Ramblings

Last night I determined it is time to upgrade my iPod. I'm pleased with my Nano, but I bought it thinking I would have no problem keeping just a 1000 songs that I wouldn't tire of listening to. I don't know what I was thinking. I've found myself trying to decide which great song I should not import to my Nano. It's like picking a favorite child. I have 20 GB of music and still have a bunch of old old CD's I've been too lazy to import. I think I need the 80 GB so I will have no room for error.

Do we really need Jessica Simpson to tell us that Direct TV has HD programming broadcast in 1080i? Maybe. But not once every hour.

Yesterday morning I was listening to Bob Costas on The Dan Patrick Show. Something needs to be done to get Costas back to announcing baseball games. He does a great job with the Olympics and the NFL, but he belongs doing baseball. NBC needs to loosen their contract or something so Costas can do baseball. This needs to happen.

I received my first Christmas gift of the season yesterday. It's monogrammed and for the first time I realized that with the initial of my last name in the middle, it spells "bId." I don't know how I feel about that.

You know. We don't need Jessica Simpson telling us that Direct TV broadcasts HD in 1080i.

This weekend is the first north London derby of the season between my Tottenham Spurs and the hated Arsenal. This match up is like Red Sox vs. Yankees or OSU vs. Michigan. This being my first season as a Tottenham supporter, I'm really looking forward to seeing this match. Unfortunately it's showing on some channel I don't receive. It's also at 4:30 in the morning out here, so there won't be any bars open to go see it. Sigh.

One negative thing about Christmas in LA is the response you get when you "accidentally" wish someone a Merry Christmas. Is there any other phrase wishing someone well in which people react like you just called their mother a whore? I realize "Happy Holidays" is the correct term to use, but I've had a difficult time adjusting and "Merry Christmas" slips out every now and then. I'm still wishing you people well, so please don't take such offense to it. Do you respond the same way at holiday parties when "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" plays? Do you only listen to Holiday Carolers? Ok, so nobody in their right mind would go door to door singing carols in LA. Still, can't you give me a little leeway? I'm trying to adjust to your nonspecific LA way of life.

This ad for a computer part is inappropriate in so many ways. (Taken from 1up.com)

Earlier this week it was colder here than it was in Ohio. Ridiculous.

Heroes has become my favorite show on TV. I'd also like to thank Veronica Mars for hopefully turning a corner and resolving the campus rape arch. It's was a tense and sub par beginning of the season. I hope this means a return to classic Veronica for the rest of the season.

Finally, Bobby and I killed one of the most disgusting bugs I've seen in my life. The bug was a Jerusalem cricket. It's huge, ugly, and took half a can of Raid to kill. Afterward, I did research to find out what kind of bug it was and came across some expert that was looking for live specimens. I immediately felt guilty for killing it. I ended up sending him pictures, and telling him that I found it already dead. Yes, I lied out of guilt. I warn you the following picture could easily give you a bad case of the willies.

Regret #239

Back in 1986, my father, brother, and I moved back to Columbus from South Carolina. My father got a job teaching, so we were finally moving out of Bob Jones country. The day we moved was a fairly memorable day. Everybody we knew was there helping us load up the truck. I walked the woods one last time. Jill kissed me goodbye in the storage closet in the back of the house. But we also left something behind. I remember making one quick walk through the house to see if I forgot anything. The first thing I noticed sitting there in the living room was the stereo console. I asked my father why we hadn't packed it yet. He said there wasn't any room, so we were leaving it. What?! This has been with us forever. This is what I listened to The Music Machine on. What about the Manheim Steamroller LP's Dad always listened to? We're taking the lawnmower but not the stereo? Even with all my questions I should have fought more to take it with us. I miss that old console stereo and the warm sound that would come from the speakers. Why didn't we keep it?

This regret has lead to me browsing craigslist every now and then to see if someone is selling one. Unfortunately we are in the day where Antique Roadshow and other programs have made everyone scared that they are going to make a mistake and sell something for the fraction of the cost. This means the cheapest solid build consoles are going for $400 at least out here. When you factor in the repairs and upkeep that will be needed it just isn't in my budget yet. Besides I sold all my LP's to afford to move out here. (Regret #361-Selling the LP's. Not the moving out here). Some day though it will happen. Maybe when I have kids, I can buy one. Then we can sit and listen to The Music Machine together, while we look at the pictures.

How I Spent My Time During the Days of Nov. 22nd to Nov. 26th (Some Call it Thanksgiving Weekend)

For the first time in awhile I actually left the warm confines of LA for Thanksgiving. Since I am going to Maine for Christmas, I went to Ohio to spend time with my Dad, Ben I. and Jaime, and of course Evie and Moira. Here's a little breakdown of how things went.

Lesson #1: When your 70+ British taxi driver asks you if you are in the medical profession there is no correct answer. Either answer will result in you stuck listening to him go on about how he has problems with his bowels and how he finally got some medicine for it, but the problem is that the medicine he's taking is now leading to a burning sensation in his groin that makes sitting very difficult. Even though I answered his first question with a "no," he still asks for my advice. My advice: "Man, I don't know. Try a different medicine?" (Read the previous line in your best Dal voice for the best effect.) Thankfully, he took that as wise advice and changed the subject to some cute blond he took to the airport earlier.

Lesson #2: If you are flying out of LAX the weekend of Thanksgiving, the best time to arrive is Wednesday around 10 am. I've left at numerous times for Thanksgiving and it's usually always resulted in an hour plus wait just to get through security. Wed. at 10 am it took my twenty minutes from being dropped off to sitting at my gate.

It might have had something to do with me flying on Continental, who deserve "big ups!" for not charging me for lunch or headphones. This was one of the best flights I've ever had. Well, except for the tubby I was sitting next to that had no concept of personal space. At this point though I now expect to always sit next to this person. Am I the only one that sizes up the people waiting to board and ranks them in order of who I want to sit next to? I have never sat next to number one on my list. Number one on my list this time was Jaclyn Smith. She still looks fantastic. No, I didn't get to sit next to her.

Weather in Ohio is always a crapshoot. You really have no idea what you are going to get from one day to the next. Thankfully, it was unseasonably warm for the two days I was there. It was nice having two days of that perfect autumn weather.

Ben, Jaime, and the girls couldn't come till Friday, so Thursday was basically all comfort food (grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, etc.) and football. A perfect lazy day.

So Friday was our Thanksgiving. Dad cooked up the family standard duck, stuffing, biscuits, etc. The rest of the evening was spent playing restaurant and Legos. The big bombshell of the evening though was when Evie stated that she no longer liked the color green. Green has been Evie's color of choice for a long time. Green was such a favorite of Evie's that nearly every Christmas gift she got last year came in the color green. Her new favorites are purple and pink. The rest of the family should really take note of this. Green seems to no longer be a color choice for Evie.

Saturday I flew home. America West could learn a few things from Continental. Is there a more depressing airport than Las Vegas? Detroit comes close.

The rest of the long weekend was spent seeing Deja Vu with Bobby. Bobby liked it more than I did, but it's a well executed sci-fi action film. Very enjoyable.

So Christmas is now coming down the pipe. This means Christmas shopping in between research questions, and putting up the little Christmas tree I took down only three months ago. Sigh.

Rambling to Exhale

This was a pretty good sports weekend for me.

First THE Ohio State Buckeyes survived against archrival Michigan in a game that actually lived up to the hype. I thought it was nice of the Buckeyes to torment me during the whole game by keeping Michigan in the game with two unforced turnovers. For three plus hours my heart was racing like a teenager before his first kiss. The Buckeyes though did triumph in a suprising shootout 42-39. Did you hear that the numbers for the Ohio Lottery picked after the game was 4-2-3-9. How freaky is that? Apparently, the lottery lost money because so many people played those numbers after the game.

The big question now is if there should be a rematch between these rivals for the National Championship. I will agree that Michigan is clearly the second best team in the nation. I don't really think there is a team that comes close to beating either of these teams. But, I don't think the way college football season works that there should be a rematch. Ohio State beat Michigan so why should they have to face them again unless they would allow for a rematch if Michigan would happen to win? Of course the only team that would really deserve to play Ohio State over Michigan would be USC, but they would have to win their last two games. So, really it will be either USC or Michigan probably.

The other big sport happening this weekend was that the Cubs actually spent money...a lot of money. The Cubs signed the biggest free agent hitter available, Alfonso Soriano. This is after they re-signed Aramis Ramirez. This is what happens when the GM knows his job is on the line. The Cubs have never spent this kind of money in the free agent market. They usually always go for what is considered the better "deal." Their inability to sign Furcal last year being the lastest evidence of their thinking. Now, Hendry realizes this year can save his job so he's convinced the Tribune to open the checkbook. Also, that report indicating the White Sox have exceeded the Cubs in popularity helped too. Clearly I'm not really complaining. This move gives the Cubs a solid line-up of.

Alfonso Soriano -- .277, 46 HR, 95 RBI (2006)
Cesar Izturis -- .288, 62 RBI, 25 SB (2004)
Derrek Lee -- .335, 46 HR, 107 RBI (2005)
Aramis Ramirez -- .291, 38 HR, 119 RBI (2006)
Jacque Jones -- .285, 27 HR, 81 RBI (2006)
Michael Barrett -- .307, 16 HR, 53 RBI (2006)
Mark DeRosa -- .296, 13 HR, 74 RBI (2006)
Matt Murton -- .297, 13 HR, 62 RBI (2006)
(From the Cubs website)

I'd actually switch DeRosa and Izturis in the batting order, but I can handle that. Now we just need a couple more starting pitchers, and I might be hesitantly excited that the Cubs might contend next season.

How great is that opening action set piece in the new Bond?

I'm going to go ahead and say that Gears of War is better than Halo in my opinion. Fanboys can begin attacking me...now.

At 2:09 pm PST on 11/20/2006 I shook Ronnie Wood's hand. And I think I broke his wrist.

Why can't insects be smart enough to know better than to enter people's homes? Also, why haven't we evolved to the point where we secret pheromones that ward off bugs. You'd think that would be first on the evolution check list.

I think I want to create my own TV show just so I can put songs I like in it.

Who knew Carson Daly still had a show? Oooh! Tom Green and Fiona Apple! It's like a MTV reunion circa 1999.

Clearly this is the end of this post.

O-H-I-O!

Born Scarlet and Grey

For most sports fans and even for some that aren't there is a sports team that you are born into. It's a team that you have no choice in rooting for. The team that while a kid your father, mother, or both points out that they are the "good guys" on the TV. The fact that they are the good guys is only reinforced when you see the joy on your parents' faces when they do well. You smile too even though you have no concept of the sport. Your parents throw parties surrounding these "good guys." You get to eat the stuff your Mom usually won't allow when these "good guys" are on the TV. You really had no choice in the matter. This is your team. I love my Cubs, but the team in my blood is The Ohio State Buckeyes.

I think it all began when my grandfather went to OSU and played clarinet (or was it the oboe) for The Best Damn Band In The Land. I pretty sure this was the only time you were allowed to use the word "damn" in my family. Before I could even speak I was being initiated into becoming a Buckeye.Clearly, I had no choice. This began when my family lived in Georgia. Once we moved to Columbus when I was two, it was all over. I was a Buckeye. In the early years your education begins. You learn to say "Buckeye." "Hang on Sloopy" is the song you first learn. Screw "YMCA" you learn to sign O-H-I-O. Maize and blue are the colors the "bad guys" wear. Michigan is where the "bad guys" come from. Your friends all love the Buckeyes. Their parents love the Buckeyes. You get to play with all your friends when the Buckeyes play. The Buckeyes happen after cartoons. And that The Ohio State Buckeyes T-shirt becomes your favorite shirt.Look at that joy on my face. It's the shirt, and I wore that shirt all the time.

The thing is my parents deserve credit equally in training me to be a Buckeye. My father is the one that taught me the game. He taught me the players names. He taught my that you are a Buckeye no matter where you live. This was demonstrated to me when we moved to South Carolina after my parents divorced. The first thing he did when we moved into our new house was paint it. What did he paint it?Yes, he painted it grey with scarlet colored doors. The thing is he painted it in like 1981, and it was still this color in 1993. This is in the heart of Clemson country too.

My Mom on the other hand I think instilled my passion for the Buckeyes. My Mom didn't really care about sports as a whole except for the Buckeyes. There was nothing like listening to my Mom shout "Go! Go! Go!" as a player would make a big play. That would be quickly followed by a gleeful laugh, followed by an "Alright!" or a "Wow!" How many people get to call their mothers and talk football? Well, I could when it came to the Buckeyes. Before I moved out here to California, I spent the winter at my Mom's. My job at the time was working at one of The Buckeye Corner stores. You can imagine my Mom's excitement that she could now get 20% of Buckeye apparel.

So, I was born to be a Buckeye which leads up to perhaps the biggest game in my life as a Buckeye. The current top two are the 1997 Rose Bowl against Arizona State (There was a jewelery box at the Buckeye Corner that played the radio calls of famous plays in Buckeye History. I would keep opening and closing it till it played the game winning play in that Rose Bowl.) and of course the 2003 Fiesta Bowl where the Buckeyes won the National Championship in double OT.

The game this weekend though is one of the biggest game's in the history of sports greatest rivalry. You can try right now to come up with a better rivalry but you will come up with one that are either too short or too one sided. Simply known as "The Game," Ohio State and Michigan will meet for the first time ranked #1 and #2 in the nation. In many experts opinions this is basically the game that will decide the National Champion. All the ridiculous hype (Game of the Century? Please.) and the general consensus that the Buckeyes will win has had me nervous since Sunday about this game. You see the history of this rivalry shows that usually the team with less to lose usually wins this game. The problem is that they are both undefeated and both are playing for the right to play for the National Championship. So they both have the exact same thing to lose. How can anyone make a guess on how this will turn out? I'm too superstitious to make any claims about this game.

What I will say is: Please don't call me between 12:00 and 4:00pm. If the Buckeyes happen to lose, you probably want to wait till Sunday.

A Question:

What if Arnold Schwarzenegger sued Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) for not only stealing his act, but for also doing it poorly because Arnold has never broken character for over four decades and convinced people to vote him into office...twice?

Hanging With My Nerdies

For those who have a life, you might not be aware that a huge game was released Tuesday for the Xbox 360 called Gears of War. According to the hype machine this is the killer game that we have been waiting for. This is the game that fanboys would reference to prove how much better their system is. This is the game that represents true next gen video game. This is the game of 2007...apparently. Being easily persuaded by hype I thought I should probably get this game.

So, Tuesday night I went over to my local EB Games to "run in" and pick up the game. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one suckered by the hype because to my dismay there was a pretty big line winding out of the store and past the Chipotle next door. Now I have waited in lines like this twice in my life. Both times it was for an actual video game system on launch day, but never for just a video game. Since I have no life (It's not like I have to drive to Long Beach. Ha! Have I mentioned it only takes me ten minutes max to get home? I never have to even get on the freeway. I actually go the long way to work sometimes just to laugh at those sitting in traffic on the freeway. This will never get old.) Anyway, I waited in line for 45 minutes to pick up the Gears of War game.

Let me just say you can learn a lot waiting in line with a bunch of nerds. For example, the guy who got in line behind me showed off his limited edition Gears of War T-shirt. Yes there were people in line who got a little green with envy at this kid. Now to get this T-shirt he went to see an early screening the movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning where he also got to play the game for about five minutes. He bragged very much that he got to play the game before everyone else. Think about that for minute. He had to sit through a Michael Bay produced prequel to a remake (also produced by Michael Bay) and all he got was a T-shirt and five to ten minutes with a video game. I don't know if the glee in broadcasting this is the really sad part, or those that were actually impressed in the really sad part. No, maybe it was me still waiting in line.

The rest of my wonderful time was spent listening to people bragging that they got a PS3 or Wii preorder, and about the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 coming out in late 2007 that actually comes with a Master Chief helmet. A Master Chief Helmet! Wheeeeeeeeee! When has the actual game not been enough that a toy helmet makes full grown men act like a kid that just found their uncle's stash of Playboys? Look, I actually waited in line so I admit I'm a nerd. I love playing video games. The problem is there are those that place a little too much value on video games. They are the ones that reinforce their place in the world by calling a competing console a bunch of dirty words like a ten year old who just learned to swear. They are the ones that camp out 12 days for a new console. They are the ones that believe a high Gamer's Score means something in the real world. They are the ones that give video games a bad name.

I eventually bought the game and rushed out of the store with my head hung low and not making eye contact. Once home I enjoyed a good hour and a half of shooting shit. How is the actual game? It's awesome. Is it revolutionary? No. It's basically a third person shooter with some really nice tweaks. I love that you don't jump in this game. Instead you climb over barriers and actually use cover during firefights. Have I mentioned how much I hate the jumping in Halo? It also looks absolutely incredible.

Oh Internet You've Come Fashionably Late

Ramblings

Ok, ok, ok. It's been awhile since I posted. The reason is stated below. That reason has led to me writing little snippets over the past two weeks while at work. For those wanting pictures of my apartment, it's a studio apartment. What is there to photograph? I might have a solution though.

So I'm all moved in. I still have a bookcase, console table, and a couple lamps to buy, but other than that I'm all set. Oh and there's the DSL problem. It seems my order has been pushed back till the 27th of November. How can they expect someone to survive a month without DSL? This means no internet, I can't play my 360, and I have to use the phone line for my Tivo. It's like living back in 2002. Ridiculous. This has lead to me calling every day to see if the company has bumped up the date. I hate that I'm using annoyance to try to get what I want. Other than that the apartment is fantastic. Twice as much room as before, my own parking space, my cable company actually offers the MLB package, I actually have a nice view outside my window, and I can do laundry after 10 pm. This weekend I will make my rounds to all the restaurants in town to pick up their take out menus. I'm rating that as a 4 on the "sad scale." I did have some decent garlic pepper squid last night. I could see me being here for awhile.

One thing about the movers I hired to move my stuff. I highly recommend it. One problem is the sweat factor. I was impressed that one of the movers could lift my TV by himself. Then I realized he dripped sweat all over it. While setting everything up I kept getting a strong scent of sweat. After checking myself, I realized the smell emanated from the TV. I proceeded to clean the TV like no TV has ever been cleaned. It still another day for the scent to leave. Thank goodness for remotes.

I'm going to put my support behind the struggling new show "Friday Night Lights." It's better than half of the shows out there and is getting no viewership. Of course perhaps NBC shouldn't have given it a trial run time slot against CSI: Miami and MNF. No wonder you suck NBC. I'm amazed you haven't screwed up Heroes somehow.

I had dream last night that my wife and I adopted two little girls. The weird thing was that they were 3 year old versions of the girl from Mean Creek and Zooey Deschanel.












This also makes the fourth or fifth dream where I dreamt I was married yet never see actually see her in my dreams. One thing I learned in this dream is that if I ever have little girls my wife is going to have to be the disciplinarian. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the pushover parent if I have little girls.

It really pained me to congratulate my father on his Cardinals being handed them the World Series. Man, I can't stand the Cardinals. It's nice to see that baseball's replacement for its resident "I'm so good I can treat people like crap" jackass currently held by Barry Bonds is coming along nicely in the form of Albert Pujols. What was up with him just appearing at the trophy presentation? He wasn't even the MVP of the series, and suddenly he just appears. Dude, a scrawny white kid beat you out for MVP. Go hang with the rest of your players.

Dear Cubs,
When you promise to spend big bucks this season to make a push in the talent starved NL, your first job should be keeping your All-Star 3B and not letting other teams have the opportunity to outbid you. Hendry's a moron. The Cubs can afford it so stop penny pinching and get the deal done.

One of my current D (maybe F) list celebrity crush is this young lady from CNET. She's cute and she works with gadgets. This is how short my list has been reduced.

I just want to take this time to reiterate how fantastic my new apartment is. Location, location, location.

I admit I am somewhat intrigued by Nintendo's Wii. I'm still not sold on the wiimote, but I might be beginning to come around to it. I just can't see it being something I would play alone. It feels like a party game. Not that that is a bad thing. I just don't know enough people that would feel comfortable in looking like an idiot while playing a video game.

This weekend (Nov. 4th-5th) I watched one of the best soccer matches I've seen in my short time as a fan. Spurs beat top flight club Chelsea for the first time in 16 years. No matter who won it was one those matches that makes someone a fan of soccer. It quickly received the green button of "Till I delete" status on my Tivo.

I can always watch Ghostbusters no matter at what point I catch it on cable. It easily fits into that top five along with The Natural, Road House, Hoosiers, and The Rookie.