"It's Christmas Time...In The City..."

What?

But Mike, you are no doubt asking right now, it's not even December!

Yes, but according to Lite FM 103.7, Christmas begins NOW. And ya know what? I dig it. Plus, it's finally cold around here! Like get out your coat and wear it cold. I went to Target a few times over the last month and they don't seem to have my favourite candle: roasted chestnut! I'm shocked. But not let down. Because they have a new one I'm going to get: cinnamon pecan. All of the good scents and none of the overpowering stuff some candles seem to give off. I want that one and maybe one of those "cookies baking" candles. All about the candles this time of year, ya know?

Not a whole lot going on this week. Work is really starting to grate on my nerves. We didn't get an hour lunch break all week despite us still having to be here for nine hours a day. I really don't think that's fair that we don't even get a decent breakin the day from this place. I mean, it is stressful enough what we have to deal with with the health care reform laws, trying to keep up with all of that.

Our neighbors moved out last week. The new neighbors haven't moved in yet. Maybe they saw me in my boxer briefs getting the paper and changed their minds? Hey, who wouldn't want to see that on a regular basis, right?

I made a blog for a co-worker of mine! She sells jewelry...I think...maybe some other stuff. Here's a link:

Shelley Duncan

Still have some stuff to work on and add to it. But it shall look as good as mine someday!

Sam's is having some kind of uber-sampling of tasty holiday treats this weekend! Can't wait!

"So Long...Pardner..."

And with that line, one of the best movies I have ever seen was summed up in such a way that if you did not tear up just a little, you may not be actually human inside. Do Not watch the clip above unless you have seen the movie as I do not want to ruin what may be a defining moment in your life. Yes, I was that moved by it all.

Toy Story 3 is actually being hailed as a possible Best Picture Oscar winner and deservedly so. I can't believe it's been eleven years since TS2. TS3 does a very good job of filling in the gaps since then which is not an easy thing to do. But here is why it moved me so...

***SPOILER ALERT***

The whole movie was just so well put together and voiced, and only Pixar could make
3-D rendered models of toys look so life-like ot the point that when they laugh, we laugh, when they cry, we cry. If you haven't sene it yet, and judging by the billions of dollars this movie has made, should be physically impossible, Andy is now 17 years old. Emmy actually argued with me that he was 17 as I kept saying he was 18. How on Earth did she know that? Freak of nature she is. Anyways...he still has all of his toys since he was a kid but he must now make up his mind if he wants to put themin the attic, throw them out, or take them with him to college. He decides to keep Woody and store the rest in the attic. Well, the bag everyone is in ends up getting taken out for trash mistakenly, they hitch a ride to a daycare, actually get imprisoned in said daycare, but manage to break out and get a ride back home on a garbage truck. Yes, there is a LOT I left out because this post is not about being in-depth. As they get home, Woody climbs in the "college" box and the rest of the toys wish him well and get into the "attic" box. After thinking about what had happened over the last few days, he decides to join his friends in the attic box but not with the intention of being stored in the attic. He writes a note pretending to be Andy's mom asking him to donate everything to a 4-year old girl, Bonnie, who took care of him while he was at her house and treated all her toys great. So, Andy takes the box of toys to her house and one by one introduces them to her. Then...he gets to Woody. As he does not remember putting him in the box, he is surprised to see him in there. He initially holds onto it, but seeing as how Bonnie knows what he says when you pull his string ("There's a snake in my boots!"), he tells her that Woody is about the best friend anyone could ever have, and decides to give him to her, knowing Woody will be well-taken care of. The look...in Andy's eyes...as he gives Woody to Bonnie...if you can picture bittersweet, this is it. As Andy gets in his car he looks at Woody one last time, and it looks like Woody is waving goodbye. Andy says "Thanks buddy" and as he drives off, Woody says, sadly, "So long pardner...". That...that is the moment where a little piece of all of us gets lost forever.

I didn't have too many toys growing up I don't think. I used to think it was worth my time to cut out any funny picture I saw, say, on a cereal box or in the newspaper. Had a whole bag of them. Not that they're worth anything, but it would be cool to look back through them, like a trip through time. My Transformers were like my kids back in the 80's. To this day I really regret either selling them or taking them apart with a screwdriver or whatever numbskull things I did with them. Maybe that's why I have bought so many over the last four+ years and kept them unopened. A small way to remember the past and also to preserve it.

My mission in life was to not miss spending time with Zach and Emmy and to look back knowing I did everything I could to give them a great childhood. Looking back...part of me feels like I missed out...just a small part. The majority of me knows I rocked it. Knocked it out of the park. And I'm only half-done...

"Halloween Time!"

You know, it gets harder and harder to set aside time to make our jack-o-lanterns. Finally, Friday night, Emmy and me finally got a free moment. So here they are!:


Here we see Emmy hard at work making her pumpkin look like this:


Pretty cool eh? It's a kitty kat in a box if that helps ya.

Here's mine:


Looks like a zombie Homer yes?

Oh yeah, it was also Zach's birthday!! Numero five. A few presents:


A Transformers puzzle! Nothin' wrong with that.


Zach: "Hey Dad, what does this giant Toy Story gun shoot?"
Me: (reads directions): "Um, it says radioactive death discs..."
Zach: "This is a kid's toy?"
Me: "You can only play with it if you have a Ph.D in nuclear physics."
Zach: "Aw, man..."


Cool shirt! he actually got Toy Story 3 as another present when we got together for Cindy's 63rd birthday...man...can't imagine being 63. Can't believe I'm gonna be 36!

Here they are in their costumes:



All in all, this was a pretty cool Halloween. We trick or treat in Cari's parents neighborhood because they bust out the cobwebs and strobe lights and tombstones and fog machines. Can get pretty scary if you're not prepared. Fortunately, Zach and Emmy don't scare easily...unless there's a bug running around...then all three of them turn into crybabies ha ha.

Oh yeah, the Rangers have offically lost the World Series 4 games to 1. Man...now I'm depressed. Ah well. It was a great year. All we were really hoping was to get past Tampa Bay so we could prove to ourselves that were did not deserve to be the last team in the majors to win a playoff series. We need a motto for next year now. Our motto this year was "It's Time". The Yankees have big problems financially plus their marquee players are old and just can't play anymore. I think Derek Jeter is just about the best thing for baseball, but was he worth $19 million last year? Or course not. Just like Michael Young wasn't worth $16 million. We have rookies that did better then these guys and they made the league minimum. More then me though. Something to be said for that, eh?