I went to the movies with Julia today since my wife has to work on Sundays. We would have gone yesterday to the movie, but we spent part of the time buying a used car.
I purchased a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. I test drove it for a few days and really liked it. It gets decent gas mileage for an SUV. It rides really smooth, too.
Today I was feeling really horrible about the purchase. I haven't purchased a car with payments in over a decade as one I bought with insurance settlement money, one was a cheap repo and the other was given to us. I felt really good about this purchase for most of the day, but maybe it was the alcohol I ingested while watching the Baylor/NU game, but started feeling really horrible about it. I kept wondering if it was the right decision and if I really needed that new of a vehicle and if we could afford it (we can). Basically, I had a huge amount of buyers guilt. I shouldn't. We needed the new vehicle because our last car was falling apart. As a bonus, there's a warranty on the car AND our insurance went down. I'm feeling better about it now, though.
So seeing as how I was bummed out, I decided to take Julia to the new Wallace and Grommit picture, "Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit"
Julia loves the Wallace and Grommit DVD that I bought for her before she was born (the first one I bought knowing that I was going to be a father), so she was pretty excited to see the movie.
We rush to get to the theater, but I had to stop as an ATM to get some money. We half-run to the entrance and buy tickets. We buy a pop and a popcorn and run to the theater, expecting to barely make the movie on time.
I have no idea why I was worried about being late.
We must have sat through seven movie trailers before the main movie started. There were trailers for Dozen 2, Chicken Little, some new CGI movie about animals feeding off food in the suburbs, Curious George and a movie called Dreamer. Dreamer is a Dakota Fanning movie about a girl who basically begs her father, a horse trainer played by Kurt Russel, to keep a horse that got injured alive. The horse gets better and they consider running it. It's all sentimental and crap... Basically, tears started streaming down my face a little during one part of the trailer when Dakota and Kurt talk about a story she wrote about a king that lives in a big palace with a horse. She says the story is dumb. He says that he loves the story about the king. She whispers, "I love the king, too."
So I'm a real sentimental guy. I was feeling homesick today and thought of Julia telling me that when I saw that scene. So sue me. Hey, I've only seen ET twice and I cried when ET leaves each time.
So the movie starts and it's a Madagascar spin-off with the penguins from that movie doing a Christmas short.
Immediately, Julia is impatient.
"I want to see Wallace and Grommit!"
I shush her and try to explain that it'll start after this one.
"But I want to see Wallace and Grommit!"
Finally, the movie starts not a moment too soon. I was afraid we were going to have a repeat of the March of the Penguins movie. Julia was entranced at first, but then bored silly after 20 minutes. We didn't see the end of it. It's a great movie, but whoever called it the perfect family movie is high.
The new Wallace and Grommit movie centers around our heroes Wallace, the inventor, and Grommit, his dog, in their efforts to rid the neighborhood of the rabbit problem before the annual vegetable festival. They now run a service called AnitPesto. They capture rabbits from people's gardens and house them in their basement.
While experimenting with a new brain modification device, Wallace and a bunny are hooked up during a full moon. He thinks thoughts like, "Veggie bad. Carrots bad."
Something goes wrong and suddenly a huge rabbit is on the loose eating up everyone's gardens and causing rampant destruction.
The movie is pretty charming and it's kind of odd seeing a non-cgi 3D film in wide screen. I started noticing when finger prints would be on the characters as they were doing their actions and when they would disappear.
But then, we had to leave.
About an hour into the film, we see the Were Rabbit transform and Julia was not amused.
She turned to me, "Daddy, I want to go... NOW!"
"What's the matter?"
"This movie is scary!"
"No, it's not. It's okay sweetie."
"I want to go now!"
"Umm.... Okay."
And we left. I guess I'll have to wait for DVD to see how this ends. I could have forced her to stay, but I didn't want to press my luck.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
How can I nozt truist thisv email?
I just received this email with the subject line of: "sought Bob resin"
I open up the email. This is the text body.
"We apprecifate your patienceu in the processning of your
Lincoln mohrtgag e request.
We have prepareid 3.4 % ra te for you at thisv time.
Please start here and verifzy your informatiuon so we can
proceedv as planned.
http://www.nxhha.com/vbwn.asp?ev=171652628
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Prince
NE CustomerDepajrtment"
I'm sure some of this scam must work, but I'm wondering with who. Is there someone out there so inane and trustworthy that they feel compelled to respond to every email?
As for me, I did indeed just close on a mortgage, but it was with a reputable mortgage company. I don't think I had a twinge of doubt where I thought, "You know, I already closed on my mortgage, but I'm wondering if I can get this 3.4 % ra te that "Prince" has prepareid for me at thisv time."
I open up the email. This is the text body.
"We apprecifate your patienceu in the processning of your
Lincoln mohrtgag e request.
We have prepareid 3.4 % ra te for you at thisv time.
Please start here and verifzy your informatiuon so we can
proceedv as planned.
http://www.nxhha.com/vbwn.asp?ev=171652628
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Prince
NE CustomerDepajrtment"
I'm sure some of this scam must work, but I'm wondering with who. Is there someone out there so inane and trustworthy that they feel compelled to respond to every email?
As for me, I did indeed just close on a mortgage, but it was with a reputable mortgage company. I don't think I had a twinge of doubt where I thought, "You know, I already closed on my mortgage, but I'm wondering if I can get this 3.4 % ra te that "Prince" has prepareid for me at thisv time."
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Blogging is not for everyone...
I've been told that my blog stories are everything from funny, stupid, inane, boring, meandering, mindless, inciteful, mean-spirited, etc. You name it.
My Mom always asks after I write a Bill story, "Do you guys actually like each other?"
My cousin Mike, who writes at http://michaelhoman.blogspot.com, described my blog as "A blog for those that kind of know Bob well."
I'll admit that my blog isn't for everyone, which is why I'm thinking of starting a blog with my brother, Bill. He and I have long talked about using our blog to write about pop culture.
He actually wrote a story for this site, but I didn't publish it because I felt that my name is a little constricting in that my blog notes that it's a site about me and not anyone else. I'll admit, I didn't think that whole part through.
Besides, Bill's story needed a little work. It's understandable considering he doesn't really write that much for fun. And as a story about our Mom afraid to throw away a street sign we stole when we were in high school, the fact that it went all over the place, including a story about knowing some chick that was in Playboy, didn't help.
We have a name picked out, but it denotes that there is more than one person writing the blog. I don't want to start it unless Bill is ready to go. It would be silly to start a group blog if only one person is doing all the writing.
Then there is the plight of my co-worker Sheri. She was inspired by my blog that she decided to write her own blog, http://theworldaccordingtosheri.blogspot.com. I didn't really read it until the end, but it didn't go well. To put it simply, she wrote some stuff about her family, her family got mad and hilarity ensued. You'll notice that she has removed all of her stories.
After that happened, she decided to write only about me and the arguments that we get into. Being two youngest children, we both like to be right. That lasted one story. I think she got tired of the criticism.
That's the thing about blogging. You have to be open to anyone posting a comment, good or bad. It's just not for everyone.
Not really an inciteful post, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things here...
My Mom always asks after I write a Bill story, "Do you guys actually like each other?"
My cousin Mike, who writes at http://michaelhoman.blogspot.com, described my blog as "A blog for those that kind of know Bob well."
I'll admit that my blog isn't for everyone, which is why I'm thinking of starting a blog with my brother, Bill. He and I have long talked about using our blog to write about pop culture.
He actually wrote a story for this site, but I didn't publish it because I felt that my name is a little constricting in that my blog notes that it's a site about me and not anyone else. I'll admit, I didn't think that whole part through.
Besides, Bill's story needed a little work. It's understandable considering he doesn't really write that much for fun. And as a story about our Mom afraid to throw away a street sign we stole when we were in high school, the fact that it went all over the place, including a story about knowing some chick that was in Playboy, didn't help.
We have a name picked out, but it denotes that there is more than one person writing the blog. I don't want to start it unless Bill is ready to go. It would be silly to start a group blog if only one person is doing all the writing.
Then there is the plight of my co-worker Sheri. She was inspired by my blog that she decided to write her own blog, http://theworldaccordingtosheri.blogspot.com. I didn't really read it until the end, but it didn't go well. To put it simply, she wrote some stuff about her family, her family got mad and hilarity ensued. You'll notice that she has removed all of her stories.
After that happened, she decided to write only about me and the arguments that we get into. Being two youngest children, we both like to be right. That lasted one story. I think she got tired of the criticism.
That's the thing about blogging. You have to be open to anyone posting a comment, good or bad. It's just not for everyone.
Not really an inciteful post, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things here...
Monday, October 03, 2005
A lot of changes this weekend...
I ended up moving this past weekend to be closer to my new job. It was something that we've been putting off for a long time now, but rising gas prices (thank you very much oil cronies making 3 times the profits you have been making) drove us (no pun intended) to look into moving a lot sooner.
Actually, I was working in Lincoln and my wife has been commuting for the past 5 years to Omaha. So the added cost to commuting wasn't worth it anymore. We had to move.
We sold our house about 6 weeks ago and moved into our new apartment this past weekend. It's a nice, quaint apartment, which means it's much smaller than the space we're used to. To make a long story short, it took us about 7 hours to load the truck stretching Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Then we had to drive to Omaha, unload half of the truck into the apartment and then unload the rest of it in storage at friend's house.
Even with all of that moving, we realized that we left some stuff at the old house that we needed: silverware, sheets, towels, etc. You know, non-essential stuff. So we had to make another trip on Sunday back to the house to pick up this stuff. Even with that trip, I'm going to have to make yet another trip to get everything else that we left behind.
Aaahh... I love moving.
The new apartment is nice in that you can't hear any of your neighbors, but for some reason when the air conditioner kicks on, it drowns out the TV so we end up turning it up and down indiscriminately (see the story below about volume problems in our house). As a result, we've taken to just listening to our shows with headphones to avoid that problem.
We had a nice lady that lives across from us. In a span of 24 hours, she's already give us two trays of delicious treats AND a chicken casserole with rice covered with cheese. It was a nice surprise and more delicious than our planned frozen pizza.
Right now, it's impossible to find anything. We still have about a dozen boxes to unload and everything is not where I'd expect it to be.
We'll manage, I guess. Thanks a whole bunch to Joe, Bill, Zack, Derek and Daniel for helping. I don't know how we would have done the move without you.
Actually, I was working in Lincoln and my wife has been commuting for the past 5 years to Omaha. So the added cost to commuting wasn't worth it anymore. We had to move.
We sold our house about 6 weeks ago and moved into our new apartment this past weekend. It's a nice, quaint apartment, which means it's much smaller than the space we're used to. To make a long story short, it took us about 7 hours to load the truck stretching Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Then we had to drive to Omaha, unload half of the truck into the apartment and then unload the rest of it in storage at friend's house.
Even with all of that moving, we realized that we left some stuff at the old house that we needed: silverware, sheets, towels, etc. You know, non-essential stuff. So we had to make another trip on Sunday back to the house to pick up this stuff. Even with that trip, I'm going to have to make yet another trip to get everything else that we left behind.
Aaahh... I love moving.
The new apartment is nice in that you can't hear any of your neighbors, but for some reason when the air conditioner kicks on, it drowns out the TV so we end up turning it up and down indiscriminately (see the story below about volume problems in our house). As a result, we've taken to just listening to our shows with headphones to avoid that problem.
We had a nice lady that lives across from us. In a span of 24 hours, she's already give us two trays of delicious treats AND a chicken casserole with rice covered with cheese. It was a nice surprise and more delicious than our planned frozen pizza.
Right now, it's impossible to find anything. We still have about a dozen boxes to unload and everything is not where I'd expect it to be.
We'll manage, I guess. Thanks a whole bunch to Joe, Bill, Zack, Derek and Daniel for helping. I don't know how we would have done the move without you.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Not-so-frequently asked questions...
Q: Was this how you intended your blog to be?
A: Somewhat. I had originally thought that I would be writing some cutting edge humor pieces seeing as I love cutting edge humor like Mr. Show, Family Guy, David Cross, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have the spine to back it up and I have a lot of shame. I'd love to be all crass and controversial, but I'm not that crass and controversial in real life, so I guess my persona online is the same. And another thing, many people at my old job and now my new job know about my blog. I told a few people, who then told other people. So now I'm censoring myself from being crass because I love my job (and the money that goes with it) and don't want to lose it. Bill once complained that he would publish something on my blog, but that it probably wasn't the right audience since he was going to do a write up on all of the porn junk emails he gets. He's probably right on that one.
Q: Why don't you post more?
A: I'm a huge slacker and it takes me to get a hair up my ass to do anything that no one is paying me for. If I was getting money for this, I'd be updating this all day long. Also, I commute a lot and time is precious for me. I hope to write more once I move up to Omaha. Oh and getting a newer and faster computer would be nice, too.
Q: Would you like comments?
A: Even if you tell me that I suck, please comment on my stuff. I want feedback, but mostly positive feedback if that's possible. Actually, I have really sensitive feelings so a negative comment will most likely ruin my day.
Q: Are all of these stories true?
A: Unless I mention it specifically, absolutely.
Q: Is Bill really that much of a hot-headed bastard?
A: It's probably a combination of him being a hot head and me egging him on. I can be a hot head, too.
Q: What does your wife think of this blog?
A: She doesn't. I guilted her into reading it once. She said it was kind of amusing, but felt that I took too long to get to a punchline. Keep in mind, she doesn't think I'm funny and equates being married to me living with a 14-year-old as I'm constantly slinging double entendres her way and cracking jokes. She mainly tunes it out...
Q: Is there anything that you won't write about?
A: I haven't even broached the subject of my in-laws. I don't know why. For one thing, they have no idea that I have a blog. For another thing, my wife never reads this blog, so how would she know?
I'm just afraid that she'll kill me if I do. That's the main reason.
Q: Did you read my story yet?
A: No, Bill. I haven't. Working on it right now.
A: Somewhat. I had originally thought that I would be writing some cutting edge humor pieces seeing as I love cutting edge humor like Mr. Show, Family Guy, David Cross, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have the spine to back it up and I have a lot of shame. I'd love to be all crass and controversial, but I'm not that crass and controversial in real life, so I guess my persona online is the same. And another thing, many people at my old job and now my new job know about my blog. I told a few people, who then told other people. So now I'm censoring myself from being crass because I love my job (and the money that goes with it) and don't want to lose it. Bill once complained that he would publish something on my blog, but that it probably wasn't the right audience since he was going to do a write up on all of the porn junk emails he gets. He's probably right on that one.
Q: Why don't you post more?
A: I'm a huge slacker and it takes me to get a hair up my ass to do anything that no one is paying me for. If I was getting money for this, I'd be updating this all day long. Also, I commute a lot and time is precious for me. I hope to write more once I move up to Omaha. Oh and getting a newer and faster computer would be nice, too.
Q: Would you like comments?
A: Even if you tell me that I suck, please comment on my stuff. I want feedback, but mostly positive feedback if that's possible. Actually, I have really sensitive feelings so a negative comment will most likely ruin my day.
Q: Are all of these stories true?
A: Unless I mention it specifically, absolutely.
Q: Is Bill really that much of a hot-headed bastard?
A: It's probably a combination of him being a hot head and me egging him on. I can be a hot head, too.
Q: What does your wife think of this blog?
A: She doesn't. I guilted her into reading it once. She said it was kind of amusing, but felt that I took too long to get to a punchline. Keep in mind, she doesn't think I'm funny and equates being married to me living with a 14-year-old as I'm constantly slinging double entendres her way and cracking jokes. She mainly tunes it out...
Q: Is there anything that you won't write about?
A: I haven't even broached the subject of my in-laws. I don't know why. For one thing, they have no idea that I have a blog. For another thing, my wife never reads this blog, so how would she know?
I'm just afraid that she'll kill me if I do. That's the main reason.
Q: Did you read my story yet?
A: No, Bill. I haven't. Working on it right now.
Created a new link section...
Since they seem to be a lot of people's favorites, say someone named 'Bill', I've added a section linking almost every story about Bill. To my surprise, I don't have as many as I'd like. However, I guess I shouldn't beat myself up over it considering that I've only had this blog online for about 8 months (but not a full 8 months). Besides, a lot of the conversations that I have with Bill usually go this way:
"Did you see (some show?)"
If Yes:
"Remember the part when (something funny happened)?
If Yes, this is followed up by an anecdote from the show, which usually involves a couple of memorized lines followed by one of us laughing.
"Did you see (some show?)"
If Yes:
"Remember the part when (something funny happened)?
If Yes, this is followed up by an anecdote from the show, which usually involves a couple of memorized lines followed by one of us laughing.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
I really love this commercial...
I really love this commercial that I saw on Fox News the other day. I've only seen it once and I only saw it with the sound down (we mute the TV while Julia watches her little TV), but I died laughing when I saw it.
The scene is outdoors. You see a hot 30-ish blond woman sitting with a much older gentleman that is obviously in his late 50s or early 60s. They're sitting outside at a wooden table with green, lush trees in the background. They're smiling and drinking mixed drinks and appear to be having a nice conversation. At this point, the words "VIAGRA" appear as part of the text onscreen.
I do a double take and pay more attention.
The man suddenly starts blink rapidly and rubs his eyes.
The screen shifts to a blurry image of the hot woman sitting with the old guy.
She grabs his arm and I'm assuming mutters something like "What's wrong?"
Text on the screen are for the services of a lawyer/law firm for an upcoming class action suit about Viagra causing men to lose their vision.
I'm dying of laughter at this point. How classic is that? They're obviously going after their chief demographic, horny, old men that has obviously married a trophy wife, but need the Viagra for help in that area. Either that or they're assuming that this could only be the only reason men use Viagra, which can't be true. Still I find it funny they jumped to that conclusion...
The scene is outdoors. You see a hot 30-ish blond woman sitting with a much older gentleman that is obviously in his late 50s or early 60s. They're sitting outside at a wooden table with green, lush trees in the background. They're smiling and drinking mixed drinks and appear to be having a nice conversation. At this point, the words "VIAGRA" appear as part of the text onscreen.
I do a double take and pay more attention.
The man suddenly starts blink rapidly and rubs his eyes.
The screen shifts to a blurry image of the hot woman sitting with the old guy.
She grabs his arm and I'm assuming mutters something like "What's wrong?"
Text on the screen are for the services of a lawyer/law firm for an upcoming class action suit about Viagra causing men to lose their vision.
I'm dying of laughter at this point. How classic is that? They're obviously going after their chief demographic, horny, old men that has obviously married a trophy wife, but need the Viagra for help in that area. Either that or they're assuming that this could only be the only reason men use Viagra, which can't be true. Still I find it funny they jumped to that conclusion...
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