Home...

Home is the place that when you go there, they must take you in. - Robert Frost.

Thank you too the friends and family who make up my home. Happy New Year folks.

Old People In The News...

So two interesting pieces about old people.

First, there is a 73 year old man who has walked onto his junior college basketball team. The man's name is Ken Mink and he left his juco basketball team during his sophomore year 53 years ago. Actually he was forced out. He was accused of vandalizing his coaches' property - something he denies to this day. Can you imagine the guys who got beat out for a spot on the team by a 73 year old. How does that taste. Bet their self esteem is pretty high right now huh? In any case, Ken's goal is to score 10 points for the season - with half a season left he has eight more to go.

On a somewhat related note, Kansas State researches are finding that sex is becoming less and less taboo at nursing homes. Especially as baby boomers retire they expect for elderly folks to remain sexually active given the fact that they group with different attitudes toward sex. In some cases, its not just about sex - it's just about companionship and having people spend time and care about them (at least thats what the old me are tellin' the ladies if you catch my drift).

The article I read reported that in some instances patients requested pornography but eventually cancelled the request once staff spent more time with them. First off, lets get two things straight. One "patients" didn't just ask for this, male patients asked for it. Don't try to be non-gender specific with us when we all know it was some little old man asking for his Playboy.
Second they didn't cancel their request because staff spent more time with them thus filling the void of companionship. They simply couldn't find enough alone time to put their pornography to use. If the staff would have given gramps some free time he would have been able to actually enjoy his requested materials.

Now that you have been thoroughly disgusted - I hope you had a Merry Christmas - and Happy New Year Everyone - see you all in 2009!

Live from Atascadero...

Just got into my motel 6 in Atascadero just outside of lovely Paso Robles. Plan on chilling and staying in tonight especially since I am beginning to feel under the weather. What a crappy time to start to get sick. Hopefully it doesnt get bad. Peace out y'all.

Control of Your Own Destiny...

So the english language came up this past Sunday while watching football. Often in sports two phrases will be repeated when referring to teams attempting to make the playoffs:

1. We/They are in control of our/their destiny.
2. We/They control our/their fate.

Here is the problem neither of those sentences make any sense. By definition "destiny" and "fate" are circumstances or a series of events that can never be within the control of the people involved, or affected by them. No one can control their own destiny - otherwise it wouldn't be destiny. Fate is something that is bound to happen regardless of our wishes or actions, so how can anyone be in control of their fate? These phrases aren't just used in sports, we use them every single day. I wonder what other things we say that make absolutely no sense.

Oh Man...

I just totally messed up my internal clock (as if it werent bad already). I fell asleep at around 5:20pm and slept until 9:30 pm. There is no way I am falling asleep easily tomorrow night and then getting up at 7:30 am for work at SJACS.

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas...

Pretty Awesome show.
Got there a bit earlier than I expected but it was totally worth it. Franz Ferdinan had a very good set. As the stage rotated for the next act we expected to see Paramore. Instead there was a guy with his back to us in a hoodie. The music hit and all of a sudden everyone realized Kanye Motherf'n West was on stage. He performed Stronger, Heartless, Homecoming and Love Lockdown. Just amazing and such a huge surprise. Totally made the night worth it.
Death Cab for Cutie was good (not great). They played about 6 songs.
The crowd was really into the Killers. Although they played in front of the Cure I am sure the fans would have been just as happy with the Killers being the headliners. They did such a great job and made it really hard for the Cure to follow them.

Journalist Throws Shoes at Pres. Bush...

Holy crap. Weird!



I like how Bush seemed completely unfazed by the whole thing. He even appeared to smile after the first shoe. The Yankees have reportedly offered the reporter a 3 year deal to become their fifth starter.

Narrowing It Down...

So here are some places I might like to live/work next year:

North Carolina (I would love to live there for a couple of years and weasle my way into some great college basketball games)
Las Vegas (that would be cool and friends would always be interested in visiting).
Southern California ('nuff said)
Boston (the weather is a minus - but hey it was a cool city when I visited)
Midwest (Michigan, Indiana in particular)

and if none of those places pan out - any place where I get hired would do just fine :)

I Find It Funny...

Tony passed along this little ditty. It's a New York Times Article on Rich Teenagers. The article is about how the affluent ways of rich teenagers are changing because of the crappy economy.

Typical New York Times. An article that tries to reflect a distaste for the rich and really speak to the everyday frustrations of working people. Too bad they use fucking words like: "apotheosis", "ascetic" and "ashrams." What kind of shit is that??? I have gone to college and I had to search for the meaning of those words. How in the hell is the everyday common folk they are trying to give a nod and wink to supposed to read this damn thing. Even when they are trying the NYT can't help but to be snooty and elite. Nice try though.

In the Words of Danny Glover:

"I'm getting to old for this shit." Being woken up at 8:07 am by an 18 year old yelling hysterically is not how I pictured my life turning out.

This Just In...

As we all know my blog is a credible news source. With that in mind here are two pieces of news you should know:

I. Your wait is over. Scott Stapp heard your pleas and its official - Creed will be reuniting. Our long national nightmare is over (I am being sarcastic)

II. Looking to eat cheap on the go. Well, according to The Cancer Project the following is a list of the 5 WORST things you can eat off a fast food dollar menu:
1. The Jack N the Box Junior Bacon Cheeseburger
2. Taco Bell's Cheesy Beef Buritto
3. Burger King's Breakfast Sausage Biscuit
4. The McDouble from McDonalds (do they even sell those on the West Coast? I have never heard of it.
5. Wendy's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger.

And there we were thinking that ordering something called a junior cheeseburger was a good thing!

Also, here is the most popular clip from Hulu. Very funny:

Hulu...

Not a lot of people know about Hulu so I figured I would just give it a brief advertisement here. Hulu is like a high end YouTube were you can find classic clips from old TV shows/movies as well as recent episodes from current TV series including The Office, 24, House, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Daily Show and more. Its pretty freaking sweet. Check it out - I promise you wont be disappointed or your money back!

For example:

Fight Night

So the time has come. Oscar De la Hoya (boxing's biggest star) versus Manny Pacquiao (arguably boxings best pound for pound fighter).

Without sound to much like a fight/sports (freak) - which I am - here are somethings to be on the look out for:

Size: Oscar will be considerably larger than Manny. If Oscar can use that size to his advantage he can bully the proud Filipino warrior and win the fight.

Speed: Pac-man is easily the quicker of the two fighters and he is going to need that speed to get inside of Oscar's jab and create the break-neck speed brawl that he needs in order to win the fight.

Oscar's jab: Oscar has made his career off of his devastating left-hook but the hook wont come if he doest utilize his powerful jab. If Oscar doesnt jab effectively Manny can overcome the size difference with his speed and win the fight by wearing Oscar down.

Stamina: Conventional wisdom is that Manny has better stamina. But we have yet to see what Manny;s gas tank will look like at this larger weight class. Plus, Oscar has been training in the high altitude of Big Bear. In the past The Golden Boy has been accused of tiring in later rounds and thus forgetting to use his jab. Well see if there are any surprises here.

Freddie Roach: Manny's long time trainer trained Oscar for his fight with Floyd Mayweather and was subsequently dropped from De la Hoya's camp. Freddie has revenge on his mind. He says he knows Oscar is mentally weak and how to beat him. Plus, Roach has bad blood with Nacho Bernstein (De la Hoya's current trainer). Nacho trained Juan Manuel Marquez who fought Manny to a draw and then dropped a split-decision to the Pac-Man.

Funny Quote of the Day...

Leela: Kids don't turn rotten just from watching TV.
Fry: Yeah. Give a little credit to our public schools.

Welcome Jorge, TWILIGHT, and other musings...

I would like to thank Jorge who is the FIRST ever follower of my blog! Thanks Jorge. That actually made me feel good about myself. As for the rest of ya, please follow Jorge's lead and boost my self confidence.

So I saw this thing on Friday. Its about a high school girl who falls in love with this guy vampire who loves her back but because he has an inherent need to harm her there love can never be. It was actually very clever and well done. Think I am talking about TWILIGHT? Wrong.
I am talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
No I am not necessarily a Buffy fan but I am making a point. This whole Twilight thing is not a "cultural phenomenon". It's not even a new premise. If Josh Whedon were dead he would be spinning in his grave!!! Twilight is a rehashed story that comic book nerds like me are familiar with. If you like the story - great. Just don't sit around telling me about how creating and wonderful the story is. It is not. It is old and borrowed, and not as good as the first time it was done.

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR:
Financial Aid coming in on time
Family
The big fight between Oscar De la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao this weekend.
Fall semester almost being over

Movie recommendations: Slumdog Millionaire, MILK, Young at Heart (Rental).