was a decent action flick. The concept was interesting but it completely abandoned it in the last act. If you are going to do something funky, write it so you can stick with it. In the end, it became totally unbelievable, but if you removed your brain, it was OK.

Got "Mr. Brooks" on DVD based on a recommendation from my friend Dan. I was completely surprised how much I liked it. Excellent acting. Great storyline. I have no idea why they tacked on the last 30 seconds of the movie (if you've seen it, you know).

Took the boys to see the Colorado Eagles hockey game last night. Had a blast. Good game. Almost had a couple fights.

33

Yes, this was Larry Walker's number with the Rockies and it is now how much I've lost since Jan. 1.
Lost about 3-4 inches in the belly and a couple more in the chest. My BMI is down a couple points.
I have lots still to go, but I'm feeling good.
And to top it all off, my team in the "Biggest Winner" thing at Aims took first place this week. We won by two points which is pretty darn close.
Anyway, I'm happy and that means I can have popcorn at the movies Saturday.

Buckle up

This weekend, a friend died. Shane Stewart and his wife Cyndee have been good friends for as long as our kids have been around. Tracy knew Cyndee from Aims and then their two boys went to the same daycare as our two boys. We went to birthday parties together, t-ball games, even had a couple parents-only nights out dancing (Shane was the only one of the guys who actually liked dancing).

Shane was also a firefighter. On Saturday, he was driving to help out on a medical call when the truck he was driving went off the road and flipped over, throwing him out. The cops say he wasn't wearing a seat belt. That's actually pretty hard for me to believe because he was a very conscientious guy. But in the heat of a call, who knows what happens.

I've been in a haze since I heard the news. Shane was only 33. His kids were each just a little younger than my two boys. I can't imagine what they are going through right now. Logan is the youngest (7 or 8) and he is just adorable kid. Blake is the older brother (9) and is the spitting image of Shane (actually both boys are). Alex and Andy always enjoyed playing with them even though we don't see them as often since they live in Pierce and go to a different school. But we see them every year at Relay For Life and at various events around town and when they get together, it's like no time has been lost.

Cyndee has a great support system in her community with family (lots) and friends. But my heart breaks at thinking what they will be missing out on without Shane.

So, just as a reminder, for Shane's sake and the people you love ... buckle up.

Weekend

Mom visited this weekend. Had a great time.
Ate more than I should. Hoping to at least break even for the week by weigh-in day on Wednesday. (I was tied for second place after the first week in our work Biggest Loser thing!)

Other than eating, saw a lot of movies this weekend, too:
Jumper ... saw it with Mom which was cool because it's probably the first movie since "Karate Kid" that we saw together ... just us. The movie was pretty good, too. Good effects. Good story.

Definitely, maybe ... saw with Tracy (ah!). Pretty good chick flick. Had a unique story-telling style and the little girl (from Little Miss Sunshine) was outstanding.

Spiderwyck Chronicles ... saw with the whole fam damily. Actually a very good flick. Surprising actually. I usually got to kid movies as a chance to catch up on my sleep. But I liked this one a lot.

Weight

So, I don't want to obsess on all this stuff, but I figured I should update.
Based on my official hi-tech scale at home, I am down 25 pounds since Jan. 1 and 30 pounds from my all-time ugly weight.
I had my second weigh-in at work for the "Biggest Winner" thing we're doing and I lost 8 pounds from last week and 1.5 body fat (I have no idea what that means, but the medical assistant, Jen, who is doing my measurements seemed all excited about that.
So far, it hasn't been difficult. I have popcorn at the movies. I had queso at poker the other night. I even had creme brule when we went to Bent Fork for Tracy's mom's birthday dinner. But mostly I'm eating right, I completely cut out pop (not coffee because I need caffeine!), and I'm working out daily at racquetball or on the stationary bike at home.
I know it will get tougher, but I certainly feel better and I'm kicking ass in racquetball right now.

Brilliant

Click here. Then click on play on the movie.
Spongebob Squarepants actors dub scenes (perfectly) from Casablanca, Singing in the Rain and The Godfather.
This is why Al Gore created the Internets.

Mob

Strange headline, but it fit two of the things I wanted to chat about ...

First, go here. Type in your name and you'll get your new mob nickname. Mine was "The Quill." I kinda like that. Got the whole writer thing going on. Very cool.

Second, got "Eastern Promises" on NetFlix this weekend. Very cool flick. Great acting. Kinda like a Russian Sopranos and The Departed put together. I could have done without the naked fight scene (followed by the stupidest move in movies ever ... mental note (moderate spoiler), if I'm ever fighting two guys and I stab one and then go fight the other and kill him, DO NOT crawl away by crawling over the body of the first guy.)

In non-mob related news, Tracy and Big Andy and Christy and I went to see "The Bucket List" this weekend. I really liked it. Some good dialogue and great acting. Actually I think Nicholson was better in this than "About Schmidt" that he was nominated for.

Other news ... Alex had basketball this weekend and he got a bucket (nice how that ties to the previous note, huh?). Normally two points wouldn't be a big deal, but it was two of maybe six points his team scored against a team that looked like a pale version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Andy didn't play this weekend because that morning he was playing with a friend who had slept over in the kitchen with a fake medieval axe (don't ask) and Andy got hit in the eye. I didn't think it was a big deal, but Tracy took him to the Urgent Care and they super glued the wound on his eyelid shut. What do I know?

And on the weightloss front, I'm down about 23 pounds so far since January 1 ... actually about nearly 30 pounds from mid-December. It's going well so far. Had to make two new notches for my belt and I'm fitting into pants I couldn't before.

Mom's coming to visit on Wednesday and the boys are super excited. Should be fun. So, we're trying to clean up the house enough so she won't call Social Services on us. Might take a bit.

Catch up

Crazy work days lately. Seems like everyone's that way right now. Post holiday freak-out? Amazing how it hits everyone.

Saturday, Dono and I took the boys to the Friends of Baseball Breakfast. Tracy Ringolsby and Nolan Ryan were the featured speakers. Ringolsby tried to be a philosopher instead of a baseball insider and bombed. Ryan, however, made up for it with what seemed like an off-the-cuff speech filled with great baseball stories and great lines.

This weekend, my NetFlix brought me two cool flix and the boys and I rented another on OnDemand:
Sleeper Cell Season 2 (disc 1) ... Season 1 was awesome (all terrorist activity should be at Dodger and Yankee Stadiums!) and Season 2 starts off great. Can't wait to see where it goes. Bummer there was no Season 3.

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters ... Absolutely fantastic documentary on a group of people who are obsessed with 1980s video games. Obviously the movies centers on Donkey Kong (not my fav game of that era but certainly great) and one man's goal to unseat the champ who has held the high score on the game since 1982. Better than any scripted movie.

Ratatouile (spell?) ... Heard a lot about this one and it ceetainly lives up to the hype. Great story. Fun characters. Great kid flick that adults will like, too.

Ready for the week?

Well, the weekend was a whirlwind with basketball games, team photos, playdates for the boys and on Sunday we went to Denver for the Denver Kids Expo to promo the book. Long day. Not many sales, but the boys had a good time getting crap from the other booths.

But I did get to see two movies:

Juno -- Excellent flick. Great dialogue (kinda like a female Kevin Smith wrote it ... quite a compliment to Diablo Cody). Really liked it.

There Will Be Blood -- Amazing acting. Brilliant look of the movie. Some have complained it is slow. I don't agree. I was pulled along the whole way but I don't really know for what purpose. As I have mentioned before I have come to accept the fact I enjoy superficial entertainment. I really don't want to think too deeply about metaphors and symbols and all that crap. I just want a good story. And this one had a good story for most of the movie. I don't really get the point of the movie based on the ending. But Daniel Day-Lewis is spectaculor.

Also, on NetFlix I have recently been watching Season 1 of Sleeper Cell which was a Showtime series that lasted 2 seasons. This was base don a recommendation on NetFlix because I like the show 24. And I have got to say it is a GREAT show. I don't know why it only lasted 2 seasons. Maybe the second one sucks (but based on the reviews in NetFlix, I don't think so). Anyway, rent it. It rocks.

Movie-going experience

So, my friend Andy and I went to see "Cloverfield" on Saturday night.

The movie, itself, was very good, I thought (Andy didn't think so because the moving camera thing made him sick).

But the worst part about it was the audience. I realize it was probably a mistake to see a big movie at an evening showing on opening weekend. I don't often get to do that, so I took advantage.

Anyway, the scene in the Greeley Mall Cinemark was horrible. There were 6 teens behind us who talked (not about the movie) throughout and kicked our seats. Andy and I both talked to them and then got the manager who had ushers (are they still called that?) walk up and down the aisles. When they would walk by, the teens would shut up and then they'd start it up 20 seconds later.

Remember when teens used to at least have respect for adults (at least to their faces). These little bastards just kept mouthing off ("I didn't say nothing, man!"). I wanted to go kick their parents' asses.

Going out to a movie is a treat for me. I love seeing a big movie on a big screen (and this one definitely qualified ... although a smaller screen would have made Andy less sick, probably). But because people feel they have a right to ruin everyone else's enjoyment of a movie, I won't be going to any opening night flicks again.

Flicks

Couple quick reviews
DVDs
Fu** -- A documentary on my favorite cuss word. Very funny. Interesting interviews from supporters and detractors.
Superbad -- I loved this movie. So damn funny. This generation's Porky's.
Scoop -- Interesting Woody Allen movie. Ending I saw coming from a mile away but worth a rental.
Wild Hogs -- WAY better than I expected. Not brilliant, but has some funny parts.
The Hitcher -- Not as good as the original (no finger in the fries ... that ain't right) but it does show the gore of the ending that the first one pussed out on.
Balls of Fury -- Just for Christopher Walken and bad hair metal ... dumb fun
The Heartbreak Kid -- Surprised this

Theater
I Am Legend -- Very good. Great effects. Interesting ending.
National Treasure -- Eh.
Probably seeing Atonement or Cloverfield this weekend. Guess which one I want to see?

Shocker

So, this whole weight thing is kinda strange. I've been eating good and working out a little every day. Step on the scale this morning. I've lost 16 pounds since New Year's! Holy crap! I know these are the "easy" pounds but that is so awesome.

I actually had to go and add notches to my belt the other day.

Bizarre, but I'll take it.

Still not 100%

Got hit with a bad bug last week. Could barely move, breathe or anything else for several days.

It's still lingering but I'm back at work now.

The good news: I lost five pounds. So, I'm using this as my un-official kickoff to my annual feeble attempt at losing weight. They are doing a competition ("The Biggest Winner" ... gotta avoid getting sued by NBC) at work and I'm going to do it. It runs from February to May. I'm starting early (only because of the cold).

I'll be much better when I have enough energy to actually work out also.

Back

OK, so obviously I didn't get much blogging done over the break.

It was a nice vacation. Spent time with friends (poker) and family (eating ... first pic below is Tracy's Uncle George and her mom in the kitchen). Saw a couple movies on DVD and one in the theater (National Treasure ... eh.) Saw a dinner theater production in Boulder (2nd pic below is boys with their fav actor from the show) and had a great going-away party for my former editor Bill Spencer from the Fort Morgan Times.

Tracy and I actually got to spend the night away from the kiddos in FM and had a good time checking out the old haunts (our old house, the Times building, etc.). The last picture is Tracy at the gravesite of her grandma and grandpa. She tromped a cute heart in the snow.

Hope everyone has a great 2008.

All the world's a stage ...

And my boys are merely players ... This is from "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever." Alex is top left. Andy bottom left. Other kids are their friends Kevin, Geny and Nicholas.

And this is from Andy's Birthday party which Aunt Jannae was also able to attend this weekend...

A cold Coors

Through my job, I happened to meet the head of security for the Colorado Rockies. I told him that there was a large part of my book, Wrath, that takes place at Coors Field and I'd appreciate picking his brain about the security that's in place.

He said it would be better if I came down there so I could see it first-hand. So, I went yesterday.

This is the view from Dan O'Dowd's personal box!

(click on the pics and they'll be bigger)

It was pretty snow-covered, but it was so fun. Got to see the clubhouse ...

Including Matt Holliday's locker ...

And then, I heard many of the players were working out so I asked if we could see where that is. We went to the room and Garrett Atkins walked in as Jeff Francis was walking out. They yelled to Tulo who was on the treadmill and then the guy I was talking to says, "Hey, Walt." And Walt Weiss comes out.

I shook his hand and, despite the fact I promised myself I wouldn't geek out, I totally did. But Weiss was one of my favorite Oakland A's and I was so jazzed when he came to Colorado. He's now coaching for them. But he was totally in shape and looked like he could play tomorrow.

Here's the pic of us...

Remember when?

It was a great time. It was before Thanksgiving. Before NaNo. Even before Halloween.

It was a glorious time when the Colorado Rockies slid head-first into the playoffs and swept through the first round. Then they were to face the Arizona Diamondbacks (the alleged NLWest champs).

Well, back then, I made a bet with a long-time family friend, Joe Stone, who lives in Arizona. Since the Rockies swept the piddly D-backs, Joe had to pay up by wearing a Rockies hat for all 18 holes on his local golf course.

Below are the pictures he sent. He also sent me the hat which is so small it barely fits my kids. Guess that's what happens when you live in that much heat ... your head just shrivels up. That would explain how the D-backs played also.

The first picture is Joe. The other one, I'm assuming, is Joe after he's played 18 holes in the heat down there.

Either way, GO ROCKIES!!!

Grandma

This weekend my grandma, Sally Akkola, died.

It's teribly sad to think of the world without her in it, but she has been suffering for a long time now and everyone in our family knew she would not have wanted to live like that. We are very glad she isn't in any pain anymore.

When I think of Grandma Akkola, I think of the talks we used to have when I would visit ... usually over the summer. Most of the times these talks took place while she was "putting on her face" (her makeup). I would stretch out on her bed. She would look at me over the lighted mirror she used and we'd talk about our plans. Anyone who ever talked to my Grandma would know the one word you were guaranteed to hear when you asked a question was, "Well..." And she could stretch that word out to last until she figured out what she wanted to say. And then she would reply in a sing-song intonation that nobody will ever be able to get out of my head. Occasionally, I hear my mom talk like that and it makes me smile.

One of my fondest memories of Grandma was when we learned to swim together. I was probably 7 or 8. And neither of us knew how to swim. I was scared to death to learn. So was she. But we took lessons together. Grandma never really got the hang of it, but her courage to even attempt it helped me get over my fear.

Over the summers of my youth, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when they were in Oklahoma City and then in El Paso. When Grandpa was still working, I spent most of my time with Grandma. She even got me to watch soap operas with her. No one (including my wife) has ever been able to do that.

I'm going to miss you, Grandma.

Now what?

I guess I kind of dropped the ball on posts (not that anyone cares).

Anyway, I finished NaNo but the book isn't done yet. My friend, Eric Anderson, and I have made a new pact. By Feb. 29, my book will be finished and I should have a rough edit of it done and printed out for serious editing. He is going to have a 75,000 word novel done by then, too.

Getting a novel every four years on Leap Day seems do-able, right?

45K

Every year during NaNo, I get a couple moments that I realize I would not be able to have writing a book any other way.

This morning, for instance, as I hit 3,000 words on a FLASHBACK, I realized I would never do this with a real novel, but for NaNo, 3,000 words kicks ass!

Anyway, the deadline is approaching. Is it fitting that Nov. 30 is the end of NaNo and also my dad's birthday?

I thought so, too.

Home stretch

I'm at 43,003 this morning. About 300 words short of pace, but I'm feeling good.

Here are the things that have failed to slow me down this month:
* Movies (saw Gone Baby Gone (awesome), Air Guitar Nation (rocks) and Helvetica (yes, the documentary on a font ... and it's great!), but the word count grew.
* New TV (yup, it rocks but I'm still going).
* Reading (still reading Team of Rivals ... a great book but very dense so it takes me awhile to get through it).
* Conspiracies (for some reason I've latelhy become obsessed with the Kennedy assasination. Saw a couple DVDs called "The Men who Killed Kennedy" about the conspiracies and then I saw a History Channel show called "The Kennedy Assasination ... Beyond the conspiracy." The first one showed a bunch of the same stuff I've seen as to how there was no way Oswald could have done it alone (or done it at all). The second debunked all of that stuff. I have absolutely no idea which side I'm on now. But it's interesting.
* Christmas lights ... got most of them up except the ones on the house because there's still a little snow up there.
* Kids ... I don't think I've ignored them too much.
* Wife ... OK, maybe.
* Work ... still going fine.
* Friends ... had one poker game a couple weeks ago and planning another.
* Health ... worked out a little bit and play racquetball at least once a week.

So, all in all, I'd say I'm doing pretty good.

No No NaNo

Realized that for folks who don't care about National Novel Writing Month, this blog just got incredibly boring, so here are some other updates:

1. Boys ... Fine, I think. I'll tell you after NaNo.
2. Tracy ... Same as #1.
3. Work ... huh?
4. Movies ... OK, I'll admit I've been watching ... Saw the Darjheeling Limited this weekend. I have decided that there are people who like Wes Anderson movies and then there are normal people. I laughed more at the preview for "Walk Hard" than I did the movie. Got a nice nap during the movie, though.

This has been your Non-NaNo update. We now return you to a novel-writing month already in progress...

By the way, this is funny ...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EodzF_orJQY

30K

Actually got past 31K as of this morning. Only a couple hundred words behind pace.
Usually turkey time messes up my writing time, but other than visiting relatives on Thursday, the rest of our time is relatively free. So, I'm confident right now.

Story's going well. Developing a lot of backstory I wasn't planning on doing and the main story has taken some interesting turns as well.

Having fun with it now, too!

Downhill

So, I eked past 25K today. Going slow right now, but Tracy is taking the boys to a show tonight so I'll have plenty of time to catch up (of course with Turkey Day coming up, it gets tougher ... tiptaphan and NaNo don't mix well!).

Thanks to Dan for a rather disturbing suggestion for a murder. Didn't quite go down that badly but if some of my other characters start pissing me off, at least I'll know how to handle them.

Should be a good weekend. Not a lot scheduled, so hopefully that means plenty of writing time.

On the downhill side now, so hopefully I'll start picking up speed.

Halfway

OK, so the month is half over ... and my book? Well it's almost there. Was at 24,100 this morning. Hope to get some more done this evening. We'll see.

I just created a whole back-story for my bad guy and the death of his father. That was fun. And he's stuck under the bed with the new Dad staying in the room. Should be fun.

Nearing halfway

Only about 600 words below pace right now.
Story's going well. It's fun because the story really is just going where the characters take it. I truly hope they know how to end this thing because I have no clue.

Lagging, but not by much

I'm at 19,003 words this morning. Slightly behind pace. The story just got good again and I'm pretty excited because I think it may actually be setting up for some sort of conclusion. Still not sure what.

The other fun thing I did this weekend is saw two movies. One on NetFlix and One in the theater.

In the theater, we saw Dan in Real Life. Not a bad piece of fluff, but nothing too great either. Steve Carrell always cracks me up, but he wasn't as great here with lesser material.

The best movie was "Air Guitar Nation" that I rented on NetFlix. What a fun movie. It's about the 2004 International Air Guitar Championships. And, yes, it's exactly what it sounds like: a competition where contestants pretend to play guitar on stage. It was funny and oddly exciting to see the competition. At some points it actually felt like a parody of documentaries which made it even funnier.

hurts so good

I have to admit that when I started Nano this year (hoping for my fifth year of success!), I wasn't too excited. It almost seemed more of an obligation.

But numerous times over the last year, the story for this novel snuck up on me and invaded my thoughts. (Sadly, an ending hasn't created itself yet). And so, I knew I had to finish this novel this year.

The good part is that I'm scaring myself already. I turned a simple task of my bad guy stealing some dinner from a fridge into a race and a hunt. It's been really fun. The plot is driving the story right now. I occasionally make myself make note of the characters, descriptions, place, smells, etc. But I just want to get back to the story. And since that's the kind of story I like to read (see James Patterson), I think that's what I should focus on.

The hard part is having no idea where my plot is going and relying my whole story on it.

We got a note the other day from NaNo about characters and how, if they feel like they aren't fleshed out, you should cast them. So here goes:

Anthony Speck (my bad guy) ... A genetic mutation of Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn
Dean Wilson (Dad) ... My neighbor in San Diego Donnie Crabtree
Elizabeth Wilson (Mom) ... Kate Hudson and Teresa Myers (who I worked with at the Trib)
Peter Wilson (4-year-old son) ... Alex (smart kid with a big imagination)
Olivia Wilson (2-year-old daughter) ... Andy (not the gender but the attitude)

Oh, and as of this morning, I'm at 14,800 words which is slightly behind pace but the weekends tend to be tough for writing so I hope I can keep up. Plus I have poker tonight.

Cheating

I’m at 13,531 words now, but I cheated a little ... I think. What do you think? Is this cheating?

Since I had to write my column for the paper anyway, I put it in my book as I had my character read a newspaper and read my column so I could get credit for those words.

I figured I did write them!

So, I may have cheated a bit, but at least I'm on pace.

Double-digit K

Got to 11K (and change) this morning. Story is stalling a bit (I did a 400-600 word side thing on eating at McDonalds ... I don't know why).
But I'm still enjoying it and I found a new way to torture the family in my story. MICE! Should be fun.

330 words short

Getting up this morning at 5 a.m. was a lot easier this morning since my body thought it was 6 a.m.

I was cruising pretty good on my novel. The writing is going well. Not great literature but words are flowing relatively easily. Not good words. But words.

I was hoping to end the morning at my goal of 8,335 words (supposed to do 1,667 each day), but as I got to word 8,005, my desk fell apart.

Literally.

The whole top part that holds my keyboard just fell off. So, I had to spend the last 20 minutes getting the right Allen wrench for the funky screws that hold the whole thing together. For once, I can honestly say I wasn't trying to find a way to procrastinate.

That means I need to write at least 330 words tonight to stay on track. Shouldn't be a problem ... D'oh, it's "Heroes" night!?!?! And now when I go to bed it's midnight but my body thinks it's 1 a.m.

NaNo

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) began this morning. For me it was at 5 a.m. this morning. I got up -- still pissed they moved the daylight savings thing -- and wrote 2,200 words.

A little ahead of pace. I'm finishing the NaNo book I started 2 years ago (last year I tried to re-write a book I wrote in college and it was f-ing terrible).

Over the past few days, I've been re-reading what I did two years ago and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't crap. In fact, I liked it a lot. Only thing I've written that actually scared me.

The scariest part of this whole thing, however, is that I have no idea where the story is going. I don't know who is going to live or die. What is going to happen to my bad guy? The only thing is that the family the bad guy is living with just hired a migrant worker to do some yard work for them and I don't think he's going to fare very well.

Go NaNo!!!!

Brainwashed

How do you know you've been watching too much World Series?

You have a dream where you are driving the "can't ignore it" Chevy Malibu to Taco Bell to get your free taco and some sort of chili nacho thing before you go see "I Am Legend" and then go home and take some Levitra (damn the 4-hour erection warning!).

And the whole time, that damn "Changes" song from the Coors commercial is ringing in your ears.

Next year

Normally we here in the Rocky Mountain area start saying "Maybe next year" around July (sometimes August, if we're lucky). And we usually don't really mean it.

The only good news that comes out of this year's World Series is that we are now saying it in LATE OCTOBER!!! And we mean it!

The Red Sox were certainly the better team this year. Our players looked like deer in headlights. But if the Rox had won, they would have called it a fluke or a miracle because this was our first real shot at the Series. From now on, we'll be expected to be there.

Poop

Last night sucked, but I'm still VERY positive about this series.

The last two teams to get blown out like this ended up winning the series.

And the last time the Rox gave up 10 runs was to the Marlins ... the game right before the 11 game streak started.

As I said Rox in 6.

Purple skies

As I was making breakfast for the kiddos this morning, I looked out the window at a typical gorgeous Colorado sunrise and I realized the entire sky was purple.

When even Mother Nature is a Rockies fan, there's no way we can lose. Rox in 6.

Urggghhhhh!

If you tell everyone that you are only going to sell tickets via computer, logic would dictate that you have a REALLY BIG server, right?

Not so.

The Rockies tickets server crashed as 8.5 million people tried to get tickets for the three games in Denver. Only good news is that I guess I still have a shot ... if they ever figure out how to sell 'em.

ROCK ON!

THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!!!

Incredible!

3-0, 20 of 21, 6-0.
Take your pick for the most incredible number.
It all means we are one win from the World ... (BLEEPin') Series!!!!
Let's see the Rox do it tonight!

One down

Three to go ... and we are World Series bound!

18 of 19 ... incredible.

Go ROCKIES!

Little Nostradomus

My yioungest son's prediction for tonight (it's VERY specific and he did call the 4-2 game)...

Rockies will be ahead 5-3 going into the 9th. The bases will be loaded with NO outs. And then the D'Backs will hit into a triple play. Not sure how it will happen, but if it does, I guarantee I will need more anxiety pills.

Bet

My sister's godfather, Joe, lives in Phoenix (well, he's actually in one of those millions of suburbs of Phoenix but it's all a freakin' desert so who cares, right?).

Anyway, we now have a bet. So, when the Rockies win, not only do I get to see my team in the World Series, but Joe has to wear a Rockies hat while playing golf on his home course ... including the 19th hole (and he has to send me pictures!).

GO ROCKIES!

Bring back D'Backs!

Can't believe we swept Philly!
Can't wait for Arizona!
GO ROCKIES!!!!

From the tiebreaker

Since you can't hear anything on the video. Here's a pic from before the craziness of the game on Monday. That's me with Donovan, Jeff and Kristi.

And this is after the craziness (and quite a few beers)...

YES!

This morning I asked the boys what they thought the score of the game would be. Andy said 4-2 Rocks. Alex said the same. I told Alex he should pick a different score so we could see who was closer. He said, "It's going to be 4 to 2."

From the mouths of babes ...

WAY TO GO, ROCKIES!!!

(Note to Phillies: Our MVP can beat up your MVP!)

Here we go...

It's been 12 years since the Rockies played in the postseason. And I certainly don't remember being this amped about it (although, man, I wanted to beat those Braves!).

So, it begins today at 1 p.m. MST in Philly. Many of the national folks are picking Philly. I'm glad about that. Nobody gives the Kid Rox any credit and they feed off it.

Rox in 4.

Amazing night

The best game I've ever seen ends with the Rockies going to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.
Here is a crappy video I shot from my cellphone. (There may be a naughty word in it, but I think I said "freakin'"). And maybe the audio doesn't work anyway. But you get the idea.

October ball

So, the Rox did it yesterday. The place was crazy! Probably the second best game I've seen (the first was Helton's walk-off homer over the Dodgers!).

Donovan and I were so amped from the win, we turned around and got tix for tonight's tie-breaker game against the Padres.

GO ROCKIES!

11

IN A ROW!!!!!

10

It's been 10 in a row for the Rox. Only 2 back in the west ... for the DIVISION.

I went to the doc yesterday with chest pain. They told me it was anxiety. Tracy is convinced it's all about the Rockies.

Maybe she's right.

One game back

Baseball is so fun right now!

Who we like:
Pirates
Braves (believe it or not)
Giants (except their bullpen who should have beaten the Padres so we'd be EVEN for the wildcard)
Brewers (so they have something to fight for against the Pads over the weekend)

Who we don't like:
Pads (obviously)
D-backs (last 3 games are against them)
Phillies
Dodgers (still need to lose two more to us before we come home)

On a Rockies roll

Everybody is talking about football and it drives me crazy!

The Rox swept L.A. at home (the pic is my friend Eric and I at the game on Thursday with a broom to help sweep the Dodgers out of town) and THEN swept San Diego on the road. We're now 1.5 games back in the wildcard race. I went with my friend and Dodger fan Randy on Tuesday to see the Rox win it in the 9th off Saito for one of the best games of my life!

It's an exciting time. I'm going on Sunday to see the Rox beat the D-backs to clinch a playoff spot. If nothing else, we ruined LA's chances of getting in the playoffs and we will finally finish above the Dodgers for the first time and Randy will finally owe me a lunch after I have fed him well for the past 5-plus years that we have had our bet.

Go ROCKIES!

Up close and personal

So, a couple months ago, Tracy tells me that she'd like to see Clint Black in concert for her birthday. Well, she controls the purse-strings in the house and so I said, "Sure, go ahead and get the tickets." (she was already getting tix for some other events at our local "big" venue.

So, we get to the show last night and I find out our seats are in the front row ... center.

I used to think front row center was the best seat in the house. But when you are at a sold-out concert for a guy who you only know the words to TWO of his songs, it is frightening.

First, by turning around, I realized that with the house lights down, Mr. Black and his band really couldn't see any of the people in the audience ... except us (as well as the senior citizens sitting on each side of us).

I have been next to the stage for some rock concerts (most notably Whitesnake where I got to slap David Coverdale's hand) but all of those were in the pits with thousands of other people clammering for the stage.

Second, they throw stuff into the audience. I was at a Y&T concert in the late 1980s and I kicked my best friend in the face as I fought him for a Garfield towel that rythmn guitarist Joey Alves threw off the stage (still have it -- signed -- BTW).

But with Clint Black it was a little different. He threw several guitar picks in my direction throughout the show, but the sweet older lady next to me was collecting them because she wanted to make some sort of mosiac to remember the show. So, I made sure she got as many as she could. And when Clint got done playing the drums for a Steely Dan cover they did (yeah, it was pretty good, actually), he handed her a drum stick and threw one toward me. If it had been a Metallica show, I would have climbed over small children to get it. Instead, I ducked and the lady behind me got it. And then the lady next to me said, "Well, what am I going to do with one drumstick?"

Third, the view. When I say first row, I mean right up there. And Mr. Black is a good showman who likes to get close to the audience so he was often standing right on the edge of the stage. What that meant was that I had a lovely view of his crotch for much of the show.

Fourth, they can hear you. While the concert was sold out, the crowd was rather elderly and very sedate. Imagine an entire audience in a coma. But this is a country concert. It is a generally accepted rule that you can "whoop" at a country concert when something is particularly well done. During one very impressive blues number, I "whooped" a few times and it appeared to echo through the hall. In my defense, there were other whoopers but they were in the back of the arena in the whooping section. Tracy turned to me when that song was over and said, "Don't whoop anymore."

Point taken.

I think I'll enjoy my nosebleed seats from now on.

Pirates

OK, I have been pretty bad about updating here. This is a pic from a birthday party the boys attended a couple weeks ago with a Pirate theme. I wish I had taken a pic of the cake. It was awesome!

Anyway, life update:

* Andy's playing soccer and they did great in their first game on Saturday.

* Alex just got a new videogame and I haven't seen him for several days.

* Andy and I went to the Rockies game Sunday and it was outstanding. Great game (two throw-outs at home in one inning!) and the Rox still have a glimmer of hope for the playoffs (my friend Eric and I are going on Sept. 20 to make sure the Rox beat the hated Dodgers!)

* Movies: Saw "The Nanny Diaries" a few weeks ago. It sucked! Saw "3:10 to Yuma" this weekend and LOVED it. Great movie. I never saw the original, so I didn't have that baggage going in.

* Rentals: Been hooked on catching up with "The 4400". On Season 3. Have "Black Snake Moan" coming on NetFlix as a break. Hear it's good.

* Work's been crazy as school has started. But it's much more fun having the students on campus now.

* Tracy's been busy working, too. Not sure she's happy about it, but she's been snowed.

Big time

Alex got one of his life goals crossed off as his Star Wars Lego movie got posted to You Tube.
Check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar2llYG2KDA and give it a good rating!

Last week

Through this summer, my work has had us on 4-10s. It has been wonderful getting Fridays off, but the long hours are getting to everyone. It'll be nice to do a "regular" day I think.

But I still have one more three-day weekend. Sadly, all I really do is sleep in. But it's nice. I am going to finally play some racquetball again. Dan and I are playing Friday afternoon. My regular class starts the first week in September and I REALLY need it.

W.D.

W.D. Farr died Monday. He was 97 years old so it's not like it was a shock, but it's still a blow to our community. I interviewed W.D. back in my newspaper days and when I first met him, I thought he was some old guy who had lost his marbles and didn't know what he was talking about. But, boy, was I wrong. He knew every fact, every date, every everything about agriculture and water in Colorado. When I interviewed Noam Chomsky back in college, I felt I was in the presense of one of the smartest people I would ever meet. W.D. Farr was the closest I ever came to that feeling again. He was a brilliant man with a great sense of humor.

As a side note, one of my favorite memories of W.D. was a few years after our interview. A rookie reporter for the Tribune had asked him a question for the weekly "Man on the Street" interview question. The reporter didn't understand W.D. when he said his name and the rookie editor didn't catch it, so it ran in the paper as "Deputy Farr." Many people gave him a badge which he happily flashed around town to show off his new title.

We'll miss you, W.D.

So much for that

So, Van Halen today announced they are going back on tour with David Lee Roth for the first time since the 1984 tour. They announced 25 dates ... not a single one in DENVER!

I'll admit I wasn't sure if I wanted to see them this time around. I mean Michael Anthony won't be with them because Eddie's son is playing bass. He was a HUGE part of the band (and I loved his Jack Daniel's bass!).

On the other hand, Van Halen was my first rock concert. May 11, 1984, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. My mom took me and four of my best friends to the show (she never attended another concert with my after the guy in front of her spent most of the evening throwing up). But that concert was legendary in my book. Eddie did a 35-minute guitar solo. DLR was unbelievable. Even Alex Van Halen was pretty damn good on his solo.

I saw Van Hagar a couple times later on but it was never the same as that first show. I love Sammy (his solo stuff is WAY better than most Van Hagar stuff).

I guess it doesn't matter what I think because Eddie and the boys are skipping Colorado completely. Happy Trails, boys.

Dogpile

The boys had a good time tackling Aunt Greta this weekend.

I also really enjoyed going to the Rockies on Saturday with a friend who is a Cubs fan as the Rox pummelled them 15-2.

Below is said fan (notice the frown even though the score was only 7-2 at the time) ...

Forgot

Another pic from Austin's visit (turn your head, I'm too lazy to adjust it on my end!)

Rockies are now alone in third place and playing great. Series with Cubbies at home is HUGE!!!!

Third

Rockies are tied for third place in the NL West after last night's win. This team is WAY more fun to watch than any other. We're 4 games out of first ... and it's August. We Rockies fans rarely get to say something like that.

Woo-HOO!!!!

Adios

Well, it's been a fun two weeks with my nephew, Austin, at our house. We had a great time with him and hopefully we can do it again some time.

The picture is of his plane about to take off with a pretty rainbow behind it. A fitting conclusion for his flight back to rainy Seattle.

Jealous

As I was devouring the last 15 pages of the last Harry Potter book, I gasped at some description and Alex overheard me. He wanted to know what was wrong.

I told him it was just a great story. And then I told him I was jealous of him.

"Why?"

"Because you've only read the first four books. You have three books still to read. This is my last one!"

Yes, the series is that good.

I feel the same way about anyone who has never read Dean Koontz' "Watchers."

I know I can go back and re-read them (and I do every couple years with Watchers) but it's different when it's the first time.

I'm just jealous.

Bats

Oh, yeah, and the boys love to "hit" the batting cages!

Acting

You take 4 boys (age 7,9,9 and 38) to the Shakespeare Festival in Boulder and you have them watch not just one but TWO plays ... Sounds like a recipe for disaster, huh?

Actually we had a blast! We saw Tracy's cousin, Charles, (pictured with said boys -- except for the old one shooting the picture) in "Alls Well That Ends Well" and then we saw "Around the World in 80 Days" (yes, I know William didn't write the latter play, but it still counts!)

And we had a great time. This is the second time I've been to the Festival and I am still impressed with the great quality of the performances (especially Charles who kicks butt as Bertram and also plays a baddie in Julius Ceasar).