Pushing Daisies

If you aren't watching Pushing Daisies (ABC, Wednesdays at 8/7c) then you're missing the best new show this season. It's quirky, stylistic, smart and FUNNY!

Book Review: The Happiest Days of Our Lives by Wil Wheaton

This little book is well worth it's costs, both monetary and timely. At the same time, don't let it's short length fool you into thinking it's short on content. Wheaton conveys his touching stories, all were entries in his blog, with emotion and depth of which many more well known writers have little grasp. You'll laugh and you may cry, but most of all you will identify with the author and you will understand.

Run, don't walk, to MonolithPress.com and order your copy. You won't be sorry.

Wheaton's other two books, Dancing Barefoot (out of print) and Just a Geek, are great as well. Check them out if you can find them.

Tuesday night fun

I had dinner and beer with two great friends last night. What a great time!

The food, beer, and great conversation was unforgettable. Thanks to Jamie and Janet for making a Tuesday night special.

Happy Tuesday

At least it's not Monday!

An old friend stopped in to say hello today. That brightened my mood.

Friday's Feast

Friday's Feast 148 (#2 for me)

Appetizer
Fill in the blank: The best thing about where I live is _________________…

the small town atmosphere. Of course it can be a bad thing, but most of the time it's great.

Soup
Create a new name for a deodorant (like “Flower Fresh” or “Shower Scent”).

Funk-away

Salad
What was the last piece of software you installed onto your computer?

I just installed Adobe ImageStyler on my new laptop. It's a rocking piece of software that Adobe shouldn't have stopped supporting.

Main Course
If you were to receive a superlative award today beginning with the words ”Most likely to…”, what would the rest of the phrase say?

...take on a new project. I have a problem saying NO.

Dessert
What two colors do you like to wear together?

Uhh... I dunno. I've never been accused of having much fashion sense.

Global Warming Argument

This video, which I found at my friend, Jimmy Powell's blog, gives a great argument about all sides of the global warming issue. I challenge you all to watch it and share it on your blog or via email.



Interesting Argument About Global Warming - Watch more free videos

NASCAR Central

Jr moves to Hendrick Racing

A lot of Jr fans are revolting because he's moving to Hendrick Motorsports. Big fat hairy deal. He went with the team that stands to give him the best results. It was the right choice for him, and I'd be willing to bet that any one of his fans that is upset about this move would've done the exact same thing if they were in his shoes.

Think about it like this, Jr fans:


DEI=not winning
Hendrick team=winning
Jr=unwelcome at DEI
Jr=welcome at Hendrick

Add all that up and you get Jr driving for Rick Hendrick. I'm not a Jr fan and I see it. Take a step back and you will too.

Vocabulary Test

Your Vocabulary Score: B-

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

How's Your Vocabulary?

Friday's Feast

Shamelessly stolen from my friend Mick.

Appetizer
What do you consider to be the ultimate snack food?

Torlilla chips with a great salsa.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), about how popular is your last name?

I would say 1 or 2. Not that many Rices out there.

Salad
Who is your all-time favorite sitcom character, and why?

Frank Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. "Holy crap!" He is my hero.

Main Course
Do you shop online? If so, name some sites you like to browse for goodies.

I do way too much shopping online. Amazon.com, woot.com, and any other bargain site I run across.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I think ___________ should be ___________.

I think VACATIONS should be LONGER! Can I get an AMEN?

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city soul with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian people - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Musical Rediscovery

On somewhat of a whim I purchased R.E.M. The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 And I Feel Fine... last night at the local Wal-Hell. I've always liked R.E.M., but I admit that I got into their music later in their catalog, mostly the late 80's and early 90's releases. I don't know why I never really went back and listened to their early stuff, especially since one of my friends back then was the world's biggest R.E.M. fan.

I'm really impressed with these early songs, and I think they are touching me in a way that they wouldn't have when I was a teenager. One song in particular is speaking to me as a comment on our society, Pretty Persuasion. I'm posting the lyrics here so that you might enjoy them and seek out this album as well.

R.E.M. - Pretty Persuasion

It's what I want, hurry and buy,
All has been tried, follow reason and buy,
Cannot shuffle in this heat, it's all wrong
Try to put that on your sleeve it's all wrong it's all wrong

He's got a pretty persuasion
She's got pretty persuasion
God damn, pure confusion
She's got pretty persuasion

It's what I want, hurry and buy,
All has been tried, follow reasoning,
And I put that in this heat it's all wrong
Try to wear that on my sleeve it's all wrong all wrong

He's got a pretty persuasion
She's got pretty persuasion
God damn, pure confusion
He's got pretty persuasion

In the light I saw
Quite a scene there

It's what I want, hurry and buy,
All has been tried, follow reason and buy,
Try to put that in this heat it's all wrong
Cannot wear that on your sleeve it's all wrong it's all wrong

Frustration

Every Spring I seem to get into a funk that I can't seem to shake.

Tax time is stressful for me because I have to get our corporate returns ready, then I have to deal with my personal taxes. I've been trying to work on all of that this week along with my normal work duties, which always seem to fall behind when I'm trying to get other things done.

On top of that I've been dealing with a difficult customer that can't seem to understand the most basic concepts. I know that dealing with people is part of my job, but sometimes it just sucks. 99% of our customers are like family to me, but when I get a real thorn like this one it makes me want another job where I have no contact with the public.

Any of you readers out there that can spare some good mojo thoughts and vibes would be most appreciated. Send them my way... ASAP.

My lack of bloggityness

It's been a while since I posted a new blog, but I have an idea that I'm working on for an in depth post about TV shows and how they've changed our expectations, sometimes to their own demise.

I do have a couple of things to mention now though, so this isn't just an excuse blog. :-)

American Idol: what a joke this season's voting has turned out to be.

Spring: I'm glad it's here, but it's going to be cold again this weekend and I'm not looking forward to that. I took some pictures of the butterflies and bumblebees this week. You can check them out HERE.

NASCAR.com

Everyone that knows me knows that my favorite sport is NASCAR. I'm loving the start to this season with Jeff Burton effectively leading the points and having great finishes so far.

NASCAR.com did a complete redesign on the site just before the start of the season. Boy did they miss the mark. I agree that the old site wasn't functionally perfect or pleasing to the eye, but man they really took a couple of giant steps backwards.

The site is uglier than ever, and the rotating banner menu thing is pure crap. It takes forever to load on broadband. I can't even imagine trying to use the site over a dial-up connection.

I also haven't been able to find my favorite section of the site: the weekly power ranking. It was consistently a funny read and it gave you an idea of which drivers to keep an eye on. If it is still on the site I haven't been able to find it.

I think their web team needs to go to the Amazon.com school of web design. KISS (keep it simple, stupid!)

American Idol - top 10 guys

The guys were much better this week. But my attitude for them is still: Meh, who cares.

Bring on the gals!!!!

American Idol.... top 12 girls

The ladies were so much better than the guys. Some of them were still pretty bad, but four of them really made an impression on me.

Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle brought the house down last night. They should definitely be safe tonight. In fact, keep all the black gals and send the white chicks home. They all pale in comparison. Well, maybe Gina Glocksen can stay. She did pretty good.

Antonella Barba confirmed my prediction that she shouldn't have been put into the final 24. She fell on her face. Every single note was out of tune. Bow out now, sister, before you embarrass yourself even more.

If Lakisha or Melinda are in the bottom three tonight I'm gonna be pissed. Those two gals can SANG.

American Idol's top 12 guys

In a word: BORING.

A night of boring songs, boring song interpretations, and off key singing.

Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis were passable, with Chris easily being the best of the night. Phil Stacy ended strong, but not one note of the first 45 seconds was in tune and I can't get over that.

Jared Cotter scares me. He looks like a Romulan from the Star Trek universe. If I were Randy, Paula and Simon I would be afraid that he would transport up to his Warbird and annihilate L.A. from orbit with plasma torpedoes and disruptor blasts.

See the resemblance?

NASCAR is back!

And we're done with the quasi racing that is restrictor plate racing (at least until 'Dega). I'm so happy that my favorite driver, Jeff Burton, made it through the Daytona 500 without being involved in a crash.

Now on to California Speedway and real racing!

Go Jeff!!!

Battlestar Galactica... redeemed

Sunday night's episode, A Day in the Life, redeemed this season for me. I absolutely loved it. Peeking into Adama's psyche was intriguing and interesting.

The subplot of Callie and Tyrol being in harms way worked perfectly with the feeling of loss that Adama has for not being a part of his children's lives. Kudos to Ron Moore and the rest of the writing staff. More shows like this one will revive television's best drama!

Valentine's Day dinner

On a whim we decided to go out for dinner last night to celebrate Valentine's Day. Trisha came by the shop and when I finished up the three of us headed over to Earnie's Restaurant.

We had intended on getting their Vday special that my sister had told us about: NY strip steak, salad, potato and soda for two. We walked in and were seated very quickly, but we had to go to the very back of the restaurant because most of the tables were already reserved. We waited and waited but no one ever came to take out order. Eventually we decided that none of us wanted steak and decided that we would all have their buffet. The BBQ on their buffet is usually excelent and I was looking forward to it.

We continued to wait and wait for service. I was ready to get up and leave when Trisha told Melissa to go ahead to the buffet. Melissa went to the buffet and came back and we still hadn't seen a waitress. At this point I'm more than ready to walk out, but Trisha insists that I let her handle it. She tells me to go ahead to the buffet and she would have our drinks at the table when I got back.

I went to the buffet and she walked up to the owner, hands him our menus and asks him if he can bring a Coke, sweet tea, and an un-sweatened tea to our table. That suddenly got the attention of almost the entire staff. Needless to say we were well taken care of after that.

In the end I didn't enjoy the BBQ that I wanted because it was too salty. Everything else was pretty good, and I really enjoyed the salad, so I guess it wasn't a total wash.

I've learned my lesson, though. Never go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. Go before or after, but never ever on Valentine's Day.

Cats... the good, the bad, and the cute

We 'rescued' a cat a few months ago. I use the term rescue loosely because I think he picked us our of all the houses in the neighborhood and we didn't really have a choice in the matter.

One morning as I went outside to start my truck to let it warm up I heard soft meowing coming from underneath Trisha's car. I peeked underneath and saw him, barely old enough to be away from his mother, looking back at me with bright eyes. I couldn't convince get my hands on him, so I went inside to get some help. Melissa came out with me and by the time we got back outside he had moved from under the car to a new hiding place behind our garbage can. Melissa grabbed him quickly and we brought him inside.

He was dirty, smelly, and flea infested. He was also the cutest gray tabby we'd ever seen. We washed him, took him to the vet and loved him. Melissa named him Tiger. The name may seem uninspired... until you meet him. His attack is vicious and I have the scars to prove it. I jokingly call him Demon Kitty, and most people agree that it's pretty accurate after they meet him. He's been destructive like all kittens and refuses to leave our dog Boots alone. Boots tolerates him well and watching them play fight is very entertaining unless it's three in the morning.

Tiger is now about three months old, and is starting to calm down just a bit. We're waiting for the day that he can go in for his surgery to remove his boy bits. I hope that will calm him down even more. He can be the sweetest kitten you've ever met, but those moments don't last long and I'm looking forward to the day that those moments are longer and more frequent.

Why we love dogs

I read this interesting article about why we love dogs. If you've never loved a dog you haven't lived.

Battlestar Galactica

If you know me then you already know that Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite TV shows. The mini-series and the first season were definitely the best science fiction ever produced for TV and probably the best drama ever produced for TV.

Season two was great, but in my opinion it didn't quite reach the level of season one.

This season, I've become perplexed a bit. Some episodes are great, while others fall far below average. I realize that it's impossible to hit a home run with every episode, but it seems that the show has become more of a gamble recently.

Last night's episode, The Woman King, left me a bit confused. I admit that I was very tired and probably need to watch the episode again (thank goodness for DVR's), but I never got the reasoning behind setting up the camp of people on the Galactica. Was it explained and I just missed it, or was it just a cheap plot building stunt? Will we ever see these refugees again?

I did like that overall story of discrimination, and I think Agathon's character deserved a bit more fleshing out especially since he's done a few unpopular things recently, but the setup just seemed cheap and over the top to me.

Anyone else have any ideas? Post them in the comments.

New camera, new pictures

After wanting a Canon Digital Rebel XT since they came out I finally broke down and bought one this weekend. That means that there will probably be lots of pictures for you all to see. Here's one I snapped this morning of my mom.

New to this whole blog thing

I've recently been inspired to start a blog after seeing the success of several friend's blogs, notably Mick's and Jamie's. I only hope that I can manage to convert my streams of consciousness to a written account that people can understand.

Keep checking this space to find out more. If you have any suggestions for me, shoot them to me at benatarfan@gmail.com.