A Great Christmas So Far

A great Christmas so far. We woke up, opened gifts, then sat down to a breakfast of french toast and sausage. In the afternoon we took the kids to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked", which was pretty entertaining. Not $52 entertaining, but hey, that's the cost of being a breeder. Afterwards we drove through CandyCane Lane a second time b4 coming home to settle in and play with our toys. :)

Our own GPS!

Setting up a TomTom GPS our friend Chris got me for Christmas - thanks Entourage!

Candy Cane Lane

@candy cane lane w/ the kids

After Candy Cane Lane we stopped and visited with my parents for a bit, then returned home for dinner and my annual viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life". And yes, a s always, I teared up

Homemade Teacher Gifts . . and a Q-Tip and Yarn Tower LOL

Morning TV viewing

twice in the last ten minutes ABC News has had a typo on the ticker they're running on GMA. No one has spellcheck in NY?

later: poor Kelly Ripa, working at full speed to pull anything out of Rooney Mara. The woman has the personality of my ear wax.

11/22_63

Today I finished reading Stephen King's time travel thriller "11/22/63". It had plenty of tension filled moments, was chock full of historical detail (largely unadulterated by the needs of the plot) and in short it was a fun read. A. [note: this will probably be the last book I read in 2011. I think I'll take it easy and start up again in the new year]

Kim Jon II and Vaclav Havel

Kim Jon II, the leader of North Korea, is dead. He was a nut and a sabre rattler and has kept his country in the stone age for decades. Meanwhile Vaclav Havel, a longtime anti-communist activist, playwright, former Czech President and perennial contender for the Nobel Peace Prize has died at age 75. Any bets on which one will get more press?

A Good Day

Great sales (34) day at work. Also saw a lot of old co-workers: Mike Mac* Sarah, and Berta B. Sadly, however, the Sad Sack Slapjacks were eliminated from the consolation bracket with a miserable performance today. I finish the fantasy season at 6-9.

Smiley's new Smile!

Christopher Hitchens is dead. Enjoy the heat.

Done

Just finished and sent off one of my columns. I'll get to the next one after work tomorrow. Off to bed.

A Sh**ty Day Off

Sh**ty day off. I don't mind the rain and the gloomy skies - Iz down with dat - but I've had a headache, a nosebleed and an argument with Lisa that led to four and a half hours of wasted air in the middle of the day. Lu has a friend coming over and I reckon we should clean the house, but bleep that. I have four destructive, messy kids. No use pretending otherwise. 

Oh, I also have two columns to write and X-Factor voting to attend to. *melodramatic sigh* on the upside, I'm making bbq ribs for dinner.

Chris Rene sucks. Why he's still on X-Factor is beyond me.

I wish to formally wipe the last 23 hours and 58 minutes off the Tivo of my life. What a shit, shit day.

Kudos to Smiley for pronouncing his "Sh" sound worksheet correctly!

Fright Night

Redboxed the remake of "Fright Night" and wonder of wonders it's better than the original. The writing is sharp, blending horror and laughs in all the right proportions, and the acting is terrific (special nod to Anton Yelchin). Plus - drum roll please - DAVID TENANT, aka the Doctor, stars as vampire hunter Peter Vincent. Hell, even the *bloopers* on the DVD were worth the rental fee. A+

ISO

Anybody have a decent stollen recipe they'd care to share?

Hey Now

Yaya to her friend @ dinner, once she giggled at one of my jokes: "Please don't laugh @ his jokes Romy, it only encourages him"

I Can't Believe It

Well, If this doesn't say a lot about the crappy priorities of  the modern world. 

Smack my Head

Annoyed at a Catholic Facebook page that fell for an Onion article and railed against the imaginary project. Jeepers, way to make us look like idiots.

Try It

What I Learned Today: The english bits of 'Feliz Navidad' lends itself perfectly to a Dracula/Transylvanian accent.

I Hope it Was Enough

on the porch reading and watching Smiley play when a homeless man walked by w/ a shopping cart (1st x ever). I stopped and asked him if he was hungry and had Park bring him an apple and a pack of cookies we had just bought. I thought about giving him my untouched sub sandwich too, but in the end my belly won that fight.

Unkwown

Tonight, after the "30 Minutes . ." dud, we put in Liam Neeson's "Unknown". I liked it. A little long, a little improbable, but entertaining and with an imaginative little premise. B+

A Nightmare

Went to bed 'round midnight, woke up at 4:04 from a nightmare bad enough that I promptly went downstairs and hurled. Great night.

Atlas Shrugged Pt 1

i watched "Atlas Shrugged Pt 1" yest. Objectively, it was an ok film that struggled at times to find enough action to warrant its length. Subjectively, it was great to see a film that correctly warns of a near future where the governments whims trump private property, free markets, and worst of all initiative. Lisa stated a few times that "that could never happen". Wait and see. Wait and see.

30 Minutes or Less

We rented the DVD for '30 Minutes or Less' from Netfix. Aptly named film. We made it all of ten minutes before giving up on this mindless turd.

A Celebrity Sighting

Saw Chester Marcol today (Packers kicker from '72-80)