karen & i saw the funniest show on sunday nite. it was called most extreme elimination challenge. it apparently comes on TNN on saturday & sunday nites. it is a japanese show where teams compete by doing a series of crazy & dangerous stunts. i saw people trying to dash across 15 to 20 giant dominos(8ft tall) to get to the platform on the other side. there was also one where they had to go from one platform to the other by crossing about 6 giant rolling pins. crazy stuff. what makes it even funnier is the fact that they have purposely put bad american dubbing on it. they give all the obviously japanese contestants totally american names like bertha johnson. there's a lot of in your face innuendo throughout the show also. it's hosted by these two guys in samurai looking costumes surrounded by about 20 other guys in kimonos. you've got to check this out.
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4.28.2003
been a few days since my last post. got a few things to touch on...
first, i want to wish my Dad a speedy recovery. he was taken to the hospital last week w/chest pains. after extensive tests on his heart, lungs & bones, no problem has been found yet. the next step is neurological tests, which if you know my Dad, isn't anything out of the ordinary. let's hope they at least find something to tell us why this is happening. love ya Dad.
jackson is now eating every 3hrs. whoopie!!! granted, this doesn't seem like out of this world news, until you consider the sleep cycle. on average, it takes most people 1.5 hrs to slip into REM sleep, then another 1.5 hrs to return to shallow sleep. if you wake up in the middle of the cycle, it can be worse than if you had not slept. i'm sure a lot of you did what i did in college. if you've been out too late & you have to be up the next morning, don't go to sleep if it's less than 3 hrs because you will just feel worse. anyway, this brings us back to jackson. his 3 hr feeding schedule is great. we may be only getting about an hour more of sleep, but the interval time is what counts. it's not how much, it's how long...in regards to sleep that is.
spent the first half of saturday watching the draft. i thought the browns did ok. unlike most sports analysts, i liked picking faine #1. sure, steinbach would have been another good choice, but really good centers are hard to come by. look at the money that the chicago center commanded last offseason. some people were upset they didn't address the LB situation in the first round. boss bailey was available & he will be one hell of a player in the NFL. but, they already have 3 LBs just out of their first year in the league. plus, baltimore picked lee suggs in the first round which pretty much eliminated their need for jamir miller(the only other team than the browns that were pursuing miller), so you figure he'll probably come back anyway. i was a little surprised davis didn't nab ken dorsey(QB miami) in the late rounds. maybe butch really is going to keep both couch & holcomb. let the best man win. i'm not a huge couch fan, but if he elevates his game because of the competition, wonderful. the most interesting pick, i thought, was taking the west virginia RB suggs. he's going to miss all of next season w/surgery. if he pans out, you have willie 'i run better if i puke' green, jamel 'can a brotha get some respect here' white, james 'he who runs like deer in headlights' jackson & jj 'i need one last shot' johnson all in the browns backfield. who here besides me smells james jackson gettin' the boot & jj johnson playing half-back?
it occured to me last night, after my wife accused me, that i have been sucked in my American Idol. i admit it. i am tuning into the show every wednesday to watch who gets voted off. i can't watch on tuesdays as buffy & smallville rule that night. still, when those are reruns, i watch AI. it's shameful, i know. i caught myself actually saying that carmen should have been voted off weeks ago. that statement could only be made by someone who actually watches the show regularly. in addition, maya is now paying attention to the show, so i have corrupted her little mind as well. when they were intoducing the judges last night, they announced randy jackson & maya turned & asked why they said baby jackson.
how did i end up grouped w/all the other teenie boppers watching this thing? i think it's my fetish for reality tv. i can't get enough. i pretty much hardly watch much scripted tv anymore. i think reality tv has been a hit because it is really a safe, socially acceptable form of voyeurism. it's like visual gossip. people always want to watch other people fail/succeed.
on a similar note, i have now, at the ripe old age of 30, found my dream job. i want to host NBCs fear factor. what a great gig. you get to talk smack to every single person, while never having to eat worms, jump off something or anything. you just get to sit there, mouth off & make fun of everyone. who knew i could have been getting paid for this my whole life.
Wednesday What-Ifs 1. What if you awoke one morning to discover that, overnight, everyone else in the world had perished, leaving you to be the sole human on the planet?
2. What if you awoke one morning to find that, overnight, you'd transformed into a member of the opposite gender (if you're a guy, you woke up as a girl, and vice versa)?
3. What if you awoke one morning to find that you were living in the year 3003?
4. What if you awoke one morning to the realization that you had somehow lost all four of your limbs?
5. What if you awoke one morning to discover that everyone in the world looked exactly the same... including you?
check out this story. seems there might be some hoopla come the November 2004 presidential ballot in my home state of Alabama. apparently, the republican convention for the state won't meet in time to select a candidate. there is a august 31st deadline & the repubs won't be able to nominate until september 2nd. the legislature in bama is controlled by the dems, so you know they are not going to extend the deadline. sheer beauty. i just hope the media doesn't develop a new buzz word(i.e. chad) when this goes down.
APRIL 22--Claiming that lead singer Scott Stapp was drunk or drugged-up during a disastrous December concert, a quartet of Chicago-area Creed fans yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that Stapp & Co. owe refunds to the 15,000 fans who attended the ragged performance. The Allstate Arena gig was such a disaster, in fact, that the band circulated an e-mail apology acknowledging that, "there has been much concern about Scott's health and we want to assure everyone that he is doing very well and is taking a much needed break at home in Orlando." The band's e-mail concluded on an upbeat note: "For now we hope that you can take some solace in the fact that you definitely experienced the most unique of all Creed shows and may have become part of the unusual world of rock and roll history!"
i am totally against frivilous lawsuits, however, this is one i can whole-heartedly get behind. not only should these people receive refunds, the decision should widen to include anyone who bought a creed cd(you know who you are), saw a creed video(when mtv was actually playing videos), heard creed on the radio or even flipped past the creed behind the music on vh1. basically, anyone who had any sort of exposure to this band is due some sort of reparations.
i once heard an interview w/creed when the lead singer(i refuse to acknowledge him as an actual person w/a real name) said, "we know we won't always be the world's greatest rock band." whoa there whisker biscuit. when did anyone proclaim creed as the world's greatest rock band? is this a self-proclaimed title like michael jackson's 'king of pop', major league baseball's 'world series'(give japan a chance) or george w. bush's 'president of the united states'?
well, easter has arrived. the 'easter bunny' brought baskets for the kids. maya got a Boots doll(monkey from Dora the Explorer) & some Dora maps. jackson got a nike baseball cap, that, even though it is made for an infant, is still slightly large on his little head. both of course got candy, but maya has declared she will take care of it since jackson has to be bigger to eat it. surprise!!
maya and i spent the morning coloring eggs. i guess i should correct myself & say WE started & i ended the coloring of the eggs. she lost interest during the drying. none of the martha stewart ideas worked(star stickers on the egg before coloring, writing in glue before coloring), so i just wrote on them w/a sharpie. kinda lame, but there is one orange one w/an attempt at the browns logo.
on non-holiday related babbling, i was looking at setting up a message board on this site. would anyone actually be interested in posting & keeping conversations going on there? let me know.
sorry for not posting more since Jackson got here. i know i promised to write more once i got some decent sleep, however, that hasn't actually occurred yet. seems our little bundle of joy likes to eat every two hours, day or night. needless to say, karen & i haven't gotten too much sleep. Maya, on the other hand, has slept like a rock, only waking once the first night before going right back to bed.
karen is getting a little better each day. she's still on meds for the pain, but she has been so tough through the whole time. she was up and walking the night of her c-section. she would be doing better here at home if it weren't for the two separate sets of stairs that divide the floors of the house. still, she manages one or two treks a day up/down those stairs.
it's been fun getting back into the swing of things w/a baby around the house. i never realized how big Maya has grown until i picked her up the other night to put her in her bed. i went back down to get Jackson to take him up & almost tossed him through the roof. i've also gotten use to Maya being able to carry a conversation. when you talk to Jackson, he just sits there & most of the time doesn't even look at you. oh well, it will come soon enough that he will be tacking on the word why to every sentence like Maya does now.
i'm going back to work this monday after being off since the 10th. now i get to concentrate on all the projects that have piled up on me while i was gone, all while trying to stay awake & worrying if karen is doing ok at home. i pick up on all the 'talk' between women regarding pregnancy & child rearing. they are too numerous to rant on, but i would like to bring up one. a number of women think that having a c-section is the 'easy' way out of childbirth. admittedly, natural childbirth puts the woman through hours, in some cases days, of excruciating pain, while the c-section patient delivers while completely numb from the chest down. the recovery, however, is so much better for the natural delivery. in the 3.5 days at the hospital w/karen, i saw women practically skipping down the hall after giving birth. karen, on the other hand, can't even laugh w/o pain.
wel, enough for now. gotta check on the mom & lil' J.
just a quick note to let everyone know...the baby has arrived. jackson penn leaphart arrived @10:29AM, 04/10/2003. he was 7lbs 15oz & 19.5 inches long. he's got the cutest spikey dark brown hair, a dimple on each cheek & a cleft chin. i'll post more once i've had a decent amount of sleep, i.e., more than 3 hours on a bed. until then, click here for pictures.
i love my home state. just in time for tax season...
So you pay a tax and get prosecuted? Well, yes. Seventeen states, including Alabama and North Carolina, tax people involved in illegal drug transactions, from use to possession to distribution and sales. The rate varies according to the substance you (well, not you, of course) have, said David Hoffman, a Tax Foundation economist who studies miscellaneous taxes.
In Alabama, marijuana gets taxed at $3.50 a gram. (Other tax values are determined from the marijuana tax values -- if a gram of cocaine, for example, costs 10 times what a gram of marijuana costs, then cocaine would be taxed at 10 times the tax for marijuana, or $35 a gram. Confusing, but true.)
referring to marijuana in terms of grams make it seem so european.
i heard something rather disturbing on the radio this morning. the cavs played the wizards last night in what was michael jordan's last game in cleveland since he is retiring(again) at the end of the season. during the game, the pa announcer was displaying pictures of the celebrities in attendance & telling everyone who they were on the big screen. there were a few former cavs players there. aaron shea, tight end for the browns. as the pictures & names came up, the crowd would clap & cheer based on the apparent popularity of the person. they showed & announced tim couch(QB for the browns) in the arena & the boos apparently poured out of the stands. now don't get me wrong. i have been unimpressed w/tim couch since his arrival as the #1 pick in the 1999 draft. injuries & lack of a running game aside, i don't think he was worthy of a #1 pick. his play has, in the past, deserved to be booed by the fans. however, in this case, he was just someone at a basketball game. come on, poor play does not equal a poor person. in fact, sometimes the opposite is true(see OJ & Ray Lewis). i think the fans showed poor taste in booing this should be bench warmer. what do you think?
karen & i had this conversation awhile back. we were discussing something, & of course karen brought it around full circle to the upcoming baby. she said they she wanted to use gowns to have the baby sleep in because it would be easier to change them in the middle of the night. this is all fine & good if the child is a girl...but, if i have a son, i don't want him sleeping in a gown. this is not some dickens classic tale. a boy should not wear a gown. i hope you don't think this is chauvinistic. lord knows i am far from the 'men are better at everything' or 'my son better not be looking at that guy's ass' sort of people. i have been around enough strong female types in my life to know the old patriarchal society is crap. i just can't get away from the feeling that i don't want to see my son wearing one of these things. am i wrong?
the server is back up. sorry if anyone tried to access the site yesterday. i'm currently looking for a new host, but it's hard to find a free one(i'm way too cheap to pay) w/o those annoying popup ads or banners that just ruin my artistic vision.
well, two more days! things are starting to get down to the wire. karen & maya's bags are packed. i, as usual, haven't prepared yet. unless you count the video & digital cameras being charged & replenshed w/film & memory cards. that's such a guy thing i think. there's all these preparations to do, & i worry about the electronics.
why did people originally settle in the area that became Cleveland, OH? did they get here in the summer & think, "hey, it's kinda nice here w/all this water. no humidity & not very hot. let's stay."? obviously they didn't arrive in the winter or early spring. who in their right mind would want to stay in a place where it snows well into april?
maybe it's because i'm from a warmer climate, but i can't see someone living here unless 1. they were born here & don't like moving 2. their loved one(s) live here & said loved one(s) fall into category 1 3. glutton for punishment 4. lived in wisconsin before moving here 5. could not find a satisfactory pierogie place on the west coast
i know other places have their drawbacks; california w/it's earthquakes, the south w/the humidity & utah('nuff said). when i originally moved up here, i owned a convertible. after being here a few months, i saw the total uselessness of this type of car. it makes a much sense to own a convertible here as it does to run a snowplowing business in alabama.
sorry for the ranting. i am just so sick of grey skies & the 'chance of flurries'. check back w/me in july & see if i'm singing the same tune.
my six month ordeal w/my teeth may have come to an end this morning. i am currently sitting here w/a numbed up left lower jaw; the proud owner of a new three tooth bridge. for those that don't know, this whole ordeal started the day after my 30th birthday(Nov 12) when i got all four of my wisdom teeth out. about 3 weeks later i began feeling as if i had a cavity in one of my teeth on my lower left jaw. went to my new dentist & he could find nothing wrong. assumed it was just sensitivity. over the following weekend, the pain got worse, so i was back in there on monday. after lots of xrays, he thought i may have a cavity & gave me a small filling. pain got worse...i'm back in the office on wednesday. he does more drilling. thursday late night, my entire lower left jaw is swollen over the teeth & bleeding. having no emergency number, i leave a message on the dentists answering machine. i get a call back & 9AM the next morning. he can't do anything else for me, doesn't want me to come in & gives me the name of a periodontist, who MAY be able to fit me in later that afternoon. keep in mind, i haven't slept since sunday night b/c of the pain. i call my boss' dentist who gets me in w/in the hour. he finds a major infection that had spread to the rest of my body. later to find out it was caused by a cracked molar. over the next couple of months, i get a double root canal, one of those canaled(sp?) teeth extracted after it cracks all the way in half. the final solution is a bridge. by the way, it seems that the problem may have started w/the wisdom teeth procedure when the doctor may have torqued my jaw & threw off my bite which resulted in cracking the tooth. wonderful way to waste $5000.
well, all that is hopefully behind me how w/my new little teeth. the irony of all this is that i didn't have a cavity until i was 26 yrs old.
ok, anyone who knows me knows i am from Alabama. i don't make fun of the South, unless they deserve it. while browsing www.al.com today, i found the following story. i won't even begin to let my mind think of the punchlines to this one. feel free to comment & let me know yours.
DOTHAN
Vandalized peanuts back in place in Dothan
The Elvis peanut has its black pompadour properly groomed again.
And the giant pink peanut is back in its place.
All is right again with the giant fiberglass peanuts that have been decorating Dothan.
The Downtown Group persuaded businesses to buy 40 giant fiberglass peanuts for $1,000 each and then spend money to have local artists decorate them. The project raised money to maintain murals in the city that is famous for the National Peanut Festival each fall.
On the night of March 23, vandals damaged two peanuts and stole the pink peanut that stood in front of the Dothan Civic Center. The pink peanut, which promoted breast cancer awareness, was found by railroad tracks in Midland City and returned to Dothan.
The Elvis peanut in front of the Days Inn had its sunglasses ripped off and it right arm, hand and hair damaged, but the damage was repaired last week.
"Elvis is back," hotel manager Michael Miller said.
