We interrupt this TV Show review for a moment from our sponsor....

....just an update on life since I have been MIA for a little bit. I'll go back to my TV show favorites after this.

So I worked last Saturday to cover a shift for my friend Curtis. In exchange he worked for me on Monday. So, I was sleeping in - a little bit - on Monday when I hear my cell phone in the other room ringing around 8:30a.....I ignore it, thinking that it is someone in my family trying to get me up. Ten minutes later, it rings again....I moan from bed, but ignore it again. Then 10 minutes later it rings again. This time I get up, wander to the living room looking for my phone and answer it. It is someone from my job wanting to know why I am not logged in. I say, because I am off today. I worked for Curtis Saturday and he is working for me today. They say, oh I am so sorry, I didn't know or remember. I say, no problem. And they apologize again for waking me and tell me to go back to bed. Doubtful. Now I am up and start my day. I listen to the two voice mails left from the first two calls....the first one is from Human Resources wanting to know where I am and the second one is from the phone console coordinator who monitors the phones, etc. I laugh....I mean, the phone console person and the person I actually talked to where copied in on the email that approved the change and why is someone telling Human Resources to call me......sheesh, I am never late, I never call in sick.....surely someone could have figured out what was going on before calling Human Resources. Oh well.....

Next week, is the last week of school for this semester....I have a final on Monday and one on Saturday....and then that's it for the semester. Yay ! That is why I have been absent here - too much stuff to be finalized before it ends. It looks like due to scheduling, I won't be taking any classes this summer....which stinks. I may have to push my graduation date back by a year.....oh well, I keep plugging along. I'll get there.

Anyway - there is an update. I will post more TV stuff in the next couple of days and then more on me later.....including an update on the seeds I planted.

See ya !

I HEART Horatio Caine !

Moving right along, with my favorite cop shows. I think these are sometimes the most enthralling to watch. I have favorite characters and favorite love matches even though that is not really what these shows are about. I know many think these ‘procedural’ shows are not very realistic and probably they aren't but I still love them.

24 / Monday / FOX / 8:00p CST

Seriously, I don’t care how unrealistic you think this show is [Charles] – JACK BAUER is one serious bad ass. If there were someone like him making sure this country was safe, I would go to bed every night under the blanket of protection he was providing. If you have not watched this show, go to Blockbuster now, rent all previous seasons and get caught up.

If you do watch it, check out this website : http://www.bauercount.com/

CSI : Miami / Monday / CBS / 9:00p CST

Well, here you go….my favorite redhead. Horatio Caine, expertly played by media bad boy, David Caruso. Most people either love this show or hate based solely on their feelings about how Mr. Caruso plays this character. He never gets hurt, has cheesy one-liners in every episode and suffers from an unhealthy obsession with his sunglasses. But, he is one smooth operator who has endless sympathy and support for the victim. I’ve always had a soft-spot for redheads and this one is at the top of my list these days.

I mean seriously, how could he not be :


Law & Order : SVU / Tuesday / NBC / 9:00p CST

For me this is the best of the Law and Order franchise, I think the cases are hardcore and the actors that have consistently been on this show from the beginning make it that much more addicting. I must say, I have a soft spot for Detective Elliot Stabler.

CSI / Thursday / CBS / 8:00p CST

Some say the original is still the best. I think CSI : Miami edges out the top spot for me but there is nothing wrong with the original. You can’t go wrong with a show based in Vegas as far as I am concerned and this years ongoing story with the miniature killer has keep my interest peaked.

What are your favorite cop shows ??

Joe Kuban : If you want to look like shit when you are 40, go to a tanning salon....

...in fact, he says, if you REALLY want to look like shit when you are 40, then SMOKE and go to a tanning salon."

Sounds like sound advice to me.

Nerd Love

Well, once again, I am a little lax in getting my blog updated. I think I am going to add another aspect of me to the blog and see if that helps me post more often. I don’t really like to be thought of as a person that watches a lot of TV. I do have favorite shows I watch and if I am not around, I usually record them to watch later. So, now I am going to invite you into my world of TV watching. If you watch the shows I mention, please feel free to chime in. I will probably start giving a TV show recap each week now that I am bringing this into my blog.

Today, we are going to start with my Nerd Love shows. These are shows I watch that have a particularly lovable nerd on them.

Ugly Betty / Thursday / ABC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : HENRY – Accountant at MODE magazine and unrequited love of title character, Betty Suarez. I love them, and if you haven’t watched this show, I recommend catching up during the summer and getting on the bandwagon before fall.

Heroes / Monday / NBC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : Take your pick, pretty much all the good characters on this show are nerds. This is another one that if you haven’t watched, you must catch up on over the summer. If you are gun-shy because you think it is another LOST with no resolutions in each episode, you are wrong, every one is action packed with answers.

Criminal Minds / Wednesday / CBS / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : REID – He graduated from high school at age 12 and has 3 PhDs. He often serves as the team's statistics expert, he has an uncanny ability for spotting complex patterns. He does not believe that genius can be measured but admits that he has an eidetic memory, an I.Q. of 187 and can read 20,000 words per minute. He also serves as the teams handwriting analyst. WOW ! How much nerdier can you get….love him and love this show.

Crossing Jordan / Wednesday / NBC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : WOODY – You might think a cop would not be a nerd but this one is. However, as nerdy and awkward as he is, he is one bad-ass cop too. He and the title character have an ongoing unrequited love that makes this show “chick” worthy and the rest of the show makes it an overall must watch for me every week.

Numb3rs / Friday / CBS / 9:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : CHARLIE – This one is about a genius mathematician [be still my heart] that helps his brother, an FBI agent, with complex crimes by using statistics and highly complex mathematical equations. This show is lost on Friday nights because everyone is out and about. But, given the chance, you would love this one too.

Okay, that’s it for nerd love shows….next TV blog will cover my favorite cop shows and my favorite red-head….

What are your nerd love shows ??

Bowling, pizza and snow

Well, as odd as it may seem.....it does sometimes snow in Texas in April. Since my last blog, I had a nice 3 day weekend which I spent in Abilene with my sister and family. On Thursday, I, of course, had lunch with my niece and nephew at school when I arrived then ran around with my sister getting ready for my nephew's 10th birthday party.

On Friday, we got up and did a quick WalMart run for the cake before heading to the bowling alley for the party. And here is my gripe about that.....my nephew invited 23 kids to his party and 1 of them RSVP'd....only 3 showed up to the party. Now, of course, having it on Good Friday, a long weekend, was a risk since people probably had out of town plans or family coming in town, but at least RSVP !!

My nephew could care less, if it had been only family and him, he would have been happy, but please people, just RSVP. Anyway, the party was fun and the kids had fun bowling. Here are some pics :

[Mason and Trek watching Morgan bowl]

[Caine bowling - he was the champ !]

[Trek bowling]

[Morgan getting her 6 lb. ball up in her arms]

[Morgan - bowling]

[Blowing out the candles]

Then that night we played some Shrek Bingo on DVD which was fun and colored Easter eggs. Of course, we had to overrule my sister and leave 3 eggs in the colored water overnight in the fridge, something I don't think I was ever allowed to do when I was a kid.....here is a pic of how those turned out the next morning - really dark - and probably inedible - but super cool :

Saturday we just hung out and were lazy - Mason requested homemade 'super-mushroom' pizza for his birthday lunch since I was leaving after that so we made pizza and just relaxed....after all, it was freezing outside.....yep, a mini-winter storm hit Abilene, Texas in April. I left around 1:30p that afternoon when Mason and JoLynn were off to bowl in a Shrek Bowling league.....I stopped for gas on the way out and took this picture of my snow-covered car :

And something else you don't see to often, snow covered bluebonnets....

Well, you know what they say about Texas weather, if you don't like it, wait a minute, which I guess is true since it is supposed to be 80 here tomorrow.

Ciao.

Joe Kuban : Go home, grab a cerveza and find your ecological footprint

So, last night in Environment Science we really hit on the topic that Dr. Kuban is most passionate about - this planet and basically in his words - our "rape" of it. His voice rose on more than one occasion as he tried to instill in us that while our parents had screwed up the planet, there was still a chance we could make a change.

When the lecture was over he said - "Go home, grab a cerveza and find your ecological footprint." There is a website out there where you can find your ecological footprint, basically it tells you based on your current consumption of resources where you stand.

The website is : http://www.myfootprint.org/ Go check it out and find yours. Here are my results :


Looks like I need to make some changes.

Sample conspiracy......

I belong to a website called http://www.startsampling.com/ - it used to be a cool website with lots of fun samples you could get for free....now it is a sellout with mainly offers for magazine subscriptions, or trial offers that make you order stuff etc. But, occasionally I do go in the there and get a sample of something. Recently I got some haircare samples as seen below :


This is actually a photo of MY samples [used] taken by me.....I couldn't find any stock photos on the internet. So, here is my issue, and hopefully you can get this by looking at the pics or by having a similar experience yourself. These samples come in packets, plasticy, shiny packets....similar to ketchup or mayonnaise packets only bigger.....each with a tiny slit near the top for you to tear the packet open.

Herein lies the problem.....when you use these sample packets, you are in the shower, wet from head to toe....it is virtually impossible to grasp one of these packets and open it. Don't believe me ? Try it. Now the key is to get a packet of something that has the slit on the side of the packet not jagged edges along the top. It is one slippery sucker

Needless to say, now I keep a pair of scissors near the shower....conspiracy I tell ya, conspiracy.

Bloom where you are planted.....

....don't freak, two days in a row. ::wink::

Okay, so now I have a real patio with chairs and a table and still room to walk around. I love to have plants on the patio, but I like to grow them from seeds. I planted some this past weekend and some yesterday. Here are picture of what I have planted. I will give you updates when they sprout and as they grow - how FUN !!

[These are pink Impatients]

[these are come multi-colored flowers - can't remember the name - LOL]

[This is a little herb garden that Joey's
girlfriend, Dina gave me for Christmas]

[this little guy was watching while I planted]

I will probably get a few flowers that are already blooming from the garden center this weekend too so I can enjoy them now. I think "winter", if you can call it that in Texas, is over so it is just sunshine and heat to look forward to for the next 6 months at least.

Happy Spring !!

Happy Birthday, Mom !!

Joe Kuban : We all crap

LOL ! I am laughing just typing that title. It's been awhile since I shared some of Dr. Kuban's wisdom with you guys and last night he was in rare form. In case you forgot, he is my environmental science teacher and he is a riot -telling it like it is. So, not to gross anyone out and if you start to be grossed out, please skip to the next paragraph. Last night we were talking about energy - and he told us the story of how he defecated in the rain forest [on more than one occasion] - after all, he said, "We all crap." Well, yes we do. Anyway, he continued by telling us he then stood there and watched as 14 species of flies and then beetles, and then so on and so on came and made use of his "deposit" - it took 38 minutes for it to be gone. He seemed to be in shock that none of us had ever done anything similar....and even more disappointed that we have never lit a cow-patty on fire on someones front porch. Anyway, he is fun. He told us another story along the same line that I really don't think is tame enough for the blog, so if you talk to me, you can ask me about it.

I just realized that I have never blogged about my laptop. Hmmmm.....yep, I got a laptop. I have been wanting one forever and the fools at DELL actually gave me a line of credit so after much thought, I bought one. It is really nice. I am not using it for work......yet. But, it does give me some much appreciated mobility which I am really enjoying. I have done the "wireless" thing at the No Frills Grill and it has been a nice way to get out of the house and still be connected. I'm hoping to to get it set up for work in the next 30-60 days so I can play with that and then maybe it will give me some options on work location too, maybe longer stays in Florida with work and vacation combined.

So, now I have an iPod and a laptop....all I need is a convertible VW beetle and my life will be complete.

Ciao

Blog slump.....

....OK. My friend Aaron at work just made me realize, I am in a blog slump. He said I am always saying I will write something else soon and then I never do. Apparently, he is right. So, I am going to try and get back on track for the rest of this month and then from that point on. Oooppps.....I guess I just said it again. I guess I need to just do it and quit talking about it.

School is going fine, spring break was last week and it was nice to be off of school for a week. I had a statistics test last night that I think I did OK on and I have an Environmental Science test on Monday. This semester seems to be zipping by. I hope they post the summer schedules soon so I can get signed up and get my August vacation planned for Florida.

So, I am off for two days now, my weekend.

Spell check, please

OK, first of all, I am not a perfect speller. But, guess what, this blogger thing even has a spell check - and I always read through my posts at least once to avoid the misspellings that spell checker does not catch - like when you don't spell the word wrong it's just the wrong word.

Well, for every tech support call I take I have to log it into a note tracking system. We just put things like 'merchant called to get batch totals' or 'merchant called to download terminal', basically short and sweet. Today I was logging a call in when I looked down at the notes history at previous notes. Here is one that was put in by the sales office :

Walkin threw install

Good Lord.

Spell check people, if not with your computer's tools....your brain will do just fine.

Please.

Trip to Abilene

So, last weekend I went on a little trip to Abilene, my friend Curtis, was nice enough to trade shifts with me on Thursday so I went over there Thursday night. Friday morning, I took the kids to school and then came back to the house to make cookies for a meeting my sister was having at the house.

Soon, it was time to head back to school to have lunch with the kids. Of course, I managed to leave home without my check card and only one check. So, when I stopped at WalMart earlier that day to get cookies supplies I was able to write a check for over to get some cash for lunch with the kids.....whew.

Each of them get to bring one friend to the table to have lunch with me. Here are some pics from lunch :

[Morgan]

[Morgan and her friend Trinity]

[Mason]

[Mason and his friend Jesus]

After lunch I went back to the house to rest until it was time to pick up the kids. That night we went to Mr. Gatti's for dinner. Instead of playing arcade games, we came home and played Junior Pictionary. Up until that night, Morgan had not been in a winning team - but we kicked butt and beat JoLynn and Mason. Woo hoo ! Losers.

Saturday we got up and headed to the Abilene State park.....where we had a little hike. Here is a picture from the trail.

Then after naming every restaurant in Abilene the kids finally decided on Chili's for lunch. Here is Morgan digging into her favorite thing....back ribs.

It was a fun trip and I headed back home Saturday night. SPRING BREAK this week !! Woo hoo !

Merge

Okay, it's been awhile since I did a blog like this one. Today's blog is about merging onto the highway. In case you were not aware, the responsibility for merging onto the highway lies solely with the merger, not the traffic going 70 miles an hour already on the highway.

Here is an excerpt from Texas Highway Traffic Laws :

"Unless traffic on the freeway is completely stopped, or there is no place for you to go, do not ever stop on a freeway entrance ramp! This is an extremely serious traffic hazard. Drivers behind you are speeding-up to get up to freeway speed and are looking back up the freeway for a gap to merge into. They are not expecting you to stop! If you can't squeeze into traffic by the time you get to the end of the ramp, make sure your left turn signal is on and keep going on the shoulder until you can merge into the traffic stream."

Now, my issue is with the driver's trying to merge on that drive next to me. Either speed up and go in front of me, or slow down and merge in behind me. Don't expect me to do either. Of course, as this other excerpt from the law states, I will move over if I can to the next lane to help you merge in but in some cases I cannot do that. So, the onerous is on you at that point.

"If you're in the right lane of a freeway and see traffic preparing to merge, move over or give them room to merge. Although the law requires traffic entering the freeway to yield, good drivers will make the effort to help-out their fellow drivers."

So, bottom line :

1. It is your job to successfully merge onto the highway, not mine.
2. I will move over if I can, but I am not going to speed up or slow down.
3. Be safe.

That is all.

P.S. Oh yeah, I had received some feedback from some regular readers to change my blog back to BLACK.....so here it is. I am playing with the other colors but for now, purple and green.

Straight As and Es

So I heard through the family grapevine that my niece and nephew came home yesterday with straight As and Es on their report cards. Sounds like D-daddy and Grammy owe some kids some money. I keep trying to get in on that action with my college grades but it isn't working yet. Anyway, congrats to Mason and Morgan !! I am very proud of them.

Speaking of which, since it has been a lifetime since my last post, JoLynn and the kids were here last weekend for something called Destination Imagination. Mason has been in it a couple of years I think and Morgan was in for the 1st time this year. It is kinda hard to explain what it is all about so click on the underlined link above to learn more. Here are some pictures from the event :

[after the long bus ride from Abilene, the team gathers and gets their game faces on]

[the leader of the pack doles out some advice to the team who seems enthralled]

[high finances ensue....hopefully not to bribe the judges]

[the team poses for their press photo]

[last minute strategizing before the competition]

[let the show begin]

[the team performs their skit]

[Morgan's singing debut - composed originally as a Christian rock song by Mason]

[her adoring fans]

[the competition is over - some successful shopping at the DI store
yields some new head gear in this final press photo]

Overall the competition was long and tiring - but the team did great and obviously had a lot of fun in the process.

Another blog update tomorrow......really.

Ugh....

So, I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last blog, what is wrong with me ?? I guess, as predicted, with school etc. my life has started to get a little mundane. Right now, I am sick. I know, I never get sick......but I have a sore throat and some congestion. Of course, much to my mother's dismay, I have not gone to the doctor. I know I should have yesterday while I was off but, I didn't.

Let's see....in school this past week we had a test in Statistics. It was easy. Maybe because I dislike my Stats teacher so much and think he is incapable of teaching, I studied harder, unsure of what the heck he might put on there. But, I was done in like 12 minutes with the whole test....I know I missed one, maybe two that I just didn't know or guessed at, but sitting there any longer wasn't going to help. Dr. Kuban, Environmental Science, gave us Wednesday night off for Valentine's day so it was a nice short evening for a change.

I had DVR issues again this week.....grrrr. I had been recording every episode of Veronica Mars for my sister because she doesn't get it on her cable and I finally figured out how to move it to a VCR tape on Thursday. So, I started doing that. Then Friday, yesterday, when I woke up I went in to kick off another recording and nothing on my DVR would play. I messed with it and called Time-Warner cable but they said there was nothing they could do except trade out the cable box.....grrrrr. So, if anyone can tell me what happended on One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives and Criminal Minds this last week - I would appreciate it.

Well, there is a little bit about my week. I know I say it all the time, but I will try to get more regular with my blogging again.

Have a good weekend.

Back home.....

....well, I got back home around 7:30p on Saturday night.....a little later than I had planned but still earlier enough to settle down for the night. I had a great time, as usual, in Abilene. I had lunch with the kids on Friday and then picked them up at 3:15p from school. I managed to get a little studying in there and also got ready for a little after-school project I had for them. We did our project and then when JoLynn got home, we went to Cracker Barrell for dinner, the kids choice. It was nice, even though neither of them ate very well.

Basically, we had an early night with a little Scooby Doo movie marathon before bedtime. Saturday morning we got up and milled around the house until it was time to leave for Mason's basketball game. It's hard to get pics there but here are a couple :

[during the game - the ref makes a call]

[after the game - snack time and rewards]

He plays for a league called Upward Bound through the church. He got a RED star after the game for BEST DEFENSE. I wanted to get a shot of him blocking his assigned guy during the game but it was hard to get the shot. He did really awesome on defense and also had an NBA-like save on out of bounds line during the game.

Overall, a great weekend....now back to work and school.

Just a quick one.....

....I had a funny quote from Dr. Kuban from last night but instead I am just posting a quick update. I am leaving after work today to go to Abilene for a couple of days. I'll have lunch with the kids tomorrow, do some studying while they are in school and then pick them up. Mason has a b-ball game Saturday [pictures to come] and then I will head home with some fun stuff in between, I am sure.

So, no new posts until Sunday - everyone reading, have a great weekend.

P.S. Courtney noticed a new element of my blog design - when you hover over any links, like the title of this post or the stuff to the side, you will see a sparkly background. I found this on someone else's blog and stole it - the color scheme doesn't really match, but it is fun.

Joe Kuban : Plants are easy to measure because they don't run away from you.

Well, Professor Kuban was fairly tame last night....but I thought the above quote was fairly insightful. He was talking about measuring the population of something and these were his words of wisdom. It was a toss up between that one and "It's a keeper." - which was uttered during the story of a foot fungus he acquired in Peru in 1994 and has never had treated because he likes how it turns his nail blue when the spores do something. Sadly, apparently, even his dermatologist thinks it's "cool".

The rest of the evening was fine.....I'm not really digging my Stats class. I don't mind the topic but our teacher is not very good at explaining stuff and goes really fast. When we finish a chapter, the homework for that chapter is due during the next class period. Last night, he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you we finished Chapter 4 last Wednesday....so that should have been due today. So, we will finish Chapter 5 tonight and it will all be due Wednesday."

WTF ?

Guess how many problems are due for Chatpers 4 and 5 tomorrow night ? And, let me tell you these are not 2+2 problems - they are "story" problems sometimes with 2-5 parts.

65

Yep, I had last night, today and tomorrow to do 65 problems. RIDICULOUS ! So, I promptly raised my hand and asked him if he accepts late homework. He wanted to know why I was asking and I simply said, I have to work all day tomorrow, I have class tomorrow night and work all day Wednesday so getting 65 problems done in there will be tough. I'll try but it will be tough. He said he didn't like late work but he would accept it. And, get this, he said "The answers are in the back of the book so you just have to copy them." Are you kidding me ?? He wants me to just copy all the answers for the 65 problems and not even work them. While that might sound appealing in the short term - I doubt that is going to help me much on the 1st test.

By the end of class.....without any more comments from me......he modified his earlier deadline for the whole class and stated that Chapter 4 would be due Wednesday and Chapter 5 on Monday. Much better. Of course, someone then raised their hand and said, "If we finish it all, can we turn in both on Wednesday ?"

Bastards.

Congrats Peyton and the Colts.....

.....on their Super Bowl XLI win !! I was kinda rooting for the Bears just to be different - but I am glad the Colts won.....and thank goodness, otherwise these guys would have felt really foolish walking around downtown Miami last night.

I spent the evening at my friend Charles's house watching the game. We all agreed that while the half-time show with PRINCE rocked, the commercials were LAME this year....nothing really worth remembering. Another NFL season in the books.....maybe with a new coach we can be cheering for the Cowboys sometime in the near future.