MoatesGarage

Friday, October 29, 2004

A tribute to my Dad....

So, today is my Dad's last day at his job. He's retiring after 32 years with his company, and I had the pleasure of going to his reception today during my lunch hour. My dad has a group of friends that we've always called his band of merry men. If you asked my dad, they're just people that work for him, or work with him. For several years now, he's had the same group of guys working for him. He's been their boss, and he didn't think it went much beyond that. Both of them spoke today at his reception, and it was probably the fourth time in my life I've seen my dad shed a tear. We'll call the one guy Big E, as he's almost seven feet tall (my Dad stands at maybe 5'4" at best) spoke. Big E said that he'd worked with Dad, and for Dad for years, and said they always got along, he always thought they were supposed to work together. He said that Dad's retirement had made him think a lot about their relationship over the years. His exact words were "Today, I'm losing a long time co-worker. But, I'll always have a friend - and he is my best friend." It was touching, especially to see my dad tear up when he realized he had some great friends. I missed his other good friend, but I noticed he was crying a bit too when he spoke. Then of course my dad had to speak, and he didn't say much as usual. This time, it was because he was trying to hold back the tears. Well, to my Dad - I wish him the very best in his retirement years. I'm sure he'll be the best at whatever it is he does. Not only has he been a hero to all of these guys he's worked with over the years, he's been a hero to me as well.

SUV's - aren't they just station wagons?

Perhaps I should stay away from this topic since I drive a Jeep. Some days, I'm glad to have a Jeep. When I'm stuck in traffic, and I can see where I need to be, and the random cell phone guy is blocking me, I can hop the curb and be on my way. I was leaving the Riverbend Festival one night a few years ago in my Jeep and there was a Honda CRV in front of me. I noticed that the two of us, not being in passenger cars, could cut up over this hill and bypass a lot of the traffic. We had to hop up over the sidewalk to do it, but I thought it could work. He agreed, and asked if he should use 4WD. I didn't think it would be necessary until we both realized that he didn't have the ground clearance to make it on the sidewalk. It would seem that the CRV desperately wants to be an SUV but isn't. Ever since then I've noticed that there are many Station Wagons out there that really want to be SUV's. Last night I was behind a Buick Rondezvous and I noticed that this thing sat just as high as my Jeep, but had less ground clearance than my wifes Mustang. What's the point? Seriously, it isn't going to get you out of a jam, you can probably haul more people, but if the weather turns bad, I imagine if the 4WD even works (I'm starting to think those are just stickers for decoration) you couldn't get anywhere in anything more than a light rain. We had some snow here a few years ago when I was waiting tables. Some kid in his Pathfinder was attempting to show us how he could climb the hill next to my parents neighborhood. I didn't follow him up because I knew what the consequences were going to be for this guy. A little less than halfway up, his car turned sideways and slid back down. After three attempts he'd drawn a crowd and we were all laughing. I went and got my friend Mike and drove him to work as well. We took the hard way just to see if the Jeep would do it. When we got home that night, the Pathfinder was still stuck in our neighborhood. We wrote "LOSER" in the snow on the windshield when we passed it. I guess I'm old school, but I think if you really want to get anywhere in bad weather or rough terrain, a Jeep is the only way to fly. These SUV's we have now are just station wagons with a higher roofline. Seriously, do you see off road Rondezvous clubs? Do you see Camp CRV? No. I can't wait until this trend dies.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Garbage day, and the mutant jumping ants.

Well, as with every Tuesday it's garbage day. Today I was outside washing the Jeep and doing some minor routine maintenance (gotta keep 35psi in all four tires to keep the gas mileage up) when he came by. As usual, he started to pull off while he still had the can in the air and then he saw me watching. So he stops, sets the can down, looks over and rolls his eyes then drives off. How nice. So, the good news is, no can in the ditch for the first time in weeks.

We were watching the end of The Life of David Gale last night. The end turned out to be good, so this concludes my movie review. I wouldn't buy it because it isn't something you'll watch over and over, but it's a good movie. Anyway, our house has always been plagued with these massive mutant ants. A call to the landlord after we moved in proved he'd always known about it. His solution was stuffing some ant killer in the screen door while we were gone. Nice. The neighbors have it worse than we do, and I think they've just accepted having them in the house. Well, these things are huge. The one I squashed last night could stretch the diameter of a quarter. For an ant, I think that's big. So he's walking down the armrest of the couch when I see him, as he's by my wifes head. I reach over to smash it and he literally jumps from the arm to the cushion. What the heck kind of ant can jump twice it's body lenght??? It had to be a mutant because I can't say I've ever had to hit an ant with a shoe three times to kill it. This wasn't a flip flop (though that should certainly do the job) so I was a bit shocked.

Anyway, we'll be moving soon so I hope the mutant ants don't hide out in our stuff - that would be bad.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Old Friends, new movies, shopping for furniture, and a prayer for the Hendrick family.

This weekend was great. My friends Jeff and Mary from Florida paid a suprise visit to the scenic city this weekend so we had the pleasure of meeting up with them for dinner on Saturday. It's always good to see an old friend, so I'm glad they had time to catch up with us. We are very much looking forward to heading down there and whipping up on them in some Trivial Pursuit and other board games over New Years Eve. Jeff and I are always in rare form when we are around each other, and time is always limited. However, it's always great to see my best friend and his wife.

As usual, the weekend movie update is here, and I will try very much to be less artistic in my reviews. This week we've got Murder by Numbers, and Femme Fatale. We watched Femme Fatale first, and I read some other reviews on it so I was curious. It came reccomended for people who like Oceans 11, and The Italian Job. Both of those are great movies. Femme Fatale has so many twists and turns, nobody knows whats going on. My wife and I kept trying to figure it out and we were unsuccessful. Then, just as I was about to give up, something else happened and it made sense. Personally, I would not recommend this movie to people who like The Italian Job, or Oceans 11. I would recommend it to people who like Wild Things (also a pretty decent movie) instead. Wild Things was a little less confusing, and probably a little better but this was okay. It was a very odd role for swimsuit model turned actress Rebecca Romijin Stamos, but I guess it proves she can act (though can't fake a French accent very well) better than other models turned actresses.

Now, Murder by Numbers was something I almost bought and now I'm glad I didn't. It wasn't bad, but it was one of the most predictable murder mystery movies I've seen to date. They made Sandra Bullock look old and I'm not sure how. She usually looks pretty good, though I'm not as big of a fan as some of my friends are, this was not her best movie. Hopefully she'll do something better soon or I'll be forced to buy Speed.

We spent the remainder of the weekend shopping for furniture and playing vegitarian softball. Okay, so it wasn't really vegitarian softball, but my wife has a friend that's Seventh Day Adventist and we played softball with her and some of her church friends. I'm not discriminating based on religion, but I have a few friends that are SDA and we always joke with them about being vegitarians. Shopping for furniture is like Chinese water torture to me. I can't stand furniture salespeople, and I've never understood why. We had this one lady that was ready to move in with us because she was a "design specialist" and could come decorate our entire home. That's just wonderful. I may not have the best tastes in the world, but I don't think I'm going to be living in a museum that someone else decorated. I'd rather hang my Nascar posters all over the place so at least I know it's my home.

Speaking of Nascar, there was a tragic loss this weekend at Martinsville. Nextel Cup car owner Rick Hendricks plane crashed just seven miles from the speedway taking the lives of his brother, his son, his two neices, his head engine builder, and some personal pilots of some other Nextel Cup drivers. I'm not a Hendrick fan, but I was saddened by their loss and certainly our thoughts and prayers are with them this week.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Physical Therapy, bumper stickers, and that guy on his cell phone in the left lane...

Well, today was day four. My physical therapist decided that because I was male I'm an egotistical maniac. She said this because the other day she hands me a pink weight to work out with. She of course refers to this as a Barbie weight - which is just about what it was, and it only weight one pound. No big deal, I've got to build strength around the damaged area of my arm and you have to start somewhere. So she asks me how I feel about working out with a pink weight, and I couldn't care less. She wanted to know if we had any free weights at home, and we do not. My wife and I had looked at them before we joined the Y, but unless it was something small (for a finger or forearm excersize), I wouldn't really work out with free weights at home. Then she tells me that I'm too proud to work out with small weights and I was mean to not buy my wife the weights she wanted. This makes me an ego-maniac. Of all the things I've been accused of being arrogant for - that's got to be the worst. It's not that I have a problem working out with light weights, or pink weights, unless I'm rehabilitating a muscle - I just don't have need. How many people do you see doing bicep curls or chest presses with one pound weights? Oh well, I'm done with therapy, but I'm not out of the woods yet.

I see this bumper sticker on my way to work today that was funny. It simply read "Welcome to America. NOW SPEAK ENGLISH." This was just funny to me. All the people I talk to from Canada or Mexico that refuse to speak English (knowing full well they can speak it fluently) should read this. Maybe I am an egotistical bastard, but I think if you're here, or need something from here - do it in our language. When we call outside of the US (at least here), we have someone that speaks that language. It's call courtesy. Perhaps I should learn to speak Arab so when John Kerry is running this country in to the ground, I'll be able to speak our new native language after he negotiates an unconditional surrender to the Taliban.

I wasn't running late this morning, but it still bothers me when you get one idiot that wants to drive five miles per hour under the speed limit in the left hand lane, and talk on his cell phone. Okay, in this day and age, people will always talk and drive and have no idea what's going on. Somehow, I feel they can do this in the left lane and not slow up traffic. This guy had no clue. I finally passed him, and then he decides he needs to speed up so no one can pass him. I make the pass anyway, and he decides it's a good idea to tailgate me. Okay, we've all read the story of David and Goliath, but seriously - if you're in a Pontiac Sunfire, why the heck would you tailgate a Jeep? The bumpers on this thing are lined with truck bedliner so they're almost impervious to damage. The last guy that tailgated and got close enough to hit me needs a new front bumper, and mine looks the same as it did minutes before he decided to hit it. So I figure, he's just being an ass and I speed up to about 10mph over the speed limit. He's still there. Knowing I can't outrun anything in my Jeep, I slow down to 5mph below the speed limit to return the favor. This infuriates him, so he gets closer. I decided this would be a good time to make sure the brakes are working properly...they are. The Sunfire attempted to hop the curb and got stuck. Funny, the people behind him didn't stop for him as they'd all tried to pass him with I did. He does roll down his window and give me the finger. Who is really at fault here? If he was in a hurry, he could have sped up, and not driven in the left lane that slow. Now, he's likely late and has a broken car. Another hard lesson learned I suppose.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Movie Review...sort of.

So, we attempted to watch "The Life of David Gale" last night. The movie was really good, and sucked you in pretty quick. The movie was great, and I was envisioning my review as the movie was rolling along. With 30 minutes to go, the DVD stopped working. So, I sent it back to Netflix knowing I won't get another one before my 30 day trial runs out. Nice. So anyway, the movie is captivating to this point and I can't wait to see the end.

Tommorow is my final day of physical therapy. Hopefully they'll reach some sort of verdict and I can get this stupid thing off my arm. I suppose another hour of my life gone, and more steroids in the arm and I'll be in debt up to my eyeballs.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Garbage Day

Well, we've been cleaning out the house anticipating a move so we threw away so much stuff this weekend that the garbage can was full to the lid. I'm certain by now it's all been emptied in the ditch by our house by either the mailman, or the garbage man. I'm somewhat tempted to go home at lunch and see where it is, but it's raining and I don't feel like driving that far in the rain.

Speaking of rain, I went to day three of physical therapy this morning and it looks like I'm making some small gains, but I'm getting there. Another heavy duty electric shock with some catabolic steroids and I was out the door. Again - it's raining, and I'm watching someone who shouldn't have a license (with a John Kerry sticker on his car) attempt to park in a simple parking space. I'm standing under the awning watching this guy, who just can't figure out how to get between the lines. I'm only watching because of course it's my car he's parking next to. Even in the rain, I park as far away from civilization as possible. This guy, apparently sees this as the only place to park. Sure enough, he swipes his brush guard across my fender flare. So, I confront him. He says he didn't do anything - which there was no damage so maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Well, I told him what I thought about his lack of consideration and he didn't seem to care. After an exchange of words he asked if I wanted to fight about it so I walked over to him. His response "I've got an appointment I'm late for, or else I would." I told him I didn't expect much else from a John Kerry supporter so I tore the bumper sticker off his truck and threw it at him. The onlookers thought it was pretty funny. By this time I was soaked so I went on about my day.

Well, the good news is we found a house. The better news is we close on Nov 18th. The bad news is - we have to pack! Oh well, I suppose I'll get all new garbage men, and mail men to argue with. I'll get to work out at the Y across town so I'll have all new people to deal with. Boy, won't this be fun?

Monday, October 18, 2004

Weekend Movie Update

Okay, so Netflix was nice enough to drop off a couple of movies for us this week. One of them was so bad, I don't even want to talk about it. The other two were Walking Tall, and About a Boy. I really really liked Walking Tall. It was short (almost too short), and had enough action, and storyline to keep you going. It was also based on a true story, so you can see that the plot line is somewhat true. Some of the Rock's other movies are a little far fetched (see The Rundown if you get really really bored), but this was good. Good enough to the point that I'm going to buy a copy rather than burn a copy of that one.

About a Boy I slept through a large part of it because I don't like Hugh Grant. I haven't liked him since he cheated on Elizabeth Hurley. I'm sure there is more to the story than I know, but I can't imagine someone dating Elizabeth Hurley and needing to pay someone for sex. I don't really see the need in paying for sex, but to each their own. You'd have to ask my wife her opinion on About a Boy. I would have watched it just because Rachel Weisz was in it, but the Hugh Grant factor was too much.

All in all, we had a good weekend. Auburn beat Arkansas 38-20, but my driver blew a tire and crashed after leading 250 laps so that sucked. Outside of the race, I can't complain.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Physical Therapy Day Two, and since we've been talking about hair...

So, I go in for my second appointment this morning and she's late as usual. They called to tell her I was there, and that I'd been there for a while. As it turns out, she was waiting to see if I was going to show up before she came over. Nice. Well, she didn't attempt to rip the hair off my arms this time, so we got along much better. She's having some personal problems, and for some reason thought I was the guy to air them to. I can't really add any insight to peoples problems that I can't relate t0 (hers was with her daughters school), nor can I really offer helpful advice so I just listened. She was hoping to isolate more of what my problem is, and now "she thinks" I have a torn bicep. Boy, that would explain a lot, but that would suck. Therapy sucks - I think next time I'm going to stay hurt.

While I was waiting this morning, I couldn't help but notice the people around me that had their own unique haircuts in the lobby. I would have to say that the mullet is by far the most timeless haircut ever. If you don't believe me, go to www.mulletjunky.com They have every mullet possible. I bring up the mullet because one of the guys waiting his turn in the lobby had a very very long one, and played with it non stop. This guy was for sure old enough to be my dad, and my dad just turned 56 so I think that's a little old to have a mullett. Not only did he have one, the full out butch woman next to him had one. It was almost like they were competeing for Mullet of the year or something. Seriously people, what makes someone want to grow a mullet? What mirror do you look in and go "The Mullet is the hairstyle for me! Business up front, party in the rear!" I can't imagine why anyone would choose this for anything other than a dare, or because you lost a bet with Satan when you were extremely drunk. Even still, I think the devil would find other ways to torture someone than with a mullet.

Well, I hope everyone has a good weekend. It looks like we're closing in on a house, so we'll keep you all updated.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

What languages do hair stylists speak?

So, I go this morning to get a haircut. I used to go see a girl my brother-in-law recommended because she was surgically enhanced. She has since moved locations and I can't find her, so I just go wherever is open. I was just curious what language this girl spoke, because it resembled english, but we were on two entirely different wave lengths. I've had bad haircuts before, and this is by far not the worst. I was just curious as to how "I'd like a hair cut, long on top, short on the sides," translates to "Please shave my head." I don't really have a shaved head, but it's aweful short. It's shorter than I've worn it in a very long time, and as usual the people at work are making fun of me by saying "Damn! Uh..Nice Haircut!" I'm sure women have this problem too as I've seen my sister come home from places looking like she lost a bet with Satan only to go straight to the shower and try to get rid of whatever they'd done to her hair. I was just curious if anyone else knew how to get what you want out of a haircut - because it seems I do not.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Physical Therapy Day One

So, due to my heavy tendon damage in my arm I'm in physical therapy. Every time I go to something like this, I remember exactly why I don't go to doctors offices. They suck, they ALWAYS make you wait, and they usually have no idea what's wrong with you. Today was no different. I got there early thinking this would be alright, I could get some things done around the house today, but was there an hour and a half. She worked my arm over pretty good, and when she left said she'd never seen anyones arm that had symptoms like mine. That's wonderful. Fantastic even. She used something to put a steroid shot in my arm, but it wasn't a shot. They used some electric thingy that took a few minutes, but had these huge sticky pads. For those of you that have not ever seen a picture of me - I have some really hairy arms. Well, I did until this morning anyway. She plastered one of these things on my forearm telling me how it was going to help my thumb. This pad was probably three or four inches long, and about two and a half inches wide. Everybody with me here? Hairy arms, huge sticky pad? Good. After she says thumb aloud, she realizes she's not working on my thumb, and I'm there for my elbow. So, without thinking, she rips this pad off as quick as she can. That hurt....bad. Her comment - "OOH! I forgot you had such hairy arms." My response - "Well, not anymore I don't." So she gets this treatment started and I get an ice pack as well. That ice felt so good, I didn't even know what to do. The ice pack was the coolest thing (no pun intended). It was gel, so while it was ice cold, it still formed around my arm and it was great. So I asked her "Hey, this is nice. Where did you get this?" Her response (and I kid you not) - "Over there in the freezer. It's supposed to be cold." Somehow that went way above her. She kept telling me that I had tennis elbow from playing racquet sports. I would probably agree with her, and this wouldn't be an issue. However, it's my left elbow that's injured and I'm right handed.

So, I've got three more appointments and then back to the doctors office. I did ask about my knee while I was there today, but she said she knew nothing about knees - she was an arm and a wrist person. So, my knee is still stiff, but I've got some stuff to help fix it - we think. I'm now sporting a great new tennis elbow brace for something that really isn't tennis elbow - we think. Oh well, maybe some of the DVD's I've ordered will be here soon and I'll feel somewhat better. I'm really starting to think that if they can't tell you what's wrong - they really shouldn't charge you.

We watched Hollywood Homocide last night with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. It was okay. I would reccomend you use a free rental to see it, as it's a pretty funny movie. I would give it three out of five because it's a little slow and a lot predictable.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

I bet Netflix thinks I'm a super dork.

So, I mentioned earlier that we joined Netflix. It's not so bad so far. I might even consider paying for a month or two of it after I get a DVD burner. I don't know how many Netflix fans we have, but they ask you to rate the movies that you've seen. As of today I've rated 650 movies. I had no idea I'd seen that many movies, nor did I think I would be able to rate that many in two weeks. I suppose if I turned this into a movie review blog, I'd potentially never run out of things to say. Amazon.com does the same thing, and they give you more reccomendations based on what you've rated. Today they had recomended Farenheit 9/11 and a 20X30 Pamela Anderson poster. They also have a link on the bottom of every product that says "Why did you send me this?" So I click both of them. Amazingly, people that rated Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Double Whammy (a movie with Denis Leary and Elizabeth Hurley) enjoyed both of those items as well. I can see kids surfing the net and clicking on a Pamela Anderson poster so that wasn't as big of a shock as Farenheit 9/11. I can't imagine how that movie relates to anything that I've rated. I should mention, other things I've rated are How to Rebuild Small Block Mopars, A Step By Step guide to restoring your 70-74 Cuda or Challenger, and as many movies as I could find like Star Wars, and Star Trek with some action flics in there. I would buy the poster but I'm certain my wife would never let me hang it anywhere in any part of a house that she also resides in. Hey...I did like Harry Potter, so why not a nice Pamela Anderson poster to go with it? I am kidding of course.

Anyway, we watched the house of Sand and Fog this weekend. I would reccomend you stay away from this movie unless you are just a big cinema person. This movie almost made me cry, and I only cried at the end of Gone in 60 Seconds when his brother gave him the car (chic movies don't make me cry really). It was well shot, well acted, and very moving. It's just a story that you wouldn't expect. I can see why Jennifer Connely was up for best actress, or won best actress for it. She's awesome in this movie, as well as Ben Kingsley. Kingsley always amazes me because he can be anyone. Good guy, bad guy, foreign guy - just name it. However, as much as I would say this is a good movie, I would have to recommend that you not see it unless you like sad stories.

I bet Netflix things I have the strangest tastes. Up next in our queue is About a Boy (for my wife), and Walking Tall (yeah, she doesn't want to see that one). I'll let you know more about those later.

Fall is finally here.

Well, we put the hard top on my Jeep last night, so fall is finally here. I was thinking about how much I hated this weather and I found myself driving 90 mph on the highway this morning. I had forgotten how easy my straight six of doom drives with a hard top on it. I don't know how many of you have driven or ridden in a Jeep, but a soft top Jeep is much like driving the tent around that you slept in at Summer Camp. Just picture that once you pass 30 mph your car deploys a parachute (or two or three) and that's what it feels like to drive a soft top Jeep. These crappy tops flap so much that you can't hear your own radio, and have been known to cause enough static electricity to make ones hair stand on end. Sadly I speak from experience. I remember the first three years I had this car people would look at me in the winter time and say "Man, I bet that things cold out here today." I usually came up with creative ways to answer, my favorite being "Don't be fooled - it is." The problem with the Jeep top is that it retains no heat, but does manage to hold seven gallons of water that dump out as soon as you open the drivers door. On a cold day, driving a dome tented Jeep sucks because it usually warms up as you get where you're going. It just seems to know how much heat to let escape until you pull into your work parking lot or driveway regardless of the mileage. Anyway, Jeeps are fun, but now that fall is here the solid roof is on, the gas mileage will get better, the drive to work is quicker and quieter, and somehow I imagine the seven gallons of water the soft top held will still find it's way into my lap on a rainy day.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Ever have that feeling you've done something wrong?

So, I wake up Sunday morning and start cleaning the house a little while I'm trying to get my wife up for church, and then I realize that I left the grille on at my cousins house the night before. We'd gone down to see him as a suprise for his 30th birthday (which went pretty well) and my wife and I ended up cooking hot dogs on the back porch. I woke up to the horror of thinking that after his birthday I'd burned down their new house. I called and left a message to let them know that I left the grille on. I didn't hear back from them so I called his mom today - lucky me, I didn't set their house on fire. It's just weird, the horror that rushes over you when you realize you've done something like that.

Speaking of houses, the wife and I think we've found a house. The problem is we both found a different house we like. We looked at a forclosure this weekend that I had high hopes about, but they're asking way too much. We'd probably never see our money back out of it, and it just didn't do that much for me once I saw it. Anyway, we're going to take a second look at both of them and see what happens.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Are you sure this isn't Monday?

So, I'm leaving to go to my doctor's appointment this morning. I despise the doctor's office. I'm leaving late because I stayed home too long. I don't get too far out of the neighborhood and a cop has some old lady pulled over. The lady made an attempt to get out of the road, but this stupid cop decided to block an entire lane of the road. Being an antagonist at this point on the morning, I decided to ask this particular officer (who was on his cell phone) why he opted to put his car in the middle of the street with every light he had blinking and flashing. He looked at me as if he didn't know how to answer so I said "Look, if this is to get attention, you could have done it out of the road and not stopped traffic. We can all see you, we know you're enforcing the law - now you've made us all late because of it." Upon hearing this he asked me to pull over which I said I didn't have time for. Turns out, he'd pulled this lady over for a broken tail light. He didn't come after me, mostly because he couldn't get me for anything, and probably because he knew I was right. He was being a bully and got called out on it.

So I make it to the doctor's office just as they're opening and start the wait. I have to be at work at 10, and I'm here at 8. By 8:30, I'm greeted by a nurse who hates people that takes my weight and my blood pressure. She also informs me that they don't see people this early and why was I here. Yesterday I made an appointment for 8 a.m. so I could be on time. She informed me that I did not call in, and I didn't know what I was talking about. This woman had the personality of a wet mop. They took X-rays and the whole nine yards. Everyone I met besides the doctor was rude, and they have me listed as a female patient. I had this problem last time. Nothing is humbling like hearing "How you are you today ma'am?" when a doctor walks in the room. Honestly, this really shouldn't be a question. I don't look, act, or dress feminine in any shape form or fashion.

I think they have a rule about how long you have to wait before you see a doctor when you're there. I was there for an hour and a half. People walked by, rolled their eyes, and generally didn't want to deal with me. The verdict - physical therapy twice a week because it seems I've done some pretty heavy damage to the tendons in my elbow. So I get some pain killers, physical therapy, and another doctors appointment in two weeks. Maybe then we'll start working on my knee.

If you're out at the movie theather this weekend, Ladder 49 is pretty good. We watched a bootleg copy of it the other night, and it was okay. If you're a girl, take some tissues - you'll cry. Every girl in the room cried the other night as it does have some sad parts. Overall, it wasn't too bad. I probably would have rather paid to see it, but this worked okay.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

When the heck did I get old???

So I decided a while ago that I was overweight and needed to do something about it. Yesterday morning I thought I'd get up and run a mile, and then walk with my mom for an hour like I usually do. I haven't lifted weights in about a month now because of this elbow thing I've had going on. Not sure what it's about, but I actually considered going to the doctor about it. This morning I went walking again with mom and I noticed that my knee was sore. I've never had any major sports injuries or anything through college or high school. Today I wake up and my knee hurts to walk on. What the heck is this about? I'm not even 30 yet! Sigh. I guess we all get old, but somehow I thought I could avoid it. I have to go now - I've got to make a doctor's appointment for my elbow - and now my knee as well.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Pimping your ride is catching on....

So, we were at Wal-Mart this weekend and we were returning some things so the wife did the shopping and I returned the movies that we got a better price on (Thank you Columbia House). On my way to meet up with her, I found a guy that had plastic spinners in his car. Knowing that I'm an evil bastard, I stopped to ask him where he found those. Proud of his new purchase, he showed be where they were. Now, not only can you pimp your ride at Auto Zone, but Wal-Mart is cashing in on that action as well. They had such a wide variety that making a choice on which ones to buy was hard. Sadly, I left them all there and the Jeep still has no spinners. I was pulling in to a gas station this morning and a guy pulls up in a late model Lexus - WITH PLASTIC SPINNERS! Why in God's name would you do this to a luxury car? Once again being an evil bastard, I decided to compliment this Mr. T clone (not making that up) on his plastic spinners and he informed me that he purchased them at Wal-Mart. Wonderful. I'm glad to know if I ever own a luxury car (not really my style, and I don't care for anything Lexus makes) I can put a $100 set of spinners on it from Wal-Mart. This guy took me seriously and wanted me to look at the disco ball he had hanging from the rear view mirror (a must for every truly pimped ride) and his leopard print steering wheel cover. Some days I don't know what the automotive industry is coming to. However, I'm glad to know we can keep it real and represent it on all fronts now. So, if you're out for pimping your ride, Wal-Mart now brings you the convenience of picking up groceries on your way.

Monday, October 04, 2004

So we joined Netflix

As if we don't have enough movies to watch already - I decided to take a free 30 day trial of netflix. It seems pretty cool. There is a relay center in Chattanooga so we get movies pretty quick. I probably won't keep it past the 30 day trial, but it got us three movies this weekend that we hadn't seen and were debating buying. We got Mean Girls, The Princess Bride, and Cold Mountain. I know, you're thinking this was a suckfest but it wasn't too bad. As my friend Chastity said, Mean Girls isn't that bad. Personally, I think Lindsey Lohan is hot and I'll never sing Jingle Bell Rock the same way again, but the movie probably would have been more enjoyable if I was a teenage girl. However, I'm not so this wasn't brand of motor oil. If you get the free 30 day trial of Netflix, rent this one because no one will see you picking it out in the video store. The movie gets a six, Lindsey Lohan gets a nine. My wife had never seen the Princess Bride which is a funny fairy tale type movie that I've liked since I was a kid, so I made her watch it. I think she liked it more than she lead on, so this movies scores a nine in my book as always. Cold Mountain we've yet to see. The in-laws wanted to see that so I rented it for them. I can't rate that one yet, but I'll keep you posted. I did get to watch most of The Punisher this weekend and it was awesome so far. As far as action movies go, it's a 10 to this point. Still have 30 minutes to go, but it's good like Payback with Mel Gibson (a classic revenge movie). I'll give the final rating (which I know you're all dying to get) once I finish.

Well, we didn't go to Talledega this weekend so that was kindof a bummer. However, I did get to drive a 70 year old Indy Car around town this weekend and that was way fun. Nothing like some ancient technology to put the wind in your face (no windshield) and a ring in your ears (a straight eight with no mufflers). If that had been a Chrysler product, I would have been in heaven. Well, I would have been more at home I suppose, but it was a great opportunity that I hope the owner knows I appreciated very much. It's not every day someone trusts you with that kind of car so I was blown away.

That's it for me today - enjoy what's left of your Monday.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Weekend Movie Update

Well, it looks like my Dad and I are going to be headed to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday's pre-race activities. My dad has a 1970 Plymouth Superbird that my grandfather drove to work in the early 70's before he died. The car since then has been in my dad's possession (he had four sisters that wanted nothing to do with it) and he restored it when I was a kid. They only made 1800 of the cars for street use, the legal limit to be raced on a Nascar Winston Cup track. Back then you actually had to race something that you could buy off the showroom floor - now it's totally different. Anyway, this weekend at 'Dega they're having an Aero Warrior Cars reunion. Briefly, this type of car is referred to as an aero car as Plymouth built it to run on Nascars longer tracks. The car was outlawed after that year because the other manufacturers couldn't keep up. Ford had the Talledega, Dodge had the Daytona, and Plymouth had the Superbird. I didn't mention Chevrolet because they didn't have a car that could compete - so they coaxed Nascar into outlawing the other cars. This year is the 35th Anniversary of the start of the Aero Wars of Nascar so they're letting all of the old Talledega's, Daytona's, and Superbirds take a parade lap before the race. Dad and I are still talking about doing this, but he isn't sure. We'll see how it goes, and I'll inform you on Monday.

Time for the weekend movie reviews. I watch enough movies that I'm sure I could do one of these every day for a year. If you've got any you're curious about, let me know and I'll give you an honest opinion. This weekends reviews are Hellboy, and Eurotrip. We'll start with Hellboy as I watched most of it first. I'd heard it was a good movie, and the previews made it look really good. Don't be fooled by the previews or positive reviews - this movie is not that great. I wouldn't say that it sucks, but it just isn't a good movie. I was going to buy it, but my wife vetoed that move so a good call for her. It just wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The plot was okay for an action flick, but it ended fairly corny like the Karate Kid movies so I was disappointed. Next we'll go to Eurotrip. It's a good flick - about as good as Road Trip if you like that sort of movie. This one was a little more sacriligious than Road Trip was as there were people having sex in a Confessional. That, I thought was a little too far, but it was funny to some. The best parts of the movie were the catchy song "Scotty Doesn't Know" and DVD extra's. The writers and producers bought a bootleg copy of the DVD three months before it was supposed to be released so they had a big thing about movie piracy. Of all the things I've seen against movie piracy - this one has been the best. They talked about how crappy the sound was, how crappy the video was, and how it sucked of someone to do that to them after they'd worked so hard on the movie. They said they decided to throw that in because people that want to watch movies that way can now. One of them even said "F*ck you pirate!" to close out their piracy rant. Personally, I can see their arguement. Somehow I wasn't sympathetic to the music people about this, but for the movie people I am. Anyway, I wouldn't go out of your way to check out either movie if you don't have to. Have a great weekend and we'll bring you a play-by-play of either the race or the house hunt on Monday!