“It has been determined that this is a hoax“, Sheriff Jim Alderden of Larimer County, Colorado

I sat with countless others around the country and around the world on Thursday, watching the ‘balloon boy’ saga. A final kick in the ass is that it’s the big hoax we all starting thinking it was soon after little Falcon was found in the attic of the family garage. Being eccentric, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to be eccentric AND drag your child(ren) into your disturbed plans is ridiculous, not to mention wasting the polices time and money. I can only hope that some of the recommended charges stick and are enforced to the fullest extent. Some possible charges include:

• Conspiracy
• Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor
• Making a False Report to Authorities
• Attempting to Influence a Public Servant

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The obvious next question is … Why wasn’t the balloon better secured to avoid something like this happening? It’s no different than childproofing the INSIDE of the home. I’m awestruck by this whole series of events. I’m praying for the family and their little boys safe return.

I won’t give anything away. But, I can easily say it’s one of the best horror/suspense movies we’ve seen in a quite a while, with good, slow build up and an excellent finish. We want to go see it again at theaters and probably will. Can’t wait for it to hit DVD either, as from some of the articles I’ve read, multiple endings were shot, and the ending in the theatrical release is NOT the original ending, I hope they all make it into the DVD extras.

Go See It! You won’t be disappointed.

Paranormal Activity Movie Poster

This movie looks great, V and I will hopefully be going to see it this weekend. Head over to their website: http://www.paranormalmovie.com and also, click the following link to demand the movie in your area. Paramount Pictures has stated that with 1,000,000 demands from the public, they will give Paranormal Activity a full release.

Demand It!

If you’ve already seen it, or plan on seeing it, drop a comment and let me know what you think. Either way, spread the world, so everybody has the chance to see this movie!

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The sad state of the society at large takes yet another hit as the family of a 12 year old girl who was lucky enough to catch Philadelphia Phillies First Baseman, Ryan Howards 200th career home run ball, sued to have the ball returned to them. This, nearly three months after the home run was hit and on that day, young Jennifer Valdivia was escorted to the Phillies clubhouse where the home run ball was exchanged for a ball,  autographed by Howard.

I have a few problems with this:

• Where were Jennifers mother and/or father on that day to decide not to trade the ball back, which they would have been well within their rights to do. I have a very hard time believing a 12 year old girl was escorted to the clubhouse without a parent being present.
• The illusion of some massive payday from an eBay auction or the like. We’re not talking about a Hank Aaron record breaking home run ball or anything similar.
• Most importantly, its extremely disappointing to see a parent or parents willing to teach their child that it’s ok not to take responsibility for your decisions or actions.

Bottom line, if you didn’t want to give the ball back, you shouldn’t have. Now, you come off as greedy and money hungry. If, by chance, that isn’t your intentions, it doesn’t change the impression you’ve given people.

Can somebody please explain to me what is patriotic about a President Obama, Statue of Liberty, George Washington or Abraham Lincoln Chia Pet? Oh, and supposedly they are thinking about a Hillary Clinton Chia as well … Our current President as well as past Presidents have been immortalized on countless items from T-Shirts to coins (both legal tender and otherwise). I would be quicker to purchase those items than I would to buy a planter and watch President Obama grow a green afro. National drug store chain Walgreens even pulled the Obama Chia’s this past April over the possibility that it may offend some customers. But, CVS stores have picked up the wayward Obama Chia’s that have been collecting dust in warehouses. I was just wondering if anybody else thought these “Patriotic” Chia’s were indeed that? Mind you, I don’t find them offensive, though maybe I should. I do find them to be ridiculous. But, somehow I guess thats the point.

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The media frenzy is finally over, until the next big story comes along anyway. We were eliminated early from the Olympic voting and Rio prevailed. In the long run, its hard to say if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the city. Yes, traffic would have been horrible, worse than it already is. The upheaval of the parks especially on the south side for at least a couple years leading up to the games would have made for some interesting community reactions. And, lets not forget that if we were awarded the games, we the taxpayers would have had to foot the bill on cost overruns. With all of that being said, Chicago on a world stage for something as amazing as the Olympic Games spectacle would have been spectacular to be a part of. I don’t see us making a run at the 2020 games. Though, if they started right now on trying to fix the things most citizens have voiced concerns over, it might almost be doable. Oprah and the Obamas made an impact, but obviously that wasn’t enough to sway the voters and possibly the worlds view on the USA (I’m not saying, I’m just saying). All that being said, Congratulations to Rio De Janeiro. I look forward to the 2012 games in London and the 2016 games, just as I do every four years.

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I started out slowly tonight with some Cardio; 20 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the treadmill and that’s all we had time for as it was then closing time. I’ll probably head back Friday, for round 2.

Or late, depending on your prospective. Yesterday afternoon I signed up for a gym membership. I decided with all this free time from being unemployed these last three months has afforded me, I should at least try to get rid of this spare tire around my mid-section. I convinced V to join as well, and we’ll pay our first visit there tomorrow evening. Working together should make the whole process a bit smoother I hope, as I feared trying this alone may lead me to quit or not try nearly as hard as I could, or should.

Nine years ago, when I returned to Chicago from Las Vegas, I weighed a whopping 135 lbs. Now, about 60 lbs heavier, I know what everybody used to warn me about, my metabolism slowing down. Slow hell, sometimes I think it might be moving in reverse.

My starting weight is 195 lbs on my 5ft, 8in frame, makng my supposed ideal weight is between 152-172 lbs. Doing the math, I need to lose between 23-43 lbs. So I’m setting my first goal at 10 lbs of weight loss, making my first target, 185 lbs. I’ll post every so often about my progress, wish me luck, I think I’ll need it.

I’m awake at 6am on a Sunday morning, ugh. My choices are, well, limited to keep myself occupied. The rest of the house is asleep. Including our new cat … Veronica attracts wayward animals, like moths to a flame, I swear.

Friday evening I received a call from V. As she was leaving the local pet store after picking up supplies for the rest of our zoo, she came upon a box sitting against her driver side door. A box of decent size, with plenty of holes in the sides, almost as if they were made with a knife of some kind. The box was taped shut otherwise and across the top was written, “New kitten looking for a good home”. V originally thought it a joke, until the box began meowing. Inside really was a kitten, no more than 6-8 weeks old, very skinny, to the point you could feel his little bones, but adorable nonetheless. I met her at the store as I was already out and about running a couple other errands. We find that this isn’t the first time this has happened out in front of this particular store, as another customer had reported the same situation a day earlier. Fast forward to when we pull up in front of our house and V walks inside to get Ma and explain what happened. 5 minutes later, Dad is holding this tiny creature telling us we need to take her to the vet first thing in the morning, and so begins the story of cat number 6, Snuggles. Josh got to name him, when we all thought Snuggles was a little girl, but the name seems to have stuck, regardless.

The vet says he is quite malnourished, with ear mites and roundworms. We couldn’t even get Snuggles a full checkup as the doc said he was too weak at the moment. So we’ll head back in a few weeks. The rest of the cats, for the most part, don’t like the newbie, with V’s Baby Girl taking the most dislike towards the latest addition to the family. I’ll post a picture or two, once I extract them from my phone.