More Than Nice........

Check out this ad that is running here in the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention. Wicked nice? Really?

In Honor of My California Earthquake Comrades

This is still funny after all these years. I remember watching this particular newscast live when it happened.

Because I have Nothing Original to Post: FONT CONFERENCE

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Hilarious Muppets Bloopers!

Hey! Its Spring!!!!

Really? It is? I wouldn't know it by looking outside this morning. None of the white stuff you see in the picture was here yesterday. We're getting 8 inches of it today. Oh joy...........

LOST is back!!!!!

My ABSOLUTE favorite television show EVER - LOST- is back on Thursday the 31st and I am very excited about it! I am even more excited about it because of the video below. The producers of LOST have been putting out these 2-3 minute mobisodes over the last few weeks. They are called MISSING PIECES and show us moments on the island that we haven't "seen" before. This last one is called SO IT BEGINS and goes back to the beginning of the very first minute of the show. Actually it goes back to just before that. If you are a fan of the show, watching this will give you one of those mind-bending - 'what the heck?!?' moments that LOST is famous for. I'm so excited that I am going to sit down on the couch now and do nothing else until after the first episode of season 4 airs.

I'm Dreaming of.........

We had a White Christmas here in Minnesota this year. It was very beautiful. Here is some brief video I shot from our deck of the snow falling. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Stupid Vikings

I made it into my fantasy football league's Super Bowl this year and I lost. I've only made it to the Championship game once before and lost that time too........to my wife..........by ONE FREAKIN' POINT!!!!! Have you ever experienced deja vu? Needles to say, I am feeling pretty bitter right now. Who do I have to thank for this? The Viking's Defense (or lack there of). I was at the Vikings-Redskins game Sunday night and watched the Vikes D implode before my very eyes. Before the game started, my buddy Mike (my opponent) called to congratulate me on winning the Super Bowl. At that point in the day I was almost guaranteed the victory if the Vikes D could hold the Redskins. I told Mike that nothing was in stone and if any team could blow it for me, it was the Vikings! Sure enough, that is what happened. That sucks.

T-Bone: Slavedriver

This past weekend our dearest friends Doah and Chrisy made their first trip to Minnesota to spend some time with us. Doah has blogged about their visit here and my wife, Julie, wrote up a nice summary here at her blog. But, I'm gonna be honest here....the real reason I wanted them to come was that I wanted to get some free work done around the house. If someone is gonna sleep in my beds and eat my food, well....they're gonna work for it darn it!

After visiting with them for a day, there came a time when we were all sitting at the table and an awkward silence fell. Doah looked at me and I looked at Doah. I said "Are you going to make me say it?" More silence and cold stares. "Get the shovel out of my garage and get your rear outside!", I said, "You know what to do! Git!"
Well, look at that.......darn tootin' he's gonna shovel my sidewalk! Doesn't look too bad for a first timer. Well, I hope they enjoyed their visit and that they come back soon! My garage needs some cleanin'.

Winter in Minnesota

Believe it or not, it is the best, as the picture above can attest. There was a lot of moisture in the air and when you combine that with cold temperatures (it was 4 below on this morning) the moisture forms ice crystals. Those ice crystals were everywhere, which made for a very magical looking morning. The trees are covered with 'em. Ahhhhhh (sips coffee....)

Snow + Ice + Hill = Very Bad

As I sit here in my living room and watch the snow fall in our first major snow storm of the winter, I am reminded of a video that went around the net last year. I can't remember where I first saw this, but I managed to find it again. This happened somewhere in the Seattle area. Those poor people. When you watch this you will laugh and wince at the same time. Its unbelievable. I hope no one got hurt. I got mad at the end of the video when it cuts off at the firetruck. I wanted to know if it made it or not. Can you imagine if it didn't?

Confessions of an Absent Blogger

Well, here is another post after a long absence. I feel so sheepish coming back here after slouching off for a while. Julie has been giving me a hard time for not posting and now my friends are taking me to task. I have been pondering why I have been uninspired to post and I have come to the conclusion that I have been self-conscious. I started to worry about what people would think after reading the site. I guess I started this after the iPhone post. I would look at that post and think 'what a shallow guy.' Yet, the post is true. Its me......its something I wanted and I thought I could be funny about it. Those of you who truly know me, know that this is who I am. Let's be honest here, I am a materialistic guy sometimes (sometimes?). I guess I just need to be myself here and not sweat it. You'll just have to to take all of me, the good and the bad.

iPhone

iWant.

Post on a Stick

Last week we went to the behemoth that is called The Great Minnesota Get Together....a.k.a. The Minnesota State Fair. According to Wikipedia, it may be the largest state fair in the United States. The fair is a big deal here. All of the local news stations set up a spot at the fair to do the evening newscasts. It seems as if everyone goes at some point during its two week run. I could tell too, there were a lot of people there the day we went. The fair marks the end of summer for Minnesota and its last day always fall on Labor Day.

There is much to do at the fair, but the main attraction is food and A LOT of it. Everywhere I turned there was food looking me in the face. The most popular method of serving food is on a stick somehow. If it can be deep fired and put on a stick, they'll do it. You can find your obligatory corn dogs and cotton candy, but it gets much more creative than that. There is cheesecake on a stick, hot dish (a Minnesota staple) on a stick, deep fried (insert name of candy bar here) on a stick, alligator on a stick, walleye (a local fish) on a stick, you get the point. Even one of the local news stations calls the evenings weather report 'weather on stick.' There is so much on a stick that some food stands proudly proclaim 'NOTHING ON A STICK!' Its comical. There is so much other good food to be had there. We had some garlic french fries, an awesome turkey sandwich, and one of my favorites...SWEET MARTHA'S COOKIES! There are two stands (well, a big barn) where you can get the cookies. You can smell them a mile away. All of the cookies are made fresh and served in a bucket. They come directly from the oven to you. See that picture? Add 20 more cookies to that, and that is how it is served to you. You have to eat the cookies towering over the rim of the bucket just to put the lid on. Forced gluttony...I love it! Once you have downed all those cookies, there is another stand to rescue you from cookie servitude......the all you the milk you can drink for $1 stand! You buy a cup for a buck and you can keep refilling it with fresh milk (regular or chocolate) all day long. All you have to do is wait in line, which can get long....but its worth it.

After eating food, you have to find a way of burning it off. No problem.....there is a lot of walking. The fairgrounds are HUGE! You can visit all of the livestock barns, one of which is dedicated solely to birthing animals (which is very popular with the kids). You can visit the agriculture building to see all of the fruits and vegetables, bee hives, fresh honey, and buy some honey-vanilla ice cream. And you can visit the midway to ride all of the death contraptions....uh, I mean rides. Overall it was a fun day. The kids love it. I could do without the crowds and the heat......but....the food........it......keeps....me.....coming.....back!

Alright, its on!

OK, the Mrs. has decided to start blogging. I think that is great! However, now the pressure is on. No more can I slouch it in the blogosphere with my one post per month. I gotta start writing! You can check out her blog here.

A Horrible Tragedy

I am still in shock after seeing what happened in Minneapolis yesterday. We have been across this bridge many times and I can't believe its not there any more. My prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families during this time. Instead of the pictures of the collapsed bridge that are being plastered all over the news, I am posting a picture of the bridge in better days.

Finally!

As I have stated in my link list on the right, I am a huge fan of ABC's television show LOST. Tomorrow evening is the Season 3 finale and I can't wait! I am also dreading it because after the show airs, I will have to wait until next February until Season 4 starts.

I wasn't always into LOST. Before the first season aired, I would see promos for it during the advertising onslaught for all the new fall shows. The promo would boast that LOST is the new show from the creators of ALIAS while showing scenes from the pilot episode (the most expensive pilot ever produced). To be honest, it didn't look that good. Also, I was into ALIAS until the writers of that show lost their vision and turned onto a path of confusing and unrewarding plot lines. I eventually stopped watching ALIAS and never went back. Some people I know watched that pilot episode of LOST when it aired and were turned off by some of its 'unbelievable' set pieces. I could understand that. One of my friends, Mike, (who got me into ALIAS) started watching from the beginning and was hooked. He would ask me if I was watching it. When I told him no, he would always remind me that I was missing a very good show and that I should be tuning in. I finally told Mike to let me know when the Season 1 finale aired so I could start watching the repeats the following week to check it out.

Well, I was hooked as well. LOST could be classified as a sci-fi type of show. But, it is so much more than that. This show is about the CHARACTERS, who are stranded on a mysterious island after a plane crash, first and foremost. You get invested into their stories and want to know how they became who they are and who they will become. You also come to find out that these strangers who come to know each other through tragedy are all somehow linked to one another. Then there are the sci-fi elements. Who are the mysterious Others? How can one of the passengers, who was paralyzed before the crash, suddenly walk after crashing on the beach? What is the Dharma Initiative? Why are there underground hatches on the island? What is this 'smoke monster?'

What makes this show rise above all others for me is how it is dealing with much larger themes, such as right/wrong, white/black, spirituality, faith vs. science, and redemption. Many of the characters have names that are biblical in origin. The characters are all flawed and are presented opportunities to redeem themselves on the island, to make right the wrongs of the past.

Another facet that makes me a fan of the show is the commitment the producers of LOST have to the show and the fans. They realize that the intricate plot they have woven could easily unravel without proper care. They have watched shows like THE X-FILES and ALIAS flounder in their later years because they just went on with out paying off plot lines that were layed out in earlier season. I have much respect for them to negotiate an end date for the series with ABC so they can plan out exactly how the show is supposed to end and give answers to the many mysteries that have been introduced. They could have let LOST just continue on and rake in more money, but they care about the story more than that. It was announced a couple of weeks ago that LOST will only go three more seasons.

So, for those of you that have been watching.......will Charlie die as foretold by Desmond's visions? Can Juliet be trusted? What's up with The Looking Glass Station (a telling name for that station, in my opinion. Is it a portal of some sort to the outside world?) Who were the gun-toting ladies who confronted Charlie? What is up with Jacob? Will the Losties make contact and get rescued? Argh! Bring it on!

Ermmm...do you like the smell of freshly cut grass?

Why, yes............yes I do.

I mowed the Lawn Today

First mow of the year. It felt good.

BRUSH YOUR TEETH!!! (300, the PG Version)

Someone at work sent me a link to this today and I am compelled to share with you all.