Tim-bits

Riding off into the sunset

TAhrens — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:13:26 +0000

Idol - Webber

TAhrens — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:05:37 +0000

Why do they do this to me every year?

Broadway tunes = yuck.

1) David C.

2) David A.

3) Syesha

4) Carly

5) Jason

6) Brooke

Who will go: Boy-girl-boy-girl-boy-girl …. Not this week. Brooke’s start-stop-start will cost her and she will be sent home.

Pizza

TAhrens — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:55:03 +0000

I have never met anyone who doesn’t like pizza. I know people who only like cheese pizza or people who will only eat pepperoni pizza, but I have never met anyone who says “no, thanks” to pizza.

I am of the mind that the more toppings, the better. Pile it on, thick. I love all of the meats (except anchovies) but you can fill it up with some green peppers and mushrooms. I am not a fan of onions or olives, but I am not a picker; if they are there, I will eat them.

I prefer restaurant pizza to frozen pizza, obviously, but I can live with a good Tombstone. For the money, Jack’s is also OK. On oddity with me is that I don’t like frozen pizza in a box. I know, I am weird.

In the Kankakee area, I do have my favorite pizza places.

Aurelio’s is the best overall, but Nancy’s stuffed is sent from heaven. I won free pizza for a year from Nancy’s last year, which amounted to 12 free pizzas. Nice!

Dale’s Pizza is my wildcard pick. It is really tasty with a cold Budweiser product.

The typical delivery joints — Domino’s, Papa John’s — will due in a pinch. When I was in college in Champaign, Pizza World was the place for cheap delivery. That bested Domino’s by light years. I don’t think it exists anymore, probably because I graduated and their sales dropped.

Talk to me, readers. What do you like on your pizza? What are your favorite brands and pizza restaurants? Do you like Hawaiian pizza (pineapple and bacon)?

Idol — Just give it to Cook

TAhrens — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:58:28 +0000

No, not Kristy Lee.

If David Cook doesn’t win American Idol, then something is really flawed.

The guy took a syrupy Mariah Carey tune and turned into, dare I say, a masterpiece. It was the best performance I have ever seen/heard on American Idol. (Cook has most of the other ones as well.)

Actually, my hope is that he is voted off tonight so his CD will come out sooner. (Melissa G. also brings up a good point that if he wins, they may make him do a pop CD. I think whoever produces (is it still Clive Davis?) will be smarter than that.)

Anway, here are the rankings:

1) David C.

2) David A.

3) Carly

4) Jason

5) Syesha

6) Kristy Lee

7) Brooke

Who will go: Remember our boy-girl, boy-girl theme. Remember Michael Johns went last week. Remember Michael is a boy. Remember Carly has unjustly shown up in the bottom three lately. Remember there is some backlash because she’s already had a recording contract. Remember her sexy Irish accent, because unfortunately, it will be the last time we hear it on Idol. Carly is going home, unjustly so when she should be in the top three.

Happy Birthday, Jacyl!

TAhrens — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:48:11 +0000

Be sure to click on over to Diet Pop Culture to wish Jaclyn a happy birthday.

My gender gap cohort hits the big 4-0 this Monday (if it were 2023). Happy Birthday, Jaclyn!!!!
Last year, a group of us went out, threw darts and emptied a keg or three in her honor. I believe I hit stage 3. (Read this for more on that). Jaclyn was well into stage 4.

While the group will be smaller this time, I still vow to do my part on the keg.

Not wanting to sound like an old man, but I remember those good old days when birthdays meant something. I remember being very happy at 21 and depressed at 29.

I didn’t do too badly on No. 30. Of course, two months later I had a heart attack, so that didn’t sit too well, but it did make No. 31 all the happier.

In February, I hit 39 and handled it far better than I handled 29. Maybe I am more grateful. I have a beautiful wife, three great kids at home, one angel in heaven, a mom in good health, an older brother who finally is taking better care of himself, three hounds and a semi-psychotic cat.

What more could I want?

Idol — Who should go?

TAhrens — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:09:11 +0000

I often ask viewers of American Idol how they vote following Tuesday’s show.

Do they vote for their favorite? Do they vote on what they feel is the best performance of the week? Do they vote against performers?

Most seem to vote for their favorites and not really on the performances at all.

For example, the week David Archuleta stumbled with the lyrics to “We Can Work It Out,” shouldn’t he have, at the very least, been in the bottom three? Shouldn’t he have been punished a little? Even the judges weren’t harsh on the lad.

That being said, I have no idea who should go home. Kristy Lee is the least talented but she’s had a couple of good weeks in a row. It would be sad to see her go after a good showing, when she survived all of those poorer showings.

Bottom three: Kristy Lee, Jason and Syesha — just because they have all spent time there.

Who should go: Kristy Lee is the least talented so logically, she should go.

Who will go: Unlike last year’s Idol Gives Back, someone will be sent home. The pattern is boy, girl, boy, girl and the boy’s turn is now up. Jason will be sent home, although I did enjoy his Hawaiian version of “Over the Rainbow.”

Idol - Hello, Dolly

TAhrens — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:12:48 +0000

Dolly Parton proved to be a good mentor and good theme for last night’s American Idol.

No one really smacked a home run but there were plenty of doubles and triples.

Michael was the winner of the night but Carly, David C. and David A. were also quite good.

We’ll rank them this way this week:

1) Michael

2) Carly

3) David C.

4) David A.

5) Syesha

6) Brooke

7) Jason

Kristy Lee

9) Ramiele

Who should go: Kristy Lee has almost always been the one that should go but the last two weeks, she has been bearable. Ramiele has been consistently just average, so she should be the one to go.

Who will go: David H., Amanda, Chikezie — Boy, girl, boy … Seems like we have a pattern here.

The bottom three have had some surprises in the past few weeks (Carly, Syesha and Jason) so there’s no reason to think that something surprising won’t happen.

I expect Ramiele, Syesha and Jason to be the bottom three (Kristy seems to be gaining steam) and in an upset, Syesha will be voted off, keeping the pattern.

Joyous return

TAhrens — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:22:07 +0000

Did you miss me?

Unlike Diet Pop Culture’s esteemed blogger, your truly wasn’t bright enough to remember to let his loyal readers know he was on vacation and wouldn’t be blogging last week.

I was actually in town, but we stayed a few nights at the Hilton while our bathroom was remodeled. It looks great! If anyone ever needs a good remodeler/drywaller/handy man, I got a good one for you. Just let me know.

American Idol

We lost Chikezie on American Idol, unjustly so, in my opinion. Chikezie didn’t have much of a chance of winning but deserved top 7 standing.

Ryan Seacrest said Dolly Parton was the mentor this week, so I am assuming country music is on the table. What will they sing? Can David Cook keep up his pace? He is flying high above the others at this point.

Here are the current rankings:

1) David C.

2) David A.

3) Brooke

4) Michael

5) Carly
6) Syesha

7) Jason

Kristy Lee

9) Ramiele

Out of the mouth of babes

The Ahrens twins each get a gold star for this one. While watching “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?,” this question came up in geography —”What is the capital of Michigan?”

In unison, Tyra and Tyrece shouted “M!”

Idol - Top 11

TAhrens — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:41:10 +0000

Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to sing the Beatles again.

The performances lacked the zip of last week’s show.

Here are the rankings, from best to worst:

1) David C.

2) Syesha

3) David A.

4) Amanda

5) Carly

6) Chikezie

7) Brooke

Jason

9) Michael

10) Ramiele

11) Kristy Lee

Who will go: Last week was a bit of a shocker but I am confident that there are still too many Cooks in the Idol kitchen. Kristy Lee will go home.

Math frustrations

TAhrens — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:50:58 +0000

For whatever reason, math has always come easy to me.

As a kid, I was really into baseball and that helped with figuring decimals and adding, problem solving, etc. I wasn’t Einstein but I didn’t struggle with math at all.

When something comes easy, it makes it difficult to teach. At least, that’s what I’m finding out with my third graders. Both Tyrece and Tyra struggle with the basic concepts of math, especially as it pertains to money and time, which are totally foreign concepts to them.

Each can look at a clock and tell me what time it is. But if I ask what time will it be in 20 minutes, neither has a clue how to figure it out. It’s basically the same with money.

Tyrece scores higher in math, but when I think to my third-grade years with my beloved teacher Mrs. Shaw, I just don’t see that he is where he needs to be.

Tyra, on the other hand, is the greater source of frustration. She can add three-digit numbers, but that’s about it. Subtraction is hit or miss. She can do some multiplying, but basically, it’s a deer-in-the-headlights look when I ask math questions.

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On Monday, we had the biggest explosion in the house since the broken window incident of 2005, which happened the day I received my earnings from winning my fantasy baseball league. I went from buying fun things to buying a new window that my son broke while doing flips on the bed.

She started a sheet of 15 problems with dimensions (inches into feet, feet into yards, etc.). After 45 minutes, she brought me her work and each problem was wrong. Not just regular wrong, mind you, but way wrong, not-even-close wrong.

An hour later, I walked her through the first 12 problems. It was 6 p.m. and I had made arrangements to speak to a basketball player regarding a story for the next day, so I told her to try to get the final three on her own and after my call, I would check them and help.

I deliberately left the answer sheet by the microwave. The teacher sends it home but it’s third-grade math and I never use it. After I unloaded her book bag, I put it face down. I was hoping I was wrong, but I had suspicions.

I went upstairs to make my call in peace and as I finished up, here came Tyra up the stairs. She handed me the sheet, and the final three had the correct answers. I was pretty sure what happened but I dangled the rope out a little more.

“All right, Tyra. Good job. You got all of those correct.” She smiled, proud of her work.
I continued: “Let’s go downstairs so I can see how you did it on the scratch paper.”

Her smile left quickly. “I didn’t do it that way. I …” She stopped, not knowing what to say.

Back in the kitchen, she ran through a myriad of ways that she got the correct answer, culminating in “I just remembered the answer from school.”

I offered to let her show me the work and she said she couldn’t because she just remembered the answer. I took the homework away and asked her the first question she did on her own — How many inches are there in 7 1/2 feet?

Nothing, but a very attitude-filled “I told you: We DID IT at school.”

I exploded, demanding she tell me that she cheated. She refused, cold-staring me right in the face and saying she didn’t. Every point I made that I knew she cheated, including the fact that the answer sheet was now right-side up, brought even more defiance.

She was sent to bed right after supper (at 7 p.m.) and I opened the door every five minutes and asked her if she cheated. Finally at 8, she admitted it.

I think she will be grounded until high school graduation. Until then, I am confined to nine more years of frustrating math problems.