Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving



No Heinz ketchup?

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Over 30?

I have a lot to write about, but since many people are taking an early Thanksgiving, I’ll share this message I received from my mom instead. Enjoy!


When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters. You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It coul d be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600!

With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square!

You actually had to use your imagination!!

And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire. Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!
You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

While I like this, I hope that this doesn’t encourage my mom to forward more messages like this. Since I’m sure she’s reading this, mom, I’m just kidding (sort of)!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Trivia Tuesday

Welcome to the pre-Thanksgiving version of Trivia Tuesday. Today’s challenge is to name the "dark" title from the description. (The quotes mean that the word dark is in the title.)

1. Series of 7 Stephen King books.

2. 1982 Jim Henson/Frank Oz fantasy film featuring animatronic puppets.

3. 1998 sci-fi film starring Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Rufus Sewell.

4. 1985 Grammy-winning song for Bruce Springsteen

5. 2008 movie that is the second highest-grossing movie of all time.

6. 1996 film about lion hunters, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.

7. 2000 first-person-shooter video game for Ninetendo 64.

8. 2005 horror film starring Jennifer Connelly, a remake of a Japanese movie of the same name.

9. 2000-02 Fox series starring Jessica Alba.

10. 1990 film starring Liam Neeson, directed by Sam Raimi.

As always, please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don’t. Please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Thanks to the fine folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Introducing Ziggy

You may have noticed that many of my posts last week lacked something called substance. I was able to provide a few links and some quick notes, but I really didn’t have the time or ability to write as much as I like. This is the reason why:



So this is Ziggy, who is obviously named for former Pittsburgh Penguin great Ziggy Palffy and current Penguin great Mike Zigomanis. Actually, the Fairfax County Animal Shelter already gave Ziggy the name and it seemed appropriate. Ziggy was born in mid-August and arrived in our home just last Tuesday. He is playful, affectionate, purrs constantly and always wants to be around people. We have also learned that he is a big fan of computers. He loves jumping on the laptop and he tries to attack the screensaver and arrow. This makes it extremely difficult to write this blog and visit other blogs and websites.



While some of you may be concerned that Sean’s Ramblings will become all about Ziggy, I want to assure you that this is not the case. I mean, I’ve read the lateset issue of Cat Fancy and purchased the Drinkwell Pet Fountain.



I've also made the cat toy as demonstrated in this video, but my life isn’t entirely about my kitten.



OK, so maybe my life is all about the kitten...and fantasy football. Anyway, enjoy a few more pictures of Ziggy:



Saturday, November 22, 2008

Big College Football Day

Unfortunately the Michigan/Ohio State game is going to be cancelled for the first time ever this year. The reason is Michigan can't get past Toledo. In addition, I heard that U of M can't access the internet; they can't get three W's in a row.

I can’t take credit for these jokes. Anyway, the Michigan-Ohio State game starts in minutes on ABC.

In the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, Ithaca College meets Curry. There’s no truth to the rumor that Curry is named for former MTV VJ Adam Curry.



The game is being broadcast on WICB and is also available on LiveStats. At the moment, I can’t find any live webcast of the game.

Why is Pittsburgh and Cincinnati playing twice in three days? Are they replaying the game to allow Chad Johnson to play? Oh, it’s the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Cincinnati for possibly the Big East title. I will take credit for these jokes. Anyway, the game starts at 7:00 and will air on ESPN2.

Finally, the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game at 8:00 on ABC should be a lot of fun.

Have a great Saturday!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Friday Links and Other Thoughts

Can we make a rule that no one can call a 9-5 office after 4:00 on Fridays? Getting a business phone call at 4:45 on a Friday afternoon is just painful.

The guys at Hugging Harold Reynolds created a great list of comparisons of Food Network starts and NFL Quarterbacks.

While watching the Steelers game last night, I felt that Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive end Jonathan Fanene has an unfortunate last name.

On a similar topic of names, I’m including this Yahoo story about scientists finding the remains and grave of Copernicus. The reason? My seventh grade World History teacher sincerely pronounced his name Copper-nicus. In addition, Socrates was So-crates (like Crates and Barrel)

I applaud Yahoo for including Izzie Stevens of Grey’s Anatomy in its article about five TV characters they would love to kill off. The episode where she killed her "fiancĂ©" was the last one I watched. Yes, I understand that admitting that I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy will significantly lower my gender analyzer score.

PSAMP found a video of Sidney Crosby juggling a soccer ball. It’s only 13 seconds, but I’m impressed.

Finally, there’s a DC Bloggers Happy Hour tonight at 8:00 in Adams Morgan. Arjewtino and Lemmonex have more information. Although I won’t be able to attend this one, I’m sure it will be fun.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

End of The Burgh Blog

I'm a few days late on this, but one of the greatest bloggers out there has closed her blog. I'm not writing greatest just to use the word. When the major Pittsburgh newspaper, the Post-Gazette, and a television station anchor both write about then end of PittGirl's The Burgh Blog, you know this is a big deal. The Burgh Blog will certainly be missed.

Have a Good Sandwich has a wrap-up of tributes across the blog world. (h/t Scribbed Noise)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Gender Analyzer

If you have a blog, here's a fun website to try. Enter your web address and the Gender Analyzer will determine whether the author is a man or woman.

According to the analyzer, they think that Sean's Ramblings is written by a man (74%). I figured the number would be much higher as I don't know of any woman who would wait over 5 hours to earn free burritos for a year!

If the pregnant man had a blog, would the Gender Analyzer break?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Trivia Tuesday

Trivia Tuesday is back. Hooray! Today’s challenge is to name the Julia Roberts movie by her co-star or love interest in which they did not play themselves (they played characters). Given is the year of the movie release and the co-star.

1. 1999 Hugh Grant

2. 1997 Dermot Mulroney

3. 1993 Denzel Washington

4. 2007 Tom Hanks

5. 1994 Nick Nolte

6. 1997 Mel Gibson

7. 1998 Susan Sarandon

8. 2001 Brad Pitt (there are two possibilities for this year)

9. 1991 Robin Williams

10. 2004 Clive Owen

The usual rules apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don’t. As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Thanks to the folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes.

Steelers Questions

Is James Harrison the first person in NFL history to be responsible for a safety for both his team and the opposing team in the same season? I can’t take credit for this question as I think Messiah asked this during our liveblog of the Steelers-Chargers game.

Good question posed on DC Steeler Nation. Since the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals are both in first place and have identical 7-3 records, who would you rather as the coach of the Steelers: Mike Tomlin or Ken Whisenhunt? I may or may not share my answer later.



Photo: Getty Images

Monday, November 17, 2008

Nobody Beats the Wiz

I caught the end of The Wizard of Oz the other night and noticed something that I never have before. The Wizard may be involved in some illegal activities. Although we really don’t know the full extent of the Wizard’s powers, he is at the very least convincing enough to force Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to fight his battles. He won’t even consider their requests until they bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Best case scenario for the Wizard is that the group defeats the Witch so that he can take full control of Oz. I guess the worst case is that the Witch kills the group, but the Wizard doesn’t seem overly concerned about them. Although immoral, this doesn’t seem to be illegal.

My concern is when the group returns triumphant in their victory over the Wicked Witch of the West. (This is the whole "ignore the man behind the curtain" scene.) Instead of brains, the Wizard hands the Scarecrow a diploma for a THD, a doctorate in thinkology if I remember correctly. Since the Wizard seems to have these diplomas just lying around, I think he’s up to no good. That’s right; I believe that the Wizard is running a diploma mill. The following is from the U.S. Department of Education website:

What is a diploma mill? The dictionary defines a diploma mill as:

An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards worthless. - Webster's Third New International Dictionary

Diploma mills are schools that are more interested in taking your money than providing you with a quality education. You need to know how to protect yourself as a consumer.


Did the Scarecrow really earn his degree? I don’t think so. The Wizard felt cornered after being exposed by Toto (he blesses the rains down in Africa) and company and gave the Scarecrow the diploma. I’m sure that the Wizard generally sells these diplomas. Now the illegal part may be tough to prove. Many states have laws preventing diploma mills (thanks Wikipedia), but we may never know whether or not this is legal in Oz. My guess is that the residents of the Emerald City are part of the scam and probably all have advanced degrees. Of course, maybe the Wizard knew his diploma mill scheme was being exposed so he figured it was time to take his hot-air balloon and get out of Oz as quickly as possible.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Sunday Links

I attended my first ever blogger Happy Hour on Friday night hosted by lacochran. Although I was a little nervous, seeing that I have never met any bloggers before other than those I knew well before their blogging days, I had a great time. The following people were in attendance:

Charlotte Harris
The Restaurant Refugee
A Daily Dose of Zen Sarcasm
The Gilahi Blog
Urban Bohemian
It’s Toasted
The Chronicles of Tewkesbury
Culinary Couture
Live It, Love It
Who Invented Roses
(That’s Why) The Lady Is a Tramp

They are great people, and I encourage you to check out their blogs, which are now also included on my links section.

I will be part of a Steelers-Chargers liveblog today through White Nerdy Wonks. Stop by to share your thoughts about the game and you can get live updates of my fantasy football teams! (I’m sure my fantasy football team is exactly what you’d like to read about on your Sunday afternoon.)

Want an addicting game? Try Super Obama World. You’ve been warned.

I was again honored to be part of One for the Other Thumb’s Meeting People Is Easy.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cortaca 2008

Take a look at the Division I college football schedule this week. There are no games featuring two ranked teams, and the big Saturday night games on ABC are either #13 Oklahoma State (8-2) against 5-5 Colorado or 6-3 Boston College at #19 Florida State (7-2). Don’t expect huge TV ratings.

So what’s the game of the weekend? The 50th annual Cortaca Jug game!



Not convinced yet?* Fine. You want to see a match-up of two ranked teams, right? Cortland State (9-0) is ranked #7 in the current D3Football.com poll while Ithaca College (8-1) is #17. Looking for drama? Although Cortland has already clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs, a win could give the team a regional top seed. IC appears to be in decent shape to make the playoffs, but nothing is guaranteed. A win over Cortland would almost certainly be enough for a postseason berth. How about history? The schools started playing in 1930 and have met every year since 1948. Ithaca leads the all-time series 37-26-3 and the Cortaca Jug series 32-17. Oh, Sports Illustrated once called this rivalry the "Biggest Little Game in America." Atmosphere? I attended four games during my time at IC and had an amazing time at each game.

Since I can't be in Cortland on Saturday (I highly recommend grabbing lunch at the old-fashioned A&W; they deliver food to your car or you can order via a phone on the table.), the least I could do is provide everything you need to know about Cortaca 2008.

The Ithacan has a preview of the game as well as the history behind the jug.



The Cortland athletic website has complete information about both teams.

The Ithaca Journal has the Cortaca Jug Breakdown and two other articles about Ithaca's Connecticut Connection and Cortland's local talent.

WBNG has a video preview of the game as does News 10 Now.

Syracuse's Post Standard says that the modern rivalry started in the 1988 game.

The Vice Presidents of Student Affairs from both schools say be safe out there and act responsibly. Don't drink and drive!

The Sports Chick Blog says Go Cortland. I disagree!

Lots of insightful and thoughtful debate (or not) on the D3 message board.

IC Sports Radio also has their own preview.

The game, which starts at noon, is scheduled to be televised live in Cortland and Tompkins Counties on Time Warner Cable (Channel 6 in Cortland, Channel 16 in Ithaca). The television broadcast will not be available via satellite. The game will also be broadcast live by WICB (91.7 FM) - WICB’s broadcast will be available at http://www.wicb.org/; on Cortland's webcast; and on Live Stats.

Go Bombers! (That would be Ithaca College)

P.S. I would love a Cortaca Jug T-shirt if there are any for sale.


* Don't mind me as I ask questions to no one in particular.


UPDATE 11/15 @ 1:30: At halftime, Ithaca leads Cortland 14-10.

Update #2 @ 3:20pm: It’s a final. Ithaca retains the Cortaca Jug by defeating Cortland 35-13. Back-up QB Brian Grastorf threw for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another 2 scores. Safety Jason Chier had three interceptions in leading a very impressive defensive performance. Cortland came into the game scoring 34.8 points per game but the offense only scored six points (the other TD was on a blocked punt). Way to go Bombers!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

More Random Ramblings

I was the referee for a soccer game on Sunday that featured a predominantly Spanish speaking team. At one point, a player on the opposing team came up to me and said, "You know they are swearing in Spanish, right?" (Swearing can get a player a red card.) Um, no. Apparently, several players said "puta" during the game, which I now know means bitch. That seems like a very odd expression to say when your shot badly misses the goal. Perhaps son of a bitch, but just bitch doesn’t seem to fit. Regardless, my New Year’s resolution will be to learn Spanish swear words and the appropriate expression to tell the players that I know what they’re saying so knock it off.



I’m a little late in writing about this but Tuesday night’s Pittsburgh Penguins-Detroit Red Wings game was amazing. It's only November but the 7-6 overtime win will be the game of the year. I know there has been a lot of discussion about what to do with Jordan Staal, but if the Penguins are able to keep him at a reasonable price that fits under the salary cap, I think you have to do it. He’s only 20 years old! Of course, if he wants at least $5 million per year as has been reported, I don’t think that will be possible. The Pensblog and Empty Netters have much more about the game and the Penguins in general.

I watched exactly two minutes of the CMA Awards last night, but it was enough to see Lady Antebellum win the best new artist award. I actually heard of them since they performed prior to the Browns-Steelers game last year. I also saw Povertyneck Hillbillies perform at a Steelers game, so if they ever get back together, I’m sure they’ll win some type of CMA award.

My favorite Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of American History, is reopening next week!

Finally, congratulations to Arjewtino for getting interviewed by Washingtonian. Unfortunately, I was too late in reading the interview:

Washingtonian: Tips for starting a blog that’s not really about anything:
Arjewtino: (1) Don’t write about your cat.

D'oh!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Announcement

This blog gives me an opportunity to share important parts of my life. Whether it is writing about the various sporting events I have attended or trips I have taken, I feel like I can use this space as a forum to chronicle personal events and moments. Therefore, I am proud to announce a pending addition to our family...we’re going to get a kitten. Were you expecting me to write about something else?

Sometime over the next few days, we’re heading to the local animal shelter to pick out a kitten. Perhaps we’ll see the Obama family there. Although I grew up with both dogs and cats, I have never had my own pet. Maybe I didn’t know any better since I was a kid and not responsible for buying pet supplies or paying for vet bills, but things seem much more complex than I remember. For example, prior to the spay/neuter procedure, we have the option of having pre-anesthetic blood testing of the pet in order to detect certain conditions. For $50, we can have a mini blood screening analysis which covers six tests that screens liver and kidney functions. For $98.50, there is a full analysis of 31 tests (does Baskin Robbins perform this?) that screens blood sugar levels, CBC, white and red blood cell count, primary organ functions and liver and kidney functions. Is any of this necessary?

In addition, I remember litter boxes being basic trays on the floor. Now, there are "hooded cat litter pans" like this one pictured below. The first time I saw this, I thought it was a cat carrier. Now cats need their own privacy? Are there cat magazines or newspapers we should put in the hooded cat litter pan so that the kitten could be more comfortable while doing its business?



So to any cat owners out there, do you have any suggestions on, well, everything?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Random Ramblings

• There are moments of everyone’s life that you regret but they are generally not broadcast for millions of people to see. One such moment occurred on Monday’s The Price Is Right. The episode was taped in September and a college student made it on the stage. Just before spinning the wheel, Drew Carey gave the student, who was wearing a "Block O" Ohio State T-shirt and a buckeye necklace, the microphone. The student shared his excitement about how Ohio State would beat USC the next day. USC crushed Ohio State 35-3. At least the guy won a vacuum cleaner or something.

• I highly recommend visiting Wegmans at 2:00pm on a Monday afternoon. No lines and the friendly staff are even friendlier than they are on Sundays.

• Embarrassed by the thousands of Steelers’ Terrible Towels at the game last week, the Redskins are giving away burgundy towels to the first 50,000 fans at this Sunday’s Dallas game. Good luck with that!

• PittGirl was interviewed via Instant Message in Pittsburgh magazine. I love the fact that the interview starts with "Hi, u there?" I’m guessing that’s how Paul Long started all of his interviews!



• Thank you, Anquan Boldin. Being down 17 points going into Monday night and facing Neil Rackers in my 16-team fantasy football league, Boldin scored 29 points. I won by only 1 point.

• This Onion story titled "Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin To Staff: 'What If Ben Roethlisberger Is Bad?'" is not that funny after Sunday’s game.

• Finally, Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog reports that George Mason is getting a new mascot. In case you have never seen the current mascot, Gunston, here he is answering questions. (There are more videos still available on the Mason Metro website.)

Monday, November 10, 2008

We Are; Not Going to Win a National Championship This Year

Despite the Steelers' loss on Sunday, the weekend wasn't a total bust as the University of Pittburgh and Ithaca College football teams both won. In addition, as a Pitt fan, watching the Penn State football team lose on Saturday to the University of Iowa makes me extremely happy. You see, Penn State coach Joe Paterno is to blame for ending one of the greatest rivalries in college football: Pitt vs. Penn State. After 96 meetings between 1893 and 2000, the rivalry ended because Joe Paterno decided that he wanted the schools to play two games at Penn State for every game in Pittsburgh. Rightfully so, Pitt refused. Instead, Penn State chose to play Coastal Carolina, Syracuse and Temple in its non-conference schedule. So the fact that Penn State lost and will not win a national championship during Joe Paterno’s 104th season at State College seems fair to me.

In honor of his team’s accomplishments on Saturday, I encourage you to vote for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. It’s not just because of the win or the fact that he grew up in Western Pennsylvania (Upper St. Clair). Actually, that is enough for me. However, if you’re looking for more reasons, the NCAA recently released the 2008 Graduation Success Rate (“GSR”) for student-athletes. The GSR for Iowa’s football team is 75%, 8 points better than the national average, and is third in the Big Ten Conference behind only Northwestern (92%) and Penn State (78%). Plus, Ferentz has served as the honorary chair of the University of Iowa’s United Way campaign and, along with his wife, recently gave a $400,000 gift to the University’s College of Liberal Arts and University Children’s Hospital.

Did I mention that Ferentz's Iowa team defeated Penn State?

Friday, November 07, 2008

Metro Discount From Bus to Rail

Lena Sun of the Washington Post is reporting that, "beginning next year, tens of thousands of Metro riders who transfer from bus to rail will save 50 cents a trip if they use electronic SmarTrip cards, officials said yesterday. The long-promised change is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 4, the same day the agency is eliminating paper transfers."

This makes me happy. Bus fares are going up 25 cents in January, but now I'll end up saving 25 cents each day because of the 50-cent (you can find him in da club) transfer reduction.

Well, maybe not. According to this chart, I'm only going to save 10 cents a day. Now I'm slightly confused, which really doesn't take much to occur.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Election Maps, Steelers and Great Authors

My life the last few days has focused almost entirely on the election and the Steelers’ Monday night game, though not necessarily in that order. I have a few links about both:

I love maps and have spent way too much time looking at the county-by-county results of the Presidential election.

From the map, only one county in the six New England states went to McCain: Piscataquis, Maine.

Conversely, McCain won every Oklahoma county, and Obama only won two counties each in Wyoming and Utah and three counties in Kansas and Nevada. Of course, winning Clark County, home of Las Vegas, was enough for Obama to carry that state.

McCain also won both Mineral counties. That would be Mineral County, Nevada where 49 total people voted and Mineral County, Colorado which had a whopping 64 voters. I spent over 20 minutes trying to verify these numbers from the Mineral County government websites, but I don’t think these counties have actual websites.

According to the Pennsylvania map from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, John McCain won Mercer County with 24,321 votes versus Obama’s 24,319. That’s a difference of only two votes. Amazing! However, the Mercer County government site actually shows that Obama won 24,955-24,792. Did they find an extra thousand people at the Grove City Prime Outlets to vote late Tuesday night?

There are a lot of angry Redskins fans in and around Washington. It’s not the team lost handily to Pittsburgh on Monday night; it’s the fact that there were thousands of Steelers fans in attendance. Personally, I thought there were a larger percentage of Steelers fans at the game I attended in Jacksonville earlier this season (I thought about 25%) than at Monday’s game, but I have seen some people put the percentage of Steelers fans on Monday as high as 30%. Much more about this as well as some fun comments from Washington fans on the DC Sports Bog here, here and here (this one is the Redskins player reactions to the Steelers fans. The offense needed to use a silent count...at home!).

In other Steelers news (sort of), PSAMP and One for the Other Thumb interviewed Amos Zereoue.

Finally, I am always on the lookout for good books to read. While I am enjoying Don’t Know Much About Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis (I like receiving free books), which has facts and quizzes on a variety of topics, there is not a plot or protagonist. Therefore, I am thinking about reading some books by historic authors. If you could choose one book each by Ernest Hemmingway, Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck, what would you recommend? I remember reading Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck in high school, and I must have read a Dickens book at some point, but I don’t recall which one. Any suggestions of books by these authors or others are appreciated.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Random Election Questions

What is the lowest moment of Anderson Cooper’s career: Interviewing a hologram of will.i.am or hosting the Mole?

Am I the only person who thinks President Bush could be a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in a few years?

Did anyone see Joe Biden on Tuesday?

Where were all the commercials featuring the Commissioner of the More Taste League? (Maybe I’ve been watching too many sporting events lately.)

How long will it be until all the election signs get removed?

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Live Blog

The guys at White Nerdy Wonks have set up this live blog of Election 2008. Enjoy!

Steelers-Redskins Recap

I’m going on about five hours of sleep after attending Monday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game. Since I need to head to work sometime soon (hooray for getting two hours off to vote so I slept five hours instead of four!), here are my notes from FedEx Field:

- I saw at least a half dozen signs of Cooley for President or Portis for President. We get it; there’s an election on Tuesday and you feel like Cooley and Portis will represent the country better than McCain or Obama. That’s very clever and unbelievably original! If only Portis or Cooley were over 35 and eligible to be President.

- The Redskins announcer sounded similar to Duff Man. Of course, his enthusiasm seemed to lessen in the fourth quarter. Oh, don’t tell me to cheer when the Redskins are on defense and to stay quiet when they are on offense. I’ll cheer when I want to cheer! Basically, don't tell me what to do as I may have the Reactance Bias.



- Are the Redskins the only team in the NFL with a marching band? I don’t ever remember seeing a non-high school band perform before the game or during halftime at a professional football game.

- Byron Leftwich looked good during the second half. I just hope that he doesn’t have to play much the rest of the season.

- The primary negative about being at the game is not knowing everything that is happening. For example, there was certainly a “what the hell” moment when Leftwich started the second half over Roethlisberger. I had to call a friend in Ohio to find out what happened to Roethlisberger and he also told me that Heath Miller was hurt. I still have no idea who blocked the punt.

- Negative #2 was sitting under a speaker.

- My ticket stub for Monday’s game features a picture of Antwaan Randle-El. That was the only time I remember seeing him all night.

- If I was a Redskins fan, I would be upset with the fact that the Redskins only tried to throw the ball deep once. Maybe Santana Moss wasn’t 100% healthy, but if he’s out there, try throwing the ball deep to him or Randle-El.

- The Steelers defense was outstanding! One player who may not get much credit, but I thought played very well was cornerback William Gay. I don’t think he ever got beat and the passes completed in front on him were quick throws in which he quickly tackled the receiver after only a few yards.

- Is punter Mitch Berger still hurt? His punts seemed to be short.

- My preview of Monday night’s game on MVN was pretty accurate. If the Redskins handed the ball to Portis on fourth and goal inside the 1 instead of trying to throw it, I would have nailed the score too.

Finally, I (partially) attribute the Steelers success to the fact that I decided to wear my Steelers jacket and not attempt to wear both the jacket and the Louis Lipps jersey. My streak of the Steelers winning while I’m in attendance continues to at least 12 games over almost 15 years.

I’m going to wear my Steelers jacket proudly on the Metro and walking around Northern Virgina. It’s going to be a great day! Oh, if you are looking for free election food (and made it all the way to the end of this post), Sabine…Shot the Food (h/t lacochran) has a list. Please note that I’m not convinced that Chick Fil-A is giving away a free sandwich as I ate at the Arlington location yesterday and did not see any Election Day promotion. In addition, if you bring your I Voted sticker to California Tortilla today, you will receive a free taco coupon.

As always, a real recap of the game is available on the Post-Gazette.

Monday, November 03, 2008

I Voted - Go Steelers

Thanks to early voting in Virginia, I cast my ballot last week. Therefore, to all political candidates in the Washington DC area, you can stop trying to convince me to vote for you. You can continue to show your television advertisements while I’m watching football, but I don’t need to look. Show Chris Berman interviewing Obama and McCain during halftime of Monday night football; I don’t care. I’m not going to watch it as I’ll be at FedEx Field. I just hope that the Redskins don’t show these interviews at the stadium.

Monday night’s game is the reason why I voted early. I won’t get home from the game until early Tuesday morning, so trying to wake up, wait over an hour in line to vote and then get to work at a reasonable hour just wasn’t going to happen.

One surprising name on the presidential ballot was a Wayne A. Root, the Vice Presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket. Without knowing this individual, I wondered if it was Wayne Allyn Root, the Vegas sports handicapper who I used to hear commercials for on sports talk radio. As it turns out, Wayne Allyn Root IS running for Vice President. Who knew?

Finally, I need some advice on my attire for Monday night’s game. I have a heavy Steelers jacket as well as my Louis Lipps jersey. The team has won in games I attended when I wear one or the other, but I have never attempted to wear both at the same time. The temperature is expected to be around 50. Any suggestions are appreciated, as I know that my wardrobe, and not factors such as Jason Campbell or the Steelers offensive line, will determine whether or not the Steelers will win. If you have any doubt in my power, the last time the Steelers lost in a game I attended was the AFC Championship game against San Diego in January 1995.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Cortaca Jug 2008 Tickets

To any Ithaca College alumni out there, tickets for Cortaca Jug 2008 between IC and SUNY Cortland go on sale today (Sunday, November 2) at noon. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Sales are limited to four general admission tickets per alumnus/a, at a cost of $6 per ticket. Try finding a $6 ticket for a JV high school football game!

To purchase tickets online, you will be required to log on to the Ithaca College Online Community. Visit www.icalumni.net/cortaca2008 to purchase tickets (the "Purchase Ticket(s) button" will not be activated until Sunday, November 2 at 12:00 noon).

As for the game, it is set for Saturday, November 15, 2008 at noon at Cortland. I’ll have much more about the game in the upcoming weeks, but this is all that you need to know for now. Cortland is 8-0 and ranked #7 in the D3football poll while Ithaca is 7-1 and currently ranked #21, but will likely move into the top 20 next week. There’s a reason why this is called the biggest little game in the nation.

UPDATE 11/14: As promised, a full preview of the game is now available.