If I lived on a tropical island...

If I lived on a tropical island...sounds a bit like an essay title from when I was 7. But I've been thinking this over for a while. I guess election fever is beginning to have an effect on me. I'm somewhat bemused by it all, especially the solid divide between Democrats and Republicans. Politics has never been my forte though so perhaps I'm missing something. I'm not really sure which group I would fall into but maybe someone can tell me when I reveal what I'd want if I lived on a tropical island.

I think I would love to live on an island as part of a tribe. Just think about it for a second. You could choose the piece of land you wanted to live on and build your own house. It would be yours. Education and medicine although basic would be free or perhaps an offering of some fruit. You could get organic food and water. Lots of fresh air. No doubt a leader would be chosen. If you didn't like them, just move to another part of the island. You would keep physically fit and no doubt speak to your neighbors and family for most of the day. Sounds pretty sweet, although a little...homogeneous. And the Hut Tax would probably coconut and banana me to death.

When is that new Wal-mart ready?

Well, Wal-mart is finally coming to Hurricane. March 8th I think. It looks almost finished from the interstate. I have mixed feelings about it. It will be great that I'll have a store to pop into on the way home without going too far out of the way. It will be nice to have a cheaper alternative to the other supermarkets and hopefully it will encourage the growth of other stores around the area and restaurants in which we need. Having watched 20 mins of a Wal-mart documentary over the weekend (Wal-mart: The high cost of low price) though i'm a little concerned. Especially about the impact it has on smaller stores i.e. putting them out of business.
I think the best part will be having an alternative to the Kroger store in Teays Valley. Despite having a bunch of cool British products it is frequently out of stock on the sale items, or has a poor selection of items I have coupons for. It's usually way more expensive than Wal-mart. Despite this, I went shopping there over the weekend. I was mildly excited to have a coupon for $3 off a sheet cake. Excellent. A sheet cake will go nicely with some Super Bowl super snacks. We picked out a sheet cake, which was Super Bowl themed, and had a few cupcakes around it. When Ms. Allclick and I arrived at the register we were informed that "This isn't a sheet cake. It's a ..small cake with cupcakes around it." I looked down at the label which clearly said "sheet cake" and looked back up at the manager. "If you want to get another cake you can". Err no thanks. I'll get one at Wal-mart next time. The cupcakes were pretty squished anyway.

Actors I never know the name of: (1) Steve Zahn

My memory sucks. I watch a lot of movies and get to see many actors. Many of them I forget consistently. Steve Zahn is one of those. So, having watched Daddy Day Care at the weekend and mastered his name and face I present a salute to the man. Here are some interesting facts:

Mother's name is Zelda Zahn.

Lost 40 pounds for his role in "Rescue Dawn".

Has two children, Henry and Audrey, with wife Robyn Peterson.

Is an avid fly fisherman. Owns a farm in Western New Jersey.

Is an accomplished singer/guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang in "That Thing You Do! and played guitar and sang in Saving Silverman.

Weekend Conundrum

It's mid week but I'm already thinking about the weekend. One has to plan ahead! This time of year always seems to be a lull at the movies and this week is no different. I plan on seeing a matinee but I'm left with few options. I have narrowed it down to four:

1. Juno - Comedy/Drama - Tipped for a few Oscars and gets a great rating on imdb. Plus: It's a comedy. Minus: It's a drama.
2. Untraceable - Crime/Thriller - Looks like an average thriller. Should be a good pace but has had questionnable reviews.
3. Strange Wilderness - Comedy - Saw the online trailer for this movie with Steve Zahn and laughed hard. The TV advert isn't so hot. It has Steve Zahn in though. Probably going to be incredibly silly. Steve Zahn features.
4. The Eye - Horror/Thriller - A remake of a Chinese film should spell success. I'm not so sure Alba can pull this one off though. Has a great premise but I really doubt this will deliver.

So, please, I'd like to hear suggestions. I'm leaning towards Juno (so I can be more prepared to shout at my TV during the Oscars) or Strange Wilderness so I can laugh a lot.

Thai House - Dunbar, WV

I had heard of the Thai restaurant in Dunbar a while back. I think it was probably through the old West Virginia Bloggers board. As far as I can remember it had some pretty good reviews, so on a trip back from Charleston a little while ago Ms Allclick and I decided to give it a try. A spur of the moment kind of thing. Our only problem was that we didn't know where the heck it was. Just that it was in Dunbar.

"Well Dunbar isn't that big" I said with a smile "Will we find it easily."
So, we drove through what I presume is the downtown area looking for it. On our first and second pass we found nothing so we pulled over at a hotel. One of those big chain things. I ran in and spoke to the *ahem* charming, older lady at the front desk. She looked like she may have never left the hotel in at least 40 years and had spent most of that time frowning.

"Hi, I'm looking for the Thai restaurant in Dunbar, do you know where it is?" (they surely isn't more than one Thai place in Dunbar so I thought she would know immediately.
"Let me get the phone book out, son" she wheezed in between cigarette pulls.
"Well I"m not sure of the name of it so I don't think the phone book will help." I said.
"You sure you are looking for a Thai place? We have a Chinese buffet just over there. That's it for Asian food."
"I'm certain it's a Thai restaurant."
"Son, there are NO THAI RESTAURANTS IN DUNBAR. We got a Subway, Mcdonalds, Captain D's and that Chinese but there are NO THAI RESTAURANTS IN DUNBAR."
I thanked her for her time and left.

So we ventured out again, driving away from the center of Dunbar. Ms Allclick spotted a gas station and suggested as a last long shot we asked for directions. I hopped out again (a little more slowly this time) and enquired about the elusive Thai restaurant.
"Ohh, sure honey. It's just up the road. Take a right just there" She pointed to a road I could see out of the window. "It's 'bout a mile down there and over the ridge".
Sure enough, there is was. A Thai restaurant in Dunbar.

It looked like a cozy joint from the outside and the inside. We soon discovered two problems. One you really should have a reservation for the place and two you really should have cash to pay for your meal. We waited nearly an hour for the table but it did give me a chance to learn some interesting new songs playing on the TV in there. The food was fantastic. Authentic, tasty and a good portion and price. The service was a little slow as they only have two front staff and one staff in the kitchen. I believe it's a Husband and Wife who own and operate the restaurant. The wife is the chef and the husband handles the phone, seats people, serves food, drinks, takes orders and everything in between. They had some help from a younger kid and I believe they were missing one member of staff that night. But the service wasn't bad enough to deter us going back. With a reservation.

On the way home I considered dropping off a take-away menu at the hotel but I doubt even that would have convinced her.

Who needs sleeping pills?

I seem to struggle for good, witty, clever titles with my blogposts of late, but despite that i'd like to talk about sleeping pills today so it's fairly apt. It was a pretty surprising thing to me, turning on the TV here and finding adverts for prescription drugs. It's probably one of the few things that is advertised on television that you can't actually just go out and buy on your own. It's banned in the UK but I don't really think it would take off much anyway as doctors aren't bothered by pharamacutical drug reps. they just use what the literature says. I suppose. I'll have to ask one. Anyway, I have seen a whole host of these adverts now. Viva Viagra always makes me smile. One I saw recently for sleeping medication kinda bothered me though. Especially as someone interested in the mental health care profession. I wish I could remember the name. It wasn't Advil or Tylenol PM. Something stronger I'm guessing. The advert shows that it doesn't matter what is keeping you up late or causing you problems sleeping, just take this pill and you'll go right to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Now I'm sure that some people really do just have trouble relaxing and getting to sleep without any environmental factors. But I believe that a large majority of people are probably up because they have problems to worry about, concerns, or issues. Simply taking a pill to help you sleep won't make these problems disappear overnight and I think that is what the drug company is praying on. The quick fix. My suggestion would be to try some relaxation techniques, stop putting pressure on yourself to get to sleep then own up to and accept your issues before you try and deal with them. Happy sleeping!

Cloverfield

It's been a fairly long time since I went to see a big movie on it's opening night. There tends to be more of an atmosphere when you are in a crowded cinema. Every funny moment has a louder laugh, every scare has a louder jump. Cloverfield had a surprising amount of the former and less of the latter. The plot is basically that a monster has appeared in New York trashing buildings and attacking people. For all you monster movie fans out there you won't be disappointed. The monster aspect of the movie was terrific. The human storyline to the film is not as good. But in this type of movie it's not supposed to be. The camera work does make you a little dizzy by the end as your eyes struggle to focus constantly but it adds to the "realness" of the movie and is a great way to tell the story. Ignore the plot holes, the name of the film and the lengthy intro and go see a great modern monster movie.

On another note. Arthur's in Downtown Huntington is terrific. Put some nice clothes on, make a reservation and head down there. Especially if you like fresh seafood.

8 days

Wow, 8 days since I made a blog post! My apologies! It's been a hectic week so please forgive me. I'm sure next week will be busy too but I aim to get a few more posts completed before at least the end of January. Perhaps I should have added "more blogging" to my list of new year resolutions. That would also have to include reading blogs as I have also neglected this over the last 8 days. I hope I didn't miss anything too important.

You will be pleased to know that my resolutions are still going strong. Well at least some of them are. I'm 90% through my first short story and am taking part in more exercise that I did 19 days ago. I hear it takes about 4 weeks for a routine to stick so I better keep at it.

Till next time.

A Blogging New Year

Thanks to all my readers. Both all of you are much appreciated! I like to take time out now and again to promote my fellow bloggers. So everyone who commented on my first post of the year now gets a sales pitch from me. I don't know if that is a dream come true for you or your worst nightmare. I know that I rarely click on others list of blogs on their sites so here are some i'd like to highlight:

Destination Unknown - Yes, I have mentioned this blog a few times but it's still a staple in my early morning routine, almost as important as brushing my teeth and eating cereal. Red Zeppelin says all the things I want to say but in a much more interesting and articulate way.

The Film Geek - If you live in West Virginia and you haven't heard of this blog then you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. He sometimes talks about movies, but usually reveals great stories about himself and his experiences and then ties it all into a meaning...of some sort. I'm almost certain it was mentioned in the State of the State.

Jennyville - For some reason I haven't add this delicious blog to my blog list! It's a great blog to read. Candid, honest, and downright funny. She usually has some awesome pictures of animals as well....you'll see what I mean. Check it out....wait, i'm not on her blog list either!

The Glamorous Life of a Hausfrau - I normally wouldn't read a blog that is so descriptive but this has so much charm and personality to it I just can't help myself! It's not too wordy and each post is well thought out and considered, with plenty of humor and great observations.

A Sour Apple Tree - Chris James writes this tremendously funny blog. Sometimes he talks about food, other times it TV. Football is mentioned a lot... and politics. End result? A great mix of topics and opinions but in a very witty way. He puts effort into his posts that is rarely seen including his cooking experiences, awards, and state slogans. If your stopping by his blog, ask for the small towel...

It's difficult to sum up an entire blog and by extension a bloggers "personality" but I hope I did y'all justice (well at least to some extent). Happy New Year!

New Year - New Me

Well it's 2008. A year that seemed somewhat futuristic to me not long ago. Yet still no flying cars. What's the deal with that? I hope someone is working on it. My title says New Year - New Me. I guess it really should say "New Year - Same Me saying new things". I've got a few plans on how to change this year. I'd like to be fitter, richer, smarter, better read, and more organized, motivated, and challenged. I feel optimistic at the moment despite my almost complete lack of action thus far. Being back to work will help I'm sure.

I think one of the hardest things is that making New Year resolutions are easy. The making part that is. All of us know ourselves the best and can think of at least one thing they would like to change. So that part is healthy and helpful. Sticking to the resolutions is the tricky part and it's the issue of accountability that makes it so. As I'm the one making the changes I only have myself to answer to. And sometimes I can bargain with myself and get out of exercising or saving money. So, maybe this year I'll try and get someone else to report to. Like a personal trainer for the soul. I'll add it to my growing to do list...

Plans for this year:

Write a short story

Exercise regularly

Find an internship

Read more non-fiction.

That should do it for now.

Lunching alone

I'd call myself a pretty social guy. I wouldn't choose to go to lunch alone over having company. Any company is usually fine. Someone you know well is comforting, safe, you can have a good laugh. Someone not so well is good, you can learn more about them and get past that "chit-chat" stage. Alone is kinda boring. At least I had my brain with me.

Today I had lunch on my own in McDonald's and I was glad for the experience. You tend to notice more going on around you. I noticed that now McDonald's has a 10 pc chicken nugget meal (probably old news but hey, it was new to me), that the said nuggets appear to taste and look fattier than either, that this can be confirmed or denied by looking at the nutritional information, that McDonald's are sneaky and clever to display the nutritional information in plain sight, on the back of the paper sheets that line the trays, that when three people are eating alone on three separate tables the mood becomes uncomfortable, that 12 o'clock is when construction site workers choose to flood the place, that people who look like they hadn't had a shower in 3 days REALLY stink (were you in there filmgeek??) and that picking a seat in a fast food restaurant is both a skill and an art form.

Christmas Decorations- My take....

So what's the deal with Christmas decorations? I love everything about Christmas decorations. Looking at other people's houses all lit up, driving past the lights in the park or down the street, decorating the tree and every spare space in the house. It adds a little happiness to the cold and dark and gloomy winters I think. I was decorating my tree last night, picking out the perfect spot for each decoration. And each decoration has a place on the tree. It's a complex mathematical formula deduced by the height and width of the tree, the thickness of it's branches, the weight of the ornament, how pretty it looks and whether or not the cat can reach it from there. I did pause halfway through the decoration thinking to myself "Isn't this a little crazy? Finding a tree that's already chopped down, then driving it home, putting it up in the living room, and then hanging things on it?" I mean how often do we normally decorate nature? We never get our pot plants all dressed up. (That's plants that are in pots....not the other kind).

I shrugged off the feeling though. Decorating a Christmas tree is so ingrained in me it didn't do me any good to think that way.

My favorite decoration has to be the outside snowflake lights. There is something satisfying about putting up outside decorations for all to see. It's kind of like shouting "Hey you! Look what I did to my dwelling! See how great I am! I managed to light up the OUTSIDE of my house, what have you done?? oh...what's that? You created a complete nativity scene, 6 inflatables, two miles of rope lighting, and hired a snow machine with real snow? And those are real reindeer? Do you have a permit for those? oh...you do. But do you have snowflake lights?? ha! Didn't think so! Nice try "buddy"!

A couple of vids

I'm not really one to surf through Youtube endlessly looking at videos. Especially not home-made rants about this or the other. I do appreciate effort though and these two videos show tremendous effort. Both are kinda mesmerizing so sit back and take ten minutes out of your Christmas shopping filled day.

Doing your best

I've been thinking about this subject for a couple of days now. Doing your best. I was taking a trip down memory lane, back to when I used to be in the Cub Scouts. I remember that when I was a scout we would have a ceremony each time we met in which we first unrolled the flag, and then at the end of the session would have lower the flag and then stow it away for the next week. Every week we would line up, be quiet and respect the moment, the flag, our leaders and the other scouts. The leader would bark "Scouts, do your best!" and we would reply in unison "We will do out best!". At the time it was just a learned response really. I was simply concerned with getting the reply right and not screwing up the whole thing. Especially if i was on flag duty.

I got to thinking though about the promise to do my "best". I mean, how often do we do our best? When are we given encouragement or push ourselves to give that little bit extra, work harder and can stand back afterwards and say "There you go, that was my best. This was the most that I could do." For me it's not very often. I mean I will put a lot of effort into things sure...90%, 95% but my best? I'm not so sure.

What sometimes makes us aim a little lower in life are the people who we either surround ourselves with or are put together with. I've found that in previous jobs it is the people around me who will distract me, pull me down, encourage me to not to do my best. It's those colleagues who will goof off, get bored and then try to gain some company by inviting you to join in the goof off session. I've had a couple of high school friends and colleagues like this. I've also had some who show up late, do the bare minimum, if any work, and leave early in their own little world. These kind of people are oblivious to the fact that their actions demoralize everyone else who are working hard for their money and picking up the slack.

Doing your best shouldn't be a daily thing. I mean I only had to promise to do my best once a week at scouts, but I think it should be something we all try to do, in at least one aspect of life every now and again.

Guesthouse - Room Escape Game

Another Point and Click game for the masses. Guesthouse. Not entirely sure why it has that name though. It's pretty awesome. Nice animation some interesting puzzles and less pixel hunting. Enjoy!

Twinkle - Room Escape game

Well it's Christmas and that means plenty of free time to play more games of course! Here is one I enjoyed for 10 mins...

Pizza time!

I hate calling in food orders...I recently ordered a pizza from Gino's. Stated my name and order and that we would be along to pick it up from the drive-thru.
So we pulled up to the window and said my name. The server disappeared for a few moments. Then returned looking confused. "What did you say the name was again?" Ms. Allclick repeated my name and off she went again. "oh no," I thought to myself "Did I call the other Gino's by mistake?". 5 seconds of semi-nervous waiting later she returned with the pizza and salad. We paid up and drove off.When we got home we realised why she had so much trouble.
Apparently although my name is spelt completely differently it actually sounds like "Mr. Wookit".

My reading list

After years of seeing the leaflets about I finally joined a book club. I think it's Mystery Guild, but I'm not entirely sure. The books don't seem to be out and out mysteries...they seem more like thrillers. So maybe it's Thriller (Michael Jackson-esque) "HEE HEE") Guild. Regardless, I think it's been pretty worthwhile. I have a steady stream of reading material at the moment and that keeps me happy and occupied. The first book I read (Ms. Allclick is reading them too, before me so we can review them after I finish) was Deep Storm by Lincoln Child. This was kinda sci-fi-y action-y rather than mystery. It's about a discovery deep under the Earth's crust and a facility this is built deep under the ocean. I won't say more than that but I enjoyed reading it. Child kept the pace going, the characters were very believable and the facility was easy to picture. They story had enough twists in it to keep you interested and it was researched very well.

My second book (which I'm currently reading) is The Vanishing. At the moment 70 pages in, I have no idea why it is called that, and what is going on. It is by Bentley Little (I think) and it's a very different reading style. A little too different for my liking. It jumps around a lot and a couple of incidences just seem a little far fetched...and I'm a sci-fi fan! anyhoo...

As Christmas approaches I'm reminded of one Christmas about 10 years ago when I read my first Stephen King book: "The Stand". I must have spent every single day of Christmas break reading that thing. It was huge and that had completely put me off it. But the more I read the more I couldn't put it down. I would sit on my mum's bed, listening to a light drizzle outside. Feeling safe and warm inside with my book. When I visited my Grandparent's I would read the book on the way, then upon arrival dash upstairs to get a few more chapters in before dinner. I still love that story today. I hope a few other kids take the time to read a good book this Christmas and use all that free time wisely.

Facebook: When greed happens

Anyone read the news this morning about Facebook? Not being a "Facebooker" I allowed myself a little smile. It seems that there new advertising venture "beacon" has failed horribly. I wonder how they did not see it coming? Here is a little summary of how it worked:

"As originally conceived, Beacon was a particularly egregious scheme for invading your privacy. Dozens of sites had contracted with Facebook to send people's surfing data to the social network; your profile would send out little messages to your friends about what you were doing on those sites -- telling them that you were shopping on Overstock.com, say, or were cooking certain recipes at Epicurious -- as a kind of ad for those sites.
Not only did Facebook not allow people to turn off the system, it also assumed that if you did not explicitly prohibit it from sending messages out from each site in its ad network, you were granting permission. In other words, Beacon was devised as an opt-out plan -- or, more precisely, it was plead-out, because getting the system to stop sending messages on your behalf involved a torturous number of steps. " (from http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/12/06/facebook_beacon/index.html)

Although Facebook have now made this an opt-in feature I can't help but think other websites will begin following suit. Soon just opening up an Internet browser will be tracked, monitored and you will be emailed "relevant" adverts for "your convenience" and then promptly taken to each of those sites until you forget why you logged on in the first place.

Tis the season for snow

Well it looks like winter is finally upon us. I can tell this from two things. One, the parking lot this morning was covered in snow, and two I have my black "mugger" beanie on today. Both these things scream winter to me. There may have also been one or two adverts about Christmas or something as well I can't really remember. I seem to have an unnatural desire to buy Kay Jewellery and a Garmin though. Very strange. Just yesterday I emailed one of my brothers and said "Nope, no snow, maybe up in the mountains". I guess I should have paid more attention to the weather.

I like having snow at Christmas time. It just makes everything feel...well...more Christmassy. It was a rare occasion in England to have snow, so I have a childlike joy at seeing the white stuff and view it as a happy event. I'm sure there are many West Virginians who cursed and mumbled something about "driving on those icy bridges" this morning and they are right to do so, having seen a pickup trip do a 360 last year in the snow. So drive slow and safe out there today folks.