| Home |
| About |
| Archives |
| Links |
| Japanese |
| Anime |
| Arts |
| Books |
| CDs |
| Disney |
| DVDs |
| Family |
| Games |
| Japanese |
| Jpop |
| Manga |
| Memories |
| Movies |
| Pals |
| Photos |
| Poetry |
| Trips |
| Videos |
|
Latest Flickr
|
|
Latest Twitter
|
 Feed |
| Christmas wrap-up | |
|
12.28.2007
5:28 PM | Link |
 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I'm back in Austin now, trying to get used to reality again, but I'm still enjoying that Christmas afterglow from the past few days. Before Christmas, we finished the jigsaw puzzle (which was really cool looking!), made another trip to the casino, and enjoyed a nice candlelight service at Mom & Dad's church, which was so nice. On Christmas Eve, my parents finished opening their gifts from me, then we watched A Christmas Story (which we do every year) and laughed at Ralphie's pink bunny suit for the 100th time. The next morning, I got to open up my incredible pile of gifts - I got so many DVDs this year that when I was packing them in my bag it looked like I had robbed Best Buy! I also got a special surprise gift - a wonderful figurine of Mickey Mouse with Santa! After the gift unwrapping, I got to watch the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade on Dad's new HDTV, and it looked spectacular! The entire holiday was fantastic, which makes it even more difficult to get back to my everyday routine, but I think I'm finally coming around. I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2008, though! View photos: Christmas 2007 View photos: Visit to Pops
|
| Happy PJ Day! | |
|
12.22.2007
10:21 PM | Link |
 Did you know today was PJ Day? I hope everyone enjoyed spending all day in their pajamas like Dad and I did! Each holiday season we always take a day to stay at home all day in our PJs, and today was the day since it was snowy outside. We started the day with Mom's magnificent Eggs Benedict (my favorite breakfast!), and then spent most of the day working on a jigsaw puzzle (another yearly tradition). This year I bought one called Famous Flying Machines, and even though I thought it would be kind of easy, it was actually tough - we only finished about half of it, so I hope we can finish it in the next few days. Dinner was Mom's incredible spaghetti with homemade sauce, plus pecan pie and pipe smoking!Last night we watched 15 years of Christmas home movies, talking through the whole thing, laughing at our young looks, and of course, drooling over all the cool toys that I could sell for thousands of dollars if I had them today! I really miss my Six Million Dollar Man stuff, Star Trek figures, Micronauts (I miss you, Baron Karza!), and Star Wars merchandise (including the Death Star playset, that I just recently saw on sale for over $7000! |
| Holiday fizz | |
|
12.20.2007
10:19 PM | Link |
 Welcome to the Christmas report, part two! My parents and I usually do the same fun things each year during my visit, but this year we went on a new adventure. We drove to a Pops, a fun restaurant on historic Route 66 that has over 500 kinds of soda available! The building is really unique, both inside (where they have thousands of soda bottles on shelves all over the walls) and out (where there's a humongous soda bottle monument complete with bendy straw!). We had a nice lunch and bought some souvenirs, and tried four kinds of yummy soda. We've also been continuing our casino visits, both at Remington Park (where I enjoyed the Alien movie themed game) and at Riverwind again. Mom discovered a game called Pistol Packin' Penny, and she and Dad both turned their pennies into some nice cash! I always get Mom & Dad some DVD games at Christmas, so in the evenings we've been playing Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and 1 vs 100, which are both really fun. But I think the biggest gift hit so far is a set of giant refrigerator magnets that let Mom build a huge snowman on the fridge! As always, Christmas with my parents is definitely a time of sheer relaxation and joy!
|
| Indiana Jones and the Christmas Jackpot | |
|
12.17.2007
10:11 PM | Link |
 It's time for the official Christmas report, part one! I made it to Oklahoma City with no weather problems, enjoying the convenience of my dirt-cheap, non-stop ExpressJet flight (highly recommended!), and Mom & Dad greeted me at the airport with my usual tin of Christmas cookies to get the holidays rolling! The first major order of business was hooking up a new HDTV, my big gift to my parents this season, and I'm happy to say that Dad is already a 16:9 junkie. So far we've been to the movies together, and today we had fun at Riverwind Casino playing the slot machines. We were almost ready to leave, and I decided to just play a few bucks on a cool Indiana Jones slot machine, and suddenly I hit the Ark of the Covenant progressive bonus, so I won about $400! What an awesome surprise Christmas present - I was amazed! Speaking of presents, we've also been opening a gift every night like we always do, so I've been having fun playing a new Nintendo DS game and reading a new book. Of course, I'm also eating Mom's delicious cooking and goodies, drinking beer and scotch, and generally having a blast thinking of nothing but holiday happiness!
|
| Fa la la la la | |
|
12.15.2007
7:02 AM | Link | At last, Christmas vacation is here! Yesterday was my last day of work until after Christmas, and last night was my last band gig for the year, so now I feel totally free! Later today I'll be flying to Oklahoma City to visit Mom & Dad in Christmas Paradise, and I can't wait. It looked like there was going to be a lot of snow to worry about, but so far the airport isn't reporting delays, so I think I'm OK! I'm definitely feeling the Christmas spirit now - I watched most of It's a Wonderful Life this week, and I watched the brand new Disney Holiday Magic show on the Travel Channel at lunch yesterday, which was really fun. I'm sure they will repeat it over and over, so be sure to watch it if you're a Disney fan! Of course, I'll have my trusty MacBook while I'm on vacation, so I'll still be writing a few WEBmikey posts when I'm not opening presents. Countdown to eating Mom's Christmas cookies: less than 9 hours! |
| Fred Claus : 3 of 5 | |
|
12.10.2007
6:44 PM | Link |
 Even though I enjoyed the quirky trailer for this movie over a year ago, I wasn't planning on seeing it due to all the bad things I had heard about it. But I was kind of in the mood for a holiday movie, and my pal Melinda asked me to go, so I figured I would just try to enjoy it, fully expecting to be giving it my not-so-good "2" or even "1" rating. But while I was at the theater, I was definitely surprised to find myself laughing out loud and even feeling plenty of holiday spirit! Fred Claus starts with the interesting idea that Santa Claus has an older brother, and then quickly explains that when someone becomes a Saint (as in Saint Nicholas), their entire family freezes in time, which explains why Santa's brother can be living in modern day Chicago! Fred goes to the North Pole because he wants to borrow some money, and we get to see just how dysfunctional the Claus family is, along with the workshop, all the elves, and Santa's hot blonde secretary who just happens to be normal sized. Unfortunately, Santa's operation is being checked out by an efficiency expert, and Fred doesn't make things any easier! Lots of things are predictable - it's obvious that Fred is going to have to deliver the toys, and it's easy to figure out that Kevin Spacey (the efficiency expert) was a bad kid who just needs some Santa love, but I still enjoyed the crazy plot! Best of all, they even managed to get some holiday emotion out of me, especially when all the elves gather around a giant snowglobe to magically watch the whole world open their Christmas presents - a nice idea and well done! If you love Christmas movies, ignore the bad ratings and check out Fred Claus while there's still time (or just wait for it to be on TV next year)!
|
| Balloons, butternut, benkyou | |
|
11.24.2007
7:33 AM | Link |
 I'm really enjoying this Thanksgiving holiday! My pal Tom came over with breakfast to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with me, and I thought the new balloons were cool, although Shrek seriously had a "pull my finger" pose, and Scooby Doo's nose was deflated. Hello Kitty looked great, though, and I always like seeing Pikachu, since he makes a great balloon! In the afternoon my pals who were still in town met at Chris & Eliza's for their annual Thanksgiving feast, which was especially incredible since she's going to give birth in just a few weeks! The food was awesome, and I was touched that Eliza made her yummy butternut squash soup just because she knows I look forward to her Thanksgiving soups. Yesterday I stayed at home all day to study Japanese (since the JLPT is barely over a week away!), and I met my goal for the day of re-taking both the Level 4 test from 2006 and Level 3 test from 2004. I can score really high on the Level 4 test now, which proves to me that somehow I have improved since last year, which is usually hard for me to see since each day of studying is a challenge. I took breaks by watching Jpop DVDs and a little anime, reading some comics, and doing a few other things around the house. It's been relaxing and fun for the past couple days, and now I have two more days of weekend to enjoy! View photos: Thanksgiving 2007
|
| Christmas magic | |
|
12.26.2006
8:55 PM | Link |
 I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! The final days of my Christmas vacation were simply wonderful. On Christmas Eve, my parents opened the rest of their gifts from me (and loved everything), and then we watched A Christmas Story together just like we have for the past few years. On Christmas morning I opened all of my presents, and I couldn't believe how much Santa brought me this year! I got enough DVDs, books, and Nintendo DS games to keep me busy until June! After all the unwrapping, we watched the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade and ate candy, and after that Dad and I watched some Disney True Life Adventures while I drank wine until I needed a nap. When I woke up, it was time for Christmas dinner, and Mom cooked everything perfectly as always! My entire vacation was really incredible and so relaxing, and Mom and Dad gave me another magical Christmas just like they have for the past 39 years. Enjoy the final group of Christmas photos, or take a look at all of them together in the complete set! View photos: Christmas 2006 Part 5
|
| Christmas Eve-Eve | |
|
12.23.2006
10:06 PM | Link |
 It's amazing how fast vacation days pass - it's already Christmas Eve-Eve! My parents and I are still having lots of fun together, and I'm still enjoying tons (literally!) of holiday food. We went to see another movie and made a quick stop at Crossroads Mall, which is always fun to see since I went there a million times when I lived here. We've still been playing games in the evening, and now we've added Derby Day to the mix, so we can bet on virtual horses and scream at the TV while they race! Yesterday I had a nice surprise visit from my old high school friend April, who stopped by for some fun conversation. We caught up on lots of stuff, and it was wonderful to see her again! It won't be long now before I'm ripping all the rest of my presents open! View photos: Christmas 2006 Part 4
|
| More Christmas highlights | |
|
12.20.2006
10:24 PM | Link |
 Christmas fun continues! Dad and I finished our yearly puzzle, which was a personalized map of the surrounding miles with our house at the center - it was much more difficult than I expected, but we did it. We've also been really enjoying challenging each other with Clubhouse Games on Nintendo DS - Dad is really skilled at darts! We kept our tradition of watching the Christmas home movies (this time on DVD!), and we also watched The Polar Express, which Mom & Dad hadn't seen before (they really enjoyed it). We also have been playing some DVD games I bought for them - we each played Deal or No Deal (and I'm the current record holder!) and a few rounds of Trivideo, and both are pretty cool games. Finally, we went to Sears to buy my parents' "big gift" this year, which was a new fridge, we ate out at a couple of our favorite restaurants, and we had a second day of Vegas fun at Riverwind. The time sure is flying by! View photos: Christmas 2006 Part 3
|
| Casino adventure | |
|
12.18.2006
9:57 PM | Link |
 My parents and I love to play slot machines, so for the last few visits together we've gone to the Remington Park casino and had a fun time. But today we decided to check out the new Riverwind Casino, which is brand new and the largest in Oklahoma! The building is really massive, and the interior is pretty cool - it definitely feels like Vegas, but the decor is nice and tasteful. Of course, there are thousands of slot machines, each with it's own plush chair in front of it, and they have several restaurants and a food court, too (just like a mall). We found one of our favorite games, Super Jackpot Party (which is so much fun because of the bonus games), and spent several hours playing nickels and pennies. We discovered when you play pennies that the machines are rigged to pay off a lot more often, and even with pennies I was able to finished the day with $45 bucks in winnings! View photos: Christmas 2006 Part 2
|
| Here comes Christmas! | |
|
12.16.2006
9:20 PM | Link |
 Christmas has officially begun! I always look forward to spending the holiday with my family, opening presents every single night. This year I started my parents off with some personalized Disney Santa hats, so all three of us can look extra festive for all the gifting! The Christmas eating has started, too, with plenty of cookies and some of my favorite foods (like salmon patties and homemade potato chips!). I'm trying to counteract the calorie onslaught by doing a few exercises each day, but other than that my only activity will be ripping wrapping paper and shoving cookies in my mouth. I'll try to make a WEBmikey post periodically, but it may be hard to interrupt my busy schedule of relaxing! View photos: Christmas 2006 Part 1
|
| Perfect presents | |
|
12.12.2006
10:12 PM | Link |
 I've received some really amazing Christmas gifts from my pals this year! This weekend I gave everyone this year's video project (which was a big success, judging by the laughter!), and they went together to buy me a fantastic new gig bag (for my drum kit hardware), since my old one was a serious pain. The new one is totally amazing and has wheels on it, so it's going to be so convenient! Then tonight, my pal Melinda and I exchanged gifts, and she gave me a beautiful Snow White figurine (part of the Disney Traditions series by Jim Shore)! It has a great folk-art style to it, and looks wonderful with my other Snow White sculptures. She also gave me a little LEGO set to add to my growing collection, too! Christmas is so much fun! Be sure to take a look at my latest Flickr photos, since I just got up-to-date with my latest toys, PEZ, and collectibles. View photos: Disney Collectibles View photos: PEZtastic View photos: Toys on Stage
|
| Not worth reindeer poop | |
|
12.11.2006
10:02 PM | Link |
 Since I love all of the Rankin-Bass classic Christmas shows, I'm a fan of The Year Without a Santa Claus (from 1974). Practically everyone loves the Heat Miser and Snow Miser songs, and of course the animation is brilliant for the medium. Unfortunately, this holiday classic was given the live-action treatment, and as expected, it was a disaster! If all I could watch was this show, then I really would wish for a year without a Santa Claus. Not only was everything ultra-updated to the point of stupidity, but they couldn't even put a decent beard on John Goodman (it looked like it came from a cheap Halloween store)! The only things I liked were the fact that they used real reindeer (much better than the ugly animatronics in The Santa Clause 3), and the segment about the "retirement community" called Mythopolis with Jack LaLanne playing Hercules (which was pretty funny). The Miser brothers were just OK - not horrible, but so low budget. I guarantee you I won't be watching this one next year!
|
| Cool Christmas cards | |
|
11.29.2006
10:23 PM | Link |
 Every holiday season I always enjoy picking out Christmas cards. I only send out about 30, so it's not that much of a chore, and it's fun deciding which ones to buy. For some reason, I really like cards that are smaller than the standard size - something like note card size is nice. This year I found a cool set that not only was a nice size, but each card is a popup work of art! It's a set called Christmas Alphabet Cards which has 26 different amazing designs in a nice metal tin (and I got a great deal at Barnes & Noble with my discount). It was cool to open each one and watch trees, snowflakes, candles, doves, and every other Christmas symbol you can imagine appear before my eyes! It's going to be fun deciding who gets each design and sending them out, and I can keep the tin to put Christmasy things in. I definitely recommend this set if you like to send something unique for your holiday greetings!
|
| Soup and pudding | |
|
11.24.2006
9:31 PM | Link |
 Yesterday was another incredible Thanksgiving dinner at Chris & Eliza's, who always work so hard to cook an incredible feast for our happy group of pals. This year we were joined by Baby Sofia (along with parents Kristin & Carlos, of course), who is growing up so fast, and I had a great time crawling on the floor to get some fun pictures of her. The meal was fantastic, with two special bookends - Eliza made a delicious butternut squash soup (because I am always raving about her past soups) to get things started, and Bernadette made some excellent banana pudding, which is one of my favorite desserts! It was nice to get stuffed and sit around listening to music, or watching Baby Einstein via Chris' new 40-inch LCD HDTV. The whole day made me happy and thankful to have such great friends, and gave me the energy I'll need to finish my Christmas video project! View photos: Thanksgiving 2006
|
| Thanksgiving morning | |
|
11.23.2006
12:33 PM | Link |
 Happy Thanksgiving! This morning I got up early, talked with Mom & Dad on the phone, then watched the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my pal Tom, who came over with some breakfast for us. This year's parade was a little low-key because of the rain and winds (it was strange to see the balloons flying with their feet practically dragging), but it was still wonderful to watch as always! I knew there was going to be a new Snoopy balloon, which was pretty cool, but I was surprised by the new Pikachu balloon, which was my favorite of the parade. The pose was really cute and active (much better than the old one), and I loved how they made his electric cheeks light up! (I can't find any photos of the new one yet, but this is what the old Pikachu looked like.) The worst balloon was Humpty Dumpty, which has such a terrible pose - it looks like just his butt flying down the street, since his face is tipped over so far. Watching the parade was a great start to my Thanksgiving holiday, and I'll be feasting with my pals soon!
|
| Yet another Heroes Halloween | |
|
10.29.2006
11:45 AM | Link |
 Happy early Halloween from the Greatest American Heroes! Last night we played our annual Halloween show at the Carousel Lounge, decked out in costumed craziness. I decided to go simple this year with a Fred Flintstone outfit (which was really comfortable, except for the stone underwear), which turned out great since Wilma & Betty showed up! Francis was a nice Clark Kent/Superman combo, Kirk was Mork from Ork, and Chris resurrected his Greatest American Hero costume from a few years back. Ernesto was by far the star, though, taking Chris' dare to go with an I Dream of Jeannie ensemble (and Jonathan was Major Nelson to go along with the theme)! Plenty of folks in the crowd were dressed up, too, which made for a great costume parade during our third set. It was a really fun night, but don't take my word for it, take a look at the photos! View photos: Heroes Halloween 2006
|
| Merry, merry! | |
|
12.25.2005
5:51 PM | Link |
 Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good bite! I've just finished eating a giant Christmas dinner, and this has been a simply fantastic day! Christmas Eve was really fun, too, since my parents loved their final presents from me (I was really happy that Dad loved his Corgi Aviation Archive AWACS plane, which he flew near the end of his Air Force career), and then we all watched A Christmas Story, which we all know by heart. This morning we woke up early, got dressed, and then I opened up my treasure chest of gifts - Santa was very generous, and I'll be watching new DVDs for months! I was all set to watch the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, but the local ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City decided not to carry it! (I would call them some mean names, but it's Christmas.) I'm sure my TiVo will save me and I can watch it later this week. I spent the day drinking coffee, eating cookies, playing new Nintendo DS games, and watching Christmas shows on TV. Now that dinner's over, we're going to watch the video I shot this year! By the way, here are links to two Flickr sets of Christmas photos (newly updated including shots from today). I can't believe my visit with my parents is almost over - I think time moves twice as fast during Christmas! View photos: Christmas fun View photos: Christmas ornaments
|
| Our Christmas uniforms | |
|
12.23.2005
10:33 PM | Link |
 Yesterday was a full-blown "pajama day" for Dad and I, which means we goofed off at home all day and never even got dressed (another fine Christmas-time tradition)! After an incredible Eggs Benedict breakfast by Chef Mom, Dad and I put together a puzzle I got for him. It's the front page of the New York Times on August 16th, 1935, his birthday. It started out pretty easy with the headlines, but it was pretty tough to finish all the smaller stories (we had to read the tiny print to figure out which article each piece was in)! Next we hooked up a new printer for Dad's computer, then had another one of my favorite dinners, macaroni and cheese (far better than any other macaroni dish in the world). Today we got out of the house for another movie, and tonight we watched some of our classic home movies (including scenes of my first two visits to Disneyland, along with lots of Christmas present unwrapping). I've been spending the rest of my free time reading, playing my Nintendo DS, and gaining weight. This is definitely a wonderful life!
|
| Two more Christmas days | |
|
12.21.2005
9:44 PM | Link |
 The past couple of days have been lots of fun, and nothing had to save Christmas this time! We saw another movie since I wanted Mom & Dad to see The Chronicles of Narnia, and I loved it even more this time (and my parents loved it, too). We've been watching the new nighttime game show Deal Or No Deal every night, which is fun because we all get to yell at the TV. Today it was sunny and warm, so we went to the mall, then went to Sears (so I could buy Mom & Dad their annual "major appliance" gift), and then went to Remington Park, since they just opened a new casino! We spent about two and a half hours playing slots and had a great time (I also had a couple Manhattans)! I got hooked on one called 99 Bottles of Beer, since it had a little bonus game where you choose which cartoon character can drink the most beer, and Mom had an awesome run on Livewire (once she won 400 nickels on one pull - not bad!). Christmas is coming too fast, but I'm loving every moment!
|
| New battery saves Christmas | |
|
12.19.2005
10:32 PM | Link |
 Today's Christmas adventure began with a big breakfast cooked by Mom (who else?), and then we headed out in the semi-snowy weather to see King Kong (review coming soon). After the movie we went to an extra early dinner at Ted's Cafe Escondido, which is my parents' favorite Mexican restaurant, and apparently everyone else's favorite, too, since they are always packed for dinner even as early as 4:00 PM! After a great meal and margaritas, we got back in the car and it wouldn't start! We called AAA and went back into Ted's to wait, and our waiter offered to give us a jump. So, we gave that a try, but it still wouldn't turn over, so we didn't know if the battery was the problem or not. Suddenly, another Ted's employee pulled up with a portable battery jumper, and after hooking up both batteries, Dad's car started! We drove to AutoZone to get a new battery, and luckily the guy there was nice enough to put it in for us, even though they were understaffed and getting busy. So, our car trouble turned out OK - it was our own little Christmas miracle! Before we knew it we were back home drinking hot chocolate and playing The Price is Right DVD game (Mom won both showcases!).
|
| Glenfiddich saves Christmas | |
|
12.18.2005
11:10 PM | Link |
 Today we went to church and had breakfast at IHOP, then we bought a bunch of lottery tickets for Mom (the lottery is fairly new for Oklahoma City, and Mom & Dad love to play). It was fun watching Mom scratch off the tickets, and she ended up breaking even (one ticket won $14 dollars!). My parents have tons of old home movies that they transferred to video, and this year I'm dubbing them to digital tape so I can put them on DVD. I had a crazy time with one of Dad's VCRs and got a little stressed, but I was fine after some cookies and Glenfiddich. Now the dubbing is going fine, and I'm looking forward to making a cool DVD with them and having my own copy (so I can watching myself getting my diaper changed anytime I want). Tonight I gave my parents the TV edition of Scene It, and we played a couple games, which were both close calls since my parents know quite a bit of TV trivia! Tomorrow I'll start taking more pictures to spruce up these postings!
|
| Getting Christmas started | |
|
12.17.2005
11:08 PM | Link | My flight to Oklahoma City was just fine (no winter weather), and even though the airport was packed, I enjoyed eavesdropping on a Japanese conversation and trying to figure it out. (In fact, there was a woman in front of me in the security line who didn't speak English, so she couldn't understand when the security guy was trying to tell her to put something on the scanner belt. I wanted to help, but I always forget the verb for "to put" - I can't wait until I'm confident enough to speak up in that kind of situation!) I got a good start on my Christmas eating with plenty of Mom's cookies and her fantastic salmon patties meal (my favorite), and I spent some time upgrading the Mac OS on my Dad's iBook. Then we opened a present (which we'll do every day), and watched a silly Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel (Mom can never get enough Christmas movies). All you need to know is Steve Gutenberg was the star, playing a young Santa Claus - definitely a classic! (Yes, Virginia, that was sarcasm.) I love Christmas at home! |
| Christmas DVD success | |
|
12.16.2005
6:44 PM | Link |
 This week I finished watching my library of Christmas DVDs, which was my goal before I head to Oklahoma City tomorrow! I watched Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, which I really enjoy - all of the stories are so amazingly heart-tugging, and Mickey and Minnie are just too cute in their version of Gift of the Magi. I followed up with the sequel, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, which just came out last year, so this was my first year to watch this DVD during the appropriate season. I loved it (especially the final Mickey and Pluto story), and I was a little more used to the CG characters, too. Finally, I saved the best for last, and watched It's a Wonderful Life, and no matter how many times I see it, I'm always going to cry at the end. So, now I've watched everything (except for A Christmas Story, which I always watch with my parents), and I'm ready for a week of Christmas joy. Next stop, Christmas Land USA (otherwise known as my parents' house)!
|
| Movie madness | |
|
12.12.2005
11:34 PM | Link |
 This weekend I had some pals over for what's become a new Christmas tradition for me - the "screening" of my end-of-the-year video project! During the year I shoot lots of goofy video and take thousands of photos, and then I try to edit everything in some strange way. It's a lot of fun, and this year I went crazy and tried to make an actual movie with characters and a plot and everything. Of course, our demonic nemesis Baby Chaos had a starring role, and everyone laughed and had a great time, which was the perfect Christmas gift for me! I tried to take some pictures, but since I was running around getting drinks for folks, my shots were pretty bad. Thankfully, my pal Barron was there as official photographer, so enjoy the pics! View photos: Christmas screening (by Barron)
|
| Christmas CDs | |
|
12.11.2005
8:21 AM | Link |
 Being a definite Christmas fan, I've got a lot of Christmas music. In fact, there are 376 Christmas tracks in my iTunes library right now! Still, I have to buy a couple of new CDs every year. This year I just bought and downloaded a couple of albums from the iTunes Music Store, since it's so easy and quick, and I really just went on impulse. So, first I ended up with Hilary Duff's Santa Claus Lane, recorded in the old days when Hilary was still Lizzie and she wasn't afraid of some cute baby fat. Contemporary Christmas CDs usually include a few new tunes, hoping to score "classic" status, but Hilary doesn't have a chance with I Heard Santa on the Radio or the barf-tastic Tell Me a Story! Thankfully, her covers are pretty cool - Wonderful Christmastime is way more rockin' than the original, and Last Christmas is really great, too. The second CD I bought is Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas. I don't have any other Mariah music, and I haven't followed her celebrity ups and downs, but I know one thing - that girl can sing, and this is a fantastic album! In fact, All I Want for Christmas is You is one of the best contemporary holiday songs ever! She also does a great job on traditional carols, all with a gospel feel. Her voice is just amazing to me! This music has definitely made driving in holiday traffic a more enjoyable experience.Labels: holidays |
| Christmas relaxing | |
|
12.07.2005
10:52 PM | Link |
 Today it was finally "really" cold for Austin, and it's only 26 degrees right now. I guess the chill really put me in a Christmas relaxing mood, so I kicked back with a pipe and hot tea (and brandy later) and watched three Christmas DVDs in a row! First I watched Rankin Bass' Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, with all the great songs and the hilarious Burgermeister Meisterburger (and I always crack up when Kris says "I'm a man now!" in his lumberjack outfit). Next was The Nightmare Before Christmas, which I usually watch on Halloween, but this year I saved it for Christmas. I'm always amazed at just what a great story it is, and I love Sally's sad love song. I finished with The Santa Clause, which has become one of my favorites, even though I'm not a huge Tim Allen fan. Once again, it's just a great modern Christmas tale, and I like how all the kids just "know" he's Santa. Oh, and earlier this week I watched Rankin Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, of course! (Actually, I don't think there's anything misfit about a water pistol that shoots jelly.) I still have a stack of Christmas DVDs to watch by the end of next week, before I go to my personal Christmas wonderland with Mom & Dad in Oklahoma City!
|
| Christmas begins | |
|
11.27.2005
6:22 PM | Link |
 Now that Thanksgiving has past, this weekend I did my 20 minutes of Christmas decorating (which means putting up one string of indoor lights and setting out some Disney Hallmark ornaments). I also started drinking my beloved Holiday Brew coffee (delicious!) and watching Christmas shows on DVD! I have several Christmas classics (and I may buy some new ones this year), but I decided to start with How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animation, not the Jim Carrey piece of junk!). I can remember watching this when I was pretty young, and I thought the Grinch's teeth were scary. I love how he slips those big candy canes out of the hands of the little sleeping Whos - so creepy! But I think my favorite thing about the story is the crazy Dr. Seuss rhyming - nonsense words are cool. This sounds like a fun Christmas morning to me!They'll blow their floo-floobers! They'll bang their tah-tinkers! They'll blow their hoo-hoobers! They'll bang their gah-ginkers! They'll beat their trum-tookers! They'll slam their sloo-slonkers! They'll beat their blum-blookers! They'll wham their woo-wonkers! |
| It's all in the basting | |
|
11.25.2005
7:39 PM | Link |
 Another wonderful Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the holiday weekend remains! Yesterday I had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with my pals at Chris & Eliza's house - Eliza always cooks up a fantastic feast. Here's this year's "basting shot", which has become a tradition - I take this photo every year. Someday I will be able to publish a book of Eliza's basting skill! It was nice to have Tom back at Thanksgiving, since he missed the last two years (he also made me breakfast, which is a nice bonus). After having lots of wine and stuffing ourselves (oh yeah, there was pie and ice cream, too!), we watched some old video I brought of past Thanksgivings, and then watched a pretty good movie on DVD. It was a nice relaxing time with lots of laughs, and now I'm in full-swing Christmas anticipation! View photos: Thanksgiving
|
| Happy Thanksgiving! | |
|
11.24.2005
8:27 AM | Link |
 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I wonder how many blog posts today are titled, "Happy Thanksgiving"? I'm posting early today because I'm about to start my Thanksgiving morning ritual - watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I always get excited about seeing the new balloons - this year I'm looking forward to Mr. Potato Head, but I also want to see Puffy AmiYumi (it's weird to see cartoon versions of Japanese pop stars in a parade for a holiday that doesn't exist in Japan!). Later today I'll be at Chris & Eliza's house for our annual feast - I'm so thankful to have close friends during the holidays! I'll have Thanksgiving photos later this weekend, but for now, here's the awesome SpongeBob balloon (for my true SpongeBob fans, Matt & Kumiko!).
|
| July 4th holiday | |
|
7.05.2005
7:04 PM | Link |
 My pals Chris & Eliza proved once again how amazing they are by having a great July 4th swim and barbecue. It was a lot of fun swimming in the sun, drinking beer, and eating excellent food! Once again we were visited by Danger, a super-cool dog that I've met a few times before, who is just as cute as can be (Dolly is still cute, too, but I already have hundreds of pictures of her, so this time I took more pics of Danger!). Kristin was proud of her belly full 'o baby, and everyone had fun with some palm reading (I had the deepest love line, so it's been decided I will have many mistresses later in life - please send your applications!). I just love holidays! View photos
|
| Candy and doggies | |
|
3.29.2005
8:44 PM | Link |
 As usual, my pals Chris & Eliza had an Easter get-together at their house, which was lots of fun. We had burgers and candy, plus three dogs to play with! Dolly was there, of course, plus two others they were dog-sitting - Danger and Jewel. We also had some crazy fun looking for "haunted items" on eBay, and we actually bid on and won Baby Chaos, a goofy looking baby doll. The listing was so stupid that I'm sure it's not really possessed, but I shot a lot of video of us bidding, so maybe I can make a funny documentary out of it! (I'm sure I'll have more news on this exciting topic in the future!) View photos: Easter 2005
|
| A little more Christmas | |
|
12.29.2004
8:49 PM | Link |
 Getting back to normal life after a wonderful Christmas isn't easy. I have to make myself do things again after relaxing for over a week, not to mention switching from Mom's terrific meals back to ramen noodles! Before I forget to mention it, did everyone notice how many remakes of Dickens' A Christmas Carol there were this year? There were tons of them on the Hallmark Channel, including one with William Shatner and Gary Coleman as two of the ghosts! My family and I had more fun watching our old home movies - I always enjoy seeing my young parents opening gifts, and then seeing all of my toys (that would be worth a fortune on eBay if I had them now!). I can always relive my Christmas fun through photos, so here are my memories of this fun holiday. View photos: Christmas 2004 Family View photos: Christmas 2004 Decorations View photos: Christmas 2004 Food
|
| Christmas weekend | |
|
12.26.2004
10:16 PM | Link |
 Yesterday was a fantastic Christmas! Santa was extremely generous this year, and now I have so many DVDs to watch that I need another vacation. I think if you add up all the DVD content it would be well over 100 hours! Dad and I got a good start by watching eleven Road Runner cartoons in a row, then we all drank egg nog and watched the awesome Walt Disney World parade. Christmas dinner was amazing, too!
Today Mom and I did some 50%-off Christmas shopping, and tonight we went to a candlelight silent communion service. The church was filled with candlelight, and the entire service was without speech - only organ music. I had never been to a service done this way before, and it was really special. |
| Almost Christmas | |
|
12.24.2004
10:05 PM | Link | Merry Christmas Eve! Today I ate an insane amount of macaroni and cheese, my parents opened all of their gifts, and we watched A Christmas Story and laughed at Ralphie's adventures like we do every year. Earlier in the day, Dad and I watched a bunch of the old Mickey Mouse Club episodes on DVD - Dad was excited to see some segments with the old TWA Constellation, which is the type of plane he spent more than 12,000 hours on in the Air Force! Tomorrow is Christmas, so WEBmikey may be taking a day off. Have a wonderful holiday, and don't forget to watch the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade! |
| PJ-day | |
|
12.22.2004
10:06 PM | Link |
 Today was an ultra-holiday day! We had a little bit of snow and slick roads this morning, so Dad and I both stayed in our pajamas all day long and put together a puzzle (last night's gift from me). It's a panoramic shot of Times Square, which I picked out because the photo includes the hotel we stayed in during our vacation there a while back. It's over three feet wide, and it took us over six hours to put all 750 pieces together, but it was a lot of fun!
|
| C is for cookie | |
|
12.21.2004
10:20 PM | Link |
I've been doing lots of Christmas eating (which means lots of New Years dieting), and cookies are a big part of the goodies. Over the years, Mom has standardized on a set of must-eat cookies for each holiday season! See if your family bakes any of these: |
| Still Christmasing | |
|
12.20.2004
10:22 PM | Link |
 My family and I are still enjoying some holiday fun together, opening gifts, doing some shopping, and eating wonderful food! So far I've opened a great book and some nice clothes, and I'm enjoying a nice pipe each evening (I hadn't smoked in several weeks since I had a cold, so it's especially relaxing!). My pal Matt asked to see some photos of Mom's decorations, so I took a few with my camera phone. I'll have more pictures with my real camera after Christmas, but here's a taste of Christmas Central for now! Mom gets more decorations every year - in fact, my first iMovie project was a little documentary of all the decorations a couple years ago. I love the way everything looks! View photos
|
| Christmas fun begins | |
|
12.19.2004
3:16 PM | Link |
 Hello from Christmas Central! Yesterday I spent two hours wrapping my parents' Christmas gifts, and later that night we each opened a few things - my family's tradition is opening a gift or two each every night, then on Christmas Eve my parents open all the rest of their gifts, and on Christmas Day I dig into Santa's treasure for me. We all played a couple games of Scene It, a DVD-based game of movie trivia (one of my gifts to Dad), and had a great time screaming out trivia answers at the TV. One my favorite parts of the evening was cracking open a bottle of 15 year old Glenfiddich (Dad splurged and bought the Solera Reserve this year!). I quickly poured a triple and started feeling the Christmas spirit right away!
By the way, sorry for the missed post yesterday. Dad's router recently bit the dust, so we bought him a new one and got it configured today, so I'm back on track! |
| The gift of silly video | |
|
12.14.2004
6:07 PM | Link |
 This weekend I hosted a little Christmas gathering to present my pals with this year's video project! Last year I used iMovie to put together a video of all the events of 2003, using tons of photos and video that I had shot during the year, then burned everyone a copy using iDVD. It was a big hit, so I wanted to do it again this year with everything I shot in 2004. However, I went a little insane and decided to use all of the material to make 12 goofy fake TV commercials! Everyone laughed like crazy, so I'm glad it was as much fun as last year. (To my far away friends, your copy is in the mail!) I've learned so much about editing in the process - it's very cool! I'm definitely getting a faster computer before next year's project, though. Anyway, it was a wonderful evening - I'm so thankful that I have such great friends! View photos: Christmas Gathering 2004
|
| Favorite Christmas TV | |
|
12.08.2004
8:46 PM | Link |
 Thanks for giving me tonight's topic, Matt! I love to watch Christmas movies and TV specials, and I'm sure many of my favorites are the same as tons of other people. So, in no particular order, here we go!
Labels: holidays |
| Christmas fun | |
|
12.05.2004
4:57 PM | Link |
 My Christmas level is rising nicely! Last night I went out with my pals to see the Mr. Sinus Christmas Variety Show, where Austin's own Sinus comics do their hilarious best with some of the worst Christmas specials and movies ever made. It was a lot of fun, and afterwards Ernesto, Jonathan and I walked around downtown - Jonathan was posting flyers for a gig and I enjoyed the city Christmas decorations! I've been watching lots of Christmas stuff on TiVo, too - I got to sing along with Snow Miser and Heat Miser today, and that's just the beginning. I really enjoyed the new musical Christmas Carol that was on recently, too (with songs by Alan Menken, top Disney composer). It's just that time of year!
Here's a few new must-click links for you! |
| Fantastic food | |
|
11.26.2004
2:13 PM | Link |
 Another fun-filled (and food-filled) Thanksgiving has come and gone. Chris & Eliza always cook up an incredible dinner, and I'm so happy to be one of their pals so I can enjoy it! After we ate we looked at old pictures, played DDR and Karaoke Revolution, watched Chris & Eliza's wedding video, and slowly recovered from our food comas just enough energy to drive home about midnight. And the weekend is still ahead of me (which is great, since I have lots of video editing to work on)! View photos: Thanksgiving 2004
|
| Here come the holidays! | |
|
11.25.2004
1:41 PM | Link |
 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! What a wonderful morning! I just finished enjoying all four hours of parade fun (you get four hours if you watch it on two channels!), and it was definitely spectacular. I love it all, from the bad jokes to the bad lip-synching of the performers, and especially Santa Claus, who looked great this year! The Spongebob and Chicken Little balloons were really cool, but the new M&Ms balloon was so boring. During my parade fest, I has a pot of coffee, some fried eggs, my Mom's pumpkin bread (yummy!), and filled my condo with pipe smoke - ah, the holiday season! During the commercials I read some of the original Thanksgiving Proclamations by Washington and Lincoln - I was definitely feeling lots of holiday emotion, and Lincoln's proclamation was so beautiful that I got misty-eyed. I can definitely say those won't be the first happy Christmas tears for me - just wait until all the Christmas TV specials start!Labels: holidays |
| Wieners & noodles | |
|
6.03.2004
7:32 PM | Link |
 Chris & Eliza played hosts as usual and had everyone over for a pool party BBQ on Memorial Day. I was totally wiped out from a busy weekend of rehearsals and gigs, but it was still a great time! Conrad's kids went crazy playing with their "noodles", since you can blow water out of them at unsuspecting victims. While were eating the weather went wacky and there was a sudden hailstorm (bigger than pea-sized!) - it was certainly strange for Austin! View photos: Memorial Day 2004
|
| Happy Easter! | |
|
4.11.2004
6:53 PM | Link | Happy Easter, everyone! I had a nice morning at church, even though it was pouring rain. Unfortunately, I think the rain dampened the usual "Easter fashion". I usually look forward to seeing lots of cute dresses and outrageous hats on Easter, but I think the ladies decided they didn't want to get the fancy stuff wet. After church, all my pals had a nice brunch at Chris & Eliza's, featuring excellent quiche and potatoes (which I'm proud to say I finished, since I wouldn't want them to be stuck with any pesky leftovers - what a nice guy I am!). |
| Christmas photos | |
|
1.04.2004
5:11 PM | Link |
 A wonderful Christmastime in Oklahoma City with Mom & Dad. Check out the tremendous load of gifts and some yummy food! View photos: Christmas 2003
|
| Holiday tears | |
|
12.19.2003
7:31 PM | Link |
 I just finished watching It's a Wonderful Life and crying like a baby (as usual) - the last ten minutes are a symphony of emotion! It's just fantastic and makes me feel fantastic. I know the final scenes so well that I start crying just before things happen (I was losing it about 30 seconds before George's brother comes home). I just love that movie! Now I'm feeling warm and happy and ready to be home with my parents for Christmas!
|
| Thanksgiving 2003 | |
|
11.29.2003
6:22 PM | Link |
Another spectacular Thanksgiving at Chris & Eliza's house, full of friends, family, and of course, food! Don't miss the famous "basting shot"! View photos: Thanksgiving 2003
|
| Halloween with the Heroes | |
|
11.02.2003
6:21 PM | Link |
The Greatest American Heroes rock the Carousel Lounge in full costume! Check out the band's TV/movie themed outfits, as well as the awesome audience duds. Beware of the werewolf! View photos: Halloween 2003
|
| Halloween with the Heroes | |
|
9:21 AM | Link |
  The Greatest American Heroes played a really fun Halloween show at the Carousel Lounge this weekend. Of course, we were all in costume! Chris was the Greatest American Hero himself, Ernesto and Jonathan were Coneheads, Francis was Darth Vader, Conrad was an American Werewolf in London, and Dana was Miss Piggy. I was the Six Million Dollar Man, with real bionic legs and arm (everyone knows bionic parts are really internal modems). Lots of audience members dressed up, too - I was really impressed with the gang from Scooby Doo, who not only looked great, but danced until the very last song. Jinkies!
As part of my moving madness, I'm giving my old PowerWave (Mac clone) to my pal George so his grandson can play with it. I haven't even booted the thing in the past two years! Anyway, I had some old files I wanted to copy for posterity, so I powered up, turned on file sharing, and in two seconds I had this ancient machine mounted as a server on my iBook so I could copy the files with ease. It's completely amazing to me that Mac OS X can talk to this dusty old computer via AppleShare, which no one uses anymore. It's times like this that I'm even more glad to use Macs!  Queen of Charades / The Connells / Still Life
|
| Rudolph Mambo | |
|
1.26.2003
7:27 PM | Link |
 My first attempt at creativity with my new camcorder! Using toys from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer show, I put together this little stop-motion piece in about 2 hours (one to shoot, another to edit). I had more ambitious movement in mind, but the stupid cotton snow made it next to impossible to balance the figures (next time I'm using confetti snow!). Still, it's pretty fun to watch, and I got my feet wet with digital video. Watch video: Rudolph Mambo
|
| Thanksgiving 2002 | |
|
12.01.2002
6:14 PM | Link |
Another spectacular holiday meal at Chris & Eliza's house, joined by plenty of friends and Eliza's family. View photos: Thanksgiving 2002
|
| New Year's Eve 2002 with Chris & Eliza | |
|
1.01.2002
5:58 PM | Link |
Great food, a Christmas tree, and a big DDR crowd. View photos: Happy New Year 2002
|
| Thanksgiving 2001 with Chris & Eliza | |
|
11.22.2001
5:56 PM | Link |
Even more food than last year, but we played lots of DDR so we didn't gain an ounce. View photos: Thanksgiving 2001
|
| 4th of July | |
|
7.04.2001
6:18 PM | Link |
Chris and Eliza host a swim party and BBQ for Independence Day. View photos: July 4th 2001
|
| Easter with Chris & Eliza | |
|
4.16.2001
5:14 PM | Link |
Yet another free meal at the famous La Cava/Loyola party pad - includes racy hot tub pics! View photos: Easter 2001
|
| New Year's Eve 2001 with Chris & Eliza | |
|
1.01.2001
6:11 PM | Link |
Watch our close little group welcome the new year with food and fireworks (don't call the cops). View photos: Happy New Year 2001
|
| Thanksgiving 2000 with Chris & Eliza | |
|
8.08.2000
6:11 PM | Link |
A fantastic feast complemented by an incredible amount of booze. View photos: Thanksgiving 2000
|
| Blogger | HaloScan | Levelfield | |
