Whose kid is that???

Not mine! That is my adorable niece, Eden Stewart McKinney, taking a nap with her favorite uncle.

Halloween Fun Facts

In light of the upcoming All Hallow's Eve, I thought I'd browse the inter-web and see what fun Halloween stuff was out there. Here are some of the interesting links I found:

-Click here for some interesting Halloween info from the U.S. Census Bureau.

-Have fun with Boogie Bones, courtesy of Ben and Jerry's.

-A fan of Michael Myers? Here is a site for you.

-Yummy yummy for my tummy...

-Want some spooky sounds?...here are some from none other the geniuses at NASA...gotta love our tax dollars at work.

-And finally, carve your own pumpkin online here.

Chuck is the man...NOT!

Okay, okay, so I'm getting a lot of flack for not updating this blog in quite some time. I could make up some fancy excuse...abduction by aliens, etc...but the truth is that it just kept slipping my mind. So anyway, Coop du Jour is back for your viewing pleasure (unless you're a State fan). Some of you may have seen this video before, but I had to put it up here cause it's H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!!

Coolest Birthday Present Ever!

Kudos to my wife on this one...she knows me so well inside and out. Aren't you all SOOOO jealous???

Oh yeah, this other picture is for Jared...

Man-Friendly Stores

So the lovely wife and I spent most of the day at the Outlets in Smithfield, NC. For those of you who haven't been there, it's fairly typical as most outlet shopping centers go. The store composition was what one would expect:

52% - clothing stores
33% - stores involving dishes and various household items
11% - shoe stores
4% - other (i.e. man friendly stores)

As you may have noticed, only 4% of these stores are what we would call "man friendly." In other words, these are the stores that men WOULD go into without being dragged in by their wives, girlfriends, or mothers.

This is a problem.

You see, by only providing 4% of stores to service 50% of the population, the owners of these outlet malls are shooting themselves in the foot. It's really simple economics...if the demand is there, then the supply must change to go with it. Actually, that's not really an economic premise, but it sounded good...so just go with it.

Do I think such a change will occur? Probably not. But I can hope...

Big Blue is BACK!!!

Oh man oh man oh man.....

Wow...

If you haven't seen it by now, heed these words of advice: Drop what you're doing and go see Superman Returns RIGHT NOW!!! I don't care if it's 3:00am...it's playing SOMEWHERE....so go see it!

Now that you're going to go see it, I have another piece of advice: If you can swing it, go see the IMAX 3-D version! It only has 20 minutes of actual 3-D footage, but those 20 minutes are amazing! I know what you're thinking...you don't want to wear those cheesy 3-D glasses the whole movie just for 20 minutes here and there...well don't worry, they'll flash a signal on the screen to show you when to put on and take off the glasses. It really is worth the extra 3-4 bucks to get the full experience.

On a completely unrelated note...this is my first post from our brand new Macbook. I'm still getting used to it, but so far it's really amazing!

Friday night...I have a date with destiny...

...and destiny is wearing blue tights and a red cape. That's right folks...the day has finally arrived. Friday night at 7:45pm, my lovely bride and I will be viewing Superman Returns for the first time...and on the supersized IMAX screen no less! How is such an experience possible? The credit is due to one person alone: my amazing wife Rebecca. Although she has a passing interest in comic book characters, seeing Superman Returns on opening weekend is NOT on the top of her priority list...so to set up something like this for me and then surprise me with it is something I will cherish. I know, I know...some of you are thinking, "Geez, dude, it's JUST a movie." To me, however, it's a little something more...and the fact that my wife recognizes and encourages that....well folks, that is something special all by itself. Thanks, babe, for everything you are and everything you do...you're the best and I love you so much!

Brad

To Mac or not to Mac...that is the question...

Okay, so I've been hearing from several fronts that Macs are the greatest things since sliced bread. I've always been skeptical...I mean, it used to be that you could only run a select few programs on a Mac...and then there was the whole non-compatibility with PC's...basically, I always thought buying a Mac was a bad idea.

Well...lately, I've been rethinking that idea. It probably has something to do with our PC desktop screwing up more often...or me having to restart my work laptop more and more frequently...but I think those cute little Mac vs. PC commercials are starting to have an effect on me. I mean, who really wants to be the geeky guy from the box on the left? If we honestly look within ourselves, I think we would all agree that we want to be the cool, hip guy coming from the box on the right. Don't lie to yourselves people...it's shameful.

All that being said, it still remains to be seen if we'll get a Mac or not. The big X factor right now is whether or not the wife goes for it. She's been a Mac supporter in the past...but is she willing to feed my gadget hunger one more time in exchange for getting a possibly-superior home computer? Only God knows...

Two more days...

Okay, I'm foaming at the mouth at the impending release of Superman Returns...just like I'm sure the rest of you are. However, I feel I must address an errant bit of news that has come to my attention recently. Apparently there are some misguided elements of the American populace out there that feel that this latest incarnation of Superman is "gay". Just so we're clear...they aren't saying that the actor portraying Superman (Brandon Routh) is gay...they're saying Big Blue himself is gay.

SUPERMAN IS NOT GAY.

There, I said it. I won't entertain any further notions of this fallacy. For those of you who require evidence to the contrary, feel free to research DC Comics' vast database of material on the Man of Steel. As for me, I'm going to wait the required two days and enjoy seeing my biggest hero on the big screen once again!

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Well, it seems that Duke's golden boy has finally fallen from his pedestal. Read the story here:

http://www.wral.com/news/9361971/detail.html

X-Men 3....yawn....

Okay, if you're reading this and you haven't yet seen X-Men 3, then stop now because I'm going to spoil it all. So I was kinda worried when I found out that they changed directors mid-stream, but I was hopeful that they would at least stay true to the comic book roots of the series. Sadly, my hopes were dashed in the first 30 minutes. During the course of the movie, the writers proceeded to kill off THREE of the main characters and take away the mutant powers of THREE MORE!!! I wanted to throw something at the screen!

Well, that's Hollywood for you. My hopes now rest on Superman Returns, which comes out later this month. From what I've read, it should live up to the legend and then some! We'll find out June 28th!

By the way...in case anyone is wondering....I am NOT a dork. I just happen to have an unhealthy knowledge of comic books.

Brad

Coop du Jour

Coop du Jour

The Baby Boom

So lately it seems we are surrounded by babies and people having babies, a club we have yet to join (we don't even have the dog yet; evidently we're way behind). Nothing against motherhood, by any means, let's just say the maternal instincts haven't exactly kicked in...blame it on parents who think the mall is a great place to bring spoiled and poorly-behaved children. People keep telling me it's different when it's your own, a theory I'm not sure I buy into yet, but now we have the chance to test it--from a distance. We went to Charlotte this weekend to meet our first nephew, Connor Michael Simmons, born May 2 at 6lbs, 15oz and 20" long. Here he is sporting his Carolina pride from day 1--go Heels! He is a sweet little angel and has been so good, and yes I can see how it's all worth it (although seeing my sister in recovery mode does not do much to alleviate my own misgivings). My brother and sister-in-law are expecting as well, a little girl due in September, so give us a few months (or years...sorry mom and dad) of babysitting and we'll revisit this whole kid thing--for now, I like the sound of Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Brad.

War of the Roses

So today my wife decides she's going to plant some new flowers in our spacious 4 ft by 4 ft backyard. I'm thinking this involves just a quick trip to Lowes. How wrong could I have been???

What began as a simple trip to Lowe's turned into the errand trip from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. First, we're off to Lowe's, then to Target, then to Tuesday Morning, then to ANOTHER Target, then BACK to Tuesday Morning....and finally home. It was a fine example of good ole American consumerism (Die Commies!!!)

Anyways...enough ranting...that's all for today...

Brad

To Dork or Not to Dork...That is the Question.

Yeah, so Jared thinks he's funny by posting our dorky e-mail conversation. I could launch into a tirade about the lameness of such an act, but I find myself looking at the larger issue of Dork-ness. What does being a "dork" really mean? To find the true meaning, I think one must break down the word into it's two integral parts. First, we have "do". For those of you not well-versed in the English language, this is what we call a VERB. "Do" simply means to commit, to perform, or to execute. Now that we have mastered the first part of "dork", we must look at the second part of the word, "rk". Aside from being an abbreviation for radial keratotomy, "rk" clearly has no definite meaning. In other words, when you combine "do" and "rk", you are left with the following meaning:

DORK: (dôrk)

1. (verb) to commit an act of utter meaninglessness
2. (noun) one who commits an act of utter meaninglessness


If you have read this far into the post, please be aware that the last five minutes or so that it took you to read all this will be five minutes that you will never get back in your entire lifetime. They have been completely wasted reading the ramblings of a self-proclaimed dork...but at least now you know what the word means.

Until next time...

Brad

Inaugural posting

Hello out there...this is the first ever Cooper blog. We used to make fun of all our friends who had blogs and told ourselves that we would NEVER do this. Now here we are...

The first words out of Rebecca's mouth when she saw was I was doing were, "You've sold out!!!" Yes, I have sold out...I have succumbed to all the momentous peer pressure of our blogging friends. Oh well....chalk one up for conformity.

So yeah, that's about it...be sure to look for fun stuff in the future from us. I warn you in advance...Rebecca and I have a VERY strange sense of humor. Don't feel strange if you don't get a particular joke that we post...it's probably just something for us to laugh about. If you're really good, we might clue you in one day.

Brad