Lord knows that its been probably around a year since I did a movie review--so I thought I'd let you know about a couple of old favorites that you can find on DVD and watch at home....both are absolutely top notch.
1) The Sure Thing--John Cusack is one of my favorite actors. He's one of those guys who's movies are almost always good--and if there not, he's interesting in his role.
Sort of like a less popular Johnny Depp. Back in 1985, John was a relatively unknown teenager from Illinois who had gotten a nice reaction for his role in "16 Candles" as one of the two brothers who bet Anthony Michael Hall "floppy discs" that he couldn't get Molly Ringwald's underpants. But I digress. Here you absolutely lights up the screen as a college freshman at a northeastern school who gets a phone call from a buddy, who's going to school out in California and advises him that he's gotten a lead on a "sure thing". Its one of those things that maybe only men understand. Cusack then heads out on a cross country trip to see his buddy and the title character. Its one part "It Happened One Night" and one part "Taming of the Shrew". Cusack is terrific as always and is ably assisted by Daphne Zuniga (never better than here), Anthony Edwards (pre-Top Gun, Revenge of the Nerds & "ER"....and with a full head of hair!),
Tim Robbins (hilarious in a small but crucial part) & Nicollette Sheridan, incredibly good looking and vapid--all at once--but a fine performance. This is a great date movie. Grab some popcorn, turn off the phone....and enjoy. ****
2) Best in Show--I'll be the first to admit that it might be helpful in your enjoyment of this movie if you're a dog owner. Or maybe a dog lover. Or maybe even one of those people who talks to your dog like their a human. Or treats them like a human. You know the type--or maybe, you ARE the type. Christopher Guest and many of the same faces that brought you "Waiting for Guffman" and "This is Spinal Tap" are here again in this side-splitting tale of competition run amuck at a national dog show. You are introduced to the owners, the dogs, the hotel clerks....you name it. And all of them seem to have...well....a slightly quirky side to them, shall we say. One of the really great things is that Guest could've written the best part for himself, but he probably has the least interesting character in a movie full of them. Eugene Levy & Catherine O'Hara play a couple from Florida--he literally has two left feet and she keeps running into men that she, well.....that she used to date (that's a nice way of putting it). Michael McKean & John Michael Higgins are a hilariously over-the-top gay couple, Jennifer Coolidge
plays the wife an elderly millionaire who seems a little too close to her dog trainer (Jane Lynch). Parker Posey & Michael Hitchcock play the "parents" of a neurotic Weimarainer, who's visits to the shrink reveal way more about the couple than we probably needed to know. Finishing of the cast is Fred Willard, in what might be the performance of a career, as the network announcer who's sort of winging it in broadcasting the dog show. The movie is worth seeing just for Willard's performance.
Luckily, there's a lot more to it than that, which is why I give it ****1/2
Later,
Jeff
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Saturday, September 23, 2006
9/23/06---My heart can't stand this sort of thing
I'm not usually in the habit of waking my wife up after she's gone to bed, but tonight I made an exception. I told her that I had to kiss someone, and she was my best choice.
Notre Dame...on the ropes and looking like a team that had gotten their collective asses kicked TWO weeks in a row....through a wild loopy punch and knocked out Michigan State to win a wild game 40-37. The great news was that the offense...after 3 1/2 games, finally woke up in the 2nd half of the game....and the defense? After looking like a high school defense for most of the 2nd half, the ND defense looked like exactly what they've been created to look like---lean, mean, slick and quick. Seriously, the talking heads on ESPN mentioned it, but....is there a wacky team than Michigan State? They say a team takes on the personality of their coach (man do I know that--That's why a Ty Willingham coached ND team could have NEVER come back like this) and the Spartans seem a tad schizo...much like their head coach John L Smith.
Geez Louise....I may never get to sleep after a game like that.
Later,
Jeff
Notre Dame...on the ropes and looking like a team that had gotten their collective asses kicked TWO weeks in a row....through a wild loopy punch and knocked out Michigan State to win a wild game 40-37. The great news was that the offense...after 3 1/2 games, finally woke up in the 2nd half of the game....and the defense? After looking like a high school defense for most of the 2nd half, the ND defense looked like exactly what they've been created to look like---lean, mean, slick and quick. Seriously, the talking heads on ESPN mentioned it, but....is there a wacky team than Michigan State? They say a team takes on the personality of their coach (man do I know that--That's why a Ty Willingham coached ND team could have NEVER come back like this) and the Spartans seem a tad schizo...much like their head coach John L Smith.
Geez Louise....I may never get to sleep after a game like that.
Later,
Jeff
 |
| Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has a big hug for Terrail Lambert, who scores the winning touchdown. (AP) |
9/23/06--Other things on our mind
I haven't posted in a few days, as I've been just a touch preoccupied. I got a phone call from my wife the other day at work, and she told me that my mom had left a message on the answering machine at home advising me that my dad had been taken to the hospital and had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Grrrrrrrrreeeeaaaatttt.
Apparently after their trip to New York, the both got home and caught head colds, and my mom took the time to actually, ya know....take care of herself.....as opposed to dad, who tried to fight his way through it, not eating or taking general care of himself....and so now he's in the hospital. I called him up the other day and spoke to him, and I think more than anything he's sort of worn out from the dehydration and all....but the doctors have him on all sorts of anti-biotics---since of course they determined after he got to the hospital that he had also contracted some sort of blood poisoning---so he'll be there to probably Monday.
Anyway, please think a good thought today for him.
Later,
Jeff
Apparently after their trip to New York, the both got home and caught head colds, and my mom took the time to actually, ya know....take care of herself.....as opposed to dad, who tried to fight his way through it, not eating or taking general care of himself....and so now he's in the hospital. I called him up the other day and spoke to him, and I think more than anything he's sort of worn out from the dehydration and all....but the doctors have him on all sorts of anti-biotics---since of course they determined after he got to the hospital that he had also contracted some sort of blood poisoning---so he'll be there to probably Monday.
Anyway, please think a good thought today for him.
Later,
Jeff
Sunday, September 17, 2006
9/17/06--Bowdren reunion....final day
So everyone else had decided to take the 6am flight home on Sunday--which of course meant they had to be up by 3am, to get to the airport by 4am, to do the security screening, to do the.....well, you get the idea.
We of course, decided to sleep in and catch a later flight back....which wasn't such a bad thing, because it gave us a chance to have a late breakfast with some of our cousins. Its always entertaining to walk into a restaurant on a Sunday morning and announce:
"Uh...breakfast for 25 please."
And then watch the expression on the hostess. Blind panic. 25 people? Here? On a Sunday morning? What are you....crazy? We managed to squeeze our way into about 6 booths and enjoy each others company. It was my Uncle John's brood--minus two.
That meant only 6 of his kids were there--with their families. Kim & I sat with my cousins Mary Ellen & Sheila....who I referred to as "the only woman who could now legally be allowed to refer to herself as...'Sheila Bowdren'." And thank God for that.
I asked Kim later if she still thought I was the funniest one in the family. She said I was still number 1...followed by my cousin Maureen....and that my cousin Kathleen was funny also....but in a raunchy way (trust me, Kathleen will take that as a compliment).
She then said that Mary Ellen & Sheila were....."people you would just like to be friends with". Which I thought was a fairly profound thing to say....because as we were driving to the airport later that day I told Kim that I was pretty happy that, since I hadn't seen most of my cousins in 20 years.....that they had all ended up being people that, even if were weren't related....that I probably would hang out with anyway. Must be in the genes.
Later,
Jeff
We of course, decided to sleep in and catch a later flight back....which wasn't such a bad thing, because it gave us a chance to have a late breakfast with some of our cousins. Its always entertaining to walk into a restaurant on a Sunday morning and announce:
"Uh...breakfast for 25 please."
And then watch the expression on the hostess. Blind panic. 25 people? Here? On a Sunday morning? What are you....crazy? We managed to squeeze our way into about 6 booths and enjoy each others company. It was my Uncle John's brood--minus two.
That meant only 6 of his kids were there--with their families. Kim & I sat with my cousins Mary Ellen & Sheila....who I referred to as "the only woman who could now legally be allowed to refer to herself as...'Sheila Bowdren'." And thank God for that.
I asked Kim later if she still thought I was the funniest one in the family. She said I was still number 1...followed by my cousin Maureen....and that my cousin Kathleen was funny also....but in a raunchy way (trust me, Kathleen will take that as a compliment).
She then said that Mary Ellen & Sheila were....."people you would just like to be friends with". Which I thought was a fairly profound thing to say....because as we were driving to the airport later that day I told Kim that I was pretty happy that, since I hadn't seen most of my cousins in 20 years.....that they had all ended up being people that, even if were weren't related....that I probably would hang out with anyway. Must be in the genes.
Later,
Jeff
9/17/06---Bowdren Family Reunion---Part 3
So before we get to last Saturday, the day of the big event....I would be remiss if I did not mention something that I totally forgot happened while we were at West Point.
I slammed the car door on m brother-in-law's hand. I had told him before that if he made anymore snotty remarks about Notre Dame that I was going to lose my temper, but he just......ahem.
Actually we were getting into the van and I didn't realize where his hand was as he was getting into the van--or more specifically, his finger. OUCH! Sorry about that Johnny.
Good thing we had a certified hand therapist on board.
Now, onto the events of Saturday....so we make our way back to my cousin's farm and we get to really see it in the light of day. The farm is, in a word, spectacular. You know things are going to be good when you notice that the road they live on has THEIR name on it....as we approach, we are greeted by a highway sign that reads....
CAUTION....APPROACH WITH CAUTION.....BOWDREN'S PARTYING
Its always good to know someone with the highway department, am I right?
We park at the bottom of the hill and are met by two classic Model T-esque cars, both from the 30's that drive us up to the house. We couldn't help but notice that the door handles on our car were, uh....a pair of pliers. Hey, so there's a little bit of remodeling left to do, okay??
It was an amazing day....truly one of the best days of my life. The whole day was spent seeing people I hadn't seen in at least a decade, catching up on old stories, introducing my wife and kids to relatives they didn't know they had. Oh...and karaoke.
As the afternoon grew later, a d.j. showed up and it was determined that I would be leading our family in a karaoke number. That's what I get for being the family idiot.
Before that, a bunch of my cousins are getting ready to sing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and Kim urges me to go up and...ya know....be King Fool. Here's a karaoke tip:
Don't read the crawler. It will totally throw your timing off.....just go by what you remember, sing like crazy....and humm your way through the parts you don't know.
So here I am, along with my cousins Patrick (doing a good Meatloaf by the way), Maureen & Terrance (before he walked away) being in joined in harmony by my cousin Kathleen (taking the girlfriend role)....and we are singing our collective behinds off.
And all of a sudden I look up....and there's my dad standing there, joining my sister in watching the show.....and all I could think of was:
Good Lord....I hope he doesn't know the words to this song.
Oh well, I'm sure he'll eventually ask me what it was about...and I'll have to break it to him...the important thing was, we were having a good time. After that, the Florida version of the Bowdren's came up--introduced by Rene, apparently having no problem with a microphone and creating a spectacle (who knew?) and we launched into our own version of "Soul Man" by the Blues Bros. My brother did a good job of dancing around in a circle when we got to a part in the song he didn't know. The really scary thing? Its available for all to see on video--for my complete embarassment and your pleasure. Hey, what a little humiliation amongst family members, eh?
I did make sure at the end of the song that my cousin Aileen heard that Penn State had lost to Notre Dame that day....she had talked trash all weekend...payback was sweet.
We made our way back to the hotel, driving slowly through the fog...and of course still managed to lose my sister on the way back....Kellie was happy to point out that it was areas like this that crazed killers hung out in the movies. Thanks for your support.
Thankfully, we avoided Freddy Krueger that evening.
Later,
Jeff
I slammed the car door on m brother-in-law's hand. I had told him before that if he made anymore snotty remarks about Notre Dame that I was going to lose my temper, but he just......ahem.
Actually we were getting into the van and I didn't realize where his hand was as he was getting into the van--or more specifically, his finger. OUCH! Sorry about that Johnny.
Good thing we had a certified hand therapist on board.
Now, onto the events of Saturday....so we make our way back to my cousin's farm and we get to really see it in the light of day. The farm is, in a word, spectacular. You know things are going to be good when you notice that the road they live on has THEIR name on it....as we approach, we are greeted by a highway sign that reads....
CAUTION....APPROACH WITH CAUTION.....BOWDREN'S PARTYING
Its always good to know someone with the highway department, am I right?
We park at the bottom of the hill and are met by two classic Model T-esque cars, both from the 30's that drive us up to the house. We couldn't help but notice that the door handles on our car were, uh....a pair of pliers. Hey, so there's a little bit of remodeling left to do, okay??
It was an amazing day....truly one of the best days of my life. The whole day was spent seeing people I hadn't seen in at least a decade, catching up on old stories, introducing my wife and kids to relatives they didn't know they had. Oh...and karaoke.
As the afternoon grew later, a d.j. showed up and it was determined that I would be leading our family in a karaoke number. That's what I get for being the family idiot.
Before that, a bunch of my cousins are getting ready to sing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and Kim urges me to go up and...ya know....be King Fool. Here's a karaoke tip:
Don't read the crawler. It will totally throw your timing off.....just go by what you remember, sing like crazy....and humm your way through the parts you don't know.
So here I am, along with my cousins Patrick (doing a good Meatloaf by the way), Maureen & Terrance (before he walked away) being in joined in harmony by my cousin Kathleen (taking the girlfriend role)....and we are singing our collective behinds off.
And all of a sudden I look up....and there's my dad standing there, joining my sister in watching the show.....and all I could think of was:
Good Lord....I hope he doesn't know the words to this song.
Oh well, I'm sure he'll eventually ask me what it was about...and I'll have to break it to him...the important thing was, we were having a good time. After that, the Florida version of the Bowdren's came up--introduced by Rene, apparently having no problem with a microphone and creating a spectacle (who knew?) and we launched into our own version of "Soul Man" by the Blues Bros. My brother did a good job of dancing around in a circle when we got to a part in the song he didn't know. The really scary thing? Its available for all to see on video--for my complete embarassment and your pleasure. Hey, what a little humiliation amongst family members, eh?
I did make sure at the end of the song that my cousin Aileen heard that Penn State had lost to Notre Dame that day....she had talked trash all weekend...payback was sweet.
We made our way back to the hotel, driving slowly through the fog...and of course still managed to lose my sister on the way back....Kellie was happy to point out that it was areas like this that crazed killers hung out in the movies. Thanks for your support.
Thankfully, we avoided Freddy Krueger that evening.
Later,
Jeff
Saturday, September 16, 2006
This....this was not a particularly good day
Excuse me for momentarily interrupting the Bowdren reunion story. Today, and the last couple of days for that matter---just haven't gone really well. Beginning with:
1) So I picked up my computer the other day from Best Buy after having it in for repairs. You might recall it was....er...."dropped". I get home, plug the thing in....and I got a particularly ominious message to the effect of :
"Physical memory wipe initiated.
Physical memory wipe completed."
Anyway you look at it....that's not good. So we go back to Best Buy to find out what in the Sam Hill has happened. The tech at the Geek Squad says they have a name for what appeared on my computer screen that day:
THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH
Yeah, like I said....not looking good. So late today I get the phone call that my harddrive has apparently begun to fail and the laptop is going to be..."shipped out".
UGH. Followed of course by me having to pay to have Windows REINSTALLED.
That little bit of good news was followed by.....
Yesterday afternoon we get home from work and Kim is looking at the floormat in front of our refrigerator--noticing a stain.
"I hope one of the dogs didn't do what I think they might have done."
I have to admit, that would be pretty unusual because, as whacky as our dogs are....they don't do THAT particular thing. Further inspection by my wife revealed the stain to be:
Water....as in......uh oh.
It was about that time that I opened the freezer and noticed that my popsicles (I like grape for the record) had turned into liquid syrup. The wife and I load up the SUV and make the trek to Brandsmart.....and walk out with a new refrigerator that will be delivered on Sunday.....easy come, easy go---ya know?
Then, of course.....as some of you who read this little journal may have noticed.....the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.....uh......ahem......well......they did not play very well today.
People with larger vocabularies than mine refer to it as----
Well, even they refer to it as an ass whipping. Pathetic. Horrible. All I can say is, thank God it didn't happen last week vs. Penn State or cousin Aileen would've been all over me like a cheap suit. As if that weren't bad enough.....I showed my Notre Dame temper in the 2nd half. Now mind you, I really have tried to change from the man I used to be--literally screaming at the television for 3 hours, allowing my emotional rollercoaster to eb and flow with literally every play. So maybe, as my team was getting shellacked today, Kim expected them to come out. So I flashed a bit of temper---it wasn't much....but it was enough. I suppose I felt a bit like someone who had quit smoking being asked if what was happening had me considering a cigarette.....it wasn't, but the fact that I was asked the question annoyed me....which of course lead to the flash. We sat down, after a somewhat chilly few minutes and talked about what happened (the whole "we sat down and talked" comment is what seperates Kim from my other wives by the way) and I found myself really wanting this day to end.
So we went out to dinner, started the car....and my satellite radio wasn't working.
And Kellie says from the back seat....
"Wow, I wonder if this is like the 3rd thing we own that's going to break. Doesn't stuff like this always happen in threes?"
I'm happy to say I didn't flash my temper....I'm trying to be a better man....I'm trying to be a better husband and father....thank God she didn't offer a critique of the Notre Dame game....cuz that might have been rough.
Later,
Jeff
PS.....the Bowdren reunion will be completed manana....I swear....just not out loud.
1) So I picked up my computer the other day from Best Buy after having it in for repairs. You might recall it was....er...."dropped". I get home, plug the thing in....and I got a particularly ominious message to the effect of :
"Physical memory wipe initiated.
Physical memory wipe completed."
Anyway you look at it....that's not good. So we go back to Best Buy to find out what in the Sam Hill has happened. The tech at the Geek Squad says they have a name for what appeared on my computer screen that day:
THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH
Yeah, like I said....not looking good. So late today I get the phone call that my harddrive has apparently begun to fail and the laptop is going to be..."shipped out".
UGH. Followed of course by me having to pay to have Windows REINSTALLED.
That little bit of good news was followed by.....
Yesterday afternoon we get home from work and Kim is looking at the floormat in front of our refrigerator--noticing a stain.
"I hope one of the dogs didn't do what I think they might have done."
I have to admit, that would be pretty unusual because, as whacky as our dogs are....they don't do THAT particular thing. Further inspection by my wife revealed the stain to be:
Water....as in......uh oh.
It was about that time that I opened the freezer and noticed that my popsicles (I like grape for the record) had turned into liquid syrup. The wife and I load up the SUV and make the trek to Brandsmart.....and walk out with a new refrigerator that will be delivered on Sunday.....easy come, easy go---ya know?
Then, of course.....as some of you who read this little journal may have noticed.....the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.....uh......ahem......well......they did not play very well today.
People with larger vocabularies than mine refer to it as----
Well, even they refer to it as an ass whipping. Pathetic. Horrible. All I can say is, thank God it didn't happen last week vs. Penn State or cousin Aileen would've been all over me like a cheap suit. As if that weren't bad enough.....I showed my Notre Dame temper in the 2nd half. Now mind you, I really have tried to change from the man I used to be--literally screaming at the television for 3 hours, allowing my emotional rollercoaster to eb and flow with literally every play. So maybe, as my team was getting shellacked today, Kim expected them to come out. So I flashed a bit of temper---it wasn't much....but it was enough. I suppose I felt a bit like someone who had quit smoking being asked if what was happening had me considering a cigarette.....it wasn't, but the fact that I was asked the question annoyed me....which of course lead to the flash. We sat down, after a somewhat chilly few minutes and talked about what happened (the whole "we sat down and talked" comment is what seperates Kim from my other wives by the way) and I found myself really wanting this day to end.
So we went out to dinner, started the car....and my satellite radio wasn't working.
And Kellie says from the back seat....
"Wow, I wonder if this is like the 3rd thing we own that's going to break. Doesn't stuff like this always happen in threes?"
I'm happy to say I didn't flash my temper....I'm trying to be a better man....I'm trying to be a better husband and father....thank God she didn't offer a critique of the Notre Dame game....cuz that might have been rough.
Later,
Jeff
PS.....the Bowdren reunion will be completed manana....I swear....just not out loud.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
9/13/06--Bowdren Family Reunion...Part Deux
So the next day on our trip was Friday, the 8th of September. We had decided to make a trip as a family to West Point, site of the U.S. Army officer training--you know, that sort of thing.
We got up early--well, relatively early since Scarlett was with us (oh its a joke!)--and after a terrific $8.95 Villa Roma breakfast buffett (hilited by the limp bacon & cold toast--mmm, that's good resort eatin!) and headed out towards West Point. We decided to go in 2 cars, with my brother & Angie taking the point car with my mom & dad and Kim & I with the kids going with Rene and her family. Now, I need to stop and mention something here. My mother, God bless her, may be the most wonderful person on the planet Earth. But truthfully, and she will admit this herself---she is the world's WORST backseat driver. I don't just mean in our family....I mean in this particular solar system. So as they're driving in front, Chip mentions the turnoff to the academy....which he corrects a few moments later. We get onto the base, which is truly breathtaking in how beautiful it really is and park the car to go to lunch. My dad had planned for us to have lunch inside the hotel that is located on the base for the really big military brass, and after some debate about who's going to park where, we all are seated around a table with a spectacular view of the Hudson River. My brother and I go outside to take some photos and I asked my brother how mom was on the drive up.
"Well, besides the whole getting directions from everyone in the car....I think if I tapped the brakes everytime Mom was backseat driving I would have had to put the flashers on."
Now mind you, I'm not saying this as a knock on my mom. Far from it. Its part of her personality and truth be told, when I do my impression of her--its the best part of my act.
Lunch is excellent and we all enjoy giving dad a hard time about being a career navy officer in the heart of the army. The only bad part of the day is that I wished we could've stayed longer--really. The view from parts of the base is that unbelieveable.
We did manage to sneak inside Michie Stadium, home of the Black Knights of the Hudson--the Army football team--and get some nice photos before we left.
That night, we had all planned on meeting up in the heart of downtown Jeffersonville, NY--which is so smalltown that on the drive in you can see someone's laundry hanging from the back of a building--and having some dinner. We park across the street and manage to wade through the infestation of gnats to make it to the back of the restaurant, which has been taken over by Bowdren's. God help them. More relatives that I haven't seen in...well, a couple in 24 hours and a few more in like 20 years. Aunt Gerri is there and is definitely Queen Bee. Its a tough weekend for her. I figure she's torn between the happiness of everyone she cares so much about getting together and enjoying each others company and the love of her life, my Uncle Ken, not being there.
So naturally I try and give her a show....and apparently I am matched by my cousin Maureen, who is dubbed a "close # 2" by my wife in the category of "funniest Bowdren".
I'm hurt that there's even a list.
But the best part of the evening was my dad. You'll recall that I mentioned that the evening before that my Aunt Gerri had blurted out the story about the guy who had the vasectomy? Well towards the end of our dinner, somehow the subject came up of how all these people (estimated 125) were going to be there that hadn't seen each other in seemingly forever, and how we were all wondering how we were going to be able to tell who was who in the zoo. So, we are told that my cousin has come up with the bright idea of having nametags for everyone, including a listing of who they're related too.
My tag for instance, would say:
Jeff Bowdren, son of Larry Bowdren and so on and so on.
So all these ideas are going around about how we could abbreviate the nametags, and Dad says something to the effect of....."what about the guy with the vasectomy"......
at which point Aunt Gerri, who's sitting next to him, points to the guy on the other side of her, my cousin Maureen's husband....and smiles.
We all just about fell off our chairs laughing as Dad began apologizing to the poor guy.
My brother told him that if it made him feel any better.....he was a vasectomy survivor also. :)
The best part of the evening wasn't the food....it was the company. It was reconnecting
with the people that are the most important part of your life.....your family.
Vito Corleone....the Godfather of the movies....truly had it right.
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." — Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
That night....I felt like a real man.
Later,
Jeff
We got up early--well, relatively early since Scarlett was with us (oh its a joke!)--and after a terrific $8.95 Villa Roma breakfast buffett (hilited by the limp bacon & cold toast--mmm, that's good resort eatin!) and headed out towards West Point. We decided to go in 2 cars, with my brother & Angie taking the point car with my mom & dad and Kim & I with the kids going with Rene and her family. Now, I need to stop and mention something here. My mother, God bless her, may be the most wonderful person on the planet Earth. But truthfully, and she will admit this herself---she is the world's WORST backseat driver. I don't just mean in our family....I mean in this particular solar system. So as they're driving in front, Chip mentions the turnoff to the academy....which he corrects a few moments later. We get onto the base, which is truly breathtaking in how beautiful it really is and park the car to go to lunch. My dad had planned for us to have lunch inside the hotel that is located on the base for the really big military brass, and after some debate about who's going to park where, we all are seated around a table with a spectacular view of the Hudson River. My brother and I go outside to take some photos and I asked my brother how mom was on the drive up.
"Well, besides the whole getting directions from everyone in the car....I think if I tapped the brakes everytime Mom was backseat driving I would have had to put the flashers on."
Now mind you, I'm not saying this as a knock on my mom. Far from it. Its part of her personality and truth be told, when I do my impression of her--its the best part of my act.
Lunch is excellent and we all enjoy giving dad a hard time about being a career navy officer in the heart of the army. The only bad part of the day is that I wished we could've stayed longer--really. The view from parts of the base is that unbelieveable.
We did manage to sneak inside Michie Stadium, home of the Black Knights of the Hudson--the Army football team--and get some nice photos before we left.
That night, we had all planned on meeting up in the heart of downtown Jeffersonville, NY--which is so smalltown that on the drive in you can see someone's laundry hanging from the back of a building--and having some dinner. We park across the street and manage to wade through the infestation of gnats to make it to the back of the restaurant, which has been taken over by Bowdren's. God help them. More relatives that I haven't seen in...well, a couple in 24 hours and a few more in like 20 years. Aunt Gerri is there and is definitely Queen Bee. Its a tough weekend for her. I figure she's torn between the happiness of everyone she cares so much about getting together and enjoying each others company and the love of her life, my Uncle Ken, not being there.
So naturally I try and give her a show....and apparently I am matched by my cousin Maureen, who is dubbed a "close # 2" by my wife in the category of "funniest Bowdren".
I'm hurt that there's even a list.
But the best part of the evening was my dad. You'll recall that I mentioned that the evening before that my Aunt Gerri had blurted out the story about the guy who had the vasectomy? Well towards the end of our dinner, somehow the subject came up of how all these people (estimated 125) were going to be there that hadn't seen each other in seemingly forever, and how we were all wondering how we were going to be able to tell who was who in the zoo. So, we are told that my cousin has come up with the bright idea of having nametags for everyone, including a listing of who they're related too.
My tag for instance, would say:
Jeff Bowdren, son of Larry Bowdren and so on and so on.
So all these ideas are going around about how we could abbreviate the nametags, and Dad says something to the effect of....."what about the guy with the vasectomy"......
at which point Aunt Gerri, who's sitting next to him, points to the guy on the other side of her, my cousin Maureen's husband....and smiles.
We all just about fell off our chairs laughing as Dad began apologizing to the poor guy.
My brother told him that if it made him feel any better.....he was a vasectomy survivor also. :)
The best part of the evening wasn't the food....it was the company. It was reconnecting
with the people that are the most important part of your life.....your family.
Vito Corleone....the Godfather of the movies....truly had it right.
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." — Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
That night....I felt like a real man.
Later,
Jeff
Monday, September 11, 2006
9/11/06--The Bowdren Family Reunion
Now, onto happier thoughts and times. Someone much smarter than I am once said that you can pick your friends--but not your relatives. I was going to take a chance and find out how true that was this past weekend, as I journeyed to upstate New York for a Bowdren family reunion. Now, there was one of these shindigs about 12 years ago, but...quite frankly I was still with my 2nd wife at that point, and I can remember her not being too keen on the idea of hanging out with 100 people who were just like me.
I mean, can you really blame her?
Fast forward to this past weekend, and myself, the wife and the two young un's flew up to the first reunion in over a decade. It was quite the experience, I don't mind telling you. I'll try and keep it short---but you know me....I like to go into detail.
The four of us were flying JetBlue, and I have to tell you....it was one of the nicest flights I've had in a long time. Every one of the seats on the plane has a t.v. screen in front of it with Directv....so instead of flying and being bored out of your mind, you have 35 channels to choose from to watch. What can be better than that? So we arrive in the beautiful haven of Newark, NJ (which caused me to wonder why NJ was ever termed the "Garden State" I gotta tell ya) and after a slight disagreement of which rental car we would take (the kids and I wanted the new Mustang--the wife wanted the Infiniti---I let her win) we were on the one road that leads to everywhere in Jersey.
The Jersey Turnpike.
And I gotta mention, that once you get out of Jersey (no offense), its actually one truly amazing drive. The proverbial rolling hills and mountains, my ears are popping left and right from being clogged from the flight--then being unclogged--and so on and so on.
So we're zipping along in our Infiniti, which is actually a real nice car--although the whole Hertz slogan about how every car has Sirius satellite radio is a bunch of nonsense, because OUR car did not--and in about an hour and a half we cross into New York, having managed to totally miss the city and we start making our way towards upstate New York. Hills....mountains....I am not talking about the sort of hills that we have in south Florida, which are of the "hey, we just drove across the I-95 overpass--wow, what a hill that was" sort of a hill. These things were freakin MOUNTAINS. I mean, you would lose radio signals for about half a mile and then regain it after you got out of the valley. Truly, truly awesome.
It reminded me of one of the reasons that I hate Florida so much. It might be the nation's most boring state to drive through. The Florida Turnpike? If it wasn't for the billboards you might begin to hallucinate. I mean this was like some sort of a painting.
Every mile you came across a stretch that was more beautiful than the one before.
Eventually we pull off the main highway and make our way towards our intended stay.
This was a good 30 miles on 2 lane roads going up and down, up and down. My wife and I kept remarking how beautiful it was while figuring that in the winter that the old snowplows probably weren't going to make this stretch of road their first destination....ya know what I mean?
Finally we pull onto an even smaller two lane road and go up into the hills, past farmhouses and.....swear to God....meadows that have DEER grazing in them. I was beginning to wonder if we secretly weren't like the couple at the end of the movie Funny Farm....where the whole town was being paid to act like authentic country folks with little picturesque things happening here and there....seriously, it was like something out of a movie.
We were staying at the lovely Villa Roma resort. Here again, let me recall a movie to describe the place. Remember the resort that Baby and her family stayed at in Dirty Dancing? That was what this place is like--which is also to say that, while its very nice, it was probably way nicer about 20 years ago. It just has that slightly dated feel to it.
So we check in and as we're walking down the hall, looking for our room, I begin to hear my brother's voice. So I start yelling out for him, figuring if its him, he'll respond, and if its the ghost of one of the past residents of the Villa Roma, they'll probably shut right up. So we hook up with him and his wife Angie and then my parents emerge from their room, and we're all together. Well.....all together that is except for my sister and her family--and I'm about to get to that.
So I can't help noticing that we are missing a key element to the family gathering--to wit:
One sister and her family. Now, I had gotten a phone call from her earlier in the day telling me that they had missed their plane--which of course began the inevitable inquires as to whether or not her daughter had overslept again (sorry Scarlett)--because they had gotten there, oh...I dunno, like 30 minutes before the plane was leaving and were told that it was too late to get their luggage on the plane, so if they were going to make the flight they would have to carry the luggage on the plane with them....which of course meant that all their cosmetics would have to be thrown out---which was where Scarlett drew the line. Think about it. Your in upstate New York for a family reunion with people you haven't seen in 20 years, and won't see for another 10 years....AND NO MAKEUP??!!!???
Well needless to say, the decision was made right then and they began looking into later flights. (I say that sentence with total respect and admiration of my bro-in-law Johnny, because if that had been me---I'd have been tossing my daughter's makeup into the trash--your a better man than I Gunga Din!) So then they finally get into Philadelphia, and begin to watch as their luggage is sitting out on the tarmac....and there's no plane to take them to their final destination. And naturally the good folks at USAir are offering zero explainations. So finally, a couple of hours later they finally are on board and make their way to join us. By that point, those of us already in New York had made our way to my cousin Lynn's farm. You know their well connected when the road they live on is named after them. Again with the rolling hills and valleys, and then on the side of a large hill is this picturesque (there's that word again--get used to it) house and farm. We get out and walk up to say hello with relatives that we haven't seen in literally forever.
My cousins Lynn, Gerri & Bridget along with my Aunt Gerri, who's always been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. She was...hmm....appearing to feel no pain that evening as the toddies were flowing quite liberally.
Apparently Aunt Gerri had warned the NY crew about me, so...ya know....I tried to put on a bit of a show for them (Very Important---You have to KNOW your audience). Soon after, my sister arrived with her family and then Aunt Gerri's youngest daughter Maureen showed also. At some point during the evening Aunt Gerri started telling a story about someone getting a vasectomy, but we really weren't sure who she was referring too (keep that reference in mind for later). After way too short a stay, we all bid our good nights and headed back to our hotel. Lynn and her husband still had lots of planning to do....and we had a whole day to explore the surrounding area.
We decided to head up the Hudson River and visit West Point.
End of Part 1.
Later,
Jeff
I mean, can you really blame her?
Fast forward to this past weekend, and myself, the wife and the two young un's flew up to the first reunion in over a decade. It was quite the experience, I don't mind telling you. I'll try and keep it short---but you know me....I like to go into detail.
The four of us were flying JetBlue, and I have to tell you....it was one of the nicest flights I've had in a long time. Every one of the seats on the plane has a t.v. screen in front of it with Directv....so instead of flying and being bored out of your mind, you have 35 channels to choose from to watch. What can be better than that? So we arrive in the beautiful haven of Newark, NJ (which caused me to wonder why NJ was ever termed the "Garden State" I gotta tell ya) and after a slight disagreement of which rental car we would take (the kids and I wanted the new Mustang--the wife wanted the Infiniti---I let her win) we were on the one road that leads to everywhere in Jersey.
The Jersey Turnpike.
And I gotta mention, that once you get out of Jersey (no offense), its actually one truly amazing drive. The proverbial rolling hills and mountains, my ears are popping left and right from being clogged from the flight--then being unclogged--and so on and so on.
So we're zipping along in our Infiniti, which is actually a real nice car--although the whole Hertz slogan about how every car has Sirius satellite radio is a bunch of nonsense, because OUR car did not--and in about an hour and a half we cross into New York, having managed to totally miss the city and we start making our way towards upstate New York. Hills....mountains....I am not talking about the sort of hills that we have in south Florida, which are of the "hey, we just drove across the I-95 overpass--wow, what a hill that was" sort of a hill. These things were freakin MOUNTAINS. I mean, you would lose radio signals for about half a mile and then regain it after you got out of the valley. Truly, truly awesome.
It reminded me of one of the reasons that I hate Florida so much. It might be the nation's most boring state to drive through. The Florida Turnpike? If it wasn't for the billboards you might begin to hallucinate. I mean this was like some sort of a painting.
Every mile you came across a stretch that was more beautiful than the one before.
Eventually we pull off the main highway and make our way towards our intended stay.
This was a good 30 miles on 2 lane roads going up and down, up and down. My wife and I kept remarking how beautiful it was while figuring that in the winter that the old snowplows probably weren't going to make this stretch of road their first destination....ya know what I mean?
Finally we pull onto an even smaller two lane road and go up into the hills, past farmhouses and.....swear to God....meadows that have DEER grazing in them. I was beginning to wonder if we secretly weren't like the couple at the end of the movie Funny Farm....where the whole town was being paid to act like authentic country folks with little picturesque things happening here and there....seriously, it was like something out of a movie.
We were staying at the lovely Villa Roma resort. Here again, let me recall a movie to describe the place. Remember the resort that Baby and her family stayed at in Dirty Dancing? That was what this place is like--which is also to say that, while its very nice, it was probably way nicer about 20 years ago. It just has that slightly dated feel to it.
So we check in and as we're walking down the hall, looking for our room, I begin to hear my brother's voice. So I start yelling out for him, figuring if its him, he'll respond, and if its the ghost of one of the past residents of the Villa Roma, they'll probably shut right up. So we hook up with him and his wife Angie and then my parents emerge from their room, and we're all together. Well.....all together that is except for my sister and her family--and I'm about to get to that.
So I can't help noticing that we are missing a key element to the family gathering--to wit:
One sister and her family. Now, I had gotten a phone call from her earlier in the day telling me that they had missed their plane--which of course began the inevitable inquires as to whether or not her daughter had overslept again (sorry Scarlett)--because they had gotten there, oh...I dunno, like 30 minutes before the plane was leaving and were told that it was too late to get their luggage on the plane, so if they were going to make the flight they would have to carry the luggage on the plane with them....which of course meant that all their cosmetics would have to be thrown out---which was where Scarlett drew the line. Think about it. Your in upstate New York for a family reunion with people you haven't seen in 20 years, and won't see for another 10 years....AND NO MAKEUP??!!!???
Well needless to say, the decision was made right then and they began looking into later flights. (I say that sentence with total respect and admiration of my bro-in-law Johnny, because if that had been me---I'd have been tossing my daughter's makeup into the trash--your a better man than I Gunga Din!) So then they finally get into Philadelphia, and begin to watch as their luggage is sitting out on the tarmac....and there's no plane to take them to their final destination. And naturally the good folks at USAir are offering zero explainations. So finally, a couple of hours later they finally are on board and make their way to join us. By that point, those of us already in New York had made our way to my cousin Lynn's farm. You know their well connected when the road they live on is named after them. Again with the rolling hills and valleys, and then on the side of a large hill is this picturesque (there's that word again--get used to it) house and farm. We get out and walk up to say hello with relatives that we haven't seen in literally forever.
My cousins Lynn, Gerri & Bridget along with my Aunt Gerri, who's always been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. She was...hmm....appearing to feel no pain that evening as the toddies were flowing quite liberally.
Apparently Aunt Gerri had warned the NY crew about me, so...ya know....I tried to put on a bit of a show for them (Very Important---You have to KNOW your audience). Soon after, my sister arrived with her family and then Aunt Gerri's youngest daughter Maureen showed also. At some point during the evening Aunt Gerri started telling a story about someone getting a vasectomy, but we really weren't sure who she was referring too (keep that reference in mind for later). After way too short a stay, we all bid our good nights and headed back to our hotel. Lynn and her husband still had lots of planning to do....and we had a whole day to explore the surrounding area.
We decided to head up the Hudson River and visit West Point.
End of Part 1.
Later,
Jeff
9/11---A day not to forget...being part of history.
First of all, before I begin telling you what a great time I had this past weekend, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that today is the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. I'm sure everyone has their own thoughts, views and memories of that horrible day.....just as I do. I remember being in court around 9am when an attorney came and told me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I can still recall thinking of what a freak sort of accident that must have been--not realizing at the time the horrible piece of living history that I was going through at the time. The day went on and began to unfold like a bad dimestore novel, with everyone beginning to slow freak out over what was happening--and then of course wondering if more attacks would be forthcoming. We all went home in an almost blind panic....wanting to hold our families a little bit tighter that night...to keep them a little bit closer to us. I was still relatively new to the whole business of being a "dad" at that point, and I can remember talking to my own father, trying to understand the madness that was unfolding on television in front of me and my own children. My wife and I made the decision to have the children watch what was happening, to try and let them know that they were viewing a part of our nation's history right there on television before their very own eyes.
I can remember my daughter Kellie, then aged 9, asking me if they were going to attack us here in Coral Springs, Florida....and remember telling her that what was happening was in New York City--and had nothing to do with Coral Springs, Florida.
It was a couple of days later that I read that one of the terrorists had in fact, lived in Coral Springs, Florida the previous year---not even a mile from my house. I might have walked past the guy one day in a mall or at the grocery store.
And I realized that what happened that day was not about New York City. It was about ALL of us......you, me....them.
This was our generation's Pearl Harbor...being broadcast to us in our living rooms.
We were part of history, and 5 years later....we must not, we cannot...ever forget.
Later,
Jeff
I can remember my daughter Kellie, then aged 9, asking me if they were going to attack us here in Coral Springs, Florida....and remember telling her that what was happening was in New York City--and had nothing to do with Coral Springs, Florida.
It was a couple of days later that I read that one of the terrorists had in fact, lived in Coral Springs, Florida the previous year---not even a mile from my house. I might have walked past the guy one day in a mall or at the grocery store.
And I realized that what happened that day was not about New York City. It was about ALL of us......you, me....them.
This was our generation's Pearl Harbor...being broadcast to us in our living rooms.
We were part of history, and 5 years later....we must not, we cannot...ever forget.
Later,
Jeff
Sunday, September 3, 2006
9/3/06---Never a doubt in my mind
GULP.....well, maybe just a little bit of doubt in my mind.....seriously, if we had one of our previous two coaches, we lose last night's game. As it was:
 | |
|
Post-game salute |
Saturday, September 2, 2006
9/2/06---This is the time....and this is the team
Yes, its that time....college football season is here. Or, as my ex-wife used to say:
"Time for you to show that you love something more than me". Hey, that's one of the reasons why she's an EX-wife.
My beloved Fighting Irish open the season tonight in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets....or Ramblin Wreck if you prefer. Some of the "experts" are forecasting an upset. I'll just say this. If Ty Willingham was still our coach....they'd probably be right. But Charlie Weis is our coach now. I don't think so.
Notre Dame-35 Georgia Tech-20
And now....as we prepare for tonight's game...courtesy of Blue-Gray Sky blog:
"Time for you to show that you love something more than me". Hey, that's one of the reasons why she's an EX-wife.
My beloved Fighting Irish open the season tonight in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets....or Ramblin Wreck if you prefer. Some of the "experts" are forecasting an upset. I'll just say this. If Ty Willingham was still our coach....they'd probably be right. But Charlie Weis is our coach now. I don't think so.
Notre Dame-35 Georgia Tech-20
And now....as we prepare for tonight's game...courtesy of Blue-Gray Sky blog:
I can't wait.
I can't wait for the Irish captains to walk to midfield before the game.
I can't wait for Travis Thomas to make his first tackle as a linebacker.
I can't wait for Rhema McKnight's first receiving touchdown.
I can't wait for the first Weis outburst on the sideline.
I can't wait for Victor to toss his man aside and get the sack.
I can't wait for Zibby to hit someone so hard he forgets his name.
I can't wait to see which kicker gets the call for the first field goal.
I can't wait to watch Darius find the hole in the line that no one else sees.
I can't wait to watch for the first bomb from Quinn to Samardzija.
I can't wait for Asaph Schwapp to lay out his first linebacker.
I can't wait to see all of the freshman making their first play for the Irish
The 2006 Notre Dame football season starts in a few hours.
I can't wait.
I can't wait for the Irish captains to walk to midfield before the game.
I can't wait for Travis Thomas to make his first tackle as a linebacker.
I can't wait for Rhema McKnight's first receiving touchdown.
I can't wait for the first Weis outburst on the sideline.
I can't wait for Victor to toss his man aside and get the sack.
I can't wait for Zibby to hit someone so hard he forgets his name.
I can't wait to see which kicker gets the call for the first field goal.
I can't wait to watch Darius find the hole in the line that no one else sees.
I can't wait to watch for the first bomb from Quinn to Samardzija.
I can't wait for Asaph Schwapp to lay out his first linebacker.
I can't wait to see all of the freshman making their first play for the Irish
The 2006 Notre Dame football season starts in a few hours.
I can't wait.
Go Irish.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)