Glad you're feeling better

Just don't overwork yourself. Losing all those fluids really depleted and weakened you. Take it easy for a few days.

Big brother advice, take it for what it's worth.

Feeling better today

Im on heavy antibiotic but back to work today. Its been hell at the office here. Im out for two days and all hell breaks loose. Anyway, im proud to say i had my first solid stool today (named him Mark)!

Mikey

Are you feeling any better, dude?

I'm Back

...and I'm tired!

I got back from my golf trip last night at about 1:00 am. It was awesome! We stayed in a cottage on Lake Charlevoix in Bay Harbor, Michigan. It's owned by a buddy of mine's family. This is the area where Ernest Hemmingway used to relax, fish, and draw inspiration. Very beautiful.

In terms of golf, I shot my usual 115-120 rounds, BUT I did get two birdies (one on a par 3 and the other on a par 5) and several pars over the course of the weekend. We had a blast! When we didn't golf, we played cards. I got homesick though. I'm glad to be back. Now I'm just trying to get this week into full swing again.

I enjoyed reading your posts about the war and our culture. As far as this stuff goes, I am not the most informed person. I saw that we transferred sovereignty to the Iraqis, that militants keep executing prisoners, and that over all the situation (in the public eye) is getting worse.

I don't know. I suppose if I thought about it long enough it would bother me. On many occasions I have chided myself for not being more up on international affairs and politics, but I don't know what good that would really do me. I mentioned Hemmingway earlier and I found a great quote from him: "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know". I remain blissfully ignorant because I am powerless to do anything about it other than praying for our military and our president.

Still, it's good to occasionally lend an ear to what is going on because ultimately we have to protect our families. I do know this: There are certain evil people in this world that perhaps once could have been reasoned with, but who have been so indoctrinated with hatred that their own consciences have been smitten. The fact is they are already dead, in that there is no hope for bringing them around or appealing to their good nature. Their venom is infecting more people and the only way to deal with them is to destroy them. I fully believe this, and it doesn't go against my faith either.

Now, the cultural war (or the cultural divide) I think warrants more concern. You used homosexuality as your example. Hatred gave way to tolerance which led to acceptance, but this was not enough. Acceptance gave way to cultural integration and (slowly) moral abandonment. Sodom and Gomorah didn't get that way overnight, but they got that way!

I like what your wrote, James, about the liberal intelligentsia (term borrowed from Nader) raging against the dying of the light. Those people still have consciences and CAN be reasoned with (exept maybe for blowhards like Moore). Maybe this is the death rattle of liberalism, who knows? I agree with you Rob. It would suck if Kerry beat Bush out of office.

I guess the only meaningful way I can close this post is to say "Grab some popcorn, the revolution will be televised!"

Monday miscellany

Well guys, I’m back in Houston and bored shitless in the office so I thought I’d write more for the weblog. No politics this time, I promise.

Anyway, Alabama’s been fun and it looks like I’m going to keep going there at least to the end of the summer. My old colleague Dean has been floundering and I’ve been trying to help him get his head back above water. Dean’s a good adjuster but not a great one and some of our clients are beginning to grumble about him. In fact, the risk manager for a very high profile client asked Tom to force me to move back to Alabama so I could assume the account. I’ve only met this guy once, when Tom and I took him out for drinks about a month ago. Now, I'll admit that it’s a little flattering, speaking in a selfish manner, but it also puts a spotlight on a glaring problem in Alabama, one without an obvious solution as there is about zero chance that I’ll end up moving back there. I have had long talks with Tom and some of our other clients and the simple truth is that, despite being a little homesick for south Alabama, it wouldn’t be a good idea to go back because there really isn’t a lot of opportunity for growth there.

Where is does look like I’ll end up going (after Megan gets out of high school) is Virginia. That’s what they keep telling me, at least. And honestly, though I was agnostic about the idea at first, the idea of going there is beginning to grow on me. I think it would be cool to live in a place that is as marinated in history as Virginia is and that actually had real seasons and even snowed in the winter. One caveat though, although I agree that it’s good to occasionally make changes in your life, I am getting really tired of changing addresses every few years. I’m looking to go somewhere and just plant myself and my family. I just want to plant our flag and say this is it, this is home. This gypsy bullshit is getting old.

I got back in the gym today and worked out my pecs and biceps. I felt really strong, too. I always feel guilty when I take time off but this past week did me a world of good. The 85-lb. dumbbells felt like they weighed only 65-lbs. I actually did a set of 20 for my first set of bench press. Maybe it was the Krispy Kremes I ate last night . . . .

Hope you’re all well. Mike, call me at Mom’s house this week. I’d love to see your place.

All we're saying is, give war a chance

Yeah Rob, it’s fucked up. But I don’t think the war so much as divided the country as it simply exposed the divisions that we’ve all been papering over since the 1960s. One thing’s for sure though, it has definitely energized the far left. They’re out in full-throated roar, especially with the release of that fat sack of shit Michael Moore’s new movie.

This war is depressing, not the least because we seem so intent on beating ourselves. There is a very schitzophrenic nature to how we're conducting it, a very surreal disconnect between our military prosecution of the war, which has been flawless, and the political. As a bona fide history nut, I can tell you the idea that POW abuse would have caused the even slightest ripple during WWII is unthinkable.

Unlike Vietnam, we can't just walk away from this fight, either, not without incurring some very bad consequences. When we decided to throw in the towel in Vietnam, the Viet Cong couldn't follow us back home. This enemy can - and will.

The war will end one of two ways. Either the left, drunk on their 60s nostalgia, will prevail in the public debate and we'll quit the battlefield, leaving the jihadis free to pull the entire Middle East back to the 8th century, or we'll kill enough of them that their movement will dry up and die. We can't be defeated militarily, but we can be beaten morally. When I hear about how so many people are swallowing Michael Moore's kool-aid, it makes me think that that is a very real possibility.

Random thoughts about war and life in the 21st Century.

I just got a postcard in the mail from George W. Bush asking me for a contribution to his campaign. He also sent me a picture of himself and Laura outside the ranch in Crawford. It made me stop and think about what we are doing as a nation and if we are on the right track. I honestly don't know.

I'm concerned that all of the reasons that we used to justify the invasion have turned out to be false. I'm worried that our actions have served to divide our country and unite the radical muslims of the world. I wonder why did we left Afghanistan with Osama still running around and the Taliban regrouping. Kabul seems the only place that is relatively safe in that country.

On the other hand, our country fought and defeated fascism in WWII. As a result, Europe has become a peaceful and prosperous place. During that war, we lost over 80,000 US soldiers. Are we even up to 1,000 yet in Iraq. And aren't the consequences even greater this time? Maybe, because we get images of hostages being beheaded it causes us to waver in our committment.

I think my biggest fear of a Kerry victory is that it will be perceived in the Islamic world as a victory for the terrorists and they will become more imboldened. It's F'd up, ain't it?

Hell hath no fury . . .

. . . like a pissed-off liberal.

Guys, with Al Gore continuing his psychological meltdown, Dick Cheney yelling "fuck you" to Sen. Pat Leahy on the Senate floor yesterday, Michael Moore peddling yet more of his goddamned agitprop and lies in his new film (with many people gladly believing them), I'm beginning to believe that 9/11 didn't merely herald the "War on Terror" but that it also triggered a cultural civil war in America. I have never sensed such hostility and animus in our politics before and I'm afraid that it's going to continue to get worse before it gets better.

The term "Culture War" was way overused in the 90's and it usually meant anything having to do with gay issues. Most people, Southern white boy Baptists like myself included, are pretty laissez-faire about gays and are inclined to let them do whatever they want - including get married - provided they don't interfere with other people living their lives. The Culture War of the 90's wasn't so much fought and won by any particular party (and you have only to look at all the gay-themed programming on TV nowadays to see who won) as it was not really fought at all. Most conservatives like me may shake our heads at shows like "Queer Eye" but usually we do so with a smile. I may bitch about it from time to time, but I think "Will and Grace" is funny as hell.

But this . . . this bullshit is different. This photo of our former vice-president - before being photoshopped of course - was taken while he delivered a speech in which he called Pres. Bush a liar. He didn't insinuate it, he didn't hint at it and wink at his audience; he outright called him a liar. Screamed it too, from what I read. This, from our former vice-president. Anyone remember how badly George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle blasted and jeered at Bill Clinton during the whole Monica affair? You don't? That's because it didn't fucking happen. Unlike the Gorebot here, they respected propriety and they knew that it wasn't their place to get involved in that mess. Thank God Clinton has mostly bitten his tongue and hasn't taken to baiting Bush like Gore has. And thank God Gore wasn't elected president. Thank God for that.

But why this rage on the part of liberals? Why the apoplexy? Why so much spittle-flying fury? One writer I know pegged it when he wrote that liberals have "unleashed their id." I think that's right, but still, the question begs, why? Was it Florida? I don't think so. For instance, a lot of people think Jack Kennedy stole the 1960 election from Nixon because of the shenanigans of the Daley machine in Chicago. But even though conservatives were mad about it, they didn't come psychologically unhinged, like the left is doing now. I don't think that's it, even though the left likes to scream "Florida!" and use it as a trope. Rather, I think this writer pegged it when wrote about liberal rage thusly:

The particular venom with which the Liberals regard President Bush is at heart a reaction to what they perceive as a coup d'etat directed against the carefully constructed edifice of their historical achievements. To understand why the President and individuals like Paul Wolfowitz are described as "illegitimate", one should not, like the man who doesn't get the reference, look to the Florida chads or US Supreme Court decisions. Liberals are not talking about that kind of statutory legitimacy. Rather they are referring to what is perceived as a brazen attempt to negate the cultural equivalent of the Brezhnev doctrine, the idea that certain "progressive" modes of behavior, once attained, are irreversible. In this view, an entire set of attitudes, commonly referred to as "political correctness" and their institutional expressions, like the United Nations, have become part of a social contract, part of an unwritten constitution.

Anyone who has ever had opportunity to engage a liberal in debate will know what he's talking about here. I do so regularly and I can tell you that it's infuriating how they simply assume their unexamined opinions are capital-T Truth just because they're on the side of "the little guy" and thus, presumably, the angels. The writer continues:

But worst of all, liberals [after 9/11] were faced with an intellectual movement, one that had developed an alternative ideology, a competing explanation for the way the world worked. Prior to that, Conservatives, however distasteful, were inchoate; they had tacitly acknowledged the intellectual leadership of the Liberal project. No more. Now Liberals were confronted with people who didn't want to read the New York Times, were unimpressed by celebrity and didn't want to go to Harvard. Many liberals didn't recognize "their" familiar country any more.

We can only hope that, after the election (assuming Bush wins, which I think he will) the tone will quieten and these "pissed off liberals" as they call themselves, will slink off and decide to get a life. But between now and November though (and, my hopes notwithstanding, probably after too) it's gonna be ugly.

Lillian

No longer content with the breast, Lillian decides to put mommy's face in her belly!

Let this be a warning to any of you who may want to visit: When my baby is hungry, watch out!

This pic was taken on the same day as those that I posted a few weeks ago (so you don't think we never clothe her).

Mark

Praying for Chad

Reading your post broke my heart, Mike. I can't imagine how traumatic that was for Chad to go through. I am praying for him and his girlfriend Mika. I will also bring them up in our Sunday School class so more people pray too.

As you all know, I am a strong believer that prayer does work. Because God is sovereign, He can take something as awful as this and actually use it for their betterment. Keep us posted on Mikas health and Chad's battle (we all know that a DWI is a huge black eye on your record). I have to stop and ponder how many times I drove when I was too drunk. Scary...

On a more positive note, we got some good news (finally) on Rachel. As you may know, her pain has been better and better. She finished her 6 week stint of radiation, then they did another catscan to measure the tumor on her pelvis. It shrunk significantly! Enough so that they are actually talking about eliminating it alltogether with 12 more rounds of chemo! The tumors in her lungs are completely gone. There is no talk yet of surgery, but they may not need to because again, they think they might be able to eliminate it with the chemotherapy.

This is real proof that prayer does work. You have to realize that her prognosis was bad. The doctors told Judy a while back that they would not be able to get rid of the cancer and that all they can do is try to make her more comfortable. The credit goes to God on this victory!

yeah thats Chad

Sweet Jesus . . .

Mikey, I assume Chad is Clay's brother?

this really sucks..

Keep Mica and Chad in you prayers guys.. I heard about this from Clay yesterday and this is the wright up in the CS paper..

A New Waverly woman was killed and a Texas A&M University student was seriously injured in unrelated traffic accidents on Brazos Valley roads overnight Sunday.

A&M student Mika Frazier was critically injured when she was thrown from her boyfriend’s Nissan Altima after it struck a utility pole in the 1500 block of Holleman Drive, College Station police said. The accident occurred about 2 a.m. Monday.

Frazier was taken to St. Joseph Regional Health Center where she was in the intensive care unit late Monday. Driver Chad Allen Kowalski, also an A&M student, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He was not seriously injured, police said.

About four hours earlier, New Waverly resident Sandra Gail McGilbra was killed after losing control of her vehicle while driving around a curve on F.M. 247 in Milam County.

Troopers said McGilbra, 41, was driving north on the highway, about seven miles south of Midway, when she lost control while coming out of a curve. Her vehicle slid across the road and into a tree at about 10 p.m. Sunday, according to Department of Public Safety reports.

McGilbra, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene about an hour later.

In College Station late Monday, detectives continued to investigate the accident that injured Frazier.

According to a police officer’s sworn affidavit, a resident of the Arbors at Wolf Pen Creek apartment complex reported the accident at about 2 a.m. Monday, saying he had just been approached by a man who either was in shock or intoxicated.

When officers arrived at the Holleman Drive complex, they found a frantic Kowalski who told police his girlfriend had been hurt in an accident just down the road, court documents state. He then had the resident drive him to the accident site — on the street outside of the Sears Service Center — as police followed, court documents state.

Frazier, 24, of College Station, was lying on the ground, her eyes open and her breathing labored, court documents state.

Kowalski told police he was driving the pair home from Triangle Bowl in Bryan, heading west on Holleman when his girlfriend reached over and jerked the steering wheel, court documents state. Kowalski, who said he and Frazier had been fighting while driving, told police he then slammed on the brakes, causing his car to spin, documents state.

The 24-year-old driver said he noticed his girlfriend was gone — apparently ejected from the vehicle through the passenger side window —when the car stopped, court documents state. He said he stopped and tried to pick up his girlfriend but couldn’t, so he instead ran down the street to look for help, court documents state.

Kowalski consented to a blood test to determine his blood-alcohol level before he was taken to the Brazos County Jail. He since has been released on $2,000 bond.

Thanks Mark, but . . .

. . . though rarely one to turn down a drink, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll just have a good ol' Jack Daniels over ice. Yuppie quaffs like Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade just aren't my thing. I think all that goddamned Schaeffer Beer I drank in high school must have killed some of my taste buds.

BTW, the quote above is from Mr. Paul "Having My Baby" Anka. He was caught on tape a few months ago giving his band a "pep talk" (i.e., reaming their asses off) during a rehearsal. If you google his name, I'm sure you'll be able to find it. It's hilarious, albeit painfully so, to think that this washed up crooner, never that big of a star anyway, has an ego and ferocious temper that would make Frank Sinatra blush.

James, It sounds to me like

you could use a cold refreshing Mike's Hard Lemonade. Howbout it?

BTW, I had an AWESOME father's day. I played golf at this place by my house called "River Chase". Scored like crap, but that's because I'm actually hitting the ball better and need to recalibrate my club selection. After golf, I went with a buddy to get a full-body massage.

It sounds gay when you write it, but this was a gift from our wives. I tell you the truth It was GREAT.

I'll be out of pocket for a while. Thursday night I am flying to Michigan to meet some friends from Chicago for our annual Golf weekend getaway.

Hey, don't hate me!

Time for another week off

I have felt like crap this week. I can't shake this bad mood and feel like I can't sleep enough no matter how early I get to bed. I always feel low on energy too no matter how much or little I eat. This morning in the gym when I did back and triceps was a joke. So, I think I'm just going to take rest of the week off the weights and hit it again Monday. Rob, I haven't had a break since Spring Break (when we visited Mark and Natalie) so hopefully this'll do the trick.

I figure you should know as you've been on a break from the weights for oh, about 4 months now, right? Obviously, you took your own advice to "let it go, man."

Time to move on

James,

Let it go man, let it go.

RC

Citizen Dick

There was a very mediocre movie that came out about 10 years ago called "Singles." It was known more for its music than its unremarkable plot because (a) Chris Cornell scored it, (b) Eddie Vedder played a small role and (c) Alice in Chains played live in one scene. Obviously, the movie was set in Seattle back when the grunge movement was beginning to take off.

Robbie's doppelganger Matt Dillon - attired in period dress of ragged shorts, hiking boots and a threadbare flannel shirt- played the lead singer of a really awful grunge band called "Citizen Dick." I think Bridget Fonda played one of their groupies (their only one) and that their signature song was called "Touch Me, I'm Dick." How bad were they? We're talkin' turn-the-speakers-up-to-eleven, Spinal Tap bad.

Anyway, one of the subplots of the movie was Dillon's incessant talking up of an upcoming gig in Oregon. Apparently, things were going poorly for Citizen Dick in Seattle and this gig in Oregon was supposed to help them get their swagger back. They were all excited about it and the movie even showed Dillon silk-screening shirts that read (you guessed it) "Citizen Dick" in anticipation of the show. Anyway, they play the gig and the next scene shows them all in a diner the next morning excitedly poring over their review in the local alternative press. The band's drummer (Vedder) read the review and you see Dillon's face as, crestfallen, he hears the reviewer savage his performance. The review was actually funny in a poison-pen sort of way and I wish I could recall it. The joke though was that while he trashed Dillon's singing, the reviewer actually praised Vedder's playing. So, after he finishes reading it, Vedder tries to console his bandmate by saying "forget it, man, a compliment for me is a compliment for you." Dillon though, stunned and in denial, got this furious look on his face and just said something like "all this negativity is only gonna make this band stronger!"

That's Dad. And in this analogy Mark, you're Vedder.

Every time I had to face him with bad news of our slow sales, leads or bad profitability I saw this come out in him. Dozens of times I heard him say how that business would almost make him despair only for it to turn around when things seemed their darkest. The problem was though that through the over 3 years I was there, I never saw the turnaround. Oh sure, we'd see brief flurries of sales from time to time - usually in the early Autumn - but every time it would prove to be a false dawn. I admire Dad's tenacity. I really do. I admire and respect him for being able to hold his company together through a really bad time these past few years. But I question whether that can be enough. In my opinion, stubborness is as much of a flaw as it is a virtue. I can only speak for San Antonio because I don't know the other markets well enough, but I don't know if that industry will ever come back with the same vigor of the late 90's. I kept hearing rumors while there that insurors were going to start writing HO-B policies again. It was all wishful thinking bullshit. My opinion remains that Dad should close the San Antonio office and handle those leads and jobs out of Austin. But he'll never do that. His pride won't let him.

Mark, for everyones' sake there, Dad's, yours, and all the friends I left, I hope y'all can find the recipe to be successful again. Lord knows, I don't want Centex to fail. But if things don't turn around, if you don't find the success you want and deserve, don't be afraid to go bang the drums for someone else. There are more bands out there than Citizen Dick.

Guys, I am flying home back to S.A. today and will be coming back here Sunday night. This living in hotels shit is getting old, but I am getting in pretty good shape as I'm working out and jogging every day. Not much else to do . . . . Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Father's Day and I'll post again next week. Also, though I just wrote some cold shit about Dad, I do love him and I will be calling him to wish him a happy Father's Day. You all should too.

Mikey still livin' la vida loca!

Because, "bless his heart, it's just his time!"

Enough already

As a contributing member of "Coopbros" I would like to officially slow the insanity of these movie reviews. I like movies as much as the next guy and about 75% of my vocab come from lines but lets not get to where that all we have.. Now I did say slow and not "Stop". I did watch Rocky 1 last night and again it brought tiers to my eyes..

Anyway, works going really well still. I got a pretty big account this week that I'm pretty jazzed about. This sales lession paid off pretty well. I was satisfied being this firms #2 for some time now. However I always stayed infront of them. Not in any cheezy, call them once a week and ask for their business way. I just happen to be friends with some people there. Anyway, their main vendor really dropped the ball and they called me and told me that they would like to use us exclusively.

Ive been actually doing research on my orders recently because my assistant is having a baby right now. Pretty intresting having someones entire live history in from of you. Anyway, got to get back to work. See yall later.

MDC

The Ever Changing Face of Centex

Things have still been slow, but not dead. One of the new guys had two good sales on Tuesday. I think Dad has learned a lot by facilitating this training class. He admits it too (if you want to learn something, try to teach it). We had a meeting on Tuesday to talk about some of the changes in sales techniques that we will be making. A lot of them make good sense too (from the perspective of the homeowner).

Dad just hired a guy named Bill in Austin who brings a lot of in-home sales experience to the table. He was one of the guys who started 'Husbands for Hire' and they sold home improvement services (like a G.C. of sorts). Anyway, the main changes we are making include establishing a second appointment to go over the bid/answer questions if appropriate, and to ask for the order. The idea is to convey that we put some decent thought into the bid (hence the time needed between appointments), and to expose any objections (which the closing questions do).

We also are equipping our estimators with the power to overcome these objections with responses like "Look, if you want me to take a crap in a box and mark it 'guaranteed', I will. I've got spare time. But for now, for your sake, and for your daughter's sake you may just want to buy a quality product from me.."

Anyway, I'm looking foreward to seeing "Dodgeball" and "Spider-Man II". I wasn't motivated to see the new Potter movie.

Holla acha later

Nothing much to say . . .

No profound insights or epiphanies have hit me lately. Just working and doin' my thang here in Alabama. Mark, are y'all going to try to take a different approach to sales? Last I spoke with Dad, San Antonio's sales was still in the toilet and even Austin and Waco were slow. Is that still the case?

I'm just not in the mood to review HP: Prisoner of Azkaban. For whatever reason, it's just not inspiring me to write about it. The Cliff Notes version is this: not a bad movie but you'll be let down a bit if you were a big fan of the first two. It's apparent that a new director took the helm and I missed Chris Columbus, who did the first two. Worth the money but not worth screaming about it from the rooftops.

Anybody there..?

You guys are QUIET!

I was in Austin yesterday for a meeting and I told Jen about our website. ALSO, I have shared it with Rachel. So suck in those guts, boys!

Checking in

Hey gang. Erica and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in the French Quarter this past weekend. I ate like a glutton, drank like Axl Rose, and it felt great! Like that dude said to Tom Cruise in “Risky Business,” sometimes you just gotta say what the fuck! Anyway, we had a great time for which I have to atone this week by getting back with the diet discipline. I think Erica did her penance last night with her nightmare of a trip back to Houston. Mark and Mike, long story short, she was supposed to get back to Robbie’s around 6pm or so and hopefully be back in S.A. by 9pm last night. That was the plan, anyway. Well, because of bad weather around IAH, she didn’t end up getting back to Robbie’s until 1am.

Robbie, big thanks and a bottle of your favorite booze the next time I see you for boarding my girls and showing them such a good time while we were in New Orleans. We really appreciate it.

After I got into Alabama yesterday (I drove here after dropping Erica off at the airport in N.O.) I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie. I must confess that, as a big fan of the first 2 movies – and a HUGE fan of the books – I was a bit disappointed. I’ll post more about it later but right now, as I didn’t get too much sleep last night because of my lady’s travails in getting back to Houston, I’m a little too fog-headed to write it.

Mark, loved your review of the new Vin Diesel star vehicle. Not that I was in the least tempted to go and see it in the first place, but your words have assured that I’ll avoid it now even at Blockbuster too.

Gotta get back to work now.

Review: The Chronicles of Riddick

Prior to going to this movie last night, I had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to suck bad. I thought I would read a review for it on-line at imdb.com (internet movie database). They have links to external movie review websites that gave it decent reviews, so off I went (with expectations raised, mind you).

I left the movie actually thinking about some form of action that could be taken against those critics. Yes, it was bad. Beyond paint-by-numbers formulaic (one part Star Trek, two parts Flash Gordon, one part Mortal Kombat), beyond weak and childish in story (the villians are actually called 'Necro-Mongers' who often say "You keep what you kill: It's the Necro-Monger way"). All around it was really just a ploy to get $7.50 out of people by dangling Vin Diesel in front of the screen and making him say Schwarzeneggeresque hard boiled one-liners.

It was WAY too easy for Riddick to dispose his foes (the worst thing he gets is a fat lip and a little sunburn). The villianous Necro-Mongers are WAY too good looking, etc. etc.

Humor me for a second. I can picture what pre-production was like: In an effort to target the young twentysomething crowd, Big studio executives seek a writer for this sequel to 'Pitch Black'. One executive has a silverspoon nephew that dropped out of private school, incessantly smokes weed, and is on the fast track to nowhere. They give him his big break as writer.

He begins: "Okay, so like, there should be like these bad guys, right? And like they have these weird metal faces on all sides of their heads right? And they want to take over the universe you know, like the whole friggin galaxy man, you know what I'm sayin? Exept wait...WAIT...don't call it the universe..call it the Underverse...Yeah man...great idea man!! whoa.. that's deep.. anybody have any cheetos up in here?"

That's all from me now. PEACE!

Friday Night at the Movies

Happy Friday my brothers!

All's well in the werf (Ft Worth). We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Lillian has been sleeping through the night in her own crib for the past two nights, which is nothing short of a blessing from God.

Robbie, isn't True Romance an older movie? I can't remember it very well.

So anyway, we may go to the movies tonight. I'm going to see the Chronicles of Riddick while Natalie and her mom (and maybe Rachel) are going to see the Stepford Wifes. I read a review for TSW that I thought was insightful. Check it out:

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0001784.cfm

The critic wrote that the feminist agenda was so propagated that he/she fully expected to see "This film has been fully endorsed by the National Organization of Women. No women were actually domesticated during the making of this film" during the credits. Funny!

I guess I need to get back to work. Bids to file... Realtors to call...

My review of 'Riddick' to follow... Have an extra super bueno weekend!

Greatest Movie of all time

Hi Boys,

You know, I've had the occassion to frequent the theatre a few times in the last couple of weeks and have enjoyed my choices. We saw Shrek 2 in Padre, which I sorta reviewed. Last week was "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" which to quote Ron Weasley was "Brilliant" a much more mature movie than the first two, which I also enjoyed immensely.(sp)?

But 2 nights ago, I saw for about the 10th time, what I think is one of the best movies of the nineties. And that film is Quinton Tarantino's "True Romance" What an awesome flick, and the cast is a who's who of H-wood "A-listers". Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Micheal Rappaport, Brad Pitt, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Bronson Pinchot and none other than Tony Soprano himself, James Gandolfini.

Loner guy goes to a kung fu movie on his birthday, meets prostitute, falls in love and marries prostitute, kills her pimp, finds out that he accidentally grabbed an entire suitcase full of uncut cocaine, takes it to LA to sell to movie producer. It's the feelgood movie of the decade.

The only thing stronger than a dog's sense of smell..

is his sense of irony.


(Name the quote.)

Velvet Revolver

I checked this band out on iTunes. All they let you do is hear 30 second samples of each song, which is not enough time to let it grow on you. However, from what I can hear it sounds like another STP album. Those guys had their time.

For whatever reason I just can't get into that type of music anymore. I can jam to the old stuff, but there isn't much out there that is floating my boat (in the alt/nu-metal genre anyway).

Guns sans Roses

Mark and Mike, I just went out and bought this CD. You've got to get it, too. I think you'll like it. Rob, I don't know your music tastes enough to be able to say if you'll like it or not.

It's kinda funny how "supergroups" are back in vogue with first Audioslave and now Velvet Revolver rising from the ashes of great old (albeit defunct) bands. I hope both of these bands will be successful but I remember the example of The Firm from back in the 80's. They started off with a bunch of fanfare and had a few cool songs but now they're nothing but a footnote.

Oh well, I'm listening to Velvet Revolver now and it sounds cool as hell. I'll leave history's verdict on them to history.

Hair Metal

Okay, you want a “painfully long-winded” post from me? Well grab a chair boys 'cuz I found something that pisses me off.

Last night I watched “The 40 Greatest Hair Bands of All Time” on VH1. To be honest, it was pretty cringe-inducing shit, considering that I used to really like some of those bands like Whitesnake and Ratt. Okay, I still do. Sue me. Most of them were one hit wonders like Autograph, Cinderella, Winger, et al. Yeah, I admit, it was a pretty ridiculous genre, with all the bands having their de rigueur HUGE hair, tight spandex and lead singers with falsettoes that could open garage doors and break windows up and down the block. Anybody remember Steelheart or Slaughter, both of whom had leadmen who could peel paint with their voices?

Still though, not all the rock-n-roll made by these guys was bad. Van Halen will always be one of my favorite bands. The Scorpions, too. So it’s butthead music, so what? There's room for that in the world.

But just take a guess who the good folks at VH1 crowned as their greatest hair band of all time? Was it Twisted Sister, you ask, the drag queens from hell? If you said so, that would be a good guess as actually they were number 2, probably in no small part due to the fact that Dee Snyder hosted the show. Was it Diamond Dave and the rest of the Van Halen crew? Nope. Bon Jovi? Nuh uh. Motley Crue, you say. It just has to be Motley Crue, right? Wrong, though they were in the top 10.

No, the group who most epitomized the whole “Hair Band” phenomenon, the group who VH1 thought deserved to stand atop 39 other bands, great and small, was none other than . . . Poison.

Please, somebody kill me.

There was so much wrong with that band, they were so godawfully bad on so many levels that they almost achieved a kind of transcendence. Listening to a Poison song is like watching a John Waters movie; you have to ask yourself if there’s a joke being played that you’re not in on. Did Brett Michaels really think “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was a good song when he penned it or was that just his tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at other mediocre songwriters who had to lean on braindead clichés like that to round out their songs. Unfortunately, I think it was the former.

Poison would earn my vote for the worst rock band. Ever. Blessedly though, they're now gone and Michaels now only pops up occasionally, like a recurrent boil on the ass of rock-n-roll, to offer commentary on shows like “I Love the 80’s.”

For some good rock, I just caught the video for “Slither” by Velvet Revolver. For those who haven’t heard, VR is comprised of Slash, Duff and Matt, the sane remnants of Guns N Roses, and Scott Weiland, the very insane former frontman for Stone Temple Pilots. The song is totally fucking cool and comes at you like a fist to the forehead with grit and fury that pretenders like Poison couldn't match if their lives depended on it.

There! I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Reagan

You can't go on the internet or turn on the T.V. without seeing or hearing about this. His death comes at a time in which I feel America could have used his insite and leadership. I'll wright more later. Its the morning and my coffee hase\n't kicked in yet.

My slogan . . .

. . . was from "Animal House."

And there's nothing going on in the world that really makes me want to write one of my "painfully longwinded" screeds right now. The Reagan funeral is all over the news and, though I agree he was the best president of the past half century, I am a bit uneasy about all the pomp and ritual of his funeral. The last president to die was Nixon a few years back and I can't recall if he was given a State funeral like this. Maybe that was just because of the circumstances of his leaving office, I don't know.

I doubt Reagan would have approved of renaming every Federal building after himself, as some of his latter day admirers seem to want to do. I have also heard people suggest that his visage should be chiseled onto Mt. Rushmore and that he should replace Andrew Jackson on the $20.00 bill. This kind of hagiography (there's your word for the day!) should be reserved for Catholic saints and the Robert Mugabes of the world. I don't think it's healthy for a democracy. If you want to honor Reagan and his legacy, in my opinion, keep tax rates down and stop growing all of these fucking entitlement programs.

I'll stop bitching now.

Changed the Subtitle

Sorry James, I didn't get that last one. What do you think of this one? I made it up. It's no movie quote. Nosirreee! I think it adroit and apropriate (sp).

By the way, I have also been in my workout routine. I just finished a leg workout and they feel like jell-O. I have some momentum going with this one so I'm comforable telling you about it now. In another week, it could be the longest workout stint for me since...crap.. high school.

Still, I am okay in likely being the least strongest CoopBro just so you know. I admit it. It's cool. Such comparisons are beneath me. I mean competition is healthy, don't get me wrong, I just find preoccupations with such persuits to be quite immature to say the least.

Besides, I've got the biggest willy...

Bill II

Bill called me yesterday and asked to come over and talk to me. I agreed, of course. We had a long talk and he apologized to me but his behavior and the way he spoke (using morally neutral language like calling what he did "bad choices," etc.) suggested to me that he was more sorry for being in trouble than he was for actually doing what he did. I think he was hoping that I'd volunteer to talk to dad and convince him not to press charges against him (like that would even work).

I wasn't mean or ugly about it, but I told him that I would do no such thing. He has made his bed and now he's going to have to lay in it.

Rob, great talking with you yesterday. We'll be there with our "CoopGirls" in tow sometime after dinner Thursday evening. We'd like to crash there is it's okay with you.

Ronald Reagan, RIP

The greatest president of our generation - and in my opinion the second greatest of the 20th century (second only to FDR) - died yesterday. More than any other man, Reagan built the world we live in. Love him or hate him, he left giant footprints.

I am nursing a bitch of a hangover right now. Erica and I went out with her brother and sister in law last night to Polly Esther's on the Riverwalk. Mark and Mike, if y'all remember, that was the bar we were all hanging at last year before Jennifer pulled us to that wierd Mexican rave bar for her birthday. We had a great time and closed it down, something we beige Coopers rarely do! I think I had like 4 tequila shots and 3 Coronas.

Mark, beautiful pictures! God, what beautiful eyes Lilly has! And don't worry, babies are supposed to be chubby. And we did call you "Porky" when you were a baby for a reason!

Pics of my Lillian!

This one's my favorite too, James. As you all can tell, those baby blues are here to stay! If you click on the picture, you get a larger view.

Tummy Time!

This was taken today. Tummy Time is the best!

The Women in my Life

As you can see below, we put Lil in a baby floatie and she went to sleep. This is at a friend's house who has a heated pool

Lillian Soaking Up the Sun

Thanks James for posting these. Picasa is not mac friendly. I'm now calling Lillian my "little chub". She's gettin hefty!

Kill Bill!

Just kidding. It does suck though..

James, did you get my e-mail? I sent it to your work address and to Erica's sbcglobal address. I put some cute pics of lillian in it to post on here.

Bill

I cannot believe this shit. I feel like such a goddamned idiot. I mean, I was friends with this guy! Erica, I and the girls used to go out to eat with him and his family. He used to tell me how happy he was that he wasn't still working for his last employer because of all the goddamned cocaine that went around that place. Man, I NEVER would have thought that he would have been into that bullshit too. Never! Greg, I could believe; he was the kind of guy who was probably born with a straw in his nose and he acted like it. But Bill? He always struck me as being too much of a health nut, the kind of guy who respected his body. I thought he was smarter than that.

I'll bet Dad's tied up in knots. Last year I talked him into loaning Bill a few thousand dollars so that he wouldn't lose his house. He was a hair's breadth away from foreclosure when we saved his ass. How many times did I go to bat for him with Dad? And this is how he pays us back, he steals Dad's money and makes me look like a fool.

What a jerk.

Lazy Saturday

Number three here,

I haven't been able to post from work for some reason. Anyway, Bill came clean with his fraudulent contract activity. He also came clean with Dad about a cocaine problem. According to Dad, he was groveling and apologetic. What a mess! This on top of sales being in the toilet company-wide has the old man in knots these days.

Anyway, we're enjoying a lazy Saturday around the house. No frills. JUUST the way I like it. Later I'm going to become one with the lawnmower.

Rob, you don't know how to call nobody BACK! I'm interested to hear about the vacation and stuff.

Lat,

Thursday miscellany

Mikey, good to have you back. I've been running this week but since I haven't been on a regular jogging routine since the first Bush Administration, it's been hard. I'm only going about 1 mile a night and even that's making my knees hurt like hell. That's after spending the past 5 months building up my leg muscles, too. But I'll keep with it. Usually I gain weight when I'm out of town for as long as I have been on this trip but this time I've decided that, instead of eating too much, drinking beer and sitting on my ass that I would go to the other extreme. Thus, I'm in the gym every morning to lift weights and I jog every night before dinner. I'm up by 5:00 and asleep by 9:30. It's not a particularly exciting routine but when you're married and away from your family for a long haul, exciting isn't really a good thing, y'know?

So how's it going with Elizabeth? Mom told me about her. Are you still seeing her?

Robbie, go to the blogger home page (blogger.com). At the bottom of it you'll see a hyperlink for "hello photoblogging." Click it and then download the program. You're a smart guy so you'll be able to figure out the rest from there.

Mark, I had a long talk with Dad yesterday. I cannot fucking believe that Bill would be stupid enough to do something like that. Hell, I don't want to believe it. I liked Bill (unlike that crybaby Michael) and thought he was a better guy than that. If he really did do what Dad told me he did, he deserves to be prosecuted. Faking sales to get commissions is theft, plain and simple.

Well gang, I'm coming back to Texas for a week tomorrow. My butt numbing 11-hour trek beckons and, even though I miss Erica and the girls really badly, I am not looking forward to it. Oh, we do's what we has to do's!

Everyone have a good weekend. I'll post again from home this weekend.

Coopbro 1 out!

I'm back and I'm BAD

What's up guys? I've been here just not very long winded lately. We had a fun memorial weekend out on lake Travis. My friends and I rented a pontoon boat and we're among about 250 boats there this past weekend. It was great, everyone ties their boats together and parties and has fun. Its taken me a few days to recover. I did see miracle last night. I guess it fulfilled my expectations. It wasnt great, but wasn't a total waste of a couple of hours. 2 beers (lonestar) I'm going to rent shrek this weekend. I'll see what the hype is about. I finally saw The Passion of the Christ last week by myself and really couldn't speak much the rest for the night. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. Mark, remember Katie Hammond.. Go to this link http://www.click2houston.com/entertainment/3344362/detail.html. She got married on T.V. and got the whole thing paid for by channel 2! Guys, she an old highschool friend of Mine and Marks. Anyway, James good for you for keeping up with the workouts. I've been wanting to run this week but its been really hot & humid this week so I think I'm just going back to the gym. Anyway, thats enough, talk to you all later.

Shrek 2

Well here comes the full review that I promised to you earlier.

Shrek 2 is a perfect example of what a truly great animated movie should be. The characters are cutesy and colorful, so Emily liked it. They engage in somewhat risque behavior (bathroom humor) so Christian liked it. And there were over 50 pop culture references, so I liked it. The spinoff of "Cops" and "Mission Impossible" were two of my favorites.

There is really nothing original from the first one. It's the same stuff only better done this time.

Antonio Banderas' Puss and Boots character is a riot and the chemistry between Eddie Murphy's Donkey and Mike Myers' Shrek has gotten better. Whereas in the first movie, I thought it was forced, the interaction is more natural and funny. I can take or leave Cameron Diaz.

You know what else I liked about it? It was short. Only like an hour and fifteen minutes. I am so tired of 3.5 hour marathon movies.

Where's Mike?

Coopbro 4 seems to have fallen off the radar screen. Hellooooo? Mikeyyyy? Where are youuuu?

The Perfect Armageddon Independence Day After Tomorrow Storm

I agree James. We (or rather I) saw this movie on Sunday. Natalie, her mother, and Rachel elected to see Raising Helen instead. I thought it was allright. What's funny is some of the chatter about it that I am hearing on talk radio today, specifically the "political agenda of hollywood" blah blah blah.

Anyway, we had a good weekend. I've got pics of Lillians first time in a swimming pool. James, what is your e-mail address and I'll send them to you to post.

Nature sucks!

And so does this movie.

Okay, not really. It's typical summer disaster movie fare, though. Take one part "Independence Day" and mix it with two parts "The Perfect Storm," shake and serve chilled. The special effects are really cool and the acting is about what you'd expect for a movie like this. Just don't think about it too hard while you're watching it. Try not to ask how Dennis Quaid could possibly walk from Philadelphia all the way to New York. In snowshoes. In the middle of a blizzard. With nothing to eat.

But I don't mean to imply that it's all bad. The story is preposterous but I've always liked Quaid and he doesn't do anything to make me hate him here. Also, the movie does star the mother of all MILFs in Sela Ward (mmm, Sela) so it does have it's strong points, if you know what I mean.

3 beers out of a six-pack. I hope that was succinct enough for you all.

Back to reality

Hey all. Rob, glad you and the family had a nice trip to Padre. Erica and I had a GREAT time in Gulf Shores this past weekend. The weather was perfect, the water cool and, as always, the sand was white as sugar.

Damn, I miss Alabama! I'll be here another week to work. Until further notice (probably the end of the summer) I'm going to keep the schedule of 2 weeks in Alabama to 1 week in Houston.

I'm still working out and even though I'm away from home, I haven't missed a single morning in the gym. The hotel I'm staying in comes with a free membership to a local gym called Powerhouse Gym. I think I'm going to take a page out of Mikey's book and take down some of the weights I've been using (16 wheels on the leg press just makes me nervous) and increase the reps to 15 to 20 per set. Mikey, if you remember the routine you designed for me a couple of years ago, I'm going to go back to that. For cardio, I'm going to run about 1 to 1.5 miles every night. That should shake things up a bit.

Hope everyone has a good week.