Random thoughts, mostly unrelated to barbecue

I'm feeling guilty about having nothing interesting to say. Not so guilty that I have gotten here sooner to write something witty or clever, but guilty enough to at least try to think of a fun, entertaining topic. It must be the weather, because I've really got nothing.

The Closer, aka Sheri, gets two weeks off through the holidays. We wore out the road between home and the theater, damn near becoming qualified to be movie critiques. We saw every decent, adult oriented movie that was playing. Our AMC theaters here in Kansas City are testing a new system of assigned seating in their theaters. So, you get online and actually pick your seats. It's cool because you can get there just a few minutes before your show and have great seats. AMC claims they're testing this system because of the time and trouble of refunding movie goers tickets when they can't get an acceptable seat. That can't be the reason, as they now have people waiting in the theater with a clipboard that help you find your seats. Sounds like just a trade off to me. Either way, I like the idea because I'm the anal guy that wants to get to the theater really early to get the best seats.

We also wore out the closest Redbox over the holidays. In addition to all of the movies we saw in theater, we must have rented another six to eight movies. If you haven't tried a Redbox, you really should. With the exception of streaming Netflix, there just can't be an easier, more instant gratification-ish way to rent a movie. Jump online, find a movie you'd like to see, and Redbox will tell you where it's in stock in a machine near you. And most folks don't realize that the movies can be returned to any Redbox location. For a buck per flick, it just doesn't get any easier than that.

The snowblower is getting to stretch it's legs so far this year. I think I've had it out four or five times already, the latest being this morning. This was the first time I really felt cold outside. It's about 5 degrees here, but the wind chill makes it feel like -15 and the winds are gusting up to 30 mph. We're supposed to get three days of this. Nice!

I've got three cooks worth of briskets and butts in the freezer. I was hoping to get a cook in each of the next three weeks. This week is shot. Maybe the weather will allow me to cook twice next week. If I can make my three cook goal, the freezer will be empty and I'll be ready for the 2010 season.

Happy new year to everyone! Things will be thawing out in no time and the competition season will be here before you know it. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the bbq trail this year.