The Dark Knight

Well I just had to write a little about this movie. It was an absolute epic and not just due to the 2 hour and 40 minutes of roll time. A roller coaster of emotion. A perfect mix of story, dialogue, characters and action all melded into one. Don't be fooled by the PG-13 rating. The story alone is way too involved to be comprehended by kids and there won't be enough action sequences and "hero" moments to keep them entertained. For the mature adult, however, there is a goldmine of enjoyment waiting to be uncovered.

Fantastic performance from the late Heath Ledger who takes a familiar character and makes him his own. It's a dark, disturbing but complicated villain who is both a genius and insane at the time. Aaron Eckhart is also perfectly cast as Harvey Dent. Gotham's white knight. He brings an air of politician, cop and gentleman all rolled into one as well as a darker side. The fact that both these two characters alone have so much detail in the character should show you the complexity of the movie. Gary Oldman also does a great job as Chief Gordon. Compare him to his roles in Leon umm I mean The Professional and The Fifth Element (two of my fav movies) and it illustrates his versatility of playing the smart and humble guy. Much more praise and focus should be given out to The Batman himself, Christian Bale.

Unfortunately there is not enough Bruce in this movie. Just a few rare glimpses of him. His back story was firmly established as the focus of Batman Begins and so now we see a more subtle development of his character. Bale seems to be suffering from his own success in that having always put in great performances and not been recognized means it is now hard to label a current performance as Oscar worthy as he always has had high standards. I suspect he may earn one of those "this movie wasn't great but you have been a great actor in a lot of other movies so here is an Oscar" Oscars that actors get after a while in the movie biz.

Another odd thing about the movie is that it is all so...light. Especially compared to Batman Begins. I wonder if this is to subtly show the change in Gotham from crime ridden to practically crime-free. It is hard to tell. It doesn't really affect the movie either way so I give my full recommendation in going to see this. You will not be disappointed.

When the highly paid continue to be well paid

I read in the news today that a WVU official has taken a $50,000 pay cut after the degree scandal. Instead of earning $135,000 he will now only earn $85,595. I suppose that second home in the Florida Keyes will have to wait a couple of years. At least he can relax knowing he's making at least 3.5 times the average West Virginian.

Thank goodness for spoiler alerts

Thank you IMDB.com. Reading through the plot keywords on movies I was interesting in seeing was spoiling the film completely for me. I'm so glad you have made them into a spoiler so that I will only see them when I roll my mouse over them. If it wasn't for this action I might have accidently discovered that in the film "Jaws" for example there is:

Female Rear - Nudity - Famous Opening Theme - One Word Title - Gore - Breasts

and reading these plot keywords: *possible spoiler ahead*

One Man Army - Girl Power - Insanity - Gangster - Atmospheric

Would have completely spoiled the new Batman movie.

Movies movies movies

I see TFG has been catching up on some summer flicks! Whilst I have not had the chance to see Wall-E or Hancock yet, I will be off to see some Hellboy II action this weekend. I finally got around to seeing the first movie a few weeks ago and loved it. Del Toro is really bringing an art form back into movies.

Other movies on my "Must-see at the movies" list include (but are not limited too):

The Dark Knight - (of course. Possible Oscar nod for the late Heath Ledger but Christian Bale needs one soon, right?)

X-Files - (Ms. AllClick really wants to see this. I'll want to see it but I'm a little scared it won't live up to it's potential)

The Mummy 3 - (It will be fun, won't it?)

Star Wars: Clone Wars (I actually thought that this looks pretty darn good!)

Pranxiety

I'm almost certain I've mentioned this before but today I had a good example of Pranxiety. Pranxiety is basically procrastination because you are afraid of what the outcome will be when you do something. It's the anxiety of "I need to do (x), but when I do that I'll know whether or not (y) is true/false/broken/upside down/yellow etc".

For example, putting off calling a hotel because you know that if you do call you will find out the truth that the room that you really wanted is no longer available (that was available last time you called) and that not having that room is awful and will ruin your vacation. Of course, the cycle then begins as you feel more anxiety about calling you therefore delay calling, and then the chances of the room actually being taken increase and you feel even further anxiety about finding out whether this is true or not.

Does that sound familiar?

Well, at last I finally made a call that I had been putting of due to Pranxiety and...it turned out fine. If I had of made the call a month ago I would have saved myself a month of feel Pranxious and probably could have enjoyed myself a little more than I did. If it had of turned out not fine at least I would have known and changed my plans accordingly and still not worried about it. The important thing is though, that Pranxiety does not help a situation, but making a decision and following it through can save a whole lot of worry.

I just need to remember that next time.

The price of gas in the UK

Now, I'm not a car buff by any standards so I need a hand on this one. I was looking through the British headlines and found this cool little article about the "Top 10 most economical cars". At number 3 is the Mini Cooper. Nice little car but it states it does around 72.4MPG. I flick over to the American headlines and find this little article about the "EPA's Fuel Economy Leaders". And now the Mini Cooper is only managing 28/37 MPG. I'm fairly certain that a mile is a mile is a mile. Perhaps it's the Gallon part....

Yes..it is. I figured it out. A UK Gallon is about 1.2 US Gallons.

So to use this new found knowledge lets take a look at gas prices..as I get asked this a lot..

Price of gas in WV today $4.00 for one US Gallon (for ease).
Price of gas in Hertfordshire, England £1.24 (GBP) for one Litre (UK)

1 Litre (UK) is the same as 0.26 US Gallons.

so 3.85 Litres (UK) = 1 US Gallon (roughly)

so £4.78p (GBP) for one gallon of gas here.

Which is $9.42 for one gallon of gas.

Phew. I guess that sounds about right. But remember the average wage in the UK is £23,607. (around $45,000 in 2002) compared to average wage in the US ($38,651 (2006)). And cost of living differs too, though I can't find some hard stats to prove that :-p AND we've been paying around that amount for..well years and years.

Still the articles are worth reading because with the rapid decline of trucks and SUV's thanks to the "soaring gas prices" we may be seeing a lot more of these economical vehicles from Europe and more of the ones that are already here.

Have you noticed how much the news like to use the same phrases...like "Soaring gas prices" or Pain at the pump".

Going skateboarding in Milton? Grab your wallet

Looks like the people of Milton have a thing against skateboarders. Hope that isn't an area of choice for you, Jackie. $50 is a little steep and who has to pay it? The skateboarders? The parents? Plus you have your 'board impounded for 30 days. I can see now the Milton officers practicing their Nollie kickflips and tailslides outside the station.

I used to love getting out on my skateboard. It was a really cheap and crappy skateboard that really was just a "show" board in that it was designed to look good not actually function very well. Toys R Us probably still makes it. So, it was easy to just stand on the thing and head down hill but trying to turn the thing usually resulted in bloody knees and a scolding from my mum. I'd love to start up again someday but I'm not into all that Vert ramp stuff. I'd just do mad street skills like my main man Rodney Mullens.


Rodney Mullen - Funny home videos are a click away

Finding your blogging niche

I have amazingly been blogging for over a year now and racked up over 200 posts. I never knew I had so much to say. I still kinda feel like I haven't found my niche yet and I don't know why. Perhaps I just like change, I enjoy throwing out different topics, styles, themes. Perhaps I get bored quickly with posting the same kind of thing. Or maybe I like to challenge myself to be original within the realm of my own blog. Perhaps after another year I will know. I suppose one never actually needs a niche. It's my own online web log so I can do as I please with it. In a way that is the niche.

Anyone know what happened down by the river in H'town today? Saw three police cars, two fire trucks an ambulance and the rescue boat. It shot across to the other side of the river and picked up a shirtless dude. Wsaz were there so i'll guess it will be on the news tonight. Whatever it was.

Outside the comfort zone

I have decided today to take a stroll outside my little familiar blogging comfort zone and read some unfamiliar blogs. I'll report back some findings and encourage you to take a step outside your comfort zone today and see what happens. I think i'll stick in the A's today.

Some blogs of note that I happened by:

Appalachian Greens
A Mountain Journey

Some observations:

Not all bloggers post something every single day (I'm just lucky to enjoy a group of bloggers that do).
Not all bloggers post something every month (the selfish buggers).
Not all excellent posts receive comments.
Not all blogs have to be funny to be an enjoyable read.
The amount of blogging styles is endless.

About time too...

Cor Blimey! Remember the Ocean's Eleven movies? Remember Don Cheadle and that terrible British accent.

Yer me too.

Still, it could be worse.

Scaremongering

I'm sorry to hear about a teen dying today down in Atlanta. They had scaled a couple of 6-foot fences and entered the restricted area of one of the roller coasters. A dangerous, but deliberate move. What upsets me is the way the AP decided to end the story:

"A teenager's legs were severed when cables snapped on the Superman Tower of
Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville in June 2007."

I mean what has a mechanical failure/complete accident have to do with this story? Yes, it was at six-flags and yes it was also tragic but mentioning it is like apples and oranges. To me it feels like scaremongering, basically telling the public: "Roller coasters are dangerous and you'll probably die or have your legs cut off if you ride one. It happened in Atlanta, oh and by the way do you remember what happened in Kentucky? That's right. So, stay inside because it's a big scary world out there. Everyone is out to get you. Even fun, safe places like theme parks. Don't trust anyone. Except the AP of course."

/End rant

Weekend Round-up

I would say this post was in the style of a fellow blogger. But she might be extremely offended by it :-p I give her the recognition for the inspiration of trying a different style though.

I got up this morning earlier than Ms. Allclick who is still suffering from a headache from yesterday. I had to get up a little early as I wanted to get in some exercises and then head out to the animal shelter. Ive been looking for a good routine to do in the mornings and so this week I added this little number:

Looks easy doesn't it? Hurts like a knife in the chest to me.

Then I was off to the animal shelter for a couple of hours and took out a dog that was big enough to walk me. There weren't too many pets there this week so i'm glad because it means they had a lot of adoptions this week.

Saturday night we watched "Juno" and I have to admit I really enjoyed it. I was expecting for "Junebug" to get on my nerves after awhile but you sorta had to love her. Great casting and script.

On Sunday I did a few chores. Yay. We spent at least 45 minutes trying to think of something to have for breakfast that didn't involve milk or running to the store for milk. In the end Ms. Allclick found a couple of yummy Brown Sugar poptarts.

However, by the time we left the house to meet some friends to watch the Euro 2008 final we were hungry again. It didn't help that we had to expend valuable energy cleaning out the water that was in the sunroof after leaving it cracked throughout the rain the night before.

We rarely ever go to Mcdonalds. It's awful going in there and the food isn't something we crave very often but it's handy and cheap to swing by and pick up a couple of double cheeseburgers. We ordered and pulled up to the food window and then were told "You might have to wait a while, someone just ordered 20 double cheeseburgers". Hmm. I wasn't too happy. Ms Allclick even quipped "We paid $3 for food and spent $6 in gas waiting for it". How true. I peered all around the parking lot for the 20 cheeseburger lardass but couldn't spot them. Eventually we received our surprisingly greasy food and we were on our way.

The game was fairly good. Some great football was played but there were no red cards, only one goal, no penalties, no really threatening free kicks or corners and the Spanish looked more likely to score than the Germans. I guess I'm used to watching England play aka Score a goal and then defend like crazy and hope we don't let one in.

We got home Sunday night, did a few more chores and settled in to watch a couple of "Supernatural" episodes. I'll have to blog about that show another time. Then as the sun was going down it was time to play "Silent Hill" of course. The perfect ending to any weekend.

The Storm this week

Just a short little video montage thing I made of the storm this week. That noise you can hear is the rain and probably me pooping my pants a lil.

Michaelanglo's Apprentice

Today I am in a strange mood. I kinda feel like Michelangelo's apprentice. I get to watch and learn from individuals who are very skilled and talented at what they do. They chisel the big block of marble in effective ways. They make it look easy, turning their wrist here, tapping the hammer there and brushing off the dust. They start carving an arm, a leg, a face and they know where to start, where to end and what it will look like. It is so casual for them, yet demanding and tiring. Myself, the apprentice has the same tools. The same training. But I feel as I approach the marble block I will tap too hard, chisel in the wrong way and I'll take the nose off.

So I tap away at the loose parts, the safe parts and I learn from the sculptor more and more.

It is sometimes difficult to appreciate someone doing such a hard job well because they make it look so easy.

"Doesn't the bride look so youthful?"

Just read an article on wsaz.com about some marriage statistics from 2006.

Just a couple of things that stood out:

Youngest bride was 14 years old.

Youngest person to receive a divorce was a 13 years old girl.

Anyone else surprised with that? Perhaps they mean dog years.

Top 5 Video Games Ever

Playing Silent Hill reminds me of some of the best games I have ever played. Ever. It's not easy coming up with a 5 but here I go. Feel free to comment, give me your top 5 etc...

1. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. This has been the only PlayStation game I ever played enough to give me "PlayStation Thumb". That is two incredibly sore thumbs that made it pretty difficult for me to write when it came to my Psych exam the next day. The controls were so fluid, the challenges were difficult but not impossible and their was a decent competition aspect added in as well. Two player mode was also pretty decent and added to the one player story mode meant that you could be playing this game many months after first cracking it out the box.

2. Goldeneye. This N64 beaut was just jaw-dropping. I mean getting to be Bond was a dream come true but throw in a bunch of cool weapons (like the Golden gun and double missile launchers) a story mode that followed the movie pretty well and an endlessly entertaining 4 player multiplayer mode just made this a complete package. It was worth buying an N64 just to have this.

3. Doom. The definitive first person shooter. What a cracking game. The music was awesome. That cool noise when doors open. Finding secret rooms and blowing the heck out of demons with a shotgun. Great stuff.

4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Despite being the obvious reason for crime across the global this game really showed the world what games could be. Funny, guns, well scripted and acted, have great graphics, gameplay, realism, guns, stealing cars, and guns. Plus you basically could just run around a big old map doing what the heck you liked. Even if you didn't decide to do any missions. One of the best features was simply having the radio stations. Such a simple idea but it really helped separate this game from the rest.

5. Mariokart - SNES. Another game that I could and did play for hours upon hours. The normal races were good. You weren't going to win first time, but once you learned some tricks and strategy and could remember the course you eventually improved at a satisfying level. Yes the graphics were simple but throwing that cart around the track was just so much fun you didn't care. Again, the multiplayer aspect was such a great idea. Battling go-karts with nothing more than different coloured shells and furious skidding.

Why I should never play Silent Hill again

Due in part to the fact that I never grew up with a playstation, I am currently enjoying playing some playstation classics thanks to Ms. Allclick. She recently purchased Silent Hill and for the last few nights as the sun has set we have played this supremely creepy game. I mean just the soundtrack gets me all anxious. Things bump and bang and moan without any warning. It just plain gives me the heebie-jeebies. And we were playing it as the storm ended last night. So, you can imagine my state of mind last night as I woke up, around 3am I guess, and stumbled towards the bathroom, mostly asleep and suddenly from the shadows hearing "Hey! HEY!!!" right in front of me scaring me out of my skin. Apparently, Ms. Allclick informed me later, I flailed at her and jumped a couple of feet in the air before running away. All I know is I'm cutting down on scary video games* and buying a thermal imaging cam**.

*Note: I doubt I'll cut down on scary video games

** Note: If I do buy this it will be so I can hunt some ghosts. Sweet.

Staycations and why we never need to leave the state

Last week I received amongst the usual ton of fliers and paperwork in my mailbox, a "Vacation Guide" from the lovely folks over at the Herald and Dispatch. You may have seen it. It was a colour newspaper with stories about going to King's Island, OH, or Myrtle Beach, SC or "see this" in Kentucky, or how wonderful THAT is in North Dakota. I didn't see one story about all the wonderful things to do in West Virginia. It struck me as a little irresponsible. At a time when gas prices are high and in a state like West Virginia where we could do with some tourist dollars, doesn't it make sense to advertise the great parks, natural attractions and festivals that take place in THIS state during the summer? Why are we encouraging residents to earn money here and spend it elsewhere?

I coined (after hearing it elsewhere) the phrase "Staycation". It was probably on "The Today Show" or something but it's becoming a popular idea to enjoy your own backyard this summer. Have cookouts, go fishing, invite friends and family over. You don't physically need to be somewhere other than home to have a "vacation". It's what you decide to do with the time and who you decide to spend it with that matters. Sometimes I believe people will go on vacations simply to have something to talk about at work or with friends because no-one likes to say "Oh I just stayed home." People like to say "Yer, I went to the beach! It was awesome." When they are actually wondering how to treat that nasty sun-burn and pay off the looming credit card bill.

"So, Allclick" I hear you cry "What's the deal? Are you telling me to stay home, or go on a in-state vacation? Make up your mind, buddy!" Well actually I'm saying go enjoy West Virginia this summer but if you feel like just staying at home be proud of it and make THAT your vacation to be proud of.

Summer Movie Season

Summer is officially here! You would never have guessed it if you live in Frame, WV but Wimbledon starts today so that means it's gotta be summer! And of course if it is summer that means the summer movie season is already in full swing. I usually think of the season starting with the first weekend in May as this is typically a blockbuster weekend such as all the Spidermans and I think Ironman showed right around that time this year. Ms. Allclick and I were planning on seeing "Get Smart" but ended up staying home and watching "Lars and the Real Girl" which was a terrific movie and probably worthy of it's own post. Even without our box office support "Get Smart" was the popular choice for many Americans over the weekend and topped Kung Fu Panda and the Incredible Hulk.

In fourth place was a movie that to me looked like it was always going to fail. "The Love Guru". The adverts didn't even look funny and they are supposed to be a representation of the whole movie. Scoring a 4.3 on IMDB at the moment and I'm not in the least bit surprised. It's a real shame for Mike Myers as I think he is a funny guy. I loved So I married an Ax Murderer, the Austin Power movies (well the first two) and of course Wayne's World. Even the first Shrek was pretty decent. Justin Timberlake has had the finger pointed at him for the cause of this rubbishness but I wonder about the pairing of Myers and Troyer, who is featured heavily in the trailers. The whole "mini-me" thing was wearing thin in the Austin Power's movies and I feel that Myers should keep himself close to other funny people like Dana Carvey rather than Justin Timberlake and Verne Troyer.

It's not a career stopper that's for sure but it's disappointing to see a good talent going to waste.

Euro 2008 - Quarter Finals

Portugal vs Germany

I'm going for Portugal. They have been a strong side so far plus the German's have a few injuries. Should be a good game!

Euro 2008 Predictions Group D

Ok last of the group games today...

Group D

Greece vs Spain

Russia vs Sweden

Man it's hard to pick between Russia and Sweden... I'm going to go for...Sweden.

Euro Predictions 2008 - Group C

Well it's time for the group of death to be decided...

Holland vs Romania

France vs Italy

Euro 2008 Predictions

More predictions! I really need to total up my score but I'm sure it's pretty poor!

Group B

Austria vs Germany

Poland vs Croatia

Croatia may be resting some of their main players for this game but I still expect a win from them today!

Update: I am 4 for twelve at the moment. What a crazy tournament.

Euro 2008 Predictions 3

Ok here we go..time for some more predictions:

Group A

Portugal vs Switzerland

Czech Republic vs Turkey

Wow this is post number 200 for me :-) Who'd have thunked it.

To be an Honorary West Virginian you must

I can't remember anyone actually accepting me as an Honorary West Virginian yet. However, here is my list of "To be Honorary West Virginian you must...":

1. Remind out-of-state folks about how beautiful the foliage is in the Fall.

2. Fish. Like fishing. Have been fishing recently. Fished on a boat. Fished while standing in a river. Like talking about fishing and not snicker while saying "Rod and tackle box".

3. Respect and/or play golf. Putt-putt is not included.

4. Know all the rules to playing "Horseshoes" and be prepared to set-up a game and take off your shirt at the drop of a hat.

5. Say "O-hi-a" when referring to that state to the North.

6. Hate "city life" on the grounds that it's "too busy and too loud".

7. Be able to point out geographical features such as "crick/creek"s and "hollow/holler"s.

8. Eat a West Virginia Hot Dog. Even if you don't like 'Slaw and prefer scrambled eggs.

9. Know the lyrics to John Denver.

10. Be Wild and Wonderful rather than Open for Business.

Oh and having an ATV helps...and voting for Hilary Clinton ;-)

Overdependence

Another hot topic on my mind this week. Depending on someone too much or even letting someone depend on you too much can be a great cause for stress and anxiety. Believing that it is your responsibility to be a constant caretaker for others, providing them with money, rides, a place to stay when they are fully capable of fending for themselves can be a terrible burden. It's difficult not getting into those kind of relationships especially with close friends and family because you do always feel that need to take care of them, and sacrifice yourself for their benefit. The key is to really understand that by letting others be independent they can learn from their mistakes and therefore grow, and you can free yourself to pursue dreams, goals and be eventually be happier in life.

This also applies for that morning dependency on coffee I have. So perhaps tomorrow I'll go without, just to show myself who is boss ;-)

Euro 2008 predictions 3

*sigh* I'm not having much luck so far but here is round 3 of predictions:

Group C

Italy vs Romania

Despite a lacklustre performance against the Danes I hope they can simply out play Romania

Netherlands vs France

The Dutch look so strong and France really haven't gotten started yet.

Group D

Sweden vs Spain

Greece vs Russia

I liked the way Russia played against the Spanish side so I'm giving them my All Click thumbs up.

Euro 2008 predictions 2

Here are some more predictions:

Group A

Switzerland vs Turkey

Group B

Croatia vs Germany

Austria vs Poland

Update: Damn! Another prediction down the tube. I'm 1 for 4 now. Such a shame for Switzerland.

Update: Argh! Now Poland are winning and Germany lost. I'm 1 for 6!

For Chris James

My brother emailed me this You Tube gem this weekend. A treat for any closet Ultimate Warrior fans..and anyone who likes innuendo.

Euro 2008 Predictions 1

Speaking of Euro 2008 here is my prediction for the day, ASAT style.. I was hoping to predict the France game but I guess I'm too late :-s Winners in Red.

Netherlands vs Italy

Group D

Spain vs Russia

Greece vs Sweden

UPDATE: Netherlands thrashed Italy, Spain kicked Russia's ass, and Sweden one...so my first prediction and I'm 1 for 3.

A question of culture

I was asked last week if there was racism in the UK. I guess it was kind of strange question, but I guess they were really asking "is the racism issue as big everywhere as it is in the US". It's a question I've been asked a few times and I till really don't have an answer. Of course there is racism in the UK but I really don't remember it being an issue that is so prominent. At least not when it comes to nationalities. I've struggled to arrive at a reason for this. It could be because of the mighty British Empire of many moons ago, it may be because of our close proximity to mainland Europe and a heck of a lot of countries. It may be the flood of immigrants.

Another reason occurred to me as I sat watching Euro 2008 this weekend. Soccer is held as a national sport in England and is loved by many. What is interesting about soccer in England is that a lot of the best players are actually from other countries. I wonder what effect this has on the nation's views of those countries? Let's take Manchester United..as everyone seems to know them. In goal is Van der Saar, who is Dutch, defender Patrick Evra and Louis Saha, French, Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese, Ji-Sung Park from South Korea. This is just one squad. These international players become ambassadors for their country. In a way and the fans can be devoted to a team so much that they will respect and admire the best player, no matter where they are from.

I wonder if the NFL was built up of international players what effect it might have on the country.

D for doughnuts

Thanks to blogging buddy Redzeppelin I was reminded that it is D-day today. Commonly known as the Normandy Invasion of 1944 as allied forces attempted to liberate mainland Europe from the Nazi's during World War II. I clicked onto MSN.com as I usually do as part of my morning website ritual and lo and behold it also informs me of D-day. Doughnut day that is. And how we can celebrate National Doughnut day. If you manage to ignore the big tasty picture of a doughnut you may end up glancing below and seeing the tribute to D-day. Nice.

I had the great opportunity to visit Normandy when I was in High school as part of the school trip. It's one thing to read about how many lost their lives that day (about 2,500 allied troops..but accurate numbers are difficult to determine) and how many were causalities (about 7,500) but another thing to visit the immense cemeteries with row after row after endless row of soldiers. Stepping onto the beaches and seeing the old turrets and wall defences will be something I won't ever forget.

Insanity

Someone wise once said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I agree and say that insanity is also paying to work for free.

Constantly learning

Moving to America was a big shift for me. On the surface both countries (England and USA) are similar. We speak the same language, eat the same foods, watch the same movies, TV shows and believe in democracy and equality. To some extent. However, it's a constant learning curve for me. At least every week that goes by I learn something knew and have to adjust or reflect on certain things. Like eating with just a fork. Driving on the other side of the road. Using references from American culture as I talk etc. The list really goes on and on. I am trying to be fully aware of the American culture rather than be absorbed by it and that helps me understand a lot of why things happen differently here.

I guess one big issue I'm still pretty stumped on is this:

If you support Hillary Clinton for her views, personality, and experience why would you vote for John McCain instead of Obama in the election? I really find it impossible to grasp. I may not like a person's friends or their personality but if they feel the same way I do about major topics then I'll choose them. It's pretty simple.

It's like kids in the playground choosing soccer teammates. There are three players left, two player soccer and one plays tennis. The soccer player you wanted is chosen by the other side so who do you pick? The soccer player, or the tennis player? Or do you say "I wanted THAT soccer player. No fair." And go sit in the corner and pout?

OK I may have simplified it a bit but I hope you get my point. That's my one post on politics for the year. Now for something completely different...

Persistent as a mule

Persistence is a quality that is underestimated in today's world. Some may even call it being stubborn but when it comes to overcoming one's challenges, prejudices, anger, grief, fears stubbornness isn't such a bad thing. Committing to a challenge and following it through takes persistence, it takes stubbornness. Change does not happen overnight and it certainly doesn't happen without the ability to stay focused and motivated on the task at hand. Even falling several times at a task is fine as long as you keep at it, as no-one is perfect at everything first time around. By telling yourself that you will fail, that you will give up, is simply an easy way out. Its a way of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and its a much shorter road to failure than it is to success.

I guess when I think of persistence I remember when I was 15 years old. I loved playing frisbee. I would stand out in my street tossing a frisbee back and forth with my friend Toby for hours. Literally hours. In the sun, or in the snow. We would chat about school, about "old times", about girls, movies and good old fashioned WWF wrestling. But having that frisbee to throw around gave us a perfectly good excuse to talk about all those things on our minds. Trying to learn experience from each other.
There was a frisbee club at my school. I had failed miserably at soccer, rugby, cricket and basketball but I was pretty good at frisbee and a friend of mine invited me to come play for them. Nervous and kinda excited I went along to the first practice of the season. I sort of knew the rules of the game and was confident with my throw. Then the coach told us "newbies" there was another throw, the forehand throw and that we had to learn it and that it was not easy.
He was right about that. I tried and I tried to get that forehand right. I threw it in practise, I threw it in the street, I tossed that frisbee around my room, trying to get my grip right, trying to figure out the physics of it. Six months later it finally felt right. It sure didn't fly straight, but it felt good, it felt like the proper throw. I played for my high school team for the next 3 years, we introduced the sport to the Physical Education curriculum and I had the chance to teach plenty of other kids that forehand throw. I went on to play for my university for 3 years and was invited to train with Great Britain junior team. I knew that without my persistence I never would have made it that far.

So be persistent this week and see what you can achieve.

More Spring Cleaning

My blogs list needed tidying up/editing so I took a few mins and sorted it out. There are a few new links in there, Donutbuzz, Saved by The Torso, Picture West Virginia so check them out. As I add about 3 blogs every six months you can tell how much time and effort I spend reading blogs out of my usual "circle of comfort". So if you feel like recommending a blog to me to take a peek let me know. I'm happy to stretch my circle.

Not that I'm bored with the current bloggers of course.

Memorial day

Well it's another American holiday coming up so I thought i'd do a little bit of research (i.e. check wikipedia) and find out the skinny on this holiday. Turns out it was formerly known as Decoration Day and is always the last Monday in May. It commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service. It started as a way to honour Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War and after World War 1 it was expanded to include any who died in war or military action.

So this weekend I guess I should expect to see lots of flags, lots of cookout...and lots of cars ditched along the roadside?

Breschgate

Sounds like the Governor had a rough day yesterday. His helicopter had to make an emergency landing shortly after take off, WSAZ.com reports. He is safe and well and there isn't really that much to the story...but the comments are priceless. Whoever came up with the idea that the public could give their own opinion about the news deserves a medal. I was tempted to say "Engine light? It was probably low-fuel." or "If the Governor is a pilot, why is he paying a pilot to pilot?". I titled this post "Breschgate" as the comments allude to the scandal and because there hasn't been a "-gate" thrown into the stories about the scandal. Is it not the done thing over here? Perhaps it should be WVUgate. Or Free Degree gate. Though that sounds a little bit too much like these guys:

Overhearings 2: "Hello, is this Go-mart?"

Heard this morning at the Go-Mart on 16th Street H-town where gas is $3.99.9 still unlike the $4.19 in the rest of the city:

"We usually don't raise the gas price when it's a holiday....unless we get a phone call"

The Robins

Well here is an update at last on the Robins. They all ended up hatching successfully and flew off about 3 weeks ago! Anyhoo, I finally have the pictures so enjoy as the story unfolds...

Spring Clean

Well I decided to change my layout a few weeks ago. What do y'all think? I liked the other one, but the fact that I couldn't change the width of the posts was annoying me. My posts would look delicious in the preview and then fall to pieces on the blog. Although there is a lack of colour I like the spacing here so maybe I'll keep it for a while.

Ohio

The grass always seems greener on the other side doesn't it? Is Ohio "better" than West Virginia? Is life easier there? Is it nicer to live there? I wish I could tell you. Apparently the gas is cheaper there though. It went up to $3.89 today. The link is to WSAZ.com who like to post a lot about the cost of gas in Ohio but not really so much on the West Virginia prices. I suspect an intern types up the story, realises how high gas is and then their head simply explodes. You may have guessed I like to complain about gas prices. Overall I will nitpick about a lot of things but gas prices is a biggie for me I guess. I think what makes me more frustrated is that others aren't really complaining about it. Well, not to me at least. Although that could be because they don't want another rant from a know-it-all limey. I think what also annoys me is watching the CNN news ticker. The one that says "Gas prices reach a average record high of $3.xx" and the "Average price" is always about 15 cents cheaper than what we are paying here. Still I suppose that's the downside of living in one of the most affluent states. Would anyone like to invest in my rik-shaw business in down-town Huntington?

Guess the statement...

Picture West Virginia

A recommendation today for this newish blog. Picture West Virginia. The Moderator Bryan Stealey had the wisdom to use one of my submissions hehe. But it's worth checking out for more than that of course. Some really great articles from West Virginians which allows people like me to gain a better understanding on things that count, things going on, what being a West Virginian is like, hopes and fears and everything in between. For a mountainous state that is difficult to navigate even when gas is at a reasonable price, this is a great way to hear about new places and find out what's going on. Check it out.

Behind

Well I am way behind on blogging. After having an insanely hectic two weeks and a birthday I just haven't had the time or motivation to get a decent blog post out! I have a brief respite this week and then am probably going to be super busy again for the foreseeable future. Over the past couple of weeks, however, I have had time to watch Ironman. It was surprisingly excellent. Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect Stark and the improvisation he was allowed to bring to the film really helped the script stand out. It's up at about $150 million in ticket sales from two weeks at number one. Not too shabby considering there are a few big, tasty movies coming up. Including the new Indy flick May 22nd. You may not have noticed that one. However, anyone who has been to the store recently and wandered up the cereal aisle probably saw a thousand Indiana Jones faces staring back. There is even a special "Indiana Jones" cereal. I stuck with my bran flakes but I did stand staring at the box as I weighed a bag of sand in my hand.

I hope y'all West Virginians enjoy your voting today. Remember lil folks like me who are unable to vote and make a difference in my community. I don't really know who I would vote for anyway. Probably who ever had the funniest TV advert...i.e. not Menis Ketchum. Maybe that dude from the "Menace" Ketchum adverts though. Ramble over.

Note: Thanks to everyone who wished me luck with my interview. It went really well. I was expecting a group interview around a table but I coped and put on my most charming accent and threw in a couple of big, British words.

Please take a seat

I have an interview today. It's always a little nerve-racking as in my experience you never know what you are going to get. Will the interviewer be formal and ask a lot of probing questions, or will they be more relaxed and simply tell you about the position. Will they treat you with respect, or as an annoyance? Will they be friendly or keep you at arms length? I guess I've experienced all of these things.

A few years ago I had my worst interview experience. It was for a position at the local music school. Not really a big place or a large program. It was a administration job really. Not a lot to it really. So I show up and I meet the head of the program. She was real nice, friendly and seemed interested in what I had to say. She had let me know that I would be interviewing in front of her, the lady who was leaving the position I was applying for and someone from the Board of Directors that paid for the program. Fair enough. I had never interviewed in front of three people before but it actually went well. I was invited back for a second interview, which was also a new thing for me.

At the second interview I met the head of the program again and this time she is with the lady whom I will be working alongside. "Fine" I thought "I guess she'll have a few questions for me too." And she did. How flexible was I? What could I expect from the position? How motivated was I? etc.. then she says "Now we are going to do a role-play, I will be an angry parent of a child taking music lessons and you can answer the phone". "What??" I thought to myself. They were going to test me on my skills handling an irate customer. So we went ahead...and this woman was such a pain in the ass. I mean she was asking me questions that there was no way I had the answer to, like special accommodations that can be made, which suppliers we use etc... I came up with a solution but she didn't like it and I think it annoyed her. Worst interview and interviewer ever. She was on some crazy power trip if you ask me. Am I bitter about it? Yes and no. No, I'm not bitter than I didn't get the job. I suspect it was going nowhere and admin isn't my interest. Yes, I'm bitter that she acted that way and I put up with it. Still, we live and learn.

L1c3nse Plt3s

I love that you can now buy a personalized number plate for your car. I doubt I would ever get one but it's fun to read them driving down the interstate everyday.

"oh look it's "EZEE LVR" again!"

"There goes "MR MAGIK"

It seems to me that there must be two rules for a person buying a personalized license plate. 1. You must spell your desired phrase in the strangest way possible. Bonus points if you managed to substitute numbers for letters or create a phrase longer than 4 words. 2. You should in no way resemble the attributes stated on the plate. Many a time I've seen "MZ CUTIE" look like a 50 year old, grizzly man and "THE DUDE" look like "THE CHICK".

I wonder if I could get into trouble naming and shaming a few bad drivers who have a personalized number plate. One comes to mind right now. I also wondered this morning as I saw "guitar plyer" (name changed to protect the owner of the car, whoever that is) whether it was a fellow blogger or not. Probably not. But it's fun to imagine.

Hibatchi South Charleston

It's been a while since I wrote a restaurant review but I thought it was worth making the effort to describe my first experience at a Hibachi restaurant. Evil Twin's Wife has blogged that she was heading to a Hibachi for her birthday and that she was happy because she knew she would get some great food. "hmm" I thought to myself "sounds like sea food and a lot of faffing around". I don't know why I had formed an opinion that it would be all sea food and uncomfortableness but that was what I was thinking. And so I had some apprehension when Ms. AllClick suggested we headed there last weekend. I always feel uncomfortable in new restaurants but I had imagined there would be extra uncomfortableness at the thought of a) sharing a table with strangers, b) getting involved in the cooking "show" and c) having to choose my meal while the cooking was going on. As it turned out it was 100 times better than I was expecting! I choose my meal from a menu leisurely, the strangers on our table were actually incredibly quiet and pleasant and the only involvement I had in the "show" was catching some chicken in my mouth. There was a ton of food and I loved it all. So, I am looking forward to going back some time soon. I guess it goes to show that even when you are hesitant about trying something new you shouldn't let it put you off.

A few issues at Marshall

A few things in the news recently have caught my attention.. especially the increase in tuition fees and the new recreation center fee. Catch the whole story here. $150 fee per semester? I wonder how much plasma I'll have to donate to pay for that.

Also of note this week is the proposed smoking ban. I'll be happy if this comes into effect to be honest. I'm tired of walking through a cloud of smoke every time I have to enter a building and tired of breathing in the smoke when I wait outside a building. Watching maintenance guys standing around campus smoking is also something I could do without.

AND...parking at Marshall. Just a complete nightmare. $140 for a student parking pass..but guess what, no space to actually park your car. The staff haven't got things much easier as majority of the spaces force staff and faculty to cross one of Huntington's busy and 3rd or 5th Avenues which flood at the drop of a hat.

I think I'm more frustrated than usual because there is a attitude of apathy among student on campus and I doubt there will really be much protest for any of these matters.

Maybe I can transfer to WVU and get me one of those free MBA's I've been hearing about.

Man, my blog posts have been ranty recently. I'll have to post something positive soon.

Perhaps about my fantastic experience at the Hibatchi in South Charleston :-)

Here comes the sun

Looks like the warm weather is finally here. True, it's going to rain this weekend and it's pretty chilly overnight but at least it should brighten up again next week. I enjoy the summer...but of course there are always things to complain about:

1. Insects - Man, I can't stand insects. I can't bring myself to kill them but really hate bees, wasps, hornets, and any other flying things that decide to pester me during the summer. I usually just go into panic mode. Same goes for ants and gnats...except the panic mode. Ladybirds(bugs) are probably my only exception for no real reason.

2. Stupid clothing - Yes, you know who you are. You in those silly shorts that look like smart full length trousers but finish above the knee. And You, the guy in those flip flops. (On a side note, have you ever noticed that whatever time of day or year there is always some guy shopping wal-mart/kroger in shorts and sandals and t-shirt?)

3. Sweating - Not that manly sweat you achieve at the gym or on the B-ball court that you show off with pride and triumph. No, instead that face or leg sweat from it simply being far too hot outside and makes you stick to plastic chairs.

4. Sunbathers - I don't mind a little bit of sunbathing. Maybe read a few pages of my book or do a puzzle but after about 30 mins it's pretty uncomfortable. Usually because of (1) and (3). But it gets a bit much when all you do is sun-bath all day. To get a tan? To show off? Who knows.

5. Gas prices - Argh. Expect to see another blog post about this rant. $3.65??

6. T.V. - Why o why does T.V. have to lower it's standards over the summer? Is it a covert plan to force people into more exercise and other activities asides from watching T.V.? There are some of us who aren't (4)'s who want some quality programmes on the tube.

7. Co-worker vacations - I'm not talking about getting to go on vacations. I'm talking about when that fellow co-worker goes on vacation for 2 weeks either without giving you a heads-up or bragging about it for weeks. And either way completely screwing over that project you were working on/that reimbursement you were waiting for/that prank you were going to do.

Funniest moment on Food Network for a while

Overhearings

A few things I overheard this week:

"I have this theory of "Billy's". All the great singers have the name Billy. Billy Joel, Billy Ocean, ...Billy Idol."

"...and if someone hands me a religious pamphlet I just tell them "F**k off".

"The board of directors said they didn't like seeing the company vechicle being used to buy alcohol"

"Is that him singing? Or is it the chipmunks?"

People are weird. If you have heard any interesting and random overhearings. Send them over here -> allclicknopoint at gmail dot com

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream Campaign Slogans

The most exciting campaign of our lifetime is currently taking place. No, I'm not talking about Obama and Hillary. Instead I refer to the battle of Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream against...well every other flavour that opposes it. The current standings and contest activity is found in it's full glory right here at the Donutbuzz.

Life on the campaign trail can get pretty rowdy and hectic. Words are said, emotions run wild. So for your pleasure I present some of the slogans overheard on the trail:

"Not voting for Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream? What are you? A commie?"

"Do you love America? Do you own a gun? Do you love democracy? Then vote for Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream. It's probably Constitutional"

"Got Milk? Then make me some Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream"

"Our children are the future. They can achieve so much. They grew upon Peanut Butter. The average American child will eat 1,500 peanut butter sandwiches by the time he or she graduates from high school. Fact. So vote for Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream. Keep our children great."

"Peanut Butter Chocolate. Don't be hatin'"

"That's what she said...after eating Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream"

"In a world were there is so much conflict between colors, tastes and flavors why can't we just work together? Peanut Butter Chocolate does."

"Vote for Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice-cream. Hey, it's better than crack, right?"

Official Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Campaign headquarters

Tuesday night TV

Every Tuesday it always feels like it should be Ghost Hunters night. The Sci-Fi reality show based on the The-Atlantic-Paranormal-Society. I don't know why. So, I am always disappointed when I realise that the show is on Wednesday nights instead. I think the new ones start at 9:00pm and it's quite honestly the best reality show on tv. Even for the highly sceptical. I just wish they would focus more on EVP's. They always give me goosebumps. Anyway, so last night I got home and had the 'tube' on and instead of paranormal investigations I was accidentally sucked into watching American Idol...possibly the first time since the show began this season. They are down to 8 contestants...but I think the reason neither Ms Allclick or I changed the channel was because of Jason Castro's excellent performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Yer, I was surprised too! I wasn't quite convinced with any of the female performers. Syesha Mercado sounded good on the re-cap ( and no I don't know their names already...I had to look them up) but I missed her complete performance. It always makes me laugh though when it's Paula's time to comment on the performance. She loves them all! She rarely ever says a bad thing. If it were me receiving praise from Paula it would mean less than nothing. I heard she almost let a singing dog through the final.

So the TV stayed on Fox and after "Idol" was "Hell's Kitchen" with Gordon Ramsey. I had watched the first episode of this season last week...again unintentionally and so I had some vested interest. It's the first time I've actually seen this show (including last week of course) and it's been pretty entertaining. I prefer the Kitchen Nightmare's however as at least you see Gordon being nice for a while. It feels like on HK he is being mean and nasty because his producers told him to but on KN he is able to show more of himself. Still, in the desert (or perhaps dessert) of good television right now you could do a lot worse than Hell's Kitchen.

Pay-as-you-go-go

Never has a more apt name been coined for the time of cell phone you can now easily pick-up at any store practically. The Pay-As-You-Go phone. And pay you will. This month for inexplicable reasons my credit "expired" 5 days before it was scheduled too. I'm really looking forward to the customer service call that I'm going to have to take place but it may give me some insight into what the phone company actually knows about users on the Pay-as-you-go plan. Can they tell whether it was a clerical error? Did I actually spend my credit rather than it expiring early? And how will they know? I used to have a contract phone. It was a pretty good deal. A bunch of texts and minutes and I'd get a free upgrade every time I renewed my contract. Things seem to have changed recently though with the contract phone. Apparently now you have to sign yourself up for life in order to get a contract. A year was obviously too short a time for the money hungry phone companies, now they want your commitment for 18 months, two years. What will happen when that is not enough? Pledging your cell phone allegiance at birth?

At least with my phone I don't have to go through that contract business. I do have to put credit on about twice a month though. Mainly because AT&T like to send me "free" text messages that actually cost me a dollar if I hadn't used my phone that day. Thanks AT&T. What I find interesting is the automated service for recharging my phone, or paying bills from most companies actually. Have a listen. Next time you use one of those phone services and you enter in your card number, expiration date and maybe the zip code the phone will go silent then it sounds like you can hear someone actually typing in your information. Why is that? Have they just recorded someone typing or is it live? I may try screaming for help down my phone as I hear the noise to test it.

The Ruins

Well for the first time since January Ms. AllClick and I finally made it out to the cinema. There just didn't really seem like anything worth going to see since umm Cloverfield? Maybe. It's hard to remember what the last film was that I saw on the big screen. I suppose it's due to the time of year, the fact that the oscars are so far away now or perhaps it's just my imagination. Either way I was missing the cinema experience and we thought "The Ruins" might actually be an interesting movie.

I'm not a fan of the horror genre..but I am a fan of movies based on books. I can't wait for the big screen adaptation of the Dictionary *silence*. Anyway, movies based on books seem to always have a reason. That is everything the characters do is for a reason, it has to have an explanation and it has a purpose in the plot. I guess it's because the writer (Scott Smith) probably had to revise the story several times before he arrived at the finished novel.

So, this film follows a group of 20 somethings out to Mexico and they discover some uncharted ruins and get in a whole heap of trouble. Nice premise if not terribly original. However, the story unfolds at a decent pace, the gore is expected but not over the top. There are a few scares, a lot of creepiness and a focus on the psychological. Not bad for a genre that is well worn. I found myself liking the movie while watching it and so this was a good sign. Overall I'd say 6 out of 10. Not a film for everyone but an interesting tale.

Putnam County Animal Relief Shelter

I had the great opportunity to visit the Putnam County Animal Relief Shelter a couple of weeks ago over in Winfield. It's not a very long drive from my house and I had heard about it so much that I thought I better do something productive for the community and check it out. I honestly had a great time. I had planned on staying there for two hours but after I had walked a couple of the dogs and been inducted and shown around the place only an hour had passed. So I played with the cats and the puppies and after another 45 minutes I headed on home. It can be a pretty tough experience being there, hoping that these animals will find a decent home. I would guess that when people do come to adopt the head straight for the puppies or kittens. The younger animals. I had a chance to walk one of the dogs that was certainly not a younger dog, but had way more energy than me and certainly out ran me and was such a well behaved dog. I hope she isn't overlooked because of her age. Another volunteer there said that she and her husband had visited a few times and walked some of the dogs to get the feel of them before adopting which I think is a great idea. Don't just look at the animals through the cages but walk them, pet them, play with them and spread some love before you choose one. So I recommend heading over there to spend some time with these lovely animals, adopt one or two perhaps and as Bob Barker would say "Spay or neuter your pets."

The Putnam County Animal Relief Shelter says this on their Petfinder.com website:

If interested, call the shelter at 304-586-0249. Shelter hours are M, W, F, and SA 10-3 and Tuesday's and Thursday's 12-6, so that you may have time to look and fill out paperwork- closed Sunday. Cost: dogs are $40, Cats $35.00 which includes sterilization, first shots, first worming, and if over 16 weeks a Rabies vaccination.

In the mood for music?

I checked out a great new website last night. Well new to me at least called Musicovery.com
The premise is that you select the kind of mood you are in from Calm to Energetic and Positive to Dark and then it selects a virtual web of songs to play to compliment your mood. You can register for free and select your favourites or remove songs from the list. You can choose specific decades or genres and then watch a colourful web of hits unfold. You don't have to register to just listen but you will have to register to save your playlist. It's well worth a 5 minute glance but may take a while to load up on slow machines. Here's a great song that came up in my playlist today. It's called Banquet by Bloc Party. Awesome.

My bite of the Big Apple

I have been to New York twice now and had very different experiences both times. The first time I was pretty much in awe. I was seeing all the famous sights I recognised from TV. The statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Central Park...I even snapped a pic of the steaming sewer/subway grate! I never even realised that wasn't just a special effect. Or perhaps it is something they do just for the tourists. It was a sight-seeing trip mostly so I tried to fit in as much as possible. Grand Central station was pretty impressive too!

My second trip was much different. I got to experience more of a real New York. I ate in deli's, China town and wandered through little Italy. I hailed a New York yellow cab. I went to see the Today show being filmed out in the street. Hailing a cab is certainly an experience. Especially for a self-conscious Brit. You get to stand out in the street and draw attention to yourself intentionally and uncomfortably while a thousand cabs drive past. I guess it's an experience that grows on you. Most of the cab drivers we had were great. They were fast but safe and relatively friendly. The only time I felt uncomfortably was the trip we took where I had to avoid the puddle of unknown liquid by my feet. What made it worse was that it was our longest cab ride and seemed to be completely out of the way of where we wanted to go (they have those handy digital maps in the back of the cabs now). And I didn't even get to win any money :-(.

I enjoyed the big city but I don't think I could ever really feel at home there. The rush of crowds on every single street, the distrust and air of underlying mild frustration that lingered on people, the 12 Starbucks on every block. The fact that everything is open late was great but it just wasn't me. I have to say though that New York has some kick-ass cheesecake. I'm yet to find decent cheesecake in West Virginia. So please let me know if you find some.

Easter...a time for eggs

Well Easter has come and gone and thankfully the Easter bunny dropped off a load of Easter candy for me. Cadbury's mini eggs by the bag load. Yum! Strangely enough the mini eggs I received this year looked incredibly like smaller robins egg. I would happen to know this because outside of my front door there happens to be a robins nest perched quite happily on a broken lamp on my neighbours stoop. I had the chance to take a couple of snaps which I'll get around to uploading at some point and the nest is really incredible. It looks man-made if you could see how neat and tidy and well made it is. I was impressed! Hopefully those little eggs will hatch sometime soon and maybe I can snap a couple more pictures. I have to say I'm pretty excited and feel a little like Bill Odie. Which only adds to my excitement.

Great movie death scenes: Alien

Remember when you watched this movie for the first time? I'm not sure if I do. But everytime I think of the movie I love this death scene. The whole film is fantastic. From the slow and suitably quiet camera pans throughout the ship to the real spacecrafty looking spacecraft and vague but tremendously scary aliens themselves. The whole cast are fantastic. You'll spend the first 30 minutes screaming at the movie "Don't do that!! It's an alien! no!!" but then as this scene rolls around at last you have the smug satisfaction of "I told you so". Brilliant and look at those very real reactions ;-)

A return from the city: Amtrak.

Well I spent the last few days chilling out in the Big Apple. Well actually I didn't get to do that much chilling. But I had a great time. I'll probably write some more on the experience in a few days time when I'm caught up on sleep. I travelled by train and here are some train related revelations from my trip:

1. If you go by train you can travel through 7 states in one day.

2. Getting a chance to sleep laying down, in the dark, in the quiet, on a bed on a 13 hour trip is great.

3. Train food ain't that bad.

4. Train bathrooms are.

5. The most scenic part of the journey is here in good ole WV (of course).

6. After leaving the train you'll spend at least 12 hours feeling like your still rocking.

7. Having a toilet in your train room sounds like a better idea than it is.

Lunch choices and why I dislike change

Well I just got back from having lunch "out" today. It's something I like to do at least once a week as it's a nice break from eating home made sandwiches and a good chance to socialize. I have to say that I don't like change. I'm a creature of habit. And this will even affect my choice of where I like to eat. I choose Husson's pizza today. It's somewhere I'm familiar with but it's not just the actual building and layout that I need to be aware of. It's the whole process. From where you order, what payments they accept, the likely cost, the choice of drinks, how you get your food, and where the restroom is. Knowing all of these things allows me to relax and feel at home in such a place.

I have a real limit sense of taste in that I dislike a lot of food. I've probably mentioned it before but it kinda annoys me when I'm referred to as "a fussy eater". It's not that I CHOOSE not to eat certian foods, it's that the taste is just incredibly unpleasant to me. The worst part about it is I can actually taste the pickle/tomato juice even once it's been removed from a sandwich/plate. Most of the time it's likely to be in my head I'm sure. So my taste in food often has an impact on whether or not I try new places but not more so than the familiarity.

So when I do go to a new restaurant (such as the excellent Thai House in Dunbar) I feel like I can't relax. I'm constantly analyzing the culture of the place. How often are the servers coming over, what condiments are there, where is a good place to sit, what's the lighting like, what the heck will my tip be....the list goes on.

This week I'll be getting a great opportunity to try a lot of new restaurants so that should be pretty fun. It's a good job that even change won't put me off my appetite.

The Wal-Mart Cometh

The day has finally arrived. The Hurricane Wal-mart is apparently open today. Ms Allclick alerted me just now that wsaz.com is reporting it opened this morning at 7:30am. I was pretty sure it was going to open Saturday. Hmm I guess when you are nearly a year late opening that one day doesn't really make much difference. Perhaps we'll go up there this weekend and check it out. I'll give you all the skinny when I get back. I expect it will look, smell, sound and taste like every other Wal-Mart but you never know.

While I'm rambling about Wal-Mart it reminds me to mention that the store is supposed to bring other businesses to the area. Now, the Hurricane/Teays Valley/Scott Depot area has an incredible need for some decent sit-down restaurants. It's like a barren wasteland. So with the new Wal-mart I was hoping for something a steak house, decent burger place, somewhere for ribs or wings. Turns out that the only food place opening is a Rocky top pizza which I've never even heard of. They are also building another car lot up there.

If there is anything Hurricane doesn't need it's more pizza places and more car lots.

Just for my own amusements heres a list of places to get a pizza in the area of the top of my head:

Gino's, Fox's, Monty's, Papa John's, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Graziano, Kali's, Subway, Schlotsky's and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. So, please someone build some restaurants in Putnam. We're starving up here.

New movie Countdowns

If you scroll down my page a bit you will find some new countdowns to a couple of the most anticipated films of the year...in my opinion. The new Indy film and the new Batman film. Awesome. If you haven't checked out the new Indiana Jones trailer then go find it. If you can't find a better version then here it is for you in tiny widescreen.

Who opened the flood gates?

No I'm afraid I'm not about to report on the flooding of the Grand Canyon recently. I'm still not really sure what that was all about, I mean it must take an entire ocean to fill that baby up! In fact I'm talking about my blog. I like to watch the stats on my blog. It's just plain interesting to see the amount of people who accidentally and intentional visit. Sometimes it even gives me a little boost of enthusiasm and makes me put extra effort into my posts. Sometimes it just makes me wonder why the heck so many people are searching for "irrational thoughts".

My usual daily total is about 30 peeps. I'm happy with that. More would be great but I'd probably feel more pressure to have some decent posts. So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I discovered that about 372 visitors viewed my blog on Wednesday! I really couldn't understand it. Had I written something that was coming up in a search engine a lot? Was there a sudden demand for reading a Brits views of West Virginia??

Turns out it was none of those things. But instead the website http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ had a link to my incredibly insightful post about Tudor's Biscuits. I hope those 372 visitors are enlightened now with the knowledge of my love for Tudor's. Thanks for the name drop Passiveaggressivenotes.com and thanks for stopping by.

It seems today my visitor count is back into my comfort range again so thanks to my "loyal" readers also!

March Madness

Well I haven't posted a single blog post in March! And here we are on the 6th already. Whilst waiting for an appointment to begin I thought I would check in with my blog and at least have something new to look at when I load up my own page. I have been pretty distracted thinking about a bunch of different things and idea and activities and have had less time to make witty observations about the world, America and West Virginia which is a shame.

I was reminded this week that a new experience for me since I entered the states was the "visit to the vet". Now I've never had any pets before. Both my brothers are terrified of cats and dogs and so that kinda ruled out any pets that needed any significant attention. We had a couple of goldfish I seem to remember and a hamster called "Harry" that lasted less than a year and was surprisingly unfriendly. But I've always loved animals and so am delighted to spend time with my current adopted cats. So, going to the vet was a new one to me. I have to say it's probably the most entertaining waiting room I've ever been in despite smelling the worst. We waited for about an hour as other pets went through like the young cat who had lost most of its ears from jumping into an oven and then having the burnt parts nibbled off by it's mother and giant dogs called "Thor" who really didn't want to be there.

It went fine which was a relief for us. And the cat got a treat for going too.

I can't really report whether culturally it is any different. The people in the waiting room were friendly but I suspect that that is usually due to a animal loving personality rather than anything else. Still that's one more new experience to add to the list. Now I just need to find me a "hollow".