Movies... Movies.. Movies.

Here are some of my latest movies...

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

A updated version of "Harold and Maude". But without all the smut.

A cute little film of an unexpected friendship that is a mutual healing.

Good film.

Stick It

I liked this movie. A great story of having to face your past.

I liked the way the movie actually got you into this girls life!

Gymnastics is second to dancing in my book! Go ahead - fire away with the comments... I don't care. I am secure in my masculinity.

Aquamarine

This is a cute - pre-teen girl movie. My daughter loved it. Except for the rather revealing mermaid...

24 Season Premiere Party!!

Tonight Dawn & I (Ok, so it was mostly me) hosted a 24 season premiere party. 11 Friends came and joined the BBQ and 4 hours of Jack Bauer kick'n some terrorist butt!

About 2 hours into the show my TV just turned off.... and look how surprised we were! Ok, so this was just a staged picture - in case you didn't figure that out. But man oh man, what surprises did this show have.... Our faces did look like this many times!

Seriously though - If Bobby hasn't convinced you to start watching this show yet - you don't know what you are missing....

Jack Bauer truly is the Greatest American!

Movies!

Here are a couple of more movies I have seen this week... Yeah, so I like to watch movies - it helps relax me!


Tristan + Isolde


Great movie about the war between Britania and Ireland. I thought it was a chick flick - but with Ridley Scott directing, there is plenty of battle scenes for the guys!





Monster House

Stupid movie. Waste of time.







How to eat Fried Worms



Funny movie - only boys will get it. Brought back a ton of memories as a kid growing up hanging with my buddies and doing really stupid things...






Step Up



Great movie. I like any movie that has good music and dancing. Ok, there I said it. I like dancing movies. Especially when conflicting dance types are used to bring people together. I liked this movie.





The Wild

There are only 2 reasons to like this movie. Keifer Sutherland does the voice of the Lion - kept waiting to hear him tell the other beasties to, "Lay down your weapons!"... Never happened - although there was some Jack Bauer moments where you 'think' that Sampson is dead.... but is he really... heck no. Just like Jack, he is there to save the day, world, Island, etc... The second reason is that Eddie Izzard is the voice of Nigel the Koala Bear. If you have never heard Eddie Izzards comedy - you should. He is very, VERY intelligent and can turn historical facts in to humor. (Eddie Izzard is not for kids - but it is funny).

Internet connection and the "Q"

Tomorrow Chris Hoff and Lynnae Cavender will be married. Wow! So, we packed up our 5th wheel and headed out to Apple Valley today. I took two hours off work and zipped down the 15 freeway, parked in their driveway, fired up my laptop, hooked up a 2nd monitor, jacked in my Q and BAM... instant broadband connection to the web.

I was back to work and surfing the web in an instant! This phone is the best electronic investment I have made in a LONG time!

Verizon has this 'additional' fee they want to charge to sell you a 'special connection' cable (it is a stinkin' USB cable) and then charge an additional $50 a month to connect. Well, thanks to the internet saavy contacts I have and the surplus of USB cables in my garage - for a one time charge of $30 (for the connection software) - I use my 'unlimited web' access and piggyback on that to connect my laptop! It is a gem! Faster than DSL!

Now I can be anywhere (anywhere there is cell service) and work! Nice.. time to fire up the ol' dodge, hook up the 5th wheel and get back to cruising the countryside!

Gym time

Part of my new routine of working at home is to go to the gym each morning with my wife. Dawn & I joined the new 24 hour fitness in the Buena Park Mall - it doesn't open till May (or so) so until then we are going to the 24 hour on Knott & Lincoln. It's a smaller place but we like it so far.

I really enjoy spending time with my wife doing this everyday. I used to go to another gym when I worked at the Block, but I didn't enjoy it as much. Although, I had a personal trainer there - now I get to be the personal trainer. It's fun!

Oh, this wasn't a New Year's resolution either - We don't do those.

A few recommendations.

Ok, a quick confession to make... while I am now working from home on a dual monitor PC system, I have found that it is much easier to watch a movie while working than ever before.

With this in mind, I share a quick suggestion for a couple of movies I have recently seen (only one while working).

They are:

Barnyard

I really enjoyed the humor in this movie - but I have a question... do male cows have udders? hmmmm?

The Lake House

Great movie - yeah, it's a chick flick... with a twist... I am just glad that I understand the whole, "Time/space continuum" thing! This one had Dawn confused at the end!

Just My Luck

Ok, so it's a Lindsay Lohan movie... don't hate me. It is ok, kinda cute... Not a chick flick - more like a 12 year old girl flick. Great message at the end!

The Devil Wears Prada

Great movie. I didn't want to see this one - cuz I don't like... ok, I should use a stronger word, but won't... Meryl Streep. Bleeech! But, much to my surprise I was able to keep my stomach contents intact and actually enjoyed the movie. It reminded me alot of the place I used to work... I won't go into detail as to why. GREAT message at the end!

Well that's it for now. I have 6 more movies to watch. I will share my feelings about them later. Have I told you all how much I enjoy working from home!

I am sorry!

Hey readers... You know who you are!

I am very sorry for not posting anything new in a while. As you have read in my previous post I have started working from home and since starting that process (which was supposed to give me more time) I have found that every minute of my day has been sucked up with work or figuring out how to maximize my time while working at home. Ergo, blogging has suffered.

And I am sorry!

Welcome Christina!

Hey guy's, our pastor of Belong and Grow has started blogging!

Go check out her blog here: Christina Walker

I QUIT!

As some of you may know already - I quit my job.

On November 30th I gave my two weeks notice to my old employer ---------------------------------------------->>>>

On that day they gave me a box, loaded up my pictures of my family, and walked me out.

Very refreshing day!

Why would I do that? Well, mostly because I could no longer stand the uncertainty of employment (the company announced the day before that they were 'for sale'), the lack of business scruples and general ability of most of the management staff to slide along a moral ladder.

Ok, this wasn't such a carefree move on my part - for the previous 30 days I had been interviewing at another company, meeting with the prospective employer -- basically getting the lay of the land and setting up my exit strategy. You see, I recently found out (reconfirmed actually) that my primary 'strength' is called "STRATEGIC". This is the ability to see a plan come to completion in my mind, considering all the alternatives, then set that plan into action. So, with that ability I was able to completely plan my exit from my previous employer, plan my start date at the new one, take a couple days off to spend with my family and figure out how to get my benefits to transfer from one company to the other without a significant interruptions.

It all worked. I started at my new job on 12/6/06. I work from home, set my own hours, make a guaranteed salary equal to what I was making - and after the first 4 weeks of training and getting up to speed, I will have significantly more time to spend with my family! Ah, the beauty of it all... Oh, the best part is that my benefits continue until 12/16/06 and my new benefits go active on 12/31/06. Only two weeks lag time - - now, just to keep everyone healthy during that time!

As one of my childhood idols, Hannibal Smith (do you know who he is?), "I love it when a plan comes together!"

PC vs. MAC... Now JESUS vs. Santa...

Jesus and santa.... Oh my....

You gotta see this!

The Christmas LINEBACKER!!

An Advance showing of "The Nativity Story"

Garhett won a "family 4 pack" of tickets from the FISH to see the advance screening of the New Line Cinema's "The Nativity Story".

Our whole family trucked out to the Irvine Spectrum to see the movie tonight. We went to dinner at Red Robin first, then went to get our passes and enter the theatre - the PACKED theatre. Apparently when they do advance screenings they over sell the theater (to make it look full). So we had to sit separate (Ash & Dawn sat together and Garhett & I). Other than that, the experience was great.

The movie is definately worth seeing. Very little 'license' was taken. We found ourselves chuckling at the fact the movie opens with the same scripture Pastor Dave spoke on this past Sunday - of course the visual of Zachariah being struck mute was quite the opposite of the one Dave displayed at church - but the message was the same nonetheless.

What I really enjoyed about the movie is that there weren't any typical Hollywood types made up to look the part - these folks really made you feel the struggles that went on at the time. The cinematography was striking and the story was pretty spot on. Of course there are humorous parts. However, I was a bit dumbfounded at some of the parts people were laughing at - - they weren't meant to be funny - - yet our society found the truth of scripture humorous... hmmm... puzzling!

Yes, of course there were tears. I found myself wanting to stand on my seat and yell, "That's Jesus being born people. Savior, Lord, King of Kings! That's Jesus people". From that point on in the movie emotions were spewing all over the place... Joy, with the Magi presenting their gifts; Anger, with Herod thinking he could just end the prophecy; Frustration that no one would open their doors for pregnant Mary. Oh, this is a good movie. Everyone should see it.

View the trailer here.

OH, BTW - 24 fans.... The woman who plays Elizabeth is Shohreh Aghdashloo - of Dina Araz!

Yo, yo... got my 'blingage'....

While we were decorating the house for Christmas I was goofing around with an ornament my son got from his Aunt Di. I put the crome cross on a dog choke chain and Dawn did some fancy magic chain tying and then snapped a photo of me wearing some cheap 'blingage'... or is it more accurate to say, "Flossin". We all thought is was fun and games until they couldn't get the darn thing untied... first Dawn, then Mike, then Garhett and finally I asked my son's friend Janice if she is good at untangling things and thankfully she was able to untie it - I couldnt bring myself to actually go to church tomorrow wearing that silly thing - - - oh, the worse part, Dawn got a call from our friend Michelle Lasch who happended to hear the whole thing going on - - - now how am I going to live that down!

Thanksgiving with the In-Laws

The Bambricks headed north to Palmdale CA for Thanksgiving this year. We were invited to Dawn's father and his wife's house, and were joined by her sister Diane, her husband Jim and son Liam. We were also entertained with Dawn's brother Fred, his fiance' Monique and her two children, Darius and Nicolette. It was a great day - we took our 5th wheel up and stayed in that for 3 nights.

Dawn's dad does a great job preparing the feast and surprisingly - all three of the siblings got along the entire time!

On Friday we went to see "The Santa Clause III" and shot this photo of our children in the hallway of the theater, with their namesakes... Rhett/Garhett and Scarlett/Ashley Scarlett.

We came home today and decided to "deck the halls" and start spreading the Christmas cheer in our neighborhood by turning on the Christmas lights that I hung the weekend before we left and adding a boat load of newer stuff too.

What a busy holiday this was!

Toys for Tots rejects Jesus!

Found this story on CNN.COM today.... quite disturbing; but not unexpected.

Toys for Tots rejects talking Jesus dolls


POSTED: 12:04 p.m. EST, November 15, 2006

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program.

A Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the 1-foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season.

The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls manufactured by one2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., based on biblical figures. (Watch to see and hear the Bible-quoting dolls -- 1:52)

But the charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature.

Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and "we don't know anything about their background, their religious affiliations," said Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Virginia.

As a government entity, Marines "don't profess one religion over another," Grein said Tuesday. "We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family."
Michael La Roe, director of business development for both companies, said the charity's decision left him "surprised and disappointed."

"The idea was for them to be three-dimensional teaching tools for kids," La Roe said. "I believe as a churchgoing person, anyone can benefit from hearing the words of the Bible."

According to the company's Web site, the button-activated, bearded Jesus, dressed in hand-sewn cloth outfits and sandals, recites Scripture such as "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." It has a $20 retail value.

Grein questioned whether children would welcome a gift designed for religious instruction.
"Kids want a gift for the holiday season that is fun," he said.

The program distributed 18 million stuffed animals, games, toy trucks and other gifts to children in 2005.

The company that sells these dolls is One2Believe.

Huntington Beach mini vacation

Last week the family packed up the 5th wheel and headed to Huntington Beach for a mini-vacation and spent 5 days at Sunset Vista campground... ok, it really is the parking lot just south of the Huntington Beach Pier... but it was a time away from home for re-creation.

I went to work every day and the kids and Dawn got to hang and do whatever they felt like - we picked the best week - if you remember it was in the 90's for three of the days! Wow, only in CA can you go tanning at the beach in NOVEMBER!.

I took Wednesday off and while Dawn ran some errands, I hung with the kids and caught some rays at the waters edge. I snapped thid with my new phone... Kinda fun!

Can*dian Joke

Someone who knows exactly how I feel about Canadians sent me this... I laughed for 15 minutes...


An American, a Scot and a Canuk were in a terrible car accident.

They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

"Well," said the American, "I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and that for a donation of $100, we could return to the earth."

He continued, " So of course, I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $100, and the next thing I knew I was back here.""That's amazing!" said one of the doctors, "But what happened to the other two?""Last I saw them," replied the American, "the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay for his."

More Bug-a-Boo

Since I already posted a photo of my beautiful daughter, the Snow Princess. I thought I would also post a photo of my handsome son, "Goku" from Dragonball Z... Yes, I made this outfit as well. I actually made it for last year, but I had to remake the boots this year!

I was pleased to see it held up during my son's attempt at eating one of the most disgusting foods on the planet. HOT DOGS.

Bug-a-boo wackyness

My wife and I, along with my brother and his family, Johnny and Jeannie and her son, worked the food concession at Revolution's annual "Bug a Boo" event, and had a great time.

We met all sorts of characters and had a great time talking with many, many adults and kids - - and some adults who act like kids...

Like our Lead Paster, Dave....

You see he was short a few cents for his bag of popcorn (he only had a $20 for a $.50 cent bag of popcorn) and when a friend helped him out with a couple of quarters, Dave thought it would be funny to stuff them into his eye sockets.

Of course, the moment he did I whipped out my daughters digital camera and snapped a shot! It isn't a great photo - but if you look close you can see the quarters in his eyes...

The he demonstrated how they fall out - when again, I shot this photo.

Revolution church is a great place. You can truely be "just who you are"...

The Snow Princess

Ashley wanted to be a "Snow Princess" for Halloween - so we searched at all the stores and even rather tasteless "Halloween Spirit Store" (bleeeeech!) for a costume that was appropriate and met her standards (and our pocketbook). None were found - so I got out my stapler, glue gun and duct tape... and viola! I created a floor length crush velour (blue) princess gown with gold and fur lined trim, a 'fellowship' cloak of contrasting white crushed velour with fur trim and gold braiding, topped it off with a white 'mink' muffler (had warmer) and there you have it. Mom added the blue crushed velour covered candy bucket - and we have our snow princess!