2007: the year that was

Man, it's already the end of the year. Seems like only yesterday, I was making my first blog post.

Well, let's review what's happened in the half-year I've had this blog.


I was glad JubileeJAM! came back, but not for the price.

Grossed out some readers

Said goodbye to one vehicle and hello to a new ride.

Began my picks list. How'd I do? Something like 62-26. I'm not sure about the accuracy of the numbers, but since most of the games were slam dunks, it's not that difficult to pick right more than not.

Just for the heck of it: Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe.

My other football team, the mighty Weir Lions, had a disappointing season. They finished 12-2. Disappointing? Yes. They lost in the south state championship game to Puckett by one point. Then Puckett goes and lays an egg against Ray Brooks in the 1A championship game.

Oh yeah, there was this football game MSU participated in. I was there. It was great. I meant to post details of our adventure, but just didn't get around to doing it.

There was one other thing that affected my year: work. Now that I've had a few days off, I'll start the new year with new ideas and plans for new features.

Blog-wise, there wasn't a whole lot else to go over. Random crap here and there. Nothing great.

But what would a year-end post be without year-end lists? Here goes:

TV

Naturally, I'm talking about Heroes. While many panned the final episode, even the whole second season, I still thought it was better than most other shows out there. The writer's strike didn't exactly help though.

Comedy juggernaut The Office continued ruling. Dwight v. Andy is the storyline I want to see. 30 Rock stepped up as one of my must-records. My Name Is Earl better find a way to rebound, because I think it's fallen lately.

CBS dramas have really gotten me hooked. The lineup of Criminal Minds and CSI:NY is also on the must-record list. CSI: is still recorded, but it's not quite as good as it has been.

Not to be outdone, but as long as Law And Order:SVU employs Mariska, I'll record it. Plus, it's a good show.

Movies

Never got out to see any movies this year. Well, I did see ATHF:MFFT. I may have been one of about 10 people in the metro area to see it.

Music

No, I'm not going to do a best of '07 music list. While I'm using other best of lists to get the songs, I'm not just copy/pasting. I'm just going to list the songs I liked from the past year.

"Lazy Eye" - Silversun Pickups
"Phantom Limb" - The Shins
"All The Same" - Sick Puppies
"Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
"Bleed It Out" - Linkin Park
"Dashboard" - Modest Mouse
"Until The End" - Breaking Benjamin
"Ready To Fall" - Rise Against
"Teenagers" - My Chemical Romance
"Wolf Like Me" - TV On The Radio
"Intervention" - Arcade Fire
"The Pretender" - Foo Fighters
"You're Right" - Chevelle

I'm sure there are a lot more, but I can't think of them and it's taking too long to find them.

I can't think of anything else to add to this last entry of 2007. So I'll end on this note: I'm planning on completely redoing the look of this blog.

Happy New Year.

(More ...)

Visiting family

Since the work schedules had my sister and I in town for Christmas, the parents and our grandmother made the trip down here for Christmas Day. We ate some. I say some because someone forgot the dressing back home (thanks mom) and someone forgot to get rolls (thanks people at work that kept me two hours longer than I was supposed to be there).

Exchanged a few gifts. My gifts were mostly of the room redecoration variety. Did get one surprise in a new pair of shoes. I guess you can count my Liberty Bowl ticket as a gift as well. Wonder what my gift was to the family? Simple. The fact that I'm still employed.

So that was Christmas Day. Simple, basic, somewhat hassle-free. The way I like it.

Found out that one of my cousins was going to be visiting his dad for Christmas, which meant he was going to be traveling up towards Weir to visit our granddad. Figured I should head home to see him. It was him, his wife and daughter. I can't remember the last time I saw him and for some reason, don't recall meeting the wife and daughter at any point.

They got in that afternoon. Spent the time sitting around chatting, listening to stories of a cruise they took a while back. Our aunt was going through old pictures to show us photos of our parents as kids. Always good for a laugh or three.

It was a good couple of days.

(More ...)

A video for the season

Click to watch

(More ...)

Home improvement

After who knows how long, the walls in our house are finally getting that new coat of paint that had been planned. I did my part. I stayed out of the way.

I just hope that the fumes inhaled tonight don't affect my work tomorrow. Heck, they might even enhance my abilities at work.

(More ...)

Having a bad day?

Then take a couple of minutes and watch this.



Feel a little better?

(More ...)

The Company Dime

A rare occasion, but always one we look forward to. Those times when the bosses say 'good job everyone' by planning a dinner at a nice restaurant. Tonight, it was Monte's Steak and Seafood. Oh my. I went with the seafood portion of the name and had the stuffed salmon. To quote my ideal woman: Yum-O!

Sorry Chris (our waiter), but I can't afford to stop by there whenever I want. Well, I might have to swing in one day to get some cheese fritters. Those things were good.

Now if I can find a way to where they treat us to dinner more often. But that might mean more work. Oh well, it was a thought.

(More ...)

It's been a long time

(More ...)

My weekend

An interesting one filled with football (duh), worship and culture. Yeah that's right, I said culture.

As my boy James mentions, this past weekend had the MHSAA football championship games. Since I didn't have a dog (or in this case, lion) in the race, I really didn't care for following the games. But I did get sucked into two of them.

The 5A game Friday night pitted the University of South Panola against George County. For the nearly three quarters, USP toyed with GC. Up 21-0 easily, USP felt they had the victory sealed. Too bad GC kept playing football. Early in the fourth quarter, I drove through the Back Yard Burger there by the stadium. I saw people leaving, so I assumed the game was over. Boy, was I wrong.

George County fought back and cut the lead to 28-21 with time running out. They line up for an onside kick and pull it off. The USP player muffed it and GC had possession with time to drive and tie the game. But they couldn't pull off the miracle tie. USP held on for their 5th straight title.

Saturday morning, the 1A game pitted Ray Brooks against Puckett. Puckett got to Jackson through Weir (grrr) and Ray Brooks got to Jackson because Weir was moved to the south half this season. I didn't care to watch the game, but since my dad wanted to watch it, we kept it on. I only sat down to watch the fourth quarter (notice a pattern?). Puckett looked to be cruising towards the win. Brooks had the ball inside their own 10, until they fumbled it away.

So all Puckett has to do is punch it in, right? Well, Brooks stood tough. Held Puckett out of the endzone on four tries. Brooks gets the ball back on their own one yard line. Two plays later, an 88-yard TD run puts Brooks ahead. It was a heck of a play.

Puckett gets the ball back, but an interception returned for a touchdown seals the Ray Brooks win.

Dear Brooks, you're welcome. (yes, I'm bitter)

Ok, enough football. Time for the main event of the weekend. My parents and grandmother came down Saturday for Carols By Candlelight. As always, it was awesome. Great singing. Great performances. Great everything.

Well, not everything involving Carols was great. The trip to the church was the worst traffic clusterf- mess I've seen in quite some time. First, there was a wreck on High Street. Second, the traffic from the Christmas parade earlier was leaving the fairgrounds. Third, every main road into and out of town seemed to be blocked off. Morons. I'm going to blame Frank and not Mac for this.

So after fighting the urge to kill idiots on the roads, we got to FBCJ with enough time to park and find a seat. As mentioned, the performances were great. Especially the kids. If you get a chance to watch it, watch it.

But wait, what is the culture I mention earlier? I'm getting to it. (you're still reading this far down?)

Friday at work, HR (I assume) offered free tickets to New Stage Theatre's performance of 'A Christmas Carol'. Before you go off, no, I don't hate stage or plays or anything like that. True, it's not the first thing on my list of things to do, or even 10th on the list.

A friend of a co-worker won four free tickets. She and her husband were going, which left two tickets. She offered them to my co-worker, who was asking others if they wanted the ticket. No one else was able to go. I may not have been formally asked since I was scheduled to work that night, but she gave me the ticket anyway and said if I wanted to, to come on down. After thinking about it, watching a play was infinitely better than staring at a computer screen. So I went.

I've been to New Stage before. Ok, once before. But I still remember it. Well, not the play, but I do remember they had Moon Pies and RC Coca Cola during intermission. Of course, I had to get a Moon Pie and RC Coca Cola because Mr. Cutts wouldn't have it any other way.

And yes, I enjoyed the performance. The actor playing Scrooge may have been a bit over the top, but the character of Scrooge is over the top. I think we even witnessed a stage blooper and a bit of improv.

So, I'd like to thank Super Chick for the ticket.

I'm tired of typing so, if you've read this far, why?

(More ...)

So I went to the dentist today

and had my blood pressure checked.

Yeah, that's right. My dentist is now also checking patient's blood pressure. Don't remember what mine was, but they said it would be better if it were lower.

So let's see, lowering my blood pressure? Well, I have been eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast lately. Except for now, since I had coupons for Special K, Rice Crispies and such. I do need to do some sort of exercising. Guess I could walk the dog occasionally. Maybe even dust off the bike.

Hmmm, I still have a number of days left for vacation. Bet that would help.

And if you're wondering, normal check-up and cleaning. I need to floss more.

(More ...)

So, anything new today?

Hmmmm, wonder what I could be talking about?

(More ...)

Shame on you, Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt has something to say (w/pictures)

I saw the pictures a few days ago. My reaction was 'wow'. Then I saw her reaction to some criticism over how she looks in those pictures. My reaction was 'you go, girl'. Ok, not really, but it is nice to see a celebrity say 'this is how I look and I love it'.

Still, it's such a shame. No, not the pictures or her blasting back. Those are, a good thing.

The shame is that she got engaged to someone other than me. I kept holding out hope that one day we would meet and it would be love (heh) at first sight.

Maybe there is still a chance.

(More ...)

I am now a Facebook app

For those of you with a Facebook account, add this blog to your profile.

click here

After much fussing and cussing, I finally got the flipping thing to work. Now I just need to fine tune it a bit.

I'm hoping to create more Facebook apps in the near future. Most will be work-related, I hope.

(More ...)