I hate it when that happens!

Have you ever been watching a show, and one of the actors looks so familiar, but you just can't place him? This happens to me a lot. I'm much better at faces than I am names. (This is not a great attribute for someone getting a history degree, as I did in my pre-children days. History is stocked with many, many more names than it has faces to go with them.)

This used to drive me crazy. What had I seen her in before? It would haunt me for days, like something left undone on my to-do list. Clean the bathroom: check! Go grocery shopping: check! Figure out who that gal was on the movie we rented the other night: ARG!

But a few years ago I discovered this site: The Internet Movie Database. The name is misleading, because they also have television shows and actors on there as well. In this database, movies (or shows) and actors, producers, directors, etc. are cross-referenced. This has saved me from the perpetual state of what-have-I-seen-him-in-before-ness.

Let's say you've seen the guy in the latest Star Trek movie before but can't place him (I haven't seen this movie yet, but am trying to figure out when I can before I leave town for Thanksgiving!). You can look up "Star Trek" on the imdb site, and click on the 2009 movie. This will take you to the page for that movie. If you scroll down to the characters, you can find the list of actors and the characters they portrayed. Click on the actor you are trying to place and you'll see the list of everything he's been in. The guy that plays the young James T. Kirk? His name is Chris Pine, and he starred in... Princess Diaries 2! Aha!

Don't you just love the internet? Anything that helps relieve my mental anguish over puzzles I can't solve is tops in my book. So next time you are stumped, you know where to look.

The Movie We Didn't Finish

Last night Kelly and I sat down to watch a movie after the kids went to bed. We have Blockbuster's version of Netflix, so we had an action movie, a family movie, and a comedy that a few people had told us was very funny. We were both in a mood for a comedy, so we put in Napoleon Dynamite.

We watched all of about 30-40 minutes of it. While a couple of things sparked a humorous snort - like the guy's trapper keeper, remember those? - it was soooo not funny. In fact, we were both just annoyed. Sorry, whoever told us that was a funny movie. Napoleon is annoying. We just didn't get what was supposed to be funny or where this movie was going. My theory is that people who think this is funny also think Seinfeld was funny. We never liked Seinfeld.

So while I appreciate that there are vastly different kinds of humor and that different people like different things (eg. Kelly likes Mr. Bean and I can't stand him!), Kelly and I have two words for this particular movie:

(snap, snap) Hated It!

Anniversary

On our tenth anniversary, Kelly surprised me by taking me to Ruth's Chris Steak House. Even though we had never paid that much for a meal before, it was soooo good! We loved it and decided then and there to come back on our 15th anniversary.

So for the past couple of months we have been talking about going back to Ruth's Chris. So that's what we did. If you've never been there, you are sure missing out! Kelly had made a reservation, so when we told them who we were, the hostess replied, "Oh, happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. smith. Right this way." She then scattered rose petals on our table.

The hostess came over and greeted us by name every time. We started of with an appetizer of calamari in a sweet and spicy Thai sauce. Yum! Then we had a salad, followed by the main dish. I had a petite sirloin, while Kelly had two smaller petite sirloins topped with shrimp. The shrimp were so large he shared a couple with me. I paired this with a really good Riesling. (Yes I know you aren't supposed to do a white wine with steak, but I'm not big on red wines and I love Riesling!) We topped it off with a chocolate chunk bread pudding. I didn't think I liked bread pudding, but this stuff was wonderful.

Not only was the food good, but the service was unparalleled and so completely spoiling. They even used a little metal scraper thing to clean off the white tablecloth between courses. Just save up before going - I refuse to publish how much dinner was, but we could've bought enough groceries to feed the whole family for a couple of weeks! Good thing we only go every five years...

We went with very full tummies across the highway to see The Dark Knight. The best movie either of us had seen in a while. I can see now why there is Oscar buzz for Heath Ledger. His character was disturbing, eerie, all those things. The only downside was the casting for "Rachel." Maggie Gyllenhaal was totally wrong. She was too bubbly and not nearly as sophisticated or complex as the part was supposed to be. But it was such a great movie, that it didn't matter too much.

Well, I doubt this topped last year's anniversary announcement, but we still had a great time.

I feel like I'm repeating myself

If I say that almost constant headaches have kept me from posting much this week, will I sound like a broken record? Wait, no one even has records anymore - in fact, my kids don't even know what they are - so do we have an equivalent modern expression for this? Anyway, I just haven't felt up to being very creative this week.

My grandfather's health continues to decline. They did determine this week that he is suffering from congestive heart failure. His blood pressure stays dangerously low and the fluid build up in his body is not going down. They altered his medicine last week, and told my grandmother and mother to call them back if he wasn't better by Monday. He's not getting better, so I am afraid he might have to be admitted this week. But if there is nothing they can do for him, I'm sure he'd rather stay home. I can't imagine how hard this is on my grandmother and mother. But I'm really proud of how my mom has stepped in to be there for them. If he continues to do so poorly, I'll probably be making another trip to Abilene soon.

School went reasonably well this week, especially considering the way I felt. This coming week we'll pick up where we left off in May. We'll talk about Rome falling and its aftermath. The question is around here, will it be raining while we are studying again this week? We have gotten several more inches over the last few days, though the sun is shining as I write. I'm convinced this must be the wettest and coolest summer on record in San Antonio, but I don't have statistics to bear me out on this.

If you know me at all very much, you know I love to read. I usually have 3-4 books I am reading at any one time, as well as one on tape/CD in the stereo in the workout room. (This is also why I don't keep up with listing my current reads - I'd have to change it several times a week.) I also tend to get on "kicks" - I'll read a book by a new author and then, if I like it, proceed to read all the books by that author I can lay my hands on. However, ever so often, I go back to some old favorites. Right now I'm on a Jane Austen kick. I love the subtle wit, dry humor, and - I'll admit it - the downright romance of an Austen novel. So if you need a good escape, read one. Or better yet listen to one or tape or CD. I love the British voices they always get to narrate them. They've made some pretty good movies out of some of them as well...

Well, gotta go, I have a copy of Emma I'm going to watch...

The Surprise

Actually, it was a double surprise as I'll explain. The surprise I had planned was to take all the girls to see an early showing (as in 9:30 am.) of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Public schools are still in session here, so I figured that this early, the theater would be less crowded. And I was right about that. It was far less than half full.

My friend Aubrey offered to keep Lauryn for us, so that was the double surprise. I am very grateful, as the movie turned out to be longer (168 minutes) than I thought. Not sure how that wiggly girl would have done. So thank you, Aubrey!

My girls really liked the movie. I haven't decided what I think of it. It was so different than I expected, that I am still mulling it over. I think I may have to see it again just to catch everything and really decide. :) But it has everything you'd expect from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie: lots of fighting, some explosions, visual effects, a little romance, and a little bit of the macabre. And I won't say anymore, except that the ending was unexpected, at least for me.