2007 Year in Review

Well I was looking back at the events of 07 today.

The first half of the year was a bit crazy. We were still settling into the new house. We were getting the Clemson house ready for the market and selling it.

We built the new Pennsic trailer which was way more work then I estimated.

I lost another 25 pounds in 2007. (lost 50 and gained 25 back)

There was a big focus in the second half of the year on the home theater! That has been big fun for the whole family. Spent a lot of blog space on it!

We actually had a Family reunion this year too! Friends also came and visited!

--Thanks 2007! I hope 2008 is SLOWER!

Merry Christmas World

Well it has been another wonderful Christmas.

Santa was early and generous! The kids had fun and got lots of goodies under the tree. Gray got an xBox 360 and Cady got a Video iPod. BR and I got a new High Def video projector for the home theater. We also got over 100 new movies on DVD!!

But mostly, singing Silent Night, by candle light on Christmas eve. I would have bought all that "stuff" regardless. It's the feeling you can't buy.

--Merry Christmas, one and all...

My Best Birthday Advice

As all the fans and regular readers of this blog know (both of you) December 22 was my birthday once again. It gets lost in the season. It tough to compete with Jesus when it comes to birthdays.

Anyway, here is the best advice I received this year:

"Don't count your years, make your years count."

-- or was it "beers"? Either way, that's pretty good advice

The Hobbit is a GO!!

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement on J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Hobbit", a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy ""The Lord of the Rings.

Jackson, who directed the "Rings" trilogy, will serve as executive producer for "The Hobbit." A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after "Rings," despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting "The Hobbit" 50/50, spokesmen for both studios said Tuesday.

"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line," Jackson said in a statement. "We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth."

The Writers Strike

I love the Daily Show. I was kinda surprised to find out that the staff of writers he has was so big! I don't know what I was thinking. I presumed his show would continue. I thought it was all Stewart off the top of his head!

I could be Super-funny with 12 writers!!

--John... Come back soon!

Mr. U-Turn Gets a Little Helper

My Wonderful Wife knows me ever so well.

She got me a B'Day gift that wasn't even on my list that I love!

It is a Mio DigiWalker GPS system.

This cool little thing is small, about the size of a pack of cigarettes (you remember those right?). It not only works driving around in your car, it's designed to be a walking pedometer and personal geolocation device.

--I might need to start Geo-caching!

I finally went

Today's quote from my office:

"For God's sake Marty I can hear you breathing from here! GO TO THE DOCTOR!"

Well, I went.

I was told that I have bronchitis "in all four quadrants" what ever the hell that means. All I do know is that she told me It would be cleared up in about 5 days with the prescriptions she gave me. I even have an inhaler! Man it works. Two hits off that thing and my wheezing stops!

--I can see why people get addicted!

The Golden Compass

We saw the Golden Compass today.

It was a beautiful visual experience. The special effects were great. The kids were good actors.

I just wish it had been a whole movie.

It is only half a movie.

--Nothing like stopping the movie in the middle of the story...

TiVo Goodness

We love TiVo in Marty's World.

It makes us happy. We never watch commercials. We Love it so much we have two machines. The problem is that we were early abopters of the technology and both the units are Series 1 TiVos. But they both hold Lifetime subscriptions.

Sadly one of the units began to fail. The Hard disk was getting twitchy.

I was whining about this at work and talked to a guy the purchased a replacement drive with the TiVo OS already loaded! $115 dollars later and 15 minutes to install and we are back up with a new OS and 90 hours of TiVo Goodness. (the old drive was only 30 hours)

We are cooking with gas!!!

--Now to program in all my shows again!

A winter cold is to have and to hold...

I have this rotten cold. It has been YEARS since I have been sick.

It's been keeping me from sleeping. I'm Grumpy too. Which is not good on a weekend when I am working with my daughter on her science project: A Study of Thermal Retention in Various Types of Matter.

After almost getting off on the wrong foot we actually had fun taking reading and building charts from spreadsheets.

--Thank God for 44D, Nightquill and Halls Mentho-Liptus.