The following contains information and possible spoilers about the Mole episode that aired on July 14.  Do not keep reading if you haven’t seen it – consider yourself warned!

We’re getting down to the nitty gritty – there is only one woman left for one thing, who would have thought that it would be Nicole.  It was a rarity, but my 8-year-old daughter was the last one standing last night, so she was invited to watch the Mole with us.  I know it’s rated TV-14, but it’s just for language, and she knows better than to repeat some things they say…  it did bring it to my attention though; I would otherwise ignore it, but why can’t they just leave it out?  Do they really need to say words like (fill in the blanks) a** and c*ap on tv?  I don’t see why they can’t just edit them out.  But anyway, she really liked the show, and she said that everyone acts suspicious.  Her final guess for the most mole-y behavior is Nicole though, so I will add her to our poll at the end of this post.

Since we have a new baby in the house, I am SO tired, and it seems like the more tired I am, the worse my short-term memory is.  So I don’t remember too many details about the Mole, even though it was just on last night.  I was not surprised to see Alex booted, and if I had had one eye on the clock, I would have known that the first person’s quiz results they showed would be red this time.  They do that at least once a season – eliminate the first person whose results were given.  I figured Alex wasn’t the Mole, so it was no surprise when he was booted.  It was fun to watch how scared everyone got before they dove backwards off the plank.  I didn’t get much out of the brainteaser game because I would normally like to play along with something like that, but my brain is so fried lately and they didn’t give us enough time to think about the answers, so I just spent the challenge answered my daughter’s questions about the show instead.  But I’d have to say, aside from the language, it’s a good family show since it kept my 8-year-old’s attention, and I think my 4-year-old would like it too.

Mole Guesses for this week:
Taylor – Nicole

Chris – staying with Paul

Taylhis – staying with Nicole

Jamiahsh – staying with Paul

Hmmm…  interesting.  The two people with the strongest personalities have the most guesses.  I guess we think they could be exaggerating their attitudes.  At least that’s how I feel with Nicole.  I’ve begun to wonder, could anyone REALLY be that much of a total b*tch?

An Inventions Quiz, 15 famous inventors and their inventions.
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I should tell you my score, but I will wait until you get a chance.

I have a better thought. I will leave a clue to my score in the text of this post. In fact, if you can puzzle out the clue, you can report my score. I thought of a way to give a clue, but I think I need to do better than that. I am positive I can do better than that.

Yes, there is a clue or more in this post. I found a way to give multiple clues. In fact, the number of clues I created points to a clue. Can you figure it out?

This is another post obviously trying to get more people to comment. I’m hoping an interactive post is the answer.

I’m having too much fun. I think it is time to stop.

The title of this article just got to me. For some reason it just tickled my sense of humor.
….NASA Sticks a Fork in Mars, I hope they remembered the knife and spoon.

Anyway, I do like the work the landers and orbiters are doing on Mars. In the past few years, we’ve learned a lot about the next planet out. I’ll keep on looking for updates on what exactly this probe finds, so I can make a comment or two on that.

Superhero comic books can be fickle things. They continuously shift from one interpretation to another I believe to adapt to the times and conditions in the “real world.” One of the greatest villains in all of superhero legend is The Joker . However, it has never been stated definitively how he came to be or even what his backstory is. There have been multiple interpretations involving a vat of chemicals that he falls into that gave him his distorted image with that ever-present maniacal grin, green hair, and pasty-white face. For purposes of plot alone, the 1988 Tim Burton directed Batman suggested that the caped crusader was ultimately responsible for the fiend’s condition. Some comics stories suggest that these interpretations are nothing more than lies concocted by the Clown Prince of Crime himself and that we will probably never know the real story. In fact, in the graphic novel,Batman: The Killing Joke , the villain does not seem to remember just how he came to be. “Sometimes, I remember it one way, sometimes another…if I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”

Over the years, the Joker has been the instrument in two major tragedies in The Dark Knight’s history (or three if you are going to follow Tim Burton’s interpretation). In the aforementioned The Killing Joke, he shoots Police Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara in the back rendering her paralyzed and ending her career as Batgirl. However, Barbara later returned as the heroine Oracle who uses her computer expertise to aide in the fight against crime.

Another incident involved Batman’s closest ally, Robin the Boy Wonder. After Bruce Wayne’s “youthful ward Dick Grayson” matured he became known as Nightwing and left the Batcave. A new Robin was introduced in Jason Todd. In Batman: A Death in the Family, The Joker captures Robin, beats him to a pulp and locks him in a warehouse set to explode minutes before salvation arrives. In a twist, the comic writers allowed the public to determine the new Boy Wonder’s fate. One 900 number would have him be saved; the other would bring his end. Ultimately, reader’s brought the life of the young sidekick to a close. So, the Joker was the catalyst but the public killed him. This incident only intensified Batman’s desire to apprehend his arch-nemesis and put him away for good. Now where is the fun in that?!

On Friday, audiences will see a new, even darker, more sinister Joker as portrayed by the late Heath Ledger. Who knows what interpretation will be presented for the villain. For more on the history of one of the best characters in comic book legend click on the link

The Dark Knight : Enter to win a trip to Hong Kong!

Today I took a trip back in time, sort of.  For just a little while, I was back 20+ years ago having a donut with my little girl.   She’s no longer the 2 or 3 year old I would carry on my shoulders for 4 blocks to the donut shop, and she definitely eats more than 1/2 a donut now.  But just for an instant I saw that very young father, and his daughter in the refection of the door entering the donut shop.

The shop changed in the past 20 years.  There is no longer a bar with stools to sit and watch the frenzy behind the counter.  The library and store that as across the street no longer exist in that location.  The apartments still looked the same.

They say you can’t go back, and of course that is true.  I would never want to try to live in that little apartment again.  I’ve grown to comfortable living in the country away from the noise, the lights and the people.  I like the silence and the darkness.  Most of the time this suits who I am.

I’ve changed over the past few years, but I haven’t changed to the point where I can’t enjoy a quick trip to the donut shop with one of my girls.  I hope all my girls have some special memory of things they did with their parents.  I know I have some for each of them…

This weekend was for the most part very enjoyable. My shifts over the last two days just dragged by. Friday, I did not have to work and except for a trip to a nearby metropolis to renew my license plate tags, pick up a prize at the radio station,, and stop and pick up a present for a baby, I waited by the phone in anticipation to hear some good news. Finally, around 5.20 PM I get a call from the hospital saying that mother and baby are just fine.. an 8 lb 2oz baby boy. Some nerve wracking episodes but all worked out well for their fourth child and first boy.

Saturday’s shift could not have been slower because I knew that I would have a phone call telling me where to go after I got off… and sure enough. I headed over to the hospital to see the little bundle of joy complete with a green slimy diaper that I watched Daddy change. After visiting with Mom and another visitor, we went and ate Chinese. We then went to the house where we quickly moved a crib from the nursery into the parent’s room. We had to totally disassemble the device and put it back together all while Dad was talking on the phone. Correct me if I am wrong but we had the crib together in half the time that it took to take it apart. We then played a game called Snout in which the object was to roll a pig and try to make it land in random positions. It was fun but frustrating when you kept rolling the same thing over and over again which did neither of us any good. Finally, we ended the game long after it was discovered who had won about 3 rounds after the winner had gotten the 100 points needed to win. But still fun and a great evening once again although we were both tired by 11PM (very unusual but totally understandable). We also played another fun game, but the name escapes me… help me out on this one oh great admin.  But it was just a blast seeing the wee one on his first days in the world and the proud but exhausted parents.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of posting some Archie youtube links with my posts below, but have a look at some of the music numbers.  There are more where these came from- just do a search at youtube for The Archies or The Archie Show, or click on one of these videos to go to the site and start digging through the related section:

Archie Show Intro

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Jingle Jangle

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Bang Shangalang

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Sugar, Sugar

Has there ever been a time in your life you have just had to wait on something?  The anxiety sets in while trying to be patient and it’s difficult to think of anything else.  When a child this anticipation is often felt in birthdays and Christmas when you just can’t wait for that toy you’ve kept bugging mom and dad about.  For parents this sort of anticipation runs in the birth of children when the due date approaches.  I am not married, but I imagine the mother-to-be is anticipating the day when that child is finally out because she’s worn from carrying the baby for the last several months.  For dad, I imagine the stress of waiting on his wife causes him to anticipate the birth.  For both mom and dad, they can’t wait for the baby to be born so the nightmarish hospital visit is over and they can see their baby finally.

Well, as we know my friends C and L are at this time once again in their lives with baby number four, and this blogger is having to just wait on news of what’s going on.  They were to go in Friday to have labor induced and their child born.  It is now two days later and in the absence of news all sorts of things have been going through my head, most of them not helpful in relieving the anxiety.  Is L okay?  Is the baby okay?  Is this just a very long labor or has something unexpected happened, and if so what?  As you can tell this line of thinking goes nowhere good fast.  I keep checking my email and my friends’ blogs- all of them since maybe my OH friends know something I don’t yet know, and I have prayed more than once, but still I am anxious for news.  I pray it’s good news.

Unfortunately I just have to keep waiting…

The comic book.  When people today think of comic books, usually superheroes come to mind.  With the introduction of Superman in 1938, this trend grew through the golden years and later with dozens of superheroes created.  Big names like Stan Lee come to mind, who has become so big he was given his own reality show, Who Wants to be a Superhero? which lasted for two seasons.  Many comic-book heroes have made their way to the TV screen in the form of cartoons and live-action shows, and have been making it big in movies as well.  Within the last few months we have had Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and the much-anticipated soon-to-be-released Dark Knight (Batman).

However, superheroes are just one of many genres of comic books.  Among the years westerns, war, sci-fi and fantasy, detective, horror, and many others have had some big hits and long-running series over the years.  While I have read several different genres as a kid, one really stuck with me, or maybe they are a couple different ones.  Harvey comics, which brought us the likes of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich are of a genre which you might call funny comics.  I don’t know the true genre name for these but they were close to my heart growing up.  Another series I have always enjoyed was kind of a genre unto itself, though others have tried to duplicate its success.  Like many superhero comics, this series has been going strong since the golden age of comics.  It has spawned some cartoons, at least one live TV series (plus a pilot that never got off the ground), and even a movie.  The series I’m talking about is the Archie comic book series.   Since 1941, readers have been able to follow the high-school antics of Archie and his gang, which has periodically changed to fit the times.  The most recent incarnation made the characters more anime-like.

Recently, while at the library I encountered two DVD collections of the old cartoon series.  One set was for Sabrina the Teenage Witch from the early 70s, which unlike the later cartoons and TV series actually resembled the Sabrina I know from the comic books.  It was actually not shown on its own originally, but part of The Archie Comedy Hour.  I also found a DVD collection for the original cartoon, The Archie Show.  The latter was apparently a smash hit 40 years ago in 1968, before I was born.  Each cartoon contained a new dance move and a new song from The Archies, a band that was put together for the show not unlike The Monkees, but instead of becoming a band unto themselves they hid behind the cartoon faces of Archie and friends.  This one show apparently cornered a whopping 55% of the viewership when it was on.  In any event, I wound up checking both of them out and just finished watching the Archie DVDs (and not too soon, as it is on reserve and not able to be renewed- it’s due today) and two of the three Sabrina DVDs.  As typical for cartoon series of the time they were done on the cheap with static backgrounds that when made to move like when a character is walking or running will repeat, and a few voice actors doing all of the voices.  Okay, these sort of things are still done, even with the voice actors in hits like The Simpsons, but they are still done to keep the costs down.  Some of the voices the actors came up with left something to be desired in my opinion.  I really didn’t like Jughead’s or Veronica’s voices.  A couple others, like Archie and Mr. Weatherbee grew on me as I watched, and still others I had no problem with at all.

Now that I am nearly finished with these two collections I look forward to being able to watch other series, except maybe the recent Sabrina cartoons which were actually a spinoff of the 90s TV series, which in turn was a modern remake.  I haven’t read the recent anime-style comics for the same reason I didn’t enjoy the TV series, and for that matter don’t enjoy the modern Battlestar Galactica- nostalgia.  They are simply not the same characters I grew up with.  The ones I do want to watch range from Archie’s TV Funnies, US of Archie, and Archie’s Fun House from the same company that brought us the two I watched (Filmation); to later incarnations like the New Archies and Archie’s Weird Mysteries which may or may not be relevent to my nostalgia.  I also would like to pick up any Richie Rich cartoons I might find, and any other Harveytoons which are like the comics I read, and any comic collections that are released on computer similar to MAD’s CD set from about ten years ago.  I understand there is one for Archie now that can be had at archiecomics.com.  When I have some income again I will have to pick it up.

As a society we are surrounded by coffee. In larger cities there have been Starbucks on every corner.  Stretching the point a little, but they did just close a number of “extra” shops.  There are also a number of other coffee places that are national/international brands.  Even the likes of McDonalds are starting to sell their own premium coffees.  Were does in end?

Now I a admit being a bit of a coffee nerd/snob.  I have tasted good coffee and desire it above all others.  I like the pure 100% coffees from specific regions (Kona and Kenya AA are at the top of my list).  I like  various blended coffees (Mocha Java and Kona Blends).   I like good dark roasts, medium roasts and light roasts.  I even go for a good shot of espresso every now and then.   When it comes to flavored coffees, there are those I like and those I don’t.  Adding flavor to coffee is outside the realm of a simple cuppa…  So are most of the fancy blends and even the espresso.

I’m talking about a simple no nonsense cup of joe.   That fresh jolt of black goodness in the morning. And the thoughts of that cup bring back memories of days long past.

I’ve told the story many times, of my wife and I finding a coffee shop of all places to spend a little time alone.  At that time, I was the only one  to even drink coffee.  It grew on her.  But I felt myself being drawn further back in time.  To a small apartment, our first, in Toledo, OH.  This little two bedroom unit was about 3 or 4 blocks from a Dunkin’ Donuts shop.  I remember walking down on some Saturdays to get some donuts and for me a coffee.  That coffee was some of the best I’ve ever tasted.  To this day it is still one of my favorites.  In those early days, we didn’t even have a coffee maker in the house (I would consumed the whole pot), so this was a treat.  I even had a Dunkin’ Donuts thermos so I could get cheaper re-fills.

If I have my count of Toledo area donut shops correct, that one Dunkin’ Donuts is the last in the Toledo area.  When we lived there, there were a least 4 in the area.  Who knows why they left this part of the country for a while.  But I’ve heard that they are opening up new shops in the Ft. Wayne IN area.  I now live halfway between Toledo and Ft. Wayne, so maybe I’ll be able to get coffee and a donut from Dunkin’ Donuts when I’m on the road.  I’d love to see them expand in the area again.  But maybe 65 miles isn’t too far to go to relive a memory…