girls vs. boys

Somehow we got tricked into taking the Burns' kids home from church on Sunday afternoon (I kid - no indignant responses please). I got home from soccer to find that somehow the girls had coerced Ethan and Andy into playing "Wedding". Ethan was pressed into service as the Minister, and Andy was being forced to marry Natalie. When I arrived on the scene, Ethan was mumbling his words as fast as he could, Andy was at the "alter" crying "I want my night-night", and Aryn and Ally in their role as flower girls were gleefully throwing legos (flower petals) all over the living room.

I couldn't help thinking that it was actually pretty close to a real wedding :)

Continued

Movie Review

I went to see The Departed last night. Having heard very good things about this movie I went with pretty high expectations, and I was not disappointed. A very well-written story about an Irish-American Boston organized crime outfit (think Whitey Bulger) I barely even noticed that it was over 2 1/2 hours long.

One thing that is always a danger when a movie is set in Boston is that the particular accents and mannerisms of the characters for which New England (especially Boston) natives are famous for will be so overdone that they seem more like caricatures than real people (think Fever Pitch), but this is not the case. Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Wahlberg all did an outstanding job in this regard.

Jack Nicholson was, as expected, brilliant in his role as Frank Costello - the kingpin of the crime organization. Supposedly Robert De Niro was originally slated for this role, and I'm sure he would have done a good job, but Nicholson was amazing.




If I had any minor complaints it would have with the love triangle between Damon's, DiCaprio's, and Vera Farmiga's character. Honestly, it seemed a little bit contrived. It wasn't bad, but it just seemed unneccessary - like something that got thrown in so that Women would go see the movie too.



Caution: If you are offended by vulgar language, you may not want to see this movie, and don't take the kids to it. They use the F-word 226 times which averages out to be more than once a minute. However, unlike some movies where the bad language seems gratuitious and you sit there thinking that they could have done without it, the language really fits in this movie. It would feel a little strange - and not the least bit believable - without it. I didn't really even notice that many, I was startled when I looked it up later. I knew there were a bunch, but they didn't seem gratuitous or out of place

Overall, A very good movie. This was the first time in a long time that I didn't say to myself afterwards "you know, I really could have put my 8 bucks to better use". While not quite enough yet to break my all time top-five, It is right up there.

Rating: 2 WooHoo!s

(On a side note, I COULD have taken my wife to it after all. I initially figured she would be turned off by excessive violence, but there really wasn't any. Don't get me wrong, it was violent, but not excessively so - it was more of a drama)

Fun Trivia: The Apartment that Matt Damon's character lives in used to belong to The Greatest Quarterback of All Time.

Continued

TMI !!!!!

I was in the men's room at work today standing at the Urinal, and this guy comes in and announces very loudly

"You've got about 10 seconds before it starts to get real nasty in here"

Bear in mind this is not a construction site - this is a professional building where virtually everybody is either a software or hardware engineer. I felt like I was momentarily transported back to high school when Rick or Derek would enter the stall with a similar proclamation.

Continued

Movie Night anybody?

I can't remember the last time I was actually EXCITED about seeing a new movie, but that is exactly how I feel about The Departed. Starring Jack Nicholson who (along with Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro) may be one of the greatest actors of all time. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, but this has the potential to be up there with Heat (which incidentally stars two of the aforementioned greatest actors of all time). I am already planning on buying it a year from now when it comes out on DVD, but I MUST see it in the theatre.

If you haven't seen the trailer for it,click here.

Anyway, I don't think my wife is going to be as fired up for it as I am - so does anybody want to go with me?

Continued

Thought for the Day

Some people are like slinkies -
They are not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Continued

Energy Hog Update (part III)

Back in August I started "Project Energy Hog" after being appalled at my Electric Bill. I started out with a goal of saving $100 a month. As you may remember, my first step was to buy a new energy-efficient washing mashine, which after three weeks - in combination with the PSNH rate reduction had already helped me accomplish my goal. So I set a new goal to get under $200. My next step was to purchase a meter to see where I was losing the electricity - first target: the basement refrigerator. I have already reported the apalling results of that test, so I won't get into it here, but I unplugged the beastly device and waited anxiously for the Month's results.

In the meantime, I took a few other steps. Out of curiousity, I tested both of my computers running for a full day, and was startled at how much they were using. I discovered that somehow my energy settings had gotten turned off, so both the machines and the displays were pretty much running constantly. For the computer that my wife and I use, this wasn't a big deal, because it gets a lot of use anyway, but for the kids computer, sometimes it would go several days without being used. So I set up the energy settings to turn the monitors off after 5 minutes of inactivity and the computers themselves to go into sleep mode after 30. The monitor settings worked great, but for some reason neither computer wants to go into sleep mode and i haven'd had the time or the energy to debug it. However, I did just start shutting down the kids computer whenever I noticed it not being used. This led to a funny conversation I had with my wife:

her: "Honey, something is wrong with the downstairs computer - it keeps shutting itself off. Every time I go in there to use it, I have to boot it up again"

me: "um, no. That's me that keeps shutting it off"

her: "well, it's annoying"

me: "too bad."

Ok, maybe I made some of that up, but the point is that I am dedicated to this project - even if it means annoying my loved ones. :) I have also turned into the light police - walking around turning off lights that nobody is using or yelling at the kids for leaving them on. It has been a long-standing akerberg kid tradition to leave as many lights on as possible, and apparently my children have inherited that trait.

Anyway, I just got the results: One month of not using the basement refrigerator, attempting to use the computers more wisely, and turning off a few lights, and my latest bill is $186.96. My household usage was just over 1,000 KW - 1/3 less than the 1500 I was using just two months ago. My Hot water continues to decline - only 349 KWh this month. WooHoo! I have already reached my goal! Having achieved it so easily leads me to believe that I can do better. I have already knocked off the "easy" stuff, so I expect the new goal will be a little harder to achieve - especially in light of the colder weather meaning the furnace gets used more and the Hot Tub heater will get turned on more. Still, I am going to try to save an additional 10% next month.

Next Step: Timing showers. Certain people in my family think that long luxurious showers are their birthright. I always threaten to time them, but I never actually do.

Continued

Cruisin'

My company forced me to go out to California last week on Business. When we arrived at the rental counter, we were informed that our $45 a day was only going to get us a Hyundai Sonata - which, as good stewards of our company's money was totally unacceptable to us. $45 a day for a Hyundai? Where is the value in that? When we told the counter agent that he needed to do better than that, he started trying to talk us into one of the Hertz Prestige collection cars - a Hummer H2 or maybe a Jag XJ8 for ONLY $80 more a day. While tempted mightily, we realized we were staying at the same hotel as our boss, and figured he might notice if we drove up in a giant Hummer. In the end, we found middle ground - for only a few dollars more we were given the keys to a 2006 Mustang GT Convertible.

Now, I have never been a Ford Man, and never really wanted a mustang, but I will say that this is the closest I have ever been to changing my mind. I really like the new (old) styling, and the interior is fantastic. Very simple, with smooth lines, chrome accents on the round heater vents and Dashboard outline - it really has a nice old-timey feel to it. Cruising down Rt. 101 from San Francisco to San Jose with the top down, and the built - in Sirius satellite radio tuned to the "all-80's" channel, made me feel like I was 18 again.

When it was my turn to drive, I stomped on the gas and this beast really came to life. The handling was superb, although the only time I really had a chance to test it out was when I was doing lane changes. I would love the chance to take it out on a real road sometime. The only real complaint I could think of is the ridiculous color. "Legend Lime" is hideous.

Side Note: There was no mention of this at the counter, but when we went to the garage, there it was - the Shelby GT-H "rent-a-racer". Wow. It was a thing of beauty. I found out later that I could have rented it for a little less than the Hummer. It's probably a good thing we didn't know that at the time. Maybe next time I'll take an extra day, grab this thing and cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway for a few hours..........





.

Continued