Carruthers' Corner

This is Troy... I guess I haven't been to the blog in a while. I like what you've done with the place, though! Man, I've missed so much!

As you know, I like listing my favourite movies and I thought I'd post mine and you all can do the same if you want to. Oh, and before I start listing, I saw The Weatherman with Nicholas Cage a couple of nights ago. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd say don't waste your time. So anyway, here goes:

10. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
9. About a Boy
8. Jerry Maguire
7. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
6. The Apostle
5. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
4. Star Wars Trilogy
3. Dumb and Dumber
2. Rocky
1. Life is Beautiful

- Troy

I just thought I would forward what I am doing this weekend. A little while ago, we have been noticing a bad smell in the basement, which I knew was a "litter box is full so I will go over here in the corner" kind of odour. Well, after trying the the dehumidifier and other tactics, I realized that the carpet needed to come up.

I ripped up all of the carpet in the basement. Then noticing that the tiles underneith were a huge mess, we are going to re-carpet the basement with a door at the top of the stairs to prevent animals to be by themselves and unsupervised. Then, realizing that the walls were a bit of a mess. Well, let me put it to you this way. I am painting the whole "freakin" basement.

We are painting an Atlanta Trasher red on the wall 75% up with an Ottawa Sens gold up top 25% and a navy carpet. Translation, 2002 Canada gold on top, with a Toronto Maple Leaf blue on the floor, and the red in the middle? All my blood, sweat and tears hoping for my team to go all the way...

I know, especially Jamie, will say 'Chick Movie, move along!' But I think you should definitely try this one out. If nothing else to watch a good movie with your wife. I thought this was an excellent movie and one that even guys could like. Check it out.

Other recently seen, Transporter II. Not a great movie, but enjoyable. The first one was the first movie I saw in Russian in the theatre, so it has sentimental value.

Upcoming, reviews on Hotel Rowanda and Sahara.

I probably had the best March Break ever. I've gotten to do a lot of things on March Breaks of yesteryear, but this last one was...awwwwwesome! I went to Florida with three girls from school and that alone could potentially harm a good trip but it was great. Everyone was pretty laid back and enjoyed their time. We stayed with a good friend of mine and that was good to see and catch up with her.

I think one of the things that made it so great was that we didn't go to any theme parks. We just relaxed on the beach. Cocoa was probably my favourite. The beach was nice and clean, free parking thanks to Ron Jon, and good food at IHOP. We went twice.

Daytona was O.K. Traffic getting there was terrible, driving trough was terrible because it was bike week. There were motorcycles everywhere and I don't mind telling you that they were a little loud. You can drive right on the beaches and I didn't like that. We went out for seafood and is was subpar. They had softer sand and bigger waves, so if size actually does matter, than Daytona is the better beach, but not in my books.

To recap: Cocoa ****, Daytona**, and you can quote me on that.

This is a side note for Jamie, Sibbie is Audrey, and I know she's told me a dozen times why its sibbie but I can't remember why no. Her blog address is www.sibbie751.blogspot.com Hope all is well. Love you guys! J

In the past week I've heard this Trooper song twice on the radio--so cool! I always wondered what came after the line, "honking at all the girls" so I looked it up on letssingit.com and here it is:

It's jack-of-all-trades Stan
And Jerry the garbage man

That really made me laugh. I had no idea.

Oh, and Jen, I should tell you that I used my cookbook that you gave me years ago. Do you remember it? It's all recipes by David Letterman's mom. I did the fried chicken and it's great. All you do is roll the chicken in flour mixed with salt and pepper, fry it in oil in a skillet for 15 minutes or so, then cover the skillet and put it in the oven at 325 for a half hour. It's really good. Maybe we can make it when everyone's together this summer.

We just got back from a mini trip that we took down into the States. We left here early Wed a.m. and drove 4 1/2 hours to Pittsburgh. Shari and Ryan did their thing (shopping) and Matt and I went to a Penguins game against Ottawa. Pittsburgh is an ok city, I like it.

The next morning we took off to drive 2 1/2 hours to Cleveland. Shari took Ryan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where Ryan had a great time looking at guitars and bought himself some records. Matt and I walked up to Jacob's Field (Cleveland Indians play) and Gund Arena (Cavaliers (basketball) and Barons (San Jose's AHL team) play.

Cleveland has some cool places to visit however, I can't say that it was a good city to walk around in. I have been in many places where I was the minority but felt comfortable, however, the black young people are everywhere and their language and behaviour is unbelievable. Matt and I sat down in a little mall because it was so cold outside and we sat down with a drink. Just beside us was a store selling pictures. One of the pics was a large pic of Martin Luther King and when he asked me who he was I tried to explain. Matt does know a bit about racism from a cartoon show he watches (Proud Family), a black family that incorporates the theme into the show every now and then.

However, on this trip, he got to be exposed to the "N" word, from one young black man to another. I thought, of that picture and wondered, how horrible it must have been for their ancestors to have to hear that word to describe them. And now, they call themselves that.

I had already posted this, but where it went, I don't know, so I am typing it again. I am trying hard to figure out how to post this stuff....

Matt has now found an appreciation of maps, he likes looking up countries on the map especially countries that he has seen play in international hockey. With his mini sticks and mini net, he has tournaments.

The other day, he tells me that he is having a tournament and I can hear him shouting, Russia scores or Canada scores. Well, he then tells me that the gold medal game is Sweden against Trinidad. I told him, "Matt, Trinidad doesn't have a hockey team. They live in a warm climate of sand and beaches." Matt looks up and says, "On the Mighty Ducks, they versed Trinidad".

If you look at the cover of the Mighty Ducks 2 movie, you will see two kids facing off blowing a bubble from their gum. One is wearing a Mighty Duck jersey, the other is wearing a tie died Trinidad jersey.

I finally got to see the exorcism of Emily Rose. For a long time I was the only one I knew that wanted to see it. So finally I found some girls here on campus that wanted to see it and then Troy and I watched it together. Here is my review:

I would give it 4 stars! I loved it. I thought it was an excellent movie speaking as a film lover and a Christian. The girl who played Emily was a really gifted actress and did some amazing physical acting as well. This movie had the potential of being horrible but the director and producer did an excellent job. There were a few areas that I felt were a little less than perfect but all round a must see!

Flight Plan: I liked it more than I thought I would. I had heard many reviews from other people and so was expecting less, so it was a nice surprise. I would give it 2 1/2 stars, because I thought the acting was less than good. The first part of the movie seemed to drag too much for me.

HAPPY B-DAY to RYAN!!!! I know this is a day late but we want to acknowedge the birth of our first nephew/grandchild. We love you Ry.

I just love some of the things that comes out of Leah's mouth, like the story of Matthew and her fighting over a toy when she was 2 and she yells at him, "Icandoallthingsthroughchristwhostrengthensme!" Her vocabulary wasn't real high at the time but she knew she had to yell something.

Yesterday I picked her up from school and she told me that she didn't like teenagers. I asked her why and she said, "Because they feel weird... and they are always eating pizza and they leave their socks laying around everywhere." Her kindergarten teacher from last year would tell the class stories of raising teenagers. I guess it's kinda given Leah an aversion to this type of animal. :^)


She's very excited right now. For one, she got to go swimming today at school. (According to her she went to the deep end and "almost drowned" when one of the teachers rescued her. We haven't heard from anyone at the school, but I'm confident that she keeps them on their toes... I love it!) Secondly, she has to come up with a science project and I gave her the idea of a project on mold. Her eyes were dancing as I shared this idea!

- Troy