New Years Resolutions.

Last year I made my first ever New Years Resolutions. The first one was not to call my good friend, The General, because he never answered his phone anyway. And I did pretty well on that one, I didn't call him until July. My other resolution was not to eat fast food. And I am still holding to that resolution. The closest I have been to fast food, is Subway, Quiznos, Culvers and Oakland Gyros, which can't be a total of 10 times on all of those combined. I think that is pretty good.
So I have come up with some resolutions for this year. I would like to continue to be a bit more healthy, so I am going to continue with 86ing garbage food. Off of my menu is candy, chips (including potatoe chips, Doritios, Sun Chips, Cheetos, etc.), soda (excepting when included in an alcoholic drink, how could I possibly give up Captain and Cokes?) and when out for dinner anywhere, I will no longer eat french fries (don't even bother putting them on the plate).
That covers my diet, but I wanted something else as a resolution. Typically resolutions are done to make someone a better person. That being said, I have also decided as a resolution to do a better job of introducing myself to people. I think have always done a pretty poor job of this in the past. I am looking to fix this.
Those are my resolutions, I ask you as my friends to help me stick to my resolutions. And call me out on them from time to time.

Krum's Soccer Stories

I play soccer with Krum on Thursday nights. I forget what happened but something triggered this old story in my brain and I thought I would share it with you. This happened back in high school. Krum had always loved playing soccer, but his parents wanted him to play tennis. His parents rarely made it to indoor games at Soccer USA in Milwaukee. Finally one week Krum got his parents to come and watch a game. Very early in the game, maybe a minute or two after the start, Krum went up for a header a got under cut by a player on the other team. In the process Krum fell and landed on this other players head. Being that indoor is a fast pace game, Krum quickly set the ball up for a free kick, but the player he had landed on, was slow in getting up. That player had made it up to his hands and knees and was facing the ball that Krum had just set up. The referree wanting to get the game going, said "Come on let's hurry up!" The ref was actually talking to the injured player not Krum. Krum did not know this and went ahead and kicked the ball right in the injured players face, at a distance that I would estimate at 3 to 4 feet. This resulted in Krum getting ejected from the game. So his parents finally come to watch him and he gets tossed from the game right away.
There was another time in which I was playing in a game with Krum and a simular situation arose. Our team had a free kick after a penalty on their team. Their player was slightly injured and slow to get up, the ball was also near this injured player who again was on all fours. Krum walked over to get the ball and in doing so stepped on both of the players hands. That player then got up much quicker, pushed Krum and started swearing. This worked out a little better for Krum as the other player got a yellow card for pushing Krum and swearing, nothing happened to Krum since the ref didn't see Krum step on the kids hands. Actually no one had. I remember asking Krum after the game, why the kid was so mad. He said laughing "Because I stepped on both of his hands."

"Championship"

I can't believe I forgot to post this little nugget. This probably will not interest the non-nerds out there in my readership. But for the second straight year I won my fantasy football league's Super Bowl. That is right, Super Bowl Champion. That is 2 years straight. And I have to be honest, it really wasn't that hard. I would like to thank all of the other teams in my league for being so horrible. They really didn't put up much of a challenge at all. Truely all of the credit goes to myself. I thought I would post a picture of me with my trophy, but I also thought I could statisfy the thirst of those female readers who continually request to see more skin on the blog. Well here goes girls, knock yourselves out.

Picture of the Day

This picture was taken on November 6th 1999, That is the King's Castle behind me. That would be the King of Norway, as I was in Oslo, Norway. In trying to keep you up to date with the latest in my life, let me say that I don't have too much going on this New Years Weekend. I was seriously considering boycotting everything that had to do with New Years Eve, because it is the most anticlimactic holiday. But Krum has talked me into going to a New Years Eve Party with him in Dinkytown near the University. I am going in with low expectations. Otherwise it will be a weekend full of football. Can you believe that their is a decent chance of the Packers making the playoffs. Funny because I just hear on the news here in Minnesota that the team is so bad that they have decided to just let the air out the Metrodome and not even have a football team next year.

Will the Packers make the playoffs?
	Yes
	No
	Is it opening day yet?
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Christmas Break Review

My Christmas break was just great. I got to see a lot of my friends and all of my family. I was also so happy to get some input back from my Christmas card. I would like to correct a couple of errors that I made.

First, Angela not Vanessa was on the winning relay team at the Freeman party.

Second, I apologize for not including Jen Miller and Trinity as new mother's this year. And if there are any others out there that I also forgot, I am sorry.

Third, and this is not a correction, but I have heard from a number of blog readers, most relation, who have told me the bath tub picture should have been my card. Should I feel a little uncomfortable that family members would rather see a picture of me naked than a picture of me next to a stack a wax that looks like Michael Jordan?

I would like to thank everyone for the gifts and meals that I was given, everything was just great: Grandma Bahr, Chris, Rebecca, Adam, Angela, Vanessa, Roman, The Eggeners, The Brantzegs, my parents, my sister (Deb), my brothers (Dan, Jon and Jeff), my in laws (Tim, Jodi, Julie and Sue) and all of my nieces and nephews (Nick, Zack, Lindsey, Ethan, Jared, Sarah, Abbigail, Erin and Josh).

Everything went pretty much as planned for me for the entire week. So I will just get to the pictures.
Here is your friendly attorney Dave Stegall after a hard day at the office.
Free beer Saturday night ended up being me, The General, Roman, Eric and Preston (not shown) showed up later. It was a bit of a rough night for me. I left my car at the bar and ended up running back down to Tosa the next morning to pick it up. Fresh air is great for a hang over.Here is my God wife, Nancy, with her sex frog. This was Christmas Eve.A feast for Kings. Christmas Eve dinner at the Eggener Estate.
Annie eating whipped cream out of the can. I don't know where the kids learn this stuff.Christmas Day at my parent's house. Here are all of my nieces and nephews.My parents on Christmas Day.Here I am with all of my nieces and nephews. I am the tall one in the back. The entire Davies clan. All 20 of us. As the kids continue to get bigger the room gets smaller.Here I am stringing up Abbigail like a carp.I don't know how it was at your Christmas dinner. But at mine, the kids at the big table and the adults ate wherever there was a seat.

Gas Prices

I had a posting a couple months ago, inquiring what people thought the cost of a gallon of gas would be by the end of the year. I thought I would post the results.
$3 a gallon, 1 person
$3.50 a gallon, 11 people
$4 a gallon, 4 people
$5 a gallon, 1 person
$2 a gallon, 1 person
Obviously with the low turnout in the voting numbers the margin of error in the poll is rather high, but I can safely conclude that things aren't as bad as people thought they would be.

Packer Game

Well back in Milwaukee. Wednesday night I did get to Oakland Gyros. I ended up going with Nate. It was fantastic as always. Last night I went to Finns for wings. I know, I am really eating well on this trip home. I plan on packing on 10 pounds by Wednesday. The wings were good. The only thing is that I really like them, even the hot ones. But as most people know, I do tend to sweat a lot. And hot wings really make me sweat. I was literally dripping with sweat. I then went to my brother's place to watch the second half of the Packer Game. Which leads me today's picture and poll. I am going to call it, guess which brother this is.

Which brother is this?
	Dan
	Jon
	Jeff
	You have a brother?
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Christmas Weekend

Well I thought I would give you a quick run down of my holiday weekend. It is Wednesday morning. As soon as I finish with this posting I have packing up the family truckster and heading for Milwaukee. Tonight I am going down to Oakland Gyros with my friend, Preston. I am pretty excited about that. Then we will probably stop next door at Axel's for a beer and some pool.

Thursday I have a meeting for work at 7:30 in the morning. Any ideas how I am going to be able to wake up in time for that? Thursday night I am meeting my brothers out at Finns for buffalo wings. I am back on board.

Friday, I am working a half a day in the office and then Friday night I am going out by Chris, Rebecca and the Bahr girls.

Saturday, not much planned other than meeting up with my friends at Leff's that night. Which as history has shown may result in me being down at the bar by myself. I have yet to heard from a single person who said that they will be there. Although I do have a number of people who have told me they won't be there.

Sunday, I celebrate Christmas with my brother, Jon's, in laws, the Brantzegs. That involves all of the woman and children going to church and the men staying back at the house drinking, watching football and holding down the fort. That also includes a jump in the hot tub.

Monday, I celebrate Christmas with my family at my parents house. Then I stop by the Krumrich household. Normally some ping pong is to be had. But the last two years have been major let downs. No pong to be had. Late Christmas night, I meet my friend, Jim Villa, down at O'Conners for a drink to take the edge off of the holiday celebrations.

Tuesday, I have absolutely nothing planned.

Wednesday, I am headed back up to Minnesota.

So that is my weekend. Should be fun. I probably won't too many postings in until next week. Oh and I will have a movie review next week. I was going to get one in this week, but I didn't like any of the movies that were out. But there should be plenty in the next couple of weeks.

FREE BEER....Take 2

As was the case on Natesgiving, I am once again trying to get my Milwaukee friends, or at least those who might be in Milwaukee, together for a drink or two. Natesgiving (the day after Thanksgiving) didn't have the turn out that I expected. Only Liz and Roman showed up. But I am going to try it again. So if you are around and would like to meet up, I was planning on Christmas Eve Eve, or Saturday, December 23rd. Down at Leff's Luckytown again. I will be there after 9:00 p.m.

Just like last time, if you show up, I will buy your first beer. What a deal. So this is how it works. You show up at the bar, find me and come up to me and say "Hi Rickie. It is good to see you. I really missed you. I apologize for not making it down for Natesgiving. Did I mention that I am thirsty?" At that point, I stop what I am doing or any conversation that I am having, go up to the bar and buy you a beer.

Broken Resolution....Sort of

Well I sort of broke a resolution this past weekend. It was nearly two years ago that I decided that I should no longer be eating buffalo wings due to a lower intestinal issue that I won't go into full detail about. Friday after skiing Russ, Jay-man and I went to the bar and Russ ordered some wings. I only had 10 Nutter Butters all day and I was starving. The wings that they brought us were mighty meaty looking. I guess I was just weak and broke down and had to have a couple. Then Saturday night when we were at the bar, I had to have a couple more. So I have done a major flip flop. I am back on wings. And in fact this coming Thursday I am planning on meeting my brothers at Finn's for some wings. I would like to go on the record and say that I am still off of fast food. It has been nearly a year. Stay tuned for this years resolutions. I have some ideas, but I will take any suggestions from my readers for what some of my resolutions should be.

Christmas Card

By now I am pretty sure everyone who will get a Christmas card from me, has received theirs. However I have already heard a little backlash from the card. First yes, I am an idiot, I spelled Michael Jordan incorrectly. But I always seem to make a spelling or grammatical error on my card / letter anyways. Not real big surprise there. Thank you Dan, for pointing it out and making be feel like a moron. The more surprising thing I have heard is that the card isn't that funny. I thought it was good. In fact the moment I saw the statue, I knew it was going to be my card and I knew the caption. Maybe I need to explain it to some people. You see, Michael Jordan is for the most part universally known as "The World's Greatest Basketball Player", but in this case, I am insinuating that I am "The World's Greatest Basketball Player" and he is just Michael Jordan.

What do you think of this years card?
	I laughed, I think it is some of your best work.
	You are starting to lose your touch.
	It sucks, can you take me off your mailing list?
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Colorado Skiing

Colorado was great once again. Everytime I go out there, I seriously contemplate selling my house, quitting my job, and moving out there. Friday we went to Copper Mountain. Alot of great runs and I got a good share of mogels in. And I didn't do too bad at them. Saturday we went to Loveland. It was really windy which took away from the fun of the day, but it was still a great time. No major falls and no injuries, so it was a good trip for me. I also got to see my friend, Marty, on Saturday. And thank you Russ for another good time in Colorado skiing. Russ is always a great host everytime I am out there.
Here is Russ and Jay-man Friday on Copper Mountain. Here is the gorilla after taking a shot of Jim Beam on the hill. I have decided that the gorilla suit is getting a little old. So I am actively looking into buying a Chicken suit. I think that will be a much bigger hit on the slopes.

Mile High Update

Well it is 9:30 Friday morning, and I am in Colorado. We stopped at a coffee shop and I thought I would post a quick reminder to everyone that the remainder of today and tomorrow I will be skiing at Copper Mountain. I hope you all have fun at work today.

Picture of the Day

This picture was taken August 30th, 2003, at the Starting Line Racing Cafe, somewhere between Morgantown, West Virginia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Joe and I stopped here for dinner after watching the Badgers beat up on West Virgina, on our way back to Pittsburgh.

Movie Review

Today's movie review is Apocalypto. The new movie out and directed by that Jew hater Mel Gibson. I will have to say that this was just an "OK" movie. Nothing to special about it. The special effects were pretty good. I haven't seen too many human hearts, but the ones that were in the movie looked pretty realistic. And I have never seen some mauled by a jaguar before, but now I have a really good idea of what it would look like. Don't worry, I didn't spoil anything, you see that coming a mile away. There is also some major foreshadowing right from the opening scene, but you see that coming too. I would consider this a movie a combination of "The Last of the Mohicans" (which I never saw, but trust me on this one), "First Blood"and "The Fugitive". I will give it a rating of 5. Like I said nothing too special about it, and the story isn't all that great, with a very predictable plot throughout the movie. Also all dialog is in subtitles, which I should have seen coming but I didn't and it sort of caught me by surprise, so bring your reading glasses.

For those longing for another Picture of the Day. This was taken October 27, 1999 just outside of Baltimore. This was at an Air Force Museum, but it was just off of the road and really just a parking lot with all of these planes on display. This is me hanging out on the wing of an F14 Tomcat.I am sure many of you have been running to your mailbox every night after work looking for you Christmas card. Don't worry, I stuffed them last night. Tonight I will be putting on the address labels and stamps. They will be in the mail first thing tomorrow morning on my way in to work.

Picture of the Day

This picture was taken July 16th, 2001 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My back yard, the day I finished constructing the retaining walls. I did pick up my Christmas cards today. So you can expect to recieve them by this weekend. Although I will be in Colorado this weekend skiing with Russ.

Borky's Holiday Party

Before the party I got some skiing in with Doug, Lisa and Amy. The weather was great and the skiing was actually pretty good as well. Here are Doug and Lisa on the magic carpet on the bunny hill. Lisa and Amy are learning to snow board.Here are a group of the girls at the Borky holiday, or as Russ called it, the "Welcome Home Russ party in front of the albino Christmas tree. Lisa, Myra, Lynn, Andrea, Amy and Liz.
Russ and Mana.
Todd flexing after winning at "tippy cup".
This was the "tippy cup" championship. Imagine that a drinking game at Borky's.
Margaret celebrating her "tippy cup" championship.
Robin and Borky documenting me taking a picture.
Krum and Michelle. Yes, Krum once again beat me in ping pong. But I was promised a rematch at Christmas. Hopefully JFK will have the table prepared.

Movie Review

Well I was planning on going to see Borat. But it wasn't showing at the Woodbury 10 anymore. So I went to see the James Bond Movie, Casino Royale. Or as I like to call it, Casino Royale with Cheese. I think I mentioned that I was going to try not to spoil the movie for anyone who readers my review. Well this movie sucked and I am going to spoil it for you. There was a 30 minute love story in the middle of the movie which went no where fast. Bond movies always have a car chase. In this one, it wasn't much a of a chase at all. He went around a curve, over a hill and then crashed the car. There have been 21 James Bond movies. And after all of the movies and all of those women, in the 21st edition, James Bond finally falls in love and retires. Not buying it. As if there isn't enough of Texas Hold'em on TV, now you get it on the movie screen. It had to be 20 minutes of card playing, and I was shocked when James Bond won the card game in the end. What a surprise. The story line in the second half of the movie just didn't make much sense to me. The first 20 minutes are the best part of the movie. Overall this movie gets a 3. Don't waste your time going to see it in the theater and don't make it your first choice at Blockbuster. But while I am on the topic of James Bond, I thought I would run a poll to see who people thought was the best James Bond.

Who is the best James Bond?
	Sean Connery
	George Lazenby
	Roger Moore
	Timothy Dalton
	Pierce Brosnan
	Daniel Craig
	You would have been.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Picture of the Day and Weekend Plans

Here is today's picture of the day. This was from New Years Eve a couple years ago. Me, Borky and Margaret. I really love that jacket.Today is a big day for me. I am going to work out this morning and then according to my poll, everyone wants me to see Borat. Not my first choice of movies to see. But that is what the people want. I have to now return the Christmas presents that I bought, because I put batteries in them and they don't work. I have nothing planned for tonight. Tomorrow I am going skiing with Lisa and Amy. And tomorrow night Borky is having a Christmas party. Although I talked to Russ yesterday, who will be coming back this weekend from Colorado, anyhow Russ is calling is a "Welcome Home Russ" Party. Sunday will be spent on the couch watching football. I should get some pictures this weekend however. I will get them up when I can.

You Can Throw a Drink In My Face

It is unbelieveably cold up here in Minnesota. I was just outside. Holy Crap. It is 9:00 Wednesday night, and we have a current temperature of 13 degrees with winds gusting from 17 to 25 mph making it -3 below with the wind chill. Thankfully tomorrow it is suppose to heat up to 17 degrees. As I was driving home in my truck that wasn't warming up fast enough, I was thinking about how much I have been complaining about the cold lately. It got me to thinking if I ever complain about it when it gets too hot. I don't think I do. I don't think people should be able to complain about the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer. I know it is going to be a long winter up here, therefore I highly doubt that I will stop complaining about the cold weather. That being said I would like to issue a formal invitation to anyone to throw a drink in my face if I ever complain about it being too hot. I was thinking about letting people punch me in the face, or kick me in the boys, but that would just be painful. Plus if I am complaining about the heat, chances are you will have a cold drink in your hand and it will feel good anyhow. Alright enough mindless babbling. I haven't posted a picture of the day in a while so here you go. I don't know exactly when this picture was taken. Obviously it was when Nate and Andy were living with me. I think on this particular night, Nate, Andy and I were out at the bars. (I know shocking) For some reason when we got home, Nate and I got into a battle of throwing water on each other. Ironically it sort of goes along the lines of this posting. Anyhow as you can see I am drenched. And I love the look on Nate's face. I would call that look, the "Buddy, you don't know what the hell you are talking about" look.

Movie Review

Well my movie of the week will have to be postponed. You see, ski season has started and I got myself a limit season pass at Afton Alps. As long as I get there before 2:00 pm. Monday - Thursday, I don't have to pay for a lift ticket. And because I am cheap or rather most movies aren't worth paying the full price, I usually go to the matinee showing. My new schedule is to going skiing right after work. So Friday will now be my movie day. Checking the Woodbury 10 website, there really isn't much out there to see. I thought I would post a little poll as to what people would like me to see and review.

What movie should I see next?
	Borat
	Casino Royale
	Deck the Halls
	Flushed Away
	Happy Feet
	The Nativity Story
	Santa Clause 3
	Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
	Please spare us another review
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Update and a Story

Saturday I went over by my friend, Kaker, to help him hang some speakers for his entertainment center in his basement. Then I went out for some pizza with Kaker, his, wife and their two kids. It was your standard dinner with kids. They both had to cry a couple of times throughout the meal, but they actually did a good job. I just sit back and laugh. I don't know why I find it funny to watch my friends who now have kids, deal with their kids. But to me it is. I guess, it is weird to watch someone who used to get crazy and party with me, and now they are so responsible. While eating a couple slices, Kaker and I got to talking about old Justus stories.

That brings me to today's story. This one goes back to New Years in 1999-2000. Kaker, Spider and Justus were all living in Arizona at the time. I flew down to spend a couple of days with them. As I recall, Spider had just moved to Vegas and Justus was moving into Spider's old room. Up until then I think Justus was sleeping on the couch or the floor. Justus' girl friend, Carrie, was also coming down to Arizona for New Years. But she told Justus that should wouldn't come down unless Justus had a bed. The day before Carrie was to get into town, she called and was asking how things were going. While she was talking to Kaker, she asked if Justus had bought a bed. Kaker told her no, and that Justus had no intention of buying a bed. But when Justus talked to her, he reassured her that he was getting the bed the next day. Since I had nothing to do the next day, I helped Justus go and get a bed, sheets and anything else he needed for his new room, then I helped him move everything in. Justus spent that entire day getting the room ready. And he was pretty proud about the room looked when he was done. Carrie's flight got in early that evening. Once Justus left for the airport, I told Spider and Kaker that we had to hide that bed somehow. This was a small apartment so it wasn't an easy task. We took the mattress and put that in shower with the curtain closed. The box spring we put between the box spring and mattress on Kaker's bed. Finally we folded up and hid the metal frame in the back of Kaker's closet. Justus and Carrie come walking in the door and Kaker, Spider and I are just sitting down watching some TV. We all say hi to Carrie, and then Justus quickly interrupts and says "Carrie, now you have to check out my room. You are going to be so impressed." The two of them walk into the room and you hear Justus just laugh. Carrie said something to the effect of "I thought you said you bought a bed today."

Justus walks back into the living room and says, "Very, funny guys where is it."
Kaker: "Where is what?"
Carrie: "He didn't buy a bed?"
Kaker: "I told you he wouldn't."
Justus: "Spider, where did you F-er's put it."
Spider: "Where did we put what? I don't know what you are talking about."
Justus: "Rick, where is it?"
Me: "Justus, I have no idea what you are talking about?"

At this point Justus starts walking about the apartment with a big smile on his face as he is looking for the bed. He can't find the bed anywhere. Of course at this point the three of us are all giggling in the living room like little girls. Carrie is seriously beginning to believe that Justus didn't buy a bed. Justus is started to get a little mad, and what was a bit of a laughing tone he had with every sentence he spoke as he looked, was slowly become more serious and profanity laden. After 5 minutes of looking, unsuccessfully, Justus comes back to the living room. At this point the smile is gone and begins the second round of interrogations on the three of us. It when pretty much the same as stated above, but this time instead of dead pan responses, we were laughing so hard we could barely get the words out. I think we were laughing more that he was unable find bed, than the fact that we had hid it on him. I think after he went outside and did a complete walk around the apartment building, when he came back in we finally told him where everything was. Maybe it isn't funny to the causal reader, or you just have to know Justus, or better yet be there. But trust me if you were there, that is one is just a long list of classic Justus stories.

Here is Kaker working on the speakers. Drill in one hand, soda in the other.
And Matt with their newborn, Miles.

Trouble on the Home Front

So far I have really enjoyed living in Minnesota as well as the town house I have been renting. Until this week. Within the last couple of days, I realized that the furnace wasn't working correctly. My first clue was coming home to a place that was at 58 degrees. Then my garage door stopped working. It won't go down. You don't appreciate your garage door until it stops working and you have to get out of your vehicle to open and shut the door. You appreciate it even more when the high temperature for the day is 26 degrees. Lastly, I was doing some laundry and drying some clothes and there must be something wrong with it because it sounds like there are two squirrel fighting inside of that thing. Either that or I forgot to take the squirrels out of my pants again. If I had a nickel. Rest assured, that I have placed to maintenance. I am hoping to have everything resolved by next week.

Let me see is there anything else exciting going on here. Checking..........nope. It is Friday night, I am planning on going to work out and then watching football on TV. As far as the rest of the weekend goes......checking........pretty much the same thing as tonight. I wish I had more for you. Although in less than 2 weeks I leave for Colorado to do some skiing with my buddy, Russ.

Speaking of Colorado, that brings me to today's picture of the day. This picture was taken on February 7th, 2003 in Vail , Colorado. From left to right that is Tree, Russ, Me and Terry.

Everything is Gone

This story goes back to around 2001 or so. On this particular Friday night I was going down to the Admirals game with Nate and Jay. Justus had just moved into a place on 76th street no more than 10 or 12 blocks from my house. We had called him to see if he wanted to go with us. But he said that he was staying in with his girlfriend, Amy. Nothing wrong with that, but I knew we would have more fun if Justus came with us. Nate, Jay and I left my house and were headed for downtown, and we decided to stop by Justus anyway to see if we could perform a quick intervention to convince him to go with us. They were living in an upper flat. The door was open and we walked right in. No one was home, I had just talked to him no more than 10 minutes ago, and now no one was home. When you open the door into their place you walk right into the living room. To the right is a den, and to the left is the kitchen and bedrooms. I decided to leave them a little message that we had stopped by. In the next 5 minutes we managed to move everything out of the living room into other rooms of the place. And when I say everything, I mean everything. The movies and CDs in the built in china cabinets, all of the knick knacks on the shelves. The room was cleared out. And then we left for the game. As I said it took the three of us no more than 5 minutes. In talking to Justus later, he informed me that we must have showed up right after they left to go rent a movie and get chinese. He said they weren't gone for more than 10 or 15 minutes. When they got back obviously they thought they that were robbed and nearly crapped their pants. As they spent the next hour and a half putting everything back, Amy asked Justus "Who would do this?" Justus said "You don't know? This was Rickie for sure."

Picture of the Day

I was over by Borky tonight, and on my ride home I was messing around with my camera while I was driving. I do not endorse doing this. But I got this shot while going through an intersection. Because of the reduced shutter speed you can see how the lights were changing from green to yellow. So not only was I taking pictures while I was driving but also running an intersection. Good thing I wasn't drunk too. Unfortunately my finger also got in the way. I still think it is a pretty cool picture. But probably not "art".

Done. Done, Done, DONE!!!

I am happy to announce that I have completed my Christmas shopping. It is not even December and I am done. I really don't have a lot of gifts to buy. My nieces and nephews, well they get cash. My new tradition is, that I put their money in envelopes, all the same amount, except one envelope has twice as much money as the other 8. On Christmas Eve, I go to my brother, Jon's, in-laws. They do a white elephant exchange. Then on Christmas Day, my family does the same thing. I bought the same present for both of those today. I just got off the phone with my sister, Deb, she agreed to allow me to pay her and put my name on whatever gift she gets for my parents. I also throw together a family DVD and hand that out to my family. Unfortunately for my family, it is going to be long this year. So far it is just over 40 minutes. Sorry guys. A lot of quality photos this year.

And speaking of Christmas, mostly likely I will be putting together my Christmas card this weekend. Which is arguably one of the best Christmas cards that people get. If not number 1, it for sure falls in the top 5. For my loyal blog readers, this is your chance to make sure you get a card. If you got one last year, and you address hasn't changed, you will most likely get a card again this year. That is unless you pissed me off somewhere along the way this past year. The General, you are on thin ice. I realize most people are paranoid about putting personal information on the internet, so if you want to ensure your receipt of your card or your address has changed, email your mailing address to:

mitch_kumstean@yahoo.com

TGB, (Tall, Gorgeous & Brillant) if you play your cards right, you might even make the list.

I was in the lovely town of Prescott today, and I drove by this house. Look at all of the plastic crap in this yard. There must be at least 50 of these figures in the yard. My only question is where do they store that crap the other 11 months out of the year?

Movie Review

My life is actually rather boring. And as boring as it is, writing about is even more boring. So I have been looking for new ideas. Yes, I do still have the picture of the day feature. There are about another 50 or so still on my hard drive which have yet to be released to the public. My sister in law, Julie, gave me the idea of posting reviews of movies, since I mentioned to her that I go to a movie about once a week. Right after she made the suggestion she said she wanted credit on the blog for the idea as well. She may post a comment stating otherwise, but I have witnesses, such as my god wife, Nancy. So credit given and how about a picture too. Thanks for the idea Julie.Today is my first of what I hope is many movie reviews. I went to the local movie theather, The Woodbury 10. Here I am before the movie. Yes that is orange pants, black jacket, a green hat and white gloves.
I have been doing a great deal of thinking of my rating system of these movies. I had a number of ideas, but I didn't like any of them. So I will just go with a generic 1- 10 scale. A "1" being really bad and I tell everyone I know to never go and see this movie (Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man). And a "10" being a must see buy it right away when it comes out on DVD and watch it every weekend when you come home from the bars(Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas). I will try not to spoil any of the plots of the movies. I would also like to post a disclaimer that I have traditionally been very hard on movies. So don't expect to see a lot to Bo Derek's (10's).

So here is my first movie review. I went to see Deja Vu staring Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton, Adam Goldberg and Jim Caviezel (A.K.A. Jesus Christ) as the bad guy. I would classify this movie as a cross between "Back to the Future", "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Enemy of the State". The time travel in this movie doesn't seem too believeable but then again, maybe the theory behind it is over my head. Not that I don't believe in time travel, I do, at least Einstein's theory. I will explain it to you some day. But I did like how everything ties itself together by the end of the movie. So I will give this movie an 7, worth paying full theather price, but not worth buying when it comes out on DVD.

Extended Update

Here are some pictures from the last week. Here is another on of Nate and Elery. Unfortunately I was unable to get any ping pong in with Nate this week, he was busy being a father. I am hoping we don't have the same problem around Christmas.One afternoon my brother asked me to pick his kids up when they got off the bus. Here are Nick and Ethan. A little slice of life in any town U.S.A.Thanksgiving Eve I was out with my brother, Jon, his wife, Julie and Jon's highschool buddies, the Dillabers. Pictured here. This trip to the bar with Jon and Julie ended up being a little more than I bargained for. Every year on Thanksgiving Eve we go out with the Dillabers. But this year we were meeting at a bar that we normally don't go to. I soon learned why. Apparently Wednesday is normally the night that my nephew, Nick, plays soccer. But with the holiday, it was cancelled but the parents decided to meet out at a bar. None of this was known to me. So it turned into a Soccer Mom and Dad meeting. Well one thing led to another and here I am leg wrestling with one of the parents on my nephew's soccer team.I had been growing a beard since the beginning of November. And for no real reason, Thanksgiving morning I shaved in some big Lamb Chops and something of a Goatee. Julie thought it would be funny to give Nicholas the same look. So here I am with my nephew/ god son, Nicholas. A.K.A. Pickle or because some people say that Nicholas looks like me, Mini Me. He is identical, but only 5/8th the size.Jon and Ethan at Thanksgiving, two tough guys. Here is my dad just after finishing skinning a deer, seen in the background.Jon and my cousin Justin cutting up a deer. Looks like fun doesn't it. I actually didn't cut up too many deer maybe 30 or 40. Jon won't admit it but he is one of the best meat cutters around. If you ever really want to get a rise out of him, the next time you see him ask him who is a better meat cutter me or him. You are the best aren't you Haus? I know you are reading this.The Natesgiving Celebration just wasn't the same without Nate. Their weren't any real long stories being told. Instead I went to dinner with Dan and Jodi, and a disfunctional couple friend of theirs. We went to Crawdaddy's and the girl spent nearly the entire meal in the bathroom. That is a healthy relationship. After dinner I we went to Leff's and as I stated earlier I would buy any of my friends who showed up their first drink. Well my only friends to show up were Roman and Liz. Wouldn't they make a cute couple? But that was more of a turnout than I expected. As a heads up, I am going to try and plan the same thing again for Christmas Eve Eve. Don't worry I will make an announcement.
Saturday I went to my cousin, Mike's, football game. Whitewater was in the Division III playoffs against La Crosse. Whitewater hasn't lost all year, and actually hasn't been behind in the score much if at all this season. My aunt and uncle were really stressing out when Whitewater was down in the 4th quarter, but managed to squeak out a victory. Here is the group before the game tailgating. My dad, Timmy, Dave, Marilyn and Justin and Katie in the background.

At halftime of the game, Tim and I went out in to the parking lot to shot gun a beer. I won. But what a sight that is, a gorilla shotgunning a beer. Ever see that before?Sunday before heading back up to Minnesota, I stopped over at my friend, Jay's, parent's house. I usually stop by to help them cut their deer. I just threw this picture in so that my famly could see what I had to work with. That table is resting on two coolers on either end, and for light and antique light. But it worked.I would like to thank a couple people. Rebecca and her mother-in-law for the Packer tickets even though the game sucked. My aunt, Marilyn for baking me some cookies. And my brother's mother-in-law, Annie for also baking me cookies. Two batches of my favorite peanut butter cookies. Also my brother, Jeff's, friend Phil for killing a deer for me. Now I have venison in my freezer.

On another note, a number of people were asking me whatever happened to that girl who was described as "tall, brilliant and gorgeous" that an anonymous blog reader was going to set me up with. To answer your question, I never got an email from this girl. However, if the anonymous reader is still a reader, I am still up for meeting your friend, if for nothing else blog material because "The Life of Rickie" isn't normally all that exciting.