Greatest. Survivor Moment. Ever.

I've watched my fair share of the reality series Survivor. I've skipped episodes here and there and I've skipped whole seasons too. But in the years of watching Survivor I have never seen such a moment of PWNAGE as I did last night.

Randy is an ass. He is a racist and an alcoholic and an all-around loser. He is a snake and sniveling. I actually think that he'd played a good game up until last week. But he started firing his mouth off and became a real pain in the backside.

So he concocted this plan to be an even bigger ass, hoping that Bob was going to find the hidden immunity idol and then be willing to give it to him. For some reason, after Bob returned from exile, he confided in Sugar (who has the hidden immunity idol... and why wouldn't she? the opposing team sent her to exile, like, five times in a row) that he made a fake immunity idol. Who knows why? Maybe he wanted to try and flush out whether or not Sugar has it. But that's beside the point. The fake idol looked awesome and really authentic.

Sugar told him to give the idol to Randy but not to tell anybody. He did and Randy completely fell for it. At tribal council Randy kept his mouth going and went into the vote thinking that he was safe. When Jeff asked if anyone had the hidden immunity idol he stood up with much bravado and swaggered over to hand it to Jeff. Jeff recited the rules of the hidden immunity idol and promptly threw the fake into the file. The votes were read and Randy was voted out of the tribe - the utter look of chagrin smearing the face of him and Corinne. The rest of the tribe were caught unaware and were cracking up. The jury was cracking up. I think Bob felt a little bad. And Randy was spitting fire!

Sugar, FTW!

Pan's Labyrinth

I watched Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth last night. Wow. Wow! WOW!!!

It has been suggested to me time and time again. And I've owned it for quite some time. While I am no stranger to subtitles, I guess that is the reason I haven't watched it. I rarely go on solo movie watching missions these days. Jooj doesn't care for them and I don't think that Will.i.am is quite old enough. Kelsey wouldn't mind them but we haven't gone through enough of my non-subtitled DVDs yet. So, in a nutshell, that's why I hadn't watched it.

I don't know what to say about it. I don't want to give a single inkling of a bit away. I think everyone should go see this movie. It's in Spanish, yes, and there is no English dub track, just English subtitles. But the movie is stupendous. I actually cried (although they were tears of joy for what the... well, I can't really say w/o giving something away... let's just say after the last thing Capitan Vidal says). After watching it I went back and watched parts of the movie with with del Toro's narration track. I can't wait to watch this with Kelsey. Hell, I can't wait to watch this with ANYONE!

I will highly, highly recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. I can't wait to see what del Toro does with The Hobbit. His Hellboy movies, IMO, really knocked it out of the park! Muy bien!

Gotta get some cheer up in here!

My wife, Jooj, pointed out that my blog posts for November have all been very negative. I'd have to agree. So we need to get some cheer up in here! You know what's going wrong these days. What's going right?

Cleaning the litter box less has been a real joy. I've always enjoyed cooking but I'm finding quite a bit of peace in it this days. I figured out that adding turkey meat to my chili, an ingredient I've avoided for over a year, is what the ingredient that lets Kelsey add my chili back to her "will eat" list. I've discovered that I can make a mean pulled chicken BBQ. Will.i.am is doing very well in school. Kelsey has been in a terrific mood for two weeks (a rare feat for some 15-year old kids). I finished the painting "Spooky" and am about to get going on a series for my sister. My little niece Emma is growing and happy and such a joy to be around. Kyle is working on the built-in shelves in the living room and helping us move along our plans to convert that room into the library/study/home office. We've already started some Christmas shopping and hope to pay for everything with cash (instead of credit). And my wife *loves* the state of Texas (if you know, you know).

Hmm, that's about all I can think of but that's a pretty good list, yeah?

I won't bother to mention in this post about my brother-in-law's father or the office news (save those for another day)...

Turning 12 was never so much fun...

We celebrated Will.i.am's 12th birthday with his friends at the Renaissance Fun Park this weekend. I thought it was going to be a whirlwind of boys and headaches. While it was the whirlwind of boys, as expected, it surprisingly lacked all headaches.

The staff at Renaissance was spectacular. We had to worry about the cake... and that was it. They took care of everything else and it was awesome. They cleaned up. They kept the drinks filled. They served up the pizza. They had a schedule to follow. And they checked on us, literally, every 10 minutes. It was spectacular.

Oh, and Will had fun too. He and the boys burned through $35 in tokens. They played two games of laser tag. And he pulled $14 out of the air in the cash cube. I think everyone had a great time.

If you have a 9-12 year old with a birthday coming up I highly recommend Renaissance!

Farewell Felix

Two cats in two weeks :(

Mom put Felix to rest yesterday. She was their 19-year old cat. She was black and white and the runt of the litter. And yes, her name was Felix. We named her before we knew her gender.

I remember the day 19 years ago when he snatched her up. The back alley momma cat had a litter under our deck. The "uncle" of the cats (hell, it could've been the father too) didn't take kindly to the bunch so he came around and mortally wounded one of the kittens. Mom and the sis managed to get to the kitten and took it to the vet hospital.

We did everything we could but the poor thing had a punctured skull and slashed windpipe. We were going to name the kitten Miracle when we got it home. Unfortunately, Miracle died in my sister's lap on the car ride home from the hospital. It was quite horrible.

So we did what we could to coax the kittens out and I pounced. I scooped up the kitten. She started clawing and biting so I tossed her in the air at my sister. She was waiting with an open cardboard box and caught her perfectly. We took her inside and declared her ours.

Yep, that was 19 years ago. I think I had just turned 15. So let me wish a fond farewell to Felix. She wasn't the most friendly cat. But she had been around for more than half of my lifetime. I'll never forget her.

I hate Vicki

Just a quick entry. One of the few shows that I regularly watch is "Biggest Loser". My wife and I devote every Tuesday night to it. This year the Blue team, Bob's team (love Bob, he's great), has a two-couple alliance and I don't like any of their attitudes. I hate Vicki and Brady and I don't care for Heba either. And then after the challenge last night Ed, Heba's husband, is back on. Ugh!!! It was really looking like one of these wankers was going to win. And I just can't sit there idly and watch either Vicki or Heba win!

Well, last night, Amy C. (the only member of Blue that isn't exclusively part of the gang) took her mom's advice and took matter into her own hands. Michelle and Brady were on the block and Amy C. switched her vote to side with the Black team. That forced a tie in the votes and since Brady had the least amount of weight lost, it was bye-bye for Brady. Take that, Vicki!!!

I hate you, Vicki >:)

Are things normal yet?

With everything going on I feel like there is another shit storm just waiting to erupt. I'm keeping inventory of what's coming up, ready to switch gears at a moment's notice to go into disaster mode. When will the next impending crisis happen?

Will.i.am's birthday party is this Saturday. Will it be then? Will some child break their neck while evading a kill shot during laser tag?

Report cards are coming out next week. Will it be then? I think the boy is in the clear but will the grrrl's grades be an utterly shocking disappointment?

I talked with a tech recruiter today. Will I soon be faced with a tough choice regarding my career and, more importantly, the financial stability and well-being of my family? Will it be then?

I don't know. And I don't want to know. But I smell it in the air... disaster. So friends, don't let it happen to you. Be wary of dark alleys and strange men in trench coats. Look both ways before you cross the street. Chew your food. Put on clean underwear. Hug your momma. And like ol' Bob Barker said, make sure to spay or neuter your pet.

Dad had a heart attack!

Mom called last night exclaiming something about "ambulance", "father", and "heart attack". I understood what she meant and asked her to repeat it. Dad had a heart attack and was on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. Did she just say that? Really? I mean, I'm still sick with the flu and am still kinda shaken by the passing of Miss Annie so did she really say that? Yep. She did.

Jooj and I went to the hospital and went back to the ER. There was mom and my sister. And there was dad, sitting up and talking. He looked tired but this didn't seem as bad as it could have been (remember that line). He asked for some gum. The doctor explained the procedure that they were going to perform. Everything seemed like it was quite fine. I was expecting them to find a small blockage, blow up their balloon, and have him home for the weekend.

Jooj and I woke up this morning and went to the hospital. Dad was in a cramped room with an older fellow running a temperature of 104. Mom was not happy. After several hours they wheeled him away for the procedure and mom, sis, Jooj, and myself went to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat. We came back and shortly after were taken back to see dad.

He was groggy. And he was in pain. The nurse was luring us with information but not telling us anything. That was odd. The doctor spoke with us and explained that he had 95% blockage in a major artery. After some finagling they managed to get a stint in there. The doctor emphasized how lucky we were - that most cases with this much blockage and pain that went on for 7 days usually end up fatal.

Fatal. Sheesh. That word has so much... finality to it. It scared me. And all of the sudden I felt very, very lucky to have my dad still with us. The kids still have their pops. His new granddaughter still has her grandfather. Mom still has Thurston. And I still have a dad.

I would ask if this week could get any worse. But I already know the answer. Of course it can. So I won't ask. I'll just contently thank whatever forces call the shots and do my best to not ripple the cosmic harmony that glues it all together while I quietly celebrate the fact that I still have a daddy. I love you Pops!

Farewell Miss Annie

We had to put Miss Annie to rest yesterday. She had been very lethargic and drinking massive amounts of water. She hadn't really moved from my chair and had soiled the dining room carpet to the point that it is not salvageable. In fact, Julie pulled it up and threw it out yesterday.

So we took her to the vet and told him that she had not been doing well and had started to urinate wherever she pleased. He held her and did not like what he felt. He explained that he was going to give her a shot to make her go to sleep, then anesthetize her, and then give her a lethal dose of barbiturates to her heart. What a way to go, eh?

She took the initial injection without flinching and curled up in my lap. I petted her and told her what a good girl she was. She fought the impending sleep so I placed her on the chair and wrapped the towel around her. She closed her eyes and flicked her tail as I sweet-talked her and did what I could to make her feel comfortable. That's the memory I will always hold onto as my last of her.

It was a pleasure having you around, Miss Annie. You kept me company during a time in my life when I thought no one would. Your New Orleans sass and attitude always came through. I will miss you!