The Best of 2011

Here we are at the end of 2011, so I thought I'd list off some of the best things that happened in 2011.

Best Movie of 2011 - "Super 8", by a hair over "Thor".  "Super 8" is just a classically great movie.  Everybody I've talked to has liked it, but I only talk to people with like opinions because I can't handle conflict.

Best New Recipe of 2011 - This was a close one, but in the end, I have to pick my BBQ Chicken recipe.  It was so good...so very good.

Best Sporting Moment of 2011 - I'll have to give this one to my South Dakota State Jackrabbits Men's Basketball team, upsetting the University of Washington a few weeks back.  It was a big win for the Jackrabbits, and in blow out fashion.

Best Family Sporting Moment of 2011 - This one goes to my 11 year old, who had his first bowling game over 100 earlier this year. 

Best Individual Sporting Moment of 2011 - This may not count as individual, but it would have to be my golf trip with my friend Stanton to Cragun's Resort in Brainerd, MN.  Such a fun trip.

Best Blog of 2011 - Nuke's Retro Movie Review was top notch.  He had me going until I got to "Highlander 2".

Best Purchase of 2011 - This would have to be my new smoker.  I've had so much fun smoking various meat products.  There's just something manly about smoked meat.

Best Tebow Moment of 2011 - The comeback win over the Bears was insane...INSANE!!!

Best Faith Growing Experience - The 15th Annual Catholic Men's Conference was an awesome day.  This is always one of the best days of the year. 

Best New TV Show of 2011 - "Person of Interest" on CBS is the best...the best I tell you!  Of course, it has Jim Caviezel in it, so how can it not be great?  Caviezel is like Denzel, everything he touches turns awesome.

Best New Cartoon of 2011 - This would have to be "Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness".  I love "Kung Fu Panda".

Best "Phineas and Ferb" Episode of 2011 - "My Fair Goalie" may be my favorite Phineas and Ferb episode of all time.  It's available on Netflix Instant Watch if you want to see it.  Not only do we learn about the Emu Curse, but we also get to listen to "Nostrils on the Bus".

Best Book of 2011 - It's tough for me because I read 2 Rick Riordan books this year, but I'm gonna give this one to Inheritance, which is the final book in the Eragon series started so long ago.  This was Paolini's best written book of the series and captured me the way Eragon captured me.

Best Golf Shot of 2011 - This would be the drive I hit on #4 at my club on an unseasonably warm day in October while playing golf with my friend Joe.  I drove the green on the 288 yard hole, sticking the ball about 6 feet from the hole, then I made the eagle putt.

Best Trip of 2011 - I'll go with our family trip to Madison, WI.  We stayed at a hotel with a water park, had a positive zoo experience and ate some good BBQ.

Best Work Trip of 2011 - Though I went to Brazil twice this year, and Maryland and South Dakota for work, my best trip was Germany, way back in January. 

Best Gift of 2011 - I got a new Food Processor for Christmas.  I love to process food!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie of 2011 - This would be the cookie I had yesterday at the Prairie Soup Company.  It may be the best Chocolate Chip Cookie ever!!!

Best Dip of 2011 - We had a dip day at work.  This is a day when everybody brings a dip (salsa, cheese, etc.) in and then we vote for the best dip.  The winning dip was a desert dip that was like a pumpkin gingerbread dip...it was so yummy.

Best Commercial of 2011 - The Jonah Hill Modern Warfare 3 commercial cracks me up every time I see it.

Lazy Day Movie Reviews

Yesterday afternoon/evening was a lazy day for me.  The family was in South Dakota, so I was batchin' it.  So, other than making Buffalo Wings, I decided to just chill out and watch movies.  I watched 3 yesterday.

"The Captains:  A Film By William Shatner":  Nuke already rated this one, and I agree with his rating of 3 stars.  I had virtually no expectations of this Shatner directed film.  Basically, Shatner goes around and talks to each of the Star Trek Captains about being a Star Trek Captain, including Chris Pine (though he doesn't talk to Pine very much).  It's a little weird, but once you realize that this is Shatner's attempt to justify the fact that he will forever be known as Captain James T. Kirk and justify his place in Star Trek history, it's sort of a fun ride.

A couple other observations from this.  Avery Brooks, who played Capt. Benjamin Sisko is a weird dude.  Patrick Stewart and Scott Bakula are the most down to earth of these actors, and both seem the most comfortable in their own skin.  Finally, for being 80 years old, Shatner isn't doing too bad.

"Memphis Belle":  How is it possible that I had never seen "Memphis Belle"?  That was the question I was left asking myself after watching this 4 star movie for the first time yesterday. 

Made in 1990, this film is loosely based on the actual Memphis Belle, a B-17 that flew during WWII that is believed to be the first bomber to successfully complete 25 missions.  The movie focuses on the crew of the Memphis Belle as they prepare for, then execute their final mission.  The story weaves between the battle and the relationships of the crew members, who don't all get along, but somehow band together when most needed to complete the mission.

If you like WWII movies, this one will be right up your alley.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Narnia:  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader":  The 3rd movie in "The Chronicles of Narnia" franchise is, like it's predecessors, much more action packed than the book.  In this installment, we find Edmund and Lucy Pevensie back in Narnia with their cousin Eustace, aboard the Dawn Treader on a mission to find the 7 lost lords of Narnia.  Again, they are aiding Caspian, who is still King of Narnia.

I actually liked this movie better than "Prince Caspian" because I got really tired of the bickering between Peter and Caspian in the last movie.  They did attempt to have a little conflict between Edmund and Caspian, but it was not to the extent or annoying level of the 2nd film.  Still, neither movie has captured the excitement or epic nature of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."

I gave this one 4 stars.  If you are a fan of the Narnia movies, I think you'll like "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Buffalo Wings...at home!

Like a beacon of hope in the darkness, today when I checked my e-mail, I had a weekly update from allrecipes, and included in the food offerings was a recipe for Buffalo Wings.  I could pretty much live off Buffalo Wings and BBQ if it was healthy to do so.  Sadly, it's not, even if you eat celery with your wings.

As an aside, one of my pet peeves on recipe websites are when people give a recipe a 5 star rating, then you read their review and they changed just about everything about the recipe.  I'm fine with minor tweaks, but check this one out from the Buffalo Wing Recipe I used (note, I left the typos and spelling errors):

"This recipe is pretty basic with most wing cooks. I on the other hand jazz them up with the Frank's hot sauce, or you can use your favorite. Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon juice and garlic. If you want to mello the flavor, add a half a stick of butter. Heat all those ingredients up togetherand pour over the wings when they come out of the peanut oil. If you really want to have what I call "rip your lips off hot" add a small amount of chilli powder and or cayanne to that mix. Now your talkin' cookin' HOTWINGS, "GMAN" style"

Seriously!  Just post your own recipe...geez!  And really, if you are going to claim that your cooking is good enough to be called GMAN style, then learn how to spell CAYENNE and CHILI correctly!

Ok, glad I got that off my chest...now back to the topic at hand.  I made this recipe for wings tonight.  I did have to tweak it because I didn't want to deep fry the wings in a gallon of peanut oil.  And really, who wants to buy a gallon of peanut oil?  So I "pan fried" them.  Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
Enough peanut oil to fill an electric skillet or cast iron skillet to 1/4" depth of oil
25 wings
1/3 cup unsalted melted butter
1/2 cup Frank's RedHot
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat the oil to 375 degrees (I used my electric skillet for this).
2. Prep the wings by rinsing with cold water.  Pat the wings dry and gently add them, 1 at a time, to the oil.  Cook for 10 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for another 10 minutes.  This should get it done, but you can check with a meat thermometer.  The wings should be at 180 degrees.
3. Add the melted butter, Frank's RedHot, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper and Red Pepper Flakes to a bowl and mix until combined. 
4. Add the cooked wings to the sauce and toss to coat.
5. Serve with celery, carrots, blue cheese, ranch, or whatever else floats your boat.

This turned out to be a really good wing (see picture above of the actual wings I prepared tonight).  It's not what I understand the flavor of a "traditional" Buffalo Wing to be, but I've never actually eaten a Buffalo Wing in Buffalo, NY, so perhaps I don't know what the true flavor is.  That said, I really liked these wings and I will make them again.  They have plenty of heat (my lips were burning when I finished, but it's a good burn), but the garlic powder adds a nice twist.  Think "traditional wing" with a garlic/pepper kick and that will get you close.  I am so excited that it is possible to make really good wings at home, without a deep fryer!

If I was making these for a large group, I'd probably make multiple batches to tweak the spiciness.  For a more mild wing, I would think leaving out some of the black pepper of all of the red pepper would do the trick.  For a hotter wing, more red pepper would git 'r done.  Try these out as Super Bowl Sunday approaches!

Overdue Movie Reviews

Again, I'm not watching many movies, but I have watched 2 worth rating recently. 

"Cars 2":  Those who know me know that my favorite Pixar style animated movie is "Cars".  My kids got "Cars 2" for Christmas so I finally got to watch it.  While it's not as good as the original, and wouldn't make my top 5 list, it's still a really good movie. 

In this sequel, Lightning McQueen is off to race against the best racers in the world in the World Grand Prix.  But, that's not the real story here.  The real story is that Mater, who finally gets to come along to a race, gets mistaken for a secret agent and drawn into a James Bond style action movie.  Along the way, Lightning has to learn the value of a friend, and that he has to accept Mater as he is.

Like I said, really good movie.  I give it 4 stars.

"Season of the Witch":  The best thing I can say about this Nicholas Cage flick is that it's not terrible.  In fact, if you go into this one with really low expectations, you might actually enjoy it.  I had almost no expectations, and found that it was a bearable 94 minutes of movie watching.

Nothing really stands out in this movie, good or bad.  Basically, if you're really bored, you might enjoy this movie.  Otherwise, stay away.

Merry Christmas 2012!

We just finished our Christmas Eve Chili and playing some Christmas Carols on our respective musical instruments.  Chili has become a Christmas Eve trend at our house, and with David playing trombone now, we should make a tradition of music on Christmas Eve.

We also went to Mass tonight.  I was astonished at the number of people at Mass...if that many people showed up every week, we'd have to build a gigantic church.  While the Christmas Mass is always a great experience, it always makes me a little sad at the number of people who only show up at a church on Christmas and Easter.  But, at least they were there tonight, and I pray that some of them who wouldn't normally attend, think about coming back next week.

Finally, I would like to wish all my family, friends and loyal readers a very Merry Christmas.  I hope that you are with loved ones this holiday season.  And, remember the real reason we celebrate.  It has nothing to do with a tubby guy in a red suit and everything to do with a little baby, born over 2000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Reaction: Patriots vs. Broncos

Since it seems that any moron with a blog can get his opinion out there about how Tim Tebow fared today against the New England Patriots, I thought, "hey, I'm a moron with a blog, I can get my opinion out there."  So here it goes.

Many "Tebow-haters" will claim that today's 41-23 loss at the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots is proof that Tim Tebow will never be a big time NFL quarterback.  Those who love Tim Tebow will point to the fact that he is looking more comfortable as a passer, and that he is really the best player on the Broncos offense.

At this point, I agree with those who love Tim Tebow.  He is the best offensive player on a fairly weak offensive team.  Willis McGahee, the team's best running back is always injured.  The team's top 2 receivers would probably be the #2 or #3 receivers on other teams, and the Broncos do not have a tight end who can catch the ball with any regularity.  So, considering all that, going 11-22 for 194 yards and rushing 12 times for 93 yards and 2 TDs is a pretty good game for Tim Tebow.

But it's not all roses.  Tebow had a costly fumble in the 2nd quarter that led to a Patriots touchdown, and he took a couple of really bad sacks in the 2nd half.  Considering, however, that Tebow now has 12 NFL starts, and is 8-4 in those 12 starts, I think he's got a bright future in this league.

Look, Tebow is the face of the franchise.  Thus, he gets too much credit when the Broncos win and too much blame when the Broncos lose.  I still don't know if he is the long term answer at Quarterback, but I think that he's done enough this season that the team can address other need areas in the offseason.  If we're still not convinced that Tebow is the answer at QB after next season, they can draft a Quarterback. 

At 8-6, the Broncos are still in 1st place in the AFC West.  If they win their last 2 games, they will win the AFC West and host a playoff game.  As such, they won't have a very high draft pick.  Today's game against the Patriots showed me that the team is still very thin across the board, especially in the defensive secondary. 

In my opinion, the teams needs are (in order of priority):

1 - Secondary - they gotta get younger and healthier in the secondary.
2 - Running Back - Coach John Fox wants a run heavy attack.  They need to build depth at running back, because right now they are too dependent on Willis McGahee's health.
3 - Receiving - The team needs a pass catching tight end and more depth at Wide Receiver.  Demaryius Thomas may be the #1 receiver, but he's been injury prone, so depth will help.
4 - Defensive Line - The Broncos are really strong on the outside of the D-line and at Linebacker, but they need more interior pressure.  They really gotta find a big fat guy to plug the middle.
5 - Backup QB - I'm sold on Tim Tebow as the starting quarterback, but you gotta find someone who can fill in for him if he gets injured, and he needs to have a similar style to Tebow.
6 - Offensive Line - the unit is young and has been really healthy all season, but more depth is always good.

So there you go.  Tim Tebow is not the main problem on this team, and I hope cooler heads will prevail after this loss and see that this is a young team that still has a lot of growing to do.  Did Tebow have a great game today, no?  But, he did show improvement as a passer today and was the best offensive weapon for the Broncos.  As a Broncos fan, I'm encouraged, despite the loss.

Questions We Don't have Answers To

There are many vexing questions out there.  Here are just a few:

-How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?

-If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

-Why couldn't Bill Clinton ever tell the truth?

-What did we talk about before Tim Tebow?

-Who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop, who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dop?

That's all I got...as you can tell, I'm struggling for blog topics right now. 

Top 5 Movies Starring Leading Actors Who are Otherwise Awful

Anybody who has read this blog knows that I have a few actors that drive me crazy.  Chief among them is Nicholas Cage, who can make some of the best movies, but then makes a bunch of duds.  And, generally, Cage is really bad except for a few specific roles.  Other actors in this category include Brendan Frazier, Keanu Reeves and Mark Wahlberg.  Nuke would put Ed Harris in this category too I think.

Since I do not have any Mark Wahlberg movies in this list, I suggest you go watch the SNL Skit:  Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals.  I've seen it several times and it's always funny.

Brendan Frazier doesn't make the list below, and is frankly the worst actor of the bunch listed above.  His only passable movies are The Mummy movies, and that's only because there is some really good CG monster action.

Anyway, here are the top 5 movies starring some of these otherwise awful actors:

5 - National Treasure 2:  The first Nicholas Cage movie in this list.  He doesn't carry the movie, but he doesn't ruin it either.  Really, this movie is just a lot of fun and Cage doesn't wreck the funness.

4 - Constantine:  This movie is so underrated.  It's actually really good, and this movie has the best type of roll for Keanu Reeves...one where he is not required to talk to much and participates in a lot of cool action scenes. 

3 - Sorcerer's Apprentice:  Another Nicholas Cage movie.  As with #5 on our list, Cage is not required to carry this movie, Jay Baruchel does that as the title character.  But, Cage has his moments in this recent movie that was my favorite movie of last year.

2 - The Rock:  This movie is why Nicholas Cage confounds me so much, and why he has been one of main subjects of another top 5 list already.  In The Rock, I think Cage really carries the movie, and it's a really good movie.  Of course, having Sean Connery never hurts, but I still think Cage carried it.

1 - The Matrix:  The best possible role for Keanu Reeves.  Spend the entire movie looking bewildered, not saying much, and participating in a lot of fight scenes.  The first of the Matrix Trilogy is the best, in my opinion, and Keanu Reeves doesn't destroy this movie, in fact, he actually works well in the role of Neo.

Golden!!!

I now have Gold Status on American Airlines (Yes, that's the airline that just filed for bankruptcy protection!  Don't ruin this for me!).  In fact, I just got my "Gold Card" in the mail.  This little card entitles me to many perks, including bonus miles, so I will get richer in terms of miles...yes, the rich get richer.  I wonder how liberals feel about airline mileage programs.

It's weird, but getting the gold card in the mail actually made me feel good!  I didn't do anything to earn these miles.  All of them were earned while flying for work.  In fact, while I was earning these miles, I got to sit and watch movies, eat good food, and sleep.  Essentially, I was a lazy bum and I got rewarded for it.  Now I'm wondering what conservatives think about airline mileage programs.

All I know for sure is that I'm Gold for the next 14 months.  I'll probably have a few more trips to Brazil in my future.  I'm thinking Platinum comes after Gold, and I'm sure that will be even better.   

Top 5 Movie Themes

To be a great movie theme, you have to know the movie when you hear the song.  There are lots of these great theme songs out there, but which are the top 5?  Well, I have a top 5 of my own, and I bet some of these hit your top 5.   Note that I've provided links to all my favorites.  Also be aware that I didn't watch all of these to the end, but I went far enough in with each to be convinced I had the song.

5 - Indiana Jones Theme - You will see a "theme" of John Williams in this list.  The man knows how to compose memorable, orchestral, theme songs.  When the theme hit at "Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", I got goose bumps.  Sadly, the movie didn't live up to the theme song in that case. 

4 - Jurassic Park Theme - John Williams again!  What did I say...the man knows how to write movie theme songs.  I liked the Jurassic Park theme song so much that I bought the piano sheet music to learn how to play it.  Frankly, it sounds better with a whole orchestra, but it's still fun.  The theme song was the only reason to watch Jurassic Park 2 and 3.

3 - Forrest Gump Feather Song - Another one that I've been working to learn on the piano for a long time.  And, our first non John Williams song...this time it's Alan Silvestri.  I just love this song...I especially love the piano music.  And, it leads us into a fantastic movie.

2 - Rocky Theme Song - While there didn't need to be 6 movies (though I liked them all except #5), you automatically know it's Rocky when you hear this classic song by Bill Conti, with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins.  You hear this song and you picture Rocky running up the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

1 - Superman Theme Song - Though not my favorite super hero, this movie has the best opening theme of all time.  Every time I hear it, I get goose bumps, and that's what good songs do.  This is John Williams at his absolute best.  When we get the Superman reboot in 2013, I really hope they don't reboot the opening theme.  Best movie song EVER!!!!!!.

The Best Bowling Game of the Week

Today, in my Tuesday noon bowling league, I rolled games of 258-219, which are very good games for me.  We only bowl 2 games.  Up until I got my new bowling ball, I had gone a long time without a game in the 250s, but I've had 4 games of 256 or higher since I bought my ball.  Note that I've only rolled about 30 games with the new ball.

But, that wasn't the best game of the day.  A guy bowling on the pair of lanes next to my team rolled a 296 the first game.  That's 11 in a row to start out, followed by 6 on the last ball.  I still have never seen a 300 game...and I've been bowling regularly since I was 12.  The 296 was great, but it wasn't the best game I've seen this week.

So you're probably thinking, what's the best game you've seen this week Jake?  Well, I'll tell you...it's the 124 that my son, David, bowled in his junior league on Saturday.  Up until David joined this league, he hadn't bowled 10 games in his whole life.  But he's really taken to bowling, and he's really listened well to his old dad giving him advice (maybe too much advice), and even more importantly, he's listened to his coach at bowling league who does a great job.

Before Saturday, David had bowled a 99 and a 96, but other than that, most of his "high" games were in the 70s.  David has made steady improvement all year, so I figured a 100 game was coming, but I didn't expect it so quickly, or so easily.  He started off the game with a strike (a rarity), then he doubled (2 strikes in a row) in the 3rd and 4th frames, and he got a patch for that.  Bowlers love their patches.  He surpassed 100 in the 8th frame.  And then, for good measure, he picked up a spare in the 10th frame and pushed his score over 120.

David was so proud of himself, and I was really, really proud of him.  David isn't a big "sports" kid, but it looks like we've found one sport we both like and can do together.  I just have to watch myself and make sure I don't become "that dad".  You know, the dad who is overbearing and ruins the sport for his kid.  I don't want to be that dad.  I do want to be the dad who gets to watch his kid have fun and do well at something though...I like being that dad. 

Hickory Smoked Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal readers out there.  I appreciate all 6 of you.  :-)  This year, in addition to my family, my job and my health, I'm thankful for my smoker...and I got to put it to use again today.

It is just the 4 of us for Thanksgiving this year.  With temperatures being in the 60s, I decided to smoke a turkey breast for our thanksgiving turkey.  Along with mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie, it's been a really great Turkey Day.

So, for those of you who have a smoker, here's what I did to smoke a turkey breast, which turned out to be one of the best tasting turkeys I've ever eaten. 

I bought a 6 lb turkey breast, which is just about right in terms of leftovers for sandwiches.  Last night, I made the following brine, which I found at my favorite smoker cooking website.  Smoker-cooking.com has all the tips and techniques needed to make great smoked food.  I used the techniques found on that website for the last 2 smoked meals I've made, and both have been great.

Here's the brine;

Ingredients:

1 gallon 1 cup 1/4 cup 1 Tbs 1 Tbs 1 Tbs 1/2 Tbs 1/2 Tbs 1/2 Tsp 1/2 Tsp 1/2 Tsp

water Morton kosher salt white sugar onion powder garlic powder paprika white pepper powdered ginger mustard powder powdered sage nutmeg

I boiled the water, then added the sugar and salt.  Once the sugar and salt was dissolved, I added the remaining ingredients.  After the brine had cooled to room temperature, I put the turkey breast in and refrigerated for 9 hours.

After 9 hours, I removed the turkey from the brine and washed the brine off.  I then let the turkey "rest" in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Next, I dusted the cavity of the turkey with the following rub (dry ingredients only).

1/8 cup 1 Tbs 1/2 Tbs  1 Tsp 1 Tsp 1 Tsp 1/2 Tsp 1/4 Tsp

vegetable oil onion powder paprika garlic powder kosher salt white pepper powdered ginger powdered sage

After dusting the cavity, I added the vegetable oil and put the wet rub all over the outside of the turkey.

Now, on to the smoker.  Again, I only had hickory wood, but I like hickory flavor, so no big deal there.  I got the smoker to 250ish degrees and held it there.  I cooked the turkey at that temperature for a little over 5 hours (gotta get that white meat to 160-165).  I added 2 handfuls of hickory chips every hour for the first 3 hours (the chips had been soaked in water since last night).  I also basted with butter 3 times over the 5 hours.

After 5 hours, I pulled the turkey breast off the smoker and wrapped it in foil for 20 minutes to let the juices settle throughout the meat.  I then carved and served. 

The turkey was really moist and very flavorful.  I liked it better than the Alton Brown Roast Turkey I made at Christmas last year, but my wife said that while this one was really good, she liked the Alton Brown Roast Turkey better.  So, I guess I have 2 turkey recipes to roll with in the future.

What I'm Watching

There are actually 4 new shows out this fall that I'm finding interesting, in addition to my usual stalwarts of "Castle" and "Psych".  "Psych" is still great, and "Castle" is holding it's own so far.  Curse my DVR for making me capable of keeping up on 6 series...now you know why the movie reviews and book reviews have slowed way down.

Here are the new shows I'm tracking:

"Terra Nova" - this new Monday night show on Fox focuses on mankind in the year 2149, and then 85 million years in the past.  In 2149, mankind has so destroyed the environment, that the earth is nearly unlivable.  But, a doorway to the past of a parallel universe has been discovered, and certain people get to go back and start over again.  One such family is the Shannon family.  I think this is going to sorta be like "Lost" but with dinosaurs.  Probably the most likely of this list to be removed from my DVR, but for right now, I'm sticking it out.

"Person of Interest" - this one is on CBS on Thursday night.  Starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, this show is just great.  Emerson plays a billionaire who created a machine that is designed to spy on us and find probable acts of terrorism.  But, it finds everything, including normal crimes, which the government ignores.  Emerson programmed "the machine" to spit out a number to him every night, and he uses that number to find a person who needs help.  But, to help these people, he needs help, and that is where Caviezel comes in.  Caviezel plays an ex-spy gone underground who is looking for redemption.  This one is great...but then, anything with Jim Caviezel is great.

"Grimm" - I've got 3 of the 4 major networks covered with this one.  NBC has this show on Friday Night, which is a bad night for a show.  But, this is a really good show.  The main character is a Portland police detective who learns that he is descended from the Brothers Grimm, and it's his family's job to combat the things that go bump in the night.  There's only been 3 or 4 episodes so far, but they've been really good.  This show remindes me of the early days of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  Lots of potential here, if it can survive the Friday night curse.

"Once Upon a Time" - Now I've got all 4 major networks covered.  "Once Upon a Time" is ABC's foray into the world of fairy tales.  In this show, all our well know fairy tale heroes and villains have been transported to Maine by a dark spell cast by the evil queen from Snow White.  These people are all miserable, and they don't remember who they are.  But, our heroine Emma shows up and things start to turn around in Storybrooke Maine.  A little bit more of a girly show than "Grimm" but really good as well, and enough action to keep me interested. 

I hope all 4 of these shows survive, and I hope that you can give them a shot now that we are nearing rerun season.  I would put them in this order if you have to choose:

1 - "Person of Interest"
2 - "Grimm"
3 - "Once Upon a Time"
4 - "Terra Nova"

And of course, don't miss out on "Psych" and "Castle".

Tebow Time!

So, five and a half games ago, the Denver Broncos made a change at starting Quarterback from Kyle Orton to former Florida Gators star and all around good guy, Tim Tebow.  For those who don't know, Tebow won the Heisman trophy as a sophmore at Florida and was also part of 2 National Championship teams.  Tebow is regarded by many as the Greatest College Football player ever.

Tebow is also a devout Christian.  His parents are Christian Missionaries to the Phillipines, and they homeschooled Tim.  In fact, while pregnant with Tim, doctors recommended that Tim's mom have an abortion due to the fact that they were expecting Tim to be still born.  Tim's mom refused to have the abortion and Tim was born alive and well.

In the 2010 NFL draft, then Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, traded up into the first round to select Tebow, much to the chagrin of the so called football experts.  The experts said Tebow's skills wouldn't translate to the NFL...his throwing motion is too long, he's not accurate enough, he runs too much and he's going to get hurt.  But, McDaniels took a chance because he liked Tebow's intangibles...his leadership skills, will to win and eagerness to work harder than just about anyone.

Well, late in the 2010 season, the Broncos were mired in a 3-10 season and they fired McDaniels.  At the time, Broncos fans were clamoring to see Tebow, so the Broncos threw them a bone and started Tebow the last 3 games of the 2010 season.  Tebow went 1-2 during those starts and showed potential.  Broncos fans believed Tebow was destined to be the QB for the 2011 season.

Then the NFL strike happened and Tebow missed the entire offseason of work with the new coaching staff and his receivers.  When the season started, Kyle Orton was installed as the starting QB because he was better in a "traditional" NFL offense.  Four and a half games into this season, the Broncos were 1-3 and getting spanked by the San Diego Chargers.  The Broncos switched to Tebow at QB and he nearly led them to a victory over the Chargers.  Tebow was named the starter, and won his opener against Miami, leading an improbable comeback from 15 points down in the final 5 minutes to tie the game, and then win it in overtime.  A week later the Broncos and Tebow got embarassed by the Detroit Lions.

At this point, the coaching staff made a change in the offensive philosophy of the team.  They abandoned the "traditional" NFL offense and started running a more "college" style offense that Tebow excels in.  The outcome of this change is a 3 game winning streak to get back to 5-5 and the Broncos are officially in the playoff hunt.  Tebow hasn't been great, but he's been good when needed, like last night against the Jets.  Tebow and the offense had been stymied all night, but with 5 minutes left and 95 yards to go, Tebow led the team down the field and ran the final 20 yards to score the go ahead touchdown, leading the Broncos to a 17-13 win.

Tebow's critics, and there are many, say emphatically, that he will never be a successful QB in the NFL.  They are saying the same things that they said about him when he came out of college.  His throwing motion is too long, his passes are too inaccurate, and he's going to get hurt running the ball so much.  And, to some degree they are right, he does have his flaws as a QB.  But there's another side to Tebow.  His teammates want to play better when he's in there.  Since he's been the starting QB, the offensive line as improved, and the defense has really stepped up their play.  I believe it's because they know that if they can just keep the game close, Tebow will find a way to win it at the end.

I don't know why so many people are critical of Tim Tebow.  His story is remarkable, and he's a genuinely good person by all accounts.  Everyone who know his says it's impossible not to like and root for him.  I know some people are turned off by the fact that he's out in the open about his faith in Jesus Christ.  I believe old school football guys don't want to admit that a guy can play the game the way Tebow plays it and be successful.  Whatever the reason so many people dislike Tebow, I for one don't think they should count him out.  Tim Tebow is a guy who has proven his doubters wrong every time. 

And frankly, how can you go against a guy that has the Bible as his playbook?  I couldn't resist throwing that one in there.  I don't think I've ever rooted as hard for a player to do well as I am rooting for Tim Tebow to do well.  I know that I've never seriously prayed for an NFL football player, but I do pray for Tim Tebow.  I think he's a young man who has been given great gifts and now he has a forum to do a lot of great things with those gifts...great things that go beyond the football field.  He's already building a hospital in the Phillipines.  Selfishly, I want to see him succeed as an NFL QB because I want the Broncos to win another Super Bowl.  But most importantly, I want Tim Tebow to be successful so I can use him as an example for my kids of what faith and hard work can lead to.  My 8 year old already thinks Tim Tebow is great and I want to see that continue.

So here's hoping Tim Tebow and the Broncos continue this run for the foreseeable future, and here's hoping the Denver Broncos leadership has the foresight and vision to continue to support Tim Tebow.

Finger Lickin' Good BBQ Chicken

My second foray into smoking meat products came yesterday when I smoked some chicken legs and thighs.  I did 10 legs and 8 thighs, which was just about the maximum amount of food I could fit in my little smoker. 

To make this chicken, I did extensive research to determine the best cooking methods.  I went to roughly 8 websites before deciding on a cooking method.  Giving credit where credit is due, I found the brine and rub recipe at www.smoker-cooking.com, but I'll duplicate it here for 1 stop shopping. 

First I made the following brine...combine 1 gallon of boiling water with 3/4 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons Paprika and 1 tablespoon ground black pepper.  Ensure the salt and sugar is dissolved before adding paprika and pepper.  This is enough for roughly 3-4 lbs. of chicken.  I made 2 batches of the brine.

For separated thighs and legs, they only need to brine for about 90 minutes, so after chilling the brine, add your chicken for 90 minutes or so.  There are suggestions online for brine times, so just dig around...you can find everything for cooking online.  I brined my chicken for 90 minutes.

After brining, I rinsed the chicken and dusted with the following rub:

2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon powdered cayenne pepper

While I was preparing all this, I was also preheating my smoker.  I got it to 240ish degrees Fahrenheit.  I loaded the chicken, and then added 2ish handfuls of hickory chips to the coals for the smoke.  The hickory chips had been soaked in water for 4-5 hours.  After about 45 minutes or so, I added another 2ish handfuls of hickory chips.  Total time on the smoker was 1 hour and 20 minutes, which got the chicken to 140 degrees.

Then, because we were hungry, I moved the chicken to my gas grill to finish.  I had the gas grill set to 350 or so, and I let the chicken go for another 30-40 minutes.  I was having difficulty with my meat thermometer, so I may have gotten the chicken past 180 degrees, but dark meat is flexible, so it was still juicy.  For the last 15 minutes on the grill, I was brushing with my homemade sauce, which let the sauce caramelize nicely.

I served the chicken with extra sauce for those who wanted more.  The chicken was moist and delicious.  The hickory smoke added just the right amount of flavor, the rub and the sauce came together nicely, and finishing on the grill was a good move as it allowed the outside of the chicken to crisp, while still keeping the inside moist.  I served 4 adults and 6 kids, and there was nothing left over.  I cannot wait to make this again...it was a lot of work, but very worth it.

Business Class Movie Reviews

Ok, so as I believe I've said before, when I travel internationally for work, I get to ride in business class.  One of the nice perks of my company.  And, when flying business class, there is an opportunity to watch movies.

On this trip, I watched 3 movies, "Super 8" which I've reviewed before, and really liked the 2nd time, "Green Lantern" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon".  Neither was a standout movie, but neither was terrible either.

"Green Lantern":  Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, who becomes the Green Lantern after he is chosen by his ring.  Apparently when another Green Lantern dies, the ring chooses the next Green Lantern.  Jordan is a test pilot and a sort of afraid of commitment "ladies man".  When chosen to be the Green Lantern of Earth's sector of space, Jordan is intrigued, but in the end he has to decide if he's ready to be responsible and do the right things in his life.

"Green Lantern" is not a bad movie, but it's just not great either.  I found it sorta disjointed in terms of the plot.  One other problem I have with this movie, and with movies like "Iron Man" is that my kids can't watch them.  Like Tony Stark, Hal Jordan is portrayed as a "play boy" and acts inappropriately in some situations.  Why can't more super hero movies be like "Thor" and "Captain America" where I really have no qualms with letting a 10 year old kid watch them?

I really like the Green Lantern as a hero, so I had high hopes for this movie.  Sadly, it fell short.  This one gets a 3 star rating.

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon":  The third, and hopefully final, installment of the Transformers movie franchise takes yet another plot turn in the series to introduce more robots to us.  Much like the cartoon, every time a new robot is needed, another plot twist happens, whether it makes sense or not, to introduce that robot. 

This time we meet Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy).  Sentinel is Optimus' predecessor as leader of the Autobots, but he's gone rogue and made a deal with Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving...Hugo's a busy dude).  Aided by their favorite human, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Optimus and the Autobots have to stop the Deceptecons from enslaving the entire human race.

Despite some really good robot fights, "Dark of the Moon" falls short of the original "Transformers" movie, much like "Revenge of the Fallen".  The attempts at comic relief by Sam's parents and Agent Simmons (John Turturro) mostly fail and just end up annoying.  Nearly as annoying is the subplot of Sam trying to find a job and "matter again".  In addition to all that, the plot is weak, very weak.  But, cool robot fights have to count for something.  Thus, this movie gets 3 stars as well.

Oh, and listen for Sentinel Prime repeating the famous words spoken by Kirk and Spok near the end of "Wrath of Khan"..."The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

The First Avenger

I'm off to travel the world again this week.  I'll be in a whole other country until Friday.  Before I leave, I wanted to get this review out there for "Captain America: The First Avenger." 

I think Nuke described this best to me when he said that it felt like a prequel to "The Avengers" rather than a super hero movie.  I thought "Captain America" felt more like a war movie than it did a super hero movie.  Overall, it wasn't a bad movie, but it just didn't stand out like "Thor" or "X-Men: First Class". 

From what I know of the original Captain America story, I think this movie follows the story pretty well.  Captain America is played by Chris Evans, and he does a reasonably good job in this role.  The villain is Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving (a.k.a. Smith from "The Matrix", Elrond from LOTR and V from "V for Vendetta").  I really like Hugo, so I did like him as the Red Skull.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" is a 3.5 star movie.  While it's rated PG-13, there is no reason that I can see why an 8-10 year old kid can't watch this one...it's a pretty tame PG-13.  In fact, I'm going to let my son watch it tonight before I mail it back.

I'm Sappy

One of my favorite lines in the Sorcerer's Apprentice is when Dave and Becky are in Dave's lab and Dave goes on this monologue about how listening to Becky's radio show made him stop and see things he'd never seen before.  Then he says "I'm sappy" in a groaning voice.

I have those moments in my life.  I had one of those moments tonight.  Lately I've been on a country music kick, mostly Garth Brooks but some other stuff too.  This brings me to the Garth Brooks song "Standing Outside the Fire" and the following Youtube video:




This video really hit my soft spot.  I don't know if it's because my wife and I have a special needs child and I'm all too familiar with the father's role here (except for the yelling part).  You want your child to succeed and to try the things "normal" kids do, but are afraid of the potential negative consequences.  I'm also familiar with the elation when your child succeeds, like when our son won the spelling bee. 

It could be that...or maybe it's just that I'm a sucker for happy endings.  Whatever the reason, I felt the need to tap into my inner teenage girl and share this video tonight.  I hope you enjoy it.

Crock Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

Today I was really excited to watch Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.  Had I known that Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos were going to play terrible and lose 45-10, I would not have been so excited.  But, alas, I was excited so when I made this week's meal plan, I planned a recipe for the crock pot so I could get it going well before the game started.

For the last 2 years, my wife and I have made several attempts at a vegetable beef soup with mixed results.  We made all these soups without recipes.  Some soups have been really good, others have been average at best.  As we all learned from past chili experiences, I'm better off with a recipe.  Today, I think the soup turned out really well, and I actually remember what I did to cook it, so I'm going to document the recipe on this blog so we have it for future reference.  Note that I didn't completely make this up.  I reviewed several recipes online and took themes from them to make this soup, so this is a variation on 5 or 6 different recipes that I looked at.

Crock Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:
1 - 1.5 lb. stew beef
1 yellow onion, diced
3 large russet potatoes, cubed
32 oz. beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz.)
1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables (16 oz.)
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Heat Olive Oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add stew beef and cook until brown.
2. Add diced yellow onion to the skillet and cook until onions appear translucent. 
3. Combine beef and onions with the remaining ingredients in a crock pot.  Cook on high for 2 hours then on low for approximately 4 hours.  Stir once per hour.

This soup turns out to be very hearty.  It has the typical beef soup flavor with an Italian flair to it due to the tomatoes and Italian seasoning.  The black pepper brings a little heat, but not in an overwhelming way.

I loved this soup, and my oldest son liked it a lot too.  My wife gave it 3 out of 5 stars, but I learned for the first time in our wedded life that she's not a big fan of stewed tomatoes, which would be a problem since that's essentially what happens with the diced tomatoes. 

I will be adding this one to our rotation, especially if the Broncos ever get better.

Adjusted and Expendable Movies

It's been a really long time since I've reviewed any movies.  That's because I haven't been watching many movies lately...ok, any movies.  But, I have watched movies 2 of the last 3 nights, and I'm planning to watch "Captain America" tonight.  I suspect that one will merit it's own movie review.  Here are a couple of other movie reviews.

"The Adjustmet Bureau":  This Matt Damon film is based on the short story The Adjustment Team by Phillip K. Dick.  Damon plays a Congressman, David Norris, who is a rising star in the political scene.  And, or course, he's a Democrat, because politician heroes are always Democrats according to Hollywood. 

Anyway, after losing a bid for the Senate, Norris meets Elise (Emily Blunt) and feels an immediate connection.  Meeting Elise inspires Norris to give a concession speech that sets him up for another Senate run 4 years later.  On his way to work a few days later, Norris meets Elise again on the bus, and again there is the immediate connection.  When he arrives at work, David Norris sees something he should never have seen...the Adjustment Bureau changing the world to meet "the plan".  We learn, along with Norris, that the Adjustment  Bureau is a group of beings that work for "The Chairman" and are responsible for ensuring that the world follows, "the plan".  After explaining all this to David Norris, the Adjustment Bureau agent tells him he can never see Elise again and take steps to ensure that they don't meet.  But, three years later when chance intervenes, David and Elise meet again.  At this point, even the Adjustment Bureau struggles to keep them apart.  Which will win out...David and Elise's free will or the predetermined plan?

"The Adjustment Bureau" is a really good movie.  I rate it 4 stars.  I can't wait to see what Nuke rates it.  I think it poses some interesting questions about free will vs. predesination.  Frankly, this could have been a "deeper thinking" movie, but it does leave you thinking.  In fact, my wife had take aways that I didn't see.  I'm really looking forward to Nuke's review on this one.  Overall, a very good movie.

"The Expendables":  I watched this one last night on Instant Watch.  "The Expendables" is Sylvester Stallone's attempt at a star studded action film starring action heroes from the past and present.  The cast is a who's who of action movies.  We've got Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke and Julia Roberts' brother (a.k.a Eric Roberts). 

Look, this is not a great movie.  It's a 3 star "guy movie".  But if you are looking for a movie filled with senseless violence, explosions, fast paced fist fights and no plot, then this is the movie for you. 

Book Review: The Son of Neptune

I absolutely love Rick Riordan as a writer, and my favorite character is, of course, Percy Jackson.  When The Lost Hero came out last year, I really enjoyed the book, but I did miss Percy.  Well, I miss him no more...with the release of The Son of Neptune, Percy Jackson fans don't have to wait any longer for the return of their favorite hero.

Just like Jason in The Lost Hero, Percy has lost his memory.  All he knows is that he's supposed to head south, and eventually he finds Camp Jupiter...the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood.  At Camp Jupiter, Percy meets Frank and Hazel, 2 other demi-gods.  Soon after Percy helps the Fifth Cohort of the Roman Legion regain some respect, Frank, Hazel and Percy are sent off on a quest to free Thanatos, the angel of death, so that people and monsters will start dying again.  Can our heroes succeed?  Will Camp Jupiter be saved?  And what of the new prophecy in which 7 demi-gods must band together to save the world?  Well, I can't give it away...you'll have to read to find out.

The Son of Neptune does a fantastic job of mixing playful banter, pulse pounding action, suspense and the right amount of feel good moments.  Really just another masterful book by Mr. Riordan.  I can't wait for the 3rd book in this series, due to come out next fall.  We already know the third book is called The Mark of Athena so one would have to conclude that it will center around Annabeth.  A year is going to be a really long time to wait.

It's All About Experience

As I mentioned in my last post, my son and I got a smoker and we were planning to smoke some ribs.  Well, we executed that plan on Sunday, and overall, it was successful.

We got an inexpensive Master Forge Charcoal Smoker from Lowe's so in case we didn't like it, we weren't out a lot of money.  This smoker is really easy to use.  You load some charcoal  and wood chips in the bottom of the smoker, then put water or some liquid in the water pan above the charcoal/wood. Above that there are 2 racks for food.  When cooking, the meat gets smoked, of course, but the water also steams the meat to keep it moist.

We followed a cooking method for ribs that I found online, which was supposedly for "competition" ribs.  This involved putting a rub on the ribs 24 hours before cooking, then cooking at 225-250 for 3 hours.  After 3 hours, you wrap the ribs, loosely, in foil with apple juice and return it to the heat.  Then you cook for another hour, then unwrap the ribs, sauce them for 30-60 minutes over the heat and serve.

The ribs turned out very tasty.  I made my own sauce and rub which makes a good combination.  Most importantly, I loved the hickory smoked flavor.  Now, the downfall is that the ribs weren't as tender as I would have liked.  From what I understand, "competition" ribs aren't fall off the bone like you get at Chili's, but should pull off the bone easily.  The key is to be able to get a clean bite mark in the ribs.   These ribs came off the bone, but it was a little work.  We'll have to work on that next time.

Here's what I learned this weekend:

1 - Kids don't have patience for 5 hours of cooking, so my son and I will continue to tackle this little by little.
2 - Next time I make ribs, I'm going to wrap them in foil a lot sooner.  I think most of the smoke flavor was imparted in the first 90 minutes and I think more time being wrapped would make the ribs more tender.
3 - I can get away with using less charcoal.  I didn't realize that having a bunch of food on the top rack would affect the temperature gauge as much as it did.  When I took the ribs off, the temperature shot up 30 degrees.  So, I probably cooked the ribs too hot...you live and learn.
4 - I'm going to try something easier next time, like a pork loin, turkey breast or brisket. 
5 - Smoking is a fun way to cook...I am really looking forward to my next adventure and I hope my son will help a little more each time.

My BBQ Sauce Recipe

My son and I bought a smoker a couple of weeks back. Today we are preparing to smoke some baby back ribs tomorrow. Nothing like picking one of the hardest things for our first venture into smoking.

This summer, I stopped buying barbecue sauce in a jar and starting making my own. I just thought it would be fun to make my own sauce, plus there is a lot of preservatives in store bought sauces that I can do without.  I'm actually cooking some of this sauce right now and it is making the house smell so good that I thought I'd share.

This recipe is a fairly simple barbecue sauce, adapted from the Neely's Recipe on Food Network.  I'm finding more and more that I prefer simple recipes because they are easier to make and they always seem to taste good.  Sometimes a ton of ingredients just muddies the flavor.  If you follow the link to the Food Network, you'll see that I haven't changed this recipe much. 

Ingredients:
2 cups ketchup (I prefer Hunt's)
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 TBSP brown sugar
5 TBSP white sugar
1/2 TBSP black pepper
1/2 TBSP onion powder
1/2 TBSP ground mustard
1/2 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 TBSP liquid smoke

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, for 1 hour 15 minutes.

I've tried a few other barbecue sauce recipes and this one is the best, and it's super easy.  If you like tomato/ketchup based barbecue sauce, you will like this.  It ends up being sweet and tangy with a peppery kick at the back of your throat.  I think this recipe tastes very similar to Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy, just not quite a sweet.

Where's the Beef?

Wendy's has been running a commercial where a young guy buys a "Where's the Beef?" T-Shirt at a Goodwill-type store, and then as he's walking around, everybody is reading his shirt out loud.  He super confused because he's too young to remember the commercial, until he arrives at a Wendy's and sees a sign that says "Here's the Beef."  It hearkens back to the commercials of 25+ years ago where the old ladies are asking "Where's the Beef?" about burgers that compete with Wendy's.  Wendy's is bringing back this old catch phrase to highlight their newer, slightly bigger burgers and better toppings.

Today we were driving back from visiting family and we stopped at Wendy's.  Being super hungry, I decided to try one of the new burgers.  I got a double bacon cheeseburger...yes I'm going to regret that later.  I know as a food guy I'm supposed to show disdain for fast food, and I generally do.  But, I have to say, this was a darn fine burger.  The burger patties were thick and juicy, and the bacon was actually a thick cut of bacon so it added a ton of flavor.  My mouth is watering now just thinking about how good it was.

I hope I don't lose points as a "foodie" for this.  I was forced to eat McDonald's on the trip and that was miserably bad...hopefully that earns points back.

Wrangler Jeans

On Thursday, I bought 2 pair of Wrangler Jeans at Target.  As you all know, one of the main pitchmen for Wrangler Jeans is Brett Favre, former NFL QB, most famously of the Green Bay Packers, but also of the NY Jets and Minnesota Vikings late in his career.

I gotta tell you, these Wranglers really make me feel like Brett Favre.  When I first put them on, I had the strong urge to retire, and then unretire, then retire again, then unretire, then retire, then unretire when my friends show up, and then finally retire and go on radio bashing my successors.

Good thing I've been able to overcome those urges brought on by these powerful blue jeans.

Punkin' Chuckin'

No, this will not be a funny blog, unless you laugh at stupid situations.  Last night my son and I were driving home from his band concert.  We had just made a right turn, when I caught something flying at the right side of our vehicle out of the corner of my eye.  It hit near the front bumper and was very loud.  We circled around to see if we could see anything, and all we could see was half a pumpkin lying in the street.

When we got home, we found the other half of the pumpkin lodged in the grill of our van.  One of the bars in the grill was broken, but thankfully there was no other damage.  The pumpkin was relatively small...and fortunately the people throwing it weren't too accurate.  I think there could have been real trouble if the pumpkin would have hit the windshield or any of the windows.

I'm sure it was stupid kids who did this.  I don't understand that...I never had the urge as a kid to cause damage to other people's property.  I just don't get what drives some people.

Luckily, no real damage was done.  A lot worse things could have happened so we're thankful that we got off as easily as we did.

The Weirdest Round Ever

It's been an unseasonably warm October, and as such, I've been fortunate enough to still be playing fairly frequent rounds of golf.  I generally play well this time of year because I just don't care as much about my score...maybe I should find a way to take that into the rest of the season?

So, I've been playing quite well lately...no super low rounds, but a lot of consistently good rounds of golf.  Yesterday afternoon, in 85 degree temperatures, I played 18 holes with my friend Joe.  Little did I know when we tee'd off that it would be one of the weirdest rounds I've ever played.

I started off with a birdie at #1, but bogeyed the next hole.  After 7 holes, I was 2 over par.  Number 8 at my course is a 300 yard par 4, and I drove the green (it was playing down wind).  I had a 45 foot eagle putt, which I made for my 2nd eagle of the golf season.  So, I was back to even par.  I hit a really good drive at number 9, but screwed up my 2nd shot and my chip and ended up making a bogey to shoot a 1 over par 35 on the front nine.

As I've said before on this blog, my golf course is a 9 hole, par 34.  So, to play 18 holes you just go around twice, but play a different set of tees to make the course a little different.  The 2nd time around, the course plays a little longer. 

The 2nd nine, I started out with a par, but then bogeyed number 2...I really struggle with number 2.  On #3 I hit a good drive and a good 2nd shot and made a 10 foot putt for birdie, so I'm back to +1.  Number 4 is a 288 yard par 4 that was playing into the wind.  I don't always hit my driver there, but since it was into a 10-15 mph wind, I used my driver.  I hit the ball real hard and figured I'd be 10-15 yards short of the green.  As we walked to the green, we saw my ball sitting 6 feet from the hole.  I made that putt for my 2nd eagle of the day, and now I'm 1 under par for the day.

I parred #5, then hit a terrible tee shot on the par 3 sixth hole.  I chunked my chip shot into the bunker, blasted out and then lipped out my bogey putt, for a double bogey...back to +1.  I parred 7 and then made a really good birdie at #8, so I'm back to even par.  At number 9 (or 18), I hit a terrible tee shot, and had to punch out from behind a tree.  I had 100 yards left for my 3rd shot and hit a really bad shot, then a bad chip and lipped out my bogey putt for my 2nd double bogey of the day.

So, in summary, I had 6 pars, 5 bogeys, 3 birdies, 2 eagle and 2 double bogeys.  That adds up to the weirdest 2 over par round of my life.  What did I learn?  Well, there are all kinds of ways to get the ball around a golf course.  Oh, and I learned that I always make my eagle putts when playing golf with Joe on unseasonably warm days in October...it has now happened the last 2 times I've played golf with Joe on unseasonably warm days in October.

Why So Unhappy?

Tiger Woods made his much anticipated return to the PGA Tour today, shooting a two over par 73 at the Frys.com open, a Fall Finish event.  Normally, Tiger doesn't play in the Fall Finish events, but due to injuries and poor play, he added this event to get is game in better shape before the President's Cup.

After his round, he said that he is "Not Happy" with his round.  Tiger is never happy these days.  In fact, he's generally really miserable.  I can't say that I blame him...he screwed up his marriage, his health has been a wreck and his golf game resembles mine more and more every day. 

But, at the same time, I can say that I blame him.  Tiger has lead a pretty charmed life.  He was the best golfer on the planet for the better part of 15 years.  He's won over 70 tournaments and 14 majors.  He's got 2 kids.  He's become the person he dreamed of being growing up.  So, why isn't it he happy?

Well, because there's more to life than being a great golfer.  I tend to think that Tiger got to the top and thought, "this is all there is?"  So then he tried to fill his life with other things, and it never got better.  That happens to us all when we achieve something we really want...in the end, accomplishments of this world always disappoint.  So then, like Tiger, we try to fill our lives with other things, looking for the one thing that will make us truly happy.

Maybe Tiger, and the rest of us, need to spend less time looking for things of this world to make us happy and more time looking for Jesus Christ.  True happiness can only come through living a truly Christian life.  Personally, I struggle with this every day.  But I have realized that I'm a much happier person when I quit trying to find things in this world to make me happy and realize that I should be happy with the many blessing God has already given me...such as a great wife and 2 wonderful boys.  Don't get me wrong, I still fail more often than I succeed, and I'm still somewhat convinced that a pickup will make me happy, but that's a problem for another day.

I wonder if Tiger will ever realize Who the true source of happiness really is?

Baseball vs. Football

With the baseball playoffs going on right now (sorry Red Sox fans), and the start of the NFL season, it's time to review the differences between Baseball and Football.  Nobody does that better than George Carlin, who is one of the funniest men that ever lived.

Here's one of my favorite Carlin bits of all time.  This is one of the few bits that Carlin did that has clean language.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Top 5 Non-Super Hero Movie Heroes

Whenever we think of heroes, we think of soldiers, firefighters, policemen, our fathers and grandfathers and sports stars. When we think of movie heroes, my brain always goes to Super Heroes. But, there is a whole other realm of movie heroes. So, I got to thinking, who are my top 5 favorite movie heroes that are not super heroes?

I decided I had to set some ground rules, because otherwise there would be too many to choose from. So, first off, I decided that the hero had to be in more than one movie (i.e. he or she had to be compelling enough to make more than one movie). Secondly, he or she cannot have any supernatural abilities whatsoever, so Jedi are out. Finally, he has to be a fictional character, not based on any historical person.

Note that I'm 33 years old and I really don't watch too many movies from before I was born, so I suspect there are people out there who will think of heroes from the early 70's and earlier that I missed. So, here are my top 5 non-super hero heroes:

5 - Aragorn: Viggo Mortensen perfectly played the Ranger turned King in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I've had a hard time accepting Viggo in any other role because he was so good as Aragorn, and so darn heroic. Plus, he got the girl at the end, and the hero always gets the girl.

4 - Rocky Balboa: Ok, let's forget that "Rocky V" was ever made. If we look at the other 5 movies, Rocky Balboa is the quintessential American hero. A hard luck guy who overcomes a lot, gets the girl, wins big, falls from grace, finally becomes comfortable in his own skin and returns to glory. One of the best movie heroes out there.

3 - James Bond: Many people would put 007 as the #1 guy on this list, especially because he has stood the test of time. From Sean Connery in the 1960's to Daniel Craig in the last few years, James Bond has fascinated movie viewers for nearly 50 years. My favorite Bond was actually Pierce Brosnan, but I understand the people who love Connery. Overall, a great hero who seemingly can do anything.

2 - Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford's classic archaeologist, explorer, hero is one of the greatest heroes of all time. I would have put him #1 on this list had Steven Spielberg and George Lucas not decided to make "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Indie is always funny, always saves the day, and generally does it with a flair and brilliance not seen in other heroes. Indie gets out of every jam and always makes the right decisions in the end. Hard to top this one, but...

1 - John McClane: Detective John McClane just can't seem to get a break. First he goes to Los Angeles, only to have to save his wife from a sadistic Alan Rickman. Next, he has to save an entire airport. Then, without much help from Samuel L. Jackson, McClane has to save the entire city of New York. Finally, in "Live Free or Die Hard", Detective McClane is pitted against a cyber terrorist bent on taking down the United States, while making a lot of money and threatening to kill McClane's daughter. As we learn in the latest "Die Hard" flick, sometimes you gotta be the guy because there's nobody else to be the guy. That is what makes Bruce Willis as John McClane the #1 hero on this list.

Movie Review - Battle: Los Angeles

Honestly, I had really low expectations for "Battle: Los Angeles", and as I've said numerous times on this blog, low expectations is key for a good movie watching experience.  Surprisingly, this movie wasn't terrible...in fact it wasn't even bad.  And, as a bonus, there was no Michael Ironside, which I was expecting in this movie...he's typically in any movie like this.

In "Battle: Los Angeles" meteors are crashing to earth, at least that's what the silly humans think.  But, it turns out the meteors are aliens, and they are bent on taking over earth and using it's resources.  Yes, we've seen this movie before.  This is where we meet Staff Sargent Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), who is part of a group of marines responsible for clearing civilians from a lost area of Los Angeles before the Air Force bombs the snot out of that specific area.  The remainder of the movie follows these few marines as they save the civilians and eventually find the key to defeating the alien invaders.

Aaron Eckhart is actually really good at Sgt. Nantz.  I've been seeing Aaron Eckhart in more movies lately, dating back to "The Dark Knight".  I really like him as an actor.  The rest of the cast is not memorable, but Eckhart manages to carry the cast well enough.

The story is interesting.  Usually these types of movies focus on the President and some other "top level" guys who are trying to stop the invading aliens.  Sometimes they even have Wil Smith, just because it always helps having Wil Smith when facing off against aliens.  So, to see a relatively small group of "regular guys" just carrying out their part of the job was sort of refreshing.  Of course, having them save the day was also important to making this a true "Hollywood alien movie."

I think I'll rate "Battle: Los Angeles" 4 stars.  It might have been 3 if I would have had higher expectations, but given the low expectations I started with, I'm pleased with how much I enjoyed this movie.

Book Review: The Power of Six

The Power of Six is the 2nd book in the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore (a Pseudonym for the 2 guys working on this series).  You will recall that I really liked I Am Number Four, and I liked the 2nd book as well. 

This 2nd book continues to follow John Smith (a.k.a Number Four), but in this story, we also get to know Six, who we met at the end of the first book, Seven (a.k.a Marina) and Nine.  The Power of Six takes place over a very short period of time, and thus moves extremely fast and is packed with action.  The story continues to follow the conflict between the Lorien's (good aliens) and Mogadorians (bad aliens) on earth.  The Mogadorians are trying to exterminate the remaining Loriens before they attain their full power...yes they have super powers.  Trust me, it's a good story.

You will discover that this book does not have top notch writing.  I mean, it's not terrible, but I wouldn't describe it as literary genius either.  Still, this was a great read and I'm excited about the third book, which will probably come out next summer.  My brief internet search did not reveal a title, and I'm too lazy to keep digging.

If You Love Me....

Remember back during the 2008 election when we Conservatives were saying that Barack Obama has a Messiah Complex?  Well, maybe not all Conservatives, but definitely Rush Limbaugh, and me, to name 2 prominent Conservatives.  Personally, I still believe that, and this week, President Obama gave me further confirmation that I'm correct on this one.

During a speech in North Carolina, President Obama, presumably off the teleprompter, said "If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill!"  If the teleprompter told him to say that, I question whether the teleprompter is doing his job.  This statement was made in reference to Obama's notional jobs bill.

How does this prove that Obama has a Messiah complex?  Well, to borrow from Nuke, let's look at scripture.  In John 21:15-19 we have the famous exchange when Jesus asks Peter 3 times if Peter loves Him.  After each time Peter professes that he loves Jesus, Jesus gives Peter a command.  For another example, let's go back to John 14:15, where we hear Jesus say "If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments."

In the light of what I just cited above, what Obama said does sound like an attempt to sound Messiah-like, doesn't it?  Again Barack Obama is making it all about himself, rather than about the people in this country who are out of work.  Rather than making some emotive statement like that, Obama should try to lead and actually present something that makes sense for creating jobs and growing the economy.  But, I truly believe he doesn't have the faintest idea of how to do that.

To those who are super cynical who are thinking right now, "Why is it ok for Jesus to say what He said?  Isn't He doing the same thing Obama is doing?", I would answer that the point is that it is all about Jesus.  It's an entirely different thing...altogether.  As Christians, we profess that Jesus is #1 in our life, and as such, when He says what He said in John 14 and John 21, we need to do what he asks. 

That's all I have to say about that.

Double Your Animated Fun

I've watched a couple of Animated movies with my kids lately.  So, I guess I should review them.

"Toy Story 3":  The third, and I think final, movie in the "Toy Story" franchise from Pixar is my least favorite of the three movies.  With that said, it's still a good movie...4 stars.  Disney/Pixar has managed to bring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen back for three of these movies, and I have to say that I'm grateful for that.  Without the same vocal talent, it's just not the same movie.

In "Toy Story 3", Andy is off to college, and the toys are facing the reality of life ahead of them.  When they are mistakenly donated to a day care, the toys learn the harsh reality of life on the inside.  Can our heroes make it back to Andy in time?  Will they ever be played with again?  Well, you have to watch to find out.

"Hoodwinked Too:  Hood vs. Evil":  My kids were really excited about this one.  We really liked the original "Hoodwinked", so my wife and I were looking forward to it as well.  Sadly, we were very disappointed.  "Hood vs. Evil" is only a 2 star movie.

For starters, Anne Hathaway is not back as the voice of Red, which really bugged me.  Hayden Pantierre is ok, but the change in voices just threw me.  Secondly, it just felt like the producers/directors were just going for cheap laughs rather than any substance.  Finally, the story just wasn't that good.  Everything just fell really flat with "Hood vs. Evil."

Not the Broncos of Old

This post was actually requested by a friend/reader that lives in Colorado.  So, in the interest of keeping one of my 11 readers happy, here's my blog about the Denver Broncos, and Tim Tebow. 

First off, with the NFL season starting tonight, let's just face it...the Broncos are going to be terrible!  If I were a bandwagon fan like Nuke and rooted for teams that win all the time, I wouldn't be a Broncos fan.  I'd be a Steelers fan, and I'd probably predict a Super Bowl title.  As it is, I'm predicting 4-12 for my Denver Broncos, so one more win than last season.  I'm basing this on the fact that I think John Fox is a slightly better coach than Josh McDaniels, and I think the schedule is slightly easier this year.

As far as the team...it's awful.  Yes, they added Von Miller at Line Backer, but he's still a rookie.  And yes, Elvis Dumervil is back from injury, but they still have way too many problems.  Here's the problems I see:

1 - The Defensive line is not good.  Line backers are not free to do the things that they need to do if they have to tackle running backs 5 yards down the field all the time.

2 - The Offensive line is unproven.  Maybe they'll surprise me, but I wouldn't want to be a Quarterback for the Broncos this season.

3 - They are still relying on Knowshon (don't call me Slowshon) Moreno as their #1 running back.  The guy looks like he's running in quick sand all the time.

4 - The secondary is old.

5 - The wide receivers are unproven and probably overrated.

6 - Kyle Orton is not the long term answer at Quarterback.

So, I got to the sixth problem before I got to Quarterback, which is the position most fans want to talk about.  A year ago, the Broncos drafted Tim Tebow in the 1st round.  Tebow is definitely the most polarizing figure in all of football.  The left in this country hates him, because he's a good, upstanding Christian kid, who was probably taken too early in the draft.  The right in this country loves him for the same reasons.  Tebow is definitely not the prototypical NFL Quarterback.  But, it's not his fault he was taken early in the draft, and it's not his fault that the offseason was lost due to labor issues.  The bottom line is that nobody deserves the criticism Tebow has gotten.  If an African American QB were criticized the way Tim Tebow has been criticized, the sports media in this country would have a field day with the criticizers.  But, since it's a white, Christian kid, the criticism goes largely ignored.

I hope Tim Tebow is successful.  My eyes tell me he won't be, but I hope I'm wrong.  I do not understand the team's decision to play Kyle Orton over Tim Tebow.  We know exactly what Kyle Orton is...he's a system Quarterback who can win with a strong defense and running game.  On this team, he will win 3-4 games this season.  By starting Orton this season, the team is just prolonging the inevitable.  They have sold way too many Tebow jersey's not to give the kid a shot.  Whether it's this season or next, Tim Tebow must be given a shot to succeed in Denver.  And I, for one, think that shot should come this season.  Throw him out there and see if he can perform.  He's surprised people his entire life...who's to say he won't surprise us once again.

So there you go...my pessimistic, rambling Broncos preseason blog.  Go Team!

In The Beginning...

There was Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnserr.  It's the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Marvel universe is just learning about the existence of Mutants.  In "X-Men: First Class" we see the beginning for the famed Marvel X-Men, and the genesis of the villain Magneto.

As I said above, this movie is set in the early 1960s.  Erik Lehnserr (Michael Fassbender) is hunting the Nazis responsible for his imprisonment and his mother's death.  While seeking out the man he most blames for his mother's death (played by none other than Kevin Bacon), Lehnserr meets Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and a friendship is formed.  But, Lehnserr and Xavier have different ideas about the futures of Mutant Kind and Human Kind that comes to a head at the Bay of Pigs.  Out of this event, Professor X and Magneto are born.

I really enjoyed "X-Men: First Class".  I watched it while on the plane back from Brazil last week.  While not as good as the other Marvel movie of the summer, "Thor", "First Class" is one of the better X-Men movies.  The story was great, and while it was an action film, there were some humorous moments, including a cameo by Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and several hair jokes by Charles Xavier (in the X-Men movies set later, Xavier is played by bald actor Patrick Stewart).

James McAvoy continues to be a fantastic actor.  From Mr. Tumnus to Charles Xavier, he gives his all to every role.  This was the first time I've seen Michael Fassbender in a movie, and he was terrific as Lehnserr/Magneto.  At times, he really steals the show.  Finally, any movie with Kevin Bacon is automatically excellent because we have another movie we can use for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

"X-Men: First Class" is a 4 to 4.5 star movie.  If you are an X-Men fan or a fan of Marvel comics in general, give this movie a shot.

Famously Good

Ok, I'm probably going to catch grief for this one, but I really like Famous Dave's Barbecue.  I know it's a chain BBQ restaurant, and I'm sure those from the south will tell me that it's not nearly as good as the BBQ you get in Memphis or Texas or Kansas City.  But as a guy who grew up in the midwest who just wants some good hickory smoked ribs or pulled pork, it's pretty darn good.

This weekend, we were outta town in a locale that is not exactly a BBQ hot spot.  My family all really likes BBQ, especially my 10 year old.  He loves Famous Dave's spare ribs.  So, last night we went to Famous Dave's, and it was sooooooooo good.  I had the Georgia Chopped Pork, which I smothered in Rich and Sassy sauce.  I got the Spicy Green Beans and BBQ Chips as my sides.  I love to dip the BBQ chips in the different sauces.  My mouth is watering right now thinking about how good it was.

Some other items around the table included Baby Back Ribs, Spare Ribs and BBQ chicken.  Also, Buffalo Wings...they have really good Buffalo Wing sauce at Famous Dave's.  All of the food was very good. 

I still look forward to getting to take a trip to the south for some "real BBQ", and I'm planning to get a smoker and learn a little more BBQ cooking myself.  But, for now, when I'm in the midwest and I see a Famous Dave's, it will be very hard for me to pass it by. 

Movie Review: Enemy At the Gates

My Netflix queue is definitely deficient right now in movies I really want to see.  "Enemy At The Gates" is one that Netflix figured I'd give 3.5 stars, so I gave it a shot.  It's not a bad movie, but there were enough things that I didn't like or that made me uncomfortable for me to drop this from 4 stars to 3.

"Enemy At The Gates" stars Jude Law as Vasilli Zaitsev, a renowned Russian Sniper during World War II.  I believe this movie is loosely based on actual events, though the movie is largely fiction.  When the Russians start using Zaitsev as propaganda during the war, the best German Sniper, Major Konig (Ed Harris) comes to Russia to kill Zaitsev.  What follows is a battle of wits between the 2 snipers that ends in the death of one of them.

Like I said in the opening, there were a few parts of this movie that I didn't like.  The opening 15 minutes is really hard to watch, and I nearly shut the movie off.  Additionally, I was sort of annoyed that all the Russians spoke with a British accent...come on, it's not that hard to do a Russian accent.  But, there were enough redeeming moments for me to rate this 3 stars.  The battles between Zaitsev and Konig are done very well.  And, for the most part, Ed Harris didn't annoy me like he often does.

I don't know if I'd recommend this.  I think if you like movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and other WWII movies, you might like this, but be prepared for some hard things to watch.

Why Not Jack?

It's pretty much official now that I'm a weekend blogger.  When I get home at night, I just don't feel like being on the computer.  Next week, I'll be on business travel all week, and then we'll be outta town for the weekend, so I might get one more blog in before a pretty long hiatus by my standards.  Though, if my energy level allows, I may blog while I'm on my trip.

Anyway, this blog is not about my lack of blogging.  This blog is about the pick of Tiger Woods to be on the US President's Cup team.  Fred Couples, the team captain, said that Tiger is the best player forever and had to be picked.  I hate to disagree with Fred Couples...he's a likable guy, but he's flat out wrong with this pick.  Tiger is not the Tiger of old...Tiger isn't even in the top 15 Americans right now.  I could name off at least 15 Americans that I'd rather have on the team before I get to Tiger.  In his last 2 events, he finished T-37th and missed the cut...those finishes coming off 4 months off due to injury.

But, if I use Couples' logic, then why not take Jack Nicklaus for the team.  Sure, he's in his 70's now and can't play anywhere near how he used to play, but Jack Nicklaus has more career wins than Tiger Woods and more career majors.  Jack is obviously the greatest player ever, so shouldn't he be on the team too? 

I wish I could take credit for that one, but a friend at work made that point last week.  I thought it was great, so I used it.  This pick doesn't make any sense to me, and it's not just because I'm not a Tiger fan.  I enjoy the President's Cup and I'd like to see America win.  I believe that to do that, we need our current 12 best players on the team...not our 12 best of all time.

Another of the Things That Make Me Go Hmmm...

Last night, my wife and I watched the movie "Tristan and Isolde", which was billed to me as a love story with sword fighting and battles and such.  Well, it's not...it's a star-crossed love story with a few moments of action, followed by long moments of heartache and sorrow.  I only rate it 2 stars, because I'm a happily-ever-after kind of guy.

This got me wondering...why do people like to watch movies and read stories that end poorly?  Why do we want to end up sad or scared or both?  I've never been a fan of movies that have sad endings, and I'm also not a fan of horror movies, and frankly, I don't understand people who are.  If I'm going to invest 2 hours of my time into something, I'd rather laugh than cry, and I'd rather my heart start pumping because of action as opposed to something scary.

This is another blog without any real point, other than to wonder in writing about things that I think are weird about other people.  I guess to each his own.  I'll stick with my over the top action films and sappy happily-ever-after stories, and the crazies out there can watch their horror films and shows with sad endings.

Movie Review: Tangled

Last night, we decided to watch "Tangled" on Netflix Instant Watch.  The boys had already seen this in the theater with their grandmother, but my wife and I had not.  After some recent flops in "Princess" movies, Disney tried to create a "Princess" movie that would also appeal to boys.  I think they've succeeded based on the reaction my boys had to it.

"Tangled" tells the traditional Rapunzel story with a new spin.  As in the traditional story, Rapunzel is living in a tower and she has never cut her hair.  The spin is that Rapunzel is kept there by an evil woman who has convinced her that staying in the safety of the tower to protect her hair is the best thing for her.  What the woman really wants is to keep Rapunzel and her magical hair all to herself.  But that's all about to change when Flynn Rider, a thief, stumbles upon the tower and sees it as a place to hide.  When Rapunzel gets the drop on Flynn, Flynn is forced to take Rapunzel out of the tower to get what he wants.  Along the way, Flynn discovers there's more to life than money and doing whatever you want.

I think "Tangled" is a 4 star movie.  We all enjoyed it.  It's a musical, so it borrows from the tradition of many of the older Disney "princess" movies, but the animation is updated to the computer generated animation we are familiar with today.  The songs are good, but nothing really sticks out.

Overall, "Tangled" would make a great family night movie for most anybody with kids under the age of 10 or so.