The World According to Caz

Caz Family Reunion

2006-07-30T06:06:00.000-07:00

I just came back yesterday from the Caz family reunion. It was held at my dad's house on the eastern shore of Virginia in a little town called Wachaprague. Now when I mean little town, I mean little. Take the smallest town you've been in and cut in into quaters. 300 full time residents, maybe. It's a small fishing community that has a lot of boats and bed & breakfast cottages and that's about it. No stoplights, no gas station. Just one small convience store and that's it. It's certainly not a place to take the kids, but it's a nice place to unwind for a long weekend.

Speaking of kids, I flew into Norfolk and I have a wonderful suggestion for the airlines to make some extra money. Toddler free flights. Yes, why not charge a $20 premium per seat so that you can relax on your trip and not be subjected to the constant screaming of junior in the row next to you? I'd pay the extra money and I'd bet a lot of people would as well.

And it's not like I'm anti kids, well sort of I guess. Note to parents. You may think that you are doing everyone a favor by playing with your 2 year old in the plane and getting them to giggle. You're not. It's only slightly less annoying that the ear bleeding screem that comes out of their vocal chordes. So airline industry, how about it? Flights which eliminate kids under 10 for an extra $20 a seat?

Anyway, back to the recap. Reunions are a lot of fun. We tell jokes. We play games. We eat some really good food. All and all a good time. Of course, there seems to always be one person who for some reason wants to play the Debbie Downer roll from SNL. That person this week was Michelle. We'd play a joke on somebody, not only did she not laugh, she chastized everyone for laughing. We'd ask her to play a card game (attack uno, and it still rocks) and she refused. I just don't get why some people can't let their guard down for 4 days and enjoy life.

The family also has a game that's simular to cornhole. They call it holy board. It's pretty simple. There's two boards 8 feet apart each with three holes in it. You stand on the board and throw 3" washers and try to put it into the hole. It's really a redneck version of cornhole and my family God love them are not the brightest people in the world. They brought a scoreboard with them complete with red and blue clothespins to keep score. It's lots of fun though and just as easy to catch on to.

I also got in a round of golf at Baycreek Golf Club in Cape Charles. One of the hardest golf courses I've every played. Lots of fun. If you're in the Norfolk area, may the trip across the Bay Bridge Tunnel and treat yourself to a great golfing experience.

Asshole de Jour

2006-07-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ran into a real character last night down at the poker room. We're playing Texas Hold'em and this young guy (20-25) in a plain white t-shirt was having some success and enjoying his time. It was appearant to everyone at the table that he was new to casino poker since he wasn't following traditonal protocal. He wasn't tipping the dealer after he won and he kept stacking his chips in a chip tray on the table which is another no-no.

So after this young guy wins his third hand in a row, the guy next to me asks the beginner accross the table if he was in the military to which he replied yes. At that point the guy next to me tears into the young guy for wearing a plain white t-shirt in public and how the shirt is considered underwear according to military uniform code and that he could have him written up! The young guy was shocked and gave some sort of half-baked excuse to which the guy next to me told him to leave or get another shirt.

Now I'm not a military guy and for those who know me, it's pretty obvious why I'm not. And I know that the military have their codes for conduct and dress and the like. But the reason that Sgt. Asshole publicly tore into this kid was because of his lack of poker manners not his dress. He later stated that had he been tipping the dealer, he would have handled the situation differently.

So here's my question to Sgt. Asshole. If what really was pissing you off was the fact the young guy didn't tip the dealer, why go into the entire military dress code thing and act like a bully? Because now the kid STILL DOESN'T KNOW TO TIP THE DEALER AFTER A WINNING HAND! You haven't accomplished anything but to stroke your own ego. ASSHOLE!

Back by Popular Demand

2006-06-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

A few of you have called me out for not posting anything in a while so let's give a quick recap of the past month.

We are now T-6 months and counting until the wedding. For those of you that may stumble across this via another blog, I'm getting married Nov. 18th. Information about time and place will be given on a need to know basis. Information such as tux rentals will be e-mailed shortly.

Work has been a bitch the last month. First off, the guy who was the first assistant goes off the deep end and tries to put the moves on a 19 year old girl who was working the bar. Problem is he's 62 and married. Oops! And to make things worse for him, she makes a complaint to management (which I support 100%). So the next day, he's confronted with this and resigns immediately which thrusts me into the first assistant job right in the middle on our busiest season. It allows me to teach more and to do more outings, which certainly boosted my serf like wages, but the 50 hour weeks take their toll.

I have done something constructive with this extra money though. I have started a Roth IRA via E-trade. Since my social security is currently being spent so that our Marines can slaughter innocent women and children in Haditha, I decided to take my money into the market. I've made some poor choices at first, but my current holdings are doing well. If your employer doesn't have a 401 K program (and that number is rising), look into doing something for yourself.

I got into a confronatation with a guy on a motorcycle a couple of weeks ago. I was about 5 cars deep in a left hand turn lane and this guy pulls up on my left and cuts in front of me. I roll down my window and yell out something like, "Hey asshole, that's how you guys get killed." He just turned around, looked and said nothing. I was temped to bump him to really get his attention or if I had a bean burrito, I would have gone Maki on him.

Note to motorcyclists: If you guys want to ride around on a two wheeled bike with no restraint and no helmet, be my guest. I mean, who am I to prevent you from getting into an accident and killing yourself? The way I see it, it improves the human gene pool. I have one request though. Please follow the rules of the road like the rest of us. Is it really that difficult? And please don't even start in with the "Cars need to look out for motorcycles" crap either. Anybody who weaves in and out of traffic on Butler Blvd. in the middle of rush hour at 80 mph, drives in between lanes of cars waiting for red lights or pulls in front of people waiting to make left hand turns gets no sympathy for me when they over rotate on their triple twisting 5 1/2 layout off their bike and into some ditch. The German judge will take off style points.

Who dies first?

2006-03-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my Thursday watching the opening games of various conference basketball tournaments, trying to root for the right combination that will somehow get my beloved Maryland Terripans into the big dance. Two straight NIT's would not sit well in Garyland. Nine and a half hours until the Terps took on Georgia Tech, so let's grab a beverage and begin.

First games started around noon and there were three games of intrest.

SMU-UAB, Temple-GW and Syracuse-UConn.

UAB handled SMU pretty easily. That wasn't much of a shock and was the game least likely to hurt Maryland's chances since most already had UAB into the tournament.

Temple and that match-up zone made GW look silly without its best player and beat the Coloniels by 15. That hurts. Now the A-10 is going to be a 2 bid conference where before it looked like GW was going to be the only team to get in.

Then up in New York, site of the Big East tournament, Syracuse jumps out to a 10 point lead while UConn is still trying to wake up from their night out at Scores. The Huskies make a comeback and take the lead, only to have Gerry McNamarra hit a 25ft. three pointer to send the game into OT, which the Orangemen went on to win. If the 'Cuse wasn't in before this game, they certainly were now, taking another spot away from the Terps. Things really couldn't have gone much worse.

So onto the second wave of games which featured bubble teams Florida St., Michigan and Kentucky against Wake Forest, Minnesota and Ole Miss respectively.

This wave of games was more favorable to my wishes. FSU lets Wake hang in the game in the first half and then Wake takes over in the second half, pulling away to a 10 pt. win. This has to crush the 'Noles hopes of getting into the tournament. Sure, they have the win over Duke, but their RPI is lower than Maryland (FSU and Maryland split this year) and FSU's non-conference schedule was something like 314 out of 334.

Michigan went into the Big 10 tournament losers of 6 of their last 8, needing a win against the Gophers to improve their resume. Michigan looked awful most of the game, but Minnesota did too. Pretty much a typical Big 10 game with elbows flying and players diving everywhere. It was a close game that Minnesota ended up winning by a couple. Michigan, now losers of 7 of their last 9, may have the NIT in their future.

The Kentucky-Ole Miss game started really well for me with Ole Miss taking a double digit lead in the first half (Come here Ashley, I'll confort you). The upset hat trick was not to be however as Kentucky started their comeback in the last couple of minutes of the first half to trail by a few. Then in the second half, UK ended up taking the lead and pulling away. Good try by the Rebels, but UK won and by most accounts, sealing up their bid to the tournament.

The next game of intrest was Villanova-Rutgers. Neither team is a bubble team with 'Nova a #1 or #2 seed and Rutgers needed to win the Big East tournament to get in, but Rutgers did upset Seton Hall the previous night, so my logic is that if 'Nova blows out Rutgers, it'll make Seton Hall's loss even worse. The Wildcats pulled away in the second half and ended up blowing out Rutgers by 30+. I can't see the Seton Hall Pirates making the tournament.

So now we get to 9:30. Time for the Terps. Check ESPN, Big East Tournament. ESPN 2, Big 12. Sunshine Network, SEC. FSN, Pac 10 and CSS, MWC. Turns out that the Jefferson Pilot has the rights to the ACC game and "The" Local Station would rather run fucking Dr. Phil for the 15th time this week then put a live basketball game on. At this point I could have gone to a sports bar and caught the game but with my future step-daughter sick and my future wife having a long day at work, I figured now was not a good time to abandon ship.

So I'm stuck watching updates on the ticker at the bottom of the screen as I watch Pitt-West Virginia, Missouri-Nebraska, USC-Cal, Georgia-Arkansas and Wyoming-Air Force.

Pitt beat WVU in a "backyard brawl" game that resembeled a football game. Nebraska beat Missouri in front of about 2000 fans in Dallas (Hey Big 12, hold your damn tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City every year, no one in Texas gives a shit about basketball.) and Arkansas beat Georgia in a classic "I don't give a shit game".

So I'm watching the Pitt-WVU game (for updates on Maryland-Ga. Tech), Wyoming-Air Force (The Cadets are a 22 win team that could be an at-large team if they don't win their conference) and USC-Cal with Cal being the bubble team.

I see the first update, Ga. Tech 19 UMD 9. OK, it's early plenty of time.

Next update, 21-9 Tech. Come on Gary, get the boys into gear.

Then it's 32-16 Tech. Fuck me! Another ACC meltdown and another NIT. Here comes the next update.

Maryland 40 Georgia Tech 23 Huh! WTF! Was it a mistake? I'll wait for the next update.

Maryland 42 Georgia Tech 27 Halftime. You've got to be shttin' me. What happened? At this point, I don't know if I'm happy knowing that the Terps were up 15 or if I'm pissed off knowing that ESPN has fucked up for the first 15 minutes of the game and taking 2 years off my life? Anyway, Maryland crusies to an 18 point win, settting up a matchup with Boston College tonight. Another win will move us in for sure, a loss makes for a very nervous Sunday.

Terps fans did recieve more good news that evening when Air Force lost to Wyoming. I'm glad too. Air Force plays that Princeton style game with backdoor cuts and three point bombs but they don't live up to Pete Carrill's Princeton teams that upset UCLA and should have upset Georgetown. Even with 22 wins, Air Force's RPI is high and the MWC isn't getting three bids.

The last game to finish was Cal and USC. It was tight for a while put Cal pulled away and won by double digits, securing a spot for the Bears. I can't see the committee leaving a 12 Pac-10 win team out of the tournament.

Overall it was a good day to be a Maryland Terp. Our chances improved and we're still playing.

On The Eve

2006-02-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

One day to go before the big trip down to Tampa to watch my beloved Washington Capitals play the Tampa Bay Lightning. I've only been looking forward to this trip for about 3 months or so. It's only two days away from the workplace like most Americans have, but to me, it's going to feel like a week. Here's the plan.

Leave J-ville about noon tomorrow afternoon. Drive to Tampa. Hit Mons (Just Kidding). Find hotel. Eat dinner (there might be an alcoholic beverage or two or 10). Go to the arena in time to see warmups (please say Ovechkin is healthy enough to play). Watch the game. Go back to the hotel. Get up early on Sunday. Hit Busch Gardens all day. Drive back on Sunday during the Super Bowl.

On to other topics....

I put in a XM satillite radio system into the van about 2 weeks ago and hit kicks ass. I don't even listen to the music that much. The NHL, MLB, comdey channels and Air America Radio (finally some good political talk radio) are worth the price alone. If you're even thinking about getting a satillite radio system, do it. You won't be disappointed.

The date for the wedding is finally set despite the best attempts by FSU athletic director Dave Hart to ruin it for by bride to be. Those who need to know will be notified. We've started to register at Target and will be starting at Bed, Bath and Beyond soon.

Miranda placed 2nd at her school speech contest for the second year in a row. She gets to participate in a speech contest in late Feburary against 11 other studens from around the area. She's worked really hard on her speech and eventhough she says she doesn't want to present her speech again, I think she'll try her best and I'm proud of her for that.

I'd go into my opinion of President Bush's SOTU speech but since he's spying on Americans without going to the FISA court for a warrant, I'll decline due to the fact that I'd rather not spend my next 5 years at Gitmo.

26 and a half hours until faceoff. All together now......LET'S GO CAPS!

I have a man crush

2006-01-17T12:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have to come out and admit this. I know that this may come as a shock to all of you, especially you Laura, but I cannot hide my feelings anymore. I have a man crush and his name is Alexander Ovechkin.

Did anyone else see that goal vs. Phoenix yesterday? Absolutly un-freaking-believible. Most spectacular goal I've seen this year by far. Words can not do it justice so if you haven't seen it, find a link somewhere (message board at washingtoncaps.com) and watch it.

Has the notion of a babysitter been completly wiped off the face of the earth? Almost everytime I go out to eat, I have the luxury of sitting next to a toddler. And not just any toddler mind you, but the toddler who's vocal chords double as a dog trainer's whistle.

We were sitting at the Loop a few nights ago and this kid let out a screen so loud and with such a high pitch, that I truly think I've suffered hearing loss as a result. Memo to mom and dad, the next time that you decide to go out for the evening, leave junior at home with a responsible teen or pre-teen and order them a pizza. That way, you can actually enjoy your evening instead of being stared at like you were wearing a Osama Rules T-shirt once your kid starts screeming. Pay the babysitter $20 for the evening. They can spend their new found treasure on some useless garbage that they call music or some sexually suggestive T-shirt from Spencer's or Hot Topic or wherever the hell they shop. It's a win-win-win situation. The babysitter wins by making money, you win by having a quiet evening together and we win because we leave the resturant not wanting to kill you.

Ramdon thoughts

2006-01-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Just wanting to get some things out into the open.

Is anyone else tired of flyovers before football games? It used to be that we'd have a flyover before opening day or a playoff game or after a 9/11 type disaster. Now, it's before every game. I went to the Jags-Niners game a few weeks ago and sure enough, a flyover. It's not that I'm not patriotic, although I'd be viewed that way by many on the right since I don't suckle from the GOP's tit, it's just that I see flyovers as a waste of money. If I'm paying $2.25 a gallon for 87 octane gas for my van, imagine what we're (yes, it's our tax money) paying for the fuel for the flyover? And while many consider a flyover a good way to get the crowd pumped up, there's also another way to get excited to watch a football game. It's called ALCOHOL and I'm sure that many fans already use this method to get fired up for the big game.

It's been out of the news for a while, but the trial of Enron CEO Kenny Boy Lay and Jack Skilling is coming up soon. And seeing how Andrew Fastnow just plead guilty and is cooperating with investigators, I'm betting on Lay and Skilling getting sent to the big house. It'll be interesting to see if Bush has the balls to pardon Lay and/or Skilling in Janurary 2009 when he's about to leave office.

I'm also looking forward to seeing how many members of Congress are hung out to dry after Jack Abramoff testifies after pleading guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion. For those who don't know, Abramoff was a high powered lobbyist on K street and was basically in the pocket of several members on Congress, including everyone's favorite asshole, Tom Delay. It must be noted that Abramoff also gave money to some democrats but the vast majority of his support went to GOP members of Congress. Wasn't this supposed to be the party of the "Moral Majority"? Wasn't Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America supposed to stop this sort of thing?

The conclusion I've come up with, and I'm stealing this line from Bill Press in his new book, "How the Republicans stole Christmas" is that to the majority of Republicans, morality starts and ends at the genitals.

Re-Election Gaff

2006-01-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of this tasteless joke?

A guy gets a call from the hospital one day and the nurse on the other end says his wife has been in a serious car accident and needs to come down right away. He rushes to the emergency room and meets with the attending doctor.

"Doc, how is she doing?"

"Well sir, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that your wife is paralized from the neck down. She has no bodily functions. You are going to have to feed her, bath her and clean up after her."

"That's fine Doc, what's the good news?"

"The good news is that I'm just messing with you, she's dead."

Pretty tasteless huh? Well, that's just about what happened last night in West Virginia. While watching the FSU-PSU Orange Bowl game last night, the local station runs a ticker across the screen saying that 12 out of the 13 miners were found alive. I was shocked. I thought there was no chance in hell that they would survive. But sure enough, 12 were alive. CNN and GOPTV confirmed it.

I woke up this morning and start to check the my fantasy hockey and basketball teams and Yahoo's lead story was "12 Miners Dead". Appearently, someone heard one side of a cell phone conversation and misunderstood the conversation. They're still in the process of who screwed this one up. All I know is that the Governor of West Virginia, who was playing a vital role in the communication between the rescue efforts and the families better not be up for re-election anytime soon.

Back the Orange Bowl, what a great game. Two tough defenses, triple OT, drama, pas.... wait, what's that you say? You didn't see the end of the game? You say that you fell asleep in the third quater at 11:45pm?

I can't blame you.

Memo to college football. If you are going to subject us to the arcaic bowl system where only one game truly counts, can we please keep the games under 5 hours? I know that the OT system you have that requires both teams to have one possession take a while but even without OT, games are lasting 4 hours these days. NFL games in comparison last around three. So why the difference? The main difference is that in the college game, the clock stops on every first down until the chains are set, then the clock starts again. Just keep the clock running guys. NFL chain gangs don't seem to have a problem getting the chains set before the next play.

But besides the game itself, there was a 20 minute pre-game show where all the talking heads were predicting what was going to happen tommorow night in the Rose Bowl between USC and Texas, and a 20-25 minute halftime show.

I know you have your ratings to worry about ABC, but how about having a pre-game show at 7:30, kickoff at 8:07 and have the game end by 11:00 or by 11:45 with all of the OT's, not 1:00AM! And don't start with the "Well what about the people on the west coast who won't be home at 5:07PT to watch the start of the game?" I say fuck'em. It was their decision to live at there in the first place. Besides, they get to watch NFL games on Sundays starting at 10AM. I think it's more than a fair trade off.

So What's Up?

2005-12-29T05:24:00.000-08:00

My man Maki has called for it, so here it is, my update on my blog. Seriously, it's been a long time and to tell you the truth (You can't handle the truth. Love Jack in that movie) it's been too long. So New Year's Resolution #1 is to update my blog more often.

Let's see, last two months, what has happened? Work keeps getting worse. Saints have sucked to the point that they're in the Reggie Bush sweepstakes. Terps choke their last two games and couldn't get into a bowl game. Wizards played so-so basketball, just enough to tease me at times. Caps struggle as expected but look good for Ted's next "5 year plan" and oh yeah...... I proposed to my girlfriend Laura and somehow she accepted. Wedding is going to be in November '06 and I've been relegated to the role of a PGA Tour caddie which is Show Up, Keep Up and Shut Up. Seriously, I'm looking forward to the experience.

Just met with the priest at the church and after a little paperwork and some seminars on how not to kill you spouse, it'll be all systems go.

Remembering 9/11

2005-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

As the NFL first full slate of games kicks off this afternoon, there will be various moments of silence, military fly overs and singing of patriotic songs all in an effort to pay tribute to those who were killed four years ago. While this is all said and good, I think I have thought of a different way to pay tribute to those who died and to send a message to the assholes over in Afghanistan who helped out.

First, I'm going to pop open a beer. Since alcohol consumption is strictly forbidden in their religion, I think throwing down 1 or 2 or 12 Bud Lights is a perfect way for me to tell the Taliban to fuck off.

Next, I'm going to call my bookie and place some bets on the games since I'm pretty sure that gambling was not allowed. Don't know that for sure, but I don't think I remember seeing Harrah's in Kabul. (BTW, I'm not a homer, but the Saints +7 @ Carolina is a good bet and I love the Rams -6 1/2 @ SF)

Then I'm going to sit back and watch some football since sport was forbidden in Afghanistan during the Taliban. Those assholes used their soccer stadiums to kill their political dissedents. We're going to use our stadiums to show them that football is king and there's not a goddamn thing you can do about it.

And then after about 10 hours or so of football, I'm going to order some porn on TV. What better way to tell Osama bin Laden to suck a dick then to watch Peter North having his dick sucked? Militant Muslims believe that women should be clothed from head to toe, so why not watch some women who are naked from head to toe?

And finally, this rant wouldn't be complete without making mention that 4 years after 9/11, the mastermind behind the attack is still on the face of this Earth. Great job GWB you fucking jackass

Yeah, he did it.

2005-07-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days has been joyful. I've been enjoying the news coverage in the leaking of a CIA agent. Turns out that President Bush's closest advisor, Karl Rove was the person behind the leak to a Time reporter. This info really shouldn't be much of a surprise since....

KARL ROVE IS BEHIND EVERYTHING THIS ADMINISTRATION DOES.

Now Scott McCleland, the White House Press Spokesman, looks about as comfortable as an alley cat in a dog pound as every member of the White House press takes their best shots at him and all he can do is trip over his own dick and count the seconds until he can leave. In a way I feel sorry for him. He has to stand there to defend and deflect the questions that the press has for him. Can't wait for this one to continue.

Onward to other topics.....

NASA is scheduled to put another space shuttle into orbit tomorrow. That was until a platic piece covering a window broke and hit the shuttle, damaging some tiles that are designed to deflect heat during re-orbit. Or in other words.....

THE SAME FUCKING THING THAT HAPPENED TO THE LAST SHUTTLE WHEN THE ASTRONAUTS DIED.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but what exactly are we doing going to space? I understood when we were in the middle of the Cold War and we were going up against the Soviets to see who could do what in space first. I get that. But what are we doing now? What are our objectives? Are we, as "Dubyah" one said, trying to land a craft on Mars and colonizing the Moon? WTF people? Is the Moon going to be the Florida of the future, where everyone goes to retire? How about taking some of the BILLIONS of dollars that NASA is sucking from the government and giving that money to the transit authorities so they can bolster their security since our enemies are humans who are here on Earth and not Martians from Mars.

And finally.....

I guess the "news" in sports talk today was the home run derby and how certain segments of society were offened that players of different nationalities were waving their flags when their fellow countryman did well. Many sited that we at war and that waving flags of different nations was some how disrespectful to the US. For those people, I have this to offer......

GET A FUCKING LIFE!

Here's a news flash folks, unless you're a Native American Indian, you're from a different country, wether that be England, Russia, Kenya or Mississippi. These players are from different countries (Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or Canada, eventhough there weren't too many Maple Leaf flags flying after Jason Bay took a bagel) Point is, these people are extremly proud of being from their native countries, just like most of us Americans are. So if you took offense to this display of patriotic pride by some MLB players, may I suggest taking in some more NASCAR races, sing My Country 'Tis of Thee (although we stole that song from the British) and sip on your 12th, or 18th or, 30th Busch Lite you dumbass.

That is all.

My new addiction

2005-07-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

I have recently found an extreme joy and bliss that I have missed for a long time in my life. No, it's not my girlfriend, who is always at the top of the guess list. It's online poker.

Now a disclaimer here before I go any further. I have not nor will I in the future ever play poker for real money over the internet. There are way too many potential problems one of which is I can't afford it. But even if I could, there are still pitfalls. How do I know if the computer programs used are legit? How do I know that people are not in collusion with one another? How do I know that I'm not going up against Doyle Brunson?

The fact is that you don't and that's why I stick to playing for free. I get the same thrill when I win a hand and I still feel the same disgust when I lose a hand and it hasn't cost me a penny.

So if you're a poker fan and you have time to waste playing on a computer (which should include just about everyone who has a blog), give it a shot. Now I've gotta run. I just entered a 2000 player multi table no limit Texas holdem game.

Out of retirement

2005-06-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

It was going to take something that really made my skin crawl in order to post again. I just haven't been too energized to come up with the wit that is a Caz post. That is until this morning.

Buried on page 3A of the multi-color fishwrap in a small paragraph, was a story about how the Southern Baptists have ended their eight year boycott of Disney. The Southern Baptists had boycotted Disney in an unsuccessful effort to change their policy of allowing partners of gay employees to receive benefits. There was just one problem.

IT'S THE FUCKING LAW IN CALIFORNIA WHERE DISNEY IS LOCATED!

So eight years after their boycott started, what have the Southern Baptists achieved? Absolutely nothing. What exactly was their goal when this started, to force Disney to move it's entire corporate headquaters out of California and into a more homophobic state say Florida? Maybe it was to force Disney to mandate a prayer as the ride robot tells us to keep our feet and hands inside the car at all times?

Whatever their goal, they didn't achieve it. Disney is still located in California. It still gives benefits to partners of their gay employees. And it's still the media whore that it always has been.

During this eight year stretch, did the Southern Baptists boycott every company based in California? Probably not. They should have however, since their social discontent wasn't with Disney, but rather the state of California for it was the state of California that made the laws, not Disney.

As the parents of Southern Baptists families were depriving their children the joys of their first ride on "It's A Small World Afterall", I guarantee you the same parents were enjoying the products and services from other companies based in California that also abided by the same state laws as Disney. And when the Southern Baptists did that, they are officially ruled hypocrites.

For those Southern Baptists who thought that this entire boycott was silly and still went to Disney theme parks, watched ABC/ESPN or enjoyed a Disney movie (except Chip and Dale, since everyone knows they're gay), I salute you. And hopefully you've thought about where the "leadership" of your religion is taking you.

My guilty pleasure.

2005-05-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I take great joy in other peoples suffering when they bring it on themselves. I think others feel the same way that I do, they're just afraid to admit it. How else could you explain why Jerry Springer and Maury Povich are on the air?

First, let's hit Springer, who's been on for about a decade now with his 2500th edition of "You slept with my (sister, brother, so forth and so on)." I think that the reason why Jerry has been so successful is that you could be sitting around the house, out of work in a trailer without a dime to your name and can say, "Shit, I don't have it that bad. Look at these fucking losers."

Then there's Maury aka, The Who's My Baby's Daddy Show. Just finished watching an episode where these women bring these guys on for a DNA test to see if they are their baby's daddy. And today's show was a special one because all of these whores, eeerrrr, women had been on the show before and had multiple guys tested. One guest has had 13 guys tested and still hasn't found the father!

The great thing about these shows is that someone is going to be pissed off. Either the girl is going to run off the stage crying because she still doesn't know who's her baby's daddy or the guy's leaving the stage pissed that he's got to pay the mother for the next 12-17 years or so. Either way, someone is pissed and I have to admit I take great pleasure in it.

So a note of advice to the men and women of the world (if you didn't know this already, do everyone a favor and kill yourself) If anybody EVER calls you and wants you to appear on either the Jerry Springer or Maury Povich show, the only two words out of your pie hole should be FUCK NO!

They hit me all at once

2005-05-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Some days, nothing really happens and therefore, I don't write. Then there are days like yesterday where I mentally write 4 or 5 posts in a 2 hr. timeframe. Such was the case last night.

Let's set the timeline first. Church at 5:30, swing by fast food place at 6:45, baseball game at 7:00. So first things first.

I'm not a big church guy nor am I a big orginized religion guy. My girlfriend is Catholic and she likes to go to church on Saturday so that she can sleep in Sunday. Can't blame her really. She has to get up early 6 days a week so she uses Sunday morning as her sleep time. So this weekend, I go to church with her and her daughter so that we can get to the game on time.

So I'm sitting through this service and about half way through or so the priest starts his sermon. The topic of today's lecture, finding young men to become priests. This was a complete joke which had nothing to do with the teaching of Christ but rather a 10 minute want ad.

Then some lady walked up to the microphone and offered "special" prayers, one of which was to pray for the parishoners to find the strength to encourage the community and the lawmakers to respect life from conception to natural death. In other words, start preaching to others to believe in what they believe. This is the thing that really pisses me off about organized religion. It's not enough to be able to worship the way that one chooses, everyone in the world has to worship in their way too. And it's not just Christians either, it's every religion in the book from Catholics to Jews to Muslims and everyone else. And of course, every religion is insistant that "their" way is the one and only way which I will never be able to comprehend since not one person has every come back and said, "Hey folks, the Muslims are right." or "Jesus told me that the Baptists are the way to go."

So folks, here's the deal. I don't care what religion you are. Practice the way that you want to. But understand that no matter how strong your faith is, it is exactly that, faith and not fact and stop trying to convert others to think the way that you do. If you truly believe that your faith is the answer, you don't need anyone elses believes to back you up.

You've got to be kidding.

2005-05-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

About 2-3 mornings a week, I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to go to work. It comes with the territory and it sucks at first, but finishing up an eight hour workday at 2:30 has its benefits as well. So anyway, today was one of those mornings and I'm at the gas station at 6:15 filling up the tank when this guy walks up to me. I wasn't scared that he was going to jack me or anything like that. There were plenty of people pumping gas and walking in to the store to buy coffee or whatever they use to get their blood pumping.

So this guy starts talking to me about this magazine that he has on him. First article was about the enviroment, second was about the war in Iraq third was about some other current event. Then when we get to pages 2 through about 6, it was "What does God have in store for your life?" and "Why should you trust in God?" and then it struck me.

I was sitting at a gas station being witnessed to and the sun hadn't even come up yet. Why do I deserve this? I told the guy in a polite yet firm way that I wasn't interested and he went on to another unsuspecting customer. If I was more awake, I probably would have come up with some witty way of telling the guy to fuck off or something. Before I could go into the store to complain, the guy slid into a waiting car and drove off.

Look folks, it's really simple. Everyone is entitled to whatever the hell they want to believe in, just stop trying to persuade other people to think the way that you think. I know that some religions mandate that its believers witness to people about their faith, but by doing so, it only makes people of that faith look shallow and it really pisses the rest of us off.

The most overused word is......

2005-04-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

......Tradgedy. Case in point, two kids here in J-ville were trying to jump on a train. One of them slips on his attempt to jump and falls onto the train tracks where the train proceeds to slice off his leg. (Does Clint Malarchuk come to mind anyone?) Anyway, heard that on the news today. Some people will label the incident a tradgedy, I call it stupidity. If people do stupid things and get hurt or killed, I say oh well.

Another example. I'm rolling down Butler Blvd. (main E-W highway in J-ville) at about 9pm last night and some moron with a motorcycle comes flying past me. At least 80 mph. Not only that, he's pulled up the front wheel and is riding on only the back wheel. Personally, I was thinking that if this guy lost control, he'd be dead and I'd be laughing at him for days. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those folks who usually laughs at others misfortunes. But when they directly cause their own problems, I can't help it.

Speaking of motorcycles, here's a logic question for you. Down here in the state of Florida, we have a secondary seat belt law which states that if the police pull you over for something and notice that you didn't have your seat belt on, they can add on $30 or so to your ticket for not wearing a seat belt. That's in a closed car mind you where at least you have the slight protection of the hood, sides and windows of the car.

So here is the question. If the state of Florida has mandated seat belt laws for our protection in a closed vehicle, why are motorcycles even allowed on the road? Because if you lose control of one of those bad boys, or someone T-bones you, you're FUCT.

And to make matters worse, Florida abandoned its motorcycle helmet law when Jeb Bush took over in Tallahassee. That's right, motorcyclists do not have to wear a helmet, so long as they have at least $10,000 worth of insurance (which covers about the first 20 minutes or so when the motorcyclist is in the emergency room as the doctors try to figure out how to replace the chunks of you that are sitting in the intersection.)

It keeps getting better.

2005-04-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

I usually don't take pleasure in someone else pain, but hearing that both David Wells and Curt Schilling have been put on the 15 day DL in less than a 24 hour timeframe has me specualting that the Sox could be done. If the Sox don't have these two guys for an extended period of time, they're looking at a rotation of Clement, Wakefield, Arroyo, Wade Miller (when he returns for his minor league assingment) and ??? (a little help PK). I don't care how many runs they put up, they're not going to play much better than .500 baseball with that rotation and that's not going to get it done in the AL East.

And before you try to pile on Yankee fan, try not to put up a 1 spot tonight after going off on Colon and the LA/Anahiem/California/Always going to play second fiddle to the Dodgers in the SoCal area Angels. Remember what happened after you lit up the Devil Dogs for 19 runs (6-3 loss the next night to the Devil Dogs).

And memo to the Angel organiztion. It doesn't matter what the hell you call yourselves, you are always going to play second fiddle to the Dodgers in the SoCal area. If winning the friggin World Series a couple of years ago hasn't changed your teams perception, changing your name for second time in 10 years won't do the trick either.

I'm a little on the pissed side this afternoon. The O's were scheduled to play the Sox this afternoon at Fenway on ESPN, and I had the day off from work. But nooooooo, the game gets called due to the goddamn rain.

That's about it. Time to hit the grocery store to see if I can pick up some ingredients for dinner and try to top the kick ass smothered chicken I made last night.

Is this the year?

2005-04-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

You gotta think that after watching (or rather following on the ESPN2 ticker) the Orioles go down 5-1 in the second and 8-3 in the fifth, only to make a comeback and bitchslap Keith Fulke for four runs in the 8th to win 11-8 that there might be something magical in this baseball season for the feathered friends of the Inner Harbour. We'll wait and see.

Speaking of baseball....How is it that there have only been four major league players who have tested positive for steriods and none of them are household names?

Anyone seen the ESPN radio commercial with the schoolgirl giving her report about the role of "setup" men in the mid 1980's? That's going to be my daugher (or son). Mark it down. Third grade report, how the New Jersey Devils employed the left wing lock that killed hockey. Fourth grade, Phil Jackson's triangle offense. Fifth, the run and shoot offense of the Houston Oilers in the early 1990's. Sixth, John McEnroe...Insane lunatic or madman genius. So forth and so on....

Someone at work ran across some candy that Hersey is testmarketing. That make some really good stuff. Mint Kit Kats. Strawberries and cream candy bars made with white chocolate. Hershey needs to get these things on the market.

Speaking of work, dealing with the general public really does suck. Sometimes I long for a corner cubby with four walls and a computer.

The NFL draft came and went this past weekend. I really can't get into it as much as most sports nuts do. Maybe it's because I've seen to many Ryan Leaf's and Tony Madarich's get picked and then turn into nothing. I'll wait until the first pre-season games get going before I get excited about the NFL.

I miss hockey, alot.

Just one playoff win Wizards, that's all I ask, just one please?

It's been a while.

2005-04-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've been busy and pretty much uninspired to write for a while so let me sum up the last couple of weeks.

Made a road trip to Augusta, Georgia to see a practice round at the Masters. For the golf fans out there who have never been, go. Find a way. Start saving now. Everything that you've ever heard about Augusta National, double it and you still haven't described it. Without a shadow of a doubt the best golf course I've ever been on.

Baseball is here and it's all good for me. O's just beat the Yankees yet again and stand at 7-4 and are an impressive 4-1 vs. the Bronx Blunders. It may not last, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless. And as for you Beantowners, your ass is next. Put that in your Peske pole and smoke it PK!

Speaking of Beantown, if you haven't seen Fever Pitch, please spend the $8 and do so. Great date movie guys. There's romance, friendship and baseball. Doesn't get any better.

Moving on, there's playoff basketball in DC this year. Holy shit! First time since '98. That year, it was 3 and out courtsey of MJ and the Bulls. Maybe we'll actually win a game or two this time.

That's it from here. Can't wait until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon when I get off work and watch Brian Bonds eeeerrrr Roberts and the O's slap Kevin Brown and the Yanks again.

The Remote Battle

2005-04-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

Whenever I go over to my girlfriend's place, or for that matter whenever she comes over here, there's a pretty good indication of who has the remote control. All you have to do is check out what's on the TV. If it's sports or news, the remote is mine. If it's TBS, Bravo, WE or H&G, she's has the remote. And if it's Noggin or any program that has Johnny Depp in it, then there's no doubt that my girlfriend's 13 year old daughter has the remote.

So anyway, I go over to her place last night and they're watching a show about showdogs and their owners. Now I'm a dog person, always have been. I love dogs. It doesn't matter what kind of day you've had at work, your dog is always there to be scratched and loved. I care for my dog very much, but the people on this show go way overboard.

I don't mind showing the training that these dogs go through, the plane ride where the dog sat next to the owner in the plane or even knowing how much money these people spend for their dog shows but there was one segement that I really could have done without.

There was this couple down in south Florida (why are all the quacks in either south Florida or California) who owned two German Shepards and they wanted to breed the dogs. So after several attempts of naturally doing it without any success, the couple took the dogs to a vet. Not just any kind of vet, a vet that specialized in doggy artifical insimulation.

So they the dogs into the office and one of the nurses is explaining how the procedure is going to take place, something that I really didn't need to hear for let's say, my entire lifetime! Anyway, they bring the dogs in and they use the female dog as a "teasing bitch". (Add your own joke about the female sex here if you so desire). The teasing bitch gets the male all hot and bothered and before you know it, the nurse is jacking off the male German Shepard. (Thank God the producers of the show didn't feel the need to show all of this doggy porn action.)

It gets better. After the nurse has finnished her violation of the dog, they put the speciman under a microscope so that the owners could see doggy sperm swiming around. You would have thought that the owners of the dog just had a baby themselves the way they carried on. It was rediculous.

Sports galore

2005-03-27T04:51:00.000-08:00

This is a big day for the sports fans. We have what should have been the final round of The Players Championship here in Florida if not for the bad weather we've had. We have the last two tickets punched to St. Louis for a trip to the Final Four in men's college basketball. But the best sporting event of the day is going to fly under the radar screen of most sporting enthuists today because the sporting event I'm refering to is matchday 2 of the CONCACAF Final Qualifying; Mexico v. United States.

The two most bitter rivals in the CONCACAF region square off today in historic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City with the winner getting a inside track to cliniching a spot for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. 110,000 Mexican fans will most certainly make it difficult for the Yanks, who are 0-22-1 in Mexico. Azteca Stadium's altitude, about 7500 ft. above sea level, will certainly test the players endourance from both sides.

Mexican fans hate the US because we've have had the better of them recently, including a 2-0 win during the first round of the knockout phase in the 2002 World Cup, a loss that the Mexicans are still remembering.

US fans hate the Mexicans due to their fans, who's idea of taunting consists of urine bombs and chants of "Osama".

It should be a classic game and if the US squad can even take 1 point out of the match, it will certainly improve their odds on qualifying for Germany.

Back to the serious side.

2005-03-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

The NCAA tournament has taken a break until Thursday, so back to something that's really ticked me off in the last few days, the Terri Schiavo case.

I'll spare you the details of the case. If you don't know them, go to cnn.com and look at the time table they have. It pretty much sums everything up that has gone on the past 15 years.

Now, I'm going to throw a curve ball to those of you who know me. I'm not going to rant and rave about Terri's parents and siblings who think that Terri, who almost everybody agrees is in a permanent vegetative state, wanted to stay alive via feeding tube and that taking away said feeding tube would be against her religious beliefs. I'm not going to go off on the family using every legal avenue available to them to make their case. If I were in their position, I'd probably do the same thing.

Nor am I going to crack on Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, who has insisted that Terri told him that she didn't want to be kept alive by feeding tubes. Simply put, I don't know what Terri's wishes were and I suspect that there are very few people who really do know what her wishes were since Terri did not have a living will. Therefore, I'm not taking sides with regards to the case.

I am however, going to call out the 200+ Congressman, Republicans and Democrats alike, who voted for a bill that allowed the case to be heard in Federal court. This move by Congress reekes of politics and was put together by such pillars of the Congress like Rep. Tom Delay (R) Texas and Sen. Bill Frist (R) Tennessee

What ever happened to states rights? The libertarian wing of the Republican party has previously sited the 10th Amendment to keep issues out of the Federal Court when they didn't belong there, then they turn around and vote for this bill.

Why the 180 degree about face? It's politics plain and simple. Just look at the "confidential" memo circling around the Republican leadership that touted this issue as a way to sew up their conservative base for the 2006 midterm elections.

Now the Federal Court in Tampa has ruled that the case was given due process in state court and the 11th circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has upheld the ruling in Tampa, first in a 2-1 decision by a 3 judge panel, then again with all 12 judges who decided 10-2 not to review the case.

Terri's parents are going to appeal to the Supreme Court in DC. On previous occasions, the SCOTUS has declined to hear the case. I suspect nothing will change. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) Fla. spoke a couple of hours ago about trying to have the state of Florida take custody of Terri while the state investigates charges of neglect; neglect that simply hasn't existed.

So it looks like this case if finally going to come to an end in the next couple of days or so. Here's hoping that everyone involved can find peace and that Congress can learn a lesson to keep out of our private lives.

Now back to hoops.

So many thoughts, so little time

2005-03-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

This will be quick again. Damn work. Yesterday went 1-3 for a grand total of 9-6. Still above the .500 mark. Let's try again today.

UConn -3 vs. NC State
Iowa St. +16 vs. UNC
UF +1 1/2 vs. 'Nova
Wisconsin -9 vs. Bucknell

Have fun.

Day 2, The Upsets

2005-03-19T00:23:00.000-08:00

It's really late and I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow so this will be short and sweet.

The underdogs were once again 10-6 vs. the spread for a round 1 total of 20-12. UNC was the only team seeded 1 through 4 to cover and they only did it by the hook.

I went 3-2 vs. the spread today, winning with Iowa St., Georgia Tech and Ohio while losing with Charlotte and New Mexico, which was pretty much screwed when they scored a grand total of 11 pts. in the first half of their match up with Villanova.

That puts me 8-3 vs. the spread for the first round, a record any gambler would take. So on to round 2.

BC -2 1/2 over UW-M
UK -2 1/2 over Cincy
Nev +10 1/2 over Ill.
Pacific +6 1/2 over Wash. (I don't think you'll need the points but they can't hurt)

March Madness Day 1

2005-03-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

Day one is about to wrap up, at quater after 12. That's over 12 hours of basketball with about a hour and a half break between the afternoon and evening sessions. Beautiful. Can't wait until tomorrow.

Some general observations for the other gambling degenerates out there.

While 13 of the higher seeds won their games today, underdogs were 10-6 vs. the spread.

Seeds #'s 1 through 3 were 1-5 vs. the spread and I bet there are some UK Wildcat and WFU Deamon Decon fans who are breathing a lot easier than they were earlier today. I think the 14's, 15's and 16's don't get there just due with the bookmakers. I know their job is to have money evenly bet on both sides and therefore, must make the number high enough were Joe Public doesn't bet the ranch on a 1 seed at a say -15 or so. But you gotta give it up for these lower seeds. They may play in a no-name conference, but they all know how to win and they come into the tournament with at least 3 wins in a row through their conference tournament. It's only a matter of time for the right 16 seed to play their "Villanova 1985" game and knock off a #1.

I would have made a killing in Vegas today. 5-1 today and 3 of my wins would have been money line bets (UW-M, Nevada and Pacific) Also won with Cincy and Arizona. My only loss was with UTEP, and they were tied with less than a minute to go so I'm feeling pretty good with myself.

14-2 in my pool for picking winners with the two losses being UTEP and LSU.

How bad does the SEC suck in basketball? LSU looked awful against a UAB team who's only win against a tournament team was against Alabama A&M, the loser in the play-in game. Alabama played OK, but ran into a sharpshooting buzzsaw in UW-Milwaukee who led the entire way after they broke a 9-9 tie. And then there's Kentucky, who let Eastern Kentucky play with them for about 38 minutes. EKU was only down 5 with the ball in the last 3 minutes or so, but could never get any closer.

(Lines courtsey of betonsports.com)

So on to day 2 ..... look for Florida to continue the SEC struggles in the tournament. Despite winning the SEC tournament, UF has struggled the past three years in the first round. Last year, they got knocked out by Manhattan in a 5-12 game. Look for Ohio U. to keep it tight. Take Ohio U. +12 1/2

Other picks include- Charlotte +4 1/2 over NC State, Iowa St. +1 1/2 over Minnesota (I'd take a money line bet if you can find it), New Mexico +5 1/2 over Villanova and Ga. Tech -6 vs. GW.

I'm back

2005-03-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a couple of days since I've written. Things have been busy around here and I've got to spend the majority of my quality time with my.................. NCAA tournament bracket, of course! Have to defend my title and help subsidize my income. Besides, nothing has really gotten under my skin, that is until today.

The Scott Pederson verdict came out today. No big surprise here folks, he's got a date with a needle in his future. Now, unlike most people, I really don't give a rat's ass about whether or not he did it, didn't do it, whatever. I just don't care. To me, it's some poor schmuck who got convicted of killing his wife and fetus, nothing more.

The media has been all over this case like flies on shit and I'm pissed off about it. Here's why.

There's a popular saying in the media that there's three types of news; local, national and California. Why does everyone go ga-ga over news stories from the Golden State?

Second, and mark my words on this one, I guarantee you that the political conservatives are going to use this and other cases to continue to push for legal rights for unborn children to try to pull an end around against Roe v. Wade. It's going to happen soon. Some right wing blow hard is going to put a proposal together and try to get the Supreme Court to put 2 and 2 together to make 5. I don't think it'll work, but that won't stop them from trying.

And last, I double guarantee you that if Scott, Lacy, Amber and the rest of the people in this case weren't young, pretty and yes WHITE, nobody would have cared about this case. And if you don't believe that, you are very naive about the state of race relations in America.

Tournament Time

2005-03-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

Yes! The NCAA basketball tournament is rapidly approaching and someone at my place of employment figured out that I would be about as useless as tits on a boar so they gave me both Thursday and Friday off! Time to sit at the local watering hole, bracket in hand, waiting for the 6-11 game that I just know is going to start my jouney to another bracket victory.

For a guy who grew up in the middle atlantic region, you have to understand that basketball is king when it comes to sports and it was during this week in high school that a chubby, zit faced red head became the most popular guy in school becuase I ran the NCAA pool. It was one of my crowing achivements. I even put it in the yearbook next to my picture my senior year (although I do have to admit that I never thought the yearbook staff would have printed it, but they did, so thanks!). All the cool kids came to me between classes, after school, in the lunch room, all with their $5 and their filled brackets. I felt like the quaterback of the football team sans the hot cheerleader, but it was a good week.

Which gets me to the present and my thoughts. Someone in governement needs to wake up to the realization that people are gambling on sports, wether or not it's legal. You can go into ANY sportsbar in the country and find somebody who is willing to take your action or somebody who knows somebody who is willing to take your action. Billions of dollars are bet illegally through bookies.

What the government needs to do is legalize and regulate sports gambling and tax the money that the books make. It would be a great source of revenue for the government and allow people a way to make a wager that doesn't involve broken kneecaps when you don't pay. It would be run just like the books in Vegas. No credit. Pay your money before the event takes place.

I know that some of you right wing conservatives are going to cry about crime rates going up and tell the stories of families who have been split apart due to the evils or gambling. Well folks, like I said before, it's already going on! There are just as many gambling sites as porn sites on the internet. There are cruises to international waters where you can place your wager. And there are still the bookies in every sports bar, college campus or place of employment. It's going on all around us and that's not going to change.

DC is so lovely this time of year......

2005-03-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

.....That is, unless you're one of the people that has been supenaed by Congress to testify about the issue of steriods in baseball. Have fun boys! I can't wait for Jason Giambi to try to use his I can't talk about it excuse now. Or Sammy Sosa blowing kisses and tapping his heart with his two fingers at a Congressional aide. Or Mark McGwire saying that everything he took was legal at the time. I especially can't wait until union chief Donald Fehr gets into the hot seat. That smug assclown is going to make George Tenet look like a Noble winner. It's going to be great.

Of course, I'm a little pissed at Congress for taking this entire issue up in the first place. No, I'm not a supporter of steriod use. I think that MLB is actually doing something right for once with their new steriod drug testing policy and that Congress is coming into the picture a day late and a dollar short (big surprise there) and is having these hearings solely for the purpose of trying to make themselves look good on a subject that has appeal from all spectums of the political rainbow.

Hey Congress, here's a suggestion. How about tackling some slightly more important subjects, like let's see, MOST EVERYTHING ELSE! Social Security, North Korea, 7+ Trillion dollar deficit (Thanks W), education, war, poverty.........nah screw those things. Congress needs to make sure that our millionare baseball players aren't on the juice. And after all the hearing are finished, after Congressman after Congressman give their speeches about their "concern" of steriods, after the players testify that they never took steriods and that those 40 + pounds of lean muscle mass were gained in the weight room only and the executives lie their ass off by proclaiming that they never knew any of these was going on, what's going to change? Nothing. Zero. Nada.

So thanks Congress. Thanks for providing the public yet another example of what you do best, wasting the taxpayer time and money.

Seniors

2005-03-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

I rolled into a local resturant this evening. Had a wonderful seafood alfredo, but that's besides the point. On the menu they had "senior" prices on about half of the items which got me thinking a bit (usually a dangerous thing).

Why do seniors get price breaks on everything? Don't ge me wrong. On some things, it makes sense. Seniors typically don't eat as much as younger people so the portions are smaller and therefore the price is less, but there are some things where it just doesn't.

My place of employment has a senior discount which makes no sense to me at all. They recieve the exact same service as the rest of us, but pay 33% less. Why? Because they're old? I mean, it's great and all that they've made it to 55 (the age we consider senior at my job), but it's not like they're hurting for money. Most of them can afford the regular rate.

Look at other businesses that offer senior discounts. Why hotels? I know seniors don't sleep as much as others as a rule, but they shouldn't get a discount for it. Does this mean I can go to the manager and demand a reduced rate when I only sleep 6 hours instead of 8? Don't think so.

Instead of a senior discount, businesses should give a "I'm under 35 and I'm not going to get social security when I retire because Republicans in Congress are a bunch of greedy, self-serving pieces of garbage" discount. We're the ones who are going to need it.

Parenting

2005-03-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here's the situation. My girlfriend's daughter has been sick for the last three days with a variety of ailments and has not attended school and last night, she asked her mom if she could go to a "Class of 2010" dance. Kind of a silly idea if you ask me, since the chances of her going to this particular school are remote, but a dance would be a great way to meet other kids from different schools.

Anyway, since her daughter hadn't attended school for the last three days, her mom told her she couldn't go to the dance, a decision I fully supported. Her daughter was upset, as was to be expect, but she got over it. (She was caughing like a sea lion anyway, so the likelyhood that it the dance would have been the social event of her lifetime was remote at best)

Then the phone calls come in, not from the other kids who want her to go, but from their PARENTS who are calling my girlfriend to try to pursuade her to change her mind. I was enraged. Who the hell are these people trying to tell my girlfriend how to raise her daughter? It took all the inner strenght I could muster to not snatch the phone away from my girlfriend and tell these parents to worry about their own offspring and not try to be parents to others children.

And away we go

2005-03-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

First off, I need to explain myself. The purpose of this blog is solely for my mental and phyiscal health. See, I'm one of those people that has a tendency to notice something that pisses me off and hold it in until I pull a Mt. St. Helens and unleash a verbal tirade.

Take for instance my experience at a local "Super" Walmart a couple of days ago. I was with my girlfriend and her daughter and they needed to go pick up a few things. (This is the only time I will step foot in Walmart, I have personally boycotted the Satan of Retail for a list of reasons to numerous to get into at this time.) Anyway, after about 5 minutes or so we hear this kid on the other side of the store yelling his head off. After a couple of minutes of quiet, another thunderous whail from the same direction and of course guess where we're heading? Yeah me!

So we get closer and closer to the screaming kid and upon further review, it turns out not to be some infant or toddler but a kid about 5 or 6 years old! And his parents won't do a damn thing about it! It's been going on for 15-20 minutes and the parents just shop and ignore him. News flash folks, it's not working!

The three of us finally come to a point where we pass the screaming kid and his family and just after they pass us, the kid starts screaming again. At this time, I turned around and told this future convict to shutup, right there in the middle of Walmart. The mother whips her head around to look at me and before she says anything, I cut her off and tell her to get her son to shutup and continued to walk.

It was one of the finest things I've done. There's nothing better than having something off your chest. I may have offened the screaming kids family, but my message was sent.

That's why I'm creating this blog. To get things off my chest. To stimulate conversation and thought. To challange conventional wisdom.

Lock and load.