What a week it's been! First on deck is Vegas... Angie had to go for business and I decided to tag along... on the first day I lost, but we went to see Blue Man Group at the Luxor and it was way cooler than I thought it would even be! It's really hard to do justice as to just what BMG is but take a look at this video and that will give you some idea. Next day I lost and Angie worked so it was craptacular but that evening we went to the Shadow Bar at Ceasers Palace and even though it was nut to butt we some how managed 2 seats front and center at the bar. This is one of those bars where the bartenders do all of the flair stuff. So that was cool and then there are the naked women's shadows that are ever gyrating behind the bar. We go a little drunk it was fun! The next day(last day) we checked out and headed for food to feed the hang over... ended up at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. After a little grub we set out to play some more. Well at this point I had not really won anything substantial and was down a fair amount. I threw down my last C note and got hot on craps... won back half of what I had lost so that was pretty good!
Then on Saturday Angie and I took our family out for a night, got a limo, and went to Mark's then to see Cirque du Soliel's Varekai it was a blast!
links...
This is cool if not paper and ink eating! Rasterbate!
Mix a bunch of testosterone and alcohol some mud, 4 wheelers, and burnouts and you get this rather long video!
Revenge can be a bitch... watch out when you make those videos girls!
First ... nothing and I mean almost nothing can get me down today, not even the BS that just happened here at the office, anyway. I am big Nightmare Before Christmas fan... always have liked it not just for the story or the halloweeny bits but for the claymation and Tim Burton Style... well lo and behold! Tim Burton's Corpse Bride! Oh baby ! v.cool!
Do any of you remember the old days of the NES? It was cooool back then, well technology move on in such a way that you can now play ANY NES game on your browser! How cool is that!
Wow it's the 11th already! Sorry I've been busy with a new product launch and had no time to blog.
Christmas was great... hope you all had a good one. New Years was uneventful. Popped fireworks and had a drink.
The latest dealio I'm dealing with though is my jacked up knees and shoulder in regards of exercise. I can't run more than 4 miles without my at least one of my knees making me miserable and back in September I dropped a 60lb dumbell on my shoulder and it won't seem to heal. I know it's toast... going to the doc tomorrow.
oh yea and screw you greedy Beltran! you suck... no it's not sour grapes either... you seemed like a good guy but when it got down to it you decided to chase a few more $$$$ it will make it sweeter if we make it to the big show now!
YOU! have never seen anything like this before! OMG!
First let me say for the sake of those readers from the more northern climates, it rarely snows in Houston. The last time was 1989! Occasionaly there are flurries but actual snow ... almost never and on Christmas ... it never has period. So when I went out today and there was a winter mix falling it was a monumentous event. Nothing was sticking to the ground and what was hitting was more like sleet I think... not really flakes, but there was hope!
Later in the day we went to Angie's mom's house to open gifts and have dinner. On the drive over there were definately flakes falling and there was more hope, how cool! Oh yea I must mention that Angie's dad is down from Kentucky. This will be ther first time we've had her side of the family together for Christmas so this is indeed a special event! Anyway... we come out of Janet's place and the top of the cars have snow on them!!!! Whoa! v.cool! It's still the little balls, mostly, but it's accumulation!
All the way home, flurries and I means lots of them... nothing is sticking though, but hey here in this neck of the woods I'm just happy it's cold outside for Christmas. So lot's of flurries flurries flurries then we get to Baytown and nada! dead nothing... oh well we do a quick drive by of some Christmas lights and head for the house. I look out after about 15 minutes and there are little snowy balls falling again and there is accumulation on the tops of cars and such! Dade and I had a ball ... we managed a few small snowballs and some play until eventully there was nothing left. Inside, time for bed... Angie, her dad and I watched a little TV and after 30 or so I had something to do outside ;) ;) and when I open the door... OMG! Full on snow piling up everywhere! No little balls real big monster cool flakes it was spectacular! Now seeing as this comes along only once every 15 years I had no other option but to wake my 7 year old on the night that he really really need to be asleep! We wrap up and head out! It's 10:15p at this point and the neighborhood is alive! Two girls driving around looking at lights have just stopped in the street and are out having snowball fights and making snow angels! EVERY kid in the neighborhood is out. It's very loud and raucous laughter abounds! Before long Dade, the neighbor kids and myself are in full on snowball fights. The feeling in the air is nothing short of sheer joy! it's intoxicating and EVERYONE feels it! My neigbors wish me a "Merry Christmas!" I think of my last blog entry and have a little cheer inside! A little later my neighbors from across the street come home and ... wish me a "Merry Christmas!" A huge smile escapes me and have a moment of peace! Maybe I was wrong... maybe it proves I was right ... either way the snow in the air on Christmas eve in arms of my family has warmed heart to the point of bursting! Nothing else could make this better right now and I realize that right now is THE moment! I am glad I was given the opportunity experience such an event... it may seem insignificant to some and some might not have recognized the beauty of the moment but I have! and hopefully you did too... wait...
I hear sleighbells on the roof...must get to sleep... Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas and the de-generation of society... what the hell are we coming to? Target and others ban bell ringers at their stores, Macy's and others won't play Christmas music because it might upset those other than christians, EVERYONE! now says Happy Holidays me included! (I am such a coward... more on this later) Where has the word Christmas gone... well it sure was prevalent in October when I saw trees, decorations and the lot before Halloween even hit! Now I am one for decorating I think it's fantastic, but in the zeal to be the first on the block these stores are desensitizing Christmas. I can remember going to Sears or Foley*s to visit Santa and there was a village! I mean houses and snow and the oh man it was cool! Now it's a chair in the middle of the mall?! I was walking through Foley*s the other day and noticed the cheapness of the decorations... they used to have really nice things now it's paper products, cheap, cheesy... EASY! No magic in that... not that it would matter, they've been up since October... My 7 year old sees so much of Christmas that by the time December gets here it's just not special any longer. I guess I just miss the way it was.
... and just when did it become so PC!
CHRISTMAS is not a dirty word!
You know what? There are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, atheists and who knows how many others that celebrate each of their own traditions and holidays. Saying Merry Christmas does not force your religion upon them! Quite frankly I'm offended by the stores that do not have the guts to come out and say it! I hear that the month of December brings in more revenue than all of the other months combined! Why? C H R I S T M A S ! Now why not say it like it is? I get upset and offended when you bow down to the lowest common denominator, I get offended when there is something in spanish instead of english! (I can't read it and it makes me wonder if I'm missing something, or about to step in front of a truck?!) I have started to remove my business from these stores if I can. I know this is wishy washy but I'm really just coming to grips with this. I can take my business elsewhere and I can tell the offending store why and what I think about it.
What do I want to happen?!? Easy I want you to say Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! I want the majority of the people to stand up and be counted. I bet the numbers would be huge if you just asked. I bet that the percentage of people actually offended by Merry Christmas would be so astronomically small that it's insignificant! ... I may be wrong, but I feel like that less than 1%(probably) are causing me to have a mediocre experience, and that OFFENDS ME!
devil's advocate time :: ok in efforts of fair play I've tried to look at this from the other side of the fence. What if someone told "have a glorious Satan's Worship and Small Animal Mutilation day!" would I be offended, yep. Of course I think most of you can see that there is a long way to go between SWASAM and Happy Birthday Jesus. Even if you do not believe in Jesus and Christianity you must know that it is not evil or any equivalent there of. Then again maybe I'm just not open minded enough to wrap my feeble brain around the potential wishing someone good will and peace on earth is bad thing and evil... if so then so be it.
... off the soap box now...
ok last deal .. try to remember the reason for the season if you can... we are celebrating Jesus' birthday or maybe not, we might be celebrating the act of giving unto others, be it a toy, a car, a warm meal or handshake and hug! No matter the what the reason, this time of year everyone is cordial and nice. Everyone genuinely feels some good will towards each other and that alone is reason enough to perpetuate the holiday season!
... oh yea why am I a coward? On our Christmas cards this year I wrote Happy Holidays inside instead of Merry Christmas and for that I am truly ashamed. At least I got in the word Christmas on the front of the card!
Merry CHRISTmas to you too Sam. It offends me as well, but rather than get off on a rant about how this is a holiday for JESUS--I just sit back and bask in the idiosyncrasies of man. Not only are these people pusillanimous pieces of shit- they have conformed to what they think you (society) thinks they should be. I for one am appalled. --good chat sam
Happy Birthday Jesus! >did I just rant myself?< haha
Quick note... I am now RSS enabled! Yes I rolled my own, it's the only way to learn and understand it!!! Just add me to your fave rss reader! http://www.samuland.com/extras/rss.asp
I was on KevinRose.com and saw this link. EPIC I would invite everyone to take a look and open your mind to the possibility of what could be! I am one for all of these technologies, but I have notice that we as a race tend look to the sensational, and thus we begin our own demis we what we seek! I want to see blood and guts so the news show more blood and guts forcing the other news channels to do show even more b&g until all thqat they show it b&g. What then happens is the balance that seemed unimportant is now gone. We have no "good" or "wholesome" news any longer. People get desensitized to the b&g and pretty soon it's not a big deal to see shooting in the streets. Thus it's not long before it's no big to see it in person and then it's no big deal to do it yourself. It makes me very sad...
In the same line of thinking I hate how the sport station in town are all about the negative. It seems that when the Texans first come on the scene there were no expectationa and the media was all about Go Texans win or lose! That bred good will and sports euphoria! in the city... if the sports stations would concentrate on this I would bet that sports in Houston could be a positive influence in the lives of the citizens again!
I may post more later but for now watch the video and think!!
... still gets me 
