This was a really great movie with a very unique plot–aliens have invaded earth and they hunt by sound. The movie followed one family during this ordeal. It was quite compelling. Plus is was written, directed, and starred in by John Krasinski (aka Jim from “The Office”).
My rating: 4/5
Yet again, my tomato plants have succumbed to Septoria Leaf Spot. I guess there’s no avoiding it at this point. I’ll be lucky to get any tomatoes this year. I guess I should have put the potted tomatoes out front. I shall learn from my mistake.
After doing some research on the issue, I found out that there’s a septoria-resistant tomato available called “Iron Lady”. I’m definitely going to try that one next year. And, put the pots out front again. I only wish my garden was large enough that I could effectively rotate my crops. Maybe someday…
This movie was a comedy about a father who tries to keep his daughter’s boyfriend from asking her to marry him. It had some decent star power–Bryan Cranston, Megan Mullally, James Franco–but didn’t do well with the critics or at the box office. It came across my radar and I thought I’d give it a shot anyway (I usually don’t agree with the critics as to what’s funny, as they always seem to dislike lowbrow humor). While it did not have any hysterical moments, I thought it was pretty amusing throughout.
My rating: 3/5
In 2018, I am trying to cut things out of my life that take too much time or cause stress and concentrate more on things I enjoy doing.
As a first step, we sold our rental property in May. That place was just one more building to upkeep. When you look at the bottom line, it was not worth the effort. Plus, having one less building has renewed our interest in finishing the basement at the office, so now that project is underway and making some good progress.
Secondly, I put my bike up for sale. You might wonder how a motorcycle is complicating my life. As it turns out, I just don’t enjoy riding as much as I thought I would. I mean, it was fun at first, but lately it has seemed like another thing that “has” to be done. The bike’s bought and paid for, but there are ongoing costs (insurance, upkeep) that make me feel like I need to put it to use, when I’d really rather be doing other things. Who knows if it will sell or not, but I haven’t even been out on it this year. Worst case, I can probably just trade it in when we get a new car in a year or two (or if Brian takes me up on my offer of a new bike for him). Jake was all interested in motorcycles last year and I thought he was going to be riding it, but he quickly lost interest when motorcycle season started up again.
Thirdly, I’m closing Everyone Drinks. While I still enjoy making crafts, I haven’t been able to get my sales up to a level that makes it worthwhile, so I’ve decided to hang it up later this year. I’ve been waffling on this for a while now, but Etsy made some changes this year that are making it all but impossible for a small company like mine to sell anything, so that was like the last nail in the coffin.
The thing I’m looking forward to the most is cutting my paperwork load in half when we merge our two companies down the road. But, that is still a ways away.
Brian, Jake, Jake’s girlfriend (Megan), and I went to see the Foo Fighters at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday. What a great show! They are such a fun band to see live. Much like the first time we saw them, they played for almost 2.5 hours–way longer than most bands. That was our first show at the arena. I thought the acoustics were really good–I’d definitely go there again. We made it in and out of Pittsburgh without a hitch (plus we found a $5 parking lot just blocks from the show). After 20+ years of going to Pittsburgh for shows, I think we finally have things figured out.