Merry Christmas..Happy New Year

Well this has been one crazy Christmas for sure. Mary Hannah Pule born November 29th really added to the fun. I would like to start by saying that I love Christmas. I think it is the best holiday. No other holiday involves so much preparation and anticipation. From baking cookies to buying presents, you really are busy for a solid two weeks. Everything gets put on hold for a little bit. That being said, I hate everyone in the world when it comes to shopping. People are so crazy. We went to this strip mall on Christmas Eve thinking it would be dead, but noooo. It was so busy. People really wait until the day before Christmas to buy there gift. Now I have heard that some people love doing this...They are insane. I also went to wallgreens Christmas Eve night to get some beer and there was a huge line of people buying shitty wallgreens gifts. "Wow, thanks for the sunbeam toaster" But I regress. I have always loved Christmas but now that jack is getting a little older, it has been even more fun. I am working on a couple Videos of the occasion that I will post in the near future. So Christmas Eve we went over to Johanna's parents house. This year they went all out, tree, lights, homemade pies, it was pretty sweet. We ended the evening with wrapping all of Jack's gifts, which is fun to me because I really feel like a dad when i get to do it. It has only been twice so far but both times have been exciting.

Christmas day came and Jack walked up to all his presents and went straight for my video camera tripod that was next to the tree. He realized after we opened one gift that all these were for him. He then started ripping open all the fun. I always make sure that I am at home on Christmas day. I would not want to go anywhere. I lay out a nice spread of goodies to eat and then I make Christmas dinner. I have done this for years, even before the kids.This year I did the traditional Christmas roast. It came out great and the gravy was incredible. I am a huge proponent of the Christmas roast. I would never make a turkey again. Turkey is for thanksgiving. Ham is for Easter and Christmas is full of options. I have always wanted to do a Christmas goose. After everyone was drunk on delicious gravy we ate sweets and visited, Jack went to bed and slowly everyone went to sleep, leaving me alone drinking cheap beer and watching 15 or 20 minutes from a few different Christmas movies. I do not think I would have it any other way. Now New Years is upon us. Ahh New Years. After all the Christmas craziness I could give two shits about New Years. Never have. Most of the time I am in bed before midnight, and now that we have another little exhausting baby, I am certain of it. Goodnight. See you next year.

Mary Hannah Pule

WOW!!!

                         New baby girl!!!

     We did it again. You can thank me later. Mary Hannah Pule was born November 29th and 10:15 am. At a big 9 lbs 8oz I must add. I made a video of the crazy experience which is found below. It was really insane. Started off well and everything in the end turned out ok. Johanna was very sad because Mary was born a C section. Then after that she had a high jaundice level. My son Jack also had this high jaundice level. The "doctors" say that it can be hereditary, weird. They also said that they have no idea what makes certain people be more likely to have a higher count. They spit out some junk about blood types and genetics, whatever. Oh and doctors, what a bunch of quacks. The hospital we were at was a training hospital for them, so every couple hours we have some student coming in and acting like they are a doctor. When my daughter was on the lights for her high jaundice every "doctor" that came in said the same stupid thing. "well these lights will take that jaundice level down...because of the UV lights." Well yeah no duh stupid doctor guy. Why would she be on them? It was silly. So we talked to about 20 different people about the same shit. Sometimes people would come in and just start talking about the baby, and we would have to stop and say, "who are you?" I guess they were trying to make us feel better. One "doctor" came in and talked to us for 45 minutes about his newborn baby at home. WHAT!!! "GET OUT OF HERE < WE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP DUMB ASS"

    Besides all that silly nonsense we have a beautiful new baby girl, the first Pule girl that anyone knows of. She is doing great and eating well and sleeping well. Jack was a little weird when she first got home, but now he is very sweet to her. He gives her little kisses, and puts blankets on her. We can already tell that he is going to be a great big brother. I can not wait until they get older and start playing and fighting with each other. The next 18 years are going to be crazy. We went into the hospital when it was thanksgiving and we came out Christmas. Lots of busy things to do, cookies, presents, trees, lights, drinking. Everything that the season is about. Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for us.

Somewhat Obscure Childhood Movies part 1

This is part one of Somewhat Obscure Childhood Movies. We watched a lot of movies growing up, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, E.T., Star Wars, etc.. These are movies of a different caliber if you will. Not bad by any standard...well some are bad, but all I watched many many times as a child. I know some were just rentals and some were taped off of TV. The Disney ones were shown on the Magical World of Disney, which I miss very much. All in all these movies remind me of being a kid. I would like to know if anyone has seen these or even better, what are some of your somewhat obscure childhood movies?

The Journey of Natty Gann is a 1985 American film. Set in 1935, the movie tells the story of a young woman, Natty Gann (Meredith Salenger). Out of work because of Depression-era unemployment, Natty's father (Ray Wise) travels from Chicago to the state of Washington to find work in the timber industry, leaving tomboyish Natty behind. Having no mother, Natty runs away to find her father on her own, embarking on a cross-country journey. Along the way she is befriended by a wolf who travels with her for much of her voyage, has a brief, innocent romance with another young traveler (John Cusack), and encounters various obstacles that test her courage, perseverance, and ingenuity. The wolf-dog, Jed, who portrays the wolf befriended by Natty, later appeared as the title animal in White Fang. He also appeared as the first form taken by the alien creature in The Thing.

Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema. Featuring only children. This film was Parker's feature-length directorial debut and introduced actor Scott Baio as well. It also featured Jodie Foster near the beginning of her transition from television child star to award-winning film actress. Foster was awarded two BAFTAs. The "splurge guns" proved to be problematic. After initial experiments with cream-filled wax balls proved painful, Parker decided to abandon the idea of filming the guns directly. Instead, the guns fired ping-pong balls, and a fast cut to a victim being pelted with "splurge" was used to convey the impression of the rapid-firing guns.

Cloak & Dagger is a 1984 film directed by Richard Franklin starring Henry Thomas, Dabney Coleman and Michael Murphy. It is a remake of the 1949 film The Window. 11-year-old Davey, whose mother is dead and whose father doesn't spend nearly enough time with him. So the boy loses himself in video games--and even has an imaginary friend, a super-resourceful secret agent. When he comes into possession of a spy group's secret plans, and winds up on the run from them, he must learn to rely on himself and his imaginary pal to save his skin. But, in the end, Dad proves to be his real hero. Critical to the movie's plot is an Atari video game called Cloak & Dagger. The game was under development using the title Agent X when the movie producers and Atari learned of each others' projects and decided to cooperate.

Explorers is a 1985 family-oriented science-fiction fantasy film written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante. It was the first feature film for both River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke.The film did not do well at the box office, owing in large part to being released on the same weekend that the Live Aid concert occurred. It has gained a cult following among fans of Dante's work, as well as science fiction fans and those who feel it is an overall family friendly movie.This film blends some elements of young explorers, as similarly portrayed in films like E.T. and The Goonies with those of classic sci-fi films, as three young friends are drawn into a space fantasy adventure. The film's protagonists are three neighborhood kids, Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke), Wolfgang Müller (River Phoenix), and Darren Woods (Jason Presson).