Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Well, I woke up this morning to a bit of a surprise. There were about three or four inches of snow on the ground. Now it is probably up to five or six inches, but it seems to have stopped. The weather folks said we'd probably get a bit of snow overnight, but I didn't expect this much. It sure does make for a nice view, but I could do without the cold that comes with it.

I've basically been inside all day (with the exception of getting the mail) so at least I haven't had to drive in it. My brother's normal 25 minute commute to work took him about an hour and a half this morning, so it did slow things down out on the roads. He said there were cars that had slipped off the road all over the place.

Well, that's about all I've got right now. I did take a couple of pics of the snow and they are below, so enjoy!

- C

Hello!

It has been well over a month since I posted last and for that I apologize! Blogging just hasn't been on my radar much for some reason. I have done some interesting things since Oct. 17 - the last time I posted.

There was Thanksgiving for one. That's always fun. It was nice to spend the day with my extended family and to see the Cowboys beat up on those Jets from New York.

Another fun thing for me was a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. About a year after I left my old job, the company decided to merge the editorial operations into three operations bureaus. One of those bureaus is in Albuquerque. I have several friends in management at that office and they asked if I'd like to come help them out for a couple of weeks during their busy period.

Seeing how I still am unemployed, it sounded like a really nice deal - two weeks in sunny New Mexico, visiting with friends and getting a paycheck, at least for a couple of weeks.

So, I agreed, hopped on a plane to Dallas and from Dallas another plane to Albuquerque. My first night I had a nice dinner with a bunch of the folks I used to work with. It was nice getting to see friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

I did get to stay at the Marriott for 13 nights, which was cool. My rental car was a nice gray Ford Mustang, which was also cool. Meals were on the company, so the steak dinner was a player a couple of nights. There was a casino about two miles from the hotel and I went there a couple of times and left about $100 for them to remember me by.

As far as the work goes, I did work two 40 hour weeks and it was nice feeling like part of something again. I enjoyed working with my former co-workers and enjoyed getting to work with and getting to know all of the people there that I didn't already know. They seem to have a really good team in place.

I guess that's about it for now. I am planning to do more blogging for the rest of the year - let's call it an Old Years Resolution!

Update on my mom's condition

Sorry for the lack of posts - haven't had too much to talk about lately. I do have an update on mom's cancer situation however. She finished up her chemotherapy in early September. She then had a CT scan which showed that the spot on her liver had shrunk to about half the size it was when they began, which was excellent news. They then had her do a PT scan, which actually detects cancerous activity, rather than just showing a picture of the liver. She went in to see a surgeon and her oncologist on Monday to see how they would proceed. When she spoke to the oncologist a couple of weeks ago he pretty much told her that they would probably want to do another surgery to remove that part of the liver or do what is called a radio wave ablation, which essentially means they would insert a needle into the suspect spot on the liver and burn that area out with high frequency radio waves. So, she was pretty much expecting a surgery or at the very least some sort of procedure to be coming up soon.

Well, here's the good news - the surgeon said that he's not convinced that the spot is actually cancerous - he feels like it is the scar tissue from the last surgery in April shrinking down. He said that to him, the PT scan did not show it to be cancer. Basically, he all but said that he feels she is currently cancer-free. He said at this point they just want to watch it, so she goes back in for tests again in late December. He said that if things are clear still at that point, he'll have her come in every three months after that for tests. So, she basically got news that was better than anything she could have expected.

It is like a weight has been lifted off of her and she seems so much happier now than she has been in quite a few months. So, with continued prayers, we will hope that this cancer stays away for good and is defeated! Thanks to all of you for your support, love and well wishes! It is all very much appreciated.

A much needed visit with friends

Well, my trip to Texas has come and gone. I got there on Wed., Sept. 5 and left on Sun., Sept. 9. Not a long enough trip in my opinion, but what can you do? I really, really enjoyed my trip. I got to see a lot of friends. Of course seeing them all makes me realize even more how much I love them and miss them!

I spent pretty much the whole time with my former roommate. On Wednesday I got to see the new house of one of my best friends from high school and visit with him and his family and another high school buddy. I also rode in my first police car (no I didn't get arrested - my friend is in law enforcement). On Thursday I went to happy hour and got to catch up with nine of my former co-workers. On Friday night I spent an evening of pizza, booze and games with another of my best high school friends and several of her friends. On Saturday I attended the wedding of another of my best friends from high school with my former roomie and the high school friend I hung out with the night before.

All in all, it was an awesome trip and I have awesome friends. I hate being 1,000 miles away from them, but they and I know that this is where I'm supposed to be for now. There were quite a few friends I didn't get to see, but hopefully next time I'm in town I'll be able to see them as well (maybe more than four days next time?).

Finally - an update!

Hello my loyal readers. Please accept my apologies for the lack of communication. Just haven't felt much like writing anything lately I guess. Still no job, so nothing to write about there.

Mom's doing okay. She's got one more chemotherapy treatment left and then they will do some scans to see what remains of the tumor on her liver. Depending on the size (they're expecting it to be very, very small since the last scan showed it was shrinking) they have a couple of options for the next step.

They can either do surgery and remove that part of the liver or they can do a radio wave ablation, which basically means they put a needle through the skin, into the liver and they send high frequency radio waves into the tumor, essentially cooking whatever is left of it. The surgery would mean another week or so trip to the hospital and the normal possible complications with a surgery. With the ablation you generally don't even have to stay at the hospital overnight and it has a good success rate, so that's what we're hoping for and what the doctor is expecting to do at this point. So, that is basically all good news.

I am flying to Dallas on Wed., Sept. 5 for a few days of visiting for the wedding of one of my oldest, dearest friends. I'm excited about getting to be back in Big D for a little while. When I was growing up, my family would frequently vacation in Ohio so we could visit with our extended family. We lived in Dallas and everybody else lived in Ohio. Needless to say, our vacations were basically like being drawn and quartered. We had x number of family members trying to drag us in x number of directions. I've found that this is going to be how it is when I return to Dallas from now on. It is still two weeks until I come down there and I've already got a burgeoning schedule. It's all good though - I absolutely want to see as many old friends as possible. I miss everybody tremendously.

My brother is moving up here to Ohio in the middle of September. A few days after I return from Dallas, my mom and dad are flying down there to finish packing up his stuff and they are renting a u-haul to drive his belongings up here. I think it'll be good to have him here. I'm looking forward to having someone a little closer to my age around. My brother is five years younger than I am and we've never been especially close (not that we didn't like each other - just never had much in common), but in the past few years it seems that we have been getting closer and close, which is a good thing. He's also bringing his miniature pincher, Bowser, who is awesome, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Well, that's really about all I've got at this point. Hopefully I'll do a better job at keeping everyone updated in the future. Thanks as always for reading. Hope this blog finds everyone doing well!

- C

A night with Pauly Shore

Last night I had my first experience with a comedy club. Not sure why it took me until the age of 31 to go to one, seeing how I love comedy and all. I found out about a week or so ago that Pauly Shore was doing one night of shows at the Columbus Funny Bone and thought to myself, "Self, this is actually someone you've heard of so it might be a good opportunity for you to make your first trip to a comedy club." So, I got in touch with my cousin that lives in Columbus and he said he'd like to go, so we reserved tickets to see the Weasel - Pauly Shore. One great thing about Ohio is that it is completely non-smoking in public places, so I didn't have to sit in a smoke-filled club all night. That being said, lets get to the show itself.

They started off with a local comic (whose name I didn't get, but that is really neither here nor there). He was actually pretty funny and he was only on stage for about five minutes. Next came out one of Pauly's comic buddies from LA. He started off slow (the crowd really wanted Pauly, so he had to endure a few less laughs than he probably would have normally gotten) but by the end of his routine he had gotten a few laughs out of the crowd. His portion of the show probably lasted about 15 minutes.

Pauly (sorry for the awful zoomed camera phone image above - it was the best I could do!) then came out to some strange country entrance music. He got on the mic and said that he had requested hip hop entrance music so he could pop lock his way out to the stage. He left the stage and told them to play his hip hop music. They accommodated him (clearly this was part of the show) and he pop locked his way back out to the stage. Pauly's act was probably about an hour and 15 minutes long. Now, as is the case with most comics, Pauly's act is not for the easily offended. There was a lot of sexual humor and he does George Carlin proud with his language, but honestly, that is to be expected with most comics today. Besides the sexual humor, there was a lot of self deprecating humor about his former status in Hollywood compared to today. He said that people often ask him why he doesn't do more movies and he told the crowd that he'd love to do more movies, but nobody is asking him to do them. He had several jokes about his former movie co-stars and other Hollywood types. I actually found Pauly to funnier than I expected. I would give his act 4 out of 5 stars. If Pauly Shore comes to your town and you are a fan of comedy, I would recommend checking him out.

So, I found my first comedy club experience to be quite enjoyable and I'm planning on keeping an eye on the Funny Bone web site for future acts that I might enjoy.

Update on my mom

Mom went in for a CT scan on Monday so they could see how the past two months of chemotherapy have worked on the small spot on her liver. She went in this morning to see the oncologist for the results of her test. He told her that the spot is shrinking, so the chemo has been effective. He said they would do two more months (four treatments) of chemo and then look at it again to see where to go from there. If it is not gone at that point, it sounds like surgery may be an option again, or they can insert through the skin a needle-like device that shoots high-frequency radio waves into the cancer and can kill it. Hopefully the chemo will take care of it all and we won't have to worry about another surgery or the radio wave thing. Mom sounded upbeat when I spoke to her on the phone - I'm sure it makes the rigors of chemo a little more bearable when you know it is doing its job.

Movie Review: Transformers

I loved the Transformers as a kid. I watched the cartoon - I played with the toys - I went and saw the original Transformers movie in the theater in 1986. That being said, I initially wasn't looking forward to this movie - in fact I wasn't even sure I was going to go see it. I don't like Michael Bay for the most part and from everything I had heard about the production of the film, he was destroying the history of the franchise I loved.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, I loved this movie. After seeing trailer after trailer for Transformers over the first part of the Summer I realized that I really couldn't avoid seeing the movie as I had originally planned - it was going to be too big for that. Transformers was everything the Summer blockbuster action film should be - I mean really, it is huge robots beating the crap out of each other - who wouldn't like that? The premise of the movie is that the evil Decepticons, led by the maniacal Megatron want something that Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) has so they can use it to destroy Earth. Meanwhile, the heroic Autobots, led by the noble Optimus Prime need that same item, but for reasons of good. Besides the obvious large robots, there are car chases and some pretty decent acting to be honest. I appreciated the performances of Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel among others.

However, the biggest star to me, a longtime TransFan, was Peter Cullen. I know, most of you ask, "Peter Cullen, who the heck is Peter Cullen?" Peter Cullen is the original voice of Optimus Prime from the 1980s Transformers cartoon and he reprises that role in this film. The movie starts off with narration from Cullen and from that moment I was hooked.

The creators of the movie had plenty of little nods to the old-school Transformers fans. While Autobot Bumblebee was originally a VW Bug, he ended up being a Chevy Camaro in this film due to licensing issues. However, during one scene in the movie, Bumblebee destroys an old yellow VW Bug so Sam will take him home rather than choosing the Bug. It was little things like this that made this movie fun for fans like me.

I will go on record to say that there WILL BE a sequel to this film - it has made far too much money and was left far too wide open at the end for there not to be. There are literally hundreds of characters for them use in future films. I give Transformers 5 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

Well, I went to see yet another of the movies from this summer of the sequel. Live Free or Die Hard brings us the further adventures of hard-luck NYPD detective John McClain (Bruce Willis). This time McClain spends most of his time in Washington D.C., Baltimore, Maryland and somewhere in West Virginia (yes, West Virginia).

In this, the age of the internet, it was only a matter of time before the Die Hard franchise upgraded to version 2.0. No longer are we worrying about people taking over office buildings or airports or even New York City - this time we worry about the terrorists unraveling the entire fabric of the United States using the internet and all of the intertwined computer networks of the country. And of course, it is up to McClain to save the day yet again.

Also starring in Live Free or Die Hard are hacker sidekick, Matthew Farrell (Justin Long); McClain's daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead); king bad guy, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant); super hacker, Warlock (Kevin Smith); and bad ninja girl, Mai Lihn (Maggie Q).

Now, as far as the movie goes, I loved it, but be aware, I love this entire franchise, even Die Hard With a Vengeance, which a lot of people said was crap. First off, for those of you with kids, this movie is rated PG-13, but I thought it deserved an R rating for the violence, so be warned. This is clearly your typical summer popcorn flick, with lots of killing, gunshots, explosions and unbelievable action sequences. That being said, if you are into the above list of topics, like I am, go see this film immediately - you will not be sorry.

There is a good story in the movie, the acting is on par with the rest of the Die Hard franchise and I guarantee you will laugh throughout the movie - after all, that's part of what the Die Hard movies are all about! I give Live Free or Die Hard 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

First off, I admit it, I'm a comic book geek. Most of you that know me, already know that, but I wanted to throw it out there before putting forth my review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Now, that being said, I kind of liked this movie. I saw the original Fantastic Four movie two summers ago and honestly, I didn't really like it - I was bored with it in fact. This time around they didn't have to go through the background of each character, so they were able to focus mostly on the story and the action, which to me is a good thing.

This chapter of the Fantastic Four saga introduces two new characters to the viewers - the Silver Surfer and Galactus (well, kind of - he is pretty much just a big cloud in the movie as opposed to the ginormous planet devourer comic book readers would recognize). Silver Surfer is really pretty cool in this movie and it was nice to have the villain be someone you could actually sympathize with (as opposed to Dr. Doom - who everyone should just hate all of the time).

As far as the acting goes, you get what you expect in my opinion - average acting. I thought the CGI was really good and the script was average. I do believe there will be at least one more of these movies (especially since it pulled in over $57 million in its first weekend). I'd recommend Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer to anyone that likes or knows these characters, otherwise, I'd say skip it. I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Knocked Up

I spent the better part of the afternoon at the local mega-plex (better known as the crappy Regal Cinemas theatre in our mall) seeing the surprise Summer hit Knocked Up. Knocked Up stars Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan as two very different people who happen to get their lives intertwined while at a LA night club. Long story short, he knocks her up (hence the title of the film) and we are well on our way through the story of their new lives together and apart.

The movie is funny in parts, but I'm not sure where all of this critical acclaim is coming from. It is very raunchy, so I advise not watching it with your parents (or anyone else you would get embarrassed around) if at all possible. I actually thought the movie was about half an hour too long (it ran about 2 hours and twenty minutes).

To me, the bright spots of the movie were supporting case Leslie Mann (she played Heigl's sister) and Paul Rudd (he played Heigl's brother-in-law). I thought both added a lot to the film. If someone asked me if they should spend the money to go see this film, I would probably only suggest it at matinee pricing. $10 on this movie would be a stretch, but that is just my opinion. I would give Knocked Up 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Jobless once again

Well, today was the first day at the new job and it also ended up being the last day. I got there this morning and the director of operations spent about half an hour telling me how bad it is to work for the owner/boss (who would be my direct boss). She told me how he was gay (which really doesn't matter to me) and that he doesn't tell anybody because if his parents found out they would cut him off and he'd lose his business (so one slip up could have cost everyone their job anyway).

During lunch (they were all forced to have lunch with me because it was my first day) they were telling stories of strip clubs and tattoos and drinking binges and the like. I completely felt like I shouldn't be there.

So, in the afternoon, I wrote out a letter of resignation. I wasn't sure if I was going to turn it in or not, so I went to the post office to mail a package after work and then returned to the office and slipped the notice under the door. They never even got my social security number, direct deposit information, W4, etc., so I felt it best to just cut bait now and not waste any more of their or my time.

So, now it is back to the drawing board!

The last week of joblessness

Well, I finished out my nearly a year spent unemployed on a high note. My former roommate from Texas, Jeff, came up to visit last Sunday and just left to return home this morning. It was a nice way to end my time off. We did many, many wonderful things while he was here.

On Memorial Day, we visited a place called The Wilds. It is a safari-type experience located about an hour and a half from my house. We got to ride around for a couple of hours in an open-air safari bus and get up close and personal with some bison, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, camels, various exotic deer, elk and horses and several other species. It was a really cool experience, and one you wouldn't expect to have in the middle of Ohio.

On Tuesday, we went to see Spider-Man 3. I had seen it once already, but once is generally not enough for me when it comes to the good old comic book movies. Besides that, we went to the Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame (lame, lame, lame).

Wednesday was spent mostly around the house, playing some video games, riding four-wheelers, etc.

On Thursday, we drove about 1 1/2 hours southeast to visit with my grandparents and aunt. We went to an auction later that evening. It was pretty fun - the auctioneer sounded like Kermit the Frog, so that was entertaining.

On Friday, we drove to Indiana to do a little gambling on their riverboat casinos. It took about two hours each way, but I managed to pull $10 out of there, so that was cool.

Yesterday we basically just did a little shopping around Lancaster and relaxed a little on Jeff's last full day in town.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and it was nice having a friend around for a while. It was a nice way to end my temporary retirement, that's for sure.

Next up: The beginning of a new job - stay tuned!

Those darn raccoons and the theft of the gnomes

So, a couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the raccoons that have invaded our turf. Turns out, they are not only annoying, they are also thieves. On our back deck, there is a water fountain that sits on the deck and is about two feet tall. We built up a few items in the fountain to get a more pleasant sound when the water hits. One of the items was a little statue from the Dollar Store of two gnomes playing poker at a little table. Well, two nights ago, the darn raccoons stole the gnomes. I went outside at about 10 a.m. and noticed the gnomes were missing. It was immediately evident that it was the raccoons because their little muddy paw prints were all around the fountain. My mom chalked the gnomes up as a loss and went about her business (although she did actually really like the gnomes). Later that night, my dad was cutting some weeds about 20 yards into the woods behind our house and he found the gnome statue. It had a bite out of one of the hats, but there it was. It has since been replaced in the fountain and hopefully it'll stay there this time!

Jobless no more!

That's right. I am once again gainfully employed (I don't start until June 4, but hey, I got the job, so that is just semantics). Thanks to everyone for their support during the highs and lows of the job hunt.

I'm going to work for a place called BLF Management. They are an association management company (they do all of the membership, publications, conferences, day to day operations, etc. for various associations). I'll be serving as their Managing Editor. It is a small company, less than 10 employees, but they've been in business for a while and they are growing, so that's a good sign.

So, as far as the story of how I got this job, here goes. I saw an ad on monster.com last week. On Friday at about noon I decided to apply for it. By 2:30 they were calling my home and cell numbers and emailing me. I called them back and the lady said that the president of the company wanted to have me in for an interview. So, I said that sounded good and she said "How's tomorrow look for you?" I was kind of in shock. I never expected a Saturday interview, but hey, I wasn't busy, so I went ahead and did it. The interview went well and he asked me to think about the company and position and get back to him if I thought it was something I'd like to do. I emailed him on Sunday night that I was interested in the position. I received word from one of my references that they called her yesterday and then another said they called her today. I then got a call on my cell phone at about 1 p.m. (while I was outside building a wall - long story) and the director of operations asked that I give her a call back. I called back at about 3 p.m. and she offered me the job. I already knew about benefits, salary, etc., so I accepted it on the spot. Very quick - that's what I'm talking about!

So, as of June 4, I'm back in the workforce, paying my taxes to Uncle Sam.

Quick update on my mom

Sorry for the lack of updates. Mom got through her surgery fine and she's pretty close to fully recooperated now. She starts chemo again starting on Monday and she'll do that every other week for two to four months. She's not looking forward to it, but she knows she'll get through it (the first time she did chemo it was more like seven months). Thanks to everyone for keeping us in your prayers and I'll update again soon.

- C

Another update on my mom

Mom's surgery is at 7:30 a.m. eastern on Wed., April 4. Should be a 3 - 4 hour proceedure. She'll likely spend the first day in ICU and should be in the hospital for 7 days total. All thoughts and prayers are encouraged and appreciated. Thanks for all of your support!

- C

Update on my mom

Here's the story on my mom. She saw the surgeon yesterday. There are three spots on the liver. Two are on one side, one is on the other. That poses abit of a problem. If all three were near each other, they could just hack that section off and be done with it. In this case, they'll hack off the section where the two are and then with the third one, they'll scoop it out if they can, if not, they have some device that they'll insert into it and kind of burn it out. The part that they'll cut off has only a 1 - 2% chance ofrecurrance. The other one is a bit trickier. If they scoop it out, there is probably a 10% chance that they can't get it all and it'll return at some point. If they burn it out, there is a 17% chance it could return. The good news is that if it does return, they can always go in later (once the liver has grown back to the normal size - about nine months - and remove that one like they are doing the two together this time. This is a tough surgery though, tougher than the other two she's had. There is a 1 - 5% chance at mortality. Complications can include liver failure, heart attack, stroke, infection, bile leak, etc. She'll be in surgery for 3- 4 hours and then she'll spend seven days in the hospital with the first day in ICU. They're supposed to call today to let us know when it is taking place. It'll either be next Wed. or the following Wed. After the surgery heals enough, she'll do chemo (every two weeks for about two months I believe). She doesn't want to do the surgery next Wed., because she doesn't want me to associate my birthday with her surgery (our neighbor told her the other day that her mom died on her birthday and she hasn't liked her birthday since then). I'll update when we know more.

Update on my mom

My mom went to get a PET Scan last Monday and went to see the oncologist today to get the results. She had to get the PET Scan because the previous CT Scan showed some "suspect" spots on her liver. The PET Scan confirmed that there is some beginning cancerous activity on the liver. She will see the liver surgeon next Monday to figure out exactly what they'll do surgery-wise and when they will do it. After the surgery she will have to go through chemotherapy again. The oncologist did say that it is still good that the activity is only on the liver because you can cut away 80% of the liver and it will grow back to normal size in about three months, so it is an organ that they can continue to operate on in the future if they aren't able to get all of the cancer cells with this operation. They also have a way they can make the liver larger before surgery so they can remove more of the organ in hopes of getting all of the cells. Last year when she went for the first surgery for this cancer, they told her that the usual life-span is 3 - 5 years. The oncologist today said that with this type of cancer, it could be 10 - 20 years or more, so that is fantastic news. Please keep my mom and our family in your prayers and thoughts. I'll update again when we have more information.

Job stuff

I went to another job interview on Thursday (it was actually rescheduled from the week earlier because of bad weather). Again, I think this went pretty well, but the man doing the hiring didn't seem too interested in making a quick decision, so I could be waiting to hear on this one for quite a while. It is a smaller company - about 75 employees, but it sounds like it could really be about to take off and they've grown from 25 to 75 employees in the past two+ years. I also heard back from another very large company earlier this week and they asked me to send them some writing samples and salary requirements, so I'm hoping to hear back from them sometime as well. We shall see! That's all for now folks!

Movie Review - Ghost Rider

When I was in Texas last weekend, I went and saw Ghost Rider, starring Nicholas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes, Donal Logue, Wes Bentley and Sam Elliott. This is the next in the long line of superhero/comic book adaptations to hit the big screen. It seems that once Spider-Man and X-Men opened the door, the rest of the heroes decided to come flying through as well. I'll be honest with you. I don't particularly like the Ghost Rider comics. I believe I've read one issue and didn't even get through it. This led me to believe that I would also not like the Ghost Rider movie. However, I do like Nic Cage and I'm a big fan of Sam Elliott. Also, Eva Mendes is uber-hot.

So, I went into the movie, trying to give it a fair shake. Turns out, it wasn't that bad. Cage brought a likability to the Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider character and now that I better know the origins of the character, I think I may actually like the Ghost Rider.

The movie was the typical first movie for a specific character in that they had to spend a good portion of the movie explaining who, what, where, when, why and how. That sometimes lends itself to a boring (at least first half) movie, but I didn't get that from this one. They did a good job of explaining the situation without making the viewer fall asleep (such as the Fantastic Four movie). The acting was pretty good. I thought Cage did a good job, as did Elliott. I didn't think that Fonda was all that great. Bentley was okay in his evil role. I liked the special effects and thought the flaming Ghost Rider and his bike were done well. The action parts of the movie were also pretty well done. In all, I'd give Ghost Rider 2 1/2 stars out of 4. The movie does lend itself to sequels if you were wondering.

Now, we all have to get ready for the Spring/Summer blockbuster season. Upcoming are Transformers, Spider-Man III, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard, Rush Hour III and Shrek the Third.

Another job interview scheduled

I've got another job interview scheduled for Tuesday. Your positive thoughts are welcomed and appreciated. This interview is for the following position (which I'm still trying to completely get my head around):

Customer Experience Designer
Creative writer/designer with experience developing consumer-focused communications tools to write, design and produce letters, newsletters, websites and other marketing materials. Create the "customer experience" for our services, educate patients on health benefits, wellness, disease management and how to use healthcare more efficiently. Must have bachelor's degree, strong writing skills plus ability to design/create finished materials, and strong background in consumer communications.

I figure they must think I'm capable of it based on my experience, or they wouldn't have invited me in for an interview. We shall see my friends, we shall see!

No job for me and other stuff

I called today to follow up on the job I interviewed for last Monday and was told that they were about to make the offer to another candidate, so no dice on this one for me. Oh well, at least I got interviewed this time. Maybe the next one will be the one. I sent my resume off to five or six other places today. Maybe I'll get something out of this bunch. We'll just have to wait and see. At least I'll have a tax refund coming to me shortly - that'll make things a little easier for a while money-wise.

It is so cold here today. The high temp was 10 degrees and when I got up this morning it was 1 degree! They cancelled most of the school around here today because of the uber-cold. We're supposed to make it up to 18 degrees tomorrow, but we're also expecting some more snow.

My grandma got some bad news today. She had a CT scan last Monday in preparation for her chemotherapy starting today. She met with the doctor this morning before chemo and he told her that there is a spot on her lung, according to the scan. They're not sure if it is cancer or not, so they're going to do another CT scan in a few months to see if there is any change to the spot. So, more uncertainty, more worry. 2007 hasn't started off too well for my family.

Some not so great news

My mom had a CT scan on Tuesday (she has them every three months) and went to see the doctor for the results today. The doctor told her that there are some "suspect" spots and they want to do some other kind of test on Feb. 19. If the "suspect" spots are indeed cancer again, she'll have to go in for another surgery to have it removed and then likely go through more chemotherapy. Needless to say, she isn't having a very good afternoon. Hopefully the extra test will show them not to be cancer. Any thoughts and prayers you can send her way would be much appreciated.

Job Interview

Well, the streak is over. I got a call last week from an HR rep regarding a resume I sent in about three weeks ago for a PR Specialist position with a publicly-traded software company. She did the normal phone screening thing and I guess I passed because she set up an interview for me with the director of public relations. I had that interview today and I think things went really well. I spoke with the director of PR, one of the other PR Specialists and the director of corporate communications. Come to find out, the director of PR and the other PR Specialist had both spent a significant amount of time in Texas, so that was an easy way to break the ice with them. The PR specialist even knew one of my former co-workers at my last job from when she worked at an agency in Austin.

I went in for the interview all dressed up in my "interview, wedding and funeral suit" and felt a bit out of place. How cool is this? They were all wearing jeans!

I'm hoping this comes through for me - jeans, salary at or above what I was making at my last job and the people I talked to seemed pretty nice. I guess I just have to wait and see now.

A couple of movie reviews

After many months of not visiting a movie theater, I have been twice in the past two days. Yesterday I went and saw Night at the Museum and today I saw Epic Movie. Talk about a tale of two movies!

First up is Night at the Museum. I know people that had already seen this movie and I had heard good things about it. I must say though, the best part of this movie to me was the trailers for the upcoming releases. This was a total geek-fest of trailers. They had Transformers, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man III and the Simpsons Movie. How great is that? I know where I'll be this summer - in the theater!

As far as Night at the Museum goes, I really enjoyed it. I'm a big Ben Stiller fan and I also like Robin Williams a lot, so that helped out a lot. I thought the story was fun and the acting was good. There were a lot of talented actors and actresses in the film. I was really shocked to see Stiller, Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Anne Meara, Bill Cobbs, Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Brad Garrett (although you didn't actually see him - he was the voice of the Easter Island head) in the same movie. This was a fun family film and would be enjoyed by those of all ages. I give Night at the Museum 4 out of 5 stars (probably really 3 1/2 stars, but they get an extra half star for the great trailers!).

Next up was Epic Movie. For those that haven't seen the trailer for this one, it is a spoof film in the mold of the Scary Movie series. That is where the similarities end. This is no Scary Movie - I'm not sure I'd even call it a movie at all. It is the most ridiculous, poorly conceived, piece of trash I've seen in a long time. I'm so glad I went to a matinee rather than pay $8 for an evening showing.

As far as people you'd know in this film, there are these great actors - Kal Penn (Kumar from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's Mom from American Pie, Joey's agent from "Joey" and many other movies), Crispin Glover (why, why would you do this movie????), Darrell Hammond (from SNL), Carmine Electra, Fred Willard and David Carradine.

They poorly parody such movies as X-Men, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Pirates of the Carribean, Superman Returns, Snakes on a Plane, Nacho Libre, The Da Vinci Code, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting (thankfully). They also do a horrible parody of SNL's "Lazy Sunday." I give this movie 1/2 star out of 5 and I implore you, whatever you do, please do not go see this attrocity. I'm begging you!

Don't call it a comeback ...

... I've been here for years!

Well, I've been here in Ohio for about seven months now, but I had to lay out a little respect to my man LL Cool J (do you know how difficult it is to find a picture of this man with a shirt on?).

First off, I'd like to apologize to my faithful readers for the lack of updates since November. There have been many instances where I planned to write a little something, but it always seemed trivial or self-serving to do so.

So, some updates are in order. No Virginia, I do not have a J-O-B yet, but I've been working hard on it (especially this month - there weren't very many things to apply for during late November and all of December). I've been sending out the resume, but I haven't had any bites yet. I'm going to keep on keepin on though and eventually, I'll land a job that I like - bank on it!

Second update, my mom's doing fine. She's due for another three-month CT scan next month, so we're hoping for some more good news.

Third update, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My mom had just gotten out of the hospital at Christmastime last year, so it was wonderful having her here with us and healthy this year. My brother was here from Texas during Christmas, so it was nice that we could all be together during that time.

Last update, and a not so good one. A couple of weeks ago, my grandmother went to the hospital to have an operation to remove her spleen, gall bladder and part of her pancreas due to a cyst on her pancreas. The surgery went fine (which was a blessing in itself, considering she's 75), but they determined that the cyst was cancerous and she starts chemo in a couple of weeks, to be followed up by radiation treatments. If you could, please keep her (and my mom) in your thoughts and prayers.

So, that is about it. I plan on updating more often and hopefully soon with a job update. Thanks for all of your understanding and best wishes and a belated happy New Year to you and yours! Peace out yo!