102 Years And Counting

My God what an awful year it's been. I'll admit My hopes really were not that high going into the season, but I really didn't expect this. To say I was upset when the Cubs decided to part ways with Kerry Wood and trade away Mark Derosa for pretty much nothing is an understatement. But when they signed Nimrod Milton Bradley to a THREE year contract, I was puzzled!! I mean if they needed a left handed bat, there were much better options than Bradley who really isn't even a left handed batter, but a switch hitter who is weaker on the left side. I thought I'd give him the benefit of my doubt and see how he does. Even when he struggled at the beginning I was still rooting him on. Then Milton did what Milton does best, blame everyone for his mediocre play but himself. And Hendry showed what a tool he is by how he handled the whole situation, instead of suspending him for the rest of the year, He should have told Pinella to let him ride the bench the rest of the season and then deal with his sorry ass after the season ended. Congratulations St. Louis Cardinals, I still HATE you!

A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since "Beatles Rock Band" has come out and we're still having a blast playing it. With My Son on guitar and My Wife on either bass or drums and myself on the microphone, We've been getting pretty good at it. Being a Beatles freak I wasn't sure what to make of the game when I heard it was being developed, we had bought Rock Band 2 for our son last year for Christmas and have a great time with that, but I wasn't sure how the Fabs would look. I was pretty impressed with it and it brings The Beatles to a whole new generation. Even though through my influence my son had already liked The Beatles, He's come to enjoy their music even more.

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. I don't know

if it's apathy or I've been just too damn busy, but I thought now

would be a good time to revive it and start posting my rants again

( like anyone really cares).

Dance Of The Dead

I bought a DVD recently of a movie called "Dance Of The Dead" put out by Ghosthouse Pictures. After watching a few clips and read some reviews, I shelled out $13.00 at the local Best Buy, I watched it later that night with my son and we both enjoyed this a lot. Plenty of gore and laughs to keep us entertained. So if you're looking for a good movie to keep you entertained this Halloween, check it out! http://danceofthedeadmovie.com/

HALLOWEEN IS COMING

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well, for me it is. I love fall with the falling leaves, the crisp cool air & Halloween! I have many fond childhood memories of Halloween, Trick or Treating, wearing our costumes to school on halloween and parading around the school yard showing off our fine plastic costumes our parents bought for us at Woolworth or Kresge's & telling scary stories and scaring ourselves silly. But, alas, Halloween is not as it used to be and that's a shame. To check out more of the artwork of Bryan Baugh (Who did the great zombie pic you see) go here :http://www.cryptlogic.net/

Same Old Song And Dance

Good God what a disgrace. After being a fan of 40 some years, I shouldn't be suprised anymore.
I did get to go to the game against St. Louis where they won the division and I had a great time celebrating, but when I sobered up I began to have questions if this team would make it. Too many times The Cubs would seem to get into a funk where they could not score runs. Winning 97 games is wonderful but it don't mean jack at the end of the day if you fall short of your goal.

SWEET!!!!!

August 11 and still rolling on! Nothing pleases me more than beating the Cardinals, and taking two out of three from them this weekend put me in a good mood for a Monday.

The Dark Knight Triumphant!!

Well we went to go see "The Dark Knight" on Friday and all I can say is "WOW"!

What a great movie, I sat hypnotized through the whole damned thing, drooling like

a kid in a candy store. Heath Ledger really nailed The Joker, he deserves all the praise

he's been getting for this performance. It was so good we went again on Sunday afternoon

and it was just as good the second time around. Now this Friday is the opening for the new

"X-Files" movie "I Want To Believe", I want to believe this is going to be a good movie as well.

I loved The X-Files when it first came on but was pretty disappointed with it as it neared it's end. My son has turned into a HUGE X-Files fan & is really looking forward to it much in the same way I was for "The Dark Knight".

Spring is here

Spring is here and so is baseball, thank God! Winter can be long and depressing and
you just feel cooped up. Now that nicer weather is here, it brings the promise of a new
season. My Cubs didn't get off to a great start (playing .500 baseball) but there were things
that got me excited. Fukudome looks like the real deal thus far & I believe as pitchers adjust
to him, he will adjust as well.

Knightfall

An excellent adaption of the DC comic series by BBC Radio. It also includes Michael Gough
reprising his role as Alfred. 3 hours of Bat-glory! http://rapidshare.com/files/82665573/audio_batman_-_knightfall.rar

Gone too soon

Good Riddance!!

Thank God this year is over! 2007 is a year I'd like to forget, but will one that will be etched in our minds forever. If you've read some of the previous enteries, You'll understand why it was

a bad year for us. But, there is always the hope that 2008 will be a great year. So ring out the old and ring in the new!!

Why So Serious?

I haven't seen "I am Legend" yet, but I heard they show

a trailer for "The Dark Knight" before the movie.

If you go here:http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/

You'll not only get to see it, You can download it as well.

I did and watched the damned thing more than I can count.

Since I live in Corn County USA, We do not have an IMAX

theatre here,because if you go see "I am Legend" you'll be

treated to a 6 minute preview featuring The Joker. I was

able to catch it on youtube (Some one snuck a camera in

the theatre and filmed it) and I gotta say I was blown away by it. If you go to youtube

just type "Dark Knight Prologue". But hurry, they're taking them down faster than they can post 'em!!

Christmas is coming!!

The countdown is on and Santa's getting ready!

Only 7 days till Christmas. Thankfully, we've finished our shopping and my wife has the presents

wrapped up and ready to go. For some really good

Christmas music, check out Deacon's website

http://deaconblues1103xmas.blogspot.com/

You're sure to find something that will get

you into the mood if your still humbugging (that sound a bit dirty, doesn't it?)!!!

Black Friday!!!

Well another Thanksgiving full of football, turkey & crap I'd never eat any other day is over. Thursday Night my wife an I TRIED to map out some kinda plan of attack for Friday which is known as Black Friday( I worked in retail for years, believe me, we had a much different name for it). We got up at 3:20 a.m. and headed to our first store which was open at 4 a.m.

The parking lot was full and the line to get in the store was un-godly! They were only going to let people in through one set of doors and there had to be over 300 people wanting to get in. I got pissed and said to hell with this, we'll come back later ( and we did). On to our next store which was much smoother. Then at Target, my wife about got into a fight with some dumb lady who cut in front of while waiting to check-out. Now the line was clear to the back of the store and we were pretty far back. This goofy lady's excuse was she wasn't going to go back there!! GRRR!! I do remember one year I worked at Kohl's, I had a line waiting to be checked out, alright fine. Well some jackass decided he was to be before all those who waited and jumped in front of the lady who was next. Slapped a calculator and a $100 bill on the counter and said "I want this and I'm in a hurry!". I was like you know all of these people have been waiting before you, you need to get in the back of the line. He yelled a wonderful name at me and said no. I took his $100 bill and crumpled it in his face and took the calculater and tossed it and told him "back of the line!" His face was so red he just boiled over. he threatened to get the manager. I told him to please do and when were both escorted out of the store, I would kick his ass. Then the cool thing was all those people who were waiting cheered me and scared him off! Then one year when I worked at Shop-Ko, I helped the cashier by bagging merchandise. Well we had one lady who was just having a bad day and just gave the cashier Rena, who I was helping, a real bad time for no reason at all. I tried to defuse it but to no avail. This stupid lady had Rena in tears and the manager had to get her off the register for awhile to calm her down. But in a bit of poetic justice. The next day we were in line at Wal-Mart, in line was this same lady was giving the cashier a hard time. The cashier was about to burst into tears until I stepped in and said "Don't worry about her, she was mean to us yesterday at Shop-Ko". She looked at me and just froze and never said a damned word the rest of the time! I swear this is my last go round doing this crap, but I get sucked back into it anyway. The good news was we pretty much finished up our shopping in that one day.

The Dark Knight Returns

I am a huge Batfanatic! I grew up in the sixties glued to the television, sitting in my little rocking chair and wearing my Batman cape, watching Batman. Soon I started collecting the comics. In the seventies I watched Superfriends on Saturday Morning and the various Batman cartoons that were made by Filmation. Even as I grew older and got married, I couldn't shake it. My wife could not understand my glee in 1989 when Tim Burton's Batman movie came out or when I was mad as hell over the stinkfest Batman & Robin movie that came out with George Clooney. All hope was dashed for any other Batman movies after Joel Schumaker made a mockery of the legend. But when Batman Begins came out, I was blown away and became a kid again. If there is one thing I look forward to in 2008, it's the new Batman movie. Plus, it has my favorite Batman villian The Joker. If these posters that leaked out are real, then they are pretty damned cool. I love The Joker poster.

Let's get in the spirit.

Yes it's only 6 weeks away, and ready or not, Christmas is coming. My son is freaking out on getting a Playstation 3 for Christmas, will he get one? Here's where my favorite part comes in. Much to my wife's dismay I love teasing him on if he's going to get something or not. That's part of the suprise come Christmas morning to see what you got. I remember when I was 12, I snuck around and found my presents before my Mom had to chance to wrap them. It was great when I found them but come Christmas morn I had no real joy because I knew what everything was. That was the first and last time I ever did that! So anyway to help us prepare for the season, here is some Frank to enjoy...http://sharebee.com/10d3e81f

What a rough year

It's been a while since I've blogged on my site, but 2007 has been a rough and heartbreaking year. It started in January with the death of our beloved dog, then many friends that we knew passed away including an old boss of mine, Rich Lamsargis. Rich was a great guy who was quick with a joke and a die-hard Cardinals fan who never failed to tell me how bad my Chicago Cubs were. But Rich was kind of a mentor who instilled work ethics in me and pushed me harder because He knew I could do it. Rich is missed by many, including his wife and daughter. Then on April 18th, my Mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and was given 8-10 months to live. You know, when they give you a time frame, you really hope and pray that they're wrong and that the odds can be beaten. But 6 months to the date, on October 18th, My Mother-in-law lost her bout with cancer. JoAnn was a brave woman and taught me much in that time. She relied on her faith and when things were starting to go bad, She questioned God, but she never blamed him or stopped loving him. In June, I thought my wife was having a heart attack! When we took her to the ER they found she had fluid built up around her heart. They operated and drained the fluid. She's doing fine now, but just dealing with the loss of her Mother. I swear, my wife has been through more crap than Job. But like her Mother, she refuses to blame God. I've never seen anyone as devoted as my wife. When I get discouraged, she's there to put me straight.
I know the holidays will be tough this year, but I know we'll get through it together. My wife's sister is having a baby next year, so there is hope that 2008 will be filled with wonderful promises.

Ode To Maxwell

Well, this weekend started pretty weird with an ice storm warning being posted in our area
Friday night and extended until Monday morning, thankfully Mother Nature took it easy on
us and nothing happened. Sunday the Bears beat Seattle in OT & I was happy...but that was
to be short lived. Our Dog, who had been acting goofy the past few weeks took a turn for the
worse. Monday night we had to put him down. Maxwell was 16 ( or 112 in dog years), one of those "mexican rat dogs" with a heart of gold and and inclined to get himself in trouble. My
wife took it really hard as Max was her "baby", I didn't cry...until today. Thoughts of Max
rush through my head, I try to remember the goofy ass things he did or the loving he wanted
when he would jump on your lap and curl up and want you to pet him. Or when you said
"Bedtime" and he'd race you to the bed. When my wife would come home from work all I
had to say was "Mommy's home!" and he'd run to the back door waiting for her with his tail
wagging. I keep feeling guilty "did we do the right thing?", the vet seemed to think so and
didn't think he'd make it. He was suffering & I was powerless to do anything about it. Right
now my wife & son & I are in mourning over our family pet. R.I.P. Maxwell, We'll miss you.

Gaze into the crystal ball

Well 2007 is here with it's promise of a new year. My Bears ended on a sour note by getting beat by the Packers (much to the delight of my Farve loving wife). Now they play Seattle in their opening playoff game, Nervous? Sure, but that's what being a Chicago fan is all about. With the Cubs spending money left and right like a business man in Las Vegas, I know that they will be better than last year, hell, Sports Illustrated thinks they have improved by at least 20 games, but is it enough? Will I finally get to see that Cubs world series or am I doomed? Hope springs eternal every year. Here's hoping Andre Dawson makes it to the HoF!!!