Kung Fu meets Cops

From the sublime to the ridiculous - Stephen Segal Lawman. How can a 7th dan aikido master be so ridiculous? "Push the bullet." "Watch his hands,he's going to run." It's indescribable.

Sunday - all Fringe, all the time

Moo Shu Pork and we finished off the first season of Fringe, which is my favorite fictional show on television right now.



Over at I'd Offer You Some.

We are Devo

Nursing this shingles thing. Laid on couch and watched Turner Classic movies, Runway, Dr. Drew, and ESPN. I devolved very quickly.

Fringe Season One Marathon

Made it through episode ten - a great show.

We had one of the first DVD players available.

17) We have nearly 1000 DVD’s of movies & TV series at our house.

Sports Agnostic

Since February I have just about given up on sports. During most of my life I have been a sports fanatic, following just about anything.
About the time the Michael Vick atrocities hit I became irritated. Irritated with him, and with the way it became a national case. Irritated that he was so stupid and that it was somehow a national tragedy that he was going to jail.
Then the constant bashing of the patriots over the camera thing drove me nuts. If anyone thinks that almost every other team is not trying to steal signals, they are blissfully unaware of reality. I coached on a high school team that used four coaches to send in plays. Other teams had coaches whose job it was to decipher our signals, so we would vary the signals. The whining and attempts to denigrate the Patriots by people jealous of their success made me further frustrated.
When Dana Jacobsen got suspended from ESPN for ripping on Notre Dame and Jesus (off the air) at the Mike & Mike roast and there was outrage I took a break from ESPN. When Itried to turn the radio or TV back on it was all-Roger-Clemens all-the-time and it had nothing to do with actual pitching.
Which brings us to this baseball and steroids. I just don't care if anyone took steroids. I just don't. If baseball didn't want people to take steroids, they should have tested for it. That's what football has been doing for years. Give them a suspension and then put them back to work if they fail. Hell we test high school players. Instead it was a continuation of the flagellation of excellence - beating on Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire with no actual proof just innuendo and questionable sources. And again, I don't care if they did. Thanks for trying hard to be successful and entertain me guys. Then came the unmerciful hounding of Roger Clemens until all his dirty laundry was in public. He didn't do enough to deserve that harassment, and now a great player, probably the best pitcher of the last 40 years (since Gibson & Koufax) is needlessly embarrassed and tainted.
I didn't push to form a fantasy baseball league and I have not watched one baseball game this season. I'm not sure who is in first place. Is it the Devil Rays? The world has turned upside down.
The Celtics won in Basketball and I have been a fan of them since about 1973. I'm glad for Kevin Garnett, who appears to be a genuine hard worker and leader. I didn't watch a minute of it, and truthfully I had to rack my brain just now to remember who won. Just not that excited about it.
I have not watched a minute of the Olympics live. I watched the relay team anchor man hawk down the frenchman on internet video and got very excited. I watched a replay of the final two gymnastic performances by the US gold & silver winners. Blah. I'm glad for them, but floor exercise is a ridiculous sporting event. Why do the two big women's events, summer & winter, have to be judged? Making them necessarily subjective. I'm just not happy with the Olympics being in China. It validates their oppressive Maoist-captitalist regime. It's bad enough I can't actually live without having to by Chinese goods anymore, I don't have to support this. I want the US to do well, and I'm fired up about Michael Phelps (a little), but it all makes me uneasy.
Maybe football will draw me back this year, but if ESPN and reporters spend all their time "Outside the Lines" and focusing on non-game stories I will be hard-pressed not to give it the boot.
Then there is Alabama football. Maybe my uneasiness actually began when we hired Saban and he and we were unmercifully destroyed in the press. I mean I enjoyed PTI and Wilbon (and have actually watched it twice this week) but he pounds on Saban. I have kept up steadily with team developments and a college friend is the lead writer for a new bama website, and I will try to enjoy it. But the last ten years of controversy and embarrassment and incompetence have even put my enthusiasm to the test. I have a great deal of respect for the process that Saban has installed and I think he knows exactly what should be done to make us successful. An egotistical controlling jerk is probably exactly what we needed, as long as he knows what he's doing, which I think he does. So maybe Alabama football will allow me to enjoy sports again.
Either way it has been a very different experience, sort of being less-informed, which is not my style, and spending less time thinking about it. Not fretting over a doomed fantasy team (except for the great 2004 League Champions, led by Barry Bonds, of course) and not living and dying by the bridesmaid Braves who, I gather, have finally collapsed. I suspect I will return to form during football, but my level of devotion to all things sport, at this midway-point in my expected lifespan, is a sea-change that I think I can live with. Carry on (and roll tide anyway). -mr

Saturday Already?

- I met with N.W., and AP History expert and tried to glean what i could. I've spent time yesterday & today sorting .docs & .pdfs hoping to bring order to chaos and find tweh things that can help my students the most.
- Took Ada to the vet Thursday and Friday & finally got her spayed. She was up, but stoned out of her gourd, all night. In a week & a half she'll go outside in her own doggy hotel.
- I've worked out consistently, but have fallen behind in walking the dogs, what with everyone going to the vet & working out evening - must improve.
- We had a Christopher Guest double feature a few days back, watching Best in Show and For Your Consideration.
- Finally watched the end of Last Restaurant Standing. The jerky Royal Marine cook and his weepy wife won, but it seems that they didn't last very long once they opened the real restaurant.

Exercise

38 minutes on the elliptical today. A mile with Ada and Thisbe this evening. Got that (heavy) dog pen today. We'll see how it works out.

We finally watched the end of Last Restaurant Standing. The best cook (the royal marine) won, but not the best people (the twins). The winners apparently left the restaurant they got to open after only a few months.

New Day Rising

Had a great week with Clyde Frog visiting - and Bromide visited Sat. & Sun. Got the turtle table done, got the front room interior walls covered in canvas, got all the grass mowed at least once. Made a dent in the clothes washing. There was an awful lot of Law & Order Criminal Intent and Special Victims Unit. Worked out Thursday, but missed the weekend walk - back to the gym 7:30am Monday.

I'd offer you some: Jefferson Bible, and a great Abtruse Goose comic.

TPB

Really enjoyed the Trailer Park Boys Movie - website.

Done.

- This school year is officially done.
- I have a week off and then I'll work summer school thru June.
- Put my new in an story online workshop and got good feedback. I'll finish it up this week.
- I've cleaned up some of the 'den' and I've done a little to restablish the guest bedroom, after it spent some time as a reptile room.
- The girls (our dogs) have been behaving better and the reptile/amphibian contingent are doing quite well.
- Watched a couple of episodes of Top Chef, trying to catch up.
- I've had done about 7 workouts now. Used the elliptical for the first time, it's tougher than I expected. I did 12 cardio before & after & 2 sets of 8 exercises in between. Benched 165 - 2x12. A long way to go. Got Coach S. to go with me the last two times.
- Went to Allsteak in Cullman last night. Outstanding. Tobermory said it was one of the best meals she's ever had.

Tuesday already.

Teaching: Grinding toward the end of Reconstruction and then our exam.
Car Improvement: Flat tire on the Sentra yesterday evening. Got a tire instead of breakfast and put it on at lunch. Massive improvement.
Writing: I've been fiddling with the end of my latest story and think I'm done. I'll start submitting it very soon.
Reading: I've been working through the Sci-Fi collection I picked up.
TV & Movies: Watched the first two episodes of Season Four of Battlestar Galactica over the weekend.
Exercising: Put off Sunday's workout 'til yesterday, and then the flat tire. Must work out. Update: Had a great workout - sore & exhausted.

Monday 5/5

Teaching: Notes from Vicksburg to The Wilderness Campaign, with a great reading of the Gettysburg Address by Sam Waterston from Ken Burns Civil War
Home Improvement: Fixed the mower by removing the deck housings and repositioning the belt. Mowed the side & front up until dark.
Writing: I've started typing my short urban fantasy story, and will try to finish that in a bit.
Reading: finished up “In the House of the Seven Librarians” by Ellen Klages from The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year Volume 1 (Spring 2007).
TV & Movies: Over the weekend I re-watched the first 13 episodes of Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica with Clyde Squid. The show is relentless. It rips you apart every episode, makes you cringe and makes you want to save the human race from the Cylons, all at the same time.
Internet: Mostly Civil War stuff for my notes - some cool stuff on the Unionist unit - 1st Alabama Cavalry, U.S. Volunteers
Animal Kingdom: Turtles, frogs, chameleons, snakes, dogs, cats all living the high life.
Exercising: Completed my fourth workout, did two 7-minute rides on the exercise bike and one set of eight exercises for 10 reps, but I'm nearing limit on weight and will move to two sets and then up weight and go for periodization. 175x10 on bench - easily done. Getting very close to actually working out.

Workout predicted

Teaching: Made it through Chancellorsville in lecture. Won't be long now. Little Round Top & Pickett's Charge and then Ulysses. I spent Wednesday at the 2nd of a three-meeting "Seven Habits" seminar. It's good stuff, and really how we operate around here, but it's tough to not feel cynical at the earnestness of it all.
Home Improvement: My weed spraying in the front seems to of work, so I'll expand the eradication. Mowing today, weather permitting.
Reading: reading through a summary of Cigars, Whiskey, & Winning - basically "Grant on Leadership".
TV & Movies: Got in Top Chef and Last Restaurant Standing and little else this week. There is a bit of freedom in not watching regular shows on TV, and certainly the DVR lets one pick & choose, but I do feel like I'm missing out on things sometimes. I've got another episode of Battlestar saved.
Exercising: Finally took advantage of a gym membership available because of my job. Going to workout in a bit.
Dad's back at home and doing fine.

Laundry Day (Thursday)

- I have been washing clothes and straightening this place for more than 12 hours (except for a trip to resupply DMD).


- I'm not certain that it seems that anything has actually gotten done, but it damn sure has, nonetheless.
- The Tournament started today, and truthfully, I just don't care.
- Top Chef is up and running and has started well.
- 1-mile dogwalk with Thisbe this evening, followed up with another 1/4 mile+ with Ada.
It's not just me When it comes to the Fischer Space Pen.

Soon

Battlestar Galactica

Big Wednesday Morning

Not Really.
Yesterday:
Washed a ton of clothes.
Pets were all properly cared for.
Overpaid for a Waffle House breakfast.
Watched most of the first episode Top Chef.
Dog-walked a 1/2 mile in the morning and two 1/2 miles in the evening.

Spring Break Woo-Hoo!

Teaching: see post title
Home Improvement: Maintained our gains in the front room, hall bedroom & kitchen. Washed several sheets & changed & freshened the bedclothes.
Pets: Everybody was on schedule & I think Tarquin (the frog) actually ate a cricket.
Writing & Reading: Nothing today
Movies & TV:: Watched the first & second episodes of John Adams with Bromide this morning. It's good work. Not overwhelming, but workmanlike.
Internet: Ironically spent time looking at productivity blogs this evening.
Exercising: Slacked off today

No Country for Old Men

TV: Bromide came to visit and we watched the preview episode (ep.2) of John Adams. It appealed to my history geekdom, especially emo-Jefferson - about the Declaration, as it's being edited, "Well, that's what I think."
Movies: No Country for Old Men - watched it the last two nights - it's damn good.
The House: Got the hall bedroom setup for Bromide, front room is orderly chaos, and the kitchen is chaotic neutral. Beware the Den.
Exercising: Walked a mile this morning.

Weekend

- As good a weekend as could be had, considering.
- Clyde came to visit and Tobermory worked a lot. Saturday Clyde & I watched the 2nd half of season two of Dexter. Just a damn fine show. It had us on edge, and really that's about all you can ask from a TV show.
- Good Geek stuff at geekdad @ Wired. And serious list of lists at The List Universe.
- Sunday we scouted out Tobermory's "manaher" training site - looks like she'll have plenty to do. She'll be gone all week, so we'll be stirring up trouble alone.