It was memorable at least.

Christmas eve was when my dad and step-mom's flight was scheduled to come in. I keep checking its scheduled arrival. The time keep getting pushed further back and back and back. I lay on the couch and try see what is on the tube. My dad only gets the local stations, and one of them is having an Andy Griffith Show marathon. I am watching one particular episode, and the guest star looks and sounds so familiar. Yet, I can't place were I know him from. It is driving me insane as I just can't figure it out. Naturally, I have to wait for the credits to see if i can recognize the name. When the credits roll it is James Best. Of course:



Rosco P. Coltrane from the Dukes of Hazzard. That was it!

The flight originally scheduled to come in at 10:50PM finally has its arrival at 12:35AM Christmas Day. Well three days after the original flight as well. I passed by 2 accidents on the way to the airport. I found it cruel and unusual punishment that we had to wait so long for the luggage after all of these people got snowed in at Seattle and then sat on the runway for and hour and half that they then had to wait for so long for their luggage. We finally got back the house at about 2AM. At least they got back.

Christmas morning comes along we have breakfast. We decide what to do for dinner. There is some leftover ham from Thanksgiving, so Jenny makes a casserole out of that, some taters, cream peas, and a pear-blackberry crisp. Considering she wasn't able to go to the store and do any shopping and that was what was just lying around the house I think she did an awesome job. It was a most excellent meal.

I also had a friend of mine call me several times to see if I wanted to go play poker Christmas night at another friend's house. I finally agreed with the condition I could sleep there. (No drinking and driving). Initially, though I told her I didn't think Jesus would appreciate gambling on his birthday (Sacrilegious humor, gotta love it). The next day, on further reflection: the group I play with does not celebrate Christmas for the most part. I did win though!

Breafast time is fun time!

This morning I headed over to Waffle House for breakfast. I don't get to one very often as there is any close to my house, and I really like their pecan waffles. One of the things I love about waffle house is that no matter when you go someone weird will be there. Late night you get multitudes, but this morning I just had the one. Usually it is a customer. I have had a few really weird waitresses there, but today the chef working the griddle was weird. I was fascinated by him.

First: At one point he was putting some bread under the counter, and when he was done he bowed to the counter. Like the image to the right.

Second: He was putting another loaf in the cubby hole by griddle, and he made gun motion to the loaf.

Finally: I have never seen anyone butter toast with such flourish, and then cut the bread in half. It was a scene man.

He also had a bunch of other tics and such. He did seem to be enjoying himself, and his work. I thought that was cool. I hope this doesn't come off as rude. I don't mean for it to. Lord knows I've done a ton of weird stuff.

Three Day Par-tay!

Well a week and half ago I started my vacation schedule for the rest of the week lets break it down.

First weekend: Well I got sick Thursday night with a pretty bad cold. Friday I left my house once to get some hot and sour soup. I had forgotten that I was supposed to take my dad and his wife to the airport Saturday. Then I was supposed to stay there until Sunday night when a neighbor from the old house would watch the house the rest of the week. That wasn't so bad except my dad doesn't have cable or satellite. He does have high speed internet, but his computer is painfully slow. Man, it was some kind of boring there. I got some reading done. It was just one night...

Second weekend: My dad is coming back on Sunday, and I had to watch his house beginning Friday night. This time I took my computer with me, and that helped some of my boredom. I also brought some DVDs to watch. Score. Sunday rolls around as does disaster.

A vicious cold front rolled through Dallas, as well as Seattle were my dad and his wife are visiting. He calls me, and they are snowed in. All flights cancelled, and they don't know when they will be able to fly out. Well that sucks. I call the lady who has been watching the house, but she can't come over any more as she has her own house to take care of as she is getting it ready to resale. So, I am stuck there and have just added about 45 minutes or so to my drive to work.

I also notice that it is awfully cold inside the house. The heater won't kick on. I call my dad and he tells me to get the next door neighbor to take a look. He comes over and can't figure out what is wrong. It is supposed to get down to the 20s that night so something must be done. I get a hold of another friend who is a heater/ac man from the old neighborhood. He comes over and replaces the broken igniter in about 3o minutes. Considering he came on a Sunday, and my bill was less than a hundred bucks not too bad. My dad has a little space heater and everytime I went into a different room I would take that with me and plug it in. The house was in the upper 50s before the furnace got fixed.

I got up at about 5:30 AM so I could go home before I got to work to pick up some more clothes, TPBs to read, and my phone charger. I did surprise my boss at how early I was, so that was a bonus.

Looking ahead: The earliest flight my dad and his wife could get out of Seattle would arrive at around 11PM on Christmas Eve. Unfortuantely for them it is supposed to start snowing again in Seattle before their flight leaves, so they may be stuck there for a while longer. If that happens I might crash some friend's Christmas dinner. Hopefully, they will make it back though.

Serial Cereal Reviews: Total Cinnamon Crunch

I've always enjoyed the idea of Total cereal (100% of certain vitamins and minerals), but its execution has usually left me cold. The original wheat flakes have always tasted kind of weird to me. Kind of hard with a slight metallic taste. Not horrible, but I am only good for about a box of it a year. The one flavor I did like was Total Cornflakes, which they naturally discontinued. I've never even tried any other flavors, but Honey Clusters and Cranberry Crunch to intrigue me. I have never been a fan of raisin bran cereals though.

About a month ago, I see there is a new flavor: Total Cinnamon Crunch. I have a coupon, so I buy me a box. This is a pretty good cereal. Basically it is Cinnamon Toast Crunch for adults, but healthier. Total doesn't have as potent a taste as its little kid cereal brother, but it does stay pretty crunchy in the milk.

How does it fare nutritionally? Depends. Yes, it does provide 100% of your daily needs of some vitamins and minerals. Ones that Cinnamon Toast Crunch only provides 25-35%. You're caloric intake is a bit higher though. Total: 230 calories per serving with milk. CTC: 170. "Wait!" You might say. Total's serving size is 1 cup and CTC is 3/4 cup. I accounted for that, and if you extrapolate the numbers out CTC is still 212.5 calories. Not a humongous difference but every calorie counts.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 bowls.

One last note, this is one of the few cereals that I think tastes better without milk.

Too Much Time?

I have been working were I work now for almost four years now, and I have never taken more than I think 2 days off in a row. which kind of hurt me last year, as I screwed myself out of a week and half of vacation time. Well not this year, pal! I am off this Friday, next Friday, and then I will be off from Christmas until January 2nd. I am eager for the time off. I doubt I will go anywhere. I don't really trust my truck on long drives, and it is too late for me to book a flight anywhere. So, it will just be a staycation. Reading and video games will be the order of the day.

On another note, my new electric knife sharpener works REALLY well. My thumb found that out the hard way last night. I haven't cut myself in a long time while cooking so I guess I was due. It is the same thumb I almost cut off 15 years ago while cooking at work.

Legion Sketch #5

After battling a long bout of laziness. I finally continue the sketchbook extravaganza:


This time we got Night Girl by Ben Dunn, the godfather (or is that grandfather?) of American manga. Perhaps best known as the creator of Ninja High School, and Marvel's Mangaverse I think he did a bang up job here. I believe Ben lives in the Houston area so he makes it to quite a few shows up in the Dallas area. If not Houston then somewhere in Texas.

Who knew Night Girl had such big boob?