Mike's Corner

Two thumbs down for the latest Marvel Comic to be turned into a movie. Instead of making something new and smart, such as the X-men, someone decided to film two hours of bad actors rattling off campy one-liners, much like the Hulk fiasco. What could have been fantastic, is anything but.

The wait is almost over. After what seems like an eternity, the 2005-06 football season is finally here. I've redirected my link to the Redskins complete schedule. The Washington Redskins' first preseason game is on August 13th against the Carolina Panthers. While the season opener is against the Chicago Bears on September 11th, every true Redskins fan knows that the season officially begins on September 19th, against the Dallas Cowboys (a team I pledged to never mention on this website) on Monday Night Football (God bless Al Michaels and John Madden). Please do not attempt to call me during this game, for I will not be taking any calls... Seriously, don't call me. I'm not kidding. Mark your calendar. No telefono.

"Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years." This is coming to the Fox next May, but get your tickets early. I've read that it is fantastic. I've got links to the Wicked web site and the Fox Theatre to the left.

I just finished reading yet another John Grisham novel, The Last Juror. What a page-turner! I figured the whole thing out with at least three and a half pages to go. I haven't read all 17 of his books, but this was my second favorite of his thus far, closely behind A Time to Kill. Time permitting, I'm planning on reading Bleachers before finishing my vacation. Nothing like a book about the gridiron! I'll let you know what I think about it.

At over 420 feet tall, and reaching speeds of 120 mph, the Top Thrill Dragster isn't even considered a roller coaster. It's considered a strata-coaster. I would even have difficulties tackling this one! Check it out at www.cedarpoint.com

So Shannon and I are sitting at my mom's kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee Tuesday morning. I'm struggling with the crossword, while Shannon is reading the guts of the Dothan Eagle (I'm still embarrassed that I struggled with the Dothan Eagle crossword). She grabs my attention by telling me that the Indian Pines Clubhouse in Auburn has burned down. I had only played the course once, back in April. Upon returning to Auburn on Tuesday evening, we verified the reports. What a shame. Thankfully, no one was injured. Let's hope, for golfers everywhere, that they get back on their feet in record time. (Thanks for the photo, Jerry.)

You know you're guilty. We all are. We sit there late at night flipping channels until we see something that catches our eye. You see the Ronco products. "Set it and forget it". Change channel. "I can cut this tin can, and still cut this tomato". Change channel. "This is like no other air purifier". Change channel. "Keep the Oreck mini vacuum for free if not satisfied. I'll even pay for the shipping". Change channel. Then you come across the Magic Bullet. You try to change the channel, but your opposable thumb won't let you. You are too intrigued by the mere genious of this creation. I can't blame you. He who lives in a glass house, and all... No other product allows me to make an omelet for breakfast, a chicken salad sandwich for lunch (with left over chicken, no less), and homemade spaghetti sauce for dinner. For anyone who has seen me cook, please send over your mini Oreck to clean up all of these messes from breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's still tempting to buy. If interested, go to www.buythebullet.com and call me for dinner..., or lunch..., or breakfast!

I'm blown away by how many visits I've had on the site. I just checked, and was shocked to see over 200 already! Granted, at least 100 of those are attributed to dad and Shannon, but it's still nice to see. I'll do my best to keep it interesting and entertaining. Mike

Let me begin by telling everyone that I am a dog person. I always have been, and I always will be. But lately, I have been surrounded by cats. Shannon has two cats: Gus and Savannah. Gus (short for Augustus) was named after Robert Duvall's character in Lonesome Dove, and Savannah was named after Melinda Dillon's charcter in The Prince of Tides. Of course, I can appreciate this, being a huge movie buff. Gus is 20 lbs. of lovin', while Savannah is 8 lbs. of attitude. I just called Shannon to make sure she made it back to Atlanta in one piece, because I was worried about Cindy (the storm, not Brady). Shannon remarked that upon her return, Gus wouldn't leave her alone, starved for attention. Savannah, on the other hand, simply looked at her as if to say, "Oh, you've been gone for 3 days? I didn't notice." Let me back up a little bit. Sunday evening, Shannon and I went over to my brother's house in Dothan. Turns out, the neighborhood stray decided to have kittens underneath my brother's back porch. Well, Ben has two daughters, Baylee and Audrey, who love cats (as does any 8- and 6-year-old). Needless to say, Ben and Laurie were forced to unofficially adopt these kittens. Well, Shannon's heart just melted when she met Trouble Maker, Scaredycat, and Ashley (these are the names given to them by my aforementioned nieces). Ashley was the sweetest one of the bunch, and Shannon fell in love immediately. It took every bit of will power for her not to take that little kitten home with her. Moving on to Tuesday evening, Shannon and I are back in Auburn watching Coach Carter (great movie by the way), and in walks Jay holding a 10-week-old kitten that he found wandering around Outback (parking lot, not dining room). For the second time in 3 days, I got to witness Shannon's inner-child come out as she romped on the floor with this adorable little furball. Again, I am a dog person, but it's hard not to appreciate cats when you see how much joy they can bring to someone.

Shannon and I left Dothan on Tuesday around noon. We knew we had time to kill because we wanted to go by the Outback in Montgomery to see some old friends of mine, and I had promised her Bonefish Grill for dinner. I knew that she had never experienced Sikes & Kohn's Country Mall (just north of Troy), so we decided to stop in. Did I mention this is a Country Mall? Levi's, Wranglers, boots, flip-flops, hunting gear, tacky purses, and underwear seem to prevail here, but they did have a couple of things that caught our eyes. I was mainly concerned with the assortment of Birkenstocks. I was even more concerned when I discovered that Shannon had never owned a pair. Well, I guess we all know what she's getting for Christmas. We finally made it to Mongomery and decided to walk around the Shoppes at East Chase. You name it, they got it. American Eagle, Gap, A & F, Bath and Body Works, everything. We spent the majority of our time in two places: William Sonoma and some unnamed little art gallery. We finally tore ourselves away (without spending a dime, surprisingly) and went to Outback. It was great catching up with Tim Baucom (my old Proprietor) and the rest of the gang: Marcus, Stephen, Tory, Regina, Jan, Tricia, Zandra, Jonathan, Roberta, Angela, Jessica... sorry if I forgot anyone. We drove over to Bonefish and said hello to my good friend Julie Hauser, Proprietor, and had a delicious meal. Shannon had a Caesar salad (imagine that) and a huge bowl of muscles. I had the Cajun Chicken Egg Rolls, and they were even better than I remembered. Stuffed and happy, we got back on the road. So it only took us 8 hours to get from Dothan to Auburn. Not bad!

My favorite word... Vacation!!! Shannon came down Sunday morning, and we took off to the Circle City. That's right, Dothan, Alabama! I know how jealous you are! Seriously, we had a great time. We showed up at mom's house around 3:00 and just socialized for a little while. Ben and Laurie came over with the girls (Baylee, 8, and Audrey, 6), then we headed to Outback. We ate way too much and were miserable afterwards. Mom took the grandbabies to her house, and Shannon and I went to Ben and Laurie's for an adult beverage or two. Soon after we got there, a community fireworks show began, so we all went to the upstairs balcony of their house to enjoy the show. It was beautiful! What a great way to celebrate Ben's birthday and the 4th.

Those who know me best can tell you that I'm always reading at least two books at any given time: one fiction and one non-fiction. I've not always been a big reader. I've read Beowulf and Gulliver's Travels, but I never made it past page three of Portrait of an Artist As a Young Man. At Northview High School, I almost always (sorry mom and dad, thank you Cliff's Notes) read the required reading, but was always perplexed by my brother's thirst for books. His favorite author was Stephen King. He could finish a six-pound book in a matter of days. I just thought he was crazy. A couple of years ago, I finally caught the bug. It started out with strictly non-fiction (How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie), but over time has progressed to fiction. I'm currently reading The Last Juror, by John Grisham. I'll just say that it is a page-turner. Here is a taste from page 124:

Roughly twelve months earlier I had been living on the third floor of a fraternity house in Syracuse, New York, attending class occasionally, working hard to be a good soldier in the sexual revolution, drinking prodigious amounts af alcohol, smoking pot, sleeping until noon anytime I felt like it, and for exercise I'd hustle over to the next antiwar rally and scream at the police. I thought I had problems. How I'd gone from there to a witness chair in the Ford County courtroom was suddenly very unclear to me.