This is the entry that needs no introduction...

Behold...

Water Watch!!!

So far so good! I've really been trying with the water challenge at work and at home.

I've been doing really well. There have been a couple of hicups. I had a cup of lemonade at dinner one night, and I had a fruit punch another night with my dinner. But with the lemonade, I had a big cup of water right after it and never ordered a refill. The fruit punch taste awful and I didn't even finish it. But the rest of the time has been water and juice.

It do think that I've had a little too much juice though. So I'm going to cut that back too. I think I want to try to match the cup of juice with an equal cup of water.

I do know that this water thing has been pretty fun. Some people have been giving me a hard time, just in fun. They are all pretty cool and are good support for me.

One evening, I was getting that want in my tummy. I wanted something. I looked in the vending machine and saw nothing that would be good for me. So I went to the store and bought some pretzles. PERFECT! It helped out alot.

Well, I will continue to do this and see how long I can go. Let's hope that this new week will be just as good. Here I go, continuing my endevor.

Have a good water filled day!!!

I'm Hooked on a new show!!!

This is one of the best shows out there in the world of Japanese Animation...




NARUTO SHIPPUUDEN!!!




It takes place about two and a half years after the end of the first series. Both Naruto and Sakura find themselves together again after training hard for this time with their masters. They are brought back together to first of all see how their training has gone and also to be tested by Kakashi and paired into a new team!

But the hurt and pain of Sasuke still haunts them and their feelings about him are still about saving him from what has happened. Will they be able to save Sasuke and bring him back home to those that do love and care for him? Why are the Akatsuki so interested in capturing both Gaara and Naruto and willing to do what ever it takes to get them?



I was not a really big fan of the first series. I liked it but sometimes I found the main Hero Naruto to be too annoying. Seeing this new series has opened my heart up more. There is way more heart in this series than the other. The heroes have grown up and have new attitudes about life and their destinies. Naruto still longs to be the Hokage. Sakura is now a medicinal Ninja. And Gaara is now the protector of the Sand Village and cherished by his village.



I sat down one evening and began watching this and realized that if you want to see this and don't want to ruin the first series you are going to be out of luck. This show pretty much tells you what has happened to everyone. So don't go here yet until you are ready!!



I also really found myself liking the music for the Gaara Rescue Series which make up the first 32 chapters. It's some really cool hip hop rock infused stuff. And you have to love the english infused into the lyrics!!!

So if you are a fan of Naruto, be sure to continue on and check out the Shippuuden series. If you get a chance to watch it, let me know what you think of it as well. Have fun!!!

Water Water Everywhere!!!

Well, This is IT!!! I, with the help of Friends and Family, will start DRINKING WATER instead of SODA!!!

It officially begins on Monday, April 21, 2008.

Why is Rick doing this?

While sitting in the money room one evening, Carlisha (head cashier) and I (Rick) were talking about our weight and what we thought we needed to lose. We realized that sodas were one of the biggest problems we had. We drink alot of sodas. I think I drink more than most everyone at the store. Well, out of that conversation, Carlisha burst out with, "On Monday, we will stop drinking sodas all together! What do you say? We'll do this together!" I was reluctant at first. I LOVE MY SODAS and PEPSI!!! Can I do this?

I had tried with some good success a while back and thought I could mabey do it again. So I agreed. Then Carlisha began telling everyone in the store, including my store manager, that we were not allowed to have any sodas at all. "If you see Rick with one, grab it and pour it out in front of him and tell him no." While some employees were talking with my wife they told her that I was going to do this too. Beth, our Admin Manager, even told my wife that Carlisha has told the entire store. Which is not a lie.

What has been the suprise is that so many people seem to really be getting behind me and are even thinking about doing this with us.

I know that with all of this support at work, We can all have a shot at losing some more weight. Since January, I've lost about 9 pounds. If I cut the sodas too, I think I could really get this down.

I hope that everyone can do this. I hope I can do this for a long time. I'm ready! I had my last Pepsi before I left work. I'm going to have some sprite and then that's it.

Here's to the great challenge!!! Bottoms up everyone!!!

Once in a while... A Movie Comes ALONG!!!

THE SASQUATCH GANG aka THE SASQUATCH DUMPLING GANG!!!

While looking through some sites like aintitcoolnews.com and a few other places I came across this strange looking title. That alone would have kept me away from it, but after reading a good review and also seeing words like, "IF YOU LOVED NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, YOU'LL LOVE THIS MOVIE," And also seeing that it came from the first director of Napoleon Dynamite, I had to give it a shot! I put it in my Blockbuster Online account and waited for it.

To my suprise, I was really entertained by the silliness of it all. As you can see, Justin Long is in it as Zurk. A... well it's kind of hard to call him the typical protagonist. He plays what he does well here. But the thing is that you can't just call him a red neck, or a metal head, or a dope head, or what ever you see him as. He just does it well. With his near Napoleon sounding, "What the crap is that," You gotta like him.
There is another character by the name of Shirts, played by Joey Kern, who seems to steal the show. Most of the time, he talks in this very high pitched mumble whine voice, that for some reason never gets old. And he's called shirts for a reason, along with his whole family.

The basic plot is simple. Told over the time of several days, four friends find evidence of the existence of BIGFOOT, aka Sasquatch.

What is so great about this movie is that I really can't just tell you what happens. You really have to watch it. If I were to sit down and break it down, it would really take the fun out of the whole thing.

If you really want to learn more about it, look for the trailer or a scene on the net.

I really liked this movie. The minute I started watching it, I was hooked into the whole thing. Now I will say that it is not like Napoleon. So don't expect that again. That movie is a once in a life time thing that can never be truely done again. This is it's own movie. Original? Yes. Fun? Yes! GO and check it out!
p.s. They actually used a NOFX song and if you go to the website, it's there too... KUDOS!!!

A Shock from 1982!!!

THIS IS A BLAST FROM MY PAST!!! (Please watch in order on the page...)

It was a time in our nation's history that I will never forget. The threat of a nuclear war. The movie "The Day After" had just shaken our nation's collective soul. Then on the heals of that this came out. James Clavell had written this story in the 60's but it seems that it was not published until 1981. Titled "The Children's Story" with a subtitle of "but not just for children," It gave a look at how a government that has overthrown our own could influence and destroy the fabric of our own lives.

I remember as a child, I was the same age as these children that are sitting in this room. This little progam spoke to my very spirit. Even then as a second grader, I knew the importance of the things like our pledge, our freedom, and our FLAG. I felt chills and a sick feeling in my gut, as a child and as an adult, watching this as they desicrated the flag of our country. The drums made the points and fears even more apparent to me.

And then for this teacher to attack our own views and philosophies of religion and prayer was the very worst to me. The drums show us the subtle attacks to the very very impressionable children. As an adult, we see these attacks and are disgusted.

This show scared the living heck out of me. I watched it alone one day after school. It had haunted me long after I had seen it. I remember not wanting to go to school. I was afraid that I would be stuck there and not able to see my mom and dad. I was truely shaken. I remember having a vivid dream that night and having to sleep in the school and all. HOW AWFUL and effective this program was. I even had a cute teacher like this one.

I went looking on the internet the other night and finally found this. I know that the copies are bad. This dissapeared and has not been seen since. Luckily someone found it and put it out there for all of us to look back on. Don't let it shake you up too much. And let's appreciate what we have in our lives today!!!

I Got A Problem With A Song!!!

The video starts with a woman all alone in a blackened room looking into the camera and some of the first words out of her mouth are,

"It's just another call from home, you get it and be gone and I'll be crying..."

So as the song continues, she begs the guy not to leave. He goes and leaves her. So here's my problem. Apparently from the get go, we see that this woman is having an affair with a MARRIED MAN. But she's not feeling a slight bit guilty for doing this. Instead, she's crying about having to share him with his WIFE!!!!

She's asking him "What do I have to do to make you see, she can't love you like me."

"We don't have to live this way, baby why don't you stay..." Is this woman crazy???

Dude! You'd better stop right now. This could get ugly if he keeps playing her like this. Holy cow, look at her. SHE'S CRYING NOW!!!

They guy leads her on and that is a dangerous game for him to be playing with such a CRAZY woman...

"I can't take it any longer
But my will is getting stronger

And I think I know just what I have to do

I can't waste another minute

After all that I've put in it

I've given you my best

Why does she get the best of you."

DUDE watch out!!! This woman is going to go and kill your wife!!!

I truely can't stand this song! I really can't stand the video. This is one of the craziest demented songs out there on the country chart. But I have to start thinking. Just how many women feel the way this woman does and when they hear this song go, "Oh, that's my song."

They they tell their honey, "Listen to this song. It's how I feel about you and us!!!" Then the guy goes running out the trailer as fast as he can!!!

Hey buddy, TOO LATE!!! YOU'RE STUCK WITH HER!!! And you're gonna reap what your sow!!!

This entry doesn't need a title!!!

And that's all I have to say about that!!!

(p.s. It's not for me!!!)

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!

TRUE STORY OF MY MOST RECENT EXPERIENCE AT ABOVE MENTIONED FAST FOOD LOCATION...

While on my way to work on Saturday Morning, I saw in bright red letters NOW OPEN AT 5 AM!!! I was actually feeling hungry as I was going down the road but nothing was open. But the lights of the McDonalds sign were too irresistable.

I pulled into the drive through and ordered a Bacon Egg and Cheese biscuit, a hashbrown, and a medium Coke. They gave me my food and I was on my way to work.

I took the food in with me and while I had a minute before opening, I ate my meal.

From that time on, I was extreamly tired. I had gotten a good nights rest.

I felt very slow to walk. I felt like I was dragging myself everywhere I went.

I felt hungry. I had eaten this meal and yet I was STILL hungry.

I was very thirsty. I needed to drink more whatever to quench my thirst.

My stomach felt ill.

As I have been working over the last 7 months, I have improved my health little by little. I couldn't walk from one end of the store to the other. I hurt and was slow.

But now I am able to do this at least 10 times a day with no problem. That day, I couldn't do it.

Normally I do not eat breakfast. My wife is still asleep and won't wake up. So I just go until my lunch time at 12 or 1pm. I don't even get a rumble in my stomach. But this day, my stomach not only hurt but it also wanted to still eat.

I just think it's interesting that one breakfast from McDonalds could make me feel this bad. But I know what happened that day just can't be a coincidence.

I'm not going there again for a long time. Especially not for breakfast. I'd rather have my wife make me those awesome toaster waffles. I have 4 of them with syrup and they don't effect me like that McD's breakfast did.

Go spread the word!!!

Does a hamburger taste better without the crust???

While sitting at the dinner table, Rick watched his daughter, meticulously peel off the crust of her cheeseburger. While doing this she talked about how the mustard at her school tastes really gross. But she likes how the Wendy's mustard tastes. So she does like mustard. She continued to peel off all the crust of her hamburger bun until there was nothing of a crust on it. Then she proceeded to eat it. I wonder if it does taste better?

It must be pretty good. As you can see from the photo of the aftermath, it's all gone. Opps, there are some pickles that didn't get eaten. She opted for the Manderin Oranges instead of french fries.

Rick is getting the itch to grill. He's really not had a chance to really grill while being here in Louisiana. The grill that he has is really nice but has had to sit outside with the winter weather and all. People have put stuff on top of it. He used to try to keep everyone's stuff off of it, but it was just too hard and he finally gave up trying to win. There's been bird cages and old hamster and rodent cages put on top of it. People don't realize that this is a cooking tool. In his old house he was able to keep it inside and it was kept pretty clean. His father and him put it together on a very hot 103 degree day. Fired it up and cooked away. It's been an awesome gift from his parents. Rick is going to look at trying to restore it and clean it up before using it again.

Now we have to find a good place here that has awesome meat at reasonable prices. That's going to be another challenge.

MEET Rick's ALT!!!

Everyone, Rick would like you ALL to meet his ALT!!! His name is CarmenGhia!!! And as you can see in the Picture, he's not alone! This is his new best friend, RogerDebris!!! While strolling through the forests of Dolannar, on his way to a meeting in Darnassus, he came upon this cat that looked sort of lonely. Using his BEAST MASTERY talent that he had just learned from the beast trainer in Dolannar, he tamed this ferocious beast and made it his own.

Roger loves a good Kabob made from Small Spider Legs. You'll see a smile on his face when he is completely filled and happy! While making his way through forests, Roger will run up ahead of Carmen and completely attack anyone who would dare hurt his beloved Carmen!!! Stay away!!! And watch out!!!

There are many adventures in the land of Azaroth, and CarmenGhia and RogerDebris are ready to fight and gain much more experience and learn alot more talents that one day will make them... UNSTOPPABLE!!!

But also, watch out for Carmen. He loves to run around the land with nothing on but his underwear!!! Just daring any beast to come and attack him!!! One day that may lead to his demise!!! But that shall be another story for another day.

BYE!!!

oh, and Rick says, "If you know who Carmen Ghia and Roger Debris are, then you'll know how you should keep it!!!"

RICK IS A ROCK BAND SUPERSTAR!!!

Yesterday was a first in RICK'S Rockband playing skills. He dared enter the realm of expert level for the first time. He had been messing around with the HARD setting on drums and was getting fairly good at it. He could easily make at least 4 stars and had in some instances made it to 5 STARS!!! Not an easy task to many out there who have little to no skill at drumming. Now, Rick will admit that he is not expert at drumming either. Played the bass drum in High School, and got alittle familiar with the percussion. But never really picked it up.

ROCKBAND is a rhythm game. You follow the screen hitting the colored drum pad as it falls down the screen. It matches the rhythm of the song, whether it be for a guitar or drum. It even has vocal tracks that you try to match. With a myriad of songs to choose from, and more released each week, it's a game that doesn't stop challenging.

Well, Rick picked up the OASIS song pack last week. One of the songs that he has always liked from them is LIVE FOREVER! And it's on the pack. So he played and played it. And at the moment he felt that he could move out of Hard, he went to expert level. It was a little scary at first but as the song got going, he fell into it and made it all the way to the end with a Star Rating of 4!!!! Almost made it to 5!!!! This is the first time he had tried an Expert Level song. Needless to say, Rick was excited about it!!!

But trying another song on Expert, it fell apart rather quickly. PRACTICE MAKES almost PERFECT!!! He will keep trying when he can. Hopefully there will be more news on the Rock Band Front as he keeps playing it as often as he can.