Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...9-20-10

For The Week Of 9-20-10

5. "The Umbrella Academy" - back when I worked at Borders, I saw this comic in the racks. And passed it up. I admit, I thought, How good could a comic written by a emo artist possibly be ? But, over the years, I kept hearing about how good this series was. This week I saw the first issue was reprinted and selling for only one dollar. I decided to give it a try. Written by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, "The Umbrella Academy" is the story (as far as I can tell) of 7 heroes, born under mysterious circumstances, who save the world. The story in the first issue jumped around a little too much, but it did peak my interest in reading more.

4. Reading old school Transformers comics- Not too long ago, Mel and I went to Half Price Books where I bought a few old TF comics for .25 cents each. I read my fair share of the them when I was a kid and thought it would be a nice trip down memory lane. This week, while cleaning, I found a few more issues that I had. It was fun to read and I had a great time reading before bed.

3. Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief - I liked the movie so much, I read the book. And it was fun, funny and had a ton of action. Waaay different from the movie, it was a blast to read. I'm looking forward to reading more.

2. Spending a quiet night at home watching the giants game and reading comics with my Melly.

1. Having a great Sunday morning sleeping in and going to breakfast (IHOP) with Melanie before I started a long work day - It was great to spend the morning with my favorite person in the world !! I wish all mornings could be as great as this one.

So...that's it.
What's been awesome about your week ?

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...9-13-10

Really late writing the Top 5 this week, but better late than never.

Also : This blog just passed 100 hits...not alot compared to some but for a blog with only a few known followers, it's pretty damn cool. Thank you for reading, whomever you are.

For the week of 9-13-10

5. Spiderman : Shattered Dimensions - I've been hearing about this game for awhile now and decided to rent it from Blockbuster. I played for about an hour and found it to be a fun game. It kinda reminded me of the Wolverine game that came out last year, except without the blood and guts (which was an awesome part of THAT game). Still. it was fun to play...and hear. Spiderman was voiced by neil patrick harris (NPH !!) and the trademark spiderman sarcasm was there, and funny !

4. Eating at country waffle with Ashley.

3. Watching the Giants BEAT LA (2-1) with Chris King- And having a ton of beers before the game was fun too !!

2. Eating at the always great Mandalay and then watching The Tallest Man On Earth play at the Filmore - This was, in all honesty, the first show The Melanie and I have been to together. The Tallest Man On Earth was first played for me by Mel and I liked it (though to be honest, she knows his music better). When we heard he was coming to town, Mel jumped on the tickets. Great music and a great time.

1. Watching the Giants beat the Brewers (9-2) with Melanie - I first went to a baseball game when I was 9 years old. My cousin Micheal took me to, sadly, see the Giants lose to the Padres. In the 20 years (WOW ! ) since that first game I've been to plenty more games...I've seen tons of cool stuff at the ballpark....but I've NEVER seen a grand slam. Until this week !! The giants hit a grand slam to jump out to an early lead. And best of all, I saw it with my favorite person in the world (and fellow Giants fan !! ). A day at the ballpark with my Melly is always a great day.

So...that's it.
What's been awesome about your week ?

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...9-6-10

For The Week Of 9-6-10

5. The Endless pasta/soup/salad and bread sticks combo at the olive garden - a tasty lunch with Melanie and my Mom.

4. Dinner at Mel's Mom's House - Carne Asada !! I had a fun time hanging out at Mel's mom's place. The dinner and the company was, as always, great.

3. "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid " - Mel and I didnt expect much from this movie, we thought it would be a fun kids movie. Twenty minutes into the movie, we were cracking up laughing . A really funny, though predictable, movie that we enjoyed the hell out of ! 7.5/10.

2. Hanging out all weekend with Ashley and Melanie.

1. Having a day off with Mel - with our work schedules it seems that Melanie and I hardly ever have the same day off. But, thanks to Memorial Day, this week, we did !! We went to a cool comic book shop where Melly got me some cool stuff. We later went to lunch with my Mom and had a nice dinner at home, just she and I...then we watched Diary Of A Wimpy Kid...it was a great day with my most favorite person in the world !

So...that's it.
What's been cool about your week ?

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...8-30-10

For The Week Of 8-30-10

5. Enjoying a tasty Costco chicken bake for lunch after a short (felt long) shift at work.

4. Enjoying the last day of the libraries free book giveaway - in which I found some more books for Mel to enjoy.

3. Coming home with a pizza and getting a nice surprise from my Melly- "Here, I saw these and thought of you,"said my lady love. And chilling (literally) in the fridge was some ice cold beers. I love this woman !!

2. Talking, saving, planning and getting excited about our Disneyland trip !!

1. (all things add up to awesomeness on my Sunday)

Melanie
Ashley
Mom
Superpaper
Tamales for breakfast
San Jose Flea Market
Good (not to hot) weather
Not bad traffic
Chinese food for dinner
+ Iron Chef on tv when we got home
----------------------------------------
Fantastic day off !!

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...8-23-10

For The Week Of 8-23-10

5. Punisher vs. Daken - Back when I was a kid, reading comics, I wasn't the biggest fan of The Punisher. Recently, I read a graphic novel that had Daken (Wolverine's son...same powers, no remorse for killing. Needless to say, though I feel I must, he's a cool character. ) cut the head of the Punisher off. And like most comic book characters, he didn't stay dead for long. This week I got read Punisher vs. Daken- round 2.
Full of blood, violence and two people looking to take each other out (later, in the story, someone else...guess who?...joins the fight, making it a three way dance). This was a fun read and I cant wait for the final part of the story to come out.

4. Having a great day off - In which I visited a comic book store in Castro Valley that I'd been to once before, years ago. It was awesome ($1 old school marvel comics and, picking up the issues I mentioned in this weeks number 5). Best of all, since I was so close, I was able to visit with my Uncle Bobby...whom I hadn't seen in a month.

3. The free book giveaway at the Library- about a month ago, while at the library, Mel and I saw a flyer for this event. And this week, I went to check it out. What I thought was a book sale was, in fact, a book lovers dream come true. Hundreds of boxes, thousands of books available FOR FREE !! I grabbed a few books, it was so hot that day (110 degrees !!) that I couldn't stay that long. I knew I'd be back...

2. Taking my Mom to the free book giveaway - While looking at all the books, I noticed tons of romance novel paperbacks...my Mom's favorite. I called and told her about this and the next day, after work, I picked her up from bart. I thought she would take a book or three...what ended up happening was I loaded boxes...BOXES ...of books in my car as she told me things like "I'll take all the books in that box...dump the books in the trunk but bring back the box, I'm going to fill it again....see those two boxes, I'll take those...leave the bag here so I can fill it up while you carry those boxes to your car..."
I dont know how many books we collected that day, the trunk was full...my best guess was over 200 books...best part, it was all FREE !!

1. Giants game with Lori, Ashley and Melanie - Got some Giants tickets from Mel's Dad and watched a great game in the BEST. SEATS. EVER !! Ten rows from 1st base...you could even order food and it would be delivered to your seat. Amazing. And and and...after back and forth action, the Giants won !!

So...thats it.
What's been cool about your week ?

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week..8-16-10

For The Week Of 9-16-10

5. The surprisingly good fish tacos at Rubios

4. Baseball (9th inning) by Ken Burns - I'd known about this documentary for years now, but have never sat down and watched it. This week, thanks to the walnut creek library, I checked out the last part in this series...about the modern ( which covered the 70's and ended at 1992) era of the game, it was fun to see the stories and players I'd either never seen before or forgotten about...

3. "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" - Mel and I watched this movie some time ago, and this week Netflix brought it to us for a second viewing. A fun movie that we both enjoyed.

2. Watching old school wrestling( Ricky the dragon Steamboat vs. Ravishing Rick Rude in a 30 minute iron man match from 1992) and eating some tasty fish tacos = a fun afternoon.

1. Big mouth burger- I went to this San Bruno burger joint with my Mom and Melanie and had Mel's favorite burger, the hangover. A tasty combo of burger, bacon and an egg on top...this was great. The fries were good too and, a rarity for fries, were even tasty the next day for leftovers...

So...that's it.
What's been cool about your week ?

Tom's Top 5 Awesome Things This Week...8-9-10

For The Week Of 8-9-10

5. Making some awesome tasting Turkey Burgers for Mel, Ashley and myself - I'd never made (or had, I think) Turkey burgers before. And it was damn tasty...easy to make as well. I made these with tater tots and I think it was liked by all.

4. Making picadillo at home for Melly and I - This was the second time I've ever made picadillo (ground beef, potatos, corn and I add mushrooms in a tasty tomato based stew) and the first time I've made it at my apartment. I lost the recipe my mom wrote down for me and had to go by memory. It came out great and was even a tasty lunch the next day at work !!

3. "Inception" - After weeks of wanting to see it, Mel and I finally checked out this movie. A good movie with the always awesome Leonardo Di Caprio and Joseph Gorden Livett. The special effects were cool and the story, or rather, what I understood of it, was good. I think, if watched a few more times, I will like it more...still it's a 7/10.

2. "Hellboy : The Right Hand Of Doom"- This graphic novel came to me thanks to the Walnut Creek library and was, in fact, the first Hellboy graphic novel I've ever read. As a fan of the movies, I decided to check it out. And I loved it. Full of cool battles, mythology and Hellboy sense of humor, I cant wait to read more.

1. Sitting in the cold, eating burgers, fries and later lukewarm hot chocolate at the ballpark and watching the Giants beat the Cubs 4-3 in 11 innings with Melanie, My Mom and Ashley - A fantastic game that took place on my Mom's Birthday....Happy birthday Mom, I hope you enjoyed the game...we all enjoyed watching it with you.

So...that's it.
What's been cool about your week ?