kapgar

Remember to never forget...

Welcome to the final Snippet Wednesday of 2010!

Monae
The worst thing about creating "Best Of" lists is when you forget something you didn't want to forget. A year or two ago (I don't remember when it came out), I left off The White Stripes' Icky Thump from my albums of the year list.

This year, I forgot Janelle Monae's brilliant The ArchAndroid. I freakin' loved that album, but forgot it because I didn't see it listed in the 2010 album release list on Wikipedia. And, yet, there it is under May 18. I don't know how I missed it. Suffice it to say, The ArchAndroid would've fared very well on my list. Easily top 5, maybe even as high as number 3. So if you are looking for something funky, check her out. Worth it. Trust me.

And in case you've no place to go...

I just wanted to check in real quick and offer up a warm Merry Christmas wish to all of you out there.

Apparently, the wishes are so warm that they've made Katie and Lilly fall dead asleep.

And in the middle of Scrooged, to boot. How do you fall asleep during Scrooged?

To get on the bus that takes me to you...

It's time for the first week of the Kapgar Photo Scavenger Hunt!

You know the rules. If you don't remember, check them out in the main post. Please remember to post links to your photographs in this post, not the main announcement post.

Here are your lyrics for the week:

My lyric -
"You say it's your birthday, well it's my birthday too, yeah.
You say it's your birthday, we're gonna have a good time.
I'm glad it's your birthday, happy birthday to you."
--The Beatles, "Birthday", The White Album

Nat's lyric -
"Through my research I have found all it takes
To keep the chickens laying eggs
Is opera or Gershwin played at low volumes on dad's old radio."
--Christine Fellows, "Spinster's Almanac", Nevertheless

Odie's lyric -
"Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day."
--The Eagles, "Desperado", Desperado

Knock yourselves out!

I don't usually like to do a TUA on a Scavenger Hunt challenge, but I do have to post a quick photo.

And if you need help with what the picture means, check out this post and this post.

So I leave you now with Mr. Jerome Bettis formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers...

So drink your gin and tonica and smoke your marijuanica...

Welcome to another fine (albeit snowy) Snippet Wednesday. I'd also like to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends out there! Shalom!

Celebrations
On the topic of holidays, I have to apologize to some of my family. My recent spate of non-posting led to me not wishing some happiness to my family members. Back on November 21 was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! And Monday was my brother's 32 birthday. Happy birthday, old man. I love you all and am sorry.

Run
Yesterday morning, due to bad planning, I didn't get to work out. I was dragging all day long. I could've worked out in the afternoon, but I just didn't feel like it. Wow, I've become a total morning workout person. I need to do it to stay awake. Anyway, so I made up for it this morning by running. Took a completely new route through the neighborhood and kept at it despite the dusting of snow we received overnight and the biting cold outside. I ran 3.09 miles total and that final 1.09 felt incredible. If I'd had more time, I think I could've kept going another couple miles without a problem. Of course, when I actually do have the time, I never feel like keeping going. Know what I mean? Oh, and in case you're wondering why the oddball distance, that's when I happened to get back to my driveway and it also balances my total run distance in the Nike+ GPS app at 26 miles even. Yep! I've almost run a full marathon (never mind that it took 9 or 10 individual runs to get there; we won't mention that).

Tweets
I Tweeted something today about some topic or other, blah, blah, blah. But it seemingly resonated with a few people as I got replies back from a couple friends that, when viewed in the mentions column of Tweetdeck, looked like this...

Yeah. I totally am. ;-) (no ego there, eh?)

Egypt
In response to the retiring of both the Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia lines of LEGO sets, the company has released a whole new series called Pharaoh's Quest. Sure, they may not be 100% faithful to Egyptology, but they're pretty darn cool. You can never have too many mummies!

And for those of you who watch The Walking Dead, there is a figure in one of the sets that I think is a total brick doppelgänger for Shane. Uncanny, ain't it? Well, yanno, for being non-contoured and yellow and really small and all that.

Slider
Someone at work brought in some White Castle Sliders for their lunch. We had been talking about it before he got them and I mentioned that I haven't eaten a Slider since I was about five years old. Considering I turn 36 on Sunday, that's a helluva long time. He thought it necessary that I try one again.

Well, that box arrived and I took one whiff and realized exactly why it's been 31 years since I've had one. I call it Gag-Reflex-Inducing-Scent or Eau de Crap. My sense of smell is still struggling to recover.

Come on over, it's the Thanksgiving Day...

To all you turkeys out there, my heartfelt condolences...

Illustration by Angel of Rebellion (but I can't find a link to his/her site)

To all the rest of you, fair readers and friends and family... Happy Thanksgiving... make certain the turkeys' sacrifices are not forgotten.

Are closing in to seal your doom...

As I start to see some junior monsters begin to run our neighborhood, I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

I hope your own mini ghouls make out like bandits and give you all headaches with their sugar highs.

Muahahahahahahaha! ha.

Oh, and Norman has his own well wishes for you.

And I love you...

There are times when words simply can't convey just how deeply you feel about something.

That's how I feel today... my ninth anniversary with the woman I love and with whom I want to spend the rest of my life.

I wish I could come up with something profound to say...

Something that can make me sound like the ultimate romantic...

But I cannot other than to just say that these last nine years have been more amazing than I ever thought possible.

And it's all because, nine years ago, Katie said "I do."

And she continues to say "I do" every day.

And I continue to say "I do" right back to her and to our life together.

I hope that's enough.

I love you with all my heart and soul, hon.

I remember you...

In Memoriam...

'nuff said.

Declare independence...

Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow U.S.ians!

The U.S. Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays second only to Halloween. Katie and I love to sit out and watch the various fireworks displays in the area. On Friday night, we were down in Aurora for one show and tonight we'll be in St. Charles for another with her brother and his fiancee.

I did take some photos on Friday. They didn't necessarily turn out great, though. Due to a little physical instability of the camera, the in-focus ones look like they're double exposed. So I decided to do something a little different and intentionally take a bunch of them with semi- to very-soft focus. I really kinda like the result.

Here you go...

Hope you celebrate safely.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I'd like to offer up a very special Happy Independence Day wish to my friend Marie. This is, after all, her first time celebrating as a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

Even as I left Florida...

I think I shall tackle the post about our recent vacation to Florida all Clint Eastwood style!

The Good

• We got to see Nano for several days
• All three of our flights arrived ahead of schedule (anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour)
• We rented a really nice 2010 Ford Fusion and I was quite comfortable driving it
• We had free Sirius/XM satellite radio in the rental car and I fell in love with the Lithium channel (24)
• We spent several days poolside and got tans but did not burn
• I took a boatload of photos and managed to complete my weekly photo challenge with Disney photos
• We did not overspend on anything really
• We hit up two parks in the Disney compound - Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom
• We pretty much bought nothing at Disney other than food
• We learned how to play the system at Disney for free ice water
• We hit up most of the major rides at the two parks and even rode several of them twice with time to spare
• I watched as someone was viewing porn on their laptop computer at the airport
• We started and finished season four of Monk on our portable DVD player
• We rarely used our cellphones and didn't even carry them on some days
• We left our laptop at home - you cannot imagine how freeing this felt

The Bad

• We waited a little too long and our airfare jumped up a bit from when we originally priced it
• We pretty much bought nothing at Disney other than food (food is expensive and we were hoping to get at least a little Christmas shopping done)
• We had to deal with huge crowds at the park - the worst was Animal Kingdom where we were sardines in a sweat lodge
• We saw parental neglect at its worst as parents sat talking or browsing the web on their phones as their kids ran around wrecking havoc (it's hard to blame the kids when the parents are paying zero attention)
• Our Illinois iPass still isn't compatible with Florida's tollway autopay system (works in 14 other states, though)
• Dinoland USA just does not fit in with the rest of Animal Kingdom at all; it upends what is otherwise a nicely themed park
• Strollers are evil - people should be given size limitations for strollers in crowded public areas like amusement parks as well as on public transportation
  Clarification (before parents tear me a new one) - I have no problem with strollers on general principle, but the Cadillacs these parents were pushing around taking up literally 6-10 square feet of space were just ridiculous. We saw one parent fold over a tandem stroller and shove it into a tram then, with baby in hand, climb over the top of it and slide down into the last available seat to get to the parking lot. He not only held up the tram for five minutes extra (with the conductor instructing him to wait for a new one where he would have plenty of room) but packed in all the other people to a point of discomfort and endangered his kid while scaling Mount Stroller.

The Ugly

• The heat - it was ridiculously hot and it was only May. We were sweating horribly both days at Disney and our energy levels got sapped very quickly

The Photos

'nuff said.

As I arrived home tonight after work, I noticed a little bird fluttering around near our front door. I walked up there and, in a flight of fear, just started flapping everywhere and wound up running into walls and doors and everything you can imagine.

For his own good, I tried to shoo him away from the entryway and into the wide open outdoors. Instead he flew into my garage and would not (or could not) leave. He kept flying into the walls or into the side of my truck or flapping like mad against the bottom edge of our garage door. At one point, he clung to the door and hung upside down like a bat.

I finally got him outside, but couldn't help but wonder if he was blind or if it was just severe fear and confusion. I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Here he is...

I hope he's okay.

Holiday ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oad...

We meant to do it about a month or so ago, but for whatever reason, we waited. But we did it this morning. We booked our vacation for May!

We're going to Florida!

We'll be spending most of the time with my grandma north of Orlando. But we will be staying a couple nights in Orlando proper, so we can go to Magic Kingdom and, hopefully, hang out with some Blogger and Twitter peeps as well!

If you live in or are going to be in the area in mid-May-ish, let me know and maybe we can get together.

Katie and I are stoked.

Last night, my dad and I were going out for some food after attending Nuclear Cowboyz and we had an interesting discussion about the recent spate of natural disasters and their clean-up and relief efforts.

My dad mentioned how several of these disasters have happened in countries where the drug trade is strong. And he asked why you haven't seen any drug dealers or kingpins come forth with donations to help with their country's relief.

While it's possible that they have made donations anonymously, why not make some big public display of donating millions of dollars to the rebuilding effort? Think about it, sure it would bring them out in the open, but it would make them almost God-like to their citizens. If police had trouble with them before, they would be practically untouchable after doing something like that.

Just sayin'.

And I pwedict a bwoody Eastuh...

I know it's a day early, but I wanted to make sure I got these good wishes out to all of you when you might actually see them.

So, have a great Dead Bunny Day!

Seriously, though, have a great holiday (if you celebrate) and, if you're traveling anywhere, do so safely, okay?

Funny thing... seems that everybody I know thinks that, at this moment, I'm in line at one of any number of local Apple Stores (we have five in the Chicago area that I know of) waiting to get my grubby hands an iPad.

Okay, yeah, I'm an Apple Whore (tm), but when did I become an early adopting Apple Whore (tm)? I got my first iPod more than three years after they first came out. I still don't have an iPhone (but everyone around me seems to). No Apple TV. I must be missing something.

I do think the iPad is one of the coolest things around and I do want one. Just not yet. Maybe a couple more generations in unless I win a lottery sometime soon.

So, um, no review of the iPad from me anytime soon. Sorry if that disappoints you.

"Hurrah my soul," sez I, my shillelagh I let fly...

Hey! It's a special St. Patty's Day Snippet Wednesday! So buckle up and kiss your blarney stones g'bye!

 

Grub
Tonight, Katie and I are going to make homemade fish n' chips for dinner. No, not the same as going out to a pub to celebrate this holiest of Irish holidays, but much better on the sanity front, that's for damn sure. Trying to get into an Irish bar on St. Pat's is akin to suicide. And, thankfully, we already stocked up on some Irish beer this past weekend. I'm sure there will be a run on some brands at many grocery and liquor stores tonight.

Google
So are these supposed to be Celtic symbols or is this what Irish crop circles look like?

Dragon
The other night at P.F. Chang's Chinese restaurant in Schaumburg, I think I discovered my ideal tea. It was called Dragon Eye Oolong and it was bliss in a tiny ceramic mug. I wanted to walk out of there with a box of the tea bags along with the mug and the metal pot and cooling rack they brought it in, it was that good. Would that have been wrong?

Jobs
A while back, I featured an announcement about a video contest that was being held by the Chicago Public Library. They're back and this time they're asking people to describe how using the Chicago Public Library helped them with their business. It's pretty sweet if I do say so myself. If you're interested, check it out at www.CPLPowersBusiness.com.

Photo365
I think the biggest mistake I've made this year with regard to the Photo365 challenge is that I've been using whatever camera I have available to me at the time to take my pictures. This has resulted in weird, non-chronological uploads on Flickr as well as me searching through five potential cameras to figure out where the heck the photo is that I want to post. Could be my big Sony D-SLR, my little Canon P&S, Katie's Canon P&S, my Blackberry, or her iPhone. I've used them all. This morning I was scrambling to figure out where they all were because I was nearly two weeks behind in posting my photos. Thankfully I found them. Next year, I may try to limit it to one camera (hopefully a network-enabled cameraphone) so they're all in one place. This is getting nuts. And I'm only a quarter of the way into the project.

It's time to go celebrate what's left of this fantastic holiday!

Under pressure...

I'm feeling in kind of an "under" mood for this Snippet Wednesday.

Under-

-exposed
I couldn't believe it when Marty sent me this link to a story about one of the members of The Crystal Method who has been chronicling his tour with pictures of his son's Lego Stormtrooper in the different locales he visits. The trooper is even named Norm. In his case, though, it's for "NormTrooper" whereas mine was "Stormin' Norman," but still. Too creepy. I think my Norm needs to get out a little more.

-shirt
I bought a pack of Jockey undershirts a month or so ago without realizing that I normally buy them in tall sizes. Now, after a couple washings each, these things could barely be worn by a toddler and provide full coverage. So, until I have a chance to get back out to a store to buy new ones in the right size (and exchange the one pack I didn't open), I've been wearing T-shirts as undershirts. Last week I used a Blackhawks shirt one day. Yesterday was my Flaming Lips skull shirt from last December's concert. Today is my Ami James skull tattoo shirt. I'm stylin'!

-played
The mysterious gift I bought for Katie for her birthday was a new iPod. As you know, her old iPod died and was outside the warranty period. So I got her an iPod Nano and loaded it with music and video for her trips to the gym. Yes, she has an iPhone, which she has used at the gym, but she's always afraid of dropping it in mid-run (this has happened) and that's a bad thing to do to something that expensive. So she's been languishing for some time with the radio at the gym set to some crappy Top 40 station. Ick. That must change. Humanity dictates it!

Oh, and since I ordered it from Apple, I did get it engraved. But that stays between us. ;-)

-mined
In an attempt to circumvent Netflix, which has had me on hold for the show Glee for a month now, I asked if my library would order it. I received an e-mail yesterday saying, "Unfortunately, because Glee is a network television show, I will not be purchasing it." Huh? What the hell does it being a network show have anything to do with it? And what sense does that argument make when you already stock 24, also a supposed network show?

-estimated
Lindsey Vonn takes the gold in the Women's Downhill while teammate Julia Mancuso takes silver? NIIIICEEEEE! Way to go, ladies! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

You are my lover, my life...

On this day, an undisclosed number of years ago, the Good Lord (or whatever you choose to call Him/Her) had the good sense to grace the world with Katie.

While I wouldn't know her until 21 years later, she did finally come into my life at a time when I wasn't sure anyone would ever become a part of it.

But she did.

And I love her for it.

Happy birthday, Katie.

I love you with all my heart and always will.

That's snow, by the way.

Come and sail away with me...

Today we did it. We booked our first vacation in nearly two years. Of course, we won't be going on it for more than a year, but it's booked!

Come March 2011, Katie and I will be going on a cruise of the eastern Caribbean as part of a crew of folks celebrating the wedding of Katie's brother, Scott, and our FSiL, Becca. Big woot!

This cruise is going to rock for many reasons:

• It's seven days of changing scenery without having to repack bags in between
• We will be hitting four locations we've never been to before including the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk...

• There are a ton of cool shore excursions to choose from (although the list can change between now and then)
• We're there with friends and family
• We get a stateroom with a balcony as opposed to the no-window room from our cruise in 2003...

• It's already half paid off
• There will be some killer photo opps
• Even though we're with family, Katie and I will get a lot of great quality time together

Oh yeah, we're stoked.

I blogged every week day through the entire month of January!

Been a long time since I've been that consistent.

Blog fiber, FTW!

Woo hoo!

And you were right there next to me...

And I said GO! If you're wondering if I want you to [I want you to] I want you to [I want you to].

Sorry about that. Had that song stuck in my head for a couple days now. On to Snippet Wednesday...

Gift
Less than a month until Katie's birthday. More precisely, only about two and a half weeks. I was really starting to sweat about what to get her. But, yesterday, it all finally fell in place. I know exactly what I'm getting her! Now I just need to buy it. I'm actually kinda stoked!

Kreuk
I know that the show Chuck has its detractors and I can understand their complaints, to some degree. But I, for one, love the show and am happy as hell it's back and I thoroughly loved this week's episode ("Chuck vs. First Class") where Chuck goes on his first solo mission on a flight to Paris. Sure, there was still some of the simpering that people hate, but otherwise, he got to kick some serious ass. And the addition of Smallville's Kristen Kreuk as Hannah, Chuck's neighbor on the plane and future love interest was great. She and Zachary Levi look good together and work well off each other. And (only a semi-spoiler... barely) the final scene where the close up of Chuck upon seeing her shows his shock and confusion completely melt away to genuine joy was so well done. I only pray Hannah doesn't wind up as a Ring or Fulcrum agent (if you know, don't tell me). They already used that plot device last year with Jordana Brewster. Please don't pull it again. I just want her to be a normal girl who falls for Chuck and vice versa and they wind up in an awkward relationship simply because he cannot tell her where it is he is going and what he is doing when he disappears from the Buy More. Clearly I'm not the only person who loved this episode as evidenced by this thoroughly exhaustive recap (from whence I blatantly stole the image above).

Lists
While I'm still trying to assess the (dis)value of Twitter lists, I will admit to having made several. Not that they've helped me at all. But I am curious why Twitter coded lists in such a way that it will continue to follow a Twitterer that you are no longer following from your account. Shouldn't they remain sync'd up? Strikes me as weird. Now I have to not only unfollow and block someone, but delete them from any list as well? Wow, takes a lot of steps to let someone know you don't give a damn about them anymore, doesn't it?

Slavery
Another brilliant video from The Onion. I don't know how they continue to do it so well. And it amazes me how easily even the most innocent act can be twisted around and made to sound dirty. Just listen carefully.

Crime Reporter: Man Had Sex With Wife Thousands Of Times Before Killing Her

Well, I'm off to work

Then we're gonna give him a best friend hug...

The plan behind the reason why this post is coming on New Year's Day instead of prior to the New Year was a complete and dismal failure. We had hoped to see a movie or two on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and we did no such thing. Our local theater was so horrifically packed

I actually started by creating a list of all the movies we've seen, but, for whatever reason, it didn't save in the e-mail draft I had written. Thankfully, the list of finalists did save.

With no further ado, here are mine and Katie's top movies of the year starting with #10:

10. Away We Go
    This movie almost never had a chance to charm us the way it did. Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a couple struggling to find themselves as they're about to have a baby, I thought this film had come and gone before it even came. Luckily, it finally started airing in the Chicago suburbs nearly a month after most other places got it. It was worth the wait.

9. Taken
   Liam Neeson kicking serious ass while trying to rescue his daughter who was kidnapped and sold into sex slavery while vacationing in Paris? Yeah, the equation for a great film!

8. (500) Days of Summer
   I had high hopes for this film and it did not fail me. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a hopeless romantic falling for Zooey Deschanel's hopeless singleton. Can it possibly work? Well, the voice-over introduction does tell you right off the bat that this is not a love story.

7. Inglourious Basterds
   I know I'm not rating this nearly as high as many other people have this year end, but I loved this revisionist take on WWII until just around the end when something happens that makes this film go from a "could this have actually happened and just never been reported" to a "no possible way." I really preferred believing the former as opposed to realizing the latter. But it does contain the finest acting I've yet seen in a Quentin Tarantino film. Had this maintained the illusion of semi-reality in my head, I think it would've rated much higher.

6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
   Wes Anderson + Stop-Motion Animation + the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Bill Murray = a surprisingly good film based on a classic Roald Dahl children's book about a fox who returns to his thieving ways despite promising his wife he'd become an upstanding citizen.

5. Up In the Air
   I really have no idea how the films of Jason Reitman remain so consistently good. From Thank You For Smoking to Juno to this gem about a normal guy (George Clooney) who jetsets around the U.S. firing employees for spineless bosses. He believes that this is the way he is meant to live until he meets Vera Farmiga and realizes that there may actually be more to life.

4. Star Trek
   Apparently, my earlier review led people to believe I didn't like this movie. That is not true. I liked it, just not as much as some other people. However, on subsequent viewings, I love this film. I'm not a Trekkie. I never aim to be one. But this is a thoroughly enjoyable film with some incredibly unique and spot-on casting. I can't wait for a sequel.

3. District 9
   Easily the best scifi film I've seen in years mostly because it's presented as another one of those "so real it seems real" sorts of films. The scratchy, over-the-shoulder documentary style of filming really brought this film to life and helped hide any imperfections in the CGIs making them blend seamlessly with the live action acting. And, like any good scifi, it uses false characters and situations to bring to light real social issues (segregation and genocide) in terms that even regular joes can understand.

2. Up!
   Can Pixar ever do any wrong? It sure doesn't seem that way. As good as this film is, though, I could handle just watching the opening segment which brings greater emotionality to a movie using animation and no dialogue than almost any live-action film I've ever seen.

1. The Hangover
   Four friends, Las Vegas, date-rape drugs, a tiger, a hooker, a baby, a stolen police car, Chinese mobsters, and Mike Tyson. Need I say more? Nah, didn't think so.

Oh, and the following movies are ones we have yet to see although I'm pretty sure they may have fared pretty well on our list had we gotten around to them.

• Sherlock Holmes
• The Hurt Locker
• The Informant!
• Zombieland
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Invictus
• Crazy Heart

I also really liked Marty's idea of listing movies that kinda let me down. I'm just listing a single movie here because I lost my list of films we watched. I'm sure there'd be more, but...

•  The Men Who Stare At Goats
  In concept, this movie about soldiers who are trained to use their minds as their greatest weapon should have been great. And for about the first hour it was. The final half really was terrible, though. It felt like a film that fell victim to the writer's strike of 2007 and just never was properly finished. Or maybe it had a great, but controversial, ending that studio execs nixed in favor of one they deemed would fare much better with audiences. If this is the case, Studio Exec Tampering FAIL!

What films did you enjoy this year?

Katie and I learned a few things about ourselves last night during our stay-at-home New Year's Eve celebration.

Thought we'd share:

• We are not late-night people.
• We are not party people.
• Unless it is mixed with orange juice, we are not champagne people.
• I do not have my finger on the pulse of popular music as evidenced by my not knowing half the people performing on New Year's Rockin' Eve. Justin Bieber who?
• Unlike the Black Eyed Peas, I do not got your boom boom pow. Hell, I don't even know what your boom boom pow is. Sorry.