About five or six years ago, Renee and I decided that we wanted to do something for the troops around the holidays (since she won’t let me join the armed services).  We found out about this site http://www.anysoldier.com/ and thought this would be perfect.  The site provides you with names and addresses for soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, where they are from, how long they’ve been there, and when they expect to return.  It also provides an area for the soldiers to say what they need or tell a bit about themselves.  Well, the first year we did this, I had about 70 people working with me and sent emails asking for people to participate.  I even brought in about $25 worth of stuff and put it in my office, so anyone who went in there would be reminded; long story short, however, was no one joined in.  So, Renee and I proceeded to send about 20 packages over.  We’ve followed this tradition now ever since, and most recently, have her entire family join us each December.  Today was the day we joined up and sent packages.  We typically send about 30 to 60 packages – each with a collection of hygiene products, snacks, magazines/books, socks, dvds, etc.

I am grateful that we can help provide them with something to help their missions.

 

I highly suggest that anyone who reads this takes the time to go on the site and ship a box or two.  It is really easy – go to a Costco, Sam’s Club, or dollar tree and spend $20 to whatever you wish, go to the post office and grab a box or more and some custom forms, go to the site and get some addresses sent, and ship!.  Pretty simple.

 

www.anysoldier.com

 

God Bless America and our troops!

I’ve watched three movies since Renee and I instituted Movie Night a few weeks ago – Out of Africa, A Streetcar named Desire, and Cool Hand Luke.  At the end of each viewing, Renee and I score the film 1 through 5 (5 being best).

 

Out of Africa = 4, Streetcar = 3, and Luke = 4.5

 

They are all worth seeing, but my first “editorial” will be on Cool Hand Luke (1967, starring Paul Newman).

 

CHL is a classic “rebel” film that can easily be associated with films such as Rebel without a cause, The Wild One, The Graduate, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, and Easy Rider – specifically one from the late 60’s early 70’s – themed with taking on society/establishment.  The film is written and directed in the form of telling the story of a character (not so much an action or event).  You follow Luke (Newman) throughout the movie and relate, hate, love, and admire the person. 

The story tells of a war hero who, after a drunken night, ends up having to serve in a chain gang in the south.  At first, Luke appears to be a quiet outsider who doesn’t flow with society, or even his fellow inmates, without a care.  As the story continues, and specifically after a famous scene where Luke has a boxing match with a fellow inmate, you begin to grab hold of Luke’s persona and, much like the inmates, he wins you over.  It is clear in the movie, much like many westerns and rebel movies, that Luke actually doesn’t “hate” prison because, being such a loner outside without the ability to “fit in”, he is comfortable there and with his friends.  Like has to serve two years, but he doesn’t seem bothered at all – until, of course, he gets word of his mothers death and the warden/”Captain” decides to keep him in confinement to insure Luke doesn’t think of breaking out to go to the funeral.  This is the turning point in the film because Luke now views the prison guards, who he early seemed to bond with, as the “establishment” and immediately begins to “stick it to the man”!  Luke then proceeds to break out on a couple of instances, further justifying his idolism by his fellow inmates.  His spirit gets stronger than even before (which seems hard to fathom) as he creatively out smarts everyone time and again.  The most critical scene of the film follows his second break, when the Captain and guards test Luke’s spirit with an incredible display of labor which results in a scene of Luke finally succumbing to the guards and “getting his head on straight”.  In doing so, he inadvertently loses all faith from his former idolizers.  The scene, as Luke falls and no-one is there to pick him up, reminded me of the Gary Cooper Western “High Noon”.

Once again, however, Luke outsmarts the guards and is off again. 

In the end of the movie, as I won’t give the details away, Luke’s spirit lives on forever as a “hope” that his spirit will continue to drive people to stand-up and fight against “the Man”.

Overall, Paul Newman’s acting was incredible, as was George Kennedy’s.  The story is a classic that probably set the stage for movies like Shawshank or shows like Prison Break.  Great story, great acting, and a great scene featuring a smoking hot blonde washing a car!

My degree from Central Michigan University states that I have majored in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts.  To the majority of the audience I have announced that to in the past, the degree is a cause for a good old laugh as all assume it was selected solely for the purpose of easy classes; in some cases, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the day to pick your classes and got to chose “History of Westerns”.  The reality though is I always hoped to be a Director and make movies.  I aimed towards a different career, however, when I realized being a Director meant moving to New York or LA.  Enough with the background, lets get to the point of this blog: I initiated “Movie Night” with me and Renee. 

 

Definition of “Movie Night”:  each week, we look ahead at our schedules and pick which day will be “Movie Night” and take turns picking a flick to view while knocking back a bottle of wine, popcorn, or some other snack.   

 

Why initiate this “night”?  Well, with our toddler we are pretty much locked to our house in the evenings, and over the past year or so, we’ve been married to our DVR system and way too many TV shows.  Movies, for us at least, have been last minute decisions and have led to horrible picks consistently thanks to On Demand’s junk box and recent garbage offered at your local Star or Loews Theater.  We never plan ahead with movies, they just simply happen when there isn’t a TV show or we get someone to offer to baby sit.  Moving forward, however, we get to look ahead to each week in angst waiting to discover what each other has selected for this week’s Movie Night pick.

 

I’ve spent 40 minutes combining a long list of 1) Oscar Best Pictures 1939 to 2006, 2) select group of Best Picture Nominees from 1939 to 2006, 3) Time Inc.’s top 100 films, and 4) AFI’s Top 100 Films of all time.  We now have a library list of films to choose from and also will consistently add movies that either of us think of as the day’s pass (I’ve already added “Hurricane” starring Denzel Washington and “Strangers on a Train” by Hitchcock). 

 

What’s next?  Each week, I’ll blog with my editorial review of that week’s “Movie Night” pick and offer some thoughts on if any of you might enjoy it.  Stay tuned…

I was fortunate enough to see Kid Rock kick off his tour at the intimate setting of the Emerald Ballroom in Mt. Clemens Michigan last week; the concert, which featured several of the new tracks, was an incredible experience and memory (from what I remember).  The Live performance, as Kid is such an amazing performer, showcased the new hits making them instance favorites of the loyal fan base.  He led the concert off with “Rock n Roll Jesus” and it truly jump started the night.  Earlier this week, he launched the song on David Letterman and again proved that this song has some wheels.  I am anxious to see how much national broadcast and sales the “album” has, as well as, what song might be heard on the airwaves. 

A few thoughts on some of the songs:

Rock n Roll Jesus: A great jam that has some catch to it, some old-school Kid Rock flare, and yet some great musician talent.  I could certainly see this being played on air and will always be part of his shows for years to come.

All Summer Long: My favorite track.  Reminds me of one of my favorite songs of all time: Bob Seger’s Night Moves.  I can foresee that many people won’t like it because he uses the licks of two famous songs – “Werewolf in London” & “Sweet Home Alabama” – but, to some, this might be what attractive.  What no-one can argue is the inability to get the chorus out  of your head after listening to it two or three times… “drinking whiskey out the bottle, not thinking about tomorrow, singing Sweet Home Alabama All Summer Long”.

Sugar: An American bad ass tune.  Has all the flare of his loud rock anthem jams.  Has the sex, drugs, rock n roll part down pat. 

So Hot: The first single which has appeared in commercials and on several NFL pre & post game shows.  Has mass appeal, but doesn’t have the connection/uniqueness of Cowboy, Bawwitaba, or American Bad Ass.  No man would deny the great line “I want to F*@K you like I’m never gonna see you again”.

Roll on: Didn’t quite enjoy this at first because I was looking for those loud rock jams, but after a few listens I am extremely impressed by this song.  It is a great “chill out” tune that is perfect for long road trips.

Before I left for my climb, I stated that the only thing that could stop me from reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier was weather – Mother Nature must have heard my challenge.

 

My rope team turned around at 11,300 feet due to extreme weather conditions at 2:45 a.m. on Sunday morning.  I had climbed for over 17 hours over a 39 hour period, but felt that I had the mindset and physical ability to reach the summit if allowed.  I was one of 14 people out of 100+ campers who actually attempted to summit that morning and we reached the highest elevation on the mountain that day – the other campers called our group “crazy as hell”; looking back, I probably agree with them.

 

I am extremely disappointed that reaching the summit was not an option – despite our tremendous efforts.  I’m proud, however, that we made a safe and smart decision, really, the only decision feasible–no one could have safely made the summit that morning.  I am also extremely proud of what I did accomplish: I have never been pushed to my limits both physically and mentally like I was during the three days of climbing.  Physically: my body was put through an incredible test and wanted to quit on many occasions, yet I kept putting one foot in front of the other and never stopped.  Mentally: I cannot count the number of times I wanted to quit; I questioned myself so many times why I was doing it and had many concerns of not being able to keep going, but after several such battles in my head, I refused to give up.  I found myself having to play mind games throughout the day to stay motivated – one instance was trying to think of every person who made donations and allowed me the opportunity; another was song lyrics, i.e., Bob Seger “I stood on top of the great divide… I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide”.  Looking back, I am glad I kept going and tackled each challenge.  I look forward to another attempt at Rainier soon.

 

Taking you through the climbing details:

Friday: we spent seven hours climbing up and down the mountain from 5,000 to 7,000 feet and across several ranges.  On snow fields, we practiced the techniques of mountain climbing and familiarized ourselves with self arrest, avalanche recovery, anchoring, roping as a group, and other skills and safety related techniques.  It was a long hard day of climbing, but I felt extremely strong afterwards and rested well that night at base camp.

Saturday: we set off at 8:30am in pursuit of advanced base camp (Camp Muir).  The day was extremely cloudy and we did not have a single solid “vista” view during the entire climb; we were in a complete cloud for 90% of the day.  The goal was to get there by 4pm (we pushed really hard and made it by 3pm).  This climb was extremely challenging and did its best to knock me out.  As a surprise to me, it was straight up (no side-to-side at all).  The best way to explain it is imagine having to spend six straight hours on a stair climber with a 45 to 50 pound back pack and 10 pound ski boats while chugging through a foot of snow and ice.  This is when I realized that it is nearly impossible to train for mountain climbing in Michigan – you cannot simulate a climb of that duration, the snowy conditions, or the issue of altitude.  We took only 3 five minute breaks with a 10 minute lunch halfway up.  The incline was probably 70 degrees for most of the way – comparable to a black diamond ski slope.  With about 2 hours left in the climb, altitude sickness started taking major effects on my mind and body.  In summary, I started losing it.  It took every ounce of me to keep trucking on as I could barely breathe for two hours.  I was gasping for air constantly and had a hard time remembering to do “pressure breathing” (a technique of breathing that is vital to climbing a mountain).  I had the worst headache I have ever had and severe nausea.  We climbed nearly 5,000 feet in elevation – about a thousand feet per hour.  When we arrived at advanced base camp (10,000 ft.) – I was straight-up out of it and in a total daze.  I crawled into my sleeping area and fought with my mind for a good hour before I had to try to eat and drink to relieve my altitude sickness.  One of the key issues with altitude is that you lose your appetite – I had to throw down two bowls of freeze dried beef stroganoff and some beef jerky; I struggled to keep it down.  The next hour was a true test of my mental strength – questioning the climb and my ability (all because of the altitude sickness).  I finally felt good and knew I could summit and therefore started to doze around 9:30pm; then, my legs began to tighten and tense waking me up at 10:00pm.  I think I finally settled down around 11 and was woken up by the guides at 11:30 to begin the summit attempt.  I was surprised when I geared up and went outside and saw it was snowing extremely hard.  We roped up and left by 11:45pm: it was pitch black and very snowy and windy.  We had head lamps on our helmets, but I could only see two feet in front of me – a complete white out. 

 

Sunday morning:  after a 20 minute hike up a strenuous snow field (Cowlitz) we reached the edge of the mountain and started climbing up the thousands of snow covered rocks (Cathedral Gap).  For the next hour, I was scared out of my mind.  We were on the side of the mountain, 80 degree slope, with only an 8 inch walking path, and we were fighting 60 mph winds with extreme gusts and a total white out.  We were in a blizzard by full definition.  It snowed three feet in just over an hour.  We had to keep our left hand with the ice axe locked on the upper side of the mountain to keep from falling down the right side (again – an 80 degree slope).  The wind gust knocked the person in front of me down 4 times including once to the wrong side and knocked me over once (blew me right into the mountain).  During this time, I was thinking every step was crazy and completely questioned my sanity for wanting to do this.  I totally forgot the two most important techniques of climbing – pressure breathing and rest stepping.  After an hour into it, and because I didn’t use those two techniques, I was completely exhausted and could barely move my feet.  At one point, I asked my guide to stop for a minute, but he said it was too dangerous to stop – if he said yes, I may have asked to turn back.  15 minutes later, I realized 1) these are professional guides and know what they are doing, 2) I don’t know anything about climbing and this could be normal conditions, and 3) there was no way I was giving up.  So, my mind totally shifted from being scared to absolutely loving the thrill.  I started to thrive in the moment and began pressure breathing and rest stepping.  By 2:00am, I was on a full tank of gas.  The summit was mine as long as the guides were willing to take me there; which I started to wonder if they would.  Over the next 45 minutes, we climbed up a very steep snow bank through 3 feet of snow and had to negotiate ourselves around many crevasses.  In some instances, I would step right over a 100 feet deep crack in the glacier onto a free standing glacier 4 feet in width only to step right back onto the glacier.  God bless the guides because I am sure without one, in these blizzard conditions, it would be easy to fall right into one.  We finally reached an area called Ingrahm Flats and took a break – it was 2:45 a.m.  Again, I felt powerful and motivated to continue.  There were two people (of our group of nine) who vocally wanted to turn back.  At this point we realized that we were the only people who made an attempt to summit (other than one group of 5 who followed us).  There were approximately 100 people camped out at camp Muir, but only 14 plus 3 guides left camp.  The guides grouped to discuss next steps.  They decided that there was zero chance of reaching the summit and going any further would put us in severe danger.  What normally would have taken 1 hour took us nearly three.  They said the storm was worsening, we risked avalanche danger in the next stretch, and would risk having to be rescued which would not be possible until the morning and meant spending the night in a man-made snow cave on the mountain.  With those descriptions of what was to come, no-one complained about turning back.  They also shared that experiencing what we just went through was a bigger “climber” thrill than reaching the summit; I’m pretty sure, however, no-one would agreed. 

We arrived back at Camp Muir at 4 a.m.  I spent 20 minutes sitting on the ledge looking at absolutely nothing but black and snow trying to relax myself, so I could sleep.  I slept for about two hours before we got up at 7:30 to pack-up. 

 

Sunday: we spent the day sliding down ice and trekking through about 3 feet of snow all the way down.  It was a complete white out again and didn’t offer a single view of the (supposedly) amazing views around Rainier.  We got back to the lodge at noon where we immediately grabbed a few pitchers of beer and some pizza. 

 

I feel extremely fortunate to have had this adventurous experience and am very grateful to those who made it possible.  I plan to go back to Rainier if the weather permits in September during a work trip (guides tell me that there is a very slim chance that weather and scheduling would allow me in September), and will for sure attempt to summit Rainier again next July (best month).  Not even mother-nature can tell me I can’t accomplish something.  Don’t worry – next time I won’t ask for donations, but will do a trip on my own with the guide service!

 

Thanks to the following for allowing this to happen:  my family: Mom, Frank & Tari, Joan, Mike, Shelly & Dusty, Chris, Frank, Stephanie, Yvonne & Joe, Ray & Karen, Uncle Dennis, Sue, Patti & Dave, Grandma Esther, and friends: Paul Hallas, Brooks Waugh, Keith & Amelia Lorizio, Sean McElroy, Fred & Emily Schwarze, Matt & Katie Feodoroff, Mike & Michelle Gutow, Kathy Rizk, Mike Bologna, Sean Stevenson, Justin Pharmer, Matt Joswick, , Bryan & Kristina Watson, Steve Gotz, John Chung, Stacy Randazzo, Carolynn Gardziola, Steph & Andrew Cottrell, Chris & Jenica Tremberth, Greg Bloom, Natalie Shoemaker, Jeff & Brandi Verkyn, Kraig Hansen, Michelle Brouliard, Adam Erhard, Andrea Ferguson, Kevin & Jeannette VonGrabe, Nicole and Jeff Fryer, and of course Renee and Troy!  

For the majority of the 21st century, TV stations relied heavily on reality crap tv to run their programming.  You could spend every night surfing channels and not find a good tv show that didn't involve kicking a contestent out each week; those days my friends are over.

There are a large handful of great tv shows out there - probably more than I can even imagine.  The problem?  well, it is finding them and shuffling through the crap that still exists.  The differnce now is the invention of the DVR and of tv show DVDs.  I've spent a significant amount of evenings, and mornings on my treadmill for that matter, pressing play on a dvd tv show. 

For those who are still uncertain, I suggest you sign up for a block buster dvd club, or if you can just pay the $50 for the DVD set, and start catching up on a few years of amazing tv shows.  Here are a few to start with:

The Office, Lost, 24 (seasons 1 through 3, and maybe 4), The Shield (best tv show there is), Rescue Me, Prison Break (the newest owner of my evenings), Sopranos (so I've heard), Entourage, Deadwood, and the simple life - well, maybe not that one.

Feel free to comment back on some shows I've left off - I need to start my new DVD list soon before the Fall schedule arrives. 

In continued efforts to get in shape for my mountain climb, yesterday i explored the phenomenon of "spinning" class.  For those unaware of this "class", it is basically a room full of exercise bikes and a leader who instructs you on when to go fast, when to sit or stand, and how much resistance you should have.  I have to be honest, the Scott P of his 20's would kick the snot out of the Scott P of his 30's if he had any idea he would ever entertain the idea of doing a spin class; the class, however, was actually pretty good.  It kicked my butt.  I've been running, elipticalling, tread milling, and lifting weights for five months, yet 45 minutes with this bike instructor beat me up pretty badly.  I was out of it the rest of the day.  (mind you, I also followed the class with 45 minutes of high endurance weight training).

Anywho - If you are ok with your "manliness" - give it a shot!  I plan to continue (at least until my climb is over)

MSN was the exclusive live broadcaster of Live Earth concert (www.liveearth.msn.com) and I was involved with Chevy's sponsorship of the broadcast.  Therefore, Renee and I had the luxury of traveling to NYC for 22 hours to see one of the best concerts in history.

 

It was incredibly hot and I said to Renee "god, I hope there is a place like a bar for us to sit and chill during the lamer acts".  Unfortunately, Giants stadium is an absolute DUMP.  Worst friggin professional stadium I have ever encountered.  Luckily, however, we were pampered with an MSN exclusive air conditioned tent.  We spent the first couple hours in there sipping top shelf and eating great food. 

 

My thoughts on the acts:

- Ludicris: the friggin man.  Loved him before, love him now.  I felt like he was the one who finally got the show going.

- John Mayer: love his music and he played awesome, but should have choosen some better songs to play

- Melissa Etheridge:  This Guy ROCKS!!!!  Love her stuff... errr, get off your soapbox dude.  Quote of the night "what happend to us America?"

- Ouch! Kelly Clarkson: or, as Michiganders call her "ClarksTon".  She surprisingly wasn't bad

- Dave Matthews: my favorite performance I think.  He was awesome and made me remember seeing him many times years ago

- Kanye West: very fun part of the event.  I love rap concerts for the dancing reasons.  He's a great performer.

- Bon Jovi - stole the show, I mean Jovi in Jersey?  Of course that rocked. 

- Smashing Pumpkins: very hard core.  Didn't know all the songs, but did enjoy them.  Reminded me of how unique there sound is and made me realize they are a great from the 90's.

- Pink Floyd: I've always hated this band, but actually found myself loving their show (not due to the smell that floated through the stands once they hit stage).  It was really cool to see such a legendary band

- Police: big dissapointment.  I thought they really sucked and stretched every song out way too long, made it sound trippy, and just didn't power up the crowd.  The encore was awesome - John Mayer and Kanye West joined to sing Message in a Bottle.  This song should be viewed by all on MSN LIve earth site.

 

Very cool experience for Renee and I to do in just a quick 22 hour trip.

Renee and I muscled up and took an eight nighter to the boot.  In summary, it was an amazing country, very relaxing vacation, and great time for her and I to just hang.  The trip consisted of four stops - Rome (2 nights), Florence (1 night), Cinque Terre (3 nights), Venice (2 nights). 

 

Rome - this was my favorite.  I am a history nut and love seeing "sites"; Rome is the most historic place I've ever seen and loaded my camera up with many amazing things to see.  My favorite spot was the Colliseum and the Forum.  It is hard to describe the feeling of walking around those places knowing the Casear himself did the exact same.   The food was incredible, in fact, every food we had the entire trip was legendary.  The first night in Rome was my favorite dinner - partially due to the food and partially due to the atmosphere (wine).  Renee and I tried hitting a club that night, but ended up at some strange Nazi recruit bar - so, needless to say, we left after one beer.  I wish I could find that taxi driver who dropped us off there in the middle of nowhere, so I could kick his head in.  We had to pay some citizen $40 to drive us home because no taxi we called was willing to drive in this area (btw - there was an Albanian rap concert going on in the streets).  Rome for us was the part where we did tons of walking and site seeing.

 

Florence - we hadn't planned on seeing Florence, but after seeing so much of Rome we did a day in a half; I'm very glad we did.  This was a nice city; much smaller than Rome.  We took it easy and toured the city, shopped, and had great food.  We spent the evening drinking a bottle of wine on the steps of Michaelangelo's plazza. The next morning, we woke up early to wait 1.5 hours in line to see Michaelangelo's David.  This was a spectacular piece of art - probably the most amazing I've seen (duh).  I was surprised, as I'm not much on Art, at how impressed I was.

 

Cinque Terre - basically five fishing villages tucked into mountains and in a National Park along the Italian Riviera, this was a beautiful experience.  We took this time very easy and relaxed (even enjoyed long massages on our room's terrece looking over the Mediteranian Sea.  This is where we splurged on the hotel and had a 15 ft long private deck/terrece hanging over the sea.  The place was insanely beautiful and we found ourselves constantly comparing it to Hawaii (the most beautiful place on earth).  We did some hiking, lots of beaching, lots of food, and a ton of wine.  These three days were very relaxing and a great transition from Rome/Florence to Venice.

 

Venice - prior to the trip, I didn't see myself enjoying this place much and assumed it was a quick stay; I found out quickly, however, that I was far from on target with my assumption.  Venice was Renee's favorite spot and, in my eyes, is so unique and lovely that it is a must stop for anyone in Italy.  We enjoyed every second in Venice and was simply amazed by the coolness of the layout and structure of the canal infected city.  It was a great end to the trip as we simply relaxed by walking around, shopping for art and Venetian glass jewelry, and eating/drinking wine.  We spent both nights pouring ourselves bottles of Champagne in St. Marc's square and dancing in the plazza (similar to the lame Jewelry commercials) to the dualing battles of the bands.

 

I am extremely happy that we made the move to do this trip and couldn't think of anywhere else I would have rather been.  We loved every single minute and did the trip "right".  I encourage everyone to visit and ask us or others for their thoughts.

 

Check out my photo gallery for more pictures on the trip!

As of June 1st I have raised $1,815 towards my $2,500 goal. 

 

This weekend I went on a long hike with Buster as my side kick.  We did some local hikes through woods and a long the river; Buster spent most of the time in the River.  It was a good hike, but reminded me that although I am in good shape, I still have to get use to hiking for long periods of time.  If 3 hours seems long, I wonder what 50 hours will be like.