We're down to the home stretch for the weekend. It should be a good one too. We're making a run down to Mobile. Courtney and Edwin aren't our only friends down there now though. Hopefully, we'll be able to see Josh and Lyndsey also.
I know I've been talking a lot about Twilight lately, but it's because I can't stop. I haven't been this addicted to a book since I read the Harry Potter series. I have to say, I still think Harry Potter was better, but Twilight is pretty close. I'm not even really sure what has me so drawn in either. They're very obviously geared towards teenagers and even more so toward teenage girls. At the same time though, there's enough there to keep guys interested. I found an interesting site on the internet the other day: Twilight Guy. The guy is a 20 year old college student who is looking to be an author. He got interested in the hype around the Twilight series and now he's blogging his way through each book. Maybe he can do a better job explaining the draw than I can.
I'm running a little late this morning, so that's going to have to be it. Have a good Thursday.
--Paul
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Movie Time
Two movies we watched last week that are worth mentioning: Bolt and Fireproof.
Bolt was an animated movie about a dog who thinks he has super powers. He's actually a T.V. dog and when he gets separated from the set he fights his way back. It was really good. It was actually really funny and of course, anytime you have a movie about superheroes or people (or in this case dogs) who have powers (or at least think they do), then the comic geek in me automatically sits up and pays attention.
The other movie we watched last week was Fireproof. It's the third movie made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia. It was easily just as good as Facing the Giants, if not better. The acting is getting better and so are the production values, so it feels more like a Hollywood movie than it does a student film project. Of course, as the story goes along, it so engrosses you that you pretty much quit paying attention to the acting. Easily one of the best movies that a couple can watch.
As far as theaters go: We're getting close to the start of the summer movie season. Wolverine comes out this weekend. I'd love to see it, but DeAnne's never going to want to see it and there are so many other movies coming out this summer that I'm going to want to drag her to that I think I can hold out for DVD on this one.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Bolt was an animated movie about a dog who thinks he has super powers. He's actually a T.V. dog and when he gets separated from the set he fights his way back. It was really good. It was actually really funny and of course, anytime you have a movie about superheroes or people (or in this case dogs) who have powers (or at least think they do), then the comic geek in me automatically sits up and pays attention.
The other movie we watched last week was Fireproof. It's the third movie made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia. It was easily just as good as Facing the Giants, if not better. The acting is getting better and so are the production values, so it feels more like a Hollywood movie than it does a student film project. Of course, as the story goes along, it so engrosses you that you pretty much quit paying attention to the acting. Easily one of the best movies that a couple can watch.
As far as theaters go: We're getting close to the start of the summer movie season. Wolverine comes out this weekend. I'd love to see it, but DeAnne's never going to want to see it and there are so many other movies coming out this summer that I'm going to want to drag her to that I think I can hold out for DVD on this one.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Explanation
I titled yesterday's post "A Little Tired" and then proceeded to tell you all about how laid back and easy the weekend was. After looking back over the post, I realized this didn't make much sense, but I didn't have time yesterday to explain it.
The weekend was easy going and laid back, but I was tired because I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I never sleep well when DeAnne's gone. Friday night was no exception, so it made for a restless night Friday. I also stayed up a little later than I should have reading, so that didn't help any either. Saturday night, DeAnne was home, but we stayed up a little later talking about her trip. Then, around 4:00 (AM), worked called. I got back in bed around 4:30 and then, since the problem was something I had to call another department to get fixed, I got called again around 6:00, being told that the problem was fixed. So Saturday night was also pretty restless. Sunday night, I didn't get woke up any and slept like a rock, but church ran late and we were late eating, so we were also late getting in bed again.
So that is why I was "A Little Tired" yesterday even though I never took the time to explain what I meant by the title.
So how's a post that does nothing but explain the previous post? It'll have to do I'm afraid. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
The weekend was easy going and laid back, but I was tired because I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I never sleep well when DeAnne's gone. Friday night was no exception, so it made for a restless night Friday. I also stayed up a little later than I should have reading, so that didn't help any either. Saturday night, DeAnne was home, but we stayed up a little later talking about her trip. Then, around 4:00 (AM), worked called. I got back in bed around 4:30 and then, since the problem was something I had to call another department to get fixed, I got called again around 6:00, being told that the problem was fixed. So Saturday night was also pretty restless. Sunday night, I didn't get woke up any and slept like a rock, but church ran late and we were late eating, so we were also late getting in bed again.
So that is why I was "A Little Tired" yesterday even though I never took the time to explain what I meant by the title.
So how's a post that does nothing but explain the previous post? It'll have to do I'm afraid. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
Monday, April 27, 2009
A Little Tired
All in all, I would say that we just had a great weekend.
DeAnne left Friday afternoon for Pensacola. She went with a group of ladies from the church to the Extraordinary Women conference. They got back Saturday evening and from what she's told me, it was a great trip.
Back on the homestead, I cut the grass Friday afternoon after I got home from work. On Saturday, I was glad I had, because it was pretty hot. Other than that, I didn't do much though. I mostly read. New Moon, the second Twilight book, was better than the first. I managed to hold out until about two-thirds of the way through the second book. I'm hooked pretty hard now. Not as bad as all these girls that are obsessed with it, but it's pretty bad. I was just really impressed with the second book. It's very emotional, and not in the lovey-dovey, googly eyes kind of emotion that the first book was stuck on. It's pretty heart-wrenching. I'm curious to see how the movie turns out. There's not a whole lot of "action" in the book. The majority of it comes at the very end. It'll be interesting to see what kind of pace and the movie takes and how close they stick to the book.
I did play a little Prince of Persia also. I didn't finish it like I need to, but I did make some progress. I'm going to have to put the books down and work on it some this week.
Also, Sunday was pretty awesome. We had two really great services at church. It just doesn't get any better.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
DeAnne left Friday afternoon for Pensacola. She went with a group of ladies from the church to the Extraordinary Women conference. They got back Saturday evening and from what she's told me, it was a great trip.
Back on the homestead, I cut the grass Friday afternoon after I got home from work. On Saturday, I was glad I had, because it was pretty hot. Other than that, I didn't do much though. I mostly read. New Moon, the second Twilight book, was better than the first. I managed to hold out until about two-thirds of the way through the second book. I'm hooked pretty hard now. Not as bad as all these girls that are obsessed with it, but it's pretty bad. I was just really impressed with the second book. It's very emotional, and not in the lovey-dovey, googly eyes kind of emotion that the first book was stuck on. It's pretty heart-wrenching. I'm curious to see how the movie turns out. There's not a whole lot of "action" in the book. The majority of it comes at the very end. It'll be interesting to see what kind of pace and the movie takes and how close they stick to the book.
I did play a little Prince of Persia also. I didn't finish it like I need to, but I did make some progress. I'm going to have to put the books down and work on it some this week.
Also, Sunday was pretty awesome. We had two really great services at church. It just doesn't get any better.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
Friday, April 24, 2009
All By Myself
We've made it to Friday once again.
DeAnne's leaving this afternoon for a women's conference in Pensacola. She'll be back tomorrow night, but it means that I'll be on my own for tonight and tomorrow. Right now, the only plan I have is to cut the grass this afternoon. I always dread yard work, so I'm hoping I can just go ahead and get it out of the way and be done with it. Also, it'll free up Saturday for doing nothing.
I started on New Moon (Twilight book 2) last night, so I've got that to read if nothing else. I'm also hoping to finish up playing Prince of Persia. I've had it for a while now and we're going to be going back to Mobile next weekend, so that's going to be the perfect chance to take it back to Don. I think I'm about two-thirds of the way through, so it shouldn't take me long to finish it up.
The only other thing going on is high attendance day at church on Sunday. Our goal is 210 in Sunday School. Last week, the crowd was pretty slim, but it was the end of spring break also, so I'm thinking we shouldn't have any problem with 210.
Have a good Friday and a good weekend.
--Paul
DeAnne's leaving this afternoon for a women's conference in Pensacola. She'll be back tomorrow night, but it means that I'll be on my own for tonight and tomorrow. Right now, the only plan I have is to cut the grass this afternoon. I always dread yard work, so I'm hoping I can just go ahead and get it out of the way and be done with it. Also, it'll free up Saturday for doing nothing.
I started on New Moon (Twilight book 2) last night, so I've got that to read if nothing else. I'm also hoping to finish up playing Prince of Persia. I've had it for a while now and we're going to be going back to Mobile next weekend, so that's going to be the perfect chance to take it back to Don. I think I'm about two-thirds of the way through, so it shouldn't take me long to finish it up.
The only other thing going on is high attendance day at church on Sunday. Our goal is 210 in Sunday School. Last week, the crowd was pretty slim, but it was the end of spring break also, so I'm thinking we shouldn't have any problem with 210.
Have a good Friday and a good weekend.
--Paul
Thursday, April 23, 2009
One Of Those Days
It's one of those days where I don't really have much to talk about. Expect some pretty random stuff coming up.
While I love that the days are getting longer, One downside is that they get longer on both sides. It's getting bright enough at 5:45 to wake me up. I've always been an early riser and once I'm up there's no real getting back to sleep, but that doesn't mean I don't miss those last 15 minutes in the morning. I'll adjust eventually, but for now, it's a pain.
A day after talking about it, I finished Twilight last night. DeAnne kept telling me how the book ended differently than the movie did, but I don't see the difference. It was a good book and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them, but I'm no where near the level of loving it that DeAnne's at.
Ah...music. Something I haven't talked about in a while. Funny though, it also leads back to Twilight. The soundtrack for the movie is one of the better soundtracks I've ever heard. I would suggest picking it up. There's a couple of bands I'm late to the party on, but I'm enjoying the newest albums from O.A.R. and Kings of Leon. Also, I finally got the new Metallica album and I'm glad to see them swinging back more towards a classic Metallica sound. St. Anger was horrible. Death Magnetic is much better.
Three fairly random paragraphs. Enough to get you through the day and make it to Friday? Maybe so. Have a good Thursday.
--Paul
While I love that the days are getting longer, One downside is that they get longer on both sides. It's getting bright enough at 5:45 to wake me up. I've always been an early riser and once I'm up there's no real getting back to sleep, but that doesn't mean I don't miss those last 15 minutes in the morning. I'll adjust eventually, but for now, it's a pain.
A day after talking about it, I finished Twilight last night. DeAnne kept telling me how the book ended differently than the movie did, but I don't see the difference. It was a good book and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them, but I'm no where near the level of loving it that DeAnne's at.
Ah...music. Something I haven't talked about in a while. Funny though, it also leads back to Twilight. The soundtrack for the movie is one of the better soundtracks I've ever heard. I would suggest picking it up. There's a couple of bands I'm late to the party on, but I'm enjoying the newest albums from O.A.R. and Kings of Leon. Also, I finally got the new Metallica album and I'm glad to see them swinging back more towards a classic Metallica sound. St. Anger was horrible. Death Magnetic is much better.
Three fairly random paragraphs. Enough to get you through the day and make it to Friday? Maybe so. Have a good Thursday.
--Paul
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Twilight
So after all the fuss DeAnne made about Twilight I figured I might as well check it out and see if it was all she said it was. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first book and it's not bad. I can definitely see why the female side of the species is crazy about it. It's how every girl wants to fall in love when they're young. Well, maybe not with a vampire, but as far as the emotional connection goes, I could see it being every teenage girl's dream. Despite all that though, it's not over-the-top mushy either. It's had it's moments, but for the most part, it's pretty standard fantasy novel genre fair.
I am enjoying it though. The characters are pretty funny and both Edward and Bella use a healthy amount of sarcasm that makes the situation they're in with each other pretty comical at times. Meyer also did a good job of taking the vampire myth and changing it just enough to where it's familiar, but opens up the story so that she's free to use them in new ways. Doing away with the "they only come out at night" part actually makes the whole idea a good bit more scary simply because it means that humans are never safe.
As to the movie, I can't see what all the criticism is about. DeAnne said that she doesn't enjoy the movie now that she's read the book but from what I've seen so far, the movie was a lot truer to the book than some other book to movie translations have been. The few things they added, especially the way they introduced James, Veronica and Lorent worked better in the movie than in the book.
At any rate, the book is good and I'll be reading the rest simply because the collector in me want allow me not to know the full story. Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
I am enjoying it though. The characters are pretty funny and both Edward and Bella use a healthy amount of sarcasm that makes the situation they're in with each other pretty comical at times. Meyer also did a good job of taking the vampire myth and changing it just enough to where it's familiar, but opens up the story so that she's free to use them in new ways. Doing away with the "they only come out at night" part actually makes the whole idea a good bit more scary simply because it means that humans are never safe.
As to the movie, I can't see what all the criticism is about. DeAnne said that she doesn't enjoy the movie now that she's read the book but from what I've seen so far, the movie was a lot truer to the book than some other book to movie translations have been. The few things they added, especially the way they introduced James, Veronica and Lorent worked better in the movie than in the book.
At any rate, the book is good and I'll be reading the rest simply because the collector in me want allow me not to know the full story. Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Other Things
We also saw Fireproof over the weekend. I didn't mention it yesterday because the post had already gotten pretty long and I wanted to make sure it got a special mention. It was really a great movie. If you haven't seen it, you definitely need to and you need to make sure you watch it with your spouse. I talked before about Facing the Giants when we watched it. I actually may have like the Facing the Giants story better, but the acting and production qualities in Fireproof were vastly improved. There were still times when the acting was a little off, but having Kirk Cameron for the lead helped a lot. At any rate, the movie is a must have.
In somewhat related news, I'm happy to see that not everyone in California is a completely flaming liberal. I never thought that a Miss California would say anything in support of the sanctity of marriage, but after fumbling a little at the start, she pretty much shut Perez Hilton down. I think it's ridiculous that he even asked the question that he asked. He knew that it was a divisive topic and that there was a chance he would get an answer he wouldn't like. Good for her that she stuck to her guns.
Also, Obama just amazes me. After bowing to the Saudi's the other day, and sounding like he's ready to negotiate with Cuba, he's now shaking hands with dictators that call him "ignorant" and call the U.S. the most "murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world." If this keep we'll eventually be holding world dictator conferences in L.A. and supporting openly communist gatherings.
So enough of the polotical updates and such. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
In somewhat related news, I'm happy to see that not everyone in California is a completely flaming liberal. I never thought that a Miss California would say anything in support of the sanctity of marriage, but after fumbling a little at the start, she pretty much shut Perez Hilton down. I think it's ridiculous that he even asked the question that he asked. He knew that it was a divisive topic and that there was a chance he would get an answer he wouldn't like. Good for her that she stuck to her guns.
Also, Obama just amazes me. After bowing to the Saudi's the other day, and sounding like he's ready to negotiate with Cuba, he's now shaking hands with dictators that call him "ignorant" and call the U.S. the most "murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world." If this keep we'll eventually be holding world dictator conferences in L.A. and supporting openly communist gatherings.
So enough of the polotical updates and such. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
Monday, April 20, 2009
That Was A Nice, Relaxing Weekend
Well, after such a nice weekend, let's hope that the week starting today is better than last week.
Friday we had dinner with Bryan and Adrienne. We went to CJ's just off the square. It's the newest restaurant in town but it's been open for several months now. Despite it being open for a while, DeAnne and I had never found the time or had the chance to eat there, so I was glad for the opportunity. It was pretty good. I probably should have ordered something different than what I got, but it was still good. The place definitely has one of the nicer atmospheres of all the places to eat in town. It would be a good date destination.
After dinner we headed back to Bryan and Adrienne's and the girls watched Twilight for the 8 millionth time and Bryan and I watched a could of hours of Season 1 of 24. It was a good way to end what had been a crazy and stressful day.
I had Saturday to myself for the most part. DeAnne went to Dothan with her Mom, so I just hung around the house playing video games and watching TV. Saturday night, Michael and ShaePage invited us over for dinner. It was the first chance we had to see their new baby, Annistyn. She was a little cutie if there ever was one. We also watched Marley and Me after dinner. It was a great movie, but if you have pets or love animals at all, get ready for a tear-jerker.
Finally, Sunday was another day of doing nothing outside of going to church. We had dinner with Bryan and Adrienne and Josh and Lyndsay Elliott after evening services. It was nice to get one more chance to go out with Josh and Lyndsay. Josh's job is moving them to Mobile at the end of the week. While we're going to miss them, we'll still get to see them, I'm sure. You all know how much we go to Mobile. Now we just have one more reason to make the trip.
So for a do-nothing weekend, it turned into a pretty lengthy post. Have a good Monday.
--Paul
Friday we had dinner with Bryan and Adrienne. We went to CJ's just off the square. It's the newest restaurant in town but it's been open for several months now. Despite it being open for a while, DeAnne and I had never found the time or had the chance to eat there, so I was glad for the opportunity. It was pretty good. I probably should have ordered something different than what I got, but it was still good. The place definitely has one of the nicer atmospheres of all the places to eat in town. It would be a good date destination.
After dinner we headed back to Bryan and Adrienne's and the girls watched Twilight for the 8 millionth time and Bryan and I watched a could of hours of Season 1 of 24. It was a good way to end what had been a crazy and stressful day.
I had Saturday to myself for the most part. DeAnne went to Dothan with her Mom, so I just hung around the house playing video games and watching TV. Saturday night, Michael and ShaePage invited us over for dinner. It was the first chance we had to see their new baby, Annistyn. She was a little cutie if there ever was one. We also watched Marley and Me after dinner. It was a great movie, but if you have pets or love animals at all, get ready for a tear-jerker.
Finally, Sunday was another day of doing nothing outside of going to church. We had dinner with Bryan and Adrienne and Josh and Lyndsay Elliott after evening services. It was nice to get one more chance to go out with Josh and Lyndsay. Josh's job is moving them to Mobile at the end of the week. While we're going to miss them, we'll still get to see them, I'm sure. You all know how much we go to Mobile. Now we just have one more reason to make the trip.
So for a do-nothing weekend, it turned into a pretty lengthy post. Have a good Monday.
--Paul
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday, Sweet Friday
The work week is finally at an end. Thank goodness. It's been a tough one. Hopefully, it'll go out on a high note.
I talked a little about the Tax Day Tea Party movement on my twitter/facebook updates, but I wanted to talk a little more about it. I wasn't able to go to a rally on Wednesday, but I would have loved to. Evidently they had a pretty good turnout in Montgomery. I haven't heard reports from the rest of the state, but according to the website there were parties in 16 different Alabama cities. Hopefully this movement will grow and stay strong all the way into the mid-term elections in 2010. Maybe then we can vote for some real "change" by cleaning out a third of the Senate and how every many House members come up for election that year.
Incidently, Richard Shelby (who I tend to like) now has a facebook page. Sheby's probably the most connected polotician in the state. He also has a twitter feed, although he doesn't update much and I'm pretty sure it's run by a member of his staff. Governor Bob Riley also has a twitter page that he updates sporadiclly, but it does seem like it could be him actually doing the updates.
Anyway. I'm going to go ahead and get going. Have a good Friday and a great weekend.
--Paul
I talked a little about the Tax Day Tea Party movement on my twitter/facebook updates, but I wanted to talk a little more about it. I wasn't able to go to a rally on Wednesday, but I would have loved to. Evidently they had a pretty good turnout in Montgomery. I haven't heard reports from the rest of the state, but according to the website there were parties in 16 different Alabama cities. Hopefully this movement will grow and stay strong all the way into the mid-term elections in 2010. Maybe then we can vote for some real "change" by cleaning out a third of the Senate and how every many House members come up for election that year.
Incidently, Richard Shelby (who I tend to like) now has a facebook page. Sheby's probably the most connected polotician in the state. He also has a twitter feed, although he doesn't update much and I'm pretty sure it's run by a member of his staff. Governor Bob Riley also has a twitter page that he updates sporadiclly, but it does seem like it could be him actually doing the updates.
Anyway. I'm going to go ahead and get going. Have a good Friday and a great weekend.
--Paul
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Almost There
It's hard to believe that we're almost back around to the weekend again. Yesterday was a bit of a long day for me, but otherwise, the week has been moving pretty fast.
As I'm sure you can tell from yesterday's two extra posts, I'm pretty excited about both the new Wolverine game and the new Batman game. If you haven't watched the videos below, go ahead and watch them. They're pretty awesome. The Wolverine/Gambit battle looks sweet, riding around on the Blob crashing stuff looks sweet and jumping out of helicopters and flying on top of sentinels looks sweet. Overall, I'd say Wolverine looks to be pretty sweet.
The Batman game though. After the first video I posted a week or two ago, I was sold. Now with the new video, I'm completely in love. The graphics look amazing and just everything I've seen and read about the game makes me excited to play it. Also, I've never bought a special edition of a game before in my life, but this may be the game to start with. The special edition comes with a real batarang. Check it out.
Anyway, so I've probably geeked out on you enough to last a while. Sorry about that, but I'm a little on the excited side about these two. Have a good Thursday and I promise, no game talk tomorrow.
--Paul
As I'm sure you can tell from yesterday's two extra posts, I'm pretty excited about both the new Wolverine game and the new Batman game. If you haven't watched the videos below, go ahead and watch them. They're pretty awesome. The Wolverine/Gambit battle looks sweet, riding around on the Blob crashing stuff looks sweet and jumping out of helicopters and flying on top of sentinels looks sweet. Overall, I'd say Wolverine looks to be pretty sweet.
The Batman game though. After the first video I posted a week or two ago, I was sold. Now with the new video, I'm completely in love. The graphics look amazing and just everything I've seen and read about the game makes me excited to play it. Also, I've never bought a special edition of a game before in my life, but this may be the game to start with. The special edition comes with a real batarang. Check it out.
Anyway, so I've probably geeked out on you enough to last a while. Sorry about that, but I'm a little on the excited side about these two. Have a good Thursday and I promise, no game talk tomorrow.
--Paul
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
As If The Wolverine Clip Wasn't Enough...
...there's a new Batman: AA clip out that features Bane, the guy who broke Batman's back. If this game lives up to half my expectations, I'll be elated.
Wolverine
This game looks to be about as awesome as the new Batman game. I was already excited about this movie and now I think I'm going to have to play the game.
Movie Night
DeAnne finished the Twilight series of books yesterday and decided that she wanted to watch the movie again last night. So after we watched that, she asked for popcorn and we decided to watch one of the Netflix movies we've had for way too long.
We watched Changling. It's about a mother who's son goes missing and after a few months the police bring her a boy who claims to be her son but she doesn't believe him and neither does any of the police. It was a pretty sad movie, but it was also really great. It was probably one of the best movies I've ever seen Anglina Jolie in. And I didn't know it until the credits rolled but it was directed by Clint Eastwood. It's not one for the kids, but I would highly recommend renting it when you have a chance.
The internet didn't want to cooperate this morning and after messing with the computer for a few minutes, I finally rebooted the router and the modem and that seemed to fix the problems. At any rate, it's but me a little behind, so that's going to have to be it for today's post.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
We watched Changling. It's about a mother who's son goes missing and after a few months the police bring her a boy who claims to be her son but she doesn't believe him and neither does any of the police. It was a pretty sad movie, but it was also really great. It was probably one of the best movies I've ever seen Anglina Jolie in. And I didn't know it until the credits rolled but it was directed by Clint Eastwood. It's not one for the kids, but I would highly recommend renting it when you have a chance.
The internet didn't want to cooperate this morning and after messing with the computer for a few minutes, I finally rebooted the router and the modem and that seemed to fix the problems. At any rate, it's but me a little behind, so that's going to have to be it for today's post.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
So, Easter
No storms this morning, so I guess I can get back to my regular posts.
We had a good Easter weekend. Friday night was laid back. We ate dinner and then went over to Bryan and Adrienne's and watched Twilight. DeAnne saw it in theaters with Courtney, but she's recently become obsessed with the books and wanted to see it again. I thought it was alright, but after having read the book, DeAnne said it left a good bit of stuff out. That always happens with book movies though. As long as the Lord of the Rings movies were, they still left stuff out.
Saturday we had Easter with DeAnne's family in Kinston. It was nice. We ate ourselves silly and just hung out with the family. Nothing major, but it's always nice just to hang out and chit chat.
Sunday we drove up to Tallassee and had Easter with my Mom's family. The Nerf guns were out and we ended up having a full blown Nerf war. Those little darts can hurt at close range. We also took a good number of pictures. Once my Aunt Kathy gets them to us, I'm sure DeAnne will post them all.
So all in all, we had a really good weekend. It was fairly busy, but that's alright. We don't have plans for the rest of the month, so one busy weekend is fine. I hope you all had a good Easter also.
Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
We had a good Easter weekend. Friday night was laid back. We ate dinner and then went over to Bryan and Adrienne's and watched Twilight. DeAnne saw it in theaters with Courtney, but she's recently become obsessed with the books and wanted to see it again. I thought it was alright, but after having read the book, DeAnne said it left a good bit of stuff out. That always happens with book movies though. As long as the Lord of the Rings movies were, they still left stuff out.
Saturday we had Easter with DeAnne's family in Kinston. It was nice. We ate ourselves silly and just hung out with the family. Nothing major, but it's always nice just to hang out and chit chat.
Sunday we drove up to Tallassee and had Easter with my Mom's family. The Nerf guns were out and we ended up having a full blown Nerf war. Those little darts can hurt at close range. We also took a good number of pictures. Once my Aunt Kathy gets them to us, I'm sure DeAnne will post them all.
So all in all, we had a really good weekend. It was fairly busy, but that's alright. We don't have plans for the rest of the month, so one busy weekend is fine. I hope you all had a good Easter also.
Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
Monday, April 13, 2009
A Wild Start
Well, the weather has afforded us a wild start to our Monday morning. It just started hailing and in a gut reaction move, I dragged DeAnne out of bed and put her and all the animals in the hall bath while I checked the radar for tornado warnings. It's calmed down a bit now, so I'm going to go ahead and get ready and head in to work.
We had a good weekend, but I guess those stories will have to wait for tomorrow.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
We had a good weekend, but I guess those stories will have to wait for tomorrow.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday
Well, we've made it to Friday once again and this time it's a little more special...It's Good Friday. Something interesting I learned yesterday: The way the Jewish and Christian calendars fall, Easter usually isn't the same week as Passover. This year, the two line up, so Good Friday is actually on the day following Passover and Easter is actually the third day just as it would have been when Jesus was crucified and then rose. There's a fairly lengthy explanation in the wikipedia entry for Easter. I just thought that that was pretty awesome and had to share it.
Easter is also going to dominate our weekend. We've got dinner and a family egg hunt tomorrow at DeAnne's Mom's and then, as I mentioned yesterday, on Sunday, we're traveling up to Tallassee to see my Mom's side of the family. Tonight though, we've got nothing and I fully intend to enjoy it.
Switching gears...Last night, DeAnne was reading and I had watched all my shows, so I thought I'd give Gears multiplayer another shot. The matchmaking was a lot better. Edwin was busy, so I was on my own, but I got a match fairly quickly and actually got to play the game. I only had time for the one match before bed, but it was nice to know that it does work sometimes.
Have a good Friday and have a good weekend.
--Paul
Easter is also going to dominate our weekend. We've got dinner and a family egg hunt tomorrow at DeAnne's Mom's and then, as I mentioned yesterday, on Sunday, we're traveling up to Tallassee to see my Mom's side of the family. Tonight though, we've got nothing and I fully intend to enjoy it.
Switching gears...Last night, DeAnne was reading and I had watched all my shows, so I thought I'd give Gears multiplayer another shot. The matchmaking was a lot better. Edwin was busy, so I was on my own, but I got a match fairly quickly and actually got to play the game. I only had time for the one match before bed, but it was nice to know that it does work sometimes.
Have a good Friday and have a good weekend.
--Paul
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Maybe Today I Can Relax
Yesterday was a busy, but productive day. Work was busy and I got a good bit done only to come home and finish up the yard. I was able to get the yard done in time to get a shower, eat a bite and head off to church. I'm glad to have the yard done. There's a small chance of rain Friday and Saturday and then Sunday we're going to Tallassee for Easter, so I had to get it done before the weekend. Maybe tonight nothing will be going on and I can rest some when I get home from work. Who knows, maybe I can try Gears again and maybe the matchmaking will actually work this time. That would be nice.
That's really all I've got today. It's short, but sometimes short is sweet, right? Have a good Thursday.
--Paul
That's really all I've got today. It's short, but sometimes short is sweet, right? Have a good Thursday.
--Paul
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
One Crazy Afternoon
I needed to get a new belt for the lawn mower so last Saturday I bought what I thought was the right belt from Wal-Mart. When I got home yesterday afternoon, I went to put it on and it was in fact, not the right belt. This kicked off a series of events that made for a long crazy afternoon.
I started by heading for Wal-Mart to take the belt back. They took it back, no problem. But, of course they were now out of the belt that I needed. DeAnne had also asked me to pick up some dinner while I was there. We really like the General Tso's chicken that they have. They were also out of that though. So I called DeAnne and formulated a new plan. I would get food from McDonlad's and would check the new Tractor Supply for the belt that I needed. Tractor Supply had the belt and after waiting forever for fries, I had food and headed back to the house. Ate, changed the belt and by this time it was almost 6:00. I wanted to test the belt out, so after running around the driveway with it I decided to just go ahead and cut as much of the yard as I could. It probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had. I got the front cut and by the time I finished around 7:00, I still had plenty of light, but it was so cold that I pretty much couldn't feel my hands.
And that was my crazy afternoon yesterday. But, I did manage to get the front yard cut. I'm hoping that I can get the rest done today before church.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
I started by heading for Wal-Mart to take the belt back. They took it back, no problem. But, of course they were now out of the belt that I needed. DeAnne had also asked me to pick up some dinner while I was there. We really like the General Tso's chicken that they have. They were also out of that though. So I called DeAnne and formulated a new plan. I would get food from McDonlad's and would check the new Tractor Supply for the belt that I needed. Tractor Supply had the belt and after waiting forever for fries, I had food and headed back to the house. Ate, changed the belt and by this time it was almost 6:00. I wanted to test the belt out, so after running around the driveway with it I decided to just go ahead and cut as much of the yard as I could. It probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had. I got the front cut and by the time I finished around 7:00, I still had plenty of light, but it was so cold that I pretty much couldn't feel my hands.
And that was my crazy afternoon yesterday. But, I did manage to get the front yard cut. I'm hoping that I can get the rest done today before church.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
All I Want To Do Is Play
Both Sunday and last night, I can't tell you how much time I wasted trying to play an online match in Gears of War 2. Edwin and I try to get together all along and play online. The last two days though, the match-making has been terrible. I don't know what's wrong with the system, but it's like we can never find enough people to play against. I'm incredibly frustrated with the whole ordeal. What makes it worse is the fact that we were able to get 3 or 4 matches in quick succession with no problems on Saturday. I don't know what changed between Saturday and Sunday, but it went downhill fast.
DeAnne's begun reading the Twilight series. She finished the first book last night. From what she's told me, I don't think that I have any interest in reading them myself. I told her I would be up for watching the movie though. She went and saw it in theaters with Courtney but said she would like to see it again now that she's read the book. DeAnne's actually been on a tear lately with the reading. She's read I don't know how many books in the past month or two. I'm actually really proud of her. I've always been the one to read and she's never been that interested in it. I'm hoping she'll keep it up.
That's about it for today. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
DeAnne's begun reading the Twilight series. She finished the first book last night. From what she's told me, I don't think that I have any interest in reading them myself. I told her I would be up for watching the movie though. She went and saw it in theaters with Courtney but said she would like to see it again now that she's read the book. DeAnne's actually been on a tear lately with the reading. She's read I don't know how many books in the past month or two. I'm actually really proud of her. I've always been the one to read and she's never been that interested in it. I'm hoping she'll keep it up.
That's about it for today. Have a good Tuesday.
--Paul
Monday, April 06, 2009
A Slow Weekend, But That's Okay
We didn't really do much this past weekend, but I'm okay with that. Actually, we were pretty much lazy bums, but it's the first time in a while that I can remember being able to just do nothing. March was so crazy, it's kind of nice to start April off slow.
The biggest bit of news is that we got our new couch on Friday. Unfortunately, it did not match our old couch like we thought it would. So...the plan now is to sell our old couch and we've ordered the love seat to match our new couch. Hopefully, in the end, we'll reach our goal of more seating in the living room and DeAnne will still be happy with the furniture we have. She really loves the old couch and I hate to have to start completely over with the furniture in the living room, but there just doesn't seem to be any other way to get this fixed.
Other than the couch saga, we just sat around and watched tv, DeAnne read some, I played some video games and we bummed around town for a little while on Saturday night. Pretty boring stuff, but I still enjoyed it.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
The biggest bit of news is that we got our new couch on Friday. Unfortunately, it did not match our old couch like we thought it would. So...the plan now is to sell our old couch and we've ordered the love seat to match our new couch. Hopefully, in the end, we'll reach our goal of more seating in the living room and DeAnne will still be happy with the furniture we have. She really loves the old couch and I hate to have to start completely over with the furniture in the living room, but there just doesn't seem to be any other way to get this fixed.
Other than the couch saga, we just sat around and watched tv, DeAnne read some, I played some video games and we bummed around town for a little while on Saturday night. Pretty boring stuff, but I still enjoyed it.
Have a good Monday.
--Paul
Friday, April 03, 2009
What Do You Know
We made it to Friday already. The week has gone by pretty quickly for me. Hopefully your week has been the same.
Not a lot to talk about today. I'm enjoying facebook. I've seen where it can get noisy like myspace, but for the most part, it seems people tend to stay away from that kind of stuff. Either way, I think I'm going to do away with my myspace page. I haven't logged in to it since I started facebook.
I've mentioned slacker radio in the past and I wanted to mention that I'm still using it on occasion. I've also started using another internet radio site that is slightly more popular called pandora. You tell pandora an artist or song that you like and they build a radio station for you based off of similar bands or songs to the first one you told it you liked. You can then go into the station settings and add other bands or songs as "seeds". There's also a social side to pandora in that you can share the radio stations that you create with others. It also integrates with facebook (are you surprised). For instance, you can listen to the first station I created here. So pandora's pretty neat. It also has a client for blackberries and for the iPhone.
That's all I've got for today. Have a good Friday and a good weekend.
--Paul
Not a lot to talk about today. I'm enjoying facebook. I've seen where it can get noisy like myspace, but for the most part, it seems people tend to stay away from that kind of stuff. Either way, I think I'm going to do away with my myspace page. I haven't logged in to it since I started facebook.
I've mentioned slacker radio in the past and I wanted to mention that I'm still using it on occasion. I've also started using another internet radio site that is slightly more popular called pandora. You tell pandora an artist or song that you like and they build a radio station for you based off of similar bands or songs to the first one you told it you liked. You can then go into the station settings and add other bands or songs as "seeds". There's also a social side to pandora in that you can share the radio stations that you create with others. It also integrates with facebook (are you surprised). For instance, you can listen to the first station I created here. So pandora's pretty neat. It also has a client for blackberries and for the iPhone.
That's all I've got for today. Have a good Friday and a good weekend.
--Paul
Thursday, April 02, 2009
April Fool's
Yesterday, as I'm sure you are all aware, was April 1st, also known as "April Fool's Day". I'm not much of a prankster, so I didn't try to pull one over on anyone, but I did enjoy being on the other end of a few jokes. I didn't fall for anything in real life, but there were several internet pranks that were pretty good.
The biggest one that I thought might actually be real (I was skeptical, but thought there was a chance), was Google's announcement of "Autopilot" for Gmail. It was a new feature that used an AI system to automatically reply to emails that you didn't want to deal with. I know. Saying it like that sounds ridiculous, but the page that they had set up for it was pretty convincing. They had created screen shots and all kinds of stuff.
Foxnews had a pretty good list of the "Top 10 Internet Pranks". The Google Autopilot was one of them. I think my favorite though is Opera's Facial Web Browsing. It's another one that's fairly plausible at first glance.
I was also "Rick Rolled" several times. In case you're wondering, here's the Wikipedia page for Rick Rolling. I can sum it up for you though. Basically, someone posts a link and instead of leading to where it says it does, it instead leads to a video of the Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". Let's say I told you this link is for a great new video game and you have to watch the video. That's Rick Rolling. And I had that song in my head all day yesterday.
Have a good Thursday. It's supposed to rain again today, so hopefully we won't float away. As of last night, we still had a small pond in the back yard. Maybe it won't be a lake tonight.
--Paul
The biggest one that I thought might actually be real (I was skeptical, but thought there was a chance), was Google's announcement of "Autopilot" for Gmail. It was a new feature that used an AI system to automatically reply to emails that you didn't want to deal with. I know. Saying it like that sounds ridiculous, but the page that they had set up for it was pretty convincing. They had created screen shots and all kinds of stuff.
Foxnews had a pretty good list of the "Top 10 Internet Pranks". The Google Autopilot was one of them. I think my favorite though is Opera's Facial Web Browsing. It's another one that's fairly plausible at first glance.
I was also "Rick Rolled" several times. In case you're wondering, here's the Wikipedia page for Rick Rolling. I can sum it up for you though. Basically, someone posts a link and instead of leading to where it says it does, it instead leads to a video of the Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". Let's say I told you this link is for a great new video game and you have to watch the video. That's Rick Rolling. And I had that song in my head all day yesterday.
Have a good Thursday. It's supposed to rain again today, so hopefully we won't float away. As of last night, we still had a small pond in the back yard. Maybe it won't be a lake tonight.
--Paul
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Miscellany
Wednesday already? The week sure does seem to be flying by.
Well no sooner than I talk about how great facebook is and that it pulls all my various things into one place, than: twitter updates stop updating my facebook status (working now), I find there's a problem with my blog feed address that I gave facebook and it won't import my blog posts (fixed now), and my shared google reader items won't import either (still not working). So maybe facebook isn't the answer after all...or maybe I just caught it on a bad day. Who knows.
The rain has begun and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon. I think we can officially call an end to the draught. Or at least the pond in my back yard leads me to believe we can call an end to it. The sad thing is that all this rain just means that the grass is going to need cutting again Saturday.
There's not a lot going on otherwise. I'm working extra hours this week to make up for one of the days I was sick. I'm blessed that I work for a company and a boss that will allow that kind of thing. Anyway, I guess I'm off to get the day started. Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
Well no sooner than I talk about how great facebook is and that it pulls all my various things into one place, than: twitter updates stop updating my facebook status (working now), I find there's a problem with my blog feed address that I gave facebook and it won't import my blog posts (fixed now), and my shared google reader items won't import either (still not working). So maybe facebook isn't the answer after all...or maybe I just caught it on a bad day. Who knows.
The rain has begun and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon. I think we can officially call an end to the draught. Or at least the pond in my back yard leads me to believe we can call an end to it. The sad thing is that all this rain just means that the grass is going to need cutting again Saturday.
There's not a lot going on otherwise. I'm working extra hours this week to make up for one of the days I was sick. I'm blessed that I work for a company and a boss that will allow that kind of thing. Anyway, I guess I'm off to get the day started. Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
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