Happy Birthday Christopher Walken

I'm sure this won't last long, SNL gets pulled from YouTube all the time.

The absolute best part of the skit is Jimmy Fallon losing it and still trying to keep it going.

Easter

I'm not sure why it seems odd but it does. The Sopranos and Entourage don't really seem like top notch Easter shows. That doesn't mean I won't tune it for the premieres, it just seems odd.

Hardest part of being a parent

The hardest part, well probably the only hard part, of being a parent is when you can't do something or fix something. Sure it is expensive, sure it is difficult, patience gets pushed, and sacrifices have to be made but that is all nothing. I'd do it in an instant and will keep doing those tough things because of the rewards. Nothing is better.

The tough, hard stuff is when I can't fix it or I can't do something. The Little One has a decent run of bad luck as child. She had to have surgery twice before she by the time she was two. One of the surgeries was very invasive. She was in the hospital for a week at Christmas when two with a case of the rarest, hardest to fight form of meningitis. All of that and she bruises like Pretty Bird, looking at her hard will probably cause a bruise, and has my coordination, which is to say none.

My gift of coordination recently bite her pretty hard. Last week while was at the worst show ever she fell at school and did some pretty good damage. Pain-wise it was just some bumps, scrapes, and bruises but long term wise she took a good chunk out of her two front teeth. She has a few adult teeth in and those were two of them.

Today she got them bonded to take away the gap. Last week with the consultation was pretty traumatic for her so we were worried about today. She passed it with flying colors. She'll probably knock the bonding off more than a few times over the next 8 to 10 years or so the dentist says. So I'm sure we'll have to go through this again.

But like I said, other than that she did wonderful. She was even a little funny to deal with afterwards since she was on valium. It will be hard but I'll have to not remind her that her teeth cost me $300 a pop to fix, it isn't her fault. I couldn't stand it when you here parents bitching to their kids about braces costing a fortune, it isn't their fault. Besides how much did those leather seats or new kitchen cost? People are just weird with money and I don't want her to think it is her fault because it really isn't. I'm glad it is over and she is good to go, at least for now.

Silly HBO

Pretty Bird and I have been debating canceling HBO for some time now. We do enjoy but outside of some of the original programming we're not sure it is worth $10 a month. Since we joined Direct TV we've actually only paid for HBO the past three months but have had it for free since we joined. There was a promotion when started Direct TV, then I got it free for a year when I signed up for Sunday Ticket, then the next year I got it free for six months when I signed up for Sunday Ticket.

Sopranos starts on Easter and we decided (well I decided and she agreed) that we'll keep it through the final season of Sopranos. The problem came up with Entourage. Entourage is a show that both of us actually watch on a regular basis and we didn't want to cancel it before the new season if we could avoid it. We were worried HBO would do what they normally do and start Entourage after Sopranos is done so they have four months of fun, new programming instead of just two. Nope, they are going to start Sopranos and Entourage at the same time meaning once they are done we can cancel it. Thanks HBO for only costing us another $20 or so.

Fantasy Baseball (Team 1)

Overall I think I’m happy with the team.
The first of my two fantasy drafts took place last night. The commissioner told everyone it was set for tonight but apparently he can’t read a calendar. This is a non-average league, no WHIP, ERA, batting average, OBS, just total stats. It includes like 20 stats which I won’t list. Here is my team, it looks okay. My only concern is hitter strike outs which hurt and Holds which he using as a stat.

C – Joe Mauer
1B – Justin Morneau
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Miguel Cabrera
SS – Troy Glaus (how cool is it that he qualifies at SS!)
CI – David Wright
IF – Dan Uggla
OF – Grady Sizemore
OF – Bobby Abreu
OF – Adam Dunn
Util – Julio Lugo
BN – Prince Fielder
BN – Scott Podsednik
BN – Bradon Phillips
BN – Frank Thomas
BN – Ryan Freel
BN – Orlando Hudson

SP – Johan Santana (whoa baby)
SP – Cole Hamels
SP – ChrisYoung
SP – Rich Harden
RP – Billy Wagner
RP – Jonathan Papelbon
RP – Francisco Cordero
P – Chien-Ming Wang
P – Octavio Dotel

I’ve already made some movies that need to be cleared from waivers first, like adding a second catcher, getting rid of O-Dog, stuff like that. One thing is for sure, not enough Braves.

Overall I think I’m happy with the team.

I miss Heroes

BSG was pretty damn good, I wish they could write the middle episodes. The finale was good but predictable. I wish we didn't have to wait until like 2065 for new episodes but it will be okay.

Jack smiled which was weird. This season wasn't as good as last year but still good.

I do miss Heroes though :(

Spring, I want spring damn it!

I wish we had spring but no. In Charlotte as in Atlanta it goes from winter to summer. No mild weather, cold to hot and humid. The only difference between spring and summer is all of the pollen for spring.

Top 5 CCG/TCG Cards

Just like everyone else I figured I would list my top five favorite TCG/CCG cards.

#5 - Unnamed Card - Unnamed upcoming TCG. Just like Girard I'm going to talk about a card that hasn't seen print yet, unlike Girard my TCG isn't even announced yet. This card is great to describe to people we're testing with because it just fits the property perfectly. Jdub and I were talking about a character in the property and I used one word to describe him and it fit. We then made that word a trait (loaded keyword, macro) in the game that fits the game well and the character perfectly. It is fun when it all works out like that. Like Girard I will fill this in later.

#4 - Goblin Scimitar - The Lord of the Rings TCG. When I volunteered and taught people how to play TCGs or even how to be better at TCGs. One of the first things I would tell people is when a card said "Draw a card" it was usually a good card, something worth looking at. Newer TCG players or TCG players who weren't good just didn't get that. This card was the backbone for Moria which made up about 75% of the competitive decks I played. In the south we were all about Moria, faster and stronger than the rest of the player community. I was unlike most players though, I usually used Moria to set up my Free Peoples, I was about the FP win.


#3 - Darth Vader - Star Wars CCG. Man this guy wrecked shop in my play community forever. I never really played in SWCCG tournaments, it was a group of about 7-10 of us for years that played every week or so. I pulled Vader in my first starter deck, the day SWCCG was released. I was the only one with Vader for a little bit, the only one who realized it was all about mains/toys for a bit. Even when I wasn't using him to destroy people, friends were using him to destroy other people. Very unbalanced for a cheap playgroup but man what a good bit of fun.




#2 Lightning Bolt - Magic The Gathering CCG. I love direct damage. I write cards for direct damage, I build decks for direct damage, I love to play it. It is just a lot of fun. This is the original direct damage card and the one everyone else tries to copy.











#1 - Aragorn, Ranger of the North - The Lord of the Rings TCG. I liked the tengwar version best, if you don't know what it says then how are you reading my blog. Anyways this guy was everything that was good and bad about LOTR TCG at the same time. LOTR TCG is probably my favorite TCG of all time, I just loved playing it. I spent much more money on SWCCG but that was more because I loved Star Wars than the game. Tom, Chuck, Mike, Tim, should be very proud, I just loved the game. Anyways back to Aragorn. How people could want to ban HttWC and not this guy, this guy was just busted but on the good side of busted. I played for the FP to win and this guy allowed me to double in situations that I probably shouldn't have because I knew it wouldn't be game. A lot of times those gambles resulted in no damage at all but without ROTN I wouldn't have taken the gamble.

I love TCG, I miss being able to play them for fun. I do like the game we're working on, it is fun again. I do have some honorable mentions though. Both of them are based on fun development stories.

Grond, Hammer of the Underworld - Lord of the Rings TCG. This guy just shows how good cards can get made despite of people wanting to throw it into the shitter. Tom had taken a lot of shit from certain people in the development team for whatever reason. Like most people that had read Return of the King Tom wanted Grond to be a great card and it was. The idiot in development wanted to change this card so many times, oh my god. It was a constant battle, over and over again. The look on Tom's face when he kept winning was all worth it. Siege was the first set I actively took part on development as well so for my part I helped where I could. The remote testers loved this guy, most of us in the office loved it, and when Tom won and it got printed man did the players love it. Great card.


Library of Orthanc - Lord of the Rings TCG. This is my favorite and least favorite card in print. It was the first card I designed (with a lot of help from Brad), it was designed before Reflections but kept not fitting into a product. I can't even remember the original version other than the intent. Basically this was a card that was supposed to bridge the gap between the FP and Shadow sides of the deck, to treat them as one deck and help each side. The same idiot who wanted to fuck with Tom with Grond basically destroyed this card. I remember it being pretty good and I remember testers liking it. The printed version however is shit.

Chuck probably would have been better than Hayden

I'm looking for images for my top 5 CCG/TCG cards of all time. Vader was in my first starter so he was going to make it, I search for him in google and I get this.













Yes that is a picture of Chuck, Chuck is the Dark Lord!

All Clean

The Little One and I washed the Mustang today. A week of sitting around and getting covered in pollen, it really needed it. I am amazed at how much The Little One likes to help but she really does like it. There are a few things that children provide to any process that must be understood beforehand. Patience is obviously the most important.

Today we're almost done, only the tire/alloy rims to be done. I walk inside to get the stuff for the tires and I come back and she had basically hosed the entire car down again. She thought she was helping, never mind that I had just spent 15 minutes or so drying it. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun and the car is all clean.

Casino Royale

Easily one of my favorite Bond movies. Daniel Craig does a great job 'relaunching' the Bond series. I'm looking forward to where they take the series from here. The only negative thing I will say about the movie is how horrible the poker scenes are, they are just downright awful.

TMNT

The Little One wanted to see the latest incarnation of the famed Ninja Turtles. I was a fan of the Laird/Eastman comic, my brother watched the cartoons, and we even played the RPG for a little bit. I loved the first live action movie, the other two, eh. This incarnation was pretty good, I couldn't complain. I'm not sure that we'll own it but it was worth watching. It also marks my first new movie in 2007. The end of March seems like a pretty long time but outside 300 there hasn't been anything I really wanted to see. Maybe I'll get around to seeing 300 before too long.

Rocky Balboa

On the plane out to Vegas I got to watch Rocky Balboa. It wasn't near as good the second time as it was the first time. I still think it is a very good Rocky movie, whatever that means. It pulls on the heartstrings in all of the places the original Rocky movie did.

Back

I'm finally back from Vegas. The traveling was brutal both ways and it was one of the if not the worst shows I've ever attended. I think I'm coming down with something because I've been dragging for the 36 hours I've been back.

I did have a pretty good time in Vegas. It was great to see Tuttle, Beal, Peiper, and the random other people I only see at shows like these.

Ick

I forgot how completely awful the Kim subplot was during Season 2, I mean ick.

Fun Stuff

Owning a house can be a blast but it also creates some interesting things. I get a ton of sales calls, I mean a lot more than I did when we lived in an apartment. Some of the are very inventive or at least hoping that I am a complete idiot.

"Hello"
"Yes Mr. McGregor this is Scotts lawncare, we are the people that take care of your lawn"
Now I live in a townhouse, someone else takes care of my lawn, I pay for it but someone else does it. Part of me is fairly certain it is a sales call and part of me thinks the HOA could just use Scotts and their setting up their first visit.
"Okay"
"Yes the previous owner ordered this process the last few years and we want to make sure your lawn looks the best in the neighborhood."
Well if the HOA does this why do they care about my lawn looking the best. Ordering something implies that it is a sales call. The previous owner didn't take care of anything, homeownership was not her strong suit. Also using the words 'previous owner' might work on someone else but to me it red flags you as wasting my time.
"Okay"
"Yes sir, it is an 8 part process, we'll go ahead and set you up for the time next weekend. Each visit costs $49.95."
Bingo.
"Let me stop you, we own a townhouse, the HOA takes care of the lawn."
"No sir, you need to purchase this. The previous owner did as well."
Um...yeah, I need to purchase a bridge as well.
"Naw, I'm pretty sure the HOA will take care of us. Thanks."
Trying to be nice isn't my strong suit when I've had enough of a salesman but I was giving him an out.
"Mr. McGregor, you really need to get this or your lawn isn't going to as good this year. Plus like I said before the previous owner was very happy with this service."
Now I was just going to hang up but I figure I will put him on the spot just a little.
"Really? Well the entire subdivision has the same basic looking lawns. It is a townhouse, I don't think $400 is needed to seed my yard. My yard is measure in feet, not yards, it is a townhouse."
"Sir, it isn't $400, it is 8 treatments at $49.95..."
Idiot
"Yeah, my 3rd grade math training tells me $50 times 8 is $400, I figured they'd go over that in salesman school. It is hard to meet your quotas without being able to multiply."
"Well if you look at the numbers like that I guess it is close to $400..."
What is this guy Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader is your father, killed your father, just depends on how you look at it.
"Yeah, I'm not interested. Sure $399.60 is huge savings from $400. I'm still not interested."
I think he was confused as to how I could get the actual figure, not hard. You save .05, 8 times, take that from $400. Math is hard. Now I'm having too much fun not to keep on for a little bit.
"Sir, the last owner..."
Now I interrupt him for the third time
"Really, who was the last owner? Did you deal with him?"
Let's see, he doesn't know the last owner obviously, maybe he'll bite. Most lawns are taken care of by the male...
"Yes sir, he was very pleased..."
Bingo
"Well only a woman lived here before us, nice try. Try some other idiot."
Still not wanting to give up he keeps talking while I hang up on him.

Really weird

Today was the first day of the Big Dance which I absolutely love. I'm not a huge basketball fan but I really do enjoy watching this tournament and the emotion involved with it. Just great. The weird thing is for the first time in 5 years I'm not in Las Vegas for the first day of the tournament. The only good news is that I will be in Vegas on Saturday evening. Man I love Vegas.

Let me get this straight

NCAA Men's Basketball can have not one but two championship type tournaments, the NCAA and NIT. This is addition to the full-on championship tournaments for almost every conference. All of this and Football can't get even a four game playoff. That is balls.

Killin' On

Finally Jack got some killin' on. This has been a slow season in terms of the body count Jack Bauer creates. He made up for it last night with more than a few dead guys. Everyone knows Jack is lethal, you can't enter a room with Jack Bauer and not get hurt.

Another year

Another year and taxes are done! I don't know why I waited this long, I guess the moving thing kept getting in the way.