The New Year is coming

Another New Years Eve is almost upon us. A time to reflect, a time to look forward.
Ok.
First, resolutions. Resolutions are kind of a waste of time to me. I have no intention of commiting to something simply because of the date. If I want to quit smoking or drop weight, I'll do it with out a phony promise to myself.Most resolutions don't last through January. How about something realistic? I promise not to run anyone over with my truck unless they really deserve it. ok. I think I can do that.

Reflecting..... ah, 2004. What a year it was.

Looking forward. Boy, I hope 2005 doesn't suck.


Ok, seriously. 2004 was pretty damn good. I spent time with people important to me. I read some great books and accomplished some cool stuff. My family is happy, and so are most of my friends. All in all, a good year.

2005.... I hope to read more good books. I hope our magazine does better and I hope I get Son Of Interrogations done on time and we sell 34,873 copies. I hope all the authors I know make the best seller lists, and I hope all my nonwriter freinds get raises at their jobs and do less work. And I hope everyone stays healthy.


The big night itself. Dec 31. I will not be out in a public place. I did enough of that when I was young, and even when I was protected with a bar in front of me, it is still a hell night. Amatuer drinkers out getting extra stupid. Who needs it?

The preferred plan of action involves a small group of family and friends and good food. Maybe some poker or black jack.

If you are drinking and end up a bit hungover I suggest this for Jan 1st.
Get right out of bed. Drink a shitload of water and take a hot shower. Eat something greasey and go back to bed. Repeat every two hours till the world stops spinning.

If you are not drinking, and I don't any more, enjoy the no hangover feeling. And spend the day doing nothing! Watch movies, go shopping, take a nap. Syart 2005 rested. I think we might need it.

Post Un-Wrapping Wrap up

So, it's the 26th. The family has all gotten visits and gifts were exchanged.
Lots of good food and a lot of fun.

We started at my Mom and Dad's house.
Ruth got My brother Paul a oak gaming table, with Roulette, Black Jack and Craps for his basement. He's single and has a great bar set up down there.
We got my mom some clothes, and sister Dianne got bunny slippers. On the front they say "Your Anger Makes Me Happy", I love the happy bunny products...
Jennfer got a DVD player and some movies.Also a Babar the Elephant yoga book.
The killer was my Dad opening a 32" flat screen HDTV ready television. He was a bit surprised to say the least.
Ruth got some great wine drinking accessories and a electric Jar opener.( making me unneeded in the kitchen when she cooks)
I got a limited edition signed Neil Gaimen book, and a signed Gaimen poster. Plus a posable Silver Surfer and a Howard The Duck. The proceeds went to the Comic Defense Fund. Very cool.I also got the new Reverend Horton Heat which included a DVD. Plus a really cool big lighter for my desk.
We rounded out my parents house with a gift for each of the kids from a friend of the family. I received a signed XTC lp. Very very cool.

Long drive to Sheboygan in the cold. Arrived at Brother in Laws House at 12:45

Unloaded truck and announced that I needed to change into my pj's. He jumped up and said "here!", and handed me AC/DC lounge pants. Peter knows me pretty well. Ruth got Eyore from Winnie the Pooh.

Came back and we got down to it.After a frenzy of paper we all had nice looking piles of loot. Mine included a Monty Python tshirt which will no doubt be part of my B-Con outfit for next fall. I also got a great Ramones DVD, Hero on DVD, a Batman alarm clock, which I'm sure Reed will love the next time he stays over...

The next morning at the In Laws house we really got loaded up. My inlaws love to give gifts and they are good shoppers. I got some really cool Santas to put out including another one on a motorcycle. Father In Law Dick, ( who wrote the piece on Lee Child in Crime Spree) got me the Matrix 10 disc set. He rocks. He also got me the new Den Koontz and a Jim Thompson book I was missing. Also included in the pile were a minature Grandfather clock, a nice wood tray for the arm of my recliner, some really cool shirts and there was more but this is the stuff that really stands out this early in the morning after little sleep....

Ruth got me great stuff. I got her some good stuff too , at least she told me she liked it! And Ruth doesn't lie so I have to assume she liked it.
I got Ruth: A bunch of DVD's including The Misfits, Season two of Wiseguy, Two "best of" Freinds, True Crime , Jesus Christ Super Star and Tapeheads. I also got her the entire Pink Collection from Victoria Secret. A winnie the pooh print for framing. I also made her happy by replacing the movie poster from The Crow with a poster of Johhny Depp.I bought her assorted books including a true crime book about people hiding bodies in weird ways.I got her perfume and some girly stuff like lotions and products. Cd's included Green Day and Brian Wilson's Smile. There was also a vacum cleaner.
She also got a really cool winnie the pooh snowglobe, and assorted Disney clothes. I'm kind of drawing a blank on the other stuff....

Ruth got me wonderful stuff, including, Batman action figure set, A pizza stone, justice league toothpaste,2 fast 2 frurious soundtrack, Live Aid on DVD, books, including two hard to find Max Allan Collins, The Comic Book Enclyclopedia, and a hard cover volume of Marvel's 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert. I also got a great board game and assorted clothing items. She shopped great.

There is also a pile of new dvds. Between us the pile is around thirty two seperate titles. Today is going to be all about the movies and relaxing....

So, what did you people get?

No More Waiting

I'll admit. I'll admit it freely. I don't like to act or behave like a grown up.I never have and I never will. I'm worse at Christmas.

Luckily so is my wife.

Last night, the 22nd, we opened all our presents to each other. Every one of them. We rationalized and talked ourseves in to it. Xmas eve we would be gone as soon as Ruth got done at work. To my parents house, then to her Brothers around midnight, her parents the next morning and back to her brother's for dinner. We wouldn't be home till late xmas night.And since she finished wrapping stuff for everyone else....

So we did it. We opened them all. And then we stayed up and played her new Green Day cd and looked at all our goodies. And I have to say Ruth did a great job shopping for me. She even remembered the Batman toys.
She seemed pretty happy with what I got for her too.

So it's true, I have no self control. But that's ok, either does my wife.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend doing what ever it is you do.




So, Maybe sunday we can all compare what we got!

And remember, he knows if you've been naughty or nice, And I'm not talking about Ashcroft....

Cat Blog

Jon mentioned that other members of the crime spree family might be posting here.
Well, I don't really work on that, but I do keep him company while he does it.

I'm Logan and I am an orange fluffy cat. I adopted Jon about two years before he quit drinking. It took a while but between me and the other three cats here we got him housebroken. It made the house pretty nice to live in, even if it was mostly set up for humans. Jon wasn't quite as funny late at night, but he was around a lot more and that good. I like company.

We must have done pretty good with the housebreaking because a couple years later Jon brought home another human. He calls here Ruth. I like her because she wakes up early and feeds us wet food. She also is really good at napping, but she doesn't do that enough. Still, I'm pretty happy withmy humans.

Ok enough background, on with the cat blogging or cataloging if you will....

Dec 22, 2004 5:00am
I got off the cat condo around 5:00 am and started walking across Ruth. She eventually took the hint and woke up. That done, I got off the bed and followed her to the kitchen. Maybe it's a wet food day!!!!
Nope. Just coffee for her.
Followed Ruth to the ofice and sat next to her on the desk. She is playing with a mouse and doin weird things to the tv they call a computer. She sometimes says something about "stupid spider solitire"
Shit. She's moving around again. Oh wait. here come jon. I'll folow him and meow at him. Maybe he'll scratch my ass.cool. that was good. I'm going to go take a nap.
8:00 am
I got up off the bed and moved to the comforter on the floor next to the bed. Time for a nap.
10:00am
I eat some kibble and walk around the living room. I think I'll nap on the couch.
2:00 pm
I'm going to go check on Jon. I like when he stays home. I wonder why he isn't napping. Hey!? Is that a ping pong ball!!!????Wheee!!
I need a nap.
6:00 pm Ruth isn't home yet. I better go and meow at the door so Jon knows she isn't here yet. He said my name really loud. I think he heard me.
I'm going to go and nap on the clean laundry.
12:00 I blogged. I think I'll go sleep on Ruth's head till Jon goes to bed. Then I can head butt his book till I need a nap.

My father,second from left and his brothers. Pretty noir looking dudes.

I Like Coffee

In fact, I like coffee a lot. I like it black, I like it with cream or milk, I like with with sugar or with one of those girlie non sugar sweeteners. I like any combination of them in my coffee. About the only thing I don't like as far as coffee goes are some of the flavors. I want my coffee to taste mostly like coffee. To my way of thinking if you need to buy a chocolate flavored coffee and add all sorts of stuff to it, maybe you are drinking the wrong thing.

Dennis Leary has a great bit about flavored coffee.

“I’m driving around in my truck, and I see a 7-Eleven, and I think, “Of course, 7-Eleven! I can get a cup of coffee flavored coffee in 7-Eleven. What could be more than the 7-goddamn-Eleven?” I walk in there, sure enough, two big aluminum containers, like the old days, right? One’s labeled decaf, the other one has no label, what would you think? I think you would think what I thought. I pour myself a nice cup of coffee, I get up to the counter, go there to pay for it, behind the counter is another eighteen-year-old kid, okay?

So I’m standing there with my coffee, trying to pay for my coffee, he’s looking at me… I take my coffee and leave. I get in the truck, I’m drivin’, coffee’s in the cupholder, I’m thinking about what a FUCKING retard that kid was, hopin’ my kids don’t turn out like that, all of a sudden I smell maple syrup in my truck. Did the kids spill maple syrup in here? And then I realize it’s coming from my coffee, somebody spilled maple syrup in my coffee. I go BACK to the 7-goddamn-Eleven, walk in, put the cup on the counter, I go, “Yo. Yo yo yo yo yo. Come here. Come here. Somebody spilled maple syrup in my coffee.” “No, that’s the flavor of the month, man. That’s, uh, maple nut crunch.” Maple nut crunch, okay? Maple nut fucking crunch. Are you gonna tell me that Juan Valdez is down in Bogota right now fielding a field full of maple nuts, I don’t fucking think so! In fact, I’m willing to bet my left maple nut that he’s NOT! Pull up your pants. My mom used to tell me when I was growing up, “Denis, why don’t you wake up and smell the coffee.” You know what, ma? I did, it smelt like fucking waffles, okay? Why don’t you just throw all the breakfast stuff in my coffee? Yeah, put an egg in there, eggaccino. How about some Cocoa Puffs, puffaccino. God damn it.”

-Denis Leary, Lock’N'Load

So, where was I? Coffee..... I really like coffee. It's almost midnight right now and I'm drinking some while I type. I drink it all day. My blood pressure is still ok, I sleep fine, though not much. I was worried about the sleeping thing for a while. I stopped all caffeine intake for two weeks. I still didn't sleep much. So my being awake a lot is more me than the coffee. Coffee does help me get going in the morning, but I can usually get going with out it too. So the addiction factor, at least so far, is in my head.

I'm sure part of this is an after effect of my being a recovered alcoholic. When I quit drinking I used to do things to take the place of the drinking and the rituals involved. I don't mix cocktails for myself anymore, I grind beans. I mix different kinds of beans.

There is a local coffee place called

Alterra Coffee

and they have incredible coffee. Plus a lot of places here in Milwaukee carry it. My favorite of the moment is Voltaire’s Passion.It's a nice dark blend and very earthy. Good stuff.

My adopted brother, Jeremy Lynch, brings me coffee when ever he visits. He even got me a pound of Bun E. Carlos's coffee.

Bun E Carlos

is a great drummer, but he also knows good coffee. It also might explain some things about the tempo of Cheap Trick songs....
Ok, enough about coffee. I'm going to get another cup.....

My weekend wrap up.

Lord of the Rings.... Ahhhhhhh. I feel better just having it in my house.

This summer I got a really good pasta salad at the deli, a BLT pasta salad. Being a former cook in a professional capacity I like to try my hand at foods I get out and make them my self. I have to say My BLT Pasta salad was better than the stuff at the deli.......

In other food news, this weekend Ruth made an incredible shredded beef. Best damn sandwiches I've had in quite a while.

The Wire

is done. Season Three's finale ran tonight. It was outstanding. I love this show. David Simon is a genius and he has gathered some wonderful people to work with him. The whole season has been a pleasure to watch. And last Sunday's episode was a true Urban Western (written by George Pelecanos). If you haven't seen it yet, catch the reruns! And season one is out on DVD.

Stray thoughts:
- I want to kick Sheryl Crow in the ass. I can't get "All I wanna do is Have Some Fun" out of my head. This sucks.

- Why do they have braille buttons on the ATM drive through machines?

- How many people watching television can actually afford to buy a jaguar for their loved one for Xmas? What a waste of advertising dollars.

- And while I'm on ads, I'm boycotting McDonald's until they stop this pathetic attempt to be hip with the "I'm Loving It" campaign. And what's with the pinkie finger salute? Did I miss a meeting? Some one save me from morons just out of college with a degree in marketing.

- Too many Christmas albums on the market? When I saw 38 Special had one out I was convinced that we have enough to choose from now. Just stop.


- On the other hand,

The Blind Boys From Alabama

have one and it is incredible. Very bluesy and cool. I say GO BUY IT NOW!

- My wife Ruth is the greatest person in the world to be around during the holidays. She bakes cookies, makes candy,and her enthusiasm is contagious. Every year we are married we decorate more and more, and I love every minute of it. I just love watching her around this time of year. She is constantly smiling, even after working all day.

Ok, that's it for now. Be good to each other and don't start fires you don't plan to watch burn.

7 Hours of Geekdom

Lord Of The Rings third installment is available in the special edition with all the added scenes and extras. Most notable in the extra footage was a drinking game between Leglos and Gimli which included a wonderful Dwarf fart.

Following the flatulence was a comment about liking hairy little women and his passing out. I think that when drinking I may be dwarf. Yet another good reason to stay sober.....

Also included was a wonderful avalanche of skulls.

I really enjoy these movies and it's very easy to get lost in them. Heros abound and the bad guys are really bad. No grey areas here. It's just pure fun and something I can watch over and over.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

While doing my shopping around this time of year I usuall get myself a nice gift. This year I got the new

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Greatest hits which includes a DVD of all their videos. Great stuff. It has commentary available for each one and it also has a boatload of footage from back stage at a couple shows including stuff with John Cale. Woody Harrelson and Chris Rock. I was inspired enough to go and pick up their live DVD, Live At Slane castle in Ireland. Wow. What a great show. 80,000 plus people, beautiful setting and of course, great music. Just watching these guys on stage you can see how much they love what they do and that they love playing in this band with each other. It's a real joy to see people who love what they do.


photos from http://www.cosmopolis.ch/cosmo38/red_hot_chili_peppers.htm


I didn't realize till about a month ago that Anthony Keidis and Flea are a year older than I am. After becoming clean and sober guys they have all definitly taken care of them selves. I wish I could move around like that. Part of it has to be the yoga and green tea.

Watching them might be the inspiration I need to really start to get in shape.......

jon - rocking instead of working

What do the Holidays mean to you?

From the time I was a wee lad I have been a fan of the December holiday season. In the Jordan household we celebrate Christmas. Over the years I have also celebrated Hanukah with freinds.

It used to be all about time away from school and lots of food we didn't get to eat the rest of the year. And toys. Lots and lots of toys. I still have my Hot Wheels from the first year they were introduced. At 41 years of age it has been almost three years since I set up track and raced them, but I still buy new cars. GI Joe stuff was big too. And Tonka tucks, when they were still made entirely of metal.

As time when on things changed. When I was in college December meant no school. But it also meant seeing the family. And after months in a dormitory, I missed them. It also meant hooking up with friends and drinking. A lot of drinking.

And now? Now I'm married to a woman I adore and who for whatever reason adores me. And the whole season is magic again. She bakes and makes candy. We decorate like crazy. And we go shopping together. Also I can go to Victoria's Secret and actually buy stuff.

We split the holidays up between my family and hers, and we make time for ourselves too. And while I still love getting gifts, I love picking out gifts for other people more. And now it really is about spending time with people I love, and sending greetings to the people I won't be able to see.

So ok, this might be a little mushier than I intended. But this usaually only comes over me once a year, so don't get to used to it.......

Not The Best Way To Start a Day

Wake up at 8:00am, a half hour extra sleep.
8:30, I'm sitting in a dentist chair.
8:45, my mouth is getting numb and there is a lot of stuff inmy mouth that isn't mine.
metal hardware type objects, fingers and drills and hoses.
2:00pm, I can finally feel my mouth again and drink coffee without spilling down my front side.
Plus smoking looks cool again.

I understand the dentist, I do similar things things to machinery. It doesn't even hurt, or what little pain there is I can tolerate. But I hate the damn sounds. Scraping and the whine of the drill. Not my happy place. (that's a whole other post...)

On the up side on my very first visit I told Dr. Dennis that if she asked me "Is it safe?", that I would slug her and leave the building screaming. She actually knew what I meant. Bonus points for being a well read dentist. The fact that seh's really good doesn't hurt either.

Am I Nuts?

Am I? Quite possibly.

I don't have time for this.
I really don't.

Is that going to stop me?

Hell NO!

While finishing Interrogations 2 and Crime Spree Magazine take the front seat I should have some time for this though?

Right?

We'll see.......