StumpTown Blog

Out of nowhere, I am going to San Diego this week. Every year my oldest and bestest friend (not including the artist formerly known as StumpTown's wife, of course) meet in San Francisco to see a couple Giants games. This year we were having trouble getting something scheduled and then out of nowhere he has some extra travel budget he has to spend or lose (he visits colleges as part of his job as a college counselor at a super posh prep school in LA), and needs to visit some of the schools in San Diego and wouldn't you know it, the Giants just happen to be in town this weekend. So, a quick frequent flyer free ticket later and I'm hitting the road, or air, or whatever. I will fly out tomorrow and come back Sunday. We should get to see a couple games and I'll be able to catch up with some other friends from college along the way. Should be great. So, I may not be able to post anything new here the rest of the week, though I am taking a laptop with me and have high ho...

I had big plans for another post today, but my actual job got in the way. Instead I posted a review for the movie I saw last night: "Thank You for Smoking." It's a good one and the full review is now posted on StumpTown Entertainment. Check it out. One other thought before I go. Tom Hanks' mullet in the Da Vinci Code got me thinking. If so many "rednecks" are wearing mullets these days, are they still rednecks? I mean doesn't that hair protect the back of the neck and keep it lilly white? I wonder what Descartes would say about this? Probably something like: "huh?"

I have posted two new movie reviews on my Entertainment blog . One is for the excellent Memoirs of a Geisha and the other is for the awful Da Vinci Code. You can find those and my previous movie reviews in my new blog along with posts explaining the movie review template and my movie rating scale.

My grandparents were long-time members of the Church of Christ. My parents both grew up in the CofC. My wife and I are both B&R (born and raised). Both my father and father-in-law are Elders in the Church, my Dad is a full time minister and his Dad was a long-time preacher as well. What does this all mean? Well, in addition to it providing me with a profound, powerful and life-saving heritage of faith and relationship with God, it has also left me with generations of wisdom and knowledge and a lifetime of experience in one critical area of Church life: the church potluck. When I finally put my “World Famous” Food Rules in book form, there will be at least one full chapter on the culinary phenomenon that is Church of Christ Potlucks. Maybe all church potlucks are this way, but I only know what I know so I’ll just talk about that until I feel like talking about something I don’t know at which time I will charge on undeterred by my ignorance. For the uninitiated that might be r...

Here are some additional rules and thoughts which build on previous posts. New Food Rules: 1. No Mexican food for breakfast. No breakfast burritos or tacos, no salsa before 11:30am and never, ever refried beans in the morning. I am going to request that my Church make it a part of their annual mission trip down to Mexico to bring those poor people some better breakfast food. Think of all they could be as a nation with a good apple fritter, little white powdered donuts and mountain dew (my law school breakfast), Krispy Kremes (you can tell I’m a health nut), eggs and sausage not wrapped in a flour shell clearly designed for pm meals, or even a sausage/egg McGriddle sandwich. Oh the humanity!!!! 2. Do not allow vegetables to masquerade as desert. No carrot cake. Carrot cake? Really? Why not turnip pastries or beet filled donuts. Zucchini bread is pushing it, but we’ll let it slide because I have such good memories of my mom’s zucchini bread. Besides everyone knows that the only reason ca...

I haven't had time to post lately which probably upsets me more than you, but I thought I would check in to assure you I haven't just been kidnapped or anything. Just been working trying to do husband and dad stuff, which doesn't really include spending yet more time at the computer. But look at these boys. How can you blame me? Anyway, since I still don't have time to do a real post, here's what's coming as soon as I have some more time: I'm going to be moving my movie reviews to a new blog set up just for movie reviews and my thoughts on TV shows and the entertainment world in general. I will have a link from this page for your convenience. I will try to get new reviews on there as soon as possible which will no doubt include Memoirs of a Geisha which my lovely wife is anxious to see me admit I watched and enjoyed. I have been thinking about doing this for a while, but then fellow blogger and buddy Mike Lewis found a great blog template for me that put m...

1. This past weekend we finally took the training wheels off Gibson’s bike and I spent some time running breathlessly behind him up and down the promenade at Seaside doing my best to dodge dog-walkers and hit skateboarders. It was an overdue lesson, but it was still one of those fun parent moments that you know is coming the moment you have kids and when it gets here, you think “wow, I’m a Dad, I can’t believe it and why does running behind this bike make me so out of breath? Man I’m fat.” My Dad told me yesterday that “in Europe” when teaching kids how to ride bikes, they don’t use training wheels which I’m convinced teach you nothing but how to lean heavily to one side while riding a bike, a skill that doesn’t translate well once the training wheels are off. Instead, they remove the pedals from the bike and teach the kids to walk and then kick and coast themselves along on bikes. Viva!!! That is brilliant. Why has this been kept a secret from Americans? It makes much more sense as it...

The appetite is a funny thing. When we get hungry, we tend to lose our senses and do things no sane or rational person would do. This is how the first Kiwi was eaten as well as how we discovered that the roots of certain plants were actually better than the leaves. Of course it is also what got Jacob in trouble with his brother Esau and what leads to thousands of ruined meals every day. After making up some research, it showed that 1 in 3 people have culinary regret within moments after their food is prepared or served. As a public service, I am offering my “World Famous Food Rules.” These rules are not here to limit your creativity, but to help you in moments where the flesh is so willing that the mind is weak. When your growling stomach begins to get the better of you, remember these simple rules. This not the complete list by any means and as further research is manufactured, more rules may result and will be posted here. I also invite you to submit your own suggested additi...

First, I have added a couple new links to blogs operated by friends of mine. If you know Randy and Beth or Tony and Jennifer, there is great information about their family and their lives. If you don't know them, they are still fun blogs to check out....so check 'em out. Second, I'm putting together a post on my world famous food rules. And by "world famous" I mean the same thing that it means with regard to Chili or Clam Chowder on half the menus in America...i.e., not famous at all. Anyway, if you have rules of your own for the food you eat, be ready to add to the list. Third, here are a few things I noticed on my recent road trip to Sacramento, CA to see my brothers and sister-in-law and niece and nephew. 1. Someone has secretly connected the button that sets my cruise control to the brake lights of every other car on the road. Without fail when I set my cruise control, the car in front of me brakes. This can not be coincidence. For lack of a better sus...

Generally, I like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent guy. Whether you are or not, try thinking of yourself that way and I bet you like it too. But there are certain times in life when I feel particularly stupid. For no good reason, I thought I would share them with you. This will probably become a running list for this blog as new ones come up with alarming frequency and I would invite you to add to the list in the comments section. 1. When I drive by a flag at half-mast and have no idea what we’re mourning. 2. When I try to spell the word restaurant. I can just never remember where the “au” comes. 3. When I have to sing the alphabet song to remember the order of letters 4. When I go on auto-pilot and drive halfway to work before I realize it is Saturday and I was just going to the grocery store 5. When I realize how few world leaders I could name 6. When I play basket...

I loved the first two X-Men movies, but after seeing the last one and knowing it was the last of the franchise, I had a bit of relief like you have when you’ve watched the starting pitcher dominate a close game and then give up a hit and a walk and then the manager comes to get him. You think, whew, let’s not let this poor kid pitch his way out of a great game. X-Men 3 wasn’t terrible by any stretch, but it was enough worse than the first two to make you relieved this trend wasn’t going to be allowed to continue to the point the whole franchise is tainted. For the rest of this review, I’m going to switch up the movie review format I’ve been using. The first form is thorough, but a bit dry and technical. I’m only going to address some of the technical aspects of movie making if they really stand out and I’m going to try to get to what really matters when you watch a movie. Feel free to comment on the form if you like it better or like the earlier form better or just have any suggestions...

That big book on your shelf that only comes down to settle an argument now and then, written by that Webster fellow, defines the word "epiphany" as “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.” The word is generally associated with some sort of religious or spiritual revelation or enlightenment. It’s a very fancy word describing very heady stuff. I need a word like that, but if “epiphany” is a $3,000 suit, I need a good pair of jeans. Just something less fancy and dramatic. You see, there are times when you discover something (a product, an idea, a word, an activity, etc.) that is just so good, you find yourself thinking, “where has this been all my life?” Now if that thing is reading the Gospels for the first time, you might call that an epiphany. But if that thing is a blue-tooth head-set for your celly (one of my least favorite slang terms …that could be a whole blog right there where we could discus “the O.C”, pronounc...

Hello all. I'm back from California and a basketball camp for adults (both of which will hopefully be the topics of upcoming blog posts) and ready to get back to blogging. I thought I would start off with my long standing frustration with how society views tipping. Enjoy. Unless you think you have underpaid or the person serving you has done something well beyond their job description,….don’t tip. Don’t do it. Don’t give in to the pressure society puts on you to protect the owners of service related businesses to pay slave wages while you are “required” to not only pay for the service or product, but also pay an additional voluntary tax. It’s madness I tell you and it must stop. I know, your first thought is “this Stump guy is one cheap (expletive)”. I doubt you’re really thinking “expletive”, but sometimes I just can’t print the foul stuff you think. Anyway, basically, you are right. I can be cheap. I don’t like to pay to heat my house. I don’t like paying for sports tickets after...

The StumpTown family is headed down to Sacramento to see the uncles, aunt and cousins this next week, so I don't know if there will be any more posts until we return. When I get back, look for posts on: Tipping The best paper towels in the world Travel stories A new form for movie reviews starting with the review of the new X-Men movie Trial stories from my current asbestos trial Things we know because of TV and the Movies And whatever else comes to mind that I need to share, so make sure to check back soon.