My 2007 Resolutions

Oh man am I a loser, if super-good looking/intelligent folks can ever truly bear that title. In a quest to compose a brief list of resolutions for the upcoming year I came across this post from exactly one year ago today.

Franky, I’d forgotten all about it. I’d thought I’d resolved NOT to make resolutions for 2007, as it was obvious the first part of the year would be taken up with remodeling my house, and the second part with a new baby – both of which preclude any real progress on things like taking trips, or for that matter even taking the chance on a new job.

Here’s the list, and how I did:

1. Continue losing weight, and stick with it.

 Yeah, uh, yeah, ya see . . technically I’ve lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 20+ pounds in the last three months, but that’s after gaining around 70 since New Years. So uh, no.

2. Finish the $3%#$ book

Next.

3. Transcribe all the interviews I've done over the years

Didn’t even look at ‘em.

4. Keep all my teeth

Success!

5. Find happiness in my employment

Let me see if I can put into words how miserably I failed on this score . . oh, no. I can’t.

6. Learn something new

Well, c’mon – try living one year and not learning something. Next.

7. Try to live by my adage "Try not to be an a**hole", as I notice I've been a jerk a lot of 2006 - I blame the job.

Opinions vary.

8. Spend time with my family whenever possible, and actually 'be' present, not just physically there. I've zoned out a lot as of late.

I think I accomplished this. I’ve certainly stepped up to the plate with the new baby.

9. Here's an iffy - see Gettysburg

The closest I got was Gurnee, Illiniois.

10. Resolve or minimize my anxiety, etc. issues

I’ve been much more aggressive on this score and in fairness, I think I have improved a bit.

11. Host a belated 10th anniversary/wife's 30th birthday bash

No money, honey.

12. Take up a physical activity

Well, now that we don’t live in a one-level flat I walk up the stairs several times a day. Does that count?

I guess I’ll have to sit down and come up with something doable for 2008 before the New Year begins. Let me mull it over.

Ugh

NE wins 38-35. Give the devils their due, the Patriots struck back hard, but c'mon - the Giants, each and every time I see them, come to a point where they hit a wall and fall apart.

Poor time management, dropped passes, fumbles . .

Ugh.

So for the 4th time an NFL team goes undefeated. Shitty year for the Packers to be so strong; even if they make the SuperBowl they'd probably come in as heavy underdogs.

End of 3rd

Again, missed most of it with the baby. Now's the time to shut NE down; give up a TD on this drive and I worry about the final outcome.

C'mon Giants, hold 'em!

Halftime

I missed most of the 2nd with a poopy diaper and a cranky baby, but the half-ending drive was phenomenal.

I can't believe how pumped I am. I get soo competitive, and never fail to quickly align myself with one opponent or another, even if I've never seen the teams before.  . testosterone and adrenaline just surging through my veins . . Wow.

Allright, Lauren's bawling. Time to go.

Go Giants!

End of 1st Quarter

First, the most important thing. What a crying shame that a game of such historical importance be voiced by Bryant Gumbel. There has never been a more boring, hesitant, dry announcer.

* * *

And Pi** on the NFL's pathetic attempts to pimp the NFL Network. No, I don't need my cable bill to go up for some slapped-together excuse of a network. I live and breathe baseball and I wouldn't want a 214/7/365 MLB channel either, you money hungry jack**ses.

* * *

I'm very anti-conspiracy, but that b.s. call that voided that 3rd and long sack reeked of micromanagment by the NFL.

* * *

Thanks for the dance in the end zone Randy, and for the TD it created for the Giants.

* * * *
Please, please, continue to pound Jan Brady on every down.

 

Some brief commentary on the Silver Screen

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that last weekend my wife and I were able to see a movie together for the first time in over a year, courtesy of my niece Caitlin's first-ever babysitting.

We saw I am Legend, a movie I've been hankering to see for a long time. Remember I saw the Charlteon Heston version and I'm a fan (albeit a casual one) of author Richart Matheson (sp?).

I loved it, but I left under no misconception that it was Old School or frankly much of a date movie. To quote my wife, who also enjoyed it, "It was like watching the first 10 minutes of [Saving} Private Ryan over and over and over for 2 hours".

She's right. It's dark, it's depressing, and it's relentless. There is no levity, no rainbow in the clouds, no sense of anything but despair.

A very good flick.

* * *

One of my little joys in life  has been watching Turner Movie Classics. It seems to be what American Movie Classics was in my childhood (now it is a mis-mosh of recent crap, presumably because TMC withdrew it's library from that station).

I watched Detective Story, a 1951 Kirk Douglas/William Bendix  piece last night. It doesn't hold up well. Morals have changed, it was overacted, and the plot was weak.

One thing I walked away from it with was a new appreciation for the constitutional restrictions placed upon the police. Complain about Miranda all you want; now watch the allegedly accurate potrayal of a 1951 police station in that movie and thank that little pr**k for that Supreme Court decision.

Folks are denied lawyers, even when they ask for one. Suspects are slapped, kicked, and threatened with beatings. (One lawyer photographs his client before booking to ensure no rough stuff). People, both suspects, witnesses, and victims are brow beaten and pushed to do what the cops want.

AND THROUGHOUT IT ALL, NO ONE EVEN QUESTIONS THE BEHAVIOR.

I presume audiences of 1951 didn't blink either, since it was a famous Broadway play turned Academy Award nominated movie and again, deemed 'accurate' - even to the point of having Douglas suit up in a real NY police station to get the 'feel' for his [abusive] part.

The only socially positive spin - there was an African-American officer.

Man - if I haven't mentioned it before Lord, thanks for having my folks make me in 1974.

* * * *

I also saw Lily Turner (~1933) starring Ruth Chatterton. Ruth was a moderately famous actress who phased out of sight with the implementation of the Morals Code in the mid '30's.

And small wonder - Lily Turner features bigamy, routine adultery, alcoholism, insanity, and attempted murder.

The movie was awarded two stars by Time Warner Cable, but I thought it was decent show, albeit nothing special.

Warning: slipping into 'sassy' talk for a few paragraphs

Chatterton, even at 40, was pretty darn hot, but then again I'm starting to like women in that age range (but that whole naughty girl thing helped lol)

Sigh. It's a shame. Hollywood's finest lived and died decades before the current crop of aneroxic no-talents made it mandatory for actresses to take off their shirts.

But I digress.

Back to good clean family fun

Two points to make about the movie: One the crazy killer was of course, someone with a heavy German accent - also the case in Detective Story. Wartime propaganda dies hard.

Second, in some of the scenes both Chatteton and two men are used as living advertising for a health supplement - I forget the exact wording, but they are billed as being the picture postcard of fitness and health.

Chatterton, and Lord knows I wouldn't complain, has curves and is easily several sizes above current 'standards'.

The men, including one 'strongman', look scrawny and ill-defined. We'd all giggle if they were the models for such malarkey today.

The woman you can write off as changing societal ideals I guess, but the men??? Obviously decades of better medicines, a wider and generally more nuturious menu, and advances in pure size have changed our 'ideal man'. Remember, my maternal grandpa died at 5'6" and a chubby 160# - I'm 6'3" and admittedly overweight, but with a frame that dwarfs his.

Micro-evolution at work over 3/4ths of a century? Perhaps some of that is involved too.

What do you think?

On the Hall, Bhutto, and Snow

Thanks for the well wishes on recovering from our Christmas illnesses's. Unfortunately while YaYa seems completely immune, Lisa is a near zombie, LuLu still feels awful, Smiley isn't living up to his name, and the baby is grumpy.

On the other hand I seem to be on the mend, so hah!

Anyhow, I just wanted to pop on and leave behind a few scattered comments while I have a few moments.  

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto really shocked me. I'd been casually following her opposition to the Pakistini government  for a few months and to open cnn.com and see the headline of her death . . wow.

We've got friends from Pakistan that visit their home every few years, and I think she's there now . . I'll pray for her safety.

* * * *

4 - 8 more inches of snow today, on top of the 2 plus feet that has already made this the 5th snowiest December in recorded Milwaukee history.

Ugh.

* * * *
Good for the NFL for caving in and opening the potentially historic Patriots-Giants game up to the nation at large. I'll be watching - and rooting against New England.

* * * *

Ballots are due on Monday for the Baseball Hall of Fame. If I had a vote . . 

Well, hell, I'm as 'small hall' guy. I get my jollies when years produce only one or two inductees, and the rare year when no one gets in, 'tis warms me heart it does.

No one on the 2008 ballot really excites me. Under the guise of 'small hall', if I had to pick one name, it'd be. .

Mark McGwire.

Sure he probably did steroids, but if the Mitchell report did anything it showed that the use and abuse of those drugs was more 'mainstream' than previously imagined. Does that excuse him? Nah.

But go ahead and tell me how many of those home runs you'd take away because of steroids. This isn't Tony Gwynn; the man was going to hit 'em out (to some degree) roids or no roids.

Not voting for him because he was a 'one trick pony' who could only hit home runs? Yeah, uh huh. Like that would have stopped you from electing him pre-congressional hearing. Don't be a hypocrite.

I guess I have nothing more than an emotional rationale for my support of his candidacy. I enjoyed watching him play, I really did.

If the future has a place for Bonds and Clemens in the Hall, as I'm sure it does, than Big Mac belongs there too.

Now if I was going to go 'big hall' here's who I'd choose:

Tim Raines -  2,605 hits and 808 stolen bases

Allan Trammell  -better than most shortstops in the Hall; overshadowed by some more media-popular players of his era

Bert Byleven - not a name that jumps out at you, but a sufficient 'compiler' of stats to warrant election. 5th all time in strikeouts, 25th or 26th in wins (I forget which)

and the beforementioned McGWire.

 

 

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day all - hope your Christmas was magical.

Ours was marred a bit by illness. On Xmas Eve I took the day off and took LuLu to the doctor. She'd had a cold all weekend and had actually asked to go to the doc, but I underestimated her illness. Turns out she had pneumonia and was quickly put on some powerful antibiotics and an inhaler. While everyone at my Mom's house had already been exposed (and thus the celebration went on) we had to cancel both our standard Christmas morning breakfast with my father-in-law  and a planned Xmas night party at our house.

By today everyone was sick to some degree and I took the two little one's to the ER (I was unable to get a dr appointment) but nada on pneumonia - just bad respitory colds.

Anyhow, the Christmas Eve party was a lot of fun. I made mashed potatoes - peeled 'em and all - and the food was good and the company good natured.

There's pics of the day, and maybe I'll post them soon (inc. some pics of Lauren's first Christmas) but right now the baby's crying up a storm, the wife is sneezing and my sinus feel like they weigh as much as my belly . .

Woo. Gonna be a fun way to send off 2007.

VH1's Top 100 songs of the '90's

The wife and I watched much of VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90's and had a blast doing it . . .but we were disappointed in the final 20.

The order seemed a bit jumbled there at the end (U2 at #2 - really?? - they're a good band, tho' over-rated, but either way the #2 song of the DECADE?). TLC doesn't belong in the 20 either (thank Left Eye's death for the sympathy vote), or Destiny's Child Say My Name, and Alanis shoulda cracked the top 10 - was there a more signature song of the mid '90's then You Oughta Know?

My wife agreed Nirvana would take the crown, but disagreed with the selection. [How cool that Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child called Teen Spirit her favorite song of all time?]. Try as I might, I cannot convince her to abandon her distaste for the group. As in my failure to convert her to Catholicism, I worry this too will condemn her soul.

All in all, not a bad list for your MP3 player.

100 Greatest Songs Of The '90s Full List 01. Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 02. U2 "One" 03. Backstreet Boys "I Want It That Way" 04. Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You" 05. Madonna "Vogue" 06. Sir Mix-A-Lot "Baby Got Back" 07. Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time" 08. TLC"Waterfalls" 09. R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" 10. Sinéad O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U" 11. Pearl Jam "Jeremy" - their most popular Ten song, but not my favorite at all. 12. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" 13. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang" 14. Mariah Carey "Vision of Love" 15. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge" 16. MC Hammer "U Can't Touch This" 17. Destiny's Child "Say My Name" 18. Metallica "Enter Sandman" 19. Beastie Boys "Sabotage" 20. Hanson "MMMBop" Twenty to 25 rock . . 21. Celine Dion "My Heart Will Go On" 22. Beck "Loser" 23. Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue "Whatta Man" 24. House of Pain "Jump Around" 25. Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun" 26. Eminem "My Name Is" 27. Counting Crows "Mr. Jones" 28. Ricky Martin "Livin' laVida Loca" man I hated this song. 29. Vanilla Ice "Ice Ice Baby" I owned TWO copies of this album 30. *NSYNC "Tearin' Up My Heart" 31. Radiohead "Creep" Love it! 32. BLACKstreet "No Diggity" true story: lacking cable and therefore videos, I thought this was Backstreet Boys until 2005. 33. Spice Girls "Wannabe" I still love Posh, but looking at them all in the video . . yum. 34. Third Eye Blind "Semi-Charmed Life" boring 35. Oasis "Wonderwall" kickass 36. C+C Music Factory "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"still rocks, and with a NKOTB connection. 37. Green Day "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" Bush bashers or not, they're great 38. Christina Aguilera "Genie In A Bottle" c'mon - who didn't think she was the best singer among the Britney's of the world 39. Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" I liked Goo Goo before they were big. 40. Color Me Badd "I Wanna Sex You Up" the ugly guy married Tamara Gray??? 41. Spin Doctors "Two Princes" I'm ashamed to say I used to like it 42. Collective Soul "Shine" 43. En Vogue "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" 44. The Fugees "Killing Me Softly With His Song" 45. Hootie & the Blowfish "Only Wanna Be With You" 46. Shania Twain "You're Still the One" 47. Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch "Good Vibrations" still makes ya move 48. Matchbox Twenty "3 AM" 49. Jewel "Who Will Save Your Soul" 50. Alice in Chains "Man in the Box" Please . .it's Alice! 51. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) "California Love" 52. Sugar Ray "Fly" 53. Naughty by Nature "O.P.P." Lisa still laughs that I learned what OPP meant only when watching this show 54. Joan Osborne "One of Us" a fave of Lisa's . . catchy song. 55. Fiona Apple "Criminal" 56. L.L. Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out" 57. Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule "Can I Get A..." 58. Sophie B. Hawkins "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" 59. Weezer "Buddy Holly" 60. Bell Biv DeVoe "Poison" loved it. 61. Sheryl Crow "All I Wanna Do" tired 62. Live "I Alone" always brings back memories of my sister's ex, but I love Live 63. The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase & Puff Daddy "Mo Money Mo Problems" yeah, uh, I'll try the mo problems on for size 64. The Presidents of the United States of America "Peaches" don't remember it from back in the day, honestly 65. Digital Underground "The Humpty Dance" shoulda cracked the top 20! 66. Edwin McCain "I'll Be" what a plain looking guy, eh? 67. Deee-Lite "Groove Is In The Heart" catchy and groovy and the chick is yum 68. Will Smith "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" deserves to be here, but won't be played in 20 years. 69. Korn "Freak on a Leash" never got into them 70. Jamiroquai "Virtual Insanity"again, don't remember it, maybe because it was video heavy? 71. Arrested Development "Tennessee" Milwaukee native Speech 72. Barenaked Ladies "One Week" 73. Marcy Playground "Sex and Candy" 74. Cher "Believe" 75. Kris Kross "Jump" 76. Blues Traveler "Run-Around" 77. Ice Cube "It Was a Good Day" i owned the album. the song sucks. 78. Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way" loved it back then. still catchy. 79. Meredith Brooks "Bitch" change the title and it wouldn't be here. yawn. 80. Right Said Fred "I'm Too Sexy" yawn 81. Paula Cole "I Don't Want to Wait" 82. Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" my cousin was a big fan 83. The Breeders "Cannonball" I loved this song! 84. Snow "Informer" I loved this too, to my shame! Still catchy. 85. Cypress Hill "Insane In The Brain" liked it. 86. The Cranberries "Linger" 87. Billy Ray Cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart" saw him in concert, and the kids love his daughter 88. Duncan Sheik "Barely Breathing" 89. Liz Phair "Never Said" saw her in concert long past her prime 90. New Radicals "You Get What You Give" 91. Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery" 92. Public Enemy "911 Is A Joke" 93. Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories "Stay" god, you couldn't avoid this awful song in the '90's 94. Fastball "The Way" 95. Montell Jordan "This is How We Do It" LOVE it . memories of my nephews birth 96. Nelson "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" 97. Prince & The New Power Generation "Gett Off" I love Prince 98. EMF"Unbelievable" 99. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" 100. Gerardo "Rico Suave"  please shoot me if I ever hear this again.

 

Our house - one year later

Today marks one solid year since we purchased our home. Only 29 more years until it's all ours!

A year ago the room where I'm sitting belonged to somone else, peeling paint, water damaged walls, cloth wire light fixture and all.

Hard to believe it's been a year, and harder to believe it's the same house. That 2006 version feels more and more like we imagined it all - in which case we have some pretty masochistic fantasies.

One thing I'm not too fond of as a homeowner is snow shoveling. Milwaukee has been  buried under snow and ice all month, two feet plus if memory serves, and in response I duly say: Global Warming my A**.

All those years I whined about having to park on the street I never took into account that the city doesn't plow alleys. So now I have off-street parking but not a day goes by without my little car getting stuck, and more than once I've helped a neigbor push through a snow drift or an ice pack.

Ice dams have become a genuine concern around the city and no more so than at my house. One of two items we didn't have money to fix around here was the roof, an ancient affair with more than 5 layers of shingles.. Yikes.

I spent some time all week throwing ice chunks at 4 and 5 foot long icecles hanging from the south side of the house before they took my gutters down with their sheer weight.

Of course, as I write this the city is gripped in a balmy fog and much of the accumulation has turned to water - the alley has a twenty foot long puddle a good 6 inches deep - but the news says we have 2 or 3 inches on the way overnight.

Yeah. Again folks - global warming my A**.