We love the movies

A former roommate of mine was in college was a film minor. One of his film classes was about recent movies and he had this book about the most influential filmmakers of the 1970’s. The book only talked about four filmmakers, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. It is really hard to look at that list and argue with it. We would then try and discuss come up with our list for the 80’s and 90’s, it was a lot of fun. This conversation actually carried over to my wife and I from time. One thing we did alter was the number from four to five, four just seems like an odd number.

70’s
Francis Ford Coppola
Martin Scorsese
Steven Spielberg
George Lucas
Richard Donner – My wife would argue Woody Allen and that is a very valid argument. Woody didn’t make me believe a man could fly and Donner did, so he wins.

80’s
Steven Spielberg
John Hughes
Oliver Stone
Tim Burton
Robert Zemeckis
Honorable Mention to James Cameron and Tony Scott
Richard Donner, John McTiernan, or Martin Brest would get in there, they did influence a lot of movies. I just can’t put them in there because they influenced a lot of awful movies.

90’s
Steven Spielberg
James Cameron
Quentin Tarantino
Andy and Larry Wachowski
John Lassiter
Honorable Mention to David Fincher and Jonathan Demme

2000’s – I know we aren’t done yet but we’re halfway there.
Clint Eastwood
Peter Jackson
Sam Raimi
Chris Columbus
Ridley Scott
Might make my list with more work, Brad Bird, Christopher Nolan, or Bryan Singer

Yes my wife and I are dorks and watch too many movies.

Two Days till I leave for Pittsburgh
Four Days till I’m at the game
14 days till I’m in Vegas.
What a month!

5 Days to Go

Sports losses don’t upset me. I guess some of that has to do with losing five AFC Championship games at home and of course the debacle that is the 1996 World Series. Am I happier when my team wins, of course I am. I just don’t get upset when they lose. This has been a really bad week for Team Trevor though. Florida won, Mets get Wagner and Delgado, and then the drumming by the hands of Peyton and the Colts. Tis life I guess.

The D really impressed me last night, not counting the 80 yard opening play disaster, at least compared to in the past. Since the days of Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake the Steelers haven’t had a very good pass defense. The young DBs are going to be good, right now they’re young so they’re going to make mistakes, more so with the aggressive style of play the Steelers use.

Maybe if they minimize the mistakes like don’t give up the bomb to Harrison, miss the field goal to tie it and give up momentum, throw the pick and penalty to give up a last second field goal in the first half, try the dumb onsides kick thing (love ya Cowher but that was dumb), or any of the dumb penalties they might have had a chance to, um nope Indy still wins. They’re just the best team in football.

None of that matters though, this week is a huge game. Win this weekend and we have the lead over Cincy, lose this week and it will be hard to make the playoffs. Good thing I’m going to be at Heinz Field on Sunday, oh I can’t wait.

Happy Thanksgiving

From my family to yours,

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

A Russian, his dog, Disney, and me

I had a true Pavlovian moment this weekend. I’m riding the Disney tram from the shopping village to the exit near the hotel I’m staying at. I get on the tram and I’m just hit with a huge sense of happiness and anticipation. So I sit there and think why. I’m just going back to the hotel and to a snoring JDub and about four hours of sleep before having to navigate LA traffic and take a cross country flight and possibly be stuck in coach for that flight, ick. Why am I happy and anticipating being even happier. Now one could think that it is because I’m about 20 hours from seeing my family, I just saw a pretty good Harry Potter movie, or even that the hard work of a con was over. I did miss my family and was very happy to get back to see them, Harry Potter was really good, and it was great the con was over.

It wasn’t any of those things, it was almost a surreal moment. I sit there wondering what it was and I put my hands down on the seat and it all becomes clear, almost like the car commercial where the guy puts his hand on the car and is transported through all sorts of different imagery. I put my hand down on the sandpaper-like seats and it hits me. These are the same type trams Disney has used at both Disney World and Disneyland since as long as I’ve ever gone to the parks. I vividly remember some of the many countless times I went to Disney World with my mom, the few times with the whole family, the time with my aunt and my brother, the once or twice with friends, the school trips, all with such happiness and anticipation. This was the tram that brought you to the happiest place on earth and you were almost there. I also remember the family trip to bury my grandfather and stopping as a much needed release. That trip also marked Emily’s first trip to the Magic Kingdom, I still remember the smile on her face when she realized we were actually going to where Mickey Mouse and the Princesses lived.

We’ve since been able to take her to Disney World again and even to Disneyland. Both of those trips were this year and absolutely made her world. Many people don’t like Disney for whatever reason, not me, I love Disney. Either what it means to my daughter, the great times my wife remembers despite her tumultuous childhood, to my many great memories, to the ones the three of us are still going to make, it truly is a Magic Kingdom.

Mmm...pie

Last day of work before Thanksgiving and you know what that means? Yes that is correct, chocolate chip pie. It is an annual tradition of mine to bring one of these marvelous creations to work and share the love. Most people scoff at the notion of chocolate chip pie, then you have a piece and realize its greatness. I can even smell it baking now :)

Santa Claus

I love playing Santa, it is a blast. It is even better when your child thinks it is impossible for her to get something and you can get it. She wanted a few things from Disneyland and knows they can only be purchased from Disneyland. A nice business trip to Anaheim and now Santa has a few Disneyland exclusive presents. Times like this are why being a dad is great.

Back from California

Well JDub and I are back from Los Angeles and GenCon So Cal. It was a pretty good trip and I’m sure I will blog about it this week. Good to be home.

Catchers can't move runners over

So I'm packing and Major League is on. This is one of my absolute favorite baseball movies, I just love it. It's at the end of the movie, Willie Mays Hayes, courtesy of Wesley Snipes not Omar Epps, is on second. Jake Taylor is the next batter up. Now here is my problem, what is Jake Taylor, your out of shape, old, worn down catcher, doing hitting second. That just doesn't make any sense, just no sense at all. Obviously the movie is set up to allow Tom Berenger's Jake Taylor to be the hero (Charlie Sheen's Rick Vaughn also pitching in top half of the ninth inning) but come on, old washed up catchers with bad knees don't hit second.

Game Time

I leave for Los Angeles in about 12 hours or so. I'm really torn about travel for work. In one regard I really do love to travel. I love to see different parts of the country or world. Traveling for work is even better, everything is paid for by the company. I love doing the convention thing also, it is something I've paid my own money to do, I just like the geek thing. The convention thing also provides the chance to show off the the public, it is game time. I work all year planning events like these, now I get to go meet the public and see them enjoy something I've worked really hard to plan and create.

The downside to work travel is that I get to spend less time with my family. I really don't like to leave my family for long periods of time. I've worked away from home on three different jobs now, it just doesn't get any easier. They both understand it and we all are to the point where it is just a part of life. It is really nice that I travel just enough to earn travel rewards equal to a nice trip once a year or so. It isn't enough travel however to make me miss that much time, I only take about ten trips a year or so, not that much time away from home.

This trip is to GenCon So Cal, not really the best show of them all but it is decent show. GenCon runs a solid show, they aren't mismanaged or anything and it is in Anaheim, can't beat that.

This show is also just JDub and I in terms of company employees. We do have the big three (as they're called around the office) volunteers to make life that much easier on us. Traveling with JDub is lots of fun, we work really well together and have a good time at shows. There is a great story about the last time we were the only two traveling.

JDub, Triple G, and I were going out to dinner in Chicago, there was a highly recommended deep dish place and we were all excited about checking it out. JDub and I were on one end of the hallway with Triple G's room on the other. I walk down to get Triple G but JDub either forgot something in our room or was just running late. So I'm about 30 feet ahead of JDub and have already knocked on Triple G's door when JDub decides to do his brilliant maneuver. JDub decides to run down the hallway, for whatever reason all three of us are still wondering including JDub himself. He is taking huge steps, making all sorts of noise running down the hall. Triple G can even hear him in his room and hurries to see what the noise was. Well in mid-stride poor JDub loses his shoe. That of course causes JDub to lose his balance, fall, and start to roll. The cheap carpet in the hallway of the Double Tree mixed with the fact he was running actually causes JDub some injuries. Despite feeling bad for JDub's misfortune, Triple G and I can't stop laughing, it was just damn funny. Picture JDub rolling on the ground, stumbling to get up, and his shoe 10 feet behind him, I'm even laughing writing about it.

Gotta love conventions. If you can make it to GenCon SoCal I hope to see you there, maybe we can get a game in.

34-21

The score pretty much sums it up. Beating the Browns by one point is usually enough in my book but completely owning them is much better. The game wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. The Browns and the Ravens lost and the Steelers won all on the same day, doesn’t get much better than that.

Congratulations Hines Ward for becoming the All-Time Steelers receiver. Of course that just shows how little the Steelers have passed in their history. Way to go Hines.

This also means it is less than three weeks until my trip to Heinz Field, I can't wait!

Sundays in fall, not much better

Observations from a laid back Sunday afternoon.

NFL Sunday Ticket is expensive but oh so worth it
Gus Frerotte is should not be a starter in the NFL
If Dominic Davis ran like a Denver running back, one cut and forward, he would probably have an 30 extra yards
Chris Chambers dropped a lot of catch-able footballs
This just in, Peyton is good
I should never change my picks on Sunday morning, those are usually my incorrect ones
Chris Chambers complains a lot about potential penalties, even more than he drops passes
CBS really likes Gary Hogeboom, if he wins the fix is on
Michael Irvin should not be anywhere near ESPN much less have them pay him to be on it
Minnesota will end up with too many wins to allow them to get Reggie Bush, sorry Karzender
Pace makes some good salsa
To be good in the NFL you need to win the games you’re supposed to win, sorry Eli
Why is Tedi Bruschi playing football again, much less this year
Killian’s tasted better when I was younger, it must have
Always a good day when the Ravens lose

At least the food was good

It takes over five minutes to take my order, tis life, that happens.
It takes over ten minutes to bring my drinks the order is taken, again things sometimes happen.
Two of the three drink orders are wrong, not sure how that works when you’ve wrote them down and it was a coke, a tea, and a kids sprite, still mistakes happen.
The people sat behind us that were seated about ten minutes after us and outnumber us five to three get their order first, by about five minutes, maybe their pulled pork cooked quicker than ours.

Mix all that together, don’t expect much of a tip. At least the food was good.

Bring on the Puppy Dogs!

What an odd week. Whenever I’ve thought about football and I do work at a company with an NFL license so football conversations come up a lot. So whenever I’ve thought about football this week and the Steelers specifically I’ve just thought the injuries and the impact of the injuries. With Cheese Head’s team as an example, injuries can make losses pile up for even the best of teams. Currently the Steelers have plenty of injuries the most important of which being 18-1 (19-2) and the NFL’s top rated passer Ben Roethlisberger. Random other injuries to key players will either limit their play or keep them out all together on Sunday all together. None of that matters, this week shouldn’t have been worrying or focusing on the injuries, it should have been about the Cleveland Browns. The most dreaded team of them all is coming to Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Since the Puppy Dogs reentered the league in 1999 with a 43-0 demolishing at the hands of the Steelers are 9-3 against them. The Steelers have swept them three times and split the season series three times. Even with Charlie Batch I’m sure the Steelers have enough to overcome the Browns.

Happy Veteran's Day

If you know a veteran say thanks, if you are a veteran thanks.

Mama don't let your kids grow up to be...game company employees?

Part one of my many part rant about not doing your hobby as a job. I won't touch on it often and it really is superficial. It is surprising how often things do come up that I really used to enjoy that I know view as a chore or even something I despise. I do love my job but sometimes doing something just pisses me off, something like...

Sorting Cards.

I used to like sorting cards, not hours on end mind you, but I liked sorting cards. It was fun to go through my collection and put them in whatever order they needed to be in. Now I sort cards, my cards, my jobs cards, cards for prizes, whatever, and it isn't fun, just not fun. I don't mind it per se, I just don't like it. I guess after sorting the entire run of promos for many, many different sets for more hours than I care to remember will do that to you.

Happy Release Day

Our first expansion, second product, was released today. It has been a great time working here. It has been a lot more work and challenges that I thought it would be. This company is actually a pretty large company and they’ve printed trading cards for over 10 years. I just assumed they were more prepared for getting into this industry and having a trading card game infrastructure than they did when I started in February. It just goes to show what happens when you assume. One thing that is always in front of me is that 95% of what I’m do is setting a standard or creating the programs for this company. How many times have you followed behind someone and wondered “why on earth did so and so do things this way”. It is constantly in the back of my mind, the only person I’m going to have to blame if this doesn’t work is me. Hopefully I’m doing it correctly, I believe that I am, that we are as an infant division in a large company. I’ve worked with some of the best people in this industry and I like to think I’ve learned from them, both the good and the bad. So hears to our second release!

I guess they deserve Hummers

If the vice detectives in Miami needed Ferraris then of course the CSI’s need Hummers.

Go Panthers!

I thought about not commenting on it but I realized I have to comment, I’m just required. I mean come on, how cool is Charlotte, what a great place to live and root for football. I’ve never heard of this happening in Atlanta and I was younger when I lived in Atlanta so I was definitely on the look out for something like this. I’m sure something like this happened in Athens, it was a college town after all and there is always a little experimenting going on. The Dawgs just started their return to ranks of good football teams when I lived there, so they didn’t get the national exposure needed for it to be a story. Norfolk is a military town so there is don’t ask, don’t tell not to mention they actually didn’t have a football team.

How lucky is it for us football fans here in Charlotte, not only are we one of the 31 lucky cities to have an NFL team, we actually have a winning team. The Carolina Panthers’ record now stands at 6-2, first in the NFC, two seasons ago this same team went to the Super Bowl and lost to that Tom Brady guy (f that guy). So here we are with this solid football team to root for, what else could you ask for? That’s right, cheerleaders getting arrested while having sex with each other in a bar. Two Carolina Panthers girl cheerleaders (this story isn’t fun if it is coed squad) were arrested in Tampa Bay after having sex in the bathroom. It is like a Budweiser or Miller Light commercial only it really happened. How great is that, it is every football fan’s dream.

The moral of the story, well one male football fans are pigs and two next time two cheerleaders want to have sex do it in the men’s room, not the women’s room. In the men’s room you wouldn’t get into a fight with someone wanting to use the stall.

6-2 is better

I would have lived with 5-3 but 6-2 is definitely better. It was very ugly and Green Bay probably should have won but a win is a win. Phil Sims said the Pittsburgh D “bends but doesn’t break” and that was the truth in today’s game. It is tough for me to root for a USC grad but Troy Polamalu is something else.

Welcome back Duce and hurry back Ben.

Oh yeah, that Brett Favre guy is good, he shouldn’t have to go out like this.

Happy 27th

Happy 27th Birthday Pretty Bird.