No damn cat, no damn cradle

Lately...August 2010 edition

2010-08-23T10:13:00.001-04:00

Lately... August 2010 edition

What I've been listening to:
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Mute Math - Armistice
Sirius XM - Lithium, Alt Nation, Opie & Anthony, Ron & Fez

What I've been watching:
True Blood
Minute to Win it
Entourage
Netflix streaming on Wii has been awesome

What I've been reading:
Just finished: haven't read a book in a while
Just started: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Movies I want to see:
Inception
There is seriously nothing else good coming out

What I'm looking forward to:
My wedding & honeymoon
Front row tickets behind home plate at Fenway Park
Football starting up and picking against the spreads
Golfing Crystal Springs
Full series of Lost on DVD
No longer dealing with Windows
Brewing again (it's been a while)

I love Lucid Lynx

2010-08-16T15:58:00.001-04:00

I've toyed around with Linux systems in the past, mostly dual-booting with Windows just for fun. However, a few recent hardware upgrades to my computer have caused my XP system to crash and require a re-install. Instead, I've decided to finally take the leap to a single Linux opsys. Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx was my choice. So far everything I did previously in Windows, works just as well or better under Ubuntu. Here are some things I love:

1. Get this... 30 second boot time! As a long time Windows user, this makes me drool. From power on, it takes approx. 20 sec. to hit the login screen, then another 7-10 sec. after I punch in my password. The Desktop pops up and is ready to go. No more waiting around for 10 million programs to load up. With my XP system, it would take a minimum 2.5 minutes for a full boot, which was frustrating because my desktop would be up in 1 minute, but wasn't usable due to all the other programs that were loading in the background (mostly anti-virus and other microsoft junk). Ubuntu just feels so much faster and more powerful, and it's practically impenetrable to hackers. I absolutely love it.

2. 3D-cube desktop is freakin awesome. I can be doing something on one side, then spin the cube and I have 3 more desktops to play with. As long as you have a capable graphics card, Ubuntu has some really cool effects to play with.

3. Free software... and there is a ton of it. Just search using the Ubuntu software center and you can find just about anything. There is audio editing and video/graphical editing software that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars for Windows, but it's free for Linux. It's not always the most intuitive programming, but a little effort and you've got yourself some amazing software at your fingertips.

I've only been using Ubuntu on it's own for a few days now. I've used it a lot in the past, but always had windows to fall back on if something went wrong. Now I'm diving in head first. There are a ton of other things that I love about Ubuntu that I haven't mentioned here. Also, I've grown to hate Microsoft so much over the years, that I couldn't be happier to be rid of them. I look forward to future releases of Ubuntu and the free upgrades... and fast boot times... and cool desktops... and non-evil software developers no longer forcing me to abide by their stupidness. Thank you Ubuntu.

I hate Bud Selig

2010-07-08T11:39:00.001-04:00

Ok, yes this happened over a month ago. However, I still feel the need to vent.

How old is Bud Selig now? Well, he turns 76 this month. Currently the average life expectancy for American males is 75.6 years (from wikipedia). He's older than Nylon, canned beer, photocopiers, ballpoint pens and strobe lighting. Let's just agree that he's old. We all have old people in our lives. The majority of them I wouldn't want making any major decisions for me. I don't want them to drive me anywhere. I don't want them buying clothes for me. I don't want to stand behind them at the grocery store. You get the idea.

So why do I want them running Major League Baseball? Seriously. A sport that needs to hold on to as many young viewers as possible is being run by someone over 3 quarters of a century old. How can we expect him to rationally settle something like the Armando Galarraga "Perfect Game" situation?

Ok, now you know why I hate Bud Selig. I believe he dropped the ball on the Galarraga situation. The kid pitched a perfect game. A terrible call in the 9th wiped out this tremendous accomplishment. The ump agreed he made a bad call and has apologized profusely. The Detroit Tigers acknowledged it by giving Galarraga a car. It is 100% clear the call was wrong. Why not change it?

A lot of "experts" are claiming that by changing the call in favor of Galarraga would open Pandora's box. That people would start questioning every important call. However, I don't see how that is relevant in this situation. First of all, the call had no effect on the outcome of the game. Because nothing else in the game would have changed save for an out that was made by the next batter, they should be allowed to review this call and change it. It is in the best interest of the game. Selig still wouldn't need to interfere with other games. He could still keep his distance because this was a special situation. It was purely a record-keeping error and not a game changing event.

Another aspect is that EVERYBODY agreed that the call was wrong. Almost every time there is a bad call, you'll find someone arguing both sides. This time there was only one side. How could you argue with everybody?

Shame on you Bud Selig. This game is for the fans, it's not for you. You should have given us this one. Instead, you've made me hate you and despise the way my favorite sport is being run. Yes, you may keep the older generation of baseball fans happy. You've made it public that you consult with other hall-of-famers and baseball experts, but guess what... they are old too. They are the people who are afraid technology will ruin the game. The people who are fine with bad calls and no consequences. But if you want the game to live on, you need to have a younger audience. You need to stop acting like a senior citizen... oh wait, you have been one for 10 years!

Sorry for rambling. I just don't understand how Selig made this decision. Baseball exists because people watch it. People watch baseball because it makes them happy. Selig could have made people happy, but chose not to. Thanks a lot Bud.

Out of retirement

2010-06-25T10:28:00.001-04:00

I think it's time to bring some life back to this blog. With the new blogging Google widget, it's much easier to update (including at work!). There is a bunch of stuff I'd love to comment on, but I'll save them for later posts. Glad to be back!

December ramblings

2008-12-17T10:45:00.004-05:00

Who makes phone calls from a bathroom stall? I mean, what kind of person is sitting on a toilet, in a smelly office bathroom and thinks to them self "hey, now is the perfect time to make a phone call"? Someone in my office, that's who. I mean, couldn't the call wait 5 minutes? It's disgusting. Sometime I wish I could just unleash the most gawd awful sound from the adjacent stall while he's on the phone. Then maybe the person on the other end of the line would think to themselves "did this guy just crap himself?". That would make me happy.

Are the Sox getting Teixeira or not getting Teixeira? This offseason stuff kills me. I just want to know already. Who's taking over catching duties? I'm still surprised Veritek didn't accept arbitration. He would have gotten $10 mil for the season. Is anybody else going to give 'Tek that kind of cash? Way to screw him over Boras.

Friggin' salt truck drivers. I hate you. Don't you realize that if you drive too closely to another car, you will be in effect keying them? Keying people's cars is vandalism and illegal. I hate you salt truck drivers.

Is it possible to develop Alzheimer's at 28 years of age? I seriously cannot remember a thing. Is that normal? During a recent business trip, I checked my room about 297 times before leaving, yet still managed to leave behind my toothbrush and toothpaste. I often forget to feed my fish (yet they live forever somehow), I forget to watch my tv shows (thank god for DVDR) and I can't remember someone's birthday if my life depended on it. I can't imagine what I'll be like in 20-30 years.

I think I've developed a solid fantasy basketball game plan. No, it's nothing revolutionary or enlightening. It's more common sense, which I failed to use in previous fantasy seasons. Basically, you DON'T want to fill your bench with the "best available" guys available on the WW. Those are the guys who are not good enough to start on anybody else's team, which means they will most likely bring down your FG%, FT% and increase your turnovers. Instead, you want to fill your bench with backup players with high shooting percentages. You can play them anytime your starters have the day off and they won't hurt your team. They don't get as much playing time, which means they won't give you as many points/rebounds/assists, but you get that stuff from your starting lineup. Trust me, taking the top point getting from the WW is not always a good idea. Just remember Ben Wallace and you'll know what I mean.

More updates

2008-11-05T15:45:00.003-05:00

As of last night (well, this morning actually) Obama is our new President. Honestly, I didn't hate McCain (like I hated dubya), but I just can't see myself ever voting Republican. Anybody who lets religion dictate most of their views, should not be running this country. Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Granted, McCain was less right-winged than most Republicans, but I still sided with Obama on most of the issues. I'm quite happy to see him win by such a landslide. I'd truly like to see an atheist (or agnostic) President some day, but the God fearing people of America would not let that happen. For now, I'm happy the country is turning blue.

New albums just coming out from Keane & Snow Patrol, but they don't seem to have quite the same feel as their previous albums. I enjoyed Coldplay's newest "Viva La Vida" that came out earlier this year, but honestly I think my favorite of the year has been Elbow's "Seldom Seen Kid".

The new Indiana Jones movie was a let down. Ironman was a semi-let down because it was hyped wayyyy too much. The Happening was a let down (but who didn't see that coming?). I think I've probably seen 3 movies that I've really liked all year. Let's see if I can name a few. "No Country for Old Men" was awesome. Surprisingly, I loved "There Will Be Blood" even though it was like 24 hours long. The newest Batman "The Dark Knight" was quite entertaining along with "Cloverfield" even though most people hated it. I think I just named 1 movie from 2008 and the others were 2007, but oh well. I guess I don't watch as many movies as I used to. I'm looking forward to seeing "Burn After Reading".

The State of Ryan's Nation 08

2008-10-24T11:05:00.002-04:00

Well, I almost made it an entire year without posting. I'm not really sure what to post about because so much can happen in a year. I guess I'll try to do a brief overview of some stuff.

The WOW addiction is over. I miss playing it, but it got so boring and repetitive that it wasn't much fun any more. I started playing a new game (Warhammer), but it's nowhere near as addictive. I'm lucky if I play once a week.

The Brew Crew softball team had a tough season. We lost some players, but still managed to finish in the middle of the pack. Hopefully next year our experience will carry us a little further.

The Sox just lost to the Rays in the ALCS. Truthfully, the Sox had no business taking that series to 7 games. Papi, Beckett, Lowell, Lowery were all hurt and Veritek was so bad I prayed Cora would pitch hit for him every time. The 7 run comeback game was amazing and so much fun to watch, but this Rays team is really good. I'll root for them to beat Philly in the World Series.

New shows I'm watching:
1) True Blood - Strangely addictive show about Vampires mainstreaming into society. An interesting concept that has me completely hooked.
2) The Life and Times of Tim - The most hilarious show I've seen in a long time.
3) The Wire - A truly great show. It's actually no longer on the air, but I've bought the first 4 seasons and watched them all within a couple months. One more season to go.
4) Fringe - New show from J.J.Abrams. Very Sci-Fi and far fetched, but I keep watching.

Still watching: It's Always Sunny, Entourage, Heroes, The Office.

Reading: Nothing at the moment. Been watching lots of TV and almost done with Season 6 of 24.

I've been running like crazy lately. I'm really trying to get my 5k time down and I've lost about 25-30 lbs along the way. I'm currently running slightly above an 8 min mile pace and my goal is to get under that. Gonna be tough with winter on the way.

That's it for now. I'll post again with some other stuff from this last year.

Damn you World of Warcraft!

2007-11-09T08:29:00.000-05:00

First off, lets rewind to 1989. Remember when Baseball Stars came out on Nintendo? They had the brilliant idea of keeping stats and gave us the ability to save the game. I believe this was the first Nintendo game that allowed you to do this. By saving the game, you could record your progress so you didn't feel like you were starting from scratch every time you played. You always were accomplishing something (winning money for your team, signing free agents, increasing player abilities). Every time you played, you got better. Because of this, it was the most addictive Nintendo game I ever played. I always wanted to play more to make my team better.

Side Note: Remember stacking your team so heavily that everybody was batting over .700 and hitting homeruns every other at bat? That was awesome.

Now back to present time. Pretty much every video game available allows you to save your game. World of Warcraft (WOW) has taken the whole "saved progress" phenomenon to a new level. Of course it's hard to compare this to Baseball Stars since WOW is not a sports game, however it runs on the same principles. Build your character up and stack him with the best gear and weapons you can find. Also, you are not only working to increase the character's experience level, but also his class level and profession level. You don't need to know what that means, I'm just trying to show that there is so much content and so many ways to make your character more powerful.... and every time you play you get better. Just like Baseball Stars, yet so much worse.

With BStars, you could build a team in a few minutes, start making some decent money in a few hours, and could have a pretty stacked team in a few days... maybe a week. With Warcraft, you can spend weeks or even months just trying to upgrade one piece of equipment (BTW, you wear 14-15 pieces of armor and have 1-3 weapons)... and you are playing against tens of thousands of other people at the same time. It's hard to even fathom how much time people waste playing this game.

What's crazy to me is that there are certain aspects of the game that require the cooperation of 25 to 40 different people at the same time, and will take multiple hours to complete (6 hours or more in some cases). That means you pretty much have to dedicate an entire day to playing the game without much of a break (don't worry, I don't do this kind of stuff... yet). You also need to be really good at playing your character because any mistake you make in the game can cause the death of many people. These instances require huge guilds that will only let you join them if you meet their strict guild standards. These are the hardcore guys, AKA the guys who will always be better than you.

Since I have OCD when it comes to video games, I hate it when people are better than me. So I keep playing to get better. Unfortunately I've been playing the game for more than 6 months now.... and I suck! Seriously, I'm terrible. A couple of months is not enough time to learn all the ropes and become competitive (like baseball stars). Becoming really good at this game could take years. This reality is slowly starting to sink in and it's depressing.

Fortunately I've made a bunch of friends in the game and it really increases the enjoyment level. It's becoming less and less about having the best character, best gear, and best strategies and more about hanging out with some cool new friends. The game is both exciting and a huge waste of time... and 100% hands down the most addictive game I've ever played.

Where did September and October go?

2007-11-02T10:53:00.000-04:00

This has definitely been my longest time between posts. I'm blaming it mostly on my new World of Warcraft addiction (which deserves a post all on it's own). That stupid game is ruining me. Anyway, I just wanted to post an update on all things me. Here we go.

Favorite new Album: Spoon "GaGaGaGaGa". This album is awesome. I started liking Spoon when "Gimmie Fiction" came out (their 4th or 5th album I believe), but wasn't really hooked. This new album (ga...) is my new obsession. Spoon is such a unique band, it's nice to have something different to listen to.

Favorite new Movie: Superbad. This movie was hilarious. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. I even named one of my fantasy football teams McLovin. Sounds like a sexy hamburger.

Fantasy News: Speaking of fantasy football. I decided to concentrate on 1 team this year. Of course my friends created 2 leagues so I had to join them both. To fix this dilemma, I made one team of entirely Patriots players (excluding Moss cause some jackass picked him in the third round). Anyway, my Pats team (aka McLovin), is currently 4-4 and has been in the top 3 teams in scoring the last 4 weeks! How awesome is that? That tells you how good the Patriots are this year. Even without their top receiver, I'm still topping the scoreboard in my fantasy league by only starting Pats players. It's awesome. I even beat the jerk to stole Moss from me on draft day. It was sweet revenge.

Good Books: I read a couple of books by Chuck Palahniuk recently (Fight Club, Survivor & Lullaby). They were all really unique, quite morbid and very fascinating. I think I need to move on to another genre for a little while before I decide to go out and shoot somebody.

Awesome Prediction: I was 100% right about Roger Clemens this year. Not that it was a tough prediction or anything, but it made me happy to see him struggle so much. I don't know what the Yankees were thinking when they offered him such a ridiculous contract. He's so old! On the other hand, I did like the cell phone commercial that he did. That was kind of funny.

Baseball news: Speaking of baseball, the Sox won the world series! This needs it's own post.

Basketball news: I've decided to join a basketball league here at work. Yeah, I'm starting to get older, and trips to the gym normally require a 2-day recovery period for me, but I think it will be fun. I get winded pretty quickly so hopefully I can get in the games, run around for a few minutes, then grab a sub before I pass out.

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully I'll post again soon.

It's a sad day for baseball...

2007-08-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

... actually it's a sad day for all of sports. One of the most amazing records in sports history has been broken by a cheater. How this was allowed to happen, I have no idea. Of course anybody who follows sports knows what I'm talking about. Ok, Bonds was never convicted of anything so how can we prove that he was a cheater? Well, first of all.... he admitted he used steriods. That's kind of a big piece of evidence.

Yeah, he said he didn't know he was using steriods, basically blaming his weight training coach of juicing him without his consent... which is soooo bullshit. The two guys were friends. I mean, his trainer is currently sitting in jail because he refused to testify against Bonds. Does that sound like someone who would try to destroy Bonds' career by slipping him illegal drugs? Nope. Sounds like a friend. There is absolutely no way in hell Bonds didn't know he was using steriods.

Yup, I read "Game of Shadows" so maybe I'm a little biased. I don't know how much information in that book was factual. I do know that it contained Grand Jury testimony and that Bonds 100% admitted to using steriods. The story itself was very convincing. Bonds being pissed that McGwire (a white man... who was probably using steriods too) got all the attention for breaking the single season home run record, while Bonds who was a far superior baseball player hardly got noticed. After that year, you can see Bond's stats started climbing ridiculously high. Hmmmm, I wonder why that was happening?

Well, I like to keep my posts short, but I could go on and on about this. Everyone already knows the story anyway and I've got nothing new to say. I'm just depressed that a liar and cheater is now the new home run champion. I found some comfort in the fact that A-Rod will probably pass Bonds fairly easily... then I remembered that A-Rod is also a liar and a cheater. Now I'm just depressed.

My new man-crush

2007-07-13T13:26:00.000-04:00

So it's now past the All-Star break and I can finally watch the Redsox again. Wait, let me back up a minute...

To start the season, Cablevision (my cable/internet company based in NY) had contract issues with Major League Baseball and Direct TV. They decided to screw their customers and not offer the MLB package for the beginning of the season. This means I don't get to watch my beloved Redsox.

Apparently 2 months after opening day, Cablevision realized they were making a mistake. They settled their contract issues and started offering the MLB package again... AT FULL PRICE!

WTF? They made me miss 2 full months of the season, then they expect me to shell out full price? I don't think so.

So after the All-Star break, the price of the MLB package drops (not by a lot, but enough), so I finally caved and picked it up.

I hate Cablevision and always will. As soon as Verizon FiOS is available in my neighborhood, I'm signing up.

So enough venting and on to more important things. This year I've decided that Dustin Pedroia is my new favorite player. I picked him up for my fantasy baseball team as a backup 2nd basemen (we've got 14 teams so there were not a lot of options). Once Pedroia caught fire, he's helped my team rocket into first place. After reading some threads on the SOSH website, I found out that since May 3rd, Pedroia has swung at 139 pitches and missed 4."

That's amazing! Seriously, that's absolutely ridiculous.

I'm a big fan of players with fantastic plate discipline. I also like scrappy players who play hard everyday, dive for balls they can't reach and always run out infield grounders. I want the players I root for to love the game instead of just seeing how inflated they can make their paychecks. Those are the real baseball players. Pedroia is still very young, but he seems to fall into that category. I can't wait to start watching on a nightly basis. Go Sox!

What's going on?

2007-06-13T15:18:00.000-04:00

aaaaannnnnddddd...... I'm back!

It feels good to be posting again. So much to talk about. After the series finale of the Sopranos, I feel like my head is going to explode so let's start there.

As with everybody, I was immediately pissed when the final Sopranos episode was over. I thought my cable box had screwed up at the worst possible time in my entire Sopranos watching career. As it turns out, the screen went black on purpose. Interesting. Once I realized that, I was even more pissed because I had just witnessed the worst series finale ever.

My original take on the ending: The blank screen represents the fact that Tony got whacked. He didn't see it coming and all of a sudden everything just goes dark (just like him and Bobby had discussed in previous episodes). Since Tony didn't see it coming, none of use got to see it coming. The guy in the bathroom possibly did it, but I think somebody came in through the door who he wasn't expecting. Just the look on his face makes me think something happened. I'll be interested to see if any alternate endings show up on the DVDs.

I don't buy the fact that we (the audience) got whacked because that's just retarded. There's no way the creator of the best TV series ever would do something as stupid as that.

So after reading about it, talking about it, watching it again, reading about it some more, and talking about it some more... I still hated the finale. Yeah, I think I understand what David Chase was trying to do, but come on. It was the most boring series finale I've ever seen. I understand that living the life of a crime boss will make you paranoid and you'll constantly be looking over your shoulder and that life will constantly suck. That final scene showed us that. I felt paranoid too while watching that scene, which I believe was Chase's intent. But when nothing happened, I was pissed.

I'm not looking for any type of closure, I just wanted something to happen... and nothing did. The whole Pauly and the cat thing was pretty funny, and Phil's head scene was pretty awesome, but the show on the whole was a let down.

I didn't want Tony to go to jail and I definitely didn't want him to die. I actually was hoping he would somehow survive the final episode. I just wanted an exciting/cool finale, and I didn't get it.

Ok, that's enough about the Sopranos. I need time to heal. Maybe in a few months I'll go back and re-watch the last season and have a greater appreciation for it. For now, I'm leaving it behind me.

Now the Clemens thing. I can't explain how happy I am that he signed with the Yankees. First of all, he screwed over New York when he "retired" then signed with Houston so he would play with his pal Pettite. Then they welcome him back like nothing happened? What? What is wrong with New York? Aren't they pissed at him? How could they want him back? He abandoned them. He weaseled out of his contract so he could play somewhere else. I don't understand it. I have multiple friends who are Yankee fans and none of them have a problem with him coming back. I guess it's another reason why I hate the Yankees. They don't care who plays for them as long as they win.... which of course isn't happening so far in 2007 (giggling to myself).

Anyway, I really wanted to write about this just because it's so obvious what's going to happen. He signs for a ridiculous amount of money only to come back for a few games and get injured (he already had one minor injury this year). He's too old to be a power pitcher. There's no way he can come back and dominate for half a season. No way. At most he'll come out of the gate with some great performances, then settle into the mediocre pitcher that a 44 year old pitcher is expected to be. I'll be so happy when the Yankees realized they paid for Clemens to sit on the DL all year. It will be awesome and I will laugh.... and laugh and laugh.

Needs to be mentioned. My softball team is currently 4 - 0. Our previous records were 2 - 9 and 5 - 8. Looks like this year we've made the leap.

Been doing a lot of fly fishing lately with a lot of success. I've recently learned that if you use the wrong fly, you'll catch nothing. If you use the right fly, you won't be able to stop catching them.

Ok, this post is already too long so I'll stop. I want to get back into the habit of posting more often, but I'm not sure I see that happening. My blogging days may be slowing down.

Ryan's Homebrew

2007-05-16T18:25:00.000-04:00

I have a couple excuses for not posting in a while, but mainly I've just been lazy. Back in the day (last year), I normally found time during my work day to write out a post. Now, unfortunately I don't have the time any more. Since I spend all day in front of a computer at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and jump right back on. So my posting has suffered.

Another reason is because I've been working on a new site. It's called Ryan's Homebrew and can be found at www.ryanshomebrew.com. Check it out if you get the chance. It's all information on my experiences in homebrewing beer. One of my favorite past times.

I really want to post on the whole Clemens thing, but just haven't had it in me recently. Hopefully I can comment before he makes his first start for the Yanks.

Lately...

2007-03-21T21:49:00.000-04:00

What I've been listening to:
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
The Guggenheim Grotto - Waltzing Alone
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

What I've been watching:
Heroes
Lost
The Black Donnellys

What I've been reading:
Just finished: Moneyball - Michael Lewis
Just started: Brewing up a Business - Sam Calagione

Movies I want to see:
300
The Number 23
Rocky 6

What I'm looking forward to:
Entering the Sam Adams Longshot competition
The completion of my All American IPA
The Sopranos and Entourage coming back
Red Sox Opening Day
Trip to Jamaica in June
The Mason Street Brewdogs (my fantasy baseball keeper team)
Warm weather
The last Harry Potter Book
Selling my damned boat

Less than one month...

2007-03-06T08:41:00.000-05:00

I can't wait for opening day and to start watching baseball again. There is too long of a break between football season and baseball season to keep me occupied. Basketball doesn't count unless maybe the Celtics grab Greg Oden and fire Doc in the offseason. Then maybe I'll give them a chance. Until that happens, I'm sticking to the Pats and the Sox.

There are multiple things about this year's Sox team that I am excited to watch. Will Lugo produce as expected, who will win the closer job, how long till Boston turns on Drew, but what I'm most excited about is the new rotation.

We've got the old guys (Schilling & Wakefield) who will anchor the staff and serve as mentors and guidance counselors. I expect that Wakefield may get a raw deal and end up in the bullpen later in the season. As much as I like Wakefield, I actually think he would be more valuable to the Sox in a relief position since he could pitch almost every day and knuckleballs have got to be impossible to hit when you've been seeing fastballs and sliders all night.

We've got the young guys (Papelbon & Lester) who are so good they are scary. I can't believe Lester is already pitching again and could be back in the rotation this year. I can't wait to draft him in the late rounds of my keeper league. I'm also excited to see Pap's getting a chance to start.

We've got the new guy ("Dice" Matsuzaka) who throws like 50 different pitches and will be fooling hitters all year. Nobody really knows what to expect out of him, but I wouldn't rule out 200 K's and 20 wins.

And we've got Beckett. I've always liked Beckett and every year he seems like he could end up being a top tier pitcher, yet every year he falls short. The Sox staff is so good this year, he'll have to work hard to keep up with everyone. I see him pushing extra hard just to keep up.

So there you have it. 6 Legitimate starters who are all healthy. Plus Donnelly in the pen. Definitely an upgrade from last year's pitching situation. I can't wait to see how it all works out.

Winter, I thought you'd never come...

2007-02-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

2 weeks ago I was about to write a post about how much this winter has sucked. There was no snow for snowboarding, no ice for ice-fishing and no inclimate weather so I would have an excuse to stay home from work. I was wearing tee-shirts outside and probably could have taken a swim in the lake if I wanted. It was the perfect time to join the Polar Bear club. This was January 2007 in New Jersey.

Then one week goes by and there is 6 inches of ice on the lake. Just like that. One week and we are punched in the face by Old Man Winter. One week I'm sweating walking to my car, and the next my hair freezes the second I step outside. In one week, we went from 70 degrees to 17 degrees. Just one week.

Some people are blaming El Nino for the uncharacteristically warm weather. Personally, I find it hard to believe that global warming has nothing to do with this. I'm not the person to make this arguement (especially since I drive an SUV, which makes me a hypocrite), but I'm not one to deny what's going on.

A few days ago, some idiot says to me sarcastically "I wish Al Gore was here to explain this global warming now". He said this to me because it was cold outside. It's freaking January! It's supposed to be cold outside. Were you alive 2 weeks ago when it was 70 degrees?

I'm not sure that I have a point to finish with. I just wanted to note that this winter has been a weird one. 2007, mark it down. Weird winter. Add another slide to Gore's PowerPoint.

Playing catch up

2006-12-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

So what's been going on in the past 6 weeks that has kept me so busy that I can't even post on my blog? Well, not much at all. In fact, lets do a quick list to get us up to speed:

-New Jersey still has no snow or ice, which means snowboarding and ice fishing are out of the question (temps are still in the high 40's). Damn you El Nino.

-Dice Matsuzaka signed with the Sox. JD Drew might not pass his physical (hopefully his shoulder will fall off before he signs so the Sox don't get stuck with his ridiculous contract).

-I won $273 in lotto tickets over the weekend.

-I bought a blind gold fish.

-My Mocha Stout has the potential to be the worst beer ever brewed.

-Saw Damien Rice and Glen Hansard in concert (great show by the way).

-Bought a bottle of Borolo that I plan to age for another 10 to 15 years.

-Created a new website dedicated to my beer brewing habit. I'll post the link on here when it is more complete... which will probably be another year or so from now.

That's about it. Just trying to get everyone caught up. I did find a new band that I've been enjoying the last few weeks. Actually, they are not new and just released their 6th studio album. They are called "The Frames" and have reached kick-ass band status. Since they are from Ireland, their albums are a little tough to get a hold of. I actually only have one myself, but I'm in the process of ordering more. I will post more info when I get more of their albums.

I'm sure this will be my last post of the year. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas last week and a happy New Year next week.

Good sign, bad sign

2006-11-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

First the Good:

I'm pretty excited about the Red Sox winning the bidding war for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka from Japan. I remember watching this guy in the WBC and no one could hit him. Anyone who throws in the high 90's and has 4 pitches will probably do well in the Majors. I see him struggling a little to start off because there will be a lot of pressure on him, but I'm already excited to see what happens. The Sox better sign him.

Now the Bad:

Seriously, Vinny Testaverde? That's a joke right? Over the last few years, whenever the Patriots played a team and Testaverde was the opposing quarterback, I knew the Pats would win. He makes a lot of plays, but he always kills his team when it matters most. He's like the anti-Brady. I would rather Matt Cassel gets a chance over Vinny. At least he was good enough to back up Palmer and Leinart at USC. Give the kid a chance. Don't count on grandpa Vinny to get the Pats anywhere.

I just looked up Cassel's bio on the official Patriots webpage, and I'm quite impressed. Looks like he was quite a baseball player. He played in the little league world series and he was actually drafted by the Oakland A's. Both of his brothers play minor league ball. At USC he had the highest GPA of all upperclassmen so he's a smart guy. He played some tightend, wide receiver and quarterback while at USC. Looks like the kid can do it all. Is he the new Brady? Let's get him in the game and find out!

Stan the man

2006-11-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

Since I haven't posted in a while, I think this is the perfect opportunity to make a fool of myself.

Here is the setup: Below are a few pictures of myself as I was preparing for my Halloween Costume. I was going as Stan from Office space. Stan was the manager of Tchotchkies (no idea if I spelt that right) Restaurant. Pam went as Jennifer Aniston's character.

Photoshop was not involved in any of the pictures below. It took me about 3 weeks to grow the beard in the first picture. Then I had some fun with the razor. My favorite is definitely the Fu Manchu in the third picture.

Doesn't it look like I'm some type of serial killer or something in the final picture? Now that's pretty scary.

Below is the finished product. People told me all night that they couldn't talk to me because I looked so ridiculous.

The faithful departed

2006-10-19T08:23:00.000-04:00

When searching through the Yahoo! Movies website, I noticed something pretty crazy. There are only 8 movies that have been given an overall rating of A by the Yahoo! users. IN THE HISTORY OF MOVIES! Only 8. Actually, they are all A-. There are no A's or A+'s. That's a pretty tough rating system.

So when a movie comes out and it gets an A- from the Yahoo! users, go see it. As soon as you possibly can. Seriously, look at this list.

The Shawshank Redemption
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Godfather
Star Wars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Departed
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I guess what I'm trying to say is go see “The Departed”. It's awesome. It’s a little on the long side, but definitely worth the ass pain caused by the movie theater seats.

I’d have to say that I was slightly disappointed when I walked out of the theater. Due to all the hype, I expected to be watching the most amazing movie ever made, so I was let down a little. It’s not the best movie ever made, but it’s been literally 5 days since I saw it and I can't stop thinking about it. I want to see it again. I can't wait for the DVD. There are some really cool scenes that I need to see again. Can you tell I want to see it again?

On the flip side, there is only 1 movie given an F rating by the Yahoo! users. Can you guess which movie? It involves Ben Affleck. Ok, maybe that doesn't help.

It's Gigli. Was it really that bad? I don't know, I wouldn't waste my time with that crap. Apparently it's worse than Baby Geniuses 2 (D-), Home Alone 4 (D), and Battlefield Earth (D). Now that's pretty bad. I almost want to see it now. Definitely worthy of a Mystery Science Theater session.

More beer stuff

2006-10-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

Pumpkin Beer #2 is on the way. This time I cut up a real pumpkin instead of using the canned stuff. This proved to be a pain in the ass, but hopefully it was worth it. Right now the beer is safely fermenting in my apartment as I speak.

I realized that by adding a slice of orange to my Hefe' that I listed at #7 below, it actually tastes pretty good. I tried a lemon slice, but that made it way too sour. Imagine Blue Moon with no head. That's how it turned out. It's not bad, but I must have done something wrong at bottle time. I probably should have listed it as #5 or 6 instead of 7.

Ice Fest 2007... skating, fishing and drinking homebrews out on Lake Hopatcong. Can't miss right? As long as nobody falls through the ice, it can't miss.

It's brew time

2006-09-15T16:25:00.000-04:00

I started brewing my own beer over a year ago. Since then I have made some interesting concoctions... some really good, some really bad. So I wanted to start listing my brewing adventures on here so I remember what I did well and what I should never do again. So for now, I'm going to list my best to worst brews.

1. Pumpkin Beer - This one turned out fantastic. Definitely my favorite so far and I'm planning on brewing it again soon so it will be ready for Thanksgiving. This brew had about 2 lbs of pumpkin so next time I'm bumping it up to 4 or 6 lbs.

2. Caramel Cream Ale - One of my more interesting receipes. Had a decent amount of lactose and vanilla added. Smelled and tasted great, but vanilla flavors lessened with age. Still very good.

3. Dark Wheat Ale (Dunkleweizen) - A nice change of pace from regular wheat beers. This was dark and lots of malty flavor. Since I like malty beers, I'm listing this one high on the list.

4. Golden Ale - My first beer that I ever brewed. I don't know how this turned out well because I had no idea what I was doing. It over carbonated with age because I added too much sugar at bottling time. Other than that, this was a pretty decent beer. Amber colored and had a Bass like flavor. Brown sugar was the secret to this beer.

5. Maple Cream Ale - Not sure why I did 2 cream ales, but so far they've turned out pretty good. This one was gross when it was young, however it aged very well. After 2 months this beer was very smooth, had a great head, and had a nice maple taste. Over 12 ounces of grade A maple syrup went into this brew.

6. Irish Stout - Started out pretty good, but was a fairly dry beer with a strange aftertaste that I could never quite put my finger on. Probably too heavy on the hops since most stouts don't us much hop additions. Got really bad after it had aged a couple of months. Not my worst beer, but close.

7. Summer Ale (Hefeweizen) - Tastes pretty good, but didn't carbonate well. Added lots of lemon and orange zest, which gives it a unique aftertaste and smell. Only problem is that it fermented at too high of a temperature. The particular yeast that I used with this beer creates a banana taste if fermenting at hot temperatures. If you like bananas, then you'd like this beer.

8. Oatmeal Stout - Just about everything went wrong with this beer. Too much hops, over carbonated, didn't boil the grains correctly. It's probably the smoothest beer I've every tasted, so it gets an A+ for mouthfeel. However, the hops and carbonation issues make it pretty much undrinkable. I'll take another shot at this in the future.

Coming soon:
Pumpkin beer #2
My first IPA
and an attempt at a Watermelon Ale.

First of all…

2006-09-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am still alive. For the first time since I started this blog, I didn’t post for an entire month. I guess August just wasn’t that exciting. Anyway, here’s what’s been going on.

The injury plagued Sox have been sucking. Playoff hopes are long gone. Ortiz probably should win the MVP, but he won’t. He recently jinxed the hell out of himself by saying he deserved it more than Jeter. Big no no big papi.

I was recently the best man at my friend’s wedding (there were 2 best men actually), and my speech killed. I had no idea I could be funny. Who knew? The next weekend I went to another wedding near Rochester, NY. I would guess that there are approximately 1 billion wineries in the area. I actually got to try wine flavored ice-cream. Yum.

I saw Starsailor live in NYC. I liked this band before, but after seeing them perform live, it’s a whole new experience. I’m almost obsessed now. Such a great live band. They have lots of live clips and music videos and a cool video diary posted on YouTube. Just search for “starsailor diary” and you’ll find it.

Along with Starsailor, I’m adding Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s to my list of Kick ass bands. Their debut album “The Dust of Retreat” is probably my favorite album so far from 2006, narrowly edging out Keane’s “Under the Iron Sea”. Although Starsailor’s “On the Outside” is creeping up the list. I highly recommend all 3 albums.

I’m so pumped that football has started. I love this time of year. When I can spend all Sunday on the couch watching football and not feel like a lazy bastard. It also allows me time to perfect my hot wings sauce. My first week of football picks did not go well (due to Miami, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Denver, Dallas and Washington all sucking), but I ended up breaking even since I hit a 3-team parlay. Hopefully this week will be a little more productive.

Our softball season ended a while ago. My team ended up going 5 – 8. Much better than our 2 – 10 mark last season. Our league is holding an all-star game next week, which I got voted to, so that’s exciting. I’m going to miss softball this winter, but I’m looking forward to snowboarding and ice-fishing soon.

So I guess that’s about it for now. I’ll post again soon so I can talk about the recent beers that I’ve been brewing.

Happy Birthday NDC!

2006-07-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

The 25th of this month marked the 2 year anniversary of this blog. I guess my initial prediction of 1 month has been surpassed by a little bit (I've never been good a predicting things anyway).

I never could have imagined the therapeutic value of posting one's thoughts online. To celebrate the birthday of my blog, I went back and read some of my old postings. Lots of memories came back: Whitewater rafting, the Veritek/Arod Brawl, almost getting killed in LBC, and of course the Red Sox winning the World Series. It's just fun to go back in time once in a while. I'm now updating my prediction to: This blog is something I will keep going for a long time.

I haven't posted in a while so let's get on to other stuff...

My softball team is now 4 - 8 with 1 game left to go. We've already doubled our win total from last year so I'm happy with our performance. We started the season 0 - 5 so I think 4 - 8 is a decent accomplishment. I'm prediction a playoff apperance next year.

I recently learned that if you are going to throw your back out, make sure you don't need to drive 4 hours to get home. Not fun... not fun at all.

Anybody want to buy an aluminum row boat? Anyone? Please?

I haven't seen a good movie in a long time. The new Superman was ok. The Squid and the Whale was pretty decent. Other than those, I've gone through a lot of disappointments. The new movie from Broken Lizard looks to be promising. It's called Beerfest. Hopefully it will be of Super Troopers quality. I like to pretend that Club Dread never happened.

Tom Verducci is an idiot...

2006-06-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

Why? Because he thinks he needs to remind Redsox fans not to boo Pedro when he takes the mound tonight.

Who is he? Just some writer for Sports Illustrated. I get bored at work sometimes and I tend to read a lot of sports related articles. I happened to come across this one that was posted a couple of hours ago: A Legend Returns

Come on Tom, last night Fenway gave him a standing ovation and he wasn't even pitching. Every Redsox fan appreciates everything that Pedro did for us. If you think there is anyway in hell that Sox fans are going to boo Pedro, then you are a moron.

I wasn't going to post anything about the Sox right now due to certain circumstances... wait, I think that was enough to jinx them. Anyway, if they are to lose to anyone, I want it to be Pedro.

The anatomy of a pick-up ball game

2006-06-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

I was playing some pick-up basketball this weekend and I realized something funny. Everytime I'm in a pick-up game, the same people tend to show up. It's like clockwork. So I'm going to break it down for everybody and explain what I like and dislike about these people. Feel free to comment if I miss anyone.

I love... random old guy. He's always the first one on the court looking to get in the game. This guy is always at least 20 years older than everyone else and just looking to get in some exercise before the early bird special at the Sizzler. He's always fun to watch because he can't dribble, can't run, plays defense a little too hard and has the ugliest shot in the world, yet somehow seems to make it most of the time. I love random old guy.

I hate... the nitpicker. There's always one guy who calls too many fouls. This is the same guy who will call you for travelling, double dribble, and out of bounds if you're even close. Just shut your face and play the game. Short of getting tackled, you shouldn't be calling fouls. It's just an excuse for why you missed your shot. If you are halfway decent, you should be making your shots and don't need to call fouls in the first place.

I hate... the elbow thrower. The big guy who's got something to prove. He needs to show off how strong he is by grabbing boards and swinging his arms around, knocking smaller people out of the way. This guy really needs to calm down. It's just a game Focker!

I love... the smart player. Sometimes you get people on the court who actually know what they are doing. They swing the ball around, set picks, make cuts and don't take stupid shots. They know when to run and when to slow things down. These people are so much more fun to play with because if you know what you are doing, you have a chance to get the ball.

I hate... the ball hog. I'm there because I want to play. I am not there to watch you shoot threes from half court. Ok, maybe you make one here and there, but 20% shooting is not impressive. Give me the damn ball.

I hate... the moving picker. You know who you are. Learn how to make a pick you jerk. What you are doing is called playing football.

I'm sure I missed a few, but I can't think of any more right now. If people would just calm down and realize that everyone is just there to have a good time, then the games would be so much more fun. Who cares if your team wins? Nobody plays defense and everyone is out of shape. Seriously, winning a pick-up basketball game is about as impressive as beating your girlfriend at shuffleboard (but not my girlfriend because she can mop the floor with me). As long as I get some exercise and get passed too once in a while, I'm happy.

...and it continues

2006-05-31T14:39:00.000-04:00

I was a little worried that I had just jinxed the rest of the season for the Sox in my last post. I thought Clemens would sign with the Sox and lay a big fat egg on them. I would have loved watching him suck, but I would have hated watching the Sox lose. However, as of this afternoon, Roger announced that he signed with the Astros. Click here for the story.

That made my day. Now I can relax knowing that I can still enjoy watching Sox games and I can still enjoy watching Clemens get crushed. He's old and he doesn't really want to play. If he truly wanted to play for the love of the game, he would not have retired.

I don't want to hear that he retired to be with his family. His entire family plays minor league baseball. There is no way they wanted him to retire. He retired because he's tired of baseball. Why did he come back? How does 22 million sound?

sidenote: I know the 22 mil is prorated... it's still ridiculous

The Clemens fiasco

2006-05-31T08:45:00.000-04:00

This Clemens business is out of hand. Seriously, is it really that important to sign a 43-year old pitcher, who hasn't pitched all season? Can he really be worth 5 million a month? Did he win a championship last year? Am I missing something?

Somebody already tried throwing gas on the fire by claiming he already signed with the Astros, which was untrue. I would be willing to bet that it was just a ploy by Clemens' agent to get the other teams to panic and up their bids.

Personally, I want him to come back to baseball. I want him to sign with the Astros, Rangers or Yankees just to see them overpay him and watch him suck big time. Nothing would make me happier (with the exception of seeing Bond's arms fall off) than to root against the fatty and watch him fail. So much satisfaction to be had here.

Now that I've said something, I know he signs with the Sox, which then in turn ruins this baseball season for me. I can't root for the guy, but I can't root against the Sox. Maybe I can pretend it's 1985 and that he's not evil anymore. I've got a pretty good imagination... naaaw, it's not that good.

SOSH

2006-05-24T14:19:00.000-04:00

I registered with the Sons of Sam Horn (SOSH) Message Board yesterday and I'm already hooked. I now have tons of threads to read through while I'm sitting here in my cubical bored out of my mind... I mean... ummmm... I'm not bored... just doing... ummm... research? Yeah research, that sounds better.

Some things I've learned from the SOSH site so far:

1. Referring to Arod as "Slappy" and Mariano Rivera as "Fruitbat" is absolutely hilarious.

2. Many people think DeMarlo Hale would make a good manager for the Sox when Francona steps down. Hey, after Dale Sveum, I'm ready to vote Hale for president.

3. People analyze way too many stats. What the hell is VORP, DIP or BABIP?

4. There is no better place to find current info on injured Sox players. I'm pretty sure I now know how well Coco Crisp handled his kidney stone situation. I mean, who wouldn't want to know about that?

5. The "Who leads off when Coco's back" thread is a very interesting read.

6. For some reason Alex Gonzales is called "Seabass". Not sure that I've figured that one out yet. He doesn't look like Cam Neely, does he?

7. Seriously, too many stats. EqA, PECOTA projections, WPA, BPA rate? My head is starting to hurt.

8. JT Snow wants to be traded (I'm not surprised).

9. Schillings stats before and after his 133 pitch game are scary.

10. No matter what Francona does, somebody is not going to like it.

And I've only been reading posts for 2 days now. There is just so much information on there I don't know if I'll be able to keep up. I'm pretty sure Coco passed another stone since I started writing this post and 7 people have commented on it (ok, I made that up). But seriously, if you need more info on the Sox, you've got to visit this site: Sons of Sam Horn

The Killers and baseball

2006-05-23T14:12:00.000-04:00

I heard on the radio today that the Killers are working on a new album due out in September '06. No release date and no title yet. Since sophomore efforts are almost never as good as debuts (exceptions for Coldplay, Wilco and a handful of others), I'm a little worried. However, I'll be sure to order it as soon as it comes out anyway because Hot Fuss was that good

Good words to live by when attending a baseball game below. Quoted from the Sports Guy's website.

You only have eight responsibilities during a baseball game: Take your hat off for the National Anthem; don't take your shirt off; don't bring your baseball glove if you're over 13; don't wear a jersey with your own name on it; don't run onto the field; don't reach into the field of play to grab a pop-up or ground ball if it could adversely affect your team; don't boo one of your own players unless it's absolutely warranted; and don't throw up. That's it. Everything else is up to you. - Bill Simmons

The Sox are in first place! This is a fun team to watch this year. I'm very happy with the acquisition of Wily Mo and my fantasy team will be equally happy with the return of Coco Crisp. I can't wait to see how this team will do in October.

side note: On my fantasy baseball team this year - Manny, Coco, Youk, Nixon & Tek... but Tek doesn't play since Mauer has been on a tear. Just thought it was cool to have the entire Sox outfield on my team. Needed to be mentioned.

Update time

2006-05-17T10:58:00.000-04:00

Lots of stuff going on lately, which explains why it's been over a month since my last post. Here's a recap.

Quick trip to Boston. Got to see Schilling tear up the Devil Rays. I'm just glad I got a chance to see him in action in my lifetime. It can be tough to catch a decent Sox game when you live in NJ. I hadn't been to Fenway in probably 10 years. My seats were amazing, 14 rows from the field right on 3rd base. The game was so much fun that I think I'm converting my girlfriend (born and raised in Jersey) into a Sox fan.

Spent a week in Vegas. I love getting paid to make this trip. I attended a conference by day and gambled my money away by night. Here are my top 3 favorite casinos in Vegas:

Hard Rock: Great atmostphere and fun dealers. I lost lots of money here.
O'Sheas: 18 hour happy hour & cheap blackjack. Came up about even.
Ellis Island: This place brews their own beer and sells it for $1! Plus they've got cheep blackjack, which is always good. Won money here, maybe that's why I liked it so much.

side note: I went 1 for 9 in picking baseball and basketball games while in Vegas. 1 for 9! How does that happen? I've got to stick to blackjack.

My roommate moved out and I'm taking over his room. You'd be surprised how long it takes me to do this. I'm probably the slowest mover ever. If I can move 1 thing per day, then I'm satisfied. At this rate, I believe I'll be completely moved in by 2009.

Slow-pitch softball. I love this sport. Last year my team (the Brew Crew) went 2-10 including being mercy ruled 5 times. So we really are not the best team in the world. I shooting for 4 wins this year and maybe cut down to 2 or 3 mercy rules. That's not asking too much, right?

I don't have much travel planned for the near future so hopefully I'll get a few more posts here here soon. Maybe something a little more interesting next time.

Remy withdrawal and other stuff

2006-04-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

God damn it I hate the weather in New Jersey. It barely snows all winter when I want to go snowboarding, but now it's April and I want to play softball and we have a blizzard. Damn you Jersey! Damn you all to hell.

I saw Coldplay a couple of weeks ago at Continental Areana and it was awesome. They really put on a great show. Even did a short acoustic set in the middle where they played Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Very Cool. A nice little surprise was Richard Ashcroft (ex-lead singer of the Verve) and his new band taking care of the opening. They played some old Verve songs, which was very cool (Drugs Don't Work, Lucky Man, and of course Bittersweet Symphony). Overall a great show and my floor seats did not disappoint.

I went home for lunch yesterday and the minute I turn on my TV I see Bronson Arroyo up to bat for the Reds. So weird to see him in another uniform... and swinging a bat. I always liked him (dispite the cornrows) and thought he would have been a great bullpin guy for the Sox. Anyway, the very next pitch he hits a homerun. Arroyo can hit homeruns? Where did that come from? I wish him the best of luck in Cincy.

Thank you to Keith Foulke for ruining my fantasy baseball team. That being said, I am officially excited for the Jonathan Papelbon era.

One more thing I need to vent about. I was going to buy the MLB cable package this year so I can watch the Sox games from my Jersey apartment. So I called Cablevision (AKA "the Prince of Darkness") and they said that since my roommate is moving out next month (and taking the cable boxes with him) I would need to buy the package now and again when he moves out. What?!? They actually expect me to puchase the $170 package twice. Looks like I'll have to survive the first month of the season with the YES network and my arch nemesis' Jim Kaat and Michael Kay.

I miss you Jerry Remy. See you in a month.

Why fishermen suck

2006-03-23T07:21:00.000-05:00

Anybody see the world record Bass that was caught a few days ago? It's been on ESPN and yahoo news and such (click here for the story and pictures).

The thing is enormous. However, they may not get the world record even though they have pictures and video footage of them weighing the fish (it's almost 3 pounds heavier than the previous record). Why? Because they decided to let the thing live and let it go.

Shouldn't they be rewarded for this? Shouldn't this kind of behavior be encouraged for all fishermen? I mean, we already put a large sharp hook through the fish and yanked it out of it's home. The least we can do is put it back. According to angry (and jealous) fishermen everywhere, apparently not. They were supposed to kill the thing so it could be officially weighed. Nobody's happy until the thing is dead and mounted on somebody's wall.

Come on. We should have a little more faith in these guys. Do you really think a couple of fishermen are smart enough to doctor photos and video footage? I live on a lake where hundreds of fishermen live and I don't believe any of them know what a computer is.

Give these guys the record already. They deserve it.

The sad thing is that they've already publicized the lake they caught it in. Now every greedy bastard will be fishing that lake hoping to kill the record breaking fish. Whoever that is, I hope you rot in hell.

Somebody's bored

2006-03-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that would be me. I tend to write about random stuff when I get bored, so here comes the randomness.

Saturday, 11:00pm - 2:00am on FX. TiVO it and "save until I delete". Trust me. You won't regret it.

I loved the season premier of the Sopranos. How crazy was that ending? I can't wait for Sunday. I had forgotten how much I loved this show.

I'll be watching "The Loop" which premiers tonight on Fox. It looks like it could be funny. I can definitely relate to falling asleep during meetings.

When I said that neither Japan nor Korea would match up well with any of the other strong teams in the WBC, I'm pretty sure I was smoking crack.

Is there anything worse than American umpires in the WBC making bad calls for team USA? Doesn't it just make us look like a bunch of cheaters? I hate umpires.

How long before Seung-Yeop Lee of Korea gets a Major League contract? Over-under 30 days?

Anyone try the new soda "Vault" yet? It's basically Coke's version of crappy Mountain Dew.

I get to see Coldplay in 10 days in East Rutherford. I couldn't be more excited... and no, that doesn't mean I'm gay.

A few quick notes

2006-03-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

Watching the US team play it's first game for the World Baseball Classic last night was a weird experience. Seeing Veritek and A-Sob on the same bench was just strange. I have to say that I actually rooted for Damon and Jeter to do well... and I still rooted for Rodriguez to get hit in the face.

Disappointing yet slightly satisfying moment - Three of the first four batters for team USA were Yankees. Can you guess who made the first three outs of the game? Yup, all Yankees. Thanks a lot Steinbrenner... not sure how, but I know this is your fault.

Anybody else get chills watching the trailer for the new season of the Sopranos? Oh man I can't wait for Sunday!

When is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia coming on again? FX won't even show reruns. I only got to see 2 episodes from last season and I immediately loved it. Bring it back FX!

Steinbrenner can suck it

2006-03-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

In the last few weeks I've been from Jersey to California back to Jersey, then to Maine then back to Jersey, then to Georgia and finally back to Jersey. So I've been a little busy to say the least. But that didn't stop me from watching the beginning of the World Baseball Classic. I love this stuff. I really hope this catches on and becomes huge. It's the World Cup of Baseball. World Champion will finally mean something. Yes, I'm excited.

Does anybody else hate George Steinbrenner even more now? I can't stand this guy. Why does he have to complain about the WBC? Can't he support something that would be good for the sport for once? Just this once? People get injured in Spring Training too George so why don't you just shut your yapper. You know he's the reason why Robinson Cano isn't playing in the WBC. The young kid doesn't want to upset his boss, while the older guys know how important it is to represent your country. Come on George, why do you have to suck so much?

So I've been watching some of the games from Pool A. Specifically the Japan vs Korea matchup. This Japanese team is so much fun to watch. They are like the Evil Empire of the far East. I truly enjoyed rooting against them, especially after the Ichiro comments (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just watch one of Japan's upcoming games... they'll mention it approximately 5000 times). They really were 10 times better than any other team in pool A, which made Korea's victory so exciting to watch.

A few things about the game...

All 3 outfielders for Korea were named Lee. Plus 2 other guys in the starting lineup were named Lee. How confusing is that? My favorite was definitly Bum Ho Lee... it just sounds dirty.

Watching the Japanese team is like watching a motorcycle ad. Suzuki in Left field and Kawasaki at shortstop. Can't they find someone named Honda to be the batboy or something?

The reason I can't root for Korea can be summed up in one word... "Thundersticks"... or is that two words? Ummmm... let's move on.

Low point in Pool A play was definitely the annoucers. It was borderline unbareable to listen to these guys. Especially color man Darnel Coles who apparently played ball in Japan. He enjoyed telling us that it's tougher to steal bases off left handed pitchers and that it's easier to score runs when people are on base. Thanks Darnel, nobody knew that already.

Two guys to watch in the next round... Japan's Nishioka and Tamura (don't ask me their first names because I can barely remember their last). Both played 10 times better than Ichiro. Also, Kawasaki is an amazing shortstop.

My predicition: Neither team (Japan or Korea) will match up well with any of the other powerhouses in the WBC (Dominican Rep., Venezuela, USA, Puerto Rico, and Cuba). Japan looked dominate (mercy ruled China and Taiwan), but it's because the other teams were pretty bad. Pitchers rarely came close to reaching 90 mph and are going to get crushed by some of these other teams. When Chan Ho Park is your best pitcher, you know you're in trouble.

USA plays their first game today. So make sure to set your TiVO's!

Closure

2006-02-07T09:11:00.000-05:00

One of the first topics on PTI last night was how bad the refs were during the Super Bowl. I know, I know, I should let this go. I just want to post a few links to prove my point.

Skip Bayless wrote a really good article about the game and how the refs screwed the Seahawks. Definitely not a Seahawks fan by the way.

Bill Simmons calls out most of the bad calls in his Super Bowl running diary. These running diaries always crack me up.

Michael Smith of ESPN.com wrote another article about how bad the refs were.

Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns said last night "I feel like the Seattle Seahawks," after getting screwed on a goal tending non-call that cost the Suns the game.

So I'm not the only one who was upset by Sunday night's disaster. The whole world knows that this year's Super Bowl was tainted. Now I can let it go. At least I'll feel better next year when the Patriots reclaim the Lombardi Trophy.

Worst Superbowl ever

2006-02-06T16:20:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or are the Steelers the luckiest team in the history of the NFL? Let’s look at this for a second. I’m skipping the regular season convo to keep this post short.

First round of the playoffs they're up against the Bangles. The Bangles were a much better team then Pitt this year. What happens? Second play Palmer goes down, Pitt wins.

Next they play the best team in the league (Indy), but Dungy’s son tragedy occurs a couple weeks prior to the game. I thought this would cause Indy to “win one for the Gipper”, but apparently it caused them to forget how to play football (this is acceptable since football is just a game after all). Steelers win.

Week 3 they should have played New England, but the referees decided that wasn’t going to happen so they played Denver instead. A team that shouldn’t have been there. Steelers win.

Finally, the Superbowl happens. This game was so disappointing. There was 1 bad call for the Seahawks, and about 50 against them. The Seahawks played much better than the Steelers did, but the refs made so many crippling calls against them, there was no way they could reach the endzone. Every time Seattle got close, the refs screwed them. This should have been a close game. It should have been exciting. Instead, it was painful to watch.

Everybody wanted Pittsburg to win, and the refs made sure it happened. I think Bill Simmons said it best when he said “Allow me to become the first of 30 million football fans to make the ‘Can we give the Super Bowl MVP to the officials?’ joke.”

I love watching football. I love betting on games. I love looking up stats. I love my fantasy teams. I just plain love football, but when the refs start deciding the games instead of the players, then I start to get mad. This Superbowl was so frustrating, I felt like I was watching the Pats / Broncos game from 3 weeks ago.

This week: 0-1
Overall 2005 playoff record: 8-3

Sidenote: 9-2 would have been so much sweeter, but I’ll take 8-3. I just need to mention that 2 of my 3 losses were directly the result of horrible officiating. I should be 10-1 right now. Hey, this is my blog and I can cry if I want to.

Superbowl time!

2006-01-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

It’s hard not to brag about my Playoff picks this year. I mean, I’m actually developing a system that seems to be showing promise. Of course I know that I’m fooling myself because there is no way to guarantee gambling picks. I’m just getting lucky. However, I am 8-2 so far for the playoffs, so luck or no luck, I’m still winning money.

…and no, I will not be sharing this system with the world. Just a few picks here and there.

Superbowl XL

Seattle (+4) over Pittsburg
Everybody loves Pittsburg. Everybody! How else can a number 6 seed be favored over a number 1. This just seems crazy to me. With Seattle you get a better offense, better turnover ratio, and 4 extra points. With Pitt you get a slightly better defense, slightly more playoff experience, and slightly more momentum (beat 3 of the best teams in the NFL last 3 weeks). It’s a tough game to pick, but I’m going with the better team.

Rothlisburger scares me in this game. Last year he promised Bettis to get him a superbowl. Now they are in Bettis’ hometown in his last game ever. I have a feeling both of them are going to have monster games. But when you look at it, Seattle is the better team. How can you not pick them. They were the best team in the NFC and Pitt almost didn’t make the playoffs.

Last week: 2-0
Playoff Total: 8-2

Sidenote: Does Lofa Tatupu remind anyone of Teddy Bruschi? He’s just so much fun to watch. Just a little guy out-hustling everyone and making tackles and interceptions all over the field. This guy is going to be a superstar.

NFL disclaimer

2006-01-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

Just to keep beating on this dead horse, I wanted to share a segment of Bill Simmons' column from today because it's hilarious. This is the disclaimer that The Sports Guy thinks the NFL should run before each game.

"We'd like to apologize in advance for the horrible officiating. We swear, these games aren't fixed, it just looks that way. We're just too cheap to make officiating a real priority or hire anyone who's under 40 years old and might still have his reflexes and eyesight. Even instant replay isn't helping -- it just makes these guys look three times more incompetent when they're overruling calls that never should have been made in the first place. These guys are boobs. We're sorry. Anyway, enjoy the game!"
-- Sincerely, the NFL

Football madness

2006-01-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

Warning, super long post...

Ok, I swear I wrote this before The Sports Guy posted his column today. I actually wrote this yesterday, but felt bad about making my picks on a Tuesday so I was going to post it tomorrow instead. Anyway, I basically wrote the same thing that Bill Simmons did today, but I’m still posting it. So enjoy…

Seriously, with instant replay, how do refs still constantly get calls wrong. I loved it yesterday when the NFL admitted that the ref made the wrong call in the Pitt / Indy game this weekend. I didn’t see the game, but I’m just happy the NFL knows that their refs suck. However, I really wish they would have admitted to their mistake during the Pats game.

Ok, just to vent for a second. The Pats deserved to lose that game. They played terribly. It was painful to watch. But, the refs did screw them over. They messed up a pass interference call that led to a touchdown for Denver, which I’m fine with because mistakes happen, but when the whole “Champ Bailey interception and Ben Watson tackle” happened, I couldn’t believe it. Bailey obviously fumbled into the end zone. The replay clearly showed this. All you need is a middle school knowledge of geometry and you know that the ball went through the end zone.

Let me elaborate. Bailey was close to the 1 yard line and at least a yard from the sideline when he fumbled (clear in the replay). The Ball landed about 10 yards back and maybe 2 yards out on the sidelines. Draw a quick triangle and there is no possible way that it went out of bounds before it crossed the end-zone. No possible way!

That interception and undeserved touchdown buried the Pats. They probably wouldn’t have won, but you never know when the best playoff quarterback ever is on your team. If that call was rightfully reversed, I might be 7 – 1 with playoff picks right now. Since the refs suck (as the NFL has admitted), I’m only 6 – 2. Let’s see how I do this weekend.

Pittsburg (+3) over DENVER
Last week’s Denver/Pats game was decided by turnovers (and bad refereeing), and Denver has the edge again this week against the Steelers, which makes them a safe bet. But I hate the Broncos. I don’t want to root for them. Why don’t we look at the fact that the Steelers dominated the best team in the league last week, while the Broncos were handed a victory by the turnover happy Patriots. The Steelers have momentum. Then again, a sixth seed has never made the Superbowl before. I’m scared of this game.

SEATTLE (-4) over Carolina
Remember 2 years ago when the wildcard Panthers team went all the way to the Superbowl and barely lost to a far superior Pats team by 3 points? Well, this Panthers team is better than they were 2 years ago (at least on paper), and Seattle has a history of choking in big games. But I can’t pick two wildcard teams to make the Superbowl. What are the chances of that happening? Ok, how about we go with warm weather Carolina playing in cold weather Seattle. There’s my justification.

Last week: 2-2
Total Playoffs: 6-2

Side note: NFL MVP Shaun Alexander left in the beginning of last week’s Seattle/Washington game due to a concussion. So what happened? Seattle easily won the game. How is this guy the MVP? How valuable could he have been if they still easily win playoff games with out him? Sometimes I hate sports.

Division Week

2006-01-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

After pulling off a nice 4-0 record for round one of the playoffs, I’ve decided to continue posting my picks until the season is over. Picking 3 road teams in round one was a little risky, but it paid off (literally). This week I’m toning it down to 2 road teams.

Carolina (+3) over CHICAGO
I really wanted to pick the Bears…. I really, really, really wanted to pick them. I love rooting for them, but Carolina just blanked the 3rd best offense in the league last week. So how will the Bears (26th best offense) score any points against them? Sure they are playing at home (it’s cold in chicago) and they’ve got the number 1 defense, but I don’t think it’s enough. It should be close so I’m taking the points.

… yes, I realize that my Super-bowl prediction included the Bears and now I’m picking against them. The Bears could win this game by 1 or 2 and my picks are still safe.

INDY (-9) over Pittsburg
I actually think these teams match up pretty well, but Indy has something to prove. They are at home, all rested up and want to win this for Dungy so they will blow this one out of the water. Plus, they’ve already destroyed the Steelers once this year.

New England (+3) over DENVER
The Pats have allowed 13 points in their last 4 meaningful games (last 2 games of regular season don’t count because they already clinched and were resting starters). 13 points in 4 games! That’s 3.25 points per game! That means they only need 1 point to cover the spread. Ok, maybe Denver is better than the Bucs, Bills, Jets and Jags, but how can you not take Brady and the Pats when they’re getting 3 points?

SEATTLE (-9) over Washington
The Skin’s have been on a hot streak, but they played like crap last week against a Bucs team that probably shouldn’t have made the playoffs. Seattle has a better offense, better defense, better quarterback, better turnover ratio, and they are playing in Seattle. Washington doesn’t have a chance.

Week 1: 4-0-0

Who votes for this crap?

2006-01-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

I’m proposing that we change the name of the MVP award to something like “MIS (Most Impressive Stats) award” because right now MVP is a highly inaccurate name… as proven by the MLB and now the NFL.

Sure, Shawn Alexander had an amazing year and broke the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns, but he also played for a great team who probably would have done fairly well without him. Payton Manning (who finished second in the “MVP” voting), played worse this year than he did last and his team’s record improved! How could he be the most valuable when his team improves when he plays worse??? I don’t understand. I want to know who the idiots are that voted for him, then punch them in the face.

Without Tom Brady, the Patriots would not be in the playoffs. With all the injuries they had, the season should have been tanked by week 8. Brady put the Patriots on his shoulders and carried them until they got healthy. He is BY FAR the most valuable player on any team, but he finished 3rd in the voting.

I knew this was going to happen because the same thing happened in baseball last year. David Ortiz got robbed of the award because A-stupid-pretty-boy-rod had an amazing year of hitting homeruns when his team didn’t need them. Trust me, I watched more Yankee games last year than I care to admit. Aaron Small was much more valuable to the Yankees than Rodriguez was.

Brady, Tiki Barber, and Carson Palmer were all more valuable than Manning or Alexander this year. Ortiz and Vlad Guerrero were more valuable than A-rod last year. The award just doesn’t mean what it implies. So please, don’t call it the “Most Valuable Player Award” anymore because the most valuable players are not winning.

Am I pissed because two Boston players got screwed? Yup.

It's playoff time!

2006-01-04T13:08:00.000-05:00

So the NFL regular season comes to a close and my office pool is over. I finished with a 134-122 record against the spreads (52.34 %), which was good enough for sixth place (out of 23). Not my best showing in the world, but it’s better than randomly picking teams and I beat “The Sports Guy” Bill Simmons (125-123-6).

I need to brag about these things once in a while so I can feel good about my gambling habit. I’m still playing with house money (won from last year’s football season) so “habit” has not become a “problem”... yet.

Since we've ruled out the possibility that I may have a gambling problem, I might as well post my playoff picks for week 1.

NEW ENGLAND (-8) over Jacksonville
Florida team playing in New England??? I smell blow out. Right now there is a 32 degree difference between Jacksonville and Boston. Also, is there really any possible way that I would ever bet against Brady in the playoffs? I don't think so.

Washington (+2.5) over TAMPA BAY
Say what you want about Washington being too beat up, but are you willing to bet on Chris Simms in the playoffs? I didn't think so.

Carolina (+2.5) over NEW YORK GIANTS
Sure the Giants are 7-1 at home this year, but the playoffs are completely different. I have a feeling this will be a close one, but I think Carolina's defense will get the best of Manning in the end.

Pittsburg (-3) over CINCINNATI
This was the toughest pick for me. I really wanted to go with the Bangles on this one, but the Steelers have the playoff experience and a far superior defense. Cincinnati had a light schedule this year, which makes me think they are not as good as their record shows.

... there you go. Free money.

I am the champion

2005-12-28T12:32:00.000-05:00

So what’s been going on around here lately in Jersey? Ummmm, nothing too exciting. I just got done reading Jeff’s ANTARCTICA!!! blog and my life seems pretty dull and boring now. I must mention that I won my fantasy football league. Yes, I know you are all excited for me. I will now step off my pedestal.

Sooooo….. I’m getting pretty excited about baseball… only 3 more months till April! I’m interested to see how the Sox fill up the tremendous holes they’ve created this off-season. The only thing I ask is that they stay away from the Clemens auction. Please! This would ruin the whole season for me if they sign him. I don’t know how to handle rooting for someone that you hate. I think the two sides of my brain may duel to the death on this one.

Prediction: Superbowl XL Patriots over Bears (17-10)
…because the Colts and the Seahawks will choke… and defense wins games.

My band, “One More Round” (website pending), rocked out during my company’s “holiday party” a few weeks ago. Below was our setlist.

1. Just What I Needed – Cars
2. When I Come Around – Green Day
3. Free Fallin’ – Tom Petty
4. Wonderwall - Oasis
5. Jack & Diane – John Melloncamp
6. Funky Bitch – Son Seals
7. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
8. Christmas Blue – John Popper & Eric Clapton
9. Peaceful Easy Feeling – The Eagles
10. Mary Jane’s Last Dance – Tom Petty
11. City On Down – O.A.R.
12. Take the Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
13. I Will Survive - Cake

We are currently thinking of new songs to play so we are accepting suggestions. Let me know if anyone has any great ideas.

I wish the ice in NJ would make up its mind. Last week we had 5 inches and this week almost none. No more of this “its-cold-enough-for-water-to-freeze-but-there-is-not-enough-ice-to-stand-on” crap. I need my ice-fishing fix.

10 Rules for highway driving

2005-11-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

I love going home for the holiday's, but I hate the 7 hours of highway driving that I do to get there. However, I realized that if everybody followed a few simple rules, highway driving wouldn't be nearly as bad. So below are my 10 rules for driving on the highway.

Rule 1: When entering a highway, if you can't get up to 65mph while on the on-ramp, you should not be allowed to enter that highway. This should be part of the driving test. Seriously, when people merge on the highway going 40 mph, they are risking people's lives.

Rule 2: If you get passed on your right, you are in the wrong lane. No exceptions, you are driving too slow for your lane so move your ass.

Rule 3: If you are driving the same speed as someone on your right, you are in the wrong lane. Either speed up or slow down and get in the other lane. You are probably blocking the fast lane from a line of cars that has built up behind you. It's people like you who cause traffic.

Rule 4: Under no circumstances is the driver allowed to slow down to look at an accident on the side of the road. You are allowed to look, but you cannot slow down. Causing a traffic jam just so you can see some smoke coming out of a car is unacceptable. I hate rubberneckers. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in traffic for 20 minutes because some guy was changing a flat tire on the side of the road. What is it about this that everyone needs to slow down and look at?

random driving note: If talking on a cell phone is illegal, then eating/reading/playing with radio/CD changing/and talking to a passenger should be illegal too. I'm much more dangerous when I'm trying to eat my fries with one hand, drink my coke with the other, and steer with my knees than I am talking on a cell phone.

Rule 5: Putting your blinker on does not give you the right to change lanes whenever you feel like it (This rule does not apply to New Jersey because nobody here knows how to turn their blinkers on).

Rule 6: If you leave your blinker on, everybody on the road has the right to cut you off, high-beam you, or yell and throw things at you as they wish. This got me thinking. We need a universal sign for "hey, you left your blinker on". I'm thinking the middle finger works well.

Rule 7: If you know that you need to merge in the near future, do it as soon as possible. There is no one I hate more than the person who stays in the open lane as long as possible and merges at the last second. This person is the reason traffic moves so slow. And stop looking so surprised when nobody lets you in, you brought this on yourself.

Rule 8: If somebody lets you into their lane, you must give the obligatory "thank you wave". Otherwise you are a jerk.

Rule 9: If someone cuts you off (without an "apology wave"), you have everyright to tailgate them and cut them off at your earliest convenience.

Rule 10: All mistakes are forgiven if an "apology wave" has been clearly given. If you admit you are a moron, then everyone is satisfied and we can continue our long ass rides home.

I'll follow you into the dark

2005-11-09T08:46:00.000-05:00

I know, using a Death Cab quote to title a Red Sox post is a little weird, but stick with me...

I hate to see anybody from the 2004 Red Sox leave the system, but I know it is inevitable. So instead of getting all bent out of shape about it, I'm actually looking forward to the new Red Sox. As long as Ortiz, Nixon and Veritek stick around, I will be happy.

So what do we have to look forward to next year? Well, Damon is most likely gone, which leaves a big hole in Center field. Lucchino said yesterday that Manny is looking to be traded....again. Which would leave a big hole in the clean-up spot. At least we'll have a chance to pick up some talent with the Ramirez trade. Possibly Lastings Milledge from the Mets? I'd love to see the Sox grab some solid defense for the outfield and save some money to spend on quality pitching... I know, I know, I'm being completely unreasonable here.

Youk can take over third base responsibilities if Meuller decides to walk.... However, if Millar and Olerud are gone, then we'll need a new first-baseman. Maybe we can swipe Konerko from the White Sox. If Manny and Damon are gone, we'll have lots of extra money to spend.

With Theo gone, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit worried. I mean, who knows how crazy our next GM will be? I can see the headlines now:

"New GM signs undead Ricky Henderson with newly replaced plastic hip to take over Center Field responsibilities for the Red Sox."

...Ok, I going to pretend I didn't just write that.

I love movies

2005-11-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

I would say that in any given year, I can probably come up with an average of 12-15 movies that I loved. I mean, I'm pretty easy to please. I'm the guy who went to see Independence Day at the movie theater twice because I liked the special effects, thought Will Smith was funny, and actually enjoyed Bill Pullman's motivational Presidential Speech. I also kept waiting for his sidekick Barf to make an apperence in his flying Winnebago (If you got that joke, then you are awesome).

This year I can only remember 4 and that includes 2 stupid comedies and 2 brain dead action movies (not a lot of thinking involved here). Which means one of two things:
1) This year really sucked for movies
2) The best movies haven't come out yet
I know that if any movie thinks they might have a chance to win an Oscar, they are usually released late in the year so that the long-term-memory-imparied academy judges will remember them. So hopefully we are entering prime movie watching months.

This is always one of my favorite times of the year because I absolutely love movies. I'm probably most looking forward to Jarhead. The new war film from director Sam Mendes (American Beauty & Road to Perdition). I'm also excited about "Walk the Line". I've never been much of a Johnny Cash fan, but this movie just looks well made. And finally Zach Galifianakis is in another movie! The Comedians of Comedy, which is basically a documentary, will be absolutely hilarious. As well as Galafianakis, the film also features Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn. Should be very enjoyable.

Below are all the movies that I haven't seen yet this year, but am excited to see (I know some came out a while ago, but I'm not a machine. I can't see everything).

The Weather Man
Walk the Line
Jarhead
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Murderball
The Aristocrats
The Comedians of Comedy
The Ice Harvest
Rent

I better love at least 8 out of 9 of these, or else I won't make my quota for this year.

Nothing special

2005-11-01T14:09:00.000-05:00

So I’m sitting at work today with nothing to do and I decided to write a blog entry. Then I realize that I’ve got absolutely nothing to write about. Usually I try not to write about anything too personal and just concentrate on things like music, TV or gambling (BTW, I was right about the Bears/Lions game last weekend), but today I’m drawing a blank.

So why am I posting anything if I have nothing to write about? Because I’m bored, that’s why.

So if anybody wants to hear me ramble on about nothing, then please read on.

-I just started my last 3 paragraphs with the same word. I’m a smart one.

Here are some honorable mentions for TV characters who didn’t make it into my last post. Although, now that I think about it, Peter Griffin should probably have been my number 1 pick.

Peter Griffin “Family Guy” – Funniest TV character ever.
George O’Malley “Grey’s Anatomy” – Funny character, lives with 2 smokin' hot girls, I think he’s cool.
Seth & Sandy Cohen… and Summer (because she’s hot) “The OC”
Lex Luther “Smallville” – I got’s to get my Superman fix for the week.
Dr. Gregory House “House” – I find him entertaining, if not annoying sometimes.
Lorelai “Gilmore Girls” – Awesome character
Sandy “Seventh Heaven” - Super cool.

...Sorry, those last two were a joke. Just trying to see if anybody is paying attention. Seinfeld characters excluded from the list since it's no longer running new episodes. Curb Your Enthusiasm excluded because characters aren't really fictional.

Deep Woods Pumpkin Fest Ale was bottled on October 29th, 2005. Should be ready by Thanksgiving. Hooray for pumpkins.

I’m buying a new snowboard today (Burton Air 153). I can’t wait to test her out. I plan on landing a few 360’s this year and hitting the super-pipe as often as possible. Cough cough… I feel a few sick days coming on.

-I told you I wasn't going to talk about anything

Top 5 TV characters

2005-10-27T10:19:00.000-04:00

I was watching tv the other night and realized that there are only a handful of characters that I really enjoy watching on tv. Which got me thinking, who are my favorites? So I've put together my top five for your reading enjoyment.

5. Tony Soprano "The Sopranos": I know the Sopranos haven't been on all year, but at least they have been showing reruns. He's definitely the coolest character on TV. I love watching this guy in action and I can't wait for the new season to start. They actually filmed some scenes in Boonton which is just a few miles from my apartment.

4. Johnny Drama "Entourage": This guy always cracks me up... except the whole calf implant thing was kind of dumb. He would have been higher if it wasn't for that stupid segment.

3. Kate "Lost": Isn't Evangeline Lily so incredibly hot? Plus, isn't it amazing that this is her first speaking role as an actor? Talk about your big break.

On a more important topic: Who's going to die this week in Lost? Everyone is predicting Charlie or Michael so it probably won't be one of them. If the show has any balls, they will kill off a main character (Lock?). However, I'm taking the safe route and picking Michael... I am now officially a dork.

2. Turk & JD "Scrubs": There's just something about Zach Braff that makes me laugh, I haven't figured this out yet.

Sidenote: When omitting the first 3 numbers, my phone number spells I-dam-hot. I know it's the wrong "damn" and makes me sound like a first grader, but it's still cool. I should put it on my business cards.

1. Denny Crane & Alan Shore "Boston Legal": I can't get enough of these guys. William Shatner is hilarious and it's too bad that his talents were wasted on Star Trek for all those years. Also, James Spader is the perfect actor for this role. It's just fun watching them interacting with each other. Boston Legal is one of the most underrated shows on TV (IMO).

Random gambling complaint: Six weeks ago the Detroit Lions lost to the Chicago Bears 38-6. That's a 32 point difference! 32 points! So somebody please tell me why the Lions are 3.5 point favorites for this weeks game against the Bears. Please, I don't understand. This was only 6 weeks ago and the Lions have since lost all of their starting receivers and 2 of their top defensive men to injuries. I hate betting against the Lions, but there is no way in hell they should be favorites for this game.

Willlllmaaaaa!

2005-10-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

Two weeks after I posted concerns about this year's crazy weather, not only do we have the strongest hurricane ever recorded (Wilma), but we also have the possibility of a super storm in the northeast. What the hell is going on? What the hell is a super storm? They are actually predicting snow... it's the middle of October! We've never had this many named storms in a single year before and hurricane season isn't over yet. Can you say apocalypse? Just kidding. I'm not so worried about the weather, more so for the traffic. People in Jersey can't drive in the rain let alone snow and 50 mph winds.

Apparently Wilma is combining with tropical depression Alpha and a low pressure system coming across the US. Anyone ever see the movie "The Perfect Storm"??? Where's George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg when you need them.

Get your snowshoes on because this is going to be one hell of a winter.

I want to live where soul meets body

2005-10-23T18:53:00.000-04:00

I went to see Death Cab for Cutie at the Hammerstein Ballroom last Wednesday. They really put on a great show. They played songs from pretty much all their albums and they hit all my favorites: Title and Registration, I'll Follow You Into the Dark, The New Year, Soul Meets Body, Expo 86', etc... (no Tiny Vessals though).

Anyway, the highlight of the night was when Ben Gibbard put down his guitar and played a drum solo on "We Looked Like Giants". The guy is amazing. Not only does he handle singing, guitar soloing, and piano... but he's also an awesome drummer. So cool. I don't own all of their albums, but I probably will soon.

I thought spam was a meat product

2005-10-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

I think it's hilarious that I'm getting spam comments on my posts. I mean, nobody reads the crap that I write so it's not doing anything except annoy the hell out of me. So I've been forced to use the "word verification" for any comments on this site. Sorry if that inconveniences anybody, but spam sucks and I don't want to deal with it anymore.

Weatherman Ryan

2005-10-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm officially going to say this on the record. We are going to get more snow this year than I have ever seen in my lifetime. That is my official prediction.

I mean, look at all the natural disasters in the last year:

-The Tsunami caused by a 9.15 earthquake in the Indian Ocean, which is one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, possibly killed 275,000 people.
-Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1242 people and caused $200 billion in damages, not to mention destroying many peoples homes and lives.
-The recent earthquake in Pakistan, which has left 2.5 million people homeless and the death told is estimated to be between 25,000 and 40,000...

...and now it's been raining in New Jersey for two weeks straight. Ok, that's not as bad as the others I mentioned, but something is fishy. Blame global warming if you want, but something weird is going on. I don't remember the last time I saw this much rain. I can just feel 20 feet of snow is about to be dropped on us at any point.

Ok, I must admit that I'm a snowboarder so I'm actually looking forward to all the snow and days off from work. I just wanted to get my prediction out there. Hopefully the natural disasters can take a break for a while.

Short post of randomness

2005-10-07T14:32:00.000-04:00

I meant to post this a while ago, but I'm lazy and I forgot. Anyway, I wanted to retrack the negative statements I made about David Wells. I was giving him a hard time about giving up a bunch of runs to the Tigers. Turns out that he actually had the flu. Just the fact that he still got out there and pitched makes me have a lot more respect for him. So my apologies Wells.

So I just spent the last 4 days in LA. I got hastled not once, but twice by Scientologists while walking down the "Walk of Fame". I should have told them to hold on while I take my Zoloft. I think they would have left me alone after that.

What does it mean when I get upset that my TiVO didn't record the OC while I was in LA? Wait, don't answer that... I don't want to know.

Free Jeff Tweedy concerts coming up soon! Who's coming with me? It's free!

NOV-16 NEW YORK, NY TRIBECA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
NOV-17 NEW YORK, NY TRIBECA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Tickets for the TPAC Shows are free of charge as part of the Wall Street Rising Concert Series. Tickets can be picked up beginning on Monday, October 17 at 11 a.m. at the Downtown Information Center located at 25 Broad Street (corner of Exchange Place)

Football rants

2005-10-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

Get ready, here comes my obligatory NFL gambling post...

After I made my first 5 bets for this week, I looked back at the teams I had just put money on...

...Detroit, Miami, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Chicago...

A year ago, I would have punched myself in the face before making those bets.

So I'm looking at the New England/Atlanta game this week and everything tells me to bet on Atlanta. The Pats have a ton of injuries. They looked terrible last week. They are terrible against the run and Atlanta has the number 1 run offense in the NFL... So why did I just bet on the Pats? Because you can't bet against the Patriots. You just can't.

How are the Redskins undefeated? Isn't Mark Brunell 80 years old?... ok, he's only 35, but doesn't it seem like he should be in a nursing home by now?

It is absolutely amazing how easy the Colts' schedule is compared to the Patriots' schedule. I mean, come on. Who is in charge of this? A two-year old could have made up a more fair schedule.

Am I bitter because my picks this year have been about 100 times worse than last yes? Yes, yes I am.

Laziness, football, porn and charity

2005-09-23T23:41:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a while because I've been unusually lazy lately. Lots of stuff going on, but nothing exciting. However, I am extremely bored right now so I'm going to write something.

The NFL started up and I'm doing terrible with my picks (yup, I love to gamble on NFL games). Last year I finished with an amazing record of 72-48-4 against the spreads. So far this year I am 11-21-0.... Ouch!

I've deleted my two failed attempts at complimentary blogs to this site. I'm not motivated enough to keep up with one blog, let alone three.

I love how the porn industry is taking full advantage of online sites like Friendster and MySpace. They are some tricky people. Like when "Faye" sent me a message the other day saying:

"I was really bored and just surfing around Friendster when I came across your profile. You seem like a cool guy so write me back if you want to talk. You can also check out my webpage at www....."

Kudos! You guys are preying on all the lonely 20somethings who check their myspace accounts every day hoping some hot girl may have left them a message. Then they find out they have to pay 30 bucks a month to watch her webcame and see her play with her naughty friends. Thank you so much for that.

Not that I actually believe anyone reads anything that I write, but I need to say this anyway. Please donate some money to help the Katrina relief effort. I know most people don't need all the stuff they have and it wouldn't hurt to give a little to the people who need it most. I mean, can you imagine losing everything? I suggest donating to Oxfam America's Hurricane Katrina Fund. In the words of Peter Griffin.... "Come awwwwnnnnn, Come awwwwwnnnnn."

Stupid Yankees theories

2005-08-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, let me start by saying I hate the Yankees. That's probably common knowledge by now, but someone who reads this blog for the first time may get me confused with a frustrated Yankee fan... which I'm not.

Anyway, I think I've figured out the deal with the Yankees this year. I was sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium watching the 9th inning comeback, when it hit me... this team is actually pretty good, they are just all a bunch of jerks. Ok, maybe I knew that before today, but here are my theories to explain why they are jerks.

Theory 1: The Yankees players this year think they are so good, that they don't need to exert effort during the majority of the game. Once the end of the game nears, they finally decide they should try. Just look at the game today. They sucked it up all day against the Royals. THE ROYALS! Then all of a sudden they start hitting the ball in the 9th inning? How else is this explained? It was the Royals!

Theory 2: Before the game, all the players are doing their drug of choice (pot, coke, roids, etc...). Throughout the game they are all high and don't know where they are, running around the field like a bunch of drunken frat boys. By the 9th inning, their drugs have worn off enough to start playing baseball.

Theory 3: Steinbrenner has secretly run out of money, so he can only afford to pay his players for 2 innings of baseball per night. In order to keep the players mouths shut, he is helping them hide their steriod addictions.

Theory 4: They really are not that good... they just keep getting lucky as hell.

...yes, those are my theories... I'm thinking number 2 and 4 are the most feasible.

Have a nice day?

2005-08-26T11:35:00.000-04:00

Ok, I can admit that I've listened to my fair share of Bon Jovi over the years. Especially since I live in Jersey now and I think it's a requirement for you to gain residency here. But has anyone heard the new Jovi song? (If you live in Jersey, that question is hilarious since they play it on the radio non-stop). Well, it's quite possibly the worst song ever.

"Blaze of Glory", "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Livin on a Prayer" all rocked in their own way, but the new song "Have a Nice Day" is just stupid. I can't help it, anytime it comes on the radio, my roommate and I laugh at it.

"Have a nice day"... thanks Jon, you have a nice day too.

Funniest movie of the year!

2005-08-22T22:15:00.000-04:00

Stop what you are doing right now. I mean it, just get up walk out the door. Walk to the movie theater and buy a ticket for 40 Year Old Virgin. You won't regret it.

Ok, maybe I'm a little biased since I'm a big Steve Carrell fan (Daily Show, Bruce Almighty, Anchorman). I just think the guy is hilarious, but he isn't the only enjoyable actor in the movie. All 3 of his friends/coworkers were also incredibly funny. Go see this movie, it was better than Wedding Crashers!

...I loved Wedding Crashers too by the way.

The Clap for 5.95!

2005-08-21T18:15:00.000-04:00

I just had to post this link because I thought it was hilarious. Now for only about 6 dollars, you can get gonorrhea! You can also get flesh eating bacteria, athlete's foot, or even the common cold. Ok, maybe it's not funny until you actually look at it.

Giant Microbes

I mean, come on. How funny would it be to say "Hey look, I just got Syphilis" then throw your new stuffed syphilis at someone. Sounds like hours of fun to me.

Old man Wells

2005-08-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

God damnit Wells, how have you won 9 games this year? I just don't understand it. It makes no sense. The guy is like 100 years old! I feel like any day now his knees could explode (they are carrying a heavy load) or his arm could come flying off and hit someone in the stands.

You may be asking yourself, why am I complaining about a guy who's got a 9-5 record? Well, just take a look at yesterday's game. Well's gave up 5 runs in the first inning to the Tigers... THE TIGERS! Gonzalez, Remlinger and Bradford pitched the final 3 innings and didn't give up a run. How do 3 no-name relievers outpitch our ace... and when I say "ace" I actually mean "old guy who was paid way too much money to come in and take over for Pedro and an injured Schilling". Ok, at least the Tigers are not in last place, but that's only because this year's Royals may be the worst team ever assembled... seriously. Our number 1 pitcher cannot give up 5 runs in 1 inning to a team like Detroit.

The weird thing is, Boston almost won this game! How Wells keeps pulling off wins is a mystery to me.

We won the World Series last year. We completed the greatest comeback in sports history. We humilated the Yankees... ok, I feel much better now.

Top 5 scary moments (parts 3 through 5)

2005-08-14T11:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, just to get this finished up, I'm going to condense the top 3 into one post.

3. Driving in CA
When I drive, it's fine... when my coworker drives, I seriously feel like I'm going to die. I counted about 5 near death experiences while he drove around California for about a week. We were swerving across lanes and cutting people off while he was talking on his cell phone and reading his Blackberry. He's from Rhode Island, which I think should be added to my list of states that produce the worst drivers.

2. Car accident
It's scary to lose control of your car when you are going 70 mph on the highway. I don't even know how it happened. I must have hit something and my tire blew out. Luckily there were no cars around me and the spinning of my car slowed me down enough that it didn't hurt when I slammed into the snowbank. Thank God I didn't flip the car over, now that would have been scary.

1. Fly Fishing
I wonder if it is a coincidence that 3 of my 5 scary moments include water in Maine. Anyway, during a fishing trip to North Western Maine, my buddy Dylan and I were searching for prime fishing spots. Somehow we ended up climbing down this very steep hill and ended up staring at whitewater that would kill you if you fell in it. We then realized that we could not get back the way we came. The only way to get out was to boulder from rock to rock (Bouldering is rock climbing sideways).

Normally this wouldn't be too scary. I used to rock climb in college so I knew what I was doing. However, I had never rock climbed in waders before (waders are ridiculously large boots). Also, we didn't know how sturdy the rocks were. And most importantly, if we slipped and fell, we would have died. By far, this was the scariest moment in my life.

Honestly, it was easy rock climbing, but knowing that one mistake meant death was enough for me to never do that again.

Now that I think about it, I think my #3 should really be switched with my #5. Oh well, nobody's perfect. Stay tuned for some awesome rafting pictures that I'll be posting on here soon.

Top 5 scary moments (part 2 of 5)

2005-08-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

4. Frostbite scare in Northern Maine

My buddy Dylan and I used to take weekend fishing trips to north central Maine at some point during the summer (ok, we only did it twice). Anyway, this trip happened to be very early in the summer (or late, i never remember), needless to say the river waters were still super cold.

So of course I did not bring proper equipment. I spent hours in the water with a pair of summer waders on, which also had a hole in one leg. After a while, I could no longer feel my foot. I decided it was about time to get out, but I still had to walk a ways through the river to get back to camp.

By the time I got my waders off, my foot was completely white with no feeling. Slowly, my foot started to turn deep purple. This is when I really got scared. I thought my foot was turning black. We were in the middle of the woods and no where near a hospital.

After a consideral amount of pain, my foot eventually turned red then back to normal color. I really thought I was going to lose a foot there for a while. Scary stuff.

...and of course we continued the fishing trip afterwards... hopefully these stories will get better further down the list. I imagined them much more interesting than they really are.

Top 5 scary moments

2005-08-07T18:56:00.000-04:00

I just had a crazy weekend of whitewater rafting in Maine, which prompted me to come up with this list. These are the 5 scariest moments of my adult life. To be considered, these events must have happened to me after my 18th birthday (i don't have a good enough memory to remember stuff before then). Since I don't like writing long posts, I'm splitting this into 5 different posts starting number 5, which just so happens to be the most recent.

5. Almost drowning in the Kennebec River

Ever been rafting on the Kennebec River in Maine? Well, in case you haven't, it's a class 4+ river, which can be pretty intense in places. At a certain point, it's safe to jump off the raft and float through a couple of class 2 rapids with just your lifejacket to keep you up.

Well, I did this. Little did I know I float at lightning speed. I somehow got caught in the current and went about 100 yards ahead of my raft. Let me tell you, a class 2 wave looks huge when you are about to get hit in the face with it. It's fun for a while, but after about 30 minutes of this I started having trouble breathing and my raft was getting further and further away from me. I don't think I've ever swallowed so much water in my life. I kept running into rocks and getting pulled under the water by strong currents... and yes, I was fearing for my life. Some of those rocks can do some real damage and I didn't know if my raft was ever going to catch up to me.

Anyway, I eventually swam out of the current and my raft caught up to me and pulled me in. Not a real climatic story, but I definitely had visions of broken bones and hospital visits. Not cool since the nearest hospital was probably 4 hours away. Luckily I walked away with just a few scrapes, bruises and sore swimming muscles.

...of course I went rafting again the next day... this time I stayed in the boat.

Baseball news

2005-08-01T13:25:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to see that Manny is remaining on the Sox... at least until the end of the year. I don't care that the Sox are stuck with his monsterous contract, Manny is such a lovable character I hope he stays for the full 8 years. He's one of those players you just love to watch every time he gets up to the plate.

So in other hardball news... Rafael Palmeiro is the latest steriod user. I love how these guys claim that they didn't know they were using them. Are they really that dumb? Do they think we are that dumb? Come on now.

So I'm wondering, is Palmeiro guilty of perjury? I mean, he said under oath that he had never used steriods before? Shouldn't he be getting jail time for this? Maybe he'll claim he just started this year... I doubt he would pass a lie detector test on that one.

Ok, I shouldn't be judging these people, but steriod use is tainting my favorite sport. These guys should be paying extra attention to the substances they are using. Maybe Palmeiro didn't know what he was using... but he should have. No Hall of Fame for you!!!

The indecisives

2005-07-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

My new band is still looking for a name. It doesn't help that the 4 of us are probably the most indecisive people in the world. Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. The only names we've come up with so far are:

9:00 Special
The Wingmen
Four Gennessee

As you can tell, we haven't come up with much... and one of the names is modelled after a chicken finger/pabst special at Blacky's. So we need lots of help.

Just so I can keep track of the songs I do at open mic, here is the set I played last Wednesday. I am quickly running out of songs to play.

Learning to Fly - Petty
California Stars - Guthrie, Tweedy and Bennett
Farmhouse - Phish
Elderly Woman behind the Counter in a Small Town - Pearl Jam
What I Got - Sublime

Holy $#*%!!!

2005-07-24T19:04:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my new reader restless angel, I realized that tomorrow is my 1-year anniversary of this blog! Never thought I would have kept it up this long. It's just cool to know that I could write anything I want and eventually somebody might one day possibly think about maybe reading part of it.

So I jumped out of a plane yesterday. Yup, my first tandum skydive. We went up to 13,500 ft and fell back towards the Earth with nothing but a parachute to keep me alive. Definitely the craziest thing I've ever done. I was a little scared when I was about 100 feet above the ground and my skydive instructor (who I'm pretty sure was Jason Veritek in disguise) yelled out "Oh shit!". Those are probably the last 2 words you want to hear when you are falling from the sky. But as you can tell, I'm still alive.

Anyway, my blog's birthday is tomorrow and I've passed 1500 visits (although probably half of those are just me making sure I didn't post something stupid while I was drunk the night before). So cheers to year 1. Let's see if I can keep it up another year.

What's going on?

2005-07-18T21:38:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to apologize for taking so long between posts. However, I do wish that I posted more often. I've been doing way too much stuff around here to keep up with this blog. But I'll keep trucking on and posting as often as I can. Here's what's been going on.

The Brew Crew record: 1-6 (hey, it's our first year ok?)

Best deal in town: Blacky's Thursday night... buy an order of chicken fingers and drink mugs of Pabst for 75 cents the rest of the night!

Been playing lots of open mic nights. Here are the set lists that I've done so far:
Night 1
Hide Your Love Away - Beatles
Passenger Side - Wilco
Wonderwall - Oasis
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond... this one brought the house down
Night 2
Rambling Man - Allman Brothers
Run - Snow Patrol
Rocky Raccoon - Beatles
Crazy Game of Poker - O.A.R.
Night 3
I've Just Seen a Face - Beatles
Me and Julio - Paul Simon
Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews
The General - Dispatch
Rodeo Clowns - G. Love & Special Sauce

Been going to the Boston area a lot recently. Hit up Boston Brew Works and ordered the Victory Ale and it tasted sweeeeeeeet.

Speaking of brewing beer... I'll be starting my next batch soon. All I can tell you is that I'm calling it "The Woodsman" (no association with the movie). It's going to be awesome.

I've kind of been hooked on the "myspace" website. People there are so friendly. I get random people requesting to be my "friend" all the time. It's pretty cool.

Ok, this post is already too long so time to cut it off. Maybe I'll get some more updates up here soon. Or actually get a chance to write something entertaining... haven't done that in a while.

TV time!

2005-06-13T21:23:00.000-04:00

I've been watching a lot of Smallville reruns lately (since the rest of the crap on TV right now sucks major ass...) ahem, excuse me... sorry about that. Anyway, I have one major complaint about the show...

...why doesn't Clark Kent wear glasses? This is Superman's only disguise. Is there anyway the people of Smallville would not recognise him? Seriously, he grows up not wearing glasses, and his best friend Lex Luthor doesn't recognise him when he's wearing his blue and red jumpsuit? Come on now.

That being said, I'm still addicted to the show. The show may have the worst actor in televistion (I won't say who, but it's one of Clark's friends... and it's not a girl), but the characters Lex and Clark are played perfectly. The premises may be a bit of a stretch, but it still pulls them off. Just an overall entertaining program... however, I was majorly confused by the final episode. Born again? What was that all about?

By the way, this season of Family Guy is absolutely hilarious. I don't know why they ever thought taking that show off the air was a good idea. Well, ok I do know why, but they shouldn't have done it anyway. Ratings or no ratings, it's the best show on TV.

Thank you VH1

2005-06-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

I'm glad VH1 decided to bring back the show "Storytellers". First guest: Coldplay. I just watched it on my TiVo (which cut off the ending so make sure you set to record for a couple extra minutes) and it was awesome. Each of the band members (there are 4) took turns trying to tell a story, and each one failed miserably.

This didn't matter though. The show still rocked. They even played some stuff off their new album, "X&Y". Speaking of their new album (which Rolling Stone only gave 3 stars), just like their other 2, it needs time to mature. The first time you hear it, it seems like nothing great. Then you hear it again and realize some of the songs are really good. Pay attention to "Fix You" because it's one of their best. I'm sure after listening to it a few more times, it will be playing non-stop in my cubical.

Coldplay albums listed most best to least best (because they are all good).
1. Rush of Blood to the Head (one of my all time favorites)
2. Parachutes (a great album, turned me on to Coldplay)
3. X&Y (this could easily move up in a few days)
4. Live 2003 (I just never warmed up to live albums)

Just a Ryan update

2005-06-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

I just realized that awful picture of me in San Diego has been sitting on my blog for way too long. I guess that means I need to write some more posts. You may ask yourself why would I post an awful picture of myself on my blog. Well, there is no answer to that question. Here are some updates on what's going on at the lake.

This place is awesome. I took the day off from work today, stole my roommates kayak and paddled around the lake for a while. Then found a cool trail through the woods to run on, then took a swim, then floated around the lake on a tube the rest of the day. I feel like I'm living at a campground or something.

I'm going back to California for 1 day, then flying back. Such a pointless trip, and I miss the first ever game of the Brew Crew (my new softball team). Oh well, I'm not letting myself complain about free trips to CA.

Scrubs season is over, Lost season is over, The OC season is over, The Contender is over. TV just isn't the same. The only thing worth watching is Baseball and Family Guy. However, I did see Seth Cohen play a bad guy on a rerun of Smallville tonight (I know his name isn't really Seth Cohen). It was weird seeing him in a different role. Ok, I think I'm boardering the line again. I guess that's it for tonight.

May Madness

2005-06-01T07:27:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to lie, I've been looking forward to June for quite some time. May was just a little too hectic for me. I also wasn't a fan of the 80% chance of rain EVERY day. Anyway, now that it's over, here are the top 6 lessons I learned over the last 31 days:

1. Southern New Mexico sucks. There is absolutely nothing there, and apparently they get snow in the winter time. This state boarders Arizona, Texas and Mexico... and it snows there?!? What kind of state is this?

2. Going to San Diego by yourself isn't quite as cool as it sounds. Especially when you spend all day cooped up in a room with a handful of 40 year olds learning about crap. That's right, crap. At least I got to the zoo... so I could watch lots of animals sleep.

3. I hate moving. Normal people figure this out early on, but for some reason it always slips my mind. I had an entire month to move my stuff to my new apartment, but being the genius that I am, I waited till the last minute. There's nothing quite like a frantic last minute moving frenzy (am I allowed to use the words "frantic" and "frenzy" in the same sentence?).

4. Wine Festivals rock. Especially when you go with about 10 of your buddies and you took a cab so no one has to drive. Truly one of the most fun events of my year so far. I can't wait for the beer festival in June!

5. I love open mic nights. I've been meaning to play at one of these for a while and finally had the balls to get on stage last week. Lots of fun. I had the whole crowd singing "Sweet Caroline" by the end of the night.

...yes, I can play some Neil Diamond. I also know Britney Spears' "Hit me baby one more time". Just happy to get that off my chest, let's continue...

6. I love softball... but starting your own team is a lot of work. Trying to get 16 people to come to a decision on anything is basically impossible. I've got a feeling my team is going to resemble the Cleveland Indians from the movie Major League... minus the winning streak at the end. Our team name is the "Brew Crew", does that tell you anything about us?

... no, none of us are Milwaukee Brewers fans.

Athlete

2005-05-25T10:34:00.000-04:00

The newest addition to my Kick-ass Bands column, Athlete. These guys opened for Snow Patrol at the Roseland Ballroom last week. They really put on a great show and got me to buy their newest album right away... and I can't stop listening to it. Songs like "Wires", "24 hours", "Modern Mafia" and "Yesterday Threw Everything At Me" just blow my mind. These guys are really good. I'll be buying their first album soon.

I've been waiting for the Radiohead/Coldplay clone bands to start becoming popular and I think it's now starting to begin. This group includes bands like Keane, Snow Patrol, and now Athlete, all which rock. They don't sound exactly like Radiohead or Coldplay, but I would group them all in the same style. Sure beats the teen girl pop craze we had just a few years ago.

...and by the way, Snow Patrol was a great concert. Even though it was the shortest show ever (just over an hour), they still sounded great.

Back in time

2005-05-25T09:29:00.000-04:00

During my time off, I actually kept writing a little bit. Here is one piece that I wrote during my trip to California a few weeks ago:

Monday, May 2, 2005

So here I am eating Blackened fish tacos at Wahoo's... and no that's not a euphemism. I'm actually in beautiful San Diego. At times I think I hate my job. Then there are times like this. Times when I get to leave the hell hole that some people refer to as "New Jersey" and spend a week in sunny So Cal at the government's expense (yes, the government's expense, yes I'm getting paid to be here, yes I know I'm a lucky bastard). I mean, is the weather ever bad here? Ever? I mean, I can't walk outside without sunglasses on. Literally, I think I would go blind if I tried to open my eyes outside... I'm trying to tell you that it's really sunny here.

As far as the fish tacos go, I've only got one word... weird. I suggest the quesadillas, they are amazing. I don't think I can ever eat Taco Bell again... ok, that's a blatant lie.

Here I am taking a picture of myself in San Diego. Don't you wish you were there?

I'm back... for a while

2005-05-23T14:34:00.000-04:00

This list should explain why I haven't been writing lately. I'm pretty sure this is going to make me sound like a dork, but I then I remembered that I am a dork... so here goes.

1. I started my own softball team, so I'm in charge of setting practices, line-ups, and making all team related decisions. It's amazing how indecisive a group of 16 people can be.

2. I started my own band. Yes, you read that correctly. I somehow got the responsibility of singing lead vocals and playing lead guitar. No making jokes until you hear how much ass we kick.

3. I'm playing my first open mic on Wednesday... by myself. I've played in front of crowds before, but never by myself. It should be an interesting experience... did I mention I'm a nervous wreck?

4. I'm moving into a new apartment...on a lake... Oh yeah, that's right.

5. I'm studying for a mid-term for my grad class. My first online class, which basically the teacher says "here's the material, now go teach yourself". It's loads of fun.

6. I've been travelling like crazy. I've been to Jamaica, California, and New Mexico all within the last month. I may be headed back to California soon too.

7. My boss keeps piling on the work. I swear if he gives me one more assignment before I finish my other work, I think my head will explode.

My hiatus

2005-04-13T09:46:00.000-04:00

When writing this blog started to become more of a chore than an enjoyable experience, I decided that I need some time off. Since I am currently moving (don't worry I'm staying in New Jersey), working extended hours, and going to both Jamaica & California within the next 3 weeks, I'm going to be super busy anyway (wow, I never realized how much I hate the word "super" before).

I will definitely be posting on here again because it's been a lot of fun and I like making up stupid comments about random things. I would guess that it will be about a month until I write again.

I know I've only posted a couple of times over the last month, so you won't be missing much anyway. I'm sure after a month of not posting, I'll have plenty of stuff to talk about and will be back to posting multiple times per week.

Until then, I'm out.

Almost Famous

2005-04-04T10:58:00.000-04:00

With the recent deaths of Terri Schiavo and the Pope, nobody is talking about Mitch Hedberg.

Hedberg was absolutely hilarious. The people at the Howard Stern Show called him the next Seinfeld. They play his clips on XM 150 all the time and he’s definitely one of the more enjoyable stand-up acts I’ve ever heard. He says stuff like:

“My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana, I said "No, but I want a regular banana later, so, Yeah."

“My roommate says, "I'm going to take a shower and shave, does anyone need to use the bathroom?" It's like some weird quiz where he reveals the answer first.”

“I once saw a forklift lift a crate of forks. And it was way too literal for me.”

“An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs.”

And his act just goes on and on, each one-liner more random than the next.

Hedberg died last Wednesday due to an apparent heart condition (he was also a known drug user).

Wasted Sunday

2005-04-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I walked outside to satisfy my craving for a Tendercrisp Bacon Chedder Ranch sandwich from BK. As I walked to my car it started to hail. I got in my car and it didn’t start… the engine didn’t even turn over. I went back to my house and the hail stopped. So I then walked back outside to jump my car and it started to snow. The snow quickly turned to rain, which then in turn flooded my basement.

Can you see how this day is going? Throw in the loss of an hour due to Daylight Savings Time (one of my least favorite days of the year), and you’ve got yourself a bad day.

The fact that it was opening day was my only savior. Too bad the Red Sox got crushed.

Sweet… what an awesome day.

Important news

2005-03-31T07:43:00.000-05:00

I think this may be the longest I've gone without posting since I started this blog. My apologies, but truth be told I've actually been really busy. Yes, it's true. You're tax dollars are getting put to work.

Anyway, I had lots of stuff I wanted to write about, but then I forgot most of it. So lets concentrate on the most important...

Opening day is 3 days away!

Ok, got that out of the way. Some other good news: The Sox finally traded Kim! They brought in Charles Johnson and a minor league pitcher. I've been a CJ fan for a while. I actually got to see him in action, hitting homeruns when he played for the AA Sea Dogs. It's too bad he's going to be the second back-up catcher and will probably never play.

More Baseball: I'm going to see the Yanks/Orioles matchup on April 9th. Look for me in the left field bleachers, I should be in the second row. I'm predicting I'll come home with at least one Sosa homerun ball.

...am I excited for baseball to begin???

TV News: Anyone else excited that NBC started showing reruns of Scrubs before the new ones every week? I just started watching this season so it's like I get to see two brand new episodes in a row (don't say it, I already know I have no life). Also, watch the Contender on NBC. It's like watching a mini-rocky-movie every week. Much better than I expected.

Other news: From the period of April 5th to May 7th (33 days), I will be going to Santa Barbara (4 days), Jamaica (7 days), and San Diego (6 days). Not a bad month, especially since the government is picking up the tab for 2 of the trips.

That's all I've got for now. Hopefully I be able to post a little more often than once every 3 weeks.

St. Patrick's Madness!

2005-03-17T07:17:00.000-05:00

It's my new favorite holiday. The first day of the NCAA tournament and St. Patrick's Day combined to make one super hybrid holiday. Throw in the fact that I don't have to work tomorrow and it's like Christmas all over again.

Ok, maybe I won't be getting any presents, but I could be getting something even better... the chance to win lots of money. To celebrate this awesome holiday, I put down a bunch of parlays and even took some of Artie Lang's advice on picks (Check out Free money! on Howard Stern's website).

I'll post my picks on Ryno's Picks sometime before the games begin. Although I wouldn't suggest listening to me since my history of picking games during this tournament is not very consistant. Anyway, enjoy the new St. Patrick's Madness Day and fill out a bracket!

The WC

2005-03-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

New Jersians love White Castle.

A new one has just been built about 5 minutes from my house and I have yet to drive by without seeing a line coming out of the parking lot. The place is always packed... always. I just don't understand. Within walking distance from the WC is a McDonalds, a superior KFC, a far superior Quizno's, and it's only a 2 minute drive to Wendy's, BK and Panera... but these places are empty. What's the deal with WC?

Maybe the mini-pseudo-burgers make people feel like giants when they eat them (and I say "pseudo" burgers because I have a hard time believing that those things are made out of 100% cow). I've only been to White Castle once, so maybe I have yet to grasp the WC phenomenom. I must admit that the "food" did taste pretty good. However, eating 6 burger-like substances and spending the rest of the night in the bathroom is not my idea of an ideal dinner experience.

Sorry, that might have been a little too graphic, but it needed to be said.

Even Stev/phen

2005-03-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Does anybody remember this bit on the Daily show? I think I may have seen it twice, but I still remember it as being one of the most hilarious bits I've ever seen. It featured the two funniest correspondent to work for the Daily Show, Steve Carell (known for his amazing performance as Brick Tamland from the movie Anchorman) and Stephen Colbert who is still on the Daily Show.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I recently discovered a couple of clips from on the Daily Show Videos: Stephen Colbert website.

You may have to do a little searching through the clips, but in there you can find:
the Islam vs Christainity debate
Iraqi war debate(with Ed Helms instead of S. Carell)
and the Middle East crisis debate

Are they absolutely hilarious? No. Yes. No. YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!

I believe

2005-03-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

I believe last year's ALCS was the greatest playoff series in the
history of all sports.

I believe Lindsay on American Idol should be voted to stay every week
no matter how bad she is because she is that hot.

I believe NASCAR is not a sport.

I believe Bush doesn't have a clue.

I believe Bonds, Sheffield, and Giambi knew they were using steriods.

I believe baseball players who use steroids should be banned from
baseball... because it's cheating!

I believe Zach Galifianakis needs to make more movies.

I believe Vin Diesel needs to make less movies.

I believe Spongebob is not gay.

I believe Jersey drivers are genetically predisposed to be the worst drivers in the world.

I believe Jersey makes good bagels and good pizza (I had to say something nice about NJ).

I believe that without the proper will-power, PS2 will suck the life out of you (as it is currenly doing to me).

I believe "Fantasy Baseball Manager" should be in my job description.

I believe Instant Messenger sounds should be turned off at all times.

I believe Shaq truly hates Kobe.

I believe bathroom etiquette should be a mandatory class for all government employees.

I believe the Red Sox can do it again.

to be continued...

Regulators

2005-03-03T15:56:00.000-05:00

When was the last time you heard the song "Regulators" by Warren G? I'll give you some time to think it over...

..
..
..

Ok.

A friend of mine made an amazing discovery while listening to this song a couple of weeks ago. If you can, try to listen to this song again. Listen closely to the intro dialog. While you are listening, think the name George W. Bush. Are you laughing yet? Yeah, I thought it was awesome too. Just wanted to share that with the world. I had no idea that Dubya was a gansta.

Quick Note

2005-02-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

Anybody watch ESPN Motion? You can download the Software for free from ESPN.com. The reason I'm mentioning this is because today there was a clip from a meeting between Tracy McGrady and Roger Clemens.

First, McGrady schools Clemens in a quick game of PIG, which is to be expected. Then to even things out, McGrady steps in the batting cage for 3 swings against the Rocket. Guess what, McGrady shows Clemens up. He hits 2 out of the 3 pitches. It was awesome.

Just wanted to share that with the world because Clemens is pure evil... and yes, at one time I waited in line to shake his hand and get his autograph... but that was before he started worshipping the devil.

The Streetball Champs

2005-02-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

Get ready for a super boring post, but I need a place to vent and this is it. You guessed it, I'm going to talk about fantasy basketball.

It really is amazing. Previously I mentioned that every week someone from my team gets injured. That statement is still holding true with Shaq going down last night. My team would be amazing if I could just keep people off the Injured Reserve list. Here's my list of injuries this year.

Shaq - Strained knee
Kobe - Sprained ankle
Al Harrington - Tendinitis in knee
Steve Nash - Some sort of back problem
Ben Wallace - Suspended for instigating the fight (yes, the fight)
Jim Jackson - Refused to play because he didn't like being traded. Now he's got a sprained ankle
James Posey - Strained right Achilles
Kerry Kittles - Degenerative disc in lower back
Richard Jefferson - Torn ligaments in wrist (out for season)
Charlie Ward - Knee contusion? Is this guy ever not injured?
Vlade Divac - Being way too old

Ok, Vlade Divac was never on my team, but the rest are true. I had to drop the last 4 players I listed because I couldn't take it anymore. Ward was on my team last year and I think he played 10 games total all season.

...and if you're wondering, I drafted Kobe first, then Shaq, then Nash, then Wallace, then Jefferson... and yes each of my first 5 draft picks have been on the bench at some point throughout the season.

Anyway, even with all my injuries (I say that like they really happened to me) I'm still managing a hold on 3rd place in our league. If Shaq can suck it up and play, then I think I can make a late season run for the title. I'm sure you guys can't wait to find out so I'll keep you posted.

...and if you're wondering, my team name is the Streelball Champs.

TV time

2005-02-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

I just realized last night that since I began working, my time spent watching TV has skyrocketed. I started thinking about this and figured it's all because my brain needs more time to shut down. After working 9 hours throughout the day (yes, I work 9 hour days), I need to be able to stop my brain from retaining any more useful information. Zoning out in front of the TV for a couple of hours provides me with exactly what I need.

A great example of this is "The O.C." This is a show that I never would have imagined myself watching. However, it has an uncanny knack for allowing it's viewers to stop thinking completely. The show consists of lots of beautiful people (mostly in high school), fighting and making out with each other... and that's it. That's all you need to know to enjoy the show. I could probably write a lot more, but if I write anything else about "The O.C." I may need to check to make sure I'm not turning into a woman.

Let's change shows to "Lost". Was anybody else confused by last week's episode? Twice in the same episode they mentioned the phrase "and that's why the Red Sox will never win a championship."

...ah hem, cough, weeze, cough cough, a hem....deep breath.... ok.

Was this show really filmed that long ago? Didn't they have plenty of time to come up with a new line and re-shoot? Even if the Sox didn't win last year, the line still wouldn't have worked in the show. It just seemed forced and out of place. It's like the guy who wrote the show was a Yankee fan who just wanted to get in a cheap shot at Sox fans.

Ok, I'm probably thinking about this too much. I should probably get back to work. Although it is Friday and there is nobody here in my office... and I just spent an hour drafting an email to my boss requesting 2 weeks off within the next 2 months. I think I'll go check out what's new on Boreme.com.

More ramblings

2005-02-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

The Sports Guy’s Ramblings yesterday have inspired me to do another round of random thoughts. Here we go.

Is it weird that I'm excited about Zooey Deschanel playing Trillian in the upcoming "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" movie that's coming out in May? Yeah, I thought so too.

I was watching “I Love the 90’s: Part 2” the other day and found out that the haircut I’ve had the last 15 years is called “The Caesar” and apparently it’s not cool anymore.

Every week one of the players on my fantasy basketball team gets hurt. It’s like clockwork. I'm not kidding, every single week.

One of the good things about XM radio is that I’m always hearing new music. Check out The Pushstars when you get a chance. They’ve got a sort of Counting Crows type sound. Very good.

Another thing about XM radio is that anytime I want to hear Usher, Mario, Lindsay Lohan, Jojo, Kelly Clarkson, J-Lo, Jesse McCartney, or Ryan Cabrera then I just change to channel 20 and one of them will be on. Yes, I realize it is very sad that I can ramble off those names off the top of my head.

Star Wars 3…. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy…. War of the Worlds…. Harry Potter 4…. Indiana Jones 4…. Batman 4... Oh, I'm sorry, I was just getting excited again.

I’m setting the over/under for spam emails in my personal inbox to 175 on any given day.

My favorite quote of the week is Trot Nixon talking about A-sob:

“Like Rodriguez says, [he’s] running stairs at six in the morning while I’m sleeping and taking my kids to school… I’m like, well, I’m not a deadbeat dad, Alex… he’s got kids now too, so I guess he’ll have his limo driver take her to school.”

This is why I love the Red Sox.

Congrats to Wilco and the Pats!

2005-02-14T13:21:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Wilco for winning the Grammy last night for Best Alternative Rock Album. It's so nice to see them recognised for the great work that they do. Have I mentioned that I'm a Wilco fan yet???

Also a huge congrats to the Patriots for winning the Super Bowl last weekend. If you read my gambling blog, you may have noticed that I didn't post a pick for the Super Bowl. That's because obviously I would have picked the Pats (who didn't cover by the way, so I picked wrongly) and I didn't want to give them any of my bad luck. It all worked out in the end because we can now offically call the Patriots a dynasty team. I already miss watching football. I watched the Pro Bowl (which I won 10 bucks by betting on the AFC), but it's not quite the same. The players don't care nearly as much (except for a select few), which makes it a lot less exciting. Also, Brady looked like he was about to pass out at any second, which was a little scary.

I am now turning most of my attention to the NCAA. I'll begin posting some of my favorite picks on Ryno's Picks. March Madness will be here soon!

I recently finished my first Homebrew which I'm calling Ryan's Nor'easter Ale. It turned out pretty good, but I think it may be a little low on alcohol content (probably 3 or 4%). I'm currently working on a Stout that as of now, I am calling Ryan's Snowstorm Stout. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh, and by the way... I hate Valentine's day.

Upcoming shows

2005-02-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

I may not be going to see Wilco this year, but I am finally going to see Oasis. I've been an Oasis fan since 94' (or 95' but who can remember that long ago, honestly) and I've never gotten the chance to see them live. Friday, my buddies and I bought tickets to their show with Jet at Madison Square Garden. It's going to be awesome.

I also bought 27 tickets to Yankees games this coming season. You're probably wondering what is wrong with me, but trust me, there is nothing better than going to Yankee games and watching the crowd when the Yankees get crushed. I was at the 22-0 Indians/Yanks game last season and it was one of my highlights of the year. We won't talk about how much it costs to buy 27 Yankee tickets... if I say the Y-word one more time I give you permission to shoot me.

I may be going to the upcoming Nets/Heat game if I can convince any of my friends to go. Since everybody around here hates basketball, I may be out of luck.

I went to see a band called Spankin' the Freak on Friday night. Not bad for only 5 dollar admission. Also, we were the only people there, so we basically got our own personal show. During their rendition of "Fight For Your Right to Party", the lead singer went around our table and had us sing parts of the song. It was much fun. The band came over to us after the show and thanked us for coming and cheering for them.

Is there a possibility that I will be playing at Max's Stationhouse in the near future? Yes, yes there is. Tickets will be $20.... Just kidding, you'll get in for free... if it ever happens.

Wedding bets

2005-02-09T07:44:00.000-05:00

I attended a wedding of a good friend of mine in Long Island last weekend. Great times all around. I started thinking about how there are tons of fun things to bet on at a wedding. Here are some of the things that I would have put money on this weekend.

Best Speech:
If the best man is also the brother of the groom, the he's probably the best bet here.

First guy to throw up:
I'm picking the guy who's chugging Johnny Walker doubles like it's his job. I should mention we had the best waiter in the history of waiters. I never got more than half way through my beer without the waiter bringing me another one. Bad news for the guy downing the whisky.

Number of times my date will dance with someone other than myself:
I would have set the over/under at about 4. Anybody picking over would have cleaned house. In all fairness she was the sister of the groom.

Number of times I would trip over the Bride's dress while on the dance floor:
You would think this would be a relatively low number. Maybe it would happen once, but you would have been way off. I had a whooping 3 times with a close call that could have been 4... and yes, I was drunk.

Number of Irish Jigs I would do:
If I were betting, then obviously I would have said 0, however the band was actually a 12-piece Irish band so I would have changed my bet to.... umm, still 0. I would have lost this one since I believe I was out there at least twice jumping on one leg and swinging my arms back and forth. Definitely a dance that becomes more enjoyable the more you drink. I'm just praying the video camera didn't catch any of it.

Number of times the groom's Mom would pull me into the dance circle:
Oh God, did that really happen? Oh God.

What time would I start to black out:
I didn't black out at all... ummm, yeah I'll stick to that story.

Superbowl Schedule

2005-02-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been slacking off a lot and not posting very much. I've been way too busy spending tax-payer money and other miscellanious government activities that I'm not at liberty to talk about. Haha, that actually sounds like I do something important.

Anyway...

Superbowl XXXIX is coming up this weekend. I can't wait. My buddies and I are holding our Second Annual Ice Fishing Tournament / Superbowl party this Sunday. Here is our schedule for Sunday:

4:00am - Wake up

5:00am - Walk out on the ice (Lake Hopatcong)

5:02am - First beer of the day

8:00am - Realize we started drinking too early because we are already drunk

8:01am - Open next beer

10:00am - Start playing frozen fish baseball

11:00am - Start taking pictures of fish in compromising positions

11:00am to 3:00pm - Tends to be a blur. All I know is there will be lots of fish flying through the air. There's always the possibility of getting hit in the head with a Pickerel

3:00pm - Con one of our friends to drive us home

3:10pm - Pass out

6:00pm - Wake up and get ready for superbowl (getting ready consists of drinking more beer) and watching lots of pre-game stuff.

The rest of the night will feature some sort of ordered food, lots more beer, lots of chips and dip, and lots of yelling at the TV. It's the perfect recipe for a good time. I can't wait. Also, after the Superbowl is the premier of American Dad, the newest project from the creator of "Family Guy".

I also want to mention that I love XM radio. There are like 2000 sports channels and I've gotten to listen to all kinds of interviews and press conferences. Guess what, TO is going to play, but not the whole game and he won't be affective. There, I got that out of the way, now we can stop talking about it.

It's that time again...

2005-01-27T14:28:00.000-05:00

It's time for random thoughts

One of my classmates gave the perfect description of my current Computer Science professor.

Our professor's name is Igor. He can't speak English and he looks like he smells.

Hahaha, it's funny because it's true.

I drove down to Maryland this week and further confirmed Maryland's spot at #3 on my list of top 5 worst drivers by state. They actually made a convincing arguement for the #2 spot. Congrats Maryland, you really suck at driving.

Is there a reason I have more respect for Ashlee Simpson than I do for Linsay Lohan? Yes. Am I going to write about it now? No, not in this post. Should I be thinking about teenage girl pop-stars this much? Definitely not. Do I like asking myself questions and then answering them right away. Yes, yes I do.

Shows I'm currently addicted to directly because of TiVO: Boston Legal, Scrubs, Lost, The OC, and Curb your Enthusiasm reruns. Without TiVO I would probably only watch Scrubs. This is why TiVO rules. It truly makes the whole TV experience so much better... except for the "me getting addicted to The OC" part. I'm actually pretty pissed about that one.

My music review blog is dead. I am way too lazy to keep up with 3 blogs at once so I'm putting it out of it's misery. If I ever feel like reviewing any albums, I'll post them here.

Speaking of reviewing albums... wait for it... wait....

"Hopes & Fears" by Keane is a great album. I bought it for my recent trip to crazy driver land (Maryland). I had to listen to it a couple of times, but it really started to grow on me and now half the songs are stuck in my head. The 4th track "We Might as Well Be Strangers" is probably my favorite, but the whole album is wonderful. If you like Coldplay/Radiohead type music, do yourself a favor and buy this album.

Ok, time for me to go sit in class for 3 hours and try to understand what my professor is talking about.

Why Ashlee Simpson is a genius

2005-01-21T13:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, genius is definitely not the right word... maybe lucky is better. She has become an obsession of the American public. Messing up on SNL was probably the best thing to ever happen to her. It got people all rialed up because visions of Milli Vanilli came rushing back. Her name was all over the news for a month.

Then there was the Orange Bowl mishap (which I'm glad I TiVO'd), which put her back in the headlines. You could actually hear the tape playing in the background because Simpson wasn't even close to singing along with it. And then of course came the 70,000 boos from the crowd.

I know what you're thinking, these are not good things. You're wrong and here's why: XM radio has a channel (20 on 20) that is basically a 24/7 TRL where people call in and vote for their favorite songs and they get played over and over again (and if you listen to it long enough, I believe you will go insane). Simpson has at least two songs that get played all the time. This means that the public (at least the XM crowd) still likes her. Nobody cares that she can't actually sing. It's just making her more famous.

So maybe Ashlee Simpson isn't a genius. Maybe she's not even that smart. Maybe she can't sing. Maybe the next time we hear from her again will be when she stars in "The Surreal Life: Season 27." Maybe... ok, I'll stop.

Why am I writing about this you may ask? I don't know. I guess it just makes me happy to see that people without a lot of talent can become successful. It gives me hope and makes me feel a lot better about myself.

No Wilco for me

2005-01-17T19:45:00.000-05:00

Well, number 6 from my "Top 10 in 2005" list can be scratched. I didn't get tickets to the Wilco concert. I was online right when they went on sale and by the time I got through, I could no longer get 2 seats together.

On one hand, I'm glad to see that Wilco is selling out 2 shows in DC at a time, but on the other hand I'm pissed because I won't be there. Oh well, I'm sure I'll go see someone else at some point this year.

Anyway, the Pats kicked some serious ass last night. It was awesome. How great would it be for the Sox and the Pats to win it all in the same season... and guess what... It's not impossible for the Celtics to make the playoffs. I know, I know, I'll stop now.

Soon to come: My favorite 10 songs from 2004, My favorite 10 DMB songs, something about why TiVO rules, Top 5 reasons my blog sucks... wow, I need to get a life.

Top 10 in 2005

2005-01-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

It’s the beginning of the year and I’m bored as hell. So I decided to come up with my list of my top ten things to look forward to this year.

10. More Snow – What the hell? It’s the middle of January and the forcast for the next couple of days is low 50’s and rain. How can I go snowboarding in this? Plus I haven’t been ice fishing once. The first tournament is 2 weeks away and there’s no ice on the lakes! More snow is coming right? Right?

9. Summer Blockbusters - I’m a sucker for over produced, over acted, over directed action movies. I have this great ability to suspend my disbelief even in the most far fetched movie plots. Star Wars III, War of the Worlds, Batman Begins, and Indiana Jones 4 to name a few that come out this year.

8. DMB new album – Spring time. Dave was playing some new songs during his tour last year and they sounded pretty good. Ok, truthfully Dave could play the worst songs ever and I would still probably love it.

7. Horse shoes and Home brew – We just finished our professional horseshoe pits at the end of last summer and didn’t really get to test them out. Plus I started brewing my own beer so that will only increase the enjoyment. Nothing like throwing a couple of shoes and tossing back a few brews.

6. Wilco in DC – This will be my third Wilco concert and they keep getting better every time. I hope Tweedy is supporting the Zach Galifianakis beard.

5. Opening day – Ok, I know it’s sad, but I’m already looking forward to the beginning of this year’s Red Sox season. Also, I can’t wait for fantasy baseball, again sad but true. Since I joined a keeper league I can’t wait to see who’s going to hit the market.

4. Pat’s playoffs – The newest NFL dynasty. Super Bowl party at my place!

3. Trip to Jamaica – Family vacation time. Can’t wait to sit in the sun and take my second try at scuba diving. Maybe swim with a Dolphin or two. I guess I shouldn’t have watched the movie “Open Water”.

2. My raise – The only reason I love February.

1. Schilling vs Johnson – Oh yeah, it’s on now. I can’t wait for this match up. Johnson is already making people hate him so he’ll fit in nicely as a Yankee. He’s quickly becoming one of my top players to root against (deserves a blog of its own). Hopefully when I buy tickets to some late season Yankee games I’ll get lucky and see this one.

Top 5 time wasting sites

2005-01-07T07:32:00.000-05:00

On a day like today, it can be tough to keep busy in my office. What I mean by that is goverment workers don't like to work on Fridays, so the office is basically empty. So I'm putting this list together as my top 5 favorite web sites to visit when I need to waste some time.

Honorable Mentions
Yahoo Movies - As long as your computer is fast enough, you can watch movie previews all day. Of course when you start watching the previews for Miss Congeniality 2, it's time to stop.
Slick Deals - If you want free stuff, this is the place to go. Check out the forums and you can find all kinds of different useless crap. I've gotten some free tobasco sauce, cheap sunglasses, and some other things too insignificant for me to remember.
Addicting Games - If you like stupid little free games to play, this is your place.

Top 5
5. Boreme.com - This site is the biggest collection of stupid useless things, but is a great source for hilarious emails. I've wasted way too much time seaching through this place.

4. Logan's Mystery of Time and Space Adventure - I know what you're saying, "wow, this kid is a big dork" and yes, you are absolutely correct. Nevertheless, this is still a fun site. There are various puzzles to solve which can waste lots of time on. Also, if you can't figure them out you can aways cheat.

3. Ebay - Not always the best place to buy stuff, but can be hours of fun trying.

2. Any Fantasy Sports Site - You could make the argument that I spend more time at the office working on my fantasy sports teams then I do actual work. I can't get enough of this stuff. Fantasy sports are like a drug and I'm addicted

1. (Tie) ESPN and Sports Guy's World - I'm putting these two together because they are both basically run by ESPN. These two sites are where I spend most of my time when I have no work to do. Which means, this is where I spend the majority of my day. Without ESPN.com I would be lost. It is actually the only site I've ever paid to use (to listen to baseball games over the internet). ESPN.com can be a little slow sometimes, but as far as content goes, I would say it is the best site on the internet.

So when you've got absolutely nothing to do, there are a few good sites to occupy your time. I don't even want to know how much total time I've spend looking at these. It would probably be depressing to know.

Anyway, have fun.

Real smart Frank

2005-01-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

Another one of my friends just got engaged. We're dropping like flies!

There is one good thing about all these weddings coming up. Besides the whole happiness thing... Yup, you guessed it. An endless supply of "Old School" jokes.

"Well, alright, let me be the first to congratulate you then. You get one vagina for the rest of your life. Real smart Frank. Way to work it through."

I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Ugly hats

2005-01-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it make you mad when you see people wearing those winter hats with the brims in them? What are people thinking? Don't they make people look like complete morons? I swear, people will wear anything if they see Ashton Kutcher wearing it.

Somehow these hats have become a huge snowboarding fad. Everyone on the mountain has one... even the employees. If I was the employer of these people, I think I would have a "No showing up to work looking stupid" policy. That would take care of things.

Am I bored at work today and can't think of anything else to write about? Yes, yes I am.