Blasphemy?

Not that I really needed one, but here's yet another reason to avoid AOL.

Deliberate or not, it's about as bright as the people who registered the domain for Pen Island.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys: "Blue Moon of Kentucky"

Cool

Here's a story about the most durable slang term of all.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Alice in Chains: "Heaven Beside You"

Musical Nerds

Take this test and find out if you're a music nerd. I was much nerdier than I thought.

Mood: Amused
Music: Rainbow: "Long Live Rock and Roll"

Halo Kong?

Halo guys invade Donkey Kong in this example of what happens when people who love video games have too much time on their hands.

Mood: Amused
Music: Marvin Gaye: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

Silenced Guns

Some sad news from the firearms world.

Mood: Sad
Music: Andrew Gold: "Lonely Boy"

The Walking Dead

I thought things had been going fairly well, or as well as could be expected, with a new baby in the house. Maryanne and I balance chores and child care between us while I work, and I get my sleep at night while Maryanne pretty much sleeps whenever she can.

Today, though, I think it caught up with me a bit. Last night not only did I forget to pack my lunch for today, but I forgot a new battery for my MP3 player, which means it's going to go dead any minute now. In addition, I forgot to turn on my alarm last night, and I overslept this morning. I didn't have time to shave, and breakfast was a green banana as I drove to work.

Thank God I have a day off tomorrow.

Mood: Tired
Music: The Cars: "Moving in Stereo"

One for the Gipper

Here's an interesting op-ed retrospective on that much-debated economic policy known as Reaganomics.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Commitments: "Try a Little Tenderness"

The Dance

So Super Bowl XL (40, for the Roman numeral-challenged) will feature the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Seattle Seahawks.

I've got kind of mixed feelings about the game.

I'd like to see Mike Holmgren win another superbowl, and for Matt Hasselbeck to win one.

On the other hand, I like the Steelers, and I like Bill Cowher, and I'd really like Jerome Bettis to win a Super Bowl before he retires. Bettis has such a wonderful work ethic. Sure, he's got talent, but the man also works his ass off every game.

I'm sure it will be an exciting game, though. Much better than the blow-outs that were each of the championship games yesterday.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: David Ball: "Look What Followed Me Home"

Mini

Is it just me, or does this thing look like a mini on steroids?

Maybe it's just the paint job.

Mood: Confused
Music: Little Richard: "Good Golly, Miss Molly"

White Meat

It's been far too long since we've heard of any shenanigans courtesy of the whack-jobs from PETA.

Mood: Amused
Music: Jethro Tull: "Aqualung"

Drool Machine

And I thought the new Dodge Charger was exciting. Just get a load of this thing.

The very first model kit I ever build was a 1970 Dodge Callenger R/T.

Kudos to Dodge for resurrecting two of the greatest muscle cars ever.

Mood: Excited
Music: Rush: "Working Man"

Jump the Shark

A few seasons ago, there was an episode of "That '70s Show" wherein they discussed the episode of "Happy Days" in which Fonzie literally jumps a shark.

This episode of "Happy Days" was the birth of the term "jump the shark," or the time at which a shows turns from good to utter crap.

How ironic, then, that this has happened with "That '70s Show."

Luckily Fox has decided to kill it, cancelling it with some other shows. Unfortunately, we'll be subjected to "American Idol" in its place.

Mood: Relieved
Music: Traffic: "Rock 'n' Roll Stew"

Finis

This could have some far-reaching effects.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Coverdale/Page: "Over Now"

Offseason Moves

So the Packers have hired a new head coach, one Mike McCarthy, passing over Jim Bates. Bates thus decided it was best for everyone that he leave the team, which means that the defense will have to learn yet another new scheme. McCarthy has a new offensive coordinator hired in the form of Jeff Jagodzinski.

This is not at all what I imagined happening.

I imagined Bates being promoted to head coach, perhaps promoting one of his assistants to defensive coordinator, and finding an offensive coordinator that can run the West Coast offense in case Favre decides to come back for another season.

Packers GM Ted Thompson hired McCarthy because he can run the West Coast offense, in the hopes of luring Favre back for another season.

I'm not sure it's going to help if they can't get the offensive line to perform better. In addition, Bates had finally turned the defense around, to the point where they were the most consistent part of the team.

Part of me still dwells on the fact that the Packers had a shot at Andy Reid around 1999.

Mood: Annoyed
Music: The Rolling Stones: "Monkey Man"

Video Game Culture

It's things like this and this that show how things influence our pop culture.

Mood: Amused
Music: Little River Band: "Lady"

Priorities

The weather continues to be unseasonably warm and mostly dry. What little precipitation we have received has been mostly in the form of rain. What little snow has fallen has melted. Looking outside it looks more like March than January. Maryanne is quite happy about it. I think it's just plain wrong.

The arrival of our daughter is making us both wish we had invested in a cheap laptop so we could keep up with our e-mail and other routine computing tasks. It's hard to find the time to get down to the computer and get through any substantial amount of work. Sometimes the sheer necessity of getting bills paid gets me in front of the keyboard. Most of the time there have been other, more important things to do, though.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: The Osborne Brothers: "Rocky Top"

Censorship

Call it what you will, but I call this an infringement on the First Amendment.

Mood: Annoyed
Music: The Silhouettes: "Get a Job"

Changes

Maryanne and I continue to go through an adjustment period with our new daughter. Little Sarah's clock is backwards, and she doesn't sleep as well at night as we'd like. We're making some changes in our routine so that Sarah can adapt to it better.

It's a little strange having been home for so long to help Maryanne with the baby. There will be another period of adjustment next week when I return to work and Maryanne remains home. It will definitely be a change from our old routines.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Donovan: "Sunshine Superman"

Picture Perfect

Here you'll find a picture of our daughter Sarah. Comments indicate most people think she looks like me. She certainly has my ears, and probably my nose. She has Maryanne's hair, though. Once she stops looking like a newborn we'll be able to tell better.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Chicago: "Feelin' Stronger Every Day"

Addition

I haven't been able to blog in a while due to an addition to our family. Maryanne was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital on Tuesday, January 3, and gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday, January 5. We decided to name her Sarah Elisabeth. There will be more details forthcoming as I find the time to post.

Mood: Tired
Music: Vanilla Fudge: "All in Your Mind"

The End?

The Packers won their final game of the 2005 season yesterday. Some people would see this as a bad thing, effectively putting them out of "the Reggie Bush lottery." I'd rather see them end on a high note. After all, even if they draft a playmaker like Bush, it's not going to help that much until their offensive line can improve.

There's a lot of speculation that it was also Favre's final game, and that he'll decide to retire. Time will tell, and we won't know for certain until we hear it from Favre himself. Until then, any word one way or the other will be pure speculation.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Cherry Poppin' Daddies: "No Mercy for Swine"

Happy New Year

Last night Maryanne and I went to Star Cinema out in Fitchburg and saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on the IMAX screen. It was a packed house, but the crowd was good. There weren't any screaming children like there had been for King Kong.

Good flick, too. Maryanne had seen it before, but I had not. There were a number of things from the book that were left out, but even at that running time was about two and a half hours. The special effects were good.

Afterwards Maryanne and I went to La Hacienda for a late supper. I was able to get my pozole fix, and Maryanne got her tamale fix.

After that we went home and Maryanne pretty much crashed. I guess we're turning into old fuddy-duddies.

Mood: Relaxed
Music: Aerosmith: "Drop Dead Gorgeous"