Scooter Chronicles

Yesterday before Pizza Night, I finished reading “King Rat” by China Miéville. This the second book of his that I have read in the last 6 months. It was also his first novel.

Miéville’s strength and one reason for his quick rise to popularity is his writing style. His prose is amazing for someone that has written things that can be seen as science fiction. Sci-fi authors are usually scientists by profession or at heart, and sometimes lack strong writing skills. It doesn’t take long in reading “Perdido Street Station” before you realize how good Miéville is. With “King Rat” that skill is there, but not...

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On Friday night, per usual, we had Pizza Night. It was hosted by Shannon and Ed. But it was a special Pizza Night, since we exchange gifts. We do two rounds.

First is the White Elephant, which was introduced to us last year by John and Kathleen. For those of you that don’t know what this is, is you find something around your house that you don’t really want anymore, wrap it up as a present, and throw it into the pile. (You are not to buy anything “new” for this game.) We all draw numbers, and the person with number 1 picks something from the pile. They open it. Then the next person has the choice of stealing the gift from the first person, or choosing something from the pile. The third person then has...

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Marcia and I rented “Shrek 2″ and watched it last night. Very funny. Very good. Just as good, or maybe even better then the first movie.

The three main original characters that enthralled us all the first time around where back. Mike Myers as the voice of Shrek, Cameron Diaz as the voice of Princess Fiona, and Eddie Murphy as the voice of Duncan the Donkey. The additions to the cast is what helped add to the already good humor. Julie Andrews and John Cleese provided the voices of the King and Queen, Fiona’s parents. Rupert Everett was the voice of Prince Charming. Jennifer Saunders (of Absolutely Fabulous …. famous BBC TV show) provided the voice of the Fairy Godmother who also happens to be Prince Charming’s...

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Marcia and I watched the movie “Luther” last night. This is a theatrical biography of Martin Luther, the German monk that started the Reformation, leading to the formation of the Protestant churches. Including the one that bears his name, the Lutheran Church.

You can find a lot of great info about Luther and his doctorines on the internet. One site inparticular that I found was “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. This is named after the title of probably the most famous hymm written by Luther.

Basics are that Luther was a Catholic monk and a Doctor of Theology in the early 1500′s, assigned...

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I hate to say this in some ways, but I am beginning to side with the players on this whole deal. I think that Gary Bettman and the group of owners that are pushing this salary cap are going to ruin the league. They keep saying they want to save it, and cost certainty is the way to go. But they are treating this like they are a big time sport with huge TV contracts. Heck, even the players seemed to have admitted they thought too highly of themselves when they offered to take a 24% pay cut.

I also think that Bettman is getting too big of a head/ego. This quote from an article at ESPN.COM just floored me.

Bettman has placed a gag order on team executives,...

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Marcia and I usually eat tacos for dinner on Tuesday. (I couldn’t think of anything better to title the post …….. sorry.)

The Owners BS
Sorry, but this is what I think of it. The news leaked that the NHL owners will outright reject the players offer this morning. Supposedly they will have a counterproposal, but it will not be working upon what the players proposed. My feeling is that this is very shortsighted. The problem lies that the owners are treating this salary cap as the only way to keep players salaries from skyrocketting. But if they would not spend money they don’t have, then there wouldn’t be much of a problem. Sure, other teams make more money, therefore can spend...

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“The Legend of Earthsea”
The Sci-Fi Channel will be broadcasting their production of Ursula K. LeGuin’s famed “Earthsea” Series tonight. There are a few questions that I have not been able to find the answers to. Like what books does it involve. The series consists of four novels and a book of short stories.

I will be taping this. It could be very interesting. Any fantasy movie will catch my attention. And even though I was not enthralled by the first book, it was more to do with LeGuin’s writing style which is not one of my favorites. I am also assuming the script writers had to make up a lot of dialogue. Because there is very little...

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“And greetings of the season to you Blackadder. May the Yuletide log slip from your fire and burn your house down.”

— Stephen Fry as Lord Melchett in “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol”

Yesterday while babysitting, I did have time to finish the last 20 pages I had left of “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood. Some may know her work through the movie “The Handmaid’s Tale”, which is based on her book of the same name.

I had heard this book talked about, but something about it just turned my head the other way. But I found a copy at MediaPlay in the remainder section. I picked it up and started to read the synopsis on the dust jacket.

As the story opens, the narrator, who calls himself Snowman, is sleeping in a tree, wearing a dirty old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beautiful and beloved...

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I spent a good portion of Saturday watching my 3 month old nephew Ryan yesterday. Given that my sister-in-law Paula and her husband Rick were moving, and my mother-in-law had things she needed to attend to, and Marcia had a migraine, ol’ Gimpy (that’s me) was brought in to pinch hit as babysitter.

I watched him from 8 in the morning to about 4 in the afternoon. I know your priorities change when you have a child. You can’t go out and buy that Porsche Boxster you always wanted, or head out to Vegas for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. But I didn’t realize that even your more immediate priorities change. Like going to the restroom. Ryan seemed to like falling asleep in my arms when I was...

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