list anything

Tomorrow's Momentous Achievements

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:33:00 +0000

Tomorrow I will be doing the following:

I will return the following three DVDs, all of which I have finally watched in full (*one of them several times), to Netflix:

1. Open Range (original shipment reported missing on 1/22/08, redelivered on 1/23/08)
2. Broken Flowers* (shipment date 8/31/06)
3. Heights (shipment date 8/31/06)

Hooray for me! These were some cheap movie rentals, huh?!! Well, at least I liked all three of them. Although Heights seemed a bit derivative. But I have to remember to discount everything I've seen since 8/31/06, so maybe not.

Decade in Review 2 - States I Visited

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:06:00 +0000

Arkansas (b)
California (b,d)
Colorado (b,e)
Connecticut (a,b,d)
Florida (b,d)
Georgia (b)
Illinois (b,c,d)
Iowa (a,e)
Kansas (a,b,e)
Louisiana (b,c,d,e)
Maryland (a,d)
Massachusetts (d)
Minnesota (a,b)
Mississippi (b)
Missouri (b)
Nebraska (a,c,d)
Nevada (c)
New Jersey (e)
New York (b,d)
Ohio (b,c)
Oklahoma (b,d)
Pennsylvania (b)
South Carolina (b,c)
Texas (f)
Utah (a,b)
Virginia (b,d)
Wisconsin (a,b)
Wyoming (a,b)
Washington, D.C. (a,b,d)

a - First time
b - Work trip
c - Wedding
d - Visit friends
e - Just passing through
f - Duh

Decade in Review 1 - Best Picture Winners

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:46:00 +0000

From my favorite to my least favorite:

No Country for Old Men 2007

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003

The Departed 2006
Chicago 2002
Whatever wins this year probably 2009

Slumdog Millionaire 2008

Gladiator 2000
Million Dollar Baby 2004

A Beautiful Mind (I have not seen this) 2001
Crash 2005

Hey, Julie....We (May) Go Way Back

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:48:00 +0000

Julie, Do you know any of these people? If so, our ancestors may have been real good friends!!

Fitch, Eli, Jr. 25 Feb 1872 - 17 July 1934
Fitch, Claudia 23 Oct 1875 - 16 Dec 1951
Fitch, Lucius Casper 1 Feb 1900 - 22 Sept 1973
Fitch, Norma Moss 27 Oct 1908 - 16 Mar 1985
Fitch, Emery Otha 10 Aug 1896 - 4 Feb 1919
Fitch, Effie 23 July 1899 - 24 July 1899
Fitch, Pierce D. 4 Feb 1901 - 12 Aug 1936
Fitch, Vollie 16 June 1866 - 23 Sept 1945
Fitch, Mary Ada 26 June 1870 - 3 June 1936
Fitch, Inf. Son Born 4 Nov 1898
Fitch, Bessie 28 Oct 1894 - 4 Sept 1897
Fitch, Dewey L. 25 Oct 1895 - 31 May 1900
Fitch, Ida L. 20 Oct 1872 - 23 Feb 1897
Fitch, Y. D. 3 March 1869 - 23 Dec 1928
Fitch, Sallie 1874 - 1962
Fitch, Ina 1894 - 1895
Fitch, Ina 29 Aug 1894 - 6 Oct 1895
Fitch, Raymond 17 Sept 1906 - 21 Oct 1919
Fitch, Martha Wilmath 1903 - 1918
Fitch, Carrie Jimmie 1909 - 1916
Fitch, William F. 1872 - 1918
Fitch, Ida Vivian 1874 - 1943
Fitch, George W. d. 12 Jan 1927
Fitch, Thomas 23 Jan 1841 - 9 Sept 1926 "Uncle Tom"
Fitch, J. Travis 19 Dec 1894 - 26 Nov 1965
Fitch, Gertrude 30 July 1888 - 25 Oct 1964
Fitch, F. D. 3 Dec 1843 - 21 Oct 1914
Fitch, Wilmuth 13 May 1851 - 7 Aug 1928
Fitch, Eli 5 April 1839 - 7 July 1923
Fitch, Martha A. 8 July 1842 - 31 March 1912
Fitch, Victoria 23 Dec 1875 - 5 Nov 1878
Fitch, Leota 1896 - 1918
Fitch, Comfort 1905 - 1931
Fitch, Jim (no dates)
Fitch, Empson Born in 1814 - 16 Nov 1862
Fitch, Delilah H. 11 Dec 1817 - 6 May 1880

My Christmas Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (austen) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:17:00 +0000

The counties in Texas I passed through between December 23rd and January 4th:

Travis
Williamson
Milam
Robertson
Leon
Freestone
Anderson
Cherokee
Rusk
Harrison
Greg
Smith
Van Zandt
Kaufman
Dallas
Tarrant
Parker
Palo Pinto
Erath
Eastland
Callahan
Taylor
Nolan
Mitchell
Howard
Martin
Midland
Ector
Ward
Pecos
Brewster
Crockett
Sutton
Kimble
Kerr
Kendall
Bexar
Guadalupe
Caldwell
Gonzales
Fayette
Colorado
Austin
Waller
Fort Bend
Harris
Dimmitt
Waller
Washington
Lee
Bastrop

Miles driven: 2002.6

Family Names

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:34:00 +0000

In performing my new hobby of ~Amateur Genealogy~ I discovered a lot of interesting family names.

Names I would name my kid, aka names I will suggest to my brothers:

William Battle Mayfield*
John Battle Mayfield*
John Carleton Fowler*
Captain Moses Thomas Fowler*
John Wesley Henson*
Andrew McClure Cox*
Wesley McClure Cox
Hal Philip Morris
James Perry Ingram*
Nicholas Karnes* or Charles* or Michael*
Ophelia Angeline Merritt*

My great-great-grandmother's family had the best bunch of names:

Mary Alabama Davidson, and her siblings:
Virginia Oregon Davidson
Ohio Texana Davidson
Duke Davidson
Black Davidson
Felix Grundy Davidson

Other names of interest

Bertie Bell Roden*
Florence Lafayette Garrett* (a man)
Ima Roach
Auston Copeland
Minerva Louetta Sanderson
Junious Devereaux Smith
Protho Fox
Dorcas Blois Bellame
Jemimah Dooley
Fleming Trigg Cox
Roxanna Lucanna Crook*
Egridus DeLaGreves*
Priscilla Ramage Dillard*,**
Thomas Jefferson Dillard
George Washington Dillard
George Washington Cox*
George Washington Brooks Garrett
Jefferson Davis Haskell
Samuel Houston Mayfield
Andrew Jackson Mayfield
Homerleta Mayfield
Philip Robert "Dude" Henson
Mary Polly Goodbread*
Zelpha Henson
LaVaughan McWhorter
Maggie "Trixie" Priestley
and the famous Leonard Neatha "Bus" Cox

*Direct ancestor
**Look her up. She's a badass.

Tomato Soups I Have Eaten in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:21:00 +0000

Pacific Natural Foods organic creamy tomato soup - pretty good and convenient for keeping at work.
Bakerman's Bakery tomato basil soup - my coworker, who also ate this soup, mentioned a hint of dill, which I then noticed and enjoyed.
Whole Foods chipotle tomato soup - delicious and just the right amount of spicy.

Still, my favorite is tomato brie soup from Annie's Cafe, which I haven't had in 2010 because, though it's perfect soup weather (see 1-3), it's too cold to walk to 3rd & Congress.

Shows I Only Watch At My Parents' House

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:47:00 +0000

Woodsmith Shop
NCIS
CSI Miami (any CSI, really. But it usually seems to be Miami)
Local News (which is always paused for 10 seconds on the 7-day forecast screen, but my mom has to ask for the pause every time. At 6 and at 10)
Hallmark Christmas movies
The RFD Channel, including such hits as:

Reno's Old Time Music Festival
Country's Family Reunion
Hee Haw
The Porter Wagoner Show

Why I Watch "The Kennedy Center Honors" Every Year

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:28:00 +0000

To learn about awesome people I've never heard of before (Grace Bumbry)
To remind myself, in case I'd forgotten, just how awesome other people are (Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck)
To learn that people I was sort of neither-here-nor-there on are also pretty awesome (Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen)
To watch the honorees' reactions
To watch famous audience members' reactions
To watch the President and First Lady's reactions (the Obamas seemed to unselfconsciously enjoy themselves, and last year, it kind of tickled me to see President Bush singing along to George Jones songs)
To hear people like Jon Stewart deliver lines like, "But I am from New Jersey. And so I can tell you what I believe. And what I believe is this: I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby" (at which point the President of the United States of America laughed and gave a kind of low five/handshake across his wife to Bruce Springsteen)
To laugh
To cry
And sometimes, if I'm lucky, to watch some excellent dancing

QT2's 10 Best Movies of the Decade

noreply@blogger.com (Questionable Taste) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:42:00 +0000

10. Wall-E, 2008

If anyone doubted that Pixar is the most creative outfit in modern motion pictures, this movie convinced them. It is a genuine masterpiece, a word I don't use often. ...flat-out thrilling in its uniqueness...

9. The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001

A filmmaker's great conjunction picture, where every element, from casting to cinematography, found perfect alignment, bringing about the decade's most emotionally pulling, visually arresting feature.

8. The Departed, 2006

A wholly remarkable work - one that is considerably deeper and certainly more complex than its crime thriller status might imply. ...riveting and fearless in its intriguing scope.

7. Mulholland Drive, 2001

Offers us a chance to experience a true auteurial voice. Lynch has singular vision. See Hollywood through his eyes. Lynch has never before married his subconscious impulses to an accessible storytelling style in such a satisfying, beguiling way.

6. Traffic, 2000

A truly entertaining polemic filled with world-class performances. Gritty, tense, distinctive and realistic, Traffic is one of the most technically well-crafted of its time.

5. City of God, 2003

Rises so far above the conventions of genre and of most ordinary filmmaking that it's a transcendent experience - an exhilarating, two-feet-off-the-ground fireball of a movie.

4. The Dark Knight, 2008

I say this with a smile from ear to ear, there is too much of a good thing...a movie that fulfills the promise of the best Hollywood movies in that it offers us transport to an alternate yet recognizable reality.

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004

Undeniably ambitious filmmaking and a feather in the decade's cap... one of those films that dares to be about something.

2. Children of Men, 2006

Hypnotizing. Spellbinding. Enthralling. The final quarter of the film is nothing short of an evolutionary leap forward in filmmaking. The perfect movie.

1. There Will Be Blood, 2007

An intellectualized epic to make lovers of pure cinema swoon. A towering, tour-de-force display in cinematic virtuosity; and an incredibly ambitious, deliberate stab at greatness by the director. Only time will tell if he's pulled it off. Whether you believe There Will Be Blood is a transcendentally powerful movie or merely damn good, there's no debate that Day-Lewis' performance as Plainview is something to behold.

Honorable Mention:
A.I.
Chicago
Crash
Memento
Minority Report
Moulin Rouge!
Pan's Labyrinth
Slumdog Millionaire
The Constant Gardener
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Overrated:
Donnie Darko
Juno
Little Miss Sunshine
Million Dollar Baby
Sideways

Underrated:
Brick
Half Nelson
The Prestige
Shaun of the Dead

things i have purchased over the past 2 days shopping with my mom

noreply@blogger.com (KNH) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:00:00 +0000

I am pretty sure that I would have only purchased half of the below if I had been shopping alone. Some important things to note: My mom loves Christmas decorations - I could probably write a whole other list about her various collections of Christmas items. I did not put my Christmas tree up this year. Also, she loves buying things on sale. Here is where we went and what I bought.

Bed Bath & Beyond

dish drying mat
trash bags to fit my guest bathroom trashcan (note these were purchased to get our total purchases over $30 so we could use a $10 coupon that yielded more savings than the normal 20% coupon)

Marshall's Home Goods

furniture duster with a long handle to reach the window ledge behind my stairs
Barefoot Contessa Family Style
2 white bathmats

Target

Guesstures
cold medication
multi-colored star ornaments

Pottery Barn

silver star tree topper (as in Christmas tree)

Crate & Barrel

3 varieties of snowflake Christmas ornaments (total ornaments purchased approx 25)
2 boxes of gold star ornaments
chip and dip platter

Other stores we went to, but I did not buy anything

Williams Sonoma
Nordstrom
Macy's - Galleria
Macy's Deerbrook Mall
Dillard's Deerbrook Mall

what i got for christmas (in order of receipt)

noreply@blogger.com (KNH) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:56:00 +0000

from my parents - money
from my grandparents (dad's side)- money
from my grandpa (mom's side) - money
from my sister - spa gift certificate, bracelet, and room diffuser
from my brother - pajamas that have been orderded but have not arrived (he showed me a picture online)
from my other brother - an undisclosed gift that has been orderded online but has not arrived

What I Got For Christmas (In random order)

noreply@blogger.com (dlm) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Remote control helicopter-like thingy
iTunes gift card
Money
Wusthof chef's knife
Wusthof sharpening steel
Apple headphones
National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - Texas
National Geographic Adventure Paper (waterproof, tear-resistant printing material)
Clothes
Sorel house shoes
HD flip video
Perfect brownie pan

What I Got For Christmas (in order of preference)

noreply@blogger.com (Boxcar) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Inglorious Basterds (blu ray)
Maker's Mark whiskey
Headphones
iTunes gift card (just bought my old roommates album)
Books, books, books
Pajama bottoms
Electric razor
12-in-1 board game
Clothes

***and at 5:00 pm I will play with #1 and #2.

My Favorite Christmas Movies

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:42:00 +0000

The Ref
A Christmas Story
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Metropolitan
Scrooged
The Year without a Santa Claus
A Midnight Clear
Christmas Vacation
Mixed Nuts

Honorable Mention:
Batman Returns
The Long Kiss Goodnight

Least Favorite:
The Family Stone

family Christmas activities

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:22:00 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone. Here's what the Morris family is up to:

Blaine - On my laptop
Ragan - On his laptop
Derek - On his laptop
Austen - On his laptop
Dad - Eating some cornbread and milk, about to sit down at his computer
Mom - In her bedroom wrapping presents.

Mother is so lucky.

books on my parents' bookshelves

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:26:00 +0000

My parents have selected a few hardbacks to make the various shelves in their new home. I am used to seeing Bibles, westerns, and various books on war, Longhorn football, and God.

Here are some books I was a little surprised to see that I might read this weekend:

My Secret History - Paul Theroux
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Irving Stone
Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
Silas Marner - George Eliot

Here is one I was not so surprised to see that I might read this weekend:

Barney Fife's Guide to Life, Love and Self-Defense*

Here is one I was not so surprised to see (except for the fact it is a hardback) that I have already read:

The Pelican Brief**

* If my mom participated in List Anything, and had joined in that whole TV character thing a few months ago, I guarantee you would have seen Barney Fife on her list.

**Shut up, it was in college. And that was in 1993, and I thought it was crappy even then. But a real page-turner!

Karen's New Year's Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (KNH) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Clean my room
Hire a maid
Paint the first 2 floors of my house
Wake up early on a regular basis
Be less dramatic about things over which I have no control (e.g. not yelling at my computer when the firm decides to shut down the billing system the 4 days before the 15th)
Save more money (an extra 10% of my salary preferably)
Lower my cholesterol - This will most likely involve a combination of eating better, exercising and taking some sort of drug
Find a way to be motivated by my job again.
Find a hobby other than drinking/eating.

QT2's New Year's Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Questionable Taste) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:47:00 +0000

1. Do not say "I can skip the gym today, I played Wii Bowling." I at least have to play Wii Tennis if I'm going to call it a work out.

2. Stop setting three alarms on my phone, just so I can turn the volume off after the first one.

3. I will not gain any more weight. Losing weight is such a hard goal, so I figured why not make it easier. First maintain weight, then figure out a way to lose it.

4. Stop saying how hot every girl on television/movies is when I'm with my girlfriend. Rather, I should also mention how intelligent they are. That way she can't say I'm a pig.

5. Temper unprovoked attacks on former coworkers and the slandering of my old company's good name. Because if there is one that the great ghost in the sky got right it was his creation of promiscuous women. No reason to throw it in his face.

6. I vow to stop saying "I've seen part of that on tv, I think" when someone asks me if I've seen a movie that I clearly haven't.

7. NOT make Manager.

8. And speaking of girlfriends, I will settle down. Have children. Keep copies of Reader's Digest in the bathroom. Watch golf. Mow the yard. Remain emotionally distant from our kids. Go to church. Wear a polo shirt tucked into khaki shorts. Write checks at the grocery store. Become a vacant shell of a person who's only joy is meatloaf dinners. Basically I'm ready to mature as person by quietly dying inside. Baby.

Punky's New Year's Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Punky) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:07:00 +0000

1. Attend no weddings.
2. Sew something.
3. Close out all building permits on our house.
4. Build a snowman.
5. Watch all movies nominated for best picture before the Oscars (unless Avatar is nominated).
6. Finish all ½ read books or make a firm decision the ½ read book is not worth finishing because it sucks.
7. Be pleasant to strangers even if they are annoying and stupid.
8. Go to a ballet other than the Nutcracker.

PJenks' New Year's Resolutions

bem1212@gmail.com (P.Jenkins) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:24:00 +0000

Lose weight. I'm taking a phased approach. Ultimate goal: 30 pounds. May only make it to 10, and may stop at 20, if I look healthy and distinguished.
Run (or....walk) an hour a day.
Wake up in the mornings, get to work on time, focus while I'm there, and leave at a decent hour.
Be a prick to the staff at work, but hang out with them after hours and confuse them with my varying personalities. And force them to learn things.
Go to a movie once a week. Get with this whole Netflix program.
Read a book a week.
Find a church.
Volunteer somewhere.
Buy new clothes, and take some pride in my wardrobe/appearance beyond my haircut.
Blow dry my hair 2 or 3 days a week. Want to see how people respond.
Stop caring what people think.
Tweet.

Boxcar's New Year's Resolutions...

noreply@blogger.com (Boxcar) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Drink less. In fact, go as long as I can go without drinking (current record: 60 days).
Finish at LEAST 3 good screenplays.
Move out of my parent's house. *I realize this should probably be #1
Watch a new movie EVERY DAY.
Get a job. *This might interfere with #1, 2, and 4.
Meet a girl who isn't, deep down inside, a wretched, decayed soul.
Lose 40 lbs. You read that correctly. 40. That's like 3 dead dogs and an alligator.
See all my friends in Texas at least once.
Read 40 books. I was going to go 50 but then I decided to go with one book per pound.
Live long enough to see next year.

LIST CHALLENGE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Boxcar) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:37:00 +0000

I would really like to see some New Year's Resolutions by January 1st. Let's say 5- 10? And I know this isn't a list but whenever you entitle your list "List Challenge" it automatically excuses you from having to make a list according to the rule I just made up.

Professions Paz is going to pursue once he moves to New York

noreply@blogger.com (KNH) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:39:00 +0000

UN Spanish Interpreter - for example - "Quesadilla? No se. " That was Paz's example of his Spanish speaking skills
UN Flag Boy - given the poor Spanish skills from 1 above - he decided being the guy that put all of those flags up and down everyday was more realistic
Jazz musician - because the guy at brunch looked cool and dealing with all of those flags isn't a full time job.
Street musician - most likely a Reggae drummer - this was really because we saw one and thought it looked cool

I think there was also some talk of being a street vendor Imagine being in New York with a 10 year old trapped in a 30 year old body....

Things That Are Driving Me Crazy This Holiday Season

noreply@blogger.com (Boxcar) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:55:00 +0000

My mom not believing me that the mailman really doesn't give a shit whether he gets a ten dollar bill or ten ones. He'll take anything. And furthermore, it doesn't need to be a perfect, crisp bill. And further further more, he'd be happier with a twenty.
My step-dad not believing me that the reason his winter cap sticks out above his head is that he's supposed to pull it down over his ears TO KEEP THEM WARM. Instead he just looked at me, sincerely, and said "that's not how you wear them". You know, because of the rules. I guess we'll never understand why that "medium" sized hat is just too darn big.
My step-dad not understanding why I signed my mom up for a new email address with yahoo (one that uses her full name) instead of keeping her old one (16 years old) that uses SOME of her initials along with numbers at AOL.COM.
The "post-office" in Somers, CT that has ONE person working at all times.
My step-dad is starting his Christmas shopping today. Monday. December 21st. AND is taking my mom's car instead of his own truck because, let's be honest, somebody could scratch it.
I am running dangerously low on vodka.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!