Tennessee: Year One

Well, it's been 1 year and one month since I arrived in my new home of Tennessee. A definite eyeopener I must say. When I first met Cathy, I was pleasantly pleased that she was a different person than I thought the typical Tennessean would be. She is intelligent, open minded and willing to accept different things about people and places. WOW!!! Not what you'd expect from a Right Wing, Bible Belt State. The first City I moved to was a little spit of a place called Algood. The Police Station closes at 10 pm, and WalMart is the biggest thing in town. It's a Town run by the Good Ole Boy club and with that same attitude. There are a lot of the Stereotypes represented there that we Californians expect to find in the South. The Rednecks with their Confederate Flags on their Pick ups (which by the way, are what all the jerk off drivers drive on the freeways around here......if someone is tailgating you....it's a pick up.), the enormously fat people waddling out of Billy Bob's Cholestrol Buffet. Then there are some good people too. They live in Cookeville, the town right next door. Algood would do well to let Cookeville annex it. Of course Cookeville has it's Redneck Hicks as well. It does have some culture though as it is the home of Tennessee Tech University. College Towns always have culture of some kind. The only problem with it, is the planning of the expansion of the City. It is sprawled, and things that should be in one part of town are next to things they shouldn't be next to. There is retail next to residential...literally right next door. There are parts of the town that are run down and ignored, then there are parts that are all spiffed up and new. It reminds me of my home town of San Bruno, CA. There are sections of San Bruno they concentrate on, then there are sections they ignore. Those sections have crime issues, abandoned businesses, etc. Cookeville has alot of that too. My In-Laws live there, as does my Oldest Step-Daughter Amanda and my Step-Son Kevin. They are great people....there are several folks in that town that need help. The one thing I noticed there was the word Buffet seems to be popular. There are no Salad Bar places like Fresh Choice or Sweet Tomatoes....those places would die a horrible death (much like the enormously huge people that usually eat at the buffets will one day). Aisian cuisine: forget about it!!!! It's some pretend Chinese crap that doesn't even remotely taste good. The thing that gets me is these places are run by Chinese people. Now you would think they would want to represent their cultural cuisine alot better than they do. Nope. I was so glad I got a job near Nashville. It gave me an excuse to move to a Suburban area much like the ones I've lived in in years past. Having been to Nashville on several occassions I became very fond of it. It was partly San Fran, and partly Oakland. This City boy was happy. We settled in a Suburb called Mount Juliet. A great City much like San Carlos or Belmont. We also got in at the perfect time as they are (still, but almost finished) building a brand new residential development of mid to high priced homes. Next to that they are building (and it's mostly finished now) a retail establishment called Providence Marketplace. Now in Mount Juliet you have a more Metropolitan diversity of people. There are your Rednecks....hey it's the South. It's hard to not run into your fair share here. For the most part though, it's nice, Family oriented people. I have met some really good people out here playing Airsoft. Decent folks who run the gambit of personality types and political, social orientation. I've also discovered something that there wasn't much of in California: Centrists. Politicians who's attitude is that both parties are full of crap, and both parties have their points to contribute to the Government in a Happy Medium. Yay!!!! Of course there are still your Good Old Boy Conservatives out here. The one thing I'm still getting used to, and honestly I don't think I ever will, is the overly Religious attitudes that run rampant through this State. Way too many people are somewhat hypocritical. They go to Church because it's what they've done all their lives. Some go because they don't want their neighbors to think poorly of them. I won't fall for this crap because of my attitudes towards organized Religions. Basically, out here you go to a Baptist church, where you are supposed to tithe 10% of your yearly income to the church. Excuse me???? I slipped a buck at the most in the basket at the Catholic Church I grew up going to, and that was if I felt like it. Why should I pay someone to preach at me and tell me how to think and how I should be spiritual? I have never understood that. I've also realized that the people I commute with every morning would not last 5 minutes on a Bay Area Freeway. They'd be shot instantly. God these people cannot drive. I do like the fact that we don't have a State income tax. Very nice......instead of two hits to my take home pay, there is only one. Oh yeah, and I could actually afford to buy a house out here. It's awesome!!!! My 1400 SF house that has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths with huge front yard only cost me 130 K. Back home if the Bay Area it would be 900 K easy. I do miss my buds. I miss gaming and going to gaming conventions. Do I miss the Bay Area? Yes. Very much. But my Wife and kids are here and I love them very much. I don't regret my decision to move here, I really don't. Life is nice. The City I live in is a great town and it's great having to only drive 5 minutes away to buy anything I need. Clothes, home stuff, groceries, electronics, restaurants.....it's all there. It's also places I like to shop. Target for one....I love Target. I sure wish we'd get a Trader Joes, but I know the farthest East they have gone is Arizona. It's been a great year. I am very happy that I get to be with my Wife in the same State and same house, etc. Would I move back? Maybe.....it would have to be for a lot of money and a really good reason. That's my report for Year One as a transplanted California in Tennessee. Can't wait for years two and up.

Heroes: Can this show get any better?

(Click on the Blog entry title to go to the official NBC website.)

Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.

This is the key plot device so far in the TV Series "Heroes" for stopping an nuclear explosion in New York. I have already written about the basics of this show, and yes I'm writing about it again. Like I've previously mentioned, I wrote an open letter to Hollywood asking them to get their creative heads out of their collective butts. Apparently someone is listening. The writing and pacing in this show are top shelf. It just goes to show that you don't need a cape and tights or even a mask to be a Super Hero. As one of the cast, the character Hiro, says to his friend "You don't need Super Powers to be a Hero." The story telling is like that of a good suspense novel. You think you have the characters figured out, but no.....you don't. Total surprise with some, confirmation of your suspicions with others. SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!

A surprise like......Saresh's neighbor. I figured she was up to something.....she was way too nice to Mohinder and way to friendly with his Father (who was supposedly a recluse...). She, as we find out last night, works for indestructable cheerleader's Dad........who is another suprise. They have been portraying him as some kind of Villan, but as the show goes on, he doesn't seem so nefarious. He knows his adopted daughter is the Indestructable Cheerleader, but if he was so evil, he'd have killed her long ago. (At least tried too....she is indestructable after all.) More and more he seems like he is some kind of Government Agent who is in search of the Heroes. I suspect some kind of cloning program to make super soldiers or something like that.

SPOILER OVER:

The show harkens back to the days of Serials at the local theaters of yesteryear. I can remember my Mom and Dad telling me about Flash Gordon, etc and how you had to go to the theater like once a month or so because you'd miss a chapter. Heroes is like that. Each episode is a chapter. Sometimes they wrap up nicely, but there is always something unanswered, or left open that doesn't get resolved until later. It's a nice touch, and real good story telling. Lord knows we've had to sit through our share of stupid "Reality" shows. Honestly, these things have run their course. I know they are cheaper to produce than an ongoing series, but c'mon people. The viewing public has spoken; they want a good story. If you want me to park my butt for an hour or two and not constantly channel surf, then make it worth my while to stay on your channel and watch your efforts. Good job NBC....too bad it's the only show I watch on your network.

My Little Rachel Ray

Yep, that would be my darling Step-Daughter Olivia cooking away. She has started learning to cook, and she loves every minute of it. She thinks Rachel Ray is sooo cool so she wants to learn to cook just like her.....I'm glad she wants to. We had fun making Chili that night, tomorrow her and Cathy will be making cookies from scratch. Should be fun.

Blog Fun!!

Since I'm loving this new show called "Heroes", here's a little game for you (post answers as comments):

What would be your Super Power and why?

Mine is the ability to find a bathroom wherever I am. I have a knack for detecting plumbing I guess. I walk into a restaurant or theater and I can tell you which direction the bathrooms are without seeing the signs. It's not a power I wanted per se, but it comes in handy.

The Sissification of Today's Youth

Okay.....I think Parents and schools have gone far enough now. First comes the laws that say kids have to wear a bike helmet when riding their bikes....HAVE to...it's the law. Hello???? We didn't, and we did some crazy crap on our bikes....and we are all in one piece. I hear of organized sports leagues where "Everyone's a winner"......what the Hell is that??? How can you prepare kids for the Real World if they are told that mediocrity is OK???? That you don't need to try at all, that you will be rewarded for just showing up?? That's great...no wonder today's youth are a bunch of lazy, punk ass, porkers. When I was a kid and you played baseball, if you sucked (like I did) you didn't get to play that much. Yeah it hurt, but it taught one a good lesson: Try harder and get better if it means that much to you; or get out of it and try something else. Simple. Not everyone can be a great athlete. Not everyone gets to be an Astronaut when they grow up. I'm not saying don't encourage your children to try, just berate them when they fail. Be there to pick them up and dust them off and say "You tried your best. I still love you no matter what you do with your life." What we need to teach our children is that the World outside of their Family is a cold, ruthless place. Not everyone wins....and sometimes just showing up isn't enough. The real world teaches you that second place is the first loser. Now I read of a school in Massachussets where they are banning the game of Tag and any other chase/pursuit games at recess. Why? Because they don't want the kids to get hurt and hold the school liable. WTF?????? Has this world become that insane that parents would actually sue a school because little Johnny fell down and scwaped his wittle knee?????? Jesus Christ people???? What's next?? Wrap your kids in bubble wrap and foam???? Then I hear about schools banning costumes on Halloween and calling the Holiday a "Fall Festival". OK I'm lost now. Why? I know there are some Religious kooks out there who think Halloween should be banned as a Holiday because it's "Evil".....yeah....tell that to all the little Super Heroes and Princesses that come to my door to get Candy.....ooooo that's so EVIL!!!!! Hey Freaks...if you don't want to celebrate the Holiday, then shut your damn porch lights off and don't answer the door. Take your own responsibility....stop trying to force your morals and beliefs on me. Halloween happens to be my favorite Holiday. I love turning my front yard into a graveyard and putting spiderwebs all over the place and glow in the dark skeletons.......it's FUN!!!! Good clean scary fun. Oh wait...I forgot......the Religious Kooks don't know what FUN is....apparently enjoying life isn't in their Bibles.......FREAKS!!!!! Go away!! Makes me wish for a Jewish President, or a President of some Religion other than Christian. It would take the wind out of the Kooks' sails for awhile and maybe we'd go back to that old standard that's in our Constitution: The Separation of Church and State. Remember that?

Hooray for Hollywood

Now awhile back I blogged a rant about Hollywood not having an original thought to save their lives. This still holds somewhat true, but what they are doing now is coming up with a newer twist on an old theme. Big Kudos for that. The banner above is from one of the best new shows on TV. As my favorite TV Critic Tim Goodman says, "this is the year of the serialized drama". How true. Here's the premise of Heroes. One day you wake up and you have super powers. You are just regular old you, but yet you have an extradordinary gift. What would you do with this gift? How would you handle having this gift? Is it even a gift, or is it a curse? So far we have in this show:
1. The indestructable Cheerleader. This little blonde High school cheerleader cannot die. Period. She hates it, and just wants to be normal.
2. Mirror Girl. A single Mom who has a messed up life but is trying the best she can. Her husband is in jail (we find out later he isn't....oh yeah, and he works for the bad guys....) and she is doing whatever she can to get by. Her gift? She has an alter ego that is an Amazon kick ass machine (think Xena.....).
3. Future seeing guy. He can paint the future, but only when high on heroin. Poor guy.
4. Flying guy. Yep he can fly. He is also running for Congress.
5. Flying guys brother, Mimic Guy. He can mimic the abilities of any super he comes into contact with.
6. (My favorite) Time traveler/time stopper guy. Hiro a Japanese wage slave finds out he can travel through time and stop it. He handles it the best because he is living a Comic Book Geeks dream........and appears in the last scene of the latest episode as his future self....a bad ass psuedo-Samurai complete with sword.
7. Telepathy Cop. Yep, a cop that can read minds.
8. Mental JuJu bad guy. Mirror Girls husband DL. He seems to be able to read minds really well...hints that he may have the ability to stop other Heroes powers.
9. Indestructable Cheerleader's Adopted Father: The obvious bad guy......psycho bastard that seems to work for the Government.

Hooked yet? Watch an episode and you will be. It's a really well done show, and because it's serialized, you have to come back each week for more.....

Another show that is just as good is Jericho. A small town in Kansas witnesses a mushroom cloud off in the distance (the direction of Denver, Colorado). You find out most major Cities have been destroyed in the same manner. It's about a small town's ability to handle this situation. Good cast and some interesting developments.

Thank you Hollywood for listening. Now if you could just stop casting Jessica Simpson in movies they might not bomb.....just saying.....

Two in one day....

Just a funny little item to relate. One of my favorite comic strips is Wiley's "Non Sequitor". Besides some very biting commentary on current events, there exists in the Non Sequitor world an ongoing story about Joe Pyle. Joe is a single Father raising two Daughters, Danae the oldest and Kate the youngest. Danae is wise for her age, often making remarks that are very adult and show an unique outlook on the world. In one strip Danae is complaining to her Pet Horse Lucy that her Dad is making her read the paper everyday. Joe asks "What did you learn from reading the paper?" Danae responds with "Adults lie alot and say a bunch of stuff that has no meaning whatsoever..." Joe puts his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth. His Daughter asks "Did I say something wrong?" Dad says "Unfortunately no." Why the build up? Danae often times reminds me of my StepDaughter Liv. Here in Middle Tennessee there are two candidates running for the Senate seat that Bill Frist is giving up; Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker. There are constant typical political ads...."he's a schmuck, no he's a schmuck", etc, etc. Liv states to me and Cat on night that she just doesn't get it. "It's the same people in the commercials, and in one they are on that person's side, and in the other they are saying bad things about them. I'm confused!!" Just thought I'd share the unique outlook of Politics from the 12 year old mind. Unfortunately she's right........no matter which way you slice it in politics, it's always the same old Crap.

These Kids Today!!! Part Deux

So over on the airsoft boards I normally frequent we have had a rash of young guys joining lately and pretty much being stupid kids. No respect whatsoever and this Generations lack of grammar and spelling ability. When I was a kid if you didn't know how to spell something, the teacher you asked handed you a dictionary and said "look it up." Now these morons text, and chat and IM each other to death and use all manner of slang and abbreviations that when it's not called for, they use it anyway!!! Anyhow, that Rants already been done, new Rant coming. One of these "shining" examples of the Future of our Country posted that he saw the movie "Black Hawk Down" recently. He said, and I loosely quote: "Black Hawk Down is a great gun movie. If you don't want to go play some airsoft after seeing I don't know what will make you.". I was stunned!!! A "great gun movie"?!?!?!?!?!?! What they Hell do they teach these kids in school today? Has our recent "TV" war made them not realize what a real armed conflict is all about? This kid is about 14-15 years old. All he gets out of a movie like "Black Hawk Down" is how cool the guns are. We're talking a movie by Ridley Scott, and excellent director who captured the horror and emotions involved in a Military Operation gone wrong. A movie about Brotherhood under fire, sacrifice, misguided political decisions, etc that is obvious to even a simple minded person and all this kid gets is "OOOO cool guns.....". I have met a few real shining examples of the Future of this Country, but I should emphasize a FEW.........

These Kids today!!!

Yeah I know....never thought I'd say that....actually it should be these kids and their parents. As some of you may know, I particpate in a sport/hobby called Airsoft. We run around on private property, old army bases, etc out of public view, dressed up in military BDU's and shooting each other with plastic bb's from realistic looking guns. Now you have to be 18 to purchase one, and technically the same age to use one. Not the case. Welcome to the age of parents who "just buy little Johnny what he wants" without realizing the consequences of their actions. I live in the City of Mt. Juliet and the other night 20 teen boys (DUMBASSES) were gathered on someone elses propety without their permission in plain view of the public playing with airsoft pistols. The cops were called and got out of their cars, guns drawn because the call they were responding to was "Gang activity". It was all over the evening news and the morning news with the Chief of Police saying that the guns needed to be marked in some way to differentiate them from the real thing. Might as well play freaking paintball!!!! This pisses me off.....these dumbass parents bought these stupid kids these guns and didn't supervise them at all!!!! It is well known in the area that there is a field to play airsoft on, a 30 acre, in the middle of nowhere, out of public view, private piece of land that won't cause trouble. Makes me wish the cops would have shot a couple of the kids.......I call this Darwin in action.....

Reviews and Recommendations

A few movie reviews/recommendations for you as well as some great new shows on the Idiot Box you have to see! Movies. If you haven't seen the Pirates sequel, and you loved the first movie, you need to. Don't look for historical accuracy or any crap like that, just buckle yourself in and hang on for a rollercoaster ride of a movie. The Wife and I were discussing how versatile of an actor Johnny Depp really is. And to think this guy got his start on 21 JumpStreet. If you like Jason Stratham (The Transporter, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) then you have to go see "Crank". It's over the top, non-stop action. Don't even bring your brain in, just leave it at home you won't be needing it. My Wife actually likes his movies and we went and saw it. Lots of fun. Rentals: If you want a couple of surprisingly new story twists in a movie rent "The Matador" with Greg Kinnear and Pierce Bronson. Strange (not quite Donnie Darko strange, but weird enough) and unpredictable (someone in Hollywood actually making a unpredictable movie!!!!!). Also rent "Lucky Number Slevin" with Josh Hartnet, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and Lucy Liu. If that cast doesn't make you want to see it, the plot line and story progression will leave you glued to the screen until it is over.

Now for TV: There are crime shows galore on TV now, but none better than the original CSI. It's always a good show. For a new twist on the crime genre, you need to catch "Criminal Minds" and "Numb3rs". Both have ensemble casts of great actors with each character being very distinct and memorable (with the exception of the one blonde on Criminal Minds...she's a background character almost who they are trying to give more screen time to lately but it's not helping). Now for what I call the Renaissance of TV: Jericho and Heroes. Mainstream TV has always screwed up Sci Fi.....either cancelled it prematurely, or it was way too intelligent for your average TV viewer to grasp. Good examples: Max Headroom and Firefly. Max Headroom was a way too critical view of the future of TV...to the point that I think it scared the execs at ABC so they cancelled it. (Bastards!!! I loved that show.) Then we have Firefly. Fox screwed around with the schedule, played episodes in the wrong order and generally did whatever they could to sabotage a great show. Now back to the review. As you may be aware of, Super Heroes are becoming a big deal now. We Comic Book Geeks are becoming mainstream and accepted now. Look at the box office receipts of the past 5 years....X-Men, SpiderMan, Superman.....plus a bunch more of our beloved spandex heroes on deck. NBC has developed a new TV show that explores the question: "What if you woke up one day and you had super human abilities?" They have explored that question very well in the new show "Heroes". So far we have an Artist that can see the future, and paints it. A highschool cheerleader whose healing factor makes Wolverine look like a chump....she gets hit by a football player, lands with her head twisted around backwards and then gets up and she is fine!!!! A wage slave in Japan who can bend space and time. Two brothers who can fly. An average beat cop with esp. A single Mom who has a "double" that acts independently of her (but she can only see the double in the reflection of a mirror). We also have the cheerleaders adopted Dad who seems to be "The Super Villan", but you aren't really sure if that's where they are going with it or not. Then we have on CBS a show called Jericho. The prodigal son returns to his podunk Kansas town after being gone for years, and he seems to be lieing about where he's been. To top it all, that same day in the direction of Denver there is a mushroom cloud. All communication has been cut off, and a kid in the town has an answering machine message from his Mom where you can hear an explosion in the background. You find out she is in Atlanta. That's two nuclear explosions. At the end of last episode, a man is putting red pins in a map on most of the large cities in each state.....you get the impression that they have been hit too.

Oh yeah, and we can't forget "The Unit". Definitely a guy show.

The Ballad of Steve and Cathy

Well, okay not a ballad, but a story. In my last rant I promised to tell the story of how someone who was born and raised in the Paradise called the SF Bay Area found himself transplanted to Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Let's go back to 1999. An Evil, vile being who we will refer to as PITA decided she wanted to not be married to me anymore. So we got a simple, quick and non-contested divorce. I was angry, depressed etc. I found internet chat rooms as a great release to get back in to the "Dating Game". Flirting was fun, etc. About February of 2000 I joined a Yahoo divorced folks support group called "Divorced, Single and Looking". Got to know alot of people in there, it was fun. One of those people was a shy, retiring Southern Belle by the name of Cat. I liked her the most. We started off as friends, first IM chatting then on the phone. In 2002 the gang decided to all meet somewhere in the Country that was centralized for most. Cat set up the meet in Nashville. I went out the week before to spend it with her. This was June of 02. We really hit it off. In September of that year she travelled to SF and we did the tourist thing. She loved it. Over the next couple of years we had talked bout it being permanent. She wanted to move out to California and then we were going to get married. Well to help out her case of trying to move to Cali, her lawyer advised we get married before hand. So on January 22, 2004 in a nice little Civil Ceremony at the Redwood City Courthouse we were married. We spent the first year of our marriage in two different states, until we got word in August of 2005 that our appeal was denied and I would have to move to Tennessee to be with my Wife and Step-Kids. The rest is history. We are going on 3 years of marriage and it is great. I have found the woman I will spend the rest of my life with and I am Happy as can be. The moral of this story? "Embrace change because it may be better than you think."