Children...

"Immortality doesn't exist in song or the written word, true immortality lies in the heartbeats of our children." - Me

Children...

"The only way to learn from life is to live it."

That was a quote from your Grandmother, after I inevitably did something that she had advised me not to do.

We are going to tell you what to do. We are going to tell you how to live your life. Most of the time you won't listen. I just want you to know that it's o.k. That is how you are going to learn. You are going to make mistakes, you are going to get your heart broken, you are going to screw things up once or twice.

Just learn from it... and don't do it again.

A Father's Thoughts

I still can't call myself a father. I don't know why. The word "father" ... it has so much responsibility tied to it. All of those things it takes to do it right, to be a good "father."

Mine drove his van into a tree. Drunk. That was the end of that story.



I hear my youngest call me "Dad" and it still surprises me. I never thought I would hear it, and sometimes the burden seems too much to bear. Every action, every word is shaping them, molding them, teaching them; right or wrong. God I hope it is enough. All you want for them is to grow up and be good people, to be everything that they can be. You want to give them the best that you are so they can take it, make it part of themselves, and make it better. The problem is, I am human, and I am me, and they get the good with the bad, and I so desperately want them not to have a life like mine. I want them to have a better life than mine, to be better people, to do greater things. Any failure of theirs will inevitably be a failure on my part as well, for if the student fails hasn't the teacher failed as well?

Every day I ask myself if I am doing everything I can do to make their lives good, and every day I can't bring myself to answer because I am afraid of what I might say.

It has been a long time.....

Therapy. It is either this or $100 an hour to sit on some guys couch, and I am a cheap bastard.

It has been a while since I have written, but life lately has taken a few turns that brought me back here, for better or worse.

Hello to all my friends in cyberspace, to all those electrons that bear the weight of my mind as my thoughts pour out across this keyboard, adding another fragment to the ghost in the machine.

Good day to you all.

So I have been away for a while....

It's not that I don't love all of you, and I know you all love reading my blog, but I have been busy as of late and just didn't have it in me to post.

You see, I decided to go back to school, yet again. For those of you who don't know I left SPU with one quarter left until graduation. I had the choice between finishing college, or taking a job with the Colorado Rockies. Yeah, I chose Major League Baseball, and I don't regret it one bit. But now that I have settled back into the area and have a somewhat normal life I decided it was time to finish what I started. I sat down in April and started looking at what it would take to finish my degree. I did a bit of searching, made a few phone calls and finally pieced together a plan.

My biggest obstacle was location. I am now working in Renton, which pretty much means that any classes during the day are out. Because I am a Senior the classes I have left are upper division classes, which are not offered in the evening. What I was finally able to put together is a schedule full of online courses and one "independent study" course that will finally get me my degree. Granted, it will have taken 20 years and 7 institutions of higher learning, but if everything works out in June of 2010 I will walking down the isle at Safeco field getting my Bachelors degree in Communication from Seattle Pacific University. Yea me.

So I began my onslaught of online classes in early July, taking two lower division classes to fulfill my core requirements at SPU. Art Appreciation and Introduction to Film were my classes, and they were not easy. Taking classes online is a challenge in and of itself, but taking them for the summer quarter is a bear. We basically had seven weeks to complete the entire curriculum, and with working full time there isn't a lot of time to get things done. Needless to say this last weekend was the first free weekend I have had all summer. My weekends were busy with studying, homework, and tests. I made it through both classes and now eagerly await my next, which will be my last from SPU. Next spring I will take 3 online courses from the UW, then transfer all the credits over to SPU in time for graduation.

Next..... Grad school. The wife wants me to be her sugar daddy.

Wish me luck.

Say it isn't so Joe!

God got a chuckle this morning. I am not paranoid, I do not think God is out to get me, but he was in a mood this morning. I clicked on the Seattle Times web page, like I do every morning, and scrolled down through the sports section, like I do every morning, sped through the entertainment section, like I do every morning, and I began to pass over the business section, like I do every morning, when suddenly my life came to a screeching halt.

Disney to buy comic book powerhouse Marvel for $4B

That is the headline in today's Times. Are you F*%&ing kidding me?!?!?!? Disney?!?!? The evil empire!??!?! That wouldn't even be funny on April Fool's Day, let alone any other day of the year. Now, here is the kicker. I sat here for about 45 minutes thinking about this, and as I was deep in thought, no kidding, Bowie's "Changes" comes on the radio. Nice. Thanks God, rub it in why don't ya.

Thus begins the slew of underground protest art of Wolverine slaughtering the 7 dwarfs, or pictures of the Punisher with Mickey's head, Snow White dressed like Emma Frost...Namor shacking up with Ariel... how about that special issue of Iron Man where Tony Stark finds out that Stark Industries has been bought out by Scrooge McDuck.

Well, the end of the world is upon us so go find that significant anyone and shack up while you can, 'cuz it is about to rain frogs my friends.

If Stan Lee didn't die over the weekend this will surely kill him.

Geeks of the world lament this day.

Transformers 2 - My review (or, Stop your whining!)

I just don't get it.

It seems like every year there is a movie or two that the critics either hate or one that they ignore, and inevitably it goes on to make MILLIONS. Apparently The Hangover is one of them, Transformers 2: ROTF it the other.

ROTF is the Dane Cook of the movie world. You either love it or hate it, there seems to be no in-between. Personally, I don't like Dane Cook, but I liked ROTF. Now, before all of you would be critics and pundits get your panties in a bunch; hold on and let me explain. ROTF is a destination movie, it is an event. It is not a cinematic masterpiece. There will be no Oscar nominations coming out of it. You go to see this movie for what it is and what it has to offer.

Critics are ripping it apart because it is too long, there are too many close-ups of a sweaty Megan Fox, the characters are underdeveloped and the plot lines are thin. What exactly was everyone expecting?

Is it a bit long, yes. Too long, not really. There was so much that was left out of the story line there could have been another 1/2 hour of back story just to get everyone up to speed. I didn't see any scenes that could have been cut without chopping half the movie.

Sweaty close-ups of Megan Fox are an issue? Was she supposed to be solving world hunger while she was dodging Decepticons? Be thankful Rosie O'Donnell wasn't his love interest. Megan Fox is gorgeous, live with it.

As far as the plot goes, well, yes, it was a bit thin. Did they need to bring everyone back to fight a second time? EEhhhh... even Obi-Wan-Kenobi made his way back into the Star Wars movies. Sometimes you just can't keep a good character down. I could have lived without the twins, and the college fembot was a bit outthere. She needed a little back story or cut out. That was a dangler (dangler: - an element of or storyline in a movie that seems to hang out there on its own without explaination. Possibly an element or storyline that suffered because of post-production editing or just poor writing).

I get the feeling that those who loved the movie went to see the movie for what it is - big robots fighting in a battle of good vs. evil. That is what you went to see, that is what it was, and you were happy. Those who didn't like it seemed to think it was going to be something else. Great expectations lead to great disappointments. You just can't expect too much from this movie. Go to see things blow up, go to see giant transforming robots, go to see Megan Fox (or Shia LeBouf for those who lean that way); for crying out loud see it for what it is. Entertainment. Not cinematic art. This movie does what it is supposed to, it entertains.

I judge the quality of entertainment from a movie by the number of times I look at my watch during the film.

4 looks or more = stinker, go for popcorn, don't come back
3 looks = the movie should have ended long ago
2 looks= not bad, not great, but not bad
1 look = good movie
No looks = must see

Transformers: ROTF is a 1 look movie. Could it have been better, yes.
It is, however, good enough.