New update:

Been pretty busy this week, due to my only employee being on vacation. How'd I let her go on vacation? Seriously, she earned it and I hope she's having fun. 'Cause when she gets back.... ;)

Anyway, here is what I've been watching:

Firefly - borrowed from a friend, watched the pilot and the first 2 episodes. I'm intrigued. May try to watch some more tonight, but it was pretty good. A space pirates crossed with cowboys vibe. They actually rode some horses in one episode. Subtle, that was. 4 out of 5 stars so far.

Little Miss Sunshine - had high hopes for this, it was okay. Steve Carell didn't really have much to do in this one, it was just kind of weird. I guess it was uplifting, but kinda like a kick to the groin is uplifting. In other words, really not. 2 out of 5. Maybe 3 if I happen to watch some of it again, but I doubt it.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars - This kicked so much ass. Had seen it on Cartoon Network already, but now I own it. Recommended highly if you want to see George Lucas (providing his own voice) riding a teenage nerd like a Tauntaun and the Emperor going about his day to day business in his office, doing things like ordering lunch and making Darth Vader cry on the phone. Oh, and Chewbacca as the Fonz. 5 out of 5. Brilliant stuff.

Till next time...

End transmission.

Went to see "The Dark Knight" Friday. It was really good, but would like to watch again as I feel there was some dialogue that may have helped me with the story. Ledger was f'ing brilliant as The Joker. I'd give that a 4/5 on the Retch-o-meter, with potential for the coveted 5/5 mark after a repeat viewing.

Also watched Juno over the weekend - a really good movie. The girl reminded me of someone I know, sarcastic but not mean about it. Definitely a 5/5, it was well done and everyone was believable, which I don't see too much in the movies any more.

Long time, no post. Have to get back to doing this on a regular basis. Going to try and post brief reviews of movies I've seen and also keep updating regarding the family and activities.

I've recently started taking a college course again - Biology. Let me give you some advice: don't take a hard class with a lab if you've been out of school for 20+ years. I don't really care what cells are made of, memorizing this stuff is very difficult for me since I won't ever use the knowledge again. Still, it is required material. I've got one more exam this week and it will be over on Thursday.
The reason for this madness is to be able to "upgrade" my job title, and ultimately my pay. Right now, I'm performing the functions of what is called a "Site Manager", but only have the title below that. By going to school, I'm meeting one of the requirements for the position, the intention of getting a bachelor's degree. Yay.

The kids have both been playing softball or baseball this year. The boy's season is over, he did really well in coach pitch. He can throw it a mile, although not always where he wants it to go, and fields pretty decently as well. The girl's season is still going on, she has a game Tuesday night at 7:15 and then a tournament next week. She's a pitcher and first baseman and really good at both. She's also a good hitter, but hasn't really crushed one this year like she has in the past. I'm hoping for her to break out and damage the ball in her last few games.

At home in our "spare time", the wife and I are playing a ton of Guitar Hero II, GH III, GH: Aerosmith and Rock Band. We don't have the drums or microphone any more, but that's okay. Maybe when GH comes out with their drums and such we might re-visit. In the meantime, we're rocking it out on the guitars.

Really looking forward to "The Dark Knight". Hopefully, they haven't shown all the really good stuff in the trailers.

Watched "Superhero Movie" the other night - it was okay. Leslie Nielsen can still crank out a fart joke like no one else.

Just purchased the "Rocky" collection, including "Rocky Balboa" for $25 - even including the stinker "Rocky V" that is still a good deal. Haven't watched it yet, hope to do it later in the week.

That's probably enough for now, if you made it this far, you must really be bored. I'll try to post again later in the week.

Another update posted from work - it's been a slow day.

Went to a Royals game last Thursday night with a co-worker. Her son is in charge of all the entertainment items out at the K. After the game was over, I saw quite a few of the local athletes, some current stars (Trent Green, one of the new Chiefs players) and old timers (Rick Sutcliffe, Paul Splittorff, Mike MacFarlane). Also shook hands with the play-by-play guy (Fred White?). He didn't introduce himself, so neither did I. The coolest thing was that I got to shut off the big screen. It was somewhat disappointing though - there was only one button to push. Oh well, Chris was a pretty cool guy, glad he let me cruise through there and check that stuff out.

Tick tick tick.... waiting on this day at work to get done. That's right, readers - I'm typing this from my place of employment. I could be doing something productive. But where would the fun be in that?

Having a hard time staying awake, it's been relatively quiet until the last hour or so. Tech support for our main application hasn't called me back yet. Having scanning errors at our admissions desks, which is preventing them from scanning people's insurance cards and other ID. Of course it waits until quitting time to happen.

Have a ball game tonight at 7 PM. Shouldn't be too bad, it's only 85 degrees right now. It's normally hotter than blazes this time of year. 85 sounds pretty good.

Semi-long story here:

Friday, my buddy Jeff came into town. He was here to cover the races
that took place at the Kansas Speedway over the weekend. We decided to
go to the Royals game against the Angels Friday night. He has a friend
named Tim, originally from England who is becoming a big fan of
American sports and wanted to come along. He has lived here for 2 1/2
years in the Anaheim area, so he follows the Angels pretty regularly.

We get to the ballpark, it was absolutely perfect weather for a
ballgame. It was about 75 degrees at gametime and got cooler as the
game progressed. Tim has a pretty good grasp of the game for a guy who
is so new to it. That being said, there were some rules that were
confusing to him and it was interesting explaining some of the nuances
of the game - the infield fly rule and why a ball is foul if it starts
out in fair territory, then goes outside the lines.

The strangest thing to explain was something that tells the story of
why the Royals are in last place in their division and have one of the
worst records in baseball. The first batter to go to the plate was
David DeJesus. He promptly slaps a hit to left field - looks like a
good start for the home team. One slight problem: the leadoff batter
on the scorecard was Angel Berroa. What a friggin' mistake! I haven't
seen that since Little League. Anyway, the Angels manager points out
the mistake and Berroa is called out. DeJesus has to *go back* and hit
again. He hits it hard, right at the center fielder. There are now 2
outs, but only one man has been to the plate. Jeff & I had a bit of
trouble explaining that one because we weren't sure what happened
either. At first it looked like it might be an illegal bat, but when
they called Berroa out it made sense. Just bizarre, to say the least.

We ended up going to a local strip club afterwards, a place called
"The Show". Let me say, there were some *talented* young ladies there.
Really just drank beer and watched, but that was okay with me. One of
the dancers came over and sat on my knee, and was having a good little
chat with me when Tim chimed in. So much for talking to *me*. She
stayed perched on my knee, but she was talking to that Limey bastard. ;)
A couple of the girls there were totally digging his accent. We ended
up staying until closing time, which was 3 AM.

Tim was a pretty cool guy. Definitely would hang with him again. Hope our paths cross again someday.
I'm buying the first round.

Thanks for indulging me if you made it this far.....

Weird day at work. I had typed up some of this earlier, but blogger yakked and lost my post. I'm not typing it all again, here's a summary -

1. Our software vendor dropped the ball on our latest install. They didn't have some of the necessary software setup for us to do a proper upgrade for our Transcription product. Hopefully, we should have this software tomorrow, but it will have to be tested quickly, as our on-site rep will be gone by Friday. These things will be easier to fix if we can kinda hold her hostage. :)

2. Our former Pharmacy director's last day was yesterday. In his wake, he's left a pile of shit for everyone to clean up. He didn't confirm the go-live date for his software update in early July, so it will most likely be August before that happens. Will confirm that tomorrow, after checking with our interim director. That guy truly earned his nickname, "Little Dick".

In other topics, the sirens around town are going off - we are in a tornado warning. I'm generally in my basement anyway, so I'm not too worried. We've got till 8 PM before the tornado warning is over. The weather dorks are on instead of "That 70's Show" tonight. Here's a question - why don't they interrupt these guys with commercials while this shit is going on? Another question - why do they plaster these giant maps over the screen while the TV shows are on, but when it's in the commercials the maps go away? Does the weather wait to do something until the commercials are over?

Will try to post more often, just haven't been home to type anything this week.

Rain, rain, rain. Did I mention the rain? It's been crazy the last several days. Yard looks like it hasn't been mowed in a couple of weeks.... wait, that's pretty accurate now. On Tuesday, it'll have been 2 weeks since the front yard was mowed. Oops. On the topic of mowing, my folks are bringing up a riding lawn mower for me today to borrow. By not buying a new one right now, I should be able to get one cheaper in the fall.

Been a busy morning getting ready for their visit. Wanted to try and be a decent host when they visit so I went to the grocery store this morning (unusual thing for me), have been cleaning up around the place, and basically trying to give things the semblance of being "tidy". Probably not as good as it could be, but it'll be good enough.

The other project that occupied a good portion of my evening last night was putting together a "mix CD" for my parents. They are driving to Tennessee next week, and want some music to listen to. I have to guess as to what they'll like, but they really like the first one I did for them last year. We'll see what they say about the 2 new ones I put together last night.

Also played some Halo 2 last night for a couple of hours. I wish that game had some bots. I just can't get the hang of the controls and basically get knocked off rather easily by more experienced players. Not sure what to do about that, but will try to figure it out. I don't mind losing, it's the lack of being competitive. Bottom line: I want a mouse and keyboard to use with that game. ;)

It's been an interesting couple of days -

Yesterday was the first game for the girls softball team I'm helping to coach. Got over to the field, the skies got darker, the lightning started - game over before it started.

I was also going to sub for the same team I played for last week. Got over to that field, the weather was okay. It had just sprinkled a bit, but nothing bad. As soon as the previous game was done, we started to walk out onto the field - the rain started. Just sprinkling at first, then..... the bottom fell out. You'd think the umpire would call the game - nope. He waited until we were drenched then called the game. It was ridiculous. Everything in my bag was soaked, as was everything I was wearing. My hat weighed approximately 5 pounds from all the water. It's a miracle I didn't get sick. The hot chicks bailed out before it got bad, so I didn't even get any free wet t-shirt action.

Microsoft is a pain in the @ss. I'm trying to get the License # for some Office software, their online site is not functioning properly, so I get a phone number from the reseller to call. The nice lady on the other end says "we'll get that out to you in an email"..... that was over an hour ago. I think our spam blocker is keeping that from getting to me. Why can't they just send the license info with the CD? It's going to make me register anyway. That's just stupid.

Looks like tonight's game is off as well. That's okay, I have a ton of stuff to do anyway.

Memorial Day Weekend - 3 days off of work, and I couldn't enjoy them less. A bad time of year for my family. Those who know me personally know what this is about. 'Nuff said.

On a happier topic, was able to play some Halo2 online with Gag & Jimmythebuddha last night. I'm still not very good, but some of the things that happen on there are just comical. Sticking a plasma grenade to someone's head never gets old. :)

Going shopping for a riding lawn mower pretty soon. Don't want to break the bank, but do want it to last a while. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A quick post while I'm thinking about this:

What I expected to read about "The Longest Yard" (a movie that didn't need to be remade):

http://www.slate.com/id/2119620/nav/ais/nav/ais/

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/movies/longestyard

And some fun with Darth Vader (thanks for the link GAG)

http://www.sithsense.com/flash.htm

Another wakeup call this morning around 5:30 AM - this shit is getting old, very quickly. There is an interface that allows the lab equipment communicate with the computer system that keeps going offline. This has been going on for a long time, but our vendor can't seem to get this fixed. I'll be communicating my displeasure about getting these calls in the middle of the night to them when I get to work today. The fact we are on the brink of a 3 day weekend doesn't help the matter. It seems likely there will be problems.

In other news, lack of sleep makes me grumpy. Hopefully a shower will improve my mood. Wouldn't bet any money on it though.

Missed something the other night - apparently, all the hot women here in town attend a single church. When I subbed for that team the other night, the stands were practically filled with hotties that went to church with the guys on the team. Blonds, brunettes, redheads - thought it was my birthday. But they all had that dull, glazed "not till we're married" look. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that - just hadn't ever seen a collection of babes like that around here before. Still, there's zero chance I'll be attending church anywhere. But I might sit outside to watch it be dismissed..... ;)

The Worst Movie Ever: Let's just get this out of the way - At one point, my answer would have been "A Night at the Roxbury". That was just horrible and I didn't think it could get any worse. That was replaced early this year by the worst thing ever committed to film, "Napoleon Dynamite". Just the thought of it makes me feel dumber for having sat through that entire flick. It was one of those situations where you have to keep watching because you keep thinking that there has to be some huge payoff at the end. The dialogue was moronic, and the "plot" was unclear from the word go. The only payoff was when I turned off that piece of dreck and promised never to submit myself to that torture ever again. I weep for the future when I hear people say this is the funniest movie ever made. Stupid comedy is good when there is irony and intelligence behind it. ND is just stupid.

To sum up, on a scale of 1 to 10 - this one was a -12 with a bullet, with an additional plea from the reviewer to give me a lobotomy to strike it from memory. Now I have to go shower like the guy in "The Crying Game"- I feel dirty all of a sudden.

Felt much better as the day went along, not ready for the glue factory (yet). Had a game tonight for my regular softball team. We won, and I didn't play like total junk! Once again the other team wasn't very good, but a win is a win in my book.

Would be asleep right now, but received a call from work - an interface in the lab for some equipment was offline. It's working now, but I'm going to keep an eye on it for a bit as it is doing day-end processing and may conk out again. Looks like it will be okay, though.

Still working on what the permanent format of this site will be. Will probably try to do one to two movie reviews a week, as well as give updates on what is going on here in my neck of the woods. Haven't published the site publically yet, because it just doesn't feel like there's anything all that interesting. Even when I think it's interesting, it may not be to anyone else....

:)

Update from last night: woke up this morning and can barely move. I may be getting old.

Busy day at work, but got some wheels in motion for some upcoming projects. Got a call after hours, but was able to get things fixed without going in, all the while trying to mow the lawn. In the midst of doing that, received another phone call - turns out a friend's son needed another softball player. It seemed like more fun than mowing, so I was in. Didn't play very well, but it didn't matter. The other team was horrible. To be fair, they were playing one player short, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Most of their guys couldn't hit.

First post. Nothing to report, just seeing what this will look like when I'm done.