Out to the Movies: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Oh brother! Where to begin on the latest Indiana Jones? Well, I decided to go with my co-worker Bob to see this after work yesterday. Needless to say, I am glad that I only paid the matinee price and not full price. I've had numerous friends see this movie and I got conflicting reports. Some people said the movie was good and others said it was bad. After experiencing the movie first hand I'd have to say that it was in the middle for me. There were parts that I found very interesting and then there were parts that I sat in my chair rolling my eyes.

There were parts of this movie when it felt like the old Indiana Jones days and I mean the good ones like Raiders and the Crusade, and others that were just off the chart in ludicrousness. The plot was interesting, but ultimately a little out there. I think Harrison Ford's action adventure days are over. Overall, I think my Mom and Dad would enjoy this movie, so I would recommend it to them.

In the world of Indiana Jones I liked the "Crystal Skull" better than I did "Temple of Doom".

Departmental Bowling

Today the Athletic Training Room Staff challenged the rest of the athletic department to lunch time bowling. We had a decent turnout with members of the staff from just about every department/office represented. We were divided into teams of three and then bowled against each other for two games. Lunch time bowling was pretty awesome. The food was good, the company was fun, and the bowling was intense.
I somehow managed to bowl the game of my life. I began the first game with consistent spares and then managed to register a turkey! For those non bowling minded people a "Turkey" is when a person bowls three strikes in a row. I rode that Turkey to an impressive score of 174. That just happened to be the high score of the event. My score also helped make up for the poor performance of my co-worker Mikes unstable "Norwegian" bowling technique.
I was definitely surprised by my first game score. It appears that my curling bowling style began to pay off. The second game was ok, but I did not do as well bowling a 125. Luckily just about everyone else dropped off the second game as well. When everything was said and done we the Athletic Trainer's reigned supreme.

Bring on the rematches!

Chumash Casino

Last night a bunch of co-workers and myself made our way to the Chumash Casino in the Santa Ynez Valley to partake in the all you can eat Seafood Buffet. This was my first trip to the Casino since moving to Santa Barbara. I was a bit surprised by the casino. Apparently there is not a no-smoking rule in this place as it was mildly smokey and ended up giving me a headache before we made it up to the buffet.
We had about 30 min before we could get in line for the buffet, so we ended up wasting some time playing a slot machine. I did not have a lucky touch. It amazes me how people can spend hours upon hours sitting at a slot machine pushing a button and pulling a lever. I just don't see the appeal.
When we finally made it to the buffet it was well worth the wait. There was a good selection of lobster, shrimp, fish, oysters, steamed clams, and my personal favorite clam chowder. I had about three cups of Clam Chowder and each one was deliciously wonderful. I decided to skip desert however since I am finally making progress on losing some weight from changes in my diet alone. Unfortunately, I will have a hard time continuing the trend during Laker Camp. Those cookies at Trop are hard to say no to.

Well that was my first casino experience. We are talking about going back to enjoy the Mexican food buffet on Monday nights and the Chocolate buffet on Thursday nights.

Turn it up...

...Kate Nash, "Foundations"

From the Portfolio of Andy Everson

"Spring's Finale"

Turn it up...

... Carolina Liar "I'm not Over"

Crossing things off the list...

Well people I officially have a couch now, so I can cross that piece of furniture off the list. The couch did come kind of suddenly and luckily for me it was just the right price. My now former co-worker Tina has been getting packing things up and getting ready to move to South Carolina for a new job. As she was putting things in the UHaul she unfortunately found out that she didn't have enough room for her couch and everything else. She very kindly offered the couch to me. The couch is very comfortable and so I couldn't refuse the offer.

So, now I have a bed and a couch!

Here's the proof for all you pessimist:

Wednesday Tradition

A couple co-workers and myself have created a Wednesday tradition that we've been doing since last year. Every Wednesday we go to a bar called "Old Kings Road" and partake in "Pub Quiz". "Pub Quiz" is a trivia night that matches teams of 6 against each other for trivial supremacy. This past week only two of us were able to make it and we did awesome. We won the first round to get a free drink and then were consistent the other three rounds. We ended up with 24.5 points which was only 7 points off the winning teams score. Not too bad for a team of two against a team of six.

Check out the link to the Pub Quiz blog in the links section.

From My Portfolio

"Utah"


"Rapids"

Reading Corner

I admit once again I have fallen of the reading bandwagon. I started "The Book of Honor" towards the end of basketball season and finished reading it yesterday. What can I say? Now that gas has hit well over $4.50 a gallon, and only going to go up from here I've sequestered myself to my apartment.

"The Book of Honor" was written by Ted Gup. The book focuses around bring to light some of the names of the nameless stars in the Central Intelligence Agencies Book of Honor. The book focuses on operatives killed in duty to country beginning in the 1950's and into the 1990's. I found this book to be very interesting and enjoyed reading about these extraordinary men and women of the clandestine service. Although, a lot of the details of their missions continue to be confidential and top secret Mr. Gup did a good job giving the reader a sense of who there people were. At times it was difficult to read the grief that the families dealt with. Overall "The Book of Honor" was well done and serves its purpose well.

Happy Father's Day

Here's to all things Dad!

Resolutions Revisited

The year that is 2008 is officially halfway over, so I decided to check back in with my New Years Resolutions.

Number 1: Reach target weight of 160lbs and/or waist size of 32.
a: Eat Healthy
b: Exercise at least a hour 5 days a week.

The Reality:
I am no closer to accomplishing this goal. Why am I so lazy and unmotivated?

Number 2: Be Better at keeping in touch with past, current, and future friends.

The Reality:
I did good with this for about 2 months and then fell back into my old ways. Behaviour modification is difficult stuff!

Number 3: Reconnect with my brother

The Reality:
He has actually made more of an effort than I have.

Number 4: Buy a bed

The Reality:
Okay here's a moment to be proud of! I actually have accomplished this one!

Number 5: Be more honest and stand up for myself at work

The Reality:
In certain situations I have made progress, but in the majority of situations there has been little change in the way I used to act. At some point I am just going to have to let go not care what anyone else thinks and just tell it like it is. I bet a lot of people would enjoy that. There is nothing more dangerous than a man who has nothing to lose!


So there we have it people. At the mid way point I have officially accomplished 20% of what I have wanted to. On the bright side I still have five and a half months to get the rest of the way.

From My Portfolio

"Colorado"

Happy Birthday Mom

I admit freely that I have stolen this blog idea from Heather. Heather, thank you for showing us all how to celebrate birthdays blog style!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Out to the Movies: Kung Fu Panda

"Kung Fu Panda" is the latest animated movie from Dreamworks. Let's get down to it shall we? This movie was definitely predictable from the beginning, but it was still good. The animation was what one would expect the voices for the most part did a good job bringing the characters a different dimension except for Angelina Jolie. Her voice over was not very convincing and quite bland. She's probably not the best bed time story teller. There were hilarious moments and in the end a good message for the kids that were in the audience. It may not have been the best movie ever, but it was pretty good.

Cute and Cuddly Tuesday

Dalmatians:

Presenting....

...my bed!

Just to prove to all of you that I actually did buy a bed here is your visual proof!

Before:



The Proof:


After:

From the Portfolio of Andy Everson

"Watchmen"