Hi there!  This may be one of my more limited-audience blogs for a long time.  (At least the first part...) My friend Rob from Saint Paul has himself his own Joe User blog.  Why don't you go over there to check it out!  Rob's blog. ******************************************************************* Tonight is Game one of the American League Division Series.  Mike Mussina and the New York Yankees face Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins in game o...

My cousin (Janders in the JUniverse) sent baby Kenny a cute set of pajamas.  When he wears them, he looks like the Monopoly guy (Pennybags) when he gets sent to jail on the "Community Chest" card.      

This morning I heard some political spinners referring to John Edwards (numerous times in one statement) as a "trial lawyer."  Is referring to someone numerous times as a "trail lawyer" really effective at putting them in a negative-light?  I suppose that this pejorative had been run through a number of focus groups, and the spinners determined that it would be a proper disparagement for this guy.  I suppose that if that's the worst that someone could call Edwards, he's do...

Tonight "Boston Legal" will premiere on ABC.  This show is a spinoff of David E. Kelley's "The Practice."  "Boston Legal" has two of the more interesting characters on television.  I am looking forward to reacquainting myself with James Spader's "Alan Shore" and William Shatner's "Denny Crane."  -Denny Crane... I wonder whether these two characters will eventually make it into my personal list of my favorite television characters. Here are a few TV characters tha...

This is my second political article in-a-row.  That is something, as I am loathe to write blogs on politics.  Yet here I go... During the Reagan presidency I heard lots of talk of  "Reagan Democrats."  Reagan Democrats were people who would vote for Reagan even though they considered themselves to be Democrats.  Reagan's "crossover appeal" led to a lot of votes and an essentially popular presidency. I feel that Clinton and H. Bush had a little bit of crossov...

I watched tonight's first presidential debate. Actually that's not completely true... I watched some of it, then I put it on the radio while I played golf on my Play Station.  Regardless, I did either listen to or watch the debate. The first thing that I noticed was that Bush was able to find the camera, while Kerry focused on the moderator. "Connecting with America" is a good way to make up for Bush's deficiencies in substance.  Good job for him.  I actual...

I am watching something on the E! channel right now.  It is a countdown of the "Top 101 moments of Saturday Night Live." It is interesting how even though I haven't been a real avid watcher of SNL since about 1994, I still seem to have caught all of the major characters and sketches from the show. Here's my question: who is your favorite cast member? When I think about this I consider: Bill Murray, Dana Carvey, and then Eddie Murphy.  Bill Murray and Eddie Murph...

Today while I was watching the Vikings' game, I became hungry for Taco Bell.  With five minutes left in the second quarter, I decided to run down to pick up some tacos for the second half. So I get there... The entire crew was in the back screwing around.  Eventually I heard, "Hey, you gotta get that guy."  So some girl finally came up to the register. I ordered a chili cheese burrito, four tacos, and I wanted something else.  I asked the foggy-eyed cashier, "What's ...

I just found out that there had been a Brady Bunch Marathon on TVLand this weedend.  I have only been able to catch the tail end of it.  I really like those "Pop-up video" episodes.  (I wasn't in the US when the pop-up thing ran its course, so I would like to see more and more shows done in the "pop-up" style!) For as long as I remember, I have been watching "The Brady Bunch" in syndication.  Even though I was born before the series had been cancelled, I didn't catch the...

My wife and I moved to Minnesota in 2001.  Since then we have visited the Renaissance festival here each year.  It is one of our happier times each year. Last year when we went, Kazuko was pregnant with baby Kenny.  This year we brought Kentaro with us.  How cool! Kenny seemed to have a really good time there. The only downer of the trip was the traffic getting down there.  We were stuck in a two-hour traffic jam on our way down to the festival.  Thi...

I was just reading a professional wrestling website ( www.pwtorch.com ) where it was reported that Ray (Big Bossman) Traylor has just died.  How sad! Big Bossman was one of my all-time favorite pro-wrestlers.  It is a shame that I will never get to see him perform again. Those guys in pro wrestling live pretty harsh lives.  So many of them die young.  I imagine that the travel scedule and the various temptations really get to the guys.   I will miss all o...

Yesterday I was "testing" our ten month-old baby Kenny. I started out by asking him, "How big are you?" (He showed us.)   Then I sang "Pat-a-cake," and he clapped along. Then I said, "What does the cow say?" Kenny said, "Mmmmmmm." Then I said, "What does the sheep say?" Baby answered, "Baa!" I thought that was really cool.  Besides "Mama," and "Dada," and "Duh" (for bird), baby says "Mmmm" and "Baa." I am looking forward to communicating mo...

Just the other day I wrote a weblog entry about removing bushes from in front of my house . Yesterday, that story got a bit more interesting.  While I was at work, my wife decided to start digging around the area where the bushes used to be.  Once the bushes had been removed, we were able to see about a six inch section of what appeared to have once been a wall that we had thought had been removed. Anyway, my wife started digging, and she uncovered a nice little stone...

Among the bigger news stories recently was that of the apparently falsified documents pertaining to President Bush's National Guard service. This general who decided to create these documents made the mistake of not using an actual typewriter to create (re-create?) them. I wonder: if one is going to perpetrate a hoax, wouldn't he try harder than that?  I mean, that's a pretty big mistake.  Considering the recent "forensics boom," I'd doubt that anyone wouldn't "try harder" t...

The Twins are in Chicago tonight to play the White Sox.  I am a HUGE Twins fan, and if the game continues as-is (they're ahead 4-0 in the third) they'll clinch the division title on the field. On the other hand, the Vikings are on Monday Night Football tonight.  I have my two biggest fantasy players going tonight (Culpepper and Owens), and I need the points! I guess that I will have to resort to flipping around during the commercials.