Random Thoughts

Driving through the Catskill Mountains here in NY was beautiful yesterday morning. Left Endicott at 6am and drove through fog along highway 17 all the way to Fishkill. Trees are starting to change colors so it was 3 hours of wonderful driving. Definitely not what I get when driving 3 hours in the Mid-West.

Do you ever feel guilty drinking a Pepsi and a commercial for Coke comes on? Or while staying at a Hampton Inn and a commercial for Holiday Inn comes on?

BTW - I am staying at the Hampton Inn but it is never my first choice to stay at one of them. In fact, the name makes me cringe... Any Iowa State fans catching on as to why? Think 2001.....

Going to NYC this weekend (probably Sunday). Trying to hit the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) at a minimum. Would also like to see the ever changing Time Square and who knows what else while I'm there. I love NYC and looks like great fall weather this weekend for the trip.

Last night was "Season Premier" night on the only two non-cartoon shows that I watch. I began watching My Name is Earl which was great (Earl adjusts to life in prison). But I made the work/life balance decision to keep working (the "balance" would be 0% life and 100% work... balances out) and just watch them next week when I'm back home. The Office premier was also on.

Brews Brothers stumbled last night in bowling... started out too hot this season so it was bound to happen.

Funny how the American League is set for the playoffs with the final weekend of the regular season upon us... yet the National League is wide open yet for many teams. My hopes of Mets missing the playoffs all together is still a strong possibility. Braves are going to be just on the outside this season, but still a finish to be proud of.

Football season passes the 1/4 point this weekend. Can you believe it? Predictions for this weekend:

• Iowa State stands no chance in Lincoln, but of course I'm still picking them! ISU 31, Nebraska 28
• Oklahoma looks very good this year. As does Texas! GO BIG 12!!
• Notre Dame continues a season worse than Iowa State's by losing at Purdue. Hopefully the recent slide of the Big10 teams continues!
• Big GreenBay at Minnesota weekend this Sunday! Always pathetic to see the large amounts of green/yellow at the Metrodome. Go Vikes!
• Lots of talk here in NY about Jets at Buffalo but does anyone outside of NY actually care?
• Philly at Giants, match up of "has-beens"

NY is full of red lights that have a strobe light in the middle of the red... why? I guess to make the red more noticable for the new age of people talking on cell phones, etc. Probably helps for people who are color blind as well. For me, it's kind of intriguing and distracting at the same time. Hypnotic like....

Sorry for the busy week - hoping that next week is back to "normal", whatever that means.

Haiku of the Day
Driving through Mountains
Not one radio station
Glad to have iPod!!

Entertainment of the Day - So I'm thankful that more stations are running old episodes of Family Guy (and The Office) which makes me laugh all the time. The bad news of yesterday was discovering that the "Legal" world got to YouTube and pulled all of the Family Guy clips off:( Yet another example of The Man bringing us down! Don't they know that my productivity levels are directly linked to my ability to find Family Guy clips throughout my work day?

Weblink of the Day - The art of Wiffleball pitching.... this is pretty cool but honestly, how many people play wiffleball after age 6??

Traveling 101

I've made it to the east coast, but I forget sometimes how different it can be at times. What do I mean? I traveled to Toronto over the weekend and spent Monday at our Toronto office. The traffic of driving in a big city that I don't get in Rochester day to day ("traffic" in Rochester means it takes 15 minutes to get home rather than the usual 8 minutes. Then Tuesday morning was spent in a car driving from Toronto "down the road" to Endicott, NY.... a 6 hour drive! Of course trying to stay caught up on work the entire time.

So that's my lame excuse as to why I haven't blogged this week.

But the one thing I was thinking of, are there unofficial, unwritten rules of flying?? I'll do my part in suggesting some guidelines to the people that don't travel by plane on a regular basis.

Rule #1 - Unless you're a professional and know the method of not checking any luggage (think of all the business travelers who do it every week of the year), please check all your bags (AND CRAP) to go under the plane. Yes, I know they say "one carry on and one personal item" but that doesn't mean your personal item can be the same size as the luggage I just checked! The purses are getting bigger, the laptop bags are getting thicker.... what happened to traveling light?

Rule #2 - The seats are labeled, and it doesn't take an engineer to figure out which one is "A" and which one is "B" and which one is "C", especially on the small planes which only have 3 options. If you sit in the wrong seat only to have me say "I think you're in my seat", you should be escorted from the plane and thrown on the next flight to try again!

Rule #3 - If the person behind you is taller than you, you are not allowed to recline your seat. I am 6'6" and 99% of the time I am the tallest person on the plane. You do not need to recline your chair for an hour plane ride, especially when you're just reading your Wall Street Journal. If you do feel the need to recline, I then withhold the right to become "that guy" that you complain about was kicking your chair and making you uncomfortable when you get home to your family. You started it.

Rule #4 - When the plane arrives and you're allowed to take your seatbelt off, scrambling around and running to the front doesn't get you off of the plane any faster. Note the delay between the "DING" and when the door actually opens allowing people to leave. Just like traffic jams, everyone just follows protocol and we all get out faster - don't be the a-hole driving around the cones just to save yourself 5 seconds.

Rule #5 - If you want the window seat, you relinquish your right to use the bathroom on any flight under 2 hours. If you think you may have to use the bathroom due to your small bladder, or the fact that you drank too much before getting on the plane - then get an aisle seat.

Bonus Rule - If you start the crossword in the back of the American Way magazine, THEN FINISH IT.... these things aren't community efforts, usually because what you have put in there is WRONG and it's not worth the time to correct your wrong answers. Want another hint? The answers to the crossword are usually on the very next page!! SERIOUSLY!!!

Any other ones I'm missing????? BTW - new iPod worked well for the ride out here. And yes Kahn, I was "that guy" driving while wearing headphones since I could only get 4 radio stations while driving through the mountains/hills here in NY and 2 of them were country! Easier to just listen to my own tunes!

Braves still have a shot at making the postseason! Last week of regular season baseball... and possibly last week of Barry Bonds!

GO CYCLONES!!! WIN ONE MORE GAME THIS WEEKEND AND I'LL BE A BELIEVER YET AGAIN!!

Haiku of the Day
To play or to bench
Mr. Grossman of DA BEARS...
I SAY BENCH----- HE SUCKS!!!


Entertainment of the Day - Finally watched Perfect Stranger that I've had sitting around for 2 weeks from Netflix.... Don't confuse it with the TV show from the 80s/90s that was called "Perfect StrangerS". This version has Halle Berry and Bruce Willis... and that creepy guy Ralph from "My Name is Earl" series (new season starting tomorrow along with "The Office". Not going to watch?? DON'T BE RI-DIC-U-LOUS!!! Ahhh.... remember Balki???

Weblink of the Day - Did you catch Britney on the Tyra Banks show this week? Here's the clip in case you missed it!! (Britney - CALL ME)!

Predictions

First prediction: I'll be in Toronto Sunday through Tuesday Morning.

Football predictions:

• My 1-2 Cyclones have a "chance" but have to do it at Toledo (who are 0-3). COME ON CLONES!!!
  
• USC continues winning
• LSU catches up to USC in the polls by beating a ranked South Carolina (Gamecocks.... nice)
• Wisconsin kills Iowa to send them back to 2-2 for the season
• Texas over Rice (sounds like the last dish I ordered from China Star)
• Notre Dame goes to 0-4 by getting pounded at home to Michigan State (probably the only time I root for them)
  
• YAWWWWWN - conference games start next week for most teams which will make for some better matchups

Baseball Playoff predictions:

• RedSox win the division, Yankees the wild card, Indians and Angels for the AL
• Phillies take the NL East, Cubs the Central, and Arizona takes the West with San Diego taking the Wild Card (NO METS THIS YEAR!!!)

NASCAR:

• Race at Dover on Sunday.... GO GORDON!!!
• Interesting article talking about the mystery of the Car of Tomorrow and why it's not working out like they thought...
  

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!!!

No Longer Eligible

So I was nominated for the 2007 Rochester Magazine "Single in the City" issue and contacted yesterday. Every year they feature 5-6 "singles" in Rochester and try to have them all make Rochester seem like a fun place to be single. Due to my current "status" with Miss Sarah, I had to respectfully decline. Still an honor to be thought that I was intriguing enough to be in the magazine seen by millions (AND MILLIONS) of Rochesteronians. Or is that Rochesterites? That sounds pretty Biblical....

Thought I'd share some webpages to get people through the "Thursday Boredom" that can happen as we all continue to hope for the weekend to hurry up and get here.

First is for any football fans who want to go head to head against Peyton Manning. Not to hard to win as long as you stick with the short game. Some of the "go long" questions are ridiculously hard.

Putt-putt game for the golf fans out there. There are a lot of these out there, this one is new to me and it's ok. If you're interested, let me know and I'll find more and harder ones.

And check out all the sound files from your favorite TV Game Shows!!! I snagged some from Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune for my Text Message ringers... that and nothing beats the yodeler from Price is Right!

I'm rolling tonight for the Brews Brothers. Hoping to improve my league-leading (on the low side) average from last season! Come on by for a good laugh!

I leave for my NY trip this weekend... going out there for another training class and some other "business" while I'm there. A trip to NYC is definitely in the plans!

Fall officially starts tomorrow

Haiku of the Day
Running through my head
As I work at my laptop
Quotes from Office Space


Entertainment of the Day - I watched Delta Farce this past weekend which is the Army movie with Larry the Cable Guy. Think Stripes with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour humor and about 1/2 as funny as Bill Murray/John Candy. Is it worth watching? Sure if you like that humor, otherwise don't waste your time.

Weblink of the Day - 30 Second Bunnies are back with The Grudge. I'll be anxious to see their next rendition of Kill Bill!!

Arrrrrrrgh!!!

TODAY IS TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!!! So all ye who have that sense of adventure for the Seven Seas, AVAST! and change yer vocabulary for the day!

Aye - I seriously can't make this stuff up! How does ye talk like a Pirate on this special day? Here is the official "how to" webpage from yer friends at "talklikeapirate.com".... doesn't get any more official than that! Also included are pick up lines to pick up fellow seekers of the pirate booty. Costumes are optional. There's even a text translator so that you too can spice up your emails and lingo today! What will they think of next? I'm going to start working on "talk like Chewbacca Day"!!

So I'm still basking in my Cyclone victory in case you're wondering!

First rule of Cyclone Football is you do not talk about Cyclone Football. Second rule of Cyclone Football is you DO NOT talk about Cyclone Football..... oh wait, sorry - wrong movie...

First rule of Cyclone Football - A season with a victory over Iowa is "successful". So by that rule, it's a successful season!! BUT we'd always like more, especially after the rough early losses we took in the previous weeks. The win puts us ahead of Notre Dame in the polls if they went that long!! And tied with Michigan!

Now we move on to other happenings in our world - like OJ. The Juice is in trouble again after his assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery. "Why did he do it" you ask? Ok, maybe you were asking other questions, but that's the one I think you'll ask next.... Well he was "retrieving" memorabilia that was supposedly stolen from him. So instead of getting a lawyer and letting the legal system work (the same one that allowed him to walk from his murder trial), he took the law into his own hands. Just remember, if the gloves don't fit, you must acquit!! I'm sure he was setup, and he won't rest till he finds the real people who did this!!

Haiku of the Day
"AHOY!!" is today
how to greet all ye fellow
Pirate Wannabees

Entertainment of the Day - Did you see Hannibal Rising yet? It's the same lines of Batman Begins and the Bond movie that came out last year... the whole "how it all began" thing. I thought it was a great intro to the series and a decent movie over all. Not sure if it comes from a book or was a specific screen play, but I was convinced. Check it out if you liked the Silence of the Lambs movies.

Weblink of the Day - This one is weird.... Man "dies" in car crash - they take him in to do the autopsy and he wakes up as they're cutting him open (nothing to numb you up when they think you're dead). Wife comes in to identify body and sees her husband sitting there waiting. Wife proceeds to swear off drugs and alcohol after that trip.

Christmas Comes Early

Twas the Cy/Hawk Football Game, when all through Iowa the state,
Every student and fan was stirring, even the Hawkeyes (whom I hate);
The kegs were tapped, grills were lit with care,
In hopes that a win by the Cyclones, soon would be there;
The kids were nestled with beers in their hands,
While visions of more beer appeared from all other far off lands;
And Sarah in her Herkey Shirt, and I wearing Cy,
Had just settled down for another game of beer pong, that's no lie!
When out on the field, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the radio to hear what's all the chatter.
Up through the uprights, the ball continued to fly,
3 points after 3 points, "who's the kicker guy?"
The Sun on the field (after the newly formed frost)
Gave the lustre of summer, now I'm getting lost!
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear?
A KICKER WHO CAN HIT 5-6 BETWEEN THE UPRIGHTS, HEAR THE CROWD CHEER!!!
With a shoe on his right foot, so lively and quick,
I doubted every moment that we could win with the kick;
More rapid than eagles his kicks they came,
And we cheered and cheered and called them all by name;
"Now Meyer, Now Blyth, Now Bass and Bates,
Now Chizik, Now Cyclones now all you Hawkeye-Hates!
To the back of the endzone, or at least through the fieldgoal post!
Now kick the ball, kick the ball, Make them Squawkeyes toast!"
And then in a twinkling, I heard through Jack-Trice,
The ass-kicking sound of Cyclones, and they didn't sound nice!
As I drew in breath and started turning around,
Up through the upright, another kick from Culbertson was bound!
He was dressed in Cardinal and Gold, from his toe to his head,
And his uniform was tarnished with grass stains and other things dead;
A wink of his eye and a kick of his foot,
Soon gave me to know, we'll soon give a hoot!
He spoke only a YELL and went straight to work,
With 5 seconds left, all it took was his foot to jerk.
And laying the ball up, between the uprights like a ball should,
And waiting for the nod from the refs, to know the kick was good!
We sprang to the field, giving our team quite the cheer,
And away our team flew, CELEBRATE WITH MORE BEER!
But I heard Shaggy exclaim as he was carried out of sight,
"GO CYCLONES WIN!! AND TO THE SQUAWKEYES: GOOD NIGHT!!!"

GO CLONES - BEAT IOWA!!!

So Mojo continues to love living at my place for the week. It's kind of like going to Grandma's for a stay when you're a kid - not only do you get special treatment and attention, but it's more fun to explore someone else's place!

Mojo loves waking up at 5:45am and wants to play at that time. Payback is a pain, when I see him falling asleep at 8:30pm, I wake him up as well! If I can't sleep, he can't sleep either! But he loves watching the birds through the door or even from the window sill. He eats a lot and poops a lot (not that I have any other experience to see if he eats/poops a lot for a cat.... just seems like he poops out more than he's eating from the dish - SERIOUSLY!) and of course he sleeps a TON! I'll get some pictures this weekend before he moves back home to share with y'all.

Predictions for this wild weekend:

• Iowa State puts up an amazing home performance! Cyclones 20 Iowa 9.....
  
• Sarah and I have a fist fight and have to be separated by DPS (renta-cops in Ames) at our tailgate tomorrow due to her ongoing loyalty to the idiots in black/gold. It's going to be our first big challenge in this relationship, whether she can handle the power of the CARDINAL AND GOLD!!!
• In a matchup that should never make TV - 0-2 Notre Dame turns into 0-3 Notre Dame after losing to 0-2 Michigan. After this game, the teams will be a combined 1-5!! Wow....
• In probably the game I'll be most interested to see.... USC continues their impressive season with a big win against the overrated Nebraska team. GO TROJANS!!!
• Florida over Tennessee... Texas over UCF??? Tough schedule for the Longhorns this year I see... and watch out for LSU, they're good.
• Week 2 of the NFL... Only really intriguing game is San Diego at New England Sunday night! See how the Patriots recover after "VideoGate" this week. Some say that "Cheaters Never Win", but I say "Cheating's legal until you get caught".... just throwing it out there.
• Baseball? This might be one of the more anti-climatic seasons in my opinion.... See if the Cubs can hold on to their lead, doubt the WildCard will come from the NL Central so they'll have to win it right out (with a .514 winning percentage).
• $5 if you can name the two teams in the WNBA finals, and where/when the next game is being played. They Got Game!
• And "The Chase" has begun in NASCAR... Eddie, who's your favorite to win? Sylvania 300 this weekend (it's not even under the lights since it's an afternoon race... would think with a lightbulb sponsor....).
  

Have a good weekend! Enjoy FALL!

GO CYCLONES!!!

Haiku of the Day
I hate the Hawkeyes
Kick their ass and beat them down
Man I hate the Hawks

Entertainment of the Day - The Number 23 (the "drama" with Jim Carrey) is an interesting movie. The plot twist wasn't such a long shot, but it was still interesting. Think of Beautiful Mind with more of a Thriller theme.

Weblink of the Day - In my recent frustration with wearing khaki pants and a red shirt to Target..... thanks to Brian for today's smile!

What Keeps Me Up At Night

I seriously started this blog for yesterday, got heavily distracted and never got to finishing it.... Hopefully worth the wait.

It's the 6 year anniversary of 9/11.... a very troubling time to think back upon. I see a lot of memorial emails, signs, and even a Text Message on Tuesday morning.... but there's something even more honorable and touching when I drove by a fire station in the morning and they had the fire truck ladder fully extended over the street with a huge American flag hanging down from the bucket. That was pretty sweet. I won't take this opportunity to create a political discussion (I hope our folks at the national level do the same thing) out of respect. But I will take this opportunity to say that while life has moved on and people have gone on with their daily lives, people have yet to forget what happened on 9/11. I think it's one day a year that our country at least tries to come together and live a day unified for once - something I think is very important for my generation.

But now back to what keeps me awake at night.... or at least figuratively!

When was the last time you woke up sweating realizing that you were so restless through the night wondering what ever happened to Biz Markie? Yeah, the "YOU SAY HE'S JUST A FRIEND" guy (think 1990). Well it was driving me nuts so I did some home work for you so you don't have to (and can get back to visions of sugar-plums dancing in your heads). Turns out Biz isn't ready to give up the Rap life quite yet.... nor is he ready to leave his ability to be on TV. You'll remember that he was the beatboxing alien postal worker in Men In Black 2 (or did you know that was him in the first place)? Here's a video of Biz doing a kid's show - "Yo Gabba Gabba". Gotta love the "Hey Kids" at the beginning:



Ahhh.... good Ol Biz...

The other thing that keeps me awake lately is wondering what the true lyrics to Steve Miller Band's The Joker. You know the verse:

Some people call me the space cowboy
Some people call me the gangsta of love
Some people call me Maurice (WOO-HOO)
Cause I sing of the POMPATUS of love

Is he really singing of the POMPATUS of love? What does that mean? I first checked dictionary.com. Nothing, not even close to anything like pompatus. Lyrics database confirms that he is saying "pompatus", and wikipedia has the word, but confirms it is a made up word just by Steve Miller Band.

Then I found this sight where a guy asks the same question, with alternative suggestions of wording. While I'm pretty convinced he is indeed saying pompatus, just not sure what he means by that.

Anyways - GO CLONES!!! Everyone should be wearing their red colors this week with pride!

Haiku of the Day
You Got What I need.
But you say he's just a friend...
Oh Baby Youuuu-uuuuuu

two syllables on that last "you".... if you're in the know, you'll follow...

Entertainment of the Day - I watched Zodiac this past weekend. It has Jake Cyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. in it and is about the Zodiac killer who left a cryptic trail in the 60s/70s in the San Francisco area. Interesting "based on a true story" movie and keeps you interested the entire 2.5 hours. Yeah, one of those unfortunately. Still recommendable.

Weblink of the Day - Wheeler suggesting today's weblink... a neat video of shadow puppets singing for you. Well done!

RED WEEK - GO CLONES

What a horrible way to start the season! After great anticipation with a coach whose name is a household name and such promise for the year, the team drops their first two. Both games were losses at home, the first loss to a no-name team! Will this be an 0-12 season??? But enough talk about Michigan's start...... btw - Notre Dame is 0-2 as well so no reason to feel bad and alone with that horrific start.

Opening weekend to the NFL season. The Vikings look pretty good thanks to their defense. As did New England - they're my week 1 pick to win it all this year. I never bet against Tom Brady and now he even has a weapon in Moss which was lacking last year. I did ok with my Fantasy team, will be more official after the Monday night games tonight.

It's also that time of the year when the "Season Premiers" begin. The new season of Family Guy is being advertised as a Star Wars episode. That's ironic since I was "lost in YouTube" as I tend to get from time to time.... here I found 4 different videos of non-intentional imitations of Chewbacca. Yes, I have been known to do a good Chewie immitation from time to time (especially after a few beers.... get too many beers in me and I'll show you my Sand Person imitation). But today I step aside for these 4 contestants... your vote at the end for your favorite is very important (I think I have the poll set up correctly, let me know if it's not working). It's one of the few interactive posts I'll have!!!

Contestant #1 - Vacuum the Wookie


Contestant #2 - Chewbacca the Nightstand


Contestant #3 - Chewie Charlotte is Happy


Contestant #4 - Chewbacca the Dog

Which Chewbacca immitation is your favorite?
	Vacuum the Wookie
	Chewbacca the Nightstand
	Chewie Charlotte is Happy
	Chewbacca the dog

Unfortunately, I couldn't get Mojo to make any noise even close to Chewbacca. He just meows a lot in the mornings (starting at 5:45am), watches the birds from the window ledge by day, and falls asleep by 8pm. What a life!!!

Federer wins his 12th GrandSlam title.... 4 straight US Opens which is UNHEARD OF! He should pass Pete next year (needs two more titles) for most titles all time with no signs of stopping.... incredible!

Haiku of the Day
The life of a cat
Sleep, eat, poop, play, sleep some more
Meow whenever

Entertainment of the Day - I watched a bunch of movies this weekend... up first was 300 which I found very well done for an action movie. It's lots of blood and guts which is expected, but I thought the action was very well done. Lots of good music as well:) If you don't know the history of the Battle of Thermopylae, that's what the movie is about. 300 Spartans (with a couple of thousand other allies) fought battle against 25,000+ Persians. The Persians won, but the delay allowed the Greeks back in Athens to get their crap together and ultimately defeat Xerxes and the Persians later on.

Weblink of the Day - One more Star Wars video.... a fan does the Simpson intro with a Star Wars theme.... WELL DONE I SAY!!!!

RIP Luciano.....

The great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti passed away yesterday morning after his battle with cancer. He was only 71, but he became a legend and icon in the world of opera. Probably one of the most easily identifiable people on the planet from the entire world of music. He was the guy that divorced his wife of 30 some years and married his secretary who was 30 years younger! He's also the big guy who sings the high C in the 3 Tenor concerts over the past 2 decades... waving his hankerchief the entire time. While most people probably are most familiar with his work in the 3 Tenor days, he actually was 100x better in his prime back in the 70s/80s and even earlier. If you can find some earlier DVDs with him performing (I believe I watched a DVD of Aida with him in it last year sometime), he really was amazing to listen to. Thanks for bringing Opera to the millions and millions of listeners around the world Luciano!!

After the first night of NFL, and Payton's wonderful showing, I'm winning 21-0 in Fantasy. Considering he didn't have anyone playing in last night's game, way too early to get excited... but I'll take the early lead any day! Which also means today is Friday.... SOOOOO....

PREDICTION DAY!!!

• Federer takes the US Open men's title on Sunday, Henin takes the women's title on Saturday. Sure, they're both the 1 seeds, but they're also that much better than the people they're playing. Good riddance to Serina and her bad attitude - what a sore loser!
• College Football: LSU over Virginia Tech (what a huge game for week #2), Michigan over whoever they're playing this week after getting national redicule all week long, Cyclones over UNI (31-20), Syracuse over Iowa... we can only hope!
• Pro Football: Minnesota over Vick-less Falcons, San Diego over Bears, Patriots over Jets (Moss has a huge game?), and Eagles over Packers.... Favre to retire mid-season
• Race at Richmond Saturday Night - Jr has to get a ton of help to make the "playoffs" that start after Saturday night..... look for a good showing by Jr, but probably another Stewart win. That guy's gonna win it all again I have a feeling.
• Baseball.... does anyone really care with NFL starting now? It's a typical season, Boston, Yankees, Mets, LA/Anaheim.... Cubs blow their chance late in the season yet again!

My roommate for next week arrives today. Mojo the cat will be living with me while his parents are away. My house is "cat proof" as best as I can estimate, we'll see how he likes living in the pad! Pictures next week of Mojo - I'm sure he'll be a lot quieter than my last roommate! He was obnoxiously loud! Especially on the weekends!

Haiku of the Day
For anyone who,
may or may not have tickets....
remember: RUSH SUCKS

Entertainment of the Day - Hoping to watch some movies this weekend to share next week. I'm WAY behind on my movie watching.

Weblink of the Day - Lemon smasher - pretty easy game for a Friday. 115 on my first try. Use the arrow keys and spacebar.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Game 1 of the NFL Season starts tonight. The real American sport kicks off and gets everyone in the mindset for Fall - you know, tailgating and parties every Sunday afternoon! College football added to that makes for great entertainment on the weekends!

Speaking of good entertainment - who all stayed up to watch the Roddick/Federer match last night? It was WORTH EVERY MINUTE! Not only were the first two sets some of the best tennis I've seen in a while with both players playing at the top of their game - but they brought Andre Agassi into the booth to work with Johnny Mac on calling the match. That was probably the greatest part of the match - listening to Andre's amazing analysis of the players and of the game that is definitely lacking with McEnroe. He talked about how he was able to catch Borris Becker tipping off his serve, or how Roddick was coming forward too early on his forehand which causes the ball to sail longer than he wants to hit. The crowd of course was much appreciative of seeing Andre back in the booth.

As for the tennis - Roddick played at the top of his game, not having single break point on his serve in the first two sets... AND HE LOST THEM BOTH!! Reminiscent of Agassi losing to Sampras in similar style years ago. Just goes to show how masterful Federer is right now in the Men's Tennis. Even Tiger calls what Federer's accomplishing in the individual sport "amazing". This will be the 10th straight Grand Slam Final he'll appear in (assuming he wins on Saturday). Potentially his 8th title in the past 3 years!?!?!? amazing....

Tonight is Week 1 of 10,000 weeks for bowling. If you're new in the past year, you'll learn to hate the Brews Brothers like the rest of our league. Even the spouses of our team hate us! The black and red jerseys have been cleaned (once a year) and pressed to get ready for tonight's opening night. It's not how well you bowl, it's how good you look in doing so! We won't have the Lightening Dorks to make fun of this year is the biggest change. They got tired of losing to us!

Prediction Day tomorrow for the football games.....

Have a great Thursday - GO BREWS BROS!!!

Haiku of the Day
"Just hit the pocket"
It's Easier said than done
Bowling is for Girls!!!

Entertainment of the Day - New Strong Bad email.... note the Limozeen reference at the beginning. (yes I spelled Limozeen correctly)

Weblink of the Day - This might be the funniest thing I've seen all week! How to untangle your headphones for those earbuds... USING YOUR CAT! Things to try this weekend when Mojo moves in!

Fantasy Team is Complete!

My 2007 Fantasy Football Team after last night's draft:

Starters:
QB - Payton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
RB - Cedric Benson, Chicago Bears
RB - Jamal Lewis, Cleveland Browns
WR - Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
WR - Plaxico Burress, New York Giants
WR - Isaac Bruce, St. Louis Rams
TE - Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City Chiefs
K - Josh Brown, Seattle Seahawks
D - Philadelphia Eagles

Bench:
QB - Jay Cutler, Denver Broncos
RB - Ladell Betts, Washington Redskins
RB - Ron Dayne, Houston Texans
WR - Joey Galloway, Tampa Bay
WR - Brandon Jones, Tennessee Titans
WR - Joe Jurevicius, Cleveland Browns
TE - Marcus Pollard, Seattle Seahawks

How does Fantasy Football work? You basically create your own team of players from around the league and compete against other people in your league and their team of players. You get a set amount of points for touchdowns thrown by your QB, yards rushed by your running backs, sacks by your defense, etc. You also lose points for things such as interceptions and fumbles. This will be my first year doing fantasy football and it's simply a weekly update to your team and starting who you think will put up the best numbers on a weekly basis. I'll give you updates every week with how I'm doing as I enter my first season of this stuff.

I watched some more US Open tennis last night. We're entering the best time of the tournament, but it's also causing me to lose even more sleep as I watch Nadal lose in 4 sets that got over after midnight. It's worth it though. Federer vs Roddick match occurs tonight - good time to stay at home, open the house up with the cool weather coming in this evening, grab your favorite adult beverage of choice, and watch some darn good tennis. I would pick this as one of the better anticipated matches of the tournament. Roddick is well rested and playing very well as of late.

This week is also "Anti-Rush" week since they'll be performing in the cities this weekend. No, this isn't in reference to the Greek (Freak) Week at colleges where millions of College Freshmen give in to buying their friends as part of their new fraternity/sorority. What it refers to is all you freaks that actually enjoy the band Rush who should have never made it out of the 60s, let alone the 70s. Why they're still playing in 2007 is beyond me. Geddy Lee has probably the worst voice for a band EVER!!! In my list of "least favorite bands", Rush is probably 1st, followed by Journey, Smashmouth.... not sure who else off hand.

Haiku of the Day
Shitty music.... RUSH
Tom Sawyer might as well be
nails on a chalkboard

Entertainment of the Day - Still on a Stone Temple Pilots kick this week.... I found a bunch of YouTube videos from their peak days of the 90s (back when MTV was showing videos) that if you're bored today, you can check 'em out.

• Plush
• Creep
• Sex Type Thing
• Vasoline (gotta love the clown!)
  
• Big Empty
• Sour Girl (with Sarah Michelle Gellar goodness!!)
• Big Bang Baby
• Interstate Love Song
• Lady Picture Show
  
• Days of the Week (bought this album in POK with Kahn!)

Entertainment of the Day - The 20 ugliest Celebrities.... you won't be surprised with a lot of them!

3 Day Weekends RULE!!

I welcome September with the greatest of intentions. It means Fall is now here and by the look at the weather, this weekend looks to really be the start of the non-80s!!

Sarah and I had a great weekend at her parent's place in Storm Lake. I had the privilege of meeting her folks, as well as a lot of folks that she has known for the greater portion of her life. I was told that I "passed the test"! The weather was perfect for tubing and jet skiing (as long as the jet ski was in it's working phase). Not sure how many more beautiful weather days are left, but it was perfect for a weekend at the lake.

US Open continues into it's 2nd week - James Blake couldn't pull off a 2nd straight 5 set win and is out. BUT there should be a lot of excitement Wednesday as Roddick plays Federer in the Quarterfinals. As for the women, Maria was ousted early on so there could be some unusual pairings in that final. Probably better matches to watch in the quarters and semis though. It has been a rain free Open so far which is a little unusual for the US Open. Usually they show old Agassi/Sampras matches during the rain delays but haven't seen any of those this time around.

College Football is under way with the Pros picking up this weekend. I'm glad there were some major upsets this weekend with Michigan and Notre Dame both getting a lot more press than the lowly Cyclone embarrassment. I haven't given up on them quite yet. We'll see how they stand against the in-state rivals with UNI and Iowa over the next 2 weekends.

The price of gas "should" start going down in theory now that Labor Day is over with. I liked how it shot up in preparation for the big travel weekend! But as gas prices go down, anticipate a rise in your local cocaine and marijuana prices as Nicaragua is getting pummeled by Hurricane Felix (the unfriendly cat version).

And did you catch the Labor Day Telethon? Broadcast from Las Vegas (when I think of raising money, I immediately think of Vegas - how about you?) it raised almost $64 million this year. But I failed to see it on EVERY channel this year on TV. Granted, I didn't watch a ton of TV yesterday, but I only saw it listed for WGN and when I checked the listings of other stations, it was business as usual.... times have changed I guess but I'm glad to see he's still raising more and more money for a good cause.

Anyway - sorry for yet again a delayed posting. I need to work on these the night before from now on. Fantasy Football draft tonight! I'm pick #4 of 12 so hopefully I can get a great team started. I'll post my team results tomorrow.

Haiku of the Day
End of the summer
The heat will be leaving soon
Snow in 10 more weeks!

Entertainment of the Day - How come every time I pull out the "I'M SAILING" quote while on a boat... nobody catches it? WELL HERE IT IS SARAH!!! As promised, so now when Sarah's trying to kill us on a jetski, she'll get the movie reference. What About Bob is the movie - not one of Bill Murray's finest moments, but has some references that are good to go!

Weblink of the Day - Ok, this is kind of cool. It's PacMan but now you play the role of the ghosts. Use the keypad arrows to control the ghost, and then press 1-4 to pick which ghost you're controlling. Nice idea!! You'll have to wait for all the dang ads and programs to run.