Wow, where to begin. The problem with taking a break it you are left with a lot of things to do to catch up. Kinda like this long 'vacation' weekend - possibly one of the most hectic and tiring weekends in recent history. It is a tired cliche, but I need to get back to work so that I can relax. :)

I will attempt to cover the following in this post. Saturday, Tony, Allison, Pennie & I went out and did some things, Sunday, hung out more with Tony, Allison & Pennie, Monday - went to the Alamo Draft House to see Bruce Almighty....

Saturday: I got up early and did some housework and awaited the arrival of Tony & Allison. While waiting for them to arrive, I got the bug to do some home improvement. I hung some blinds in the kitchen and then set about to build a shelf for a TV in my bedroom. Brian assisted and we did a fine job I must say.

They arrived and we said our hellos after not seeing each other for a long time - Allison wasted no time in cutting up...

We hung out a bit as Sam and Allison got acquanted...

We then headed to the baseball game at Minute Maid park to watch the Astros take on the Cubs. We stopped off at the downtown aquarium and took the train ride and met this HUGE horse outside the ballpark.

Allison managed to entertain everyone around us. She wanted a picture to prove she was at a big league ballpark..

Well, I am going to leave Sunday and Monday's recap to another day as I have some work to do.
- posted by Chris @ 8:50 AM

 
Had a cool outing yesterday. Okay, well there was the usual stuff at the office - the paperwork - the phone calls - the constant struggle for organization. It was after work that things got interesting. Brian and I headed to the Woodlands to do some filming. Pennie's son does some boarding at a nearby church every Thursday. The guy that runs the thing is looking to get some funding from the church through showing the congregation some video of what goes on. I agreed to shoot some video. Here is Brian getting a cool shot...

I was going to include one of the videos of Zach - but I cannot get it in here right now. I will play with it and see if I can post it later.

It was a lot of fun - we will probably have to do some more filming to get enough good footage and I am really looking forward to the results. Afterwards, Pennie served us a great dinner. What a deal!
- posted by Chris @ 8:20 AM

 
Super Mario was going for another stage win today when a frickin MORON Galvez went down on a rain soaked corner just before the finish line right in front of The Lion King - Cipollini. The two went down hard and slid into the retaining wall. At last report, Mario was taken to the hospital for examination. We will have to wait and see if this will mark the end of his Giro.

I watched the movie Auto Focus, directed by Paul Schrader and starring Greg Kinnear. Kinnear did a great job in his portrayal of actor Robert Crane. I thought the direction was very good as Schrader sets the mood wonderfully with the camera angles and a nearly subconscious lifelike movement during the shots. The story of Crane's transistion from casual investigator of the seedy underside of fame through to full-fledged sexual addict is enthralling. Kinnear's performance is almost spooky as he is completely believable as Crane. Supporting actor, Willem Dafoe is perfect as enabler John Carpenter. I highly recommend this as a great example of acting skill and story telling skills from a director.
- posted by Chris @ 11:24 PM

 


Mario Cipollini - Super Mario has done it! He won his 42nd stage of the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) breaking the record for most ever stage wins. He tied the record yesterday and broke it today. Today's coverage was the best I have ever seen in a Giro. I have been watching it for the past several years and I just have to say what a great job by the helicopter camera. Today's stage ended in the streets of Montecatini Terme with every good sprinter fighting for position right off Super Mario's wheel. The shoulders were slamming, the curses were flying and even one punch thrown. Look for a disqualification tomorrow after the officials review the tape. Great race - great action...

It is almost TOUR TIME!! The 100th anniversary of the Tour de France....



Some upcoming events in the world of Cycling that can be found on the Outdoor Life Network

2003 Tour de France Team Announcement
Thursday, May 22 at 9pm ET/PT
Announcement during OLN's Summer SportsZone Show

2003 Tour de France
Preview Show
July 4 at 10pm ET/PT

Prologue
July 5 at 11:30am ET estimated start time


LIVE Coverage
9am to 11:30am ET
6am to 8:30am PT
(Note: Start times on mountain stages TBD.)
- posted by Chris @ 8:12 PM

 

Busy day today - just a quick break to blog. Working on web pages right now and probably will be all night. Today, I spent the bulk of the day sitting in front of the computer doing paperwork. Brian had the DVD The Transporter and I put it in while I worked... here is my review. (Geez, it seems like I spend more time reviewing movies than explaining what my day was like - oh well)

It was definitely a genre film - the trouble was it just couldn't decide which genre. Perhaps I am being too hard, after all it was basically an action flick. As an action flick it did its job. While there was really nothing new in the movie anywhere - it was fun to watch. Again, I am probably being too hard on it - but it felt like it was trying to be too "cool." I mean the driving was fun, the fighting was cool (even if you are getting tired of every fight scene looking like a John Wu ripoff,) and there were a couple of decent stunts.

The story was acceptable even if some of the situations/solutions were a strech. I am even okay with being liberal with the laws of physics.

The biggest fault of the movie is in the constant attempt to look cutting edge and not pulling it off. Rule number one in filmmaking is TELL THE STORY!! If a shot or angle or stunt does not advance the story - it is masturbation for the director, nothing more. Let me tell you that Corey Yuen blasted his impotent signature all over the screen. Just because you can direct a Hong Kong martial arts film and just because Hollywood seems to have wood about that style and hires you, doesn't mean you are a good director.

A hint to wannabe directors out there... if you feel the urge to steal the super-fast-zoom-in-speed-up shots developed by Darren Aronofsky in Requiem for a Dream - you are NOT a real director. JUST TELL THE STORY!!!

RATING 4 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 5:11 PM

 
Well, it is about time to hit the sack. Today started off with some work on some web pages that are due early next week. I then went on to do some accounting stuff and some laundry. I had a mystery shop this morning for breakfast and came back and chilled for a bit until Pennie showed up around 10am. We then headed to Victoria to see a play with my mom at the Victoria Theater. We saw "Hay Fever" by Noel Coward. The cast did a really good job and the play was a quick-paced fun piece. Here we are at the play...

We stopped by the house and chatted with Tim & Sandra a bit before heading back. We made it home pretty early for a Victoria trip (10:30pm) and then I set about to do some work. I caught up on some things in the BigDog Basketball League and now I think I will chill a bit and watch Insomniac with Dave Atell before heading to bed to do some reading...
- posted by Chris @ 10:55 PM

 

Had a great dinner last night at Pennie's. She invited some friends and we discussed everything from USANA to my upcoming book "It's Impossible NOT to Make Money." We also talked about doing some projects together such as a skating video I am going to work on. Pennie's friend, Michelle is a singer and has some good connections in music - we might hook up for some soundtrack stuff.

The basketball league, BigDog Basketball League has finished the regular season and will start the playoffs this week. It is our third season and things are shaping up for a real competitive postseason. We have some great GMs in our league.

I finally saw the movie Red Dragon. It is a remake of Manhunter the original Hannibal Lecter flick that starred current CSI star, William Petersen. It was a really good remake. Ralph Fiennes did an excellent job as badguy psycho, Francis Dolarhyde and of course Edward Norton is great in everything he does. He is like a young man's Gene Hackman or Michael Caine. They all have the quality of being able to play and role and be completely believable.

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 8:45 AM

 

I have been trying to ride more in an attempt to regain some semblence of 'shape.' To this end, I decided to take a leisurely bike ride before the "to-do's" of the day started their barrage. I loaded my Camelbak with water and ice, stuffed in my cell phone (not quite ready to totally escape responsibility) and camera (what adventure is complete without a visual record?) and hopped on my two-wheeled steed.

Leaving the cover of the scrub brush greenbelt, I entered the clearing that girded both sides of the man-made drainage ditch. The ribbons of muddy water abutted to slanted concrete banks are referred to locally as bayous. This naming convention is used both to recall a time when the "Bayou City" indeed was surrounded with bayous and to hide the fact that a more proper title would now have to be the "Concrete Drainage Ditch City." Not nearly as marketable.

Oh well. As I approached the bayou (we'll just play along) a trio of turtles sunning themselves on the bank skittered into the protection of the murky water. I had thoughts of snapping a picture much too late as the camera was zipped up in one of the numerous pockets currently strapped to my back. I rode on for a while and was enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and cool breeze. I saw numerous turtles poking their heads cautiously from the water and even a duck and her six ducklings. As these were wild ducks, I wasn't able to get too close, but I was able to take a couple shots.

A little further down, I was dismayed to see the following:

Once again, we (humans) were taking a natural area and shaping it to our needs. I really don't mean to wax too liberal here and I have never been too much of a tree hugger - but it is times like this that make you wonder if you should be a tree hugger. This guy (below) who was desperately attempting to find cover had obviously wandered into the wrong place. He was about fifteen feet away from where the heavy machinery was restructing his home. The water was too shallow to go for cover, and this was probably a good thing because his instinct would have told him to just dive under and hide and the steel blades slammed all around him shaping a "water feature" for nearby residents to enjoy nature.

I got off the bike - took off my socks and shoes - dropped the pack and all my gear and waded into the muck to retrieve him. He was not at all interested in being rescued as he fled desperately from me towards the construction. I was able to catch him because the water was so shallow and ... well, turtles are not so fast unless they are swimming. I grabbed him up and walked him over to the deeper, more established bayou which connected to this new creation and let him scurry to the depths. I wish I could say that I saved a turtle today - but he will probably return to his home before the construction ends and will be easy prey for a front end loader, or curious and slightly sadistic kid.

The whole thing got me thinking about something that I have ranted about in the past - there are just too damn many people. I know it is self-centered because I am not volunteering to "off" myself to alleviate some of the crowding, but I also haven't reproduced. (And the sighs can be heard all around the planet - haha) There can be no question that we as humans are the largest plague this planet has ever seen. Never in history has one species so dominated the globe. Not only are we covering it with people, we are paving over enormous portions and tearing down plants and trees and destroying other species in the process. Plants are the lungs of the planet and we are coating them with concrete.

There are those who say the planet is already fighting back. Suddenly, Nature has a huge vested interest in thinning our numbers. Weather disasters are on the rise, there is record flooding, volcanic activity, earthquakes, tidal waves etc. assaulting us more and more as we spread across the surface of our world. In addition, Nature is fighting back with diseases, virii and plagues of all sorts. AIDS was the first of what I think will be many to come. SARS is spreading rapidly across the plant and the CDC(Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta has stated that it has yet to peak even though we are throwing billions of dollars and the best scientists at the problem. This is to say nothing of Ebola, Reston, or Marburg (look into them)

Anyway, not sure where all this is headed other than to say that its all kind of scary, but maybe just by having it in the back of our minds, we can do something about it. Maybe we will remember next time we see a turtle crossing the road and instead of just swerving to avoid him - maybe we should stop and move him on his way.
- posted by Chris @ 11:06 AM

 

Matrix Reloaded can be summed up with just two letters - POOP !

A friend of the Dark Diver put it well... "It was more..." It was more of the same - more black leather, more club music, more green on black digital readouts, more squid machines, more bullet-time slo-mo, more 'choose the left or the right,' and MUCH more Agent Smith

The costumes were a stretch - I mean, why did Morpheus and Niobe wear alligator-skin suits? Is that how they fit in with their surroundings? Oh and Morpheus was a much cooler character when he was cerebral - the half-hearted attempt to make him into an action hero (ala the bare sleeve and midsection outfit) might have worked better if he was ten years younger or at least laid off of the ho-ho's and ding-dongs for a bit. And what was up with the monk outfit Neo wore? I guess that he needed something to flap in the breeze and a cape would have been overboard on those ridiculous Superman scenes.

The writing is quite possibly the worst I have seen in a movie with this large of budget. I have NEVER heard so many tired cliches strung together in an attempt to make you think it is deep. It is mindless prattle. Neo says to a greasy, French-accented bad guy "You know why we're here." To which the Frenchman replies "Yes, but do you? You think you do, but you do not." This kind of nonsense goes on for three to four minutes at a stretch, in scene after scene, all through the movie. If you could follow the juvenile, "I know you're not - but what aren't I" logic, you were left struggling to maintain consciousness until the next action sequence.

Okay the freeway chase scene was interesting to watch - but certainly nothing earth-shattering visually as promised by representatives of the film on the Charlie Rose show. If you are looking for the cutting-edge effects that made the first Matrix famous - you will find them duplicated over and over ad naseum. If you are looking for new cutting edge special effects, save your money for the next blockbuster sci-fi flick.

RATING 3 out of 10

I would like to thank Manny Lacsamana for a thoroughly enjoyable evening as we hung around for an hour after the show tearing it to shreds and discussing film in general. Thanks Manny!

- posted by Chris @ 1:58 AM

 
UPDATE: I am heading to see Matrix Reloaded with Manny Lacsamana tonight - it should be cool!!
- posted by Chris @ 8:02 PM

 
Things are looking good. Business is picking up well (all the businesses!) I went down to visit my mom on Tuesday for a late Mother's Day. I hung out and chatted with Mom - it is always good to see her. It was good to see everyone down there again. Looks like Tim will be in town tomorrow to help out on a cable job.

Today, I went to my BNA (Business Network Alliance) breakfast club meeting and had a good meeting. Bob Hardwick was back amongst the group after his rotator cuff surgery and although he was favoring his shoulder, he looked to be up and running at regular speed. In fact, him and David Postma were discussing a bike trip which he seemed eager to partake of...

I am relieved to be able to attend the meetings more often as Pennie has been assisting me with well, just about everything. Did I ever mention that she is pretty darn cool? !! :)

Pennie is coming over tonight to watch her Cleveland Indians on satellite. That will be cool.
- posted by Chris @ 5:48 PM

 
The BIG WEEKEND blog!!

Jillian's was a lot of fun... hey - there are even pictures!!! Click here to see the pics

Sunday, Pennie came over and her, Tony, Brian and I spent the day cleaning the house... YEAH!! What fun. Actually, it was a lot of fun because there was a lot of help. And here are a couple pics of the results. Those of you who know how messy my house is normally will be impressed - the rest of you will roll your eyes and say, "Whats the big deal?"

I postponed the Mother's day trip because I have the most understanding mother in the world and she knew I was meeting a real estate agent Monday morning and really needed to get the house cleaned. I am planning on taking the day off Tuesday to go do a Mother's Day thing. (I scheduled two meetings Tuesday - so I am not taking all day off - but like I said, she is the most understanding mom in the world.)
- posted by Chris @ 12:25 AM

 
Well, I finished the video tapes - whew... I have a bit of research and configuration to do for a meeting this afternoon and I need to mail off my letter to Tom (my brother,) go to the library, wake up Brian to mow, and go purchase some more cokes for his vending run.... other than that - here is how my weekend stacks up.

Friday

• FREE breakfast - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE lunch - mystery shopping assignment


• Client meeting to discuss website (with Blog feature)


• Baseball game in Montgomery County with Pennie


• Meet with Tony late (he is coming after he finishes his bowling night in Victoria)

Saturday

• CarMax trip with Tony


• Plasma screen shopping with Pennie


• FREE lunch - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE dinner - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE bowling - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE billiards - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE dancing - mystery shopping assignment


• FREE video games - mystery shopping assignment

Sunday

• Mother's Day - going to Victoria to see Mom

Somewhere in all this I need to get my house spotless as a real estate friend is coming by to see about leasing my house out and buying another.

Did I mention that you could be doing all this cool stuff for FREE? -  Order my audio CD - It's Impossible NOT to Make Money: Mystery Shopping
- posted by Chris @ 9:12 AM

 
I am currently copying a boatload of video tapes for a client and very good friend Gail Stolzenberg for his company Snead Management Systems. The video is 8 minutes long which means that I can't really go do anything else but sit here and be productive in between swapping.

So how am I being productive? Well, I am making phone calls. I am writing a letter to my brother Tom. I am also writing in the blog periodically. I am setting up a blog for a client that will be using this tool to relay information about an oil pipeline in Khazakstan to people in country and stateside. This is a VERY good use for this technology.

So how are things in the world of USANA? Pretty darn good! I am excited to report that Ah-Ham Kwon, a Korean born student in Canada has just signed up. So what's the big deal - you get signups all the time? Well, the big deal is that he is Korean. His father is going to promote his USANA business in Korea and by the time USANA opens in Korea - he will already have an organization of thousands lined up and ready to go. Want to be part of this explosive growth in a brand new market? Sign up under Ah-Ham and sit back and enjoy the results. Shoot me an email if you want to be placed in his group cdoelle@technicalserv.com

My friend Tony Vasquez is coming into town Friday night and will stay until Sunday. I am going to help him take care of straightening out some financial aspects of his life. In addition, we will most likely go to Jillian's with Pennie on Saturday night for dinner, bowling, pool, dancing, games etc. Should be a lot of fun. Mainly because it is a mystery shopping assignment at will be FREE!! Want to know how you can eat most of your meals and get a lot of your entertainment for FREE? Order my audio CD - It's Impossible NOT to Make Money: Mystery Shopping

Sunday I am heading to Victoria for Mother's Day. We are going to try to find a place to go to dinner, although it will probably be very crowded.

Oh yeah, I finally got off my butt and posted up some new pictures to my photos page.
- posted by Chris @ 9:30 AM

 
Hello - this is my first ever blog. I have fought the tide of "the blog" as a fad that would soon die out, but alas - it looks like it is here to stay. I intend for this to develop into somewhat of an online journal.
- posted by Chris @ 8:33 AM