I need a laptop

Why? Well, right now I have about 30 minutes where I could write a post. I was going to write about "The Office" coming back tonight and why I like it. See what you are missing out on! I'm typing this on my iPod right now; I can't link to anything, or type a nice long post with it. Short posts are not my strong point, I believe I mentioned that before. So, anyone know how I can get a free laptop? That's not a scam? You know where to find me.

Thoughts on a Wednesday

I didn't have anything specific to talk about today, but I have some random thoughts. That is always fun!

I had Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast today. It was my son's choice when we were shopping; I'm sure it was due to the marshmallows it contains. I never ate Lucky Charms cereal growing up. I was more of a Frosted Flakes and Cocoa Pebbles kind of kid. Not Cocoa Krispies or Cocoa Puffs, only Cocoa Pebbles; there is a difference. Trust me. I was surprised that I liked Lucky Charms when I tried it the other day. It wasn't overly sweet as I expected. I thought that marshmallows would add too much sugar to the cereal that is, most likely, covered in sugar. I will add that I eat it dry. Maybe it wouldn't be as good floating in milk. Do the marshmallows dissolve in milk? That might not be so good. So, I recommend Lucky Charms, but only if it is dry.

Total random topic. Do you know how hard it is to type "milk" when your name is Mike? I want to capitalize it and add an "e" at the end. You wouldn't understand unless you are named Mike. Even then you might not.

This might sound weird; I know that may be hard to believe. I don't know what the term would be for my affliction, hypochondriac doesn't fit, but I get freaked out about some illnesses easy. A good example would be when one of the kids has pick eye. As soon as they are diagnosed with it my eye starts getting itchy. Then I start thinking about it, and my eye gets more itchy, then I'm convinced I'm going to wake up the next day with it. I never do, but for the whole week that I am giving them medicine, I'm certain I'm getting it. Oh, and when one of the kids come home saying some kid was exposed to lice in the class? Forget it. I'm itchy all over for days. It's sad, really.

I was thinking about cars this morning. I don't know why, but I was thinking about the car we used to have when I was a kid. Like all cars from the mid 70's it was gigantic, had a huge engine and got about 5 miles to the gallon. While I was thinking about that, I wondered how big SUV's would have been back in that day. I know there were some precursors to the modern day SUV, but what would the consumer model Hummer have looked like back then? Compare the Hummer to a 1976 Cadillac Sedan, and it's really not that big. My guess is that it would require a small ladder to fold out in order to enter the vehicle, and have anti-collision lights on it so airplanes would be able to avoid the Hummer if one was driving near an airport.

That's enough for now.

Ten on Tuesday.

OK, I'm going to do the Ten on Tuesday this week, and do it on time. I know. I live a wacky life.

Anyway this week the topic is your 10 favorite actors/actresses. Go check out what other people thought.

I'm going to have some trouble with this because I generally don't see movies or shows only based on who is starring in them. Although, if I am on the fence about a movie, the acotrs can push me over the edge to actually fork over the movie to see it. We do have two children, so most of the time we are renting the movies any way. On to the list, in no particular order.

1. Harrison Ford. He is Indiana Jones. There is really not much more to say.

2. Gene Hackman. Oh, he's good in everything, ya know? Yes, he's been in some movies that he couldn't save, but he always tries.

3. Jim Carrey. Only in comedies though. Other than "The Truman Show" he hasn't picked the right dramas.

4. Natalie Portman. Not including the "Star Wars" movies, that wasn't her fault.

5. Tom Hanks. If you can pull off a movie by yourself with very little audio, you know what you are doing.

6. Christopher Guest. The king of "mockumentory".

7. John Candy. He went before his time. He had a great run.

8. Steve Carrell. Seems like a nice guy too.

9. Jenna Fischer. That is for my wife. :)

10. Matt Damon. The "Bourne" movies really put him over the top for me.

So, what do you think?

I think our dog is part cat

Do you it's possible to have a half-dog half-cat mix? I really think our puppy is one. Maybe he came from secret lab. Or, maybe, the mother dog was taken aboard an alien spaceship and they perform some gene splicing experiment. You always hear about the people who are abducted by aliens, but never the animals. It doesn't seem fair.

See, our dog kind of looks like a lion cub. Lots of yellow-gold fur and giant paws. He also plays like a cat. He stalks his toys, then pounces on them. He looks just like Simba from "The Lion King" when he does it. I think I'm going to buy him a scratching post and see what happens.

Maybe I'll bring it up to the vet. Do you thing he'll have Qunicy taken away from us if I ask him? Yeah, me too.

Weekend Assignment #210: Speechifying

Before I get into this weekend assignment I should post what was real in last weekend's assigment. My grandparent's did have cabins on a lake that we visited all the time. There was a sand pit and I did fall, but I caught up with my brothers and we just kept going. It is much more exciting the other way.

Ok, on to this week's assigment from Karen at Outpost Mavarin.

Weekend Assignment #210: It's been 40 years since the Mountaintop speech, and even longer since the great speeches of John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and others. Are the days of great oratory behind us, or have you drawn inspiration from some recent public speaker? If so, what was the speech? Do you remember any actual quotes from it?

I don't think I'm the best person to answer this, but I will talk briefly about the current presidential candidates and what I like about their public speaking.

Barack Obama, in my mind, is a great speaker. He rarely fumbles, or seaches for words and he seems to believe in what he is saying. He has some passion when he talks which makes him seem to really care about the country and what we should be doing. I liken him to a manager that is trying to get his sales team to care about the product, and the company, to make them the best sales force possible. I'm not trying to cheapen the presidency by comaparing it to running a company; I'm just trying to explain how I feel about his abilities as a speaker.

Hillary Clinton is quite a bit different. She's more forceful. It seems like she knows you don't buy what she is saying but she's going to keep at it to try and drive home her point. She has passion when she speaks as well, but sometimes it comes off more like anger. Using the same comparison as Obama, she's like a manager who thinks you are all slacking and she is going to get you to see it her way no matter what.

John McCain just seems mad most of the time. He's pissed at the way the country is right now and, he's going to do something about it no matter what the consequences. Again, he seems angry too, but not quite at you, the sales team, but he's ticked at the whole company. And dog-gone it he is going to do something about it.

Does any of that make sense? See, this is why I don't talk about politics much. Oh, I'm not saying who is, or is not qualified to run the country. That is not the point at all. I'm just talking about the feeling I get when I hear them speak.

Live Long and Prosper...Eternally

Who wouldn't want this to be the place you spend your eternal rest?




You can find out more about it here. Now, I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, yes I've seen all the movies. Yes, I go to Wil Wheaton's blog. And yes, I took a picture of John de Lancie who played "Q" on Star Trek: The next Generation, but I'm not a huge, huge fan. What was my point? Oh yeah, isn't that the coolest casket. It's just too bad you can't be shot out of a photon torpedo tube after you die. Maybe one day...

Ten on Tuesday on...er...Friday.

I picked this up from Florinda who does it every week, though this week she was a little late. I haven't done the list before, but I thought the subject was perfect. You can find the original post over at Ten on Tuesday. Makes sense, huh?



Anyway this week the topic was then things you'd fix in your home if you had the time and money. Only ten?



1. New siding. Our house is 39 years old and so is the siding. Enough said.

2. New driveway. The driveway isn't all that old, but two owners ago did a poor job of repairing it.

3. Landscaping. Some of it is pretty sad.

4. New master bath. The vanity is as old as I am, and doesn't look much better.

5. New carpeting. We are going to wait until the kids are a little bigger, as well as the dog.

6. New cabinets in the kitchen. They aren't old. I just don't like them.

7. Some new windows. The previous owners replaced about one half. We need to finish.

8. Refinish the wood floor in the family room. See remark on number 5.

9. Fix up the garage. More shelving and cabinets. It's a disaster.

10. Replace the doors leading to the back of the house.



I could go on, but these are the most pressing issues.



OK, I have to go watch Battlestar Galactica now.