NFL Draft

I'm sure none of you watched the draft, but indulge me. I usually flip back and forth to see who the first few picks are, then I tune out and check the internet later to see how it panned out. But this year, I recorded it to see where Darren and Felix would end up.

So picture me fastforwarding through the picks when the Oakland Raiders came on the clock. I said a little prayer hoping beyond hope that they would decide not to take Darren. Then I proceeded to scream out as the most dreaded scenario played out before my eyes. The only good thing about DMac going to the Raiders is that they show all of the Raider games out here on the West Coast, so I'll get to see him play. Though, honestly, I probably won't watch it too much because I just absolutely cannot stand the Raiders. And Oakland is such a ghetto thug town. It's just not the environment that a kid like Darren needs to be in. But hopefully, things will work out well for him.

So then I fastforward through to get to the Cowboys pick, but of course I caught up to my recording because the draft is so freakin' long. So I sat there for 10 minutes waiting on their selection to be made, and I said another little prayer hoping they would take Felix. I watched as they did one of those insta-polls about whether the Cowboys should take him and the answer was overwhelmingly no. But thankfully they don't listen to the uninformed populace, and I screamed out in joy as they picked Felix! I was really hoping Felix would end up with the Cowboys. I think he'll be a much better fit with Marion Barber than DMac would've been. DMac and Barber are too similar in their up-in-your face, I love contact kind of styles. Whereas Felix is a quick cutter who eludes contact. I think they'll be a nice 1-2 combination.

So there you have it. DMac to the Raiders...boo!!! Felix to the Cowboys...woohoo!!!

Oh, and go see Baby Mama. It's really cute and funny! Jolee, it reminds me of Baby Boom. It's like Baby Boom meets SNL. What could be better than that?!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hayden!

My first impression of you was, "Oh my goodness, look at all that blonde hair!" I've never seen so much hair on the head of a newborn baby. And you were about the biggest baby I've ever seen. I think that means you're going to be tall like your daddy. Of all my nieces and nephews, I got to spend the most time with you as a baby. But you probably don't remember that, though I have pictures to prove it! I don't know how many times I was called down to your house by your sick mommy to come take care of you because she could barely hold her head up. My favorite picture of you and your mommy is the two of you lying in a recliner looking horribly sick. It makes me laugh because that's what I remember most about your brief stint in Los Angeles!

Once, I was babysitting you and your parents left a mostly eaten ear of corn for you to knaw on. I thought that was silly, but I gave it to you anyway, and proceeded to watch you chomp away at that thing for nearly half an hour. It was too funny!

Did you know that I made you your first birthday cake? Bet you don't remember that. Don't let your mommy fool you into thinking that she did. Because, again, I've got the pictures to prove it!

I love that you are so silly and make me laugh all the time. I love all that super blonde hair that sits on top of your head. I love that you idolize your older brother. I love how you shower your little sister with hugs and kisses. I love how you can whine with the best of them and throw some really good fits. I love that now you take awhile to warm up to me, but when you finally do it's like I've never been away. But most of all, I just love you!

Happy Birthday!!

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

I went to see this documentary on Sunday and felt compelled to write a little blurb about it. This is a documentary that Ben Stein ("Bueller? Bueller?") made about how scientists who espouse the belief of intelligent design or give any kind of credence to its possibility are being shunned in the academic world. The reviews for the documentary have been horrendous, but if you take the time to read them you see the typical liberal media bias. They hear intelligent design and immediately think creationism and shut off their brains and rant about how stupid of an idea it is. But they're all missing the point. Stein isn't arguing for the acceptance of intelligent design, he is simply exposing the hypocrisy of the scientific world for not accepting it as a possibility given the shortcomings of the evolutionist thought. What's brilliant about the film is how he lets the evolutionists talk and talk and eventually expose the stupidity of their thought on their own. He doesn't manipulate or do any fancy editing a la Michael Moore to make the film say what he wants it to. Funny how the media sure doesn't mind the utterly disgusting propaganda of Michael Moore since it's in tune with their beliefs. Michael Moore is not a documentary filmmaker. He's a propagandist. Give me any "documentary" he's ever made, and I can put together an equally compelling argument from the other viewpoint.

I'm sure you all assume correctly that I'm no evolutionist. Well, usually I say I'm no darwinist. I don't believe all life forms originated from primordial ooze. I think it's funny how atheists think the idea of creationism is completely absurd, yet it doesn't even enter their mind that we creationists think the idea of coming from mud is equally as absurd. They think we're all just a bunch of idiots who have no intelligence whatsoever. I'm digressing a bit because my point wasn't to talk about creationism v. evolution. My point was to expose you to the film and encourage you to go see it. I usually think the idea of encouraging fellow Christians to support a Christian movie just because it's Christian is stupid. Especially since most of those movies suck. But this is a well-made documentary made by a non-Christian (pretty certain Stein is just straight-up Jewish) that the media is bashing for no other reason than it's loose link to Christianity. I say shut those people up and go see the movie!

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Me & OCD

I've always told people that I'm pretty confident that I'm borderline obsessive compulsive. I thought that I'd gained control of it in the last couple of years, but I can feel it creeping back up. I love the movie As Good As It Gets because I totally get Jack Nicholson's character. Now obviously that's someone who has full-on OCD, and I'm not anywhere near that extreme. I'm not a germaphobe who obsessively washes my hands or anything like that. I'm just all about evenness and not stepping on the cracks! For instance, when I was walking home from the gym just now, my left heel hit a crack in the sidewalk on accident. Now for most people, this is absolutely no problem. But for me, it sends this shiver up my spine and I have to naturally hit a crack in the exact spot on my right heel. Like I said evenness! Used to, when I would accidentally brush up against a wall or something on one side, I absolutely had to do it on the other side. And everything had to be neatly stacked and arranged on my desk or I couldn't sleep at night. It's things like that that I gained control of in the last few years. But the crack thing really threw me for a loop tonight, so I'm gonna have to work on this some more. The only thing I can't seem to shake is my obsession with even numbers. Odd numbers make me feel weird. I can't lock the door once. Nope, it has to be two times. I can't set my alarm clock once, it has to be two or four times. And I count like nobody's business. I'm constantly counting in my head - the number of steps I take, the number of stairs I climb, so on and so forth. Sometimes it's the total number of whatever I'm counting, but more often than not it's just obsessively counting from 1-6 and starting over. I wonder what exactly causes this? Luckily for me, it doesn't really affect my life too terribly much, so I don't feel the need to seek any mental help. Hopefully it won't spin out of control any further and I'll just remain borderline. That I can handle.

New Blog Name

I realize I don't lead a very interesting life, so there aren't many adventures for me to report. So I decided to change the name of my blog to Reflections of an Arkie in LA. I think this better captures what my blog is about - me typing about whatever the crap I feel like and giving you my thoughts. But rest assured, if any adventures actually do start to happen, I'll fill you in..."reflect" on them, if you will.

The Biggest Loser

Alright, I'm giving you all fair warning because I was spoiled as to the last new episode of Lost when I was perusing around some blogs a few weeks ago. So here's your fair warning - if you don't know who won and don't want to be spoiled, then I suggest you navigate away from this page right now.



















I was sooooo happy that Ali won!! I was pulling for Kelly to win, but honestly I didn't think she had it in her. Though I was rather impressed that she ended up losing what she did. I absolutely adore this show, but was getting pretty convinced that a woman was never going to win because it's just darn near impossible given the way they have the show set up. But low and behold, Ali and Kelly kicked some major tail towards the end and gave me hope. Then Ali freakin' knocked the ball out of the park getting so skinny and buff! So yes, I'm happy that a woman finally won! And no, I absolutely won't apologize for it even if you try to label me with that dreaded feminist monicker. Rock on, ladies!!

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

Ahhhhh, I officially need all birthdays to stop! I can't keep up with all of them anymore. Today is my sister-in-law Shannon's birthday, and I almost forgot. I'm getting this in just under the wire.

Happy Birthday, Shannon! I don't know why your birthday seems to sneak up on me every year, but it does. You'd think after all these years I could get it straight considering I've known you since I was what, like 6 or 7?! Oh my how time flies. We're getting old! I hope you have/had a fantastic birthday. And next year, I promise I'm going to remember better!

Oh, and I still owe my dad and nephew, Nicholas, a birthday post. I promise I will get to it!