"Eagle Eye" the movie - A Review

It was an Okay movie, but I'd save my money, well if I were you I'd save your money, mine is already gone. It is kind of like a cross between 'I, Robot" and "The Matrix". The action scenes though were the worst I have ever seen for a picture of this magnitude. They were the hand held variety and they were cut together really fast. Usually I would say this was to make a scene look like it was really chaotic, but was done cheaply because the movie was a crap fest, but I thought this movie was probably pretty expensive to make so it just made an expensive movie into a crap fest. Enough about the cinematography, it was just really disappointing because it was a Spielberg fim, the rest of the story was kind of like a 1984 big brother deal where big brother takes over and starts getting civilians to do its bidding. I won't ruin the movie for you just in case, but I thought the acting was average at best. I really like Shia Lebouf, though, he has an everyman quality about him and tends to "act" like a regular person would if these things happened to them, but he is funny at his core. Basically his twin brother dies at the beginning and he was a military guy who was good at everything he did, and Jerry (Shia) was not. Then Jerry gets a ton of cash deposited in his account and all kinds of explosive goodies show up at his door which is a red flag for the FBI and they come and arrest him. Well he has no idea why this is happening and an unknown voice is directing him on what to do to get out of stuff. So the next hour is watching him and his love interest follow the direction of the voice and the FBI trying to catch them. As the movie goes on you learn who the voice is and why Jerry is needed. The whole thing comes to a head in the capitol building during a State of the Union address (who said those things were boring). Anyway it is a decent movie, but definitely not worth seeing in the theatre.

Rating 3 out of 5, wait to rent. Also Sophie said she gets to pick the next movie and where to eat since I got to pick both. But there was no way we could make the movie waiting at Olive Garden for a half hour. So I suggested Bob Evans and went with the Bob-B-Q pulled pork knife and fork sandwich, which is awesome. I was going to do the Philly one, but the peppers on the mashed potatoes just didn't look right.

The End of Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy baseball is finally over, and like any good fantasy game this season ends with a bit of controversy. You see the lazy programmers over at Yahoo have neglected to keep up with what the other fantasy leagues were doing. On ESPN and Fox Sports the leagues counted the make-up games being held on Monday the 29th, but not Yahoo. No big deal, you say, the season is already decided and nothing can be made up on the last day. Not so fast my friends. As it turns out I had one last bullet in the chamber with Gavin Floyd. He started today and won the game which would move me into a tie win 80 wins, because I would pick up 0.5 points in the standings, but he also only gave up 1 run in 6 innings so he lowered my ERA to 3.70 which gives me another 0.5 points and puts me into 3rd place by myself. But there were no stipulations about games being played after the "final" Sunday and due to the restrictions in moves and games played at each position, you gotta give me something here. So Stevie won the league but I should at least get third. Yahoo may only remember me as 4th, but I'll know better. I almost wish Floyd would have laid an egg instead, but now he will always be on one of my teams thanks to the performance today. What ended up costing me the league was the injury situation in the last month and a half with Carlos Lee going out, Wagner getting hurt, and Figgans, Upton and Taveras not playing although they were never officially put on the DL. I also spent too much time and too many moves on catchers. Next time I would like to see about a 60 move limit. That way you can still manage around injuries and maybe do some crazy things down the stretch if you still have moves, but you can't do crazy stuff the whole season because you can run out of moves. We'll see, I'll have to wait and see what the commissioners ruling is on this season. I should at least get a freebie in next year, right?

Brown Out

Sophie had been plotting on her brother Ricco for some time. She had a plan to go down and decorate his house with some Browns' stuff before they played the Bengals. So she got her other brother Hans and his girl friend Alicia to come and help. We took pictures and video of the event and can only imagine what the reaction was when he got home. Well the Browns actually won so we may have to do this ritualistically now. But Hans came up to Ricco's to watch the game and was wearing a Bengals jersey. Say What!?! Maybe his house will be next....



Yeah that is Sampson as the human torch.

Getting madder about the "boring" financial crisis

The more I learn about this crisis and the strategy to fix it the madder I get. The Dow has lost about 26% in a little less than a year, in 1987 the Dow drop about 36% in less than 3 months. Different from what happened before, not as drastic and yet there was no drastic bail out before. Do you remember Reagan trying to force through legislation for billions of dollars in the wake of the 1987 crash. Me neither. Of course I wasn't really paying attention at the time I was 10. Anyway I actually agree with the congress right now in not just passing this stuff blindly. I don't know that this is going to send the right message. It is going to be a real high level bail out where at risk mortgages are purchased from institutions in order to improve their liquidity so that they will feel like giving out more credit. Which when you think about it, is that really a good idea? These institutions are the ones that made the bad decisions to give credit to people who couldn't handle it anyway. It is like giving someone matches and watching them burn down their house and then hurrying up and getting them a new house... on me and you. I mean these people need to learn a lesson and if the federal gov't steps in and saves them then what lesson did they learn. They took really high risk mortgages and thought they could make money on it, and if they would have made money do you think they were going to share the money with us tax paying folk? Heck no! That's their money, but since they made extremely poor decisions, now they are going to show huge losses and it is up to us to bail them out. Well not this time. I say bring on the consequences for everyone, because it is going to happen eventually anyway. The next president is probably going to deal with double digit inflation or at least needs to in order to genuinely turn the economy around. This is sink or swim time. Eventually people have to be responsible for themselves and their decisions. It just isn't right that people try to follow the rules and do the right thing and then end up footing the bill for the people that either can't or don't care to be responsible. The problem still goes back to the banks and part of the answer going forward needs to be stopping where people can get a house with only 5% down. Move it back to 20%. The only thing here is if people wanted to put enough effort into it they could put the 5% down at one bank to get a loan for 20% of the house and then take that money and put in down at another bank. So that is why people can't be allowed to take out house loans for more than a total of 80% of the house. There needs to be transparency so that other banks have easy access to credit records so someone can't back door them and if a bank circumvents the rules then they assume the entire liability and the loans can't be insured. With the 20% minimum PMI is eliminated and the AIG problem goes away. And most of the bad loans will go away because it will be more difficult for people who can't handle to get the initial down payment. Hey I know I benefited from it, but there are just way too many stupid people out there that are screwing it up. This is where we need an actual leader to step in and say we'll take a look at a case by case basis, but make $700 billion available seems like a huge mistake to me, or at least drastic overkill.

Have you seen Stevie?

If you are in the desert in Iraq and you see a taller guy with like a beard and longer hair wondering around going,'I should have played Ronnie Brown, oh why didn't I play Ronnie Brown. I could have won, but instead I lost by 20 points'. That is Stevie, if you could bring him back in and get him some water or something that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kirk

HESCAR

Oh also all I got when I gave blood was a Greg Biffle key chain. I know what you're thinking 'but he won the last two races'. So what, he can't win a championship his name isn't Johnson, Edwards or Earnhardt and those are the only guys that HESCAR is going to let win. That is my new name for NASCAR and any reference to NASCAR from here on out will be in the form of HESCAR (Hendrick Earnhardt [or Edwards] Stock Car Auto Racing). Since all HESCAR wants to do is throw fantasy caution flags late in a race so that Jimmy can stay out front or take power away from Toyota, even though it is obvious that they have spent the most time on the new car and have made the most improvements. I will continue to root for Tony Stewart this year, common baby just one more win, and Greg, and the other Gibbs drivers, but that is it. And if HESCAR lets me down, well I could be done watching for good. Then I will focus all of my energy on competitive Cornhole.

Busy Monday

Today was typical, somewhat, of what our days have become. I left work a little early, about 4:00 PM (only 9 hours today) to go give blood and then go get Sampson at Football practice. In the mean time Sophie took Sampson to school picked him up and took Peach to "butterfly" school. Got home about 7:30 ate, got Sampson his bath, watched some TV and blogged a little bit. Sampson has his first game on Saturday, so I have to get some stuff done this week during the week so I can film the game on Saturday. Well I gotta watch Heroes.

Fantasy Football Week 2

Well Stevie took a butt whooping, but he could have won, Hah Hah Hah. It turns out that Ronnie Brown had one of the best days in Fantasy history, over 40 points by himself and Stevie had him on the bench. This is so funny. So he he ended up losing by 20. Ha ha ha.

And in baseball the Ninja Frogs are back to within 6 points or so of the baseball lead. Alas I'm down to my final 4 days at 3rd base and utility with about 7 games left. It is probably too much to overcome and Stevie will win the baseball prize. But we'll always have football. The day when Stevie took the big defeat.

Fantasy Update - the last week

I made a bunch of crazy moves in Stevie's other leagues because all of the pitching was used up. I got about two more tricks to try, but I think a couple of the leagues are out of reach. The Ninja Frogs are in second, 6.5 points out of first. Stevie is out of moves and feeling the pressure. I would have had a decent chance to catch him I think, but Figgans and Upton have been hurt for the last week. On the Football front the Dream Wreckers are in second, but are 1-0 and face a weak team in week two. It is actually Stevie's team and their name is 'Mom's 2nd fav son'. He did change it to 'Mom's fav son' but that isn't how it was set up. Either way he's going down.

Sampson's home remedies

Got an itchy butt, try tooth paste. This is a good reason to learn to read. Sampson finished his bath and I let him dry off, well he decided he wanted to do some self medicating, but instead of grabbing the A&D ointment he grabbed Sophie's tooth paste. Sophie noticed that the cap was off and the tube was squeezed into a funny shape later that night. She asked him what happened and he confessed putting the medicine on. Needless to say the tube was thrown in the trash, also his butt didn't feel any better, but it was minty fresh.

The "boring" financial crisis

This week the federal government bailed out some financial institutions. First it started with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which where already tied in with the government so no big deal, other than the complete lack of leadership and control exhibited by those companies. Lehman Brothers then went bankrupt, but the gov't didn't do anything then AIG went down and the gov't stepped in and bailed 'em out with tax payer money. So where did the problem start. I think if you back to 9/11, we lost 210 floors of business and over 3,000 hard working intelligent people directly tied to financial institutions. This wasn't the problem though the answer to the attack was the problem. Right after the attack the fed lowered the interest rate. Seems like a harmless move, but then President Bush wanted to make the attack on terrorism more personal so to speak. And what says freedom like owning your own house. So while the gov't made a move to make it easier to get a house. Well actually they made it easier to get your hands on money that you could use to buy a house. Banks started handing out money with little to no down payments now, (this is how the Helfen's came into home ownership with a 80/15/5 piggyback loan done avoid PMI). But I think the rush to get people into houses without having to have down payments and good credit actually lead to more problems than solutions. Before people wouldn't even think of getting a house without 20% to put down and banks wouldn't even consider a loan. I have heard many talk about waiting 10 years or long to scratch and save enough to get a house and now that was wiped out. It actually happened before 9/11, because we got our house in August, but I think the flood gates really opened after that and people where willing to take on massive amounts of debt in order to live in the 'now'. Unfortunately, 'now' is over and people are paying tomorrow prices for stuff they got yesterday (that may not make any sense, but it sure is fun to say). Anyway when the gates where opened the restrictions were lowered and all kinds of people could now get homes. Even people that had bad credit and unstable jobs. Good for them, bad for the banks. There is a reason some people are called 'high risk' and with the low interest rates even when the banks tacked on a extra percent or two it was still worth the risk. The problem is when the defaulted instead of default on 80% or less of the house now, they were defaulting on 95%, which is essentially an extra 15% the banks had to eat. I believe there was a lot of corruption on wall street and now the risk is being assumed by the tax payers which isn't really right, but I think we have back ourselves into such a corner that it has to be done. It really isn't fair when someone plays by the rules and tries to take care of their bills and then has to bail out people that have no business being allowed to get their hands on that much credit. The thing to do now is kind of roll back the legislation or rules that made it super easy to get housing credit, 20% down no exceptions, unless you've already owned a home or something, and keep the interest up. 1980 inflation is coming.... Also I think the crisis is closer to the collapse of 1987 or the economics of the late 70's. I don't think it is like the great depression the unemployment was in the 30% range and we are around 6%, plus wall street rebounded this week. So the dynamic are different here. Whoever inherits the white house likely will get a recession, funny how that happens ever 8 years.

Random Thought #7

A wise man will admit that he knows nothing.

The "Experiment" at 6 weeks

I still have some pain in the ankle especially like the last 4 or 5 days. I finally mowed yesterday. I was really lucky/blessed that I didn't have to mow for 6 weeks at the end of summer.

Fantasy Update

The new obsession continues to grow. We drafted our fantasy football teams on Saturday, and my team looks pretty decent. I had to draft in the middle of the rounds and I didn't care for that very much. Other than that it was pretty neat. Well see how I do, scoring starts next week.

On the baseball front the Ninja Frogs have climbed all the way to second and remain about 4 to 6 points out of 1st. I am completely out of moves and 1st place Stevie is down to his last move. His best player got hurt last week too. It could get close down the stretch, but Randy Johnson missed a start today and I could see the wheels coming off the pitching bus late here in the season. Just hold together a little longer... please.

Big Week

Sophie and I have a big week this week. Peach starts "butterfly" school, or dancing school as it is called in some circles, and Sampson starts flag football. It should be fun, but I have a feeling it is going to be busy, very busy. The blog may not get an update for a while. Just to fore warn.

Bad Weekend for Sports

First the OU debacle, then the Browns lose their opener in spectacular fashion to the Dallas Simpsons, the P-towners won, and Tony Stewart finished 2nd to Jimmy. He could have wrecked out and still made the chase, so finishing second was pointless. Every once in awhile a good sports weekend happens, but I think it is really hard for that to happen for me because of the teams I root for. It does make those good weekends extra special though. There's always next weekend.

Buying Palin

Right now Palin is still looking like a really good as a VP pick. She passed her first test in delivering a pretty awesome speech at the convention. And afterward depending on what pole you look at the candidates are pretty much even. What I liked about the speech is that she really came after the democrats and put her experience of being a governor up against the experience of her and McCain's opponents. She also took shots at the media who are challenging her ability to be VP and a Mom, but would never dare ask a man if he thought he could be a good Dad and also be VP. Kind of double standard. I loved how she was saying all this stuff and CBS and NBC and CNN had to broadcast it. That was great. I have looked at some of the differences between Ferraro and Palin and so far it looks like Ferraro was a representative only for about 6 years, before becoming the VP candidate. Right after the nomination Mondale and Ferraro pulled even with Reagan, but it was pretty steady downhill until the election. The press or the Republicans locked on to some shady dealings that she had done to finance her initial run for congress. What came out of it is that her husband wouldn't release his tax returns until it was too late, and it ended up being a good tactic because finances are fairly gender neutral. They ended up losing in every state except for Mondale's Minnesota.

The next tests that Palin has to pass is some type of interview with a major media network, and the VP debate. She also has to keep from dropping the ball by making some YouTube statement or having something come out. So far the best the media can muster is that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. That could actually back fire if they try to villainize (I may have made this word up) her for being a supportive Mom and trying to help her daughter do the right thing. Don't forget these people are from Alaska and it gets cold up there. I think the state motto is "Alaska, too cold to pull out". They really should look at changing that.

OU Almost makes History

It would have been great to see OU beat OSu on Saturday, but the officiating or lack there of, finally caught up to the Bobcats as they fell 26-14. OU was up 14-12 going into the fourth qtr, but an untimely fumble on a punt gave the ball away on Ohio's 30 yard line. The ensuing drive saw the suckeyes pass the ball inside the 10, but it looked like a hold as one of the Bobcat lineman was tackled to the ground. No call. OSwho goes on to score. It was Ohio fault though, the only two touchdown drives the other team had where because the defense was on the field in back-to-back possessions. First they recovered the fumble in the end zone, and then on the botched punt. The last touchdown resulted from a punt return from the other team, in which in looked like there was a pretty blatant block in the back. No Call. Even the coach of the other team said in the press conference after the game that it looked like they got away with a block in the back. Fantastic. I hope they lose by about 40 next week. I blame the loss squarely on Hans, who was watching the game, but then "had" to go be an usher in a wedding. People need to work on their priorities. Also the next time the teams play, lets do it in Athens. Just for fun, see if our referees can do any better. Sophie has stated that due to the arrogance of the OSwho fans (and I would rate the percent at about 99.9% that have no humility and make the game completely unenjoyable) and the terrible refereeing she would root for their opponents exclusively through the end of the season including a Michigan team that earlier she had refused to support.

Presidential Election '08

I haven't talked about this in a while because I really felt their wasn't much to say until the candidates made their V.P. picks, and boy was I right. By now everyone has heard that McCain has picked Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his V.P. and at first I was like, "how dumb, all he had to do was pick Romney or even Pawlenty and just run the ball into the end zone". Even Sophie had the same sentiment when I first talked to her. But then a funny thing happened when I made Sophie sit down and watch Hannity and Combs and CNN tonight, all they did was talk about Palin. Obama closed the Democratic Convention last night with a rousing speech on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech", and like the guy or hate the guy you have to admit it was an historic night. He was the first minority candidate to ever except a major party nomination. I thought the content of the speech was lack luster and filled with lofty goals that will never be attained, but given the opportunity I definitely would have tried to get in to see history in the making. What John McCain did today though turned out to be brilliant. After 38 million people watched the speech last night all the news networks were talking about McCain and Palin. If McCain had picked Romney there would have been about 10 minutes of coverage, but it has been a non-stop barrage since the announcement. And now no one is discussing the Obama speech and moment from last night. So after watching coverage on the first day and after knocking Obama from the spotlight, I have to give John McCain an A+ on the first day for his selection for V.P., which was historic in its own right. Amazing, that is all I can say right now. I didn't think it was smart at first, and it could very well turn out that she can't handle the media spotlight and the whole thing blows up in McCain's face, but after looking at what it did today, it was a great choice. Well talk more about the race after the RNC this week.

Quick pros and cons for the VP's. Biden - energizes the white male demographic that so many people take for granted, lots of political experience (though mostly as a Senator), in-line with current democratic base. cons - he's not Hillary and doesn't guarantee a voter block, he doesn't put any major battle ground states in place, and no real executive experience.
Palin - energizes the female base of the Republicans and non committed conservatives (Sophie is even getting excited, she said if I didn't vote for McCain/Palin I was sexist. Note: Palin did finish second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant, not sure what year.), she's a mom, has executive experience in the largest land mass state in the U.S., has a son in the service. cons - younger than Obama and has less experience in formal gov't at state/federal level (although Obama has spent the last two years running for president), unknown candidate who hasn't been put under the media microscope, little to none foreign policy experience, no major battle ground states put in play.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I am going to find out what the major differences are between this election and the one in 1984 when Geraldine Ferraro was the first ever female V.P. candidate. I know they got crushed in a landslide against Reagan, but that was when Reagan was up for re-election, this time there is no incumbent.

The "Experiment" at 3 weeks

The ankle is pretty much back to normal size. I have to really be careful going up and down the steps because it is still pretty weak. It was good enough to help re-bag the VBC today though. I can walk normally on flat ground going in a straight line, but the up and down gets me a little. It is real sore in the morning and loosens up in about an hour. Hopefully it feels better by the middle of the week so I can get some outside stuff done. We have been very fortunate without having rain for 2 weeks, so I haven't had to mow. But it looks like we are going to get a little rain in the next week, so I need to be able to mow. Unless someone can hurry up and invent one of those room bot type sweepers that can mow, only that could get a little messy what with a 6 hp bladed mower just going on a random path of destruction. Yeah, maybe that isn't a good idea yet, but I bet it would get the kids to get all there stuff out of the yard.

The last Fantasy Move

Well I've made my last fantasy move for the year. Pay attention this just may be a trivia question someday. I picked up Dave Bush for Fransisco Cordero. I've conceded that Stevie is going to catch me and pass me for saves, so I'm trying to make up as much ground as I can in Wins, Era, and Whip. Cordero has been terrible for the last month, and wasn't really contributing any saves lately anyway. I can still move Wagner off the DL if I need to, but I'll save that move for as long as I can. I did manage to make it into 3rd place today. We'll see how long that last or if I can move into first....

Random Thought #6

Hypochondriacs make me sick. Literally, I think I'm allergic

The "Experiment" at 2 Weeks

The ankle is finally good enough I can walk on it. I started walking on it Thursday, and I walk with a pretty nice limp right now. I'm hoping to take it easy here the next two days and by Monday it will hopefully be in good enough shape that I don't have to take crutches to work. I can still get around faster with the crutches than without. The swelling is almost gone, and now the limitation is mostly on range of movement. I figure once the ankle gets limbered up I be fine.

Peach's first Haircut

Thursday August 21, 2008 - The day Peach got her first haircut. Yes, Thursday was a big day, Sampson started school and then Peach got her hair cut. We went up to the Fiesta in Elm Grove, and Peach was very excited. She had been asking to get her hair cut for a while now and I think she was looking forward to it. Sophie wanted to wait to take her until I was off from work. At the Fiesta the first thing they do is wash your hair and Peach sat there perfectly still and got her hair washed. Then she climbed into the haircutting chair and again she didn't move. It was the longest I'd ever seen her set still while she was awake. Which is kind of scary that she enjoyed getting her haircut so much. Maybe someday her and Sophie will have Mom/daughter trips to the salon where they can be pampered and really taken care of, meanwhile old Dad and Sampson get our hair cut at home. No pampering there. Well I'll post a couple of pictures of the event, Peach looks really cute with her shorter hair.

Sampson's First Day of School

Thursday August 21, 2008 - The day Sampson started his journey into the realm of organized everyday education. Sure he had done the pre-school thing, but this was different. This was the big time. New School, new teacher, new classmates, and he said he had fun. He also said he made two new friends, but he couldn't remember their names. Basically Sophie and I went in with him to the class room and then they had someone come take the kids out to the playground, while the parents stayed in for like an orientation. It was to learn how the teacher wanted to communicate with us and what we had to do for the school year. It lasted about an hour and then we left before the kids got back. Then we came back at 2:30 PM to pick him up. So I think the schedule is like 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM, but I remember when I went to school I went from 8:15 to 3:30 then I had to walk in the snow and it was up hill both ways... anyway I had it a lot rougher. Except in Kindergarten we only went every other day, and I didn't go to pre-school for two years. I went for part of one year and by then my mom was ready to ship me off to school when I was only 4. I think she just wanted me out of the house. Well this is the start of the Sampson school journey we'll have to wait and see exactly where he ends up. Also Sophie didn't cry, I was shocked, I figured she would cry her eyes out. Way to be tough honey.

2008 Browns' Football

Well last night I watched the Browns play against the defending Super Bowl champion Giants and the Browns pretty much look like they are in mid-season form, playing a high level of Romeo ball. That is where you fall behind by 4 touchdowns and make the other team play with a really large lead, before coming back at the end of the game and having a chance to win, but still being able to give up critical first downs while the other team runs out the clock. Yes the Browns pulled it off near flawlessly Monday. They got down 30 to 3, by giving up touchdowns in just about every conceivable manner. First 2 TD tosses by Eli Manning, then a punt return for a TD, then a fumble inside the Giants 10 that was returned for a TD. Then the backups entered the game and came back. I started watching again in the fourth quarter and it would have been nice to have a commentator actually talking about the game, but instead we get Tony Kornhighser or whatever his name is, talking about golf or something. It was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. ESPN complained up and down about not having competitive games and here is a 3 point game with less than 2 and half minutes and one of the announcers is complaining that if the game goes to O.T. he'll run out of stuff to talk about. Here's an idea, idiot, TALK ABOUT THE GAME!! I don't care what you do in your off time, people don't tune into Monday Night football to hear Tony's whimsical stories of yester year. Just talk about the game, or better yet don't talk at all. Soon enough old Tony will probably going the ranks of Dennis 'nobody understands what I'm saying' Miller as 'former' MNF hosts. Anyway the Browns' starters looked pretty bad, and knowing their personnel and the changes they made this off season I'd say 7-9, maybe 9-7 if they get some breaks.

"Experiment" - Day 11

The swelling is down a lot, but my toes are still really bruised and it is sore whenever I stand on it. I am going to try and take it pretty easy tonight and hopefully tomorrow I can walk on it. I have been putting more and more pressure on it, I just worry that I'll go a little to far and set myself back a couple of days. That would really not be a good thing.

Things that are making me mad lately

Why have a blog if you can't complain about stuff.

1) My ankle for obvious reasons.
2) NASCAR. Maybe I'm just losing interest because I know what lies at the end of the season, but all the cautions for competition and debris is ruining the races. I mean every race it seems like there is a caution with about 10 laps to go and if one of the cars doesn't cause it then there will be debris or some other fantasy yellow. Just let 'em race and who ever had the best car that day is the one that deserves to win. Not everybody wants to see Junior Jeff or Jimmy win every race. I was glad when they wrecked, because I thought we would see a good finish, but lately NASCAR has been blatant about screwing over Toyota. Gibbs put a spacer on their gas pedal so that the engine wouldn't be too powerful when then put in on the dynamo test because the Toyota's had already been penalized. So Gibbs with Toyota can build a more powerful engine, so what. Aren't they already regulated on size and and different parts they can use. Why doesn't NASCAR just build the cars/engines and have the teams show up on Sunday with a pit crew, crew chief and driver to run the races on Sunday. Wouldn't that be a lot simpler. That's enough for now.
3) The women's gymnastics' controversy. Part 1) Granted the scoring is ridiculous, when someone can fall down on a vault and still outscore someone. Now I see why they changed the scoring format to help the high-risk Chinese. Before the scoring used to be out of 10 so no matter how good you did the most you could get was 10. Didn't matter if you did eight triple back flips, as long as you met all the skill requirements the most you could get was a 10. Now you can get a 20 or 30 I guess if you do enough crazy stuff, but it begs the question:Which is truly better - A routine that isn't quite as difficult, but is perfect or a routine that is more difficult, but has some flaws in the performance. Aside from coming out and doing somersaults flawlessly, I would rather see the perfect routine get the higher score. I suspect that the rules will probably be changed again after the Olympics.
Part two of this rant includes the age controversy. I have less of a problem with younger girls competing at the Olympics than I do about the scoring. See Nadia Comaneci was 14 when she had 7 perfect 10s, and Mary Lou Retton was 14 when she won the gold, so having a 13 or 14 year old in the Olympics doesn't bother me. What bothers me is putting an age restriction of 16 in place because 'the girls' bodies are still growing and letting them compete at an early age would damage their bodies.' That statement smells, it is so full of B.S. Do the people in charge honestly think that these girls don't start training until they are 16? Heck there are probably gymnasts that have had career ending injuries before they were 12. It isn't competing in the Olympics that hurts these girls it is all the training they do from the time they are able to walk. Do you think there is a reason none of the girls are over 5' tall? To impose some artificial age restriction to make FIG feel better is crazy. These girls are already damaged, because of the systems they are brought up in. If a 10 year old can win the gold then let her try, then she can retire by 12 and have a chance to grow normally. You know unless she gets screwed by the scoring.
4) AT&T - Give me my Money!

Phelps Wins Eight

I'm sure you have heard by now what Micheal Phelps has done. He won Eight Gold medals in one Olympics, actually in 9 days of an Olympics. He broke the record of Mark Spitz from 1972 when he won 7. I might have bought into the NBC hype machine a little, but this was truly an incredible feat. I had the privilege to watch all of the events live, and I have never been that excited about a swimming race and I will probably never be that excited again. Now that he has Eight golds in one games and 14 overall, what's left. In all of the Olympics, all of the thousands of athletes who have competed he has accomplished something that no one else has. There have probably only been a handful of people who have even competed in that many events. But if the record is ever going to be touched it will probably have to be in swimming, unless there is just some phenomenal Judo/fencing/sprinting/rowing/shooting/archery/badminton star out there. There just aren't enough events in any one other discipline for someone to earn that amount of golds. Does that mean it won't happen - No, but someone will have to come with the determination, and a little luck, that Phelps has had in this Olympics. I have never heard another athlete talk about how much it meant to be an Olympian, but Phelps is truly happy and proud to be an Olympian, not just a swimmer at an international meet. He has pretty much sacrificed everything in his private life to reach this goal and it does show. I don't think he was prepared for the onslaught of interviews afterwards and I'm really not sure he would even care to do them. Other than saying thanks to the teammates that helped him win the relay golds, and telling people to never let anyone tell them they can't achieve their goals. I mean he had already tried this once and failed, if you can call winning 6 golds and 2 bronzes failure. But the way he trained and the 7 world records he set himself or helped set in the relays, just show how determined he was to meet this 8 gold goal. I am truly amazed and hopeful that he becomes a role model for a lot of kids. What a good guy (other than being a Ravens fan), Congratulations Mike.

A Week of "Experimenting"

Well after 8 days of the "experiment", my foot still hurts really bad. I can put very little weight on it, usually just for balance if I'm standing, but it does feel better when I'm moving around if I have my air cast on. It is really bruised, but the swelling has gone down since last week. At the beginning of the week it looked like I had a really bad cankle, but now the swelling looks like it is mostly just in the foot. My toes are bruised up too. Hopefully about Thursday I can start walking without the crutches. That will be Sampson's first day of school.

A slow fantasy Ending

Well I've got one more move to make next Wednesday and then I'll be down to my final move. Dusty Baker continues to refuse to play Jerry Hairston Jr. and as much as I hate to dump him I may have to use my last move to pick someone else up. After my own injury I really care a lot less about the old Ninja Frogs, and just a note: the Ninja doesn't stand for anything related to HIV. At least not for this team it is a direct play on the Ninja Turtles, and Sampson's first Webkinz.

Random Thought #5

I'm in therapy, well not now, I quit because my therapists said I was paranoid. But after she told me that, I knew she was out to get me.

Day 5 of the sprain "experiment"

Yes by calling it an "experiment" it seems I can take some of the folly out of my injury. Obviously this was just a test to determine my healing rate. If a real injury would have occurred I would have definitely let you know. Fortunately the folks at work have no problem reminding me of the fact that I hurt my ankle. Why just today the Safety Health and Environmental Coordinator managed to print out a safety share for things that should be done before enjoying recreational basketball. I pretty much didn't meet any of the requirements for "safe" basketball and I brought the list home for Sophie so she could put it up on the frig. After watching the Olympics I'm thinking I might focus all of my energy on badminton, or cornhole.

Facing the Music

Well today I made my return to work and let me tell you, I think I would have preferred a straight kick in the ankle. Thanks to Sophie's prep work everyone at work was quite anxious to have me back. Oh, there were drawings of a crutched basketball player beating up some kids, along with the expected battering over the radio and someone even brought in a basketball. Well the ankle hurt pretty good this morning and I think the swelling is going down a little because the purple is starting to come out. It will probably be at least until next week before I can really start putting a lot of weight on the leg. Hopefully by then my gold cowboy hard hat will be in at work along with the Reebok safety sandals for playing basketball. Thanks honey. Thankfully my office locks from the inside, only two more days, only two more days.

Vantage Point A Review

I just watched 'Vantage Point' and I think it is everything that Rendition was trying to be. It is of the same mold were they stretch two explosions and an assassination into about 20 explosions and 8 or so assassinations, but it was more of a story than what rendition was. Dennis Quaid is kind of the star, but this is a movie where the sum of the actors is greater than the individual parts. It was like a cross between the 6th Sense and Rendition and the transporter. It is an action suspense thriller and is one of the most frustrating movies I've ever watched. It gives you 15 minutes of movie then goes back to watch it from someone else view and goes a little further and then goes back etc. etc., until you get to the end where it ties it all together. I want to watch it with Sophie to see if she can guess what is going to happen because she always throws out these wild ideas when we watch CSI and a lot of the time she is right. Anyway her and the kids went to Marietta to swim and I will have to let her tell you about that. Overall I give it a strong 4 out of 5 and it is definitely worth the rental fee. The language is a little coarse, but with what is going on in the film I think it is kind of expected, just a warning.

Note: watched the movie with Sophie and she was able to pick out one of the bad guys in the second part. Darn her.

A severe fantasy Sprain

Well I'm down to my last two moves now, thanks to the genius that didn't realize since I was trading him two players for one that he would have to get rid of someone. So my trade didn't go through and now it is past the trade deadline. And now I can't even propose a trade to anyone else and Carlos Lee hit the DL on Sunday. He is going to need surgery so in all likelihood he is done for 7 to 8 weeks, so he got dropped for Randy Johnson. I am going to still make my other move this week, it will just depend on when people start their games. Oh well, I was close, but now I will likely lose my rbi lead and fall out of contention for second on the home runs too. I'll know better next year. Enjoy coming in second Stevie, it'll be good practice for next year.

Only a Severe Sprain

Well the good news is that it is only a severe sprain. I say good news because overall it should be healed a couple of weeks sooner than a break, but because it isn't a break the first week or two will probably be a little worse. No cast or boot I can get around with just the crutches and the air cast, yeah. I'll update as I progress.

Offending Foot

Well I've been off for all of 6 hours and already I want to go back to work, if it wasn't for the fact that Sophie told everyone (well she only told one person, but the person she told might as well have had a bull horn) about what happened. She said she was only doing it so that it would spice up my life a little. So then I got the obligatory phone call from work rubbing it in my face about what had happened. Only the kids had gone from 12 to 8 years old and they were all girls and . . . Anyway here is a picture of the offending foot.


The foot is definitely bad enough that I wouldn't be able to push a tractor up a hill. Especially not a tractor full of gas.

the Olympics

Since my accident Saturday, we have been taking in a large amount of the Olympics on both of the available HD channels. We were watching the gymnasts and Peach was practicing her gymnastics which basically consisted of her running across the floor and jumping on the couch. Meanwhile, I have been fielding a myriad of questions from my 3 and 6 year-olds. 'Daddy, why did you break your leg?', 'I don't know why, that was pretty dumb, I really shouldn't have done that. Please don't touch my foot.'

So far the coverage has been pretty good. But man, should somebody really get a gold medal for badminton. Seriously.

Severe Gaurdian Angel Misappropriation

In case you haven't heard yet I broke my ankle yesterday. Which is pretty fair considering my Nephew Robbie wrecked his motorcycle and for the most part didn't get hurt, meanwhile I step on the old car port to play basketball with some 10 year olds and 5 minutes later I'm laying on the ground with a broken ankle. I blame this on the gross and severe misappropriation of guardian angels. Sure Robbie needs more than I do 90 to 95% of the time, but whenever I step on the old basketball court I need that protection. Seriously that is the time when I most need that protection, well DID need. I probably won't be allowed on a basketball court any time soon. As soon as my recreational inclination focuses on another activity I'll let you know, so that I can be sure to reserve an appropriate number of guardian angels.

A good day with Peach

Peach and I went to the Dairy Queen yesterday while Sampson (AKA Spiderman) went to a birthday party for one of his T-Ball buddies. Anyway we strolled the Dora stroller down and we took turns pushing it and she would walk a little and sit in it a little. Then when we got there she had a starkiss and I had a triple chocolate Utopia. She ate about a quarter of it before it started to really melt and I gave her some of mine. Then we walked back home and stopped at the old school and I let her pick some weeds. She said 'let's sit down (on the block wall in front of the school) and talk, Dat-ta'. It was a good time. When we got home we went out and played on the swing set. Thanks Peach.

Fantasy Update End Game

Well I'm down to my last three moves, and I'm going to have to use one next Tuesday if my trade for Dan Haren goes through. Stevie has dropped out of first and I got within 8 points of first before that happened. Since then my nephew has taken the lead and extended it to double digits, currently the Ninja Frogs reside in fourth. It was almost easier when I was chasing Stevie because I think there were enough points left to catch him, but I don't know if I can win now. Thus my move to pick up Haren for Mark Reynolds and Gavin Floyd. Unfortunately Reynolds doesn't fit in the old lineup the way I have it configured and I'm going to run out of games at third base first anyway, so hopefully Haren doesn't end up on the DL. Billy Wagner is on the DL now, and Harriston Jr. has played very little in the last week, but as long as my lead for saves doesn't get challenged and no one else on the team goes on the DL, Wagner likely won't get activated again. Right now I'm leading in RBI's (or R'sBI) and saves and second in SB. My problems this season have definitely resulted in the fact that I haven't played before. It was a pretty steep learning curve, but now that I know the players a little and have a little better strategy I should be in good shape going into to next year.

Gettin' hosed

I continue to be ignored by blogger and their blogs of note, in favor of the likes of 'hope for Wennie Hong'. That's cool though I'm not worried, someday they'll see the little old blog....

New Tech stuff

There is a new search engine out that is trying to compete with Google. the site is www.cuil.com (pronounced 'cool') but I tried it and it still needs a lot of work. Cecil and the Blog didn't even show up. It's about the fourth one on www.google.com which is still the preferred search engine of 'Cecil and the Blog'.

Google also unleashed 'knol', which is supposed to be like wikipedia, but I think I would still go with the old wiki for the time being.

Random Thought #4

If you set your expectations really low, it's hard to be disappointed.

Happy Birthday Kids

This is the birthday week for the kids. Sampson's birthday has already passed and Peach's is coming up this weekend. My little buddy is turning 6 already, but don't worry I made him promise that he wouldn't get to a stage where he doesn't want anything to do with old Dad. He said he would always want his Dad around. Thanks Buddy.

Oh, and by the way, Peach is getting potty trained. Today made like 5 or 6 days without diapers (YES!!!!). I am not sure what made her want to start going on the potty, but she is doing just an outstanding job. Every time she goes she says,"This makes you happy?" Yes sweetie, you going to the potty makes Daddy and Mommy very happy!! :-)

The goodness of the "Prodigy"

In case you were wondering the "Prodigy" is BJ Penn and the sport is MMA. I had seen on the Yahoo! rankings that Penn was in the top 10, but to look at the guy he really doesn't look like he belongs or that he should even step in the octagon. That is until you see him in action. Before this weekend I saw maybe part of one of his fights and he didn't look that impressive. But this weekend I saw two different fights and he is every bit of the #3 ranking. He just has a different look when he is fighting, he looks right at his opponent the whole time, and he just peppers them with jabs until they make a mistake and then he just clobbers them. One fight was against Sean Sherk and Sherk is smaller, but just super ripped and it looks like he would just tear BJ apart, but he never really gets close to him. They make it through the first round, and by the end Sherk is tore up with some bleeding and what not, while Penn looks like he just stepped in the ring. In the second round with 10 seconds to go you can kind of see that Sherk is just waiting for the bell to end the round, but before that happens Penn just unleashes a flury of punches that knocks Sherk back against the cage and just as he is coming off the cage Penn catches him in the face with a knee and then hits him about 10 more times in four seconds. It was impressive, and even though the ref didn't stop the fight before the end of the round Sherk is unable to go any further. He gets back to the back and is asking people what happened, because he didn't even know. And the crazy part is Penn looked the same stepping out of the ring as he did getting in, not a scratch on him. Uriah Faber's (WEC feather weight Champ) only loss was to Penn and before I would have said that Faber would probably beat him now, but I really don't think that he could. Penn is just too good and I really didn't see and weak parts of his game. Faber definitely wouldn't want to stand toe to toe, but I think he would have a hard time bringing him down. The toughest fight for Penn now might be the Welter weight champ St. Pierre (Rush) who has beaten Penn before. Did I mention though that Penn has held the Welter weight belt before too. Yeah, that dude is good.

4 gallon Monday

I reached the 4 gallon blood donation level the last time I gave. Not all at one time though, that would be a record or something. For my efforts I got a pin with a '4' on it. Now it will be another 8 donations until I get to the 5 gallon plateau. Only 305 more donations and the all time record is mine!

The New Worst Race in NASCAR History

I started typing the worst race in NASCAR history, but that title was taken for the Kansas race last year. The new worst race is the debacle (yes Mom, I had to use the old spell check for that one) that was Sunday's Indianapolis 400. Goodyear managed to send a crappy batch of tires, that were wearing right down to the cords after about 12 laps, so what does NASCAR decide is the right thing to do... throw competition cautions, 9 of 'em to be exact. This was terrible for several reasons. 1) Goodyear sucks. This is, I'm guessing due to the fact that they use inferior carbon blacks in their tires. I'm not sure exactly what kind they use, but I definitely know what kind they don't use and Columbian Chemicals' carbon black wouldn't fall apart like that I guarantee!!! 2) If you want to throw competition cautions through out the race then do it so that you don't end up throwing one with 10 laps to go. I would have thrown them until about the last 25% of the race and then I would of let 'em race for the win. The way it worked out there were about 30 cars on pit road with 10 laps to go and conveniently it worked out for Jimmy that he got off of pit road first, and due to the nature of Indy unless your car is just flat out better than the person in front of you or they make a mistake it is unlikely that a pass will occur. It reminded of the first worst race in NASCAR history from Kansas were Tony gambled on fuel strategy and was leading the race when it started to rain and then the rain let up, but rather than just concede that the race day was lost they restarted the race. Shortened the length of the race though, and one of the Hendrick cars ended up benefiting again. Anyway the most disappointing thing about the race Sunday was the comments afterwards from Goodyear when they were asked about whether they could stop a scenario like Sunday from happening again they said, "No." That's a good response. Here is another question, should NASCAR keep Goodyear as the lone tire provider for races? "NO." If Goodyear isn't willing to put the time and effort into have a tire that will hold up and make a good race, then NASCAR has an obligation (to the fans that are still willing to watch a race) to open up the series to competitive tire brands. They should seek a breach of contract with Goodyear for lack of competitive racing and let other tire manufactures in. Sunday was terrible, I'm glad I didn't have to watch the whole thing. And at the end, instead of listening to Jimmy talk I watched the end of the Arena Bowl. Arena Football is kind of interesting when you set down and actually watch it. I like how they keep the games competitive at the end by not allowing the clock to run unless the play nets positive yardage. The teams scored 3 or 4 touchdowns in the last minute, it was hard to keep track with all of the scoring. Maybe someone from NASCAR should watch some arena football so they can learn how to keep events competitive.

Peach Picture

Here is Peach's picture.







50% Ornery
25% Spoiled
25%Rotten
100% Cute

1 Corinthians 13

This just seemed appropriate after the weekend. I actually had verse 11 in my head, but I thought it was from a poem or something. I did a search for it on the Internet and low and behold it was from the bible.

Love
And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. but where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is Love.

Tony Stewart Delima

I was hoping I wouldn't have to write about this, but as soon as I heard the rumblings that Tony wanted to be a team owner I had a feeling he wouldn't be back with Gibbs next season. You see it was kind of a perfect storm for Tony to get out of his contract through 2009. First Tony is a Chevy guy and driving Toyota's kind of put him in a bind. Second Tony has essentially been replaced by Kyle Busch as the #1 at Gibbs. Third Joey Logano. Gibbs is trying to bring him along in the Nationwide Series and in his first 3 races I think he had a win and a second place, so Gibbs probably felt like he could let Stewart go and replace him with someone with crazy talent and youth. Fourth, for some reason Tony really wants to own a NASCAR team and was willing to go with HAAS/CNC to get back to Chevy. Sadly Tony may never win another race. He could go the rest of this year and not win, if Gibbs starts to pull equipment off of him in favor of Busch and Hamlin, and with HAAS being what the 5th or 6th best Chevy team, it is unlikely that they will get any help from Chevy running behind the likes of Hendrick, Childress, and Earnhardt, who all have legit chase contenders. The best I can hope for is that Gibbs will let Tony take the #20, but if not I guess I will just be a huge Lagano fan. Or Kyle, I kind of like Kyle. He is more like Dale Sr. than Dale Jr. is, which is ironic because people don't like him because he wrecked Jr. at Richmond. But oh how they forget when Jr. wrecked Kyle at Kansas or how Jr. jumped in Kyle's car at Texas last year. Probably haven't seen the last of that feud, but at least I know what side I'll be on....

1st half fantasy update

Well the old baseball season is 1/2 over and my climb from the depths topped out at 3, and then all my players had to play on the road this last week so I am back to 5th. That's OK for now, it looks like Stevie is comfortably in first for the all-star break, so I've already formulated a plan for the first week of the second half. I only have about 6 moves left, so I am going to have to take a couple of chances and hope that no one ends up on the DL like in the first half. For having Pujols, Dice-K, Figgans, Hairston (dropped, and then picked back up), Pena, E. Aybar (dropped), Byrnes (out for season, probably) end up on the DL, I have done pretty good holding my own picking up people and managing with the injuries. My best acquisition so far is Aubrey Huff, who is having a great year. Other than that my pick-ups have pretty much been off the scrap heap. For next year though I may or may not play, but if I do then their definitely is not going to be a limit on moves when you are already limited by games and innings. It just makes it impossible when you get struck with injuries.

I have learned a couple of things since I started this fantasy stuff too. 1) The catching position is only gonna be good for about 5 teams in your league. If you don't have one of the top 5 guys then you might as well call that position a loss and try and find somebody decent who is going to play a lot. I got Jarrod Saltalamacchia out of the draft and he didn't play the first quarter of the season so I had to drop him and pick up somebody from Pitt who isn't playing any more, then I got J.R. Towles because he was great on MLB '08 the show and he ended up getting sent down to the minors. Then I got the bright idea to trade for Mike Napoli who is a platoon guy, but had 10 home runs and was on pace to have another 10 or 15 by the all-star game. Alas he ran into a major slump and then got dropped for Chris Ianetta of Colorado. Right now Chris is being platooned with a guy who is hitting .235 with 4 HR's, and I can't for the life of me understand why the Rockies aren't playing Chris more. It is maddening!! 2) It is worth the effort to go through the draft and deselect people you don't really want. 3) Pitchers deserve a couple of starts before you drop 'em, unless they've gone through something that is going to change their season, because they are going to have good games and bad games and when you are limited by moves you are going to have to take some bad games. 4) No matter who I target, when I wait to pick somebody up someone else will grab them. The latest person is Hiroki Kurodu. Who? Exactly, but as soon as I put the sights on 'em and come up with a plan to snag them, another team will come out of no where and grab them first. It did work out for me once when I was a day from picking up Elijah Dukes and somebody else grabbed him and then he tore up his knee. That's what you get though. So in a nut shell, wait for people just not to long and then cross your fingers.

WALL-E, A Review

Well for July 4th we went to the movies. We took the kids along with Ricco and Savannah and Sophie's mom and dad to see Wall-E. This was a movie Peach has been begging to see, but I think she fell asleep, I'm not really sure I couldn't see her that good from where I was setting. See it was so packed and we had so many people in our group that we couldn't all set together, so Peach had to set with the kids in a row and we sat behind them and Ricco and Savannah set up front. Anyway this movie is one that can definitely wait to be rented. I guess the kids enjoyed it, but man there is absolutely no dialog. It reminded me of 'I am Legend' except no Will Smith and the premise for the movie is way, way, way out there. Apparently something happened on Earth, you never actually know what it is, but there aren't any humans on the planet and there was a ship that was keeping everyone alive out in space somewhere. Robots were doing everything for the people (which sounded pretty awesome, come on science let's make that happen) and they didn't have any idea what was going on on Earth. Basically the movie follows Wall-e, who is a trash robot tasked with cleaning up Earth and some other robot shows up, E.V.E, and then it kind of takes that old stand by story of boy robot meets girl robot and girl robot is way too advanced for boy robot, but boy robot continues to stalk girl robot and finally gets her to start turning his way, but then inexplicably locks up and. . . blah blah blah. Like I said, wait for this to come out on DVD or something. This was the kind of movie where someone should have stood up in the planning stages and said 'I'm not sure that this is such a good idea for a movie'. Coming from Pixar you kind of expect something pretty grand, but this is about the worst effort they've put forth. I guess when the two main characters can only say about 4 words between them the plot advancement is going to be a little slow. Anyway I think the gap between Pixar and the other digital animation studios has officially been closed, especially with the likes of Kung Fu Panda which was hands down better than this movie. I give Wall-E a 3 out of 5, only for the fact it was Disney and Pixar and it was pretty high quality with the robot graphics. Human graphics and plot were terrible. Hey at least nobodies Mom died. Sophie says that is because there wasn't a mom, but I say that is the difference between 3 stars and 5 stars.

Sophie won't rate the movie, but will rate the men of the Ohio Valley as pig-headed because 20 of them can walk out the door while a woman is holding it open, but none will offer to do it. Did I mention it was raining. What a bunch of jerks. Oh wait, I guess I didn't get the door either, but I had to high tail it to the car, I didn't want to get too wet.

being an Idiot

I bought the new Gran Turismo game for the PS3, well what I thought was the new GT game. Apparently 'Prologue' means that it isn't the full version of the game. They still manage to hit you for 40 bucks, though. It isn't all bad just terribly disappointing. You think it would be more pronounced that it was only a partial game, but nooooo. Anyway it is still pretty decent and I guess I can always trade it when the full version comes out. 'Prologue' had about 60 cars and 30 different races, plus the individual car make races, but the cars aren't customizable at all. The only thing you can change is the auto traction and control, so winning races is completely on skill. I guess that is a good thing, but the fun thing about GT is building the cars and setting up the car for different tracks to make them run faster. I kind of liked that it didn't have all the crappy little cars, because I could live without all of those races. But when it didn't have the licenses the little light bulb above my head went off. Well the goal now is to beat all 30 races and then race online some. The good news is the cars and credits are transferable to the full version. After I get the full version I'll be sure to rate the whole game. For now 'Prologue' is about a 4.5 out of 10, the best features are the online races, which aren't all that great, and the idea that what you do will transfer.

Happy Birthday America!!!

Happy July 4th everyone, and happy birthday America. Every July 4th is when we celebrate telling the English to 'shove it' and ventured out on our own. The original signers of the Declaration of Independence actually thought the celebration would take place on the July 2nd because that is when the actual vote for independence took place. But the actual document didn't get a ratification vote until the 4th, the day we now celebrate. The original discrepancy was over 'taxation without representation', good thing we don't have to worry about that anymore. We must get represented like crazy now.

Interesting fact: Both John Adams (our 2nd president) and Thomas Jefferson (our 3rd president) died on July 4th in 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the nation's birth.

V - B - S

Well Vacation Bible School is over for this year and it was pretty awesome. The theme was "Jerusalem Market Place" and it was different from previous years because the kids weren't divided up by age rather all the children were put together in a giant pool and were drafted (much like a fantasy draft) into a tribe. Each tribe had kids of all ages except I think the teens kind of lost interest a little bit, but I'm sure they'll tweak it a little for next year. The crafts were different too. Instead of doing just one type of craft every night the tribe could choose whether it wanted to do pottery or carpentry stuff or basket weaving and the snacks were like fruit and cookies. Sophie and I both helped and we thought it was very well done and the kids really liked it and learned a little about Jesus, which is the most important thing.

Fantasy Update

Well the old team is starting to click. I went from 8th to 5th so far and I am within a point of 4th. Look out the Ninja Frogs are coming. Oh and Stevie is begging me now to help him with his other fantasy teams. Not because of how awesome I am, but because he is having trouble getting at them from the desert. I could have told him that, sand is a terrible modem. Don't worry brother, I'm working on a deal for Hanley Ramirez Ha Ha Ha (evil laugh).

What am I going to Spend my Stimulus Money on...

TAXES!!! That's right the old extra money from the gov't will be here just in time to pay for local taxes. YEAH!!! So I guess my stimulus money from the federal gov't will help stimulate the local gov't. It is like stealing from the rich, giving to the poor and then stealing back off the poor to give to the government. Yeah, democracy. I guess this is kind of like trickle down economics. . . and then trickle back up. Darn it a preposition, how's that get in there. Oh well at least Mom got to spend her money on a new computer. I will try and fix the old one, thanks to some tips from Stevie. It is definitely a good idea that she got herself a new computer though. She must have got one because I tried to call her and it just rang and rang and rang....

Another Fantasy Update

I pretty well bottomed out in eighth place and now it is time to start my long climb back to first. I'm up to seventh and I picked up Billy Wagner, so hopefully I can start closing the saves gap. Although Stevie's team can't blow a save. Kerry Wood comes in and ends up getting a win, and now he picks up Lohse from St. Louis. I was really considering picking him up, but not now. Well look out people here come the Ninja Frogs!

Random Thought #3

People say, 'You end too many sentences with prepositions."
I said, "What are you talking about?"

Our new Addictions

Well Sophie is addicted to the show "John and Kate plus Eight" on TLC. It follows the life of a family of sextuplets who also have twins. Anyway I can tell she is obsessed because she even set a reminder for a new episode tonight. That is why I am not fully taking advantage of my new addiction playing PS3 online. Well the blog entries will probably be a little less free flowing here for about 2 months, I'm guessing. Oh and by the way Mom, get ready to watch the show when Sophie, me and the kids come out.

T-Ball season Ends

Sampson's final game was last Thursday's double header. His game Saturday was rained out and he said good. I guess it was a long season for him, I think we ended up having more games than practice, but he really did seem to get better each game. He was really cracking the ball there at the end of the season. I think he had fun, I know it was fun for me to watch.

Fantasy DL update II

Did I mention Albert Pujols landed on the DL. Oh yeah. Figgans is finally back and hopefully Diasuke will be back by the weekend. Well as much as I can root for a Red Sox player. Mark Reynolds is batting a svelt 0.222 with a homerun, 5 rbi's, and 4 runs. Not terrible, but I'm going to need a little more Mark. thanks.

Hillary Quits and so does Barack

Well Hillary dropped out of the Democrat race on 6/7/8. I wonder if we should take that as a sign. Also Obama quit, no not the presidential race he just quit his church in Chicago. Now he'll have to find a new church, to you know, not go to on Sunday and then not listen to the pastor.

Fantasy DL update

Well Jerry Hairston Jr. managed to break his finger last night, and I'm guessing it was about the time I was making the post about the people going on the DL. So I had to drop him and pick up Mark Reynolds who is ranked 37 right now. It seems like whenever I pick someone up after they are doing decent they begin laying a series of eggs. So now we can watch Mark Reynolds' demise together. If this trend continues I will load up my roster with as many Yankee$ and Red $ox as I can.

Fantasy Disabled List

In the last 2 weeks, 3 of my 'better' players have ended up on the Disabled List. That is after 2 of the crappier players I had were on the DL. So I lost my best pitcher for at least two weeks and Figgins is back on the DL, but he is supposed to start a rehab assignment today, and Carlos Pena broke his finger. Next some body's arm will fall of or something, and to top everything off the people I have left are turning the fantasy season into a nightmare. I went from 3rd to either 5th or 6th, but these guys can't even stop the bleeding right now. Stevie is finally in first and I guess that is OK since he left for Iraq yesterday. He is going to camp "cupcake", but it doesn't look like much of a cupcake to me. Be careful bro.

sandstorm at camp "cupcake"

Peach gets sick

Peach has some type of viral throat infection. Sophie had to take her to the doctor's because she had a fever of about 102°. So if you get a chance, pray for her please. Thanks.

Worm Inflation

Well even worm prices are getting ridiculous. Yesterday for the fishing derby we got 2 dozen worms at the bargain price of $2.09 . . . per dozen. That's right we spent about $4.48 (after tax, that's right there is tax on worms) for worms. Where will the madness end. People are worried about $4/gallon gas, but $2.09 for worms! This worm inflation may be the straw that breaks the camel's proverbial back. I mean come on congress, we need some legislation, now. Hurry right your congressmen today. Tell 'em we won't stand for these prices and they need to step in and subsidize the worm market for goodness sake. This could be the wedge issue that decides where the candidates take their final stand. It's clear and simple people, cheaper worms or high priced ones, who you gonna vote for. And don't fall for that fuel surcharge B.S. either, worms already run on bio fuel.

Covered In Fish Poop, but I still had fun

Yesterday was the parent child fishing derby that my church puts on the Sunday before Father's Day. I fished with Sampson and Peach and I gotta admit when I was fishing with Peach she was carrying the team. Sampson also got to fish with Uncle Bo who caught the largest fish of the tournament. Sampson had the smallest, but we had to leave and someone else caught an even smaller fish. You get to fish 15 minutes and there are awards for Largest, Smallest and Most Inches. The first group caught 27 between the parent and child. I think we caught 11 or so, but the first group really has an advantage in this category because the fish are so hungry. The dad in the first group broke his line and just start casting the line out without the rod and I think he caught about 7 or 8 that way. So while the other groups are fishing I try and help. I'll take the fish off the hook and measure it and then is when one of 'em got me. I guess I squeezed him a little too hard and some poop came out. Or at least some type of fish waste. It just happened that the child that was fishing right then was a girl so the next one she caught I tried to spray her with the fish "waste". That'll teach 'em to try and catch more fish than me and Sampson. Anyway Sampson and Uncle Bo get their pictures taken next week at church. The fishing derby is definitely my favorite event that the church puts on.

Kirk_Helfen makes Debut

Well with DSL I'm am able to play PS3 online. See that is why I didn't fight Sophie when she wanted to get DSL. Anyway this will be the summer of Resistance and if anyone wants to battle just look me up under Kirk_Helfen I am part of the 'Last Spartans' Clan. I was part of another clan before, but they gave me the boot.

MMA over the weekend

Well MMA or Mixed Martial Arts for some of you, made its debut over the weekend on network TV. If you missed you are really lucky, because maybe just maybe you still have a chance to like MMA. They had the fights on CBS on Saturday night and it was an eliteXC card. As far as MMA goes eliteXC is like a regional NASCAR series if there was nothing else on, sure you would watch but it is nothing like the Sprint Cup (UFC) or even Nationwide/Busch (WEC). And the last thing that would happen is someone would televise it on network TV. I thought the fights were terrible especially compared to the live WEC event that was held on Sunday Night. Sophie's brothers Hans and Ricco came up and watched the fights on Sunday and they were some of the best I had seen. I have been following MMA for about the last 4 months and can't get enough. Enough good fights that is, I could definitely do without the crapfest that was CBS's poor attempt at displaying the sport. Here was a sport that was right on the verge of blowing up and now it is set back a couple of years. If CBS likes the ratings they could have another fight night, but they really have some work to do. First you introduce the fighters ONCE, not twice, there is no need all this does is waste time. Two, schedule the fights so that there is more than a minute of action in the first 40 minutes of the show. Two B) if the show is going to have such a small amount of fighting have the show end when it is scheduled. I don't want to see some crappy dancers and I don't need Frank Shamrock showing me different holds, people will pick it up as you go, I did. You don't explain the rules of football before every game. Three, actually schedule some MMA fighters to be on the show. The main event looked terrible and I thought Kimbo tapped too. It really did look like they wouldn't let Kimbo lose and maybe he is getting better, but right know it looks like he would get beat by legit welter weights. I would like to see Carlos Condit fight him. I would also like to see Condit fight Georges St. Pierre. Four, Let 'em fight. The guy gets an accidental thumb in the eye and they stop the fight. This was turning out to be a legit MMA fight and the doctor comes in and stops it?!? Give the guy a minute, let him shake it off and if he says he can go, let him fight. That is what happened in the first WEC fight on Sunday. Then two of the best fights I've seen back to back to end the show. Two title fights and if you ever get the chance to see the reply of the Torres - Maeda fight you gotta watch it, I get goose bumps just thinking about it. They were trading kicks and punches and then it went to the ground and at one point both fighters had each other in an ankle lock at the same time. And the crowd was yelling and applauding both fighters when they would get back up. The fight finally ended after Torres swelled Maeda's eye shut and the ref had to step in, but in a true show of class Maeda lifted up Torres' arm after the fight. Then the headline fight of Pulver vs. Faber. I have never seen Faber have to go past the second round before he either knocked his opponent out or made 'em submit, and Pulver had never been beaten in the Feather weight class. Well it went all 5 rounds and came down to a decision, but it was still a great fight because of the back and forth. Faber did enough to win every round, but every time he tried to take Pulver down Jens just through him off or stood back up to neutral. Pulver just never took to fight to Uriah and I think that is ultimately what cost him. It seemed like he was just trying to react and counter punch, but I thought if Pulver would have been more aggressive and maybe tried to take Faber down that he could have won. Either way it was still pretty great. I can't wait 'til August 3rd to see the next live fight on WEC, as for CBS . . . I can wait.