Behemoth Droppings

This year is going to be a busy year!
This year is going to be a stressful year!!
This year is going to be a great year!!!

Remember I said that, especially the second one. What a year 2010 is shaping up to be. It started with Leslie’s car. We knew it wouldn’t be long before she needed a new one, but we didn’t think it would happen now. I had to get the front differential on her car replaced last year. Less than a year later, the 4wd went out again. I took it in and had it fixed (the part was under warranty), and the very next day after we got the car back it broke again. Turns out her Tracker had “design flaws”, and to fix it a lot more than the differential had to be replaced. I didn’t think it was worth it, so we went out and bought her a new Kia Rondo. She’s happy now!

Next up is our big family vacation. We are heading to Disney World in 5 days and will be spending the full week at Port Orleans – Riverside! It’ll be a blast and the first of two big vacations for us. I’m looking forward to the 70 degree weather, that’s for sure!!

Later in the year we will also be taking a vacation to Gatlinburg with my family. This will be the first time in a long time that my family will be getting together for a vacation. I had originally planned this vacation as an outing with friends last year, but those plans fell through…twice. Instead of rescheduling I thought it would be a great opportunity for a family vacation. It’ll be a blast, and I’m sure we will be needing this one come June!

And the big kicker…we may be getting a new house. Well, I wouldn’t say new…but we may be upgrading to another house. I’ll have more details about this later.

So there you have it. A lot of big plans crammed into one year. Actually, they will probably all be crammed into 6 months! 2010 should definitely be an exciting year for us, and hopefully we don’t hit any unexpected bumps along the way.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Take time to realize what we really should be thankful for, and then enjoy the food, family, and football!!

And you knew these were coming:

Leslie and I awoke this morning to a pretty big boom that shook our whole house. We had no idea what it was until we got up and looked outside. At our next-door neighbor’s house, there were several fire trucks, police cars, and an ambulance. As we gathered our senses we discovered that their house had burnt.

The initial report was that an oxygen tank of the elderly lady that lived their had exploded and injured a firefighter. They also said the lady had minor burns and was taken to the hospital. I later found out there were two firefighters hurt in the explosion, but that they are going to be OK. The elderly lady, however, had been suffering from lung cancer and passed away at the hospital. Her son, who lives with her, got out without any harm. Please keep this family in your prayers. I couldn’t imagine what they must be going through.

This post is just to say thanks to all the troops who have served, or are serving, their country. Especially a big thanks to my big bro Capt. Charles (Chuck) Hill, commander 223rd MP Co., who has served two tours in Iraq.

Throughout the year we take for granted the sacrifices our troops make. At least on this day, take the time to remember those that have fallen in battle and say thanks to those who served and came home.

Dear Rich Brooks,

Mike Hartline still sucks. Despite all your off-season gibberish about how he has improved, he has only looked half-way decent against one team. And that team is worse than some high-school teams I have watched. He isn’t accurate, he can’t throw the long ball, and watching him scramble out of the pocket and try to make a decision is the most painful thing in all of sports to watch. Please, make a change!

Dear Joker Phillips,

We only throw the ball down the field after we are behind by 20 points? Really?!? The announcer said you and Rich are happy to gain 2 yards on first down, 2 yards on second down, and have a manageable 3rd down. 3rd and 6 is manageable? Really?!? Really-really?!? With our offense?

OK, I’m done…at least I had the game DVR’d and could fast forward. Man, this is gonna be a long season. I can’t wait for basketball!!

Well, the Bungals season has started, and it seems like every other year since Mike Brown has taken over the Bengals. Here is an excerpt from WhoDeyRevolution that pretty much sums it up:

Bengals Futility – By The Numbers

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18 – Years since the Bengals have won a playoff game

0 – Total number of playoff wins in Mike Brown’s tenure as owner

.349 – Bengals regular season winning percentage since Mike Brown took over as owner (101-187-1 in 18 seasons)

19-34-1 – Record since 2005 playoff game vs Steelers

6 – Seasons the Bengals have lost their first six games since 1991. No other team has more than two.

0 – Teams North of Cincinnati without an indoor practice facility

10 – Players arrested in a 14 month span from 2005-2006

32 – Mike Brown’s ranking, out of 32, of the “Best Owners in the NFL” by Michael Silver of Sports Illustrated in 2007

458,000,000 – Amount, in dollars, that Hamilton County Taxpayers paid to build PBS

2032 – Year that Hamilton County will have finally paid off its debt on the stadium deal

3 – Total number of non-clerical employees employed in the Bengals scouting department, lowest in the league

747,000,000 – Amount, in dollars, paid in free agency by the Bengals from 1994 – 2005, second worst of all 28 teams in existence for the duration, behind only Arizona

118 – Ranking, out of 118 professional teams, of the “Worst Franchises” in professional sports, as ranked by ESPN the Magazine in 2003.

97 – Ranking, out of 98 general managers in all four major sports with three or more years of experience, of Mike Brown’s performance as a GM, as ranked by Forbes in 2007.

In light of the recent embarrassment that has happened in the NY senate (if you don’t know, the democrats refused to stand during The Pledge of Allegiance), and since it is Independence Day weekend, I felt it was a great time to post an American classic from Red Skelton. In these times we need to stand together, as Americans! I hope everyone has a great Independence Day!!

“America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” – Joseph Stalin

Since it was time to get new cell phones, I decided I wanted a “smart” phone. Since we are on the Verizon Network, and aren’t going to switch for several reasons, I was pretty much looking at Blackberries. Based on price and reviews, I decided to go with the Curve 8330. I’ve had the phone for a little while now, so I’ve had time to get a good feel for it. While it took a while to get used to a larger cell phone, I don’t think I can ever see myself with anything other than a Blackberry.

This thing is so cool. Just like any other smart phone, you can download a ton of applications that do really cool things. My favorites so far have been Viigo (an RSS reader, that just added podcasts!!), the Facebook app, and Bolt (a Java browser). I’m kinda glad I didn’t go for the touch screen, at least for now. The trackball is awesome for navigating around, especially when browsing the web. Plus I didn’t like all the smudges that came from touching the screen. I think next time around, I’ll probably get whatever touch version of the Blackberry is available, but for now I am quite happy with my phone.

Now, with that said there is one problem I have, however. The problem is not with the phone, but with the provider. Verizon has, for some reason, decided that they needed to lock the GPS by using firmware installed on their phones. The Curve has a built in GPS, but Verizon has it disabled except for using BBmaps, or paying for their VZNavigator service. I feel, besides being extremely frustrating, that this is illegal. They are blocking a built in function of the phone to force people to buy their service. What angers me even more is that there is a free golf app called BBGPSGOLF, but I can’t use it because Verizon has the GPS disabled. This app will let you download a course and use GPS to give you the yards to the green and cup. It will also recommend a club based on the clubs you enter and the yards to the green. To get around it, I plan on buying a Bluetooth GPS Puck, but I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet.

Bottom line…I love this phone!!!

WOW!! That’s about all I can say. I went in hearing that it was supposed to be good, but I was cautiously optimistic. This movie is absolutely AMAZING. Best movie I’ve seen in a looong time!! Leslie and I are planning on going back and seeing it in the theater again. The casting was perfect, the writing was awesome, and they even through in a few jokes for the trekkies! This might be the best Star Trek movie ever!

If your going to see one move this summer, make it Star Trek.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist saying that

Well, I’m back out in Utah for the second of my four business trips. Last time I really didn’t do any sightseeing, so I’m going to try and do a little this time around. The last time I was here I noticed a road heading up into the mountains and thought it would be neat to drive it, so on my trip from the airport to the hotel I just headed up it. It’s amazing how steep that road is. It’s even more amazing how they have houses up on the side of the mountain!! They have an amazing view, but no yards. And I wouldn’t want to try and get down the hill (or up it) with snow on the ground!!

Anyway, I just wanted to show a couple of pictures I took with my phone. Geeze, you would think I’d be smart enough to bring my camera. Oh well, maybe next time!!