Evel Has Run Out Of Time

It's official... Evel is dead. After living for what seems like an eternity Evil has finally taken his last leap of faith. I for one am saddened to see that Evel will not make another resurrection.

You see, the first time I saw Evel I was a little lad and I saw him on TV. That very first time he was sitting on top of his shiny stead all dressed in his prized outfit. He looked into the camera at me. He had that come with me and join me look... this is something you want to do. My adrenalin was pumping as I looked at him atop of his mount making the great beast roar. He was having a hard time holding the reins of the beast as he made her roar. At the last moment, he let loose the reins of the beast and started to ride... slowly at first but ever picking up pace.

At the last moment, when there was not a chance to back down Evel made the beast kick up. There was Evel flying through the air on that large Nightmare of a steed. Evel tried to defy gravity, but eventually his steed ran out of power and it hurled back down to Earth like a violent meteor. Evel tried to hold on to his beast from hell but he could not contain it. He was bucked off and he hit the ground hard. I remember seeing Evel fall to the ground and roll endlessly as his steed followed him trying to trample him. In the end, Evel and his steed lay motionless and onlooker rushed to see if he was dead.

That day Evel did not die but today Evel did... Rest in Peace Evel Knievel...

Cars Can Talk?

So what does your car says about you? Personality traits are associated with the type of vehicle and the brand of vehicle you drive. Buying a car embodies more than kicking tires and new-car smell. Cars, according to consumer psychologist Charles Kenny of the research firm The Right Brain People in Cordova, Tenn., are extensions of our personalities. His company's specialty is helping company's understand the "emotional factors that drive consumer decisions." Kenny drives a Dodge Grand Caravan minivan, which he says signifies "nurturance and escape." If you are what you drive, then who the heck are you? Take a look at the table below to find out. (Sacramento Bee)

Body Style
• Minivan: Nurturing and escape
• Sport-utility vehicle: Adventure
• Large SUV: Power and control; a "warrior" mentality
• Hybrid: Character--doing the right thing; fear of judgment
• Convertible: Freedom and independence
• Sports car: Youthful exuberance, rejuvenation
• Four-door sedan: Practicality and nurturing
• Full-size truck: Power and control
• Four-door truck (women): Independence

Color
• Silver: Elegant, loves futuristic looks, cool
• White: Fastidious
• Vibrant red: Sexy, speedy, high-energy and dynamic
• Taupe or light brown: Timeless, basic and simple tastes
• Black: Empowered, not easily manipulated, loves elegance, appreciates classics
• Neutral gray: Sober, corporate, practical, pragmatic
• Sunshine yellow: A sunny disposition, joyful and young at heart
• Orange: Fun-loving, talkative, fickle and trendy
• Deep purple: Creative and individualistic

(Source: "The Color Answer Book")

Timing is Everything

Barry Bonds career is over. The free agent slugger was indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. The maximum sentence carries a 30-year stint in prison and a one million dollar fine. No one in their right mind will vie for the sluggers services this year given the fact that he may be in court or worse yet jail during the baseball season and his typical off the field three-ring circus just got a big top added to it.

This ironic timing of the indictment is that Bonds set the home run record last year. Had the indictment been handed down last year Bonds would have surely not set the record as he was a free agent last year as well and San Francisco would have never given him a one-year contract. Timing is everything.

The question to me now is not if Bonds has used steroid but the bigger question is why.

In the mid to late 80’s I was a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan and Bonds was one of my favorite players he had it all… speed, power, hit for average and carried a gold glove. He was even the MVP in 1992, the last year in Pittsburgh. Following that year he became a free agent signed with the Giants, I lost interest in Barry, as he seemed to jump for the money. Not arguably, he was heading for a hall of fame career when he left the Pirates.

With the Giants, he kept up the torrid pace that he was on and was quickly moving up the all time home run record book. He was so great that in 1998 he was walked intentionally with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning with the basses loaded. Just think about that… how feared of a hitter do you have to be that the opposing manager would rather give up a run then to pitch to you. Just amazing…

In 1999, it seemed that father time was finally catching up to him as his stats started to slide. He played only 102 games and hit only .262 both near the bottom of his then 14-year career.

In the following year his statistics bounced back to form and in 2001 he had a monster year hitting .328 with a major league record 73 home runs and an astounding 177 walks and a .863 slugging percentage. It was also a free agent year and Bonds cashed in to a tune of a five-year $90 million contract. Timing is everything.

So now, we are faced to wonder if Barry thinks it was all worth what he will pay for with the added scrutiny of the media. Say it isn’t so Barry, you had your chance.

Timing was everything.

Mr. Brooks

Talk about left field… this movie is original and has plenty of plot twists to keep you at your seats edge.

Spoiler Alert!!!

The movie follows Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) who is a mild mannered type-a businessman who has a deep secret. The secret is that he is also an addict. He attends AA meetings not because his vice is alcohol but rather because he is cold calculating serial killer.

He is about to commit his last killing when he is accidentally photographed by a voyeur (Dane Cook) who does not want to blackmail him for money but rather to learn and emulate Mr. Brooks. Out to catch him is detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore). Unfortunately, she can not keep her complete focus on the case as a pending divorce as well as an escaped convict that is after her constantly distract her.

There is an interesting addition to the cast. Marshal (William Hurt) is Mr. Brooks alter ego. He helps in the planning and is Mr. Brooks sounding board gone wrong. He tags along on the killings and enjoys the killings even more then Mr. Brooks does. The two of them portray the serial killer perfectly and one wonders if this is actually what goes on in the head of killer.

There are numerous other additions to the plot that help shape the movie. The cast, direction and screen writing are tremendous. A definite must see of this year. Rumor has it that this is only the first of a series. If so, I can’t wait to see the sequel.

Pride

When is pride detrimental to ones well-being? Today I almost found out.

My mom came by our house to visit and to let me look at some of her mail and so that I could help her with completing documents for their health care. To this day when she comes over she will inevitably bring something with her… today it was donuts. She has done this ever since I’ve noticed and I’m sure she will always do this. As we talked, I asked her how she and my dad were doing. She said that my dad didn’t want to come over as he was busy doing gardening. I asked her how they were again and she said “we’re OK.” This is something that she has said to me thousands of times and to this day is her standard generic answer to when I ask her how she is. Typically, she’ll add that her foot or back hurts as well.

Well today was different. As I gave her some pictures of my family she took them and put them in her wallet. I looked and noticed that she didn’t have a dollar in her wallet. I made a comment about that and she pawned it off as she hadn’t gone to the bank yet to cash her check. I looked at her and gave her a twenty that was on the counter and this time she didn’t say like she typically does … no I don’t need that while handing it back to me. This time she folded the bill and tucked it behind the photos I just gave her. I asked her again if she was ok and as she looked at me, her eyes filled with tears. I didn’t say a thing, but I handed her a hundred dollar bill that I had set asides on the counter as well. She took that as well and gave me a hug.

The irony of this is that the hundred-dollar bill has been on the counter ever since my birthday.

My parents gave me that bill for my birthday just six months ago and now I was giving it back to them. She didn’t know that it was the same bill she gave me and I didn’t want to tell her that either. More so, they have never accepted financial help from me and I’m sure what she did today was extremely difficult for her. I’m grateful that her pride didn’t stand in her way of accepting my little offer.

Now I didn't write this so you could think of me of some sort of hero. I wrote this so that the next time you see your parents or grandparents, and ask them how they are… find out really how they are.

Their pride might be standing in their way of telling you.

Completeing the Paperwork

Something to add to the bathroom etiquette file …

Today I had to do a number two real bad and utilized the facilities at work. I went into the stall and laid out that paper thin film of protection down on the seat and did my business. As I was finishing up the paperwork I heard a strange noise coming from the stall to the left of me. I didn’t take notice of it again until I heard the noise a second time. I finished the paperwork as I heard the noise a third time.

It seemed that the guy in the next stall over had fallen asleep and now was in full snoring phase. I delayed the flushing a few moments and listened to him to see if I could clearly hear the snoring… right on cue the guy took another deep breath and snored again.

Here I was at work and the guy next to me was out cold and in full REM mode. I wanted to hang out a few moments to see if he would wake up, but I needed to get to a meeting and didn’t have the time. I know that it was Monday, but I hope he had a good nap so that he didn’t try to go home after work falling asleep at the wheel.

Scratchy goes to Washington

My eldest just got back from Washington with the school class. I’m jealous, as I never got a chance to do that when I was a kid. My wife didn't go as a kid, but went in her early adult life as a chaperone to her younger sister, but I never did.

We almost did a few years back… It was my kids’ spring break (a chance to get away from the snow) and our young family was thinking of something to do with the kids that would be fun and still educational. Like I said… we were a young family and decided to go to the Ashville, North Carolina area for furniture shopping to replace some of the hand me down furniture that we had. I still can remember the circa 1970’s Halloween colored floral print dining room chairs that my mom and dad gave us. Anyways… it was time for some of these things to be replaced. We decided that we were going to go to NC for a weekend and follow that up with five days in Washington exploring the monuments, museums and sights.

We were glad to get away from the Metro area as it was cold and snowy and we were looking forward to see something other then gray skies. We got to Ashville and it was sunny and warm. (Warm being in the low sixties) We had a great weekend in North Carolina shopping at all of their furniture stores and let me tell you there are a lot of them in that area. We eventually picked out a cherry dining room set (that we to this day still own). Sorry for the aside, but if you are looking for furniture you can save between 25 – 50% by going to Ashville. As long as you can wait to get the furniture made and then shipped, you will get a tremendous price break on the furniture. As the weekend progressed, we started to look at the weather for Washington area. We were getting worried as Washington and the whole Northeast was being pounded by a late season snowstorm. We hopped that it would pass away soon.

The snowstorm turned out to be a freakish blizzard and I was worried that the rest of the trip would be shot. We got into the car on the last day and headed towards the freeway. I turned on the radio to listen to the weather (it didn’t change… Washington was now under a blanket of white powdery snow just what we were trying to get away from). My wife asked me what we should do… I turned to her and said what about Florida! We are half way there and it’s not snowing in Florida. She looked at me in disbelief and said we didn’t pack any shorts or bathing suits an all we had was winter clothes. I told her it didn’t matter… we could always stop by a Wal-Mart and get shorts, bathing suits and sun tan lotion. She looked at me and said ok… let’s do it.

We spent the next day driving to Orlando as my wife worked the phone canceling reservations and making new ones. When we got to the Northern part of Georgia, it was turning greener and warmer. We spend the next five days at Disney and even saw a space shuttle launch. (That was the educational part of the vacation).

So, that’s the closest I got to Washington. I hear that the Marine Corp puts on a great marathon in Washington with the course going by most of the sites of the city. Maybe that’s what I’ll need to do.

I Love Pizza

Ok, I’m back from my hibernation and I’ve decide to start bloging again. It's kind of weird that I would pick the following event to retell, but I guess it left an impression.

Several months ago, I heard that China produces a million scientist and engineers per year. I found that to be a staggering number, but I didn’t see how far behind we are until just a few days ago.

I went to the local pizza shop to pick up one of those pizzas that are hot and ready. Anyways, the clerk in attendance greeted me friendly enough and asked how I was enjoying my evening and what I would like. I let him know that I was having a great evening and that I’d like one of the deep dish pizzas that he had hot and ready for me.

He rang it up and told me that it was going to cost $7.42.
I gave him a twenty dollar bill and fifty cents.
He took my money and reached into the cash register to hand me my change.
He said “darn… I’m out of singles.”
I said that I can help him out and handed him another two dollars.
He then handed me a five dollar bill.
I took a moment to try to remember what bill I gave him and asked him what it was.
He looked at the cash register cubbies and said that it was a twenty.
I said right and he gave me a five dollar bill.
He looked up and to the right and he was about to hand me another two dollars.

At this moment the swing shift manager walked up behind him just to evaluate the situation. The clerk looked at me again and said that “I’m sure we can get this resolved correctly.”

I put the five dollars that he handed me back onto the counter.
He then took a few moments to retract the events… he smiled and handed me another five dollars while looking at my facial expression.

I was not amused. I asked him what twenty two fifty minus seven forty-two was.
He looked up and to the left then he looked at the manager and said twelve. I looked at him in disbelief.
I said “you got to be kidding me…. 22 – 7 is what?” And finally he said fifteen as he handed me the difference. I thanked him and as I walked out of the door I said keep the change. (He never did give me the eight cents)

I got home just in time to enjoy an evening with a few my friends and to enjoy the now cold pizza.

Wow… we are in trouble.