Someone school me on Star Wars

I watched Star Wars with the boys yesterday, it was the 3rd one (I think), the one with the Sith in it. After the first five minutes I was lost. I just couldn't get past the fact that Luke Skywalker and Princess Leah were siblings. Wha? Any way... I loved Star Wars when I was a kid. I remember standing in line for 2 hours to see it when it first came out. It was pretty hot that day and we stood in the sun for it seemed an eternity. My best freinds mom even threw up and passed out from the heat (we later found out that she was really hungover from the Molly Hatchet concert the night before). Anakin, was Lukes son? Or father? I'll never get it. I give up. I'm just going to stick with Napoleon Dynomite.

Oh, and I have a huge crush on Anthony Bourdain. There is something about him that intrigues me. He's not that handsome, his earring looks stupid and what is he, a buck thirty ringing wet? I just love to watch his show on the travel channel. Maybe it's because we both have the same things in common we like to travel and we like to eat.

The God Damned Duck

I must introduce you to the God Damned Duck. Bloggy friends, The God Damned Duck. The God Damned Duck, Bloggy friends. Good, now you know each other. So here is the story of The GD duck. For as long as Mark can remember his grandfather Bopey (all the grandchildren called him Bopey, even better they called his grandmother Mummies, yikes!) had this duck on the hearth of the fireplace at their home, it was his prized possesion. When he was a toddler this duck was like a flashing neon sign that said "PLAY WITH ME". His grandfather on the other hand was dead set againts any of the children playing with The GD Duck. He would spend summers with his grandparents in Pasadena and always gravitated toward his grandfathers duck, just to look at it, give it a pet and say hello. His grandfather always said the same thing when he was 6 feet from The GD Duck: "Get away from the God Damned Duck!" (hence, the name). So of course this duck became Pavlovs dog for the grandchildren, Mark being the oldest grandchild, this duck became synonamous with his grandfather. This duck continued to move with them from Pasadena to Arizona and finally with them to Leisure World (aka: Seizure World) in Laguna Niguel. When his grandfather died, The GD Duck stayed with Mummies until her death 2 years ago. So now starts the sucky part. His grandparents had a will but they changed it several times, the last change leaving the his crazy Aunt as executor. Long story short she got hungry with power and put all of their possesions in storage and staged an estate sale and started selling off all of thier things. Anything we wanted we had to buy. However, most of the valuable items she kept for herself, including The GD Duck, which everyone wanted for some reason. After a court battle between the siblings, it came down to drawing straws at the storage unit, and winner gets the first pick of all their possesions in the storage unit. Mark's mom picked the largest straw and gets to pick first. She goes through box after box and what does she see? Yep, The GD Duck! She wrapped it up and gave it to Mark for Christmas. You should have seen his face when he opened it and the first words out of his mouth were "The God Damned Duck!". So now The GD Duck sits in the den. His legs have been severed from his body but with some epoxy and rubbing compound The GD Duck is looking hot! I inspected it closely the other day and noticed that it was handmade in Spain the company being Bidasoa. I mean it is really hideous looking, but I bet anything it is worth something even with the injury. Mark would not part with it though, not for a million dollars.

Seattle Slew

Seattle is a great city. Good beer. Good times. Here are some highlights:

At the top'o the Space NEEDLE

View from the needle

We watched the Seahawks game in the room

Gotta love room service and football

Happy New Year!

2007. Time flies when your having fun? I still can't believe 2006 is history. Is it me or do the years seem to fly by. I guess it's a good thing considering the waiting game we are playing, but STILL, man! This year I plan on doing a few things. I know it is a total cliche but I need to actually USE my gym membership not just pay for it each month, after the 'personal trainer incident of '06', I need to get back on the horse. The other thing I want to do is become more involved in our business. Right now I just do the minimum of what I need to do, but there is so much more that I can get involved in. I need to buckle down and get on the program. There, they are out in the open, so now I don't have any other choice than to do it.

Well to bring in the new year, my birthday, and Conner's 2nd straight 'A' report card, we are going to Seattle for a few days as of tommorrow. Conner, my rock star, loves everything Jimi Hendrix so we are going to the Experience Music Project, an interactive rock and roll museum and home to the Jimi Hendrix exhibit. We are going to check out the Space Needle, Pikes Market, The Underground tour and the Sci Fi museum and anything else we can pack in. The weather channel indicates that it will rain the entire time we are there (of course), but since it rarely rains in San Diego it will be pretty cool to stomp around in the rainy weather. So, until Sunday I bid a soggy farewell.