Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Well football starts again today and I decided to log in and make my prediction for the Bengals. I am torn this season.

I love the Bengals and I want them to do well. I want them to win. But since last season I have started following a blog that I have come to enjoy and agree with. It's called the Who Dey Revolution. The goal is basically to call out and expose the crappy Bengals management in order to get changes made to the way the team is run. The guy, as cynical as he comes off, is 100% right about almost everything. He makes it obvious how terrible the Bengals organization is run. It's painful to say, but any success the Bengals acheive is pure dumb luck. They really will be the siberia of the NFL until they get competent management. Did you know the Bengals only employee 1 scout? Yes that's right, 1 NFL scout for 1 NFL team. There are only 6 teams in the NFL who don't have a GM. Those 6 teams include either extremely successful owners (Jerry Jones) or extremely unsuccessful owners (Mike Brown and Al Davis). There is no in between. You'd think with 19 years of crappiness, maybe going a different route for success would be good?? Those are just a few of the topics the blogger at Who Dey Revolution brings up.

So as you can see, it's understandable that I'm torn on rooting for them to win.

Regardless, I enter another year hoping for the best and expecting the worse. Can you believe last season I actually predicted that the Bengals would be ruined by injuries? Check it out. Well I didn't get it all right, Rudi Johnson didn't do well in Detroit, but Carson took the year off with an arm problem so I got that right at least. This year I can't help but be optimistic. Carson is back and doing well, Ochocinco is reenergized and talking about playing in the Super Bowl, apparently Cedric Benson is playing this year at the same weight he was in college (his last good football season), and the defense has added a bunch of new players and is expected to improve their 12th ranked defense from last year. How could this not be a good team?

If only they weren't Cincinnati. I'm afraid the higher my optimism is, the higher my disappointment will be. I read somewhere that the Bengals could potentially win 10 games this year. I say bogus, we aren't going to split with BOTH Pittsburgh and Baltimore. I'll believe it when I see it. My prediction is that it will be an up and down year. Our offense will disappear for a few games and I think we'll end up 7-9. I don't think Benson is going to make a big impact this year and Bernard Scott may have to come in to pick up the slack. Unless any of the wide receivers or Carson get hurt, I think they'll all have a decent year. The defense will improve but will be mediocre and stay around 12th ranked in the league. We're better than we were last year but not as good as we were in 2005. If we had an easier division I'd be a little more optimistic about our record, but I just can't see us having a winning record.

And if you just read all that, congratulations, I could barely stand to type it myself.

It may not be clear by the post above but... Go Bengals!

Also I can't wait until October.

I have this problem where I always watch movies and get a little sad. Like when the first Harry Potter movie came out I thought "This is the last time we're ever going to see Harry Potter for the first time!" And then when the sixth one came out, "We will only ever see a new Harry Potter movie two more times!" Sad I know! Well when I was little, and by little I mean pre-college, whenever I watched a comedy I would think "Who is ever going to be as funny?" For example:

Chris Farley died. Who is every going to be as funny?
Adam Sandler got older and his good-goofy movies were over. Who is ever going to be as funny?
Jim Carey got older and starts doing serious roles. Who is ever going to be as funny?

In my teeny brain I thought whenever these actors stopped being funny, my idea of what was funny would no longer make me laugh and would no longer be comedy. It was several years ago when I discovered Will Ferrell that this thought started getting pushed away. Then last year or the year before I found out how hilarious Seth Rogen was and the thought of "Who is ever going to be as funny?" drifted away even further. Well this year, I would say that there are 3 guys that have pushed that thought even further away.

Paul Rudd:
Paul was in the 40-year-old Virgin and I thought he was pretty hilarious. His back and forth conversation with Seth Rogen saying "you know how I know you're gay? you like coldplay" made me wheez the first time I saw it. And his latest movie "I love you, Man" is just as funny. I think what makes him funny is that he doesn't even try. He has this dry humor that is just too hilarious. For a long time he was a supporting actor in a lot of different things like "Friends", but with a lead role in "I love you, Man" I felt like he nailed it. The only downside I can find with Paul is that he (as well as Seth Rogen and Jason Siegel) tend to be in movies that are really raunchy.







Ed Helms:
I think I could watch this guy on TV all day long and still not get tired of him. Often times in TV sitcoms it's extremely risky introducing new characters. You risk ruining the karma that all the current characters have. Ed was introduced on The Office a little late into the show and he was an instant hit with me. He has this goofy smile that just makes you love him.

But as if being funny wasn't enough, Ed sings. It's goofy and ridiculous and totally not professional but the kind of singing that fits perfectly into comedy. He sung this song on the movie "The Hangover" and also sung it on Conan O'Brien when he appeared on the show. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojkUv4aWY_0

and by the way, he is actually playing the piano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tO9utIOXag

I can't wait to see what he produces in the future!

Michael Cera:
I am not going to act like Michael Cera is nearly as funny as Ed Helms or Paul Rudd, but he is very funny. I think his humor lies entirely with how he pronunciates words and sentences. For example we just saw "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" the other day and there were several quotes that made us crack up, like:

"This is not a taxi, my friend, I promise you!"

"If anyone is getting raped in that van, it'll be a guy. "

"Also that mix CD... uh that I left on your doorstep was the last one that I'll be making for you. More or less... "

He just has a way of delivering lines that is unique. I haven't yet seen the movie "Year One" but I am very excited about it.


I am slowly getting over my thinking that comedy lies in the actors. Comedy as well as the actors will change over time and I'm confident I will keep on laughing no matter what.

I think with every male homeowner, there are things around the house that you just don't feel like getting involved in. With me, there is basically just one thing and that is electricity. I've been burned too many times and I just don't want to deal with it. Power my lights, heat my food, blend my ice cream, but leave my fingers and body alone. "Just turn off the breaker in the garage" you might say, "well a few year's too late" my fingers might respond. Doesn't always work.

Today I decided to tackle the Sweet Room fan. Since we moved in March 2007, it hasn't worked. The light would turn on but the fan wouldn't spin. Last summer we box fanned it. This summer we decided not to deal with heat and kept our A/C at a tolerable 74. Promptly after getting our high electric bill, I changed our thermostat to 78 and I immediately started sweating.

Last night was miserable. Liz went out for the night and I stayed in and did nothing but sweat my Nay-nays off. I brought the unacceptable box fan in and got fed up. Early July my Mom gave us some money for our anniversary and today that money bought us a fan remote control unit.

I got the 8 foot ladder out, flipped the electrical off from the Sweet Room and went to town. It took me about an hour of fiddling until I got the new remote control installed and "POOF! ... IT'S ALIVE ... IT'S AAAALLLIIIIIIVVVEEE!!!"

I fixed a household item that had been previously broken. My man card has a few stamps on it already: deck, garage shelving, wainscoting in the blue bedroom. Today my man card just got stamped with "Sweet Room fan".

Turns out, it wasn't as hard as I had imagined. Also I discovered on the other side of the white blades that there is a wood color. So I also flipped the blades over. You can't see it in the picture, but the fan is spinning. It's not the prettiest fan, but it came with the house, and that's good enough for me:

Haven't blogged in forever. The point of this post is to say that we have found Daisy and Gryffin's favorite food.

Since we got them, we have always struggled finding them food they'll enjoy. Gryffin will scarf down anything we put in front of him but Daisy is super picky. We used to give her food that you put warm water in and it would be super tasty but she hated it after a while and would refuse to eat it.

We tried puppy, small breed, and adult breed formulas of different brands and they never seemed too thrilled. We leaned toward Purina Pro Plan small breed formula but she got sick of that. We decide to try the Purina Pro Plan adult breed formula that included "tender" pieces mixed in (whatever that means). Somehow these "tender" pieces were given the name "Chewies" and from now on whenever we feed them we yell "CHEWIES". We have never seen Daisy scarf it down so fast. Usually she leaves food in her bowl throughout the day and never finishes any meal but with this food she would finish it on the spot. It was hilarious because when we got the first bag we could actually see her getting a little fatter with this food and she would sometimes burp when she's done.

We one time decided to switched back to small breed for variety and she immediately went back to her old ways and we could see her weight start going down again. Maybe this is the dog equivalent of McDonalds but they LOVE the "chewies". Here are the beloved chewies:


We may have to learn how to put her on a diet but still give her chewies at the same time. That last thing we'll have is an overweight chihuahua. That's like animal cruelty with their small, thin leg bones bearing more weight then they should.


BTW: Just an update on the birds, last weekend the 4 baby blue birds fledged and I immediately cleaned out the bird house. We almost saw them leave the house as the babies were poking their head out in the morning but we had to leave so we never saw them fly away. Since then there has been no trace of babies or parents. We're hoping to get one more brood of babies before the winter comes... oh winter... how i miss you.

That's the most pathetic blog post title I've ever had... but it's true.

By the way, the other two birds hatched yesterday so they are all alive and well inside the house.

Yesterday during our Harry Potter Marathon some may have noticed that I'm a little too obsessive over the safety of our birds in the backyard. Part of it is that I enjoy seeing them grow up and care about them but it's mostly because I wouldn't be able to take the fact that if the Mom, Dad, or baby bluebirds were killed it would be 100% my fault. If that were to happen I don't know what I'd do. I set this birdhouse out and I couldn't help but feel responsible if something hurt them. I might take the house down or who knows, it may solidify my resolve to keep them safe. So needless to say, I feel like I have some sort of responsibility toward the birds.


Yesterday during the marathon a male House Sparrow(pictured above) landed on the house and I freaked out. I threw up my arms and ran out the door and scared it away. Now granted the Mom and Dad were both there to scare it away as well so they were doing their jobs, but House Sparrows are the #1 predator for Bluebirds. I was surprised because I have a "Sparrow Spooker" installed on the house. Obviously it's not working and it concerns me. But if they got into the house, they would kill the Mom, Dad, and babies, and then lay eggs in the birdhouse on top of their carcasses, and use their dead bodies to feed their own babies. This cannot happen.

Last night I woke up at 2:30 AM in a sweat after a dream/nightmare in which I opened the birdhouse and this exact scenario had played out. I was sweating, my heart racing and as ridiculous as I know it is, I spent the next two hours mulling over what to do about it. It was the middle of the night so obviously I wasn't thinking clearly, but I considered going down and checking on them. I realized that they were probably safe, so I then thought "Should I go down and watch the house and make sure nothing hurts them?" So if the Sparrow Spooker isn't working, what do I need to put on the house to stop the predators?!?! All really stupid thoughts, but I lost two hours of sleep thinking about it.

Maybe the answer is to do nothing and let nature take it's course. I hate that answer.

I just opened the house and the baby birds are OK... but on a related note, I may be going insane. I'll keep you updated :)

So two new pieces of news today... Two of the little birdies hatched this morning and hopefully tomorrow morning the other two will hatch. It's so freaking awesome to watch these little birds. I discovered that if you open the door and whistle, then the birds will throw their heads up wanting food. I have seen the Mom and Dad bluebirds coming and going all day with food for their young. The parents don't seem to care that I open the door. Maybe they don't see me as a threat? If only they knew I'm here to help and not to hurt them. Here is a picture I took (with the old camera) after whistling at the babies.

Pretty awesome right? We're super double excited. Building that birdhouse has got to be the best decision I've made all year.

Speaking of birdhouses, I have 100% finished the 10 birdhouses I've been building. They are all sitting in the garage ready to be sold. I sent an email to our neighborhood listserv this afternoon but haven't yet gotten even a nibble on them. In fact I received a response that was entirely the opposite of a nibble... criticism. That's not what I need right now. Should I stop trying to build things to sell and just do what I want to do? Or keep trying? My confidence has been slightly dashed.

I'll update if there is any progress on that.

Annie asked me to review the show, and although I am ashamed that I watch it, I will do a review.

Let me first say that it really bothers me that Jillian cannot see what is going on in the house. She should have a hidden camera in most rooms that she can watch and hear all... or at least have someone like a producer just show her the important stuff that she really needs to see like David being a meat-head, or the guys playing practical jokes. Sometimes the hidden camera can be a positive thing too and I think she should see it all. I guess they don't do that though because this isn't a relationship show, it's a love gameshow and the more drama and twists and turns, the better.

Review of people still on the show:

Jillian
She needs to grow a backbone. She tries to act tough by asking "tough questions" but really you can see that she's OK with being stepped on a lot. I also think for the most part she has no idea what she wants. She comes up with reasons off the top of her head to eliminate people when really I think she eliminates them because their names are not Ed or Kiptyn. She is fun-loving and adventurous and has a lot of good qualities about her but being the star of The Bachelorette doesn't mean you're perfect. If I were in the house I would have quit the game during the western movie group-date when she kissed everyone on the planet. That episode had her go from Sweet Jillian to Easy Jillian. She said to David "I'm not that kind of girl"... umm yes you are, because you were. But what do you expect, it's TV and not the time to be a quaint good ole girl. I am really going to become uncomfortable and despise the show when the guys start having overnight stays with her. I wonder what a night with Easy Jillian would be like?

Reid
Reid who? I actually just looked up the show online to verify the final 4 and realized that it was Reid and not Jesse. I also would have asked 'Jesse who?' Reid is a boy in a man's game and maybe that's a good thing? Aren't you a bartender? Yeah, love doesn't have a job but Jillian didn't become The Bachelorette to marry a bartender. That's like going on Survivor for a thousand dollars. That money won't last long and neither will the love that was developed on a TV show. He's different in that he isn't pushy or the center of attention which has also made him forgettable as a contestant. Unless Jillian has been hiding her feelings, I think Reid is going to place 3rd on the gameshow.

Wes
I hate him. I hated him from episode one. I want him gone and have yelled "NOOOOOOOO KELLY CLARKSON!!!" every time she gives him a rose. If she chooses him, just like every eliminated contestant has said, she will not find happiness and she will get hurt. Wes is a bad bad man and he is the reason for my comment that Jillian should see the drama in the house. Also, as if his personality wasn't wretched enough, his songs are terrible and he will not be famous.

Ed/Kiptyn
Lets be honest, this is a two horse race. I was thrilled Ed came back because it all of a sudden it pulled Jillian off of Kiptyn's pinky finger. Kiptyn was in the bag as the winner and now I have no idea. They both have great jobs, are very intelligent, funny, and apparently there is romantic connections. I tend to think couples look alike and Ed and Jillian are sooooo similar looking. They make a really good couple. Kiptyn on the other hand has a face like he was born in Whoville. So maybe Ed is the front runner but I think she'd be happy with either one. They both are there for the right reasons and it's clear that Ed certainly is otherwise he wouldn't have come back. If I had to choose a winner of the show, I'd flip a coin. Ed just won my coin toss.

Honorable Mention: Michael
The guy is awesome and you saw why directly after he got eliminated. He's hilarious and goofy and quotes "Anchorman", but he also has a deep side and really cared about Jillian. "I straight up loved that girl" he said. If I were to choose the next Bachelor, it would be Michael, but unfortunately I don't think he's hunky enough for ABC to choose him but it would be entertaining. It will probably end up being Jake or the loser between Ed and Kiptyn. If Kiptyn loses, I think ABC will be thrilled because they would like nothing more than to have a show called "The Bachelor" and the star is named, of all things, "Kiptyn". But to me, Michael was the star of this season. Every elimination, I was sending vibes to Jillian to say "Michael" and give him a rose and I loved his reactions to being saved every time. He carried his feelings on his sleeve and I think that's why I liked him so much. It was tough to see him go.

So there ya go. It's probably Ed because my coin said so... but Kiptyn is right there as well.