Intellectual Poison

So I've just declared today to be "Time to Start Drinking" Day. Not that you necessarily have to start drinking but if you add that sentence on to the end of everything you say today, the cumulative effect over the course of the day would be to add a tremendous amount of funny to the universe.

And we funny people need to work to counter the really un-funny antics of the too-tight-underwear league, i.e. the Republican Party.

So, for the rest of the day, append your conversations with "Time to start drinking" and enjoy the hilarity.

Unless you're at an AA meeting and then you can substitute, "Time to stop drinking". I don't want to be responsible for any backslides.
Tags: Time to Start Drinking Day

Okay, Survivor was back on after being off for two weeks so college basketball idiocy could grip the nation. Overall, it was a pretty good episode that helped me solidify a few thoughts

One, Shane, the marketer guy, is a complete and utter douchebag. He's a rude, arrogant asshole and I hope that he gets nowhere near the final two. Being so overt and calling your six together for a pow-wow is just so over the top and incredibly assholish that I hope the guy gets hurt and has to leave the damned show. Nothing permanent, maybe a good knock upside the head though.

Two, Courtney, the fire dancer, is one of the ugliest and fakest people I've ever seen on TV. She's annoying, stupid and rude too. I lost any respect for her when she did her stretching IN Bruce's rock garden, that's so beyond fucking rude that I would have thrown her into the ocean.

Three, seeing Bruce get hit in the face with the blade side of the machete made my stomach turn. I was expecting a mess but he ended up being okay and that's just amazing. I like Bruce.

Four, did I mention that Shane is an asshole? And who names their son, Boston? I'm sorry, dude, but that's almost as bad as naming your child Apple (ala Gwenyth Paltrow).

Five, Aras has been playing every side he can and comes off like a bit of a weasel.

Six, did Danielle take the week off? She said almost nothing the entire show.

Seven, I'd hoped for some drama in the vote at the end but Bruce didn't flip over and one of the truly good people on the show, Nick, got voted out.

Eight, how do I know Nick was one of the best people on the show? He used his moment of reflection at the end of the show to send a message to 20somethings telling them to find themselves and that was just a really good and cool thing to do. Major props to him for it as most folks just grouse about getting kicked off.

Nine, if Shame or Courtney win this Survivor, I will never watch the show again. Neither of them deserves anything but scorn and I'm really sick of the assholes running the show. Especially when there are good, decent people like Terry, Dan, Bruce, Nick, Sally and Austin.
Tags: Survivor, wrap-up, soapbox

Okay, the Geico gecko is waaay overplayed and should be retired as an advertising vehicle. But I'm Geico still thinks its a hip, edgy and funny campaign so we'll be "treated" to many more months of bad commercials.

What I'd like to know is why does the gecko have an Australian accent? Is Geico an Aussie company? Is there any connection aside from their belief that the accent makes the lizard funnier?

Because it doesn't. The gecko is done. Please hire another agency to help you come up with a new advertising hook. Please? I might even check out your site to see that you can't touch my rates if you do. That's a start, right?
Tags: Geico, gecko, australian accent, played out, please stop

I came across this Plasma Tunnel screensaver and wanted to pass it on. Its for Macs, sorry.

Its pretty sweet.
Tags: mac, screensaver, plasma tunnel

It has begun, my quest to recoup money owed to me by my previous employer. I have started the process with an offer of an easy settlement without putting the issue into the public record because of my previous relationship with the new guy running the company.

If the company was still being run by the person who hired me then we would already be in court because I know a waste of time when I see one. And there's no way that the company would willingly pay me unless the guy running the company now is able to make them see that this is the cheapest and best solution.

So we shall see what happens next. But just in case, I will be meeting with a lawyer next week to discuss my next options. Most likely a legal letter demanding payment and then a lawsuit if they are dense enough to ignore the easy outs.

Which is entirely possible at this point. I know how my old boss's chin would get set and nothing (literally nothing) could make that thick, ego-driven brain switch. Though I expect they are and should be concerned about a lawsuit since those tend to scare off prospective buyers.
Tags: first salvo, , owed money, work

Maybe I'm missing something here but what is the point of putting Playboy centerfolds on a radio program?
Tags: Playboy, centerfold, radio

Its just like stealing dinner from Grandma to buy bullets and bombs. In fact, that is exactly what it is.

Low-income S.F. seniors to lose food boxes to federal cutbacks and where is that money going to go to be used? The news report this morning said the money would go to the Department of Defense which means that it will, eventually, be given to Halliburton.

I truly do not understand how this government continues to enjoy support from the very same people that it is screwing over with this bullshit.

I saw a Geo Prizm this morning that had a Bush/Cheney '04 bumper sticker on it and I had to give props to the Republicans for so convincingly pulling the wool over people's eyes with their lies and wedge issues.

Folks, unless you earn in the top 5% of this country, then the Republican ticket is not intended to benefit you. And its alot more aimed at the top 1%. The Republicans are not concerned with your inability to pay your bills or get adequate healthcare, they are concerned with lining their pockets, spending money faster than at any time in history, becoming embroiled in an unwinnable land war in the Middle East (despite nearly every military expert and the president's own father strongly advising against it) to the eventual tune of $2 TRILLION by some estimates.

The upcoming elections are the next best chance to send a very, very clear message to Washington that We The People will not stand idly by while they raid our nation of its resources and sell its future in the form of an ever-increasing debtload. We The People need to throw these crooked bastards out, investigate their dealings and punish the guilty very severely.
Tags: hungry, seniors, misappropriation

Please God, if you really do exist, can you do me (and I bet a whole bunch of other people) a big favor and strike Bam Margera down? One good lightning bolt should do it. Or maybe convert him into a pillar of coke. To be instantly set upon and snorted out of existence by his "posse" of Jackass orphans.

Talk about outliving your fifteen minutes, dude. Your fifteen minutes ended years ago and your mugging the camera is just lame, stupid and annoying. Almost as lame and stupid as pranking your fat, stupid family.
Tags: Bam Margera, go away you talentless moron

Maybe I caught a bad episode or a bad challenge or something but watching a basketball pro and a swimming pro skate was about as painful as watching knee surgery. And the Joes, the average couch surfing wankers, try to skate was ten times as painful.

Truly. They were absolutely awful. And I have absolutely zero doubt that I could have kicked every one of their asses on the ice. Not that I'm a great skater but at least I know what I'm doing. Sure, Clyde Drexler would destroy me on a basketball court but that's no big whoop, that's what he made his living doing. Same thing for Gary Hall Jr. in the pool.

Damn though, that was some truly pathetically awful television.

Let's see if the final "Overtime" deal makes up for that terrible crap they put on before. Not so far, get by Drexler on a basketball court, catch two kicks from Mort Anderson, hold your breath as long as Gary Hall Jr. (though this is stupid and unnecessary because the two Joes go against each other), catch wild pitches from John Rocker (yeah, Good Ol' Boy John "Racist" Rocker) and then score a basket against Lisa Lobo. Its just a bad and stupid show that could have been so much better.
Tags: Pros vs. Joes, hockey, bad tv

Here are a couple of versions of a video I shot over the weekend at the Monster Jam in San Jose. Have you ever seen a truck do 360's in the same place? Well, then choose the Small (about 220K) or the Large (2.2 MB), turn up your speakers and enjoy the (short) show.

This was the highlight of the evening but there were some other pretty cool moments as well. Also, right after this truck did its thing here, it went down, jumped the five pancaked cars and got a little out of form in the air and was not able to stay upright when it came down. Much the delight of the approving crowd.

I mean, what's a Monster Jam without a truck rolling onto its side, getting righted and then the show going on? Why, that would be the much less popular event called the Monster Lame.

I'll get the new video added to the IP: Media page tomorrow.
Tags: Monster Jam, 360, donuts, holy, Monster Truck, sweet, burning rubber

I never understand those people that set their windshield wipers on warp speed when there is barely even a mist coming down.

Its comical to watch the blades whip back and forth and remove no water. Are these people unaware that they have slower speeds to choose from? Or is it a mentality thing, i.e. "I paid for high speed wipers, I'm going to use high speed wipers"?

I don't get it and they look stupid. So there.
Tags: rain, windshield wipers, set to stun

We had a pretty darned fun and full Saturday that included getting rained on, playing disc golf with pals, losing our nice leather leash, seeing (and hearing) a monster truck spin three sixty's in place, seeing a monster truck jump 20 feet in the air and then fall over on its side and playing cards until waaaaay too late this morning.

Yes, I'm beat now and today will be a pretty low key day all around but that's alright. I've got a fantasy draft coming up shortly.
Tags: tag, noise, fun, exhaust, poker

Okay, so Debra Lafave screwed one of her 14 year old students. And now part of the charges against her have been dropped because the trial would have been too much of an ordeal for her the boy.

Now, Debra's been shined up quite a bit since her initial arrest and is now a pretty great looking woman, who screws 14 year old boys. And its appearing more and more likely that she won't even do jail time for sex with a minor.

Now just imagine that Debra was Dang and that he was not going to end up doing any jail time for having sex with a 15 year old girl. Feel your rage building? Why is that? Same crime just a different gender. Well let it subside because Dang Van Dinh has been sentenced to jail time and has begun serving a five year sentence. For the exact same thing that Debra Lafave did.

Why is there this monstrous double standard? If Debra was David then there would be no plea bargain, there would be no dropping of charges, there would be outrage at the suggestion of a reduction of sentence. Why does this woman get away with a crime? What's to stop the next lonely Laura from shredding her social contract as a teacher who is supposed to protect her students and bedding down with them too? Nothing. They won't go to jail and I'm sure there are book deals, movie deals and all kinds of other shit in the works for Lefave to profit from her crimes.

She will be a role model to other teachers who want to fuck their students. Just make sure you're not a male teacher. That's the message I'm taking from this.

Oh yeah, and when you're in trouble you should invoke God's name as often as possible, it somehow placates the angry masses. But maybe that only works if you're an attractive woman.

At the very least she should be a registered sex offender for the rest of her life.
Tags: double standard, Debra Lafave, sex crime

Today on Maury, bad mothers who stuff their obese children with whatever food they want whenever they want and can't understand why their five year old weighs TWO HUNDRED and TWELVE pounds.

What planet are these absolute fools from? They're unable to recognize that THEY are the problem, that they are the ones who are supposed to set the rules and that they are enabling their children to eat themselves to a premature death. And they will. Have you ever seen a two hundred pound five year old? There's little chance any of these kids will ever lead a normal life. Their bodies have already been permanently altered by such excess weight at such a young age.

Thanks mom. Or not.

How is this not negligence on a par with starving your child? Its easily just as detrimental to the child. How is this not abuse?
Tags: obese, children, fat, 200 pound five year old, eating to death

I like irony, it tickles me.

A pron star has produced a highly rated red wine, which might as well be called Boobs and Wine from all the photos I've seen so far. And the irony is what she says in the interview,

"I never wanted to just do gimmick. That would just happen with me being a porn star, me having a photographer shoot the label, how risque could I get on the label -- all those things," Samson, the stage name for 31-year-old Natalie Oliveros, said in an interview.

Funny how every single photo involved in this new wine shows a set of boobs in very close proximity and exposure or some other risque pose that says "I used to have sex on camera and now I make wine, hehehe". Mmmmm, iron-ocalicious.

Bleh.

But far, far less annoying and stupid than a new law in Texas where the fucking genius cops are going to go undercover into bars and observe people drinking beer and, holy em-effing-shizzle, they get drunk. And then arrest them for it. Thanks Texas. It looks like a Battle Royale between you and South Dakota for Biggest DutchBag State in the Country. Woohoo! I love the incredibly pathetic justification for it too (well not really)

The goal, she [Carolyn Beck, the spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission] said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

Or walk home or skip home or get a cab or go make a booty call. Oooh, thanks Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for being my daddy and making sure I don't misbehave or fall down and hurt myself.

Or wait, nevermind, I don't live in fucking Texas. Hell, I won't even take a flight with a layover in Texas. As a commenter on MeFi suggested, can't we just cut Texas loose from the Union altogether?
Tags: wine, porn, irony, Texas, fucktards

Hypocrisy is a bitch, ain't it, dude?
Tags: Isaac Hayes, South Park, hypocrisy

I've had several over the last few weeks but have lost them for a lack of a means to record them. But not this one. I caught and saved it and am sharing it now.

Today's New Word of the Day is: Hateteen - that eighteen year old with nothing but fury, anger and hate in their eyes and heart. Or maybe just a kid with an anger problem.
Tags: hateteen, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

I'm about to head up to Santa Cruz to get the hitch installed on my Escape so that I'll be able to get a bike rack and load up the car with the entire family and the bikes AND the dog and we'll all be able to go and play.

I cannot wait!

And the other great news is that my big sister is en route to California as we speak! She's coming out for some professional stuff but has been able to combine it with a quick visit here and another visit up in the city with one of our cousins. She hasn't seen Grady in a bunch of months now and he's advanced so far beyond where he was back in November.

But I've gotta get rolling, plenty to do today.
Tags: sister, visit, trailer hitch

Here's a really good column by Jon Carroll about people like Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church of Hate.

Come on, protesting a soldier's funeral?

But the best part is that, while he and his furious ilk are free to protest, those of us who do not hate and fear are also free to counter his protest. Men like Tom Angell, a Vietnam Vet, who has joined a group of vets called the Patriot Guard Riders, they aim to counter the protest/assaults of the Phelps Hate Corps. They are now nearly 18,000 strong, more power to them. More power to anyone who will stand up against hate and tyranny. And nothing but shame for Phelps and his flock of hate-mongers.
Tags: soldier, funeral, protest, Patriot Guard Riders, veteran, bikers

You'd think dropping eight damned dollars on a sub would mean you're more than likely to get something reasonably decent to eat, wouldn't you? But then you would be mistaken if you were laying that assumption on a place like Quizno's, a sandwich shop that charges too much for using a toaster.

Well, it doesn't matter anymore anyway, I'm never going to go in one of their shitty little shops again. A sandwich shouldn't cost $8, just like Carl's Jr.'s Six Dollar Burger campaign now has burgers that cost $7 and more.

Let's recap: Quizno's equals over-priced and under-qualitied. There are better places to drop some cash for a sandwich.

Tags: Quizno's, sucks, bad

Simply awesome! The I/O Brush allows someone to sample any color, patterns, texture, text or whatever in the real world and use it like paint in the digital world. This is simply too fucking cool for words. Here's a video of the brush in action (sorry about the annoying soundtrack).

Sucks that the only place to play with it right now is in Austria. But think about the possibilities with this thing, think about decorating, think about letting kid's play with it, think about having crossing this with a projector to allow kids to "paint" an entire wall like this. Really cool!
Tags: digital, brush, cool tech

I often end up thinking about my own dad when I play with my son. I guess that's natural really, maybe cathartic. I think about what I'm doing with my little boy, making him laugh and giggle and run around with his hands flapping. I think about when I was my son's age and my father playing with me in the same way.

Its hard to know just how much you are going to miss someone until they are gone. I think about that while loving my son and feeling very vulnerable. I look forward to so much with him, I look forward to him waking up from his nap.

I wonder if my dad played around with me in the same way. I wonder if he blew raspberries on my tummy, I wonder if he knew just where to tickle, I wonder if he knew just the right height to carry me so that my head could cradle under his neck and chin. I'm sure he did.

I wonder if my dad wrinkled his nose up at a gnarly poo-filled diaper. I wonder what he sang to me when I was almost ready to go to sleep. I wonder if he savored those moments that he spent with me. I hope he did. I know I do.
Tags: fatherhood, dad, son

I just had a cashier at a gas station tell me that I had to get either $10, $20 or $30 of gas. I asked if I was not allowed to get $35 and she said no. I asked if she was serious but the dull glaze in her eye already gave me the answer.

I'm guessing she was forcing people to use whole round numbers to avoid having to engage her math skills. I bet she was really happy when gas was $2, $2.50 and $3 so she could avoid her brain more easily.

And I've got some new dirt of my old work! As well as a new opportunity that may be presenting itself to me. As well as some other options that have become available.

Tags: gas, Math is Hard, dumb gas

The Intellectual Poison Fantasy Baseball League is almost ready for primetime action but we're still short a couple of teams.

Want to come and play some free fantasy baseball? Drop me a note or leave a comment with your email and I'll get you invited.

Tags: fantasy, baseball, league

Dear CBS,

Next time, just skip it altogether. This season was kind of a lame duck to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the idea of the Exile Island as a twist and punishment and sometimes reward. But this current cast of characters just isn't getting it done. There are some interesting ones, sure, but the overall feeling of this season is that its been done, better.

An hour long "show" that is alot of wasted time with a couple of cutting room floor scenes added back in to keep the suckers watching.

Bad idea, CBS, bad idea Survivor, bad idea Mark Burnett.

And now people will stew on how stupid and a waste of time last night's show was two whole weeks because of the retardedness that is March Madness? Brilliant! At this rate, you'll can the show before the start of the next season.
Tags: Survivor, fake show, worthless

Garfield is about the lamest sack of shit posing as an entertainment comic with the possible exception of Cathy being less funny.

But what happens when you remove all over the responses from Garfield and Odie? Then it becomes one sad loser talking to his cat and dog all the time. And, strangely, the comic strip becomes marginally humorous for the first time ever.
Tags: Garfield, comic, rewrite

Being forced out of the hospital after major surgery is crazy and wrong. Having a mastectomy is a major procedure and women have been forced out of the hospital before having a chance to recover because it helps save costs.

You can sign a petition/pledge to get Congress to pass the Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill, a bill mandating 48-hour recovery periods for mastectomy patients. Go here and sign to add your support.

Thanks, skootch.
Tags: breast cancer, Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill, pledge

Listening to Doug and Bob McKenzie, the beer-loving Canadians from Strange Brew dubbed into Spanish. I do not wish to elaborate. What's the Spanish for "hoser"?

Tags: Strange Brew, dub, Spanish

The pulling, cutting and reseating of the sink? Done.
The pull of the counter, cleaning of the wall, spackling the wall, spraying with orangepeel, painting and then finally reseating the counter snugly against the pretty wall? Done.
The repair to the sink's drain system? Done.

New projects?
Repair the downstairs bathroom sink.
Drain, clean and relocate hot tub.
Cut 4x4 and cement footing into place to brace deck for hot tub.
Gate for deck.

The rain isn't helping to make it possible to get things done. As in, I got the deck cleaned off and ready to move and the hot tub draining (a process that took around 7 hours total, I think) and then the rain came again and then the hail. I know that other parts of the country are getting bashed up good by late winter storms.

Yeah and the lightning is striking close enough to shake the stuff on the walls. Oh boy!
Tags: house projects, hot tub, lightning

I saw the news this morning that the sales of cigarettes are at their lowest point since 1951 which is impressive and good. But then, any product that continually kills off its customers should be, eventually, bound to suffer because of it.

Its easy to forget about smoking living here in California. Sure, there are people that smoke but they are not the norm, they are the exception. Visiting Arizona this last weekend it was kind of scary and pretty gross just how many people were lighting up, everywhere. In bars, on the street, in restaurants, everywhere. It was nasty. I'd forgotten about smoking and non-smoking sections, I'd forgotten that people love, love, love their little cancer sticks.

The article says 378 billion cigarettes were sold in the US in 2005. Just think about that for a moment. Now think that the cost for each one of those cigarettes is about twenty-five cents. That is nearly $100 billion spent on something that does nothing but kill, make ill and pollute the environment. One hundred billion dollars. To give people the power to slowly poison themselves and the environment. Wow.

But hey, reducing use is a really good step in the right direction. Now let's all work on making that 378,000,000,000 figure up there into a 0. Okay?
Tags: smoking, death, decline, cancer, tobacco, poison

Anyone who knows me knows that I've been on the lookout for some property to buy and build a house on. I live in one of the most expensive places to live in the country and that's not really helping the process very much at all. Neither is the fact that much of the land in this area is more vertical than horizontal.

But I am still persevering and have found several lots that could be workable given some other issues having been worked out.

Like housing. To undertake the creation of a new place to live, we are going to have to to sell our current house (yeah, I know, boo hoo) and then live on the land that we are going to build our house on. That means either portable housing, temporary housing or another structure that we can have delivered to the site, constructed and would become a rental property.

To that end, I've done many hours of research and a large variety of building methods, techniques and possibilities. And the expense runs the gamut from dirt cheap (around $10 a square foot) to, uh, not so dirt cheap (around $250 a square foot) and encompasses an astonishing range of steps in between.

One thing I can work on from my end though, is the floor plan and layout. Lots of web searching has given me a really good basis to work from and develop the layout of the house. After we've got a basic idea put together, I'm going to construct a model of the house with my Legos so we can revise and make sure that we get everything where we want it and how we want and check clearances and see if we need some stuff or don't need other stuff.

The current front running design is a modified H structure with a central living area and two wings on each side. If the Lego mock ups come out reasonably well, I'll post some pics for feedback.

It's nice to be home even if it has rained much of the time since we got back. But it sure is sunny right now.
Tags: property, house design, Legos, construction, architecture, California

We got out to the game substantially earlier yesterday. Plenty of time to scout a sweet spot for the game, plenty of time to watch batting practice, plenty of time to get within a few feet of Barry Bonds, plenty of time to snap some photos of the Team USA studs getting stretched and warmed up, plenty of time to chat with the other familiesw around us and plenty of time to enjoy what Spring Training is all about.

At one point Roger Clemens was talking with Johnny Damon, Mike Timlin, Al Lieter, Brad Lidge and Jake Peavy in the deep left field. And Randy Winn was chatting with Ken Griffey Jr. in centerfield. The stars were out and it was pretty darned awesome to see them all hanging out and enjoying baseball together. Check out the Flick photo when Flickr comes back online, its the starting lineup for the game and reads like an All-Star roster.

Notwithstanding one disgruntled person in the Yankee organization that put out a sign in their stadium apologizing for the missing Yankee superstars. Whatever, its the pre-season and the games don't count but getting a chance to see some of the games biggest names all on the same squad was unforgettable even if Barry didn't play (he is, by the way, a very big and imposing man in person). The World Baseball Classic is one of the best things that Bud Selig has done for baseball and I hope it succeeds in spreading baseball across the globe.

This was a learning expedition as much as a vacation and we've been taking notes for next year. Among my learned lessons: a hotel suite is far superior to just a room if you have children, especially if there's a mini-kitchen to use; Phoenix is HUGE, really beyond your comprehension, in fact, my pal told me the city now covers more square miles than Los Angeles; at Spring Training alot of the good action happens before the game begins so the earlier you can get to the game the better (but they don't open the gates more than 2 hours early); bring a blanket or plan on buying one if you've got General Admission tickets; a camera with a high powered optical zoom is a requirement if you plan on taking some snaps.

Are we coming back next year? Hell yeah! And now I've got alot more info to plan the trip out so we can have even more fun!
Tags: baseball, Spring Training, tips, World Baseball Classic, WBC

I forget what Arizona is like in the intervening years between my visits here. But I remember very quickly as its impossible to not get the "Attitude" from the airport on out.

The Valley of the Sun has alot going for it but one of the most irritating aspects is the mentality of the folks who live here. There's a pervasive sense of "fuckyouitis" here meaning people will cut you off, step ahead of you in line and basically treat you like a doormat if you let them. Its kind of a shitty mentality here and it rubs the hell out of me after a little while.

But its alright, we're here for a short trip and I'm not going to let a little assholery get me down when we're watching ballgames and enjoying family time. Yesterday's game was a good fun one with about 10,000 people attending it was a good sized crowd for a spring training game. Lance Niekro provided all the offense the Giants needed to secure the meaningless win (meaningless since it doesn't really count against the season record but very useful in evaluating rookie talent and for getting pitchers into game shape).

Jason Schmidt pitched a strong outing, looking pretty sharp, pretty strong and like he had a good and live fastball. I hope he has a good year. We did not see batting practice as the munchkin's nap collided with that opportunity but we're rallying up and heading out early today in the hopes of seeing Barry doink a few balls into tomorrow. He hasn't played in any games yet but he's still working on that sweet swing and that'll be fun to watch.

So we're headed out to watch the Giants take on the US World Baseball Classic squad. Yippee!

Just don't let your guard down on the roads in Arizona or you'll find yourself buggered, quickly.

And I can definitely recommend My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Mill Ave in Tempe, excellent dinner, great service and they've got tobacco hookahs at the bar while you wait (if you are so inclined).
Tags: Arizona, attitude, spring training, baseball

Found this over on MetaFilter today and wanted to pass it along as it is pretty damned cool, here's The Simpsons intro done in live action.
Tags: Simpsons, live action, youtube

The family is flying down to Arizona today for a weekend in the Valley of the Sun and some spring training baseball fun. Its something I've wanted to do for years and years but have not been able to for one reason or another.

But not this year. This year we crossed off all the excuses not to go and figured out how to go and we're going.

Two baseball games in a couple of days and one trip to the zoo. As well as being able to share my old stomping grounds with my family and we might even run into an old friend or two while we're out there.

The best part? I've been working on getting Graydon to say "baseball" or "Barry" for the last week or so and he's got "baseball" down pretty well now but no "Barry". The way he says "baseball" is really sweet and funny too, much like pretty much everything else he does. It comes out "Bay-bawl" and he's quite enthusiastic!

And here's a little baseball oldie but goodie for you all, Randy Johnson goes bird hunting with his fastball.
Tags: baseball, Arizona, spring training, Randy Johnson, birdhunting