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Well, the weekend was full of food. Lotsa food. I have gained 5 pounds, which will force me to go back on the diet again. Dad came over, and we've tried to entertain him to our best abilities, at the same time trying to cover some of the annual events we always go to. First we went to the Long Grove historical german village, for some light knick-knack shopping and apple turnovers. There were also ducks. Next was at the Botanic Gardens for some of these. They have a Winter Wonderland exhibitions every december. What happens is they take their regular train exhibition and put it inside. The create various Chicago landmarks, and make the trains go around them. They also have a nice lights displays. Next day we went to downtown to look at some of these. Annual Marshall Fields (Macys) Holiday window display. This year it was a bit surreal and not as interesting unfortunately. One of the things we haven't done in a while but decided to do is go to Ed Debevecks. If you want a nice...

I am enjoying the Holidays. Dad is with us. I'll post pictures soon. Have a Great Thanksgiving everybody.

Everyone around recently have been posting sunsets. I couldn't because the weather SUCKED! As I was leaving work today, I've caught a glimpse of a big flock of geese flying in the general direction of Minnesota, with a nice sunset in the background.

It's Tuesday and it's got a little better. Time is a wondrous thing, especially when it moves in a single direction. Thank you, Mr. Einstein. I have no school today, holiday week, and besides some light reading I don't really have anything to do. That's a good thing, since I need to complete a work related project by next week. I also have, for the first time since I arrived to the US and became a citizen, a Jury Duty next week. I will attend and if asked I will certainly participate. I am not the kind of person who can truthfully say that I hate these or those, to get dismissed. I don't really hate anybody, and I couldn't live with myself for lying. Anyway, that's all I have, boring as usual. Back to the coal mines.

Well, this could have been one of the worst days od my life. The medication did not help Bugsy that much. He's been getting shakes and tremors all last couple of days. With the heaviest of hearts we've decided to give him the rest he deserved. At 6pm, Nov 23 The Dog has been put to rest. Rest in peace old buddy. We will miss you. I truly hope there is a heaven for dogs, with huge wheels of cheese, squirrels to bark at, and butts to sniff.

I saw this meme at Jason's and then later on my my brother's blog . I have decided to follow suit, since I don't want to do anything else right now. The first questions are about things I might have done. 1. Gone on a blind date . Yes, with disastrous results, although I did not think that at the time. 2. Skipped school . I'll say yes. Knowing myself I have probably attempted, and knowing myself even better most probably succeeded (always a sneaky little bastard i was). 3. Watched someone die. Not yet, but given recent news, maybe something I will have to experience soon unfortunately. 4. Been to Canada. Shameful to say, but I haven't, not once! 5. Been to Mexico. Cancun. 6. Been to Florida. Disney, Miami, Sarasota. 7. Been to Africa. Not yet. 8. Been on a plane. Strange question, but yes, many times and I absolutely love flying. 9. Been lost. When driving, more times than I am willing to admit. Although GPS unit ...

I am a happy person. I love life, I enjoy life, even when I am working. The downside of that is that I can't handle sadness very well. I avoid it, ignore it, to the point of sometimes seeming callous. I can't avoid everything though. Writing and talking about it helps though a lot. I want to thank my Wife, who is my best friend, who keeps up with my whining. I also want to apologize to her, of not offering her the same support she gives me. The Dog finally came home after two MRI's. The prognosis is fairly grim. He has what is called Nerve Sheath Tumor. A malignant bastard that is invading his lower back spinal cord. The doctors told us, that operating would not help and most likely would make it even worse, paralyzing both of his hind legs. They also said that enough of the tumor has diffused with the spinal cord too much for them to be able to remove it completely and safely. While he may still recover the use of the other hind leg, it's not for long. The doctors gave...

As I was reading Roger Ebert's blog, I accidentally came upon a show that I have forgotten about. I used to love watching the Critic. Maybe the highlight of Jon Lovtiz's career.

My google analytics wasn't analyticking anymore. I knnow I've had visitors, through your comments THANK YOU!, but I had at 0 visitations. The drop was a -42%, which saddens me greatly. For those lurkers, from the places new a nd far, Welcome! Couple of weekend thoughts. Quantum of Solace review is below. The Little One absolutely loves the Puppet Theater and sings brand new Russian songs now, something that even makes me break out in a tune. I am one of those people that have a tune stuck in their head from the moment we wake up, unless its broken by an even more annoying tune. On a sadder note, The Dog has suffered a professional sports injury with a torn ACL. Who was he trying to tackle i have no idea. We are taking him in for the second opionion tomorrow. The operation is expensive, and I don't want him to needlesly suffer from the whole procedure. It seemed that at some point last year, he suffered the same injury, which coincided with general arthritis in his spine. Th...

Warning, spoilers are lurking around. Here's my little 2 pence on the latest Bond movie. I like it, production values are awesome. Chases, action sequences, scenery all well done. I watched it on the big screen, as I always do movies of this caliber, and it was worth every shilling I payed for my ticket. Here are the things I don't like. Me, I don't like the brooding Bond. He should be a womanizing, suave, snooty, smart-ass son-of-a-bitch, that's is the way we Americans love our Brits served. Some of the plot choices did not make sense, but it was an action full flick, with no time for an adequate plot line. But water in Bolivia. what the hell? Anyways, the bond villain s not villainy enough. Dominic Greene is a bit weak for a villain name, even if there is an organization behind him. Olga Kurylenko is great as a bond girl, although a bit underused in my opinion. either it's been cut a lot, or she hasn't been given enough. I hope she comes back again. Three more...

I named 10 best picture films in 5 minutes out of 80 or so, that sucked. Although after looking at the full list I wmacked myself on the forehead repeatedly with a DUH! exclamation.

In Honor of the next Bond movie, here's a collection of gunbarrel sequences I have found on youTube. In no particular order: Roger Moore Sean Connery Timothy Dalton Pierce Brosnan Daniel Craig George Lazenby

A new shiny penny for Jason for tagging me on this. A gotta find 5 people though. Here are the rules: 1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet. 2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles. 3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Conversely, all films in the Lord of the Rings series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. In other words, movies are stuck with the...

I don't like Mondays. Do you know why? Weekend procrastination catches up. You have to read in the sports commentaries that Bears suck, especially since you know it's true by watching the Sunday game (maybe that Mr. Obama is the president now he can declare Rex Grossman persona-non-grata in Illinois.) What else can go wrong on Sunday? Oh yes, you have to try to remember everything that you needed to do on Monday. Major headache. Anywho. Our class-team, after little pushing from me, decided that our adopt-a-culture assignment would be about .... wait for it.... wait for it.... SURPRIZE! RUSSIA! After getting an approval from our professor, he reasoned that me living in the States for the past 16 years would not have advantage over others (which really is the truth, old Russia and new Russia, are almost nothing alike). I selected traditions and language topics as my parts of the assignment. Which is not really that hard, but there's a little caveat. A lot of the traditions an...

Few people remeber it anymore. Today is the 91st Anniversary of the Great Communist Revolution in th Russia. Not exactly a holiday, but an event that has certainly affected the world with after-shocks still felt today. Mom is here, came to visit. No more weekened writing.

Obama has won. I am happy for America, that we overcame one of the biggest barriers in history. I am sad for America, because I believe the next couple of years will be the toughest. Obama will be tested by others, thouroughly. His resolve is going to be tested by the likes of Ahmadinejad and Chaves. He has a very nice economical crisys on his hands, and by the looks and sounds of his campaign promises it will not be resolved quickly and painlessly. Still, yesterday when he was announced the winner I FELT something. Something changed in the air and it was visible. People were crying, there was hope on their faces. That means something. When listening to McCain's consession speech, I was moved as well. He HAS humility and descency. He is most assuredely a good MAN. What I didn't like is the booing coming from the Arizonian crowd. That was petty! Any honest defeat should be taken graciously, like John McCain did. But all I saw from the Arizonian crowd is grim resolve as if they w...

I was a the booth a 6 o'clock. About twenty people stood in line. The whole process took about half an hour out of my morning. My wife, went later and it took her about 10 minutes. I guess more people got scared of the long waits, but we live in the suburbs, it's more easy going. How did I vote? I won't tell. But i voted for the common sense not the words, and I know there is no such thing a common sense. I would like to believe that I understand a little about economy, and I understand that economy has very little to do with common sense. Sounds a bit stupid? Maybe. I've made my choice, fully aware that it will not matter in the place where I live. I voted because i believe that no one is truly evil, I believe in second chances, and that vilifying people based on a single representative is wrong. I guess I've given enough hints. I voted for what I believed in. That's the important part.

There is one proverb that I always liked. I even use it as my everyday motto: "Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious". I googled for it, and discovered a whole slueth of the things i liked and laughed to. Here's the list of sayings that I like, even if I don't agree with some of them. "I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow's not looking good either." - typical for any IT involved person "I love deadlines. I especially love the swooshing sound they make as they go flying by." - again i can use this almost every day "Am I getting smart with you? How would you know?" - oh, Lordy! If i had 10 cents everytime i COULD say that. "Someday we'll look back on this and plow into a parked car." - mmm, maybe not plow... but red light definitely. "There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives." "Te...