Tonight's Movie

I saw the 1983 flick Phar Lap at the library today, so I picked it up. The girls are watching it now as I putter around.


And here is Phar Lap's skin from 2004. (I had never heard of Phar Lap before then.)

A Thanksgiving Tradition

(Watching boring NFL football action)

Now, to make it truly like the holidays I remember, Grandpa would quickly fall asleep with his mouth open. Before long, Dad would do the same, leaving the Son as the only one watching the game.

Actually, the only reason Boy-Boy would sit still for long enough to even get his picture taken was because he had a tummy ache. He's doing better now.

Wood County Courthouse/Bong Window (and a Toledo @ Bowling Green Football Game)

Same deal as last week, but this week's festivities were the Toledo @ Bowling Green football game (Final Score: Toledo 44, Bowling Green 41 2OT). Since we arrived before dark, here's the Wood County Courthouse. I've lost track of how many county courthouses I've taken photos of. I need to organize it all again.


Legend has it that only one window in the courthouse annex has its light on 24 hours a day, the "Bong Window". Legend continues that this is to encourage would-be violators of pharmaceutical laws to stay on the straight and narrow. "Don't let your bong end up here!" or something. However, we couldn't find the Bong Window, so I'm not convinced that it exists.


Here are Djl and Captain Mike with the Timchenkos:


And here's a game photo. BG wore brown shirts for the first time in maybe 10 years or so.


We watched the first half from field level, and the second half from the stands. While were weren't prohibited from the box area, we were certainly made to feel unwelcome. When I got home, it was 26F/-4C, though it was probably a bit warmer at the game. So, while it was nice to have a place to go to warm up at halftime, we didn't want to wear out our unwelcome.

(I regret that I neglected to capture the elusive Donut on non-film digital media in his natural habitat at the hardware store.)

"Little Boxes" by The Womenfolk

Here's a bit of trivia for you. According to Dr. Demento, the song "Little Boxes" by The Womenfolk was the shortest song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. You can find the lyrics by doing a search like this one, though I won't post them here. (Beware of tons of pop-up ads from song lyric sites!)

You can download the song here. Souces I have seen give the recording a duration of 1:02, though this mp3 comes in at 1:03.

Despite the song being from more than a generation ago (more like a generation and a half), it sounds rather "modern" in its negative take on suburban living. I guess the suburbs have been with us for a while now.

Quick Trip To Miami

Well, I guess I'm kind of obligated to do a write-up of yesterday's jaunt to Oxford and the Miami/Bowling Green football game. For writeup of the actual game, Yahoo! Sports did a better job than I could do. As it says, the start of the game was delayed for 2 1/2 hours due to the forecast of heavy storms approaching the area. Just as we were arriving at the stadium, it was being announced that the game was being suspended, and everyone was supposed to go to their cars (what if you walked?) or go to Millett Hall, the basketball arena. Not knowing any local establishments for the purchase of a beverage while we waited, we went up the hill to Millett and hung out for a while:


Not a whole lot was happening there. A women's volleyball game against Buffalo had just finished. But we still got to watch some exciting intercollegiate volleyball action involving the bored cheerleaders:


We also sent the following e-mail messages to Tony from my phone:

Stuck in millett hall. Hope it works out better in oxford than it did in new orleans.

Still stuck in Millett Hall. Listening to Weezer.

Still stick in millet. Being subjected to miami band. Please send help. Can't hold out much longer. Considering jumping.

I think it costs me 10c per each e-mail message I send, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, I have no idea how Tony reacted to the messages, as I was able to tell that he sent a reply, but either I couldn't figure out how to actually read an e-mail message to my phone, or it isn't working right on my phone.

Eventually (like 9:30pm) the game got started.

• I don't recall being at a football game before where it rained so much.
  
• I don't recall seeing a team score three safeties in a game before.
• I don't recall seeing a team botch four punts in a game before.
• I don't recall seeing a quarterback throw five interceptions in a game before.

I mentioned the rain. Really, it wasn't a problem for us, though. We had the opportunity to watch the game from inside and out of the weather. Or, when the weather cleared, we were able to hang out on the sideline. It was a great way to watch a game -- I recommend it to anyone, and I hope to do it again. Sorry, I don't have a photo of the view of the field from "upstairs", but here are a few shots from the sideline.

The north stands of the less-than-packed Yager Stadium:


Bowling Green celebrating (from 10 yards away) after a touchdown by Sean O'Drobinak:


Cheerleaders doing their thing rather than playing volleyball:


By the way, due to the delay in getting the game started, I didn't get to bed until about 3:00am. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Google Talk

Sorry I haven't posted much lately; here's short post.

I don't know how long it' s been available, but Google, in its quest to take over the world and not just be the search engine of choice, has an instant messaging application available: Google Talk. Check it out.

I assume that it's well done. I've installed it, but I don't have anyone to send messages to. Give it a try and send me a message!



Disclaimer: At the time of this writing, the author held shares in Google, Inc.

Working? Or Pulling Teeth?

In yesterday's entry, djl commented about the time he realised that he'd rather be having a root canal than working. I personally am not the sort who will tell you how much he hates his job. But let's see. Yesterday,

1. I got up at the normal time for that day, skipped breakfast at home, and drove my daughter to her before-school flute lesson.
2. I then drove to Tim Hortons, where I had a leisurely breakfast of a bagel, cinnamon roll, small coffee, and a glass of water (that's a lot, but I should have ordered more) as I read a novel (The Time-Traveler's Wife).
3. Next, I headed for the dentist's office, where I had a relatively fast, interesting, and painless procedure.
4. I headed home, where I took care of some bills, and then surfed the 'Net for a while, including playing some online chess.
5. In the afternoon, I lounged around and watched a bit of the "star & director commentary" version of my "UHF" DVD.
6. Later in the afternoon, my wife went out, did some errands, and brought me home a large milkshake and ice cream. How nice.

All-in-all, would I rather have a typical day at work or a day like the above? If only I wasn't always replacing the bloody gauze pads in my mouth. But still... What do you think?

BTW, it wasn't a space issue as much as a quality issue. Wisdom teeth can deteriorate faster than normal teeth, and this one was in a position where it didn't do much chewing, was difficult to brush, and would only get worse.

Extraction!

I finally went ahead and had a wisdom tooth removed this morning. (Yes, people at my tender age can have wisdom teeth removed too.) It wasn't really causing major problems, but as time went on, it was gradually aching more frequently when I'd eat something sweet or hot or cold or whatever. I figured that the situation wasn't going to get any better. Unfortuantely, they said that I wasn't supposed to take it home, so I can't show the kids or post a photo on the blog or anything like that. There actually was ample opportunity for me to palm it when nobody was looking -- I think the dentist intentionally gives you that chance -- after all, it's my tooth. But if them's the rules, them's the rules. (Maybe next time I'll try a back alley tooth extractor?)

So now I'm at home, changing the gauze pads every twenty or thirty minutes, and not allowed to drink anything at all today. (How will I manage?) I am allowed to have some ice cream tonight.

I feel fine now. Let's see how it goes after the anesthetic wears off. Unfortunately, I didn't get any cool drugs to try, but then I didn't ask for any.

Does anyone have any cool tooth stories?