We've Moved

To the countertopchronicles.com

Adjust your links, your newsreaders, and your bookmarks appropriately.

New page is still a work in progress, but all new posts will be there.

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Fuck Blogger

heh, its been a long time coming (and I get the old look back).

check it out (though it won't be up and running at full speed till after the baby comes).

I owe someone A WHOLE LOTTA DRINKS (was gonna say LOVE but I'm married so lets not go there).

Modeling

I admit it, I'm a geek.

Going way way back. Had a pong. Had a Vic 20 and a Commodore 64. GI Joes and Star Wars action figures too. What I also loved as a kid was model airplane kits.

The wife and I have been looking for something to get my son into, little gifts for him and things I can do around the house after the baby is born. While getting a frame at Michaels, we came across the great selection of plastic models and supplies they carry. While still probably a little advanced for a 4 turning 5 year old, he got excited about the idea of building planes.

So, for Christmas his grandfather gave him this model of a P-51D Mustang. He took it out and asked to put it together, so yesterday afternoon, before the Super Bowl, we headed over to Michaels to get paint and glue and the other essentials. While there, I stumbled on this kit for a Lockheed P-38J (my favorite plane of World War II) and picked it up too.

We ended up sparying all the parts down with a coat of aircraft metal gray before the game, and then post game I began to paint the cockpit of the P-51D for him. Its the first model I've built in 15 21 years or so, but I really enjoyed it. Tonight, and over the next couple of weeks, we are going to construct both of these planes.

I'll post pictures when I am done.

Anyone else out there into Airplane Modeling? Got any good online resource links? Suppliers? Neat models I should check out?

Six Super Thoughts

1. Sloppy Wet Game. Awesome. I don't care if it was wet and sloppy with lots of turnovers. Football is all about mud and ice and snow. The Colts killed the Bears (and Peyton and the Vols finally beat Grossman and the Gators) but the game was still worth watching because it was within one big play reach of the Bears right up till the end. As memorable a game as the ice bowl (which I've seen on video - wasn't alive then).

2. Commercials sucked. Big time. The Katie Couric ones were the worst. Ugh. And whats up with Sheryll Crow hawking hair coloring? At a football game no less. I did like the Grand Theft Auto Coke commercial, and Rock Paper Scissors. And K-Fed.

3. Shannon Sharpe - couldn't understand a word he said all night long.

4. Prince. Rocked. Royally. Just as he started, we began to comment how this would be another lame halftime show. I asked, rehtorically, why don't they just bring out the marching bands and strike up John Phillip Sousa. Well, he listened. Those black college marching bands are awesome. Good for Prince for including them and Good for Prince for putting on the only memorable, entertaining, rocking superbowl performance in recent years.

5. More Prince. Good for Prince for not having any "suprise special guests" to ruin the show. He carried it on his own. And super Kudos to Prince for having the balls to actually perform. No taped lip synched performance here.

6. Pre Game - we watched Animal Planets Puppy Bowl III. Great fun. Got everyone in the mood. Highly recommend it next year. Who doesn't get all happy watching puppy's tackle-and-fight-and-roll-on-the-ground playing with each other.

Out and About

Went to 2 Amy's for dinner tonight (official site, here with some friends. As always: good company, great wine, outstanding pizza.

Of note: George Stephanopoulos, wife (Alexandra Wentworth, who according to Wikipedia played Jerry's girlfriend in the Soup Nazi episode), and his two kids.

George is a good guy. Can't stand much about the Clinton's, and never watch his show (or any sunday morning political show), but he and his wife were making funny faces and doing dumb table side dances and things to entertain the kids. His ability to act, publicly, like such an idiot in as crowded and public a place as 2 Amy's certainly speaks strongly of his humanity and overall decent guyishness. Good for him (and for his kids). His wife seemed human too. BTW, he had the same long wait as everyone else.

Also: Son totally hit on the hot blonde - a good 45 years his senior - sitting at the next table. Walked up to her, held her hand in his two hands, and proceeded to say "Hello, I am _____. Would you like to see my toy? You very beautiful hair, Can I touch it? Why dont you come sit at our table? We order Pizza. You sit next to me . . . I sit on your lap. Here. Its ok, can't she mama??"

Blog Stuff

1. Been getting hit with lots of spam comments the last few days. Annoying. Haloscan has worked great the last few years, but for some reason can't keep up with spam comments in old posts. Anyone know how to turn comments off on a post?

2. New blogger sucks. I didn't want to make the move, but it made it for me. Looks like I'll be making an actual move - finally - to wordpress. One of my local blog buddies (and more recently, just occaisionally mid day lunch time drinking buddies) has graciously offerred to help me set my meager little blog up at a new host and with wordpress. Look for that move in the coming weeks (as time permits).

3. Yes, with a new move will come a new skin (and hopefully easier to read text).

4. Not that anyone even reads this blog anymore.

5. And no, we haven't had a baby yet (thought last nights full moon would do it ... but alas, no).

Like You and Me, But Better (part deux)

Breaking developments in the most lawlessness of Prince George's County asshole extraordinare Keith Washington (who I mentioned the other day).

"My investigators were notified that Brandon Clark was taken into surgery early this morning and died," said a written statement issued by Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High. "This is an unfortunate turn of events that now becomes a part of the internal and criminal investigation."

Its nice to see the Police Chief is going to treat this as a criminal investigation (watch you, Chief High, my guess is that the cronies of Prince George's County asshole extraordinare Keith Washington are gonna see to it that your investigation is never completed).

As you might recall, Clark was

shot by Cpl. Keith Washington, who is a police officer as well as a top homeland security official in Prince George's County, at Washington's home in Accokeek during what was supposed to have been a simple swap: one Marlo Furniture bedroom set for another.

An argument began between Washington and the two men and escalated quickly, authorities said after the incident. It ended when Washington, a 16-year police veteran, drew a 9 mm Beretta and opened fire on the unarmed movers, police said.

Yep. Thats what gun control will do for you.

in other news, I spent the day in court in Prince Georges County in a domestic violence case (I was a witness). A young lady I know was beat up by her boyfriend (surprise, surprise, also a cop). She's safe now, and I think we put the fear of god into him (or at least all his fellow cop buddies who seemingly disappeared after we raised the possibility of seeking criminal charges against them for their actions on his behalf). Anyway, was working with an attorney there who grew up with Prince George's County asshole extraordinare Keith Washington and was quick to defend him - but admitted (as she put it) "He may have gotten away with the time before this, and the time before that, and the one before that, and that thing before then, but he's gonna have to do some fast talking to pull this one off"

She didn't doubt he would walk away.

In any case, tell me again why the police are the only ones who should have guns???