the man...

is crazy! watch the whole video and note the "nutritional" figures at the end...obscene.

not..

this ted...

but this one.

my sister and niece are going to florida for two and a half weeks to see the new baby. wish i could go. the humidity of miami beach is ALWAYS bearable with some sand and ocean ;) i know my sister is extremely excited. she missed the birth because of school; she just finished her first year of dental hygiene school. although i'm aghast at being a great uncle, i'm even more astounded that my eldest sister is a grandmother LOL

i am gonna be SO achy in the morning. for two years, i had been promising to take my niece bowling. you know how you think about doing things but never accomplishing them...

well, i thought i had better do it tonight because she goes back to school not long after they get back. and i'm sure that if i put it off any longer, she might grow out of the 'bowling is cool' stage. after all, how many fifteen year-olds would wanna be seen bowling with their uncles.

ewww.

so i picked her up at about 9:00 and we headed over to the brunswick lanes near iliff and peoria. man, they were BU-USY. their tuesday night league was finishing up as we got there. luckily, we only waited about fifteen minutes for a lane...#38.

as a teenager, i regularly bowled and went from a 108 average to a 170 average by the time i was in my early twenties. unfortunately, by the time i was consistently rolling 500 series, i quit. i think part of that was due to another friend (who was a much better bowler than i) stoppped due to advancing rheumatoid arthritis. if i'm lucky, i bowl every couple years.

it was a lot of fun to put in five games though. it's funny how you lose those 'bowling muscles' though...wrist and shoulder. sturdy legs don't hurt either :) man, professional bowlers can bowl up to 40 games during a tournament. that means swinging back and rolling that 16 lb. baby between 500-700 times over the course of a few days. don't tell me that won't build up some musk-els.

and yes, i do use a 16 lb. ball. i could probably do okay w/ a 14 or 15 pounder, but that extra pound gives me a little more pin action when the momentum carries it down the lane. you see all these guys rolling HUGE curve balls with 10-12 pound balls...but not always picking up spares or getting consecutive strikes. that's because they're not consistent enough and/or the light weight of the ball cuts too clean and doesn't create pin action to smash into the others. trust me, a slightly heavier ball usually produces more pinfall...as if any of you care ;)

awww...

my niece just had her baby today...Marlee Hayes Munoz...6 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches. i was going to post some baby shower pics this week, since she wasn't due for another two weeks. guess that idea has gone out the window ;)

congrats Natalie and Victor! i wish i were going to Florida w/ your mom and sister...

god...i cannot believe i'm a great uncle...in both senses now!

do you know this man?

J does. he's the little brother of a girl who went to high school with us. i remember going to her house and seeing the half-pipe in the back. in fact, i didn't know he was a BMX star until i saw her again five years ago. it was funny because she mentioned that he even had groupies and an action figure. now, THAT'S when you know you've made it ;)

over the weekend, the DewAction Sports Tour stopped in Denver at the Pepsi Center. the competitions i'm sure were filled with oohs/aahs/chills/spills. even an eleven year-old kid finished second in the skateboard park contest. yeah...ELEVEN. he's even got four sponsors! gee. i don't recall any fellow professional athletes when we were in 5th/6th grade.

dense...

made this last night...for the second time since january 2004. last time, we didn't have enough blueberries. this time, we used whole wheat flour...which, although remaining moist, made it extremely dense. see below recipe:


Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread with Cream-Cheese Glaze


2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
Cooking spray

Glaze:
1/4 cup (2 ounces) block-style 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons water

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the banana bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until mixture is well blended (about 1 minute). Add mashed banana, egg substitute, sour cream, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Gently fold in blueberries and lemon rind. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the bread 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove the bread from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over cooled bread.

Yield: 1 loaf, 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 176(24% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.7g,mono 1.1g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 3.2g; CHOLESTEROL 13mg; CALCIUM 19mg; SODIUM 194mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.3g
Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003

well...

we ended up seeing "that". it was better than we expected, considering the dull reviews. perhaps it helped to have barry sonnenfeld as director. after all, he brought us the MenInBlack movies and the AddamsFamily.

i'm a fan of robin williams, it's just that he can be a little over the top...which gets old...fast. in this movie though, he's a bit subdued and does a wonderful job as the overworked father who needs to reconnect with his kids during an ill-fated RV trip.

of course, we did see it for a dollar. heck, even if the movie was worse, we got our money's worth by listening to a kid a few rows back. his cackling was quite amusing. in fact, it probably improved the movie...

hot everywhere...

we're finally leaving the house after staying cooped up and out of the heat.

must...get...to...movie...theater

i think we're going to either see this or that. will let you know which when we get back.

meanwhile...

we're back...

aside from some SUPER asswipe drivers on US 6, we've returned from a trivia outing at the Hooters on 7th & Kipling. they've got NTN and (good and hot) wings. we had a couple beers each to go along w/ a ten piece and an order of onion rings, which were served w/ a 1000 island dressing spiked w/ horseradish (yuk).

we got to watch the end of the world cup finals. glad that italy won but sad that Zidane had to end his world cup career w/ a red card (on a pretty cool foul though ;).

we played three rounds of NTN and finished scored 10,300...8900...and 13,140 (which was the high score of the past seven days at that location). it's always fun to play NTN when you're drinking w/ friends. we (lois, our NM friend (Tony C.) and I ) used to play at the ol' Boiler Room in the early 90's, as the Maya (team name). we'd plow through the peanuts, order WAY too many beers and kick some major ass ;)

funny that we played as Lois J the first two rounds and revived the Maya name for the last round - score was way better! kinda wish he were still in colorado...then again, it's good that he's not because of the money spent on alcohol :)

gonna settle down in front of the TV for a couple hours now. what about you guys?

stay dry...

constant drizzle...

has left me with a bit of cabin fever. if you don't go out...you're staying in. if you do go out...you're staying in.

last night, we went to the cheapies to see this movie:

it was better than i thought it would be. originally, i had boycotted seeing the movie because of meester cruise's outrageous scient-o-bogusy statements. the movie cost $150 million to make and still hasn't recouped that figure at the box office - $132 million as of this week.

anyway, we all know his big mouth hurt the movie's earnings. mebbe even by 25%...who knows.

why, then, did we spend $1.50 each to see it? well, we were out and about around 6:30 and decided to go to our beloved Tiffany Plaza on a whim, since we had no idea what was showing...much less a schedule.

when we got there (at 6:50) we saw that this was showing at 7:00 but decided against it since it just opened there on friday; a bit of boycott was still brewing within. besides, all the other holdouts might be giving in by now. so we got tix to the 7:30 RV instead.

seeing as it was probably another 15-20 minutes before they started seating for the movie, we hung out against the opposite wall of the doors w/ our popcorn. after a couple minutes, i looked up and noticed that M:I:3 was at the adjacent theater (read: the BIG theater ;).

ah...fuck the boycott. we wandered in and found a less than 1/3 full theater and scored seats RIGHT in the middle.

now, the movie's plot development was a little thin due to the crazy action scenes. but hey, sometimes ya gotta let go and get sucked in by the special effects and rampant noise, which btw, was excellent! i couldn't believe the sound system in the theater; the big one at Tiffany has phenomenal acoustics for a cheapie ;)

more rain...might mean more cheapies heh

something...

from Cindi...

Five things in my purse (well, fanny pack in my case ;)
-cell phone
-eyeglass case
-pen
-lip balm
-coupon carrier

Five things in my fridge
-turkey pastrami
-a jar of sushi ginger that totally needs to be thrown out
-lactose-free milk
-yellow bell pepper
-jicama

Five things in my bedroom closet
-assorted t-shirts
-Perquackey (an old word game similar to Word Yahtzee)
-a rice cooker(?!?)...i have NO idea how that got there
-a black, purple, and yellow striped hooded poncho from Tlaxcala, Mexico
-a box for a lamp that i bought last year

Five things in my car
-a squeegee
-a big ol' trunk bag full of car stuff
-a ball pump (for volleyball emergencies)
-my field toolbox
-a sleeping bag

Five things on my patio
-gas grill
-birdbath
-citronella candles
-weeds
-small plush stuffed animals that have been completely eviscerated by the dogs

what occasion...

is related to these items?

leather...crystal...glass

give up? they're traditional gifts for third wedding anniversaries.

why do i bring this up? well, just a bit over three years ago, she brought me into the blog world. does that make her a blog-stetrician?

statistically, this is my 489th posting...which would pan out to about a post every 2.2413087 days.

although i'm not the best updater, i hope that you've enjoyed reading about some things in my life. even after three years, i still feel a little weird about recalling the events of the day, even if it's to a whopping audience of SIX (but very cool) readers. granted, my day usually consists of very little drama and is pretty droll but i find it interesting (even comforting) to know that mebbe i'm not as boring as i think ;)

in those three years, i've kept up on the things that keeps you sane, entertained, or institutionalized. i will admit that it's fascinating to get on the computer and capture a glimpse of other people's lives...no matter how routine it may be. you get the feeling that these people could easily relate to your problems and would offer you emotional support over the waves. in this blog-boat, we commiserate, celebrate, fantasize, chuckle, and secretly wish harm upon others. therapeutic, ain't it?

well, i just wanted to thank you all for making my life that much more amusing. at this time next year, i'll be expecting you all to be laden with linen, silk, or appliances.

on to #490...

well?

anyone going to the fireworks display for the City of Glendale tonight? it's supposed to start at 9PM but they haven't gotten started until 9:30 some years. still, it's a very worthwhile show if you happen to be in the area. of course, i'm probably talking to myself unless people from arvada or northglenn want to fight the traffic...

argh...

i've been bidding on some eBay items lately. unfortunately, i've been outbid on two auctions in the last 5-10 seconds of bidding.

dammit!

what is it with people who do this? granted, i watch items and usually try to bid on them the last day on some that i want to monitor. however, i don't think i've done a last minute bid in years; it would have been for something i truly wanted. i just wanna know if there's a last second program or sumpin' that people use to bid on eBay. i mean, it's not like you're gonna sit there...waiting until the last possible seconds. is your computer calibrated to eBay Standard Time?

sigh

is this too crazy or what?

i'm sure many of you are aware of this story (since it came to light a couple years ago)...but it's just too funny to pass up! LOL

Judge convicted for using penis pump on stand

June 30 2006 at 09:59PM

Bristow, Oklahoma - A US jury has sentenced an Oklahoma judge to one year in prison for using a penis pump on the bench during three murder trials and a civil case in 2002 and 2003.

Donald D Thompson, 59, was convicted on Thursday and fined $10000 for each count. Thompson told the jury he would also lose his $90000-a-year pension.

The verdict, which exposed the judge's behind-the-bench secrets, capped a bizarre and awkward chapter in the state's judicial history.

Thompson's longtime court reporter, Lisa Foster, wept on the stand as she recalled how she discovered the source of a "sh-sh" sound in the courtroom. She said she spied Thompson's penis inside the pump through a small gap between a drawer and a door.

'I should have thrown it away, but I didn't'
Foster said she later saw Thompson's penis 15 to 20 times over the course of three years. She also saw him shave his scrotum and urinate into a trashcan behind the bench.

"I was really shocked and kind of scared, because it was so bizarre," Foster said. "I didn't know what to do."

The defence maintained that the charges were part of a vendetta by local police to overthrow Thompson.

The judge denied ever using the pump - a device used in the hope of enlarging the penis or combating erectile dysfunction - saying it was a joke gift from his best friend in 2001.

He said he moved the pump back and forth between his bench and chambers but never used it on his penis.

"Twenty-twenty hindsight: I should have thrown it away, but I didn't," Thompson said.

The white-handled pump sat on an evidence table in front of the jury throughout the trial, and both the prosecution and defense at times picked it up and squeezed the handle for effect.

Jurors also heard court reporter's tapes from each trial, and a rhythmic, high-pitched whoosh of air punctuated emotional witness testimony in the murder trials.

Testimony in the judge's trial drew giggles and embarrassed glances from jurors and the gallery in this conservative Oklahoma hamlet, 60 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

Several witnesses said Thompson often made himself at home behind the bench, removing his shoes to shine them and clip his toenails, spitting tobacco into a cup and fidgeting with an electronic organizer.

I SHOULD HAVE THROWN IT AWAY, BUT I DIDN'T. what the hell, I'll just use it at work! OMG

because...

i'm such a whore for latin america:

You Should Visit Argentina

Cowboys, European food, beaches, and skiing. This country is like no other! Learn to tango, hike across Patagonia, eat at fine restaurants... you'll never be bored.

What Latin American Country Should You Visit?

at first, it recommended that i visit costa rica...which i did in 1992. i was curious about the results if i changed a couple answers. so i ended up with Argentina. that's cool. ever since our friends moved there last year, we've been talking about it. mebbe next year...