My older brother and I both use netflix but I'm wondering if anyone else who reads my blog uses it? They have a "friends" feature on there that could be cool for using in getting recommendations to other movies based on the stuff your friends like. So far just 2 of my brothers are on there as my friends so it would be cool to add a few more. I'm not sure of the best way to connect with others who are using netflix already but hopefully we can figure it out. I know you can click on this link to be my friend I'm just not sure if it is reciprocated or not automatically.

#Movies #FunStuff #General #Entertainment

A couple weeks ago a bunch of us went skiing. A few months ago Lisa and I had bid on a condo package at Snowshoe Mountain here in WV at the March of Dimes Chefs Auction. The condo accommodates 6-8 but I think we had 11 of us stuffed in there. The floorplan had a second floor loft bedroom with a double bed and a set of bunk beds. Lisa, Shannon, Emily, and I slept up there. The first floor had a bedroom in the back and Dad and Patty slept back there. The Joe, his girlfriend, Chris, Justin, and his fiancee' Jules slept in the common area. The quarters were pretty tight for sleeping but overall they were still pretty nice.

Joe, his girlfriend, Justin and I didn't spend much time in the condo as we tried to get a lot of skiing in. Dad and Chris didn't show up until late Friday night (we had arrived Wednesday night). Jules tried to have Justin teach her to snowboard but that didn't work out too well so she ended up taking lessons which was much more successful. Joe really didn't know much about snowboarding when he started on Thursday but he got substantially better over the four days we were out. Dad is, sadly, out of shape (or old) and couldn't ski too much on Saturday or Sunday. Chris, it turns out, doesn't really know how to ski as well I was led to believe and he almost killed himself when I took the crew of people who claimed they could ski to a black diamond run called "Cup". Cup is one of my favorite runs and I held off on going to it until I knew Joe could handle it. Sadly, however, neither Chris or Dad told me Chris couldn't ski (well, he can ski he just can't turn or stop). Cup is a pretty easy black diamond but the surface was very icy and he just barreled down the mountain scaring the shit out of me. He eventually crashed (when he had to turn) and left his skis and poles way behind. He slid across the slope and crashed into the woods. Fortunately he was OK. A little shaken and sore but luckily alive and unharmed. I helped guide him down the rest of the mountain and then we left Cup behind for safer pastures. I went back to Cup alone on Sunday and Joe and his girlfriend also went there a bit.

On Friday Shannon took some ski lessons and then on Saturday I took her out on "Cub" run. Cub is a pretty short green (easy) slope. However, on that day it felt incredibly long. I skied backwards and watched her. She would slide about ten feet and start to pick up speed and then start chanting "Oh My Goodness! Oh My Goodness" before catching up with me and holding on for dear life. She had a blast. My knees and feet however were taking a pounding from the way I was digging in to keep my speed down. We did one run down the hill and by then my body was so sore we headed back to the cabin for lunch. Then, on Sunday I took her back out. This time we went to the same hill she had taken her lessons on and instead of skiing in front of her I skied beside her and let her hold the handle of my ski pole while I held the other end to help control her speed. We did about 10 runs and had a blast. She gained more confidence on each run and she loved going up the chair lift. On the first run she was holding the pole with a death grip but by the fifth or sixth run she was barely holding it at all. It was awesome to see her improve and enjoy it so much. That morning was my favorite part of the trip. My knees were still really sore by lunch time but nothing like they had been when we went to "Cub" run (Cub is much longer than the hill we went on on Sunday).

#Sports #Family #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel #Entertainment #Photos

While there are quite a few places where Mike Huckabee and I don't see eye-to-eye I do have to say he is a very good public speaker and he has a lot of charisma. It turns out he also has a good sense of humor as well as evidenced by his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live.

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#FunStuff #Commentary #Entertainment

Well, I'm running behind a bit on this post so not only is it late but it will probably be a little short. Near the end of January Lisa and I traveled down to Atlanta for the NHL All-Star game and skills competition. We left on the Thursday before the weekend began because we mistakenly thought we would be able to go to some of the special events surrounding the weekend such as a concert on both Thursday and Friday night. Even though we couldn't attend the concerts we still found plenty to do to fill the time and, in the end, to have a wonderful trip.

We arrived in Atlanta near rush hour on Thursday and made a mad dash for the hotel that you had to go to in order to get your tickets. We were in a rush because we thought we could go to the nights concert. Lisa begged and pleaded to get the tickets from the office (it was closed by the time we go there) and her pleas worked! Once we had the tickets though we were informed that they didn't include tickets to the concerts. So, that night we walked around a bit, found our hotel, and then went to Ted's Montana Grill which was a pretty cool restaurant that featured a bunch of different Buffalo meat entrees. The coolest part of the joint to me was their insistence on being "green". For instance the table-cloth was a big sheet of recycled brown paper and the straws were paper coated in wax. We actually arrived pretty late so the restaurant was fairly empty so service was really speedy and the food was pretty good too!

On Friday we went downtown again and walked around a bunch. We went to the Centennial Olympic Park and then the World of Coca Cola. At the park we checked out a bunch of the engraved bricks and even found one from Huntington, WV. At the Coke place we did everything; watched a 3-D movie, toured a mini bottling plant, watched a ton of commercials, saw a bunch of old collectibles, and tasted around 70 different soda flavors from around the world. We drank a little bit too much soda but we still had a good time.

In the afternoon we headed up to the Lenox Mall near the Buckhead portion of town for lunch and shopping. We ate at the California Pizza Kitchen which we have seen a bunch of times before but had never eat at. It was good (I had a spicy chicken pizza). I also bought a nice coat while we were there, a badger hair shaving brush and Lisa got a pair of boots and some neat Lush products (soap, bath salts, and stuff). Eventually we left the mall (when it was closing) and headed back to the hotel and then a casual dinner at Gorden Biersch (a brewpub restaurant).

Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to the All Star events. We headed up to Phillips Arena for the Skills Competition on Saturday but we arrived pretty early and took part, sort of, in the card-trading/memorabilia show (we just walked around and checked things out) and then we took a tour of the CNN headquarters (not worth the money) which is attached to the Phillips Arena. Eventually we got into the Arena and had a great time watching the Skills Competition. Our Seats were AMAZING - we are on the blue line about 10 rows behind the players. It was great. We are also surrounded by a lot of people who all seemed to know each other - and a bunch of them all kept stopping by to talk to the guy sitting behind us. We were intrigued.

As the night wore on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) stopped by to interview the guy behind me. So I looked behind me and saw that he was short and kind of old but he was wearing a huge Carolina Hurricanes championship ring. It turns out the guy is Jim Rutherford the GM and part owner of the Hurricanes. He is also an ex-NHL goalie who played most of his career with the Red Wings. We spoke with him and his wife (they were both really nice) and another couple they were with (from Cleveland and loved ribbing me about the Bruins).

On Sunday we didn't really do anything special before the game except go back to the memorabilia show. While we were there we got Patrick Kane's autograph (#1 draft pick last year), and Todd McFarlane's autograph (creator of a bunch of figurines and comic book artist) on a figurine of Marian Hossa. I also bought an old fact book for the Red Wings from 1976 that had a full page spread on none other than Jim Rutherford.

The All Star game was really cool. It had a bunch of extra stuff around it like a performance by The Hives before hand and Ne-Yo during an intermission. I also managed to get Jim's autograph on his page of the Fact Book and I had my photo taken with him. They four of them kept giving me a hard time about the Bruins, especially when Tim Thomas was in goal because he let up a bunch. However I had the last laugh because ex-Atlanta Thrasher and current Bruin Marc Savard scored the game winning goal. A neat bit of trivia I gleaned from Jim was that he actually coached Tim Thomas when Tim was a kid and came to Jim's goalie camp. Needless to say I ribbed Jim a little after Tim gave up his 3rd goal and the group kept harassing me - they only had Jim to blame for Tim's skills. Overall it was a lot of fun and the end of the game actually gave Lisa the highlight of her night when she finally recognized a guy sitting in the section next to us.

Lisa used to watch a lot of Soap Operas, especially when we had the Soap Opera channel and it turns out the guy in the section near us is a Soap Opera star named Thorston Kaye. He has been a doctor on General Hospital and, once his character was killed, he came back as his dead characters brother on a spin off show called Port Charles. It turns out Lisa is a big fan of this guy (basically she thinks he is hot) and so she wanted me to take his photo. I did but some friend of his spotted me acting like a paparazzi and pointed it out to Thorston. Now, Thorston isn't some weak little actor boy - instead he is about my height but has been a collegiate decathalete and a professional rugby player. So I smiled at him and asked if it would be cool for Lisa to have her picture taken with him (I still didn't know who he was, I thought maybe he was an ex Penguins player she knew). He agreed and was really cool about it. He waded through the departing crowd, gave her a big hug, and then gave the camera a real smoky gaze. It was hilarious and Lisa loved it.

#Sports #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel #Photos

Mark your calendars music fans because Rock on the Range is back for its second iteration and this time the lineup is even bigger and better than last year. In the first Rock on the Range it was a one day show filled to the brim with rock music from a bunch of bands. This year the event is being expanded to take up two days - which means I'll be heading up in the morning for day 1, then rocking out for 2 days, and then driving home in ear-ringing bliss at the end of day 2 (or maybe on the morning of day 3).

It would be great if more people I know can go this year. Last year was a blast with just the four of us (hopefully Joe won't get the boot 2 times again) so I imagine it would rock even more with a whole gang going up. The show is in Columbus again (at Crew Stadium) and is on May 17th and 18th this year. I'm stoked and can't wait to exhaust myself again. Bring on the Rock!

#Music #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel #Entertainment

I took an interesting IQ test today that was, I thought, pretty hard. However, after much mental crunching I managed to get 15 of the 20 possible questions correct. After that, with the help of two guys I work with we managed to get 18 of them correct. The only 2 we didn't know where the #1 and #20.

I've never seen an IQ test quite like this one and I don't really know how valid it is but it was a fun puzzle to try and solve. See how many you can get right. Here are the numbers of those I solved without help, then those with help.

Without Help

2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17,18

With Help

11,16,19

I did find out what the answers to #1 and #20 are later but I won't post them here, or how I found out the answers, so that you won't be tempted to spoil the fun!

#FunStuff #Entertainment

I haven't seen the movie The Golden Compass yet but their website has this neat tool that pairs you with some kind of animal spirit called a daemon (pronounced just like demon). In the fantasy world the movie is based on each person is split into a physical form and a spiritual form - their human body is the physical and the animal is their spiritual half. On the website they have a 20 question personality quiz that they use to match you up with a Daemon. My daemon is currently a female lion (daemons are almost always opposite gender to the physical half) named Theonella.

However, it is possible I don't really know myself as well as my friends and family do. So they have this add-on questionaire that you guys can answer to help better identify my daemon. So, if you don't mind please just answer these quick questions and we will see how it ends up. We only have 12 days to further refine my daemon before it is finalized so please just take a moment now to complete it. Thanks

#Movies #FunStuff #General #Geekiness #ThisSite

I just saw this cool image linked from someone else's blog and figured I would post it here because I think it is really cool. I know I never would have thought to take these photos and I'm not sure I would have had the patience to find the exact right spot/distance to take them from. Kudos to the photographer. You can click on the image to see a larger version.

#FunStuff

My friend Ryan has attacked the Patriots again - except this time he is being more brutal. Sure, this video is just wrong, but it's still kind of funny (in a sick way). Enjoy!

#Music #Sports #FunStuff #Entertainment

Last week Shannon had a couple days off school so I took the same days off work and the four of us headed to Cincinnati for the weekend. We left on Thursday with the plan of leaving kind of early and getting there in time to visit the zoo for a few hours. Of course the best laid plans rarely work out for us and this trip was no different. We didn't get out of Huntington until close to noon and then, about 3/4 of the way there we had a flat tire. I had Lisa set the parking brake and then pulled the jack out so I could change the tire. However, we were stopped on a long slow incline so as soon as the tire left the ground the van still slipped back a little bit and actually bent the jack up. So I quickly finished jacking up the van and replaced the tire with the spare and we got back on the road.

Eventually we ended up in Newport, KY (by now it was too late to go to the zoo) so we stopped at a Graeters Ice Cream shop for a snack. We had been looking for a Goodyear so we could buy a new tire so I asked the girl behind the counter and, as luck would have it, there was one immediately next door to the ice cream shop. While our tire was being changed we went to this little mall that was mostly restaurants and looked around. They had a Halloween shop where I bought some stuff for my costume this year (I'm going to be a "nice" werewolf according to Emily). We also stopped by a book store and bought a cookbook that is laid out in a nice format for planning meals - it does it for you. Each meal is broken down with a main and a side dish so all we have to do is shop and cook without thinking about the menu. Each meal is supposed to be a "20 minute" meal to make so it should be convenient.

Finally we got the van back and headed to the Millennium Hotel which we had booked on Priceline for $50/night - a great deal considering we were right downtown. For dinner we headed to a pretty nice seafood restaurant McCormick and Schmick's. Eventually we ended the day and went to sleep in anticipation of going to the Newport Aquarium the next morning.

The Aquarium was pretty cool. They had a ton of different fish and just as many different turtles it seemed. Emily was proud to let me know they are called "Tortuga's." We also paid a little extra for a "Penguin Encounter" which let us go back to a little room that three penguins live in and we got to pet them while the lady (Rebecca I think) taught us about them. These penguins were pretty neat and were from South Africa. Because they are from S. Africa they really challenged my idea of penguins. In my mind they are always from some frozen iceberg but these guys live in temperatures up to 110 at times. they were pretty cool and they really liked to play with the wrist strap on Shannon's camera.

After the Aquarium (which was right around the corner from the Ice Cream shop) we stopped at a German restaurant called the Hofbrau House for lunch and a big stein of beer. Lisa was driving so she made me drink most of her beer so I was feeling pretty good by the time we left. The food wasn't that great - but their weiss beir was pretty good.

On Saturday we headed to Kings Island for a day of fun (from 12pm - 7pm). We spent most of our time in the Nickelodeon part of the park riding rides that both Emily and Shannon could ride. However, there were also a few rides there that were perfect "in-between" rides for Shannon. She is too small to go on most of the Adult rides but she is too big for most of Emily's rides. Instead they had some rides like "The Avatar" and "The Raptor" which were perfect for Shannon. The Avatar is a big sled that spins and slides back and forth on a ramp. It spins pretty fast and the ramp goes up and down so it was pretty thrilling for her. Then the Raptor was a suspended roller coaster. It didn't have any big spins or loops but it went fast and was, by far, the biggest roller coaster she has been on so far. She really seemed to enjoy both rides which was cool because she wouldn't have even thought about going on them last year.

After we had fun on the rides we played a few different midway games and everyone ended up winning at least one prize. Overall it was a cool day at the park. However, at around 7pm they start to shut down the kids rides and start to turn the entire park into a haunted house throughout the month of October. At this time the employees all start to show up dressed in costume and with pretty good fake injuries on their heads and stuff. While the girls dealt with seeing them OK I'm sure they wouldn't have liked it when the employees tried to scare them so we headed out. We ate dinner across the street from our hotel and then headed to bed again for our final morning before heading home.

Lisa had planned a nice surprise for the girls on Sunday and we headed to the US Bank Arena for the Disney Princesses On Ice show. The show was OK if you like watching figure skating and the girls seemed to really enjoy it so that was cool. Before the show started (we got there a little early) we actually got to see the Cincinnati Walk for Breast Cancer. It was huge - there had to be thousands participating. There was a small group of young women at the end cheering and yelling and just getting the crowd fired up. They had some pretty funny chants - one was "No Bikes, No Scooters, We're Walking for our Hooters" they were really into it and it was cool to see.

Here are some photos of the walk

#Family #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel