Dragging my ass through the day

Is it this way for everyone?

I woke up this morning, and the thought of going to work made me hide under my pillow. Fortunately the dogface thought this was a game, and tried to join me under the pillow. Stupid dogface, I'm trying to hide from the world here!

Fuck. With hiding out as an option, I had to actually get up and try to clear off my work plate for before the holidays. This may require talking to people, which will require patience, which, right now? Seems a bit out of the question.

I am absolutely just dragging right now. I'm not "tired" exactly, I actually slept ok last night, and it's only 11 or so and I still have some relatively warm coffee. I'm just flat out fucking sick of being at work. The thought that I have 5 more hours makes me very, very sad. Is this the way it is for everyone?

Thank god for the holidays. Not that they're going to relax me at all, what with driving all over New England and sleeping in beds designed for Little People. Still, I would do just about anything for a break from work right now. My goals for the rest of today are simple: I would like to not lose my fricking mind. What there is left of it.

Sometimes it takes a miracle...

So. I haven't written in a while. I'm aware of this. Why? I've got a lot going on, I'm a busy guy, my computer was broken, my brain was broken, the F wouldn't let me, the dogface ate my homework. There were all kinds of reasons I couldn't chime in daily with my highly (questionably) witty comments on the goings on of the world.

But finally, an occasion has arisen (arose? arosen?) that can break me out of my no-blogging slump.

ROCKY BALBOA

That's right, the Italian Stallion is back baby. And from all reports, he is actually bigger than ever. (By bigger, I mean larger, not better.)

The reviews have actually been fairly kind to Rocky VI. Coming almost a decade after the steaming pile of donkey shit that was Rocky V, Rocky VI goes back to the roots of Rocky. Back to the meat factory, back to the dirty, rugged Philadelphia of the original Rocky. I'm not going to do a review of the movie, largely because I haven't seen it yet. But I'm excited. Real excited. I grew up on the Rocky movies, and have varying levels of love for all of them (except V, which is a steaming pile of donkey shit.)

Rocky (1976)- The best actual movie of them all. Sometimes it's forgotten that this movie came out to the perfect storm of the Bicentennial driven patriotic fervor of 1976. (I can state this for a fact, having been born two years later.) Regardless, Rocky won an Oscar and announced to the world the presence of the next great filmmaker, Sylvester Stallone.

Rocky II (1979) - Surprising dated, yet still a great movie. Coming on the heels of movies with the taglines of: The Carboni Boys. They haul ice, lay out stiffs and dance with monkeys. and A love story between a man, a country, the people he led and the woman he loved, It's very hard for me to imagine why Sly would have wanted to make a sequel to Rocky.

Rocky III (1982)- Starring Mr. T as a scary, scary black man who was in no way inspired by Mike Tyson. But only because Tyson's career started three years after this. A great movie. Tyson, I mean Mr. T, was very convincing. Plus, we get to see how small Sly Stallone is when he wrestles Hulk Hogan. Movies Sly made between Rocky II and III included Victory, a WWII soccer story co-starring Pele and Nighthawks, where Sly stars as "Deke DaSilva, the most dangerous cop known to man."

Rocky IV (1985) - As Bill Simmons puts it, This movie may have single-handedly ended the cold war. And no matter how cheesy this is, I dare you to watch the whole thing without getting goosebumps at the end.

Very rarely have a character and it's actor been so tightly aligned throughout the entire span of a series of movies. With the Rocky movies, Sly takes us on a journey from poor blue collar worker in Rocky to rich prima donna in Rocky III, back down to the bottom of the career and life path with the brain-damaged (on many levels) Rocky V. My hope, and from what I read it might just be the case, is that Rocky VI or Rocky Balboa, will find Rocky where Sly is. An old, former superstar prize fighter/oscar winner, no longer in their prime, but still with a puncher's chance to tell one last great story/fight one last great fight.

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This blog was for Gushee, and all the times he made me watch all of these fucking movies. Don't worry, the Transformers the Movie entry is coming soon.

OK, let's get political.

Actually, I'll just let Keith Olberman do it for me. And I thought John was on the watch list.

Watch the video on this page.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

Mojy Toes

Wow.

Another weekend where I'm more tired going out of it than going into it. Fortunately I got not one fucking thing done on the house. Let's just say that Saturday night about a gallon and a half of rum was consumed way too quickly. Gotta love the mojitos. Needless to say, motivation was not at all time high on Sunday, despite the suspicious lack of hangover.

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So the sports blog has been started up. Right now I'm going with Dog Face Sports as the name, until I can think of something better.

Blog Abandonment?

Wow

I didn't realize it had been a month and a half. Time flies when you're having fun. Or is it, time flies when you're spending all of your free time at camp drinking beers and floating in inner tubes? Or possibly, time flies when you're spending all your free time attempting to finish a project that should have taken about a week, and instead is taking months?

Anyhoo, I haven't intentionally abandoned the blog, and will be making vague attempts at writing more often. My goal is to write at least once a week. I have also been thinking about starting up a sports blog that I would post shorter, more frequent blogs. I'll post a link up and email it around when I get it going.

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So to update those of you who I haven't seen or talked to recently, I got engaged last weekend. (Which raises the question, what should I call the gf now? Something tells me the "F" wouldn't really fly all that well. Maybe "The new boss, same as the old boss?") I was amazed by how quickly the wedding planning began. About five minutes after I popped the question, the boss was on the phone with her mother planning locations, dates, guest lists, etc. Personally? I was opening up the second bottle of wine.

More later, I'm sure.

Woe is me, woe is me

I know I haven't been writing much. There's a good reason for that. I just don't know what it is.

Went up to camp again this weekend. As it was 90 plus and humid, this wasn't what I would call an optional trip. It was a good weekend, lots of floating, reading, and some beers mixed in. (FYI, Goody, reading is when you move a book in front of your eyes while interpreting the data. Just didn't want to leave you out.) Also mixed in some productivity yesterday when Z came up. He had cut a piece of granite for us, so we installed that in the bathroom. Looks pretty sweet, so the gf and I were psyched. Fur face? Not as psyched. Tonight I plan to finally finish prepping the office/second bedroom and get to the painting. More likely, I will go home from work and take a nappy nap, wake up, eat, and go back to sweat/sleep.

I wish I was still at camp.

Restful? Not so much.

Productive? More or less.

We needed a productive weekend around the house I suppose. Between my class, Anna teaching summer school, and weekends up at camp, it had been some time since we had actually accomplished anything at camp. Fortunately, I had left my lawn mower up at camp the last time we were there, so I didn't have to worry about mowing.

Friday was our friend Jason's birthday, so we went out to the pub for some eats and a few beers. Let's just say productivity didn't ensue immediately. Since we had already hit up Target, Home Depot, and Parks Hardware to pick up supplies right after work, I was ok with a brief pause in productivity.

Sat. Morning, we woke up fairly early and got to work cleaning the downstairs. After cleaning the kitchen, we took back bottles from the last few weekends at camp. Not a pretty sight. Why is it then whenever you're returning an embarrassing amount of alcohol to the redemption center that there is always a small impressionable child there looking at you accusingly? Or does this just happen to me? Whatever. After this, went home and got to work in the garden. So far, the garden is only in OK shape. Since Anna is working this summer, we're not putting quite the same level of attention in. Still, it's not in bad shape. We have some cukes, beans, peppers, carrots, lettuce, jalapeno's, onions, garlic, potatoes, thyme, rosemary, and basil. Oh, we also have a small tomato plant, which is a big change from last year's gargantuan 10 tomato plants.

Anyways, we spent some time in the garden, building a third raised bed, planting more carrots, and mounding the potatoes. While the gf was planting carrots, I turned over the compost. 15 gallons of sweat later, we stopped for lunch.

Post-lunch, we attacked my office. We had tentative plans to paint Saturday, but there was simply too much prep work. Gave cleaning a shot, so that we were at least close to the point where we had the room to paint. Then we had to face a tough decision. The back left corner of the office was in rough shape. The tape under the paint had been poorly applied, so it was all bubbled and bad looking. Option 1: scrape the fuck out of it, re-mud. Option 2: paint over it, pretend like we never saw it, get room done. We sat there and pondered for a bit, but in the end went with re-mudding. So... another trip to Park's.

The label on the spackle says quick drying, 30 minutes max. My ass. I tried sanding about 3 hours after application, and it was most certainly not dry.

So, on to another form of productivity: cold beers and lawn chairs in the yard.


Woke up Sunday morning, gave the mud a good sanding. Definitely still some rough spots, but at least the wall looks like a wall. Put another thin coat on, and left to go to Anna's grandmother's b'day party.

Doesn't sound like much maybe, but that was one tiring ass weekend. Next weekend: back at camp.

What is greatness, really?

RBI Baseball? Game 6? Check.

Say it ain't so, Joe. Wait, it really ain't so?

Not much today, got a lot going on for school and work right now. Watched half a movie on AMC last night, Broken Trails, a western starring Robert Duvall. I thought it was pretty good, if a bit gruesome at times. Will I watch the second half tonight all depends on whether or not I remember to. And if the gf decides it's time to commandeer the remote.

The Real Problem With Computers

You know what the real problem is with working on computers? It's not that I'm starting to develop a beer shelf starting just above my waist, and it's not the creeping carpal tunnel that's starting to make the tips of my fingers. It's not the glaze that forms over my eyes from staring at one space on the screen to long, nor is it the fact that I spend half my day deleting spam.

Nope. None of these things actually bother me. Beer shelf? Convenient for holding beers, and also helps me float better in the water. Carpal? Fuck it, I don't need the tips of my fingers for anything but typing anyways, and possibly throwing a knuckleball. My knuckleball always sucked anyways. The glaze forming over my eyes as I write this? Cured, mostly, by new glasses perscriptions and high-test coffee. Spam? If nothing else, you have to wonder at the absolute morons that must fall for some these. I mean, they must work, right? Otherwise why would people keep doing them?

The real problem with computers is the clock in the top right hand corner of my screen. It's always there. I always know what time it is, and I always know exactly how much longer I have to stay in my chair before I can leave with a clean conscience.

I don't want to know time it is! I don't wear a watch for this reason! I don't have an alarm clock next to bed anymore, largely because I spent, quite simply, disgusting amounts of time lying there watching 1:00 turn into 2:00 turn into 3:00 turn into... You get the idea.

Same thing for work. I find myself, all the time, simply glaring at the clock willing it to change from 2:48 to 2:49. For example, it has now been 2:48 for approximately three hours. Life would be so much easier if I could look up and see, well, French Hookers. That would make everything better.

OK, I gotta get back to clock-watching now, I'm almost within an hour of leaving for the weekend. Just like I have been for the past three hours.

Soccer, Books, and Hookers

So I worked at home in the a.m. so that I could watch a bit of the US/Ghana game. I kept getting distracted by things (such as work, for example) but I think I caught everything of importance. First a comment about soccer: In no other sport do officials make as big of a difference. An official's judgement basically makes the difference as to whether a player can play not only the current game, but the next. Five minutes into the game, Ghana already knew that their best player couldn't play in the next game if they won. Why? Because of a ticky tack foul. To be honest, while you're going to hear about the big foul against the US at the end of the first half, almost every call went against Ghana. That one big foul was a huge one, a penalty in the box that led to the goal being scored that was (literally) the difference in the game.

Which, by the way, sucks. An officials judgement call shouldn't be the difference in the game.

Having said that, Ghana just looked better than the U.S. Too many boneheaded plays, too little effort too late on offense. Enough soccer, now I have to pick a team to follow the rest of the way. I'm leaning Italian, but I'll decide after I have a look around.

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Finished the book I was reading late last night, Nick Hornby's "A Long Way Down." For those unfamiliar, Hornby writes for the New Yorker, but more importantly wrote High Fidelity (Yes, it was a book first Goody) and Fever Pitch (Way, way better than the movie. Actually, I'm guessing, as I've never seen the movie. And never will.)

The book was, well, fine. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone who hadn't read other Hornby books. In order, I would rank his books:

1. High Fidelity
2. About a Boy
3. Fever Pitch
4. A Long Way Down
5. How to Be Good

All worth reading, but start at the top if you're interested.

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OK, no hooker stories, I just like the word.

Rambling Tuesday

Bought a great album the other day, Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere." Filled with a sort of funky goodness and energy, we've listened to it just about a bazillion times recently. It doesn't keep up it's greatness all the way through, but the first half of the album alone is certainly worth the 9.99 on iTunes.

I also picked up the new Chili Peppers, which is so far, really good. Beyond Dani California, the first song, none of the songs individually are screaming at me, but the album as a whole is solid. I agree with John, and have to listen to an album a lot before I can determine how much I like it or not. Interestingly enough, everywhere I looked this album was 19.99, except at Target where it was 14.99. For whatever that's worth.

The other album that I've bought recently was the Raconteurs "Broken Boy Soldiers." Also seems like a pretty strong album. I'm guessing that most people who like Jack White (White Stripes) will like this, but again, I've got to give it some more listening before I can figure out how much I like it.

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Oh, lest anyone think that I've forgotten about the NBA playoffs, well, I have. I've tried to watch the games, but they're just on too fucking late. I know that I'm a big wuss, but my attention span at 11 o'clock at night isn't up to the shenanigans of the Heat vs. Mavericks. That said, I may have to drink some coffee or something to watch the end of tonights game. Looks like Miami wasn't done after all, but I still think the Maverick's are the better team and will get this series to the deserved 7th game. When, well, it all depends on who shows up D-Wade or the big German. Shaq, sad to say, is a member of the supporting cast now.

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A couple new t.v. shows have been watched in the casa de clementine. Two TNT shows, The Closer (starring Kevin Bacon's wife) and Saved, starring some guy who looks familiar but whose name I can't be bothered to look up. Both are worth watching, particularly if you like the cop and hospital shows that are on hiatus for the summer. Neither are going to be classics, but they have their points. In the case of Saved, the soundtrack is really solid, and the action and gimmicks interesting enough. The Closer, well, it's pretty much Law and Order Criminal Intent with a Southern Belle.

One show which surprised me how much I liked it was Man on the Street. It's on the Cooking Channel, and basically, as far as I can tell, is a guy just walking around interviewing people and cooking shit in weird ways. Doesn't sound very good, and sometimes it's not very good at all. A couple of episodes were surprisingly entertaining, like the one where the host teaches people to cook in campfires by wrapping everything they have in bacon and tin foil and throwing it in the fire. That's the sort of cooking I could handle.

At long last, a weekend

We finally made it up to camp today. It got warm so early this year that it seems like we got up there late this year, but I guess mid-June is about the norm. Opened up the camp successfully, cleaning, running water lines, patching the roof, etc. Looks like everything made it through the winter ok, which is no sure thing. Some year's we've had trees take down electric lines, or open holes in the roof, or a porch over the water trying to get into the water.

This year? Some leaves in the yard and too-long grass were the biggest problems so far. After clean up and the like we proceeded to have a camp weekend, with lot's of yard games, card games, cheap beers, sausage, bacon, coffee, bug spray, badmitton, naps on the nap couch, cold water, inner tubes, wet dogfaces, some more beers, mimosa's, and books in adirondack chairs.

In other words, not a bad weekend. I even got a bunch of school work done, which is a good thing, as my productivity for this week is looking sketchy at best.

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Apparently it's the 20th anniversary of the death of Len Bias. For those of you who are not Celtic's fans, this may not mean anything. But I remember this happening (along with the death of Reggie Lewis a few years later) and I remember it as absolutely shocking. Maybe that's why it inspires the people that write about it. Whatever the reason, people tend to write great columns about Len Bias, and this anniversary of his death is no different.

This is an archived version of Bill Simmons' article about Len Bias five years ago, and it reminds me of when Bill Simmons didn't spend most of his time whining, and actually wrote great columns.

Mike Wilbon is one of the guys on PTI, but first he was a columnist for the Washington Post, and he is a great writer.

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I watched the second half of the US/Italy soccer game on Saturday, and I have to say... Finally a game worth watching! Both teams left it on the field, which is all you can ask for in a game at that level. I was particularly impressed with Reyna, once again he seemed to be in charge more than anyone else on the field. Someone who knows soccer more than I do will have to explain to me what was going on with the officials though. According to the guy announcing the game for ABC, the official who kept throwing out red cards was the spawn of Satan. Was this true? Or was it just that there really was a bunch of hard play deserving of penalties? The last red card seemed a bit tough to me, but I didn't see the first two, so it's hard to compare.

Why baseball is still the national pasttime

Look. I like other sports. I love football Sunday's on the couch, and the Super Bowl may be the biggest individual game of the year. (Even if it is very often a boring blowout highlighted by beer commercials.)

And college basketball and football provide some great moments as well, and in some parts of the country are huge. I love March Madness, and the Rose Bowl, and... Well that's actually about it for those two.

The NBA, as much as I enjoy it, is a second-tier sport in this country. Stop laughing Hockey, you don't even get a tier anymore. NASCAR? Not a sport. Golf? Again, I love the Master's, but golf is simply not embraced by mainstream America. Tiger Woods might be, but I would wager that half the people who claim to be Tiger Woods fans have never actually watched golf. Soccer? Might be the national pasttime of 8 year old children of yuppies in America, but that's about it.

Baseball is still the National Pasttime.

It's the only sport that inspires poetry. (For example, the incoming Poet Laureate of the United State? His most famous poem is about baseball.) More books about baseball have been written than any other sport. Movies? Name one good movie about football. OK, other than The Replacement's. Baseball? Let's start at Bull Durham, The Field of Dreams, Eight Men Out, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Natural... I could go on. The best movie about football might be Rudy, and that's barely watchable.

Father's and son's playing catch. Ted Williams hitting a ball into the lights. Wiffle ball with the family. The Shot Heard Round The World. Throwing a ball at a tire swing. Dave Roberts' Steal. Little League. Jackie Robinson Stealing Home, Willie Mays Losing His Hat. Iconic moments combined

Name me another sport that has these kind of moments?

Mighty Casey Struck Out, he didn't miss a foul shot or shank a field goal.

The Irrationality of the GF

For those of you who know the gf, it may or may not surprise you to learn that she has an irrational side. I'm not talking about the side that invents dances for various food products in the grocery store. I'm talking about the head-spinning, green-vomiting, hop on a broom, witchy side.

And it busted out last night.

The night started off wellish. We went out for Chinese food, ate a bunch of MSG, and drank a big ole rum bowl. So far so good. Went to the movie theater (To see XMen) and were a bit early, so we raced some video cars. (Winner? Me.) Then we shot some video bears. Still, so far so good. Go and sit in the grandstand seating, and get the best seat as we were the first ones in. Still good.

As the theater started filling however, the problems started. I succession of little people started rolling in, throwing food at eachother, and talking on their cell phones. If I had to make a guess, I would have said 7th or 8th grade. They kept talking through the previews, laughing, talking on cell phones, and generally being a royal pain in the ass. Eventually, I managed to ignore them, and got sucked into the movie. (Sidebar, XMen the last Stand or whatever the hell it's called, is worth watching, but only if you liked the first two. Special effects were fine, all the characters were fine, etc. In other words, it's pretty much what you would think it was from the previews. Except for Jeff, who has somehow developed an irrational hate of the director.)

Anyhoo... Somewhere around mid-way into the movie, which I am enjoying, I look over at the gf to mention said enjoyment. What I see scares me, a little more than a little. She is sitting straight up, hands clenched into fists in her lap, glaring at the back of the little heathens sitting in front of us. That's when their noise starts to make an appearance for me again. They are shrieking, laughing, snapping camera phone pictures and passing the phones around, talking on the phone, etc. In other words, we had a middle school cafeteria in our theater. From that point on, I'm on edge. The gf keeps looking at me to make sure that I'm as angry as she is (never has the ability not to make eye contact been a better skill), and then glaring back at them. The guy sitting behind us finally gives in and starts yelling at the kids to "Please Shut the hell up."

Eventually, the bad guys on the screen are vanquished, and the movie is over. I'm not certain the kiddies even noticed right away, but eventually they started swarming their way out of the theater. To get out, they have to pass us. More accurately, to get out they have to pass the withering glare of the gf. (Remember, she teaches heathens this age every day.) I pretty much just stand there, hiding as best as I can. The gf? Starts making comments about "Learn some Manners, and rudeness, and "Have some consideration, will you!", "You ruined the movie for everyone", "You are the spawn of satan", etc. Her comments start getting louder, and louder, until a couple of the kids even seem to notice. They don't stop being annoying pieces of shit of course, they just raise up the volume.

Finally, we are past the bulk of them and outside. What do we see? A couple of the little genetic misfires abusing the payphone outside the theater. At this point, the GF goes into what I like to call the Shopping Walk. Like you guys don't know what I'm talking about. You're being dragged along shopping, and you have to practically run to keep up to the lady forcing you to shop with them? That's the Shopping Walk. Only, the gf has modified it to include angry arms thrusting straight back and forth. She's more or less marching at this point. She was certainly leaving me in the dust. And then, it happens. She sees a parent waiting in their car with the window open. Bad news. I can't imagine what she is about to say to them. She slows down just enough so that I catch up, and can grab her arm and pull her to my car. Phew. Situation averted.

Somehow, I manage not to squeal my tires in my hurry to get away.

Snoring through the World Cup

I realize that the World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the Whole Wide World. I realize that in most countries work stops, and fans become FANATICS when their team is playing. Not so much here in the great old US of A, obviously. And still, I like big sporting events.

So I decided to give it a shot. Saturday morning I got up and watched parts of England/Paraguay. Sloppy, boring game. England wins 1-0 on Paraguay own goal. Other than that? Nothing resembling clean, crisp, passing. Nothing that resembled scoring chances on either side. Missed passes and bad penalties on both sides.

Sunday I tried to watch Mexico/Iran. Another slop-ridden game. Mexico won 3-1, but don't be fooled. The game was not exciting to watch. Iran simply (with no pun intended) dropped the ball a couple times and let in some easy goals. As I write this, the US is losing 2-0 to the Czech. Republic. So much for the great US team... There's a few games coming up that look good, France/Switzerland, Italy/Ghana for example. Hopefully they are at least competitive, as right now I'm thinking of tuning out for the rest of the Cup.

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Speaking of not competitive, remember all those nice things I've been saying about the NBA this year? I'm not about to say the same things about the Finals. In fact, I'd say unless Miami comes back and wins the next two games don't even bother watching. I saw some of the game last night, and man oh man did Miami look bad. Shaq was running (slowly) around with a look of bewilderment on his face for most of the game. He seemed to be playing fairly hard, or at least energetically, and scored five points. That's a 5 people!!! For a 7'2 center being guarded by Desagana Diop and Erick Dampier!!! Two people cut by Cleveland and Golden State for Christ's sake! Not so much what I expected. Check back in a week to see if game 5 might be worth watching.

The continuing re-edumacation of me

Sat down in my first grad class yesterday. Ten people in the class, including the teacher. Not only is it the first class I'm taking (above a 100 level) in six years, but it's also the first time I've taken a class in this department. (Public Administration.) Needless to say, I was a little curious to see what I was in for.

I didn't just get to this department randomly, I thought about it a lot, researched it a lot, talked to faculty, talked to other students, etc. I know that I want to start a Master's, but I waffle on what program. I thought for a half second about English, but the only thing more useless than one English degree is two. I thought about an MBA, but I've met people with MBA's, and I don't think I want to remove all my personality at once. (Not a word Goody, or I'll tell your kid stories about you in college.)

I took a History class last fall, largely because there was one available that interested me, and I have always liked History. I liked the class a fair amount. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about it was that there wasn't enough challenge, which is when I became certain it was time to go back to school. Still, a History Master's on top of an English degree seemed only slightly better than an English Master's. (Better, only because I really disliked a lot of people in my classes. Actually, I really thought they were useless piles of shit.)

So... I came to Public Adminstration. I've got a few friends that got their Master's in that program, and they all raved about it. Seems like a program where you basically try to figure out what the source of a problem is, and then try to figure out solutions to the problem. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but that's what I got out of it. And that's why I'm taking this class. I met with the Grad Advisor for the program, and she told me this class was a good "building block" class, that would give me an idea about what the program is all about. Tuesday's class was basically just us talking about random topics and what the solutions might be, and what the impact of the solutions might be, and how feasible they were, etc. In other words, right up my alley. Of course, the class ran an hour long, so by the end of it I was exhausted.

We'll see how it works out, but so far, so good.

Rambling through boredom

Just realized today that I haven't written in a bit. Possibly due to the boringness of my life? Yup, it's a possibility. I woke up this morning, which was nice. Ate lunch, also nice. Drank some coffee, drank some water, typed away at the keyboard for a bit, oh wait the day is almost over and I haven't done one thing of note. Wonder what's for dinner, or why America is getting fat? Different meals are the only thing that make one day different from another.

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Last couple weekends were spent at weddings. Good times for all. After the Kennedy/Lord wedding two weeks ago we stopped by my old house in Chelmsford. Weird stuff. The house itself was more or less as I remembered, the tree in the front that was planted the year I was born was huge, dominating the front yard. The hill that used to be such a royal pain in my ass to ride my bike up and down? Barely a bump in the road.

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Quick reminder, NBA playoffs are still going on, Finals start this week. Looking like it could be good stuff, Miami vs Dallas, no real idea who is the better team, nor do I really care who wins other than the vague feeling I have that it would be difficult to root for a team from Texas. Which brings up a good question: Has there ever been a President before that made us root against an entire state?

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Start my class tomorrow. Four week class, 4 hour class every Tuesday, the rest is online. We'll see how I do with a four hour class. If college was any indication, not so well.

Da Vinci Codeless

The gf and I decided to bust out of the house for a few hours last night and watch the Da Vinci Code. First impressions? Man my ass fell sound asleep, even in the new and improved grandstand seating at the cheap seats. This is not a short movie, nor does it play as excitingly as the book reads. The codes that seem so tricky and cool when they are solved? Not so much on screen, where they just seemed to easy. Tom Hank's hair? Weird. Audrey Tautou? Cute.. But not as cute as Amelie. The weird looking Albino guy? He was weird looking and white, and overacting to boot. The old guy was good enough, as was the policeman.

But as for the movie itself? It resembled more than anything a vague outline of the book without any of the details that made people like it. Some people in the audience seemed to find humor in the movie, as they kept laughing out loud. The gf and I apparently missed those jokes. To be honest, the movie seemed a bit too, well, talky for me.

The movie as a whole? Harmless, and more or less entertaining. Not worth a trip to the theatre though, as there was nothing about it that screamed big screen. Save your money and go see X-Men when that comes out instead.

Blogging replacing talking???

I'm siding with Goods here. And Johnson. I do use this as a means of communication a bit. I still try to make the occasional phone call, especially as I have no real grasp as to who is actually reading my blog (unless I say something snide about the gf and she smacks me..) For me, I use the blog to talk some smack to friends, or to vent a bit, or to get my thoughts about things down in writing so that when I say the opposite a few weeks later people can prove I'm an idiot. That's fun. It's also fun when Goody tries to correct my spelling.

I am glad to see that Goody and Johnson are back on their game, we'll see how long it is before John's in jail and Goody has to actually start working at his new job.

To steal from Sports Illustrated, This week's sign of the appocalypse.

tired... so tired.

I've never slept well. Ever. My entire life I've had a hard time falling asleep, and a harder time waking up in the morning. It seems that no matter how much I sleep I'm still exhausted in the morning. This has pretty much always been the case, so I've adjusted to it. This last few weeks though? Ridiculous. I'm not even getting the normal around of sleep that I used to get. I wake up now, which is nice, except for the fact that it's 3 in the morning, and then I can't fall back asleep. This despite the fact that I only finally fell asleep a couple hours earlier. By the time I finally fall back to sleep, it's time to get up. Good times.

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For all of you who don't watch basketball anymore.. You're missing a hell of a playoffs. The second round had 3 game 7's, with some great storylines and performances. Next round is looking pretty good as well, with an even matchup in the East of Miami and Detroit. Of course, these two teams will just bludgeon themselves to submission, so that might not be fun to watch. But Dallas and Phoenix? There's a matchup that's going to involve very little defense, and a ton of fast-break, fun to watch games.

Of course, it helps to have insomnia so that you can watch the West Coast games, maybe it'll be better this round.

Free for the week

The GF is off camping with a bunch of 7th graders until Friday (her birthday), so I have the house to myself and the dog for the rest of the week. Could be messy. I'm gonna go out on a bender! Tie one on! I'm gonna...

Work on projects around the house.

Yup. This is what my life has come to.

With the forthcoming prospect of the gf being off for the summer, I need to get my office finished. Right now the office/guest bedroom/my closet/library is a bit of a mess. OK, it's a huge fucking mess, a mix of power tools and books, sweaters piled on a bed, and a couple of desks piled high high high with old bills. In fact, I get a little claustrophobic just going in. The closet part is key, as I started that early last fall, full of motivation. Some time this winter, mixed in with grant writing, business trips, and boredom, I lost motivation. So the next two days will be filled with filing of papers, sanding of corners, and hopefully, with some luck, a clean desktop or two.

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FYI, while one Goody has been slacking, just a bit, in the blogs, it appears that another has stepped up to take over. Now if only there was someone to take over for the slacking of Robinson and Tomazin.

Monday Morning Blahs

Had a good weekend, relaxing, relatively productive. Got some mulch down, and some potatoes planted. Stopped by the Marden's in Brewer, and they had a whole bunch of Lawn Games on sale, so we picked them up for camp.

Unfortunately, I woke up today and it was Monday. Which means, back at work. I wrote a blog on Friday complaining about my job, but didn't send it out, because who wants to hear whining about a job. But seriously? Fucking sick of my job right now.

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ESPN has a good article about a group of guys that play basketball together. Used to have a group like this when I lived in NJ, I've never heard of anything like that here. The closest I have now is my poker game on Tuesdays, which is, at least recently, more expensive.

Best Books of the last 25 years

I'm assuming the title of this blog is scaring off at least one person (Goody, I'm looking at you.) A.O. Scott of the NY Times has written an article about a survey conducted of authors to find the best books of the last 25 years. They are:

1. Beloved by Toni Morrison
2. Underworld by Don DeLillo
3. (tie) Rabbit Angstrom by John Updike
3. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
5. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

I was kind of surprised by this list, not for the reasons Scott discusses in his article, but because these are relatively accessible books. I've read something by each of these authors, and was able to grasp it. Three of the five definitely have similar themes involving athletes and the world events they grow up in. Also interestingly enough to me, Updike and DeLillo were introduced to me in my Sports Literature class. Guess that really wasn't as much of a blow off class as some thought.

Anyways, the article is good, and the books that are mentioned within are all worth reading if you haven't already. (Sorry Goody, no pictures.)

That's all for today.

Quick hits and wild cards

Anyone not watching the NBA playoff is missing out on some great games. Most recently, the Cleveland/Washington Game 6 in Cleveland, where Lebron and Gilbert Arenas combined for 86 points in a duel that was a ton of fun to watch. Both of them were actually passing, trying to involve their teammates, and then taking the ball to the hoop when that didn't work, throwing themselves around like rag dolls. Lebron made the game winning shot on a baseline drive with .9 seconds left. Fun stuff.

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Papelbon gave up his first run of the year yesterday, and now everyone wants to know how he'll do now. Seriously? I think he's given up runs before. If it was the 7th game of the World Series, that might involve some scarring. He'll be just fine.

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On to the pics:

NL Wild Card

There's a few contenders here, mainly from the Central division: The Astros, Brewers, Phillies and Braves. Note that there's no teams from the west, they're just lucky that they're division winner automatically makes it in. I want to pick the Brewers, but I have a feeling they're last year's Cleveland, and will choke down the stretch. Astros? Not with the team they have right now, but maybe if Clemens comes along. Phillies? Not enough pitching. Braves? Not enough, well, anything. So I guess I will pick the Brewers after all, and then be pissed when they choke.

AL Wild Card

Really this comes down to three teams, one from each division: Red Sox, Indians, and Angels. To be honest, whichever of these teams does end up winning the Wild Card might be the favorite to win the American league as well. This year, I just think that the Angels are a little too injury prone to pull it out. Red Sox? They're going to be good this year, no doubt about it. Indians? Same.

So which of the two is it?

Offensively, the Indians are a much better top to bottom team.
Starting pitching? Red Sox have a better top two, but the Indians have a better 5, so I'd call it a push.
Defense? Both teams are pretty good defensively, but the Sox might be a bit better this year, at least up the middle.
Bullpen? Edge goes to the Red Sox due to depth.

So who wins? It's a tossup, but here's my guess. Towards the end of the season, the Indians call up Andy Marte, and he provides the momentum they need to carry the Wild Card.

Good thing too, because if the Sox won the Wild Card, I might have had to pick them to win the World Series, and that might have killed me.

I swear to god I'm not biased.

Look. I'm starting with the NL East, because I want to. I happen to think that this could be a great division to watch, but I'm going to make it quick anyways.

1. Mets - Yup, this is the year the Braves finally lose it. I like to pick track records, particularly 14 consecutive years worth of track records, but not this time. The Mets are just too good. Assuming, of course, that Pedro can hold up. If they lose him for any extended amount of time, all bets are off. Oh, and David Wright and Jose Reyes? The real deal.

2. Phillies - The question here is, is Ryan Howard the next David Ortiz? If so, then the Phillies are a legitimate threat for the Wild Card. If Howard is more like the next, oh, I don't know, Cecil Fielder? Phillies don't have a chance.

3. Braves - They may have fallen a bit, but they're still not worse than Washington or Florida.

4. Nationals - Maybe when they have an owner they can compete. Until then? Not so much.

5. Marlins - Actually, if I was a Marlins fan, I think I would be alright with the way this team was put together. Think Cleveland a few years back. If the team's going to lose, and the Marlins are definitely going to lose, they might as well have potential. In five years though? The Mets and Marlins will be fighting it out for this division.

AL East

1. Yankees - Look, I know the Sox have Beckett and Schilling. And I know Papelbon is the Second Coming of the Rocket. But.. This isn't a question of who would win a short series. This is a question of who would win the Division. And right now, the Red Sox have too many questions to think that they can win the 95 games necessary to win it. The Yankees lineup is just too good. Say what you want about the Yankee's pitching, but Randy Johnson, as much as I hate him, has won 5 Cy Young's. Mussina? Known factor. Over the course of the season, these two are going to pitch well enough to win the division.

2. Red Sox - If they win the Wild Card, which they might, then they would be my favorite to win the World Series. But they have so many question marks, that anyone who picks them to win the division is ignoring quite a bit. If either Manny or Ortiz is out for any period of time, then the Red Sox have, quite simply, no offense. Even with the the two of them playing like the best two hitters in the league (Which, in the AL, they might be) The Red Sox simply don't have enough pitching. Schilling may or not hold up, but at least he has in the past. Beckett? Big game pitcher, yes. But he's won 45 career games!!! Every other Sox starter? Iffy as well. Papelbon has great stuff, and seems to have the right personality. Personally I think they are wasting him in the bullpen, but that's just me. With him closing, the Sox bullpen should be strong enough. Would I be shocked to see the Sox win the division? No. Do I think it's going to happen? No.

3. Blue Jays - I'm a little tired of hearing about how much better they got. Seriously? Compare them position by position to the Red Sox or the Yankees. They might have two players that would start for either team. Vernon Wells is better than either Damon or Crisp, maybe. Their pitching? Unproven. No way the Blue Jays win in September in either Boston or New York, but they could make it interesting until then.

4. Orioles - Only the wizadry of Leo Mazzone (former Braves pitching coach) keeps them out of the basement in the East. And Miguel Tejada, who is the best shortstop in baseball, unless his bitterness over playing in Baltimore takes over and he starts pouting. Which could happen.

5. Devil Rays - A much improved team, Tampa could be the best last place team in baseball, but their pitching still makes them a last place team. Carl Crawford? Maybe this will be the year he gets some pub for being one of the best overall players in the game.

Tomorrow? Wild Card Picks, and maybe the playoffs if I'm in the mood.

The Return of the Anti-Christ

Johnny Demon returned to Fenway Park, and walls are still standing, the sun came up, and civilization as we know it has continued. Red Sox fans demonstrated everything that people love and hate about them last night. They should have applauded Damon when he came back for the first at bat, and then booed him every at-bat after that. That would have shown that they hated him for going to NY, but hadn't forgotten everything that he did while playing for Boston. That would have been fine. As it was, he got booed, pretty much incessantly, the whole game. I think he handled it ok, but whatever. Some thought the tipping of the hat was a sign of delusion, others thought it was handled perfectly.

On the other hand was the reaction to the return of Doug Mirabelli. Some say that the ecstasy over the return of a backup catcher is a sign of insanity. As much as it goes against my instincts to stick up for the Red Sox, I do think that it is a sign of the knowledge and passion of Red Sox fans that they recognize the importance of Mirabelli. In all reality, Wakefield is a crucial part of any chance the Red Sox have for success. With Mirabelli, he has a better chance of success.

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On to the picks. Today, I'll work my way through the AL and NL Central. Some years, this is a meaningless pick. This year? Not so much.

AL Central

1. White Sox - I hate picking the White Sox to win. It bores me, and to be honest, I just don't like them. Since they picked up right where they left off last year, and they are the defending champs, and they only seem to have improved themselves last year... Well, it's hard to pick against them to win their division at least.

2. Indians - Rememeber a few years back, when Cleveland traded some fat shlub (Colon) and got a ton of prospects in return? This is why. The Indians are absolutely loaded offensively, and their pitching might be just good enough to win. They have a couple top of the rotation type pitchers in Westbrook and Lee, and Wickman can play the role of the fat veteran closer with no fear with the best of them. This might be their year, but the White Sox are going to have some injuries for that to happen.

3. Tigers - It's amazing what happens when you hire a real coach. Leyland has his boys playing hard, and they have quite a bit of upside. Chris Shelton may be a good player, but he's not keeping up this pace. Also, their Ace? Kenny Rogers. In another year, they could be a dark horse to win the division, but the Central is crazy good this year.

4. Twins - I can't believe I'm picking the Twins for 4th in the division, but I am anyways. Things don't seem to have come together for the Twins this year, but their pitching is good enough so that they could make a run at it. Santana may not have started that well, but he's the real deal, and will be in the running for the Cy Young by the end of the year, again. Honestly? Any team in this division could win it, and I wouldn't be surprised.

5. Royals - With the exception of Kansas City. If they win more than 60 games this year, I'll be surprised. Seriously, can you fire an entire organization?

NL Central

1. Cardinals - Look, until St. Louis doesn't win this division? It's theirs. They might be aging a bit, but they still have two legit top of the rotation starters, a solid closer, and the best lineup in the NL. (If only because of Pujols.) Even though this is a much improved division, the Card's are still the class of the division until someone proves otherwise.

2. Brewers - This is the year that Milwaukee makes a run at it. They've got legitimate pop in their lineup, as well as possibly the best top three starters in the NL. They have the brother of Maddux coaching the pitching, so the bullpen will be solid again. They also have a deep bench. Can they take the Wild Card? I think they can. And no one in the NL will want to face Ben Sheets, Doug Davis, and Chris Capuano in a short series.

3. Astros - Eventually, the Astros are going to be too old to compete in the Central. Look, if Clemens comes back and is as good as he was last year? Maybe they can compete for the Wild Card. Maybe. But I just don't think that's going to happen.

4. Reds - I know the Reds are in first right now. But seriously, they've got nuthin. Their best pitcher may also be their best singer is Bronson Arroyo, and he's going to come down to earth. They're going to hit some home runs, but they'll give up more. Still, they're improved since last year.

5. Pirates - This pick is for Joey only. At this point in the season, it will be a major success if the Pirates don't lose 100 games. I don't understand why they're not better, but they're not. They have decent pop, young pitching with potential, and good defense. Still, the reality is that the Pirates will be hard-pressed to stay out of the Central in an improved division.

6. Cubs - Improved, that is, except for the Cubs. They just suck. Maddux is carrying them right now, and while I'm sure he'll get his 15, and Zambrano will probably get his 15, I don't see where any others are coming from. This team is just not good.

Tomorrow: AL East and NL East
Thursday: Wild Cards
Friday: Playoffs

Bumstock? Not any more.

This past weekend marked the end of Bumstock, and to be honest, if anything it was too late. Bumstock used to be a weekend of music surrounded by partying. Now? Bumstock field was plowed under to make a parking lot while ago. Somehow, partying in the parking lot just didn't have the same ring to it. It used to be, that come Friday afternoon you could hear bands playing. The last few years? I've found out about Bumstock after it happened. This year? The last year? Bumstock was held in the Field House. They should have cancelled it years ago.

Maine Campus Story

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I've decided to amuse myself and pick the baseball season standings. I'll start with the AL and NL Wests.

AL West:

1. A's - Pitching wins, and the A's have more of it than anybody else. I know Zito's not what he has been, but by the end of the year, he will be, and the A's will be in the playoffs.

2. Angels - Mike Scoscia is one of the best managers in baseball, and he'll find a way to make the Angels contend for the West and the Wild Card, but in the end I just think the A's are better. That said, if the Ervin Santana and Casey Kotchman turn into impact players, then I think the Angels could make a run at it.

3. Rangers - Great position players, but you need at least some pitching to compete.

4. Mariners - I would be shocked if Seattle even came close to a .500 season.

NL West:

1. Diamondbacks - Young, young, young team. But seriously? The NL West sucks. The Diamondbacks have two potential stars that could be called up mid-season, and just enough pitching. If either Stephen Drew or Justin Upton is ready, they could make a run at it. They might be a year away, but I like this team.

2. Padres - Another young team, but San Diego has the one thing that a team needs to succeed: An ace. Jake Peavy is a great pitcher, and the rest of their team.. Well, is old or young. Piazza? Old. Anrian Gonzalez? Young. Barfield? Young. It goes like that around the whole team. It's possible that San Diego doesn't have one position player in their prime, and only one pitcher. Still, that makes them better than most teams in the NL West.

3. Giants - The one thing that could change everything in this division which Barry Bonds is playing for San Fran this year. I'm betting on whiny, gimpy, fat-headed Bonds, which makes the Gints into a mediocre, aging team overly dependant on a pitcher (schmidt) with a history of arm problems.

4. Dodgers - See above on Giants, only without any potential upside of Bonds. Oh, and their best starting pitcher is Derek Lowe.

5. Colorado - I know they've started off the season strong, and blah blah blah. Look at their roster. They're not finishing over .500.

The Boss still bringing it...

So the unthinkable has happened. Hurricane Tomazin touched down in Borono, and I walked away safe, sound, and sober. We're definitely getting old. Hell, Tomazin the elder drank root beer! There was a day, not that long ago, where I not only wouldn't have walked away sober, I probably would have crawled away shit-faced, if I didn't just pass out face first where I was sitting (or standing.)

For those of you that are concerned about such things, the Pig Roast is still on, so long as the Scarborough house is still in effect. Dates to be announced, well, when they get around to it.

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So, I was flicking around the tv the other day (that sound you hear? The gf grinding her teeth in annoyance at me changing channels.) Anyways, I was flipping around channels, and I did something I haven't done in at least ten years. I stopped on a music channel. No, not MTV, that's not a music channel anymore, that's more of a Sluts Anonymous at this point. (Not that there's anything wrong with sluts, I wouldn't want to imply that.)

No, I stopped on VH1, where the Boss was on a show called Storytellers. Just Bruce, his guitar, and stories about how he wrote some of his more famous songs. Great stuff. Obviously I was riveted for the duration of the show. (That new sound you just heard? The gf banging her head against the wall.) Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for the chicky poo sitting next to me, there was only like 15 minutes left when we tuned in.

Basically, that just reminded me of why I listen to the Boss. His last three albums released on iTunes show his range:

We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions - Just released this last week, this is the Boss' tribute to folk music. I've never been a huge fan of folk music, but this album has a rough quality and energy that's appealing. My favorite song on the album was 'O Mary Don't You Weep.' If you buy this on through iTunes, you get a video of this song as well.

Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 - Live album from just before Springsteen became a household name. For those of you who haven't heard or seen live Springsteen, a must listen. Highlights include an extended version of Jungleland followed by Rosalita, basically equalling 20 minutes of kickassness.


Devils & Dust - Released in 2005, this Springsteen's most recent studio album. For those of you who were fans of Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad, The Rising or The Streets of Philadelphia, this for you. This is not the rowdy, electric, party Bruce, this is the quiet, acoustical, thoughtful Bruce. One of my favorites on this album is The Hitter, about a boxer stopping by his old home after years of getting the shit kicked out of him. Great album, and to me, proof that the Boss can still bring it.

And I'm out.

Bringing nothing too the table

I've got nothing today.

Nada.

Zip. Zero, Nuthin.

And I'm still doing better than was last night at the Poker table. I started off strong, holding even at about double my money for the first two hours. Then, all of a sudden (and you can feel it happen) I started slipping. It wasn't that I was getting bad hands. Those are easy, you just fold em. Nope, I was getting the second best hand. Tough to get out of those. So I kept playing, and kept playing em, and kept losing. Didn't even win a split pot for the last three hours. Only ended up down 40, which isn't that bad considering I haven't really lost at all recently. It just kind of smarted that it happened so fast.

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Little scared, the Joey and Eric T. are making an appearance in Orono. Last time Eric showed up here we accidentally rang up something like a $300 bar tab, and it took my liver a full week to recover. I don't think they're staying for the night, so my liver should be ok in a few days.

Least relaxing vacation ever

Was it the trip from hell?

Mebbe.

Let's just say, I would never. Ever. Recommend that anyone take the same same trip that the gf and I took last week. That is, unless your idea of a good vacation involves waiting in lines of people and cars to get to.. more lines of people and cars.

Sure, there were good times. (Like for example, yours truly winning a black jack tournament) Also enjoyed Universal Studios Adventure Island, Nassau (particularly snorkling and Senor Frog's), and vegging our by the pool. Kicking the gf's ass at bocce almost made up for getting my ass kicked at miniature golf by the gf. And someday? She might let me live it down. Who the hell 8 putts a hole in mini-golf? Me, that's who.

But seriously? I so much more enjoyed my sales pitch from hell on why we should by a time share in Orlando. And the dirtiness of the hotel rooms. Best of all might have been the absentee parenting going on all over the cruise ship. For those of you who are parents, let's just say, letting your little angels run around the ship bar at 11 o'clock at night? Not cool. Especially when they're playing a particularly loud and shriek filled game of tag.

If you want the full story of the vacation from heck, ask the gf. She tells it better.

Oh, one last thing..

Ramada Vacations? Fuck you.

Brief Respite...

Taking a quick breath today, landed at home for a week before heading off on a vacation.

Brief schedule for last couple weeks involved two days in the office, 5 days in DC, and 5 days in Providence. Misc ramblings on each:

DC - Stayed in the same hotel as the UConn basketball team and the UConn booster club. Interesting that they travel together... But it made for a lot of fun during the UConn - George Mason game. Went to the Sports Bar in our hotel, and hung out with a bunch of people from DC and all the UConn fans that couldn't find tickets of their own. Rowdy, good times. Games like that are exactly what I love about sports bars.

Also spent some time on the hill, meeting with some of the aides and some of the reps for Maine to talk about our programs. Interesting stuff, and by and large, ME is well represented. To a one, all of them were nice and happy to see other people from ME. All four ME reps agreed to vote for a restoration of funds for our programs. Collins actually co-signed the letter in the Senate asking for funds.

Providence - After an all-to-quick weekend at home, off to Providence for a week. First things first, as I get out of the car, I'm pretty sure that I see a Baldwin brother. Yup. It's the one from Backdraft. I thought about saying hello, but as it is, he is only the one from Backdraft. If it was the one from Usual Suspects, or Alec, maybe.

After the first day of meetings, it's time for some beer. A few of us wander down the street, aiming towards a brew-pub type of place that we've heard about. As we walk in, I notice a familiar looking face standing behind the bar. It's been a while, so I'm not sure, but yup, it's Tinsley. She's doing well, and says hello to everyone.

Well, I have a few more days in Orono, and then the gf and I head out for a bout with sun, sand, and large boats with pools on them. I'll see what I can do about another blog sometime this week, as I know you all miss me so, so much.

That sound you heard?

The screams of thousands of people tearing their brackets to shreds. No Duke? No Gonzaga? No WV? Personally, those losses last night, combined with a Texas win, actually helped me. Of course, it only helped me if Texas wins the whole shebang, which, let's be honest, isn't real likely. Still, it gives me a winning scenario at least. Oh, still leading our pool by the way? The GF. Who picked by which team had the better cheerleaders. (To be honest, I laughed... But her picks looked pretty frickin good then, and even better now.)

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Also, what's up with the Boston media sucking so bad? Why are they putting out poles questioning Belichik already? Seriously, don't you get a few years after winning three super bowls before people start calling you an idiot? I mean, look, Adam Vinitieri was a great kicker, and he should drink for free in Boston for the rest of his life. However, not wanting to pay a kicker three million bucks a year doesn't make Billy B a bad guy.

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Bruins update:

ummm

Oh wait, no one watches the Bruins.

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Celtics update:

Big Al, a big wuss? Apparently, his ankle isn't healed after all, as he's being shut down for a few games. If you've been listening to the coaches and other players talk though, they basically talk about how young players need to learn how to play through pain.

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Quick program note: I will be out of town through Wednesday night, so don't expect too much in the way of blogs.

So about loyalty...

So... let me make sense out of this...

J0hnny Damon signs with the Yankees for 12 million dollars more, after having played with the Red Sox for three years, the A's for one year, and the Royals for 5 years, and is a traitor to the Red Sox.

Bronson Arroyo signs with the Red Sox for a below-market "Home-Team" discount... And is promptly traded before he even plays a game.

Someone please explain to me why anyone should show loyalty to this team? Just wondering.

These things I know for sure...

You know what I miss? When there were things that I knew for sure. At one point in my life, I was absolutely positive that I was going to be a catcher for the Yankees. Turns out I was off a bit there.

In fact, it seems like every day that things I knew for sure are no longer true. Remember when Kobe Bryant was a fan favorite for his fresh faced enthusiasm and his overall goodness? Turns out that wasn't, well, let's just say that was off a bit.

I always thought that I would live in NJ as soon as college was over. That thought lasted through freshman year of college.

I was convinced that I would never find a job I liked. I've found a few. Now I wouldn't mind finding some more.

When I got to college I thought that I would party like I never had before. Who knew our high school parties were so crazy? (Although, as I've learned over the last few years, a well-thrown Pig Roast can be a pretty kick-ass party..)

Until recently, I KNEW that the Red Sox would never win a World Series, and it had never occurred to me that the Patriots could even be in the Super Bowl, never mind in the Dynasty conversation. Also? Drew Bledsoe, at one time, was an elite quarterback!!! Heh.

What else? I could on and on about how we KNEW there was NO FUCKING WAY a majority of people could possibly vote for Bush, but as it turns out? We were right about that.

I knew, KNEW that I was as different from my parents as any people could be. And then I found myself talking politics and agreeing with my mother! The horror, the horror!

It turns out that the longer I live, and the more I learn, the less I know. Crap.

Random thoughts on a Tuesday

Listening to NPR books (a podcast) the other day, and a guy came on to talk about his book on "Powered aging" or some shit like that. I was getting ready to turn it off, when he started throwing some statistics out like this one: 2/3 of all people who have ever reached the age of 65 are still alive. And, every 8 seconds another baby boomer turns 65. Which obviously prompts me to think.. So much for my chances of retiring on Social security in a few years!! Also, there's going to be a hell of a lot of new executives in a few years when all these old fuckers retire.

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WBC update: US spit the bit against Korea, playing poorly and losing 7-3. Next game is a must win against Mexico on Thursday night. Mexico lost to the US in the first round, but put up a pretty good fight. Too bad the NCAA tournament starts Thursday, so no one in the US is going to watch any baseball.

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Talked the gf into filling out a bracket last night. Not sure that this will lead to me being allowed to watch more games, but it can't hurt. I have a sneaking suspicion that a) she's going to win, and b) I'm still going to get a look every time I try to watch a game.

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Is anybody more annoying than Gary Tanguay? He makes me want to punch my tv.

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Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman agree, this Celtics team is fun to watch! And if they're not unbiased, I don't know who is. But seriously, they are fun to watch.

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If you aren't already, check out the podcasts through iTunes. Itunes is cross-platform, and easy to use. And free. Podcasts are free too, and will play on any mp3 player, or you could burn them to cd, or play them on your computer. My current favorites are the NPR books and NPR movies podcasts. I know John is partial to the Democracy Now podcast, and to be honest, if you have a hobby at all there's probably a podcast that you'll get into.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

WBC? I'm into it.

You know it's been a while since I wrote a blog when Goody's written several since my last one. And it's been a week since he wrote one.

Let's see. Boring ass weekend. The GF has a bad case of the "holy shit I'm so sick," so we didn't do to much. Caught up on sleep, watched a game here or there, read some more Lincoln. I'm getting into the World Baseball Classic or whatever it's called. I was skeptical, but I'm getting over it. The biggest drawback as far as I was concerned was the pitch counts. What that seems to have done though, is force pitchers to throw more strikes. Starters are still going deep into games in general, hell a guy from the Netherlands threw a no-hitter! (Of course the other team got run-ruled in the seventh, but whatever.)

No, the WBC has actually been pretty fun to watch. I expected the caribbean teams, and the asian teams to take it seriously, but the US players seem to be busting their asses. Also, it's an awful lot of fun for me to watch the gf try not to root for any of the Yankees on the team. Fun times.

Yesterday during the US/Japan game, there was a bit of a controversy, that of course the announcers wouldn't let drop. A Japanese player tagged up and scored on a fly ball to Left, only to be called out for leaving too early when the US appealed. On replay, it looked like a bad call. Don't really care about that though, my point is more this. If the games weren't mattering at all, could there possibly be an umpiring controversy?

What happened to us?

I mean, seriously. What happened to us? As a country I'm talking about. I'm currently reading the new Lincoln book, (good book by the way.) I was expecting to be impressed by Lincoln, his intelligence, his empathy, etc. What I wasn't expecting was to feel that things were better back then. The book starts out describing the lives of several of the people that were on Lincoln's cabinet during his presidency. In doing so, the way life was in the 1800s is covered quite a bit.

The thing that was remarkable to me was the optimism about America. People wrote essays, books, articles, letters, all about how great it was to be an American, how you can overcome any circumstance to be what you want, etc. (Of course, in order to have learned how to write, you probable were born into an advantaged life. Even Lincoln and his legendary log cabin had a step-mother who was relatively highly educated and who taught him to read. ) Even people from France wrote essays about how great of a country America was! Imagine that now..


Now we again have a country that is once again split bitterly down the middle, but it's no longer as clear what the reason is. Before the civil war, slavery was the main issue, but there were side issues of state vs federal rights, and others as well. Now? Religious extremism? Is this really what's separating the right vs the left right now? That seems fairly stupid to me. I suppose that this is what happens when you found a country based upon religious tolerance and than assume that it only applies to your religion. Idiots.

If there's anything that history has proven, it's that no one culture or country can dominate forever. The fall of the Roman Empire, the British Empire, the Mongols, Alexander the Great, Egypt, etc etc etc. In comparison to many of those countries and eras, we are in the midst of an incredibly insignificant time. Especially if, as it currently appears, the US is already on the downward spiral.

Reasons why this winter should blow me

OK, first off, a quick note in defense of the Celtics. For those of you not paying attention, the Celtics have won three of their last four with two starters out, and a third playing on one leg. Last night, that third didn't play at all, and Paul Pierce was out for long stretches in foul trouble, and the Celtics beat the Jazz by 20. I realize that there may only be three Celtics fans left in the world, but just so the rest of you know, the Celtics are showing signs of a pulse.

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Back to the titled subject, Reasons why this winter should blow me:

1. No Snow. Look, if I wanted warm winters I'd live in Florida. I like changes in season, it keeps things fresh. Even when it's been cold this winter there's been no snow. I literally have ZERO snow right now. It's the end of February in Maine for fuck's sake.

2. The moron in charge has once again cut our programs, to "Save Money". Seriously, have we ever had a more incompotent president? I mean, is too hard for people to remember that when Clinton left office he might have taken the keyboards, but he left a budget surplus? This was only a few years ago people.

3. I've not been skiing yet. This is closely associated with number one, but that alone isn't enough of an excuse. Hopefully this will be remedied tomorrow, when I plan on coming down with a case of the "too sick to work must go skiing" bug that's going around. But as of yet, it hasn't happened yet. And one of the primary reasons I like winter is skiing.

4. Did pitchers and catchers report yet? For the first year that I can recall, I'm not excited about the upcoming baseball season. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I don't plan on playing this year or maybe it's because I am completely fucking sick of Red Sox fans and they're incessant, illogical whining about Johnny Damon. Maybe all of this will change once I see the latest Fantasy Team that wears pinstripes this year, but I doubt it.

5. Money is tight. Apparently, and nobody told me this, buying a house is really expensive. I thought that I had planned everything, but apparently my math skills suck. The mortgage, home insurance, taxes... I was prepared for all of this. I wasn't prepared for the butt raping that is my oil bill, nor was I ready for Sewer, Water, blah blah blah. Last night, I went through and built a monthly budget spreadsheet to help control costs. That was fun.

6. Grant writing is fun. Look, I work for federal grant funded programs. We have to write grants to get our money. I can deal with this. We aren't allowed to use money from those grants to write those grants. I understand this too, unfair competition and all that. What I don't understand is why the University is to cheap to pay for our time while we write the grant. They make millions from these grants. They would have to pay roughly $7,000 in salary time to the three of us that worked on the grants. We give them 8 percent of our grant every year for, well, office space and the right to use their name on our letterhead. This amounts to, over the life of the grant, a bit less than 500,000. But the U won't pay for our salary time, so we have to use vacation time. In other words, in the last two months, I have been on vacation for four weeks of it, and in that four weeks, I have worked almost 300 hours. Let's just say that I've had better vacations.

So in closing, this winter can, as was said so eloquently in that oh so classic movie,

SUCK ME BEAUTIFUL

End rant. For now.

Is that a Goody I see?

First off, I gotta say, GOODY!!! Where ya been buddy! Way to get back on your game. Now keep it up.

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I like the theme of history and repeating our mistakes. It does seem like our country has a way of forgetting history.. Probably because of who's writing them, but that's another story. And another blog to be honest. If I start writing history, I'll still be writing two hours from now, and it's Saturday morning and I'd like to get shit done today.

Missing ASAP though, that's something I can relate to. Working at ASAP isn't something that can be described to people who weren't there when we were there. I still work in the same building, and when I walk upstairs I expect to see the same sort of thing. Loud music, debating, group work, that sort of thing. Now? It's a bunch of nerds sitting at keyboards not talking to each other.

When we were there, it did seem like some sort of a nexus of creativity. The theory behind ASAP was 1/3 learning, 1/3 teaching, 1/3 producing. By working like this, it seemed like we were able to stay at the cutting edge of technology, while remaining interactive with everyone else that was working there. Now? Comp Sci majors all. None of the trash talking that we had, none of the diversity of backgrounds.

I relate to what Goody's talking about in other ways too. I've been working my job now since April 2000. I've learned quite a bit, done quite a bit in that time. I generally do enjoy my job, and I think that the work we do is necessary. Still.. I have moments of being really sick of the same shit over and over again. I'm almost always sick of University politics. What are the options though?

Go work in corporate America? I'm sure I'd make more money, but I'm equally sure that I'd feel like a sellout.

Go back to school? Well, unlike some people living in New Zealand, I'm not sure that I can be a professional academic. I am going to start taking Master's classes soon, but largely because my job pays for them.

What are the other options? Apparently I'm not going to make millions playing for the Yankees, I don't like my odds of winning the Lottery, and there aren't any millionaires in my family that I can mooch off of. Back to the drawing board I guess...

Happy Hallmark Day, and an ode to the Olympics

Thankfully, the gf hates Valentine's Day with a passion, so I don't have to scrounge around and find out which insanely over-priced for one day piece of chocolate or flower will keep me out of trouble today. What a stupid "holiday."

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind buying flowers for my lady friend. In fact, I'm a big believer of giving flowers for no reason other than I wanted to. As for chocolate, I try to bring candy bars with me every time I leave the house with the gf. This way, when she gets tired and cranky I can bribe her into sugar-induced happiness for at least as long as it takes to get home. (When I get tired and cranky like that, the gf starts looking for hot dog stands or bars, whichever comes first and preferably all at once.)

Plus, $50 bucks for 12 measly little flowers that usually cost $15 is simply a fucking rip-off.

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I love the Olympics. I know that they're overblown and jingoistic, and I just don't care.

I like that sports that aren't even close to being on my radar all of a sudden became Must See TV. I like trying to figure out if someone is a great cross-country skier or merely a good one. I love when someone absolutely nails their event for a gold, like when the French guy one the downhill with an absolutely perfect run one year after blowing out his knee. I like it even more when someone busts their ass in front of the home crowd, gets a bronze medal, and a standing ovation, like the Italian guy in the long speed skating event.

I like the luge. I'm not so hot on ice dancing or figure skating, but curling? Not sure why, but I like it. I love the fact that random countries completely dominate sports, and I love the fact that very often the person/team that wins was not the favotite to win.

I like how Bob Costas makes everything that happens seem like the most important thing that's ever happened, and I love the fact that unlike professional athletes, I know all of the Olympic athletes are actually trying.

Nothing like having a plan

For those of you who have known me for some time, it might surprise you to know that I am a bit of a neat freak and a planner. I know, I know, my dorm room was a shit hole. And granted, at no point was the Peach House what any normal person would call "clean." Unless Lizzy was up visiting, and then sometimes the bathroom got cleaned. Thanks Liz!

What I'm talking about is project planning or organization in, oh, let's say... Your workplace. At work, I plan carefully, building timelines and setting deadlines. When I'm allowed to. I do this, because I hate working under a time-crunch. To me, working under a time-crunch means that I'm more likely to fuck something up, and not catch it. Unfortunately, my boss thinks that he works best under a time crunch. For example, we are currently working on our renewal grants, which are due Tuesday. We've known that there was going to be a grant due this year for FIVE FUCKING YEARS!!!! Obviously, we aren't even close to getting done. Because my bss hasn't gotten his shit done, I am going to have to work this weekend. And possibly around the clock on Monday. Just like the last set of grants, where I had to work 100 hrs in a five-day week to get the grant out. Right now, we're actually behind where we were that week.

I love my job so much right now!

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In other news:

Hockey players gamble, Mark Cuban said something wacky in his blog, and parents of middle-schoolers are insane.

Now for the laughers.

Recently, the gf and I have been in the mood for comedies. Sounds easy, right? Go to netflix, reserve some comedies, and good to go. Well, we tried that. We got The 40-year old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, and Anchorman. All got rave reviews as laugh out loud hilarious. Over the past week or so, we watched them. And were, for the most part, very disappointed.

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Wedding Crashers

We'll start in order of the biggest disappointment. This movie didn't suck completely, there were funny moments, and there were boobies galore. The problem here was that this movie was lazy. They took a great premise for a movie, and sharted out this piece of recycled crap. It was like everyone in the movie was playing characitures of themselves, only without bringing the funny. As I write this, I'm trying to think of one thing that made me laugh. Can't do it.

Anchorman

OK. There were moments of funny in this movie. Not because of Ferrell, who was OK I guess. Not because of the Married with Children whore/daughter, whatever her name is.

N, the humor all came from Steven Carrell, the guy from Saturday night live. Everytime I laughed out loud it was because of him. The rest of it.. Was almost funny. Good premise, great sound track, it just wasn't quite all the way funny.

40-Year Old Virgin

I almost peed myself during this movie. I was laughing so hard that my stomach cramped up and tears were rolling down my face. Why was it so funny? Not sure. Maybe because it's characters were not complete assholes, just broadside shots of people that we all know. And at least the writers of this movie liked their characters.

Steven Carrell was great. Great. I think the last time I laughed this hard was when Spaceballs first came out. I was ten, and in the hospital after a skiing accident. I laughed so hard I popped a staple. ("Man, we ain't found shit." Now that was some funny shit.) Last movie they let me watch at that place.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I can't recommend it enough. Wait through the first ten minutes or so, which are a little slow. I can't promise that everyone will like this movie, but I can promise that if you do, the scenes at the end might make a top ten funniest scenes list for me.

Wow, that was exciting

So. Pittsburg beat the curse of Slash, or was it Maddox, or was it O'Donnell? Not the best game I've ever seen, it could have been worse. At least there were a few exciting plays, and it came down to the end, sort of. Seemed like Seattle was getting jobbed a little bit with the calls, but none of them were game costing, I didn't think.

Anyways, if your name isn't Joe T this Super was more about the commercials and the music than anything. The game was fine. The pre-game with Stevie and friends was good, the half-time show was good. No boobies this year, which I think was a mistake.

As far as the commercials? They were good. Not great, but good. I liked the Budweiser table/refrigerator, and the Monster.com monkeys/jackasses was good. Actually, in the first half it did seem like there was a few right in a row that I laughed out lout at, but those were the ones that jumped out at me. Oh, and the godaddy.com Ad? Sucked.

All in all, I give this Super Bowl a solid C+. The game was certainly not a failure, but it certainly didn't bring it's A game.

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Somehow I forgot to post this yesterday. So there may be another one later today, but there may not as well.

OK, It's really Friday, right?

Thank god.

This is definitely one of those weeks when it's hard to watch the clock tick down til 4:30, when I can finally make the mad dash for the door. As it is, I don't punch the clock at my job, so I will be leaving as soon as Woodman's opens. (4:00) Leaving before the bar opens is just reckless on weeks like this.

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So we got the word, more or less. Bush's budget for 2006-2007 does not include any money for Talent Search and Upward Bound programs. We won't know for sure until Feb. 6 when the budget actually gets announced, but at this point, when you get word like this it very rarely changes. This means that the lobbying efforts begin again. Last year we managed to get money back on the House floor, so it's certainly possible that will happen again. Still, it would be nice if we were getting increases at some point.

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Plans for the weekend? I fully plan to not have a conscious thought if I can avoid it. Next week begins the next cycle of grant writing, hoo ahh.

And yes that was a Scent of a Woman reference.

Are we there yet?

At Goody's request, I'll abandon my John hat for the day, and talk about something else besides politics and the fact that our governent is being run by a hyperactive eyelid.

Met a couple of my friends for a beer yesterday after work. Needed to happen. This hasn't been my favorite week of all time, for no particular reason other than the fact that it sucked. So anyways, there I am drinking my Casco Bay Riptide Red, which is a fine beverage, only to realize in the middle of out conversation that I had no idea what day it is. No clue. And I was still on my first beer. Now, my tolerance isn't what it was back in the days of 30-pack marathons, but I haven't yet fallen to the point where one beer makes me forget what day it is.

So I asked my friend what day it was, thinking that it was Friday, but prepared for Thursday. You can imagine my shock when I found that somehow I was off by two days, and it was really Wednesday. I wanted to curl up in the corner and cry. As that wasn't really an option (I go to this bar often) I had to man up and drink another beer. Yup, that's right. Two beers on a school night. And, believe it or not, I didn't fall asleep on the couch when I got home.

Trust me, that's not a trend I'm looking to continue. In fact, I'm going to make it a goal to nap on the couch every day. Everybody's got to have goals, right?

State of the Onion

Ahh the pomp. Oh, the circumstance. Eek the tedium of a bunch of self-important politicians standing and applauding, occasionally interupted by a small little boy standing on a podium blinking and winking.

Yup, I watched the State of the Union. It was interesting, at least up until the point that it actually started. First off, Cindy Sheehan got arrested before the event even started. She was the guest of some congresswoman from California. Can you imagine that invitation?

" So, you're going to behave yourself, right? No screaming and yelling? No egging the president? You promise?"

Seriously, you have to respect Cindy Sheehan. She might be completely insane, but at least she's consistent.

The other interesting thing that happened before the State of the Union was that the GF got so pissed of at Shrubby that she stormed out of the room and started angrily doing dishes, Before he had even been announced! Of course, I'm just assuming it wasn't something I said.

The content was predictably dull. In fact, after the speech one of the pundits said that something like 48 out of 62 of the paragraphs could have been read by Clinton. I mean, seriously. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar. He can read anything Bush can.

Seriously though, I'm guessing that the big portion of the speech was supposed to be the whole "the United States is addicted to oil" thing. First of all, no shit. Second of all, Bushy fucked up reading it! Shouldn't he have been practicing that portion above all others? I mean, seriously. What a dumb fuck.

Anyways, the best part of these is always the faces the senators make. You would think, with these being people in the public eye, I don't know, ALL THE TIME, that they would have some control over their facial expressions. Nope. My all time favorite is when they zoom in on Ted Kennedy when Bush is talking about education. Kennedy's face just turns redder, and redder, until he looks a little like a big scary strawberry. None of that this year though. They did zoom in on Hillary at one point, and she looked like she was going to die a painful death if she didn't take the shit she was brewing. And at another point, Collins and McCain laughed outloud at something said. Good stuff.

And once again, the Democrats dropped the ball. The Democratic response is an interesting new tradition, one that seems like it would be a good place to display someone they are grooming to run for a higher office maybe, or who has an election upcoming this year, or something along those lines. Like last year, when Barack Obama gave the response. Nope. The Dems pick a governor from Virginia who has been office all of three weeks. They picked him because he was a good speaker, used to connecting with people. If that's the best that the Dems have to offer as far as speakers go...

Well let's just say he made GW look smooth and collected.

Worst year on record?

The idiot in the Oval Office gets a chance to talk to people tomorrow night, without college kids peppering him with hard questions that he can't answer. (Great editorial in the globe here...)

I'm curious to see what he has to say for himself. In the past year, we've discovered that the President doesn't follow the laws of his country, that there was no evolution, that George Bush doesn't care about black people, that there were no weapons of mass destruction (oops, everyone knew this already), that Congress and the Senate was full of people taking bribes, etc etc.

So seriously, is there a year on record that sucked more? Honestly, the first time I see any possibility for optimism is in 2008 when we might have someone better in charge. I am sincerely scared shitless of the damage that Curious George could do when he's not worried about getting re-elected.

So I will be watching the State of the Union tomorrow night to find out if putz boy is cutting our funding again. Dumb fucker. I'm sincerely worried that my head will explode if I watch Bushy mumble his way through lies and incompetence. This is going to require alcohol.

Fortunately, the next day Bumbling Bush will announce his budget. If last year holds true, this won't be anywhere close to what the actual budget for 2006 looks like, but it should be suitably horrifying.

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In other news, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education, we have finally reached the point where more than half of all people receiving financial aid grant monies are middle income or above. The Buffoon in DC calls this "Merit" based aid, but what it really means is that the only way for poor people to graduate from college is with heavy loan debt. Sweet! for more opinions, read the article that I linked to above, and you all no doubt skipped over.

Baseball vs. Football

Regarding yesterday's rant about the Town of Orono.. I talked to someone with relatively insider knowledge, and was told that the reason the town told the state to check out the Bear Brew is because their liquor license was up for renewal, and it is routine to check on the food license at the same time. I was also told that one of the reasons the town hates the Bear Brew and Ushuaia is that the owners of both establishments act like pompous assholes at the town meetings. Having met both of them.. Let's just say I have no trouble believing that. None of this changes the fact that Orono refuses to admit that it is a college town.

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In a new and interesting (at least to me) topic, Jim Caple at ESPN takes on the argument that football isn't actually more popular than baseball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/060124

He makes some good points anyways. Not sure which side I fall on, except to say that baseball is probably second to soccer internationally, followed by basketball, tennis, golf, and many more before you would get to football. Hell, swimming might be more popular internationally.

borono intentionally

So.. I realize it's been some time since the last blog. I started writing a few, but then got distractimicated by my real life, or more specifically, my real work. Trust me, I would really rather be writing useless blogs about all the random shit that annoys me.

Sometimes, things pop up that just require my comment. Sometimes this is a pressing political event, possibly an important cultural milestone.

Sometimes, the town of Orono once again forgets that there is a college in it's midst. For those of you that don't know, for some time we have know that Ushuaia has lost their liquor and special entertainment licenses. (They were granted a 30-day extension by the state.) Apparently the town is concerned about the growing number of violent incidents occuring there. (47 this year, including several stabbings and one death, of an asthma attach after a stabbing.) This is more than any year in recent memory. More on Ushy boo boos in a minute.

This past Friday, the Bear Brew was temporarily closed for six hours for "cleaning." Apparently the state department of health received a tip that the Pub might not be up to par in meeting some of the general health requirements. They received this tip from someone connected to the Town Police. Also, the Pub apparently forgot to update their food license. Oopsies! For now they can serve pizza and beer, but no other dinner. They are up for renewal in all of their licenses later this winter, and it's not looking good.

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So.. the town of Orono, after a brief surge of having more than one place to go at night, is once again faced with the very real possibility of having nowhere for the hockey players to hunt down their prey after games. Now let's be honest here. I haven't gone out on the weekends in Orono while school was in session since the last time someone visited and wanted to go out, so I'm hardly crushed by the loss of two places I won't go to anyways. But, there is a matter of principle involved here. Also, the possibility that if the places scumbags go are closed, than they will try to go to the other places. For example, people might actually show their faces in Margarita's again.

Now, I understand that these two places probably did everything that they've been accused of. The Bear Brew, for one, has never had the cleanest kitchen on record. To be honest, that bathroom being located so close to food has always bothered me a little bit. BUT... never did the town give a shit before! Ushuaia has always been a place where it was just as easy to get punched by a football player as it was to get an std on the dance floor! (I mean talk about unclean, Geddy's wasn't closed down for that fucking bathroom???) If anything, the owner of Ushuaia's has improved things. Not that I've been to the place in three years, but I understand that he's gotten his people security training, installed security cameras, and wands people for metal objects as they come in. (All instituted since the stabbings.) What else is he supposed to do?

So, good work Town of Orono. You've closed the two places college students like to go the best. I'd believe your claims of good intentions if you ever checked the cleanliness of the kitchens in let's say, oh, Pat's Pizza. Instead, I'm just going to go on believing that Orono refuses to admit it's a college town.

Holy Crap

This is some funny shit. If you ever owned a Nintendo, or if you ever even played one, click this link. Trust me.

Old age causes Rambling...

So. Somebody's been a-slackin on the old blog again. It's not that I have anything better to do, that's quite obviously not the case. It's just that some things are more insistent, like for example, writing the renewal grants that (will hopefully) continue to pay my salary. Lot's of fun working for a grant-funded non-profit, let me tell you.

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In related news, word is that Bush may once again be zeroing out funding for the TRIO programs this next budget cycle. What a numnuts. For those of you that don't know, the TRIO programs, two of whom are my employers, are college access programs for low-income people from Middle School on up in age. Almost all of the people we work with come from families where no one has ever received a degree beyond High School.

I'm not sure why Bush thinks this is a good place to make budget cuts, but to me it represents everything that is wrong with his presidency.

• Lack of foresight. These programs work, but can't show immediate results. There are no tests that kids can take when they're in 7th grade to prove that they'll go on to college.
  
• Lack of caring for people unlike himself. Where are the tax cuts for the people that can't afford to pay their taxes?
  
• Being stupid.

I could go on, but I'm not in the mood.

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Pat's beat the Jaguars. Like that was a surprise. The Broncos

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The gf has mandated that I no longer talk about Johnny Damon. Apparently, I was making too much sense, and as a Red Sox fan, she couldn't handle that. Or something like that.

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So I turned 28 the other day. This one stung a bit. For the last few years, I could use the "Well at least I'm still very immature" line of reasoning to fight the "You're getting old argument."

Well, over the past year, I've bought a house, a truck, and a dog. My girlfriend's moved in, and along with the dog, taken control of the house. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've gotten drunk on back to back days. I've taken on more responsibility at work, I've started developing a pot-belly. If I ever combed my hair, I might notice that I was starting to lose recede a bit.

Fuck it.

I'm getting drunk tonight, just because I can.

Possibly a nice shiraz would do the trick.