Out Of Room

I've been doing this blog for over four years now and I can't believe this happened, I ran out of room for pictures. If you ever wonder how I put pictures on here, I usually scour the web for something silly, save it to my computer then upload it to Blogger. Blogger has a place holder and I am allowed a certain amount of space. For the last few post I ran into an error and come to find out that my Picasa account was full. When I was trying to do a home video business I thought it would be great to put all my video on Google video and that would be a great place to store them and use that to link them to websites. I bought a couple Gigabyte of space and all was good.Well, Google bought YouTube and that ended that fun so I started put all of Logan's photos there so we could have them and not lose them with another computer crash.

With money being tight and the addition of a Terrabyte hard drive the extra Picasa space was not needed. I'm now trying to go through and delete unwanted photos on Picasa Web. I'll have more room, but it feels weird deleting pictures of Logan. I know I have them saved on the main computer, two external drives, on my iPod and on a Shutterfly account. What's more important, a sixth place to store his photos or a folder full of random pictures.

The Next Fad

I do a little bit of work with the kids at my church. It's me mostly acting stupid and trying to get the other host to break character. The kids usually come up to me before and after the show and talk. A couple of weeks ago a kid named Owen showed me his arm and he had what appeared to be those gel bands that were popular in the 80s and then a few years ago started to have "meaning" and then schools band them.

I thought it was odd that a third grader had all these bands, but he explained that they were silly bandz. If you do not have kids or are not hip to the trends of middle schoolers, they are gel bands that have shapes. The first one Owen showed me was a baseball. I looked around the theater (I should let you know the church is in a movie theater) and two-thirds of the kids had a wrist full of these bands. I'm a nice guy so last week I was comic host again and so I thought I'd go to the local chain drug store and I ask for "those stupid bands the kids love." Before I finished the woman walked over with a container of these silly bandz. She told me they can't keep them on the selves and gets calls daily asking if they have them in. That should have been the first clue. I bought three packs of ten for about $9.

I walk into the theater before the show and the kids were wondering what's in the bag. I told a couple of the older kids and I was almost attacked and ripped limb for limb as the kids wanted these bands. I kept telling everyone that they were the prizes for the games and I heard 15 voices in unison shouting "pick me!" I give in a little and let some of the kids trade for the bands. After 15 minutes I had a completely different set of bandz than I walked in with. I finally break free and we start. We get to the game show part and by that time EVERY kid knew what I had and I almost had them rush the stage to be contestants. I pick my kids and others gave me "you said you pick me." After the show I still had a couple left and then I was attacked again. I had kids who were normally the good quite onces grasping at the bag. I felt like the kids were zombies and these bandz were human brains. I was finally out and still the kids were upset, I learned my lesson that day, why didn't I think of this idea!

It was probably a mistake, someone at the jelly wristband factory made a batch that was deformed and instead of throwing them all out the manager gave a few to his kid. One looked like a star or something and the other kids thought it was awesome. The kid comes home and asks for more. The manager parent gets the idea to sell them and try and make other shapes, and a fad is born. The company is making money hand over fist and then comes the competitors and all is great but like all fads by the time we hit September the fad will be over.

Look at all the stupid kid trends, Beanie Babies, pet rocks, mood rings, garbage pail kids, zhu-zhu pets and countless others. Why can't I get one of these ideas, sure it would be a firework type ride but at least I could make something off of it. Start the fad, sell to a larger company and see it fall to ruins. Isn't that the new American dream? Create something worthless that will make money? Now I just need that idea.

Social Media

I've had a year and a half problem trying to write on this blog, I don't want to be depressive and to be honest I have had a form of writers block as well. The words have not flowed as much as I liked. We few new things have helped out, what became a free laptop, Wireless connection in the house and some hope has started to get me wanting to write. It's a whole lot easier to sit on the couch and watch a TV in front of me instead of at a desktop where I had to turn around to watch a movie.

Also I started a new blog and I think the creative juices flowing. I'm writing about music in my life. It's not going to be about reviews or even what music I like. It's going to be about when I hear a song it can take me to a place in time. The first post is about the song The Power by Snap. After that I have created three other post that will be released of the next few days.

I did post the first link on Facebook and I had someone tell me it was an interesting concept and wanted to know if I wanted help getting exposure. I responded any help will be appreciated but to be honest, I'm not doing this to make any kind of money or have any real kind of fame. I just want to create the creativity flowing and this has been a great stress reliever.

I understand social media is the new thing but at times I think we are putting way too much into it. People are making careers out of tweeting and blogging. How, I have no idea but it just seems to be a glorified networking thing. Most of the time I see people trying to use Facebook or Twitter for a means to an end it comes across as annoying and pushy. "Hey I've got some new stuff you will want." "I just read an article that will improve your business."

I am the worst at networking, I'm so bad I lost a card to a connection that could have possible gotten me a little work. For me this is a hobby that eats up time and forces me to try and use skills I am lacking... typing and getting a message across. Would I like to make money doing this? Sure, but I'd rather not turn this hobby into a faux career. I already have a hard time trying to do freelance video.

When Did I Walk Into A Sit-Com

Yesterday was one of those days where I keep looking around for the studio audience. I just felt like I was in a bad sit-com and could not get out. It started and pretty much ended with Logan. The Wife was getting him ready for a bath and handed of a naked Logan to me. Guess what happened next, my stomach started to feel warm and wet, I got pee-ed on. Then I felt like I was changing shirts and pants all day. I got pee-ed on again this time it was on my pants and underwear and no I did not pee myself and blamed Logan.

Logan also is dealing with a nasty allergy cold that turned into an infection. He is stuffy and full of mucus and I ended up changing three more shirts that were covered in snot. Also he has a bacteria that could lead to pink eye. I've been without insurance since December 08 and have become a little bit of a hypochondriac. With my allergies and now this new development I keep checking my eye seeing if I have pink eye. "Oh no, I have watery eyes and they are sore!" I run to the bathroom and wash my hands every ten minutes and then look at my eye, rewash my hands and start to worry again. I should work my day up into a script and try to sell it to one of those bad parent sit-com's on ABC or CBS.

Lost Fill In

With King Tom a little busy I said I would become a middle reliever and do a blog post for this weeks Lost. I just got back from a trip to Ohio less than two hours before the show started so I hope I can do King Tom justice.

Fortunately for me this week's show is about one of the best characters on the show, Hurley. He's funny, when it's a Hurley show we get answers and his character is just plain interesting. Not only do the fans like him, but it appears that the island is a fan of Hugo as well. In the past Hurley has been the Haley Joel Osmond of the show and has seen dead people on the island. Michael showed up and we learn that dead people trapped on the island because they can't move on (almost a cop out to one of original theories about the island). I've had the impression the island wants Hurley to be the new Jacob and all the other candidates are there to play a supporting role in this play.

Hurley has always followed but over the last couple of seasons he has started to find his voice and is becoming a leader. Now Hurley is to the point of deceiving people to get a solution, taking everyone to the Black Rock just to blow it up and telling Richard that he saw Jacob. We have seen this before and it usually turns bad (Ben and Whidmore come to mind). Will Hurley be strong enough to not divert and become corrupt, will he throw the ring into the mountain to end the rain of Sauron... wait, I just slipped into Lord of the Rings. I hope Hurley continues to listen to the more reliable dead people and become the ruler of middle earth... I mean the new Jacob.

I'm interested in seeing how the meet up of fLocke will go, seriously how can anything good happen from this. I know its a show and most likely everything will "work out" but seriously I hope the writers do not mess with me.

Before I move on I should probably talk about the sideways world, I love the fact that Hurley is successful and not cursed. He seems to be the only one not haunted by something. I think the writers kind of forced this episode. I still don't know why they killed Libby off, but they had to explain the whole Libby in the same insane asylum thing. For the first time I could have not done with the Hurley story off island. It was great to hear Hurley mention an alternate universe. In his own way he has become the common fan voice in the show.

The secondary story involves, Desmond and his special powers in both realities. I have a theory on this, based on the fact that Dez can see Jacob, well at least teenage Jacob. So far three people have seen this "vision" fLocke, Hurley and Desmond. Obviously fLocke because he is the man in black, yet why Desmond and Hurley. If this were an S.A.T question it would look like this Sayid is to fLocke as Desmond is to Hurley. When you see sideways Desmond gun down Locke it shows he knows something and Locke had to die. As I laid in bed after the show I kept thinking about these two character's interaction and each knows what has to be done. fLocke needs Desmond gone and Desmond has to kill fLocke. This will become the new Ben v Locke for the remainder of the series.

Here are some random thoughts that I could not fit into the two main stories:

Interesting to see Jack just give in completely, he wants to lead and "fix" everything. I have no idea what Jake's new role will be but I'm starting to like him again.

I was listening to the BS Report podcast, Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman were talking about Lost and it was interesting to hear them talk about how violent this show is, but the violence is only used when necessary and that makes it more shocking. Well Ilanna getting blown up was unexpected and shocking. This lead Ben to maybe give a nugget of information. "Island was done with her, makes me wonder what will happen when it's done with us." Klosterman also mentioned that he hows that the show ends by the plain just blowing up and everything was for not. I hope this is not a clue into that idea.

Really Richard? When Ben is the first person to join your group you still think it's a good idea? That story line can only end in pain.

Sawyer has been one of my favorite characters but he is slowly becoming a Kate on the show, he keeps saying the same lines and keeps doing the same annoying things. Come on, progress his character already.

Finally on the above said podcast it was mentioned that both guys would watch a Sawyer and Miles cop show spin off. To be honest I would watch the first few episodes no matter if it was a great show or not. ABC, make this show happen!

I hope you enjoyed and the King will probably be back next week.

Holy Mother Of Crap!

I took two weeks off from writing about Lost because I had a bad couple of weeks. When I say bad I mean the worst possible weeks. I'm feeling a little better and then I watched Sundown and things blew up! In the previous two weeks we learned about how Locke always lived under the idea of you could not tell him what to do. Well in the sideways we learn his life was kind of pathetic and then he finally stopped living by that mantra and moved on. Then last week we learn about Jack and his reversal from a man of science to maybe a man of faith. He wants the island to fix him.

This week we learn about Sayid's sideways life. To be honest not that interesting till the end, more on that later. Any time the story revolves around Sayid there is usual lots of blood and people getting hurt and tonight was an uber dose of this. First we get a kung fu fight between Sayid and Dogen and then he stabs faux Locke and more killing later with Sayid turning "evil." What do you expect to happen The Others? you tortured him and then tried to kill him multiple times. Did you think that was not going to turn him? If that happened to me and then faux Locke offered to bring back my love a la Star Wars prequel I would probably do it.

Also this whole crazy Claire thing is creepy great, and I can't wait for her to try and kill Kate. You know it is happening and it's going to get all crazy. This makes me wonder if Rousseau was "in the fold" with Smokey. I'm hoping this gets addressed in a later episode because it is just too not be a coincident.

We have also got a little Survivor Lost going on here and the sides are starting to form. On the side of faux Locke/evil is Sayid, Claire and Sawyer on the side of Jacob/good we have Jack and Hurley then the current neutrals are Jin, Sun, Miles and Kate. I know I'm not the only one to noticed this but at the end when the survivors of the smokey attack walked out Kate did not get a head nod fro faux Locke. I think he doesn't want Kate and truthfully who would. I put Sawyer in the evil camp, but I have a feeling that he is going to split and go his own way as usual.

Oh Kate, why do you screw everything up? She is the worst kind of bad penny and I think faux Locke knows this. Think about it, she screws everything up. When Kate told Miles she was going to see Claire I knew she was going to blather on about Aaron and now she may die. Kate needs to learn that forcing the issue is not her strong suit and needs to maybe go with the flow for a while. She got in the way with Jack then Sawyer, wanted to take care of Aaron even though she has no connection to him and that's just a sample of her idiocy.

Back to Sayid turning all Jack Bauer in every universal plain. I loved the fight scene with Keamy the gangster. You just felt that he was going to go all 24 on the room and he did. Keamy tried to plead but was killed for the second time, not a good track record. The look in Sayid's eyes when Ben tried to rescue him was great, total crazy and totally looking for blood. I was surprised he did not stab Ben.

The battle lines for the island have been drawn and it looks like it's Jack and Hurley against everyone else. Now to the more random thoughts:

Boomerang in the house is always a bad idea.

I missed the creepy sounds of smokey followed by total destruction.

I guess not having the money was a bad thing for Jin.

How is everyone able it keep getting back into the temple? Seriously, everyone has been waltzing in and out of that place, some fortress.

Little something from previous weeks. I think the lighthouse belongs to Jacob and the cave is faux Locke's. We saw organization with Jacob and I think the randomness in the cave is a trait of faux Locke. When asked about the numbers faux Locke had no idea what they were about. We learned they are degrees. Why everyone is important is still up for debate.

I think Adam and Eve are Jin and Sun.

Tricky Door Knob

The Wife came home and wanted to take a drive and go out to eat. We ended up going to our favorite Mexican restaurant in downtown Wake Forest. I started to enjoy our favorite downtown spot and I started to hear a child, and I could not tell if he was screaming or crying. Then we heard two kids and I looked at The Wife and said "They must be having a good time." The sounds turned frantic and we heard banging. It was not a party instead two kids were trapped. I see a mother run past us saying "I didn't know they had locks on the doors." Where are the kids and how did they get there.

I never thought I'd hear this but a five year old and seven year older sister locked themselves in a bathroom and could not get out. How does this happen? I know a three year old that can has figured out one of those child proof doors. Even Velociraptor can open doors even this kid can do it. I am just amazed by this, two kids and they are stumped by a round doorknob. Then the kid told the owner that he needed to fix the door. Hey kid how about being smarter than a dog.

Then that comment from the mother still shocks me. "I didn't know the door had locks." If she did know about the locks would she have to stay with the kids so they could get out? Wouldn't they watch and learn to see what the mother is doing? I fear for these kids, if they can not open a door with a lock they are going to end up like the aliens in Signs.

Zombie Episode

Hurley asked Sayid "You're not a Zombie are you?" Well tonight's Lost, What Kate Does, was a zombie for the first 50 minutes. The writers brought back the old tired story lines and added a bad action movie feel to it. Sawyer was angry and did his own thing, Kate did the wrong thing and followed Sawyer because she can, Jack turned back into the leader that tries, The Others are mysterious and no one knows if they can trust them and as usual not a lot of answers.

In season two and three there would be a great show followed by a set up show that was less than stellar and as a zombie episode this was definatly a setup. We are going to hopefully figure out what happened to Claire. We did see what happened to Claire in the alternative world of Lost and how Kate and Claire stories are intertwined. The biggest surprise in this reality was seeing Ethan as her doctor. The line I enjoyed was him say he didn't want to stick her with a bunch of needles. In season 1 that's all Ethan did was stick and tried to deliver the baby. To be honest that's the only interesting thing in the alternative reality.

During most of the dialogue between the Losties and The Others was not interesting and rather bland. We did learn that Sayid is somehow infected with "darkness," of course that leads probably everyone to wonder if the same happened to Ben and if this is one of the reasons that Faux Locke was able to come back. What exactly is thid darkness, who knows and right now I don't care, just let him turn and move things along. The twist in tonight's show was that Claire was somehow infected and has turned. This could explain why she is hanging with Christian, but at the end she looked more like Rouso than anything else.

Where this is going I have no idea, but I'd give this episode two thumbs down. You would think the Lost writers would have learned that Kate shows are not that interesting. Kate is much better as a supporting character and not the lead. Her flashbacks/forwards/sidways are never that great and yet they she has to be near the top of the leader board for these.

Lastly Sawyer did do something interesting, he took responsibility for the death of Juliet. His character has been based on blaming others for the problems in the world. Is this his change, Jack appeared to be given a chance to change and finally help people instead of getting them killed or injured (Sayid getting shot, Juliet's death, that car crash back on the main land etc). How is this going to effect everything, will Sawyer see through Faux Locke or will this new change make him blind and Faux Locke will be able to control Sawyer. I've written enough about the worst episode ever this fine series, onto the randomness:

The writers stole a page from the Simpson's Homer The Great episode with Aldo and Justin playing Lenny and Karl. Justin/Karl would start to give out "important" information followed by Aldo/Lenny saying shuuuut uuuuuup!

I'm glad they ended the translation bit. That got old real quick.

Clare and Kate could have gone on a Thelma and Louise type run and that would have made this a better episode.

I guess Hurly is no longer the leader. The shortest but best leader of the Losties.

In the last week recap show it was mentioned that the book found on the dead one armed French man was about Abraham and Isaac. It was written as if the narrator was a defense attorney for Abraham. Could this be a clue to the story behind Jacob and Faux Locke? Could somehow Jacob be his father and he somehow actually killed his "son" and Faux Locke is pissed about being killed and wanted to show Jacob what it felt like.

Name Ideas

If you have not been contacted by or have heard through the grapevine, The Wife is starting to sell Pampered Chef. She is gone head first in and already been to a conference and has 8 shows booked from now till March. As she is sitting here I am being poked with a Pampered Chef 5" utility knife (an all purpose knife and is only $38.00) until I put a link to The Wife's online site. Man that knife is sharp!

At the above said conference she was given an idea and I am involved. The new spring and summer catalog has a grill line and guess what? I am now having a Pampered Chef show. The only problem is, it's a Pampered Chef show. I know guys sell and buy Pampered Chef, but it is not a guy friendly name. The Wife has already started asking people to come to my yet unscheduled show and an idea came from it.

Brian, a guy from our life group, made a comment we need to have a formal name and then have it "sponsored" by Pampered Chef. Like;

Meatapalooza 2010
presented by Pampered Chef

See that gives it a manly feel but we all know that Pampered Chef has something to do with it but we get to grill out and eat some kind of meat and possible buy cool stuff to make grilling even better.

The thing is I need is more ideas on what to call this show. The above is one option but here is a list of others and pitch in your own in the comments. If you suggest the winning name I'll get The Wife to give you a free citrus peeler or one of those bag closer things. The current list of names are:

Meatapalooza 2010
Grilled Meats Fest
Get In My Belly Special
Fire Made It Better, The Outdoor Addition
Grillageddon, A Meat Thing

Share and you might be invited, who am I kidding if you have ever met me, The Wife is going to invite you. I might even get a giant grill out of this... tax right off because it will be used in shows. HOLLA!

What Happened

That was the last line in the latest installment of Lost and that says it all, what happened. From about eight seconds in I have never been so confused in all my life. Then 10 minutes later I was even more confused. Slowly I started to get my head around the two hour season premier and I think I am figuring things out.

We started out with Jack on Oceanic flight 815 and it looked like the flight never crashed onto the island. Then all of the sudden we see Kate and Miles on the island and before I can figure out what is happening I see Jack. What happened? My theory starting out is this, the flight "never" crashed on the island but everyone did not go all "Back to the Future" and they are continuing on a their time line. I think it was confirmed at the end with the rocket flare that Richard and the others saw. What does this mean? It looks like for a while at least the flashbacks/forwards are no more but instead we are going to get flash sideways. Going back and forth from the reality we know and the reality that should have been.

It was interesting to see people that have not been on Lost for a while like Boone, Mars and even Atrz the teacher that blew up (still one of the funniest moments). Then at times little things changed from the original version we saw in season one. If I am not mistaken Cindy the flight attendant originally handed Jack two bottles, but in the alternate reality only one. Another example is Hurley talking to Sawyer and Hurley says he is lucky. That is a change from everything we have ever seen or heard from him. I don't even know how to begin the whole Desmond on the plane. The one thing that annoyed me though was that Jack did not remember him from running up the stairs, the only thing I can think of is that never happened in this reality. I'm probably over thinking that a bit, but if I go to a message board it probably already has 5 pages devoted it it.

Those are the three I found but after that I enjoyed the interactions that each character continued to have. Sawyer helping Kate out of the elevator, Kate jumping into the cab that Claire is in. Sayid breaking down the door where Charlie is unconscious. The last one I'll mention was Jack saving Charlie's life, Charlie said something that just made my night, "I was suppose to die." No matter what happens from this time forward in this reality Charlie went from a hero to a drugged out musician. If it was not for Charlie the Oceanic 6 would have never left the island and we would not have this multiple realities right now. I know many hate Charlie, but I liked him and it is a shame that this appears to be his end.

We did get big question answered and that has to deal with everyone's favorite monster, ole smokey. The Lost nerds had it right as the man in black is smokey and we learned that the secret ashes are protecting against him. What's the purpose of turning into smokey other than being a defense mechanism I do not know. Still the man in black/faux Locke is a question and I must have missed this last season but when asked by Ben, faux Locke said the last thing he remembered was dying. I do not think he was talking as Locke and there is something more at play.

Oh poor John Locke, for all this greatness as a character he was turned into nothing more than a puppet and that hurts my esteem for him. Instead of being something great he's a pawn in a chess game of the gods of the island. I still think Terry O'Quinn is doing a great job but he original character has lost his luster.

Yet Ben Linus in all of this continues to amaze me. The greatest line he uttered was when he is trying to get Richard into the statue to see faux Locke. Richard asks him what happened in there and Ben's line was "why don't you go in there and find out." Classic Ben, not giving any information out yet you know that the recipient of the line knows no good can come from going in there. Locke and Ben are the same, pawns, but for some reason I still feel that Ben is still trying to weasel his way into a position of power. He is pure evil, but I wonder if the evil forces on the island are going to be too much for him.

Last, it was interesting to see Locke and Jack have a connection in the new reality. I thought it was interesting Jack telling Locke nothing is impossible. I have a feeling that this relationship is not going to end with Locke wheeling away at the airport. Now some randomness:

What is up with Fu Manchu and his hippy interpreter?

Hurley is starting to turn into the leader and this is awesome, more Hurley the better.

I so wanted to see another Jack Sawyer fight.

Because of an episode of Law and Order: SVU I thought Sayid was going to be killed off.

Am I the only one tired of the Christian Shepard thing?

Is Juliet really dead? She can't be, the preview show gave her a feature. Why feature a character that is dead withing two hours.

Could they not get Anna Lucia back on to cuff Charlie? Come on and give a lady a cameo again.

Is it bad that I could careless about Sun and Jin and their alternate reality?

I guess Maggie Grace was too busy hanging with Liam Neeson to do a cameo.

Another great Hurley line
Fu Manchu: Did you look in the case
Hurley: (sheepishly) Maybe

Interview Beard

Right before Logan was born I decided to grow a baby beard. I was going to grow a beard for the last month of The Wife's pregnancy. Of course three days later he was born. I have decided to bring back the beard and this time it's for a job interview. The last time I shaved was Sunday January 10th and as you can see from the picture the growth is starting to pick up. I just need something to do during this time. I just hope that this experiment ends as fast as the last beard attempt.

This Ain't Flipper

Jeff Foxworthy use to do a bit about when he was a kid and the President was on television it was a total catastrophe "Oh, no the Presidents on, we're gonna miss Flipper!" Times have changed and even more than I had thought. A TV show has forced Obama to change the time or the date of his State of the Union address. What show could possible force the leader of the free world to do so or maybe it's a super natural force from the Earth that is creating this change. Would it have anything to do with Ben Linus and John Locke? Yes it does, that show is Lost.

Not just any episode of the greatest show on ABC, but the premiere of the last season. As you can tell I am a follower of Lost and I have been waiting for a new episodes since the credits rolled on May 13th. Regretfully I have devoted a lot of time to this show and I want answers to the show. The thing with Lost is if you miss one minute of the show, that's it, your done because you missed something. I just know that if I am not watching it live I might miss not find out what "smokey" really is because my DVR will crap out.

I understand the importance of the State of the Union it's the Presidents way of telling the nation what he plans to do for the next year. The only problem is with ability to send information out to the masses in an instant, the State of the Union has become nothing more than a campaign PR moment. He's going to talk about health care, the economy, the wars, people in the audience that have done something and he will get about 50 standing ovations which will push the address time to about and hour. Then of course NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News will have a pissing match as to who will be on longer and will fill their airwaves with pundits on both sides of the politic aisle as they try and push for their parties views. Because this is what America wants, mindless blather by people who think they are smarter than the masses.

It may be blasphemy but I won't learn anything from the State of the Union, if there is something new it won't amount to anything. Remember when Bush mentioned hydrogen fuel, how did that work out I haven't seen Howie Long push one of those yet. I get the whole pushing the agenda thing but I am unemployed and can't get a call back to save my life, Just let me watch Lost and have a moment where I don't have to worry about losing my house or why I can't find a job.

A Man's Guide to Babies

With King Tom and others having "youngins" and Logan about to hit the 6 month mark I thought I'd share what I have learned about this whole baby thing. Going into the new phase in life I had no real idea of what was going to happen. My whole goal was to follow the lead of The Wife and keep my head down and hope Logan made it through. You see no one told me the important things I needed to know about dealing with babies.

First go back and read this previous post and FREAKING DO IT! I'll sum it up in once sentence; If you are having a baby ween yourself off sleep.

After the little one is born and you are in the hospital look around the room and find things that you can take. I'm mostly talking about diapers and formula and anything that is not nailed down that the baby will use. The thing is they are billing you for everything and keeping track of it and if you have any kind of insurance, little things like diapers and formula are such a small part of the bill it's barely going to show up on the section you will have to pay. One set of friends ended up with 15 packages of diapers and 11 formula boxes. We didn't make out with that much, but as we are checking out I asked the nurse for a little extra and she loaded us up.

Here is why the diaper thing is so huge, tell family and friends to buy you stage 2 and 3 diapers. If you can make out like a bandit from the hospital you are set for infant diapers and that leaves you with stage 1 diapers. I still don't fully understand all the stages but the one thing I know Logan was out of infants within a month and was in stage 2 by around 3 month. He is now exiting stage 2 into 3. Baby don't stay in those early stages long so you can afford to buy that first stage. Stock up on the later ones as early as you can. It's not like they are fruit that go bad. We had two giant boxes of stage 3 diapers just sitting in a closet waiting for this day.

When you are using all your gifted diapers, use the ones that you do not have a gift recite first. Babies R Us are crazy about this, we had to jump through hoops to prove that the diapers came from their store so we could exchange them for a larger size. I understand that we live in a time where people are going to try and get away with murder but it gets a little crazy. I'd even say if you are given diapers as a present ask the person for the recipte. I know that might sound a little harsh but freaking diapers are not cheap.

Diapers are freaking expensive and Target brand diapers kick ass! Logan for some reason always pees through Huggies and Pampers, but put him those polka dotted Target brand diapers and he will stay dry. I think I bought 96 diapers for 13 bucks or something last week, now look at how much that would have been with a major brand. For 20 more it's 33.99 and that's on the cheap side. It's a total racked and they know it. It's like professional video cameras, the cameras do not really cost any where from $6,000-20,000 but they know it's niche market and people have to buy them. Diapers are the same, every baby needs them and they are going to make you pay.

Speaking of diapers lets go to what ends up in them... poop. I never changed a diaper till we had Logan and it's an experience. For a new dad here's the deal, it's black and looks like tar at first. It doesn't smell but looks like it came out of a tar pit and a miniature dinosaur bones are in there somewhere. Once the Labrea Tar Pit ends it's not that bad for a while, it's a little messy but still not a lot of smell. Once they start to use more formula then that's when it becomes bad. For some strange reason this smell does not effect women as much as men. She can muscle through when I get the gag reflex going. It must be a mother thing because that smell gets foul and I need to cover my nose. She wants to laugh at me, but hey I could turn into 50s dad and make her do them all so at least I am helping.

Back to the sleep thing, I love sleep and early on I was a creature of the night, now I go to bed early and here is why. Babies have an extra sense that science has not figured out yet. They know when everyone in the house is sleeping and they hate that. Starting out Logan would wake up ever two to three hours and want food. I said I'd take the late night feedings. I'd try and try to stay up until he woke up. Some nights it worked, most nights not so much. The second I'd lay down and start to get into that deep sleep he would scream his head off. It was like clock work and I think infants hate when more than two thirds of the house is asleep. This is where researchers need to be doing their work. My advice is go to sleep and just forget trying to time it out, sleep is your friend.

Another thing for new dads is remember babies are repulsed by testosterone, it's like Brut and any woman under 50, they don't go together. In the beginning if The Wife left for more than two hours I'd have a screaming baby on my hands. The Wife would return and the second I handed Logan to her the insanity would stop. As the months rolled on the time has increased and now I can go about 5 hours before bedlam is unleashed. Don't get frustrated, I've been told this happens to everyone and sometime after a year it changes and babies want their dads more. Just roll with the punches, buy really nice earphones and throw on some speed metal or something loud and wait for that change.

Finally, don't let the mother get all crazy and buy a billion outfits. Logan started out 16 inches
(don't quote me on that) and now he's about 25 inches. Babies grow fast and we have some outfits he has only worn once and a few he never got to wear. The big thing is find friends who have had babies 5 months earlier and someone who is having one after you and share all the clothes. We have two good friends, one with a one year old and another with a 9 month old. We have given them clothes and they have given us the ones they can't use anymore. It's going to save you a ton of money. It might also help to invest in those horse blinders or something to help keep the momma away from the baby clothes section. I may get a few nasty emails and comments from women in my family or passerbys but all I know is The Wife still comes home with new outfits all the time. Most are on clearance but it gets crazy and before you blink the kid is popping out of the outfit.

Some people will read this and think that I am crazy for not realizing all this stuff earlier, but hey for a lot of guys out there this will be new and they need to know this stuff. I'm probably forgetting a lot, if you have a tip add it in the comments or for those that know me email me and I'll try and do more of these. As men we need to stick together and have our own guide to this baby thing.

Say Cheese

One of the things that annoy the living daylights out of me is a pile of unorganized pictures. I do not know what it is but this one thing will consume me till I have every picture in the house put into an album and the extras stored in some box far away from sight. The Wife on the other hand does not care and could have a mountain of pictures and it would not bother her. I know this has to be on my top 10 list of least manly thing about me, but hey, I like photos and organizing them so sue me. I'll take the hit to my man card.

While cleaning the house I found 9 packet of pictures sent to us from the Mother-in-Law. For the last three days all I have thought about were those pictures and where can they go. Luck was on my side, The Wife had two "brag books" lay around without photos so I went on a mission to fill them. Considering the combined photo capacity of the folders was 34, I did that real quick. Yet again, I have a bit of luck two 100 count photo albums. I start going through each packet and then I realized something, most of the photos are very similar.

I am not trying to make The Mother-in-Law feel bad here, but she loves taking pictures and will take at least 5 shots every time and then go to the local photo shop and print them all out in triplicate squared. To me this is insane and a waste of money and resources. Maybe it's my years in news where you get what you need and get out. These extra copies are a little much and I understand maybe having doubles but when you have 9 different pictures of Logan sleeping and then five copies of each, I can't handle that many photos. To me I have to put them somewhere and we don't have the space for that many copies. I may just start shipping some to family, but they may not want a picture of "Experience Columbus."

She means well and this is going to be one of those things I will have to deal with. So if anyone wants a few extra pictures of Logan and people you may not know just post a comment and I'll ship them out. I must get all these photographs put away... can't sleep till it is done!

Be Kind Rewind

I understand that I am getting older and I know this because I can now say back in my day and have a group of kids have their eyes glazes over and wish I would stop talking. I bring this up because I saw a job posting asking for a demo reel on VHS tape. I know this is not like asking for a reel on laser disc or film, but still... VHS? When I started in news nearly a decade ago the main way to show an employer you could use a camera was via VHS. I remember going to Wal-Mart and buying a 10 pack and dubbing my master reel over. I did this for every job I have ever received. Even here in Raleigh three years ago. DVDs were becoming easier to burn. I would have done DVDs, but The Network only had one DVD burner and it was just easier to make a VHS copy.

In that time though, you can put your reel on the web and the cost of DVDs and burners are cheaper. I seriously would have to go out and buy a converter so I can export my video to VHS. The job was in a small market and I know small markets do not advance as fast as other areas, but I just wonder what that station has to be like for the post to make a point in saying VHS. Technology is moving fast and equipment is getting cheaper. Hell, I create a webcast from my house. ON TV news, how far we have come, yet how little has changes.

Nothing In This World Is Truely New

Yesterday I was sucked into another TV marathon, this time it was the 1980s mini-series V. The Sci Fi Network (sorry I refuse to use their new spelling) ran all the episodes back to back and then today they are showing the TV series. Why are they bringing back a mini series from 1983, we besides the fact that it's the Sci Fi Network. ABC is airing a remake of this classic series.

For those who do not remember the series, where is a quick recap. Aliens came to Earth offering peace and just wanted to hang and help out. In teh beginning everything is fine until it is found out that they are reptiles and they want to turn Earth into a giant Krogers. Yet, they have great PR and most people do not realize that the aliens are shipping humans out to eat. Finally a reistance is formed and finally end the reign of the aliens.

As a kid I remember this series with fondness and all my friends and I would play V. I even remember going to an Ironton version of Home Depot and acting like the showers were containment cubes used by the aliens. I was usually followed by my dad asking me what I was doing and to stop it. As I watched the original I was shocked that it actually held up fairly well for being 26 years old. There were moments like the alien babies that was a bad muppet or the bad special effects at the end where the half alien half human girl saves everyone and she starts to "glow and sparkle," but over all the show kept moving forward and did not have too many of those bad 80s 15 minute lulls where the plot never progressed. It was an enjoyable flashback to my youth. Also realizing the Beastmaster was the lead in the series made the watching more enjoyable.

Yet I kept thinking about the new version, maybe it was because there was a promo every break for it, I don't know I just kept wondering why must we remake everything. I've written about this in the past about the entertainment industries sudden lack of creativity. In the past year they have remade Transformers, GI Joe, Land of the Lost and others that I can not remember at this time. Where have all the original ideas gone? Has Hollywood really become so gun shy that if anything that does not involve toy sales or an older idea that was one popular it gets shot down?

As much I am wanting to see what they are going to "change" from the original I am not going to watch the new V. Just going to ABC.com I can tell that the new version will only be V in name only. We have to stop watching this retread crap and clammer for something new. Who am I kidding, Candyland the movie will be number one. If they are going to continue this trend why can't they remake something cool like Airwolf or BJ and the Bear, now there's a concept I can't get enough of: a man and his monkey.

Update
Just found out they are also remaking the Karate Kid with Will Smith's kid. Come on! Leave the classics alone, if you want to remake something do something that sucked and make it better. Hey Will Smith what about Made in America your kid can do that one over.

Work: Giving Up The Dream

It's been almost 11 months since NBC17 decided that they did not need my services any longer and I thought I'd try and give an update as to what is happening. For those not in the know I am still looking for work and taking as much money from Uncle Sam as I can. I've been trying the freelance thing and I have a couple clients but for the most part unemployment has been our biggest provider.

I've been living with the hope of two things, not to work in news and trying to stay in the Raleigh area. As time creeps on those options are starting to look like they are not going to happen. I think the market is too saturated with freelancers and I don't have a lot of connections so I'm playing with about a quarter of the deck. So I've started searching TVjobs.com for news jobs and I've applied to 7 news/sports jobs in the country and all of them are out of the state. We hate this idea, but we have to start thinking about the extended future and how are we going to pay for everything. We are scrapping by and we can't continue this game of who gets the money this month. As much as I dread the news world I have to come to the realization that I am good at it. It takes a lot out of me and I'll have to work weekend nights probably, but at least it's work and I know how to do it.

The one small hope we have for staying here is that I have been a part of a group that won the bid to shoot a 20 DVD workout set. The original plan is to shoot and do prep for six weeks and I make a lot of money in that time. The amount is not enough to get us ahead, but we can get a lot closer to normal. Mortgage could be caught up and we could have a couple credit cards paid off. I'd lose unemployment for a couple of weeks, but it would be worth it. On top of that a clothing chain has an opening as a studio photographer. So I'd be taking photos of kids and families, the pay is VERY SMALL and it's only seasonal, but if I can get those two jobs and make it work with a few small freelance jobs I do already, we could turn a corner and start to see daylight and live in the area a little longer. Also if I did have to move it would make that transition a lot easier.

Who knows what's going to happen, I've just have to keep plugging along and hope something breaks soon. Maybe I can still get that baseball job or that local company that has an editor position open will call me back. This next month will be very tough and yet be helpful.

Going A Little Too Far

This week started the North Carolina State Fair and The Wife and I are excited to go. We wanted to go this past Thursday, but rain and cold prevented us from going. One of the things about the fair I get a kick out of is what crappy food concoction will they create next. Most are things I have no desire to eat (deep fried Coke), but every once in a while they will hit a home (deep fried Twinkies). While on facebook, local company Burt's Bees mentioned the new craze at the state fair... chocolate cover bacon.

That made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Yes I love bacon and I also enjoy chocolate, but who thought up this travesty. It's can't be as simple as the Reese's commercials of yore. "You got peanut butter in my chocolate." This had to be some bored Carnie sitting there eating the rejected pig that did not get sold and looked at the chocolate and went, "What the hell." and poured chocolate over the bacon.

I do not see how those two tastes can EVER go together, and I'm the guy that likes mustard on his french fries, I actually enjoyed the deep fried twinkie and yet this I want no part of. I don't even think Homer Simpson would touch that, who am I kidding it was probably on an episode and I just can't remember.

As I kept reading stories online about this new phenomenon I wonder what did they try and thought was not suitable. If chocolate cover bacon made it past, I'm guessing the list was pretty short. Carnies need to get a grip on reality here. I know it's the fair and everything has to be deep fried, covered in something or on a stick but please stop mixing things like bacon and chocolate.

Free Stuff

I was over at the kingdom of King Tom and he had an interesting post. Someone wanted him to review their product. In other words, he was about to get free stuff! I want free stuff! King Tom had written about a turkey cannon and you know what, I'll freaking review it. It's almost Thanksgiving and we might be buying a turkey.

I know the King is wildly more success than this blog, but still come one Aquafina, I've had people coming to my site wondering about your stock. Freaking sponsor me, The Wife loves to buy bottled water, why not give it too us. Mmmm Aquafina is delicious. Hey, I'm not above whoring myself out to the highest Internet bidder that wants to send me stuff. I'm looking at you snuggie and you too Old Spice ad that keeps popping up on facebook. Hey Bruce Campbell, I'll hawk Burn Notice for you, it's not like I've written about you or named my child's middle name after one of your characters. Come on people, send me free stuff so that I can support my child. Huggies, I have your new promotions guy right here. Who am I kidding the King will get that sweet sweet Huggies swag.

Things Stuck In My Head

For the last few months I've been trying to make a little money shooting recitals and one local dance studio has hired me to shoot a weekly track out camp recital. It's not that hard and it's not a lot of money, but there is one draw back, the music. I'm not talking your standard pop music I'm talking music designed for preteen girls. Here is the list of shows I have done, Hannah Montana, Spectacular, High School Musical, Princess Protection Program and The Cheetah Girls.

In a singular form I can handle 20 minutes of this music, but the problem is I've done multiple of each. If you click on the links above you can hear the music that is involved. It's very poppy and over the top and once it bores itself into your skull it won't leave, it's the ash borer of music. The biggest offender is The Cheetah Girls, it feels like every other time I shoot I walk into a studio with cheetah print all over the place. Cheetah Girls is Disney at it's evilest, it's basically diva training fro preteens. I think every eighth word has to be cheetah and there is always a whoo involved. I will finish my shoot and I will have one of their songs in my head for the next three hours. No matter how hard I try and force it out with better music or even sports radio, nothing works. The musical flu has to run its course and I hope there is not an out break sometime during the week.

I like the studio, but I don't know how many more Cheetah Girls shows I can handle. I never thought I'd want to hear more High School Musical. With a 2 month old, I know the music in my life is about to get worse and won't get better for a few years.