Monk is Done and Al Bundy is a Modern Grandfather...

I just read over at Buzzardbilly's blog that the series finale for Monk is on tonight! Hello? I guess we missed this last season of it. We had been using the DVR to catch up with the show and we were pretty certain we had seen every episode so I guess I must have removed it from the schedule. Apparently, the new season started and I forgot to start recording the show again. Let us hope they play re-runs of the entire season, in order, so we can watch it all.

Speaking of the DVR and TV shows (I don't mean to brag, but my DVR can record up to four shows at the same time), we started recording this new show called Modern Family, then promptly forgot about it. The other night we were looking through the list of potential viewing options and found that we had 4 episodes requiring our attention.

We love Peg Bundy on Son's of Anarchy and my wife is a huge fan of Kelly Bundy on that show, Suddenly Samantha. I even kinda liked Al Bundy when he tried to do Dragnet, but it was such a long ways from his character on Married with Children to the very serious Joe Friday, that I guess it didn't work out.

That reminds me; when I lived in Bedfordshire in the UK, they opened up an American style restaurant called Joe Friday's. It was like a bar (as opposed to a pub) and they sold huge Yank style burgers and had some old Dragnet posters as I recall. Good times.

Anyway, they have now found a middle ground for Al (real name Ed O'Neil) who plays a grandfather, married to a much younger woman and their daily interactions with his two adult children, a daughter, married with three kids and a son, partnered with a a former football player and their adopted little girl. Oh, and in the first episode, Shelly Long comes in as the ex-wife who pretty much ruined the wedding reception in what has become known as, "The Incident".

We watched the first episode and it was enough to make us give the second episode a shot. And that was about all it took. We watched all four episodes in a single sitting and found the characters to be very entertaining and quirky. Ed O'Neil actually plays the straight guy (no pun intended) setting up situations for the other talented actors to be funny. He isn't over the top goofy like he was on Married with Children, and not totally serious as in Dragnet, he's just right. Oh, and bold enough to play a scene out by the pool with a gut, dare I say it, as enormous as mine. I just may bust out a Speedo for the Polar Bear swim this New Year's day.

I'll give you a moment to digest that thought.

Anyway, if you hadn't seen it, you just might want to give Modern Family a try. They have that little technique where mid-way through a scene, they do an interview with the character, sort of like what you see on The Office. May be a bit overused these days, but it was good for several laughs.

Important Comments About my Day...

My wife likes to sign up for these online clubs with restaurants where they will send you a free coupon via e-mail for 20 percent off or a buy one, get one free sort of thing. A while back, she signed us up for the birthday club at Red Robin. Come to find out, I was the birthday boy this month and they sent us a coupon for a free burger. When was the last time I turned down a free burger?So with all the errands we needed to run today, we figured we'd slip by The Rim and eat lunch at the Red Robin. I like the really huge wreaths they hung from the signs at The Rim, but geeze, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!Anyway, I like Red Robin and when they are giving food out for free, why the heck not. My only issue with the place is that for some reason, my hearing goes bonkers in there. The place has no sound proofing at all and it sounds like you are on a school bus with a bunch of loud 6th graders on their way to a Hanna Montana concert. Hopefully, when they build the new one in Alamo Ranch, they'll rethink that design.

------<<>>------

So my wife needed to run into The New Balance Store over at The Strand off IH-10 & Huebner. You know you are going to spend some cash when the people offer you a bottled water while you have your feet sized.

For the price of shoes there, they ought to give you cold beer and a plate of nachos, but I suppose that would take away from the healthy image they are trying to put forth.My wife never leaves home without clean socks. You never know when you might be in an accident I suppose. Oh, and her feet don't really point out like that, she was just trying to mess with the sales lady to see if she would say New Balance had a shoe that could correct that dysfunction.And speaking of that, since when did tennis shoes become a "system". Our shoe waitress was very nice and knowledgeable but if the free bottled water didn't give a clue that they were looking to sell a Cadillac, the fact that she brought out additional accessories with the shoes was all I needed to know. Oh yes, with the New Balance System, you can swap out the crappy inserts and put in some of these fancy cushion support things in for only an extra $50.00. And if you'd like, we can give you an extended warranty. Seriously, I don't see Al Bundy going through all the training that was probably required of our sales person, just to push some high dollar feet covers.

------<<>>------

On our way home, we were over by the medical center so we stopped into that HEB on the corner of Huebner and Babcock. Sweet sainted mother of turrets, I never realized how many messed up people live so close to a major medical center. Makes you thank your lucky stars for not having some malfunction that requires you to have batteries attached to your scalp. Geeze, I hope that poor guy doesn't happen upon this blog and think I'm making sport of him.Anyway, besides the numerous people with medical situations, I realized that this was one of the old style HEB's in desperate need of a remodel. We felt lost the minute we walked in and nothing was where it is supposed to be. Even the things in the produce market seemed out of whack. And the lines were packed with Sunday shoppers all crammed into a short compact area. I was really feeling claustrophobic and would have much preferred a visit to the HEB Plus where we normally do our Sunday HEB'ing.

------<<>>------

And finally, a reader left a comment on an older blog entry about Bussey's Flea Market. This guy has several blogs of his own, but one made my wife and I sit and giggle so to speak. Well, why don't you go ahead and check it out for yourself, here.