On Vacation

Vacation time

In Traverse City (well actually Leland) until sometime next week. Beaches, vineyards, lighthouses, sand dunes, friends (2 other families splitting the house with us for the week) and the whole family....get me there NOW!!!

The plan is to be back in Detroit on Saturday the 19th, but maybe not. We'll see, we may stay an extra day or two.

I hope to catch up here (Darwinmania and This happens to me a lot are still gong strong, in case everyone last track and any of the What Say Yous are always wide open for everyone) and on everyone else's blog with comments, etc when we get back. Although, based on the last 2 or 3 weeks, hasn't been much...at all. Maybe everyone is on vacation.

Anyway, see y'all on the flip side and keep the faith!

I'm telling you, get on board.....

Click here and add to favorites

Airplaneseatreclineology

It took me awhile to find this comic, but I finally did so.

Corey's post is what got me thinking about it. I read this comic quite awhile ago but it is very appropos to the conversation.

Read Corey's post, view the comic and have a good laugh. But I would encourage everyone to think about the fact that a comic strip is mocking the jist of the problem with humanity.

If you have more to say on the subject, do so at Corey's blog, he started the conversation, let's keep it going over there.

If you like the comic then I encourage you to check out Pearls Before Swine....it is hilarious stuff. Basically the mouse is an arrogant "know-it-all" who feels the need to tell his "pearls" of wisdom to the pig (who is the only one that will listen to the mouse). Hence "Pearls Before Swine"

And yes it is a direct result of Jesus words in the gospel. But I have found nothing that tells me the author is an Evangelical or Born-Again.

There's more to it, but give it a chance. Good stuff. A lot of pop culture and a look at humanity in the whole....as the above comic.

Here's the website (via comics.com)

Here's some Wikipedia info on the comic strip. Maybe a good place to start to figure things out.

Two Words....

Chuck.

Norris.

In the basement.....

I'm Brian A. Maloney and I approve this message.



I'll be in the basement the next 24-36, maybe 48 hours (maybe over the whole weekend) pounding out another manifesto because I have a blog and feel it is important.

I'll be around sporadically offering comments (as always), but stay tuned for the post tomorrow (or maybe Saturday or even Monday) on Fearmongering.

I know, I know, your all on the edge of your seat waiting for it.

Trust me, it won't be much, I have a tendency to disappoint the more I talk something up, just ask Michele, I'm surprised we even have a kid.

Come on I had to say it!!!!!

So, the hammering, sawing, cussing, loud obnoxious noises you hear will be me in the basement trying to create something with my hands....

And keep commenting on all the blogs, just because I may not be there as much doesn't mean you can't continue bashing me and calling me uncompassionate and heartless and an idiot for being pro-Bible, pro-Church, pro-Bush, pro-Life, pro-Men, pro-My Wife, pro-beer, pro Conservative, pro-Libertarian, pro-Country Music pro-Do the Opposite and believing someone else's dogma over your dogma.



So.....

In the meantime, enjoy one of these oldie but goodies from back in the day (which was written almost a year to the day...and not sure I've changed any. Good? Bad?)

Paid for by the committee to tell you I'll be out of the blogosphere for a couple days but around enough to make some basic comments when I feel like and then proceed to piss you off, and rile you up, but by being out of the blogosphere for awhile I can avoid having to answer all your comments until such time that I can come up with real cool quips, comebacks, and logical thought to combat what you said.

Fantasy Football Updates

I'm going to put my neck out there all year and show you how my Do the Opposite strategy to fantasy football can and will work to as much or even more success than the vaunted you must take a RB in each of the first 2, if not 3 rounds.

For an explanation of the Do the Opposite click here.

Or for a quick synopsis read this: Unless you can draft LT or S-Jax, I say go Peyton Manning in the 1st round, and then take an elite WR in rounds 2 and 3, and mop up rounds 4 - 8 with sleeper rb's and the 2nd half of those teams that incorporate a RBBC approach.

And then finally, to prove to you I practice what I preach, here is the team I ended up with.

Or for a quick synopsis read this: I had the 5th overall pick and took Peyton. Followed up by Holt in the 2nd, and Roy Williams in the 3rd. In rounds 4 - 8 I went Thomas Jones, Adrian Peterson, Fred Taylor, and Ladell Betts.

And boy, do I like my chances....

Last night the Colts beat up on the Saints 41-10. Peyton Manning is still the same freakish football robot, churning out touchdowns and commercials like arrest warrants for Bengals. Manning went 18-30 for 288 and 3 touchdowns (no INTs) last night while the Saints heralded offensive stars, Drew Brees and Reggie Bush, combined for a California king full if feces, which is infuriating because -- most people took Reggie over Peyton (gotta have that stud running back).

The other notable performance last night was by Saints corner Jason David. He arrived in New Orleans via free agency after starting for the Colts in the Super Bowl, so you think he might have some kind of advantage against his former team, having practiced regulary against Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Or, you know, maybe he got torched for three touchdowns. (To his credit, he also forced a fumble and returned it for the only Saints TD.) Which just further proves the "never trust someone with a first name for a last name" theory.

The team I am playing against did have Marvin Harrison and Joe Addai. But Peyton outscored both of them individually.

Peyton went off for 32.4 points while Addai (27.1) and Marvin combined (14.3) for 41.4.

So I am down only 9 points and the other teams "stud running" back has already played.

I like my chances.

Things That Crack Me Up

Heading into the Labor Day weekend, I started thinking about some things and was wondering why some things are the way they are. And then I started thinking about the fact that many of these things just crack me up.



So, Things That Crack Me Up.....



The fact that we park on driveways and drive on parkways. Drive and Park are 2 totally different things!

Being Anti-Death Penalty and Pro-Choice. Isn't there a vastly huge fundamental difference between the 2?

Being a vegetarian but eating animal crackers. At least when I have a steak I am not biting the heads off, they're already chopped off and gone!!

Being Anti-Patriot Act but Pro-Gun Control. "My rights are being infringed, My rights are being infringed! Take away all the guns, take away all the guns!"

The Office. "QUESTION?! What is the funniest show on TV? FACT?! The Office"

Protestors that only protest in nice, warm weather. Nothing shows conviction and dedication more than being a fair weather fan.

Saturday Night Live. Yes the pickings of been slim, but they still do awesome parodies of pop culture.

Rules to blogging. I've already ranted on that here. But it has got to be one of the stupidest things I've heard of.

Watching Sports Bloopers. True poetic justice.

Being Anti-Church but Pro-Jesus. Didn't he command to go make disciples of all peoples? So where are the disciples to go from there? Oh that's right, he also said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church." Whew...clears that all up.

Deal or No Deal. Those people are idiots who get lucky. But I cannot stop looking at their train wreck. I love it when they turn down $90,000 and $125,000 and then have to take $1,000 because they chose their "lucky" number and it was disasterous. HAHA

Being Anti-Racist and listening to rap music. A huge, very huge double standard.

People who discredit country music, but you better listen to their crappy indy rock crap because it is true emotion and not selling out, even though all commercially liscensed art is selling out and these crappy artists are crappy narcissists wallowing in their own crap. ("But I resonate it with it!!". yeah and I resonate with the Redneck Yacht Club and I really resonate with Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy).


The fact you can be born with genes that make you prone to alochol and drugs and can decide to not want to be an alcoholic or drug addict, but if you are born with the genes that make you prone to homosexuality...you had no choice, you were born that way.



*Editor's note - The views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of My Perception, it's authors, it's editors, or any of it's sponsors.

Oh Yeah!!

The best show in television returns in less than a month!!




And here is a recap of where we left off after last season



If you've never seen this show before, catch up while there's time and get ready to laugh every Thursday night.

Political Funnies

Go Organic and Free Range!!

On Vacation

3 posts in one day?! WOW!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I am done and out.

Vacation time

In Traverse City until sometime next week. Beaches, vineyards, lighthouses, sand dunes, and the whole family....get me there NOW!!!

The plan is to be back in Detroit on Thursday the 19th, but maybe not. We'll see, we may stay an extra day or two.

I hope to catch up here and on everyone else's blog with comments, etc when we get back.

Alex, I'll take "No Clue" for $1,000

My home computer is broke.

I have no clue why other than the hard drive is done and I need a new one. Going back to that whole "Arghhhh..." post from a month ago things kind of got worse with the computer. Had to do system restore a couple times and now finally it crapped out on me.

I also have no clue when it will get fixed. Evetually I'll make my way to Best Buy or somewhere and buy a new hard drive, but I've been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest lately and as much as I am an internet junky it's almost a back burner item right now.

I've been able to hammer out a couple posts in the meantime:

This one

and

This two (too)

Which, to be honest, I had hoped would garner more comments and get some conversations going, but they didn't, and I have no clue why. Maybe they still will, but not right now. Which at this time may be better anyway, since lunchtime at work is my only free-time right now to "surf the web." Although right now is slacker Tuesday before the holiday afternoon and I am typing this one now.

I have a lot of things I want to touch on. But I have no clue what my next post will be and no clue when it will be. I have like 5 or 6 drafts going right now and the problem is a couple are old and I have lost some of the thought process I had going with them. Maybe I'll pick those back up, but I have no clue.

So I am kind of in limbo with the computer and blog updates. The week after next we go on vacation for the week to good ole' Traverse City (TC is by far one of Michele's and mine favorite vacation locales.) so it may take that long.

Hopefully I'll be able to conjure up some of the old drafts I have going on, which include:

• Things that crack me up (all satire)
• Country Music (I like I love it, I want some more of it)
• Gotta know..."Why I Stick with the Church 3" is in the pipeline
• Show off pictures of "Black Beauty" - (My Homemade Tennis Ball Mortar....sends a tennis ball about 500 yards into the air...built for under $20) who is making her debut to the public tomorrow evening for some 4th of the July Festivities at our Pastor's house in Wyandotte. Michele and Seth have already partook in the glorious resonance of loud explosions, blue flames, and the smell of lighter fluid exiting a tin can contraption at a rather extremely high velocity.
• Vacation pictures
• Detroit Tigers - 5 players and maybe 6 are going to the All-Star game this year!!!
• Detroit Sports scene in general - My 2 hour round trip commute puts me in contact with a lot of Sports Talk Radio in the area...
• My growth, limitations, decisions, fears, and overall outlook and progress of raising Seth to be the manly man all men are to be. Here, over here too, as well as over here, here again, as well as back to here, and absolutely, positively here too. Or if you just click here, you can get them all at once, but start reading at the bottom of the page and work your way.

Let's see what else.....

I have no clue what else. I have no clue if any of the above will make it ever here.

But be patient for the immediate future. For those that are regular just know I still check your blogs almost daily and just because it may take a few days here for updates, don't let that happen to your blogs. I need something to read, roll my eyes at, laugh at, nod my head with, agree with, disagree with, think about, and waste other time reading.

But as for now, I'm outta here, I've got to get home, I've got sun to soak up, beer to drink, and lots and lots of gunpowder and lighter fluid to go blow up in the nighttime sky (I love the little firework stores in Ohio).

Happy 4th of July and enjoy your summer.

GO TIGERS!!!!!

Arghhhh...?

I hate Lebron James!



Since uttering those words Thursday night, Friday morning around 1am.....

Let's say the weekend was crazy.

We all know about Thursday night and LB effin J. Arghh.....

Well Friday night wasn't much better with the Tigers blowing a 4 run lead in the bottom of 9th by giving up 5 runs to the freakin' CLEVELAND INDIANS. Arghh.......

Then after the game, saying good-bye to the brother in law and sister in law, my computer starts to reboot and shut itself down constantly. Arghh.......

Brother-in-law is a computer tech-head for Quicken Loans though, he says the Operating System is still there but something has corrupted a registery or one of the start-up programs. He can fix it! So we disconnect the tower and the external hard drive we have and he takes all of that to his home friday night, he pulls out the hard drive, hooks it up to a computer of his (he has like 5 of them...he is a serious tech-head, but not the geeky kind that wears glasses and listens to Radiohead all night, but geeky enough that he goes to "Network Partys" where 5 or 6 dudes bring their laptops hook them all up to one big network and play games) backups what he can off of my computer onto the external hard drive and then does system restore.

Problem still though, he's going to Cleveland to watch game 6 and Michele and I are leaving at 9am to head up-north for my sister's High-School graduation. Michele works exclusively from home now with her job at Quicken Loans. Without the computer having the right VPN and Term Web application she cannot work on Monday and will have to go into the office. Arghhh....

However, Quicken tech support always has to have a person on hand just in case something (like this) happens. We find out that we can take the tower to the Troy office (which is on the way up north), drop it off and the tech person will upload all the necessary software. Sweet! It's on the way. But, can't take it there until after 11am. We want to be 2 hours into our trip up north by then. Arghhhh.....

Saturday morning, its 80 degrees at 7am already! Holy crap, the humidity. Load up the Ford Taurus. The AC isn't working. Arghhh......

Unload the Taurus, load up the 4 cylinder Contour and get ready to head up. We can't go over 70 but at least we'll have ac. Arghh.....

Arrive up north (after deciding since we're late, we stopped in Reese to visit the in-laws so they can see their grand-child) aroun 6pm. Roughly 5 hours later than planned. Arghhh..... (but the time at the in-laws was worth it and actually provided a good break. Besides, Seth rolled over for the first time, on his own, twice!!).

Armageddon type storm around 7:30 or so in Wolverine is showing on the horizon. Time to batton down the hatches. Storm hits, tree in backyard falls over. Dish Network Satellite isn't working and game is going to tip. Arghhh....

Storm eventaully passes, game is on, watch Daniel Gibson score 31 points, Rasheed plays his last as a Piston (more on that later), and I really hate Lebron James. Went to bed with 4 minutes to go in the game. Used the baby as an excuse...pathetic. Arghh......

Wake up Sunday, watch sister graduate high-school, very cool and very awesome. Decide to head out for home right away (it's 4pm). It rains the whole way home. All the way from Indian River to Detroit it never stopped raining, honest. Slow drive results in kid waking up in car seat screaming. He's hungry. Stop off at the grandparents home in Saginaw to feed Seth and do dinner. Get back on the road and not home until 11:30pm Sunday. Arghh.......

Hook up computer to check everything out. 95% of all mp3 files are gone! 7 years of downloading illegal music gone! Over 5,000 files gone! Arghhh.....

Let me take a moment to state that this may be the one and only time I'll admit my music snobberish. I hate it and I hate people who think they "know music." They claim what is good music and what is bad. No one knows that (except maybe Rick Rubin and Brendan O'Brien...maybe). The only bad music is rap (and that is the politics of it all, not the art form) and "critically acclaimed" is a joke in the music industry. I know good music when I hear it. I know crappy music when I hear it. My favorite song of all time is Just Like Heaven by The Cure. Favorite album of all time is The Verve Pipe - Freshmen. My favorite band of all time is Pearl Jam. Best concert I have ever been to is Kenny Chesny and Keith Urban (Urban opened for Chesney). The last CD I bought was Audioslave - Revelations and I already have on reserve for pickup on June 19 Icky Thump the new release by The White Stripes. I know music. But I will very, very, very rarely ever talk about that fact because music is for you and what you make it. What you like you like and I'm just glad you like music and know what it can do for you.

Anyway, that has been the last 96 hours of life. A big Arghhhh.......

But it has all been fun and worth it. It sucks having lost the music and some oher random files and having to load back up Photoshop and Office and all the updates from Microsoft. But we did get to travel up north safe and sound. We did get to see both parents, see my sister graduate high-school, and drive in an air conditioned car, even if we couldn't go 75-80 like we wanted to.

And of course, there is Seth

Catchin' Up

Man, what a week.

1 - It was Michele's first week back to work. Good news is that she works from home 100%. Oh, the blessing that is technology. Still closing million dollar loans in her pajamas at home. Gotta love that. The bad part is that even though we have some of the woman from our church helping her baby-sit she can hear Seth cry and for the last 12 weeks, se was right there for him. Now she has to finish the phone call or the email or the paperwork. So it has been a little tough on her getting re-adjusted to the new schedule.

2 - I was MIA with a fever over 100 degrees almost all week. Started Tuesday night and by Thursday eveing I was at about 99 degrees. Still, today I am feeling it. But much, much better.

So pile on me being sick and really not coming within 3 feet of Seth for 3 days with Michele working from home and she didn't leave the house once since Monday evening. So she needed to get out and did this morning. So I stayed home and watched Seth (he slept for 3 hours...man that was so hard to do) and was able to catch up on a lot of reading in the blogosphere, political world, and sporting world. As well as work some more on the masculinity series I am trying to tread through. As well, as a brand new lottery system. I'll lay that out at the end.

Tigers are back in first. Ordonez is crushing the ball, Sheffield is back. Some concern with the pitching staff falling apart lately. But do not forget that the Tigers have some young arms in the minors just waiting to crack the majors (Andrew Miller, Virgil Vazquez, Kyle Sleeth, etc.) They'll be fine.

Pistons are going to steamroll to the Finals. They'll probably lose one game, maybe 2 before the Finals. I'd put 50-50 odds on them not losing a game until the Finals. With Dallas out of the picture, the Pistons will win it.

Red Wings - the most underrated 1 seed ever. The "sports critics" give them no credit and claim they aren't grimey, gritty, and tough enough. But they've been the money line favorite in Vegas all playoffs long. You really want a picture of the sports world, look at the Vegas sports lines.

Imagine a June with the Pistons and Red Wings going for the championship and the Tigers battling in the bst division in baseball for first place. If you are a Detroit Sports fan, best time ever right now.

Here are some other great links I read today.

Scripture is all you need - an excerpt

However, the enlightenment, which he called "a movement of spiritual darkness," then so elevated human reason that it became the arbiter of truth and the final authority on all matters. The result was skepticism which led to naturalism and a corresponding suppression of the work of God the Holy Spirit as the illuminator of Truth. Subsequently, those who were considered the experts on Scripture were no longer humble people filled and led by God the Holy Spirit to live a life of love in obedience to Jesus, but rather rationalistic modern critics of both Scripture and the supernatural. According to Packer, the sad result of such subjectivity, where there is no truth but rather only one's opinion, is that my opinion only matters to myself. Tragically, as Francis Schaeffer predicted, subjectivism leads to despair because if there is no Truth and no answers to the great and perplexing questions about life beyond my own subjective opinion, then hope is forever buried.

Dinner is one of the most important elements to the family - a family philosophy Michele and I have been firm on from the beginning. Yes, we have already started it, somewhat.

An excerpt

The largest portion of these family meals was the best part of the day. I think we would all agree that not only was this important to the parenting process, but it defined our family and our relationships to one another in many ways. In my mind, I remember this as a special, much blessed time.

How did the family meal make for successful parenting?

We learned to talk to one another. Conversation is a hallmark of the Spencer family. We talk and we enjoy talking as a family. Sometimes the kids would fight over who was interrupting whom in a conversation. Considering where a lot of people are with their kids- cold silence- this was a good problem to have.

Seem slike Toby is feeling the same way as me lately.

Corey has been thinking way too much in the stillness of the night, he needs to get back to sleep and get it while he still can.

John Frye has a post on a book that is on my hit list this summer.

and

Gary's boy looks just like him, duh.

And now the new lottery. This would raise millions for the schools. Milions for the roads in Michigan and will probably piss a lot of you off.

First, you have to go here and read the story and watch the video to the top right of the screen

Here is what we should do in cases like this.

Hold a lottery everytime something like this happens. Each ticket is a buck or two. In this case, he hit the old man 21 times. There are 21 winners. Everyone who buys a ticket gets there names put into a huge hopper. You can buy as many as you want. They draw out 21 winners. Each winner gets one free shot at this guy. Now you can only punch him where he punched the old man. So in the face or arm. No where else.

How could that not be a winner.

It's been a great Saturday morning. Time to do some yard work. Maybe I'll get a petition started on the lottery thing too.

Better than You Tube?

Shhhh.....

Do not let big brother find it

Updates Galore

October has proved to be a very busy month for Michele and I. We have had a lot going on. This post is to update on all those things and why my posts here have been few and far.

1) Obviously, the Tigers postseason run took up a lot of time. Went to every home playoff game and watched all the away games. Yes even game 5 of the World Series right up to the end and watched the celebration as well. Every Friday ad Saturday night (but the last one) in October was a Tiger game and we would go early to them as well and tailgate or do dinner downtown.

2) It is wine season and as such, there is somewhere in the proximity of 115-125 gallons of wine in my basement right now. A couple 50 gallon oak barrels filled and some 5 gallon glass containers filled with some leftover wine from the press. Some pictures below. On Saturday mornings (before Tiger games) my uncle and I as well as my brother a couple days and a couple friends were hard at work producing some vintage 06. The grapes were absolutely awesome this year and already tastes great.

3) The kitchen is in complete remodel mode right now as well. We have a new granite countertop being installed on Tuesday, November 7. We are also painting our cabinets and installing new doors. The kitchen is a real mess right now and looks horrible. We have no sink and after tomorrow night, no counter until the new one is installed. More pictures below.

4) I wrote earlier about the "baby's nursery" and jumping on that bandwagon (here is part 1 and here is part 2) and getting the room ready for the baby. Well, we got some furnitue in there and finished up all the painting and updates to that room too. Unfortunately, no pictures, yet. I'll get them up soon.

5) Tomorrow (Saturday) is the baby shower and Tuesday morning (before the new countertops go in) is the ultrasound where we will hopefully be able to find out the sex of the baby. Tuesday night is the first of our "pregnancy classes" at the hospital. Whew!!!

There has just been a lot going on and a lot more to go. Before we know it it will be Thanksgiving and then the Holidays. Followed up by New year. In January is our wedding anniversary and my birthday, plus all the last minute details with the trying to get ready for baby. Come the middle of February, everything changes.

So, I am still here, just very busy and I see myself spending more time surfing other blogs and reading what you guys have to say and commenting as well. Hopefully I find sometime once or twice a week to post something here.