Going Skiing

Tomorrow, Kristin and I (and the rest of the Nunnellys) are flying to Utah to go skiing. We will be there until Sunday, arriving home just as the Super Bowl starts. (A big shout-out to Randy for realizing that our flight home was during the Super Bowl and making the appropriate changes to our flight schedule.)

Anyway, as we'll be out of town over the next few days, I shall not be posting. What I shall be doing is getting scared to death with each run down the mountain. To ensure that I don't fall too much or hurt myself, I wrote out some notes last year to help me remember weight distribution as well as other necessary techniques. Just so you know how screwed I am, I thought I'd post them for your viewing.

Traversing the Mountain:

• Weight on downhill ski
• Lean forward in boots

Turning:

• Move weight to uphill ski (outside)
• Lean forward on uphill ski
• Push toes down on uphill ski
• Start turn
• Turn hips
• Start turning downhill ski
• Lean downhill ski toward turn
• Bring outside hand around fully
• Outside hand (not downhill hand) should be lower than uphill hand
• Look up, not down toward skis

Other:

• Don't look down the mountain
• Look at where I want to go

First, I will be studying these on the plane ride to Utah. And second, someone who has to actually think through this many things is in a bad spot. If you can spare a thought of pity for me, please do so.

Thanks.

Philippe's

Today, I met up with a friend to discuss business. We met up at Philippe's, in downtown LA, right across the street from Union Station. I had a french dip, some macaroni salad, and chocolate cream pie. It was excellent.

If you have never been to Philippe's, shame on you!

If you have but don't like it, that is not comprehensible, and you should reevaluate your priorities, principles, and tastes in this world!

Bride Wars (Spoiler Alert)

Kristin is a very responsible and reasonable human being (except when it comes to shopping, in which case all reason and logic get thrown out the window). Her friend Cheryl is also a very reasonable person (also except when it comes to shopping).

However, when they get together, they start feeding off each other, and all you can do is hold on for your life. One aspect of their relationship where things got out of hand was in the planning of both their weddings. These are two women who spent a lot of time growing up and in their early adult years dreaming about their respective special days. So when the new movie Bride Wars came out, it was only natural that Kristin and Cheryl get together to watch. Now, just to be clear, this is not a documentary based loosely on Kristin/Cheryl's planning of their weddings, although it could probably pass for it. More precisely, it's a crappy romantic comedy based on two best friends who end of having their weddings on the same day in the same place and fighting each other over it.

So Kristin and Cheryl set up a time/place to meet to watch the movie, for some much-needed "bonding time." And of course, the husbands got dragged along. We met at the Century City mall. Anyway, before discussing the movie, a few notes about the Century City mall.

• First, this is the most technologically-advanced parking lot, with censors above each parking spot, and there's a light which tells you if the spot is open or taken. Therefore, you can see all the way down a row without driving down that row. Amazing!
• The mall is east of the 405. Kristin and I do not travel east of the 405 on weekends for much. Cheryl and John should consider themselves lucky.
• A vendor was selling shamwows. Click here to learn more, as it's truly an amazing invention. It holds 20 times its weight in liquid. And it's made in Germany, because the Germans always make good stuff.

Anyway, on to the movie. It's all right and funny in parts. However, the plot has a few BIG holes in it:

• First, Emma and her fiance decide in the final scene (after their wedding has begun) that they aren't right for each other anymore. Prior to this, the plot BARELY alluded to this, so this scene felt like a big stretch.
• Second, the wedding planner (Marion St. Clare, played brilliantly by Candice Bergen, formerly of "Murphy Brown," who bore a child out of wedlock in the show, which was viewed unfavorably by then Vice President Dan Quayle, who couldn't spell the plural of the word "potato") originally booked Emma and Liv to weddings during the first and last week of June at the Plaza, respectively. Through some mix-up (her admin screwed up), Emma and Liv end up having both their weddings booked on the same date in June. This is a major screw-up! Am I really to believe that a wedding planner, whose only asset is her reputation and good name, wouldn't fix this? Really?!?! Personally, who would use this wedding planner after something like this happened? No one would. Therefore, the rest of the movie from that point forward (something like 20 minutes in) isn't worth watching because it's not at all believable.
• Also, I'm not happy that matinee tickets are $10 a piece. It's a recession, and I think AMC Theater management had better get its act together and lower prices.

Happy Birthday...

To our silent yet effective co-blogger.

Even though her words of wisdom have not been read on this blog, she is an insightful and intelligent and inspirational figure!

Anyway, my beautiful wife turns a very young [censored] years old today. She is celebrating by going to dinner with the writer of this great blog.

Losing Our Way

So maybe you've noticed, or maybe you haven't, but posts have been few and far between lately. I'm not sure what it is exactly - whether I've lost my motivation or just simply run out of ideas - but something has definitely changed of late. So where do we go from here? It's definitely time to start looking inward.

Obviously, the goal was to build readership before child #1 (TBD) arrives. But it's a lot of effort to keep you reading for that long, and I'm just a big nerd who's been writing about carrot cake and microsoft excel.

Maybe it's time for a sabbatical. I don't know; I just don't know. But I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Anyway, if you don't hear from me before the Super Bowl, I'm rooting for the Cardinals. So you might as well go ahead and bet it all on the Steelers. (Again, beware of the jinx, reverse jinx, and double-reverse jinx.)

NFL Gambling

Use at your own risk:

Over the last two weekends, there have been 8 NFL playoff games. In 7 of them, I took a rooting interest (I didn't have time to watch the Viking vs. Eagles). In all 7 of them, I have lost. Therefore, if you feel the need to bet this weekend, pick the Cardinals and the Steelers, because I will be rooting for the Eagles and the Ravens.

Of course, by writing this, I may be reverse-jinxing myself. But just so you know, as a little bit of history, a few years ago, I went 0-11 in NFL playoff picks. So I am historically bad.

Important Changes in the Pagano Household

(No, we're not having kids yet.)

Last Friday, Kristin got promoted to Brand Manager at Activision. It seems all her efforts to play the drums have paid off. Anyway, it's been obvious for a long time that she was doing really well there and that everyone liked her. (It's a good thing I have her under a lifetime contract.) So with "talent planning" coming to a conclusion, management decided to reward her for her efforts.

With such a move, it has become entirely evident to me that things should change in our household as well. I think you would all agree that Kristin is the big winner in our family, and that I should just pack it in, quit my job, and let her be the breadwinner. Seriously, how could I disagree with such a notion? When the children arrive (TBD), I will be volunteering my services to stay home with them.

I mean, this isn't just a good move for us; it's a good move for women everywhere, as she helps Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton and Condi break through that glass ceiling.

A Pair of Jeans

Yesterday marked the end of the 2008 college football season. As per our bet, and with Texas less than 8 spots behind USC (although they did indeed finish behind), Kristin can go buy herself a pair of jeans. While it may seem that I have actually lost the bet, the end result is that this should have zero net effect on Kristin's total jeans collection, and thus zero monetary effect. Here's why:

Whenever Kristin goes out and buys an article of clothing, it is always because she "needs" it. Never has she bought something merely because she simply wants it. So with her buying this pair of jeans (which she may or may not need), her future need for jeans should decrease by one pair. (I should have probably drawn some supply and demand curves here for your reference.)

Therefore, while in the short-term there may be an extra pair of jeans and a related cost, in the long-term this shall have no net effect on Kristin's jeans collection or our finances. Therefore, while I may have technically lost the bet, I really lose nothing, unless of course she's been lying to me all along about her "need" for clothes.

On TV Tonight

Today, Monday, January 5, is a HUGE day for TV. There are six hours of quality television conveniently wrapped into three programs.

• The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: First, stick it to the corporate sponsor by opening up a bag of Doritos or Fritos or Cheetos during the game. Second, go to the other TV, so that you are not watching it with a UT alum. You'll avoid not only the play-by-play commentary but also the complaints about being left out of the BCS championship game.
• Gossip Girl: This show sucks, and it is beneath the dignity of this blog to speak positively about it. I mean, Kristin loves it, and will be watching it intently, and will be saying every other commercial break "XOXO, Gossip Girl." But that doesn't mean that this show isn't one big pile of ....
  
• John & Kate Plus Eight: In the upcoming season, it seems the big event is that the Gosselins move to a bigger house. While that may be the issue promoted in all their commercials, they should be highlighting what's going on with the children. (The twins Mady and Cara are now eight years old, while the sextuplets will be five in May.) Anyway, the big issue, I think, is what's going to happen with the sextuplet boys. I think it's glaringly obvious that both Joel and Collin are punks, and it's only a matter of time before they start picking on Aaden. I can only hope it starts this season, so they can show Kate flying off the handle and going crazy and yelling at everyone.

New Tag Line

I just want to take this opportunity to thank new loyal reader Travis Hockersmith for providing our new tag line (see above). Aside from being The Best Blog Ever, we are now Inspirational Yet Alarmingly Useless. I believe that sums up perfectly the point of this blog.