Thanks to the Rake Magazine, I will get to prescreen the new Bourne movie. They wanted to know my favorite movie chase scene. I told them the one from Bullitt, although Gone in 60 seconds (1974) had a good one too that came in a close second. Funny, they all involved a Mustang. Really, the Bullitt chase scene was boring by todays standards, but it looked real. I could imagine driving a 1968 Mustang GT 390 all over while chasing another car. Everything moved at a real pace. Too many modern scenes have too many things going on and have impossible stunts. That, and as a guy, you can't pick a new movie with out looking like you have no class. Its the same as saying EP1 was the best Star Wars due to the awesome CGI.
On an odd note, April tipped me off to the contest but did not get a ticket conformation email.
I may send her to the movie instead.
*Update* I ended up going to the movie. I got the last seat in the house. I got to sit in the far bottom corner. April and I will have to go see it where I can sit more near the center.
I think that this is the perfect example of why my house is still standing after 98 years.
This backhoe maybe only took 6 minutes to destroy a house, but look how much was missing, and the rest of it was still standing. If I ever leave IT, it will be to either start a coffee shop or to work on a demolition crew. I am not real picky the demolition can be with either explosives or by a mechanical means (backhoe, wrecking ball) But having a job that involves smashing, flattening, and blowing stuff up sounds pretty good.
Now that the great vehicle purge of 07 is over and the mess is almost cleaned up, I was thinking just how brilliant MN-DOT is (had the car broke down 300 feet sooner, we could have blocked all traffic from 35E to 694W).
I was talking with some friends about the debacle they have created with the Wakota Bridge Project, and some of their past history. They did after all create the 35W-62 intersection, the original weave on 694, and countless other screw-ups. We were wondering how bad the 62 work was going to be and what would go wrong with the unweaving of the weave. If I had more confidence in MNDOT, I am sure that the Twin Cities could soon see one of these intersections. I am thinking near the Airport would be good. Just watching the Ford Focus with an enterprise sticker doing the inescapable cloverleaf is a funny thought.
I think that almost every Minnesotan could be just as qualified to design our road systems as the engineers at MNDOT (I know I am!). They obviously know the theory of hi-way design. But... In theory, practice and theory are the same, in practice they are not.
We got a new Siberian Husky on Friday so I just want to make a couple of things clear. 1. His Name is Kapik. 2. Kapik means "coffee" in Inuit. 3. Yes, he is a pure bred. Just no papers they cost $, and he is a pet. 4. He will probably be more my dog. April still wants another Rotty someday 5. He loves the kids, we are pretty sure he thinks Nick is another puppy. This morning I found out this 11 week old puppy can really run. We walked most of the route that I usually run. Then turned around and ran the 3/4 of a mile home. If he gets any faster, I am going to turn into a sprinter by the fall. He also does not seem to take breaks when he runs. Fortunately, he is scared to cross the street so we walk across some of those. In a kind of price is right showcase... And should you win, to match that cute little puppy you will also get... A NEW CAR!....Well this 2002 Subaru may not be brand new it will be new to you. It is a perfectly practical car to drive a family in in MN with room for 5 and AWD! And to wear while driving in your sporty new car we have some Teva sandles! That needs to stop, or I will be talking about the 12 pack of paper towels too. Anyway I bought the Teva's for the river cleanup so they shouldn't count.
Seven years ago, I made a really dumb choice (but hey hindsight is 20/20). That dumb choice cost me thousands of dollars to start (well really only $320 a month for a while), then proceeded to suck more and more money every week($1 per Gal, $2 per Gal, $3 per....). Beyond that constant sucking sound, there were periodic gusts coming from my wallet (Tires, Timing Belt...).
So it seems fitting that as my elantra's last gasp it attempted to take its largest lump sum yet, $2300. But oh silly grey car, I am wise to your antics. You will not be getting that new cash infusion you so desperately need after you disemboweled yourself by shorting the fuel pump and all the o2 sensors while melting the wiring harness. See I have the last laugh, do you hear that faint crushing metal sound? Do you hear it getting nearer? Unless someone takes pitty on you and your money grubbn' ways you are going to know how a used aluminum can feels.
And good riddance too! I have found a new money drain, really you forced me to. This new drain is less of a drain for a shorter time, we will call it version 2. v2 also has more room, and a hatch back, and best of all has AWD.
Good bye dumb decision. Hello new decision (still to recent to discuss the quality).
On Friday we will be bringing home a new dog. A 10 week old Siberian Husky. This was just decided tonight, so some of the details, like a name are up in the air. I suggested naming him Linus (after Linus Torvalds), April did not like this one. I was really joking anyway. I think he will be named Kapik. April and I both thought that he needed a good Inuit name. Kapik means coffee in Inuit. Andrew also liked Kapik, and thought it was cool we could give him a nickname of Kap. All the puppies (there were about 12 in all from 2 litters) loved Andrew at one time he had about 5 or 6 playing on him, one even was up his back when he bent over, they were all giving him kisses. Nick was very good with the dogs and was very excited with all the soft puppies around.
So I am driving along today, north on White Bear Ave, when POW someone turns out in front of me and hits the Jeep with his Buick Roadmaster. After I pull over, I went to his car and asked if he was OK. He seemed confused and had the audacity to to ask why I ran the light. I guess that he did not realize that the person in front of him ran the light and when you do not have a green arrow you do not have the right of way. The way I see it is that he should have been thanking me for being there to stop him from running into the guy next to me when both vehicles would have been going faster. By the way the Jeep won. I drove off, he was towed.
On Saturday (7/7/07), Andrew and I went over to Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis to clean up Minnehaha creek. REI and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District had a cleanup event. It was really cool! Andrew got to learn about why we were cleaning up the creek and how those 3 big bags of trash got into the creek. It is really sad just how much trash doesn't make it into the trash cans that are placed about every quarter mile. We followed the creek's winding path from 28th ave to about 35th ave. Sometimes we walked in the creek, sometimes we were on the trails, and sometimes we were walking through fields, grasses, and forests. Andrew had lots of fun a I think he really understood why this was a good thing. It also helped that there were several people that told us "thank you for cleaning up the park" as they rode or walked by.
One of the cool things was that they made us a pancake and sausage breakfast and REI gave everyone really cool high-tech, sweat wicking t-shirts.
On Sunday, we skipped church. On really warm days they move church to the basement because the basement has 2 window AC units. Between the crowdedness of the basement and the eventual heat that forms and the folding chairs, we have issues getting anything out of church. I let April sleep in, then we realized it was really too warm in the house. So we went and saw the 10:30 showing of Ratatouille. Andrew saw previews for it on the Cars DVD we borrowed and has been asking to see the rat movie. Andrew is a little sensitive when it comes to the big screen. Ratatouille was no exception, he ended up in my lap for about 1/2 of the movie. During the credits he was crawling around the empty seats saying he was Remy the rat. Afterward, he thanked us several times for taking him to the movie.
Ok count this as a post for 7/10, I wrote too many posts today. Tomorrow, I need to work on figuring out what to do with the Jeep.
On my way to work this morning, I had a difficult time convincing myself to GO to work. There was just that right amount of traffic that I was having fun driving. It was 70 degrees, sunny and I was listening to the White Stripes on my iPod. The only thing that could have been better would be the vehicle. The Jeep is fun, I just never get it to drive like in the picture. Some little sports sedan or the like with a 5 or 6 speed manual and turbo would have made it impossible to ignore the call to just drive. In the end I was an adult, I got coffee at Caribou, and parked in the garage at work. Rode the elevator to floor 4 and sat in my cube. but if gas was not so expensive, and if I had someplace to go and some cool, fun to drive car... I just might have kept going.
I thought our 4th was very "American" even though we didn't even fire up the grill. We slept in a little (kinda, Nick got up ate then was put back to bed and slept for 2:30 more), then had breakfast then went to a state park. I had never been to Afton State Park before. It looks like it really has some nice trails and it does have a beach. All the camp sites are backpack sites, funny that they also have backpack sites, they must be really remote. Had we went to Afton to hike and have a picnic, instead of bike and picnic, it would have been better. Since Andrew got a new bike this week he wanted to go for a bike ride. Afton just proved to be too hilly, maybe that is why it is good for skiing :) . Really, it was a great low key day. Later that night April and Andrew went to see fireworks and according to April, Andrew was an angel and they both had a wonderful time.
The one thing I did notice is the lack of the "Super American (dumdahdahdum)" attitude this year. The focus of the news articles, radio, and blogs, there was more of a focus on fireworks, grilling and from the parking lots of any store we went by, shopping. Nobody seemed to have the "yea! America! we rock! Proud to be American! "These Colors don't run!" attitude. It is like we Americans have finally realized that this was is not going so well and that maybe we should be just a little ashamed of what we as a country have done outside of our borders
** Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are solely mine, and do not represent the opinions of Super America, Bruce Springsteen, or various t-shirt or bumper sticker makers. Also, by reading this blog you signify your desire to here my opinions. If you want me to hear your opinions I will ask, or you can post them in the comments.
Who am I? Who am I? I am you and you are me and we are we and we are all together. ah ha ha oh ho ho hee hee hee. I am the egg man. I am the walrus. I am Tim Pearson the geek from St. Paul, MN with 2 kids (both boys ages 5 and 1). Koo koo kachoo!
Thanks to the Rake Magazine, I will get to prescreen the new Bourne movie. They wanted to know my favorite movie chase scene. I told them the one from Bullitt, although Gone in 60 seconds (1974) had a good one too that came in a close second. Funny, they all involved a Mustang. Really, the Bullitt chase scene was boring by todays standards, but it looked real. I could imagine driving a 1968 Mustang GT 390 all over while chasing another car. Everything moved at a real pace. Too many modern scenes have too many things going on and have impossible stunts. That, and as a guy, you can't pick a new movie with out looking like you have no class. Its the same as saying EP1 was the best Star Wars due to the awesome CGI.
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