Casualties Soar!!!

As this unprecedented war (B-Dub 1) continues the toll it takes on the fighting forces mounts. Already the evil axis has lost 13,524 bloodthirsty killers to their unriteous cause. Combined with the losses of CyberD and our own House of Dagromm that brings the total loss of life to 13,525. While his soldiers suffer and die the Q refuses to assist and instead spends his time hobnobbing at social functions.

Photo of Cemetary of Enemy Losses in This War

Photo of Cemetary of Combined Losses of Dagromm and CyberD

Why The Hell Didn't Anybody Tell Us About This???

Apparently there is a Q in Qatar too? Whatever Qatar is. Well that's fine we've already sent out a contingent of soldiers to discover whether any threat exists there. It's in the middle east so y'know there probably is. I'm not sayin'...I'm just sayin'. Odds are...

Allied Forces of Cyberman and Dagromm Break Through Vegas Lines

After much fighting, the expected happened and the Allied Forces of Good were able to break through the malicious combined forces of the Q and Gyuss to retake the city of Las Vegas. Unfortunately, it was too late to save the brothels in which the cowardly had taken refuge. All that was left was shallow graves filled with the bodies of the ladies that had been working at the time. This as all know is the mark of the Q.

The Stars Come Out In a Show of Support for Dagromm

Hollywood has spoken and they are showing unprecedented support for the War on Q. Activity is mounting as shows are being scheduled to entertain our fighting men and women overseas. Already slated are superstars Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Paulie Shore. Actress/Singer/War Advocate Jessica Simpson spoke to a crowd recently recanting her one encounter with the Q many years ago. She held back tears while giving a moving speech about the verbal and emotional abuse that he beset upon her. Then she also spoke to "the many atrocities that he has enacted on her likeness" on multiple occasions. She ended the speech signaling victory to rapturous applause.

The School for Combat Ready Evil Warriors for the Q (S.C.R.E.W. Q) faces diminishing numbers

Recent reports show that the tyrant is quickly losing favor with the people and his ability to recruit and train subservient lapdogs is at the brink of crisis. This picture shows a recent gathering of the despots trainees and the confusion that has become the "Corner". This is joyful news to the rest of the world with citizens around the globe celebrating and gloating. One cheerful man in Bahrain was heard to say, "Whose Bad?" and telling Q to, "just beat it". The people have spoken.

Spies Uncover Q's Plans for Army of Evil!

Recently undercover spies brought truly frightening pictures of Q's designs to construct an army of a diabolical nature. This computer generated simulation shows his plans outside of what is purported to be the "Corner of the Q". Already tacticians within the House have begun to devise counter strategies including the development of a super cannon.

Intelligence Reports on Q Stronghold

Thanks to the efforts of our international network of spies and informants we can now report that we are close to finding the exact position of the "Corner of the Q". Numerous tips have been received pointing out that the most well known Q in the world is in "Iraq". Upon further inspection of our various maps and globes we have confirmed that there is a Q in Iraq. Could this be a coincidence? Probably... NOT! Even now special forces are closing in. Q, your reign of vileness has come to an end!

The Q Brings Children Into The Battle

Proving what a scurrilous scoundrel he actually is the Q has started forcing children to try to wage his war. Reports are that Q has threatened to assassinate Santa Clause if the children did not take arms for his diabolical cause. Already the streets are lined with children mourning the promised execution that Q has brought upon them.

Update From the Front Lines
Soldiers laughingly say, "Q's Army Is a Joke"

Imbedded reporters with a division of The House's First Infantry say that spirits are high as soldiers find their opposition to be woefully outmatched. First Lieutenant D. Dutch says that, "apparently if they're not pushing around little girls for their lunchmoney or senior citizens for their retirement they're not too tough. Ha ha. Seriously, I'm not even sure they know how to use those guns". Even with the unprecedented success of the first few hours no one is getting over confident. They know that the Q's rise to such heights of evil does not allow for them to take the matter lightly.

Ground Troops Are Closing In On The Nefarious Q HQ

Early reports show that ground troops and scouts have been extremely successful in taking out Q cells in their many forms and hiding places. The extensive mission is covering every dark wooded forest, Godforsaken swamp, and under every slimey rock for the perpetrator of these serious crimes. Our highly trained soldiers are more than willing to go the distance to see this evil undone.

It Has Begun!

In the time it has taken for the world to react to the oppressive regime of the Q countless people have been victimized to suit his evil pleasure. The House of Dagromm will stand for it no longer. Even now troops are being mobilized to take immediate action. The Speaker of the House of Dagromm in a statement to media today said, "We vow to seek out the perpetrator of these crimes against the world. We will hunt him down no matter where he hides. Q, justice is coming for you, and it's coming with a vengeance".

Preparations Are Being Made

Consider this a warning to the entire Blog World that we are stockpiling supplies and preparing ourselves for a long overdue Blog War with the Q. After his most recent usurpation of the creative rights to the term "Blogment" we at the House feel this is our only recourse. Even now warehouses are being filled with Blogaganda materials that will be distributed should the Q not come to his senses. It will not be pretty and he has been warned that no amount of UN pressure will stop us from seeking justice.

Secret Santa

I tried to tell CyberD about this over the phone yesterday, but his network hates him so much that we continuously got dropped. After about a half dozen times we gave up and I drove my car into a retaining wall. I was trying to relate to him the conversation my wife and I had just had that I thought was funny, but she did not.







Mrs. Dagromm: We're doing a secret santa at the office and I have to go out and find something to get for $20. Any ideas?

Me: Why don't you get a bra?

Mrs. Dagromm: Because I don't want to get fired.

Me: How would you get fired? It's a secret santa.

Mrs. Dagromm: But when everybody starts claiming the gifts, I'll be the one stuck with the bra.

Me (misunderstanding): Make sure you get your size then.

Me (now comprehending that she meant in an investigation): Oh, just say you didn't know what you brought, because you sent your husband out to get the gift for you. He must have misunderstood.

Mrs. Dagromm: Goodbye.

Actual Conversation I Overheard, For Real

A little while back, me and my buddy Big Dirty were playing some frisbee golf at the park. While out there we happened upon a group of teenage girls who had gathered at the pavilion to hang out. This is what Big Dirty thought was a subtle way to make his moves:

Big Dirty: Hey, what's goin' on? Y'all havin' a party?

Teenage Girl: Uhmmm. We're just hanging out.

Big Dirty: Yeah, I love to party too. When I was in high school, which was just a few years ago, I must of partied like all the time.

Silence

Big Dirty: So are y'all drinking some beers and stuff? Don't worry, I won't say anything. Of course I'm old enough to buy beer now. It's pretty cool. I can get all the beer I want when it's time to party!! So let me know if you start running low.

Teenage Girl (tentatively): Thanks...we'll let you know if we need anything.

Big Dirty: We should all hang out some time. I have some awesome parties. I've got my own place so I don't have to ask permission or anything. I can even party during weekdays. Since we're friends you can use it sometime if you need a place.

Silence and the girls nervously look around

Big Dirty: So, who here likes My Space?

More silence.

Big Dirty: I've been on it for a while now. I'm linked to all sorts of people. Like the drummer for Nickelback. He's one of my best My Space friends. Y'all should give me your pages so we can all link up. Do any of you own webcams?

Really uncomfortable silence

Big Dirty: I've got some extras if you need one. That way we could totally party on line. It'll be awesome. I don't invite everybody to my parties so don't go telling everybody. I don't want girls with bad self esteem killing themselves or anything(motions not so subtley at goth girl). That's not cool. In fact if any of you girls have really bad self esteem you are completely invited to come to my place. Right now even.

Massive, oppressive silence

Big Dirty: Or later, whatever. I know you're thinking about it and I'm cool with that.

Big Dirty: You know what else is so great about high school? Doing whatever you can to buck the system. Am I right? Yeah, I know, I never listened to what "adults" thought I should and shouldn't do. It's all about finding out for yourself. That's what's so great about having a place you can go. You know like my place. You can do like, whatever there and it's totally cool.

Big Dirty: Who here likes to watch The Real World? Man I love that show!! MTV right? It's awesome. Wouldn't that be cool to like just live with a bunch of people that're our age in an apartment or something? With a video camera? That would be totally rad.

Big Dirty: Did I mention I have a video camera?

It turns out we had arrived just as the party was ending though and the girls left shortly after. BD seemed to think he'd made a good impression. I was just glad that I had never ventured near enough to be associated with.

HR is my life!!!

I like to spend about 15% of my time doing HR work and the other 85% of the time pursuing personal interests. Now what HR work consists of differs from company to company, but normally it involves one of a few different aspects. Involving yourself in hiring, training, benefits administration, employee files, employee relations, and coaching managers because seriously a lot of managers have their heads up their asses and have no idea how they come off to their employees. It can also involve inviting yourself to other departments happy hours and pot lucks without actually contributing anything. That's what I focus on the most.

Self Evaluation

I recently had to complete my self evaluation for work. For those of you in the Blog Universe that are unfamiliar with the concept, it comes around once a year when managers are supposed to give their direct reports performance appraisals. It makes things easier on the manager because you're basically going to do all the research on whether you hit your target numbers. Well in my case I wasn't even given my target numbers until two days before hand. Astoundingly enough, not only did I hit all my targets I far exceeded every one of them!!! According to my research at least, and the flawed statistics that we've kept, and my math (I'm not paid to be an accountant so you can't fault me!!!). I spent all of yesterday at the office working on it, except for the time spent blogging and reading blogs and of course going to lunch, and doing a little internet shopping, and sports reading. By the end of the day I was exhausted. Putting so much effort into letting my manager know how invaluable I am is really tiring. So, I'll probably blow off today too.

Sit Com Idea

I first heard the term, "jumping the shark" on the radio about five or six years ago and from the moment I heard it, I knew exactly what it meant. It's a reference to an old episode of Happy Days where after running out of ideas for what to do next, the writers had the Fonze test his cool by doing a ski jump over a shark tank. This comes after episodes in which Arthur Fonzerelli had already done motorcycle jumps over cars, demolition derbies, and rumbles with gangs, kung fu experts, and an alien (remember Mork). Since the common complaint is that Hollywood doesn't ever have new ideas I feel that we should embrace our own unoriginality and really run with it. In it we would follow a typical American family and their wacky neighbor as they encounter all sorts of odd hijinx. Every episode would shamelessly force in every trite T.V. fallback idea and play it up in the campiest tongue in cheek way. To set the precedent we would have a character literally jump a shark in the very first episode. In the second episode, uh oh Donnie's got amnesia!!!! The third episode "We're having a baby!!!". The fourth epsiode the baby is now inexplicably five years old and doesn't he say the cutest things. The fifth episode Janie's got a boyfriend, and she's thinking about...kissing!!! The sixth episode Donnie finds out it's not cool to fall a victim of peer pressure, also the youngest kid has now inexplicably dissapeared. I was tired of him.
Let me know what you think blog world. I think it could be genius! If it anybody would like to buy this idea from me then I'd be glad to sell it.

Movie Reviews

A Prairie Home Companion

This movie had a few chuckles but ultimately left me wondering why it was made. I've heard some people complain that nothing happens in episodes of Seinfeld. Well this movie makes Seinfeld look like The Marine so little happens. It meanders and scenes happen for seemingly no reason. Since Robert Altman recently died I will give this movie an A-.

The Illusionist

The Illusionist is based off a short story and watches like one. It is deceptive in it makes you think there is more depth to the movie than there really is. In the end though I found myself asking, "Is that it?". It does have Jessica Biel in it, whom I believe to be overrated, so I have to give this movie an A-.

The Fountain

There's a lot of different things going on in this movie which makes it hard to explain in a blog format so instead I will transcribe my thoughts at different junctures during the movie.
5 minutes-What the F?
10 minutes-huh?
15 minutes-Crap, I could've been watching Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, or Stranger Than Fiction, or Happy Feet, or The Prestige, or Saw III, or ....
25 minutes-...or Borat, or Flushed Away, or The Guardian, or Santa Clause III: The Escape Clause, or Deck the Halls, or....
40 minutes-I wish Wolverine would hurry up and kill some people.
50 minutes-I'm not getting any if I leave this thing. I gotta be good through this to earn the panty points.
55 minutes-All out of popcorn?!?? Damn, I should have gotten a hotdog, or nachos, or a Nestle Crunch, or Twizzlers, or M&M's, or Gummi Bears, or ....
1 hour-...or Junior Mints, or Raisinets, or malt balls, or chocolate covered almonds, or a pickle, a movie meal wouldn't have been bad, or a Hot Tamales, or Goobers, or Sour Patch Kids, or...
1 hour 5 minutes-I wonder if there are any good looking girls in this theater.
1 hour 10 minutes-Nope.
1 hour 20 minutes-That's a lot of snow. Maybe Sabertooth is going to show up. Or Lady Deathstrike, or Pyro, or Magneto...
1 hour 25 minutes-...or Mystique, or Juggernaut, or Callisto, or Phoenix, or Toad, or ...
1 hour 30 minutes-Oh God!! Was I snoring??? Gotta hold it together. I've almost made it. Maybe I can do some jumping jacks in the back of the theater without anyone noticing. Panty points. Panty points.
1 hour 35 minutes-Damn, it's quiet leaving this theater. I hope she doesn't ask me what I thought of the movie.

The special effects were ok, but it needed more action scenes. I give it an A-.

All I Want For Christmas

...is the next Harry Potter book. In the mean time I will accept the newest HP movie. In this time of national tension due to the current war I wonder when we will call upon Dumbledore's Army to clean up the mess that we've made.

What am I Doing Here???

I'm in the office and for the second straight day our e-mail and voicemail are out. What does that mean for me? Almost guaranteed silence. I will be unable to do much of anything along with most everybody in the office, and yet here we all are. The company is outsourcing IT and I don't know that the executives realized the extent of the problems that they would face once they made the announcement. I can almost guarantee that a large portion of the numerous systems outages are due to internal sabotage, but oh well. You reap what you sew. If the employees liked and respected the company then they probably wouldn't act out like this.

Hot Stove League

Well, it's that most entertaining time of the year for youth soccer once again. That's right it's the time in the off season when players and coaches have to register for the Spring soccer season. So what does that mean to friendly Coach Dagromm??? Recruiting!!!! Time to trim the fat and add some muscle to our team. This is when I get to have my kid go to school analyze some prospects and then sell them on how great it would be to join our championship caliber team and our winning tradition. This also the time when I get to tell players from last season how much I hope their back, or how great I think they would be in something like ballet or gymnastics. You know something that doesn't involve a ball or the need to kick it. This is when I contact players from teams past to see how their doing ('cause you know I care. Right) and if they'd like to sign up for the new soccer year with Old Coach Dags!!! This is when I try to lure away the players from other teams to form my ubersquad that will totally dominate other teams and give me a sense of self worth. I've already got half of my team back from last season, just 24 hours into registration time, but I'm worried that I might be losing one of my best players. My daughter keeps telling me that this girl isn't going to play this season. So you know whose house I'll be visiting pretty soon!!!

A Shout Out to Becks

"Somewhere, Bo Schembechler is smiling.'' -- ABC's Brent Musburger, after Michigan scored on its first possession against Ohio State.

Exactly what is Brent Musburger implying? He obviously knows that Becks isn't missing or anything. He is in fact deceased. But I guess Brent feels that his final destination is in question. Way to not so subtly say, "Burn in hell Bo Schembechler".
Well I'm not standing for it. I'm writing my congressman today to have Brent Musburger removed from office.

Two Things I Would Recommend

Akeelah and the Bee
I rented this movie and watched it with the kids this weekend. It was the best movie I've seen in a while and the kids immediately wanted to start studying for the spelling bee afterwards. I thought the kids were very impressive actors and I can't wait to see them in other things as they get older. Laurence Fishburne played the mentor/coach/teacher which is the type of character that he plays best. In "What Ever Happened to Bobby Fisher" and "The Matrix" he shows that he would probably be able to teach anybody anything. A really nice movie and I'd definately point anyone towards it.

Jonah Hex
I recently picked up some back issues of the latest Jonah Hex series and have enjoyed all of them. They capture the western feel very well without coming across pretentiously, and the art and writing are very well done. Add to it cool cover art and the fact that the stories are self contained, and you've got yourself a winner.

I haven't been away that long from the blog, but I had written a nice long post a couple of days ago and when I went to add a picture Blogger dropped me. So the great work of literature that I had so lovingly crafted was lost to the world forever. I could try to recreate it, but I'm too pissed.

A Brush With Greatness

I just want to kick a shout out to Cyberman for his recent dialogue with Cowboys all-time great Drew Bledsoe.

My Idea For Voting Reform

Before I get started on this let me say that I'm not arguing that I think this will ever happen, but I do think it's an interesting idea. It occurs to me that many Americans have a general dissatisfaction with the election process that we currently employ. From the candidates, to the negative campaigning, to the lack of information available about the people that we are voting on. So my idea is that at the beginning of the campaign each candidate that has been selected to be on the ballot is sequestered into a room where they take a 200 question (random number I just picked) profile quiz in regards to where they stand on different policies, current issues, and hypothetical situations. The on election day voters go in and take a similar, but shorter quiz (25 questions) and their vote is then automatically cast to the candidate that is most reflective of their beliefs on the issues. I realize that there would have to be some weighting of different categories and in fact that would probably be part of the quiz. So instead of voting for a candidate or party, people would vote their beliefs on issues and if the best candidate for them happened to be from another party then that person would get their vote. This would also cause a change in campaign ads and funding as it no longer becomes necessary to spout rhetoric and defame opposing candidates, instead candidates would be forced to push issues and ideas. I'm not saying this process doesn't have bugs in it, or would be universally lauded, but no process ever is. I do think though that it takes a lot of the animosity out of politics and elections and really puts the onus back on the American people to think about what they are doing when casting their votes.

Just When You Think You Know Somebody

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/07/pot.burgers.ap/index.html

It almost makes me change my stance.

Costumes and Halloween Fun!!!

Just an update to let you know how The House of Dagromm celebrated Halloween this year. First, my wife and I sent our kids out with some neighborhood friends to go Trick or Treating. It was a year for combo costumes as the boy decided to be an "off the shelf" Cyborg/Alien and the girl got her wish to be a Vampire Rock Star. I blame these costume choices on things like Yu-Gi-Oh which has monsters with confusing over explained names like The Blue Eyes White Dragon. My wife and I stayed behind to pass out treats and put up some hastily thrown together decorations. I set out the electric jack-o-lantern (thanks mom), put the glow in the dark skull in the window, and put about 1/5 of the fake cobwebs that we bought up around the door with some plastic spiders. I also put out the electronic talking tombstone that we bought. Unfortunately that purchase wasn't that well thought out, as it's motion activated and almost the entire area around our front door is paved driveway. If I put it in the yard then nobody would ever activate it and if I put it in the driveway then it becomes unfortunately so unconvincing as to be stupid. So instead I stuffed it into the holly bushes so that it wasn't seen much, but was at least activated once in a while. Then my wife and I waited for trick or treaters. She wore our sons grim reaper mask and shroud from last year and I controlled the lights. When people came to our door, I would flick off the porch lights and we live on a very dark street and turn on s strobe light that was inside the house. Then I would slowly open the door and my wife would walk down the front hall towards them as a flickering vision of death. It was pretty fun to see the reaction although it took a few times to get it right. She didn't have her contacts in the first time and I don't think it was too scary as death walked into door frames and stumbled around trying to find the candy that was obviously set right behind her. We got a couple of oohs and aahs as well as a few shrieks, but everybody appeared to appreciate the effort.

After our kids finally made it back home we ate a late dinner and watched Monster House on DVD. It's a cute movie that's appropriately dark and has what I think is the right level of scariness for kids 7 and up. Unfortunately my daughter is 6 and needed to sleep with her big brother last night. Oh well, everybody is groggy today and we all agreed to get to bed early tonight. We'll see if that sticks.

For Interested Cowboy Fans

Gyuss recently contacted me to ask how the recent Tony Romo experience was playing down here. He's gotten a lot of good reviews so far and local sports pundits are already wanting to laude him as the second coming of Roger Staubach. Not everybody is happy about it though as evidenced by Drew Bledsoe's recently established blog. I share for your enjoyment.
http://www.tonyhomo.com/

Interesting Heart Healthy News

I read on CNN this morning that KFC has opted to use a new cooking oil for their chicken and potato wedges that will keep out the trans fats from their food. They still haven't found a way to eliminate it from their biscuits, but they are still looking. It's nice to see that some of these corporations are finding ways to not kill us and maybe keep our business a little longer. Below is a quote from the article that shows that other companies are doing the same.

KFC isn't the only business preparing for a trans-fat-free future.
Wendy's International Inc., the burger restaurant chain company, has already switched to a zero-trans fat oil. Fast-food leader McDonald's Corp. had announced that it intended to do so as well in 2003, but has yet to follow through.

So McDonald's hasnt followed through on this claim, no surprise there. And who else is missing.........?????? Burger King!!! Let this be a reminder to all that the Burger King is the enemy of mankind!

My Favoritest Football Player

I had a converstaion with Q last night and we agreed that Chad Johnson is probably the football player that we would be most likely to enjoy hanging out with. In fact he reminds me of Q quite a lot. From his sense of humor to his willingness to embrace new bad haircuts. In fact he reminds me of Q so much that I know that I wouldn't ever accept an invite to his house without a concealed unregistered handgun locked and loaded. Viva La Ocho Cinco!!!

Hey Gyuss!!
This is a new blog that might interest you.
http://mandorak.blogspot.com/
Love,
Dagromm

If you send this link to 2,500 close and personal friends then you will be blessed by eternal good fortune, by dark and mysterious powers. Otherwise you will die.

Victory!!!!!

We are officially on a role. Our third straight win with one game left to play. Hopefully the girls don't get too lazy from Halloween treats. I am completely stoked and even now six hours later I am full of energy. Even though the girls looked lethargic at times, we completely controlled the game. The final score was 6-2, which marks the fourth straight week that we have held an opponent to 3 or less goals which is strong. My daughter toughed this game out even though she had a cold and wasn't at a hundred percent. She was upset that she didn't score, but she still had a solid game. I am already thinking ahead to next season and hoping that we have a large number return for another season. If we get the majority of our team back then I think we'll have a particularly strong year. One more to go then it's pizza, trophies, and a couple of months off until next season begins.

Victory!!

I wanted to take a minute to relate a conversation I recently had over lunch. It was about a week a go when I went to lunch with two acquaintances of mine at a local bistro that is a favorite of ours due to the outstanding waitstaff. During the course of the meal, one of these acquaintances made a comment that shocked both myself and the other party. This person was of the firm state of mind that pornography was not real. He seemed to think that it was all just special effects and that everything you saw in movies or online was not real. Well the offended other party and myself were aghast at such a notion. We asked several times to clarify his opinion, but he was resolute that it couldn't possibly be real. So for the next several moments we did our best to persuade him that the intercourse was not fabricated and was indeed happening on film (a thought that he could never come to grips with), until we were interrupted by our waitress and one of the parties shouted out "urine" to cover up for our illicit pornography talk.

Victory!!!!!

We are on a roll. My girls soccer team won again last night for our second victory of the year. We have now won our last two games with two to play. This game was almost more satisfying, because we had all of our girls present for the win. Our defense played tough again and I think is becoming the identity of our team. My little girl scored two or three more goals which accomplished her personal goal that she had set for herself at the beginning of the season, which was to score ten this year. At halftime we were up 3-2 and I told the girls that we were in position to win, and that we could beat this team. In response one of the girls pointed out that the main thing was to have fun. So I responded with, "winning is fun" so if they can do both then we would all be happy. Then I benched her for the rest of the game. Just kidding about the benching.

Latest Weird Al News

Since Weird Al has been a topic of discussion on this board I share this link for the edification of all. Weird Al is not dead!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/23/music.yankovic.reut/index.html

Victory!!!!

Well it was a long time coming, but the U-7 girls soccer team that I coach finally had our first win. It had been two weeks since our last game and we came in to Saturday 0-6. I had seen improvement each game and I never felt we were really overmatched by our opponents, but still we couldn't get over the hump. I was starting to worry about the girls psyches. Even though they seemed to be having a good time, they realized they hadn't actually won any games. Our fundamentals were getting better. The girls' understanding of the game has gotten better, and our defense has gotten really good, but we hadn't gotten over that last mental hurdle. This last two weeks of practice had been really good and I had seen so much good on Thursday that I told my wife that I really liked our chances this Saturday. Well the game wasn't even close. We dominated from start to finish and the final score was something like 11-3, with us scoring one of their goals for them. My own daughter, who really has a warrior like attitude out there, scored five goals and was darn near unstoppable for us. I saw them use some of the moves that we've been working on and making good passes. It was such a rush to see all that teaching I've been doing actually translate into some learning by the players and result in a victory. We've still got lots to work on as I watch these games with a critical eye, as most coaches do, and unfortunately most of what they did wrong stands out to me more than what they did right. Still it was nice to get to relax a little during the game and hear some of the praise from the parents. I'm shooting for a winning streak now. I'll tell you later this week whether we've managed to achieve it!

Movie Night Smack Down!!!
My wife and I spent Saturday evening exploiting the fact the we had relatives stop by our house. We quickly seized the opportunity to vacate the premises and head down to the local movie house. The wife and I were in a quirky mood and decided to make it a double feature of two different WWE superstars. We started off the evening by taking in The Marine starring the professor of thuganomics, John Cena. Then almost immediately afterwards were able to walk into the theater for Gridiron Gang starring The Rock. I'm pretty sure that both movies are based on true stories and they both had appearances by other big name stars. The Gridiron Gang had Xzibit and The Marine had a cameo from NFL legend Lincoln Kennedy. What more could you ask for in a movie? I'll tell you what...action and big hits. With The Rock and John Cena you know you'll get plenty of both. I have to admit that before I went to see The Marine I thought it was going to be pretty bad, but it really exceeded my expectations. It was like watching one of those Lorenzo Lamas TV shows on USA with more steroids and less rational thought.

Does anyone else suspect that this will be the scene in the Q household one day?

Since I haven't learned yet how to post video I am instead referring you to this link to check out some great international music. Skuter!!!!

http://www.d-videos.com/video/17008

A Strange Thing Happened at Work Today

While realizing that I hadn't blogged in weeks it occurred to me that my faking being busy at work accidentally turned into me really doing work. Now I don't mind doing work. Heck they're paying me for it, but everything in moderation right? The truth is I've been spending time at work getting in better with all my stressed out overworked co-workers. I've been trying to find out what the big deal is and why they are there all those extra hours. It turns out that they spend half of each day bitching about how stressed out and overworked they are to each other, rather than actually working. In fact I think if they would take a moment to notice how much time they spent complaining they would realize that they actually have more than enough time to accomplish the work that they have in front of them. I'm one of those people that like to make things simpler for themselves. When I get a project I ask myself, what's the easiest way to get this done. Then 9 times out of 10 that's what I go with. So then I have free time at work that I have to use looking busy. That's why my monitor will never be visible from the door to my office. In fact my fake work habits have earned me a reputation for having a real attention to detail. My boss even applauded me for it today. Of course he did so as he gave me a new project to be in charge of. No biggie though. Once I figured out how to do what he was asking of me, I decided which work that my coworkers "have to do first", that left me with a project that will take up about 1 full minute of each week. It's Ockham's Razor. The simplest way is the best.

America Sucks

I practically grew up going to Sci-fi and comic book conventions and we never had cute fans like they do in Japan that dress up like their favorite characters. In fact it seems the only place you find people that are willing to dress up in silly costumes here in America are on HBO's "Real Sex". What is wrong with our culture where we have to sexualize anything that is outside the norm. It's not enough to like something, but lets dress up like it and have sex! Oh well, I give up, and I would totally get with this chick.

One more pic that I found on Golf Girl's blog.

These are some pictures that I've been saving to blog about, but I might just T.O. myself instead.

Tivo List

Since I don't have a Tivo, I'll just have to post a list of the shows that it would hypothetically be set up to record. In no particular order I present the following:

My Name is Earl
NFL Cheerleader Playoffs
Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy (for my wife)
Dancing With the Stars
Biggest Loser
Project Runway
Heroes (this might suck, but I'm interested to see how fast I'll get bored with it)
Bones (I've seen one episode, it looked ok)
Iron Chef America (in the hopes that somebody kills Bobby Flay)
Girls Next Door (don't judge me)
America's Next Top Model (seriously, don't judge me)
Any Justice League Cartoons
Teen Titans

Oh yeah, and Endurance or Endurance Island, whatever it's called. It's kind of like Survivor with 13 year olds. It's fun to watch because these kids aren't completely tainted yet and some of them still have morals. They want to do the "right" thing and stand by their "friends" even though it's strategic suicide.
Oh and anything that has the words "WWE" and "diva" in it.

Youth Soccer Update

We are a few games into my daughter's first season with our start up soccer team and I think we are coming upon a crucial juncture. We are 0-2 at this point and if we don't have a good showing Saturday I'm afraid the girls are going to lose faith that they can do this. We've got our obstacles and I knew this was going to be a tough season a while back. Only two of the girls (one of them mine) has ever played before. On top of that we are one of only two new teams in our division. All of the other teams have been together at least a couple of years. This makes a monumental difference at this stage, and I think even more so with girls. They are having to learn about competition. Not just skills, not just soccer, but competition. This is a concept that I think a lot of little girls are shielded from. Me against you and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that you lose. This isn't about us all having fun, because truthfully losing isn't fun. Our first game was against a really rude team that started smack talking and insulting our girls after they got up a couple of goals on us. This really upset our players. On top of that they were pulling hair, hitting, tripping and doing anything they could to fight for the ball. Whereas I don't condone any of their actions (in fact I complained to the commissioner). In the end I think it was a good thing for our team to face them in the first game. The girls realized that the other team wasn't out there to make friends. It was a good wake up call for all of them. We actually finished the game rather strongly and I think that if we faced them again that we would probably win. The second game we were short handed and had only one substitute. All of the girls had to play substantially longer than they were used to. I saw improvement on some things (positioning, aggressiveness, kick offs, throw ins). This team was better behaved than the last time, but was also better skilled. They beat us pretty soundly, but at points it was obvious that our girls were just exhausted. Once again it was good experience for the girls that were there. They learned that you have to push yourself, exhausted or not, until the game is done.
So game 3 is Saturday and I am excited. I honestly get really excited about all of them. We've had two strong practices where I'm seeing progress (spacing, passing, defending) and I hope this is the game where we turn our fortunes around. From what I understand this will be against the other team that is new, so it means that much more to me.

Thundercats Are On the Prowl

Oh nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia. Thanks to our recent free trial period with Blockbuster Online I've gotten to watch some DVD's that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I've now been able to share with my kids some of the joys of my youth. It was fun to see them getting into Thundercats and even better when I caught my son singing the words to the theme song of The Greatest American Hero after watching a couple of episodes of that one night. He liked the show, but just thought the theme song was too cool. I have to agree that it is one of the best themes of all time, so it was really neat to share this with my kid. I was so excited that the following week I decided I needed to share the Thunder with the people at work. Remember, Dagromm will always share the Thunder.

Football Football Football!!!

It's time! That day that every red blooded American male looks forward to. the start of American Football. Trying to prep myself for gametime and of course my fantasy football matchup I decided to go onto Fanball today and read up on some recent football news. I'm not a member and I just read the free articles so I was glad to see their main football article for today was their "expert" opinions on who the most over-hyped players going into this season are. It's not a bad article and I agree with a lot of what they said, but I shuddered when I read the senior editor's thoughts on someone selecting Frank Gore, "Let's face it, trusting a second-year player who has already blown out both knees is more foolish than swimming with stingrays." Ouch. The body isn't even cold. Having personal relations with the Q/Erwin family, I have to say that this is pushing the boundaries of callousness, into the realm of distaste.
This does lead me to another topic though, which is don't fuck with wild animals. It apparently becomes too easy to get to a point where you are comfortable and forget your own mortality. I'm not faulting anybody here, but they are called animals for a reason. They screw around with them long enough then I'm not shocked when a tiger rips one's arm off, or a grizzly tears one to pieces, and on and on and on. It's really not much different to me then Nascar drivers being killed in a crash. Sad? Yes. Tragic? No. Tragedy is when you do everything to avoid that kind of danger and it still finds you.

So in summation: Go Football!

I Need a Digital Camera!!!!

Over the course of one week I have now seen three seperate things that made me curse the fact that I bought a digital camera for my wife and not for myself. The first one occurred when I was on my way to meet up with the Q for a trip to Texarkana and Shreveport. While approaching the new Preston Rd overpass on 121 I saw graffiti painted in purple, blue, and black. Aside from noting that it was obviously done by someone who knew what they were doing I was also taken by the message they wrote next to the picture. In a very emphatic statement written in purple the artist had deemed it neccessary to state, "Pluto is not a planet!" I'm glad to see that the youth of America are so involved with our current scientific events of the day and want to get the word out. On the same trip and same day as the Q and I were making our long and lonely trip to Texarkana we passed what must be the most bad assed retaurant in the world. That's right, the sign said it all. The Q and I went into shocked disbelief and a quiet respect for "Ninja's Restaurant". We dared not enter for fear of being found unworthy. It admittedly didn't look too busy, but I imagine that the stealthy patrons who would enter there are too well trained in the shadowy martial arts for us to detect them. Kick ass! Lastly, the other day while traveling down the highway with my wife, I saw a newer looking Dodge pick up towing a new looking sporty boat. I didn't get a good look at the driver, but he appeared to be in his twenties and doing pretty well for himself. On the back of the boat in large letters he had written, "The Prostidude" which alone was enough to crack me up, but what puushed it over the top was what was written beneath that. Also in very large letters it continued, "AKA Ovarian Assault". All I could say was, "Wow". I couldn't tell from my wife's reaction to it what she thought. Amused or disgusted. I can only imagine the look on the poor father whose daughter gets picked for a day at the lake by this young fellow and doesn't see the inscription on the boat until it's driving off. I wish I could share pictures of all of this with you, but alas I don't yet have a digital camera. Keep it real America.

Recent Santorum News

Ripped from today's headlines. According to a news article today on CNN.com's website today about the new buzzwords of the GOP we get the following:

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months.

So as you see. Santorum isn't just a recent local flash in the pan. It's a growing world wide concern.

Your Stripper Song Is
Closer by Nine Inch Nails"You let me violate you, you let me desecrate youYou let me penetrate you, you let me complicate youHelp me I broke apart my insides, help me I?ve got noSoul to tell"When you dance, it's a little scary - and a lot sexy.

I just thought you'd all want to know what I scored on my blogthings stripper song personality quiz.

Don't Do This

If you go to all the trouble of buying or putting together your tough guy bike. Don't ruin it by gaying it up with tassels. What happens to these guys? They get a motorcycle and then they seem to think it would be a good idea to wear leather chaps and have streamers flying from their handlebars? The only people who should have any sort of tassels are strippers, highschool graduates who are becoming strippers, and the Ultimate Warrior. Unless you fall into one of those categories, please stay away.

While trying to fill out my own meme much like Q's. I was reminded of my love for Tom Lehrer music. I don't think he's had any albums out for many years, but I have fond memories of his musical ability and his funny lyrics. Besides doing his comedic stage act he would play the piano and sing songs like his theme for an Oedipus Rex movie, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, and The Elements where he puts the entire periodic chart to music. I found a clip from part of his stage act in between songs and will reprint it for you here:

Now, I'm sure you're all aware that this week is national gall-bladder week. So as sort of an educational feature at this point I thought I would acquaint you with some of the results of my recent researches into the career of the late doctor Samuel Gall, inventor of the gall-bladder. Which certainly ranks as one of the more important technological advances since the invention of the joy-buzzer and the dribble-glass. Doctor Gall's faith in his invention was so dramatically vindicated last year, as you no doubt recall, when, for the first time in history, in a nation-wide poll the gall-bladder was voted among the top ten organs. His educational career began interestingly enough in agricultural school, where he majored in animal husbandry, until they caught him at it one day. Whereupon he switched to the field of medicine in which field he also won renown as the inventor of gargling. Which prior to that time had been practiced only furtively by a remote tribe in the Andes who passed the secret down from father to son as part of their oral tradition. He soon became a specialist, specializing in diseases of the rich. He was therefore able to retire at an early age.

I find oratory like this to be very amusing and now wonder if he isn't actually Lemony Snicket.

The House's Anime Pick of the Day
Ghost Stories
I truly enjoy this anime and have been watching it for the past couple of months. If I had still had Comcast (sigh) when the gang was over i would have insisted that you watch it, but since you all use Netflix or similar services I will now tell you to check out the first volume and see if you aren't hooked. When you watch it you must watch the dubbed version, because it has been overhauled in a completely American way. It is really funny and will probably catch you off guard. Warning: Don't watch it with anyone that will get offended too easily as the anime can be irreverent at times. This however doesn't seem to apply to my kids as they watch it and laugh even when they can't really understand the joke.

If I were commisioner of the NFL, I would make the game so much better and more profitable it's disgusting. First off I would create a new network that would be dedicated to the cheerleaders. Every squad would have their own reality show and on gamedays we would simulcast just the cheerleaders and their routines at the games. Secondly I would change the game time to reflect the most commonly chosen length in Madden, which is five minute quarters. This is an oversight that should have been corrected long ago if the NFL would just open their eyes. Not only would the games become instantly more exciting as all of a sudden teams have to rush to score points, but the stars would get injured less often. How great would that be? Furthermore I would have MTV do the half time shows for each and every nationally televised game, and I think we all know what that means. More nipples. So I know it's a little too late for me and Condi Rice to throw our names into the ring, but next time around...call me.

So I totally recommend that if you're a young Asian lady that is going to a job interview that you dress like this. Personally I think it has the right mix of old school conservatism and the current professionalism that todays' employers crave. Certainly not every job interview is a black tie affair, but you never go wrong by over dressing. It's a show of respect to the people that are taking their time to consider you for employment with their company. So listen up ladies; if you don't want to see anymore American jobs outsourced to other countries start showing up for your interviews dressed like this. It's the only thing that will save America!

An Odd Familial Relationship

Blogger kills me by dropping me at odd times. Normally while I'm writing a post. So here goes for the second time and we'll see if it sticks. When ever someone gets married they inherit a whole new set of family issues. Every family's got them you just don';t normally notice your own family's issues because you grew up with them. Hell you might even think they're normal, but let me tell you your family is not normal. There's good that goes along with it too. At least sometimes. Some people marry into money, fame, or opportunity. Some people get to bang Brady Quinn's sister like former Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk. In my case I got a brother in law that loans me his porn. This is kind of cool until you think about the fact that I have sex with his sister, so he must at some point realize that I'm doing at least some of this same stuff with her. maybe not as much of it as I would like, but a fair amount none the less. It's kind of weird being able to share porn with someone that you can't talk about sex with. Oh well, it's not marrying into money, but it's better than nothing.

So today I contemplated which was better: Krystal's or White Castle. Being from Texas neither of these is readily available so it has taken me into my thirties to have now sampled both. Unfortunately for me, being from Texas also means that I also know what beef is supposed to taste like. Trying to pick between Krystal and White Castle is like trying to decide which kind of elephant makes the better turd. In the end it's shit either way. So my advice is to avoid both and go to Watson Burger.

This Baby Knows Knows What You've Done And Is Freaking Apalled

And I'm apalled too. You know better.

This Might Be the Greatest Business Story of the Year

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12507975p-13223451c.html

I certainly hope this happens in Dallas too. If it's already happened then somebody please clue me in.

The Greatest and Best Blog Posting in the World

I just wrote the greatest and best blog posting the world has ever known. It was all just off the top of my head, but it was hilarious, insightful, and awesome. Then Blogger dropped me and I lost the whole thing. I could try to recreate it now, but I don't have the strength.

Thank you Famous Quotations, I humbly accept.

Why Do White People Love Will Ferrell?

Seriously, I don't get it. He's alright and even really amusing sonetimes, but I don't ever hear Black or Mexican people talking about how they have to go see the next Will Ferrell movie. I haven't seen hordes of Japanese school girls lining up to take pictures of him with their surgically implanted digital cameras. It is another unexplainable White phenomona, like the reelection of W. The only reason I can think of is that both people look like they probably drink too much and that is when they are at their most amusingly stupid, and White folks like to drink. If there are any White people out there in Cyberland that would like to explain any of this to me as something different then my own hypothesis please comment.

For the internet world, I give you this update.
I'm employed!!! Well at least temporarily. This wierd ass company I'm working for only extended me a contract position so far, but it's a paycheck and a possibility so I'm not complaining too bad. I've already gotten to handle some things that I hadn't gotten to at a more established company due to their conveniently questionable business practices. Yeah me!!! I'm still getting my office together. That's a benefit of HR you almost always get your own office and don't have to sit in a cubicle. Another benefit is you don't have to work that hard and any mistake you make is actually going to be a result of somebody else's mistake so you're in the clear. No HR person is going to come down to hard on another HR person unless they are making a power play. Lucky for me, I've never been high enough for someone to want my position. It's like the PD. you don't turn on one of your own, because all of what we do is made up anyway. But don't tell anybody I said that. I haven't even done the necessary walking of the office to see how many girls work there that I want to bone. Don't get me wrong. There's at least ten, but there might be a whole lot more. Anyway, it's on my to do list. I'd like to kick a shout out to everyone that visited the physical/geographical House of Dagromm this weekend. Merriment was had by all. I also now have high speed internet so I should be posting regularly again and will be rather disappointed in myself if I don't.

Sorry About That Chief

Wow, has it really been a week since I last posted? I apologize. I've been finding out more and more that staying at home is just as much work as......well work. At least it is when the kids are out of school for summer vacation. Noooooo, we couldn't lay off in September. Well fuck it. I'd probably have just as much to do, it would just be easier to look at the DVD's that I keep on the very top shelf of my closet behind the boxes of things that I intend to file one day.
A side not for those that are intending to become "Stay At Home Trophy Spouse". If you're doing your job right and working out and making dinner like a good S.A.H.T.S. then you will find that your wife will become increasingly horny and a lot more demanding about sex. I apologize for rushing off the phone yesterday Cyberman but duty called, and I think we all know what was said about duty in Fear of a Black Hat.

High School Hell

My idea for a TV show that I ran by Q some weeks back revolves around a high school in the underworld. It would very much be in the same vein of shows like Saved By the Bell and such with the exception of course that it all takes place at Hellside High. In the show we would learn that even teenage demons and devils have the same growing pains that we all experience. The kids (like A.C. Slayer and Screech) would all learn lessons from each other and whacky Coach Lucifer and knowledgeable Principle Beelzebub as each week they are faced with new predicaments. Of course they would also have to deal with their rival school from the other side of the Styx. The Fighting Angels of Heaven High. In one episode, the kids are outraged that the Angels have stolen their school mascot the 3-headed dog. So they decided to get back at the kids from up north by stealing their mascot, the lamb. Well things quickly get out of hand and the pranks escalate until the school administrators get involved.
Let me know what you the internet world thinks of this idea and know that even if I don't do it that somebody will within the next ten years. Guaranteed.

Cleaning out my office

Today I'm working on cleaning out most of my office, so that I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it tomorrow. It's a process that shows you just jow much of your daily work is completely useless as I am throwing away file after file of "important information" that I haven't looked at once since I received it. Of course a large part of that is to make you look like your important to the company, because you obviously aren't important at all if you don't have file drawers that are full.
Oh well, tomorrow I need to clean out all my electronic files with titles like "Focus on Production" and "Diversity" which really are filled with my favorite cheerleader pictures.

Just a quick update for the teeming masses that wonder what's going on in Dagromm world. I will spend my last day on the job this Friday and will have a paid week off next week. Still no new job and interviewing weekly. I guess it's time they rachet it up a notch. The Mavs pissed away their chance to win a championship and for the last week I've just been waiting for it to be over. Now we can concentrate solely on World Cup soccer and then prepare for Fantasy Football.

I Think I'm Allergic to the Pussycat Dolls

Seriously, I watched their newest video earlier today and had a violent physical reaction. Afterwards I was incapacitated for like twenty minutes. Then I had to clean myself off and get to work.

V For Vendetta

This might be a little late for a movie review as I know this has been out for some time, but I just saw it yesterday and felt it deserved a mention. Being somewhat of a comic book afficianado I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for quite some time. Alan Moore is recognized as one of the greatest comic writers of all time and I've never read anything of his to make me think any different. That being said, I've never actually read V fo Vendetta even though it's been out for almost twenty years. It's not for lack of opportunity, but your head has to be in the right place to undertake one of his stories. Just the same I was very interested to see what kind of rendition the story would get from the Wachowski brothers who are noted comic fans. I had seen reviews for the movie that were mainly positive even though it apparently departed so much from the original work that Alan Moore sued to have his name removed from the credits. Well good news for Mr. Moore I can say with out a shadow of a doubt that his name was removed from the credits. The basis for the movie was credited to the graphic novel and the illustrator, but Alan Moore was left off.
All that being said I would have to add my recommendation to the list of many others. I found the movie to be at times compelling, touching, humorous, frighteningly familiar, and thought provoking. I felt like it touched on many subjects very well and had a good presentation. Hugo Weaving had a great performance despite the fact that he couldn't use one of an actors greatest tools (his facial expressions). I do wonder how much of it resonated with other members of the crowd, and how much of it was missed. Of course I don't know what other audience members expected out of the movie either. I don't know if they expected a movie that oozed with the truest kind of patriotism and idealism. The kind of story that argues against conformity and in a very anarchical way say that we should all fight against the oppression of status quo and doing nothing.
I would recommend this movie very highly and am looking forward to finally reading the graphic novel.

How Come Some Women Can't put on Make-up?

Okay, I know this is complete double standard as the vast majority of men don't wear make-up, but why does this become an unlearnable skill for some women? Those that have foundation caked on, or eye shadow that completely clashes with everything, or like this lady just gets her make up everywhere. I know that this is an area that I have very little expertise, but I think I am at least proficient enough in basic guy skills to expect that grown women should also be at least equally poficient in expected women skills. Let's go ladies! Get it together. Don't be like this lady, put your make-up on straight. Don't get it all over you face. It makes you look foolish and slovenly.

A Few World Cup Thoughts

The World Cup has begun and it's dawned on me that I haven't posted any predictions or thoughts on the soccer world in a few months. So with out further pause I will now confidently tell you that the winner of the 2006 World Cup in Germany will be.........Argentina. This is a powerful squad with speed, skill, poise, and a good combination of youth and experience. They are strong on the attack as well as defense and can match up with anybody. Brasil of course is very good as well, but I think that they are letting Ronaldo play to much of a role too far into his career. I also think that the pressure of expectations will get to them.
As for my own country the US, I am doubtful of their ability to get out of Group Play. This is of course easier to say considering at the moment they are losing 3-0 to the Czechs, but that's how I felt beforehand as well. The U.S. squad is made up of too many MLS players and not enough players from abroad. Players such as Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson aren't going to develop to their fullest potential in this league. This is especially tough for me to say as I value loyalty and can appreciate a player sayin that he would rather stay and try to help build a better league, but I think this is detrimental to the national team. Of course maybe it's not all loyalty either. Perhaps in the case of players like Donovan it's more about being a big fish in a small pond. He can look like a superstar here while truly only being a mediocre player on the international level. I love American soccer and can't wait to coach my daughter's team this fall, but I also realize that if she continues and grows at the sport then she will move past what level I could succesfully coach her at. There's no pressure from me, I'll just enjoy my time with the girls and see if I can help any of them become a star.
I do honestly think that youth soccer will provide better players in the next ten years for our national team. Competitive club teams continue to get better and more organized each year, but unfortunately I don't think they always get the best athletes. The economic cost to be on these teams cuts out a large percentage of kids that could really excel at these next levels. I have coached YMCA teams the past couple of years and I have certainly had a number of kids that could be playing at a higher level and I would love to see have that opportunity, but unfortunately will never get the chance.
Joga Bonita!!!!!

T-Shirts are the New Bumper Stickers

I have a love hate relationship with the currently en vogue style of T-shirt with the catchy joke. I appreciate the truly good one, but the vast majority of them just take the jokes off of ten year old bumper stickers, and people buy this shit. There are also the redoes of old t-shirts. These don't bother me so much and I've seen both redoes and bumper sticker shirts that I like, but can't buy do to different circumstances. Like I saw a shirt of the I HEART variety ala I HEART NY that I liked that said I HEART Soccer Moms. Unfortunately, my position as a youth soccer coach at the YMCA might make this choice look like poor taste. Of course that's exactly why I want the shirt. Oh well, for the sake of not scarring my kids I'll pass.

Hitting the Wall
or
I Should've Been a Stoner

This weekend while unpacking still another box I came across one of my all time favorite cassettes. I know that it is a mark of still being in the stone age that I still have some cassettes, but I have a tough time replacing anything I can still use. On top of that this is one of the few albums that I can listen to start to finish any time without feeling the need to fast forward through any songs. The cassette in question was Pink Floyd's "The Wall". I remember really hearing this album in its' entirety for the first time as a teenager. It's of course been a classic with stoners for many years and to be honest most of my best friends at the time were dropping out of school and getting pretty heavily involved with drugs. I personally have never used drugs. Not even a little. Seeing my friends make bad decision after bad decision during this time probably went a long way in convincing me that I didn't really want to give it a go. I'm also very frightened about not being in control of myself and would find it hard to give up that control. Still the album is very good musically and lyrically and I love the way that it tells a story. I think they do a compelling job of documenting a man's descent into madness. From the loss of his father to an oppressive youth to a dependence on drugs to help him cope with wanting more out of the world than the harsh and often mundane reality. I think most of us have at the least felt this way at some time in our lives.
This will always be an all time favorite of mine which is probably even more curious since I've never gone to any great length to listen to other albums of theirs. Don't get me wrong I've heard them, but they lack the story and therefore the emotional impact that "The Wall" holds for me.

One Month Left

I've got one more month to go on my job. After that, I don't know. It's a wierd mix of feelings. Will I get freedom or will I be entering a form of Hell? Is there something inherently scary about having freedom? When you have it then there really aren't any more excuses. ex. Why am I so out of shape? I'm so busy I just don't have the time to work out as consistently as I'd like. Why does your yard look so poor? I just don't have the time to put into it. See, no more excuses. I almost have to become a better person. How do I not make good use of my time if I have the freedom to do it? I'm still hopeful that I will have another job before then, but I've been hopeful of that for six months now. I'm also going to be the last one leaving my department. How pathetic does that look? Everyone else has been able to move on, but not me. Oh well, enough of the pity party I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of the virtual freedom that I've got right now.

Where's the D?

I'm so frustrated that I haven't seen any new releases for Initial D here in the US for months. I haven't been able to find any word on why this is the case. I've even written the customer service people for Tokyo Pop (the US distributor). They actually wrote me back and told me that this just the sort of thing that is discussed on their message boards and sent me the link to go on and post my question. Thanks for nothing Tokyo Pop. Somebody could've just answered the damn question, instead they put forth effort to pass the buck. Damn I hate that.

Good news if this happens

From Yahoo News-
YANGON, Myanmar - Hopes ran high among supporters of detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that she would be released when her house arrest order expires Saturday, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the ruling junta's chief "to do the right thing."

Aung Sun Suu Kyi has been a personal interest of mine for the last few years. She is a truly inspirational person and I hope that the ruling party will release her, although I fear that even if they do it will be short lived. She is not the type to cower or capitulate to oppression just as her father was not, so I expect that even if she is given freedom it will quickly be taken away from her once it looks like she will speak to the public again. I hope that these people finally get control of their country.

My Favorite Possession

I truly LOVE the 3M projector that we "acquired" from my wife's work. I don't watch everything on it, but when we rent a movie or by a new DVD that we're really looking forward to there is little better than to blow it up to mammoth proportions on my living room wall. It's also especially good for booty shaking videos on MTV Hits late at night. I'd personally like to thank our wasteful government for giving it to us (rather than throwing it away). If they could also see it in their hearts to give us a theater style popcorn popper I might actually vote Republican.