Feeling Resolute

I generally loathe New Year’s resolutions. I think they are a grand waste of time. Uhhm, that is until now. I have thought long and hard and decided to put together a list of things that I would like to work on including one that, with help, I will doggedly complete whole-heartedly.

1. Smoking – I want and need to stop doing it. I am tired of the buying of them. I am tired of feeling a slave to my cigarette pack. I am tired of stinking to high Heaven of smoke. I am tired of the bad taste in my mouth. I am tired of choking on air any time that I exert myself in any form or fashion. I am just tired of smoking. The wife is stopping, G-Man & SueBoo have told me that they will also be stopping and Nelson from work is also quitting. All of these people will be a great support system as long as we all don’t fall off the wagon.

2. Friendly – I plan on being nicer this year. Maybe not to complete strangers but at least being more loving to/with my group of friends and family. Baby steps, ya know. If I can be more upbeat, etc around those people with which I am already comfortable I would think that it might spill over to regular, everyday scrubs like ya’ll. Ooops, see what I mean? I need to work on that.

3. Writing – I have found that I have been doing this, as far as this blog is concerned, a lot more frequently as of late. This is a fine place to use as an outlet for my creativity but I have been thinking of bigger and better things. There is a serious epidemic of bloggers turned mainstream authors lately and I want in on that. I actually started my “Great-American-Novel” several years back but writer’s block gripped me. I think that if I make a more serious effort on this added to the new ideas that have popped up recently I can complete my first real novel. Maybe I don’t get it published and nothing happens but I will at least have a sense of accomplishment and hey, you never know what may happen right?

So did any of ya’ll make resolutions this year? If so were they biggies and do you really think that you will accomplish them? I am keeping my fingers crossed for mine.

2008 Blog In Review: September – December

Okay so this whole review process of the past year has been quite tedious. I think MonsterMash40 is the only one that actually paid this any attention besides me (you rule, by the way). I guess that is something you run into when everyone reads your stuff daily anyways! Hehehe, I made myself giggle. I toyed with leaving you hanging for the final third of the year and truthfully I may just phone this one in. So without further ado here is the end of my review of 2008:

September saw vacation rear its beautiful head. Even though we really didn’t go anywhere it sure was better than being at work! Are you with me? We also had some get-togethers where the camera made an appearance:

Scenes From Vacation: Friday – Monday (Lots O’ Questions)

Scenes From Vacation: Tuesday

Scenes From Vacation: Wednesday

Scenes From Vacation: Thursday

Scenes From Vacation: The End

A Blogger Party

Talladega Weekend ‘08

Having Fun With Goats

Worst…Parade…Ever

I ran into more FAIL situations, too. You know that you’re addicted to them like me:

It’s Becoming An Epidemic

Purveyor Of Fail

I had to show my sensitive side again. I am really ruining my reputation here:

You’re My Best Friend

The Great Gig In The Sky

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy!

I also have a thing (no, not a fetish, sheesh!) for graffiti:

State Park Graffiti

I love history and so from time to time I mention or talk about, well, historical stuff (and some of it was my history). Yeah, that sounded deep and important:

Remembering On Patriot Day

In My Family Tree

Age Progression

2:50 pm…15 Years Ago Today

Real Heroes

I’m Not 18 Anymore…Damn

A Christmas Lie

A Christmas Crush(ed)

Will It Really Live In Infamy?

Playing Chicken

It would not be my blog if I did not talk an arse load (yes this is an actually unit of measurement…in the UK) about sports:

Finding Peace With Football

Random Thoughts In Sports This Weekend

2008 World Series (And End Of The World) Predictions

The Worcester Ruby Legs Win The World Series!

From time to time I write junk about music (and not just “Feel Good Friday” or “Melancholy Monday” posts). I love music, rock & roll mostly but I just have to share my thoughts and whatnot:

Drop The Needle On The Record

On The Road Again

Top Albums of 2008

I don’t think it would be a real month in my life without bizarre conversations:

A Rose By Any Other Name Is Velvet

Overheard In ‘Bama

The year 2008 will be defined by several things but for me it will be the gas fiasco and the election:

I Have Gas

Fuel Crisis Comes To Small Town

Thoughts On The Candidates

Early Voting

Vote For Me

A Change Is Gonna Come?

And then there are those posts where I recognize my fellow bloggers (go read these sites…once you are finished reading mine, that is):

It Is Star Time Once Again

Stars And More Stars

Counting Stars

Stars Above

Oh and of course the year wouldn’t be complete without weird stuff happening:

My Eyes Are Burning

The One Where I Have a Small Anxiety Attack

How An Indoor Kitty Becomes An Outdoor Kitty

Sleep Walking Eating

McSuck It

Aaaarrrrggghhhhh! Okay that is all I can take. Thank God that this year is over. More like thank God this review is over. Anyway, I hope everyone had as good of a 2008 as I did.

2008 Blog In Review: May – August

Okay so now it is time to look back at the middle chunk of 2008 and see what may have happened to me or around the universe that I found interesting enough to write about. I sure hope that I find more than one or two posts. Wish me luck.

I wrote things that were very silly and showed that at times I do indeed have the mind of a 12-year old:

Mad Libs

My 12 Year Old Brain

A Rose By Any Other Name

I like to document many of the conversations that I have:

A Conversation About Homosexual Dairy Products

Episode 21: A Mother’s Day Conversation With Snake & The Evil One

My Wife Is Deaf & A Smart @ss & Has Bad Taste In Music

My Conversation With An Octogenarian

Snake & The Evil One: Politics And Ponies

From A Kroger

Riding In Cars With Wives

I Was Beer Blocked

I was sure to write stories about when I was younger:

Mother’s Day 2008

It Was 20 Years Ago This Summer

I had plenty more posts in regards to sports:

Specter-gate

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss

17

A Sports Renaissance

My New Favorite Football Team

Plan 4 From Green Bay

The Spirit Of The Olympic Games

Time To Punt?

I (or at least the wife) was sure to photograph life events and other get-togethers:

Commencing Towards Commencement

Indiana Jones And The…WTF?

Trying To Relax On A Saturday

The Natural Bridge

We Could Use A Little Help (A Post About Kittens)

Bad Blogger

Images From Birthdays

I also like to write about stuff that annoys me (and about work related stories or other stuff that seemed important at the time), but I am sure that ya’ll already knew that:

My Inner Child Complains A Lot (‘Bout Cutting Grass)

Things I Found On My Computer At Work

An Interesting Phenomenon

My Fourth Of July Weekend

Scenes From Nashville: Flat Rock Revival CD Release Party

Blogging Is Good For The Soul

My Maximum Rock & Roll Experience Has Been Temporarily Muted

I continued my regular post on starred items from my Feed Reader. I like to pass along some of the great posts that my compatriots in the blogging community have written:

When You Wish Upon A Star

Star Light, Star Bright…

Séptima Estrella

It Is Star Time Again

My August Stars: Blog Day 2008

I would also be doing myself a disservice if I did not list all of the posts that made me seem sensitive (or less of an ass anyway):

Counting My Blessings: Week 1

Counting My Blessings: Week 2

Counting My Blessings: Week 3

Counting My Blessings: Week 4

Counting My Blessings: Week 5

I Am Weak And She Is Strong

Counting My Blessings: Week 6

I also had my foray into serious writing when I penned the album review for local band Flat Rock Revival’s debut CD:

Worshipping At The Altar Of Rock & Roll

I started to get into the world-wide phenomenon FAILs and searched far and wide for them wherever I went:

Spelling Fail

Wal-Mart Sign Fail

Menu Fail

Holy crap! I just realized that I picked out a bunch of posts that I wrote for this four month span. I guess I really like my own blog. I am my biggest critic and my own biggest fan I suppose. It seems like 2008 was a pretty decent year.

2008 Blog In Review: January – April

Lots of stuff happened to me this year and most of it has been documented on my little corner of the blogosphere. I like to look back from time to time to see what I have been doing and now is as good a time as any. Also, for those of you that have only recently found me and actually enjoy this crap it will give you a reason to look at some of my older posts from throughout the year.

I found out that my job in Internet Banking was being taken away from us here in Nashville so I started posting for something new and I kept right on talking about work stuff:

The Anticipation Is Killing Me

Scenes From Nashville

Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse

Notes From Work

Dual At Work

I shared with the group thoughts and stories of my (or someone else’s) improprieties:

Further Delinquencies: Removing Body Parts

First The Civil War And Now This

Lovely Moments Interrupted

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Hey Sh!t Head

Non-Music Notes From The Cannery

Dear Dollar General Market

Out And About On A Saturday

Hometown Pride With Poop On The Side

There were also the obligatory search engine terms:

Search Engine Terms: The Return

We were in the final stages of my wife’s father’s extended illness and three month vacation at Nashville’s Veteran’s Hospital:

Update On The Tsar

Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse

I had a story about my neighbors:

I’ve Stepped In It Now

I also posted a ton of my conversations with my wife, friends and family members or complete strangers:

The Geography Of Mathematics

Slingblade At The Exxon

Smart @ss 2

From The Mouth Of Babes

A Conversation In The Car

Conversations And Rutherford B. Hayes

Delusions Of Grandeur?

Snake & The Evil One 19

The Life Of Brian

Klingons Around Uranus

Are Board Games Considered Sports?

It’s Time To Get My Ears Checked

Why Walk When You Can Drive?

There were also a handful of get-togethers with my circle of pals and kin where the camera was inadvertently used to document:

High School Reunion

The Best Guitar Player You’ve Never Heard Of

Scenes From Nashville: Will Hoge

Not Quite Living Up To Expectations

Do You Smell Bacon?

I wrote a little about the ghost lady who shares our home:

I Wish She Would Quit Doing That

I talked about sports way too much:

And Then There Was One

Pearl Bandwagons

Pre-Super Bowl Randomness

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble

Mr. Buckner Meet Coach Belichick

Sports Elitists

Congratulations To Our Lewisburg Ladies

Play Ball?

It Is Madness For Sure

I Learned It Wasn’t Your Fault Years Ago

There’s No Curse

Guys Do It All The Time

We dealt with the television strike and other stuff tv related:

Do I Want The Strike To End?

A Show About Blogging

American Idol Fears The Daleks

My World

I shared some thoughts on religion:

A Question Of Faith

An Answer Of Faith

I continued my regular feature of sharing some of the more interesting, thought-provoking, funny or even anger-inducing posts from other bloggers:

Starred Items IV

Supah Stahr

You’re A Shining Star, No Matter Who You Are

Would any election year be complete without talking about politics? I would think not, so here are a few of the times I did just that:

Not Sure Who To Vote For?

I Hate Politics

Politics Everywhere I Look

There were also those rare occasions that I showed my sensitive side:

Birthdays Come And Go And Come Again

The Grinch Who Stole Valentine’s Day

To Be The Man…

It would also not be fair to the year 2008 without some discussion on gasoline and the shortages:

What About Bush?

Okay so it appears that these may be the only posts that are truly worth reading from the first third of 2008 but please feel free to go back and double check for me. I may also be a bit nutters to think that these count as good ones.

Stars Above

It is the end of the month and time to pull out some of the starred blog posts from my Feed Reader in December. It is truly amazing how many great posts there are every month. I am just so glad that I can share these spectacular bloggers and their amazing, or sad, or funny or annoying posts (I am not picky) with all of you.

Shame On You Walmart – She Eats Crayons

Where I Answer A Question – Newscoma

I Am Favreau – The Coyote Chronicles

”Rocky” Theology – Crossing Jordon

The Most Trusted Name In News? – Southern Beale

Okay, now go read these bloggers and let them know if you think they are great (or crappy, whatever). It helps to get the creative juices flowing to know others are at least listening and letting it be known.

NFL 1st Round Playoff Predictions ‘08/’09

Okay, I will try to move on from The Great NFL/New England/Playoff Debacle Of 2008-09 and just try and enjoy this season for what it is…great football. I love the NFL Playoffs no matter which teams are playing or left out, ahem, and will be thrilled to see a team I like in Super Bowl XLIII.

Saturday, January 3

Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals

I think we all know how this game will turn out. Unfortunately for the Cards they are merely a mediocre team that played in one of the worst divisions in football. Also, unfortunately for the Cards they will have to face an offense featuring two should-be MVP candidates in Matt Ryan and Michael Turner. I don’t expect this one to be close. Pick: Atlanta

Indianapolis Colts @ San Diego Chargers

In the game that I care the least about since I hate both of these teams and their quarterbacks I can only think it will be the best game of the weekend. These teams have been on big runs as of late and have really torn up the league. The home field advantage held by the Chargers is worthless against a guy with the talent level and experience of a Peyton Manning. I have a feeling this one will come down to a field goal in the end. Pick: Indianapolis

Sunday, January 4

Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins

Here is another game in which I really do not care who wins. I suppose that I could pull for Miami for Nelson’s sake but it doesn’t really matter. This Baltimore team is too good for the Dolphins. Look for Flacco to toss the ball all over this Miami defense and for their defense to stifle the Fish offense. The Dolphin team is young and hungry but it looks to me like they have had their run. Pick: Baltimore

Philadelphia Eagles @ Minnesota Vikings

The Eagles lucked their way into these playoffs. The Vikes played a tough game over the team that is the media darling in the Giants this past week. I think that Minnesota has the stuff to pull off a nice run in these playoffs almost like those Giants boys from last season. I think the Vikings have this one in the bag unless Donovan McNabb and his boys from Philly take it to overtime. Hehehe. Pick: Minnesota

Well, there may be a chance that my picks are crazy but I really think it will go down this way. Tell me what you think.

2008 Library In Review

It was my goal in 2008 to read more than I had the previous year which was 25. Secretively I hoped that I could read as many as 30 but found that may be a stretch so I never actually announced that goal to avoid the shame and embarrassment. Well due to luck and making a serious effort to read as much as I could I blew right on past that number. I am about 50 pages shy of completing my final book for this calendar year which will put me at a total of 35! Wow, I even impressed myself.

Here is the list for 2008:

700 Sundays – Billy Crystal
A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby
All Souls: A Family Story From Southie – Michael P. MacDonald
The Amber Room – Steve Berry
Big Trouble – Dave Barry
The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
Blaze – Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
Brain Droppings – George Carlin
Charleston – John Jakes
Crumbtown – Joe Connelly
Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort Of History Of The United States – Dave Barry
Dave Barry’s History Of The Millemium (So Far) – Dave Barry
The Doorkeepers – Graham Masterton
The Eyes Of The Dragon – Stephen King
The Heart-Shaped Box – Joe Hill
Images Of The Beatles – Tim Hill
Kings Of The Hill – Nolan Ryan with Mickey Herskowitz
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Last Templar – Raymond Khoury
Let Me Tell You A Story: A Lifetime In The Game – John Feinstein & Red Auerbach
Letters From Nuremberg – Sen. Christopher J. Dodd
The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson
The Masters – Curt Sampson
New England White – Stephen L. Carter
Night – Elie Wiesel
Paul Revere’s Ride – David Hackett Fischer
The Power And The Glory – Graham Greene
The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll, 3rd Ed. – Ed. by Holly George-Warren & Patricia Romanowski
The Romanov Prophecy – Steve Berry
The Story Of The Confederacy – Robert Selph Henry
The Tales Of Beedle The Bard – JK Rowling
Teacher Man – Frank McCourt
‘Tis – Frank McCourt
Why So Many Gods? – Tim Baker

In 2009 I do not plan to make any predictions as to the number of books I will read but I just hope to stay around the 20 book rage. I have several already picked out and they are some monster sized volumes so that will obviously make the number go down. I have hundreds of books and due to my addiction of buying books lots of them are unread. I hope to fix that issue, at least a little bit, in the upcoming year.

Salt In The Wound

So my New England Patriots were eliminated from the NFL playoffs yesterday much to the excitement of most of the football world. At eleven victories they became only the second team in the history of the league to win that many games and NOT make the playoffs since the 1970 ALF/NFL merger (I hear the 1985 Cleveland Browns were the first). This one really puts a cap onto a season that was rife with injuries and false hopes.

All the Pats had to do yesterday was win in Buffalo (which they did) and have one of two other teams lose. First Baltimore had to lose (that didn’t happen) and then they needed the upstart Miami Dolphins to lose to one of my all-time least favorite teams, the New Jersey York Jets starring Brett Favre. Brett and the Jets managed to suck up the joint thus allowing the Pats to have lots of free time to play golf.

As I got to my desk at work this morning my cube-mate, and long time Dolphins fan, Nelson had prepared a wonderful welcome for me.

Now all I can do this playoff season is root for the Titans, my wife’s remaining teams (Carolina & Minnesota) and hope that the teams that I loathe (Miami, Baltimore, NY Giants, Indianapolis) all lose as fast as possible.

There is also hope for next season. With all of the injuries suffered this year to my boys from New England to have just missed the big dance I can only assume that with healthy stars will come another push towards the playoffs, the Super Bowl and possibly perfection.

Melancholy Monday: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Today is a good day for sad. First of all I have to head back to work and that in itself sucks. It makes it especially crappy when you know that the wife is at home today. Another reason, well my New England Patriots after suffering huge losses of personnel due to injuries including the defending MVP in Tom Brady managed to eke out eleven victories this season and tie for their division lead only to lose out on bogus tie-breakers and miss the playoffs completely.

Finally, my streak was broken yesterday. For more than 6 years I have been undefeated in Trivial Pursuit. Yesterday while playing my wife I had 5, count ‘em 5, game-winning questions that I answered incorrectly which allowed her to complete her own game piece with wedges and get to the center spot to answer a game-winning question that she did not screw up like I did. Depressing.

Here is one of the great songs of our any generation which was written by the incomparable George Harrison, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. This is the version from The Concert For George as performed by Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, son Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston and many, many others.

This one is quite amazing. Luckily this is another short week. I hope I can make it.

Notes From Christmas

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Mine was just fine; thanks for asking.

Christmas Eve was spent at my sister, La Hermana’s house in the ‘Boro. A couple of interesting things came out of that. I got the following card from her and her husband, Michael TD.

It starts out innocent enough, right? Well, when you turn to the inside you get this:

Ahh, sibling love is the best. I understand that it is too late to take her back to the hospital from which she came.

Our family also got to meet Little Harry’s girlfriend. I knew that something like this would happen and it saddens me. No, it isn’t the fact that he has a girlfriend and he is growing up. It’s the fact that this is his first girlfriend and I must admit that we all love her to death. She is cute, sweet and adorable. She seemed very comfortable with the group in the face of such adversity as it is to hang out with my crazy family. We all know the odds of keeping girlfriend number one (or two or three for that matter). Oh well.

(The wife is molesting me as I hold a popular bag for the ladies in my family.)

One other thing. We played Dirty Santa this year for the first time. Generally the gifts you get with a tiny $10 limit are nothing special. Well, I am a huge fan of trivia and such and strangely I do not own Trivial Pursuit. Little Harry’s mom opened the 80s Edition of this game and when it was my turn the little evil monkey inside my head made me swipe it. Oh the joy! Well, my brother-in-law saw fit to take it from me annoying me to high Heaven. Ultimately with the instigation of his wife, my sister, I took the game and hid it in my Uncle Grizz’s van as a joke.

The following morning guess who called me? Yep, it was Michael TD and he was wondering where in the world his game disappeared to. He mentioned that he felt it was stolen and after making a list of possible scoundrels that I had topped it. Then the following exchange took place:

Michael TD: So, do you have any idea what may have happened to my game?

me: Before I answer your question, I have one of my own: “In the 1980’s, which LPGA golfer won the most major tournaments?”

Yeah, I think at that point I was a “bastard” or a “sunovabitch”. It was interesting that I had a question prepared for him because as luck would have it Santa brought me the 25th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit. Hehehe.

(Piper the cat looks on as Fandango models his new doggy jacket.)

Christmas Day saw us traveling across town to Sister-In-Law’s house to have Christmas with The School Girl’s family. Mostly we ate until we were sick, played Wii and got very tired.

An interesting conversation happened while we were loading our plates in the kitchen. I was wearing a brand new red shirt from Mr. Claus while standing next to my wife in line. My Sister-In-Law and her mother, Oma, were at the table eating while Sister-In-Law’s husband, Randy Marsh was in the living room.

The School Girl: Hey, that sure is a nice shirt you have on there.

me: Why thank you. My girlfriend bought it for me.

The School Girl: Oh did she now?

Sister-In-Law: What did I do?

You can imagine the hilarity and odd looks that this misunderstanding had with everyone.

All in all it was a good holiday and of course the turkey caused some of us to find slumber earlier than normal.

Feel Good Friday: I Am Santa Claus

I hope that everyone doesn’t have “the Christmas hang-over”. I also hope that everyone isn’t stuck working the day after Christmas like me. Oh well. It isn’t like I’m going to get much done today. Since Christmas was yesterday I feel that it is okay to squeeze one last Christmas song in before they should be retired. I just love this track by Bob Rivers:

You just have to appreciate Christmas tunes that rock out!

What Christmas Is All About

No one says it better than Linus. Period.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Secret Santa: Day 12

Today is the final day of the Secret Santa game that we have been playing at work. The “secret” part of “Secret Santa” has been revealed and as expected it was my cube-mate Nelson. Not to belittle any of the previous gifts that were bestowed upon me over these 12 business days but I must say that today’s gift makes most of the others look a little like dog poo on my shoe.

Yep, it is a (nearly) 100 year old copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s short stories/novellas “The Merry Men And Other Tales And Fables” and “Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde”. It will be extremely difficult for someone to top this gift this Christmas. Thank you, Nelson Claus.

‘Twas The Day Before Christmas

It is Christmas Eve. I am working an abbreviated day then heading to the family gathering in the ‘Boro where we will be packed in like sardines. I have been saving this song for such a good day as today. It is my mother’s favorite Christmas song and mine as well. If you can listen to this song and not well up or have joy in your heart I will be totally shocked. Here is Mr. Stevie Wonder:

See. What did I tell you? Amazing right? Okay everyone be safe and have a wonderful holiday.

Secret Santa: Day 11

We are now in the home stretch of this Secret Santa thingy that we have been doing at work. Tomorrow the “secret” is revealed. Honestly, it hasn’t been much of a secret with all of the missing days and other telling signs but that is okay; it was fun.

Today’s gift may have actually been my favorite so far and you may be surprised when you see it. First of all I got a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets. I have never played or purchased these before and I was very surprised that even though I really did not win anything that they are extremely addictive. Secondly, along with the tickets was a note. A letter penned directly from Santa himself. I loved the humor in it and my wife laughed uproariously.

(Click to embiggen.)

This is my kind of humor and a much appreciated gift for a game that has been seriously dragging out. I sure cannot wait to see what “Santa” brings me tomorrow and to end the whole charade. Thank you “Santa” for such an amusing pick-me-up.