This morning one of my co-workers asked me whether I had gotten a job at Target.  It took me a second, but then I realized that I am wearing the familiar red-tan combo that Target employees wear at work. I am ready for Target. ******************************************************* In more disappointing news, Twin Cities' AM 1220 is going through a format change.  The station is going from talk, to adult standards.  This format change means that I will be once again ...

I was just reading a newspaper article about an anti-loitering device, developed by a Welshman named Howard Stapleton.  Read about it here. What this machine (named the "mosquito") does -when placed in front of businesses- is emit a high-pitched sound which is apparently audible (and very irritating) only to people under thirty years-old.  (Actually, most people lose the ability to hear this sound once they're in their twenties.) The aim of this machine is to discourage teenage...

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard an interesting thing on the radio.  The station that I was listening to played an interview clip of former Cowboys' Wide Receiver Michael Irvin, commenting  on his recent drug-related arrest. The radio mentioned that he was found to be in possession of a crack pipe when pulled over for speeding.  (However  FOXSports referrs to it being a "marijuana pipe".)  Of course, Irvin claims that "it isn't mine, it is my bro...

Thanksgiving dinner is over.  We had a nice meal.  Everyone is relaxing at my house now.  I am taking this time to post a few photos that I pulled off of my camera. Yesterday's "Dilbert" comic strip was really funny.  This particular strip got a big laugh out of me.  If you haven't seen it, here it is:  Baby Aki and me, on the couch. We gave Aki a bath the other day.  He really liked it. Kenny likes to play with his brother's nose. ...

In today's Minneapolis StarTribune, there is an article with the following headline: "Teachers who plug in told to pay up." The Saint Paul School District has launched a plan to require teachers with personal appliances in their classroom to pay a $25 annual fee per appliance. The summary text on the article reads: "Fearing high energy costs, the St. Paul schools want to charge workers with personal appliances $25 a year. The idea is fueling some opposition." It is understandable that ...

During the week, my wife and I have three "appointments" with the television.  We always make sure to catch first-run episodes of "Boston Legal", "ER", and "Desperate Housewives." Since we have a DVR device, we don't necessarily watch each of the above shows on the date of broadcast, but we do keep relatively current on those shows.  The exception to that (among the three) is Housewives , which we make sure to watch before retiring on a Sunday night. The "A-storyline" in the fir...

Having read the entire "Harry Potter" series to this point, I was really excited to see the fourth installment in the "Harry Potter" series of movies. I have -in fact- just returned from the movie theater. I must say that I was really, really impressed with this movie. It was visually stunning, the special effects were fantastic, and the story ran along smoothly. (I was a bit worried when reading the story, that it would -due to its length- translate poorly into a two-and-a-half-hour movi...

Here's the second part of my analysis of America's favorite game show hosts. Bob Eubanks:  Once his television game show career was over, Bob went on to host a series of travelling "Price is Right Shows."  Promoting the show, I have heard some very insightful interviews from Bob.  Between those appearances and the odd TV commercial, Bob is sort of the Jimmy Carter of game show hosts.  He is a fantastic elder-statesman representative of the genre. In his prime, Bob was...

Each day when I visit my health club, I watch game shows on GSN. For all of my life I have been a reasonably big fan of the game show format. I decided to write about some of the various game show hosts that come to mind, with a little comment about each of them. I am borrowing the format from a website that I really like called The Book of Ratings . What this guy does is pick a category of something, write something about it, and then give letter grades. If you haven't seen this site, I...

Yesterday I wrote about a series of bad things that have been going on with me.  One more was added.  Yesterday while at work, I became increasingly ill as the day went on.  I must have picked up some sort of stomach virus.  The past 24 hours have been pretty ugly for me.  Fortunately, I seem to be pulling out of it now. Baby pictures: Aki is yawning. Aki is awake. Two brothers.  Kenny is interested in his little brother. Fun. H...

Lately it has been one thing after the other... The day before yesterday my wife and I had to bring our newborn baby into the hospital to help him recover from jaundice.  A day under the lights cleared that all up, but it took a long time for the discharge doctor to show up, and my wife spent most of yesterday in the hospital. The pilot light in our heater kept going out.  Apparently there is a leak in the gas line that feeds the pilot light.  We had to have that repaired.&n...

The recent debate in local newspapers and radio in the Twin Cities has to do with a smoking ban in bars and restaurants.  Hennepin County (where Minneapolis is located) currently has a ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants. Bar owners and pulltab-dependent charities have cried foul, as bar patrons have given up Hennepin County bars and restaurants in favor of those in neighboring counties without such restrictions.  (Bars in cities bordering other counties are claiming more sev...

This morning my wife had a baby boy. We named him Akinori. He is really cute. Nice and alert, eyes wide open. Baby Akinori. Mom and baby. Dad and baby.

Yesterday we went to great-grandma's for a little birthday party.  Kenny is two now.  Yay! Momma made dinosaur cookies for him.  He didn't want to eat them.  Only play.

Since my in-laws are in town, and my wife is having a baby tomorrow, my family decided to go out to celebrate.  We drove to a restaurant in downtown Saint Paul named Sakura .  Sakura is a Japanese restaurant. It was yummy.  We had tempura, fried fish, sushi, sashimi, and a few appetizers. Japanese food is Kenny's favorite. Baby loves agedashi-tofu . (Fried tofu in a soup.) Kenny's favorite sushi is tamago.  (Egg sushi.)