Corny post

Mmmm...CORN!!!

Here's my beautiful wife reacting to a dish of one of her favorite foods...corn. I'm sure she will hate the posting of this pic (which was with my cellphone in a darkish room-hence the quality), protesting that the pic is not a very good one of her, but she always looks great to me. Cue awwwww.




A Grim Reaping
The universe has been around for a long time. Millions of stories have been lived, told and read. This is just one of those.

Sara Finley felt great. Whenever she left from a visit with her father, she felt like she just woke up from ten hours of deep sleep on a Saturday morning with no responsibilities to fulfill and nothing on her schedule. Her mind was free of distractions and almost felt like a little girl again, knowing that everything in her life would be taken care of by her daddy, leaving her to care-free fun and play. She thought about how lucky she was...every one of her friends had some sort of problem with their parents. They all were so quick to dismiss their relationships as "dysfunctional" and equating that to "normal". But she knew that any and every one of them would trade places with her in an instant if they knew the joy of a true, loving parent.

Eventually she started to sober away from her emotionally induced high, expedited by the occasional siren or pump of brakes by the car in front of her. She lazily rode the dreamy state as long as she could, not wanting to arrive back in the real world just yet.

Scot Finley felt proud. The time he spent with his daughter was always better than any trip he could imagine to a Floridian well discovered by de Leon. He felt as young and energetic as the moment he looked through a hospital window and saw his hazel eyes staring back at him from a tiny angel swaddled in a nurse's arms. He would never forget how instantaneously his overwhelming fatigue evaporated that night when he saw Sara for the very first time.

His pride did not last long on this night. Like a feeling of someone walking in the room then right up behind him, an almost tangible feeling a dread crept through his body leaving a wake of goosebumps in its wake. Something had happened to Sara.

Enjoy the silence

As the Depeche Mode song goes.

Smart computer

Ok, in case you can't see what the above pic says "Keyboard failure.....Strike the F1 key to continue". This beauty popped up on my work computer a few days ago. Hmmm. It would be like a talking car telling you "Engine failure....drive to a mechanic to get it fixed".

Met with my wife's friends last night....went to dinner and then to a pool hall. Got to the hall Friday and didn't get on a table until Saturday...literally. It was really busy there. When I end up playing pool, I enjoy it, not my favorite game, but I enjoy it. But for some reason, if you ask my before playing, I never look forward to playing and I almost dread it. I'm not sure why that is. I guess since it's one of those games that I don't feel like I'm very good at, so I know I'm not going to do well, so what's to enjoy. Oh well. I need to go play some football or softball.

NFL 2006 Kickoff

Here's the kickoff of the opening game of the 2006 NFL season. It's the Steelers defending their Super Bowl title against the Miami Dolphins. I truly enjoyed the game, as it was what I would want out of a game. The Steelers played well, then trailed fairly late in the game, only to come out in the 4th quarter to dominate the 'Fins. I feel good about this season already. And this was with the Steelers backup quarterback playing.

Here's a pic of my little "sis" I guess, since I'm an only child. My mom's dog, Teddi. I'm glad no one in my family is a real "pet parent". Those people that name their animal a human name, dress them up in clothes all the time, have birthday parties or just generally treat an animal like a person. It's funny to see a dog in a costume sometimes, but as long as you understand it's just for fun. But all this isn't to say that animals don't have their own personalities. Teddi definitely is different from a dog we owned "Chief". I enjoy Teddi's antics when I go to visit, she's a little character.

Does anyone else remember "Buddy Lee", from the Lee jeans advertising campaign? I used to love those commercials. I know that I'm a sucker for advertising, since my buddy Tuan reminds me ever chance he gets. But when I see a campaign that I feel has a great use of intelligent humor, I really respect that product. I'll touch on various ads that I've loved over the years, in later entries.

Get Motivated!

I know you can't tell, but that's a stage on the floor of the Arrowhead Pond. And that's former Secretary of State Colin Powell sitting in the middle of it. He had a cast on his right foot, after hurting it. Well, I felt that he was the best speaker of the day. And it was a very distinguished line-up, with all the names I mentioned yesterday, plus a few more. Only two didn't really do anything for me...Dr. Robert Shueller and the show organizer Peter Lowe. Peter Lowe's talk turned into a literal sermon by the end of it and his whole talk seemed forced and over rehearsed. But, as I said, I had a good time and would recommend it to people in the right field of work.

Crikey!

I was never a huge Crocodile Hunter fan, but you have to admit that he was a huge influence. I defy you to find some one that wouldn't recognize him. I know he'll be missed.

My quarterback, Big Ben, went in for an emergency appendix removal on Sunday morning, and he'll miss the first two games of the season. Charlie Batch is more that adequate as a back-up, but I guess we now have an excuse if we lose either of those games.

I'm going to a big motivational seminar tomorrow at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. It has some really big name speakers....Joe Montana, Colin Powell, Rudy Guilianni(sp?), Zig Ziglar. I'm looking forward to it. I always feel like I can conquer the world after attending something like this. So look out world, on Tuesday night.

Favorite Napkin

On my stop by Starbucks this morning...(I usually on get Starbucks on the weekend, but it seems as if I've had it everyday lately) I got this napkin. I can't believe Starbucks still prints this one. It must be at least ten years old by now, but it still makes my shake my head when I see it..."growing...let me touch it...on my face...I feel the sun". Is it just me?

So, I'm driving home from dropping my mother-in-law at the airport, then going to Walmart and I see this car. I don't think you can see it in the pic, but this Mercedes has a vanity plate of "LLLLLEY". I'm glad someone is paying extra money for nothing, to the DMV to help the state fill potholes.

While at Walmart, they already had the Halloween stuff out. I hate when people whine about seasonal items coming out so early, then I find myself thinking the same thing....what the heck?!? Halloween stuff already! Oh well, I'm just glad that Starbucks rolled out the pumpkin spice already.

Speaking of Walmart, I needed a small unique battery for a garage door opener. I looked around a little, but to no avail. I'm of the opinion that Walmart has retarded monkeys designing the layout of their stores, since everytime I go there, things are never where you would expect them. For instance, if you need a flashlight, you would have to go to the toy section, because boys love to play with flashlights. Well, I asked a middle aged woman employee, and she instantly knew what I was asking for and actually walked me to the place the were stocked, took a package down and handed it to me. Talk about your one-in-a-million events. I bet that'll never happen again. At least I know in the future, what type of employee to ask if I need something.

People are Bad

So, while I was getting gas this morning, there was a woman sitting in her car at the pump across from me. She had an older car, looked kind of tore-up and had stuff piled up to the ceiling in the back seat, along with what looked like a pet carrier back there. She got out of her car and looked over toward me and asked if I had a dollar she could have. I immediately said I don't have any cash on me. I was surprised and proud of myself that I blurted that out so quickly, even though I had three $5 bills in my pocket, after indulging in a $4.30 venti Starbucks pumpkin spice latte before stopping for gas. Anyway, she gets back in her car and started to drive away when I notice that her car has a vanity plate that said something like "HEAVEN4". What the heck is that? I can pay for a vanity plate, can stop at Chevron the most expensive gas station, but do you have a dollar I can have? Whatever. I don't ever give any money to beggars. I'm too cynical when it comes to them. I'll write more on that someday.

While driving, I heard the commercial for "The Wicker Man" movie starring Nick Cage. It sounded so good, listening to the deep voice of the narator, hearing the tension, fear, desperation and all the emotion in the actors voices as they spoke their lines, the moving background music. I felt like pulling over and listening all morning. However, I know that the movie probably won't be as good as that commercial/trailer/teaser. It's exactly the same in the theater. I look forward to watching the trailers before the movies, because they are almost all so good. It can make the worst movie like "Be Cool" actually look like the best movie ever made, that you need to see at all costs. I wish they could make all the movies about 45 minutes long, with the narator talking throughout and just jumping from important scene to action and back. Then every movie would be good. Of course, there are some movies that move along slow and I do love. If they are done well, with great cinematography, then I could watch forever. Like, "2001" "Kill Bill" "Shawshank Redemption", those keep my interest.

I also heard a commercial talking about a car lot giving a 0% apr on newly purchased cars from them, regardless of your credit. I know that usually they only give those great promotional low apr's to people with outstanding credit scores. I never understood that. I guess they are rewarding the people that have been good about paying their bills and are low risk with nice and low interest rates. However, the people that have messed up their credit, and probably need the lower interest rates more, end up getting the higher rates. It's like having a race and asking everyone who's the fastest. "You are the fastest? Ok, we'll put you up front here, ahead of everyone. You are the slowest? Ok, let's put you way back here in the back, oh and also you have to carry a jug of milk in both hands. Alright, is everyone happy, does this seem fair?" I guess there's a reason for all this, but no one's explained it to me.