Future Poltergeist

Been a while since I've done one of these... Ever since I've worked at my current job, I've worked on the same main account. Booking travel for the same client. And then supporting agents who were doing the booking for that agent. Yesterday was their last day with us. We've been very busy. By the end, we stopped being sad and just wanted it done. On a related note, I spend the next month being trained. A lot of my coworkers hate the classroom setting. For me, it's more like a vacation. Sit there and learn stuff? All right! Ozzie had helped tremendously with the grief process from Calypso. He's adopted a toy mouse. He brings it up to bed and pounces on it repeatedly. Very cute! He's the FP Gal's first kitten and watching her with him is wonderful. Wendy's new Frescata sandwhiches? Very tasty. Combinded with a baked potato and you've got some good things going on. MLB playoffs? How do I not cheer for the Tigers? They were Roxane...

from Carrie's wedding and here's one. The FP Gal also posted some nice pics from Sunday.

This is a very English film. It begins however, in Florence Italy. Lucy Honeychurch and her chaperone/aunt Charlotte Bartlett. They arrive to discover that they weren't given a room with a view like they were promised. Their plight is overheard by Mr Emerson and his son who offer to switch with them. The Emerson's are free-thinkers and more than a little ecentric. Lucy wants to roam the streets on her own but she happens upon a knife fight. One man is stabbed. Lucy faints. George Emerson (the son) rescues her and they begin to share a moment. A few days later, he kisses her. Just once and quietly, so know one else finds out. Back in England we find Miss Honeychurch becoming engaged. Her fiance, Cecil Vyse, is an insufferable snob. He schemes to get a pair of strangers into a neighbor's rental. These strangers turn out to be the Emerson's. Will Lucy stay with Cecil or end up with George? This movie has some nice moments and nice music. The cast is strong ...

This week was hard fought but not really well fought. CBS had the worst of it going 6-8 with only 53 points. Fox and ABC both went 8-6 but Fox only got 63 points, while ABC got 74. Season totals: ABC 21-9 191 Fox 20-10 177 CBS 18-12 167

Carrie's wedding was very nice. When she posts pictures, I'll link to them. It was held at a resort just north of Two Harbors. I think they wanted to have the ceremony next to the wake but windy conditions and resulting high surf forced it indoors. Which was fine. The ceremony was heavily Beatles themed, with live music playing various tunes. (The FP Gal noted that Carrie must be a Paul fan. I responded 'Who can blame her?' before remembering that the FP Gal is a George fan herself.) They had a 'unity moment' which involved mixing white and red wine that I thought was very nice. A big highlight for me was being able to see some friends from highschool. Some of them for the first time in 10+ years. Among them was former neighbor Heather Guentzel (she's doing fine, Mom). Also got to see Carrie's folks for the first time in a long time. Her mom greeted me with 'Last time I saw you, you were a turtle!'. I get that all the time. Other not...

Have a good weekend. Go Vikes!

The White Sox play over the last week has seen numerous nails put in the coffin of their postseason hopes. Last night's 9-0 loss lowered it into the ground and covered it with dirt. What went wrong this season? Everything did in spots. The hitting disappeared at times. The bullpen fell apart in September. And the starters had a rough six week stretch after the All-Star Game. Am I disappointed? Some. But not much. Lots of good memories from this season. Some come from behind wins. Back to back one-hitters from Garcia. And the most amazing play from a 2nd basemen that I've ever seen . I've been told that when your team wins a championship you should just bask in that for the next five years. I'd never want the front office to take that stance, but as a fan that seems fair. Four more years then...

This is a remake of a story loosely based on the life story of Huey Long. It shows the rise and fall of a Louisiana man who fought against dishonest crooks in office and wound up in the governor's chair. Once there, he couldn't resist the dark side. In a memorable scene near the end he tells a large crowd that his side has crooks and the other side has crooks. But he'll watch his crooks closely so they can't take as much the other's will. The FP Gal and I got some free passes to this movie. The trailer pulled me in. And Huey Long is kind of an interesting figure in American politics. So off we went. At one point she caught me looking at my watch. "What time is it?," she whispered. I answered that it was about 9. AM or PM I wasn't sure. If you're only going to see one political thriller this year, pick something else. If you're only going to see one bloated Sean Penn movie where he looks in serious need of medication, this is your b...

McDonalds considers all day breakfast ! Which reminds me that I don't know if I've blogged about the wonderful Christmas gift I got from the FP Gal's folks. They gave me a Egg Muffin maker . It's a unit that will toast english muffins while it prepares the egg and canadian bacon. It's wonderful. The other kitchen gadget that I can't do without is a Pizzazz. It's basically a rotating tray with a heater top and bottom. It cooks a frozen pizza in about 12 minutes. It's opened up a whole new world of additional toppings and improvments. If you're a pizza person, I'd get one of these.

Every week three of the major networks publish their football power rankings. They rank each team 1-32. Let's see how they did as a predictor! I've taken each game and found the difference between the two teams. Then I've given an additional five points to the home team. That gives me the probable winning team. Then I've ranked each game by the spread in rankings so that the confidence points match what we're doing in Yahoo. Example: Team A (ranked 20th) is playing at Team B (10th). Team B is 10 places better and gets an additional 5 for being at home. That gives a spread of 15. For ABC, I'm using ESPN 's rankings. CBS's can be found here . FOX here . If NBC gets in the act, they'll be included later. How'd they do? CBS and Fox tied with records of 12-4 and 114 points. ABC is the winner at 13-3 and 117 points!

Huh. The first team the introduce is Peter and Sarah. And get this, they're both triatheletes. How's that for a coincidence?

Earlier this week the dwarf planet commonly nicknamed Xena, was given it's official name ' Eris '. Eris is a little known goddess. She represents chaos and disruption. Her most famous story is about a party of the gods that she wasn't invited to. In an attempt to make trouble, she sent a golden apple to 'the prettiest one'. Fighting broke out as everyone thought it was obviously meant for them. They appealed to a mortal man named Paris to judge who it belonged to. As a prize for being their judge he was awarded Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. This started the Trojan war. Also, as something that might only interest me, they've chosen the Greek name instead of the Roman one (Discordia). That makes it unique amongst the major and minor planets. [Bonus points for the commenter that can translate the most names. No fair looking it up.] While I'm commenting on this, let me share my thoughts with the decision that demoted Plut...

for Calypso, because she deserves more than I've written so far. She was probably the sweetest cat I've ever met. She loved to sit on your lap and purr. And purr quite loudly. Used to joke about how she'd disturb the neighbors. She was clumsy and couldn't take even the broadest hint. Her meow sounded more like a crow than a cat. She had an infuriating habit of laying across my ankles when I slept. But I had insomnia when I was away from her for an extended time. And her cries were endearing. She had more perseverance than anyone I've ever met. When Hans and I moved out of the first apartment she lived in, we discoverd 30+ pens that she'd knocked off of the table and behind the couch. She preyed on the things. Calypso also loved plastic bottle caps. You had to be on guard from leaving one next to you. Many years ago she adopted a little stuffed lion from a Happy Meal. She'd carry it around with her and wash it's mane. It was her baby. Some ...

She was gone when we woke up this morning. We don't think she suffered much. We hope she's together with Roxane again. Or looking for someone's lap to climb on while she insists on having her face petted. She was the sweetest.

I haven't written much about Calypso for the past couple of months. I kind of felt that the numerous Roxane updates became overly dramatic. If we were in for a long tough slog with Cally, I didn't want to go the same route. She stopped eating sometime in mid July (it's hard to tell with cats). We kept encouraging her, but she just wasn't doing it. We figured she'd snap out of it. But she didn't. Soon she started showing signs of sickness. Some internet searching brought me to fatty liver disease . Basically, if an older cat stops eating, the body starts going after the liver. This can usually be turned around by getting the cat to start eating again. So we got some chicken baby food and a plastic syringe. We've been using this for close to two months now with no sign of improvement. On Wednesday we took her into the vet again. He gave us some options for more intensive diagnostics (ultrasounds, etc.). He also told us that if found anything that ...

The next book from the reading list is 'My Antonia' by Willa Cather. I'll start it in the next couple of weeks and review it sometime in October. Hopefully that will let anyone who is moving or getting married or even just generally busy read along. Drop me a note if you're interested in joining in and we can figure out some kind of structure.

This movie is known for two things, the first of which happens very early in the film. The story begins with the dictation of a letter to the Pope. The letter concerns a series of missions in the Amazon basin. The first priest to the area is shown amongst the tribe. They've lashed him to a wooden cross. They carry the cross into the river and let it go. The camera follows it down the river until (spectacularly) it goes over the falls. The movie deals with the complex world of South America in the 1750's. Brazil was a Portugese territory while the rest of the continent was firmly Spanish. Jesuit missonaries had gone into the jungles to convert the natives. Some attempts were disasterous and resulted in martydom. Others were very successful. Especially the ones that used music. The movie notes that if the Jesuits had had an orchestra, they could've conqured the all of South America. But not every plan for the natives was benevolent. Slave traders also went into t...

Posting will be light until it's all fixed.

Need to post something this weekend... This July's relentlessly hot weather was awful. The last few days have been cool and cloudy. And I've loved it. I'm sure we'll have Indian summer in a few weeks and it'll be lovely too. I'm hoping for a mild fall. Taking advantage of the cool weekend, I made some soup today. Some Cheddar-Potato mix. Add cubed ham. And a can of peas. Very yummy. The FP Gal thinks this is apple crisp weather. I'm not going to argue against that. As I write this, the White Sox are 1 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with three weeks to play. One of the guys at work asked me if this was driving me crazy. It really isn't. I think I'm still coasting on the elation of last year. Not that I don't want them to win it all again but I'm not really worried. My boys are world champs for another six weeks minimum. (Ok, now the football stuff.) Did you know that Payton and Eli Manning are brothers? No, they really are. W...

shot in NYC on 9/11, entitled Crystal Morning .

while the FP Gal turns up the TV while watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse, "I'm having trouble hearing the cow."

Let me share something you can see. (Sorry Rachel!)

Happy Birthday, bro! I know you're busy today being in the Navy . Er, in the Navy . You know shooting stuff . At least your time there has let you see some beautiful places. Like here . And here . And of course, here . And now you're on the road to Rhode Island (with a bonus song). Which apparently is famous . Um, be careful out there. With football starting , you'll be able to watch more Viking games this year. This will probably help set the table. And another good memory . And speaking of good memories, come on down ... And this is just strange , but I think you'll like it.

Just a heads up for those who care to play Survival Football, go here . The group ID is 15143 and the password is 'mendota'. You'll be asked to pick one team each week. If your team wins, you continue. If they lose, you're out. You're only allowed to pick a team once during the season. Also, still time to sign up for Pick 'Em. Group ID is 5098 and the password is 'ozzieboy'. The season starts this Thursday . Good luck!

Interesting little piece in the London Times today with Michael Caine criticizing today's films. FILMS made today pale against cinema classics of the past because they are so lacking in dialogue, character and plot, Sir Michael Caine told The Times yesterday. Part of me wants to nod my head in agreement. There are some truly dreadful movies out there. 'Snakes on a Plane' was made because of how bad it looked to be. But that's only half the story. Huge numbers of movies are made today. And they're made for all kinds of people. Dozens of artsy and intellectual movies are made every year. Apparently Caine made these remarks after looking at the top ten movies in the US today. Movie studios release movies in a predictable cycle every year. Fall is for thrillers. Winter is for serious Oscar-bait type movies. The first few months of the year is kind of a dumping ground for movies the studios don't have faith in. And summer is for action, adventure and co...

About a month ago, the FP Gal and I went to the Powderhorn Art Festival. We found an artist there that we both enjoyed. Steve Tomashek creates minature animals. What caught our eye was his very creative pictures. The zebras is one of the best.

Ok, so let me talk about the team that's nearest and dearest to my football heart, the Vikings. Their season hinges on one person, Brad Johnson. More to the point it hinges on his health. The Offense - Brad looks perfectly suited for the west coast offense. He's smart and accurate and doesn't rely on the deep ball. He's good at finding the open receiver for a small gain. The wideouts on this club have some talent but no real star power. The ball will be spread around quite a bit. The running game should be good. The preseason didn't really show that, but the Vikes faced three good run defenses in Pit, Bal and Dal. The O-line should be very good. Hopefully, that means very few knockdowns and sacks for Brad. The Defense - The Vikes look like they could have a dominant D-line this year. Both DE's, James and Udeze, look like they may have finally developed into the players they were projected to be. The DT's, Kevin and Pat Williams, look like forces ...

Ok, so we're almost to the football season. Is anyone else wishing that this was opening weekend? With all of the preseason games behind us, I want to put some thoughts down on the upcoming Viking season. One of the charms of the NFL is how quickly a given team can radically improve or decline. A last place team can win the division the next year. A Superbowl team can fall apart and miss the playoffs. And it's very hard to tell which way a team will go. As part of my Survivor league efforts I try to determine the worst five or six teams each season. From my notes, here were the consenus worst teams starting last season with their final record (listed from worst expectation to best): San Fran 4-12 Cleveland 6-10 Miami 9-7 Chicago 11-5 Tampa 11-5 Tennessee 4-12 That's two divisional winners and another winning record. As I said, very hard to do. Injuries are the biggest factor of course. Right below that is the inability to predict just how personel will come toge...

This movie is simple to review. If you like Woody Allen you'll like it. If you don't, you won't like it. Simple, no? This movie centers on a woman named Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her two sisters, Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Diane Wiest). The movie is told chapter style with different chapters focusing on different characters. It opens with Hannah's husband, Elliot (Michael Caine) lusting after Lee. This forms the central part of the story. Another part of the story centers on Hannah's ex-husband played by Woody Allen. He's a nervous hypochondriac who has a near brush with bad news. This causes an existential crisis in his life. He starts exploring other religions in an effort to comfort himself about the afterlife. All in a witty manner. Allen's movies always make me want to move to New York. They show the city as a cosmopolitan dream. His taste in jazz music is also quite nice. But his characters always leave me cold. They seem to be actor...

A couple of months ago there was confusion as to wether or not Jodi is engaged. Today, I found out that she is and it's a pretty good match. I've done some work with him and he's top row quality. Mazeltov and many happy licensures!