Happy (Black) Friday

Crimeny - I am still full from yesterday.

Can't really take a deep breath.

And that, I feel, is a testament to how incredible the food was, and not my ability to stuff my face.

Some highlights:

- mile-high apple pie

- three kinds of Jello concoctions

- green bean casserole...delish

- Stove Top...yup, I go for the boxed creation

- I lost at cards, but whistled my favorite holiday tunes throughout because I was in such a good mood. I also called my grandma a bad name because she tried to set me, but she just laughed and called me the same thing. Awesomeness.

- my brother Jeff, cousin James and I debated on goofy names for Mandy's immenent bundle of joy. So far, Trixie is in the lead. James liked Ginger, Jasmine and Daisy, which fit with Trixie as they are ALL stripper names. Clint is the frontrunner for a boy, followed by Seamus, Ulysses, and Chebbi, which is what Mandy's Tae Kwon Do master yells at her during sparing.

So, I am at work on this post-Thanksgiving day, but that's okay. I have already visited the Hybrid OR with my colleague Laura to shoot fisheye stills for an eventual 360 for our new website. I am now getting ready to organize some media for our FB and YT, and have a meeting after lunch to discuss a medical breakthroughs initiative for the website. Yup...I dig my job. A lot. Enough to be okay with working on Black Friday.

My Pandora is cranked, and I am listening to Long View - it's a good day.

Laughed so hard I cried

Explain This Image.

Go here. Now.

A few words to live by...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a darn good movie. Here is my favorite quote from that movie...


"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

- Benjamin Button: [Voice over; letter to his daughter]

Movie Review

So instead of seeing "New Moon" this weekend, I saw "Precious" instead.

Glad I did.

I'm not going to go into details, but the lead character has had a rough life, as many people have. There are millions of personal stories out there that are drawn by abuse, pain, and hopelessness. The story of Precious is nothing new. But what is new is the way her story is told.

Very fine performances by all involved. Having seen interviews with Gabourney Siddibe, it's pretty amazing what she did in terms of bringing the character of Precious to life. Mariah Carey dirts-down well, and her subdued performance isn't necessarily Oscar worthy, but deserves accolades.

The real stand-out, in my opinion, is Monique. She should be nominated for an Oscar. Not because the movie is being touted by Oprah and Tyler Perry, but because she embodied this monster of a mother and made you forget you were watching a comedienne.

I've heard that she's demanding more money for attending debuts and press junkets - I say go for it. This may be her only shot at this, so why not milk it for all it's worth? This film will go on to make some real money, so kudos to her for trying to get in on the take.

I saw the movie at the Esquire, which made the experience even more engaging as it was interactive. The energy from the crowd, the reactions, were tangible.

I'm often disappointed with films that come with so much hype. I got burned too many times. There are also a few films I have never seen, because I know I will be disappointed and have better things to do with my life (Amelie, The Lion King, etc.).

This film, in my opinion, doesn't live up to the hype - it transcends it.

Fail

So much for me getting back to "regular" blogging...

In my defense, I was out of town M-W, and then catching up on life Th/F, and then had family come to town this weekend.

A couple of rants:

1. Why is it some folks think that they are suddenly experts on something after they've "read hundreds of articles". Umm, I can say I'm an expert pilot, but until I actually get in the cockpit and log my miles, I am merely an expert at reading on being a pilot.

2. A negative response is better than silence (on the phone). Seriously, man up and at least grunt - even if you are completely in the dark about the topic, when the conversation is between two people on the phone, have the courtesy to at least say, "I'm not really familiar with that". Simple as that. You can even say, "That really doesn't interest me". Fine, point taken. Silence is ignorant. So tempted to just hang up, but I usually offer a quick "Oops, gotta go now" before dropping the line.

3. Ritalin. Adderall. Try it. You might like it.

4. Road rage. I cannot shake it. I will invest in the first drug company that is working on a pill I can take for this. I don't think I am a danger to anyone by myself, but that's enough, right?

5. Negative people who don't use their filters. We all have a filter - learn how to use it. If you can drive a car, read out loud and remember to set your alarm clock, you have the mental capacity to engage your filter.

Okay, 5 is enough. Now for some raves.

1. Gingerbread cookies this time of year make me ridiculously happy. They are like cocaine (I can only imagine, as I have never partaken in the white devil) - if I could snort them, I would.

2. Mangia. Thank you for going above and beyond, every time I walk in your door.

3. My good friend M. She understands. And that's all she needs to say to make me feel less sad/angry/confused.

4. My cousin Mandy (aka Hutmacher) is preggers. It was a surprise to all involved, especially the happy couple who were doing everything in their power to prevent such a thing. It's been 22 years since there has been a baby in the family (Mandy's sister Albo) so it's long overdue. Congrats to Mandy and Joe!

5. Rick Springfield on "Californication". He looks amazing for being 60 years young. However, he'd better think about stopping in St. Louis before the shine wears off and we realize he's really an old soft-rocker.

All for now - look for my list of crazy Christmas music in the next post (I promise I won't wait another week).

Coincidence?

I love it when things like this happen.

I picked up a book a couple weeks ago titled The Worst Hard Time. It's about the dustbowl of the 1930's. I finished reading it on the plane to Seattle today.

I just returned from dinner, and was flipping through channels to find something to lull me to sleep.

I happened upon American Experience on PBS, and guess what the episode was about?

Yup - the dustbowl of the 30's.

What was so exciting was that the documentary showed footage and referenced a few of the people who were prominently discussed in the book such as Hugh Bennet and Bam White, but it also interviewed Bam's son Melt who talked about a specific story thatvwas in the book.

What are the odds I would be reading the book and catch the doc on the same day??

Incredible. I will try to find the meaning after I get some sleep.

Too cool. Life is good.

Weekend, so far

Saw the movie 2012. There are a few more special-effects extravaganza moments that you don't see in the trailer, but not many. It's an okay story, but the only reason I really wanted to go was John Cusack. And that desire was fullfilled.

On Saturday went car shopping with my brother - I turned him on to Audi's a couple weeks back, and he bought my dream car. A4 Quattro, black/black/titanium. I got to drive it home for him - the only reason I got out of the car was because of hunger, had I not I would still be camped out in the heaven that is the front seat.

Was up at 4:30 this morning - it was probably the lingering Audi excitement from the day before. Have been doing a lot of clean-up of my in-boxes. I have four Yahoo email addresses, one is my primary, another is my primary spam addy, and the other two are back ups.

I found a few interesting emails during my clean-up. I had posted a while back how phenomenal I thought El Borracho was/is, and the owner emailed me after finding my blog post and invited me to join him in a pitcher of margaritas. Social media working as it should - love it. And love El Borracho. Will be going there soon to imbibe with BJ. How cool is that??

Found another email from a blog owner on which I had posted a comment requesting that we keep up the convo off-blog. I will be taking him up on this.

And found yet another from a long-ago friend reaching out to re-establish our lost connection. Right on - have already written back, can't wait to see where this goes.

Speaking of lost connections, I recently reached out to a couple former friends to see how they are - hoping to hear something back someday. I knew them at a time in my life when I lost my head and followed my heart down the wrong path, but I am hoping those friendships can transcend such decisions. We'll see...

Today I am packing for my Seattle trip - cannot wait. Haven't been there since 2005, and will be hitting Marrakesh on Monday and the Girls concert on Tuesday night.