Category: blog

I finally got Lisa’s returns in the mail this morning before work. I think that would be the latest I’ve ever mailed in taxes. I’m pretty sure the latest I ever filed a return was around quarter ’til midnight on the 15th, but I usually do the whole telefile thing, so there were no lines. Fortunately this morning I got in and out quickly as the mad rush hadn’t begun. We planned on finishing this up much sooner, but various speedbumps kept creeping in and blocking us – like work, sleep, and Mark.

Ok, I’m not really going to blame him, but two nights ago when he dropped by to print his taxes out, the entire event brokedown into a point-by-point comparison of guinea pigs and sugar gliders followed by trailers from the Upcoming Movies section of Rotten Tomatoes. Eventually the party broke up and I stayed up until 3am getting the necessary info for Lisa’s far more complicated taxes. Fortunately it all led to a bigger refund from the Feds for her and a greater understanding of mutual funds and stocks for myself. Unfortunately it also led to a fairly short nap for myself and sleepwalking through most of yesterday.

Today a great burden has thankfully been lifted and I can breathe a bit easier (possibly aided by starting the day with yoga). Happy Tax Day everyone, and many big refunds for all! 🙂

Wow, two big movies in one weekend, where to begin. I guess I’ll begin at the beginning, and soon I’ll drop the repetitiveness. These are going to be fairly short and to the point, so buckle up.
Continue reading “Action-packed weekend”

Take The Johnny Depp Quiz!

You Are Sam From "Benny & Joon." You are very talented at physical comedy. People are in awe of your abilities. However, you have many quirks which can either win people over or completely annoy them. But you’re a sweetheart through and through, and it’s hard not to love you.

Not a surprise here – maybe this result can restore Sandy’s faith in the completely nonsensical world of online quizzes.

I haven’t been watching as many movies lately, but I still manage to forget about commenting on the ones that I do get around to. That’s why I’m putting forth the effort to at least write a small blurb on Intolerable Cruelty since I just watched it last night and, as a huge fan of the Coen Brothers, I simply do not get why people bashed this film.

For starters, George Clooney puts on a great performance supported fantastically by Paul Adelstein. They come off completely as a wacky duo from the 30’s, which makes sense as this is a 30’s style screwball romantic comedy. Catherine Zeta-Jones looks absolutely gorgeous and pulls off the semi-femme fatale admirably. And the supporting cast? Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Hermmann, and Richard Jenkins – all of them perfectly filling their assorted roles. There was comedy (much of it dark), twists and turns, witty banter, crazy direction, and overall entertainment. It was a fun movie, and if you truly enjoy the Coen Brothers’ style I don’t see how you wouldn’t enjoy this.

Is this one of my favorites? No, not even if of the Coen Brothers. Then again that’s some stiff competition. On the other hand, I would definitely watch this again, and will most likely buy it sometime soon.

Ok, maybe not so much my childhood, but a decent amount of my past. Yesterday I went down to my parents’ house and had dinner along with some spirituality (don’t worry, I don’t feel that this is the proper forum for discussing my beliefs). It’s always good to see my family, share some good food and wine, and then enjoy some quality TV together. The evening was marked by the Memorial celebration, which still makes me feel good even though I am no longer practicing. Not only is the spiritual message one I enjoy, but seeing members of a Congregation that I was once a part is a rather renewing experience – even if it does include an ex and her husband (another subject I’m not going into except to say that there’s no anymosity present, merely… apathy?). My point here is that I was already thinking about my past before we even returned home.
Continue reading “Childhood in a box”

Can you believe people are still collecting Garpage Pail Kids (or GPK for short)? Chris Pirillo was talking about his collection and linked to an actual Garbage Pail Kids reference site that listed all of the names ever used. It’s kind of cool to see the many ways your name has been used (I remember “Tommy Gun” from the second series).

Looking at some of the pictures I remember how cool those cards were. If only I could find my old collection. Alas, I fear it may be lost forever.

Seriously, I don’t. But I think I like it better than Sandy and Malina’s “High” rating.

Threat rating: Medium. Your total lack of decent
family values makes you dangerous, but we can
count on some right wing nutter blowing you up
if you become too high profile.

What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Now I’m just trying to wind down at the end of a rough day at work. This quiz comes via Sandy.

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Months after everybody else got one, I finally made myself one of those cute little avatars. I dunno what I’m gonna do with it, but here it is. I wanted to make one for Lisa, too, but I didn’t like any of the hair for her. Oh yeah, don’t bother asking what’s wrong with my left eye.

I’m trying to get caught up with a lot of blogs by using the RSS feeds heavily for now. Unfortunately that means that I’ll probably be responding to a lot of 1-2 month old posts for a bit. First up comes a very interesting list posted by Jen (Mike’s girlfriend) about the hypocrisy of the “Defenders of Marriage”. Basically it’s a list of divorced politicians (specifically Republicans) who feel the sanctity of marriage is beyond homosexuals. It gave me a funny idea while in the John (not that you needed to know that). I’m sitting there thinking, as I’m oft to do, and it hit me: Gays might be better off giving up on the whole fight for the right to par… marry.

Basically the institution of marriage is down the crapper these days (I think that qualifies as a pun), so why become a part of it? Wouldn’t it be funny if they started doing some sort of Civil Union thing and in a few years stats showed that the separationg rate was so much lower for CU’s (as we will start to call them). Hey, I don’t know that for sure, but considering the fact that most likely you would have a greater ratio of committed couples willing to go through with the whole CU thing than with a unification ceremony that has become a joke, it wouldn’t surprise me. Anywho, it’s just some food for thought.