Well, Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there. It doesn’t feel like a warm holiday. Goofy weather and am wondering what Ma Nature is going to throw at us next.

Well, I ended up working Friday instead of Saturday. I guess some of the workers, I.E. Boss man wanted three days off in a row. So, I didn’t go to the casino in downtown Cleveland. It’ll still be there. I’m in no real hurry to drop cash in that place. Everyone at work tells me the buffet is great. Sorry, but that doesn’t rev my engines. There are plenty of good places to eat nearby that doesn’t have a slot machine nearby.

Longmire and The Glades new seasons start tonight. Ah, the wonders of technology. I have both recording to watch later this week.

Didn’t do much this weekend. Just the normal chores. And managed to get my walks in. And dodging rain drops today.

Went to Goodwill and picked up a series of books I haven’t read in a while. W.E.B Griffin, who writes about the Military, wrote a series called The Brotherhood Of War. It follows a group of people from the last days of World War II to The Viet Nam War. It’s been a few years since I’ve read the series and I couldn’t pass it up. The new Brad Thor book isn’t due out until July.

A short work week awaits me. Just have to get through a thirteen hour day on Tuesday. Eh, do this every holiday. Used to it. The price of a four day work week. Didn’t do any of the cook out stuff. A tad bit cold. And I just wasn’t into it. There’s a shindig later next month at my cousins place in Medina I’m trying to get the rest of the family to attend, if only for a few hours. And maybe try and reconnect with another family member who lives nearby. It’s a pain in the ass when family are warring with each other and you’re caught in the crossfire. May need to pack flack jackets the next time.

One the things that bugs me when I do my weekend walks is the amount of trash along side of the roads and side walks. I thought there was a law against littering. I’m reminded of a something I saw. A comic strip had some one picking up trash and some damned fool tossing out their trash out the window. That was one of the things I loved about the Germany/Europe. Everything was neat. And the nature walks, called Volks Marching in Germany, took you around the small towns. I missed those walks. And beer and bratwort’s (Flipping spell check ain’t working worth a damn. I left my Dictionary at work in my back pack. Need to go to Dollar Tree for another copy.) Eh, there’s this awesome German restaurant in Cleveland where I have a good meal. I need to go there some time soon. Their Beer list is very good.

Well, running out of things to say. Not much to say. For a while there, The Cleveland Indians were on a tear but reality set in and it’s a long season. I haven’t been to a game in a long time. It’s good place to see a game. But parking is expensive. Well, it’s expensive in downtown Cleveland. Would rather listen to the game on the radio.

Oh, don’t bother to download the new update for Facebook on the smart phone. I did and wished I didn’t. Don’t like how long it takes to load. Which reminds me to figure out how to transfer things to my SD Micro Memory card. I’m running out of space.

Still want a tablet. Just haven’t made my mind what brand and when. It may end being a Christmas gift to myself. Am leaning towards a Kindle HD. Need to do more research on this.

Long Day tomorrow. Need to get a few hours of sleep.

Hope everyone out there is doing fine. There are a few Xangans who haven’t posted in a while. Hope they’re doing fine.

Ciao!!!

As I said in a Pulse, JJ Abrahams knocked this movie out the park.

Here’s why.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You’ve been warned…

As the movie begins, the crew are up to it’s neck trying to save a planet that has no interstellar space drive without letting the people know they’re there. They do so but they DO let the people know that they’re there by having The Enterprise rise out of the ocean to save Spock.

Mean while back on Earth, a bombing occurs in London in a secret underground complex. Kirk looses his command to Pike after repeatedly breaking rules. Star Fleet Command gather to find a way to find the guy who was seen at the scene. Said villain starts strafing and killing most the high ranking officers along with Pike. Kirk convinces Star Fleet to re-instate his command and let him go after The Bad Guy to the home world of The Klingons. His orders are to take the bad guy, who’s name is Harrison, out. Read kill him. Kirk wants him alive to stand trial for the deaths of so many. Kirk takes on some torpedoes that Scotty can’t examine and he resigns. Kirk and crew heads to the Klingon home world and find Harrison. The Enterprise is disabled. A fight ensues and Harrison saves them. The Admiral who gave Kirk his orders comes in a huge-ass star ship and fires on the The Enterprise after Kirk finds out that Harrison ain’t who he says he is and doesn’t hand him over.
As The Enterprise falls to Earth, Kirk races to save the ship. Spock goes after Harrison after his ship takes out a decent part of Star Fleet Headquarters.

And…

What, and tell you how it ends??? Go see the movie.

Thoughts…

DAIMN… The pacing of the story was dead on. Each of the characters has an important role to play. And many nods to the previous films and Star Trek Cannon. Lenonard Nimoy has an important cameo in the film. And an actor who was in two or three episodes of Star Trek Enterprise, Peter Weller, has a good role in this movie. The action scenes were great and the story was great. Some places were a bit predictable but it moved the story along. All in all a damned fine movie. And where the next movie goes, I’ll be waiting. And this gives me hope for the impending Star Wars movies, providing of course George Lucas keeps his hands off the story. There’s a HUGE reveal in the middle. And Benedict Cumberbatch  is an AWESOME villain.

Verdict: As long as JJ Abrhams has his fingers on the pulse of this franchise, I don’t see this ending anytime soon. Will it do as huge numbers as say Iron Man III or the new Fast and Furious movie??? It’s somewhere in the middle. If the later movie didn’t open a week after Star Trek, it could have passed the $100 Million mark easily. Trying to predict a box office number is way beyond my ability.

Check it out.

A bit of info first: Part one was supposed to be longer but due to fatigue, I thought I’d just save it and work on it later. Surprise Surprise… Well this won’t be as long but I hope a bit more concise.

Well, I have to say that our daily paper has done a bang-up job on the story. The headline now is “After The Miracle” and a lot of follow-up stories. One such headline that I’m going to take the time to read fully is that there are at least 100 more missing people on the list in Cleveland ALONE. Here’s a one of a few questions I’m going to throw out there: How many missing people, young and old, are reported missing in your fair cities?

Yeah, you kinda knew Hollywood was going to sniff around this unfolding story. And ya know, the girls should have their story told and get paid for it. Because after all those years of abuse, getting a steady income and just dealing with it… Not sure I’d want to see it as a movie. Book form, yeah. All sorts of events/fund raisers are being put into place.

You knew the said moron was going to plead not guilty. Dude, you’re already been tried in the court of public opinion and you lost. No mater the defense you’re going to put up (Whomever decides to represent this sick person is only doing it to get their name/firm some publicity), you AIN’T going to win. I’m all for the death penalty but he can only die once. And unless he’s in protective custody, he won’t last too long before getting shanked. What Say you Xanga, what should this sick person get?

Here’s another question: How well do you know your neighbors? In this society we live in being busy and wrapped up in our own lives, you can go to extremes here. I don’t an answer here. Where did we go wrong or has people like this been around and only due to technology are they coming to life or hiding better?

One of my wishes is let the Police investigate and fully do their job. Because if this sick person (Oh, I so want to swear but due to the ladies here, I’m not going to write what I want to call this guy) walks free, well he’ll go into hiding and the civil lawsuits that will follow… No information when the trial will start. He’s on suicide watch. Another wish is for a TOTAL media black-out. The bits and pieces are going to taint the jury pool (I’ve served on a jury and have read more than a few John Grisham novels ) so it’ll be another way for this to be in the courts for years to come. Ah, my tax dollars at work.

On to other things…

The Cleveland Indians are doing well. Attendance for the home games suck but I have a warm and fuzzy feeling for this team this year. I’ve been listening when I can to the games on the radio.

Our owner of The Cleveland Browns… Not so much. His own company Pilot J, is under investigation and there is concerns in the NFL that he may not being able to meet pay roll if the legal bill pile up.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are… Yeah I’m not sure what direction they’re going in. They re-hired a coach they fired three years ago.

Wacky weather all around. I can say the battery powered lawn mower really powers through tall grass. Money well spent.

The Robins nest is down to one egg. It’s not looking good right now.

Well, work has hired it’s first female driver. We, on nights, are training her. She seems strong enough. Strength is part of the job. Dealing with the weather and customers… Well, we will see. The swearing has toned down enough. I’m not around her. I can’t give an opinion. I have my own job to deal with. And she’s going to be a day person. That may sound nasty but if you’ve worked at a place that has two or more shifts, the shift that has the main boss near by are the chosen ones. Everyone else… Too Flipping Bad. I only care about how things run on night shift, everyone else can go hang.

Speaking of work…

The next two weeks are going to be interesting. Holiday weekend aside, I have chores that need to be done, cleaning out the basement, a graduation party to go to… Thursday is MINE MINE MINE.  God help me is the new Star Trek movie sucks. Well, I have a week left of vacation left. I see a month of three day work weeks if a Summer Vacation fall through. After working a afternoon next weekend, I may check out the casino downtown. Walk through it, take a few photos, and not drop one dime. Amazon has a good chunk of it and Fathers Days gift also.

This week is when everyone finds out if their TV show (s) are cancelled. And the pilots are there. Another Joss Wehdon show is on the Fall Schedule. Yeah, we’ll see if a Marvell Comic TV show will last more than two weeks/months. ABC has it at least. If FOX got their hands on it, forget about it. Jack Baurer is back next summer. Mr.Sutherland show Touch didn’t make it to season three. Body Of Proof didn’t make it either. Dana Delaney is still smoking hot lady. Ah well. The rest of the networks haven’t put out their schedules yet. Burn Notice will be on it’s last season. Meh, I’ve gotten over it. I may pick it up on DVD but I’m at least two seasons behind. I may check out the mini series of Stephen Kings Under The Dome this summer.

Okay, it’s after three in the morning and I’d like to get at least six hours of sleep.

Wow, a decent sized post in like forever. After reading most of every ones post, I’ve felt like a piker here. There will be a review on the new Star Trek movie Friday. Be warned.

Have a great rest of the week.

CIAO!!!

I’ve seen this all over Xanga and decided to give it a shot.

1. I was in school choir from fifth grade to 12th grade.

2. I participated in The All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir in 1985.

3. I was in The US Army from 1985-1988.

4. My favorite quarter eating game is playing pinball machines.

5. The second favorite quarter eating game was a video game called Narc.

6. My Xanga name came from a combination of a nickname I got from a book I read as a teenager and the age I joined Xanga.

7. I owned a Play Station and a Nintendo 64 and a Dreamcast at the same time.

8. My favorite book of all time: The Stand (the new version).

9. Favorite band is The Little River Band

10. Favorite Male Singer is Bruce Hornsby

11. Favorite Female Singer/Female group is Heart.

12. I’ve been to four Sci-Fi conventions.

13. Favorite Movie The Shawshank Redemption.

14. I would pay good money to see Morgan Freeman in anything.

15. I quit smoking five years ago.

Yeah, for the most part things in Cleveland are pretty much boring. The usual gripes about the sports teams and the corrupt politician or how bad the Cleveland school system.

Well, Monday sure changed things as you have read about/heard about in the news. I’m not going to go too far into it for a few reasons. 1. The case needs to be developed and evidence to be gathered. 2. Over Kill. Yeah, you can’t escape it. It was called The Cleveland Miracle Tuesday. Now the local paper using the headline After The Miracle. Well, anything to sell news papers. (And the Plain Dealer is cutting back on home delivery for a cost cutting measure. A few months after I start getting home delivery. Go figure.). The guy has been crucified in the press. So, how will there be a normal trial in Cleveland? I used to live in area where the two girls were abducted. It wasn’t a great neighborhood but I’ve seen worse. The local diner at the end of the street had the police there because of shootings every so often. There’s Middle School on the street where I lived, W.110th Street.  

No if you didn’t get it in the title, there WILL BE SPOILERS!!!!

So, unless you’re a comic book nerd and want no part of this blog: LEAVE NOW…

Oh, if there is a comic book store nearby: This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. It’s the industry trying to get you to buy and read comic books.

Any hoo back to the review…

The movie starts with a bit of a back story with Tony pre-Iron Man and two scientists, one being female are trying to get Tony to check out what they’re trying to do. You can guess which person Tony ended up with. Both are trying to enhance the Human Potential.

Tony, in the present, is having issues with what happened in The Avengers and is even more of a hot mess. The male scientists whom Tony totally dissed asks Pepper Potts, who runs the company now and is with Tony, denies funding for his research Extremis which rewires the brain and heals the body. Happy Hogan, who’s in charge of security follows Alldrich Killian and his body guard and a bombing happens but the guy who supposedly dies heals up and Happy is in a coma because of this.

A terrorist called The Mandarin is killing people and has threatened The USA that the attacks will continue. Tony thinks that The Mandarin is responsible. He starts to invistigate and then Maya Hansen drops by needing his help. Out of no where, helicopters start shooting at Tonys house and after seeing that Pepper and Maya are safe, Tony almost succeeds at blowing up the bad guys. He blacks out and wakes up in Kentucky and his armor is plenty banged up. He meets up with a young boiy named Harley who helps Tony out.

Once Tony finds out where The Mandarin is located, he heads there. Sans armor. A low tech style Home Depot weapons. And then it’s gets interesting.

Pepper gets injected with The Extremis drug and Killian and Maya try and get Tony to help finish the formula that Tony wrote on a name tag that will make Extremis workable. Because the formula turns people into super humans but they also become human time bombs. Tony gets his armor and tries to stop Alldrich. A huge fight erupts and a whole lot armors try and take out the Extremis soldiers while Tony and Killian duke it out. Tony and Pepper take out Killian and.,.

What, I just told you the basic plot. What, do you want me to tell you how it ends???

I liked it for a number of reasons. 1. Whoever wrote the script has did their homework and read some the best story lines of Iron Man comic books for the past thirty odd years and cherry picked the best stuff. 2. The pacing was dead on. When it got too serious, the comic/funny element was there to break the tension. 3. The ending was great. 4. The Characters small and big had their parts to play and if they were removed, it would have been a not so good movie. 5.The plot twists. I went into this with some preconceived ideas and was glad when they were not there. And 6. Between the special effects and great story… These were the reasons I liked this move. I liked this better than Iron Man II.

I give it two thumbs up and see it during matinee. I was really lucky to see it at 9pm. But paying $11.00 was a bit of a shock. Which explains how often I go to the movies.

Before heading to the shower and some sleep time, a small bit of news of the Robins Nest. As I backed the car in I awoke the Robin and it flew off the nest. Serves it right for the lost sleep I was getting when it was banging into my window. I’ll post more pictures when I can.

CIAO!!!

Not a whole lot been going on in Zoz36 land. But here are a few things…

The crazy assed  Robin that’s been dive bombing/head butting my window has a nest near by. Like try about 25 ft away. And get this: Okay, I TELL people at work to be aware of their surroundings. That way, if something is out of place, there is a safe bet, the thing you may need is going to be there. And for a soap box idea: maybe, just MAYBE, things like what happened in Boston may not happen again. Okay, the soap box is secured. So, I have no idea how many times I’ve passed the ladder I had left at the side of the house. So, lo and behold there is a nest on the top of the ladder and if I can ever figure out how to up-load the picture of the two blue eggs in the nest, I’ll post it here. So, now that mystery is solved.

Any ways… I was at Super Wally World Saturday. It has a product called Mountain House Freeze Dried Meals. I read about it in a an Action Adventure series called The Survivalist. It was back in the 1980′s. Anyways, this store carries the one I like, Beef Stronganoff with Noodles. As I go to and grab a few, the clerk behind me and the guy he was helping starting asking me questions about it. Hello, you work there and shouldn’t I be asking YOU about it. And I’ve seen this clerk at the Sporting Goods area before. Which tells you how many times I’ve been to that certain Wally World… I got a few a beat feet out there. Hell, I hate doing someones job for free. I would like to be paid for information. I would have about the Chilli and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce but as I said, I felt weird being asked questions. And I do like Mountain House Products.

Work front: Dumb assed people seriously pissed off my Boss Monday night. And now he’s getting even with those people and the rest of us are paying for it. After loading the last truck, everyone scatters and leaves. Oh, by the way: The Bathroom needs Cleaning, The Walk-in Cooler needs a good sweep, And hey, some product fell off and made a mess. Sheesh… Boss Dude unloaded on me as I grabbed a shovel, broom and mop. So now, instead of clocking everyone else as he leaves (he gets payed for 80 hours whether or not he works 80 hours), he’s slowing down and making everyone stay until he leaves. This will last a few weeks. But he WAS PISSED. And there was some grumbles tonight. Sucks to be them. And I don’t think they’ll be not checking to see if every thing is done before leaving. Or a whole ass kissing is going to take place over the next few days…

Wow, Spring is finally here. Denver is getting nailed again. Hoping our fellow Xangans out in the Denver area are staying warm. I managed to use the new battery powered lawn mower and it made short work of the front lawn. The back yard is on the to-do list next weekend. And a sea of weeds/dandelions are now in the front yard. Oh swell.

Well, it’s time to call it a night. Iron Man III premieres Thursday night. It’s made almost $200 Million over seas. Lets see how much it makes this weekend. I haven’t bought a ticket yet. So I may get shut out. But there is always Star Trek Into Darkness in two weeks. If I get to see IM III, I’ll post about it here…

CIAO