The NBA season kicked off last night. Lots of games, lots of TV coverage. ESPN hasn’t done the NBA games in quite a while and they are covering them now.

I have to say it; LeBron James is getting way too much publicity. I mean, really. He’s 18 (19 in November) and while he is playing great right now, he won’t maintain it. If he does, he’ll be the first rookie since Wilt Chamberlain to do it. He really put up some numbers last year in high school, but this is The League. The NBA. How many players did he face last year that will actually make it to The League? Do you really think the guys got to The League to share the spotlight with some 18 year old kid? NO WAY! That being said, I hope he does well. The problem is that he is on the same team with Ricky Davis and there is only one basketball on the floor at a time; Ricky does like to shoot. He is a throw-back to the give-and-go offense. You know… give me the ball and go to the other end after I shoot.

On a different team, Carmelo Anthony seems to be having his share of struggles. He is the only rookie that is the feature scorer for his team. (Ricky Davis is the feature scorer for Cleveland, not LeBron.) While this will increase his chances at getting Rookie of the Year, his numbers may not be as good because he is going to draw the opponent’s best defender.

The Spurs, however, are still the team to beat. No one in The League can stop Tim Duncan. The Lakers have made themselves better, but I hope the off-court crap won’t catch up with them. Kobe has to learn to keep his pecker in his pocket. I know, I know - nothing has been proven in a court of law. That doesn’t mean that he was right or smart about what he did.

Looks like it’s going to be a great season. I’m going to enjoy the games!

So I was driving home after work tonight and really got to looking at the cars around me. I don’t know why; maybe because with the daylight savings time change I won’t get to do that much longer. ANYWAY…. I was looking at the cars around me and wondering:

Why is it that the more rusted and run-down and dinged up a car looks, the more NASCAR stickers it seems to have?

I have finished putzing with the templates. I have checked out all the different aspects and they seem OK. How about some input? Do you like? I don’t plan on making any changes in the near future, but if I find something that I like or something that needs changing then I’ll be digging into the templates.

One of my favorite holidays is coming. I mean, hey, I like all holidays but Halloween is really cool. Lots of candy and good clean partying. Dressing up like a maniac and scaring the bejeezus out of people! How cool is that?!

I like the horror movie genre as long as it is not overboard on the gore. I really like the sub-genre of vampire movies and TV shows. In fact, I told KC that I saw the first season of the TV series Forever Knight is coming out on DVD. Her reaction - we HAVE to get it! We used to watch that show a lot when it was on SciFi in just-after prime time.

Now I’m not into Goth or anything but I do like the vampire movies. AMC and TCM have been showing a lot of the older horror movies involving Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy and Frankenstein’s monster. All the old black and white versions up to the most recent ones. Very cool for a horror movie fan and a great way to celebrate the Halloween season!

When the kids were younger we went the The District of Rock Island and the Nine Nights of the Living Dead celebration. It was cool; they had people going around in costumes, really good haunted houses, “family” specials at the local bars, and all-around fun for the family. The evening culminated in a laser light show played to a mix of Halloween rock tunes. You know, Monster Mash, Frankenstein, etc. Also, it ran for nine evenings, just like the name implied. It’s kind of sad to see that the Nine Nights have degenerated to a single Fright Night. It still looks cool, but nothing like the Nine Nights.

KC and I made it back home safely, but what a great time we had at my brother’s place at Boulder.

Thursday afternoon we spent some time at the FlatIron Crossing Mall. It is a pretty good-sized mall and has a ton of shops. It was rather interesting because part of it is an outdoor mall and part is an indoor mall. I thought having an outdoor mall is rather strange in that area as they do get a lot of snow and a lot of cold weather, but I guess that’s why I don’t get the big bucks! We had to stop somewhere to get some Red Robin spice and picked some up at the restaurant in the mall. We also checked out some other stores and really didn’t buy much, except for some sugar-free chocolates in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shop there.

Thursday evening we went to the Boulder Dinner Theater and saw their production of Chicago. It was a great show. My brother says that they have been reviewed by the Denver Post; John Moore, theater critic for the Denver Post, gave it a rave. I’d have to agree. While live theater is always different from a movie, this time the difference was refreshing. I thought it was a great production and also a really good meal. I have no complaints and no, I’m not saying this just because my brother was in the band!

Friday afternoon we toured the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado. Golden is a small town of about 18,000; it is a 45 minute drive from my brother’s house. The brewery tour was very interesting. I learned a lot about the way Coors brews beer and found that it is different than Budweieser and Miller. I also got to taste a few of the beers that they brew (only three 8-ounce samples were free).

Friday evening we went to the Denver Nuggets final preseason game. From what I saw, the Nuggets should be competitive this year. They may not make the playoffs and they may not get to a .500 record, but they should at least be close in most of the games. It will be interesting to see how their season plays out. While I was not impressed with their transition from defense to offense, their transition from offense to defense was good. They seemed more ready to defend than to run their offense. This is a good sign at this point of the season. A big thank-you should go to the client/friend of my sister-in-law as the seats were row five at center court. I could almost smell the sweat!

Saturday morning we watched the Hawks play in the Lazy Dog Sports Bar & Grill; they were not the regional game for Colorado, so we had to go someplace for the satellite viewing. We had some appetizers during the first half and had lunch at half time. It was a great place to watch the game as Colorado has banned smoking in the bars; makes for a clearer view of the projection TV screen. Oh, by the way, the Hawks won 26-14 over Penn State.

We made it in one piece. I am typing this post from my brother’s kitchen. No harm, no foul. We stayed last night in Lincoln, NE, at a place called the Settle Inn. Yeah, I know, it sounds kind of hokey. However, it was a nice rate; we spent about $55 for the night and a breakfast bar. I had a waffle and KC had cereal for breakfast. Made some nice time after that. We stopped at North Platte for lunch at a pizza/pasta place called Valentino’s. The only thing offered was a buffet; no a la carte ordering. But the pizza was OK, the pasta was good and I had a brownie a la mode for dessert. Nice place.

Well, I’m waiting for my company email to download to the laptop so I can check in and make sure there are no fires for me to put out and to let others know that I am not abandoning my application support. I may post during our stay here in beautiful downtown Superior, but I’m not going to make any special effor to do so.

I hope our return trip will be as uneventful as our trip out!

No, it’s not Jackie Gleason folks. KC and I are headed to sunny Colorado. That’s right — Colorado. We leave tomorrow after I get off of work. We are going there to visit my brother and his wife. While we are there we plan to take in a few of the events there.

First off, my brother plays in the pit band at the Boulder Dinner Theater. They are presently in a run of the show Chicago, which won some Oscars last year as a movie. Both KC and I are looking forward to this. I haven’t been to live theater in quite a while and then it was the local players. I’d like to think that the Boulder Dinner Theater has a better caliber of actors.

We are also going to take in a Denver Nuggets game. It is the final pre-season game and is against the Indiana Pacers. There is a little local interest for us in the game. Ryan Bowen, a member of the Nuggets, played collegiately at the University of Iowa and is from Fort Madison, Iowa. Jamaal Tinsley, a member of the Pacers, played collegiately at Iowa State University. Yeah, I know it is only a preseason game, but I am looking forward to this.

We also plan on doing some of the touristy, sight-seeing things. I hope to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park and check out the scenery. I’ve been up there before but it doesn’t fail to take my breath away. Also, I hope to take a tour of the Coors brewery. No, not to drink; just to check it out. I have toured other breweries and I’d like to compare the Coors set up to Miller and Budweiser. And of course, we will have to go to a Red Robin restaurant to get a burger and also to pick up some of their Red Robin Spice. It is simply the best spice to use on burgers and fries!

I’ve made some changes to the site. I plan on tweaking it some more. At this point, I hope that it is readable and pleasing to the eye. As I learn more about the Movable Type system, I hope to incorporate more goodies. Anyway, it is time to go to bed tonight. Gots to get up early and chase the dollar!

   Looks like my setups are complete. I have changed my w.bloggar settings to use Movable Type on my own site. Oh joy! Now I can get back to the business of posting content rather than my upgrade history.

I just received an email from a friend. He usually sends me jokes; really GOOD jokes! But this time it was different. Apparently there is a rock in west-central Iowa near the small town of Greenfield. A local person painted a mural on the rock, and what a mural it is. Here is the link. All I thought when I saw it was WOW! Not only is the mural intricate and detailed, it is about as patriotic as you can get merging history and recent events. Again, what a rock!

The entries from my old blog have been imported. I am now using Movable Type for my blogging. The Blogger entries have been successfully imported. Off we go, into the wild blue yonder……

Well, I did it. I purchased some web space and have my own domain. I will post it as soon as it is refreshed to the internet’s DNS. I have installed Movable Type and will be using that as my blog software when I make the move. I have a lot of work to do before then. Let’s hope that I get the time to do this stuff and I can follow the directions that come with MT. At least the next “hibernation” of my blog will be of use!