Iron Man

I haven't been this excited about a comic book movie in a long time. Check out the trailers and start counting down until May when this hits theaters.

PSA

I got one of those forwarded health scare emails about danger to pets and was about to delete it when I realized it was legit. The health scare is, don't feed raisins or grapes to your dog because they may cause acute renal failure killing the animal. I believe it is legit because it is considered true by snopes.com, an excellent website that researches the authenticity of such things. This is scary for me because I sometimes give Yuki raisins. I'll stop doing that now of course.

DON'T GIVE YOUR DOG RAISINS OR GRAPES. IT MIGHT HURT YOUR DOG.

-Thanks to Mitsuko for the tip.

Brake-Fast Dog Bowl

I stumbled onto this dog bowl at Amazon.com. The bowl's design prevents your dog from bolting their food. The obstructions make dogs slow down to eat. The bowl is also designed to slide around on the floor further slowing Fido's meal time. Yuki tends to wolf his food down way too quickly. I'd consider this bowl for him except for the fact that it costs $36.00.

Juicy Fruit Change

Everyone has chewed a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. For years the formula has been the same: yellow package, silver foil wrapper, grey stick of gum. Well, that formula has changed.

The yellow package is still the same.


The silver foil wrapper is still the same.


But the grey stick of gum has transformed into a yellow stick. It seems Wrigley's has added yellow food coloring to the mix.

No word on whether Double Mint now contains green food coloring.

Halo 3 Flaming Helmet

I was playing a little Halo 3 online when, for the first time ever, I happened into a game with a Bungie employee. Bungie is the company that makes Halo. You can tell he's an employee because of his flaming helmet, a visual perk that no one else can get.

DANGER

The iTunes free single of the week is Danger's 11h30. It's a very interesting upbeat electronic track. Definitely worth picking up for the low price of free.

More New Stuff at McDonald's

While I was trying out the McCafé at Micky D's, I noticed some other new stuff. Specifically, sweet tea and DVDs. As you can tell from the sweet tea sign, McDonald's has begun to adopt the "Micky D's" nickname and make it their own.

Heavenly Hash

Many years ago, there was an ice cream parlor in Jonesboro called Larry's Ice Cream. Their signature flavor was called Heavenly Hash. I haven't heard that name again until recently when I was in a Walgreen's. I noticed a candy egg called the Heavenly Hash Egg. It's a chocolate covered egg with marshmallow and almond filling. It's made by the Elmer Candy Corporation in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. It's a tasty egg to be sure.


Heavenly Hash is an odd name though. If you google the term, you get recipes like this one that features undercooked rice. Weird.

Heavenly Hash

1 bag miniature marshmallows
1 -15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained, juice reserved
1 jar maraschino cherries, halved, drained, juice reserved
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 cups cooked white rice (slightly undercooked, not well done), chilled
¼ cup powdered sugar, or to taste

Yuki in Warhol Style

The New Knight Rider

As a kid, I loved the original Knight Rider. As you may know, they're testing the waters with a new pilot version of the show. A new Michael Knight. A new K.I.T.T. I watched the new show, and although it was bad, I still think I would enjoy seeing it come back for a run. I'd definitely Tivo it.


This is the new K.I.T.T. - a Shelby Mustang.


Here's the old K.I.T.T. - a Firebird.


This is from the new pilot. The old Michael Knight hands over the reigns to the new one.

McDonald's McCafé vs. Starbucks

As you may know, McDonald's is taking on Starbucks in the fancy coffee game. I haven't seen this in Lincoln yet, but the McCafé coffee project is all over Kansas City. I was coming from KC this morning, and as luck would have it, for a limited time McDonald's is doling out free McCafé every Monday for awhile. So, I was able to try two different drinks for free. First, I had a mocha. It was prepared much as Starbucks baristas prepare them. They gave me the choice of regular or nonfat milk. I went nonfat. It was topped with whipped cream. It was a good mocha. It was a little sweeter than Starbucks, but totally acceptable. The next drink I had was the cappuccino. I got this with nonfat milk too. It bothered the lady that I didn't want any sweet element in it. She offered caramel and vanilla, but I just went plain. It was a pretty good drink. The only disappointing part about the drinks were the menu prices. I was hoping that McDonald's would come in a lot cheaper than Starbucks. Sadly, they were only a little bit cheaper. The 12 ounce mocha costs $2.29, medium was $2.79, and large was $3.29. To be sure, that's cheaper than Starbucks, but not by much. Given a choice, the Starbucks atmosphere would draw me in favor of McDonald's. However, if I was just driving through, getting a mocha from Mc's will be a good option

Jack does Veggies!

Here is Jack's second "professional" photo. He's a vegetable chef!

Jack's First Consonant Video

Dum Dum

Even at 90% off these Dum Dum valentines aren't flying off the shelves! Makes you wonder who the real dummy is. Certainly not the consumer!

Another Week in the Life of a Small Baby

Jack had a good week though we think he may be starting to come down with another cold - at this point it seems much less serious than his first cold though. Jack listened to some good albums this week including: Toto - 4 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska Bob Marley - Legend R.E.M. - In Time: The Best of R.E.M. He also really got into his jumping some more:



He started petting Kodak - who appears to be his favorite beagle.



All in all, life as a baby ain't half bad.

Mullins Taken Down

I've been playing a video game called "Burnout Paradise" online with Mullins. It's an open world driving game where you travel more than 250 miles of city and mountainous roadways racing and dodging traffic in speedy sports cars. If you cause someone to crash, you get credit for a "takedown". As the crash victim's car dramatically explodes apart in the game, the camera snaps a picture of the crashed player's face and sends it to the player who caused the crash. In the pictures below, you can observe Mullin's fury at being taken down by me.

M - O - O - N - That spells Moon!

I just snapped up a deeply discounted Moon Projector at discovery.com

Ridin' with a Yellow Dog

No - not the famous Buck 65 song Wicked and Weird (btw - Buck has a new album out) but I'm talking Ranger. He's now acquired his second donkey and this one makes it painfully obvious that he's a Yellow Dog Democrat! Not sure if he's rooting Obama or Hillary yet but he's one good dog regardless.

btw - there are some pretty good songs on that new Buck disc. Check out 1957...

Discount Dyson

Robert and Steph's Dyson has long held the top dog spot in the family's never ending vacuum cleaner war. We've wanted to match guns with a Dyson of our own, but could never stomach the more than $500.00 price of entry. That all ended today when we discovered the highest powered Dyson, the DC17 Absolute, marked down from $550.00 to $494.00. Paired with our 30% off coupon, we walked out of Kohl's with the high end Dyson for $348.00 plus tax. Animal hair beware!

Duplicate Music

Erin spent a few hours organizing all our CD collection, putting them in alphabetical order and such. Turns out we have quite a number of duplicate discs. Let us know if you're interested in any of them. Here's the list:

Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
Bush - The Science of Things
Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits
Creed - My Own Prison
Chicago - Greatest Hits (1982 - 1989)
Extreme - III Sides to Every Story
Godsmack - Godsmack
Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl
Green Day - Dookie
Handful of Dust - Children of the Apocalypse (2 copies)
Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
Metallica - And Justice for All
Metallica - The Black Album
Metallica - Load
Metallica - Reload
Outcast - The Love Below/Speakerboxxx
Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree
REO Speedwagon - The Hits
Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
Tool - Aenima
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Weezer - The Blue Album

Field Trip Day

The first day of the long week-end was spent in the foothills. We could still see some snow on the sides of the road but no snow shoes here. It was sunny and 60! We first took Jack to the Jack Russell Brewery where we sat out on the lawn, picnic'd a bit and enjoyed a cold one.


A picnic still doesn't mean more more than a bottle to Jack but he was happy to get it outside vs. in his nursery. No - there was no India Pale Ale in his bottle!



After the picnic Jack was in a great mood and started babbling away so we ventured on to two wineries as well. We tried Boeger and Jodar - two good ones that specialize a bit more in reds. Good Barbera today at both.

Finally, Jack wanted to take a look at an old John Deere so Mom took him over for a closer look.

President's Week-end Is Here!

We've been working with Jack on "sitting practice". Here he sits in his bumbo intently playing.



Putting away the CDs he listens to as lullabys which include the following:

Bryan Adams - Into The Fire
The Outfield - Any Time Now
Counting Crows - Hard Candy
Train - Live Disc
Eagles - One of These Nights
Matchbox Twenty - Exile on Mainstream
Madonna - True Blue
Etta James - The Definitive Collection
Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Willie Nelson - The Essential

Valentine's Day Heart-Shaped Pizza Pie

Instead of suffering among the crowds of couples trying to eat out on Valentine's day, we decided to celebrate with a heart-shaped Papa Murphy's pizza pie. If you think about it, this is just a clever way for Papa Murph to charge the consumer more money for less pizza. Alas, if only the circle were the symbol of love instead of the heart, we'd have more leftovers in the fridge. Alas!

HEART-SHAPED PIE BEFORE COOKING

HEART-SHAPED PIE AFTER COOKING

Wildly Cherry M&M's

New limited edition Wildly Cherry M&M's are now in stores. The flavor reminds me of those really low end chocolate covered cherries you see in the deep discount bin at Wal-Mart after Christmas. These things aren't wildy cherry, they're wildly bad! Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!

Dolphins win the Super Bowl

It is akin to the NFL deciding that all teams would make the play-offs this year and then the Miami Dolphins - winners of 1 game in the regular season going undefeated and winning the Super Bowl.

That exactly will little Uno, the 15" Beagle just pullled off at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this year! Beagles throughout the world were howling with pride.



Watch this Champion pup in action!

Uno Takes Best in Show

To thunderous applause, Uno the beagle takes blue!






While Yuki did lend Uno support, he still holds a grudge against Westminster for not allowing so called "mixed breeds" into the show.

All for Uno, Uno for all!

Yuki, Jake, Kodak and Ranger have unified their support in this year's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. They're all supporting Uno the beagle! Come on Uno! Only you can bring the beagle back to prominence!

Nicholson Sited

Erin's cousin is spending a semester in London and happened upon the European premier for the new Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie "The Bucket List". She was able to take this sweet snap of Nicholson.

A Day in the Life of Jack

Now that Jack is nearly back to 100% and over his first big cold we're getting him out and about. He had his first trip to Napa to visit a friend visiting from Pennsylvania. He visited two wineries on the Silverado trail: Pine Ridge and Silverado. While he didn't have any wine he did get some green beans.

As you can see, Jack seems to enjoy the beans but his favorite at this point remains rice cereal. He also likes oatmeal and bananas but we've been advised to focus more on veggies rather than fruits for the time being. We'll do beans for the week and then maybe try some squash. He also remains a messy eater but that's to be expected.






Here Steph, Kelly and Jack enjoy a break from wine tasting at the Napa timeshare.

It was a long day as we encountered lots of Bay Area to Tahoe traffic on the way home. Jack slept the whole way and wasn't anxious to get up even when we got home.

As an aside he turned 6 months last week. He is now 2'1" tall and weights just over 14 pounds. Still on the small side - much like the town of Melbeta, Nebraska - "small but mighty"

A man, a car, a hat, a dog. But no top.

Arkansas State Wolves

The polo shirts and warmups aren’t in yet, but Arkansas State’s coaches tried on their new mascot for size.
The school announced “Wolves” as its choice to replace “Indians,” Arkansas State’s mascot since 1931 before it fell out of favor with the NCAA in recent years.
Said hoops coach Dicky Nutt, "We’ll always be the Indians, but for name’s sake we’re changing our name and we need to move forward.... Wolves is as good as anything. If that’s what we’re doing then, hey, we’ll be proud of that, then we’ll be the Wolves.”
ASU Chancellor Robert Potts will decide whether the name should be the Red Wolves, Black Wolves or just plain Wolves

The Oreo Cakester

Some 6 months ago, a product called the Oreo Cakester hit stores. This is the kind of thing I would usually pick up to try in order to post a little review on the blog. I did not try the Cakesters upon their debut, however, because I got early word from an individual that Cakesters were horrible. So bad, in fact, that the informer had refused consume the Cakesters that he had purchased. Tonight, however, I noticed that Cakesters are now being sold in much smaller packages than previously. I decided to see for me self just how bad these things were. Imagine my surprise then, when I bit into a Cakester and discovered that they are quiet tasty! In fact, I think I actually prefer this cake-a-fied Oreo to the original cookie!

3M Microfiber Cloth

We learned about this product via Mullins, who learned about it from his sister who works as some kind of engineer at 3M. This rather amazing cloth does an excellent job of cleaning things like LCD displays and other things that smudge that you don't really want to spray glass cleaner on. Incidentally, the washable cloth also works extremely well as a streak free spectacle cleaner without the need for any kind of spray. You really won't understand how much better this is than a regular rag until you try it. It usually runs for $12.00, but Amazon has them on sale for $3.50 at the moment. If you're ordering a book or something, put one of these in your cart and be amazed.

Chelsea Clinton Comes To Lincoln

Gearing up for Saturday's Democratic Caucus, Chelsea Clinton did an hour long Q&A at the Nebraska Union. As you would expect, she was very smooth and did a good job handling questions and talking about Hillary's positions on various issues. I was pretty close to Chelsea and I kept looking for some kind of security or secret service, but I only saw one police officer at the back of the crowd. All in all, it was fun to listen to her, plus I made off with this nifty Hillary for President campaign sign.

Tangeman Brewery

This wall clock from the Tangeman Brewery is being sold on ebay for just over $20.00.

Peanut Butter Whoppers

New on the malted milk ball front: Reeses Peanut Butter Whoppers. They are actually pretty tasty. If you eat only one new malted milk ball flavor this year, make it this one.

Superbowl i-Chat

During the big game Rober and I kept tabs on each other's Superbowl party via laptop video conferencing. Highlights from his end was an appearance by Jack, and later one by Ranger.

Aikman, Buck, Mullins

Wowed by the life-sized projection of the Superbowl on the wall, Mullins decided to join the other announcers to analyze the game.

Valentines Comes Early

Standing in the pharmacy line at Longs Drugs yesterday I noticed a couple chowing through an entire heart-shaped box of chocolates. I later learned they were just passing the time while waiting for there order at the pharmacy.

Here's a candid, secret snap I got with my phone. (My be better viewed by clicking on it)



Happy Valentines Day - on Groundhog's Day no less.

Superbowl Menu Mostly Set

As you can see it'll be taco/nacho bar themed with plenty of treats to round it out. At least one item that is not pictured is pico de gallo of the higher end variety.

WARNING: Do Not Eat

Who doesn't love a scone from Starbucks? They're tasty yes? The Walmart boys decided to copy the concept and have started putting out scones of their own. This blueberry offering does in fact look like a Starbucks scone. Too bad it tastes like a bad muffin. Do yourself a favor and avoid it.

The new Snickers Charged bar looks good on paper. All the taste of a Snickers but with a caffeine/taurine/vitamin B energy kick. The problem is, it has a powerful aftertaste that reminds you of chewing up aspirin. Nasty! The only part I like is the rhino art on the packaging.

Convertible Hat Get Jack's Approval

To encourage Dad to buy a convertible, we bought him a special convertible hat. Here it is on Jack. He drooled a seal of approval.

Yuki Slips Into Photo

The local assessor's office photographed our house for their records. As you can see, they not only snapped the house, but also a happy, perky eared animal through the glass door.