Last GOTW of 2010

I wanted to come up with a really clever GOTW for today, but I could not think of anyone.  Then, it seemed like everything kept giving me signs.  Last night I watched Iron Man 2 and I saw Kate Mara playing the girl who serves Tony the subpoena.  Then as I watched Supernatural this morning, I kept seeing her in the promos for Shooter which is apparently on TNT tonight.  Yep, it must be a sign.  She is to be the GOTW.

Plus, she is the descendant of both Tim Mara (founder of the New York Giants) and Art Rooney (founder of the Steelers).  Hot?  Yes.  Rich?  Yes.  Football fan?  Yes.  Steelers fan?  Yes.  Perfect girl?  Just about.

2010 In Review

Instead of recapping the entire year, which is never any kind of fun, I will just go over some of the highlights of 2010.  It was a pretty damn good year.

-I finally bought a laptop, which has pretty much been the best investment ever.  Sitting on the couch while writing these posts is much better than sitting at a desk.  Speaking of posts, 2010 was my busiest year with over 300 posts.  That is kind of exciting (or lame depending on your POV).

-I went to a bunch of sporting events this year.  A few in Pittsburgh, a couple in Altoona, and one over at State College.  I also got to enjoy tailgating for the Blue/White game and the Temple game.  I even made a trip to Washington D.C. to see the Nationals and Pirates play.  Speaking of awesome sporting events, I experienced two firsts:  my first Pens game and my first regular season Steelers game.  I also got to see Stephen Strasburg make his minor league debut against the Curve.

-This was also a very sad year since two of my favorite TV shows ended:  Lost and 24.  I actually did a couple of special things to commemorate such great shows (even though 24 constantly pissed me off with some of its stupid story lines).  My Best of 24 was pretty cool (at least I thought so), yet none of you jerks commented on it.  Also, I was so impressed with my Lost GOTW and the amount of work I put into it, and again, no one really noticed.  I think it caused me to die a little inside that no one said how awesome it was...

I will post it again for your enjoyment, only in a slightly smaller version.  Do not strain your eyes too much trying to enjoy all the hotties.

-There were plenty of great TV shows in 2010.  In fact, this year was a much better television than movie year.  Mad Men, Always Sunny, Justified, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, True Blood, Sons of Anarchy, Archer, The Walking Dead, and The League.  Also there were plenty of enjoyable shows like Warehouse 13, Eureka, White Collar, Human Target, and Supernatural.  I am sure I am forgetting some.

-Speaking of movies, what all did I see this year?  Iron Man 2, Inception, Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Social Network, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sherlock Holmes, The Chronicles of Narnia:  Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Daybreakers. I really feel like I went to the movies more than this, but I guess I did not.  I think there were a few movies I saw that were just crappy and I did not care about.

-I will not list all the books I read over 2010.  It was not nearly as many as years past, I think my total was only thirteen.  Granted, five of those books were around 1000 pages each, so it was probably about the same amount of reading as previous years.

-The biggest thing to happen in 2010 though was the changes in my life.  I met Lindsey and we moved in together up here in New Germany.  She makes me incredibly happy and I feel like a better person because of her.  If she is reading up to this point, I hope she knows how much I love her.  Sorry to the rest of you for having to read a little personal stuff.

-Now on to the best of list...

Best Movie:  This is a tough one, it comes down to Kick-Ass and Inception.  Many people will say The Social Network was the best movie, and I definitely thought it was good, but I look at it from the stand point of which movie will I watch more than once?  Which of those movies will I stop when I see they are on HBO and watch them from wherever they are in the film.  I would have to say that award goes to Kick-Ass.

Best TV Show:  All those great shows listed above, yet it comes down to two:  Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy.  I could not wait every week to watch these two shows.  And I usually watched the episodes again during their reshowing.  SOA was great, but did not compare to last season and at times I felt like the Tara storyline was dragging on.  MM does not have the action, but it just holds you in it's thrall each week.  It is hard to explain to people why it is such a good show.  Anyways, that was the best show in my opinion.

Best Book:  Only three of the books I read this year actually came out in 2010.  I think the best one of that small group was Are We Winning?  It was a great book and I pretty much recommend it to any baseball fan.

Best Comic Book:  I will not lie, I have not read many comics this year.  In fact, I stopped getting individual issues and decided just to get trades.  Of everything I read, I would say that The Walking Dead is still the best on-going series I read.  Maybe 2011 will be a better year.

Anyways, that is my thoughts on 2010.  Who knows what 2011 will hold for me...

It's the End of the World...

It was bad enough when everyone thought that the world was going to end in 2012, but leave it to a Christian group to up the ante on the Mayans.  These idiots think the Rapture will occur on 21 May 2011 and then world will end on the 21st of October.

Apparently this Harold Camping fellow tried this before back in 1994 (in case you were wondering, he was wrong back then).  He came up with his own dating system or something.  I would do more research into it, but I cannot get past all the Biblical quotes which are taken out of context. 

These people have spent money to put up signs to warn people about the coming Rapture.  Luckily there are some brilliant atheists out there who have challenged all this.  It makes me laugh that Christian groups spend so much money trying to get their message out there (it's already out there, no need to keep pushing it on us), and these people would have a fit if an atheist organization put up a billboard somewhere.

Is there anything better than sitting on a park bench telling you that you will die soon?  I like how it says save the date, like you should pencil it into your date book.  May 20th:   Haircut.  May 21st:  Rapture.

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope everyone has a great Christmas!  I will be out doing family things.  Lindsey and I exchanged gifts last night.  Do you want to know what she got me?  She got me new gloves (if you ever saw my gloves, you would understand), Scrabble, and she got me Community season one.  Also she bought me a nice new thermal since I wear them everyday during the fall, winter, spring under my t-shirts.  Her big gift to me was a gift card to Best Buy towards buying my PS3.

I suppose you want to know what I got her.  I bought her a Crosby jersey, a Keurig, canisters, and a cutting board.  The cutting board was more of a gift to me, since when we make dinner, I always cut veggies and I hate our current cutting board, since it is tiny and very thin.

You might be wondering what is up with the fat, ugly chick.  Well I figure since none of you read this during Christmas, who would ever notice...

Or maybe she was my real Christmas present from Lindsey...I think I just threw up a little.  HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE!!!

GOTW

'Tis the season for sexy elves to bring me presents!

The Wal-Mart Adventure Continues

Remember how I said I had to order a tire from Wal-Mart?  Well I went there this morning to have it put on.  I got there around 8:45 and the girl who I ordered it from bumped me to the front of the line.  So I walk around for a bit, then come back around 9:45 (she said it would take about an hour).  I sit at the bench for another hour when she finally says that my car is ready.

I get up to pay and she says that it will be $304.  I almost shit a brick.  How the hell is a $64 tire now costing me over three hundred???  She informs that is the price for four new tires.  I explain that I did not need four new tires, just the one.  She seems horrified once she realizes she screwed up.  She tells the one guy and he gets pissed off and goes out to get my car.  He does about 50 mph around the building (believe it or not, my lawnmower of a car can actually go over 45).  

I sit there for another ten minutes, when another guy comes in and yells at me:  "HEY, WHICH TIRE NEEDED REPLACED!?"  I explain that it is the front, driver side.  This is now the fourth time I have told someone this.  I sit there for another half hour and they finally have my car done.  The girl comes up to me with my keys and she apologizes and gives me a $50 Wal-Mart gift card, which was very nice of her.

As I sat there though, I noticed how inefficient their system was.  They need to have someone at the counter at all times, someone who checks you in and takes your keys.  This person then relays the information to the technicians inside.  The way they do it now, you stand at a fence and wait for one of the techs to notice you and stop what they are doing to come get your information.  Why would you constantly interrupt their work like that?

At one point, one of the techs comes in and says that it will probably be a four hour wait for tires!  He then informs the girl (she is the manager) that he is taking his break.  WTF?  I cannot imagine when I was a cook if there were checks pouring out of the printer walking out and announcing that even though folks might not get their food for awhile, I was heading on break.  I get that they are entitled to a break, but the manager needs to step in and make an executive decision. 

Also, it would probably be a good idea to throw the sign out that says "Never a wait for an oil change..."  The guy that came in right after me, for an oil change, was still there when I left.  They told him 30 minutes.  He did not look too pleased. 

At least there were some funny people to laugh at.  One family came in to buy tires for their daughter who was coming home from college.  The one girl was pissed that they did not have some kind of appointment card.  She bitches up and down about it, while answering texts every two seconds.  Umm, just punch it into your phone.  Set up a reminder.  Not difficult.  Also, her brother, who was probably in his 20s, got into an argument with his mom that he was NOT GOING TO THE DENTIST.  He would just skip the appointment!  He could not believe she would make him go to the dentist.  He practically threw a temper tantrum.

About ten people would come up and look out the window to see if their car was ready and respond the same way "you got to be fuckin' kiddin' me."  You would think this would be an indicator to the manager that their operation is flawed.  The phone rings constantly, I got to the point that I wanted to just answer it and be like "Thanks for calling the Wal-Mart Tire/Lube Center, you would be better off going someplace else."

The employees are also so pleasant!  Aside from the manager (she actually was nice), everyone else seemed pissed off if they had to do any work that did not involve stocking windshield wiper fluid.  A lady asks this one girl if she can make her a key and the girl rolls her eyes and comes over to the counter.  She slams everything around and then just hands the key to the lady and storms off.  I guess when you go for low prices, you must expect low service standards.  At another point, over the walkie-talkies, someone was asking about something in a department.  The employees then got into an argument over the walkies.  It escalated to the point that the main boss (I am guessing a general manager) comes over the walkies and says "stop arguing and focus on the customer."  They ignore him and he has to then say again "Enough!  I don't care whose problem it is, just help the customer."

I am sure working at Wal-Mart during this time of year is very stressful, but c'mon Wal-Mart, go out and spend a little more money and maybe pay some people with half a personality.

The Joys of Third Shift

For the past four days I have been on third shift.  It can really screw with your sleep patterns.  Allow me to tell you about my excitingly awesome day.  I left work around 8:30 a.m. and went to Wal-Mart for an oil change and to see if they could repair my tire which has a hole in it.

I pull up to the tire/lube section and head inside to the counter.  I weight there for ten minutes before someone comes over.  The lady says she cannot help me, but she will find someone who can.  The department manager comes back and says that I need to pull my car up to the door and come in and talk to the service guys.  Seems like an odd way of doing things.

I do what I am told and the guy says that it will take about an hour and a half.  So I wonder around Wal-Mart for awhile and when it is time I head back to the counter.  The department manager lady is there with the service guy and they have my tire.  He explains that it cannot be patched because the hole is in an odd place.  They seem to be confused by what I could possibly want.  I tell them to just replace the tire.

Oh wait, my car is so freakin' small that they do not have that kind of tire in stock and they will have to order it from Georgia (I am assuming the state, not the country).  The lady then asks if I want them to order it.  Umm, yeah?  She made it seem like such a problem and that it would be better for me to go elsewhere.  She says that it will take between three to six days to get here.  I keep saying that it is not a big deal, I am used to stopping at Sheetz to put air in the tire, another few days will not kill me.  She just does not get it.  I guess she wanted me to go to a competitor.  How did Wal-Mart become one of the largest retailers in the world if this is their corporate strategy?

I leave Wal-Mart and head to a few other stores in search of a certain Christmas present.  Unfortunately, everywhere is sold out of it, but they all tell me the same thing:  "we can order it for you, it should be here about two weeks after Christmas."  What the hell good would that do me?  I felt like I was in some kind of nightmare.  Want a tire?  You should go elsewhere, want a simple Christmas present?  We can order it for you, but not in time for when you need it.  Ugh.

I then get a phone call from the Summerhill post office.  They have a package for me (probably one of the other gifts I ordered) and they want to know if I will be home or if I would like to pick it up.  I say that I'll be home and she says she will give it to our mail carrier. 

I get home and talk to Lindsey for a bit.  She gets ready for work and I sit down to watch TV and wait for the mail.  He usually comes around 2:30 and I figured I could stay up for another hour.  Well sadly, I start dozing off and must have missed him.  I finally head to bed around 4:00.  I figured a little nap would be good and then I would be able to go to bed at a normal time.

I woke up at 11:45 p.m.  Now it is 3:00 a.m. and I am wide awake.  This is why third shift is so much fun.

Carl Makes Fun of the Vikings

Ahhh, making fun of Favre and the Vikings never gets old.

Girlfriend of the Week

This weeks GOTW is Egwene al'Vere, one of the characters in the Wheel of Time series.  It sounds like she is pretty hot in the book, and judging by some of the fan art, I am guessing she is...sorry, I am tired, so this is all you get from me.

The Bowl Challenge Gets Better

The winner of the Bowl Challenge will win this awesome prize.

That is right, the winner will receive a 47" flat-screen TV!!!  Just kidding, the winner will get the cool Steelers gnome in front of the TV.  What the hell do I look like?  A generous guy?

Here is the link, only four people have joined so far, so your chances are pretty good.  Minus the fact that I am going to win.

And now for a close-up of the gnome.  Just think, this could be decorating your home!

Zombie Death Galore!

I do not think anything really has to be said about this video, aside from it is awesome, right?

Sports Ramblings

Brett Favre
The big news in sports this week was Brett Favre not playing this week, ending his consecutive starts streak at 297 games.  This has caused plenty of discussion of which is more impressive, his streak or Cal Ripken's.  I personally feel that Ripken's streak is more impressive.  He played in 2632 straight games.  Baseball may not be a contact sport, but you play almost everyday for a long portion of the year.  Football is sixteen games and played one each week (you obviously know this).  Ripken's record will most likely never be touched.  Aside from injuries, you have to continue to play at a certain level during that time, a very tough thing to do.

The football people kept saying that Favre's record will never be touched.  Umm, Peyton Manning is at 205 consecutive starts.  Why is it impossible to think that he might not come close?  Also, how come these are the only two streaks in the debate?  What about Doug Jarvis playing 964 hockey games?  That is a contact sport and you play more games per year than football.  To me, it seems more insane that a hockey player could go that long without some kind of game missed.  Maybe some hockey people can weigh in for me.

Baseball
Cliff Lee turned down a bunch of money from the Yankees and Rangers in order to go back to Philadelphia.  As most of you know, I hate Philadelphia, but I am happy for them at the moment.  It will be cool to see Halladay/Lee/Oswalt/Hamels pitch together.  How weird is it that Cole Hamels is now a fourth starter.  A few years ago he was on his way to being an ace, hell is still better than most teams first starter, especially the Pirates.

Speaking of the Pirates, they made huge news today by signing Lyle Overbay!!!  Oh wait, that is not huge news.  My bad.  Offord had some nice things to say about it over at the Pancake.  Overbay is a better option at first than Garrett Jones, but he is pretty bad against LHP.  If they use him in a platoon with Steve Pearce, it might actually work.  Ryan does not like this idea, but then again Ryan usually thinks guys will revert back to their best season ever when they come to the Pirates.

Fantasy Football
Last year I finished in last place of the league I am in with Offord and Ryan.  This year I decided to pay attention more and finish somewhere above last.  I ended up finishing the regular season in third place and took on Ryan in the first round of the playoffs.

My team was on fire.  Greg Jennings, Dwayne Bowe, Brandon Lloyd.  Those three WRs were racking up points every week for me.  Then this week they decided to absolutely suck.  Two QBs get hurt and those guys total for like eight points.  The funny thing is that the majority of my team is made up of guys from trades I made with Ryan.  Throughout the year he gave me Michael Vick, LT, Thomas Jones, and Jennings.  It sucks that I lost, but I am happy with my year.

Speaking of fantasy football.  I challenge you all to a bowl game challenge.

The Great Hunt

Last night I finished the second book of the Wheel of Time series called The Great Hunt.  The book was excellent.  The story picks up right where the first one left off.  Rand wants to leave his friends and hide away somewhere so he does not hurt anyone.  Moraine seems to be pushing him to be the Dragon Reborn.

Then something unexpected happens:  Fain escapes from his dungeon and steals the horn and Mat's dagger.  The Amyrlin Seat sends an expedition after the horn.  Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Lord Ingtar lead a bunch of soldiers.  They have a bunch of adventures, but it is not until the end of the book that things go from exciting to super-intense.

Hawkwing's descendants come from the west with an army and a new technology:  a'dam.  These collars bind a woman who can channel to a woman with a bracelet.  They control these women and use them as weapons.  And they torture them.  Liandrin of the Red Shah takes Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne, and Min to these Seanchan.  Egwene and Min are captured and Egwene is forced to wear a collar.  She is horribly tortured.  Finally, Nynaeve and Elayne find a way to rescue her and they discover something quite useful:  the bracelet wearers also can channel.

Also during this time, Rand and his men find the horn and also encounter Lord Turak, who is a heron-marked blademaster.  He wants to battle Rand.  At first Rand is losing, but then he slips into the void and easily defeats the Lord.  We then learn that Ingtar was the soldier in the prologue who was working for the Dark One.

Mat sounds the horn and the legends of old return and they follow Rand because he is the Dragon Reborn.  Rand then encounters Ba'alzamon and they battle again.  Rand defeats him, but his sword is destroyed in the process.  Unfortunately, the image of the fight is seen across the sky above the city of Falme.  Ingtar's men all bow to Rand now that they know Rand is the Dragon Reborn.

Predictions and thoughts for what will continue to happen:

-All of my old predictions are still valid.  Except that it seems like Min is also in the running for Rand.

-Selene is going to turn out to be Lanfeal the Foresaken.  I think that was pretty obvious, but I guess I'll voice it now in case it turns out to be the only thing I get right.

-Who is the other Black Ajah that we saw in the prologue?  So many options, but I really think it might be Verin.  It seems to make sense.  She is of the Brown, but why did she take such a sudden interest in helping Rand?  Even Moraine said she came on her own, that she did not send Verin.

-It always seems that in fantasy books, there is a point where you can say "if they just did something different, everything would have been so simple."  For example, in LOTR, if Gandalf would have used the Eagles to fly the ring to Mount Doom, it would have been a much quicker journey.  I know I have talked about this before.  Anyways, Jordan does a great job of eliminating this moment.  In other books, Rand would come off as whiny, but he seems to be at least somewhat accepting of his destiny, especially towards the end.

Movie Enjoyment!

This is how my girlfriend enjoys a movie.  Last night we watched Inception, which she purchased because she really wanted to see it.  Also, this was the exact same way she enjoyed our viewing of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and some parts of The Departed, Fight Club, and The Princess Bride.

Actually at the movies on Friday, when Eustace was snoring, so was Lindsey, it was like getting the movie in surround sound.

Apparently the TV comes on and she immediately falls asleep.  She does the same thing with shows as well.  I have given up on trying to wake her up.  It is more fun to mess with her while she snores...yes, I am that evil.

I forgot about the time she went upstairs to put her clothes away and fell asleep on the floor, using a pair of jeans as a pillow.  I came up because I did not hear any sounds and started laughing when I saw her.

Bowl Game Pick 'Em

Hey everyone, I created a college bowl game pick 'em challenge over at Yahoo!  I made it a public group so there is no passwords or ID crap to deal with.  Just click the link and you can go over and try to beat me.  Maybe I will put together a prize for the winner.  It would definitely be something cool.

WE ARE...

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

On Friday night Lindsey and I went to see the newest Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I realize that many people did not really like the last movie, but I did, so screw those people.  This film was pretty good.  I doubt any of these will be as good as the first one, but it is fun to see them on-screen.

The film continues the adventures of Lucy and Edmund in Narnia, but this time they bring their horrible cousin, Eustace.  They meet up with King Caspian on his ship as he searches for the lost lords.  They have a bunch of adventures and learn lessons about themselves and life.  The book always seemed like just a series of short stories, so I always wondered how they would make it into a movie, which they found a way by introducing the idea of the seven swords of Narnia that will help defeat the great evil from the one island.  It helps tie the entire adventure together.

Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the film...

-Simon Pegg does a nice job as Reepicheep, but honestly, Eddie Izzard was much better.  Although Pegg did give Reep an older voice, I guess a mouse would age a bit in three years.

-I liked that Lucy was now more grown up and took Susan's bow or had no problem handling a sword.  Also, I enjoyed her side story about wanting to be beautiful like Susan.

-The world of Narnia, yet again looks amazing.  Plus the way they make England look dreary and faded as compared to the crisp/sharp Narnia is pretty cool.

-The kid playing Eustace was awesome.  He was so damn irritating at the beginning that I wanted Edmund to just beat his ass.  It was also a very sad moment when he is crying as a dragon and Reep sits with him and tells him stories.  The transformation of Eustace is one of my favorite things in the entire series, so I am kind of a sucker for his story. 

-Why did Caspian lose his accent?  I remember in the second film, Ben Barnes said he tried to do an Inigo Montoya accent from The Princess Bride.  I guess he just forgot about that part. 

-I also did not really like the way they did the Edmund/Caspian rivalry.  Why would Edmund resent the idea that Caspian has Peter's sword or that he does not get to make decisions.  I cannot remember if this was in the movie (maybe at a point where they were enchanted by the pool or something), but it seemed like the movie was trying hard to make this a plot point that did not need to be.  Edmund facing his demons (the White Witch) was a cool point.  You do not need to revert Edmund back to a jealous younger sibling.  He proved in the last film he was no longer like that.  Not at all jealous of Peter.

-I have no problem admitting that I cried during the first movie, but not during the second one.  I did cry a little bit at this one.  Does that make me a little less of a man?  Screw you guys.

Anyways, it is a good film.  If you enjoyed the books, check it out. 

Mmmmm, I can see why Lucy wants to look like Susan...

Adam Cares...

Seriously, how does Carl always come up with a reference that cracks me up.  I didn't realize that Fashion Bug still existed...

Thor Preview

This is the first time I have actually been excited about this movie.

Girlfriend of the Week

Have you seen the T-Mobile commercials with that hot girl in the pink dress?  They are kind of funny.  Nothing spectacular, but whatever.  I like looking at her.  The real question is:  who is she?  Many people (including myself at first) thought it was the girl who will be the new Mrs. Draper.  Luckily with a little research, I discovered she is the model Carly Foulkes.

Game of Thrones Stuff...

Here is a ten minute video about Game of Thrones, the new series from HBO.  As you can imagine, I am a little excited.

Inside Game of Thrones

This is Emilia Clarke who plays Daenerys, who I have plenty of theories about if you read my reviews of the books...

Snow Days in Hell

Apparently my kingdom is located in the center of a snow vortex.  It has snowed nonstop since Saturday night.  Everyday I go to work the roads are terrible until I reach the bottom of the mountain where Rt. 22 meets I-99, then there is absolutely nothing.  Today Altoona received about an eighth of an inch of snow, my area had about 46 feet.  Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but we do have about six inches.

The top picture is my neighbor's car, who has not left since yesterday.  The bottom picture is the bush by my door.  Sorry, but it is dark out and there is no flash on my phone.

I always thought people were kidding when they said this area gets hit hard.  Now I realize they were dead serious.  Also, those same people are probably still snowed in from last year.  It also now makes complete sense why all those Cambria schools would always be closed.  Adam and I would watch the scrolling list of delays and cancellations wishing Philipsburg-Osceola would pop up, but no, all we ever saw was Cambria Heights, Penn Cambria, Central Cambria, Northern Cambria, Central Cambria, and the elusive Admiral Peary Elemantary (we had no clue where it was, but we figured they must only go to school once or twice in the winter).  Well now I live in this region, but school closings mean nothing to me.  It just means I need to wake up earlier and drive super slow to work.  Yay!!!

One of the first acts in my kingdom will be to ban this cursed snow.  Screw it, here in Croyle Township, winter is not coming...

Season Finales

Last night was the season finales of Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead.  Yeah, six episodes constitutes a full season, sounds pretty crazy to me.

Boardwalk Empire

Okay, this show gets better each week.  The various plots are starting to tie together.  The Republicans won the election, and Nucky seems to have rekindled his relationship with Margaret.  I loved how after his press conference Eli was all pissed at Nucky (even though Eli got a nice payday, but I'll get to that in a second) because of the way Nucky just uses everyone, even his own brother.

After the election though, Nucky has the mayor tell the new sheriff that he will be resigning and Eli will become the sheriff once again.  This was obviously Nucky's plan all along, but Eli does not have the patience nor the vision to see the big picture...or does he?

The boys from Chicago come to town to help broker a deal between Nucky and Rothstein.  Nucky will help Rothstein out with his baseball troubles and Nucky gets $1,000,000 in return, as well as the location of the remaining Delasio brothers.  Jimmy and ol' half-face make short work of them, with Al Capone helping take one out in a nice scene where he shoots the guy and then grabs his food and eats it. 

Speaking of Al, I love the change we see in him.  I love how he went from not very serious to giving Charlie Lucciano a little verbal slap down about making jokes.  This is the Al Capone that will someday be the most feared gangster in the country.

Jimmy is starting to resent Nucky (basically called him a pimp) and goes to visit his father (the Commodore).  It turns out that the Commodore went to prison and Nucky was supposed to take over for him until he returned, but it seems that Nucky has pushed the Commodore out.  The Commodore has a plan to make Jimmy the new ruler of Atlantic City with a little help from Eli.  I am excited to see how this will play out.

I also love how during this era there was still such a high price put upon pedigree.  The Commodore says that Nucky was the son of a drunken something (fisherman or dock worker, or something like that) and he is not fit to be a man of prestige.  Reminds me of Mad Men and how Pete Campbell always feels he is superior because of his family. 

The Walking Dead
I have to say I was mostly disappointed with the season finale.  Granted it was only the sixth episode, since AMC execs were short-sighted and did not order more episodes, so we have not really had time for a massive buildup.

Inside the CDC, we learn a good bit about the disease.  This was actually cool and something that was not in the comic book (unless I missed it somehow).  The doctor explains that the disease shuts down the brain, but then restarts it.  They use some fancy computer program to show that instead of the synapses firing throughout the full brain, it just restarts the stem.  So the disease must use the host as a carrier, right?

Unfortunately the building is about to explode because they are running out of power and it is designed to destroy itself and all the harmful diseases stored inside.  The crazy doctor wants to keep everyone inside because it would be better to die that way then to face what is outside. 

Obviously Rick does not agree.  The doctor lets them go, but a few remain inside.  Andrea refuses to leave until Dale sits beside her and says that if she will not go, neither will he.  They have a nice moment and then she goes with him.  The black girl decides to stay and explode with the doctor.

Outside, they escape the zombies easily and get back to the vehicles and make a nice getaway.  The real question is where will they go and what horrors will they encounter next season. 

Carl's Hair

Girlfriend of the Week

I decided to make Brooke Everett this weeks GOTW.  Most of you may remember her mentioned in this post.  She did appear in Playboy and I think she went on to become an anthropologist or something like that.  We probably had four or five classes together, yet I never really talked to her.  I guess I thought she might be a bit of a bitch or something.

Sadly, halfway through one of my final anth classes we started talking and I found out that she was pretty cool.  Oops.  I ended up having a bunch of CAMS classes with her friend Shawn, but never with her.  After I switched majors, that was when she decided to do Playboy.

I also do not think her actual last name was Everett.  I remember it being something different from the classes we had together.  Oh well.  I hope life is going well for her and she is living with some South American tribe or something.

If you want to see her naked...

I Think My Eye Is Going To Fall Out

Monday morning I woke up with a stye.  I had one before when I was younger (like 10 years old) and I remember it hurting, but not being anything too bad.  In fact, I made a nice joke about it with my brother.  I sent him this picture and told him I looked like Forest Whitaker and Adam said "did it turn you black?"  I responded with "my bad, Forest Whitaker if he did reverse blackface."  Oh I crack me up.

Unfortunately, the jokes must end.  The damn thing has gotten worse since then.  And it hurts like a sonofabitch.  I could barely open my eye this morning.

Everyone keeps telling me to go to the doctor, but I really do not think there is anything they can do for a stye.  I will continue using a warm compress (I tried a cold compress, which helped at first, but now it seems the warm one works better) and if it does not go away by the weekend, then I will head to the hospital.

And yes, I am as miserable as I look right now.

Sons of Anarchy Finale

As the season started I kept thinking that it would end with Jax getting Abel back and the MC killing Jimmy.  Then it threw me a curveball and Jax gets Abel early.  Also, Jax was making deals with Stahl about giving up Jimmy.  It seemed so out of character.  I mean, wouldn't Jax want to kill Jimmy for what he did?

Then, as the season went on, I started to understand Jax's decision.  I mean, this was the best move for the club.  I did not understand why Jax would not just explain the situation to the club and let them put it to a vote.  The rest of the guys would have to understand what he was doing, right?

As soon as Stahl double-crossed Jax and sold him out to the club, I knew they were all in on it.  I loved how they all reacted and did not want to speak to Jax.  I loved how Unser put his gun and badge on the desk and grabbed his personal revolver.  You just knew something crazy was up (but then it was Clay's comment to him that really gave it all away).

When the bus pulls up and Opie grabs Stahl and makes her put her hands on the wheel.  That was one of the best moments ever.  Her begging for her life was one of the best moments of the entire season.  Watching that bitch get what she deserved made me unbelievably happy.

The episode ended with Gemma reading the letter from Jax explaining the whole situation, which mirrored the letter that Tara found from John to Maureen saying that he was sure Gemma and Clay would be the cause of his death someday.  Jax also says in his letter that he is not his father.


I only wish that next season would start right now.  Will the Russians become the new antagonists for next season?  Or will Clay offer some kind of payback money once they get their hands on the IRA guns?  Come on season four, get here already.

Croyle Township

Do you remember when I moved to the fabulous land of New Germany?  Well, I think at some point I mentioned that it was a part of Croyle Township.  I have officially become the ruler of Croyle Township and have decided to secede from the United States to form my own kingdom.  That is right residents of Croyle Township, you need to stop paying your taxes to the government and bring them directly to me.  Also, there will be a slight increase.  Taxes will be raised to 60% of total income.  If you work outside of our nation, there will be an added right to leave the nation tax of $10 per day.  As of now, we will keep the dollar as our currency until our national mint is up and running.  Enough about the boring stuff.  Let us discuss the history of our glorious nation.

My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Lance Croyle, was a murderous brigand living in England.  He was wanted for murder, which caused him to flee to the newly independent America.  He moved to the area outside of Johnstown.  His brothers, Kyle and Stevie, also left England because they found out that they would have to stand trial in Lance's place.  That was one of the reasons we split from England:  shitty laws.

The Croyle brothers did what they were good at:  being outlaws.  Then, the entire village was attacked by Indians (I actually think they were from India, not Native Americans) and the Croyle family led the resistance, killing off the evil Indians.  The leader of the town forgave them for their earlier crimes and gave them some land outside of town, which they called Croyle Township.  Unfortunately, Lance was not content being a simple timber guy or whatever the hell people did back then.  He went to the bar and got into a fight and may have murdered someone.

The local constable (they had those back then instead of sheriffs) wanted to hang Lance, so he fled north towards the town of Philipsburg, where he lived in the woods and killed animals and the occasional person.  He met a young girl who was lost in the woods and he captured her and made her his bride.  That is how the Croyles ended up in Philipsburg.

You might be wondering what my plan is for my new found kingdom.  I plan on starting a war with the surrounding townships.  Once I have conquered a significant region, I will expand outward until all of Cambria County is under my rule.  After that, it should be no problem to take over Blair County. 

With two major counties fully under my control, I believe my next course of action would be to campaign north.  I figure Centre and Clearfield Counties would be nice additions to my kingdom.  Then, once those are completely subdued, I shall move my armies west.  Once I have Cranberry Township, I plan to strike at Pittsburgh, which I believe will be a tough challenge.

The rivers are going to cause problems.  If my enemies are smart, they will immediately destroy the bridges into the city.  Ferrying troops across the rivers will be dangerous, but doable.  Once the siege of Pittsburgh has ended, I plan to rest my armies for awhile.  Our first act will be to build a wall along the Ohio border.  I do not want any of those filthy Ohioans sneaking into my kingdom.

I expect at this point Philadelphia will begin moving their armies towards the Harrisburg area in order to monitor my eastward progress.  Little do they know though, I could care less about Philly, that place is worse than Cleveland.

I am not a greedy conqueror.  Once I have my little kingdom carved out, I plan on taking it easy and just living the good life.

So residents of Croyle Township, you need not fear, once the conquest is complete, you will receive a portion of the newly acquired taxes from my loyal subjects.  That is your reward for supporting me during the first few years of the secession.  Now bring me your taxes!