a guy and a bee
a collection of random thoughts and ideas from me, her, and sometimes us
new year’s resolutions
do you make new year’s resolutions? i never really got into making a resolution, but i know a lot of people do. are you one of those people who wants to work out more often or eat healthier? this year, i don’t really have a resolution, but something i would like to do more of, so we will see how it goes.
the best resolutions are both attainable but also good goals for yourself, so don’t set something too high and too hard to accomplish. remember to make your goals into SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely! my wife informed me last week that she wants to run the baltimore marathon this coming year so that will be a nice goal for her personally and something i know she can do! it will take a lot dedication and time, but it is specific (running a marathon), measurable (running it or not), attainable (she has run long distances before and can do it again), realistic (it’s not out of her ability) and timely (the marathon is in october and she will be able to run and train all year).
here’s to a great year and a happy and healthy 2011 to all you! hope you accomplish all you set out to do!
movie etiquette
etiquette is something people seem to take for granted today. unfortunately, that doesn’t help us get further along in life. as someone who intentionally goes to early movies to avoid large, rude crowds at the theaters, i was pretty upset last week by the occurrence that happened.
i get that you might forget to turn your phone to vibrate or maybe you missed the reminder at the beginning of the movie. you were probably loading up with a large popcorn with extra butter and salt, but in today’s day and age, just keep your phone on vibrate any time you are in public. a) we don’t care how important you think you are and b) if you are so important that you have to answer the phone during the movie, don’t go into the movie in the first place. plain and simple.
my ultimate pet peeve and etiquette problem is people that talk during movies. if you want to talk during a movie at your house, go ahead. just don’t talk or whisper during the movie at the theater or if i am watching at your house. we are watching it too! you don’t have to say, “oh, those are his sisters!” we all know that because we are watching it at the same time!
lastly, if the theater is nearly empty, don’t sit next to, behind, or in front of me! there are another 200 seats, sit more than 2 feet from the other 12 people there.
apparently common courtesy and etiquette are not important any more. maybe the next time i’ll complain to the manager on the old ladies and then they’ll get the message because “sshhhh”-ing them didn’t work. don’t talk, sit next to me, or answer your phone when i’m in the theater. they should know this is normal etiquette and common courtesy. idiots.
do you guys agree?
movie review: the fighter
generally on friday’s that i have off from work, i try to make it to an early/mid-afternoon showing at the theater. this past friday, i went and caught “The Fighter” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. the story is based on the true story of Micky Ward and Dick Ekland. Ekland was a famous fighter for knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard, whereas, his little brother, Ward, is working to make his way to the top of the boxing world and will eventually go on to be a boxing champion. the movie has received many nominations for the Golden Globes and will do the same for the Oscars. both Wahlberg and Bale are outstanding in their roles, but in my opinion, Bale really shines and stands out as playing the crack addicted Ekland, who has everyone in his family believing HBO is making a documentary about his comeback. at times, he even believes it himself and is later disappointed when the shows airs on TV. the way Bale acts and moves in the movie, you can see he really got into his role as Ekland. Wahlberg, who plays the leading role of Ward, also shines as the hopeful boxer, who struggles in life with the realities of dealing with his brother and his family, who pushes him into a fight because his mother needs the money, while trying to make something of himself.
the ensemble casts also includes Amy Adams, who portrays Wahlberg’s bar-tending girlfriend, Charlene, really rounds out the hopeful side that Wahlberg shows as his character tries to break out from his family and the small town of Lowell, MA. Mickey O’Keefe, Jack McGee, and Melissa Leo help round out the cast and are the 3 other pivotal characters in the movie. The last main character of the movie is the sleepy town of Lowell, Massachusetts. this small town that has nothing more than Ward and Ekland to hang their hat on shows why the brothers are the way they are as well as their family in general. it shows where people were in the the late ’80s and ’90s, how they got stuck there in many parts of America, and how drugs affected even the small towns across the country.
the movie is nominated for several awards and definitely deserves it. it stands out a fantastic portrayal of a true story and is way more than just another sports or boxing movie. i would give a 3.5 out of 4 stars. go find out for yourself why Micky Ward and Dick Ekland are the “Pride of Lowell.”
what are you thankful for?
every year at this time, we look back and think and talk about what we are thankful for. it is something that we need to do more often, but is often looked past in the daily routine of work, friends, social activities, etc. thinking about this year and what i am thankful for, it’s hard to just think of one thing, but most of all, i am thankful to be putting this wild year behind us.
the prior year ended with a wild finish and the 
2010 got started off the same way. 40 some inches of snow in february postponed her bridal shower and had many of us sweating bullets that it would melt away in time for our big day. well it did and almost 9 months ago, bee and i got married. it was everything we wanted it to be and more than we probably wanted to handle. we celebrated and quickly returned to reality with family issues that caused a large divide. lucky, she had me to lean on and we yelled, cried, screamed, ran away, and have started to move forward from those days.
summer came and went. some things changed and some things stayed the same. we spent some time at the beach, but not as much as usual and we even spent her birthday apart, although, she got to see fireworks in disney world on the 4th of july. it was her first time there and she loves fireworks and magic, so where else would one want to be. everyone i’ve talked to this year has talked about how fast it has gone by. well the same seemed to happen here. october came around and we drove to nebraska to see her dad. it was a great trip and brought up a lot of emotions. it was a very good, but trying trip and we got to see some more of this great country. (ps… i started choking on fritos while typing this, so i apologize if any spit is on this post 😉 )
so as we come to this thanksgiving and the holiday season and look back on this wild year, 
we can both be thankful for the experiences and thankful that the year is over. we are thankful that we are moving forward to new experiences and hopefully better ones. with that, i ask you, what are you thankful for?
oh yeah, i took the picture of the flower to the left at the omaha zoo in nebraska.
food review: coal fire pizza
Last night, the wife and I went out to get some dinner and wound up at a relatively new place called Coal Fire in Columbia. It’s right off Rt. 108 and Rt. 100 in what is called Shipley’s Grant. Their pizzas are “charred to perfection.”
We ended up choosing our own toppings and went for ground beef and their classic sauce. The pizza was cooked in a wood/coal burning oven and is a thin crust style. It’s not your standard cheese covered pizza with ground beef. The sauce and cheese combo was pretty good; however, I could have used some extra ground beef but maybe I’m just being greedy. Crust was nice and crusty, but not burnt. Though it was a smaller menu, they had some nice selections including a very good looking Baked Crabby Mac.
The restaurant appears to have a good local following and also has a small bar with a few high top tables, which made it have a fancier feel than your standard pizza joint. We didn’t have to wait, but there was a line shortly after we got there. For less than $20 for dinner, we will return. A 16″ pizza can easily feed two and next time we might get a side or a salad as well. Check it out if you are in the area and let me know what you think!
the great nebraska adventure
during the week of halloween, my wife and made a trip to see her father in nebraska. since i don’t fly, we drove from maryland to lincoln, nebraska. she refers to it as the great nebraska adventure. i refer to it as 2,655 miles in 7 days and 40 plus hours in the car. nonetheless, it certainly was an adventure.
having never left the east coast in my life and enjoying car rides, i assumed this trip to a neat way to see some more of this great country. well, we did see a lot of somethings and nothing of others. once we got past the middle of ohio, all we saw for endless hours were cornfields and silos. no wonder they called the midwest, the dust bowl. 
not only did we see cornfields and silos, we saw lots of roadkill. we counted over 45 deer and easily 100+ other types. everything from squirrels and raccoons to skunks and cats.
the people of nebraska are nice people. kind of what i would expect from good farmer working people; however, they do have some interesting places outside of maryland. in PA, we saw the Eat ‘N Park. there was Tom Raper’s RV’s in the Indiana or Illnois. And to save the best for last, in Lincoln, we saw the Git ‘N Split and the Kum ‘N Go. of course, there was also sinclair’s gas station, which had a large dinosaur in front of the sign.
while we out there, we also got to go to a nebraska football game. if there’s one thing they out there it’s nebraska football. it was the 309th consecutive sellout. stadium only holds 85,907 fans. pretty small really 😉
all and all, it was an interesting place and an interesting trip. we got to see her dad for the first time since march and we had an adventure. also got to go to 6 states i had never been to before!
hey there
a guy and a bee 