Long Live the Hud

This may not come as a shock to you but I have never really cared for News Year's. When I was in school it marked the end of bliss and the return to torment. As I got older it became an uncomfortable reminder of mine own mortality. When I had a job I generally tried to work, thus at least keeping my mind occupied.

I still remember 1999 sitting in a dark, sad, little apartment in Cary, North Carolina with a large, dirty, rather smelly fellow who was snoring loudly in the next room, listening to all the joyful, drunken sounds of party attendees, wondering what evil I had committed in another life to be where I was and why News Years was always so very depressing. also wondered if other poeple felt this way and that is why they drank on New Years Eve.

That is, until I made watching this movie, a New's Years Eve tradition.
It is a rather dark comedy about a naive Mr Norville Barnes, who unwittling becomes the Present of Huducker Industries. Long live the Hud. Mr Barnes has an idea, you know, for the kids.
I won't spoil anymore of it, but recommend you watch it.

You know what this movie teaches me? Well not a damn thing, but every year it reminds me of something Warrening Hudscker said "Failure should never lead to despare, for despair looks only to the past in business and in love, the Future is Now."

As 2008 comes to a close and old mother earth begins at least one more journy around the Sun, I will be, once again, listening to those drunken party goers, hopeing that maybe, just maybe, this year will be a little more giddy, a little more pleasent, a little more exiciting. I hope it's your year. Hell, if it's not we alway have 2010.

Party on, Party on.

A Final Christmas Thought

I really like Christmas, the lights, the music, the TV specials, "It's a Wonderful Life", the pure, and unashamed commercialism of it all. It is fantastic. Until the day after Christmas. Then it all just becomes annoying and tiresome. However, I felt it prudent to post a few thing about this year's holiday.

We were "blessed", by which I mean harassed, by absurd quantities of snow. Red loved it. Here she is with the old man.
We had a great time playing horse and sled. Guess who was the horse?
Smiley got a new cooking set that looked like Mom's but only about 1/4 scale. He was a little confused but enjoyed it all the same.
One tradion we have is to make gingerbread houses with real gingerbread. Red's spent a lot of time helping Grandma by eating as much frosting and decorations as she could.
This year I went with a "Christmas at the Bastille" theme. It is not my best work but not my worst. You can see the battlements and an armed red gummy bear at the top.
The Gummy Bears in the fortress were red (representing the Revolutionaries) and they hate the green gummy bears (The Royalists), so here you can see where they have impaled some of the green Gummy Bears as a warning to others. It is not as good as "Christmas in the Trenches of Petersburg" but I am rather pleased with it. I think it is very festive, and historical.
So we also go downtown to see the lights. Here is me and my sister with a what Jesus and his family would have looked like had they been Navajo or Eskimos I couldn't really tell.

Until next year I wish you a Happy Holidays.

More Wedding.

In the restaurant the below sing was posted twice. Does it bother anyone else that washing you hands has to be a State Law. Now on to pictures of the kids. They are fantastic.

Smiley is quite the ladies man isn't he.
Red had a great time.

Yet Another Wedding

My dear reading I wish to apologizes for making you wait so far long for a new, excited post to read. It has been a very busy few weeks. Apparently my place of business expects people to actual work during the holiday season. This is simply incomprehensible. The happiest time of year only comes once a year you know. I think I am being punished, as my unique analytical skills have become suddenly very popular.

Anyways enough of that kind of boring talk. No one whats to read anything with the word analytical in it. My brother in law also got married. Here is a photo below.I know what you are thinking, and no, he is not a polygamist. That is my wife on the left. I just like pictures more when she is in them. He also did not get married at a Chinese restaurant. Though this option is always so tempting. This was at the wedding lunch. Due to my resent disillusionment with Mormonism, I opted out of the ceremony. Last time i went to temple wedding I got a rather bizarre lectures on priesthoods, powers and dominions by one of the temple workers.

It was a pretty fine lunch. We were a bit early so we hung out with these charming statues. I hate snow. Nasty stuff, always wet, cold and so very tiresome, but I do like this statue I wish I had a pair at the end of my driveway.
This sign indicated that the resturant was closed, due to the aforemention luncheon.

I suspected Ben was trying to take a photo of me taking a photo, so I stuck first. He failed to see it coming.

These are some of the other poeple at my table. We were by far one of the more attrictive groups.
The wood thing in the middle of the table spins. It was hard not to play with it but I was successful. Nearly every thing was very good. The had some very good shrimp. (Please note the use of bolding) The also put raisens in their ham fried rice, not a choise I would have made. I am unable to describe the senseation, except by saying it just seemed wrong. I will leave that taste to your imagination. Plus who ever is the head cook is really into green beans. He uses green beans in the same manner most people use salt. He puts it on nearly everything.

Anyways the bride look lovley and there were not any major problems. I will post more pictures in the future, but for now, dear reader, I must say good night.

Photos that make you think

Man, I sure wish I was at the movies.

Veteran's Days

Since today is Veteran's Day, I wanted to thank all those who serve.

The end of the Great War came on November 11, at 11:00 in 1918 after over 13 million deaths not counting civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

Let is Snow ... Damn it

So as a general rule I hate snow. It wet cold and reminds me of those horrible boy scout camping trips were we would attempt to sleep in the treacherous stuff.  Red conducted a through investigation. After ever test she could think of (which consisted mostly of tasting the snow) she concluded that, she liked it.

Halloween is awesome. Who doesn't like free candy.

Do we look a little pretentious here? I can't decided.

The Kids

Forgive me for being a bit sentimental but I love my kids. They are crazy cute. We frosted cookies, and Red only ate frosting.
So we went to a truck or treat at one of our cities fantastic parks. The castle playgrounds has no equal. My son and I had a great time going down the never ending slide. They loved it. Red was cookie monster as can be seen below.


The other was a pumpkin. (Smiley is the pumpkin with the face, on the left in case your not sure.)

Smiley has taken to sitting on his food whenever he can get away with it. I am not sure why but he sure thinks it's funny.


We sure are attractive folk.

Give me your worst!

My son and daughter went in to get their shots a few days ago. Usually a very loud, emotional experience. When they brought out the long sharp needle Red gave it a brief condescending look that said, "Yeah, whatever dude." Then as the doctor approached with the sharp instrument Red didn't fuse, cringe, cry or even move. She was either going to show baby how to take such things in stride, or showing that the doctor's days of terror have come to an end. Even after the cold needled touched skin her demeanor failed to change. She was calm, collected and cool through he entire ordeal. (Which was a sight better than dad did giving blood last week. I can barlel keep myself from screaming.)
Smiley, however, refused to go without a fight, and let everyone in the building know what he thought of them and their shots.

My kids are totally kick ass.

"England expects that every man will do his duty"

If you woke up this morning think today was just another stupid, boring Tuesday you would spend at your mind numbing job, you are mistaken. Not about spending another mind numbing day at work, or that this is Tuesday, but that this is just any day. Today, Oct 21, is the anniversary of the epic Battle of Trafalgar, where the English Fleet under command of Lord Nelson defeated Admiral Villeneuve's Franco-Spanish Fleet of the Spanish coast, preventing the ogre, Napoleon from setting a foul, sweaty, toe on English soil.

Please join me in an on-line toast. To HMS Victory's and the British fleet's ability to open a can of hearty kick ass.



http://www.britishbattles.com/waterloo/battle-trafalgar.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar

Christopher Columbus

For those of who who didn't know (or care) yesterday was Columbus Day. I generally ignore any holiday I don't get a day off from, but not this time. Columbus may have been a bit of a tool at times but I take my hat off to any man willing to pick a direction and sail off into the unknown.

However, I feel as a decedent of the Nordic Countries I must also take my hat off to Mr Leif Ericson who really discovered the New World, and would crush Columbus in a cage match, with or without weapons.