Psych!

Sometime last fall I started watching the USA network show "Psych". It's a fun show with the feel of "Monk", but it's humor is paced must faster. One of the re-occurring bits on the show is when the central character, Shaun, will introduce the other guy, Gus, using a ridiculous pseudonym.

My sis, Angela, is also a fan of the show and told me about the Psych nickname generator on the official website. Try it out.

My nickname??? Hobart "Fly Zone" Zuniga.

Bye Bye Bye

I'm feeling the effects of Detroit Sports News Withdrawl (commonly known as DSNW). Around 3 years ago I started listening to WDFN (1130 on your AM dial). I've grown to listen nearly every workday to Seany B and Stoney & Wojo talk local and national sports. It's funny, but I feel like they were my friends (from a distance, of course). And last week they all got suddenly yanked from the air. You can read the story here.

Apparently, Clear Channel, the parent company of WDFN, decided that they just couldn't afford to keep them around in these tough economic times. I understand that tough choices need to be made by many corporations, but it sucks that these guys lost their jobs. They were really good at what they did and they certainly weren't replaced by better radio hosts (a couple of nationally sydicated guys... boring!!). I can't stand listening to them.

Good luck to Sean Baligian, Bob Wojnowski, and Mike Stone. Let us know if you get back onto radio somewhere.

Times a Changin'

Our lovely Ashlyn is reaching a new milestone as we speak... her first tooth! I'm excited to see her grow and watch her relationships with her brothers strengthen (not to mention Becky and I), but I'm sad about the tooth at the same time.

A tooth changes the way a baby looks. I know Ashlyn will look adorable with her new teeth, but there's just something special about a child's toothless, goofy grin that I find irresistible. Some of my favourite pictures of our boys are before they got any teeth.

And she's not just getting one, there are 2 more waiting to break the surface right behind it. My girl... all grown up:

LOST

Becky and I just watched the season premiere of LOST (thanks for not spoiling anything). It was awesome! I had been feeling a bit apprehensive in anticipation of this season; afterall, we haven't seen any new episodes since june and it seems that many T.V. shows have been struggling creatively. All fears were cast aside after the first few minutes.



This episode was intense! Full of Action and Suspense. Complex and Compelling. Supremely Acted and Masterfully Produced. I think the biggest success of the premiere as a whole was how connected it felt to previous episodes and seasons. You can't help but wonder how much of this was planned in the beginning because it feels like it was all part of the original vision with connections to Locke's memory of the drug plane, the woman with white hair (who i'm guessing is daniel's mother), and the central importance of characters like charles widmore, penny, farraday, and desmond. If you don't watch LOST... rent season 1. You'll be glad you did.

My favourite moment was when Hurley threw a Hot Pocket at Benjamin Linus. Hilarious!

Missing Out

Tonight in the season 5 premiere of LOST. It's actually on right now, but i'm not watching it. I have music practice on Wednesday nights at 8:15 and i don't usually get home until after 9:30, so we are taping it upstairs. Yes, I actually mean taping with a vcr.

*For the kids out there... a vcr is like a dvr except you have to put a giant brick sized tape into the box and you can't watch it until the show is totally over. And you can't pause or rewind live tv. and most americans can't make the clock work.

The point of this blog post is DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT LOST. I enjoy surprises and hate having them spoiled. I never try to find Christmas presents early, i never read ahead in a book. I plan on devoiding myself of as much media as possible until I'm able to watch the episode just so I don't accidentally some across anything. I'll post my review of the episode when i've seen it so you can know when it's safe (probably no until friday).

forgetfully yours

Most of my inspiration for blogging comes spontaneously. I'll hear something, read something, or do something that will make me say "i should blog about that". I try to keep a running tally in my head of the "to blog" list, but I must admit that I've been struggling to keep track of the list lately.

Part of it stems from the schedule of my day. I try not to blog at work, unless it is just too awesome, and when I come home I try to give my attention to Becky and the kids. So I don't get around to blogging until after 9pm (usually after 11) and by that time I've forgotten what i was going to write about. And I feel like that's been happening alot over the past couple of weeks.

The other part is that my memory doesn't seem to be as sharp lately. I've always suffered from the ability to remember tons of information of absolutely no consequence (movie trivia, pop culture references) and very little practical data (shopping lists, things that Becky says, Bible verses), but it's getting worse.

How do you improve your memory? I'm sure i could google it, but does anyone out there have real tips that work for them? Or am I just getting old...

r u kidding me?

A dad in Silverado Canyon, CA received an oversized letter in the mail recently. The contents of the package turned out to be a 440 page cell phone bill for his 13 yr old daughter. She managed to send 14,528 texts that month. yeah, i typed that right... 14,528! Mathematically, that's an average of 484 texts everyday or one text every two minutes of the waking day. Fortunately they have unlimited txting (or they'd be facing a nearly $3,000 bill) and the family is taking steps to reduce their daughters txting activity (apparently she has four other 13 yr old txt-addicted friends). source

Wow. I don't have a cell phone plan that includes texting. I've thought about it, and I'm sure I would use it if I had it, but it's a concious choice that I can save the ten-or-so bucks a months by not adding it and use that money elsewhere.

I send prbly a dozen texts a month. How many do you average a month? What's the most you've evr sent out in one day? Any txting addicts out there?

Bush's New Job: Comedian

I don't often comment on politics on my blog, but I just can't resist this time. You may have seen that President Bush gave his final press conference yesterday.

He strongly defended his Presidency and the choices that were made. I'm sure that he has insight to the issues that the nation faced that he cannot openly talk about. I understand that he has his own perspective on the long and short term accomplishments of his administration. With this in mind I wasn't really concerned with anything that Bush said or defended... until he got to Hurricane Katrina. When asked about the slow Federal response he responded:

"Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. ... Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?" he said.

ROTFLOL!

The work of those pilots and rescue workers was absolutely of critical importance and they rightfully deserve much praise. But there should have been more relief on a much larger scale. No one could have predicted just how devastating the storm actually was, but everyone knew this was a huge storm, everyone knew that the levees were in danger. The government could have done so much more both in the immediate hours following the storm and in the weeks and months afterward.

I'm ashamed to admit that I voted for him twice [in my defense, it's not like I had much choice in 2004. I mean, seriously... John Kerry??]

Best. Job. Ever.

A little while ago I wrote about my secret dream job of being a game show host. But I'm trading that job for a waaayy better dream job.

A tourism business in Australia has just opened a position titled "The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef". and the job is even better than it sounds. For six months your responsibilities are:

Explore and report back
There’s so much to see and do, so you’ll have plenty to write about in your weekly blog. And with so much life above and below the water, you’re sure to capture some entertaining moments for your video diary and photo gallery. To keep you busy, Tourism Queensland will organise a schedule of travel and events on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Your schedule could include sampling a new luxury spa treatment at qualia on Hamilton Island, trying out new snorkelling gear on Heron Island, or bushwalking on Hinchinbrook Island.

Feed the fish
There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry – you won’t need to feed them all.

Clean the pool
The pool has an automatic filter, but if you happen to see a stray leaf floating on the surface it’s a great excuse to dive in and enjoy a few laps.

Collect the mail
You’ll have some time on your hands, so why not join the aerial postal service for a day? It’s a great opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of the reef and islands.


Did I mention that you get to live on an island and they pay you $103,000 ($150, 000 australian dollars)? This is the best job that a person could ever have. ever.

If I didn't have the responsibilities of a family at home I would be all over this. If anyone is interested you can apply at www.islandreefjob.com (submitted by 60 second video)

Evan and Aaron have developed an addiction. Every morning their cravings start during breakfast and they get very demanding if they don't get what they want. I might as well face it... they're addicted to Ashlyn.

It's like going the night without her is too much for them. They start asking to see her in the middle of breakfast (when they hear Becky come downstairs with her) and as soon as they are done with breakfast they literally run into the living room calling out her name until they can hug and kiss her. During the day they are constantly running up to her and hugging her and showing her toys and books.

I must admit that she is pretty intoxicating. It's really great to see how much her big brothers adore her. It makes me feel alot better about the next 18+ years:)

The Legend of Master Legend

I read a Rolling Stone article because I thought the title was funny, but the story really made me think. It takes a few minutes to read but it's worth it.

Read the Rolling Stone Article here.

For those of you without 5 extra minutes: the article is about a guy in Orlando, FL who has created a superhero identity for himself. He goes by the moniker "Master Legend" and he fights crime. really. There's also a brief and unfortunate reference to "Captain Jackson", a costumed hero I've come across in Jackson, MI.

The reason that I was so challenged by this article is because hidden in the middle of the story is a section about the work that Master Legend does between fighting muggers and developing new crime- fighting tools for his utility belt. He does a lot of work to reach out to his community (raising money for down-and-out families, giving food and razors away to homeless people). Here is a guy who may possibly be a bit wacky and hides his real identity behind a mask, but he genuinely cares about the people around him and is really in touch with the needs of his community.

Too often we Christians like to keep a buffer zone between ourselves and keep our hands from getting dirty in the lives of others. Of course, it does not mean you are a "bad Christian" just because you don't hand out things to homeless people, but how many of us are really in touch with the immediate needs of our neighbors? I'm slowly trying, but it's much easier to stay at home. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from the Master.

Happy New Year!

Thank everyone for stopping by my blog in 2008. I hope to make 2009 an even better blog-year.