This weekend was an interesting blend of achievement and cancellation. I had been hoping throughout the week that something might go down back home, since Joe and Dana both turned 21 last week, with mine on the horizon. Unfortunately nothing happened though as Joe told me on Thursday that the outlook was bad; Dana got sick last week and was going to just do family stuff at home, and Joe was probably going to go to a bar which would exclude Ray and Mike. It really wasn't a big deal, and it's not like it was heavily pinning my hopes on, but since "events" out in Jersey seem to be quite rare, this weekend seemed like a good spot for shit to go down.
Saturday is when things fell into place. We had talked to JWB3 and Eric about coming to check out the house in Philly so we could get money issues out of the way and get a real good look at the place. For those of you who don't know, the great house experiment of Drexel failed (as Jay and I predicted it might), and bad blood now resides between the duo of Eric and Kyle and the rest of the house. After there was a blow up where fists were practically thrown, it was clear that said duo would not be returning at the end of the lease. Jay and I had to find a place to live anyway, so we stepped into the fray. We worked out a real nice agreement with Kyle and Eric on the whats/whens/and hows, and John and Kaitlin seem more than willing to fill in the rent vacancy with people they already know.
We got there around 2 and didn't leave the city till about 8. Even though it's west of Penn's campus, the bike ride to Drexel isn't bad and the neighborhood is really nice. Surprisingly nice actually. The house itself is a three story, 6 bedroom place, with everything including washer/drier. There is even a small backyard with grass and a wooden deck which means that BBQ's will happen frequently (that sounds ridiculous to be excited about, but if you're not from the city you have no idea how rare that is). The house is a little old, but so is every one in the area. It's still nice the way it is, but if you wanted to improve it, all the place needs is a little paint and minimal effort. What's great is that Jay and I will basically get the entire third floor, which includes a bathroom, for about $500 a month each after utilities. After checking out the place, my mind immediately started to brainstorm on how I want my room set up, and I'm really looking forward to moving in. We also paid Eric and Kyle for the security deposit (which we get back), the rent for May, and our share of the part-time rent for March.
After that was done, I grabbed a Western pizza from Ed's and we hooked up with D-Money and Jeremy at their place. I hadn't seen them in awhile, and we basically just chilled and shot the shit. We brought up the future AC casino trip that's in the works, plans for trout fishing on the weekends, and a possible camping trip down on the coast (possibly NC).
Once we got back and Jay left, I went over to Kent's to hang out for the rest of the night, and basically dorked it out the rest of the night. By the way, it's incredibly easy to lose track of time when on your computer. Sunday was a bit of the same, hanging at Kent's just to kill time.
Today at work should be real busy, but starting tomorrow I will be getting treated to infinite meals to celebrate my birthday. I might be testing the water to see what people are up to this week, but if you want to do something feel free to let me know.
And a baba booey to you all.
February 27, 2006
February 23, 2006
Ordinarily Amazing
This week has been pretty boring and uneventful. This weekend should be a little better, since on top of my regular routine I'll be checking out the house I'll be moving into before school, going to KOP and hopefully seeing people from back home. All that fun, however, isn't till tomorrow night, so I still have a little while longer to trudge on ahead. At this point, I'm running on autopilot, hoping that the hours fly by like minutes so I can get to the promised land called "weekend".
My computer is basically back to normal now. I still haven't copied my music from the iPod back onto my computer, and I lost all the pictures of friends I had, but DeadAim is up and running ( I gave Triton a chance and hated it ) and I've made huge strides in personalizing my computer to the way I want. Basically, all I need to do for that is get pictures and sounds on there that make my computer "mine". It's a little anal and definitely unnecessary, but it's how I likes it. My screensaver has always been a montage of hand picked photos, and I'm pretty happy with the new batch. I found an amazing pic of my girl, Marilyn Monroe, probably the best one I've ever found, and it reflects the strength of my new lineup. Going on a search of MM really reminded me how absolutely drop-dead gorgeous she was. She's easily one of, if not the most, beautiful women in any lifetime.
My computer is basically back to normal now. I still haven't copied my music from the iPod back onto my computer, and I lost all the pictures of friends I had, but DeadAim is up and running ( I gave Triton a chance and hated it ) and I've made huge strides in personalizing my computer to the way I want. Basically, all I need to do for that is get pictures and sounds on there that make my computer "mine". It's a little anal and definitely unnecessary, but it's how I likes it. My screensaver has always been a montage of hand picked photos, and I'm pretty happy with the new batch. I found an amazing pic of my girl, Marilyn Monroe, probably the best one I've ever found, and it reflects the strength of my new lineup. Going on a search of MM really reminded me how absolutely drop-dead gorgeous she was. She's easily one of, if not the most, beautiful women in any lifetime.
Also, I think I got a lot of latent junk that had been hanging in my brain out last week in my multiple blog tirades, so I'm kinda out of stuff to talk about currently.
One thing I find incredible is this story that Jay uncovered and sent to me today at work. After I read it, and the contract, I was really blown away. It's amazing to me that people like this asshole actually exist and are able to carry on that kind of shit. I really recommend that if you can handle some graphic sexual explanations and can stomach the writings of a complete prick, then click on the above link and prepare to have your mind blown.
February 20, 2006
Fall of the Machines
For anyone like myself who relies strongly on their computer for social networking and survival in the face of boredom, there are two words that can instantly make a person feel overcome with dread and fear: reformatting Windows.This weekend was pretty much dominated by my computer woes. It all started on Friday, when a commute absent of traffic and a pleasant day ofwork got me suspicious that I was in for a nice karma kick (remember in Seinfeld when Jerry said his life always breaks even, well I'm the same way). After getting sat in Felicia's section at Ruby Tuesday's later that night, I knew I was doomed.
I have to tip my hat to fate; having my computer die as retribution for good times really didn't cross my mind and I was taken completely by surprise. What happened was I tried to download a helpful UI for Warcraft and was actually playing for a bit before I decided to take a break and restart my computer so the installation could take effect. As Windows tried to shut down, my screen turned black and then the "physical memory dump" window popped up. I figured I would just wait for it to finish, restart my computer, and remove what I figured to be a corrupt UI. But the memory dump never started, and after about five minutes of watching nothing happen, I perhaps sealed my fate and held down the power button for a manual shutdown.
Whether one of the UI's corrupted my files, the installment went terribly wrong, or a manual restart messed up my computer, I'll never know. When I tried to restart to assess the damage, my computer couldn't even load Windows in safe mode. After shooting some pool and getting advice from Jay on Saturday, I transported my dead computer to Kent's to try and repair. That failed, as did reinstalling Windows components. So with no options left to me, I was forced to wipe my harddrive and reformat.
If you've never had the pleasure of reformatting, I highly recommend you fuck your computer up one day just to give it a go. All things considered, the process went relatively fast. Over a span of "just" six hours, I was able to do the following:
- update all my drivers (video, sound, etc) since reformatting leaves you with the absolute basic
- download and install over fifty Windows updates
- reinstall Service pack 2 (long as hell)
- download Mozilla, AIM, Symantec and MSOffice from online
- reinstall Warcraft (4 discs, 6 gigs) and the subsequent 7 patches
***I probably restarted my computer a grand total of 17 times***
Sunday, I went to Jersey to make sure my Mom's computer was working fine and to install the RAM I took out of my computer into my sister's computer (one man's junk is another person's upgrade).
Since I didn't even play well during my Saturday pool session, the only real highlight of the weekend was eating this little Italian place my Mom works at on Haddon Ave. in Collingswood. The brick oven looked like it could turn out a mean pizza or calzone, and the bread was incredible enough to back up those expectations, but I went with the Lobster Ravioli and did not regret it. Plus, I got a few pretzel-filled chocolates from this candy shoppe across the street. It's like a solid chocolate with a pretzel in the middle, and the lady covers them with a wide array of toppings. I got 3 with mini Reeces Peices and 1 with mini Snow Caps. Fucking good.
February 15, 2006
Comfort Level
One thing that I've enjoyed about my current job is that, unlike my last co-op, there is a stronger and more dominant social force in the office. Last year, it was me and three other lab rats cut off from the rest of the staff. This group is younger and more interactive, and there's a larger number of people to come in contact with. With higher volumes of conversation, however, comes increased levels of frustration: disagreements happen more frequently here as compared to Chester Water, but that comes with the territory.
"Brokeback Mountain" has been a hotbed of conversation, not only here, but throughout the pop-culture world. Everyone's been talking about it, so it's not surprising to me that it eventually came up here. The men have been put on the spot to go see the movie, and when some of us said that we had absolutely no desire to see it, the accusations flew and words like "afraid" and "homophobic" started to fly. Luckily (for me), my evasion skills are covert level, because unless I want to get involved, I'm a fairly quite person (people who know me won't believe that LoL). But given the atmosphere created by a blog, I felt this would be a good place to address the topic.
The question is: "Why don't you go see that movie, people say it's a great film . . . what are you, homophobic?"
If you want the politically correct answer, I don't want to see this movie because it degrades and slanders the institution of family. I've read plenty on how Ang Lee has used his director skills to show a sharp contrast between the happy life and comfort that the cowboys feel when with eachother (the open fields, running water, sunshine), and the dark and dreary, often depressing and suffocating world of heterosexual family burden. Like or dislike the movie, this contrast is obvious. Now I can't speak for Lee, so whether he did this to create a foil for homosexuality to show how it can be a beautiful and fulfilling life, or whether he did this to show how family life isn't all it's cracked up to be, I can't say. But the message is clear. Family, home, parental responsibility, loyalty, love: all these are called into question by the film and shown in a hateful light, and because of that, whatever love story he is trying to show is tainted to me and unappealing.
If you want the real, more dominant answer, here it is uncensored:
The world has gotten into this mindset that tolerance and blind, unquestioning acceptance are the same thing. Gay people exist, and they should be allowed to exist, and anyone who tries to take away their rights or slanders them or alienates them is wrong. But just because you tolerate something doesn't mean you have to agree with it. To me, as a straight man, homosexuality is . . . let's say "weird". Every fiber of my being tells me that it is: philosophically, religiously, logically, spiritually, genetically. Every pool of information and insight available to me tells me its unnatural. I'm not saying anyone is going to burn in hell, I'm not saying to deport them, I really don't care what they do but it does make me uncomfortable. But for people to stand up and point a finger at you, or anyone for that matter, because watching two guys kiss eachother grosses them out is ridiculous and unfair. Gay people have a right to be with eachother, so don't I have a right to not want to watch? Isn't that what America is supposed to be about, respecting people? If it was my choice, every hand gun in America would be off the streets, but I recognize the rights of Americans to have them and only hope that we do more as a society to make gun ownership safer. Is that wrong of me to think guns are bad when I tolerate their existence?
Let me draw a very crude but strong parallel, and please don't be offended if you fall into this category. If Ang Lee made a movie about the passionate struggle for romance of two morbidly obese cowboys, who fell in love, and used visually powerful scenes of fat people naked and making love, you'd be grossed out (if you want to say you wouldn't be, then I think you should search the internet and try to stomach some of the weird fetish stuff that I'm sure exists out there), and on top of that he makes thin or physically fit people look like hateful, taunting pricks who do nothing but work out and choke the life out of those who don't exercise.
Now that, again, is a movie I wouldn't want to see. Fat people obviously have every right to fall in love and be happy. Hell, a love scene like that, while strange and unsettling to me, would logically be more natural then a homosexual one. Ask yourself a simple question: do you think this movie would be as popular if Ang Lee had used unattractive and perhaps overweight actors?
So yes, watching two men make out grosses me out, and two men finding love isn't an interesting topic to me, and a crucifixion of heterosexual love and family values doesn't seem like my cup of tea. Look up the word "homophobic" sometime and tell me if I'm infringing on anyone's rights by saying this, or if I'm making preconceived judgments about others and shutting the door on them.
You know, Spanish speaking people existed before America found out from the Latin music craze, and gay people were always there, even before you watched an episode of "Will and Grace". This cultural fad will pass, and ten years from now you won't even remember or care about who went to go see "Brokeback" and who didn't.
If you want to sit and preach acceptance, make sure you're not the one to preach to first.
"Brokeback Mountain" has been a hotbed of conversation, not only here, but throughout the pop-culture world. Everyone's been talking about it, so it's not surprising to me that it eventually came up here. The men have been put on the spot to go see the movie, and when some of us said that we had absolutely no desire to see it, the accusations flew and words like "afraid" and "homophobic" started to fly. Luckily (for me), my evasion skills are covert level, because unless I want to get involved, I'm a fairly quite person (people who know me won't believe that LoL). But given the atmosphere created by a blog, I felt this would be a good place to address the topic.
The question is: "Why don't you go see that movie, people say it's a great film . . . what are you, homophobic?"
If you want the politically correct answer, I don't want to see this movie because it degrades and slanders the institution of family. I've read plenty on how Ang Lee has used his director skills to show a sharp contrast between the happy life and comfort that the cowboys feel when with eachother (the open fields, running water, sunshine), and the dark and dreary, often depressing and suffocating world of heterosexual family burden. Like or dislike the movie, this contrast is obvious. Now I can't speak for Lee, so whether he did this to create a foil for homosexuality to show how it can be a beautiful and fulfilling life, or whether he did this to show how family life isn't all it's cracked up to be, I can't say. But the message is clear. Family, home, parental responsibility, loyalty, love: all these are called into question by the film and shown in a hateful light, and because of that, whatever love story he is trying to show is tainted to me and unappealing.
If you want the real, more dominant answer, here it is uncensored:
The world has gotten into this mindset that tolerance and blind, unquestioning acceptance are the same thing. Gay people exist, and they should be allowed to exist, and anyone who tries to take away their rights or slanders them or alienates them is wrong. But just because you tolerate something doesn't mean you have to agree with it. To me, as a straight man, homosexuality is . . . let's say "weird". Every fiber of my being tells me that it is: philosophically, religiously, logically, spiritually, genetically. Every pool of information and insight available to me tells me its unnatural. I'm not saying anyone is going to burn in hell, I'm not saying to deport them, I really don't care what they do but it does make me uncomfortable. But for people to stand up and point a finger at you, or anyone for that matter, because watching two guys kiss eachother grosses them out is ridiculous and unfair. Gay people have a right to be with eachother, so don't I have a right to not want to watch? Isn't that what America is supposed to be about, respecting people? If it was my choice, every hand gun in America would be off the streets, but I recognize the rights of Americans to have them and only hope that we do more as a society to make gun ownership safer. Is that wrong of me to think guns are bad when I tolerate their existence?
Let me draw a very crude but strong parallel, and please don't be offended if you fall into this category. If Ang Lee made a movie about the passionate struggle for romance of two morbidly obese cowboys, who fell in love, and used visually powerful scenes of fat people naked and making love, you'd be grossed out (if you want to say you wouldn't be, then I think you should search the internet and try to stomach some of the weird fetish stuff that I'm sure exists out there), and on top of that he makes thin or physically fit people look like hateful, taunting pricks who do nothing but work out and choke the life out of those who don't exercise.
Now that, again, is a movie I wouldn't want to see. Fat people obviously have every right to fall in love and be happy. Hell, a love scene like that, while strange and unsettling to me, would logically be more natural then a homosexual one. Ask yourself a simple question: do you think this movie would be as popular if Ang Lee had used unattractive and perhaps overweight actors?
So yes, watching two men make out grosses me out, and two men finding love isn't an interesting topic to me, and a crucifixion of heterosexual love and family values doesn't seem like my cup of tea. Look up the word "homophobic" sometime and tell me if I'm infringing on anyone's rights by saying this, or if I'm making preconceived judgments about others and shutting the door on them.
You know, Spanish speaking people existed before America found out from the Latin music craze, and gay people were always there, even before you watched an episode of "Will and Grace". This cultural fad will pass, and ten years from now you won't even remember or care about who went to go see "Brokeback" and who didn't.
If you want to sit and preach acceptance, make sure you're not the one to preach to first.
February 14, 2006
The Money Tree Burns
Today at lunch, Ralph started hypothesizing about what he would do with his share if we won the lottery. What he's referring to is the Powerball tickets that I chipped in for with a couple of others here at work in the hopes of a miracle (I think the pay out went over the $300 million mark, not sure though).With greenbacks on the brain, my mind naturally started down the path of tangents. Suddenly, I found myself worrying about this upcoming school year and the financial burdens that come with it. I guess it's not a surprise: I'm fairly certain that I start to sweat this stuff right around this time every year. How can I help it? My taxes aren't done. My FAFSA isn't complete. The return to classes is around the corner, and with it comes a sizeable bill from Drexel and estimated city living costs for the next year. I've already determined, for piece of mind and wallet, that I want to get an extra loan this year to help defer some of those financial requirements, but I've yet to apply for one. Obviously, extra loans suck, but so does having absolutely no money in the bank. I've always been one who prefers to have a cash reserve for the "just in case" scenario, and I was able to avoid those extra loans last year and figure that I'm due.
At this point though, it's just troubling to me. All of this had been churning in my head for a good month or so, but today all of it decided to push its way to the front of my mind.
I need to get thinking about something else, and not WoW either
. . . .
Jay was reminded of an old Troy McClure phrase by an article in CNN on shark attacks dropping worldwide. Naturally, he instantly thought of "Man vs. Nature, the Road to Victory" and felt the need to let me in on the joke. That got me reminiscing about Phil Hartman, one of my all time favorite comedians. What was unique, to me, about Phil was that there wasn't a whole lot out there regarding his standup routine. Despite that, I still consider him one of the best. He could impersonate anybody he wanted, and his material was limitless. He could make even the worst SNL sketch funny merely by his presence. And it's that presence that I think is what really puts him with rare company. He was definitely one of those guys that you wanted to like and wanted to laugh with. You can't write that kind of stuff, it's really just a result of character. He played a lot of characters, but the role of Phil Hartman was the best.
Oh yeah, one other thing. A couple of birthdays are coming up, one of which is mine on the first. Dana mentioned that hers is near the end of the month, and so is Joe De Playa's, and that a gathering of individuals in the pursuit of celebratory activities might happen. I'm down for a trip to Jersey if there is one, so people need to let me know. I'll probably inquire just to be safe.
Normally, one would say the "BIG" twenty first, but considering that I haven't had a drink in . . . let's see, oh yeah, never, and that I don't plan on having any in the future, it doesn't seem as big a deal to me as it does to my friends. I am looking forward to two things though: One, I'll be able to go to a casino, something which will hopefully happen by the end of March (Jay will also be 21 by then). The other is the fact that I will officially be considered 100% adult. No more closed doors, no more unavailable bar stools; all of that goes away the second you're 21. I'm sure that, when everyone catches up, a strip club trip will happen, it's unavoidable (although I doubt I'd be one to actually want to avoid that).
You get the idea though: freedom. Real freedom too. Not the kind we got when we moved up into highschool, and not the kind we looked forward to in college. This is the last step people, the only obstacle left in our way before that final "freedom", the one that comes from sweet release. And I don't plan on spiritual ascension any time soon.
February 13, 2006
Gunked Up in White
Not that white stuff. Snow, you sick pervert.
It finally happened folks. As you already know, Old Man Winter decided that all the seasonably warm weather we've been having this year should come to an end. Like any decrepit old fart, watching us young folks enjoy our merry little lives was a too much for him to stomach. And like any cunning and calculating adversary, he waited till we all felt quiet sure that this winter was incredibly gracious, that the good times would continue on into the upcoming Spring; basically, he waited till our hopes were high and our pants dropped to sodomize us all with his Icy Rod of Hell.
It started coming down on Saturday and carried into mid Sunday. Not one to let weather deter me from going out, I went to Kent's palace that day. Late that night, with the Warcraft realm down for maintainence, a 1 am food run was in order. By that point, snow was falling fast, but it was melting on the pavement. In a three hour period, however, it formed a thick sheet of gayety on the roads, and I crawled at 25 mph on my drive home at 4 am. My area got about 14 inches of the cold white bullshit when it was all said and done.
My dad got stuck in NH, so "man of the house" responsibilities fell on my lap come Sunday. Electricity went out in our area for a couple of hours, so I had to wake up early and get the kerosene heater going when our heat shut off. Later, I got a fantastic upper-body workout by shoveling the walk and driveway, and attempting to transform the newly made snow heaps on our property back into drivable cars (my shoulders are still sore).
This morning was the icing on the cake (so to speak). Despite making it out of my house on time, I still got to work an hour late. Why? Because the IQ of people drops 100 pts. when they are driving in adverse conditions. There was an accident on the Blue Rt., then there was a congestion nightmare on the ramp for my turnpike exit, which alone took 45 minutes to drive 0.1 miles.
I blame myself for being so naive. Winter always gets the last laugh.
________________________________________________
No pool happened this weekend, due to you-know-who. I did get my character on Warcraft to level up to 55. Considering that the cap on level is 60 in the game, that's fucking good. Kent is up to 50 with his druid, and I'm thinking of taking a break from the leveling to get my blacksmithing up sick. I'd like to see if I can get high enough to start making weapons as a source of income and, eventually, make my own weapon for my warrior. We'll see though.
It finally happened folks. As you already know, Old Man Winter decided that all the seasonably warm weather we've been having this year should come to an end. Like any decrepit old fart, watching us young folks enjoy our merry little lives was a too much for him to stomach. And like any cunning and calculating adversary, he waited till we all felt quiet sure that this winter was incredibly gracious, that the good times would continue on into the upcoming Spring; basically, he waited till our hopes were high and our pants dropped to sodomize us all with his Icy Rod of Hell.
It started coming down on Saturday and carried into mid Sunday. Not one to let weather deter me from going out, I went to Kent's palace that day. Late that night, with the Warcraft realm down for maintainence, a 1 am food run was in order. By that point, snow was falling fast, but it was melting on the pavement. In a three hour period, however, it formed a thick sheet of gayety on the roads, and I crawled at 25 mph on my drive home at 4 am. My area got about 14 inches of the cold white bullshit when it was all said and done.
My dad got stuck in NH, so "man of the house" responsibilities fell on my lap come Sunday. Electricity went out in our area for a couple of hours, so I had to wake up early and get the kerosene heater going when our heat shut off. Later, I got a fantastic upper-body workout by shoveling the walk and driveway, and attempting to transform the newly made snow heaps on our property back into drivable cars (my shoulders are still sore).
This morning was the icing on the cake (so to speak). Despite making it out of my house on time, I still got to work an hour late. Why? Because the IQ of people drops 100 pts. when they are driving in adverse conditions. There was an accident on the Blue Rt., then there was a congestion nightmare on the ramp for my turnpike exit, which alone took 45 minutes to drive 0.1 miles.
I blame myself for being so naive. Winter always gets the last laugh.
________________________________________________
No pool happened this weekend, due to you-know-who. I did get my character on Warcraft to level up to 55. Considering that the cap on level is 60 in the game, that's fucking good. Kent is up to 50 with his druid, and I'm thinking of taking a break from the leveling to get my blacksmithing up sick. I'd like to see if I can get high enough to start making weapons as a source of income and, eventually, make my own weapon for my warrior. We'll see though.
February 09, 2006
Global Revelation
In between experiments, recording data, and socializing at work, I check this thing called the "inter-net", mostly to see what doings are transpiring. Look at my Drexel mail, swing over to some random learning at Wikipedia, then perhaps lighten my mood with an Egyptian dancing gorilla.
I always check the news though. Every day. CNN International mostly, if I don't local stuff, for that I frequent CBS 3. Why international? Well, our internet is through a server in Germany, since Degussa (the company whose teat our company feeds off of) is based there. So when I search for CNN on day one of my work experience here, the international CNN came up.
There is some dangerous and depressing bullshit going on there ladies and gentlemen. You think shit is bad here? You think Katrina investigations and Austrian governators and Grammy night winners are big news? If you do, here's some easy to follow advice: pull your thumb out of your ass and start caring, or shove your head up there as well and pretend it will all blow over.
With all the decapitations, bombings, diplomat kidnappings, terrorist activities, nuclear defiance, insurgencies, escaped masterminds, Hamas leadership and cartoon-driven hysteria going on in the world, I've been driven to a very important and mind blowing conclusion:
Fuck 'em. Yeah, that's it. Screw it all. No one likes us. No one wants our help. No one wants to lend a helping hand. Oh yeah, let's just go ahead and take the next step that most of the populace here and abroad is pushing for, and just become totally isolationist. Why not? It's not like the world needs our help with anything. It's not like WWIII would have happened two times over by now without our "intervention". What was I thinking all these years? I'm ashamed of myself. All the tsunami aid, giving more money towards AIDS prevention in Africa than any other country, trying to stop absolute anarchy in the Middle East and abroad . . . all of it, not our business.
What fools we've been. Germany had it right the third time around. Cut yourself off and try to get involved as little as possible with important but dangerous issues. That's the way. Sign me up. Send our boys home and lets just ride this storm out. Good luck Europe with the bullshit, we promise not to interfere like we did in WWI and WWII ever again.
If you can't detect the sarcasm dripping from this post, then I see you actually got your head up there, well done.
On a side note, while I originally wrote it off to perhaps a Google search of family names, it's pretty evident to me now that someone, who we'll call M. Tegan . . . . wait, that's too obvious, let's go with Michael T., has been checking this blog out almost daily from work. I must write about interesting stuff, because the only other reason for a parent to check their kids blog would be to get dirt on them. Luckily for me, and despite my candor and sometimes outrageous honesty, I actually don't do anything inappropriate or illegal, so I guess I'm in the clear.
But as long as that's not the case, read on pops.
February 08, 2006
February Funk
Timing is probably one of the most important things you can master. I feel I have an above average mastery of timing. Granted, sometimes my actions or statements have been called into question (one such example being the Ashley debacle, in which timing should have been set to 'never'), but who hasn't? Lately, the timing around my perfect little world has seemed somewhat off. For some reason, it just doesn't seem like people are choosing the right times for things, it's kinda hard to explain, but in my mind I just continually find myself muttering "well that could have waited" or "it's about time".
Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal with it. One minor example of this was lunch today at work. For some reason, the company whipping boy decided that 10:50 was a great time to go pick up our orders. Instead of the usual social atmosphere of fellow co-workers at noon, I was delighted to enjoy the awkward silence of eating a cheesesteak a full half hour early. Nothing like boring conversation between two people to really liven up the work day.
Speaking of cheesesteak, I really miss a good wiz. It's a cultural phenomenon that has completely grown on me. For quite some time, I've been unable to ignore the voice in my head that tells me that a steak covered in anything but wiz is unworthy. There's a very good chance that I'll give in to my desires soon and guide myself by the light of William Penn to the focus of my mind. Mmmmmm . . . . I can taste it already.
With the exception of ball-numbing cold, there's not a whole lot to talk about so far this week. Kent place fairly well in a tournament he played on Monday. He got halfway through the final table before running into some tough luck, but he still managed to collect some decent winnings upwards of $500. The best part is he did all this while playing WoW at the same time. I'd look over, and he'd go from killing orcs to raising pocket Kings, then taking a gryphon to Ironforge to check the Auction House, then back to collecting a pot. It was somewhat impressive and quite hilarious, since he was able to do both with more than moderate success. I told him he'd have to dual-play more often, since it was his best tournament showing in some weeks.
Also, Jay revealed that he's looking to spend whatever vacation time we have this year more wisely than last year by camping somewhere in the southerly direction, probably N.C. It's obviously way to early to say anything is concrete, but I'm definitely up for taking a few days off for some outdoor activities. As long as the weather cooperates more than it did during our Freshmen trip to Virginia, it should be a pretty good time.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal with it. One minor example of this was lunch today at work. For some reason, the company whipping boy decided that 10:50 was a great time to go pick up our orders. Instead of the usual social atmosphere of fellow co-workers at noon, I was delighted to enjoy the awkward silence of eating a cheesesteak a full half hour early. Nothing like boring conversation between two people to really liven up the work day.
Speaking of cheesesteak, I really miss a good wiz. It's a cultural phenomenon that has completely grown on me. For quite some time, I've been unable to ignore the voice in my head that tells me that a steak covered in anything but wiz is unworthy. There's a very good chance that I'll give in to my desires soon and guide myself by the light of William Penn to the focus of my mind. Mmmmmm . . . . I can taste it already.
With the exception of ball-numbing cold, there's not a whole lot to talk about so far this week. Kent place fairly well in a tournament he played on Monday. He got halfway through the final table before running into some tough luck, but he still managed to collect some decent winnings upwards of $500. The best part is he did all this while playing WoW at the same time. I'd look over, and he'd go from killing orcs to raising pocket Kings, then taking a gryphon to Ironforge to check the Auction House, then back to collecting a pot. It was somewhat impressive and quite hilarious, since he was able to do both with more than moderate success. I told him he'd have to dual-play more often, since it was his best tournament showing in some weeks.
Also, Jay revealed that he's looking to spend whatever vacation time we have this year more wisely than last year by camping somewhere in the southerly direction, probably N.C. It's obviously way to early to say anything is concrete, but I'm definitely up for taking a few days off for some outdoor activities. As long as the weather cooperates more than it did during our Freshmen trip to Virginia, it should be a pretty good time.
February 06, 2006
Big Time
Well, Super Bowl XL is over, and what a way to end an already abysmal post-season. After squandering what was headlined by many as possibly of the greatest post-seasons in NFL history, the Big Game ended with about as much excitement, or lack thereof, as the rest. Big Ben looked terrible (although it's hard to get on the guy who carried the Steelers through the first three games of the playoffs), andPittsburg was outplayed pretty much the entire first half. However dropped passes, constant penalties and clock management that would have Andy Reid cringe helped keep Seattle at bay. Halftime came with a surprising Pittsburg four point lead.
In the second half, a few missed opportunities and a trick play would lead to the Steelers effectively winning the game before the end of the third quarter. Despite my hatred for Steelers fans and my raging jealousy as an Eagles fan, it was hard for me to find fault with the players, coaches or game plan of Pittsburg, so I'm glad they were able to win one for the Bus. So here's to you Pittsburg, for finding a way to win the game long before it's end and yet doing it quite unconvincingly.
Despite the obvious lack of luster on the field, the social gathering surrounding the game was fairly entertaining. The King of Men and I trekked to the land of Jersey and the home of the DelVecchio clan. While the absence of Joey, Dana G and Mrs. C was sorely missed, there was plenty of good people and conversation to go around. All the good old boys were there, and so were a few of the guys from Rowan. The Jackson family made a grand appearance and Mr. D was his usual ghetto-fly self. Daniel and her friends were there too, which provided some much needed eye candy for what could have been an extreme sausage fest. Give my "Return to Greatness Award" to your sister Ray for getting back on par and looking incredibly good.
On another perhaps more interesting note, Jay and Kent were both featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can imagine my shock when I came down Sunday morning to find it as the feature article on the front page of the Sunday paper. Don't get too excited though, the writer wasn't exactly flattering.
Honestly, I consider Jay lucky that he didn't tell the interviewer anything incriminating about himself, because he came off squeaky clean compared to Kent. When I heard about the interview initially, I was skeptical; after all, it's not as if I thought that they were going to glorify poker playing college players. What is unfair though is that Kent spent a good two hours talking to the guy about responsibility and control, and not getting out of hand with gambling, essentially the very same messages the article was trying to communicate. Rather than use his views on responsibility, however, they decided to use his worst statements and paint him as the punch line for the audience: a young kid whose grades and lifestyle suffer from his profitable but questionable poker choice.
I don't think I'll be giving any interviews on the seedy life surrounding billiards any time soon.
Speaking of billiards, I was practically clairvoyant on Saturday. My appologies to Kent and Jay, who for a time had to sit back and watch as I won a string of two turn games. According to my sources, Eli is interested in a three team deal that would see Miami getting a first rounder and prospects, Detroit getting Abdulah Alaman, and Eli coming to Pheonixville on a future Saturday to shoot the shit and shoot some pool. Sounds good to me.
In the second half, a few missed opportunities and a trick play would lead to the Steelers effectively winning the game before the end of the third quarter. Despite my hatred for Steelers fans and my raging jealousy as an Eagles fan, it was hard for me to find fault with the players, coaches or game plan of Pittsburg, so I'm glad they were able to win one for the Bus. So here's to you Pittsburg, for finding a way to win the game long before it's end and yet doing it quite unconvincingly.
Despite the obvious lack of luster on the field, the social gathering surrounding the game was fairly entertaining. The King of Men and I trekked to the land of Jersey and the home of the DelVecchio clan. While the absence of Joey, Dana G and Mrs. C was sorely missed, there was plenty of good people and conversation to go around. All the good old boys were there, and so were a few of the guys from Rowan. The Jackson family made a grand appearance and Mr. D was his usual ghetto-fly self. Daniel and her friends were there too, which provided some much needed eye candy for what could have been an extreme sausage fest. Give my "Return to Greatness Award" to your sister Ray for getting back on par and looking incredibly good.
On another perhaps more interesting note, Jay and Kent were both featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can imagine my shock when I came down Sunday morning to find it as the feature article on the front page of the Sunday paper. Don't get too excited though, the writer wasn't exactly flattering.
Honestly, I consider Jay lucky that he didn't tell the interviewer anything incriminating about himself, because he came off squeaky clean compared to Kent. When I heard about the interview initially, I was skeptical; after all, it's not as if I thought that they were going to glorify poker playing college players. What is unfair though is that Kent spent a good two hours talking to the guy about responsibility and control, and not getting out of hand with gambling, essentially the very same messages the article was trying to communicate. Rather than use his views on responsibility, however, they decided to use his worst statements and paint him as the punch line for the audience: a young kid whose grades and lifestyle suffer from his profitable but questionable poker choice.
I don't think I'll be giving any interviews on the seedy life surrounding billiards any time soon.
Speaking of billiards, I was practically clairvoyant on Saturday. My appologies to Kent and Jay, who for a time had to sit back and watch as I won a string of two turn games. According to my sources, Eli is interested in a three team deal that would see Miami getting a first rounder and prospects, Detroit getting Abdulah Alaman, and Eli coming to Pheonixville on a future Saturday to shoot the shit and shoot some pool. Sounds good to me.
February 02, 2006
We're on an Island
Donovan McNabb, number 5, Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback. If you’ve been under a rock for the last few days, or if you simply tune out your brain whenever you start to hear conversation about Philly sports, then you might not have heard the latest interview on ESPN with our man ‘5’.
I’ll give you a few moments to catch up and read the interview by Michael Smith.
Now that you’re caught up, I’ll pose this simple question to you. What the hell are people so mad at McNabb for this interview? If you can make me understand this then you’re smarter than me.
We all know the story with what happened during this season. Now Donovan is a quite leader. He leads by example, in the locker room and on the field. Rather than lower himself to the level of TO and cause an even bigger distraction to the team, he sucked it up and tried to focus on the task at hand, winning games. When no one from the locker room stood up for him, and others showed support for TO, he sucked it up. When team “leaders”, and I use this term loosely, went in front of the camera and said that TO wasn't hurting the team, he kept his eye on the prize.
With all the theatrics, injuries, and failure going on around him, Donovan did his job and tried his best in the face of adversity to right a sinking ship. So now, when the season is over and training camp still in the future, Donovan finally comes out and says what, I believe, most of the fans wanted to hear . . . his opinion.
He doesn’t take any blame off himself, he doesn’t throw any team members under the bus and he doesn’t even put all the blame on the man responsible for starting all this bullshit. He answers questions straight, and to be frank, says almost nothing that isn’t true about what happened in the locker room this year.
Teammates failing to stand up for him is a fact. Players failing to step up and say if they have a problem with the situation is a fact. Owens never approaching Donovan for help or for answers is a fact. Team disunity is a fact.
So after people complained about Donovan for always giving the “corporate” answer, now we're going to lynch him for telling the truth. Many people think he should have just kept his mouth shut and let this last year die, but when is it his turn? TO can do any press conference he wants, and Trotter can have his weekly show on WIP and give support for Owens. Isn’t it fair to let him have a turn? I think so. Give the man credit; he at least did it at the right time. He’s not doing it in the middle of the season, and he’s not doing it just before camp starts. If he wanted to speak out, now was the time, and he stepped up right on cue.
With all my support I’m showing, I admit that his race comments were off the mark. Terrell didn’t purposely choose Brett Favre for the color of his skin. In fact, the interviewer picked Brett Favre because of something said earlier in the week by my least favorite retired WR, Michael Irving. In this aspect of the interview, Donovan is wrong.
For some reason, I feel like I’m on an island on this issue. Practically everyone is calling for the head of Donovan, both in
Wait, I get it. It’s not that Donavan is wrong, it’s just th
at I’m not as informed as others. I don’t have the insight. I don’t know the truth. Donovan McNabb isn’t black, he’s not even human. He’s one of the crab-people! Yes, that must be it. They all know his master plan to make money and slowly infect the human race with his hatchlings, so one day the crab-people can one day reclaim their rightful place in the world.
Oh never mind, I forgot. People are idiots, assholes, or both. That’s a more logical explanation.
I stand behind a guy who carries himself honorably. I’ve been lead on teams by people who don’t speak up with words or confront in anger, and don’t feel that aggressive leadership is the only way. I respect people who are honest at the right time, in the right way. I want the guy who will lead me in battle, and then laugh with me in the foxhole.
Donovan, I’m a bigger fan now than I ever was.
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