I'm sure that my friends that read this blog, know that I have no clue when it comes to sports, so it won't surprise those that read this to know that I didn't watch the Superbowl Big Game. I kinda half planned to so we could have The Zweeble call his Grandfater at a good exciting point in the game, but overall I didn't care that much. I spent the evening reading on the couch with The Lovely Wife.

When I came in to work this morning, finding that I had NOTHING to do I skipped over to find the ads that ran on the superbowl Big Game. (Actually not being a legal sponsor of the game, I shouldn't be using it's name for fear of the NFL Jerkys coming after me with lawyers.) I went through a link on CNN.com and hoped over to Time.com to find a list of all of the spots that aired on the game.

Maybe it's me, but this year I noticed a lot less differing companies on the list of advertisers than I remember from past games. There was a boatload of beer and Doritos spots, nothing surprising there, a couple of the Doritos spots made me laugh pretty good. One however made me go, "do you really want to say that Doritos kill people?" http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960805,00.html

One Pepsi Co commercial For Dr. Pepper that was previously released and only aired on a few cable stations that I knew of. E-trade still there but only two spots. And the rest... well I didn't really pay attention to. I had the opportunity to pay attention to the spots that were going to make me laugh. Not the spots I didn't care about watching (Dockers, Any Car ad, and whatever the hell that one Focu on the Family Thing was. And yeah, hot chicks in GoDaddy ads... I don't care, I know nothing exciting is going to happen, what's the point?)  But yeah, not really that many different companies advertising overall.

Big laughs went to the Late Show promo
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960762,00.html. Because I'd been reading baout how much Leno and Letterman really don't like each other. Plus whenever Letterman acts like a petulant child, that's funny. The many can buy China, and he's acting petulant.  Big laughs also wne to the one Snickers ad, because who doesn't love Betty White? http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960741,00.html

I am wondering though, if all the hype of the Superbowl Big Game ads has run it's course. Overall these are the most expensive advertising on television (If I had the research behind it I would say of any medium) that have the worst results. ( I read that some where, I know I trusted the source, but I can't for the life of me remember where I read it.) I'm sure the economy had something to do with it too I'm sure, but let me hope that with the creation of more immediate on-line advertising, that gets better results this is going to be the trend that we see. That is, businesses spending their money where they get results.

OH, one thing that I saw that I thought was interesting and worth mentioning, So a male Colts and a male Saints fan kissing on a couch... banned from airing, ( http://www.limelife.com/blog-entry/Super-Bowl-ManCrunch-And-Other-Banned-Commercials/33652.html ) but an *implied* gay, but-maybe-not-because-they-were-suppossedly-caught-with-a-Megan-Fox-pic couple ... OK?           Really? http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960780,00.html (Ok, yeah, I watched one hot chick commercial, but Megan Fox is not my type -- though I do like Dannica Patrick, hmmmm -- so really I did watch it for content. This from the guy that admitted to everyone that I only looked at Playboy for the pictures when I had a subscription in College, trust me.) 

One last thought, I'm putting my bet on seeing more than, what was it... three (I'm not counting PETA they started this -- they'll keep doing it) banned commercials next year, because you get a lot more play from those than you do actually spending the 2.5 to 2.8 million dollars on one 30 for one show. (Though according to this article http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/drops-in-super-bowl-ad-rates-shows-recession-hasnt-gone-away-for-the-sports-world/ the rates went down from last years ... due to a poor economy)


Completely unrelated note...
The black Eyed Peas song I Gotta Feeling ... I really only like that part of the song. I've been thinking about buying it on iTunes, but I listened to it this morning at work ... yeah, overall I don't like it. I could edit out all the parts I don't like, but what would be the point of that?

Couldn't sleep last night. So now I'm draggin my ass around. It's not a pretty sight.

I've once again been trying to catch up on my comics. I was looking forward to reading the first issue of Siege. After I read it I went to bed. It was pretty dissapointing. For one reason, I had read the first third of the book in at least two other places. That plus the fact that I just didn't care. That did it.

Hopefully The Lovely Wife will be home in time for us to watch Lost together. That would be nice.

No if i can just stay awake that long.

Funny how quickly I run out of things to say.

I think I'm getting back to a point where I'm pulled in more directions than I'd like. Works on the "Wow I really don't like it here" swing of the pendulum. Today specifically since our ratings came out. I really don't think I'm allowed to talk about it more than that.

I've got a huge stack of comic books in The Lovely Wife's office that I keep looking at and thinking, "Why am I not reading these?"

My nerd meter peaked again since I've started buying Magic: The Gathering cards again. I keep making decks and knowing I'll only play with them once or twice. I'm not going to stop buying card mind you, especially since the new playset comes out on the 5th.

I've got a pretty decent book that The Lovely Wife gave me to read.

For some reason having all of these things in my head when I try to think of something to write, keeps me from writing. It's kind of annoying, especially since none of this is really, in any way shape or form, anything that should be keeping me from writing. It's not much, it's not anything that can't be worked around, heck on of them I'm not even doing, I just think I need to.

So let me focus on the good stuff. working on a new voice over demo. That's always a good thing. This only took about 10 minutes from concept to finished product. Mind you this is only 1.0. It's been sent off to a few people for critique. But 10 minutes. Either I'm really getting to be pretty good, or the demo is pretty much crap. But again, a work in progress.

The Zweeble keeps cracking me up. He is really funny. Even when he's not trying to be. There hasn't been a day go by in the past two weeks that I haven't heard either, "You're/it's driving me crazy!" or "this freaking thing!" It's even better when he throws the two together, "This freaking thing is driving me crazy!" I know that later, this will get him into a lot of trouble, but right now it's just freaking funny.

The book I'm reading is just what I needed right now. I had been trying to get through all of the Masters of Horror series on our Netflix cue. The Lovely Wife and I watched one (I've refused to remember the name of it) that was so... disgusting and patently offensive that we didn't watch another together. I've been watching them (I burned through three or four of them while I was sick) because I wanted a little horror. I haven't seen any that are great so far, most of them have been alright, only one was just boring bad. So I hadn't really considered my horror fix sated. Low Red Moon (the book I started this paragraph about) should fix that.

I'm trading the bulk of my Magic: The Gathering cards to my cousin. I've asked him for four decks in return. He's up for the challenge, and The Lovely Wife will gain a square foot or two back in her office. I'm sure he's getting the better end of the deal, but it's cool. I really like the guy and he's crazy good at the game. Hopefully he'll find something really good in the stuff that I'm sending him. Or some good stuff to trade so he can get something good. Now if I can just finish up those comic books. Though after the four long boxes go in the closet, I need to find another place to start putting them. The closet is full.

I got to help the Zweeble shoot a crossbow at the Medevil Faire this weekend. Just rubber tips on the bolts, but still, he seemed to enjoy it. Everytime he walked by the spear throwing game, he asked if he could play that. So three or four times that day I got to tell him, "I'm not letting you throw a spear!"

And that's all the news that is the news.

Saturday I will be trying this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/country-ham-recipe/index.html and this http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1848,159166-239198,00.html Why? Becuase I can. I've got the Ham soaking in water now, I'm sorry to say I did not have a hock to saw off. I really am sorry to say that, I was looking forward to trying it.

Which, according to this guys YouTube Channel (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/14/search-engines-youtu.html ) is something that doesn't happen that much anymore. But I'm not here to talk about that. (Needs work, not bad for a first shot, but he really needs to get better.)

I'm here to talk about the article that I was reading on CNN.com today. Bastian of ... nevermind. http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/01/13/cb.strange.heard.at.office/index.html?hpt=Mid

The article, Strange Things Overheard at Work, is... well I don't think you can call it news, or a study ... an opinion of what things you should not talk about at work. Now, I am the last person you want to take advice from about what you should or shouldn't do at work. I'm still saving up money to buy a hockey stick so I can hang it on the wall behind my desk and beat people with it when they piss me off. Take my opinion, and that of this article I'm writting about, with that in mind.

Really all I need to comment on in the article is the First thing overheard in the office. I don't care about the rest of the article because to me it seems like common sense. Those of you who have no comon sense, please finish reading the article. The rest of you walk with me.

This first thing overheard is not overheard at all. It's a guy that wrote about an employee of his that called to tell him he would not be coming in to work that day because God called him, on his phone that had been dissconnected, and talk to him. Now the employee did not say that God *told* him to stay home from work (according to the author's telling) just that God called and the employee would not be going to work.

Apparently what we are to learn from this is that the reason why you are calling in sick to work should be relavant to the job, and that the employee should not have told the employer that he had taken a call from God. It's personal.

Really? I would tell everyone that I got a call from God on a dissconected phone. EVERYONE!!! If God called me on a dissconected phone and chatted, I think taking the day off work would be a given. Especially if God had asked you to do something. I think that reason is completely relevant to work, since you can't be there, or are too mind blown to be of any use after talking to God.

I'm assuming that the artcle was written on the basis that the author is thinking that the employee was lying. (Though when I read it again, just calling a call from God a "personal matter" doesn't lead me to believe that is the stance taken.) But what if he wasn't? What if the employee really thinks he got a call from God. The dude is a total nutter and called into work to ask for the day off? LET HIM HAVE IT!!! The conversation should go like this... "You talked to God? How do you know it was God? ... Because he called you on a dissconected phone and only God could get through on a dissconnected phone. (note: Yes you should repeate these kinds of things, just in case you are being recorded, you want to make sure all of the nuttyness is underscored.) Sure you can have the day off! Did he tell you to do anything that we should know about? Stockpile guns? Have you tested for drugs? Put teddy bears on the chairs of all the employees? The world is ending tomorrow? ... No? OK! You enjoy your day off and tell God I said 'Hi!' the next time he calls!" (note: You really do want to be sincere about this,you don't want to sound condescending because if you are being recorded, being mean to a nutter might get you fired. Also on the erally off chance that God did call hi, you want to score points.) Then you call your HR office and ask if an employee being a loon is enough to fire a person. And maybe stockpile guns for your employees just in case.

Now lets assume that the employee is neither lying *nor* nuts. The conversation shold go more like this. "Hi Mr. Smith? I'm calling in sick today. Yep, God called me. ... What, no it was God becuase he called me on a dissconected phone. Only God could get through on a dissconected phone. By the way he wants me to tell you to stop touching yourself inappropriatly before you go to bed at night. And in the shower. And when your wife goes to shower. ... Yeah you should really stop that. ... What? No God did not tell me to call in sick. ... I've got to be honest with you here, I just talked to God, I'm a bit mind blown at the moment, I don't think I would really be good for anything if I did come in. ... I wrapped up the Peterson account yesterday, you should tell Lisa to call on Mrs. Lopez and start that ball rolling. God didn't ask me to do anything for him so I don't need to go on any kind of leave or anything, so I should be in tomorrow. ... Yeah, I know, it *does* sound crazy, and I won't even tell HR that you said that. Yeah, God. Nutty! Anyway, I need to let you go because I need to think about what He told me. Have a good day Mr. Smith! See you tomorrow. God loves you! ... What? No, he told me to tell you that too. ... Yep, see you tomorrow."

See, totally relevant to work. Both instances totally relevant to work.

mood: chipper music: nothing right now and especially not Joan Osborne tags: what if god did call on a dissconected p, work advice from me? silly silly person.

Topless Robot is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sites. This post, ( http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/01/and_just_when_you_thought_sex-bots_couldnt_get_any.php )however, I find disturbing in many different ways.

First off, I've never really wanted to have sex with an inanimate object. I don't care how uh, "lifelike" it looks.

Second, It's 120 lds and doesn't move on it's own (for the most part, from what the article says.) SO nerdboy in his mommie's basement has to carry around his sexmate. Pretty much all the time. Uhm, that just disturbs me. Think he can get a HoverRound for it? If so, do you think it would take some of the sexy out of the sexbot?

Third, Exactly what kind of warped ass motherfucker thinks, "To honor a friend of mine that died in the worst attack on US soil, I'm gonna make a program that replicates his personality." (Isn't that how Battle Star Galactica Started?) http://www.syfy.com/caprica/?__source=ggl|caprica|Brand|G_Caprica_Brand&sky=ggl|caprica|Brand|G_Caprica_Brand

Fourth, what kind of warped ass motherfucker thinks, "I've successfully created a program that can replicate the personality of my friend that I lost in the 9/11/01 attacks. I'm now going to take that program and create a line of sexbots. *That* would be awesome!"

Do I need a fifth?

Did you notice that the sexbot kinda looks surprised? Do you think it's because it was explained to her that she was going to be used as a sexbot for guys, and she's just seen the first guy that's going to use her? Trust me she didn't even *dream* that the fat bastard that has just walked up to her, breathing through his mouth, and drooling on his Original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) shirt that's tucked into his sweatpants, is what was goign to come and take her home.

And no I not going to make an electric sheep dream joke here.

mood: Uh, disturbed. tags: color me disturbed

Well I didn't puke on anyone. I'm not exactly happy about it, that *may* have been fun. I didn't puke on any*thing* either. That, I am happy about.

Really busy. Listened to my assistant bitch about getting herself in a jam because she can't say no. Stayed late because I really didn't have a reason to go home.

I did *feel* like I was going to puke a couple of times. Maybe next time.

Tuesday after I came home sick, I don't know why, but I was trying to calculate the square root of 28. Why? Uhhhhhhhhhhh.

I don't do math. I can't even tell you how to figure out how to square root. But yes, Tuesday night, I was trying to figure out the square root of 28.

After some searching today I found that you can type in the question "What is the square root of (number)" in your google search and will will just show the answer without even having to hit enter.

I also know that all positive numbers have a square root.

One more thing I should say (not that you oul have figured that out)... I would have never figured out the answer, never.

5.29150262

Don't let the door hit you... No, you know what? I hope the door pops a cap in your already busted ass. Plus an extra little kick *out* the door for that one last indignity. Beat feet. Hit the road.


Dear 2010,
The bar is set pretty low. You don't even have to work that hard to clear it and have me consider you a good year. Milk and cookies? Cake? What can I do for you to make you happy?

Sitting on a post that you keep rewritting in your head...

And then forgetting what the topic was.

poop.

I started this back up to write more. Now I can't remember what I want to write about.

Poop.

Getting nauseous on the barrel ride (think tea cups) at the kiddie carnival.

Yep.

Why is it that when you punish a child, the kid feels that it's the worst thing in the world. That is, until the next day when they do the same thing again?

music: The Zweeble plaintivly crying for us to let him off the hook tags: the joys (?) of fathering a zweeble

So, last night we went out to have THe Zweeble pick out his own Christmas Tree Ornament. Let me tell you. I'm really picky about how the Christmas tree is decorated. I've really had to get over it for The Zweeble.
The Lovely Wife came up with the idea to let Zweeb pick out his own ornament, date it and start a collection to send to him when he gets his own place. (Next year or so by the look of things. Little snot is already smarter than I am.) We get him to the store take him down the isle with all of the worst most gaudy ornaments you can imagine. We're expecting him to get some kind of talking Mater of McQueen. We show him horrible flamingos dressed in Florida tourist attire. We kind of want him to pick something tacky as all get out. He finds this cute little mouse dressed in winter clothes.

How did he know to screw up our plans already?!?!?!?! It's the first time we did this! THE FIRST TIME!!!!! is it instinct? What?!?!?!?!

He didn't completely screw things up though. He did pull the arms of before we got out of the store.

music: All is quiet... too quiet tags: the joys of fathering a zweeble

Flash mobs are one of the best tings to come out of social networking.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-top-10-flash-mobs-of-2009

God help me I may have to finally break down and join facebook.

http://www.myspace.com/sophiemadeleine

The track that I've listened to everyday since I found it is at the bottom of the page. A cover of Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice (It's All Right).

Dug that?
Dig Rocky and Balls

http://www.youtube.com/user/RockyandBalls#p/u/3/_G93EsbY_HE


Edit:
Heh, that would be MySpace. Sophie Madeleine is on MySpace. It would help if I could tell these two apart, before I tried to join one. Heh.

mood: good music: Didn't I just show it to you? tags: the best links on the internets

I swear that I could be floating on a cloud, being guided by the most talented, lightest stepping trail blazer that is also answering all the questions that people are asking, and with a two year old, this would be the worst, most hectic 10 minutes of your life.

I had a simple task. Take The Zweeble to get his Swine Flu Booster shot. So let's boil this down to the simplest parts. 1) Get the boy into the car and drive to the place where I have to get the shot. 2) walk to where he has to get the shot. 3) Sit and wait. 4) Get the shot. 5) Get back in the car. 6) Get dinner. Look at these six steps. These are not difficult steps. However add a two year old, a tool box full of cartoon tools, one more cartoon tool that won't fit into the tool box, and CHAOS ENSUES!!!!!

So, I get home from work. The Zweeble and his Pop are in the front room and The Zweeble is only in a diaper. "Hey" I say "You're supposed to be dressed!" The Zweeble them starts introducing me to his new tool, Flicker! "I have a new flashlight!" Me, "Hey, It's Flicker!" While I'm trying to dress a squirming Zweeble, Flicker and I get acquainted while he being flashed in my eyes. Over and over again. The Zweeble thinks this is fun. Fortunately he decides to do it to himself. I'm a bit too selfish to stop, because if I stop him from doing it to himself, he'll start doing it to me again.

So I'm still getting The Zweeble dressed and Pop is walking in and out the front door. Why? I don't know either. After walking in and out two or three times, Pop tells me that he was just checking that the door was locked. Just go with it.

The Zweeble is finally dressed and I'm telling him to go to the car. "Can I take Flicker?" Me, "Su--" Can I take the tools?" Me, " ... Uuuuuhhh... sure." Pop, "I'll head out the garage with you."

We get to the garage, the garage door hangs up about 1/4 the way up and the Zweeble is heading right for it. I tell him to stop, and he does. I get the door up and The Zweeble heads outside. Pop goes to chase him down. I wasn't going to because the Zweeble has a new flashlight. I'm thinking that we could see each other just fine. Pop leads the Zweeble back into the garage and I get Zweeb into the car. Pop gives the boy a smooch, I get into the car and we're off.

Now, at this point I was expecting the flashlight to be shined in the rear view and into my eyes. To the boys benefit, this didn't happen. So we make it to the school, where the shots are being given without a hitch. I go to turn into the front parking lot, and get waved off by two men directing traffic. I roll down my window and the man asks me, "Are you here for the flu shot?" Which I hadn't mentioned to The Zweeble yet. He directs me to where to go, and I start heading in the correct direction. From the back seat I hear, "Why am I getting a flu shot? I don't want a vaccination." At which point I start *thanking* (in my head) the man that gave me directions. The best unspoken line I came up with is, "The flu shos I hadn't told my son about yet? Why yes, thank you asshat."

Now, the two men directing traffic are not the only ones doing so. I guessing there are at least 20 people there to direct people to the correct place. Each one very helpful and very friendly. Seriously. And most of them are getting cussed out in my head.

Now remember, I'm carrying a distressed two year old (a hefty 35 pounds), he is carrying a his flashlight, and I carrying the Handy Manny tool box. In my right ear, I have the Zweeble telling me just how much he doesn't want to get a shot. The line I remember most is, "I don't want to get a vaccination" because it gets repeated every time someone is asking me if I'm here to get a flu shot. There was this exchange though. "I don't want a shot in my leg." "Ok, do you want it in your arm?" "No, it will hurt my arm." "Ok, do you want it in your butt?" "No, it will hurt my butt." By this time I passed three people that have all asked me if I'm here to get a flu shot.

I get to what I finally think is my destination (I have been walking for a good five minutes by now) a table with people around it filling out a form. OK, I think, no problem. A nice lady hands me a form to fill out, and I step over to a large window sill to put The Zweeb down on and fill the form out on. I'm not even three lines into it and I get told, "OK, can we all move forward please." OH, forward to the area with NO PLACE TO SIT MY KID, NO PLACE TO PUT THE FUCKING TOOLBOX DOWN AND NO PLACE TO FILL OUT THE FORM ON!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Sure.
Fuckers.
I did talk The Zweeble into standing close to me so I could use both hands to hold and fill out the form at the same time. Though, since I'm expecting the Zweeb to bolt at any moment, hopefully I filled out the questionnaire about his health correctly. Hopefully. Fuckers.

So, the form gets filled out, I hand everything back to the lady who hands me some other piece of paper to hold and gives me a new set of directions to follow. Crap. Pick up the kid, Stretch is trying to run from the flu vaccination at this point, I catch the little bastard with my chest and tell the Zweeb to grab him.

Oh, and I haven't mentioned that I have something wrong with me and my ears are a little clogged up. I'm hoping allergies, since the mega doses of vitamin c aren't really helping. But It's causing my hearing, which is usually above par, to be well below par. Yep. Fun. This is also making me have to kind of lean in to hear things so I don't keep asking what and where and having everyone repeat about the flu shot.

I'm directed to the cafeteria of the High School we are at. A table at the door of the cafeteria is where I exchange one piece of paper with another. Why? Just because it wouldn't be any fun if they didn't, and they direct me to a table. Good I can sit down. Wait nope, two quick questions and I have to get back up and go to *another* table. Good, I can sit down. I get asked, "does he have any breathing problems?" "uh, no." "Good! He can get the inhaler!" "OH! Good! Hey buddy, no shots!" The Zweeb, "Why no shots?" "Because, they're going to give you a little squirt up the nose. It'll go Pshht! And you'll go 'Pleah! Pleah!' but no shots!" Zweeb, "But I don't *want* a squirt up my nose!" Oh, wait I have to get back up and figure out where they are pointing and telling me to go, while reassuring The Zweeb that having to smell something is better than getting a shot any day."

OH! And I also forgot to mention. A really nice friend of the family is a nurse that is giving out shots at this thing. I was told to ask for her. I asked for her at the table in front of the cafeteria, the first table I sat at, the second table I sat at, and by the time I got to where I was supposed to asked her I was already being walked into the area where they are giving shots, and I've already made eye contact with the lady that isn't the person that I'm looking for so crap I don't want to be that rude and not sit there, and I can look for our friend after he gets the mist/inhaler thing. I sit down. Our friend is right across the table at us and I get a surprised, a bit irate, "HEY!" The lady that isn't the one that I'm supposed to be getting helped by asks if The Zweeble got the mist the last time. "UH?" Our friend tells the lady that they had already talked about this and that he got the shot in the leg. That rings a bell, "Yes, that's right, thank you." Our friend, "It's ok, it's fathers." "UH?" The lady that isn't helping us pipes up with, "He has to get the shot." I want to go and beat the man that told us that he didn't have to get the shot. Not that it really should have mattered, The Zweeb didn't want to nose spray either. I ask, "Are you sure he has to get the shot?" "Yes, if he didn't get the mist the last time, he can't get it this time." Poop. Our friend comes over to our side of the table to talk to the Zweeb who is now realizing that he is in imminent danger of getting poked with a sharp instrument, specifically, the one that he has been telling me for the last 20 minutes that he does not want to get poked by. (Let's gloss over the rest of the gory details shall we?) In all honesty it's not that bad. As every parent should know. When it's done our friend produces a miniscule bear from her pocket and gives it to The Zweeble. He thanks her, and tells the lady that gave him the shot that he's sorry.

From here on out he's a champ. He's walking by himself. He's chatting with people. He's doing fine. We get back to the car and head out. He has told me that all of his skin hurts, though.

In the car, the Zweeble asks me why he has to get vaccinations. I tell him that if he didn't he would get really sick. Now it's not that eloquent. It takes a couple of tries to get out what I'm trying to say in a way that I think, he'll understand. After I finish he says, "Nice story dad." Which I know I shouldn't interpret as, "What kind of bullshit did you just try to get me to believe here?" but I do.

I have to confess that I did have a bit of an ulterior motive for the end of the evening. I've been wanting to, god help me, try the new Angus Burger at McDonald's. So to look like a good dad, I ask The Zweeble if he wants a happy meal. What kid would turn that down?

I have never been a fan of McDonald's. Well, after I reached an age where the taste of my food actually mattered, I haven't been a fan. the Angus burger reminded me of that. While it may have been made of Angus, I'm thinking not Angus beef. It was probably made from recently deceased, Angus McMurty who after living 96.7 years on a farm where he carried full grown cows into and out of he barn for a living, donated his body to what he thought was science and was, in reality... McDonald's. I have honestly never eaten gristle in a hamburger before tonight. Hopefully what I had in my mouth *was* gristle.

The chicken nuggets, btw, have never changed in taste, they still taste ok, if what you are expecting isn't chicken at all.

We made it home, played with the toy, played with the miniscule bear, now dubbed Yellowy and The Zweeble is in bed. I've been called into his room three times. Once to have him show me the stuffed frog that he told me found in the exact spot where I put it for him, right next to him. The second time was to tell me that he was all nice and cozy in his bed. The Zweeble,"I'm trying to sleep." "Really?" "You watch weird stations." "Yes, I'm going to watch tv, I'll try to keep it down for you." "OK, cause I'm all ice and cozy in my bed. I'm trying to sleep." The third time was to tell me he had a cough in his mouth and he needed water.

I also think it's taken me more time to write this all out than to have actually lived through it.

Parents will understand.

mood: Frazzled music: I was watching Fringe during this but taht ended tags: the joys of fathering a zweeble

but that just wasn't working out.

Frustrating week at work. (Quick aside: I have to make an emergency disk for one of our stations -- an emergency disk is an actual cd of songs and imaging that can be played if the main audio program goes kerflewie -- and a song that came out in high school, the only song that I tried to make an "our song" to cement a relationship came up on the play list. I haven't heard it in ages, my god this is a crap song. No, I'm not going to name the song, I'm *really* not.)

I was going to avoid putting work related posts up here again. Unfortunately work is such a large portion of my life that I sadly can't avoid it.

So, The guy that I consider my boss but doesn't have the title to b e my boss and I were sitting down the other week and talking. Through an amazingly, astounding, series of ridiculous events he had been fired and then rehired. He was only out of the building for 8 months, but since he's been gone things in the building have just gotten bad. What he's noticed as the biggest change is the... I don't know how to say it... inability? stubborness? of people in the building to work together to accomplish a goal. Not surprisingly that's been some of the reason for my currently not liking my job. Yesterday was a prime example. No I won't go into detail. But that incident has me thinking about a larger problem that I'm having, my ability to think about how something bad is worse than it is. No, not making it worse, thinking about how it *is* worse than it is. Uhm, for instance, You have X event occurring. I could take X bad event and link it to Y bad event. Then I could take a *guess* at why X or Y even happened and create Z event. Not even knowing if Z event really happened or not.

Am I the only one that does this? How do I avoid it? I've never really been "Mister Positive" so i can't just turn my thoughts over to "the power of positive thinking" and be done with it.

Ah well, lets hope something fun happens in the next day or so so I can go back to telling funny stories.

mood: cynical music: No, I'm still not telling you what song tags: the job

While I can't say that living in Florida you *have* to have an opinion on The Mouse (uh, that would be Disney -- Mickey Mouse) I've found more than a few of my friends do. It's odd how often it's come up in casual conversation. Almost to the point that I was embarrassed to tell anyone that we let The Zweeble watch a lot of the sows on the Disney Channel. The Lovely Wife and I like the Disney Channel. A lot of the cartoons don't have the moral ambiguities that a lot of the cartoons that she and I liked when we watched a lot of cartoons (No I'm not talking about when we were kids. while we still watch a lot of cartoons, we watched a ton of them when we were in college.) Really the problem that I have whith the cartoons on The Disney Channel is the fact that they are really PC. Personally I think it's fine to play to win. It's one of the reasons to play. But anyway I'm getting way off topic here. Let's reel it back in.

First we have to get past the fact that most children's television is a 30 minute commercial for something. Second, neither The Lovely Wife, nor I believe that a kid really learns anything from watching TV. It's a glorified babysitter and that's what it's good for.

So the Disney Channel doesn't have commercials on the station. It has sponsors. Yes there is a difference, but it can be abused (which I will get to in a moment.) The sponsors are not much different than what you would see on your local PBS station. A commercial, with no call to action, but the message and the entity paying for the sponsorship is clear. Now Disney, not being a Public Broadcasting Station is not regulated by the same laws as PBS. For instance, I'm sure no PBS station could get away with running the Handy Manny Workbench (oh yeah it's by Fischer Price, meaning it's an afterthought, that the company is responsible for paying for the sponsorship) as a sponsor. Even though it's just like a sponsor, (no call to action, no hard sell message of any kind, just a commercial telling you that you should give your child the tools they need -- nay HE needs, It's a workbench, girls don't need a workbench -- to be a happy little worker bee) and it never airs in front of Handy Manny's show.

Which is the first time I really looked at how the Disney Channel did business. But I let the Handy Manny Workbench slide. We're capitalists people if we didn't want people making money, we would be something different.

What *did* make me sit up and say, "UH, Hey, Not really cool." Was the Mickey Mouse's Magic Choo Choo Train Set.

I first saw the train in a store. Because I have The Zweeble I've been spending more time than usual in the toy section of the stores I go into. I thought the train was neat, but didn't give it much more thought than that. That is until I saw the first ad on The Disney Channel. Now, this was a sponsorship for the toy in front of a show. Nope this was a promo for a show BASED ON THE TOY. Not only that it was a special one hour Mickey Moused Clubhouse, that would play during primetime. Hmm. Not cool.

Not cool number two, if you planned on skipping the hour long commercial, there were plenty of "music videos" from the show featuring Mickey and his friends riding the train and singing songs about it, that were also being played during the day. Switch it to Nick and see full blown commercials for the toy.

Not cool number three? God help me we watched the show. It was all about how Mickey and friends had to go and get magical snow so they could invite all their friends and have a party in the snow. At the end of the hour long commercial, Santa and Mrs. Claus ride the train too. Wow, I don't think the Disney Channel could have cemented the relationship between the train and Christmas any better than if it had Mickey just coming out and saying that the train would make a great gift for Christmas. Which I would have respected a little more.

So lets say you decide to turn off the Disney channel until the end of the first week in November (Which is when I seem to recall the show airing). Think you've skipped it? Nope. Every once in a while they're going to replay the whole thing during their regularly scheduled Saturday/Sunday morning schedule. Basically guaranteeing that you'll never get away from it.

I wrote it out earlier, I am a Capitalist. I get it. The person with the most money when they die wins. So, why should this bother me? Good question. It's because it's sooooo damn sneaky. I don't see any of this as any kind of flat out "honorable" advertising at all. I see this for pretty much exactly what it is. Disney sneaking around my back to sell my kid something. I don't think they could have done more to sell the train even if they ran flat out commercials for it on their station. Well, they could have sent a guy dressed up as Mickey Mouse to my door with a bag full of trains and a machine that ran credit cards, and asked to speak to The Zweeble.

From here on out I'm keeping my eye on you mouse. Oh, and don't think I didn't notice that you did the same thing with the Handy Manny Motorcycle.

EDIT:
So, I'm trying to write better in an attempt to get the creative juices flowing better. That's why I've started journaling more. So what ticks me off is when I write a pretty solid entry ( one that I've been simmering for a good two months now ) and not five minutes after posting it, I come up with a better line or two. So here it is.

Not cool number three? God help me we watched the show. It was all about how Mickey and friends had to go and get magical snow so they could invite all their friends and have a party in the snow. At the end of the hour long commercial, Santa and Mrs. Claus ride the train too. At this point I think that the scene where Mickey is standing, polishing the train, then he stops, looks straight at the camera and says, "Kids, this Mickey Mouse Magical Choo Choo Train is the best thing I could have ever gotten. I think you should go out and get one too. ASk your parents for the Mickey Mouse Magical Choo Choo Train for Christmas" is going to be on the DVD of the show as an extra.

mood: Indignant tags: i'm darn good at my job

I've got to start writing more. I'm being asked to write some imaging for one of our stations, and I've had a few lines, but I'm not the writer. I ... well I'm a producer. I hear the audio how I want it to be. I must admit that just writing it and sending it to someone is leaving me a bit ... disturbed. But oh well.

So, on to a story. A true one. From this morning.

I had to get up early today so I could go and get the shots for my allergies before work. I got up at about 10 after six this morning. After I got out of the shower, I heard The Zweeble in his room calling for Mommy. I went and got him, and put him in bed with The Lovely Wife. Hoping that he would go back to sleep and they could both sleep in. No such luck.

As I was in the front room, the boy came out of our room and was looking pretty fuzzy. When I finished what I had been doing I told him it was time to change his diaper. He said, "No, Mommy changed it when she was in here." indicating the bedroom.

I said, "Really?"
Z: "Yep."

At this point I would like to put into evidence the facts of the argument against this statement.

Exhibit A) Mommy was not up yet.
Exhibit B) The Zweeble's diaper looked like it was well over 47 pounds and about the size of a small moon.

It dawned on me. He just lied to me.

I found this incredible amusing. And really neat. Then I grabbed him, said, "Nice try" and changed his diaper.

mood: chipper music: I don't play music when Z's sleeping. tags: the joys of fathering a zweeble, writing 101

It's really been and up and down month or so. unbelievably so.

So about the middle of last month The Zweeble comes down with an illness. Just a fever at first. Then a high fever. ER Room high. Nothing was diagnosed at the time. Then fever and a lot of pooping. The blood in the poop. THat week we totaled three trips to the doctor's office and a trip tot he ER.

This is the week before we are going to see my parents on my vacation. On Friday, our third trip to the doctor, we ask the doctor, "Is he ok to travel?" Doctor says sure, "He's healthy enough for travel." And to our amazement he *is*. He does great on the trip on, both planes, no problem. But he *is* still sick. So vacation wasn't the most restful and playful it could have been. I get back from vacation on a Saturday, that the next Wednesday, I find out that my Grandfather has been put into the hospital for, what I later find out, a massive intercranial hemmorage. Not even a week after that my Grandfather is dead.

So, back up to my parents I go. This time it's odd, but not bad. grandpa isn't here, so it's odd. Everyone is doing surprisingly well, so that's not bad either. The Zweeble has really warmed up to his grandparents, which is great, they've really enjoyed having him around.

Woven in and among these things is work crap. Always work crap.

All of this together, I am really going to start therapy. As soon as I can.

I need to write Zweeble a note or something. Something to let him know, when the time comes, that a DNR is ok, that hospice is ok. If I need these things *I've* already decided what I think is best for me, and hopefully him. I don't want him to have to make those decisions, it's too hard on a person.

Bright sides, I've gotten to cook a lot. Which I enjoy. I got my standards out. Jambalya, Gumbo, and I'm going to make chili next.

Had a very full weekend. Very full indeed.

Recently The Lovely Wife and I made a "Stuff" list. I wanted a place to write down all the stuff that I kept remembering I wanted to do/look at or save up for. Stuff.

I got to work on the list over the weekend.

I got the TV hooked up to a set of external speakers, that we had only been using for iTunes. It's not 100% necessary thing, but it does sound better. So that was cool.

Looked at the garage door, which has been giving us fits. I got some spray stuff that's for garage doors, sprayed the heck out of the door, and while it's not making the sounds of the mechanical undead that it had been making I think the original problem is worse. (THe garage door won't raise on its own, push the button and all it does is go about 1/4 of the way up and stops.)

Replaced the filter in the R.O. system under the sink. I used to do this on a regular basis, but was talked out of it by a fridge repairman. (Don't ask.) For some reason this time I completely soaked the kitchen. completely. (I look a this as "cleaning the kitchen" so I don't feel as bad.)

Bought a new desktop and monitor. The long dark tea time of the soul -- the computer version, is finally over. Kinda. (skip the backstory if you want it's kinda long.) We bought a 1st Generation iMac G5. They had a known design flaw (but little publicized -- it took us two or three times of repair the thing to finally find someone that explained it to use in a way that we understood) that made the power supply go out. A lot. The last time we put the computer in the shop, we decided that we weren't going to put more money into the thing. A while back the computer started acting up. I thought it was the battery backup. Found out it wasn't, but still had to fix the battery backup. Went to get a new computer, and see if we could just turn the old one in to recycle. The Mac Geniuses said that it would be worth it for us to have them look at it. The iMac G5 is fixed and the repairs will not cost anything. the old computer will find a new home with a couple of our friends.

replaced the Lead Sealed batteries in out Battery Backup. BIG PAIN IN THE ASS! Keeping the battery connected while trying to shove it back in the housing was *not* pleasant.

Figured out how stupid easy it is to hook up my laptop to the tv. New media center. Sweet.

I feel like there was more too it. (well there was the shopping trip that I had with the Zweeble so i could do most of this stuff was fun, and I enjoyed spending time with The Lovely Wife and the Zweeble.)

Last night I ached and was very tired.

Today, I still kind of ache.