Saturday, March 21, 2009

Monkeys In Oz

Remember watching the Wizard of Oz? Well unless you are my wife Sharkey, who has never seen the movie, you probably do. My two older brothers and I would always watch the movie when we were growing up. Mom & Dad really liked Judy Garland, so whenever it came on we'd all gather around the glowing console set and get transported to Oz. There was one part of the movie that I do not like still to this day, cause, well, it freaks me out. It's the part with those creepy flying monkeys. I hated those things. I'd have dreams when I was a kid I was being chased by those damn things.

So a week ago we were in a Hallmark store getting some birthday cards and came across this snow globe:

scaryass_monkey

As soon as I saw it, the only thing I could think of was those scary ass monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.

Sweet dreams all!!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I Hate Thai Food

I eat almost everything. It is true. There are very few foods I will not eat. There is however one exception. Thai food. I hate it. It is not, "I prefer to not eat it." It is not, "I really do not care for it." It is not, "That just doesn't sound good to me." It is an absolute, unequivocal hatred of the food. I think it may have to do with my first job out of college.

When I graduated from college I wanted to see the world. I had always lived in Southern New Jersey my entire life. I wanted to see what was out there. I took a job with IBM and they sent me to Bend, Oregon for six months. It was weird and surreal in a way. One moment I was in farm town USA, and six hours later I was in a corporate apartment 3000 miles away.

I felt like I needed to push myself. Not be "safe" near family and friends. I wanted to experience a different geography and meet new people. I think all of my "life" in Bend is worth another post, so let me get back to the Thai food. When I was in Bend, I shared a car with another Big Blue employee for the first couple months. He was a unique individual from India. He loved Thai food. And as luck would have it, there was a Thai restaurant in town. At the time I was open minded, wanted to try new things, had the $50 per Diem, and so I would go to lunch there with him so he wouldn't have to eat alone. We went there so many times, and I went through everything on the menu. I came to my first realization. I really hate Thai food. I think it's the spices, the presentation, and flavors. I really do not like it. I mean I really hate it quite passionately.

Last Friday the guy I sit next to at work wanted to go to lunch. So I said I'd go with him where ever he wanted to go. And what did he pick? You guessed it. Thai food. I went there and I figured enough time had passed and maybe I really didn't give Thai food a chance....

On Saturday, after having a really "difficult" sleepless night "gastronomically" I was working things out and then went to sit through a movie I had planned on seeing in a little bit of distress. And the one thought I had 1/2 through Watchmen when my lower intestine started announcing its displeasure in my food choice from the previous day was..."I HATE THAI FOOD...."

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Who Watches the Watchmen? I do...

Sharkey had a photo shoot this morning. Last night I decided to make my Saturday plans, so I went to Fandango.com and purchased a ticket for Watchmen in iMax.



The movie was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! Watchmen is based off of a comic book series that ran in 1987. Those were the years I fondly referred to a few posts back. So for years, fans of the series waited for it to be turned into a movie. The wait is over.

I arrived at the iMax for the 9am show this morning. The place was packed. But the crowd was very mixed. Sure there were some kids with their parents there, but there were a lot of people my age in the theater. They were former comic book junkies like I used to be I guess. The movie did not disappoint. It had the essential story line, the characters were spot on (unlike that 3rd X-Men piece of crap that was produced), and it was a good ride.

I give Watchmen the JP two thumbs up. It has a great 80's soundtrack. You know you are in for a good time when the beginning of the movie has 99 Luftballons and the first major fight scene is to Nat King Cole's Unforgettable. One tip, if you are going to see it is definitely go to the bathroom prior to the movie, because it is a whopping 2 hours and 43 minutes long. And watch how much you drink during the movie. You don't want to miss anything by having to go to the restroom. The entire movie is one wild ride from start to finish. One thing I was very surprised at was people even at 9am buy the popcorn, pretzel bites, huge bucket sized sodas, and candy. I mean come on people, chips, candy, pretzels at 9am!?!?! What are you thinking?

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

March Madness...

Guitar Hero....

Not sure why, but the guitar from our Guitar Hero World Tour was messed up. Maybe Sharkey and I used star power too much. If we were playing, we wouldn't even strum and the thing would register a bad note. I opened up a return with RedOctane.com (the makers of Guitar Hero) and sent back the guitar. They turned around the return pretty quick and this showed up the other day....

New Guitar

So now it's time to rock it out again!

Phillies in Clearwater....


Gearing up for preseason with the Fightin' Phils! My spring training duds should arrive shortly:




Top Chef....


Stephan lost!!! You go Hosea!!!! The universe balances itself once again!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Singing

I sing. I am a church cantor. Sharkey also sings and plays the clarinet. We are a musical family. Maggie also sings...



I was kicking around YouTube tonight and found this video. It is "give you a cavity sweet..."

Sunday, March 01, 2009

It Is Coming...

March is here. God is teasing us with the warm weather we've been having in South East Pennsylvania (I say tease because we are supposed to get like 3-5 inches of snow tonight). My adrenaline is pumping. I can feel it coming. I can smell it when I walk outside. Golf season is approaching. From around mid March until October I play, practice, and I am in my "zone" my "happy place." I have been getting the golf catalogs in the mail, I have bought a couple of new shirts for the season and I have a new thunderstick to put into play this year,

All I want for Christmas is an FTi.JPG

and I have been contemplating an on course GPS (cause Sharkey peaked my interest in them the other day):



One of my life goals is to one day have country club membership somewhere. I want to be able to play whenever I want. That would be awesome. It would be nice to also have my own wooden locker with my name engraved on it to store my clubs, shoes, some clothes, etc. I realize it is a dream. It probably won't happen until I am retired if ever, cause, well club membership is what my Sharkey calls, "chaaaa---ching!"

I have been watching the first PGA tournaments of the year on TV. Looking at the guys in short sleeves playing on the beautiful greens and fairways. I was glued to the set watching Tiger Woods return this week, but he was knocked out in the 2nd round,



as well as Phil Mickelson,



and my current favorite player Camillo Villegas:



So I lost a lot of interest in the main tournament after the above three were eliminated, but here I am on a Sunday afternoon still watching to see who wins.

Yesterday I went to the driving range to get some "hitting" in. That's my code word for driving range practice. Before I leave the house, I kiss Sharkey goodbye, and tell her "I'm going to go hit, be back in an hour." It was pretty crowded yesterday too. I guess a bunch of guys have the same addiction as me. Only the guys there yesterday were beginners. Balls and clubs were flying all over the place and they were giving each other armchair golf pro tips. "Keep your head down, don't twist so much, grip your club like a live bird, hit down on the ball like an axe..." The one guy I was next to was way scary. The stalls at the range have 3 foot high walls that separate them. Good thing too. This guy was hitting the side walls (thank God those walls were there or he'd have hit me a few times), the ceiling (which I'm not sure how he was able to do) and was burning balls to about 100 yards. He asked me how to tell how far his balls were going (the ones that actually did leave the stall anyway), so I showed him the sign in his stall that listed the yardages of the different range targets. And I was hitting pretty well yesterday, so he was trying to get some tips from me. I think my best tip was, "If you are going to take the game up for real, take lessons as soon as you can." =)