Heads Up!

Some new vidoes are coming your way! You know where to find them.

The sharpest knife in the drawer

Hello friends, the Wizard is back to regale you with stories of the latest happenings from our neck of the woods. Wifey's mom is visiting us and the result has been delicious food for us all. Tonight the lovely ladies whipped up some Aloo Gobi featured in the movie Bend it like Beckham. It was incredibly good and I can't wait to devour the leftovers. Cassidy and I went for a walk since the weather was so nice today. We came home promptly at dusk, however, because the mercury began to drop rapidly. A package arrived in the mail today containing my most recent culinary addition. A great big thank you to Dr. Kronski and his beautiful wife for the wonderful birthday present. Thanks to you I am the proud owner of a brand new Yanagiba. What is a Yanagiba? So yet again my knife collection grows. Muchas gracias, and I promise to whip up some sushi when you visit. I am trying to stay awake for tonight's episode of The Shield. I am tickled now that almost all of my favorite shows are playing at the same time. Between 24, LOST, and The SHIELD my TV viewing schedule is filling up quickly. I barely have time to fit in the upcoming Sopranos season. I'm sure I will somehow find the time. Annabelle is doing well and I suspect she is beginning the teething process because we have seen several new facial expressions and increased drooling. These baby humans develop so quickly! Have a great night and lots of fun.

Just relaxing and enjoying it! 

Annabelle's new food experience 

Mmmmm, sake makes mouths happy! 

The birthday girl! 

Saturdaynight

So it's Saturday and I haven't posted in a while, so I figured I would drop a line and let everyone know we are okay. Wifey is at work tonight and Annabelle is napping so I have a few minutes to share with you. Let's see, what do your inquiring minds want to know about today? Hmmmm. Well, Wifey has been doing some amazing things in the kitchen recently. She has whipped up delicious shepherd's pie, fantastic eggplant parmesan, some delightful spaghetti with meatballs, sausage, and pork chops and the list grows almost daily. The work has not stopped there, however. She went through and cleaned the kitchen until it sparkled and then reorganized our countertop space. It seems as if we have gotten a completely new kitchen! Fantastico. What was I doing while this whirlwind of activity was going on? Watching the little one and doing a few handyman projects that I had been putting off for some time. All in all it has been a productive few days for our entire family. Last night my grandparents got to experience the wonders of SKYPE and were able to see their great-granddaughter thanks to the free video calling. They were duly impressed and enjoyed it thoroughly. The little one is beginning to stir, so I have to cut this post a bit short. I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to some SKYPE calls in the near future. Adios!

One man's treasure...

It seems the geocaching I blogged about a few weeks ago is getting some notoriety with the authorities. Just one example of how things are subtly changing in this country. "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."-David Hume

The 500 club

This, my friends, is a milestone post for me. It is number 501! That's right, I have posted over 500 times since this little experiment began last April. I can hardly believe it has been that long. It has been a lot of fun and I thank my loyal readers for sticking with me through feast and famine. I feel like the blogging has gotten a lot more interesting recently thanks to the addition of video footage(thank you Papi) and apparently you agree. The more stuff I put on my little corner of webspace, the more you seem to click, so I am happy to continue learning and evolving this project. Thank you all again for the inspiration and feel free to comment should something strike you as particularly wonderful. Oh, another big up to the people at SKYPE for making such a wonderful product like computer phone and video calling completely FREE! I have only managed to convert one person so far, but I strongly urge all of my readers to download this free software utility that allows you to call any computer in the world for no charge. My only requirement is once you are online, you have to give the Wizened Wizard a call and let me know what you think about this amazing free product. Have a great day and thanks again!

Sidebar, your honor

The newest addition to my blog is the VSocial clip hosting which allows me to show everyone videos of my choosing for free if you click thru. The link is on the bottom of the sidebar and you can view all of my videos or just one should you so desire. No charge, no ads, nothing but pure, unadulterated video pleasure! Enjoy and have a great day.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

As some of you may have noticed, there is a new facet to my blogging these days. The new webcam is functioning perfectly and I am making use of it daily. Tonight I made my first video call using the SKYPE phone service. It is completely free with no ads, pop-ups, or other distasteful goo. The best part is that is WORKS! Annabelle enjoyed seeing her Granddad and Nanna on the computer while we spoke. Fantastic!! For those of you with webcams and hi-speed access, I highly recommend downloading the Skype software immediately. Feel free to look me up, just search for Wizened Wizard and you will be ready to video conference with me. Go Skype! Have a great evening and lots of fun.

What's new

Hello friends, the Wizard is back online tonight. I have had an interesting few days away, complete with birthday celebration and surprises galore. I even got my hands on a new webcam, as evidenced by my previous post. Those things are really amazing and you can really do a lot with them. What are they good for? Well, you can send video mail, take pictures, videos, and even make free peer-to-peer video calls with your computer(assuming you set up an account with SKYPE) I have been impressed with the service so far and look forward to testing out the video call feature once someone else I know gets a webcam, hint hint! Ahh, the march of technology making our fantasies into affordable reality. Pretty cool. I am getting a little bit tired, so I will have to cut this short. I hope you are having fun so far this year! Good night.

Test

Uploaded by Wizened Wizard

This is a test of VSocial clip hosting, enjoy

Hook 'em Vince

The Rose Bowl is over and the college football season is done. Texas has shown that they are truly the best team in the nation. Vince Young is the MAN! Pete Carroll is a class act, but unfortunately none of that rubbed off on USC's quarterback Matt Leinart. His post-game comments and interview this morning evidence what a poor sport, sore loser, and all-around prick he can be when the media attention is not on him. After all the time he has spent in the spotlight during his college career, you would imagine that Mr. Leinart would go out in style, recognizing his teammates' accomplishments and giving credit to the victors. Unfortunately he did none of this. Calling Vince Young a "freak athlete" and describing the Texas offense as a "one man team" and saying that "USC really had the game won" instead of Texas playing well at the end smack of hubris and arrogance hitherto unknown in college sports. Maybe he and T.O. should form their own team and keep each other company with all their sour grapes and hot air.

If you were wondering...

...when this Wizard is going to post again, wonder no more! I am here to say hello and wish you all a great evening. Today I had to come home early so my sick Wifey could get to the doctor's office. She has been feeling bad for about a week and the diagnosis is bronchitis but no pneumonia, thankfully. She is resting well and has not infected any other family members, yet. She will supposedly start feeling better soon and should be top notch by the end of the week. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Yesterday I experienced a near miss on the interstate that left me a little shaken and contemplative. A double tractor trailer in front of me panic stopped in a driving rain on the downslope of a hill. We were at an unexpected standstill for a good 30 seconds because the car in front of him had spun completely around and was facing the wrong direction. After the errant vehicle executed a three-point turn, everything got back to normal. It was a little tense wondering if I would be able to make the initial stop and even more so wondering if the people behind me could make their stops before they hit me. Needless to say, I was a lot more comfortable in the situation because I was in Wifey's car instead of my pickup. One of the rare occasions I drove her car to work ended up being the one that mattered, as I could not have made the initial stop in my usual ride. So the For Sale signs go up tomorrow and there will be a new Wizardmobile in my future. Driving is the most dangerous thing we do, and nothing matters out there more than safety. Since I drive at least 35 miles a day, I should probably have a better(read safer) vehicle. Anybody got a sweet deal on a safe ride for a nervous magician? Have a great night and please be careful out there, the laws of physics are unforgiving masters. Oh, BTW, GO NOLES!!!

Quickie

Hello my esteemed audience, just a short one to thank you for clicking here and to wish you a safe, happy, healthy, and peaceful new year. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!