Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

Monday marked my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. I love them both so much and hope the have a great few days down in Vegas.

Bummer

My good friend Minh is in town this weekend and I was really looking forward to a photo walk with him around Austin this morning. He's my hero as far as photography goes, because he's a mild-mannered sales engineer by day, and a hip, plugged in photographer by night. You really should spend a few minutes on his site and check out his great work.


Unfortunately, the combination of sub-zero temps and my cold/allergies are holding me back. Now it'll be another six months or so before I can learn from Minh the Master.


Check out my Flickr page for some of my photos.

On Cough Syrup

It blows my mind to think that in this time of revolutionary computer technology and groundbreaking medical advancements, cough syrup still tastes like fermented whale placenta. What would it cost Robitussin to put one of their scientists on the whole "our-product-tastes-like-badger-urine" issue?

Can anyone explain this? Anybody?

3 Days to Go...

I'll be honest, we're a little nervous about singing the National Anthem this Saturday at the Austin Ice Bats' game. Luckily the arena only has seats for around 500. Nick gave me a great suggestion for how to really make an impression: sing this classic tune instead...



If you're going to the game, make sure to bring a camera so we can post the results on the blog.

Todd's Take on I Am Legend

** Spoilers Below **

I watched I Am Legend last week, and after several days of thinking, I've decided that it was a combination of scary-to-the-point-of-almost-pooping-myself and a let-down.

It's really scary. They did a great job of using the emptiness of New York City to keep you on your toes the whole time. I spent most of the hour and a half holding onto the guy next to me (yes, it was a dude, and no, we weren't on a date. It was a guys movie night with some friends from church), as we waited for the next startling zombie encounter.

Despite the great suspense and special effects used to turn NYC into a jungle, the movie was an overall let-down. They tried to span both a blockbuster, big-budget action film and a last-man-on-earth character story, and missed both targets.

On the blockbuster side, all the big sweeping shots of an empty New York set a very large stage that the story underutilized. The main antagonist, a zombie gang leader, only showed up in a few scenes. His intelligence was under appreciated by Will Smith's character early on, and so encounters felt flat instead of crescendoing towards the finale. It was short (101 minutes), so they could have spent a few more scenes developing the rivalry between Will Smith and the zombie leader, and thereby making the heroic final fight more climactic.

Because they tried to do both an epic movie and character piece, Will Smith's character development left wanting. They had a chance to delve more into his psychosis after years of being alone, and show only brief references to the empty city around him. But instead they had him golfing off an aircraft carrier and hunting with a Ford Mustang, making his few revelatory scenes feel cheap.

I guess I'm being a little snobby, but when you have all the ingredients to make a delicious Todd's Top 100 Films (more later), and instead you make no-bake cheesecake, I'm gonna get a little upset.

Todd's Rating:

What I Did on My Winter Vacation

Hey Blournalers!

No, I'm not dead, nor have I forgotten about my little niche on the Interwebs. I've been very busy the last few weeks and am finally finding some time to write again. Here's a brief recap of what I've been up to the last three weeks.

Church Christmas Party

Our congregation's theme was "A Night in Jerusalem." And while we didn't have the budget that other churches have for this kind of thing, we did a pretty decent job. I was asked to play the part of King Herod, and I decided that I'd make my own costume instead of doing the typical "wear a bathrobe and towel around your head." It was a lot of work, and Katie helped a lot, but I think the end result was pretty sweet:

FAQs:

1. Yes, the beard is painted on. I only have seven facial hair and they are located on my neck. I used the same technique as my Halloween costume from last year.

2. Yes, those are Christmas tree beads I'm using as a belt.

3. I have a serious look on my face because I'm in character, and my character was a pretty bad dude.

Katie Graduates from Texas Tech Nursing School

Katie worked her buns off for this and couldn't be happier. I am so proud of her and am glad that she's found a career she really loves. You can read about the celebration lunch we had on her blog.

Christmas in Arizona

Katie's family is from Afton, Wyoming. It's cold there. Really cold. So they try to spend Christmas someplace warm and this year we all went to Scottsdale for a week of rest and relaxation. Katie's sister also coordinated her wedding with the trip, so the entire family was present to see Carrie and James get hitched. She looked beautiful and he's a baller that I look forward to hanging out with more in the future.

Hanging out with Uncle Jim

Katie and I decided to drive to Phoenix from Austin (920 miles!!!) so that we could stop through Tucson on our way back and visit my Uncle Jim. He has several unique hobbies, which makes hanging out really fun. As you can see by the pictures, Jim is a big motorcycle aficionado with plenty of extra duds for us to try out. He's also a big country dancer. The thing we like best about Jim is his artistic side. He has made several painting that hang up in our house and as a Christmas gift he gave us another beautiful painting (pictures coming soon).

Life and Death on the I-10

After a few passing up the sketchy hotel options in El Paso, we decided to drive back from Tucson in a single shot. That meant driving from 7pm to 9am the day before New Years. I drove through the night and Katie drove the last few hours so I could get some sleep. I don't recommend doing that, but I also don't recommend stopping anywhere in between.

So there's a recap of my last three weeks (not to mention all the work). I promise to write more in the future and I hope you have a great 2008!