"The Return of the King" Extended Edition

I picked my copy of this last Thursday, the 16th. I also decided to go all out and buy the gift set with a kick-ass statue of the major Gondorian city, Minas Tirith.

The movie, like I've said before many, many times, kicks ass. It was more than I expected from Tolkien's novel, even though there were a few changes and omissions, but LOTR fans will let it slide.

The extended version had an extra 50 minutes of film added on, just to fill in the spots of the story line. To me, some of them were necessary for the theatrical version, like "The Mouth of Sauron." That was a great, but creepy, scene.

Overall, I was looking forward to this extended version for one reason only -- that Katie and I would have our names in the Fan Club credits at the end of the movie. I actually had a dream about this that night before I bought the extended version DVD -- that it was being shown on a big screen and our names were not in the credits. Sure enough, when I actually saw it for myself, our names WERE NOT in the credits. Filthy language ensued.

I joined the LOTR Fan Club before the theatrical release of "The Return of the King", just to ensure Katie and I a spot in the credits. I paid $30 for a yearly membership -- and all I got was a subscription to the Fan Club magazine. Don't get me wrong, the magazine was cool and we get all these "cool" discounts on LOTR merchandise, but no names in the credits.

I'm thinking that I should send them a nice letter for an explanation. I just want to know why!

Christmas Plans

I'm almost dreading what is going to be a LONG weekend.

It all starts on Friday -- Christmas Eve at Katie's family. This is no ordinary family -- she's got aunts and uncles from the floorboards and of course, they had to have 5 kids each. I'm preparing for nearly 40 people in one house on Friday.

Then, it's up early on Christmas Day for the drive back to Minnesota for my side of the family. It's a little more comfortable, in which we'll probably have 15 people there.

Sunday -- the haul to Hutchinson for my mom's relatives. They're a little "out there." I suppose I'll have to go, since I haven't seen them in over a year and they've never even met Katie.

Katie and I will probably drive back to South Dakota on Monday the 27th, watch Kate's brothers play basketball on the 28th, then have engagement pictures taken on the 29th in Sioux Falls. Now THAT is something I'm looking forward to (I'm being sarcastic, if you didn't know)!

Fantasy Football -- No Good

I thought I had a pretty good weekend, then I looked at the stats. The only bad part -- Pittsburgh as my defense. I lost a point due to them giving up 30 points to the New York Giants on Saturday.

I only managed to put up 130 points on the board. My opponent scored 145. He had a pretty big game from Josh McCown, QB for the Arizona Cardinals and his wide receivers mopped up with big games from Hines Ward and Donald Driver.

So now, I'm playing for 7th place next weekend. I'm all but giving up on this season of fantasy football. It was a hell of a run -- I even got up to 2nd place at one point.

A surprising note -- our first place guy at 11-3, lost in the first round of the playoffs and will play for 3rd place. This is the second year in a row that this has happened -- a dominant regular season player falls short in the playoffs.

Sicker Than A Dog

Being sick isn't much fun, especially when a person has a massive head cold -- kind of like the one I got now.

I felt it coming on in the middle of last week. Immediately I thought, "Oh, shit," Christmas is around the corner and I'm going to feel like crap, because when I get a cold, it usually takes a while for it to run its course.

Luckily for me, I was done with my finals last Wednesday. On Saturday, I decided to drive down to Sioux Falls to get some Christmas shopping done -- biggest mistake I've ever made. The city was packed, including every stinkin' parking lot of every shopping center. They even had Sioux Falls' finest out directing traffic at the Empire Mall. The day just gets worse.

When I spend lots of money -- I get a little crabby. Combine that with the traffic on 41st Street, I wasn't a happy camper. I skipped out on a few stops just because of my mood (I'm heading down there again today to finish up) and drove to Pipestone to visit my brother.

On Sunday, I felt like complete shit. I refused any medicine given to me (I think it doesn't do any good) and the fact that Vikings got lucky -- I didn't want to do anything. But the college had its Fall graduation ceremony and some of our friends had their own parties in town, so we had to make our appearances.

Despite the shitty feeling I was having, I managed to suck down a few beers and had roughly a good time.

Monday was a little worse. I could barely talk -- I was literally shaking all day I was so weak. I just laid on the couch all day, watching flicks and played the PS2 until my eyes fell out.

Today, I'm feeling a little bit better. My head is starting to clear up, although I'm still pretty tired. I'm hoping that Katie doesn't get sick over the holidays -- then I just might as well build a bomb shelter and live in there for a few days, because her attitude usually gets worse than mine! So far, she's good.

This Is Just Wrong...

I gotta love school.

Boy, professors here can sure screw ya. I'm preparing for another dominant semester in the grade books and already two teachers have given me C's. In one class, her grading scale is such a joke -- you basically need 98% of the points to get an 'A.' I didn't do one lousy assignment and she hits me up with a 'C.'

The other class -- well, it's my own fault -- was my racquet sports lab. This class was a joke to begin with. This class is taught by the Blue Team's men's basketball coach -- and what a prick! I did all the assignments, showed up for the "final," but all I did was miss a few classes.

I should end up with a semester GPA of over 3.0 -- which isn't bad. I'll take it.

Now, I got some other responsibilities to take care of in preparation of my student teaching semester in the Spring. I've got to get fingerprinted and that information has to get sent into the state of South Dakota and the FBI to do a little background check. Just talking to some of my friends who are going to be teaching just laughed, because some local precincts already have our fingerprints, including mine!

Overall, I'm suffering from "senioritis," although I've been suffering from it for over a couple of years now. Symptoms include plain laziness, the inability to do homework, and many hours of sleep.

Then there's the other obstacle that I have to overcome -- work. I'm being re-called back on January 3rd to work nearly 12-hour days. When I start teaching in February, how am I going to do this? Obviously, I'll go back to working part-time days, but for how long? I guess that'll be decided when it comes down to it.

Man -- just take me out to the pasture and just shoot me, please.

Fantasy Football: A Small Consolation

It seems like my season will continue, although I didn't make the playoffs.

Since the top four seeds made the playoffs, I didn't get enought points in Week 14 to secure that fourth spot. Instead, I'm securely set at fifth overall, but in a surprising move unbeknownst to me -- I'm get to play in a consolation bracket between the fifth and eighth seeds in the final standings.

Teams 9 through 12 are done, so I'm lobbying to them to release some of their better players into the free agent pool (we're past the trade deadline), so we can "beef up" a little bit for the playoffs.

The consolation playoffs are not going to be easy, as I'm up against some evenly matched teams.

As far as my players go -- Brandon Stokley is questionable -- 50/50 for Sunday's game. He's by far my best receiver (stats-wise), with 58 catches for 936 yards with 9 touchdownns. Otherwise, I've got Donte' Stallworth -- but he isn't that much better. I'll probably make a change tomorrow or Saturday.

EA Sports Owns NFL Rights

This was shocking -- to say the least.

In an effort to monopolize the football gaming industry, EA Sports purchased exclusive rights to the NFL to continue their Madden series in years to come.

This means -- no more ESPN, no more games from 989, nothing -- at least without the NFL license.

ESPN and 989 can still go out and make football games, just as long as they're not licensed by the NFL. As for the NFLPA, the company which licenses the players themselves, is not known.

As far as the Madden/ESPN war goes -- Madden is on top. That means Mike and the rest of the Madden-bashers will have to resort to buy a copy of Madden 2006 for the next season!

Fantasy Football: Damn.

Boy, what a run.

Looks like I'll finish the season at an impressive 8-6 for the year. As for my predictions of making the playoffs, about half of what I was hoping for will come true.

F*** Ricky has lost, so he'll slip to 7-7. He had a pretty impressive point total (damn near 200+ over mine), but due to his loss, he's out.

The match-up between Ole_Master40 and Super Bowl Champs was a fun one. Ole_Master40 looks like he'll lose due to a poor point total, but Super Bowl Champs had an impressive Sunday with Dominick Davis, running back of the Houston Texans.

If we were to end this season now, I would jump up 3 spots to take the 4th and final spot for the playoffs, but unfortunately for me, Super Bowl Champs has 3 players playing in the Monday Night game tonight. As far as the points show, I've got about a 6-point lead now, but that's not going to hold up.

Looking back on Week 13, Super Bowl Champs had an unprecedented week, rallying for 230+ points while I had only 130+. That's 100+ points that I had lost to him and it looks like now in Week 14, I'm going to come up short.

That's the great thing about Fantasy Football -- not only win-loss records count, but points are so crucial. Although I am disappointed, it was a great run, finishing over .500.

Final stats will be available tomorrow.

An Exciting Weekend

I'm sure paying for it now.

This past weekend I decided to go all out, no matter what. I was pretty confident going into my final exams so that I didn't have to study much.

It all started on Friday night, karaoke at The Cock. I saw a few old friends there who attended college with me. After a while, I was getting a little basted, preparing for another long night of consuming alcohol and singing some tunes. The first song came a little early, as Katie and her mother put in my name to sing "Ice Ice, Baby" by Vanilla Ice.

I really didn't want to sing much, but I got up and did my thing. The DJ, Patrick, says that out of all the people who sing it, I'm the best (damn right!). Then, I'm thinking -- "How many people sing this song? Two or three?"

"You'd be surprised ... it's popular in Sioux Falls," Patrick replied.

Katie and I have been so impressed with Patrick that we signed him up to DJ our wedding next June. This guy's no ho-hum sort of dude -- he gets involved and on top of that, he's a great singer also.

On Saturday, it was all about high school basketball. Chester and Dell Rapids St. Mary's were playing in Mad-Town at the Fieldhouse. It was a must-go-to game, as Katie's younger brothers Matt and Mike are now playing for Chester. It was a huge match-up: Class A Champions versus Class B Champions the year before. Chester now had lost 3 straight to St. Mary's, but now it was a different story.

Matt and Mike didn't start out of respect, since they're transfers. Once they got in the game, it was on. Matt was money from downtown, hitting 5 for 7 three-pointers. The capacity crowd of 2,000 were on their feet, as Chester won 58-56.

There's just something about high school basketball (especially boys) that is just so darn fun to watch. Before the high school game, the Blue Teamers played -- and that was super-boring. I don't know if it's the simplistic way that high school teams play -- and based on prior experience with my old high school -- it's just great.

After the game, I drove up to a rural bar that is only probably 5 miles from where I live. Levi, an ex-old school-Blue Teamer and a good friend of mine, was celebrating his last day as a bartender up there. Let's just say that I shouldn't have driven home. I didn't get to bed until 4 that morning.

Finals Week

...At least it's damn near over with, even on a Monday.

Today, I took 3 different final exams, with one remaining on Thursday. It'll be a nice, short presentation, so everything's all good, considering the shitty week I had last week.

On an overview of all my classes, I should score straight A's, except for my Operating Environments course. I didn't put in too much effort into that class, so if I get a C, I'll be happy.

The Spring Semester doesn't kick in until the 11th of January, but by that time I'm only taking two short classes before I hit up my student teaching in February.

Yee-ha!

Earnhardt Week on ESPN

In preparation of the newest ESPN movie "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story", ESPN2 and ESPN Classic is showing old races of Earnhardt's incredible wins -- especially in the IROC series with last lap passes at Daytona and Talladega. Just simply unbelievable!

Last night, I was watching the IROC races and it kind of hit me hard when during the Victory Lane celebrations, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would go over and give his dad a hug. Damn, that tugged at my heart a little. Everybody knows that Earnhardt lost his life on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, and with myself being a hard-core NASCAR fan for the last couple of years, I've just been used to seeing Dale Jr. by himself after winning races.

Just watching Sr. and Jr. hug and stuff, you can't help but get a little emotional because that will never happen again. Even Katie commented on it that it was sure sad to watch.

Dale Jr. has become one hell of a race car driver. Although he isn't my favorite, but his old man is probably the best ever NASCAR driver in history (76 wins, 7 championships).

It's just sad to know that he just isn't here.

Fired Up The Ol' NASCAR

With GTA: San Andreas pretty much complete and done with, I've returned to my old collection of PS2 games. After being discouraged of losing my NASCAR 2005 file due to "corruption", I started up another dynasty.

This time, I set the difficulty level at its highest, which did present its challenges. At first, driving in the Featherlite Modified Series, I struggled -- although I pulled off a few wins. Later on in that First Season, I was hired to drive a Craftsman Truck, which really didn't go so well.

My Second Season was a season of dominance in the Featherlite Modified Series, as I won 10 races and 15 poles, winning the championship by 188 points. My Truck did somewhat better, winning only one race at Darlington. I was offered a Busch Series ride but declined each time.

My Third Season -- the season which I'm currently in -- is the most busiest so far. I did sign contracts in the Modified, Truck, and Busch Series, although I'm mainly focusing on the Truck Series. I'll race Modifieds when I have to, especially when they're offering me lots of money to race and a pretty big percentage when I win. In the Busch Series, I only race in races in which I think I have a pretty good shot to win. I got lucky at Darlington, when I held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick for my first-ever Busch Series win. Darlington and I -- hand-in-hand.

The Truck Series is my main focus this season. After 4 races, I have no wins -- but 4 Top 5's which currently gives me the points lead at 22 over the second place runner. As long as I stay consistent and lead laps, I should be fine!

The Last Day of School

Ahh...a sigh of relief.

It's the last REAL day of school for my college career, although I will be taking two two-week classes in January for the Spring semester, but those are basically prep courses for Student Teaching. The only things I got left is a test at 11:00 a.m. and a reflection paper due at midnight.

I'm pretty fired up that I'm about done with all of this college crap. Nine years, for crying out loud! I like to say, that I'm the smartest person in this world for attending college this long.

I got my credit audit done yesterday -- good to go. I also found out the school district where I will be student teaching -- let's just say it's close to Mad-Town and it was my third choice on the list.

Other than that, it is still gray and dreary here. No sun; a cold, biting wind -- but at least there still isn't any snow.

As far as the night life goes, I'm going downtown tonight to The Cock for karaoke. Gonna get loaded, that's all I can tell you. Even the DJ tonight wants me to sing Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", but who knows. I guess I brought the house down with that a while back.

My Own "Chase"

Fantasy football has really picked up of late. With the Vikings demise of losing to the Bears last Sunday, my interest has fallen quite a bit. Sure, the Vikings still do have a shot in the weak NFC -- but losing to the Bears?!

Anyway, my "Chase." This almost compares to the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Out of the 12 teams in our league, only the Top 4 make the playoffs. Three of those spots have already been clinched, so it's down to 4 teams (who all sit at a 7-6 record) to fill that fourth and final spot.

But of course, with my luck, I'm sitting in 7th place. I'm outside looking in. But I'm hopeful, as I still have a great shot to get in. Here's what the situation looks like:

4. F*** Ricky 2006.18 points
5. Ole_Master40 1845.74 points
6. Super Bowl Champs 1827.50 points
7. Nine Years 1807.18 points

Obviously, F*** Ricky is sitting in the drivers seat with his points lead. But, he's playing the 3rd ranked team. A loss would most certainly put him out of contention. If he wins, he'll most likely be in.

In an interesting match-up, Ole_Master40 and Super Bowl Champs are squaring off this Sunday. The loser will not make the playoffs, the winner will have the shot.

In my situation as Nine Years, I'm playing the 10th ranked team. Against me, though, it that I had lost to him in Week 3. I've got a much stronger team now than before, so hopefully I can have a huge points gain.

So, for me to make the playoffs:

• I need F*** Ricky to lose.
• There will be a winner in the Ole_Master40 and Super Bowl Champs game. BUT -- in my game vs. 49ers Still Suck, I need the win and the points to make up the difference and more so I can surpass the point total between either Ole_Master40 and Super Bowl Champs.

Stressful stuff!

One Dreary Day

Boy, December is really piling it on now. Although we do not have any snow, it's frosty outside, causing for some slippery conditions.

I'm surprised that they haven't dumped Laguna Beach on the roads of Mad-Town.

The weather is awful -- it basically matches my mood. At least I have gotten several things done, including my Knoppix STD presentation, so everything is on the down-hill. Only things left: finish my "Family Album", a paper that is due on Friday, and a test on Friday.

Other than that, it's finals next week -- hopefully the last time I get to take tests.

At Wits End

Man, O Man! Am I Struggling to Survive!

"Stupid Week" is upon us. I cannot escape the shadow of Mt. Homework.

At least I kicked it into high gear today, I've already gotten 4 fairly big assignments done today. I always work well under pressure.

Other than that, nothing new. Just very busy, very tired. Last weekend kind of kicked my ass and I really haven't recovered.

I might not be posting much this week or the next ... please bear with me.

Coming Home, Once Again

This time, it's to take care of Cody, our dog.

My parents will be out of town, actually out of the state this weekend. They're taking off for Omaha on Friday. Thus, I'll be home on Friday to make sure Cody is okay.

Good Lord, my old man babies this dog. He's a helluva dog, but dad sure spoils him.

So yeah -- I'm heading home sometime tomorrow afternoon, crackin' down on some of my last-minute homework, and who knows. Probably will be bored to death, since Katie will probably not be coming back with me.

December is Here

Yay. I cannot hardly stand it. In we go into the depths of winter.

I guess the only bright spot is Christmas vacation. We've only got one more week of classes left after this week, then it's finals. I'm thinking that I only have to take 2 finals, which isn't too bad.

But ... there's the holiday rush to get things done, besides homework. I'm going to have to buy presents for family and Katie, plus mom's birthday and my parent's anniversary falls within a week of each other this month. Luckily for me, I've been keeping the spending at a minimum, while I've been collecting unemployment.