T-Shirt Tuesday: July 31, 2012

Given that today is the trade deadline for Major League Baseball, I thought I would take a "group photo" of all of my Sox tees at the same time.

I was saddened to realize that ALL of the players I like enough to get their shirts are no longer on the team.  I still have my customized shirt which when I wore it to school one day several of the younger students in the building thought I had played for the team at one point!  Admittedly I was in far better shape than I am today but still I enjoyed the compliment!

And as I was loading all of my tees back into my dresser, I found another one from the '03 Division Series!

Not sure whose shirt I will get next...and since it looks like the Sox made NO significant moves today, I'm thinking I might have to wait a year to grab one...though a Pedroia would be tempting!

MOCK's Monday Morning Musings: July 30, 2012

Wow!  The second to last day of July!  I can hardly believe it.  Since I don't have anything music related, it is time to just babble a bit.

1.  The golf tournament was a blast.  I injured my foot the day before we started and was rather ill Friday night after qualifying through most of Saturday's match play, but overall we did better than the last time we entered....we still lost, but it was fun. I enjoyed that my cousins played this year.  We all committed to playing again next year (and beyond!) and want to make strides towards establishing some traditions of our own, while still paying homage to those who played before us.

2.  I am so far behind in my Google Reader and getting back to everyone who comments here it is not even funny.  I am going to set aside time the next few days to get caught up....

3.  I got an iPhone on Wednesday afternoon.  It was a significant (free) upgrade from the phone I was using. Lots of bells and whistles....we will see where it goes.

4.  As I type this I am at school waiting for my teaching partner.  We are going to send home some parent stuff and I am going to try and tackle my room.  The furniture situation still bugs me but I will right that issue today!

5.  This will be my last week of regularly planned blogging.  I want to keep with the rest of my summer theme this week, but I semi-officially start back to work next week and I am sure my downtime will start to look quite differently.  More on all of that later this week.

Silly Saturday: July 28, 2012

via Dueling Couches

"Whoever did this should win the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. How long did it take to edit this together? I'd say there are over 400 cuts, and each one is precisely perfect. The maker of this had to find all these clips from 6 very long films. And that includes enduring 2 movies with Hayden Christensen in them.

Well done."

Film Festival Friday: July 27, 2012

Since I have  been mentioning flickchart for a couple of Fridays now, and since some folks (*cough* Kate *cough*) might not venture over to see my current top 20, I thought I'd update them now.

Here are my top 20 movies....some I have seen a bunch of times....some only once or twice but they made an impact on me....

20.  A Fish Called Wanda

19. The Terminator

18.  It's A Wonderful Life

17.  Air Force One

16.  Henry V

15.  Raiders of the Lost Ark

14.  Time Bandits

13.  About A Boy

12.  Star Wars

11.  Saving Private Ryan

10.  Ghostbusters

9.  The Hunt For Red October

8.  12 Monkeys

7.  True Lies

6.  Fight Club

5.  The Fugitive

4.  X-Men 2: X-Men United

3. The Avengers

2.  Black Hawk Down

1. Die Hard

This Day In First Lady History Thursday: July 26, 2012

It's back!




On this day in 1797, future President John Quincy Adams, the son of second President John Adams, marries Louisa Johnson in London, England. Louisa was (and remains) the only foreign-born first lady of the United States.

Wild Card Wednesday: July 25, 2012

This is my last "live" blog of the week.  The next three days are already "in the can" and ready to go.  The reason for this is that tomorrow morning, we head out to the 2012 Tommy Keane Invitational Golf Tournament.

I am a late comer to the sport but thoroughly enjoy playing.  This year, my brother and I are joined by our cousins Marc and Lars.  We will be matched up on day one!  I am looking forward to this incredible weekend!

You can check in on our progress HERE or HERE!

You can also click HERE for a previous post about golf and why I play in the TKI...

Smuggler's Notch

We started our morning with a ride down the Alpine Slide in Stowe. We arrived wicked early so we found a table in the shade and played some UNO.

After about an hour,  I went in to buy the tickets and found the line.  I was promptly cut by a family just not paying attention.  At this point, I had been up for 5 hours and just let it go.

However, I was then cut again.  So I moved a little more to make sure it was obvious that I was in line.

Then, two punks blatantly tried to cut me.  I sort of raised my hands in an incredulous "What's up" manner and was about to ask the boys if I could help them.  At this point, their mother raised her voice to me and bellowed "They're with me. Don't get so angry!"  I responded, that I was not angry, I was just trying to figure out what was going on.  The woman then shrieked... literally shrieked, "Well our friends were... NEVER MIND we'll just go wait outside."

Most folks in the place sort of stared at her with their mouths open.  There wasn't a huge line.  It was a BEAUTIFUL summer day.  The ride hadn't even OPENED yet.

When I went out, Nan confirmed that the lady was ranting and raving outside.  It bugged me, but we let it go.

Nan and I went down the slide first and waited at the bottom for the kids....and waited...and waited...and waited.

Eventually, they came down with a kid RIGHT behind each of them....looking ANGRY.  Nan pointed out they were the punks that had tried to cut me earlier!  KARMA!


We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon exploring the notch and climbing the rocks.

The pink dot is Haley!!  We had gotten separated so I went down and she went up until we could see each other!

The view out over the valley...

This was the highest point we reached.  Not the best picture but that is ABOUT a 50 foot drop!

So close to the top....

T-Shirt Tuesday: July 24, 2012

We went up to school today to spend a few more hours setting up my new classroom.  Today's shirt was one I bought for myself from "Santa" last Christmas.  I also got a bumper sticker with the same phrase, which I just really like.

A mixed day at school....I finally found the desk I use (in another classroom!) but still have some chair issues...Still lots of time until the year starts...

Yesterday was a GREAT day...I'll post some pictures of our adventure later today...

"Once upon a time and a very good time it was..."

I missed my daily blogging goal being unable to post "Silly Saturday" yesterday and will miss "Music Monday" tomorrow.

Yesterday was one of those crazy, busy summer Saturdays....birthday parties, naps, a few errands, barbecues with friends...

Tomorrow is my son's birthday.  This afternoon we are heading to a State Park to camp and he wants to spend the day tomorrow exploring some caves and hike around Smugglers' Notch.  We also have kickball practice tomorrow night preparing for the upcoming playoffs.

I'll try to get back on track for Tuesday and Wednesday....I have already written Thursday and Friday but won't tell you why until Wednesday!


Our destination tomorrow!

Film Festival Friday: July 20, 2012

Currently #30 on my flickchart list.

This was the other anniversary gift I received from my wife!  I am pleased to say it held up on the second viewing.  I had not seen it since it was in the theater LAST July!

I thought the casting and story were prefect.  I had such reservations when Chris Evans was cast as Cap but he did such a great job here and in "The Avengers"!

I have seen a few places recently where this received some knocks, but it sits well with me!

This Day In History Thursday: July 19

Happy 36th Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!

Wild Card Wednesday: July 18, 2012

We have been watching old MST3K VHS tapes from the year 2000.  Yesterday was "Space Prince" which featured the above commercial....always been a favorite of ours!

T-Shirt Tuesday: July 17, 2012

Here the boy and I are chatting over breakfast before he heads off to his cooking class.  The Green Lantern T-Shirt was one of my anniversary gifts from my wife!

Music Monday: July 16, 2012

My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday.  This is a clip from "Elvis Costello's Spectacle" of Tony Bennett singing "The Way You Look Tonight" which was the first song at our wedding.

Silly Saturday: July 14, 2012

Obi-Wan's True Feelings About Mos Eisley

From Topless Robot: This message, which has not been approved by the Tatooine Tourism Commission, contains Obi-Wan's unedited description of a certain location commonly known as a wretched hive of scum and villainy -- you might want to keep the volume on low if you're at work. Or if you're in a horrible Mos Eisley cantina. (Via Peter Serafinowicz)

Film Festival Friday: July 13, 2012

Back to a movie heavy week!   And a la my Goodreads question last weekend, are we connected on flickchart?

Currently #45 on my flickchart list

This is the ONLY Star Trek film that I have not seen on the big screen and the ONLY movie I have ever watched through...questionable means before purchasing!  

I kicked off the chores needed to get the house ready for tomorrow's big summer birthday bash by putting this on in the background on Monday.  I have just finished reading through John "Buck" Field's "Star Trek by the Minute" posts and it made me want to watch this again.  

Currently #189 on my flickchart list

At some point last week, I apparently told my children I would take them to the drive-in to see this.  I don't recall when or why but my daughter remembered.  So I scrambled to load the mini-van before kickball on Monday night.  The game ended with BARELY enough time for us to hit the mini-mart, drive home, switch vehicles and get to the drive-in.  As it was, we were about 8 minutes late.  The kids laid down in the back of the van on an air mattress while Nan and I were going to sit outside.  However, the mosquitoes were CRAZY bad.

By the time we FINALLY got settled, we might have missed about 15 minutes.  That being said, I still enjoyed the movie.  My expectations were VERY low.  While Spider-Man 2 is high on my overall list, I HATED Tobey Maguire.   And I had read enough about this one to be prepared to be disappointed.  I could've waited for DVD but it was a fun night mostly because...

Currently #3 on my flickchart

"The Amazing Spider-Man" was paired up with MIB3...which I have NO desire to see.  However, "Brave" was playing on screen 3...and "The Avengers" was the second feature!!!

This was my FIFTH time seeing the movie.  The third time at the drive-in.  The other four times seeing this were within the first 10 days of its release.  And I know I am biased, but the movie STILL holds up for me.

I see no plot holes that I can't explain in-movie.  I have nothing negative to say about this movie.  I am SERIOUSLY thinking of renaming this blog based on a line from this movie.

I'm giddy about the success of this movie.  My daughter and the principal at my school both asked..."Why?".  I told them, simply put, imagine something you enjoy in a niche-y sort of way....suddenly, after 30 years of liking it, EVERYONE likes it.  I know it is not the best analogy, but, then again, I teach math.

Currently #318 on my flickchart list.

On Tuesday, Logan and I watched "Wrath of the Titans".  I grew up on the original "Clash of the Titans" and found the re-make "okay", though a bit much for me to watch with the boy.  Since then, he has devoured the "Percy Jackson" books and movie so I thought we could give it a go...

I'm not sure if I was still tired from the late night at teh drive in, but this one couldn't hold me.  I think I nodded off during the build up.  I brewed some coffee and soldiered on for the final hour or so but...meh.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday the 13th !!!

This Day In First Lady History: July 12, 2012

Given the nature of my first three "This Day In History" Thursday posts, I am changing the theme for Thursdays for the rest of the summer!

On this date in 1849, former First Lady Dolley Madison died at age 81.

A daguerreotype of Dolley Madison in 1848, by Mathew B. Brady