tfizzle.com

Degrassi The Next Generation

For some reason, a lot of the TV shows I like tend to be teenage dramas.  I don’t really know why, but I do.  There are really 3 shows that I like in the genre. Dawson’s Creek, Everwood, and Degrassi The Next Generation.

You’ve probably heard of Dawson’s Creek.  You probably haven’t heard of Everwood.  It was only on for 4 seasons.  Degrassi TNG I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard of.  It’s a Canadian show.  I started catching bits and pieces of it in the morning before work.  I kind of started getting into it.  Now I watch it on DVD from Netflix. It’s still on the air.  I think they’re just wrapping up the 6th season.  I’m just starting season 5 on DVD.

It’s kind of weird watching Canadian TV.  They are pretty much like Americans.  The main difference is the way they talk.  Movies and stuff really exaggerate how they talk.  Oot and Aboot.  The way they say sorry.  It’s different, sure, but they just ham it up to make fun of them.  It’s a really sweet show.  One of the things I like most about is that the teenagers actually look like teenagers.  You don’t have 30 year olds in high school.

Who Won American Idol??–David Cook

Tonight was the American Idol finale for season 7.  It was a fairly typical Idol finale.  They had the top 12 back, famous bands, you know.

There were two Davids in the finale–David Cook and David Archuletta.  Turns out that David Cook got 56% of the votes and David Archuletta got 44% of the votes.  They said there were 97 million votes.  That smashed the old Idol record by 23 MILLION votes.

I’ll tell you the truth.  I didn’t like David Cook much at first.  But as the season went on, he started to grow on me.  He’s much more sincere and genuine than I first thought.  As the season went on, he and the other David distinguished themselves as the best.  Cook has a real talent for picking good songs with a good arrangement.

So, David Cook of Blue Springs, MO is your 2008 Season 7 American Idol. Congrats.

I have Expanded Basic Cable Again

My whole life I had expanded basic cable.  Growing up, high school, college, and then in my apartment.  I decided to cancel it because it would save me like $35 a month.  That was almost two years ago.

Now, I find out that I can upgrade back to expanded for $5 more per month and upgrade to the faster internet for $5 more per month.  I’m moving pretty fast.

It was pretty weird, because the day they upgraded my service, the little black box (my homemade computer TV DVR) stopped working. It would no longer play sound, and it had been acting up for awhile.

So luckily I had enough spare parts around the basement to build another one.  I had a few small hickups to get it working, but now it’s good to go and faster than it was before.  So I’m back.  I really forgot how much I missed it.

Mayfest Parade

On Saturday we were in the Mayfest Parade in Ofallon.  We did pretty well.  The Schmidt’s were about half an hour late getting the trailer to the starting point so were a little pressed for time.  Once everything was going, it went pretty well.  I really love playing parades.

I like to think that if there was a contest and prizes, we would have won.

We have the Shriner’s parade next weekend.  The float is a patriotic theme.  They do have prizes and awards at that parade–hopefully we’ll win.  We’re doing my rock arrangement of America the Beautiful.

Dandelion Killer

Not until I had a yard of my own did I realize how much dandelions suck. They are ugly and they grow curiously fast. I decided I had to get rid of them.

I got this weed killer from this place called No More Dandelions. I guess you could say it is farmer grade. It’s what they spray on crops to keep weeds from growing around them. So you pretty much just spray it on the grass. I had to spray twice, and then they don’t grow back. It’s pretty sweet. It’s also amazing how little it takes. You mix literally like half of a teaspoon in with some water to do your whole yard.

Zapatas

It turns out that Zapatas in Collinsville is a pretty bumpin place.  It might replace Big Daddy’s as a summer weekend hangout.

They have karaoke and cheaper beer.

We’ll see.

Prediction–Gas will hit $7 a Gallon and THEN Something Will Get Done

This is my official prediction.

Absolutely nothing will happen about gas prices until gas hits $7 a gallon.

I believe competition drives prices down.  The oil companies have no competition except from each other, and we all know that that doesn’t help us here.

To get viable competition for oil, we need to run out of oil or have gas hit such a high price where people can literally not afford it.  It will have to hit a place where people quit their jobs because they can’t afford to go to work.  Then they go on unemployment.  When that happens, the government will care, and something will get done.  Until that time, oil companies and the government have ABSOLUTELY no reason to really care about gas prices.

When that happens, something will get done.  whether it will be viable alternative cars (hydrogen, electric, etc) or the government intervening in the price.

I think that for a drastic measure to get done it has to be a desperate circumstance.  Right now we’re not there.  Right now, it’s just a bitch and moan point.  People can still afford it-it’s just expensive.

We’ll see if I’m right in about a year.

Sometimes Dreams Don’t Come True

As I get older, reality sucks more and more.

When I was younger, I had all these hopes and dreams of what my life would be. There were so many things I even assumed would happen. › Continue reading

Poker at Darren’s

Last night we played poker at Darren and Lisa’s. It was Darren, Lisa, Nick, Brian, and me.  I did better than normal.  I got 2nd which got my money back.

I have certain tendencies when we play poker.  I tend to get up early on and then lose it at the end.  I always get anxious playing heads up.  I just start playing every hand because I get bored.  So, I end up losing.   It’s fun though.

We’re talking about a Lake House trip later on this summer.  We were trying to get a few more people there because it would be more fun and lower the per person cost.  We’ll see how it goes.

Tonight I have to go over to Shannon’s house to help decorate the float with the rest of the band for the Mayfest parade tomorrow.  Supposedly there’s a pretty good chance it will rain.  I hope the forecast is wrong.

Iron Man is Awesome

I saw Iron Man last night.  I will tell you, it was really good.

I was curious how Robert Downey Jr would do in a roll like this.  He hasn’t really ever had any big roles (besides jail, I guess). To my delight, he played it really well.

It was pretty long, but it didn’t drag at all.  Exciting plot, good cgi, and I’ll admit that I forgot how sexy Gwyneth Paltrow is.

I definitely recommend seeing it if you have the chance.