What The Hey.....

Hello.

2008-10-08T03:42:00.002-04:00

Miss me?

After almost 14 months of being idle I have decided to pick up the blog again.

I'm probably will be just providing options instead of telling about things in my life.

You have been warned.

What a summer...some of it a bummer.

2007-08-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

Well the main reason you have not seen any thing written here other than memes is just the fact that I put myself on hiatus due to the fact that I was laid off from work on May 2nd. This makes it the 3rd time in the last 5 years that this has happened to me.

This time it took a lot out of me emotionally. Just the frustrations and the timing of these things. Plus the process of finding a new job has much more highs and lows than before.

A good example of this happened in June. I was recruited by a company to work for them out of my house and travel occasionally to different sites. The position involved by 2 favorite career passions - computers and cinema. The company sounded interested in me and they flew me out to there HQ in Kansas City. I went to a Royals game and stayed in a nice hotel on their dime. I spent the morning meeting with a lot of people that I felt a great vibe from and left for home with the feeling that I bagged it.

The next week I got word after following up that the had decided to "go in another direction". To say that this was a disappointment was an gross understatement. This hit me harder than the layoff. I was in a severe funk for weeks.

In the mean time I was getting more interest from potential employers than I have before but a lot of them were looking for more education like certifications even though I had the experience. So I decided to embark on getting what is call a A+ certification, which is basically an education into the hardware and operating systems of PCs.

As it happens I finally did snag a job and I start tomorrow. Sadly my classes also start tomorrow as well so it's gonna be a long day to say the least. I just hope that I can handle going from not working to a 40-hour week plus 20 hour week of classes. At least the classes are for only a couple of months.

I'll let you all know how I hold up the first week.

One Season More STILL rocks!!

2007-07-14T21:36:00.000-04:00

This is really old, but still gives me goosebumps......

I guess I need to be more offensive.......

2007-07-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

Lazy day meme

2007-04-19T11:56:00.000-04:00

I don't feel like talking about myself again so here is another meme snurched from KRAD:

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.
Star Wars.

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater.
Star Wars.

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Star Wa....er, Bruce Willis .

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie.
Rob Schneider.

5. Name a movie that you can quote from.
Serenity.

6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs.
The Blues Brothers.

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
The Blues Brothers.

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.
Monty Python & the Holy Grail.

9. Name a movie that you own.
Since I own so many I will state the first DVD I ever bought: Gone with the Wind.

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
Director Sydney Pollack. He is outstanding when he drops in an acting job here and there including last week's episode of The Sopranos.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?
Yes.

12. Ever made out in a movie?
Yes.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it.
Find Me Guilty which is actually on cable this weekend.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?
The last one was See Spot Run.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
Snoopy Come Home when I was 7 - it actually still does.

16. Popcorn?
Yes although not as much anymore.

17. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?
I used to go 3-4 times a month now I'm lucky if I get to one a month.

18. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?
300.

19. What's your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
Science Fiction and/or action.

20. What's the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
When I was 4 I was taken to see The Fortune Cookie at the drive-in.

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
Give My Regards to Broad Street. What the hell was Paul McCartney thinking?

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Akira.

23. What is the scariest movie you've seen?
I would have to say the first Alien movie.

24. What is the funniest movie you've seen?
Tootsie.

50 Questions.

2007-04-16T13:49:00.000-04:00

Snurched from Krad......

1. Introduce yourself:
The Hey
2. It’s Wednesday at noon, where are you usually doing?
Working - my lunch break is not until around 3pm or so.
3. What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Tide or whatever is on sale.
4. What brand of shampoo is in your shower right now?
Pert.
5. Did you ever get into a bar and drink before you were 21?
Oh yeah. My growth spurt in High school came in handy.
6. What countries have you been to?
Canada. I wanna see more of the US before I venture out overseas.
7. Do you watch MTV anymore?
Nope.
8. What do you think about Oprah?
I like what she does for kids and others, but to me she comes off as a bit of an eliteist.
9. What’s your favorite mixed drink?
Vodka and Grapefruit.
10. You need a new pair of jeans… what store do you go first?
Casual Male Outlet.
11. Did you ever watch The O.C.?
Nope.
12. What kind of car do you drive?
1999 Ford Expedition
13. Honestly, is that car insured?
Yes.
14. Do you like sushi?
Nope. Never got the hang of it.
15. Have you ever been to Tiffany & Co. or Saks 5th Ave?
A couple of times to look around and laugh at the prices. Never been excited by jewelry.
16. Did your parents spoil you growing up?
My Mom did despite the wrath she took from my father for it.
17. Do you like roller coasters?
Yes, but I have not been on one for quite a while save the Rock 'n Roller Coaster at WDW because of my size.
18. What magazine(s) do you buy regularly or subscribed to?
PC Magazine, Wired.
19. Do you remember when the WB shows were popular?
Except for Buffy.......they were popular?
20. When you go out do you prefer to go to a dance club or to a bar?
Bar. I talk better than I dance.
21. Would you ever run for elected office?
Yeah, right.
22. Who do you think will be the next president?
Way too many people in the mix right now to even guess. At this time frame 8 years ago everyone thought Perot would win so anything can happen.
23. Are you registered to vote?
Yes.
24. Do you own an iPod?
Yup - a black Video.
25. Is your bathroom filled with beauty stuff?
I have a wife and 2 girls - what do you think?
26. What kind of cologne/perfume do you wear?
None.
27. Do you like Carrie Underwood?
I'm sure I would if I liked Country.
28. Been to “The Vegas”?
Nope. I hope to in the next year or two.
29. How many CDs does your stereo hold?
5.
30. Are you happy with your job?
Yeah. It is no where as stressful as the other jobs I have had in the last 10 years.
31. Where do you work and what do you do there?
(Nope - not going there.)
32. What did you get in the mail today?
Mail did not come in yes when I left - probably bills.
33. How do you like your steak cooked?
Medium.
34. Britney Spears?
Is this a trick question?
35. What do you usually order at Taco Bell?
I do not eat there anymore but when I did I ordered Tacos.
36. Have you ever sat all the way thru Gone With the Wind?
Several times.
37. Have you ever been to Mt. Rushmore?
No.
38. Is it just me, or was The Marine (w/John Cena) a really horrible movie?
It's a very silly movie, but fun. John Cena does have a pretty good presence as an actor (once he gets some acting lessons under his belt.)
39. Are surveys like the cocaine of myspace/ live journal?
More like the notes that kids pass around a classroom.
40. Where is your favorite place (that you have actually been to)?
I actually do not have one. My favorite place is a place that I have friends and/or family with me having fun.
41. What is your favorite candle scent?
Yankee Candle "Stormfront".
42. Do you believe places can really be haunted?
No.
43. Do you smoke cigarettes?
No.
44. Have you ever been to NYC or LA?
I have been to LA 4 times and NYC hundreds.
45. What format radio station is your car stereo set to?
Usually WEEI - the New England Sports station. Other than that I hook my iPod to my system and listen to that.
46. Do you think 50 questions is enough?
More than.
47. Are you currently planning a trip?
The only trip I have planned is to Philly in September - I have several destinations in mind over the next few months for small 3-2 jaunts.
48. Is Ryan Seacrest gay?
Don't know. Don't care.
49. Do you take sleeping pills?
I did for a week or two when I was recovering from surgery, but I sleep OK now.
50. Have you ever googled your name and found out somebody famous or semi-famous shares your name?
Not really, but I did find it kinda surprised that TheHey.com was available when I went to register the domain.

2007-04-11T14:42:00.000-04:00

"Opening Day is like Christmas....only colder"
-Pete Rose

Opening Day at Fenway yesterday was a whole lot of fun despite the cold. Bismo and I got to see the '67 impossible dream team being honored (with Robert Goulet singing!!) and saw The Sox beat the snot out of the Mariners 14-3.

I admit that I did leave at the end of the 6th inning - it was getting way colder as the afternoon went on and I do not hold in heat as much as I used to. In a way I am sorry I missed the near-brawl featuring 2 players that hated each other when they were on the same team together, but when Mirabelli pitch hits for David Ortiz, you know the game is over.

It's a great start of the season and one can only hope it'll be this much fun all summer.

Play Ball.....on April 10th!!

2007-04-03T17:57:00.000-04:00

Can't wait!!! I managed to get ahold of 2 tix from EBay (I paid way more than face value, but still much less than what the scalpers are looking for).

I have been going to every Opening day since 1986 (except for 2005 where I would had to sell the house to afford a ticket), but every year it gets harder and harder to get Opening Day tickets.

I'm back (again)....

2007-03-14T17:42:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile, but I have been a little busy (well, maybe not, but that's not the point......)

I'll ease into blogging again by just snurching a meme from kradical.

List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below).

1. Huey Lewis and the News
2. Billy Joel
3. B.B. King
4. Ray Charles
5. Los Straitjackets
6. Eric Clapton
7. Roomful of Blues
8. The Blues Brothers
9. Brian Seltzer
10. The Beatles

What was the first song you ever heard by 6? Layla. I LOVED the 4 minutes instrumental at the end.

What is your favorite song of 2? Piano Man, of course. To this day when you see him live you can hear 20,000 people sing the refrain perfectly so I'm obviously not the only one.

What is your favorite lyric of 5? None because they are an instrumental band, but I love that they talk in Spanish with their Mexican wrestling masks on between numbers.

How many times have you seen 4 live? I only saw him twice, but they were VERY memorable. The first time was at a very small place in my hometown with my parents. And I saw him sing "America the Beautiful" at Opening Day at Fenway Park in 2004 in the rain and wearing a Sox cap. Sadly it was 3 months before his death.

What is your favorite song by 7? "White Christmas" from their Xmas album, done to a tango-salsa beat.

Is there any song by 3 that makes you sad? Not really, which is ironical because he is a blues singer.

What is your favorite lyric of 2? From "Piano Man"
And the waitress is practicing politics
as the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
but it's better than drinking alone

What is your favorite song by 9? Lonely Wolf from the Sun Records Tribute Album

When did you first get into 1? When I was in college and they were just starting out playing small clubs. Then there was no place and nothing I would not do to see them. I actually camped out in a snowstorm for tickets one time.

How did you get into 3? I honestly do not know, but I remember people finding me particular when I listened to him and getting his albums when I was in grade school.

What is your favorite song by 4? America the Beautiful - he always seemed to put his heart and soul into it every time he sang it.

How many times have you seen 9 live? I saw him when he was with the Stray Cats once when i was in college, but not in his present band. Every time I attempt to see him when he is in the area it's at an inconvenient time.

What is a good memory concerning 4? Seeing him at Fenway Park on Opening Day in the POURING RAIN and he was as happy as can be anyways.

Is there a song by 10 that makes you sad? Several, although for some reason "Hey Jude" makes me more emotional than them all.

What is your favorite song of 1? An acapella tune called "Naturally" from their album "Fore".

How did you become a fan of 10? I think when I was in my diapers. *smurk*

Long Live the Godfather of Soul

2006-12-26T13:41:00.000-05:00

James Brown died on Xmas Day. This bums me out to no end mostly because I had a chance to see him only a few months ago when he played in New Bedford and I screwed up and missed him.

JB had his problems and demons, but the moniker "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" is no exaggeration. If you need any further convincing, check out this video - up to a couple a years ago he would place this much energy in a show 6 or 7 times a week.

2006-12-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Snurched, once again, from Kradical....

Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was The Hey killed the beast.

Which movie was this quote from?

You're On Notice (Holiday Edition)

2006-12-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

Hey Mo! I'm Royality! Nyck! Nyck Nyck!!

2006-12-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

Snurched from Kradical:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
His Highness The Hey the Free of Oxbridge by Camford
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Does that mean I'm cheap?

No Con? No Problem.

2006-12-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share this with you all – I feel that the past few days has been great for all fandoms.

This week was to be the weekend of the 2nd Flanvation, a Firefly convention in Burbank, CA. The con was sold out with all fans paying at least $250 just to be there not to mention the hotel and travel expenses for the weekend.

The organizers, Booster Entertainment, with less than 24 hours notice, canceled the convention with fans from all over already at the hotel or on the way. The Booster website went away (along with about $200,000 of the fans money they paid for the event) and left only one sentence: “Booster Entertainment apologizes for the great inconvenience, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Flanvention is canceled. An official notice will be posted within 10 days.” No one is expecting to hear from them again except for excuses and litigation.

So what happened? The California Browncoats stepped up and started organizing at least some activities for people to do while they were there.

Then most of the guests that were scheduled to appear still showed up. The other actors and celebrities that were not supposed to be there showed up.

Saturday, a company called Multiverse ponied up for buses to take the fans to interact with the guests in a more open setting, took them to dinner and then took them to a private party at a new Sunset Strip nightclub. All paid for by private donations.

Needless to say this has been a very memorable weekend for those folks. And it really made be proud to be a Browncoat.

E.T. Has NOTHING on Snoopy

2006-11-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

Not many movies and/or TV shows make me sad, but when I saw this scene from the Movie Snoopy Come Home in 1971 when I was 8 years old I was bawling. And watching it now 35 years later it still gets to me - not like I was in that movie theater in Fall River, but I guess the memory of how I felt at the time.

I have sad plenty of sad memories in the my life, but for some reason cannot remember being as sad as I remember being watching Charlie Brown lose his dog and crying in his cereal.

Now if you excuse me, I have something in my eye.......

I guess I still got it...... ;-)

2006-11-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

Snurched from Kradical.....

..but there is only ONE HEY!!!!

2006-11-16T12:47:00.000-05:00

Snurched from CapnHo.......

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
6,182
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Not very Shat-tasic..

2006-11-14T14:25:00.000-05:00

I had a fun time at United Fan Con last weekend, but I was very disappointed with the experience of getting to "meet" William Shatner. First off, he was exhausted from a 7 hour flight and 2 hour limo ride (after a full day's shoot the day before) and he looked half asleep.

He was funny and engaging in the hour long Q&A, but the autograph and photo sessions were, to me, a joke. At the autograph line there was a rope 3 feet from the autograph table and you had to hand off your item to someone on one end of the table, watch him sign it (he never once looked up) and pick it up at the other end of the table. It was more of a "drive by" signing than an "in-person" signing.

The photo session was basically getting people swooped in to shoot the picture (again he never looked up) and walking away - at least this time I was closer. After all that I feel I still didn't really "meet" the man, which is supposed to be the point. It'll be interesting to see how this photo is gonna look when I receive it next week (I'll post it here).

I cannot blame the convention organizers for this - they had a limited time to work with and had to get everyone their chance. Shatner had to get to New York that night for an appearance the next day. In hindsight maybe UFC should have gotten him for Sunday as he was probably more awake then.

But T. and I enjoyed the weekend with old and new friends and had fun seeing and talking to Jewel Staite and her husband Matty again, meeting (in a more real sense) Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica and having a great time swapping George Takei stories with Peter David over breakfast.

Update: It turns out in addition to the lack of sleep Shatner was also suffering from MSG poisoning from eating Chinese food Thursday night and was starting to feel better when he got to NYC later that night and heard that he gave a more "personable" appearance to the fans in Jersey.

Well, DUH.........

2006-11-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

Snurched from Kradical......

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 90%

You are a movie buff of the most obsessive variety. If a movie exists, chances are that you've seen it.
You're an expert on movie facts and trivia. It's hard to stump you with a question about film.

Are You a Movie Buff?

Here I am......

2006-11-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's been a while, but I do have some things to say.......

1) Go see Borat. Just go. Please.

2) I have started a blog on LiveJournal to detail about a significant chapter in my life, but you must be a member of LiveJournal to read it as it's very personal (It's free and easy).

3) I will attending United Fan Con this weekend and getting the opportunity to meet one William Frakking Shatner. Star Trek is what got me started in Fandom and, of course, Shatner is the face of that. He is not someone I look up to as a hero or anything like that but he is someone that represents alot of what I have done in my life for the last 30 years. And after this I will now be able to say that I have met every one of the Original Series cast.

.....but then again I'm a geek, not a nerd.

2006-09-26T17:04:00.000-04:00

snurched from kradical

How White and Nerdy Are You?

Of course this meme is inspired by Weird Al's new Video, the best he has done the "UHF" days.

An open letter to Radio Shack

2006-09-01T12:33:00.000-04:00

Radio Shack announced that they were downsizing over 400 people this week.

They notified the downsized via e-mail.

So, taking a lead from CapnHo, I wrote the following to their customer relations department.

To: customer.relations@RadioShack.com
From : The Hey
Subject: You're Fired.

Since you came up with the unique way of firing people via e-mail, I figured I'd take your lead and fire your company from any further business I might have given you.

Maybe if you weren't giving The Rolling Stones millions of dollars to promote their 435th tour you wouldn't have had to lay off anyone. I don't think they need the money and people are not going to run into a Radio Shack store after a concert because your participation in the tour.

Good luck in your future endeavors.

The Hey

OK, this s**t ain't funny no more...not even to a Yankee fan.

2006-08-31T10:49:00.000-04:00

I have given up hope for The Sox weeks ago when they didn't trade for anyone at the deadline July 31st plus the fact that I didn't think they had enough to endure far in the playoffs anyway, so this downslide is not as painful.

That being said, it's bad enough that they have lost 20 games this month, that almost all are productive players have been sidelined with injuries, but when you find that one of the pitchers is getting tested for cancer, you just have to say something. One has to wonder if Fenway has become a Superfund site or if there is any toxic chemicals in the materials used for the ballpark upgrades. Cancer (or heart ailments) are nothing to smerk about and one cannot think of baseball issues when someone has those issues.

I wonder if management will use Dan Duquette's old line about being in spending more days in first place than any other team?

Notes for the week......

2006-08-24T17:02:00.000-04:00

Just some things rumbling through my head.......

2 of my former employers are in the news this week. Brooks pharmacy is getting bought out by Rite Aid, a company that was almost totally out of business 5 years ago. In the announcement there was no word if the corporate office would stay in Rhode Island., which is not a good sign. I really hope that the people I worked with there that are still there are not caught blindsided and out of work. Alot of the people that work there have been there for 10-20 years from the Douglas Drug days. Also, Sumner Redstone, who owns Showcase Cinemas way before he owned Paramount, basically told Tom Cruise to take a hike. While I am not going to defend the actions of Xenu's mightiest warrior, Redstone has some big stones to call out someone for their behavior. He is a mean, nasty old fart that has done some really despicable things before he even owned Viacom.

The Red Sox have been pissing me after getting swept by the Yankees, but Theo's comments crying povety and having "limited resources" really got me going. This is a team that makes money hand over fist with $100 tickets, huge ad revenue and merchandise. The A's and Tigers are most likely gonna make the playoffs with half the payroll. I understand that the Yankees makes and spends even more than the Sox, but it's not like they are sweating to get butts in the seats at Fenway.

As for the Sox.......

2006-08-22T12:17:00.000-04:00

All I know is that I promised myself that I would no longer play the "sky is falling" scenario since they won in '04. Is it over. Probably. But I'll still watch and maybe something cool will happen.

I was one of the many that said that I just wanted to live to see them win and I did. I can now root for them but not live or die with each win or loss like I used to before '04. I can be a Baseball fan again, not just a Red Sox fan.

Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, the Yankees beat the Sox fairly on the field and the front office. End of story.

Now if you excuse me, I need to find my Patriots jackets out of the closet.........

Snakes on an Opening Night

2006-08-18T01:46:00.000-04:00

Bismo and I went last night and had a ball seeing Snakes on a Plane. If you plan on seeing it yourself, my advice is to do so this weekend if not opening night. Half the fun is the audience. It was very fun to watch it with a bunch of rowdy fans. I do not think it will have the same effect if you go see it at a 3pm showing on the 2nd weekend.

I can see this being a kick-ass Midnight event at the Coolidge down the line.

Introducing......

2006-08-16T14:54:00.000-04:00

This is Inara. (Not quite named after the Firefly character but is a good name as in Latin means "companion", which she will be for our little one.)

This is Shana.

We got them last weekend. They are both 7 weeks old from the same mother. They are still getting used to the house but are very happy as they have each other. So far every waking moment they spend together and wrestling.

The other cats, as you can imagine, are not too pleased with this right now. After a few days Lily has somewhat accepted that they are not going anywhere and will sit and watch them play with each other (as long as they keep their distance). Molly, on the other hand, has so far been holding a formal protest and holding up in our older daughter's room only coming out for food. We have always had good luck with kittens and dealing with the adjustment period from the older cats so I am not worried about it.

We must be out of our minds having 4 cats, but since there are 4 of us, so we all have our own now. *grin*

Upcoming.....

2006-08-15T13:19:00.000-04:00

Watched a promo for William Shatner's Roast that will be on next Sunday on Comedy Central:

One of the roasters pulls out a paper bag asks asks Shatner: "Can you act your way out of this really quick?"

I really can't wait to watch this........

Ok, so I'll do ONE meme.....

2006-08-11T15:40:00.000-04:00

I'm not big on memes, but I figure this one is good as it allows some insight for people about myself.....

Snurched from KRAD

1. What is your main cell phone ring-tone?
The Ring tone from the CTU phones from "24". (It's the tone taken from a Cisco Systems network phone). It's perfectly obscure and geeky at the same time.

2. What is your default LJ icon?
Since this is Blogger, the icon I have here is Captain Caveman in a Sox hat, but on LJ when I leave comments my default is a picture of my standing in the Fenway Park dugout.

3. What station is your car radio permanently tuned to?
Sports Radio WEEI. I also travel to the 2 other area sports radio stations when 'EEI goes into one of their 20 minutes commerical breaks (I am NOT exagerrating). For music I mainly use my Ipod connected to my radio.

4. What is your computer desktop image?
At home right now is the New England Browncoats logo, at work it's a Boston Globe Red Sox wallpaper that I change weekly.

5. Is there something you wear every single day?
My wedding ring.

6. I wish I had a tracking device on:
My Wallet and Keys when I'm running out the door.

7. What page does your internet browser open with?
My Yahoo with WAY too many RSS feeds.....

8. This item never leaves my car/purse:
My Shades - unless I'm travelling. I have lost way too many expensive Ray-Bans over the years.

9. What TV show do you never miss?
Right now Rescue Me and The Daily Show. Also 24 and Battlestar Galactica when they are on.

10. What phrase do you hear yourself repeating too often?
"When I went to Comic con last year......." (Yeah, I admit it.....)

Well, duh.......

2006-08-07T15:53:00.000-04:00

You Are Samuel Adams

You're fairly easy to please when it comes to beer - as long as it's not too cheap.
You tend to change favorite beers frequently, and you're the type most likely to take a "beers of the world" tour.
When you get drunk, you're fearless. You lose all your inhibitions.
You're just as likely to party with a group of strangers as you are to wake up in a very foreign place.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Oh....my....God

2006-08-02T11:23:00.000-04:00

I'll never complain about pink Red Sox hats again.......

Opening Day 2006

2006-04-12T22:19:00.000-04:00

It was an annual holiday in Boston yesterday - Opening Day at Fenway. Somehow I managed to get tickets this year (making it 17 out the last 18 years - missing, of course, the one that REALLY counted....grrrr). The day was beautiful and, after a rough 1st inning, The Sox prevailed over the Blue Jays 5-3. Usually, on opening day I try to make a day of it to take in all the sights and sounds of the first day.

Sadly, my car didn't agree with me.

On the way to bringing my little one to school I got an overheating signal. I pulled over and saw that I didn't lose any coolant. So I restarted the car, dropped her off at school and headed to my local auto repair place hoping it's a quick fix. Sadly, it was my thermostat and they didn't have one in stock and if they did it would take a couple of hours to fix. If I got it fixed, I wouldn't make the game in time. I could still drive it up to the city, but I might "overheat" on the highway a few times. So I ended up taking the train up in the next town that would get me into the city at about 12:45pm, about 75 minutes before game time. The train ride went smooth, but the shuttle from the train station to the park took a bad turn and ended up on a street under construction and we ended up crawling up this side street. In all it took us 45 minutes to travel 1/2 mile and the bus driver would not let us off to walk the rest of the way for "safety reasons". We got there about 1:30 and missed the first part of the opening day ceremonies. Still we got to see the 1946 players throw out the first pitch and saw the heartbreaking rendition of "Star Spangled Banner" performed by five-year-old Jordan Leandre, a cancer patient from the Dana-Farber institute.

After the game I managed to grab the first shuttle out and got to the train station in 5 minutes this time and got on the next train that was leaving 5 minutes later. The game ended at 4:55pm and I was home having dinner at 6:30pm - that's gotta be some kind of record.

I really had a ball and it was a perfect day for Spring baseball, but I truly missed my pre-game walk around the park, but at least I finally got to Opening Day.....again. Let the new streak begin!!

Kessa and The Hey go to White Castle

2006-03-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

In lurking and reading Towaway's blog entry about a Sonic coming to his town, I had a somewhat similar experience last weekend. I also know where he is coming from as a Quizno's came to my area code 2 months ago after I discovered them in San Diego last summer and surprisingly I haven't eaten there on a daily basis since.

Kessa and I went to I-Con this past weekend and we had a really good time. On the way there, I saw something I have not seen in person in years - a White Castle. Not only have I not have White Castle Burgers in nearly a decade, but also as a big fan of the film Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, I was extremely excited to see it and was looking forward to partake of a slider or 14. However, we were in kinda a hurry to get to the con and the fact that is was 9 in the morning, I decided to wait until we hit the road on the way back home the next day.

The next day we had lunch at the campus where the convention was held just before we headed home, but I figured I'd grab a small slider meal on the way home to relive what I have been missing all these years. I pulled in the drive thru and order a #1 (4 sliders, fries and diet coke) and was all excited about biting into my first slider.

Then I ate one.

It was horrible. The meat looked and tasted like it came from a school cafeteria - from 5 years ago. There were hardly any condiments on the bun. It was really bad....and the smell of it was stinking up the car. I felt really bad for Kessa as she doesn't eat fast food or red meat at all and was probably more sick of the smell of the food as I was. The only thing I enjoyed from that meal were the fries - I least they were what I remember.

I'm thinking that either I just had a bad experience or it's been so long I didn't know better. The next time I go by one, I'll probably try one again. But needless to say I was really disappointed.

Oh great........but it explains a lot.

2006-03-01T17:35:00.000-05:00

Your results:
You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		70%
Jean-Luc Picard		45%
Will Riker		45%
Worf		45%
Chekov		40%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		40%
Deanna Troi		35%
Uhura		30%
Spock		27%
Geordi LaForge		25%
Mr. Scott		25%
Beverly Crusher		20%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		20%
Data		12%
Mr. Sulu		0%

Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed,
and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable.
That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you
were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first
episode you appeared in.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

Best. Action Figure. Ever.

2006-02-21T13:06:00.000-05:00

Let's see some kid take THIS out of box and play with it.

Hell hath no fury like a Buick scorned...

2006-01-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

As many of you know I have been driving a very well used '94 Buick around for the past 3 years. I picked it up in an auto auction for $1500 and besides having to replace the radiator and the starter it has treated me well. Every day she got me to 2 different jobs which were more than 50 miles each way and got me to Vermont and New York a few times as well.

But in the last 3 months the 'ol girl has been showing signs of severe age. I've had her in the shop an average of every 2-3 weeks, the windshield is leaking so every time it rains the front seats get a little damp and the fuses have started to pop occasionally. Plus with the odometer reading at over 180,000 miles I figure at this point it time to get a new set a wheels before the next breakdown finds me in the middle of the highway.

So after I do a little car shopping I found my next vehicle last Saturday, put a deposit on it and will pick it up Thursday. On the way home I guess that the Buick has taken exception to this and dropped her exhaust, muffler and all. The car now sounds like a Harley with a bad spark plug.

Am I gonna fix the exhaust of a car I'm donating to charity in 3 days? Hell no. I simply tied the hanging pipes to the frame with some well placed wire hangers and deal with the noise until then. It'll be like 3 days of "I'm Not dead yet".

If anything, the Buick will defiantly will be a memorable car for not just for the 3 days of roaring She was a good car and will be missed.

But I LOVE my new car........ :-)

Happy New Year 2006!!!

2006-01-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while, and I'll get back to blogging soon, but in the mean time how cool is this picture?

The Space Shuttle at the exact moment a sonic boom occured....Thanx for Fark.com for the link.

Star Wars Day

2005-11-21T15:27:00.000-05:00

A bunch of us had ourselves a "Star Wars Day" in Boston last weekend. It consisted of going to the Boston Museum of Science for the Star Wars exhibit that showed costumes and props from all 6 films as well as some interactive things for kids that links current science and technology to what is in the the Star Wars Universe. It was a fun time, but to me for now it was more a social event. I'm gonna take my little one with me to see it in another month or so and spend a little more time at the museum and look at what I missed.

We also went to MIT to see the theatre guild put on "Star Wars: The Musical Edition". Basically they played out the original trilogy with musical interludes with popular songs tweaked to fit the story (Example: "Don't Cry For Me, Princess Leia"). Overall I didn't enjoy it as much as Charles Ross' One Man Star Wars, but if comes around again, I still HIGHLY recommend it if it every gets performed in your neck of the woods.

Theo no Mo'

2005-10-31T11:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't talked baseball or the Red Sox too much lately, but I have to write about this. GM Theo Epstein has decided mere hours before his contract was to expire that he will not be back with the club.

And who is the blame for this? Everybody. The team, Theo, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, WEEI and all the blood thirsty shut-ins that call the station.

But the most blame goes to 2 people The Red Sox - specifically Larry Luccino and Globe columnist Dan "Shank" Shaughnessy. According to reports, Theo was on the verge of signing a 3 year deal with the Sox until he read a column written by Shaughnessy on Sunday in the Globe stating that Theo should be thankful to his mentor Luccino for giving him opportunities in baseball and that Theo shouldn't need to "distance himself" from Luccino to prove that he can be successful without interference. Of course, given that the Boston Globe owns 17 percent of the team, it is assumed that Luccino had a hand in the writing of the column.

And that tells Theo all he needs to know about his employers that he cannot trust them.

Of course, the Shaughnessy column was probably written in response to a column written by Tony Massorati in the Boston Herald blasting the Sox for making Theo wait so long before offering an extension and then offering a lowball offer late in the game. Who is to say that someone in Theo's camp didn't whisper something to the Herald thinking that the Globe would never print anything derogatory about the teams handling of the contract talks.

What it comes down is this: It's November 1st, the GMs meetings are next week and free agent period is about to begin and the Red Sox have NO General Manager or even have even a prime candidate as they allowed The Diamondbacks to hire Theo's assistant Josh Byrnes.

I wonder what Dan Duquette is doing these days?

I Fired Ted Sarandis

2005-10-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

As I come to the last day of my job today and the start of my new job on Monday, I wanna tell a story on to show how hard it is these days to keep a job you like no matter how well you do it.

A few months ago I was invited by my favorite radio station, the Boston Sports station WEEI, to participate in a listener focus group. It was my day off and I figured it would be fun to see the studios and get to chime in on the process of one of the biggest sports radio stations in the country.

They gathered myself and about 10 other guys about the same age as myself in a conference room and got to talk to Jason Wolfe, the stations program director who treated us to some pizza and soda. He asked us questions about the shows on the air, what we thought about some of the personalities on the station then had us fill out a questionnaire. After we filled out the questionnaire, he seemed to want to focus on 2 particular personalities on the station; Michael Holley, who just joined the mid-day show with Dale Arnold, and Ted Sarandis, who for 13 years has been doing the evening show.

Jason wanted to know if we liked listening to them and asked us to rate there performance on the air, which to me made perfect sense. Holley was not new to the station but this was his first full time hosting gig, and over the last year or so Ted's show has been on the decline somewhat as he would go off on rants about things people didn't want to talk about like the war in Iraq and college sports (He is the play-by-play voice of the Boston College Basketball team). He would also make somewhat off the wall suggestions like building a new ballpark for the Red Sox with a retractable roof when it was clear that there was not going to be a new place built at all, roof or no roof. He was turning into the Les Nessman of sports talk radio.

All of us were in pretty agreement that Holley was going a great job, especially when he and Dale did interviews. Ted, on the other hand, was another story. Although we all agreed that he really was one of the most knowledgeable and prepared of the 'EEI on-air talent, several of us (including myself) admitted that we turned him off sometimes because we just were not interested in what he was talking about and when a caller could call about another topic, he would interject and still would want to talk about his topics, not the callers. He didn't seem too interested in bending for the callers and focused on his agenda. At the end we were all thanked with small tokens of swag and we sent on our merry way.

On the way home I called Bismo and tell him about the experience. I told him that my biggest impression out of the meeting was that it was apparent that Ted was history. 5 months later, I proved to be correct. Although he will remain the voice of the BC Eagles on WEEI, he was let go out of the show he did mostly by himself for more than a decade.

When I heard that he was out, I remembered the meeting months earlier and finally saw the meeting for what it was mostly for - to give WEEI the ammunition to fire him....and I helped supply the bullets. It was apparent that there was no love lost between Ted and Glen Ordway, the afternoon show host and the station's biggest personality. Some reports stated that the station were making things so miserable for him that they would hope he would quit so they didn't look like the villain to the small of VERY faithful following he acquired over the years (who Dan Shaughnessy dubbed as "Ted Nation"). And while Ted did seem to lose his way on the show in the end, it might have more of just seeing the writing on the wall well before it happened and decided to do his own thing.

I hope that Ted can get back into form and find another gig. A few years ago we was offered the announcers job calling Boston Celtics games but turned it down because he loved talking to his audience every night for "Five Action Packed Hours", a decision I'm sure he might to kicking himself for now. At least he still has the play-by-play job at BC thanks to his excellent play calling and his overwhelming love and knowledge of college sports.

It feels kinda shitty thinking that I might have played a small part of this. I know I wouldn't want someone I didn't know have a say in my future employment. But I wish him the best and hope that he finds himself another "Nation".

Birthday Traditions

2005-10-17T00:04:00.000-04:00

Last night Bismo and CapnHo took me out for my Birthday. We went to dinner at Carrabbas and went to see Serenity(It was Ho's first viewing, Bismo's 3rd.....my 6th - hopeless, ain't I?). The 4 of us (Including Brewser BB who was away this weekend) do not usually make a big deal about each others birthdays otherwise and our schedules do not let us get together as much as we all like, but we always make it a point to take each other out to dinner and some form of entertainment when out date of birth comes up.

The best time has to be when I was taken out 2 years ago to Chan's for Chinese Food and to see Roomful of Blues. Not only was the food excellent, the band swinging and I got totally plastered, it was the night that the Red Sox came back from the brink of elimination in the ALDS against the A's and was the beginning of a complete comeback to move onto the ALCS against the Yankees. Although this is no where as big a comeback as the next year where THEY WON THE WORLD SERIES, at the time it was such a great topper to a wonderful evening.

Last night, although it was not quite as exciting, was a still a great time. And this is a tradition that I hope will live on while we are all upright.

How Now BrownCoat?

2005-10-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

The 2nd weekend of Serenity has come and gone and the film took in 47% less than it did it's opening weekend and has a 10 day total of about $18 million, which to me is not bad considering that it's a mostly unknown franchise outside of most fandom. On the local and national Browncoat boards there are been reassurances and panic (mostly panic) about the future of the 'verse.

At this point here's what I think - while the film hasn't been exactly tearing it up at the local multiplex, there is all kinds of potential to keep things going. There might not be another "Major Motion Picture", but with the film making it to #1 in the UK (despite having an awful poster) and the fact that the DVD will be huge, I believe that the movie in the end will be successful enough to show that there is enough support for TV-movies or even another shot at a series.

If not, there are always other media. If case no one reading this is as old as I am, the popularity of Star Trek was kept alive for more than 10 years thanks to reruns, books, comics and even a well written (if not well drawn) animated series.

Granted that Trek had 6 times the number of episodes, but look at Battlestar Galactica as well - it's one of the most popular shows on basic cable and it's based on a series that lasted one season. Serenity could easily become a series again, hopefully also on basic cable. Joss Whedon would probably not have his hand all the way into the series as he has 2 feature films already on his plate, but with quality folks like Tim Minear and Jane Espenson chomping at the bit to a part of the 'verse again, any new series or series of TV or straight to DVD films would be in good hands.

And if for some reason that doesn't come to fruition, there are more than a few writers and artists that can keep the 'verse alive in print just as authors like A.C. Crispin and Diane Duane wrote Trek novels years before the first movie in 1979.

Of course anything can happen, you just gotta have faith.

When we last saw our hero.....

2005-10-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

...he has just come back from San Diego and in the last 2 months has not written in his blog to the dismay of dozens of people that venture to his web site and have been sorely disappointed that there have not been a new entry. Well, ok, that was kinda dramatic, but I know I've been lazy. But here are the highlights not in chronological order.....

Serenity opened last week to good but not great business last weekend. Universal did a good job promoting the film and us Browncoats did the terrific job getting the word out, but in the end it's been a tough year in general for the movies and getting lot of people to see a film based on a series that was on for 2 1/2 months no matter how great it is a almost impossible task. But it's not over - not by a long shot. I still feel that this is the best SF franchise since Trek and has potential of being just as iconic and beloved.
The Sox are in hot water in the playoffs.....again. And this time it's ok. Because not only have they been in this position before and succeeded, but this time it's different. The agony is gone. If they lose Game 3 I won't like it a damn bit but it'll be ok. Because THEY WON THE WORLD SERIES last year, the monkey is off the team's and the fan's back. Of course this doesn't mean that the 2 horrific losses in the ALDS have been fun to watch, it hasn't been the gut-wrenching ordeal we have all gone through year after year. Wait 'til LAST year!!!!
Finally, I am once again moving on career wise. I have mostly enjoyed the position I have had the past 12 months, but I was offered a position that gives me more responsibility, more chances to learn and succeed and a really nice bump in pay to boot. And at least this time the jump is on MY terms, not some bean counter's.

Will our hero get his wish and see his favorite franchise succeed? Will his beloved Sox escape elimination and go to the promise land....again? Will he finally truly be happy going to work?

Stay Tuned......

.....no, really, I'll try to write more....promise.

ComicCon - Day Four

2005-08-06T22:25:00.000-04:00

Finally...the final chapter...

I let myself sleep in Sunday Morning...until 8am. I get up; get ready, pack (I brought an extra bag for the swag I accumulated - and I still ended up leaving a ton of it on the dresser for the hotel maids), stowed my stuff away with the hotel lobby and headed to the con.

I found myself not focusing on seeing any panels - there were not really any I wanted to see - and basically just helped out at the Browncoat table and doing some last minute browsing. And here comes once again... Mr. Whedon. I talked to him for a few minutes and asked him about some differences I saw in the film last night. He graciously does more pictures and more autographs with others for about a half hour and the headed home Â for good this time.

The lottery drawing went really well. The SF Browncoats ended up raising over 12 grand for Equality Now, Joss' favorite charity. I passed out flyers for the NE Browncoats online lottery that was 2 weeks later for thre same charity.

Spent the rest of the day at the table and helped out with the break down. Sadly by the time we finished I didn't have time to go to the Dead Dog dinner, as I had to catch my plane. So I headed off to the hotel, grabbed my stuff and got a ride to the airport from one of my newest friends where I waited my 3-flight/2-stop hell ride back home.

At the airport I got some dinner and waited for the plane. I couldn't wait to get on the plane, as I was so exhausted I could fall sleep standing up...and pretty much did. Once I got on board, I fell asleep before the plane even had taken off, my chair in its full, upright and back-killing position. Only the bump of wheels landing on the tarmac woke me. From there I had to jog the length of the Cleveland and Detroit airports to catch the other 2 flights. When I finally arrived back home to Providence airport, I was 5 hours late. If my plane got in on time, I would have had time to get a few hours sleep - now I had to go right to work. I plod though the workday barely awake and go home, kiss my wife and kids hello and went right to bed.

It was an exhausting weekend to say the least. I killed myself physically - my legs, feet and back took about a week to get back to full strength. I caught something on the plane and had a horrible head cold for days.

But the experience was well worth it. Was ComicCon my favorite con of all time? Of course not. In fact in it's own way it was a very cold convention - very much like a Creation Con without having to shell out a week's pay (ComicCon was $60 for the 4 day weekend - a virtual bargain given who you get to see and what you come home with). But it's an experience I would solidly recommend to all to do at least once. I myself would love to go again with my own friends someday if not to see the look of awe I had planted on my face when I first stepped in the place. And as much as I loved meeting new people and making new friends, I truly missed my old friends and wished they got to experience what I did. They would have loved it.

ComicCon - Day Three - Part Deux

2005-07-27T20:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay - work has been murder this week.....

So anyway, after the con was over we wanted to get over to the theatre fairly early so a sit down dinner was out, so we regrouped at one person's hotel that was near the theatre and then went across the street to Quizno's. I didn't get a chance to grab any lunch before because all the concession stands were crazy busy all day so it really was quite good.

After we headed over to the theatre. The theatre was in this unique mall-type structure that it was open air yet still mostly indoors. After they herd us into the theatre we all get padded down for cameras, camcorders, etc by security much like they did at the first screening back in May. Then we enter the theatre and see it's an "old-style" flat floor theatre. I guess I'm just spoiled with stadium seating. But I have not been in this kind of theatre in a couple of years and that was in Vermont where Dolby stereo is a new innovation. I was somewhat disappointed but figured it was the 4th time I've seen the film and I once I sat down I the chairs felt quite comfy and plus with the walking and lack of sleep I found myself starting to doze off a little before the film started. I could have easily fell asleep during the movie.

Well, at least until Joss showed up.

Of course that woke me up and got every one in a frenzy. We welcomed and thanked everyone for coming. Then we find out why he looked like death warmed over last night - it seems he spent right up until late Thursday-early Friday FINISHING the movie including final credits, music and sound. No work print and temp music this time - we are gonna see the FINAL product as it will be seen 10 weeks from now in 2,000 theatres!!!!!

Before he took his seat to watch the film with us, Joss asked, "How many people went to the preview screenings? Because if you saw those screenings, you DIDN'T see 'Serenity'". And boy was he right!! It was the same basic film, of course, but the editing made the pacing tighter, the music was very good and the final effects were excellent. The film was good the first time but the final product is excellent.

After the film Joss got a standing ovation, of course. He thanked everyone again and headed out the emergency exit. As we mingled out to the lobby a few minutes later, who do see but......Joss again, meeting his adoring fans for autographs and pictures. Of course I head over and get my Chinese Hey hat signed and get a picture with him.

The New England Browncoats signed a birthday card and DVD of a theatre full of people singing Happy Birthday to him last month and I had it given to Ray to give to him. I asked him of he got it and he said yes and thank you very much.

So after the rush of seeing the movie and finally getting a picture with Joss, I got my second wind, even though I had been up for over 19 hours on 4 hours sleep.

It was after midnight and I said we needed to find a bar. And we did. A bunch of us were directed to a place called The Yard House a couple a blocks away. We only got to spend a hour or so there was we got there late, but the place was excellent. I wish I knew about it before. This place had the widest selection of commercial beer on tap I had ever seen. If I every get the ComicCon again, I thing will be here and maybe The Field when am I not at the con.

After last call we head off for a place that's not closed, but could not find one. So we went our separate ways and I headed off to bed. Hell, maybe I'll even sleep in tomorrow. Getting up for 9am is sleeping in, right?

After all, it wasn't gonna get any better than today.

ComicCon - Day Three - Part One

2005-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

Told you it was a long day.......

As I was one of those who volunteered to save seats for those who were working the Browncoat table before the Serenity Panel in Hall H, I got there at about 6:45am to find 20 or so people already ahead of me, but I was still the first to get there from our group (the others being the folks sans Keith and Ray out drinking with me the night before). I volunteered to help out but also I wanted to see the panels going on beforehand. They let us about 8:30pm and we score seats in the 10^th row of the 6,000-seat theatre.

At about 10:30, the panels start out with Superman Returns – as of now the movie I am most looking forward to next summer!! The scenes they showed were amazing and the concept of now “restarting” the franchise like Batman but to continue it from the first Christopher Reeve film is a excellent move. The next panel was for Aeon Flux with Charlize Theron. She was beautiful on stage, but the film? Bah.

Next was one of my personal highlights – Kevin Smith!! He was vulgar and hilarious riffing on everything from religion to ragging on himself for making “Jersey Girl”. My only regret is that he didn’t have the time to tell stories about the films, comics and life that he tells so well.

Then comes the moment most of us were waiting for – the Slither panel!! Actually, for some reason, Universal split the Serenity panel with this other film cutting the time in half for the cast we all were waiting to see although the other film does have Nathan Fillion in it as well, so we get him the full hour. The panel with Joss and the cast goes by way too fast, but it was a joy to see them all sans Alan (who is on Broadway). I was gonna stay for the remainder of the day’s panels, but my butt was getting numb and I’m sure people at the table needed some relief. In a way I wish I did stay because I missed seeing Jamie Foxx and Jack Black among others.

When I got to the table it was a total frenzy!! We got a lot of folks coming from the panel to the table to see all that was Firefly and there were a lot of people looking for tickets to tonight’s screening. It seems that the night before the Serenity Web site announced the screening in advance and that tickets will be available at the Browncoat table. So, of course, HUNDREDS of people invaded the table first thing and after giving out 2/3s of the tickets the crowd got so bad that security had to come and turn people away to avoid a fire hazard. The rest of the tickets ended up being given out by lottery. Luckily all got the table volunteers got tickets but we had to keep it on the low so as we didn’t cause a riot. Universal also brought over thousands of sample CDs of the film’s soundtrack to give away.

All of the chaos really made me realize what a tremendous job the SF did on this fan table it was by far the best fan table I have ever seen in the 20+ years I have been going to conventions. Everything was pulled off so well that Universal trusted the fans to sell the movie instead of having their own display or booth like several other film studios had in the exhibit hall. That kind of faith is almost unheard of.

By the closing of the con for the day a few hours later, all the tickets were distributed and most of the CDs were gone and everyone just wanted to collapse. But the day was far from over......

ComicCon - Day Two

2005-07-24T00:26:00.000-04:00

I started the day real early and go to the Browncoat table to help out. I worked there a couple of hours and then headed over to some panels, most notably the one for Battlestar Galactica. I sat though the one beforehand called “Masters of Horror” to get a good seat but it turned out to be a really good panel as it had one of my all time favorite directors, John Landis, who directed Animal House, Blues Brothers and American Werewolf in London. It was really neat to finally see him in person after all these years.

The BSG panel was really fun – all the cast members present were having a blast and couldn’t get over seeing 5,000 people show up to see them. Nothing too much was revealed but it was still and entertaining time.

I go back to the Browncoat table and Ray spouts, “Where were you? Joss was just here for an hour signing autographs!” AHHHHH!!!! I miss an opportunity to meet Joss Whedon – the Roddenberry of the next century. As you can imagine I am NOT happy with myself. It didn’t even occur to me that he would walk through the Exhibit Hall crowds, which by Friday were getting pretty thick. But it’s cool that he donated and signed the new “Serenity” one-sheet poster for the charity raffle and spent some time meeting and greeting. Ah well…. the weekend is still young, although I’m still convinced that was the one and only time I would see him. I least I finally get up with my writer bud Keith DeCandido, who has written the novelization of the film, “Serenity”. Despite his love for the dreaded Yankees, he’s a very cool guy.

I finish the day walking the floor thru the HUGE exhibit hall, getting gobs and gobs of (mostly) useless swag along the way. Afterward we all go back out to dinner again, this time to for Italian. Then we hear that they are going to be showing Serenity Saturday night!!! Now I have seen it 3 times already and thought that, hell, why not again. Later on Ray calls me to meet him for drinks in a local hotel with Keith and others. We’re having fun and drinking loads when into the bar comes…Joss, holding his new copy of Harry Potter he just bought at the local Borders. I take a second to not sound like a total dweeb and I offer him a drink. He declines as looks dead on his feet for reasons that we will find out later. (You can tell that Joss is not only, well, Joss, but a true fan as well – he’s ready the crash but still walks over to a book store at midnight to get a book then they come out). He just wanted to say hello and be friendly. After a few minutes he was off to bed.

At that point I was content – I didn’t get my picture taken with him or get an autograph, but I got to meet him in a way more intimate setting than an overflowing fan table surrounded by hundreds of fans. We close the bar and head home. This was a long but good day – and tomorrow will turn out to be a longer and better one.

ComicCon - Day One

2005-07-23T20:08:00.000-04:00

Sorry about being tardy about my big trip to San Diego last week. I have been really sick this week after I got back and I also have been going back and forth about how to detail my trip to Comic Con. Do I just give the big moments or bore everyone to death with every detail? So I decided to make bullet points of observations and write in detail all the cool things. But I can tell you one thing that was constant throughout the time I was the pain in my legs and feet from the standing and walking. Come Sunday I was barely walking but plugging on because I was having fun. IÂm amazing what one will endure to do what they want, huh?

In advance I apologize for whose who names I do not recall fully in my reports. I met so many cool new folks out there that if I get the names wrong I do not want to piss anyone off calling one person's name another.

I'll post each day one at a time.

Day 1

The San Diego Convention Center is, without exaggeration, the biggest single building I have ever been in. The building is literally 5 blocks long if not a bit longer. The exhibit (dealers) hall pretty much takes up the entire first floor. Upstairs has 40 meeting rooms that hold from 160 to 4,000 each. When I got there it was like arriving at Disney World for the first time. Despite all the pre-planning I made beforehand all my mind was saying was "What am I going to do first?"

My first panel was with Bruce Campbell. Bruce is very funny guy, but he doesn't suffer fools easily. One fan asked him when Alien Apocalypse is coming to DVD. His sarcastic response was: "Why? Because it's such a great movie?" and answered a lot of questions with the phrase "I'm just an actor - they don't tell be (anything)". He defiantly has no illusions that the films he makes are Oscar contenders. In fact he seems to relish being a B-movie actor and he tells some great stories about filming in such countries like Bulgaria and Turkey where crews make 1/20 of US film crews make. In a way itÂs a shame because he is a really good actor, but he has done well with his "Schlock Schick" in recent years

I made it down to the SF Browncoats fan table. I said hello to "old" friends Ray and Kristen and introduced myself to the rest of the folks working the table. After the con we headed to a really good Irish pub called The Field on 5^th avenue. On the way to the place I took the time to walk around and take in the "tourist" part of San Diego including walking around Petco Park. As much as a lover of baseball I am, I knew there wasnÂt going to be any time to get to see a game. Afterward I headed back to the hotel as I was still on East Coast time and already logged in a lot of walking time.

Tomorrow: A long day.....

War....blah......what is it good for?

2005-06-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

The Mrs. and I made a rare outing alone to see War of the Worlds tonight. And I must say that I was rather disappointed. It's not that it's a bad movie, it's just.....not what it could have been. There are scenes in it that are incredible. The action sequences are really well done as always.

But the main issue I have with the film is that Spielberg wanted to made this a "personal" story about a global alien invasion and, frankly, you can't make a movie with that kind of subject matter that way. Ang Lee tried to make The Hulk a "personal" and he blew it...big time. If Spielberg wasn't Spielberg, this movie would've been a total fiasco.

But do NOT get me started on the last 10 minutes........

Another thing that bothers me is the rating - this movie should have been rated "R". It is very intense and has very disturbing images mostly seen through the eyes of a small child. But, you know, it's summer, it's Spielberg...it's ok. But I hate to be the parents of the children that get taken to this film this weekend.

I'm a Firefly Dad

2005-06-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

FireFly Dad
Originally uploaded by thehey.

I got this Father's Day card from my sister-in-law. When I opened it I had the greatest laugh. What makes it really cool is that she has no idea about Firefly the show or that I'm a big fan of it.

Father's day weekend was very nice. Saturday the Mrs. and I took out little one to see Howl's Moving Castle, a very nice, breezy anime feature. It's not Miyazski's best, but it's still the best kid's movie by far this year. Afterward my little one and I went to Kessa's monthly Shindig. This month was a low key affair but it was very pleasant talking to friends and kicking back around the firepit on an usually cool June evening.

Sunday my girls gave me Seasons 2 and 3 of 24 on DVD while the Mrs. gave me a much needed new set of BBQ utensils after finding out that the PawSox game was totally sold out (not even general admission was available!), I took in Mr. and Mrs. Smith with my older one's boyfriend. It was by far a smart movie, but it was a lot of fun. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie make a fun team to watch - I wouldn't at all mind a sequel.

So all in all it was a very good weekend and hopefully the start of a very good summer.

Holy IMAX, Batman!!!!

2005-06-18T02:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight I went to see Batman Begins.....again. In IMAX....again. Not that you are missing too much not seeing it in this format, but it's always nice to see a film on a great screen. I LOVE this movie! It has great performances, a good story and allowed the origin of The Dark Knight to be told as it should be. I rank it with Superman - The Movie, Spiderman 2 and X-Men as the very best superhero movies ever made. What's best about this film is that you do not have to be a fan boy or comic book geek to like this film. It's a film that anyone who has no fondness of superheros can enjoy. And it doesn't pull it punches in the tone - at it's core this is a creepy, dark film - not a film lightened up to sell more toys or happy meals. In the end that will hurt it at the box office, but at the end of the day, they made the right choice.

Now for a not so subtle "beg for money for charity" post.....

2005-06-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

The NE Browncoats are holding a charity lottery for a weekend pass to the Serenity Flanvention on December 9-11, 2005 at the Westin Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. http://www.boosterevents.com/Default.aspx?tabid=171

The winner will receive The Big Weekend Pass, which includes autographs from all the guests, seating behind BDP holders, admission to all guest QAs and activities. The winner will be eligible to buy tickets for photo ops and all exclusive events. The pass has a value of $235.00.

Tickets will cost $10 a chance. Proceeds will go to the SF Browncoats Charity Fundraiser at San Diego Comic Con (see http://www.sfbrowncoats.com/events/comiccon2005/charity/ for details). The fundraiser will benefit Equity Now (http://www.equalitynow.org/english/), Joss Whedon's favorite charity.

You can enter the lottery from now until July 11th by going and clicking on the PayPal icon in the right panel under the NE Browncoats banner.

The drawing will be held on July 23rd at the NE Browncoats July Shindig. You do not need to be present to win and your pass will be purchased in your name or the name of whoever you want.

If you are not interested in the pass make a donation anyway for a good cause to show some good old Browncoat support. And if you win I will auction it off for you and donate the proceeds to YOUR favorite charity. We are strong and we can be really mighty here!!! And if you know someone that's not on the list that would like a chance or to just donate just direct them to the right direction.

California Here I Come.....

2005-06-13T00:38:00.000-04:00

I am officially out of my mind.

In what has been the biggest move I have made in my mid-life fandom crisis, I'll be attending Comic-Con in San Diego next month. I have always wanted to go to this con since I have started going to conventions. It's the biggest media SF con in the world. Movie studios bring superstar guests to the con to hawk their upcoming movies. Basically this is the Super Bowl of the Comic, SF movie & TV universe. Add to the fact that Joss Whedon and almost the entire cast of Firefly will be there. I'm just a tad excited about this.

I'll be traveling 6,224 miles in the span of 90 hours, which doesn't leave too much time for sight-seeing (sorry Shamu). I'll be using a totally uncomfortable coach plane seat as my bed for part of the trip. I'll be going to what have many to said to be one of the nicest cities in the United States where it almost never rains and I'm spending 3 days there inside a huge building with 80,000 geeks.

Can't wait.

Me on the Monster

2005-06-03T11:50:00.000-04:00

Me on the Monster
Originally uploaded by thehey.

Wednesday was a wonderful day in Boston. Rather than I repeat the story, I'm gonna let Capn Ho tell it. He tells it well and I'm lazy.

The only difference was that in the time between the luncheon and the game is that Ho had to go back to work and I spent the day walking around the area taking in the atmosphere of Fenway. It's amazing how many people come to the ballpark to do the same. It's also amazing the number of people that take to Fenway tour. It was the first time that I have been there since THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES and the excitement in the air is 10 times what is was in years past.

I've Seen The Sith!!

2005-05-19T02:55:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to go see Episode III tonight, but all the people I was supposed to see it with bailed on me, citing such things as work. Wimps.

So, there I was, in front of my computer at 11pm, an hour before the film opened, feeling sorry for myself that I was gonna miss my first opening screening of a Star Wars film since the first one back in '77. I could have gone by myself but what would be the fun in that?

I was relaying my disappointment to my friend Kessa via AIM when she said that her husband was out with his friend"thinking about" going. Huh? What? "Thinking about?" So I called him and, sure 'nuff, he was on the way there. So I said my hasty goodbyes to Kessa online (who was probably even more jealous that her husband AND me went without her) and the Mrs. and headed out to the theatre.

I'm so glad I saw it the way I wanted to - first thing. And I'm gonna go see it again Friday night with Capn Ho and my little one, who wants to see it badly, but is gonna need some support through some of the rougher stuff.

As for the movie, all I'll say is........George, ya done good.

One Down, One to Go

2005-05-14T01:43:00.000-04:00

Well tonight was the end(for now) of one of my beloved SF "passions" - Star Trek - and next week will be the end of the saga of my other - Star Wars.

And let's hope the latter goes out better than the former.

Tonight's finale of Enterprise was not only insulting to the fans of that particular series and all Trek fans in general but also to the cast who, despite their efforts to make it a good series unlike many behind the scenes, were basically crapped upon by having characters from another "more popular" Trek series in their domain in what was their swan song. There were many flaws in Enterprise, but this cast was certainly not one of them. Not even the cast of Voyager had to endure such an insult.

What makes it worse is that this series was finally finding it's way story wise, thanks mostly to writer Manny Coto. But it was too little too late - when you are a series getting beat by cable channels with half the available audience, it's over. And going out the way they went out tonight was just pathetic - it took the focus away from the people that spent 4 years on the series.

Just had to get that out. I hope Rick Berman saved his money - otherwise he's gonna be waiting tables at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in a few years.

A fan's version of buying a Ferrari

2005-05-06T21:37:00.000-04:00

Last night I had the privilege to see an advance screening the film "Serenity". The evening turned out to be clearly one of the most memorable movie screenings of my life – and, trust me, I've had quite a few of them.

This was a huge deal for me as in the last few months I have become a huge fan of the all too short TV series "Firefly" and this is a big budget follow-up to that series. I have also been caught up in the fandom for this series. I have not been in the SF fandom "game" for some time and Firefly fandom has been a welcome endeavor where I have met many new friends and have enhanced long time relationships with others. Whereas after almost 30 years of Trek fandom I have become tired of some aspects of it (and Trek in itself lately), Firefly fandom has given me a renewed sense of what fandom is all about – people getting together to enjoy a common interest – nothing more, nothing less.

What at first intrigued me about these Browncoats (as they…um, we call ourselves) was just that this fandom is not unlike to how Trek fandom grew. In the early 70s, most people that liked Star Trek didn't know anybody else that shared their enjoyment of it until the first pure Trek convention in NYC expected 2,000 people and got over 20,000. From there the word spread that Trek fans were not alone. The rest, as they say, is history.

With Firefly, here was a series that only produced 13 episodes (of which only 10 made it to the air), was broadcast out of order (the pilot shown last) and left for dead. Since then more and more people are discovering this little show that could on DVD, there they have sold more than 3 million units, which is more anyone watched the show when it on FOX.

Last night's screening of the movie (and the frenzy to obtain tickets to it) was as almost as much an eye opener as the NYC convention was. With the "word" getting out on the movie (which, by the way, I will not discuss ANYTHING about until it opens…. on September 30th), you'll see more and more people jump on, especially with the end of the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises coming up this month.

My only regret is that Firefly fandom is not something I can share with my little one as the content on the Firefly 'verse is not profane or perverse, but it's not for some one her age. But we still our things that we both enjoy (Classic Trek, Anime, Star Wars).

Could it be I'm going through some kind of fannish midlife crisis?

I dunno…maybe…. um, probably.

But I am having fun.

UPDATE: We were interviewed by the Boston Herald that night and many of us (including me) were quoted .
But did they HAVE to but my age in there?

Hey for Hitchhikers

2005-04-30T17:33:00.000-04:00

Went to see Hitchhikers last night with my old McAuliffe friends and new Browncoat friends. I enjoyed the film very much and I recommend it for those who have either read the book, heard the radio play or saw the BBC miniseries. If not, don't bother. The film was made for the long time fans of the book and the film is more a insider's homage to it.

It follows the beginning of the book very closely for the first 30 minutes or so but then it zooms off trying to cover as much of the book as possible - kind of a mix-tape of the "best" parts of the story. If you do not know the characters or the story walking into the film, you are forever lost by the goings on although you do still get a good laugh here and there.

As for the Red Sox and Celtics, the less said by me the better....this is a family friendly blog. I'm sure the Sox will snap out of it and be what they are capable of, but if the Celts lose in the first round of the playoffs, they'll go back to square one and suck again, probably for a long time. If they go out the first round I think the owners will not only not offer Antoine Walker a contract for next season they might ever trade Paul Pierce. Their attitude will be "we'll average 14,000 a game no matter who is in the jersey so why bother paying for any stars?". If that happens they just become what they were before this season - irrelevant.

Me and THE Trophy

2005-04-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

Me and THE Trophy
Posted by: thehey.

Today the World Series trophy FINALLY came to my town (with only 1 day's notice) and I was lucky enough to be off work today so I can see it (again) and a get a decent picture of me with it.

Just a small reminder that THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!

Baseball and Browncoats

2005-04-11T16:14:00.000-04:00

I watched the pre-game Ring Ceremony and the raising of the Championship banner of The Sox on NESN. And, dammit, I should have been there. But what can you do? Actually, I can be pissed but I’ll get over it eventually.

This is the first home opener that I have not been to since 1986. Every year I made sure I was front and center in the ticket line, on the phone or whatever. A couple of years I even paid a scalper just to make sure I was there. But this year, with the Yankees playing and the banner being raised, it’s a “plasma” ticket: So much money that you are better off buying a HD plasma TV and watching it on that. That way you have the same memory and a nice TV afterward. I did put some money aside to buy a ticket off EBay even if it meant that I would get a standing room ticket by myself, but I was outbid at every turn.

So after it was evident that I just wasn’t gonna get a ticket at the price I was willing to pay. So I took my "set aside" money and I went to I-Con, a SF convention on Long Island. And I had the greatest time. I made new friends, met new guests and drank many a beverage with both. One of the people I met was author Keith DeCandido (his blog link is on the right). When I first met him I cringed upon seeing his Derek Jeter jersey, but once we got to talking, I found him and very cool guy and a great drinking buddy. He is a true baseball fan, not just a Yankee fan. I also met actress Jewel Staite and her husband Matt. She is a really nice person that is very comfortable with her fans and Matt is a very fun guy to be around. I truly feel that I made the right choice in making the trip.

The next con for me is Shore Leave in July, which will be doubly cool because The Sox will be playing The Orioles in Camden Yards that weekend and I got myself, Bismo and others tickets to games on Saturday and Sunday. And later this week I am going to the next best thing to a Red Sox opening day - The PawSox Opening Day at McCoy Stadium.

Yeah, I know…I’m getting lazy….

2005-03-17T23:56:00.000-05:00

To be honest there hasn’t been too much to write about these days on this end. I work; I take the kids out, etc. But I do have a few things I can press an option on….

I restarted my diet this week. After losing close to 80 lbs last year I found myself gaining a good amount of it back. I think what happened was that when I changed my routine when I left The Gulag, I just stopped going to the gym and it went downhill from there. I’m gonna go it this time with out the support groups and doctor visits this time as I am not gonna go as much without as I did before, but I hope to at least get back to where I was last summer. Then physically I felt the best I have in years, so why I converted back to bad habits I have no idea.
I took the little one to see “Robots” last weekend. It was a pretty good, but, sadly, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. At least it wasn’t as bad as “SharkTale”.
Speaking of CG animated films, I picked up “The Incredibles” on DVD yesterday and it’s one of the best DVDs ever produced. The 2nd disc is a must to watch from start to finish. The film itself is one of my all time favorite films period, but the DVD makes it just that more special.
What do I think at the steroid scandal in baseball? In short I’m against players using them, of course, but until players that did not use start ratting out the ones that do, it’s not gonna go away anytime soon. The owners might throw a few mid-level players under the bus to look good, but they are still not gonna really enforce the issue on the superstars. Still, it was kinda fun watching Selig and Fehr get chewed out by Congress today.
18 days until opening day, but another 8 days for the much anticipated home opener. And for the first time in the mid-80s, unless a miracle happens, it looks as though I will not be there at the one opening day I would have given up all the previous opening days for – to see in person The Sox raise the World Champion Banner. Of course I can spend $500-$1500 for a ticket, but I’m only desperate, not foolish. Sigh……..

Better Than Talking Fast Food

2005-02-21T03:44:00.000-05:00

Got up for a few minutes and was flipping the channels when I came across a new show on Cartoon Network called Robot Chicken. When I first heard about the show I didn't think I'd like it because I just don't get the other 15 minutes shows like Aqua Teen and Sealab 2021 (I guess I'm too old to see the appeal of those shows). And you know what? It's the sickest, screwed up thing I have seen on basic cable in a while - and it's GREAT!!! Basically it's a really short sketch comedy show that uses actual action figures in stop motion to act out skits. And at 15 minutes, it's short enough not to wear out it's welcome. Check it out - it's on Sunday nights at 11:30 and reruns Friday nights at midnight..

Going GA-GA over GAH

2005-02-19T23:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I finally got a copy of Greatest American Hero and watched the pilot. A lot of my friends and I have been waiting for this show to come out on DVD for a long time and it was well worth the wait. Although this was one of my all time favorite shows when it was on the air, I didn't know how it was hold up after some 20 years from the last time I saw an episode (The series ran on cable stations years back but I never had those stations on my cable system). I'm glad to say, aside from some cheesiness and some not too great FX shots (but still not bad at all for 1981 TV), that not only does the show hold up after 24 years, but I have forgotten just how well written this show was. And the DVD transfer is incredible - the picture is nice if not nicer than when it was first broadcast and the audio was been enhanced including remixing all the music for stereo. In watching the pilot there were so many things I forgot about the characters like the fact that Ralph has a son, and that not only is he a teacher, but a special education teacher. I cannot wait to get time to dive into the rest of the box set including the retrospect and a unaired spinoff for a series with a girl in the jammies. There has been talk about Disney making a big-screen movie for years but never really went anywhere. With the amazing popularity of this box set (it has sold very well in retail stores and is currently ranked 20th on Amazon not bad for a TV show most people under 21 never even heard of), maybe this new found popularity will get the film finally made as long as it doesn't get turned into an Inspector Gadget-type kid fest. How'd you like THAT scenario, buddy?

The Monthly Post!!

2005-02-17T00:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm not trying to make this a monthly thing...it just looks that way.

I'll try to cover what's been up with me and my reaction to different things that have happened in the last 31 days.....

Well the Patriots won again. I can get used to this dynasty thing. It was nice 20 some years ago when The Celtics won or made the finals every year. But I have to admit that the 3rd time has become somewhat anti-climatic with THE RED SOX WINNING THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!! ;-)
Speaking of the World Champions, the truck rolled out to Florida last week and pitchers and catchers are due to report tomorrow. April 3rd cannot come soon enough, although I am extremely disappointed that it's starting to look like for the first time in almost 20 years I will not be able to attend an Opening Day game. But I think we'll have a great season as long as the manager can keep out of traffic accidents.
UPN did the right thing by canceling Enterprise when they did, allowing the producers to plan a decent send off. Although this has been by far the best season of the series, it was a case of too little, too late. The handwriting was on the wall when the excellent series Battlestar Galactica (So far The best SF TV since Babylon 5 and DS9) beats it in ratings despite the fact that it is only available in half the homes that UPN has access to. It'll be really weird not to have a Star Trek series on TV for the first time in 18 years, but there is enough quality genre television on currently to satisfy me for now. But hopefully someone will take the time and come up with something of quality that will resurrect the Trek franchise and appeal to a younger crowd, something Enterprise and Voyager tried and failed to do.
Speaking of quality Sci-Fi, I have finally followed the advise of several friends and watched the short-lived series FireFly. While I liked but not loved most of the 13 produced episodes, what makes me a huge a fan of it are the characters and premises that came out of this series. The fandom around this show is eerily similar to Trek Fandom of the 70s except that with Trek the fandom grew thru TV syndication while Firefly fandom is growing thru ever increasing sales of the DVD set of the entire series (Fox has sold over a million copies so far). And this fandom has already shown it's muscles by convincing Universal to continue the exploits in the upcoming feature film Serentity. With the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises both coming to an end within 2 weeks of each other in May, it would be nice to have a "shiny" new franchise to grab onto.
A long time ago there was a TV series called The Greatest American Hero which featured a mild-mannered teacher that ran into some aliens and received from them a suit that gave him special powers. The only thing is that he lost the instruction manual and had to learn what the suit could do by winging it. This was one of my all time favorite shows growing up and now it's finally on DVD. I can't wait to get it...if I can find it. The demand for this first season set was much higher than what was predicted and I gave up after going to 5 different stores that sold out it's supply sooner than they predicted. Hopefully I'll be able to find it this weekend.

Post o' the Weak.

2005-01-15T03:34:00.000-05:00

I have not written here in a while, but it's been a pretty boring month so far....and that's ok by me! Nothing great has happened....but nothing bad has either....and that's good.

My little one had her birthday party at a local bowling alley last weekend. Although I'm not a big fan of Duckpin Bowling, for little ones I understand the practicality of it. They all (and the adults) had a great time and the Bowling Academy did a GREAT job with the party from the food to a souvenier Bowling Pin for the Birthday Girl.

Work has been.....work. It's still a WAY better job than The Gulag, but the merger has been hard on everyone in the company and there still alot of adjustment period to go as the 2 companies use totally different computer systems. Last week I had my first taste of being on call after hours, and I couldn't wait for for it to be over. I'm thinking that in time that will improve when everything gets sorted out.

Ironically, I have been spending some time this month planning out things for the rest of the year. I'm working on a field trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame, planned my trip to Baltimore for Shore Leave and to see The Sox play in Camden Yards, and planning our annual rental of a luxury suite at a PawSox game. My first real vacation from work won't be until probably the end of the year during Xmas break, when my sister-in-law is getting married on New Year's Eve. The Mrs. is Maid of Honor, which means she will have her hands full that week and it'll be best that I'm not working then. I'm hoping to be able to take the family on a real vacation sometime in 2006.

Only 135 years to go for Warp Drive

2005-01-02T23:34:00.000-05:00

Off all the years since I started writing a 2 in the year, 2004 has been the best for several reasons:

The Red Sox Won the World Series.
I spent less than 6 weeks on unemployment - a feat for me this decade.
I ended the year with a content sense of usefulness as I have a job that I feel good about.
The Red Sox Won the World Series.
I lost a substantial amount of weight - granted, I gained a good chunk of it back, but at least I proved to myself that I can do it.
I spent a day at Disney World by myself!!! (I know, you are not supposed to enjoy something like that without your family - at least not admit to it anyway...)
The Red Sox Won the World Series!!!!

Granted everything in 2004 was not so good (Gulag, anyone?), but the good in the end outweighed the bad. Let's hope that 2005 turns out even better. I have several plans in the works both professionally, personally and socially that should make this year more memorable than last.

Oh, and did I mention that THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES?!?!??!

Kung-Fu Grip Christmas

2004-12-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

My wife is incredible. She has made this Christmas the best one in a while.

A little backstory: About 15 years or so back she came home with an old doll that she had from childhood. It had no clothes and half the hair was pulled out because as a child she carried it around by the hair. My wife brought it home to save it from the dumpster. It sat in the basement for a couple of years. One day I hear of a place nearby that restores old dolls, so I bring it there and have it restored, it was including new hair and dress. When I went to retrieve it at the shop, it sat there in front of me for 5 minutes before the shopkeeper waited on me. I didn't even recognize it it was that good. When I gave it to her for Christmas , she was in tears. To this day it sits on her dresser.

Today for Christmas she returned the favor. When I was little I had a GIJoe. It was the "new" model with "life-like" hair and "Kung-Fu Grip". I had it for years. One day, as I was starting to get into Star Trek, I decided that Joe needed a shave, as no one in Starfleet had a beard. In fact, I even shaved his head. I took his army clothes off and planned on making a Starfleet uniform, but it being the early 70s, I soon found that finding patterns for such an outfit was fruitless. And then, as kids that age do, the plan was dropped and the shaved, unclothed GIJoe was stowed away.

As you can probably figured out by now, the Mrs. had the doll restored. When I opened the box, I just thought she went on EBay and found me another doll as I don't remember ever taking it out of my parents house when they died. The person that did the restoration not only did an amazing job restoring the hair, but he also found the same edition dogtags and clothes that came with that certain figure. It is truly an amazing site. The only way I could tell that it was my old Joe is a small gash on one of the hands from when I once tried to make him ride my Evil Knievel Crash Car not thinking they were not compatible. As soon as I find a stand for it, it will be placed right next to the doll in our bedroom.

I got a few other things for Xmas that I really liked. But I will always remember the Christmas I gave her childhood back and the Christmas that she returned the favor.

Well, I didn't get my dream job....and that's ok.

2004-12-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

It would have been totally awesome, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. If I didn't like where I am now (low pay or not), I would be really upset about it. I'll still keep my ear to the ground about any opportunities, but I'm not gonna go scouring Monster.com and the want ads on a daily basis like I did when I at The Gulag.

I took my little one to see The Polar Express and I highly recommend it, but if you live within 50 miles of a theatre that is playing it in IMAX, you MUST see it in that format!! It's truly a totally different experience than seeing it at your neighborhood theatre. Not as much for the bigger screen but for the crystal clear 3D images that truly sucks you in the experience. It is by far the best experience of it's kind outside of Disney World. I'm sure that even though it'll be on DVD next year, this film will play in IMAX theatres every Christmas for years and years to come and I'll be there to see it every holiday season. (Note: If you do plan on seeing it, get your tickets early. The IMAX theatres in New England have been selling out almost a week in advance!)

After the movie, we went Christmas Shopping for the Mrs. I cannot stress enough that I am SO happy that I'm just about done shopping. The crowds we experienced were so rude and hostile. Believe it or not, the crowds I experienced the day after Thanksgiving were so much more pleasant that the folks I encountered yesterday. I can only think the reason was that the people that were out were not finding what they were looking for and didn't know what to purchase, whereas on Black Friday people that venture out at 5am knew what they were planning to buy. The only reason I even went to a mall was because my little one wanted to browse. More and more every year I buy online unless I know I can get what I want much cheaper somewhere else or the shipping charges are too much. Buying online allows me to just have what I want to buy shipped to me and I can have it shipped to my P.O. Box where it can sit until I'm ready to go get it.

Desperate Confessions

2004-11-29T17:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have to admit it. I'm addicted to Desperate Housewives. I didn't expect to watch more than the first show or two, but now I cannot wait to watch the next episode. And I guess I'm not the only person that did that and got addicted. Capn Ho and Peter David are hooked as well the same way I did. I started watching it to see Teri Hatcher, still looking very good and I'm now hooked on the trashy subplots. It truly is a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.

I also have to admit that I there I was getting into my car to go shopping last Friday morning at 4:30am. And I'm happy that I did. I got some well needed deals, given that we are on a smaller budget this year than most. Early morning Christmas Shopping the day after Thanksgiving is a bit like going to Disney World. It's not as fun, of course, but like WDW you are a candidate for a frontal lobotomy if you go into it without a "battle plan". I grabbed the Thanksgiving newspaper with all the circulars, went through them all, and decided what stores to go to and not to go to and make a list of what to buy and who to buy it for. When I was done I managed to buy for about 70% of our list in one trip. And afterward, I just went home and went back to bed. All in all, it wasn't too bad a time and I'm glad I was able to get alot of shopping done early.

Now I just have to figure out I'm gonna get the Mrs...........

Jinxing? We don't need no stinkin' Jinxing!!

2004-11-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

I finally had my interview for my dream job today and I think I did pretty well. The first round was with several people on one end of a conference room and me on the other and 90% of it was the 5 people taking turns asking specific questions they asked all the interviewees, mostly questions of how I would handle certain situations. They seemed pretty impressed with my answers, especially the person that I would report to who is an important person to impress in these situations.

It was, overall, a very surreal experience because the position and the interview was in a school I spent 4 years of my childhood in the mid-70s. The school, for the most part, looks the same as I remember it almost 30 years ago. Even the Auditorium I showed many, many movies to raise money looked the same.

It was also the school where I first ever touched a computer and got immediately hooked. That's why I call it a dream job for me. I really like helping and teaching people (and kids) with computers up close and personal instead of over a phone line. It's exciting to think that kids might have an interest in computers based on what I show and teach them.

I think it's just would fitting that I would be able to end my career and retire where I first got the itch for computing. Make no mistake about it - if I got this job, I would be very happy career-wise until retirement and never pick up a want-ad ever again.

I hoping I'm not jinxing it by posting it here, but I have a good feeling about it. It just feels right.

Sunny 1989-2004

2004-11-17T18:37:00.000-05:00

Originally uploaded by thehey.

My cat died today.

Well, she was helped. I brought her to the vet and ended it. She wasn't eating and was not keeping down what she did eat. The doctor said that she had a mouth tumor that was too far along to do anything for her.

As much as it was for the best, it was not an easy thing to do. Usually when a cat gets more and more sick, she hides and wants to be alone. Sunny was still being the happy and affectionate cat she has always been for almost 16 years, even on the way to her final vet visit. Plus Sunny has been with my wife and I longer than our kids have.

Sunny was always a very docile cat. When my teen was little, she would carry Sunny around like a rag doll and dress her up on doll clothes, most of the time without a fight. Years later my little one carried on the tradition. They both would hold Sunny when they were having a hard day and her purrs would sooth them and make them feel better.

Sunny also was my buddy cat and the closest thing I could ever have to a dog. She slept with us most nights and every morning followed the first person up into the bathroom. She loved drinking water right out of the faucet.

I'm really gonna miss her, but it was for the best. I rather remember her purring and happy then having her get worse.

A Small, Intimate Mob.

2004-11-13T23:07:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday I was off from work and, as luck would have it, The Red Sox started their World Series Trophy tour in Providence that day.

It was no where near as big or crowded as the huge "Rolling Rally" parade in Boston a couple of weeks ago. There were only about a couple of thousand people that showed up at the State House as opposed the millions who lined the streets of Boston.

But that was the beauty of it. As there was only one player in attendance (Bronson Arroyo) with President Larry Luccino. But the main reason for my attendance was to see, up close and personal, the World Series Trophy. In fact, I got to even touch it. Mr. Luccino also hung around for a while and signed autographs. I had him sign my ALCS hat.

All in all it was a wonderful, intimate gathering and I feel it was a more satisfying experience that I would have gotten if I went to Boston for the parade.

This weekend I am working for the first time on a Saturday and Sunday in almost five years. I don't feel it will be too big a deal as it won't be every weekend. Still I'm sure it'll get old pretty fast.

Speaking of employment. I'm still waiting to hear about that "Dream Job" that I applied for before I started the new job. From what I hear I am still going to get an interview, but they are running behind for now. Hopefully I'll hear about it soon and (Hope! Hope!) I get the job and start before the Holidays.

Incredible!!!

2004-11-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know, that's a lame headline, but I am truly at a loss for words on just how good The Incredibles is.

Is it a Pixar movie? Is it a Superhero movie? Is it a James Bond movie?

Yup, yup and yup. It's all those and more. There are numerous times that you just don't even look at this movie as an animated film. It is by far the best film of the year (so far).

What are you still doing here reading this? Go!! I'm sure there is a showtime soon as most theatres are wisely showing it every half hour.

Call me up....I'll gladly go and see it again.

Win Some, Lose Some......I guess

2004-11-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

In the aftermath of The Sox's World Championship, it was almost easy to forget we had the duty to choose out next president. But we did, and in droves. And W. won, pretty much fair and square.

Which really does amaze me. After everything he has done, all the lives he has taken for the wrong reasons, more people still wanted him than Kerry.

I thought sure that Kerry would win given Michael Moore's film, the $2 a gallon gasoline, the over 1000 dead in Iraq, etc. But I guess the fact is that while W. is far from perfect, Kerry didn't show enough of his true self or have a film stand on anything for most people to trust him. With W., flaws and all, people knew what to except of him.

Of course, scaring people didn't hurt either.

Four for Eighty-Six

2004-10-28T01:36:00.000-04:00

I'm numb.

If you told me in July when The Sox playing .500 ball were gonna go all the way, I would asked if you forgot to take your meds.

That's what makes this magical year all the more sweeter because there were so many things that happened to this team along the way that in most cases should have flattened them emotionally. There were half a dozen times during the season that it looked like the season was over. They were as close to roadkill as you can get in July when the Yankees swept them.

But they never quit. Never gave up. In hindsight we should have seen that comeback in the ALCS last week coming. A lot of times they had more faith than we did.

We have seen years where The Sox won the Division easily and by out of the playoffs in 3 or 4 games. But if they won it all with one of those teams it wouldn't have felt as good as this year does.

This has been the greatest baseball season I have ever lived through. Let's hope that the organization can keep most of these idiots around for next season and do it again.

Waiting for Four

2004-10-27T17:55:00.000-04:00

While contemplating the fact that The Sox actually might make it all the way tonight, I have read a few newspaper and online article that wonder what fans are going to do with themselves if and/or when The Sox win The Series. Some of the speculations from writers outside of New England are that Sox fans will lose interest in the team because the losing and moaning and groaning about it is what keeps them loyal. I disagree. In fact, the fan interest I think will increase so much that despite having over 2.7 tickets available over 81 home games in a season, getting a ticket to Fenway will be almost as hard as getting a ticket to see the Patriots, who only have 500,000 tickets available per season. Others jokingly speculate that deaths will increase, as older fans will let go because The Sox finally won it all and can die happy. This I actually believe.

There is a bittersweet part of this possible win tonight or tomorrow. Because of work and family, I will not be able to share the moment with Ho and Bismo, 2 of my best friends and fellow Sox Diehards. We all want to let our kids stay up and watch this momentous occasion on TV like my father let me stay up to watch the 1975 Series and that makes getting together impossible. Plus we all still have to get up early the next day for work and it'll be hard enough getting up after watching it from home never mind going to someone else's house or a sports bar. Hopefully we might be able to get together for the possible celebration parade an/or rally. (Despite being a Sox fan, I don't believe talking about a parade is a jinx.) Months ago Bismo and I always talked about going to Fenway the night of a possible clinching win, but after what happened last week with all the vandalism and the tragic death of a celebrant, we thought better of it. I guess we are all finally starting to show our age.

Meanwhile, while I'm doing pretty well on my new gig, I heard from my source about the other position - the "dream job" and was told that I WILL at the very least get an interview for it, but there is no word on when that will be except that it most likely be this week or next. I am not getting my hopes up too much about the prospect of the position, but I cannot be less than thrilled to death that I am gonna be in the running for it. It's a job that I know that I would be excited about.

Three.

2004-10-26T23:50:00.000-04:00

I'm just amazed. 27 outs to go.

The Sox took Game 3 by the score of 4-1 in St. Louis giving The Cards their first postseason loss at home. Pedro was, as he has been all season, shaky at first, but thanks to some more shaky baserunning, got out of trouble and was lights out the rest of the his first Series game and win in what must have been the shortest World Series game since Fox started broadcasting the games. I can't remember the last time a Series game ending before midnight.

Going in to The Series I thought we had a good chance and, believe me, I'm not taking anything for granted given what happen to the Yankees (and the straight fact that we are talking about The Sox), but I had no thinking that they would take the first 3 games with D-Lowe going tomorrow night.

Ok, gonna take advantage of this "early" evening and head to bed. If the Sox can do it tomorrow night I know I'll be up quite late.

In fact, I don't think I'll be able to get any sleep.

Two.

2004-10-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

The Almighty Curt gave 6 innings on solid pitching while fighting off 4 Boston errors as The Sox won Game 2 6-2 to get halfway to the promised land. The Cards were given lot of opportunities only to squander them with poor baserunning. It's amazing that The Sox can commit 8 errors in 2 games and still win both of them.

At least we didn't need 11 runs this time.

It's going to be hard to win in St. Louis, but let's maybe hope for a sweep or win in 5 as there is talk that Schilling might not be able to pitch Game 6 as the meatball surgery they have been doing on his ankle might not be able to be done again without doing lasting damage. The suture holding his ankle together snapped again and you can once again see blood seeping from the wound. To me this just makes all this and Schilling that much more a legend in the making.

At least tomorrow night I'll be able to go to bed a little early on the off day. I have a feeling I'll need it this week.

One.

2004-10-24T10:26:00.000-04:00

"Yankee fans, repeat after me...."Mark Bleeping Bellhorn!!"
-WEEI Whiner Line Caller

Once again, The Sox's 2nd baseman, Mark "Walk or Whiff" Bellhorn hit a key home run this week in the postseason. In a 72 hour period, he has become both Bucky Dent and Kirk Gibson.

The Sox win a wild Game 1 11-9 and now we have The Almighty Curt going tonight. Win or Lose this series, Curt Schilling to me is up there with Bird and Orr, getting his ankle cut open 2 (and possible 3) times to pitch. That is the stuff of sports legend 'round these parts. After the series, he'll get it worked on proper and hopefully be ready for Spring Training, but he might not be quite the same again because of the quick fixes, so after his contract is over, he'll most likely retire in Boston.

As a aside, watching the game at Bismo's house last night, Bismo's son declared before the game "The Sox are gonna score 11!"

Good call. We sure needed 11, didn't we?

Yeah, we got your Daddy RIGHT HERE!!!!

2004-10-21T09:52:00.003-04:00

Unbelievable.

The unthinkable happened. I'm still in near denial. But it's true. The Sox beat The Empire to go to The Series. Not only did they beat them, they came within 3 outs of losing it all in Game 4, came back and won that game and proceeded to win the next 3 in a row, including 2 in the most hostile environment possible.

This whole series played out just like an old WWF Hulk Hogan championship wrestling match script from the 80s. At first Hogan would get a few licks in, but then he would start really getting his ass kicked up and down the canvas. Then about a little more than halfway through the match, just when his opponent would make what might be the closing blow to finish him off, Hogan all of a sudden would grab the guy's fist with one hand, wave his finger at him with the other and start shaking his head as if to say "No. No. No. I don't think so." Then he would proceed to pummel him into submission and finish him off with a piledriver from the top turnbuckle. With an almost comical 10-3 score, Game 7 was The Sox getting up on that top turnbuckle and slamming down on The Empire's throat with their elbow.

Going through New York to get to The Series makes this all the more incredible and I would hate to harp on The Empire's woes too much ( snicker...), but what has really made this truly sweet is that in this series, A-Rod ("the next Babe Ruth") has been exposed as the primadonna whinny fraud that he is. As I, of course, wanted to get him last offseason and was disappointed that we didn't like everyone else, but I am so glad now that it didn't happen. We really saw it for real back in July with his tussle with Varitek what kind of the jerk his truly is. I have no doubt that we would not be where we are now with him on the team. I think this the media here and the center of attention he would have become, he would have been as sour and self-centered a teammate than that other shortstop we used to have if not more and we would have to deal with it for 7 seasons because noone would have taken him and his $25 million a season salary. Of course we should have seen this when both his former teams got better after he left. In fact, I'm sure with no A-Rod and getting a "re-committed" Manny, The Rangers would have at least won the wild card over The Sox, if not the AL West.

Now tonight we have to see if we will be playing the Cardinals or the Astros. I really hope that we play Houston as St. Louis' bats scare me to death and it would be fitting to have to go through Roger Clemens to get to the promised land. If The Sox lose The Series, we will all be back lamenting about the 86 year drought, but win or lose this has been easily the best baseball season in my lifetime.

Bring it on.

Idiots Don't Need Sleep

2004-10-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday morning and after 3 days and 18 hours of baseball plus 4 hours of football, I (and most of the working class of New England) need some sleep. Game 6 is tonight at 8:19pm and I'm in for another late night tonight. After going to bed at 1:30am Sunday night-Monday morning and getting up to go to work later that morning, I was looking forward to getting to bed early as Game 5 started at 5pm and I figured that it'll all be over by 9pm.

Yeah. Right. It ended at 11pm. I got a good amount last night, but I'm still dragging from the night before. Both teams must be purely on fumes between the hard work, batting practice and travel.

I was gonna try to take a nap when I get home from work today before the game, but that went out the window when as I needed to get some work done, so I'll catch up on my sleep when The Sox do and hopefully that won't be until for another 10 days.. Last year I had the "benefit" of unemployment to allow me to catch the proper amount of sleep (and then some) to watch these late games.

Curt Schilling is going tonight with a modified sneaker from Reebok to hold his ankle tendon together to pitch. If this works and The Sox can force a Game 7, I can see Reebok marketing and selling a lot of these "Schilling Sneakers" to people that suffer ankle injuries for rehabilitation purposes.

On Sunday between that Patriots game and Game 4 I saw Team America. I liked it, but not as much as my friend Doc did. It's funny at times, but I was hoping that it would be as funny as the South Park movie for 5 years ago, but this film, while having some really outrageous gags, wasn't as fun as that film and the songs are not of the same quality except for the ballad "Ronrey" sung by the main baddie Kim Jong-Il, who is voiced to sound like an Asian Cartman. You can wait for the DVD where I'm sure the stuff the MPAA made them take out to avoid an NC-17 rating will be put back in. I recommend Friday Night Lights more.

Yesterday's News

2004-10-11T13:48:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was very much surprised by a birthday party that the wife and kids sprung on me. (Of course when there are 6 cars in front of your house when you come home the jumping out the back of furniture thing is not as effective.) It made me feel great and special that my family and friends did this for me. Thanks all......I really needed it.

It was very sad that I found out when I got up this morning that Christopher Reeve died. Until the 1995 accident that left him paralyzed, he was just a very good actor that just had a hard time "shaking off the cape". But the courage he showed during his ordeal was amazing. Reading his book Still Me is one of only 2 books that made me cry (The Teammates being the other). I would highly recommend it, but it's out of print, but I'm sure it will be reprinted in paperback soon.

Another person that died yesterday was baseball player Ken Caminiti. He was highly admired by all baseball fans in his playing days, but he'll be best known for admitting his use of Steroids and addiction to cocaine, which probably contributed to his heart failure at only age 41. Add the fact he never won a thing after all that. Let's hope at the very least his death will show current and future players that his fate is the only certainty in sports.

October - Month of Destiny

2004-10-09T21:44:00.000-04:00

I guess it's just destiny that despite a extremely suspect starting rotation, the ALCS is gonna be The Sox vs. The Empire starting on my birthday and the 18th anniversary of the 1986 ALCS comeback. The Twins had The Yankees on the ropes in 3 out of the 4 games and managed, as they did 65 times this season, to come from behind and win a game - twice in extra innings. I didn't really have a real preference on who I wanted The Sox to play to get to the World Series as both teams were evenly matched, but at least this way if The Sox go all the way, we won't have to listen to Yankee Fans saying it didn't count because we didn't go through them. Fine. But God help me if The Sox blow this as I have several new co-workers that are Yankee Fans.

Speaking of sorts of the new job, I finished my first week and I am getting more and more comfortable there. I haven't heard from the other places yet, but I figure if I do not get either of these it's fates way of telling me I'm better off where I am now as I know despite the low paycheck and I'll enjoy the work once I get the swing of things.

So, in a way, by the end of this month, my fate and the fate of The Sox will be sealed. I will know where I'll be for the next few years and The Sox's future will either as a team of Gods that ended 86 years of frustration or just another bunch a guys that almost made it.

It's all about Greedo

2004-09-21T21:14:00.000-04:00

Should've saw this coming.

I went to do some shopping to get some household items for the Mrs. at Wal-Mart today and, sure enough, right in the front of the entrance is a huge display for the Star Wars Trilogy DVD that came out today. I knew it was coming out today (if you didn't know you just came back from Iraq or Napal), but I was thinking if I was gonna buy it, I would get it at Best Buy like I usually do. Besides, I have a birthday coming up.

But it just too tempting. I picked up the box, thought about it for about, um, 1 and a 1/2 seconds and put it in the cart. Price: $37.00 on Debit MasterCard.

When it was first announced that the set was coming out, I was very cynical about it given that Lucas was just gonna put the "special editions" on DVD and not the original theatrical releases. I knew then that if he ever does that, it'll be after Episode III comes out as part of a huge set of the whole saga. So I thought, hey, I don't really need to get this - I have my special edition widescreen VHS of the trilogy and my original release copies on LaserDisc(!!).

But last week I saw the amazing documentary on A&E. That got me thinking about the set given that A&E only showed about half of what was in the box set. And then I give Lucas all kinds of props for "fixing the fixes" such as getting rid of Luke's girlie-man scream in "Empire" and making Jabba look more like Jabba in "A New Hope" instead of the pale slug with eyes that was there in that missing scene in 1997. And the look of the films are the best you'll see yet.

But does Greedo still shoot first? To me this was by far the biggest gaffe of the "special edition". I took it out and watched it. And you know what? Greedo still shoots first, but the shot is redone pretty well. It's much tighter and should be pretty credible to most fans.

Should you get it? Sure, why not. Will Lucas come out with another set next year that includes all 6 films and the original versions? Probably. Will I buy that? Probably.

The Force can have a strong influence on the weak minded.

Gulag Be Gone, Part Deux - The other shoe drops

2004-09-17T21:46:00.000-04:00

Well, today I finally got what I was looking for.....the job offer from the company that I interviewed with last week that, in effect, cost me my job at The Gulag. My first day will be Monday, October 4th.

Like I said before this is a much better company that is much closer to the house with more or less much better hours and benefits than The Gulag.

Notice that I didn't say better pay.

As it turns out, this job doesn't pay very well. At all. But after talking it over with the Mrs. we know it's our best option right now, especially since I don't have anything else right now and my unemployment benefits are not gonna be any better than this and they would probably run out way before I found anything else.

But as positives I really like the company and given their huge growth in the last few months (they acquired a competitor earlier in the year that has them growing 4 times their original size in one shot), there might be some great opportunities down the road. The only problem is the basically the pay. As I mentioned in a post last year, the job market in the Ocean State blows and has for a long time thus allowing companies to pay a lower rate.

Would I have taken this job if I was still at The Gulag? Y'know, that is a great question. And, to be honest, I don't know. Part of me says I probably wouldn't have (yes, the difference in pay is that much), but that's something I'll try not to dwell on. As people say to me time and time again (especially in the last 5 years), "Things happen for a reason" and I guess I have to believe that for now.

Of course as I work at the new place I'll keep my options open and still look around for something that pays better, something I hoped I wouldn't have to do as it seems like I'm always "looking for something better" for more than a decade. At the very least this time around I'll be closer to the house, not killing my already half-dead car and spending hundreds of dollars in gas a month and actually be home at a decent hour.

As an aside: I do not like to talk politics here, but given this post I must point this out: Ronald Reagan asked the American people one thing and it won him the election in 1980: "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?" John Kerry should be asking that same question and he might score some points with people. All I know is that in 2000 I was making more money and paying alot less than $1.75/gallon for gas.

Gulag Be Gone, Part One

2004-09-15T15:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I been waiting to post again as I wanted to hopefully have a complete story to share, but I just couldn't wait to write again, so this will be part I to a story I hope to have a happy ending to.

Last Thursday, I had a 2nd interview for a way way better job with a way way better company way way closer to my home than The Gulag. I got a call to come in the day before and I tried to schedule it for the morning so I could be merely late for my shift, but the only time available was 3pm, so I ended up telling my bosses that I was taking the whole day off. Let's just say I feel the interview went extremely well, so I don't in any way want to jinx it.

So the next day, still feeling pretty good about the interview, I get a call from the agency that hired me to work at The Gulag. I was told that my contract with The Gulag has not been renewed (In case you forgot what I wrote before, I was technically hired by an agency to work for The Gulag on a open-ended contract basis renewed weekly). In other words, I was laid off. Effective immediately. No real reason was given to me of why, except to say that they always had the right to do so at anytime, which I knew but didn't expect to get a pink slip so abruptly. But I have my theories. They knew that I wasn't happy. They knew that I was pissed off that I wasn't made a permanent employee after 3 months and get benefits like I was promised. And they probably figured that I took the day off with short notice to go on an interview. So they just cut the cord.

I know I should be happy about finally being out of there. I hated the 102 mile daily commute, I hated the hours that got me home past my little one's bedtime and I hated answering the same freaking questions every day on the same crappy old products that The Gulag didn't even make anymore. But like a couple that didn't like each other anymore, I wanted to be the one to break it off.

I want to remain positive about my interview last week, but I haven't heard anything yet and, of course, I'm anxious as hell about it. And I'll kick myself if I don't get it, because I'm sure my absence last Thursday was a catalyst of my lay off and then I'll be totally unemployed. Again.

Stay tuned.

Looking Stoopid

2004-09-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

This post is gonna make look stupid, but it's kinda a cool story.

On Sunday during the con last weekend, I went to watch the "Junkyard Wars" competition. In case you do not know the concept or never saw the show on cable, "Junkyard Wars" is where teams are given a pile of junk and some tools and are instructed to construct a device that performs a specific task out of the junk. My friend Brewser, being the engineer of our little band of geeks, signed up for it.

After he signed up for it, I thought about it for a minute and for some reason I asked the 2 guys next to me if I could join their group as teams needed at least 3 people. There names were Charles and Michael. Another person joined us (his name escapes me) and we went to work.

The task was to make a device that would place a Beanie Baby about 30 feet onto a trash cover. We all looked at the pile of junk for 5 minutes and thought up a plan on what and how to make the Beanie transport.

Long story short we sucked. Big time. All we thought of was to make a giant rubber band out of police safety crossing tape to slide the Beanie on a gas stove plate. At least we got closer than Brewser's team, who managed only to run over their Beanie twice with their contraption.

Still, we had fun. As we said our goodbyes to each other, Charles says to Michael "At least you have your art to look back on". I was a little puzzled by that statement, but said "good game" to my teammates and moved on.

I walked over to Bismo, who was looking on during the game and said "That was cool that you were working with Michael Whelan."

I said "You know him?" (this is the part where I look stupid).

"Well, yes, eh! He's a guest here at the con. He did the covers for the 'Dragonriders of Pern' books among other things.

Bismo did go on to say that he thought it was kinda cool that I didn't know who he was and he was right (Either that or maybe he was trying to make me feel better - to his credit he does that sometimes when I do something stupid). When I got home I looked up his website and saw all the cool art he has done and that he's won 14 Hugos and all that. (This is the part that I find out I look really stupid.) This guy is like the SF artist equivalent of Greg Maddox. And I spent 2 hours with the guy making something out of a junkpile.

I guess it was just ignorance as I'm not a big SF art guy. The only person I really know in that area is Bob Eggleton, another multiple Hugo winner who I and Capn Ho briefly knew before he made it big, but I doubt he would remember us these days. In retrospect I'm glad I didn't know him at the time as I'm sure I would have acted differently.

And the moral of the story, kids, is that it's better to look stupid in front of your friends than world renowned artists.

The End of the WorldCon

2004-09-07T18:53:00.000-04:00

WorldCon is over and I had a blast. Got to hang out with some old friends, made some new friends and saw a lot of people that I haven’t seen in quite a while. For me, conventions have always been about the sense of community. A chance to be around people of my own ilk. I have always thought SF fans are some of the best people around.

Great example: I dropped my sunglasses in one the meeting halls in one of the most crowded and popular panels and didn’t realize it until about a half hour later. I went back to the room I lost them in and they, of course, were gone. Thinking I was mistaken of where I dropped them and retraced my steps. No luck. After several minutes of cursing (mostly at myself), I went to the information desk to see to leave my name in case they were found, thinking at the time that it was a long shot given that I didn’t have my name on them and they are, frankly, cool shades. When I stated that I lost my sunglasses, the response I got was "You mean these?" And there they were. I was grateful and very happy to be among those that would take the time to bring someone else’s property from one place to another that was quite a distance from each other.

And the parties were wonderful. There were parties with a couple of guys jamming in the corner of the room singing Dylan tunes, there were parties that had huge chocolate bars shaped like Godzilla, and, of course, a lot of parties that had a lot of alcohol. And with all that alcohol flowing, there was no fighting, no degradation and no destruction of property (at least from where I saw). The Boston Star Trek Association (BSTA) had a "reunion" party that was a joy to be part of and reminded me of the best times I had going to their cons when they ran them.

My favorite part of WorldCon? After the masquerade, there was a performance by an actor named Charles Ross, who does a One Man Star Wars. Basically it’s one man, no props, doing (almost) all the characters of all 3 original trilogy films in one hour. If he ever gets to your neck of the woods, RUN and see this performance. It is unbelievable.

The worse part of WorldCon? The film program. I cannot lay blame on some of the problems on the con itself as things happened that were beyond there control, but just seemed to be that the whole thing in general seemed to been treated as an afterthought. Most of the films were shown in a place away from the rest of the con, with none of them shown in the main auditorium. Films were cancelled, the 70MM festival (a treat inside or outside of a con) was not even advertised in the main program and there were no updates in any progress reports on anything. Of course I’m not saying that this should have been the con’s main focus, but it was so disorganized that it was almost comical.

Despite the above rant I still had a wonderful time. Let’s hope that Boston can get another WorldCon soon.

Hell, I’ll even join the film committee.

When worlds coll....er, stay at the same hotel.

2004-09-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

This weekend is going to be most interesting. With WorldCon and The Sox important series with Texas at Fenway this weekend, the two loves of my life, other than my family, will be a mere 1/4 mile away from each other. As I will not be attending any games while I'm at the Hynes (I would if there were any tickets available), I'll try to catch the games when I can and see fans walk by the Hynes before and after the game. I'm gonna have a blast at Noreascon, seeing the fans walk to Fenway without me will be bittersweet to say the least.

Usually, the visiting players to Fenway stay at the Sheraton, the main hotel for the con. It would be an interesting thing to see Kenny Rogers or Alfonso Soriano watch people dressed as Klingons or Elves walk through the lobby.

Now as a fan of both sports and conventions and fandom, I always get a kick out of the general opinion of most that it's ok for sports fans to wear player jerseys, paint your face in team colors or make your naked beer belly into a billboard in 30 degree weather when they go to a sporting event, but if you are a Star Trek fan going to a convention dressed in a Starfleet uniform, you're a geek that lives in his/her parents basement.

Of course we all know that there are examples of extremes in both (unmarried sport fans living in basements and SF fans that are extremely well off and excel in everything they do), but I have always found that sports fans and science fiction fans have a whole lot in common, although alot of them won't admit it...especially the sports fans.

Both collect memorabilia. Both attend conventions to meet famous people and get autographs, (most of the time actually paying for that privilege), buy memorabilia and meet people that share the same interest. But somehow being a sports fan is way cooler than being a SF fan, so one can have a signed baseball or even a Pedro Martinez action figure on your desk at work, hang a WEEI "K" card on the wall of your cubicle, but bring in any a Captain Kirk action figure and put up a "Frodo Lives" poster, you're labeled a geek and sometimes thought of as "peculiar". Sports fans can get a DVDs like Three Games to Glory where fans are shown as devoted, sincere people while SF fans get Trekkies and Trekkies 2, where fans are shown in a more, um, humorous light.

All people have an inner jock and an inner geek, but let's face it.....most people are willing to show their inner jock. How else can you explain why people pay extreme amounts of money for sporting events and replica jerseys. While there are people out there that blow alot of money on conventions and memorabilia, but last time I checked the NFL and Mitchell & Ness bring in a lot more money than Creation and The Danbury Mint.

That being said, alot of people do show there inner geek in other ways. Science Fiction and Fantasy are still the most popular movies out there. 3 of the 5 Hugo nominees this year each made more than $300 million at the box office and one of them is the largest selling DVD of all time. 3 times more people went to see Spiderman 2 on the 4th of July than either going to a baseball game or watching one on TV combined. They might not be buying the toys, but they are buying the tickets.

But again people will show the jock over the geek. That's just the way things are. On my desk at The Gulag I have the foul ball I caught at fenway years ago right next to my SpongeBob Squarepants Burger King toys. (They look at the toys a little funny, but sometime they play with them, too.)

But at least I don't go overboard like some people do here.......like the person with the 5 foot Tom Brady poster or the guy with a toy Stanley Cup on his desk.

Geez, guys, get a life.

Beware what you wish for.......

2004-08-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

In my last post I was saying how much I was lamenting that I didn't think I wasn't gonna get to the drive-in this summer. Well,my teen asked me to take her friend to the drive-in. It was an absolutely beautiful warm evening with all the stars out and a bright full moon...and we watched Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid.

I wish there was a better movie playing, but frankly this was the best movie playing (ah, the Dog Days of summer movies). The movie I wanted to see, Hero, was not playing there and I made the mistake to mentioning that that film had subtitles, so it was the snake movie for us!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still bad. Let's leave it at that. The co-feature was The Village, which of course I saw already, but the girls didn't. It was kinda of nice to watch it again to see if I could see any clues about the ending, but I didn't see any that were totally noticeable. On the way home we talked about the whats and whys of it, which is what I liked about the film. To me any film that provokes discussion afterward is a worthwhile film to see.

Sunday we just kicked around the house and I watched The Sox sweep The Tigers and come within 4 1/2 games of The Empire, which is amazing given that 2-3 weeks ago they were 10 1/2 games out. This upcoming week is going to be the most important week of the season with 3 vs. The Angels and 3 vs. The Rangers, which are nipping at The Sox heels for the wild card.

Gonna be a short week at The Gulag tomorrow to stay home with The Girls the day before school starts up again for them and off again Friday to go to WorldCon. I think I can deal with 3 days this week, especially with 4 days off afterward.

It was a beautiful day.....dammit!

2004-08-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

...as has the whole week been. The weather has been incredible, the Wife and Kids have been home all day on their last week before school.....

....and there I am sitting in The Gulag, my chair facing the clear skies out the window beyond my monitor. If this job actually gave me things like, say, vacation time, I probably would've taken this week off. Instead here I sit "doing the right thing". Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank God that the great weather is extending into the weekend. I'm gonna try to grab my last day of summer beach as next week is......(drum roll).......

WorldCon!

It's a shame that it looks like the family and I are not going to get to the drive-in this summer. It seemed every time there was a film my little one could see the co-feature was not anything we would want her to see (The Princess Diaries 2 shown with Little Black Book? uh...no). Maybe with luck we'll get an nice mild indian summer evening next month with a decent double feature playing.

Still, we are soon entering the best time of year for me....the fall. The weather is mild but not hot and cool but not snowing and freezing (yet). Plus we'll have a chance to do our favorite family activities like leaf peeking, going to the Big E and, for me, watching Patriots football and the baseball playoffs!!! Let's hope I'll have a team to root for in October.

I HATE shaving.

2004-08-22T22:01:00.000-04:00

If you have seen me lately you know from the photo on my previous entry that I shaved my beard off. I was going to keep it on until Noreascon to see how I would feel about having one in the long term. But The Wife and Kids didn't like it one bit and they all conspired to not give me any affection until I shaved. So, of course, off it went.

Now one of the biggest reasons I was growing a beard, frankly, is because I HATE shaving. Always have. And every time I attempt to let it go for a long period of time, there would be something like a job interview or a special occasion that made me shave as it wasn't grown in enough to look decent.

Well this time I decided that if I have to have the beard shaved off didn't mean I have to do it myself. As I said before, I HATE shaving. I decided to go to a barber shop in the next town that still does the lost art of facial shaving complete with straight razor, soapy shaving cream and hot towels. The barber is even an old little Italian guy that's been doing it before I was born.

I entered the shop and noone was there. I was first. Amazing given that it was a Saturday Morning. The old Italian guy met me. "You needa cut?"
"No, actually, I was in for just a shave."
"No cut?"
I took off my baseball cap to show that what was on top was shorter than my beard. "Nope. Just a shave."

He sat my down into his chair and got out his shaving supplies. From what I can tell he doesn't have too much call for shaving anymore. he mixed up the cream and put it on my face and started shaving. Leaning back in the chair I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it. I started thinking about the opening scene in The Untouchables when Al Capone was getting a shave. Luckily my barber didn't nick me - but I wasn't packing anyway so we were cool. When he was done he splashed me back into reality with good ol' fashioned 80% alcohol after shave that stung like a mutha. "Alla set" he said.

I asked him how much I owed him and he said "Seven". Wow. $7 for a first class old fashioned barber shave. Amazing. I gave the guy $15 and told him to keep it. I was well worth every penny. Because, as I might have told you, I HATE shaving.

If you have the chance, I highly recommended it. Despite the low cost, I won't make it a habit as I want to make a special treat for myself 2-3 times a year. I hope can not break my own promise and go more often.

It'll be hard, though. Did I ever tell you I HATE to shave?

You'll never know who you'll run into at a Huey Lewis concert

2004-08-22T13:16:00.000-04:00

boomer huey
Originally uploaded by thehey.

Yes, that me with ESPN's Chris "Boomer" Berman. He came on stage at a Huey Lewis concert I took my older daughter to last night (her 11th Huey concert in 9 years!!!), introduced the band using is patented instant nickname schick (Johnny "Diet" Colla!) and sang in on one song (see inset). I have to admit the dude can sing a little bit.

My daughter, of course, had no idea who he was, but she took our picture anyway. I thought it was pretty cool to get a picture of him with me especially since he was wearing a tiki shirt as well. We had a very enjoyable evening and meeting Boomer was an extra surprising thrill.

BTW, if you ever get to see a concert at the FleetBoston Pavillion, I highly recommend trying the Bare Knuckle Stout.

Maybe I can make this into a movie?? Nah.....

2004-08-22T11:59:00.000-04:00

I wrote a story that kinda is a analogy of a period of my life what seems like a lifetime ago. Many of you will get it. If you do not, enjoy the story anyway.

Sixteen years ago, I was blown away onto an deserted island.

At first I was kinda happy I was there, but the fun of it wore off pretty quickly and I didn’t want to be there any more. Still, of course, I didn’t have a choice in the matter and made do as best I could.

I started to learn how to do to stay alive on the island and what I needed to do very well and eventually learned to even enjoy it a little. Once in a while in between working on the island I would put a message for help in a bottle.

After a few years, the Island Gods noticed that I was surviving pretty well on the island and paid me a visit. They wanted to drop me at another island to show the latest poor soul who got stranded how there to survive. I figured that if I helped these guys out the Island Gods would look upon me kindly and allow me to someday hang with them. At the very least I would get off my own rock for a while and get a change of scenery. So I agreed and off I was to another island.

When I got to this new island I met the new castaway and saw that he wasn’t cutting it at all. So I got to work and straightened everything out on his island and at the same time showed the new guy the ropes. After a few weeks, he was doing pretty well and eventually he got to the point that he didn’t need me anymore to survive on his own island. Then one day the Island Gods came by, swept me up and plopped me back on my old island without even getting a thank you from them. I shrugged the cold shoulder off and figured that at least I had a change of pace for a while. I went back to my habits, my own work and put some more bottles out on the water.

The following year, the Island Gods came by again asking to go to yet another new island with a new castaway. Again, I figured, the change of pace might be nice and someday they will remember what I did for them. Again I went to the new island, showed the new guy the ropes and got him on his feet. And once again the Island Gods came by and plunked me back on my old island. Again with no thank you or any show of gratitude whatsoever. Again I went back to my old routine and again put some more bottles out on the water.

I knew that the Island Gods would come a-callin’ again the next year and I figured that this time I might be able to get something out of it this time. So when the Island Gods came knocking, I once again agreed, but also gave the Gods the idea that maybe that instead of yanking me off my island every year and leaving my island to rot, they would consider that I can go to all the different islands and check on all the other castaways for them. They dropped me off at the next new island and said they would consider it.

A couple of years later, the word was put forth by the Island Gods that there will be a designated ambassador for new castaways and older castaways that need a hand. I thought to myself “Hooray!!” The Island Gods have considered my idea and thought it would be best for them and all the islands. I was happy as I could possibly be. Not only would I do what I like to do, but I would off this stinkin’ island for good.

But that happiness would not last. I was waiting my visit from the Island Gods to come forth with a new castaway to take over my island. Sure enough they came, but with a castaway that I showed the ropes to a couple of years back. I was puzzled. Are they gonna have him take other my island? Sadly, that wasn’t the case. The Island Gods told me that he was to be the new island ambassador and asked me to help him know what he would need to know to help the others. I was awestruck. Once I picked up my jaw off the ground, I asked them, after all I did, why I was not asked to become ambassador. I reminded them that I gave them the idea for this. They didn’t answer.

Then I got furious. I said “Not only do you not want me to be your ambassador after all I have done for you, but now you want to me to teach this person how to be one?” Still no answer. They acted as though they didn’t know why I was so upset. Then, as though someone possessed my thoughts and actions, I threw an object in the general direction of the Island Gods and told them that if he was the best man for this, he can figure it out for himself!

This made the Island Gods very angry. They towered over me and said that they were very disappointed in me and said that if I would not assist the new ambassador, I would suffer greatly. Defiant, I said, “Give me your best shot!” They told me that they would return the next day and tell me my fate. The next day the Island Gods came again to me and said that as much as it pained them, they felt that I needed to be banished from the islands never to return.

For some reason, even though I was finally getting off this sticking island, I was distressed. I always wanted to leave the island on my own terms and merits, not thrown off with nothing to show for it like some kind of reality show contestant. Still, even though I was devastated inside and felt some regret for my outburst, I left that island with my head held high not letting these Gods know that I wasn’t sorry for what I did or said. I regret the throwing, but not anything else.

It’s taken me awhile to get over my experience on the islands. Over time I realized that even though I was not treated very well by the Island Gods, I enjoyed my time on the islands. In fact, a couple of years later I even went to a small island for a couple of weeks to feel again what it was like. I would maybe consider going to another set of islands someday, but before I did I would make it clear to the these new Gods that it would be on my terms.

Because this time I would be prepared....I’ll have a lifeboat.

The Day(s) the (Film) Music Died

2004-08-19T14:11:00.000-04:00

On July 21st, Jerry Goldsmith, who composed a number of film scores including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien and the Rambo movies died at age 75. Last Tuesday, Elmer Bernstein, who did scores for alot of films from The Magnificent Seven to Ghostbusters died at age 82. Aside from John Williams and Danny Elfman, these 2 were my all time favorite film composers.

What made me write about these two legendary men was the fact going through my brain that as much as they have done in Hollywood, there are not very well known outside of that. When people think of a film composer, the first person they think of is John Williams thanks to such famous scores for Jaws, Star Wars and even the Harry Potter films. But as much as a treasure he is, to me Mr. Goldsmith and Mr. Bernstein should be just as famous.

Jerry Goldsmith, in my opinion, was John Williams before John Williams was JOHN WILLIAMS. Before the shark went in the water, we was THE "A" list composer for genre films scores from Planet of the Apes to The Omen, for which he won an Oscar. This is not even counting the impact he has made on the Star Trek universe. His themes resonate through fandom and was not above taking a mocking shot at his own scores (Using a silly version of his Rambo theme in his score for Gremlins 2).

Listening to an Elmer Bernstein score was the first time I realized that film music was an important part of the film watching experience. I was very young and watching an old John Wayne movie called The Comancheros on TV. What drew me to that film was the rousing score. I watched the film again recently and still found the score a great part of that film. He was also the most versatile composers in Hollywood scoring Epics (The Ten Commandments), Dramas (To Kill a Mockingbird), and countless shows and films for television. He was also a little ahead of his time scoring films that used a heavy dose of songs (Animal House, The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters) which is commonplace now but at the time was very unusual.

It's nice that we have what these two men gave us but sad that we will no longer get any more. RIP, guys.

The Pats vs. The Nation

2004-08-17T17:33:00.000-04:00

On the way the The Gulag this morning I was listening to WEEI and they were asking people what team was more popular, The Patriots or The Red Sox. There were alot of calls for both teams and John Dennis was making a good case for the Pats:

In last Friday's pre-season game not only were there 60,000+ people standing out in the hard, windy rain for a game that didn't mean anything, these people were still there long after the starters (Tom Brady, Ty Law, etc.) were not only out of the game, but probably already in their luxury SUVs driving home. Not only that, the game that didn't count beat The Sox game that did by a huge margin in the TV ratings.
While the Red Sox have sold out 144 straight games, the Pats have not only sold out all their games in the last 7 years, there is a waiting list of 60,000 for season tickets. In other words, if every single person that has a ticket just didn't want to go to games anymore, they can still fill up the place with people that do.
Tickets for Pats games are extreamly hard to come by without paying $300-500 on EBay while even though Fenway "sells out", you can grab a pair of duckets pretty easily either first thing the day of the game or from a scalper at a reasonable price if you wait until the first or second inning.

Now while these are very good facts for The Patriots, I still think this is still "Red Sox Nation", and not just because I'm obviously a bigger baseball fan than football fan. I think this way for one reason: The Red Sox still command attention from fans and the media even when the season is over and Fenway is dark and empty.

When The Pats were on a huge winning streak on their way to a second championship last winter, all anyone talked about was the trade for Curt Schilling, the signing of Keith Foulke and the attempt to get A-Rod.
Red Sox functions like Hot Stove talks and fan festivals, are very well attended.
Even when WEEI devotes pretty much all there shows on Mondays during football season ("Patriots Monday"), the callers still get a few Sox calls in there.
When The Pats won the Super Bowl last February, one week later the fans and media started to focus on Spring Training. The only time The Pats made the news between then and the start of Traingin Camp was when they traded for Cory Dillon.
When The Pats win, there are a couple of overturned cars. If The Sox ever win, the commonwealth of Massachusetts will have to apply for federal disaster funds. Anyone that ever wanted a new baseball stadium will get their wish as the place would get destroyed.

Mike Barnicle once said that this is not a baseball town but a Red Sox town. I agree with that statement (especially after seeing those studid people who have awesome seats behind the plate rather call their Mom on a cell phones and say "Look at Me" rather than watch the game), but while Patriots fans on the most part are more focused on all things football, they will never have the passion of The Nation.

It was the best of flicks, it was the worst of flicks

2004-08-15T20:30:00.000-04:00

The weekend was pretty good. Saturday I took the girls to our friends Taz's and Eli's daughter's 6th birthday party. It was a nice time as I got to meet up with Bismo and his boy and T&E's families. They took the kids bowling and then back to the house for BBQ. While I was there I had a nice discussion with Eli's parents about the events depicted in Foul Ball, the wonderful book I just finished, as they live in Pittsfield, MA, the town where the events of the true story of the book take place. I found it great to get a point of view from people that have lived there all there lives and what they saw and heard from a resident's perspective.

When we got home I guess my teen got her second wind as she wanted to go to the movies. As I wanted to see Collateral, I happily obliged. Collateral was amazing. It's the best movie of the summer (Sorry, Spidey!). It has a wonderful story that keeps you guessing, brisk dialog, and well crafted but subtle action sequences. Tom Cruise gave his best performance since "Interview With a Vampire", but Jamie Foxx was the real deal. He has come a long way from being just another comedian. I cannot wait until his first starring role playing Ray Charles in October.

Sunday was very low key on purpose given that we were expected the remainder of Hurricane Charley. Lucky for us it must have gone off to sea south of us. We wouldn't have gotten the kind of damage Florida got, but it wouldn't have been a good day to be outside.

Since I talked my teen out of Alien vs. Predator the night before, I took her and her boyfriend to see it this afternoon. It wasn't quite as bad as I feared, but given what could have been, it was extremely disappointing. It was basically reduced to a Freddy vs. Jason kinda semi-fright fest with alot of the gore obviously edited out to get a PG-13 rating. The most interesting part of the story, how both races got to be on earth, was made as a backstory shown in flashback taking all but 3-4 minutes on screen. But, what made it truly bad was that it didn't even bother to be consistent with what fans of both franchises knew about the Aliens and Predators. As the title of this entry suggests, this was the worst movie of the summer (that I've seen so far...I hope to be able to avoid Anaconda 2 and Baby Geniuses 2).

Gonna be off early to bed to get some needed shuteye. The Gulag awaits....

DVD-TV

2004-08-12T23:53:00.000-04:00

As I'm reminded that the original Star Trek TV series is finally starting to come out in season sets on DVD this month (and pity on the poor sap that bought them 2 episodes at a time for $20 each on DVD or the guy who paid $15 for each episode on VHS....oh, wait that's me), I am amazed on how many TV series are coming out on DVD from Magnum P.I. to The Dukes of Hazzard to even, God help us, reality shows like The Apprentice.

Of course the reason for this is simple. It's a real cheap way for a studio to make money. Lots of it. And everyone has at least one favorite TV show that they wouldn't mind being able to have a collection of, especially in DVD quality video. Hell, there's a web site devoted to these. They make great holiday gifts as they are usually something one wouldn't buy for themselves.

There are alot of shows I wouldn't mind having on DVD to at least show my little one that, in all coolness, is becoming a SF geek like the old man. Of course my wallet doesn't allow me this luxury so I have to pick and choose what I'm gonna buy. For my teen, on the other hand, living at home allows her to spend her disposable income on all 9 seasons of The X-Files and 6 seasons (so far) of Buffy.

The criteria I have for myself on these DVD sets is based on mostly 3 things: Cost, Current Airings and a variable "Nostalgia" factor. For example, I'll buy the ST:TOS sets because, even though they are $100 each, they are not shown that often and when they are they are cut as more commercials are shown today as there were in 1967. Plus the fact that the show was a great influence in my life the "Nostalgia" factor weighs big time here. On the other hand, as much as I wouldn't mind owning the other Trek Series, especially DS9, the number of seasons (7 each), cost ($100+ each) and the fact that TNG and DS9 are shown on Spike TV almost every day and Voyager is on every weekend currently makes it not worth it. Another of my favorite shows are all the "Law and Order" series, but despite the low cost of a season set ($40), they are on all the time just about every night and thus not worth it to me. Same thing goes for some of my other faves like M*A*S*H, The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, and, yes, Magnum P.I.

Shows I like that are not shown often are possibilities for me. "24" is my favorite network series right now and buying that series makes sense as Fox only never repeats episodes and they are only shown on FX once in marathon form months later, so buying a season for $45 is almost a no-brainer.

Other shows that are only on for one or two seasons but achieve huge followings are make great DVD sets because there are not enough episodes to syndicate and play to death on cable, DVD is the only way to see them. These include "Firefly" (yeah, I know, I'll see this show someday....), "Dark Angel", "V" and "Millennium".

So, like everything else, a person's taste and how fat their wallet is determines what a person buys. I'm sure there are thousands of people that shelled out $2100(!!!) for all 7 seasons of TNG, DS9 and VOY. And then there are those who bought only the first season of The Osbornes for $25 and are just as content. But the nice thing about these DVD sets is that there are now so many box sets of whatever show at various prices that they make the perfect present for the really, really hard to buy for.

Now if they only will put out "The Greatest American Hero"...........

The Hey's TV Spotlight

2004-08-11T23:11:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I liked the first show of Rescue Me, the new show starring Denis Leary on FX.

Now, after watching the first 4 episodes, I am totally hooked. It's funny, sad and totally addictive. I feel it's the best show on TV right now by far. I can only hope that FX repeats the show from the beginning so people can catch up (I'll post it here if I here if/when they do that). New episodes start on Wednesdays at 10pm and 11pm and the repeats are on Friday at 11pm, Sundays at 11pm and Mondays at 10pm.

Can't anything be simple in Boston Sports?

2004-08-11T16:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the Lakers had a news conference introducing the newest members of the team, Chucky Atkins, Marcus Banks, Chris Mihm, all of which were a week ago Celtics players. What I found interesting was that the Celtics have not done the same with the players they acquired, Gary Payton or Rick Fox.

The reason is simple: both players, for different reasons, do not know if they are going to accept the trade and simply retire from the NBA. Payton didn't like the trade not because of Boston, but because he was assured by the Lakers that he was going to retire in LA and already planted roots including buying a house and enrolling his kids in school. Fox might retire because of injuries and his still "active" acting career.

This is just example Number 765 (Nomar-gate being Number 764) of fact that nothing is ever simple as far as how things go on a Boston sports team. Either the player leaving ripped apart by fans and media on the way out the door or a player wants to stay in Boston but the team doesn't want him even though they tell the fans they do (re: Roger or Mo, almost any popular Bruins player) or a player doesn't want to play in Boston or when he does come to Boston it's either by certain conditions (re: Curt wants his buddy to manage) or by being overpaid (re: Manny). There are many more reasons than that, but those are some of the most recent examples.

There is an exception to this rule these days: The Patriots. As much as a player or the media tries to make something out of anything, the team just shuts it mouth and moves along like nothing is wrong, at least on the outside. They don't rip a player on his way out of town. They obtain players that are labeled "trouble" by other teams and then never hear a peep from him. When in the off-season Ty Law tried to blast his way out of town talking to any TV, radio or newspaper outlet that would listen saying that he was lied to and is underpaid (at $9 million), the team doesn't respond through the media. Where is this player now? In training camp - wearing the jersey he said he'd never wear again.

How can the Pats do this when the other Boston teams can't? Winning 2 championships helps. The NFL not having guaranteed contracts also helps. But also the reason is that everyone from the owner down to the waterboys are on the same page. Players are coming here for less money than they would get anywhere else. The players have extreme faith and respect in the coach and the team. They know that if they do not perform they do not play. If they need to ship a star player out of town it won't be for a bag of balls (If you are not a star player they'll just release you).

As much as it pains me to say it, The Patriots are using alot of the same philosophy as....sigh....The Yankees. The only difference being that anyone causing trouble will be shipped out for a bag a balls as there is no salary cap. If they are unhappy about playing time, etc., they keep it to themselves not bitch to the media. But most of the time that doesn't happen because the players might respect the owner, but respect the manager no matter how much they make because they know with him, as with the Pats, they know that they have a better than average chance to win it all. And until The Sox get a manager like that, they will always be in second place.