I knew that my old Ford Escort needed some service.  I brought it into a shop, and heard the news that I would have to pay several hundreds of dollars to get everything in order.  Wow... I was willing to pay to have my old car fixed up.  My wife, on the other hand, suggested that I get a new car.  I was a little surprised.  I really hadn't considered getting a new one.  I called the shop back (after first agreeing to have the work done) and told them NOT to bo...

Apparently on the day after Thanksgiving, stores open early and there are all sorts of bargains for the early birds.  I don't have any firsthand knowledge of this, because I am usually not a  person who is likely to be found during a busy "shopping day." Generally I like to get all of my shopping done at one place (like a Target or a K-mart) on an off-day.  Snowstorm days or weekdays are usually better than facing the weekend crush. Today was different however.&nb...

So we are beginning preparations for Thanksgiving dinner.  The first dish done was the cranberry sauce.  I bought a few bags of cranberries yesterday, grabbed the "Betty Crocker Cookbook", and had at it! (Making a double batch) I boiled 4 cups of water, and 3 cups of sugar.  Once the water was sufficiently boiling, I added 8 cups of cranberries.  Five minutes later, I ended up with some really tasty cranberry sauce.  YUM! (I hope that my guests like cran...

Hey there friends!  I hope that all of you are having a nice day/evening. Today my wife, my son, and I had a nice day.  We drove down to the Minnesota Zoo.  We wanted to take baby Kenny to see the animals.  The zoo was pretty empty because of the cold weather and the beginning of the shopping season.  It was a fantastic time to be there because it was like we had the whole place to ourselves!  (I'd have to say that mid-to-late November might be the best time o...

This morning it was my turn to take baby Kenny to daycare. Like always, I left him in the living room to watch "Oswald" on the Noggin Channel while I take a quick shower.  He usually plays really nicely and doesn't cause trouble when "Oswald" is on. Today I got my surprise.  When I stepped out of the shower, Kenny was there splashing in the toilet.  He had also pulled a lot of the toilet paper off of the roll.  (He was so quiet!  I didn't even know that h...

Baby Kenny had his first birthday party today.  Great-grandma, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Andy, and Aunt Chialing all came to visit to help Kenny celebrate. Kenny received lots of nice presents, we had yummy food (curry rice), and cakes.  Kenny's mom did a really good job preparing everything. Before we all ate, Kenny opened his presents and played with some of them.  He really liked a drum that Grandma and Grandpa bought him. Here is Kenny, getting ready to c...

Last year at this time, my wife and I had the chance to welcome baby Kenny into the world.  He is one year-old today. Happy Birthday Kenny. Tomorrow we will have a small birthday party for him.  Just grandma and grandpa, great grandma, and my friend Andy and his wife.  It seems that the theme will be "Elmo," as he really seems to have an affinity for Elmo. We got some cool birthday presents for Kenny too.  Daddy got him a Sit-and-Spin.  Mommy and Daddy got him a Ho...

I have been writing this weblog for over a year, and this is the second or third article I have written about pro wrestling.  As I was writing the title and classifying this article I was thinking to myself: "Is 'Sports Entertainment' 'Sports' or 'Entertainment'?"  This time I went with "Entertainment."  Maybe next time I will go with "Sports." For any of you who follow wrestling closely, you may know that the WWE just cut ten of its wrestlers.  Among the characters being ...

We live in Monticello, Minnesota.  Last night my wife received a call from out friend Chialing.  Chialing was so excited.  Even though I was about five meters away from my wife, I could hear Chialing's voice on the phone: "Go outside!  Look up in the sky!" We went outside, and we were lucky enough to get a really good view of the Aurora (the Northern Lights.)  Every once-in-a-while they shine down over Minnesota, but they usually aren't as bright as they wer...

Today as I was driving around town, I heard the song, "I remember you" by Skid Row.  I turned up the volume and enjoyed the song.  I like the way that the song builds up to the high note in the end of the song.  (I wonder whether Sebastian Bach was able to hit that note at most of Skid Row's concerts.  I saw them perform that song when they opened for Bon Jovi in 1988, but I didn't know their body of work well enough at that time to pay any particular attention to it.) ...

Here is a minimalist approach to my blog today: Bush won president.  Go figure... Now I will have to go back to ignoring the news for the next few years in order to preserve my sanity.  (It worked up until about three months ago, and then I got wrapped up in the election.) Back to reality TV, 1970s sit-coms, and video games for me!  In a way I am relieved.  Worrying about things that I don't have any control over is just stressful anyway.  (I'll just make sure t...

In the United States, today is Election Day.  I stopped by my city's polling place on my way to work.  It took me about 35 minutes to get in, vote, and leave.  After a person votes, he receives a red sticker which proclaims: "I Voted."  I think that the red stickers serve as a good incentive to get people out to vote.  It is a really behaviorist approach to it all, but probably surprisingly effective at getting people to the polls. As I was leaving, I grabbed two ...

I am not quite so sure how we got on the topic; but while my wife and I were driving to a cabin the other day, we got into a conversation comparing actors Keanu Reeves and Takuya Kimura (also known as Kimutaku.) (Just in case you've never heard of Kimutaku: He is one of the most famous current Japanese actors.)   Keanu Reeves Facet of Personality Kimu Taku Yes In his 30s Yes Yes Adored by millions of young women, yet sexually ambi...

There are a few blog topics rolling around in my mind, and I will hopefully be able to put them into writing within the next few days.  I want to write about a Bob Newhard performance that I saw over the weekend (really funny!)  I also wanted to compare the body of work and public persona of two well-known actors.  I was also thinking of writing about the appeal of the "Madden's..." football game for the Play Station.  (It is the most interesting and playable video ...

On October 28th, 2003 I began writing Jamie Burnside's Weblog .  Tomorrow that weblog will be one year old. In the past year I have written about of a number topics: my family, my house, TV shows, current events, sports, and a variety of other issues/ musings/ ideas. Over the past couple of days I have been looking back at my articles in order to compile a list of my "favorites"  from the past year. Here is what I came up with: Thanks for reading! ...