The Louisville-St. Louis Connection

I'm Not Alone

2010-02-06T22:42:00.002-05:00

So I recently stumbled upon a pair of connected sites that have really made me feel good about my personal opinions. By now my readers (do I really have readers or just a few folks who check the site randomly) had better know who my least favorite band is. And I've always known that Nickelback is a critically panned group, but I always find amusement in the fact that there are a lot of other people just like me who not only hate them, but find new and creative ways to show their displeasure that a group like this even has the nerve to make money off their lack of talent.

First off, anti-Nickelback groups on Facebook aren't anything new. I became a fan recently of a group call "Not Listening to Nickelback." While I thought that was funny, I found my most recent discovery much better due to the fact that it not only has a Facebook group, but a related blog. The group is called "Can This Pickle Get More Fans than Nickelback?" And you've got it, the page is just a large picture of a pickle with a wall for people to post their dislike for Nickelback. The page has over 100,000 fans so far and is constantly growing!! I can't get over this, but then to top it all off someone (I'm guessing the creator of the page) began a blog on Blogspot to supplement the Facebook page. The link can be found here.

It's always nice to know when you are not the only one who has strong opinions about something. I began disliking Nickelback a long time ago, but in the past 6 months I have discovered a large support group online that has helped me know that I am one of hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same way. If only there could be this kind of support for people with real problems, our world would be a much better place.

On the Road Again

2010-02-02T19:51:00.002-05:00

It's been several weeks now since I made the observations that inspired this post, but I found it somewhat interesting noticing some differences between St. Louis and Louisville the last time I was in St. Louis. I got to spend a full week in St. Louis in December for the first time in several years, and it was hard not to make comparisons. This time, my observations concern some things I notice while driving the highways in St. Louis.

The first major observation I noticed was that the highways in St. Louis are much more crowded than those in Louisville. I'm not talking just during rush hour (which I generally avoided) but throughout most hours of the afternoon and the night. You can drive stretches of the urban highways in Louisville and not have a car next to you or in front or behind you for several hundred yards and that's nothing strange. But if you're driving in St. Louis, you will generally be driving in close quarters with several other cars. I always talk badly about Louisville because I say that rush hour lasts roughly 5 hours in the evenings because there's only one way to get anywhere, but I have to say that it is much easier driving the highways in Louisville generally. I noticed the crowd in St. Louis the most because you always have to be very careful changing lanes since there will be so many cars close to you. You have to start thinking about getting into exit lanes far in advance. In Louisville, you can change lanes during the early afternoon and late evening and night almost without thinking and be perfectly safe. I'm sure the size of the cities plays some role in this (even though officially Louisville is larger than St. Louis in terms of population, but I'll get into that later). However, St. Louis is also much more spread out than Louisville, so I don't know what is the true cause.

Something about the highways in St. Louis that I really enjoy (using the term enjoy loosely) is the exit signs. As you're driving on any highway, signs list the distance to the next 3 exits. I've always found this to be very helpful because if you're unsure of where you're going, the signs alert you well in advance of exits. Depending on where you're at, you'll know what exits you'll hit for the next 5 miles. In Louisville, you generally get notifications of the next exit, and these notifications start at just under 2 miles. Now there are some exceptions, namely driving on I-265 in some places where exits are spread out several miles apart. In these cases, you are told the next exit as well as the next 1-2 interstates you will hit (sometimes they are listed as 15 miles away). But generally, exit signs are given only for the next exit. I guess I always took the 3-exit notifications for granted in St. Louis.

A final thought I had was a burning questions from childhood that was answered when I came to Louisville. When you are driving in St. Louis, state highway signs are marked with the highway number being placed inside a white outline of the state of Missouri. I always wondered as a child if all states did this. Of course, thinking about this I imagined these signs would look strange in states like Tennessee and Kentucky because of their long shapes. Anyway, in Kentucky, as in most other states, state highways are shown within a white circle. Pretty boring if you ask me. Imagine what a state highway sign in Hawaii would look like if the used the state outline. Just a thought.

I'll end this with a notification that this summer, plans are in the works to take on a test of endurance and will power that should far surpass my infamous staying awake for 101 hours quest. I may or may not post a story about this on here when and if it happens, but suffice it to say that if I complete this, I believe I will join a club more rare and exclusive than those who have stayed awake for 100 hours. I'm very excited at this prospect.

The Fox Rocks (Or Does It)?

2010-01-28T20:16:00.004-05:00

Ok, I know I've posted about radio stations before but I've gotten very frustrated with what I once proclaimed was the best radio station in Louisville, 93.1 The Fox. It used to be a decent station because it mixed classic and new rock with a pretty even split. They also had Mandatory Metallica every night at 6:00. And their playlist was large. Well guess what? The station seemed to have sold out. And even worse...it's still the best station in Louisville.

The biggest problem I have is they got rid of Mandatory Metallica!! I don't know if they changed times or something, but as far as I know, it's gone completely. So now they very rarely play Metallica, and what songs they do play seem to be limited to "Nothing Else Matters." I refuse to make this excellent song turn into for me what "Sweet Child of Mine" has...a fantstic, but grossly overplayed radio song.

And speaking of overplayed radio songs, The Fox has become a terrible culprit of playing the same few songs into the ground. Their playlist seems to have shrunk to nearly nothing. And their most-played songs (or what I call their "Top 3") only change every few months. And these songs generally tend to be true pieces of shit. Right now there is a very clear Top 3, with 4-7 or so being close on their tail (Yeah, there's also a Top 7). But the Top 3 stick out because of the horrendous rate at which they are played. So I'm sure by now you're asking what these Top 3 fantastic songs are, that are so good that they need to be pounded into our eardrums at a rate of roughly 1.5 per hour (meaning I personally believe that if you listened to The Fox for 24 hours, you would hear these 3 songs in some combination a total of 36 times). I would actually love to put this theory to the test if I had the time.

As for the songs, here they are in no particular order: "Uprising" by Muse, "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups, and "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars. How are those for winners? Not one of these songs has any redeeming value. I have no idea how they got to be so popular because I put each of these in the same boat as any music by Nickelback. Speaking of Nickelback, did I never do a full post on how much I hate them? I meant to do that a long time ago. Hmmm...

But I digress. I have to tell you, that as I was writing this post I was streaming the Fox online, and I was fortunate to hear "Uprising" during my time writing. That gave me some more motivation to write. Actually, right now they're playing another of their top 7 or so, "Just Breathe" by Pearl Jam. That probably ranks about 5 or 6 right now. But of the top 7 songs, the only one that's really any good is "Savior" by Rise Against. I don't know why I like this song so much, but I think it's damn good. Anyone can disagree with me, but I enjoy that tune.

To finish off, I have to go back to those Top 3 songs and make the comment that not only are the songs terrible, but how the FUCK did these groups come up with their band names?? These are some of the worst band names I've ever heard. I mean, I guess band names in general are pretty strange, but seriously, Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars....Silversun Pickups?!?!?!? Go onto their Wikipedia page and read their explanation...idiots. At least Rise Against had a pretty decent band name...I wonder if that band name and the song "Savior" would hold up if The Fox played good music. I guess I'll never know. But despite all of this, I'll still listen to The Fox because it is, what I like to call "The Least Shitty of Them All."

Not Just Steak Any Longer

2009-11-23T19:48:00.002-05:00

I imagine anyone who has been to a Steak 'n Shake in the past 12 months or so has noticed the sweeping changes that have been made to the menu. As far as I can recall, Steak 'n Shake had the same menu from the time I was a child until about a year or a year and a half ago. However, now if you go in there, the menu items are entirely different.

Fortunately, the number of steak burger and melt varieties is close to the same, as well as the chili variety. However, now they offer a vast array of other selections, some good and others not so good. I remember as a kid you had your choice of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry milkshakes. In my teenage years, they added chocolate chip, cookies 'n cream, and a few other flavors. Now there's something in the range of 8,000 (probably an exaggeration) different varieties of milkshake, if you include the side-by-side shakes. And that's just the beginning.

Who the hell thought of putting hot dogs on the menu?? Now, I guess I shouldn't judge until I've tried them, but they have something like 10 different types of hot dogs, most of which weren't available last time I was in there. I mean, the menu keeps changing!! Just today I saw about 6 items on the menu marked as "New."

Another big one on the menu is the "Shooters." Are tiny burgers the new fad in food distribution? I don't know where these things started, but you can now get mini burgers at just about any restaurant, even KFC!! I have to admit the "New" buffalo shooters are damn good. I've been on a buffalo kick lately. I've had probably 15 "buffalo" themed meals in the past 2 weeks. I can't get enough of the stuff. So when I saw the buffalo shooters on the menu, I had to get 2 of them. So right now, I have 2 buffalo shooters, a ketchup and onion shooter, an order of fries, and 2 Cheesy Gordita Crunches in my stomach. I can't wait until tomorrow.

So anyway, is the new menu a good thing or a bad thing? Personally, I think it's a bit strange, and Steak 'n Shake definitely doesn't feel the same as it did when I was a kid, or even when I was a teenager. I've also done a bit of research and found out that Steak 'n Shake is planning on vastly expanding its franchise availability in the next 5 years, so we may see these new, different Steak 'n Shakes popping up all over the country. In closing, I have to admit, the food is still pretty good if you're in the mood for a sit-down fast food type atmosphere.

A Crowded Shopping Center

2009-11-20T21:45:00.003-05:00

So on a regular basis, I drive past this shopping center that's on a major road here in Louisville. It's not a big shopping center, and it's not in a great area of town (not a bad area, just not great either). Anyway, I often drive by this shopping center at 1-2 AM, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. I've noticed that most nights after 10PM the parking lot of this shopping center begins to get very crowded. And once midnight hits, you can't find a parking spot...seriously. Between the hours of midnight and 4 AM this shopping center is pretty much a hub of activity. So what's in this shopping center that draws such a late night crowd? Is it a bar, a club...a strip club? Perhaps something a bit more shady? None of the above.

This shopping center is the home of none other than Bingo City!!

Now I had to do a bit of research on this place because I had no idea what was going on, or how a place like Bingo City can draw that kind of crowd after midnight. Well, I looked it up and discovered they have several sessions. They have weekday and weekend sessions at 2 PM, 4 PM and 7:30 PM. But they also have Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday sessions beginning at Midnight. Yes, they have midnight bingo!! Now, I don't imagine this place is unique. I'm sure there was a place like this somewhere in St. Louis, probably within a few miles of where I grew up...but I never saw it.

Now I'm not going to go into too much detail about the schedule of this place or what all they do because I don't know what all the terminology of professional Bingo. But I looked further and further into what seemed like a pretty small website, and found links to Bingo halls all around the city. I was floored by this. There were dozens of them. Again, I realized Bingo is a big time game amongst the geriatric population, but do they really get out their doors at midnight for an all-night Bingo orgy? I guess so. Anyway, here's the link to the site. If I ever have the patience and testicular fortitude perhaps I'll venture into this center of elderly bliss.

As a final note, I've mentioned the Angry Video Game Nerd on several occasions. Well, the creator of that series is seriously a comic genius, so I've attached a brief clip from his website that's fantastic.

Some More Thoughts

2009-11-17T15:20:00.002-05:00

This is my one more update saying I'm going to do better at updating. We'll see, but I've just finished another round of schooling and that took up a lot of my free time over the past year so maybe things will be better. A couple of thoughts, and an update.

First off, even though Halloween season is over, I urge everyone who enjoys Halloween and horror movies to keep it going for a bit longer. I mean, until December, what do we really have to look forward to...Thanksgiving? It's an ok holiday, but I've never been a fan at all. It's a boring day in my family and has gotten even more boring since I moved to Louisville. I love spending time with my family, but sitting in the house all day with them and nothing else to do gets to be too much. And everyone else I know always has plans, so what's there for me to do. On the plus side, I can almost guarantee a StLouisville post that day because I'll have very little else to do. So I know I personally am going to celebrate Halloween until December. I just may watch a horror movie tonight.

In anticipation of a likely shitty winter, I've braced myself for an early start. Needless to say I've been pleasantly surprised with how things have turned out so far in November. Into the past week, I've still seen bees and mosquitos alive outside, and that's rare at this time of year. And it's still supposed to get into the 60's next week so things are looking up for the near future.

The Third Annual Krispy Kreme race has been postposed due to a scheduling conflict. I'm not sure if it will be postponed for a day or for 2 weeks, but it is guaranteed to happen very soon. I mean, it's supposed to be 61 and sunny on Saturday. The last two times this has been done, it's been like 30 degrees and windy. I hate the winter weather, but this is an event that just doesn't seem right unless the weather is horrendous.

And finally a major update. I intend to keep StLouisille online for a great long while, but I've also come up with a great idea for a new blog. It's going to be a weekly update (maybe sometime bi-weekly) with a very narrow focus. I'm actually going to go ahead and set up the site right now and put the thing in motion. The plan is to get 4-5 weeks ahead before I put it officially online around the first of the year, but I'm really looking forward to this one. I only had to wait until I was out of school because this was going to require a very small weekly investment on my part and I had no money (still don't but I should very soon). I'll post the link, as I said, right around the first of the year.

Going Too Far

2009-10-30T16:02:00.002-04:00

I don't know how often I've mentioned them, but I know for a fact that my hatred of Nickelback has popped up several times in this blog, notably in my Pop Evil post and my stereotypical Facebook profiles. Well, I've just found a Facebook group that fits me perfectly. I have now become a "Fan" of "Not Listening to Nickelback." While I haven't explored this page on Facebook too much, I've seen some stuff I like. And the group has over 15,000 fans so I know I'm not alone. Now I have an outlet (besides this blog) to vent my anger and dislike of one of my passionate hatreds in life.

However, I did find a disturbing video on this Facebook page that I think needs to be mentioned, and it actually brings Nickelback up a level in my eyes, from incredibly shitty up to mostly shitty. The video is of the group performing at a metal festival or something (yes Nickelback performed at a metal festival that was headlined by Slipknot). They got 2 songs in and when singer Chad Kroeger tried to talk to the crowd, he got virtually no reaction. When he turned his back to get ready for the next song, someone pelted him in the head with a rock. Now I hate Nickelback, but that's just wrong. As far as I've read, they were thrown a lot of money to perform at this festival, so you really can't blame them for taking the payched and playing where they don't belong. And throwing rocks at people is going too far. No one deserves that treatment, no matter how shitty and untalented they are. Anyway, Kroeger's reaction was pretty good. He just says, "See ya," and walks off the stage. However, just before he gets out of sight, he gives the crowd the finger. Probably as good a reaction as one could have, and I found it amusing. Much better reaction than when Guns 'n Roses walked off the stage in St. Louis years ago. I think G'NR actually put something like "Screw you St. Louis" somewhere in one of their CD cases. Anyway, I've included the video because I thoroughly enjoyed Kroeger's reaction. Some fans really need to know when they are crossing the line and going too far. Idiots.

Who Doesn't Like Tacos?

2009-10-06T20:32:00.002-04:00

I've always been a huge fan of our American version of Mexican food that can be found at fast food restaurants like Taco Bell. And while I will always enjoy Taco Bell, I can't claim that it is the best of the fast food "Tex-Mex" restaurants. Now I can't talk intelligently about all restaurants like this because my experience with them is limited. However, I do have to give mention to Taco Tico which, after several years of looking at it and driving by, I finally tried over the weekend.

I can't even begin to describe this experience, but I'll try. My order (for 2 people) consisted of an order of nachos and the #2, which consists of 2 tacos, a sancho, and a large drink (Dr. Pepper, of course). As I had never been to Taco Tico, I chose the Green Chili sauce instead of mild, medium, hot or volcano. I think this was all a good choice. The meat in the tacos, which is I'm sure of a low quality, still tasted fantastic and put Taco Bell's meat to shame. The tacos themselves were stellar, and the green chili sauce gave them a suitable kick. The sancho was also fantastic, and quite large as well. A sufficient meal would have been a sancho and 1 taco, but I finished both tacos and my sancho, and probably half the order of nachos. The nachos, most notably the queso, were beyond description. From the chips, to the meats, to the queso, these were just perfection in the form of a pile of nachos. Taco Tico, I salute you. If you have one near your house, check it out at your earliest convenience.

However, I have to give Taco Tico a silver medal, because the gold goes to Taco Tierra. I actually just found out that there are several locations throughout Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana, including those in Evansville and Princeton, IN. However my only experience is the one in Fairfield, IL. Since I can't describe this place well, all I'm going to say is this. If you're ever driving through Southern Illinois on Interstate 64, stop at exit 110, drive about 10 miles north toward Fairfield and stop in at the local Taco Tierra. I believe it's somewhere on Main Street...either way, it's easy to find. Order a sancho with mild sauce, and think of me as you enjoy the flavor overload you've just experienced.

The Least Shitty of Them All

2009-10-02T11:12:00.002-04:00

I posted about this last year and I'll do it again today. October has begun and that's a bittersweet thing for me. I hate fall and winter. But of all the fall and winter months, I find October to be the least shitty (followed closely by December). This is because I am really into holidays, and Halloween and Christmas are awesome. The reason October is over December is because of the weather. I hate cold weather, and at least it's October and I can still wear shorts.

Halloween is amazing. Horror movies and Halloween candy make it a highlight of my year. On Cinemassacre.com, one of my favorite websites, James Rolfe (aka The Angry Video Game Nerd) is doing "Monster Madness" which means he will post a horror movie review every day. I have been accumulating horror movies all of September in anticipation of a great October. I can't wait.

But October isn't just about Halloween. It means Pumpkin Season has also begun!!! I am passionate about this, as I proved with my post last year. And once again, assuming I don't get sick again, I plan to consume a pumpkin item every day from now until December 1. I don't know if it will happen, but I intend to give it the old college try.

Today the International Olympic Committee is voting on the location of the 2016 Olympics. Being pathetic as I am, I'm watching the voting live on universalsports.com. I have to be honest, it's painfully boring. I wish I had gotten up for the final presentations before the vote, but my first day off in a month meant excessive amounts of sleep were more important than anything.

Well fuck, just as I'm typing this, Chicago is the first of the 4 cities eliminated from the Olympic voting. Just shows you that once again, the international sporting community hates America. That's why sports like baseball are no longer on the Olympic program. And to think, Chicago was really one of the 2 favorites today.

The Stereotypical Facebook Profile: Conclusion

2009-09-27T13:18:00.002-04:00

I just kept putting off this post because I always do better posting on the fly and not really planning what I'm going to write. So somehow, knowing what I needed to write actually deterred me from writing...F'ed up, I know.

So I guess I ended with TV shows, which always angered me. But what people put for their favorite movies pisses me off almost as much. First off, there are several movies on everyone's lists, Old School, 40 Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights, Superbad,I have a serious problem with people who see a brand new movie once and claim it's their "favorite movie of all time." Screw that!! All of my favorite movies are at least 3 years old, meaning I've had plenty of time to watch them, analyze them, and compare them to other classics on my list of favorite movies. I really enjoyed "The Dark Knight", but it's not my favorite movie. I've seen it twice. Can I really call a movie I've seen twice my favorite? However, when looking at the list I put on the "Stereotypical Facebook Profile", one would have to look closely to see the real humor. The last several of those movies hadn't even been released when I posted that profile, including: The Hangover, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Proposal, Year One, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Some people are stupid enough to put a movie down as their favorite based solely on hype and trailers. Idiots!! One thing I will say is that I will make an exception for "The Hangover" because that movie was phenomenal.

Favorite books. I get so damn pissed when I see people making fun of reading on their Facebook profile. Do people not realize that reading a damn book every once in a while will keep your mind sharp, and is a great substitution to all that TV that they supposedly don't watch. Don't make fun of reading just because you don't have the intelligence to sit down with a book. There are people in this world who still do it, and they're smarter than you!!

Favorite quotes: I don't really remember why I put those first two quotes other than the fact that most people put something stupid that is totally unrelated to their own lives just to make themselves look deep. Then they always throw in a poem or an entire damn song, again to make them look like deep thinkers!! Guess what, assholes?? You look like idiots putting entire songs for your "favorite quotes." A quote is an excerpt, not an entire song. If I had the space, I would put my favorite quote as the entire script for "Back to the Future" on my Facebook profile just to top all those deep thinking assholes and their favorite quotes.

About me: Another place to put an entire song and make you look smart and deep. Once again, you just look like an asshole. Just put a short description or a link to your MySpace page or something. Don't pretend that Kenny Chesney or Taylor Swift wrote an entire song just for you. Whatever song you put that supposedly describes you for your "About me" section was written for the sole purpose of making money, and is in no way about you. I thought it was fitting that the song I used was in fact, "Songs About Me" by Trace Adkins. (No I did not know off the top of my head that it was Trace Adkins, I had to look it up. I do not enjoy country music).

Finally, Facebook Groups. This was kind of fun to write because there are so many damn groups that everyone is a part of. All of the 1,000,000 strong groups, or the "6 degrees of separation" groups are amusing. My favorite, however, are the groups people join that basically say, "I Hate Facebook." Why the hell would you be a member of Facebook, only to join a group that says you hate it. You don't hate Facebook, otherwise you would not spend all of you supposedly limited free time (that time not spend "chillin', watchin' TV, and hangin' with friends) on Facebook.

So I hope this was enlightening to all of my loyal followers. Sorry for the long delays. I will work on doing a better job of making some shorter, more regular posts. Good day to all of my followers.

The Stereotypical Facebook Profile: Explanation

2009-07-22T22:16:00.005-04:00

I know I posted this a long time ago, but I truly planned on making my Facebook post a 2-part series, one with the actual post and another with the following explanation. But I got sidetracked, first by Michael Jackson's death, and then by a ton of damn work that had to be done, along with moving and losing internet access for 2 weeks. So now, the long awaited explanation of my Stereotypical Facebook Profile.

First off, I think the motivation for the post needs to be explained. It had been my intention to actually do this on my own Facebook profile, but I was afraid no one would get it unless I posted it somewhere else less serious. I had noticed so many similarities in profiles, and so many of them seemed so fake that I decided to call people out on it. I'm not saying that having one, two, or even like 5 of these things on your profile makes you an asshole, but if you look up and down this profile and see over half of them on your Facebook page, you are officially a tool and should either delete your profile, or consider a change of lifestyle.

First, I need to start with the picture. No, this is no one I know. I just typed in "tool surrounded by girls" into google, and this was one of the first pictures to pop up. This is because half of the pictures of guys you see on Facebook, they are surrounded by girls. As if this is the story of their lives and all they ever do. I figure the guy in this picture probably has a camera he takes to every party he goes to and makes it a point to get a picture taken with every girl there (unfortunately I've known people to do this). Then he sends the pictures home, as well as posts them on Facebook, showing all his friends and family back home: "LOOK AT ME! I have friends...and they're GIRLS!!!" Loser.

Next, did you know everyone on Facebook is a political genius, and their political views are meant to be known and examined by everyone. It was no worse than during this past November's election. Everyone posted when they voted and who they voted for. Isn't voting supposed to be a private thing, not meant for the masses to know. Shut up about your fucking politics, I don't care!!!

Next, the activities and interests. How the hell many different ways can you say that you like to sit around and not do shit. Just say hanging out, don't indulge us with 10 different ways of saying the same damn thing. You have friends who you like to hang out with, I get it. Just say you like to hang out. And this shouldn't take up all of your activities and interests. Don't you have anything else you do in your life? I guess not...you're spending too much time "chillin" and screwin' around on Facebook.

Also, I've noticed that the letter "G" is at a premium on Facebook. No one says "hanging out", or "chilling." G's have been replaced by apostrophe's, such as chillin', relaxin', chillaxin'. Finish your damn word you lazy bastards!!

Music. Most people on Facebook are actually closet musical experts. Somehow, they like every kind of music, but then they list genres they don't like. However, when you go into their favorite bands and favorite songs, they have bands from within the fucking genre they said they hate!! WTF?? My favorite is when people add a band as one of their favorites because they know one song by the band. I think I say this in part because I like 80's music so much, but the average Facebook user only has a vague knowledge of 80's bands. So they put Def Leppard or Journey as their favorite bands because they like "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Don't Stop Believing." And on top of this, it seems that the world is obsessed with Nickelback. I HATE Nickelback, but they show up on everyone's favorite music list. Fucking assholes!!!

Well, this post is getting long, so I'll end this and continue later, but not before I discuss the TV shows category. This one was easily my favorite to write because of how big an asshole everyone is when they write this section. The average Facebook user somehow believes they cram 36 hours of activities into a 24 hour day. So this being said, no one believes they have time to watch TV. "I don't watch much TV" is one of the biggest fucking cliche's out there in this generation. MY ASS!!! It's because of today's high school and college students that there are so many crappy shows on TV...you fucking watch TV whether you SAY it or not!! The average Facebook profile starts out with that one line, "I don't watch much TV." Then they proceed to list 15 of their favorite TV shows, which they watch regularly. News flash assholes: if you have time to watch that many different weekly TV shows, then you watch A LOT of TV!! Get over yourselves, you aren't more imporatant than the rest of the world, and your lives are definitely not busier.

To be continued...

Michael Jackson: 1958-2009

2009-06-27T01:19:00.001-04:00

The Stereotypical Facebook Profile

2009-06-19T21:44:00.003-04:00

Name: John Q. Facebook

Basic Information:
Networks: Louisville, Ky
Sex: Male/Female
Birthday: 1/1/1990
Interested in: Women/Men
Looking for: Dating, friendship, a relationship.
Political Views: My way is the only way.

Personal Information:
Activities: Hanging out, chillin' with friends, cruisin' with my buds, playin video games, sports, rollin' with my posse, workin' out, relaxin' with my pals, chillaxin.

Interests: meetin' new people, partyin', music, video games, women (men), and just about anything else I can do in what little spare time I have.

Favorite Music: I like just about anything....except rock, country, rap, pop, R&B, blues, jazz, ska, oldies, bluegrass, opera, techno, musak. Favorite bands are Dave Matthews, Nickelback, Keith Urban, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Journey, Rascal Flatts.

Favorite TV Shows: I don't have time to watch much TV, but when I do, I like Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Family Guy, The Office, CSI, American Idol, The Amazing Race, The Real World, Dancing With the Stars, Lost, One Tree Hill, 90210, Sportscenter, Scrubs, 24, America's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, Extreme Makeover.

Favorite Movies: Old School, 40 Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights, Superbad, The Hangover, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Proposal, Year One, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Favorite Books: reading?? What's that??
Favorite Quotations:
Dance like no one is watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Live like it's heaven on earth.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
- Confucius-

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

About Me:
I met a guy on the red eye
He spotted my guitar
and said what do you do?
I said, I sing for a living,
Country music mixed with
a little rock and a little blues
He said I'm sorry
but I've never been crazy
'bout that twang and trains and hillbilly thing
What ever made you want to sing stuff like that?
I just looked at him and laughed and said

cause it's songs about me
and who I am
songs about loving and living
and good hearted women and family and God
yeah they're all just
songs about me
songs about me

So I offered him tickets
I said you'll see what I mean
if you show up tonight
he said I doubt you'll change my opinion
I'll be kind of busy, but hey man, I'll try

Then later on when we finished our songs
about scars and cars and broken hearts
I saw him, he was standing there
right next to the stage
and he shouted
man you were right
it was like you sang those

songs about me
and who I am
songs about loving and living
and good hearted women and family and God
yeah they're all just
songs about me
songs about me

So I'll just keep on singing
'til I hear the whole world singing those

songs about me
and who I am
songs about loving and living
and good hearted women and family and God
yeah they're all just
songs about me
songs about me

Groups: 1,000,000 Strong Against the new Facebook, Six Degrees of Separation the Facebook Experiment, 1,000,000 strong for Barack Obama, Lost my phone, need everyone's Phone #, I Hate Facebook The Group, Nickelback Fanclub, (Insert Your Name) is the best name ever, Stop World Hunger The Facebook Experiment, 1,000,000 strong for (Insert Generic Cause)....

Too Much is Too Much

2009-06-05T14:33:00.003-04:00

Dammit, I've got plenty of material and I've just been too lazy to post. But today is going to be very impassioned, because I absolutely HATE what I'm writing about.

Pop Evil

If you don't know who they are, count yourself lucky. I only know one song they ever wrote, but it is among my least favorite songs ever. Have you ever heard the song "100 in a 55"? Hopefully not. First off, this song is continuing this unpleasant trend of groups that are trying to consider themselves "Rock", but instead are some form of hybrid of who knows what (at least they're not Nickelback...I'll get to them some other day).

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to say about this, but this song has the distinction of having one of the worst song lyrics I've EVER heard. "Too much is never enough, and too little is never enough." Does anyone else see why the hell I have a problem with this lyric. Actually, looking at it right in front of me, it isn't one of the worst lyrics I've ever heard...IT IS THE WORST LYRIC I'VE EVER HEARD!!!

How the hell is "too much" never enough. By definition, "too much" is actually more than enough, so that lyric doesn't make sense. And then they follow it up with the real winner, "Too little is never enough." NO SHIT!!! Too little isn't enough because once again, by definition, too little is NOT ENOUGH!!! FUCK!! Pop Evil has joined the ranks of Nickelback and Pink Floyd as groups whose music I can identify by the first few notes of a song, allowing me to turn that shit off before more than 5 seconds have elapsed. I hate that song, and every time I hear it I am tempted to call into the radio station and question why the hell they would play something so idiotic.

On another note, I hate songs that use the term "Rock and Roll" in their lyrics, and Pop Evil wins another point by throwing that one in there a few times. I don't know why I don't like it, but when I think of the good, classic 80's and even 90's music I listen to, I just think "Rock" and not "Rock and Roll." Very few songs can use that term within their lyrics effectively...though I can think of 1 or 2 that have. 100 in a 55 is not one of those songs.

Why So Disturbing?

2009-05-15T14:18:00.003-04:00

Has anyone seen the new White Castle commercials about the pulled pork sandwich? If not, let me describe it for you. It basically takes place in a gentleman's club, or strip joint to put in layman's terms. It focuses on two guys, one of whom is feeling "The Crave", watching the main stage where an exotic dancer is doing her best "Flashdance" impression. The catch? The exotic dancer is a FUCKING PIG!!! Literally it's a woman (hopefully) dressed up in a giant pink pig costume. Her performance ends with the infamous image of her sitting in a chair, back arched, chest upward, and dumping a bucket of water on her prone body. Only instead of a bucket of water, it's BBQ sauce.

So my description basically makes it sound like a somewhat humorous take on what some call a classic 80's movie. Why does this disturb me, you ask? Well, why the hell doesn't it disturb you?!?!?!?!

That damn pig is the type of costumed monstrosity that can give kids nightmares. The entire commercial is filmed in a very dark backdrop, and there's virtually no speech, just the creepy white castle "Crave" music playing over and over while the damn pig is dancing to it. It's just plain frightening, seriously. Not to mention that there is a strong possibility that the person under that pig mask is, in fact, a dude. I'm not certain of that, but I can't imagine White Castle was able to convince an actual stripper to dress up in a pink pig costume and dance around before dumping a bucket of BBQ sauce on herself. But then again, maybe they did. I truly hope there is a woman under that pig costume, because I would not be surprised in the least if there is some guy out there who has watched this video over and over again, and gotten off on it.

The worst part of the whole deal for me is the fact that whenever I go to watch the Angry Video Game Nerd on Cinemassacre.com, I am forced to watch a 15 second clip of this commercial before every video. And since I've been on a huge AVGN kick lately, I have had to watch the commercial far too many times. I am sure that one night that fucking pig will sneak into my dreams, causing me to wake up in a cold sweat, possibly smelling BBQ sauce. I enjoy White Castle in moderation, but this commercial made me wary of them.

Has anyone tried the pulled pork yet? Despite my misgivings about their advertising, I'm still interested to taste it.

Who is the Bigger A$$....?

2009-05-11T00:11:00.004-04:00

Over the weekend I was driving down Bardstown Road here in Louisville, and I witnessed an act of ignorance so inspiring that I had to acknowledge it in some way.

As a bit of background, I'll try to describe Bardstown Road. Some people who know St. Louis and a little bit about Louisville compare Bardstown to the U-City Loop. While I can definitely see the comparisons, think it has a little different feel. You would have to have experienced both many times over to understand what I'm talking about. But basically it's a 4-lane road with bars, music shops, and locally owned businesses lining either side of the road. It's a place where people drive, park their cars, and walk up and down the area on nice days, and most weekends you will see hundreds of walkers frequenting the restaurants, bars and shops.

So there's your history, now for a little bit of daily inspiration. I was driving down Bardstown (actually I was the passenger) on Saturday and was stuck in Bardstown Road traffic (bumper to bumper, but generally moving). On the weekends, the right lanes are supposed to be essentially off limits for drivers because they are made into parking lanes. However, if you are lucky you may get a long stretch where there are no cars parked and can jump into the right lane for a bit.

After several minutes of this traffic, I noticed a gap on the right side of about a quarter mile with no cars parked. Generally if this happens, the only people who get over into the lane are those who have to make a right turn during that stretch, or those who are going to park along the open space. On this occasion, a driver about 3 cars behind us decided that this would be a good opportunity to jump over, pass up about 8-9 cars, and then jump back into the driving lane, most likely cutting a few people off in the process.

The car got over and started moving. Right after it had passed my car, however, it noticed an obstruction in the road. A biker (bicycle, not motorcycle) and his friend were sitting in the lane, completely blocking it. The car sped up toward the biker, expecting him and his friend to move. Instead, they stood their ground, knowing the car shouldn't be in that lane to begin with. The car continued to inch further forward, obviously threatening them in an attempt to intimidate them into moving. Still, they stood their ground, staring straight into the face of the driver. While I couldn't see the driver, I know the bikers did nothing but stand their ground. The did not make rude facial expressions, they didn't curse, and they didn't make any hand gestures. The car, obviously fed up at this point, tried to get back into the left lane, but every one of the cars the driver had passed refused to let him in. As I passed the biker and his friend, now roughly 6 inches from the front bumper of the car, I couldn't hide the broad grin on my face. Actually, I was laughing so hard tears were nearly rolling down my face. The biker's friend looked into my car and saw me laughing so hard, smiled back, and just kind of shrugged at me like, "I don't know what the hell this guy's problem is." And while I just kept laughing, I think if I could go back to that moment I would probably applaud these two mens' actions.

Now this story begs just one question: Who was the bigger asshole in this situation?

Golden BS

2009-04-29T12:43:00.004-04:00

I've made a recent discovery that has me rather disturbed. I was excited to purchase a box of Froot Loops on sale a few weeks ago. I'm generally not a huge fan of the cereal, but once in a blue moon the craving for a a fruit-flavored circle of grains and sugars arises within me, so I made the purchase.

I didn't look too closely at the box when I bought it, but once I went to pour some cereal the next morning I noticed an unpleasant new cereal piece in my box: Golden Bars. WTF!!!

Last I checked, I had purchased a box of Froot LOOPS!! I didn't sign on for golden bars!! Those aren't even circular in the least. I can understand throwing in another flavor of loops, as Kellogg's has a tendency to change up their cereals on a semi-regular basis. They added new marshmallow shapes to Lucky Charms, made Vanilla/Chocolate Cocoa Puffs (kind of an abomonation in itself)...but now this shit. I don't want bars in my Froot Loops...I want LOOPS in my Froot Loops!! Why not start throwing "Z's" in my CheeriO's, or put dried apricots in my Raisin Bran!!!

This is just another idiotic way for a corporation to grab kids' attention and try to get them to nag the shit out of their parents to try the new form of Froot Loops. Golden Bars!! Why not make them golden LOOPS, geniuses?? Kellogg's, you can kiss my ass!!!

Why is it that....(Part 2)

2009-04-28T00:02:00.002-04:00

Why is it that when you are going to have to take a hit when shopping, it's going to be a big hit? Here's what I mean. I am able to get off pretty cheaply shopping because I buy a lot of cheap, crappy food. I'm fine with that, it's how I get by right now with a limited budget. But it seems that all of the major grocery purchases I ever have to make come up all at once. My more expensive purchases are laundry detergent, dog food, contact solution, and toilet paper. Each of these can run in excess of $10, which isn't much but when you are budgeting for a lot less each week, it's rough. The next time I shop, I will have to buy all of the above. So laundry detergent ($12), contact solution (I exaggerated, it's like $6), dog food ($30) and toilet paper ($10...buy this shit in bulk). There's almost $60 already, and I need each of these things. That doesn't even include food. Looks like I don't eat this week.

Why is it that people complain about the weather regardless of the season. It's been in the mid 80's here in Louisville, and I believe a bit warmer in St. Louis, for the last few days. That's perfection for me. But other people are constantly complaining that it's too hot. Well, wait until late June, and then we'll give you hot, assholes. These are the same people who were complaining when it was below 20 degrees in January. Here's my take, pick a season and enjoy it. I love the heat...blistering, sweltering heat. If it's 95 degrees and humid, you'll find me out running, choosing courses that take me by public sprinklers, fountains, and sometimes even pools. I can't get enough of summer. So when winter comes, I bitch and complain. And I believe that's my right. I make fun of people complaining about the summer heat and tell them to get a damn tissue and cry about it. If you're going to complain about the weather all year round, find a place where the seasons don't change. Then you'll be like me and will only be complaining about one weather pattern...and can't we all use more people in the world like me?

Why is it that I can't post regularly on this damn blog anymore. I'm going to make these posts a regular part of the site, and I will stop numbering them after this one. Keep reading and I'll do my best to keep writing...mydik.

Why is it that....?

2009-03-31T22:19:00.002-04:00

Why is it that whenever you have a lot going on in your life, you are more motivated to get things done. It seems that if there's a time where I'm busy as hell, with very little time to myself, I am more motivated to do the tasks in my life that need doing. For example, when I would work 50+ hour weeks at work last year, I would also be motivated to get my schoolwork done well in advance. I'm not the busiest person in the world, but I have a lot on my plate. I recently quit my job and now work part time, but I also coach track, go to school full time, and am a serious runner who runs hard on a nearly daily basis. However, since I quit my job, things have gone downhill. I procrastinate more on my schoolwork, don't put as much into my coaching, and don't run as much. On days I work, I get my schoolwork done, try to run, and look forward to coaching. It's incredible how my life is black and white like this. I have a very large "To-do" list of things I need to get done by May 1 (incidentally one of my favorite days of the year). Instead of getting started on this list this week during my spring break, I haven't even written the damn list!! I've been pretty much worthless the last two days. Hopefully things can change for me, but it will take effort on my part, and I don't know if I have to motivation to put forth that effort.

Why is it that when you have roommates, you all seem to buy the same groceries at the same time? Two days ago, we were out of milk, trash bags, and paper towels. As of today, we still don't have paper towels, but we have 3 packages of trash bags and 4 (yes 4!!!!!) gallons of milk. We have an entire shelf taken up with milk right now. The pathetic thing is that it will be gone by week's end, and we will probably go shopping again on Saturday for more before the $1 half gallon sale ends (yes, that 4 gallons is made up of 8 half gallon containers...fantastic).

Why is it that dogs eat their own shit? I don't know. Actually, I don't think dogs eat their own shit, they hate the smell. They like the smell (and seemingly the taste) of other dogs' shit. We have 3 dogs at some points in this house, and they feast on each others' feces. We've done a pretty good job of weaning them of this habit, but it's definitely still a work in progress. The only time I let my dog lick me now is when he hasn't been outside on his own for hours.

A Change, and Things That Are Just The Best

2009-03-21T23:52:00.002-04:00

I've decided to try to focus more on posting more often, and making them shorter instead of the long posts I've been putting up lately. I'll post short as much as possible, and when inspiration strikes, they will become long.

So today I will begin with something that will become an ongoing series on this Blog: Things That Are Just The Best. What does this mean, you ask? Just what it sounds like...kind of. One of the most common expressions to go around my house is, "That's just the best." To what do we say this expression? Anything that is indeed NOT the best. So here we go with the inaugural list of thing that are "Just The Best."

1) Fat chicks who are so portly that they can be 8 months pregnant and not look any different than when they are not with child.

2) The hardened food particles you find on your dishes after running them through the dishwasher.

3) Toilet paper that is so thin that it rips as you wipe, leaving you with pungent fingers.

4) Having to take a crap when there is no toilet paper in the house, and instead of running out to buy TP, taking your shit and then cleaning up by taking a shower and shampooing your ass.

5) Volkswagon Jettas.

Cars and Anger

2009-02-12T21:17:00.002-05:00

You know, I've gone through life and had dozens, if not hundreds, of conversations of what I would do if I was rich. Most of these are pretty reasonable ideas I've had, including buying a decent house but one that's not too big, but with a lot of property. Also, I've thought of who I would give money to, and whether or not I would work. And since most of this stuff is boring and practical, I'll focus on some of the other ideas I've had. Right now I'll just talk about one but maybe I'll throw these out every once in awhile just for shits and laughs (I don't giggle, but I do shit and laugh).

I've decided that when I'm rich I will spend however much money I deem necessary on shitty cars. What would I do with these shitty cars, you ask. Easy, I'd crash them into shit. What kind of shit? Whatever the hell I want!! Mainly I would focus on idiots. This idea came to me today when I was driving down a narrow drive in an apartment complex and had to swerve quite sharply to avoid a UHaul that had backed up to unload shit. Of course, it had backed up into some barriers that were set up for the sole purpose of keeping idiots from backing their UHauls up into that very area!!! So instead, these idiots backed up until the barriers stopped them, with the front of the UHaul sticking out and blocking roughly 70% of the drive in the complex. If I'd had one of these shitty cars I wanted to buy, I'd have rammed the fucker right into that damn truck, hopefully damaging the truck and the furniture inside. I would do the same thing to people who take 10 minutes to parallel park, people who double-park, anyone who ever cuts me off, and of course, Volkswagon Jettas. I would also ram the shit out of people's cars who leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot instead of walking them 50 feet to the nearest cart rack. That's just the height of laziness in my mind, and these people deserve to have their cars totaled by a rich asshole like I would be. I probably hold a grudge here because I worked at a grocery store in my teen years.

Speaking of shopping carts, one of my favorite shopping cart stories (because I'm sure people just have dozens of these in their arsenals) is the time my friends and I saw a woman get angry that a shopping cart was near her car on her way into the store. So once we saw her walk into the store, we proceeded to surround her car with 10 shopping carts. Our big regret on this one was the fact that we didn't wait around to see her reaction.

Anyway, getting back to crashing cars into shit, you may be thinking that if I crashed a bunch of different shitty cars into other people's vehicles, I'll have a bad driving record, and fucking high insurance rates. Well who gives a shit, I'm rich!!! Money should be the last of my worries. I guess the main drawback of this plan is the fact that my insurance would end up paying for these peoples' damaged vehicles. And while that wouldn't be a big deal financially, it would pain me to know they had the satisfaction of getting their cars repaired at my expense. Of course that would all be forgotten when I remember that by crashing into their cars and fucking up their lives for a few days, I'm getting a cheap laugh at their expense.

Ice

2009-02-04T22:26:00.003-05:00

The great Louisville Ice Storm of 2009 is now a thing of the past. There are still remnants all over the city, but for the most part everything is back to normal. Normal, that is, except for those 7,000 homes in Louisville still without power, the ice still on some roads, the countless downed tree branches, and the damaged cars all over the city.

This storm was one of the most insane things I've ever witnessed. To start, this was the second largest power outage in the history of Louisville. The first occurred back in September when we felt the wrath of Hurricane Ike. On both occasions my house dealt with downed tree branches and no power. I believe both times we didn't have power for about 4-5 days. I know this time we lost power at about 3:00 AM Wednesday morning and got it back some time late Sunday morning. Of course, it was cold as balls outside and at one point it was 38 degrees inside my house. I actually slept there, in the basement which was somehow warmer than upstairs, for 2 nights before putting my dog in a kennel and crashing elsewhere. On the plus side, all we had to do with our milk was leave it on the counter and it stayed cold...seriously.

I went running in Louisville Sunday morning. Remember now, the storm hit Monday night and most of Tuesday. On Sunday during this run, I ran through probably 2 miles of un-plowed roads. And some of these roads were well-travelled and hilly. Now I understand ice is a pain in the ass to clean up and if the weather stays cold it's even harder, but I don't think there's any excuse for any street in metro Louisville to be a sheet of ice 4 DAMN DAYS after the storm!!!! Once again, this city shows how unprepared it is for winter weather, despite all its big talk and pictures of mounds of salt lying in wait. Well, I'll give credit to our electric crews for doing their best to restor power while the lines were covered in ice.

Last time we had branches down in our house, we got quite ignorant with them. Instead of hauling them in a truck to the local tree branch dropoff that was set up, we chose to drop a few branches down the stree in the yard of a neighbor who had an entire tree down in his yard. We figured he wouldn't notice. We may do the same again, except we have a lot more branches down this time. We stall can't walk a direct line from our front door to our cars in the driveway. Listening to tree branches slide down our roof and into our front and back yards every 10 minutes or so on Tuesday night was a great way to soothe ourselves to sleep.

All in all it was a great week. I credit this week, especially the two nights I spent in the cold house, for my current sore throat and congestion that is ailing me. Thank you Louisville, for your exciting and ever-changing weather patterns!!

The Big Box

2009-01-15T22:13:00.003-05:00

Another event in the eating decathlon is complete. This one was easily my favorite, and I think Ryan and Drew agree with me. We did our Taco Bell challenge. Instead of doing 10 tacos as originally planned, we did a Big Box Value Meal. Has anyone had one of these? They are fantastic, and I believe they are ever-evolving. This version included a regular taco, a bean burrito, an order of cinnamon twists, a 32 oz. drink, and the new Black Jack taco (more on this tomorrow). The race itself was one of the more exciting ones. We were originally not going to include the drink, but we changed that at the last minute, and it really turned out to be the game-changer.

We started out quickly, all on different foods. Me on the taco, Drew on the Burrito, and Ryan on the Cinnamon twists. I personally felt like I led most of the way, devouring both tacos and then eating the burrito in about 4 bites. I started the cinnamon twists while Drew and Ryan still had a bit over 1 taco left. However, they had drank more of their Cokes during the actual eating that I had. I instead focused on the food and tried to chug the drink at the end. Instead, they caught and passed me when we were all trying to finish the drink. Ryan won by the slimmest of margins, with Drew right behind. I gave in when they had finished and decided to enjoy my Coke over the next few minutes. None of us felt 0ver-full at all and we agreed it was the best challenge yet. I now have a 2 point lead over Drew and a 6 point lead over Ryan. Should be an interesting finish.

Another Post of Ranting

2009-01-09T02:04:00.002-05:00

I've fallen off the wagon of posting so I decided to add some gibberish to my pool of thoughts on this site. I've actually had a lot of time to watch people lately, and I've made some observations that anger, annoy, and amuse me. What do you think?

Why do people insist on backing into parking spaces. I don't really know why this annoys me so much, but it seems to me like it's more difficult to back into a parking spot than to back out of it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I get fed up when I have to wait for someone to pull past a spot then back up (normally badly) into the spot they just passed up. Maybe someone can give me some insight into this one, but it's annoying enough to me to ruin my mood for an hour or so.

As a follow-up to that, I feel it's necessary to make a plea to people: Don't try to parallel park if you don't know how. There's plenty of spots elsewhere, so don't hold up traffic while you spend 5 minutes adjusting your car because you don't know what you're doing. Proper parallel parking should be done in 3 moves, not 15. Maybe I get annoyed by this because parallel parking is one of about 3 things in this life I can do well (I'm still trying to find the other 2). But if you can't do something, don't hold up other people because of your incompetence. Admit defeat and move on.

My college alma-mater is currently ranked #5 in Division 2 basketball, it's highest rank ever. Its last two home games have been in front of sellout crowds of 2,600: roughly equal to the attendance of Rams games at the end of this season. I wasn't in St. Louis, but how many Rams games were blacked out this year?

Speaking of football, St. Louis is trying to get a MLS team. While I'm all for that and think it will be great for the city, which truly deserves a franchise, I can't help but remember the last time I went to a soccer game in St. Louis. It was indoor soccer, and it's the first time I've seen only 500 people in a 20,000 seat arena...eerie to say the least.

The weather here has sucked over the past month, in both St. Louis and Louisville. My barometer on weather is based on what I wear when I run. So far in the past 3 weeks I've run in running pants, 2 shirts and a jacket, and a hat and gloves in one run. I've also run in running shorts and no shirt several times. I believe the range of temperatures we've seen is 3 degrees (-10 wind chill) all the way up to 68 degrees. But really, I think I would be bored living in a climate where the temperature stayed steady year-round. This just adds some excitement and unpredictability to life.

What turned out to be the most enjoyable event in the eating decathlon occurred a few hours ago. I'll post an update in a day or two.

Decathlon Update

2008-12-18T15:42:00.004-05:00

All I can say about this eating decathlon is that it's been painful. Some of the events have been much harder than anticipated, but all in all it has been a great experience so far. So here's an update:

At the last update, we had completed the Krispy Kreme race, the saltines, and the 2 lbs of salad. Soon after the saltines, we did the 12 inch pizza challenge. We were able to alter our pizza choice after seeing my struggle with an original Tombstone. Instead we chose thin crust Tombstone pizzas. The time to beat for the bonus was 5:30, upon mutual agreement. The race itself was something to see. Drew and I quickly pulled away from Ryan and got to a point where we were starting our last 1/4 of the pizza at the same time. I somehow pulled away from him and won...just under the bonus time, finishing in 5:26. Drew slowed up upon my victory and finished in about 5:45. Ryan struggled but made it to the finish to earn his point, in about 9 minutes or more.

The next event was actually the KK race. After that we went on a short hiatus because we could never get together at the same time for a meal. However, one Friday evening we got all of us together and moved on to our next challenge. The event: Pasta. The goal: 3 packages of Ramen noodles. Another straight race, that was a bit of a change from the original plan but still something difficult. We had a hell of a time finding bowls and a way to cook the servings at the same time. However, with 2 microwaves and a stove at our disposal, we were able to overcome this problem. This was an interesting race due to the fact that there were 3 different strategies involved. Drew left a little bit of water in his noodles and crunched them up to make the bites smaller. Ryan left a lot of water and also crunched his noodles up. I left my noodles whole and left no water. Well, that was my fatal mistake. Drew and Ryan pulled away from me and had a hell of a race, with Drew prevailing by a slim margin. I got overly-full after about 1/2 of my noodles were gone, and had a hard time finishing. I had to make up for all of the crap I had given Drew and Ryan after the salad race, because they had about 15 minutes to ridicule me for being so slow (though I had 45 minutes to do it to them). Anyway, after this event the overall race for the title was quite close. After the pizza I had a 5 point lead on Drew and I think 7 on Ryan. However, Drew gained 2 points on me for both the KK race and the noodles, and it was now a 1-point decathlon. I had to step up my game.

Next up was what he consider the hardest event of the 11. The block of cheese. We chose to do this event next for one reason: cheese was on sale at Kroger. So we all went and found the healthiest (or least unhealthy) cheese we could get: Kraft Mild Cheddar, with 2% milk. I think we figured out it had about 800 calories, 55 grams of fat, and about 80% of our daily cholesterol. On top of that, we feared clogged bowels for the next few days. But none of that deterred us. We started the event with the rule of no water being allowed. At about the 3 minute mark, we all looked at each other and decided to stop the watch. There was no way in hell we could finish this thing without water. So we all got our beverages of choice and proceeded.

I found a great method of eating the cheese by taking a huge bite, chewing as little as possible, and swallowing the cheese with water like I had a bunch of pills in my mouth. This made the taste horrible, but the cheese went down quickly. The taste was horrible after about the third bite, and with nothing but water to rinse my mouth, I had no alternative but to taste the mild cheddar for the next 10 minutes. In another closely contested race, I beat drew by about a bite, and immediately got up and tried to find something to get rid of the cheese taste. I chose a Mountain Dew and a piece of Italian bread. This, however, only slightly. I can't even describe the level of discomfort this cheese provided...just try it yourself if you really want to know. The next day my stomach was slightly upset but overall ok...and Drew, Ryan and I have all been quite regular ever since. I'm sure the increased fiber in our diets in the next couple of days helped that. So I gained another point here.

Next up: A bage of Baked Lays. Again, the least unhealthy alternative. Once again, another close race between Drew and I. And once again, a victory for me. This event was somewhat uneventful. There was a lot of water washing down chips and I honestly began to get pissed that the water washed away the salt taste of the chips. At the end of the event, I had a 3 point lead over Drew and an 8 point lead over Ryan with 4 events remaining.

However, the aftermath of the chips is something to tell. The excessive amounts of salt and sharp chips in our mouths wreaked havoc on our lips and gums. That event was Monday, and today, Thursday, I am still having trouble opening my mouth because I have a raw spot on the corner of my left lip and inside my gums. I really hope this goes away soon, because I can't open my mouth all the way. There has been plenty of lip balm and chapstick used in our house over the last few days.

My next deecathlon post will come after we've done 2-3 more events, and will conclude with a story of the final event: The Pie Eating Contest.

Krispy Kreme Kraziness

2008-12-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

Why is it so hard to get motivated to write a few paragraphs every few days? I'll probably never have an an adequate answer, but I will keep posting about the decathlon. And in recent weeks I have come up with some new material so that will also go on here in the near future. But first, I need to write about the one event in the entire decathlon that deserves its own post: The Krispy Kreme race.

This race was one that is not a new idea, but is probably not done by too many people. The concept: a race to Krispy Kreme and back. Simple enough, until you add 6 donuts right there in the middle. This race is so brutal that it actually struck fear into the hearts of some of my less testicularly-gifted friends. I believe at one point we had 9 people signed on to run the race. The final tally at the starting line: 4. That in itself is a testament to the brutality of this event.

We met up on a cold winter afternoon around 4:00 at our alma-mater. The weather was about 32 degrees and fairly windy. One of the competitors' girlfriends offered to drive up to KK and order the donuts, and set them out. So after her departure, we proceeded to warm up for a mile, and then we took the line.

Drew went out to the early lead (mainly because he is in the best shape of the four of us). Ryan was second, myself and Shane were third and fourth. A little after a mile I passed Ryan to take possession of second place and focused on getting to KK in a reasonable time. I made it there (almost exactly 2 miles) in a little under 12 minutes, which isn't flying but not too bad either. Drew was on his second donut when I arrived, and Ryan and Shane both came in within a minute of me.

The first two donuts were hell to eat. I was coughing from the cold air and my throat could barely open. My nose was running, and I eventually had to waste valuable seconds requesting napkins. Ryan won the award for biggest mess, spilling hardened glaze all down his front side. He looked like he had been running in snow that hadn't yet melted on his clothes. His girlfriend just stared at us in disgust. The donuts, fortunately, were still warm and we had plentiful water to wash them down. Good job on the part of Ryan's girlfriend.

Drew finished the donuts first and made his way back quickly. Ryan was second to finish, and I left about 45-60 seconds later. Drew extended his lead throughout and won the race handily. I actually spent the entire second half of the race chasing down Ryan, who had a decent lead on me to start. Less than 400 meters into the run back I started feeling the donuts in my stomach. However this first wave passed for almost a mile. At about 1.25 miles, I caught and passed Ryan and began my push for the finish. I looked back throughout the last half mile but was able to extend my lead. That entire last half mile I was burping up donuts, which made everything even worse. Aerobically I was fine but my stomach was asking me to stop with every step. Drew won by about 90 seconds. His and my time on the way back were nearly identical. He slowed a bit from his time going there but my time was once again just under 12 minutes. So I guess the donuts affected me less...except that statement would be a dirty lie.

I hit the finish line, turned around to watch Ryan finish about 45 seconds later...and then excused myself with the statement: "I'll be right back, I'm going to puke." At that point, I went over by a tree and left about 3 of the donuts on the grass, to most likely be eaten by a passing dog on a leash. After this event, the points had me with a 3 point lead over Drew, and 4 points over Ryan. I will write in a day or two with an update on the other events we have done, including what was probably the hardest event of the entire decathlon. Stay tuned.

The Decathlon (+1)

2008-11-14T10:22:00.004-05:00

I alluded to my eating decathlon in my post the other day, so now it is time to describe the entire event. My roommates and I sat down one night and brainstormed the idea for a while before we came up with 11 foods we found agreeable. So here are the events, in order with the results of the two events we've done so far.

1) 2 lbs. of salad race: just what it sounds like, whoever can eat all that salad first gets 3 points, 2nd place gets 2 points, and 3rd place gets 1 point. Bonus point for every pound of salad eaten. I won this event with a time of just under 24 minutes. Drew was next about 45 minutes later, and Ryan was 3rd a few minutes after that.

2) Who can eat 20 saltine crackers the fastest without water. Same scoring as every race, with a bonus for getting done in under 5:00. This one was difficult because it became hard to swallow. Ryan and I actually tied in 3:52, with Drew a distant third. Standing after two events: Andrew 8, Ryan 6, Drew 5.

3) 12 inch pizza challenge. Who can eat a 12 inch pizza fastest. Another event I talked about in the last post. Bonus points for getting in under Ryan's best time of 4:30.

4) Chinese food order. We have several Chinese restaurants that give substantial amounts of food for a cheap price. We are going to race to eat a full order, including the food, fried rice, eggroll and fortune cookie. The agreed upon order is General Tso's chicken.

5) Pasta: we haven't decided an amount but we will race to see who can eat a set amount of pasta first.

6) Krispy Kreme Race: This event is the one we're all looking forward to the most. It is also the only event where we are allowing outside competitors. The competition includes a 2 mile run to Krispy Kreme, the rapid consumption of 6 glazed donuts, and then a 2 mile run back. We already have 9 competitors signed up for this one so the competition could get heated. General scoring system, with bonuses for finishing without purgin your donuts on the run back.

7) 10 tacos from Taco Bell: Another race to see who can eat an entire 10-item order from Taco Bell. No bonuses associated with this one yet, but it will likely be very interesting.

8) Traditional pie-eating contest: No hands. Need I say more.

9) Block of cheese: Another race to see who can eat an entire block of cheese. No water allowed for this one. Bonus points for not getting sick.

10) 1 full bag of Baked Lays. This is one of the weaker events on the list, but it should make for some interesting racing, especially if we don't allow water.

11) Dog Biscuits: This is one of those things reminiscent of Survivor or something because we plan to find unpleasant-tasting treats and see who can eat 10 the fastest. Obvious points for not getting sick. I'm not a fan of this one.

So as you see, we have a full slate of events in the coming weeks, and I will keep the blog updated on the ongoing results of this fantastic competition. And I encourage everyone to look closely at this competition and consider doing something similar.

Our Girlfriends Think We're Crazy

2008-11-12T11:33:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been far too long since my last post. So here we are again, and I'm back to my favorite topic: Food. This time is going to be more reminiscent of my logs leading up to the famous trip to Denny's Beer Barrel Pub. The eating challenges have begun once again.

Now personally, I never really gave up on them. But they got put on the back burner for most of the group. However, we occasionally email each other links to interesting eating challenges. This is how this new wave began. My cousin John found that the world record for eating a 12 inch pizza was 2 minutes and 19 seconds. So of course, being the group that we are, we decided to test this record. I started out the festivities last Wednesday by eating a Tombstone pizza in just under 8 minutes (extremely weak when looking at the rest of the results). But it turns out the Tombstone was a difficult pizza to eat. On Friday, most of the Denny's group plus one or two others convened in St. Louis to challenge my time and, more importantly, the world record.

The big winner was El Nino, who finished his Imo's pizza in I believe about 3 1/2 minutes. John was next in about 4 1/2, and the rest of the group followed shortly, with all but one beating my mediocre time. Well, that lit a fire under me and I intend to challenge this again, most likely on my next trip to St. Louis when I can go to Imo's myself.

So I could end this post here and have a solid story, but I'm going to make it a bit longer and tell you how this pizza challenge has changed my life. My two roommates, Ryan and Drew, we amused by my attempt and decided to test their own bodies. Ryan completed the challenge in about 4 1/2 minutes. The next night, he attempted the ill-advised gallon challenge, to the much expected result of some very forceful vomiting. The next night all three of us attempted to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. And once again, Ryan vomited. Drew and I fared a bit better, meaning we kept our dinners inside. But no one succeeded. Well, this led us to develop a new set of competitions related to eating. We call it the House 6883 Eating Decathlon (+1). We have 11 events, and a point system to crown a grand champion of eating. In a day or two I will describe every event in the decathlon, but today I will give a brief rundown of event #1: The 2 lbs of salad race.

The race is just what it sounds like. The first person to successfully eat 2 lbs. of salad is the winner. 1st place gets 3 points, 2nd gets 2, and 3rd gets 1. For every pound of salad you eat you also get 1 point. So there is a potential for 5 points in this event. We began at about 10:30 last night, with our salads poured into large bowls and dressing and drinks of choice at our sides. Ryan and Drew used Italian Dressing, with Ryan drinking Woodchuck, and Drew with water. I had Raspberry Vinaigrette and Root Beer/water to drink. Well, I ended up the big winner in this event, finishing my 2 lbs of salad in just under 24 minutes. I had a huge lead so I really let up the last 10 minutes and probably could have gone under 20 if not for that. 2nd place, nearly 45 minutes later, was Drew. And coming in 3rd, and almost vomiting for the third night in a row (but somehow holding it in) was Ryan. So the standings sit with me in first place so far with 5 points, Drew in 2nd with 4 points, and Ryan in 3rd with 3 points. The competition will heat up in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Local Cuisine: The Conclusion

2008-10-16T16:08:00.002-04:00

After writing extensively about the cuisine of Kentucky the other day, it is now time to focus on the wonder that is the food of St. Louis. I will warn you that this may turn into a lengthy post because there is so much to write about. Because of that I will try to only talk briefly about each food.

In my mind, it all begins with St. Louis style pizza. As a younger boy, I used to think of this pizza as merely thin crust pizza, and thus all thin crust pizzas were equal. So whenever I saw thin crust, I thought it was St. Louis style. I guess I was wrong all those years, because it's more the ingredients than just the thin crust that make this pizza unique. Provel cheese, which is also a staple of St. Louis is probably the key ingredient to the pizza, but it can also be mixed with a sweeter sauce, and lots of spices. The crust is thin, almost to the point of being crunch, and it is always cut into squares. There is no pizza like this available in Louisville. Here in Louisville, Papa John's (or what I like to call "Louisville-style" pizza) is king. And who the hell needs Papa John's on a regular basis, when you can have Imo's and Cecil Whitaker's.

Next on the list of St. Louis favorites is another Italian dish (owing to St. Louis' strong Italian heritage): toasted ravioli. I've seen this in restaurants outside of St. Louis, but stores in Louisville don't carry it. The great thing about this food is that I'm not a fan at all of ravioli, but this is completely different. Basically, take normal ravioli, season the shit out of it, deep fry it, and serve it with dipping sauce and you have the start to a hell of a meal. First off, EVERYTHING is better deep-fried. Second, this can be eaten as an appetizer or a meal, and it never gets old. I made it a point to pick myself up two boxes of Louisa toasted ravioli before I left St. Louis last weekend because I missed this wondrous food so much. Anyone who hasn't tried this is truly missing out.

The next type of food that makes St. Louis so damn awesome is St. Louis style BBQ. The true staples of this are Maull's BBQ sauce and pork steaks. I've always thought of my BBQ as being covered in Maull's...nearly dripping sometimes. It wasn't until just the other day that I realized that Maull's isn't available much outside of St. Louis. This was mind-blowing to me because I guess I always assumed it was a national brand. I guess I never looked closely at the store here in "The 'Ville." Pork steaks are something different altogether. I believe they're cut from the shoulder area of the pig, and are generally a bit more fatty than other types of pork. However, the fat is the tasty kind, like on prime rib, that only adds to the flavor of the rib, and is very easy to chew. I just had pork steaks over the weekend for the first time in probably 3 years and they were every bit as mouth-watering as I remember them. This is another food I fully intend to ship back to Louisville in my Taurus the next time I make a trip to St. Louis.

The last food I will hit on in detail is St. Louis' entry into the "pile of slop" category, the Slinger. This is a breakfast and late night staple in St. Louis, especially in eateries such as Eat Rite (or dont' eat at all) and the Courtesy Diner (known for their less than courteous staff). A slinger is basically a pile of slop, made of breakfast foods and chili. Its ingredients are limited only to the chef's imagination, but it must include a meat and chili. Generally, they will include eggs, along with sausage, bacon, ham or steak, and hash brown, topped with generous amounts of chili. These things are painful to eat and even more painful to pass the next day, but you can't argue with proven taste. I've devoured all of two of them in my life, and only regretted it for a fleeting few moments the day after.

Other unique food choices in St. Louis are Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, gooey butter cake (extremely easy to make and incredibly rich), the ice cream cone (meaning it was rumored to be invented there during the 1904 World's Fair), and countless other Italian dishes found on The Hill. There are countless other foods unique to both St. Louis and Louisville, but if I hit on them all I would be writing for days. This is just a taste (no pun intended) of what is uniquely available in these two cities, but I urge anyone who hasn't tried any of these foods to make it a point on their next trip through to stop and try at least one of them. I know I make it a point to eat at least one or two St. Louis staples on every trip to the Gateway to the West.

Local Cuisine

2008-10-14T11:45:00.002-04:00

Someone recently asked me if I were to move away from Louisville, would I miss Kentucky food as much as I miss St. Louis food. Well, this question REALLY got me thinking and I found initially I had a hard time answering. There is a lot of great food that is native to Kentucky...but can it compare to the cuisine of St. Louis? I've written about food on this blog before, but it is a subject that is always worth coming back to. Today I'll focus on the food in Louisville, with St. Louis coming tomorrow.

Let me first begin by saying that the cuisine in Louisville is distinct from the food of the rest of the state, so I will have to limit this study to just Louisville's native foods. I will begin with one of my favorite concepts in food, and that is the "pile of slop" category. This includes recipes which are basically just heaping piles of several different ingredients. St. Louis and Louisville both have entries in this category. In Louisville, that food is the hot brown.

The hot brown is a dish that is fairly similar to an open-faced turkey sandwich...but it is so much more than that. It was created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville as an alternative late-night snacking option. It consists of turkey piled on bread, piled high with bacon, sometimes mashed potatoes, and covered with tomatoes and either gravy or, more commonly, Mornay sauce. It is generally also topped with parmesan cheese, and sometimes ham is included with the turkey. I've had several hot browns at several restaurants, and never once have I been disappointed. If you're ever in the mood for a good pile of slop, then the hot brown is definitely near the top of my list of good eats.

Another popular item that I had never heard of before moving to Kentucky is beer cheese. This is a kind of spicy cheese dip, that is meant for parties and outdoor events. It is made with, of course, beer, cheddar cheese, and just about any spices you can think of to put in there. Most people like their beer cheese especially spicy, and it is often served with pretzels, chips, or crackers. I am actually not a huge fan of the stuff, but you can't go past a cheese cooler in a grocery store in Kentucky without seeing several varieties of beer cheese on the shelf.

Kentucky, including Louisville, and especially Owensboro, are reknowned for their BBQ. This is going to be a difficult category of food to compare because I have a very strong leaning toward St. Louis BBQ. But I can't deny that Kentucky has gotten it right as well. Parts of Western Kentucky have developed a unique recipe and way of using pit BBQ which is absolutely stellar, and the two or three times I've ever had burgoo have been nothing less than parties in my mouth. Burgoo is one of those great foods like chili and my next food, Derby Pie, where everyone has their own unique recipe that they feel is the best. And I urge these same people to keep trying out new ideas and send them my way because this stuff is nuts.

I'll end this post with the one food I know I will miss the most if I ever leave Kentucky. That food is Derby Pie. In the simplest terms, Derby Pie is a type of pecan pie with chocolate chips. But that would not be doing it justice. Derby Pie is a specialty during Kentucky Derby season (kind of like the Mint Julep, another Kentucky specialty). It is generally made with chocolate and walnuts, but also can have pecans, caramel, butterscotch, or other types of nuts. Bourbon is also a tasty, but not entirely necessary, add-on. In the end, after mixing all of these ingredients together, you get an incredibly rich pie with a hard top cruse but a soft middle filled with ground nuts and melted chocolate, often with a distinct bourbon flavor. It is served both hot and cold, and is my favorite part of Derby season. A place called Kern's Kitchen actually owns the official recipe for Derby Pie, and no one can officially call another recipe Derby Pie. So it pops up as a variety of other names, including Chocolate Nut Pie, Winner's Circle Pie, or even "First Saturday in May Pie."

I'm not going to ever talk bad about Kentucky cuisine, and I really just scratched the surface because there is so much popular food outside of Louisville, and even in Louisville that I have missed. Kentucky bourbon is a source of pride for Kentuckians all over the state, Louisville has a strong German heritage which has led to many Octoberfests and German festivals popping up with great food. And I don't even know what wonders lie in Appalachia, but I can only fantasize. So Kentucky and its cuisine definitely have a place in my heart, but I'll be honest when I say it is NOTHING in my mind compared to the food you'll find in St. Louis. Read on tomorrow.

Pumpkins and TP

2008-10-02T09:48:00.003-04:00

Pumpkin season has officially begun, and I'm beyond excited. My goal is to eat at least one pumpkin item every day between now and December 1. A lofty goal, I know but one I believe I can achieve. I began three nights ago with pumpkin pie from Frisch's, then had a delectable Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from DQ two nights ago. Last night I purchased what will undoubtedly be my saving grace on this quest: Pumpkin Delights. These are true to their name, as they are a delightful snack put out by Little Debbie (that bitch knows some snack cakes), and are small and cheap enough that if it gets to be 11:00 at night and I haven't had my pumpkin fix, I can grab one of those. I look forward to a holiday season filled with pumpkin EVERYTHING!!

On another note, I was in the bathroom the other day and came to a serious revelation. Why is the toilet paper roll always so low to the floor? I would assume this is done under the assumption that people wipe sitting down. But I know I can't do that. And the last thing I want to do after soiling any toilet is to bend down three feet just to get some TP. So why don't they start putting the roll up about 4-5 feet high. I know I wouldn't mind having to reach up to get my asswipe.

The weather here in Louisville has officially turned from summer to fall. And I couldn't be angrier. I am already missing the 90 degree days with a heat index of 105. But I guess we can't always get what we want. Right now it's about 55 degrees and will only top out at about 67. The overnight lows are regularly in the high 40's. It was pretty much like day and night. It was pretty hot last week and then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out. And most people are probably loving this "beautiful fall weather," but it's making me miserable. All this does to me is make me think of how bad the weather will be in a month. Oh well, I'll live with the somewhat warm weather while I can.

On a positive note, I had lost my copy of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out but thanks to the wonder that is Facebook (I know it has a lot of critics) I found it. Turns out I had lent it to a friend of mine. I changed my profile on Facebook to say that I was missing my game, and my friend immediately got in touch with me and told me he had it. So no matter what anyone says, Facebook did me some good in my life. Now I can begin my quest for a third Perfect Punch-Out!!

It's Nerf or Nothing

2008-09-26T09:33:00.003-04:00

My roommate and I waited in silence as our other roommate pulled into the driveway. We exchanged confused looks as he sat in his car for a seemingly excessive amount of time. Finally, we gave up our venture and went back to what we had been doing...I went into my room to read a book and he sat down in the living room to watch TV. All of a sudden I heard a yell, followed by footsteps running. I walked out the door to my room and something flew past my ear. "What the F__K was that?" I yelled. And then I saw it...my roommate hadn't been waiting in his car for no reason. He had been loading his new NERF gun. I ran into my room and slammed the door as he began to pelt me with more darts, and anxiously tried to load my own firearm.

It all started seemingly innocently, when one of our friends decided to give away his collection of these guns, and we were the only takers. Three guns for three roommates. Perfect karma.

I took the replica sniper rifle, and the 6-shooter and other rifle were dispersed among the other two. The madness really began Tuesday night. At about 11:00 that night, I had the bright idea to get one roommate to join me in storming the other roommate's room after he had gone to bed for the night. I stood in front of the door while Ryan stood to the side and pushed the door open. We then began pelting Drew with darts while he screamed profanities at us. We walked back upstairs feeling kind of bad because we had disturbed his privacy and possibly his sleep. However, I realized 10 minutes later that he wasn't put off in the least. That's because he came upstairs and began shooting madly at the two of us in retaliation. As we ran fought back and forth for about 10 minutes, the two dogs ran around barking at the madness going on around them. I made sure that when I went to bed that night, I locked my door.

It all came to a head last night with the incident of Ryan coming into the house and shooting us with the NEW gun he had just bought. This thing actually hurts if it hits you, and is pretty deadly accurate. I'm still shocked that he spent about $30 on a new NERF gun just to protect himself. Well, after this happened we proceeded to spend roughly 90 minutes late last night running around the house shooting at each other. The dogs were outside, probably wondering the same thing you are: What are three guys in their mid-20's doing playing with NERF guns.

The answer is simple. Guys don't like the idea of growing up. Think about it: we play video games, watch the sports we played as kids, watch our favorite movies from our childhood, and listen to the same music. This doesn't apply to everyone but it does to a lot of my friends. I spend my evenings playing with NERF guns, playing original Nintendo, and watching early seasons of the Simpsons and Darkwing Duck, among other things. My favorite movie is Back to the Future. Ever since Death Magnetic came out, all I've listened to is Metallica. What I'm trying to say is that I was so influenced by our culture when I was growing up that I have held onto my interests from that time and am still passionate about them. Maybe I'm going through a quarter-life crisis, especially with my obsession with cartoons lately. But I think that I just am not ready to leave my childhood behind, especially now that I'm in a better financial position to enjoy what I want. I can now afford to buy these NERF guns I never had as a kid, and rent or but all those movies I loved watching. I have more access to the music of the time. So I think I'm making up now for everything I didn't get enough of as a kid. And I believe most guys go through this at some point in their 20's once they've been independent for awhile.

I never thought I would be playing with NERF guns when I was 27, but all I have to say to that is: "Why wouldn't I be?"

Low Budget Mania

2008-09-24T10:51:00.003-04:00

I know I've already blogged about commercials but I only covered commercials for kids in that post. Yesterday, an email from my cousin reminded me of one of the VERY few advantages to watching daytime television: the cheesy local commercial.

My greatest memories of low budget commercials come from my childhood in St. Louis. During the summer, I would get up at a reasonable hour and spend my mornings in front of the television most of the time, before going out and playing with my friends in the late morning or early afternoon hours. This would normally occur after watching The Price Is Right. These few hours of watching morning television introduced me to some local businesses I never would have known about otherwise.

The first one, that was the inspiration for this post, is Schweig Engel, which I believe is a furniture and appliance company, but I'm not sure if the commercials ever made it clear. These commercials were made up of three guys essentially yelling to you about their financing and credit options at the store. I don't recall them ever actually mentioning what they sell, leading me, as a child, to believe they were just a credit or accounting firm. After doing some research into it, I figured out what they actually sell. However, I tried to find information about the actual actors and was only able to come up with this video interview with Mike Stein. The cheesy special effects, sometimes violent overtones, and the voice levels of the actors made these commercials a favorite among native St. Louisans.

Next up is Becky's Carpet and Tile Superstore. I always found these commercials disturbing. Back in the day, they consisted of Becky, Queen of Carpet, and Wanda, Princess of Tile. They rode a flying carpet all over St. Louis, not always staying on it but generally ending the commercial there. However, after several years, Wanda suddenly disappeared from the ads, leaving Becky flying (literally) solo. Perhaps the combined weight of the two hurt the flying carpet, or perhaps Wanda actually did fall off the carpet and died...but that remains one of the great mysteries in St. Louis lore...What happened to Wanda? My opinion is there was a dispute between the Queen and Princess, and Becky ended up on the winning side. She admitted to being a recognizable figure outside of St. Louis in an interview done recently...and I bet that if Wanda were still around, it would take some of the spotlight off Becky. And who wants that?

There are several others I would like to cover, but in order to save space, I'll mention: Dirt Cheap and the Dirt Cheap bird, Buckley the talking dog...I can't even remember the name of the company, but if you mention Buckley you get $500 off the price of your car. The questions there is how do you go about mentioning Buckley when you're buying a car? That's always plagued me, and I wonder how many people have actually gotten that $500 off the price of the car. I also wonder how many Buckleys there have been.

Louisville doesn't have the same number of cheesy local commercials. But there are a few. The one I'm going to highlight isn't nearly as good as Schweig Engel, but it's still good. Darryl Isaacs, Attorney at Law, AKA "The Heavy Hitter." This is just a big oaf of a lawyer, who supposedly finished in the bottom third of his law school class, but is now probably the most recognized lawyer in Louisville. He's been seen in his commercials playing basketball and punching people and cars out of the screen, among other things. Most catchy, however is his jingle: "The heavy hitter is the way to go. Call 458-1000." Classic.

I wish I could write about more than this but I don't watch enough daytime and late night television anymore to really be able to do that. I hope the cheesy local commercial is not a dying breed. But if it is, then I thank all the local companies for filling my childhood (and adult life) with memories of dinosaurs eating people, headless salesmen, and b-balling lawyers.

Ike

2008-09-17T10:17:00.003-04:00

I feel like the entire country experienced the fallout from Hurricane Ike. I know for a fact that both Louisville and St. Louis were ravaged, but in entirely different fashions. On Sunday, as the hurricane made its way north, it hit St. Louis with fairly high winds and more rain than the city has seen in quite some time. I believe I heard 4 inches fell in the span of a few hours. This caused flooding all over the city, including in places I've never heard of having this problem before. For example, I was told the corner of Manchester and Hanley was underwater. What!?!?! That's what I said. I didn't even know there was water anywhere nearby, but somehow this area flooded.

Meanwhile, in Louisville, we got the high winds but no rain. However, we got gusts of up to 75 mph, with average winds in the 50 mph range for a few hours straight. Now I've never considered myself much of a risk-taker but I made one of the dumber decisions of my life on Sunday afternoon. I chose to go running at the height of these massive winds, with trees all around me. So I made my way to a park and ran 7 miles, all the while being covered in blowing dust and debris, and waiting for a tree limb or street sign to crack me in the side of the head.

The aftermath of these high winds left roughly 300,000 households and businesses in the area without power...myself and my work included. As I write this it is Wednesday morning, and my house is still without power, and my work unfortunately got power at about 6:30 this morning. I think there are still about 150,000 places without power right now, and they are guessing it could be up to 2 weeks (from Sunday) by the time everything is restored.

So while I sit at night in my dark house and read with a flashlight, while watching movies on my laptop until the battery dies, one very disturbing thought crosses my mind on a regular basis: if we are this reliant on electricity and cannot use anything that needs it, what would happen if toilets were powered by electricity?

I know that I had to piss in the dark on the very first day we lost power but was able to flush. But people are freaking out so badly right now it is insane. You can't buy batteries, flashlights, or candles to light your house. Stores are also sold out of ice so you can't cool your food. Even gas stations are shutting down: some because they don't have power and others because they are out of gas. People are lined up in stores and gas stations all over the city trying to find a way to live their lives. What if they couldn't use their toilets either? Would the lines at restaurants, stores, libraries, and even churches be out the door because there are thousands of people around the city who can't take a shit? Would the city line up portolets in parks for everyone to use? Would people just begin to go in their neighbors' yards? Think of how many times you walk into a room when your power is out and flip a light switch without thinking...just out of habit. How many people would automatically go use their toilet, only to realize, too late, that they can't flush it? Then they would have to deal with a rotting turd cooking up in their bowl for several days. The smell would be just awful. So all of you scientists out there, or amateur inventors, if you see blueprints come across your desk for an electric toilet, I have just three words for you: JUST SAY NO!!

Fatigue and Pop Tarts

2008-09-12T10:30:00.003-04:00

As I write this, at roughly 11:00 AM while sitting in my desk at work, I am currently very tired and uncomfortable. Whoever said that running and hard exercise make you feel better was way off. I guess that may be a bit of an exaggeration, because I really enjoy enduran ce sports and being in great shape, but running in the morning does two things to me that are polar opposites: give me a great outlook on the day (because my run is done), and makes trying to sit still incredibly uncomfortable and stiff. I remember days when I was in college, running 15 miles before night class and trying to sit through a 3 hour class. All I did was squirm, try to stretch, and think about food and sleep...it didn't help that I hated night classes at the time.

The food situation here is better than it was during my night class days....Pop Tarts and chocolate milk (which has electrolytes and aids in runners' recovery, believe it or not). I've recently discovered a new kind of Pop Tart that I think is now on closeout. They are blue raspberry flavored and for all you American Idol fans, they feature trivia. The flavor isn't too bad, especially if you like blue raspberry, and it makes looking past the annoying design much easier. It cost me $2.00 for a box of 12...how can you beat that. I also picked up a $2.00 box of Barbie Island Berry flavored Tarts this morning, which is what is going to sustain me until lunch time.

"Did you ever notice how men always leave the toilet seat up?..............That's the joke." McBain said those immortal words in his classic flick McBain: Let's Get Silly. This is one of my favorite McBain scenes ever, and in thinking about it, I did a web search and came up with this gem of a website . Why would anyone waste their time on such a simple, useless, and nonsensical site? Because they can. I applaud this person and their vision of a website to replay, over and over, this classic scene from Simpsons lore, most likely for his or her own entertainment, and maybe that of a few close friends.

You're Listening To The Radio

2008-09-09T09:29:00.003-04:00

I've come to the conclusion that radio can both heighten and destroy my love of music. A big reason for this is the choice of radio stations here in Louisville, but I'll get into that later. The inspiration for this post actually came on a positive note this morning in my car, when I heard "Civil War" by Guns N' Roses.

Most bands that you hear have several songs that I call "radio songs." These are the 3-4 songs from any given popular band that are played on classic rock stations nationwide, and they rarely vary from one station to the other. The problem I have is that certain stations seem to have a jones for certain bands. While I can no longer intelligently speak about radio stations in St. Louis, I know that back at the turn of the millennium KSHE 95 played roughly 2 Led Zeppelin songs per hour. Here in Louisville, the worst culprit is 95.7 QMF, playing AC/DC at a rate that would probably make the band tire of hearing their own music. To their credit, however, I will admit that QMF has a vast collection of AC/DC on in their library. However, I can also attest to the fact that this phenomena of AC/DC overkill has actually caused me to change the station any time I hear them played. It's not that I dislike the band, it's just that I'm tired of having them thrown in my face on the radio.

Another group this has happened with is Guns N' Roses. This is very disturbing to me because, even though I'm not a fan of all their music, I do enjoy most of it. The problem is, the only 3 GN'R songs I've heard on the radio with any regularity are: "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City", and (far too often) "Sweet Child of Mine." I used to be a huge fan of all these songs, but I cannot stand to hear any one of them on the radio. "Sweet Child of Mine" is especially bad because it is the most prevalent of the three. What makes it even worse is that they often even edit the song to take out most of the guitar solo, which is a high point of the song. So I can't tell you my relief when I heard "Civil War" this morning...of course it was on the station I consider to be the best in the city.

That station is 93.1 The Fox. Not only does it play a solid mix of classic and new rock, but it has a pretty vast playlist. I have to admit that I favor this station because every day at 6:00 is Mandatory Metallica, which is my favorite 25 minutes of the rush hour. What's impressive about Mandatory Metallica is how deep the go into the band's library. How often are you going to hear Battery, Creeping Death, or Hit the Lights on the radio? The answer is never. I mean, even as I write, Metallica is on the station's website's homepage...which is advertised on the radio as "The perfect break from your favorite porn sites." I could go on and on about this radio station, but I think anyone just needs to go to the website and check out "Thong of the Day", "Who Would You Do", and listen to the station live online. You will not be disappointed.

The other alternatives in Louisville are the aforementioned 95.7 QMF, 107.7 SFR...both of these are very similar stations that specialize in classic rock, but their choice of music is questionable at best. Of course, I'm also not a fan of Lynrd Skynrd and Cher. But if you like stuff like that, then enjoy. You can also listen to 105.1 WLRS, which is the #2 station in my mind, because it is a solid mix of 93.1 and the last two stations. However, it focuses much more on new rock and a lot of the stuff you would hear on The Fox, so it is my easy second choice. The final option is a little known station: 88.1, WNAS New Albany...the station of New Albany High School. I believe this station is run by high school students, and thus the music selection comes from their cd's and Itunes. This station is completely hit or miss, but if you hit then you hit big. They play some completely random music, and if you get a DJ on there who likes metal you'll hear something you won't hear on any other station. I remember hearing Winger, Queensryche, and Iron Maiden on this station.

I'll finish this post with a shout out to my favorite station of all time...the short-lived 97.1 The Rock, a station that was big in St. Louis in the late 90's. This station played nothing but hard classic rock and had a huge playlist. It did four 20-song music marathons per day, meaning no commercials for over an hour. Eventually, it got bought out by KSHE, which went on to proclaim itself "The Rock of St. Louis." But I will forever remember that station as the best mix of music I can ever remember.

My Thoughts For The Day

2008-09-04T13:01:00.003-04:00

Just a day after reporting about the weather being so great here, I have been given reports of the weather in St. Louis. As of this writing, it is rainy and 68 in St. Louis, thanks to Hurricane Gustav. Of course, I'm still living it up here in Louisville in the 85 degree weather...heat index over 90. The day it dips below 65 degrees for the high temperature, I believe I may cry...or maybe I'll still jump in my pool, which will be going strong until Thanksgiving.

My roommate brought up a great idea for a winter use for the pool. He suggested we buy some catfish, put the pool out in our front yard, and go fishing from the front porch, while drinking beers and grilling out. This can be done in any weather. It would just be ice fishing during the winter. That got me thinking: how much would it cost to buy 10 live catfish?? Well, upon doing a little bit of research, I couldn't find a good price, but I did find some fish brokers who specialize in the sale of live fish, both for cooking and for stocking lakes. So I didn't get a quote, but I found what I thought was a great site: Imperial Catfish. The logo is what did it for me.

On a separate note, I have found a destination for a pilgrimage in the future. I don't know how I didn't discover it before this, but my blog has a namesake and a sister city. It is, of course, St. Louisville, OH. It is a mere 250 miles from Louisville, but a whopping 477 miles from St. Louis. However, this is a definite option because I intend to make a trip for another eating challenge in the future to central Ohio, and this place will not be too far out of the way. While this trip is probably a long way in the future, I fully intend to blog about the history of the city as well as my experience visiting the town that was named after my blog.

On a final note, in response to my cartoon post I have decided to get some of my old favorites in the mail via Netflix. The first disc of Darkwing Duck should arrive in the mail today. I will report on how well the show holds up, but I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation of viewing this childhood classic.

The End of the Summer

2008-09-03T12:48:00.005-04:00

Sweet irony has struck again. How many times have you heard of Labor Day referred to as the "unofficial" end to summer? I know I'm sick of hearing it, because it means that my favorite part of the year is over.

Labor Day, while nice in the fact that it is part of a long weekend (4 days, in my case this year), but it also means several issues arise that I don't like: school is back in, people and businesses close their pools, winter clothing goes on sale, and you see the first Christmas items also go on sale.

So you have no idea how happy it made me when Labor Day, the day after, and today have all topped out over 90 degrees here in Louisville...among the 3 hottest days of the year, after summer had unofficially ended. I love the heat, and laugh at those idiots who closed their pools on Monday. All the while, I had my pool open and ready to use in the backyard. It doesn't matter that my pool is made of plastic and rubber, is only 3 feet deep and has a diameter of 10 feet. It also doesn't matter that it is currently filled with leaves because the portable filter it came with sucks. And it doesn't matter that it needs new water. What matters is the fact that, if I choose, I have the option to jump in my pool at any time...and it's AFTER Labor Day. I intend to keep this pool set up as long as the temperatures are regularly in the 70's, which could mean November in this part of the country. I will swim at the latest possible date...and laugh at all those people who closed their pools up just because the "Unofficial" end to summer came a bit too early.

On another note, I hate that Christmas supplies are already on sale. There's nothing more annoying than going to a store and seeing reindeers and Santa Clause set up next to skeletons and pumpkins. Can we at least get past the first week of the NFL before we start thinking about our Holiday shopping?

The only good thing to come out of the end of summer is the start of pumpkin season. I personally can eat anything pumpkin: pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream (Starlight Frozen Custard in Louisville has a killer pumpkin concrete), pumpkin beer...basically anything in that flavor and I'm all over it. This pumpkin obsession rose to new highs last year, as I ingested at least one pumpkin flavored item on a nearly daily basis...and consumed roughly 8 pumpkin pies through the entire holiday season. This year stands to top that bit of craziness...mainly because I am now running quite a bit more and I have a much larger appetite than I had at this time last year.

After School Specialness

2008-08-27T15:19:00.004-04:00

The 3:00 bell rings. Kids rush out of their classrooms and into waiting cars. They're rushed home, they grab some milk and cookies...and plop down in front of the tv.

As a child, this was my after school routine. It wasn't an every day thing, but some of my most vivid memories of being a kid were watching some classic television either after school, from 3:00-5:00, or on Saturday mornings.

Before I go further, I would like it to be known that TV did not run my life as a kid. My parents would never have allowed that. I spent A LOT of time outside playing sports and other random games that my childlike mind could think up with my friends. But I also watched my fair share of cartoons.

The first memory I have is, of course, Saturday morning cartoons. I can't quite remember what my favorite lineup was, but I have certain favorites I took from the era of the late 80's and early 90's. For example, every Saturday morning I would strive to be up by 8:00 AM in an effort to catch a full hour of Garfield and Friends. This might well be my favorite cartoon of all time. The one problem I had with this, however, was that as I got older and was allowed to stay up a bit later at night, 8:00 would pass with me still in bed. So as I got older, I missed more and more Garfield every Saturday morning, which was a sad state of being if you ask me.

After Garfield I remember there would be a variety of shows I would watch, including A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Captain N: The Game Master. These shows were not as strong as Garfield, but still solid in my mind. I also remember that as the morning got later, the cartoons got worse and worse. The 8:00 cartoons seemed to be the best, and 9:00 was still solid, but the shows at 10:00 or 11:00 would begin to make your mind wander to your plans for the day and whether to have PB&J for lunch, or a ham sandwich. Today, Saturday morning cartoons are virtually nonexistent. There is an interesting Wikipedia article here that provides several explanations for this decline, including the rise of cable TV and video games.

A final memory I have of Saturday morning cartoons was one of the most highly-anticipated events of every year for a kid, and that was the Saturday morning preview show. Each network would air mini episodes of several new cartoons to air in the next season as previews for kids. These would generally air on Friday nights, often in place of TGIF or other regular Friday programming. I remember vividly watching such animated TV programs get previewed, including animated versions of Tales From The Crypt and The Addams Family. However, most of these shows that would make the Saturday morning preview only seemed to last for one season.

The other hot spot for cartoon watching was the weekday timeslot from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm. This was a time when kids were getting off of school and wanted nothing more than to relax in front of the tv with a juice box and some Twizzlers. There were two sets of shows I vividly remember from this era in my life. The first was the block of shows that aired on the Kids WB. The main shows I remember airing were Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, and Tiny Toon Adventures. The latter two, especially, were both classics that I think I would still enjoy watching to this day.

Running in direct competition to the Kids WB was The Disney Afternooon. This ran in the same timeslot and had a similar format to TGIF where it had 4 shows that changed every season. It began with the lineup of The Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers, and Talespin. It went on to include such classics as Darkwing Duck (among my favorites cartoons ever), Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Gargoyles (another classic, ambitious cartoon).

The whole point of posting was to reminisce about my childhood and some of the classic programming I had available to me on network television (we didn't have cable growing up). I find it a damn shame that kids programming is so different today than what it used to be. Kids need to be able to look at shows like Duck Tales and Gargoyles and broaden their minds and imaginations by entering new worlds with different characters. Instead, kids today are sent home after school to play Call of Duty and Halo, while watching Hannah Montana and eating organic potato chips and sugarfree Kool-Aid. When did being a kid become so boring?

Speaking to the Masses

2008-08-22T10:50:00.003-04:00

Does anyone remember the days when commercials used to be enjoyable to watch? There was actually a time when I wouldn't flip the channel during commercials but instead sit and watch the advertisements that TV had to offer.

Now, before I begin I will concede that part of the reason the commercials I watch suck is because I don't watch cartoons anymore or programming geared towards kids (at least for the most part). Instead, I watch "grownup" shows, and because of this the advertisements are geared toward adults. But even these commercials are terrible. What happened to the days of the jingle? People don't write commercial music anymore. My cousin Steve points out the fact that most commercials rip off songs that used to be popular in place of jingles. So instead of getting some unique music, we get to hear the overplayed classics of Journey, The Cars, and other classic rock bands because they will somehow make us want to buy a Ford Fusion or the latest gadget at Office Depot.

But I began to write here because of my fondness of 80's and early 90's toy commercials. Back then if you watched kids shows you were bombarded with loud, obnoxious commercials full of kids shouting while playing with their new toys. These commercials always consisted of at least 6 kids, or even more, and were filled with constant action including but not limited to: rolling dice, holding the advertised toy out in front of you to show the camera while yelling its name, running as a group to a place where the toy is conveniently set up, and playing with the toy or game while the rest of the group circled around and watched. Perhaps advertising agencies didn't want to pay kids to play with toys, or perhaps in our modern, PC world they didn't want to try to represent every ethnicity. The classic toy adverts were made before the days of Barney and did not include a white boy and girl, 1 African-American, 1 Latino, and 1 kid with a physical handicap. They were made up of mostly white boys and girls. I guess searching for diversity is too time-consuming.

Today, with VERY few exceptions, kids are subject to commercials for video games that look like live-action shots, and the occasional halfway decent cereal advertisement. If I ever see an old-fashioned toy or board game commercial while flipping past Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, I stop and enjoy this blast from the past. I'll end here with a few links to classic commercials from back in the day:

Skip-It
Crocodile Mile
WWF Action Figures
He-Man Action Figures

Canteens of Cleanliness

2008-08-19T10:49:00.003-04:00

Well, science has dropped another bombshell on the world. You always hear people say that just about everything these days causes cancer, and it's all because every 6 months, scientists come out with a new study saying something new does just that. Before we know it, scientists will tell us that breathing causes cancer, so we all need to have oxygen pumped straight into our lungs in order to avoid this.

The latest cancer-causing agent is plastic water bottles. Now I've heard over the past several years that the bottles you buy water in at the stores are bad for refilling, but I've done that anyway. What I've always been told is that you can use one of these about 3 times before the plastic starts breaking down and leaching chemicals into your water. So for about 3 years in high school, I drank quite a bit of cancer-laced water. In an effort to avoid this and also to help the environment I decided about 2 years ago to begin using one of those large plastic bottles they sell in stores that can hold about 32 oz. of water and can be re-used countless times. Now I'm not only avoiding cancer, but I'm saving the environment. WRONG!!

Now it seems that these bottles also leak chemicals into your water after several uses and after washing. So that brings my tally up to 5 years of chemical-laced water ingestion. So what's the answer? The answer, of course, is for some company to take advantage of this fact and the fear of death that runs rampant in our country and try to make a profit. Enter the Klean Kanteen.

These bottles were made entirely to take advantage of the fact that other water bottles cause pollution, cancer, and probably herpes. So now, for the low, low price of only $19.95+shipping you can buy a Klean Kanteen. This bottle is made of stainless steel and is advertised as NEVER leaking cancer-causing chemicals into your water. They are incredibly durable, do not break down, and are good for the environment. And the best part: You won't DIE from drinking water out of them.

Now I'm not saying this is some rich American corporation that is trying to take advantage of people's worst fears, because there are other companies all over that make the same bottles. And they really are good for the environment, because when you think about it, how many plastic water bottles are really ever recycled compared to those that just get thrown out. So this is definitely a good thing for our planet, but the fact that you need to pay roughly $25 to get a 27 oz. metal water bottle in the mail is absurd. But I guess that is the price you pay to feel safe while drinking water. I never knew that in the act of hydrating, I was slowly killing myself. So is $25 worth spending to save myself from a slow, painful death?.....

My Klean Kanteen came in the mail last Friday.

WWKSD (What Would Kathy Santoni Do)??

2008-08-12T10:21:00.006-04:00

I was reminiscing on my childhood the other day, and for some reason I stumbled upon a memory of Hanna-Barber, especially The Jetsons. This made me think of the little-known "The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones." This was just a crossover of the two popular shows, but it reminded me of a few other failed crossovers. Remember TGIF, and the crossover night they did. I believe at the time , the lineup included Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step By Step and possibly Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. All I remember is Dana from Step By Step showing up at Disney World and talking to Cory about his relationship with Topanga.

And speaking of TGIF, who didn't love that staple of Friday nights. Maybe I was just a loser and watched too much TV as a kid but TGIF was awesome. I didn't realize that it dated all the way back to 1985-86. The original lineup included Webster, Mr. Belvedere, Diff'rent Strokes, and Benson. My personal favorite lineup was one of the earlier "official" TGIF lineups, which was Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the 10 of U. The only one of these shows that didn't do well was the last one, which was a spinoff of Growing Pains, featuring Coach Lubbock. My other favorite came a bit later on, and included Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step By Step, and Hanging With Mr. Cooper. This was probably its most powerful lineup, and just looking at these shows, who can really question why? I really doubt there could ever be another successful run of TGIF just because TV is different right now, but people of my generation can no doubt look back on this era of ABC television with the fondest of memories.

This TGIF stuff is just opening the vault to memories. Who remembers Kathy Santoni? If you don't remember, she was a friend of DJ and Kimmy in Full House. She was one of the most influential characters on the entire show, even though she only actually appeared a couple of times. But she was the benchmark of teenage life in the late 80's and early 90's. Whether DJ was losing a boyfriend to her or mimicking her style of dress, she was regularly mentioned on the show. Eventually she graduated high school and got married and had a kid. That was the last anyone heard of her, but she was possibly the most powerful non-character in TV sitcom history.

Milton Bradley and Beyond

2008-08-07T11:38:00.003-04:00

Whatever happened to simple board games? I remember growing up, my family had a toy closet. In this toy closet were several shelves, full of toys and boxes. But more importantly, we have shelves and shelves literally FILLED with board games. These were the backbone of my indoor entertainment growing up. I guess the children of the 80's had a different childhood than children of today and for that I am sad. However, today I have been brought back to my childhood by the simple pleasure of playing Battleship with my cousin. Playing this game got me thinking of all the different board games I had growing up.

Fireball Island This game was one of those wonderful inventions with a ginormous board and box, that forced your friends to come to your house because it could not be transported well. The point of the game was to safely reach the top of the plastic mountain without being knocked off and sent back several spaces by the "fireballs" (red marbles) that were placed randomly around the board. There was a certain amount of strategy that went along with this game, with cards and caves that allowed you to hide from the fireballs. I will have to brush up on the rules a bit more, but the ultimate goal was to reach the top and retrieve the jewel before anyone else did...very Indiana Jones, if you ask me.

Mouse Trap Another large game that was definitely not made for really young kids. This game could be played in several different ways. You are a plastic mouse moving randomly around the board. As you move along, you build the mouse trap. Once the trap is built, the goal is to trap every other mouse in the game in the trap and be the last mouse standing, so it's really like a Battle Royal of mice, fighting to the death over cheese. I think I always played with the trap already built and went from there. But this game was an icon of the 80's, though invented long before I was around. The pure absurdity of the trap made this game well worth it...except when the trap would not work properly, which was often.

Crossfire This was an intense game made for older kids. Made for two players, you sat opposite your opponent, each of you with a marble-shooting gun. In the middle of the board were two pieces, one for each opponent. The marbles shot along the board and the point was to shoot rapidly until you pushed your opponent's piece into their goal on the opposite side of the board. This game was so intense because it left your hands aching from the constant shooting and your heart racing. Typical games could last from about 10 seconds to minutes on end. Definitely not for the weak of heart.

Guess Who This game came along later in my childhood, but was no less memorable. The game basically served as a child's First Guide to Physical Stereotypes. Each player has a rack filled with stupid-looking cartoon characters, with overwhelmingly obvious physical characteristics. To start, you drew a card which had one of the characters on it. You then proceeded to ask a series of questions to weed out which character your opponent had drawn. Is your opponent a man? Yes (eliminate the women). Does he have glasses? No (get rid of all those guys with huge spectacles). And the game went on like this until you had narrowed your board down to one person. The first person to successfully guess the other person's character was the winner. This game unwittingly developed a whole new generation of racists and sexists, because the last character you wanted to draw was a black guy or a woman...because there were like 2 of each and if you had one of them, you pretty much were guaranteed to lose.

Perfection This was a game that was played solo, and helped to develop me into the recluse I am today. Basically, you had a board with about 20 different shapes cut into it, and 20 pieces corresponding to those shapes. The board pushed down and had a timer. The point of the game was to place all the pieces correctly into the board before the timer went off or, "POP!! Goes Perfection." Another game not for the weak of heart, because that timer ticking away was like a time bomb, and if that damn board popped, you basically jumped 10 feet in the air because you were focused solely on the pieces and it shocked you every time. To this day I wonder how many kids had fatal heart attacks while playing this game. I guess this was made to prepare kids for future careers in Bomb Squads, but all it did for me was to cause me to nearly crap in my pants on a regular basis.

Tuna and Pickles

2008-07-29T12:07:00.004-04:00

As an endurance athlete, I tend to pay a certain amount of attention to my diet. Now, I'm no health nut, and I enjoy my share of fast food, but I still tend to try to keep an eye on what I eat. It's because of this that myself and two of my friends got into the idea of customizing our diets.

The first diet may seem a bit unspectacular, but it has become a thing of lore here in Louisville, and had at one point developed a small following among runners whom I know. It is what myself and my friend Kris like to call the Kris and Andrew Tuna Diet. While I put my name on it, it's my friend Kris who really came up with the idea. It began when he entered the professional world and had to start packing his lunch. He came up with the brilliant idea of packing a can of tuna and bread and calling it a meal.

When I was a Junior in college, Kris and I began training together (he was coaching me at the time) and I began to look on him as something of a mentor. Midway through what was an extremely successful season for me, we had an incident. We were at the track running a pretty intense workout. At the end of the workout, I sat down for a minute to try to rest up before my cool down run. Instead of getting up, I proceeded to lay down and not get up for 5 minutes. After Kris and another runner had to literally carry me to the van to ride back to school, Kris and I sat down and had a talk.

He asked what I had eaten that day, and I answered 2 Pop Tarts for breakfast and a granola bar at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Well, Kris was livid after hearing this and gave me a lecture on my diet being crap. So he explained to me his idea of eating tuna every day at lunch, and I already knew how good it was supposed to be for runners. So the next day I went out and bought cans of tuna. Through the rest of the spring and the entire summer, I ate 2 tuna sandwiches for lunch probably 4-5 days a week. I prospered that season and had a great summer of training. When I began coaching, Kris and I pushed this tuna diet on our athletes, especially those who did not eat enough before practice.

Today, I don't eat as much tuna. For one, eating that much is bad for you. Secondly, I work with a tuna-smelling employee and it sickens me. I don't think I'll be able to eat tuna for a long while now, but it will start again, especially when I begin running seriously once again.

Reminiscing about this tuna diet reminds me of one other crash diet a friend of mine once tried. The same semester I chose to stay up 101 hours, one of my roommates decided he wanted to lose weight. He didn't have a particular plan except to cut down on his calories. One day, out of the blue he was looking at a pickle jar and realized each pickle had roughly 30 calories. Well, this set off a light bulb in his head. He LOVED pickles and decided this would be his new diet. In what officially became known as Doug's pickle diet, my roommate began eating NOTHING but pickles. His goal was to last 2 weeks and see if he lost weight.

He would eat 2 pickles in the morning and several throughout the day. If he ever got tired of pickles and wanted a dessert food, he ate a sweet pickle. Now, I thought my 101 hours was a serious test of will power, but the fact that Doug lasted almost 4 days on this pickle diet is absolutely stunning in my mind. Eventually he could not even fathom the thought of eating another pickle. In the end, Doug didn't lose any weight, and likely consumed enough sodium to last a year, but this was just another legendary tale from Petrik 105 that will live in infamy.

Whatever Happened to Dolph Lundgren?

2008-07-22T10:33:00.002-04:00

If you would ask any of my friends, they would tell you that I am an 80's fan. Period. Now, in our country, there are hundreds of thousands...probably millions of people who can claim the same thing. So I don't think I'm special or unique, or anything of the sort. I DO think that I'm a TRUE 80's fan, as I enjoy all aspects of the culture of that decade. I always hate people who claim to be fans of 80's music because they like 2 Poison songs (generally "Every Rose Has It's Thorn and "Something to Believe In") and 3 Guns 'n Roses Songs. Half of these people probably don't even know the group who wrote this music. So if you're going to claim to be a fan of something, do your research.

Now I'm not the most fluent in the culture, but I am pretty intelligent, and my area of expertise is 80's movies. While there are still hundreds of them I haven't seen, there are hundreds that I have seen and can quote verbatim. I am one who corrects someone when they misquote an 80's movie, even if they just missed the quote by one word.

So where am I going with all this? Well, just look at the damn title of this post and you'll understand. One of the great villains from any 80's movie is Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. He's also one of the most quotable, when you measure this by the percentage of lines that you can quote from one character. His percentage: 100% (at least his English lines). "I must break you," "If he dies, he dies," "To the end," He is not human, he is like a piece of iron," (that last one isn't even said in English, but it's still quotable. So basically, I'm saying that Dolph Lundgren really did a lot with a little. He made you absolutely hate this character while speaking roughly 7 lines the entire movie.

So wouldn't an actor of this extensive talent warrant Oscar nods, red carpet coverage, and other leading roles. Well, Dolph got some other leading roles: In 1987 he fulfilled a lot of kids' dreams by scoring the role of He-Man in "Masters of the Universe." He also had leading roles in such movies as "I Come in Peace," and "Universal Soldier" (alongside Jean-Claude VanDamme). He then faded into obscurity, securing roles in smaller films that did not get much press, with the exception of "Johnny Mnemonic."

So, what has happened to him since 1995 and "Johnny Mnemonic"? Well, he's now gone into directing. He's been billed as director of "The Defender", "The Mechanik" and "Diamond Dogs." Now, I'm not one to criticize, but He-Man doesn't belong on the Director's chair. He needs to be right there in the action, busting skulls and shooting up villains (or good guys, depending on his role). He would have made a great villain to Shwarzenegger's Terminator in any of those movies. Or he could have played the new Terminator in Terminator 4, yes they're making another one. But I guess he has a right to hang up his boxing gloves, Power Sword, and guns and step behind the camera to make his own films. But I have to say, Drago was just Lundgren's second role in a film and he played it so well that I would have expected much more out of such a promising career. But I guess I'll have to live with, "I must break you" as my favorite Lundgren quote because there probably aren't any more coming. But thank you Dolph for bringing the Cold War and the battle between He-Man and Skeletor right into my living room in such a riveting and memorable fashion.

Like Riding a Bicycle

2008-07-15T12:11:00.002-04:00

Did you ever notice how playing NES is just like riding a bicycle?? It seems that no matter how long I go without playing my NES (though it's never very long) I am still very good at most of the games. There have been times where I have gone months without playing a certain game and come back to tear through it like it's nobody's business. One example of this is Castlevania, a game which I consider myself to be among the best players around (but I will write more on that at a later date). Another game is Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

This game is among my top games ever and I can brag of a very good accomplishment. I have, not once but twice, beaten this game without getting hit by a single opponent. The very first time can be read about on the NES Temple site under "Tales of Greatness." The second time came quite unexpectedly. I had let a friend of mine borrow the game and did not get it back for 7 months. The reason I let him borrow the game was because I had not played it in months anyway. So when I finally got the game back, it had been probably roughly 9 months since I had last played. I picked it up while talking on the phone and proceeded to play with the phone balanced between my ear and shoulder.

After a while, I realized I had not gotten hit and my excitement began to build. The first two circuits are not difficult, but to get through them flawlessly is still a good sign. After I had disposed of second Bald Bull I knew something bid was happening, and my excitement began to grow even more. Second Don Flaminco soon fell with no offense and I began to get nervous. This is the stage of the game where you must begin to take it very seriously. Though I was excited, I continued to talk on the phone as my #1 contender's bout with Sandman began. For only the third time in my life, I disposed of Sandman without being hit and I knew this thing really may happen.

My title bout with Macho Man was hardly memorable. If not taken seriously, he can get in a cheap punch and end my hopes of a perfect game, but alas I knew my foe too well and disposed of him with no problem. At this point, my excitement finally go the better of me. I suddenly yelled into my phone, "I'll call you back" and quickly hung up.

My bout with Tyson was about to begin and I was ready to once again make history. The first 1:30 passed without me getting hit by a knockout blow and I had gotten some solid jabs in on Tyson. I knocked him down in the first round and entered the second ready for victory. By this point my body was shaking with excitement. I knew I had to TKO Tyson in the second round because he is unpredictable in the third round and I would be unlikely to avoid every third round punch. Fortunately for me, Little Mac was up to the challenge. His feet were swift and his punches solid and before the bell rang to end the second round, I had TKO's Mike Tyson flawlessly. I threw the control on the ground and jumped up in celebration. I was once again the king of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

If you are interested in seeing a video of the first time I did this, back in January of 2000, check out my Youtube video.

The Urban Bourbon Trail

2008-06-23T15:15:00.003-04:00

Today's blog may be short, but it will cover one of the wonders I just discovered about living in Kentucky. Now, if anyone knows anything about Kentucky, they will know it for horse racing and not much else. But one of the things that makes Kentucky famous is that it is the home of Bourbon Country. Basically, 98% or more of all bourbon made in the world comes from Kentucky. I have a coworker who is a Bourbon historian and enthusiast, who will tell you, quite literally, anything you want to know about bourbon. So it was no surprise today when he came down to the lunch room to with his hands full of bourbon brochures.

The idea within these brochures is nothing new, but it still seems unique in it's Kentucky flavor. It is the idea of the "Urban Bourbon Trail." In place already in Kentucky is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which is a tour of a series of distilleries throughout the state. One who follows this would likely have to set aside an entire weekend to accomplish the entire thing. However, the Urban Bourbon Trail has been set up within Louisville at a series of restaurants and bars. The point is to show up at one restaurant and ask for a Bourbon Trail Passport, which is actually a small booklet similar to an actual passport. The passport is free, and each page contains a brief bio of a separate restaurant on the trail. You then go to each restaurant and order some bourbon (though it may be just you order anything, I'm not sure) and you get your passport stamped. Once you get all 8 stamps, you win. I believe you earn a t-shirt and another small prize, along with the pride of knowing you just blew $40 and a bunch of gas just to drink bourbon. But that's not the point. If it was, I would never have gone on the Pennsylvania burger trip.

The guy who showed this to us at work is, as I said, a bourbon enthusiast and is a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Society. I was personally invited by him to join the Bourbon Society as they ride the Urban Bourbon Trail in July, in one day. I had to regretfully turn down this offer, mainly because I don't consider myself a bourbon drinker and would not want to look weak as a beer drinker among bourbon enthusiasts. However that does not mean I will not attempt this. Plans are already in the works to leave work early one Friday and take our own journey down the Urban Bourbon trail. The question then becomes: will we finish or will we pass out trying?

I Can't Drive 55

2008-06-19T16:03:00.004-04:00

Everyone knows the feeling you get when you look in your rearview mirror and see flashing lights. It means that you screwed up and are going to have to pay upwards of $200 to let the law know you're sorry. But this morning I noticed something (not for the first time) that got me thinking, and it made me angry.

I saw a police officer pulling someone over on the highway, during rush hour...but the officer was in a mini-van. Now I'm sure several people have seen this before...I know I've seen it once or twice. I've also seen officers in all different types of cars, from Camaros to F-150's. Yes, I've seen a cop in a truck pulling someone over. So this raises the question: are the police doing what they can to look out for the safety of everyone, or are they just looking for a more effective way of writing tickets?

Before I go any further, I want to make my opinion clear on this. I don't believe most police officers enjoy writing tickets. From what I know, it involves extra paperwork and effort that can be unnecessary and boring. So I don't think that most individual officers are "out to get" anyone. Now there are those select officers who probably get a kick out of handing out a $200 charge in the form of a small sheet of paper, but those guys are assholes whom I don't want to talk about. All in all, I think most officers are encouraged to pull over people only when they find it absolutely necessary...or if they are told to set up a speed trap. But again, I doubt an officer sets up a speed trap of his/her own choice, but instead is told to do that by the higher-ups in law enforcement.

But pulling people over in undercover cars seems to defeat the purpose. I personally think the idea of a speeding ticket is to make sure drivers are obeying the law and driving carefully. Peope who have no concern for the speed limit are not going to slow down just because that car next to them might be a cop. But if there's a patrol car driving by, the entire road comes to a near-stop. If the speed limit is 55, then traffic is driving 48 mph. The presence of a patrol car is much more effective for getting a large group of people to obey the speed limit. The presence of a Patrol Windstar or F-150 does nothing but slow down the one person unlucky enough to get pulled over. I know this morning I drove 70 mph right past that van, and chuckled and waved as I passed it...all the while getting passed on my left by two cars going well over 80.

So the only places these undercover cars are going to be effective are in areas that are known "speed zones." The two examples I can think of are St. George in St. Louis, and the loop around Seneca Park here in Louisville. The St. George stretch is well known to any South County resident as a place where you don't drive 36 or 37 mph...you drive 33 just to be safe. I remember as a teenager seeing an officer sitting on that stretch of road probably 50% of the time I drove it.

The Seneca Park loop is an entirely different situation, in my opinion. Police patrol this area regularly, both to ensure safety at night and to ensure people drive the speed limit, as there are hundreds of runners and bikers that go through this area on a daily basis. The problem is, this is only about a 1.5 mile loop in a park system that spans probably 20 miles of roads. And people in Louisville only look out for their own asses. They won't slow down to pass a runner or biker in the rest of the park. They'll drive 50 past a runner, while veering into the oncoming traffic lane as they pass, hoping to be able to get back over before the oncoming car hits them. But as soon as they get to this more heavily-trafficed loop, they all slow down. Why? Not to be sure they don't hit a runner. No, they slow down so their ignorant speeding ass doesn't get a ticket by the cop in the undercover VW Beetle.

So all in all I don't really know what the point of this rant was, except I think cops should stick to Police cars when driving around, because everyone is much more cautious when an officer is around. Instead, the next ticket you may get could come from a cop wearing a Hawaiian shirt and driving a 1975 Gremlin. He's out there, you just wait and see.

Drinking Beers, Beers, Beers

2008-06-17T12:02:00.002-04:00

Today's post is dedicated to beer: "The cause of, and solution to all of life's problems." (Homer Simpson).

But I'm not going to write just about beer, but instead about a unique way to drink beer. Now I personally am a fan of small pubs and hold-in-the-wall bars where one can go, throw back a few and enjoy random and memorable conversation. But one can also find dozens and dozens of activities that are good for beer drinking. And if you are creative, you can make a game out of any of these activities. I mean, summer softball would not be what it is without beers. Sitting in your backyard playing Cornhole or Washers isn't the same without a beer in your left hand. And where is the fun in going to a baseball game without a 36 oz. beer keeping you company.

Now, these things are all things in my life I enjoy, but I had never before known of a good way to mix my greatest passion in life, running, with drinking beer in a way that would be good for anyone. That was, or course, until I discovered the Beer Mile.

You can look on the website for an EXTENSIVE list of rules, details, and comprehensive records. But I'll give the basic overview of this event. You begin at any track or course with measured quarter mile (400 meter) intervals. On a track, there is a 10-meter exchange zone already marked, but if you are doing this elsewhere you need to mark off these 10 meters somehow. Everyone begins at the starting line and at the gun, everyone pops open a brew. You cannot begin running until the beer is gone. Once you've chugged your beer, you begin your first lap. At the end of the lap, when you reach the 10-meter exchange zone, you pop open another beer, and you can only move withing the exchange zone until your beer is gone. Once the beer is gone, you begin lap 2. Same thing at the end of laps 2 and 3. All in all you consume 4 beers and run 4 laps on the track. If you vomit at any point in the run, you run a penalty lap at the end...but still only consume the 4 beers.

The rules state you must use at least 5% alcohol content beer, so no cheap light beers. Now, according to beermile.com there have been hundreds of beer miles all over North America. So far, the "official" record for the beer mile stands at 5:09, which if you think about it, is truly insane...even for a competitive runner. I know I couldn't run a 5:09 mile with 4 beers in my belly....or even drink 4 beers in 5:09.

Now I have never done one of these before, but that will likely change this Saturday night. A group of my friends (very good runners themselves) have organized a Beer Mile as a sendoff to one of our own who is leaving town this summer. Now I have no idea how well I can do in this thing, but I hope to make myself proud. My personal goal is to run somewhere near 7:00 but I really don't know if that will be possible. Of course, that will require me to drink 4 beers in 7 minutes, which I know will be a tough task in itself. I already have my Bud's cooling in the fridge. But I plan to give a full report of this epic happening next week. For now, I will look on the official website and figure out where I think I will rank among these legends of binge drinking and endurance sports.

101 Hours of Infamy

2008-06-10T15:00:00.004-04:00

I feel lucky to have attended a small college. My college was a place where, if you did something extraordinary, people heard about it. And in the fall of my sophomore year in college, I did something extraordinary, and literally for about a year afterward random people came up to me and asked about this feat. A couple of times these were people I had never met before.

That year I lived in a suite setting, which included 6 guys living in 3 bedrooms with a living room and 1 bathroom. For the most part we all got along and hung out together quite a bit. However, I felt my two closest friends in that setting were Nick and Doug, who shared a room, but the three of us did quite a bit together.

In October of 2001, Doug, for some unknown reason, decided that it would be a good idea to try to stay awake for a week straight. Now Doug was the type to not think too much about things and just go straight ahead with his ideas. And while I applauded his resolve, I decided to do some research. So I went online and found stories of people staying awake for long periods of time. What I found basically told me that a person could stay up for about 8-10 days without sleep but somewhere in that range, it could become very detrimental to your health. I also read that going much more than that could lead to death, though that may have just been theory.

Well, Doug was not worried and he went on for almost 3 days without sleeping. He actually made it to 67 hours before he threw in the towel. Of course, immediately upon his waking, we gave him serious trouble for giving in. Instead of just giving up on the idea, we decided to settle for a more reasonable goal, 100 hours. I don't know how I got dragged into this madness other than the fact that I have always liked to have stories to tell. So instead of just Doug trying this, I ended up joining in the quest.

Now, some background on how the quest started. I ran cross country for my college. We had a coach who didn't allow any kind of alcohol consumption during the season. So of course, after the last meet of the season, we all went out and got slammed. Well, this is just what I did that night after our last meet. So I got bad, alcohol-induced sleep and woke up at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. By 1:00, we had decided this was our opportunity, and made it a goal not to sleep until Thursday evening.

So our quest began, with Doug and I spending our time playing Nintendo and watching movies as we stayed awake the first night. Of course, this night was very easy because I was accustomed to staying up until roughly 4:30 am most nights. Unfortunately, Doug had a weak moment and decided to call it quits after only 19 hours, leaving me completely alone. But I'm too stubborn to quit something once I've started so on I went.

The second day was interesting because I had classes to attend, which I knew would get more and more difficult as the week went on. However, nothing of consequence happened in the first 30 or so hours of this quest. The second night was when things began to get interesting.

The nights were the hardest because the body is accustomed to sleeping at some point after dark. Doug decided that the least he could do was stay up nights with me, so he made it a point to keep me occupied. That second night was interesting, as it saw a a couple of themes appear that would define the week. The first was Mountain Dew. While not normally a fan, I knew it would be a key ingredient in the success of this mission. So that first night at roughly 4:00 am, I threw a 20 oz. Mountain Dew into a beer bong and downed it in about 6 seconds. Soon after, I had to pee.

We also went on walks in the cold weather. It was a cool early November in Louisville, with the overnight lows dipping into the 30's, making it perfect weather for a rejuvenating walk. It also helped me to discover showering as a key tool to staying awake. I began to shower about 6 times/day, literally, as I knew I would never fall asleep while in the shower.

One thing that was awesome about this whole experience was the fact that I ate a good breakfast every morning, because at 7:30 when our food service on campus opened, I had nothing better to do but eat. So each morning, for the first time all year, I had a well-rounded breakfast before classes started.

Tuesday was the turning point in this whole experience. This was the first day I began to hallucinate. Now many people don't believe me when I describe this, but I swear it happened. The first time I noticed anything out of the ordinary was sitting in my Tuesday morning class with one of my suite-mates who knew exactly what was going on. I kept looking at the ceiling, and when he asked what I was looking at, I pointed at all the spider webs on the ceiling. He just looked at me and said, "Come with me after class." After class he led me over to our campus coffee-shop and bought me a shot of espresso, which got me through the rest of my classes.

Other hallucinations included seeing bugs crawling all over every carpeted floor I stared at for about 3 seconds, and seeing an X-Men poster start moving. Most notably, Wolverine looked me straight in the eyes and shrugged at me. To this day, I don't know what he was shrugging about.

The third night was by far the hardest, because Doug, that pansy, decided to sleep the entire night. Fortunately, my friend Stu had a project to work on all night, and my cousin back in St. Louis had learned of my mission and was sending me random emails all the time. Of course, it didn't make passing time any easier. So me, genius that I was, decided to try doing homework. To this day, I wish I had saved the essay I tried to write, because it made absolutely no sense. All I remember is it was a History essay, and I remember writing something about a boy playing his clarinet in the sand. I had an entire paragraph written before I realized I was writing nonsense. Unfortunately my mind was so shot by then that I didn't save it...what a shame, as it was probably some of the most interesting writing I've ever done.

Wednesday was actually fairly uneventful, other than the fact that I found myself incapable of watching TV, as I was in danger of dozing off at any given moment. I think I finally decided to skip a class this day, because I could not focus on anything. More hallucinations and showers were the story of the day, but my friends were fully behind, especially when I surpassed Doug's 67 hour mark.

The final night consisted of lots of Mountain Dew and NES, because I was doing everything I could to keep my mind occupied at this point, and having to focus on a NES game was about all I could do. Fortunately, Nick, Doug, and I were engulfed in a mission to win the Super Bowl in Tecmo Super bowl with every team in the game, playing full seasons, so we were playing NES with a purpose.

Thursday morning dawned full of promise as the day I would finally achieve this fantastic feat. However, I still had to make it until 4:30 that afternoon, so I was by no means out of the woods. One of my favorite parts of this entire story came at 9:30 that morning, when I had a scheduled presentation to give in my class. This is the same class that, on Tuesday, I had been pointing out spider webs in the ceilings. By some serious miracle and help from the rest of my group, I made it through this presentation. Of course, about 80% of the class realized I was SEVERELY sleep-deprived so they were waiting for me to pass out, but I made it.

Amazingly, I completely missed 4:30 that afternoon. I was quietly eating dinner with a friend of mine when I looked at the clock, turned to her, and just shrugged and said, "I just passed 100 hours." When the meal was over, all I wanted to do was go to bed, but by the time I got back to the dorms it was 5:00 and I saw no reason NOT to stay up until 5:30 and make it 101 hours. So I did just that, and finally at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 8, 2001 I went to sleep.

I slept for roughly 19 hours straight after that, waking up once to use the restroom, at about the 12 hour mark. But I woke up just after noon on Friday, obviously having skipped my morning classes, but feeling like I had accomplished something seriously unique. And actually, I'm as proud of that 19 hours as I am about the 101, because it makes the story that much better that I slept for almost a full day afterward. How many people can say that. So the final tally: 4 days, 5 hours stayed awake, 4 breakfasts eaten, roughly 22 showers taken, 19 hours of sleep afterward. And a lifetime of memories.

Everyone Can Be A Gourmet Chef

2008-06-06T12:55:00.003-04:00

I am personally a big fan of cooking. I take pride in the fact that I actually know how to cook. While I don't think of myself as unique, being a guy that can cook, I do find it amusing that a great number of my friends (both guys and girls) don't know how to cook. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but I think cooking should be an essential skill for a guy to know. It allows you to have a wide variety of what you can eat, and the ladies love it.

But today's post isn't about "real" cooking. This post is more geared towards those guys and girls who say they can't cook. It has been my pleasure throughout the years to find a number of great kitchen appliances that make cooking easy, and don't leave you with soggy, over heated meals that you would get out of a microwave (though it is a great invention in itself, especially for leftover mac and cheese). But here's a listing of my three favorite "cooking made easy" tools.

The Krups sandwich maker: This is kind of a blast from the past. I remember making sandwiches on this thing with my brother when we were kids. And we had some serious recipes, most notably a pizza recipe that included two pieces of bread, pizza sauce, American cheese, and pepperoni or ham. Looking back, that doesn't sound too appetizing but I remember several nights sneaking our Krups sandwich maker into the basement at 1 AM and making late night sandwiches. And I still have one in my apartment today. Who knew that I would still be using it, but I am. I am a huge fan of making turkey melts, tuna melts, and any other kind of melt I can think of. And the fact that the 'maker cuts the sandwiches diagonally and makes them look picture-perfect only adds to the mystique.

The GT XPress 101: Now, I don't know who Cathy Mitchell is except that she's the spokesperson for this outstanding kitchen necessity. And she sure as hell sold me on the product with her 30 minute infomercial. I literally JUST acquired one of these this afternoon at a yard sale thanks to a good friend of mine, but I can't wait until I bust it for the first time this evening. The concept is fairly unique. It has two pits to put your food in, and it cooks from both sides when you close it. They great thing about this is you can put just about anything in it and it just cooks right up. It's basically a way to throw as much crap into a machine as you want and hope something good comes out. But according to the infomercial, you can put anything from chicken and steak, to rice, soup, or even cakes and cinnamon rolls. The possibilities are endless. And with its non-stick surface and uniquely shaped spatula, it makes serving and cleanup easy as pie...which you could also probably make in this piece of geniusness. Now, I can't write extensively on this until I try it out, but all I can say is I don't expect to be disappointed when I make up some chicken, rice and all the fixin's tonight.

The George Foreman Grill. What can I say about, "The Lean, Mean, Fat-reducing Grilling Machine?" This is really THE standard for kitchen appliances that can make you an entire meal. It is the innovator of the slanted grill, so the fat rolls off as you cook it into the grease tray that comes with it. It can cook your meat from both sides, so you don't have to flip it, and this also "seals in flavor" according to George himself. And George Foreman didn't just quit with different sizes of his original grill. He expanded his horizons, to "The Next Grilleration," and beyond. Now, you can get more than just a grill. You can get an indoor/outdoor grill, a blender, a broiler, a griddle, and many more items. Now, normally I get annoyed when celebrities shamelessly plug their products, but George Foreman is an exception. I'll be a fan of anything he endorses. He says himself he's made more money for his grills than for his boxing, and also claims he is better known for the grills than he is for his boxing accomplishments. And how can you dislike a guy who names all five of his sons George?

The original grill is also awesome for its size. Just knowing that I can throw some ground beef, hamburger buns, and my Foreman Grill in a bag and grill out in my office at work if I wanted, or anywhere else. Before the birth of the George Foreman grill, how would you be able to grill hamburgers in a dorm room? You couldn't!! But thanks to George Foreman, I was able to have summer cookouts in the confines of the dorms. This led to one of my favorite stories from college. It was the dead of winter and my roommate Doug and I were bored in the middle of the night. So we decided that we wanted it to be summer. We put on shorts and sandals and popped open some beers. We grilled hamburgers on the Foreman grills, and as a final touch, we turned on RBI Baseball for the NES and had it simulate a game, so we ended up sitting in our dorm room at 2 AM, watching NES baseball while drinking beer and eating grilled burgers in our summer clothes. How much closer to summer can you get?

Things That Make Me Lose Sleep

2008-06-04T11:04:00.003-04:00

Monday night I was up watching TV while procrastinating in writing a paper (actually as I write this I am procrastinating the same paper, but now with an urgent deadline). Anyway, my plan was to really start working hard on this paper at about 11:00 and staying up until about 2 AM working. I was entirely prepared to do this until I flipped on CBS at about 10:45 and saw the hockey game. Now I know if you are from Louisville, you may not even know what the NHL is, or what the Stanley Cup is, but the NHL is still one of the four major sports leagues in North America.

Anyway, the Stanley Cup Final this year is probably the best matchup you could ask for, Detroit and Pittsburgh. I turned the game on and it was 2-1 Pittsburgh early in the 3rd period. Detroit was up 3-1 in the series and could clinch the Cup at home with a win. Well, I decided to watch because I hate the Redwings and wanted to see them lose at home. Instead, they scored a tying goal shortly after I turned it on, and a go-ahead goal at about the midway point in the period. For some reason, I chose to keep watching. Probably because I think that the awarding of the Stanley Cup is the best Championship celebration in all of sports. And the Stanley Cup itself is the best trophy in sports. If you don't believe me, just watch it. So I was prepared to watch (grudgingly) as Detroit was awarded the Cup at home. Instead, to my distinct pleasure, Pittsburgh scored a tying goal with 37 seconds remaining in the period, and the game went into overtime.

Now, I know hockey has lost a lot of popularity in the past few years, and regular season hockey is sometimes hard to watch, but in my opinion there is NOTHING better in sports than Playoff hockey overtime. Sudden death, 20 minute periods, and NO COMMERCIALS. There is literally no down time for 20 minutes of playing time. Playoff overtime is one time when I can watch any two teams play, no matter what. If you have never watched a playoff overtime game, then try to find some kind of replay of one, or just keep an eye out next year (or even in Game 6, which is tonight). This is the only sport besides soccer where the game can end at any moment, and I personally think this is more intense than soccer since the puck moves up and down the ice so quickly. I was on the edge of my seat for over an hour just watching the overtime. I guess it helped that I was pulling for one team. But this game was no disappointment at all. In the end, it was the 5th longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history, going to the halfway point of the 3rd Overtime before Petf Sykora scored on a power play to extend the series to at least 6 games.

So now that I've ranted about that, it got me thinking about the other things I've done that have cost me a lot of sleep in the past. And it turns out the list is fairly extensive.

- Procrastinating doing homework: This takes the top honor, as I can't recall how many times I've stayed up literally all night just to complete a paper on time. I have some sort of mental block that doesn't allow me to begin writing until the last minute. I can do research, but the writing is an entirely different story.

- 24 hour NES marathon: Actually it was a 21 1/2 hour NES marathon where we literally played NES nonstop for almost a full day. I fully intend to blog about this in the future, so I won't go into much more detail.

- Playing NES in general: Did I mention I'm addicted to this system. I can get so into a game that I'll play it for 3 hours before I realize it's 2 AM and I have to get up for work at 7:30. This has been an issue since high school, and still sometimes happens even today.

- Not sleeping: Of course not sleeping, that's the point of this list. But by not sleeping, I mean INTENTIONALLY not sleeping. I once chose to stay up for over 4 days without sleeping. This story, again, deserves a posting of its own. But I will say that this was the only time in my life I've ever hallucinated.

- Watching crappy movies on AMC: Sometimes I'll be up watching TV and just before I plan to go to bed, a movie that I like is just starting. So I can either go to bed or stay up and watch the movie. Too often, I choose the movie. One night I was up watching Jaws, and when it ended at 1 AM I prepared to go to bed, until I saw Jaws 2 was on right after that. I'd never seen the sequel, so I obviously had to stay up. And when that was over, what came on? Jaws: The Revenge. I can't believe I stayed up for this absurd movie, but in the end I was up until about 5:30 AM having an impromptu Jaws marathon.

- Driving to St. Louis and back in one evening to watch Wrestlemania. Back in 2001, my friend and I ventured to St. Louis, leaving at around 2:30 pm here in Louisville and arriving in St. Louis around 5:30 local time, just in time to watch Wrestlemania 17 with a group of friends. And when it ended at 11:00 in St. Louis, my friend and I got up and drove straight back, arriving at 4:30 AM, in time for me to make my 8 AM class in the morning. The tally: 8 hours of driving, 600 miles, 4 hours of Wrestlemania, 14 hours from the time I left to the time I arrived back, one class in the morning skipped.

Now I'm sure there are several more instances just like these, because in the years 2001-2002, I remember telling people I averaged roughly 4-5 hours of sleep per night for the course of the year, so I must have been doing something right. But hopefully this entry will get you thinking about some of the idiotic things you used to do that had an adverse effect on your health. Happy memories!!

Reaching for the Stars

2008-05-30T14:11:00.003-04:00

As I sit here at my desk in a dimly lit room that I can say without exaggeration used to be a closet, eating a turkey sandwich out of a tupperware container, I can't help but wonder if this what God had in mind when He made humans. Well, I'm not a theologian or philosopher, but I can surmise that most mammals weren't made to live in confined spaces and eat out of small plastic containers. But since I'm not planning on going anywhere with this thought, I'll move on.

A friend of mine just watched the new Rambo movie last night and said it was well worth the 80 or so minutes of his life he spent in viewing. But this got me wondering who's going to be the next middle-aged actor to resurrect a classic character from the 70's or 80's. With Sylvester Stallone resurrecting both Rambo and Rocky, and Harrison Ford portraying Indiana Jones one last time, you know there's going to be another director trying to get his hands on the jackpot of playing to the nostalgia of the children of the 80's. Next thing we'll see is Sean Penn playing an aged Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High 2: Even Faster Times" or Ralph Macchio returning to get beat up by more bullies in Karate Kid 4 (I don't count "The Next Karate Kid). I would say if these movies aren't already made, then I should petition for them. How could you go wrong? Actually, I just discovered that there is a plan to make Spaceballs: The Animated Series. This should be truly interesting, and I don't really know what to expect if it ever gets completed. I guess I should look forward to it.

Speaking of great movies from my childhood, what is the best of these three trilogies: Star Wars (original trilogy), Indiana Jones, or Back to the Future? I guess in my mind the obvious answer is Star Wars, because that is the one trilogy where there wasn't really a weak movie. Some say Return of the Jedi was bad, but in my opinion it holds up well with the its two predecessors. I actually don't really think Indiana Jones and Back to the Future have "weak" installments either, but I can't put those trilogies at the same level as Star Wars. A lot of people look at either Temple of Doom or Last Crusade and call them weak, but that's just because Raiders of the Lost Arc is such a great movie that it makes the other two look weak in comparison. I know I personally don't like Temple of Doom as much as the other two, but I still enjoy watching it. And what about Back to the Future. I can quote the original movie all day long, and I can watch any of those three movies at the drop of a hat without giving them a second thought. And I get angry when people say Back to the Future 3 is a bad movie, because it's not. It's enjoyable to watch, and has a completely unique feel from the other two. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've just written about 9 of my favorite movies of all time. I know there are other movies I like better, but as far as trilogies go, these are three of the strongest ever made, hands down. And I challenge anyone to argue that point with me.

Riding Down the Road

2008-05-29T09:53:00.004-04:00

I've recently made an important decision in my life. I've decided to start riding my bike to work a couple of days every week. I'm sure that, with the price of gas, I'm not the only one making decisions such as this. However, it made me wonder if this was the safest choice I could have made. For starters, much of my ride to work (roughly 10 miles each way) was originally on highways so I had to find some other way to get there. Once I figured out the best route to take, I kind of shuddered because there are several roads I have to ride down that aren't necessarily the safest for bikers. However, Louisville prides itself as a bike-friendly community.

Now I personally had never helped the city to reinforce this idea, as I used to get really angry at bikers. I was the guy who, after passing a biker on the road, cut back over into his lane a little too close. And I would show my displeasure for these bikers by passing close on their side or just plain trying to scare them. I never did anything dangerous, but it made me feel better about myself. I think most of this anger stems from being a runner. I could never understand why a biker couldn't stay within his/her bike lane when as a runner, I stayed as far away from cars as I could (most of the time...my running etiquette is definitely something for an entirely different post). But now that I've biked to work once (today), I've completely changed my attitude on these fellow endurance athletes.

As I rode down Lexington Road (a hilly, windy 4-lane road) I was amazed at how courteous most of the cars on the road were to me. I was nervous starting out my journey, but once I got about halfway down this road, I realized that most cars would watch out for me. It took me roughly 40 minutes to bike to work today, and while I'm not looking forward to going home during the evening rush hour, I think this is a good decision for me, and one which I will pursue further in the future. Of course, I need to find a better way to transport my clothes to work, as I rolled in sweaty and tired and had to spend about 15 minutes cleaning up and making myself look presentable. But that's 15 minutes I wasn't working, so that's another advantage.

I think this biking will set me up for further adventures in endurance sports. Perhaps a bike ride to my sister's place about 30 miles away is in order in the future. I fully plan to follow through, probably this fall, on my plan to run about 18 miles from my parents' house in St. Louis to Steve's house. The possibilities are endless, and I encourage anyone reading this to think about ways to make crazy adventures like this.

Speaking of, this reminds me of a time about 6 or 7 years ago when Steve and I went to see Poison in concert in St. Louis. At the time Steve lived probably about 3 or 4 miles from where the concert was taking place. So of course, at the end of the concert, instead of getting a ride home and dealing with traffic, we decided that walking was obviously the best idea we could have had. Unfortunately, Steve wasn't entirely sure of the way to go. So instead of this walk taking the hour or so we had estimated, it ended up turning into a 4-hour debacle in which we walked into his apartment at around 2:30 in the morning. This was after taking a full hour walking in a circle, as I specifically remember saying, "Weren't we here an hour ago." Either way, we walked away from this experience with a great story to tell, and no lesson was learned by anyone.

On a different note, I've finally won the battle with my apartment complex. After over two months of fighting, and a few weeks of them not getting back to me, they finally sent me an email allowing me out of my lease early. Of course, it still took another correspondence to put the fact that they are allowing me to do this without penalty in writing, but now I have it and I'm officially on the market to rent a house. Winning=Good Times!!!

Now That's Good Eatin'

2008-05-27T10:19:00.005-04:00

To quote my friend Doug, if I could describe buffets in one word, and it could be hyphenated, it would be bom-diggedy. I love buffets. Period. But this brings about the question: What is the best kind of buffet? Well, come along as I explore this question.

I've already discussed my love of salad bars. I don't know how you can't love a good salad bar, but the only places I know of that have them anymore are Ruby Tuesday's and Frisch's Big Boy. The salad bar at Ruby Tuesday is damn good, with any selection you can think of, but Frisch's, while still excellent, is a bit lacking. Generally, some local restaurants offer salad bars as well, but overall the salad bar is an endangered species that must be preserved. But while they are an excellent addition to any meal, they are not the best.

What about Chinese Buffets? I used to have an absolute obsession with them, and I had two friends that felt the same way. A Chinese buffet was where I started out my 21st birthday celebration (that place, sadly, is no longer there), and I have had several great memories at them. Back in the summer of '02 myself and two friends even began what we labeled the "Chinese Buffet Club" (CBC). We made weekly excursions to different Chinese buffets around Louisville in an attempt to find the best. While the club was short-lived, the memories have lasted until this day. And my love of Chinese buffets has not quit. Most Chinese buffets offer at least some form of "real" Chinese food, and not just the Americanized version you find at Chinese restaurants. Generally, about 2/3 of what you see at a Chinese restaurant or buffet is not really native to China, but if you look hard enough you can find some true Chinese cuisine, and this is one of the reasons Chinese buffets remain near the top of my buffet list.

Pizza buffets are another somewhat rare breed that may be spreading a bit. Here in Louisville there are several pizza buffet options for my pleasure. Mr. Gatti's was where I first discovered these buffets, yet this chain consists of a number of trashy restaurants in shady areas of town, so I rarely frequent them anymore, especially since the opening of Cici's. Now, Cici's has excellent pizza if you like that kind of thing and they also have a SALAD BAR!! This chain prides itself on clean restaurants and friendly service, and I must say that they have achieved both. And for $5.29 you can stuff your face until you burst with several classic pizzas, as well as some Cici's originals, including a Spirar Macaroni and Cheese pizza. Sounds nasty but just try it...it's fantastic. Of course, in any city, your best pizza buffets are going to be at local pizza restaurants. My two personal favorites are Bearno's and Fat Jimmy's, which have lunch buffets, generally from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. I'm sure there are several other places in Louisville and St. Louis that have these, but these are the high points.

Breakfast buffets. This could possibly take the cake as my favorite kind of buffet. I remember as a child going to Shoney's several times each year on Sunday mornings just for their buffet. These were incredible mornings where I had my fill in pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon, biscuits, fruit and just about anything else you could imagine. Today, my favorite breakfast buffet is at Frisch's, which has a similar, if not identical, buffet to Shoney's (I believe they are owned by the same company, but I may be wrong). I probably spend about 1 Sunday per month eating Frisch's breakfast bar, and I always come away feeling nasty but satisfied. Of course, I think my favorite breakfast bar ever may have been a dream. I remember one time on a trip to Louisville (before I lived there, on a visit) I stopped at a McDonald's that had a breakfast buffet. WHAT!!! You read correctly, a McDonald's breakfast bar!! I really don't know how it can get any better than that, as I had my fill in sausage biscuits and pancakes for about $5 I believe. Unfortunately, I've never seen one since, so I don't know if this was some delightful dream or just a lucky discovery. I may never know.

However, I think the king of all buffets is the casino buffet. How can you argue when a casino buffet has all of the above buffets wrapped into one (maybe not breakfast, but close enough). I have never found a Casino buffet I didn't like. Our buffet here in Louisville at Caesar's Indiana is fantastic, especially since I've eaten there about 4 times and never once paid for it. While not the biggest or the best, with about 100 or more selections to choose from, you can't go wrong. Same can be said to the only casino buffet I've ever tried in St. Louis at Ameristar. However, the king of casino buffets is of course, in Las Vegas, at the Bellagio. For the low low price of $29.99 you can eat like a king. This buffet just doesn't end, and you can get lost trying to find your way from the Chinese section to the desserts. This place is like heaven on earth, and is a place you must visit at least once in a lifetime. Of course, the Bellagio buffet holds a special place in my heart as it is where I walked within 18 inches of Mike Tyson and nearly got my picture taken with him, except we decided to leave him in peace, since enough people had already flocked to him.

So there you have it, my Buffet Blog. I've left a few out but I think I hit on the highlights. And now I'm hungry and I think I'm going to organize a casino buffet night among my friends.

On a final note, I have found a new love in my life. The TGI Friday's Fiery Chicken Popper Sandwich. It's basically fried chicken patty with fantastic breading, topped with cheese, jalapeno peppers, I think cream cheese of some sort and I don't even remember what else. It comes with fries and a jalapeno popper. Just trust me when I recommend you try it. You will not be disappointed.

I Win...AGAIN!!!

2008-05-25T22:00:00.005-04:00

Today was the big day...Memorial Day weekend and the sales began. So that meant it was time to head to Best Buy to cash in my gift card. Going in I had some idea of what I wanted, but when I went to the store, I was fortunate to find that an even greater deal awaited me.

Going in I was planning on buying a Sharp 32" television that was originally $799 and marked down to $599. However, right next to that on the display in the store was another Sharp television with a bit higher contrast ratio, originally marked $999 but marked down on clearance to $649. Now I am not an expert on TV's but I figured this was a good deal, as it was a bit nicer than the other Sharp TV, but had a few better features. So all in all, I feel I got a good deal. The one drawback was that this TV was the display model that was on clearance, and there was no stand for it available. However, the store was kind enough to throw in the $50 wall mount for free...good deal. Anyway, I now have a nice new TV mounted on my wall, and my viewing pleasure has greatly increased. Next on tap is to play some original NES on my new television. Thumbs up!!

So on to more ranting. Last night I played Guitar Hero 3 for the first time (actually this was the first time I've ever played any Guitar Hero). I now know why that game is so huge. I was absolutely addicted after about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I had to leave the house where I played the game, and now there is no Guitar Hero for me to play. But damn, I wish I had come up with an idea like that for a game. Ah well, I'll just have to fall back on my goal of writing a novel for extra monies.

Speaking of monies, I've decided that the greatest value for your dollar is to go to a restaurant with a salad bar. But that raises the question: Where can you go to get a good salad bar anymore? Maybe I'm just remembering incorrectly, but I seem to recall consuming a fairly steady dose of salad bars when I was growing up. Maybe we just ate at Shoney's a lot, but either way, it seems that salad bars are rare anymore. And I don't mean buffets, because those are still around between Ponderosa, Ryan's, Hometown Buffet, and others of the sort. But I think more restaurants need to bring back the salad bar option, because that shit's some good eatin'. What better way to complement your meal than with a salad on a plate piled 10 inches high.

While we're on the topic of buffets, I think I'm going to dedicate my next post to trying to figure out what the best kind of buffet is...Salad Bar's, Chinese Buffets, Pizza Buffets, Casino Buffets, etc... This could lead to a hell of a discussion, as I like all of the above listed buffets. Well, I'm off for now to watch my new TV and remind myself of how big a winner I truly am.

Whatatrip!!

2008-05-19T10:44:00.004-04:00

So the reason for my recent lack of posting is due to the fact that I spent all of last week in Destin, FL. And while much of the trip was spent stressing about issues related to work and school, I have to admit that it was still an awesome trip.

We started out doing what I prefer on long drives, and that was leaving at 2 AM. We calculated it was a 10 hour drive, so with stops for gas and one long stop to get a decent breakfast, we would get to our hotel around 1 or 2 PM, just in time to hit the grocery store and then check in. Well, this plan would have worked except we didn't realize Destin is on Central time. I mean, what the hell!!! It's Florida, about as far east as you can go in America, and we're on Central time. Whatever, for me it was a nice return to the time zone I grew up in, and the hotel was kind enough to let us check in early. So I proceeded to begin drinking when we went to the beach, and spent most of the rest of the week in a drunken haze.

There were several noteworthy occurrences and discoveries that I feel need to be mentioned about this trip. First off, in the interest of saving money, I chose to drink vodka instead of beer. So I chose to drink vodka that I called one step up from cheap. By this I mean that a 1.75 Liter of Heaven Hill some of the other cheapest vodkas costs about $9.50, so I decided to move up in the world (hey, I'm not in college anymore, I can afford to splurge) and get my new discovery, Dark Eyes vodka, a whopping $10.59 for 1.75L. I just discovered that this is a Jim Beam product, so more power to it. I personally thought it tasted damn good, and mixed very well with Sprite. And while I just narrowly missed my goal of completing the entire 1.75L throughout the course of the week (probably because I drank a couple of other drinks as well) I made a valiant effort and came within about 6 oz. of completion.

As has been the tradition on these trips with my friends, we go out at least 2-3 nights for fresh seafood, as we figure this will be a great place for it. And we discovered some gems. The first was a place called the Whale's Tail, which was a small restaurant on the beach with and outside deck looking out over the water. Great atmosphere and the food, though a bit overpriced, was probably the best we had all week. The second place we went to was called Buster's. The food at this place was damn good but not as good as our other two seafood meals. However, Buster's had the best hushpuppies we had all week. This place was more like a sports bar, but still excellent. On our final night of the trip, we went to a place called the Back Porch, which was another restaurant on the beach, overlooking the water. This won the prize for the biggest portions. I don't know if anyone finished their meal. I do know that I got probably 2 dozen hushpuppies for the low low price of $1.59. I WIN!!

We chose to check out the night life on evening on the trip, Tuesday night to be exact. And of course, Tuesdays in early May are always going to be hot nights on the town. We chose to go to The Village of Baytowne Wharf which is a set of shops, restaurants and bars set on the beach. While most of the bars were dead, we found a place called RumRunners which was your typical bar with live music. However, this bar had a dark secret, the Rum Runner. This drink was hell in a glass. I decided to take first round with one of my friends, so I promptly ordered 2 Rum Runners, and was told I owed $17!! I was kind of upset until I tasted the drink, which was like drinking straight alcohol. I somehow finished my 12 oz. cup, only to be handed another one by my kind friend who knew he owed me a round. Well, I was already messed up before this, but my second Rum Runner did me in, and fortunately we were ready to head home anyway, as I barely made it to bed. All in all a good night, except for the Rum Runners.

So after all was said and done, we made our way home. However instead of following our MapQuest directions that got us there, we decided to take a chance and just use a map and make our way home. Now I think we probably cut off at least 30 minutes to an hour on our trip by doing this, as we avoided going out of our way a bit. Though anyone who has driven to Florida from Louisville knows that about 1/3 of the trip is done off the interstates. Well, we made it back safely, but not before making one final significant discovery.

Now I'm HUGE on trying new things (hence, my willingness to try a Rum Runner). So all week at our hotel, I had to stare in envy at the Whataburger restaurant that was sitting about 1/2 mile from our hotel, but I never went there. We spent all week joking about going, planning on ordering the #1, which we believed would be a Whataburger combo with fries. Well, we left on Thursday and passed up the Whataburger, then a second, and then a third. Well, I was getting fed up and stated my intention to eat at Whataburger when we stopped for lunch. However, I was getting worried as I assumed this was a Southern fast food chain, and we were making our way steadily north. Well, after we passed a Whataburger about 50 miles south of Birmingham and didn't stop, I was afraid all hope was lost. We didn't see one all the way to Birmingham. Then, just after we passed downtown and were heading into open road again, my friend Jason exclaimed from behind the wheel, "WHATABURGER!!!" It turned out to be the last Whataburger we would pass, and we stopped. Well, we went in and, much to our delight, discovered that they did have a #1 combo, and it was indeed a Whataburger with fries for $4.99. Now the only choice left to make was whether or not to "Whata-size" my meal for 59 cents. I chose not to. But I was wholly impressed with this restaurant. Among the highlights of this place were:
- A picture of the founder, Harmon Dobson, hanging on the wall.
- A picture of the first Whataburger in Corpus Christi, TX also on the wall.
- The term, "Whata-size" your meal.
- The fact that this is the first fast food restaurant that I've ever seen that offers grits for breakfast (99 cents for an order).
- The ketchup, which did not come in packets and they did not have ketchup dispensers. The ketchup came in the same containers you would get a dipping sauce in at McDonald's. You just peel away the top and there's your ketchup. Why has no one else thought of this?? It's so much more efficient than ketchup packets. I took one home with me just for the novelty of the idea.

So all in all a successful trip. I have several more stories, but these were definitely the highlights. I probably could have made an entire post on the Whataburger, and I may pursue that in the future. But hopefully this gave a decent idea of how random adventures can make a trip much more exciting.

More Crappy Weather and an Update

2008-05-09T16:30:00.003-04:00

One would find it very difficult to convince me that May isn't the best month of the year. I think this belief stems from the fact that May always meant the end of school for 21 years of my life (that in itself is crazy, to think that there have only been 7 years that I haven't been a student in my entire life). But more than that, May has always meant a lot to me. March and April begin to signal the end of winter, which I hate with a passion anyway. But May is really the first month of the year where the weather really starts to calm down and feel like summer. So needless to say, these past few days have made me quite angry. We had about 4 days of perfect weather before it went to hell on Wednesday. Nothing but rain and clouds for almost 3 entire days now. CRAP!!

But I can't complain too much. This month has brought a lot of great things to me. My brother got married, I played golf at an amazing country club, I just found out that I got accepted to go back to school once again (so that 7 year figure will stay that way), and most importantly, I have received good news from my apartment complex.

Yes, they are starting to cave. After getting into negotiations with them for a few weeks about changing apartments, our conversations stalled due to them not emailing me back. So I decided to send them a nice email about the rotted wood and mildew in my walls. Well, due to the fact that I had already complained about this twice before, they finally decided to check it out and found some bad stuff on the outside of the building, including cracks in the walls that had been allowing water in for quite some time. At that point, the assured me that they would do what they could to fix it, but if a lot of work had to be done, then they would let me out of my lease. And they told me that most likely a LOT of work would have to be done. So the next day I found out that they caulked (yes, they CAULKED) the walls on the outside to prevent the water from getting in, and that a contractor would be called this week to get the drywall in my apartment fixed. Now I don't know what they think they will accomplish with this, but I plan to remind them that this is nothing but a temporary fix (which they said themselves). But right now they are acting as if they have the problem solved, and are not emailing me back once again. Did that caulk MAGICALLY get rid of all that mildew and rotting wood?? Amazing!! So if they tell me I have to stay in that apartment, I am going to threaten to call a health inspector on their asses. I know this is probably an empty threat, but who knows. A friend of mine spoke to her landlord, who was kind enough to tell her that situations like mine with the mildew and rotting wood are common in apartments, and that the landlords rarely win when it comes to these cases. So I guess we'll see. I'll keep posting the emails on my website so keep checking them out.

On a random note, my dog was really annoying the hell out of me the other day, so I farted in his face. Serves him right.

Musings from The 'Ville

2008-05-06T12:02:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd write today about some random shit that's been either getting me thinking or else just plain pissing me off, so here we go.

This weekend at the Kentucky Derby, Eight Belles, the Place horse who ran a pretty spectacular race to finish second, broke both its ankles and had to be euthanized on the track at the Derby. Now, I am in total agreement that this was a tragedy and that people should be moved by this story. However, I'm sick of reading article after article criticizing the jockey and calling for the entire sport of horse racing to be changed as a result of this, along with the death of Barbaro two years ago. You know why people are pissed off? It's because this happened on the top stage in horse racing. Had the same horse died in its qualifying race in Arkansas, what would have happened? Nothing!!! Probably, no one would have even heard about it. So just because a jockey is unfortunate enough to have been riding a horse with weak ankles that broke down after the biggest race of its life, he is in danger of suspension from the sport. A handful of runners die every year running marathons, but generally, nothing changes in those marathons because this is considered a risk of running. The same risk exists in horse racing. If PETA has its way, then there probably would be no more horse racing because they consider inhumane and dangerous. Here's some news for you: ALL SPORTS HAVE INHERENT RISKS!!! Should athletes in every sport wear football helmets to protect their heads from foul balls and flying pucks?? What about fans? Baseball and hockey fans take risks at every game...should they all wear helmets too?? People should just take this event for what it was...an unfortunate tragedy that in no way reflects the state of the sport in general.

I've noticed that people in Louisville and St. Louis have similar nicknames for their cities. People in St. Louis sometimes call it "The Lou" and people in Louisville call it "The Ville". Just a random observation.

I've received recent news regarding my apartment that is making me very angry. I've found proof that another family is being allowed out of their lease early at no cost. And while I promised that family that I would not bring it up to the apartment management to prevent any trouble from them, I have to say that this has re-ignited my fire for this fight. Especially considering that they have not replied to my emails in over a week...ASSHOLES!!!

Just another note on how this city cleans itself up for Derby. I drove past the University of Louisville the other day and saw a guy touching up a paint job on an overpass to make it brighter. I had to laugh at this because that shit happens every year. However, now the city will let everything grow out and look shitty until next Derby. Actually, this year the same process will probably occur in the fall for the Ryder Cup. Either way, I compare this to other random actions that I find amusing:
- Brushing your teeth before you go to the dentist (like that will fool him)
- Dusting and cleaning your furniture if you are trying to sell your house(you're selling an empty house, not your clean furniture)
- Straightening your house before you have a cleaner come over (yes, people do this)
- Washing your hair before a haircut.

A few days ago I flipped on the 1994 movie "The Scout." Overall a pretty weak film, but for some reason I can watch any movie about baseball and enjoy it. However, there are some details in the end of that movie that really annoy me. The final scene in that movie is supposed to be Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. For one, the pitcher, Steve Nebraska, bats in that movie, despite this being an American League park. I guess they assume that he was such a good hitter that he would be the DH as well as the pitcher. Next, the Yankees play the Cardinals in the Series. This is fine, it may be the first modern movie to feature the Cardinals prominently. But the premise of that game is that Nebraska wins the game on 81 pitches, all strikes, striking out all 27 batters. So that means the last batter would be the #9 hitter in the order. In the movie, that is Ozzie Smith. They make out Ozzie to be some kind of power hitter, even though he hit all of 28 home runs in his career. They pass this off by saying he has experienced an unprecedented burst of power in the playoffs. So my problem is, why is he batting in the 9 spot if he's they're best hitter. Anyway, that movie is absurd in itself, so I guess you have to take it all with a grain of salt.

Based on my experiences in St. Louis this weekend, I've decided that rich people in St. Louis are much nicer than the wealthy assholes who think they are rich in Louisville, whom I deal with every day.

That's all I have for now, but I'm sure I will have many more posts like this in the future.

Living the High Life

2008-05-05T11:35:00.003-04:00

This past weekend a remarkable event occurred that changed the landscape of my family. My brother exchanged vows with the woman of his dreams, and just like that, I had another in-law. The weekend itself was something to be marveled, as everything was first-class all the way. Due to the fact that much of my audience experienced this event and will not soon want to forget it, I thought an in-depth recap was in order. As Best Man in this wedding, I feel I had the best viewpoint from which to do this.

The weekend began on Friday morning with a round of golf for the wedding party and some relatives of the bride at Old Warson Country Club, the site of the wedding reception, as well as the 1971 Ryder Cup. The weather delayed our start time for over an hour, yet in that time we were served an impromptu breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, fruit, juice and coffee. This was just the first of many occurrences that made me proclaim to myself yet again, "I win."

The golfing itself was something to forget, as most of the scores began to approach bowling scores. However, the course was magnificent and I thoroughly enjoyed the 15 holes I got in before I had to depart to prepare for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was an amusing experience, as the preacher seemed to be something of a hard-ass, no nonsense type of guy. Examples of his attitude included yelling at the bridesmaids for talking during the walkthrough, telling one of the groomsmen that chewing gum would not be allowed during the ceremony (I'm sure that was really news to him), and squeezing the Maid of Honor's arm so hard that she had red marks there afterward. I just feel lucky that I avoided his wrath.

I would have to say that my favorite part of the weekend had to be at the rehearsal dinner and, not to sound arrogant, but I believe I played a big role in making the evening extremely enjoyable. The dinner took place at Lemp Mansion near downtown St. Louis, which is an old historic home that is said to be haunted. During dinner, the alcohol flowed freely and the portions were plentiful. And after everyone's stomachs were full of beef, fish, chicken (and, of course, booze), I took the floor and did my best to turn the groom's already pink face and even darker shade

Several people have asked that I put my speech in writing somehow, so I will be happy to do just that (at least the highlights). It was basically a Top 10 list about what I've learned from and about my brother in 26 years, and it went something like this:

10) Potato guns, video cameras and air horns can provide hours of fun, but put together can provide a lifetime of memories.
9) Time spent in the World of Warcraft is more productive than time spent sleeping.
8) Jim has rock-hard pecks. If you don't believe it, just ask him and he'll show you.
7) During one's lifetime, one should make a minimum of 20 trips to Las Vegas.
6) A sound system, when hooked up correctly, can in fact be heard down the block.
5) The hot water in my parents' house lasts only long enough for Jim to take a shower.
4) When given the choice between eating a 2 lb. burger and a 1 lb. burger, always go with the 1 lb. burger.
3) Fashionably late is the only way to show up anywhere.
2) Cursing in front of your parents at 6 years old is not funny...however, convincing your 6 year old little brother to curse in front of your parents is.
1) And I finished up with something sentimental, talking about how good a person Jim is.

Now, I didn't look up too much during this speech but I was told several people were laughing so hard they had tears rolling down their faces, including my dad. I have to say that it was one of the high points in my life, and I think I shocked a number of people with this speech.

The Maid of Honor held up her end as well, amusing the crowd by presenting the father of the bride with vodka and beer, and that, along with a video made by my cousin and my mother, left the crowd in a jubilant mood throughout the rest of the evening.

Saturday dawned a bit cloudy, but with promise to be a beautiful day. The wedding ceremony went off without a hitch, other than the fact that the groomsmen and parents were given the wrong boutonnieres and several pictures had to be re-taken. The only gripe I personally had about the entire weekend came during the transport from the church to the reception. There was absolutely NO BOOZE in the limo. What the hell was up with that?? I guess I couldn't complain too much, as once again at the reception, the beer flowed freely.

The cocktail hour was incredibly high class, with servers roaming the room with assorted trays of food and drink. Dinner was amazing as well, with the dinner rolls taking the prize as the highlight of the meal (in my personal opinion).

Then I was up to talk again, with what several people called another solid speech. I wasn't as impressed but it went over well enough. Then the music began and insanity ensued. I never thought I would see the day that a country club like that allowed its floor to be littered with several thousand pieces of confetti, but indeed that was the case, and this stuff flew for probably an hour before people got tired of throwing it at the dancers. The live band had an incredibly wide selection of music and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Finally, around midnight as the crowd began to thin, the bride and groom left the building and boarded their transportation: a golf cart with a sign on it that said "Just Married" while the remaining crowd littered them with flower petals. Now, had one followed the golf cart, one would have seen that the happy newlyweds traveled roughly 100 feet to a car parked in the lot, but that did not take away at all from the image of my brother and his new wife driving away into the night in their own personal golf cart.

The Sports Scent (Part 2)

2008-04-24T21:22:00.002-04:00

Today is part two of my comparison between the sports scenes in Louisville and St. Louis. There may or may not be a third part. We'll see. My entire point was to show the different scenes, and comparing the two will probably not be a long enough post, so it will probably be a paragraph tomorrow and not much else.

Anyway, St. Louis is another great city for sports, especially professional sports. The highlight of the professional sports scene in St. Louis is the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are why St. Louis is called "Baseball Heaven." The team can boast probably the most passionate and knowledgeable fans in baseball, and athletes from other cities often acknowledge this. And the Cardinals have rewarded their fans with a history of success. They are the second most successful team in the history of MLB in terms of World Championships, with 10 (trailing the Yankees 26). They are also the second most successful team in the National League, having appeared in 17 World Series (trailing the Dodgers' 18). They won the World Series in 2006, have appeared in the playoffs in 6 of the past 8 seasons, and are off to a torrid start in 2008 with a 13-9 record (soon to be 14-9). They are considered among the elite 4 or 5 franchises in baseball.

The St. Louis Blues have been a part of the National Hockey League since 1967. They appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals in their first 3 seasons (losing all 3), and at one point held a streak of making the NHL playoffs for I believe 25 years which was the longest current streak in professional sports at the time. However, they have never won the Stanley Cup, and in the past 3 seasons they have been a bottom-feeder in the NHL. But it is hard to deny the fact that they add something exciting to the sports scene in St. Louis, and Blues fans are nearly as passionate as Cardinals fans.

NFL Football in St. Louis has had an on and off history. The Cardinals played in St. Louis until 1987 until they moved to Phoenis, but in 1995 the city acquired the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams came to St. Louis among much fanfare, and the people of St. Louis responded as true fans. They sold out every home game for years, and just as attendance was getting ready to slip, the Rams made an improbable run to the Super Bowl and became a dominant force in the league for a few years.

I remember in the year 2000, when the Rams won the Super Bowl, St. Louis was voted the best sports city in America. This is why: that year the Rams were Super Bowl champs, the Cardinals won the National League Central with Mark McGwire at the forefront of their roster, and the Blues won the President's Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL.

However, professional sports are not the only sports that play a big role in St. Louis. The city claims the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois as "local" college teams. Every year the annual Busch Braggin' Rights basketball game between Missouri and Illinois takes place in St. Louis. I believe the Missouri/Illinois football game also takes place in St. Louis.

High school sports fans are very passionate in St. Louis, with several football rivalries taking top spots in the news annually. CBC/SLUH is one major game that used to be as big as Trinity/St. X in Louisville, but in recent years this game has left a large stadium and taken place at the individual schools. Every year after the high school football season is officially over, on Thanksgiving, Kirkwood and Webster play a rivalry football game.

However, the top high school sport in St. Louis is soccer. St. Louis annually has at least one team ranked in the top 5 high school teams nationally, and usually 2-3 ranked in the top 25. It is an odd year when at least one team does not take the top spot in the national rankings at some point. CBC, SLUH, DeSmet and Chaminade are top local soccer schools, with Vianney, Oakville, and Mehlville also taking top honors in any given year. St. Louis is considered the top high school soccer city in the nation, and is a hotspot for college recruiters.

I'll end this blog with another few small points to think about when considering St. Louis sports. St. Louis was the host of the 1904 Olympics, and an "Olympic Festival" to commemorate the coming of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The current WWE Champion, Randy Orton, hails from St. Louis, and the city is considered a top wrestling city in the nation, especially back in the 1960's. St. Louis was in the running to be the home of the 16th team in Major League Soccer, and will likely be considered at their next expansion. St. Louis hosted the 2005 NCAA Final Four, and will host the 2009 Women's Final Four.

This is a tough one...I will have to think about which city takes the prize.

The Sports Scene (Part 1)

2008-04-22T12:07:00.008-04:00

Today I will begin my three-part look at comparing the sports scenes in Louisville and St. Louis. Both cities claim to be great sports cities, both with self-imposed nicknames (St. Louis is "Baseball Heaven" and Louisville is "The Best College Sports Town In America"). I will begin today with Louisville.

Louisville's main claim to sporting superiority lies in its fanatical support of amateur sports. Louisvillians remain split in an ongoing civil war between University of Louisville and University of Kentucky supporters. This rivalry is heightened twice each year, with the annual football and basketball games. What makes this rivalry even more exciting is the fact that in both sports this has historically been an evenly matched game in recent years (though U of L had the upper hand in football for several years, that streak was ended in dramatic fashion this year). All over the city are signs of this rivalry, with banners waving either U of L or UK flags in front yards, cars driving by with flags, or the custom license plates, marked either IAM4UL or IAM4UK. I could write an entire post on this rivalry, but I will just sum it up by saying that most national sources rank U of L vs. UK as the top non-conference rivalry in college basketball, and sometimes it only ranks below Duke/UNC as the top overall rivalry, and this hatred carries over to virtually every other sport. UK ranks among the elite college basketball programs of all time, right up there with Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, and UCLA. U of L is generally considered a tier below (historically speaking) but still among the elite.

One cannot enter Louisville and leave again without hearing about high school sports. Just like the UL/UK rivalry, high school football and basketball are ways of life in Kentucky, with several major rivalries taking top honors in the city. A trifecta of schools annually dominate the high school football rankings; Trinity, St. X, and Male High School are perennial state champions in the top division of Kentucky football, with the Trinity/St. X football game annually threatening to fill up Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (where U of L plays football). More people show up for this annual high school football game than most Major League Baseball games. And Kentucky (like Indiana) being the basketball-crazed state it is, high school basketball gets as much local media coverage as many professional sports in major markets.

The market for professional sports is slim in Kentucky, but there are places to go to feed that craving. Most notably, Louisville is home to the AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, the Louisville Bats. The Bats play ball downtown in the picturesque Slugger Field. This stadium is a gem in downtown Louisville, where many a Thursday night can be spent buying $1 beers and watching future stars make names for themselves. Of course, every other night of the week offers its own spectacle, including Ford Fantastic Fireworks and Jake the Diamond Dog. These are the things that I love about living in Louisville, and why I claim it is a city looking for an identity. It advertises itself as a big city (the 16th largest in America, according to some signs) but advertisements such as those for Bats Baseball ("the name of our game is "FUN) have that small-town feel I have always associated with Minor League Baseball, thanks to movies like Bull Durham.

The Louisville Fire are another "professional" team in Louisville...our local Arena Football squad. They play ball throughout the spring and summer in Broadbent Arena, and draw a decent crowd. If anyone has been to an arena football game, there is no denying the fun atmosphere, as it has an entirely different feel than any NFL or College Football Game. The Fire do well due to the fact that they market entirely to families, and make their atmosphere fitting for such a crowd.

These are not the only ways to get your fix of sports in Louisville. One of the great organizations in the state of Kentucky is the Greater Louisville Sports Commission. This is what I believe to be an underappreciated group of people who help bring big sporting events to the city. One of the notable recent developments credited to the Sports Commission is the five-year deal they inked to bring an Ironman Triathlon to Louisville. Not many cities can boast hosting an Ironman, and this event will have an annual impact on the World Ironman Championships, as qualifiers can come directly from the Louisville Ironman.

In the fall, Louisville will host the Ryder Cup at Valhalla Country Club. This is a MAJOR international event and will really put Louisville on the map in the sporting world. Golf fans from all over the world will come to Louisville to view this spectacle. This, along with the Kentucky Derby (of course I had to hit on that) will put the focus of the sporting world directly on this city.

I'm sure I could go on and on about the Louisville sports scene, but I don't want to make this too long. However, I will finish with a couple of other necessary points. I've already mentioned the running scene in Louisville, and called it among the best in the country, but it had to be mentioned in this article. Louisville is home of Ohio Valley Wrestling, which used to be a feeder to WWE, but is now an independent promotion. However, probably half of WWE's current roster at one point was wrestling in OVW. Louisville is set to host the 2008 AAA Baseball All-Star Game. And finally, Louisville is home to the Louisville Slugger plant, which at one point produced nearly every bat used in Major League Baseball, and is still the name associated with baseball bats nationwide.

I wonder if St. Louis sports can match up to this??

I WIN!!!

2008-04-15T21:25:00.005-04:00

I've always been of the philosophy that Tuesday is the worst day of the work/school week. So many people claim Monday should hold this title, but here's my argument: You come to work Monday, and if you had a good weekend then you have a lot to talk about and the morning goes by quickly and before you know it afternoon is there. If you had a bad weekend, then chances are you're glad it's Monday and you want the weekend over. Wednesday is Hump Day and not at all bad, on Thursday you can almost taste the weekend (hopefully good) and of course, Friday is Friday. But Tuesdays suck. I wake up most Tuesdays and the first thought that goes through my head is, "Fuck, it's only Tuesday."

What is the point of my story, you may ask? There is no point except to show just how one event can change your outlook on anything. I woke up this morning with that same curse going through my head. I struggled into work, and sat at my desk doing my best to pass time. However, in the back of my mind I knew this day had a silver lining. For over the weekend, I got a slip on my door. And on this slip was my key to becoming a big winner: a $500 Best Buy Gift Card was waiting for me in a FedEx Office, and today they delivered it to the office at my apartment. So at lunch, I went and picked it up, and behold: it was a "Great Day."

There are certain websites that make seemingly outrageous offers. "Click here to claim your free gift." "Want a new laptop? Just click here." And so on and so on. I don't know about all of these sites, but I found one that was legit. The Prize Center.

Through this site, you need to complete certain "offers" in order to claim your free gift. The gift I chose was this Best Buy gift card. Now before I started, I read all the fine print. Some of these sites make you complete all their offers, only to require you to refer other people to complete all the offers as well before they give you anything. This prize, however, required only 8 offers to be completed; 2 "Silver", 2 "Gold" and 4 "Platinum" offers. Each level of offers are composed of about 20-30 things you may need to do, such as subscribe to a magazine, get a free trial of something and only pay shipping, or subscribe to an online service.

What I did was look at each level (and they mostly consisted of the same lists of offers) and decide on eight that I could legitimately do without having to invest too much money. Then I signed up for the offers, usually for a trial period of 2 weeks or a month. Near the end of each month, I would cancel my offer and not pay another penny. Once you click on the offer on The Prize Center's site, it automatically goes into your account as a "Pending" offer. So in the end, just by looking I had about 20 pending offers. The Prize Center then contacts the company giving the offer to be sure you paid your due and fulfilled the obligations of the offer. Now I know personally I was worried so I kept a few of these offers past the free trial and paid for an extra month. My original plan was to spend about $50. In the end I probably spent probably about $150. Now that may sound bad, but remember I still got my $500 Best Buy Gift Card.

Here are the offers I completed (I don't have links to the sites, but I'll give some of the companies and an overview of the offer).

Netflix: 2 week trial for free, then fulfill a full month. This cost me $14 for the month. One thing about Netflix is I am still using it, but I only count the first month toward this because I am willingly paying for the service now.

Blockbuster Online: Month Trial for $9.99 I think. I stopped this after a month, but got many a free movie.

GreatFun: This is a site that gives you coupons for great deals at many main-stream restaurants and stores. I paid $3 for the first month and stayed on another month for $15, but never used it...but this could be a useful service.

Critics Choice Entertainment Club (I think that's the name)...paid $2 I think for the offer and gave it up after the trial because I didn't use it. Similar to Great Fun.

Ultimate Nutraceuticals: 12-in-one Vitamins. This is also called Klee Irwin's Health Products. This is the company that screwed me, as they got about $80 or more from me by being kind of shady and not canceling all my services when I asked. However I didn't feel like fighting since I was still profiting despite these assholes. But I wouldn't recommend this service at all...stay away.

VistaPrint: Possibly my favorite of the offers. 250 FREE business cards, you only pay like $8 S&H. And I made custom business cards that I use as a joke...but a damn funny joke. Also, no obligations for this one. I got my cards and I was done with them. Highly recommended.

EMusic: Another easy one. 99 cent month trial, and you can cancel online so you don't have to argue with some salesperson.

3 In 1 Credit Report: This is a subsidiary of FreeCreditReport.com (you know, the company with the commercial of the guy in a pirate suit.) This is a legit company. I had a problem giving out my Social Security Number but I checked into the site before I did any of that and they were legit. Paid like $3 I think for the first month, and the people were very nice when I canceled. No arguing and they told me I could use the site until my month trial was up all I wanted, no hassles at all. Recommended if you haven't gotten a credit report recently.

I also did a 9th offer that I can't remember just to be safe, as my Netflix offer never got approved (which is funny seeing that it's the only one I kept.)

So after all my offers were approved, I was told to click on a link that brought up an application form. I had about 2 weeks to get this form into the company through the mail. One problem I had here was they made you fill out a tax form, so I gave them my SSN, but I figured at this point it was worth the risk (I don't have much of an identity to steal anyway). So I send it in well before the deadline and then get a major scare...the envelope comes back to me in the mail, saying the address didn't exist. Problem? HELL NO!! I emailed them immediately telling them what happened, and within a day they emailed me back with a fax number. I sent them the fax (note this was after the deadline but I also sent a copy of the envelope with the early postmark on it). And they immediately approved it. You can keep track of all of this on their website. The approval was dated February 25, and it said to wait 6-8 weeks to get your gift. Well, about 7 weeks later....I WIN!!!

'Tis The Season

2008-04-11T11:25:00.004-04:00

The road crews have been out all week, and I foresee them being out for the next three. Of course, you may say...It's Springtime. Well, that may be so, but that's not the reason road crews have begun the process of beautifying Louisville's roads, highways, and medians. It must be Derby Season!!

Now don't get me wrong, this post is not meant to belittle the city. I think it's amazing that every year, on the first Saturday in May, the eyes of the world turn to this small little town that thinks it's a big city, all in anticipation of The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports, The Kentucky Derby.

While I am not a big fan of hype, there's no arguing that this event is what put Louisville on the map. And the city embraces it like no other. For weeks each spring, the Kentucky Derby Festival livens up this city with a fervor rarely matched anywhere else. Derby Festival "officially" kicks off tomorrow night with Thunder Over Louisville. This is actually a one-day version of Fair St. Louis, for those familiar with that annual St. Louis treat. Thunder includes a day of insanity in downtown Louisville, complete with live music, and airshow, and of course, the obligatory immensely huge fireworks display. While I will take the backdrop in St. Louis with the Arch and the riverfront any day over any other city's fireworks, one cannot deny the absurdity of the Second Street Bridge being engulfed in smoke, and virtually disappearing. How many cities can boast that??

Along with Thunder, the Derby Festival boasts an aspect that I find fairly unique, the Chow Wagons, which are dispersed throughout the city and contain a hoard of artery-clogging, but undeniably delectable deep-fried treats. A Pegasus pin gets you into these wagons free of charge, at which point you are free to fork over a load of money for the privilege of ingesting a Bloomin' Onion, Bloomin' Potato, a large turkey leg, or any number of uber-fattening goodies, including the "Official Pizza of the Kentucky Derby Festival" (and the entire state of Kentucky) Papa John's, or as I call it, "Louisville-style Pizza." Though I think my Papa John's rant is best saved for another post.

In my humble opinion, the Kentucky Derby Festival begins in early March with the start of the Triple Crown of Running, a series of three races that regularly draw thousands of runners to the area. Within the running community, these are stepping stones to a fourth race, the KDF Mini Marathon. The Mini is another aspect of the Festival that I find quite enjoyable...though I have never run it. However, so many people get up for this race, including spectators, that I felt it necessary to make mention. It takes place every year the weekend before Derby.

And then, of course, there is Derby weekend. It begins on Friday (as most weekends do), with the Kentucky Oaks. This is a lesser-known race that draws a huge crowd, especially of Louisvillians. Many Louisvillians actually prefer to go to Churchill Downs for Oaks due to the more tame, yet still uniquely exciting, atmosphere. Oaks Day is actually a city holiday in Louisville, with many public offices closed, including the schools. The bars stay open until 6 AM on both Friday and Saturday, instead of the normal 4 AM. So that begs the question, why even close?

And finally, there is Derby itself. No two minutes in any sport can draw the attention that Derby does. Millions tune in around the world, and countless celebrities and travelers converge on Louisville to witness this event. While I have never personally been to Derby in my eight years in Louisville, I know that the atmosphere must be absolutely electric. I believe that traveling to Louisville on the first Saturday in May should be something most people should try at least once in their lives, as it is truly one of the unique events this country has to offer.

Apartment Living at its Finest

2008-04-08T14:43:00.003-04:00

Today will be another stray from the topic of this blog, as I'm not going to be comparing anything here in Louisville to something in St. Louis, but I will be complaining about something here. And in the future I may complain about things in St. Louis.

I live in an apartment complex. It's a decent apartment, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath and about 1100 square feet, for a decent price. So I am happy with where I'm living, but lately there have been serious problems. About 2 months ago I received a note on my door, "in order to ensure constant, regular water temperature" they would be doing work on my apartment. My first thought was that this would be great because I was annoyed with the water temperature fluctuating so badly.

So after about a week, I come home to discover 2 holes in my wall, for no apparent reason. Well, I let them be for a bit, and the next day the holes were plugged with insulation. However the next week, I found out why the holes were there in the first place. I came home to find two large copper pipes protruding from one hole to the other. Two days later, I came home to 5 more holes in the wall, and two plastic tubes hanging across my ceiling connecting 3 of the holes. Again, I was patient for the sake of progress.

Of course, that was over a month ago, and since those pipes and tubes have shown up, all I've received is the occasional message on my door saying, they are running "final tests" on everything. Since that day over a month ago, I've probably been off work during the week about 5 days. On NONE of those days, including today, have I seen any work being done on my building.

So last week I decided to email someone. At first I got no reply, but upon sending a second email, I got a very extensive reply from a woman who had just started a few weeks ago, explaining that she was sorry and the people they hired to do the job were way behind schedule, but they changed the contract giving them a deadline, and things would be done by this Friday. Ok, remember that date, Friday April 11. I find it hard to believe that it will be done by then...as ABSOLUTELY NO WORK has been done so far this week. They now have 3 days to get this shit done.

Anyway, I email her back, asking just what happens WHEN (not if) the work is not done by Friday. She just explained to me that the contractor would not be paid as much. Well, I'm certainly glad that by me having to live longer with these damn holes, the apartment complex is saving money.

Among the many other things covered in these emails, I requested some sort of compensation or the opportunity to get out of my lease early. Of course, she told me she had no power to do any of that, and kindly reminded me that I received a sizable discount in rent upon moving. Now, I'm not one to complain about discounts in rent, but I reminded her that I don't recall receiving that move-in discount in exchange for them putting holes in my wall. She cited me some Fair Housing bullshit (even though I believe Fair Housing Law applies to discrimination based on race, gender, etc...., similar to Equal Employment Opportunity). She said Fair Housing prohibits her from giving me any compensation or treating MY situation any different than any other.

However, and this is my favorite part, in a different email she completely contradicted this point. She reminded me of my rent discount, and said that since I was paying so little, she couldn't give me the same concessions she could give other people who paid a bit more. Yet she had just quoted fair housing saying she had to treat every situation the same. I plan on writing back an calling her out on that. I also plan to make her specifically cite the sections of the Fair Housing Act (which I have looked up and will read) that she is referring to. I plan to make her do quite a bit more work before I am through. Anyway, I'm going to attach copies of the emails for your pleasure, and I may post my continued correspondence.

To read the emails, click here

The Trip

2008-04-07T15:55:00.003-04:00

I think it's been so long since I last posted because of the shame I felt for myself after our ill-fated trip to Pennsylvania and Denny's Beer Barrel Pub. I don't even know how to begin to describe the scene at this place, but I'll do my best.

The weekend started out fairly well, but I think I should have realized things would go wrong very early on. Everyone got to my place in Louisville (from St. Louis) late Friday night, and the first ill omen happened pretty early on. After seemingly mastering Ninja Gaiden, I couldn't seem to beat the game that evening, and I gave up...bad idea.

The next bad omen came when we left roughly 90 minutes later than planned. While this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just goes to show you that I should have noticed these signs for what they were. The trip to Pennsylvania was fairly pleasant, and I followed through on my promise to run at our gas stops. I ran about half a mile at the first stop, and Justin and I then ran a little more than that at the next stop. One thing I realized late in the morning, however, was that even though I had stopped eating over 12 hours before, I never really felt hungry like I was hoping.

Fortunately my stomach started rumbling about 60 miles from Clearfield, and when we pulled in to the restaurant, I began to experience the nerves normally reserved for the starting line at a race (I'm not exaggerating at all). I had been training for this day and it was finally here. So we ordered our burgers and waited.

When they came, my eyes went wide at the size of the burger, but I wasn't really surprised. To be honest, it really was just about how I pictured it...maybe just a bit bigger. But I was ready, and had my strategy all planned out: eat the meat first and then worry about everything else.

Well, about halfway through the meat, I started feeling the effects of the massive amount of beef. While it tasted great (seriously, it was and excellent burger) I quickly got sick of the taste of it. So after about half of the meat was gone, I began eating tomatoes and banana peppers, which helped me get through probably another quarter of the meat (or roughly 1/2 lb, to put it into context). Then I couldn't take any more meat, so I concentrated on the toppings and bun.

I ate all the tomatoes and banana peppers next, and that was actually quite easy. I really wish I could have eaten the rest of the meat I had left, but it still repulsed me, so I focused on the bun. And while the doubts had started to creep into my mind before this, the next part of my journey was what did me in.

They spread a ton of nasty, sour relish on that bottom bun, and I couldn't take it after all the meat and toppings I had already eaten. It was just too strong. So after eating about half of the lower bun, I put it down and focused on the top bun. At this point I still had probably 25 minutes left so in essence, it was still possible as I was past the halfway point. However, this bun was insane. It was like eating about 6 cooked pretzels, for how dense it was. Eating a bite of the bun was like eating an entire piece of bread, and it seemed to expand in my stomach. So I formulated a plan to roll up the bun and try to eat it in as few bites as possible...except rolled up, it was still the size of a grilled stuffed burrito from taco bell, except all bread and not delicious grilled, stuffed fillings. So I got about halfway through this, but even before I started that, I knew I was done.

I don't know why I kept at that top bun except that I wanted to see just how far I could get in an hour. Instead, with about 12 minutes left I surrendered, having eaten probably 3/4 or more of the meat, all the toppings except the relish, and probably the equivalent of half of the bun, so I probably finished about 3/4 of the entire thing. Our pal, El Nino did much better, finishing all but the top bun before throwing in the towel.

Now, I thought I would digest that thing quickly and be done with it, but somehow the worst was yet to come. When I stood up from the table after paying the bill (and unsuccessfully trying to drink a beer) I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and it felt like I might explode. As we walked out, the feeling only got worse. I could do nothing but wander the parking lot, walking back and forth to try to get this shit to digest quicker. But it didn't. I probably should have just tried to make myself vomit, but I was too arrogant for that, and instead got in the van after a short delay and we began the trip home. I would say the first four hours (no exaggeration, I promise) of the trip back I was in serious physical pain. Finally after about 6 hours I felt normal again, but definitely not hungry. That burger digested so slowly that I wasn't hungry until the next afternoon...I ate a small breakfast the next morning, but that was almost painful.

So even though it was a fun trip, I will always look back on it in anger at my failure. I really was disappointed that I didn't finish that burger. Who knows, maybe I'll try again. But one thing is for sure...I am not done with eating challenges, not by a long shot. I will not quit until I have my name on the wall of some restaurant for successfully completing their challenge.

Going Downtown

2008-03-28T13:31:00.004-04:00

I was in downtown Louisville recently and it got me thinking about which city has the better downtown area. At first glance, I would say Louisville without a doubt. And while this statement may hold up, the more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes.

The first thing I have to say here, is that there are a lot of people out there who will say downtown St. Louis is shitty, and for the most part I might have to agree with them. But downtown St. Louis has its definite high points which make it a bit nicer than one might think.

First and foremost is the Arch and the Archgrounds. This is a great area that they really made it a point to make look nice. The grass is green and there is a short walking trail and plaza around the arch which makes it a great place to go on a nice day, even if you don't plan on going in the Arch. Kiener Plaza and Busch stadium are both a short walk from the Arch. Now, Kiener Plaza is something that is overlooked by tourists but is a very nice area to walk around downtown, and has a fair share of restaurants nearby. Between the Arch, stadium and Kiener Plaza, one could spend a morning sightseeing in downtown St. Louis and follow that up with a quick lunch nearby, and you would only have to park your car once and walk to all of these sites.

A short drive away from these areas is Union Station, which I personally enjoy in downtown St. Louis. This is essentially a shopping center loaded with stores and restaurants, and it seems like there is always something going on inside. One could spend a few hours here just looking at everything and getting a quick meal. Nearby is the Scottrade(Savvis, Kiel) Center which at the very least is worth seeing as it is regularly ranked among the top 10 indoor arenas in the world in tickets sold to events.

Now there are a lot of other things to see in and near downtown, including the Edward Jones Dome, Soulard, and Forest Park. In addition, the area around Busch Stadium is in the process of being built up, but that project is still years in the making. However, there are all of these nice sites everywhere, interspersed with old, rundown buildings which make the city feel dirty and unsafe. Certain parts of downtown look nice but you are never very far from some crap.

Louisville, on the other hand, probably doesnt' have as much going for it. Its downtown is much smaller with fewer attractions, but in recent years efforts have been made to build up downtown and make it a place tourists want to see. One of the most major projects was Waterfront Park. This is an area comparable to the Arch grounds, but it is much larger and nicer. There are walking paths all over, playgrounds for kids and picnic tables for families. There are also open fields for anyone's use, which are used for pickup sports, concerts, and large gatherings. This park is constantly being expanded down River Road, and when the expansion is complete, one could walk a mile or two straight in one direction and still be in the park.

A few years back, Fourth Street Live was built up to attract more Louisville residents to spend their evenings downtown. In the past 6 years, this area has become a hotspot for college students and twenty-somethings to gather on the weekends. While I am on a personal boycott of the place at night (at least on weekends), I can't argue the fact that it has really drawn Louisvillians downtown again.

While there are other sites to see downtown in Louisville, including the Louisville Slugger Museum and a number of theatres, I really want to focus on the fact that a good portion of downtown Louisville just looks cleaner and nicer than St. Louis. There are definitely old buildings and a number of parking lots that look like crap, but overall if you walk through the streets of downtown between Floyd Street and about 9th Street, you're walking down clean streets.

So overall, I would say Louisville has the nicer feeling downtown. While there may not be as much to do, I would say I enjoy walking through the streets of downtown Louisville more than I do in St. Louis. However, don't let this make you think I hate downtown St. Louis. There is so much to see there that it is worth seeing a few dozen times in your life.

Now, on to my final post before our trip. Last night was a bit more low-key than the previous night's lettuce and pizza extravaganza. I basically sat around for 25 minutes eating what I could find. This included a turkey sandwich, 2 eggo waffles, 2 more pieces of wheat bread, 24 oz. of water, 1 large piece of cake, and yes, another half a head of lettuce. Wow, I didn't realize how much it was until I just wrote it down. So once again I feel like I am fully prepared for this trip and success tomorrow afternoon. I will frame that certificate and wear my free shirt with pride. I'll post more after the trip. I can't wait!!

The Weather and a Head of Lettuce

2008-03-27T10:13:00.004-04:00

The weather: this is a topic in which both Louisville and St. Louis suck. While I am a fan of having four seasons, I would say these four seasons have become increasingly hard to distinguish over the past decade. Maybe global warming or some other environmental shit is to blame, but who knows. All I know is that living in a river valley in the midwest or mid-south is terrible about 8 months of the year.

Right now it is raining. I would say that in the past 45 days, we've probably had 38 with precipitation. I think the same can probably be said for St. Louis. 3 weeks ago here in Louisville we had a foot of snow on the ground. 4 weeks ago St. Louis had a foot of snow on the ground. About 5 days after that snow fell in St. Louis the temperatures reached the high 60's here in Louisville, only to be followed by the foot of snow I mentioned.

The rain we are getting right now is not supposed to end for at least 10 days. 10 DAYS!!! The Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Meremac rivers are already flooding. What the hell is 10 days of rain going to do to that!?!?! I guess here in Louisville the only way we're going to find out what happens to the rivers here in town is if the University of Louisville doesn't go to the Final Four, because they're playing tonight and possibly Saturday. So City Hall may get swept away in a flood, but that could possibly be ignored in the local paper if U of L makes the Final Four.

Ok, back from that tangent about the paper because I already did that. Not only has the weather been wet, but all winter we fluctuated by bitter cold spells interspersed by these warm spells that would last about 3 days and get into the 50's. Then when the temperature would drop again, it would rain or snow. The same thing is happening now. We're in a warming trend and it's causing it to rain nonstop.

Now I'm not one to complain about warm weather, but this is ridiculous. I hate winter, but I do better when it's in the 30's all winter with some cold spells than when I get teased with 55 degree weather in January. I remember two consecutive New Years Days (I believe '04 and '05) where the temperatures reached the high 60's or 70's and I was running outside in shorts and short sleeves. I also remember a time in high school where I was out cutting grass, once again in shorts and short sleeves, and I specifically remember the date being December 15!!!

What about the summers, you may ask. Well they aren't so bad if you love heat and humidity. In July and August the heat index regularly gets up over 100 and just walking outside causes you to sweat profusely. But this has one advantage I've found. If you're like me and occasionally have a problem with wrinkled clothes, a 5 minute walk outside in July unwrinkles those clothes right up...if you don't believe me just try it one day where the temperature is 93 and the heat index is 105. Step outside for a few minutes then give your shirt the old hand press and there you have it...no more wrinkles.

Now I really enjoy the heat. I'll get out and run at noon on the hottest day of the year because it's so great, and I revel in the fact that I'm one of a very few who aren't whining and wishing for October. Give me 95 degrees any day over 20 degrees and windy. So I guess the moral of this blog is that even though I love the areas I've spent my entire life, the weather sucks and it always will. But you learn to live with it and enjoy the good days when you can.

Now, a huge update on my Pennsylvania training. Last night was my biggest test to date, and I was up to the challenge. My dinner consisted of about 12 oz. of powerade, 1 whole frozen pizza, and YES, 1 WHOLE HEAD OF LETTUCE!!!!!!! All consumed in a speedy 41 minutes. Now anyone who scoffs at this should try just the lettuce. Once I cut that shit up it filled a huge bowl. You wouldn't believe how much lettuce that really is. But I did it and barely even doubted myself. The only problem I had was that the lettuce taste got old really quickly. But some lowfat raspberry vinaigrette dressing did the trick and made it much easier. The pizza was easy because it really tasted exquisite after eating a bunch of lettuce, and would be a good break from that immense salad. So I am now supremely confident that I will, in fact, conquer the 2 lb. burger at Denny's.

The Running Scene

2008-03-26T09:42:00.004-04:00

I'm a competitive runner. There's no other way to describe me than that, and I'm sure I will dedicate a certain number of posts on this blog to running.

Running is a huge part of my life, and has been for over a decade now. While I lived in St. Louis, I thought I took it somewhat seriously, but I was nothing like I am today. At one point in my life, I regularly ran 65-80 miles per week, until injuries cut that short. Now I am trying to return to the sport I love. Yet, I wonder if I had moved back to St. Louis after I graduate, if I would still be so enthralled with this sport.

The running scene in Louisville is, in my opinion, the best of any city of its size in the country. I believe Louisville has more parks per-capita than any other city in America, and that makes running in safe areas dedicated to that pastime easier than anywhere I know. Since moving to Louisville, I have never lived more than 4 miles from any major park system. Louisville annually hosts 4 road races that draw over 6,000 runners and walkers each, and I don't know of any city that can boast that fact. A local running store, Fleet Feet Sports (a franchise that is locally owned) sponsors over a dozen races every year and is involved in most of the major races around. They also sponsor a racing team for post-collegiate runners who are trying to improve to the elite level. This racing team added me as a member 2 years ago and I have been extremely grateful for the opportunity they have given me.

The fact of the matter is, I hate going to St. Louis to run. The area around my parents' house is terrible for running, even though there are 2 parks within a couple of miles. For the casual runner, St. Louis may be a great running city, but not for the serious competitive runner. While St. Louis has vastly improved with the opening of Big River Running Company (owned by 2 former competitors of mine, though they are 2 years older). They have tried to revitalize the running scene in St. Louis by sponsoring a number of races, as well as their own racing team. So the city is definitely going in the right direction, as before St. Louis had to rely on the St. Louis Track Club, a group of wonderful people whom I personally thought could use a little improvement in their race management skills.

But between Big River Running, the extension of the River Des Peres Greenway and revitalizing of Forest Park, St. Louis has made great improvements in their running community, but unfortunately it is not nearly as runner-friendly as Louisville. So I have to give the nod to Louisville as the better running community. Well done and thank you Louisville for helping me become a better runner.

In Pennsylvania trip news, my training took a day off last night but I still ate quite a bit. Tonight I plan to eat an entire head of lettuce along with my normal dinner. I also bought a frozen pizza, which I plan on eating all of at one meal. And tomorrow (Thursday) I plan on eating my 2 footlong subs from Subway as my final major build to the trip. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I can accomplish this feat. I am actually having trouble making myself full lately.

Turn Signals and More Food

2008-03-25T12:16:00.003-04:00

I'm going to hit today on one of the subjects that really inspired this blog. That is a comparison of the drivers in St. Louis and Louisville. While both cities (and all cities, I'm sure, for that matter) have an abundance of bad drivers, I have found a serious problem with the drivers here in Louisville. That problem is that I am pretty sure that the use of turn signals is not taught in the driving schools here, and the ability to use them is not a requirement to pass the driving test in Kentucky.

While you may think that this is a problem in any city, I assure you that it is nothing compared to Louisville. I would say that roughly 50% of drivers use turn signals, and that may be a bit generous. I've counted on drives before, using cars turning directly in front of me for my pool of study and had the number come up as less than 40% of the cars turning in front of me using their turn signals. I cannot recall a drive in recent months where at least 3 or 4 cars turning in front of me did not use their turn signals. I have considered writing to the local newspaper about this problem just to get my opinion heard, but I think that I would be so harsh in my correspondence that I would not get published. Sometimes I wish I was a police officer so I could pull random people over who do not use their signals, but I also realize that, as an officer, pulling someone over leads to quite a bit of paperwork for yourself and others that is not worth going through just for such a minor violation. But no matter how much I try to ignore it, this problem comes up day after day.

Now I don't get upset if someone is in a turning lane and not using a turn signal (though can can be annoying, but is not really that big a deal, as the lane itself is signaling the turn for the car). I get annoyed when I'm driving down a 4 lane road in the left lane, and the car in front of me just stops for no apparent reason, looking at oncoming traffic. At first I think that the car is broken down, but after a moment I realize that it's just another lazy asshole not signaling his left turn. What makes these situations even more annoying is when this car is doing it at a stoplight that is green, and by the time you realize this person is turning and can get in the other lane to pass, the light turns red!!

Now I can go on about this for hours but I'll leave it at that for now just because I don't want to ramble too much. However, I'll end just by saying that the last few times I've gone to St. Louis, I've noticed that no matter what anyone says, the percentage of people who use their turn signals is much greater than that in Louisville.

I'll end on another note about the Pennsylvania trip. My training is still going strong. Last night, my dinner consisted of the following: 1 large bowl of pasta, 1 large piece of chicken (2 servings I would guess), 3 hushpuppies, 2 eggo waffles, 32 or more oz. of water, 16 oz. of powerade, and 12 oz. of orange juice. This was all consumed in less than an hour, and to be perfectly honest, I felt full but not uncomfortable by any means. I really think this 2 lb. challenge is going to lead to victory for me. And if that does happen, then I plan to make another trip to this place or somewhere similar to take on a 3 lb. burger challenge in the future.

A Memorable Weekend and a Sad Departure

2008-03-24T09:25:00.000-04:00

I really enjoy the holidays, but sometimes you are just glad when they are over. My weekend started out with the wonderful discovery that I was sick on Thursday night. At first I thought this was a good thing because I figured I would take Friday off work and rest up and sleep. Instead I had to get up early and go to the doctor for something unrelated. That doctor told me I would have new expenses for treatment to help me start running again. Then my car broke down (but I'll get back to that later). So I spent most of Friday sick and still running errands until I lost the car. Saturday was much of the same, just without a car and instead being driven around. I was up late that night and had to get up on Sunday for Easter with my family. So finally around 6:00 on Sunday I got to relax. The end total of all of this is that it's now Monday morning and I still feel like crap.

But back to the car. This is a sad, sad story. While the grim details of the car's final journey are not worth telling, I believe the details of the car itself are. This is a car that has been a part of my family for over a decade...starting in 1997 when my grandmother bought it. In 2005 she decided to get a new car and my dad bought it from her and drove it around for himself for a short time while I was driving his car (as mine had recently broken down badly). After a few months of that, this car became mine and I have been driving it ever since late in 2005. Now this red, 1996 Mercury Sable will spend the next week with me and then be sold to someone who will be able to hopefully fix it up and give it a good home. However, it is always sad to see a car go that has been a member of your family for that long.

On another note, one good thing did come out of this weekend (okay, there was quite a bit of good, but this is worth writing). I have discovered that holidays make great training for our trip to Pennsylvania. My parents were in town so I spent early Sunday afternoon eating lunch at my sister's place. I made it a point to eat until I was full, then follow that up with two desserts. The end result was that my stomach was quite full. Immediately after eating I had to leave to go to spend time with my girlfriend's family and...you got it!! Eat dinner! I had not been there more than 20 minutes before it was time to eat. So I had no choice but to eat another entire meal. The end result of this (and another dessert) was a stuffed belly that made me more confident than ever that I can accomplish the feat of eating a 2 lb burger on Saturday. While I think that I will require more training than that, I know this is a good start. If I can now just get a ride to the store to do some shopping I'll be ready to finish up my training. I plan to spend the week consuming large quantities of salad (takes up lots of space and fewer calories), pasta, and water. I also plan to eat my two footlong subs from Subway on Wednesday or Thursday and then stop eating around 8 or 9 PM on Friday, with only a small bit of cereal to eat Saturday morning. One key that would have helped me would have been me running quite a bit, but since I'm injured I'll have to start biking this week to burn off some of the calories and build an appetite. But I'll keep you posted on how my training comes along.

Good Weather and Newspapers

2008-03-21T14:52:00.000-04:00

The weather has finally calmed down here in Louisville, as it has in St. Louis as well...and things have actually dried up fairly quickly around where I live (far from the river, but near the largest creek system in the city). But just like in St. Louis, flooding has been a serious problem this week, and near the Ohio River it is still bad.

But that's not the point of this post. A week or so ago, our local newspaper, the Courier-Journal revamped their website. However, when you revamp a website, I thought it meant you were going to improve it. While the site is a bit better, it looks basically the same. I have always thought the CJ was a subpar newspaper anyway. I realized that in the first few months I lived here. I've never seen a newspaper with such bad editing...there are dozens of grammatical errors in it every day. I also have a serious problem with what they consider front page news. I remember a few months back a tragedy occurred at my alma-mater. I went to the CJ website to check on updates, as new details were becoming available every few hours. The story was fittingly on the front page of their website. However, when I looked on that site an hour or two later, I was disturbed to see that this bit of news had been replaced by the following headline: "Cards, Hoyas Picked First in Big East." Yes, a legitimate news story had been replaced by this: not even a score or a final standing, and U of L hadn't even been picked as the sole pick for first. This story had been replaced because U of L men's basketball was one of two teams coaches had picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big East. Is that front page news?!?!?!

While I know the St. Louis Post Dispatch isn't the greatest news source in the country, I have to give it props for keeping legitimate local and national news as their top story on their website. Local sports teams only take that spot when they actually DO SOMETHING, and it has to be significant, like win a championship or, in rare cases, sign a big name player.

As of this writing, the first story you see when you log on to Courier-Journal.com is that Western Kentucky beat Drake in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The second story you see (the stories scroll between 3 or 4 headlines) is "Guards Need to Find Their Shooting Eyes." You've got it, another basketball PREVIEW. On StlToday.com, you see a story about the flooding in St. Louis. You would think that the flooding around here would be a story, but I guess all the rabid Cards fans here in town don't want to have to search too long in order to read about how U of L will walk all over Boise State. But I'll leave the final decision about the better newspaper up to you:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

http://www.stltoday.com/

March Madness

2008-03-20T11:17:00.001-04:00

Well, today is the first day of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which is akin to the Pope visiting town here in Louisville. The city has four "local" teams competing in the tournament: U of L and Kentucky, of course, and also Indiana and Western Kentucky. Now, I understand why the latter two teams are considered local, even though they are both roughly 2 hours from Louisville. It is the same reasoning that makes the University of Illinois and Mizzou local teams in St. Louis. They are only about 2 hours away and plenty of fans and alumni from both teams live in St. Louis. So I can understand that reasoning. What confuses me is why the local papers don't consider Xavier, in Cincinnati and only about 100 miles away, a local team. Same can be said for Butler and, to a point, Purdue. These are all teams that fall within the geographic limits defined by the four teams I mentioned previously. But our local newspaper (and that, my friends, is a whole different post I look forward to writing) lists only those first four teams as our "local" representation.

However, I must admit that if I had to choose where to live this year based on being a college basketball fan, Louisville would be my choice. While Louisville claims 4 local teams in the tournament, St. Louis college basketball has hit an all-time low with ZERO local teams in the tourney. Mizzou blew their shot in the last month of the season, Southern Illinois had a down year after a few years of dominance in the MVC, and Illinois gave their fans an improbable run to the Big 10 final, only to be decimated by Wisconsin to finish the season under .500. So I guess I'm stuck joining the crowd here in Louisville hoping one of our teams can make a run, while all the while secretly cheering on Texas as a Big 12 fan.

I'll have more on this as the tournament goes on, but for now I'm on to some personal local news. My training for our Pennsylvania trip has hit a small snag as I have come down a bit sick. Plus I don't want to do too much overeating this week as I am out of . But I plan to do some big shopping this week and do serious training for that all next week. While I'll keep posting about the trip, for more info on that, check out Steve's blog.

My Intro

2008-03-19T13:04:00.000-04:00

I was born and raised in St. Louis, in the amazing suburb of Affton. I lived in Affton from 1981 until the fall of 1998, when I moved a bit further South. I then made the biggest move of my life by moving here to Louisville in the Fall of 2000 to attend college. After I graduated I decided to stay put here because I felt like I had established roots in this great state. However, as the saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." And that is exactly how I feel about St. Louis. While I don't know if I will ever move back there, I remain a frequent visitor, not just for my family and friends, but also for the great atmosphere (not physically, as the air qaulity is terrible, but you know what I mean) and the wonderful memories I have of that city. Don't get me wrong, I love Louisville and am perfectly happy living in this border state which I believe has a confused identity. I have great friends here and even some family and I don't see myself leaving anytime soon.

I've noticed, however, in recent years that I have begun to make comparisons between the two areas. Sometimes, every time I get angry about something going on in Louisville, I say, "That would never happen in St. Louis." However, I know that is wrong. There is plenty that annoys people in St. Louis, and I just have a 300 mile buffer to keep me from feeling that level of annoyance. So I'll embark on this Log and see what happens. At worst, you'll get a feel of what life is like in both cities and some of the goings-on here and there. At best, you'll get the same thing.