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

Yeah, I said I’d post more but it’s so easy to be lazy and that flipping cold has FINALLY let loose of me. (I’ll use words like flipping and the like to not use foul language. There are plenty of other words to express my feeling without resorting to use the “F Bomb” etc.)

I finally started my weekend walks. Left the car behind and managed to walk to my banks ATM, stopped to get a cup of coffee a local coffee house, went to Blockbuster to see what they had left, stopped over at Walgreens and walked back home. A bit shorter walk than what I’m used to but I was out of the house for three hours and it felt good. I did score a few DVDs I haven’t seen. But I am heading to Half Price Books tomorrow to unload some DVDs I haven’t watched in some time. With Netflix Streaming and Hulu Plus, most of what I watch is there. But here’s what I picked up: True Grit (The re-make), The Punisher War Zone, Invictus,  In The Loop, Source Code, The Maiden Heist, Star Trek Nemesis (I’ve seen it but this had a lot of special features) and a Blue Ray version of Up In The Air (I want to see this but alas, I haven’t bought a Blue Ray player yet.) I’ve got a large stack of DVDs that I haven’t watched in years.

Xanga took it’s yearly premium fee from me. So, I’m good for another year.

Next month, my niece is graduating from High School. Now I feel old as it’s two years away from a thirty year High School reunion that I won’t be attending. I had a brief post about that back in the day. No need to rehash bad memories.

At least it’s not snowing, just rain every other day it seems. Windy and in the forties today.

Work is still slow. Well with the weather being what it is, I expect it. And out of corner of my eye, more chances of rain in the seven day forecast. Swell. At this rate, the grass might be at the point to use a weed wacker to cut the grass with.

Watched Hannibal, the pilot. Okay, let me preface this by saying I have read the books and have seen most of the movies (I didn’t see the remake of Man Hunter which is called by the book name of Red Dragon. Man Hunter is a way better movie and I have the special edition DVD), so it’s a bit weird for me. Because I’m seeing why the characters acting the way they do and inferring from the books/movies. So, I’ll give it a few more episodes before I pass judgement. Mads Mikkelsen is great at Hannibal. He’s the reason I’m watching the show. A show I have high hopes for is Defiance, a show that is starts up Monday on SyFy. The show is set in the future and Earth and a mix of alien races are banding together to deal with a new threat. The shows creator has did Farscape, Alien Nation The TV Series and SeaQuest DSV.

I saw a brief trailer for Gatchaman. For those of you who never watched anime, it’s a animated series that got “Americanized” and called “Battle Of The Planets”. They made a live action movie of the series. I am still waiting for the release of the live action movie of Space Battleship Yamotto otherwise known as Star Blazers. I have watched some anime, but it’s a drop in the bucket of what’s out there. But I do like to watch some of the new stuff. But there are so many hours in the day and unless I get some reading in, my mind starts to turn to mush. 

Was in the freezer Thursday. Good thing I had some soup with me. A good Chinese restaurant around the corner makes an awesome clear soup. It’s hot in temp and has a nice hit of black pepper that really warms one up. No, I don’t know what the soup is called. My boss usually orders it and he had a medium sized container ordered for me.

Just about finished with the chores. Still need to put away the clean clothes. And a sink of dirty dishes that need attending to. And it’s time for dinner. I’ll poke around the fridge and see what leftovers are there and maybe later, watch Invictus.

Hope where ever you are, the sun is shining  and it’s warm. Still have the comforter out and may use it tonight.

CIAO!!!

A typical Zoz36 birthday: Felt fine for most of the day. Went to bed early for some AM bowling on Sunday. Two hours into sleep, I get the shivers like crazy. Can’t even warm up. Throw on a sweater with blanket. Then half through the night after waking up just about every hours and having some stranger than normal dreams, I’m taking everything off because I’m soaking my pillow with sweat. Four games of bowling left me spent. Went to bed early Sunday evening, repeat of Saturday night. Went into work and Boss Dude tells me he went through before. No antibiotics can help. Just have ride it out for seven days. Oh joy. And I decided to start my diet. Well, with no appetite, the first few days should be easy. Well, at least trying to stay away from fast food joints. Keeping it to maybe one day a week. Okay, my eyes are starting to hurt. Time for a hot shower and off to bed.

A little traveling music:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FXqMVpLrDMY#t=4s

Yeah, 47 years ago, I was either A. Hatched B. Came from another planet who sun made me stronger where as this sun has made me weaker C. Dropped by a drunken Stork on hitting every branch on the tallest tree or D. Was born. Depending on who you ask who know me in the real world, it’s probably a combination of all the above. Anyways, just thought I’d check in here before calling it a night.

I really don’t celebrate my birthday too much. I mean, after 21, what’s there to celebrate??? But before this blog takes a turn in a downward spiral, I ain’t go nothing to complain about. I have a good job, good friends both here in Xanga land and out in the real world, family, health… Let’s just say, some days are better than others. I had planned on going bowling with Dad and assorted cousins today. But due to a over booked bowling alley, that has been pushed to Sunday. A day I never roll out of bed before noon but now have to be awake and ready to bowl at 9am. I WILL be PISSED if said cousins fail to show up. After getting replies saying that they will. Sis is making her AWESOME Meat Loaf. But after going to this Mexican place down the street, I may change my mind for next years birthday bash. Next weekend, I’ll be buying me some things for my birthday via Amazon that I had my eye on. A Army Rucksack. I miss my old one and nothing beats it. A few books and a pair shoes and slippers that I can only get at an on-line store. Damned 5EEEEE wide width feet.

I’m not going to get reflective here. Are there things I could have done better? Sure. Have I accomplished what I wanted to? Not yet. But I am happy. I need to get my body in decent shape before I start dating again. The body parts need some repair before I start dating again.

Gotta love Spring Time In Ohio. Snow on the ground. It may get up into the forties today. But chances of snow from Sunday on into next week.

It’s been nice having to work three days a week the past two weeks but it’s back to old grind of my four day work week. Yeah, sucks to be me I know. Sarcasm on my part. Next month my heath care jumps up in cost due to my company changing health providers again.

To My Xangan Friends out there: If this was Middle Earth, I’d be giving YOU birthday gifts. But this isn’t. All I can say is: Thanks for letting me be a part of your lives. It’s been my honor. And You’re all pretty damned fine people.

Note to myself: Must buy A. Many cans of Monster Energy Drink B. As much Diet Mountain Dew as I can C. Hit local coffee shoppe and pray they open early and and have a multiple shots of Espresso. Because 7am on a Sunday is just too freaking early in the morning.

Now going to bed with some Pink Floyd. Either One Slip or Us And Them to lull me to sleep.

CIAO!!!

Okay the link in the very beginning was a song called The Road Of The Gypsy from the Iron Eagle Soundtrack. Many apologies… The link isn’t working.

Well, I said I post more often but it’s soooo easy to be distracted and I had a post ready but some how, the post got deleted and and it was late and I needed some sleep. I may post it later in this blog if I remember what I ranting about. I’ve got a good idea what it was, but it may not has the same “punch” it originally had.

I’m taking a few Thursdays off. I took last Thursday off because it was my Dads birthday. I managed to do a “Gotcha” on him. He was bowling and I headed to the local supermarket and bought a balloon and Chocolate Cake and brought to his bowling team and his friends. I should have bought a sheet cake but there wasn’t one that was Chocolate made. We, Sis, Dad and I, went to this new Mexican place that opened up a few months ago. And I’m here to tell you, it was some of THE BEST Mexican food I’ve had in a long time. And for around $45.00, we ate good. So alcoholic drinks were had. Which explains why it wasn’t more costly. But the food was awesome and outside of this hole in the wall joint in Cleveland, the chain versions of “Mexican Food” aren’t that great. And they’re more expensive. And I thought the best of the lot was Chipotles. They’re open during lunch, so I may be hitting the place on Thursdays in the near future. I hold off the re-fried beans or save it for lunch on Fridays. And best of all, Dad liked it. My birthday and @promisesunshine anniversary is next Saturday. I’ll be off the net for most of the day. Am trying to get some of my cousins to, at least stop by and say hello to Dad. We, Dad and I, are going bowling. Sis doesn’t like to bowl. And she has a thing she wants to do. One her co-workers is leaving and they’re throwing some kind of going away party. So, she’s going to that. Let’s see how Dad reacts to that news. And for my birthday meal, I want my Sisters Meatloaf. Made the point clear if she wants to go she had better make that. She doesn’t make it that often.About once a year maybe twice. I don’t give out praise for many things but her Meatloaf is The Standard I hold ALL Meatloaf I eat to. And Lord knows I try any Meatloaf when I do go out to eat.

I am taking next Thursday off because it’s the first day of The NCAA Basket Ball Tournament otherwise known as “March Madness”. I like to watch the first round because the team who won their play-off/tournament but has no real chance of winning does make the other teams play better sooner. And those first games are so good to watch. And any time I can take a Thursday off and get PAID to watch basket ball is always a fun thing to do.

Okay, last week I was reading on yahoo something insane but not surprising. A guy in New Mexico who is in jail for thirty years for a DUI and killed two other people is suing Applebees and I’m presuming his ex-best friend because Applebees let him drink more and his best friend let him drive. Strangely, we at work were talking about why some people in Ohio who have their licence taken away but are still driving. The loop hole, if you’re fast enough, if you say you lost your licence, you can get another one before your DUI hits the system. Sheesh. I am death on drunk drivers. I think the laws are too lenient and not enforced. I was in the car with some one who was drinking was in an accident. It was before all the testing and I walked away unscathed. And that person has NEVER drove drunk since. I learned the hard way about using seat belts and keeping the car door locked. Around the young age of eight, I was messing around with the seat belt and the car door and fell out with the truck going a low speed. No real injuries. Scrapes and bruises. And fell on my head a few times. No, for those of you out there, I was demented long before landing on my head. But thanks for asking. But stories like that makes me think, are we as a society that screwed up? Or is Mother Nature ever going to wake up and wipe us out and chalk up the Human Race as a bad experiment?

Today, I am the proud owner of a new electric lawn mower. Set me back around $400.00 but it’s wider and has more power. Need to get rid of other two mowers. The gas powered one is dead in the water and the other battery powered one is on it’s last legs right now. Hence, the new battery powered lawn mower. And with the prices of gas going through the roof… So, instead of the PS III I wanted, I needed the lawn mower. Lord, being an adult sure sucks. Well, there’s always Christmas. Or the new Samsung Android phone sometime this Spring. It looks Sooooooooooo cool. But I may wait until September.

In other news: There maybe another possible spin-off of NCIS. If the two part episode on NCIS: Los Angeles does well, there will be three NCIS shows on the air. CSI, Star Trek, Stargate SG1 and  Law And Order did this. And they made some decent shows for a while. So who knows.

A new band I heard via NPR is Alabama Shakes. A real good old fashioned rock/blues band who’s female lead singer can belt it out with the best of them. And there’s some good guitar sounds there also. Check them out.

No new books. Just trying to get through my pile of books from Christmas. And watching House Of Cards on Netflix.

Well, time for dinner. Seeing that I had stuff from Wendys, dunno what I’m going to have. Well, there is that last box of Do Si Does and a six pack of Diet Pepsi and see whatever left-overs are in the fridge. I did buy a pound of bologna. Just to lazy to make anything today.

Just think, Spring is just around the corner. In Cleveland, it means four more weeks of three to four inches of “partly cloudy”.

Where else can a High School Principal can get a “signing bonus” and other types of performance extras… Un-real… Taking a quick break from work. My Boss took the day off as I found out as I walked in. But am being well behaved and trying to stretch the time a bit. FYI: Time to turn the clocks forward this Sunday. The one thing the Sequester can’t derail. If you’re interested in something new to listen to, give Alabama Shakes a try. Heard about them via NPR and they’re a good kind of funk/rock with a awesome female lead Singer. They’re going to be on AXS TV if you have Direct TV midnight Saturday. Well, break time over. Time to find another place to hide out…