I'm taking tomorrow off work to enjoy the long Labor Day weekend and enjoy the unofficial las weekend of summer. Stefy and I will probably go play tennis for a bit after I get out of work this afternoon, and then drive to her house to spend the weekend there.

Tomorrow we'll probably go to the Henry Ford Museum to wander around for a while. The last time I went to Greenfield Village was during the last week of school in fifth grade when my dad was a chaperone on the trip. That visit was a lot of fun, but I don't think we even went over to the Henry Ford Museum while we were there, so it's probably been since the summer before that when I went with day care to the museum. Either way, it's definitely been a long time, so I'm really looking forward to going.

On Saturday Stef and I will be going out to the lake with her folks to spend some time at the cottage. My dad, Sherry, and the girls will be coming out to join us at some point in the afternoon that day, so that'll be fun. The only time our parents have spent any time around each other has always been at busy parties at my dad's house, so this will more or less be the first time they're together without any major distractions. I'm sure we'll have fun... I'm just hoping Kyra doesn't break something or go diving off the boat in the middle of the lake or something. That kid is a wild one.

So yeah, those two things are the only items that I'm virtually certain will be on the agenda this weekend. Other than that I'm hoping to be lazy and bake out in the sun so I can get one last tan before fall hits. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

Yesterday evening Stefy and I went over to Brian's house for a backyard barbecue with (most of) my Aunt Julie's family, grandma and grandpa, and Brian's other set of grandparents. Thankfully the weather managed to stay nice throughout the latter-portion of the day yesterday, so we were actually able to sit and eat our dinner outside. Brian had grilled up some really yummy hamburgers and my grandma brought potato salad and baked beans. Mmmmm.

Anyway, it was just a nice little visit to sit outside and visit with the family for a while, so I'm glad we had a chance to make it work out. Thanks for the din-din, Brian!

I haven't done one of these in a while, but after seeing Coldplay's newest video for their song "The Hardest Part," I just had to post this thing. It's really, really weird... and I love it. God only knows where they found these people, but this is definitely one of the most bizarrely entertaining videos since Fatboy Slim's video with Christopher Walken for "Weapon of Choice." Which, coincidentally, I'm also posting today. Enjoy!





So... which one takes home the prize for a higher weirdness factor?

I been sellin' me some books. All three were purchased within 24 hours. Man, I love me some half.com!

File this under both "could be sweet" and "could be a major blow to my childhood memories."

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is one of my favorite children's books, and apparently Sony is making it into a movie, which will premiere June 8, 2007. Phillip Lord describes the idea:

He says Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs would be "a great disaster movie for kids...I think it's because those disaster movies are kind of silly, and they take themselves really seriously. And we felt like, it's sort of a silly idea for a movie in the first place. And giving it a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek comedy treatment felt like the way to go."

Well, it would obviously need to be toungue-in-cheek to work, but I just hope it doesn't suck. Something about "a great disaster movie for kids" doesn't sound quite right to me.

Why does everything have to be made into a movie these days? Has Hollywood completely run out of ideas that now they're reduced to pillaging children's literature for new material? I guess if they could make a feature-length film out of The Polar Express -- which is basically a picture book -- they can make a movie out of anything.

My second trip to the Vegas for Stefy's 21st birthday is already less than a month away. We're leaving from Detroit on September 28th, her b-day is on Friday the 29th, and we'll be home on the 1st. Can't wait!

by el Scoot

A while ago, Zack started a thread here with the top five events he'd like to attend during his lifetime. I thought I'd follow up with my list of the top five events I wouldn't attend under any circumstances. In descending order:

#5: The Major League Baseball All-Star Game. There was a time when I would have KILLED to go to the All-Star Game. I still love the GAME of baseball, but I haven't spent a dime on a major league game since the strike in 1994 wiped out the World Series, and the tenth birthday outing I'd planned for Zack and some of his friends. I can hold a grudge, dammit!

#4: Mardi Gras. There also was a time when I would have jumped at the chance to be in New Orleans on Fat Tuesday. This has nothing to do with the current state of affairs in New Orleans; I've only been there once, but I had a ton of fun and ate some great meals. I'd love to go back...just not during Mardi Gras. I've gotten to an age where there's no appeal in fighting that drunken throng.

#3: Running with the bulls in Pamplona. This always gave me one impression: really, really stupid. Dangerous. I don't get it.

#2: The Republican National Convention. Would I COVER a GOP National Convention as a reporter? Sure I would. But, man...it would be tough.

And, #1: The Daytona 500. Tens of thousands of NASCAR fans, all still deeply mourning the death of Dale Earnhart while swilling their beer, sweating, dancing to country music, and cheering for Earnhart wanna-bes. (Does the "500" mean the total number of teeth at the race?). I wouldn't go there with a wheelbarrow full of free tickets.

There you have it. Other suggestions?

I almost forgot to post some of my textbooks from last year on half.com's bookstore while all the college kiddies out there are busy stocking up for the semester. So, last night I went online and put three of them up at 8 p.m. Within three and a half hours, two of them were already sold. Booya!

Oh yeah, and being the good democrat that I am, that money is going towards my first contribution to Sen. Debbie Stabenow's reelection campaign. Take that, Mike "daddy knows best" Bouchard!

Sure, August is almost over, but come on... this ain't October yet! What's with all the rain/cloud/gloominess lately? I could see throwing us a few sour days since we had it so good in July (too good, in fact), but this is definitely getting old. We got Labor Day weekend coming up, and I have four days off work. I want to enjoy myself outside a little bit. Could you please get on the stick with that?

Thanks,
Zack

We have a staff meeting in Detroit today, so I'll be hitting the road for the Motor City with a few of my fellow Trust Funders at about 9:15 this morning. The meeting doesn't start until 11 and we're having lunch brought in, so I'm not exactly sure what time I'll get back this afternoon. If we can beat the evening rush (which seems to start ridiculously early, like 3:30 in Detroit), I should be able to go volunteer at G4G tonight, but if not I'll probably just come home and crash.

I slept like a baby last night, but I was unbelievably groggy when I woke up this morning. It's mornings like this that make me think I should become a coffee drinker. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to working on my caffeinated orange juice experiment.

Anyway, that's it for today. Have a good Tuesday.

I'm a big fan of live concert albums. It's one thing to have a favorite band/album/song, but unless they can play it live, it's not worth paying for concert tickets. For my money, a great live band can take mediocre/good music and make it truly great.

Anyway, here are my top five favorite concert albums:

1. U2 - New Years Night in Dublin 89-90
   It's a bootleg, but the audio quality is excellent. They open with Auld Lang Syne and go right into Streets. Goosebumps.
   
2. Guster - Live 6/17/04 Myrtle Beach
   My new favorite band plays a great setlist of their best songs. Oh, and the Meowstro is great too.
   
3. Dave Matthews Band - Listener Supported
   This is DMB at the top of their game on this one.
   
4. Ben Folds Live
   The best of Ben Folds Five and Ben's solo material. He does the coolest audience participation stuff of any modern musical performer.
   
5. Sting - All This Time
   Very chill, but it swings too. Sting is so smooth it's scary.

Honorable Mention: Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Just a brilliant concert film/album from one of the great bands of the 80s.

I just wanted to wish my girl good luck during her first day of classes for her senior year of college today. Good luck, my Stefy girl!

The weekend is a bit of a blur at the moment, so my memory could be a little fuzzy in this re-cap.

Friday afternoon I helped Stefy get settled into her apartment, but it was definitely nice having most of her stuff already there this time. We did have to make a trip to Target to do some poking around for the Shabby Chic dresser that Stef really wants for her room, but it looks like they quit making them a while ago. The store was packed to the gills with all the college kids pawing through stuff for their dorm rooms and apartments -- kinda like us, I suppose -- so we just grabbed a few things for the apartment and got the hell out of there.

On the way back to Stef's place we decided to venture into Meijer so she could get a few groceries since the fridge was basically empty. Let me tell you, Meijer made Target look like a morgue. The place was absolutely insane, and thanks to their brilliant remodeling layout, we had a hard time finding some stuff we needed to get. I gotta say, whoever came up with that new floor plan needs to be shot. Anyway, we did manage to get the few things Stef needed and escape with our lives in tact. Everything after that on Friday night is kind of foggy. I think we just had dinner and watched some TV back at Stef's place and tried to regain our sanity for a while before I took off for home and crashed for the night.

It was nice to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning -- and by sleeping in, I mean 8 a.m., since that's ridiculously late by my standards. I spent some time cleaning up around my place before Stef came over at around noon. We were both getting hungry for lunch by then, so we ran up to Qdoba to grab some lunch and took it back to Stef's place to eat. Qdoba is always okay to eat at, but it's never great. You know, the great thing about El Azteco is that you know your stomach will regret the meal a couple hours after you eat, but at least it tastes ridiculously good to make it worthwhile. I can't say the same about Qdoba.

Anyway, after we ate lunch Stef and I popped next door to see how her friends Danielle, Rebecca, and Lidsay were doing with their move-in. These are all girls that Stef and her roommate Michelle knew from Holmes Hall, and they just rented the apartment right next door for the year. They seemed to be pretty much settled in when we stopped over for a visit and didn't seem to need our help with anything, so Stef and I just came back to her place to watch some TV for a while.

We managed to kill a few hours on the couch watching TV before Stef's friend Andrea showed up for the Howie Day concert that night. So here's the lowdown on the concert. I basically knew nothing about Howie Day before this weekend, but Stefy is a big fan and had bought about eight tickets to this Welcome Week concert at Wharton a few weeks ago. She had invited a handful of friends to go with us, but some had to drop in and drop out over the last week or so to make sure we had enough people to use all eight tickets. Andrea is one of Stef's friends from high school, and she decided to join us at the last minute when another one of Stef's friends had to back out the day before. Since I had only met her once before, I was glad we got a chance to talk for more than five minutes for the first time ever, especially since I've heard so much about her over the last two years.

Anyway, we all gathered up and headed over to Wharton at about 7:45 for the show. I must admit, it was really cool having front row center seats even at a concert for an artist I knew little about. I was kind of expecting Howie Day to be like John Mayer-lite or something, but it really wasn't like that at all. The show was basically just him onstage with his guitar and some equipment, and ended up being really experimental. I mean that in the sense that he did this really cool thing on about half of his songs where he would start strumming his guitar while he was recording the audio, and would then loop the sound while he started thumping on his guitar like a drum and then loop that to give the song its own beat. He'd do all sorts of little tricks like that like strumming the lowest notes to make a bass line, looping his own vocals to create a three-part harmony with himself... it was just really clever. Plus he sang a few lines from U2's 'One', and made fun of Scott Stapp from Creed, so that made me like the guy even more. It was just a really fun, chilled-out concert, so I'm glad I got a chance to go.

Sunday was pretty gloomy and low-key for the most part, but Stef and I did venture out to play tennis for about an hour. I don't think Stefy had been on a court in at least a year and a half, but she did a really good job of picking up right where she left off. It was definitely good to get out there and run around for a while. Other than that though, we just watched some movies on TV and relaxed for most of the afternoon before the Emmy coverage started at 6. I thought Conan was great last night, but the show itself definitely dragged on a bit too long. The running Bob Newhart gag kept it moving though -- I was in the 6% that was undecided about whether or not he should live or die in that plastic box. It was pretty sweet that Kiefer Southerland and '24' both took two of the top drama Emmys. I was doing my impression of Jack Bauer as they were announcing the winner, saying stuff like "If you do not give me this award, I will kill you!"

Anyway, that's about it. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I know you want to get me an amazing birthday gift, so here are a couple great ideas:


AFT iCarta Stereo Dock for iPod and Bath Tissue Holder
For someone on a budget


100-inch LCD from LG
For the person who really loves me.

Happy b-day shopping!

Well, I can't say I'm surprised that Milwaukee was number one, but I'm sure my mom will be glad to hear that her adoptive hometown, Columbus, came in at number three on the list of drunkest cities in America:

MILWAUKEE (Aug. 24) - Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City" on a list of 35 major metropolitan areas ranked for their drinking habits.

Forbes said Tuesday it used numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank cities in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was ranked second overall; followed by Columbus, Ohio; Boston; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., in a tie for ninth.

Hey, Detroit might be the third angriest city in America, but at least Detroiters can hold their liquor. Anyway, congratulations to Milwaukee -- which is Algonquin for 'the good land' -- and Columbus! You did it, you drunk bastards!

Well, the students are officially back at MSU, and this is the first time in four years that I'm not one of them. Sure it's a little strange, but it's definitely a relief. I don't have to deal with buying books, scheduling, or school shopping!

Part of me thought I would miss starting school this fall, but that certainly hasn't been the case (at least not yet). I'm really enjoying my full-time job right now, and it's so nice to come home at the end of the day and not have to worry about all the homework I should be doing. Of course, there are other things I have to worry about now instead of school; stuff like volunteering, my little side projects, keeping my apartment tidy, etc. But the big difference there is that those are all things I have control over. Once in a while I'll get home and just feel lazy, so I'll plop down and read a magazine or watch mindless television. The great thing is that I can get away with not feeling guilty about homework or studying or whatever. It's not like I have days like this very often, especially since I've been so busy this summer, but it's nice to have the option once in a while.

I don't miss school now, but who knows how I'll feel in six months or a year. If my brain shrivels up too much I might need to head back and get my learn on for a while. I guess we'll see how it goes.

I'm sick of the rain. Seriously, cut us some slack. Summer is almost over!

Sincerely,
Zack

Yesterday I got an anonymous email from someone about a new mockumentary film that satirizes multi-level marketing firms like the evil AMWAY corporation. The movie looks really funny, and the timing couldn't be better -- the filmmakers have already arranged premieres in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, and Detroit for October this fall, which is perfect timing for the governor's race.

Anyway, this got me thinking about my favorite mockumentary films/TV shows, so here they are:

1. The Office
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (the original HBO documentary)
3. This is Spinal Tap
4. Arrested Development
5. Waiting for Guffman

What are your favs?

Well, the wait is over. I finally have my DVDs for An Apology to the Dead, the film I worked on three summers ago.

It was so funny. Yesterday I was parking my car next to the capitol to go volunteer at the Granholm campaign, and right as I'm opening my door I saw Jon Worful walking down the sidewalk with a big box of in his hands. I called out to him and before I could go shake his hand he was already putting change in the parking meter for me. He was on his way to the Post Office before 5 p.m. and was in a rush, so he asked me to walk and talk.

Everything seems to be going well with him, and apparently the DVD distribution is going smoothly, since that's what he was doing at the Post Office. By my luck he just happened to have three extra discs on him, so he gave me my copies while we were chatting. Both of us had to get going, but it was really good getting to see him for a minute.

When I got home from volunteering I popped in the disc and blasted through all the deleted scenes that I was sad to see cut from the final version of the film when we went to the premiere in April. I took a break to do some work on all of my little side projects for a while afterwards, but came back and watched the whole movie with the directors' commentary on to hear Tim and Jon yack about the making of the film. It was really cool getting to watch it and hear them reminisce about the shoot. While that project was one of the most stressful and tiring experiences of my life, it was also one of the most exciting and rewarding things I ever took part in.

Anyway, the two extra copies of the disc are for my parents, but if there's anyone out there who wants to see the film, don't be afraid to ask me about borrowing the DVD.

You might notice some changes over in the sidebar. Right now I'm experimenting with Flickr, and so far me likey. All those pictures above my little profile blurb on the right link to my Flickr account, and will automatically update when I upload new photos. I figured while I was at it I would also take a minute to clean out a bunch of junk in the sidebar that was repetitive or no longer applicable to this site.

There's a whole host of reasons why using a site like Flickr to host my pictures is a good idea. Every photo gets catalogued and can be tagged to describe what's in the picture, people can leave comments on the pictures, and the best part is it's all FREE. From here on out I'll probably be migrating to Flickr for future picture series, and if I ever get up the gumption to do it, I might even backtrack and upload some of my old pictures. My goal at some point down the road is to have all my photos online in one place with the same user interface. That day may never come, but it's nice to have dreams.

Stay tuned to iBZP. It's getting so much better all the time!

Well, with vacations and anniversaries and whatnot, it's been over two weeks since I reported for duty at the Granholm campaign HQ. I'm heading back in after work today, so hopefully I'm not too out of the loop. Somehow I doubt the practice of stuffing envelopes, entering data in the computer, or making phone calls has changed much in the last two weeks.

Anyway, I'll probably head back in there tomorrow as well to catch up on lost time. It'll probably be hard to keep a fluent schedule with them now that Stefy's back in town, but I'll make it work one way or another.

If you're interested in volunteering for a political campaign this year, now is the time to sign up. Things are going to start getting hot and heavy as we head into September, and I'm sure any campaign manager/volunteer coordinator would love the help.

Believe it or not, yelling at the television doesn't actually accomplish anything. Volunteer, give money... do something! Get out there and help build the kind of world you want to live in.

(end of preachiness)

Well, here it be, the first new picture series in almost two months. This one weighs in under 100 pictures, but I had to weed out some of the crummy ones. Hey, only the best for my iBZP readers. Enjoy!

Okay, even though I'm not a student anymore, I still have to deal with welcome week at Michigan State because I live so close to East Lansing (not to mention the fact that my girlfriend is starting her senior year of school). Here are the top five worst things about welcome week at MSU:

1. Having it take 20+ min. to drive on Grand River thru East Lansing
2. Going into any kind of bookstore (it's like a suicide run)
3. Parking. Anywhere.
4. Meijer and their damn "midnight madness"
5. Getting cut off by a van stuffed to the gills on US 127

Run for your lives! The children are coming back to East Lansing!

Yep, today officially marks the beginning of "Welcome Week" at Michigan State, which means anyone who's not a student or related to one should avoid East Lansing like the plague. You might as well forget about going to Meijer this week -- your life could be at risk.

The great thing for me is that for the first time in four years, I don't have to move anywhere! It should've been like this last year, but certain circumstances required me to relocate apartments (*cough -- asshole roommate -- cough*). Even better, Stefy is staying in the same place this year, so she's pretty much settled already. I think she's brining a carload of stuff on Friday, but certainly nothing like we've had to deal with in the past.

Anyway, good luck to anyone venturing within a five mile radius of campus this week. I wish you God's speed.

I know I've been promising a new photo series forever, but I swear I'll actually have one to post tomorrow. This one is going to be pretty big -- at least 100+ photos -- so it's been taking me a while to get my ducks in a row and come up with witty captions. Anyway, make sure to check back tomorrow for the new photo series.

Today is my sister Kyra's 4th birthday! We're going out to her (and Morgan's) favorite restaurant, Cheddar's, to celebrate tonight. I got her a really cute ______ and some ______.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KYRA-HEAD!

It's never any fun getting back into the everyday routine after being on vacation for a while, but at least it's already Tuesday.

My anniversary day with Stefanie was very nice yesterday. We had a wonderful breakfast at the Pancake House and then spent most of the afternoon at the Detroit Zoo. It's been a couple years since we went there, so it was fun to get out and see all the animals and enjoy the beautiful weather.

After our little trek through the zoo we came back to the house and exchanged our anniversary gifts. Stefy got me this really slick light blue striped dress shirt from the Thomas Pink store in Las Vegas and a snazzy navy blue tie to go with it. I gave her Guys and Dolls on DVD, and an S-shaped keychain and leather wallet, both from Coach. Yep, I think it's safe to say we spoil each other.

Once we were done opening presents we got all dressed up for our night on the town. Stef made dinner reservations for us at the Capital Grille inside Somerset, which I had never been to before. As I expected, both the food and the service were fantastic; the waitress even brought us a piece of yummy chocolate cake for dessert to celebrate our anniversary. After dinner we pretty much went straight back to Stef's house and packed up our things to head back to Lansing.

So yeah, it was a wonderful anniversary and a fantastic weekend. I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

As of today, Stefy and I have been dating for two years. Hooray!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. The last year went by especially fast, but what can I say? She's just the most amazing person I've ever known, and I love her more and more every single day!

Here's our plan for the big day (which is already underway). First we went to the Pancake House for a nice breakfast this morning, and now we're going to head out to the Detroit Zoo this afternoon. We haven't gone in a couple years now, so I think this will be a good chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather today. Once we get back from the zoo I think we'll do our little gift exchange, and then get ready for our night out on the town. We have dinner reservations at the Capital Grille at Somerset, so that'll be really fun. After dinner I think we're just heading back to the house to get our stuff, and then hitting the road for Lansing. Tomorrow is Kyra's 4th birthday, and since we missed her party yesterday both of us want to see her on the actual b-day to give her the really cute presents we picked up this weekend.

Anyway, that's basically it. Congratulations to us! Here's to many more years of wonderfulness with my favorite girl in the whole world!

I love you, my Stefery!

Like I said, it's our two-year anniversary today, so here are the top five annoyingly cute things about Stefy and me as a couple.

1. We basically never fight
2. W don't like being apart from each other for more than 24hrs
3. We pretty much like the same stuff (shows, movies, sports, etc.)
4. We both really love each other's families
5. We thumb wrestle whenever we get bored

For anyone who watches the American version of "The Office" on NBC, it's time to face facts... it'll never be as good as the original UK version.

When you consider that they only made 12 episodes of this show, plus a two-part Christmas special, these 17 minute Microsoft training videos are a Godsend for fans like me.

Ricky Gervais (a.ka. David Brent) and Stephen Merchant are in rare form here. This has to be the coolest thing that Microsoft has ever done. Enjoy!





From Adfreak via Popwatch.

A simple, yet brilliant premise: Snakes on a Plane. The title says it all. Then you add Sam Jackson (the reigning Godfather of Badassness in Hollywood), more violence, sex and swearing, and you got yourself a hit. It opens today. Hell to the no yes!

I knew about the vacation this week, but I didn't realize how hectic yesterday was going to be. There wasn't any time to write a full update or an opportunity to sit down and post it, so that's why I didn't get around to it until today. And guess what? I'm leaving to spend the weekend at Stef's house this afternoon and won't be back until Monday. Sigh. So yeah, things won't get back to normal around here until the middle of next week. Keep checking back though... I promise I'll get back on track soon enough.

Well after a short little vacation, it's good to be back. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

SUNDAY: The caravan arrived at my apartment at around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. I gave my grandparents and my Aunt Julie the grand tour of my not-so-new apartment; I was glad they were finally able to see the place. After a short little water break we all piled into our cars and hit the road. Grandpa was my riding buddy on the way up north, so he kept me entertained the whole time we were in the car.

We stopped for lunch in Mt. Pleasant shortly after 1, but other than that we pretty much made a straight shot all the way up to Gaylord. There were a couple wrong turns once we got off the highway trying to find Lake Arrowhead, but we still made really good time getting there.

The cabin that my mom and Aunt Julie had rented for us was a little rustic, but compared to what we used to have at Lark's Lake it was like the Ritz. This place had not one but two bathrooms with working showers (the old cabin had an outhouse and no running water)! There were three bedrooms and plenty of room for all of us to spread out, a nice deck, a fire pit, and... a hot tub! Of course, even though we had all these nice amenities I still kind of missed the old days at the cottage on Lark's Lake. Ah, well. Life goes on.

Anyway, after getting settled in on Sunday we made a big grocery list and went into town to get some supplies for the week. Unfortunately the only real game in town for grocery shopping was the hated Wal-Mart, but we decided to bite the bullet and stock up there anyway.

Other than that we pretty much just came back to the cabin to watch Big Brother on CBS and then went outside to start a fire and roast marshmallows.

MONDAY: It rained on Monday morning. Blah. The nice part about a rainy day on vacation though is getting to laze around in your pajamas all morning and watch bad shows like Dawson's Creek on TV. By the time I took a shower and got cleaned up it was already about 1 or so, but at least the sun was finally staring to come out at that point.

There were some things we forgot to get at the store on Sunday so we hopped in Dan's car and headed back into town to do some more shopping at Wal-Mart. Honestly, I feel like I need a shower whenever I come out of that place.

By the time we made it back to the cabin the clouds had rolled away, and the weather was gorgeous. I went down by the beach with my mom to read this week's EW for a while. It was a little windy and that made the air a bit nippy, but as long as the sun was out I was happy.

Dan burned some hamburgers for dinner on Monday night, and those bad boys hit the spot. After dinner I hopped in the hot tub with my Aunt Julie and Grant to relax for a while, but that was basically it for Monday.

TUESDAY: Well, there wasn't any rain on Tuesday morning, but that didn't stop me from sitting around and watching more Dawson's Creek with my Aunt Julie. Grandma rustled up this really yummy breakfast that I scarfed down while we watched the show. It was nice that we got to spend a little extra time with grandma and grandpa on Tuesday morning because they pretty much packed up and hit the road by about noonish to go visit an old friend of theirs who lives somewhere up north.

Shortly after they left my mom, Dan, Grant, and I all got in the car and drove to this State Park, Hartwick Pines near Grayling. It's basically this giant forest with a lot of nice walking trails, so it was a good chance for all of us to get out and get some exercise on such a beautiful day.

After our little trip out to the woods we came back to the cabin to relax for the rest of the evening. We all sat out on the beach to chitchat for a while before dinner. After we ate I went on another walk with my mom around the lake for some more exercise (man, I better be in pretty good shape after all of this walking). We got back just in time for another episode of Big Brother, but Uncle Randy, Jessi, and Jake finally showed up about about halfway through the show so we kind of missed the second half of it. Once they were all settled in we all went out to relax in the hot tub for a while before starting another bonfire for the night. We did the smores thing again, which really hit the spot. Unless I'm forgetting something that was basically it for Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY: For whatever reason I slept in a lot later than usual on Wednesday morning, and didn't roll out until well after 10. I had a light breakfast and other than sitting out on the pontoon boat for a while that morning I pretty much just packed up and hit the road by shortly after noon.

So yeah, that was basically my trip in a nutshell. I'm sure I forgot to mention some stuff, but this little update took me a while to churn through because I didn't have internet access for most of the day yesterday. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post some pictures by early next week.

Check back!

I'm on vacation until Wednesday.

Check back for a big update once I get back. Have a great week!

It's been a couple years since the last time I went to the East Lansing Folk Festival. Last summer I couldn't go because I was still in London when it was going on. Well, my dad had to work as an announcer at one of the music tents for a couple hours today, and since I didn't have anything else going on, I thought it would be fun to tag along.

The first act onstage was a group of guys who all play the accordion, so I went off to get a bite to eat since that didn't sound particularly interesting to me. I did some wandering around to find an MSUFCU ATM for a few minutes, but finally made my way over to the small food court to get some lunch. Of course, I had my heart set on some yummy Greek food so I chose to eschew the Polish cuisine that was being served at the ten next door -- sorry, grandpa. Since I was so hungry I went ahead and ordered the huge combo meal for lunch, thinking it would just be my big meal for the day. It came with a Greek salad, a gyro, and a huge piece of baklava. I went over and grabbed a table just outside of the big tent to listen to some music while I ate, and dug into that salad. Mmmm. That was the best Greek salad I've ever had, hands down. They loaded that bad boy with a giant mound of feta cheese and threw in these really fresh cherry tomatoes in there too (drooling sound). Hoo boy, that hit the spot.

After pigging out on my lunch I headed back over to my dad's tent so I could catch up with him before he had to go on before the next act. Well, these accordion guys were still up there playing when I showed up, but I thought what the hell and just sat down with my dad to listen to the rest of the show. I know it sounds silly, but I'm here to tell you, these guys were all very talented and a lot of fun to listen to. What was cool about the whole thing was that they all came from very different backgrounds. There was a guy playing eastern European Jewish songs, a black guy playing folksy/bluesy zydeco music, a Polish dude playing traditional polka tunes, and a Tejano musician playing some songs with a little Spanish flair. They kept going down the lline playing songs from their respective genres, and the other guys just jumped right in and started jamming with them. The crowd got really into it and kept clapping throughout the songs. It was really cool! I never would've thought a bunch of guys playing the accordion of all things could be so entertaining. Of course, like my dad said, after another hour of that music we might've wanted to blow our brains out. Still, it was pretty cool... I'm definitely glad I came back and stuck around for the show.

Once dad got done setting up the next set of performers, we took off to wander the grounds a bit more. We got a couple of the ridiculously great homemade root beer slushies at one of the food stands. Mmmm, that was some good stuff. I don't know why the hell 7-11 hasn't thought to start selling root beer slurpees yet -- I'd be all over those things.

So yeah, that was basically it for my day at the Folk Fest. I'm really glad I got a chance to go walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather today. Anyone in the Lansing area who hasn't gone yet should definitely make a point of going down there for a while tomorrow before they wrap things up.

Other than that, I basically spent the rest of the day doing some birthday shopping for Sherry, cleaning my apartment, and packing for this trip Up North for the next few days. I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Well, that was overdue. After getting my clock cleaned by my old man all summer long, I finally took him out 6-4 today.

The difference (aside from the cooler weather)? Home court advantage, baby! Yep, for the first time in forever, my dad and I played at the courts by the old high school in Holt. Ya gotta love the H-Town edge.

Batman is still my favorite comicbook hero. I mean, the dude's a regular guy, and he's still a badass.

Well, I always kind of forget about how bad the old Batman TV show was. Aside from being ridiculous, this clip is more than a little creepy. Please enjoy the "Siamese Human Knot":

I could probably fill a book with this category, but here are five everyday things that bug the hell out of me.

1. People not holding doors open (honestly, it takes 5 seconds, chump)
2. Biting my hangnails (it's disgusting, it hurts, I can't stop)
3. Drivers not using turn signals (these people should be shot)
4. When people take my parking spot at work (don't go there)
5. When people clap at the end of a movie (memo: they can't hear you)

Okay, what did I forget?

If you're from Michigan anything North of Mt. Pleasant is considered "Up North." For years in my family whenever you said you were going Up North it meant you were going to stay at my grandparent's cabin on Lark's Lake, which isn't far from Pellston. Well, after owning that place for like a gazillion years they finally decided to sell it a few years ago because it was getting too hard for them to maintain the place.

Well, aside from the short trip Stefy and I took up to Mackinac back in June, I haven't really spent any time Up North in a while. So, I'm really looking forward to this trip I'm taking with my mom, Dan, A. Julie and her family, and grandma and grandpa this weekend. Mom and A. Julie rented a place on (or near... I'm not sure which) a lake in Galyord for the week. We're all caravanning up there on Sunday afternoon, but I'm only staying until Wednesday. Still I think this should be a lot of fun.

Hey, anyplace that has (a) running water, (b) a bathroom instead of an outhouse, and (c) a shower will be about a hundred times more luxurious than the old cabin at Lark's Lake.

I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do while we're up there, but I think that's part of the whole point. I don't want to do much of anything. I'll probably bring a couple books, my iPod, and camera, and spend most of my time relaxing by the lake.

The weather forecast is looking gorgeous for the time we're up there, so that'll be nice too. I can remember so many times going up to Lark's Lake when we ran into these God-awful storms that seemed to come out of nowhere. We always used to joke that Van Road -- this long country highway you had to take to the cabin -- was like the Bermuda Triangle for Northern Michigan.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this trip, and I think we'll have a lot of fun. Sure, going "Up North" will never be like it used to be, but this could be a great opportunity to start a new tradition.

Well, I finished the fifth season of Curb last night. While this one was just as funny as the rest, I must admit that the last episode was a little trippy and weird. Not that it didn't have its moments, but the last twenty minutes or so were very bizarre, even by Curb standards.

For a while I was a little worried that they weren't going to do another season based on the content of that last episode, but I think I heard that the sixth season is getting ready to start on HBO soon, so I guess that clears things up. I just hope Larry doesn't get sick of doing the show at some point like he did with Seinfeld. Ten episodes a year isn't too much to ask.

"Shut up! You know what's you're looking at? You are looking at 245 pounds of twisted steel and drop-your-bony-butt-to-the-curb appeal. I will *body slam* you so hard that you will poop your bald pants. Hear me? Don't you ever... ever... *ever* point another finger at my kids again, because if you do, I will break it off and shove it right up your sphincter."

Rall, Toles, and Ramsey this morning (gracias, dad):

Let's see, I graduated three months ago. Three short months, and Michigan State is already calling to beg me for money. Kids, if MSU is relying on schlubs like mois to make ends meet, then you'd better get ready to get socked with a huge tuition increase because they're obviously hard up for dough.

Seriously though, it was pretty ridiculous. On Tuesday night I was sitting there at 621 in Lansing with my cousin Brian and his friend Beverly chatting at the Chris Lewless victory pity party, when my phone buzzed at about 9:40. I didn't recognize the number, so for some dumb reason I made the foolish mistake of picking it up. Bad idea.

The person on the other end seemed friendly enough. He told me that he was calling on behalf of the College of Arts and Letters to ask how things were going for me since graduation. I told him everything was fine, and that I already had a job I really liked. As I was talking I sort of expected that he was writing this stuff down since this seemed like some sort of survey, but it obviously wasn't since it never felt like he paused to take any notes.

Then after the guy let me ramble for a few minutes he finally cut to the chase. The College of Arts and Letters was asking me to make a generous donation of $100 to help pay for scholarships and services for the school.

Hmmm. Interesting. I seem to remember applying for a scholarship for my senior year of school and never getting a penny from CAL. Gee, that makes me really anxious to bust out my checkbook and fork over a hundred bucks. And if that wasn't bad enough, here I was talking to this boob at 9:40 at night about this stuff. I can't get mad at him I suppose, but what kind of slave drivers make their telemarketers work until 10 p.m., let alone make them bug the people they're supposedly raising money from at such a late hour?

I was trying to talk to Brian the whole time this was going on, so in an effort to get this sap off the phone I asked if he could just mail me some information about making a donation. Of course, he said they couldn't do that since they were in the process of switching all of their communications to email. When I asked him to email me the information, he said he could only do it if I committed to donating at least ten dollars. For some crazy reason I told him I would just to get him off the phone.

So, here I am MSU, writing you a fat check for ten big ones. Spend it wisely, because it's the last money you'll be getting from me for a while.

I like the theme of fiscal responsibility here. Something Republicans obviously know nothing about.

Here's another silly top five category, the top five events I want to attend before I die:

1. Wimbledon (I could keel over the next day and I'd be happy)
2. Superbowl (to see the Lions... ha, yeah right)
3. Democratic National Convention (for serious)
4. A Steve Jobs Keynote (oh, there's one more thing...)
5. A Michigan State Bowl Game (psshyeah)

How about yours?

I'm dragging a bit this morning, and I thought something like Led Zeppelin would be good to wake me up a bit. These are both extended live jams of "Kashmir" and "Stairway to Heaven."

No Stairway... denied.

Sorry there weren't many updates yesterday. I just didn't feel inspired to write anything. Today isn't looking much better though. I guess we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I'm getting a haircut at 11:30 this morning and then meeting my dad for lunch at Majority afterwards. He still hasn't been there, and I haven't been back since Valentine's day, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

After work tonight I'm going to get some work done on my various freelance projects, which have been dormant for a while now. I think the stuff with my Uncle Tom is almost finished, but I'm just getting started on another website project for a company in Ohio, so there's some work to be done on that. This project could end up getting a bit more complicated than the others have been, but I'm excited about getting started on it.

I think I'm going to work for a couple extra hours tomorrow just to build up some extra vacation time to help cushion all the days I'm taking off here and there between now and the end of the year. Hopefully my dad and I are able to make tennis work later in the day, but I guess we'll have to play it by ear. Other than that Friday is looking pretty low key.

I'm planning to be really lazy on Saturday sine we're leaving for Gaylord on Sunday. I'll probably just sleep in and lounge around the apartment all day. I'd like to say I'll do something productive, but I don't want to make any promises.

Anyway, that's basically it for now. Have a good one.

Toles, Kelly, and Luckovich this morning (gracias, dad).

Joe Lieberman and Joe Schwarz, this one's for you guys.

Well, one out of three ain't bad. Yesterday I called Bouchard, Schwarz, and Lewless as the winners in their respective races, and Bouchard was the only one who won.

Look, I would've preferred having Keith Butler as Debbie Stabenow's opponent this fall just because he's a bit nuttier and he would've had a harder time raising money than Mike Douchard Bouchard. Ah, well. He ran a horrible primary campaign, and I can't wait to watch Debbie eviscerate him in the general election.

It looks like the seventh district will be saying bye bye to Joe Schwarz. I guess crazy does win sometimes. Hopefully the democratic winner Reiner can get some love from the DCCC and DNC to help take down Walberg in November. The dude be crazy, but I don't think voters in that district are wingnutty enough to send him to Washington. At least let's hope not, otherwise I will definitely make a point of registering in a different district by 2008. Oh, one last thing... go read Matt's postmortem on this race, and make sure to read DemWave's comment.

Well, I'm sad that Chris Lewless lost, but I am glad that Baker the Republican faker got his brains blown out with a piddly share of the vote total. Joan Bauer is a smart woman who will do a fine job representing residents of the 68th district in the State House of Representatives. Of course, I am grateful to Chris for displaying such an amazing work ethic throughout this campaign, and I implore him to throw his hat in the political ring again sometime. The State of Michigan needs more people like Chris Lewless involved in government. somehow I doubt this is the last we'll hear from him.

In other non-Michigan primary news, I am thrilled that Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman last night. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Ned's victory over Holy Joe was enough to dissuade him from running as an independent. Hopefully all those Democrats who came out to campaign with Capt. Joementum will do the right thing and support Lamont in the (now likely) event of a three-way race this fall (I'm looking at you Bill, Chuck, and Dick). Democrats support Democrats, and as of last night, Joe Lieberman is no longer a Democratic candidate. I also hope all of the Washington incumbents and TV pundits got the memo from yesterday's race... support the war in Iraq at your own peril. Ned Lamont's victory is the first ripple of the coming 2006 anti-incumbent wave. Get ready for it.

PS: The Kos winners/losers on the CT race is great. Lamont's win was huge last night. "This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic House Congressional campaign. "This is not about the war. It's blind loyalty to Bush."

Yesterday I posted a note about the passing of Todd Miles, who was a member of the sound crew for An Apology to the Dead. While I still haven't heard any more details about his death, there is a nice story in today's Lansing State Journal about how people are remembering him.

A face is missing in the heart of Lansing's downtown.

Todd Miles, 35, of Lansing, was known by many to just about every business owner on Washington Square.

Miles, the Allegan Street Beaner's manager, died suddenly Wednesday. His funeral services were this morning...

At the coffee shop customers are no longer greeted by Miles' trademark smile. A donation can sits on the counter with his picture taped to it. Shops around downtown have posters in their windows in testament to the well-known figure.

Customers are sharing stories about Miles as they go for their coffee on Allegan Street.

"It's a lot quieter but it's almost an eerie quiet," Mia Lawson, 29, of Howell, a Cooley Law student. "He was always so upbeat."

Read more on this story in Wednesday's State Journal.

I'll be curious to see what they write in tomorrow's paper. Maybe we'll finally get some details about what happened to Todd.

Poor guy. I feel really bad about this.

Vote early. Vote often.

Today is primary day here in Michigan. Since our state's map has been gerrymandered to death, most of the final election winners will be determined today and not in November. I don't even care which primary you choose to vote in. In fact, since my voting district is so bloody red, I'm going to vote in the Republican primary today. I might need to take a shower afterwards, but I'm going to do it.

Anyway, I urge everyone to get out and exercise your civic duty today. If you don't vote, you have no reason to complain about state government, so I don't want to hear any excuses about how you're too busy or don't have any time or whatever. Democracy requires participation, and if you don't vote, I don't think you deserve a seat at the table.

If you're not sure where your precinct is, check out Publius.org for all sorts of great informtion on voting.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

PS: If you live in Lansing's 68th House District, make sure to vote for CHRIS LEWLESS today. He'll need every vote he can get.

PPS: If you think I'm being annoying about this today, just wait until November.

It's primary day, so I figured it was appropriate to post a patriotic song like "America The Beautiful." I couldn't track down a good clip of the famous Ray Charles rendition, but here's the short Keb' Mo' version from the final episode of The West Wing. Enjoy! Oh, and VOTE TODAY!

Toles this morning from my dad:

It was big news when Morgan called me about a month ago to tell me that she learned how to ride a two-wheeler. Since she hadn't turned eight yet by then, she beat me by a full three years (I know, I know... ten is pretty late to learn how to ride a bike).

Well, yesterday I got a call from Kyra telling me that she learned how to ride a bike at Teri's house yesterday! What's funny is that dad said about ten or fifteen minutes had gone by after he picked the girls up from daycare before one of them thought to tell him that Kyra had learned to ride a two-wheeler.

The girl hasn't even had her fourth birthday yet! She beat Morgan by a full four years, and me by six or seven (depending on how you count)!

In a way I can't believe that she learned how to ride a two-wheeler at such a young age, but it kind of makes sense when you think about it, since Kyra is always running around and smashing into things. In a way I guess that makes her the most athletic sibling.

Anyway, I was planning on going out to my dad's house for dinner after I go vote today, so I think we'll be going out for ice cream afterwards to celebrate.

Congratulations, Kyra-head!

Lance Armstrong, eat your heart out [from The Onion]:



"Millions Of Americans Buying Floyd Landis-Inspired Bracelets"

Well, there weren't any big bombshell announcements today (I wasn't really expecting any, but an "Oh, one more thing" from Steve would've been nice), but the next version of OS X does look pretty slick. Here's a rundown of the new features from The Unofficial Apple Weblog:

• Time Machine - a new built-in backup system that will back up your entire system and allow you to restore the whole thing or just selected files.
• Enhancements to iChat -- including a tabbed interface, custom still or video backdrops for your video iChat, iChat Theater (which lets you show iPhoto pics or a Keynote presentation during an iChat), and Photo Booth effects to make yourself look silly during a chat. Other iChat enhancements that were mentioned but not demoed include video recording (yes!), invisible mode, and animated buddy icons. The Apple site also shows the ability to share your desktop during an iChat. Now just let me figure out how to use these features to do screen recordings and machinima -- hmmm.
• Two dashboard additions -- Web Clip, which allows you to build dynamically updating widgets from any Web page (examples -- a cartoon or bestseller list that updates every day); and DashCode for widget development, complete with modifiable widget templates (for RSS, podcasts, and more), and a library of parts to pop into your widget.
• Additions to Mail.app -- a To-Do list made automatically from emails and that ties into iCal and other apps; Stationery (rich HTML email templates); and Notes (to replace those reminder emails you've been sending yourself).
• Universal Access features - natural sounding voiceover, closed captioning in QuickTime, and braille support.
• Core Animation - with features like keyframing and tweening to help developers create animations.
• Spotlight enhancement - Spotlight will be able to search other machines on your network, do Boolean search, and will launch your applications for you.
• Virtual desktop Spaces - letting you combine task-based applications into separate logical desktop configurations. That means you can have one group of apps running for Web design, another for print production, and yet another for podcast creation and editing. You'll be able to drag items between Spaces.
• Complete package - of built-in apps, including Boot Camp, Front Row, and PhotoBooth.
• 64 bit processing.

Apple also announced the long-awaited Mac Pro and Intel Xserves today.

It sounds like we won't be getting our grubby little hands on Leopard until "Spring 2007", but it looks like an amazing update.

I received an email last night about a volunteer rally at the Chris Lewless Headquarters in Lansing on Monday night. While it sounded like a good time (who doesn't love free food?), I wasn't planning to go because I haven't officially volunteered for Chris (aside from attending a few functions and a debate or two).

Yesterday Brian was telling me that Chris' people had used an excerpt from a post I had written about the race on Pohlitics in some new campaign literature, so that was flattering. Well, this morning I got a phone call from Todd at Chris' campaign extending a personal invitation to tonight's event, so I'll probably make an effort to go after I'm done volunteering at G4G. It's nice to be appreciated.

I hope this isn't the last chance we get to celebrate at Chris' campaign headquarters. We'll know soon enough.

by Scooter

My criteria may differ from yours a bit in that not all of these songs directly address a particular war as much as the state of mind that leads to war...

1: "What's Going On," Marvin Gaye. Why is this on top? The message is so powerful that Motown, at first, didn't want to release it. It addresses more than just Vietnam, but social/racial/economic divides as well. That would make it a great song no matter what, but combined with an irresistable dance groove...wow!

2: "Like A Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan. He wrote other great protest songs, too, of course..."Masters of War" comes to mind...but this one is his finest hour. The live version with The Band on "Before the Flood" is incredible.

3: "War," Edwin Starr. This song, along with others like "What's Going On," brought into sharp focus the role of black America in protesting Vietnam. Helluva funk groove (GREAT horns), and a great live cover version on Bruce Springsteen's live box set.

4: "Born in the USA," Bruce Springsteen. His most misunderstood and misused song. People hear the force of the arrangement with the E Street Band and consider it an anthem, when it's really an indictment of Vietnam and the treatment of veterans of that war. It made him a superstar, but my gut tells me he regrets the original arrangement as a result.

5: "Imagine," John Lennon. Speaks for itself.

Hard to leave Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" off this list; Pete Seeger's "If I Had A Hammer" wants in, too.

I continue to wonder when the music artists of today will REALLY take on the current world situation in a way that captures the public. A few have at least tried, not the least of which is Neil Young's "Living With War," but it isn't as though he's well known among the younger generation. Bruce had a golden opportunity with "We Shall Overcome," and it's a great CD, but he left off some potential songs that would have made it even better.

Name the biggest stars in the world today, and none of them have really even tried to earn a spot on a list like this. Pity.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a Top Five post, just send me an email.

For all my fellow Mac zealots out there, today is the day we've been waiting for: the start of the Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco. While this event is primarily geared towards Mac professionals and hardware/software developers, it has also become a platform for featuring new products. Specifically, we'll be getting a first glimpse of Mac OS X Leopard, or, as Apple is calling it, "Vista 2.0".

Coverage of Steve's keynote address starts at 1 p.m. EST this afternoon, and you can follow live updates of the event at MacRumors.

Stay tuned, Apple fans...

I got the following email from Tim and Jon (the directors of An Apology to the Dead) yesterday. Todd Miles was always the funniest guy on the set when we were shooting the film three summers ago. While I always knew he had some personal demons he was battling, he always made those long days working on the film go by a little quicker. I sat next to Todd during the premiere at Celebration Cinema back in April, and it seemed like he was finally getting his life on track. Apparently that wasn't the case. I still haven't gotten any details about what happened to him, but my heart goes out to Todd's family...

Hello everyone,

This is a message from Tim and Jon. It is with great sadness that we must relay to you that one of our film family has passed way. Todd Miles died this past Wednesday morning, August 2nd, 2006. Todd, who served our crew during the shooting of our film as a boom operator (in the sound department), was a lovable guy who brought a smile to our set and his fun and personable attitude that will be greatly missed. We give our deepest condolences to Todd's family and hope that they know how much he was a special and memorable part of making our movie a success. We are glad Todd was able to make it to our cast and crew screening back in April, that we were all able to see him one more time, and for him to see the film he worked so hard on.

We have a small tribute up on our website with pictures at:

http://www.anapologytothedead.com/main.html

As far as we know, the funeral services will take place this week. We have some details that we are not sure if we can forward to all of you, but if some who are local to Lansing are interested in learning more, you can drop us an email at vfproducer@hotmail.com, and we will try to share what we know about his funeral arrangements and the like while maintaining respect for the family's interests in this matter.

Keep Todd's family in your hearts and minds in the coming weeks.

Rest in peace, "Double D."

Love,

Tim and Jon

Okay, here's Robert Palmer's music video for "Simply Irresistible." Aside from being a great tune, the video itself is still a classic. Every hip hop artist ever to make a music video owes Palmer a debt of gratitude for this one. Enjoy!

Well, it was another busy weekend. I got things off to a roaring start with a pitiful tennis performance against my dad on Friday afternoon. What kills me is that I had him on the ropes practically every game, but just couldn't finish him off. Man, I just don't know what my deal is. At this rate the old man will still be kicking my ass when he's in his 70s.

Anyway, I hit the road for Stef's right after my painful defeat. The drive to her house was pretty uneventful, and I made it there by about 3:30 or so. Since Friday was Stef's last day of camp she had to stick around to help clean up her room at Cranbrook, but Tim got to the house a few minutes after I arrived so he let me in. The timing actually worked out really well, because it game me a chance to take a shower before Stef got home for the day.

We hung out at the house for a little bit before taking off for Somerset early in the evening. Today is Stef's nephew Colin's birthday, so she wanted to get his birthday gifts while we were at the mall that night. I would tell you what we picked out for him, but I'll play it safe since his party isn't until tomorrow.

After wandering around for a bit, we came back to the house to relax for the night. Originally we were talking about driving to the Main Art Theater in Royal Oak to see Back to the Future on the big screen at midnight, but Stef and I decided pretty early on that neither of us would be able to make it through the whole thing. Yeah, I guess we're old fogies like that. So, we just decided to stick around the house and watch "Ransom" on TV. I had never seen it before, and of course it was fun to sit there and crack jokes about Mel Gibson the whole time. That was basically it for Friday night though.

Stefy had a hair appointment on Saturday morning, so I basically lazed around the house for a couple hours while she was out and about. She made it back by 1:30 or so, and since we were both getting pretty hungry by then, we decided to grab lunch at Kerby's on the way out to the lake. Of course, that meant we didn't get out there until well after 2, which I don't think Teri was wild about. She was originally planning to have all of us spend the whole weekend out at the lake, but those plans kind of fizzled. Still, it was nice to be out there even for just a couple hours, and we did have enough time to go out for a little cruise on the boat.

By about 6 p.m. the four of us piled into Tim's car to drive downtown for the Tiger's baseball game. Earlier in the day we were debating about whether or not to go or not, and while Stef and I were kind of ambivalent at first, Tim managed to talk us into going along. Of course, I'm so glad he did, because the game turned out to be pretty spectacular. We missed the first inning and a half while we were eating dinner at the little club inside the stadium, but that turned to be the best part of the game to miss, since it was when the Indians managed to get off to a three run lead. By the time we made it down to our seats halfway through the second inning, things weren't looking too hot for the Tigers.

It was a pretty tight game the rest of the way though -- the Tigers kept Cleveland from scoring, and managed to narrow the lead to only one run. The crowd was buzzing in the eighth inning when it looked like we might manage to tie things up, but the Indians managed to escape into the ninth with their one run lead in tact. By the time the bottom of the ninth rolled around, the whole stadium was on pins and needles waiting to see if the Tigers could pull something out. A quick bunt got a man on base, but the next batter struck out. The runner eventually got tagged out on the play after that, but the batter managed to make it to first (just barely). So, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Pudge Rodriguez strolls up to the plate, connects on the first pitch, and jacks it out of the park for a two-run homer. Game over. The crowd was going totally nuts. It was just one of those great finishes you only get to see in person once in a lifetime, and I'm so glad we got a chance to be there. By the time we made it back out to the lake all of us were pretty dead, so we all went off to bed. I was zonked, but it was totally worth it.

This morning I had to get going kind of early since I was meeting my grandparents at Brian's house at 1 for the St. Casmir Corn Roast today, so Stef drove me back to her house a little before 11 so I could get my car and hit the road. I was sad to say goodbye to my girl, since I probably won't get to see her for a little while; she's going to Vegas this week, and I'm going up North with my family a week from today.

Well, the drive back to Lansing was pretty uneventful. I made it to Brian's shortly before grandma and grandpa got there, which was shocking, considering that they always arrive at any event a half hour early. Once they made it there Brian, Rion, and me all piled into the back seat of grandma and grandpa's car to head over to St. Casmir for the Corn Roast. I haven't been able to go to the Corn Roast in at least a couple years since I was in London last summer, so I was really glad we were able to make it work. It was really nice getting a chance to just sit around and chat with everyone while we chowed down on the good ol' artery clogging food. We probably spent a couple hours there before having to pack up and head out when they started tearing things down inside the big tent.

Grandma and grandpa drove us back to Brian's afterwards, and we all said our goodbyes and took off. I had to do a bunch of grocery shopping this afternoon, so I pretty much made a beeline for Meijer after I left. It's been at least a couple weeks since I made a serious trip to the grocery store, so it was well overdue.

Yep, it was another busy summer weekend, but it was pretty great. I hope everyone else had a nice weekend!

Okay, this is a tough category, but here we go. These are my top five favorite TV characters of all time, listed in no particular order...

• Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (make it so!)
• George Costanza (it's never been so fun to watch someone so pathetic)
• Kevin Arnold (if I had grown up in the 60s, I would be him)
• Larry David (deep down, I am him)
• Joel Fleishman (a total prick, but still a personal favorite)

Okay, so who are your favorite TV characters?

Ahhh. After months and months of planning, the Annual Report I've been working on at work is finally signed, sealed, and delivered. We got the HUGE delivery a couple days ago, and it's definitely nice to see the finished product.

Anyway, if you want to check out my mad design skills, feel free to have a look at the PDF. Please note that the file weighs in at a whopping 61MB, so dialup users beware.

Well, I didn't know for sure what I was doing this weekend until about 9 p.m. last night, but it's nice to finally have everything squared away.

It sounds like I'm going to play tennis with my dad after work this afternoon, and I'm definitely looking forward to it because this will be the first time in forever that we get to play in sub-90º heat. Afterwards I'm going to hit the road for Stefy's house to spend part of the weekend with my girl. I think we might go out to the lake tomorrow to spend the day with Teri. Originally Stef's cousins were going to be out there too, but I guess that's a little iffy now. Anyway, I'll be coming home early on Sunday to meet up with my grandparents and Brian at the St. Casmir Corn Roast at around 1 p.m. It's been a couple years since I went to the Corn Roast, and I know how much my grandparents always enjoy it, so that'll be fun.

So yeah, after spending most of the week in limbo about what was going on this weekend, I'm glad to finally have a general idea of what's going on now. Should be good times!

Toles and Rall this morning, via my dad. Enjoy!