Monday, February 02, 2009
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Life at the Lake....
We been living at the lake for about two weeks now and it's starting to feel like my home. I sorta love it actually. Even though my drive from work got a WHOLE lot longer, when I get home I feel like I am on another planet. A planet where my work and everything related to it is just a distant star in the sky. Out here you don't just BUMP into a co-worker at the grocery store and most people you do bump into have never heard of where I work and really don't care to know about it. No…they are hoping that I will pay quickly so that they can get their minnows and get out on the water.
It's just pretty out here too…. Yesterday we saw some geese with their babies out in our yard, and today it there is a sprinkle and we found a turtle under an azalea looking for some cover.
Other things we've done in the past few weeks…..
Took the dogs on a boat ride…. Laura caught her first fish…..
More fishing....
Oh.....And we've learned to love this new place we call home….
We been living at the lake for about two weeks now and it's starting to feel like my home. I sorta love it actually. Even though my drive from work got a WHOLE lot longer, when I get home I feel like I am on another planet. A planet where my work and everything related to it is just a distant star in the sky. Out here you don't just BUMP into a co-worker at the grocery store and most people you do bump into have never heard of where I work and really don't care to know about it. No…they are hoping that I will pay quickly so that they can get their minnows and get out on the water.
It's just pretty out here too…. Yesterday we saw some geese with their babies out in our yard, and today it there is a sprinkle and we found a turtle under an azalea looking for some cover.
Other things we've done in the past few weeks…..
Took the dogs on a boat ride…. Laura caught her first fish…..
Brookey had a birthday…. Jason got married…..
More fishing....
Oh.....And we've learned to love this new place we call home….
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
My Grandfather....
...passed away this morning. It is with mixed emotion that pay respect to this life in this blog. I am deeply saddened for my father and his two sisters who are left parentless children, but at the same time so very happy for my papa who is rejoined in heaven with his loving wife and infant children (twin siblings of my father who died in child birth). There is a lot I could say about my 36 years with this man, but my own selfish sorrow clouds my ability to form the thoughts. I will just say, I love you Papa...
His big fish...
...passed away this morning. It is with mixed emotion that pay respect to this life in this blog. I am deeply saddened for my father and his two sisters who are left parentless children, but at the same time so very happy for my papa who is rejoined in heaven with his loving wife and infant children (twin siblings of my father who died in child birth). There is a lot I could say about my 36 years with this man, but my own selfish sorrow clouds my ability to form the thoughts. I will just say, I love you Papa...
His big fish...
Saturday, December 15, 2007
A Tale of Two Movies....
I've seen two movies in the past week. One was good and one sucked...that's the quick breakdown for you. So one week ago today, I went to see No Country for Old Men. Basically what I got out of the movie is that life sucks, you think it's getting worse and long for the less complicated life of your parents, but wait...things sucked then too. Things suck, things have always sucked, things are always gonna suck.... That and some interesting methods of murder are the basic premise is of the movie. I just saved you ten bucks.
The other movie I saw is I Am Legend. Things still suck and ultimately that's what this movie wants you to know also....but it's how that story is told that makes this movie the better choice for me. You see, I am old fashion and I expect a movie to have a beginning and a end, and then somewhere about 3/4's of the way through, I'd like my climax. I am just simple like that.
So I will just go ahead and tell you that my work spouse loved the old men movie. Since we saw the movie he reminds me every day how it is nominated for this, and got a positive review from that person.... Listen, I am a Coen brothers fan.....from all the way back to Raising Arizona....
but check it, they are hit or miss....The Hudsucker Proxey, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski.....there were a string of hits right there at the end of the 90's when these guys were exploding!! I am not so sure they haven't burnt out though. I think maybe they are desperate and have gone off into some whack bullshit these days. "But Shy....the movie is so deep....it's genius!!!!"
Listen, It used to be cool to paint people and things in the most realistic way possible. That was talent....that's what it meant to be a genius. But with advancements in photography anyone could have a perfect picture....for it to be art, it had to be reinterpreted.... art moved into impressionism where the almost scientific focus on the effect of light and movement on an object was what made it genius. Later you had mysticism in art, then expressionism where often the subject was distorted, later cubism where an object was painted like it was shards of broken glass...all these things were genius...I will give you that, but at some point.... and I realize I am probably cynical here....but at some point every thing that could be said had been said and I think we are still waiting for something new...something genius.....and you can't just paint a red block on a white canvas and ask me to find it avant-garde.
You can't just chop the ending off the movie, take out all the music, and murder a bunch of people and ask me to find it avant-garde either. The movie told a story, it wasn't all bad (Laura's cousin was in it...)...it just wasn't the best work of the year and the fact that it was hard to follow and understand doesn't make it so in my mind.
I Am Legend has it's own sorta genius as a social commentary on the Iraq war. I heard one review that sorta describes it like this...Western medicine takes a virus (a bad thing) and manipulates it so that it can fight cancer (a worse thing) which is sort of like Western military forces arming jihadists (which they regard as a bad thing) so that they'll fight communists (which they regard as a worse thing)....then the bad thing mutates into a much much worse thing that turns on it's creator, sound familiar?.....and where does all this happen? In a place that becomes identified as GROUND ZERO....you guessed it, New York. And even if you attack this thing you have created, they just keep coming....and everyone they come in contact with is either converted to one of them or killed. And the only solution is to shoot them dead — or withdraw behind metal walls, into a fortress-like homeland.
(for those not in the know)
I've seen two movies in the past week. One was good and one sucked...that's the quick breakdown for you. So one week ago today, I went to see No Country for Old Men. Basically what I got out of the movie is that life sucks, you think it's getting worse and long for the less complicated life of your parents, but wait...things sucked then too. Things suck, things have always sucked, things are always gonna suck.... That and some interesting methods of murder are the basic premise is of the movie. I just saved you ten bucks.
The other movie I saw is I Am Legend. Things still suck and ultimately that's what this movie wants you to know also....but it's how that story is told that makes this movie the better choice for me. You see, I am old fashion and I expect a movie to have a beginning and a end, and then somewhere about 3/4's of the way through, I'd like my climax. I am just simple like that.
So I will just go ahead and tell you that my work spouse loved the old men movie. Since we saw the movie he reminds me every day how it is nominated for this, and got a positive review from that person.... Listen, I am a Coen brothers fan.....from all the way back to Raising Arizona....
but check it, they are hit or miss....The Hudsucker Proxey, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski.....there were a string of hits right there at the end of the 90's when these guys were exploding!! I am not so sure they haven't burnt out though. I think maybe they are desperate and have gone off into some whack bullshit these days. "But Shy....the movie is so deep....it's genius!!!!"
Listen, It used to be cool to paint people and things in the most realistic way possible. That was talent....that's what it meant to be a genius. But with advancements in photography anyone could have a perfect picture....for it to be art, it had to be reinterpreted.... art moved into impressionism where the almost scientific focus on the effect of light and movement on an object was what made it genius. Later you had mysticism in art, then expressionism where often the subject was distorted, later cubism where an object was painted like it was shards of broken glass...all these things were genius...I will give you that, but at some point.... and I realize I am probably cynical here....but at some point every thing that could be said had been said and I think we are still waiting for something new...something genius.....and you can't just paint a red block on a white canvas and ask me to find it avant-garde.
You can't just chop the ending off the movie, take out all the music, and murder a bunch of people and ask me to find it avant-garde either. The movie told a story, it wasn't all bad (Laura's cousin was in it...)...it just wasn't the best work of the year and the fact that it was hard to follow and understand doesn't make it so in my mind.
I Am Legend has it's own sorta genius as a social commentary on the Iraq war. I heard one review that sorta describes it like this...Western medicine takes a virus (a bad thing) and manipulates it so that it can fight cancer (a worse thing) which is sort of like Western military forces arming jihadists (which they regard as a bad thing) so that they'll fight communists (which they regard as a worse thing)....then the bad thing mutates into a much much worse thing that turns on it's creator, sound familiar?.....and where does all this happen? In a place that becomes identified as GROUND ZERO....you guessed it, New York. And even if you attack this thing you have created, they just keep coming....and everyone they come in contact with is either converted to one of them or killed. And the only solution is to shoot them dead — or withdraw behind metal walls, into a fortress-like homeland.
(for those not in the know)
Monday, December 10, 2007
Cooper wants to play....
I don't make any secret about how much I would love to have one of these of my own, but until that day comes....if that day comes.... I sure enjoy moments like this =)
I don't make any secret about how much I would love to have one of these of my own, but until that day comes....if that day comes.... I sure enjoy moments like this =)
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Black Friday....
We have a tradition in my family (much like eating at Waffle house on Christmas, but that's another blog) that the day after Thanksgiving we pick out a place and do the whole Black Friday early morning shopping thing. This has typically consisted of going to Staples at about 4:30 in the morning to get memory cards, hard drives, monitors...whatever kinda geeky stuff you can get cheap by being the 6th person in line.
We ramped up our efforts last year...we actually did a recon on the store the Wed night before Thanksgiving to find out where items would be placed on Friday. We hide some of the sale items in the store so that we'd be assured of getting at least that and we made maps of the store layout so that we could discuss strategy. I thought that was pretty hardcore....that was before this year....
This year we set our sites on Walmart. I had seen the ads in years before at Walmart, but never once tried to brave it. In fact, Walmart is right across from the Staples we go to in Guntersville, Alabama so I have seen the parking lot on black Friday and it was intimidating to say the least. By about 5am, you can't get a car into Walmart's parking lot, let alone get in the store. The whole "Open 24/7" think always sorta confused me as far as doing black Friday at Walmart goes, so I just stayed away, again....that was before this year....
The prize this year was a $388 HP laptop. The DV6000 is not the best laptop you can get, but it's down right decent for 388 dollars. The Laptop itself is about a 800 - 1000 machine and what walmart was selling was a bundle that came with a laptop case, sub woofer and speakers, wireless laser mouse, and remote control. We thought that made it a pretty good deal, but how to get one??
We were in the store around 10pm Thanksgiving night and chatted up an employee in the electronics section that told us that there were 5 laptops, two were HP's, the other three were Toshiba's. We went home for supplies (coffee, sugar, alcohol) and made the decision that we would go right back to Walmart and wait all night for these laptops. We were smart about it....we went right to the electronics section, grabbed up some chairs from the camping section and settled in to spend the night at Walmart. We were the only people there.
Us and the folks stocking the floor. Sometime before midnight, they came around and roped off the isles so that they could guard the morning blitz items. We were already in the electronics with no way in or out other than the main isle, so we got roped into this section. It was a long night....between about 1:30 and 3am there was a lull and my mother attempted a rollback of her own to get some sleep.
The rest of us just snacked and waited it out....
Starting around 3am people started showing up for the morning sale. They couldn't get over to our area so they lined up on the other side of the isle facing us....staring at us.....buggies in hand....just looking across that vast isle wondering WTF did those people do to get over there. By about 4am that line of people was 20 deep...just buggy, after buggy, after buggy....tired faces....angry mob. All the employees knew we were there for the laptops and they were trying to keep us informed. By about 4:45am none of the sale laptops could be found. I worked with your assistant manager Rachel who offered me some crappy walmart brand laptops as a substitute "see, it has an 80 gig hard drive..." she said. "And a Freakin' Intel Celeron!!!!! I want my dual core processor!!!!!" I replied. Next she offered a rain check for one laptop. "There are two of us buying laptops.....we've been here ALL night!!!!.....can you get a manager??" The manager came and offered to sell us a comparable Compaq machine that they found, but only one....cause the ad clearly stated that each store would have a minimum of ONE $388 dollar laptop. "But there are five!!!! We talked to a lady last night....she even knew what kind you had and how many of each.....We need TWO laptops to make this right". We agreed to buy the one laptop and the manager left. They rang it up...the angry mob was streaming....not only were we in the electronics section and they couldn't get to it, but it wasn't even 5am yet and they were ringing up our items.... Death threats could be heard from across the divide."YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL GOING TO YOUR CAR!!!" "WHY DO THEY JUST GET TO BUY ALL THE STUFF THEY WANT ALREADY?" Rachel shouted "THEY'VE BEEN HERE ALLL NIGHT" "WE'VE BEEN HERE ALL NIGHT TOO!!!!" (no...they had not...I would have seen them). Now it's just minutes to 5am and the angry blitz crowd is very agitated. From the back of the store I see the manager running towards us. "WE FOUND THE LAPTOP!!!! YOU CAN BUY THE LAPTOPS!!!!" They put them behind the counter.... "WHAT DO YOU NEED? YOU NEED TWO??? OKAY....THESE TWO ARE YOURS.." "RACHEL...THESE TWO BELONG TO THEM....YOU CAN'T RING THEM UP UNTIL 5AM.
We did the return on the Compaq and the 5am blitz started. I needed to buy a $398 Compaq desktop also and they were about 6 feet from where I was standing. My dad held my place in line and paid for his laptop as the blitz was announced. I ran the 6 feet and grabbed the Compaq and when I turned around there was a SEA of people between me and the register....already in 45 seconds there were over 100 people in line and my dad was stalling for time for me to get back with the PC. As I fought my way back to the register a 19" LCD television came flying over my head. I think someone was throwing it to a person in line. I don't know really....it could have been aimed at me. The crowd was screaming at us.... We got our items and we were leaving. Thank God we got lost in the crowd on the way out of the store, because I do believe someone might have tried to kill us....
We have a tradition in my family (much like eating at Waffle house on Christmas, but that's another blog) that the day after Thanksgiving we pick out a place and do the whole Black Friday early morning shopping thing. This has typically consisted of going to Staples at about 4:30 in the morning to get memory cards, hard drives, monitors...whatever kinda geeky stuff you can get cheap by being the 6th person in line.
We ramped up our efforts last year...we actually did a recon on the store the Wed night before Thanksgiving to find out where items would be placed on Friday. We hide some of the sale items in the store so that we'd be assured of getting at least that and we made maps of the store layout so that we could discuss strategy. I thought that was pretty hardcore....that was before this year....
This year we set our sites on Walmart. I had seen the ads in years before at Walmart, but never once tried to brave it. In fact, Walmart is right across from the Staples we go to in Guntersville, Alabama so I have seen the parking lot on black Friday and it was intimidating to say the least. By about 5am, you can't get a car into Walmart's parking lot, let alone get in the store. The whole "Open 24/7" think always sorta confused me as far as doing black Friday at Walmart goes, so I just stayed away, again....that was before this year....
The prize this year was a $388 HP laptop. The DV6000 is not the best laptop you can get, but it's down right decent for 388 dollars. The Laptop itself is about a 800 - 1000 machine and what walmart was selling was a bundle that came with a laptop case, sub woofer and speakers, wireless laser mouse, and remote control. We thought that made it a pretty good deal, but how to get one??
We were in the store around 10pm Thanksgiving night and chatted up an employee in the electronics section that told us that there were 5 laptops, two were HP's, the other three were Toshiba's. We went home for supplies (coffee, sugar, alcohol) and made the decision that we would go right back to Walmart and wait all night for these laptops. We were smart about it....we went right to the electronics section, grabbed up some chairs from the camping section and settled in to spend the night at Walmart. We were the only people there.
Us and the folks stocking the floor. Sometime before midnight, they came around and roped off the isles so that they could guard the morning blitz items. We were already in the electronics with no way in or out other than the main isle, so we got roped into this section. It was a long night....between about 1:30 and 3am there was a lull and my mother attempted a rollback of her own to get some sleep.
The rest of us just snacked and waited it out....
Starting around 3am people started showing up for the morning sale. They couldn't get over to our area so they lined up on the other side of the isle facing us....staring at us.....buggies in hand....just looking across that vast isle wondering WTF did those people do to get over there. By about 4am that line of people was 20 deep...just buggy, after buggy, after buggy....tired faces....angry mob. All the employees knew we were there for the laptops and they were trying to keep us informed. By about 4:45am none of the sale laptops could be found. I worked with your assistant manager Rachel who offered me some crappy walmart brand laptops as a substitute "see, it has an 80 gig hard drive..." she said. "And a Freakin' Intel Celeron!!!!! I want my dual core processor!!!!!" I replied. Next she offered a rain check for one laptop. "There are two of us buying laptops.....we've been here ALL night!!!!.....can you get a manager??" The manager came and offered to sell us a comparable Compaq machine that they found, but only one....cause the ad clearly stated that each store would have a minimum of ONE $388 dollar laptop. "But there are five!!!! We talked to a lady last night....she even knew what kind you had and how many of each.....We need TWO laptops to make this right". We agreed to buy the one laptop and the manager left. They rang it up...the angry mob was streaming....not only were we in the electronics section and they couldn't get to it, but it wasn't even 5am yet and they were ringing up our items.... Death threats could be heard from across the divide."YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL GOING TO YOUR CAR!!!" "WHY DO THEY JUST GET TO BUY ALL THE STUFF THEY WANT ALREADY?" Rachel shouted "THEY'VE BEEN HERE ALLL NIGHT" "WE'VE BEEN HERE ALL NIGHT TOO!!!!" (no...they had not...I would have seen them). Now it's just minutes to 5am and the angry blitz crowd is very agitated. From the back of the store I see the manager running towards us. "WE FOUND THE LAPTOP!!!! YOU CAN BUY THE LAPTOPS!!!!" They put them behind the counter.... "WHAT DO YOU NEED? YOU NEED TWO??? OKAY....THESE TWO ARE YOURS.." "RACHEL...THESE TWO BELONG TO THEM....YOU CAN'T RING THEM UP UNTIL 5AM.
We did the return on the Compaq and the 5am blitz started. I needed to buy a $398 Compaq desktop also and they were about 6 feet from where I was standing. My dad held my place in line and paid for his laptop as the blitz was announced. I ran the 6 feet and grabbed the Compaq and when I turned around there was a SEA of people between me and the register....already in 45 seconds there were over 100 people in line and my dad was stalling for time for me to get back with the PC. As I fought my way back to the register a 19" LCD television came flying over my head. I think someone was throwing it to a person in line. I don't know really....it could have been aimed at me. The crowd was screaming at us.... We got our items and we were leaving. Thank God we got lost in the crowd on the way out of the store, because I do believe someone might have tried to kill us....
