My Super Bowl Scenerio

Listen, fairy tales are not supposed to actually happen and thus fairy tale ending are not either.

Remember a few years back when Jerome Bettis was retiring and the Steelers had that amazing run and luck culminating in a Super Bowl Victory as his retirement game?
Yeah, that was awesome and that type of shit ONLY happens to the good guys.

The Baltimore Ravens are the BAD guys folks.  Evil and Stinky and no good fortune should smile upon them.
It was bad enough that the Baltimore Browns already claimed stake to one Super Bowl (at least not as the Cleveland Browns so that that franchise still can't claim one) and lets not make this two.

Ray Lewis needs to taste the most bitter amount of defeat that he can and this is my scenario.


15 seconds left on the 7 yard line, 49ers are down by 5.  Kaepernick fakes a hand-off to Frank Gore and the entire Defense is fooled except for one man, Ray Lewis.

Kaepernick keeps the ball and has an angle towards the end-zone.  Ray Lewis is stalking his prey and appears to be able to tackle him short of the score.  Kaepernick stops, breaks his ankles with a Barry Sanders like Juke/Spin and breaks free of the clutches of Ray Lewis and Jaunts into the end-zone for the go ahead score while the greatest Inside Linebacker to ever play the game misses the most important tackle of his entire life.

Cut to the 49ers celebration and a detested Ravens squad in disbelief and the final picture that we will have to see of Ray Lewis which will be shown 2 million more times over the next season and beyond.
This will be more famous than the "ALMOST" touchdown when the Titans were stopped 2 yards short against the rams.

Rat-Shit Crazy

No, not Bat.

Yesterday was one of those where I really just wish that I'd never have answered the phone.  

I received the phone call around 11 am informing me that plans had fallen through and changes needed to be made.  You see, at work we are going into our Inventory period.  With my departments being short staffed for multiple reasons my coverage is very very light this coming week.  I was informed that we would be borrowing someone from another store to help out over the course of this week which is great.

This weekend, that borrowed person was to be my only coverage at all in one of my two departments because they didn't like the schedule I originally laid out for them.  

So, the call I received informed me that the other store screwed up and for some reason "thought" that we needed the person starting NEXT week and not this one.  Looking back over emails and other communication everything explicitly said that the coverage was to start on Saturday the 19th, but whatever.

So, I answered the phone like an idiot and got the bad news and now they want me to re-arrange my schedule for the entire week so that I can be the only person covering the department during inventory.

I agree'd to go in yesterday since my love was also working late.

Around 7:30 I get a call from the closing manager asking me to head up to the men's bathroom because there were complaints about a guy in there talking loudly and vulgarly, seemed to be very irrational.  They wanted me to go in there and ask him to leave.

As I entered the bathroom I noticed a bunch of clothes everywhere.  There were two stalls that were littered with his clothes, a suitcase in one of the stalls - open and overflowing.  He was standing at the sink wearing just his gym shorts, no shoes or anything else - just the gym shorts.

He had a shirt balled up in the sink and would occasionally hit it while swearing.

I asked if there was anything wrong and he explained to me that, somehow, a rat had gotten into his clothes in his suitcase and pissed on everything and was scratching him up as well.

I asked about the shirt and he told me he trapped the rat in there and was trying to beat it to death.

There was no movement with the shirt, it was obvious that if there were a rat it was already dead as it would be struggling to get free and away from the half naked crazy white man.

So, in order to progress the situation I went out and got a bucket and a lid.  I scooped up the shirt into the bucket and showed him that there was no rat and then things took a turn.

The guy flew off the handle, ran into a stall and locked it and then proceeded to take the rest of his clothes off because obviously the rat had escaped and was now plotting revenge.

He started throwing clothes everywhere looking for it and at one point started screaming that he caught it and to get the bucket to him.  I did and he magically lost it again.

Shortly there after the police arrived.

All said we had 4 cop cars and 7 officers, an ambulance and another vehicle all that showed up to alleviate the store of this naked white rat fearing problem.

I assume the guy was either off his meds or his dope was laced with something he couldn't handle.

Either way it was an amusing situation and now the 2nd time I've seen a naked guy in the bathroom at my work place.

Weight Loss - 25 to go

25 pounds to go to get to my next goal!

It continues to astound me that I've actually lost the amount of weight I have so far and that I'm continuing to take some off little by little.  The thing that gets me is that I haven't given up on it and gone back to my old eating habits.  I've had a bad week here and there but I go right back into my routine after it's over and done to continue my journey.  1 Month ago I was at 249.8, so while I bitch and moan to myself that the weight really isn't coming off, it's the long term progress that shows I'm wrong and the reason I am keeping up with it.

About a week or so ago I went out shopping with my lady and ended up getting a new belt.  A week later I finally started wearing it because she brow beat me into it.

Lady: "you are wearing that same piece of shit old belt?"
grrouch: "yeah, why?"
Lady: "What about the new one we just bought?"
grrouch: "I thought that was for special occasions only"
Lady: "You thought we bought a belt to wear once a year?  Are you crazy?"

So, even though I thought we bought a size smaller than I should have (I did that for motivation) I put it on yesterday only to realize that it does, indeed, fit.
I'm going to chalk this up to fat-boy syndrome though, as I always want to order more food than I can eat (or, what I used to be able to eat) and I always want to buy stuff at my old sizes.
So, the fact that the belt fits is great and now I just have to start getting pants that fit as these old ones just fall right off me with no belt attached.  All in due time I guess.

Today I don't have a whole lot planned.  Getting a hair cut and possibly buying one pair of pants.
Reading and playing some video games.  Maybe make it through a couple more episodes of Dexter since I have been slacking there.

Hope everyone else is on the path to achieving at least one of their new years resolutions.

I Should Call Off Today

I had the last two days off.
I close tonight.
I have the weekend off.

I SHOULD call off today and give myself a 5 day weekend.
However, I just don't appear to be able to make that phone call as I've already showered and prepared for work.

This should be a shorter evening for me as I have extra hours I need to cut due to a lack of coverage in general.  We are missing key players around my departments and in my departments, however I am told there is a rainbow full of butterflies and employees at the end of the tunnel and I just need to keep on trucking on to get there.

Tonight I am the lone ranger in Plumbing and Electrical (and probably Appliances) which means another shift where all I do is talk to customers and fail to accomplish any of the tasks that I feel I need to accomplish.
Then, come Monday it's Inventory time which is a week of hell.

I'm really looking forward to the fiscal year ending as well as the Inventory Period.  Mainly Inventory.
This way I get a fresh slate instead of coming into messes left by previous ownership.
I also get to see if what I'm doing is making a difference for good or for evil and see what adjustments need to be made.  I'll have a clear look at the end of year numbers set by my predecessor (he was there all but the last quarter that I took over) and have something to shoot at coming under.  I already have a few things that I've been waiting until after inventory to implement that will help me get some more accurate numbers than the way the current system is set up.

And now, my belly hungers.
Is today going to be Spicy Chicken Sandwiches at Carl's Jr?
Am I going to have a McRib or two?
Will I settle for Del Taco's Spicy Chicken Quesadea?
Oh, I'm hungry alright.

Public Service Announcement

Yes, this is Las Vegas and everything but sometimes you still have to deal with real world problems even here.

It is the winter time which means the temperatures drop. Sometimes even here in the desert those temperatures will drop below 32 degrees which is widely speculated to be the freezing point of water.
When Water goes into this temperature range it turns solid and expands and sometimes causes mass amounts of damage to your property.

The last few days, this is what has happened.

So, my PSA is for everyone out there to COVER YOUR FUCKING PIPES.
If they are outside and exposed to the elements you are an IDIOT if you don't have them insulated and wrapped by something, even if it's your old pee-stained underwear.

Your pipes will burst, your ball valves will crack, your Anti-Siphon and Back Flow Preventers and  Pressure Vacuum Breakers will all burst causing you a TON of headaches and a good deal of time and money to fix as well.

You knew winter was coming but you left your shit unprotected.
Do you not put the condom on and say "Well, I sure as shit didn't see that coming" (Har Har).

Next year be prepared and save yourself a headache (and a nagging wife or girlfriend) and wrap that shit up.

This has been a PSA from the grrouch who has had to tell everyone and their mother that NO, we don't have that and have been sold out for nearly 2 days now.
Stop looking at me like I'm crazy - you're the idiot who didn't protect his junk.

An Open Minded Response to Vegas Linda Lou

Over on Linda's site she posted about having an open mind and how it really just doesn't work for her.
I started to type a simple reply and then the next thing I know I've got a 800 thousand ward diatribe (is that word used properly? I doubt it but it is what came into my head) and decided that it was no longer a proper response in the comment section and that I had to just move it over here instead.
Hope some of her readers still find this response and take it into consideration.

Linda - I think I might chalk this up to being stubborn.
Making your mind up one way or another and being bull-headed pre-disposes you to those feelings that you've already determined that you have.
Did you really give Zumba a fair shot or did you just go to shut your sister up and then to get the "I told you this would suck so I'm going to go do something else and you can think of how miserable I am right now"???

I say this because I'm the same bloody way.  If I tell you I won't like something then shut the hell up and leave me alone because I'm not going to like it no matter what. Even if I might end up liking it by some miracle I'm going to be miserable and tell you I HATE IT because you will not be winning this war!

However, I've been trying to change that slowly and give in and really apply the whole "open mind" concept by going into something without my normal "I'll prove you wrong" attitude.
I've caved on Sushi but it took me 4 attempts.
First 3 attempts I flat out said "I'm going to hate this, but I'll try it" and when I tried it I was right, it absolutely sucked.

Then, on the 4th try I did something different.

You see, Sushi is something I've always just known that I hate.  I never had it and never wanted it but dammit I guarantee that that shit is horrible and belongs no where near my body.  What the hell are you trying to do, kill me?  No sir eee.  I've had many offers to go out and have sushi and I believe the response "Are you fucking crazy" has left my lips a few times.  I'm a picky eater and I'll stick to the shit that I like.

So, with the new love of my life being a huge fan of Sushi I figured that at least taking her to her favorite Sushi place was a good compromise. (I wrote about that here) I could be near sushi, but as long as I didn't accidentally touch it I should be fine.
Then it happened.  I have my nice Filet Mignon (why does blogger not recognize this as a word?) sitting in front of me and I get the look with....

Love: "Are you at least going to try it?"
grrouch: "um, I've got this beautiful steak, why would I want to ruin it?"
Love: "really?"
grrouch: "Tell you what, when I'm close to done I'll think about it."

And that seemed to placate her.  However, she left me a piece and now I had to eat my words.  So I prepared a piece of my steak as a flavor savior.  I dipped the sushi in the spice and quickly ate it.  Then I quickly put some steak in my mouth to cover the flavor up before I knew what it really tasted like.

Love: "So?"
grrouch: "Yeah, it pretty much sucked, but I tried it.  Aren't you proud of me?"
Love: "Sushi is amazing"
grrouch: "Steak is amazing, Sushi is poison"

Over the course of our next couple of visits I humored her and tried exactly one piece every time we went with similar results.

Finally (what I was trying to get to way up there) I decided to play a different game.  How about we tackle Sushi the serge way - lets spice it up and give me a chance to cover up the fish taste and see if I can like it or not.  So, she ordered something spicy and I got my chicken teriyaki plate (which, again, was good).  This time I ate a piece early so I could enjoy the rest of my meal but with all of the added spice I actually kind of liked it.  I think I ended up eating 3 or 4 pieces that time and had a lot of my own food for left overs.
Then I did something that probably still eats at my soul to this day.
I told her that next time we came we'd order only sushi and I would give it a real try... however, if it was too bad then I'd have to order off the "REAL" menu.

That next time that we went we ordered up 3 different spicy rolls with various thins like Jalapenos and Sarachi sauce and overall I started to like all of them.  Now, as long as it's spicy, I can eat sushi and actually enjoy it.
In fact, I've had cravings for it at times and that kind of scares me.

However, the point of this all is this.
Having an open mind is one thing.  A true open mind is hard to do.
Most of the time you are pretending to have an open mind just so you can say "Fuck you, I told you I'd hate it and I do"

And Dear Linda,
That is my response to your blog in 100 words or less

Faith No More

The past week or two I've been on a serious Faith No More kick and been listening to all their albums on repeat any time I am in my car.  So, just a bunch of random videos/songs from the band.

A Mini Computer Bitch

So, the built in wireless adapter on my computer is dying.

I turn it on, everything is working properly and then within 15 minutes I no longer have internet connection.
I turn the wireless off, then back on again and things work well for a few minutes before it stops working again.

I either have to finger out a way to replace the adapter, run a cord from the living room the whole way to the computer room or replace the computer because it has failed me.

Stupid Computers

A question Answered

FBoy recently wrote a comment asking me where the "push up challenge" tab went on my page.

Simple answer is I took it down because I haven't been able to get to it lately.

More simpler answer is that right now I have some sort of issue with my right shoulder that has been causing me some pain and I've put the challenge on hold for a while until I get this worked out.

This, of course, is the same shoulder where I tore my rotator cuff a few years back and randomly causes me issues.  

Now, so that this post isn't horribly small and cause Rob to have a brain aneurysm or anything, I'll add just a little bit more.

In my first 10 days of the year I have read 40 Spiderman comics.  They have not all been The Amazing Spiderman because I have found some other early series that tie in and continue stories and as such I'll be giving up the quest to read the entire Amazing in the year 2013 because I'm going to be adding in a TON of other, non Amazing, Spiderman comics/issues into the mix that it might be nigh impossible.

700 of just one series in a year was going to be a big task and I'm pretty sure I could have accomplished it, but I'm fairly certain that by the time I get a complete reading order of all the Spidey comics done (or found) I'll be well over 1000 comics and will NOT finish.  I guess this is what I get by starting with a popular comic instead of one that was cancelled after 25 issues or so.

However, within these 1st 40 issues that I have gone through I'm really liking this Spider-Guy a lot more than I previously did and am now actually willing to forgive Spiderman 3 for all of it's SUCKAGE.  I'm enjoying being introduced to some of these great villains for the first time and watching as Spiderman falters against the likes of Doc Ock, Sandman and Lizard and goes up against Foes I didn't even know existed like The Vulture (which seems like a dirty old pedo to me).

However, some of the victories just kind of make me chuckle.  My favorite thus far was beating Sandman with a Vacuum cleaner the first time they fought.  Classic.

Mary Jane has been introduced by name, the Green Goblin has made an appearance and Spiderman gets a LOT of flack from the kids at school and from his boss - J.J.J.

All in all I'm having a blast going through the back issues and I am picking up some of the ones I really like through eBay and such.  I'm also going to start pulling Superior Spiderman as they come out though I don't know if I'll read them until I'm up to that part of the story line.

I'm thinking about going back to Amazing around issue 683 where one of the last big storylines started and reading through to the end and then going in with Superior.  Then when I get up to that point with all of the back issues just re-reading them again.

Who knows.

What I do know is that I've got to leave the house because I've got a date and we're going to Sweet Tomatoes for Lunch today (I've got a coupon).

Is it bad etiquette to use coupons on a date?

Safe for Work Porn

So recently I saw an amazing pic on a friends Facebook and I decided I wanted to share some pictures with y'all.

A Desperate Confession

I love Desperate Housewives.  There, I said it. Ridicule me, make fun of me.  Gouge my eyes and pull out my hair.  Whatever you want to do to me you can go for it.  This show is just fucking brilliant.  

Maybe it's the fact that I'm watching it so many years after the fact, maybe it's just the company that I keep while watching the show.  Maybe it's the amazing cast members that come and go whom I have loved from other things.

I never gave this show a chance when it was on the air because it really did seem like it was just a cheap Sex and the City knock off (Sex in the City?  I'm too lazy to bother to Google it to find out what the show's actual title was).  A bunch of middle aged broads sleeping with whomever and creating drama for those around them.  Blah blah, boring.  Give me Beavis and Butt-head any day instead.   However, now that I've had some time to sit down and watch the show I'm really enjoying the whole humor aspect to it.  There is a lot of on the surface humor and some dark humor going on as well.  

It reminds me of a "modern day" version of another of my all time favorite shows (though, not as over the top and not nearly as funny)....

SOAP was brilliant and had an amazing cast of characters to go with it, also had some spin off shows that became some of the best out there.  I mean, who the hell didn't love Benson?

Not only that but "Mona" was in this show (as a different character, but whatever) and the dude from Empty Nest not to mention others.

This was so over the top and a great parody of what Soap's where all about that I watched every episode that Nick-at-Nite would throw at me.

But, enough about this amazing show that everyone should have the pleasure of watching and back to the topic at hand.

With the episodes that I have been catching (you know, because I watch 3 but the lady watches 13) I have been running into actors/actresses who starred in some other shows that I love which makes me just enjoy Desperate Housewives even more.

I mean, Rita Bennett, Captain Jack Harkness and Agent Dale Cooper?  All of these amazing people have appeared in DH and it just adds to my viewing pleasure.

Now, even though I've only been able to catch about 3-6 episodes per season while visiting my lady I am going to admit.... nay... I'm going to Confess that I will end up using this show as background noise fodder while doing other things so that I can actually follow the whole thing from start to finish.

Do you think less of me now?

Mount Charleston

I don't know who this Charleston fellow is but bravo for him!

Tomorrow we are doing another outing to Mt Charleston to let the kids go sledding.  Once again it's going to be cold outside and I'm voluntarily going into such conditions, weird shit.

Last time we went there was no fresh snow so the white guy didn't get a chance to show the Mexicans how to make a snow man (Last year they stole someone else's and posed for pictures pretending they did it themselves).  I'm hoping for better conditions this time.

Also, I was the only person not wearing gloves last time and as such I was the only person really able to make a good snowball as the snow was not packy at all.  Packy is not a word, interesting.
I forgot that after a few minutes of being submerged and holding/manipulating this frigid white stuff ones fingers tend to go numb.  I learned quickly.  This time will be no different I'm certain.

I've got my "cold" clothes ready.  I've got two blankets in the car for the kids on the ride home.  I have an extra sweatshirt and some sort of coat like thing that I'll be wearing and an extra one in the trunk in case someone else gets cold and needs added warmth.

To start the morning off we'll be doing home made pancakes and probably Sausage and/or Turkey Bacon (definitely sausage, mmmmm).  We'll be packing sandwiches to take along so everyone can take a lunch break.  Bringing cookies and chips because everyone loves to snack.  And two thermoses of Hot Chocolate, though I think we should bring a third but that will require a trip to the store in the morning.  Only time will tell.

Last time it was definitely a great time.  I'm new to the whole doing things together as a family thing.  Having a kid to look after and entertain.  I'm adjusting well I think but it's still weird to me at times.  I remember the days when life rotated around me and those appear to be long gone.

So, everyone stay warm and watch the games and think of your dear old grrouch who is going to be out, high in the mountains (as opposed to HI in the mountains) and freezing off all of his manly parts while you are warm and inside and drinking a beer or two.

That's a great idea, I should bring beer to keep me warm.
Good thinking.

An Ode to the Playstation 2

It's been nearly 13 years since the greatest gaming console of all time was released to the known world.
The Playstation 2 was released on March 4th of the year 2000 in Japan and took the United States by storm on October 26th of the same year.  This was the 1st console that I desperately wanted upon release, I pre-ordered it and I even traded in my Playstation 1 for it (I still consider this my biggest gaming mistake, the ONLY console I have ever traded in to get another).
Here I sit over 12 years later with my release PS2 which is still in fine working order while millions upon millions of Xbox 360's continue to go bad every year. The PS2 was a marvel of hardware that has withstood the test of time and gaming.

Old Fatty vs newer Slim

So, it was sad news when Nintendo announced that they were discontinuing production of the PS2 in Japan (and I'm sure world wide will follow).  This means that I'm going to have to go out and buy a new PS2 Slim sometime in the near future so I'll have an extra console waiting around for all those games that I still own from that era just in case my larger than life original decides to shit the bed.

I picked up my PS2 while I was in college and I know that it has more gaming hours logged on it than all of the newer systems that I own combined (between myself and everyone else who played in my on campus apartment and various other living situations after college) and it impresses me that to this day I can still pop in a game and a memory card and play.

Just earlier this year I loaned it out to a friend who wanted to play through Final Fantasy 7 again (yes, a PS1 game).  Backwards compatibility - an ingenious concept brought to us by Sony even though 95% of the time the new console would be used to only play new games.  BC is for people like me who love retro gaming and don't want to have 30 systems hooked up to a TV.  It is the reason I rushed out and bought a 60 gig fully backwards compatible Playstation 3 once Sony said they were discontinuing it.


So Sony, I love you and your systems.  I will be lined up to buy a Playstation 4 when you release it and I will hand over my money for your exclusives over time as well. It would be nice if your handhelds could rival the quality of your consoles (something Nintendo has perfected) so that I could love the Vita (and PSP) just as well.

So here's to you, PS2, I love you.

If I were to get into the games and why I loved them this could become obscenely long.  I'd be going above and beyond what Rob has done (and that includes dividing this love letter to Sony into multiple posts) so I will just attach some pictures of the games that I enjoyed the most over the course of the PS2's lifetime.

The Evil Dead

It's not very often that I'll actually get really excited for something that is going to come out and count down the days until I get to see it, touch it, taste it or play with it.  However I've slowly been making an exception for the remake of The Evil Dead.

When I first heard about it was hated the idea and was rather annoyed that they were taking one of my favorite movies and re-doing it.  How could this possibly go right?  There was too much room to just destroy the movie and ruin the experience for me.

Then, the 1st trailer came out and my thought process turned to "You know, this doesn't look too bad, I'll give it a try."

Then today it all changed.  As I woke up prepared to write a blog bitching about how my back has been killing me this week I checked my Facebook and saw a New, longer trailer for the movie.

I've now gone to being officially excited and planning to be piss myself scared in the theaters.

This next video is not for the squeamish and if this is just a 2 minute preview I'm fucking dying to see the entire movie.

I'm going to have to wait to march but I'm requesting the day off and even if I can't find a theater buddy I'm seeing this on release.

Don't be fulled if the preview screen for both video's looks the same  (they do on my computer).  The 1st Video is the Teaser Trailer and the 2nd Video is the full length preview with different material.

This is a very well done horror movie preview.

I'm ga-damned excited.

Who else is going to see this movie?

Anyone want to watch it on release with me?

Gaming in 2013

I don't know if I've just grown out of gaming or if I'm just on a temporary hiatus or what has happened but 2012 has been the year where I have put the least amount of time into gaming in quite a long long time.

Maybe it was just with everything else going on that I just kind of lost my desire to have fun and it started off as a self imposed exile from entertainment.  I do not know the answer.

When playing games with others I still have a great time. I had a buddy visiting over the summer and in the 5 days he spent at my house I put in a TON of hours playing Gears of War 3 (finally beating the damned thing) and Borderlands 2 with him.
However, as soon as he left the gaming stopped.

Right now I basically only play when the ball and chain is visiting with her kid.  I've got a subset of games that I know are age appropriate and we play some of those games together for an hour or so before and after dinner.  When I am left to my own devices I have played less than 10 hours of games in the past few months.

I used to love gaming, I lived for it.  I couldn't wait to get home so I could sink my teeth into the newest game that came out.  Now I have a shelf (multiple shelves) full of all these games that I've played for less than  a couple hours each (or are still sealed) and it's turned more into a collection than a hobby.

This year I have picked up some games when they became cheap and I've maybe only put one out of ten into my systems.

Something has to change.
I either need to find a way to recapture my passion for gaming or I just need to give it up and do something better with my money.

With that being said one of the things I wanted to do for 2013 is to beat one game per month.  I know that this is going to be hard with my current work/social schedule but the reality is that I have to find time for what was (maybe still is) a passion of mine.
I have a large collection of Video Game Systems to go along with my Video Games themselves.
In fact, I have 2 of the last 3 systems to come out (only missing the Vita).  My 3DS does not get used very much and I have yet to open my Xmas present - the Wii U.

I'm going to spend some time this week (hopefully) going through my collection of games and organizing them into games that I'm still interested in playing and games that I'm going to hide somewhere and just pretend that I currently don't have them.  I figure with a smaller collection to look at it might not feel so daunting and like a chore to pick up and play.

There are only two games coming out early this year that I have already pre-ordered and both are because I absolutely love the series.
The first is Bioshock Infinite.  The 1st Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time and as such I'll continue to get the newest ones that come out because they have been great so far.
The second is God of War Omega (I think that's the title).  The God of War series is probably my favorite gaming series out there right now and I have beaten every single title released (except the one released for mobile phones years ago that I just don't have access too). My eventual goal is to get the Platinum Trophy for every title as well.  In December I started playing one of the PSP ports and just need to pick that up and continue my journey through it.
In fact, now that we are just a few months away from the newest in the series coming out I should go through and just re-beat all of the old ones in preparation.
I'm feeling a twinge of excitement.  So, maybe tomorrow morning when I wake up I'll start on my journey and see if I still have that Gamer's Lust in me.

The thrill of Home Improvement.

In 2011 I have 31 published posts (does not include things that I deleted before starting over fresh) and in 2012 I have 338 published blog posts.  Obviously a pattern has emerged and in 2013 I'll have over 3300 published posts.
In order to accomplish this I'll have to be the anti-Rob.
In fact I should end this here and continue with my next thought on a new post just for the sake of trying to accomplish it.

However, that's boring.

Being the 1st day of the year I figure'd that I should hop on the scale and see where I'm starting at and that was 248.8.
I'm quite happy with this because that means I lost over 50 pounds in 2012 and it's also nice because for the past two weeks I have maintained my weight under 250.  I know I have a long way to go to reach my next goal of getting down to 220 and it's going to actually take work on my part but it's going to be a fun ride if I can pull it off before the year is over.

2012 ended with some punishment at work, though the punishment doesn't officially start until 2013 of course.  In the two departments that I run I have a total of 5 employees currently (one is on a leave until March/April).  I have 3 in Electrical but one of those guys is going to Flooring within the next week or so.  In Plumbing I have 2 and one of those is going to Appliances.
This leaves me with 3 employees for 2 departments.
Inventory starts on the 22nd of January and I am on it of course.  One of my Electrical and one of my Plumbing guys is also on it.  This leaves nobody in Plumbing and only a part-time employee in Electrical for an entire week.  Quite an interesting dilemma considering it appears to take multiple weeks to actually get a replacement to fill the lost shoes.
However, this is the retail life.  There are always struggles.  You make the best of them and get through until things get easy.

I've nearly got my spreadsheet flushed out and I've plugged in most of my normal recurring expenses.  I am a creature of habit and routine and I know that once I get into the routine of saving my receipts and entering the info on the spreadsheet that I'll never be able to quit.

One of the last weeks of the year I installed a new dishwasher in the house.
The reason I bring this up is because I'm not the home improvement do it yourself type of guy.
However, this is something that I really want to try to change.  I'd like to be able to do a lot of the small simple things myself instead of paying someone else to do it, this would save a lot of money.
So, I got my new dishwasher and decided I was going to try to do it myself.

Overall it was fairly simple, though it took me longer because I am a novice.  The hardest part was actually getting the lines from the dishwasher cabinet to the sink cabinet.  The reason this was so difficult is because the two cabinets are interconnected on an angle which has at least a 6 inch dead space between then, and on top of that the sink cabinet sits about 2-3 inches higher than the dishwasher cabinet.  Good thing I had a spare wire coat-hanger to get me through my troubles.

After I had everything hooked up and in place it was a matter of running a test cycle and this is where problem number two occurred.
Upon reaching the draining portion of the cycle I found myself presented with a nice flood coming out of my Air Gap.
The line running from the Air Gap to my Disposer was completely clogged (not to mention the Air Gap was in horrible shape as well).  So, another run to the store for some replacement parts and after connecting them everything now works great.

From here it only gets harder.  I've got a lot of painting to do, I've also got a Patio Door to order and put in (though I am getting help with this) and I've got 5 ceiling fans to hang and I really hate hanging ceiling fans.

If my house is still standing at the end of the year it might be a miracle.

Welcome to 2013

Happy New year everyone.
I hope everyone has a much better year this year than last and I look forward to mine.

2013 New Years Resolutions

It’s that time again to think about everything I want to accomplish and put it in a viable list and publish it for the world to see.
Then, two weeks later, make sure everyone of these has been broken and never to be looked back at again....... or not.

But first, a preamble.

2012 was filled with a whole lot of trials and tribulations. Here I sit on the brink of 2013 feeling like I’m in a much better situation in every aspect of my life. I had some goals in 2012 that I wanted to accomplish but never did and I had some goals that I never verbalized and accomplished. Maybe there is something to be said about just keeping your mouth shut no? Whatever, that’s not my style yo.

So, before I look ahead to 2013 lets look back on 2012. Here are a list of my goals and what I did or did not accomplish.

#1 - Become Debt Free - This was a failure due to some extreme circumstances. Lets move this to 2013.
#2 - Grow a really radical Handle-Bar Mustache - FAIL - though I did have an impressive Fu-Man-Chu at one point.
#3 - Beat 24 Video games - FAILURE
#4 - Play more poker - FAILURE (I am sensing a pattern)
#5 - Read More - Actually I accomplished this.....weird
#6 - Blog More - More, yep, I blogged a shit load
#7 - Write a short story - FAILURE
#8 - Stop going bald - HAHAHAHA, I’m so funny
#9 - #9, #9, #9
#10 - Keep track of my Finances better - This fizzled out like a bad fart.


Oh goodness, I did horrible in 2012. And I find it interesting that the one thing I overwhelmingly succeeded at (losing weight) wasn’t even on my list. I thought I put that on my list every year and failed at it lol.
Whatever......
So - now that we have that out of the way lets get to the 10 things that I want to accomplish in 2013 (I was told that 10 is the absolute max you are to do for your revolutions by someone who is very cute and has a great influence over me).

(Drum Roll)

Numero Uno - Become Debt Free (excepting the house). Yes - this was number one on my list last year and it makes the list again. Other than staying white and not dying how can I possibly have another more important goal than financial freedom? I know that I don’t have far to go with this goal and as such there will be no problem eradicating my debt. I don’t have a firm date but I do want this to be done before Summer hits.

Number Dos XX - Keep Better track of my financials - This goes hand in hand with number 1. What better way to get out of debt than to meticulously track my debt and plan its demise? So, I’ve already started working on January’s budget and will hopefully hit up February and March as well so that I have a clear view of the first quarter of the year.

El Numbre Three - Lose Weight - HA, it makes it’s triumphant return. Weight Loss has been a “goal” of mine for over a decade and I never have what it takes to stick with it. The problem is that I go too hardcore into it and then just give up because potato chips taste good. And so does BBQ and Ice Cream and and and and and. You get the point. However, 2012 was a monumental accomplishment for me as I saw myself tip the scales at over 300 pounds and actually, for the first time ever, decided I really needed to do something about it. So, I set out with small goals to begin with and ended up changing the way I eat over the course of the year dropping about 50 pounds in the process. In 2013 I want to continue my progress and get down to 220 pounds which is about 30 pounds to go. This means I need to lose 2.5 pounds per month and that I’ll have to make a few more changes to my routine. (leading us to....)

Number 4 - Exercise more. You know it’s pretty much impossible to exercise less! I have come a long way through a change in my eating habits and now it’s time to take that next step. I am not going to over do it so for January my goal is going to be to add one day of hitting the gym per week into my weekly routine. I hope to do more but I want to guarantee myself one day per week to start.

Number 5 - Take an actual vacation - Like, pack some shit up and leave the f’n state vacation. This feels like a cheat putting it on here because I am planning one already, planning on heading back to the *cough* great *cough* state of Pennsylvania for a small tour of friends and loved ones. I also plan on bringing my lady and child along with me which will make this even more interesting. I’m trying to prepare a mental checklist of places to go and things to see that will be kid fun and kid friendly. I also believe that this means I’ll not be seeing Dr Dirty while I’m out there but that is a sacrifice that I am willing to make in order to bring the two newest loves of my life along with me and show them some areas where I am from/grew up.

Number 6 - Focus on building my retirement accounts. This one is painful to write out as I’m 36 years old and don’t have a whole hell of alot built up already. However, it is never too late to make a change and this is a big one that I need to and am going to make. This also goes hand in hand with getting out of debt as once the debt is gone I can put a huge focus on this with the extra money that I am no longer paying towards my unneeded debt. Dave Ramsey save me!

Number 7 - Beat 12 Video Games - Now for the “fun” portion of my list. As I am getting older and finding other things in my life that I enjoy doing my video game time has dwindled. I have a new lady in my life whom I find myself wanting to spend almost all of my free time with and I occasionally play some games with

Number 8 - Get out and do more - Enjoy life and live a little.  As others can attest, the past 3 or so years I have pretty much locked myself up and not done a whole hell of a lot.  I have played some poker and I have done some random things but I haven't gotten out and lived much.  Now that my debt is coming to an end I have this weird sense of freedom.  Trips to the park, trips to Mt Charleston, Trips to Red Rock (not the casino) and whatever else.  Leave the comfort of my house and enjoy life with those I love.

Number 9 - Read the ENTIRE series of The Amazing Spiderman - Yes, all 700+ Issues.  Adding in all of the point 1's and the annuals I'd estimate that there are roughly 750 issues to read and that breaks down to about 2.5 issues per day.  This will be no easy feat and I would benefit greatly by getting ahead of pace early so that I can take some time off around the middle of the year.  I'm pretty sure I'll suffer Spiderman Burnout at some point and give up on this goal as a 1 year thing but I'm curious to see how far I can get.

Number 10 - Open Mic Night - Of everything on my list this is the one that scares me shitless, FYI.  I'm meeting with Linda in the middle of January where I'm supposed to have about 5 minutes worth of material ready to go over with her and as of right now I don't feel like I have 5 minutes.  In fact, the best I have is just a bunch of dick jokes. Maybe a couple of fat jokes as well.  

So there you have it, 10 goals for 2013 and all are able to be achieved.

Happy Ho Ho Birthday

Between today and yesterday I know 4 people who have been or will be celebrating birthdays.  It's a time of year when people get ripped off of gifts because their special day occurs too close to this other over exposed and over commercialized holiday.

So, to my 3 Ho's - Happy Birthday.

Ho Number One

Dena, my favorite Christmas Jew and one of my favorite red heads (my momma be a red head so kinda gotta give that one to her) and by far my absolute favorite cook in the entire world.  The Chances of you reading this are pretty damned slim but whatever.  I miss you and hate that you no longer live in the land of sin but I get excited every time you visit and we get to spend an evening with some alcohol together to play catch up.  Thank you for being a friend (cue Golden Girls Theme) and cannot wait until our paths cross again.

Ho Number Two

Liz, my old high school and college chum and now my almost west coast chum. I get the distinct feeling that, in a very slow motion sort of way, you have just been following me around from a distance for the past decade or two :)
Everything works the way it does for a reason so keep your head up and keep on trucking. Whether you love them or hate them the holidays kinda suck so far away from your family so I'm sending you some Xmas and Birthday cheer to you on this particular day.  I hope Santa left you something big and (dare I say) vibrating under the tree this year.  You are the one (of 3) that will read this and as such I wanted to make sure I got in a bad sexual Joke.  Just like old times.

This made me LOL and has nothing to do with today.

Ho Number 3

Spank. Mr Sprankle.  Oh how I miss thee, let me count the ways.
I hope life is treating you well wherever you may be and that our paths cross again sometime in the future.  Of all the friendships that I have had over the course of my life this is the one that just sorta faded away with time and distance.
So merry fucking Xmas to you.
Lap Dances
Hookers
Ho's
And put some clothes on for Christ sakes, nobody wants to see that.

This was NOT under my tree :(

Ho

And last, but not least and a day late (online but not in person) Happy birthday to my mumsy.  Without you I wouldn't have what I have or be who I am.  I wouldn't be fat and full on a daily basis and I wouldn't be this totally awesome guy that everybody knows I am.
Ho Ho Ho to you even though I never got that hot Asian chick under the tree to unwrap for Xmas - You know, the same one I requested pretty much every year for a decade straight.
Whatever, guess I didn't need an Asian anyway.

To anyone else out there celebrating an unfortunate birthday and who gets ripped off present wise because of this horrible timing.
Now, as I have just found out, I have reached phase 3 of my life.  I'm really looking forward to Phase 4 even though I have a feeling I'm not going to be allowed to ever completely go through with it.

Ho Ho Ho
Merry Xmas

Life is Beautiful

My favorite line in this whole song is "It's funny how love comes with so many lies"

I never was a huge fan of P.O.D. growing up and it was probably mostly that their songs deal a lot with religion and god and I personally find all of that stuff kind of boring.  However, the years have gone on and I don't judge nearly as much as I used to.  So, recently Amazon had a sale and this album was included in it and I enjoyed the one that was playing on the radio.  There are two songs that really caught my attention on my first listen and this was one of them.

Suicide and domestic violence are two touchy subjects to touch upon.  The latter having more of an effect on my thought process than the former.  However, I really dig this song and have been listening to it a couple of times a day on the way to and/or from work.

Christmas (Joan would be bloody happy I didn't abbreviate it Xmas this time) is literally right around the corner for me.  We are doing it tomorrow night and today I bought the last of my gifts.  Well, not 100% true since on Monday I have one more coming for my Old Man (see - I'm the son that keeps giving) and then have one more gift that will be bought/given on Weds that nobody knows about yet and nobody knows who it's for.  Oh I'm so sly.

Today I picked up the new Resident Evil Steelbook from Best Buy to go with the other Steelbooks that I have for the other movies and I also picked up Doctor Who Season 6 on Blu Ray for $19.99 (normally $74.99).  I now have Season 5 and 6 on Blu (both for that price at Best Buy right now) and I have Part One of Season 7 (which I really need to watch so I can start watching Part Two that airs really shortly).  Now I just have to start finding some of the older seasons cheaply.  I know I can just watch them all on Netflix and not have to worry about it but I do love me some physical copies of the things I really love.  It's a bad habit of mine.

I've flagged about 3 bazillion comic books and graphic novels that I really want to pick up over the course of the next year and the more I read the more I'm getting into other comics and story lines.  Today I started the Minimum Carnage story that spanned 6 issues and 3 separate comics (Carnage, Venom and Scarlet Spider).  This brings me to the fact that I'll probably have to read through Venom and Scarlet Spider and add those to my reading list.  My goal is to get caught up on the current Marvel Now comics and then start getting caught up on the DC New 52 comics that I know I like while starting to explore some others and see how I like them.
How can I afford all of this?  Well, I fucking can't.  Thank dog for piracy though.  I know that sounds horrible but whatever. I'm not above it.
In all fairness I will continue to support the talent that I really like with my hard earned money.  I'll treat this the same way I treat music which is I'll sample things and buy what I really like while ignoring the chaff.
And, in some instances that will be impossible.  For instance I really really really want to read through the entire Amazing Spiderman run during 2013 and this would be IMPOSSIBLE without piracy or a really large wallet.
Now, I suppose I could buy all the issues from Comixology but this still is not a viable solution. Issue #700 is going to be the last of the Amazing Spiderman run.  That means there are 700 issues plus all the ".1's" and the Annuals and.... you see where this is going.  It's probably closer to 750 issues.
Lets assume I can get all of them for $1.99 each - that's over $1500 that I'd have to spend to read the entire run.  That is just not going to happen as I don't like the webslinger that much.

This ass was better in person, FYI.

I guess someone was wrong

I went through my entire day without hearing this:

My Fingers are Cold and my Mind is Dull

I've got a few posts recently that are all works in progress.  They sit here on my computer, hidden in my blogger, incomplete.  They will probably never be completed.  You see, my biggest problem is that if when I start writing something and I don't finish it I will probably never go back to it.  Every couple of months I go back and look at my incomplete works and determine if I even still give a shit about what I started to say and if not I hit the delete button.  Most of the time I just delete them all and start to look to the future again.

I only bother bringing this up because as of late I really just don't feel I have anything to say.  I know I have said this before but I think anger and depression bring out my creativity.  When I'm happy and content I don't have the same passion towards writing or creativity.  I'm driven by the darker side of reality.  I guess this really isn't a bad thing because me writing less means that I'm at a place in life where I'm pretty damned satisfied but at the same time I'd really like to continue to try and express a modicum of creativity.

My next two post will probably involve a look back and a look ahead.  It is that time of year again after all.  I know I came into 2012 with some goals and expectations and I think I probably ignored all of them for the most part.  However I will revisit the post (or postings) and see just how off I was.
Even with that said I feel that while 2012 started out as the worst year of my entire existence it surely is not ending that way and as such I cannot just throw out a blanket statement of "2012 sucked and I'm glad it's over."  The reality is that as everything winds down it became a year just like every other, a year with hi's and low's.  That's bullshit, I feel like I have been cheated out of a good curmudgeon story or 3 for when I'm old, wrinkled, crabby and decrepit.

Right now I am typing away and waiting for the impending disaster which, once again, will not happen.  One of my recent (non) posts was essentially a short story that I was going to tell over the course of 3-5 days about the end of the world, my preparation for it, my struggle during it and my eventual survival of it all.  The issue was that while I started it and thought I had a good idea I ended up leaving the house and not spending as much time in front of my computer as it was going to take to complete it.  That and the fact that when I was in front of my computer I just couldn't find the proper thoughts to finish out my narrative.
Maybe I'll come back to this shortly after the New Year begins and treat it like a look back instead of as a running diary.  Maybe I'll just hit delete and pretend that shit never happened.

Either way, it's 11:43 and I've only got approximately 17 more minutes until shit gets real and the end of the world beings (because I believe this happens concurrently with my time zone of course).
So, that means that I've got to get naked and spank the monkey real quick and spend the remaining 15 minutes on Facebook making stupid posts and pissing off the non-believers.

A Monday Ramble

Today's ramble is brought to you by Hobbitses everywhere.  Filthy, Dirty, Lying, Thieving Hobbitses.

I've got no real clue where this is headed but I know I haven't written in a minute (where did this phrase originate and why the hell am I using it now?).

Lets kick it off with Weight Loss

Over the last while my weight has been pretty stagnant, or so it seemed.  I've been bouncing back and forth between 254 and 248 on a daily basis with me never being able to actually take that step to push through and stay consistently below the 250 mark.  It was about 2 weeks ago that I finally hit 249 but the next day I was back to 251 or whatever.  So, with some happiness I'm here to say that it looks like I've finally gotten through that hurdle and am below 250.  For the past 5 or so days every time I have weighed myself I've been below and not above.  Now it's time to start making a push for 245!  When I fired up my Weight Watchers online tool and plugged in today's weight I was greeted with a graphic that showed me I have lost 8.2 pounds over the course of the last 3 months.  So, while I say I've been stagnant the reality of the situation is that I'm still losing and it's just slower than I'd like, than I'm used to.  I guess the fact that when I first started out on this journey and I was shedding pounds like crazy without much effort that I became a bit spoiled and when the weight loss slows to more normal levels I just fail to realize it's still happening.  However, that little graphic that shows me down 8.2 over the 3 month period is proof and BLAMMO I just gotta keep pushing.

This has been true for a number of weeks now but the Pittsburgh Steelers control their own destiny.  We, however, are not playing like a playoff team and even if we win out and get in it does not appear that we have what it takes to compete with the top 3 of the conference (Patriots, Texans, Broncos).  This is kind of an annoying statement to actually type because we have been so good for so long but we are back to playing Steelers football which means we can compete with the big boys but we are constantly getting disappointed by the teams we should be beating no matter what.  We had a 3 game stretch without our QB and we had a HUGE opportunity to seize the division even without him.  Our Defense was playing lights out but our offense and special teams hindered us.  First meeting against the Ravens we played well enough to win but we allowed a huge Punt Return Touchdown that sealed our fate.  Against the Browns our defense dominated enough to win the game but when the offense turns the ball over 8 times there is no coming back from that.  Then we actually beat the Ravens without our QB and things were looking up.  However, coming back from injury and a sputtering offense failed to do anything against the Chargers and constantly giving them the ball on our side of the 50 proved to be detrimental.  Now a loss to the Cowboys and for the first time we are actually looking in from the outside.  We can, however, still sneak into the playoffs if we can win out.  Most important game is next week against the Bengals because if we beat them we will have the same record but we will have the tiebreakers against them - giving us the last wild card spot.  This is good news but the problem is we have to put it together.  By my counts we have won one game out of our last 5 and now we have to win the next 6 straight to be crowned Super Bowl Champions.  Tall task ahead of us for a team that is not playing like a championship team on both sides of the ball.
By the way - Tony Romo was the 1st QB all season to throw for over 300 yards against our Defense.  Amazing.

I finally went out and saw The Hobbit last night and I'm quite happy with the movie.  It's nice to watch a movie set in this universe with a not-so-serious tone as the Lord of the Rings movies.  The movie didn't feel like it was as long as it actually was, it had great humor and a lot of nice action.  I have not read the books so I don't know if the books had as many one liners as the movie had or if that was all added in after the fact.  However, it wasn't overly campy that I was taken out of the experience but I did take notice when it just felt like a line shouldn't have been there (the Golf joke, the frying pan/fire joke, Gandalf slicing a guy who then stands in front of him like nothing happened until Gandalf gently nudges his head off with his staff....).  Overall I loved the movie and I will be seeing it again.
Once I get a more favorable schedule I'll have to find time to take the old man to see the movie because he's been in love with The Hobbit long before any of the Lord of the Rings movies ever came out.  I remember tales from my childhood where he talked about The Hobbit being one of the few (maybe the only) books he ever really read and loved.
The biggest gripe is going to be the fact that I've got to wait another 2 years to finish my tale as The Hobbit is going to be it's own separate trilogy.
LOTR was a big epic book divided into 3 movies.  The Hobbit was a much smaller work divided into 3 movies as well.  Next thing we know Peter Jackson is going to make 3 movies out of an extra 100 pages that was "discovered" while sifting through J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished works, but it will be about an alternate ending where Frodo decided to give the One Ring back to Gollum.

I've started working out my goals for the new year and I really want to share them, however I'm still a couple of weeks too early for that crap so I've just got this list rambling through my head with no real rhyme or reason currently.  It's like I have some extra voices in my head who want to find a home, a home on my blog, but they are all lost because I refuse to type them out.  One is holding a sign saying "will joke for food."

I've been slacking off with my writing/blogging lately but I'd like to get to a point where I can churn out more quality over quantity.  Now that I'm no longer at a point in my life where the blog is acting as anti-depression medication I don't feel the urge to sit down and write every single day like before.  However, I think part of my absence this month is because of that damned Outlook catastrophe and I'm still in mourning for the loss of what I considered a great, well thought out and analytic post about a corporate entity who has parents by the balls :)

Has anyone else seen the Hobbit?
What did you think about it?
How are we feeling football wise?  Is Dallas going to sneak in? (I know I've got some Cowboy fans reading this)?  Is Washington going to take that division behind TWO Rookie QBs?
Does anyone want to face Seattle right now or is this overblown because of their opponents the last couple of weeks?
Does this blog make my ass look fat?

grrouch out

I hate Outlook

So, Yesterday I had this great post typed up about Chuck E Cheese and when I hit send (typed it at work and was emailing it to myself) Outlook crashed - the email was deleted (blank email saved in drafts) - nothing sent and nothing received.

Fuck Outlook!

Donte Stallworth

Just find this amusing.

Patriots, short on WR's, end up signing Donte Stallworth who hasn't really been a factor anywhere for a while I think.
His first game suited up he catches a 63 yard TD strike from Tom Brady.
He hurts himself on that play with a High Ankle Sprain and today was placed on the Injured Reserve list.

Pats resign Dion Branch for like the 3rd or 4th time this season alone.

Stallworth could have been a good story for the rest of the year but instead he's an asterisk.

It's NOT the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I don't care what the commercials say, blast, blare, constantly beat into our zombie like heads.  This time of the year sucks.
It's a horrible, horrible time of the year. It's the most degenerate time of the year.

This is the time of the year where, if you didn't prepare properly, you can go broke before you get a chance to have your morning Diet Mt Dew.  This is a wallet draining, agonizing experience year after year after year.

Normally I suffer from Seasonal Depression and as such I hate the holidays.
This has been the first holiday season in countless years where I haven't felt myself going through it.  Sure, there is a twinge of it here and there but this has been a mostly depression free season for me and for that I am thankful.
I attribute this to a number of factors.
1 - Having some stability in my life.
2 - Having my family close by.
3 - New relationship excitement
4 - I'm just that damned awesome yo

On to other things.

Yesterday in Football Sucked!
Royally, horribly, painfully sucked.
The Steelers played bad and looked worse. We had some big mistakes that really cost us in the long run of the game.  Antonio Brown trying to pick up a fumble in the endzone and then just allowing the Chargers to fall on it for an easy TD.  A couple of big dropped bombs from Wallace and Brown, all that could have sustained drives and turned into points but instead forced punts which lead to very short field position for the Chargers.
The Chargers won the battle of field position all game long and as a result they won the game.  Our defense played a hell of a game (expect that one 9 minute drive really) but you cannot expect a Defense to be on the field for as long as they were and not have a few breakdowns.  It was the Offense that didn't hold up it's end of the bargain and for once it was not the fault of the returning from an injury QB who actually looked pretty good overall.
The good news is that the Ravens dropped their second in a row and the Bengals caved at the last minute the the Cowboys.  A win here would have been amazing for the Steelers but at least we didn't lose ground and allow Cincy to sneak ahead of us for the last playoff spot that we are desperately clinging too.

I already bitched yesterday about how MOJO knows the secret to the universe and calmly put his money on Seattle this week to quite possibly lock up the winners spot barring any random mental breakdown in the last few weeks of the season.

I've been trying to call the utility company today to pay a bill but I keep getting "Service unavailable" today.  Kinda funny how much we rely on cell phones and don't know what to do the moment something goes wrong.  Whatever - there is always tomorrow.

I started reading Action Comics from the New 52 and I'm going to admit that I think I just find Superman to be boring.  Nothing about the 1st 6 or so issues thus far has really grabbed me and compelled me to keep going.  However, recently, I have read through I, Vampire and the new TMNT comics and absolutely love them.  Turtles > Superman

The Great and Almighty MoJo

MOJO is a ringer.
He is a scam artist who has knowledge of the future.
He might have actually borrowed a Delorian and rode shotgun with Biff a few decades back just to take advantage of this one situation.

Everyone must rise up and revolt against this evil man before he harms us all.

I bow in your presence, overlord.