Gentlemen Start Your Engines

This starts the week to end all weeks for us here in Indy. Not only is the 500 mere days away but in TV Land this is the end of sweeps so all the big guns come out!! I have to be at the race track at 3:45am on Race Day and I am told it's going to be hot!!! End of sweeps means big push for good numbers this period. We actually made so good headway against number one and beat them at 5 and 6 several times. All good for the station but nothing trickles down to us 'button pushers'.

Another busy weekend at the homestead, put up another light fixture (dining room) and went car shopping for a new mini-SUV (like the Outlander) and played a little baseball (the boy went 1-2 1bi, 1 sb and a walk) in which we won 5-0 in our first complete 6 inning game of the season. The boy has gotten a hit in every game so far, some of them are slap singles but a hit is a hit.

Sopranos finally delivered last night and looks like it is setting up for the final season next year. Deadwood and The Shield are the only shows left with new episodes for me so it looks like we can catch up on movies we missed.

Speaking of movies we saw Troy this weekend. Pitt is the main attraction and any mythology buffs looking to see a more historical interpretation of this battle will be sorely disappointed. It is the Hollywood Troy, the NBC Mini-Series Helen was closer to the original. Hell the battle only lasted 12 days instead of 10 years. I know they take liberties in Hollywood but Troy was destroyed, babies thrown from the walls to their deaths, Helen betrays Paris and no one survives. They do NOT escape through an underground tunnel to live happily ever after. I can see why people actually got up and left during the final battle. People take the hint from this and The Alamo, happy endings are passe', be more accurate in your portrayal of history in movies.

Rupert and The Boy 

"My Brush with Niceness" or Aaaarrrghhhhh (Part 2)

Today I had the honor of meeting the most popular Survivor All-Star. Yes Rupert was at work today doing our morning newscast. I do not have to be here until 10:30am but this morning I woke up early and got the boy moving. "Where are we going at 6:15?", he asked. "I have to do something at work.", I responded. "Oh, I am recording your station because Rupert is on the news, what do you have to do at work?". "Meet Rupert, want to come??" The rest of this conversation is lost to the generations by the yelling and pounding of feet up the stairs to get dressed and find his bookbag.

We arrived at the station by 7am and I showed the boy around to my co-workers while we were still on the air. We hit a 5 minute break and went into the studio with everyone else, one other co-worker had brought her child and Rupert went right up to the kids and started talking to them, he politely posed for pictures with everyone (kids, parents and crew) then when all was done he just hung out with us. There were only a few of us with cameras (pics to come) and that got out of the way fast. Rupert just hung with us and talked of Survivor and Indy and life in general. He answered a few questions and told a few funny stories.

I did what I've always tried to do when meeting someone whom I admire or have been entertained by, I shook his hand and said Thank You. That's it, no autographs, I asked for a picture with my boy and when I said thanks he said give the camera to one of his buddies so I can be in a picture.

All in all it was a great time, he was a very nice, down to earth, 'regular' guy who hung out with the crew and kept the upstairs people waiting. The boy got to go to school with a picture (Thanks you Canon Digital Photography) of him and hometown hero Rupert and a good story or two.

Me, I got to meet a nice guy and score HUGE Cool Dad points.

Thank You Rupert

YYYAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!

Rupert won the million on Survivor last night! Not only was he my vote I also picked the best Survivor moments (Rupert steals the shoes), best villain (Johnny Fairplay), and Hottest Chick (Amber).

I feel great for Rupert, not only is he a neighbor (next town over) he will do some nice things with the money and the fact is HE is the Ultimate Survivor in my mind. He played it the way it should be played, not the backstabbing/deal making/'snake in the grass' way that Richard Hatch made it. But the "You've been stranded on an island and must go it on your own to survive" way the game started out the be in the beginning. Maybe that is why I like The Amazing Race better. Overcoming physical and mental challenges in foreign locations to beat other teams dealing with the same challenges. Sure there are alliances between teams but in the end it is about your ability getting thru the situations and how much better (or worse) you do compared to the other teams......

That said, congrats Rupert and I will be in front of the tube come September for the next Survivor.

PS Rupert has a website at www.rupertb.com

Adrift in the Virtual Sea

Been away for awhile. Indy is crazy busy during May. The Mini went well this weekend. It is the largest half marathon in the country with over 33,000 runners this year. I enjoyed it, it was hard work and I was up earlier than I have been in months but we all did a great job and I look forward to what else this new job has to throw at me. We still have 4 more live shows this month not including Race Day, oh and it is sweeps in TV Land so news is a bear as well.

Gas is over $2.00 now, Sam's Club/Costco has it for $1.79 but that has got us thinking about a new, smaller, more economical car. Since I have the SUV, I get to trade in my truck. There aresome nice mini/compact SUV's we've seen. I am partial to the PT Cruiser or Vibe and the wife likes the Sante Fe, we'll see.

Bought a grill and set up the deck!!!! We've been grilling every night and enjoying our quite backyard from the deck. Now I must mulch, weed and mow (not in that order).

The boy did well Saturday, 1-2 2bi, had one error at catcher and made a nice attempt at Shortstop, the other coaches told him to blame his parents for not having that "height" gene. They stopped the game at 5 innings due to game length but it was very close and they should have just let the boys play one more inning.

That is all.

Happy Mothers Day

Hope all you mothers had a great day.

We had a cookout with the wife, my mother, my sister (new mother) and assorted relations. All in all a good time.

Treat you mother extra special the whole week.

Waiting Under the Tree

Oh and that nice quiet birthday was great. We saw 42nd Street downtown and I got Rush In Rio DVD from the boy, and The Family Guy Season 3 and The Tick the Complete Series DVDs from the wife. All is good.

Rainy Day Ramblings

It's Saturday morning at 10:30am and I have already brought in the garbage pails, gassed up at the local rip off station, and played a baseball game.

We had an early game this morning, made even earlier by picture day. It was a rain shortened game (5 innings) and we lost 5-1. The boy had a GREAT hit today, a stand up double. Went right over the center fielders head. The team is looking good, we had hitters every inning and were always threatening to score. The game was a lot closer as the ball was slippery and we had a few miss throws top of the 5th, that's when the umps called it.

Got to work around the house today. Painting two rooms and finishing my office. Paperwork seems to breed on my desk. It is very disturbing. Tonight is dinner at a steak house for the birthday with the family. I already told them I will not dance around with a sombrero like they made my father do last year. I will NOT!!!

Til Later