Uncle Harry Item

Kevin and Teresa were gracious enough to obtain this metallic item from Uncle Harry's place for me at my request. We all know what it is, but I don't really know what to call it, or where it came from. The question is does anyone know the answers to these questions? Where did it come from? Who made it? I think we need to find the answers to these questions. Ohio Heffernans: make it happen.

Movie Reviews

So this past week I've been on vacation, and since the local theater has $4 matinees for first-run movies, I decided to go see two.

As a Heffernan, I'm addicted to the Alien legacy of movies. Unfortunately, nothing comes close to Alien and Aliens. Alas, the most recent incarnation of the old favorite is no different. While it combines the Predator and Alien lines, I felt that it did not live up to even the first AvP installment. The movie was slow at the start, and frenzied at the finish. I will say that when characters died, as so many did, the writers got quite creative with how those characters were to expire. As long as you go into this movie with a proper attitude - i.e. wanting a healthy portion of wanton death and destruction, with a side of stupidity, you'll enjoy it. Expecting anything more would be uncivilized. I'd say this one is maybe as good as "Bloodsport". Don't go see it unless you really like the Alien franchise.

The next movie I saw is also a sequel, but a sequel of a very good movie - National Treasure. Book of Secrets followed the same general plot and theme of the first National Treasure movie - a big treasure that has to be found following specific clues left by Masons while not getting killed by the bad guys who want the treasure for themselves. Book of Secrets has a simple plot that is very well done, combining history, action, and locations with conspiracy theories. It was a very entertaining movie and kept me involved but it's not nearly as intellectual as the first National Treasure. While Nick Cage is the star of Book of Secrets, the actor playing his sidekick Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), steals the screen. Make sure you don't miss any of his lines, because he has some of the best 1-liners since Chevy Chase in Caddyshack. All in all, I enjoyed this movie and rate it as better than "The Mummy 2", but not quite "Die Hard 2".

Reincarnation?

Look at this picture. Who do you think this is? What if I told you this was taken prior to this player becoming a QB for Notre Dame. Do you see it now? Could this be a stock photo of Joe Montana in his high school days? Actually this is Joe's oldest son Nate Montana! Look at that guy - he is a CLONE of his father!!! In any case, Notre Dame invited Nate to join the football team as an invited walk-on next season. Nate will be hitting the practice field for the Irish in 2008.

First off, I think this is really cool. Notre Dame is a special place, and this is a classic example of the often talked about "Notre Dame Family." In light of our #1 incoming recruiting class, Weis still has the class to find a place for the son of a legendary former player. I hope any recruits still on the fence about Notre Dame take notice!

Next, and I think I may need some Dad input on this, his situation seems eerily similar to his father's coming into ND. He is a modestly rated high school QB. He plays for a great school, but hasn't cracked the starting spot. He comes to Notre Dame with no expectations, and will be a backup QB unless he gets some fortunate opportunity. Isn't that how his dad got his chance? I wouldn't bet on it, but I think we may someday see Nate Montana take the field for the Irish in a meaningful situation. I'll leave it at that.

By the way, this was the only non-helmeted picture of Joe I could find from his college days as a comparison. But I don't think anyone would even need to compare!

Christmas Gift

If anyone loves me, they'll try to get me this for Christmas:

CLICK HERE

I Have a New Hero

Check out this story


Not only did this guy openly mock authority, he also consumed an unhealthy amount of alcohol. He is my hero, and I hope he doesn't die.

Uh, Oh... Huckabee Hits 22%

I'll admit it. I am a registered Republican. I vote a straight ticket. I haven't missed an election since I turned 18. Democrats eat babies. Okay, that last one is only a rumor, but the rest are verified. So I read with dismay the headline article on CNN.com today.

New poll shows big shake up in GOP race

My reasons for electing a Republican President are completely selfish. Democrats are bad for health care. They cut Medicare payments, try to shake up the health care system, and pander to lawyers who have litigated medicine to the point where it takes doctors longer to do the paperwork than it does to actually see and treat the patient. See my previous post about John Edwards if you want to know what I'm talking about.

What does this mean for Ali and I? After 7 and 10 years of respective training to be doctors, we will work harder and make less money with a Democrat in office. Some of my colleagues have even suggested that groups will freeze hiring as the election draws closer to see what happens. That's great since next September through December will be the time I am interviewing for jobs!

So why am I afraid of a strong Republican candidate like Huckabee? Because the guy is crazy - and unelectable! If the GOP nominates Huckabee to run for Prez, you can all but hand the election to the Dems. What is so bad about Huckabee? Let's take a look. In fairness, the guy does have one redeemable asset. I included that below as well. Hey, Fair and Balanced!

Cons
"I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally."
This is the universal code for Creationism! If the guy believes dinosaurs lived alongside man 6000 years ago when God created the universe, what will he believe when presented with other important, yet inconvenient FACTS???

"I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."
Okay, not really politically correct. Half of America will hate you, while the other half will silently applaud you. I think this may be a deal breaker as far as an election. The media will be all over this, because they pander to the left.

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."
Uh, what? Should we close down Manhatten and turn it into a maximum security prison/quarantine zone? Maybe Snake Pliskin can make a visit! This is another irrational stance that he refuses to back away from.

"Had I granted his commutation, then there would have been no supervision at all. I wasn't comfortable with that."
Huckabee got a taste of GOP medicine with this repeat of the old Willie Horton ad Bush Sr. used against Dukakis. This one will not go away, but it appears he didn't do anything wrong. I think anyone who has ever been a governor has a few people that got parole and went on to commit another violent crime.

Pros

Chuck Norris

Love and Hate

Today everyone has the distinct pleasure of hearing me vent on two separate topics, Nicholas Cage (who I love) and the upcoming mortgage bailout (which I hate).

First, lets start with Nicholas Cage. Simply put, this guy rocks. His movies are not Oscar worthy, they just kick ass, and keep you glued to your sit for 90 minutes. I just rented Next and loved it, although the ending was a bit lame, but that wasn't Cages fault. Also, his National Treasure movies are also awesome. If you haven't seen them you need to check them out. I love this guy and his movies.

For details regarding my hatred of people who are foolish enough to think that they could afford a $300,000 house with an income of $60,000 please check out the replies to the following link (near the bottom, I am cheffern):

click here to read why I hate stupid people


I was just talking with a co-worker about this topic, and I created the following example: So, one day you're sitting on your couch and your phone rings. Someone says to you, "Congratulations! You have been found eligible to purchase a brand new Porsche! You don't have to put any money down and the first year all you have to pay is $100 a month. However, after the first year the monthly bill might adjust, but that won't happen for a year."

The logical person would say to themselves, "wait a minute, a Porsche costs a lot of money. I don't think I could really ever afford one. In addition, what happens if in the future the price adjusts to a level I can't afford? This doesn't sound like such a great deal after all."

However, America is full of idiots who ignored all reason and logic and went ahead and bought that Porsche. Now the government is going to bail out a percentage of these folks. Furthermore, guess where the highest levels of foreclosures are? Florida and Ohio. Also, guess where Presidential elections are won and lost? Florida and Ohio. I bet $10 that the big issue come next November will be mortgage bailouts for residents of the Sunshine and Buckeye states. I love America, but sometimes I hate it as well.

World's Greatest Comments

It was announced yesterday that Washington has decided to retain Tyrone Willingham as head football coach for, at least, 1 more year. Here's the link to the article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3142815

However, I would just skip the article and go straight to reading the comments as they are hilarious. Basically, it's a bunch of UW fans and ND fans jawing back-and-forth, with the UW fans trying to rationalize the decision and dancing around the fact that the only reason Willingham is still employed is because UW didn't want the same heat ND took when it canned him after 3 years. And some of the UW comments are fantastic, like one commenter trying to defend a statement that UW had a more difficult schedule than ND this year (they didn't) by citing an article from June 2007 - three months before the season began! Good stuff...

At first read, I thought this was real. I was getting pretty pumped for a Thundercats movie, especially with Hugh Jackman and a scantily clad Jessica Simpson. It still made me laugh that Seth Green was going to be the voice of Snarf!

Make sure you read the fine print!!

I'm Not Saying, I'm Just Saying...

I believe it is my God-given duty to point out the hypocrisies of the sports media when it comes to Notre Dame. Here's a few samples from the past couple days:

• Florida has had four (4) players transfer this season: backup quarterback Bryan Waggener, sophomore receiver Jarred Fayson, freshman running back Bo Williams and sophomore defensive end Trent Pupello. Did you see this headline on any sports sites? Probably not. When Notre Dame had a few transfers early in the year (so that players didn't have to lose a year of eligibility), the sporting world gushed of turmoil within the program.
• UCLA recently fired head coach Karl Dorrell after a 5-year record of 35-27 (.565). I guess the difference between classless, irrelevant bigotry and business as usual is 2 years.
• Nebraska recently fired head coach Bill Callahan after a 4-year record of 27-22 (.551). No comments here about Callahan not getting a fair shake by Nebraska. If you were to read the articles, you'd be led to believe Callahan had been eating babies over in Lincoln.
  

I know I should be accustomed to such biased reporting at this point, but it just never ceases to amaze me. Notre Dame does something and they're skewered, College X does the same and it's either glossed over or even praised. I know it's never going to change and I know there's nothing I can do about it, but it will drive me crazy to the end of my days.

I guess another way of looking at this is that Notre Dame is held to a different, higher standard than everyone else. And although this can be annoying at times, I guess at the end of the day it's what everyone should want for their alma mater and what every other university in the land is desperately aspiring to be...