Snow Fort

My camera lost its marbles trying to take a picture of all this whiteness.

I fiddled with the settings a bit, but all I could get were these blue tinted beauties. Oh well.

Snow Deep

Me stuck.

I didn't have a rope or tow strap long enough to pull it out with my truck, so I strung a couple of tie downs together and inched my truck out of the driveway and into the yard a bit. Then my truck got stuck because under the snow is a yard that has been saturated after a month of rain. I got the truck out, and discovered that the snow was dense enough that with my son pushing and me pulling the ATV would almost float on top of the snow. We got it up into the driveway and I got a running start, all downhill, and put it back in the shed. What good is snow if you can't ride in it? No good, thats what.

A Lesson for You Kids

If you look at Facebook while at work, you could possibly get kicked out of your office for "violating a trust."

All those smoke breaks you've never taken, the lunch breaks you skipped to finish The Project, the time spent at home on the VPN...ah, well. A warning would have been nice.

Now I've got to cozy up near the Troll Doll. Better dust off those headphones and put on my best surlyface. Come on, economy!! You can do it!

Fabulous Movie Review®

Taken

If you know me at all and/or have eavesdropped on my diatribes on international travel then you know that I have no desire to leave this country, because only bad things happen to Americans who travel abroad.

This movie is the perfect example. If you are American and you travel to Europe then more than likely you are going to be kidnapped. I can't say it any clearer. Stay home. Or if you must travel outside of our borders then go to Canada. Or Australia if you are feeling particularly adventuresome.

So, anyway, this movie is great. Besides teaching you a valuable life lesson (and that lesson is...?), it is well made, and not over the top. Liam Neeson, who I always assumed was a big man, 6' 4" 200 at least, seems small and old in Taken, is the perfect preventer.

8 out of 10 (Very, very good)

Spaceman and Troll Doll

Stay tuned.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's been raining for approximately 40 days and 39 nights, the temperature is barely above freezing, and the imbregnorant's dog is barking presumably because he is either cold, hungry or both. How soon until it is shot with a BB gun (not by me) to shut it up?

Riiiiight

I like the part where it says I can disconnect from the internet now because I am way over the megabyte limit on my free Juno dialup connection. That 185MB download killed me. I started it on Friday.

Ayuh

I was watching the Winnie the Pooh Christmas special the other night with my daughter and, well, I never noticed before that Pooh has a Maine accent.

G Body LS1

I was supposed to go to the DMV this morning, but instead I'm watching YouTube videos of GM G Bodies with LS1 V8s.

Monte Carlo



Cutlass



Regal (LT1, couldn't find an LS1)



Sorry, couldn't find a Grand Prix...

Fabulous Movie Review®

One of the fun things about watching spaghetti westerns is that its pretty much a crapshoot whether or not a movie is going to be good or bad. Chances are you don't know anybody who has seen it, so you never know what you are going to get. I recently got a four movie set from Netflix, four movies on one disc, two on each side, of some obscure spaghetti westerns, and I was surprised, no, astonished, no, shocked, that all four were good, almost great, movies.

Blindman

This is the movie that I actually added the four movie set to my queue to see. It's the only one of which I had heard. Surprisingly, it wasn't my favorite of the four, but it is still good. You wouldn't think that a story about a blind gunfighter would work, but it does, in a spaghetti western type of way. Most Nicolas Cage movies are less believable. Maybe all of them.

7 out of 10 (Good)

Massacre Time

Easily my favorite of the four and thats not because the others were bad, it's just that this one was so good. Starring Italy's answer to Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, who also starred in Django, the fact that Massacre Time is not a classic and not on its own remastered DVD is mind boggling. I consider it to be at the top of the second tier of spaghetti westerns (anything not directed by Sergio Leone or starring Clint Eastwood). I will own it someday, even if I have to buy this four movie set togetit.

8.5 out of 10 (Very, very, very good)

One Dollar Too Many

A comedy caper film of sorts, with some plot twists and turns, and entertaining and carefully choreographed fist fights. A pretty good and totally unexpected movie.

6.5 out of 10 (Pretty good)

The Beast

Stars Klaus Kinski who turns up in a lot of spaghetti westerns, but unfortunately his character and all of the other characters are rather dull. It's a good story and worth seeing if you are a fan of the genre though.

6 out of 10 (Ok)

She's from Heaven, My 307, My 307, My 3...0...7

I am trying to determine what vehicles Buick made in the 70s that might have had 455s in them and then set up RSS feeds for each from craigslist.

I found an 86 Regal yesterday with a 307 V8. A 307?!, you say. Yes, that’s what I said too. I think it was an Oldsmobile motor that they used to appease the senior crowd who didn’t like V6s.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that if I had a Regal it would be really cool to put a Buick 350 into it, instead of your garden variety Chevy. So, as I often do, I started perusing the internet reading about Buick 350s, hopping them up and such, and one guy on a forum made a statement that really stood out.

If you are going to go through the trouble of rebuilding and swapping in a Buick motor, you might as well get a 455. In completely stock form it will run circles around a modified 350.

So, I don't even have a Regal yet, and I'm not saying that it's even the kind of project I have settled on, but I am curious to see if there is a 1976 Estate Wagon rusting away out there somewhere.

First Frost

I think today we had our first frost. The first that I've seen anyway. I guess that means the remainder of my flowers are going to die.

Finished putting my truck back together. Only one leak in the new brake lines that I put in. Thats not bad. Three functioning brakes is more than I have had in some of my other cars/trucks.

I started taking the front bumper off in order to repaint it, but after the 12th bolt I gave up.

I offer this picture only as proof that the project is complete as some have speculated that I am a fraud, and only pretend to fix things.

As my neighbor the inbregnorant®* would say, "Ain't she purdy?"

I also put up the last of the shutters. I still have some minor trim painting to do, the eaves above the living room windows and the front door, which I have tentatively decided to strip, stain and polyurethane, and I haven't done the back either. All of which may have to wait until spring. This picture is a little dull because I waited until 3 in the afternoon to take it. You know, at dusk. Need a new storm door, and what to do about the black lights and railings? Didn't think of that when I painted my house blue.

Here's a before picture for those of you with an extreme makeover addiction. It's actually kinda old as you can see by the for sale sign in the yard. I know that I have more recent pictures of it, but of course I couldn't find any.

I spent most of friday in my crawlspace. I'm finishing it off and making a true man cave. It's cozy in there. And quiet.

*Inbred + ignorant = inbregnorant.

Fabulous Movie Review©

Next
The list of movies that Nicolas Cage has made that are awful far outnumbers his good movies. Snake Eyes? Ghost Rider? Face Off? Con Air? But what of it really? What is an actor's legacy? They make no contribution to society. He's making money. What else matters to the vacuous narcissists in Hollywoodland? Why am I asking so many questions?

3 out of 10 (I just got dumber)

Fabulous Movie Review©

The Wrestler
Sad and depressing, but very good. You can't even recognize Mickey Rourke.

7.5 out of 10 (Very good)

Motorcycles and Food

I saw this sweet bike on my way to lunch at Ipanema

where I had the smoked gouda sandwich and sweet potato fries, which was most excellent, but

what I really loved was this Vietnamese (I think) hot chili sauce, a bottle of which I now have at my house.

Fabulous Movie Review©

Eraserhead
Piece of [insert your favorite synonym for poop here]

I couldn't even finish it. I know it was by design, but there is no music, just varying degrees of white noise, which made me anxious and uptight and annoyed. I know that was probably the point, but I have to suppress those feelings all day. Movietime© is supposed to be safe from wanting to break stuff with a blunt object.

I hated Eraserhead so much that I am giving it a 0. First time ever.

0 out of 10 (David Lynch must die)

As they say in New England: soder

IZZE Sparkling Pomegranate

Most excellent.

Fabulous Movie Review©

The Searchers
So, this is considered by many to be one of the greatest westerns of all time. It is good, but it suffers from some of the conventions of the era in which it was made.

1. Music choreographed to the movement of a horse. Come ON!
2. Bad and/or over acting. Not John Wayne of course, but his sidekick. It was freaking awful to watch at times.

6 out of 10 (OK)

Joints of Type Ball

Replacing ball joints. Oh it's like deja vu. Oh it's like deja vu.

Jealous?

It's not just ball joints either. Two brake lines rusted and sprung leaks, plus new rotors and pads. Theeeen I gotta do something about the rust on the fender...

My Beating Heart, Be Still

Swamped

I am completely swamped at work. I've spent the last month and a half completely dismantling the interface of our CRM and I have to have it released to production by Monday. Missing three days last week didn't help.

Tin Top

I love the tin top Samurais but the problem is convincing my son that its still cool even if the roof doesn't come off.

I'm Back

From the brink of death. I told you those pumpkin seeds would have serious repercussions. Three days of work and most of my weekend. Lost forever.

Note to Self

Eating too many pumpkin seeds has serious repercussions.

Rain, Rain Go Away

I wanted to paint my house today.

It rained off and on all morning, so I started painting my shutters in the family room.

The afternoon came and the sun peaked out a few times and I thought that I was good to go, but as soon as I set up my ladder (the first picture) the skies opened up. Try again tomorrow.

Barron von Richthofen

Oh MAN. I'd love to buy this car, but unfortunately I've never replaced a barron before. Is there anybody out there who could help me replace the barrons in this car? I should called Advance Auto and see if they have a barron set in stock. Maybe they have barron set removal tools for rent.

Rare

You don't see International pickups for sale every day.

Cuckoo for Coconut

Lady and gentleman we have a winner. The Goya Coconut soda is 12 ounces of pure unadulterated carbonated goodness. Its very smooth and has a light, pleasant after taste. I didn't think anything would be able to wash away the stink of the Malta Goya, but the coconut soda did.

Sunday was dreary too

It's amazing the difference in weather between cold, wet, dreary Sunday and today, a warm, sunny Wednesday.

Anyway, even though Sunday was just like Saturday I did manage to get the 2nd coat on the front of the house and finished the first coat on the side.

One of the things I don't like about my house is the complete lack of anything resembling architectural detail. Specifically, eaves and trim around the windows. I'd love to do that some day, but its not in the budget now. Too many other projects. One thing I would like to do is add muntins to my windows to give it a more colonial look with fake divided lights. Not sure how I am going to accomplish this yet, but I'm thinkin'.

Oh, and my new shutters arrived today! If the weather is nice this weekend, I could have the trim painted and shutters up on these two sides of the house. That would be, as they say in Poland, sweet.

Malta Goyaaaaauck

Yesterday while buying the ginger beer I noticed several other flavors of soda from Goya and I was intrigued. Today I picked up a bottle of Malta Goya, a non-alcoholic malt beverage says the label.

My initial impression upon popping the top was one of disgust. A cloud of sweet molassesy air went straight up my nose. The first sip nearly made me lose my lunch, if I had eaten lunch yet that is. Its like watered down molasses. For my next magical trick I am going to drink high fructose corn syrup on the rocks.

I'm determined to drink the whole thing though (still working on it as I type). The taste lingers on the palate for a long time. Time for another sip.

*shudders* Blech. Hispanics can keep their Bud Clamato and their Malta Goya. I won't infringe on that part of their culture anymore.

A Sissy No Longer

The first time I ever tried ginger beer I hated it and was called a sissy. I took it like a man because, quite frankly, I was being a sissy.

A few years go by and one day while at my local Kroger (pronounced: kay - raw - jer) I bought a four pack of Stewart's ginger beer and willed myself to like it.

And now, like a hobo has his Wild Irish Rose, I have my ginger beer.

Restaurants to which I have been

We've been to two seafood restaurants recently. One blew, one was the complete opposite of blowing. Hmm. No. I guess that would be sucking, which isn't right either. It was fabulous.

Spinnaker's

Bland, plasticky food only a nursing home resident could love. Their claim to fame is bread cooked and served in a flower pot. Kinda cool, but what does a flower pot have to do with the sea? Absolutely nothing. If it had been cooked in a chum bucket, well, now, that would be something.


Shackleford's

I was leary of the newly opened Shackleford's because of my Spinnaker's experience, but I needn't have worried. The food was spectacular.

From the dinner rolls to the calamari appetizer (I shouldn't have told my daughter who liked it that she was eating squid) and finally to my scallops florentine entree, I was in heaven. I ate some from everybody's plate when they couldn't finish their meals. That doesn't happen very often.

Here's the description of my meal from the menu:

Pan seared jumbo scallops served over wilted spinach, apple wood smoked bacon and
sautéed fondant potatoes. Finished with hollandaise.

Me so hungry right now.

Sun baked

The price is too high and it looks like its been sitting out in the sun for a long, long time, but t-tops and a V8 are pretty cool, and rare.

It was a cold and dreary day

And I got a coat of paint on the front of my house while eyeing the threatening clouds all afternoon.

I borrowed a bigger ladder from my neighbor across the street because mine is a girly 16 footer. My neighbor and his dad are originally from Vermont. The first time I met his dad I discovered he has a really thick northern New England accent. I hugged him and weeped. I stammered ayuh ayuh ayuh ayuh in disbelief for minutes.

Anyway, about the ladder. The peak in the front of the house here wasn't too bad. I don't like being up on ladders too much. My property slopes down to a creek so the back gable, which is about 4 feet higher, is going to put me so far out of my comfort zone that I will have to go on Google maps to find my way back to it.

Fabulous Movie Review®

Oldboy
The premise is good. A man is imprisoned for 15 years and he doesn't know why and by whom. When he is released he discovers that he is still being manipulated by his imprisoner.

I have really liked the few Korean movies that I've seen, but this is, while it is good, is just a bit too over the top for me. It also loses points for being dubbed in English. Subtitles are much more preferred.

6 out of 10 (OK)

Evil Shed II

I had a hard time deciding what color to paint the house and since I had a shed to use as my guinea pig I experimented a little. Z wife put a coat of a yellowy beige on the shed whilst I was in West Virginia last spring. Then she started painting the trim a light brown and decided she didn't like it.

Mid summer I took a trip to Lowes and picked out light blue for the body, dark blue for the shutters, and white trim. The nice thing about white trim is that my white gutters and white vinyl windows won't stick out like a sore bum.

I really liked the light blue. Bright and different, as it seems everybody paints their house some shade of beige or white. Being bold with paint isn't really my thing, so I kind of agonized over the light blue for a while before finally pulling the trigger on it.

See, I'm of French-Canadian genetic stock. When I was a kid, and if you grew up in or near New Hampshire towns with a large population of French-Canadians like Nashua, Manchester, Somersworth or Rochester then you will know what I am talking about, it was the running family joke that whenever we would see a house painted purple or pink or bright blue, we would say, "oh they must be French". I don't like being the butt of a joke (even if I am the only living breathing French-Canadian-American some people down here have ever seen), and I most certainly don't like being the butt of my own jokes.

My dad painted the shutters on the house in Dover (not a town with many French-Canadians by the way) that we lived in when I was a kid pink and he never lived it down.

So anyway, enough about my history of paranoia. I didn't like the first shade of light blue, too light, so after putting 2 coats of that on the entire shed, I went and bought a darker shade of light blue. This is what is on it now and it is also what I've started painting the big house with. The front wall of the shed has 6 coats of paint on it including the primer. Crazy.

The doors I decided to paint the dark blue that the shutters will be. Alas, I didn't quite like that shade of blue either. Too bright. So after three coats of blue on the doors, I switched it up and got a darker shade. I like it better and will go with it.

This a picture of the doors with one half the darker blue and the other half the brighter blue. The darker side is still wet at this point soo...

Here it is after it dried. I am not totally down with the idea of having dark blue doors. I'll get used to it. Plus, I don't know what other color I would paint them besides white, maybe beige but that would be too many colors on the house I think.

Stalking

We had another interview today. I wanted to ask her if her neighbor's 1972 Camaro was for sale, but I didn't.

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Looking for a Few Good Developer

We're trying to hire a new .NET Developer. Most of the resumes we've received have been less than inspiring. The interviews, save one, have been, well, awful. I need one of you wicked awesome programmers that I've worked with in the past ten years to make a life changing decision and move down here, over here, up here, and take this job.

In the spirit of 1997 here's a short FAQ:

Why would I want to work with you, when all you do is complain about your various jobs and your coworkers?

First of all, if you are reading this, then you are not one of the people I have ever complained about. Second, this is a blog and I play it up a little for dramatic effect. Third, the number of actual individual people that I complain about I can count on one hand. Not bad for a professional career nearly spanning three decades (hehe, I love how that sounds).

Why would I want to move to Richmond? You always complain about your white trash neighbors. That doesn't seem too appealing.

Well, I'm sure you made better financial choices in your twenties than I did, enabling you to buy a house in a redneck free zone. Of which there are plenty.

I don't particularly like you. I mean we worked together well enough, but I don't know if I want you to be, you know, the only person in a strange city that I know.

Ouch. That hurts. I promise not to fraternize with you outside work after I give you an initial tour of the city. Ok?

Office Space

I've had some cool offices and some decidedly uncool cubicles, but my new space, a reclaimed dumping ground, is the best so far.

Fabulous Movie Review®

Watchmen
In one word, horrible. No, that doesn't quite do it. Atrocious. Easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. Its 3 hours of spinach* eating. Three hours of toilet cleaning. Three hours of sit ups while a fat sweaty man squats over you.

1 out of 10 (Suckiest movie that ever sucked)

*canned spinach with no added salt, pepper or butter.

Fabulous Movie Review®

Wanted
Despite having plot holes big enough to drive a CSX train, an 18 wheeler and a Greyhound bus through at the same time, I have a hard time saying that this was a bad movie because of the movie which I am reviewing next and watched the day after this one. Still though, Wanted is not particularly good. Jolie is skeletal. The beginning tried to be too much like Fight Club. The entire premise of the movie is its fatal flaw, and even though I love to suspend disbelief (or is it belief) and did, often, the plot has to make sense at least.


4.5 out of 10 (Pretty stupid)

Not My Forté

For a website I am building. I'm thinking about outsourcing the graphic design.

















For the record, I could do a slightly better job with it, but I really don't want to.