S. P. I. T. N.

Wow, I didn't see this coming. This weeks loogy is (drum roll please) Mainstreamem Media.

Who would have thought that JonBonekillers's DNA wouldn't match the guy who said he did it... think... think... think.

Eureka, I think I did just a few weeks ago when this nut job confessed. And sorry, your 15 minutes of fame is not going to be extended on this blog.

So, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, BBC, NBC, CBC, FOX, etc., this loogy is for you.

Hello... My Name is Trapper John

That’s right… the big man has caught his first vermin and at this rate I will have enough for a fur coat well before the first frost.

I used ol’ reliable similar to the contraption below to bring an end to the little fella. I don’t know exactly when the eradication occurred, but was contacted at work to get home quick so that I can get rid of the evidence. I haven’t decided on what to do with it yet, maybe you guys can help.

1. Stuff it and place it at the end of my driveway so that any other mouse will see their fate if they tread on these hollowed grounds.

2. Mount and hang it from the wall.

3. Complete the circle of life.

4. Utilize the catch and release program. Unfortunately, let’s just say that he won’t be able to get very far.

Of Mice and Men

There’s a mouse in our house… at least that’s what the woman folk said. As you may recall, I am in charge of any killing that goes on in this part of the world so I was told to go downstairs and eradicate the little fella. I looked around and didn’t see it, but I’m sure that it is there as there has been two eye witnesses to the lurker. So, out he (or could it be a she) must go.

Off course, my eldest thinks that we should be humane in the eradication of the wildlife. My wife agreed and bought two live traps so that we could release the four-legged friend in the wild. (I’m sure later to be eaten by a predator)

We tried for about a week to catch the “little guy” with no avail. I agree that there must be something cruising around the house as this guy is either a professional thief or has got to be the luckiest mouse around. The live traps have been triggered several times without any success. He was even lucky enough to steal a piece of cheese and was not captured by the so-called better mouse trap.

Therefore, after a week of trying it their way ol’ reliable is back out and is ready to terminate the vermin. Stay tuned as Wild Kingdom II goes into overdrive with some heavy-duty violence.

Front Page Friday

This week it is the Detroit News....

Job 1: Reinvent Ford – Big news out of Dearborn this Friday is that Bill Ford is seriously thinking of reinventing how the Ford business model. In the possible works is a merger with Nissan-Renault, or selling off some of the luxury business units like Jaguar, Land Rover and Lincoln to former CEO Jacques Nasser, and third is that Ford my remove itself from the NYSE and privatize the company. All three options will change how Ford will do business in the future.

More Schools Flunk – With so much more tax money being invested in our schools, how is it that even more schools are on this list? In 2004 there where 297 schools on the list of school not making the grade. The following year the number of substandard schools rose to 436 and this year 544 schools did not make the minimum standards. An interesting tie in to this article is that the City of Detroit teachers association is threatening to go on strike this year because their wages are below other area school districts. To this I would respond with what makes these teachers think that they are worth as much as the other school districts. It can’t be because of the outstanding scholastic achievement of their students, as 102 schools in the City of Detroit school district (nearly half) did not meet the Federal requirements. A spokesperson for the district blames the poor results on the movement of the tests from the winter to the fall. Sorry to say this but other school district had the same issue. Good luck… try again next year.

Morning-after pill OK revives debate – The USFDA approved the over the counter sale of the morning after pill and is making it available to adults without a prescription by the end of the year. Both sides of the issue spoke up about the pill as some see it as a progress for women’s health and some see it as a form of abortion. I do not think it is an abortion if the pill prevents a woman from becoming pregnant. It is a form of birth control similar to the pill.

7-Eleven Clerk is killed over taco – I know things are not as sunny as it could be, but killing someone over a taco has to be a new low. What kind of argument could lead to this? Was the assailant mad that there was no taco sauce left? Did he want a burrito instead? Did he find a bug in his taco? We’ll only know when the killer is caught and the mystery is answered.

Pluto Declassified as Planet – Boy, I wound not be surprised if the Plutions are real upset at us this morning… first we name a goofy dog after their home planet and now a bunch of mad scientists go out and decide that their planet is… errr… not a planet. What next, are we going to send the supreme ruler of the Lil Plutions an email telling them that they need to take their little planet out of the Solar System? I understand that there are bigger planets to devote more time to like Neptune and Uranus, but I think we need to reconsider this. We need to have these so-called scientists get their heads out of Uranus and see that their decision can only start a huge inter-planetary war. Where are we going to recruit more Astronauts to combat these Lil Plutions? San Francisco?

Date night!

My wife and I had a REAL date last night. It has been years since we went out together without the kids. Last time we did this we spent the evening looking at flooring for the living room… I know… that was real romantic.

So last night we decided that we would make sure that we didn’t look at floor covering. Hate to say it, but we still managed to go to Home Depot (I am putting in a ceiling fan today and needed some parts). At least this time we didn’t spend the who evening looking at floors.

Our choices were to go to the movies, or go to dinner and pick up a movie. The only thing that was out at the shows that we both wanted to see was Talladega Nights. I like Will Farrell’s style of comedy. Maybe it’s the Three Stooges slapstick element that I found so funny in my youth.

We didn’t go to the movies but we picked out a few to at at Blookbusters. New to the collection are War of the Worlds and Walk the Line. I know War of the Worlds has Tom Cruise in it, but it is amazing how many of the movies he is in that I like. There must be something to this Scientology thing, or he is the luckiest man alive, because in every movie that he is in he usually stinks and overacts. (I’ll give you a synopsis of the movie if we ever see it)

Getting back to the date… since we decided to go out to dinner instead, we were cruising for a new place to go. She suggested Shiro, this is a French Sushi bar in town (it comes highly recommended by several of our friends). Now there are a few things wrong with this place… Sushi implies raw fish. Now there is only one thing I like worse then fish and that is raw fish. Next, it is French cuisine. To me this means overpriced and lack of food. I voted it down post haste. Other places were we either looked and or stopped in: Don's of Traverse City, Kim's Gardens, Mongolian Barbeque, The Bamboo Club, Buffalo Wild Wings. All great places to go, but it must have been teen night out as all the places were packed still at 9 o’clock with over a half hour of waiting and we were getting hungry. Therefore, we wound up at The Olive Garden. No waiting and she still got the fish that she wanted and I didn’t.

After dinner and some great conversation, we went home for the movie. We watched Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in the title roles. All I can say is that I can see why it garnered so much attention prior to the Oscars. It is a really well acted movie with exceptional dialog between the starts. Another thing that was refreshing is that I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie that had no swearing and nudity or sex in it.

I am not a Johnny or June Cash fan but I still found the movie compelling and give a lot of credit to both Joaquin and Reese for singing their own songs.

Overall, I give it an 8 out of 10.

Front Page Friday

I am going to try to start to do something unusual for me... I will start to give a compilation of what is on the front page of the local paper as well some of my personal insight on the headlines of the day. Onto the headlines....

Cruisers Gone Wild - It's Woodward Dream Cruise Weekend and all up and down Woodward Avenue there will be all kinds of old sheet metal rolling on the road. Don't get me wrong, I work in the car business and love to look at these fine automobiles, but to hear some of the chatter around work; you would think that Elvis is going to come back from the dead and ride up and down Woodward in his Pink Cadillac. I can't tell you how many conversations I've overheard where the theme of the discussion is what they will drive this weekend, where they are going to drive, who they want to race, etc. This thing is getting crazy. Every year the Woodward Dream Cruise gets bigger and bigger and seems to start earlier in the week.

Bush Wiretaps Illegal - If it is illegal, I am all for changing the law. This is the cell phone transmissions that are going to and from known terrorist or terrorist rich areas. If you think that the government is sitting there listening to me and my wife talk about what time I'm going to be home at so she can start dinner, you've got another thing comming. The NSA doesn't care that I will be home at 6 o'clock and that we are going to have leftovers. They are after the bad guys who are trying to kill us.....

Metro Area Homes Prices Tumble 8% - I've seen this happen first hand; a neighbor of mine has had his second house for sale for almost a year and a half and his asking price then to now has decreased 18%. What is causing this? My theory is that what is affecting this is the Tech Bubble Burst. There are more people that can't afford their current homes that they now live in. These houses are not your $100 - 150K houses... they are the $300K - $750K variety. These homes are staying on the market for a long time. There just isn't as many people who can afford this kind of house and the ones that do will build their own dream home. The longer these homes stay on the market the more people are willing to cut the price of the house so they can move to someplace more in line with the current means.

JonBonet's Murder, Did He Do It? - Of course not... he said that he was there when the death occurred and it was an accident. Maybe he should have said, I was sick of eating dog and sleeping in fear, and being the personal friend of my cellmate (Sum Yung Guy). Wouldn't you come up with a way to get out of Thailand if you could? Just think of it. He comes back to the Good Ol' USA where he is now infamous, and he gets treated like a rock star. He gets three square meals while he is being held in prison, and if they don't convict him, he will walk away from it all going back to his home in Colorado or wherever he is from.

"Snakes on a Plane" - I can't believe that this movie has been making this kind of splash prior to anyone having seen it. The amount of internet discussion topics on this movie is astounding. I predict it's going to be a flop. I mean it's about Snakes... err... on a Plane.
Could you imagine if some of the movie classics were actually about their titles? Let's see...
Let's take Star Wars... It's about Stars at War... Just think of it... Harrison Ford vs. Tom Cruise at war with each other. Forget the WWF this would be much better.
Silence of the Lambs - It's about Lambs being quiet.
Goodfellas - It's about good ol' boys.
The Maltese Falcon - It's about a Falcon from Malta.
Sin City - It's about Vegas... What goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Raging Bull - It's about a really mad cow.
Seven - It's about the number seven... brought to you by the letters h and y.
Million Dollar Baby - It's about Paris Hilton
The Wild Bunch - It's about the Brady Girls during Spring Break.
The Deer Hunter - It's about a guy from Michigan going hunting.
Das Boot - It's about a pair of German boots.
Die Hard - It's a... err... porn movie.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - It's about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid... Oh wait that is what it's about.

That's about it for my first installment... comment if you liked it or want to add a movie to the list.