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?)