For Tracie

Ask and ye shall receive! :)

Thursday Thirteen -- 10/26/06

Hello everyone!!! Hopefully you have had a wonderful week. For mer personally, it has been a very good week. This week I thought I would give you my 13 favorite actors and actresses (definitely not in ANY particular order):

1. Sean Penn -- I think he is one of the most versatile, under-rated actors out there. Sure, we remember him from Fast Time at Ridgemont High as Spiccolli, but one of his best roles ever was in Dead Man Walking. Finally he received some recognition.

2. Jeannie Tripplehorn -- You are probably thinking "WHO?" Well, for those of you who have seen "The Firm", she was the wife of Tom Cruise...phenominal actress

3. Denzel Washington -- There isnt a movie he has ever made that I havent liked. From "Training Day" to "John Q" to "Out of Time"....such an awesome actor!

4. J.T. Walsh -- Again, you are probably thinking "WHO?" A character actor, his best role I feel was in one of my favorite movies "A Few Good Men". He was Lt Markinson, Col Jessep's right hand man. Its ashame he received his accolades after he died.

5. Alan Alda -- I first loved him in M*A*S*H, but came to enjoy seeing him in movies such as "Murder at 1600" and on TV shows such as ER and The West Wing. Such a talent. Did you know his real name is Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo? I bet you didnt

6. James Garner -- For those of you who only know him as Rockford from "Rockford Files", you REALLY have to see him in "The Notebook"...it will bring tears to your eyes. I definitely changed my view of him after seeing that movie.

7. Sandra Bullock -- From "28 Days" to "The Net" to "Miss Congeniality", she can be a very serious actress, very smart, and very KaPOW! HOT! :) OK, so I think she is pretty! SHOOT ME! LOL

8. Philip Seymour Hoffman -- From films such as "Twister" where he was a hell-raising rebel without a cause, to very serious roles such as "Capote", he has been pretty much unrecognized. However,I find his work truly amazing.

9. Lorraine Bracco - I first saw her as the wife of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) in "Goodfellas". But, I really love her character as Dr Jennifer Melfi in "The Sopranos". She brings sexy back to life!

10. Chris Noth -- Made famous by his character on "Law & Order", he has made repeat appearances on the spin-offs, and L&O movies, as well as starring as Mr. Big in "Sex & The City". Awesome actor

11. Richard Belzer - Another L&O Alum...I found this very interesting about him (from IMDB): He is the only actor to play the same character, Detective John Munch, in eight different series: "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order" (1990), "The X Files" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), "The Beat" (2000), "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005), "Arrested Development" (2003) and "Sesame Street" (1969). He appeared on the latter as a Muppet version of the character in a sketch called "Law & Order: Special Letters Unit".

12. Andre Braugher -- Another "Homicide" alum, I liked his character not only in Homicide, but also in the movie "City of Angels". I really liked his gritty (dont mess with me) character in the FX series "Thief" -- I REALLY hope they bring that back!

13. Maura Tierney -- I love her character "Abby Charmichael" on ER. I was really hoping this would propel her movie career, but unfortunatley another great, yet under-rated, actress. Such a shame! There are so many roles she could have played, and probably done a better job

Well, there ya have it - 13 of some actor/actresses I feel deserve much more than they have gotten to this point. I hope you all have a wonderful week. But before I go, I gotta give prop's to my boy Bill for his first TT13 -- WAY TO GO Bill!! :) Check our his page here -- its his first TT13

J-Dawg

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Thursday Thirteen -- 10/19/06

HELLO!!!! And welcome eveyrone to another EXCITING edition of the Thursday Thirteen. This week has been a pretty busy week. Between work, everyday life, and everything else, I havent really had much time for myself this week. SO this week, I thought I would talk about 13 things I have learned this week:

1. From time to time, I am going to start off by showing you a fellow TT13er's page who I took the time to read. This week, I have chosen Southern Girl's page. I find her writing interesting, and I hope you will pay her a visit.

2. Sometimes, the littles things mean the world to me, and the people on the other end dont even know it, or if they do know it, never say anything. The other morning, I received a text, and it totally set my day off on the right foot :) With me its always been about the little things. To them this was a little thing. To me, it was a big thing because it meant to me they took time out of their busy day to spend time with me, even if it was just a quick moment to send a text, or a quick call to say hi, or a voicemail just to say I was thinking of you.

3. Acquaintances come and acquaintances go, but friendships last the test of time. Even when you do a drunk-dial. For those who are not familiar with drunk-dialing, this is when you get drunk (I was at my house) and at ungodly hours of the AM you decide to call your friends and find out how they are! And yet, the next morning, all is forgotten, except the "what did I say to you last night" call.

4. You can have fun playing internet pranks on friends. A friend of mine, Rick, keeps saying he doesnt have time to do a MySpace page, so another friend of mine, who is also friend's with Rick decided to "help" him. So Raul and myself decided to create a MySpace page for Rick, and then help him get some "friends". SOOOO we decided to have some fun, make some comments, and we are reveailing the page to him this week. Click here to view my page, Raul's page, and Rick's page designed by Raul and I. :) I should probably warn you, most of the information is on Rick's page is NOT true - more for comic writing and a good laugh than anything. Once we reveal the page to Rick, we will put up true and accurate information -- so click and have a laugh. Raul's page and my page are accurate.

5. Sometimes, people just dont get it. You can sit there and talk til your blue in the face, draw them a picture, buy them a clue, and still they will say "Can you go over that again?"....someone buy me a drink LOL (just one!)

6. I really am not the martar I make myself out to me. Yes, even I crack, and crumble, and have moments where I just break down. This week, for whatever reason, I did over some of the smallest things (See this post from earlier this week).

7. Even though at work, I am the go-to guy for alot of situations, and verification of legal procedures on border crossings into and out of Canada. I literally had to walk over to someone, tell them they didnt know what they were talking about, point out the error to them, and verbally verify not once, but twice, that they had old information.....again, some people's kids!

8. Nickelback, after almost a full year, has finally released one of the best songs off the album (not THE best song in my humble opinion, but ONE of the best) Far Away. Why so long?

9. Why do people find the need to "one-up"? Tonight, at work, I was describing a situation, and from the bellows of hell, came a comment from someone else "well you think that is bad...." I kinda let it go, then later on, I was talking to another co-worker, and here he came again! Its like, DUDE! go away! :) Its an A and B conversation - C your way out of it!

10. I never told TT13 that I did a TT13 last week (I really did! See for yourself!) I cant believe I never went over to TT13 and posted that I wrote! OY! :)

11. Stupdity is bread in Wisconsin (LOL sorry, but you guys have some of the worst drivers I have ever seen!). Two nights ago, coming home from work, I am driving on 172 (major east/west road in town) and it goes from 3 lanes to 2 lanes...all the sudden up the right shoulder comes a guy, passes on the shoulder, hits the loose gravel, shoots across 2 lanes of traffic, and came close to losing it !!!! WHY!! Because you couldnt wait the 30 seconds for the car that was passing me to pass me? I hope whatever fire you were trying to get to was worth all that!

12. I am really boring at times! Like tonight. I would much rather type this, than do laundry. Sure, I can do it in the morning, but these were my choices! A or B -- not like was down to G.

13. A huge thank you to my closest friends Elisa (my ½ Pint sister), Rick, Bill, Jodi, Sharon, Laura, Joe, Chrystal, Amy, John, Jeff, and Curt. I know I havent been the easiest to be around this week. Your friendship is second to none. Know that you are appreciated.

With that being said, I am going to crawl into bed, and call it a night. Many thanks and make it a wonderful week!

J

Emotional Distress

Ever have one of those days that the smallest of things makes you cry? Make you more emotional than normal? Make you think of things you havent thought of in ages? Yeah, well today is one of those days.

It started with a story on the Iran Hostages on ESPN...one of the hostages came home to a 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter, neither of which wanted to spend time with him, because to them, he was a stranger (he was held captive for 444 days!). Well, then I thought what if my kids dont want to be with me? Of course I got all emotional. I could never live without my kids, and I fear the thought of ever leaving them on this earth.

Then, while eating breakfast, I turned on the TV and was watching ER. I only caught the tail-end of the episode, but there was a song playing in the backgound. Of course, I had never heard the song before, but HAD to find out who it was. It was a song called "The Promise" by Tracy Chapman. Now I have never been a fan of Tracy Chapman's music....it just never really appealed to me. So when I saw the lyrics, it was the song I had heard. Reading the lyrics, my immediate thoughts were of a friend of mine.

Like I said, my emotions are in overdrive -- who knows why things like this happen. Could be the weather, the time of year, the sheer madness of my life (yeah right!) -- I know alot of times I come across as "nothing bothers me"...but somedays, this is just a facade hiding the true feelings I am having at that moment. Even this tough guy (again, yeah right) has days that just dont go well. Apparently this is going to be one of them

To add to that today, I dropped a cable, and when I backed up in my chair to find out where it had landed, I rolled over it, breaking the cable. Apparently Green Bay doesnt have a decent electronics store. I spend 5 mins bouncing between computers and wireless at Best Buy. Circuit City didnt even know what I was talking about...oy! This town frustrates me to no end somedays.

I hope you all have a great day. I am going to get my day started (yeah, its after 1230 here now already!)

J

Thursday Thirteen 10/12/2006

Hello and welcome to (a very late) Thursday Thirteen. In the last week, I have seen one of my top movies A Few Good Men on TV...so I thought I would throw out there 13 of my favorite quotes from that movie...not in ANY order :

1. Col. Jessep : "We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline."
2. Lt Galloway: "You planning on doing any investigating or are you just gonna take the guided tour?"
3. Lt Weinberg: "Commander, Lt. Kaffee's generally considered the best litigator in our office. He's successfully plea bargained 44 cases in nine months."
Lt Kaffee: "One more, and I got a set of steak knives."
4. Lt Spradling: "Yeah, well your client thought it was marijuana."
Lt Kaffee: "My client's a moron, that's not against the law."
5. Lt Weinberg: "I strenuously object? Is that how it works? Objection. Overruled. No, no, no, no, I strenuously object. Oh, well if you strenuously object, let me take a moment to reconsider."
6. Col Jessep: "You have to ask me nicely. You see, Danny, I can deal with the bullets and the bombs and the blood. I can deal with the heat and the stress and the fear. I don't want money and I don't want medals. What I want is for you to stand there in that faggoty white uniform, and with your Harvard mouth, extend me some fuckin' courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely."
7. Col Jessep: "I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I'd prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to."
8. Lt Kaffee: "You really gotta hand it to those Federal Marshals, boy. (he almost has to laugh) It's not like he hanged himself by his shoelaces or slashed his wrists with a concealed butter knife. This guy got, into full dress uniform, stood in the middle of that room, drew a nickle plated pistol from his holster, and fired a bullet into his mouth. Anyway, since we seem to be out of witnesses, I thought I'd drink a little. "
9. Lt Weinberg: "Remember to wear your whites, it's hot down there."
Lt Kaffee: "I don't like the whites."
Lt Weinberg: “Nobody likes the whites, but we're going to Cuba in August. You got Dramamine?“
Lt Kaffee: “Dramamine keeps you cool? “
Lt Weinberg: “Dramamine keeps you from throwing up, you get sick when you fly.”
Lt Kaffee: “I get sick when I fly because I'm afraid of crashing into a large mountain, I don't think Dramamine'll help”
Lt Weinberg: “I've got some oregano, I hear that works pretty good.”
Lt Kaffee: “Yeah, right. “
10. Lt Kaffee: “I'll ask for the forth time. You ordered—“
Col Jessep: “You want answers?”
Lt Kaffee: “ I think I'm entitled to them.”
Col Jessep: “You want answers?!”
Lt Kaffee: “I want the truth.”
Col Jessep: “You can't handle the truth!”
11. Col Jessep: “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I'd prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to.”
12. Pvt Downey: “Yes sir. That day, sir. Friday. The Pick-up Private--sir, that's what we call the fella who drops us at our posts and picks us up... also, 'cause he can get girls in New York City -- the Pick-up Private got a flat...”
13. Lt Weinberg: “Look at this. Last night he was swimming in his Jack Daniels, now he can leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

YEAH, its late! But I didnt want another week to go by without a TT13! Have a great weekend, and if you have never seen this movie, I HIGHLY recommend it.

J

Something I read today

Just rummaging around the net, sometimes you find things that make you say HMmmmmmmm (thank you Arsenio Hall). Well, that thought provoking "thing" that I read today really had nothing to do with me, but when I read it, really hit home:

It's better to be hated for who you are
Than loved for who you aren't.

I have no idea who wrote it, and the site I saw it on, didnt reference the writer at all, so if someone DOES know the author, I will amend this to show who wrote it :)

It just really struck me as I read this -- more along the lines of "don't be fake" more than anything. It goes right with everything I hate - fake people. I cant stand people who are fake. It drives me nuts. Intelligent person who plays stupid to get the answer to something - drives me nuts! If you want something, just ask! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Maybe that is why the statement above really just hit home today. Girl at work - very intelligent gal - playing stupid to get me to do something for her. I know damn well she knows how to do it, but just either refuses to, and/or doesnt want to. Either way, I am glad to help, but just ask!!!

OK, now that I am off my little soapbox, life is going along OK - dealing with the day-by-day of being single again. Not really sure how else to sum up everything except - OK for now :) Work is/was keeping me busy -- cut down the OT, so I am pinching really hard on my pennies. Usually we are in our busy season for moving freight, but this year, we just arent moving as much as in years past -- so OT is being slashed everywhere! I hope it picks back up again soon. I need mucho OT dontchaknow!

I have the kids this weekend. I am soooo looking forward to seeing them :) Seems like forever since I have seen them!

That's about it :) Hope all is well wherever it is that you call home! Be safe

J

Another free-write

The winds of change are blowing
Like the crisp Autumn winds
Blowing down the hallowed halls
Of my soul

My heart is a fragile place
One that doesn't like being played with
Trying so hard to do the right thing
But not sure that I am

Like strings on a puppet
Or a guitar
The only song being produced
Is the same song and dance

Like the monkey that dances
On the hot plate at the circus
Why doesnt he just jump off
Why don't I see things for how they really are

Its the same issue
Learned behavior
Wear your heart where everyone can see it
Tapdance on it like a freshly waxed floor

Its hard to learn from your mistakes
When those "mistakes" are who you are
I care about my friends
And sometimes get taken advantage of

I wonder where this road will lead
Hopefully into the arms of an angel
She didnt say yes and she didnt say no
Only time will tell

Those winds of change can sometimes be confusing
As I go through life with my rose-colored lenses
Not knowing around which corner
Will the next hit to my psychie be hiding