9 Things I love about my wife

In honor of our Ninth wedding anniversary. Here is a list in no particular order of just 9 of the millions of things I love about my wife.

1. The green in her eyes.
2. The way she asks questions about what is getting ready to happen in movies and tv shows.
3. She always tries to see the good in people.
4. She encourages my sense of humor even if she doesn't understand it.
5. Her smile.
6. She watches ultimate fighting with me, and adds comments like "I wish they would do something already, no one wants to see them hug"
7. She is a terrific mother to our boys.
8. I can normally crack her up at inappropriate times.
9. She loves me back.

Happy anniversary Debbie. I Love You!

3-D Movies

I don't know if it is the economy, or if the technology is that much better, but aren't there alot more 3-D movies now than 5 years ago? I can't really remember many when I was growing up. We went and saw UP which is in 3-D and there were previews for 3 more 3-D movies coming out soon. We just saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D a couple of months ago too. I am not complaining, it is definitely cooler having stuff come out at you as my 4 year old says. My question is, why now? Why did I get the shaft growing up? Surely movie execs aren't just now figuring out that people like 3-D. I would wager that any movie would be cooler in 3-D. Am I crazy? Just to get even, I am going to watch every 3-D movie that comes out. I can't wait until we can get 3-D in our own homes, then it will be in our video games. No probably not, that makes too much sense.

Cheaters, The show.

Am I the only one who considers "Cheaters" a guilty pleasure. I have been watching this show off and on for approximately 8 years, and it never disappoints. First, let me say that cheating on someone you claim to love, seems like one of the scummiest things you can do. Having said that, it seems like both sides of every episode are in on it a little. I mean I can't tell you how many times you hear the one being cheated on say something like "You swore this wouldn't happen again." Or, you hear the cheater saying something like, "I forgave you when you cheated". Here's my take, if you are suspicious enough to hire a TV show to investigate your significant other, then there are probably some underlying issues whether or not they find anything. I think I have only seen one case where they didn't uncover an affair. I think maybe the biggest reason for the show's success is the Joey Greco. I think one of the big reasons he is likeable is because he is surrounded by "good-uns" at all times. I love their tagline: "This program is both dedicated to the faithful and presented to the false-hearted to encourage their renewal of temperance and virtue. " I think their heart is ultimately in the right place, but it is hard to get the message with all that awesome entertainment. Two of my favorites below.

The one where Joey gets stabbed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ_obK_JTCI

The one where the dude gets flipped in the portapotty and has his keys thrown in the woods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=audYrw0yZ1M

A word of warning to the false-hearted, if Joey Greco shows up at your door, you're in big trouble!

Special sauce and secret ingredients

Am I the only one that is a little bothered by products or restaurants that have secret ingredients or special sauce. Normally crappy products don't rave about their special components, it's only the good stuff. Now why would a good product/restaurant not want to share part of their recipe? I will concede the obvious, that some of this could be to protect their property and success. The other part of it could be that there is something really nasty in it. For example, Bush's baked beans touts their secret family recipe in every commercial. There could be anything in those baked beans and I wouldn't know. I wouldn't be surprised if there was lemon pledge in there. What about Dr. Pepper? We all know there are 23 special ingredients, but how special are they. What if the secret ingredient is cigarette ashes? I think any restaurant with a special sauce is especially shady. At least with Dr. Pepper I would hope that it has gone through some kind of testing. These restaurants are islands to themselves. Even if I am enjoying the sauce, I worry what if this has wallpaper glue in it. The bottom line is I am probably better off not knowing, but it won't stop me from being suspicious.

Kid Twitter

I think I may get both of my boys a twitter account. No really, it is not as bad an idea as you think. They both basically talk in status updates anyway. Here is a sample of some potential twitters from my boys.

batmanfan: I'm pretending to be a smurf. I am lazy smurf.

iloveelmokid: i going on vacation. bye bye

batmanfan: i don't like going to timeout. i want different consequences.

iloveelmokid: i go in peepee potty

batmanfan:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

iloveelmokid: WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

griffinrlifsey: I feel like I'm taking crazy pills

iloveelmokid: look daddy I climb

batmanfan: bet you can't take the ball from me.

See they would be just as interesting as half of the other people on twitter.

You ought to see their twitpics.

Here is max in timeout, being joined by Whit because he didn't want to be left out.

twitpic/iloveelmokid/timeout

I think I may get them writing their own blogs

I miss summer camp

One of the greatest things about summer when I was a kid was going to summer camp. Whether it was "spend-the-night" camp or daycamp, it was awesome camp. My son is now going through a murderer's row of summer day camps and he is only four. Needless to say I am a little jealous. I mean who wouldn't be, zoo camp, aquarium camp, children's museum camp, and in a couple of weeks, art camp. This took me back to my youth when I got to go to camp. I got my first tast at the Nature Center. Learning about animals and nature seemed like the best thing ever. I even got my picture in the paper catching tadpoles. My first overnight camp was at Camp Lookout with our church. I felt like a pioneer living in a cabin for a week. Next, I moved to the big leagues, Boy Scout Camp. I spent approximately 5 summers going to scout camp. I know it sounds a little dorky, but I had some pretty memorable weeks there. Not even the summer when I watched a group of campers get struck by lightning less than 50' from me could keep me away.(Note: to my knowledge all those struck by lightning ended up being fine, and no long term injuries were sustained, just some burns on their feet. I don't want anyone accusing me of being a heartless jerk.) I would come back summer after summer for the chance to get away and do things I couldn't during the rest of the year. Now as an adult, I can take vacations to get away, but it is not the same. When you were a kid, you knew when summer started rolling around that it was time to start getting your gear ready. I may start an adult summer camp, who's with me? What was your most memorable camp experience?

The island of misfit nba players

The NBA finals is the first sporting event that I wish wasn't in high definition. Normally any sport, exciting or not, is infinitely better in HD. In golf, you can count the dimples on the golfball. In baseball, you can pick up the spin on a pitch. In hockey you can see how many teeth the players are all missing. Usually HD is a vital part of sports viewing. Not for these NBA finals. I can't remember a more motley looking group of players. Three glaring examples of too much definition come to mind.

First Pau Gasol. He looks like he should be selling hemp necklaces out of the back of his van at a Phish concert. You would never pick him out of a lineup as one of the top 10 current basketball players. He looks like a european grave digger.

Second, Hedo Turkoglu. Same reasons as above. Would you want to buy coffee from this guy. Me either. According to ESPN's Bill Simmons, he may have set the standard for broken HD tuners.

Finally the Kobe Bryant Wolverine Face. I know, I know, he really wants this bad. How could I forget with the announcers telling us 10,000 times a game. It looks like he is trying to smell his own breath. No kobe it is not your breath, it is Pau Gasol's Euro B.O.

Besides the fact that the Lakers are probably going to walk to the title, I just can't stomach seeing any more. Maybe they could play with ski masks. Or even those face guards like Rip Hamilton wears would be better. Let me know if they start broadcasting in LD.

Auto Repair Nightmare

I don't know if anyone else out there drives an old crappy car, but I do. A 1994 Toyota Camry Station Wagon to be exact. Now I bought this car knowing it was a crap-shoot. So far I have made out better than I thought I would. Recently I have had two bouts of repairs that had to be done. Now I consider myself at least semi-mechanically inclined, but my knowledge about cars is limited. I know the basics and can normally understand most things if they are explained about my car. Whenever I go into the repair shop, I feel like one of those bad dreams I used to have. You know the one, like you registered for a class in college and forgot to drop it, and now you have to go take the final. You walk in and start to sweat, feeling like everyone knows you don't belong there. That's how I feel in the garage. I will just go ahead and admit it, I don't know that much about auto repair. I always feel like the mechanic is onto me. Like he and his buddies got together and are trying to see how far they can push it. I feel like Clark Griswold when he asks the mechanic how much his repairs will be and the mechanic replies how much you got while swinging his wrench. So far, I haven't been able to find a site called www. punkdbymechanics.com , but I am sure there is one out there. Can't someone create a website that tells you if you are getting rooked on your repairs or not. I need this. If anyone who reads this(which I think is no one) has auto knowledge, then I need you to be my phone-a-friend lifeline. Every time my car makes a funny noise my palms start to sweat. I can't go on living like this.