Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Lunch at Olive Garden
We couldn't find a babysitter (6 months today!) so we took Junie w/ us to lunch at Olive Garden. Subpar service but good food, and Junie was an angel. She's gone from Thug to darling over the last few weeks, and right now she's the apple of my eye. BTW, thanks Pam & Tre for the gift certificate.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The tail end of November 2010
Nov 24th
"Put a fish head up your butt" a chant the kids started while marching around the house this morning, after I told Smiley to "get your head outta your butt" and find his shoes.
My column will appear in the Thanksgiving edition of the Journal-Sentinel. Please buy a copy or read it online.My column will appear in the Thanksgiving edition of the Journal-Sentinel. Please buy a copy or read it online.
Nov 25th
If you want to shine, ya gotta polish
I just stayed up way too late to finish "Predators". I'll pay for it in the morning, but the film was a pleasant suprise. Very entertaining for an action sequel, esp one in a franchise I thought had been bled dry. Well worth a rental.
Went out to Thanksgiving lunch, returned to watch NO-DAL, now watching Taylor Swift on NBC. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too.
Nov 26th
Saw an old Genesis concert video on 4.3. Without ? Phil Collins is the dorkiest, least sexy frontman in history.
Allow a man to keep his pride and you can be less worried about keeping your scalp when he's back on his feet
36.5 WMVT aka MPTV Jazz = one of the few reedeming graces of being limited to broadcast TV.
Gadzooks I'm tired, and I haven't even goneto work yet.
Nov 27th
I expected the worst from 'Robin Hood' but all in all it was impressive. Very little to do w/ the legend at all, tho they try to correct w/ a lame postscript. The streak holds; I've yet to see a bad Russell Crowe movie.
We're watching "Eat, Pray, Love" and it is torture. How can someone make a movie this rambling and dull and not hang their head in shame?
From one extreme to another: The Expendables was fun from start to finish. Ah, maybe w/ another cast it would have been a B movie, but w/ the Justice League of freakin' action heroes involved it was a hoot.
Nov 29th
"From Paris With Love" is a fun but mindless action romp, & John Travolta's character single handedly steals the show. At least he did until the 3rd act, when he stopped being a delightful maniac and got all serious. Boo to that :) Travolta alone was worth the rental fee.
Here's Smiley with many of the Home Depot project badges he's earned.
RIP Leslie Nielsen, age 84.
RIP Irvin Kershner (sp?), director of "Empire Strikes Back"
While I would normally relish this Administration looking the fool, I would never want it @ the expense of our nation. Those connected to the Wikleaks fiasco are willingly putting our standing & safety at risk. The source - Pfc Manning, IIRC - is a treasonous jacka** who deserves whatever we throw @ him.
Here's Lu over the summer at my friend Erv's house in IL
Some pics of YaYa at a bakery we visit while waiting for her dance class to begin
A grumpy Ginger:
YaYa is all pissy because I got angry when she took my phone & made a pic of the kids my wallpaper. Whatever. My kids are important to me, but they aren't my complete universe. I'm allowed to have snippets of a life unrelated to being a parent.
Nov 30th
I'vebeen up since 5:30 running errands. Time to sit down and enjoy Season 4 of Hell's Kitchen. Now F* off you donkeys!
After ~ 2 wks w/out the net, we're back online as of 6:47. I still say AT&T was doing what AT&T does best during the delay - give you half-ass service due to a near monopoly - but they have gone ahead and credited our account w/ 2 free months of service. It doesn't make up for the damage to my farm (crops withered, co-ops lost *sob*) but it's a start.
Today's Family Night: homemade fajitas we shared w/ friends, then Olivia off to skating w/ a buddy while the others watched 'The Sorceror's Apprentice' and I dealt w/ AT&T.
"Put a fish head up your butt" a chant the kids started while marching around the house this morning, after I told Smiley to "get your head outta your butt" and find his shoes.
My column will appear in the Thanksgiving edition of the Journal-Sentinel. Please buy a copy or read it online.My column will appear in the Thanksgiving edition of the Journal-Sentinel. Please buy a copy or read it online.
Nov 25th
If you want to shine, ya gotta polish
I just stayed up way too late to finish "Predators". I'll pay for it in the morning, but the film was a pleasant suprise. Very entertaining for an action sequel, esp one in a franchise I thought had been bled dry. Well worth a rental.
Went out to Thanksgiving lunch, returned to watch NO-DAL, now watching Taylor Swift on NBC. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too.
Nov 26th
Saw an old Genesis concert video on 4.3. Without ? Phil Collins is the dorkiest, least sexy frontman in history.
Allow a man to keep his pride and you can be less worried about keeping your scalp when he's back on his feet
36.5 WMVT aka MPTV Jazz = one of the few reedeming graces of being limited to broadcast TV.
Gadzooks I'm tired, and I haven't even goneto work yet.
Nov 27th
I expected the worst from 'Robin Hood' but all in all it was impressive. Very little to do w/ the legend at all, tho they try to correct w/ a lame postscript. The streak holds; I've yet to see a bad Russell Crowe movie.
We're watching "Eat, Pray, Love" and it is torture. How can someone make a movie this rambling and dull and not hang their head in shame?
From one extreme to another: The Expendables was fun from start to finish. Ah, maybe w/ another cast it would have been a B movie, but w/ the Justice League of freakin' action heroes involved it was a hoot.
Nov 29th
"From Paris With Love" is a fun but mindless action romp, & John Travolta's character single handedly steals the show. At least he did until the 3rd act, when he stopped being a delightful maniac and got all serious. Boo to that :) Travolta alone was worth the rental fee.
Here's Smiley with many of the Home Depot project badges he's earned.
RIP Leslie Nielsen, age 84.
RIP Irvin Kershner (sp?), director of "Empire Strikes Back"
While I would normally relish this Administration looking the fool, I would never want it @ the expense of our nation. Those connected to the Wikleaks fiasco are willingly putting our standing & safety at risk. The source - Pfc Manning, IIRC - is a treasonous jacka** who deserves whatever we throw @ him.
Here's Lu over the summer at my friend Erv's house in IL
Some pics of YaYa at a bakery we visit while waiting for her dance class to begin
A grumpy Ginger:
YaYa is all pissy because I got angry when she took my phone & made a pic of the kids my wallpaper. Whatever. My kids are important to me, but they aren't my complete universe. I'm allowed to have snippets of a life unrelated to being a parent.Nov 30th
I'vebeen up since 5:30 running errands. Time to sit down and enjoy Season 4 of Hell's Kitchen. Now F* off you donkeys!
After ~ 2 wks w/out the net, we're back online as of 6:47. I still say AT&T was doing what AT&T does best during the delay - give you half-ass service due to a near monopoly - but they have gone ahead and credited our account w/ 2 free months of service. It doesn't make up for the damage to my farm (crops withered, co-ops lost *sob*) but it's a start.
Today's Family Night: homemade fajitas we shared w/ friends, then Olivia off to skating w/ a buddy while the others watched 'The Sorceror's Apprentice' and I dealt w/ AT&T.
Quote
I learned that I shouldn't get high to come up with ideas. I should come up with ideas and then get high to reward myself. - South Park "A Million Little Fibers"
Leaves of Grass and The Invention of Lying
'Leaves of Grass' was a bore, a truly pretentious turd of a film. There was the woman who answered questions by reciting verses of poetry, the discourses on philosophy, needless gore & 'Parent Trap' FX. That enough for ya?
OTOH, "The Invention of Lying" was pleasant enough, it's atheist plot notwithstanding. How a man can work alongside Jennifer Garner & not believe there's a Creator at work is beyond me.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Congrats to the Seahawks!
No time to say this yesterday, as I worked 'til 10, but congrats to the Seahawks, my 2nd favorite NFC team. It was a pain to follow the game at work, gleaming bits of info from customers, but I can't argue with the result.
A Good Fight
I love when my kids fight over the last brussel sprout, makes me feel like I'm doing something right! - Lisa
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Gabrielle Giffords
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has died after being shot at a store in Tucson, Arizona, law enforcement source tells CNN. -
RIP
UPDATE: the CNN report was incorrect. She has survived!!!!!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tomorrow
Tomorrow, the two oldest start selling girl scout cookies, so let us know starting tomorrow how many cases you'd like, LOL. $3.75 a box this year, & worth every penny for the opportunities they allow girls locally and globally! Did you know that Thin Mints are 2nd only to OREOS in nationwide sales?!! Now imagine if Girl Scouts sold their thin mints more then just one month out of the year! Thin Mint domination!! - Lisa
The Last Exorcism
I rented 'The Last Exorcism' expecting a lousy film. I'm happy to say I was wrong. A disillusioned preacher asks a documentary crew to film him during an exorcism, so that he can reveal his profession to be a scam. Obviously it doesn't go as planned,but throughout you're never sure if the girl is possessed, mentally ill, crying out for help, a victim or a con herself. Very scary at times and solid throughout. Bravo.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Reminder
Remember, I'm in the paper today. As of now, there are 11 comments about it on the JSOnline site, 2 of them full of angry CAPS and !!!!!! marks. Which is odd, since it has nothing to do w/ politics, left or right. Thank heavens JS didn't have comment capability when they published the gay marriage/concealed carry/Catholic Church columns. I had anonymous hate mail sent to my father's house after one of those.
TV
'Dinner for Schmucks' was hit and miss, w/ a few laughs and not a whole lot more to offer. PBS's contemporary 'Sherlock' is grand and a credit to the character. And there's no loser on "The Amazing Race" as even the eliminated teams experience sights and experiences I can only dream about.
A trip to Chi-town
In mid November we took the kids on a spur of the moment trip down to Chicago, both to eat at a deep dish pizzeria and to check out the skyline. Despite a very long wait for the pizza the kids behaved, and while they did their best to act underwhelmed at first, they quickly became entranced by downtown Chicago and the skyline.
Said Ginger a few days afterwards to a friend: "We went to Chi-taco"
Said Ginger a few days afterwards to a friend: "We went to Chi-taco"
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Tomorrow
I have a column in tomorrow's (Wed) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Kindly pick up a copy if you can.
Ouch
Ouch! I just burned my stomach taking cookies out of the oven. Yeah, I shouldn't be baking sans shirt, but I can usually count on my thick manly belly hair to protect me. Oh well. At least the inevitable scar will blend in with the stretch marks.
Jaws
'Jaws', the novel by Peter Benchley, was largely a waste of my time. Speilberg was right - in the book you wind up rooting for the shark because all the humans are a*holes. There's not much to say about his style either. The film is infinitely superior, although I will say that the opening sequence of the book is both well written and suspenseful.
Knight and Day
'Knight and Day' was a fun but forgettable spy flick, at least worth a rental from Redbox. What made it rise above its tired plot? A) Tom Cruise's character was genuinely LOL as he prattled on, oblivious to the situations around him and B) Cameron Diaz has gorgeous feet. That alone would sell the movie for me.
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Years Weekend
Aside from my bitching about the babysitter situation, it was a pretty good New Years wknd. Alcohol helped, of course, but for the most part it was a relaxing wkend full of excessive amts of TV & homemade pizza. Sunday was a little more productive. I watched 9 hrs of football, helped Lis carpet the back stairs, hung a closet rod for Smiley & tracked down a new phone on Craigslist for our friend Chris.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
More updates from Nov
Nov 18th
Were having some internet problems (by 'problems' I mean I forgot to pay the bill) so for the immediate future all FB will be by mobile only.
Nov 20th
out at a restaurant, and Smiley is macking hard on the cute waitress.
Nov 21st
RIP Laurencia Bembenek. I'm sorry WI denied you justice in life.
Damn Michael Vick is good. (this post, re: the Eagles QB wh0 served time for dog fighting, brought out a very negative response on FB. I replied as follows: so we can/are expected to allow for the rehab of everyone from rapists to killers, but someone responsible for the death of animals is somehow unforgivable? That says more about the screwed up mindset of our society than anything else.)
Nov 22nd
"You happy Mommy?" Ginger's favorite ?, asked every morning and off and on throughout the day
Dick Button is a judge on Skating w/ the Stars? What a coup for the show, adding a much needed pinch of respectability to what threatens to be a short lived experiment.
Nov 23rd
Weird day, eh? Late November, but so warm it felt like spring, w/ rain showers and even tornado warnings in SE Wisconsin. & yet it's supposed to be in the 20's later this wk. What a beautiful, whacky state.
Woken up @ 4:45 by noise in the alley, & when I saw the light on in my car I ran outside. No one was there, & I suppose Lis coulda left the lt on. Next time I play hero I can't be barefoot slippers & wearing onlypj bottoms. The hell w/ the danger of a fight, the cold nearly did me in.
I finished Blatty's "Crazy", a novel about a boy who befriends a girl w/ a few screws loose who may/may not be from the future. It'- very sweet and nostalgic, w/ a few good laughs tossed in. As always Blatty's faith provides the philosophical backbone of the book. A nice read in the vein of Mitch Albiom {sic}
Were having some internet problems (by 'problems' I mean I forgot to pay the bill) so for the immediate future all FB will be by mobile only.
Nov 20th
out at a restaurant, and Smiley is macking hard on the cute waitress.
Nov 21st
RIP Laurencia Bembenek. I'm sorry WI denied you justice in life.
Damn Michael Vick is good. (this post, re: the Eagles QB wh0 served time for dog fighting, brought out a very negative response on FB. I replied as follows: so we can/are expected to allow for the rehab of everyone from rapists to killers, but someone responsible for the death of animals is somehow unforgivable? That says more about the screwed up mindset of our society than anything else.)
Nov 22nd
"You happy Mommy?" Ginger's favorite ?, asked every morning and off and on throughout the day
Dick Button is a judge on Skating w/ the Stars? What a coup for the show, adding a much needed pinch of respectability to what threatens to be a short lived experiment.
Nov 23rd
Weird day, eh? Late November, but so warm it felt like spring, w/ rain showers and even tornado warnings in SE Wisconsin. & yet it's supposed to be in the 20's later this wk. What a beautiful, whacky state.
Woken up @ 4:45 by noise in the alley, & when I saw the light on in my car I ran outside. No one was there, & I suppose Lis coulda left the lt on. Next time I play hero I can't be barefoot slippers & wearing onlypj bottoms. The hell w/ the danger of a fight, the cold nearly did me in.
I finished Blatty's "Crazy", a novel about a boy who befriends a girl w/ a few screws loose who may/may not be from the future. It'- very sweet and nostalgic, w/ a few good laughs tossed in. As always Blatty's faith provides the philosophical backbone of the book. A nice read in the vein of Mitch Albiom {sic}
Bingo Baby!
Hot damn, the Packers win and advance to the playoffs! Who-hoo! Two other reasons to be happy for the win: a) it came at the expense of the FIB Bears and b) it eliminated Tampa Bay, thereby making Carlos' life just a little less grand. Triple-win for Dan-Dan!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
6 months
We're 10 days shy of going 6 months w/out a single day w/out kids - or for that matter, so much as 4 hrs (!). Haven't seen a movie in close to a yr, haven't gone out to dinnner alone (w/out a curfew) for months. Typical for some famlies I guess, but Lisa & I enjoy our time together more than most. I think some parents keep their kids on their t*t so they won't notice how little they like their spouse.
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