My Oscar Picks

Nominated for Best Picture: (Ones I have seen are in Italics)

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The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

Allright, I feel the best picture of the ones I have seen is.......

Inglourious Basterds

Actor: Jeremey Renner of the Hurt Locker is my pick cause I haven't seen the other

four!

Supporting:

Chrisoph Waltz from Inglourious Basterds......gives an amazing performance

And all the rest of them I haven't seen! How bout that

KIndle for Soldiers

I have an idea that I am so excited about that I had to share with you all. Each Soldier stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq has about one cubic foot in their supply packs for personal items......they LOVE reading books in their downtime, but pack space is a huge problem. Each soldier can carry one maybe two paperbacks with them, and according to guys in the field, these are passed around and sometimes re-read 5 or 6 times.

An Amazon Kindle is thinner than a paperback and weighs less then a pound...each one can hold 1,500 books. Imagine giving a soldier this! These guys are going through hell for all of us while I get to relax on my 800 thread count egyptian cotton sheets reading whatever I want on my Kindle....This is the absolute least that we can do. I am in contact with Amazon about this, I want to get at least 10 Kindles out in the field, loaded with books for our guys. I am coordinating with existing care package groups and trying to get requests of what kind of books the soldiers would want....There are companies like "Medge" that make hard plastic waterproof cases, and the Kindle can go for a week on a single battery charge.

Amazon sells the Kindle off it's website for $259.......stay tuned....for updates here and for a new website all coming soon

Shamu Strikes Back

Well as I am sure all of you know by now, a 40 year old female whale trainer was killed today by a 12,300 pound Bull Killer Whale at Sea World in Orlando. Apparently the trainer was involved in the show in front of a live audience when according to one witness, "The Whale swam up, leapt out of the tank and grabbed the trainer in its jaws by the waist and thrased her around" The woman died as a result.

I love Sea World and I love Killer Whales, but folks we are dealing with a 12,000 pound Apex predator and these sorts of things happen...These whales are trapped, tranquilized and sold to the theme parks for upwards of a million dollars a whale, all for our entertainment. Instead of swimming freely in the ocean, they are forever confined to a small tank and made to perform circus tricks. So it's not suprising when these things happen. According to one marine biologist the whale thought it was playing with the woman, and like Lenny in "of mice and men" the tiny rabbit died.

So yes I am hypocritical in that I will still gladly pay my money to Sea World to see these awesome animals...these trainers have to know that they are playing with a loaded gun. And while this is tragic, this blogger will not blame the whale for being a whale.

Accepting Optimum treatment for Dodger...ahh maybe not.

Yesterday the boys and I took Raven in for her booster shots, and I took Dodger in to get a cursory exam, and discuss some end of life care decisions for this loveable pet thathas been part of our family since 1997. I was willing to pay the 65 bucks for this exam for Dodger, after talking to the Vet about the 2 different scenarios of Dodgers death, 1. We find her dead one day or 2. We bring her in to have her Euthanized....here is how the conversation went..

Me: "Yeah she has definitely slowed down and has some stiff joints, like most 12 1/2 year old dogs. We tried OTC joint pills for a while, what would you recomend?"

Vet: "We need to do a panel on her so we'll need a blood sample, also we'll need to do XRays"

Me: "Uhhhh, how much would that be, and is it necessary in this case?"

Vet: "Well we need to diagnose her, it could be a number of things, and we really would need that panel, it would be around $300 for the xrays and panel, and $150, for just the panel, also I recomend prescription anti inflamatories which are $25/bottle"

Me: "I am thinking no on both the xrays and panel, can we give her anti-inflamatories that are OTC"

Vet: "Yes you can give her a 325 Mg aspirin in the morning and also at night"

Me: "OK I think in this case that is what I am gonna go with"

Vet: "Yes I can feel her spine is a little knotted here and she has arthritis"

Me: "OK I'll start giving her the aspirin"

Vet: "Her ear is gunked up so we'll clean that"

Me: "OK, thank you doctor"

So I saved $300 bucks, and only had to pay $122 for their care........Good ole Dodger though went on a 2 mile walk two nights ago and did OK so she's got a good nother year or so (:

Uncle Dennis Kings Canyon Ukulele Slideshow

Dodger Release Spring Training TV Schedule!

This is by far the most games they have ever televised! I love it!!!

Date	Opponent	Time	TV
Mar. 6	White Sox	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 9	Rockies	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 10	D-Backs	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 12	Reds	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 14	Rangers	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 17	White Sox	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 18	Cubs	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 20	Padres	7 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 21	Indians	1 p.m.	KCAL
Mar. 22	Angels	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 25	Brewers	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 26	Royals	1 p.m.	Prime
Mar. 27	Mariners	1 p.m.	KCAL
Apr. 3	Angels	1 p.m.	KCAL

Abortion

Fun topic right? This is a highly sensitive issue that sparks strong emotional responses from both sides; it is a very fascinating topic. Up until my "deconversion" I had always been pro-life, my reasons were simple and black and white. In short I believed it was murdering a baby. This opinion was of course held by me to a large degree because all of my friends held the same opinion and it was reinforced by my primary in-group, the church.

Why did I change my mind? Maybe my answer can be found in ex Rolling Hills Covenant Senior Pastor Gordon Kirk. When I was an eighth grader he was speaking to us about how bad abortion was because it was murder and against God's will. He fielded a few questions and than a particularly intelligent one "Pastor what if your daughter Christina was raped and got pregnant as a result? Would you abort the baby?" Pastor Kirk was silent, and then carefully and to his credit answered honestly, "I don't know"

And that is the crux of it for me. Of course abortion is a regrettable option and should be prevented at all costs. But do I have the right to take away that choice from my neighbor?

The overwhelming majority of people who are Pro-Life are so for purely religious reasons.(There are also atheists who are pro-life but not many) They believe that upon conception there is a divine spark created and thus an eternal soul. In the real world however nearly 40% of pregnancies spontaneously abort. In fact I expect there will be many Christians in heaven who will be amazed that in addition to their children they already know, will be a few kids who will introduce themselves, "Hi Dad, I am one of your kids whom Mom's womb spontaneously aborted! Anyways, you were gonna call me Richie, nice to meet ya! And here's Samantha and Jim, your other spontaneous aborts from that chick you met at the bar " Get my point here guys? God must really love abortions, because he chooses to abort 40% of all conceptions.

It is also very interesting to point out the actions of the abstinence ONLY movement serve to increase unwanted pregnancies. Barack Obama in the campaign said, "Lets make abortions rare, I wanna reach out to the other side to reduce unwanted pregnancies" Now of course in the religious movement there are fervent and frothing parents who lobby the school board to present abstinence as the only option, and this increases unwanted pregnancies. Obama was coming from a place of measured reason and logic; the abstinence only movement coming from a place of superstition. (Have sex and you will be tortured by the 'devil')

How does abstinence only movement increase unwanted pregnancy? Well if you think about it just makes sense; statistics show that when kids are presented abstinence as the ONLY option for birth control, they are much more likely to not use protection when they do have sex. And so viola, you have an unwanted Pregnancy!

And more then likely the poor girl will have to have an abortion..

Sarah Palin Reads Cheat notes on her Hand!!!

The teabaggers paid her 100K to dress up and show her legs and give a prepared speech. In this speech she criticized Obama for reading his prepared speeches from a teleprompter....During the hard hitting Q/A portion, Palin had written some notes on her hand!!!! The Youtube poster didn't know at the time what the words that Sarah wrote on her hand (like an 8th grader writing cheat notes) but Grabbaggar can report the words are "Energy" "Tax" and "Lift American spirits"...here is a close up of her hand

And here is the Youtube video...Classic!!!

Update ***********White House Press Secretary has just mocked Palin.....and I didn't see the embed codes so I couldn't directly post it, but if you want a devastatingly funny take on this debacle, google "colbert palin retard" to watch a clip from the "Colbert Report" Skewing how Palin said it was not OK for Rahm Emanuel to use the term "retard" but it was OK for Rush Limbaugh to use that same term.

Stephen King and "Under the Dome"

Stephen King has been writing best selling novels since 1974 with "Carrie" I first started reading them in high school with "The Shining" and continued on with pretty much all of them after that. Stephen King is so much more than "A horror writer" he is a master story teller who creates great characters and is a genius and coming up with unique "sayings" that his characters have, (Annie Wilkes in Misery calling Paul Sheldon 'Mr Man')

His new book "Under the Dome" is over 1000 pages, and I finished it in about two weeks (thanks Kindle!) Non readers are intimidated by a long book, but I say, if a book is good, it doesn't matter how long it is, you never want it to end! If you want to know what Under the Dome is about just google it for reviews, but reading a new book by Stephen King is like stepping back into a familiar place. It also keys a certain dopamine receptor in your brain that feels familar, this is the case with all good books but with SK I just get a familiar "feeling" that is hard to describe. Wow, how does Garrett read so fast you might ask? He must read for 5 hours a night! Well guess what folks, I don't, here is how I do it....remember I always have my book with me on my Kindle App for Iphone, so I am reading every day for 30 minutes on elliptical machine guaranteed....I am reading on the John, I am reading when I am waiting to talk to an Office Manager at a Dentist office, I am reading at lunch, I can do all of this because my book, whether it is 1 page or a 1000 page hardcover always fits into my pocket.

To Anyone who has never read a Stephen King book I would start with any one of these

Carrie

The Shining

The Dead Zone

The Stand

Salems Lot

He Does these impersonations; You'd think it was the real person!

It is fun doing impersonations, I am no Bill Hader, Daryl Hammond, or Dana Carvey, but here are a few of my favorites:

Every President from JFK on (easiest to do is Reagan and Dana Carvey's impression of George Bush Senior)

Johnny Carson

Borat

Al Pacino

Allright I'm running out of steam here...to conclude...

Everything Mike Myers and Dana Carvey have ever done (:

Peace!

Mammoth

Tasha and I were snowhoeing around the Sherwin Meadows this past Saturday...we had a great time!