Nothing was on earlier, so I flipped it to a rerun of "Sex & The City." After about five minutes of that, I decided I'd rather do laundry. I weep for our future if the young women of today take their cues from that show.

It snowed enough this evening to make the roads slick. So slick that there were enough wrecks on I-80 to justify closing the Interstate from Seward up to Omaha. Glad I had the foresight to take the long way home.

One thing that really pisses me off about slick road conditions is the people in big trucks and SUVs who insist on driving like morons in those conditions. Yeah, it's great that they can get around, and fortunately I have enough friends that drive them to help me out when I can't get around (Mustangs are less than reliable in snowy weather). But it never fails that I see overturned SUVs and trucks that were going too damn fast for their own good on icy roads. Use some common sense. Four-wheel drive is not equivalent to invincibility.

Have you watched "The Boondocks" yet, as I instructed you? No? Well, you're only cheating yourself. The episode from this past weekend was particularly funny. Don't miss another episode.

On the other hand, I also watched a bit of Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo Bo Bo-bo. Thought I'd give it a chance. What a mistake that was. In this ep, Bo Bo or whatever the hell he calls himself beat up a guy who had ice cream for a head. Yeah, you read that correctly. I threw up in my mouth a little bit as I watched. It was that bad. Whoever created this show must've sold their soul to the devil to get that show on Cartoon Network. I don't know how else it happened. Hopefully I never have to meet the writers or artists for the show; I don't see how such an encounter wouldn't end in fisticuffs.

The Thanksgiving break has come and gone. Mine was good. I went home to my folks' house on Wednesday after work. After some of Mom's tasty spaghetti, I went to the bar downtown with Kirsten and Tom. I met up with Mike there, too. It was a pretty good time. I saw some people I hadn't really been in touch with since high school, and the drinks were cheaper than what I'm used to, too. The following day, we had Dad's side of the family over for the Thanksgiving feast. Man, that was good stuff. There isn't a bad cook in my family (at least, not in the previous generation). My uncle Mike brought some of his home brew. I wish I had snagged a few bottles to bring back here. I had a really good time. Everyone stuck around until late in the evening, so we had a lot of good conversation. My family likes to debate. Those wondering why I tend to raise my voice when I'm talking about various issues need only observe our family gatherings. It might sometimes appear that we're fighting, but we're not. It's just that traditionally, for us, the more correct your stance is, the louder you become. :)

Tom and Ross were both showing off their new iPod nanos. Those things are badass. I'd download a hellacious (or is that spelled "hellatious"? Maybe I just should've said "hellafide") amount of music with one. Uncle Mike had a new iPod with video, which was also sweet.

Early Friday morning, I went out hunting with Dad, my uncle Todd, Tom, Ross, Mike, Mike's brother, and one of his brother's friends. It was pretty cold with a bitter wind chill. Even so, we did quite well. I shot two pheasants, which is a day's limit. I think Dad may also have shot my first one at the same time. Todd mentioned that he thought he may have seen a couger in the distance at one point. They've been popping up a lot in Nebraska, as of late.

The second bird I shot was still alive when I got to it, so I had to break its neck. Naturally, I'd prefer that the birds would die right away when I shoot them, but that's not always possible. Often times, the dog will quickly finish them off upon retrieval; otherwise, it's important to kill the birds as quickly as you can to minimize their suffering. It's an interesting feeling, to say the least, when you end a life with your bare hands. Some people take pleasure in this. I surely don't; rather, I see it as one of grim responsibilities you take upon yourself when you choose to shoot an animal.

I know there may be folks out there who think this all sounds inhumane. You're entitled to that opinion. Personally, I think the hunt carries an inherant nobility, so long as one is respectful of the prey (especially predatory big game, which should be regarded as worthy adversaries) and the land. By my reckoning, this includes eating (and sharing) what you kill, preventing the spread of pests or animals that pose a threat to person or property, obtaining permission before hunting private property, and sparing endangered species. If you hold yourself to such standards, then you're bringing an end to your prey that is as natural as the jaws of another predator, sickness, old age, or harsh environment.

But I digress. Just wanted to make sure I didn't sound like a red-eyed, tooth-gnashing beast.

The rest of the long weekend was good, too. We decorated the tree at Mom and Dad's, and on my way back to my place, I listened to Christmas music. So, naturally, I'm really feeling the holiday spirit. I know this can be a stressful and demanding time of year for many people. But I hope y'all will take a moment here and there to slow down and appreciate some of the little things about the season, such as the music, the food (such as peppermint stick ice cream), and opportunities for fellowship with family, friends, and colleagues. If you find yourself in a time of plenty, maybe you'll take advantage of opportunities to help the less fortunate. You never know; it could be that the miracle someone out there has long been praying for will turn out to be you.

On Friday, Nebraska played Colorado at Boulder. Most Husker fans would tell you that they weren't optimistic going into that game. Boulder is traditionally a nasty place for the Huskers, and CU was favoured to win by at least two touchdowns. Before the game even started, the CU players were taunting and hurling insults at our guys from midfield. That was the wrong thing to do, I guess, because we destroyed them 30-3. Their humiliation was so complete that their fans experienced a meltdown and pelted the field with so much trash late in the game that two segments of the student sections had to be cleared out.

Finally, the Huskers and Bill Callahan gave us the sign we needed that things may well be back on track. It was the most satisfying game I've watched since we beat Oklahoma back in 2001.

Here are some good songs to listen to. My LAUNCH station played them earlier tonight. You should download them right now:

"Bodicea" by the Celtic Mystery Ensemble (Celtic Instrumental)
"L.A. Woman" by The Doors (Classic Rock)
"Nanaki" by Laika & The Cosmonauts (Instrumental Surf Rock)
"Escape (Electro Mix)" by ATB (Trance)
"Untitled" by Simple Plan (Modern Rock. This is the song with the video on MTV where a drunk guy gets in a wreck and hurts/kills a young lady.)

Mike hooked me up with some final pics from the football season. These were taken at the Nebraska-Kansas State game.


This is Ross, me, Tom, and Kirsten, finally together in a picture. For some reason, Mike thought we should stand with the beer-butt chickens we had cooking. So we did.


Here's the group pic from that game. I won't name everyone, but you'll find all the usual suspects. I don't know what Ross is pointing at. Probably nothing. He does that, sometimes.

You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't include a holiday-oriented pic.


So here's a comely young lass in a festive Mrs. Claus outfit. I'm hoping this look catches on during the season. If you just said "That's hot," you'd be right.

But I'm thinking of you ladies out there, too...


And therefore, I give you this pic of Terry Bradshaw. Because if history has taught us anything, it's that women love the Bradshaw.

However, and I don't mean to brag, I think I know a bit more about women than that. There is one guy that women love more than Terry Bradshaw.


And that's PGA colour commentator Gary McCord. Dig that handlebar 'stache!

No need to thank me, gals, but you're welcome nevertheless. ;)

I saw the new Harry Potter movie last night. It was good, but not great. I understand that omissions must be made to keep a movie under three hours, but even so, too much important stuff was left out.

Major League II is on right now. What a great movie. Bob Uecker is drunk throughout the whole thing. So is Randy Quaid. I didn't realize until just now, though, that Wesley Snipes didn't play Willie Mayes-Hayes in this one.

I went to the mall this weekend. They sure have churched that place up, what with all the recent renovations they've made. The foodcourt is about twice as big, and that's a good thing. Pizza from Sbarro is the bomb.

Anyway, it was way too crowded due to the state football championships going on here in town, so I kept the visit as brief as possible. I bought a few pairs of jeans, all of them a full four sizes smaller than the jeans I wore a year ago. I'll count that as a victory for me. :)

By the way, don't forget to hook up the Salvation Army ringers this year. I know this last year has provided us with ample opportunities for making donations, but every little bit helps. No, I'm not a volunteer for them or anything, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for those folks. (Contrary to popular belief, my heart isn't made entirely of stone. Just the majority of it.)

OK, the verdict is in on that new show based on the Boondocks comic strip: Drop whatever you're doing, go to your DVR or VCR, and set it to record Cartoon Network every Sunday night at 10p CST. Seriously. Right now. Go do it. Because that show is the funniest, smartest show since Sifl & Olly. And brother, that's saying something. My favorite segment of that show was "Precious Roy."

Precious Roy!
Precious Roy!
Makin' lotsa suckers
Outta girls an' boys!

Sifl & Olly...what a great show. Never did simple sock puppets say so much. Back when I was about 19, my grandma was recovering from surgery and had to go into the hospital twice a day to receive some IV meds. She wasn't supposed to drive at this point, so Dad would go with her in the morning, and I'd go with her in the evening. She'd receive the meds in an outpatient room with a television, and she'd always let me watch whatever I wanted because she'd bring a book with her. And thus, Grandma was subjected to glorious shows such as Beavis & Butt-Head and Sifl & Olly. Probably not a lot of grandsons who'd do that to their grandparents, now that I think about it. She's such a sweetheart; not once did she chide me for watching shows about poorly drawn morons and the comings and goings of sock puppets.


Rock!

Theo just got back to town with his new ride. It's a BMW; you may have heard of them. That is one sweet ride. It even has seat warmers.

I went up to Omaha on Friday night. Eric, Jason, and I met up with Brad & Beth and Ted & Kelly at Stir, the nightclub inside the Harrah's casino hotel. There was a decent band playing, but the crowd resembled a meat market, in the parlance of our times. Near the end of the night, several Husker football players showed up. It was plain funny watching some of the girls in the joint react to them. There were three blonde hotties who had been sitting on the side of the bar opposite of us who had been flirting with a group of guys for quite some time. All of a sudden, one of the girls noticed the football players and stares after them for a moment. Then she nudges her two friends, who followed suit. Before I knew it, the girls were sneaking away from the guys they had been talking to and just "casually" making their way over to the Husker guys. They were playing it pretty cool with those girls, though. It seemed like they were just trying to enjoy a night off from the rigors of the football season and didn't care to be pestered by groupies.

I know exactly how they felt; I have that problem all the time.

After leaving the club, a few of us decided to go into the casino for a while. It was then that I learned a valuable lesson about not wandering too far from the herd. I was just minding my own business, playing some video poker, when some skinny black guy comes and sits down at the machine next to me. He asked how to play the game, so I just gave him a quick rundown on poker rules. I figured that'd be the end of our conversation, but the guy kept on talking. At first I thought he was just talkative, but then it became increasingly apparent that the dude was hitting on me. I tried to get him to leave me alone as politely as I could, by explaining that I was there with my girlfriend (a lie) and a few of my red-blooded, hetero friends (truth). He still wouldn't go away, so I finished up the game I was playing as quickly as I could and told him I had to go and meet up with my friends. That was when the sick bastard blatantly tried to get me to follow him to the bathroom. I figured that a casino was probably the worst place to punch a guy, so I had to be content with telling him to f*** off and getting the hell away from him as quickly as I could. When I found my friends and told them what had just happened, one of the gals told me I should feel flattered. I, however, was too full of rage and disgust to feel anything else.


Seriously, how shameless can you get? I don't care if you're gay or straight; if you think so little of yourself that you'll whore yourself out to random strangers in a public place like that, you need professional help in a bad way. And you deserve every case of the clap that you get as a result of living your life like that, too.

Moving along, in Eva Longoria news, she hosted Saturday Night Live this last Saturday. There was a sketch near the end where she endorsed a diarrhea medicine. I was laughing my ass off at that one. There she was, in a nice, tight pair of jeans, expounding on the reasons why she just can't film sexy scenes on Desperate Housewives whilst holding back the squirts.


Here's a pic of Ms. Longoria, for the five people out there who don't know who she is. Now just picture that lovely face, talking about having diarrhea. Just going at it. You might deny it, but you know it makes you want to laugh.

Oh boy oh boy! It's a commercial for the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent! Every time I see one, I just can't help but be filled with an overwhelming sense of joy, well-being, and hope for a better tomorrow. Let's all raise our voices in song!

. . .

. . .

Sorry about that; I just had to mess with you a little bit. Don't get me wrong; I'm a big fan of the performing arts. But something about the music from that show makes me feel like I should saw my hand off, or at least hold it over an open fire.

Let's not talk about Rent anymore.

Eddie Guerrero, jr., the WWE wrestler, died this past weekend. He was 38. It's a shame. I remember seeing his match with Chris Jericho in Lincoln back when I was 18. Jericho was working the crowd, making fun of Nebraska. Eddie told him that he was going to give him "a Cornhusker style ass-kicking." The crowd went crazy. It was awesome, easily the most fun match of the night. At one point during the match, I ran down to ringside with a sign meant to taunt Jericho. Eddie saw it, laughed, pointed it out to Jericho, and gave me a friendly nod before using the distraction to attack. I remember how that made my whole night, and I was a fan of his from then on. He was a guy who had that rare ability to thrive in a business from which it is traditionally very tough to make a living. Vaya con Dios, Latino Heat.

Nebraska beat K-State this weekend. It was a fun game to watch and went right down to the wire. There were some ugly moments, but a lot of young players did a good job of stepping up when it mattered the most. And now we're bowl elligible. We won't go to a high profile bowl, but it's progress. We'll make it to the BCS soon enough. The Big Red will rise again.

And just like that, the season is over, as far as home games go. I can't believe how fast it has all gone by. It really bums me out. It's so hard to get so many of my favorite people together in one place, save for game day. Then again, I suppose none of us would appreciate it nearly as much if it lasted throughout the year. Ah well. There is plenty of fun stuff to do no matter what time of year it is.

The Hulk movie from a couple years ago is on. It flopped at the box office, but I liked it. The Incredible Hulk has always been one of my favorite comic book characters. I think I might pick up a copy of the video game "The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction." It lets you run around and break stuff as the Hulk. How cool is that?

Mike hooked me up with some pictures from tailgate parties throughout the season. Here are some good ones.


This is my brother Tom and his girlfriend, Lesa, before the season opener against Maine. I told you his face would show on this blog soon enough. Hopefully, before long, I'll have a pic of him along with myself, Kirsten, Tom, and Ross. He'll graduate from college this May, and will hopefully be finding a job here in town after that.


This is me with one of my best (and definitely the oldest) friends in the world, Matt, and his wife Renee. They flew up from Houston for the Texas Tech game. Both of them went to Texas A&M, but Matt remains a Husker fan. ;) It was a blast to have them up for the game. Hopefully we'll have a chance to get together again sooner rather than later. If nothing else, I'd like to go to the NU-aTm game next season.


Here I am with one my friends from work, Trista, and her friend Susan. They were both in town for the Pitt game. I don't think either of them had been to a Husker football game before, so it was my job to educate them regarding the traditions and customs that go along with gameday. I'm not sure how well the lesson set in, though. Trista still called me a nerd, which is of course the truth. I think they both had a good time, though.


Here is another of my oldest and best friends, Mike, and his wife, Jana. Mike is the orchestrator of our tailgate parties, and takes a lot of the pictures, too. He always does a good job of it, too. Jana, of course, keeps him in line. Heck, she keeps us all in line. I guess it comes with the territory. (She's a teacher.) Sometimes, she calls me "The Wise Old Oak Tree" because she thinks that my favorite mixed drinks (Tanqueray & tonic and gimlets) taste like trees. I guess maybe they kind of do.


Finally, here I partake in the time-honoured gameday tradition of smoking cigars with Ted, Mike, and Brad. Why, you ask? Because it's just what we felt like doing.

That's it for pictures tonight. I'm hoping to get a hold of some of my folks and some of the extended family, because they are way too underrepresented on this blog. So, Mom and Dad, brace yourselves, for pictures will be taken.

And now, I close with a haiku.

Daytime soaps are wack.
They are so terrible, but
Nothing else is on.

That old Street Fighter movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme in it was on earlier tonight. You know, the one based on the video game. Whoever wrote that piece of crap should be tried for crimes against humanity. I started bleeding out my eyes and ears as a result of watching. Strangely enough, Ming-Na Wen (Jing-Mei from ER) and Kylie Minogue were both in that movie. As hot as both of them are, nothing was going to stop that train wreck of a movie from sucking worse than any other flick in existence.

Eva Longoria continues to impress me. Is there anything she can't do?

My LAUNCHCast station will only play a bunch of teen-angsty crap tonight. It kinda pisses me off when it does that. I haven't been able to get the player to open at work for several weeks now, either. It's starting to drive me insane. The other day, that Cher song "If I Could Turn Back Time" was playing over the company muzak system. And before 10a, no less! It should be illegal for Cher's stuff to be played before noon. Otherwise, I lose my will to live. I'm sure the rest of you feel the same way.

At least they don't play Bjork.

Speaking of Bjork, several years back, some psychotic, obsessed fan of hers tried to kill her by mailing her an acid bomb. Then he painted up his face and killed himself so that they could be together in death. He videotaped the whole process, which they aired on television some time ago. I was sufficiently creeped out. And thankful, too, that my own stalkers and obsessed fans don't send me acid bombs via the postal service.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. The last couple weeks have been pretty busy, and I'm ready to answer the Call of the Bar. Especially one with an overcrowded, claustrophobia-inducing dance floor, flashing lights, and phat beats. And, most importantly, the hotties. The dance floor would be rather empty without them, after all.

Whoa, a preview of the Aeon Flux movie. It looks like it might be decent. Charlize Theron certainly makes for a hot Aeon. I still remember watching the Aeon Flux short 'toons on MTV's Liquid Television. I would've been 13 or 14 at the time. Besides Aeon, Liquid Television was also the progenitor of Beavis & Butt-Head. Oh, how I miss that show. It always made my folks cross when I'd watch it. I remember pushing them out the door to go for a walk late at night so that I could watch it without getting caught. :)

I didn't have to go into the office until noon today, so I went for a walk early this morning. It sure cooled down a lot. Right now, I think the temperature may even be in the 20's. I'm not complaining; this time of year is supposed to be chilly. It's invigorating, really. Then again, I have quite a lot of Viking blood in me, so that may explain things.


And now, I'll close with one more Halloween picture. Here I am with my sister, Kirsten, who is dressed as Tinkerbell. When you think about it, art is imitating life. After all, I'm sure Hunter S. Thompson had many chemically induced visions of Tinkerbell. It's a little-known fact that the journey to the heart of the American Dream is fraught with such things.

If you haven't already, you should check out some of the music by Joe Satriani. He does some killer electric guitar ballads. Most of it is instrumental only, so you can listen to it passively without getting caught up in lyrics. Seriously, rate some of his stuff on LAUNCHCast or wherever you get your tunes. Songs I recommend:

"Summer Song"
"Friends"
"Always With Me, Always With You"

The loss to Kansas this weekend really has some people down on the Husker program. I have to admit, it was disappointing. I'm sure that someone somewhere is burning Steve Pederson and Bill Callahan in effigy. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on either one yet, but the program does seem to be approaching critical mass. Coach Callahan will get one more year, at least. I'm fairly certain of that. Pederson isn't going to fire him as his own career at Nebraska is riding on Callahan's success. I'm really hoping that we can land some more big time recruits, especially offensive linemen. That's where it all starts. Even Tommie Frazier wouldn't have looked as good as he did without the legendary group of misanthropes he had blocking for him. It may also be time for Coach C. to make some changes to his staff. I can't remember where I read it, but it was pointed out that he was hired with only a few weeks to salvage a recruiting class. That forced him to assemble a staff in a pretty short amount of time. It could be that he'll want to assemble the kind of staff he wanted from the beginning. Like one that has a real secondary coach.

It's times like these when you find out who the die hards and bandwagon fans are. I was reading some posts on the Husker message board at ESPN.com, and there were about 40% more anti-Callahan trolls posting since the loss to KU. Of course, a lot of pro-Callahan trolls disappeared, too. Now the sentiment is that we'll never win because Callahan can't coach the college game, his system is too complicated, etc. etc. I wonder if they'd be singing the same tune had some crucial plays gone our way earlier in the season and enabled us to beat Texas Tech, Mizzou, and Oklahoma. We were very much in all those games; if LeKevin falls down, Nunn doesn't fumble, and Swift isn't overthrown, we likely win all three games. I still remember how people said Tom Osbourne had to go because he "couldn't win the big one, his system was outdated, etc. etc." Yet once his teams were dominating the 90's, all was forgotten. That's the adoring public for you. The W-L column is all they get; details are lost upon them.

Heh... that "Dragostea din Tei" song by O-Zone is playing. It's kinda lame, but I've always gotten a kick out of it ever since watching the video of this fat guy singing for his webcam. There were some pretty funny parodies of the video, too. Plus, they play it at clubs pretty frequently. That, of course, makes Nate want to go out and get his club on. Not that that should really be a surprise, although I usually don't hear the Call of the Bar until Wednesday.

Another kooky song you should check out is "Pumping Iron For Enya" by Atom & His Package. Twisted.

I'm sort of hungry right now. Shakes just aren't filling, but there isn't much else to eat around here. Right now I have:

--a little bit of hummus
--some whole-wheat tortillas
--a fifth of a small jar of natural, salt-free peanut butter
--two cans of campbells chicken noodle soup
--three cans of sodium free spinach
--three cans of sodium free cut green beans
--some slimy mushrooms
--eggs that expired over a month ago
--various health shake mixes

Guess I had better go grocery shopping this week.

Desperate Housewives is on right now. I've never much understood the appeal of that show, but I think I do now. Two words: Eva Longoria. She is spicy, spicy, spicy. Uber-spicy, even. If she was a President, she'd be, uh, Spicyham Lincoln. Teri Hatcher is hot, too. That red-headed gal creeps me out, though.


More pics from Halloween! This is me wailing on Brad's poor drums just as hard as I possibly can. I expect that I'll learn to play them for real soon enough. Right now, though, I make up for my lack of skill and experience with enthusiasm and unbridled rage.



Here I pose with Brad (as Peter Pan) and Robert (we'll call him a down-on-his-luck Vegas high-roller), Ted's dad. Ted's mom, Janice (as Cher) is in the background talking to Jenny, my friend Marc's wife and former member of the Lord of the Dance cast. The guy in the fatigues is Eric, cousin to Ted, ex-Marine, and my roommate, amongst other things.



Prior to heading to Brad's, Ted's mom took this quick pic. Starting at the left is Tim, our friend now safely returned to Kenya. His costume? "A guy from Kenya." Next is Ted's cousin Scott, as a Husker fan. Kelly, Ted's girlfriend, is dressed as used toilet paper. Ted, my roommate, is poo (also referred to as "crap," "dung," "foeces," etc.). Jason is the guy between Ted and Eric. (He's also our roommate. You gotta love that costume.) Finally, there I stand on the end, typewriter in hand. We were about to embark on a journey to the heart of the American dream, chock full of true grit.



This is Janice, Kristi (as Juliet, if I correctly recall), Jenny, and Beth, Brad's girlfriend (as Tinkerbell). Jeff, Brad's younger brother, is dressed as a pirate and rocking out on his electric guitar. I'm on the edge of this pic, still on the drums.

My weekend was good. I went back to F-Town for some hunting and relaxation. On Saturday morning, Mike and Brad came to town and hit the fields with Dad, Tom, Ross, my Uncle Todd, and myself. Brad brought his dog, Jackson, so that he could get some field experience and maybe learn a thing or two from Halle. Halle did real well, btw. She made some good points and was generally successful in retrieving. She also got the jump on a rabbit. Not really necessary, but I guess it doesn't hurt to keep her skills sharp. Too bad she hurt her paw early on and had to sit out the rest of the day's excursions. We all did pretty well; I succeeded in properly ventilating two or three roosters. I look forward to feasting upon them.

The most fun part of it, though, was just being out in the country, walking the fields and enjoying both the awesome weather and the good company.

I finally saw "Meet The Fockers" over the weekend. It was funny, but there were parts of it where I just felt like hiding. I also saw Catwoman and Garden State. Catwoman was every bit as terrible as the critics made it out to be, although Halle Berry did an excellent job of making me forget what an abomination the script was. Garden State was pretty good. I got a kick out of it, anyway.

Nebraska got creamed my Kansas yesterday. I'm not thrilled about it; it ended a streak of 36 consecutive wins against them. Still, I think the program is going to turn the corner soon. By this time next year, I think the past two seasons will just be an unpleasant memory. Next weekend we play Kansas State at home. It should be a very winnable game. If we win, we'll be bowl elligible. That's important. By the way, I really hate K-State.

Man, Grey's Anatomy is a really good show. Everybody should watch it. I don't find Sandra Oh particularly attractive, though. Which is strange, given my well-documented proclivities for Asian women. Anyway, I think Katherine Heigl is probably the hottest member of the cast. Yep. Good stuff.

Oh, I almost forgot. I had a really bizarre dream a couple nights ago. I was Spider-Man, except in plain clothes and noth the red and blue costume. I had been driving around with Ted and Mary Jane. (Spider-Man's girlfriend/wife, depending on the comic. She wasn't played by Kirsten Dunst in this dream, though.) For some reason, we crashed a party at some rich college guy's house. We ended up stealing his big screen hi-def TV and some other stuff and flooded the toilets with towels. I was using my super strength to run off with the TV, but they saw us and called the cops. We got away in the convertible we were driving, but when we stopped at a gas station for beverages, I was approached by a federal agent. Basically, he just wanted me to go to work for the CIA or something like that.

So, basically, I used my spider powers to steal some stuff from some guy's house with Ted, flood some toilets, and work for the government. I don't typically have Spider-Man dreams, as a rule, but I'd be lying if I said that it was the weirdest dream I ever had.

Here is a picture of my younger brother, Ross, myself, and my sister, Kirsten. It was taken at our tailgate party before the Texas Tech game. Tom is the missing sibling, but he'll show up on here soon enough.

Love stinks!!!

Not actually; once again, I'm listening to LAUNCHCast, and the first thing it played was that old song by the J. Geils Band. This particular time it was played from the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" soundtrack. I never saw that film, though I heard it wasn't terrible. How could it be, what with the formidible talents of the ubiquitous Angelina Jolie?

Next on the playlist..."Champagne Supernova" by Oasis. That song takes me back. Specifically, it takes me to my high school sophomore journalism class. I was 16 at the time. What a blast that was. I was in the class with a lot of good friends, learning the ropes so that we could take over the newspaper and yearbook the following year. I also remember learning to use a now-ancient version of Adobe Photoshop to distort images of people and leaving school to drive around selling ad space, go to Aaron's to play his sweet new Playstation, and searching for creative ways to be a menace. I'm pretty sure we started some fires; I was always carrying a lighter around with me back then.

Simpler times, those were.

Hmm. I didn't realize Laura Dern was in that old Mask movie. The rather melancholic one with a heartwarming moral lesson about looking inward for true beauty; not the one wherein Jim Carrey uses a mask imbued with the power of Loki to thwart Eric Roberts and try to score with Cameron Diaz. Anyway, Laura Dern was hot in Jurassic Park, as paleobotanists are wont to be.

Sam Eliot is a badass.

I'm looking forward to going home for the weekend. We're gonna tear up the fields this Saturday. It sounds like Halle has been going on some awesome points. She's a Weimeraner. Pretty much the best one there is. The best dog ever, really. Along with Bourbon. ;) I need to remember to pick up my hunting license before Saturday.

Ahh, now it's playing a good one...

18 and life, you got it
18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's
18 and life to go

I haven't been able to access my LAUNCH station at work lately. It's starting to drive me nuts, especially on those mornings when there are Cher songs playing on the company muzak system before 10a.

Oh, look, an Axe deodorant for men commercial. You know, if a guy actually sprayed that stuff all over himself as they do in the commercials, he'd smell like the male equivalent of a $2 hooker.

I lifted weights tonight for the first time since last Thursday. I don't like to go that long without exercise, as I generally end up feeling like a deflating balloon after about three days.

Wow, I was exceptionally random tonight. That's the way these things go, I guess. Have no fear, though; there will be stories to tell.

Have you ever had a blood flavoured Tootsie Pop? Because I think I just had one. Either that, or I cut my tongue on a sharp edge. Ouch.