A Look Back

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I'm scheduled for a vasectomy on Saturday morning. Never done that before. I also went hunting for deer twice. Shot a doe on the first day. On the second day I learned more than I needed to know about the best way to dress a squirrel and stuff it with sausage for a SuperBowl halftime treat.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I can't remember.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My blog sister, R, gave birth to bouncing baby B, with some help from H. We're not close per se, but I know she reads this from time to time and I couldn't be happier for their family. A good friend from high school, Bryan and his wife Missy adopted a little girl this year.

4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A creative outlet. I left improv for the most part last year. Maybe I should finally do a radio pilot. Hey, there's a resolution!

5. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 4. Big election. You might have remembered some of it.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The garage sale and the gazebo.

7. What was your biggest failure?
The gazebo. The gutter.

8. What was the best thing you bought?
Netflix has been pretty cool. The new lawnmower rocks.

9. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The wife, the kids.

10. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Anyone who continued to spread rumors as truth before, during and after the election. Especially after many were disproven. Both candidates. George W. Bush for continuing to block his people from answering questions on the record.

11. Where did most of your money go?
Home and Car Loans.

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Thanksgiving. My kids being in the same school again.

13. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier. Same weight. Richer.

A Look Back

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I'm scheduled for a vasectomy on Saturday morning. Never done that before. I also went hunting for deer twice. Shot a doe on the first day. On the second day I learned more than I needed to know about the best way to dress a squirrel and stuff it with sausage for a SuperBowl halftime treat.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I can't remember.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My blog sister, R, gave birth to bouncing baby B, with some help from H. We're not close per se, but I know she reads this from time to time and I couldn't be happier for their family. A good friend from high school, Bryan and his wife Missy adopted a little girl this year.

4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A creative outlet. I left improv for the most part last year. Maybe I should finally do a radio pilot. Hey, there's a resolution!

5. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 4. Big election. You might have remembered some of it.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The garage sale and the gazebo.

7. What was your biggest failure?
The gazebo. The gutter.

8. What was the best thing you bought?
Netflix has been pretty cool. The new lawnmower rocks.

9. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The wife, the kids.

10. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Anyone who continued to spread rumors as truth before, during and after the election. Especially after many were disproven. Both candidates. George W. Bush for continuing to block his people from answering questions on the record.

11. Where did most of your money go?
Home and Car Loans.

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Thanksgiving. My kids being in the same school again.

13. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier. Same weight. Richer.

The Final Postdown

I'm putting the kibosh on Galoot's Hoot Page and all the other damned blogs I started. Time to focus on one blog and one blog only. If you'd like to know what's up with what's going down with me, you can find out at:

The Occasional Truth

Later.

Cut Your Hair

There is no delicate way of sharing this.

I was dropping a deuce this morning, when PGirl walked into the bathroom. She stood before me, hands cupped, holding several hanks of hair that resembled a Tribble that hadn't made it through the transporter. She said nothing.

"What is that?", I asked.

"PGirl Jr.'s hair.", she replied.

I looked at the hair again.

"Did it fall out?", I said, fearing that my princess was terminally ill.

"No. She cut it.", she said.

Hearing this, I wasn't exactly relieved as this could mean my daughter was deeply, psychologically scarred.

We're still not sure why the girl did this to herself. For the time being, I'll chalk it up to experimentation. I've had a few hair mishaps myself:

1. In grade school, I cut some hair off of my bangs, just before class pictures.
   
2. Out of 30 or so boys in my graduating class, 27 had some form of mullet going on for their senior pictures. I was in the majority group here.
3. One Halloween in Florida, about 10 years ago, I was preparing to go to bed. In my jack-o-lantern were several tea candles. I decided to pour water in to extinguish them. Before the flame went away, it shot up through the top of the pumpkin shell and burned off some of the hair where a widow's peak would be. If I had a widow's peak.
4. In the early nineties I grew my hair out longer than I'd ever before. When parted in the middle, it kind of looked like Bruce McCullough's wig in this video. The only folks, who had haircuts like this were 14 year old skatepunks and some lesbians.
5. I shaved my ankles one year because getting them taped for basketball was getting to be a pain.
6. I shaved my legs once in the shower, just because I could. I had a few nicks here and there, but it also uncovered scars I'd forgotten about.
7. The summer before college saw me attempt my first moustache. It was a Chevron. This survived through an Olan Mills family portrait and my first I.D. card at Central Methodist College.
8. The Chevron reappeared in 1994 during summer break, 1995 during summer stock and in 1996 during my first professional acting job - also in the summer!
9. The Chevron's cousin - the Horseshoe, showed up for some acting gigs here in Jamestown, including Helen Keller's pop in the miracle worker and Buffalo Bill. Also appearing throughout adulthood were the Goatee and Moustache and the Chin Strip and Moustache.
   
10. I cannot grow a full beard.
11. My beard and moustache come out red.
12. The soul patch or "flavor" have also grown on my face.
13. Don't you dare laugh at this post.

"...a Cosby sweater!"

I inadvertently discovered part of my Father's Day gift when cleaning in the garage yesterday. I didn't unearth anything, rather I found that something was missing and likely being worked on. More on that next week.

If you are stumped on what to get Dad this Sunday, here is someting to consider:



Yes, Dr. William H. Cosby Junior, E.D.Dddddddd is auctioning off some of the iconic sweaters here.

Ya see.....

Mate, Mates, Mistake, Lake

Part 3 - Flannery's Pub

PGirl and I ate here last August when we checked out Alamo Drafthouse's "A Christmas Story" screening. We convinced Social and Viking to go, walked across the street from the hotel and dined.

The food was Irish and Irish-American. PGirl had a grilled cheese sandwich (with tomatos and bacon) while I had a Turkey Pastrami. We both had potato cheese soup. Social ordered mussels. We all had a good mix of drinks. Social and I had Guiness blends. He went with a Black and Tan, I had a Black and Gold. PGirl had a shandy. I don't remember what Viking ate or drank. No elicit photo shoots from this leg of the excursion, I'm afraid.

Next: Part 4 - Girl Drink Drunk or How The Kids In The Hall Delivered The Goods, Mr. Social Saved A Dragonfly and Galoot Almost Followed A Somewhat Famous Musician Into A Starbucks Bathroom

Top Chef Loses Me

Massive spoilers at Media Del Arte.

Me and My Mate And My Mates At The Mistake By The Lake

PGirl, The Viking, Mr. Social and I hopped in the man-i-van and headed out to Cleveland last Saturday. After a quick stop in Erie, PA for some cheap gas, chips and soda we made the short trek in under 3 hours.

1st Stop - Museum of Contemporary Art
Here, in a somewhat deserted parking lot, PreppyGirl hopped out to visit a fellow B.O.M. (Box Office Manager), Social and Viking admired some surrounding architecture, and I exchanged 17 paintings with a Chinese man. I kid you not. I was returning the paintings to our last gallery's resident, who is a professor in nearby Youngstown. We must have looked interesting.

2nd Stop - Marriott Residence Inn
We reserved a two bedroom, two bathroom suite downtown. Old hotel. Nice hotel. Old, nice hotel with an extra little room. Viking took advantage of it first by fluffing Mr. Social's pillow.


I used the room next in an ill-fated attempt to not use our toilets in order to "go green".



Finally, Mr. Social impressed us with his best reenactment of Marilyn Monroe in "Seven Year Itch".

For some unknown reason, PGirl declined to pose for a pic.

Coming Soon! 3rd Stop - Flannery's Pub

Make Them Laugh

A tribute to some of Christopher Guest's creations at Media Del Arte.

Dining Out With The Joneses

Top Chef and Indiana Jones reviewed at Media Del Arte.

Beware The Blog!

I'll be putting my radio/tv/movie posts here "Media Del Arte"

Bad Sports

When it comes to sports radio, I mostly listen to ESPN radio and WGR550 out of Buffalo. ESPN has a mix of personalities on the air who seem to mostly favor the big three of MLB, NFL and NBA. WGR's hosts focus mostly on Sabres hockey and Buffalo Bills football. The emphasis at ESPN seems to be on the personality and the power of any given host to offer his/her opinion on what's going on in the sporting world and occassionally talk about pop culture. In Colin Cowherd's case, we find a host who makes a lot of analogies between sports and what a "normal" person might experience. He repeats a lot of his points within minutes of offering them (supposedly in case a new listener tunes in) and makes sure everyone knows he's a guy's guy. Whatever that means. Basically he treats his audience like two year olds. He does have one thing going for him over Jim Rome (the closest sports radio guy to him in terms of personality) and that is a lack of dead air. I applaud you for that Colin. Jim, do more thinking before the show, write it down and then perform. Just a tip.

The guys at WGR are mostly easy on the ears. They are informed fans, passionate about their local teams and do not toe the line when it comes to respecting a franchise or league. They truly air it out when broadcasting. I love them for it. Which brings me to this...

What the hell is going on with coverage of Spygate? This scandal centers around the New England Patriots videotaping opposing teams' defensive signals. Allegations came out at the beginning of the season with a former Patriot employee singing to the media. I'm not entirely sure of the timeline of who said what, but this drama popped up its head throughout the season, but had little effect on the Patriots. The folks at ESPN seemed to want to quash the story there and then, with various personalities saying, essentially, "If the tapes mattered so much, why are the Patriots dominating their games?".

As most of you know, the Pats almost went undefeated and had a stellar season. The Pats were fined and lost a first round draft pick. Walsh, the former Pats employee, spoke with the head of the NFL. Arlen Spector (sp?) demanded answers from the NFL. What bugs the guys at WGR (and me, the more I think about it), is that the Pats taped other teams from 2000 to the fall of 2007. Seems to me that 3 super bowl wins and several winning seasons might have benefited from having those tapes. My beloved Bills haven't had the greatest teams since I've moved to their region. However, I gotta believe that the Pats cheating ways may have had a little to do with the Bills losing to them 14 out of the last 15 matchups. But ESPN hosts don't seem to want to talk about this. Like the worst politicians and tv talk show hosts, they'd rather attack the whistleblower and Senator than the issue. One of my favorite ESPN guys, Tony Kornheiser intimated that both should sit down and shut up.

I'm not sure if the U.S. Government should get involved here, but I sure wish the NFL would do more. My gut feeling? More teams have been doing this and the Pats have taken the fall for the league. If that isn't the case, I think there is more to this story.

"I Like Pie."

Last night's season finale of "The Office" was pretty damn good in my humble opinion. All of the characters seemed to be back in their comfort zones and the extension to an hour didn't feel like it. I won't spoil for those who haven't watched yet, but Kevin's relatively small subplot practically had me on the floor. I'm glad the producers didn't try to tie up all of the loose ends, despite the writer's strike. Some of the plots this year felt forced, but this season-ender didn't.

The Producers

Watching "Top Chef"'s judges table last night, I had the feeling the producers of the show were bending rules to get a rivalry going between two of the contestants. For the sake of those who haven't seen it yet, we'll call these people Chef A, Chef B, and Chef C. All three were on the chopping block of last night's challenge for food that wasn't up to snuff. Chef B, however, completely missed one required ingredient. In season one, the third finalist was eliminated simply for omitting a required ingredient, despite the quality of his dish. The producers set their own standards then and there.

On last night's show, the judges mentioned B's omission while dining, but failed to bring it up at the judge's table. A red flag went up in my mind. Chef C, instead, brought it up at the table. B called C out because of the help he/she(B) he gave to him/her(C) earlier in the competition. Seemed to me that the producers wanted B's omission to not be considered. This way, A would be cut and B and C would be left to create some drama. Of course, I can't prove any of this, but it seemed fishy to me.

IPod-adise Found

I returned home tonight with the kiddoes in tow, tried the numerology thing again and hit the garage for one more look-around. I first checked our newspaper bin, in case it had fallen in. Then I checked in some darker corners of the garage. Still nothing. I decided to come back in. On the garage stairs landing were my old running shoes which I wear for yard work. I checked inside each. Nothing. I then retraced my steps in putting the shoes on. I hadn't sat on the steps to do it the last time. No, I'd sat in the back of the minivan because I had unloaded our new mower from it moments before. I opened the back hatch and there it was on the floor of the vehicle. Bingo.

Oh Yenta, My Yenta...

I've updated my relatively new blog, The People I Know. Didn't know about it before? Now you do. Keep reading and you just might be the subject of a post...

Little Lost IPod

So, I can't find the IPod. I hadn't used it for most of the last week. However, I was considering using it while doing some yard work. I never did though. Last I recall, it was on a table near the door leading to the garage.

So far I've prayed to Saints Anthony and Jude. Then I tried numerology. Basically I thought of the IPod while randomly typing numbers into a database. The first results stated that the object was near water or where we keep our alcohol. I checked. Nothing in the kitchen. The next try came up with the object being where we kept our Christmas decorations. They're up in the attic and I had put some coats up there before doing the yard work. I checked. Nothing doing. Finally, the last try yielded a suggestion of a dirty place. I checked the garage. Nope.

Still looking...

Squeezing The Tube...

The DVR is loading up with a lot of TV programs. PGirl and I have been catching up after the kids are asleep, but we have a ways to go....

Top Chef is in fine form this season. Clever challenges, less character-driven drama and an emphasis on the food! Finally. Food is what it is all about. Two of the chefs are lesbian partners...and I don't care. One of the chefs is a spastic white homeslice...and I don't care. Another chef has a faux-hawk hairstyle similar to one of the lesbians...and I don't care. Food, food, food.

Dexter finished it's run on CBS. I'm looking forward to catching season 2 on DVD. Funny and creepy. I don't care how watered down it came from being unrated on Showtime. Character and story are what counts for me.

Little People Big World rocks my world. Patriarch Matt Roloff still drives me nuts with his half-assed (no pun) planning of his family's lives and Matriarch Amy continues to live in the fantasy world of stereotyping boys, girls and store gawkers. Despite character flaws, they love each other and their kids. Fascinating stuff.

Battlestar Galactica is piling up on me. I have to make some frakkin' time late at night to catch up.

Jesus Saves....And Collects The Whole Set

PGirl Jr. was helping me bring the dog in this morning from the back porch when GalootJr. came to us. He was carrying one of those 50 States Quarters commemorative coin collecting books. Basically a big, flat children's book sized mini-tome. He was holding it above his head singing, "Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.". PGirlJr. grabbed the book away from him and began to sing, "Money. Money. Money. Money." Their social commentary astounds me at times.

Kids In The Hall....Again

PGirl arranged the tickets for a Kids In The Hall tour stop in Cleveland on May 31. I'm really jazzed. I've heard that all of the sketches will be new ones. One of the old ones I'd love to see is this little beauty...



If I turn out like this guy, I hope my kids let me live in their homes.