Facebook Games?? Me???

For the last few days I've been pretty much hooked on "Margaritaville Online," which is a Facebook adventure game based on Jimmy Buffett's...well, everything!!


I've found it to be quite engaging, and it's got a LOT of things to do.

I got Cathy started on it, too, so that's cool. The only problem is we don't have enough friends playing so we have to do some extra things to get some of the tasks completed. Oh well, doesn't make the game any less fun if you ask me!!!

The Last Two Januaries...

...have been the two lowest posting months on my blog pretty much since I started it.

I wonder what it is about the start of a new year that makes me not really interested in posting on the blog so much?? I know that I've been just kind of "blah" a lot lately, and I don't seem to have much energy. I don't know if that has something to do with it or not, but it's just something I noticed that seems strange.

Graphic Picture...

I'm going to note right now, the picture below might seem kind of graphic. It's Cooper's paw after we have taken the bandage off. You can see the stitches, and it's seeming to heal pretty well. It was a bit difficult getting it off. I'm not sure if it was actually hurting him, or just startling him, but the bandage was stuck to two small spots that when we were removing it we basically had to pull small scabs off. We finally got it all off, though. Now that it's open to the air, it should start healing really well. He wanted to lick it a tad, but I think he was more interested in the fresh blood. I've been watching him, and he just did a good thorough licking of the REST of his paw. Basically all of it that was covered by the bandage, other than the hurt toe...so that's okay.

He's seeming to feel much better. As soon as we took the bandage off, he was walking on the foot a little and barking for treats. I'm happy that he's seeming to be doing so well.

Anyways, below is the picture.

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Dolphin Tale...

Tonight Cathy and I watched "Dolphin Tale," which is the story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin that was trapped in a crab cage and lost her tail. She was taken to an aquarium in Clearwater, Florida where she lives today. Shortly after taking her in, she was fitted with a prosthetic tail, which allows her to swim like a normal dolphin.

Here's a quick Discovery News segment about the actual dolphin.



I know that the movie was pretty "dramatized," but I thought it was really good. One of those movies that makes you feel like you are about to cry for almost the entire thing.

One thing that wasn't dramatized was the dolphin herself. Winter steals the show, and upon first site you can't help but be absolutely amazed by this animal.

Circus!!!!

Today Cathy and I took the day off and went to the Shrine Circus in town.

It ended up costing us $14 total because we had a coupon for a free ticket. We got there and the lines were HUGE. We got in and got some seats, though, and enjoyed the show quite a bit.

We had about an hour and twenty minutes of show time before what we thought was the end. It turned out to just be the intermission, though, so we got a drink and a couple of inflatable animals (what trip to the circus is complete without some inflatable animals?) and waited...and waited.

Turns out the intermission was nearly an hour long. After about 40 minutes, we both decided we were hungry so we ended up leaving before the second part of the show. Cathy heard some people mentioning that the second part of the show wasn't nearly as long as the first, so we don't really think we missed much.

Either way, we had a really good time...and we definitely got our $14 worth out of the tickets.

After that, we headed to Logan's Road House for dinner. It had been AGES since I had been to Logan's, and the dinner was great.

We then headed home. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day. Lots of fun!!

Awesome...

It's a teaser for the Volkswagen Super Bowl Commercial...

New RC Truck...

Well, I got an Amazon gift card for spending a bajillion dollars with my debit card this last year, so I put it to good use.



It's a 1/18th scale Electrix Smash. It's tiny. It's slow. But it's pretty cool.

I ended up ordering some LiPo batteries for it right away, which should liven it up quite a bit. See, it runs stock on 4 AA size batteries, which are going to give it anywhere between 5.2 and about 5.7 volts on a good day...especially with the cheap batteries I had laying around. The LiPo packs will put it up to 8.4 volts, so that alone should make it quite a bit quicker.

I plan on using it to drive around the yard and the street and stuff. It's definitely not designed for a track, but with this I can focus on getting the other cars all set for the track. I have the Circuit, the Boost, and the XT2e for the track...so this little guy will be awesome around the yard!!!

Livid...

I can honestly say that I have NEVER been this upset at the officiating in a football game.

You know, I THOUGHT that the Lions would lose. But the fact that the loss comes not only at the hands of the Saints, but also at one of the poorest examples of officiating I've ever witnessed really makes it seem different.

The Lions should have had a defensive TD on the Drew Brees fumble return, but for whatever reason the play was whistled dead. The Saints got a tick-tack penalty that took what would have been a decently long field goal and made it a chip shot to end the first half. Then to start the second half, on third down and long the Saints got a first down...on a spot that put the ball a good 4.5 feet farther forward than the player had actually gotten. This all goes hand in hand with the Drew Brees "fourth down leap" where he put the ball forward...okay, forward progress...but then dropped the ball while he was being tackled and recovered his own fumble. That nullifies forward progress.

This all doesn't even come close to explaining the amount of blatantly obvious holding calls were not called against the Saints. I'm not talking just holding, either...I'm talking "here, let me bear hug you to the ground" type of holding.

Unbelievable.

Sure, the Lions doomed themselves as well with their inability to tackle and the fact that they couldn't get off of the field on third down...but the refs played MUCH more of a part in this game than they should have. The Lions deserve better.

Paddle Board Is Here...

Over the last few days I have gotten my entire paddle board setup.

I got the board, the paddle, the leash, a new life preserver, the straps to hook it to the roof rack, some pads for the roof rack, and everything that I could possibly need to get into this.

I'm hoping to get a chance to use a board when we're in Hawaii, so that when I get back I don't have to worry about "learning" how to do it.

Now all I've got to do is start working on getting into shape.

The goal is still to do the 9 mile race in Traverse City in August. I can register on March 1st, so I've got that date circled on my calendar.

One quick note...the board is HUGE. I had no idea that it would be as big as it is. I mean, sure, I knew the dimensions, but I guess I just wasn't putting them together right in my head.

I'll try to get some pictures of it up when I get a chance.

Ready for a Vacation...

Is it the first week of March yet??

I'm really...REALLY...ready for a vacation.

Work has been a drag, the drive to work has been a drag, and it seems like all that I do is go to work then come home to wait to go to sleep.

Even our days off these last few weeks have been packed to the point of not even really seeming like days off.

Hopefully this coming weekend for us we get to finally get some relaxation time in. I could definitely use it.

But anyways...March can't come soon enough...

Tintin...

Tonight, Cathy and I went to see "The Adventures of Tintin."

I had read that it was pretty good, and it was getting good reviews. We wanted to go see it last week on our days off, but thought better of it when we realized how busy it would be.

I will keep this post short, and just mention that I really enjoyed the movie. The story was solid and the voice acting was great, but the star of the show was clearly the animation. There were times when I forgot I was watching an animated movie...it was that good.

We did see it in 3D, and I thought the 3D presentation of it was very good. It didn't seem to lose anything with the 3D, and it used it rather subtly.

Victory for MSU!!!!

Today the Spartans dug themselves a pretty huge hole. Down 16-0 at the half, with less than 80 yards of offense, they looked to me like they were getting ready to lay down and take a whipping similar to last year's bowl game debacle. I watched the first drive of the second half, and when it ended the way that pretty much every drive of the first half ended, I changed the channel and started watching the NHL Winter Classic.

But then something funny happened. Somehow, the Spartans decided that they knew how to play football. They moved the ball after an interception and got on the board. The two point conversion made it 16-8. A few plays later, a pick six with a missed two point conversion made it 16-14.

I turned the game back on. I watched Georgia move down and put a field goal on the board to go up 19-14. Then I watched the Spartans take about a minute and a half to get themselves another TD and take a 20-14 lead after another failed two point attempt.

That lead would last about a minute and a half itself, as Georgia walked right down the field to score again. Their two point conversion was good, and set up a 27-20 lead.

On the Spartans next drive, quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a pick that I thought would end the game. But the defense stepped up and forced a punt, giving the Spartans one last chance at a drive to tie it up.

With just under two minutes to play, the Spartans took 1:36 to move the ball 85 yards and cap it with a touchdown for the tie. On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia took a knee to head to overtime.

As the teams were getting ready for overtime, the Spartans were visibly hyped up, and Georgia looked a bit tired.

Georgia won the toss and gave State the ball to start. Cousins promptly threw an interception. Game over, right?? Not today...

The Michigan State defense stepped up, again, and held the Bulldogs to zero yard on their possession, and then the field goal was wide right. On the next series, the Bulldogs again did nothing with the ball, but this time hit a field goal.

Now the Spartans take over, and Cousins throws ANOTHER pass right into a Bulldog's hands, but this time the interception wasn't made, the ball was dropped. State moved the ball a few yards and ended up settling for a field goal themselves.

On to overtime number three. The Spartans started with the ball and moved it seven yards before kicking a field goal for a 33-30 lead.

The ball then goes over to Georgia, who ends up throwing a ball right into a Michigan State player's helmet...he tips the ball, but doesn't end up getting the pick. At this point, I figured that Georgia had just dodged their bullet, and they would end up with a TD on the drive for a win...but I was wrong. State's defense stepped up again, and after a loss of four yards on the drive Georgia would have to settle for another field goal attempt.

Blocked.

Today, Michigan State survived a scare and won a bowl game for the first time in over a decade. They ushered their seniors out with Coach Dantonio's first bowl win for the Spartans, and gave their fans something that they had wanted for a LONG time.

I said at the start of the season, it's one thing to go to bowl games every year...but at some point you need to start winning them. This year they did that.

Let's hope that they can continue this trend.

Resolutions for 2012...

I know, I know.

Resolutions.

Why even make them, right?? Very rarely does someone actually stick with the resolutions that they make. But I guess that old stop smoking ad of "Never Quit Quitting" kind of takes effect, right?? Even if you quit the resolutions, never stop making them and trying.

So to that end, let's go ahead and get some resolutions going here.

1. I want to run the 9 mile Down Winder race at the 2012 Traverse City Waterman competition. I've purchased a paddle board and all the gear, now all I need to do is get training so that come August I'm in good enough shape to do it.

2. Speaking of getting in shape, I want to lose weight. But I don't want to lose weight. I simply want to be more healthy. I'm guessing that by just trying to be more healthy, instead of watching my weight, I'll actually start losing weight. So I'm going with "be more healthy."

3. I want to have the time of my life 4,373 miles away from home.

4. I want to continue having a great time with my wife and pet family.

So, hopefully, these four simple resolutions will be something that I can work towards. I hope to complete them all. Luckily, two of them are easy...3 and 4. The other two tie together pretty well, so I'll be working the hardest towards those two things.

Wish me luck.

New Year's Eve...

For New Year's Eve this year, Cathy and I actually decided to be social.

We have a friend at work who started a few months ago. Her name is Jamie Lee. She invited us over to her in-law's house for the night just to hang out and have some food and play some games. We decided to actually go.

When we got there, there were already quite a few people there, but even more showed up after us. We ended up playing cards for a while, then switched to another board game.

All in all, it was actually a pretty good time. We ended up leaving shortly after 12:30 because we had been up all day and we had to go to work again the next day.

But, I'm glad we went. We don't get to get out too much, so it was fun to actually go out with a friend for a change!!