ALIVE!!!!

No guarantee of regular posts...nothing of the sort to be found here.

Just thought I'd put a general update since my last post is over a year old.

Since last March, I got laid off from my job, went through an uncomfortable period of unemployment and have, thankfully, found a new job which I'm quite pleased with at this point.

The family is still the same...just a little older. In fact, the oldest turns 11 this week. God I feel old.

My intent is to start writing more than I have been. (Shouldn't be TOO hard should it?) I expect most of the stuff will be TV, music, movies or sports-related...but you never know what might pop out of this brain!

Speaking of TV...I just asked Fisty for his opinion on the latest season of Celebrity Fit Club. I think Dustin Diamond could well be one of the biggest assholes in the history of reality TV (and I'm not linking to him because he is such an asshole).

I've watched this show periodically in the past, but now I'm just watching to see if Screech gets the living shit kicked out of him.

Another favorite reality show is The Inferno on MTV. I like the competition more than the drama, but even that's become fairly entertaining.

As for non-reality stuff, still an Entourage fan...I just wish they'd extend it to an hour. All the other series are wrapping up for the summer, so not much point in posting those here.

Movie-wise...hmm...did see Spider-Man 3...not that impressed. Watched Crank on DVD...weird flick. Tops on my summer movie list are: Ocean's 13, Die Hard 72, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, and I can't think of anything else.

Oh...back to TV for a second...did anyone see SNL this last week? I was pretty disappointed with both the host and the musical guest. I actually like Maroon 5 (go ahead Fisty...ridicule away), but they are most definitely a studio band...they pretty much sucked live. I know this is way overdue, but the show with Justin Timberlake from this season is my new recent favorite...it was strong from start to finish. I did like the Peyton Manning episode, but Timberlake's "Dick In A Box" music video was PHENOMENAL. I haven't laughed that hard at SNL in forever.

That's pretty much all I have for now.

I'm pretty confident I can say it won't be a year before my next post.

College Hoops & Pros Vs. Joes

I've been trying to decide whether or not to just pull the plug permanently on this blog or not. It's been nearly three months since my last post and I do miss writing on a daily basis. It's just with work and everything else, it's tough to find time.

Bottom line...I want to keep the blog around for when the mood strikes me. I haven't been over to Fisty's place for a while, but last I checked a month or so ago, he was back to posting semi-regularly. I figure if he can do it...maybe I can too.

So the Final Four has been determined and if you find someone who says they picked this Final Four before the tournament started, you've found one big ass liar.

For the last three games, we have UCLA, LSU, FLorida and the biggest Cinderella of them all...George Mason University. And, for the first time in 25 years, no #1 seed made it to the Final Four. I'm pulling for GMU now...but history is against the bandwagon. No team lower than a #9 has made it to the championship game and #8 Villanova was the lowest seed to ever win the whole thing...I think that was in '85.

So who's your pick to win it all out of the Final Four?

On to less high-stakes athletic endeavors...a new show on Spike TV called Pros vs. Joes. It's pretty much what it sounds like...five professional (or ex-professional) athletes are pitted against three "average Joes" in various athletic competitions.

I'd so get my ass kicked, but I think it would be fun as hell to be on that show.

So is anyone still out there???

Until Next Time...(and only God knows when that will be)

Hook 'Em Horns

OK...I'm not necessarily a Texas fan, but I am a Big 12 fan, so Texas is who I was rooting for in tonight's Rose Bowl. (I am a big fan of Austin, though.)

What else can you say but "WOW!" about Vince Young?!

That was an incredible football game tonight. It made it quite easy to stop watching my Jayhawks beat up on Yale in basketball, that's for sure.

Back to Vince for a minute...the guy had 267 yards passing and 200 yards rushing...including 3 rushing TDs. And oh yeah...he brought his team back from being down 12 in the final 6:42 to win. Big kudos to the Texas D for holding USC on that critical 4th down play late in the game. It was definitely a team effort, but Young deserves most of the credit.

And if Vince doesn't go pro now, he's fucking crazy.

Until Next Time...

Christmas Haul

Well...I know I'm a few days late, but since I figure I ought to make some kind of effort to post something here, this is better than nothing.

Christmas was good other than having a pretty sick little girl a couple of days before the big day. Fortunately, she was better by Christmas Eve and that's all we could ask for.

As for Christmas, the kids all got Gameboys and I've been trying not to pull my hair out every time I hear them say they can't find one of the games. I swear they are going to be the end of my sanity. On the plus side, I've gotten pretty good at Pole Position after they've gone to bed at night.

As for me, I got Bill Simmons' book, Now I Can Die In Peace, which I've been dying to read. I also got a new driver.

The coolest gift was from my brother-in-law...it was the iHome2Go system for my iPod Shuffle. Basically, it's an alarm clock with a docking station for my Shuffle and has speakers for me to play the songs directly from my Shuffle. On top of that, it's portable and I can take it with me on my business trips and I don't have to listen to the songs on my crappy computer speaker. Very cool.

I also got a sweater, some "Dad Coupons" from the kids, and a few other little things.

All in all, a good Christmas.

How was yours?

Until Next Time...

Anyone Still Out There?

This ought to be fun...I wonder if anyone will even see this.

Anyway...I wish there were some valid or dramatic reason for me being away from the blog for so long, but there really isn't. I wish I could say that I'll get back to posting regularly, but I can't promise that either.

The real reason for this post is to bitch about losing my first round fantasy football playoff game tonight.

I lost by SIX FREAKING YARDS.

Thomas Jones carried me through most of the season, but came up just short for me tonight. 6 more yards and I would've tied my opponent but would've won the tiebreaker and advanced to the finals and, importantly, the money!

But alas, it was not meant to be.

Congrats to my friend Don on kicking my ass and also on turning 35 this weekend.

If anyone reads this...please leave a comment. I'd like to know if anyone actually shows up!

Soccer Saturday

Three soccer games and a birthday party have ruled our Saturday today.

Oldest daughter K has her first soccer tournament this weekend, including one game last night, two games today and another game at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

On top of that, boy J had a soccer game this afternoon at the same time as K's second game of the day.

I ended up going to K's game while my wife went to J's game. By all accounts, J did well in his game and I'm happy to say that K scored a goal in her game to help her team win 3-2...their first win of the tournament.

This is especially cool because K's team is the lowest ranked team in this tournament and they weren't expected to win any.

The score was tied 1-1 when K got the ball around midfield and dribbled all the way down and shot it right past the goalie as soon as she entered the goalie box...it was awesome.

Our whole sideline cheered and I felt really great for her.

Now, I don't expect such miracles at the 8 a.m. game tomorrow. The team we beat played our opponent for tomorrow earlier in the day today and lost 13-0. Yeah...they're pretty good.

I'll be thrilled if we can just score one goal and avoid a shutout.

And tonight was the family birthday party for little M.

A very busy, but very fun day for everybody.

Hope all of you are having a great weekend as well!

Until Next Time...

Happy 1st Birthday, M!

Since it's now officially September 23, I'd like to be the first to wish my baby girl a happy first birthday!

I can't believe it's been a whole year, but on the other hand it seems like forever ago that we were in the delivery room waiting for her arrival.

Happy Birthday, M!