Bikes & Swine

As you may have already heard, Aiden's b-day bike was stolen from or backyard Friday night. It may be time to start looking for a house outside of town some where... Dexter or Saline maybe. I'm tired of the crime around here, but conversely, I love the community. Maybe I should don a cape & cowl & start fighting crime under cover of darkness. We watched the 2 hour series premier of the 1990 CBS show, The Flash, last night. I'm not quite hat fast, but what I lack in speed, I can make up for in stupid one-liners. The show seemed to fall between the twin peaks of Richard Belzer's career: The Groove Tube & Det. John Munch on the Law & Order franchise. The show sucked, but like the 1989 Batman film, it has inspired me to do something about the crime in this town. All I need is a slogan & a flashy logo... & an alias & some skills. Then I'll clean up this fuckin' town.In other news, Aiden was sick last week, & it turns out that he had Swine Flu. It's interesting to be a part of the big Swine Flue scare of '09, but on the other hand, it sucks because, while he is fine now, Stephanie has gotten it & I imagine I'm next in line. Aiden's manifested itself in a high fever & vomiting; Stephanie's seems to be a crazy headache & a fever (not as high as Aiden's though). Hopefully, I'll just get the fever & be able to ride out the hallucinations for a couple days. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Hot Tamales

After talking about an impending trip down to Mexican Town yesterday for a a while @ the Plum Market, I was inspired to pick up a package of corn husks & give the tamales a try. I'd never made them before; in fact, I can't recall when I ever had them @ all. They always seemed like such a good idea, but finding veggie ones is difficult. Well, we had 2 half full containers of corn meal in the cupboard & a bunch of beans & rice so I went for it this afternoon. The process took longer than I expected, but they turned out pretty well. Ahead of time, I didn't even know they needed to be steamed; I figured they get baked or something. Not having the proper huge-ass steamer on hand, I went w/ the soup pot & colander technique which worked well. Since the recipe called for Masa (& I only had regular corn meal... I don't know the difference, but I'm sure there is one) I cut back on the corn meal & added a little flour & baking powder just in case (in case of what??? I have no idea}. I filled them w/ beans, & I pt jalapeno slices in some. Then, according to a recipe I found on-line, I learned that 1 region of Mexico uses pineapple so I put some in a couple to see how it work... damn good! I hadn't experimented in the kitchen in ages, but this was a positive experience. If they weren't such a pain, I'd make them all the time.

It's time to discuss the reading process

While I was eating lunch today, I was read a bit of the book I've been reading but then got distracted as I began to think about my reading process & how it hasn't changed much in 15 years. For instance, there are certain places where I prefer to read: The Golden Egg on Washtenaw or the Fleetwood while eating breakfast, work while on my breaks, on the can while shitting (I know this is pretty common), in bed before I fall asleep (also probably pretty common), & outside while drinking a beer. If I had to pick 1 place though, it'd be the diners while breakfast. I can't think of many books I've read over the years that didn't join me for breakfast @ a diner. I think this started w/ Moby Dick @ Big Boys on Washtenaw in June of 1997.

Along w/ the reading locations, I also need a beverage & a pen. The bevvy can change based on the location, but only a handful of the books I've read remain un-underlined/written in. In fact, I've heard people suggest that they should write marginalia too, but I wish I was better @ not writing in the books. I could probably count the books I've read since high school that remained unscathed: Bunker Man, Treasure Island, Captain Blood, The Outlander books, a few Star Wars short story collections, & Sharpe's Rifles. Underlining means that I'm basically reading many things twice so the process takes a long time. The things I don't write in go much faster but I'm always afraid I may need to teach it some day so the marginalia continues.

While I'm an underliner, I'm also a page counter. I'm always more concerned w/ what I'm going to read next than w/ what I'm reading @ the moment. I have 190 pages to go in The Time Traveler's Wife & all I can think about is that I'll get to start something new soon. That's Ok though because I've been on a mission to read books I've owned for years but never read in an attempt to catch up & stop buying books for a while. It seems to be going pretty well, but I haven't been able to make it very far into Martin Amis's The Information yet. I must have started it 5 times over the years, but I just don't like it. What other books have I not finished, you ask? Wonderboys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Don Quixote, & War & Peace. I keep meaning to get back to Wonderboys & Don Quixote though... maybe this summer.

Other books I plan to read this summer:
The Island of the Day Before: Umberto Eco
Baudolino: Umberto Eco
Japanese by Spring: Ishmael Reed
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things: Jon McGreggor
The Invention of Morel: Adolfo Bioy Casares*
Pierre: Herman Melville
Tom Sawayer: Mark Twain*
Three Bags Full: Leonie Swann
The Cardboard Universe: Christopher Miller
The Case of the Missing Servant: Tarquin Hall
The Namesake: Jhumpa Lahiri
The Leatherstocking Tales: James Fenimore Cooper*
* I don't own these yet so they're lower on the priorities list

The Office

The Penultimate Soccer 08/09 Post

As I'm sitting here watching Victory w/ Isaiah (it's his 1st ever viewing & he's loving the German guard dogs)(you can read previous Victory posts here & here, I need to reflect on the Premier League since there is only 1 match left & Man U clinched the title last week. I'll post again after the Champion's League & FA Cup Finals next week... don't worry. Until then, though, I'll leave you w/ 2 basic points.

1) Man U as champions:
It must be said that they are a great team, but they're a bunch of diving whiners. It may be sour grapes, but people like Ronaldo & Evra, going to ground every chance they get, drive me crazy. They clenched the title last Saturday w/ a nil-nil draw @ home to Arsenal. They only needed 1 point out of their last 2 matches so it seemed a done deal, but they way they got it was disgusting. They refused to play the beautiful football they're known for; relying instead on crying to the ref & pretending to get tripped. Again w/ the sour grapes: I think I'd rather play pretty soccer that win the trophies. I guess that's easy for me to say though since the Green Team has been doing both lately. We're 4-0 @ the moment & have been dominating. Check out the stats. The major change to announce is that we're no longer Forest Green. We've taken the field this season w/ new Kelly Green shirts... but w/ the same old style & grace people have come to expect from the Canton Soccer Club Over 30 Rec Champions.

2) Arsenal in 4th Place:
Reflecting on the season & looking ahead to the summer transfer window, it's clear that some changes are in order. Arsene Wenger has already announced his plans to buy a couple established players which will be a nice change after years of bringing in mainly young unknowns (other than Nasri, Arshavin, Gallas, Silvestre, Eduardo, & Rosicky... ok, maybe the reputation for only buying young unknowns is a bit unfair). Anyway, here are my recommendations for the summer... since I'm sure the Arsenal Board of Directors are looking to this blog for their new changes.
In: Yaya Toure or a different defensive midfielder
In: A strong finisher to replace 1 or 2 strikers who will be leaving
In: An experienced central defender

Out: Bendtner... he is shit
Out: Eboue... he is shit & dives all the time (Maybe Man U for him)
Out on loan: Diaby & Denielson... they may get better, but for now Song & a new defensive Midfielder will be better.

I also think Adebayor, Walcott, Fabregas, & RVP may be leaving. I doubt RVP, Adebayor, & Bendtner will all leave, but 1 or 2 are definitely out... hopefully Bendtner & RVP, but it sounds like Adebayor is more likely than RVP to go. Arshvin will be fine (maybe even better than Fabregas in the center). Strikers will be replaced, but if Walcott leaves, Arsenal will also need to buy a right winger... Maybe Ribery??? I imagine Gallas &/or Silvestre will go this summer too which is why a new central defender is needed.

Post Wedding Stuff: The Honeymoon Week

After we got re-married last week, we decided to celebrate by making the last 7 days a sort of de facto honeymoon. Obviously, we didn't go anywhere, but we did enjoy a nice lunch @ Seva after wee filed the marriage certificate @ the County Building. We hadn't eaten there in ages, but it's awesome & the Dewapps & the Krausemakers gave us a gift cert as a wedding present so we took full advantage of it... Thank you very much Steve & Annette & Jim & Rachel. We also racked up a trip to Izakaya Sanpei last week in celebration of Aiden's b-day. If you haven't been there... go. It's a fantastic Japanese place on the corner of Joy & Morton Taylor. The following night, again more for Aiden's b-day than for our honeymoon, we went out for pizza after the kids' soccer practice. Saturday, following their match which they again won (they're 4-0), they went to my parents' place for the night so we were able to finish our awesome honeymoon w/ an 9 episode Lost marathon (S3, Ep6-14). We also ordered awesome Chinese food from Chia Shang... the greatest Chinese place of all time... it's next to Morgan & York... eat some!*

Today, we had 2 final post-wedding things to accomplish: insurance & her SSN. Oddly, we had nearly opposite experiences. We tried to do the SSN after Seva last week, but it just so happens that the SS office in Washtenaw moved a couple years ago so we had to put it off until today. I waited in the car w/ Isaiah while she went in only to learn that she needed all sorts of other paperwork to change her name even though her name change had nothing to do w/ the paperwork for which they were asking... apparently it was some Homeland Security issue... George Bush policy changes: the gift that keeps on giving. She'll need to go back yet again to finish her simple little task. The woman was really nice though so Stephanie didn't feel she could get too upset @ her which seems about right.

My happy little trip to HR was a different matter though. I showed up w/ everything filled in except for my SSN, my signature, & the date. The woman quickly entered everything & then set the form down saying I needed to fill in the last couple things. I took the paper & a pen to a table, did what needed to be done, & then gave them back to her... to which she responded, "I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED IF YOU'D ASKED TO BORROW MY PEN RATHER THAN JUST TAKING IT!" I was stunned. The form & the pen were set down side by side & it was the only pen I saw. Common sense suggested that I was to use it. I apologized & left. At that point, I reconsidered my apology. Why was I sorry? I'd done nothing wrong. Rather than be the doormat for some jerk in the HR office, I turned around. (Stephanie's issue was w/ protocol but a nice person; mine was w/ a rather angry person but the protocol was simple.) I went back into her office & said, "excuse me, you didn't need to take that tone; I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED IT IF YOU'D ACTUALLY OFFERED ME A PEN!" I don't know why such a simple thing needed to turn into a yelling match. As it turns out, I think I would prefer my situation over Stephanie's though. She was mean, but things got done. Stephanie has the inconvenience of having to go back yet again... & I certainly wouldn't trade places w/ her just so I could deal w/ a nice person.

*Footnote: After all that food, I need to get back to dieting & I decided to overhaul Tastes of Ypsi in order to do this. It will now be a food log (dlog??) since it hadn't been used in so long anyway & since I feel that if I actually publish everything I eat every day, I'll be less inclined to eat crappy food. I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but it seems like a good starting point.

Lost: Season 6

The biggest surprise I experienced last night while watching the Season 5 finale was that Season 6 will be the last. For some reason, I was under the impression that there were 2 more seasons. That said, Season 6 has a lot of 'splaining to do.
* What's Jacob's story?
* WTF is the smoke monster?
* How did Richard get there?
* How did the statue get destroyed?
* What's w/ the Shadow people?
* WTF John Locke II?
* What's Christian's Story?
* How did Helen die?
* Why was Libby in the hospital w/ Hurley?
* What's up w/ the Black Rock?
* Where is Claire?
* Will Kate be able to reunite Claire w/ Aaron?
* Who made the Temple?
* What's w/ the huge electro-magnetic energy pocket?
* What happened when Ben was taken to the Temple?
* Do Desmond & Penny return?
* What about Walt?
* What did Faraday do during those 3 years in A2?
** Will it be filmed in A2?
*** If so, how many of us get to be extras? I mean, I'd wear a Jump Suit & grow 70s hair for that.
*** If so, will the apartment building by the Maynard St. parking Garage really be used as the Dharma headquarters?
* Were Rose & Bernard the only survivors of the flaming arrows or are there other Red-Shirts around?
* Why did Bernard suddenly look more like Tim Conway than Sam Anderson?
* How many douchebags posting theories on Lostpedia will actually acknowledge that they're wrong about stuff?
* Will there ever be another TV show for me to obsess over like this one? I mean, come on, it took me 6 years to move on after Seinfeld went off the air. If that's any indication, I won't find another show until 2016. Sure, there are shows I like, The Office, My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, & even The Unusuals is looking pretty cool, but not obsessive cool... not yet.

This list doesn't even begin to tackle any of the questions raised last night which will obviously have to be answered. It seems hard to believe they'll get all of this in in 16 episodes. Assuming 1/4 will be spent clearing up what happened last night, that leaves 12 episodes to deal w/ these issues. Of course, some can be dealt w/ @ the same time, while others might be answered while dealing w/ last night's questions, it still seems like they'll have to really cram stuff in since they can't just answer questions; they need to drive the plot by raising more concerns which will in turn need to be addressed. Dharma Headquarters in A2

Because you've been dying for this

Here are the links to the Gunner's 50 Greatest Goals" that you've been craving. Maybe they can remind us that Arsenal might be able to actually win something some time in the next few years. * Video 1
* Video 2
* Video 3
* Video 4
Oh, & while we're thinking about the Great Gunners, here's a little pictre of one of the greatest: Nicholas Bendtner. He's by far the worst striker any of the top teams have had in quite a while. In fact, I'm not certain he belongs in the league @ all. Rumors have been circulating that he'll be sold to West Ham... & if that's the case, great... they can have that putz. Here he is coming ouut of a club the other night after they got their shit handed to them by Man U. Why are his papnts falling down? No one knows.

Star Trek v Star Wars

I'm really excited about the new film, but I suppose this answers, once and for all, which is better.

Haircuts

Samson: After lying twice to Delilah about from whence his power has come, he inexplicably decides to tell the truth which allows The Philistines to cut his 7 locks. (Why 7? because it's a HUGE number... obviously.) Once it grows back, he exacts some sort of Old Testament vengeance. The best part of a mediocre Biblical story. It's not bad, but it's certainly not the best (I dig Noah getting raped by his son Ham while passed out i his tent after the flood), but it's a great song.

Medusa: Not technically a haircut, but due to her beauty (& the jealousy of Athena) her hair was turned into serpents. Her story has always been one of my favorites from Greek Myth.

The Grandchildren of Queen Clotild: When her sons became jealous of their nephews' power, they gave the queen an ultimatum: the boys would either suffer death... or haircuts. Of course, to save them the shame & dishonor of a bad haircut, she chose death.

Jim Morrison: In the Oliver Stone movie, while backstage @ Ed Sullivan, a make-up guy is screwing w/ Jim's hair & he suggests that some of his biggest mistakes have been haircuts. He proceeds to bar the make-up guy from messing w/ his hair & performs "Light My Fire" w/ his longish locks. I highly doubt this is historically accurate, but I'm a sucker for that film... if it's on, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm on my couch getting sucked in.

Caroline Mulford: Played by Haviland Morris, she got her hair stuck in a door in Jake Ryan's house & subsequently had to have it cut out. This is symbolic of a shift in her character; as she loses her hair, she sheds her connection to shallow high-school popularity which then allows her to hook up w/ Ted.

Travis Bickle: Played by Bob de Niro, he shaves a Mohawk prior to his assassination attempt. I never really understood why the Mohawk needed to be associated w/ the crazy, but it was & maybe has been ever since. Don't worry, I'm not going Bickle-crazy on any local politicians any time soon.

Uncle Jesse: Nope, not the old codger in the Dukes, but rather the hottie in Full House. He let 1 of his nieces @ his beautiful mullet w/ a pair of scissors... bad move Uncle Jesse! Bad move indeed.

Golden Balls: I 1st saw his Mohawk during the 2002 World Cup in Japan/S Korea. He & Michael Owen decided to sport the red-hawk in honor of the 3 Lion's red jerseys. However, if you follow that link, you'll get a nice overview of the many different styles he's sported over the years.

What do these dudes have in common?

Steve Earl Andrew Ridgeley

Roger Daltry

Will Wheaton John Lydon Spike Lee The dude who plays Mr. Eko Nick Hornby Steve Gorman (Black Crowes Drummer) Angus Young
They're our Visions of Ypsi Top 10 Bad Ass Celebrity Arsenal fans. I'm sure they, like me, have a bad case of Arsetimism concerning this afternoon's match... the 2nd leg of the Champion's League Semi-Final @ The Emirates vs Man U... Head on up to Conor O'Niell's @ 2:45 to check out the game!

Live Long & Prosper... Bitches!

My brother got Aiden a Spock action figure. He'd always resisted Star Trek, but on Friday night, after getting his Spock, he suggested that maybe he'd like to watch it & that the new movie looks pretty cool. W/ that in mind, we watched the 2nd pilot episode the other day & then we watched The Wrath of Khan this afternoon. (Sidebar: if you don't know why there were 2 pilots then there's nothing can do for you... you may be a lost Trek cause.) He loved the show so we'll definitely be watching more!!! He also loved the movie: he was a bit appalled by the things in Chekov's & Terrell's ears, but other than that he was into it completely. Spock's death, of course, threw him a bit but we got to talk about Christ-figures. The post-Spock's death stuff always makes me squeeze out a few tears & this time was no different. Kirk's reaction is so poignant. The whole "He's not really dead ass long as we remember him" speech... brilliant! He's already on me about III, & I can't wait to take him to the new one.

The 1 Millionth Word!

The wait is over! April 29th is upon us! It is now 12:01 AM GMT so we @ Visions of Ypsi are reading to unveil the word. It's not fantastic, but the fanfare that should go along w/ the 1 millionth word in the English language should more than make up for the seemingly uselessness word. Of course, you'll realize that it's not really useless tomorrow as you cheer for Arsenal in the Champion's League Semi-Final 1st Leg @ Old Trafford. Before wee get to the word, however, let's recap what we've done so far. Last year, The Global Language Monitor claimed that April 29th would see the creation of the 1 millionth word in English. The problematic nature of this claim is multi-faceted, but we'll ignore that for now as we look to the greater glory of English in general & Visions of Ypsi in particular. During the run-p, we coined 3 new terms: "Chimilicious," "Barack-a-lack-a-boom," & "The Westley." Now, w/o further ado, your 1 millionth word: "Arsetimistic." This is the stupid optimism one feels while knowing full-well that Arsenal won't make it past Man U in the Champions League. This is different that naive optimism because one is fully aware that the hope is useless. The game tonight (still on GMT here) will be a futile struggle as Arsenal lose 3-1. The home tie next week will probably end 1-1 sending Man U through on a 4-2 aggregate score-line. That's OK though. We'll remain Arsetimistic & assume Wenger will win the treble next year.

Here's my Arsetemistic starting line-up:
Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Gibbs
Song
Walcott Fabregas Nasri
van Persie Adebayor

Jean's Wedding: A River, a Pool Party, & a Ceremony

After watching the Liverpool match w/ Dan @ the continental breakfast, I took the kids down to the river for a little while. There's a really cool looking visitor's' center dating back to 1912 called The Pagoda. Unfortunately, for all the effort thy pt into restoring it in 1995, the stuff in it kind of sucked... a few model riverboats, a pilot's wheel, @ a little pamphlet rack... & tons of empty space. Other than that, the riverfront was great. It made Aiden & me want to watch Davy Crockett & the River Pirates.

When we got back to the motel, we had a little pool-side lunch party. It was a nice time, & the kids got to swim again before we headed to the wedding. About 4:45, the convoy pulled out, heading to Newburgh which is a quaint little town about 10 minutes up the river from Evansville. It was beautiful, & I can now present Mr. & Mrs. Jean & Tiffany Peltier (I'm not certain that she took the name, but the minister introduced them that way, so I will too... he was a bit wacky though, so who knows). The rest of the night went swimmingly. Aiden had a rough time because he was so tired, but Solstice boogied all night & Isaiah fell asleep on my mom... which was sooo cute.

Here are some more vaca pics for you because I know you're all waiting for them: Down by the river At the pool party Us The Groom's Family The Ceremony My Dad up & Dancing Dancing w/ my Daughter Solstice dancing

Jean's Wedding: The Drive & The Arrival

We set out from Ypsi just before 7:00 which was 20 minutes or so behind or ETD. We'd planned to leave around 6:30 because even though the drive is usually only 8ish hours, we had no idea what to expect w/ Isaiah. As it turns out, however, he's an awesome traveler, & we hit Evansville, IN about quarter to 3:00 Eastern Time. Of course, Evansville is on Central, so we had plenty of time to hit the pool & the local Cracker Barrel before the free hotel Happy Hour... yes, FREE! They have 3 free drinks for every adult between 5:30 & 7:00 every night. I had a Scotch, a Tequila Sunrise, & a Bud Light.
What we saw during the drive:
* A shit-ton of construction in Lima, OH
* Neil Armstrong's birthplace in Wapakoneta, OH
* A water tower in Franklin, OH, a city we entered just as "Franklin's Tower" began
* Some enormous trucks hauling bridge supports. One had a cab that drove down the white dotted line pulling a trailer that covered both lanes & backed up traffic on E bound I 71 for quite a while... we were on W bound so we jst got to gawk.
* Waterville, OH which is @ the same exit as Napoleon, OH but for some stupid reason is called Waterville... not Waterloo.
* An assload of dead deer... though Elizabeth claims they may have just been sunning themselves... I don't buy it. Particularly the one that looked like the dude in Predator after his chest exploded.

What we heard during the drive
* A random 80s Mix
* A second random 80s Mix
* A ridiculous Mix
* One from the Vault: Disc One (GD: 8-13-75)
* Middle Cyclone: Neko Case
* A random Country Mix that is actually sprinkled w/ a lot of singer/songwriter stuff & some Dylan covers
* Jonas Brothers: Jonas Brothers
* Shotgun Willie: Willie Nelson

What you'll see right now: Franklin's Tower Kids in the car Loaded up & truckin' Isaiah's 1st time swimming More of Isaiah's 1st time swimming... this time w/ his beautiful mother