Wednesday, October 15, 2008

God on Trial?



Man Tries to Sue God

I thought I'd pass along a bit of a hilarious news item from Omaha. (You can hit the link to the story above, and credit the brilliant Gary Larson for his Far Side comic above as well.)

A state Senator from Omaha, tried to sue the Almighty. Why you may ask? He wanted to create an injunction, to prevent God from doing violent acts, such as Earthquakes and Tornados. A noble effort to be sure, but are we really going to clog up a court's time with this?

The judge, threw out the motion, because they aren't able to serve papers to God.

Imagine if they were able to get God to the courtroom. When sworn in would God have said, "I will tell the truth, so help me Me."?

J

Monday, October 13, 2008

Hollow Victories Rule!!!!!




What did you do for your weekend. I got the steel bladder achievement on Rock Band 2.

Maybe I need to explain. On the Xbox 360, every game has certain achievements. Rock Band 2 is no different. You get points added to your gamer score if you do certain feats in games.

One of the more interesting, is the Steel Bladder achievement. Rock Band 2 has a part of the game called the Endless Setlist. You play 84 songs, IN A ROW, to complete the task. That's where the Steel Bladder comes in. If you are able to finish all 84 songs without pausing......you get the Steel Bladder award. That is 6 hours plus, being chained to your xbox 360, because the time in between songs is not long enough for a quick pee break.

So at 11am on Saturday, I decided to go for it. I have 2 TVs at my apartment, so while playing my songs, I was watching the football tilts, talking to my father watching Montana play EWU, and watching other games of interest on my internet.

I did have enough time to get beverages from the fridge, and actually cook some soup on the stove. But alas, no time for the bathroom.

After 6 hours of mashing my fingers, I finally finish up after 5pm on Saturday. My left arm is surprisingly not dead....and the football was good.

God Bless the Hollow Victories!

J

Thursday, October 9, 2008

What a night for TV!!!!!!





Thank goodness for my DVR. I am going to need it in spades 2nit.

Thursday night is my movie night. Since I have the great pleasure of reviewing movies, I see movie sneaks usually on Thursday night. So I'm out of the count for much of a GREAT night of TV.

My usual favorites, Survivor and the Office are on tonight. But there's also 2 biggies.

First, Life on Mars. It's at 10 o'clock on ABC, and it looks fantastic. It's about a cop who is somehow sent to 1973, and deals with the limitations of the time. I'm not familiar with the main guy, but Harvey Keitel, Lisa Bonet, and Michael Imperioli as a supporting cast...WOW! I hope its good, and does well.

Second, CSI. I love me some CSI, and 2nit we finally get closure from Warrick getting shot at the end of last season. This is also the start of a long goodbye to Gil Grissom. I truly believe the show will last past William Peterson's exit. Lawrence Fishburne will be a great addition, and the cast is so strong, it will survive.

Can't wait for tonight.......


J

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

What do we call this decade?



OK....it's so easy to say...."Hey, remember the Eighties?"...or...."I loved Pearl Jam in the Ninties..."

What the heck are we going to say for this decade. We are 8 years into it...and I haven't heard it coined yet.

For that matter, what have kids said in high school the last few years for when they're going to graduate. My class got to chant....89, 89, 808080- Nine. Are they chanting...5!, 5!, fafafa 5! That has no style.

Are we in the Oh's. May as well be the Oh Oh's the way things are going.

I remember an old Northern Exposure episode, where an old gentlemen refered to 1909 as ought 9. I was kinda of looking forward to sounding cool, saying, "Remember in aught 4 when we saw U2 in the Tacoma Dome?" But alas, it more of "Oh Four", instead of "Aught Four".

But you can't say to Ohies. Even next decades sucks...."the Teens?" I'm looking forward to when we can talk about the Twenties again....hopefully they'll be roaring as well.

For me, I'm going to refer to this decade as the Aughties. It rolls of the tongue, and sounds like Naughty....

So do me a favor....when you recollect way back now.....say how weird the Aughties were.

J

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Watching too many numbers



Wow. I don't know if you're like me, but I am keeping a constant eye on the financial markets. The past 2 weeks, I've been watching the up and down financial markets, like I'm keeping an eye on sports scores.

All day, I'm either watching the numbers online, or on TV. Do I know exactly what it means if it goes up, or down. Not really. It just is a major bummer, fearing the major unknown. Depending on who you listen to, things could be headed for disaster, or this is a financial hiccup.

Whatever it is, it sucks.

In our lives, we have enough to worry about. Rent, gas, family, friends....the added stress of this credit crunch is just another distraction, getting in the way of normal life.

My theory on it all, is its the final ripple from 9/11. After that horrific day, nobody knew what was going to happen.

Advertising went down....which is the reason hard alcohol was once again allowed to advertise on TV. If you see cigarettes on TV again, its really getting bad.

This went down for a while, but things seemed to rebound. One reason for the rebound, car dealers and housing people took any customer they could....and many stuck loans to people they never would have approved in the past. Just to get things moving. And now, we're suffering from those loans going bad.

Who knows what's going to happen? I have faith in our system, and it will check itself out....but that doesn't check any of my anxiety for our current situation.

I look forward to the day, I don't watch the financial markets like a hawk. But I don't see that day coming anytime soon.

J



Monday, October 6, 2008

Confessions of a Football Junkie


Oh how I love the pigskin. The end of the year brings a celebration of the gridiron, that I enjoy immensely, and I can't get enough.

Over the weekend....I didn't watch a MINUTE of the baseball playoffs.

So to give you an idea of the mania....I'll give you an inside look to my weekend. I got off work at 6pm, and immediately drove from Kennewick to Spokane. I met my father at the currently under expansion Quest Casino. We had a spectacular lunch, gambled a bit. My dad left at 11pm.....I left at 4am! (Leaving up as well!)

I got up the next morning at 9am....less that 5 hours sleep, but there's football to watch. Also, I have a competition with a friend, 10 games a week, against the spread. 2 off those games were on TV. (Iowa/Michigan St. and Oklahoma/Baylor) During these games, I had breakfast with my father, and worked on the daily crossword.

The 12:30 games kickoff....and there's about five games to keep track of, with Alabama/Kentucky on the TV. During that game, we visit my Grandfather at his rest home....and lucky me, he has the game on. We have a nice visit....and head back home.

I have a Birthday Party to get to, so I shower while listening to the radio, to my beloved WA Huskies get smoked by Arizona. I continue to listen during my 30 minute drive to North Spokane. I have over an hour to kill, so I belly up to the bar at the Swinging Doors Tavern. I get a coffee, and nurse it with multiple refills, as the over 20 big screens keep me up to date on all the night games. OSU/Wisconsin, NC/Conn, USC/Oregon, UW/Arizona....among others. My picks for the day are going down in flames for the first half of all these games......

......but once I get to my friends house, 3 of the 4 turn around. I finish these games at my friends house...(One with my cell phone, since there's no local coverage of the OSU game) We then watch the WSU game....until a poker game breaks out. We proceed to play until 4am.

So I awake at 8:40, so I can meet other friends at a restaurant with the NFL Sunday ticket, completely across town. I get there at 9:30, and one of my best friends and his wife greet me there. My father comes a bit later and we settle in for good food and football. Or so I thought, until the magic time of 10am on a Sunday morning. NONE of the TVs were on a LIVE game!!!! It gets to 10:05, and no change. I feel like a smoker having a nicotine fit.......Theres NFL going on, and I can't see it! THE HORROR.

Slowly, the TV's emit the magic of an NFL Sunday, and things get better. I bid adieu to my friends, and watch the end of the 10am games at home. As soon as the SD/Mia game ends, I say goodbye to my father, and head back for Kennewick. Luckily, the AZ/Buffalo game is on the radio. Between that, and my cell phone, I'm kept up to date on the games. At ritzville, I lost the AZ/Buf game, and got the NE/SF game for the rest of my drive.

I get home a little after the Sunday night game starts...and I was able to watch most of that as well.

So, that's a slice of what goes on with a football junkie, on any given weekend. I'm single at the moment, and that type of weekend won't occur....or for long in that changes, so I'll enjoy it for all its worth while I can.

Long live football.....long live the King.


J