Friday, October 24, 2008

And now, for your viewing pleasure

Our 4 month old, Jaron, laughing for the sake of laughing... and making those high pitched baby noises.

Friday, October 3, 2008

I.. cant read about it, burns the skin from your eyes

Dispite my snazzy dressing, street accent and smooth demeener, I'm not the biggest fan of modern hip-hop music. I show a LOT of appreciation for hip hop, but it's not something I listen to often - though I do like Hip Hop from the 80s and early 90s when it was just *fun* and wasn't about bragging rights. (not to say that all hip hop is about who packs the most guns, ect.)

I am, however, really looking forward to NOTORIOUS, the based on a true story about Notorious B.I.G. Hip Hop or Not, I love 'based on a true story's, biographies, what-have-yous. This movie will be a "Biggie" (pun intended)

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fujiya & Miyagi video

I love these guys... reminds me a little of the White Stripes Lego video

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Moskau!

I love this song! The guy in green as an awesome look (they show a great close up @ 2:14), the guy dressed in black looks a little out of place... a little younger and doesn't look completely wacked out.

also, lol @ 3:16 with the guy in blue

Friday, September 26, 2008

Rent: on stage: on screen

WAY before the movie version of Rent came out, My wife and I pined for them to release the musical filmed live on broadway - as if we were sitting in the audience. I was happy when I heard it was coming to film, but I didn't want to see a movie version of it, I wanted to see what everyone else would see if they saw it on Broadway. They did this with the musical Cats and it turned out phenominally!


Well, I never saw the movie version, but we were fortunate enough to see it live on stage a few months ago at the Toyota Center when it came through Tri-Cities. Happy with that, I then learned they did film the final show on Broadway and turned *that* performance into exactly what we've been wanting for the last 7 years.


It's in select theaters for a small amount of time (only over the weekend). It costed $20 per ticket, but it was Completely worth it to see it again "on stage."


We bought our tickets, had our babysitter (a.k.a., her mom) watch the kids as we sat in an empty theater all to ourselves. Right before it started, some elderly couple came in as well... Like any movie, it started with 20 minutes of previews... which I actually thought was odd since this wasn't like the other "movies" in the theater.


Then, it started. Not Rent, but Death Race. The What?! The eldery couple got up to complain and left! I started walking to where they were, told them what happened as they were aware and said it'd start in about 2 minutes and apologized for the accident.


I can't wait until it comes out on video, but it's one of those situations as well where the lead character, Mark Cohen, looked *exactly* like our good friend Shawn so, unfortunately, I saw Shawn instead of Mark the entire time. (picture below) Eh, it's all good.


It's a comfort to know that if I didn't get the chance to watch it live on stage, at least I would've seen this one. And we had the whole theater to ourselves. ROCK!!


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mommy, would you like some sausage?



We learned a new personality trait from our one year old, Lily. If Mommy gets too close to Lily while she's eating, she thinks she's going to steal her food so she protects it the best she can. Lily doesn't have a problem with Me or Laura so much, just Mom... weird, and funny.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Britain's got talent

America's got talent is one of my favorite shows. Like most shows, it's just an import of something that worked somewhere else so we took it, put our name on it and called it our own. (most countries do this to American products, it's our way of taking it back)

Of course most have seen Paul Potts, the cell phone salesman that won with his Opera performance... this year a kid dancer won which was cool... but I love this one. Something about a Michael Jackson / Bollywood dancing team is surreal.

Chi's Sweet Home

There's a series of 3 minute anime episodes called Chi's Sweet Home. It's about a cat who lost his mom, got found by a little boy and, though enjoying the life of a stay at home cat, still wants to become re-joined with it's family.

Though this kind of show usually isn't my thing, it is my wife's. I promised I'd watch one... then another. Then I promised I'd just watch upto episode 8... which turned to 12 or 13, I don't remmeber, I lost count. Only 3 minutes long each, they go by fast.

enjoy the first episode

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The day I became 12 again

Yesterday, August 25th, The Wii released Ys Book 1&2 for download on it's Virtual Console. If you're not familiar, instead of buying games at the store, The Wii has the option of having you buy games through the system like classic games for the NES, SNES and even some Wii games from indy-developers who might not having the marketing money to release games in the store.

Ys Book 1 & 2 originally came out for the Turbo Duo (old CD based system) and used to be one of my favorite games. I haven't played it in years and it was only $8 or something like that so I got it... and played it for 2.5 hours straight. This length of time may be chump change to most gamers but now that I have 3 kids and work full time this is the first time I've played a game for that long in one sitting in a good few years.

After taking a break from it for a short while, I turned it right back on and continued playing it until about 1am. Again, chump change in gamer time, but, again, 3 kids and what-not. Felt pretty good, too.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Life Marketing

I don't know the words to express how much I love marketing. Not just creative commercials, but creative ways to advertise, even for products I don't care about. This is something Verizon. People probably say it's life imitating art - I say it's brilliant!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Fun at Jokers

Jokers had a luau this past weekend complete with reggae band, all you can eat hawaiian buffet, games for the kids, stand-up comedy and a TON of other stuff. I didn't think to get much video of anything, we were having such a good time, but here's what little I got.

'scuse me?

I'll be honest, I've never seen High School Musical 2, but I guess there's some kind of pool scene? Anyways, to make money off the film they've released HSM2 shirts and clothing including underwear.

...something about buying my daughter High School Musical 2 underwear with the words "Dive In!" imprinted on'em doens't seem right.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Patrick Star!

Being in radio, you get to meet famous people. People like "incredible hulk" Lou Ferrigno (a jerk in real life), Carlos Mencia (*WAY* funnier off camera than what you see on Comedy Central) and Carrot Top (*WAY* uglier in real life, but naturally funny and witty... and buff).

This past weekend I got to meet a true 'Star' in the form of Patrick from SpongeBob Square Pants. What did I learn about him?... in real life he's very quiet, didn't say a word. He's also made of cardboard and apparently shops at Ranch and Home. I'm here with Lily, but where's Laura? She got spooked. The video of her initial reaction.



I only wish I kept recording... a few moments after I turned the camera off, she actually pulled off the 'Flinstone Run' perhaps also known as the 'Scooby Doo Take-Off'. You know what I'm talking about. It's when you try to run away so fast that your legs are moving like Sonic the Hedgehog, but your body stays in the same place for a few seconds.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

iYakima


So! If you if/when you have kids or whatever you'll learn that most families belong to one of two groups... Disney or Nickelodeon. One has Wiggles, PB&J, ect. The other has SpongeBob, Dora, ect. Our family is the Nickelodeon group, ourselves and on Nickelodeon there's a teen/pre-teen lineup of shows like Zoey 101, Drake n Josh and a new one called iCarly.

Without going into any more detail than all that, I'm familier with iCarly but haven't actually watched any episodes, but my sister (with a 14 year old daughter) does. Apparently they had an episode where Grandpa showed up to have her move in with him in Yakima (or YAK uh muh as they pronouced it). The episode is on YouTube is you care that much. A couple of quote from the show...

"No great town can be named Yakima. It sounds like someone threw up!"
"I can't cheer up, I'm moving to Yakima. I'm going to be a Yakimite... or Yakimanician."

Being from Yakima, born and raised, this is funny.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sign from above?

Sometimes, when you're bored, you'll flip through the channels because your mind is so frayed that it doesn't have an attention span to watching anything, so you keep flipping for a while, only to pause for a few seconds if it happens to be a cartoon or a tiger ripping something apart.

But have you noticed that when you get up, maybe to go to the fridge or to answer the phone... it's almost ALWAYS on one of the gospel channels? Maybe it's just me.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The English Horse

Mel Blanc was Looney Toons. I don't think he did Granny or any of the house wives, but he did Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and all the other characters... including some of the SFX. Here's a clip of him and Jack Benny (one of my idols) on Johnny Carson. The 'English Horse' thing cracks me up every time.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

New Logo

Many probably noticed this at first glance... it took me a few weeks to see that the new Baskin Robbins logo has the number 31 in the B and R (look at only the pink).

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

New Riggs

Holy New Posts! Yeah, I've been a little busy... new baby and all. But, we had our boy recently. Jaron and Mommy are doing great and you can tell what kind of dedicated father I am... you can clearly see my Nintendo DS on the window sill

Monday, April 21, 2008

Waiter - Server

Waiters don't want to be called waiters - they want to be called servers... but have you noticed that these servers don't actually serve you the food? It's always someone else that you've never seen up until now. You get to the restaurant, get comfy with your "server", maybe get a drink or two... then here's someone you've never seen before in your life handing you a plate full of whatever you ordered that hopefully isn't poisoned. That guy or gal, to me, sounds like the Server. The customers (or Patrons) should be the waiters because we're the ones waiting for our food to get there.

The Snoop Dogg Polka

This is probably what Snoog Dogg experiences everytime he's trippin'

Thursday, April 17, 2008

My dad, busking in Hawaii

My Dad has what could be the best idea ever. Go to Hawaii (which he does often, now that he's retired), bring your talent and eat with whatever you earn that day. This way you won't have to worry about your finances. My sister is the one taking the video - it's dark outside = it's dark on digital film.

This was the first year he decided to do this, just for fun. He made anywhere from 17 cents to $50. It's funny because he's a concert violist who has been playing professionally for probably 50 years... and here he is, on his vacation, taking his work with him. At least he doesn't have to wear a bow-tie.

Every episode of American Idol


If you ever miss an episode of American Idol, here you go...

Ryan Seacrest will pronounce it "...aaah MARE ehkin Idol"

some people will sing and the audience will erupt in applause, in unison, about 45 - 55 seconds into the song.

Randy Jackson will say there were some kind'a weird pitch problems, but it was alright

Paula will well up with tears

If Simon puts it down, the audience will Buh... not Boo, but it sounds more like a "Buuuuuuh!". That'll cause Brooke to pout, David Cook to have the "oh well" look in his eyes while nodding his head, Carly to pull her lower lip up as if she was trying to get something off her teeth and David Archuleta, Syesha and Jason to softly smile. If Simon like the performance, the audience will erupt in cheers.

you'll see the remaining guys in a hokey commercial


the end.

Live Action Shrek... kind of

"Once upon a time in a land far away" (france), there was a guy named Maurice Tillet. He was a pro wrestler in the early 1900's and had the nickname "Freak Ogre of the Ring." Here are a couple of publicity shots. He bears a striking resemblance to Shrek, ya think?






Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Once you notice it, you'll never un-notice it

Credit for this observation goes to my 'one and only' brother-in-law. And not that my brother in law is famous or anything, just that my wife only had one brother... she does have a half-brother... but this comes from my one and only full brother-in-law.

Have you noticed that you Walgreens is always on a street corner? It's never part of a stretchmall or building complex that might go Grocery store, Walgreens, Clothing store... it's always on a street corner and always by itself.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Ken Lee?!

The week of April 15th is 'Mariah Carey' week on American Idol. In honor of this, check out this girl singing "Ken Lee" (without you)... hilarious.

Hollywood Swingin'


Harpo Marx plays the harp incorrectly (he was self-taught). However, professional harp players altered their playing style to match Harpo's. If I played the trombone, I'd want to play the trombone like this guy!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

more fun with Logos

Now that I've been completely facinated with logos and what they mean, here's a quick one.. and a very familiar one to me. I spent a lot of time at goodwill growing up because we had that kind of money... The friendly smiling face is also the same graphic as the letter G in the name.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

John Riggs circa 2002

I was looking for something when I ran across these older pictures of me. Oh, what a difference a few years make...

I rocked the blue hair w/ glasses to match for a few years. It was kind of my gimmick. After touching it up every weekend it got really old, not to mention expensive.



Here I'm speaking to Kaci who had a semi-hit song back then. Nevermind about her, what ever happened to Rice Krispies treats popcorn I was munching on that morning? myspace.com/officialkaci


Really? I thought that looked cool?! Having blue/blonde hair extensions and wearing a bandana with a suit jacket?!! Oh well, you live and learn. The other people are the people I used to work with before moving to Idaho... the one in the tan jacket with the curly hair now works for CNN. On one hand I'm jealous, on the other hand she never had blue/blonde hair extensions while wearing a bandana with her suit jacket.


... you gotta be kidding me! Was I "that" guy who wore a necklace even when I wasn't wearing a shirt? I may as well be talking on my bluetooth earpiece, drinking a Rockstar Energy drink while spraying Axe cologne on my barbwire tattoo. I didn't mind taking my shirt off in public for this bookdrive we did in the middle of winter (it was so cold outside.. and our hot tub wasn't working)... but c'mon now. I kept my necklace on when I wasn't wearing a shirt? I suck!


What was wrong with me?! I tucked my extra shirt into my shorts? I couldn't've just left it under our table or tucked away somewhere where the venue staff could've held onto it for me? I had to tuck my shirt into my shorts like that? If I decided to wear shorts that day (that day being the middle of summer) chances are I'm not going to need an extra shirt for any reason.

I'm in the small town of George, Washington where they have a cliffside gorge that they use as a concert venue for big-time concerts, in case you're wondering.

What makes this picture more stupid is my ridiculous lunge. I wanted to be in the shot and about level with everyone else, but since I didn't bother to crop it, I just look weird... not that I didn't in the previous pictures.

one-handed egg squeeze - can't be done

If I tell you "you can't squeeze an egg in one hand to crack it", then you'll say "you're just saying that so I'll try and get egg all over my hand" in some kind of sophomoric prank. I thought it was when my wife said it couldn't be done. Naturally, I had to get video just in case.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Once you see it, you can't unsee it... kind of

I don't know if it actually falls under the 'once you see it' moniker, but someone pointed out to me that the logo for Amazon.com has an arrow going from the A to the Z.. like Amazon has everything from A to Z. Just thought I'd bring it up in case you didn't notice it before (like me)

once you see it, you can't unsee it 4

This is kind of a stretch, considering it's a movie that's over 20 years old and isn't as 'CULT' for watching it today like the Star Wars trilogy... but I never noticed that when the NPC (the red bad guy) is looking at the map. you can see Pac-Man is also on the map.

@ 00:14

Monday, April 7, 2008

The COOLEST bunk beds ever


Why didn't they have bunk beds like these when I was a kid? my wife was looking for bunk beds and found these amazing... well, lets be honest. They're not bunk beds, they're extra rooms for your house. You can find more at http://www.ababy.com/subcategory.asp?color=&Sortby=&availablity=&categoryid=170&pagestart=1&va=1

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Weekend in Idaho Falls



My family and I spent the weekend at the Tautphaus Park Zoo, then Brownstone for lunch, hit up the Museum to see the World of the Pharaohs exhibit and fed the ducks afterwards (and stopped by to see the cows at Reed's Dairy). They don't allow cameras inside the museum, but here's a bit of our weekend in convenient video form.

Stupid Duck

On our way of making a weekend road trip for no reason, we saw a duck flying. It's not really anything out of the ordinary for this area, but since we're not originally from this area we're always amused by it.

One of flying really low and looked like it was going to fly right into me... so much so that it actually did. It didn't even bother flying over me like most do - just decided to slam right into me. It made a loud 'THUMP' sound like when birds fly into windows. I looked in the rear view and it appeared to be fine.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Legend of Zelda: The Movie



Based on the N64 version, Ocarina of Time but don't get your hopes up... IGN published this video on April 1st.. and it's due to come out next April 1st.

I'm sure it's not the case, but it'd be great if the April Fools joke was the fact that this was an actual movie.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Call The Undertaker


There was a huge Firework malfunction at WWE's Wrestlemania 24. The Punchline? It was when The Undertaker was in the ring.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Once you see it, you can't un-see it 3

Do you also see this?



How about like this?


Have you noticed when you're driving away from the sun, your car creates a shadow that looks like Shrek? The side mirrors become the ears and the two people in the front seat become the eyes? hmm... maybe it's just me but once you see it, you can't un-see it.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Chatting it up with the kiddies



We held our Annual Z103/Community Care Easter Egg Hunt over the weekend. I thought it went great - the Easter Bunny showed up a couple minutes late, but it went extremely well. In the meantime, waiting for the Easter Bunny to show up, I grabbed some video talking to the kids around the 8-10 year old paramiter. You'll also see what it looks like to be on the inside of the circle.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Amanda Overmyer - OUT!

Amanda Overrated is officially gone from American Idol. "Why?" do you ask? There are 2 main reasons...
1.) She looks way too much like Candice Cameron America had to let her go.

2.) She wasn't Micheal Johns (who, by the way, will win the whole competition)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

My psychic wife


Like most married couples, we're on the same wave length most of the time. She'll say "you know what sounds good?" and I'll say "yeah, Brownstone" then she'll respond back with "How did you know?!"



This statement is nullified based on the fact that Brownstone always sounds good, But just recently we had two fun twists of intuition.


- We were watching Rock of Love 2 and the challenge was to make a music video. One of the songs, Fallen, a song which her and I have never heard before - they listen to a clip for inspiration - about 3 seconds into the clip my wife says "this video would work best in black and white... and maybe have a single rose in color at the end" Sure enough, the team making the music video shot the whole thing in Black and White and, at the end, when the girl got a rose everything went in color... pretty much the same thing.


- Yesterday she calls up saying that we should take our girls to the doctor because they both have wet coughs. They're checked out, nothing too bad, maybe a little drainage... but my wife was pretty certain Lily (our 8 month old) had RSV. Even though the Doctor said it wasn't anything to worry about, she was still insistant on getter her checked for RSV. Fortuantly, our Doctor said that if it would ease her mind she'd test her just to be safe but was pretty sure it was just a cold. The diagnosis? RSV! She turned out Positive for RSV (which is kind of like a polite infant pnemonia... something that Laura (our almost 3 year old) had last year.
Next stop? the gas station for some Lottery tickets!

I'm bringing mullet back


This picture was actually taken several months ago. Last year I was rockin' my blonde, naturally curly hair - but with my receding hairline, the fact that the hair on top of my head refuses to grow longer than a couple inches and the notion that I don't wear a hat all the time, I decided the fun was over and it was time to chop it back to reality... but not before giving myself a sexy mullet.
I don't wear hats too often and I don't have a mullet?! Now I'll never be a country singer.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Super realistic Mario


Someone with way better photoshop skills than I have decided to come up with what Mario might look like in real life... pretty creepy. Click on the picture to see it enlarged (even creepier)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Welcome to scenic Rigby, ID

Decided to take a road trip to the land of 1J Drivers, the birthplace of Television and home of your Rigby Trojans (the school team, anyways). If you've never been to Ribgy, here are a few landmarks for you to discover on your journey.

1J drivers are a myth. We went there and didn't have a problem with any of the drivers at all.

Escargot, my car go, one sixty, swiftly...

We decided to check out Stockman's Restaurant just off of the County Line Road exit - you can't miss'em. Fantastic Steaks (that blackened cajun something or other is the one to get, for sure), but they also had escargot on the menu. I've never tried escargot based on the fact that they've never served it at a fast food place and the fact that it's snails (mostly, the snails part).



My wife decides we should try a new food item once a week so, since it's on the menu, by all means - like roller coasters and airplanes, they'd never have them if they weren't safe.





As it turns out, Escargot isn't that bad at all! Like steamed clams, they taste just like doing a garlic-butter shooter from that Papa John's dipping sauce... which you've done before, right? It has that steamed clam texture so if you're a texture person - maybe not so much for you. The rest of the food at Stockman's was fantastic as well. Any place that has Sweet Potato Fries on the menu has to be alright by me. For dessert, you definitely gotta get the eclairs.

Conversation Heart fried chicken



D - Licious!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

'Spy Hunter' Pontiac


This could be the best car commercial of all time... maybe even the best commercial of all time.

Friday, March 14, 2008

she thinks SHE'S the passionate one

Yep, Laura loves Sweet's Ballroom Blitz... and, yep, this song didn't originate from Wayne's World.

BTW: If you remind me that I have power cords that are too easily accessible for small children, I'll remind you that you probably grew up in a house with loose asbestos and lead-based paints.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Ruby River Rocks!


Admittedly, I've never been to Ruby River Steakhouse until tonight. If you have small kids, you know how hard (and sometimes how embarrasing) it is to eat out of the house. Especially when those small kids are 8 months old and almost 3 years old.


We, at work, had visitors from out of town teaching us how to use our new texting service. Thinking about places to eat, Ruby River was brought up and I brought up the notion that I've never been there myself. The original plan for the evening was Autumn and my wife were going to watch America's Next Top Model. I figured 'why not invite my wife... and Autumn... and my kids... and her kids so their table of 2 quickly became a table of 8 (with our 9 month old in the car seat on the floor sleeping).


The Food? Outstanding! I'm all about the appetizers so we got the hot wings and artichoke dip. The hot wings were good... wish they were a little spicier, but still really good. Probably extremely good for people who've always wanted buffalo wings but can never eat'em because they're too spicy. The artichoke dip... My wife and I always use the spinach/artichoke dip from Red Robin at the measuring stick and this was right up there, but in a different way. It was more of a delicious cheesey salsa (like a mango salsa, but minus the mango) - but, like the wings, phenominal in their own right.


I had to get the ribs and steak to try out a little of everything, the yam (I'm not a french fry guy) and the steak soup instead of the salad (as seen in the picture above.) My only complaint is I couldn't eat everything - which is a good thing because now I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow. My wife got a different kind of steak - she grew up raising cattle so she can tell the difference between steak cuts. My palate doesn't care which part of the body it came from - if it's delicious, it's worth eating. I can't tell you which cut I got and which cut she got but I can say they were both worth it. She did wish, however, they sold hamburgers there, too. I bet those would rock the house.


We don't normally do desserts at restaurants, but they had something called 'THE chocolate chip cookie' which was a cookie baked in a skillet with a scoop of ice cream on top. That one cookie was big enough for 8 of us to share and was soooooo good.


Naturally, if I'm going to a 'steakhouse', I gotta try the steak and it was definitely worth trying. I don't have a "thumbs up" or numerical scale of rating system, but I will say I'll definitely be going there again - hopefully sooner than later.

David Hernandez... OUT!

Ahh, man! I liked David Hernandez. He wasn't my pick to win the whole thang, but he was one of the ones I did enjoy and didn't just fast-forward my DVR through the performance of.

My favorite? It always belongs to the someone who doesn't get talked about much, always the one who just kind of stays consistant, always the one who isn't the 'sure thing'... Michael Johns. He's my pick - now don't let me know, daddio!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Once you see it, you can't un-see it: Part 2

Ever notice this?


Now do you notice it?


Yep, the clouds and the bushes in Super Mario Brothers are the same! Just different colors!

I feel like I've been lied to for the past 20 years...



Thank you Best Buy

Why don't more places around East Idaho, where our population is raising higher than gas prices? Is it because businesses think it's a bad idea and nobody will shop there because of it? I ended up spending $150 at Best Buy just because they have this shopping spot for my pregnant wife and kids... think it's a bad idea now?

My shopping list? digital video camera, Horton Hears a Who DVD (animated, not the new one not even in theaters yet), 2 stuffed dalmations, a Mitch Hedberg CD and a children's songs CD.

My Japanese ringtone

Here, in America, there have only been a handful of TV theme songs that actually made it to radio (the theme to 'Friends' comes to mind), but in Japan almost every TV show's song comes from a hit artist - the equivalent of a Justin Timberlake, Beyonce or Boys like Girls here. Then the song goes on to become a hit.

Much like high school girls don't like wearing the same prom dress, I like having ringtones that nobody else uses. If I'm at Hastings and Low by Flo-Rida ringtone plays, 5 or 6 people check their phone to see if it's there's, but if 'Ikenai Taiyou' by the Japanese pop-rock band 'Orange Range' plays, I know it can't be anyone elses.

Have you heard my ringtone when you were with me at a remote (or Hastings)? Here's the music video for it.

Free online multi-player games from your browser







http://www.instantaction.com/

I just (and when I say 'just', I mean an hour ago) got an email saying that InstantAction, the 3-D multiplayer console-type games on your web browser company, has released a 4 new games you can play online - best of all, it's free so if you're bored at work and are sick solitaire (both in the lame-factor and the 'it's only a one player' factor), you should check'em out.



MarbleBlast Online, Think Tanks, Screw Jumper and (my favorite) Cyclomite are immediately at your disposal. There's a game called Fallen Empire: Legions that looks AMAZING that's coming soon so watch out for that, for sure.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Testing... Testing...

I bought a cheap-o camera - it was on sale, then discounted and figured I needed a new camera anyways so here's my test. Can you guess the cartoon we're watching?

Daylight Savings Time

I stayed up until 4am last night, but it was more like 3am because of Daylight Savings Time. It dawned on me (no pun intended) about all the comments from people over the past years of how they complain about daylight savings time in early spring about loosing that extra hour of sleep...
Daylight Savings Time, both in Spring and in Fall, always fall on a Sunday... Always! There is no extra hour or lost hour because it's on a Sunday where you can sleep in for as long as you want. Unless you have church in the early morning or work on Sunday, it doesn't matter. What did I do with my wasted hour? Nothing. In the Fall when we 'fall back', what will I do with my extra hour? Nothing because, again, there is no extra hour. If anything I'll watch Birdman or whatever obscure cartoons are on that early in the morning.

Once you see it, you can't un-see it

see it?





Now do you see it?

For the rest of your life, you won't be able to look at another FedEx truck, sign, package or logo without seeing that little arrow between the E and the X. If you were wondering, the arrow placement was absolutely intentional.

The Disney Princesses have everything, except...

...all but Sleeping Beauty don't have mothers!
Have you noticed that? Yeah, neither have I. My wife and I were watching 101 Dalmations - I don't know how the topic came up but it did. So, by all means, let's give them a mother from their movie. That way, when we re-watch these films we can say to ourselves "there's your mom... but you'll never know." Yes! These are the things I think about.

Ariel: The Little Mermaid, who had King Tritan (a.k.a. the 'pimpin' of the sea) for a father also had several other little girls. My guess, from several other different sea animals. I'd say her mom is probably Ursula. I know, it's a sick thought but "Never under-estamate the power of Body Language" gross

Belle: Her father was Crazy old Maurice, hmm... crazy old Maurice, hmm... Since he was crazy, he probably wanted someone who was crazy, too. Belle's Mom has got to be the one who sings "I need six eggs" at the opening market scene. She had several other kids with her and Belle, being level headed, it was probably for the best that she went with her Dad to help him as much as she could. I am curious to know why she NEEDED exactly six eggs. A 6 egg omlette? Maybe she's baking two cakes? Lets hope for a straight to DVD release - and then a straight to Disney Vault un-release on what the 6 eggs are for.

Jasmine: Her father's name was 'The Sultan' in the film Aladdin which isn't much to go on. With a careful eye, though, you can see her in the crowd scoping up Arabian Coinage in the Prince Ali song. Eh, you gotta do what you gotta do. If only the Sultan was generous, so generous with the alimony, sister's gotta get her grill fixed! Look at those teeth!

Cinderella: Her real mom died as the story goes which is why she has a step-mother. But her mom, as it turns out, has to be the fairy godmother. Just like all of our moms, she makes everything better and can keep a close eye on her... nevermind the pumpkin carraige, can't you just do the dishes for me one time?

Snow White: Unfortunately, there aren't any other females in this story. The prince, the huntsman, the 7 dwarves and a bunch of animals. Snow White's mom... who knows. It was probably was the old witch that didn't know the apple was poisoned. That's the trouble with alzheimer's.


Sleeping Beauty: Aurora Rose, The only one with a mother that they clearly show... But what fun is that! Instead of her "mom", lets say she was adopted and her real mom was Maleficent. That's predictable enough. She 'may' have been one of the towns folk who was put to sleep, but given the choice, I'd love to have a mom who could turn into a dragon.
And there you have it. Three turned out the villioness was the mom the whole time, but sometimes, in the real world, that's just the way life turns out.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

I win! I win!

Yeah! I won a free french fry with my order of onion rings!! I love it when that happens. Even though it probably happens 95% of the time, it's still fun... if I could get some fries cooked like onion ring breading, that'd be the best!

good night nurse... burger king, taco bell, 44oz gas station pepsi... what's wrong with my diet? Oh Yeah! I'm Married so it doesn't matter what I look like anymore! I Win Again!!

And the winner goes to the wife who loves her husband for just the way he is!

Fun waiting for Taco Bell

The picture didn't turn out too well, but I wanted to "make you there" with us. We stopped by the Taco Bell drive-thru on 17th across from Hastings. Taco Bell is notorius for having, what I believe, is one of the quickest taco bells and, since it was late, it was on the way home, it was convenient... all things I appreciate, we made it happen.

The potatoes weren't ready so they kindly asked if I wanted a refund, or wait 2 minutes for the potatoes...

I've gone to other fast food places, the employee greets me as if nothing is wrong... I start ordering food only to have him say "Oh, sorry, we're all out of french fries" Things that could've been brought to my attention when I stepped up to the counter! I guess it's so you'll feel like "well, I already ordered so I'll keep ordering" instead of thinking 'What, No Fries No Business from Me!'. Honestly, there was a place in Yakima that actually said the words, again, after greeting my friend and I as if nothing was wrong "Sorry, we're all out of meat"... Then say it when we pull up!

Not at the East Idaho Taco Bells. They pride them selves on service! They even ask how you are before asking what you'd like... I like that. anyways We don't mind the wait, they ask us to pull around to the front of the store (next to Les Schwab) If this ever happens to you, watch the reflection of the cars that pass by the garage door at Les Schwab. My wife noticed it looks like they're on a roller coaster. You can even add your own dialogue like we did.

... you're right, we need to get out more.

2 things we all do at the soda fountain

and, worse yet, they're things that we couldn't do because they're not important. They're rude, stupid and basically a waste of 5 seconds.

1.) We fill it up with a little ice, then a little more ice, then a little more ice... then we dump out some of the ice because now there's too much ice.

it's not gonna matter - like everytime you get something to drink at the gas station, you'll either chug it before the ice melts or you'll wait too long so it's completely watered down - congratulations, you just spent $1 on pepsi-scented water - even though some of that can be contributed to the old lady in front of you in line trying to decide which scratch ticket to buy as if she was deciding what to name her next child. You don't need to use one of your lifelines, all the same priced tickets have the same odds of winning.

submusing: Have you noticed people who complain about the rich also always buy lottery tickets?

2.) We fill it ALL the way up, let the foam subside (some even stick their finger in it to speed up the process... I'm not a clean freak, but that's just weird). Then it does, then they fill it up again, let the foam subside again... they keep doing this so they can get the maximum amount of drink for their buck.

just that, the average cost of this nectar a buck! One American US Legal Tender Dollar! If you think you're 'stickin it to the man' by maximizing your profits with a fountain beverage by not wasting any of those precious 44 ounces, then good for you. Next time, I'll give you the 8 cents that'll go to waste if you move along so you're not standing in front of the machine like confused patient who can eat legally sugar for the first time deciding what to get for the 12th donut while there are me, two construction worker and 9 of 'Idaho's Finest' doing clean-up crew that only have a few moments of break-time to get something to get'em going the rest of the day... then some dude who has to get the liquid (not the foam) all the way to the brim... only to have it spill over a little after he puts the straw through. I don't care if you're a doctor, a mechanic, a delivery driver... your time is not as valuable as those 2 or 3 spared ounces.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Quick shout-out to Maurices

To test out our new car, we decided to make a road trip to Pocatello. It was a destination that was close enough that it wouldn't cost us a ton in gas just to drive around. (remember those days? when you could just drive around and not worry how much gas it's going to take?) Like when I visit any place, I always gotta go to the mall.


quick joke: "if you've seen one indoor shopping complex, you've seen a mall (you've seen'em all)"


I've always liked the Pine Ridge Mall - maybe it's because they actually have some-what of a food court? I'm not sure... Michele, being pregnant, finds it hard to find cute clothes that are maternity wear. We stopped by Maurices - they were having a Buy 1, get the 2nd for half-price sale... and they actually carry sizes that can act as maternity wear if need be!! And, Best of all, it's right at the front of the store with everything else... not some little rack in the back next to the bathrooms, not underneath a huge embarrasing [PLUS SIZE/MATERNITY] sign hanging from the celing...


have you ever noticed that? Why do they put the plus sizes in the back of stores? Plus sized people (especially pregnant women) don't like to walk all the way in the back... are you saying I need the exercise?


We spent about $100 on cute clothes that my wife can even sinch up after the new baby to make'em fit like normal. So, that being said, Big time shout out to Maurices with two convenient locations in the Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls and the Pine Ridge Mall in Pocatello. And, no, they didn't give me any special deal or hook-up to say that... if they did, I'd still have my $100
And, while I'm at it, shout out to my wife for being cute enough to make cute clothing cuter.