The Coward Bobby Ford

I finally was able to rent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and since the moment the film ended it has stayed on my mind. I really loved this movie, and how much historical details they included in the film. It is very well narrated, the cinemotagraphy was outstanding, and the landscapes and scenery in the film were beautiful.

I heard a lot of critics talk about how long and slow the movie was, but it didn't ever seem neither when i was watching it. I thought the movie and the story really flowed. Not too mention both Brad Pitt and Casey Afflek (who is 100 times the actor his LAME brother ever was and ever will be) gave stellar performances, and very very believable. The film did a great job of developing the characters and giving you a real inside look at how everything developed and how and why everything happened the way it did. I don't recall the language being very bad, nor was it very violent. This is not to say that it is neccessarily a "family" film, but it is definetly worth anyones time watching it.

The other aspect of the film that I felt really made it an enjoyable experience was the music in the movie, it really helped set the tone throughout the entire film, also the landscapes and scenery in general really helped with the tone of the movie.

It even provoked quite a bit of a discussion between Heather and I about the movie afterwards over why Bobby Ford was called a coward, she felt that he did the right thing, me on the other hand, I believe he was definitely a coward. Anyone who has also seen the movie, feel free to share your feelings in the comments or email me and we can talk about it.

I can't wait to watch the movie for a second and maybe a third time, the only problem is I am way behind on my list of must sees to be able to do that at this time, especially since March madness and the play-offs are quickly approaching.

Fitting In

Friday night I got home from work and Heather left to go hang out with Angie and Tara for a girls night. So it was me and Hannah hanging out together at home. So we left and bought a pizza at Little Ceasars and then came home ate, then I gave her a bath, then we just hung out. Around 9:00 pm Hannah came out of my room carrying one of my shoes, she set it down and said, "I gotta put on the shoe."

So she put it on, stood up and said, "I need the other one."

Then she looked over and saw a pair of Heather's shoes and said, "Oh theres the other one."

She stumbled slowly over to where the shoe was all the while still wearing my shoe. So I ran and grabbed the camera and was able to capture a few photos in the moment. She walked around in them for awhile.

After a few little tantrums (which I can't even remember what they were over.) She finally started falling asleep on the couch, so I asked her if she was ready to go to bed, and I picked her up and laid her down around 10:00 pm.

Then I started working some more on redesigning my website until Heather came home around 11:00 pm.

Saturday afternoon we decided to go rent a movie. Heather was feeling a little depressed, and wanted something to lift her spirits up. So we decided on a perfect movie called The Martian Child.

John cusack plays the lead roll of a widowed author who just finished publishing a popular Sci-Fi novel which is in the process of being turned into a movie, at the same time he is supposed to be in the process of writing the sequel to that book. He get's a call from a foster home to come and look into adopting a child. I believe that he and his wife had started the process before she had passed away, and he just never terminated the process. When he receives the call, he is a little apprehensive about continuing on with adopting a child, now that his wife died.

He finally decides to go visit the child who, when he arrives, is walking around in a cardboard box with one small slit cut in the top allowing him to see. John Cusack's character finds out that the boy believes he is a Martian, and the reason he wont come out of the box is because he believes he is allergic to the sun. John Cusack being a "different kid" when he was this kids age begins to relate, and after three or four other visits, decides to adopt the kid. What takes place next is a very moving and entertaining story and film. It is a great feel good family movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone reading this.

Super Man Can't Dunk?

Although Dewight Howard put on a GREAT show, and had me cracking up and rolling all over the couch and floor with laughter as he took off his jersy to reveal a "Super Man" shirt, and had a cheerleader bring him out a cape, what followed all though very exciting and impressive, was not in any way a DUNK! So therefore should NOT of recieved ANY points as a dunk in a dunk contest.

I am also in no way trying to present an argument that Dwight Howard should of lost, because his first and second to last dunks were sufficient enough to secure the win. I do have to say that Dwight put on a GREAT show, and this dunk contest was one of the best ones I've watched in a LONG, LONG time.

Robbed!

For any of you out there that watched the All*Star game Sunday night, you know that my man Ray Allen got robbed for the MVP. He played 17 minutes and hit 5 threes at the end of the game to give the East a win.

P.S: Those uniforms were UGLY!

A Message From Hannah

Hannah's Message to her Dad! from Shane Guymon on Vimeo.

While at work Heather and Hannah sent me this message which made my day, maybe even my week, no better yet my month...

Thanks Hannah!

Volcano

Hannah has a new imaginary friend, sometimes she runs from it, other times she picks it up and hands it to me to hold. She frequently talks to it, and tells it to, "come on!" It started a couple weeks ago on a Saturday I was watching some basketball on the couch and she kept going into our bedroom and running out to jump on me as she screamed, "AAAAHHHHHH! Volcano!"

Then she would inform me that the Volcano was going to get her.

One of her favorite episodes of Little Einstein's which we have on DVD talks about a Volcano, she frequently asks to watch that particular episode because it is also about a Bald Eagle.

The running from the Volcano persisted until one night I told her that Volcano wouldn't hurt her and that Volcano was her friend, since then she will say, "Volcano! Stay here!" As she is leaving the room. The other day my ribs were hurting and she asked if I need a band aid, I said yes to play along and thankfully she was able to ask Volcano for a band aid, which he was more than happy to provide. Not only that but now every night she tells Volcano to come to bed with her. Even now as I am typing this I am hearing her talk to Volcano in her bed in between her singing "ABCDLPU"

Grandma

I have known since grade school of my lineage on my fathers side that we have stretched it all the way back to a well known Indian princess named Pocahontas. However whenever I would share this information with friends they never believed me and sadly I never had the actual written proof. Now I just recieved an email from my Uncle Cal (Dad's brother) who gave me the lineage.

Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614 and then died in 1617. Son Thomas Rolfe, married Jane Poythress, and they had a daughter Jane Rolfe, who married Col. Robert Bolling. They had a son named John Bolling, who married Mary Kennon. They had a daughter named Mary Bolling, who married John Fleming, and they had a daughter named Mary Fleming, who married William Bernard. They had a daughter Catherine Bernard, who married William Bennett. They had a son William J Bennett, who married Elizabeth Bell. They had a son named Hiram Bell Bennett, and he married Martha Smith. They had a daughter named Emily Jane Bennett, who married John Aikens Smith. They had a daughter named Martha Eliza Smith, who married David Earl Shawcroft. They had a daughter named Alice Shawcroft who married Ned Guymon. They had three sons Michael Ned, Calvin Earl, and Jimmie Vernet who have all had wonderful children who are ancesters of Pocahontas the daughter of Chief Powhatan.

Random

Sorry for the lack of posts. Occasionally my life begins to feel rather repetitious and it seems as though there is nothing to really talk about or to blog about. I suppose I will give a little up date as to what I've been up to. Last weekend we took a trip to Dallas to visit my brother and to play in the Doug Johnson hoop Night Memorial game. We ended up staying in a Motel 6 which was Hannah's first time to stay in a hotel, and she was really excited about it. This is one of the first years that I have actually played decent. The first game I ended up hitting four threes in a row and I also hit a lay-up and a short jump shot. The second game I hit one three and a lay-up. Then the third game I knocked down two threes and another lay-up. Then my last game I only scored two points and missed four threes and we lost.

We left Dallas Sunday afternoon and got home in time to catch the Super bowl and heat up some buffalo wings. The Super Bowl was insane, I didn't really care who won, because I had been going for The Colts and The Cowboys, so since both of those teams were not playing, i didn't really care. The Super Bowl was pretty slow and boring until the craziness started happening in the fourth quarter. The commercials were rather disappointing this year. I suppose my favorite commercial was the one with the screaming stain on the guys shirt.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Basketball:
In a BONEHEAD move Steve Kerr decided that for some reason Phoenix needed an old tired injured Shaq-Fu. Not sure what special kind of stupid Steve Kerr is for making that decision...

Also the BIG trade was Pau Gasol (who I HATE) went to the Lakers. For some reason this received a lot of hype and praise from everyone thinking that this will make the Lakers a championship team. To me this trade made no sense at all. Let me explain. The Lakers have a big 7 footer who is 19 years old named Andrew Bynum, the entire season he has averaged a double double double in points and rebounds. Infact all I I have heard is how great he has been playing and this is his breakout season. So then we look at Pau Gasol, who is averaging just under a double double in points and rebounds, and is a much softer version of a center. Where as Andrew Bynum is more of a physical player. So IF Andrew Bynum is SOOOO good, then why do they need a guy who is going to play the same position as him, averaging roughly the same numbers but some how he is "the answer"

I'M NOT BUYING IT!

In other annoyances going on in the NBA, they released the 2008 ALL*STAR team, where for some strange odd annoying reason a guy who has won 2 MVP's in a row, and is no doubt the BEST point guard in the NBA did NOT appear on the starting five. Yes I am talking about Steve Nash! Moving forward with that last years MVP Dirk Nowitzki also some how did not make the starting five. This has me scratching my head in shock and amazement. If you look back, Steve Nash has not been on the starting 5 of an ALL*STAR team.

Movies:
We've watched a few movies, I can't remember all of them but i will list the ones I can remember.

1.) 3:10 To Yuma: I bought this movie without even watching it. I had already heard a lot of positive things about the movie, plus westerns remind me of my dad, so why not. So we watched it and I don't regret buying it one bit. It was a great movie with a surprise ending. I've never seen the original so I'm not sure how alike they are. I want to check out the original one now though.

2.) The Game Plan: I didn't even finish this one, we really rented it for Hannah, cause she fell in love with the cover and HAD to have it. When we put it on she wasn't very interested and neither was I.

3.) Sydney White: This movie was decent for what it was. I think Amanda Bynes over plays her parts. It's ok for these teeney bopper movies, but if she ever wants a solid acting career she really needs to learn how to act.

4.) Mr. Woodcock: Not nearly as funny as I was expecting in fact if you saw the previews that is the most laughing you will get out of the movie. It wasn't very good in my opinion.

5.) Good Luck Chuck: It was decent but again not as funny as I was expecting it to be. It was better than Mr Woodcock though.

6.) The Heart Break Kid: This is definetly an AUDULT comedy, with that in mind it made me laugh but got kinda annoying and some of the jokes got old for me. It was "eeehhh" movie for me.

7.) Hairspray: Wasn't as bad as I expected, whenever movies like that get a lot of hype I have learned to seriously doubt them. That is why it took us so long to actually break down and rent it. Heather REALLY liked it, and it was worth watching in my opinion, not something I would be anxious to watch a second time though.

8.) Balls of Fury: This movie was funny, my brother Matt LOVED the movie and so I rented it awhile back and watched it. The only thing bad I can really say about the movie is it seemed like they really wanted Jack Black to have the leading roll in it, but for some reason they couldn't get him so they got a guy and told him to act like Jack Black. So it was still funny, but through out the entire movie I kept thinking, "why is this dude trying to be Jack Black?" It's worth watching, and it will make you laugh a lot, and Christopher Walken is hilarious in it.

Hannah:
We've been wanting to get Hannah enrolled in a soccer league but had our doubts on weather or not she would really like it. So Heather recently found a soccer class, and today was Hannah's first day and she LOVED it. So hopefully in the next year we can get Hannah onto a team.

Love

"Love is the security for which children weep, the desire of youth, the cement that binds marriage, and the smoothing oil that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death."

--Gordon B. Hinckley

I'm going to miss his soft shaky yet powerful voice.

A Beloved Prophet Passes Away

I had a link about it last night in my side bar in the "Net Worthy" section. But then I thought how many people that come to my blog really ever even look at that area. So I felt that Gordon deserved more respect than a measly little link on my sidebar. So he gets a full fledged entry.

To read full details on the story and his life click on the image above (or the link in the sidebar.)

I was laying down with Hannah trying to get her to fall asleep. I think she was actually REALLY close, because she had remained still for a fair amount of time, she quit hitting my forhead and whispering, "Dad! Dad!" Then asking me to tickle her back, arm, or leg. She also quit kicking me in my back, and she refrained from pushing any buttons on her singing stuffed animals. When Heather threw the door open breaking all of the silence and in a loud voice said, "Shane, my friend jsut told me President Hinckley died."

Hannah and me both popped our head up, and I told Hannah to stay in bed and go to sleep, and that I had to go talk to mom. Well with her door cracked open a bit and us in the next room on the computer and Heather on her phone calling different people (she talks VERY loudly when on the phone.) This of course caused quite a ruckus, so Hannah began playing with toys again, and all of a sudden she yelled for both her mom and dad, she said, "Mom, Dad I pooped!"

Sure neough she did, so she hopped down from bed, and came into the other room and I changed her diaper. Heather carried her back to bed, but she kept getting back down, as far as she was concerned everyone was still awake and having fun, so why not her. Heather tried and tried to go back in the room and tell her she had to go to bed, she kept yelling back, "NO! I don't want to go to bed!"

Finally I returned back to the bed and laid beside her tickling her back, arms and legs. I actually fell asleep when Heather came barging in again and saw Hannah sitting up in bed and told her she needed to go to bed. So I left, and Hannah cried and complained a bit and finally fell asleep around 11:00.

Heather and I went and laid in bed and finally fell asleep around 12:00 -12:30.

Anyways it was very bitter sweet to hear the news, and I had to get some sort of confirmation of it, before I could actually believe it. I'm happy that he has returned home, and returned to be with his wife once again. I'm happy he can finally rest from the struggles that this life brings. I'm sad that I will not hear him speak, and be apart of the great work which he was doing on this earth for humanity as a whole. He was a very humble, smart, spiritual, loving, and humorous man. When he spoke you could feel his sincere heart, and the love he had for ALL people regardless of race, religion, or nationality. He tirelessly trotted across the globe with a tremendous work ethic both for his age, and for any person in general. He was a true leader by example and will be missed by millions.

Nice Shirt

I'm laying down on my side her nose is two inches or so from mine. I can feel the air when she breathes, though she is breathing softly. Her arm is extended and I am tickling it softly as we are laying in bed in the dark. The room is only lit by a small Disney Princess night light. When her little finger extends to touch my shirt and she says, "I like your shirt. Did you where that to work?

So I told her thank you and proceeded to lay with her tickling her arm for a little while before she went to bed. She talked about a few other things as well. I thought that was so funny and random though. Infact a few minutes later she told me she liked my shirt again.

I'm A Pony! I'm A Pony!

Here's a friendly little photo of me and Hannah playing ride the horsey. this was the game Hannah wanted to play with me on Christmas eve. Somehow Heather managed to grab the camera and sneak in a few photos of us in action. Then proceeded to make fun of me for how "into it" I was. What that means is that if sound could be attached to a photo you would hear my weak attempt at mimicking a horse, while Hannah pulled back on my shirt and likewise made horsey sounds.

Anyways the real reason to show the photo is to let you know that this image and many many many many more have recently been uploaded to my Flickr account, so feel free to see exactly how our Christmas went. (Yeah I know I'm a little late with uploading these photos...)

Click the image above or here to see the rest of the Christmas photos.

Frustration

I HATE Internet Explorer, and Microsoft which specifically means Bill Gates. Seeing as how Microsoft and Bill Gates are the reason that the majority of people use Internet Explorer, not necessarily as a choice but more out of laziness and convenience. You buy your computer and Internet Explorer is already on the computer with your nifty little buggy Windows operating system. You click on the icon and it opens up and appears to work sufficiently. Mean while the web designers in the world are having to spend too many hours trying to get their websites to behave the way they do in EVERY other browser known to man, but for some retarded reason it won't work in Internet Explorer 5 & 6. I'm not really sure why this should even be a problem since Internet Explorer has already been readily available for free to the world for a couple of years now. Internet Explorer is set to be released sometime this year or in the near future, but for some reason their is a large quantity of people who still use an in adequate browser.

The other question is why every other company that designs browsers has created a browser that reads and interprets code the way the code is written. It is only Internet Explorer that decides to interpret the code differently, and decides to ignore different aspects of code, which forces web designers to come up with all types of tricks and shenanigans to make the browser understand and cooperate.

So this humble message from a young frustrated soul goes out to the vast and infinite abyss of the world wide web, that everyone viewing this post at this time, if you are viewing it with internet explorer please follow this link to enlightenment and together we can eradicate this horrible disease that has been plaguing our computers.

CLICK HERE TO HELP SAVE A WEB DESIGNER TODAY

Massaging My Mind

This past week some smooth melodic tunes from Bishop Allen have been massaging my mind while I slave away at coding valid XHTML & CSS, and busting out funky fresh print worthy designs. As far as I know their is no religious affiliation other then they are feeding your soul with innovative sounds.

Just incase I wasn't clear enough, I think you should stop what you are doing and CLICK HERE. to get take a listen for yourself.

Infact you may have already heard part of one of the songs as it is featured on a new commercial for a digital camera.

chip chop chip (chip chop chip?)

Movies Over Christmas

I was able to watch a few movies while on my Christmas vacation.

Bourne Ultimatum: I really enjoyed this installment of the trilogy. I've enjoyed all of the Bourne movies, and this one was exactly what I was expecting and more.

The Simpsons: It was pretty much a longer episode, and since I love the normal episodes I loved the movie. (good thing we bought it.)

Harry Potter: And the Order of the Phoenix: I hated teh first Harry Potter, I've tried watching it three times and have never been able to make it all the way through. I've NEVER read any of the books, mainly because I'm not a big reader, for some reason, probably because of all the hype surrounding both the books and the movie every time one is newly released I always have an interest in watching the movies. Each and every movie becomes better and better to me. So I've been waiting to se this one, and I really enjoyed it. The actors are all developing, and improving, and so are the directors. also the graphics seem to keep getting better and better.

Helvetica: This was a documentary about Helvetica, which is a font. The interesting thing about Helvetica is that it is heavily used all over the world since it was designed in the 1950's by a Swiss type designer. The documentary was well filmed, and edited. They interviewed some GREAT designers, and type designers. It is also accompanied by some really great modern music. I am a weird guy, I get excited over fonts, I collect them, I'm able to name them as I see them on bill boards, commercials, and signs, and in movies. What I'm really trying to say is that I LOVED this film. I have been following this film ever since they first announced they were making it. So I have been VERY anxious for it to be released on DVD. Blockbuster online wasn't carrying it, but Netflix was, so I joined Netflix JUST so I could rent this movie.

Bratz: Terrible, terrible, terrible. This movie shouldn't even of been in theaters. It should of been a made for the Disney Chanel movie. It's about as good as Cheeta Girls. I didn't even finish watching it. I'm sure most of you reading are probably thinking, "What did you expect?" Well I didn't expect much, however I have always been a fan for cheesy highschool movies. some of my favorites are, 10 Things I Hate About You, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Jawbreaker, Mean Girls, Highschool Musical, A Cinderella Story, What A Girl Wants, She's The Man, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (that is good enough.) Anyways BRATZ was TERRIBLE!

Hot Rod: Yes, I watched it again. It was just as funny!

It's 2008 (finally)

I'm still wondering where my flying car is, and my hover board that "Back to the future 2" teased me with. Not to mention my self sizing jacket with an air conditioner and heater inside. Maybe next year though...

At least we have the iphone though right?

Anyways my life has gone a little something like this:
We woke up at 7:20 am Christmas morning and let Hannah open her presents from "Santa" She only was REALLY thrilled about two, so we had to open those right away. Then we packed up our car and with those two special presents and headed over a couple rivers and through some woods, and then kept going, and going, and going, then over some more rivers to the point where you think you can not go any further without seeing some sort of human existence to grandmothers house. All joking aside Buna isn't THAT bad, of course I could NEVER live there, small towns just aren't for me, but I NEVER mind visiting.

Christmas night Hannah ran a fever and woke up in the middle of the night to throw up. The next day we got her into a local nurse practitioner, who diagnosed her with a sinus infections and prescribed some medicine. The rest of that day she was her normal self, and didn't run fever at all. Until 2:00 am she had a slight fever and we gave her some motrin and it went away until 8:00 am when she woke up to throw up again, and had a fever and we gave her motrin but it did nothing, and her fever kept slowly climbing. We finally got her into the doctor again, and she had a 104.7 fever. The took her clothes off had her eat a popsicle and gave her some motrin and Tylenol, and slowly the fever came down and they gave her a chest x-ray and took some blood, then found out she had pneumonia, and gave her a painful shot in her butt, to where she said, "They hurt the butt."

She hasn't had a fever over 101 since. We left Sunday morning and Saturday night I started to get congested, and through out the night my throat began to hurt, and i woke up with my body hurting and my head feeling ready and willing to explode. So the ride home was decent, Hannah did good both ways in the car. We got home and I unpacked the car and by that time a my body was still in pain and it just got worse and worse. I tried taking some Dayquill, which did NOTHING, then at night I tried Nightquill which again did nothing but at least it made me drowsy. I woke up the next day and went to work after taking Hannah to the doctor for another check up. Anyways the pain continued through work and the fever as well. Last night I took some Motrin myself and that seemed to get rid of the fever and some of the aches and pains. Most of the day today was spent fairly fever free without medicine and I thought Iw as doing better until 5:00 pm hit and I started to slowly feel like CRAP again.

It seems every year around this time i always get sick with something...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Back In The Day

The other day I found this great treasure on YouTube. My brothers and I used to watch this show ALL the time on Nickelodeon back in the day. I wish they still had shows like this on Nickelodeon. Anyways there are actually three of these videos and I don't feel like posting all three. so if you want just click on the link below and then you should be able to find the other two and be able to watch the entire episode.

Enjoy

Leave a comment if you also were a fan of You Can't Do That On Television.

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Merry Christmas, to all you Christmas celebrating people out there. We are making preparations for Santa to come into town in the wee hours of the night tonight. Hannah is getting excited. We are leaving tomorrow to head out to the outer limits of Texas to the land far far away they call Buna.

We've watched a few movies the last little while that are worth recommending:

The Waitress: This movie is great for moms, and any parents. It was a very clever movie with a great feel good story.

Well now I can't remember all of the other movies I was going to talk about. The only other movies I can remember, I have either already told you about or they weren't any good, for instance:

Bratz: Could of been a made for TV movie, on the Disney Channel or something.

Hot Rod: A great movie that I already recommended to everyone. Heather hadn't seen it so we rented it.

The movie I rented and can't wait to watch is Helvetica, only Heather isn't so excited about watching it, but I plan on watching it tonight for sure. I also am planning on watching Bourne Ultimatum, and Harry Potter at some point during the week.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.

In The Wee Hours

Around 4:00 am a small voice began to filter its way through my mind awakening me from my slumber. There was a lot of chatter going on, you could almost call it a conversation. Only one little girl was invovled. I was unable to make out most of what was being discussed, either that or my memory is failing me. What I was able to understand was,

"OH NO!"

"Hold on I'll get Daddy"

then a much louder voice yelled out, "DAAADDDY!"

This call repeated four or five times until I rolled myself out of bed and walked quietly towards the small voice. I opened the doorway to see the cutest little blue eyed girl standing up in her bed and as I walked through the door she looked up at me and said, "Oh, there''s Daddy."

"It's dark."

"The dark is gonna get me."

I then tried to tell her the "dark" was not going to get her, but she insisted that it was going to get her and her little friends (her toys.) So I asked her if she wanted to come lay down with daddy so I could protect her. She shook her head yes, and began to scan her bed for who else she wanted to save. So she grabbed Frosty the snow man (a present from Grandma Karren.) her blanket and her pillow in a princess pillowcase.

she remained quiet but very much awake for another hour or so in bed laying on-top of me or directly beside me. At one point there was a rumbling noise in the bed, then I felt two small hands grab me by my face and jerk my head to the left until I opened my eyes to see two big blue eyes staring back at me and the small voice said, "I farted."

Then she rolled over and tugged at her mom, and said, "Hey Mom, I farted."

At some point she fell back asleep and none of us woke up again until 8:00 am, where I had to jump out of bed and rush to get ready for work, so I could battle my way through a day of coming up with mind numbingly creative logos for a Dentist.

Career Designs by Andrea

Friday I finished up the last few tweaks and took another website live. both of you reading are prolly thinking, "who cares," Which is a very valid thought, who does care. Well besides me, I guess the client cares. Other than that the only real reason I am posting about it, besides the fact I think I did a mighty fine job is because this is the first site I finished designing that isn't for a dentist.

Enjoy.