Rutgers Games Pet Peeve

Stop tucking your Rutgers jerseys into your jeans.

You look as dumb as you think you don't.

WWWWWOOOOO HHHHOOOOOOO

Book 42 of 52 -- Ted Bell's Assassin

Oh crap... I had just finished reading Alex Hawke's character in Hawke... and then he re-appears with his cadre of buddies in the novel Assassin.

Publisher's Weekly sums up the book best -- Experienced action-adventure readers know that it's almost never a good idea for their favorite heroic characters to get married. In the opening pages of Bell's fast and furious second novel featuring the large-living Alexander Hawke, the groom-to-be is having a case of nerves, and readers will find themselves uneasy as well. Sure enough, Hawke's intended, the lovely Victoria Sweet, is shot dead by a sniper minutes after the wedding ceremony. Meanwhile, America has been targeted by the nefarious Snay bin Wazir, known as the Dog for the curious doglike sound he makes when laughing, usually while throttling someone to death. Hawke is joined once again by his "merry band" of series regulars in stopping not only bin Wazir but in finding Victoria's killer, the infamous Scissorhands, risen anew from the pages of the previous Hawke novel. There's a huge cast of colorful killers in a conspiracy spanning the globe, and Hawke and company race from New England to Indonesia dodging bombs, poison and exploding shoes.

Bell writes with such ease that I can't imagine how he writes. It seems so effortless that he must just pop out a 100 pages or so a day and a week later... start editting.

Assassin checks in at 550 pages in paperback format and looks like it is the shortest of the four of his novels freaturing the Hawke character.

This is a fabulous follow up to the book Hawke.

Hey Tucker! You Excited About Tonight????!?!?!?

Oh... sorry to bother you....

Keep sleeping...

Rutgers Football Season Starts Tonight

I got my season tickets...

There is excitement in the air...

Buffalo should be an easy win, but I am not taking anything for granted...even now that Rutgers is good.

I'll see you in the end zone...

Also... keep track of Ray Rice's bid for the Heisman at SeeRayRun.com

GO KNIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taming Tucker on Vacation -- Psycho Dog

When we sleep in our normal bed at home, we cannot normally hear Tucker sleeping because we have an air purifier running.

His normal movements and idiosyncrasies are muffled.

Apparently, Tucker is a bad ass in his dreams because his growls and groans were extremely evident on this trip because we didn't have any fan or anything to drown him out.

For 30 minutes, we yelled at him to shut up and threatened his furry head with severe punishment.

Tucker continued his little growls, completely ignoring us.

Damn... I am jealous of his deep sleep.

Finally... it took me getting up... running over to him... grabbing him by the snout and giving him a good little smack to encourage him to stop his nonsense that shut him up.

The Psychopath was tamed.

FREE Football Pro & College Pick Em & Survivor Football Leagues

FREE Football (Pro & Collge)Pick Em & Survivor Football Leagues

I have set up my normal Football leagues. They are free. Here is how you can sign up if you haven't yet.

PRO FOOTBALL PICK EM LEAGUE (Basic rules this year are... straight pick em with spreads and your worst week is removed, including a ZERO if you forget a week.)

1. Go to http://fantasysports.yahoo.com
2. Login or create a profile
3. Click on the "Pro Football Pick Em"
4. Enter the league information:

League ID#: 8026
Password is asphalt

Feel free to invite anyone.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICK EM LEAGUE (Basic rules this year are... straight pick em without spreads and your two worst weeks are removed, including a ZERO if you forget a week.)

1. Go to http://fantasysports.yahoo.com
2. Login or create a profile
3. Click on the "College Football Pick Em"
4. Enter the league information:

League ID#: 5081
Password is asphalt

Feel free to invite anyone.

SURVIVOR FOOTBALL (Basic rules this year are... You pick one team per week to win. If they lose, you get kicked out. Last one to survive wins.)

1. Go to http://fantasysports.yahoo.com
2. Login or create a profile
3. Click on the "Survival Football" link
4. Enter the league information:

League ID#: 2386
Password is: cheese

Feel free to invite anyone.


Good luck everyone...

Book 41 of 52 -- Ted Bell's Hawke

Ahhhh... there is very little better than sitting by the lake on a vacation with light long pants and a fleece on with a cool breeze blowing off the lake and drinking a beer and enjoying a good spy novel.

The paperback version of Ted Bell's Hawke checks in at a cool 600+ pages and serves as a reminder that quantity is sometimes a good thing.

Ted Bell has a gift for writing and is a great escape for any dreary or sunny day.

Alex Hawke is the protagonist and he is a direct descendant of a notorious pirate.

He is British and helps out the AMerican and British governments much like James Bond does...but he is free lance.

One of the interesting sub plots is that Cuban nationalists are trying to kill Castro and what made it interesting to me is that Castro was an actual character in the book.

Normally... writers use "top staffers" as speaking characters when real life leaders are used, but Bell actually uses Castro.

Something different.

Hawke is a great escape... a really great escape.

Three Word Movie Reviews

300 -- Lots of Fun

Are We Done Yet? -- Seriously... No More....

Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush -- Fascinating Baseball Doc

Casino Royale -- Super Quality Bond

The Dead Zone (1983) -- Best King Adaptation

Disturbia -- Updated Hitchcockian Affair

Firehouse Dog -- Cute....That's It

Fracture -- Good Taut Thriller

God Grew Tired of Us -- Exactly What Seems

Green Street Hooligans -- Powerful Strong Film

Hot Fuzz -- Freaking Awesome Funfest

I Think I Love My Wife -- Sweet... NO LAUGHS

Live Free or Die Hard -- Fun, Wild Ride

Lonely Hearts -- Good Afternoon Time-Killer

Monk (Season 4) -- Get Any Better?

Pathfinder -- Not Worth It

Pride -- Cliche, but Good

TMNT -- Ooof... why? Seriously.

Vacancy -- I actually Enjoyed....

White Light Black Rain -- Wow... Powerful Doc

Wild Hogs -- Wild Pile O'Poo

Zodiac -- Tremendous, Startling Film

More Brian Leonard

COOLIO

Brian Leonard Vs. The Raiders

What a mixed bag of feelings about this one... but look at Brian pulling his leaping move that he did a lot at Rutgers in the pros.

It is exciting but he better watch it or he will get killed in the pros.

Good to Be Back

:)

Final Photo

Enjoy this one. He's practicing lying by the lake by lying by the pool.



God... I really am obsessed with this dog.

VACATION

So.... in just a short 24 hours... Tangentwoman, Smelmooo, and Tucker will be in the 2008 Ford Escape with plenty of tunes (none from Smelmooo's sister, AB and ER... lazy asses) driving up the long way to Maine to spend a week away from the world of New Jersey.

Phew... it's gonna be great...

I know it will.

Great Quote

"Bad timing on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

Seriously...

Get it frigging done.

THIS IS NOT CNN BREAKINIG NEWS

-- President Bush's daughter, Jenna, is engaged to be married, the White House says.

Book 40 of 52 -- Lisey's Story by Stephen King

I am just chugging along here.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King was the latest long winded book that I read.

Lisey's Story is a departure from most of the stuff that King writes. It's subtle and deeper and appears... at least on the surface... to be a tribute to his wife.

The flip side however, is that I think the book is really about himself as the female lead character (Lisey) is forced to discover more about herself while examining the life of her dead husband.

The book is sweet at its core but uses too much of a made up language to make its point.

There were times that I wish I had a study companion or a dictionary at my side just to understand the language.

Brian Leonard

Tangentwoman thinks I am a crazy stalker.

I am following the career of Brian Leonard so imagine my super excitement when I saw him discussed and listed on ESPN!

It was just a pre-season game, but they spoke about him a lot.

Awesome.

Rubber Band Ball Part Deux

Tangentwoman reminded me that I left out an extremely important part to the story.

I started the ball around a ping pong ball.

I am sure it is crushed.... "like grape" (Karate Kid).

Rubber Band Ball -- Mine... ALL MINE

So... we recently gave a tour of our house to some new friends.

When we walked into the office, the female part of the couple was immediately impressed (I am not sure whether it was positively or negatively) at my rubber band ball.

I have been adding to this ball since 1992 when I started a summer job as a shoe store stock person.

I have NEVER purchased or taken a box of rubber bands to add to the ball.

Every single rubber band comes from something that I interact with.

For example, every single red and fat rubber band that has made its way aroudn the ball inthe past three years has been from my daily newspaper delivery.

As you can see, the ball is much larger than a battery and weighs a lot.



I once tried bouncing the ball inside the house, but it went off in a funky direction and smashed some of our cabinets in a way that made me very uncomfortable.



I never thought this was weird and so much so that I forget that I even have the ball until it is time to add the rubber bands that I have collected.

So...when our new friend got noticiably excited about the ball and reacted aggressively when she tried to pick it up, I was a bit taken aback.

Is it really that weird?

I never thought so... but maybe it is.