Today while I was taking a break from my yardwork, I watched a Japanese television show with my wife. The show that we watched was a videotaped episode of "Sanma and Tamao make your dreams come true." My Mother-in-law sent us a bunch of Japanese television shows on video for my wife to watch. On that show, they showed one nerdy guy who was pining for this lady who he used to work with. The producers of the show dressed him up in a nice suit, rented him a Mercedes Benz, ...
When my wife and I moved into our house last summer, there wasn't a path between the house and the garage. Not having a path made it difficult (and muddy) to walk between the house and the garage during the wintertime. Having no path also made it quite difficult to shovel a walkway to and from the garage. I decided that I would do something about that this summer vacation. Over the past week, I had been bringing home 5-6 18" square bricks and a couple bags of sand on the way ba...
Last year, Eddie Guardado was the closer for the Minnesota Twins. The results were good, but there were too many edge-of-your-seat moments in the ninth inning for my comfort. I don't think that it makes much sense to have a soft-throwing lefty as a closer anyway. That said: Eddie G. has had a lot of success as a closer. So much for conventional wisdom... After griping about their contracts last year, set-up man LaTroy Hawkins, and closer Eddie Guardado left via ...
Hello there friends! Not much today. My four-day work week is over. It was a tough one. The mornings were spent teaching basic English grammar, then the afternoons were spent preparing my new classroom, and working on curriculum for next year. I am glad that this week is over. Only two weeks left 'til summer vacation starts for real! The biggest news around the house is that baby Kenny learned how to clap his hands. It is really cute. Now he'll...
So the Twins are playing in Montreal this week. That means if I watch baseball, the games end quickly. (Of course when they play on the West Coast, I enjoy the late night ballgames.) Since the Twins game ended early, my wife was flipping through the channels at an earlier time than usual. We came upon a show on the Game Show Network called "Extreme Dodgeball." Did anyone out there see it? In the "Extreme Dodgeball" league, there are 7 or 8 teams. The composition ...
Well, the final episode of "WB SUperstar USA" is over. The final three contestants: Mario , Rosa , and Jamie came through with three painful singing performances. Following Rosa's elimination, Jamie and Mario gave us a comical duet. In the end, Mario was sent away, and Jamie won the $100,000. The show began with a recap of the entire season to this point. After the recap, the three remaining contestants were shown practicing their singing with a vocal co...
There wasn't any mail on Friday. That means that there was a whole mess of mail in the mailbox today. Inside that mess was an envelope that I had been waiting for for a few weeks. After seeing Nina Diva performing on "WB Superstar USA," I looked into whether she had a presence on the internet. It turns out that she does. On her website, she sells autographed 8x10s and three-song CDs. Curiousity got the best of me, and I ordered the picture and the CD. H...
Hello my friends! I hope that you're having a happy day. It is a lovely, sunny, Saturday morning here in Monticello, MN (pop. 8000.) I was just outside with my wife and baby hanging up clothes. I took a look at my garden, and it seems that everything is growing quite well. Tomatoes are making fruit. My peppers, cucumbers, shiso, beans, and corn are all growing tall and strong. After I write this, I am going to plant a hydrangea out by the garage. (We ...
Hello there! Ever since the newest "Harry Potter" movie came out, I wanted to see it. Of course, I wanted to see the movie with my wife. The problem is that the baby is too young to bring to the movie theater. After a bit of thought, I realized that we can all go to see the movie at a drive-in movie theater. So, we loaded up the car, and drove to the only drive-in that I know of. Even though it is located 60 miles (96km) from our house, it didn't seem like that ...
Today my wife, the baby, and I spent the first day of my summer vacation in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The main purpose of our trip was for me to borrow some English-teaching videotapes from my old work. (I am going to use them for my three-week summer school course that starts next week.) After picking up the videos, I got my transmission fluid flushed, and we went shopping at an Asian grocery. Following our errands, we went to see our friends Rob and Nancy. They are new hom...
My newest article: Hey there friends. Another episode of "Superstar" is over! We were treated to another batch of dreadful performances and delusions of grandeur. In this episode Minnesota's own Jo Jo was sent home. It'll be sad to see Jo Jo go, as he was definitely the most flambouyant of the four competitors. For next week's final episode, Jamie , Rosa , and Mario will duke it out for the "worst singer" title. The show started off with the four c...
Recently our baby has gotten around to scooting around the house. By combining rolling, turning, and lunging, he is now able to explore various low-lying areas in our house. Where's Kenny? There he is!!
Hello there friends. This is a quick little blog entry about the fourth series of "Coupling" which airs tonight on BBCAmerica at 8PM Central. (When I first heard that the fourth series would begin, I wrote a weblog about that too. Here it is for those of you who may have missed it.) I have been a pretty avid viewer of the show since it began airing here (in the US) a few years ago. The writing is fantastic, the characters are interesting (and handsome/ beautifu...
Hey there friends. I hope that you are all having a happy weekend. We're doing fine at my house. Yesterday was the last day of school for the kids. When they come back next year there will be lots of changes for the kids that I work with. Instead of me working in three schools, my program will be based in one school. (Kids will have to move.) The kids with whom I will continue to work will have more intense service from myself and my assistant. I am ...
Hi there friends! Have you ever heard of Culver's? Culver's is a chain of hamburger restaurants that originated in Wisconsin. Their specialties are things called "Butterburgers," and their milkshakes. Currently, Culver's is only located in the Midwest (they've only recently come into Minnesota.) The food at Culver's is awfully good. I recommend it for any of you who live up here, or are traveling through. Over the past month or two, I have had frequent craving...