4th of July Weekend

The 4th of July has morphed into an all-out weekend, especially this year thanks to the 4th falling on a Friday.

I was let out of work on Thursday and had a softball game at 6:30. I wasn't able to play because I also had a basketball game at 7:45, so I would have had to leave early. The softball team fell, but apparently the women on the team were carrying the men.

I am starting to get the feeling that our basketball team is pretty good. On Thursday we played Peabody's - or the team from Chateaugay. They have been a powerhouse in our league for awhile now, but we actually controlled the game from the opening tip. I kept waiting for them to take the lead - but it never happened.

I am still not contributing very well on the scoring front - in fact I was the only player not to score on Thursday (only shot twice though). But, I think I am contributing in other aspects. I have been really strong defensively, my passing has been pretty decent - and I have even been rebounding - which has surprised even me. We are now 3-0, but play another undefeated team on Thursday, so we will see where we are at.

On Friday Erika, Kasey and I went to Plattsburgh for the 4th of July parade. I am getting pretty tired of the lack of real imagination in this city. The parade pretty much sucked right from the start. I was pretty appalled that they didn't close off the street in terms of parking. Cars were parked up and down the street, and it was pretty much impossible to see the parade unless you were lucky enough to get there in time (like we were) to sit in a parking spot.

As for the parade, I don't call throwing a bunch of ambulances, fire trucks and vintage cars in a line and letting them drive down the street a parade. Not one band - at least the year before we had bagpipe players. The lone highlight: a small cement truck that was actually filled with candy - and dumped a crapload out for kids to enjoy.

We went over to our friends Mark and Danielle's house for a little volleyball/picnic action. Their house is in perfect viewing of the city fireworks - so we had some s'mores and watched the fireworks before heading home.

Saturday was pretty much used for cleaning the inside and outside of the house. My sister and Cyle came up later in the day and we played some Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for awhile before heading to bed.

Sunday was our 4th of July party in Rouses Point. We had a lot of friends and family come up and I think it went pretty well. I grilled up some burgers and hot dogs, and everyone brought a little something to the table. We watched our parade (which was a lot better: 3 different bagpipe bands), then those that remained went in and played a little Wii before heading over to the fireworks.

All-in-all it was a pretty fun and eventful weekend. We didn't get to bed until late last night, so I am pretty exhausted this morning. I hope everyone had a good time - and I look forward to doing it all again next year.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July

See ya Monday!

LWITM: Can't Hardly Wait

I figured I would at least give you all (the few that look here) a little something. I have thought about doing this for a little while now, and since I have nothing to say today - it might be the perfect time.

I have noticed that there are a few movies out there from the past, whose casts are pretty strong - especially if they would try to get that cast together today.

So, my first Look Who's In That Movie (LWITM) is about Can't Hardly Wait.

Can't Hardly Wait arrived in theaters in 1998 with the huge star supposedly Jennifer Love Hewitt. But, dive a little deeper and you will see just how many of today's stars were just up-and-comers when this little movie came out.

First off, you have the circle of stars in this film:

• Jennifer Love Hewitt played Amanda Beckett, the object of Preston Myers affection.
• Ethan Embry played Preston Myers, a boy who pined after Amanda since the first day she walked into school - but never had the courage to speak to her.
• Lauren Ambrose played Denise Fleming, a girl who thought she was better than the high school crowd - and was Preston's best friend.
• Seth Green played Kenny Fisher, a boy who acted urban despite obviously being very white. His whole persona was trying to get laid.
• Peter Facinelli played Mike Dexter, Amanda's ex-boyfriend and ruler of the high school. The very obvious jock-type who picks on the nerds and is looking to score.
• Charlie Korsmo played William Lichter, a huge nerd whose purpose for attending the party is to embarrass Mike - but ends up getting drunk and becoming the life of the party.

Hewitt was a decent sized star before this movie came out with her television role on Party of Five and movie roles like I Know What You Did Last Summer. Green has become a huge star in Hollywood with film roles, guest stars on television shows and two of his own in Robot Chicken and Family Guy. Ambrose had the starring role in the hit television series Six Feet Under. Facinelli starred in Fastlane, and has been last seen in Damages. Korsmo, however, did a reverse turn. He was more known for his child roles in Hook and Dick Tracy - Can't Hardly Wait was his last film role.

Dive a little deeper, however, and even those smaller characters have become players in Hollywood.

• Scrubs star Donald Faison was the Lovebürger drummer.
• My Name Is Earl star Jaime Pressly played Beth, one of Amanda's friends.
• American Pie's Chris Owen was the Klepto Kid.
• Breckin Myer of Road Trip played the Lovebürger lead singer.
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch's Melissa-Joan Hart was the Yearbook Girl.
• Selma Blair, of Hellboy, was one of the girls that Mike hits on.
• Less Than Perfect star Sara Rue was known as Earth Girl.
• 24's Eric Balfour played the Hippie Guy.
• How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segal was the Watermelon Guy.
• Save the Last Dance's Sean Patrick Thomas was Mike's jock friend.
• Freddy Rodriguez from Grindhouse played another jock friend.
• Cloverfield's Brian Klugman was the Stoner Guy.

That's most of the now known characters, but I am sure there are more. A pretty eclectic list - and I am sure most of those actors/actresses would not be in this movie - if it were made today. The asking price for some of their salaries might almost eclipse the entire movie's budget.

It's pretty cool that so many characters from one film have made it, at least somewhat, in the movie/television world. I will keep my eyes open for more films like this - and when I don't have much to write about, I will slap that sucker into a blog.

Hope you like it.

Grade:

Summertime

I haven't technically done a lot during the past few days, besides finally catching up on Weeds, watching some television and playing Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. So, I don't really have a lot to write about today.

I thought I would post this youtube video for two reasons - 1) The release of the movie Hancock today, which I will not be seeing until it's released on DVD - I will probably only get to see one more movie in the theater this summer, and that is definitely reserved for Dark Knight. 2) The weather for the past few days has actually been very nice - so it finally feels like summer time to me. I am looking forward to the BBQ's starting this weekend.

So, here you go. A little old school track to get you pumped for the summer months.

Loss of Family Member

It was a very sad day yesterday in the Kane Household. And, will probably be a sad week or two.

Erika and I have a lot of love to give, and our house has truly been beaming with it. After we were married in 2005, we adopted our second 'child' in the form of our cat, Hermione. We already had a guinea pig named Fozzie from when we were engaged. We aren't the normal type of adopting, as we seem to be into the rescuing of animals.

Hermione was a barn cat, and when we got her was extremely sick. We, however, gave her a lot of love and medication - and she has been in glorious health ever since. She is now three years old.

A little while after our son was born, we again adopted a sick animal in the form of our dog, Abby. She was born to a large litter of puppies that was in a bad situation, and managed to get some parasites. But, we again gave her a lot of love and medication, and she is in perfect health as well - and is a little over a year old now.

Just before Christmas last year, Erika and I felt we had a little more love to give. So we adopted two more 'children' in twin kittens Rusty and Sydney. Instead of a barn, however, we adopted them from the humane society.

We were a bit upset, because Rusty arrived with a major cough and his eyes were very runny. But, again, we took the two of them in and nursed them back to health with love and medicine. Rusty is also in perfect health now, and is extremely rambunctious.

Sydney was also doing pretty well for the first part of his time in our house, however, I had noticed a change in not only his demeanor, but his looks as well.

He had totally stopped playing. He wasn't eating or drinking as much. And for the most part, after he got up in the morning, would sit either staring out the window or behind the vacuum cleaner. I was very worried about his health.

Yesterday, we got the news that we were dreading. Sydney had developed the virus F.I.P. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), a mutated form of the feline coronavirus. This coronavirus is apparently pretty common in household cats, especially those homes with multiple cats. But, it is extremely rare for it to mutate - as in 1-in-5,000. There is no cure for the F.I.P. virus, and unfortunately we had to make the tough decision yesterday.

Our pets are like members of our family. We treat them no different - they get yelled at when they do things wrong, and they get praised when they are good. And we always enjoy spending time with them, and playing. So, when you lose a member of your family it hurts - and it hurts for awhile. Even though we made the right decision, it is going to hurt. Sydney was suffering, but selfishly I wish he could have come home with us yesterday - though it wouldn't have been fair to him, or easier on us.

He was an amazing cat, and I am happy that we were able to spend time with him. I wish we would have had many more years, but I cherish the time we did get to spend with him. I would have been very sad if his final moments were still in the human society.

I know you are in a better place now, Sydney. I hope that you enjoyed your time with us, and that we treated you well. You were extremely important to us - and we love you very, very much, and always will. You are gone in body, but never in spirit. We will remember you always. Rest in peace little buddy - we love you.