Cannonballers

RIP Captain Chaos

2009-05-06T13:40:00.001-04:00

Dom Delouise 1933-2009

www.imdb.com/name/nm0001123

Absolut stupidity

2008-04-08T10:47:00.003-04:00

I think that "we" as Americans are idiots. We get upset over the dumbest things. Recently Absolut Vodka ran an add in Mexico showing a map of Mexico pre-1848 with most of the west still a part of our neighbors to the south. How upset were the Mexicans when we came in and took over their land? Or the Native Americans for that matter? Don't even get me started on Iraq!! Ok, ok...........here's the link if you want to read the Yahoo story.

It's been a while..........

2008-03-13T13:02:00.026-04:00

I know that I haven't been around lately, but things are going well with the family and work is actually real good. We went to Vail, CO back in January on my company. Besides my meetings, Jenn had a full day spa and massage, we went dogsledding and snowmobiling. I prefered the snowmobiling. The views were awesome at 12,000 feet! Then last month I was in Germany for two days (all meetings, very little fun). I did get to fly business class though..........that was cool.

I did have something strange happen to me the other day. My friend asked me if I wanted to fill in for someone in his dodgeball tournemant. After I stopped laughing, I did it. Jenn (lovingly) told me I was too old to play and that I would get hurt. This only made me want to do it more. Needless to say, I'm sore as hell today and nothing is broken. It's not as easy as I remember from 1983.

On a non-related note, I want to congratulate the NY Giants for taking out New England! Also, I always liked Joe Girardi, but he needs to be consistant when talking about "dirty plays" during spring training.

What a week!!

2007-10-29T09:38:00.000-04:00

I have had no time to do anything since my son arrived a month ago (see picture), but I wanted to say three things:

Yankee management are a bunch of idiots for how they handled the Joe Torre situation
God-Damn the REDSOX for winning the world series again!!
..........lastly, A-Rod and Scott Boras; your announcement of A-Rod opting out of his contract coming minutes after the Redsox won the world series was one of the dumbest moves I've sever seen. I's not a fan of the Steinbrenner's but I have to agree with Hal when he said, "It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee. He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field."

I'm sorry I defended A-Rod early in the season now.

I AM Luke's father!

2007-09-28T12:46:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around lately, but my wife gave birth to our son last Friday and things have been crazy. He was born 9/21 @7:46am and was 7lb, 14oz. Everyone's doing well.

In honor of his birth, this week's quote is from Star Wars:

Hopefully, my son Luke doesn't react the way Skywalker does when he finds out I'm his dad. I will post back when I have more time (ironically, probably when I go back to work next week).

Movie Quote of the Week - Goodfellas

2007-09-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

Ah... so what you gonna tell us, tough guy?'.
I said 'my usual, zero, nothing! Why tell you? What da fuck!.
He said 'no, you gonna tell me something today, tough guy'.
I said 'all right, I'll tell ya something: go fuck your mother!'.

Never Forget - 9/11/01

2007-09-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

Don't forget all those that died on that day, and all those taken from us in this crazy war. I wish my kids could have known this skyline, and the world before. At least we knew who our real enemies were........

Certain songs took on a whole new meaning for me after that day. I can now never hear Don Henley's "New York Minute" without thinking about Sept 11th, and all the people that lost loved ones that Tuesday morning and how at any second, I could lose the people closest to me.

Cherish every second.

98.6 WBOG - The Bog

2007-08-27T09:42:00.000-04:00

When I was much younger (I'm talking 10 or 11 years old), I remember having my childhood friend Geoff sleep over pretty frequently. We decided one night to make our own radio show. We set up my old Panasonic boombox that had built in microphones and proceeded to record ourselves talking about anything and everything onto cassette tape. I can remember each of us flipping thru the JC Penny catalog looking for what we wanted to get for Christmas. There was even a whole part of the "show" where we did nothing but quote Cannonball Run. Even then I was obsessed with that movie. We'd also flip between us talking and the radio to see if there was a song on that we wanted to record. It was funny hearing us since our voices hadn't changed yet so we sounded so young.

As I got older and was almost old enough to drive, I made my own mix tapes so I'd have cool music to listen to once I got my licence. I mentioned my old "radio broadcast" to my friend Erik and we decided to make our own show. We got real hi-tech. We went to Radio Shack and bought a microphone and plugged it into my stereo shelf system. (You know the ones that looked like individual components, but were actually a record player, radio and dual cassete deck all in one.) We set up a playlist and recorded a real radio show. One of us would set up the music while the other introduced the songs. We called the station "98.6 FM WBOG", and our tag line was "Coming to you straight from the bog". (We picked an even numbered station because they don't really exist in the US.) We played mostly 80's rock like Whitesnake, Skid Row, Cinderella, Ratt, Scorpions, Ozzy and Metallica. At the end of each 45 minute side, we'd do our own paridy of whatever commercial was playing a lot on the radio at that time. We did one for Pizza Hut & US Army. I remember we got a little punchy on a some of them, to the point that we'd be craking up mid-recording.

I wish I could find a copy of that tape and transfer it to CD, MP3 file or something to preserve it. As I await the birth of my second child, I guess I can't help but look back on the memories of my life prior to marriage, kids, mortgage, and being an all around adult.

SLOW DOWN!!

2007-08-23T13:34:00.000-04:00

This always cracks me up! Taxi was a great show.

Clemens' Decision

2007-08-21T12:09:00.000-04:00

So this is how he decided to come back:

Van Halen Reunion

2007-08-20T12:03:00.000-04:00

After watching the Van Halen "reunion" press conference, my wife and I got into a discussion about VH. She was never a real fan of them, especially Roth (she can't stand his screaming). Anyway, she said "Well, you were always more into the hair bands than I was." Umm............Hair band? I don't think VH is a hair band. There is no way I could put them into a category with Winger, Poison, Warrant, Ratt or Whitesnake.

Philip Francis Rizzuto: 1917-2007 (#10)

2007-08-14T14:05:00.000-04:00

Phil (nicknamed Scooter) was one of the great Yankee shortstop's from 1941 to 1956, and won 8 world series titles with them. He was a broadcaster for 40 years and "Holy Cow!" was he a great color man. If you never saw or heard him speak, you have to watch his Hall of Fame induction speech to get a true feeling for his personality and what a great guy he was. Click here to read the story, watch his speech and see plenty of clips of Phil doing what he loved.................talking baseball. I grew up watching Phil and Bill White calling the games on WPIX in NY. I met him when I was a kid and worked baseball card shows. His signature is among the collection of signed baseballs I have. He was very friendly and always smiling.

For those of you that don't follow baseball, Phil Rizzuto is the play-by-play announcer in the MeatLoaf song, "Paridise by the Dashboard Light".

The Police: Giants Stadium 8/5/07

2007-08-06T09:19:00.000-04:00

Almost a year to the day since I posted this, I finally got my wish to see The Police in concert last night at Giants Stadium. I have to say that I was very impressed with how the sounded. Sting's voice was right on, Andy Summers guitar sounded great, and Stewart Copeland never missed a beat. I was happy to see that it was just the three of them on stage and not a bunch of back up singers and instruments. This really impressed me since they sounded very full on every song.

I tailgated in the parking lot with a bunch of family & friends (Jenn unfortunately did not go. She's been having a difficult time walking in her last tri-mester of pregnancy). They opened the show with Message in a Bottle, followed by Synchronicity II (which is one of my favorites) and Walking on the Moon. There was very little talking going on between songs which I was happy about.

They also played (in no particular order):
So Lonely
Roxanne
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Voices Inside My Head
When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Invisible Sun
Walking in your Footsteps
Wrapped Around Your Finger
King of Pain
Can't Stand Losing You
Every Breath You Take
(I know I've missed two or three here)

The only song I wish they did was Murder By Numbers. It was surprising to look around and see how many people didn't know some of the songs though (Voices Inside My Head, When the World is Running Down & So Lonely for example). I guess they just went to hear King of Pain and Every Breath you Take.

My friend Matt drank so much that he actually missed half the show because he passed out. I have a picture of him sleeping in his seat, but I'll spare him and not post it. I took more with my camera phone, but they came out crappy, so I'll spare you the blurry light streaks I got.

If they come to a town near you, do what you can to see them. It was definately worth the $100, except for Matt, but that's a whole other story....

"When I say 'Hello Mr. Thompson'........."

2007-07-24T10:40:00.000-04:00

With The Simpson Movie being release this Friday, I felt the need to post one of my favorite clips:

10 things I can say to my son

2007-07-19T14:40:00.000-04:00

So now that we've officially decided that our son's name will be Luke, I have come up with a list of quotes that I can say to him.

LUKE! We’re gonna have company! – Han Solo
That’s great kid, don’t get cocky! – Han Solo
No, I am your father! – Darth Vader
Aren’t you a little short for a Storm Trooper? – Princess Leia
Do, or do not………….there is no try. – Yoda
What an incredible smell you’ve discovered! – Han Solo
It’s pointless to resist my son. – Darth Vader
Impressive………….MOST impressive. – Darth Vader
Don’t make me destroy you. – Darth Vader
You’d better watch yourself. I’ve got the death sentence in 12 systems. – Guy in Cantina

I know they're all from Star Wars, but I couldn't think of any from Dukes of Hazzard. I'm sure there's others.............what else can you come up with?

Movies referencing Movies

2007-07-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed how many movies make reference to other movies? A comment to a post that I left over at David Amulet made me think of this. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

Cannonball Run referencing Smokey & the Bandit - “We could get a black Trans Am! Nah……….that’s been done.” (Not to mention the black T/A that's in the race)
Twister referencing Star Wars (A New Hope) – “That’s no moon. It’s a space station.”
Strange Brew referencing Star Wars (Return of the Jedi) – “I am your father Luke. Give in to the Dark Side of the force you nob. He saw Jedi 17 times, eh.”
Last Action Hero referencing Terminator 2 - Arnold Schwarzenegger walks past a movie cutout in Blockbuster with Stallone as the Terminator, instead of himself.
Die Hard referencing First Blood – I can’t remember the exact quote, but someone refers to John Mclaine as Rambo.
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls referencing Scarface – “Say hello to my stinky friend!”
Billy Madison references The Godfather II – “I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart.”
Saturday Night Fever references Dog Day Afternoon - After a woman kisses Tony, she says that she just kissed Al Pacino. Later while looking in the mirror, Tony starts chanting, "Attica! Attica!"

Can you think of any others?

Family Ties

2007-06-26T08:38:00.000-04:00

When I was young, my whole family (mom & dad's side) lived within a 15 mile radius of my apartment in urban NY. When my mom, step-dad and I moved to the "sticks" back in 1979, everyone thought it was so far away. I know an hour ride is no big deal, but we were the ones that almost always went to see them, they rarely came to visit us. My dad lived an hour or so away at first, then he moved and it became a two hour ride. I went from seeing him every weekend, to every other. I understood and was never upset with him. I just looked forward to going to the mall to have Orange Julius with him, playing video games and talking about cars.

Anyway, now it's 2007 and I look at how my family is spread out all over the US. One of the reasons I am talking about this is because just this past weekend, we saw my aunt and uncle (both are like another set of parents to me and my older sister) who are moving to Illinois to be near my cousin, his wife and their two beautiful daughters (who moved there after college about 8 years ago). Just this past winter, my grandmother moved out of the only town that she knew for 90 years down to South Carolina with my dad. He & my step mother had moved there back in 2001 to retire along with my little sister and niece. My two brothers moved to California (one in 2000, and the other in 2003). My other cousin moved to SC over three years ago and now his mother lives there too (both are on the opposite side of the state from my dad). My wife's uncle lives in Oregon with his two kids. My in-laws even talk about moving to Florida someday (WAY too hot for me!) but again, that's what may be best for them and their wants and needs.

I do miss all these people and wish that my daughter and soon-to-be son Luke (yes, I just made that decision) knew their cousins a little better, but people can't live their lives to make everyone else around them happy. They need to do what's they feel is best for themselves. My kids will know my sister, two nephew's and brother-in-law (who I am very close with and live an hour away) very well. My daughter still knows who my dad is, and walks around my house holding my niece's picture saying her name. People being farther away will just make the time that we get to spend with them that much more precious. Plus it gives me a reason to see places in this country that I probably never would have gone to otherwise.

This post was stemmed from a totally separate issue that my close friend is going through in his relationship, but my mind works in strange ways. Basically all of this is about doing what makes you happy. Don't live your life pleasing everyone else but yourself or you'll just end up resenting the people that you're supposed to love.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.............

"May the force be with him......."

2007-06-06T12:28:00.000-04:00

So as I stated in my last post, my wife and I were to find out what the sex of our second child would be. I'm sure as you figured out by now, it's a boy! We're both very excited to have a girl and a boy. Among other debates, now comes the task of naming the kid. On our trip to South Carolina a couple of months ago, my wife brought the "50,001 baby names" book along for the ride and we narrowed it down to about 25 girl names and 12 or so boys'. Well, since then we took the boys names and narrowed them down to two: Jason (or Jayson, we haven't decided yet), or Luke.

My wife and almost everyone we talk to prefers Luke..............but there is a problem with that name. As most of you know, I am obsessed with movie quotes and can't resist reciting them. So the obvious problem is me saying this all the time:

"Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father"

"He told me enough..............he told me you killed him"

"No.................I am your father!"

Jenn is deathly afraid that I will torture the kid with it an others from the movies forever. So as of now, Jason is the name in the lead, but I know Luke is the favorite. At least we have another few months to decide

"I believe you have my stapler"

2007-05-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

I want to start by apologizing to everyone in blog-land for ignoring them over the past couple of months. I have had a crazy couple of weeks. I went on four interviews over four days about two weeks ago, with positions ranging from an MS Excel guru, to a forecasting manager, but two positions stood out as a possible good fit for me, both in the auto industry.

Long story short, one of the two offered me a job last week, the same day I had my final interview with the other. I waited as long as I could to hear from the second on a possible offer, but they moved slowly, so I accepted the first offer. I was happy I had a job and it seemed interesting although I was a little disappointed that I had to accept a job a few thousand less than what I was making. I called the second company and explained to them the situation and told them flat out that I accepted a job and thanked them for their time. I could finally breath a sigh of relief knowing that I would no longer have to apply for unemployment anymore. Then, Friday came and I was out helping my in-laws deliver flowers to a couple of weddings. I got home at 5:19pm to a message that sounded like this:

"Hi Mike, it's Sandy from "blabity bla" company. It's ten to four on Friday. I'm sorry I missed you at home, but I can't find your cell number. Please call me when you get this, preferably before the end of the day. Thanks."

So I tried to call her back, but got no answer. This whole weekend I kept saying to my wife, "If they call me Monday and offer me that job, it had better be for at least 10% more than the one I accepted or it's not worth it to piss of the other company."

*Cut to Monday at 9:15am.*
*Ring...........Ring..............."Hello?"
"MINDCRIME!"
(Sorry, inside joke to Queensryche fans)

Anyway, I answer the phone and they offer me the job...............................for exactly 10% over my other offer, plus an extra 2% bonus potential. *sigh* I hated to do it, but I called and rescinded my acceptance of the first offer and confirmed the second one. So after almost two months of unemployment, it will come to and end this Thursday. (thank God). Tomorrow is my anniversary and we're also finding out the sex of our second child (due in September), so I'll be a little busy. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the well wishes and I will do my best to check in with everyone as soon as possible.

PS............Yes, I know the Yankees have been sucking lately. Thanks for reminding me.

HOLY COW!!

2007-04-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

OK, I know that Bill White and Phil Rizzuto haven't broadcast a game together on WPIX here in the NY Metro area for a long time, but I had to quote Rizzuto in this post's title.

Alex Rodriguez hit a 3 run home run today, his 10th of the young season and his second walk off home run (the other was a grand slam). I'm happy to see that he's finally having fun again and the fans are giving him the respect he deserves. I feel that he's one of the best all around ball players ever to play in the majors. How do you argue with his career numbers? He has a career .306 average, 474 home runs, has almost 2,100 hits, has won three Gold Gloves (two at shortstop and one at third base), and he' not even 33 years old yet. All I can say is that the fans here in NY better not forget this if he hits a slump later this season.

The Yanks are headed up to Boston for a weekend series beginning tomorrow. Hopefully this magic continues.

Mr. Mom - The Sequel

2007-04-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

So we're back from S.C. and all I have to say is thank God for the DVD player! It was nice to see everyone.

Again, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting or getting to to may of your blogs, but I was laid off from my job just before we left for South Carolina. I've been home with my daughter during the day and have spent most of my free time talking to recuiters and applying for jobs. I guess I should have known that when a small company called me out of the blue six months ago to come and work for them (more money and closer to home) that it was too good to be true. I was told they were looking to change and grow by the VP in the interview, but when he "quit", things slowly went back to the way they were and over the next three months, most people he hired were also let go.

I will do my best to check in when I can. For now, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting since I have other things I have to take care of. (like upgrading the electric in the house; "220, 221.......whatever it takes")

ROAD TRIP!

2007-03-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

Jenn, Allie and I are driving down to South Carolina to visit my Dad, Step Mother and grandmother. My little sister that lives down there just had her second baby a few weeks ago, so this trip works out perfectly. We bought a dual screen portable DVD player for the car so my daughter Allie can watch Elmo while I drive the 780 miles over two days (and my wife can play games). I'd normally do the drive in one day, but she'd never make it.

I'm sorry that I haven't been by to many of your blogs in the past week or so. Things have been crazy over here in the Maniacal houshold. I'll explain when I have more time. We'll see you when we get back.

Double whammy!

2007-03-22T08:17:00.000-04:00

Today is my one year blog-iversary and also happens to be my 100th post. I decided to make a list of ten groups with ten items in each (obviously totaling 100). All except for the last group are in rank order. It was difficult to come up with many of these, but I think I finally got it right. So without further a-do.................here's my "Top Ten-Top Ten":

Bands:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. Queensryche
4. Alice in Chains
5. Ozzy Osbourne
6. The Beatles
7. Guns n’ Roses
8. Metallica
9. Van Halen
10. U2

Albums (Greatest Hits don’t count):
1. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (I)
2. The Beatles – Abbey Road
3. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
4. Metallica – Master of Puppets
5. Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime
6. The Cars – The Cars
7. Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
8. Steely Dan – Aja
9. Alice in Chains – Dirt
10. Van Halen – Van Halen (I)

Songs:
1. Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
2. The Who – The Real Me
3. Metallica – Master of Puppets
4. Black Sabbath – War Pigs
5. Queensryche – Eyes of a Stranger
6. Alice in Chains – Would?
7. Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears
8. Whitesnake – Still of the Night
9. Yes – Roundabout
10. Soundgarden – Outshined

Movies:
1. The Cannonball Run (DUH!)
2. Star Wars Saga (“Empire Strikes Back” being the best)
3. The Lord of the Rings Saga (I’m sorry, but I can’t separate these)
4. Smokey and the Bandit
5. Goodfellas
6. Pulp Fiction
7. The Godfather Trilogy (Godfather II being the favorite)
8. Ghostbusters
9. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
10. Grease

Movie Quotes (How can I pick just 10!!):
1. “I don't care what you smell!” – Han Solo (Star Wars)
2. “Ssssh. Listen. Do you smell something?” – Dr. Ray Spangler (Ghostbusters)
3. “You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!” – Willy Wonka (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)
4. “You’ve committed one of the classic blunders……never go up against a Sicilian, when DEATH is on the line!!” – Vizzini (The Princess Bride)
5. “Why’d he call me shorty? ‘Cause you’re small, small, S. M. All.” – Fenderbaum & Jamie Blake (The Cannonball Run)
6. “Funny how? Like I’m a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh?” – Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
7. “I gotta stab her three times? NO! You don’t gotta stab her three times, you gotta stab her once!!” – Vincent Vega & Maynard (Pulp Fiction)
8. “There were horses, and man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.” – Brick Tamland (Anchorman)
9. “What? Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?............” – John Blutarski (Animal House)
10. “He’ll keep callin’ me……..he’ll keep callin’ me until I come over. Thi…….this is ridiculous. I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I'll go…………..SHIT!” – Cameron (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Women (My wife is not included in this list. That wouldn’t be fair to the other women):
1. Alyssa Milano
2. Elisabeth Shue
3. Diane Lane
4. Jennifer Aniston
5. Charlize Theron
6. Christina Applegate
7. Christine Taylor
8. Marissa Tomei
9. Alicia Silverstone
10. Mena Suvari

Cars (Manual Transmissions whenever possible please!):
1. ANY original Shelby Cobra
2. 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS
3. 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo
4. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
5. 1994 Ferrari 512tr (Testarrosa)
6. 1996 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo
7. 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
8. 1966 Pontica GTO
9. 1968 Chevy Chevelle
10. 1955 Chevy BelAir

All Time Favorite TV Shows:
1. Seinfeld
2. Night Court
3. Friends
4. Happy Days
5. The Sopranos
6. The Dukes of Hazzard
7. Gilligan’s Island
8. Knight Rider
9. Batman
10. Brady Bunch

Places I Want to visit:
1. Australia
2. Italy
3. Ireland
4. England
5. Hawaii
6. Alaska
7. Greece
8. Germany
9. Egypt
10. France

Things about me:
1. I’m legally blind in my right eye. (Born that way)
2. Was at Yankee Stadium for Game 4 of 2001 World Series (NY vs. Ariz.)
3. My mother and I have the same birthday.
4. Been married three times (I’m very happy now, but learn from my mistakes. If you have any doubts, there’s probably a reason!)
5. Drove from NJ to California in 3 days 5 hours.
6. Got my first speeding ticket on my 17th birthday. (69 in a 45mph zone)
7. Had my first accident the day after my 17th birthday. (totalled the car 15 hours after the ticket)
8. Drove from Dallas, Texas to Northern NJ in 25 straight hours in a minivan with 5 other people.
9. Sang lead on five songs with a full band on stage at a club in Northern NJ.
10. Drove a stock car 165 mph on the Pocono Raceway for eight laps.

Would you expect these?

2007-03-20T14:15:00.000-04:00

After reading this post by David Amulet, it got me thinking about my record collection. I have some albums that that you may be surprised about, and some I’m afraid to admit. Here’s a few of them:

Men without Hats – Rhythm of Youth
Jerry Reed – The Essential Jerry Reed (Yes, Snowman from "Smokey & the Bandit")
Prince & the Revolution – Around the World in a Day
Duran Duran – Seven & the Ragged Tiger
Alvin & the Chipmunks – Christmas with the Chipmunks Vol. 1
Olivia Newton John – Totally Hot
Chuck Mangione – Feels So Good
Hall & Oates – Big Bang Boom
Rick Springfield – Working Class Dog
Little River Band – Greatest Hits

Do you have albums in your collection that you’re semi-ashamed to admit, but won't get rid of?

Also, Thursday is my one year blog-iversary (or whatever it’s called), and will also be my 100th post. Hopefully I'll have my post ready for that day!

Unexpected Cover Tunes

2007-03-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about cover songs and which version you all felt was better. I now have a slight twist on that topic. I have come across some songs that were covered by rock bands that you would not expect. Here's a few:

Van Halen covering Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good" (with slightly modified lyrics)
Faith No More covering Lionel Richie's "Easy"
Type O Negative covering Seals & Croft's "Summer Breeze" (this one really threw me when I first heard it)

Can you think of any other unexpected covers?

What's the big deal?!?!

2007-03-09T10:24:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the town of Bloomfield, NJ is having issues letting "The Soprano's" shoot the final scene in their town because the show depicts Italian-American's in a negative way. WHATEVER ASSHOLES!! It's a TV show! I'm of Italian decent and I don't give a fuck! People need to be more relaxed about things and not take everything so damn personal!!!

On a separate note, has anyone else seen the preview for the show "Drive" on Fox? It seems to be loosely based on my favorite movie (and my blog's name sake), "The Cannonball Run". From what I understand, it's not just a cross country race to get $32 million, but for some people an answer to a question, like "My wife is missing. What happened to her?". Since it's obviously going to be about driving fast and have some drama thrown in, I may have to give it a shot.

Just two things........

2007-03-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

My wife and I have some news. Go check out our post at Dad Said, Mom Said.

Also, I got tickets to see The Police at Giants Stadium! I can't wait to see them.

Cover Tunes

2007-02-28T09:15:00.000-05:00

I was just walking thru the warehouse where I work and the guys were listening to the local rock station and Manfred Mann’s “Blinded by the Light” was on. As I walked back to my desk (which is no longer in the corner BTW), I started to thinking about cover tunes. I think this is one of the only songs that I like the cover version better than the original by Bruce Springsteen. How do the versions of these songs compare to you?

Come Together – The Beatles vs. Aerosmith
You Really Got Me – The Kinks vs. Van Halen
Turn the Page – Bob Seger vs. Metallica
War Pigs – Black Sabbath vs. Faith No More
Land of Confusion – Genesis vs. Disturbed
Live and Let Die – Wings vs. Guns n’ Roses
Helter Skelter – The Beatles vs. Motley Crue
Love Reign O’er Me – The Who vs. Pearl Jam

As a side note, I really don’t like when a band covers their own song, like Eric Clapton did with Layla, or The Police with Don’t Stand So Close to Me. In most cases the songs were great how they were…………leave them alone.

Songs in Commercials

2007-02-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

Everyday I am reminded that I am getting older. Not OLD by any means, but older. A perfect example of this is the type of music that is used in commercials. Over the years, I am finding more and more that songs I grew up with and loved are becoming commercialized (no pun intended). Here are a few examples:

Van Halen: You Really Got Me – Back in 1996, when Nissan discontinued the 300ZX, they had made a tribute commercial to the famed “Z” car with Barbie, Ken and GI Joe. Barbie leaves Ken because GI Joe drives a “Z”.
The Cars: Just What I Needed – Circuit City has all but killed this song for me. It’s on The Cars debut album (which is their best in my opinion), but I now cringe when I see the commercial and hear the song.
Led Zeppelin: Rock & Roll – Cadillac used this song to promote its lineup of cars a couple of years ago. I guess they were trying to change their image. I remember Robert Plant saying that Caddy’s were the ultimate luxury car when he was younger and was honored that they wanted to use a Zep tune in their commercials.
The Who: Bargain – Nissan basically used this song to promote whatever deal they had going at the time.
AC/DC: Back in Black – When Motorola introduced the Razor phone, it featured this song in their commercial.
Black Sabbath: Iron Man – To give the impression of a tough, manly truck, Nissan got the rights to use Iron Man to push their Titan line-up. (Maybe we just need to have a little talk with Nissan).
Scorpions: Rock You Like a Hurricane – TGI Friday’s used this one to promote a line up of sizzling steaks they had launched.
Van Halen: Hot For Teacher – This one may not be as obvious, but when Dodge got back into NASCAR as few years back, the end of their commercials had a drum beat that was supposed to sound like the rumble of a big block V-8. It actually sounded more like the intro to this VH tune. I think Eddie probably realized it and made them stop because the commercials didn’t run with that ending very long.
Bob Seger: Like a Rock – I know everyone remembers this one. Chevrolet used this for a long time to promote their truck lineup.

Here’s a link to some others. Can you remember any?

(BTW - The "Z" commercial was one of my favorites)

It's Just Not Right

2007-02-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

So as baseball spring training gets rolling, there is a missing player from the Yankees locker room for the first time in 17 seasons: #51 – Bernie Williams. Bernie had been the Yankees starting centerfielder since the 1993 season up thru 2005.

Bernie never had the best arm, but he could get to and catch almost anything hit in his direction. He has a quiet presence in the clubhouse, but a definite role model for baseball and anyone he interacts with. Last year, former Red Sox Johnny Damon was brought in and took over the starting center field job and Bernie was moved to back up outfielder/designated hitter with no complaints. After injures to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield early in the 2006 season, Bernie again became a part of the everyday lineup, playing all three outfield positions as needed. He had a .281 batting average and a .994 fielding percentage (His career averages are .297 and .990 respectively).

This season, the Yankees have invited Bernie to spring training, but he is not guaranteed a roster spot; a first for him since the early 1990’s. He has not decided to attend yet, but the Yankees offer still stands. His number 51 is being reserved for him. His locker was empty for a few days, but is now reassigned to someone else.

As a Yankee fan, I am disappointed that Brian Cashman (the General Manager), is not treating Bernie with more respect. He was a major part of all four of their last World Series championships. I know he is 38 years old, but he also has proven that he can still play. I do understand that there are only 25 spots on the major league roster. I also know that carrying five outfielders is unusual, but so is having three capable 1st basemen plus a utility infielder. I had hoped that Bernie Williams would have been allowed to retire (which he has not officially decided on yet) with more respect from the Yankees than he is currently receiving.

Cornell Going Solo

2007-02-16T08:48:00.000-05:00

Well, after all of the talk about Rage Against the Machine reuniting for a few shows, it seems to be official that Audioslave is no more. Chris Cornell announced that he will no longer be fronting Audioslave. It appears he will be releasing a solo album in the Spring of this year, and pushes off rumors of a Soundgarden reunion.

I was always enjoyed Chris' voice and feel that he is one of the most talented and unique rock singers in the last 25 years. (Ironically enough, as I write this post, Temple of the Dog's "Times of Trouble" just randomly played on my media player). It doesn't matter who is backing him, he sounds awesome and I will continue to be a fan.

I should have bet on this happening!

2007-02-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

I guess Sting read my post a few months back and decided to get the Police back together. Last night I watched part of the Grammy’s and I saw them open the show. I have to say that I am happy they’re back together an am looking forward to seeing them tour this year. They sounded very good, but I was a little disappointed in their version of Roxanne. Did anyone else feel this way?

Either way, it should be a great year for rock fans with Van Halen also touring (minus Michael Anthony on bass) with David Lee Roth.

All Star - 2008

2007-02-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

I know that the 41st Super Bowl is only three days away, and I should be talking about that, but I have to recognize this one thing. It has been officially announced that the MLB All Star Game with be held at Yankee Stadium in 2008!

I have to say that I am sad that the original stadium (although modified in the early 70's) will no longer be home to the Bronx Bombers, but I'm happy that it will be center stage that day. It has a lot of history and mystique. If you've never been there, do yourself a favor and go to a game before the end of the 2008 season. I've been to all different types of sports arenas, but there is nothing like walking out of one of the runways at Yankee Stadium and knowing that greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, and Derek Jeter all played on the same field.

Ok, now for my Super Bowl prediction: Colts over Bears 27-24. I guess we'll see how wrong I am soon enough.

Top 10 TV Cars

2007-01-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

While surfing the internet, I came across this article on www.cars.com about the most memorable cars on TV. I agree with most of the list, but I think the Flintstone Mobile beats out the Maserati on Entourage. Am I wrong on this one?

Also, am I the only idiot that watches the Dukes of Hazzard movie every time it's on? At least half of the characters are played by the wrong actors (Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg? COME ON BURT!) But I still watch it.

Blog plug

2007-01-26T14:32:00.000-05:00

BLOG PLUG!! Not butt plug!! You guys are disgusting! Either way, check out my buddy Talixmer. He just started blogging and is a personal friend of mine in real life. You know if he hangs out with me that he must be a movie and music guy.

Also, my wife and I are still posting over at Dad Said, Mom Said and have a new post up today. Go check it out.

Tell me it's not just us

2007-01-22T10:10:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, while we were waiting for the football games to start, (BTW, since the Giants are out of it, I’m pulling for the Colts), I was watching the YES Network. For those of you not in the NY Metro area, the YES Network is the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. Anyway, they produce a show called “Yankeeography” which highlights the career of a particular Yankee. Here’s the conversation that followed:

Jenn – What the hell is this?
Me – It’s a Yankeeography on Paul O’Neill.
Jenn – It’s only January, why are watching baseball? Didn’t you see this one already?
Me – So? Don’t you think that if it was the one about Tino Martinez (my favorite Yankee) that I’d be watching it again too?
Jenn – *sigh* Yeah.
Me – It’s almost over.
Jenn – *gesturing to my daughter* Your Daddy’s crazy little girl. He keeps watching the same thing over and over again. It’s like SportsCenter.
Allie – *looks at my wife, nods and hands her a toy*

*cut to 10 minutes later*

Jenn – NOW what are we watching??
Me – It’s about the North American Auto Show in Detroit.
Jenn – *sigh*
Allie - *Looks back and forth at us and continues putting Elmo in and out of her shopping cart*

Does anyone else go thru stuff like this in their house? I mean, how many times can I watch the same episode of Boobah, Clifford, or Rachel Ray?? Why can't I watch a show again?

Evil Dead, Meet Old Spice

2007-01-10T09:40:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else seen the Old Spice commercial with Bruce Campbell? He’s all dressed up and is wearing something that Mr. Howell would wear. He stands up from the leather chair he’s sitting in, with a fireplace at his side and begins walking around the room. He says things like,

“If you have it, you don’t need it.”
“If you don’t have it, you want it.”
“You need it to get more of it.”
“Without it, you can’t get any of it.”

At first, I was like, “What the hell is this? Is he doing a spot for some financial company?” As he continues to walk around, you notice a picture of an old sail ship behind him that never ends as goes around the room. He finally ends by sitting in another leather chair, but on the opposite side of the fireplace. It ends with the tag flashing “Experience is everything – Old Spice” on the screen.

I just found it unusual that Old spice would use him as a spokes person. Anyway, thanks to my friend Bill, here's the commercial:

Still in the corner

2007-01-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

First of all, happy new year to everyone.

Second, I just wanted to say that I still have my crappy desk. I'm told that the new space where a bunch of us are moving to will be completed early next month. I hope so because I can't stand staring at the fucking corner anymore!! Last week I was zoning out so much at my desk that I kept slowly turning up my music until my boss finally yelled out during Metallica's Leper Messiah, "What the hell is that? Mike is that you?" LOL! Oops!

How is it that the more I get paid, the smaller my desk gets!! Grrrrrr *looks for dunce cap*

WHOA!! Me Too!

2006-12-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

Do you ever drive by someone’s house and notice that they have the two of the same vehicles in their driveway? Well I’m a freak with that stuff and I do. I’m always like, “Wow, I guess they really like that car. But why have two? That seems kinda boring.”

Well, we’re going to try to get out of the car payment business at some point so Jenn can stay home with our daughter (and eventually other kids), so we decided to buy a new car. You see, both of our cars are leases and my 2004 VW Jetta is worth more than her 2004 Jeep Liberty. Over the weekend, my wife and I went and bought a 2007 Liberty (crazy discounts on it now) and are trading in the Jetta. The new one is a totally different color and is an upgraded model. I’ll drive the 2004 Liberty until May when we return it and then I'll get something used. I want her and Allie to be in the newer, safer car.

Now I see how this could happen though. At least one will be in the garage!

BTW............she's still getting a real Christmas present too. This is just a coincidence.

Who has time?

2006-12-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

So I've been busy as hell lately. They moved my desk temporarily at work (to face a corner) and now everyone can see what I'm doing. I normally would take a few minutes a day to read and write a blog at work, and now I can't do it as easily. I have some ideas in mind as to what to post about, but who has time? Apparently not me.

Anyway, don't feel neglected. I'll be back soon. In the mean time, check out my wife's blog. She posted about how we constantly quote movies at my house. I knew I liked her.........

Christmas Vacation - (1989)

2006-11-22T09:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, first of all, if you don't know this movie, I want you to go out back behind your house, find a large, sharp rock and smash your head open with it. If you happen to survive, I want you to never read this blog again!

I do my best to watch this movie every year over the Thanksgiving weekend and I avoid the TV airing of it since they cut out all the good parts. Basically this movie is the third in the National Lampoon's series featuring The Griswold's and their third different pair of actors as their kids, Rusty & Audrey. I think this movie is one the best one of the three with the original Vacation following a close second. There are parts of this movie that I love to quote, or just plain enjoy:

....but my favorite scene is when the dog is hacking on a bone under the table at dinner!! I don't know why, but about 30 seconds before that scene comes on, I start laughing. My wife looks at me like I'm crazy, but when the dog pukes, I lose control! Please tell me I'm not the only one that finds that funny!

Anyway, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

What a joke!

2006-11-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

So I just read that Axl and his buddies over at "Guns 'n Roses" cancelled a concert up in Maine. It wasn't cancelled because of his usual voice problems or anything. They backed out because they were not allowed to drink on stage! Come on guys! Suck it up! You can't go two fucking hours without a drink? What an ass! Am I alone on this?

Ozzfest

2006-11-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

I was watching a special about the 2005 Ozzfest tour last night. They were saying how it was the 10th anniversary. They had guests on like Rob Zombie, Slash, Zakk Wilde, and each of them were talking about how great it was to be on the same stage and bill as Ozzy and Black Sabbath. One of them (I think it was Zakk) even mentioned that he gives Ozzy a lot of credit with how well he performs and how he has kept his fan base for so long. A few of them even mentioned that Ozzfest was so big now, that Ozzy probably didn't even have to play every show and it would still draw a crowd, but he still comes out every night, and still sounds awesome.

It got me thinking about the last time I saw Ozzy in concert. It was on the “No More Tears” tour. (WOW!! 15 years ago!! ). He was very energetic and appreciative of the crowd coming out to see him. I noticed that at almost 60 years old, he still puts on a great show, much like he did when I saw him in the 80’s and early 90’s. He said that he hopes to still be doing this in another 10 years. I can only hope that at 60, I can run around like he does.

Ahhh........and extra hour

2006-10-30T13:02:00.000-05:00

I remember when switching from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time meant an extra hour of partying. It meant that that bars closed at the equivilant of 5am, instead of 4am. Or even on the off chance that I went home early, that I could sleep an extra hour before having to go to work at Shop-Rite the next morning. Either way, it was good.

Well here I am..............almost 34 years old and I tried to stay up an extra hour with my wife to finish watching Sleepy Hollow. Well, it was 11:15pm or so and we could barely keep our eyes open. We made it to the end of the movie and went to bed. Well, all I have to say is that staying up later was a dumb idea. You see, our one year old doesn't know (or care) that the clocks changed.

*jump ahead to 5:20am*

Allie - Mama? MAMA!?! DaDA!! DA-DA!! DADADADADADADA!!
Jenn - *looks at clock* What is she doing up so early?
Mike - *sigh* She thinks it's 6:30am.

Needless to say, I am not as young as I used to be.

You know what pisses me off?

2006-10-23T08:23:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning, after finishing my breakfast, my doorbell rings. As I'm walking to the door, I can see two homely looking women standing on my steps. I yell out, "Oh shit!! Jehovah's Witnesses" My wife immediately said, "BE NICE!!". So I answer the door: "Hello. We are here to spread God's word." They hand me a pamphlet which reads, "The End of False Religion is Near". So I say, "OK." and shut the door. They just turn and walk away. I felt like telling them, "Sure........why don't you come in. My wife and I are almost done making our porno with our neighbors." Apparently the same thing happened to one of my co-workers Saturday also!! WTF?!?! Was their some mass religious movement that I didn't know about?!?! Look, if I want to hear about you and your wacky beliefs, I'll go to your church. Until then, STAY OFF MY FUCKING PROPERTY!!!
While I was playing with my daughter and watching football (*points at all the Eagles fans* HA HA!!!!!), I saw a bunch of Lexus commercials come on with each of them boasting about how their new cars can parrallel park themselves!! Ummmm...........last time I checked, this was a major part of the driving test. If you can't perform this task, you shouldn't be driving!! Are we really becoming that lazy and unskilled of a society that we need our cars to park themselves?? This commercial made me not want to buy any Lexus (or Toyota) product now. I know they make quality cars and trucks, but seriously, what happens the first time this thing malfunctions and hits another car, or actually runs over someone?!?! Think McFly, THINK!!!!

I hate being it!!

2006-10-21T00:38:00.000-04:00

My wife tagged me to answer some of these typical chain letter type questions.................so before I get harrased to do it, here goes:

Three people who make me laugh:

Allie - How can a one year old not?!?! Especially when she's yours!!
Fuzz - If you read his blog, you'd know what I meant.
Anyone that makes an ass of themself!

Three things I can do:

Drive stick.
Make an ass of myself.........well.
Make a noise that sounds like an empty bottle when you blow on the top, but I don't need the bottle.

Three things I can't do:

Imagine my life without my wife and daughter
Not get freaked out everytime I fly.
See out of my right eye. Even with a contact in it. (OK technically I can, but it's real blurry and pretty useless!!)

Three things I'm doing right now:

Typing
Breathing
Pushing my cat away from my legs.

Three things I want to do before I die:

Go to Italy. (Yes Babe.........so do I)
Drive cross country in an RV and see every state.
Own a 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS

Three things I hate the most:

Leaves!!
Watching the Yankees lose!!!
The Boston Red Sox!!

Three things that scare me:

Something bad happening to Allie or Jenn.
That I will freak the fuck out when Allie is old enough to date!! (she cold totaly date someone like me, and that's not cool!!)
Flying (see above)

Three things I don't understand:

Korean
Hindu
Italian

(Yes I know that was cheesy, but to fucking bad!! I'm answering the damn questions here!!)

Three skills I'd like to learn:

Speak Italian (besides the curse words that already know)
How to build my own house.
How to ice skate (so I could take my daughter out in the winter without falling on my ass)

Three ways to describe my personality:

Outgoing
Funny
Caring

Three things I think you should listen to:

Your Spouse (or anyone in your life that you care about)
Your instincts. If you don't feel right doing something, you definately shouldn't.
Jimi Hendrix ("Just because your listening to him doesn't mean you're hearing him." - White Men Can't Jump).

Three things you should never listen to:

Anyone that thinks their opinions are the only opinions.
Opera (unless it's A Night at the Opera by Queen. Then it's ok)
Menudo

Three favorite foods:

Lasagne
Steak
Mashed Potatoes

Three beverages I drink regularly:

Coffee
Water
Orange Juice

Three shows I watch a lot:

How I Met Your Mother
The Sopranos
Big Brother

Three people I'm tagging to do this:

(I know she will never do it, and I hate tagging people)

Found some time

2006-10-20T08:24:00.000-04:00

So I finally found some time to post, and what happens?!?! It's my turn to post on Dad Said, Mom Said with my wife.

One thing I have to say is..............at least I don't have to hear all the Met fans talk about how great they are anymore! *prepares for Giants vs. Cowboys on Monday Night Football*

Cory Lidle: 1972-2006

2006-10-12T08:18:00.000-04:00

Rest in Peace Cory

A quick post

2006-10-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

I started my new job yesterday, so I won't have as much time to post for a little while. I wanted to just say a few quick things:

My daughter turned one year old on Saturday and her party went great. (see wife's post).
Got me new TV on Wednesday and it looks awesome!
FUCKING YANKEES!! GET SOME DAMN PITCHING GEORGE!!!!

That is all..........more to come as soon as possible.

Random answers

2006-10-06T09:12:00.000-04:00

OK, here's the answers to the Random Quotes. Click on the movie to hear the quote:

The Cannonball Run (I thought that because of the name of my blog, someone would have guessed this movie for at least one of the quotes)
Full Metal Jacket
Along Came Polly - (Good job Jenn)
Pulp Fiction - (You got it Bruce & Fred)
Blues Brothers

I may do this type of thing occasionally, just to shake things up a little.

BTW, tommorow is my daughter's 1st birthday. She's not allowed to get any older!!

Random quotes

2006-10-04T11:44:00.000-04:00

OK, since I don't know what to post about lately, I'll throw these random movie quotes out there and see who can answer them. Sorry no prizes, just the satisfaction of owning as much useless info as I do:

Boy, if we were Methodists...............oh what a shot we'd have at getting laid right here.
You are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing more than unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit.
I just sharted. I don't know what that means. I tried to fart and a little shit came out. I just sharted. Now let's go.
If I'm curt with you, it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this. So.... pretty please, with sugar on top... clean the fuckin' car.
One unused prophylactic................... one soiled.

Ready? GO!

So little to do, so much time!!

2006-10-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

Wait............scratch that. Reverse it. (What movie? Anyone?)

So the past few weeks have been crazy. My daughter has been sick on and off and now has an ear infection. The work around the house that I need/want to get done, never did, although I did repaint the red shutters and front door black. (I see a red door and I want it painted black!).

But the biggest news around my house is that I got a new job!! This is my last week at the insane asylum that I call work. As a going away present to myself, I ordered a 46" Hi-Def LCD TV!! It should come this week, so I will be able to watch football and the Yankees playoff games on my new wide screen TV!! (Did I ever mention that my wife is awesome!!) My commute to my new job will be 11 miles instead of 25, plus it's more money, so how could I say no!?!? The only downside is that I now have to pay for my cell phone (like everyone else in the world) which is fine with me since the phone and service I had before sucked!

Also, my daughter's birthday is Saturday, and her party is Sunday, so we have to get the house and the yard ready for 30 people (Down from the 80 on the original list. What were we crazy for thinking we were going to invite that many people?). Time to bake some ziti!! (or something).

That's pretty much all I got for now. Is it just me, or is everyone having a hard time coming up with things to blog about lately? Oh, BTW.............the Dad said, Mom said blog seems to be doing pretty well. It's not all about being a parent, but more about the issues that the mom's and dad's deal with when it comes to each other. So far, it's been kinda funny. You should chek it out.

Queensryche - House of Blues 9/23/06

2006-09-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

On September 23, 2006, Queensryche took the stage at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ and performed both Operation: Mindcrime albums back to back. As expected, the room went dark and the screen behind the stage began playing a cartoon that should be more than familiar to all Queensryche fans. Enter a whistling nurse walking down a hospital hallway and entering Nikki's room. The place went nuts as the band began playing Anarchy-X. Geoff Tate came out on stage wearing a leather jacket displaying the Mindcrime symbol and performed well, as I expected. His voice sounded great and he was hitting every note. He didn't scream as much as on the album, but when he did, it was spot on.

There was an actor portraying a young Nikki running around the stage with a bullhorn screaming, "HEY!! HEY!! LISTEN TO ME!!!" just as the band began playing "Speak". Mary (Pamela Moore) also was on stage dressed in a skimpy, black leather dress and began dancing around the stage seductively during "spreading the Disease". The video the shows Nikki walking into a church, a priest turning around just as he is shot. Nikki then slowly walks out to meet Mary. During "Suite Sister Mary", Geoff and Pamela (as Nikki and Mary) were singing to each other, acting out their emotions for everyone. Just before "The Needle Lies" began, young Nikki was back on stage speaking with Dr. X on the phone arguing and then eventually screaming, "I've had enough and I want out!!", with Dr. X's reply of, "You can't walk away now...............*evil laugh".

Then just before "Electric Requiem" began Mary was on stage alone. He phone rings and DR. X is on the other line. The crowd was a little loud at this point, so I couldn't hear everything clearly, but it sounded like Dr. X told Mary that Nikki was dead. She screams out how that can't be true. Then He tells her to go into a box that she has, take out the gun, put it in her mouth, and shoot herself. She does so, reluctantly, but with Nikki supposedly dead, she is distraught and pulls the trigger. Nikki shows up and finds her lying on the floor in her apartment and screams "Don't leave me.............here!" He hovers over her body momentarily, then grabs a bottle of alcohol, drinks some, pours the rest all over her, and lights the place on fire. This was a surprise to me as I thought Dr. X killed Mary himself, and never thought that Nikki burned her body!

Nikki then leaves and feels lost without knowing what to do. The screen shows the cops picking him up and begin interrogating him about the murders as the band plays "Breaking the Silence". Then "I Don't Believe in Love" is played the screen shows video of Nikki and Mary walking the streets together, just enjoying each other's company. The stage goes dark and Geoff sits on a sofa as "Waiting for 22" and "My Empty Room" plays in the background. He stand and screams just as the video for "Eyes of a Stranger" begins playing. A doctor and a nurse rush out on stage as Geoff is freaking out to put him in a straight jacket. He sings the whole song and out come the hospital staff again to put him in a wheel chair and push him off stage to the crowd going nuts.

*if anyone wants to take a bathroom break at this point, it might be a good idea*

After a 15 minute intermission, the band returns to perform Operation: Mindcrime II. There was much more theatrics the second half, with a lot of video playing on the screen. Beginning with Nikki (now always being played by Geoff) being released from prison. He then comes out on stage to perform "I'm American"& "One Foot in Hell". As "Hostage" begins, the screen displays "18 years earlier..........." and a judge and lawyers appear on stage and act out the courtroom battle that takes place in the song.

Nikki then walks around the streets of almost 20 years ago with a picture of Dr. X, asking people where they can find him. Finally, he knows where Dr. X is and the debate of what to do while"Speed of Light", "Signs Say Go" and "Re-Arrange You" are played ensues. Geoff exits the stage as the band plays "The Chase". The screen shows a semi transparent face of Ronnie James Dio singing his parts over what is a chase scene that involves Nikki on a motorcycle chasing Dr. X's limo around the city. The song ends with Nikki crashing is bike into the limo at full speed (which was a little unrealistic). Nikki then drags Dr. X down the street back to an apartment. Nikki is tortured as to what to do as he has Dr. X tied to a chair during "Murderer?" and he finally shoots him, to the delight of the crowd. The balance of the performance was Nikki not knowing what to do with his life now with Dr. X and Mary both dead. He debates killing himself in many different ways. Finally during "Fear City Slide", Geoff (Nikki) sits on the sofa, ties his arm off, sticks a needle in his vein and od's. Mary appears again during "All the Promises" and Nikki greets he on a stairway. The two embrace, happy that they are finally together, and coming to the realization that all they needed was each other and that their lives would have had a purpose if they were alive and together.

The band came out for a two song encore, which began with "Take Hold of the Flame" and ended with "Jet City Woman". You could tell that everyone wanted more, but the band bowed and departed to a screaming crowd. Overall it was a great show, but I had to wonder whether the rest of the band was really into the whole theatrical part of the show as much as Geoff was. Either way, as a Queensryche fan, I would recommend seeing this tour. It's something that probably won't happen again. For pictures and a review of the Nokia Theater Show, check out Theodore over at Metal Mixtape.

9th Straight Title!

2006-09-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

Last night the Yanks may have lost their final game against the Blue Jays, but when the Red Sox lost to the Twins, New York won their 9th straight AL East title. Some may say that they "backed" into the title, since they did not win last night to clinch the division, but when a team has an 11 game lead, and a 92 - 60 record with two weeks left to play, how can you really say they backed in? They proved that they could compete without guys like Matsui and Sheffield (who were injured early in the season), but instead with guys like Cano and Cabrera.

The Mets (the "other" New York team) also clinched their division two days ago, which of course has people in my office talking about another Subway Series. Only time will tell, but if it happens, it will be a better series than the one back in 2000 (which the Yankees won in five games).

Vegemite, huh?

2006-09-19T14:16:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid, my elementary school had the outgoing 6th graders do a play, or some sort of a show as a way for the entire class to participate and be a group for one last time. When we got to do our play, it was based on the book/movie, "Around the World in 80 Days", but ours was called "Around the World in 60 Minutes".

My part was to be one of the guys in Australia. The teachers were looking for some music from there, and I offered up my Men at Work - Business as Usual album and we used "Down Under". We had to do this stupid dance to the beat of the music (if you were here, I'd show you, but you're not, so you can't see me demonstrate). Anyway, when I got my record back, it was scratched! Of course, I'm anal about my records, tapes, CD's, DVD's etc, so I was a little annoyed about it. Of course when I showed the teacher, she said, "That's how you gave it to me." BULL-SHIT LADY! What was I gonna do? There was no proof, so I took it back, but was pissed at her for the rest of the year.

At 11 years old, I already knew that lending out my things was a bad idea.

"So take this number.........."

2006-09-18T12:49:00.000-04:00

"...........and welcome, to Operation: Mindcrime!"

This Saturday, I am going to see Queensryche at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ. Geoff and the boys will be performing Operation:Mindcrime I & II back to back in their entirety. I'm not in love with the second album, but I've seen them perform O:M I before and they're great! It should be awesome at such a small place.

There was supposed to be five of us going, but now one person can't make it. Anyone interested in one General Admision ticket?

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And now for something completely different - My wife and I have our first post on Dad Said, Mom Said. So far we're actually getting quite a few comments. She's very happy.

I'm the Dad! I'm right!

2006-09-12T14:00:00.000-04:00

So my wife came up with this idea to have Mom's and Dad's give their weekly opinions on a particular topic. They probably would not be the same, but what fun would it be if they actually agreed??

Every Friday over at Dad Said, Mom Said, one of the couples that she has recruited will go at it. Of course one week will be me and my wife. We don't argue much, so this could make things interesting around the house. Click here to see which couples are participating in this possible knock down, drag out brawl sessions! Issa & her husband Nick kick off the site with the first post.

Which one's Pink?

2006-09-07T14:11:00.000-04:00

In 1994, I had the opportunity to go and see Pink Floyd. Long story short, I skipped the show for a girl that I had been dating for about four years and as it turns out, we broke up that night. I never got to see them and I always was disappointed and annoyed about that.

*BITCH*

Anyway, fast forward 12 years.
My daughter got sick over the weekend (see my wife's post here for all details) and passed it along to both of us. I got tickets for the opening night of Roger Waters' US tour at the PNC Bank Arts Center for this past Wednesday night. I did not want to miss the show, but I did not feel well enough to go to work. As they day went on, I felt better and so did my wife, so we decided that I should go. Yes!! FINALLY!

The show was awesome. There are a lot of details about the show that are hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. Before the band came out, while people were still finding their seats, there was a video of an old 1940’s type radio sitting on a table with a full ashtray in front of it. Occasionally, you’d see a hand flick a cigarette into the ashtray and possibly even fill up a glass with Johnny Walker. As the show got closer to starting, the hand began changing the radio station, which in turn changed what we were all listening to.

When Waters came out, he opened with “In the Flesh”, not “In the Flesh?”. (I specify this for a reason that I will get to shortly.) They then played “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” & Shine on You Crazy Diamond” in tribute to Syd Barrett. Next was “Have a Cigar” and “Wish You Were Here”. Between Cigar and Wish You Were Here, the 1940’s radio appeared on the screen again and the hand changed the station in sync with the filler between the two songs. I thought it was cool. The only Roger Waters song that was played was a new song that was anti-war and political. About 1/3 of the cheered and the rest boo’d him. They the quicky went into the final song of the set, “Sheep” and out came the giant, floating pig balloon. Anyway, the reason I mentioned the “In the Flesh” thing is because the lyrics of that version say this:

Pink isn’t well,
He stayed back at the hotel.
They sent us along as a surrogate band,
We're gonna find out where you folks really stand.

…….and Have a Cigar Says this:

Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

I think this was Roger Waters’ way of saying, “HEY GILMORE! You don’t want to tour and perform Pink Floyd material, huh? Well I’m gonna do it alone then!” Just to kind of rub his nose in it. Of course I tend to read too much into things sometimes, so I could be way off base here.

After a 15 minute intermission, out came the whole band and they performed “Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety. I have to say that everyone sounded really good, but I’d like to give a lot of credit to the lead guitarist. He did a great job playing like Gilmore. Also, the back up singers were composed of three women, and one of them did an outstanding job on “The Great Gig in the Sky”. She hit every note perfectly. I wish I remembered their names, to give them proper credit.

The encore consisted of “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”, “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2”, “Vera”, “Bring the Boys Back Home” and Wrapping it up with “Comfortably Numb”. Overall it was an awesome show. I recommend it to anyone that is a Pink Floyd fan. I’m glad I didn’t miss this one.

School already?

2006-08-30T08:31:00.000-04:00

Before I start, I'd like to issue this warning: May not be suitable for people that are used to reading about me and my stupid obsession with movies, music, or my normal random complaints. Side effects may include, caring, opinion giving or just plain thinking about your own situation. Post responses or check with a significant other if any of these symptoms occur.

OK, so it's not really school, but since my wife went back to work last December, my daughter has been spending most days with my in-laws. They run a florist business out of their home, so they offered to watch Allie for us. It's been great having them watch her.

It gives them time alone with her to watch her grow
She is with family that we love and trust
It saved us a whole lot of money

But now, my in-laws are getting very busy with lots of weddings (which is great) and will continue to be for a while. It's just too much for anyone to work AND take care of a 10 month old at the same time. Believe me, on the occasion that I do get to work from home, I only get infront of the computer while she's sleeping. Needless to say, not much work gets done. So beginning one week from tomorrow, she will be going to day care two days per week. It's going to be hard. Allie has become very attached to my wife Jenn lately, and even cries a little when she gets dropped off at my in-laws.

I'm going to be doing the drop off and my wife will be doing the pick up from daycare. Our friend's mother works at the place that we're using, so that makes us feel better, but Allie is to old to be in the room where she works. It's a real nice, clean, secure place. I know it's good for her to interact with other kids more often than she does (occasional visits with her cousins and our friend's daughter), but knowing that she will be away from us and people that we've known our whole life is a little weird. I guess it will take some getting used to.

Hopefully, within the next year or so, Jenn and I will figure out a way for us to afford our house and have one of us stay home with Allie. But until one of us gets a major raise and we pay off our cars, we'll be doing the "North to pick up, South to drop off" (Mr. Mom reference) every Thusrday and Friday. I know that almost everyone that has kids deals with this, but this is my first time, so CUT ME SOME SLACK!

Announcer - "And now back to the movie of the week, "High Fidelity" starring John Cusack.

We're all a little looney

2006-08-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

After reading this post over at The Musings of David Amulet, it reminded me of how screwed up our society has become about "protecting" out kids from the dangers that they may encounter. Don't people realize that the more you hide things from people, especially kids, that they just want it more. Here's an example of a cartoon that ran about the dangers of drinking beer, but was pulled after being aired only once. Parts of it cracked me up. I think everyone needs to relax a little and not get so upset about everything.

Stop blaming the music!!

2006-08-23T08:25:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying that I am definitely not a fan of rap music, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. OK, now on with the post.

On the way in to work this morning, I heard something about how rap music is causing young kids to be more sexually active and causing a rise in teen pregnancy. *insert hysterical laughter* OK, wait............*regains composure*, you're telling me that rap music is making kids horny? HELLO!! Kids (especially boys) are ALWAYS HORNY and always want sex!!! The music has nothing to do with it. When I was a kid, (ok now I sound like a complaining old man shaking his finger at the world) rock music was the big thing. There were songs like "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Cherry Pie", "Slow and Easy", "Let's Put the X in Sex", and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and always very beautiful women in the videos writhing around on the hoods of cars, or having water poured all over them. I already knew what was hot, that I liked women, and wanted to have sex with all of them. I didn't need music to tell me that I should be horny. Music has been blamed for kids sexual activity since Elvis shook his pelvic bone around. Come on people.

My parents taught me what was right, wrong, disrespectful, etc, so I knew I had to control my urges (at least a little). The music I listened to had nothing to do with how I felt. What was Jimmy Swaggart's excuse for screwing Jessica Hahn?? I guess it's a good thing I don't go to church and listen to those hymns huh?

The river runs red with the Red Sox blood!!

2006-08-22T08:47:00.000-04:00

So, the biggest rivalry in sports adds another chapter to it's story. On Friday, the Yankees traveled up to Boston for a 5 game series, with a slim 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East. The first two games were a day/night double header. The Yanks took game one 12-4 and game two 14-11. I was happy that New York scored so many runs in both games. I thought, "OK, even if the Yanks lose the next three games, they will still have a 1/2 game lead in the East." Well............now that all is said and done, as everyone knows, the Yanks SWEPT the BoSox, winning all five games. David Ortiz even said after game 4 in an ESPN interview, "It's just not fair. These guys aren't messing around. They should have let us win today just to make it interesting." I litterally laughed out loud when I heard this. Big Poppy wasn't feeling so big then!

So now the Red Sox are 6 1/2 game behind the Yanks in the East, and are in 3rd place in the wild card 4 games behind the White Sox. It looks like they may not make the playoffs at all!

Who's crying now? -------------->

The pond would be better for you

2006-08-21T13:32:00.000-04:00

If you think you know where this post is going, you're probably right. Click here to read my wife's post about our shitty situation over the weekend.

Rock Concerts

2006-08-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

I have been to a lot of rock concerts in my life. Most of them were when I was between the ages of 15 and 22, but there are two that stick out in my head.

Whitesnake (1988) - I went to the Orange County Fair Grounds in NY (where I saw a lot of concerts) with a bunch of friends. Whitesnake was touring to support their self titled album. The Fair Grounds had their concerts set up on a dirt race track with the band in the infield and the general admission on the track itself. It was a pretty good place to see a show. Anyway, the concert is not what I specifically remember about that night. I know I ate something that didn't agree with me and I felt sick for the whole second half of the show. As we were walking thru the parking lot after the concert, I kept telling my friends that I felt like shit, but they kept saying I was being a pussy. Next thing I knew I was puking my guts out. The funny part was that I was leaning up against the front window to a pizza place projective vomitting in front of everyone eating. I remember looking up and seeing people eating.............stop...............look at me.............then all keep eating at the same time. It was just like when Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters is attacked by the "Vinz Clortho" beast in front of Tavern on the Green in Central Park. It craked us up later, because I didn't care that they were eating and they didn't care that I was throwing up!

Ozzy Osbourne (1991) - I saw Ozzy on the "No More Tours" tour in support of the No More Tears album at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. I remember how packed it was. Everyone was getting rowdy and pushing towards the stage. There was one row of people between me and the "pit" where security protected the stage. I think Ozzy had just finished playing "Mr. Crowley" and he looks out at the crowd........sees us all pushing and shoving trying to get at the stage, and proceeds to yell out (in his drunken British accent), "If you bastards want to get up on stage, you've got me bloody, fuckin' permission!!!" Well that's all we had to hear. You could see the look of panic on the security guards faces as they braced for thousands of people rushing the stage. A fight broke out about 10 feel from me between some fans and a security guard, so the guys in front of us ran over to help leaving a HUGE hole in front of us. A few of us started heaving people over the pit and onto the stage. After a few people I thought to myself, "What the fuck are you doing?!?! GET UP THERE!!" I jump up on stage and get to less than 5 feet from Ozzy. I put my hand in the air and start yelling. The next thing I knew, I felt hands on my shoulders and BAM! I was flying thru the air back into the crowd. I weighed about 150 pounds back then, so I was no match for the "Brut Squad" they had working there. I landed on some people and then we all fell on the floor. As dumb as it is, I can remember that like it happened last week.

Do you have any concert stories?

Why couldn't they just get along?

2006-08-16T12:15:00.000-04:00

In the late 70's The Police showed up on the music scene with Roxanne. Everytime I hear this song, it reminds me of 48 Hours with Eddie Murphy. He sits in a jail cell with headphones on screaming this song at the top of his lungs. Anyway, they had a few hits including "Message in a Bottle", "Don't Stand So Close to Me" & "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Then in 1983, Synchronicity was released and I was locked in as a fan of the Police at a tender young age of 11. I saw the videos for "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", and "Wrapped Around your Finger" often on MTV. The song that really sucked me in was "Synchronicity II". It was much heavier and raw than the other songs on the album. The video opened with Sting hanging from a pipe screaming with a background that could have been in Mad Max. It was a dark and erie song. I bought the album and listened to it from beginning to end over and over again. Each song I listened to was so different from the previous track withs songs like "O My God" followed by "Mother" (which I wish I could find as a ring tone for when my mom calls. I'm cheesy like that).

On side two (when there was a side two), were the three hits of "Every Breath", "King of Pain" and "Wrapped". The song that I always loved was the last one on the album, "Murder By Numbers". The music was so simple with just a drum beat and symbols opening the song with the base and guitar joining in half way thru the first verse. It was a mysterious song about how a murderer might think and how a president is also a murderer, but never gets his hands dirty or gets convicted and put in jail for the crime. It ends with Sting playing random base guitar notes..............then all three guys quietly give a sarcastic clap, as if to say, "It's over guys., We're done here. It's been hell working with you". This album is one of the main reasons why I got into rock music and I wish they didn't stop making music.

Gimme some sugar Baby

2006-08-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

I'm flipping thru the channels on TV last night and I came across this movie on Universal HD. All I'm going to say is "Klaatu, Verata, Niktu!". Anyone know what it is? My wife can't answer and I have a feeling Metal Mark will also know.

Last Action Hero - 1993

2006-08-08T16:44:00.000-04:00

Back in 1993 before he became Governor of Cali-forn-i-a, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a spoof on action movies called Last Action Hero. While the movie was slightly entertaining with quick references to other movies like Terminator, Basic Instinct and a subtle reference to Lethal Weapon, the real star of this movie is the soundtrack.

It features original songs by Megadeth, Queensryche, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, and Tesla, as well as a live version of Aerosmith's "Dream On". Most of the songs can't be found on any other album. For someone that is into hard rock like me, it's worth picking up.

Scaramouch?

2006-08-03T16:02:00.000-04:00

I remember when I was about 4 years old, my uncle bought me Queen - A Night at the Opera. As a kid, I thought that when they said, "Scaramouch, Scaramouch" in Bohemian Rhapsody it was the funniest thing.

One day when I was in pre-school, the teacher told us all to bring in our favorite song. Most kids walk in with "C is for Cookie" and Alvin and the Chipmunks which everyone was singing along with..............and then it was my turn. I was so excited to play it. My Mom even wrote, "Scaramouch" next to the song on the album cover so I knew which one to play. All I know is that was the first uncomfortable situation that I can remember in my life. It was six minutes of total silence. I remember bopping up and down to the music and looking around the room at all the kids blank stares. I'm surprised I didn't get sent home with a note to my parents.

Then in 1992 when Wayne's World came out, Bohemian Rhapsody was featured in the movie. I thought it was so funny that they were banging their heads to the real heavy part at the end since my friends and I used to do that too. Suddenly, everyone was doing it. The song was so different for the mid-70's and now it was part of this pop-culture phenomenon of the early 90's. I hated that.

FOAD!!

2006-08-02T13:04:00.000-04:00

I'd like to take a page from Fuzzbox over at Blugstuff and send out a huge FOAD (Fuck Off And Die) to the NJ Power and Light company. I came home yesterday at 6pm after picking up my daughter to find out that I have no power at my house. Outside temp 97 degrees and 100% humidity. Interior house temp - 82 degrees and rising. My neighbors said that it was out since 4pm. My wife showed up just after I did and we then decided to go to our friends house a few towns away to escape the heat.

I requested an automated call from them to my cell phone when power was restored. At 10:15pm, I get the call; I then proceed to confirm it by calling my house and waiting for the answering machine to pick up. COOL!! We have power. We then take my sleeping daughter, drive home, drive down a dark street, pull in the driveway, hit the remote garage opener.......NOTHING!! FUCK!! NO POWER AGAIN! Why call me if the power problem OBVIOUSLY hasn't been fixed!!! It came on at 12:15am this morning. I was told it was a faulty main fuse and wire. HELLO!!!! The power went out 2 weeks ago and we were told the same thing then!

So I'd like to send out a huge FOAD to whoever worked on it the last time and obviously didn't fix the fucking problem!

Three things today

2006-07-31T11:46:00.000-04:00

My wife and I went rafting this weekend again. All I can say is that if you ever decide to go rafting on a river, please make sure that it's a damn release weekend. The Delaware River was so low that there was almost o current. We had to row for about 11 of the 11.6 miles!!! With all the floods a few weeks back on this river, you'd think it would still be high, or at least moving, but it was a flat as glass!!
I won the Talk Shit contest! Thanks everyone.
Does anyone else get comments from "Anonymous" that appear to be automatically generated? They always say things like, "Great format. Check out this link." or "You might be interested in this" What the fuck is that? I'm sorry, but I enabled the word verification on my blog. Does anyone know if this will help prevent this?

Let's talk about shit baby!

2006-07-28T08:28:00.000-04:00

One of my daily reads Fuzzbox over at Blugstuff held a contest last week to see who could talk the most shit about three things: ice cream, baby kittens and masterbation. Of course I submitted my random thoughts and wouldn't you know, I'm a finalist! All the details as to why he even held this contest are listed on his site. Click here and vote for who you think is the best out of the three. Don't worry, if you think that one of the other two are better, I won't hold it against you. I'll just hurl a full garbage bag from my daughter's diaper pail at you and whoever is near you!

GET IN MY BELLY!!

2006-07-27T15:42:00.000-04:00

Has anyone seen the new DirecTV commercial where they do parodies of Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller, Bill Paxton in Twister, and Peyton Manning mid game talking about DirecTV? I love shit like this since it makes reference to movies. I'm cheesy like that. Well anyway, recently I keep seeing the one with Fat Bastard and Mini Me from Austin Powers.

All I keep saying all day today is "GET IN MY BELLY!! I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back.........." It cracks me up.

Used Cars

2006-07-24T10:58:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine is looking for an inexpensive used car to replace his old one that was the middle of a three car accident. We’ve been all over the place the past couple of weekends. Let me start off my saying that I used to sell cars a long time ago and worked for an auto manufacturer for almost 7 years, so I know all aspects of the industry.

Last week, we started by going to new car dealers and end up at a Nissan dealer, we get out of my car and before I even close the door to my car……….a salesman comes out of the showroom. We start walking around the lot trying to ignore him, but he’s our shadow. Finally we hear, “Hey guys, what kind of car are you looking for?” Both of us turn and explain the situation, price range and all. He says, “Well we have this Mitsubishi in the back. Let’s go take a look.” We walked back there and the car looks ok, but it’s locked and we can’t see the mileage. The salesman goes to get the keys and disappears for like 5 minutes. We start to walk back to the front of the lot and another salesman jumps on us. “What’s up guys? Let me help you find what you’re looking for.” We explain that Chris (or whoever) is already helping us. He walks away and 30 seconds later another guy comes out and tries to help us. WTF?!?!? We’ve got a salesman! Now were annoyed. Finally, Chris comes back out with the keys. We ask him how much the car is and he doesn’t know. Come on asshole! You were gone long enough to get all the info! So of course he wants us to follow him inside so he can find out. *sigh* Here we go………… He wants all of my friend’s info before he gets the price, this way he can bother us well after we leave. We’re being kind of short with him. The sales manager comes over and starts drilling us since the salesman is about to lose us because I’m giving him shit. I say, “Look, we’re not here to fuck around. We’ve been here for 20 minutes and no one can tell us how much the damn car is.” He finally tells us, we say, “OK, thanks.”.........and we walk out. Of course the two of them are following us the whole way trying to get us not to leave. We just get in the car and drive away. This repeated a couple of times throughout the day.

This past Saturday, we stopped by a Toyota dealer. Here it is, pouring rain, and there is a guy standing by the entrance stopping ever car that comes in. I put my window down and he says, “Hello. Service or Sales?” So I say, “Sales”. He then says, “OK, drive over to the left (*points*) and those two guys in the blue shirts will help you.” I put the window up and pull forward, I look at my friend and we both say “Fuck this place. They’re going to get us BEFORE I get out of the car?” So I do an immediate u-turn to leave and see that this guy is questioning people as they are trying to leave. There’s a line of cars three or four deep. Is he insane? So I drive around him going out thru the entrance and he looks at us in complete shock as we drive past him as if to say, “I don’t understand why they’re leaving?”

I love car shopping because I love cars. I know a lot about them mechanically and since I have professional experience in the industry, a lot of people ask me to go with them. I will never understand the high pressure tactics they use. Not every place we went was like this, and funny enough, the used car lots were the easiest to deal with. Needless to say, still no car…......

More than meets the eye.........savy?

2006-07-18T16:14:00.000-04:00

My wife and I got to spend a night alone….or at least a few hours to go to dinner and a movie on Friday. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. We enjoyed it, but as with most movies that are the middle of a trilogy, it felt incomplete. I do think that it was a good movie, and I enjoyed the fact that all of the same actors were in it (down to the most irrelevant character). I hate it when people are replaced and the studio just expects you to accept the new person in the old role.

Just as a point of reference, the latest issue of Rolling Stone confirms that Keith Richards will have a small role in the third installment of Pirates:

"............when filming of the second Pirates movie began. Pirates of the Caribbean III, due out next year, will begin filming in August, with a promised appearance by Richards himself, already nicely recovered, thank you, after falling out of a coconut tree in Fiji and undergoing surgery for a head injury. Says Depp, "I didn't have to talk him into it. I said, 'It's up to you, but I think we could have a ball."

As we sat in the theater, watching all of the trailers for the other new movies, some seemed like they could be cool……………but one became a bit laughable. If you saw the “teaser” for the movie Transformers, you’ll know what I mean. Go to the official website and pretend that you don't know it's for this movie. It begins looking like another Independence Day type of movie, but as soon as I saw what it was, it made me disinterested immediately.

Sorry Walt.........apparently you're wrong

2006-07-14T09:41:00.000-04:00

My daughter loves this new show on PBS called "It's A Big Big World". It's about a group of animals living in a rainforest. There's a frog, a fish, a bird, a turtle, an anteater, 2 monkeys and the main character is Snook the Sloth. It teaches them about all kinds of things in life. It's a great concept. She loves the songs and regardless of what she is doing, she stops...........turns...........and dances with a huge smile on her face. It's the cutest thing.

I am actually not posting about this because of how cute my daughter is, but because my wife and I decided that Snook is a definate stoner. He moves real slow, sleep a lot, and starts every with a little giggle and says, "Awww, hey..........". If you click here, it will bring you to the show's homepage and you can hear him talk. He even makes reference to "Enjoying the ride", which is metioned in the Grateful Dead song, "Hell in a Bucket".

I know this is a pointless post, but I wanted to share this with you.....

.........may the force be with you. Always.

2006-07-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

HBO was showing Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith last month and it got me thinking. The whole Saga and some of the story still doesn't make sense to me and leaves a few unanswered questions. I didn't notice these things so much when I saw it in the theater, but after watching it a bunch of times now, I've come up with these questions/statements:

Before I begin...................I'd like to day that whoever thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea should be taken out back, beaten to just before death, nursed back to health then shot in the face with a sawed off riffle at close range.

......................and now, on with the rambling list:

Episode I - The Phantom Menace was a good movie, but it moved along slowly. I understand that they needed to introduce a lot of characters and a huge story line, so I cut it a lot of slack.
Why did Darth Maul die so quickly? I thnk they should have made him more of a central character than Count Dooku. Maul was much more evil than Dooku. I think Dooku they should have told the part of the story where he was a part of the Jedi councel, then have everyone find out that he was a Sith Lord.
Since Episode III is so fresh in my head, I have to most questions about this one. How does the Jedi Councel not know that Anakin is married, or at the very least involved with Padme'? The most obvious clue should be that he isn't in the Jedi Temple every night! No one askes where he is or tries to find him?
I can understand that when Anakin has the preminitions about Padme' dying during child birth, he wants to do whatever needs to be done to save her life. My problem is with the scene where he stops Master Windu from killing Chancellor Palpatine, and then watches Windu be thrown out of the window by Palpatine. Anakin immediately regrets his decision and says, "What have I done?", then just bows to Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader. THEN he is just willing to go and kill all the Jedi (including the younglings as Yoda calls them) and does it with no emotion. This makes no sense to me. How can he go from regretting his decision of allowing the Chancellor to live, to helping him kill every single Jedi within a matter of three minutes? No remorse, no internal conflict. NOTHING!
The next scene shows Anakin running up to Padme', so happy to see her and explains to her that the Jedi are trying to take over control of the Senate. Anakin turns and see's Obi-Wan Kenobi walking off the ship and then yells at Padme' about how he's been betrayed by her, and immediately tries to kill her by using the death grip! He then proceeds have a LightSaber battle with Obi-Wan, with the intent on killing him. If his whole purpose for joining the "DarkSide" is to save Padme' from dying, why does he try to kill her? Once he thinks she's betrayed him and chokes her, why continue? This part bothers me.
Once Padme' has Luke and Leia, she just gives up and dies. As the droid says, "She's perfectly healthy.............but has lost the will to live". She just gave birth to two kids and she has no reason to live? Lame, lame, lame, lame, LAME!! (I wish I could find the sound clip form "The Incredibles")
I know that C3-PO's memory is erased, but R2-D2's isn't! Why doesn't he tell everyone about the babies and that Luke is Vader's son??!?!?
Lastly............Chewbacca obviously takes part in the clone war and meets Yoda. Once he and Han Solo pick up Luke and Obi-Wan in Episode IV, why doesn't he say to Han, "Hey, I've had experience with these Jedi's before."

That's all I can think of at the moment. Of course now I guess I'm being picky with those last two. I guess the story wouldn't work as well if those two questions were answered. Plus since Episodes IV, V and VI came first and that would have ruined the whole thing..............but I just felt the need to get them off my chest. Please don't think that I don't enjoy the whole Saga, because I do. I own the original three on VHS, bought them again when the Special Edition came out..................then all six on DVD.

Anyone else have more to add to this, or an explaination of any of my issues?

Kids love kids

2006-07-10T09:15:00.000-04:00

OK, I know the title of this post sounds odd, but keep reading. On Saturday, my wife and I went to my sister and brother-in-law's for a BBQ. My two nephews (8 and 6 years old), my niece (4 1/2 years old), as well as a bunch of other kids were there. When we arrived, all the kids came over to see my daughter (9 months). They were all in her face and touching her and trying to make her laugh. Questions all day were, "Can I hold her?" and "Can I push her around in the stroller?" When they weren't playing with her, she was watching them all playing games and jumping in one of those blow up jungle gyms.......just wanting to run over there and join them, which she can't do yet.............mostly because she can't even stand on her own yet.

Sunday was a family reunion for my wife's family. There were six babies there.........all under one year of age. All the older kids were doing the same thing as the day before, making noises, funny faces and all around having fun with the little ones.

I just think that it's funny how no matter what's going on, babies periodically stop all action.

Yup.........they ARE my brothers!

2006-07-05T08:31:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post about this for weeks now, so since it's fresh in my head, I'll do it now. I have two brothers that moved from NJ to California a few years ago. My brother Dan moved out there back over the July 4th weekend in 2000 (one hell of a road trip for us). He's into editing for TV and movie's, so that's the place for him to be. He recently edited Greetings from the Shore, a movie staring Paul Sorvino which is now in post-production. My other brother Ken moved out there about three years ago. He's a auto mechanic, and a damn good one too. Long story short, he was working at this place called GAS in Van Nuys, CA. I get this call from him a while back:

Me - "Hello?"
Ken - "Hey Mike, what's up?"
Me - "Hey Ken! How ya doin'?"
Ken - "Good. So listen..........you know that show on MTV Pimp My Ride?"
Me - "Sure, why? You got your Trans Am pimped?"
Ken - "No, I'm one of the tech's on the show."
Me - "NO SHIT!! COOL!"
Ken - "Yeah, just before I got a new job, they filmed about 7 or 8 shows and I'm in them."

The show is on Thursday's at 10pm Eastern and Pacific on MTV. He's the one installing the Turbo on the VW Thing in last week's episode.

So...............there you have it. My brother's are famous............and here I sit looking at spreadsheets all day. Now if only my brother-in-law could get a break like they did and get hooked up with a job in the NYC area in production.

And another thing...........

2006-07-03T11:27:00.000-04:00

............that pisses me off:

21. Working the Monday before a holiday when the Holiday is on a Tuesday!! (At least there was no traffic) FUCKERS!!!

20 things that piss me off

2006-06-28T13:58:00.000-04:00

My wife tagged me.............so here they are (in no particular order):

Traffic- Why does the flow of traffic always slow down when I go thru two particular towns on the highway on my way to work? Do people forget how to drive when they hit those towns?
When people complain about something over and over, but don’t ever try to change it. If you’re not going to do anything about it, shut the fuck up!!
Tolls on the Garden State Parkway – Just make me pay when I get on and when I get off………….not every seven miles!!!
People that stop walking and decide to carry on a conversation in the middle of a walkway. Move off to the side you assholes or I'll knock you over!!!
a. People that don’t wait until everyone that needs to get off an elevator does so before they try to push their sorry ass on!
b. ……….AND while you’re at it………………PERSONAL SPACE PEOPLE!!
Bands that keep making music long after they’ve already began sucking!! THIS MEANS YOU AEROSMITH! Every song you release sounds the same as the other nine on the album! Give it up! If you want to tour, play Back in the Saddle, Dream On and whip out your Big 10 Inch all you want …………but stop with the “Crazy” and the “Cryin’” and the “Amazing”. ENOUGH! YOU ARE DONE! They're not the only ones, but I can't go on with this forever!
Women that are 5 foot nothing, with one kid who feel the need to drive Chevy Suburbans!! WHY?!?! You can’t even see over the steering wheel! “But we want to be safe!” SHUT - UP!! You’d be safer if you had a vehicle that you could actually drive without a phonebook under your ass!! Maybe you wouldn’t hit as many things!!
People that don’t appreciate help when it’s given. They just expect to be helped. THEN when you don’t give it to them anymore, they complain about you and think you’re being a jerk. How about if they payed attention to what was being shown to you the last 27 times I showed you, then you wouldn't need my help you shitter!!
Any group of people that thinks they are better than everyone else, because of their race, sexual preference, religion, financial status, country of origin, etc. We all breathe the same air! Just because someone works the counter at McDonald’s doesn’t give anyone the right to treat them like shit! Chances are, the reason they are putting someone else down is because of their own insecurities! Either that, or their spouse controls them to no end and they have no power over anything else!!
My lack of work space! How can the powers that be where I work think that four people in a 12’ x 12’ space (one in each corner) is productive?!?! My desk is only 18" deep and my computer takes up most of it! We’re all right on top of each other and can’t say or do anything without the other three knowing about it! Not to mention the guy on the other side of the 3 foot wall is about four feet from me!! It’s a damn good thing the people around me are all cool. Even so, we get on each others nerves sometimes!!
Why do people try to make me feel bad for not letting them give my daughter cake and icing? When my wife and I want to feed her cake, we’ll do it! NOT YOU!!!!
People that don’t realize that when you are driving up a mountain that you need to plan ahead for it and not decide that you want to accelerate after you’ve driven ¼ mile up the hill already!! You’re already screwed, and so am I because I’m behind you!!
Anyone that flashes their lights at you for you to move out of their way, when there’s 16 other cars ahead of you! Where do they think they are going?!?! AND the asshole in the front of the line who is driving 56 miles per hour next to the guy in the right lane doing 55 ½ miles per hour! *HINT – IT’S THE LONG SKINNY PEDAL ON THE RIGHT!!! PRESS HARDER ON IT*
Why are the people in this country so obsessed with actors and other famous people!?!? When you see them in a store, leave them alone!!! All they’re trying to do is go to have a nice dinner with their family!! They don’t need a swarm of people around them! “Can I take my picture with you?”; “Can you sign this for me?”; “Oh my God, I love you!!” Shut up and leave them alone!!
People that gossip about other people all day long! Mind you business and shut your mouth! If it doesn’t concern you, stay out of it!
Illegal Immigrants – If you want to be here, fill out all the forms, pay taxes and then I you can have a say in what happens here. Until then, stop complaining about how it’s unfair that you are not treated equally and don’t have the same rights. YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE! If so many of you don’t like how things are where you're from, why don’t you try to change them? How do you think America became a country? By just doing what the Queen of England said? NO! Another thing……and this goes for everyone……if you love it here, take that damn flag off your hood! No one cares where you’re from! Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of my Italian heritage, but I’m not waving the flag in everyone’s face!
Chain emails!! Especially the ones that say “Send this out to at least 10 people and see what happens”. Here’s a clue……………do you know what happens after you send it? NOTHING! But if you keep sending them to me, THEN something will happen! I’m going to kick your ass!!
Met fans that suddenly have something to brag about. I am not a stereotypical Yankees fan………..I don’t walk around saying how great the Yanks are and how every other team sucks, so why do they feel the need to bring up every time the Yanks lose? Do I walk up to them and say, “So, how does it feel to not have won a World Championship in 20 years?” and “Now you guys know that just because his name is Matsui doesn’t mean he’s as good as Hideki.”? NO! So shut the fuck up!
People that do nothing with their lives but live off everyone around them. At least attempt to contribute to society! GET A JOB!!! ANYTHING!!!
Finally……………..there seems to be a lot of people that feel the need to kiss my daughter on the lips!! SHE’S NINE MONTHS OLD!! I know she’s freaking adorable, but keep your lips off hers! ESPECIALLY when you just had a cigarette!!!! Use your brain people!!

Now I need a cigarette.................thanks babe.

Cars, Cars, and more cars

2006-06-27T08:28:00.000-04:00

I decided that since I've posted about my family, movies and music previously, it was time to give another one of my passions a turn. One of my favorite things in the world (after my wife and daughter of course) is cars. I am a total freak with product knowledge. After high school I actually sold cars for about a year; Ford's Lincoln's, Mercury's, Pontiac's, Saab's, GMC trucks and...................YUGO'S!! Remember those? I had two different ones as demos. I beat the piss out of them. They handled like shit and weren't very comfortable, but when you're 19, they don't give you a brand new Saab 900 to drive around in! It was just cool for me to have access to my car and another one that I didn't have to pay for. Basically, I drove whichever one had more gas in it. My girlfriend at the time only got in the Yugo once, and that was because she has no other choice. She wasn't happy.

I also have a mechanics degree (which I never did anything with) and I worked for a major car manufacturer for almost seven years, which is where I met my wife (lets see if you can figure out which one by the cars I owned). That was cool. I also worked the Auto Show in NYC one year. So anyway that got me thinking about all the cars I've had. Get ready, here comes the list:

1982 Plymouth Horizon (automatic - white) - wrecked this one after 3 1/2 weeks; oops!
1980 Datsun 200SX coupe (5 speed - midnight blue) - was my dad's car for 10 years and I wrecked it after 10 days, and it wasn't even my fault!!
1984 Oldsmobile Firenza GT hatchback (auto - white)
1987 Nissan 200SX coupe (auto - red)
1995 Nissan 240SX SE (auto - maroon)
1994 Nissan Sentra XE 2 door (5 speed - gray)
1998 Volvo S70 T5 (high pressure turbo - 5 speed - blue)
1998 Volvo C70 coupe (high pressure turbo - auto - black)
2000 Volvo S70 (auto - dark blue)
2000 Volvo S70 SE (5 speed - white)
2000 Volvo C70 (high pressure turbo - 5 speed - dark blue) I loved this car!!!
2001 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 extended cab (5 speed - black)
2001 Ford Explorer Sport 4x4 (auto - maroon)
2004 Volkswagen Jetta GLS 1.8T (5 speed - gray)

My all time favorite car is a black 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS, 396ci, 4 speed. If you don't know what this car looks like, click on the Camaro link above, or simply watch the 80's movie "Better Off Dead". I have come to terms with the fact that I will never have one, but I can still dream. I have no idea what my next car will be, but it definitely has to be bigger than the Jetta. I think it's going to be a truck again since I live in the mountains and can't get up my driveway when it snows!

So here's my questions:

What was your first car?
What do you drive now?
Do you have a dream car?

Who had time off?

2006-06-26T13:11:00.000-04:00

So as I may have mentioned in the past, my in-laws are florists, and they had a huge wedding to deliver and set up on Saturday. They recruited my wife and I, along with my wife’s brother, cousin and his girlfriend. My wife goes into detail about this on her blog, so I won’t reiterate it. My day started at 6am when I woke up with the baby, left the house at 8:30am to go pick up the cargo van and didn't get home until 11:45pm. Needless to say, I’m sore. I give them a lot of credit for keeping the business going for about 30 years. It’s definitely not easy.

Sunday we went to my God-daughter Gia’s 1st birthday party. Of course it was raining, which everyone blamed on my wife and I. She was so cute. Of course we forgot our camera, so we missed getting shots of Allie and Gia playing with each other. Hopefully the other people there with cameras will share the pics so I can post them.

So all I can say is, can I have a day off now?

The Cannonball Run (1981)

2006-06-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

So as you may have noticed, my blog has a slightly different look. My wife and I (mostly my wife) updated the design. I found the movie clips and she input it all into HTML. (Thanks Babe. *kiss*). So, now that I have more of an obvious reference to the movie “The Cannonball Run”, I think it’s time to try to explain my obsession with this movie.

I never saw this movie in the theater when it came out in 1981………..I was only 8 ½ and had no idea this movie existed. Thanks to the magic of cable TV and HBO, I became a huge fan of this movie and have been quoting it ever since. (I actually have an audio tape somewhere of me and a chidhood friend quoting the movie before our voices changed). I have always loved cars and anything having to do with cars since I was a kid, so this movie fit me perfectly. It’s all about “driving fast, staying out of trouble and having a good cover”. The comedy in this movie is obvious to most people, but there are certain references that only a freak like me would catch. For example, there are multiple references to the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies. Another ironic thing in this movie is that the character that is trying to prevent this “Sea to Shining Sea Trophy Memorial Dash” goes by the name of Arthur J. Foyt (played by George Furth)…………..which of course shortened is A.J. Foyt, who is one of the most famous and best Indy and NASCAR drivers in history.

OK, ok……….back to the actual movie. J.J. McClure (Burt Reynolds) is a racer that is going to take part in this illegal race from Connecticut to California along with his sidekick Victor Prinzim (Dom DeLuise), who has an inferiority complex and turns into Captain Chaos whenever he feels threatened. J.J. likes Victor but hates Chaos although he needs him because he drives so well. They’re trying to figure out what kind of car to drive until the get into a boating accident that lands them in an ambulance. Once they see how fast they get thru the traffic, they know they’ve found their vehicle for the race. (The ambulance that they use in the movie actually was run in the real Cannonball by writer Brock Yates and director Hal Needham.)

Other characters in the movie are Fenderbaum (Sammy Davis Jr.) and Jamie Blake (Dean Martin). Both of them are drunks and decide that they should dress as priests to get out of tickets if they happen to get pulled over in their red Ferrari 308. Roger Moore also plays a character by the name of Seymour Goldfarb, Jr. He is obsessed with the James Bond character so much that he has done whatever possible to look and act like him. He then is mistaken as being George Hamilton (not in the movie) by one of his female counterparts that he picks up along the way. Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, Jack Elam, Jamie Farr, Jackie Chan, Farrah Fawcett and Adrienne Barbeau all have major characters in this movie. There are also cameos by Peter Fonda and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.

Long story short, they all race across the country pulling pranks to slow each other down. The winner ends up being two women in a black Lamborghini Countach, which always bothered me. They left before J.J. and Victor, but by them punching the time clock first makes them the winner. J.J. is right behind her when she does it but he left after her, so if he punched his ticket, his time would have been faster!! Of course that would mess up the whole ending of the movie, so I guess I'll let it slide. The bloopers are great at the end of this movie as well, so if you ever watch it, make sure to watch it thru the credits. There was a Cannonball Run II in 1984, but it was no where near as good as the original, although it was Dean Martin's last movie before he died.

OK..............as a final note, I can quote this movie from beginning to end...........all 96 minutes of it. Now that's I've admitted how much of a freak I am, are there any questions?

......back to work we go sigh

2006-06-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

So we're back from out trip to Ocean City, MD and we had a great time. It started off with lots of traffic on the NJ Turnpike. Some asshole got into an accident near Great Adventure (Six Flags) and caused 10 miles of this crap! Of course with us barely moving, Allie woke up and our friend Tara had to entertain her for over three hours in the car (thanks Tara!).

Once we got there it was really nice. Our condo was right on the beach.

We enjoyed watching Allie experience the beach for the first time.

We hung out at the bar, played cards, boogie boarded, and went to dinner on the boardwalk. We never did get to play golf.............Tropical Storm Alberto has other ideas for us the day we had it planned. I had to settle for mini golf the last day.

As always, it was way too short. Can we go back?

Hi-ho, Hi-ho.......

2006-06-09T08:52:00.000-04:00

............it's off on vacation we go. *whistles*

So I won't be posting for a week or so while my wife and I take a vacation with our daughter and some friends. No we're not going to Wally World.............but we're going to Ocean City, MD. Never been before, so it should be cool. We rented some condo's with a great view of the ocean. Hopefully Allie will sleep most of the way down in the car. Gonna play golf for the first time in at least four years, so I'm going to suck royally. I'm gonna sound like this most of the time.

Anyway, enjoy your week and I'll hopefully have some good stories when I return.

Only because she's my wife........

2006-06-05T13:18:00.000-04:00

OK, so my wife tagged me to do a "Three Favorite Things to Bring if you’re on a Deserted Island" type of post a week ago and she's been bugging me to do it. I'm not sure how I'm going to narrow it down on some of these, but here goes:

Books
OK, I don’t read. I get bored too easily. Can’t I just keep getting Motor Trend sent to me on this island? I guess I’ll just bring three books I can read to my daughter.

A Baker's Dozen by the One and Only Dr. Seuss
The Complete Tails of Winnie the Pooh
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit – She (and I) would have to read this before we were allowed to watch the LOTR Trilogy that my wife was bringing.

Movies
Now this is going to be tough…………………..I have so many movies that I love to watch (and quote), but which ones do I bring:

Cannonball Run (hence the name the blog) – I have to have my daughter understand what I’m talking about when I randomly quote this movie.
Star Wars (now I’m going to cheat and bring all six movies; so too bad)
The Godfather Trilogy – How could I not bring these movies?

Music
This also will be hard, because of my range in musical tastes. I think I’ll need a couple of different types so I can vary depending on my mood:

Led Zeppelin – Complete Studio Recordings (Ya gotta love box sets for situations like this). This set has every album that Zep ever released, plus “Hey, Hey What Can I do” as an added track on Coda.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon – I figure there will be something to smoke on the island………..I mean hell, if I’m gonna be there forever, I’m gonna have fun!
The Very Best of Frank Sinatra – I mean really………..how do you say no to Frank?

People
Now from what I am told, I can’t take my wife or Allie as people I’d take because by default, they would be there. So who would I bring?

My mom. There’s no way she’d be able to live without seeing her grand-daughter ever again.
My friend Matt. He and I could build or fix anything. Not to mention we have been friends since elementary school and he was the best man at my wedding. That alone should be enough reason to bring him.
The third person is hard………….I couldn’t bring any of my four siblings. It’s either all or none. Plus some of them have kids and significant others. I wouldn’t take them away from their families. I guess I’d say “Captain Jack Sparrow” from "Pirates of the Caribbean". OK, ok………….I know he’s fake, but he seems to find the rum and a way off the damn island everytime!!

Tagging
I hate tagging people, because I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to do this. I know that if I say Point, his fiancee' Jennster will make him do it, so then I'll tag her too; also Issa's World. I'm never a fan of chain emails, letters or that kind of thing, so please, don't feel obligated to do it.

I need a day off

2006-05-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I don’t want to repeat the same exact thing that my wife blogged about, so I’ll do my best. Get ready, this is a long one………..

The long weekend started off pretty well. Friday I left work an hour early, got home and then went to a friend’s house. We hung out and I helped him put a window A/C in his living room. – OK, so no problem so far.

Saturday my daughter Allie woke my wife and I woke up at about 4am because she is teething and her gums were bothering her. She’s been doing this for about a week. Did she go back to sleep??? No, that would just be silly. I went out at about 8am to get some cold cuts and bottled water so we could bring our lunch. Suddenly, my right eye began to itch, so I rubbed it a little and it got worse. So I must have then touched my left eye and all of a sudden both of them were burning……………and I mean B-U-R-N-I-N-G!!! I don’t know what the hell happened, but they both became bloodshot, and by bloodshot I mean, no whites at all!!! I got back home and Jenn was like, “So, what kind of cold cuts did you……….OH MY GOD!!!!! What the hell is up with your eyes!! I can’t even look at you!! MY eyes are tearing now…………..” So I take out my contacts to give my eyes a break. All I can figure is that I must have grabbed a shopping cart that had like dry raw meat juice on it or something and then touched my eyes.

My mother gets to our house to watch Allie for us at about 9:15am so that we would have plenty of time to get out to PA to go rafting at 12:45pm.

*ring* *ring* - “Hello. Hey Bill, what’s up? What *sigh* I don’t think we can make it by 11:45am. I’ll call you when we’re on our way. If we’re late, just go without us.”

CRAP! Jenn and I start rushing all over the house getting things together. Apparently the time got changed and the only guy that knew was the one that set the whole thing up!! We hop in my car and fly down the highway. We meet Bill and his wife Jeanmarie at a hotel off Rte 80 just over the Delaware River so we can take one car the rest of the way. We get a call while we’re in route from the guy that set up the trip. He says that the bus doesn’t leave until 12:20pm, so we should be ok. We had a great time………….13 miles on the river just enjoying the day. We get home and passed out at about 9:30pm. It was all good.

BTW..............Bill's cell phone ringer for his wife Jeanmarie is "Sit on My Face" from Monty Python. I proceeded to sing that over and over in my head the rest of the day.

Sunday Allie woke up at 6:30am …………….YES!! 6 fucking 30!!! I never thought I’d be so happy to wake up at 6:30am, on a long weekend. Jenn goes out to get McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches and hash browns *drool*. Everything is going well. Allie goes down for a nap at 9:30………..perfect. I throw a load of laundry in while Jenn is putting her down. After about 20 minutes of watching SportsCenter, I decide to go downstairs to clean the cats’ litterbox.

*gets up….goes downstairs* “SHIT!!!!”
“What?”
“There’s water all over the fucking floor again!!!”

(the basement flooded previously the day Allie was born due to a nasty rainstorm)

The damn drain hose from the machine got loose and dumped a full loads worth of water all over the carpet!! *goes in the garage, gets wet vac…………goes to neighbors house, borrows his also. Cut to wife and I wet vacuuming the floor for 2 hours.* Thank god Allie was sleeping. So I get that all cleaned up……..rig the hose, and then goes to take a shower. Went to a BBQ at 4pm and had a great time. Allie was very well behaved and was hamming it up for everyone. 11:30pm……………sleep.

Monday, we get up to go car shopping with my mother. She’s likes the Altima so we go and check it out for her. Long story short, everything was going well. My wife and I haggled for my mother (since we both used to work for a major auto manufacturer). The price is settled on and Jenn and I leave to go back to my mom’s so Jenn can feed the baby. I go back to the dealer after about 30 minutes while Allie takes a nap. I walk in to see my mother in the finance office signing everything………..I look at the price ant with taxes and license, it’s now $1,000 more than we were told it would be with everything. *UGH* I KNEW I SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT!* Anyway, I spoke to the sales manger and some of it taken care of. She loves the car, so that’s all that matters. Off to yet another BBQ to hang with another couple and their two boys (I was holding the 5 month and making him play air drums to Master of Puppets. He loved it. *takes a bow* thank you, thank you……..and other metal head is born).

Got home at 9pm…………put Allie to sleep……………….pass out.

Any questions?

It's heavy man

2006-05-26T10:11:00.000-04:00

So the past few nights between the Yankee games, American Idol (yes............my wife and I watched it) and taking care of the baby, I've been trying to watch "Heavy: The Story of Metal" on VH1. It's actually been very interesting to see how it evolved from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and how bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax hated the hair bands of the 80's. If you are interesed in this kind of stuff, you should try to watch it. Click Here for the TV schedule.

Man..........I'm boring.

2006-05-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

So I have to say that I give people a lot of credit for posting every day and coming up with interesting things to say. My wife usually posts about the baby; Metal Mark and Vicious & Delicious post about old and new rock music; Jennster and Becky post about their daily lives, but somehow they're usually funny as hell. Then there's me................Yankees, how my weekend was, yard work, and an occasional political based post.

I started this blog thinking that I'd have something to tell the world, but so far I haven't said much. As it is, I feel like this is a freaking diary!! I'm not 12 and never had one when I was!! How entertaining can I be when all that runs thru my head is "Gunga Gagunga".

Hopefully I will have some good stories after this Memorial Day weekend, (my wife and I are going rafting with some friends). If I don't, I may bag this whole blog thing.

Busy weekend

2006-05-22T16:26:00.000-04:00

So I want to begin by saying that my wife Jenn and I are sorry that we didn't get to meet Jennster and Point45 while they were here on the East coast for a wedding, but we had a busy weekend. We had a Christening of our friends daughter Saturday, followed by a party, she looked so cute (sorry girls, I forgot the camera, so no pics). Then on Sunday was our nephew's 6th birthday party, and we were there the whole day.

On a separate note..................I think the whole Subway Series thing (Mets vs.Yankees) among others (Astros vs. Rangers, etc) is getting old. I know that they seems to be selling out every game, but for me, as a fan..........it's boring now. The first few years were ok, but every year...........six times a year is too much. Truthfully, the whole interleague thing isn't any fun for me anymore either. If they want to do it once every few years, that's one thing, but to play so many games against teams that aren't in your league takes some of the mystery out of the post season. I think it's more fun to watch guys try to figure out the opposing pitchers and batters while the game is on. It shows more raw talent. BTW.............this has nothing to do with the Yankees (who btw have quite a few of their regulars on the DL) losing two of three to the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Yankee Stadium

2006-05-17T08:12:00.000-04:00

OK, so how awesome is my wife!?!?! Now everyone know's how big of a Yankee fan I am and how I think there's no better place to see a game then Yankee Staduim. Well...................she got me a staduim tour for our anniversary! I get to see the clubhouse and go in the dug out!

How great is she?!?!?

It was closed for renovations (1973) when I was very little and I never got to go to old Yankee Stadium. I want my daughter to be able to say she went to the house that Ruth built before they replace it in 2009.

Also...................how about that comeback last night??!?!?

In the first year......

2006-05-15T13:09:00.000-04:00

So my beautiful wife and I have been married for one year today. Over the past year, we got married, bought a house and had a beautiful daughter. We went thru a lot to be together, but it was all worth it because I would never want to be sharing my life with anyone else. She's a great wife and a wonderful mother..................and as far as I'm concerned, a better parent than I am. She is so understanding and patient, even when I get a little obsessive about dumb things (like cleaning up baby bottles before Allie is done with them). She understands me and the fact that most of the thoughts that run through my head are movie quotes. It is very fitting that it is raining today since it has rained during every major event in our lives. I know this sounds corney, but she is the love of my life and I wouldn't want to change a thing about her.

Happy Anniversary Babe.

Injuries in the outfield

2006-05-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

OK..........so now the Yankees lost another outfielder to injuries. Last week Gary Sheffield injured his left wrist in a collision with Shea Hillenbrand and is now on the DL. Now..............last night Hideki Matsui fractured his left wrist while attempting to catch a fly ball in the first inning. So now it will be Johnny Damon in centerfield, and then Bernie Williams, Bubby Crosby and Melky Cabrera will platoon and fill the other two spots. I have no problem with any of these guys in the field. They all play hard and make great plays (as demonstrated last night).

My only concern is that already there is talk of the Yankees looking outside of the organization for a new left fielder. WTF?!?!? Do we really need Torii Hunter, or Shannon Stewart? NO!! Let's use the damn farm system! Isn't that where guys like Jeter, Bernie, Pettitte, Mariano and Posada came from? Aren't the they the ones that were a part of the core teams that won 4 World Series in 5 years (1996, 1998-2000)? If Steinbrenner goes out and spends more money on guys that we don't need (aka: Jarod Wright, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown) I'm going to lose my mind!!! As a side note..............if you click here and then open the link that says "Crosby robs a homer" look in the stands at the guy in the black jacket and blue shirt. That's my buddy Matt!! Bastard didn't tell me he was going to the game!!!

OK............enough about the Yankees. On a happier note, I'd like to wish all the mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day. It is my wife's first and I am going to do my best to make sure she is taken care of all weekend.

Choices a parent needs to make

2006-05-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

So my daughter Allie just turned 7 months old over the weekend and my wife and I have been talking about what to do about a baptism and religion for her. She and I are both Roman Catholic (we're Italian so it's like a law or something), but neither of us practice. We both basically feel that the church as a lot of issues and needs to get into the 21st century. Also, we know that just because someone goes to church for 45 minutes per week, does not make them a better person, or give them the right to be an ass the other 6 days, 23 hours and 15 minutes of the week. Jenn and I think that we have pretty good values (ok, ok..........everyone has made some mistakes), so why can't we just teach our daughter what we feel is right and what is wrong? I feel that Allie needs some sort of religious direction, but is that because I have been brain washed into it or what?

Some friends of ours are having their daughter baptized in a couple of weeks, for which I am the Godfather and am very honored and grateful. The first thing I'm going to teach her is never to take sides against the family.

Jenn and I are probably going to get her baptized, but beyond that, I don't know. I'd like to show her what we know and what we've been taught. From there, let her make her own decision when she's old enough as to whether she wants to continue with it. Both Jenn and I have talked numerous times about changing religions, but we can't agree on one, so here we stay...............for now.

For God sake............some PERSONAL SPACE PEOPLE!!!

2006-05-05T12:03:00.000-04:00

OK, so I was just in the elevator in my office building and two other guys get in. One steps in, pushes his floor and stands right in front of me................I mean like RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!! The fucking elevator is about 5' x 7' and is plenty big enough for three people. WHY does this guy need to put his back to me and stand three fucking inches from my face?!?!? So immediately I say, "That's ok, it's not like I'm standing here!!" and I move over. He just looks at me and keeps speaking in his native tongue to his friend.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me. One guy stepped on my foot....TWICE........... and never acknowledged it. When I said something to him, I got looked up and down the guy he was talking to, then given a nasty look, like how dare I be under this guys feet. FUCK THEM!! I'm not prejudice, but this whole group of people seem to have a fucking problem with personal space and general consideration for the people around them!! I am refraining from saying what group this is since I need my paycheck and the company I work for is based in this country, but DAMN!!!

*deep breath*

Fuck this..................I'm taking a long lunch.

I love Spring...............sometimes

2006-05-04T09:11:00.000-04:00

OK............so I'm happy that it's getting warm out but I do have some things to say about Spring:

Good

I can enjoy my deck and back yard
No more snow
Short sleeves
Using the BBQ
Watch my cats freak out as all the animals run by outside
Enjoy seeing my daughter experience the warm weather for the first time
Yankees baseball!!! A-Rod finally did something good last night!

Bad

Pollon, allergies, etc
Cutting the lawn
Cleaning up the leaves I couldn't get to in the Fall
All the yellow crap from the trees all over my car!! (although I guess it's better than snow)
Being in a office all day when it's 80 degrees outside!
I have the urge to sit outside and smoke cigarettes and enjoy the weather

I guess that's my "Thirteen on Thursday" that some people do. It's just a coincidence, so don't expect me to do this every week. I'm not creative enough for that.

Gotta love Keith!

2006-05-02T14:01:00.000-04:00

This is hysterical! Watch Keith Richards as the fan comes at him on stage!

............and Jagger just keeps singing!! LOL................I love it!

Hey did anyone hear that Keith Richards fell out of a tree yesterday? THAT is almost as funny as the video. I mean, what the hell is he doing in a tree?!?

Two things today........

2006-05-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

First - The Yankees (13-10) are now in a mathematical tie for first place with the Boston Red Sox (14-11) as they head up to Boston for a quick two game series. THIS is how things are supposed to be. The Yanks on top and the Devil Rays at the bottom. All is right with the world again. As a side note, for those in the NY metro area and have the YES Network, there is a new Yankeeography on Tino Martinez (the most underrated first basemen in baseball over the past 20 years) tonight at 11pm after the game.

B - If my fucking cats don't stop fighting in the middle of the night and waking me and my wife up, I'm going to skin them alive!! Pictures to follow if it continues.

New CD's

2006-04-27T14:46:00.000-04:00

So the US mail just keeps bringing me more and more gifts. Last week I received my Queensryche and Dave Matthews tickets, then last night I got home and my new Godsmack and Staind CD were waiting for me.

As I listen more, I'll give more details on them. Until then, I'll read the "Poky Little Puppy" to my six month old which also came with my shipment from Amazon.

Welcome Back O & A!!

2006-04-25T08:17:00.000-04:00

So it finally happened................David Lee Roth was fired from CBS Radio after taking over for Howard Stern back in January. Opie and Anthony, have returned to terrestrial radio in his place after being fired from 102.7 WNEW four years ago for having a contest that dared people to have sex in public places. More points were given for the higher risk areas and one couple was arrested for having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC and almost immediately, O & A were off the air. They went to XM satellite radio a year and a half ago and will now broadcast from 6am to 9am on 92.3 FreeFM (formerly K-Rock) in Manhattan and the move the show to XM. People may remember them also for their "WOW" or Whip 'em Out Wednesday gimmick where anyone that had either a "WOW" bumpersticker or "WOW" on their vehicle somehow would have the potential to have women flash them as they drove by. Some old co-workers mounted a "WOW" sign on the back of my car one day without me knowing it and every women that pulled up next to me had a smile on their face as they looked over..............I guess waiting for me to gesture for them to flash me. I just thought I was having a good day and if I knew that sign was there, I would have!

I was never a big Stern fan so I definitely wasn't upset to see him go, but I knew that DLR would not be a good radio host because he tried to be to political..........and unlike Ted Nugent who is very outspoken with his views, Roth had no idea how to entertain people and still get his point across.

Opie and Anthony entertained me for years on my 45 minute drive home from work, and now they will be doing it again in the morning. All I can say is......WELCOME BACK!!!!