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To all my 2 readers Happy New Year! Let it be no worse than this one! I have wached Hancock yesterday and liked it a lot. Better than some other superhero movies in my opinion. I watched the last Mummy, very enjoybale flick, lots of action little pretense, funny as hell. An also watched the first 20 minutes of War Inc. I couldn't stand it for more than 20 minutes. As much as I like both Cusacks, this was a farce, and not a smart one. The jokes and homages were lame. What I usually like about Cusack's movies is the interchanges between characters. Not chemistry between John and Marissa Tomei. Again, that's the last post for this year. I'll be piss drunk in about 5 hours.

My two weeks of vacation are into the second week. I am procrastinating the hell out of it. My days consist of playing the new Prince Of Persia, which is a visual masterpiece, occasionally going to the gym, and trying to watch a lot of movies. I haven't watched a lot of movies so far. I did watch Hellboy II. I found it extremely enjoyable. The story isn't too bad, the acting is good, although Selma Blair is slipping IMHO. The visuals are great, del Toro's style is absolutely amazing. Today I will be watching Hancock. The idea of an anti-hero hero is always appealing to me and Will Smith has grown as an actor in leaps and bounds. I do have an assignment due next week, but I just can't force myself to start on it yet. An ethical case study based on the bribery and international business corruption policies and laws. --------------------------- In other stupid news, Illinois goverement has FAILED to stop Gov. Blah-go-blah-blah from selecting a senate appointee. How the hel...

We are back home today on the trails of sub 60 temperatures and a helluva rain. The water actually started sipping slowly through the grouting in the office. If we would have made it later in the day and turned the pump much later in the day I would have had a small flood on my hands. Rested? Maybe. Happy? Possibly. I had great time with the family. The Little One forced me to go onto a three-story slide on a tube. Very enjoyable process especially since you slide right into a lazy river type atraction in the end. Weekend is here, and the fridge is empty. Time to go shopping.

I have pictures to show from yesterday. We've had a lot of fun. The Little One enojyed the ski school for a at least two hours. I have decided to try out for cross country skiing. I have failed. Partially because the snow wasn't really trampled enough to make good skiing experience. Partially because I can't ski. It was more like skating, slipping and sliding, and falling down a lot. I don't fall when I skate actually. So after going for about half-a-kilometer I returned with my ass beaten figuratively and literally. My legs hurt as hell too. Oh, well. At least the waterpark has a jacussi.

We are leaving Chicago weather for couple of days. And where do you go to escape Chicago weather, why the silly schmucks we are, Wisconsin of course. The land of cheese, Greenbay Packers fans, and nothing else really (I always leave my Bears stamped clothes at home when I go to Wisconsin). My wife has found an awesome deal in Timber Ridge Lodge, which is about 60 miles away from the house. This is the second time we are coming here. We like the Lake Geneva area, which remains to be a sort of get away spot for well-to-do Yappies and their loved ones. The kid will love the in-door waterpark and the skiing, we thinking of putting her back on the skys (skies?) And I'll enjoy doing mostly nothing. I LIKE DOING NOTHING!! Merry Christmas for those whole celebrate it, and Happy Holidays for those who don't.

It's still snowing. And from the looks of it it's going to snow till tomorrow. I think I've had enough. I am going to clean it right now. If I don't come back send in a St. Bernard. With a lot of wine, LOT OF WINE!

The weather and staying home is getting to me. I am seriously considering hibernation these days. Instead of typing I am reverting to lazy picture posting. Here is another one. I think our gutters are filled with snow. This picture was made out of Little One's bedroom window. ------------------ Oh, Yeah. I stayed until eleven watching the Bears game yesterday. I can't believe they've won. This could have been the most exiting nail biting 4th quarter EVER! All hope is now on Vikes loosing to Giants and Bears thrashing Houston.

It's been very cold couple of days. I've seen ice on the inside of my windows. Enjoy this little bit while I try to get defrosted.

Still trying to enjoy the snow. My long legs can be an excellent rudder and balance controling thingies.

It's snowing again. It snowed all through the night and we've got about 8" accumulation. I've cleaned everything, at some point my Toro couldn't take the snow anymore, so I was shoveling. Now it's snowing again.

You know you are old, when you think about getting a cold while thinking of copying your kid. Enjoy.

I think there is a deity that simply does not like Tuesdays. Luck would have it, as I need to go to school, it was snowing again. It was much worse than last week's snow. Nothing was cleaned. The distance from work to school that, on a regular day, would take me half-an-hour, took me approximately one-and-a-half. Last week in the snow it was only an hour. I actually had to, to save time before the class presentation, eat my Panda Express while I was pushing and releasing the break pedal. The releasing part was happening only every three minutes or so, so I was safe. Usually on the way back, which happens around nine or ten o'clock, the roads are clean and nice. Not this time. The 294 was part skating rink, part half-pipe. One of the rare times in the year when I regret giving up on the four-wheel drive. The presentation went good. We were supposed to do a second series in the adopt-a-culture assignment. It covered operational aspects of conducting business in Russia. My teammat...

Thanks to Jim i have take a test to see if I am smarter than a fifth grader. Here's the LINK I scored 12/13. The only question I missed was 9. Which I guess is me not getting it. Jim also goes on a slight rant about the state of general education. IMHO, partially the reason is the tests themselves. Multiple questions allow for students to guess at the answer. There is a difference between knowing the answer and knowing how to arrive at the answer. My experience in American High School was that knowing the theory was not that important, we were never tested on it. When I was in school living in Russia, we were tested on the knowledge of theorems as much as knowing how to apply that knowledge. I think that is the advantage. Granted, I am not using them in real life, but you'd be surprized how many times knowing how to get to the answer helped me out, when my peers were just staring trying to guess. UPDATE My brother have noticed that 12 out of 13 does not add up tp 40 questions....

It's Monday and it's cold. The thermometer in my car showed 5F as I was driving to work, prompting me to ponder the sanity of the decision. The windshield is supposed to be -10F. Cold people, cold.

This is a topic I'll try to do every friday or so. I'll put any picture I worth interesting enough, that I have taken throughout the week. There's two this week. A nice set of clouds and a full moon over the town.

The Munchkins had their annual recital in the day-care yesterday. I have a larger and longer video that is more "ahw-shucks-cute", but it needs to be edited. All I have for now is 15 second snippet done by my regular camera. Prepare for the rainbows, bunnies and Unicorns. If this doesn't make you go "Awh, soooo cute!" then you are a evil, right-wing bastard, crusty, Scroodgey, Grinchy, and generally a person to be avoided at all costs. Be warned, Santa is always watching you!

I love words. I always annoy my Wife by asking the etymologies of some words. A here's why I suck at it. An excellent quiz via my Brother on the origins of words. Interesting things really. I scored 2 of 10 on the 1st try, 4 of 10 on the second, and 5 of 10 on the third.

Thank you to Jim . This kind of quiz i simply cannot pass. You Scored as Neo, the "One" . Neo is the computer hacker-turned-Messiah of the Matrix. He leads a small group of human rebels against the technology that controls them. Neo doubts his ability to lead but doesn't want to disappoint his friends. His goal is for a world where all men know the Truth and are free from the bonds of the Matrix. I don't know If I am truly Neo. I speak much more than he does. I say more words in a span of five minutes than Neo does in ALL of the three movies. The next score was 63% as James Bond, followed by Indy at 57%. I'd rather be James Bond. Yeah. That's cool. Tuxedo wearing, with a gun in the pocket. Answering the questions I do seem to be on the evil side of things. I'd think I make a better villain than a hero. Updated What Super Villain Are You? My Results: What Super Villain Are You? Darth Vader...

The weather is very un-winter like, with rain and 40F warmth, and fairly disgusting. On the light side, it seems while I was driving Illinois governor Rod Blagoevich was arrested. The charges are forthcoming around 11am. Updated This are the un-official charges. R. Blagojevich and Chief of Staff Harris The government says the two were "conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits" for the Illinois governor by leveraging his authority to appoint a U.S. senator. Blagojevich has the sole power to appoint a successor to the senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. The U.S. attorney alleges Harris and Blagojevich are "engaging in ongoing criminal activity." Now, I understand corruption in Chicago. It's normal to have corrupted politicians in Chicago, the city was built on it. For those conspiracy theorists. It could seem as a ploy by a Republican party to sabotage Rod's efforts of putting a Democrat in the senate. I don't believe that pe...

I used to hate olives. Really really hate them, to a point of gagging. I have recently tried on a personal dare to eat the big green greek olives with crap stuffed inside of them. Some think it's anchowies, some think it's salmon, i think it's pepper. I've bought a small cup of them yesterday. They were with peppers inside of them, little red jalapenos, sticking out a bit. For those of my readers who ever had a male dog, the picture is precisely what you are thinking. I am not saying anything else. BTW, the peppers were spicy, although not too spicy. My little one take a look at one of them and proudly declares: "Daddy, the chiken almost got out of that one!" And here's the offending fruit (berry? vegetable? what is an olive?) just before I devoured it.

Al right people, please help me decide. If you even show-up who does a better job of rendering Christmas Eve/Carol of the Bells: First contender: Gary Hoey Second contender: Trans-Siberian Orchestra (whose Christmas concert I want to go to for the last 6 years)

I love rock-n-roll. I truly do. not the types of Coldplay (I don't think it's rock), or Fallout Boy(meh), but the old true classic rock that's rarely produced these days. Yet, for whatever weird reason my all time favorite song in the world is Jingle Bells . You can find me whistling it in May, or July, or any other non-Christmasy day or Holiday, all year long. I am Jewish, if not by beliefs (I NEED proof that there is an all powerful force) or observations (I have never been to a synagogue), but the the simple fact of blood and ethnicity. I know what Jewish heritage implies, but prefer to ignore these things for whatever reason. Is that too undecided, weird, or too ambiguous? Of course it is, but that's me. Anyways, I went off the path I was following. I love Christmas. Not the religious holiday of the birth of Christ and the implications, but the government official Holiday. I love it. I get upset if there's no snow on the ground. I love the lighter spirit of thos...

My next assignment for the Global Diversity class is to do a Global Documentary review. Watch a show, make-logical-conclusions-and-things-learned kind of thing. The problem is there is nothing on TV like that! I have scoured through National Geographic, Travel, and History channels to find anything I liked, and I couldn't. It's all about food and sharks (or crocs). Are we becoming so food obsessed nation, that even exploratory and science channels can't give us anything else? On the Travel Channel it's all about steak, burger, sandwich, and deep-fried paradises. I think i will watch the Anthony Bourdain special on the Icelanders, and report on that. Weak, people. Very weak. Does anyone have a suggestion?

I have just got off the phone with a roofing guy who is Polish. Luckily he speaks passable Russian, and I can sort of understand Polish by the way of slightly understanding Ukranian (thanks to my too buddies at work who are born and raised in Kiev). As i asked him when he's going to show up, he said something alike 2-3 godiny (GOH-DEE-NIH, I don't even know how to transcribe the last sound). I almost choked on my last sip of coffee. You see in Russian the root god (GO-HD, short and sharp OH sound) denotes a YEAR. It took me a full minute to remember that in Ukranian godina means an hour ( chas (CH-UH-S) in Russian). I guess living in Chicago means you have to understand Polish, or at least it helps a long way.

I am running out of clever post titles. I think i'll be going with days of the week now, and dates. Monday was a complete waste of time. Jury Duty sucks! All of those episodes of Matlock, Boston Legal, Eli Stone have been wasted. Every single panel number around mine were called. My panel wasn't. I sat there for 8 hours doing nothing but reading the book. It's not a bad thing alltogether as I am almost finished with Cryptonomicon (300 pages read). But still, I can't get rid of sense of dissapointement of not being able to do Justice. *** We've got our first real snow. And it sucked. The weather was terrible, with high winds, constant snow, and bitter cold. It's a good thing I decided to post today, as yesterday I was way more tired and pissed.