It's Just around the Corner!

Ok everybody. Christmas is just around the corner, so email me your Dear Santa letters so that I can start buying presents. OLBilby@gmail.com. :)

HOO-RAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a certainty yet, but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to win 5 dollars from Lissa next Fall. We had a little bet going that the totally fantastic television show Men In Trees wouldn't make it to a second season. I bet that it would, but Lissa has little faith and/or bad taste in television since she doesn't think it will do all that well, but whichever. My reasoning behind the bet was because the show is soooo friggin' awesome, due to its comedic romantic plotlines, which I love, but Lissa thought it would fail because it was a Friday night show and that in itself would make it unpopular. However, Men In Trees is moving to THURSDAY nights beginning November 30. This mean that--and I'm sad to say--they will probably be cancelling Six Degrees, another show that I was watching and liked relatively well, but not nearly as much as the show that will replace it; I'm not too dissappointed about it, especially because the line up will be Ugly Betty (one of my new favorite shows), Grey's Anatomy (another one of my favorites) and then of course, Men In Trees. What a fantastic night Thursdays will be :). But yeah...be prepared to pay up Lissa...cause a year from now, I guarantee that you'll owe me 5 dollars. HOO-RAH!!!

http://tinyurl.com/vy6zo

Army Strong

Army has changed their advertising campaign. I don't like it. I remember reading about the proposed change earlier this year. I didn't like it then either. Now that I've seen how they actually plan to convey their new incredibly succint message . . . I like it even less. The ads that are running go something like this;

Learning to stand up for yourself? That's strong. Learning to stand up for your country? That's Army Strong!

I remember the Army jingle from when I was growing up "Be all that you can be . . . in the ARMY!!!" It was cute, it was catchy, it was--if i remember correctly--iconic. Then sometime during my highschool years they changed it to "The Army of One". While I thought the ads were pretty good, I still missed the jingle.

Now, not only is there no jingle, but the slogan is . . . not even a slogan. Army Strong? Who else pictures some neanderthal thumping their chest and declaring, "Army! Strong!"? Now I am reminded of the excellent Buffy episode "Beer Good!", for which the tv spots probably went something like this; "Learning to have a one night stand? That's good! Learning to have a one night stand and not moon over the guy like an idiot and drag down the beginning of the season? That's Beer Good!"

I lost my train of thought.

Mark Your Calendars!

Last night was a red letter day for me! For the first time since Roy was born 7 months ago, Russ changed a poopy diaper!

Welcome Our New Speaker of the House

No sulking on my end, although I will say that I feel that it was not so much that the democrats deserved to win, but that the republicans richly deserved to lose.

Let the circus begin, since our prospective new speaker has been promising all sorts of investigations and hearings:


Photo stolen shamelessly from HotAir

Maybe when the republicans remember why they were put in the majority in the first place - democrat over-spending, corruption, immigration, high taxes, bloated and intrusive government - republicans will win again.

Like it was some kind of secret . . .

Neil Patrick Harris has officially come out of the closet following recent 
speculation regarding his sexual preference.  Why Doogie?  Why?
http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1554852,00.html 

on a side note, Opera browsers do not like blogger.

Random Comments

The trick-or-treaters that came to our door cracked me up. In particular, since I just hold out the bowl and let the kids pick what they'll take, I found it instructive to note how many pieces of candy each kid took. Girls almost universally took just one piece, said thanks, and left. Boys, when faced with choice - instead of being handed a piece or two of candy - broke down into two groups. The polite ones who said thanks, thrust their chubby fists into the bowl and took off with a couple of pieces, and the imps that thrust both fists into the bowl and would have grabbed all they could carry if I hadn't made them narrow down their selection.

And Roseanne Barr was on My Name Is Earl last night, and I have to say, she's much more attractive as an old lady than I remembered.



Oooh, and I found a write-in candidate for the Allen/Webb race. If you aren't voting for either of them, write in Meryl Yourish.

The Grudge 2

I went to see the Grudge 2 yesterday, and i have to say it didn't dissappoint. There were some reveals that were really good. Granted they were fairly easy to predict and by the end of the movie a tad played out, but I still give the movie points. I have to say that having a grey faced balloon head toddler hiding in the back of someone's hoodie before snatching them away into god knows where, is pretty fucking cool. I might have been more scared if Sonny hadn't been screaming like a little girl for most of the movie. That was the most entertaining part of the evening.




They attached the trailer for another Ghost House Pictures movie; The Messengers. I was pretty excited by this trailer. Some of the visuals are standard Japanese horror fare, but that is probably thanks to the Pang Brothers directing. I haven't seen the Eye yet, but I've been told it was the shit. At any rate, the trailer creeped me out, and I cannot wait to see this.
http://www.worstpreviews.com/review.php?id=22







OOh and I almost forgot--I'm the biggest nerd ever--they also attached the trailer for 'The Return'. This is Sarah Michelle Gellar's next horror vehicle. When I first heard about it, I was kind of 'meh . . . typecast much. Broaden your horizons blondie' but after seeing the trailer I've changed my mind. She's a brunette in this one guys! It actually doesn't look bad either http://www.worstpreviews.com/review.php?id=305

Anna-Out!

Bless You, NBC

Woo hoo! Our new DVR still has some bugs in it to work out, and as a consequence, for some reason Heroes was never picked up last night.

But not to worry, NBC has the full episode available online. Wasn't that nice?

Theater of the Absurd

The political silly season has reached new heights lately, leaving me wishing I lived in Maryland simply because Steele is so much more an attractive candidate than Allen or Webb. Sheesh these guys need to grow up, and it's leaving me debating taking the time and trouble to load the baby up into the car so I can go vote. I'm tempted to just write "neither, they both suck" if there's a write-in place on the ballot.

Wolfe lost my vote as well. I've written him a couple of times in the past, and previously my letters were complimentary, congratulating him on some vote or other. I always received a nice, only semi-form-letter reply, within a week. The last letter I wrote him was to complain about his vote on the pork transparency bill, and the republican party's insistence on pushing distraction issues such as gay marriage and online gambling, over red-meat issues like taxes and illegal immigration. Mind you, this is a letter coming from one of his constituents, less than two months before an election. Silence is the response I've gotten. Well between the b.s. pork transparency vote (the bill passed, and he just looked like a pork-loving jackass for voting against it), and his lack of response, I'm voting for a third-party candidate. It's just a tossup between the optician and the CACI guy.

We need a real third-party. One that doesn't exist on the fringes on the issues, like the greens or the libertarians, but instead behaves in a sensible manner. Both major parties seem to have lost their focus. The dems are spending all of their energy attacking a lame duck president with a vice president who won't be running. The republicans have gotten as insane as the dems, and these days the only thing they stand up for is senate privilege, be it for freezers full of cash, and the right for a congressmen to be free from search even with a legal warrant, or the right to hit on teenage pages. They're too busy voting to make on-line gambling illegal, and baiting gays, and jailing bong retailers, to bother doing anything important or useful.

What happened to making the tax cuts permanent? What happened to fixing social security? What happened to strong borders? What happened to respect for state's rights?

If I don't vote this year, it won't because I don't believe my vote won't count; it will be because I believe it will, and I can't stand to pull the lever for anyone on the ballot.

Priceless!!

It's rare that you get a shot that makes you burst out laughing when you check it in the camera, but this is what I got when I was taking pictures of Roy learning how to play with the cats.

This is now my favorite picture of Roy.

Flash sure is being a good sport, isn't she?

6 MONTHS--SMOKE FREE

Just thought I'd share that as of today, I have not had a cigarette in 6 months. It was surprisingly easy after month one, and I'm extremely proud of myself. Hoo-RAH!!!!

P.S. I'm the camel in the picture. Yup! That's me!! COOOL JOE CAMEL.

Tequila! Makes you and your food interesting!

It was requested that I post the marinade recipes for the 'scrumdiliumptious' fajitas that I made for Celeste's par-tay! . I should tell you that I used pretty much the first thing google spit out when I typed in fajita recipes.

Beef Fajita Marinade III

• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 4 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 fresh jalapeños, stems and seeds removed, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves (preferably Mexican oregano)
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour marinade over meat in shallow glass, plastic or other non-reactive container (a 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag works well). Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

Makes enough to marinate 2-1/2 to 3 pounds flank steak (6 generous servings).

I also used

Chicken Fajita Marinade

• 1/4 cup beer (not lite beer)
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour marinade over chicken in shallow glass, plastic or other non-reactive container (a 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag works well). Refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours.

Makes enough for 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of chicken (4 servings). This is from the same website.

It helps if you add a personal touch. I went with a little bit of pee. So funny that no one noticed!

The Pico de Gallo was the best part in my opinion.

Pico de Gallo I

• 2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded, pulp removed, finely chopped
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, finely diced
• 5 radishes, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
• 3 or 4 fresh serrano chiles, seeded, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• salt to taste

Mix tomatoes, onion, garlic, cucumber, radishes, cilantro, chiles and vinegar. Sprinkle lime juice over all. Add salt to taste.

Best if refrigerated, covered, for at least 1 hour, and served the same day made. Makes about 3 cups. Also you might want to consider spitting in it, just to mix things up ;-)

All of these recipes were used without permission from

from http://www.texascooking.com/features/feb98fajitas.htm

Very good! Highly recommended! Tell your friends.

Thanks Guys!

Wow. I had such a great birthday, and it was because I have such great sisters.

Anna (and Livvy (and Russ!)), the dinner was fantastic! I'm disappointed you didn't leave any of it behind, although I had some of that tasty chocolate cake for breakfast this morning. And it sure was nice to stumble into the kitchen this morning to make the baby's cereal and some coffee, to find that the kitchen was nice and clean, and the dishes were done. Make sure you post the recipe for that marinade, it was scrumdiliumptious. I hope you guys made it home okay, and I hope Sonny enjoyed himself. I was glad he came out for the party.

Livvy, you did such a good job wearing Roy out he slept til 830 this morning. Which means I got to sleep til 830 this morning. Rock on!

Lissa, I hope you didn't miss your flight back, and you weren't too hungover when you woke up. I'm so glad you came up for my birthday, and I'll make sure I get your movies returned today. I can't wait til you and Mike come back up for Christmas.

It was so nice having all of my sisters together for my birthday party. You guys are the best! Love you all!

This is the best ever picture of Anna!!!

I had to share because I love this picture. It's currently my wallpaper on my home computer, but I thought you guys should see it too. I like to call it "Why Anna Isn't A Cat Person." CHEERS!!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELESTE!!!

I thought you should have a birthday card and I thought this one was perfect. I found it on Hallmark.com (copyright stuffs and all that). HOO-RAH!!!

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY CELESTE!!!! I hope you have a meow-tastic day!!!

Love,
Livvy

Mystery Resolved

Okay.... one of life's teeny tiny mysteries, that's been bugging me and Russ for ages, was the varying packaging on Klondike Vanilla Ice Cream Bars. We buy a lot of boxes of Big Bears, and we kept noticing that sometimes, we'd get packages that had opaque white wrappers, and sometimes we'd get packages that had clear wrappers. The clear wrappers almost invariably sucked. The ice cream bar would be kind of stale and just not as good.

So, being the good consumerist that I am, last week, I sent an email to the Unilever company (they own Klondike brand) asking them exactly what was up with the packaging. Wouldn't you know it, but I got a letter in the mail today, giving me an actual answer! The white wrappers are their new wrappers going forward, and the clear ones are from older product. Mystery solved! And I have two coupons for a free box of klondike big bears as well.

Thanks for being a responsive corporation, Unilever!

Say Uncle!

We do.

The house has been on the market long enough, and we've gotten no love. The holidays are coming up. We have people coming to visit. I have grown to fucking hate that stupid sign in our yard.

So the house is coming off the market. We'll make some changes, and try again next year.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

10K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soooo, me and Melissa signed up to run a 10K on December 10th. I'm super excited about it. I get a tshirt and bells to attach to my shoe laces during the run. It's the Jingle All the Way 10K run that Acumen and someone else puts together each year. I think the funds go towards education or what not. So it's for a good cause. Anywho, we started our training yesterday, which basically coincides with my regular workout schedule, so it shouldn't eat up any more of the time I don't really have, and we both ran 2.5 miles in 27 1/2 minutes (Melissa finished a few seconds before me). I think our times are fantastic. Anna ran with us and she finished her 2.5 miles in 32 minutes, which is also fantastic, especially considering that me and melissa have like a combined average of 5 - 6 months of running experience on her. We went down to some highschool and ran around their track, specifically so that we could time ourselves. It was cute because there were a whole bunch of little guys (children around 5 or 6 maybe?) running around and playing football. I think they were in little league teams. But, they saw us running around the track and would ask their parents if they could run too. So the kids would sprint off down the track and then topple over from exhaustion after a quarter mile or something. Kids are silly...

Next year we plan to run the 10 mile Cherry Blossom run in April, which should also be fun, but harder cause it's 10 miles instead of 6.2. But, we'll also get another free t-shirt :). Seriously, I don't think I'd sign up for this stuff if I didn't get the shirt.

So yeah...just thought I'd share!

Frakking Awesome!

The season premiere of Battlestar Galactica was last night. It was so good I'm left at a loss for words as to how to describe its fantastic-ness. Heroes was amazing. Jericho is really drawing me in. But Battlestar blew them both away. It helps that it's in its 3rd season now, and has a wealth of backstory to draw from, and it does (draw from the backstory, I mean).

But here is a space opera that makes all of the other space operas look trite and chintzy by comparison. It doesn't flinch away from sensitive subjects, nor does it draw clear lines of distinction between the good guys and the bad guys, and the players on each side shift. Russ and I stayed up a full two hours after the baby finally went to sleep in order to watch it. That's two hours of precious sleep that I gave up because I couldn't stomach the thought of waiting until the next morning to see it.

So... I have all of the previous episodes on DVD. Who wants to do a series of Battlestar Galactica marathons on Saturdays over the next several weeks?

Oh, and it was just too cute, how they worked in 'frakking' on the season premiere of Veronica Mars.