Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all got what you asked for from Santa Claus, Hannukah Harry, Kwanzaa Malikwa, or whoever it is you may ask to deliver your holiday gifts. I had a good time. Got to test out the digital camera that Katie bought for me because my rechargable batteries are finally charged up. Woo hoo! This camera is fun. I especially love being able to look at the pic after I'm done taking it and deleting it right off the memory card so I don't "waste" my film. I don't think it's possible to waste shots with this sort of camera. But, it's cool all the same. Got some nice shots of my family opening their gifts. I'll have to get some shots of Katie this weekend when she comes down here and opens her gifts from my family.

Just got back from the Adams family Christmas celebration in Woodstock. Felt kinda weird having this whole other Christmas to celebrate. It had always just been the Apgar Christmas that I was a part of. Then, last year, I was at Katie's place and opened some gifts from her parents. Now, I'm opening gifts from the entire clan. Aside from the Secret Santa gift of The Patriot on DVD from Lauren (Thanks Laurnen!), I also got a $25 giftcard for Best Buy from Grandma and Papa (never called anyone that before) and Katie and I both got gold stocking hangers from her Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack. Thanks to everyone. It was an interesting experience and one that I'm looking forward to being a part of again.

Anybody out there looking for some new desktop wallpaper for their computer? I found a pretty cool site with some really far out wallpaper. The site is mecompany.com and it's a pretty intense interface. In other words, update your browsers and plugins if necessary. What you'll see is a pop-up window with a blue, polka-dotted vortex looking thingie. As you move your mouse around it, the spots disappear and will eventually reappear. When white dots appear, click on them and another window will appear with a desktop wallpaper. You can pick your resolution and save to your harddrive. Check them out, they're pretty damned cool.

Guess what... only 370 shopping days until next Christmas! Woo hoo! Sorry about that. I just wanted to get a rise outta y'all.

Happy second anniversary, Katie! I love you with all my heart. I hope you do know that. I sure know it. That's why I'm not afraid to let all two people who read this page know it as well.

Damn good day today. To celebrate our 2 year anniversary (albeit a day early... TS), Katie and I went downtown to the Briar Street Theater to check out Blue Man Group. I've seen it before so I knew what to expect, but this was Katie's first time experiencing it. And what an experience it was. We had front-row center seats and caught the brunt of the streamer bombardment. It was incredible to look over at Katie as all the streamers hit us and just see the big smile on her face as she reached back to grab the paper. I could tell she was enjoying it. Then we went home and hit Olive Garden for dinner. Good food, so-so wait staff.

What a dreary day this is. I left my house this morning and there was a small sheet of frozen snow on my windshield. Nothing too bad. Then I looked at the neighborhood. All the trees are covered in ice and snow. The snow on the ground is very fresh and white (save for what's been plowed off the streets). But the really dreary thing is that the entire sky is foggy and white. In some areas, it's hard to tell where the sky ends and the ground begins. Blecch. I will admit, though, that this is a great day for cuddling inside a warm house with your significant other (if you have one - I do). Oh, Katieeeeeee....

If there is anybody out there who follows the Chicago Bears, then you know that this season has been less than spectacular. They are well below .500, but the wins that they have managed have been pretty incredible to watch. But, the one shining spot on the team has to be rookie inside linebacker Brian Urlacher. The guy is a powerhouse and, if he keeps up to the standard that he's set this season, he could be even better than Bears' great Mike Singletary. Yet, despite this season of his, he has only been named to a backup roster for the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. What a crock! The man should be first teaming this game and kicking the hell out of the AFC. Are the Pro Bowl voters blind? Obviously, the Pro Bowl doesn't mirror the MLB All Star Game where the rule is that each and every team must be represented. Urlacher will just have to kick everybody's ass into submission next year. Best thing for him to do.

I know, I know. It's been a while. Sorry, I've been at a conference in Chicago both yesterday and today. Which means that I trained it in to the city. Yes, people, I was in Union Station during the drug dealer/DEA/Chicago Police shootout. I was there. Kinda weird. Especially considering that the shooting was on the south concourse all of about 200 feet away from me and I didn't hear or see a thing. I must be either deaf or ignorant. Who knows? I think when I told Katie last night that I had been in Union at the same time as the shooting, I could hear her heart jump into her throat and speed up to about 1000 beats per second. Sorry, hon. I wasn't planning on being there when it happened. But, hey! I'm okay. No worse for wear.

This has gotta be the biggest load of horses&!t I've ever heard in my life. Well, as many of you know, I graduated from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL - a fact of which I'm quite proud. Sometimes, I like to know what's going on in my old haunt. So, today, I logged onto the Northern Star homepage (NIU's student paper). There I discovered some quite disconcerting news regarding NIU's former Student Association president Andrew Anderson. Back in October 1999, Anderson was impeached from the Student Senate for a variety of reasons including abuse of power, shredding of official time sheets, etc. The list goes on for a while. Early this fall semester, Anderson was booted from his Senator role for frequent absences. Well, now he is considering running for mayor of DeKalb. This has to be some kind of joke! A political reputation like his and he wants to hold a real position in a real government body? I read this and nearly laughed myself to death. This is pathetic to say the very least. If there is any one person out there who seemingly can't get off unless he sees his name in the headlines... I'd also like to take a moment to remember John Lennon who was brutally shot to death outside his apartment in New York City 20 years ago today. Imagine...

I don't know what it is about my birthday. It seems like right after you pass it up on a calendar, anniversarys of all the bad things in history abound. Today is the 59th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor to start the official beginning of the United States' involvement in World War II. Tomorrow will be... well, read about it tomorrow.

This is too funny. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but the Washington Mint has, for I don't know how long, been producing silver coins comemmorating the new president upon his election. Well, as we all do know, the president still has not been announced despite the fact that the election was nearly a month ago. Problem now is that the Washington Mint desperately needs to know what's going on because they want to have the coin ready in time for inauguration. So, they effectively said "screw it" and came up with the Coin-Toss coin. It's the funniest thing in the world because it has Bush on one side and Gore on the other. They're selling them for $29.95 pre-inauguration and $45 after the event occurs. Can't accuse them of not having a sense of humor, eh?

This is incredibly uncanny. As some of you know, I'm a major believer in and user of Napster. God bless Shawn Fanning. Well, anyway, I was recently watching an episode of VH-1's incredible show "Behind the Music" featuring Creed and they mentioned that vocalist Scott Stapp performed with the remaining members of The Doors. Well, on Napster, I found a copy of Light My Fire by the Doors and Scott Stapp and it is incredible how much Stapp sounds like the late Jim Morrison. If you have Napster and a love for either The Doors or Creed (or both), check the song out. It's great. The copy I have has great sound quality, so look for the song with the user name "kapgar" beside and nab it... it's worth it.

Oh, yeah... happy birthday to me.

Good news for all Scooby Doo fans! Many of you already know that Warner Bros is gonna turn the world's greatest cartoon into a live action movie (albeit with a computer generated Scooby, I believe). Well, most of the main characters have been cast. Shaggy will be played by Matthew Lillard (Scream, Wing Commander and She's All That). Fred will be played by Freddie Prinze, Jr. (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Wing Commander and She's All That - hmmm...). Daphne is Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 'nuff said). Lastly, it is rumored that Linda Cardellini is in negotiations to play Velma. Cardellini is best known to those of us Freaks & Geeks fans as Lindsay, Sam's older sister who suffers from massive peer acceptance syndrome. In other words, Velma's gonna be much better looking that her cartoon counterpart and, in my opinion, than Gellar's Daphne. I hope they sign Cardellini, she'd be really good. If you wanna check out some more information on the film, see Upcomingmovies.com.

Just in time for the holiday season comes a story, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, that just makes you feel so happy to be a human being. It warms you inside, makes you laugh, makes you cry, and just makes you downright proud of your fellow man. Here it is... "the [San Francisco] 49ers turned away a couple who did not purchase a $50 ticket for their 5-month-old baby. Can you feel the love?" What did I tell you? Great holiday story, eh? This story also contains a wonderfully scathing review of pretty-boy Bears QB Cade McNown and his love for fans.

By the way, I've made a few changes to Steve Adams' kicker page. A few technical tweaks on his homepage, but nothing big. The cool thing is the scrolling Java message applet and the AOL Instant Messenger link on his bio page. I think you'll dig it, so check it out.