All My Facebook Kids Will Love This!

I hate the idea of social networking! What makes this ironic is that I'm blogging about this said hatred and in essence I'm socially networking RIGHT NOW!!!!

Hey, We're ALL hypocrites in some way, shape, or form.

It's not like I'm an anti-social person (well at least not all the time) it's just the idea of logging time on a website were a majority of the content is BS. sickens me. For example, let's take Facebook. I love the idea of connecting with old friends and staying in tuned with their lives, but that's not reality with facebook. It ends up being a place where individuals can publish pictures that don't make them look as fat as they really are, or post status updates with info that no one really cares about. I don't care that you, my old high school "friend" is at the grocery store shopping for baby food for their 1st born. (I put friend in quotes cause if we were really friends we wouldn't of needed to re-connect on a social networking site)

Twitter is the worst though!! Tweet your status and let us know who you are or how you feel..................and here's the catch................. in 120 or less characters! Yeah twitter that's what I want to do is post that I love my family or friends in 120 characters or less. I'm sure they'll feel the love. Maybe your on twitter to follow your favorite celebrity. Yeah cause that's really them "tweeting" their status. It's the assistant's assistant that updates how Beyonce is "feeling" today. I feel so duped

Finally there is MySpace the oldest of all social networking sites. This one is probably the worst of them all. You can post pictures to your background that will repeat like floor tiles all over your site. What picture do you so desperately need to post a thousand times over and over. Thank you SO MUCH for letting me read information about you over a thousand repeating pictures of you holding your week old son (who is now 3 years old).

All to the wonderful sound of Rick Ross's- Everyday I'm Hustl'N.

Perhaps this is my defense mechanism for not wanting change in my life. I don't know. As I re-read this blog and make sure that my thoughts are cohesive and flow I realize that my "Holier than thou" reasons for hating social networking is just as bad as social networking itself. I might as well jump in and tweeter on myface while bloggering about how foolish we are for putting our lives out in cyberspace. I guess we're all just desperately holding on to the hope that others care about our mediocre life as much as we do. I guess the old saying is never more true than right now. If you can't beat em.....join em!!!

As previously stated...........we're ALL hypocrites!!!!

In the interest of true "look at me" mentality this is me saying I'll see you out there on the highways of Social Networking!!!!

Don't forget to add me as a friend!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL this is so stupid!!

It's Sunny and Hot....Let's Do Something!!!!

Summer is in full effect(it's 104 outside as I write this)and the heat is about half over. I'm kind of a "glass is half empty" guy so my thoughts are on the end of summer. Before it ends I wanted to list the activities that, in my mind, are what makes summer.......well just that summer. Fall is my favorite season, but I have to admit as I wrote this the light bulb went on. I really do love summer. I know that I wouldn't love it half as much though without these 10 things.

10. Bike rides......

Living in Sacramento makes you love cycling. We have more bike stores here per capita than Seattle has Starbucks. Seriously, we have a trail that runs parallel to the American River and it is so awesome. I mean, sweaty middle aged men in spandex proudly displaying their yellow "live strong" bracelets. Who doesn't need a little of that in their life? I'm mean come on guys....you're not Lance Armstrong. Wearing that stuff and those awful bracelets doesn't make you any faster or cooler. Spandex is never ok.....ever. Those darn bracelets don't hide the oh so inappropriate bulge guys. I can still see it!!!

9. Weddings.....

Now you can't revoke my man card yet. Allow me to expound. FREE BOOZE!!!!

I rest my case.

8. BBQ's......

Having them, going to them. Just as long there is barbecued flesh I'm very happy. Let me clarify though, gas BBQ is just ok. It's no better than roasting the aforementioned meat in the oven. REAL BBQ is with charcoal. It tastes better, cooks slower and provides you with cancer causing carcinogens that you can only get from one place. BBQ!

7. It stays light until 9pm......

I enjoy the dark, but sometimes it's nice to get off work and go for a walk. A walk without worrying about wearing a reflective jump suit. Walking leads me to my next point......

6. ICE CREAM.......

Walking up the street to get ice cream has to be one of my favorite summer activities. Which makes me think, why isn't it higher on my list? I have to think it's cause we don't go get ice cream. All the places close enough for my wife and I to walk are frozen yogurt joints. Which are nice and good but are in no way near THRIFTY'S Mint Chip Ice Cream, or Jamocha Almond Fudge at Baskin Robins. I guess when I say Ice Cream I'm really saying Fro-YO. Hence it only being 6 on the list.

5. Eating outside.......

In Sacramento the nights are typically cool and eating outdoors is encouraged. I Love restaurants that have seatting outdoors. It just take the dinning experience to the next level. Fresh Air, warm nights, cold drinks OH YEAH!

4. COLD BEER.......

I debated putting this as number 1, but I was afraid that my parents(who read and keep all these posts) will try to put me in rehab. "They try and make me go to rehab, and I say...no...no..no" Thanks Amy. Seriously I don't drink beer in the winter, or the fall, or spring. It's strictly reserved for the summer months. An ICE COLD BEER is so perfect when it's 104 degrees out. With this and the free wedding booze comments I'm sure Moms and Pops are going to drive me to AA meetings for sure.

3. Laying out......

Getting a tan, taking in some color, or getting some Vitamin D. Call it what you will, but let me say this and you'll understand why I like being tan. TAN FAT LOOKS BETTER THAN WHITE FAT!!!!!

2. Swimming......

Goes hand in hand with # 3 and # 4. When it's hot out nothing cools you down like jumping in a pool. It soothes your skin and washes off the dirt and sweat given to you by a hot summer afternoon.

1. My WIFE.......

No this isn't my feeble attempt to get out of the dog house.

She never looks better than in the summer. Her gorgeous blond hair turns this amazing white and her milky skins turns this perfect golden brown. She gets these small little freckles from the sun it makes you just want to pinch her checks. She wears open toed shoes and I love her little toes painted red with her tan skin. I love her everyday of the year, but the summer is my favorite time to love her.

Life Often Imitates Art

I love the movies. Why, I don't know. I'm sure it's cause they are for entertainment, but that's not completely it. Modern movies are great for what they are, but there is NOTHING like a classic. I'm not talking Star Wars classic. I'm talking Breakfast a Tiffanys, West Side Story, Singing in the Rain Classic. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Marylin Monroe these names evoke thoughts of what Hollywood glamour was. Movies were so good back then. They had a different air about them. The major studios didn't try to imitate "real life" there was a "silver screen life" that was portrayed. Going to the movies was truly an escape of reality.

Music does lend a hand to the "magic" of these silver screen masterpieces though. West Side Story would be nothing without its Leonard Bernstein composition. White Christmas would have been just an old holiday movie without Irving Berlin brilliant score and lyrics. A lot of the American standards come from films of the day. Such as Cole Porters, I Get a Kick Out of You in the 1936 Film version of the play Anything Goes, starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman. New York, New York sung by Frank Sinatra in MGM's On the Town (1949). Great songs and standards which are popular still today might not have been written if it wasn't for these films.

Classic movies or musicals couldn't be mentioned without tipping the hat to the dance numbers. West Side Story is a dance picture more than it's a musical. The silver screen wouldn't be the same if Gene Kelly was never captured dancing down the rainy sidewalks in Singing in the Rain. That type of movie magic just doesn't happen anymore. Even modern day musicals just don't have the pizazz or star/dance quality of a Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. This is what makes classics so...... I guess you would say CLASSIC.

All in all movies are romantic. Fall in love again with Gone with the Wind. Or laugh at the antics of Jerry Lewis in the Nutty Professor. Find your inner Gene Kelly and put a little extra skip in your step when the rain starts to fall. Emulate the swagger of Dean Martin in Robin and the Seven Hoods. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "We are all in a movie......and the film is your life". You're the director! There will always be drama, but you're in control of the comedic relief. Choreograph a dance number here and there. Make sure there is great music. Just remember there is no editing so do your best and get it on the first take. Lights, Camera, ACTION!!!!

Oh Yeah It's June!!

Amazingly June is upon us. Let me put it this way....2009 is at its halfway point. Oh boy, this year has already been a memorable one. Swine flu anyone??? Summer is now here and at least in Sacramento the weather is beautiful. Swimming, eating outdoors, BBQ's, graduations, and weddings are now apart of lives. With all of these "summertime" aspects in our lives now I can't help shake the thought THAT...

Christmas is on the way. Yeah that's right, Christmas! I can faintly hear Bing Crosby expressing to me his longing for a "White Christmas", and beckoning us to "Come all ye Faithful". In the caverns of my memory Elvis is warning me that"Santa Clause is coming in a big black Cadillac" (hence the the reason I own a big black Cadillac)

I know it's odd to think about Christmas on the 1st day of June but I can't help it. June means middle of the year to me and with that my brain instantly goes to the fact that Christmas is on the way.

Now, track with me. I know it seems crazy to believe that June means the countdown to Christmas, but hear me out. Retail venues tend to put holiday items out well in advance. With our teetering economy and the slow retail markets I've got a feeling that you're going to be able to pick up stocking stuffers in September. Seriously!!! Last year I was in Target in late September and not only could one buy Halloween costumes and table clothes for Thanksgiving they also had a little end cap with a small amount of Christmas decorations. How crazy is that? One could possibly purchase Christmas Decor in as little as 3 months. Now who's the crazy one?

Please don't get my childlike excitement for Christmas wrong. What makes me long for Christmas is not the gifts it's the Spirit that's in the air. It's the cookies, and the get-togethers. It's the hustle and bustle and crisp air that wafts it's way into your lungs when you step outdoors. Ice skating with family and friends. All the above items I mentioned by themselves are just ok, but what makes them special is the magic. The aforementioned cookies- they're nice, but the magic comes when you bake them with your grandchildren or give them to a neighbor. The hustle and bustle- rushing off to be with friends and family. Hustling to make it to the store and get that special someone the gift they've wanted all year. It's putting that person first. It's spending time with the ones you love. That's the stuff we forget to do by June 1. That is why thoughts of my favorite time of year jump to the forefront of my brain in the beginning of summer. I want to keep that Christmas Magic going all year. We all can. Nothing like cinnamon and nutmeg cookies and hot chocolate when it's 104 outside, Right? Maybe not, but the spirit of doing something nice for someone else needs no perfect temperature.

Merry Summer Christmas Everyone!!!!

Why is food SOOOO good!

Right now my wife and I (as well as a few of our co-workers) are trying to loose 10lbs by June 1!

Nice idea right, WRONG!

This is now day 3 of waking up early and going to gym. Not to mention eating carrot sticks as a snack. Carrots are for rabbits, not snacks

I'm sitting at my desk at work longing for something glorious and delicious to eat like an In and Out Cheeseburger. Unfortunately, (and I can't stress how unfortunate this is) I'm sticking with this. I Mean it! I totally have 10lbs to lose, and summer is almost here so the loss of many previous In and Out binges isn't such a bad idea.

Here is the problem though!!!!!

I love food!! (it's very cliche, but see below)

Between the food network, food and wine magazine being delivered to my door on a monthly basis and my wife's occasional food reviews for sacdine.com I'm constantly bombarded with the thought of Good Eats.

I'm an equal opportunity consumer too. My wife picks and chooses her meals carefully, but not me. I find glamour in a Chipotle burrito as well as Croque Madame. I truly appreciate the craftsmanship of Chilli's chicken and steak nachos as much as Duck Confit. Perhaps the simple elegance of the .79 .89 .99 menu at Taco Bell is the culinary guiness I believe it to be. I enjoy food, period. Don't get me wrong though, nothing compares to gourmet food. Like the flavor you get from a beautifuly cooked Mortons rib-eye, or Bouchon's perfectly brined and roasted chicken. I'm just merely stating that food is life sustaining, so why not enjoy the life that your being given. As for me, I'm just trying to enjoy it 10lbs lighter.

Here's to June 1 and bathing suit weather!!!!