Out of town and this week's word

Well, I am out of town and I wanted to just write a quick message to let you all know I won't be on for a while. Good thing I checked though, because it looks like I have been tagged for this week's word. Let's go with "happy."

Ok, other than that, that is it for me for about a week. I am out of town doing Christmas things and then I am off to Disneyland. Have a safe holidays everyone and I will see you on Sunday....

Belated gift

I am such a bad blogger friend. Because of an oversight, I accidentally left Tara out of my gift giving. I got the gift and everything, but when it came to posting it, it got left in the folder. I feel bad because she is one of the few people who comment on a consist ant basis. So again, sorry Tara, here is your gift...

I got her this book as she has done some guided tours in haunted places. Since she seems to enjoy it, I figured she needed a book to take it to the next level.





So, instead of a Frightful Dilemma question, here is a pondering question in honor of my forgetfulness - have you ever done something bad to another blogger on accident that you felt bad about? Or heck, did you do something on purpose to another blogger that you felt bad about?

Time For Presents

It is time for my second annual gift giving post where I give gifts to my fellow bloggers. Here ya go everyone....

First, for Sushi. Her stories of being a waitress crack me up. Sure, she probably won't be doing this much longer as she just graduated college, but until she starts her new career, here is a funny t-shirt I felt she would appreciate!




For Val, my fellow comic lover, an awesome statue of her favorite character - Rogue!



For Mrs. Big Hairy Woman - Well, she is from Canada and is proud of it, so why not a shirt for all to see!



For Night Panther, the awesome photographer - this novelty shirt cracked me up when I saw it so I figured it would be perfect for him.



For Rhys, my fellow blogger from across the pond - I got him a Wii shirt (bunch of shirts this year) as he has often declared his live for this great video game system.



I got Sebastian, a fellow blogger who has been M.I.A with a sickness a get well package. Hope to see you back blogging soon buddy.



I figured Sonja, who reads more than anyone I know, could use a comfortable pillow to use when she is reading in bed. Looks pretty comfy to me!



Jerry, the ultimate San Diego sports fan, gets a pack of Chargers shirts. Look how you can mix and match them!



Jose gets the most expensive gift on the list. This is the ultimate karaoke machine with video, speakers, etc. It truly is a unique and awesome machine and he can practice his love of singing whenever he wants.



Laura works in a library so I found the librarian action figure! It comes with all these props and even makes a sshhh sound when you press a button!



Michelle is quite the crafty person so this book of scrapbooking ideas seems right up her alley!



Sharon is a big fan of birds and her bird Mooky is adorable. Hopefully she likes this Macaw calendar.



I had a hard time deciding what to get Alien as there were a ton of cool things to choose from. I chose this alien autopsy game which works very much like the game, Operation.



Churlita got a pretty expensive gift too. As she is a big fan of Guitar Hero, I figured she would like Rock Band. It is a blast!



My cousins haven't blogged for a while as I know they have been bust with life/jobs/etc, but since they were children of the 80s(and late 70s), I figured they would love this box set of 80s songs. I am sure it is like totally rad!



If you have ever been to Dmarks site, this shirt I found needs ZERO explanation. I will leave it at that!



Evil E does a great themed post on Tuesdays where he posts pictures of graffiti he sees around town. This book of graffiti of the world should be interesting to him I would think!



And there you have it! Hope everyone enjoyed their gifts!

When it counts...

As I have been talking about on my blog, I have been struggling at poker lately. In fact, I hadn't won a tournament in over 5 months! Losing time after time like that is not something I am used to. We play every 2 weeks at my house and have a fairly big game (10-16 players each game). Each game is its own seperate tournament, but we also put in some extra money for the player of the year tournament and earn points each game based on how we do. These points earn us chips for the player of the year tournament. Somehow, I have been able to win the player of the year the last 2 years. Going into this year's player of the year tournament though, I was not big on confidence based on the current losing streak.

Somehow, I was able to pull out the victory on Saturday. With 16 of us playing, I knew it would take nothing short of a miracle to win. I thought about changing the way I had been playing because what I was doing obviously hadn't worked for the last 5 months. It worked the previous 2 years, but the well had run dry. After thinking about it though, I remembered that my losing streak was due more to the extremely bad luck I had been getting and not the poor play. I decided to stick it out and play the same way.

A couple of people took huge chips leads in the tournament, but I played my game and never really wavered far from the amount of chips I started with. Suddenly, about 4 hours after we started, it was down to just me and my opponent. Even then, my back was up against the wall as he had around 13,000 chips to my 2,000. I didn't panic though, and about 15 minutes later, I was able to take the lead and eventually the win. I won almost $300 for 1st place, but it really wasn't about the money at all. What made me happy is that after struggling for so long, I was able to still rise to the occasion when the championship was on the line. I was able to earn player of the year for the third year in a row. I was able to prove to myself and everyone else that I can play. This third championship is extra sweet!

Evil E's Saturday Scavenger Hunt #10

I am making a habit of doing these on Sunday! This week's word comes courtesy of Alien who picked the word "card." Here is what I came up with...


This first one is a picture of Leia reading her birthday card on Friday. Such a smart girl...




Every year, we put the Christmas cards we get on the front door. Here is what we have received so far...




Here is a closeup of the card we got from Rhys. How cool is this...he made buttons for his blog and included them in his Christmas cards! That is bloody brilliant!



Here is the most impotant of the pictures. This was last night on my card table as I became the champion of my poker league for the third year in a row. Much more on this story next post...



I haven't looked to see what it is the word for this week, but I will let you know soon.

Basically one week 'til Christmas. I am going to be on vacation the whole week of Christmas so I will make sure to make good use of my blogging time this week> Here is the schedule...

Tuesday - Poker tournament story...

Wednesday - Like I did last year, I will virtually hand out gifts to all my fellow bloggers. Be sure to stop by to see what you are getting! Everyone, even those who haven't commented on here in a long while, will get a gift so don't miss it.

Friday - Frightful Delimma Friday and Misc. stuff

Saturday - Saturday Scavenger Hunt

Have a good week everyone...

Frightful Dilemma Friday #13

Happy Friday! As you can see, I made a few changes to my layout. Most of them are minor, but improvements nonetheless; but the main change is my custom banner I have above. This was made by one of the guys in my video game clan, Happyflapjacks. We were talking one day and he mentioned he used to do web design and one thing led to another and resulted in the banner above. I LOVE it. Jess and I had dinner with him the other night as he was in town for a business trip. Nice to meet someone you have only talked to on your blue tooth while blowing up the opposition! OTD for life!

I'm glad everyone liked the pics I took. Since it was Wordless Wednesday, I couldn't tell you that I took those in downtown Sacramento the other day. There are a lot of old houses there and since I had my camera to take pictures of Jessica's mismatched shoes, I decided to take advantage of the shot opportunities since I was downtown already.


Finally, it is time for Frightful Dilemma Friday again!

Would you rather....

have a digitally blurred face like criminals on tv...

or...

have a range of motion reduced to how a GI Joe action figure can move?

Tomorrow's word is card. Come back to see the pics!

Wordless Wednesday #22

Where does the line start?

The poster for the movie event of 2008 was just released. This, along with movie stills released the last couple of weeks, has me "giddy as a school boy!" This movie can not come fast enough!

Evil E's Saturday Scavenger Hunt #9

This week's word was "light." Being the Christmas season, I knew I could find something to shoot. I had a lot of fun with this one...



First, a picture of our Christmas tree. The light didn't come out quite as sharp or clear as I wanted them and I missed with a few things. Maybe someone with photographic knowledge could let me know. Aperature setting? Shutter Speed setting?



Here is a picture I messed up on when shooting the tree, but I thought it looked cool enough to post...



Here is a Santa statue thingy with lights we have. I thought the stars behind it looked cool on the wall.



This is a light in the parking structure I was in the other day. If you look closely, you can see a spider in the lower right hand corner of the light.



This is what happens when you put on your shoes in the morning WITHOUT light. Jess wore two different colored shoes to work on Friday and I had to save her by bringing the correct shoe.



This is the worst kind of light - a red light!



After I took the red light, I saw that the clouds behind it looked cool so I decided to take a picture of the sunlight and clouds. I think it came out pretty well.




My fellow blogger Night Panther, a GREAT photographer, participated this week so be sure to go look at his great light pictures he took!

I haven't looked at what next week's word is, but I can't wait to see.....

Trivia Thursday #14

What is this? Trivia Thursday 2 weeks in a row?!?!?


Enjoy...

1. What bird was first domesticated by man?

2. The average hen lays how many eggs a year?

3. A pig orgasm last for how long?

4. What desert has an area larger than the continental U.S.?

5. Who was the top-selling album artist of the 1970s, according to Billboard?

6. What color are a zebra's black stripes during the first six months of life?

7. What mineral accounts for 35 percent of the Earth's composition?

8. What four-word TV slogan did Sting add to the Dire Straits hit Money for Nothing?

9. What computer was introduced in 1984 Super Bowl ads?

10. What planet is the brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon?

Wordless Wednesday #22

Chip Reese
March 28, 1951-December 4, 2007
RIP

Top Five Tuesday #17

I haven't done a Top 5 Tuesday since September! Jess and I are sitting here watching Enemy of the State since we hadn't seen it in a while and it made me think of other Will Smith movies I like. It's pretty timely too as "I am Legend" comes out next week. I am excited about it since I LOVE the story it is based on. I know they are going to change some parts, and I even see some parts that are different in the trailer, but I will enjoy it for what it is - a movie loosely based on a story I love.

With that being said, here are my favorite Will Smith films...

#5 - Enemy of the State - A fun film that deals with the government watching over our lives and the issues with privacy. Well, that is the undertone of the film, but it is really just another kickass action film by Tony Scott, who has made other great films like Top Gun, Deja Vu, Man on Fire, and one of my personal favorites, The Last Boyscout. This movie pretty much never stops from the first scene.













#4 - Men in Black - The first time I saw this, it was really one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. The banter between Smith and Jones is priceless and the humor is just hysterical. It is just too bad that the legacy of this film had to be ruined by a subpar sequel.














#3 - Bad Boys - This was the first movie I saw Will Smith in post Fresh Prince of Bel Air days. I had a hard time thinking he could be an action star, but this movie convinced me otherwise. The way that Smith and Lawrence interact is amazing and they really play off each other well. To top it off, it is an awesome action film, but what else do you expect from Michael Bay?














#2 - Bad Boys II - I was hesitant about this movie because I liked the first so much, and when I saw this sequel for the first time, I wasn't quite sure what to think. I mean, I liked it, but was it better? After repeated viewings of both, I actually like the sequel better simply because the action is that much better. Sure, it is a little over the top, but I think that is what makes it so enjoyable. The scene where dead bodies are falling out of a van during a chase scene - priceless!












#1 - Independence Day - Summer blockbuster film at its finest. The acting isn't very good, the storyline is cheesy and silly, but damnit, it keeps me hooked for 2 and a half hours of mindless entertainment. Even sitting here thinking about it, I am amazed at just how silly some scenes are, but it does what it is supposed to do - amaze me with special effects, big explosions, and wow moments!


So what is your favorite Will Smith Film?

Evil E's Saturday Scavenger Hunt #8

This week's word comes courtesy of Dmarks. He chose the very timely word, "cold." Pretty convenient as this was a fairly cold week here in town. I think we even had some overnight lows under 32 degrees. Yeah, I am sure for some of you, that is your high for the day, but it is cold for us. Here is what I came up with...


After one of our nights with cold overnight temperatures, I wanted to get a picture of the frost on the grass. I was pretty disappointed. This picture was taken at 7am and already, there was barely any frost left. You can see it, but not nearly as much as I thought or hoped....




Here is Jess. Unfortunately, she has had a cold all week. It is going on a week now that she has been sick. My poor baby...




One of my favorite things in life - an ice cold glass of milk. Really, what else needs to be said?




Not sure what the word is this week, but I look forward to finding out. I always love the challenge. Oh yeah, the answers for the trivia are in the comments from the last post...