To HD or not to HD

So I woke up this morning to Christmas music. Is it seriously necessary to start it this early? I have no problem starting after Thanksgiving, but c'mon......let's not go putting the cart before the horse here. One holiday at a time please.


I love Thanksgiving because it's like a mini-Christmas. It's like the official Christmas kick-off party. You get everyone together, exchange lists of what you'd like for the 'real' holiday, have a big meal and basically it puts you in the right frame of mind for the next month. And this year I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a full time job that pays the bills that doesn't suck (no matter how much I complain, I know there's a lot of people out there worse off than me), a beautiful wife, a family I wouldn't trade for the world, some of the best friends a guy could ask for.....phew. In the past year, I've gained a wife, a house, a new car and a new job (and a new 50" HDTV). I got to go to my first NFL football game, traveled to Chicago for the first time, also went to Wisconsin and Hawaii and saw my grandpa celebrate his 94th birthday. My other grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. I got to see OSU beat USC. I discovered MySpace. And before you laugh at that one, I got to reconnect with people I'd otherwise probably never come in contact with again.

And that is truly something to be thankful for. Here's wishing you and all yours a happy Thanksgiving. And I'd like to give my thanks to all of you who take the time to read this.......I appreciate you.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

So I woke up this morning to Christmas music. Is it seriously necessary to start it this early? I have no problem starting after Thanksgiving, but c'mon......let's not go putting the cart before the horse here. One holiday at a time please.


I love Thanksgiving because it's like a mini-Christmas. It's like the official Christmas kick-off party. You get everyone together, exchange lists of what you'd like for the 'real' holiday, have a big meal and basically it puts you in the right frame of mind for the next month. And this year I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a full time job that pays the bills that doesn't suck (no matter how much I complain, I know there's a lot of people out there worse off than me), a beautiful wife, a family I wouldn't trade for the world, some of the best friends a guy could ask for.....phew. In the past year, I've gained a wife, a house, a new car and a new job (and a new 50" HDTV). I got to go to my first NFL football game, traveled to Chicago for the first time, also went to Wisconsin and Hawaii and saw my grandpa celebrate his 94th birthday. My other grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. I got to see OSU beat USC. I discovered MySpace. And before you laugh at that one, I got to reconnect with people I'd otherwise probably never come in contact with again.

And that is truly something to be thankful for. Here's wishing you and all yours a happy Thanksgiving. And I'd like to give my thanks to all of you who take the time to read this.......I appreciate you.

Add this to my christmas list!

So I found something I would like to get for Christmas.....Burger King Xbox games! Apparently they're $3.99 with the purchase of any Value Meal. They're cheap, and would provide endless hours of entertainment! The one I'd really like is called "Sneak King." You're the King and you have to sneak around the neighboorhood and give unsuspecting people burgers. Looks awesome. There's also a bumper car game starring all your favorite BK personalities (The King, Big Buckin Chicken, Jr. Whopper, etc.) and a mini-bike racing game that looks similar to MarioKart. So if you're looking to make my holiday season, head on down to BK and have it your way!


www.burgerking.com

Fake xmas trees

So while cruising the KATU website, I noticed a poll that said "What kind of christmas tree are you getting this year?" The choices were real, fake and no tree. 48% of respondents said a real tree, 32 said fake, and 20 said no tree at all. Ok the 20% not getting a tree we can assume don't celebrate christmas....can't argue with that. This means that of people getting trees this year, 40% are getting a phony tree. Call me old fashioned, but what the hell is wrong with people? A fake tree? And don't give me some crap about how it saves you money. A real tree costs ballpark $30-40 in Oregon. You're telling me you can't shell out that much once a YEAR? And you know those people using the "it's too expensive" claim have a V-cast cellphone, an I-pod and a 52 inch plasma in their apartment. Not an excuse.


If you're not using the money defense, I don't think you really have a defense. The Christmas tree hunt is one of my absolute favorite holiday traditions. You all go out in the rain and the cold and tromp around and find a tree that everyone likes. This usually takes 4 hours because nothing makes Grandpa happy, and unless you go the day after Thanksgiving, finding a tree with no dead spots or gaps is damn near impossible. Yet we do it every year, and everyone has a good time with it, you drink hot chocolate (or tequilla if you go with my dad and his friends) and come home to decorate it. Another big tradition. Half of those fake-ass trees come pre-decorated.

Christmas is not something that should be simplified. It should be as complex and intricate as possible. It's the one time of year when families put aside all their issues, come together and have a good time. Decorating the tree, cooking dinner, wrapping presents, shopping, etc should be done as much as possible, and with as many people as possible.

Nothing, I repeat nothing, about christmas should be fake or contrived.

Least of all the tree.

Telemarketing gone wrong

So last night my phone rings, and it says "unknown caller." Knowing there's a 90% chance it's nobody I know, I answer it anyways. Stupid. "Hi, may I please speak to Andrew?" If they call me Andrew, there's a 100% chance they don't know me. I say 'he's not here right now, can I ask who is calling?" It's the car dealership, wanting to know about the service I received. Now this car dealership is relentless. They callled every day for a week after I bought the car wanting to know about how the salesman treated me. Knowing I'd be ducking their call for the forseeable future, when she asked if I knew anything about the service, I said "yeah he told me about it." Then she asked for my name. I said "This is Grant." At this point Rachel's looking at me like I'm a moron and I'm trying to hold it together. We go through all sorts of questions like "Was the car ready on time?" I say "ummm, Andy told me he just went to get an oil change, and he was back within an hour, so I'd say yes." I think the lady was on to me, because she kept saying "Were you, I mean was Andy happy with the service he received?" I just kept giving really vague answers and saying stuff like "Andy had nothing but nice things to say about Roberson Chrysler Jeep Dodge." It was one of the strangest phone conversations ever. But at least they won't be calling me back now.

Adultery & football

So Friday was my buddy JR's birthday. We went out to the bar he bounces at in Gresham. There were probably 10 of us. I really like the place, the Skyland Pub if you're wondering. It's big and open, has a good bar menu (great fries), pool tables, video poker, and a ton of TV's to watch sports on. Only thing I don't like about it is that you can smoke there, but hey, it's a bar. I guess I've been spoiled living in Corvallis all these years. Anyways, there's this couple just sucking face all night long. Literally 45 minutes of non stop making out. It seemed obvious to me that they should be alone. I was wondering why they would be doing this in public, rather than at home where they could take their romance to the next level. So I call JR over and ask him if they do that all the time. He says "well she does." Apparently she's sucking face with a new guy every week, none of whom happen to be her HUSBAND. Apparently JR said that the guy has come in and caught his wife with her tongue in someone elses throat before, and they have to ask him to leave before he kills her or the poor guy who thought he was getting lucky. What kind of scandalous tramp not only cheats on her husband multiple times, but goes to the same place to do it? How little respect do you have to have for your relationship to do that? Furthermore, how has the divorce not been finalized? I wish I knew more of this story. As it turns out, apparently this week's guy du jour was the boyfriend of the skank's best friend! Love people watching....it really should be the national pasttime. After the bar closed we headed back to Grant's place to play Guitar Hero II...seriously the greatest line of games to come out in a long time.


Saturday I woke up, watched the Badgers-Hawkeyes game, drove to Lewis & Clark to watch Colin's last game of the year (he kicks for Linfield) and then drove back to Albany to pick up Rachel and then drive to Seattle to go to the Seahawks game on Sunday. It was a very busy weekend, and I'm exhausted. It was extremely hard to get up for work today. But I'm here and I'm hanging in there.

Days off....not always great

So I was pleasantly surprised to find out on Monday that today was Veterans Day, and as such we would not be working today. I thought it was a little strange, since the University held classes today. Why they're in session and we're off I don't know.


Having days off from class used to be awesome, because all your friends had the day off as well, so you could all go play. Except now, most of the people I know are still working today, like my wife for example. So she goes to work, and I'm home all day by myself doing diddly poo. Oh sure, I mowed the lawn and got the oil changed in the car, but really are those things you want to be doing on your "off " day? Not really. I've got the rest of the day to sit on my butt and be bored. It's like when you're sick and can't do anything. What good is a day off work if you can't take full advantage of it? One of my co-workers for example was all excited because she's taking monday off as well, turning her 3 day weekend into a four day festival. "So what are you going to do with that extra day?" I ask. "Well, I thought I'd come into work and introduce my boyfriend to everyone."

That's right....she's coming TO WORK on a day she asked NOT TO WORK. I just don't get it.

Politics: the new sport

So when did politics become a sport? I mean, you have two teams, they have their own colors, their own mascots, and diehard fans! They play once every two years like the world championships, and then they have the big dance (the olympics) every four years when we vote for a president. It's retarded. They have big team viewing parties on game night where you can go and cheer your team on, and groan when the other side takes the lead halfway through the night. It's ridiculous. This is not a sporting event, this is the direction of the country people.


Last night, they were talking to some democrat about Darlene Hooley's big win over Mike Erickson. His quote was something like this "The other team thought they could steal this one from us, and they spent a lot of money trying to defeat us, but we fought back just as hard." Tell me if that sounds anything like the Red Sox vs. the Yankees. Furthermore......how disheartening is it that what it comes down to these days is who spends more money. Nobody votes on the basis of the issues anymore. You vote based on who you grew up rooting for, who your parents rooted for, and who has the flashier TV ads.

Now I know some people are going to say that Ron Saxton spent twice as much as Ted Kulongoski, and he still lost. But anyone who doesn't think democrats have huge homefield advantage in Oregon is nuts. I mean, most newspapers in the state endorsed Ron Saxton. Those are people who are paid to analyze the issues and make an informed decision. And he still got hammered. Of course, it didn't help that he came off like a total douche in his tv commercials.

I vote for more rain

Two things have dominated the headlines the past few days......elections and rain. There's been a lot of both. I swear I've seen more political ads this year than most years. Of course, I probably would've said that two years ago as well. Fact of the matter is, every time the elections come around, it's always the "most critical" election ever, and both sides "need your votes now more than ever." I don't see how we plan to get anything done ever when we flip flop who's in office and who is running the country every few years. This two party system is so outdated, it's ridiculous. A majority of people don't give any thought to who is on the other side just because there's an (R) or a (D) behind their name. News flash.....not all republicans are baby killers and not all democrats are tree hugging hippies. It's absurd. Furthermore, if a republican has all these ideas for fixing the economy, strengthening schools and what not, he can be completely derailed if he simply believes that a woman has the right to seek an abortion. Republicans everywhere would be outraged. I think it's absolutely appalling that the direction this country will take can hinge on something like same sex marriage or abortion. That's not to say that those aren't important issues.....but really, aren't things like international policy, education and homeland security just a little more important when picking the leaders of our country?


And if President Bush is so unpopular, how'd he win two consecutive elections? That's the part that really confuses me. If 75% of the country hates the man, why did 50% vote for him? Strange don't you think? Either the pollsters are asking the wrong people their opinion on Dubya, or the people that claim to hate him so much don't hate him enough to cast a vote in the opposite direction.

One day hopefully, we'll be able to get away from this Republican/Democrat crap and have open dialogues between candidates who aren't told how they should respond to every question because of the letter in parentheses behind their name.

Bloggin for the hell of it

I just noticed that I've only blogged once this week. That is just unfair to you people out there. I apologize. Sadly, this week has not offered anything too terribly worthwhile to write about.


It was weird this year to be the guy handing out candy on Halloween. You always think of grandparents and middle aged people sitting by door with their tray of snack sized milky ways and asking all the kids "and what are you supposed to be?" Well, that was me this year. Really seems like just a few years ago I was the kid dressing up like Superman and filling my pillowcase up, only to get home, dump it all on the floor, sort it and trade unwanted candy with my brother. Now I'm looking at the little three year old dressed up like a monkey that's too shy to tell me if he wants a tootise roll or m&m's and going "I can't wait 'til I have my own little monkey." Of course right after the cute little kid, a bunch of high schoolers whose costume was to rub chocolate sauce all over their bodies and run around the neighborhood in their boxers come to the door, and I realize that parenthood isn't all fun with monkeys.