a christmas carol

the wife and i went to see disney's animated remaking of "a christmas carol" last night. there have been scads of flavors of this classic story over the years, but this one was a fresh take and in 3-d was truly remarkable. the imagery was flat-out stunning. yes, it had a dark side, some of the ghost scenes bordered on a horror film, but the characters seemed real and believable and of course, yes, the old miser has a change of heart at the end (sorry for the spoiler). as someone who takes in at least 3 movies a year at the big screen, i can highly recommend it. leave the kids at home please, unlike some rubes sitting behind us. perhaps one of the best parts was this song "god bless us everyone" as sung by andrea bocelli at the end credits. i purchased it on itunes as soon as i got home.

bring it...

enjoyed a great thanksgiving yesterday with a large percentage of family. the friday after may mean "black" to some, but for me it means the start of the christmas season. the end of the christmas season is less clear, but ususally goes into mid-january at our house. we'll turn on the house lights tonight onward, the ipod is loaded with 553 christmas songs, and the holiday madness commences in earnest. those of you involved in the family gift exchange, please submit 3 ideas per person in the $25 range ASAP. need to get the listings posted so people like myself still have time to get the items purchased online and shipped.
when i have a chance i'll post a couple pics for yesterday

updated: pics from thanksgiving here

holiday season begins...

this week begins the holiday hyper-speed time warp to the end of the year. if tradition holds true, it also begins a fairly lazy work week. although i technically work 3 days this week, i expect a lag in activity, at least though friday, which would be a welcome break. guess we'll see.
it seems as though there is an abundance of early spirit this year as there are several houses in my neighborhood diplaying lights, local radio stations playing christmas music 24\7, christmas shopping ads on tv, "the grinch" has already aired at least once (tbs), and we have yet to carve the thanksgiving turkey. that seems to be the trend these days, rushing the holidays in earlier and earlier. though we have the lights on our house, we won't illuminate them until friday and not until then can one freely listen to christmas music in our house without shame. so, let us enjoy the week, spend time with family, and give thanks for our blessings. after that, it's officially christmas time for me.

the end of sleep...

modern warfare 2 has been out for a little more than a week now, and in my opinion has totally lived up to the hype. infinity ward has amped up the game even bigger and better then ever and the insanely popular multi player online mode includes more advanced weapons, perks, kill streak options, etc. the mp pattern follows previous editions where they key is to level up, gain xp, and take advantage of your gained arsenal of weaponry.
the single player game picks up 5 years after the previous installment, where a new anti-terrorist group, task force 141, have to fight a russian ultranationalist terrorist and counter a russian invasion of the U.S.A.
there is also a co-op special ops mode, that you can play solo or with a friend, which is divided into five separate groups of missions: alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, and echo.
i've logged about 10 hours in the game now, between completing the solo missions (on "regular" mode) and multi player (where i continue to be beaten down by most players who have advanced much further, have better weapons, and are just plain better than i). despite my seeimingly permanent "noob" status i still enjoy the multi player game the best. the key for me is to enjoy the game for it for what it is, and not get too sucked into stats. according to my achieved accolades, i seem to spend more time "crouching" than nearly anyone else in the games i have played in, an accomplishment that i can always be proud of.

noelle returns...

noelle came back friday afternoon after having spent the whole week with her classmates at wolfridge. they had a great time and the weather was unseasonably warm which was an added plus. nice to be back to full strength in the price household.

northern exposure...

following in the footsteps of her older sister in 2007, noelle left bright and early this morning for her week-long nature adventure at wolf ridge environmental learning center with the rest of her fellow 5th graders. wolf ridge is located north east of duluth near silver bay, right on lake superior. to say she is excited for the trip is a huge understatement. noelle has been away for us for an extended length before so i know she'll have no problems adjusting. we'll still miss her though and look forward to her call sometime this week. she'll return to us friday afternoon and we'll take her out for a celebratory dinner. i'll post some of her digital pics in a future post.

happy birthday beck!

hope you have a great bd sis! how many weeks have you been listening to christmas music now?

when i grow up...

i resemble the guys in this ad a lot more than i am comfortable with