Usually at our house, my wife cooks dinner.  She always does a good job, and her food is enjoyed by all. Every once-in-a-while I cook dinner too.  This evening I tried my hand at cooking grilled tandoori chicken.  I was really happy with how it turned out!  It was one of the best things that I have cooked in a long time.  The next time that I want to cook something "special" I may do that again! Here are the skewers on the grill.  It is interesting how th...

Sadly it is the end of my four-day weekend.  After a busy few days, my wife and I finished it up by raking the leaves in our yard. There were a lot of leaves out there!  We have a lot of trees.  But we've got the first bunch of them up, and now we have to wait for more of them to fall before we can finish up for the year.  Hopefully, most of the leaves that are going to fall have already fallen.  Raking is hard work! We made a few piles in the yard on both sides of...

When I was thinking of a good title for this weblog entry, I thought that I would write something like "Dancing Baby."  Then after a bit of thought, I remembered that there was a "dancing baby" fad a few years ago.  (The fad made it as far as the Allie McBeal show, where it represented Allie's maternal instincts.) My dancing baby has to do with us giving little Kenny a spin on our "Dance Dance Revolution" mat.  He didn't necessarily play the game so well, but it made fo...

Alright, I swore off baseball for the year once the Yankees eliminated the Twins in four games.  That said: I have been listening to the sports updates on the radio, and I know that the Yankees have been eliminated by the Red Sox. This will be the Red Sox's first World Series appearance since they faced the Mets in 1986 (Definitely the most interesting series -not including the Twins- that I remember.) From now, I don't really care which team wins it all.  I am jus...

Last night I was watching "The Daily Show with John Stewart."  John's guest for the final segment was Marisa Tomei. Watching that interview, I realized that Marisa Tomei is one of the better interviews out there.  She was charming, interesting, and awfully cute.  If  I were running a talk show, I would try to book her as a guest whenever she has something to promote. This all got me thinking:  If I had my own talk show, who would I like to be on the show to en...

Hey there.  I hope that all of you are having a happy Monday. This will probably be a good week for me because after Wednesday I will be enjoying a four-day weekend.  (Thanks to the Minnesota Education Association convention.)  My family's biggest plan over the holiday is to take our baby swimming.  I also will try to "take down" my garden. Like my headline announces: some friends and I spent yesterday playing paintball with a group in Hinckley, Minnesota.&nbs...

I was just listening to a broadcast of a Canadian Broadcasting Company feature on a voter-registration group called "America Votes." America Votes is a group (supported by Democratic-party aligned folks) who supports -non corrupt- voter registration drives. Now here is where it gets interesting... In certain "swing" states, an entity referring to itself as "America Votes" (albeit falsely) has been holding registration drives, yet has been discarding registrations of registrants who clai...

Anpanman is a much-loved Japanese super hero.  His target audience is children under the age of five.  In Japan, one can find all sorts of consumer goods featuring his image.  Due to the number of goods, I'd bet that Anpanman products are the number one-selling licensed childrens' merchandise in Japan.  (Anpanman is up there with Doraemon and Hello Kitty.) Our son Kenny has: Anpanman clothes, dishes, cutlery, cups, stuffed toys, rubber toys, DVDs, a calendar (a...

I have just finished watching the third presidential debate.  The recent messages posted on JoeUser are awarding the third debate to Bush.  (The declaration of victory may be a bit tepid, but it is there.) I don't know... if you are a conservative idealogue, Bush probably hit all of your bullet points.  He also didn't embarass himself.  I suppose that's good news. He didn't pull off a stunningly good debate ala Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton.  He did okay. Kerry ...

I was a big fan of the television show The Practice .  Even though it was regularily manipulative, I enjoyed "taking the ride" each Sunday night.  Chicago Hope and Ally McBeal were really also fun David E. Kelley shows.  I even liked that show about the three young women lawyers (with "Claire" from Beverly Hills 90210 in it.)  Even though that show bombed out after two episodes. Last week I was pretty stoked for the spinoff: Boston Legal .  They were bring...

I just finished watch the Yankees hand it to the Twins for the second year in a row.  Hopefully that rat-bastard team gets beat by the Red Sox. I can imagine that it must be terribly discouraging for other American League East teams to have to go to work every day of the season knowing that they'll have to face a team that insists on purchasing division championships year-after-year, rather than working to develop its own talent. How would you like to be a player for, or a fan of: The...

Ever since my wife and I moved back to Minnesota in 2001, we have made a point of it to make an annual visit to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee, MN.  We always enjoy our time there. Besides autumn-themed food, people can enjoy: a petting zoo, a pumpkin launcher, piglet races, and a trip through a big maze in a corn field.  It is really a lot of fun! A new attraction this year was giant "sandboxes" filled with dry feed-corn.  (I hopped in and sank up to my knees.)  I rea...

Once the season starts, click here to read my most recent blog!  (Top of page ) Yesterday in the newspaper, I read that American Idol will start its fourth season in January.  How exciting!  I look forward to the Tuesday and Wednesday night "appointment television" that AI provides. This year the age limit will be raised, thus leading to (hopefully) older and better performers.  (And who isn't still burning about John Stevens' weekly successes?  The poor kid jus...

  Today my school pictures came back.  I had them taken two weeks ago.  My hair is crazy!!  Kyaaaagh! I still haven't been to the barber since then.  I have to get a haircut!  It stinks because in the year that my family has been living in Monticello, I have yet to find a barber that I trust.  

I am writing this weblog during the commercial breaks in the Twins-Yankees game.  It is game one of the ALDS.  (Go Twins!) Every year I am always amazed at how exciting baseball becomes as soon as the post season comes along.  I stay with my team through the highs and the lows of each year; and then as soon as October rolls around, everything seems fresh again. So far, Mike Mussina and Johan Santana are in a 1-0 pitchers' duel.  Every out is crucial.  It is li...