The Perfect Game Lost: Thoughts on Baseball's Big Moment

I love baseball. There I said it. Great game. If you look to your left, there's the Magic Number count down for my beloved Minnesota Twins (you guys are the tops! Keep it up!)

Recently, a young Detroit Tigers pitcher by the name of Armando Galarraga was one out away from a perfect game. For those of you that don't love America's pastime with the reverence it deserves, a perfect game is the ultimate single game accomplishment a pitcher can have. It means that during the course of the entire game, not a single player from the opposing team safely reached first base. This is not to be confused with a no hitter which just means no one officially scored a hit. There's lots of ways to make it to first without getting a hit, walk, error, 3rd strike and not tagged, balk, to name a few. But in a perfect game, not one single player stood at first base.

It's an awesome achievement. It's so awesome the most pitchers never get one. Ever. Most of the greatest pitchers of all time don't have one. Until this year, there had never been more then one in a single season. Do the math. 30 team, 161 games and the lifetime average is 1 per year. My math might suck but it looks like the odds are 4830 to 1. That's a lot of pitches.

So with one out to go, Galarraga pitches to the Cleveland Indian's Jason Arnold. His ground ball single pulls first baseman to his right, he grabs the single and tosses it to Galarraga who's now covering first. Now, we can argue about why the first baseman went for that ball, it was questionable that he should drift that far and leave the bag to the pitcher. Pitchers aren't always your best glove on the field, but I digress. What happened has rocked baseball.

In the blink of an eye, the runner was declared safe at first. The perfect game was no more. With 26 batters sent back to the dugout, the 27th reaches on a single.

Now, that's what officially happened on the field. The replay, told a completely different story. In the replay, it was obvious, he was out by a half step. But this game is run by humans and the umpire's decisions are the rule on the field. There's no do-overs. No replay.

What follows to me is some of the classiest actions in the modern history of professional sports.

The pitcher turns and sees the call as safe. Unlike your average NBA or NFL or for the most part, most high level athletes of our day. He never threw a fit. He smiled. Took the ball back to the mound and got ready for the next batter. Class.

Jim Lieland, the manager, trots over to first base and calmly discusses this with umpire. The umpire is sticking to his call. The manager lets it go. Class.

After the game, there were no tantrums. Just an umpire going back to his locker room watching the video replaying and realizing he just robbed a young man of his big moment. He didn't spin it. He didn't make excuses. He went to the young mans locker room and with a tear in his eye, he apologized. He swallowed his ego and with balls the size of Texas, stood up and admitted he was wrong. In an interview the next day, with the whole world watching, he admitted to everyone. He screwed up and blew the call. Class. (now, for the record, he used bad words...I'll let it go. He f*^&ed the call)

Since then, the fans have shown a bit less class or even thought about the situation. People forget that this is a game who's biggest decisions are made by humans. I still like that. It adds drama. Machines are cold and boring. Ugh.

There's been a great deal of interest in implementing instant replay for baseball. Personally, I'm not a fan, but I like imperfections. That's just me. One thing that people have been asking for is for Commissioner Selig to overrule the call and give the young man his perfect game. I don't know about that. I think he probably deserves it. Baseball fans won't be forgetting this for a long time. Do you remember who threw a perfect game 3 years ago? But many of us remember Bill Buckner. (He's the first baseman the blew a routine grounder to take away a Red Sox world series victory back in the day...)

But let me open a ginormous can of worms on the idea of reversing that one call. I think if you want to reverse that call, you really need to go through every call in that game and check them all for accuracy. Were there any called 3rd strikes? Were all of those perfect? They better be. My guess is, no one will want to walk that road. Our hippocracy  only goes so far.

Let the game stand. Remember it. Cherish it. And love the game for what it is. Perfect imperfection.

Happy Mother's Day from Target Field home of the Minnesota Twins

We are taking OhCountess to the Twins game today at her request. It's our first time at the Twins' new home and all I can say is wow! This place is amazing!

Happy Mother's Day all you great moms out there!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Location:3rd Ave N,Minneapolis,United States

So...why is this bad?

I was listening to public radio this morning, the discussion was about drinking, driving and teens during the prom season. Changes to the laws have been improving the likelihood the teens survive to their twenties and don't wrap themselves around light posts and 70 mph.

So...they were talking about this program that demonstrates a huge crash with serious injuries outside the schools. One of the shows participants said, "We aren't trying to scare anyone..."

My question to this..."Why the hell not?" What's wrong with kids being scared of drunk driving? I'm scared of drink driving. I'm 40. I say scare the shit out of them. Fear is a very powerful and useful thing. Fear's purpose is to keep us alive. I like alive. Alive > dead.

It is time...

Spring is definitely here. First campfire of the season. S'mores anyone?

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Every men's room should...

Every men's room should have this on the back of the door.

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Because spring isn't quite warm enough yet

We here in Minnesota build really friggin huge amusement parks inside our malls. Hope you are having fun today!


-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Weather Conditions - no complaints

I'll take weather like this...

Now for Rochester, MN (55901)

Temp: 72F
Feels like: 72F
Mostly Cloudy and Windy
Humidity: 31%
Wind: S at 25 mph
Last Updated: 3/30/10 4:45 PM CDT

For more weather information, visit www.weather.com from your PC or
mobile device.

You can just smell the estrogen

Michael Bublè has taken the stage. The woman swoon and the men...well. Happy birthday honey!!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

The things we do for our wives

For OhCountess' birthday, I got her tickets to Michael Bublè. Here's the warmup act, Natural7. Wow! These guys are talented!!!

More to come!

Not bad seats, eh?

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Yet another dudes thoughts on health care reform, Midwest Geek style

I've started a post on this subject and the deleted it so many times. Finding my voice and saying what's on my mind has been so much harder then I ever thought it would be. I have good friends on all sides of this discussion. My self-censoring, biting my tongue was my effort not to strain relationships over this very difficult issue.

Let me preface everything with a disclosure you hopefully already know. I currently work for a very large health care provider. While I'm not a provider of health care services (aka: I'm not a doc, nurse, therapist, etc...) they do sign my paycheck and provide me an opportunity to work. I like that. These thoughts don't reflect my employer, my co-workers, the people that visit here, my wife, or even the guy walking down the street. These are my ideas. Take them as the ramblings of one dude trying to live it right here in the Midwest.

Enough of that.

So what's my take, my spin, my two cents? Well, hopefully it's more like a buck and quarter. I was actually disappointed in the legislation. My liberal friends will be all, "well, duh! It's because you are a conservative," and it wouldn't surprise me of my conservative friends aren't all like, "really? a pinko liberal like you isn't happy?" I'm what you call a moderate libertarian pragmatist. Pigeon hole that biatch.

So what's my beef with this new deal? My biggest beef is we missed a ginormous opportunity here. We could have actually made strides to reform the problems with the health care system. To look at it's failings and strengths and do something truly wonderful.

I know there are people out there, excited for this change. Excited that our government finally did something positive. A good friend of mine, Jennifer over at Poker, Politics & Purpose wrote a piece about some really shady stuff going on in California. Basically, it has to do with laws that shield the insurance companies from the prying eyes of say, their customers. It's some nasty stuff. She's excited for health care reform because it should stop the California health insurance companies from doing this crap. I felt bad she and others have to endure this. She's a single woman, who's self-employed as a writer. I admire her independence.

While I think that's a terrible system there in California, I failed to see why this was a reason to reform our NATION's health care system. I read through that and kept thinking to myself, "why do people live in California? who do they have in their government that allows stupid laws like this to exist? why, oh why have the people of California not revolted and stormed the legislature?" The problem she described wasn't with the insurance companies. Sure, those companies aren't gonna complain about laws like that, but they didn't make them laws. The government did. It's the government's fault they exist and more over, it's the people of California that let their representative government do this. Shift the blame to where it belongs...government.

And yet, we just turned over more of our lives to that entity.

The problem I saw with this whole health care debate was all the evidence, all the research was completely ignored. Emotions were allowed to take over. I've said this here before, it's one of my absolutely favorite questions, "how many anecdotes does it take to prove a point?" (I did a google search on the question, haha, my blog is the only one it returned...) It's a funny question to me, it always makes me chuckle. I laugh easily though. On a more serious note, in formal debate and in the legal system, you can't use an anecdote to prove a point. It's just a story. It's circumstantial and many times, it's emotional.

All the tragic stories in the world, don't prove what's wrong with the health care system. They just muddy the water.

Another friend of mine, Otis at Rapid Eye Reality, shared the story of the birth of his latest child. Otis works in the poker news arena. He's self insured and this story really moved me. The hospital they went to demonstrated everything that's wrong with American business ethics. Those money grubbing scumbags really did go to new lows in screwing over a hard work family in South Carolina. I'd strongly suggest that you follow the link and read the story.It's amazing to what depths a hospital/health care system will go to make a buck.

But while that story drives me to anger, I still don't think it's a reason to prosecute an entire industry. The story reads like any business horror story. If it had been any business doing this, other then a hospital, we'd be reading about how terrible THAT hospital is. What evil, deceitful people work at THAT hospital. We wouldn't just apply that story to a whole industry. We'd find out how common this is. We'd pressure the industry into changing it's practices, heck, we might even send an army of lawyers into their offices and investigate them for fraud.

I work at a different hospital in a different state. The laws are different here. You make a quote in any business, you have to stick to it. It's the law. Let's fix those laws and make sure that everyone has to play by the same ethical business practices that we expect.

The list of bad beat horror stories of our health care system are long. So long, you'd think that no one ever gets good, quality, affordable health care. I also started to notice just how many stories showed a change that we have been experiencing for a long time. Personal responsibility.

On NPR yesterday, I heard the conversation between a show host and two doctors. The doctors were chosen because one was for the new health care reform and the other was against. It was the usual pundit banter. One question really caught my attention. The host asked the guests if they had any personal stories to share about what's wrong with health care (more friggin' anecdotes...geez). The one doctor told the story of his dearly departed mother. She's had been a widow for a while. He checked on her from time to time and had discovered that she wasn't taking all of her medication. When he confronted her about this, she told him she was trying to spread them out because she was worried about the cost. This was his example of why we needed health care reform like the one just passed.

I sat there shocked. (not really, I've heard this before) The reason that we need to force everyone to buy health insurance, to tax everyone that already have it, to take away some benefits from seniors was because this man was too damn cheap to take care of his mother. He expected me, and everyone else to pay her bills. Why doesn't he step up to the plate and pay for her pills? It's his mother!

Health care should never be free because free is an illusion. The old Soviet union had single payer, nationalized health care. The lines were huge and no one wanted to be a doctor. Doctors got paid peanuts. Why do that when you could do something else, make more money, work less hours. One of the dirty little secrets about Medicare/Medicaid is that they are just price fixing schemes designed by the government. Most health care facilities raise their prices for everyone else to make up the difference they are losing because of the Medicare patients.

Here's how that system works. A dude, most likely in a suit, in an office in Washington DC looks at the menu of medical services people get. Next to the description is a box, the column header says, "Amount we will pay providers." He writes a number in that box. When a person goes to the hospital for something on that list, the hospital submits the bill using codes that date back to the 80's and can expect to get paid what that dude wrote in the box. When congress looks to save money on Medicare, they tell that guy in the office to make the numbers smaller in the box. He does that. Hospitals get smaller checks. No one bothers to check what the service really costs. You know, for things like, wages and benefits for the workers, the medicines and supplies. Many things that people have done every day cost more then the reimbursement paid by Medicare. Hospitals do the only thing they can, they raise the prices on everything else for everyone else.

Here in lies my rub with the new legislation. None of this is ever mentioned. Your doctor could totally suck. He might not even be able to treat a simple cut correctly. It doesn't matter, he'll get paid what ever that box the dude wrote in says he should get paid for doing what he did. Why didn't we fix that? Opportunity missed again.

One thing I do know, when people have no skin in the game, they take the game for what ever they can. The part of the system that I never once heard mentioned needing fixing were the people you see in the mirror. We, the people, are our own worst enemies when it comes to creating costs in the medical systems. When people have free (as in beer, to them, again it's really not free) health care, they go to the doctor for EVERYTHING. It used to be, we only went to the doctor when we were actually sick and needed one. Now, we go to the doctor, the doctor tells us we have a virus, like a cold, we demand that he fix it. He says there's nothing he can do, we say sure there is doc, you prescribe a pill to me and I'll come back later for more worthless visits and you can get paid for them too, if you don't I'll go to your competition and you won't get my, I mean my insurance companies, money. Doctor complies.

This may seem small or just a little stupid but it's costing everyone big dollars. That visit cost money, you know, staff, lights, that paper thing on the bed, clean equipment (that's now needing to be cleaned again cuz you touched it)...hopefully you see what I'm talking about. We've just expanded the number of people that will have access to do this to system more. More money wasted.

Again, another topic not touched.

Why didn't we look at what is really driving up cost? It was just assumed that the evil hospitals, greedy doctors and corrupt insurance companies are the root of all evil. We the people can't possibly be the source.

We missed a golden opportunity to actually fix the system. To make it work better. To find the real costs that make this so expensive. We found the scapegoats. We beat them into submission. Truth be damned. Pragmatism, what's that?

I would have loved it if we took the time to really understand the issues. To find the money leaks. I'm sure I missed something, this has been building up in me for weeks, and just now, I puked it onto the keyboard. I'm really hoping that people will understand my point of view. I was hoping to find more research, I had seen somewhere, that the MD Anderson Center in Texas spent more money on research then the entire nation of Canada. I worry that as we move to a single payer system, research will disappear. Much of that research is done here. Nations with single payer systems tend to spend far less and rely on others to do it. I hope we don't head that direction.

I really wanted to know what we spend trying heroic measures to keep our loved ones alive when, in the real world, there's no hope. We spare no expense, do what ever it takes to keep them alive. I have no idea how to fix this, but I have to believe there's a way, we as humans can learn to let go.

I should probably quit rambling. To those I've mentioned here, know this, I respect your opinions very much, I just chose to see them differently.

One more big block of ice removed from my ice jam otherwise known as writers block, out of the way. You feel better, I do?

Thanks to NapWarden at NapWarden Designs for the custom soap box graphics! You're awesome!

Things you may not have know

Where does the time go. The writers block continues. I've sat here and started so many posts only to just abandon them. Keep up on reading everyone else's blogs has become increasingly difficult as well. My unread posts in Google Reader is getting ridiculous. Heck, Twitter and Facebook only really get updated now by automatic processes. C'est la vie. Our kids continue to grow and amaze me each and every day. Maybe it's old age (I know, I'm not, just sayin') but my usual time to write was in the evening, but by 9pm, my brain is ready to go into neutral. Zone out to some TV, play a little poker and fall asleep while doin' it.

But I have so much I want to say. I'm still really stuck on the whole health care reform debate. I have a very strong opinion. I know my opinion isn't popular. My reasoning is different from everything most people have heard. Ugh. This is so frustrating. All I hope to do is share my ideas in a way that doesn't immediately piss people off. I'll keep working on it. Hopefully before Sunday's ridiculous vote.

There's another problem I've been suppressing and I'm finding very difficult to talk about. It's something I'm very sensitive about but usually just express with cold, dead silence. I think the only way I'm ever going to talk about is just to lay it out there and let the cards fall where they may.

You may know this, you may not, but I write software for a very large, not-for-profit health care provider. I'm assuming you are all are smart enough to figure this out on your own. Google really does index well. Sigh.

Any ways, this place is, in many ways, a truly amazing place. There's definitely parts of my job that suck. I have to wear a tie and "business formal" every day. I satisfy my inner-rock star and disdain for this by wearing a lot of Jerry Garcia ties. Yo, make me wear a tie and I'll wear one designed by a highly respected hippie.

Writing code all day can be a grind. In my last job, I wrote software for money grubbing scumbags. They weren't all scumbags, but many that I met were definitely soulless people. In this job, I write software that helps cure people of cancer. It's an amazing feeling. I found out that one the projects I did saved 15 minutes on a patient treatment. I can't go into too many details, but that's actually are really good thing for the patient, it also meant we could see one more patient a day. I know there will be some people out there that read this as a money thing. But we look at it as one person potentially cured. You see, no one here gets paid by the patient. We ALL get salaries. The Doctors, nurses, technicians, therapists...everyone. Seeing one more patient just makes us work a little harder for the same pay. I'm sure the foundation makes a bit more, but amazingly, we just keep pouring that money into research....to cure more people.

Like I said. This place amazes me every day. I see miracles. I see hope in people's eyes that had no hope. For many, this place is there last hope. We are the biggest hospital in the middle of the corn field. (Technically, this is one of the biggest medical facilities in the world...besides being located in the middle of a cornfield...but hey).

One of our driving principals is the mission, "The needs of the patient come first." Here, they mean it. There is also a philosophy that every cog in this giant machine is important. From the chief surgeon to the person greeting you at the door to the guy that makes sure the signs are straight, every job is vital to our mission, "The needs of the patient come first". I wish every medical facility was run like this. I'm sure there are stories where someone feels they were wronged by this organization. There are 35,000 employees at this location alone, someone is bound to screw up the mission.

Since I diving into this online world of blogging, I've seen so many good causes and people working really hard to change there part of the world. I've been quite moved by much of it. For the non-poker people reading this, you'd be amazed at just how generous the poker world is. It could be our complete disregard for the value of money and our keen insights into the psychology of people, but what ever it is, the poker world opens up all the time to help people and causes.

And here in lies one of my own personal struggles.

I am a person that absolutely LOVES to help others. Working here has been fantastic. I get to help people every single day. I'd never seen a place give so much back to the world until I came here. There are miracles every where. People from around the world come here for treatments, lots of the for free. We do all kinds of events to raise money/awareness/or just do something. You want to sell raffle tickets for a good cause, they'll be sold in minutes here. When I go for my walks at lunch, you walk past The Ronald McDonald House, The Gift of Life House, and many others I can't remember. These are places that allow patients and families to stay for free or stupidly cheap fees for as long as they need care. In this town, we raise funds all the time.

So, I open up Google reader, and I read about something that just tears me up. It's a story about someone that really needs help. I feel torn inside. I'd love to help, but frankly, I'm tapped out. Some of the people looking for help are people I consider very good Internet friends, aka - invisible Internet friends.

I've tried very hard over the years to do what I can to promote some of these events and causes. I have a platform that will reach some people. I can do that. I'll retweet, post links, but sometimes I feel terribly guilty because I've not sent the check or click the send button in PayPal. I just have to have some limits.

Working here, I've realized that there are just too many people in need for me to help everyone. There are an endless supply of causes that need attention. I'll do as much as I can, but sometimes, people may just need to understand, there's only so much many of us can give.

I don't really know why I'm writing this. I don't really know if people will even understand where I'm coming from. I just thought I'd put it out there, kind of a disclaimer about why, sometimes, I may seem like someone that doesn't care or isn't working hard for some issue. It might be that I'm just booked working on something else. In the end, I really do care. Sometimes, you may just find me be quiet angel in the back. Anonymously giving through an account you don't recognize. I don't want and don't care if I get recognized.

Thanks for reading this far. This one more thing done that I know was blocking up the works. Clear out the clutter and I might just get back to writing more regularly. Now, go out there and give back! Pay it forward! Just Do It! I've got code to write, maybe we can be out of work because we've cured cancer. I could only hope. That unemployment check would absolutely rock. By the way, if this makes absolutely no sense what so ever, yeah, my stream of consciences go like that sometimes. Try living inside this head...yeah...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm feeling the green of my ancestors today. Hopefully the snakes are still gone where you are. And...be careful out there. It's amature night at the bars. These kids have no idea how to drink large quantities of green beer and Irish whiskey!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

I love these seats

Made it to the game. Not a bad view, huh? Let's play hockey!!!

Location:W Kellogg Blvd,St Paul,United States

Let's Play Hockey - Dad's A...

I don't know what it is. but it's been really hard for me to get words on this page. Writers block is a bitch. There's been no lack of ideas just a problem getting the ideas out and satisfactory. Hm.

Today, OhCountess and I are off to the see the Minnesota Wild play some hockey. Should be an awesome time. My bet, I'll be posting random pictures and thoughts while there. It happens.

The pain of showing the kids the video of the Hamster Dance continues. I hope to never make that mistake again. Please. I beg you to follow my advice. Ear worms aren't funny.

Heard in the car yesterday:

As usual, I have no idea how the family conversation started but there we were talking about the Chinese animal associated with our birth year. I'm always a bit touchy about this. Each of our kids proudly told us our animal, they even knew mom's. I get really nervous when we talk about this. You see, I was born in 1969. When we take the kids out for Chinese, those place mats are lots of fun. There's definitely more then one name to call the animal of 1969. The place mat calls the animal a "Cock". Yeah, not exactly what we want our daughter to say, "Yeah, my dad's a cock." Face palm. OhPrincess2 was very proud to say she knew what dad was. I was preparing to get hit with a pot. My face all scrunched up, cringing from hearing my daughter say that word. Here it comes....

"Dad's a hen"

That's better, right?

A Catastrophic Parenting Error

Last night, OhCountess and I were playing with the kids after dinner. Light fare, nothing out of the ordinary. One of the kids was kinda humming/singing/making cute tones when all of the sudden, the tones reminded us of a really funny website.

Before there was the Rickrolling, there was this website. My friends and I used to send it too each other in so many fun and clever ways.

Last night, out of stupidity, we showed the kids this video. "Won't that be fun?" we mistakenly thought. Now, I hope you are clicking through these links. I haven't rickrolled anyone in a while, so hopefully that one gets hit at least once...Oh, wait! The point of this post!

You see, now our kids can't stop singing the Hampster Dance. They won't stop begging me to play it. When we turn our backs, they are at YouTube playing this God forsaken song. They have even taken to begging me to download that song so they can play it on their MP3 players. So I'm warning you, never, and I mean NEVER play this song for your kids. I would have embedded the video for you but alas, it's not embeddable. Friggin' lawyers. In it's place, a reasonable alternative so you might accidentally click it and listen to it's beauty. It even shows the lovely animated GIF :)



WAIT! Before you go, have you seen this video?


Classic. While I'm not a fan of Bud Light, this series has been hilarious. Of course, if you haven't seen their best ever...here's Swear Jar.



Hope you have a good laugh today! Cheers!

For those of you not on Twitter: It's the Muppets

I shared this on Twitter just a little bit ago. It's too funny to keep bottled up. For your viewing pleasure, it's Beaker:

I'm doing what I can to spread quality viral videos. And while I'm at it, Bohemian Rhapsody, as performed by Gonzo and the chickens. This kind of entertainment is just so hard to come by:

Simple genius.

Have a great day!

Bad language

Today, I've got another Words of Wisdom shared at my girl's school. It has to do with bad language. I thought I might share with you a little tid bit about OhCaptain to let you in my mind, just a little bit.

Strap on your helmets and step into the wayback machine. We are taking back to when grunge was king and I was but a 20 something in search of a path.

After my first trip the gates of a college, I was out of school but careerless. I worked several part-time and one full time job at the same time. Kinda like how I blog, ya know?

One of these jobs was working at one of the local bars. Let's not mince words here, it was your typical local meat market bar. Lots of 20 somethings in search of, you know. Beer. ;) I did some bar tending and table waiting here, those tips were nice, I also helped out at the door on occasion checking out kids fake ID's, but my primary role was the Saturday night DJ. Wow. What a job for a aimless 20 single 20 something male. They job paid cash, got tips, allowed the consumption of beer, the beer was free and I got to pick the tunes.

Early on at this job, I had heard some wise man that I can't remember who, said

Using bad words means you aren't smart enough to say something better.

Now, being the cocky ass that I was, I took that as a challenge to never go blue. For the most part, there's no way my DJ show was G rated. You are trying to entertain a bunch of drunk people, there's no unicorns and bunnies here. It's grown up time. But for me, the challenge was to make the grown up time fun, entertaining and never use bad words. For the most part, I succeeded.

This came in my email yesterday, it the Words of Wisdom as read by one of the schools students over the PA. It made me think back to that first quote, about not being smart enough to say something better. Here's what they read:

---

Have you noticed how much bad language there is in the movies, in videos, and in music? Back in the olden days, when your parents and teachers were young people, you never heard bad language on TV or on the radio or in the movies. It was thought to be hurtful and disrespectful. In other words, hearing a lot of cursing and bad language upset most people.

Now listed to these ancient words of wisdom:

Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a person speaks, so is that person. – Publilius Syrus

In other words, the words we speak are a mirror of who we are. The words we speak show our reflection, like a mirror.

Today, if you hear bad language, think about what the words are really saying about the person using them. And if you catch yourself using bad language, ask yourself this: Am I the words I speak?

---

Good words to think about. Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint. I use bad words. My kids have a policy of telling mom every time I do it, but I too am not a big fan. They have their usefulness, but it's more fun to find other ways of saying the same thing. Here's some of my favorite swearing substitutes:

• Holy Schmidt Big Mouth! (Might be a Minnesota thing...)
• For the love of Pete! (Thank you Shrek!)
• Farfignugen
• Gosh darn it. (It makes me laugh...)

Do you have any favorite substitutes? I'm always on the prowl for new one.

Date Night! A Prarie Home Companion Edition

OhCountess and I are attending the live broadcast of A Prarie Home Companion this evening. I expect many laughs and good times. Tune in on your local public radio station. See if you can hear us laughing!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Words of Wisdom

This poor blog. I've been sitting here over the last few weeks just overwhelmed with words to describe view of politics and society. Just simply overwhelmed. The rants I've started writing and just left in the "Draft" stage here at Blogger are numerous. I'm mostly self-censoring which I know isn't exactly a good thing.

It came to me today in an email. Something to share that's positive. Our home lives have gotten pretty routine as of late. One big piece of news that I haven't shared is my poker writings have wider audience now, Minnesota Poker Magazine is now highlighting a new blogger, me!

So, what was this thing that came to me in an email today that I so tangently skipped past for a little shameless self promotion?

My kid's school got a new principal this year. A hard transition for the older kids because he's different and they are blaming him for all the new ills of the world, but my little one thinks he's cool. She's in 1st grade...she hadn't really gotten all that used to the last principal...I know, I know, I'm rambling...

So, this new principal has been working really hard to get the kids involved with concepts of personal responsibility and character. Gawd, I love this guy (and he's a huge Twins fan...I think I'm in love). Each day, a different student reads the days announcements over the PA system. So reminds me of my youth. That's pretty cool, but it gets better (from the parent point of view)...each day they also read the day's "Words of Wisdom".

I have no idea who writes these or where they come from, I should probably ask, but what a great idea for some blog posts! Share them! Here's the sample from today:

How many times have you heard this?

“Keep your shoes off the couch.”
“Wipe your feet before you come in.”
“Pick up those clothes from the floor.”

So, what’s up with all of that? What’s up is that your parents or caregivers are trying to teach you about respect. They want to teach you to respect all the hard work they had to do to buy the couch and to buy the clothes, and they want you to show some respect for all the cleaning and washing they’ve done so you can live in a clean home and wear clean clothes.

So, next time you hear someone say, “Keep your shoes off the couch,” remember that someone loves you enough to teach you about respect.

Make it a great day . . . or not. The choice is yours.

This lesson could be learned by so many of the grown-ups I know. Here at work, there are so many examples of people just not respecting other in the little things they do. Leaving lights and projectors on in the conference rooms because "someone else will turn them off." That just shows a complete lack of respect for "someone else." Turn them off yourself. You are a big person. Leaving messes of any kind is just rude.

I also just love the last line, "Make it a great day...or not. The choice is yours." Far too often, we fail to make our own choices and let others around them make them for us. The government can't make your life better, but you can. Your boss can't make your day/job better, but you can. When the world hands you lemons, make the best damn lemonade you can.

I'm gonna try to share these on a semi-regular basis. I really like reading them each day and since this is my blog, I'm gonna share them with you because this is my blog, damn it.

Now, go have a great day and rock this place!

Can anyone else here a bell? China vs. Google

I'm not one to light heartedly sound alarms about impending doom. Heck, I openly mock the local weather people about the severity of impending snow storms. #snowmageddon is the absolutely best way to set fire to a work day.

Look! A snow flake, in Minnesota! Where are the kids ma? We're heading for the bunker!

I'm a geek- look, up top, it says so RIGHT THERE! From time to time, I find the news scary. Most people are gonna just ignore this because who the hell cares if China's hacking some servers. Ppfftt. Let me know when they are heading this way...right?

I'm just shocked at their audacity and our complete ambivalence. These people are attacking the core of our nations information infrastructure AND NO ONE CARES.

I don't want to sound too alarmist because as of right now, they haven't gotten anything that we know, but still. This is a government of a sovereign nation that is openly attacking us and we do nothing.

Google, has for the most part, put it's foot down and hopefully it stays down. So many companies just cave to China because of the almighty dollar. China knows this and is using it to their advantage. We are blinded by greed. We are teetering with a huge problem and hopefully, someone, someday recognizes just how fragile it all can be.

China vs. Google: Did a Google employee provide inside help?

Closing out the bucket list one item at a time

Still busy as a beavers at the OhCaptain house. Before I get to the bucket list story I just have to tell you about, here's some of what's keeping me distracted lately.

Although, this blog has taken the brunt of the neglect. My photo blog heated up again recently when I started posting a bunch of pictures from my Las Vegas trip in December and a new photo challenge I'm doing with a few locals. Be sure to check it out - http://twalshphotoblog.blogspot.com/

The other blog getting my attention is my poker blog. I've been posting all the stories from the Blogger Winter Gathering, otherwise known as the WPBT Classic. Believe it or not, this trip really isn't all about poker. We do some crazy stuff. Check it out http://ohcaptainpoker.blogspot.com. In other big news about that blog, it got added to the line up at Minnesota Poker Magazine. Yo!

So, the stories you've been missing here...hm. Let's see. Lately, my life has only felt like it would be interesting to some dude that's spent an year on an island talking to a volleyball. For the most part, I might write a story like, "Today, I took the kids to school, the 6 year old was whiny, my 10 year old forgot [insert something new every day], I went to work and did things I can't write about here without violating my non-disclosure agreement....yada, yada, yada...

Well, until today.

If you know me personally, you've probably figured out that I quite often take my own path through life. If you don't specifically post rules that I can follow, I'll just do it my way.

I'm not sure of all the details but OhCountess asked me to pick up OhPrincess1 at school this afternoon and take her to swimming practice. No biggie right? That's what guys that drive minivans and 4 door Saturns do.

In front of the school is the 'L' shaped driveway. Sure there's some handicapped parking out front. Sure, it's almost always empty and I'll bet you think I got in trouble for something with them, right? Nah. I had something happen to me in this little fluster cluck of a driveway that we rebel dads can only dream about...

I got yelled at, and I mean, YELLED AT by on mom driving on this mess.

When I pulled up today, I'm coming from work, I could see that pretty much everyone on the driveway was heading in one direction. So, being the lazy ass that I am, I pulled in from the other direction cuz there was room and I could see that the lane heading the other direction was wide open.

There's a spot to park, heading this direction right by the service door, I pulled in wide right as to make sure there was plenty of room for someone to get out the other way. This is when it gets fun.

This lady rolls down her window and just starts SCREAMING at me. "What are you doing? This is a one-way! My God! This is a one-way! You are going the wrong way! This is a one-way!"...yada, yada, yada...

I in the middle of my 6th year of being a parent at this school. Yo...lady. I smiling back at her. Yeah, I know I'm going against the grain, but hell, I've done this before. Officially, I know for a fact that this road isn't a one-way. Most of us just park in what ever direction we want to leave. I didn't recognize this lady so I'm actually thinking she's just picking up. A student on a transfer.

Now, she looked like she was going to get out of her car. Man, was she on FIRE! I had always hoped to be the dad getting yelled at by a crazy woman at my kids school. I mean a guys got to have dreams right? My mind started racing about all kinds of fun things to do with this woman. I'm pretty sure that one of these would have made for a great story if she hadn't chickened out and left. Which one do you think might have made for the best story?

(Keep in mind, I double checked...the road is definitely not a one-way)

1. After letting her say her peace, calmly tell her, "I'm so sorry ma'am, when I was driving in, I was distracted trying to figure out why I was the only one following the signs." (There are no signs)
2. Offer to take her in and let her yell at me in front of the Principal's office so that a few more grownups could witness this. (Some of the other parents came up to me wondering what the hell was going...sigh)
3. Whip out my iPod Nano and video tape the whole thing and offer to send her the link on YouTube.
4. Tell her, "Come back in an hour when the clinic workers are done, this entire drive is facing the other direction." (It is. We all come from the other way and park facing in the direction I was)
5. Stand in the middle of the road with her, let her just scream and holler waiting for the police non-emergency number to pick up and tell them there's a crazy woman screaming and yelling profanities in front of countless kids at the school. (My preference - her being cuffed and shoved into the squad would have ROCKED!)

I don't know, this was all I could think of just sitting there. I'm not the type of person that ever yells at people. I just don't get that. I'm also not the kind of person that would just cower and hide and gravel my way out of a situation when I know how exactly right I am (Ok, maybe I don't always stand my ground against the Mrs...the couch is lonely).

Why do people insist on doing this? Is it wrong of me to think of all these totally wicked ways to totally rain on her parade? Is Simon leaving American Idol gonna make that show so completely not worth watching or what? Does Victoria Beckham need to eat a few down sandwiches or what? Can I possibly come up with more stupid questions? Is there really an American Idol video game and people bought?

I give up!

So why didn't we go to the metric system?

-7 degrees celcius feels so much warmer then this. I'm pretty sure my southern friends would be dead in seconds with temps like this. Thankfully, this is actually warmer then it has been.

Let's bundle up and cuddle folks!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Weather Conditions from The Weather Channel

Thought I'd share our lovely new years day conditions. Enjoy! Oh! It's
gonna get colder over night. Cuddle up.

Now for Rochester, MN (55901)

Temp: -2F
Feels like: -18F
Clear
Humidity: 71%
Wind: WNW at 9 mph
Last Updated: 1/1/10 5:05 PM CST

For more weather information, visit www.weather.com from your PC or
mobile device.

Happy new year!!!

Happy New Year! (Fitness Edition)

Also posted at my Shrinking Family Blog

2009 is almost in the books now and heck the 'oughts' are also ending. We are heading into a new decade. Kinda cool. I'm looking forward to decade number 6 for me :) Remember, I was just barely born in the 60's. Rock on!

Looking back on 2009, I think I've got a lot to be proud of. I've dropped somewhere around 30 pounds or 2.1 stones, or 13 kilograms .01 tons, or 36 troy pounds (whatever the hell those are). Not too shabby. The holidays have been brutal on the workout/diet but January 4 starts me back on my routine.

Something new to the workout rotation in January will be swimming. I swam competitively in my youth. Swimming is such a great way to workout. Calories burn like super dry kindling.

I haven't made it to the gym as much lately as I'd like. Some of it is just lack of motivation but I kind of expect that when my routine isn't so routine. I did stop in to the gym yesterday for a nice run. The Nike+ stuff is still pretty cool. I don't remember if I shared it here or not, I know it's been updating Twitter and Facebook, but here's the link you can check up on me and see my runs: http://my.nike.com/OhCaptain

My run yesterday taught me something about myself I didn't know and still don't really understand. I have several running friends that have encouraged me to find a running pace that I can do for a long period of time. OK. Here's what I'm learning. 4mph on the treadmill is the point at which I feel the crossover between walking and running. 5 mph I can run, but my legs quickly hurt like hell. 6 mph, still hurts but I can do it for about 10 minutes no problem. 7 mph still a little pain, but the heart redlines. And here's the new twist, I hit the button for 8 mph just to see - no pain. My legs didn't hurt and my stride felt comfortable. The downside, my heart felt like it was going to explode after about 60 seconds. Sigh. I think ultimately, I just need to keep it up and all of this will just improve. You think?

So, as my final post for 2009, I should probably do the whole goals thing. Last year, I did this in a very generic and attainable way. I'd like to lose another 30 pounds this year. That would be cool. I'd also like to keep learning to eat and live more healthy. I think this is pretty much where I left off last year. Attainable.

I'll leave you with this video. It's from one of favorite running songs. I love this song! Try it in your headphones and let me know what you think!

This is cross post from my Shrinking Family Blog. I might decide to transition all of this to this blog just to simplify my life. I love blogging but this multiple site thing is getting brutal. Before I do it officially, I'll post it here. Happy New Year!!!!

Merry Christmas

For your viewing pleasure, we wish you a merry Christmas!



OhCaptain, OhCountess, OhPrincess1 & OhPrincess2

Got it working! We are tracking Santa!!!!

Ah, there, it's working! You can follow Santa here until he's done. For more details, check out NORADSanta.org.

We Believe! NORAD Santa tracking is back!

Every year, the good folks at NORAD are teaming up with Google to bring us the live tracking of Santa as he makes his way around the globe. One of the coolest tools for Christmas eve ever! You aren't a believer? Check it out!



If there's a way for me to embed the information here, I'll be sure to post it as soon as possible. Until then, be sure to check out all the action here, NORADSanta.org! This way, you'll know for sure when it's time to be in bed with the cookies and milk waiting for you know who!

Tap, tap - Is this thing on?

How've ya been?

Let's see, when was the last time I actually wrote something on here, I mean really wrote something? I'm thinking it's been far too long. I miss writing here. I have been writing a fair bit more lately over at OhCaptain Poker, I've had a lot to say there lately, but more on that in a minute.

I can hear you asking, all of 10 of you that have visited this place in the last 48 hours, "OhCaptain, why oh why the long silence?" It would appear that our lives sometimes get filled with things far more important then blogging. Sometimes we just have to live our lives for a while away from the intertubes.

OhCountess finished grad school this past spring, go back and look - I even posted pictures! This did something to our lives we hadn't had for a while and that was abundance of family time and not one person complained. We've been living life together. Like I mentioned in one of my last posts, we've embarked on a journey to declutter. So far so good.

That's not everything, did I mention she had her tonsils removed a few weeks ago? I had no idea that did that in people older then 10. She's been getting tonsil stones...yeah, I had no idea either. Her doc and her decided to pull the plug on these crap collecting thingamagiggers the day after Thanksgiving. I had really meant to post sooner, but I was making pudding, jell-o and copious amounts of grape Kool-ade while maintaining a supply of crushed ice and administering pain meds. I'm not complaining because there's no way in hell I would trade places with her. No way.

While that's normally enough excitement for most people, we had spent most of the time leading up to that preparing for Christmas. In my world, we don't start getting ready for Christmas around December 22. That's plenty of time, right? This year was different. If we want to make sure the kids had a fun Christmas, we got damn near everything ready before her surgery. Weird.

I know, but OhCaptain...I know I'm making excuses. Really, I went to Las Vegas two weekends ago (which is true). It was the annual Winter Gathering for the World Poker Bloggers Tour (#wpbt). Last year, I took the Mrs. but this year, she just didn't think she would be up to it. I asked several times if she really wanted me to go...she actually booked the trip for me. I love her :) WeaselMomma - 13 didn't win. MomoFali - I love the Bellagio poker room! I didn't get to play there this time. That room is full of sharks and I like the rooms full of fishes. I did spend almost an entire day in the Lagasse Stadium over at the Palazzo. Holy crap that place is awesome. I actually don't play slots unless there is a gun pointed at my head...so I could win anything back for your hubby and when I asked them nicely, they just smiled...sorry :-P

We are zooming towards Christmas and the New Year at our house. Most of our family lives in the area which you'd think we make for easy planning...why can't we just all get along and have one get together? Christmas will be spread over the next week. A little here a little there. Thankfully, work will be hit or miss as well. One thing I loved about my old job was I basically had the month of December off.

As I head to the new year, I'll need find time to write more. I really do miss it. I know I REALLY want to piss people off with a post about health care reform. I don't really want to piss them off, but my opinion will probably not be popular with everyone or even many. I had a fun idea about polar thinking which isn't about being cold. We've instituted our own economy in our house complete with Daddy Dollars and Mommy Mart. That might be fun. I'm sure I could go on and on about my distaste for something. Heck, I might actually post something funny my kids say.

I thank each of you that got this far and even still visit here. Believe me when I say, I miss writing and should be back soon. I can't imagine I can keep my mouth shut for much longer :)

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Merry Festivus! Ain't it almost time for the airing of the grievances?

I love the neon

Walking around Las Vegas with Lightning36. Good times.

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

The story of 3 bags and a broken clock

Here they are, 3 bags. My suitcase, camera bag and the bag I'll take to work with a change of clothes.

I'm updating all my blogs with this post because a trip to Las Vegas is when all 3 cross paths. I have poker, photography and fun all planned! The only thing missing will be my bride at my side. This will be my first trip to Vegas without her. Some parts won't be the same without her.

Have fun in Minnesota! While it's not warm this time of year, Vegas is also not 3 degrees. I won't be jealous. Promise!

Many updates to come! Laters!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Snowed in

No doubt, I'm gonna be here at the house for the forseeable future. We got around 11 inches of snow and top that with a lovely cherry, we now have wind gusts in the 40 mph range.

My street has 3 and 4 foot drifts. Until I see a plow, it's cookie decorating time!


-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Location:County Road 22,Rochester,United States

Are you ready for snowmageddon?

Winter is here and they say it's coming like a freight train. My area is already under a blizzard warning although there's only been a dusting of snow. These things are weird. I'm never really sure if the weather people have any idea what they are talking about. People start acting all funny like we are hunkering down for some sort of disaster. Oh well. Just read the sign above and remember Newton's First Law:

An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Truer words have never been spoken.

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Behold the power of reusability

In computer programming, we software engineers love the idea of reusing code and solutions whenever possible. It's one of the cornerstones of our jobs. It makes things less expensive to develop and frankly, reinventing the wheel gets horribly boring after you've done in a few times.

Wally is my hero.

Inspired by Kat

Kat's comment on my last post inspired me to find my favorite Gary Larson's Far Side cartoon of all time. This cartoon not only reminds me of some of my friends but makes me laugh for it's simple delivery. Gary Larson was a true genius in our time. I miss his work.

Heard at the dinner table

You'd think working half days and having done all that prep work I mentioned in the last post, I'd have nothing but free time. Hm. Nice try.

Tonight, at the dinner table, OhPrincess1 said something that just got me laughing:

I just don't get it. They make seedless grapes and seedless watermelon, so why can't they make boneless chickens?

Hope you are having a great day! I'll be back soon...there's too much to write about.

Take a deep breath...ah - now, back to work

Been a while since I really had the time post anything resembling a real update. Considering the price paid to read the content here, I'm hoping no one wants a refund. Har, har, I jest.

A little while ago I posted a picture of the hospital I work at, at night. Yeah, getting out of work has been an issue, it just seems like it's been one big project after the other. No biggie, that's the nature of my job.

But that's not the whole story. There's more to this story and I might just have a few minutes to explain these new adventures in our lives.

I've written before about my quest to loose a few pant sizes before. That quest is moving right along. If you check out my shrinking family blog, it tells all the details. I've been participating in a program through the fitness center at work for men. Two sessions a week plus a few workout sessions. I lost 10 pounds in 10 weeks. Kinda cool. I've got a few dozen more pounds to go, but progress is awesome! Seriously, go check it out! You might even get to be there to watch my progress as I attempt my first 5K....it could happen!

Let's add the next cool change in our lives. OhCountess and I have been on a quest of late. This quest has been to simplify our lives and home. You know, unclutter.

This all start a couple of months ago. We decided to focus ourselves into getting rid of things like, debt. That's been going great. In our desire to become more organized run a smoother household, I did some research into things like "Getting Things Done" and other systems for whipping your to do lists into shape.

That system was more about organizing just tasks and to-do's. Nice, but not exactly what we were looking for at home. We wanted to make sure we were using are space and things correctly. You see, we felt like we had too much crap and it was really stressing us out. We got sick of not finding things and wondering where they were. Well, that, and OhCountess and I had vastly different opinions about how to accomplish our organizing goals. That's until I found a new book on a blog I had been reading, Unclutter. There was some really cool ideas there for organizing things, all kinds of things.

The editor in chief of the blog even had a new book coming out, "Unclutter Your Life in One Week". I loved the blog so I bought the book. Our lives have been too busy to accomplish all of this book in the week prescribed, but we've been using our free time working very hard on this. Sorting, making piles, filling boxes, giving away stuff to friends and family, and making trips to Goodwill. All in all, we are making progress.

You've got to experience this book and blog for yourself. Good stuff.

But if that's not enough, we got the next fly swimming in our ointment. OhCountess is going in for a bit of medical work. Nothing super scary and major, she's just joining the ranks of the tonsilless. The day after Thanksgiving is the big day. No biggie, right? Well, traditionally, the weekend after Thanksgiving is our big deck the halls weekend. OhCountess is not going to be interested in decorating the house for the holidays immediately after having her tonsils removed, so we've been busy getting all of our holiday ducks in a row. That's right, by Thursday, we'll have all of Christmas ready to go. Scary, idn't it?

It hasn't always been loads of fun, but so far, it's been worth it. We've got new closet space we never knew we'd have again and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Soon, very soon, I hope to be back on track. I've been writing down topics and keeping them in safe storage. Any questions? Thanks for hangin with me!

Ah. It's a night to relax

Home game poker. Nothing better. Whiskey club is at my house this month. Thankfully the cash game after the first tournament is helping to fund the night. I learned a game called 3 Card Monty. Not the street hustle but something else. Definitely -EV.

More on the whiskey layer. Time to play some cards, listen to music, rate the cartoons of the 1980's and drink tasty beverages.

Hope your Friday rocked too!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

You now it's been a rough few weeks

Here's a shot I just took of the outside of one of the older sections of the hospital I work at. Notice the lighting and the sky. Even for this time of year, I'm getting home far too late.

I miss you all. This schedule can't go on forever, can it?

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Movie review: The Men Who Stare At Goats

I know, I get out almost every Tuesday for poker league and once a month on most months to go to my whiskey club, but every now and then, a guy just wants to see a guy movie with the guys and maybe tip a few cold, tasty, bubbling beverages.

I had beers with the guys in a bar on a Friday night!

The occasion was the new movie "The Men Who Stare At Goats."

I often wonder how I should write movie reviews. Several people had tweeted messages to me that I needed to write one for this movie. Have you seen the trailer??? It's HILARIOUS! But trailers are sometimes just compilations of the funniest scenes and when you get to theater, you realize...yep, the trailer was pretty much it. Just for reference, here's the trailer again:



Amongst my guy friends, this movie was a must see. That doesn't happen all that often any more. Most of the movies we see are rated G or at best PG-13. I mean, holy cow, this was an R rated movie...and the trailer basically promises that there's not one second of romance or "chick flick" anything. It's all dude.

3 of us made a plan to meet at a bar, have a couple of brews, listen to some horrifically bad female singer butcher songs we hated when they were new. I mean they did a cover of "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. Who does this in public? why would you torture us this way? I mean, for the love of Pete...that song sucked the first time, now, you sing it different keys? Ok, the singing sucked big giant rocks, but the beers were awesome (I should review beers more often, a good excuse to drink them, don't ya think?). Nummy good independent breweries. Mmmm.

We left the sounds of sing death behind and moved to the theater. Did you know that the theater we went to serves tap beer in a 32 ounce cup? Holy shit! I got a bottle cuz it was smaller. Someone needed to be a grown up. Of course the other 2 guys got the 32 oz. cup (seems like there must be a bigger word then cup)...never drink beer at a bar, then go to the theater and order one that big. Once the seal was broken, guys our age will need to get up and run a few times...just sayin'.

So, how does one write a review of this movie without basically giving away the movie? I have no idea. Let me just start with saying I really enjoyed it. It was very funny. All of the actors were great and I think there's a good chance I might just go again. Now, if you don't want to read any further, that's fine, at least you know where I stand and can judge for yourself the movie but please stop back later and compare notes, kay?

I'm removing my spoiler filter now. Quit reading if you don't want to know anything...

The movie starts by looking at the life of Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor). He's kind of a loser. He's a journalist in a small town along with his wife. In the course of his journalistic pursuits, he interviews a local man, Gus Lacey (Stephen Root). Gus lives with his mother. He's also pretty much a loser and a crack pot. He claims to be a remote viewer and has been watching the Lock Ness monster from his home here in Michigan. Yeah. When asked about these abilities, he goes on to tell the story of his time in the army. He was in an elite group of psychic warriors trained by our government, the best of which was a soldier named Lyn Cassidy. Um...kay.

Bob's pretty sure that he wants something more from his life. His wife, figures out she wants to be a tramp and shack up with another guy. So Bob does what any loser does that wants to prove his manliness, he travels to Iraq to be an embedded journalist.

When he gets there, he quickly realizes that being in Kuwait, living in a hotel is not really all that much adventure. Of course, he's calling the Mrs back home and trying to impress (or scare her) with all the great danger he's in. Not sure, but since the call we here is interrupted by her boyfriend she really doesn't care.

The movie takes a turn when Bob is getting some English lessons from a waiter, he notices that the guy at the table next him reading the newspaper has the name Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) embroidered on his shirt. Hm...

Bob quickly springs into action and finds out that this is indeed the Lyn Cassidy he's heard about. Lyn goes on to start telling him about the First Earth Battalion. Lyn says he's been reactivated and is on a special mission into Iraq. Bob can't wait! He's gotta know more! He'll tag along with Lyn and Lyn will be his big story.

What happens from here on out explains the whole First Earth Battalion, the members, it's founding, it's philosophy, all while these two men travel in a hostile country. The hi jinx and stories are hysterical but the joy I got from this movie was it just wasn't a slapstick funny thing after funny thing ha ha. There's something more here.

This movie is really a story about men becoming disillusioned with the foundation of what they thought made them who they are and finding a new, more insightful understanding of who they are and why they are here.

*Spoiler Alert! One thing you notice about Lyn is that most of the time, he's never really demonstrating any psychic ability. Sure, he does a cloud burst (he stares at a cloud until it magically disappears...over a desert), but almost all instances of "Jedi powers" are easily explained and coincidences abound. Giving everyone around you LSD can sure make you seem special.

In the end, they accomplish their mission: they find out who. They find their own inner strengths. Lyn flies off into the sunset and Bob gets his big story...which of course is dismissed by everyone in the news biz, but who cares. He doesn't really because he's not got the inner strength of know who he really is to himself.

It was this deeper story that made the movie so entertaining for me. I love movies that show great personal journeys of discovery.

Would I see it again? Absolutely. Will I watch it at home? Absolutely. Will I drink to tall glasses of beer in a bar, head to the theater and drink a 32 oz glass of some domestic mass produced beer? Maybe. I guy gets thirsty.

Have you seen this movie yet? Are you planning on it? What did you think??? If you write a review on your blog, let me know, link it here, I'd love to read it! You think 32 oz glasses of beer are too big to serve...well, I don't know what you can do about that. Just let me know about this movie!

Google Wave Invitations: this thing is boring without friends

Looking at the top of this blog, it says, "The life and thoughts of a Midwest geek." I'm a geek and pretty damn proud of it I might add.

It's very rare for me to not have heard of some new tech thingy. I like tech thingies.

A while back Google announce this great new invention that was going to revolutionize the way we communicate and collaborate. It was basically a reboot of email. What they set out to accomplish was "...to reinvent email as we see and use it today," because less face it, email ain't perfect. And thus Google Wave was born.

Here's a cute video that attempts to explain it in a way most of us could understand:

Well, who wouldn't want in to that nugget of techie goodness? I promptly signed up to be apart of it and wait for my invitation to join the party. I waited, waited, waited, gave up and forgot about it for a while, thought maybe I didn't really sign up, waited, gave up and forgot and finally, I got my invitation a couple of days ago.

Yeah! I clicked the link, signed up and wham! I'm in! I'm using Google Wave!

So, now what? I'm using it. It looks cool. I created a wave but I'll be perfectly honest, no one is really there. I have 3 contacts in my contact list. 2 of them are people that don't seem to be around and the other one is a SEO I've had conversations with about advertising on my poker blog. Not really someone I'm looking to Wave with, if you know what I mean.

So, my first impression of Google Wave was, "I don't get it," and "OK, now what?" I found a website that has some really good reading material on the subject, The Complete Guide To Google Wave. I think I get it, but the problem is, I'm lonely in there. I have no contacts.

When you get signed up, they give you 20 invitations to give out to people. I've given one to a few of the people I figured would beg me if they knew I had them to give out. Cool. I'm also looking for volunteers to get some of the other ones. You want one? Let me know. Leave me a note in the comments. I think you need to have a Google account to do this, so if you still think that AOL is the Internet, don't bother.

I have a very limited number of invitations, so don't get mad if I don't have one to give you.

Are you already on Wave? Let me know! I'd like to try this thing out by adding you to my Contacts...again...comments people...put this in the comments.

I'm so far behind on writing about stuff lately. I guess I really don't need another geeky distraction but then again, what would I be without them?

Happy Halloween!

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Here's a group photo. Hopefully more to come! Can you spot your favorite character?

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Holiday Tie: Halloween Edition

I know. I'm a geek but hey. Holiday ties ROCK!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Let it snow

First real daytime snow event of the season here today. Enjoy!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Things that make you go hmmm

This really could just be my own weird sense of humor, but in the middle of all of these deeply philosophical and heavy books was one that wasn't quite like the others. See if you can tell which one.

Not the one about why people believe weird things.

Or Carl Sagan...

WeaselMomma, you might need to read it :-) (hint: h a m p s t e r s)

-- these books were found exactly like this at our downtown Barnes & Nobel.

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

I do like them, Sam-I-Am

Tonight, we had a very special event at our house. Very special indeed.

I'm always very thankful that ever night, each of the OhPrincesses still require dad to tuck. I dread the day when I'm no longer needed to straighten the covers and kiss the forehead and give them that last big hug of the day. Please tell me they need it forever.

One of my nightly habits with OhPrincess2 (6yr) is reading time. I no longer read the books but instead I get read to. That transition, was very special both my girls

I let her pick a book that she thinks she will be able to read me from cover to cover. For the most part, she's been sticking to the Level 1 and 2 books, but every now and then, she throws me a curve and tries one of my favorite books: a Dr. Seuss.

As soon as I found out my wife was pregnant with our first, I set out to buy all the REAL Dr. Seuss books and by that, I mean the ones that were actually written by the good Doc himself. There are several books branded with his name and resemble the originals, but we all know...they just aren't as good.

So tonight, OhPrincess2 picked one of my favorites, Green Eggs and Ham. I've just always loved the rhythmic word play and repetition. A masterpiece. An ambitious choice for a 6 year old but she loves this book as much as I do. (We've had several years of practice with this book, we particularly like the interactive part where everyone being read to yells "ANYWHERE!" Never heard of it, give it a try the next time you read it!)

I guess I can't explain it in words other then to say, that little girl, with the gap in her smile where a tooth used to be, read that whole book from cover to cover. She even let ME yell "ANYWHERE!" at the appropriate times. Hm, this seems to be turning into a brag post, well, so be it!

Daddy's little girl did it. Yeah! I'm so excited...I just had to shout from the top of...my..um...blog. Getting read to a Dr. Seuss book still rocks. I can't wait until she tries my all time favorite: Oh, Say Can You Say?. Those tongue twisters are brutal, ya think?

:)

What a game

What a game. My hat goes off to the Tigers, this is probably the most exciting baseball game I have ever seen. I took an absolute ton of pictures and have many stories to tell, but alas, 12 innings and a really long drive home makes me really sleepy and way behind. For the moment, I'll just enjoy the moment.

Pregame warm up

Just having a beer at Huberts. 2 hours until first pitch. Must get the liver properly lubricated :-)

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

See you Tuesday night!

Tickets purchased! We will see you Tuesday night!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

All tied up! #wintwins

Whew! Tigers lose (Thank you White Sox!) Twins win! What a day! Tomorrow, both teams are really starting the season all over again. This is what baseball is all about. You are in Twins Territory now. Win Twins!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Be the win. We can do this.

Be the win. See the win. Visualize the win. We can do this. Bring it home boys! Win Twins!!!! All the pressure is on Detroit. You guys still want to start a rookie?



-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.