Ice is worse than Ike

A massive ice storm wrecked much havoc over the Ohio Valley several days ago. We lost branches and power. We stayed at mom and dad's last night. They have power but no phone, internet, or cable. The city is a mess. But the Jeep is holding up just fine. Driving with all of the idiots out has caused more than one close call and is really driving my stress levels up. I just want to be able to rest and get a good night's sleep. Ugh.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We have a new president. Barrack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America just moments ago. Very, very cool.

I wish you luck, Mr. President, in these trying times of war and poor economic growth. You have your hands full but I believe you are worthy and ready for the challenge. Godspeed, Mr. Obama!

Weekend Update

Every time I wanted to sit down and blog about something I was distracted by the next thing...

* Computer at work is clean. And both PCs at home are clean. I feel like such a cyber-germaphobe now. I'm semi-obsessed with keeping the boxes virus free.

* UofL beat #11 Notre Dame and then turned around and took down #1 Pittsburgh. Cards, FTW! They are really starting to look like the #3 they were ranked before the season started :)

* I spent Sunday working with Will on his project "A Timeline of Japanese Weapons". It was fun but very hard. We really kicked arse but it took nearly all day long.

* I put Kelsey behind the wheel of the car and she drove us home from the Holiday Inn. She did pretty well but it was a little spooky. I can only imagine how my mom and dad felt back in the day with me :D

* Jooj and I PPV'ed "Tropic Thunder". Muwahahahaha! She liked parts of it. I found the whole thing to be absolutely hilarious. I would strongly consider buying it if I hadn't already PPV'ed it. It would make a worthy addition to my collection.

* Battlestar Galactica began the second half of its fourth and final season Friday night. Man-o-man, it was a humdinger. The hits kept coming fast and furious. SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! I just about jumped out of my skin when Dualla blew her brains out. How sad :( And then my socks were blown off when Starbuck turned over the cockpit of her downed Viper and saw her own corpse. WTF is up with that? And then finally the reveal of the last Cylon??? Ellen, that dirty bitch. I knew you were a Cylon long ago... I was only thrown off when Tigh poisoned you and killed you. I can't wait to see how this series turns out. I know I will be sad but I'm so excited.

* Looks like the Super Bowl will be between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. Should be a good game... hopefully.

Infected!

I don't know who my computer has been cozying up to at night but he's got a bad case of the blues. And I'm talking about the "blues" that requires a big ol' shot in the ass in the real world. My poor computer is infected... with Trojans and Ad-ware :(

We ran a scan this morning and it removed 26 files (most were ad-ware but several were Trojans and one was a Trojan generator... yipes!). And this is my computer at work, mind you. I don't know how the PCs at home have avoided this mess (with a 15-year old constantly browsing and downloading from MySpace).

I'm running another scan as we speak since it is obvious that the first attempt did not catch everything. Obvious, in that I mean that the background image on my desktop disappeared and my icons look like they are all highlighted. Oh, and by the pop-up from McAfee telling me that my PC was infected.

Shame on your, PC! Use protection next time and stop sharing needles!!!

I need to... (random thought process)

I need to update my web site. I need to make it more geared toward my art. I need to have links to it that lead to my blog and my pix and stuff but I need it to showcase my work. I need to upload pix from Christmas and vacation. I need to find my thumb drive so I can slap those pix on it. I need to clean off some MP3s from my laptop. I need to rip some old CDs onto another computer so I can put them on my iPod. I need to figure out how I'm going to furnish the home office. I need to come up with some good New Years resolutions. I need to finish the paintings for Scott. I need to get moving on the paintings for Barbara. I need to call Aunt Pam and see if she still wants paintings. I need to hang Will's punching bag. I need to get some dog treats for Jack and Boba that will actually put up a fight. I need to call Murry's. I need to take my iron pill. I need to go pee. I need to get back to work.

Cards won, Vikings lost

I believe that I watch a below average amount of sports for the common American male aged 18-35. And yet somehow yesterday two must-watch games were on television. My beloved Minnesota Vikings were playing a wild card playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. At the same time the U of L Cardinals were squaring off against their commonwealth rivals, the UK Wildcats.

Well if you read the title of this post you know how things turned out. The Vikings won their division but fell late in the 4th quarter. They looked good but Tavarius Jackson is young and the Vikings probably didn't quite have a Super Bowl run in them. Their defense is awesome and Adrian Peterson is the best running back playing the game. Let's just hope they bring it (and then some) next year.

The UofL/UK game was pretty sweet. UofL ate them up on steal and turnovers. The cards led by 6 or 10 most of the game. At the very end UK scrapped back and then tied it with only a few seconds left to play. Sosa took the ball and walked it down the court. He faked his defender and then pulled up for a three-point shot several feet away from the line at the top of the arc. Swoosh... and game over.

Still working on the resolutions. I think one will involve getting my cholesterol down. One will involve painting again. I'm sick of making resolutions to read more and not doing it. Give me a few more days and we'll see what I come up with.

O hai, 2009

Twenty-aught-nine is upon us. Last night was the turning of the new year and it came with a bang. I'm down in Tampa with my wife's whole side of the family and we're having a blast. A few of dad's cousins live down here and they threw one helluva New Years Eve party. I dragged all but her parents to the party and we certainly made an impression. Highlights include...

* Seeing Aunt Emma was a real treat. She looked great too. It was nice talking with her. And yes, she's my newest little nieces' namesake (don't know if I used that right but it rolls off the tongue so well I'm not going to change it... you know what I mean).

* Watching the heads crank and hearing jaws drop as each of my 4 nieces (aged 17 to 21) came walking through the crowd as they walked into the party. My sister-in-law was worried that we should have brought something to the party. Well, my friend, we brought the cute dancing girls.

* Speaking of my sister-in-law, I'm pretty sure she had a good time. To her credit, she only had a small salad and a dozen oysters to help soak up the fun. But when I tried to help her up to her feet she kept going forward and took me with her - and took out poor Jooj. The three of us went down with a thud. The party kept on rolling as we did our best to wipe the egg from our face. But I kept saying that her falling down only was a sign that it was a great party.

* Overall, I'd say that it was a wonderful fusion of two sides of my family. Seeing everyone having such a great time was such a joy. I truly could have just sat in the corner all night and watched the fun. I'm so lucky to have such a good family on one side, let alone *both*!

* Tammy's reaction to the painting of Callie and Clayton that I did is pretty much the reason I paint pieces for other people. It just makes me so proud to get reactions like that and to make people so happy :D

I don't have any resolutions for the year yet. Give me a few days and I'll come up with a few. I need to review my resolutions from last year and see how I did. I know that I fell short on reading 8 books. I had trouble getting back into exercising every day after my hospital stay. And I'm seriously curious to see if I made my resolution to paint 26 pieces in 2008. I think I may have.