No way

Oh man, I had this whole huge thing typed up for my top ten list, it took me long 45 minutes and then it just disappeared. I am mad. I don't have the time or energy to type it up now so I think I might give it another go tonight.
Stupid internet.

Long Week

I have been really busy, so I haven't had much time to post except while at work... shhh don't tell anyone.

I wanted to post a link to this article by the Sports Guy (Bill Simmons). It might be the funnies thing I have ever read. The MJ story at the end is classic. Check it out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060220

I will be back later with Top Ten Thursday.
I have off tomorrow so I might post a little more tomorrow too.

Untitled

The long days and late nights
are only a distraction
the busy work of life.
My thoughts are what keep me turning in bed
Times crawls as the seconds fly off the clock.
And the only thing I know
is that the person I was
is a shell of who I am.
Don't give me a second thought
because we both know how the first one ended.

Top Ten Reasons You Should Watch Curling.

In honor of the Winter Olympics I thought I would do something Olympic-related. So this week's top ten list is:

Top Ten Reasons You Should Watch Curling...

10) You need stones to play.

9) Because you can trick your girlfriend into thinking it is a hair styling competition.

8) Bode Miller has never ever curled.

7) You get to watch a bunch of olympians try to swiffer the ice.

6) In curling, "You must protect this HOUSE!"

5) The only gruesome crashes in curling involve two big rocks hitting each other.

4) You want to be prepared for the newest reality TV series, "Curling with the Stars".

3) No one really knows the rules so you can impress your friends by throwing out terms like: weight, hammer, and end.

2) Curling was the basis for one of the most successful Canadian movies ever. Wait, maybe that's a reason not to watch curling.

1) Curling Hotties!

A Long Week

Well it has been a week since I last meandered into blogville. It has been an interesting week. I had my first test of the semester which went quite well. Valentine's day also passed. It was an interesting day to say the least. I will leave you with one story from the day. I decided I wanted to give blood since there was blood drive running in the student center and I haven't donated in about a year. My blood type is O-negative so I know it is important to donate often. But I digress, so I sit down and do the whole pre-donation screening and what not. Pass with flying colors as usual. Then the screener asks me if I want to donate using the Alyx machine. I said sure why not. I wasn't really sure what that meant. So I started asking some questions and found out that the Alyx machine takes twice as many red blood cells as a normal (whole blood) donation but gives me back my plasma and platelets. It does this by taking my blood, centrifuging it and then pumping the other stuff back in. Seems fine to me, I saw several other people on the machine.
So I finally get hooked up and the machine starts beeping. The technician/nurse (whatever she is) hits the machine and some buttons and it starts going again. It continues like this with the machine beeping every 15 seconds or so for the next 3-4 minutes. I asked if anything was wrong and she said no. Then a minute later she asks if I had been drinking a lot. I explained to her that I just ate lunch and drank a bottle of gatorade. She then informs me that I am dehydrated and is going to get me some saline. As soon as she turns around my arm starts throbbing and I look down and see my arm puff up like there is a golf ball chilling in my arm. I start calling to her like so "Ow, Ow, OW OW", she turns around and says "you are done" and pulls the needle out of my arm. I immediately get very dizzy and sick to my stomach. She then lays me down and that helped. After about five minutes I started to feel better. The nurse informed me that my vein had collapsed.
I was pretty nervous and embarrassed from the situation and started asking questions about whether I should be aware of anything health related for the rest of the day. She said, "no, just take five minutes over there just like normal." I was still worried and asked if I should do anything. She replied, "Well you could start working out so your veins will get nice and big." I think in my head, gee thanks you... witch. She then says, "Well, let's take a look at your right arm and see if we can do a whole blood donation." My response was "I really don't want to give blood anymore today." This seemed to catch her off guard... I am not sure why, and she said I was done. So I walked over to the food/drink table grabbed 3 gatorades and many cookies and chowed down. I wasn't going to be dehydrated anymore.
But that was how it happened. And I have a killer bruise. Nice and purple and large. Oh well, I have donated at least a dozen times with no problems and then on Valentine's day I try to give blood and fail. That has to mean something right?

Anyway, that's it for now. I will return shortly with the Top Ten list for this week, and it has something to do with the Olympics, that's all I am saying.

Terror Thwarted?

If you are watching the news tonight you know that President Bush proceeded to inform the nation that a terrorist attack that was scheduled to take place in Los Angeles was thwarted. Of course, the interesting thing is that, the plan was scheduled for 2002. Also, the Los Angeles mayor has said that he has known about this plan as long as the US government has and he was also very surprised to find out that President Bush was revealing the information that he did, today during a press conference.

It is very obvious what this is all about. This is a blatant attempt to swing public opinion. Now, I am not naive enough to think that this doesn't happen all the time. I know that many political person release certain information at crucial times whether to influence voters, public opinion or to damage opponents in election times. However, for some reason this particular incident really hit me. It really struck a nerve. I think that this is more of a dissappointment. I have always been a strong Bush supporter. I have never felt like he was an ideal president but I always felt that he was a capable one. I think he has handled many situations in a rational matter however I am starting to doubt him.

I am really starting to worry about our nation as a whole. We are spending wildly on a war that does not have a clear end. We are viewed as villians by the rest of the world. The budget deficit and national debt are spiraling out of control. Now, I know that the deficit and national debt are not major problems, but at some point if the current trend continues, they are going to be. Social Security is still an issue, as is education and Medicare. I know that most people my age despise our government and its actions. I know that most people my age consider the term "Republican" an insult. I have never been one of those people, despite my feelings that most politicians were corrupt, I always had confidence in the system of checks and balances.
However, I feel that now more than ever we are really reaching a crossroads as a nation. There is no plan for the future and our attention is being tied up overseas. We need to focus on the US and figure out what is going on over here, or there could end up being some real problems in the future. Hopefully, something will change.

Top Ten Reasons...

Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Watch the Arrested Development mini-marathon/Series Finale Extravaganaza.

10) You could use a mini-marathon to prepare for the newly formed World Marathon Majors Series.

9) A Friday night out on the town just doesn't sound like that much fun.

8) To watch the end of the only show to ever win the Best Comedy Emmy and not last five years.

7) Gob's magic background music is everyone's favorite 80's hit "The Final Countdown". Fitting song isn't it.

6) Parts of the mini-marathon were filmed in Iraq... or they take place in Iraq.

5) Because I am asking you nicely.

4) The new TV you just bought will only tune in to Fox for some strange reason.

3) Watching the dysfunctional Bluths will make you feel better about your dysfunctional family.

2) You are a rebel and everyone else will be watching the Opening Ceremonies.

AND the number one reason...

1) Because it's the funniest show on television, ever... ever ever ever.

Moving Along

So I am back again. A couple quick things.
First, Arrested Development is returning to TV this Friday night from 8PM to 10PM. It is a four episode mini-marathon. This would normally call for celebration however, these four episodes might be the last Arrested Development episodes to hit the small screen ever. Fox President Peter Liguori has been non-committal in his support for the show never explicitly stating it has been cancelled. However, this last ditch effort will not be enough to save the show as 8PM to 10PM on this Friday night is also the time slot of the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. After these four episodes air and Mr. Liguori finally cancels the show the fate of the show will essentially be up to Showtime. ABC has shown interest but doesn't believe it is feasible to pick up the show. Showtime has made an offer to 20 Century Fox (AD's production company) that would include 2 full 13 episode seasons, however that offer hinges on Creator Mitch Hurwitz's involvement in the show. Hurwitz is currently debating whether or not he wants to continue the show. So all you loyal Arrested Development fans out there, after this Friday it is unfortunetly a waiting game. I will keep you updated as I find out anything else.

The second thing I wanted to talk about is the Memory Olympics. Now I don't know how many of you know this but I compete in a little event called the Memory Olympics, or I believe the proper title now is the US Memory Championships. You can check out the event's website here. The USMC have had trouble picking up interest but in the past three to four years media interest has picked up as has the number of competitors. This year marks another step forward for this event. Mark Cuban has decided to provide some press for the event. The second half of the USMC will be televised LIVE on Mark Cuban's own HDnet TV channel. I don't have it on my cable stations so I can only guess what it is like but I would have to imagine some of you with digital cable out there have it. I am very excited to compete and also very nervous. Live TV sounds very nerve-wracking.
This year's event is going to take place in New York City on Saturday March 11th. I believe the live telecast is supposed to take place from 3:30-5:30 PM however if the event goes long HDnet will be staying with the USMC till its conclusion. I will provide more details as I come across them and will give a more detailed rundown of the event as March 11th gets closer. I am also thinking about doing a little diary for the event and posting it up here. Might be fun. We will see.
I guess that's it for now. Until tomorrow, where I hope to bring back Top Ten Thursdays.

Other Comments

In continuation of my super blog I have a couple more football comments then some thoughts about the commercials... and then maybe some bonus thoughts at the end.

Mike Holmgren was walking off the field at halftime yelling at the refs. What he should have been doing is figuring out how he screwed up managing the clock at the end of the half so it wouldn't happen again. And sure enough, he screwed up the clock management at the end of the game. You have to kick the 40ish yard FG with 42 seconds left. Your team needs two scores and you have to give yourself enough time to get down the field. You can always throw a hail mary to try and get within a 2 point conversion if you have the ball. And if you don't recover the onside kick it doesn't matter anyway because the game is over. The play calling was terrible too. The short passes inbounds. Terrible game management. If I was a Seahawks fan that is what I would be yelling about not the refs.

Onto what I am sure is some people's favorite part of the Super Bowl; the commercials.
Now I love funny. I have come to the realization in life that all I really want to do is just sit back, relax and laugh a lot. Well the SB commercials definitely appealed to me. The comedy was there and it was booming. Bud Light/Budweiser was right on in all it's commercials. The office, revolving fridge, streaker, bear, stadium beer pour were all awesome. I also thought the Clydesdale horse commercial was nice too.
The caveman Fed Ex commercial started off slow but was awesome. I loved how the caveman walks out of the cave kicks the little dinosaur and then gets stepped on by the big one.
The MacGyver MasterCard commercial was awesome. I enjoyed the first part, but at the end when they showed him buying all the random things like he knew he would need them had me rolling.
I have to admit, I was expecting more from the Emerald Nuts people. It seemed a little too far out even for them.
The Ameriquest "Don't judge too quickly" commercials were very solid.
I enjoyed the Sierra Mist commercial with Kathy Griffin and Michael Ian Black.
Some more random SB thoughts:
ABC ran multiple bumpers for Grey's Anatomy and they kept talking about this code black. All of the sudden I needed to know what a code black was... It was driving me crazy, but not crazy enough to watch the show, nice try though ABC.
Who the hell comes up with these horrible signs. "Absolute Bettis Championship". I know it has the acronym ABC, but come on. This was the best that the camera men could find? And whoever was holding that up... her family or friends didn't say anything to her? If someone I knew was going to bring in one of those crappy signs with that terrible saying on it, I would sure as hell stop them. Unless of course her family and friends are mean and wanted her to look foolish on national TV. Although, they probably didn't imagine she would make it on TV with that bad boy so maybe they just all didn't want to be the bearers of bad news. Oh well, joke's on her.
Well I think that's it. I will post this now and then come back in a little bit with some more random thoughts as well as something huge that is happening on Friday. Stay tuned.

Super Blog

In honor of the event that is the Super Bowl I thought I would post my quick-hitting thoughts about the game and television event in general.

Well for the game itself, it was rather boring. There was a couple big plays, a couple big penalties and a whole lot of drops, sloppy throws, and otherwise hesitant and feeble gameplay. A majority of Pittsburgh's offense came on three plays: A reverse option, a broken play hail mary type heave, and a 75 yard burst by Willie Parker that may or may not have been sprung by excellent blocking by Alan Faneca (more on this later). The Seahawks were able to move the ball decently. But like I mentioned above there were some crucial penalties. There were also a lot of drops. Darrell Jackson who burst onto the scene with 5 catches in the first quarter disappeared for the rest of the game and Jerramy Stevens looked like he thought the Super Bowl was and Elementary School Recess game of Hot Potato, maybe he can call up Rick Moranis and work on the toilet paper drill. Shaun Alexander ended up with 95 yards but it never really looked like he was a factor further cementing his rep for disappearing in big games. He is definitely not the MVP. Josh Brown missed 2 FG's that were by no means gimmies. He barely missed them but had he converted at least one of them it is a very different game at the end.

Big Ben Roethlisberger did his best Tommy Maddox impression and changed the whole game with his floating interception to "just off the scrap heap" Kelly Herndon. 17-3 becomes 14-10 very quickly. The whole back of the end zone was open and all Big Ben had to do was loft the ball to the back corner however he thought better of it. Jerome Bettis was really a non-factor with a measley 43 yards on 14 carries. Hines Ward got the MVP because, well, someone had to.

I have heard and read many sports reporters talking about how the Seahawks were robbed. I really have to disagree. While sitting through the whole game I never really felt like the Seahawks got the short end of the penalty stick. I feel that the Darrell Jackson offensive pass interference call was justified; you can't push off like that, it has to be called. The Sean Locklear holding call in the 4th quarter was obvious to me, I was screaming at the TV as it happened. The only call that was questionable in my mind was the holding call on Ettric Pruitt that negated Peter Warrick's 34 yard punt return early in the game. However, the Seahawks had more than enough opportunities to put the game away early and just misfired on every try.
Oh, and to those of you who argue that big games like this should not be decided by the officials and that would argue how can an official make that kind of call in this kind of game, I say bullocks. A penalty is a penalty no matter when or where it happens. In the preseason, regular season, playoffs, or Super Bowl. You can't change the rules for big games or in crunch time. Sure, the saying "let the players decide the game" has a nice ring to it, but you know what, the players do decide the game. If they commit a penalty, they have to bear the consequences regardless of the game situation. I never bought into this whole officials should swallow their whistles in crucial games/game situations. It doesn't make any sense.

Other Issues I had with the game:
John Madden said Matt Hasselback and Big Ben were the coolest quarterbacks in the history of the Super Bowl. This was quite a leap if you ask me. And what exactly does coolest mean? Were they the big man on campus in college and HS? That assertion had me rolling for a bit.
Antwaan Randle El got hurt in the 2nd quarter and was writhing around on the ground for some time. He left the game and we never heard anything about it. He randomly appeared back in the game in the 3rd quarter with no mention by Al Michaels, John Madden, or either of the unnecessary sideline reporters. This really bothered me.
After Willie Parker's 75 yard record-setting jaunt Madden proceeded to gush over the excellence of pulling left guard by Alan Faneca. After Madden said Faneca 6 times in 25 seconds we finally see a replay where it looked like Faneca made a standard kick-out block. Granted, he flattened the linebacker but that is generally what happens when a running 325 pound man hits a stationary 250 pounder. Nice block yes, but the real reason for the run was Seattle's defensive alignment of its safeties. Michael Boulware got caught inside and third stringer Ettric Pruitt missed Parker by taking a terrible angle. Watch it again, especially you John Madden.
Well, that is about it for the game, like I said it really was a terrible game. Horribly boring. I have some comments about the commercials and such but I have to get heading home, look for another quick post tonight.
Until next time...