The last day of June

Well, here we are at the last day of June. It's been a fun month. Had my birfday. Skated the new ramp in Jeffersonville, the Barnacle. Had a slew of celebrities bite the dust - Bill, Ed, Farrah, Mike, and Bill. Got good news. Got bad news. Dealt with some surgery. Things in space were going on. Things in the garden were going on. Things in life kept trucking.

It was a good month. And it seemed fairly busy as far as I remember. Do they always seem so busy? Maybe they do.

July, here we come...

Singapore Street Noodles

We're going to PFChang's tonight to celebrate my birfday. And I just thought I'd take a moment to point out how much I love their menu item Singapore Street Noodles. It's just a lovely combination of rice noodles, veggies, chicken, spicy, shrimp, and yummy. I am very much looking forward to it.

On a completely unrelated note, I closed the door to the old office for the last time today. I had been asked to go over to the office to clean up. I suppose the cleaning crew was going to clean if it was cleaned out by me first. That would alleviate the need for a maid service. So I agreed. I threw away a good ten pounds in cables and cords. I turned off the lights, locked the door, and considered it the last time I would be there.

What a(n) __________ day!

"happy" - It was my birfday today! Thirty-five. Yippee!

"stoked" - I skated up a storm this morning. And Nikoli gave me a new pair of knee pads. I even found a new leg of a run that I have found and am excited about trying it out next time. I was going so fast :)

"unfortunate" - The USA played in the finals of the Confederation Cup against Brazil this afternoon in South Africa. They were up 2-0 at the half. They lost 3-2 :(

"weird" - The pharmacist today said that she had a son and his middle name was Brinley. I asked if it was a family name. She said that her husand's mother's maiden name was Brinley. To which I replied that we must be related. Later in the day, while driving waaaay out in the middle of nowhere, we passed a small business called Brinley Financial Services. How odd?!?

"deadly" - Billy Mays dead? Are you serious? Ed, Farrah, Michael... and now Billy? And it is weird how he went. Something struck him in the head, supposedly, after a hard landing in an aircraft. He went home and was later found dead. And what about those assholes as the FAA? When asked about the situation they commented that it is the passenger's responsibility to wear a seat belt. Seriously? I suppose that is what the poor folks aboard that Air France flight failed to do too, huh? Unbelievable!

33%

Are you a betting man (or woman)? Would you go all-in if you had a 33% chance of winning? Would you bring an umbrella if there was a 33% chance of rain? Would you have last rites given to you if you had a 33% chance of living? Would you start looking for a new job if you learned from someone who may or may not know that 33% of your team were being let go?

I actually am a betting man. It depends on the player across from me, my stack, my hand, and my luck. I never carry an umbrella because I don't mind getting a little wet. I'm not Catholic (besides, I made my peace long ago).

Yes. Yes I would. And yes. Yes... I am.

My wife rules!

My birfday is coming up. Over the last few years I've begun to care less and less about it. Maybe it is because I have more to care about these days (wife, kids, house, dogs, cats, etc.) than myself - let alone a silly birfday. Maybe I'm just getting old and don't care. Either way... meh.

So I wasn't really expecting much in the way of gifts. Jooj's parents sent me some cash. That was nice. Oh, and they sent me a lotto card - a scratch-off. I won another chance. So we'll see if that hits a jackpot :) Mom and dad are getting me a knife set. I'm actually pretty stoked about that.

I had no idea what Jooj was getting me. But she decided she wanted to give it to me today. She gave me the gift bag. It seemed pretty light. A gift certificate, perhaps? A gift card? A homemade free coupon for a back rub even?

No, she blew me away! It was an invoice for the not-yet-released Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite Animated Maquette from Gentle Giant Studios available only from Entertainment Earth. Holy cow! Not only did she know what I really, really wanted, but she stooped to my level of geekdom in purchasing it. I love that woman so much!

Here is the statue (don't know how long the Internet will store this so clickity-click away)...

Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite

Jooj rules!

Ed, Farrah, Mike :(

Ed McMahon passed away earlier this week. It was sad. He was Carson's sidekick for all those years (and the face of Publisher's Clearing House), among many other things. I especially loved Phil Hartman's (rest his soul) imitation of him on SNL. "YES!!" "THAT IS CORRECT, SIR!" Funny stuff.

So Farrah Fawcett died this morning at the age of 62. I barely remember her as a kid. I knew everyone thought she was sexy before I even knew what sexy was. She had been suffering from anal cancer (anal cancer?!?! SHIT!) for the last three years. She supposedly went peacefully (which is as much as one can hope for, I suppose).

And now, what is this? CNN is saying Michael Jackson is in a coma after suffering cardiac arrest??? Holy cow! And now What Would Tyler Durden Do (wwtdd.com - love 'em) is saying that he is dead?!?! Holy shit! TMZ, Radar Online, and OK are all saying he's dead too. HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!! IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com and TheSuperficial.com are saying he's dead. NOOOOOOOOO!

Dude, "Thriller" was the first album I ever owned. I used to love that guy. I mean, sure, I'd hang out in Neverland Ranch with him. Drink this sparkling Kool-Aid? Sure, Mike. Take these pills? Ooookay... if you say so. ZzzZZzzZZZzz...

UPDATE: Okay, now everyone, including CNN, is saying he's dead. Wow. Shit, man. That is so sad.

This and that

I'm so sick of Jon and Kate. I used to be a fan of the show (my wife is a fan of the show... which kind of makes me a fan of the show). I don't want to watch it anymore. Jon is a spineless pansy. Kate is a king kong bitch.

The US National soccer team, against all odds, made it to the semi-finals in the Confed Cup and then did the unthinkable by beating Spain. In order to make it to the semis they had to win over Egypt by 3 or more goals and Brazil had to beat out Italy by 3 or more goals. USA 3-0. Brazil 3-0. Totally against all odds. But then we turned around and thumped Spain 2-0. Utterly amazing!

I hit the Barnacle again last night. I skated, sweated up a storm, and surely lost some weight. Then I came home and did about 25 sit-ups. Oy, I hurt. But I need to work on some new tricks. I need to nail my rock-n-rolls. I need to get over my fear of frontside. I need to practice dropping in switch (for no other reason than I don't know who else does it).

The principal at Atherton, Mr. Hudson, is a very nice man. I enjoyed speaking with him and worked out everything with Kelsey's grades. I no longer want to kill my daughter. Yay!

I just learned that The Watchmen: Director's Cut is coming to DVD on July 21st. I would have to say that this will be my most highly anticipated DVD release this year (with Star Trek probably coming in second).

What a day!

Woke up to a busy work day. Had two meetings. Fretted over Kelsey's grades and cumulative GPA. Fretted some more. Cut the grass. Tended to my garden. Everybody except the grape tomatoes are recovering. Spoke with Bernie P. Left a message with Silver. Spoke with Senor Brown. Painted the background for Leigh Anne, a client that has asked for a rush job (she's getting married in two weeks). It's looking good.

Looking back on what I just wrote, it doesn't seem like that big of a day. My back and shoulders argue otherwise.

Happy Fathers Day!

I returned today from a weekend camping trip with my fam. Melisss invited us and mom and dad to spend the weekend in a cottage in General Butler State Park. The cottage was rather cozy, but the trip overall was a blast. There was swimming at the pool, canoeing in the lake, fishing on the shore, putt-putt, touring a historic home, checking out a rather weak observation point, and eating plenty of mom's good cooking.

I'm pretty tired from the trip. I think the kids had a good time. After being home for a few hours we took the kids back to their dad's and then went to Susu's to celebrate family time with them. It was a fun-filled weekend.

But I'm exhausted. My leg hurts from, I think, balancing in the pool while holding Will on my other leg. We played pretty hard this weekend and I'm whipped!

"Explore" = "Smash into" at NASA

Yesterday NASA launched the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). It is going to the moon to survey and look for signs of frozen water blah blah blah... AND SMASH INTO THE MOON!!!

From siliconvalley.com...

"LCROSS may be one of NASA's most participatory missions. If the spacecraft launches on schedule at 12:51 p.m. Wednesday, it would hit the moon in the early morning hours of Oct. 8. The cloud from the 350 metric tons of debris kicked up by the Centaur booster should spread six miles above the surface of the moon, hitting the sunlight and making it visible to amateur astronomers across North America. The space agency is enlisting telescopes around the country to help monitor the impact."

"The 1,664-pound spacecraft will have the best view. LCROSS will separate from the Centaur booster less than 10 hours before impact and will be less than 400 miles above the moon when the spent rocket booster collides at a speed five times faster than a bullet from a .44 Magnum. NASA plans to stream a live view from LCROSS as the Centaur, followed by the spacecraft, plows into the moon."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_12590357?IADID

Hitting the moon? Booster rockets? Faster than a speeding bullet? Video streaming? .44 Magnum? Centaurs? Hitting sunlight?

Oh man, this sounds like Matrix meets Dungeons & Dragons meets Moon (the upcoming film with Sam Rockwell that I am eagerly awaiting to arrive in L'ville). Can you imagine? Gun-wielding horse-men on the Moon blowing shit up and knocking the shit out of that pesky sunlight!!!

(Did I read the whole story? No, why? Wasn't that what it was all about?)

Gardening Emergency

Kentucky weather has been very wet this year. While this may make some happy, this gardener-by-planter is not too thrilled. My poor veggies are drowning in their own soil. As a neophyte green-thumber I was a bit at a loss as to what to do to remedy the situation. Jooj offered a small strip of dirt to transplant. And transplant I did.

I moved the grape tomato plant, the two hybrid patio tomato plants, the sweet banana pepper plants, and my poor, bedraggled green bell pepper plants from their planters to good ol' mother Earth this evening. I'm stoked. I shouldn't be, 'cause they're just a couple of plants. But I am :)

From bad to good

Yesterday's post was so negative. Shame on me! Things are good. Why?

* Betsy had her baby grrrl last night. Eight pounds, four ounces. She and momma are both doing well. Awwww!

* I finished "Will", the last of three pieces ("Trey" and "Ellie" being the other two) that I'm painting for Barbara Hubbuch.

* I'm working on a rush job for a grrrl that is getting married in three weeks. The piece is really going to look nice. Exciting!

* I started working on the mock-ups for the pieces for the Kentucky Center for the Arts. That is very, very exciting :)

* Found out yesterday that Jed and Vian are finally coming home! Hip, hip, hooray!!!

Working from home...

... sucks.

It sucks. It totally sucks.

It sucks for too many reasons for me to go into right now. I'm sure if you don't work from home you think that it is great. "Work from home? Sure, sounds like a blast!" Nope. No blast. It sucks.

Okay, one reason why it sucks... you can't vent to anyone ("Dude, that's why you have a blog, remember?"). I can't walk over to the next cube or office and vent about some email I get. I can't have eye-to-eye contact with a coworker and just feel good about blasting a bad client or a rotten email from a boss. All I have is the ability to call up a coworker and talk to him over a limited-bandwidth VoIP phone - whilst translating in my head a thick Indian accent. Let me tell ya, that notion kind of takes the wind out of any griping I'll do.

I dunno.

I'm not really digging my job these days. The work sucks. No office camaraderie sucks. I feel so isolated from my boss. He's in Cali. His boss is in Maryland. I feel like I'm in something dead end - I'm not going anywhere. I know that my coworkers, some of whom are just now making the adjustment to working from home, feel the same or worse than I do. Maybe I'm playing fiddle on a sinking ship. Maybe my ship has already sunk.

Dum-dee-da-da-dum... so many reasons right now why I think my job sucks.

It sucks. It totally sucks.

BB, Bibi, Beebee, B-B, Bee Bee

I call my wife Jooj. It isn't a nickname I came up with. Her nieces, at a very young age, gave it to her. It was Juj or Juju. I spell it Jooj 'cause it looks like a funny name that way. I like the Engrish language. It's funny. And Jooj looks funny.

She calls me "B B". And I like it. But up until this moment, I had never thought how one would spell it. BB? Bibi? Beebee? B-B? Bee Bee?

The Engrish language is such a funny thing that the pronunciation of words largely depends on the ethnic origin or Latin root of the word in the first place. In my case, I do not believe such a root exists. I'll have to ask her next time I think to and see how she would spell it.

Launch scrubbed

Weak. The momentous launch that was supposed to happen yesterday was scrubbed due to a hydrogen leak. I don't know when the next launch window is open. A conflict with another launch prevented it from happening today. I'm sure it will go up... just a matter of time.

I didn't blog yesterday. I think that is two days so far in June that I haven't. I'm not sure why I didn't. I wasn't particularly busy. I was busy playing nurse. I took the kids to my mom's to celebrate Emma's birthday. I played CoH a little.

Jooj and I have been married 23 months today. One more month and we'll hit two years! :D

Milestones in Space (and Blogger)

Tomorrow the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off for yet another delivery to the International Space Station. With it, it will mark the 500th person in space over the course of the various space programs across the globe. It will mark the largest group of space-bound people once they dock - 13 astronauts and cosmonauts. The two crews, in fact, will be a wonderful mix of different nationalities: American, Russian, Canadian, Japanese, and European. And one other nifty milestone will take place. It will mark the first time two Canadians were in space at the same time.

I'm quite the space nut. My dream in life is to be able to leave the gravity of Earth and experience the weightlessness of space. Well, that, and I'd also love to see our great ol' Mother from orbit. I'd love to see the curvature of the horizon. And I'd love to see the faint blue atmosphere rising several dozen miles above Earth's surface. Yeah, my smile would never fade if I were lucky enough to experience that.

And this post marks my 100th blog on ob1shinobi.blogspot.com. Hooray!

Home and recovering

We're home. We walked in the door today at 4:33PM. My day has been spent playing nurse. I'm pretty exhausted. I'm just trying to stay up longer than Jooj in case she needs me for anything. But I'm beat. And ready for bed. I still need to take the trash out. And the dogs. And it's raining really hard. Meh.

Tomorrow is the day!

Jooj's surgery is tomorrow! We've made it! The gall bladder didn't go out on us. We just need to last another 14 hours and we're home free! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Life (Who knows?)

I suppose it is just an attribute of getting older but I seem to appreciate life a little more each year. And not just my own life, but life in general. That is not to say that I never lived a time when I did not cherish life (my mother always said I was a "live and let live" type of person). In fact, I've always believed murder, the taking of another life, to be the most heinous, most deplorable, most scornful crime to commit. And to clarify, I'm talking about "circle of life" shit, not just my life and my experience and selfish shit like that. But life. All life. Lifeforms, big and small.

Maybe it's the youthful enthusiasm I see in Lexi, the little kitten, everyday that reminds me of life anew. Maybe it is the passing of my great uncle Bill that reminds me that life ends too quickly. Who knows?

I immensely enjoyed watching the mama robin sit on her eggs outside the kitchen window. I watched those chicks hatch. I watched them grow. I watched them leave the nest. It all happened so fast. Where are they now? Are they still in the neighborhood? Who knows?

Maybe the fact that Big Daddy, my prize goldfish in my pond, has gone missing that reminds me that life is nothing to take for granted. Really, you may ask? A goldfish can teach a lesson in life? Sure, I say. I fed him. I kept him alive. Sure, he could scrounge around the pond and maybe eek out an existence. But I was his provider. And he's gone. What got him? Blue heron? Raccoon? Ninjas? Who knows?

I am growing grape tomatoes, hybrid tomatoes, serrano peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, and casabella peppers. I don't have a garden but instead I am growing them in planters. The flowers on the tomatoes are turning into little green mini-tomatoes. I am really excited about the process. And besides enjoying the vegetables that I'm growing, I am most excited about the prospect of growing new plants next year from the seeds I collect from the veggies this year. Why? What's the big deal when I can just go buy another pack of seeds? Or just go buy the veggies at the store? Who knows?

And then there is the cardinal chick that's been hanging around the yard. I thought it was a goner. But then I noticed mama cardinal bringing food to him/her. She's been doing that for the last two days. The chick has made its way from the pond's perimeter to the front yard shrubs. Maybe tomorrow he'll catch the wind just the right way and fly away. Who knows?

So today will end and tomorrow will begin. The earth will turn and the big ball in the sky will keep reminding us that we have one more day (at least for the next 5 billion years or so). Why am I so lucky to be conscious and self-aware? What right do I have to enjoy all of these little things in life? Who put me here? What's the plan? How long do I have?

Who knows?

But really, honestly, who cares? Live and let live. Enjoy what you can. Love every moment while you have it. Love it and live it... and maybe die with a smile when the end finally does come.

My Brute

I stumbled upon a little game today called My Brute. It is simplistic and not really a game at all. But I have found it to be very addicting. You name a little dude (or chick) and he fights other dudes (or chicks). The little brute does all of this automatically. You have some minor ability to adjust the appearance and color of your brute. He/she is given certain stats and weapons, and as you progress you increase these stats. But I believe this is all done automatically. Unfortunately, the number of fights you can perform in one day is limited, so I'll be back for more tomorrow.

Try it out! Take me on...

http://agent-hotspur.mybrute.com/

Oh, and I just wanted to mention that Jooj and I watched "The Big Lebowski" last night. I love that movie! We txt'ed Lauren because it is her favorite movie too. We laughed hard :)

Weekend Stuff

I had a pretty busy weekend but didn't do anything in particular. Will and I went to the skate park Saturday. Kelsey had some friends over last night and we watched the "Spongebob Squarepants Movie" projected on the garage door. It was pretty amusing. Pat stopped by to borrow some movies to check out his new setup (Spider-man 3, Iron Man, and Black Hawk Down... enjoy!). Will and I went to my buddy Travio's house to skate the new ramp in his barn this morning. And we brought fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It was awesome (the doughnuts and the skating)! Nikoli, Skidzilla, Radley, OMP, WWWIII, Pollo, Steve, neighbor Paul, and Junior were all in attendance. It was a great session. We cleaned around the house and the yard. Grilled out chicken yesterday. Took a nap today. And a shower. I think we're going to eat some ice cream a little later.

Hmm, this post just got kind of boring.

Ah! Today was the first weekday...

... that I didn't wake up to an alarm. The kids are out of school. Julie is out of school. And all I need is to walk downstairs to go to work. So I can sleep until I wake up. No alarms. No beeps. No buzzes. It's wonderful.

(What I won't mention is that "sleeping in" for me meant I got out of bed at 7:52AM today, but hey, that's a late morning for this guy)

I'm still quite confused about the whole David Carradine thing. Now Thai police are saying his hands were bound as well? Well, if my calculations are correct, that's not how auto-erotic asphyxiation is supposed to work. So what then? Foul play? Ninjas? Beatrix Kiddo? Murderous Thai hookers? I'm so intrigued.

Bill Killed

David Carradine was found dead today in Bangkok. Weird, huh? I actually remember him on the series "Kung Fu". Most kids these days will remember him as Bill from Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" and "Kill Bill 2". The details of his demise are a bit sketchy but it may have been a suicide, perhaps a hanging. Too bad... it only seems fitting that he'd go via the five point palm-exploding heart technique.

UPDATE - Am I reading this right? The maid found him naked, with rope from the curtains around his neck and his balls? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?!?!

UPDATED UPDATE - Now the BBC is saying that he "was found with a cord around his neck and 'other parts of his body.'" Hmm, sounds like someone reworded some headlines. So for future reference, when the news says "other parts of his body", they mean your balls. Duly noted.

The End of Days

School days, that is. Kels and Jooj both had their last day of school today. Will.i.am goes for a half day tomorrow. And then it's SUMMERTIME!

Miss Lexington discovered my house slippers today. More specifically, she noticed the fur around the part that the foot slips into. She was treating it as a gazelle that just wouldn't go down. I can only imagine what was running through her head as she assaulted the furry lining...

"Take that. And that. And some of this. And a little bit o' this. And a yah! And a hi-ya! And then I kick her, sir."

Yeah, probably something like that :)

A blog entry a day in June... wha? Aw crap!

So I was planning on blogging everyday in June. And it didn't matter over what. I was just going to drop a note everyday. Just to do it. Lo and behold, it's already June 2nd. Shit.

So this and that and a little in between is going on. Jooj scheduled her gall bladder to be yanked next Thursday. The boy and I watched "Braveheart" and he loved it. Kels promised me a movie night on Thursday. We're going to watch "Team America: World Police." Lexi went to the vet today. I've been outvoted 3-1 in favor of getting her de-clawed. Phooey!

Check back tomorrow!