The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

So, a few days ago I watched the season Finale of The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business. As always, this season was great. This season was unique in that it was all made up of returning teams so I was already familiar with almost all of them. Unlike The Amazing Race: Allstars (which was also made up of returning teams), none of these teams had won when they were on for the first time and most of them had been eliminated because of one particular big mistake or problem. Zev & Justin had been eliminated because they lost their passports, Gary & Mallory because of an incompetent cab driver, Flight Time & Big Easy because of a Road Block that they just couldn't finish, etc.

Just as I did a couple seasons ago, I was cheering for Jet & Cord to win and, just as before, I was disappointed. They got U-Turned and it was all over. Kisha & Jen ended up winning and I was happy to see that. So, as I say every time, great season and I look forward to September when it will come back for season 19.

Fringe Season 3

So, the season finale of Fringe aired back on Friday. I have made some pretty long blog posts regarding this show but I'm going to keep this one short. Overall, a really strong season. It ended with a really great cliffhanger which I had to rewind and watch a couple times just to make sure I got what was going on with the two Walters, two Olivias, no Peter and a whole pack of observers. One of the great things about this show (besides the show itself) is the fact that it has already been renewed for another season. So, I will look forward to September to see what happens.

Which Olivia is holding the gun? Do you know? I do!

V Season II - Now We Wait

So, the second season of V just wrapped up about a week ago and it was great. All ten episodes of this short season were action packed and the show ended with about a million cliffhangers. This season introduced several new characters including two played by actors from the original 1980's V TV show. With the way this season ended it's clear that we are right on the verge of the truth about the Vs coming out and the real fighting to start. Hopefully, The Fifth Column (and now Project Ares) will be able to strike back against the Vs without so many of their plans backfiring.

Of course, all of this is dependent on V coming back for a third season. Unfortunately, there is a lot of speculation that this may very well not happen. Ratings for this season were lower than the first season. So, now all we can do is wait and hope that our buddies at ABC see the potential of this show and give it a chance. I think it would be a mistake for them to cancel it considering the somewhat militant online fan base this show has.

Liam Joseph O'Berry

Liam Joseph O'Berry was born today January 19, 2011 at 6:44pm at LDS Hospital. He was 6 pound 15 ounces and 20 inches long. He has ten little finger and ten little toes, two blue eyes and a little cute nose. Mommy and baby are doing just fine.

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!

The So-So Voyage of The Dawn Treader

So, yesterday Alisa and I went to see the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. In spite of the lackluster reviews this movie was getting from the critics I went in with high hopes. Dawn Treader is my favorite of the books so I really wanted it to be awesome. I'm sad to say that it was not all I hoped it would be. Well, it was pretty good but it wasn't great. They made some pretty major changes from the book which I didn't really care for and that seemed a bit unnecessary. Now, I didn't hate it or anything but it certainly wasn't as good as the first two movies. However, on the positive side I must acknowledge that the kid who played Eustace Scrubb just did it wonderfully. He is just the way I would have expected Eustace to be. There are also some comments that Aslan makes at the end of the book that give insight into his true identity but that I was worried might be left out because they are too blatantly Christian for most secular movie makers. To my surprise those comments were included. Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable movie. But, as I watched it there was just that nagging thought in the back of mind telling me that it could have been so much better.

The 2010 Pumpkins

Well, in spite of rumors to the contrary, I have not abandoned my blog. I've just been a little bit lazy in my updates as of late. However, it is now that important time of year were I present to the world the fruits of my pumpkin patch. As I indicated in previous posts, this year's patch has not yielded any big pumpkins. This saddened me greatly especially since this was the first year that I planted "Big Max." So, I had really been hoping for some mega pumpkins. However, 'twas not to be. At first I thought that the primary problem was the weather but now I think it was more of a problem with crop rotation. It seems that when you grow the same plant in the same spot three years in a row you don't get as good results. Who knew?! So, since I have a crop of diminutive pumpkins I decided this year to name them all after equally diminutive characters from some of my favorite (and not so favorite) books. A special Halloween treat to the person who can successfully identify the book that each and every one of these twelve pumpkins got their names from.* So, with no further ado, I proudly present to all one of you Ryan's Pumpkin Patch 2010!Back Row: Old Fatty Lumpkin (10.2 lbs), Frodo (4.4 lbs), General Woundwart (4.2 lbs), Reepicheep (4.4 lbs), Gorbert (7.8 lbs) - Front Row: Samwise (4.4 lbs), D.L.F. (6.0 lbs), Trufflehunter (4.6 lbs), Jenks (4.0 lbs), Griphook (4.0 lbs)

Roofintop Dobby (3.0 lbs) and Flitwick (4.0 lbs)

*Open to legal U.S. Residents. Void where prohibited; please see official rules (if there were any). My wife and my sister Shanna are not eligible because I've told them all or most of the answers at some point. No treat if you cheat by typing the names into a search engine.