General Musings Archives - Page 45 of 96

The Dude & The W.G.N.: A Haphazard Opening, Terrorist Geese, Las Vegas, American Idol, and More!

By:

The Dude on the Right
This podcast would have had a really entertaining start, especially with the return of The W.G.N. to the podcast airwaves, but since I’m a bonehead and didn’t hit the record button, well, things start kind of haphazardly. Luckily The W.G.N. gets a hold on things and steers me back into a direction of normalcy. Normalcy for this podcast turns into some small talk about Canadian Geese and airplane crashes, or happily an actual water landing in the case of the US Airways Flight 1549 landing on/in the Hudson River. But more normalcy develops with lots of talk about a trip to Las Vegas that The W.G.N. took, complete with some gambling winnings and losings, a non-visit to "Thunder From Down Under," and some gambling advice from The Dude.

The W.G.N. has some issues with a college final, we both watched "American Idol" (although he doesn’t admit to seeing Bikini Girl), he is surprised the outside temperature gauge on my car goes as low as it did, and with his spring schedule, well, The W.G.N. might be a pretty normal addition to the Thursday podcast, which, I’m sure, will be of great news to The Mystery Dude who doesn’t really like when I do solo podcasts, not to mention the legion of fans of The W.G.N.

It was great to do a podcast with The W.G.N. again, even if I did screw up the beginning, and hopefully this year will be filled with many more!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen

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What’s New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! A Lot of Movies, Manuary has Changed The Dude, and The Golden Globes

The Dude on the Right is changing during Manuary, but probably not in the way Manuary is supposed to change a man, so during this episode of Stu & The Dude’s "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, well, The Dude takes a little while to get out of his weekend transforming, thanks to going to Nordstrom’s, seeing "Bride Wars," and watching DVD’s of "Funny Face" and "Breakfast at Tiffany’s." Stu Gotz does his best to get The Dude back into the real meaning of the month, although really, does his "listening" to "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Chipettes," really count? The both of them do talk about some exercising things, The Golden Globe Awards, and Tina Fey’s boobs, so maybe Manuary is back on track.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! A Lot of Movies, Manuary has Changed The Dude, and The Golden Globes

By:

The Dude on the Right
Manuary is starting to change me, especially as I tell Stu Gotz about my weekend during this "Weekend Wrap-Up!" Podcast. I let Stu know about my exercising, a trip to Nordstom’s, going to the movies to see "Bride Wars," and watching a couple of DVD’s, "Funny Face" and "Breakfast at Tiffany’s," all with my BFF. I have to say I was a bit surprised at Stu suggesting he just needed to drag me to Hooters and not to some other place with hooters, but maybe it was because I let him know that I found Audrey Hepburn as a very pretty dudette so there might still be hope for me this Manuary, especially if I stop shaving. The exercising topic reminded Stu of a 5K that Mama Gotz is looking to run/trot/walk in, as well as some old clothes she is trying to wear, and he didn’t head to the movies but gives his reason why he can’t recommend "Eagle Eye," although he does think little kids, both boys and girls, will like "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Chipettes."

With the Golden Globe Awards yesterday, we also talk about those, with Stu enjoying Tina Fey’s win, although not her dress, and Stu does his best to try to convince me to watch TV shows on cable, although with Battlestar Galactica returning this Friday, there will be one cable show I’ll be watching.

No matter what TV I’ll be watching, thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen

Subscribe Here

What’s New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Merriness ,Movies, MacWorld, Manuary, and More!

The New Year arrives bringing a new feature to Stu and The Dude’s "Weekend
Wrap-Up! Podcast" – I Subscribe to Playboy for the Articles. Stu Gotz,
sadly, probably won’t be allowed to re-subscribe to the magazine after this
podcast even if it would be for research purposes. But the podcast isn’t
all about articles in Playboy – the boys also talk a lot about movies, with Stu
on the children side with "Bedtime Stories" and "The Tale of Despereaux," and on
the DVD side with

"Ghost Town," while The Dude on the Right should probably give up his
Manuary card because he got weepy while watching

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Marley & Me," and "Young @ Heart."
And to top off his start of Manuary, The Dude also watched, with his BFF,

"The Duchess" on DVD. The podcast also includes The Dude being excited
about the Macworld conference and explaining to Stu the health issues keeping
Steve Jobs away from it, and let’s not forget about talk of their New Year’s Eve
and Day.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Merriness ,Movies, MacWorld, Manuary, and More!

By:

The Dude on the Right
It’s a new year, and I couldn’t believe it but the Gotz Children saw it arrive,
and that’s just one thing Stu Gotz and I discuss during

this "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast. So, sure, there’s some New
Year’s Eve and Day talk, including my analysis of Chicago’s ABC Channel 7 New
Year’s Eve Countdown with Janet Davies and Mark Giangreco, but mostly we talk a
lot about movies, especially with the extended weekend we both had. Stu
talks a tad more about "Bedtime Stories," gives his take on "The Tale of
Despereaux," and he and Mama Gotz also watched

"Ghost Town" on DVD (Stu’s not a big Tea Leoni fan), while I explain to Stu
how my Manuary started with me getting weepy during

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Marley & Me," and "Young @ Heart,"
while

"The Duchess" probably had my Manuary card revoked. Movies aside, I
also explain to Stu my excitement because Tuesday is the opening of the Macworld
conference (I’m hoping for a new iMac, iPhone with more storage, and am curious
about the iPhone Nano rumors) and also explain why Steve Jobs won’t be there
because of his health issues.

The podcast also includes our new "I Subscribe
to Playboy for the Articles" segment. I was hoping this feature would allow Stu
to convince Mama Gotz that he should be able to re-subscribe to Playboy so he
doesn’t have to borrow mine, but after the segment, I don’t think that’s going
to happen.

It’s a fun start to the new year, and with the new year, as always,

thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the
Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen

Subscribe Here

Hi Mom and Dad! It’s 2009!

By:

The Dude on the Right
Hi Mom and Dad!

New Year's Eve - Chicago 2008 Just wanted to wish the both of you a Happy 2009, although I’m not really sure if you actually celebrate New Year’s Day anymore. When I woke up this morning I couldn’t help but think a little bit about how my 2008 went, and like most people, I suppose I’m really looking forward to 2009. There were some fireworks in Chicago last night, so with this letter are a couple of pictures showing the fireworks and Navy Pier. I know the pictures didn’t come out that well, but my vantage point wasn’t that close, though it was cozy, and my iPhone still doesn’t have that great of a camera, but hey, it was festive and all!

It sure was a weird 2008, wasn’t it? I’m not even talking about the gas prices that went high and then low, how the stock market took a crap, or the Presidential election (How about our Governor Blagojovich scandal and his appointing Roland Burris to Barack Obama’s Senate seat? Gotta love Chicago/Illinois politics, don’t you!). I was looking back at my MySpace page for January 1st last year, and how I set a goal to lose just one pound a week on my 500 calories a day plan, but like many a weight-loss goal, it didn’t go as planned. 52 pounds would have been great, but I did lose about 18 pounds last year, and yea, I have to admit, that one of my first goals this year is to get back on the eating healthy and exercise bandwagon.

I was kinda wondering how things were up there in heaven for the two of you (At least I’m really hoping you’re in heaven. First off, it would really be a bummer to find out you ended up in the other place, in which case there would have been a lot of things we never knew about the two of you, and also, it would be a little bit of a bummer to find out you picked the wrong religion to raise us under and that I should be looking forward to becoming a dog or kangaroo, or something like that in the next life when I’m reincarnated). I’m assuming you found each other, and hopefully Dad, that you were waiting for Mom with some flowers and a kiss. I’m also hoping that all dogs do go to heaven, and that the boys found you.

Dad, for you, I know you started 2008 pretty much deciding your time on earth was done, and I hope by now you have been able to explain to Mom why that was because for a lot of the year she was having trouble wrapping her head around that. With your going away that early, well, you missed a lot of things for me this year, although I do sometimes wonder about the ability of you (and Mom, you also), to watch over us from up there. I mean, is it sort of like when Harry Stamper told his daughter, Gracie, in the movie “Armageddon” that he’ll check in on her from time to time right before he gets blown to bits on the asteroid? If so, I really hope you didn’t check in on me during some private time I was having, in which case, Dad, you might have said something like “Oh no, I cursed him with a little wiener. Oh wait, thank God, he’s a grower! (at which time I’m guessing a booming voice says “Your welcome, Dad on the Right!”) Please tell me there are times you respect my privacy (You too, Mom), or is it like some “all-knowing” thing like in the movie “Highlander?” In any case, you should have seen by now that I have a BFF, and she’s great. She thinks that somehow you and a relative of hers met up there early last year hatching a plan to help us reconnect after some 23 years. If that’s the case, can I commend all of you on doing a great job! That does make me want to apologize, though, because I probably don’t ask for enough help from you, although the we never did talk that much about personal things. I guess in all of those years we never were able to connect that well, though I’m trying to do a better job sending you some thoughts of things that are going on here with me now.

New Year's Eve - Chicago 2008 Mom, I hope Dad has helped you get used to things up there in the past couple of months. Is there some kind of orientation that you have to go through, or are you just kind of thrown in to the mix? The BFF and I are still dating, and things are going great. The both of us have some challenges coming up in 2009 (and who doesn’t), but it’s great having someone to help me through them (and I hope I’m helping her through hers), although I always know I can bend your ear a bit if I need to. And speaking of bending your ear, thanks for that little “talk” we had before Christmas, it really helped me enjoy the holiday a lot more, what with the advice that it’s okay to miss the both of you, but the time for being sad, and letting that ruin my day, needed to go away. I know you know it was a weird holiday season, what with the family being spread out across the country (though it was nice spending the time with the BFF’s family), but maybe at the end of this year, once things calm down, maybe we can all get together for Christmas or Turkey Day. I’m thinking here in the Chicago area. Nothing like Sis on the Right and her family having to deal with the snow and cold, although it won’t be that much different for Bro on the Right, but having them meet the BFF’s family – That would really be interesting!

Well, I better get going. The Rose Bowl will be starting soon (I think I’m rooting for USC, if only because I really don’t like Penn State and some of our staff members here are big Trojan fans, but come to think of it, I suppose I’m a Trojan fan as well), and it’s time to get going with 2009. Mom, Dad, say “Hi” to the Grandmas and Grandpas for me. I miss them, too, but I have to admit, not as much as I miss the two of you.

Oh yea, one more thing, I’m not sure how it works, or if you could pull some strings (or even if you have that kind of pull yet), and Mom, I know you were a big fan of it and frustrated you never came close to winning, but if you’ve been checking in on me, well, you know I occasionally play the Mega Millions game down here, usually with the same set of numbers. I mean, is there some kind of lottery you have to win up there in order to influence the numbers that get drawn down here, is it based on merit and good deeds, or is it really just a total game of chance? Even better, you also know that when the jackpot hits $100 million, well, I’m not going to give it away, but it would actually make winning the jackpot a little bit easier at that amount, what to not create some family squabbles and all. Anyway, if there were some way for you guys to let me know it’s your turn to pick the numbers, well, that would help a lot.

I hope things are going well for you two up there. I miss and love you both.

Your Son,
The Dude on the Right

That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Christmas Talk, an Asshole in a Maserati Talk, but no Oprah Talk.

Stu Gotz is back for

this "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, complete with special guest, Mama Gotz!
Of course there is Christmas talk amongst them all, with Mama Gotz telling about
Christmas at the Gotz’s, and The Dude on the Right wondering about Santa showing
up at church. Gift giving is a topic of discussion, Stu saw "Bedtime
Stories," and they witness an asshole in a Maserati decide he is the most
important person to pull into a Starbucks’ parking lot. There is also the
final talk about the Chicago Bears for this season, but no talk about Oprah not
pumping her own gas, even though Stu wanted to talk about it.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! Christmas Talk, an Asshole in a Maserati Talk, but no Oprah Talk.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Last week I blamed Mama Gotz for not letting Stu be able to have time to do a
podcast with me, so for

this "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, well, Mama Gotz decided to show up and kick
my ass. Okay, she didn’t want to kick my ass, but she does make a guest
appearance to talk about Christmas at the Gotz’s, which is nice. But since
Stu and I are the stars of the show, we don’t give Mama Gotz much air-time, so
instead Stu and I talk about an asshole who pulls up in his Maserati at
Starbucks, and a lot about Christmas. Stu and the family saw "Bedtime
Stories" with Adam Sandler, I saw chick-flicks with my BFF, and I tell Stu about
some of the gift exchanges my BFF and I had for Christmas. I question Stu
if it’s appropriate for Santa Claus to show up during Christmas mass, Stu
wonders what someone bought at Walgreens, I’m bummed the Chicago Bears suck, but
through it all we don’t talk about Oprah not pumping her own gas.

With this
being our last podcast of 2008,
thanks for listening!
And from Stu Gotz and me, ’nuff said, and that’s it for this one! Happy
New Year!

Download and Listen

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Global Warming, Global Cooling, A Cuban, Electric Cars, Cheap Gas, and Happy Holidays

By:

The Dude on the Right
Oh the weather outside is frightful, or, well, it’s at least warmer, but as we are definitely going to have a white Christmas here in Chicagoland, I had to laugh at a lot of the comments on the radio when we were having the sub-zero temperatures about “Where is this global warming?” Some pundit-types were using the cold weather to say, “See, Al Gore is wrong. We don’t need to worry about the environment. Everything is cyclical. This year we might be global warming, next year we’ll be global cooling. See, Al Gore is a dufus!” Then there are the environmental types spinning that the cold weather is an affect of global warming because the environment is all out of whack. Me, I don’t really know who to believe, all I know is that on TV yesterday I saw a news story about a Chinese company that is supposed to have an electric car, similar to the Chevy Volt, that is supposed to come out a couple years earlier, cost a bunch less, only won’t be as luxurious. Me, I’m not that worried about the carbon emissions, my carbon footprint, or if I fart too much, what I do think is cool would be a car that pretty much doesn’t need gasoline, and somehow the Chinese are ahead of us in developing that car.

And that leads me to the loan offered to the auto manufacturers and a great post from Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the won’t be owner of the Chicago Cubs because baseball owners are a bunch of dufi, but does write a nice blog where a few days ago he mentioned how Chrysler is toast because, well, what better way to waste money than to put a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal thanking America for, well, investing in Chrysler, “America’s Car Company” that used to be sort of a Mercedes Benz car company until the Benz people couldn’t even take it anymore. My simple analysis is that the car companies are in this mess much the same way Motorola is in their cell-phone mess. Motorola rested all of its laurels on the Razr line, not seeing that things are changing, and now no one gives a damn about the latest Razr phone. The car companies have become just as complacent, resting on their laurels without seeing the innovation consumers want in order to buy a new car. A little Chinese company might just show that even with the Chevy Volt coming out, a once mighty car company gets beaten to the punch by a company that sees car buying differently.

Than again, with gas prices around $1.50 a gallon again, who cares about electric cars anymore.

In any case, I’m just waiting for my BFF before we start our holiday celebrating, so I thought I would write about something, so why not mix global warming, the loans to the auto companies, and cheap gas all in one post.

Happy Holidays.

That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? A Podcast of: What’s for Dinner, It’s Cold, and No Stu :-(

Flying solo for a

"Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, The Dude on the Right only skips one thing he
was planning on talking with Stu Gotz about, so instead he just discusses them
with you, the listener. Topics include a different take on your Holiday
dinner menu, how he liked "Yes Man," how he is sick of the cold weather even
though winter has just begun, and how he is looking forward to this Christmas
even though he won’t see any movies that day. With The Dude from Illinois
he also talks a little Rob Blagojevich, some Chicago Bears, and upcoming
Christmas Day movie releases, but he does skip one story because that really is
one Stu will also be upset that he didn’t think of the idea, either.