All I Watch For Christmas

I've been getting into the mood of Christmas lately by watching some Christmas movies.  Well, at least movies I consider Christmas movies.  So today I thought I'd make a list of movies I usually watch or ones I've seen in case you wanted some ideas for movies to watch.  I'm not saying all these movies are classics or even good but they are ones I enjoy or like. 

Let's begin with ones I haven't seen in a while and would like to see again.

All childhood classics, but ones I haven't seen in likely 15 years if not more.  I should look for these to watch somewhere.

These are ones I don't watch all too often, but every couple years I'll watch them.  The Veggietales is the only one I own, but the other two are on TV yearly so I don't have to search too far for them.

Here are three more movies I don't need to watch yearly, but they are ones I own so I can watch them whenever.  I might watch Just Friends in a couple days.  I doubt I'll watch Home Alone 2 or Santa Claus The Movie this year, but its possible.

I just watched Trading Places this weekend.  Its a movie I try to watch yearly even without the theme of Christmas but the last few years it has synced up right.

I try to watch Jingle All The Way yearly also, but haven't watched it just yet.  I won't say its a great movie, but I will fight you if you say its one of the worst Christmas movies.  They actually made a sequel to this starring Larry The Cable Guy.  It was straight to DVD and I'll admit it was better than most of his other movies which I guess isn't saying much, but still worth checking out at least once.

Until a few years ago, Mickey's Christmas Carol wouldn't be on my list.  However I remember my nephews watching it like 30 times in a row and loving it.  Because of that I usually tend to watch it at least once a year, and this year I've caught it twice.  Its a nice story and one of the only versions of A Christmas Carol I remember watching (besides a Christmas episode of Saved By The Bell which I need to find as well).

These three (and also not pictured is Rudolph) are on TV every year and I usually catch them as often as I can.  I've watched Grinch, Frosty, and Rudolph I think twice each already and will likely catch A Christmas Story at least twice starting Christmas Eve.  I actually own the movie, but there isn't any need to watch it when its on loop on two channels for 24 straight hours.  I think I bought the DVD when I didn't have cable.

People debate that Die Hard isn't a Christmas movie, same as Lethal Weapon, but to me its no question, it certainly is.  Die Hard's plot surrounds a Christmas Party on Christmas Eve!  Critics say it could have been any party with no Christmas aspect and that's true, but it isn't.  Plus a lot of Christmas movies could not be Christmas movies using that logic.  Home Alone isn't a Christmas movie with that logic.  I mean a kid wish he didn't have parents, and they left him home alone on a vacation, boom, no Christmas plot needed.  The fact is they do have Christmas elements, and they are Christmas movies.  I've watched Die Hard this weekend, and probably watch Home Alone in the next couple days, so I have that covered.  I don't own Lethal Weapon or else I'd watch that too.

So I have two more movies left that I MUST WATCH every year.  I've already watched them this year and will likely watch them again before Christmas.  Here they are.

Christmas Vacation I've seen on TV almost every night this week, but I need to watch the DVD so I can hear all the unedited lines.  I remember watching the movie on VHS at school one time in high school and the teacher either never watched the movie or forgot, but it had all the lines in it.  She popped her head up when Randy Quaid said the classic "S***ter was full!" line.  I think she just figured there was no need to stop showing the movie but it was fun catching it in class.

As for Miracle on 34th Street, I've always loved it, and I'm very particular with the version I watch.  I won't ever watch the 1994 remake, it just upset me when I heard they remade it.  I'm lucky I've never seen it on TV or had to watch it in class.  Likewise, I'm not very fond of the colorized version either.  When I watch my DVD, it is the classic 1947 version in black and white.  My DVD has the colorized version and also has lots of extras too, which I tend to watch every couple of years, but its the movie itself that I love.  I thought the casting was good, and its one of the only movies that I don't think should ever get remade (too bad it has though).  I'm not even sure in this day and age it could be remade with all the technology.  It would have to be too PC for most people too and it would take away from the plot.

So that wraps it up, my Christmas movie list.  There are others I catch on TV like Christmas on The Bayou (a 2013 made for TV movie) but these are the ones I thought I'd focus on.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.  I might watch Home Alone now.

Late To The COMC Party

By now everyone has seen enough COMC Black Friday posts to last until the end of the year, but I haven't shown mine off yet, and I figured I better do it before I forget like I've done with some other cards this year.  So let's dig in.

I bought 40 cards.  I think in total it said I spent $17.42 so I think I did good.  None of these cards were high priced, but cards I've had my eye on.  Most of the money was from COMC challenges, and some was from leftovers from the last time I added money to they account back in the spring.

I bought40 just so I could get two scratch cards.  I thought at least I could get a couple bucks back.  I already had about 30 cards bought so 10 more wasn't too bad especially since it was only about 4 or so bucks.  However I came up empty on both cards, which kinda sucked.  But oh well, I got cards I thought about getting anyways and most were Royals so ones  I didn't have yet anyways so no big deal.

I had to get caught up on First Pitch cards, and I've been adding these throughout the year.  The Spieth cost the most of any card I've bought in this post but now I finished the set.  Well, Series 1 and 2, I haven't looked at the Update series yet but no plans to get them so quick since the prices should fall soon.  As for future years, I think I'll just get ones I want instead of the entire set.  It was fun to collect, but most of these I don't care about, so aside from the James Taylor and Hayley Atwell, I had no real desire for these cards.

Plus I still haven't finished the 2015 set yet.  Even after these 4, I still have like 3 more to get.  I'm not going to overpay on them, so I'll bide my time on them.  None of these four were must have even, but I do want to finish the set.

On the bottom row is some Johnny Damon cards that I didn't have.  I've wanted the Fan Club one for quite a while, so I was happy to finally get it.   I also wanted to work on getting more of his newer cards too, so I got the Goodwin Champions card.  Then I saw that he had a 2016 card as a Royal so since it was cheap enough I bit.  The last card is an Aaron Crow card from his time as a Northwest Arkansas Natural.  I might try to get a hat or something of the Naturals, I like their logo.  As for the Crow card, I really like it, and hope to get more of his cards soon.

I am almost done with the team set for the Heritage set.  I've been getting these off and on this year and I need to see what I have left to get now.

The other three are this years Bowman cards, which I'm actually close to finishing too.  It will be sad to not see Wade Davis as a Royal next year, but I appreciate his time with his team.  Unlike most, I never gave up on him, even that first year I thought he'd be the secret weapon of that trade.

A whole lot of George.  The Stadium Club card I fell in love with the moment I saw it, and finally saw a price I couldn't pass up.  The Rarities card is from this year (maybe even the Update set) and the only Royal in the insert set, so it was an easy get.  The Topps Kids card is another I've wanted for a while and finally picked up.  The last card on top row is actually a sticker.  A couple months back I showed off a similar card of Eric Hosmer.  After I got it, I saw that the only other Royal card was of Brett, so I got it right then.

On the bottom row is the last Brett card, this was one I didn't have on my radar, but still liked.  I was looking to get the Coca Cola card of his, but it was more than I wanted to pay, so I thought this one would be a nice addition.

Next is a Tom Watson First Pitch card.  Its a Chrome version, and I have no plans for the entire set, just the Royals ones, so this covered it.  It was pretty cheap so I'm happy.  Next is another Bowman card from this year, and insert set called International Ink.  I don't know much or anything about Jeison Guzman but I hope he has a bright future.

Last card of the scan is one you might have seen recently.  It was listed on my Top 25 Most Wanted list.  Which I still need to add to the site, but anyways, I found it cheap enough that I finally pulled the trigger.  My intention wasn't getting many of the Most Wanted cards so soon, but if I find them cheap enough I will.

Last scan of the night.  The top cards are from the 2011 Topps Minor League set.  All are Royals and all ones I needed.  I have a few, and only a few more to finish the set.  I'm glad I got the Ventura card finally.

Finally, a COMC order wouldn't be complete without some Maddux.  I got another card off my Most Wanted list with the HoloGrFX card and got another that would have likely replaced it if I updated it fast enough- the Etch A Sketch card. I really need to focus on a certain year for Maddux now because I'm starting to forget what I have and don't, so I need to update my list and then work from there.  I might work on his Padres cards first since I think I have a lot of them anyways and his Dodgers cards too.  The Braves cards are in the thousands so it might take a while to get all of them.  But I'll have fun trying to get them.

So with that, that concludes my COMC cards.  I hope you enjoyed them, and I hope to have another post or two this week, if I get a few more scans done.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.

Box Busted

I didn't see anything at Walmart a few weeks ago and I kind of wanted some cards.  I should have got a blaster of Update just to build it some, but instead I got  the box of packs I've shown off a few times already.  I figured at worst I'd get a hobby pack and who knows, maybe something good.  Let's take a look.

Got another one of these, and now when I use my display shelf it will look nicer with these on it.  These seem to be the highlight of the box now.

I can't be upset with a Frenchy card or a mini of Stargell, so this was a good pack.  Both are keepers.

Not a bad pack either.  I collect Tepesch so that was good to pull, and some other good names too.  In all the packs I've opened, I've never pulled one like the Ryan Ludwick.  I never even heard of the Robbed in Left set or whatever its called.  It was a nice card to pull.

It wouldn't be a box without a crap ton of Triple Play cards.  I have never liked A.J. Prickzynski but it was one of the better names in the pack.  The best card might be the miscut Buster Posey card.  The back is miscut too and it would throw the entire puzzle off.  It's a keeper for sure.  I got a couple more Pujols and the Miggy is a keeper too.  At some point I might be able to complete some of these puzzles.

YIKES!  I didn't expect the George Brett card.  I was hoping to get it at some point, but never expected to pull it.  I don't get how they made such an effortless set but had such an excellent insert set.

A couple sticker cards and another A-Rod, but one I already had, so nothing really great.  I'm just happy to get the Brett card.  I think the Babe Ruth cards were new ones too, I scanned it with these just because I didn't have room on the other scan with all the other Babe cards.

This set just does nothing for me.  I think mainly because I'm not a huge fan of the Babe.  I think a smaller set would be good though.  I wouldn't mind a Clemente set or maybe make a set of the best players by decade.

I've gotten use to these cards, and was happy to get two Royals.  I hope Finnegan is a big star in the majors even if he is no longer a Royal.  I hope Foster Griffin makes a name for himself too.  I think this was a really good pack.

I've really taken a liking to this set.  I like the design a lot.  I doubt I'd ever finish the set, but pulling these packs are fun.  I'm happy I got the Schwarber and the Lindor cards, as it really helped the value of this box.

Overall, I think I should stop getting these boxes for a while, but I still think they have value.  The 2017 Topps design hasn't given me a lot of interest so I doubt I get many of them next year, so I'll wait and see what other products Walmart might add soon and figure it out then.

Thanks for reading, and I should have my COMC cards posted this week and a couple others to show too.  I fell behind my goal for the year, so I have to work hard to catch up, but I'm still in good shape.  Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is warm and safe after this weather this weekend.

Cards Old And New

Baby its cold outside... and icy... and a lot of accidents.  Be safe if you have bad weather in your area.  I didn't expect this to happen here for another day, but it seems I'm going to be shut in for the weekend, which I pretty much expected and don't mind.

Okay with that out of the way I thought I'd show some cards I got today while getting some food at the local convenience store.  They only had Series Two Topps, so lets take a look.

Not a bad batch, I like the McCutchen card a lot and glad I got the Grichuk card.  The others I think are all new so if I ever decide to work on piecing the set together I have a good start.  The bunt card expired last month, so that kinda sucks though, but I never use them.

Three Royals cards, but I think I might have them already.  Maybe the Medlen is new, I'm not sure.  I know I have the Orlando card and pretty sure I have the Mondesi card.  Overall I think this was a good pack.

Beyond that, I have much more stuff to show but I'll save it for another day.  I have some COMC cards to show as I got them earlier this week, but that might be better done tomorrow when the temperature dips to 2 degrees.

However since it is the holiday season I found some old Christmas cards and thought I'd show them off.  I didn't scan inside the card, just the covers but I still think you'll enjoy.

I bought a box of A Christmas Story cards a few years ago, but never used them.  When I moved this year I think I kept one of each design and left the rest.  I don't plan on mailing cards, and they just took up space, so I didn't need them.  Here are some more.

In a sense its become a bit sad how much crap they've licensed from this movie, but the smartest thing they did was sell those leg lamps.

Here's the last batch.

Overall I liked the front of the cards okay, but thought the inside of the cards were a bit basic and not very creative.  However I wouldn't be opposed to seeing other movies make cards.  Christmas Vacation would be good ones to make.  Maybe I should do that, but then again, I still have Olympic cards I haven't finished.  Maybe I should work on that.

So that wraps it up for tonight.  I'm going to sit back maybe watch a Christmas movie or find something else to watch and cover up.  I might go to sleep early to keep from getting too cold.  Tomorrow I might do a new blog and I also hope to work on getting more cards sorted, at least do something to stay warm.  I hope everyone has a safe weekend.  Thanks for reading.

Ranting and Raving: Royals Trading and Linda McMahon?

It hasn't been real long since my last edition of Ranting and Raving, but I imagine a lot of people want my thoughts on the Royals trade of Wade Davis, and the ones that know my fandom of wrestling might be curious of my thoughts on Linda McMahon.  I also might throw in some thoughts of Roku so far too.  I'm starting this right as the Chiefs game against the Raiders is about to begin, so who knows when it will get done, but here we go.

Let's get the Linda McMahon stuff out of the way first since it might not take as long.  I try not to get political on here because blogging is my escape from real world news but since Mrs. McMahon has ties to wrestling and I am an avid fan of wrestling (at least until this year) I thought I'd talk about it.  For those unaware, President Elect Donald Trump has announced former WWE CEO Linda McMahon to his cabinet as the head of the Small Business Administration.  For some this came as a huge shock.  To me it didn't surprise me at all.  Some think it is nothing but a joke, but I will say this.  Linda has had political aspirations for quite some time.  However, her attempts at political fame has resulted in failure.  I'm not saying she is a failure, but my only worries is that while she was head of WWE for quite a while, and in my opinion, in name only, I'm not sure how much she knows about "small business". When I think of small business, I think of someone working their way up from the bottom barely getting by and if they are astute, make it a success.  Even if Linda did have a heavy hand in the success of WWE, which again, I don't think she did (not saying she had NO part of it, just that Vince doesn't seem like the guy to give up too much power to other people, even his wife), WWE hasn't really even been considered a small business.  By the time Vince bought out his father, it was already a American success and was big business.  The success that grew by leaps and bounds in the 80's wasn't on a shoestring budget, but money Vince already had.  They did manage to build it up tenfold or more by the mid 90's but also faced many troubles, most importantly potential bankruptcy as late as 1997.  They did succeed though and manage to buy their competition (both ECW and WCW in 2001), but as a result the product became stale.  Despite becoming stale, it still made them lots of profit. They made it a public traded company and raked in more money.  As a result, it allowed Linda the chance to try her hand in politics.  After spending millions in 2 failed campaign bids for office in Connecticut, she laid low for a while but still had her hand in politics.  During Donald Trump's run for President, the McMahons gave him SIX MILLION DOLLARS.  It wasn't the first time Trump and the McMahons worked together on a few occasions in WWE including a few Wrestlemanias.  It was no surprise that they would be rewarded, my only shock is that she wasn't appointed to something in the education department since that is what a lot of her focus seemed to be on during her campaign and after wards.  In the end, I don't know if she will do a good job or not, and to be honest, I don't see her holding the position for more than a couple years, but I don't really have a problem with her holding the position if she can manage to do a good job.  However I think a person to keep an eye on is Shane McMahon.  I don't know his political views or aspirations, but I think he has a good business acumen and has proved that he doesn't need the WWE to succeed in the business world, I could totally see him at some point in the Trump Presidency get a look for some sort of position.

Okay, so the Chiefs didn't start so hot with a muffed punt and all, so let's talk about the other Kansas City team, the Royals.  The Royals made some waves a couple days ago when they traded their top weapon in their bullpen Wade Davis to the Chicago Cubs for Jorge Solar.  On the surface some people are not happy with this trade.  To be honest, I am okay with it.  Sure I would have liked maybe one more piece thrown in, but I can't complain.  There are many aspects to this trade to look at.  The biggest is that Wade Davis is a free agent next year.  Kansas City already have a lot of contracts to get done after the 2017 season, and there would have been no way for the Royals to keep him.  The question then becomes what can they get for him.  Sure they could have asked for the farm for some team and get a ton of prospects for 3-4 years down the road, but they also realize that this team won't be the same after next year.  If they resign Eric Hosmer, most the other players will be gone.  If they don't resign him, they still need to fill other gaps too.  Point is, they have one more chance to go for it all before start a potentially long rebuilding process.  So they needed someone that could be an impact now, likely an outfielder or a second basemen, and that has a few years left on his contract.  Jorge Solar is possibly that man.  He fills the right field gap that is desperately needed, he could be an impact player to begin the season, and he is under contract until 2020 if he doesn't decide to become arbitration eligible (which we know he will, but that's still I think 2 years away).  I think it was a very smart trade, even if Solar doesn't translate into the player we all hope he will be. Much like in 2013 when we traded the farm for James Shields and Tampa graciously threw in Wade Davis, its a risk the team needs to make.  I was okay with that trade, and trust in them again this time.  Davis I don't see becoming any better than he has been the last couple years, and again, while I wish we got more, we had to trade him when we could get the best deals.  This trade won't fix other needs they need like starting pitching, and now relief pitching, as well as a possible second baseman, but it still made sense.  I've heard they are serious in trading Jarrod Dyson if they can get something good in return, and I think with that trade they would be smart getting some prospects.  A few teams have shown interest so we'll see what happens.  I've also heard they might be looking at the Cardinals' Kolten Wong, which I think would be a good move as well.  In the end, I think the Royals will be a contender this year, but if they can't get a couple more trades or signings worked out it could be a long year.

So this game has been a little lackluster but before I wrap this up tonight I'll talk about Roku a bit.  When I got it, I figured I'd spend a while messing around with it, and I have.  I have a few free trials, but thought I'd get used to the other channels first to see what I would mostly be watching.  I also need to probably upgrade my internet speed before I get Sling or Netflix, but so far the speed is good.  I mostly have been watching news, including local news from Louisville, Dallas, Tampa, and a few other places in addition to Kansas City and St. Louis.  I like watching news from other places even if I don't know a lot about the place, but I keep watching Louisville because I liked it when I visited there 20 years ago and would love to go back someday.  Among the other channels I've found, I got a couple channels dealing with cats, ABC, PBS, Fox, NBC, and some other odd ones.  I found one that shows Roller Coasters which is kind of fun in short spells.  I've also found cool channels like Plex, Pluto, a couple Christmas Channels, and Crackle.  So far I am very pleased with it.  I didn't think I would have found so many legit good movie and TV shows on there, but I have. I will be looking for more channels soon, but right now I have about 50 saved, and I add and delete about 10 or so a day, so I keep looking for more.  With the weather turning colder, I think I'll get more use out of it soon.  Especially since I have Plex and Youtube on there.  Once I get bored, I'll use the free Sling trial.  If I like it I might keep it, but I still have cable here and while its not real impressive, I don't think I'm ready to part with it yet.

So with that, Chiefs have the ball again as quarter two begins, and I think I'll wrap it up.  Thank you for reading, and have a great night and a great weekend.

TOUCHDOWN! KAN! SAS! CITY!

Taking a Savvy Trip

So I made a trip to Savvy Seconds the other day.   I saw the same old CD's I've seen for a while, a wide variety, but none that interested me aside from the self titled album from LFO, but I already have it and like 4 of their singles so I was good.  I saw a Twilight soundtrack, and I passed.  Then I saw a Gin Blossoms CD.  New Miserable Experience!  I thought, I'll get that if I don't find other ones I want.  The thing is I already have that album and most their others on my hard drive, and I've seen them live and had the cassette, so I didn't really need it, but hey, 50 cents.
I passed on it though.  Instead I chose these.

On occasion I'll see the Unplugged album from 10,000 Maniacs, and I think they even had the Tigerlily album from Natalie Merchant, but I already have that.  This was an album from 1989 and while I looked at it quickly none of the song titles stood out.  When I listened to it though I recognized the song Trouble Me so getting one song I like for 50 cents is a good deal.  I think all the songs were pretty good on it, so it was worth it.

Tracy Bonham has always been an artist I've liked.  She had one hit, it was called Mother, Mother and I really liked it.  As it turns out, it was on this album.  Now I have to admit I have the song on my hard drive, but I'm not sure where I got it from, so having a CD copy of it makes me happy.  Oddly enough another song on the album is called One Hit Wonder.  I thought overall the album was good and also well worth 50 cents.

 I love Lisa Loeb.  In fact, I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't liked Lisa Loeb.  Sure it doesn't come up in conversations a lot, but when it has, everyone has been a fan.  This album does have her hit Stay (I Miss You), but it also has her song Do You Sleep, which is one I like just as much.  Having both songs on this album is well worth the 50 cents.

I also was reminded of Lisa Loeb recently when having a Youtube day and watching old clips of Mad TV.  They did a parody of WB teenage dramas (i.e. Dawson's Creek) called "Pretty Pretty White Kids With Problems", and they actually had Lisa Loeb in the parody singing the theme song.  It was pretty funny.  In another Mad TV sketch Natalie Merchant was referenced (Kenny Rogers played by Will Sasso peed on her, but only after she was dead).

The thing is, I doubt I would have bought any of these CD's if I didn't see this last one first. 

 DRAGONFORCE!  HECK YEAH!  A friend of mine introduced me to the band shortly before their song Through The Fire And Flames made its way onto Guitar Hero 3.  I have I think 4 of their albums on my hard drive but never a physical copy.  They play an intense speed of rock music and while its not really heavy metal, its really good rock.  This album called Inhuman Rampage includes the aforementioned song as well as 7 other tracks.  While 8 songs may seem short, the average time of each song is about 7 or more minutes so its an hour long album. 

 I was so excited that I just wanted to pay for it and get to the car.  I was with my mom and I wanted to see her reaction to this.  She has an eclectic range in music and I get my musical variety from her though we don't really like the same artists.  She likes Don Williams and Slipknot and a mix of everything in between with exception to Rap and Taylor Swift.  As this song started I cranked it up and about a minute in she asked "Who is this?"  I told her "Dragonforce" and waited to hear if she approved.  "I like the drums".  I single out the guitar in most songs, but she can pinpoint the drums, which is cool, but I never thought about them on this song.  Another minute or so goes by... "How do they play that fast?"  I don't have an answer.  About 4 minutes in, and the songs half over, I get anxious... "So what do you think?"...

...

"I like it."

YES!!!!!!  50 cents well spent.  We may not agree on liking The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Tim McGraw, or Keith Urban, but we can agree on Dragonforce and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, so there's that.  For the record, she likes The Beatles and Keith Urban, I prefer Neil Diamond and Tim McGraw.  But I'm happy we find middle ground. 

However, that isn't all.  I also got a couple more items as well.  These were ones I thought about passing up just because of the excitement on the CDs.  However I'm glad I didn't.

This is a plastic helmet, like an arts and crafts project.  I guess its about the size of  a mini helmet, but it was in a packaging that looked like it came from Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  I paid a buck for it, and I might paint it red and make it a Chiefs helmet, I haven't decided yet.

Speaking of helmets...

 This was also a buck. I have full size replica helmets for the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Texas Rangers, but none for the Royals, so while I wanted one, I wasn't completely sold on this one.  I never cared for the black and blue look, but something was also missing on this one.

 It didn't have the inner piece for it, and I had to decide if I wanted it. I was blinded by Dragonforce but in the end figured I had those other helmets and could used the inner piece from them if I needed to.  I decided to get it.

 A few scuffs on it, but overall its in great shape.  I'm really glad I decided to get it.  Overall I spent 4 bucks on it and I think it was all money well spent.  I think I'll get good use out of all of the items.

When I got home and after I unpacked the items and put away groceries, I saw the mailman.  A package had arrived.  It was one I was expecting, the last of my Walmart shipment that came last week including the Roku.  These items weren't ones I needed but I still will get good use from them.

 I mainly got these more as a filler item, but I did need some batteries.  These should last quite a while.  The price was also about the price an 8 pack at the local Walmart cost, so it was a good deal.

This last item I've been watching for a while and finally found a reason to get it.

 A couple years ago I pretty much beat Saints Row 4 shortly after the game came out.  However I only had the game due to a free trial to Gamefly and had to return it.  Since then, I didn't have much desire to get it, but I had an urge to play Saints Row 2 a few months ago (I don't own Saints Row 3) and when I did I curiously looked up 4 to see what it was going for.  I figured since it was on the 360, it wouldn't be much.  To my surprise they released special editions of the game including this version, the National Treasure Edition which essentially has everything included such as DLC of clothes, guns, and more.  It also had extra missions.  I got this for like 12 bucks, so playing just for a few days I think I got my money out of it already.  I forgot the aliens aspect of the game (which is pretty much most of the game) so its not as fun as I remember it, but I still enjoy it.  Especially getting to play How The Saints Saved Christmas DLC where you help Santa and get a Christmas gun as well as Santa's Sleigh as a vehicle and a Santa outfit as well as an Elf outfit.  Overall this extra stuff is all worth it, so I'm really happy.

I spend a couple hours a day playing it, then messing around with the Roku a couple hours, so I balance it all out.  Speaking of the Roku, I'm enjoying some of these channels, the news is fun, I watched news from Hawaii and then Tampa, then Louisville, KY the other night.  I have about 40 channels added so far all free, so I find stuff to watch.  I watched a movie last night which was terrible and the reason I didn't post this until tonight.  If you have the chance, stay far away from Joe Dirt 2.  It is a horrible movie.  How bad?  Well, I honestly think Kid Rock would have made the movie better.  Yeah, its that bad.  Everything right about the first one, made the second one worse.  I almost feel sorry for the actors as this was horrible.  I don't know why anyone would have agreed to be in this aside from Mark McGrath, who was probably the worst in the movie aside from Patrick Warburton, who I like.

Anyways, I better go for tonight, its late, and I kind of want to catch the new episode of Sports Jeopardy, as its one of the most anticipated shows I've already remind myself to catch.  I noticed the new one is up already so if I don't catch it tonight I might tomorrow.  Anyways, thanks for reading this and I hope everyone has a great week.  Oh, and listen to Dragonforce, it might make your week that much better.

Aw-wee-oo Killer Roku!

Yes I referenced a fictional song from a fictional band from a 90's cartoon as my blog post, I have no regrets.  Those unaware, On the 90's cartoon Doug, the title character's favorite band was a group called The Beets, and their hit song was Killer Tofu.  Now I have an urge to find some old episodes, maybe I'll look on Roku.  I'll get to that, but first I have other stuff to show off.

I've been a little busy lately and I've fell behind a bit so this is a catch all post of sorts.  I promised to stay dedicated to posting frequent until the end of the year at least, so I need to start doing that.  Not a lot of card related stuff today, but I do have a couple to show, but I'll get to those in a bit, first let's get sauced.

Lord I apologize for that joke.  And I bet Larry The Cable Guy probably would like to apologize for this BBQ sauce.

I tried some of it the other day, and while I'm not a sauce expert, I just wasn't a fan of it.  I did try it on some chicken in the oven though it it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good as a dipping sauce.  I got the bottle during a family gathering before Thanksgiving.   I always like trying different products, but needless to say I doubt I get another bottle of this.  Though I think they've stopped selling the Billy Butler BBQ sauce locally so I need to find a new brand.  For now I'll stick with whatever's on sale.

Something I forgot to post before Thanksgiving and Black Friday is something else I got recently.

Gottadeal is a website I use mostly during the Holiday season, but has great deals year round.  It is a site that posts about sales and such and I've been a member of the site since 2005.  I got hooked on their Black Friday message board and go back each year.  The post the ad scans before a lot of sites, and the only one I really trust.  Anyways, each year they have contests you can win.  Luckily I usually win every year, and in years past, it has always been a shirt.  I think I have about 6 of them.  This year they decided to go a different route and give out a prize pack instead.  I'm not complaining because its still cool.  I got a stocking cap I can wear when its cold (it snowed today, but didn't really accumulate), and the cap is really warm.  I also got some business cards, some magnets, some stickers, and decals.  Also a couple ink pens, which I've already used as well and a bottle opener.  I have another one from them, but don't seem to have many bottles I need to open.  As a bonus they also included an Amazon Gift card, with one lucky winner getting $100.  I only got $5, but I was still happy because besides being free money, it also allowed me to get just a bit closer to free shipping without signing up for Prime (last time I did, I forgot to cancel it and was charged 80 bucks).  As for the Gottadeal site, I really do love the site, even if I didn't win the contests.  besides the blogging community, its about the only other online community I feel welcome in (I mean besides TCDB, which I consider an extension of the blogging community).

PERRY THE PLATYPUS?  WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?

No, seriously, I have no idea where this came from but it just showed up one day inside the house.  I'm thinking about making it my version of Elf on The Shelf, which oddly enough seemed to disappear about the same time this appeared.  Either way, I like Perry, so I'm not mad about it.

It's been a while since I posted this shelf, and I decorated it for football season.  I moved the bobbleheads and added some helmets.  I have more, but they might be in storage.  The Chiefs car helmet was my dad's, which I just saw for the first time this year.  As for the Bud Light helmet, I was so excited when I found that also in my dad's collection.  I forgot he had one of these, as I was so used to seeing the red Budweiser helmets.  The problem now is that I misplaced the red helmet, or else I could display the Bud Bowl helmets and thing back to my childhood.

As for the other items, they are stayovers , but I might switch out the Clemente soon for something else.  Not that I'm tired of seeing it, but I'd like it to sit up straighter and it keeps falling.  I might look into getting a bigger shelf at some point too just so I can add a few more items.

So let's get into some cards.

The new SI For Kids came in the other day and I was pleasantly surprised to find a Chiefs player made it on one of the cards.  Marcus Peters is the real deal.  I fell asleep before the end of the game today, but I heard about the crazy ending.  Atlanta scored a TD to go up by one, and instead of kicking an XP, they went for two.  Matty Ice threw the pass on the conversion and Eric Berry intercepted running it all the way back for two points, and the Chiefs won by 1 point.  Unreal.  It was Berry's second INT of the day and his second score.  He had more fantasy points today than most of the guys on my team did.

I like the variety of cards in this issue, and also happy to get the Kris Bryant, but to be honest I would have loved to see them have Ben Zobrist get a card.  I usually keep a few and give the rest to a friend, but I might keep them all this month.

I won this card off Lisita.  Truth is, that I haven't watched much wrestling as of late.  As I write this the WWE has a PPV on and I'm not too concerned keeping up to the minute on it like usual.  Since WWE split the brands again, I've just lost interest.  It's not because of the split, but I've just lost interest.  However whenever I know Nia Jax has a segment I will tune in.  For whatever reason, I've really become a fan of hers.  Like her T-shirt on WWE Shop site says, "I'm not like most girls".  She doesn't present herself like the other female wrestlers, and that's what makes me like her more.  WWE tried so hard to change the image of the division from DIVAS but for the most part, none of the other female wrestlers have really toned down the Divas persona's yet.  Throw in the fact that only 2 wrestlers seem to be fighting for the title, and Nia Jax is a nice alternative.  Plus I like that in 2016 WWE is going back to having squash matches with enhancement talents, aside from that bozo Ellsworth.  See, I still keep up, I just don't watch.  Maybe next year I'll stop keeping up.  Until then, I'll proudly display this Nia Jax card.

Okay, so above I mentioned I use Gottadeal for the holiday season.  I did this year too, and since I had a Walmart GC, I used it to get some Black Friday items, not all have arrived yet but a couple have (plus a bath mat, which I did need but not really picture worthy).  I thought I'd so off what I got so far.

One item I was looking at was a wireless mouse for my desktop.  I normally would switch the one I have between the laptop and the desktop, and thought a second one would cause for less wear and tear and also save time and trouble.  As I found a few deals, up popped a combo wireless mouse and keyboard.  I have a keyboard already, I got it at the Dollar Tree of all places and was one of those glow in the dark ones they tried to sell on TV many years ago.  I like it, but the cord does prevent a lot of movement.  So when I saw this was a wireless set for just a few bucks more I thought about it.  The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a great deal, and I should get it.  The clincher for me is that it only uses one USB port, and I could put it in the back of the computer so it not only saves a slot but it is hidden.  I've already tried it out, and the keyboard works like it should, and the mouse seems a bit jumpy, but I think I will get use to it.  I think it was a great deal for the 14 or so bucks I spent on it.  Now I need to find my old mousepad so I won't have to switch that back and forth.  If I can't find it, I'll make a new one from Shutterfly, or just look at Dollar Tree where I found my old one.  The one pictured I mad on Shutterfly and I like a lot, but not sure I want to spend much money on another one.  I might if I get a free offer which I figure I will soon.

Finally is the item I really wanted and the reason for the title.  I finally got a Roku.  This model is one of their newest ones, and a Walmart exclusive, the Roku Express Plus.  The difference between the regular Express and the Plus model is that this one allows you to use the old red and white cables to connect it.  That doesn't affect me really but this one was cheaper on Black Friday so its the one I got.  I want to see if I could hook it up to a VCR or DVD recorder and maybe record stuff that way, but for now I'm just messing around with it.

I set it up on Friday night and have played around with it a bit.  I got an amazing deal on it for only 25 bucks.  Normally 40 bucks, it would I think be well worth it at that price even.  Though I must say the reason I jumped on it when it came back in stock (it was out of stock for a while) was that this model and the Roku Streaming Stick were both on sale and both were selling crazy fast.  I heard the stick might be a bit faster and a better deal (I saw it for 35 bucks instead of the normal 50) but since both were selling out fast and I wanted anyone I could get, I got this.  The deals I got with it were 2 months free of CBS All Access, which I think I won't use because you can only cancel by phone, and honestly I hate using the phone, and since I still have cable hear for now, I don't really need it.  I also got 2 free months Hulu, which I will try before the middle of January when it expires.  I also got 2 free months of Showtime as well.  I also plan to use that before it expires next month.  I'm waiting until a few things I really would like to see come on, and right now all I see on there is a Madonna concert and something else and I can do without either.

After I ordered it though, I got an email from Walmart saying since I bought from them, I also get 3 free movies from VUDU, which I do already have an account with so that's good.  The bad part is they pick the movies, and none are any I care about too much.  One of them is Taken, another is a kids movie, maybe one of the Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs movies, and I forgot the other one.  But hey, its free, so who am I to complain.  I do need to reinstall the app though as the movies I already have wouldn't load yesterday.  I was going to watch one of the 15 I already have through the app.

In addition, I also got a free 2 month trial to Sling also.  I haven't activated it yet, but I have until April 1st or so, so I might wait.  My friend loves Sling, and I wanted to try it out anyways.  If I like it enough I might get rid of cable, but there are a few channels missing that I would still like to have.

So since I haven't activated all the free offers I got yet (which by my count is upwards of 80 bucks), I'm checking out the free channels for now.  I never planned to buy channels or anything on Roku at first at least until I tried out the free stuff, and its a bit of a learning curve but I'm catching on.  I wanted the Roku for two reasons, first really to mess around with and also to see if my internet was fast enough for it, I'm still at the low end of internet speed as of now.  The second reason is I am wanting to teach my mom how to use it so we can dump cable and maybe use Sling or something cheaper than the cable we have already.  Before I teach her I need to test out the channels.  One thing we both like the idea of is watching local news from various places.  So I've already installed a few apps for that.

I've added a couple news channels from Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield, but also added apps like NewsOn and Livestream so I can watch more.  Honestly, I could probably be happy with just that for now, but I hope they get more local channels like in the Columbia market even though I get those now.  If we do dump cable, I don't think an antenna will pick all them up and the thing we'd miss the most is the news.

In addition to the news apps, I also got a Weather app.  Its Weather Nation and it works good.  After that I tested out some random apps, and so far have been drawn to Crackle for no other reason than watching Sports Jeopardy.  Beyond that I have about 20 more channels added so far ranging from church to Christmas to cartoons and such.  I watched the first episode of the Beverly Hillbillies the other day to mainly test it out, and it worked good.  I do think I'll need to upgrade my Internet a bit, but I had already planned to do that anyway.  In a few months I bet I'll get around to getting Netflix or something.  For now the free channels will work, and I can find stuff on Youtube.  I think I will like it.

One thing that was easier than I thought it would be was the remote.  Not many buttons so not much to get use to.  I was also surprised at the size of the Roku.  Its almost the size of a flash drive, its really small.

Well, its getting late and I want to test it out some more, so if you have channel suggestions let me know.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.