The Dude on the Right wasn’t cold nor frightened, and tells Stu Gotz why not during their “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast. In other news Stu has troubles securing a cheap haircut for the Gotz clan thanks to being a little late for Pat the barber. Both boys see lots of movies with “Paranormal Activity,” “Milk,” “I Love You, Man,” “Imagine That,” and “Caroline” being topics of discussion, Stu thinks the H1N1 vaccine manufacturers should watch “Star Trek,” The Dude unpacks, and leave it to Mama Gotz to ruin “Toy Story,” or maybe it was “Toy Story 2.” – Stu can’t remember.
Category: General Musings
Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Paranormal Activity, Hair Cuts, To H1N1 or Not to H1N1, and The Bears Still Suck.
By:
The Dude on the Right
I wasn’t cold, nor frightened while watching “Paranormal Activity,” so I tell Stu Gotz all about it during our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, while Stu tells me he got a haircut, but I couldn’t tell. The haircut thing really had Stu in a tizzy over the weekend, mostly because he was too late to see Pat at Pat’s barbershop so he and the Gotz boys ended up in a salon, but I still think he got ripped off.
We both saw a lot of movies, mostly thanks to cable and DVD’s, so I tell Stu if “Milk” was any good while Stu didn’t like “I Love You, Man,” even though I sort of did, nor did he care for “Imagine That,” and he lets you know if you should let your kids see “Caroline” or not.
Yes, we also talk about the Chicago Bears although we might not talk about them much more as the only good thing about the game for me was seeing my future in-laws, and we both wonder about the H1N1 virus, a.k.a. Swine Flu scare, and how Stu thinks the vaccine people need to take a lesson from Scotty in Star Trek when coming up with their vaccine production predictions.
All of that and more, and as always, thanks for listening!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!
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I deleted “Mom and Dad” from my iPhone Favorites. I suppose it was just time.
By:
The Dude on the Right
I didn’t know when to do it but in the end it turned into a simple thing, just three presses on my iPhone screen, but I guess for a year I wrestled in my head if it meant I was forgetting, or moving on, or just because it made sense because still there, on the "Favorites" of my iPhone contacts, was "Mom and Dad." At times it seemed weird being there when I would see it, what with both of them dying last year, but until this morning I just wasn’t able to delete them from that screen. I guess this morning I just decided that one year after Mom died (although I will always consider her death anniversary as October 18th) it was time to well, just decided it was time.
The thing is, after my dad died back in January of 2008, I wrestled with changing the "Mom and Dad" to just read "Mom," even changed it for a few days, but when I went to make my Saturday morning call to Mom back then, and I went to press the "button," it just didn’t seem right so I changed it back. I mean, it was always "Mom and Dad," hell, they ended up married for over 40 years, and I would love to say they were always the best of years, but I’m going to bet that 99 times out of 100, if you ask anyone married for over 40 years, they will tell you there were some "not so best of" years. And as I was moving on, dealing with Dad’s passing as you have to do, Mom was there in her way to keep things in perspective.
Then it was Mom’s turn to pass a year ago, and luckily, by then, I had re-met the girl who would become my fiance, and they were able to meet before Mom died, which was nice because I know it made mom happy I had met someone so special, and she really liked my BFF. But it’s been a weird year since then, in reflection, and sometimes you don’t always look back, but over the last couple of days I’ve made some mental rememberings of things she, and dad (although I have to be honest that dad and I weren’t always the best of conversationalists) would have had many thoughts about. Simple thoughts entered my head, like how I so wish I could have called mom the morning I proposed to my BFF because she would have been so ecstatic. She’d be concerned, yet so supportive of my BFF’s change of careers; she would liked to have gotten the pictures of when I went on vacation; and she would be so proud of her granddaughter graduating from high school, yet wishing she could have been there. There would be some great disappointment in some family matters that are going on right now, I know because I can still see the hurt in her eyes when I unfortunately had to give her the news when it sort of all started, and although somewhat selfish, she would have loved the fact that I would have had to make decisions on which family to spend which holiday with. It would have been a winter, last year, of talking about how bad the Browns were and how she would know that the Cavs would blow it in the end. I would have kept telling her how promising the Indians seemed, but she would have told me that they will always suck until they fired Eric Wedge – she never liked him, and I can’t even print some of the things she said about him – and I would have loved to have made that call to her the minute I found out he got canned. There would have been Saturday morning talks about work, wedding plans (damn you WGN!), our American Idol e-mails, that even she was finished watching "Dancing With the Stars," and maybe we both would have finished the project we started of labeling hundreds of old, old pictures.
I do know that it is okay to reflect on things sometimes, but I suppose it’s also time to move forward a bit, and I guess I realized, that in the end taking "Mom and Dad" off of my Favorites didn’t mean they weren’t my favs, it just meant that their phone number didn’t work anymore. It’s funny, because I think I "talk" to them more now than I ever did when they were alive, looking for advice or just knowing what they would be thinking, but I guess, sometimes, it would be nice to hear their voices on the other end of that call, although, for the most part, I know what they would say, especially mom watching the Browns this year: "They suck.”
I love you Mom and Dad! I hope you’re not mad that I deleted you!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Staying in Bed, Management, Toy Stories, Not Being Prepared, and Balloon Boy!
The Dude on the Right and Stu Gotz wanted to both be in bed, only not together, and for different reasons, and they explain why during their “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast. Neither reason had drinking to excess involved, just klutziness and flu-ness, but they both had some movieness with “Management” and the 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.” The boys also discuss Balloon Boy and the hoax that is ensuing, a topic that somehow shifts into the musical styling’s of The 5th Dimension and Monty Python. All of that, plus some Chicago Bears’ talk, some Sweetest Day talk, and chocolaty goodness of Count Chocula.
Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Staying in Bed, Management, Toy Stories, Not Being Prepared, and Balloon Boy!
By:
The Dude on the Right
I wanted to crawl back into bed this morning, and during our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, Stu explains that he wanted to do the same, but for a very different reason. Me, I was in full klutz mode for a couple of days, destroying a vase with flowers that I couldn’t remember properly why I got them, then dumping a couple of quarts of iced tea on the dog, and also nearly taking a header in the shower, while Stu, well, Stu has a cold. But neither stopped us from having super-exciting weekends as I wept with joy at the taste of “Count Chocula” while wallowed in tears thanks to the loss by the Chicago Bears, and Stu wondered about the “Being Prepared” moniker of the Boy/Cub Scouts. At least we both had some movie viewing, with me snuggling with my BFF to “Management” while Stu and the Gotz Family enjoyed the 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.”
The weekend also brought some resolution to the story of “Balloon Boy,” and his dad, a story that also had Stu investigating the song styling’s of The 5th Dimension which somehow led to Monty Python. Oh well, at least we didn’t have Olympic talk this week. Oh, wait, we did, thanks to drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro. How do we talk about so much stuff, including reminiscing about “The 5th Element,” in so little time? Listen and find out!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!
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A Peace Prize, Couples Retreat, Where’s My Sidekick Stuff, and Stupid People!
Stu Gotz doesn’t really tell The Dude on the Right much about his weekend during their "Weekend Wrap-Up!" Podcast, but that’s okay because there is enough stuff going on that even if Stu did have a boring weekend, the boys have lots to talk about. It seems The Dude did do something this weekend, namely seeing "Couples Retreat," so he tells Stu if it’s a movie to take Mama Gotz to see, but Stu is more interested in what The Dude thinks about President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, if he knows what is wrong with people’s Sidekicks, and if he ever saw Alyssa Milano naked. The both have TV woes, the dude wonders about the flu shot, and Stu sees stupid people, but what else is new?
Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! A Peace Prize, Couples Retreat, Where’s My Sidekick Stuff, and Stupid People!
By:
The Dude on the Right
Now that I think about our "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, Stu didn’t really tell me much about his weekend, but I did let him know that if he wanted to take Mama Gotz to see "Couples Retreat," well, it might not be a bad thing. Thinking about it further, I guess neither of us talked about the weekend that much because it really wasn’t that exciting, so we did talk a little politics (President Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, and my theory of why he won), we talk a little health (should you, or should you not get the flu shot, or better yet, the H1N1, aka "Swine" flu shot?), surviving without your Internet (Stu cannot), Sidekick woes (and Comcast cable TV woes and AT&T U-Verse wishes), Alyssa Milano naked (even if the movie sucks), and what better way to end a podcast than with talk of stupid people (who seem to live at Starbucks, Target, and Wal-Mart).
And, oh yea, it might filter into next weekend, but neither of us seem to give a damn about the "Where The Wild Things Are" movie that is coming out next weekend, even though I might go see it anyway.
Weird weekend talk, but then again, without a Chicago Bears game, I was a little lost. Happy listening!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!
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I Didn’t Win a Million Dollars at McDonald’s. Crap.
By:
The Dude on the Right
My gumption meter is on "Low" this afternoon, and as much as I want to blame the weather here in Chicago, I think I have to blame McDonald’s. I know, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t blame Ronald for anything, but as I didn’t pack a lunch today I decided to try to win a million dollars. Yup, the Monopoly Game is back at McDonald’s, and back in the day I was a big supporter of the game, as well as bigger, especially as breakfast, lunch, and every now and then a dinner, would be supplied under the Golden Arches when there was the suspense of little pull-tags off of the cups and containers with the dream of never having to work again at every visit. But lately I haven’t had the taste for a quarter pounder with cheese that much because, for whatever reason, the White Castle Crave seems to hit me harder, although I must admit that Lent was a good time to re-up my Filet o’ Fish quotient. Today, though, I thought I would take a chance, roll the dice, or rather pull the tabs, and see what would happen.
So there I was late this morning, in the drive-thru at my local McD’s, knowing that to get the coveted game pieces I would probably have to go "large" for the fries as well as my Diet Coke, but little did I realize that instead of getting my "Big Mac" fix I would have to get one of their new "Angus" burgers. With dreams in my eyes of what I was going to do with my million, or at least the $50,000 a year for 20 years, I sucked it up and ordered the Mushroom & Swiss Angus Burger, gave the nice lady my money, took my bag of riches, snuck a few fries on the drive back, and got ready to scream with joy.
Then I opened the bag.
Sure, there were the fries, and I could see the game pieces attached; I had already pulled the pieces off of my large pop; And there, nestled under the napkins, was the burger box. "Hmmmm! Mushroom & Swiss Angus Burger, with game pieces!" Only I took out the napkins and "Doh!", no freakin’ game pieces. "What the hell? How am I supposed to win with no game pieces?" I could have gotten my favorite burger, a quarter pounder with cheese, but no, I wanted the game pieces, and I get no game pieces. I mean, the game just started three days ago and my local McDonald’s is already out of the Angus burger game pieces? Ugh!
Well, you can probably tell that I’m a little upset, especially since I didn’t really want the Angus burger, and then, to top it off, after peeling off the game pieces I did have, I realized why I stopped playing the game in the first place because along with not getting all of the game pieces I was supposed to get, I ended up with a Marvin Gardens and a Pennsylvania Railroad, but the kicker in my butt, TWO BALTIC AVENUES. Sure, I could probably figure out the odds, but what the hell are the odds of, at a random stop to McDonald’s to play the Monopoly Game, and not getting all six game pieces, do you end up with TWO BALTIC AVENUES out of the four? McDonald’s, your Monopoly game sucks, that is unless I win some kind of internet prize that I really don’t understand after I plugged my codes into the website. In that case, McDonald’s guys, you will rock.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
I think I’m done with Mafia Wars; Now I’m Running a Café.
By:
The Dude on the Right
Like many a people on Facebook I sometimes get wrapped into various application games. There was a time I was collecting eggs, and sure, they were pretty when they hatched, but then came the feeding them, trying to collect more, and "special" eggs. I was done with eggs. Then I started farming with "Farm Town," growing a nice farm which again, just seemed to take too much time to do too many things, and I bailed on that just about the time "FarmVille" came into being, which looked remarkably like "Farm Town." So now my farm is just a testament to my BFF, and it only requires watering every now and then.
The game, however, that I’ve stuck the most with has been "Mafia Wars," which, in terms of many things, is quite a boring game because it doesn’t have animated people, or plants you have to tend to. Nope, it’s mostly just a narrative game, with, I suppose, some semblance of strategy in order to develop a strong mafia. My problem is that from the beginning I only cared about a few things: One was that I kept trying to get a level ahead of our staff member, Big Cooter, and I was finally able to overtake him because he went on vacation and then seemed to lose interest. After that I was just trying to finish the various jobs, hoping to get to the highest boss masteries, and then, wouldn’t you know it, the bastards at Zynga opened up new areas, developing a Cuba area, and now Moscow (I was about two days from finishing when they opened Moscow). So now I keep wondering why I am still playing because all I find myself doing, since I don’t really care about fighting anyone, is "doing a job" until I run out of energy and then wait for the energy to regenerate or for one of my few mafia members to give me an "Energy Boost." When I get "Skill Points" to spend, every one of them goes to my "Energy" level. Now with a Profile of: Energy – 1999, Attack – 33, Defense – 46, and Stamina – 17, I have a measly mafia size of 35, of which 16 are hired guns and not even "real" friends, so I think I might just be the lamest, Level 320+, mafia member with nearly $100,000,000,000 in the bank in the New York area. Every morning I find myself saying "Self, what the hell are you doing wasting 5 minutes just clicking your mouse button, doing that ‘job’ and not seeming to accomplish anything?" So, yea, I think I’m just about done with Mafia Wars, and just in time.
Because now I’m a chef.
Yup, damn you Zynga and your Facebook games because now I’m playing Café World, where sadly this game is more my style. Why? Because I can actually incorporate my day into it and it doesn’t have insanely long times to "Plant" a farm like "Farm Town" did. Yup, I have my little café, I get to cook things, and they have specific lengths of time they take to get done. I have found I’m planning things like "I know I won’t be checking Facebook for about 4 hours, so if I start cooking some French Onion Soup I can finish it up and get it served when I come back," and I even have a chicken that is roasting and will be conveniently ready in 14 hours so I don’t have to worry about more things on that stove. I don’t have a lot of neighbors, yet, so I can’t grow my café that much, but my "Buzz Rating" is up to 43, and I don’t know if that’s good or not, but I seem to get a lot of people giving me a thumbs up!
So I think I’m hanging up my guns for an apron, and I’m sure there will be a time that the apron will need washing, but for now I’ve got to get back because my fruit salad is just about ready and I’ve got patrons to please, although I think I have just enough time to make a little more money in Moscow so I’m a little closer to be able to "Rob The RossijaBanc Central Repository."
I guess I’m not done with Mafia Wars just yet.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Chicago Sucks, A Movie Weekend, and Wiping Your Ass.
The Dude on the Right and Stu Gotz are a little sad that Chicago didn’t get the 2016 Olympics, but Stu tells The Dude, during their "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, that he was more bummed when he had trouble wiping his butt. The Dude at least had some fun by seeing "Zombieland," "The Invention of Lying," and even "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," while Stu learned something interesting about a little Gotz, and has his idea for the perfect wedding gift. The Dude now wonders if Stu will get an invite to his wedding. Time will tell.