It's Leap Day!

Pope Gregory XIII devised the 365-day calendar in 1582, based on how long it takes Earth to orbit the Sun. But it actually takes closer to 365.25 days. So the pope’s people added an extra day of the year every fourth February to compensate for the discrepancy. Want to be even more accurate? Earth circles the Sun in exactly 365.242199 days. To make up for that discrepancy, Leap Year is skipped every three out of four century years not divisible by 400 . . . so 2000 was a leap year, but 1900, 1800, and 1700 weren’t. Please celebrate accordingly.

Pics from my cell phone

I got a new phone last year but wanted totransfer all my old pictures from it, so after several long phone calls to Verizon I got them all uploaded to their picture hosting site. A few days ago I get a notice that they have all been deleted, so a long phone call and half a day later I was able to get them back. I'm not sure this is the best resolution that is available, so just squint a bit and the pictures will look better. Most of them are of Jesse when he was just over a year old.

Blatant Plagiarism!!!

I'm copying this straight from my brother's blog because anything that I might add would just distract from it.



For the rest of the video's go here.

St. Patrick's Day vs. Easter

A few days ago Melissa looked at the calendar and realized that Easter is only 6 days after St. Patrick's day this year. The big question was "Which one should we decorate for?". I don't know that we even have a shamrock or a blarney stone, so Easter will win out easily :) It made me think though why Easter is celebrated on different days each year. It turns out that Easter is a moveable feast that isn't fixed on a Julian or Gregorian calendar but is determined on a lunisolar calendar, like the Hebrew calendar. Thank you wikipedia. The simple answer is Easter falls on the Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox, which is March 21st. Boy, those geniuses at the Nicean council really knew how to make a holiday. Why not just pick the first Sunday of April? Anywho, this means that Easter can be as early as March 22nd or as late as April 25th. This year is the second earliest it could be, in 2011 it will be the second latest. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times, or 3.9% compared to a mean for all dates of 162,857 times, or 2.9%. So there you have it, please celebrate accordingly.

Down with the Sickness

It started Saturday night with an innocent cough. I'm thinking that since the inversion is here (what happens when cold air traps pollution in the valley) that I'm just feeling it a bit. Sunday was more of the same except Melissa had a fever in the 103 range. To make a long story longer, each day we both got progressively worse. Melissa hasn't gone to work at all this week and I've only done about two days worth of work. I'm just very lucky that neither of our kids have gotten sick. Owen seems more energenic than ever and Jesse has done a great job with helping out at night and getting himself ready. I've let him play my Nintendo DS before he goes to bed. He loves playing the new Mario Bros. I've wanted to add more entries to my diary but I just haven't felt like making the effort to type. I'll try to wrap up a week's worth of thoughts into a paragraph or two.

First thing's first. My wife got me Guitar Hero 80's edition and a wireless guitar. Awesome!!! My favorite song hands down is Only a Lad by Oingo Boingo! Next thought, with the new Indiana Jones movie coming out in May I would hope that all my friends and family that read this, yes all four of you, that we do this thing up right. That means a midnight showing with all the fun stuff that we've done in the past with the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies. I love big movie midnight premieres. The crowds always have a lot of fun energy, there are lots of people that dress up and then you get to watch a great movie. So I'll take the lead on this one and find out where and when. Just email/call/text me if you want to go. Next up, I want to echo the remarks found in Brad's blog about 101.9 The End. Chunga aka Brett Smith is a loser of epic proportions. I would encourage everyone that listens to that radio station to stop immediately. And lastly, this is a guilty pleasure of mine: Ask a Ninja. Check it out.

The best reason to buy a PS3

I like Star Wars. I like Fighting Games. Soul Caliber IV for the PS3 will have both. Xbox 360 owners get Yoda. Ha ha ha.

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is my list of chick flicks for dudes.

Chick flicks are my wife's favorite form of movie. Not mine so much, but because I try to be a good hubby I'll watch them with her. Fortunately there have been some that I've liked, so here is my top 10 list of chick flicks that dudes can watch and still feel manly. Enjoy.

10- Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon is a blonde babe with uncanny lawyering skills. Interesting note: Melissa went to school with Matt Davis, the boyfriend that Reese starts the movie with.

9- Sweet Home Alabama Another Reese movie, this time she plays a high powered New York fashion designer that has to go home to Alabama to resolve her past in order to continue with her future.

8- Fools Rush In Salma Hayek and Chandler fall in like, get prego, then fall in love.

7- The Lake House Whoa, it's like Speed but without the bus. Just kidding, but Speed co-stars Keanu Reeve and Sandra Bullock team up for a unique story of friend two strangers living in the same house but separated by time.

6- Kate and Leopold What happens when you go back in time and bring back Wolverine? Appearantly elevators break and Meg Ryan finds true love.

5- Serendipity Ever since Better Off Dead John Cusack has had a special place in my heart. Here he tries to discover if Kate Beckinsale is really his one true love, or should he stay with his fiancee.

4- Miss Congeniality Ah Sandra, While You Were Sleeping would have made Melissa's top 3 but here you'll have to settle for #4. This is really a great movie with fun humor and a nice ending.

3- Just Friends Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart star in this romatic comedy that I found to be very humorous. Well worth a rent, especially during Christmas time.

2- The Notebook This is perhaps the most tearjerking movie I've seen in a long time. It's a great love story with touching characters and a lot of emotion.

1- 50 First Dates I'm sure you're thinking "Your #1 Chick Flick movie for dudes is an Adam Sandler movie?" and the answer is yes. Of course you have your funny parts, but the over-arching story line is someone that loves someone else so much that he helps her fall in love with him all over again every day. It didn't have the normal Hollywood ending where everything is just fine in the end, he has to do this EVERY SINGLE DAY! I just thought the movie was touching, cute, and shows someone that works on a relationship, not just takes it for granted.

So enjoy Valentine's Day with someone you love, and if you're single, tell your mother that you love her.

I Am Legend vs. The Omega Man

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Thanks to Netflix I recently was able to watch The Omega Man. This was actually the first remake of the movie Last Man on Earth based on the book I Am Legend. The book was originally written in the 50's and was more about zombies and vampires. Having enjoyed the Will Smith version of it (I Am Legend) I thought that the Charleston Heston version would at least be amusing to watch. I was wrong. The Omega Man was a terrible movie to sit through, and though CH has had some great acting performances, this was not one of them. He just seemed so self absorbed it was ridiculous. Then there is the dialog in this movie. It makes the script in Star Wars Episode 2 seem like Shakespeare in comparison. I was able to see a few similarities between the two movies, but hands down "I Am Legend" was so much better. You cared about the Will Smith character, it made more sense how cautious he was during the night, whereas with Charleston you just wish he'd die so you wouldn't have to hear his self-important speeches. And for heaven's sake man, put on a friggin shirt! Uggh, shirtless old men wearing jogging pants should be banned. So there you have it, I Am Legend beats The Omega Man in a landslide!

Haircutting Paradox

I took my boys to a local hair-cutting establishment last Saturday to get them trimmed up a bit. I couldn't help but notice that with the exception of the person that cut Owen's hair, ALL of them had really bad haircuits. One of them had hair that started off ok, but towards the back seem to keep growing to the point you could probably put in a few cans of hairspray inside there and you wouldn't be able to find them. The next one had a combination A-style/finger in socket look ala bad color job. At lastly, but not leastly, the look I like to describe as "1985 called and wants you to stop impersonating Pat Benatar!!!", but with dyed bangs. I should be grateful that no mullets were involved, but I'm just thinking that if it's your job to sell people on your hair-cutting prowess, shouldn't your own quaff reflect your higher sense of hair fashion?

Comic Book Movies - What's coming, what to watch and what to avoid

I'm a lot bummed out that Mitt Romney dropped out of the Presidential Race :( I guess I can take solice in the fact that 2008 will feature a few comic book movies that I'm really looking forward to. First off is Iron Man. I've been a big Iron Man fan since the late 80's and so has the director of the movie. I have high hopes for this one! Next up is Batman: The Dark Knight. This will get a lot of press with the death of Heath Ledger. The first movie was phenomenal and everything that a Batman movie should be. Next up is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It has Harrison as the main man and Speilberg directing it. It WILL be good. Technically it isn't a comic book movie, but I don't care. :) The Hulk is returning in The Incredible Hulk. I liked, but didn't love the first movie. This time he faces off against a villian that's just and strong but smarter than he is. July will have the Batman and Hellboy sequels. Hellboy as a comic didn't hold my interest at all, but I really liked the movie. Hellboy 2 should be equally fun to watch. A couple of other films I should mention, we'll have the 6th Harry Potter movie around Thanksgiving, another James Bond flick at the first part of November, and the latest installment of Star Trek. The prequel to The DiVinci Code will be out in time for Christmas. I loved the book up until the very end, then I got pissed off. If you leave with 5 minutes left in the movie you'll probably enjoy it a lot. So with that said and if you're now jonesing for some over the top comic book action, here is a list of the good, the bad and the ugly, in no particular order of preference.

The Good

Batman Begins - Christian Bale portrays the Batman in the best Dark Knight movie ever!
Ghost Rider - Nicolas Cage is the avenging spirit on a flaming bike fighting against evil.
Hellboy - A baby demon grows up to fight evil along side his unique companions.
MiB - Will Smith learns that not everything is as it seems as he saves the world from hostile aliens.
Sin City - An impressive translation of Frank Miller's graphic novels. Not for the kids.
Spider-man 1&2 - Impressive visual effects and a great story set up the first movie and made it great. The second movie was even better with incredible character development and a bad guy that you cared about. My only gripe is Kirsten Dunst. Uggh.
Superman 1&2 - Christopher Reeve as the quintessential powerhouse and more human than human icon of comic book-dom. These movies were fun to watch and rewatch.
The Mask - Bet you didn't know this was based off a comic book! The source material is actually really dark and violent, but they took the lighter parts of it, throw in Jim Carrey and made for a very funny and entertaining movie.
TMNT - This was a guilty pleasure of mine but the new CGI version that came out was a fun popcorn movie that I would watch with my boys.
X-Men 1, X-Men-2 - Great action, better characters and a plot that made you think. X-Men 2 is one of the best movies of the genre, claws down.

300 - Another Frank Miller graphic novel made into a movie. Based loosely on real life events, this is about 90 minutes of guys killing stuff. Again, not for the kiddies.

The Bad

Daredevil & Elektra - Ben Afflect and Jennifer Gardner may make a cute couple in real life, but their characters were one dimensional and not entertaining.
Catwoman - This wasn't even based on Batman's classic foe. Look up craptastic, you'll see a picture of this movie.
Batman & Robin - Not even George Clooney could save this one. Featuring the Governator and Uma Thurman, this movie had horrible lines, awful costumes (can you say bat-nipples?) and the most disappointing villian with Bane. Bad Bad Bad.
Superman IV - If someone asks you to watch all 5 Superman movies, just politely ask to see the first two. The third installment is bad, but this is just awful! Please, don't watch this one!
Howard the Duck - George Lucas + Talking Duck = Lame
X-Men 3 - I was sad to see this movie. X2 was one of the best, only to be followed up with this pathetic attempt at tying in the Dark Phoenix saga.
Spawn - One of the most popular comics in the 90's was also one of the worst movies too.
MiB 2 - This felt like watching a commercial with all the blatant product placements in it. Rumor has it Will Smith wants to do a third. If it's as bad as the second, please use a neuralizer on me.
Spider-Man 3 - Once again a great franchise that tried to do too much in a 2 hour time frame. Having too many villians was what killed it. You could have made two more movies with the material you had. Venom - cool character, Sandman - great performance that was almost as good as Dr. Octopus. But throwing them all together with the "New Goblin" and it was woeful. I'm sure you'll see a Spider-Man 4, but the series may have jumped the shark.

The Ugly

These are movies that didn't suck so bad to be bad, but weren't good enough to be good, or they spawned several comic books after the movie came out.

Fantastic Four - The first one was almost good, but not quite. The second was was much better, but they screwed up portraying how powerful the Silver Surfer and Galactus are.

The Hulk - Visually this was a great film, but the rabid poodle and super sized Hulk were a bit much.

Superman Returns - Almost as bad as X-3 or Spider-Man 3, I just don't think the Man of Steel was done justice.

Alien vs Predator - Alien 1 & 2 and Predator 1 were awesome!!! Every sequel since then hasn't been as good.

Robocop - Overly violent in the first two installments, and too silly in the third, the series as a whole was lacking. However, one of my favorite comics of all time is Robocop vs Terminator, written by Frank Miller and drawn by Walter Simonson.

Terminator - T1 - ok, T2 - Fantastic, T3 - somewhere inbetween. It's definately time for Ahnold to hang up this role. He's just too flabby. I think they're doing a T4 so that might be kind of fun.

And there you have it. Lots of movies, lots of action and lots of stuff to avoid.

It's Super Tuesday, go vote for Mitt Romney!

I want low taxes, strong national defense, reduced government, improved border strength, stronger economy and someone to run the country that believes that a stronger America depends not on governmental agencies, but the strength of its citizens.

To that end I believe the best candidate out there for President of the United States is Governor Mitt Romney. He has proven time and again that he is an effective leader when it comes to running businesses and governments. Of course as a Utahn I have a soft spot for him for all the great things he did for us with the Olympics, but that was just another feather in his hat for an outstanding career of taking an ailing business and turning it around to make it profitable. I really do admire the way he analyzes problems and comes up with solutions. I can't help but think our government is way too big with a lot of excessive spending, useless and failed social programs, and not enough support of education and energy needs. We are also paying too much in taxes and need to simplify the process. I can't tell you how upset I get when my work wants to reward me for my hard work and give me a bonus as a way of saying thanks, only to turn around and have the IRS take out almost 50% of it! That's MY hard earned money that MY employeer wants to give me for MY efforts. Mitt Romney wants to put more of my paycheck back into my wallet.

He wants to use a free market approach to provide health care for those that can't afford it on their own. Having the government run health care is a really bad idea. Think about it, do you want the same governing entity that fills in potholes to help take out your appendix? Using a similar approach of what he did in Massachusetts, Governor Romney will help those that can't afford it to have private insurance to get covered.

I could go on and on, but if you are undecided which candidate to vote for at least look at what Mitt Romney is running for and see if that's what you want too. I don't think the other folks that are running are in the same league with business acumen and experience. I don't want higher taxes or more government agencies or someone who's afraid of increase our own energy output. What makes America great are people that lift themselves up decide to take their destiny into their own hands. I think Mitt is one of those kinds of people that can help our wonderful country continue to be the shining light of liberty and hope to the rest of the world. Vote for Mitt!

Super Bowl wrap up and amazing new discovery

Congrats to the Giants! Of course the game got a lot better after I go to bed :( I caught up on a few of the commercials I missed too. Favs: Will Ferrell's Bud commercial, Iron Man trailer, Doritos mouse trap, and Dalmation/Clydesdale. Lame commercials: Charles Barkley phone, Super model and lizards doing Thriller, GoDaddy.com, Underarmor.

I realized today that after years of eating them, I just don't care much for Crunch bars.

Another day, another 2 feet of snow

I woke up this morning and noticed near white-out conditions out side. Then it got worse. I shoveled my driveway, then the neighbor that has to go to the doctor tomorrow, then another, then another, then another, then another, then mine, then one more. It snowed so bad they canceled church today. I'm guessing the Super Bowl gods really wanted us to stay home today :) Anywho, we've had snow off and on today, we are supposed to get some more tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. My neighbor did the right thing. He and his family are enjoying perfect weather in Hawaii right now. At least he let me use his snowblower!

Super Bowl update. It's now halftime, Pats are up 7-3, the commercials have been ok, but overall the game is kind of boring. I'm guessing New England is going to win it. At least the food we made was delicious, though I will admit my guacamole was a little too limey.

Tagged by Melissa

Rules: Read and enjoy. Everyone that I would tag has already been tagged.

10 years ago:I was a bright eyed student at Weber State University persuing a career in medicine. I was also working at UPS and would later get a job at Clarke American where I would meet my wife. I also weighed about 40lbs less.

5 things on my to-do list today:1) Figure out why a query still isn't working 2) Successfully drop off my boys and pay for Owen's day care. 3) Make salsa for work tailgate party. 4) Buy some Doritos for said party. 5) Spend time with family before I got to all night teachers quorum activity at 24 hour fitness.

I Enjoy: Sleeping, eating steak and potatoes, listening to my ipod, playing with my family and massages.

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire:Pay off my debt, Pay off my family's debt, Buy all of my family new homes and cars, except for my father-in-law, he just got a new Corvette. Set up Trusts for Jesse and Owen. Invest for retirement. Donate a bunch to church and to other organizations! Buy a SWEET car. Buy another one just in case. Buy my buddies the same car, but different color. Buy a race track to race our cars. Go on vacation and visit every temple on the planet. Buy an ATV with a snow plow in case we have another never ending winter like this year. Get a gym pass.

3 of my bad habits:1) Bad Temper 2) Occasionally get food on my face while eating. 3)Not calling Melissa if I'm going to be late.

5 places I have lived:1)Bountiful 2)Provo 3) Mexico 4)West Jordan 5)South Jordan

5 jobs that I have had:1) eBay Business Analyst 2)Echopass - Helpdesk guy 3)Geneva Pipe - Night Shift Crew Man and Hand Impalement Specialist 4) Blue Coat System - Internet Filter guy. 5)Home - Baby sitter. All of these happened in the last yer.

5 things people don't know about me:1) I want to run for Congress when I'm older. 2) I want to publish some stories I have bouncing around in my head. 3) I want to rewrite Episodes 1-3 for Star Wars. Maybe I'll do that in a separate blog. 4) I have a bottle of antacid tablets at my desk. 5) I named the two crows I see at my other job "Jack" and "O'Neil".