Blood

For those of you that know me know I'm pretty big on blood donation. While I don't talk about it a lot, I do talk more about it when I become re-eligible to do so. I have been eligible for a couple of weeks and finally went in today to give my pint.

For those of you that are ineligible, it is unfortunate for you. For those of you that CAN donate blood, I would plead with you to do so. It is very important and could possibly save a life. The American Red Cross has a blood donation center close by and they usually have drives around the city. Anyway, had to get a good plug for this organization.

If you are unsure of your blood type, the first time you go in, they will type it at the lab and send you a note and a donation card in the mail. Then, from then on you will know. I, myself am O negative. This, for those that don't know about blood type, is the Universal Donor. In otherwise, anyone can accept my blood.

For those of you with different blood types, you can call and ask about donating whole blood vs. platelets (people with AB blood are really in demand for platelets that help with burn victims.)

I enjoy giving blood and minus begin stuck by a needle, I don't mind so much. So, if you can give blood, please do.

Song of the Day

So today's Song of the Day was one that I picked last night while we were driving to dinner. This song comes from the Disney movie Pete's Dragon. It's called Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You Too). If you seen the movie you know that Pete and Elliot, Pete's dragon, are singing this song together after Pete has successfully run away and hidden from the Gogans with help from Elliot. Charlie Callas did the voice of Elliot and he does a lot of bops and other noises, but it's not clear what he is saying. Last night it came on the iPod and I was trying to sing with Elliot and Bree was in the back just laughing. She even said "daddy, your silly" or something like that. So I decided that it needed to be the Song of the Day today. So there you have it.

Movie Review: Roll Bounce

The movie Roll Bounce was a movie that sparked my interest when I saw the trailer on the Apple Movie Trailers website. Didn't think much about it untill Chels brought it home.

Roll Bounce is a movie about roller skating in the late 70's. A group of "south side" boys would skate at the local skating rink, but it gets closed and they now have to travel 30 miles to the next closest skating rink. This new skating rink, the Sweetwater, is a nice place where everyone in the rink knows about Sweetness, the best skater at the Sweetwater. There is a skate off competition that takes place, and while most of these feel good movies are easy to predict, Chels and I had differing opinions on how it would end, so it wasn't totally predictable. It had some long parts and there is a lot more going on than skating. Father and son have a blow out where a car gets messed up.

Minus the point where they are trying to transition the story line, and it gets a little boring, the movie is pretty good. I'm not sure that it is one that I'd rush out and get for my collection, but I would gladly watch it again if someone was renting it.

Movie Review The Poseidon Adventure (2005) TV

Seems all I do these days is watch movies. Anyway, got a new one. I like the storyline for this film, or at least the concept as this is the first I've seen. I would like to see the earlier 1972 verson of The Poseidon Adventure but have not yet. It has a pretty start-studded cast with Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Shelly Winters, Ernest Borgnine, and Roddy McDowell.

Anyway, the version of The Poseidon Adventure we saw was made for TV and was actually a 2-part movie that did have a few big names in it: Steve Guttenburg, Adam Baldwin, Rutger Hauer, Bryan Brown and C. Thomas Howell. As I said, I do like the storyline and they have made some updates to this version vs. the 1972 version. They have added a couple of characters, deleted a couple of characters, and have updated the ships demise to terrorists. (I'm assuming the 1972 version was something different because terrorism really wasn't big in 1972, as far as I know.)

They have changed a few of the names to pay homage to certain individuals (like the captain's in this version was named after the original writer of the book.)

I thought this was a good story and kept me watching. The visuals were pretty good but were not "big budget" and you can tell that this was made for TV. This is one to definately watch and compare to the 1972 version, (that's my general plan.) I would suggest owning this one if you are a collector of these types of movies (i.e. Titanic or any of the others of similar name.)

They are also coming out with a Special Edition Poseidon Adventure (1972) due out this May. This comes ahead of the 2006 remake entitled Poseidon to be released May 12th.

Good movie, can't wait to see the others and possibly have the entire collection.

A cold week so far...

Sunday was windy, Monday snowed all day, and this morning it was still snowing. Crappy weather. This weekend is supposed to be really nice though, so I'm looking forward to that. We are going to get some bricks around our flower beds and get them started looking a lot better. I have to call someone to find out how much a dump truck load of dirt, top soil, is. It should be a good rest of the week. And the weekend should be great.

Now for the Song of the Day. Today's song of the day is from a collection of 50's and 60's that I have. B.J. Thomas hit the nail on the head when he said, "I'm never going to stop the rain by complaining, because I'm free, nothings worrying me" in his song Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head.

Movie Review Time Changer

I made it through all 3 of the movies I picked the other night. I'm glad that I got an opportunity to watch all 3 because they all seem to have some lessons to teach. The last of the 3 I picked last week is called Time Changer. I was impressed with this movie, not because of the acting, but because of the storyline. The acting was, well, I liked the storyline.

Imagine that it is the 1890's. A bible professor at one of the local schools has written a book. It is soon ready to go to print but the publisher would like an endorsement from the school that will help promote the book, the college, and increase sales of the book itself. To get an endorsement, the writer, Dr. Carlisle, needs to get a unanimous vote from the other staff. All but one agrees with the endorsement and the one, Dr. Anderson, tries to convince him that a section of his book needs to be changed. In the book, Dr. Carlisle states that the morals of Jesus Christ can be taught without giving credit. That teaching the morals would be important and would lead people back to Christ by teaching the morals alone.

Dr. Anderson sees it differently and requests that Dr. Carlisle come to his home to prove his theory. Reluctantly, Dr. Carlisle does go to Dr. Anderson's house to find that Dr. Anderson has a machine that can travel back in time. Dr. Anderson sends Dr. Carlisle 100 years into the future. A future where morals are looser, and Christ has been taken out of the teachings.

He learns quickly that once credit for the teachings of Christ are not given proper credit, they become open to interpretation. He is shocked and dismayed at the way people are in the 21st century. He eventually comes to realize that to teach morals, you have to make sure that the authority is given to them so that people know they are absolute and not open to interpretation.

Anyway, good story. Really enjoyed watching it and the testimony he bears at the futuristic church is an eye opener. You realize how desensitized we have become and how we have spiraled away from proper teachings.

I give this a high rating because it has a strong message. If you are a collector of Christian films, I would recommend this one for the collection but otherwise, get it from the video store and watch it at least once.

Movie Review Good Night and Good Luck

I know its late at night and I should probably be in bed. When I went to the video store the other night, I went by myself allowing me to get 3 movies on MVP without having anyone else question my picks. Given that opportunity, I thought of shows that I wanted to see and, as a result, am quite happy with my picks. The first being Fahrenheit 451 previously reviewed and tonights show, Good Night and Good Luck.

Good Night and Good Luck is a show about the famed McCarthy hearings of the 1950's and Edward R. Murrow, the reporter that put a stop to it. Written and directed by George Clooney (who also stars as Fred Friendly), this show is a dramatization of the events that unfolded in the early 1950's during what has been refered to as "McCarthyism".

After World War II, things have settled down at home but a new fear starts to dominate society, that of the communists and their "take over" of America. Once allied with communists, the US now, at the beginning of the Cold War, watches their neighbors with a watchful eye and suspision. Senetor Joseph McCarthy plays on those fears and creates a panic reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials where only an accusation becomes good enough to condemn a person to the fate of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Edward R. Murrow takes a stance, not questioning whether the individuals are, in fact, communists, but instead questions the antics and procedures being used to accuse and condemn these individuals.

This film captures the fear of the time created by this junior senator from Wisconsin and the boldness of Edward Murrow, Fred Friendly, and the reporters helping to support this weekly broadcast and expose the illigitimate accusations. Filmed in black and white, it gives it an air of authenticity. Senator Joseph McCarthy is played by none other than himself as film footage of the hearings, Senator McCarthy's broadcasts, and other CBS broadcasts of the times help to give additional authenticity to this film.

I, myself, am somewhat of a history fan. I enjoy seeing or reading things that happened within the past. This film helped to shed some light on the problems of the times. While this film has very little special effects, I would not recommend the theatre for this one but would in fact state that this would definately be worth renting. This is a show to watch when the kids are in bed and quiet so attenion can be paid to the dialogs and reproduction of the broadcasts. History buffs will want this one for their collection. While the broadcasts themselves are authentic, the rest may be from the mind of the writer but is very respectful and well presented.

One thing, as you know I love controversy, is to pay attention to the speech given by Murrow at the beginning and the end of the show. Think to what television is today and how prophetic his words really are as to the direction of television. In its infancy, television had so much potential and while some is retained, a lot has been forsaken for the power to entertain vs the power to educate. Even the education has an air of entertain that sometimes, most of the time, overshadows the educational benefits of this medium.

Friday

So today is Good Friday, and that means that Easter is only a couple days away. I'd like to say Happy Easter to everyone and hope that we can all reflect on why Easter is a holiday. I got a cool quote today, it's by Jeffery R. Holland, one of the 12 Apostles on the earth today. Here's his quote...

Surely the most majestic moment of that fateful Friday, when nature
convulsed and the veil of the temple was rent, was that unspeakably
merciful moment when Christ said, 'Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do.' As our advocate with the Father, He is still making
that same plea today--in your behalf and in
mine. (Jeffery Ro Holland, "The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom", Ensign, Nov. 1996, 83)

In the spirit of Easter, the Song of the Day is I Know That My Redeemer Lives from the new Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Orchestra At Temple Square CD, Then Sings My Soul. HAPPY EASTER!

Movie Review - Fahrenheit 451

Most of you know that I like the conspiracy theories and movies based on the "possibilities" of government going to far. Mostly because, well, its an interesting subject. Anyway, there is a movie that I've been wanting to see for years and finally took an opportunity to do so.

The movie is Fahrenheit 451. This is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury. Basically, in the future, all books and written material has been banned. Information is disemenated through television and newspapers that look basically like comics without words. (TV in print, if you will.) Firemen no longer put out fires but are actually employed to burn books hidden by those pesky citizens that just don't get the idea that books are "bad for you." The books are burned and the individuals that are caught are sent to "re-education" camps.

This story follows such a fireman by the name of Montag (played by Oskar Werner.) As Montag goes about his daily life, he meets Clarisse who asks him about his job and her final question to him is, "Do you ever read the books that you burn?" Well, this gets Montag thinking about what is the big deal? Why would people risk their lives for contraband? So, he begins to read, and read, and read until he is hooked. One thing not answered, which is very interesting, is how Montag knows how to read. In a society where print is outlawed, reading would not be necessary so it would not be taught. So, how does he know how to read? Good question. I wish our illiterates were as literate.

This is a very good story. I would like to one day read the book and may get to it.... eventually. There is also talk of a remake to be released in 2007 but no cast has been contracted yet. Anway, digressing again.. (I do that a lot these days.)

This movie was released in 1966 and you can tell that it was. It was produced and directed in England and we all know how stiff they can be. Anyway, I would recommend this movie simply because of the storyline. It has an interesting plot and is quite sad. Makes you wonder which side of the coin you would be on.

Since the original was released in 1966, I don't think that a theater will be playing the original anytime soon. Not sure on what special effects the new movie will have but will withhold judgement on the theatre vs home video for the new one. I would recommend that if you can get ahold of a copy of this movie, it is worth the watch. Ignore the 1960's look and acting. The story is the important part. Rent it if no one you know has it. Wouldn't recommend for the video library unless it will round out your "conspiracy" collection. (again, withholding judgement on the 2007 version.)

Twix and a DP

So I kind of skipped lunch today because of a couple things. 1. I didn't bring anything, big reason. 2. I had some meetings that took up the lunch, plus I've been working on some stuff that needs to get done. Now when I say kind of missed lunch, that means I did eat something, I had some ramen...dry. Didn't take time to make it properly, I just smashed the noodles and ate them dry. It's a pretty good snack. So I'm sitting here realizing that my snack of a lunch didn't last very long, so I went and got a Twix and a DP. For someone who is trying, albeit not very hard, to lose weight a Twix and a DP isn't going to help me knock off those pounds. But I'm going to eat it anyway and see how things go.

Now it's time for the Song of the Day. I'm having a bad music today where nothing is really striking my mood. The kind of tired, kind of grumpy, kind of hungry, and ready for a weekend so I'm being extra picky today. So I'll give it a couple skips forward to figure it out. Ok, after having to look through the list I think I found it. It's by country star Blake Shelton. The song is called Some Beach. Basically it's about dreaming about being on some beach somewhere because of "some beach". One of the verses and the chorus in the song are...

I sat in that waiting room
It seemed like all afternoon
The nurse finally said doc's ready for you
you're not gonna feel a thing we'll give you some novocain
That tooth will be fine in a minute or two
But he stuck that needle down deep in my gum
And he started drilling before I was numb

Some beach
Somewhere
There's a beautiful sunset burning up the atmosphere
There's music and dancing and lovers romancing
In the salty evening air
On some beach
Somewhere
On some beach, somewhere

I sure would like to be on a beach somewhere.

Movie Review Standards

Ok, so I've started thinking about our movie review rating system and procedures. I think that is important to cover a couple of different areas. First, we should include some sort of synopsis as to what the story is about without giving away the good parts.

We should then give our assessment of the movie in our own like/didn't like, good/bad, and why type situation. As far as ratings, I think there are 2 main categories:

1. Video/Theatre - is the theatre going to make a difference in the viewing experience? In other words, what are the special effect liks and is it better to hear them on the surround sound of the theatre. Are the visuals something you HAVE to see in a theatre or is home viewing going to be enough of an experience, in other words, is it mostly the story that is entertaining vs the special effects.

2. Rent, Borrow, Own - Next would be quality of show itself. Is it a one-time view or is it something that is going to be repeatedly watched? Is it worth spending the money on or wait for some other schmuk to waste their money on it? In other words, "view it if you get an opportunity but don't waste money on it" or "good for a one time rental but not good enough to own", or lastly, "a must have for the entertainment collection."

I guess if the movie is aweful enough, it wouldn't fall into any of these categories and therefore the rating would be a "stay away because its a waste of time, money, energy, film and should be banned from existance and the writers/director should be drug out in the street and flocked." I've heard that Gigli measures up to that standard but haven't had a desire to check it out.

So, there's my ideas. We can refine if you think it might be necessary but here again are the basics:
1. Brief synopsis
2. Personal evaluation
3. Rating of home vs. theatre
4. Rating of own, rent, or borrow.

Let me know what you think.

6th North Overpass

As I was driving to work today, I remembered a story that I wanted to put in my "The Life and Times of Brandon McGee" which is basically a book of all the stupid crap I did when I was a kid. The second half will be for all the stupid stuff I'll do in the future. Here's a story I remembered and wanted to write it down somewhere in case I forgot.

When I was 17/18ish, I had a 1981 blue mustang. It was my pride and joy back then. It had its problems but it sure was a good car. I loved that car but ended up having to sell it and having my friend destroy it within a month of owning it. But I digress.....

One story in particular involved me, my brother, my middle finger, and the 6th North Overpass. (Tracy remembers and is probably laughing right now.)

Anyway, Tracy and I were headed home. We were on northbound 3rd west and were in the left hand turn lane to turn west on 6th North. For those of you that don't know, 6th North has an overpass that goes over I-15. There was another car headed our direction and at the moment we got into the turn lane, it looked like I should wait for it. Then it slowed and didn't seem to know where it was going.

About that time, another vehicle came up behind us honking its horn. I looked in my rearview mirror and see a lady in her 40's who seemed very agitated driving and an old man sitting in the passenger seat very docile. I asked my brother, "Think I should flip her off?" He said, "Sure". So, as we made the left hand turn, I stuck out my hand and flipped her off. Tracy, not seeing the gesture, looked back and apparently the lady had become extremely upset.

Tracy asked if I did flip her off and I told him I did. He told me that the lady was very upset and was coming after us. I looked in my rearview again to see a very angry lady trying to chase me down. So, I did what every other red-blooded teen male in a sports car does, I gunned it.

We sped over 6th North coming down to 9th West and a red light. I signaled and moved into the right turn lane with my very agitated persuer behind me. As I got to the turn, the light turned green, I signaled left hit the gas and went straight leaving her in the right turn lane with a slew of cars now between me and her with no immediate prospects of getting left to go straight.

So, we made our escape. It was a nice sunny afternoon and I enjoyed the excitement. Its fun to look back and remember all the stupid stuff we did as kids.

Life is interesting.

What's up to everyone? Nice blog. Great movie reviews. Tracy I liked the movies I have seen with ya. My review would have to be for Ice Age 2 The Meltdown. Definitely worth going too. Well I think so I have been twice. Good movie. Loved it. Will buy it. Go see it. haha.

Life is good on the home front. Just waiting for the hubby to get home. We miss him tons. Its true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Definitely can't wait to see him.

He is working hard well I guess you could say that. 4-7 hours a night and then sits at his temporary place of residence and well plays games. He has it so easy I am very jealous. He is good though and wants to get home.

Life, I have decided is interesting. It throws you all different kind of blows and well 99% of the time you are supposed to just "take it up the tail pipe"-jim carry, liar liar.

Well lets just say my tail pipe is stuffed until we have some kind of clearance *or really good bm* we are just gonna have to suffer.

Ah well life would suck if it wasn't interesting right.

Early Morning Basketball

I've decided that I need to do something that helps me to exercise a little. Get rid of the tire that is currently hanging around my mid section. I'm not a big exercise freak, as a matter of fact the only times I like to run, or that I run usually is if I'm chasing something, like playing b-ball or one of my kids is running around, or if I'm being chased, like by a big dog, and even then I'd have to really think about a couple things. If I'm running with anyone, I only have to outrun that person. If I'm running alone, then I might just have to let the dog catch up and do it's damage. Anyway, the idea of me and exercise is almost laughable. This morning however, with a couple of other guys in the neighborhood. Talk about kicking my butt. I ran for all of 1 minute before I was ready to head home and crawl back into bed. I stayed and tortured myself a while longer and had a good time. I'll pay for it tomorrow. We'll see if I can keep up some sort of exercise though, wish me luck.

Now for the Song of the Day. I know I missed it yesterday, it was a pretty hectic day. Today has kind of been that way too, only about 30 minutes of desk time so far today. So not many songs listened too. So here we go, let's get one. I should keep track of past songs of the day so I don't repeat too often. Today's Song of the Day is...Tell Me Why (Featuring Mary J. Blige) by Will Smith on his newest album Lost And Found. It's a really good song and basically asks the question 'Why?'. It starts out by talking about the morning of Sept. 11th and his son asking him about what happened and why it happened. He goes on to ask questions like, 'Why is human life always denided for loot', 'Why the can't love seem to defeat hate'. Anyway, if you haven't heard it, have a listen. Great song.

Movie Review Nanny McPhee

Each Monday at the dollar Cinemark Theatres, they have $0.50 family night. Each member of the family gets in for just 50 cents. So, to take a family of 6 to the dollar theatre actually costs us $3.00.

Last night, being a Monday night, we went to see Nanny McPhee. Staring Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee and Colin Firth as the father in dire need of help with his 7 unruly children, Nanny McPhee shows up to help. While it shares similarities to Mary Poppins in that the nanny uses "unusual" means to complete their jobs, Nanny McPhee has by far a tougher job with the Brown children than Mary Poppins has with the Banks children.

Very hilarious and is definately a MUST SEE. Theatre vs. home video doesn't matter much as there are not a lot of special effects where a theatre would be beneficial but this is definately a must own for the video collection.

Based on the collection of books entitled Nurse Matilda, this may definately be a collection worth looking into owning.

School Pictures

Recently, the school took pictures of the kids. Since we get our pictures done at Walmart, we usually don't get the school pictures. Mostly because we don't have control over the pictures since the school does them.

Anyway, one of the things they do to "entice" you to buy the pictures is to send them home. Maybe they think this will make you think you ordered them and just need to pay for them or that you may like them and you will pay for them OR they send them with the kids and if they get lost, you pay for them. Whatever their reasoning, they send them home with a full packet of pictures.

The pictures were not too bad so we have scanned them and they are shown below.

Movie Reviews...

So I have 3 movies that I want to review. Hopefully I can remember them all...

The first one is The Greatest Game Ever Played with Shia LaBeouf and directed by Bill Paxton. This was a really good movie. Of the three I'm going to review today, this is the best one. LaBeouf's character is a kid that has grown up right across the street from a golf course. He grew up caddying and playing where he could. You see him as a little kid putting a golf ball in his bedroom late at night. He grows up to be pretty good. The other half of the story is about an english golfer by the name of Harry Vardon, who since as a little kid, was also a big fan of golf, and very good at it. With this being based on a true story, I was expecting the "feel good" movie that most are when inspired by or based on true events. They did a great job. There were a couple scenes that I think should have hit the cutting room floor, but for the most part they did a great job. This movie had some serious parts and some pretty funny parts. I'd say it is one that I'm going to eventually add to my collection.

Second is An Unfinished Life with Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford, and Jennifer Lopez. This movie was pretty good. I could sit through it again but I don't think I'd be running out to buy or rent this movie again. The thing that is hard for this movie is that they have 3 stories, maybe 4, that eventually tie in together. Well kind of. This movie follows a battered Jennifer Lopez to a little podunk town in Wyoming as she gets away from a loser of a boyfriend. She heads to the farm of her deceased husbands father, so her father-in-law. He's not happy to see her, she has a kid, and the storylines all affect this little girl. Well she's supposed to be 11 or 12 I think. This story had a few holes in it that I feel that they could have filled a little better, and tried to tie some of them off at the end, but still left you wondering about a few things. Good movie, like I said though, it's a one-time-renter, but you could watch it more than once if someone else rented it.

Third is Theif Lord. Chels picked this one up mainly for the kids. And after watching it, with the kids, I can see why. It is a good family movie where the kids will be really entertained and if the adults can stay focused on it long enough it will start to make sense and turn out to be a pretty good movie. This movie starts out with Prosper, the older brother, kiddnapping his little brother, Bo, from a mean aunt and uncle that want to adopt Bo since their mother has passed away. They run away to Venice where they make friends with the Theif Lord and become part of his gang. The Theif Lord is given a job to steal a wooden wing for this count. The wooden wing goes to this magical merry-go-round. I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to give anything away. This movie is multiple renter, espically for the kids. I'd watch it again. If you rent it remember that you have to hang in there for a bit to have it catch your attention. I almost turned it off for something else but stayed with it and was pleasantly suprised by the end.

Those are the three movies that I wanted to review. Good luck in your renting...

PS B, we need to really figure out what our rating scale should be...

Weekend Recap

I'll have to agree with Tracy on it being a wonderful weekend. This weekend was Lagoon's opening weekend. Although Aly didn't get to go this weekend (she was training at the zoo this weekend), we did have a good time. I took the kids and went with Kara and her two kids as well. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it.

One ride they really liked was the Merry-Go-Round. The kids went on that ride 4 times in a row. It was a lot of fun.

We then spent some time geocaching this weekend. It was great. Found a couple of regular caches and a few micro caches. When we went to pick up Aly, I noticed one that I always wanted to go find. It's up by "This Is The Place" monument. Come to find out, after a bit of research, that it is a multi cache and I didn't have all the info to complete it. So, will be better prepared next time.

Couple of Things...

It was a beautiful weekend and I feel like I got quite a bit done. We are getting the front yard ready to put in some new flower beds with some trees and stuff like that. There seems to be a lot of stuff to do. I like doing yard work, so hopefully I'll continued to enjoy it. On Saturday we went to Lowe's and spent 2 hours there. It was crazy, we were looking for a certain size of shed and they didn't carry it in the store. We did get a new microwave though, which is one of those over-the-stove ones, now I need to install it which could be a laughing matter. I think I'll be rolling tape on the old camcorder when I do it. We'll see what happens.

Last night on the ride home from the in-laws, the kids wanted a story. So I told them that Chels and I would tell them a story taking turns. It actually turned out to be a pretty good story and the kids liked it. It was cool, maybe I'll try to rewrite it on here sometime.

Well it's still early, before 8:00am, but I think it is time to do the Song of the Day Though I've only listened to 3 songs this morning I think I have one. It's a fun one from one of my daughter's favorite movies. Which I borrowed from my brother about a year ago probably. The song is from the movie Annie. The song is called It's the Hard-Knock Life. It's cute to hear my 2 year old sing it.

That's all for this post, but I know have a couple movie review to write so I'll work on it later.

Upon a Snowy Thursday in April

Snow sucks...have I said that before. Let spring come, please. Now I'm pleading for it. Anyway, I want to do a movie review today and I'm trying to decide if I just add it here or write a whole new blog for it. See the decisions I have to make in a day. HAHA. I think I'll write another one for the movie review and just do the Song of the Day here. I also want to talk about a cool extension I found by on Firefox for checking RSS feeds. It is called InfoRSS. If you are using this extension, shame on you for not sharing. If you don't know how to set up to get an RSS feed, let me know, I'll help where I can. Hobbes wrote about RSS in his blog a while back. Anyway, the way it works is you can set it up to automatically check on your favorite feeds to make sure you catch all the latest from you favorite RSS authors. InfoRSS takes a couple days to catch up and figure out what it is supposed to be pulling but for the most part, it's a pretty easy tool to play with. Firefox Extensions can be found here.

Now for the Song of the Day. So today I've listened to all of 5 songs with the meetings and whatnot I've had this morning, none of which have hit that status of Song of the Day. Let's play the skip till we find it. The song of the day is one that will usually point itself out within a couple of seconds of the playing of the song. So let's see how many skips it takes... Ok, I think I found it. A easy to listen to song that I think is a favorite of a lot of people. The live version, which is the actual one we are going to use, has a cool introduction. The song is by The Eagles and the song is Hotel California(Live) from the Hell Freezes Over cd. Time to chill and listen to the good music.

What a day...so far

Ok, so this has been one of those dragging days. I seem to be doing a little better now and I'm trying to put my finger on what it was. There is a break in the clouds and the sun is out, or was out for a few minutes. But since I don't really mind rain, after living in Ireland for a couple years, I don't think that really changed my mood. We just had a 10 minute visit with the baby doctor. I think that is a record, I'm contacting Guinness to see if it is a world record. The nice thing about the visit is that the doctor mentioned the change of due dates. Although most of the time you don't want a due date to change, I was excited because it put it due on my birthday. So if I hope enough, maybe it'll happen. Then I can forget my birthday, haha. That may have helped a little bit. We took a couple minutes and grabbed Chels a bite to eat and stoped for some soda's at Maverick. I got a Full Throttle Fury. Never had one of this kind before so I didn't know what to expect. But it is good. Kind of a catchy taste. I'm sure I'll have more of these. So I think it was a combination of the due date excitement, the Full Thorttle, and possibly the sun for a minute.

Now for the Song of the Day, I have had a hard time today because nothing has really struck me as being important enough or put me in a mood good enough for the Song of the Day. When Chels dropped me off I mentioned that I was listening to Avril Lavigne most of the day because she was better than what was playing on random, but nothing really struck me from that as Song of the Day material. Then right before I got out of the car, Gun's N Rose's was playing on the iPod, and I thought, 'That would be a good song for the Song of the Day'. Well when I came in I hit random again on the iTunes library and started looking for a good song. It took 3 skips to get today's Song of the Day. It is by Jack Johnson from the Curious George cd. It's called Upside Down. Probably my favorite song on that cd, even though the cd is good all the way through and has some good songs for kids. It also kind of defines the way today has felt...upside down. Got me in a good mood as I rocked out to it sitting in my cubicle. Thanks for listening.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday...

I feel crappy today. Well I have a stomach that is on fire. Fire I say. The Sprite I'm drinking is helping a lot. Other than that, today has been a pretty good day. I rode the bus into work and read like 50 pages in the first Harry Potter book. I've decided to start reading them again, just for the heck of it. So it will be fun to read it. Nothing else to report, except the Song of the Day.

Today's Song of the Day comes from a new cd that I got today. Well I got it on iTunes so technically it's not really a cd. Anyway, it's by the country group called Rascal Flatts and the song is called Backwards. So you may have heard the joke, what do you get when you play a country song backwards. Well this song explains it all, even down to the dog. It's about time a country group realized that country songs are all about losing stuff.

Movie Review Legend of Zorro

My motives for seeing this film were because of one line in the 2nd film from the trailer. Zorro's son makes a comment that I thought was pretty funny. Because of that, I wanted to see the 2nd show but thought it appropriate to see the first before I saw the 2nd. Go figure.

Anyway, not what I thought but a very good movie. From the previews that I remember, I originally though Anthony Hopkin's character to be the bad guy. (Not that I really paid attention, but I digress...)

Not an A+ movie, but it does have its funny parts. Hero's of all sorts have to have a comedic line on more than one occasion. The interaction between Catherine Zeta-Jones' character and Antonio Banderas character are hilarious but predictable. I like the choreography for the fight scenes but at no point do I feel that the bad guys may actually have the upper hand except at the beginning with Anthony Hopkin's character (can you tell I'm trying not to add any spoilers...)

I'm sure most have seen this but if you haven't, I would recommend the watch. Not an "I've got to have this for my collection" but it is a good Saturday night rental from the video store.

A Moment to Blog...

So my day has been really busy, and I've taken less time for "distractions" from work than usual. I haven't even done my daily Sudoku, weird. But I am listening to a song right now that I decided had to be the Song of the Day. Today has been one of those good music days, where my brain is very tolerant to all the music. But todays Song of the Day is from one of my top ten favorite albums in this world. (One day I'll have to blog my top 10, not today, not enough time.) So onto today's Song of the Day. It is Eye in the Sky, it is also the title to the album by The Alan Parson's Project. Great album, good song, check it out.

Good Weekend

This past weekend was actually pretty good. A few things were accomplished, some activities were done and I got to hold down my couch a bit also.

Saturday, Alythea had her training for Zoo Aide. It was pretty good for her. I think she's going to enjoy it. Her aquisition of new knowledge has given her a lot more to talk about and a new sparkle in her eye.

I took Niki and the other kids to the Zoo to celebrate Niki's b-day. It was a lot of fun. They took turns picking the animals they wanted to see and we went all over the zoo. After that, I took them to the playground where they had a lot of fun sliding, bouncing, climbing, and all the other things that make kids happy at a playground. The train had stopped running for a bit but while they were playing at the playground, the zoo train officials tested the track to see if it was dry enough to run and it was. So, the kids got a train ride to finish out their day at the zoo.

After that, I took the kids to get some lunch and we took it home and ate. They ended up taking naps while I watched some tv for a little while. Aly got home, we went shopping and got some movies. (BTW, I will do another blog on one of the movies called The Fog.)

Sunday we got up and relaxed a bit. Worked on some geocaching stuff and then got ready to go to Nicole's house to visit with mom and Bob and everyone else. It was a good time. Kids ran around, as usual. We bbq'ed, had cake and a general good time. Then we went home to finish getting ready to have cake/ice cream with the other half of the family. Watched another movie after that and then went to bed. (Almost should have a movie review website... The other movies was The Legend of Zorro.)

I enjoyed this weekend. The only bad thing about this weekend was the spring forward an hour for our clocks. I think Daylight Savings is a waste of time and unnecessary but that's just me.

Friday....YAY!!!

So it's Friday. Life is going pretty good, for the most part. I made it through a pretty busy week, alive and still feeling in one piece. I don't have anything special or exciting to write about now. Today is the last day of March and the first quarter has gone pretty fast. Hopefully, the rest of the year will slow down a little. I can't believe that in a little over 2 months, the baby will be here. I'm thinking sometime end of May more than the first of June. But that's just me, I'm sure Chels wouldn't complain. On to the Song of the Day. I've been listening all day and haven't heard anything that has hit me as a good song for the day, let's try the old hit next five times and find it. Just for kicks, the song I'm listening to is going to be it. The song is Basketball Jones, from the Space Jam soundtrack. This song is Chris Rock and Barry White. It's really dumb, but I'm laughing.

There is no winning in life, is there....

When I blog I try not to get to political or religious. I have a belief and you do too, and we all have the right to believe how, who, and what we want too. I believe that's what the founding fathers fought for. But I wanted to share something that has been kind of on my mind for a couple months. I guess I've already kind of said it. Let me believe what I want to believe and I'll let you believe what you want to believe. We all have the choice to do that. If you don't like something on TV, turn it off, don't cause a stir, it's free publicity. If you don't like the thought of a cross on the side of the road for a fallen officer, and claim it's mixing church and state, that's your belief. It's what's been done for years, just chill out. Anyway, if you want to start a bunch of comments blasting me for this, go for it, I really don't care. I can moderate them anyway, haha. Now that's off my chest, have a good day.

This arguement is based on two things that have been in the news as of late, the HBO show Big Love, it's all over KSL.com. The other one should be obvious from the rest of the blog.

Eatin' and Jammin'

Food is good, music is good, and if it's not I can change it. I do have that power. Anyways, not much going on today, just working on my project and trying to pass the time. It is noon'ish finally and I'm eating. Time has gone a little slower than I like today, but we'll see how it goes. I'm going to spend some time with my kids tonight, it has been a crazy week and I haven't spent much time with them. So it will be fun.

So I picked today's Song of the Day yesterday, but knew it would be today's Song of the Day when it played again today. Sometimes the iTunes random stinks and you hear some songs multiple times over different days. Anyway, on to the Song of the Day. It comes from one of my kids favorites. It is done by the Veggie Tales people, which include Pa Grape, Mr. Lunt, and Larry the Cucumber. Veggie Tales is great. The song is The Pirates That Don't Do Anything.

That song is funny, Larry is so funny, and there is a comment about Cap'n Crunch. It's pretty funny. And I just used funny 3 times in a very short paragraph. Haha! (I guess techincally 4, but who's counting.)

First Lost Tooth!

I have decided to post something. Amazing huh! Since everyone who reads this blog knows that Tiaree lost her first tooth, I thought I'd share how it happened. It's actually pretty funny. This all happened on Tuesday. Tuesday was a bad day for Tiaree, she had had the flu all day and had thrown up two or three times. Well about 7:00 she came, I'd say running, but it was more of a stumble, up to me and she had her tooth in her hand. She said it just came out when she was wiggling it. I had an idea that it might happen like that because the tooth was barely hanging in there but she wouldn't let me get close enough to pull it, or even look at it. So I take the tooth from her and she is kind of nervously giggling. I put it in a ziplock and then get her a tissue for the little bit of blood that was coming from where the tooth used to be. Now if any of you know my daughter, you'll know that she is the biggest gagger in the world. You can say gag and she'll gag. Well when she realized that she had blood in her mouth, that didn't sit very well. With her abnormally high gag-reflex and the flu she'd been suffering from all day, it was a very good thing we were standing right by the kitchen garbage!! The poor little thing procedded to empty her stomach for the 4th time that day. I felt so bad for her. But, when she was done, her mouth had stopped bleeding, she had her tooth for the tooth fairy and she was feeling a little better.

So that is the story of Tiaree's first lost tooth! It was pretty funny, and a little bit sad since she didn't feel well. I hope I don't have to look forward to throw up in the kitchen garbage for all the rest of her teeth! That would not be fun!

Here's the picture

Life never slows....

I got up this morning, against my better judgement, and got showered and ready for work. After the last weekend, all I want to do is sleep in and take a day off to just veg out and do absolutely nothing. So I started to think about when my next possible day off would be. Here is the schedule I came up with:

I work today at Delco and tonight at Albertsons. No time off there.
3/31 - Work at Delco and have a double date with some friends that night. Not really a veg night.

Sat 4/1- Take Niki D. to the zoo for her b-day. Aly has training at the zoo for that time. I also need to take Niki D. to get he a b-day present (actually a couple. Her grandma sent her a gift card that she needs to use also.)

Sun 4/2 - BBQ with family (my side) and then cake/ice cream with other family (wife's side.)

Mon-Fri - Work Delco and a couple of those days I have to work Albertson's also.

Sat 4/8 - Lagoon Opening Day - Aly has training so I will probably take the kids and go with some friends (maybe, depends on what they are doing.)

Sun 4/9 - Since Aly is missing Lagoon Opening Day because of her zoo training, she is going to want to go on Sunday.

Mon-Fri - Work Delco again and then a couple of days at Albertson's.

4/15-16 - Not sure what's going on here, but this looks like a possibility. Aly will have zoo training on Saturday so it could be a zoo day or Lagoon day. Depends on how well 4/8 went without Aly.

Anyway, not sure if I'm happy about having lots of things to do or whether having a day off is more important. I'm excited to be able to do things with the family. The other concern is tasks around the house plus gym time during the week. Hopefully we can accomplish a lot over the next couple of weeks. As I start to think about the day off thing and all the other stuff I could be doing, maybe if there is a crappy weather weekend, I can decide that I can take a day and veg out in front of the tv but as long as its nice and I have stuff to do, might as well keep doin' it.

Braindead

So yesterday I was a little braindead. Don't know why, but I missed the song of the day. So today, I'm more awake and will remember to do one. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to it right now and those of you with kids can realate to this song. If you don't have it let me know, I'll let you hear it. Anyway today's song of the day is by another local band, that is starting to make it big, they have two videos that have played on CMT. The group is Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand and the song is Serious 2 Year Old Attitude.

So that's the song for the day. If you have kids, even nieces or nephews, that are that age, you may know that the 2 year old attitude isn't the funnest one in the world. Here's a quick picture of my 2 year old and her attitude.



That is a serious 2 year old attitude.

I Think I'm Alone Now...

So with the current creation of Thoughs From the Clan, I think that I'm going to be the only one posting to Whadda Blog. It's good to see that people have just fallen off or spread their wings and flew the coup. Sounds like Whadda Blog is becoming one man's thoughts and other inspirations. So readers, please add a bookmark to Thoughs From the Clan and keep updated on what B and fam are doing. As for the other "contributors" on Whadda Blog, contributions are always welcome. B, you are also always welcome to contribute here as long as you'd like.

Night O'Fun

So last night we went and celebrated Jarik's b-day. No picts, someone forgot the camera, sorry. (Yeah, I'm to blame for that too.) So we were going to go somewhere that they would come sing happy birthday to Jarik and make a semi-big deal of it. So the first choice was IHOP. We changed our minds, after having breakfast there on Friday, we thought it would be nice to go somewhere else. Jarik mentioned McDonald's, so he could play on the toys, and Sizzler, he likes the pizza at the salad bar. So being the wise parents, we asked him if he'd like to go to Chuck E. Cheese. He wanted to so we headed down to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese and had some fun. After eating pizza and using up most of the tokens we figured it was time to leave and head to Wal-Mart. We needed some Ice Cream and a few more gifts for Jarik. He got an outfit, which I think is really cool, it's a Superman shirt and some gray and black camo shorts. They are pretty cool. While we were at Wal-Mart Jarik decided that he needed to try and hang from the Harry Potter DVD display, which I'll warn you now, isn't latched down. As it came crashing down on top of him, I had a few emotions run through my body. I looked over right as it started to fall and noticed that Tiaree's arm looked as though it was giving it a little help down. After getting after her for touching stuff, I was told that Jarik did it. After finding out he was ok, and watching the Wal-Mart employees scramble around to get it cleaned up and make sure Jarik was ok, Chels and I proceeded to laugh about the situation. That was our "Night O'Fun".

Adventures In Hiking

I have several different blogs and have written all about of adventure at Thoughts from the Clan. Please read and enjoy the pics that I have placed there. I will place our entire collection of pictures from this trip in an online photo album once they have been labeled and cut down.

BTW, as far as the bet goes, Aurora did complain a few times but given our adventure she did REALLY well. I'm not going to claim that she lost because by the time we got done with our adventure, she had earned the right to complain.

Monday, again...

Well today is Monday. I usually like Monday but for some reason today, I'm having a hard time getting into it. It might be that my little vacation wasn't as fun as it could have been. I did spend a lot of time with the family, which was the #1 plan. Hang with the kids and wife. But with the funeral and what not, I don't feel we had that much fun during the weekend. Chels' grandad's funeral was very nice. Her mom sang really well and her uncle played this cool song he wrote on the tenor sax. It was pretty cool. It was a nice day on Saturday for the funeral. Anyway, things should get back to normal now. The family is all getting over the virus that was going around, Jarik was the last to really have it. Chels' turned into a ear infection, which she got some drugs to help. Overall the weekend, even with the two extra days is graded a C, maybe a C+. Enough of my rambling, now I'm ready for...The Song of the Day. Today's song is from a Utah local group called Voice Male. If you like acapella you'll like them. The song is I'm in a Hurry and Don't Know Why

That is all for now, have a great day!!

Chronicles of Narnia ***UPDATE***

Got a wild hair today and decided to start looking up the actors/actresses from the Chronicles of Narnia. I enjoy seeing which movies they have been in before to see if I have seen them in other movies.

Well, I have discovered the next in the Chronicles to be created. The next one is to be released in 2007 and will be the book Prince Caspian.

Now that I think about it, that is usually the next one in the series. I don't think I've seen The Horse and His Boy. Its possible that it has been done, but not that I have seen. The BBC combined Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for their series.

Anyway, excited to see the next one. I should probably go back and read the books. Unfortunately, my books are in the original order with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe first instead of The Magician's Nephew.

Movie Review - Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was written by C.S. Lewis and is the first written of a 7 book series. Originally the first book, it has been superseded by The Magician's Nephew as The Magician's Nephew is a pre-quel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

This movie was released in 2005 by Disney so knowing that, you know that they had a decent budget for special effects, music, etc. This movie runs 140 minutes and is well worth sitting through. For those of you that don't know the story, here's a brief synopsis.

Four British children are moved from war-torn London during WWII. They are sent to live with the Professor who has graciously opened his home to these children to keep them away from the war. In this house is a room with a wardrobe closet that magically transports these four children to the land of Narnia, a magical place dominated by a witch who makes it always winter and never Christmas. This magical place has fawns, minotaurs, cyclops, giants, talking animals, and every magical creature you can think of. (My favorite was the griffins mostly because the wolves were portrayed as evil creatures but we won't go there.)

This movie was was well produced and the music and visual effects were very wonderful. Comparing this to other movies of the same title, this one is more "adult" than the others but the kids will like it. I would give this 4 stars as well as a rating of "must own on DVD."

No rumors yet of other books being turned into movies. This could go one of two ways if they do. (1) The Horse and His Boy which is next in the series; or (2)The Magician's Nephew where they go back, do the pre-quel and then move forward. It is my hopes that they go in order of the original series of books meaning that The Horse and His Boy would be next on the list.

We will wait and see what happens.

A Weekend Off

I am taking the next two days off of work. Tonight we are headed up to Logan to spend the night up there. In my eyes we are going up to Logan for 2 reasons, 1. Angie's has this Chicken Cordon Blue soup. It's yummy. 2. We want to go swimming and have a good time playing in a pool and hot tub. I'm excited to go. Chels has an appt today and then she is picking me up and we are out the door. I think the kids are excited to go and have some fun too.

This is the 300th entry in Whadda Blog so to celebrate, I'm going to do a little dance, and have a Chocolate Caramel candy bar and probably a Dr. Pepper. So take time to celebrate in your own way.

It's now time for The Song of the Day...iTunes is once again on random, the next song is going to be the song of the day. And while I listen to the rest of the song that is playing, I want to warn you, I have a very wide variety of music. I'm in the debate mode that I get to have a skip or two to get a really good song for the day. My other idea was that the song of the day would be the first song that played when I got to work. I'll decide and let you know. Now time for the song...Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) by the Backstreet Boys.

So I'm going to open it up to the general population as to what the rule for the song of the day should be. First song listened to for the day or allow 1, 2, or 3 choices.

A Couple Things...

First off, a movie review followed-up by a new feature, The Song of the Day.

Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story; starring Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, and Kris Kristofferson
So I'm not a big fan of the underdog that wins it all, but this movie was good. It was inspired by a true story, not a remake of the story that once happened. So Kurt Russell plays a horse trainer that owns a horse farm with no horses on it. He works for the classic big money boss that thinks the world revolves around him and that his money can talk, in other words, he's a jerk. Anyway the story is about a horse whose name is Sonador, which is spanish for dreamer, or dreamy, something like that. Anyway, Kurt Russell's character tells the jerk boss that Sonya, Sonador for short, isn't ready to run in a race. The jerk boss thinks he knows it all, tell him to race the horse. She's in the lead when she breaks her cannonbone, or something like that. Kurt Russell doesn't let them put her down, fixes her up and then races her. Sonya gets bought and the family is ticked, espically Dakota Fanning's character. They get Sonya back and the owner of the horse is Dakota, she gets to decide to do with the horse. Dakota fanning has some great lines in this movie. Anyway, it ends good, and me and the whole family were cheering her on. If you haven't seen it, go get it, it's out today...

Now for the Song of the Day: Basically this is going to be a song that I hear when I start the song of the day. Now that it's after 2 the day is almost over. So, iTunes on random, next song is the song of the day...drumroll please. The song of the day is Song For Dad by Keith Urban. If you haven't heard this song, it's pretty cool. It really makes me think of my dad and how much I think I'm like him. At least the good qualities he had.

That's it...have a good rest of the day!

Hiking Preparations

This weekend is our first official hiking trip. Aly, Aurora, Mason, Harold, Vicki and I are going to the Escalante area for the weekend and plan to hike about 11 miles. It is exciting to plan and prepare. We are taking extra precaution planning this trip because we have not done a trip like this before and we are hoping to learn from this for future adventures.

I know that the kids are excited about this trip. They aren't as much into helping prepare but hopefully they will help a little more this week to make sure that everything is taken care of and packed. I hope that this weekend goes well and that we are able to have a good time. We will hopefully take notes on what worked and what didn't and plan better for next trip. As we get a few hiking trips under our belts, we could hopefully get more proficient and have a better idea of what is really needed.

I'll keep you posted on the planning and then next week I will post on the results of our little adventure.

BTW, Aurora and I have a bet that she will not complain the whole trip. I informed her that our bet includes food as we are eating MRE's for the entire hiking portion of our trip. The bet is $5 and honestly, if it keeps her from complaining the whole trip, it'll be worth the $5. Somehow, I think I'll be the one that is $5 richer.

Living a Dream

I have this friend that I work with, well not currently, who is living his dream to ride his bike through the 48 contiguous states. His dream is coming true because of the Ascensia Dream Fund, a dream fund for people with diabetes. Peter, the rider, is a friend that I work with and wanted to spread the word through my blog that he is fulfilling his dream with the help of Bayer HealthCare. If you are interested, you can keep tabs on Peter and his trip by reading his blog The Dream Tour!

Zoo Update

Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that Aurora and I were not accepted to help volunteer at the zoo (Alythea's status is still unknown at the moment), but the good news is that we are now free the Saturday of opening day at Lagoon. This works out better since the other 2 girls would need babysitters during those Saturdays for training and then when we are doing our volunteer work.

This way, we can do things together as a family like opening day and while we won't be "volunteering" at the zoo, we would certainly be able to go and visit.

Anyway, will post more later.

One Crappy Weekend

I've had bad weekends, but this one seems to top them all. So Chels and I have had these nasty sore throats for a while and the weekend seemed to take it's toll on us. Chels was getting a lot of pressure in her sinuses and yesterday she couldn't get her ears to pop so she could hear outside of the box. Bree wasn't feeling well either, and she is very clingy when she doesn't feel well. Clingy and whiny. Besides being sick, there was the weather. Stupid snow and rain and cold. Today is the first day of spring so hopefully, things will get better. Not holding my breath too much on that. And to top the weekend off as the worst weekend, Chels' grandad passed away. It was an expected thing, and it's good that he's gone, but it is still hard. He went peacefully at home surrounded by his loved ones so that is good. So there for the weekend was a total piece, and hopefully they will start looking up from here on out.

See's Chocolate Suckers

So there is candy in this world, then there is awesome candy. Last Saturday after the St. Patrick's day, we were downtown so I stopped into See's Candies and bought some chocolate suckers. Talk about great. I don't know what it is about them, but they are just dang good. I am just finishing one as we speak, and wanted to share my feelings with the world, or my 3 or 4 readers.

Movie Review - Chicken Little

Last night we watched Chicken Little, coming to DVD on Tuesday. I was plesantly suprised at this movie. It had a lot of humorous parts and the premise of the story was followed very well. Chicken Little feels the sky is falling and warns the city, which causes mass hysteria. His father blames it on an acorn hitting Chicken Little on the head. Chicken Little then becomes the laughing stock of the town. Even his own father thinks he's a little crazy. He becomes the hero in the movie and it shows the relationship between him and his father getting better. Then the sky falls again and he shows his friends and they know that he's not crazy. He tries to warn the town again, once again causing mass hysteria and nobody believes him. Not wanting to give to much away from the movie, it turns out that the truth is finally figured out and Chicken Little gets to be a normal kid again. I would give it a thumbs up, 4 out of five stars.

My next review of The Thing About My Folks with Paul Reiser, Peter Falk, and Olympia Dukakis is coming soon.

Zoo Volunteer Update

Those of you that have read my previous posts know that we (Aly, Aurora and I) were planning to volunteer at the zoo this year. Last Saturday was the interview day where you are asked a bunch of questions to see if you meet the criteria established to work at the zoo.

As posted previously, the original positions that we were going for were Jr. Zookeeper for Aurora, Zoo Aide for Alythea, and Docent Council for me. (See Hogle Zoo's website for definitions and job duties.) One of the reasons Aly didn't want to be on Docent Council before was because there was teaching involved. She would have to make presentations, teach and other stuff similar. Since she doesn't feel academically inclined, and she didn't like teaching, she didn't want to sign up for that.

As she was interviewing for Zoo Aide, the interviewer talked her into signing up for Docent Council. She reluctantly agreed and changed her position accordingly.

So, my interview and Aly's interview went pretty well. Aurora's interview didn't go so well. Her attitude was really poor. She said she wanted to volunteer at the zoo but she was tired and didn't act like she wanted to be there. So, we will see what happens.

I hope we get accepted. Our first year, we get trained on animal handling and if we have been on Council for a year, we can take the training and get our falconry license which is something that I've wanted to do for years.

So, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

I'm Hooked...

So recently I found this cool game online and I'm starting to get the hang of it. It is pretty fun and very addictive. If you've played it, you'll know how fun it can be, but if you haven't try it out. The game is called Sudoku. I have a RSS feed for a daily Sudoku from Brain Bashers. It also has some pretty cool stuff on it like puzzles, games, and some cool illusions. Anyway, check it out. It's cool to start learning you can turn on all the cheats and work on it that way. I did today's medium puzzle in like 15 minutes. Sometimes it's easy other times it takes a little bit more time. Ok, that's all, go about your normal business.

It's Tuesday

I guess the title says it all, it's Tuesday. Not much about a Tuesday that is really likeable. Its not hated like Monday, isn't exciting like Friday. It doesn't have anything distinguishing like Wednesday being hump day or Saturday being a day off and Sunday being a rest day. Thursdays are kind of the same except that is the day to prepare for Friday.

I know Dominos tried to do something a couple years ago to get people excited about Tuesdays like some kind of special deal only on Tuesdays but it just didn't catch on because Tuesdays just can't really be all that exciting.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on Tuesday. Since its not an exciting day, no exciting blog (not that they ever are anyway.)

A Busy Weekend...

This weekend was a lot of fun. Went home on Friday and went out to dinner with Chels' Grandma for her 80th birthday. We went to Marie Callender's, and I remembered how much I dislike that place. When you are in a big party, It is sad how long you sit there. We got there at 7 and finally left around or a little after 9. It was nice to visit, but I am very impatient when we are at restaurants because I like to eat, and leave. Well the kids were being good, and as I said we were visiting with everyone that was there, it did just take a while.

Saturday, got up early and went and played in the St. Patrick's day parade. It was cold, but it was a lot of fun. My family was there to see me. We had lunch at the mall afterwards and then headed towards home. We then went over to Nic's house for a welcome home party of sorts, we had pizza and played Burn Out 3 and Tiger Wood's Golf on the XBox. It was pretty fun.

Sunday was church, and then we went to Chels' parents for Jared's b-day dinner. Roast, mashed taters, carrots, peas, and rolls. It was some good stuff. We got home shortly there after watched Crossing Jordan, which was a good one, and went to bed.

That was the weekend. I'm a little tired today, but not too bad. Well time to get back to work...

A Song for the Occassion

So I have had the ability for a long time to tie a song that I know to good and bad experiences that have happened throughout my life. Usually I will want to listen to a song based on what is going on and it will usually pep me up quite a bit. I think that music is one of the best things for the mental and physical attitude that is out there today. Now don't get me wrong, when the wife or kids is around a hug and a kiss is the bestest therapy I can think of, but to get my mind to move away from a "stressful" or otherwise situation, it helps to have your music. I think it comes down to the days of hacky sack in the band room in high school. You'd usually do pretty good if you had your music. Anyway, for a situation that I'm in right now I'm thinking the perfect song would be by the Beastie Boys, Fight for Your Right. Anyway, keep the music blastin' and don't let life get you down.

Lucky

We have had our van for several years and have not been the best about taking care of it. A couple of weeks ago, I had new plugs, wires, fuel filter and air filter placed in the van and they checked the belts and hoses which they said were in really good shape.

After that, we had a safety and emmissions inspection and the van failed miserably. Mostly because the computer was having problems understanding information. The causes were either a faulty sensor or bad computer connection. We were afraid it was going to cost us a LOT of money.

Come to find out, the oxygen sensor went bad costing us only about $140. We feel very lucky that it didn't cost more. Anyway, some good news.

I'm Tired of It...Aren't You

So once again the Salt Lake Valley has woken up to snow on the ground. I guess it's warranted since it still is winter and all that stuff, but come on. Now I know I can't control the weather, but I do want to say that I'm ready for a change. Not only am I ready, I'm hoping it happens soon. I'm not the biggest fan of snow. I've lived in Utah almost my whole life and I don't like snow. I don't ski or snowboard. I do like to go sledding once in a while, but for the most part that isn't any fun because you have to carry things up the hill to have your 5 seconds of fun. I know I'm complaining a little here but it needs to be said and this blog is where I can say it.

As for anything else going on in my life...I'm back at work today after being sick for a couple days. Being sick isn't fun, but getting better is. Nic and Rick get back today after their 6 week trip to Missouri. They've had a fun trip home I'm sure and my kids are way stoked to see them. Well I'm going to get some work done. Have a good day.

Apocolyptic Movies

One of the things I enjoy watching is movies that show natural or man-made apocolyptic events. Some of them help to answer the question "What if...." Not that they are entirely accurate or realistic, but it does give an author's rendition of what they think may happen. Some are backed by scientific data that "could" happen.

Anyway, one movie that I watched recently is Supernova. This one talked of a possibility that the sun being older than we thought and a very large meteor fragment setting off the events that would lead to the sun going supernova. There is nothing that could be done, nowhere to hide if this type of event happens.

Of course there is always the reporter that is going to break the story and get to the "truth" of what is happening so they can tell the world. Once it is theorized that the sun is to explode, the question then becomes, do you tell the world?

Here is the question I have. If the world is about to be destroyed and there is absolutely nothing that you can do, would you want to know? What would you do?

Now, add the fact that everyone else knows and everyone panics, riots, and general chaos ensues. Would that affect what you would do and where you would go?

What a Day...

I am starting to feel like crap right now. My head hurts my body is starting to ache and I'm really tired. I'm hoping for a good night sleep tonight to cure all my woes.

Today the power went off at work for a couple of hours. As fun as a power outage can be, like playing hangman on a whiteboard, not a whole heck of a lot gets accomplished. You can probably imagine. My cube became the place to gather when it came down to it. It's cool, it makes me feel special, or used anyway for the treats that I have. Anyway, I'm now waiting for my ride to come get me and then we are headed to band for the last practice before my first appearence before a live audience, minus my family, in many years. Wish me luck...

Friday, Friday, Friday...

It's here. The weekend. I'm leaving work in about an hour, and it's not going to come fast enough. This weekend, I have a pretty hefty list of things I want to get done, like the garage, the basement (moving stuff up), working some in the yard. That type of stuff. Will I get any of it done, maybe. Depends on how I feel when I wake up. It depends on the level of enthusiasim that the rest of the people in the house have. It depends on what's on TV. I'm going to get started on some stuff this afternoon when I go home, hopefully if this storm that supposed to be blowing in doesn't blow in in the next few hours. Anyway, life is good on this Friday and we are moving forward.

Headaches Suck!!

I woke up this morning, after what I thought was a good night sleep, with this major headache. I also had a stomachache, but that has since gone away. My headache is such that I'm having a hard time focusing on things that I'm working on. It's like the thoughts in my head are more out of whack than normal. So hopefully the Advil I just took will kick in soon, I have a Dew that should help as well. Caffiene is always nice for this sort of thing. Anyway, just wanted to complain a little about the headache. Now I'm going to try and focus a little and get some stuff done.

Music and Work

As some of you know, I'm a programmer, well my official title is Web Software Engineer, which means I engineer software for the web. Hahaha, incase you didn't realize that. So one of the coolest things about being a web software engineer, still just a fancy name for a programmer, is that I sit at a desk and listen to music on headphones and work my fingers to the bone. We are just getting ready to roll-out an application that will help track problem requests. Basically when the someone calls into our help desk, they will enter a problem request and that is how that problem will be tracked. It is pretty cool. Well I just wanted to share how cool I think it is to work somewhere you can listen to music and work all day.

Fine...Seven

It's the middle of the slowest day of my life, so I'm going to make it slower by doing this Seven thing that I'm being chased down with. Mind you i was up for an hour in the middle of the night so please bear with me on the following:

Seven Things To Do Before I Die

1. Go to Disney World with my Family


2. See Ireland Again


3. Serve a Mission with my Wife


4. I like the write a book thing...as long as it's good


5. Own my house, no more payments would be nice


6. See my kids grow up happy and well-adjusted, I want to be a grandpa that will spoil my grandkids and then send them home


7. Travel. I know this is vague, but I'd like to travel a lot

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1. Spin a web like Spider-Man


2. Fly, thanks for the help on that one


3. Be as strong as Hercules, Tiaree thinks I am though, it's funny


4. Drink a 2 liter of DP during 3-man without loosing it


5. Stop drinking DP, period, tried it, can't do it


6. Exercise, I'm too lazy, it's not physically possible


7. Finally, I can't do things right the first time, you laugh, come look at my wall where I hung my blinds for my sliding glass door, you'll see where it's putty'd over

Seven Things That Attract Me To A My Mate

1. Beauty, woo woo hunneeee


2. Intelligence, even though I can't spell the word, I'll spell check it though


3. Drive, if she starts something she has a desire to finish it, or have me finish it for her, haha ;)


4. Love of the Gospel, I love having religious talks with her


5. Spontanuity, spelling again, thank heavens for spell checker


6. Fun, we can just have fun


7. Her willingness to be a good Mom

Seven Things I Say

1. "Holy Hannah", don't know why, just say it


2. "See how that works when you listen"


3. "Be QUIET!, sheesh"


4. "I should exercise", I refer you to the things I cannont do


5. "Where's my super suit", ok, I don't really say this, but I can't think of seven, maybe Chels could help


6. "I love you"


7. "Get off my furniture like that", to my kids, they don't know how to sit on furniture

Sevent Books I Love (hahaha, me read, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard)

1. Honor Among Theives


2. Sons of Fortune


3. The Book of Mormon, had to be in there, if you haven't read it, I'd recommend it


4. Eddie Fantastic, Chris Heimerdinger book


5. Harry Potter Series


6. The Prydain Chronicles


7. The Chronicles of Narnia

Seven Movies I Love

1. I, Robot


2. Independence Day


3. The Wedding Planner, yes, I like chic flicks


4. Oliver, my favorite Musical


5. Mary Poppins


6. Hitch, if you can't tell I'm a Will Smith fan


7. So I Married an Axe Murder, Men In Black, and many, many more

Tag Seven

1. Chels


2. Chay


3. Harold, no joke, get a blog


4. Nicole, even though she doesn't have a computer


5. Alythea, B, you can let her post through yours or we can add her to the list of people that can blog in Whadda Blog


6. My Mom, and since she doesn't read this oh well, I'm running out of people to add


7. Whom ever feels like it...

There I took more time than I wanted too, but I'm done...get off my back

Seven

Seven Things to Do Before I Die

– Publish, I want to write a book worth reading and have it published
– Produce and direct a movie
– Sky diving
– Powered Paragliding
– Watch all my kids grow up to be fine, upstanding citizens
– Ride in a helicopter
– Run in a marathon

Seven Things I Cannot Do

– Fly like Superman
– See without corrective lenses
– Win the lottery
– Sing
– Cheat on my wife
– Eat slugs
– Dance

Seven Things That Attract Me To a Mate

– Attitude
– Converation
– Beauty (inner as well as outer)
– Intelligence
– Common interests
– Patience
– Big heart

Seven Things I Say

– "NOW!"
– "Ya, Right!"
– "I didn't do it."
– "Are we having fun yet?"
– "I don't think so."
– "That's amazing how that works, huh?"
– "We'll see."

Seven Books I Love

– The Chronicles of Narnia
– The Harry Potter series
– Uncle Tom's Cabin
– Where the Sidewalk Ends
– The Stand
– Walden Two
– Green Eggs and Ham

Seven Movies I Love

– Oliver
– The Ring
– Pride and Prejudice
– It's a Wonderful Life
– Superman
– Star Wars
– The Time Machine

Tag Seven

Chay, Melissa V., Krista, Melissa B., Tracy, Chelsea, and Harold (I'm with Neal.. Get a blog!)

Middle of the Night Pages/Calls

So where I work, I get a seldom call in the middle of the night to help fix things. Usually it's during my On-call rotation, but sometimes it's not. Well tonight I got a phone call to help with and issue. I had to laugh as I was getting ready to lay back down because when the phone rang, I thought it was the alarm and I was hitting the alarm pretty hard to try and turn it off. It wasn't until Chels said that it was the phone that it clicked why the alarm wouldn't turn off. Now I'm up waiting to see if I get a page from someone regarding what needed to be fixed. I'm giving it about five more minutes and them I'm off to bed again. Hopefully to enjoy a good nights sleep, at least what's left of it.

As I sit here writing this, I'm listening to the wind do a number outside. It's a pretty strong wind and once in a while it will gust and it sounds like the roof is going to fly off the house, it's that strong. Anyway, I'm going to get a drink of water and head back to my pillow to salvage what sleep I can for the rest of the night. Goodnight.

Free Food

So I got to work this morning and had a email in my inbox from my boss, that breakfast and lunch for today and tomorrow were taken care of. The Hospital is opening a new cafeteria and they want to make sure that it runs smoothly so they invited a bunch of people to come and partake of the freeness of them learning the new system. So this morning I had some biscuts and gravy. Yummy! I love free food, and working somewhere that gives out free food or whatnot is pretty cool. I actually got an MRI on one of my knees when they were testing the new MRI machine in the Cancer Hospital. It was pretty cool. Well time to get back to work.

A Fresh New Look

I've decided to change the look and feel of the blog... If you haven't noticed.

I did it because the pictues on the blog Trip to St. George weren't showing side to side like they are now because of the small middle section.

Trip to St. George

So last Friday, me, Chels, and the kids, were headed down to St. George for a weekend of slightly warmer weather and some fun with Mom and Bob.

The trip started out pretty good, after spending like 40 bucks on junk food we hit the road. Let me preface this next part with the fact that Bree has had this cold that is causing her to have a lot of snot and what not going on. So we are in about Springville, we hadn't really gotten into the junk food, too much when Bree decided that she was going to get sick. Now sick means throwing up, all over her, her chair and my hoodie as I took it off to try and catch a lot of the throw up since I couldn't get the little garbage can under her face. Luckily enough, because Tiaree used the garbage can shortly there after because of the smell in the car. After a new outfit and about an hour stop in Springville trying to clean it up, we were on the road again. Bree was doing much better.

The next stop came in Fillmore where we had lunch at one of the most expensive restaurants we could find...Arby's. Talk about taking advantage of location. After eating the food, we jumped in the car and headed down to St. George, making a short pit stop for Tiaree to potty in Cedar City.

We got there and got all unpacked and put the throw up'd on clothing and other things in the washer, we got some pizza for dinner and went to bed.

Saturday I got up and saw a cool sunrise so I wanted to play with my camera and took a few pictures with different settings.

 

It was a nice sunrise. Since I'm not the best with my camera yet, the pictures aren't the best.

After breakfast on Saturday we went to Zions National Park and had a picnic in the car since the wind was blowing and it was cold. We then went and walked the narrows, well until you get to the part where the hike continues in the river itself. It was fun. The kids threw rocks in the river and I played with my camera. A couple of my favorite picts...

  

While we were on the Narrows hike, it snowed on us. We went and did the short weeping rock hike and then headed home. We had this great dinner, pork roast and then just hung out.

Sunday we went and saw Curious George and went to Golden Corral for dinner. It was a pretty lazy day.

Monday we just hung out and let the kids play at the park. Chels caught a little tornado on video, it was cool. We decided to stay Monday and leave on Tuesday. Drove home in a little over 4 hours and life continued in the cold north.

Decisions...

Ok, so I've decided that I'm going to stop saying things that I'm doing or going to do, because they always backfire and they don't really work. Blogging was once a mornig ritual, then it moved to a lunch time thing, shortly after that it started to be a hit and miss activity. The more I would think about it, the more I realized I didn't have much to blog about. When I do, I sit down to write till my hearts content, and nothing comes, a sort of bloggers block I guess. So while I can tell you that I'm going to blog more, I'm afraid it's an empty promise. I will do what I can to make it better, but no promises. I'm not going to make excuses, which would be really easy, but I've decided that I'm just going to stand up and take the heat. Anyway, I'm going to post another blog a little later about a recent trip to St. George and post some pictures. Laters...

Justice is Served!

Alythea and I went out Friday night and, as we were driving around about 9:30, went to the Valley Fair Mall. We pulled into the main drive behind a truck full of teenage boys. Since it had snowed previously, the snow plow had pushed the snow off to the side of the road. The drive of this truck decided that he would have a little fun and drive through the snow.

Because of this, a good portion of the snow falls back onto the road making it more slick for the rest of this. We followed the truck around the north side of the mall on our way over to the movie/food court side of the mall. As they continued to drive around, they decided that a large pile of snow built up around one of the light posts. As they drove into it, they hit a little higher than they should getting stuck.

Aly and I continued to drive around to the food court to find that it had closed so we decided it was time to go home. The smart-alek kids were still stuck. Aly and I were actually happy that their justice was immediate. People like that make a mess for the rest of us. They think they are so cool and do things without thinking about the consequences.

We all know people like that and it upsets us to know that quite a few get away with their stupidity. I was happy to see that their was justice served and they got "punished" for their destructive behavior. Too many people do things and don't think of the consequences for others or themselves. They just do stuff that ends up being destructive.

We laughed most of the way home and I though I would share this with you.

Story Synopsis

I've created a story synopsis for a series of short stories. Eventually, with a lot of hard work and a lot of help from friends, maybe it can be made into a film. Read the synopsis at:

Storyboard

I Want Spring to Come

Today I went out to lunch. When I drive to work, I have the luxury of going out to get something. I went to Wendy's and was glad to see the Jr. Bacon Cheesburgers are back down to .99 cents. They went up to $1.29 for a while. Anyway, as I was driving to get lunch, I realized that spring is coming. I love spring and summer, not so much a winter fan. Fall isn't bad, it's just this stupid winter thing. Anyway, I got excited for spring so I can continue getting some stuff done in my yard. I have a lot to do and I'll be happy when I can say I'm done with it. But I'm excited for the spring to get out of the house and do some stuff. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, just wanted to share that with everyone... Have a good day...

Stories...

I posted on another blog how much I liked a good story. I've always loved to read stories and have, on occasion, found that I have an imagination.

As one of the "personal improvement" projects that I am trying to do, I have started to read about what it takes to write a good fiction story. I am interested in writing and feel that I have a fairly good grasp of the language. I have a few ideas for some stories. While I won't be releasing all the ideas, I do have an idea that has formed and have decided to make a series of short stories using a common plot but with different scenarios (much the same as a drama series on television.) This would be similar to a mini-series type thing in that where one episode ends, another begins.

So, here is the reason I'm sharing this with you. Of the people that I know read this, I trust their opinions enough to share the "draft" idea and allow others to add their thoughts, ideas, etc. Once you hear the storyline, you may formulate ideas about direction, scenarios, or conflicts for the primary character. I am going to start developing the character and story line but wanted to give everyone a heads up so that you can prepare to put on your thinking caps and explore the possibilities with me.

I hope one day to be a successful writer, more as a hobby than a career. Being included in something like this doesn't take a lot of effort for ideas and could be a lot of fun (not to mention that if it ever gets published, your name will probably find its way to the credits and acknowledgements. Not sure about monatary but if I become a millionaire off the idea, you will DEFINATELY get a free lunch.)

So, when I've got something a little more "formal", I will present and give directions to find, add, comment, and, if so inclined, to point and laugh.

Ref Timeout

It's nice to have a forced break once in a while. I've been working on something and we lost some access to our systems and so now I'm waiting patiently for them to come back up. I'm trying to stay in the loop for when things come back up so that I can get back to what I was doing. We'll see what happens in the next few minutes....

Someone Call 9-1-1!!!!

Very interesting night in the McGee household last night. I'm probably spoiling the ending by saying this but Jayna is alright and everything is ok. This will make sense in a minute.

After dinner last night, we were starting to get cleaned up and get things put away when we heard a series of thumps and then Jayna started crying. She had fallen down the flight of stairs in our split-entry. Aurora got to her first and picked her up to console her and then handed her to Alythea who arrived next.

The concern is that she started going to sleep and her skin went really pale. I took her from Alythea and laid her on the ground on the top of the stairs and got her attention and kept her awake. Alythea went to the phone and called 9-1-1 and began giving information. Everyone was in a bit of a concern because of the situation and I had Aly take the other kids into the other room and I stayed with Jayna until the ambulance arrived.

They were prompt, came in and began to assess Jayna. Everything checked out and they did not see a need to take her to the hospital. They felt that if we wanted them to, they would transport her to the hospital where the hospital staff would watch her for 24-hours and make sure everything was ok. We figured we could watch her and, if need be, take her to the hospital if it was determined that she needed to go.

The color came back into her skin and she went to sleep where she slept peacefully through the night with the exception of the times that we woke her to make sure she was still "wakable".

She is doing wonderfully today. We can't figure out how she fell as she was the only one near the area. She was playing with her play stroller and there was enough of a walk way. Anyway, everything is ok and everyone learned a little bit of a lesson.

1st Geocache

After reading from Neal's posts regarding geocaching, I've grown interested and have decided it was definately something to look into for personal and family activity. Having spent more time with Harold, I've learned more about it and have actually gone on my first geocaching experience. It was one of those "hey, there's one around here somewhere" as we traveled to lunch yesterday. We found it and logged our presence.

It was a lot of fun to try to track down and follow the clues to find the location. I'm excited to do more and have been looking around for some in areas where we currently have trips planned. One of which is East Canyon. There are a lot around that area. I was suprised at the number but am looking forward to finding some of them and logging my presence as well.

Monday, Monday...

So have I ever said how I love Monday's. They are one of the better days of the week for me. They are usually the busiest so they go by a little faster. Once they are over the rest of the week seems to fly by. Which has it's ups and downs. Tuesdays are usually pretty slow, but I'm working on that to stay busier on Tuesdays so they go by pretty fast. Well Monday is about done. I'm waiting for my ride to go play in the band. That's about it for today.

Happy Late Birthday Whadda Blog

So yesterday was the 1 year mark of the Whadda Blog being around. Things have been up and down on the old blog, but for the most part we have been blogging away and now we start on year 2 of blogging. This year should be a good one.

Today marks a anniversary of sorts. It was 11 years ago today that I met my beautiful wife. It's cool to think that we are working on our 9th year of marriage, our 4th kid is on the way, and we have a beautiful house with loads of junk inside it to keep us happy. Our 3 kids are there to keep us insane and teach us love, patience, and how to be happy when they are spilling stuff on the kitchen floor after it's been mopped. Overall life at the McGee house is getting better. And I can say that 11 years ago tonight, I didn't expect to be where I'm at today with Chels, but I am sure glad that she chose me and let's me pretend that I'm in charge once in a while. So Chels...Happy Anniversary!!!