End of the Year Extravaganza!!!

Been a whole week since I wrote something, so let's get to it.

For those interested in seeing THE graphic REAL SADDAM EXECUTION VIDEO linked to this BLOG, please click here. (Fair warning, it is real, it is gruesome but I didn't mind watching it 30 or 40 times. His eyes are still tripping me out at the end. Taken from a cellphone. Yes I am against the death penalty, but... )

Wow! What a year. Where to begin?

As most of my long time readers know, I cleaned house playing blackjack this year. Though I have not walked into a casino since early summer, I snared around eight grand. It was a lot of fun. I felt like a pro but now I am afraid to ever go back. Fear of losing even 50 bucks, if you can imagine that.

With those earnings I became a professional IKEA shopper. My IKEA faucet install post is still getting lots of hits and is number one on Google. The comments on that post are getting hilarious. I was called a political facsist from the links on my side bar. Hmmm... links on my side bar? I wonder what pia, gun-toting liberal and the cast and crew of Bring It On think about that? Sure my side bar leans right but there are a bunch of non-political and left leaning sites there as well. I am an equal opportunity employer here. I take it from all sides. And so what if what I say makes you uncomfortable, (teeny) it's a free country and those folks on that side bar, including the Mad Haiku guy (and if you haven't been there you are totally missing out) promote freedom better than anyone around. Including the Stop the ACLU guys. Kos is the real ass when it comes to political fascism.

We had our first child this summer. Elijah Joachim. Old school, old biblical name in a new body. It was and still is my proudest moment watching him be born. His eyes are mesmorizing. He is gonna be a knock out (especially if he takes after his father mother). Lately, he is enjoying my guitar. Let's hope he keeps that hope.

Lastly, let's all have a good 2007.

Here are my predictions:

Britney Spears will be pregnant by the end of the year with Ashton Kutcher's love child.

The San Diego Chargers will beat the Saints in the Super Bowl. (oooooooh)

LeBron James will fail to get the Cav's past the 1st round of the playoffs.

We will have a hurricane strike the south east, an earthquake in California but this will be Dick Clark's last Rockin New Years Eve.

The winner of American Idol will be Asian.

The leading candidate for both major parties will be apparent by next fall, both are not who we expected.

Barry Bonds will break the homerun record, late July in Cincinatti or St. Louis, he will not finish this year with the Giants.

In May, I will write a post blasting the a "pitiful" ending to the first season of Heroes. This is not what I want, I hope the ending will be great, but these are random stream of conciousness predictions.

I will break 100 again on a golf course, preferably on a 18 hole course.

Happy New Year!!!

A Christmas Birthday Wish...

I wish for him to be open, generous and kind.

Am I missing anything?

Merry 1st Christmas Elijah.

Rocky Balboa... The Enduring Hero and My Parallel Universe

(Disclaimer: I will not be spoiling the movie so keep reading. I will say any movie critic, who thinks they are worth anything, is severely fucked in the head if they bash this movie. Yes you are entitled to your opinion and SO AM I!!!!)

Now to the post...

Okay, I went and saw Rocky Balboa tonight. I wasn't the only male in the theater who fits the 20-40 age demographic that grew up on Rocky movies. I think I actually saw the first one when I was three. I saw Rocky II later on but never remembered being in the theater. When I was 9, I saw Rocky III minutes after I saw painful rear ender along the El Camino Real in Millbrae. (Semi into a tan Olds: The Olds lost) I remember them actually showing a cartoon before the movie and I remember seeing Hulk Hogan for the first time. (We didn't have cable) And I saw Rocky 4 with an old friend when I was 12 and later saw 5 when I was like 17 or something.

On Monday, I'll turn 33... (Yeah Christmas but that's for another post) The theme of the movie that stuck: Age. (Okay... no spoilers)

There is one line though, and this doesn't spoil the movie where Rock says "Time moves too fast, too quickly..." And Paulie says, "Time doesn't move fast enough". This is reality to me sometimes. I mean seriously, this is as real of a thought as it gets.

We go through life thinking of all the things we could have done, whether it'd be how we played a sport, something we said that we could not take back in the moment or a seemingly small decision we have made in our lives that had huge repercussions later on. And you can choose to sit back and dwell on these little things. Me... dwelling on the past is a beast of burden. I think a lot about the times where I was picked on in 8th Grade for something as stupid as being from the big city because there is just a meanness in this world. And how much that laid into me as I grew up. How on one hand I made myself stronger by overcoming what I thought was a huge obstacle but at the same time I really had no control over. I still can't let the past go in a lot of situations. In all seriousness, I want to be part of the crowd but I find the crowd suffocating at the same time. A crowd makes me nervous because I fear people so much, yet I want to be there to be the life of the party, to be one with confidence.

Control is something in life we all strive for. Whether it is with money, or a relationship. The well being of a significant other or even something as trivial as our Health Care plans. Control is what makes us really who we are as people. We have what we have because of our control on life. Control makes us happy. When we lose control over something however, that is what we ultimately hang our hats on, what pulls at our hearts, destroys ourrelationships with people and ultimately lack of control is what we succumb to... Hopefully much later in life as possible.

What I found in the movie theater was interesting. Here you had this emotionally deep movie going on. Some laughter from the crowd but the thing I noticed and I had only seen this in a theater once (Fight Club), everyone my age and demographic was up in their seat, on the edge... leaning foward. And even though the fight sequence wasn't until the end (how could that spoil it?) it was like we were watching Rocky's fight for survival, for what made him actually... real. A real fight... the actually boxing match is just a metaphor.

It's hard to imagine a fictious character, totally made up in Hollywood with millions at stake, to walk out of the screen and become real but after 6 movies Rocky did. Now it'd be easy to sit here and say that for the rest of my life I am gonna stand up to the pressures of life or my new found fatherhood or that God awful pain in my back that has been driving me nuts for the past year and be like Rocky and just endure, "push forward" or simply stand toe to toe with challenges and say, "I AM".

The hardest part is actually doing it.

The reward is the pain or angst you do get facing the fear. The outcome is ultimately what we strive to have.

Wouldn't you be happy to walk out of life on your terms, knowing what you did was your best? I'm glad Rocky did...

Will there be a 7? Maybe some day... I hope Rocky's story never ends.

California Seeks to Improve Lethal Injection

See link.

Yeah right, how the hell do you "improve" lethal injection? Use a gun? Cyanide? C'mon!!

And really, fat chance of that happening with ole Jerry "I live in a co-op loft in a bad part of Oakland, instead of warm and friendly Sacramento" Brown ringing in the new year as Attorney General, And we thought Bill Lockyer was a liberal, whoa shit dude!! By the way, ever see Jerry Brown's Eco-Friendly car back when he was governor of California? (see link). Where were you flower kids then with your, global warming eh? I bet that gets worse mileage than ole Arnie's Humvee collection...

Heh... Anyhow, this middle of the road, right leaning, abortion hating Republican would actually like to see the death penalty abolished in this state. Last thing we need is some dude, flailing wildly on the gurney (sp?) because the "injector" has a issues sticking someone, even guilty as hell, in the arm with a potent cocktail of death juice that may or may not work quickly.

Anyhow... I'm done... Go back to what ever it is y'all do...

Cross posted with the liberals at Bring It On. (My other blog)

Steve's Blog: Now Palm OS Friendly!

l just switched to Blogger Beta and linked to my gmail. The end result is this blog looks cool on a Palm handheld. Bookmark this blog, now!

Tickle Me Elmo...

The things we do to our kids that will embarass them when they are teenagers. This is so becoming a "Mommy Blog" isn't it?

Psychology of Steve, Part 2

Well... I had my second run in with a psychologist yesterday for all the pain that riddles my body daily. He's like... "Yeah that Vicodin, those sleep aids... They really don't do anything for you."

Yeah...ok... What is it with psychogists... they think they know everything. ('sup Tina!)

So, now I get to get hooked up with electrodes and sit in a chair for like a 1/2 hour to see if I relax at all. I really am not a stressful person, I am just difficult to be around in large doses. (Heh)

Then after Christmas, I get to go to a sleeping class to learn how to sleep more good. (lol more good) Apparently 3-4 hours I get a night aren't good enough. I swear to God, they re-run Blade Trinity on HBO like 4 times a week after 1 AM. I have seen it like 8 times now but never once all the way through. I turned it on the other day and I am like, "Hmmm... wasn't that blind chick in American Pie, why haven't I seen her before?"

Anyhow... back to the suck...

Toodles...

Like A Little Kitten...

Half a lifetime ago... He turns 4 months on Sunday. This was at two months.

The Beer Incident

Tina, a frequent commentator on this blog, brought up how my treatment of people can affect my Karma (Id really, but...). She reminded me of a true story from around 11 years ago when I was in my final year in college. It'd be a great addition to bring story to this blog.

Here goes...

Back in 1996, before Kristen and I were, ahem, Kristen and I, there was an incident at a bar, at a ski lodge up in Calaveras County called Bear Valley. See, back then Kristen and I were "just friends". In fact, we really weren't even that yet. We were basically school mates that lived in the same dorm complex, who hung out with the same people. It was spring break and we were both home in Calaveras County with our families. We both were into music and guitars and we liked to jam together. Kristen plays. In fact, you could drop her in with the Pixies, The Cure or the Smashing Pumpkins and you could not tell the difference. So over the break we decided to get together and I would head 70 miles up the mountain to her parents house to jam.

While up there, we decided to head up to the snow and get a drink up at the bar. This bar brews its own beer called Snowshoe. It was a fun little trip up there. I think we rode in her old Ford Tempo up there because it was 4 wheel drive or something. Anyhow... I remember rocking out to Pumpkins all the way up there. Cool Stuff...

Anyhow, the ski season was winding down and there were quite a few people in this little bar. It was mid-afternoon. A lot of older people were there. They weren't old, they just were "older". Anyhow, so I go to the bar and ask the keep for some of the Snowshoe Red Ale. Certainly, he says..."but can I see your ID".

I complied...

There was this lady next to me, laughing and having a good time and she sees the keep, checking my license.

"Hey," she says, "How come he didn't check my ID?"

I go... "BECAUSE YOU'RE OLD!!!!"

She sat there, jaw dropped to the ground, much farther than Kristen's....

Then I look at her and say, "Seriously!!"

A phishing we will go...

From a recent spam email:

Dear eBay Community Member,

I'm writing to let you know that your account have been indefinitely suspended from eBay because our records indicate your account was involved in activities that violate our policy governing seller non-performance.

If you feel you have been suspended in error or want to appeal this decision by providing additional information, please click here .

An email regarding this was sent to your email address on file with eBay.

Thank you for using eBay and we look forward to many more successful transactions!

Sincerely,

Scott R. Shipman, CIPP
Senior Counsel, Global Privacy Practices
eBay Inc.

Yeah right, jerk off!!! I am totally gonna click that link...

Dear Old Lady...

Dear Old Lady,

Yes, it is I... the one glaring at you from behind in aisle 14 at Target. How you doing? Not good from what I can tell. I see you sitting here, purchasing those hangers, the boxes of Kleenex, that tube of hand cream and all of those damn gift cards. $175.13 is the total right there.

Listen lady, it is 2006 almost 2007. And over the years, technology has dramatically changed. And there is a handy little thing that was made 20 something years ago. It's called an ATM card. May I ask why in the hell are you writing a check? Let me ask you something else... Why did you wait for the total to get posted on the register before you opened that big ole "old lady" purse to find your check book? And why is it, that it takes you about an hour to write "Target" in the payee section before you complain about your arthritis. Then... you put your wallet away BEFORE the checker can see your ID. Imagine that?

Use the freaking ATM Card that I can see as plain as the morning sun, shining from the bill fold featuring your ugly assed grand child in various holiday poses.

Damn you, old people suck!! Get with the program, slide your card, tap in your secret code, pull your receipt and MOVE ON.

Happy Holidays,

Steve

Christmas Season is Upon Us

I guess it becomes official when you get the tree up, the presents all bought and waiting for them to arrive from all the various online companies. I have been in a bit of a posting drought, even though I have posted a lot recently. Those posts were about nothing. Well except for the wine tour and the pain management thing.

Great morning. Crystal clear. Low 30's this morning topping out with a high around 58. Autumn leaves in huge piles all over the nieghborhood. The smell of fireplace smoke polluting our air. Huge lines at Costco and suprisingly, none at IKEA. It's all good! Maybe make a pot of bratwursts in beer today. Maybe the 49er's will pull it out today in New Orleans. And maybe, the Simpsons will actually be funny tonight.

Had to plunk down for a new router yesterday. Uploads are faster. We run with the fiberoptic service locally provided by a cable company. 10mb per second each way. It is sweet for movies with the new router. Triple band... N, G and B. Videos stream in about a second if the site is fast.

Good times... Enjoy this Elijah photo...