Overheard In ‘Bama

This past weekend was spent at my parent’s place in Alabama. Everyone and their brother was there; luckily the house was big enough to accommodate.

At one point my sister, La Hermana, was surfing the internet looking for the website to the local movie cinema. Pops looked over from his seat and told her that the site she was looking for was listed in his ‘favorites’. He followed with this amusing line:

Whatever you do, don’t click on the link titled ‘Thailand’!

It appears that he was trying to be funny making us think he had favorited some Asian porn. There was no link marked “Thailand”; we were sure to check.

Later in the evening a group of us were playing the board game Taboo. If you have never played it the game is a bit like charades but you cannot act out anything nor do “sounds like” or anything like that. Well it was Moms’ turn to give clues to her team and she popped out with:

This could be a stripper name.

The word that she was trying to get her people to say…

Himalayas

Any girl that uses “Himalayas” as her stage name has got to be rolling in the dough.

NaBloPoMo Is No Mo’

Finally! It is all over. The NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) challenge is finally over. I had to post at least one blog entry every day in November and I did it. I managed more than one post per day but just barely.

I have to be honest it was fun and challenging but being forced (obviously I didn’t have a gun to my head or anything) to post daily is somewhat stressful. I enjoy posting on a pretty regular basis but I don’t want to feel obligated. Yes, I did willingly sign up to participate and that is why I finished.

Starting right now I will go back to my regularly scheduled posting practices and post whenever I can and whenever I want. By the way, did anyone notice that in the middle of the month I added my signature at the bottom of my posts? Is that cool or does it suck? I think it is cool. This isn’t a poll so I guess it doesn’t really matter what you think…just kidding.

Anyway, thanks for reading along throughout my NaBloPoMo journey but there is a great chance I will never play the game again.

He Was Injured…Injured Bad

Okay so I only have a few days left to finish this NaBloPoMo thing (and down the stretch they come!) and I refuse to blow it now. Well, for emergencies I kept this little video in my pocket as insurance and since I am in Alabama I will use it now.

Is this not the cutest kid? Man, when he says “kicked him in the penis” I just lose it everytime.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy!

How did I miss this? The terrible news is a month old already. I am hurt and disappointed and sad and deflated. My man-crush is leaving my favorite television show. Ahhhhh! Noooooo!

The headline from the BBC News website read like this:

David Tennant Quits As Doctor Who

I now questioned whether or not to continue on with the show after next season or not. Then I remembered something. Before David Tennant was The Doctor I also liked Christopher Eccleston. I have liked other Doctors in the past including my Doctor from when I was a kid, Tom Baker. This show is about change in its main character and it has survived 45 years. It has been good for that long so why shouldn’t it continue to be good? Who amI to question a good formula?

Goodbye Dave. The wife and I will miss you.

If you are interested in reading the entire article click here.

Top Albums Of 2008

As many of you know I am a big music fan. I consider myself mostly a fan of rock but I like pretty much everything. I thought it would be interesting to see what new records were released this year that were actually any good. I understand that the year is not over yet but I checked the upcoming releases and nothing looks any good. I considered a nice and neat top 10 list but we all know that is way too cliché for me. So today you get seven. If you don’t like it then that’s just too bad for you.

While going back through many lists of album releases for this calendar year I realized how out of touch I am with new music. Not only have I not listened to much of anything new this year but I have pretty much not even heard of the majority of the artists who released records. I am slowly turning into my father, I just know it.

Anyway, here are my top 7 albums from this year in alphabetical order:

Flat Rock Revival – Before They Pulled The Plug…

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Live At Twist & Shout

Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night

Lenny Kravitz – It Is Time For A Love Revolution

John Mayer – Where The Light Is

Metallica – Death Magnetic

Steve Winwood – Nine Lives

Not a bad list if I do say so myself. I notice that most of these artists have been around for a pretty decent length of time minus, of course, newbies Flat Rock. I definitely recommend all of these records so go check them out. Let me know if I missed anything good that came out over the past year. I need something else to blare in my car on my way to work.

Feel Good Friday: Middle Of The Road

Hey, it’s black Friday. I am working today unlike most of ya’ll. Say hello to my wife and son who are out somewhere spending inordinate amounts of money. Since I sit on the fence with Christmas (i.e. I hate spending money but love giving gifts) I present this song from The Pretenders.

I so loathe the thought that I will have to be in Alabama tomorrow. I think I’ll make the wife drive. Have a great weekend everyone!

I’ll Never Take Down My Cheryl Tiegs Poster **

I am thankful for having a job where others this year are unlucky and do not have one. I am thankful for having a roof over my head because I don’t have an adjustable rate mortgage. I am thankful for plummeting gas prices. I am thankful that my brother-in-law, El Capitan, got to come home from Iraq this year. I am happy for the amazing friends that I keep.

More importantly I am thankful for the great family that I have which includes the incomparable wife I share my life with and the top notch young man who is the best son I could ever imagine. I would like to thank you for reading my cathartic typings here at this blog. Bless each and every one of those who are in my life directly and indirectly. We all deserve it.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

** Click here if you have no idea what this title means.

‘Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving

The house is full with my wife, son, in-laws and creatures. It is packed to the gills. I was not in the mood for entertaining tonight but sometimes you don’t get what you want. I had no reason to fret, though. Little Harry is holed up in his bedroom on the phone chatting up a girl. The School Girl and her mother, Oma, are tucked into the kitchen talking and cooking. Ivan TT, my father-in-law, is cutting logs on the sofa as the cats and dogs catch Zs with him.

I am trying to finish my book over the din of conversations and snores with the foods of tomorrow’s feast permeating my nostrils. Initially I was a bit perturbed over the fact that we are all separated. For some reason I am grinning sheepishly, content, as this feels like family, like home, like Thanksgiving.

It really doesn’t get much better than this…

Hidden Gem: Vision Quest Soundtrack

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Vision Quest? The movie? Yep, that’s what I listened to this past weekend on vinyl. No, it isn’t something my old man had hidden in his box of goodies, it was actually one that I picked up for the wife at Goodwill…for 99 cents! Yeah, that’s right. What a great place to find cool stuff from time to time.

I will be totally honest with you. Lots of this record really is good. You have Journey, John Waite, Don Henley, Dio, Red Rider, Sammy Hagar and Foreigner. Wow, right? It does, however, have some royal crap like The Style Council and Madonna. You can’t win them all.

I have always been a fan of the 80s soundtrack albums. Throughout my childhood great stuff musically has been in movies and this album is no different. I am not really going to go into the individual tracks so just take my word for it. Reviewing soundtracks is pretty difficult at least for me due to the fact that you have to deal with many different artists and styles and whatnot. Because of the that and my utter lack of wanting to try very hard I will just post a couple of my favorite tracks from this wonderful piece of vinyl.

Here is one of my alltime favorite 80s tunes by John Waite:

I now present my favorite member of Van Halen, the talented singer/guitarist Sammy Hagar:

Hey, tomorrow is turkey day. Can you stand it?

Blogging The Afterlife

As I was standing outside on my back porch last night smoking the day’s last cigarette kicking ideas around in which to blog I had an odd thought. What if I died? Who would let the blogosphere know? Would anyone really care?

I rolled around an idea of a “farewell post”. Maybe I could pre-write and post date a post that would basically let the world know that I am no more. Obviously the details would be missing but I could say goodbye to all of you, my avid readers. It could also be a place for those of you who felt obliged to comment and hopefully leave some nice messages for my wife and family to read about yours truly.

I thought that I could push it out a couple of months and if it got close to time for this “farewell post” to be published I could just push it back further until the time came when I could no longer do so. One of the problems with this idea was if I just tired of blogging or maybe lost my ability to access the internet and falsely reported my own death. I guess I could just leave it up to my wife to tell the world.

Anyway, does this sound like a good idea or am I just morbid and disturbed? Has anyone else that blogs on a regular basis thought of this or am I the only nut-job? Just curious.

Of Pigskin, Daleks And Turkey

Just a couple of thoughts for today. In my desire to finish this NaBloPoMo thing I am actually writing this on Monday and post dating it. Yes, I am a huge cheater…get over it.

– It is too bad that the Titans lost last Sunday but what can you do when you face a legendary future Hall of Famer like the Favre-nator? Plus the Titans were due to lose and many experts find that it can serve as a wake up call. Also, I think Ginger jinxed them.

– Matt Cassell is proving the coaching genius of Bill Belichick. The Pats were written off after Tom Brady went down with his terrible knee injury and the team decided to go with a starting quarterback who hadn’t started since high school. If the boys can just make the playoffs I think with their experience they have just as legitimate a shot at going to the Super Bowl as any team.

– According to a fellow blogger and Doctor Who fanatic, The School Girl’s and my favorite show turned 45 years old this week. I cannot wait for more episodes. I sure am glad that the G-Man fell in love with David Tennant the show as well. Hey, I am secure in my sexuality to have a man-crush. Get over yourself.

– This entire year has flown by so why can’t this week? Dude, I really could use some turkey and dressing. Maybe enough to make me hurl. How about you?

Okay, that seems like enough bullet points (or whatever these are) for today. I have to keep some of my thoughts just in case I run out of stuff to say for the rest of the month. Is anyone else that is participating in the NaBloPoMo beginning to struggle besides Ron and I?

Melancholy Monday: The Angel Song

It’s Monday again, isn’t it? Oh well, at least it is the Monday before Thanksgiving, the holiday where I get to gorge myself on turkey. I only have to work 3 1/2 days this week and to make it better the boss lady will be gone the entire time. Hooray!

For my song today I have chosen a nice power ballad from 80s rockers Great White that I have loved forever.

If we take it one day at a time we can make it to the holiday. Good luck and have a great week.

I’ve Been To: Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana…

Okay so I actually haven’t been to all of those places I listed in the title. I did, however, find this thing that Kathy T. posted over at This Is Laverge, TN that I thought was fun. I have always been intrigued with maps and stuff so I played along.

I think I got them all. There aren’t that many but I’m still young. I hope to do some traveling eventually. Feel free to play along especially if you are struggling through the NaBloPoMo thing like me. One week left but I think I can do it.

What I Should Have Been Doing Today

My plan was to have a “do-nothing” type day today. Unfortunately that did not happen and I was tricked into cleaning out the guest rooms by The School Girl. Oh well, it needed to be done. Something else that I probably should have added to my to-do list was this:

Yep, raking leaves. I think that the guy who invented raking leaves should be dug up and killed again Cromwell style.

Feel Good Friday: Mr. Brownstone

So a little birdie tells me it’s Friday again. Huzzah! Well, with that we have another installment of Feel Good Friday. The track I picked is not really a “feel good” song except in the fact that (rumor has it…ahem) drugs make you feel good.

In honor of one of the more kickinest (is this a real word? no, I think not) bands of the late 80s/early 90s, Guns ‘N’ Roses, who are finally releasing their new album called Chinese Democracy this weekend, I felt the need to share. I used to really love the crunching guitars and thunderous bass of this band. It is a shame what has happened to them.

I am presenting a minor cut from their first album that I really enjoy. I have always tended to lean towards the obscure tracks versus the hit tunes and for that you must suffer.

Everyone try and have a great “last-weekend-before-the-crazy-holiday-season” weekend. Just breathe…