Shane Life

I made it through NaBloPoMo!

Posting every day is tough. I don’t know where some people find the time to do it. But I managed to make it through with only a little filler. I feel good about how I’ve done for the last month…I talked plenty about the Chiefs, Top Chef, my dog, my upcoming plans for this blog, I reviewed a couple movies, I shared some pictures of me and my buddies playing football on Saturday, and I even shared a sermon.

Today marks the end of another November. I spoke at church today on the same day that my niece was being blessed with 6 other children. I was very honored to be a part of the service today and I felt good about my message. I got some nice compliments from folks afterward, which always feels good.

For December, I’d look for a possible move to ShaneLife.com. I’ll keep this space active for a while if I do move and the feed won’t change, but I’ll probably change the layout as well.

Have a great last few hours of the long weekend!

3 years ago, my buddies had an idea. Since most of us were in town during the holidays and since most of us lived in either Gardner or Olathe we should have a football game on Thanksgiving weekend. Thus, the Gardner-Olathe Annual Turkey Bowl was born.

This year was the first year I was able to play. In 2006 I was in Council Bluffs with Alli and in 2007, I had just had that back thing happen to me and I wasn’t really in any state to play.

I had thought that my absence was perhaps the reason that Gardner had won back-to-back games. I learned today (as they went back-to-back-to-back) that Olathe SUCKS at flag football. Two hours later, I’m defeated, demoralized, cold, wet and REALLY tired.

But it was a lot of fun.

I figure, while I’m still young, I probably should take advantage and still play. My sore body would suggest otherwise.

Alli and I went with both sets of our parents to the Fork & Screen today to see Australia – Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping WWII epic about the land down under and the history behind a place I know very little about. The movie stars Nicole Kidman as Lady Sara Ashley, an Englishwoman who leaves England to join her husband in Australia at their cattle ranch. Along the way, she meets Hugh Jackman’s character, The Drover, a real manly Outback man.

The two-hour and forty-five minute epic covers a few years of Australian history, culminating with the Japanese invasion of the continent after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The cast is all-native, including the newcomer Brandon Walters who plays the half-Aboriginal, half-white child Nullah, the most important character of the entire movie.

Jackman and Kidman have terrific chemistry and Luhrmann has crafted a movie as big as the continent itself. Alli and I have been looking forward to Luhrmann’s next movie ever since he got shafted out of a 2001 Oscar nomination for Moulin Rouge!, one of the most creative and visionary movies of the last decade.

I’ve watched several interviews with the stars and makers of Australia and you can tell that this was a very important movie to all of them…it was the story of the place they came from. And kudos go to Luhrmann for not pulling any punches in the story, even exposing the sad story of Australia’s Stolen Generation.

But the real story of the movie is Walters, a kid who was one of over 1,000 interviewed for the character of Nullah. Their commitment to finding the right kid for the role worked out…Walters is so perfect and while he probably won’t be nominated for a supporting actor Oscar when February rolls around, he should. He carries this movie and stands out next to the veterans Jackman and Kidman, who are both excellent.

Some critics are going to try and tear down Luhrmann’s accomplishment, but I’m here to tell you that this movie is wonderful. It’s long, but I can’t think of anything that you could cut from the story. When you have a two-hour and forty-five minute movie that you don’t want to cut…that’s a success. Luhrmann wanted to create a Gone with the Wind for his home country. In my opinion, he succeeded. If you like big epic movies, the kind that they really don’t make any more, GO SEE AUSTRALIA.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for and I try to remember that daily and not just because the pilgrims told me to.

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

• My beautiful, loving, talented wife. She’s my best friend and the first person I want to talk to in the morning and the last one I want to talk to at night.
• My awesome family. All of them, immediate and extended. My family is fantastic.
• My great friends. I’m blessed with a large group of great friends who are a lot of fun to be around. I’m looking forward to our Gardner-Olathe football game this Saturday.
• And so much more…

I hope that this day finds you healthy, thankful, and blessed. Thanks especially to those who serve our country overseas and cannot be with their families on this day.

I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.6.5. It seems pretty snappy compared to my previous installations, which seemed to bloat over time. I can’t be sure if 2.6.5 won’t do the same, but for now, it seems pretty fast.

I still haven’t made a decision as to what I’m going to do about shanelife.com, but stay tuned. I will.

Now, I’m going to do my best to leave the house as little as possible over the next few days. I was wondering the other day…is the hermit the arch-nemesis of the hobo?

The Big Bang Theory is one of the best TV shows to hit the airwaves in the last couple seasons. More specifically, Jim Parsons portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Cooper is the best thing to happen to television in a very long time. While How I Met Your Mother is my favorite sitcom on TV, it doesn’t make me actually laugh out loud nearly as much as The Big Bang Theory.

“If I may speak again…Dr. Sheldon Cooper…FOR THE WIN.”

HOWEVER…

The brilliance in the video below showed why HIMYM is still one of the best.

Jennie O is running some commercials spoofing the difficulties with preparing a regular fresh or frozen turkey on Thanksgiving to sell their Oven Ready turkeys. They are both unbearably hilarious and yet really disgusting at the same time. Enjoy:

In their last 20 games, the Herm Edwards-led Kansas City Chiefs have won once. That’s five percent.

What kind of league has the NFL become where not a single person is held responsible for this type of futility? I really wanted the Bills to score again, just to drive home the point that the Chiefs really are as bad as their 1-19 record reflects.

I don’t want to hear about “promise” and “potential”. Because promise and potential doesn’t get beaten 54-31 in Arrowhead Stadium. There are other words that describe teams that get beaten by that margin at home. But I won’t print those here.

Herm Edwards and Carl Peterson should both be fired. Peterson’s horrid decision-making is finally to the point where it is affecting ticket sales, which is the only reason that he’s been around so long. Clark Hunt can no longer ignore the awfulness of the Chiefs when 20,000+ fans walk out of the stadium halfway through the 3rd quarter (and those were the ones that actually showed up).

But I feel like I’m just repeating myself. It’s really getting old. Not that winning a game would change anything other than just extending the pain of the Herm Edwards era by giving us some smidgen of false hope in a coach who couldn’t effectively coach a Pop Warner team to a championship and a General Manager who should be arrested for theft, larceny and the robbery all the hopes and dreams of Chiefs fans in this city.

But I’ve said this before…it’s nothing new.

Our amazing dog had his 8th birthday yesterday. If you haven’t met our dog, you are missing out. He is hilarious. He smells like corn chips, has no hair, loves to snuggle, and is the third member of our family.

He had a pretty low-key birthday, mostly sleeping the day away while I worked from home and Alli did tons of laundry.

Happy Birthday, Dreyfuss.