Tom's Bar-B-Q!

A little something to wet the appetite of our upcoming visitors this holiday season.  We're expecting my Mom and my siblings to visit us here in Memphis over Christmas break.  Mom is coming all the way from the Philippines.  Dad couldn't make it because he has that thing at that thing.

One thing you can be sure of when the Cruz family gets together - we always get our pork on.  So when Tom's Bar-B-Q was featured on one of my favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Carol and I just had to go.  Check out the video:

It's a very unassuming place.

I'm guessing Guy Fieri had something to do with the recent addition to the place.

Brisket and rib tips make for a heck of a lunch. 

The sweet tea was SWEET.  Even going half and half with the sweetened and unsweetened tea was a little too much for me.  I was reminded that "you in the south now, boy!"

Beware of any BBQ joint that doesn't have a chimney stack. 

Sasified!

That meal hit the spot for me.  I'm much more of a carnivore than Carol.  She gets easily skeeved out by jiggly pieces of fat.  Me, I'm not afraid of taking a bite and having a vein or chunky piece of cartilage biting back at me.  

Okay.  So this was not my best moment but I think it's a good indication of how much I enjoyed the meal.  Carol tried a piece of my brisket.  She liked it but she trimmed part of the fat off and laid it to the side to throw away.  When she wasn't looking, I grabbed that piece of heavenly goodness and stuffed it down my pie-hole.  I just couldn't let it go to waste.  Needless to say, Tom gets two two thumbs up.

JT!

So here's a Tennessee connection for you.  Justin Timberlake is from little old Millington, TN.  I was never a big fan of his until he started doing Saturday Night Live.  I dare you not to laugh at "D in a box."  His opening monologue on his most recent hosting gig was hilarious.  Lady Gaga was pretty dang funny too.

Anyway, JT got extra bonus points for this:

http://www.justintimberlake.com/news/my_night_at_the_marine_corps_ball

Chinese Top Gun?

Family, military, humor, Korea and Tennessee - those are the main focus areas of this blog.  At least until we move again.  With that in mind, you'll see me posting more stuff on these five areas.

So here's one that hits on two of those areas - military and humor.  At least I thought it was funny.

Article on Chinese Air Force Drills





BTW, the rumors are true.  There will be a Top Gun 2.  If TV Guide said it, then it's happening:

Top Gun 2 article in TV Guide

Choose Cruz!

It was quite the transition for CJ, leaving the academically challenging yet cozy and comfortable environment of Busan Foreign School for the relatively massive southern school in Tennessee where "fitting in" far outweighed the reading, writing and 'rithmetic on many occasions.  There were definitely bumps in the road for our sixth grader this past year.

Part of that I'm sure was because the Busan Foreign School that the boys attended for the last two years in Korea was so dang awesome.  The teachers were incredible, CJ had many like-minded friends and the social aspect was nothing to fret about.  It was much more innocent and carefree than what you see in the US.  At BFS, a male student could wear a Tom and Jerry cartoon shirt, orange pants and carry around a notebook with unicorns on it and no one would care.  He could wear these same clothes three days in a row and no one would care.  That would get you beat up in Tennessee, or at least ostracized from the cool inner circle of popular kids.

Don't get me wrong.  Arlington Middle School is a high quality school.  Their screening process for the gifted program is thorough, the teachers are caring and conscientious about students' learning and the facilities are very nice.  Lots to like and one of the reasons why we moved into our neighborhood.  But with any move, there's always transition.  Being the new kid can be tough.

So my chest was puffed out when CJ was recently voted by the school body to be next year's Student Council Vice President.  Proud Dad moment!  Carol and I knew it would just take a little time to adjust.  And adjust he did.

He ran a great campaign - cool posters and buttons, a really nice speech, help from his buddies and neighbors and even some online ground swell that might've impacted his campaign.  And of course a catchy slogan - CHOOSE CRUZ!

All of the campaign posters had to be approved by the school before going up.  CJ had no problem with any of his posters except for this controversial gem:

I haven't been keeping up with Charlie Sheen's verbal diarrhea and the whole "winning" comments he made.  I do understand why the school didn't approve this poster though.  Charlie Sheen probably isn't the role model you want the future of America to emulate.

A funny thing happened though.  The kids on the bus liked the poster and took pictures of it with their phones.  And they started spreading it out - emails, text and Facebook.  Isn't that how Obama got elected?  Well, maybe replace Charlie with Oprah and it would be more accurate.

Anyway, I'm very proud of my skinny, Filipino kid.  CJ actually used skinny, Filipino kid in his speech and got some laughs.  Now that he's elected, he'll make all of your dreams come true. If you don't know what that means, you need to Netflix Napoleon Dynamite today.  Hope you have a "winning" day!

Perspective

So I get up this morning, bang out a workout, shower up and get ready to head out the door for work.  Got the lunch that Carol packed for me, my khaki cover and my keys.  I'm all set for the trek down 385.  Just one thing missing - my wallet.

Where the heck is that thing?  I scour its usual resting place in my closet.  Nope.  Check the car.  Nope.  Kitchen counter, desk in the den, jacket pockets.  Nope, nope, nope.  I check the pants that I wore yesterday when I took CJ to see the movie, "I Am Number Four."  Still a big fat nope.  I'm feeling like Number Zero.

Taking stock of the sucky situation, I know that no wallet means no military ID card which means no getting on base.  Even if I could get on base, I can't do any work on my computer because it requires my ID card.  Ugh.  Not that I'm in a huge rush to hit those 400+ emails.  There's also my driver's license, credit card, cash, etc.  This Monday is not starting out well.

Maybe it wiggled out of my back pocket while watching the movie at the Malco Theater yesterday.  That's the last place I remember having it for sure.  I check online to see if there are any crazy credit card transactions.  Nope.  Just the movie tickets I purchased yesterday.  So now the plan is to wait until the movie theater opens and see if it's still there.  I call the theater just in case folks are there early.  No luck.

I picture Fred G. Sanford yelling at me with his patented, "You Big Dummy!"  My mind is already thinking about having to get a new military ID card, canceling the credit card, getting a new driver's license, etc.  Heavy sigh.  And of course, the Boss is out of the office today and so is the Deputy.  I'm in charge today and I've got a meeting with the Admiral.  And I can't even get on base.  Believe it or not, I was pretty calm about the whole thing.  No need to make things worse by throwing a fit.

And then with the help of Carol, it dawns on me.  When CJ and I came home from the theater yesterday, Jake immediately wanted to wrestle.  That boy always wants to wrestle now, especially after seeing Hulk Hogan deck Ryan Seacrest on American Idol the other night.  So I don't accidentally bonk Jake on on the head with my mongo ring while delivering a deadly clothesline across his neck, I take my ring off.  For you non-wrestling fans, the clothesline is a classic wrestling move, right up there with the figure 4.  I make a little pile on Jake's rug with my shoes, VMI class ring and wallet.  And there that pile remained until the next morning.

As soon as the light bulb came on in my head, I rushed to Jake's room to find my lost wallet and ring sitting inside my Doc Martens.

And then the rest of the day was really awesome.

Playoffs!?!

Those were the days.  Dan Marino, back in the pocket gunslinging the Miami Dolphins into the playoffs year after year.  Brings a tear to my eye.

So the Dolphins missed the Superbowl again.  Heck, they didn't even make the playoffs.  This 30 second video is in honor of all those football fans out there whose team didn't do so hot this year. CJ and Jake added some of their own commentary to this classic Jim Mora rant.

Let's all enjoy a great Superbowl Sunday while quietly commiserating the fact that our teams are not present.  There's always next year!

Youtube link:  Playoffs!?!

Super Bowl!

Super Bowl!  Or should I say, Hair Bowl?

Clay Matthews

Troy Polamalu

It was announced today that Troy Polamalu, safety extraordinaire of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year Award.  He received 17 first place votes.  Clay Matthews, linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, came in second, receiving 15 first place votes.  He lost out by a hair.

One of the greatest pleasures I've had since returning to the US from overseas is sitting in the comfort of my own living room on Sundays and watching football.  In Korea, I was watching games at 2am on a computer screen through the internet.  Now I'm watching in high definition with surround sound after church.  Wooh!  Life is good.

Here's to a great football game on Sunday.

American Idol

Say what you will about Fox's hit show, "American Idol."  The show has fans in the Cruz household.  For the horrible singers, it's like watching an episode of "Cops" or a train wreck.  You just can't look away.  And then for the singers with talent, you get to watch their lives change right in front of your eyes.

Me personally, I'm all for anything that provides good quality time for the family.  I love football but at the last game I went to, Carol and I had the Def Comedy Jam sitting behind us throwing f-bombs all over the place - and that was during the singing of the national anthem.  Plus it cost us a second mortgage for tickets.  At one baseball game, no joke, I offered this annoying stranger $5 to shut his pie-hole for five minutes.  He couldn't do it.  I digress but you get my point about wholesome family entertainment.

Jake can hardly control himself when American Idol comes on.  He hears the theme music come on and his little body just takes off.  See for yourself:

Every now and then, you get some really special moments on the show, like Randy Jackson accidentally punching a female contestant in the face.  And she was a Harvard graduate White House intern too.  Here's another, albeit very different special moment:

Update:  video was taken down by the video/copyright police.  Oh well.

The Iron Bowl

College football in the south is a religion.  The annual Iron Bowl (Alabama versus Auburn) is absolute fanaticism.  For non-southerners, I won't try to attempt to explain the ferocity and emotion that this game evokes from drawlers in Opelika and Montgomery and twangers from Tuscaloosa and Greenbow.  This one is deep in tradition and history, boasting some great players in this game - Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Bo Jackson and Bill Newton to name a few.

What do you mean you've never heard of Bill Newton?  Yeah, me neither.  But like I said, lots of history with this game.  38 years ago in the Iron Bowl where Auburn was staring down the barrel of a sure defeat, Bill Newton, a walk-on linebacker for the Auburn Tigers, blocked two consecutive punts in the final six minutes of that 1972 game to defeat the #2 ranked team in the nation.  Both blocked punts were returned for touchdowns.  Final score:  Auburn 17, Alabama 16.  Allow me to use my vast math skills to tell you that the only offense produced by Auburn that day was a measly field goal.  Didn't matter.  They still got the W.

But that was 1972 and this is 2010.  Surely this Newton phenomenon only happens once in a blue moon - or a blue and orange moon I guess.  I had the pleasure of experiencing the 2010 version of the Iron Bowl in the company of Carol's family in the great state of Alabama during this past Thanksgiving weekend.  They're all huge Crimson Tide fans.  I can only think of one member of Carol's family that's an Auburn fan.  To ensure this rebel's safety, I won't divulge her name in this post.

Many Bama fans will tell you that if the University of Alabama loses every game of the season but beats the War Eagles of Auburn, it's still a successful season.  For those that watched the game, you can probably guess that the first half was all smiles.  The Tide was definitely rolling.  Who knew that the missed opportunities would come back to haunt them in such a big way.  The second half didn't go so well.  It's not every day that a Nick Saban led defense blows a 24 point lead.

I have a theory on the loss.  I saw an interview with Coach Saban.  He was talking about how all the players would go to some of the coaches or players' homes for a big Thanksgiving meal.  Shoot.  That's the problem right there.  The turkey tryptophan knocked out the players in the second half.  I saw how the Oregon head coach had his team wait until after their game against Arizona before dining on their Thanksgiving meal.  Just saying.  Next year Saban - no turkey for the players!

So here's Carol and her cousin Angela giving the "voodoo hands" to the television while Auburn has the ball.  It was a pretty funny sight watching the entire room wiggle their hands towards the TV like they're flicking boogers.  I think this jinxing tactic actually worked for a couple of plays.

The more voodoo hands, the better.  I believe in this particular instance, the hands caused a much needed sack on Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton.

With Alabama's starting quarterback and star wide receiver out for the last part of the game, things looked bleak in the fourth quarter.  Unfortunately, Cam Newton and his "play for pay" drama was too much for even the voodoo hands to overcome.  It was a somber mood following the Alabama loss.  Well, at least there were Thanksgiving leftovers and the accompanying tryptophan to knock us out of our misery after the game.  

So who could've predicted that 38 years later, another Newton phenomenon would occur in this most fabled of games?  I guess it was time for another blue and orange moon.  There's always next year.  Roll Tide!

Survivor

I admit it.  I'm a reality TV junkie.  The whole family is into it.  One of our favorites is Survivor.  So I'm on a work trip to Norfolk, Virginia a few weeks ago and who do I see at the quarters on base but none other than...

...Rudy from the very first Survivor show.  We got to talk a little bit.  He was in town for a Navy SEAL reunion.  Very cool.  He's probably one of my all-time favorite Survivors.  Too bad he didn't win.  That's one tough guy.

Padded Underwear

There's talk of Jennifer Lopez becoming one of the new judges on American Idol.  I hear there are a lot of complications to that plan.  She'd command a pretty hefty salary.  She'd also need two dressing rooms - one for her and one for her butt.

Speaking of butts, check out this pair of underwear for sale at a store in Korea:

Yup, padded buttocks.  Sheesh, I've got no room to talk because of my bad case of gone-ass. I guess if you're really self-conscious about your backside, these babies would do the trick.  All of your problems would be behind you.  Until next time.

Patrick Star

Unless you're Al Qaeda living in a cave, you know who this lovable and not-so-bright starfish is.  Spongebob Squarepants' best buddy - Patrick Star.

Did you know that Patrick is voiced by the blonde guy from the "Coach" comedy show?

So I saw this on a package of dried squid the other day.  Hmm...Patrick's long lost cousin maybe?  Uncanny.  

BBBA 7

This blog entry has nothing to do with Korea other than the fact that we use the a2bTV service to get our US channels.  The a2bTV service allows us to use DirecTV and a DVR through a Slingbox.  We basically get American TV through our internet.  Like Napoleon Dynamite's brother sang, "Yes, I love technology."  I mainly got it so I could still watch my Miami Dolphins even in Korea.  

So the other day, Carol sees an ad for the upcoming reality TV show, Big Brother.  Yes, we both admit that we're reality TV junkies.  When Carol typed in the word "BIG" on the DirecTV so that she could record the show, here are the entries that popped up:

What I find disturbing is that in order to have Big Black Booty Attack 7, there must've been Big Black Booty Attack 1 through 6.  Until next time -- C2

Star Blazers

I'm not sure how many people besides my siblings and I will appreciate this blog entry.  Growing up as a kid, a very fond memory of mine was dismounting the crowded school bus and rushing home to watch the best Japanese animated show ever - Star Blazers!  A valiant group of space heroes called the Star Force, led by Captain Avatar, would trek across the galaxy aboard the space battleship Argo trying to save Mother Earth from destruction.  Other cartoons during that time paled in comparison.  A continuous cliffhanger type series just wasn't the norm for cartoons that day.  The plot and character development was great.  So when I saw this juicy morsel of a model in the window of a toy store in Hong Kong during Thanksgiving break, I freaked out:

This is the battleship Argo from the Star Blazers series.  Anyone familiar with the show can tell you about it's bread and butter weapon - the wave motion gun.  In the heat of battle, when all seemed lost, Captain Avatar would call upon this mighty weapon.  I can hear the sound effects of the gun right now, a slow crescendo of muffled mechanical noise building up, second by second, into a frenzied overload.  Imagine the sound of when grownups talk on a Charlie Brown Peanuts cartoon, getting louder and louder - wah, wah, Wah, WAh, WAH, WAH!!!  Okay, so maybe the audio was a little better than that.  The wave motion gun was so powerful, the crewmembers had to wear special protective eyewear so they wouldn't be blinded and strap themselves tightly into their seats.

Here's a picture of the wave motion gun in action.

I found the Star Blazers series on Netflix about a year ago and watched them with CJ.  He absolutely loved it.  Fast forward to this summer in Korea.  The family is enjoying the day walking around one of the big shopping areas in Busan.  We turn the corner and see this on the side of a building:

CJ and I were both psyched.  Twenty-plus years later, the Star Blazers is still alive and kicking.  The guy with the beard and hat is Captain Avatar.  Derek Wildstar to his left took over later in the series after Captain Avatar was kicked out of the Star Force for sexual harassment and a bad habit of dropping trow at social events.  

I digress.  I only thought I got into the Navy business because of growing up around Navy bases, my Dad being a sailor and of course, those cool air shows and the Blue Angels.  Maybe it was a little more than that though.  Maybe the military themes and the wave motion gun from the Star Blazers series burned an indelible yet subliminal Navy recruiting message into my brain.  At any rate, I thought this was cool stuff as a kid.  It was additionally cool that CJ got into it as well, rather than thinking his dad was an anime dork.  

So what childhood enthusiasms did you have that you'd like to revisit?  The Solid Gold dancers don't count.  That one is a given.  Did you want to join Smurfette so she wouldn't be the only girl among a sausage party of blue dudes with white hats?  Does "By the power of Gray Skull" mean anything to you?  What was better than watching the Superfriends while chowing down on a big bowl of Golden Grahams cereal on a Saturday morning?  Don't be afraid to revisit those happy memories.  Netflix is great for that.  You can find all those old DVD series there.  I gotta tell you that sharing some of my childhood joys with CJ has been an absolute blast.  I highly encourage it.  Well, you don't have to share it with CJ.  It's probably better to do it with your own kids.  Until next time -- C2