An Institute You Can't Disparage

Denial. It's not just a river in Africa. It seems my parents are (at least mildly) racist and will not accept the fact. Mom picks up the younger girl from school once a week and then I join them for dinner when I go get her to bring her home. Anyway, Dad likes to keep the tv on during dinner and a clip comes on of Michael Steele, ex Lt. Gov of Maryland. Also, African-American. Mom goes, "Oh, we really like him. He's so articulate." What? Why that word? To me, that implies that her assumption is that he would NOT be articulate and that she was surprised and pleased that he is. And why would that be? I asked her if she would have said the same thing about a white guy and got back something incoherent about Barney Frank being white and inarticulate and her not liking him.

Now, if Barney Frank had been on tv instead, I'm sure I would've gotten something about how he's a moron, or his politics suck. Then maybe something about his mumbling to pile on. Instead, even though I know she agrees wholeheartedly with his politics and there are many other fine primary descriptors she could have used, she went right to articulate. Could I be wrong here?

Anyway, TV Thursday... January 8, 2009:

Married With Children. The best show to ever air. Period.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Change, Stasis, What's The Difference?

I don't think Ayman al-Zawahiri would make all that great a poker player. He seems incapable of switching gears, regardless of the others involved in the game. George W Bush was definitely a LAG president with no desire to ever play small ball. P.E.B.O.? He's registered for the tournament, but his cards don't fly for another 2 weeks. We shall see.

From the AP, via msnbc.com...

In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "crusade against Islam and Muslims" and called it "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office later this month.

"This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. "He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection."

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

I Want To Puke

http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=9613572&nav=menu578_2

Drunk? That pissed off? Some of both?

New Year's Eve was the last time Andrew Smith saw his neighbors and fellow Warm Springs Tribe friends, Hannah Crowe and Julian Wallulatum. The last time
alive, that is.

Almost three days later, their neighbors' three older children came to his door, hungry and worried about their parents, locked behind their bedroom door. The horrible truth came soon after: The couple had died in a murder-suicide, their infant at their side. And their three other children had been in the apartment ever since.

It was a gruesome scene, one that Smith says he'll never be able to forget. "They had the same clothes on from the day I left them, on New Year's Eve," he said. Clothes soaked in blood, with their baby beside them, her shirt also covered in blood, as she sat in her own feces.

I've said it before in this blog, but it bears repeating right now. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?????

Tune Tuesday is cancelled. I'm too pissed off at the world. Go hug your kids. I can't wait to get home to hug mine.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

How About A Nice Greasy Pork Sandwich...

First the good...

Eagles 26, Vikings 14. As expected. Next Sunday at NYG +4.5 seems about right. Birds pretty much need to execute the same game plan again. Stop/contain Brandon Jacobs and pressure the crap out of Eli Manning. With Eagle killer Plaxico not an option, this game should be a FG difference one way or the other.

Congratulations to my wife for successfully finishing the Advanced Rally title she was striving for in Syracuse. They scored 90 and 99 (with 70 needed for qualification) on the back to back trials to complete the 3 required legs.

But the bad...

Both she and the 7 year old came home with some nasty stomach virus. The girl lost an entire day's meals right before she went to bed and the wife, although keeping the inside stuff inside for now, is not tempting fate and taking a sick day.

Movie Monday, January 5 2009...

Continuing today's vomit theme, for your consideration, I offer 80's cheeseball comedy Weird Science. "He pukes, you die!" Cross War Games with Frankenstein and stick Kelly LeBrock in skimpy outfits and there you are. There's probably something in there too about teenagers with low self esteem finding and bringing out their inner confidence as an initial step on the path to manhood. But I digress.



But no discussion of movies and vomit would be complete without paying homage to Wil Weaton (and a few other Hollywood nobodies) in the timeless adaptation of Stephen King's novella, The Body.



And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Ugh, You Call This A Weekend?

Wife took the 7 year old and two of the dogs to obedience trials this weekend in Syracuse. This is relevant as it means I'm left home with the other 3 of her dogs and the 4 year old. But not complaining (too much) gets me MY occasional weekend away in, say, Vegas. Quid. Pro. Quo.

Eagles are -3 on the road in Minnesota after just squeaking into the playoffs. You should be embarrased if you are a division winner and a home dog to a 9-6-1 wild card team. Any Viking fans will need to be suitably humble if in attendence at the '09 Bash after their team goes one and done for the '08-'09 post-season. Maybe having to sing Fly, Eagles Fly while arm wrestling or something.

Fan Boy Friday, January 2 2009...

That was it. I'm just doing a preview of a game I will most certainly be watching. In my living room. With my 4 year old. She'll demand to wear her "5" jersey if I'm wearing mine. Might have to just cause she's so damn cute in hers. However, I WILL be meeting the boys at a local watering hole for Eagles/Giants part 3 next weekend. That will not be negotiable.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

We're Off To Outer Space

First off, who cares about the stupid Rose Bowl? Once the Lions lost to Iowa and screwed themselves out of any hope of playing for a national title, it didn't matter. Right? Not right. I hate seeing them getting embarrassed on a national stage, especially when it will continue to get them stereoyped as an overrated Big 10 school. I guess not so unjustifiably.

Eagles / Vikings in 3 days. Let's keep the magic of Philly sports in 2008 going for a few more weeks.

Now back to the charade...

T.V. Thursday, January 1 2009:

This week's selection is one that gives me the comforting warm fuzzies. It was probably my favorite show while growing up, even though it was only shown for a year or so here in the U.S. Each series was actually an entire continuous plot line and I never saw the final 2 episodes when I was young and finally decided to find them on youtube a couple of weeks ago.

STARBLAZERS

I was a geek 25 years ago and very little has changed.

And ck, if you want poker content, it'll show up here occasionally but I'm not planning on talking about it unless I get myself to AC or play in a TOC. No one cares about the poker thoughts of a freeroller/micro stakes donkey.

There go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

If A Tree Falls On A Blogger...

Actually, if a blogger who nobody reads doesn't post for 2 months, does anyone notice? Does anyone care? Methinks no. Not really too much going on other than laziness that kept me away from the old blog. New job. Quit smoking after 20 years. Commitment to get to the gym a couple times a week. Won my fantasy football league. That kind of nothing.

So, now that we are on the cusp of another new year, I have found that most of those typical things I might resolve to (but never) do in the coming year have already been done over the last couple months. What to do? Since nobody reads anyway, nobody will care if I hijack my own blog in the hopes that it might stimulate some actual good content. It probably won't, but at least it will keep my post count ticking upward.

To that end, I resolve to post each and every weekday of 2009. However, I usually don't have anything to say, so I'm implementing one of those lame weekly list thingies. For the coming year, we will have:

• Movie Monday
• Tune Tuesday (group, album, song, or concert)
• Wildcard Wednesday (whatever I feel like typing about)
• T.V. Thursday
• Fan Boy Friday (sporting events I personally attended, watched on tv, or heard on the radio)

On each day, I will post about something related to the daily theme. It could be (and probably will be if I know myself) as simple as a one line post, but hopefully just the act of logging on everyday will start the flow of the creative juices. To that end, I might as well get started a day early...

Wildcard Wednesday, December 31 2008.... from the genre of music:

The new job blocks many fewer web sites and I am able to fire up the Sirius media player to keep me going all day. Lo and behold, on comes a song by Apocalyptica. Could it actually be the same group? Those 4 long haired cello playing Finns with a passion for metal? I was first aware of them at the start of the decade when I heard about their cd of all Metallica covers. On cello. Nice.

Their next cd (Inquisition Symphony) included a few more Metallica covers, covers of Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantera, and a couple of originals to boot. They also improved the mix of the different "voices" which I found slightly annoying on the first disc. Two of the songs that transformed incredibly are "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Fade To Black", found in their original forms on (arguably) Metallica's best album, Ride The Lightning.

And with that, my foray back into the blogosphere is complete. Drop a comment if you agree or disagree with my daily topic. Each one is designed to offer a small insight into who I am as a whole. Or at least what I like, and have liked, for most of my 4 decades of life. I'd been thinking of changing the closing for the new year -- "My game may suck, but I won the Mookie. Have you?" But then I remembered that the old one was only used a few dozen times.

There go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...