Stupidity reigns...

Palm came out with a new operating system, so I had to pick up a new PDA for testing purposes at work. I looked at several websites, and Circuit City had the best price ($50 cheaper than anywhere else). So I drove up to CC at lunch to buy the PDA. The price tag at the store was $50 more than the website listed, so I told the salesman about it. He walked over to a computer, got on the website, saw the cheaper price, and then said "Sorry, we can't match that price." I told him that it wouldn't really be matching the price since it was their price. He played around on the computer a bit more, and then said, "Sorry, it's only if you order it online for delivery or in-store pickup." I mentioned that I was in the store to pick one up, but was once again denied. So I asked him if I could borrow his computer. He agreed. I ordered the PDA online for in-store pickup from the computer sitting right next to the item I wanted to buy. The printer at his station started printing--it was my order. He took the PDA over to the service desk (I offered to carry it for him) where I paid for it at the lower price.

Thumbs up, thumbs down

Saw two movies this weekend--one good, one not so good. And the results were surprisingly flip-flopped. Annette got "Blade Trinity" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" from the library. I've not seen a "Blade" movie before, but figured it would be a somewhat entertaining but cheesy action movie. I remember either Bob F or Steve R mentioning that ESOTSM was a good movie, which pretty much assured that I would hate it since they both like long, plotless dramas like "Lost in Translation" (which I discovered later was produced by the same company as "Eternal Sunshine").

We watched "Blade" first, and it was pretty awful. Wesley Snipes was pretty much what I expected, but the minister's daughter from "7th Heaven" just isn't an action movie kind of girl and the other main character (hence, the "trinity") was even worse. The dialogue was some of the lamest I've heard in any movie, ever. Annette then put in "Eternal Sunshine" and I started to head off to bed, but figured I'd watch five minutes or so just to see what it was about. Almost two hours later, I found myself pleasantly surprised by a bizarre but clever movie. I'm not typically a big Jim Carrey fan, but this was his best that I've seen.

Halloween

I've always kind of hated Halloween. I think the two main reasons are: 1) I really like Nestle Crunches. In fact, they are about the only candy bar I like. Once my "friends" discovered this fact, it made negotiations very difficult. "I'll give you one mini Nestle Crunch for 5 Snickers and a Kit Kat." Yeah, that's fair. 2) I don't like being the center of attention, which is pretty much what you're going for when you dress up. Anyway, at a pretty early age I stopped trick-or-treating and started getting my mom to buy Nestle Crunches to hand out. Then I'd just eat those.

Having kids now, however, has made me appreciate Halloween more. They really have a good time with it, and seeing them having so much fun makes it pretty fun for me. Plus, it gives me a good excuse to go out and buy Nestle Crunches.

Speaking of Halloween, I just posted some October pictures on the website. More will be coming after trick-or-treat day.

Chess

We love to play games, but believe it or not I never learned how to play chess. Both Ben and Chris like to play, and have recently taught me how. I don't know any strategy yet--just the basic moves of the different pieces. Anyway, as I was stumbling across the 'Net this evening I ran across this site and thought it was kind of cool.

Race Report

This season of the Amazing Race has been a little bit of a letdown. It's ok, but not quite as interesting as previous seasons. I think the main reason is that they are staying in the US so far. It makes it a little too easy--everyone speaks English and there are maps at every gas station. I hope they go overseas soon.

Last night's episode was the best of the season so far. It was a little surreal to see the teams running around the beautiful French Quarter in New Orleans and realize that most of that is gone now. The team that was eliminated last night was from that area, but they didn't give any report on what happened to them or if their house survived the hurricane.

Brownies

Being a parent I suppose I shouldn't find this funny, but it made me chuckle. I especially like the line "the child was lethargic and had an unusually large appetite."

On a side note, what's with the hair? Is he a former Jedi?

Who dey? Jacksonville, dat's who...

The Bengals suffered their first loss of the season this evening to the Jacksonville Jaguars. At first it looked like it was going to be really ugly, but in the 2nd half the Bengals turned it around and started to look decent. A few less penalties, a few more tackles, and a couple of key plays (especially the 4th and inches stop) could have made all the difference.

On a positive note, Carson Palmer is absolutely the real thing. He is smart, poised, and WILL lead us to a Super Bowl some time before 2010. Also, Baltimore lost again and it looks like it may be a two-team race between us and Pittsburgh for the playoffs.

Also on the positive side, after a decade of misery, the city is psyched about Bengals football again. Kyle and I watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings, and the place was crawling with fans clad in orange and black. Some were pretty annoying (see Kyle's blog), but it was still a good time!

10 years ago today...

Hard to believe it, but today is the 10th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdict. Back in 1995 I was teaching 7th grade language arts, and I remember that they actually interrupted all of the classes and played the verdict live over the school TVs for everyone to see. I taught in a predominantly white, upper-middle class school and was somewhat surprised when the entire class cheered wildly when the verdict was read.

A recent poll showed that 87% of whites and 29% of blacks believe that O.J. is guilty of the murders. I find that to be a very interesting statistic, but I wonder what it means. How can the discrepancy in the numbers possibly be that high? I personally thought he was guilty--otherwise why was the infamous "chase" in the white Bronco necessary? But is my opinion biased because I'm white and he's black? I'd like to think not, but I guess I can't say for sure.

The Weekend

It was a busy but enjoyable weekend. Friday night was the typical pizza/movie night. We watched A League of Their Own with the kids. It is rated PG, so we thought it would be fine, but later realized that the movie probably came out before the PG-13 rating existed. There was nothing terrible, but I think the boys may have learned a few new words. We then went next door and roasted marshmallows and ate smores with the Blakes. The weather was beautiful and we have a very nice time eating smores, drinking Blake Cellars wine, and chatting while the kids played flashlight tag.

On Saturday, the boys both had soccer games. Neither won their game, but both played very well. On Saturday evening, Annette participated in the Reggae Run, a 5K run to raise money for Make-a-Wish. The kids and I stayed home and did yardwork, tossed the football around, and played chess. After the kids went to bed and Annette got home, we watched the movie Constantine. It was decent, but not great. The plot is fairly interesting, but Keanu Reeve's character, who is supposed to be the "hero", is not very likeable so you don't really care too much what happens to him. I'd give it a B-/C+...worth renting at some point, but don't set your expectations too high.

On Sunday, we attended the annual FSC company picnic. The weather was beautiful and the food and company were great--although on a sad note the Lewis's were not able to attend because of a death in the family. We played bocce ball--something I haven't done since I was a kid. After the picnic, we visited Lisa and Dan at their new house since we were in the area and Annette hadn't seen it yet. Overall, a great weekend!

4-0!!!

The Bengals beat Houston and are now 4-0 for the first time since 1988. I'm certainly not predicting the Super Bowl, but...

...the last time the Bengals started 4-0 was 1988. The team ended up 12-4 and went to the Super Bowl.

...the Super Bowl is in Detroit this year. It has only been in Detroit once, in 1981, and guess who the AFC representative was--the Bengals.

I wasn't able to watch the game today, but from what I heard the Bengals won a pretty ugly game. That is not something that a Bengals team of the past 10 years typically does. They find ways to blow the ugly games and only win if they play perfectly. The real tests are coming up in the next couple of weeks--a nationally televised game against Jacksonville and then a HUGE game against the Steelers. Who dey!