12/8/06
I've been faithful to JazBloPoMo
But I forgot to copy my blogs over here on blogger from myspace. So I just did and changed up the dates to reflect when I actually posted them. Not that it matters to anyone but me.
Tripre Britz!
So, Kevin and I went out last night to our local watering hole for a little destressing after his long day and a welcome break from my crocheting (which, btw, I could be done w/ the mom in law afghan sometime today ... a day ahead of schedule! I'm so excited!) It's nothing really exciting. Our friend Lady J was there playing megatouch as usual and CNN with really bad closed captioning was on the boob tube (i mean seriously! ah trossity? LEARN TO SPELL PEOPLE!!!!)
Lady J invited me over to play some trivia on the megatouch. We stuck with the music category. It's what we know best, plus it has a tasty riff that plays when you choose it. She's gonna learn and include on her first album ^_^
That was when we learned the megatouch at the Toy Box is haunted/psychic/just plain freaky! First was when we finally guessed that Harry Wayne casey was teh leader of KC and the Sunshine Band I said something like "oh! Casey...KC...I get it!" and that's when the damn megatouch put the SAME EXACT WORDS on the screen when explaining the correct answer. Okay...I kinda let that one slide seeing as the megatouch is kinda sarcastic and dumbs things down for you sometimes cuz it knows the majority of people playing are missing mega brain cells.
So a little white later a question comes up about the Champs somg "Tequila" so Lady J shares that The first time she went out and did karaoke with a group of friends they practically forced her to pick a song and sing, so she did. "Tequila" Her friends were so pissed but hey! they didn't have any stipulations! So I made a comment that she should have done like this guy did once at the White Horse when I was hosting. He picked a Milli Vanilli song and asked me to sing it and he just lip-synched. It was classic.
No sooner do the words come out of my mouth than a question on the megatouch pops up about ... yep ... Milli Vanilli. Okay. A little more freaky there.
Eventually I look up and the clock is past midnight so I say "oh. Today is the anniversary of John Lennon's death." and we get a little somber. About 2 questions later the megatouch asks us which famous apartment building did John Lennon get shot in front of. (The Dakota in case you don't know ... which if you don't WHY am i friends with you?). So now we're really freaked. And that's when we find out the jukebox is in cahoots with the megatouch. You know how when nobody plays the jukebox for awhile it will automatically kick a song out to try and tempt you to play? Well, as soon as we answer the question about John Lennon, a Beatles song starts playing on the jukebox!!!!
yep. Lady J, Kevin and I were sufficiently spooked after that. That megatouch is not for the faint of heart.
Lady J invited me over to play some trivia on the megatouch. We stuck with the music category. It's what we know best, plus it has a tasty riff that plays when you choose it. She's gonna learn and include on her first album ^_^
That was when we learned the megatouch at the Toy Box is haunted/psychic/just plain freaky! First was when we finally guessed that Harry Wayne casey was teh leader of KC and the Sunshine Band I said something like "oh! Casey...KC...I get it!" and that's when the damn megatouch put the SAME EXACT WORDS on the screen when explaining the correct answer. Okay...I kinda let that one slide seeing as the megatouch is kinda sarcastic and dumbs things down for you sometimes cuz it knows the majority of people playing are missing mega brain cells.
So a little white later a question comes up about the Champs somg "Tequila" so Lady J shares that The first time she went out and did karaoke with a group of friends they practically forced her to pick a song and sing, so she did. "Tequila" Her friends were so pissed but hey! they didn't have any stipulations! So I made a comment that she should have done like this guy did once at the White Horse when I was hosting. He picked a Milli Vanilli song and asked me to sing it and he just lip-synched. It was classic.
No sooner do the words come out of my mouth than a question on the megatouch pops up about ... yep ... Milli Vanilli. Okay. A little more freaky there.
Eventually I look up and the clock is past midnight so I say "oh. Today is the anniversary of John Lennon's death." and we get a little somber. About 2 questions later the megatouch asks us which famous apartment building did John Lennon get shot in front of. (The Dakota in case you don't know ... which if you don't WHY am i friends with you?). So now we're really freaked. And that's when we find out the jukebox is in cahoots with the megatouch. You know how when nobody plays the jukebox for awhile it will automatically kick a song out to try and tempt you to play? Well, as soon as we answer the question about John Lennon, a Beatles song starts playing on the jukebox!!!!
yep. Lady J, Kevin and I were sufficiently spooked after that. That megatouch is not for the faint of heart.
12/7/06
My brain is fog
This JazBloPoMo is a little harder than I thought. you know, usually I have so many ideas for stuff to blog I end up overloading and not blogging anything...but right now I have no ideas at all. Not a one.
And that's because my brain is currently being suffocated with crochet patterns and movies on satellite. I'm so close to being done with my mother in law's afghan I can taste it...which means I just move onto another pattern and then another until come January 1st I prolly won't want to hold a crochet hook again for at LEAST a month!
oh! We did try out a new Mexican restaurant in Redford last night before we went to see Ava. It's called Cinco de Mayo on 5 mile just east of Beech Daly. They just opened last week (or maybe 2 weeks ago...I'm not sure). Anyway, a friend said she went for the lunch buffet and the menu had stuff she didn't recognize on it, including menudo (the soup, not the boy band). This made me very excited with the possibility that they would have barbacoa and other Mexican delicacies you can't get in the more "americanized" Mexican places.
So we walked in last night all excited. I already knew I was gonna order the menudo. It's my test of how good a Mexican restaurant actually is. If a place can make that good, they can make anything.
For the uninitiated, Menudo is a soup made with beef tripe (tripas), chili peppers, garlic and hominy. Beef tripe is the lining on a cow's stomach. You must boil the tripas for at least a couple hours in order to cook them and remove any impurities (Kinda like chitlins). You then take it and put it in a pot along with the peppers, spices and hominy and cook for another hour or so. It is served with diced onions, mexican oregano and lime wedges on the side which allows you to garnish as you please. I personally like alot of onions and lime juice and just a smattering of the oregano. It's considered a hangover cure and is most often served at restaurants on Sundays. Some of my fondest memories are of going with my family to a bar in Delrey called "Soria's" and having Soria's homemade menudo each Sunday after church.
So in we walk and have the nicest server. He brought us drinks (i had coke, Kevin had non alcoholic Sangria. The Sangria was YUM!) and chips and salsa while we looked over the menu. I was a tad disappointed that the "caliente" salsa wasn't caliente at all ... but then I have a less tender palate than the normal Redford customer. It had a nice taste tho. and the tiniest hint of heat at the end.
In looking over the menu, it was pretty basic. They had a couple of ceviches as well as botanas. A Botana is kinda like nachos but a thousand times better. There used to be a mexican place on Northline (next to where Subi's is now) that had the best botanas. I haven't had one in years. Everything was listed in spanish but explained in english underneath (i.e. "tostadas de camarrones" ... a deep fried tortilla covered with sauteed shirmp, lettuce and tomatoes) which explains why my friend didn't recognize things on the menu. They did have a yummy dessert called "arroz com leche" which is basically a rice pudding with raisins. It is yummy goodness belueve me. Next time we go there I'm ordering a backwards dinner and having dessert first.
we ordered the Queso Fundido as an appetizer, which was melty muenster cheese covered with fried chorizo and sliced poblano peppers and served with tortilla. Kinda a mexican version on saganaki without the tableside fire. It was delicious.
I also tasted their mole sauce. Mole is a sauce made with mexican chocolate and chili peppers. Usually served on chicken. I've never had mole and figured it was a safe time to try it. It wasn't bad. I think I could handle it. Normally I don't like sweet with my savory (i.e. cherries on chicken salad) but I like peanut butter chicken, so I'm willing to someday give it a shot.
In the end I got the menudo like I planned and Kevin got the enchiladas mexicanas with shredded beef. When the giant bowl of menudo finally got to our table I was so excited. And when I tasted it I was in heaven! The only complaint I had was they didn't put hominy in it and I love hominy, but there was so much tripe in there i didn't miss it for long. It was so spicy! And the meat in it was cooked to perfection. It wasn't chewy or rubbery (which some places have a tendency to do). I kept sending my compliments to the kitchen it was so good. Kevin liked his enchiladas too.
In the end I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new mexican place to try. Get adventurous. Try the menudo. Or at least a botana and some chicken mole. Next time we go that's what we're having, and some margaritas or perhaps a bottle of my favorite mexican beer, Carta Blanca, to wash it all down with.
And that's because my brain is currently being suffocated with crochet patterns and movies on satellite. I'm so close to being done with my mother in law's afghan I can taste it...which means I just move onto another pattern and then another until come January 1st I prolly won't want to hold a crochet hook again for at LEAST a month!
oh! We did try out a new Mexican restaurant in Redford last night before we went to see Ava. It's called Cinco de Mayo on 5 mile just east of Beech Daly. They just opened last week (or maybe 2 weeks ago...I'm not sure). Anyway, a friend said she went for the lunch buffet and the menu had stuff she didn't recognize on it, including menudo (the soup, not the boy band). This made me very excited with the possibility that they would have barbacoa and other Mexican delicacies you can't get in the more "americanized" Mexican places.
So we walked in last night all excited. I already knew I was gonna order the menudo. It's my test of how good a Mexican restaurant actually is. If a place can make that good, they can make anything.
For the uninitiated, Menudo is a soup made with beef tripe (tripas), chili peppers, garlic and hominy. Beef tripe is the lining on a cow's stomach. You must boil the tripas for at least a couple hours in order to cook them and remove any impurities (Kinda like chitlins). You then take it and put it in a pot along with the peppers, spices and hominy and cook for another hour or so. It is served with diced onions, mexican oregano and lime wedges on the side which allows you to garnish as you please. I personally like alot of onions and lime juice and just a smattering of the oregano. It's considered a hangover cure and is most often served at restaurants on Sundays. Some of my fondest memories are of going with my family to a bar in Delrey called "Soria's" and having Soria's homemade menudo each Sunday after church.
So in we walk and have the nicest server. He brought us drinks (i had coke, Kevin had non alcoholic Sangria. The Sangria was YUM!) and chips and salsa while we looked over the menu. I was a tad disappointed that the "caliente" salsa wasn't caliente at all ... but then I have a less tender palate than the normal Redford customer. It had a nice taste tho. and the tiniest hint of heat at the end.
In looking over the menu, it was pretty basic. They had a couple of ceviches as well as botanas. A Botana is kinda like nachos but a thousand times better. There used to be a mexican place on Northline (next to where Subi's is now) that had the best botanas. I haven't had one in years. Everything was listed in spanish but explained in english underneath (i.e. "tostadas de camarrones" ... a deep fried tortilla covered with sauteed shirmp, lettuce and tomatoes) which explains why my friend didn't recognize things on the menu. They did have a yummy dessert called "arroz com leche" which is basically a rice pudding with raisins. It is yummy goodness belueve me. Next time we go there I'm ordering a backwards dinner and having dessert first.
we ordered the Queso Fundido as an appetizer, which was melty muenster cheese covered with fried chorizo and sliced poblano peppers and served with tortilla. Kinda a mexican version on saganaki without the tableside fire. It was delicious.
I also tasted their mole sauce. Mole is a sauce made with mexican chocolate and chili peppers. Usually served on chicken. I've never had mole and figured it was a safe time to try it. It wasn't bad. I think I could handle it. Normally I don't like sweet with my savory (i.e. cherries on chicken salad) but I like peanut butter chicken, so I'm willing to someday give it a shot.
In the end I got the menudo like I planned and Kevin got the enchiladas mexicanas with shredded beef. When the giant bowl of menudo finally got to our table I was so excited. And when I tasted it I was in heaven! The only complaint I had was they didn't put hominy in it and I love hominy, but there was so much tripe in there i didn't miss it for long. It was so spicy! And the meat in it was cooked to perfection. It wasn't chewy or rubbery (which some places have a tendency to do). I kept sending my compliments to the kitchen it was so good. Kevin liked his enchiladas too.
In the end I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new mexican place to try. Get adventurous. Try the menudo. Or at least a botana and some chicken mole. Next time we go that's what we're having, and some margaritas or perhaps a bottle of my favorite mexican beer, Carta Blanca, to wash it all down with.
12/6/06
I got to meet my neice today!
And she is a beauty! I didn't take any pictures of her cuz my camera still isn't working properly and I don't have a replacement, but I got to visit with her for a whole hour tonight and hold her almost the entire time.
My brother and sister in law are so exhausted! Ava is only sleeping about an hour at a time so they've only been getting catnaps. Jen's been letting Bob get a little more sleep since she holds the food (they're breastfeeding) but not much more. Yesterday was the first time that Ava slept for 4 hours straight .. which was like an early xmas present for Jen lol.
They were telling me the horrible nurse stories from the hospital. Apparently one of the nurses took it upon herself to feed Ava with iron based formula after she took Ava for some tests ... w/o knowledge or consent from Bob or Jen. The nurse told them that Ava wasn't being fed and she looked pale and basically that Jen was a bad mom so that's why she did it. Well, after Ava had the formula she was constipated for almost 24 hours and didn't urinate for around 12. She was crying (because of the pain we're assuming) and her tummy was swollen until she did have a bowel movement.
See, Jen is a vegan. She doesn't eat any animal products and thusly Ava hasn't eaten any herself. So feeding her that formula was the equivelent of basically introducing poisons to her body. She's never had to digest animal proteins like taht before.
There was also a pediatrician that came in telling them they were bad parents essentially and she was starving her baby. That her colouring was off and she lost too much weight. Which was funny cuz the previous day a different pediatrician came in and just raved about how good Ava's colour was and that she was right on course for loss of weight (ava was born 7lbs12ozs ... she was 7lbs.5ozs at the time). Then, after basically telling Jen she was doing a lousy job, she offered to be their pediatrician. Jen said NO ... but she still gave them her card. The Audacity!
So anyway, I won't bore you with all the details. I just have to say my brother and sister in law handled it better than I would have. If I had been going off of 2 hours sleep in 48 hours with my hormones running high after having delivered a baby, who KNOWS what I would have spouted off and said! They would have been likely to call child protective services on my ass after spewing an endless fountain of obscenities.
But back to the visit. Ava was an angel. I heard thru my mom how she has a set of lungs on her and is gonna be a singer like her Aunt Jazmyn, but she slept the whole time we were there. I'm sure as soon as we left she opened her pretty eyes and wailed, but we didn't see it. Kevin held her for a little bit. He did a really good job too. Wasn't that nervous. When I held her it brought back memories of me holding my sister when she was just a baby. gave me the warm fuzzies.
It was so different seeing Ava. I mean, I thought she was adorable and loved her just from the pics I saw, but to see her in person just 3 days old and hold her tiny body. I fell instantly in love. And altho I have 3 nephews by marriage in Tyler (6), Zach (5) and Keifer (4), and I love each of them dearly (I've been with Kevin since just after Tyler was born), And my cousin Angie's son Jeremy (6) I love his to death too. He makes me very happy each time I see him. But it was so much different with Ava. She's a part of me. Some of the same blood runs thru both of our veins. There's such a stronger connection there. Just typing this is making me tear up. I love her so much and I want the world for her. Ava just wipes away any problems or issues I've ever had with my brother, my sister in law, or her family. Ava's the most important thing now.
I wish our sister lived closer so she could enjoy Ava as much as I did. She's coming back to visit on the 27th or 28th of this month, so she'll get to see her then. I called her last night to tell her that I got to meet Ava and then immediatly felt bad cuz I felt like I was bragging. I wasn't . I just wanted Velisia to share in the joy that I was feeling.
So anyway, as soon as I get some new pics you better believe proud Anut Jazmyn will be sharing them and boring the socks off everyone!
My brother and sister in law are so exhausted! Ava is only sleeping about an hour at a time so they've only been getting catnaps. Jen's been letting Bob get a little more sleep since she holds the food (they're breastfeeding) but not much more. Yesterday was the first time that Ava slept for 4 hours straight .. which was like an early xmas present for Jen lol.
They were telling me the horrible nurse stories from the hospital. Apparently one of the nurses took it upon herself to feed Ava with iron based formula after she took Ava for some tests ... w/o knowledge or consent from Bob or Jen. The nurse told them that Ava wasn't being fed and she looked pale and basically that Jen was a bad mom so that's why she did it. Well, after Ava had the formula she was constipated for almost 24 hours and didn't urinate for around 12. She was crying (because of the pain we're assuming) and her tummy was swollen until she did have a bowel movement.
See, Jen is a vegan. She doesn't eat any animal products and thusly Ava hasn't eaten any herself. So feeding her that formula was the equivelent of basically introducing poisons to her body. She's never had to digest animal proteins like taht before.
There was also a pediatrician that came in telling them they were bad parents essentially and she was starving her baby. That her colouring was off and she lost too much weight. Which was funny cuz the previous day a different pediatrician came in and just raved about how good Ava's colour was and that she was right on course for loss of weight (ava was born 7lbs12ozs ... she was 7lbs.5ozs at the time). Then, after basically telling Jen she was doing a lousy job, she offered to be their pediatrician. Jen said NO ... but she still gave them her card. The Audacity!
So anyway, I won't bore you with all the details. I just have to say my brother and sister in law handled it better than I would have. If I had been going off of 2 hours sleep in 48 hours with my hormones running high after having delivered a baby, who KNOWS what I would have spouted off and said! They would have been likely to call child protective services on my ass after spewing an endless fountain of obscenities.
But back to the visit. Ava was an angel. I heard thru my mom how she has a set of lungs on her and is gonna be a singer like her Aunt Jazmyn, but she slept the whole time we were there. I'm sure as soon as we left she opened her pretty eyes and wailed, but we didn't see it. Kevin held her for a little bit. He did a really good job too. Wasn't that nervous. When I held her it brought back memories of me holding my sister when she was just a baby. gave me the warm fuzzies.
It was so different seeing Ava. I mean, I thought she was adorable and loved her just from the pics I saw, but to see her in person just 3 days old and hold her tiny body. I fell instantly in love. And altho I have 3 nephews by marriage in Tyler (6), Zach (5) and Keifer (4), and I love each of them dearly (I've been with Kevin since just after Tyler was born), And my cousin Angie's son Jeremy (6) I love his to death too. He makes me very happy each time I see him. But it was so much different with Ava. She's a part of me. Some of the same blood runs thru both of our veins. There's such a stronger connection there. Just typing this is making me tear up. I love her so much and I want the world for her. Ava just wipes away any problems or issues I've ever had with my brother, my sister in law, or her family. Ava's the most important thing now.
I wish our sister lived closer so she could enjoy Ava as much as I did. She's coming back to visit on the 27th or 28th of this month, so she'll get to see her then. I called her last night to tell her that I got to meet Ava and then immediatly felt bad cuz I felt like I was bragging. I wasn't . I just wanted Velisia to share in the joy that I was feeling.
So anyway, as soon as I get some new pics you better believe proud Anut Jazmyn will be sharing them and boring the socks off everyone!
12/5/06
Another Day Another Blog
Today is a slow blog day. I'm getting ready to go to work. Karaoke. Pray that it's busy for me and not fully of drunk idiots.
I'm crocheting my ass off. I'm 5 strips done of the 7 strips needed to finish the afghan i'm making kevin's mom. I should be finished by the weekend.
I'm going to meet my niece tomorrow evening. I'm so excited I can't wait! I love her already.
I have to leave for work now. Here's hoping I don't crack a beer until sometime around 11PM
I'm crocheting my ass off. I'm 5 strips done of the 7 strips needed to finish the afghan i'm making kevin's mom. I should be finished by the weekend.
I'm going to meet my niece tomorrow evening. I'm so excited I can't wait! I love her already.
I have to leave for work now. Here's hoping I don't crack a beer until sometime around 11PM
12/4/06
Screw the BCS
That damned BCS crap.
I mean seriously. All I heard all weekend was the speculation on whether it would be the Florida Gators or the Michigan Wolverines going to the National Championship to play Ohio State. Should UofM get a 2nd chance to play OSU or should Florida be given a chance to prove themselves.
Now, I know I'm a Michigander. And that I grew up in the shadow of the University of Michigan. Hell, my high school colours were even blue and gold. So altho I'm not a big college football fan, I admit that I have an almost ingrained affinity for the Wolverines. That being said, this has very little to do with why I'm pissed that Florida is playing OSU for the national championship instead of Michigan.
If you look at the numbers using the computer program that figures out all these bowl standings, Florida and Michigan are on equal ground. They both had relatively tough schedules (altho UofM was a bit harder). They both lost 1 game (altho Michigan lost to the #1 ranked team and Florida lost to #11). Granted Florida is the SEC winner while UofM is #2 in the Big 10. But still...the numbers spit out by that computer program showed both teams with equal footing.
Which meant it came down to the human element. The element they had been trying to remove with the program in the first place. You know, back when it was all AP and coach decisions and the rankings were basically based on popularity. And the human element in this situation was extremely flawed imho.
Before the announcement was made last night I already knew it would be Florida and not UofM. Just by the way the guys were talking on ESPN, FOX, CBS, etc. Remarking that UofM had their chance playing OSU and maybe it was time to let Florida prove themselves. There was only 1 or 2 sportscasters/football commentators that spoke out saying that it should go by numbers and using them UofM was clearly the more deserving candidate. I applaud them. (Jimmy Johnson was one of them...I've always liked him...and as a former Gators coach he shoujld have been on the Florida bandwagon)
So it came as no surprise to hear that UofM would be going to the Rose Bowl instead of the National Championship and that Florida would be heading to Arizona to play OSU. Nevertheless I'm still pretty pissed.
Ultimately the whole BCS is bullshit. I know the national championship game was instituted to give equal light to those teams and colleges that might not get it otherwise. And prolly more for the bragging rights it gives. But I'd rather have it the way it was. Give me a Rose Bowl with the #1 teams from Big 10 and Pac 10. Give me an Orange Bowl with Big 8 participants. Call me a purist but instead of making this obviously controversial BCS bullshit add a couple more bowl games for those colleges that don't get to go to the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl or whatever bowl. I honestly don't see the need for a national championship bowl in the first place. Give me the old fashioned rewards for playing well in your division.
Of course I'm not a football player or coach, I'm just a fan. What do I know.
I mean seriously. All I heard all weekend was the speculation on whether it would be the Florida Gators or the Michigan Wolverines going to the National Championship to play Ohio State. Should UofM get a 2nd chance to play OSU or should Florida be given a chance to prove themselves.
Now, I know I'm a Michigander. And that I grew up in the shadow of the University of Michigan. Hell, my high school colours were even blue and gold. So altho I'm not a big college football fan, I admit that I have an almost ingrained affinity for the Wolverines. That being said, this has very little to do with why I'm pissed that Florida is playing OSU for the national championship instead of Michigan.
If you look at the numbers using the computer program that figures out all these bowl standings, Florida and Michigan are on equal ground. They both had relatively tough schedules (altho UofM was a bit harder). They both lost 1 game (altho Michigan lost to the #1 ranked team and Florida lost to #11). Granted Florida is the SEC winner while UofM is #2 in the Big 10. But still...the numbers spit out by that computer program showed both teams with equal footing.
Which meant it came down to the human element. The element they had been trying to remove with the program in the first place. You know, back when it was all AP and coach decisions and the rankings were basically based on popularity. And the human element in this situation was extremely flawed imho.
Before the announcement was made last night I already knew it would be Florida and not UofM. Just by the way the guys were talking on ESPN, FOX, CBS, etc. Remarking that UofM had their chance playing OSU and maybe it was time to let Florida prove themselves. There was only 1 or 2 sportscasters/football commentators that spoke out saying that it should go by numbers and using them UofM was clearly the more deserving candidate. I applaud them. (Jimmy Johnson was one of them...I've always liked him...and as a former Gators coach he shoujld have been on the Florida bandwagon)
So it came as no surprise to hear that UofM would be going to the Rose Bowl instead of the National Championship and that Florida would be heading to Arizona to play OSU. Nevertheless I'm still pretty pissed.
Ultimately the whole BCS is bullshit. I know the national championship game was instituted to give equal light to those teams and colleges that might not get it otherwise. And prolly more for the bragging rights it gives. But I'd rather have it the way it was. Give me a Rose Bowl with the #1 teams from Big 10 and Pac 10. Give me an Orange Bowl with Big 8 participants. Call me a purist but instead of making this obviously controversial BCS bullshit add a couple more bowl games for those colleges that don't get to go to the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl or whatever bowl. I honestly don't see the need for a national championship bowl in the first place. Give me the old fashioned rewards for playing well in your division.
Of course I'm not a football player or coach, I'm just a fan. What do I know.
I <3 Tshirt Hell
Normally I find a couple of their shirts relatively amusing but this new batch had me rolling on the floor.
Your name in Russian
What does your name look like in Russian?
The site's been having bandwidth issues....so be patient if it doesn't come up right away.
The site's been having bandwidth issues....so be patient if it doesn't come up right away.
12/3/06
call me AUNT Jazmyn
My brother's wife had their first baby this morning around 7am. Her name is Ava Bella Kemper. She was 7 lbs. 12 ozs. and 19" long. Isn't she gorgeous!?! She's the first grandchild in the Kemper-Gutierrez family.
12/2/06
Para Los Chicanos
"Inspired by the courage of the farmworkers, by the California strikes led by Cesar Chavez, and by the Anglo-American youth revolt of the period, many Mexican-American university students came to participate in a crusade for social betterment that was known as the Chicano movement. They used Chicano to denote their rediscovered heritage, their youthful assertiveness, and their militant agenda......Biculturalism and bilingualism are both factors of Chicano culture. However, Being the product of two worlds, the Chicano is never fully accepted in either. Prior to the Chicano Movement, Mexican Americans were viewed as foreigners, and often as inferior, in the United States. If they went to Mexico, they were often considered "vendidos" (sell-outs) or self-ignorant pochos. The lack of a homeland brought about the psychic recreation of Aztlán, the semi-mythic northerly land to which the Aztecs traced their roots."
-(courtesy of wikipedia)
-(courtesy of wikipedia)
~~~~~~~~~
I'm in the middle of watching a movie called "Walkout" starring Alexa Varga (of Spy Kids fame). Walkout is the true story of a young Mexican American high school teacher, Sal Castro. He mentors a group of students in East Los Angeles, when the students decide to stage a peaceful walkout to protest the injustices of the public school system. Set against the background of the civil rights movement of 1968, it is a story of courage and the fight for justice and empowerment. (from imdb.com) I'm only about a half hour into it. There's a scene where a teacher calls 2 boys up to the front of the class for speaking in spanish. He reaches over and there's a paddle hanging up on a sign that reads "If it's not worth saying in English it's not worth saying at all". He takes the paddle and beats both boys with it (as they speak in spanish telling him to "kiss my ass")
It's a little cheesy as it's a made for HBO movie, but it still resonates with me. It takes place in 1968 which is when my mom would have been going to high school here in the Detroit area. They describe in the movie how only 1 in 4 chicanos made it into college at the time. A college recruiter in the move tells us how there are only 40 Chicano students in a college of over 3,000.
Right now in the movie they're holding a Chicano Leadership Weekend in Malibu and one of the teachers is speaking to them and recites this amazing piece of poetry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I am Joaquin”
By Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales
I am Joaquin, Lost in a world of confusion, Caught up in a whirl of a gringo society, Confused by the rules, Scorned by attitudes, Suppressed by manipulations, And destroyed by modern society. My fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival. And now! I must choose between the paradox of Victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger Or
to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis, sterilization of the soul, and a full stomach. YES, I have come a long way to nowhere, Unwillingly dragged by that monstrous, technical industrial giant called Progress and Anglo success… I look at myself. I watch my brothers. I shed tears of sorrow. I sow seeds of hate. I withdraw to the safety within the Circle of life . . . MY OWN PEOPLE
I am Cuauhtemoc, Proud and Noble Leader of men, King of an empire, civilized beyond the dreams of the Gachupin Cortez, Who also is the blood, the image of myself.
I am the Maya Prince. I am Netzahualcoyotl, Great leader of the Chichimecas. I am the sword and flame of Cortez the despot. And
I am the Eagle and Serpent of the Aztec civilization. I owned the land as far as the eye could see under the crown of Spain, and I toiled on my earth and gave my Indian sweat and blood for the Spanish master, Who ruled with tyranny over man and beast and all that he could trample But . . .
THE GROUND WAS MINE. I was both tyrant and slave. As Christian church took its place in God's good name, to take and use my Virgin strength and Trusting faith, The priests both good and bad, took But gave a lasting truth that Spaniard, Indian, Mestizo Were all God's children And from these words grew men who prayed and fought for their own worth as human beings, for that GOLDEN MOMENT Of FREEDOM.
I was part in blood and spirit of that courageous village priest Hidalgo in the year eighteen hundred and ten who rang the bell of independence and gave out that lasting cry: El Grito de Dolores,
"Que mueran los Gachupines y que viva la Virgin de Guadalupe" I sentenced him who was me. I excommunicated him my blood. I drove him from the Pulpit to lead a bloody revolution for him and me I killed him. His head, which is mine and all of those who have conic this way, I placed on that fortress wall to wall for Independence. Morelos! Matamoros! Guerrero! All Compañeros in the act, STOOD AGAINST THAT WALL OF INFAMY to feel the hot gouge of lead which my hands made. I died with them . . . I lived with them I lived to see our country free. Free from Spanish rule in eighteen -hundred- twenty-one. Mexico was Free The crown was gone but
all his parasites remained and ruled and taught with gun and flame and mystic power. I worked, I sweated, I bled, I prayed and waited silently for life to again commence. I fought and died for Don Benito Juarez Guardian of the Constitution. I was him on clusty roads on barren land as he protected his archives as Moses did his sacraments. He held his Mexico in his hand on the most desolate and remote ground which was his country And this Giant Little Zapotec gave not one palm's breadth of his country's land to Kings or Monarchs or Presidents of foreign powers.
I am Joaquin. I rode with Pancho Villa, crude and warm. A tornado at full strength, nourished and inspired by the passion and the fire of all his earth, people. I am Emillano Zapata. "This Land This Earth Is OURS" The Villages The Mountains The Streams belong to Zapatistas. Our life Or yours is the only trade for soft brown earth and maiz. All of which is our reward, A creed that formed a constitution for all who dare live free! "This land is ours . . . Father, I give it back to you. Mexico must be free . . .' I ride with Revolutionists against myself. I am Rural Course and brutal, I am the mountain Indian, superior over all. The thundering hoof beats are my horses. The chattering of machine guns' are death to all of me: Yaqui Tarahumara Chamula Zapotec Mestizo Español
I have been the Bloody Revolution, The Victor, The Vanquished, I have killed and been killed. I am despots Diaz and Huerta and the apostle of democracy Francisco Madero. I am the black shawled faithful women who die with me or live depending on the time and place. I am faithful, humble, Juan Diego, the Virgen de Guadalupe, Tonatzin, Aztec Goddess too.
I rode the mountains of San Joaquin. I rode as far East and North as the Rocky Mountains And all men feared the guns of Joaquin Murrietta. I killed those men who dared to steal my mine, who raped and Killed my Love my Wife Then I Killed to stay alive. I was Alfego. Baca, living my nine lives fully. I was the Espinoza brothers of the Valle de San Luis. All, were added to the number of heads that in the name of civilization were placed on the wall of independence. Heads of brave men who died for cause or principle. Good or Bad. Hidalgo! Zapata! Murrietta! Espinozas! are but a few. They dared to face The force of tyranny of men who rule by farce and hypocrisy I stand here looking back, and now I see the present and still I arn the campesino I am the fat political coyote I, of the same name, Joaquin.
In a country that has wiped out AIl my history, stiffled all my pride. In a country that has placed a different weight of indignity upon my age old burdened back. Inferiority is the new load . . . The Indian has endured and still emerged the winner, The Mestizo must yet overcome, and the Gachupin will just ignore. I look at myself and see part of me who rejects my father and my mother and dissolves into the melting pot to disappear in shame. I sometimes sell my brother out and reclaim him for my own when society, gives me token leadership in society's own name.
I am Joaquin, who bleeds in many ways. The altars of Moctezuma I stained a bloody red. My back of Indian Slavery was stripped crimson from the whips of masters who would lose their blood so pure when Revolution made them pay Standing against the walls of Retribution, Blood . . . Has flowed from me on every battlefield between Campesino, Hacendado Slave and Master and Revolution. I jumped from the tower of Chapultepec into the sea of fame; My country's flag my burial shroud; With Los Niños, whose pride and courage could not surrender with indignity their country's flag . . . in their land.
To strangers now I bleed in some smelly cell from club. or gun. or tyranny. I bleed as the vicious gloves of hunger cut my face and eyes, as I fight my way from stinking Barrios to the glamour of the Ring and lights of fame or mutilated sorrow. My blood runs pure on the ice caked hills of the Alaskan Isles, on the corpse strewn beach of Normandy, the foreign land of Korea and now Viet Nam.
Here I stand before the Court of Justice Guilty for all the glory of my Raza to be sentenced to despair. Here I stand Poor in money Arrogant with pride Bold with Machismo Rich in courage and Wealthy in spirit and faith My knees are caked with mud. My hands calloused from the hoe. I have made the Anglo rich yet Equality is but a word, the Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken and is but another treacherous promise. My land is lost and stolen, My culture has been raped, lengthen the line at the welfare door and fill the jails with crime. These then are the rewards this society has For sons of Chiefs and Kings and bloody Revolutionists. Who gave a foreign people all their skills and ingenuity to pave the way with Brains and Blood for those hordes of Gold starved Strangers Who changed our language and plagiarized our deeds as feats of valor of their own. They frowned upon our way of life and took what they could use. Our Art Our Literature Our music,
they ignored so they left the real things of value and grabbed at their own destruction by their Greed and Avarice They overlooked that cleansing fountain of nature and brotherhood Which is Joaquin. The art of our great señors Diego Rivera Siqueiros Orozco is butanother act of revolution for the Salvation of mankind.
Mariachi music, the heart and soul of the people of the earth, the life of child, and the happiness of love The Corridos tell the tales of life and death, of tradition, Legends old and new, of Joy of passion and sorrow of the people:
who I am. I am in the eyes of woman, sheltered beneath her shawl of black, deep and sorrowful eyes, That bear the pain of sons long buried or dying, Dead on the battlefield or on the barbwire of social strife. Her rosary she prays and fingers endlessly like the family working down a row of beets to turn around and work and work There is no end. Her eyes a mirror of all the warmth and all the love for me, And I am her And she is me. We face life together in sorrow. anger, joy, faith and wishful thoughts. I shed tears of anguish as I see my children disappear behind the shroud of mediocrity never to look back to remember me.
I am Joaquin. I must fight And win this struggle for my sons, and they must know from me Who I am. Part of the blood that runs deep in me Could not be vanquished by the Moors I defeated them after five hundred years, and I endured. The part of blood that is mine has labored endlessly five-hundred years under the heel of lustful Europeans I am still here!
I have endured in the rugged mountains of our country I have survived the toils and slavery, of the fields. I have existed in the barrios of the city, in the suburbs of bigotry, in the mines of social snobbery, in the prisons of dejection, in the muck of exploitation and in the fierce heat of racial hatred. And now the trumpet sounds, The music of the people stirs the Revolution, Like a sleeping giant it slowly rears its head to the sound of Tramping feet Clamouring voices Marlachi strains Fiery tequila explosions The smell of chile verde and Soft brown eyes of expectation for a better life And in all the fertile farm lands, the barren plains, the mountain villages, smoke smeared cities
We start to MOVE. La Raza! Mejicano! Español! Latino! Hispano! Chicano! or whatever I call myself, I look the same I feel the same I cry and Sing the same I am the masses of my people and I refuse to be absorbed. I am Joaquin The odds are great but my spirit is strong My faith unbreakable My blood is pure I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ
I SHALL ENDURE!
By Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales
I am Joaquin, Lost in a world of confusion, Caught up in a whirl of a gringo society, Confused by the rules, Scorned by attitudes, Suppressed by manipulations, And destroyed by modern society. My fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival. And now! I must choose between the paradox of Victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger Or
to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis, sterilization of the soul, and a full stomach. YES, I have come a long way to nowhere, Unwillingly dragged by that monstrous, technical industrial giant called Progress and Anglo success… I look at myself. I watch my brothers. I shed tears of sorrow. I sow seeds of hate. I withdraw to the safety within the Circle of life . . . MY OWN PEOPLE
I am Cuauhtemoc, Proud and Noble Leader of men, King of an empire, civilized beyond the dreams of the Gachupin Cortez, Who also is the blood, the image of myself.
I am the Maya Prince. I am Netzahualcoyotl, Great leader of the Chichimecas. I am the sword and flame of Cortez the despot. And
I am the Eagle and Serpent of the Aztec civilization. I owned the land as far as the eye could see under the crown of Spain, and I toiled on my earth and gave my Indian sweat and blood for the Spanish master, Who ruled with tyranny over man and beast and all that he could trample But . . .
THE GROUND WAS MINE. I was both tyrant and slave. As Christian church took its place in God's good name, to take and use my Virgin strength and Trusting faith, The priests both good and bad, took But gave a lasting truth that Spaniard, Indian, Mestizo Were all God's children And from these words grew men who prayed and fought for their own worth as human beings, for that GOLDEN MOMENT Of FREEDOM.
I was part in blood and spirit of that courageous village priest Hidalgo in the year eighteen hundred and ten who rang the bell of independence and gave out that lasting cry: El Grito de Dolores,
"Que mueran los Gachupines y que viva la Virgin de Guadalupe" I sentenced him who was me. I excommunicated him my blood. I drove him from the Pulpit to lead a bloody revolution for him and me I killed him. His head, which is mine and all of those who have conic this way, I placed on that fortress wall to wall for Independence. Morelos! Matamoros! Guerrero! All Compañeros in the act, STOOD AGAINST THAT WALL OF INFAMY to feel the hot gouge of lead which my hands made. I died with them . . . I lived with them I lived to see our country free. Free from Spanish rule in eighteen -hundred- twenty-one. Mexico was Free The crown was gone but
all his parasites remained and ruled and taught with gun and flame and mystic power. I worked, I sweated, I bled, I prayed and waited silently for life to again commence. I fought and died for Don Benito Juarez Guardian of the Constitution. I was him on clusty roads on barren land as he protected his archives as Moses did his sacraments. He held his Mexico in his hand on the most desolate and remote ground which was his country And this Giant Little Zapotec gave not one palm's breadth of his country's land to Kings or Monarchs or Presidents of foreign powers.
I am Joaquin. I rode with Pancho Villa, crude and warm. A tornado at full strength, nourished and inspired by the passion and the fire of all his earth, people. I am Emillano Zapata. "This Land This Earth Is OURS" The Villages The Mountains The Streams belong to Zapatistas. Our life Or yours is the only trade for soft brown earth and maiz. All of which is our reward, A creed that formed a constitution for all who dare live free! "This land is ours . . . Father, I give it back to you. Mexico must be free . . .' I ride with Revolutionists against myself. I am Rural Course and brutal, I am the mountain Indian, superior over all. The thundering hoof beats are my horses. The chattering of machine guns' are death to all of me: Yaqui Tarahumara Chamula Zapotec Mestizo Español
I have been the Bloody Revolution, The Victor, The Vanquished, I have killed and been killed. I am despots Diaz and Huerta and the apostle of democracy Francisco Madero. I am the black shawled faithful women who die with me or live depending on the time and place. I am faithful, humble, Juan Diego, the Virgen de Guadalupe, Tonatzin, Aztec Goddess too.
I rode the mountains of San Joaquin. I rode as far East and North as the Rocky Mountains And all men feared the guns of Joaquin Murrietta. I killed those men who dared to steal my mine, who raped and Killed my Love my Wife Then I Killed to stay alive. I was Alfego. Baca, living my nine lives fully. I was the Espinoza brothers of the Valle de San Luis. All, were added to the number of heads that in the name of civilization were placed on the wall of independence. Heads of brave men who died for cause or principle. Good or Bad. Hidalgo! Zapata! Murrietta! Espinozas! are but a few. They dared to face The force of tyranny of men who rule by farce and hypocrisy I stand here looking back, and now I see the present and still I arn the campesino I am the fat political coyote I, of the same name, Joaquin.
In a country that has wiped out AIl my history, stiffled all my pride. In a country that has placed a different weight of indignity upon my age old burdened back. Inferiority is the new load . . . The Indian has endured and still emerged the winner, The Mestizo must yet overcome, and the Gachupin will just ignore. I look at myself and see part of me who rejects my father and my mother and dissolves into the melting pot to disappear in shame. I sometimes sell my brother out and reclaim him for my own when society, gives me token leadership in society's own name.
I am Joaquin, who bleeds in many ways. The altars of Moctezuma I stained a bloody red. My back of Indian Slavery was stripped crimson from the whips of masters who would lose their blood so pure when Revolution made them pay Standing against the walls of Retribution, Blood . . . Has flowed from me on every battlefield between Campesino, Hacendado Slave and Master and Revolution. I jumped from the tower of Chapultepec into the sea of fame; My country's flag my burial shroud; With Los Niños, whose pride and courage could not surrender with indignity their country's flag . . . in their land.
To strangers now I bleed in some smelly cell from club. or gun. or tyranny. I bleed as the vicious gloves of hunger cut my face and eyes, as I fight my way from stinking Barrios to the glamour of the Ring and lights of fame or mutilated sorrow. My blood runs pure on the ice caked hills of the Alaskan Isles, on the corpse strewn beach of Normandy, the foreign land of Korea and now Viet Nam.
Here I stand before the Court of Justice Guilty for all the glory of my Raza to be sentenced to despair. Here I stand Poor in money Arrogant with pride Bold with Machismo Rich in courage and Wealthy in spirit and faith My knees are caked with mud. My hands calloused from the hoe. I have made the Anglo rich yet Equality is but a word, the Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken and is but another treacherous promise. My land is lost and stolen, My culture has been raped, lengthen the line at the welfare door and fill the jails with crime. These then are the rewards this society has For sons of Chiefs and Kings and bloody Revolutionists. Who gave a foreign people all their skills and ingenuity to pave the way with Brains and Blood for those hordes of Gold starved Strangers Who changed our language and plagiarized our deeds as feats of valor of their own. They frowned upon our way of life and took what they could use. Our Art Our Literature Our music,
they ignored so they left the real things of value and grabbed at their own destruction by their Greed and Avarice They overlooked that cleansing fountain of nature and brotherhood Which is Joaquin. The art of our great señors Diego Rivera Siqueiros Orozco is butanother act of revolution for the Salvation of mankind.
Mariachi music, the heart and soul of the people of the earth, the life of child, and the happiness of love The Corridos tell the tales of life and death, of tradition, Legends old and new, of Joy of passion and sorrow of the people:
who I am. I am in the eyes of woman, sheltered beneath her shawl of black, deep and sorrowful eyes, That bear the pain of sons long buried or dying, Dead on the battlefield or on the barbwire of social strife. Her rosary she prays and fingers endlessly like the family working down a row of beets to turn around and work and work There is no end. Her eyes a mirror of all the warmth and all the love for me, And I am her And she is me. We face life together in sorrow. anger, joy, faith and wishful thoughts. I shed tears of anguish as I see my children disappear behind the shroud of mediocrity never to look back to remember me.
I am Joaquin. I must fight And win this struggle for my sons, and they must know from me Who I am. Part of the blood that runs deep in me Could not be vanquished by the Moors I defeated them after five hundred years, and I endured. The part of blood that is mine has labored endlessly five-hundred years under the heel of lustful Europeans I am still here!
I have endured in the rugged mountains of our country I have survived the toils and slavery, of the fields. I have existed in the barrios of the city, in the suburbs of bigotry, in the mines of social snobbery, in the prisons of dejection, in the muck of exploitation and in the fierce heat of racial hatred. And now the trumpet sounds, The music of the people stirs the Revolution, Like a sleeping giant it slowly rears its head to the sound of Tramping feet Clamouring voices Marlachi strains Fiery tequila explosions The smell of chile verde and Soft brown eyes of expectation for a better life And in all the fertile farm lands, the barren plains, the mountain villages, smoke smeared cities
We start to MOVE. La Raza! Mejicano! Español! Latino! Hispano! Chicano! or whatever I call myself, I look the same I feel the same I cry and Sing the same I am the masses of my people and I refuse to be absorbed. I am Joaquin The odds are great but my spirit is strong My faith unbreakable My blood is pure I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ
I SHALL ENDURE!
12/1/06
JazBloPoMo
That's right. I'm doing my own little "blog every day" thing over here. *raises glass* here's to trying. No guarentees I"m gonna make it....especially with the holidays coming and having to crochet until my arms fall off.
So, what do I say? Do I just keep you informed of my day to day activities (which frankly aren't that interesting) or do I give you my perspective on the world (which frankly may be too much work for me...kinda like writing an English paper) or do I give you movie reviews or do I just sit here at the puter and pray for inpiration?
Who knows. I have faith that interesting things will come to me as the days progress. And hopefully by the end of my experimental month I'll be a blogger that others may find interesting enough to read.
I still have inner turmoil about that btw. When I started blogging way back in 2002 I did it as an online journal. A place to store my thoughts and stuff. Kinda of a computerized journal. (I had kept a journal in one form or another since 1986.) I never expected people to read it. I hoped, but never thought anyone would be interested in my ramblings. The few people I shared my blog url with in the beginning mever had the time and i never saw comments back then.
It wasn't until an old friend contacted me thru a comment on my blog (which I had mixed feelings about...you know who you are...and in the end I"m so glad you did contact me...I love you!) that I realized other people could be reading my thoughts. And maybe even connecting to them. Or at the very least catching up on what I was doing with my life.
Nowadays I have 3 blogs....Myspace and Blogger (which I pretty much keep identical) and a 3rd somewhere in cyberspace that is for my eyes only. For when I have those feelings or dreams that I don't want anyone else to know about.
And now for my movie review. We bought the "Masters of Horror: Imprint" DVD awhile back. It was the one done by "Audition" director Takashi Miike. The one that was too graphic and disturbing for Showtime to air.
It took us a couple weeks after we bought it to watch it. We just had so much else going on. We finally settled down in front of our TV and popped in in our DVD player a couple days ago.
All I have to say is "EWWWWWW" I didn't think it was a disturbing as "Audition". That movie kept me away for hours afterwards. I was completely unnerved by the final scenes of that film. But it was easy to see why Showtime thought "Imprint" was too much for them to air. There were a couple scenes that, as I watched them, I think I threw up in my mouth a little. It's not as bloody or graphic as, say, Hostel or Saw (I, II, or III), but it will leave you with uneasy thoughts and images after watching. And maybe motivate you to rent one of Takashi Miike's other movies and expand your horizons a bit more.
HAPPY JAZBLOPOMO!!!
So, what do I say? Do I just keep you informed of my day to day activities (which frankly aren't that interesting) or do I give you my perspective on the world (which frankly may be too much work for me...kinda like writing an English paper) or do I give you movie reviews or do I just sit here at the puter and pray for inpiration?
Who knows. I have faith that interesting things will come to me as the days progress. And hopefully by the end of my experimental month I'll be a blogger that others may find interesting enough to read.
I still have inner turmoil about that btw. When I started blogging way back in 2002 I did it as an online journal. A place to store my thoughts and stuff. Kinda of a computerized journal. (I had kept a journal in one form or another since 1986.) I never expected people to read it. I hoped, but never thought anyone would be interested in my ramblings. The few people I shared my blog url with in the beginning mever had the time and i never saw comments back then.
It wasn't until an old friend contacted me thru a comment on my blog (which I had mixed feelings about...you know who you are...and in the end I"m so glad you did contact me...I love you!) that I realized other people could be reading my thoughts. And maybe even connecting to them. Or at the very least catching up on what I was doing with my life.
Nowadays I have 3 blogs....Myspace and Blogger (which I pretty much keep identical) and a 3rd somewhere in cyberspace that is for my eyes only. For when I have those feelings or dreams that I don't want anyone else to know about.
And now for my movie review. We bought the "Masters of Horror: Imprint" DVD awhile back. It was the one done by "Audition" director Takashi Miike. The one that was too graphic and disturbing for Showtime to air.
It took us a couple weeks after we bought it to watch it. We just had so much else going on. We finally settled down in front of our TV and popped in in our DVD player a couple days ago.
All I have to say is "EWWWWWW" I didn't think it was a disturbing as "Audition". That movie kept me away for hours afterwards. I was completely unnerved by the final scenes of that film. But it was easy to see why Showtime thought "Imprint" was too much for them to air. There were a couple scenes that, as I watched them, I think I threw up in my mouth a little. It's not as bloody or graphic as, say, Hostel or Saw (I, II, or III), but it will leave you with uneasy thoughts and images after watching. And maybe motivate you to rent one of Takashi Miike's other movies and expand your horizons a bit more.
HAPPY JAZBLOPOMO!!!
11/27/06
Kage and Jables brought the THUNDER!!!!!!!!!
TENACIOUS D ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!!!!
(warning lots of you-tube links in this post)
The show was amazing! It was at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. We had Balcony seats center stage. (We bought tickets the day they went on sale. My gf bought tickets the day before the show and got main floor 14th row....but I'm not bitter)
Opening act was a guy named Neil Hamburger. If you've seen their movie "The Pick of Destiny" you'll know him. He's the greasy looking stand-up comedian on open mic night.
I think his whole shtick is to just be obnoxiously bad. At the end of the show when Jack Black gave big ups to Neil Hamburger some people booed and he said "you know you loved booing him!" His jokes were really bad and the only time he got a laugh was when he would pop off back at a heckler in the audience calling them cocksucker and such. Thankfully he was only on for about 30 minutes. I don't think I could have taken much more of him.
While waiting for the D to begin, Kevin and I discussed their entrance. I thought they'd come out big with "Pick of Destiny" and just immediately rock the house....Kevin said he thought they'd come out just the 2 of them in front of the curtain and progress towards rock and end with "P.O.D" ... he was the closer one. The curtain raised and it looked like Kyle's apt. And then you see them slowly making their way out from under some blankets on the couch where they were "sleeping" ... it was great!!!
They opened with "Kielbasa"
(this is from another show...but you get the idea...everyone sang along like that all night...it was fucking amazing!)
I don't remember the whole song list. They did pretty much every song on their first CD and almost every song on their new soundtrack CD (except "pick of Destiny" oddly enough) The whole concert was more like a stage show. It began in the apt. They even brought Lee in.
They jammed a little in the apt. and then Jables told Kage they needed to step up to the next level and go electric and when he plugged in the guitar they got electrocuted and died and went down to hell. They had a big screen they brought down to show them wandering thru hell where they meet the anti-christ jamming on a guitar. They form a band with "anti" along with drummer Colonel Sanders (who is in hell because he killed over a billion chickens) and bassist Charlie Chaplin (who's in hell because he's gay)
Eventually anti tells Jables and Kage his dad (you know....SATAN) wants to join them. So he does and they end up having a rock off (basically acting out that scene in P.O.D. minus the special effects)
So they beat the devil and come back to earth and jam some more. I can't remember what they ended the set with, but they came back for 1 encore consisting of 3 songs!
of course they couldn't leave without playing "Tribute"! We thought it was going to be the last song, but it was 2nd to last.
Their last song was a medly of songs from The Who's "Tommy". It fucking ROCKED!!!!! (the visual quality on this clip is really shaky, but the audio makes up for it)
And that was it! a night with the D!!! It fucking rocked my socks off!!! I would go see them everytime they're in town!!
Afterwards we met some friends up at Corktown tavern. Went upstairs to listen to the DJ. It totally reminded me of college. Hell, they were even playing songs from back then. "Groove is in the Heart" and "I Touch Myself" amongst others. We didn't stay long ... altho I wouldn't mind going back there.
And last night we went to see "The Pick of Destiny" at the drive in (double feature with Borat...and that movie is a..whole other blog ) It toally rocked!!! And the songs and the stage show made so much more sense after seeing it! Besides, how can you go wrong when you start the movie with a song in which both Meatloaf AND Ronnie James Dio sing!!!
So I'm madly in love with Tenaacious D. I'm sure I'll be listening to their CDs every chance I get and boring everyone around me with how awesome they were.
11/23/06
Why I LIke Thanksgiving
I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday of the year. At our house Thanksgiving is all about the 4 "F"s ... food, family, friends and football. And the 1 "B" ... BEER!
It's the only holiday of the year without any major obligations. You don't have to buy gifts, don't have to go to church, don't have to do much but eat lots of turkey, drink lots of beer and pray that the Lions win.
I have alot of great Thanksgiving memories. When my Mama was alive and well we used to go over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a big event. The day before we'd go over and pull out her good china, which was stored in the bottom drawer in a hutch in the dining room, and unwrap it from the newspapers protecting it. Thanksgiving day we'd go over there early and help Mama get dinner ready. I remember her putting cloves in the ham. And it was the only time she allowed beer in her house because she needed it for the ham. Tecate. I remember one year she reached into the fridge for a coke and pulled out a Tecate instead.
She actually opened it and took a drink before she realized it wasn't soda and then tried to split it with me and my cousin...both of us underage I might add.
I always dreaded those Thanksgiving dinners....now I kinda miss them. In the beginning we all sat at the dining room table, but as our family got bigger they eventually designated the table in the kitchen as the "kid's table" I never got to sit there. As the oldest grandchild I always sat at the "adult table" ... usually squashed in next to the wall in the center so I couldn't get out until everyone else was done.
I remember Turkey, stuffing, ham (complete with cloves and beer basting), mashed potatoes and tamales. I'm sure we had other stuff, but that's what I remember. No Thanksgiving was complete without the tamales. The good ones. from Evie's Tamaleria down on Bagley in Detroit. My Mama would order them a couple weeks in advance to make sure we had them for the big day and we'd pick them up on Wednesday. It's something we still do. As do most Mexican families in the area. Just go down to Evie's the day before Thanksgiving and check out the line that usually goes around the corner.
We never watched football when I was younger. Dinner was later. besides, according to my Mama girls didn't watch football anyway. This changed thru the years as we began eating dinner earlier and earlier each year (I often joke that had my Mama lived much longer we would have been having thanksgiving breakfast instead of dinner). My Mama was less strict as the years progressed. I remember not even having the TV on and not being allowed to drink anything until the dinner was over. My cousin has fond memories of sitting and watching the games while having a cold beverage (prolly coke tho and not beer).
When the dinner was over we would clean off the table and doo the dishes and then carefully package up the china again, wrapping it in fresh newspapers and putting them gently in the bottom drawer where they waited to be used next Thanksgiving.
I remember one Thanksgiving where tradition went out the window. My mom, brother and sister went down to Kentucky to celebrate with my Mamaw. It was the first Thanksgiving without my Papaw. He had passed away in the spring. I didn't go with them. It made me too sad to think of spending Thanksgiving down there without him. (looking back it was a very selfish move but at the time all I could think of was how I'd see him everywhere and how was I supposed to enjoy the holiday when I'd spend most of it crying). So I had plans to spend Thanksgiving alone at my mom's house.
I had set myself up with some instant stuffing, instant mashed taters and a small turkey ham. Dinner was almost ready when I heard a knock on the back door. I hid everything (don't ask why...to this day it doesn't make sense to me) and opened the door. There stood my Mama, Papa, Joe and Angie (my 2 cousins) with sacks of White Castles in their hands. Seems my Mama decided not to cook a big dinner for just the 4 of them so they were going to just go out to dinner. Well, they didn't plan this in advance, so most of the restaurants were closed. And the ones that were open you had to have a reservation for. So they drove around looking desperately for something. The only place open was the White Castle on Fort Street and Pennsylvania. So they loaded up on sliders and sides and came knocking on my door to share their Thanksgiving feast.
Surprisingly it's one of my favorite Thanksgivings. We laughed and joked and had dinner and then went out to Briarwood to see a movie. Stargate. My grandparents loved it! Afterwards it was off to Mountain Jack's for some coffee and pumpkin pie. I'm sure years from now when asked to recount my favorite memory from Thanksgiving, this will still be number one.
Kevin and I took over Thanksgiving dinners around 2002. Our first year together we had to cook the dinner at my mom's cuz she had gone to pick up my sister from Virginia so she could be home for the holiday. It went over well. The next year we had a minor setback thanks to the judicial system and weren't allowed to celebrate together, but 2002 is when my family got wise. They realized Kevin wasn't going anywhere and decided to put the family chef to work. We had the tiniest kitchen but Kevin, with all his expertise, somehow made it work and put out a feast. Turkey with all the trimmings, ham, green bean casserole, tamales (from Evie's of course), and the crowning glory...pumpkin cheesecake. We fed both families and had leftovers for days. It was a great Thanksgiving.
So we've been in charge of it every year since. Until this year. We decided one major famly event (the wedding) was enough. There were many other reasons as well which I won't get into but involve other family members and some hurt feelings on my part, and of course the big reason was that my brother's wife is due anyday now with their first child (and my parents' first grandchild). So in the event she decides to pop it out today no one will feel bad about leaving our feast.
It's about time for kickoff for the Lions game. The Turkey just came out of the oven and the fixings are getting ready to go in. In case you're wondering the menu today is:
Roast Turkey
Spiral Sliced Honey Baked Ham
Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Gravy
White Castle Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Sweet Potatoes w/ Caramelized Bananas on top
Evie's Tamales
and lots and lots of beer!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!
It's the only holiday of the year without any major obligations. You don't have to buy gifts, don't have to go to church, don't have to do much but eat lots of turkey, drink lots of beer and pray that the Lions win.
I have alot of great Thanksgiving memories. When my Mama was alive and well we used to go over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a big event. The day before we'd go over and pull out her good china, which was stored in the bottom drawer in a hutch in the dining room, and unwrap it from the newspapers protecting it. Thanksgiving day we'd go over there early and help Mama get dinner ready. I remember her putting cloves in the ham. And it was the only time she allowed beer in her house because she needed it for the ham. Tecate. I remember one year she reached into the fridge for a coke and pulled out a Tecate instead.
She actually opened it and took a drink before she realized it wasn't soda and then tried to split it with me and my cousin...both of us underage I might add.
I always dreaded those Thanksgiving dinners....now I kinda miss them. In the beginning we all sat at the dining room table, but as our family got bigger they eventually designated the table in the kitchen as the "kid's table" I never got to sit there. As the oldest grandchild I always sat at the "adult table" ... usually squashed in next to the wall in the center so I couldn't get out until everyone else was done.
I remember Turkey, stuffing, ham (complete with cloves and beer basting), mashed potatoes and tamales. I'm sure we had other stuff, but that's what I remember. No Thanksgiving was complete without the tamales. The good ones. from Evie's Tamaleria down on Bagley in Detroit. My Mama would order them a couple weeks in advance to make sure we had them for the big day and we'd pick them up on Wednesday. It's something we still do. As do most Mexican families in the area. Just go down to Evie's the day before Thanksgiving and check out the line that usually goes around the corner.
We never watched football when I was younger. Dinner was later. besides, according to my Mama girls didn't watch football anyway. This changed thru the years as we began eating dinner earlier and earlier each year (I often joke that had my Mama lived much longer we would have been having thanksgiving breakfast instead of dinner). My Mama was less strict as the years progressed. I remember not even having the TV on and not being allowed to drink anything until the dinner was over. My cousin has fond memories of sitting and watching the games while having a cold beverage (prolly coke tho and not beer).
When the dinner was over we would clean off the table and doo the dishes and then carefully package up the china again, wrapping it in fresh newspapers and putting them gently in the bottom drawer where they waited to be used next Thanksgiving.
I remember one Thanksgiving where tradition went out the window. My mom, brother and sister went down to Kentucky to celebrate with my Mamaw. It was the first Thanksgiving without my Papaw. He had passed away in the spring. I didn't go with them. It made me too sad to think of spending Thanksgiving down there without him. (looking back it was a very selfish move but at the time all I could think of was how I'd see him everywhere and how was I supposed to enjoy the holiday when I'd spend most of it crying). So I had plans to spend Thanksgiving alone at my mom's house.
I had set myself up with some instant stuffing, instant mashed taters and a small turkey ham. Dinner was almost ready when I heard a knock on the back door. I hid everything (don't ask why...to this day it doesn't make sense to me) and opened the door. There stood my Mama, Papa, Joe and Angie (my 2 cousins) with sacks of White Castles in their hands. Seems my Mama decided not to cook a big dinner for just the 4 of them so they were going to just go out to dinner. Well, they didn't plan this in advance, so most of the restaurants were closed. And the ones that were open you had to have a reservation for. So they drove around looking desperately for something. The only place open was the White Castle on Fort Street and Pennsylvania. So they loaded up on sliders and sides and came knocking on my door to share their Thanksgiving feast.
Surprisingly it's one of my favorite Thanksgivings. We laughed and joked and had dinner and then went out to Briarwood to see a movie. Stargate. My grandparents loved it! Afterwards it was off to Mountain Jack's for some coffee and pumpkin pie. I'm sure years from now when asked to recount my favorite memory from Thanksgiving, this will still be number one.
Kevin and I took over Thanksgiving dinners around 2002. Our first year together we had to cook the dinner at my mom's cuz she had gone to pick up my sister from Virginia so she could be home for the holiday. It went over well. The next year we had a minor setback thanks to the judicial system and weren't allowed to celebrate together, but 2002 is when my family got wise. They realized Kevin wasn't going anywhere and decided to put the family chef to work. We had the tiniest kitchen but Kevin, with all his expertise, somehow made it work and put out a feast. Turkey with all the trimmings, ham, green bean casserole, tamales (from Evie's of course), and the crowning glory...pumpkin cheesecake. We fed both families and had leftovers for days. It was a great Thanksgiving.
So we've been in charge of it every year since. Until this year. We decided one major famly event (the wedding) was enough. There were many other reasons as well which I won't get into but involve other family members and some hurt feelings on my part, and of course the big reason was that my brother's wife is due anyday now with their first child (and my parents' first grandchild). So in the event she decides to pop it out today no one will feel bad about leaving our feast.
It's about time for kickoff for the Lions game. The Turkey just came out of the oven and the fixings are getting ready to go in. In case you're wondering the menu today is:
Roast Turkey
Spiral Sliced Honey Baked Ham
Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Gravy
White Castle Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Sweet Potatoes w/ Caramelized Bananas on top
Evie's Tamales
and lots and lots of beer!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!
11/21/06
Blech I feel like crap
I have been fighting a cold or something since last tuesday. I started to lose my voice then and it's been downhill ever since. coughing, nausea, sneezing, and sleeping way too much. I finally broke down last night and got some TheraFlu (daytime and nighttime) I took the daytime and it kicked my ass. I fell asleep about 1/2 an hour after I took it and snored for 5 hours before I woke up. So i figured what the hell and I took the nighttime, was up for about an hour before I crashed for a solid 13 hours!!! (with a small half hour break in there when I woke to go potty and feed the demon spawn kitties in the backroom)
I feel slightly better today. Altho I did have some crazy dreams last night involving people camping out in our dead ash tree in the backyard, people chasing me around a swimming pool with laser guns, and Mr. Williamson trying to kill me. I don't know what that was all about.
I feel slightly better today. Altho I did have some crazy dreams last night involving people camping out in our dead ash tree in the backyard, people chasing me around a swimming pool with laser guns, and Mr. Williamson trying to kill me. I don't know what that was all about.
11/17/06
we'll miss you Bo
Michigan, Ohio State mourn Schembechler
Legendary coach dies on eve of big game
November 17, 2006
FREE PRESS STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
Bo Schembechler, one of the nation's greatest college football coaches during his two decades at the University of Michigan, died today after taping a TV show on the eve of the Wolverines' historic showdown with perennial rival Ohio State.
Schembechler, 77, collapsed during the taping of a television show at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) in Southfield and was taken by ambulance to Providence Hospital in Southfield. His death at 11:42 a.m. was confirmed by Mike Dowd, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office in Oakland County.
"This is a tremendous shock and an irreplaceable loss for the University of Michigan family,'' said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "Bo Schembechler embodied all that is best about Michigan – loyalty, dedication and the drive for ever-greater excellence.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all those who loved him, a number as great as the Michigan community in every corner of the world.
His long-time rivals in Columbus, Ohio, mourned him too.
"This is an extraordinary loss for college football," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. "Bo Schembechler touched the lives of many people and made the game of football better in every way. He will always be both a Buckeye and a Wolverine and our thoughts are with all who grieve his loss."
Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who succeeded Hayes, choked back tears today as he spoke at a fundraiser on the OSU campus, where people with forlorn faces were stunned at the news.
"The state of Ohio and the state of Michigan has lost a great man, has lost a great coach, and a great dad," said Bruce, who addressed the crowd choking back tears. "In my opinion, Bo Schembechler is the greatest football coach Michigan ever had."
Schembechler had a heart attack on the eve of his first Rose Bowl in 1970 and another one in 1987. He has had two quadruple heart-bypass operations.
On Oct. 20, he became ill at the Channel 7 studio and was hospitalized. A device was implanted to regulate his heartbeat. During a news conference earlier this week at which he discussed Saturday's big game, he told reporters that the device covered about half his chest and that doctors were still adjusting it.
Schembechler said he didn't plan to attend the game in Columbus on Saturday, and that he didn't attend road games anymore.
He was talking about the show again this morning when he collapsed about 9:25 a.m. Southfield Police spokesman John Harris said station personnel called emergency workers. The city's fire department escorted an ambulance to Providence Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:42 a.m.
The seven-time Big Ten coach of the year compiled a 194-48-5 record at Michigan from 1969-89. Schembechler's record in 26 years of coaching was 234-65-8.
Schembechler's Wolverines were 11-9-1 against the Buckeyes. But fans in both states generally agree that the rivalry's prime years were 1969-78, when Schembechler opposed his friend and coaching guru, Woody Hayes. Ohio State prevailed in those meetings, going 5-4-1.
"It was a very personal rivalry," Earle Bruce, who succeeded Hayes as coach, once said. "And for the first and only time, it was as much about the coaches as it was about the game.
"Bo and Woody were very close because Bo played for Woody at Miami of Ohio, then coached with him at Ohio State. But their friendship was put on hold when Bo took the Michigan job because it was the protege against mentor."
Thirteen of Schembechler's Michigan teams either won or shared the Big Ten championship. Fifteen of them finished in The Associated Press Top 10, with the 1985 team finishing No. 2.
Seventeen of Schembechler's 21 Michigan teams earned bowl berths. Despite a .796 regular-season winning percentage, his record in bowls was a disappointing 5-12, including 2-8 in Rose Bowls.
The mythical national championship eluded Schembechler, but he said that never bothered him.
"If you think my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another thing coming," Schembechler said a few weeks before coaching his final game. "I have never played a game for the national title. Our goals always have been to win the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. If we do that, then we consider it a successful season."
His last game as Wolverines coach was a 17-10 loss to Southern California in the 1990 Rose Bowl. One week later, Schembechler — who also had been serving as Michigan athletic director since July 1988 — was named president of the Detroit Tigers.
Schembechler's signature moment as athletic director probably came in March 1989, when basketball coach Bill Frieder accepted a job at Arizona State on the eve of the NCAA tournament.
An angry Schembechler declared, "A Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man." He refused to accept Frieder's 21-day notice and named assistant Steve Fisher as interim coach.
The Wolverines went on to win the national championship by beating Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime.
Schembechler's tenure as Tigers president was less rewarding.
Schembechler fired beloved broadcaster Ernie Harwell after the 1991 season.
Harwell was brought back two years later.
Schembechler hired extra coaches for every farm team, upgraded all the facilities and introduced football-style strength and conditioning programs.
But those moves bore little fruit at the big-league level. The Tigers' last winning season was in 1993 until they advanced to the World Series this season.
Tigers owner Tom Monaghan fired Schembechler as Tigers president the day before he sold the team to Mike Ilitch in August 1992 — and 13 days before Schembechler's wife, Millie, died at age 63 of adrenal cancer. Bo Schembechler sued, claiming Monaghan had broken a contract the Domino's Pizza owner had jotted down on a napkin. They settled out of court in 1994.
Schembechler was an intense disciplinarian and his gruff persona belied his devotion to his players, both during and after their playing days in Ann Arbor.
"He preached the team from day one, and it's still being taught now," offensive guard Reggie McKenzie, who played for Schembechler from 1969-71, said when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
McKenzie said Schembechler's iron hand almost prompted him to quit. But, he said: "I learned to beat him by doing it the right way every time, all the time. That's the attitude we had at Michigan."
While Schembechler loved coaching, he was less enamored with some other aspects of college football. In his 1989 book "Bo," co-written with Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom, Schembechler decried drugs, sports agents and the pressures of recruiting.
"Recruiting is the worst part of college football," he wrote. "I no longer look forward to it. I can't wait until it's over. It makes me feel like a pimp."
Schembechler was born April 1, 1929 in Barberton, Ohio. He graduated in 1951 from Miami of Ohio and earned a master's degree in 1952 at Ohio State, where he served until 1953 as a graduate assistant under Hayes.
After serving in the Army, Schembechler held assistant coaching jobs at Presbyterian College in 1954 and Bowling Green in 1955, then joined Ara Parseghian's staff at Northwestern in 1958 before returning to Ohio State as an assistant to Hayes.
Schembechler was named head coach at Miami in 1963, winning two Mid-American Conference titles in six seasons. In 1969, he took over a Michigan program that had posted six losing seasons over the previous 11 years. He did not have a losing season at either school.
Schembechler worked as an ABC Sports football broadcaster and analyst in 1991-92 and was a popular motivational speaker for many years.
Schembechler was inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame in 1972, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1992, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.
Bo and Millie Schembechler had one son, Glenn III. Schembechler and his second wife, Cathy, married in 1993.
Associated Press writers Larry Luge Jim Irwin, Tom Krisher and Ron Vample contributed to this report
Legendary coach dies on eve of big game
November 17, 2006
FREE PRESS STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
Bo Schembechler, one of the nation's greatest college football coaches during his two decades at the University of Michigan, died today after taping a TV show on the eve of the Wolverines' historic showdown with perennial rival Ohio State.
Schembechler, 77, collapsed during the taping of a television show at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) in Southfield and was taken by ambulance to Providence Hospital in Southfield. His death at 11:42 a.m. was confirmed by Mike Dowd, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office in Oakland County.
"This is a tremendous shock and an irreplaceable loss for the University of Michigan family,'' said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "Bo Schembechler embodied all that is best about Michigan – loyalty, dedication and the drive for ever-greater excellence.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all those who loved him, a number as great as the Michigan community in every corner of the world.
His long-time rivals in Columbus, Ohio, mourned him too.
"This is an extraordinary loss for college football," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. "Bo Schembechler touched the lives of many people and made the game of football better in every way. He will always be both a Buckeye and a Wolverine and our thoughts are with all who grieve his loss."
Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who succeeded Hayes, choked back tears today as he spoke at a fundraiser on the OSU campus, where people with forlorn faces were stunned at the news.
"The state of Ohio and the state of Michigan has lost a great man, has lost a great coach, and a great dad," said Bruce, who addressed the crowd choking back tears. "In my opinion, Bo Schembechler is the greatest football coach Michigan ever had."
Schembechler had a heart attack on the eve of his first Rose Bowl in 1970 and another one in 1987. He has had two quadruple heart-bypass operations.
On Oct. 20, he became ill at the Channel 7 studio and was hospitalized. A device was implanted to regulate his heartbeat. During a news conference earlier this week at which he discussed Saturday's big game, he told reporters that the device covered about half his chest and that doctors were still adjusting it.
Schembechler said he didn't plan to attend the game in Columbus on Saturday, and that he didn't attend road games anymore.
He was talking about the show again this morning when he collapsed about 9:25 a.m. Southfield Police spokesman John Harris said station personnel called emergency workers. The city's fire department escorted an ambulance to Providence Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:42 a.m.
The seven-time Big Ten coach of the year compiled a 194-48-5 record at Michigan from 1969-89. Schembechler's record in 26 years of coaching was 234-65-8.
Schembechler's Wolverines were 11-9-1 against the Buckeyes. But fans in both states generally agree that the rivalry's prime years were 1969-78, when Schembechler opposed his friend and coaching guru, Woody Hayes. Ohio State prevailed in those meetings, going 5-4-1.
"It was a very personal rivalry," Earle Bruce, who succeeded Hayes as coach, once said. "And for the first and only time, it was as much about the coaches as it was about the game.
"Bo and Woody were very close because Bo played for Woody at Miami of Ohio, then coached with him at Ohio State. But their friendship was put on hold when Bo took the Michigan job because it was the protege against mentor."
Thirteen of Schembechler's Michigan teams either won or shared the Big Ten championship. Fifteen of them finished in The Associated Press Top 10, with the 1985 team finishing No. 2.
Seventeen of Schembechler's 21 Michigan teams earned bowl berths. Despite a .796 regular-season winning percentage, his record in bowls was a disappointing 5-12, including 2-8 in Rose Bowls.
The mythical national championship eluded Schembechler, but he said that never bothered him.
"If you think my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another thing coming," Schembechler said a few weeks before coaching his final game. "I have never played a game for the national title. Our goals always have been to win the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. If we do that, then we consider it a successful season."
His last game as Wolverines coach was a 17-10 loss to Southern California in the 1990 Rose Bowl. One week later, Schembechler — who also had been serving as Michigan athletic director since July 1988 — was named president of the Detroit Tigers.
Schembechler's signature moment as athletic director probably came in March 1989, when basketball coach Bill Frieder accepted a job at Arizona State on the eve of the NCAA tournament.
An angry Schembechler declared, "A Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man." He refused to accept Frieder's 21-day notice and named assistant Steve Fisher as interim coach.
The Wolverines went on to win the national championship by beating Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime.
Schembechler's tenure as Tigers president was less rewarding.
Schembechler fired beloved broadcaster Ernie Harwell after the 1991 season.
Harwell was brought back two years later.
Schembechler hired extra coaches for every farm team, upgraded all the facilities and introduced football-style strength and conditioning programs.
But those moves bore little fruit at the big-league level. The Tigers' last winning season was in 1993 until they advanced to the World Series this season.
Tigers owner Tom Monaghan fired Schembechler as Tigers president the day before he sold the team to Mike Ilitch in August 1992 — and 13 days before Schembechler's wife, Millie, died at age 63 of adrenal cancer. Bo Schembechler sued, claiming Monaghan had broken a contract the Domino's Pizza owner had jotted down on a napkin. They settled out of court in 1994.
Schembechler was an intense disciplinarian and his gruff persona belied his devotion to his players, both during and after their playing days in Ann Arbor.
"He preached the team from day one, and it's still being taught now," offensive guard Reggie McKenzie, who played for Schembechler from 1969-71, said when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
McKenzie said Schembechler's iron hand almost prompted him to quit. But, he said: "I learned to beat him by doing it the right way every time, all the time. That's the attitude we had at Michigan."
While Schembechler loved coaching, he was less enamored with some other aspects of college football. In his 1989 book "Bo," co-written with Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom, Schembechler decried drugs, sports agents and the pressures of recruiting.
"Recruiting is the worst part of college football," he wrote. "I no longer look forward to it. I can't wait until it's over. It makes me feel like a pimp."
Schembechler was born April 1, 1929 in Barberton, Ohio. He graduated in 1951 from Miami of Ohio and earned a master's degree in 1952 at Ohio State, where he served until 1953 as a graduate assistant under Hayes.
After serving in the Army, Schembechler held assistant coaching jobs at Presbyterian College in 1954 and Bowling Green in 1955, then joined Ara Parseghian's staff at Northwestern in 1958 before returning to Ohio State as an assistant to Hayes.
Schembechler was named head coach at Miami in 1963, winning two Mid-American Conference titles in six seasons. In 1969, he took over a Michigan program that had posted six losing seasons over the previous 11 years. He did not have a losing season at either school.
Schembechler worked as an ABC Sports football broadcaster and analyst in 1991-92 and was a popular motivational speaker for many years.
Schembechler was inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame in 1972, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1992, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.
Bo and Millie Schembechler had one son, Glenn III. Schembechler and his second wife, Cathy, married in 1993.
Associated Press writers Larry Luge Jim Irwin, Tom Krisher and Ron Vample contributed to this report
11/10/06
Wings Pics
as part of my bday celebration our friend theresa got tix to last week's red wings game vs. calgary. they were some nice seats... lower bowl at the corner flames defending the net 1st & 3rd. took my camera in the hopes to get a few decent shots. not as great as i had hoped (and nowhere near as frigging awesome as fish's pix from last night's game vs. edmonton)
for all you Phenomenal Women out there
PHENOMENAL WOMAN
by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
11/9/06
So Much for NaBloPoMo
I really wanted to unofficially participate. I especially love signing in and getting so many varied blogs to read as I do my daily online things. I'm getting more insight into my friends which always makes me happy and I'm learning more about people who are becoming my friends. However, due to the kitty in the puter room (only until we get her tested for FelV which should be Monday) I haven't been able to do much else but read what's going on. She has taken to jumping on my lap every chance she gets and curling in my arm. Which is absolutely adorable and I love her for it, but it makes blogging or emailing or just about anything to do with the keyboard pretty frigging hard. So i have designated December for JazBloPoMo ^_^
so let's quickly catch up. here are some pics I forgot to post from the weekend of the World Series.
My sister and her hubby drove from Virginia to be here for game 1 of the world series. i hadn't seen her since my wedding (even tho i talk to her almost everyday) so we met up with them friday night down in wyandotte. we went first to lions, tigers and beers but it was way crowded and loud so we strolled over to somewhere for karaoke and conversation. had a great time!
the next day we all piled into my sister's car and headed downtown to be there for game 1:
and even tho he didn't go w/ us, parker got in the tiger spirit
we headed dowtown and parked near the people mover station @ fort and cass ... $5 for parking vs. $35 closer. we grabbed the people mover, headed to the spirit of detroit and then walked to comerica. while we were @ the spirit so was channel 7 news with a live broadcast. we didn't get in the front, but we were part of the noisy crowd behind the reporter all the same.
Once we got to comerica park it was crazy awesomeness! People everywhere! All down there for one reason...to cheer the Tigers (and maybe have a couple drinks while doing so)
We made our way over to the Elwood for the start of the game. we started out inside at a cherry spot right at the bar in front of the TV but eventually moved outside to the garage. My friend Rich was there with 97.1FM talk radio doing sound so I got to chat with him for a few. We spent sometime near their set up before finding a better spot at a TV over near one of the entrances. At one point in time the TV went haywire and started chaging channels by itself. I still think someone had a remote control and was messing with the drunk people. You should have seen the funny that was these guys trying to fight with the TV and get it to stay on the game. They tried turning it off and on, unplugging it from the wall, unplugging the cable, eventually they just hit it and VOILA! it stopped. Kevin, my cousin Joe and my brother Bob eventually made their way to the Elwood and met up with us right before the game was over.
After the game we walked around and eventually made our way to Cobo Joe's to catch the end of the wings game and chat some more since Velisia and Jose were leaving the next day.
Eventually we all parted ways and made it home okay. The next day Kevin and I went to my Mom's to meet with some guy from the Michigan Paranormal Society and got to say bye to Velisia and Jose before they left. I'm always sad when they leave. i wish they lived closer. it was a nice quasi bday present to see them tho.
i wanted to share more pics from other stuff but kitty woke up and is laying on my lap now and trying to blog herself.
so to finish off an awesome pic my sis took:
so let's quickly catch up. here are some pics I forgot to post from the weekend of the World Series.
My sister and her hubby drove from Virginia to be here for game 1 of the world series. i hadn't seen her since my wedding (even tho i talk to her almost everyday) so we met up with them friday night down in wyandotte. we went first to lions, tigers and beers but it was way crowded and loud so we strolled over to somewhere for karaoke and conversation. had a great time!
the next day we all piled into my sister's car and headed downtown to be there for game 1:
and even tho he didn't go w/ us, parker got in the tiger spirit
we headed dowtown and parked near the people mover station @ fort and cass ... $5 for parking vs. $35 closer. we grabbed the people mover, headed to the spirit of detroit and then walked to comerica. while we were @ the spirit so was channel 7 news with a live broadcast. we didn't get in the front, but we were part of the noisy crowd behind the reporter all the same.
Once we got to comerica park it was crazy awesomeness! People everywhere! All down there for one reason...to cheer the Tigers (and maybe have a couple drinks while doing so)
We made our way over to the Elwood for the start of the game. we started out inside at a cherry spot right at the bar in front of the TV but eventually moved outside to the garage. My friend Rich was there with 97.1FM talk radio doing sound so I got to chat with him for a few. We spent sometime near their set up before finding a better spot at a TV over near one of the entrances. At one point in time the TV went haywire and started chaging channels by itself. I still think someone had a remote control and was messing with the drunk people. You should have seen the funny that was these guys trying to fight with the TV and get it to stay on the game. They tried turning it off and on, unplugging it from the wall, unplugging the cable, eventually they just hit it and VOILA! it stopped. Kevin, my cousin Joe and my brother Bob eventually made their way to the Elwood and met up with us right before the game was over.
After the game we walked around and eventually made our way to Cobo Joe's to catch the end of the wings game and chat some more since Velisia and Jose were leaving the next day.
Eventually we all parted ways and made it home okay. The next day Kevin and I went to my Mom's to meet with some guy from the Michigan Paranormal Society and got to say bye to Velisia and Jose before they left. I'm always sad when they leave. i wish they lived closer. it was a nice quasi bday present to see them tho.
i wanted to share more pics from other stuff but kitty woke up and is laying on my lap now and trying to blog herself.
so to finish off an awesome pic my sis took:
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