Quick Thoughts 7/26

• Morgan Spurlock’s TV series, 30 Days starts up again tonight on FX.  This season he tackles the issues of immigration, outsourcing, and abortion, among others.  For the season finale, Morgan himself spends thirty days in jail.  It should be interesting.
• Training camp for the Bears opens up tomorrow.  Finally I’ll have something to blog about!
• Yesterday I was reading a blog that mentioned The Great Space Coaster.  Holly had never heard of this show, but it was one that I watched a lot of as a kid.  The theme song often pops into my head, and thanks to youtube, now I can watch the opening and closing credits whenever I want.  I remembered Gary Gnu quite well, and Baxter looks a little freakier than I remember, but I totally forgot about Speed Reader, who looks a lot like Adam Carolla.
• I recently watched both Saw and Saw II, after borrowing them from a friend.  I don’t watch many scary, suspenseful movies like these because Holly refuses to watch them.  While I was watching them, she kept telling me to turn the sound down because she could hear the screaming upstairs.  Anyway, I really liked the first one, and thoroughly enjoyed the twist at the end.  Saw II, on the other hand, I found very irritating.  The characters trapped in the room were just idiots and I was getting mad at them for being so stupid.  The twist at the end of this movie wasn’t as good as the twist in the first movie, but it did salvage the movie enough to make it not a total waste of my time.

 

Quick Thoughts 7/14

• Soon we’ll be vacation bound.  Why is it always so stressful when getting ready to go on vacation? 
• Adding to the stress yesterday was the fact that both of our vehicles experienced the need for unexpected maintenance.  The van had a flat tire that was too far on the side to patch, and required a new tire.  When I left work yesterday my car barely started.  Fortunately, I was able to get it started after shutting everything off in the car.  We put a new battery in, and we’re back in business now.  They say things like this happen in threes.  I can’t wait to find out what the third thing is going to be.
• I received yet another class action settlement notification today.  This one is for BMG music club.  If you’ve been a member anytime after June 1998, you are eligible for the benefit.  The way I figure it, I’m eligible for three CD’s that will total about $10.  Not a bad deal. 

 

Quick Thoughts 7/12

• Will the Cubs fire Dusty Baker?  I, for one, would rather that he is allowed to finish up the season, and then cut ties with him.  It seems inevitable that he won’t be back next year.  He got off to such a great start in Chicago, but things have really gone sour the past couple of years.  It sounds like Greg Maddux will be traded pretty soon too.
• I picked up the new Live album, Songs from Black Mountain, this week.  They have a different, mellower sound on this album that I really like.  Throwing Copper had always been my favorite Live album, but this one is right up there with it.  If you used to like Live, but haven’t heard their newer stuff, or if you never really cared for them in the past, this might be a good album for you to check out.
• Want to go to a major city in the midwest, but don’t want to spend a lot of money?  Check out this article on Megabus.  They offer bus fares as low as $1 from Minneapolis to Chicago.  (But it looks like the normal rate is between $30 and $50 each way.)
• While perusing the Clinton Herald, my old hometown newspaper, I came across this article about the job responsibilities of a Happy Joe’s worker in Clinton.  That sounds exactly like what it was like in my days working there.  It could really get crazy-busy there on weekends in the summer...especially around the 4th of July. 
• We’re heading off for a mini-vacation this weekend at a lake in Willmar, MN.  It should be relaxing, but it’s going to be awfully hot.  They are calling for highs this weekend around 96, and the cabin doesn’t have air conditioning.  Hopefully I can catch some fish, but it might have to be an early morning adventure with temperatures that high.  The lake has quite a few walleye and northern.  I still haven’t caught a northern yet in my life, so hopefully I can accomplish that this weekend.  We’re going with some friends, and they said that you can hear the Sonshine Festival, which is also this weekend in Willmar, from the lake.  Sweet!

Picture Time!

Those are good ribs!

Payton looks a little bit too comfortable on this bike.

That’s better.

Payton & Emma having a picnic at Oxbow Park.

Quick Thoughts 7/6

• I had a great extended 4th of July weekend.  One highlight for me was smoking BBQ ribs, which is an event all by itself.  I tried a new rib recipe, and I think this one is a keeper.  I even made my own BBQ sauce.  They marinated in apple cider for about 12 hours, and then cured with a rub on them for another 4 hours or so, before being ready to go on the grill.  I had the grill set up to smoke with hickory chips.  To get in the right mood, I had blues playing on the radio.  How American is that?  Blues and BBQ on the weekend of the 4th!
• My garden is going strong right now.  We’ve been eating peas, beans and zucchini so far.  I can’t wait for the peppers and tomatoes to be ready for my salsa.
• Bulls on parade!  The Bulls are busy making a lot of roster changes, and they actually have me excited for the team for the first time in a long time.  Even their mascot, Benny the Bull is in the news.  Bad Benny. 
• Hey Bert, unibrow, among other words, is now an official word in the dictionary.