Stupidest thing I've heard all week

Unlike many people in this town, I am not a Lovie Smith hater. I know he doesn't breath fire like Da Coach, but as far as I am concerned he is due at least a little respect for putting together a rather impressive winning record. But all this secrecy over who's going to play is a load of crap. Especially since this week we are talking about o-linemen and linebackers. It's not like we're talking about whether Cutler is going to play this week. It's not like we're hiding whether or not Devin Hester (who by the way has quietly turned into a dependable receiver catching 8 of 9 last week for over a 100yrds... and that 9th attempt was under thrown by a mile) is out with an injury. It's freaking Josh Beekman we're talking about. Everyone knows what's going one. Why the hell won't you just talk about it and talk about the decision making so we know what's going on. And while we're on the topic of transparency, what the hell was going on with Tommy Harris last week? I'm still confused.

Guilty Pleasure

So, over the last couple months I've started using the library. For someone who reads as much as I do you would think I would have started using the library a while ago, but I generally prefer to own my books. I generally prefer paperbacks because they are easier to carry on the train, and because I carry them to and from work, I can be pretty hard on my paperbacks. Unfortunately, books cost money, and I can't always find the books I want to read at Goodwill.

And then there are graphic novels. My newest reading interest, which surprisingly are readily available at the public library. To be honest, I have been at least a little bit interested in comic books for a few years, as more and more excellent movie adaptations have been made. What finally got me going was Watchmen.

When Watchmen was released this spring, I read that it wasn't a bad movie, as long as you didn't ready the comic first. Of course after reading this, and then seeing the movie, I felt a real need to read the comic. I found it at the library, and since reading it I've been hooked on the graphic novels. I haven't read that many yet (just Watchmen, The Killing Joke, a New Avengers collection, and some Hellboy which I really like), but thank God our library seems have quite a few of them. If I tried to buy them all I would be broke and Meghan would be very, very mad.

Laphroiag 10yr - a step up

After months of slumming it trying the cheapest scotches a could find, it was time for something a little bit better. The Laphroiag bills itself as the worlds most richly flavored Scotch whiskey, and it's 10yr old single malt certainly doesn't disappoint. The finish is huge. Not only is it big, but the nose and attack are so understated that you don't expect it. I'm really going to enjoy this bottle.

Yellowstone

We got back from Yellowstone about 2 weeks. This post is more than a little late, but I still felt I needed to say something about our trip.

This was the longest camping trip we have taken so far, and we really lucked out. It only rained the first night, and we managed to stay dry, which was good because the temperature dipped into the 30s most of the nights we were out. We were much better prepared for the cold then we were on our spring break trip, so we managed to stay nice and warm as well. The days were mostly sunny with temperatures getting up into the 70s, so we really couldn't have asked for much nicer weather.

We started with 2 nights in the Grand Tetons, then spent 4 nights in Yellowstone, and with everything there is to do out there we were on the go from dawn till dusk every day we were out. On our only day in the Tetons we took our only real hike of the trip. While still a well traveled trail, it was still significantly more rugged than the boardwalks that we encountered during the next 4 days in Yellowstone.

That's not to say there aren't any good trails in Yellowstone, but due to time, and this being Meghan's first trip to the park, we limited ourselves to the major walking trails, mostly around the geothermal features of the park. We saw lots of geysers and hot springs, and Ivy really enjoyed the artists' paint pots. Grand Geyser was especially impressive. The major challenge of visiting Yellowstone is the size of the park. We clocked at least a couple of hours in the car per day, and we didn't even leave the park. I think next time we will probably limit our viewing of the geysers and hot springs to a few select features, and try and plan more time for hiking and watching wild life.

Despite all of the time in the car, I did manage to bake a cake for Meghan's birthday.



Of course now that we're back I can't wait for our next camping trip.

Night Stands - Part 2

They're done, and really I am very happy with how they turned out.

Night Stands - Part 1

I'm working on a pair of night stands this week. So far it's going extremely well. I have all the pieces cut and I am in the process of sanding and assembling the legs and shelves. While the overall design is extremely simple, these will be the first pieces I have built to feature any kind of detail trim. I hope they end up looking as good in real life as they do in my head.

The Happening - Mark Wahlberg talks to trees

So we watched M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happing" last night. Despite the 19% on Rotton Tomatoes, it really isn't a bad movie. It reminds me of Hitchcock's "The Birds". In general I would say that I am a fan of Shyamalan's work, and I think part of the problem he has had with the reception of his movies since the "Sixth Sense" is that both movie goers and critics have devealoped a false sense of what to expect from his movies. Really, the only problem I have is the casting of Marky Mark, and that's only because of "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals".