Friday, December 29, 2006

James Brown is dead

Been an intensely busy few days. But good. The holidays are hectic and this year has turned it up to extra spicy. Went to see my bro on the 26th, which was an adventure. Had a good 60 minutes of sleep and then spent the whole day with my parents. Got home around 7 p.m. and immediately drove to Roanoke to hang with Mike, Shannon, Adam and Greg. Had a good time, but I'm lucky I didn't collapse on the drive home and hit a tree.

Lots of other stuff going on, but I don't feel like blogging about it.

In fantasy football news my hunt for the championship ended abruptly when Laverneus Coles dropped a fat deuce when I needed 12. Sad.

Also a moment of silence for the godfather of soul, the hardest working man in show business, the living legend,Mr. James Brown. The world is a less funky place without you.

Monday, December 25, 2006

The feats of strength

So it's all Christmas and whatnot. I should be in Fayetteville, NC, but we were unable to trek down as my Mom is suffering from the same virus that sidelined me last week. We're going tomorrow instead, which makes things difficult, but at least I'll get to hang with my bro, Kelly and Cameron. Of course, then I have to come back and ride to Roanoke to hang with Mike, Shannon and Adam. Gonna be a long day, but should be fun.

Yesterday, Mike, Shannon and myself rode up to Roanoke and found the one place open on Xmas Eve, Awful Arthur's. We had the traditional holiday calimari and beer. Well I did anyway. We had a good time. Low key and pleasant.

Anyway I'm off to kill some time and watch some NFL highlights. The games tonight decide whether I head into the Techmo Lucky Breaks Superbowl or consolation. It's neck and neck.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Guff reduction

My day off, woohoo. I sniffled and snuffled my way through the day. Got a below average haircut, love when they rush through it as fast as they can and go "That'll be $18." Also got my glasses fixed, which is something I've needed to do for about a year. Nice to not have metal scraping my nose. I should probably have my eyes checked and get new glasses, but don't wanna pay for em really. Bah.

Hooked up with Trip and Danny and we hung out. Sadly I let Trip school me at hockey and while we split at Tony Hawk Project 8, but clearly my skills are deficient in that game. He probably should've beaten me, I just used my old school voodoo to take a win.

I just watched Penn and Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour, which was Penn and Teller traveling to China, Egypt and India in search of old school street magicians. Interesting, but not great. Well, Penn and Teller are great, but it seemed like a lot of the time they were kinda disappointed by what they found. The Egyptian guy who "swallowed" a snake basically put a snake in his mouth and then let it crawl out. Not especially exciting.

Went to the library today also, to kill time and picked up Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side which is about left tackles. So far I'm a little over a chapter in and he's talked about Lawrence Taylor's crushing hit on Joe Theisman that put him out of the game and how Taylor went on to change both the dynamics of how the game is played and how players are paid. Pretty interesting stuff, for the die hard football fan.

Monday, December 18, 2006

In the black grip of pestilence

Now listening to: Xiu Xiu

So I'm still feeling sick. Stupid cold. My eyes all watery and nose runny. I swear it also keeps me from thinking straight, but I may just be getting dumber independently of the cold. I had to get the hell out of work ASAP and left fairly early because I felt like hammered ass. (I know you're wondering whether I mean a sexually assaulted ass or an ass that has been bludgeoned, but I'm not gonna tell you. Writer's prerogative.)

Now that I deleted about half of what I wrote initially and can't remember what I wrote, I'll just cram in some quick football notes and go to bed. First off, the Steelers are back to .500! Woo. We could still get into the playoffs... ok that's never gonna happen, but it's at least possible after the crappy start we had. We finish against Cincinnati and Baltimore, which means we got a long way to go before we can finish at .500 or better. Anything can happen tho.

Secondly, the Surly Caribou are playoff bound barring Adam Vinatieri breaking all sorts of kicking record tomorrow night. I'd like to take this moment to give a little shout out to Adam and The Vendetta. He's the odd man out in the playoffs. It was a valiant effort man, just not enough lucky breaks. I know you're rooting for me in the playoffs since you don't want A) Mike's shit-talking ass to win, B) Nick to repeat or C) the rookie (Kevin) to ride LT to a title. Probably gonna have Nick in the first round so I need some serious lucky breaks next week.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Words won't save your life

Now watching: Dead Man

I returned to work yesterday and it hadn't changed a bit. Not that it really mattered, as I had managed to stay as busy on vacation as I do at work. Lots of visiting with friends, which was good. As I've said in hte past, it's easy to feel lonely working the schedule and the job I do. Soo, when you get the chance to actually get out and see people, it's for the best that you do.

But now I'm back to being estranged from everyone and working. Alas.

I seem to have the sniffles, which sucks. I'm hoping it doesn't morph into something worse. It sucks bad enough as it is, what with the snuffling and dry throat all the time.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Bastards coated bastards with a bastard center

Well I made it home safe and sound after driving all damn afternoon. Whew, it's a haul. But it was worth it, we had a good time. The hockey game was fucking phenomenal! The Penguins went down 4-0 midway through the second period, but rallied back to tie it up in the third. Then held off the Caps, despite being short-handed to start the overtime. They finally won it in a shoot out. It was worth the trip. There were a ton of Pens fans in the house, which was cool. Rachel was less enthused about the ending than I was, being a Washington fan and all, but still had a good time. Loads of fun and a $7 beer, wooo!

Today I trekked back into bumfuck, with a brief pause in Roanoke for some final Xmas shopping and Red Palace. I swear I was near a chinese coma on the way home. Brutal.

Once I got home I unpacked, talked to Mom for a bit and then watched Closer, which was pretty good (foot massage). Lots of infidelity, emotional strain and innuendo. Natalie Portman is stunningly beautiful. Breathtaking. And she can act! The total package.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Always got room for a goon

Having a good time up here in Loudon County, the fastest growing county in the US (so sayeth Adam). I'm enjoying the sprawl. Yesterday was an orgy of football watching. Sadly the Surly Caribou are behind by a nigh-insurmountable amount now. I could come back, but it would take the hand of Zeus coming down and smiting the Rams offense.

We also enjoyed watching Dallas take it in the rear from the Saints. Small pleasures man. I think I'm hopping on the Saints bandwagon . They have to cool story, with the whole hurricane thing, and they are kinda black and gold. So the transition will be easy.

Getting psyched up to see some Penguins action. Just gotta figure out how to get there. Adam's still bitching about missing MNF for hockey. He can't appreciate the joy of a low scoring game. But c'mon, it's stick wielding guys, with blades on their feet slapping a piece of hard rubber at another guy's head. How can that be bad?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

I miss my mouse

Interesting couple of days. Friday, Jill and I went to my office party and had a good time. Not a good a time as Kevin, who was in the bag when we arrived, hehe. Not that he was alone mind you, plenty of drunken coworkers to be found that night.

Saturday I took the haul up to Leesburgh to visit Adam, which is a brutally long drive. I take a week off so I don't have to commute and end up driving more than normal. What can you do? Anyway, I'm actually up before noon today to watch football. So that's pretty much the whole day taken care of. Tomorrow I get to see the Penguins and Caps play, wooo. Gonna be fun, even if Adam is bemoaning the fact that we're watching hockey instead of Monday Night Football.

Now if I can manage to pull off a fantasy victory over Nick, my vacation will be even better.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Function is meaning

Now listening to: The Big Sleep

My vacation continues to be a flurry of activity, although I did get to slow down a tad on Wednesday and relax. I managed to clean my room and my desk a bit and then watched The DaVinci Code with the fam. It wasn't bad, about what I expected. Sometimes they went out of the way to explain things, but it's a Hollywood movie that wants to include every jackanape that can afford a seat in the theatre. But yeah, I'd say foot massage all told, although the book was better.

Thursday, I managed to sleep in, waking up several times and deciding it wasn't worth actually rising yet. After I finally did drag my ass out of bed, I got my oil changed so I don't have to sweat that when I trek to DC. After killing some time, I headed up to Kevin's pad and dined with him, Courtney and the Plaster daughters. We had a good time, between chatting, playing with the kids and watching the Steelers whomp the Browns (something that never gets old for me).

My only complaint was that it was friggin cold. The wind was blowing and, damn, it was ball-freezing, witches tit in a brass bra, nipple-cutting-glass cold. I gotta get me a nice winter coat and dig out my awesomely huge stocking cap. No idea where that thing is. Alas. I know us penguin types are supposed to like the cold, but we need to be prepared. When it goes from the 70s to buttcrack cold we are caught off guard.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Boondock Saints is the best movie ever!

Actually, no it's not. Not even close, but I'm fucking with Trip. He hates the Boondock Saints and claimed I'd like it just to annoy him. Which I might have done, if it wasn't so incredibly bad. It's like it was done on a dare. "I dare you to make a movie that tries way to hard to be like an ultracool gangster tip and falls flat on it's face." I think I'm pulling out a Mudbutt rating and it's been a while since I delved to those depths here.

Anyway besides watching a shitty movie, I did some more Xmas (I'm taking the Christ out of Christmas and I'm unapologetic about it.) shopping with Trip. I got most of it done, got a few people left, but the bulk is down. I need to slow down on the spending tho, it's getting ridiculous. And I still want an iPod, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon.

I think tomorrow I'm gonna try to do some domestic things and keep a low profile and maybe relax. I still gotta get my oil changed before I trek to NoVa. this weekend, but it'll keep for another day. I'm actually kinda stunned with how busy I've been. I think I'm gonna go and watch Lucio Fulci's Zombie now. Hope its good and not just slow and dull.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

I love Goblin Cock

Ugg, it's been a busy coupla days and it's my vacation! It started on Sunday when I roused early after very little sleep to go to Big Dave's funeral. Big Dave is my friend Jeff's father and was a really great guy. It's no secret that I'm usually fairly uncomfortable around people that I don't know that well, but Big Dave was so unassuming and fun he always just seemed like one of the guys to me. I'm gonna miss him. I hate that Jeff and his family have to deal with this type of thing, it's gotta be tough.

After the funeral, Trip, Kevin, Jill and I grabbed a bite and had a good time hanging out for a bit. Not the reason I'd like to see them, but it was still cool to hang. After that I hung out at Trip's for a while, he managed to get his manhood back by defeating me in hockey. I then came home and watched football and nodded for a while.

Today I rose fairly early (neighbor left his alarm on and apparently left the house) and Trip and I headed to Greensboro for some X-mas shopping. I spent too much money and ended up buying myself an external hard drive. I've been running low on space and thinking about getting one for a while. I saw a nice deal on a 160 gig so I splurged.

Anyway it was a long day of shopping. I think I ran Trip ragged. I just wanted to get as much out of the way as possible so I don't have to wade into the malls when the mobs really hit. I hate fighting huge crowds.

After returning, Trip and I watched Cars, which was ok. Pixar doesn't do bad work. My lack of interest in racing and unfettered hatred of Larry the Cable Guy tainted it somewhat, but I'd still say it deserves a foot massage. Ohh we also watched some of his music on demand stuff and I found the best band name ever, Goblin Cock. Ohh it brings me so much joy. I may try to find their cd on principle alone. Yes, I admit it, I love Goblin Cock.

Friday, December 01, 2006

She doesn't sound like a credible expert, does she?

Just watched Thank You For Smoking and man is that movie good. To make a character that literally bullshits nonstop about something that kills people and make that character completely likable is no small feat. I'm saying this is Filet Mignon, I really loved it.

I've been listening to lots of new music lately, spanning a broad, broad range. I got some nice metal, Isis being an interesting progressive metal band and Sunn O))), which is an interesting drone/ambient metal that offers something I haven't heard before. Got some Jawbreaker which is nice quasi-emo punk that is simply amazing.

Gogol Bordello is in the mix, which is really odd and describe themselves as gypsy punk, which seems to be as good a way to say it as any. An indie rock style band called Frog Eyes that I heard of because one of it's members is in Swan Lake with Dan Bejar of Destroyer and New Pornographers fame.

Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian band, which brings odd instrumentation and an indie sensibility. A slick Ghostface Killah album fills my rap needs with post-Wu Tang styles and it is piping hot. The new ... and you will know us by the trail of dead album is decent and I need to give it another listen. The Knife has some interesting abstract electronic sounds.

I'll finish with an artist that's a timeless classic, Tom Waits. I got his new three disc set, but haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. Too few hours in the day.