It's Been A While

OK, so it has been just over 4 months since I last wrote a blog post. Here's a summary of what happened.

• After being out of work for month I got a job at a 3PL called Pro Star Logistics.
• I finished my yearly reading of Harry Potter.
  
• My new favorite currently running show "Once Upon a Time" premiered. (LOST is still my all time favorite show in case you were wondering)
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Premiered.
  
• We had a fun Halloween in which I dressed up as a member of The DHARMA Initiative, Alisa was a witch, Collin was a dinosaur coming out of an egg and Liam was a pea-pod.
• We had a fun Thanksgiving at Grandma Norberg's house and one at my in-law's house in Idaho.
• I began my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
  
• We all celebrated Kari's return to her family.
• Season 19 of "The Amazing Race" concluded.
  
• The first season of "Terra Nova" concluded.
  
• Collin (or one of his little friends) threw something at my TV and cracked the screen causing an annoying black line that extends from the crack to the edge of the screen.
• We had a wonderful Christmas.
• 2011 ended.
  
• 2012 began.
  
• I began watching the 4th Season of "Merlin" via iTunes
  
• I lost my job at Pro Star and became unemployed again.
• "Alcatraz" premiered.
• Liam turned 1 year old.
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Concluded.
• Alisa and I started watching the show "Prison Break" on Netflix while up in Idaho and got ourselves hooked.
  
• I finished my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
• Season 20 of "The Amazing Race" began.

So, that's about it. At the moment Alisa and I are waiting for the next few DVDs of "Prison Break" to arrive at the library but my main focus is job searching. Things are going pretty well. I have had several interviews and one coming up tomorrow and I'm actively networking. More posts soon.

Chuck Season IV - Awesomeness

Last week another great season of Chuck ended. Fortunately, I already know that it has been renewed for another season. It has also been announced that this fifth season will be the last for the show. That is sad in a way for me because I'm such a big fan but at the same time, it's nice to have that decision made ahead of time so that the shows writers can give it a proper ending.

In all honesty, I still don't understand why this show has struggled so much over the years. Most every season it has come close to being canceled. Yet, in spite of all that they still manage to get some incredible guest stars: Brandon Routh, Linda Hamilton, Scott Bakula, Timothy Dalton, Chevy Chase, Gary Cole, Stacy Keibler, Steve Austin, Morgan Fairchild, The guy from the Old Spice Commercials. There's a lot more but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, on to the awesomeness of this season. Well, the season was awesome. Not much else I can say. I thought it was great that Chuck and Sarah finally got married. I loved the way it ended with Chuck and Sarah purchacing the Buy More and going into business for themselves to figure out the big conspiracy that is the Intersect Project. Oh, and the great twist at the end . . . Morgan is now the Intersect! Season Five can't come soon enough for me!

2010 in Review

Well, I have to say that 2010 was a MUCH better year than was 2009. Let's review some of the highlights shall we?

• After approximately 14.5 months of being out of work I got a job. More importantly, I still have said job.
• The LOST Series Finale lived up to all my expectations. You know, I even watched it while wearing my suit so I could be dressed like Jack was in the series pilot. Nerdy? yes.
• Patrick Rothfuss announced the publication date for The Wise Man's Fear.
• Alisa continued to become more beautiful.
• Alisa and I found out that we would be having another little boy.
• NBC premiered The Event.
• Chuck began its best season so far.
• I grew my first "Big Max" pumpkin.
• My dad gave me a 42" plasma TV. BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!
• We purchased a new furnace just in time to get all the 2010 rebates.
• On the last day of 2010 I made the switch to a Blu-ray Disc player.

So, that about sums it up. Happy 2011 to you all!

Chuck Season III

Well, last week I watched the season finale of Chuck. It was a lot of fun. And, one of the best parts is the fact that, unlike last year, NBC has already renewed it for another season so I won't have to keep checking my "online sources" to find out if it is coming back.

So, this season was great. I really like how the new intersect program allows Chuck to access abilities as well as information. The new guitar playing, kung-fu fighting Chuck was really fun. The season ended great. I was sad about Papa Bartowski dying but I was glad to see that Mama Bartowski is still alive so I'm excited to see who will be playing her next season. I guess the destruction of the BUY MORE was inevitable. I mean, now that (practically) everybody in Chuck's life knows he's a spy his working there would quickly not make sense anymore. I was glad that Casey's daughter knows about him now. I'm not sure how I feel about Ellie knowing what her brother really does. I think that the show needed to have someone close to Chuck who was still in the dark about his being a spy. And, I really hope they make her a little less naggy next season. Anyway, we'll see how that all works out.

And that's a wrap. All my regular season shows have had their season finales now. Hopefully, the shows I have coming up for the summer will be enough to tide me over until September.

2009 In Review

Let's be honest; 2009 kinda sucked for me and my little family. But, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about that. Instead, I have decided to list some of the good things that happened over the past year. So, here we go:

• I increased the size of my coin collection.
• The International Astronomical Union did not eliminate any more planets from the Solar System.
• Josh Whedon gave the world of television a wonderful, albeit short lived, gift. And the gift was called "Dollhouse."
• Alisa got prettier
• Patrick Rothfuss turned in his first draft of The Wise Man's Fear to his editor.
• Collin got cuter.
• I acquired The Ultimate Recording Device.*
• J.J. Abrams' remake of Star Trek was just plain awesome.
• Chuck got renewed for a 3rd season.
• I got a new nephew and a new niece.

*The Ultimate Recording Device is a VCR/DVD Recorder Combo with a digital tuner. This device allowed me to continue to record my TV shows after the digital transition.

CHUCK LIVES!!

It looks like all the death/bomb threats that have been directed at NBC for the last couple weeks may be taken back. Chuck has been renewed for a 3rd season!! All the online “Save Chuck” campaigns seemed to have done the job. The show has been renewed (with a reduced budget) for 13 episodes with the promise of an upgrade to 22 if the ratings are good enough.

I would personally like to thank all my fellow "Nerd Herd" wannabees who joined with me in rallying to save this show. We pulled it off!

ROCK THE CASBAH BABY!!

May 19, 2009 UPDATE: My sources tell me that Chuck's budget will indeed NOT be cut as previously reported however, the show will not be returning until March 2010 after The Winter Olympics. March? Are you kidding me? I don't even have to wait that long for LOST to come back! Oh well, what can ya do? If ratings are good enough the show will continue into the summer.

DON’T CHUCK CHUCK

OK, so our good buddies at NBC announced their fall lineup for the 2009-2010 season a couple of days ago. Well, kinda. They actually only announced part of it. They acknowledged that certain shows like Heroes and The Office are being renewed for another season but they will not be announcing the complete lineup until May 19th. So my big question is: WHAT ABOUT CHUCK? There has been a lot of speculation online that Chuck might not be renewed and that has made a very large number of people rather annoyed at NBC for not giving a straight answer. I happen to be one of those people. I say “DON’T CHUCK CHUCK.” Chuck is one of NBC’s biggest hits and let’s face it; NBC doesn’t have a whole lot of those at the moment. I really love this show and if it is not renewed there will be blood in the streets of Burbank!! Of course, it will not be shed by me because hey; I’m a lover, not a fighter. But, from the comments of other Chuck fanatics I’ve been reading online I can tell you that if NBC unwisely gives the axe to this show there will likely be upheaval and riots such as the world has not witnessed since the Vandals sacked Rome.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I feel rather passionately about this show. I mean, I may be out of work but I’ll be darned if I’m gonna let a bunch of network executive types put Yvonne Strahovski and Zachary Levi out of work! If they cancel the show everyone associated with it will lose their jobs thus increasing the unemployment rate. And in this economy that’s just plain un-American! I have already sent a message to NBC telling them my thoughts on this issue and I would encourage all the Chuck fans out there to join with me in making their voices heard.

NERDS UNITE!!