So Long 2006!!

Happy Birthday to Drewbie!!! He seems to think his birthday gets lost in the shuffle between Christmas and New Years so everyone make a mental note to tell him Happy Birthday (it's technically tomorrow but nobody's working tomorrow.... heck! Nobody's working today). With the reduction in work force this week, my 7:00 arrival gets the first VIP spot in the parking lot! Makes it look like I was here before 6:30 to get that spot!! Drew - you share your birthday with Tiger Woods (Tiger Woods Y'all!) AND LaBron James. And your buddy Kerry Collins who was the greatest quarterback ever for your Oakland Raiders. Oh, and Davy Jones (from the Monkees).

It's the wrap up of 2006. It's scary to think how long ago the "90's" were at this point and only getting worse. With 2007 on the horizon, I reflect at the things I have learned in 2006:

• 14 Hour Plane rides should be outlawed in the Human Bill of Rights
• The Book is always better than the movie (2006 examples of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Da Vinci Code, among others) .... I challenge you to find me one example to contradict this
  
• GroundHog Day might now be my favorite holiday of the year
• Award Show Season might be more official than "Winter" now adays
• A Shovel is probably not the best Valentine's Day Gift (no, I didn't ask for it back but thanks for all the support and suggestions that I should have gotten it back!)
• Rochester now has Jimmy Johns, and a Little Caesars, but still lacks a Hardees, a Rocky Rococo or Pizzario Uno - goals for 2007!
• NASCAR is still the longest sports season known to human kind
• I was not the official "Donkey Dong" from earlier in the year.
• Giving up Alcohol AND Caffeine for lent is a bad idea. Not sure how you pregnant women can handle it for that long!
• Cops hate me and refuse to give me a warning. I must not be wearing a low enough cut shirt or something!
• Chuck Norris' dog is trained to pick up his own poop because Chuck Norris does not take sh!t from anyone!
• Someone still thinks that Ashley (aka "TipDrill" has my phone number.... I do get some humorous calls now and then when they're not expecting a guy to answer her phone.
• Life is better with Cingular... just wish I could get my Answer Tones to work correctly
  
• Gas companies are the devil
• Even a change of most of his cabinet doesn't make Bush any less of an idiot
• Every song could use more cowbell!
• Disco is making a strong comeback! Wait for it.... wait for it....
• Many many babies born in 2006.... and I'm sure many many more in the next year (none for me!!)
  
• Living alone for the first time ever has its advantages... I still miss ya Adam!
• Elvis gets cooler every year that passes...
• I smell Shenanigans!!!
• It is very hard to be a Cyclone fan with years such as this one past.... only room to improve in 2007!
• Indian women are very pretty.... and hitting on Sid's sister in front of Sid is a lot of fun!
• Vegas and California are fun places to go visit. Vegas is a totally different place to visit when you're single vs being in a relationship!
• Goodbye and Thanks again to Andre Agassi for many memories and inspiration to me as a kid growing up wanting to be like him.
• Management causes a lot less free time in my life during the day. It also only gets easier with time.
• Christmas decorations and shopping starts earlier every year.... expect it to start shortly after Easter in 2007!
  
• Being Single is much less stressful than being in a relationship:) C'est la vie!

Happy New Years to everyone!!! I'll be back on here in 2007 for my annual New Years Resolutions (are you ready with yours?)

Song of the Day - For Drew, I will listen to Metallica today. Drew is one of the bigger Metallica fans I have ever known. He wanted to name his son "Lars" but Kristi didn't go for that one. I suggested "Hetfield" as a unique tribute in a name but that suggestion didn't make it too far either. We like "Joey" all the same!

Video of the Day - I watched Jackass 2 yesterday and it's even funnier than the first one. Part of that might also be because it's not on TV anymore so it's been a long while since I've seen the Jackass crew do their stupid stunts. It was pretty funny and there are a lot of snakes in there for those of you who don't like snakes (not me anymore!)

Webpage of the Day - Some random webpage with "50 Things We Know Now (That We Didn't Know This Time Last Year)". Interesting read if you're bored.

Lame Duck Work Week

I am back at work today... but there are maybe 10% of the people here as usual. Possibly less. It's only those of us who do not have enough vacation to take the entire time off. But it's always a good time to get caught up on work since there is less people to bug ya and not as many new things coming up. I have some things that I have put off till today so I should be busy at least this morning.

Christmas was fun at the Wisconsin Dells - but I did pick up a cold which is annoying, but that's life. I just have my bottle of cough syrup and package of cough drops to help get me through the day! Santa was good to all of us but more importantly the opportunity to be with my family over the holidays which is a rare occurrence for me. There is still leftover ham in my fridge which always makes me happy too!

President Ford passed away this week. I am too young to remember anything from that presidency other than I find it interesting that he is the only president to serve without actually being elected. He took over for Spiro Agnew who resigned his vice-presidency due to being charged with Tax Evasion. A year later Nixon resigned due the Watergate mess and Ford was the new president without ever running for the office. He lost to Carter when he actually did run in 1976.

Big night for the Big 12 in College Football Bowl Games - Kansas State, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State all play.

Have a good Thursday!!!

Song of the Day - I was at the Sketchers store at the Dells and there was a worker who was singing Phil Collins that was being played over the music system on Tuesday. I was giving her crap for singing to Phil Collins and actually admitting that she was singing to Phil Collins (you should know my hatred for Phil by now). She replied that she was so extremely thankful to have something besides holiday music playing that she would sing to anything.... even Phil Collins. I hadn't considered that but I'm sure she's exactly right.

Video of the Day - I made the mistake of watching National Lampoon's Pledge This with Paris Hilton who proves yet again what a crappy actress she is. Don't bother renting that one.

Webpage of the Day - As Christmas winds down, we start to remove our Christmas lights.... this guy will probably take a week to take his down. An impressive Christmas Light Show!

364 More Days Till Christmas 2007

Happy Belated Christmas everyone!!!! But more importantly, Happy Kwanzaa!!! Kwanzaa is a 7 day observation starting on December 26th in which we honor this country's African American influence. It is interesting to read that the holiday has no African roots itself - It was first celebrated by founder Ron Karenga in 1966 in California. Karenga has received a lot of criticism from the Conservatives of this country - mainly due to his Marxism studies and beliefs. Read more about Ron Karenga and about Kwanzaa.

Christmas has come and passed..... I am still in Wisconsin at the Dells enjoying the huge water park with my family. It's been a lot of fun and great exercise climbing 4 flights of stairs every time you want to go on one of the big rides. They've added a whole new addition since I was here last in February making this place very huge! We're at the Great Wolf Lodge - I encourage anyone coming this way for a vacation to stay here... you won't be disappointed.

My Christmas dinner turned out very well! I made a ham, my famous garlic mashed potatoes, corn casserole, rolls, Jen's wonderful salad (thanks again for letting me continue to steal it!), and store bought pie! Just not enough time to make a pie this year. Now come the end-of-the-year sales at the neighboring outlet mall!

Unfortunately - the world lost James Brown yesterday morning. The Godfather of Soul was 73 years old but still had that magic element to make us all want to dance. I will remember him for his unique movie roles in The Blues Brothers (The Reverand), Rocky IV, and my favorite role - himself in Undercover Brother. Your useless knowledge of the day is that James Brown had his natural eyebrows replaced with tatoos. Another useless fact is that James Brown has never had a #1 hit on the Billboard chart.... but he has had 52 songs make the chart.

Have a wonderful week - sorry for those that have to work today but thanks for keeping the world turning!!!