I love me some Outback

It's really expensive, so I don't get to go very often, but Jen and I stopped at Outback for dinner yesterday. When we first started going, I always got the New York Strip. Delicious steak. Then I got hooked on the Alice Springs chicken. I've gotten that every time we've eaten there for years. Well, yesterday we'd eaten a late lunch, and Outback was going to be an early dinner. So I super hungry and decided to try something a little different. I was looking at the menu and saw that they had a Teriyaki Marinated Sirloin that was new. I figured I'd give it a try. Wow! Possibly the most flavorful steak I've ever eaten. I put that first bite in my mouth and my taste buds exploded! You can ask my wife. I savored every bite of that steak. Took me forever to finish because I didn't want it to be over with. LOL! I was talking to our waitress about it, and she said they marinate the steak in the Teriyaki marinade for 30 hours. That's a long time! It was an incredible flavor combination. I would highly recommend this to any steak fan. I'm sure I will be eating more of these bad boys! I told Jen that I might have to become an Outback advertiser just so I could really spread the word about how amazing this steak was. Oh, just thinking about it makes me want to go back and get another one. I think I'm drooling.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

I do! That's right. Yours truly went to see Watchmen on Friday night. Let me just say, holy frakking crap! That was frakking awesome! This movie feels like you are watching a comic book, which was what they were going for. And it was graphic! Possibly the most graphic violence that I've ever seen. Of course, that's part of why it was so awesome! I will admit that it actually surprised me just how graphic it was when the first violent scene finished. I think it was key to the overall look of the movie though. Oh, and the nudity. To all you uber geeks out there, yes, you get to see Silk Spectre II naked. Very much so in fact. Picture some Friday night Cinemax soft core porn. Yeah, that's pretty much it. I would spoil it, but they had a unique way of making it not completely cheesy. :-) Needless to say, this is not a kids movie. I'd probably caution against even early to mid teens.

Now there is one thing that I could have done with a little less of. If you seen the movie, yes, I'm talking about the ridiculous amount of Dr. Manhattan blue CGI penis. I mean, the nudity doesn't really bother me, but the guy hardly wore cloths for the entire movie, and I swear they didn't miss a chance to display that not quite right penis front and center. I wouldn't say that it really hurt the movie at all, it was just a bit odd.

Probably the coolest thing was how ever now and then, they would throw in a slow-mo scene that would make everything look straight from a comic book panel. I mean, picture the scenes in The Matrix where they did the whole slow-mo thing. Then imagine it being twice as cool. Yeah, that's it.

Overall, I was impressed with how deep/layered this movie was. From what I saw, there were a number of side story lines that they could have explored. At 2 hours and 45 minutes long, I can see why they didn't. I was a little worried at the beginning. It does start a little slowly, but it just continues to build all they way to the end. My favorite character? Rorschach of course. Despite the brutal violence, I couldn't help but laugh every time someone made a smart remark, and he'd crush them in some completely unexpected way. Greatest sociopathic dude ever! My ruling? Go see it! Go see it now!

Kids Cancer Tribute

I ran across this on Digg the other day. It's a really cool story about how construction workers putting up a building near the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are paying tribute to the children that are there receiving cancer treatment. Basically, the kids go out into a glass walkway and write their name on a piece of paper. Then they hold it up to the glass and the construction workers spray paint the kids names on the giant beams they are getting ready to lift. It's a simple thing, but it's become such a ritual for the kids getting treatment there. Sounds like the kids get so excited to do this. It has to be helpful to them and their families.

There is a video on the story linked above, and here is a slide show with some pictures and descriptions. There is just so much crap in the world today, that it's really nice to good stories once in a while.

Musical Tesla Coils

Okay, anyone that has read this blog knows that I have a thing for video game music. Well, I also have a thing for science stuff. Well, enter the musical tesla coil. And it's playing my song!



One of my favorite video game tunes. How cool is that?

Says it all

Can't argue with this!




To make my stance clear, I have absolutely no problem with Michael Phelps smoking pot. I could honestly care less. I think it should be legalized, not because I want to use it, or ever have. I just think we spend a lot of money on law enforcement and prisons to house people arrested for possessing or using this drug. A drug that is not as unhealthy as cigarettes, and doesn't impair you as much as alcohol. Seems kind of dumb to me.

MIA

Yeah, I haven't posted in a while. No excuse. Just lazy. I'll try to do better.

Wil Wheaton is a frakking rock star!

Okay, I was never the biggest fan of Wesley Crusher. He was kind of the annoying know-it-all that you just wanted to push down the stairs. I liked where they went with his character later in the series, but still. Wesley Crusher was played by Wil Wheaton. Wil is awesome. At the Pheonix Comicon he arranged a "Rock Band 2 room." Basically, you could show up and play Rock Band 2 with Wil. You can see several videos from the event here, but I think the video below shows that he truly is a frakking rock star. YOU ROCK WIL!

Daughters First Movie

Yes, she has watched movies before. But this past Saturday, I took my daughter to her first movie at a movie theater. Here in Traverse City, we have a theater downtown called "The State Theatre." It's a beautiful place that first opened in 1916. It closed for a while, but then Michael Moore started the Traverse City Film Festival and worked to get The State reopened after a number of years of it being closed.

Every Saturday morning, they have a kids matinee. They play some kids/family movie, and the best part is that they only charge 25 cents. That's what they charged for tickets in 1916. So the two of us saw a movie for 50 cents total! Sweet! We saw "Finding Nemo" and Kaitlin had a great time. She spent the rest of the day asking when we could go again. She seemed a bit overwhelmed when we first got there. Huge theater, lots of people, loud. She came around after a few minutes, and she was laughing right along with everyone in no time.

This place is plush. Nice huge foam seats that actually recline a bit. Lots of leg room. The building is beautifully restored in a very classic style. Before the movie, the screen is covered in a huge velvet curtain that goes up at showtime.

I think this place is one of the best things to happen to downtown TC in a long time. The first time I went there was on a team outing at work. We saw a mock documentary called "Kenny" about a guy who was in the porta-pottie rental business. Absolutely hilarious. Then Jen and I went to see "The Dark Knight" a few months later. Holy crap that was awesome. Comfy seats, huge screen and uber loud! Glorious.

Tickets for regular movies are about the same as a regular theater (pretty good considering how nice everything), and the pop and popcorn are considerably cheaper than a regular theater. I see many future trips there for me and the family.

These Guys are Nuts!

Wingsuits. About as close as you can get to human flight, minus a plane. Would it be fun? Sure, I'd give it a whirl in a heartbeat. Not as "extreme" as these guys maybe, but it could be cool. Check it out!


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! January 1st 2009. Yep, it's that time again. Resolutions. Almost everyone makes them, and almost no one keeps them. Of course, I'm certainly included there! But as usual, I have a couple of resolutions for this year.

First is probably one of the most common resolutions ever. To lose weight and get in shape. I'm quite a bit over-weight, and really need to get it off not only for myself, but for my family as well. I have two young kids, 5 and almost 2, and I can't keep up with either of them. I want to be able to run around and play with them and have fun. Right now, after about 5 minutes, I'm done. I know I can lose the weight. I've done it before. About four years ago I was down almost 60 pounds. I wasn't quite at my target weight, but I was close. Looking at pictures of myself from then, I was looking pretty good! I want to get back to that. My wife is making the same resolution, so hopefully we can stick it out together and get in shape!

One thing I plan on doing to facilitate that first resolution is to sign up for the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race. I seem to do better when I have some motivation, and a 27 mile mountain bike race in November is certainly some motivation! I got up this morning with the full intention of getting on their website and registering first thing. The last couple of years, registration has filled up within just a day or two, so I didn't want to miss it. Of course, my luck, this year registration does not start until February 27th at 7PM. I'm still going to sign up, I just have to wait a couple of months now. LOL.

My second resolution isn't quite as big and important as the first. The second resolution is to just practice on my guitar more. Currently, I will pick it up and play fairly regularly for a while, and then sometimes I'll go a month or two and never touch it. I enjoy it, and I really want to get good at it. I took lessons for a long time, but the financial strain of kids finally took it's toll and I had to quit. Maybe we'll see how things look this year, and maybe I can start back up again. But, before I do that, I want to make the commitment, and follow through, with just practicing more on my own. I know a lot of basic stuff, but I really still need to work to get to the point where it's second nature. Then I can work on some of the more fancy stuff that I think would be a lot of fun. Who knows, maybe I might get to the point where I can actually play with people! That would be cool.

Here's to rocking it out and getting fit in 2009!

Do you Digg Bacon?

Bacon. That wonderfully delicious breakfast...anytime of day...food. I also like surfing Digg. It takes up the hours I spend at work when I should be working. I've noticed lately that there are a lot of stories on Digg relating to bacon. Which, given how good bacon is, isn't really surprising. I'm certainly not complaining!

The other day, I got to thinking. I was wondering how far a Digg submission would get if it was just a link to a blog post about how common bacon was on Digg. So, here it is! I know, I know. Is this guy crazy or what? I live in northern Michigan. We have like 10 feet of snow, so there isn't a whole lot to do other than think about stupid things. So anyway, this is my blog post about how awesome bacon is. I'm going to submit it to Digg. If you think bacon is awesome too, Digg it! Let's see how far it goes!

Mmm, bacon...
Image courtesy of IHEARTBACON.COM.