me = free chipotle burrito on halloween

i'm forced to like ladybugs

i'm the funniest baby i know

car rides calm me down

i think about things

get out of my bed cat

bath time is the best

knocked up

apartment, blackberry, belly

dr. moeller is pretty much a rock star

the chambers

i'm a gnome!!

the first born

so where was i? oh yes, summer's over, school starts next monday, still working both jobs, and we had a kid. katelyn marie was born on august 1, was 7 pounds 4 ounces, and 20.75 inches. or was it 20.25? does it really matter? anyway, she is doing great. the two of us are watching u2's rattle and hum while the mom takes a napper. everything is peachy. i haven't logged into myspace in months, which will change in about a minute.

what can i say about katie? she sleeps with her hands up in air near her ears. she squeaks all the time and makes the funniest noises, usually after she is eats/drinks. she is beautiful. more beautiful than i could have imagined. i'm sure she's mine, right? just kidding. of course she is. she's got my blue eyes and black hair. hmm. and she's not too fussy. yet.

what an amazing dvd this is. everyone, go to your nearest video store and rent rattle and hum. do it. dustin, do you have this? you should.

all the advice on babies is getting a little old. especially because it seems that every baby is so different. and i'm sure her eye and hair color will change, so no comments on that. in fact, no baby advice comments. i've read books and enjoy a surprise or two. the hospital where she was delivered was amazing. i'd have all my kids there if i can. our doctor was incredible too. the whole delivery went really good if you are curious. i even lived through the epidural. oh and kim was fine too. she was so brave. i don't know if i could go through all of the crap you go through to have a baby. from the blood tests to the contractions to the swollen feet, i think i'd puss out around month two. but she was a rock star and did amazing. all you chicas out there are awesome. my friends kristin and jax both had more kids within the last couple weeks. crazy! not that she is ready to have another any time soon, but i think kim has already forgotten the misery of these last 6 months. what a toll it took on her. right now she is so caught up with our little one.

jonas is adjusting well. usually he'll just walk past her and give a glance, probably wondering when she plans on leaving.

the edge is amazing. i'd like to be him. i'd even wear his bob dylan lookin' hat.

people have been really amazing and supportive since she was born. she has been showered with gifts and warm wishes. it really is amazing. too bad she isn't really aware of anything to enjoy it all. so, from her, to me, to you, thank you.

the studio

yay for young (really young) love

yay for brutha-in-laws

yay for sister-in-laws

the lost summer

well here i am. summer has started and man it feels good to be out of school. those last few weeks when i was working both jobs and going to school during finals and papers and presentations almost destroyed me. i worked hard on my finals and thought i put my fair share into them, but my grades on them were really crappy. somehow i managed to pass all my classes though. now i am homework free for over a month. there is one class in july that i will be taking and other than that my summer is just going to be both jobs.


hollywood video is fine i guess. i'm hoping it won't last longer than the summer. i've been made a shift lead, which basically means lots of paperwork each night, counting money, and telling other employees to help the customers. and maybe a $0.10 raise. level 3 is good. the people are nice and all fairly intellegent. in case you are wondering what i do, i procure parts and licenses and such for all of the projects we do on our network. our network being the internet's backbone. it's a cool company to work for and i get my own office, but that might change soon. we are approved for another intern because our workload is on the heals of increasing tremendously, so this person may be shacking up with me. i guess that is okay, but one of the few things that keeps me sane here is that i can listen to hours of my ipod at work. with a new guy here there might be a chance i will have to socialize or something. and he or she will be asking questions. i don't want to be rude, but i'd just rather listen to music. and hopefully i will be able to get hired on here after i graduate. they pay a ton. it can get stressful and really busy sometimes, but other times it can get slow. such as now. on a friday a couple weeks back i had to miss a concert and stay late because of a nice screwup on my part. tom doesn't believe me and thinks i just ditched him and made up a lame work excuse. well he is mistaken. i am going with ryan to see bob saget perform at the paramount in june. tom is bailing on going, but gets mad at me for missing out on a show. why would i not want to go to a concert anyway??

american idol is over and i freaking called it like the third week. blake was a fluke though. he should never have gotten past melinda doolittle. if it had been jordin and melinda, then it was have been more even in the finals. blake had no chance. anyway, the one series i watch on tv in a given year is over. maybe i'll get back to movies. or maybe running again. haven't had the time for that in months. hopefully start that soon.

this past saturday we (with some help) moved into a different apartment. taller ceiling, extra bedroom, but we lost our magnificent view. oh well. shouldn't get picky i suppose.

nothing else has really been going on. we have just been really busy as usual. hopefully things will calm down. you know i was checking out the people in my phone book and noticed that i don't stay in good contact with like 90 percent of my contacts. that must say something about me, unless that is generally the case with everyone with a cell.

the sucky movies

my wife seems to be stretched to the max these days. she is doing good and her tum is getting bigger by the day. we found out that we are having a girl (katelyn marie), which we are really excited for. nothing else really to report on that front. she's pregnant and we are happy.

school sucks as usual. actually, i'm just not that interested in data comm. my telecom class has been really good, but i know the final is going to destroy me. i find it more and more difficult to wake up at 6 each day for class. only a few more weeks left for the semester, but i still have a paper, presentation, paper, lots of homework, a letter to write, and two finals.

next is the job situation. i am still working for hollywood video, probably the most hostile work environment i've ever been a part of. employees can't get along with other employees or customers for that matter. it's always a good time at 64th and sheridan. they want to make me a shift lead, which could be fun i suppose. there's nothing like a quarter raise. but i do get free rentals, which almost makes it all worth it. and actually, there are a few people there who i really enjoy working with. the only problem is that one quit two weeks ago and another is leaving in a week. so i guess that's out. we'll see how long i last here. i was also offered an internship this week for level3 in stinky broomfield. i can't say that i'm not excited for it. five days a week and anywhere from 20 - 40 hours a week, depending on school, etc. it should be fun, good opportunity, possibly a nice foot in the door, and almost three times as much as hollywood is paying. can't argue there. so, two jobs, school, and a pregnant wife equates to some interesting days ahead. free movie rentals don't mean much when there is no time to watch them.

my little sister has called off the called off wedding and is currently planning on getting married in june. my bro is just getting going on this season with his cycling. i don't know how he does it week after week. day after day for that matter. haven't heard from my other brother. i feel bad that i have no time to hang with him or even give him a call. a nice summer break from school will be nice. maybe we can get things going then. my sister in law is getting ready for college this fall, assuming she can get out of standley. my brother in law wants a sword, knife, and air guns for his birthday. tom is getting ready for life after college this summer, assuming he can get out of college. actually, he's all set to walk, so yea for t. that's all.

Trust the Man (2006): a relationship story about people our parent's age. it starts off with a pretty generic montage of nyc. thanks, but nyc intros have been done more than enough times. if you are going to do it then add some originality. the movie starts out with them just sitting around yakking about relationships and sex. sex and they city type boringness. garry shandling plays a pretty lame character. there is a really cool sex idea in the movie. check it out if porn is your thing (no nudity). it has funny moments, especially david duchovny, but it felt long. the only thing i got out of this movie was that guys suck at relationships. don't see.
poor effort, D+

Goodbye, Lenin! (2004): a pro-socialist mother from east germany has a ridiculous heart attack and goes into a coma prior to the berlin wall crumbling. after she finally wakes, communism is over and her stupid twenty-something year old son thinks he must protect her from the truth. thus, ridiculous lies begin in order to cover up why mcdonalds begin to pop up down the street. it starts off alright. i liked how they did the story of the son as a kid. there is maybe too much narration. some of the things he would do for his mom seemed a little far fetched. the lengths that this son would go through to keep the current events a secret from his mom were pretty unbelievable. the idea behind this story is cool, but they didn't go deep enough i felt. there was too much light heartedness, whereas it should have been more dramatic for everyone. by the time she discovers the lies that her son has been feeding her, she should have disowned him. it also seemed like the writers created medical conditions for her that were not plausible just so that she could die when needed or always be on the verge of death. didn't believe that stuff for a second. there was potential for an interesting story, but it fell flat. don't see.
disappointing, C-

The Number 23 (2007): jim carey finds a book that makes him go crazy for the number 23. he then goes on some mental quest to find its origins. i thought the introduction to the movie was pretty cool. it is obvious what they are going to do with this number, and what i'm sure jim carey will be doing can be done with any number by the way. there are two intertwining story lines that are going on, which is jim carey and his problems with the number, and then a story that he reads from the book. watching the book's story line was a lot like the gritty style of the video game max payne, making it cool to watch and well done, among other things. but it was so different than what was going on in his real life and the real plot, that it felt out of place in the movie. the movie was kind of boring and loses momentum at the end. although the end is surprising and the pieces are tied together fairly well, it still doesn't make up for some of the negative things about it. dont' see.
disappointing, C-

Premonition (2007): a lady wakes up one day and her husband has died, then the next day her husband is still alive, then dead, etc. basically, she is experiencing the present on one day and the future on another. i think. sandra b's character really handles herself well after she hears of his death. it could have been the shock i guess, but still. at the start of all the crazy crap happening with the days, i felt she didn't act in a reasonable manner. she never just sits down to talk to someone about these completely unexplainable things going on. sandra would never cry like a real wife would each time she would find out that her husband was really dead, then alive again, then dead again, etc. the whole puzzle to the story wasn't really complicated and was even less interesting. the mystery was lacking and if she just sat down to think about it, she could have worked out some of the pieces herself, instead of just waiting for stuff to happen. and i've seen enough six feet under to know that a severed head would not have just dumped out of a casket if it fell out of a hearse. that was so absurd. it was really confusing for the audience to keep track of which day it was and what day would come next. there seemed to be no pattern to the madness. my wife kim was trying to explain it all after the movie got out, but even then i was never satisfied with her take on the plot. there is some priest she goes to who randomly has a book of stories where people are going through exactly what she is having to experience. did he just conveniently pull this book out of his ass? and this priest was such a useless character if you ask me. he is just two minutes of inspirational garbage dialogue. why does sandra b smoke ciggs in two random scenes at the beginning, then never again in the movie? i think i noticed a few plot holes that i won't even try to explain. i'm sure the writers could sit down and map it all out for us, but movies shouldn't require that. audiences should not have to sit through multiple viewings in order to understand a plot, unless the ending of a movie changes the entire movie altogether. a quick example of this is obviously sixth sense or fight club. usually only then should a second viewing be recommended. some of the big revelations in the movie aren't all that surprising. if you are trying you can predict events of this movie usually about a minute before they happen, and sometimes even an hour before. the only good thing about this movie is the title and that you get to see feast your eyes on the beautiful sandra b for 2 hours. it was a valiant effort, but it sucked. i guess if you loved the lake house, you might like this also. otherwise, don't see.
an all time worst, F+

Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny (2006): two losers start a band and suck. so they go on a quest to find the guitar pick that will make them good. the beginning scenes with young JB and meatloaf are really good. the whole intro is basically a rock opera and ends up being actually quite good. couldn't say that for the rest of the movie though. the plot is weak and slow and usually dumb. the character's personalities were pretty inconsistent. at one point kyle acts like a nazi and the next he is a little bitch. a few of the songs are really funny. and usually ever 5 minutes or so i would let out a hearty laugh. all in all, it's a pretty big let down. i would must rather recommend their album from 5 or 6 years ago which this movie is loosely based on. go buy that instead. the movie passed the test, but barely. you know what they got? F plus. click. no not that bad.
dreadful, D

Reign Over Me (2007): done cheadle meets up with his long lost college roommate who has since gone crackers. the rest of the movie unravels the mystery behind sandler, his family, and video games. it starts off with a really good opening in the streets of nyc, but after that it is pretty slow until cheadle and sandler finally meet. the movie turns to gold any time cheadle and sandler interact. they really play off of each other well. in one shot when they are riding away on sandler's scooter like two little gay boys, you could clearly see another cameraman filming just up the street. the plot never really intensifies. sandler's character is crazy and throws tantrums from beginning to end, so it gets a tad old. and poor don cheadle is always trying hard to do the right thing, but ends up getting the shaft from everyone in the movie, even his own selfish wife. i didn't like any of the music. the movie is and feels pretty long. they could have definitely cut down some of the scenes. i'm no psychologists, but some of what sandler does is a little extreme. it is like they created a character with a mental illness and included extreme versions of every type of symptom possible. not saying that there aren't people out there like this, but they didn't have to put so much into it. and no reasonable girl like the one in the movie would ever go for sandler's character. sandler's crazy looks aside, the stuff that she sees him do and the brief time they knew each other would drive any girl away. unless she's also not completely mentally there. i guess it is a good look at how traumatic events in one's life (i.e. 9/11) can extremely alter someone's state of mind, but as far as entertainment value, cheadle is the only thing that holds this movie together. still not worth seeing though. see rain man or one flew over the cuckoo's nest instead.
mediocre, C

windy purple staircase

the marquis los cabos (our hotel) and pelican

we got crabs on vacation

scary mexican crab

pineapple looking cacti

the bad father

you may have missed the gracious comment left on my blog a couple of weeks ago. well i am happy to bring it back for all three of you to read. and in case the anonymous chicken shit who wrote it happens to have anything else to say, by all means, the floor is yours.

prick says:

"HOW IS IT THAT YOU ONLY MENTION YOUR UPCOMING CHILD FOR A FEW SENTENCES IN THE MIDDLE OF A PARAGRAPH, AND RAMBLE ON ABOUT NOTHING FOR THE REST. ARE YOU SURE YOUR READY TO BE A FATHER?"

bad father says:

"because by the time i had written it, we had already known that we were having a baby for weeks. our initial excitement had passed by this time. the other stuff i mentioned happened to be going on that second.

and me not going into detail about our unborn child on a blog that maybe five people in the world read, has no correlation whatsoever about whether or not i'm ready to be a father. check your logic next time you question me. and who knows if i'm ready to be a father. who knows if kim is ready to be a mom. who knows if anyone is when that time comes. doesn't change anything though. i'm still going to be a father and will do the best that i can. thanks for the support though.

and if you are going to comment or talk to someone online, most people don't use all caps. this is just one of the more common rules of etiquette when writing online. good day. "

so that's that. the baby is doing good by the way. kim's been a little under the weather since cabo, but she's doing a ton better than when we were actually there. can anyone go to mexico these days without becoming terrible ill? it got scary. aside from that we road some 5 foot tall horses on the beach at sunset, went whale watching, stopped off at the hard rock, ate top notch food each night that was just mediocre, swam, tanned, and the best part, just lying in bed day and night with just the sound of crashing waves. this vacation was no st. thomas, but hell, it was still cabo. gracias kim and her work.

i am currently in the middle of a sopranos season 3 marathon today. and speaking of, kim is in jersey as i speak. i'm pissed off because i did poorly on my telecom systems midterm. before we left for the trip jamie and i did the spring challenge. we did alright i guess. worked our tails off, that's for sure. my econ professor wasn't a judge, but happened to be the guy watching the time for us. anyway, he asked some crappy question that i couldn't even begin to answer. where was my econ guy when i needed him? we were able to avoid it by stumbling our way through another question from one of the judge. either way, we had good reason to be proud of ourselves. national association of rural local exchange carriers (NARLEC) rules! glad that is out of the way though. huge relief.

enough chit chat. on to some movies.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1969): a clint eastwood clone helps out a lady. the opening sequence is slightly long, but really cool. tons of buildup. the first half of the film is just introductions to the many subplots, but there seemed to be little connection between any of them. there are some really beautiful shots of landscapes. it's all desert of course, but lovely nonetheless. or just go drive through utah if you want to see it all. there is a lot of silence in the movie. henry fonda played the part of the main character and it was way too much like clint eastwood's older stuff. it felt like fonda's role was written for the great mr. eastwood, but he must have turned it down to sing in paint your wagon and leone just settled for fonda. for me it felt like watching a nosey private eye trying to pull off "the man with no name." the whole movie was too much what clint and sergio were able to pull off five years prior, only without all the style. the music, huge shots, forever long close-ups, and long pauses had all been done. they brought nothing new to the table except a bad clint eastwood knockoff. the plot was not explained very well, i was getting mixed up on characters, and the movie is way too long (2.5+ hours). it's okay but nowhere near the man's stuff.
poor effort, D+

Seraphim Falls (2007): a guy and his posse go on a never ending chase of another guy for reasons unknown, across the post-civil war western u.s. pierce brosnan is really good and is the guy being chased. you really feel for him while these guys hunt him down. the movie jumps right into the character's story, so there is never a chance to actually get to know anyone. it actually took a while before any back story is given about why he is being chased in the first place. i found it somewhat hard to believe that remington steele could outrun (literally just running) these guys on horses for days. the plot is pretty thin. a ton of horses die all throughout the movie so that was a little disturbing. also disturbing is the fact that two brit actors are playing the roles of two u.s. civil war vets in the old west. the movie was pretty cool at the end i guess. the things that these two guys will do to kill the other one is nuts. the picture was a little grainy, adding to the feel of the mid-1800s, however it was maybe a little too much. eh, not bad.
mediocre, C

Gummo (1997): two boys grow up in hickville and make an earning collecting dead cats to sell to the china man. the opening tornado scenes are good. nice narration too. you could sum of the plot as simply dramatic white trash. it is hard to tell if these are actors or if half of it was a documentary. there is a really funny scene where some cowboys kill some queer rabbit. and add xenia, ohio to the cities to never visit. there is some pretty crazy stuff going on there; controversial and way dysfunctional. the boys provide the narration for the movie, but as their older selves. and juxtaposed is documentary-like snippets of the town's extreme hillbilliness. it's all really unique filmmaking i thought. good kid actors. or just the real thing. who knows? on the negative side, the plot was weak and few characters actually did anything. other than that it was, um, unique. interesting, maybe. see it.
fair, B-

landing in cabo

the view from our room

to the left

to the right