Today's Haul

Yard Sale season has begun!

I can't believe it's still March and yard sales are now in full swing,

Today I scored 15 new movies for $15.

I love that I got 15 movies for less than the price of one.

Today, Brenda and I are going to see Hunger Games in the theater with friends. The two tickets alone alone will cost more than this stack of movies.

--Love the Yard Sales!

I Lost Another Friend

I don't know the details yet but today I was informed that my friend Tony Weissenberger passed away this week.

Tony was one of my shooting buddies.

He was a good guy and made excellent pizza.

I will miss his outlook on the universe.

--RIP Anthony Weissenberger

VCU or Bust!

I am heading to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) today with my daughter unit for a tour!

I am excited. I want to go to college!!

First up: Waffle House!

--We will take lots of pics!

Movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I read the books. I bought and watched the original movies with subtitles.

I was a big fan.

Now I have watched the American remake.

The original version was raw and brutal and brave and I loved it.

They toned down this version a bit and changed just a few things to simplify it.

I liked it.

--I give it 7 of 10.

I have been digging the ton of short form Scifi Vids people are making:




--Great stuff. Bodes well for the future!

Great day for a Hike

Spent the day with my brother Carl and my nephew Jason. We went to the range, did some skeet shooting. Ate subs at a hole in the wall, and we went hiking to the Woodstock Tower. The Dinner at our sister Amy's house with a pile of more family!

It was a beautiful day!

Carl and Jason

Weigh-In

I have been a big slacker with the weekly weighins. I consolidated all the Fighting Gravity posts here so I will keep myself honest. Here is the New baseline!


Here are this weeks numbers:

• This weeks weight:  256.0
• Loss this week: No idea
• Goal Weight:  196
• Total remaining to goal: 60 pounds

--I have been stress eating a lot. Back on the stick now. I am up like 19 pounds. 

Book: Walking Dead

I just finished the TV series season and then cranked though the book. I think that is the order to do it in. I think if I had read the comic first I would have been disappointed about the variations from the original.

Chris loaned me the book and showed me one page in advance. The last page.

The season and the book ended in the same spot.

--Great stuff. Check it out!

New Cap

Bought a new fiberglass cap for my Ford Ranger!

Got it from Craigslist!

Great condition, fits perfectly and the hatch even locks.

Now my rifle cases can go to the range!

Love it!

Enders Game: The Movie

I may need to start a new catagory:

    "I hope this Doesn't Suck"

One of my all time favorite SciFi books is in production.

Enders Game will star Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff, Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham, and Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin.

Ender will be played by the same kid that was in Hugo.

That kid was OK but not great in Hugo.

--They had better not F this up!!

Hunger Games Movie Prep

In prep for the Hunger Games movie this weekend I reread all the books. These have really great potential for being an awesome series of movies. 

We shall see...

Sunday: There will be Pants

Today I will be reassembling my kitchen and living room from our painting adventures. I will post pics when I am done.

Carl is going to come over and help me.

The fireplace surround is the biggest thing to do. It is very bulky and needs an extra set of hands. Two new light fixtures would be next. BR is going to do some new window treatments.

--The new paint looks damn good!

My Saturday

Headed out to Funeral number three. Three weekends in a row.

Sigh...

Broken Molar

Man, it was a bad day.

It was the worst session at the dentist ever.

I cannot believe how big a hole the oral surgeon carved into my head and screwed in this grenade sized implant.

Thank the makers for Oxycodone!!

--I will Sleeping soon....

Book: Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry

I just finished reading Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry. It was another good William Monk story. Damn awful crimes though!


"When the body of a small-time crook named Mickey Parfitt washes up on the tide, no one grieves; far from it. But William Monk, commander of the River Police, is puzzled by the expensive silk cravat used to strangle Parfitt. How has this elegant scarf—whose original owner was obviously a man of substance—ended up imbedded in the neck of wharf rat who richly deserves his sordid end?


Dockside informers lead Monk to what may be a partial answer—a floating palace of corruption on the Thames managed by Parfitt, where a captive band of half-starved boys are forced to perform vile acts for men willing to pay a high price for their midnight pleasures. Although Monk and his fearless wife, Hester, would prefer to pin a medal on Parfitt’s killer, duty leads them in another direction—to an unresolved crime from the past, to blackmail and more murder, to deadly confrontation with some of the empire’s most respected men. 


Acceptable Loss provides, to a superlative degree, colorful characters, a memorable portrait of waterfront life, and a story that achieves its most thrilling moments in a transfixed London courtroom, where Monk faces his old friend Oliver Rathbone in a trial of nearly unbearable tension—in sum, every delectable drop of the rich pleasure that readers expect from an Anne Perry novel."

Featuring William Monk

1. The Face of a Stranger (1990)
2. A Dangerous Mourning (1991)
3. Defend and Betray (1992)
4. A Sudden, Fearful Death (1993)
5. The Sins of the Wolf (1994)
6. Cain His Brother (1995)
7. Weighed in the Balance (1996)
8. The Silent Cry (1997)
9. A Breach of Promise (alt. title: Whited Sepulchres) (1997)
10. The Twisted Root (1999)
11. Slaves of Obsession (alt. title: Slaves and Obsession) (2000)
12. A Funeral in Blue (2001)
13. Death of a Stranger (2002)
14. The Shifting Tide (2004)
15. Dark Assassin (2006)
16. Execution Dock (2009)
17. Acceptable Loss (2011)
18. A Sunless Sea (August 28, 2012)

The Wilsey's in the Batavia Daily

Pembroke teacher marks 40 years of History Club trips

CORFU —  Forty years is a long time to do anything. When “anything” is an annual eighth grade student History Club trip, it goes beyond an accomplishment to a labor of love.

Greg Kinal began his career as a history teacher at Pembroke in September 1970.  The annual History Club trips began the following school year. 

“Some years the trip folders are pretty routine and the most exciting thing in there is what we had for lunch,” Kinal, the club advisor, said. “Then there are the ‘adventure years.’ ”

The first trip — to Gettysburg  — was definitely one of the adventures, starting with the “bus”, a 1962 Chevrolet ex-school bus-turned camper-turned bus again, loaned from the Wilsey Family.

--Go read the whole article!

WANT: This Firepit

--I want this! But not for $1700!

Kara

Best Sci Fi I have seen in a long time and it's just a PS3 proof of concept vid.

 

 --I would love it if this became a full story. Excellent tone.

A test from my iPhone

In this blog post I didn't have to type a thing all I did was speak into my iPhone. This could actually be fun.

The Relics Blog

I have another Blog called The Relics.

I need to decide if I want to import and consolidate it here.

Brenda scored this Relic and it came with a good story. We have it in out library over the Grandfather clock (another Relic).


The story begins with a dentist that did some pro bono work for a patient in need. This patient felt guilty about not being able to pay. In stead of cash the patient gave the kind dentist this bears head trophy.


The wife of the dentist didn't want it in their house but the child of the dentist thought it was awesome.


This child took it to his elementary school and donated it to his teachers classroom.


The teacher quietly got the willies from the bear. As soon as that specific child was gone for the summer the teacher sought a new home for the bear.

--In Swoops Brenda...

Can I get some cheese with this whine?

I usually love Sunday mornings.

Today I have a list of complaints:

• My back hurts. I felt like an old man putting on my damn underpants.
• My right ring finger is swollen, sore and won't bend. And I am going shooting.
• One of my molars is cracked right down the middle. Soft food only till fixed.
• My seasonal allergies are making my eyes and sinuses itch.
• Hemorrhoids are threatening.
• Eric is still dead.
• Worst of all... There is no new Scifi on my Tivo!

--Dammit!

Seen in Buffalo

RIP: Ed Day

Ed Day passed away in his sleep on Tuesday the 21st.

Ed was a friend of mine at the church I attend, Bull Run Unitarian Universalists (BRUU). He was a classic. I think it amused him to actually have me, a conservative, attend BRUU, I raised many a glass with him. Toss much wood on his excellent bonfires.

The Memorial service will be at BRUU today, Saturday March 10th at 11am.

In lieu of flowers, donations might be made in Ed’s memory to BRUU, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, or Amnesty International - all causes that Ed held near to his heart.

Books: Though not Dead

I just finished reading Though not Dead by Dana Stabenow.


This is the first book I have read by Stabenow. 
I go to the library every week and try to wander the stacks for new fiction and authors and series.


The Kate Shugak series and character is why I picked this book. I love strong, able, smart, female protagonists. Kate Shugak is all that and takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. I also like the Alaskan setting. She sneaks regional history in with the adventure.


--Great book. I look forward to others in the series.

The Kate Shugak Series:

• A Cold Day For Murder (1992)
• A Fatal Thaw (1992)
• Dead In The Water (1993)
• A Cold Blooded Business (1994)
• Play With Fire (1995)
• Blood Will Tell (1996)
• Breakup (1997)
• Killing Grounds (1998)
• Hunter's Moon (1999)
• Midnight Come Again (2000)
• The Singing Of The Dead (2001)
• A Fine And Bitter Snow (2002)
• A Grave Denied (2003)
• A Taint In The Blood (2004)
• A Deeper Sleep (2007)
• Whisper to the Blood (2009)
• A Night Too Dark (2010)
• Though Not Dead (2011)
• Restless in the Grave (2012)

I want this!

Reading: Night Vision

I just finished reading Night Vision by Randy White.

It is another in the Doc Ford series and is a really good flat out action story.

Doc Ford simply opens up a can of Whoop-Ass and simply begins killing everyone.

Excellent.

--Makes me want to buy night vision goggles!

I wrote a letter today

I wrote a child a letter today. A real one. One that I had to seal in an envelope, address, put a stamp on, and even raise the flag on my mailbox.

I was replying to a letter she mailed me. A lovely sympathy letter. Right when I needed one.

She also included a word puzzle she created and a drawing.

--I won't mention a childs name on the Internet. Her Mom is proud of her. So am I.

What's Marty Reading?

I just finished reading the first four books in the Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz.

• Raven's Gate
• Evil Star
• Nightrise
• Necropolis
• Oblivion (Aug 2012)

I plowed through the first four books in the series really fast. Then I found out the last book, Oblivion, is not out yet, dammit!

I really liked them. They are on par with the Hunger Games series that I plowed through a few months ago.

--Looking forward to Oblivion...

Movie Night: Tower Heist

Tonight Carl is coming over to cook us dinner and then watch Tower Heist in the Valhalla Theater!!

--Let me know if you are interested in joining us!

The Great Blog Consolidation

I want this RV, dammit.

I consolidated a bunch of blogs today into this one today. I actually deleted 26 blogs tonight after importing their content here.

I will blog here using Labels better.

I will post my pics, review movies, rant about TV shows, do my weigh-ins, rant about politics, tell jokes, cross post with Facebook, and detail my life all in one stop shopping.

And whine a lot.

For instance, dammit, I want this RV!  You can drive it from the upper level too! Like a convertible!

--Don't forget to comment!!