Superheroes, Carlin, and two guys watching rhythmic gymnastics

Wow! I had an absolutely delightful weekend. Friday night began with my high school’s five year reunion. To offer an understatement, I was quite nervous about whether I should go at all. I had several discussions weighing the pros and cons with various friends and family members on whether I should go at all. I am so glad I did. Elyse influenced my final decision saying that she really wanted to go and what did I have to lose. We got to Bootlegger’s in downtown Minneapolis at about 8:00 and left at about midnight. We have the whole top level reserved. I graduated with about 400 people and probably 100 showed up. The people I didn’t care about in high school, it’s not like I was forced to talk to them. I just talked to the people I wanted to and I had a great time. Saturday was fun too. I went to Valleyfair with my family and had a great time. VF has done a great job as amusement parks go to add more fun rides. Saturday night I went to Cool Tieds’ pad to chill for a while and a few Sprite and Vodka’s later, I was ready to head home. Sunday I did something I have not done in years. I slept in until after noon. It felt wonderful. It was a beautiful day so after a little Baja Sol, I enjoyed a nice walk near Lake Calhoun before relaxing for the afternoon/evening. What a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

I have never enjoyed reading comic books but for some reason I absolutely love comic book movies. I loved all of the Spiderman movies. I loved the X-Men movies. I have loved every Batman movie. I like Superman movies. I liked Iron-man. Okay, I think you get it. I am pretty excited for the next round of superhero movies. We have Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3, Ant Man, Captain America, Nick Fury, and of course The Avengers. I’m pretty geeked out.

Rest in Peace George Carlin. Carlin was a comedic genius whether you liked him or not. He certainly rubbed people the wrong way, including me at times, but I always appreciated his witty one-liners and brevity. For a man who dropped out of 9th grade, Carlin won numerous Emmy’s and Grammy and hosted the first Saturday Night Live. Not bad. I think Mr. Carlin would still have his same love/hate relationship with America today as he did when he first broke onto the scene 35 years ago. On the one hand he would love the fact that people like Howard Stern and other shock jock hosts are doing great but on the other hand he would despise the FCC. He will be missed.

Olympic Fever is almost here. I love the Olympics especially the summer Olympics. I remember four years ago, Nimit and I had no cable for about the first couple of weeks of schools and we both love sports and the Olympics and we literally were watching probably six hours a day of the Olympics. I remember one time after we had watched about six hours of Nimit where I grabbed the remote and shut off the TV and said we should go outside and play catch or something and Nimit was mad I turned off the TV. I looked over and said, “Do you realize that we just watched about 45 minutes of rhythmic gymnastics?” That is a true story. Regardless, I can’t wait for the Olympics. Especially basketball. Think about the American team. Our starting line-up is Chris Paul at point guard, Kobe Bryant at Shooting Guard, Lebron James at Small Forward, Chris Bosh or Charles Boozer at Power Forward, and Dwight Howard at Center. With guys like Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony, Michael Redd, and others on the bench. It is going to be an amazing team and there is no reason they won’t cruise to a gold medal.

John McCan has developed the first brilliant new idea I love. I have always said that a solution to the petroleum crisis in America is possible but we are not spending the time and resources on it. John Kerry, when he was running for president in 2004 had an interesting idea. He said when America really need a major scientific breakthrough, the atomic bomb in 1945, America hired the best scientists in the world, put them in a little “bubble” in New Mexico with the assignment that they needed to find a solution to this war. They had an unlimited budget and were given every resource known to man. Sure it took a few years but they developed the atomic bomb. John Kerry suggested in 2004 that we do this regarding finding a solution to petroleum. John McCain has come up with a little incentive to develop an alternative. He would like to create the Clean Car Challenge. There would be a world wide contest to develop a workable solution and the winner would win a check from the United State government for $300,000,000. If that is not motivation for universities or businesses, then I don’t know what is.