Category: General Cogitation Page 39 of 40

I have been doing a lot of movie reviews lately so this time I thought I would post some actual current events; though I’m fairly confident there are not many people who visit and read my blog – perhaps I need to find something more interesting to post more often.

At any rate, work is really busy; so busy in fact that I had a migraine Tuesday after work from the amount of effort spent working though a major piece of functionality. Now that spring has arrived, yard work is now in full swing. Beth and I have many plans for the outside of the house; it seems the landscaping exposure I had as a  youth is paying off. It’s amazing what pieces of minutia stick around in your head from so long ago.

We have a standing water issue in the backyard so we picked up a weeping willow for a great price from Lowe’s. Weeping willows need moist soil to grow so it should do well in the backyard … and potentially assist in solving our standing water issue.

I re-activated my Steam account hoping to find some cool, free, games – my boss told me that Steam is a great place to pick up free or cheap games. I had no idea that is what Steam has evolved into; I remember back when I use to play Half-Life 2 and had to create a Steam account – I thought it was just for additional security. As part of activating my Steam account I think I might dig up the ole Half-Life disks and reminisce one day. I am still dedicated to killing Arthas though in World of Warcraft; sometimes you just need something different to disrupt the monotony.

Cheers.

It has been over 2 years now since Team Shake ‘n’ Bake’s reign has ended and for me personally nothing has come close to what that team meant to me. I have been reminiscing about the days of Team Shake ‘n’ Bake a lot recently; how things I have been doing lately would be different had it been done by Team Shake ‘n’ Bake.

I started my homage by watching Talladega Nights, the movie that gave our team its name; we all saw it together for one of our geek’s movie night. I know that while in the movie Team Shake ‘n’ Bake comprised of two members (Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly), we were three – after all you can’t have the Shake with the Bake without the ‘n’. We accomplished a lot together and always with a smile on our face and often some sick, unscrupulous undertone with a covert codename known only to the members of the team.

We met once a week for one hour and a majority of that hour was spent covering what needed to be covered to accomplish the purpose of the team and the meeting; but a portion of the meeting was dedicated to venting our frustrations. The venting often came in forms of a top 10 list; the context of which I will not discuss here and again shall be known only by the members of Team Shake ‘n’ Bake and stored in the vaults of “The Notebook of Life”. Tier One was our Sistine Chapel; Peanut Butter Jelly Time was our vice. Candy Mountain, Charlie, Wallpaper Wars, Scoops and Shovels. We were a breath of life not only to that secluded chamber of mental prowess, but it was a breath of life for me. Team Shake ‘n’ Bake is something I miss greatly and something I will never have again – but it was a defining moment in my life.

So here is my homage. My dedication. My revere to Team Shake ‘n’ Bake. This is for you T-Dawg and B-Man:

“Dear Tiny Infant Baby Jesus; learnin about shapes and colors, watchin Baby Einstein. Thank you for Team Shake ‘n’ Bake. We were a trio of epic proportions. A force of mental adversity and intellect. We made the impossible possible. We made the world laugh. We made life epic. Dear 6 lb, 9 oz, Little Jesus, with golden fleece diapers, thank you for Pwners! and Fisters!”

T-Dawg, B-Man, hopefully you are reading this and I must remind you … If You’re Not First, You’re Last … and … touching yourself will make you sick.

THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!

Although I was unable to get my decorating done this year, it has not dampened my enjoyment of Christmas. I still made sure to put my countdown calendar up and wear my santa hat all over the house and I completed the present shopping in time. I am looking forward to the next couple of days.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!

Last night was the final new episode of the USA series Monk. It was a show Beth and I always watched together, I was sad to see it end but all good things must end eventually. I’m always nervous when the series finale airs for a show of which I have been very fond. I worry that it will be as terrible as the series finale was for Seinfeld (granted I wasn’t a fan of Seinfeld, its just an example). The series finale for Monk was nothing like that. I liked how they ended Monk. I’m going to stop here and warn you, if you have not seen the final episode of Monk and you intend to, do not continue reading, there are spoilers ahead.

You’ve been warned.

I was a little shocked to see Monk driven to the point of almost killing someone but I really like that they gave Trudy a daughter and that she is still alive. It gave a piece of Trudy back to Monk, it was perfect. I wasn’t too surprised to see Randy move to New Jersey, though I’m not sure he is a believable chief of police since Randy was a bit of an air head at times. I’m glad Monk continued to perform his duty as a consultant to Leland and the SFPD.

I will miss my Friday nights without Monk, but I have a majority of the seasons on DVD and the show is in syndication. Rest assured I will continue to watch past episodes of the defective detective. I hope the actors on the show are proud of the series they created together and I hope they move on to new and successful projects.

This week is Thanksgiving, the holiday that marks that start of the holiday season. I do enjoy Thanksgiving, espeically at Beth’s. Italian style Thanksgiving not only means turkey but pasta as well. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Get stuffed, over-induldge, give thanks for all that we have in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving and an early Merry Christmas!!!