When the Sprint commercial started running earlier this year, the kid said for Xmas he wanted a monkey with a cold...

Happy Holidays!

"Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think is creation's." - E. M. Forster

"Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you." - Gustav Hoist

"A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one." - Dimitri Shostakovich

No one will probably care about this, unless they are in the Houston area and a Rocket's fan, but I've got a pair of tickets to see the Rockets vs. the Golden State Warriors. The game in on Saturday, January 4th and tipoff is at 7:30pm.

Right now, I'm auctioning them off at eBay. I have to get rid of them by the end of weekend. If you make a bid on them, you'll be helping the "Dragonball Z for Xmas Fund." The face value on the tickets is $112 a piece, so you'd be saving a hefty amount of cash and helping brighten the smile of a child on Xmas morning... (How's that for a guilt trip?)

They're good seats as far as I can tell... SEC: 109 ROW: S Seats 7 & 8. Check seating chart.

If you want to buy them and don't wanna eBay, email me, and if they are still avaible after the auction, we can work something out...

God, those are some god-awful jerseys. It's just ugly. But, it's only fitting that the New Orleans Saints would play as good as they look. Minnesota 32 - New Orleans 31.

If defense wins championships, then the Saints ain't gonna win one this year. Horrible Horrible Horrible. Culpepper fumbled the damn two-point conversion, picked it up and STILL ran it in from at least 5 yards out to win the game. Unbelieveable. The jersey being so ugly, not the Saints-D losing the game. That's predictable.

Still, I gotta give it to the Vikings for the gutsy call to go for the win and not overtime. Why the heck not? They can't make the playoffs. Go for broke against the worst Saints Defense in a long time... That's gold shirt.. Ugly is the only word for it. Same goes for the D...

Why is this song stuck in my head? I think it's a Sinatra song... It goes something like this... And a 1, and a 2, and a 3:


"I love you, baby, and if it's quite alright, I love you baby. Blah Blah Blah blee blee blue something Baby. Da da dum da da dum dee dee dum. I love you baby, repeat ad nausem"

God only knows how long it's been since I heard that song, yet it's stuck in my head and won't go away. Let's see if we can figure out why it's stuck in my head. Let's see, I woke around 10:30am, after staying up really late watching Hair starring Treat Williams. Then, showered and dressed, I get to work, where we air Everwood starring Treat Williams. At work, I'm looking up movie promos to be tagged, and run across this gem starring Heath Ledger. He starred in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You in which to re-gain the love of Julia Styles, he sang:

"I love you, baby, and if it's quite alright, I love you baby. Blah Blah Blah blee blee blue something Baby. Da da dum da da dum dee dee dum. I love you baby, repeat ad nausem"

I guess that would explain it.

Hopefully, "When the Saints go marching in" will be in my head later today. If New Orleans beats Minnesota and the New York Football Giants (why do they call them that? Are there any other New York Giants these days?) lose, then the Saints clinch the playoffs. As an added bonus, Detriot has tied it up with the Buccs, and if the Lions win, too, then the Black and Gold should have a 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay to lead the NFC South.

Update: Frankie or Heath, whichever, is still in my head... Minnesota 32 - Saints 31, Tampa Bay 23 - Detriot 20... Muthafucka. I think my fantasy team just got bounced out the playoffs too...

So can someone help me out here? What should I have done in this situation?

I took the wife and kid to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and there was a lady there making balloon animals for the different tables. She had, not one, but two big buttons that said something like "Balloons for TIPS" or "I work for TIPS." The capital "TIPS" was her work.

Anyway, we were sitting in our booth, minding our own business and I see her start walking toward us. I tried not to make eye contact because I don't have any cash for a tip. I swiped the meal -- I don't carry cash around. She gets closer and almost passes us up when she turns her head and spies (da da dum) The Kid. Immediately, she's pulling out balloons, blowing them up and twisting them into dogs and giraffes. Meanwhile, the wife and I are reading each other's lips - "I don't have any cash. Do you?" "No, I don't, don't you?" "No."

We felt really bad about that but what could we do. We weren't asking for a balloon animal, but yet she went through the sell. We felt like she deserved some money. When the sound of rubbing rubber had ceased, we thanked the lady, but that was all we could do. I wish we could have tipped or something...

So what's the proper ediquette for this kind of situation? I felt like we should have said more than thank you, but what else could we say?

Yeah, yeah, Richard Harris died and that's a very tragic loss. But, everyone's had time to mourn, so I think it's time to play... Recast Albus Dumbledore...

Not that I have any say in the matter, but it's just something I've been thinking about... What actor could play Albus Dumbledore in the next few Harry Potter Movies?

Immediately, I think of Sir Ian McKellan. After all, he'd just be playing another powerful wizard. An Acadamy Award nominated performance as Gandalf the wizard to boot. And, I'm sure his friend, Maggie Smith, could help convince him to do the part. But would he? Would he want to play another wizard? No doubt, Sir Ian would be a good choice to fill the robes, but I don't think he'd put them on so soon after Lord of the Rings.

Christopher Lee is another actor who comes to mind. He's got the chops but perhaps his roles are a little too evil. Evil wizards at that... Jedi are basically the Star Wars version of wizards. While, he could pull it off, I think audiences would be a little creeped out by him playing Dumbledore. They'd always have the treacherous Saruman in the back of their head, or Dracula, and that would be too distracting.

Anthony Hopkins -- Too creepy for the role...

Here's an possibly odd, yet fitting, choice... Patrick Stewart. Yes, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Before you scoff at me, think about it. He's a classically trained actor. Despite the Star Trek thing, he hasn't been typecast. Watch Jeffery if you think all he can play is Jean-Luc. In fact, before getting trekked, he had majorish roles in Dune and Excalibur. And after Trek, he's been Captain Ahab, Ebenezer Scrooge and, of course, Professor Charles Xaiver. He certain has the talent to portray the Hogwart's Headmaster, especially with his Shakespearian background. And being English, he fulfills J. K. Rowling's wish that everyone invovled be British. Plus, don't you kinda want to see him with some hair?

Any other ideas out there?

Finally... I finished the 100 things about me thing. And the link on the left works. Only about 2 weeks overdue. So much for setting a goal... I know I put something about prcrastination in that 100 things thingy...

At least, we're way ahead of the game for Xmas presents and our list this year. We usually make stuff for people. One year was candles and it became a hobby. But, we're usually up until 4am on Xmas Eve finishing presents for everyone on the list. We've got most everything done this year, aside from the stuff for us and two more people on the list. We know what we want to get, now if we could just find it...

Reuters: Jerry Springer Opera Gets London World Premiere

I'm thinking this is the first opera that isn't over when the fat lady sings...

Have you ever heard of a kid being sad about missing a day of school??

Last night, the kid had such a terrible headache that he couldn't concentrate on doing his homework. He was also running a fever of 101.4. We gave him medicine to help bring his fever down and told him that he will probably miss school in the morning. When we told him that, he started to break down...

He wanted to go to school this morning so his perfect attendance record wouldn't be broken... He was the only one in his class to have perfect attendance in the first nine weeks. I guess he gets that "work ethic" from both his mother and I. Neither of us will stay home when we're sick, unless we're asleep in a hospital bed or something like that.

By the way, the boy'll live. His mother reports that his fever is a cool 98.9.

This is why I want a digital camera...

Driving home, we're travelling I-10 West and get to Orange, Texas. And we see this sign: Terrorists, Don't Mess With Texas. Remember The Alamo... Don't believe me do you? If I had a picture of it you would though, wouldn't you!?!?

Anyway, that sign got me thinking about what it meant... Not being a native Texan, I don't quite get the appeal of the Alamo. I mean, didn't the American/Texan forces get stomped? Albeit, they did put up one helluva fight before being wiped out by the Mexican Army.

We visited the Alamo. Had trouble finding it. When we finally found it, it was closing in 5 minutes. We looked around and still had 3 minutes to hit the gift shop. That's what I don't understand. Why did Jim Bowie et al decide this little tiny church was the place to make a stand? What was so important about that place and why in the hell did this ass-kicking deliver unto us the phrase "Remember the Alamo?"

On the surface, I think it's just saying, "These people died, so we should mourn them." But, if you scratch a little deeper, you'll see it's telling of the American Spirit -- the never give up, no matter what the odds attitude. And that's a great attitude to have about the whole "war on terrorism" thing.

But, if you dig even deeper into this "Remember the Alamo saying, I think it says, "yeah, you fucked us up good then, but look who's large and in charge now." And, I think that's an even better attitude to have about "the war on terrorism" because yeah, they got us dumb 'Mericans really good at the WTC and Pentagon, but in the end, we'll be screaming "Who's your Daddy?" in their faces.

And yeah, terrorist evil-doers, Don't Mess With Texas because, lord you think you're crazy... You ain't seen crazy 'til you've lived here...