Happy Birthday Bro!

My brother Brian turned 35 today. Hard to believe. I was five when he was born, and I still remember my Granddaddy and MawMaw Strother taking me up to Brookwood Hospital to try to sneak me up to see him. Back then they didn't let five year olds visit the maternity wards. Of course, I was mostly disappointed since I had made my Mother's OB/GYN promise me for months that I was going to have a little sister. I used to grab the doctor's hand and refuse to let go of it until he promised. Obviously this was before ultrasounds were common place as well.

Movie Review: Iron Man

Ok, I'm a comic book geek. I don't buy comics anymore, but when I was a kid I read Marvel comics constantly. One of my favorites was Iron Man and the Avengers, though I tended to lean more towards Captain America and Thor in those days.

I was pretty happy with the first Spiderman and X-Men movies, but then they got pretty far off kilter and the last two showings from those two franchises were pretty disappointing. So I was worried about how they would do with Iron Man, and when I first heard they had picked Robert Downey Jr. to play Tony Stark, I thought they had ruined it right off the bat.

I guess I was picturing him from his brat pack days though. I still don't think of myself being middle-aged, and so I guess I can't picture Downey being middle-aged either. As it turns out, I was completely wrong. He was the perfect choice to play Stark. The movie was just about perfect as well. My only quibble was the huge hole in his chest where his implant goes. The implant itself is something I would have been fine with if they had just left it out completely. There's nothing wrong with retconning something if it really just doesn't make much sense.

Still, that's a very minor thing. I have to say that this is the best movie I've ever seen that's based on a comic book character. I'm sure some of the Batman fanboys will disagree with me, but I was never a huge fan of DC books anyway.

Now I am still really worried about how they're going to pull off the upcoming Thor movie. I was a huge fan of this comic, especially in the days when Walt Simonson was writing it. What I'm really worried about is if the CGI is up to making someone look like Thor should look like. I guess time will tell.

Rebate

Well, the rebate check from the IRS came in Friday morning, just in time for us to drop about $500 to get brakes put on both cars. The Civic was down to metal on metal on the front left, and needed pads on all 4 brakes, so the new rotor and pads and labor were $260 at Budget Brakes.

A few hours earlier, the Montero was in the same shop and needed a new rotor and pads on the back brakes, plus they don't make cheap pads for it, so it was $235. The rest is going for our vacation in Florida next month. I think it's going to cost us at least $250 to $300 just to pay for the gasoline going down there and back.

Speaking of gas, the price actually started going down a little around here the last few days. I was actually grateful to only pay $3.38 a gallon today when I filled up Marissa's car. I still remember being pissed when it took $25.00 to fill the Montero up a few years ago. Now I'm just glad it's back under fifty bucks at least for a little while.

Weeknight Caving

We went back to Hardins Cave this past Wednesday night for our monthly grotto trip. We recruited people from the Earth Day Festival in Nashville last weekend, and we had 4 or 5 people show up because of that. We had 17 people on the trip, and several of them were first time cavers, including a 5 year old and 7 year old that did pretty well.

I've lost about 10 lbs since last month when I went, plus I've been exercising more, so this time it was easier for me. We went back to the rope climb-up and then turned around, which is our usual route. Not a bad trip and everyone seemed to have fun.

Back on the Greenway

I let my diet and exercise get away from me since October, and I put on about 25 lbs since then. After three days of gastrointestinal debauchery in Tuscaloosa this past weekend, which included 3 trips to City Cafe on Friday, it was time to get back into gear. I did discover a new combination at City Cafe that was great though. I've always loved their chicken livers, and at the suggestion of my old friend Michael Bolden, I also tried the candy yams to go along with them. Wow. Definitely a great combination.

My pedometer is out of commission, so until I can order a new one I'm just making myself walk a certain number of strides per day. Tuesday and Wednesday I hit the small walking trail near work, which is just shy of a 1/4 mile per lap. I did one lap on Tuesday and two laps on Wednesday.

Yesterday it was pretty nice outside, so when I got home I loaded up Jackson and his stroller in the car and made the short drive the Stones River Greenway, at the dam entrance. Jack had a really good time, and we did a little over 1.5 miles, and it pretty much wore me out. It sure doesn't take long to get out of shape.

I'm also having some pain on the back of my heel, which is likely the tendon being too tight. It was really bad last week, but I've been stretching it, putting ice on it, and taking Alleve, so it's down to being a minor annoyance at this point.

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So I had a pretty good birthday yesterday. My friends at work took me out to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then when I got home I loaded up the wife, the girl, and the boy and we headed for the local Thai restaurant. Marissa had mentioned this a few weeks ago and I was all for it. Of course, starting the day before, she started whining about it and offering up different suggestions. I think this was after she looked at the menu online. So as we were driving there, I kept going on and on about how good it was going to be to eat a lot of good spicy Thai food, and then I drove past it and went to Panera. I love Thai food, but I won't torture my family for it.

After dinner we walked over to the pet store and let Jack look at the animals. He got pretty excited about the tank full of clown fish. Can you tell what movie he's been watching a lot lately?

I kept looking for Heff to show up for dinner, but I guess Nashville is just too far to drive for someone you've known for oh, 28 years now?

Here's one more Mojo Nixon tune, just cause I feel like it.

Ambushed at the Office

They got me. People were giggling when they saw me when I walked in the building this morning, so I knew something was up. There was also German chocolate cake waiting as well, so I guess I have to forgive them. When I woke up this morning, Marissa and Jack had a chicken biscuit with a candle in it for me.