ALL of the Stars

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Been a pretty fun week I guess... not sure if I mentioned in past posts that I was nominated for an award at work... but I was completely surprised when I ended up winning it Wednesday. Yup, I basically won an employee of the quarter award. It's one of those things where you work hard, do your best, collaborate with a lot of other great employees who also use their gifts to the best of their abilities on a daily basis... and you think "There's no way I can win this. Very few people know who I am or what I do. They've been here longer. Other nominees are more socialable & more deserving, it's an honor just to be nominated." Then you win... and it's kinda like... "Damn right! It's about time!" Okay, so it was more like "HWHAAAAT???" So yeah, kind of on cloud nine about that thing... but that's not all that happened this week.

Rick Majerus Passed Away - Back in 1999, I was on the practice squad for the University of Utah men's & women's basketball team... so I got to work a little bit with the men's head basketball coach, Mr. Rick Majerus. His grasp of the game of basketball & the strategy behind it was amazing... and his coaching career will show it. From working with the championship winning Marquette team in the 70's to leading the U of U to the national championship game in the 90's, helping players like Andre Miller & Keith Van Horn to take their game to the professional level and so on. Was he the nicest man in the world? I would vote no... then again, a surprising number of celebrities have called me an A$$hole over the years... he probably just did it the most... but hey, that's his style I guess. Even those that loved him would probably say the same. Unfortunately, he was also a large man with a large appetite that didn't pair well with health problems... and unfortunately a tumultuous decade, it finally caught up with him. My deepest condolences to his family... and I hope that he was able to find some peace.

The college football championship is set up as Notre Dame vs Alabama... or the Fightin' Irish vs the Crimson Tide... or as I prefer to look at it, the St. Patrick's Day versus That Time of the Month. It should make for an interesting game... but it's going to be difficult to top the SEC Championship that Alabama played against Georgia to set it up. Pro football has been pretty good today too. A few overtime games... Eagles playing tonight, thought their season is basically done... good times.

Friday night, I put up my Christmas tree... now just need presents for under it...

Saturday, I helped Dizzy with a booth of her amazing creations at a craft fair at the Pinole Senior Center... and it was actually a lot of fun. We set up in the morning, and we were easily the youngest people there by about... 30 years easy. Dizzy made a variety of cool things to sell for reasonably cheap... but unfortunately the weather was REALLY rainy so turnout wasn't the greatest. However, we still made enough to cover expenses for the table, got a great lunch for a $10 donation, even found a few trinkets for a few bucks from other crafters... oh & I got to hang out with my ladyfriend for a few hours on an otherwise rainy day. Here's an early shot of her table before we made a few adjustments... great practice for our next table, wherever that might be.

Saturday night, we watched the highly anticipated "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" starring Rufus Sewell, Benjamin Walker & Dominic Cooper... and from the director of "Wanted" so you know it's historically accurate & obeys the laws of physics & reality. Long story short, it's the story of young Abraham's mother being killed by a man... so he grows up with a heart full of vengeance... and then when he tries to kill the man as a teenager (Walker), he discovers he's a vampire... and then he's saved by a man (Cooper) who becomes his mentor... and trains him to hunt & kill vampires. Now... yes, the story is imaginative & I really liked it because... well, I'm a little crazy & like everybody else I like the idea of Abraham Lincoln hunting vampires (already working on Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter & then collaborate with Rob Zombie on Werewolf Women of the SS). If you're looking for historically accurate telling with minimal plotholes... then by all means watch Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" like I did a few weeks ago. This movie will be full of CGI, action craziness, a little bit of gore, lots of questions regarding plot pionts, and you'll have to stretch a bit to go with the plot point that vampires killed the native Americans & kept slavery intact for so long... but as long as you can get through that, you'll probably enjoy it. It's basically like any other superhero story... just instead of a rich orphan with unlimited funds & cunning becoming Batman, it's an orphan with an axe who hunts vampires & become President. Enjoy! Unrelated, I watched this with Dizzy & Batgirl... and we followed this up with "Expendables 2", the latest episodes of "The Walking Dead" & "Comic Book Men" and then capped off the night with "Land of the Dead." Yeah, it was fitting.

I think that'll do it for tonight. Can't believe it's already December. Better do some Christmas shopping. Have a great week everybody!!!

November Nonsense

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Well, another week or two has come & gone… and yes, we won another softball game… actually a few... and ended up winning the championship... and yes, work was busy… and yes, I did not report my activities to you. My apologies… but here I am now. Friday night after work, I met up with my mama & stepdad for some Chinese food at R&G Lounge in Chinatown… then basically went to my apartment because the sun was going down & that means that the parents had to get home for bedtime. Sigh… it makes me feel old to know my parents are so old… but hey, they’re earned their rest & relaxation. My mom stayed up & watched horrible TV with me like “The League” and a new one we found called “Tattoo Nightmares.” Basically it’s about some of the best tattoo artists in the world who have clients come in with horrible tattoos that they need covered up with new ones… and you get to hear the stupid stories associated with how they got the bad ones. Fun fact: Almost all involve a combination of alcohol & stupidity, though not stupidity brought upon by alcohol. Anyway, it was pretty entertaining. It’s on Spike TV. Check it out.

Saturday, we went to Monterey to enjoy the Wharf, the 17 Mile Drive & the beautiful weather. Then the sun went down around 5 PM so they dropped me off at my hotel & they went to theirs. I wandered around Alvarado Street a bit but then decided to just go watch some great college football. Fun fact: It looks like there could very easily be SIX undefeated teams in college football at the end of the year. Alabama in the SEC, Kansas State in the Big 12, Oregon in the Pac 12, Louisville in the Big East, Notre Dame as an independent, and I think there was one other in a smaller conference… but still, let’s say five of them finish undefeated. They’re all major conferences (so you can’t pull the crap that they did with Utah, TCU & Boise State all the time). What then? Alabama & K-State in the championship? Why not Oregon? They’ve destroyed everybody they played. Notre Dame has the toughest schedule in college football every year… this year’s no different… why won’t they get a shot? You allegedly favor all those with tough schedules anyway, right? Eh, I’m not really concerned because it’s all BS anyway… and I’m sure a few will slip up against an “easy” opponent in their last 2-3 games, but still, it’s just interesting… maybe just to me. Good luck getting a consensus championship! Here are some pictures from during the day…

Sunday, Dizzy met up with us & we went out to Carmel to see the Mission and wander around the shops. We ate a nice Italian lunch at Little Napoli. Then we went to the monarch butterfly sanctuary around sunset…

After that, Dizzy & I drove home and started catching up on “Walking Dead” and “Black Dynamite” episodes. Rough weekend, right?

This week, I missed the softball championship because of a work related training about an hour away from the fields (and frankly, I think they did okay without me). The training was at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay... and the weather was perfect at sunset... and we even had s'mores in the fire pit. Here are pictures...

   

 

Wednesday night, I got tickets to a premiere of the long-awaited “Lincoln” movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the Great Emancipator... and it's Steven Spielberg's latest that basically focuses on how he tried to pass the 13th Amendment (slavery abolishment) despite the great political & cultural oppositition at the time... and how he & his colleagues pulled it out. It was actually a very good movie & I thoroughly enjoyed it... and fun fact, Tommy Lee Jones & James Spader rock that sh*t too... and Sally Field... and even Joseph Gordon-Levitt briefly. I highly recommend going to check it out. I went with my roommate Batgirl (everybody else was working) but she seemed to enjoy it as well.

 

Other than that, not much else going on with me… got Assassin’s Creed III the other day but have only played about two hours worth so still in the tutorial stages, but so far so badass. Have a great day everybody!!!