Author: Joe

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Books

Killing Patton

Killing PattonI do think I’ve enjoyed reading Killing Patton more than anything I have read lately. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of history, especially European for some reason.

The writing style is very interesting to me. I’ve read Killing Lincoln and the JFK book and really enjoy the story like style to non-fiction. It really makes for some exciting reading and I do look forward to more books in this style.

While I’ve read much on WWII and learned quite a bit in school, there were a lot of details that were new to me. A lot of info on many of the key generals at the time and the maps really make the western front very interesting to follow.

It’s really sad just how many people were killing one another.

Categories
Adventure

30 Games for a 30th

As a big fan of random games, I was most excited to hear about Cait’s 30 Games for the 30th Birthday celebration. She always comes up with fun stuff, and I really wanted to find out what compromised the 30 games.

Things kicked off at Jilly’s Arcade. I played some skee ball, a four player Pac-man game and an amazing overtime game of old school dome hockey. Hockey was pretty amazing, I was Canada but thought I was the Soviet Union for the entirety of the game,

After much games things moved over to the kickball field. We played a pretty awesome game of kickball. Everyone seemed to get a chance to get some good kicks in and run the bases a bit. A fine time.

That was followed by snake tag which was quite amazing. I enjoyed running close to the snake to taunt them to pursue, then get away at the last second. There were some very close calls, and it was fun. We then played a game which I have no idea what it was called or how to play it. It involved a circle of people, some chanting and perhaps the summoning of some demons from another dimension?

Things then moved to her house for some fine yard games. I played much sloppy volleyball. We did get a couple of fine volleys, but overall it was a mess. There were also many other games going on too, but I don’t think I took part in them.

The marquee game on the night turned out to be a game of human Hungry-Hungry Hippos. It involved skateboards, laundry baskets and balls to gather. I was a person who pushed my partner on the skateboard. It was pretty funny and actually quite a workout to be the pusher. I had a fairly tiny person and it still took quite a bit of work. It was a success and I feel like I was a part of history.

Later that night I took part in an epic game of washers. It was so close with both sides making some huge tosses to keep themselves in the game. We eventually won when I hit the winning shot, yay for me! Throwing things!

There was also some pretty intense games of lawn Jenga. It’s Jenga with large pieces of wood. It was pretty cool and quite impressive to behold.

Things then moved indoors with some more traditional games. I’m drawing a blank on the names of most of the games, they were the types where you have to act things out. The team I was one was perfect, going 16 for 16.

Perhaps my most glorious moment of the night came in the game on Humdinger. I easily got the most correct and hummed like the legendary Zamfir (but humming instead of the pan flute).

Then came some card games, but I was fading a bit by then and quite frankly I just didn’t understand them.

While I didn’t last through 30 games, I do think I was fortunate enough to experience probably 24 or so of them. All in all is was a most fun day!

Categories
Adventure

My Guest Hutch

I was asked out of the blue if I could dog sit Hutch, a quite active young dog. Of course I said sure and figured it’d be quite the adventure and a good experiment to see if I was ready to perhaps get a pet of my own sometime soon.

Hutch is pretty crazy and energetic, this I had already known. However, there was no preparing me for that first night. The poor guy was just overloaded with change, and had probably the worst case of gas that I had ever endured. I didn’t think something so small could produce such a horrible smell for that long of a time. It was constant and at times I thought I would be stained of that smell for life. He was completely nuts that first night and I would wind up sleeping a tad over an hour and a half that night. I wasn’t too happy at that point.

At around 5:30 am I realized that I can’t leave him just roaming around my house by himself while I was at work. There was just no way this little gas bomb wouldn’t explode at some point in my house and let’s be honest most likely on my new couch. So I went straight to my parents to find a dog cage to borrow. Luckily they still had a very large cage as we’ve had some big dogs. He was fine getting in there and luckily he lasted the day ok.

We walked, and walked a lot. Probably walked 6-8 miles every day. I was determined to wear the little guy out.

Apparently his was of communicating with me would be to hump me. Most dogs bark, sit, whine, not Hutch. He has to hump me. I wasn’t a big fan of this one bit and believe he attempted to hump me well over several hundred times during his stay.

I’m not sure exactly when it occurred but he finally settled down by day 3. We kinda became buddies by then and he would nap next time me as I watched TV. Mind you, I really didn’t want to watch TV, but if it gave him a change to rest and act sane I would find something to watch.

I’d say our favorite thing was going to the Arboretum across the street from me and sit in the center on the benches. He could take in thousands of different smells and watch so many people and other dogs on the bike path go by. It was very calming for us both, and he seemed very grateful during our stops there.

A close second would be watching him run like a madman with his buddy Pip. Clearly we had the two most foolish dogs on Dog Beach, but they sure seemed to have a great time. I do believe Hutch was more obedient than Pip on that adventure.

A big lesson learned was never give your dog Seafood Chowder snacks. They came with the Hutch care kit, but apparently they were something new. Poor Hutch had the most disgusting diarrhea and gas until I would solve the Seafood Chowder mystery by the fourth day. God I wish I had known that sooner.

Though we got off to a rocky and very smelly start, in the end I’d say we become good friends. We had some excellent walks and really got to understand one another pretty well. Though a bit on the crazy side, Hutch was a good dog and it was a lot of fun having him stay for a few days.

Categories
Books

Against All Odds: My Story

The Rat was kind enough to give me Chuck Norris’ biography as a Christmas gift. We often joked about Chuck Norris back when all the hilarious Internet memes were popular. The book also belonged to her father, so I was extremely honored that she would want me to have it.

While I didn’t jump in and read it right away, I eventually made time for it a few months later. It was pretty much exactly as I’d of imagined it to be.

I cannot say it was a very good book for me. While Mr. Norris certainly has led an interesting and meaningful life, I just didn’t really get into this one.

The reluctant bragging was pretty hilarious to me. Often he would go on to sound so very modest, then follow up with proclaiming and amazing feat. It really wasn’t modest at all. I know I do that often myself when telling stories, so I guess we have that in common.

While I knew already that he was a very religious man, I was a bit surprised as to just how much religion was tied into the book. It was really was a constant the entire book. I’m glad that such faith helped him get through his life and make positive impacts. Though I don’t believe in his faith, I do agree with what he was able to accomplish using it.

Overall it wasn’t that good of a book for me, but I’m glad that the Rat was kind enough to share it with me.

Categories
Adventure

The Art of the Brick

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I can’t begin to count how many people took the time to let me know that The Art of the Brick exhibit was at the nearby Franklin Institute. Apparently my interest in Legos has grown to a near legendary status. So when I heard that NGM was moving out of the area (but not too far away) I knew it was time to check it out.

So I took the voyage to NGM’s house. It wasn’t too bad of a drive, I’ve got it down by now. Didn’t even need to use GPS or look at a map the night before.

Perhaps the most eventful part of the day would be NGM’s road rage (well it wasn’t really that bad). We were cut off my BOBAH, and it enraged him! Then we drove around the parking garage for quite a big. There was no parking and we had no idea that we were driving in a circle for quite a bit. It was funny.

Once we got inside NGM completely BOBAH’d me and cut in front of me to get his bracelet. I was a bit disappointed by the display of aggression.

The exhibit was really cool. There was quite an impressive variety of works. Famous works redone in brick as well as original creations too. All very impressive.

Afterwards we got some good pizza at Bricco’s. It was really good too, they always know fine places to eat.

It was another great NGM trip.

 

Categories
Adventure

High School Reunion

It’s truly hard to believe, but my high school’s 20th reunion was this weekend. So hard to believe how fast 20 years could go by. Pretty much all my friends whom I keep in touch were attending, but I was really looking forward to seeing all the other great people whom I don’t get to see much of any more.

The reunion was held at the Linwood Country Club which is conveniently close to me, so that was pretty great. I think it turned out to be a bit too big for the amount of people, but it was a nice spot overall.

I saw so many old friends, it was great. It’s amazing how easy it was to talk to everyone and at times it felt like no time had passed. We really had a great class, and I’m so glad to see how well everyone is doing. Especially proud of my Linwood classmates, they are still the best!

I did my best not to talk to my friends whom I still keep in touch with, as I already talk to them all the time anyway. I probably should have practiced on what else to say besides, “hi, so how are you?”, but luckily most the the responders had excellent follow up questions.

It turned out to be a pretty great time, and the only drawback is that we only do this every 10 years. I’d be down for a something a bit more frequent. A great time!