Future Poltergeist

The NFL has been running commercials where they talk about big games from last season that people may have missed because they lived in the wrong place. Things like big running or passing games, big comebacks and the like. They talk about how you could improve things by buying the NFL ticket which allows you to watch live games from around the country. I've purchased the MLB equivalent for many years because my favorite team plays in a different market. Never really tempted to buy the football one because a) it's really expensive and b) I can still watch a huge (virtually unhealthy) amount of football on local TV and cable. Unfortunately, the local affiliates are working hard to change my mind. Right now there are two games on both right around the end of the third quarter. One is 38-3 and the other is 31-0. For the love of Goodell , switch to a different game ! Last week they stuck with the Patriots 59-0 game all the way to the bitter end. Apparently there is no point ...

Last night the FP Gal and Relia came home to find me watching 'The Perfect Storm'. After watching for a few minutes, Relia yelled at the tv: "Get the rain off the boat! Get the rain off!". We quickly decided this wasn't good pre-bedtime viewing. -- My dad and Relia: Dad: How are you? Relia: Pretty good. (later) Dad: How old are you? Relia: Pretty old. -- FP Gal calls to me, Relia repeats it. Me: Are you in a repeating phase? Relia: (pause) I'm Relia!

Interesting article on how Barnes and Nobel's new e-reader, the Nook, could be very bad for them in the long run. Basically, B&N's brick and mortar stores have been losing them money. The company is poorly positioned to compete with Amazon because they haven't followed the internet model nearly as well. The Nook will try and combat that as B&N is offering special in-store services for Nook users. The article suggests that the Nook will have to be crazy successful for that to work. I used to be a B&N nut. I've worked between four and five years worth at various stores and it would be top of my list if I ever needed to dip my foot back in the part time pool. But over the last year I've almost stopped shopping there completely. Amazon is much more convenient. Their interface of recommendations and reviews is more user friendly. And it's easy enough to avoid shipping costs. B&N's prices on music and movies are generally much too high....

This made me smile. And giggle a couple of times. Update: This one too , but probably only funny for comic book fans.

Yesterday was my father's birthday so today Relia and I decided to drive down and see him. I did most of the driving. Frankly, she's a little erratic on the road. In her defense, it is hard for her to reach the pedals and impossible to see over the wheel. Anyway . . . we drove down to see him. We got there and Relia ran around his house, chasing his cat Missy. She got some cookies (we're too mean to give her any) and played with Grandma's stuffed toys. We took a quick spin through town and saw Aunt Donna (hi!). Off to lunch and we had Chinese buffet. Relia liked the lo mein noodles, the raisins and the ice cream. Oh, and the dumplings. She didn't care for the beans or the constant requests to sit down. Next was Oak Park Mall. It's a ghost town, but ghost towns have their advantages. In this case I was hoping for a place where she could run around without cold or crowds. Problem solved! Speaking of empty spaces, I had an idea for the mall. I think t...

Why isn't there an Olympic event where contestants have to change and dress a toddler and get them out the door to daycare? I'm not saying that I'd be skilled enough to participate. Frankly, Relia has been pretty good at pointing out my weaknesses and shredding my gameplan. But surely someone out there is good at this. Right?

I think I've mentioned this before but this Baby Name Wizard thing is pretty cool. It tracks name popularity throughout time. As I said, pretty cool.

News from Green Bay is that the mayor is seeking ideas for how to best welcome Bret Favre into town on November 1st. Part of me thinks that the town needs to somehow put this behind them and move but . . . maybe this is the step that will help them get there. The leading idea seems to be a video montage of all of his interceptions. I love this for two reasons, a) I had the same idea for when he broke the touchdown record while playing against the Vikes and 2) I'd love to watch so many Packer failures. It's a win-win! Please (please oh please oh please) do this, ok? I'm a little bothered by the Favre praise going on here in Viking land. He has played very well and for that I'm thankful. Watching awful quarterbacking for the last four or five years has shown just how incredible superior play can be. And it is wonderful to watch. But I'm not a Favre fan and I won't be one anytime soon. Why? A couple of weeks back, after the Monday game when the Vikes bea...

Unprompted and unrelated to what we were talking about, Relia just told me that she's going to be a big sister. I asked if she was happy with that and she said that she was. Man, she's becoming more and more articulate by the day. Full of surprises!

Just a couple of weeks left for anyone planning on trying this year. Remember, it's free. And very rewarding... I've got my story picked out for the year. I'll probably post the first few pages on Nov 1. Should be fun and I hope some of you will take the plunge.

Another rare one from U2. Love this song.

As always, SPOILERS follow. A few weeks ago Amazing Race had one of their wettest episodes in memory. Tonight they went to the desert. That's right, Dubai baby! The city that makes Vegas look dull and unimaginative. The opening clue was a fun one as teams were told to fly to the Persian Gulf and find the tallest building in the world. I wonder if teams weren't clued in on the Persian Gulf if they would have ended up somewhere else. Also fun, one of the teams showed up at the airport and asked for a ticket to the Persian Gulf. That's the order that every travel agent dreams of! All teams ended up on the same plane so the only race here had to do with who could find the clue box. The first four teams got the first elevator ride up and the second four got to go up fifteen minutes later. The building is the Burj Dubai , of course, and it is ridiculously tall. And unfinished. And the Tower of Babel comparisons are pretty obvious. Most of the teams were then sent out i...

According to the Strib ... On Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed that there has never been a colder first two weeks of the month. Typically the average high temperature for the Twin Cities during Oct. 1-14 is 63 degrees, but this year the average high temperature was only 47 degrees, or 16 degrees below average. That breaks the old mark of 52 degrees set back in 1875. Frankly, that's insane. And it's kind of screwing everyone up. Halloween is in two weeks and it isn't on anyone's mind. The leaves really didn't turn this year. They're dropping off the trees while green. Very strange. It's also the seventh snowiest October in recorded history. What else? One of the top ten wettest ever. And we still have two weeks left. Sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

Relia has decided that the words 'happy' and 'tired' are opposites. For example, we'll be in the car and she'll start to look a bit drowsy. If we ask if she's tired she says, "No, I'm happy". If the FP Gal or myself nap on the couch when she wakes us at 5a she'll repeatedly ask if we're happy. We're trying to explain that we can be both happy and tired. In fact we often are. Tonight, after her bath we were getting her dressed for bed. She became very upset and with tears in her eyes started crying, "I'm happy! I'm happy! I'm happy!". Poor thing. (For the record, she was out very quickly tonight. She really was tired. Maybe happy too.)

I'd like to welcome my new nephew, William Friedrich to the world. He was born yesterday. Mother, baby and the rest of the family are doing well. (I'm not good at metric measurements but he's something like 2 meters long and weighed nearly half a stone.) That brings Relia's cousin count to four. Someday we'll get them all together. That will be a good day.

I just found that the FP Gal has never seen 'The Blues Brothers'. Shouldn't there be a law against that? Update: Lookie what I found!

Relia and I have been sick the past few days. Today was my first real day back at work since last Wednesday. As of this afternoon, Relia seems much better than she did the last few days. We've got our fingers crossed that she's done being sick. On a related note, the word 'temperature' makes her cry out and keep her bottom covered. We're trying to use a replacement word, 'Gumby'. This makes sense to the FP Gal for some reason. I'd say that Gumby's horse has the more. . . appropriate name. Anyway, we're on the mend. Regular posting should occur tonight.