Roz R.I.P.

Goodbye Roz. We'll miss your bitter and angry hilarity.

Your prostitute resume bit was way too funny. Nice work. Your problems are our laughs.

Why did you go? Why did America vote you off the show? I'll tell you. You are funny. Your comedy isn't the problem. You are even funnier than Michelle Balan. It isn't even a black thing or a fat thing. The problem is your delivery. You've got to take a breath sometime and let the comedy sink in. The fast paced, non-stop, high energy yelling is too much too fast. People need a moment for the chuckles to subside from one bit to the next. Watch Ron White or Steven Wright, they are the masters of the appropriate pause.

Hit the road running. Hopefully it will be kind to you. Good luck.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Redux

Superman! That's me.

So I took the quiz... here are the results... no surprise... although I fancy myself a gadget man so Batman might be a little more fitting. And I am married to Elektra, my sexy assasin ninja... so sweet.

You Are Superman

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And pretty cute too. No wonder you're the most popular superhero ever!

What Superhero Are You?

Somebody Turn on the AC

Man it is hot! I'm melting faster than a 50 year old lady at a Clay Aiken concert.

I am not a big fan of the heat. I live in Oregon for a reason. One reason is it's beauty, the other is the weather. I know it gets hot once in a while but come on. We had three three digit days in a row. Yuck! We've got parts of town without power because the transformers are overheating and exploding. Serious... that's hot.

By the way, not for self promotion, but Friday was my birthday (38 if you must know - and a birthday secret for all you Oregonians... Dutch Bros. has free coffee all day for you on your special day). I tell you this because in my history of being an Oregonian my birthday is always the hottest day of the year. So far this year it holds true. 108 red hot degrees. "How hot?" "Red hot." "Too hot." ~ nice, huh, Kev. Saturday I don't care what the temperature was because I was at my folks house and they have AC. My brother lives next door to my parents and he has a pool. Real nice. So the temperature on Saturday was of no consequence. Sunday was 105°. Sucks.

This week is supposed to be in the 90's. Blah. And if you live in Arizona, Illinois, or some hellish place like that don't tell me about the heat... I've never seen a house or a car out there without AC. And you choose to live there. Which is still a mystery to me.

I pray for mercy. God, please crank up the air. 72° is perfect. Thanks.

Pandora's Box

Do you love music? Of any kind? Well then check out this site.

Pandora is an internet music site that will create for you your own personal radio station based upon the artists or songs you like. The best part is... it's free. There is an option to pay which will eliminate forth coming commercials. And the pay option is relatively cheap at $36 for a year subscription.

Pandora is brought to us by the Music Genome Project (MGP). This is an extensive and on going music analysis project that has been going on for about six years. They have developed the music gene which takes into account more than popularity and record sales. It takes the music itself and gives it a type of musical genome based upon the genes that make it up. From there site - "Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony." They have taken what they have learned and created the listening console Pandora.

Type in U2 and you won't just get Coldplay, Tonic or Train you'll get bands like Murray Attaway and Weather. Who are they? I have no clue but according to the MGP they have musical genes that are similar to U2. Oh yeah some of the other bands that showed up on my U2 station were Billy Idol, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. Really... who would have thunk it.

Check it out. Test it. Put in some random names. It is very cool.

Here's a shout out to my little bro Kev for leading me to this site.

What's In A Name

I ran across this post and it made me laugh out loud.

Website namers beware... it appears that the doctor is watching.

Thanks Doc.

Brad Thor

During our vacation I read a couple of books. The first was 4th of July by James Patterson. A good read. I've enjoyed Patterson's books since I first read Along Came A Spider over 10 years ago.

The second book I read, and the reason for this post, was Blowback by Brad Thor. An excellent read. I am a huge fan of Vince Flynn and his character Mitch Rapp and Brad Thor is right up that alley. His main character is Scot Harvath, a former Navy SEAL who is now working as a counterterrorism specialist. This is not his first book so there are some references to past exploits that I didn't know about. The good thing about that is... I get to go back and read those.
I randomly picked this book up at Fred Meyer on the special sale table right before we left. I am so glad that I did.

The one thing I wonder about is the name Brad Thor. Is it real? And when you see his photo on the back cover you really have to wonder if it's a Remington Steele thing. This guy looks straight off the cover of GQ. Brad Thor sounds like a character from a book, you know, like Dirk Pitt. Maybe the publisher messed up and its a Brad Thor book written by Scot Harvath. That makes more sense.

If you like books about lone hero's saving the day then this is one for you.

Vacation Glory

For five days we camped at Jedediah Smith State Park in Northern California. What an awesome place. My family had camped there a number of times when I was a kid. If my memory serves me well the place has not changed at all in the last 20+ years. This place is truly heaven on earth. When I think of the "new earth" promised to us this is what I think of.















The river is reported to be the last free flowing river in the state. The clarity of the water is a testament to that. We spent our days relaxing at the river either swimming, looking for critters, skipping rocks, or jumping off of them. My wife noted "the river looks further across than it looks". This statement must have come from her shear delirium from the beauty of it all.















We did a small hike through the Redwoods. What magnificent trees... they are the size of buildings. There is one a little south that you can drive your car through. That is a big tree.















At night we relaxed around the campfire making s'mores, reading, and playing games. One night Alex was found head first fast asleep in his sleeping bag. I don't know how he did it, I would have woke up in a suffocating panic.















There was only two things I would have changed about the trip. First, I would have like the showers to have worked. Due to funding issues they were out of order. That stank, but not as bad as wee did by the fifth day. The second thing was the fire pit. The rim was nearly three feet off the ground. What is up with that. I know your first thought is fire prevention but there were lower ones in adjoining camp sites. With the fire this high off the ground, as my sister-in-law would say, "you need a bar stool just to keep your legs warm."

VACATION!!!

Tomorrow am we leave bright and early for the California Redwoods. We will be camping at Jedediah Smith State Park with my brother and his family for five days. We are very excited. I am particularly excited because this is a spot we visited a couple times when I was young. My hope is that it is as awesome as I remember it to be.

Next week I'll post on this trip with a few comments and photos. Photos will definitely speak louder than words on this one.

The Ringer

Sometimes I jump to conclusions too soon. As was the case with the movie "The Ringer" starring Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame and produces by the Farrelly brothers. When this movie came out I was shocked to think that Hollywood would allow a movie to be made that poked fun at mental retardation or the Special Olympics. I was wrong.

At the advice of our friend Missy, my wife and I sat down last night and watched this movie. It is funny and endearing. Kudo's to Mr. Knoxville and the Farrelly bros. on this one. By no means was it a great movie or a blockbuster, but it was good, worth the rent.

I am not going to write a lengthy review, for one I never do, but I am going to say it is a decent movie to rent. And if you rent it be sure to watch the featurettes on the making of the movie and the Special Olympics. It looks like the cast had a great time making the movie.

Guess how many fingers I have...

Bumper Sticker Advice

I saw this bit of advice on a bumper sticker stuck to a Toyota Prius this morning:

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

I think I'll take that advice and run with it. Thank you Prius lady.