Fathers day is delayed

With the wife working her usual Sunday shift, Fathers Day has been postponed until Monday. Usually it is just me and Robbie Saturdays and Sundays, and I took him over to visit Granny Vinson. I was nicely surprised when best cousin, LDG appeared with Alison, Alyssa, and Abigale. Robbie and Alyssa had a great time playing. Granny always seems to enjoy watching them play. I always enjoy watching Granny enjoying herself watching them. She is the only grandparent I have, and it is a rare gift for a child to have a great grand mother. Of course these days that may be becoming more and more common, but Granny is from a different day. And still having her here to laugh with Robbie has been a special thing. That has made this a nice Fathers Day, and I'll get a real Fathers day, even if delayed.

Robby pumps... you up.

Here me now and believe me later.

Robbie went to his "girlfriend's" birthday party at a place called Pump it Up, which provides an indoor venue featuring a bunch of fancy inflatable play areas. He ran around the obstacle course and slid down the slide and eventually drug me into the play areas with him. I was a bit wary. When i was kid, every time I got into the inflatable jump around room, I'd get hurt. Some kid would inevitably hit me in the face with his knee. But Robbie did great and I didn't get injured. A good time was had by all.

This probably won't go over well with my cousin LDG, who's daughter is celebrating her birthday next Saturday. I will not be able to attend since it falls right on our anniversary. Five years! Here is last years post for the fourth, where I declared I still didn't understand woman.

Click here to relive the magic of the Fourth anniversary blog post

If you have any comments or ideas about what I can do to impress and romance a woman two months away from having our second child, feel free to advise me. By the way, the guest, extra storage, usually a wreck, computer room is nearing completion as it is changed into the new nursery. I'll have pictures up next post.

Out.

oh yeah, I have a blog!

Facebook just seemed a quicker way to update everyone on what I was doing and keep track of everyone else. Bryan central faded to the background. So what am I doing?

Of course, I'm still unemployed, what with my career field basically disappearing along with the economy and all. But my big problem is I'm back at that "what do I want to be when I grow up" stage. It's like being 18 again only I have a wife and a son and another son on the way and debt and a house. So getting re-educated and retrained seems a bit of a daunting task.

I've been considering different options but I seem to go back to my original plan when I was actually 18. Getting back into the art, cartooning and animation field. I used to say, when I was young, "if I don't do art for a living, I don't know what I'm going to do." I still don't.

The funny thing is I have found my art skills have seriously eroded over the past couple of years. I've barely drawn anything that wasn't landscape architecture related. I tried to draw Mickey Mouse today. The first attempt was a disaster. Ten attempts later it was starting to click, but anyone who knew me in high school would know I could draw Mickey in my sleep. It's so strange not to just be able to do that.

I've started a new blog that will record this endeavor to get my artistic eye of the tiger back. It's called "bryan's art blog." Not only is it creatively named, but it will follow my progression and hopefully I can look back at it's first post and laugh at where i was and be proud about how far I've come. I don't want to not draw again.

Check it out at bryan's art blog!

Goodbye job

The economy finally claimed me as it's next victim. In fact, I feel lucky, in the landscape architecture field, to have kept my position as long as I did, considering we are so directly related to the real estate market. If no one is buying houses, we're not doing much landscape architecting. And I probably won't move around in the field since most firms are in the same boat, which may mean a goodbye to the landscape architecture field for a while. But, there is a plus side. I will no longer be forced to have this conversation.

Person - So what do you do?

Bryan - I'm in landscape architecture.

Person - Oh, so you do lawn care and landscaping then...

Bryan - No. No, we actually do... we do community planning and campus planning.

Person - Okay, like, you guys do the landscaping for schools and neighborhoods?

Bryan - Kind of.... we're the ones who design the outside areas.., you know, we plan how communities are laid out, and we put in parking lots and deal with the topo and drainage...

Person - I thought the architect did that.

Bryan - Sometimes an architect will have a landscape architect on staff....

Person - So then you guys go out and grade the land and plant the plants...

Bryan - We don't... no we don't plant the plants...we determine where the plant is going to go and then another company....a land "scaping" company actually come out and does the landscaping.

Person - Why would you need to be a licensed architect to pick out plants?

Bryan - Well, there are other things. Topo, drainage, building codes...

Person - But you don't do buildings....

Bryan - There are outside codes as well.

Person - Can you come look at our yard?

the campaign continues

If you haven't checked out Bryan for President lately, a lot is going on. I now have a campaign manager, as well as a slogan contest for you all, my loyal constituency. Don't forget to help put me in the white house. That way I can pardon ya'll if any of you get into trouble.

Bryan for President Campaign headquarters

Click above for a handshake.

new post below

I..... put my post in the wrong order. Check out great moments in talent evaluation below my thesis on Jopheen. Talent evaluation was started first, but jopheen was finished first, so the post got out of order.

Joaquin the Genius

Joaquin Phoenix is doing something extraordinarily smart. You've all seen him, with his beard and his sunglasses, his unlikely hip hop career, and his apathetic and sometimes belligerent attitude. Everybody is wondering if the retired actors new persona is real or a hoax. It doesn't matter, because either way it's entertaining. Personally, I think it's a hoax, and I'm sure Jo will cuss me out for "thinking his life is a joke" and then turn around and tell me he doesn't care what I think. Either way it's a hoax. Either the former red carpet Joaquin was the character, or the new spaced out artist is the character. But this isn't a career meltdown. It is career gold, and it's creating far more buzz then "what's your next movie going to be?"

His sudden appearance as Jim Morrison trapped in a hip hop rap artists body brings to mind Ben Aflecks line from good will hunting. "You're suspect." If you saw the David Letterman interview you saw the character Jopheen is playing, and it's a mirror image of the tortured artist musician we have come to know in the likes of Billy Corgan, Bono, or Axle Rose. Jopheen goes out of his way to be anti-social. Even the little things. He wears sunglasses, avoids eye contact, and chews gum. He answers questions with one word or not at all, and looks annoyed with the process. It reminds me of bands like Pearl Jam, who both soaked up their success and fame while acting burdened by it.

One day in the end, Ben Afleck will release all this "reality" footage of Jopheens career transformation. We'll all get a good laugh out of the parody he is playing. We'll get a good laugh out of a obviously uncomfortable media as they try to seriously track this without appearing to be duped. We'll even laugh at ourselves, and at Jopheen for the genius of a performance he is putting out there. Not since Spinal Tap have we seen these issues of celebrity silliness so well covered. Not since the Blair Witch marketing campaign have we been convinced something is real that isn't.

It's Joaquin the genius actor hip hop artist.

Great Moments in Talent Evaluation

Hannah Montana

After Disney Channels upteenth Suite Life of Zach and Codey all day marathon, the mouse premiered "Hannah Montana." Bryan's reaction?

"A show about a little teeny bopper pop star who leads a double life as a normal teenage girl.... played by one hit wonder Billy Ray Cyruses daughter, Miley? This will be canceled after one season."

Hannah Montana today may be single handedly keeping the economy afloat as pre teen girls force thier parents to take them to Mileys concerts.







Titanic

This James Cameron movie about the legendary boat that couldn't be sunk, that sank. Bryan's reaction?

"Like I want to see a movie about a sinking boat that stars Leonardo Dicaprio. This movie will sink faster then the ship it'self. Go back to making terminator films, Cameron."

Titanic to this day still holds the box office record after spending what seemed like ten years in the theaters. It even overcame Celine Dion's involvement with the soundtrack.



Nirvana

This band popped up on MTV, back when they played videos instead of all day marathons of room raiders and americas next top model, during a time period dominated by hip hop and dance music videos. Bryan's reaction after watching their video 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'?

"Bet I never see that video again."

Nirvana went on to establish the grunge music era in the early 90's, ushering in other acts like Pearl jam and Alice in Chains, which Bryan also wrote off.

Thank goodness I did not try a career in Hollywood. It might have gone something like this.

Talent Scout - "Bryan, I've got this script for the Batman sequal. It's called "the Dark Knight", and Batman fights the Joker."

Bryan - "Pheesh, sounds dumb. Fast track Dumb and Dumber four."

Superbowl, trip to Nannas, and Todd is the preferred person

Congratulations to the Steelers for avenging the Panthers in the Superbowl while defeating the pesky Cardinals. Normally, I would root for the Cardinals, since they were the Underdogs,and have never won a Superbowl. I have no allegiance to either team. Or HAD no allegiance. After the Cardinals dispatched the Carolina Panthers with ease in the play-offs, I became bent on insuring their destruction. It's Larry Fitzgerald, the wide receiver for the Cardinals! He catches every pass, even ones where he is covered by 20 defenders and the ball was thrown to opposite side of the field. He then immediately teleports to the end zone, or runs to the end zone while everyone else is moving in slow motion, bullet time matrix style.... and he did it again in the Superbowl. Yes, every cheer and movement I did was to aid the Steelers to defeat them, and if it wasn't for me cheering, they never would have made that last second touchdown to win the game. You can send me your thank you cards.

Cardinals, as long as you don't make the Panthers look foolish on the way to the Superbowl, I might root for you next year.

I got back just in time to see the game after a successful trip to Nannas house with Robbie, where little kid got to see Elizabeth and Todd as well. Eliz, the grove avenue bride, is in a fierce competition with her husband to become Robbies prefferd person but she did not fare well. Robbie loves Uncle Todd, and would not leave him alone. I laughed. Cruelly.

(Below: Robbie and the prefferd person bond in the driveway. Below below: Eliz gets some time in with Rob Rob as well.


I also got to meet the brand new Bryant, MacKenzie, who was quite mad for some reason. But, she was very cute. I am still freaked out that my cousin Patrick is a Daddy. I'm still trying to come to grips that he entered high school, meanwhile he is a college graduate, married with a kid.

(Below: Mackenzie SMASH puny Aunt Cindy...aka Nanna)

natalie, the asian Australian vlogger

I'm in love with a vlogger. It's true. I found Natalie on YouTube one day, just picking a random video trying to get my youtube to work again. I hate most vlogs, since people tend to ramble on and on while trying to relay their thoughts. But Nat, I found was completely different.

Well, she does have a tendency to ramble, but she also puts together some very funny and observant skits in which she usually plays most of the characters. This Asian from Australia who talks with an Australian accent and is a self proclaimed dork, is like a little miniature Seinfeld. Some of her videos miss the mark, but most of them will make you chuckle or at least say "you know, she's right...". For instance, her theory on why dead bodies are always discovered by "a passing joggah". Even when she misses the mark, she is at least cute. And yes, she is very much the not cool person. She is so not cool, it makes her cool.
Natalie, getting ready to tell us something important!
Here she is, playing the part of an emo animal lover.
Here's Nats, proving that she is indeed not cool, or graceful.
Natalie puts her "secret escape plan" into action. It apparently involves karate which she learned from YouTube.
Here she is again! This time trying to get directions from someone, and trying not to appear that she doesn't remember anything that they said.
Now there are three Natalies!
And here Natalie is playing the part of her childhood arch nemesis, Miranda. Apparently, Miranda always got the best of her.

Robbie loves villians!

Robbie, our sweet little kid, has a bit of a problem. We may need an intervention. He loves the villains of movies. He thinks they are great. I guess, in general, people tend to like the bad guys more anyway. Everyone went nuts about Jack Nicholson as the Joker, and later Heath Ledger for the same role... but at four, you would think he would root more for the heroes.Captain Hook - This one makes sense. Captain Hook is just as colorful and entertaining as Peter pan. Robbie prefers the "people peter pan" over the disney peter pan. And he prefers captain hook. He met captain hook, ( an actor who was playing him in a stage play) and ran up and gave him a hug. Captain Hook said "aren't you a brave little boy." Robbie thinks that Captain Hook is going to come over to our house and play with him.

Voldemort - Robbies access to this villain is somewhat limited and censored, but he still loves him. Unlike Captain Hook, Voldemort is a bit darker. but his manners are just as good. Robbie thinks that Voldemorts coming over for dinner. What about Harry, Robbie?


Davey Jones - Robbie has always misguidedly refered to him as "sharkhead", even though he clearly has an octopus head. Out of all the villains, this one I thought would be the most likely to scare Robbie. Robbie, however is unphased by Jones. Once again, Robbie doesn't get to see Jones very often, but he has a davey jones action figure and loves any scene with jones and the Kraken. He thinks that "sharkhead" is coming over to watch Pirates with him.

What can I do? I don't want to show him Darth Vador. He'll go nuts over him! We have tried to explain to him why the good guys are the good guys and why the bad guys are the bad guys. Christie described it as like "talking to a wall, only you get further with the wall.." For one thing, he doesn't get to see scenes where they are doing their bad guy stuff. But still! He's trying to invite them all over to eat our food! Help!

bryan 012

After a brief vacation and letting Obama enjoy his celebrations, Bryan for President in 2012 comes back to put the pressure on the new president.

Bryforprez

Christies B-Day Party

We had a surprise birthday "cook in" last weekend in honor of Christies birthday. We had over some guest and I george formaned some hamburgers. Good times. Had by all. The guest list included Uncle Dan and Granny....Mike and Michelle....Danny, Alison, Alyssa, and Abigale.
Mike and Danny took on Robbie in a two on one handicap match during the festivities. Robbie fought bravely but ended up overwhelmed. Here he is caught in a head lock by Mike and a figure four leg lock by LDG.

Alyssa gets her pirate on, with the help of her daddy, LDG. Arrrgh, matey.


The birthday girl, opening a gift. A box of olives.

The strawberry shortcake was made by chef 'Chelle, and it didn't last long.

The birthday girl. Completely caught off gaurd by her own party!

Indiana Review

The summer movie season is currently playing at the Vinson household.

During the winter.

There were a lot of good films this past year, but we've put off the summer movie season to the winter rental season. Here's my review for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I found this movie riveting. Full of flawed characters and traditional American values. Indiana follows in the footsteps of Rocky and makes a comeback in his old age. Although, through the magic of special effects and stunt doubles, Indiana hasn't lost much of his step. The movie brings the nostalgia on full force with the return of Marion, Indys love interest from "Raiders".

Indie mostly succeeds in recapturing the old feeling of the movies hey-day, although, Harrison does falls flat in a few of the opening scenes. He appears to be "phoning it in." He gets into it though later in the movie. The nice thing here was a little trip back in time. Indy goes up against a villainous soviet union agent, depicted with cartoonish fun by Cate Blanchett, in the middle of the cold war. This is old school Hollywood unearthed from all the glitz and over complex, computer generated, politically correct new Hollywood.

It's not the best film in the series. The master pieces have already been made. It is a fun tribute to a fantastic movie series that both honors the originals, and does them no harm. Nick Cage and National treasure, and Angie Jolie and Tomb Raider better watch out. Grandpa still has a little left in the tank and a little zip on the whip.

Arrgh. Robbie's birthday it be, matey....

COOLPICS!

Elizabeth, AKA - GAB, AKA - Greatest Sister ever, sent us a new digital camara for christmas! Best Christmas gift ever! It's one of those little Nokia Coolpix! You see, we had been using an old digital camara that was a bit large, and did not hook into the computer with a USB. This caused a delay in pictures since we had to go get them put on disk at Target, and then put on the computer. (Aunt Mary attempted to fix this by giving us a memory card reader that would hook up, but we could never get that to work right...) Often times this resulted in a delay of pictures getting to Bryan Central. Like Robbies Halloween pics, which finally showed up in December.

Without further ado, I present the first coolpix pics from Christmas 2008! Thanks EV and TV!
Robbie with his prized gift from Santa. A whale. Our little marine biologist has tried to make the whale eat the rest of his toys. Robbie actually spent Christmas Eve at the hospital after registering a 102.7 fever that night. He also had a horrible cough. After returning at 3:30 in the morning he finally got to bed. Santa, who had already been through the area circled around and made an extra trip back to North Carolina to give Robbie his toys. Robbie woke up at about 10:50 ish to enjoy his Christmas. You can tell he looks a little run down, but he's a little trooper.
Nanna and Robbie discuss Christmas season theories. How to get the most toys from Santa while getting away with a t least a little bit of bad behavior.
Granny, and Uncle Dan. Nanna and I went over to Grannys house for an old School style Christmas Eve dinner. Robbie was unable to attend because he was sick. Here Granny shows off her lightening fast reflexes by blinking with the flash.

More coolpix to come for Christmas and other events, thanks to EV and TV.

Christmas hinders blogs

Everybody's been blogging slower since the holiday preparation time has gotten into full swing. I do not blame. It is a very busy time of the year.

First of all, I'd like to say that my former friend, co-worker, and fantasy football rival, Ken, and his Barking Spiders team ended up winning the PETA League championship. I was okay with my 8-6 record until this stunning piece of news. It just means that the Thunderbolts will be fighting even stronger in next years fake football season.

Secondly, in an effort to purge our house of some junk, I donated some of our old mugs to Goodwill. Apparently I accidentally donated some mugs that Christie loved! When I got home from work I discovered that they were back in the house. She had gone to Goodwill and bought them back. Oops.

We are preparing the best we can for Nana's arrival for the holidays. Robbie hasn't seen her since he flew over her house on his way to New York. But the poor little guy has been sick and Mommy hasn't felt well either. (Just in time for Christmas!) We rented Wall E, hoping it would encourage him to stay on the couch and rest. It has. We've seen it about a dozen times this week. He loves Wall E. It's a cute little movie.

That's all the big news here lately.

There will probably be a Christmas update, and then that will do it for the year 2008 at Bryan Central.

Out.

Robbie in flight

For some of our family, jet setting around the globe is no big deal, but for me.... no one in our cluster hardly takes to the air. Which is why it is a big deal. Especially since it was Robbies first ride in an airplane. Something I have yet to do myself.

He and Mommy flew to New York this week while I slaved at work. The ever protective father and husband, I tracked the flight via the Internet, where you can watch a little blue plane as it progresses over Google maps. Here is "The Flight of Robbie!!!!"
The blue line represents the jets rout. Robbie practically flew over Nanna's head! The red circle indicates Nannas general location. Many of you may recognize the giant farm field behind her house. Robbie could have parachuted down and said hello.

I caught up with the plane as it was hitting Virginia, home of grove avenue bride. In this shot you can see little blue plane as it zooms through Maryland at plus 30,000 feet and heads for Ocean City, home of senior week class of 94. I'm old.

At this point the little blue plane had safely landed in New York. Satisfied that my wife was on the ground I got this one last screen. It appears here that the plane decided to land perpendicular to the runway instead of on it. What an odd piloting decision!

The story from the plane is that it was Robbie who kept Mommy calm during the take-off and landing. Good job Robbie! Little Jet setter!

Join me next time as I track
"Bryans Drive to Work!"

T-BOLTS SEASON ENDS BUT WHAT A YEAR

The Thunderbolts ended this years fantasy football season with an 88 - 78 loss to Black&Tan who have tied them in the division and taken the PETA LEAGUE West by points. Much like the first game of the year, the beloved Bolts lost key players to injury. Peyton Hill, and Brandon Jacobs, both running backs, exited their games early.

And although the T-Bolts beat the "Barking Spiders," the inter-office rivals had the last laugh by winning their game and securing the wild card spot into the play-offs.

And your 2008 play-off picture is...
East Division - Red Devils (10-4)
Central Division - Mcqs MayheM (10-4)
West Division - Black&Tan (8-6)
Wild Card - Barking Spiders (9-5)


PETA League
West Division
1. Black&Tan (8- 6) 0 Game Back (1396 fantasy points)
2. Thunderbolts (8-6) 0 Games Back (1263 fantasy points)
3. Old School MIA (8-6) 0 Games Back (1249 fantasy points)
4. Dorks (4-10) 4 Game Back (1036 fantasy points)

Wild Card Race
1. Barking Spiders (9-5) 0 games Back (1302 fantasy points)
2. Thunderbolts (8-6) 1Games Back (1263 fantasy points)
3. Old School MIA (8-6) 1 Games Back (1249 fantasy points)

A roller Coaster Season

The T-Bolts lost first round pick Tom Brady in the first game of the season and started off an abysmal 0-4. They seemed miles out of the play-off picture. After going to backup quarterback Philip Rivers, the team rattled off six unlikely wins while the rest of the PETA League West collapsed in non divisional play. Suddenly they found themselves in a duel for first place with Old School MIA in the stretch run. Just when the T-Bolts thought they may have secured the division title, Black&Tan crept quietly back into contention, and beat the Thunderbolts in the last game of the season in a spectacular finish. The Bolts may have missed the play-offs, but they came away with a winning record in what was by far the most interesting and entertaining season of fantasy football for the team. We'll keep an eye on how the Barking Spiders do in the play-offs. Meanwhile, the Thunderbolts will see YOU next year, ready to win a Fantasy Football Championship!

Thunderbolts franchise history

2008: 8-6-0
2007: 12-3-0 (Division Title)
2006: 5-7-2

Total record - 25 wins, 16 losses, 2 ties

Moments from 2008 part two

Catfight.


The year didn't start off that good for me. Just kidding. This is from Halloween, proving you do NOT have to live on Hanover street to see ghouls and goblins on all Saints day.

This picture was taken at our beach vacation when we visited the aquarium. Here I am getting ready to throw Robbie into the sting ray petting pool. You can tell by the insane look in my eyes.

Robbie with Granny. These two are like this. (Crossing fingers.)

We lost Benny this year, Christies cat of 14 years and mine of seven. Here Benny is enjoying a chin scratch and some time outside in his old age.

A little while after we said goodbye, we said hello. Two more orange tabbies came into our home. (Mostly because I'm not AS allergic to them as other cats for some reason.) Tavington and Daisey. Here Tavington is being toted around the house by Robbie.