Jim Henson's Birthday

Today's post is not about a National holiday... not even a fake internet one. Or one invented by Halmark or even one of those random 'appreciation' days you see every now and then. No, today is about celebrating the birthday of one of the most amazing men the 20th Century had to offer.

Jim Henson (wiki!) is best known as the creator of the Muppets and the voice and the hand behind Kermit the Frog. His contributions to modern pop culture and the influence he had on several generations of children are undeniable. His work and his creations have endured since their inceptions, and nothing to think of the scope of his legacy is staggering.

As an example of his status as legendary in the TV and film making industry, it's appropriate to point out the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are three people who are double credited there; Walt Disney as himself and Micky Mouse, Mel Blanc as himself and Bugs Bunny... and Jim Henson, as himself and Kermit. That's some pretty big company to keep.

To say he effected a major influence on my life is an understatement. I grew up with Sesame Street, which in turn spawned the Muppet Show, which in my opinion is still the best verity show ever aired on television. A list of my personal heroes includes The Great Gonzo... towards the top. Fraggle Rock was one of my favorite shows as a child, and I've every recent Muppet movie in the theater on opening weekend.

At Henson's memorial service, no one wore black, as per his request. The grievers were given butterflies on puppeteer's rods to wave, and there were more musical numbers than you' expect to see at a funeral. I'll leave you here with two videos in Mr. Henson's honor.

We all still miss you Jim, but we know you're smiling on us from somewhere, watching over all of our Muppet needs. Thank you.

Some of Jim's favorite songs, as preformed by his friends...

And the memorial given by the guy who worked with and knew Jim better than almost anyone... Frank Oz.

See you all next time!

National Cheeseburger Day

I was totally going to do a big thing with cheeseburgers and eating them and cooking them and generally being awesome today. I really was.

Thing is, every Monday I get together with some buddies out Main Street Pub on West Main Street, and we partake of their burger baskets and have a jolly old time goofing around on Monday evening after work. So I really don't feel like eating or cooking another cheeseburger today.

Instead, I'm having a turkey club for dinner. It has bacon on it, and it is delicious.

See you tomorrow for the biggest holiday in all of September!

International Video Games Day and Chocolate Milkshake Day

A double celebration today! And two of my favorite things to boot!

It's no secret I'm a video game lover. I play 'em all, from RPGs to FPSs to side scrollers to MMOs. If you have no idea what any of that means, don't worry. You're probably better off.

To celebrate the video game portion of today, I put a little time into my World of Warcraft account. I played my Forsaken Rogue...

That's right... he sneaks up on people and hits 'em with a SHOVEL. 

 ...and I finished off a zone or two in pursuit of the Loremaster Achievement with my Tauren Paladin.

Tauren Paladin... Holy Cow! GET IT? HAHAHA... I'm not actually funny, am I?

I also stopped by my good buddy Chad's house after work and he and his boys joined me for some Mario Cart on the Wii.

Don't bug us! This is a very important race!

It was pretty close the whole time. Caleb (the one in the green shirt) is an expert Mario Cart player. Logan (the other little guy) isn't half bad himself, and Chad? Dude can whoop me any day of the week. I'm more of a Need For Speed kind of racer myself, but whatever.

I'm really only putting this picture in because it highlights my bald spot really well and I know you like to laugh at that.

Chad ended up taking first overall (4 races) and Caleb took a close second. I finished up with 3rd and Logan wasn't far behind. It was touch and go there for a second whether Caleb would pull the win out or if his Dad would retain his championship crown...

Caleb bites his lip when he's concentrating. 

... but Chad managed to win by a few points, proving the student had not become the master... yet.

After video games, Chad and I took a trip out to Stake and Shake (the boys didn't come because it's a school night...) and ordered up some big fancy chocolate shakes.

That one in front of Chad there? Campfire S'more Shake!

We chatted about the merits of a good milkshake while we sucked 'em down. We decided that the best shakes were the ones that were thick, but not so thick that you couldn't drink them with a straw.

That one in front of me? Triple Chocolate Fudge

It only took us about 15 minutes (and a little bit of brain freeze) to finish the shakes off. They were delicious, so mad props to Stake and Shake for that. We left with our bellies full of icy goodness, and were on our way home.

We didn't mess around. Those shakes were GONE, son...

All in all, a good day well spent. Hopefully I'll see you Friday for another desert-like treat and another celebration! Until then, have a wonderful day!

National Beheading Day

Hey everyone! First video blog EVER!

I was a little nervous. Chad (the guy behind the camera) didn't help with his whooping and hollering. Still, we had fun, and we beheaded the crap out of our guy.

See you for the next one!

PS - Thanks to Chad anyway... we had a ton of fun!

September

Whew! August is over, which means all that time we spent at the childcare center I work at changing over from a summer program to a school-year program is done! I can finally get back to updating this sucker again!

We missed some good ones in the past few weeks... Bad Poetry Day and Toasted Marshmallow Day were supposed to be up here, but life gets in the way sometimes. I'll get them next year.

September starts a whole slew of days I want to write about. Today, the 1st is Emma M. Nutt Day, and celebrates the first American woman telephone operator... I don't have much else to say about that. I guess I could mention that my Great Great Aunt Sesta (I think that's the right number of greats...) was one of the first in Michigan to help organize and set up the infrastructural for the telephone system here, so I do have a kinda-sorta link to this day.

More importantly, you should see more of me this month. There are several month-long observances that I'll be trying out as well. This is Self Improvement Month, so expect a few updates about me finally trying to get in shape again (I've gotten a little thick about the middle if you know what I mean) and maybe even a few about me eating broccoli. You know how when you're a kid, they tell you, "Oh, just try it. You'll love it when you're older." Yeah, never happened for me and broccoli. We're arch enemies to this day.

Also this month we see Honey Month, Classic Music Month, Fall Hat Month, Chicken Month, and National Courtesy Month, among others. I'll see what I can do about some of those as well.

As of right now, expect to hear from me tomorrow for National Beheading Day. No, really, that's a thing.

I'll end this post with a little Classic Music for you to start this month off right!