Happy Birthday Trinity!

This picture makes me laugh so hard. It's from Trin's 22nd birthday party. We had an absolute blast! Happy birthday Trin!

(Trin, Jen, Lisa and Tiffany- back in the day -1995)

01-18-08

I'm kinda surprised Doug hasn't caught onto the mystery of the 01-18-08 movie trailer yet. Brought to us by the same guy behind the mysteries of Lost, this trailer looks like it could be a missing piece from a Dharma film -- obscure and hinting, with minimal details ("It's huge. It's a lion!"). There's an equally unrevealing website, and tons of speculation and guessing on the web. You ask me, a VOLTRON film is just as likely as anything, besides the guy in the trailer is supposed to be leaving for Japan, which could be another hint (Manga inspiration to the film?).

Princess Bride t-shirt

This Inigo Montoya t-shirt is great. I don't wear a lot of t-shirts, and even fewer funny shirts like this one, but I'd own this one. (The Fabulist has all kinds of good offbeat links...)

I bleed for Harry Potter

I have a patient who works for the Red Cross and she was in last week telling me about a blood drive they were having where they were doing drawings for copies of the final Harry Potter book. Being O-negative (the universal donor) and knowing I was way past due on donating, I figured what the heck, I might as well try. As I showed up, the lady overseeing the drawing said if I donated using the Alyx machine, which separates your red cells instead of donating whole blood (red cells and plasma) then you definitely get a book. So I said "sure" and won a voucher for a free Harry Potter book. We'll be with all the excited kids at Books-A-Million at 12:01 tonight. I just like the spectacle of the whole thing, and think it's so neat for the kids (not our kids, of course, we don't have kids, and the cats don't read Harry Potter -- they much prefer Neil Gaiman and James Patterson).

(By the way, I called Books-A-Million to ask how late they'd be open, thinking maybe if we show around 12:15-ish we'll miss more of the line, and the answer, like I'd expect from a cashier, was, "We'll be open at least until midnight." OK, the sale starts at 12:01, so I think midnight's a given, but I'm in a good mood -- maybe it's the loss of blood -- so I'll leave the sarcasm for another day...)

Fiction Plane

I just learned that Sting's son has a band ... amazing how much he sounds like his dad. (I guess everyone has a MySpace page now...)

Blogathon for STAR

Have you sponsored a blogger today? Consider sponsoring Cathy and Doug, who are participating in the 24 hour Blogathon for STAR, the horse-riding therapy Tommy participates in. Every little bit helps, and if they get enough sponsors, they'll have the webcam on, which can be entertaining with five kids and a big dog running around.

T-shirts

The Fabulist sent me to these t-shirts. I like them, and think they are cute and twisted at the same time, but they are also printed on really small shirts, which I guess is fine since if I ordered one it would probably be for Sarah anyway, since it seems it would be up her alley...

[Pandas Poop Too Much t-shirt is actually based on a CNN report that China is now making paper from panda poo because of all the excess...]

Jeni's note: This one is my personal favorite.

Mission Stencil Story

This is very cool, two branches of the same story stenciled on the sidewalks around San Francisco. Too bad we don't have something cool like this in Columbia...

Double A

Here are a few pictures of Aaron at his tennis match last week in Chapel Hill. I really do enjoy watching him play. He is incredibly talented. Dean and I are so proud of him. (Sorry they aren't closer. I didn't want to distract him by going down there and geek out taking pictures.)

On a side note: in the background, the construction is someone building squash/racquetball courts under their house.

Woodie

This is our realtor Peggy with her Woodie that she drove us in to our closing for our house.

This post is way past due, but we wanted to show off the car we rode in to the closing. Peggy bought her Woodie a while back from California, then it spent about three years up in Iron Mountain, Michigan near the original plant being rebuilt and renovated with original woods. Peggy likes to drive her clients to the closing in the Woodie, which is quite a treat. She has a 440 engine in it so it will go when necessary. The admiring looks were very fun while driving around downtown Columbia. While "Woodie" usually stays in the garage, South Carolina Gamecock fans recognize the car from tailgating at home games. Our closing was memorable enough, but to add the treat of riding in a classic car made it even more special.

Geico

I like the new Mike Wallace Geico commercial. Very funny. Maybe this means fewer cavemen...

Worth watching

I watched the pilot of Burn Notice on USA and it is definitely worth watching. It's no Monk or 4400, but I'd put it up there with Dead Zone and Psych. And it has a good sense of humor. I'm excited about Monk returning on Friday, and then Weeds on August 13. Sadly, I think our Summer viewing is better than the regular TV season. When you add Big Love into the mix, and maybe Nip/Tuck (depending on when it returns) and Dexter (returns in September, technically not a Summer show, but instead a Showtime show), and the quality of the shows are just so much better. (People keep saying I should watch Rescue Me, too...)

Been a while...

I didn't realize how long it'd been since an update. We had a very nice visit with Sue, Don, Jackie and Aaron. They came in on Tuesday, and were very complimentary of the house. We enjoyed some nice company, and Jeni's great cooking. As the week went on they began scattering, Jackie and Aaron on Friday to Raleigh, NC for a tennis tournament (won 3, lost 2 matches ... we're pretty proud of him -- Jeni even made it up on Monday to see him play), Sunday morning Sue headed on down to Florida, then later Sunday we took Don to Charlotte for him to fly back to Detroit. Always on the go...

We've seen a few movies lately, too. We went with Don and Sue to see License to Wed with Robin Williams. It was cute (date movie) but I'd wait to rent it. (At moments during the movie the boy in me was distracted by the explosions next door at Transformers.) We also rented Man of the Year, also with Robin Williams. Less funny than the previews, but good like Wag the Dog was good. In the meantime, the list of movies I'd never even consider watching again continues to grow. OK, Saw II I expected to be mediocre, but Superman Returns was horrible, possibly more disappointing than Saw II only because it had promise with a good cast and hype and, come on, it's Superman, and yet is was horrible, boring and pointless. I was also disappointed by Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. I expected more from this movie. American Dreamz was funny-ish, but pointless, too, and we couldn't even get started watching Because I Said So (no, we're not intentionally watching everything Mandy Moore has been in). Still, like the big nerd I am, I'm eagerly awaiting the new Harry Potter movie. (But now I'm rambling...)

Jeni should be on the road home from Raleigh about now, caravaning with Jackie and Aaron. Her ride's only about three-and-a-half hours. Poor Jackie and Aaron are looking at about 12. Ugh! Anyhow, hopefully Jeni got some pictures of Aaron playing and we'll have something visual to post for you.

OK... this is getting too long, and even I won't want to read it, so I'm going to end it here.

New least favorite job

Next to painting the front porch, painting the spindles on the stairs is my new least favorite job around the house. They may look good, but it's no fun.