Holiday kickoff

Another crazy weekend has come to a close.

On Saturday, the Cub Scouts held a pancake breakfast in the morning. Nolan had basketball in the afternoon. Then we bundled up and went the Schenectady Christmas Parade (excuse me, Holiday Parade) with our friends, the Kirsteins, in the evening.

You're probably asking, "Isn't it a little early for a Christmas parade?" That's what we thought too. But once we were there sipping hot cocoa and watching all of the floats and marching bands go by we got into the spirit of it.

Traditionally the parade is on the Friday night after Thanksgiving. But they moved it this year because of a conflict with Proctor's. They've got a big show playing this week and no one wanted a traffic nightmare on what will hopefully be a busy night for the theater.

This was the first time for the kids to see the parade. Since it was on a Saturday this year, they started it a couple of hours earlier than usual. We were still home in time for everyone's usual bedtime.

Speaking of Cub Scouts, I never got around to blogging about the camp out we want on a couple of weeks ago. We stayed overnight at Rotary Scout Reservation out in Poestenkill. This was the first time Nolan and I stayed overnight on this trip. Last year we just went for the day.

Once again, launching model rockets was the big activity. The night before, the kids occupied themselves by poking the fire with sticks and running around like crazy people in the cabin. You know, boys will be boys and all that. Actually, the highlight for me was watching Nolan sit down by the fire and read aloud to some of his friends from a book of scary stories he had. That was very cool.

Here are some photos from the excursion...

Your overdue moment of zen

Last week the writers of "The Office" took their case to YouTube. Now "The Daily Show" reports (sort of) from the WGA picket line...

Trek tunes

From the Too Much Free Time Dept. Thanks to Shannon for passing this one along...

What could have been

MSNBC.com recently launched their latest redesign. For an intersting look at the creative process and what might have been, their designers have posted screen shots of some of the designs they didn't use.

This one is my favorite, just for the slogan. Look closely under the MSNBC logo and you'll see that it says "Now with more cow bell!"

Welcome, Jack. You've Got Mail.

While you're waiting for the writers strike to end, here's some new "24" to enjoy. If you thought Jack Bauer had a tough job now, imagine what it was like in 1994...

'The Office' is closed (and other strike news)

Watching this week's episode of "The Office," I was thrilled to hear there is a Dunder Mifflin branch right here in Albany (not to mention the office in nearby Utica seen last week). Now I know where to go for all of my paper product needs!

Unfortunately, the folks from Dunder Mifflin won't be around much longer. Production on the show has shut down due to the Writers Guild of America strike. I believe next week's episode will be the last original episode and then the show will go back into reruns until the strike is settled.

In this video, some of the show's writing staff -- many of whom are also cast members -- outline their case. I first saw this a couple of days ago and wanted to post it then. Alas, it's been a busy week and now this clip has spread everywhere. You've probably seen it by now. If not, here it is...



In the meantime, we've finally learned what it takes to stop Jack Bauer -- a WGA strike. Remember that "24" trailer I posted? Enjoy that, because it's all the "24" we'll get for a while. Fox has pulled the planned January season premiere from their schedule -- delaying the show indefinitely. They want to wait until they're sure they can run all 24 episodes in Day 7 consecutively.

I fear the strike is also going to doom the new "Star Trek" movie, which began shooting this week. Director/producer/writer J.J. Abrams agreed to start production on schedule, but is refusing to take part in any rewrites along the way. So if a scene isn't working out as well as it seemed on paper, they're stuck with it. Actually, I'm sure someone will do the script tinkering, but it probably won't be any of the original writers who worked on the script, but rather some studio hack.

Campaigning for free stuff

If you're like me, you hate seeing politcal campaign signs around days and weeks after the election is over.

Rick Lamparelli, the owner of Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, doesn't like seeing them either. So until Nov. 16 you can bring in a campaign sign and exchange it for a free appetizer!

MMmmm...bipartisan nachos...

Where are the flying cars?!?

It's the 21st century. Where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!


Mean Automakers Dash Nation's Hope For Flying Cars

Trick-or-Treat

Here's another Halloween photo Kris wanted me to add. Our next door neighbors took this one when we stopped by their house...

'Yeah, it's my house'

I missed Barry Bonds' interview with Kieth Olberman on MSNBC last night, but I read about it this morning on ESPN.com.

In case you didn't realize, he's an incredibly arrogant SOB.