My Money's on the Man in the Yellow Hat

Sometimes Sheldon cracks me up.

Weekend Planning

Attached is a copy of an email I sent to my friends warning them that I would not be available this weekend...

I'm sorry, but you will be losing me to football Saturday night. The Eagles vs Cowgirls is scheduled for 8pm. Since the Eagles will be winning the Super Bowl (hope springs eternal) there will be other weekend schedule conflicts over the next several weeks. I may desire to watch the other games as well. I will attempt to pry myself from the TV as much as possible.

Exception Clauses:

- In the unfortunate and unlikely event that the Eagles lose, I will be a lot less interested in football.

- If the universe decides to crap on me and the Cowgirls (that's right, it wasn't a typo) were to make it to the super bowl, no one is permitted to mention the word football again until June...maybe August.

Vanilla Ice Ruined My Life

In the early 90's a hack named Vanilla Ice wrote a song that sounds like the opening to the great Queen song "Under Pressure." Nearly 20 years later, when I hear the beginning of Under Pressure, I think someone has essentially Rick Rolled me with "Ice Ice Baby!" I get confused, I reach to change the station or fix my Pandora feed. EVERY TIME!

"Khaaaaaaan!"

Damn you, Ice!

"To the last, I will grapple with thee... from Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!" - Moby Dick

Play Ball

We're home from Turner Field. It was a wet, but fun time. Our first "real" trip to Atlanta and I never even really saw the skyline. It was too foggy and rainy whenever I looked that way. In fact, I never really saw anything aside from Turner Field & our hotel. We did drive through the Olympic torch site. Maybe if we go back next season, we'll actually spend time seeing Hotlanta.

Anyway, here are some highlights...

Turner Field

Turner Field attempts to merge that throw-back feel with the modern. It does it very well. The entire exterior is the same brick with green metal-works that give you that old-school feel.

Entertainment

The real gem of the park is the entrance area with live entertainment, the best food at the park and the big shops. The BBQ sandwich was really good. Unfortunately, this area has no sight-lines to the ball-field due to the position of the main scoreboard.

Breast Cancer Awareness Night

Saturday night was breast cancer awareness night. Hundreds of survivors took the field and released pink balloons. YES, it made me think of Karen.

The other thing to notice on the above photo is the giant Coke Bottle and Cow. In Philly, we have the Bell. At Turner Field, they have a Cow that does "the Chop" and a really amazing Coke Bottle that lights up, changes colors, displays all sorts of messages & shoots fireworks. I'll still take the Bell.

The turnout Saturday was great. This helped us to experience the full force of "the Chop." When something big happens, the Cow chops, every screen has giant chopping tomahawks, and ever fan chops and chants in unison. It's something to experience. I felt like General Custer.

Of course, the "stranger in a strange land" feeling we got from the Chop was nothing in comparison to when the entire crowd launches into "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" during the 7th-inning stretch.

First Pitch from Our Seats on Sunday

Saturday was fun, but the Phillies lost. Thank goodness for Sunday. The Phillies were aggressive from the get-go. Victorino got himself ejected when he was called out at 2nd. His outburst was in response to a bunch of questionable calls (I checked with iDad, who triple checked the play(s) from home.) The guys were fired up from there.

There was a long rain delay during the 5th inning. Knowing we had a 4-hour drive ahead of us, we were really worried that we would have to leave before the game ended. But, the game resumed just in time for us to get home at 11PM.

Will we go back? Absolutely. I can see us going to a weekend match-up next season. I doubt we'll splurge for the really expensive seats, splurge on dinner at the Chop House or buy Tomahawk beer next time.

Note: This trip was our "It goes up to 11" anniversary present to each other. It's hard to go see a baseball game in November.

Weekend @ Turner Field

Joel, you wanna know something? Every now and then say, "What the fuck." "What the fuck" gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future. - Miles, Risky Business

Miserable 2-weeks here at our house. It started with my feet being a mess, making it hard to walk. (Yes, it's all related to my Fibro.) Then Slick got utterly hammered at work. She even brought the dreaded black bag (the one with the laptop in it) home last weekend. She worked all-day Sunday then followed that up with multiple days of getting up at 5AM to get to work early.

This morning, while looking over the Phillies boxscore from last night, I noticed that they would be at Turner Field all weekend. Miles pops into my head. Before I noticed, the wife and I have hotel reservations across the street from the stadium and really good seats for Saturday & Sunday's games.

Happy early anniversary to us.

I Still Won't Buy Norton, But A Great Ad Campaign

John Stewart is My Hero

Check out last night's Daily Show via Hulu.

He's having this long interview w/ Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is arguing this point about not trusting government to handle issues like the auto industry & social services. John Stewart comes back with...

"The fact that you would trust the government with tanks and neuclear weapons but not to pass out cheese to poor people..."

Thank you John.

Update: John then grilled him on gay marriage. It's awesome. Must see...

Friendship, Video Games & Learning About International Politics

Every now and then I realize just how much I don't know about the world.

Because of my World of Warcraft playing, I know people who live very far away from me. I've played with people who live in Australia, Thailand, Germany, parts of South America, Canada and all across the United States.

After logging in and chatting with people every day for months, conversations move past game-play or idol chit-chat. There are a number of people that I know a great deal about having never met them, seen their faces or even knowing their real names. In game, people become identified by their "main" character. My name is Beroth. Even after switching to a new main character, I'm still Beroth. But, as usual, I digress...

One of these international friends is a guy we call Karthis. Karthis lives in Canada. He and I share a lot of the same passions including politics. We like to chat about stuff a lot including politics. Through these conversations, we've learned that we are not speaking the same language.

I've always liked to consider myself a man of broad, general knowledge. I knew that my understanding of the Canadian Parliamentarian system was limited, but I had no idea just how limited. Even the lingo throws me. Perhaps it's my "American" hubris, but I've had this image of Canada as being more like the 51st state. Yes, I know how that sounded. Karthis' reaction has been similar to mine, although I think he understands more about our politics than I of his. The big issue is terminology. Political parties, ideologies, stances on various issues don't appear to fit into the traditional framework we put on our Republicans and Democrats.

As far as I can tell, Karthis is small government, fiscal conservative but with fairly liberal social viewpoints. His read on me is that I'm a left-leaning centrist. That's generally accurate.

After today's big issue with Parliament, Karthis sent me a link to his favorite political blog, Macleans.ca.

He warned me that the writing would be "somewhat off-the-cuff, but hits on a lot of issues we're struggling through right now." I'll be honest, I'm going to be doing a lot of Wikipedia searches to get through the most resent post. But, I'm trying. It's an opportunity to learn something about a friend, my neighbors to the north and broaden my understanding of the different forms of democracy in this world.

Now, the challenge is for me to send him something. What should it be? Do I simply send him to the NYT OpEd section where I get most of my political commentary? Do I go all out (and show my party loyalty at it's most extreme) and send him the link to Daily Kos? Perhaps I really try and freak him out by sending him to The Huffington Post. Do I explain that I can't stand watching Fox News and get generally frustrated with any news shows. OK, I admit liking Keith Olberman, but he's more for the entertainment factor.

The truth is that I start with the NYT. I skim Daily Kos and then use google new feeds to find interesting stories. When possible I watch PBS to watch the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. I then look for the BBC new service. It gives me a lot of news about us from the outside world's prospective. And, I eventually catch Keith's show on the iPod over breakfast the next morning.

Any way, the change for you, dear readers, is to learn something about something you "thought" you knew but really don't. Let me know how it goes.

No, leave me alone so I can decipher this blog his sent me.

Pathetic

At approximately 11:20 AM EST, it dawned on me that today might, in fact, be November 21st.

One seriously has to question the sanity of someone who can get through the entire morning without realizing it's his birthday.

Sigh!

Star Wars vs Star Trek

This is a follow-up of sorts to my really negative review of the Clone Wars DvD last week.

First up, the new Star Trek movie trailer is up and it's absolutely perfect.

Official Star Trek Trailer

Once in a great while, a trailer comes along that just gets me jacked up for a movie. The first Spiderman movie trailer, the first trailer for Watchmen with the Smashing Pumpkins music as the background, etc.

I am so jacked up about JJAbrams reboot of Star Trek, words can not describe...

But I digress.

So, what does this have to do with Star Wars? I'll let Scott Kurtz do my talking for me.


Sometimes guys like Kurtz, Johnson & Kovalic are able to say things in comics that we would never dare say and yet they just sum up everything in a few comic panels.

Of course, none of these "titans" of online comics do it better than XKCD.

Be Careful What You Say

Several months ago, iDad jokingly challenged me that if I could "deliver" the state of North Carolina for Obama he would pay for a year of lawn care service. For weeks, he would razz me about how he was giving Connecticut to Obama and how if only I could deliver North Carolina then I wouldn't have to worry about my lawn. Then with the economic crisis, the tide started turning. iDad started backpeddling.

And now, with NBC announcing that Obama is the apparent winner in North Carolina, I just have one question.

iDad, when should I expect the work crews? I could really use one more mow and the leaves are starting to fall.

Remembering Karen

Posey & MrsKnew (the real power behind the throne) are participating in the Philadelphia 3-day walk for a cure in just a few weeks.

A few weeks ago, Slick and I were visiting with my inlaws and their friends at the beach. The one day everyone was sitting around watching sports and reading books when I overheard the Queen and some of her friends talking about someone they knew who has breast cancer. Sitting there, reading my book, thoughts of Karen suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to force myself to swallow the tears and keep reading.

Since then, thoughts of Karen keep hitting me. Out of nowhere I've been remembering visiting her in the hospital like it was yesterday instead of last year. I think about settling into our dorm sophomore year. I think about Karen's laughing down the hall. I think about how close we are to Halloween. I pray that we find a cure so no more families have to go without a wife and mother.

Please support your local Breast Cancer fundraisers.

Slick recently switched to Yoplait and is saving her lids.

Also, check out Army Of Women.org. It was featured on the Oct 1 broadcast of the Nightly News with Brian Williams. It's a place where healthy women can sign up to become potential breast cancer study volunteers.

As my sister is apt to say, God's peace ya'll!

Catching Up On XKCD After Vacation

Always remember to use the "prev" function on XKCD when you come home from vacation. Otherwise, you can miss great moments of blasphemy.

XKCD, it's not just a web comic, it's cathartic.

The Sound of Silence

Posey just emailed me asking why I haven't posted in nearly 2 weeks. I was admittedly confused at first. I haven't written anything since the 12th? WTF? I looked in my notebook & my google documents folder. Not much there either. Usually, I have scraps of story ideas or blog post ideas.

The lack of posts hasn't been intentional. Honestly, I just lost track time. Nothing noteworthy has occurred in my life. I swear, I'm in limbo this month. It's been alternating between too hot or too rainy to work in the yard. I've been in too much pain or too much fatigue to get into any significant projects. There hasn't been anything in the news that has made me just rush to the computer and type.

I have been reading a lot, but it's mostly Cooking Light, Marvel Digital Comics, Blogs. No real books. I can post about these activities, I just haven't been...for no apparent reason. The most interesting stuff has been occurring with my World of Warcraft crew, but that's not a soap-opera I care to write about right now. Yes, large disfunctional social group dynamics are blog-worthy, but no...

So, there you have it. Not much of an excuse for those of you who are on the constant go.

A Pocket Full of Posey

Another one of my college crew has started a personal blog about life, family and walking in memory of Karen. I didn't want to pressure her so I haven't added her to my blogroll. But, she's been posting for several weeks and it looks like she's serious. So, here's my official shout-out to her! She's one of my dearest friends and a lot smarter than I am. If she keeps it up, she'll probably have a better blog than mine.

Keep it up!

A Pocket Full of Posey

On the Road Again

Random road observations...

If a small truck pulls into the left lane going 5-10 miles under the speed limit and can't pass the large truck, thus backing up traffic behind me, how many miles should I wait before I pour it on and thread the needle between them? 1 mile? 2 miles? 5 miles? And should I present my finger against the window or out the window?

French Canadian School Buses spawn in Georgia and then migrate north up I81 to Ontario in groups of 6-12. I passed them twice (doggy-rest stop breaks) and I've already forgotten the French word for stop.

Southern cars form packs. The fast moving cars move in groups of three or four and like to travel at about 90 mph. The rest form herds in an attempt to avoid VA state troopers. Large trucks seem to survive the heat of mid-day by gathering in large numbers at watering holes also known as "rest areas." These rules all disappear at the PA border. In PA, all cars become autonomous creatures in a no-holds-barred, survival of the fittest, drive at your own pace war of wills.

Every time I pass exit 245 on I81 in Virginia, I must resist the urge to pull into the Starbucks there and inform them that their hours suck! How the hell can a Starbucks in a college town be closed at 10:30pm on a Thursday? Do they have any idea the pain they inflicted on me? I need closure, dammit!

$50 a tank! If every gas station for the last 200 miles in Virginia charges $3.699 for regular, how is this not price-fixing?

By driving the speed limit (+5), I can improve the Escape's gas mileage to nearly 28 mpg (Rating of 22/26 mpg). Also, in an amazing coincidence, by driving the speed limit (+5) for 9 hours, I learned the real reason I don't carry a gun.

To the three "Ugly Betty" in the compact car....Yes, my dog is cute. Yes, the "Green Linen Shirt" t-shirt is a World of Warcraft reference. Yes, we've seen each other at two separate rest-stops. Yes, we've passed each other a few times. It's because I'm driving slow to conserve gas and your POS can't go any faster. Please, stop looking over at me. I'm about to throw-up in my mouth...wait, too late.

To the guy in the old Camry...If you would hang up your phone, you may have notice that your lane-changing obsession got you nowhere for 30 minutes. That's why I stopped letting you pass me. I was sorry to see you get off the road, I hope the phone call went well after we parted ways.

Based on the billboards along the Pennsylvania turnpike, I've learned that citizens of the keystone state are deeply concerned about puppy mills, lemon laws & finding hotels. There is also a clear misunderstanding of the importance of juvenile detention centers & social workers. Clearly, the citizenry of this great commonwealth have grown in my absence.

Here's Your Sign

Remember my post from last month about the Church Sign in my town? Well, here's something to help you visualize. Thanks to Crash for making me this. Sorry I didn't check that email address sooner.

Here's the site he used: Church Sign Generator

Does this make the devil a toaster?

"Without the Bread of Life We Are Toast!"
Quoted from the front sign of my local Freewill Baptist Church

Alternative Post Titles:
- Things I dare my sister to say in a sermon.
- Butter me up because I'm goin' straight to hell!
- What unspeakable things do I have to do to become French Toast?
- Ooooo...I have to worship there next Sunday!
- But I'm on a Gluten-Free diet!

Frankly, I should have hired the guy who writes Overheard in Philly to come up with a better title...oh well...

The Duhks

The Duhks

I caught a bit of a PBS special the other week about a Bluegrass festival. During the interviews a lot of the participants were asked about the other bands and which they enjoyed. The Duhks came up several times. I'm a huge fan of folk music and love bands that use "traditional" sounds from all over. I tend to not like when the sound gets too country or too glossy-pop. The Dukhs totally keep the sounds folksy and I love their style.

This excerpt from their bio page is spot on:

"...Duhks-alone blend of soul, gospel, North American folk, Brazilian samba, old time country string band, zydeco, and Irish dance music, and the attack they bring to these interwoven acoustic styles—which might as well be called sheer rock and roll."

It's like someone took all my favorite musical styles and all of Slick's favorite musical styles, tossed in some samba and made a band.

They came up on my "Wailin' Jennys" Pandora rotation the other day. I liked the song so much I clicked the iTunes link and got a copy. (Christmas iTunes money FTW!) Luck would be with me for once because I also found a copy of "Your Daughters & Your Sons" in the CD collection at my regional library. Slick fell in love with them instantly and has taken the CD from me...Typical!

Not that I didn't download the music to my iPod already...no, I would never do that!

Apparently, they are regulars at MerleFest. It's not far from here. Someday, I'll be healthy this time of year. I know Slick would love to go. I've already noticed that Ollabelle will be there this year and Slick really likes them. It's so tempting!

My Dirty Little Secret

My dirty little secret? I'm a complete sap. I get "misty" in those touching scenes in my action movies. You know the ones. Like in Best of the Best when a battered Dae Han offers himself as Tommy's replacement brother...it's just so *sniff* touching! :-D

Even more so, I'm a hopeless romantic. Hey, I wish everyone can find their soul mate like I did! Even fictional people. So, when I loaded today's For Better Or For Worse, I was gratified to see that Anthony finally proposed to Elizabeth! I am a long-time reader and have been pulling for them. Even after Anthony got married and Elizabeth met the pilot, I secretly hoped.

For Better or For Worse: Anthony Proposes