Sunday, December 30, 2007

My First List

Last week I saw a preview for this new movie called The Bucket List, its about a list of things these two gentlemen want to accomplish before they kick the bucket.

It reminded me of my "Bucket List"

In December 1998 I read an amazing magazine article in that months issue of Outside Magazine.
I would recommend that everybody should read this article.

Well this article inspired me to come up with my own list. I wrote this list in December 1998 and it became my New Years Resolution to complete several things on this list every year. Well I kept adding things to my list through out that year but never took anything off the list. I did however accomplish some of the things on the list. Not as many as I had hoped.

Well I lost the list in early 2000. Since then I have made notes of things I wanted to add to the list and taken notes on other things that I have accomplished.

Well I found the floppy disk 2 years back that contained my original files. The problem was at that time my computer didn't have a floppy drive. Then when I did finally get it to a computer with a floppy drive the disk would not read.
Well on Friday I finally found a program that recovers data from disks, and it worked. I was extremely happy to find this list.

If your interested in checking out my list you can check it out here. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dchc32x2_1hfrwq3d5

Do you have your own "bucket list"? If so care to share?

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Season

I have grown to dislike Christmas in the past few years. Reason it has become so commercialized.
It's not that I'm a cheap bastard either.

However Boxing Day, (December 26th) has become such an important religious day for me.

It's usually the start of the World Junior Hockey Championships, the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, many minor hockey tournaments as well as the return of the NHL from the mini break it takes during Christmas.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Santa Claus

So this is Christmas? And What are we bitching about?
Santa Claus!

The acting Surgeon General in the United States thinks that Santa Claus is too fat and sets a bad example for Kids. He wants malls to hire Athletic looking Santa's.
Maybe 5 years ago when I dressed up as Santa Claus for a work Christmas Party I was starting a trend on being the 'fit' Santa.
Now if they would have come up with this idea 10 years ago, I wouldn't have had to fit into the fucking suit that is obviously made for a "jolly" body type. Even with two pillows stuffed into the suit and several people helping pin the suit to "fit" properly I still drowned in the costume.

Australia now doesn't want Santa Claus to say 'Ho Ho Ho' because it is degrading to women.
What! Are they saying that all women are Ho's?
Instead they want them to say 'Ha Ha Ha.' Can't you just imagine the child on Santa's lap asking for that new video game or stuffed animal or whatever and Santa Claus responds, 'Ha Ha Ha', now if that doesn't create a complex for the child than I don't know what will.

If Christmas wasn't so fucking commercialized (Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings) then maybe people wouldn't be so moody, and may actually feel happy about giving instead of worrying about how much Christmas is going to cost.

That's just my 2 cents.

Froehliche Wienachte

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Great Seats

This past Monday I attended my second Dallas Stars Game in a week.
This is the first year that I have ever been to more than 2 NHL games in a season.

Last week I saw the Dallas Stars vs San Jose Sharks thanks to some customers who gave us some tickets as a Christmas Present. Sharks prevailed in a fairly slow game.
I honestly went into the game intending to cheer for the Stars but 4 minutes into the game I found myself cheering for the Sharks and against the Stars (except Turco and Morrow)
I seemed to piss off some of the fans in our section as I was cheering for the Sharks and against the Stars. I got lots of dirty looks and a few comments when Dallas made a nice play.

On Monday I took my Mom and Step Dad to a Game for Christmas. Saw the Edmonton Oilers @ Dallas Stars. (Had to see Dustin Penner whom is from Winkler, Manitoba. I used to play street hockey with this guy, and he attended the same schools I did he was 3 grades behind me in my sisters Amanda's Class, they were good friends back then).
We sat 9 rows from the Ice in the Dallas Defensive End. This was the closest I have ever been at an NHL game.

The game was really exciting. Edmonton scored first and well since I was sitting in an area populated with season ticket holders I was getting looked at with dirty looks when I was cheering for Edmonton. However these people took full revenge when Dallas scored and were making sure I noticed them when they were cheering.
The game ended up being 5-4 (ot) for Dallas, however I got to see Dustin score a goal and get an assist as well as be named the 3rd star of the game.

I recorded the game on TIVO so when I got home I watched the game. The seats we had were so good we were in a lot of the frames when in the Dallas end. You could even here me when Dallas scored their goals and my mom says that you could hear somebody yell at me to sit down when I was cheering for Dallas and Yelling at Modano for being a pussy.

I love being that asshole that cheers for the opposite team. If I could afford it I would get season tickets to the game and wear the away team colors every game just to piss off the Home team fans. It would all be in good fun, well for me at least.

Well that's all for today, till next time 'Shlope Je'Sunt'

Thursday, November 22, 2007

China King Super Buffet

Yesterday I went out for dinner at the China King Super Buffet in Garland, Texas
This was my second trip to this restaurant. I was very happy with my first trip, and that was on a slow night, so I figured they would have more to offer the evening before thanksgiving.
That they did.

The thing though was that by the time I got to my table and started eating, everything on my plate was cold. On my second trip to the buffet, I found out why things were cold. When one of the pans looked like it had been sitting there for a while they brought a clean pan out and transferred the contents into the clean pan and put a clean spoon in there. I saw them practice this several times during the course that I was there. There were certain things that were constantly being replenished which tasted great such as the fried shrimp, baked salmon, and the spicy shrimp medley.

The place was not busy. It was so slow in fact that my server spent most of her time on her Cell Phone. This I found sad as my table was full of used plates and my beverage was not sitting empty. As well as a lot of the items on the Buffet were mislabeled.

The atmosphere was very nice. The place was very clean. Most of the food that I tasted was nicely flavored, and probably would have been great had it been hot.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this place, as it seems like the lack of business has had them cut down on food quality in order to save money. I wouldn't expect them to be open in 6 months if this is there normal operation.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Reflection Place

Have you ever had a place . . .
you would go when you felt sad and you knew this place would cheer you up?
you would go when you needed to think or clear your mind?
that would make you not feel alone in the world when everything else did?
a place where nobody knew where to find you?

Well most of my adult life I have had a place like that. Places actually.

One of the places I would often go to was the Baseball diamonds during the off season, or late at night when there shouldn't be anybody at the diamonds. I would sit on either the pitcher mound, or second base.
No matter how I felt before I got there I always left here in great spirits. Made me think of simpler times, and the many memories that I had while at the baseball diamonds. It was also a great spot where it was nice and dark, so it made it a great place to just stare at the stars.
The one thing that did sometimes make me stay there later than I wanted to was other people.
Numerous times I was there I saw couples sit down in either the bleachers or in the dug outs and talk or even make out. This often made me feel alone when I saw couples there and made me wish I had somebody to share it with or just somebody special to share my thoughts with.

Another place I went was called Mirror Lake. It was a very small lake in the Rocky Mountains by Lake Louise. I can say that this place was one of my favorite places that I have ever been. The reason I like this place so much was it was just a small hike from the dorm style apartment. I automatically became more relaxed while hiking to this place. I would always bring a book to read, a notebook to write in, my camera, and my binoculars. I spent hours there at a time. I shed many tears here often for no reason, I always felt peace here. I once spent several hours watching a bald eagle soaring the sky and then watched him watching me. I felt so comfort able here, I even fell asleep here one time when the temperature was around -10 Celsius. I always left with this incredible high (probably caused by the lack of oxygen at that altitude).

These are two of my favorite places. There are a few more places but those I am only willing to share with one person. So far this person doesn't know these places but someday I hope they will and that I can take her to these places with me.

The thing is I'm still looking for the spectacular place here in North Texas. So for now I just got my memories of my favorite places to fall back on.

Do you have a special place like this? If so how does it make you feel and do other people know you go there when you need to get away from it all?

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Musophobia

Alright, I'm ready for you to tell me I'm a chicken shit, call me a pussy or just make fun of me after reading this but I don't care. Just read this all before you do so.

Yes I am musophobic.

The other day I screamed like a school girl. The reason was a Giant Fucking Mouse.
I opened a door in the Kitchen, and there it was staring right at me. I didn't even finish doing what I was doing, I just slammed the door and screamed.

Yes, I know the old saying, "they are more scared of you then you are of them"
How the hell does somebody know how scared that mouse was? Even if they do I am fairly sure I'm more scared of it.

Think of it this way. Elephants are scared of mice. Why you ask? Well, mice can fit anywhere that they can get their nose into. So elephants are afraid that a mouse would crawl up their trunk and then it won't be able to breath, or it will make its way to their brain and eat the brain. Well I have the same issue. I am afraid that a mouse is going to try and crawl up my 'trunk' and if that were to happen I wouldn't be able to breath either.

I know now that its getting colder outside the freaking creatures start looking for a warmer place to make their home. Living near a hobby farm I know there are mice around I just don't ever want to see them or evidence of them.

I have been scared of mice for years. I can't even stand Hamsters, or Gerbils and Rats are the worst. (I get the chills just thinking of these creatures).
I don't know how far back this fear of these creatures goes? I do remember being 14 and working at the town compost yard with my cousin and we always wore boots while working. One day after work he put his shoes on and said he had a stone in there or something and shook out his shoe and out popped a mouse. I didn't put my shoes on for a month with out shaking my shoes out first.

Another Mouse story. When I was 18, we had a mouse in the house. Several times it was spotted going into my room after being chased my my dog. Well I thought I would be prepared and the the thing since the mouse traps didn't seem to work. So I had my BB gun loaded and beside my bed. Well one day I was reading in my room and the dog chased the mouse into my room again. I closed my door. Made a barricade for the mouse to cross and chased the thing out from behind my desk using a broom, (while I was standing on my bed), as soon as the thing got out from behind the desk I started to unload 8-10 bb's in to that mouse. Once I was sure I had him I put a ice cream pail over him and several books so the pail wouldn't move. Several hours later I grabbed the lid to the pail and closed up the guy and threw it away. No more mouse trouble thankfully.

When I was 21-22 I rented a house with a friend. It was in a small village, and we had the back of the house facing a large cow pasture, and to the North of the House was acres of fields. We knew that there would be mice. We didn't know how many. Our landlord was nice enough to provide us with glue traps. Those things are barely good enough to catch a ant let alone a mouse. After a couple of weeks of living there and constantly seeing evidence we put lots of poison out and several traps. With in 15 minutes of setting the first trap we caught a mouse. Well in the 7 Months that we lived in this place we caught 22 mice and one vole with our traps.
The worst part is that we always thought we could hear mice if the place was quiet.
One time we went camping and we set our traps before leaving and when we came back we found one trap with a dead mouse, but we couldn't find the other trap. A week later I was cleaning the place up and I noticed something against the wall in my closet. A closer inspection made me realize it was a mouse trap. I grabbed some gloves and pulled out the trap and there was a mouse attached to the trap. This mouse made it over 40 feet with the trap attached to it.
Well two months after we moved out the house was condemned because the walls were full of mice. Ewe, glad I didn't know that. Good thing the rent was cheap.

Well this Mouse that scared me made me relive the past encounters with the creature. Lucky this one is now dead. However he scared me several times. Only once while he was alive, but that night I was falling asleep my blanket tickled my leg and I threw the blankets off of me and got up and made sure that's all it was.
Paranoid much?

Well if you have a mouse story feel free to share it. It will make me feel better knowing that I'm not the only who screams like a girl when coming face to face with a wild mouse.

Till next time 'Shlope Je'Sunt'

Friday, November 2, 2007

Sweet Suite

So this week since I didn't have any plans on Halloween I decided that I would go to the Dallas Stars game. Well it wasn't the Stars that I was interested in seeing, it was the Chicago Blackhawks. More specifically it was Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane the rookie sensations of the Blackhawks that I wanted to see. I love cheering for the away team when sitting amongst the home fans. They get so pissed at you when your teams winning, but they will razz you endlessly if your team is loosing.

Well I decided too turn to craigslist to find my ticket. What I found was a dream. Somebody was offering 8 tickets to a suite. I responded instantly, and got a response back right away. Well with in an hour and fifteen minutes I had everything arranged by email. I was so stoked. I have always wanted to watch a Hockey game from a Suite. This was my opportunity. Plus I was only paying $35 for the ticket. This was a lower level suite on the Stars end.

Once I found the Suite I was in awe. What I saw was exactly what I dreamed of and more. Two rows of nice plush seats, several bar stools, a couch and two living room chairs, a 21 inch television, a wide screen television, a computer.
It was unbelievable.

The game was great. I saw both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane score goals for the Blackhawks. Chicago ended up winning the game 5-4 with the winning goal coming with 20.4 seconds left in the third period. This was the first time I have ever been disappointed that the team I was cheering for won in regulation time. With a minute left in the game all I could think of was the shoot out. As I know that Chicago would have put Toews and Kane in for the shoot out and they would becoming in on the goalie in my direction. Oh well.

Well reflecting back on the experience it was everything I ever thought it would be. However I wish I could have shared the experience with some friends & family. The worst thing is that I am now spoiled with the suite. I could really get used to watching the game then turning my head and watching the replay on the wide screen TV that is in the room and being able to stand up when the game gets exciting and not having to worry about people behind me telling me to sit down or having to move every time people are going to there seats or the concession.
It really was Sweet watching the game from the Suite. Can't wait to do it again.

Till next time "Schlope Je'sunt"

Note:
Watching a Sporting Event from a Suite, another thing I can check off my list of Life Goals.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to Remps Rants, Reviews and Reflections.

I have been wanting to have my own blog spot for a while. Here it is.
I didn't know what I would always write about when starting my own blog, but I figured there would always be something that would come to mind when its time for another posting.

So be prepared, for Restaurant Reviews (as I love to go out to eat at different places and try different things). The Rants will vary but don't be surprised if you see some rants about sports, politics and people. I know there will be some reflections, what they will be is something that we are all unaware of right now.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to give me your feed back and thoughts.
I would like to take this time also to apologize to the people that I'm going to offend, piss off and make mad. As I know from life experience you are always going to offend somebody somehow and somewhere. Not that I have a problem with that, I don't care. If I went around all my life just worrying on how other people perceived me or what I do or say then I would never actually be Living life, and thats not who I am or want to be. So here is my public apology in advance.
SORRY! ("and I really do mean it this time" - I always hate it when somebody says this)

So stay tuned, I know I have lots to share. The big question is does any body care.

Till next time "Schlope Je'sunt"