Sandwiches and Edgar Snyder

Esquire created an unranked list of the best sandwiches in America which included Primanti Bros. and Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. I never thought Esquire and Primanti Bros would be used in the same sentence. Chick-Fil-A’s chicken sandwich and McDonald’s McRib also made the list. The McRib? I thought it was a good list until they decided to add a McDonald’s sandwich.

According to Forbes, Boulder, Colorado is the smartest city in America followed by Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Maryland and Ithaca, New York. Other cities on the list included Washington, D.C.; Arlington, Va.; Alexandria, VA at #13; Charlottesville at #17; and State College, Pennsylvania at #18. The biggest problem I have with this list (besides the fact that Forbes makes you click from screen to screen without providing one single list) is that Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Frederick are listed together. Frederick isn’t even in the same county as Bethesda and Gaithersburg.

In last week’s Grammys journal, I wrote "when Beyonce introduced Tina Turner earlier tonight, she called her The Queen. No offense to Tina Turner (I’ve written this way too many times tonight), who I think is an amazing artist, but Aretha is the queen." Aretha must have read this and agreed with me as she’s unhappy with Beyonce.

In response to my "pointless" post on Friday, HDKart sent me more pictures of people pointing:


I am honored to have a picture of Attorney Edgar Snyder on my blog!

What's The Point?

At Wednesday’s Congressional hearing, Larry Breuer, one of Roger Clemens’ attorneys, seemed pretty upset at how things were going and showed his displeasure by pointing at someone as pictured here.



So who was he pointing at? It couldn’t have been Giuliani since Rudy is a Yankees fan (I think).



Maybe they are both pointing at John Kerry was who is a Red Sox fan (I believe). Is that why John Kerry is ready to fight only to be held back by Barack Obama?



There is only one who can stop this senseless pointing!




I admit this was a pretty stupid post. I just saw the picture of Breuer pointing (courtesy of Jonathan Newton, The Washington Post) and wanted to share other pictures of people pointing. Have a nice weekend!

Thoughts on the 2008 Presidential Election

Just before the Iowa caucus (doesn’t that seem like years ago?) I posed a question to Rob at Bluey Blog as to why people hate Hillary Clinton. This led to probably the most comments I have ever received (that doesn’t really say much) and inspired another post about Clinton at the landmark site, Smart Bitches. (I am being completely serious about this statement; SB discovered that a major author plagiarized material in her books, and the site was referenced in stories by the AP, New York Times and Newsweek. Conversely, Sean’s Ramblings has been mentioned on Star Trek and WVU fan message boards.)

Anyway, I check out Bluey Blog occasionally and was extremely surprised to discover that Bluey voted for Barack Obama in Tuesday’s primary. You see, Rob is the director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, serves as a contributor to a prominent conservative blog, writes weekly columns for sites including The Conservative Voice and is a contributing editor to Human Events, the national conservative weekly. These are not quite the credentials of Dennis Kucinich. So why the heck did Rob vote for Obama? He gave a few reasons including that he’ll "do whatever it takes to avoid another Clinton in the White House, even if it means crossing over to vote in the Democrat primary." He also stated that

[Obama’s] lack of experience makes him even more vulnerable. It is for this reason that I would give McCain the edge in a head-to-head matchup with Obama. I’m not so sure the same is true against Hillary.

I don’t buy that second theory and here’s why. As I lifetime Democrat, I openly wonder who I would vote for if it came down to Clinton vs. McCain. This has less to do with politics than it does the people themselves. I really liked McCain when he ran in 2000, and although he seems to be criticized heavily by Rush & Coulter (more on them momentarily), he stands by his convictions and has sincerely worked with his Democratic Senate colleagues on some controversial topics for folks on the right such as campaign finance reform. I don’t agree with McCain on a lot of issues, and I think he’s changed significantly since 2000, but I think he is an honorable person. Actually, just the fact that Rush and Coulter seem to dislike McCain right now as much as Clinton is a reason for me to like him. By the way, is there anything more asinine than Ann Coulter being anti-McCain because he’s against torture? Hello, McCain was a POW who was tortured. I’ll take his opinions on torture over just about anyone. Folks like Rush and Coulter will end up coming around on McCain as they’re not going to vote or support Clinton or Obama. However, if Clinton does get the nomination or even elected, that's great business for them. Think about it: four plus years of high ratings in criticizing Clinton. The ratings and listeners won't be nearly as big if McCain wins.

Back to Hillary, while I would tend to agree with her on most issues, I think she would have an extremely difficult time working with Congress and getting the support of a large majority of the American public. There are just so many people out there that hate her and that's not going to change. As an aside, I would love to see Bill Clinton as the first man. I think he would do a fantastic job as an ambassador to the world traveling from country to country. Could Bill serve in this role during the entire term and only return to the U.S. for holidays?

As mentioned above, Rob gave McCain the edge against Obama. I don’t buy it. The knock against Obama is his inexperience and that may be valid. However, he can put good people around him. (Bill Richardson as anything would be great. How about Al Gore for Secretary of the Interior?) More importantly Obama is inspiring. I think it’s fair to write that there has not been so much hope for/by a presidential candidate since JFK or Reagan depending on your political views. I also don’t think you can discount age. The youth vote would certainly migrate towards Obama (born in August 1961) over McCain (born in August 1936).

So what do you think? If this is too deep, you can always go over to Kissing Suzy Kolber who wrote a post titled Vote for Barack Obama And Receive A “Get Out Of Racism Free” Card.

This entire post may be too deep for me too. I’m going to play Madden now.

Election Day Parties and Events

Tuesday is the Potomac Primary/Chesapeake Primary/whatever you want to call it where voters in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia go to the polls to vote in the Presidential Primary. What to do once you cast your ballot? Well, here are some suggestions for the rest of the day.

- California Tortilla is giving customers a free taco. Just stop by your local DC, MD or VA's Cal Tort on Tuesday, February 12th proudly wearing your “I VOTED” sticker or with your sample ballot, and they will give you a free taco.

- IHOP’s National Pancake Day Celebration - From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., IHOP will give you a free short stack (three) buttermilk pancakes. All that they ask is that you consider making a donation to support locale children’s hospitals through Children’s Miracle Network, or other local charities. This really has nothing to do with the election, but it’s free food!

- Obama fans? Watch the DC/Virginia/Maryland results come in at James Hoban's in Dupont Circle on Tuesday, February 12th. They promise good company, good drink/food specials, and good results for Obama. In return, they’re asking for a minimum donation of $25 per person, all of which will go directly to the campaign.

- Come out to show your support for Senator Obama with the gay and lesbian community as they watch the primaries for the DC, VA & MD at Nellie’s Sports Bar in DC.

- McCain fans? The Virginia Election Night Party takes place at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in Alexandria. Will John McCain be there?

- Nothing says election night like Drag Bingo at Chaos.

- Al Jarreau performs at the Birchmere, but tickets are sold out. You may have better luck with Disney’s High School Musical at the National Theatre.

- Don’t Spend a Dime has a list of free food and drinks (again, not election-related, but free food!)

- Koji Kakinuma is at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage at 6. It’s a free show, but I doubt that Kakinuma will have much election analysis (since the polls haven’t closed yet, of course).

I could not find any election evening events for Hilary Clinton, Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul, but I’m sure there has to be something. If you know of any other events or discounts for Tuesday, please leave them in the comments. Oh yeah, don’t forget to vote!

Live Grammy Awards Journal

Welcome to my live coverage (from my couch) of the 50th Grammy Awards. I will be writing about the Grammys throughout the evening or until I get bored or tired. Kanye West leads all artists with eight nominations and I expect him to get a few wins tonight. The big story of the evening will probably be Amy Winehouse, who has six nominations, but will not be in attendance since she was denied a visa.

This is usually about the time when I make predictions, but I really have no idea who will win. Seriously, who do you think will win Record of the Year between Beyonce (Irreplaceable); Foo Fighters (The Pretender); Justin Timberlake (What Goes Around…Comes Around); Amy Winehouse (Rehab); and Rihanna featuring Jay-Z (Umbrella)? You can probably make a case for any of these five. Actually, the bigger question is who does Jay-Z support for this award: himself or his girlfriend (they’re not married yet?) Beyonce?

In case you were wondering, Barack Obama has already won a Grammy today for the Best Spoken Word Album category. Obama defeated Maya Angelou, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Alan Alda. No offense to Alan Alda, who has won several Emmys and been nominated for an Oscar, but he really didn’t have a chance.

I’ll be back with updates later, but in the meantime, I leave you with this. 18-year-old Taylor Swift is up for Best New Artist. Swift may be best known for her single, "Teardrops on My Guitar," which features the line, "The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star." Wishing on a wishing star? Who would use wishing, or a variation of wish or wishing, twice in the same sentence? The great Terence Trent Darby would never do such a thing.
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- I have to applaud CBS and the Grammys for a great get to open the show. I don’t know how they convinced Frank Sinatra to come out of, um, retirement, to perform.

- Alicia Keys had a nice little duet with Sinatra and then came out to welcome the crowd. Does the Grammys not have a host? Was Ellen DeGeneres not available? (I’m anti-Ellen at the moment. I stayed home from work on Thursday because I was sick and caught the beginning of her show. She opened by dancing around the audience, taking people’s purses along the way. Then, she went through people’s purses making fun of the contents. I decided right then that no matter how sick I felt Friday morning, I was going to work.)

- Before I forget, how many commercials do you think we’ll see tonight for the latest edition of Big Brother? I’ll guess at least three.

- Carrie Underwood had a nice performance of “Before He Cheats” with the people from Stomp (I think). She dedicated the song to Tony Romo. (This is completely untrue, but why not start a rumor.)

- Prince presented the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Prince is probably 50 by now, but he’s still cool and always will be. The winner: Alicia Keys, who looks very good tonight. However, I hope that this doesn’t start a trend of an artist performing and then winning the award while being on the side of the stage.

- Next performance, The Time, but part-way through the performance, out comes Rihanna. I really like "Please Don’t Stop the Music," but can do without "Umbrella." Now it’s The Time and Rihanna together. I never would have predicted that combination.

- Tom Hanks presents a lifetime Grammy Award to The Band. I put them at #12 in my list of the Top 25 greatest Canadian musicians (4/5 of the band is from Canada). Then, he quickly segues into this little band called The Beatles and Cirque de Soleil performs part of its show “Love.” It’s Tom Hanks! You didn’t expect him to introduce Plain White T’s, did you?

- I didn’t mention this before, but as always, feel free to share your own comments below. In addition, you can see who has already won awards at Grammy.com. It looks like very few awards are actually going to be presented on the air.
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- An actual award! Cyndi Lauper and Mylie Cyrus present the Best New Artist. Lauper gushes all over Cyrus saying something about Cyrus lassoing the moon and that we’ll see her in this category next year. In a surprise (not at all), Amy Winehouse wins.

- I’m going to pretend that the Jason Bateman thing didn’t happen. He looked a bit out of place.

- Back to performances. Kanye West was terrific with “Stronger” featuring Daft Punk and then received a standing ovation for “Hey Mama.” Fergie then sings her song “Finally” with John Legend.

- It’s only 9:00pm Eastern time, and I’m already tiring. If you’re looking for other TV options, a new episode of Rock of Love 2 is airing on VH1, Family Guy is on Fox (not sure if it’s new or not), and we’re part-way through Office Space on Comedy Central.
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- It’s Beyonce; then Tina Turner; then both of them together for “Proud Mary.” I have nothing witty to write except that seeing Turner perform reminds me of the New York Post’s (I believe) headline from a few months ago: “Ike Beats Tina to Death.” Keep on dancing Tina! Another standing ovation.

- Andy Williams? I’m amazed that the Grammys were able to get both him and Sinatra since they both, you know, are no longer with us. Oh wait, Andy Williams is really there with Nelly Furtado and someone else. I’m a terrible person for even writing this paragraph.

- Another Amy Winehouse win for Song of the Year. Everyone keeps mentioning that Winehouse will be around later performing live via satellite from London. It’s going to be after 2:00am in London by the time she performs. I hope she’s not taking Vivarin or something illegal to keep herself awake.

- Jason Bateman is again awkward introducing the Grammy moment winner. Fortunately, Foo Fighters are there with an excellent performance of “The Pretender” with the Grammy moment winner, an orchestra and John Paul Jones to bail him out.

- I don’t think Kristy Jo is going to make it through the end of tonight’s Rock of Love 2. She has been one of my favorites, but she’s having a rough time.
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- Kanye West wins Best Rap Album and says that if he doesn’t win Best Album, Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson (the producer) should win. In an unprecedented award show moment, he also gets the telecast to stop playing the music they play to get an artist off the stage to say something about his mother.

- Ludacris introduces Aretha Franklin as the Queen of Soul. When Beyonce introduced Tina Turner earlier tonight, she called her “The Queen.” No offense to Tina Turner (I’ve written this way too many times tonight), who I think is an amazing artist, but Aretha is the queen.

- Kristy Jo is staying since another girl decided to go; however, it turns out that the other girl was going to be sent home anyway. Why do I watch this crap?

- Back to the Grammys, another Canadian, Feist, is on stage. It may be too soon to add her to the list of top Canadian performers, but she at least gets an honorable mention.

- I am getting sleepy.

- Kid Rock and Keely Smith sing together? That’s even more random than The Time and Rihanna. They then present the Best Rock Album to Foo Fighters. I’m pretty sure that Dave Grohl kissed Keely Smith on the lips.
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- Alicia Keys is not the queen. Stevie Wonder calls her incomparable. By the way, how many times is Keys going to perform tonight? Is this like a few years ago when Justin Timberlake seemed to be on stage for the entire show? Is Timberlake even there tonight?

- Ringo Starr and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics come out to say that “my country send me to United States to make movie-film. Please, come and see my film. If it not success, I will be execute.” Actually, Ringo says that he likes country music. Vince Gill wins something, makes a joke that involves Kanye (I missed it) and gets a laugh from the crowd and Kanye.

- I zoned out for a few minutes, but Rihanna won something, and now Cuba Gooding Jr. is live in London to introduce Amy Winehouse.

- Amy Winehouse performs and then wins Record of the Year. She thanked a few people, including her parents, but not her husband. Is he still in jail?

I'm done. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made it this far!

Update 2/11 @ 7:00am: Here's a recap of the Grammys from Yahoo. Apparently, Winehouse did thank her jailed husband, but I missed it.

Election Day Suggestions Needed

I am compiling a list of free or discounted activities for Tuesday’s “Potomac Primary” that I will publish on Monday morning and am looking for suggestions. For example, California Tortilla is giving customers a free taco to anyone wearing an "I Voted" sticker. Are there other restaurants or businesses that have similar promotions? In addition, I want to include election night parties, and while I have found events on Tuesday night for Barack Obama and John McCain, I have had no success in finding parties for any other candidates. (Where are the Fred Thompson and Joe Biden parties? They are both on the ballot!) If you know of any events in the DC area, please leave the details in the comments or e-mail me at seanramblings at yahoo [dot] com. As I mentioned, I will publish this list on Monday morning.

I’ll be back Sunday night for a live blog of the 50th Grammy Awards!

Traveler IQ Challenge and Referrals

Over the weekend, I mentioned my addiction to the Traveler IQ Challenge. The same site also has about a dozen other quizzes including the USA Challenge and UNESCO sites. I earned a score of 113,735 (Level 8; traveler IQ of 126) on the USA Challenge and 587,525 (Level 10; traveler IQ of 102) with UNESCO sites. In full disclosure, I failed miserably in my first attempt at the UNESCO quiz as Henderson Island, UK is not even near Europe.

I haven’t done this in a while, but here are real searches (usually from Google) that real people used to find and visit this place.

Do the Spice Girls mention the Packers in a song?
Unless David Beckham joined the Packers, I’m going to guess no.

Did Debbie Gibson go to Ithaca College?
I wish.

"What is wrong with Katie Holmes"
Tom Cruise is too easy of an answer, right?

What's going on with Joe Hardy from 84 Lumber
Last I heard, the 84-year-old Hardy (he may be 85 at this point) divorced his third wife, 23-year-old Kristin Georgi, after only four months of marriage. I really thought they would make it.

Why do people hat Hillary
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Clinton wear a hat. Maybe a lot of people dislike Clinton because of the vast right-wing haberdasher conspiracy against her.

Why are people so hard on Clinton
This seems like an inappropriate question.

Jaguars Mating
I think this aired on Animal Planet after Puppy Bowl IV.

"looks heavier" Tom Brady
So that’s why the Patriots lost the Super Bowl!

Finally, how exactly did Sean’s Ramblings end up on a Star Trek message board debate about Hillary Clinton?

Super Bowl XLII Notes

Everything has already been said and written about this year's New York Giants-New England Patriots Super Bowl, but I want to add my two cents anyway.

If you were tired of Peyton Manning commercials, prepare yourself for many Eli Manning commercials or more advertisements featuring both Manning brothers.

David Tyree's amazing catch was Swann-esque. (Swann as a wide reciever; not as a candidate for Pennsylvania's Governor.)

In the third quarter, the Patriots had a 4th and 13 from the Giants 32 and decided to go for it. Why not try for a 49 or 50-yard field goal? If you have that little confidence that your 2nd year kicker can't make a field goal from that distance in a dome, you need to get a new kicker.

Bill Belichick's short-sleeve sweatshirt looked silly.

Earlier this week, Plaxico Burress predicted a 23-17 victory for his Giants. Tom Brady's response: "We're only going to score 17 points?" No, you only scored 14 points.

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came to the podium to present the Vince Lombardi trophy, I thought he was going to say, "To Arlen Specter, I'll call you in a few days. Please get off my back."

Congratulations to the New York Giants! A nation is extremely happy that you defeated the Patriots!

Super Bowl Weekend Links

Are you just sitting around your home waiting for the game to start? Here are some things you can do to pass the time:

Take the Traveler IQ Challenge. The objective is to click locations on the map as quickly as possible. I made it through level 6 where I scored 29255 points on World Capitals – Medium (30000 points are needed to advance to the next level). My overall score was 195,932 points. Warning: this is very addictive.

Great recaps of Thursday night’s Lost episode by Kassy K and Liz Kelly/Jen Chaney at The Washington Post.

Speaking of the Post, Kevin Mohs, vice president for production at Animal Planet, was online on Friday answering questions about the Puppy Bowl.

Reebok is making Kool-Aid shoes! (via Deadspin).

Finally, Happy Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, this is another year that I am not in Punxsutawney for the celebration. Hopefully, I’ll be there next year. (I seem to say this every year!) Yes, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so that means six more weeks of winter. For all of your Groundhog Day coverage, visit the official website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

Really Random Thoughts

This is going to be all over the place so bear with me and enjoy:

* The starting line-up for Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl IV has been announced. I hope Harry Kalas does not get Jack, Jack and Jackson confused. The always entertaining Puppy Bowl airs at 3 on Super Bowl Sunday and then replays at 6, 9 and midnight.

* I am getting very excited about the season debut of Lost tonight. Unfortunately, there’s a decent chance I may miss the episode since I’m flying to Dallas.

* Speaking of Dallas, I’m going to be there for five days and neither the Mavericks nor Stars have a home game. Since they share an arena, how is this possible?

* I hate admitting this but I have started watching Rock of Love 2 on VH1 (see the note below before clicking on the link). My favorite two “contestants” are Ambre and Kristy Jo. They seem the most real and the least “slutty” if either of these is possible on this ridiculous show. By the way, if you click on the show’s link above, which is PG-13 and may not be suitable for work, Bret Michaels looks almost as feminine as some of the cast members at least in the hair and face.

* Is it just me or does it seem that all of the current and former Republican presidential candidates have a strong dislike of Mitt Romney.

* After the New Hampshire primary, I wrote, “I am really intrigued by Rudy Giuliani’s strategy. He punted Iowa and New Hampshire and is hoping to win in the bigger states like Florida. It doesn’t seem like a very good strategy, but what do I know?” Apparently, I did know something! You can’t essentially sit out six states (well five if you don’t include Wyoming) and then show up part-way through. I’m guessing that no candidate will attempt Giuliani’s strategy in the near future. There may be candidates that enter the race late, but not those who enter but do minimal campaigning in the first few states.

* Interesting post and comments in The Washington Post about Bill Richardson and whether he’ll endorse Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. I really like Richardson and if a Democrat wins the White House, he should be the Vice President or a member of the Cabinet.

Cheers to the Fairfax Connector

When I have had problems with certain companies, I have been quick to write about my experiences (ex. Saturn, The Washington Post and Metro). Therefore, I want to give some credit to a company that provided excellent customer service. Surprisingly, I’m giving credit to the Fairfax Connector bus system.

Last month, I got on the wrong bus. No, this is not another entry of the “I am an Idiot” series. You see, the front of the bus which shows the bus number was not working. Therefore, I got on the bus and asked the driver the number. I thought that he said 557, which is one of the busses I can take. When I paid with my SmarTrip, I noticed that the cost was $3, $2 more than it should be. When I questioned the driver he said that I was on the 597, which is not one of the busses I can take. Even though he gave me a transfer slip, I was still out $2.

Although $2 really wasn’t that big of a deal, I decided to call the main Fairfax Connector office to explain the situation. They were extremely helpful and did not mock me, which is always a plus in the customer service field. Fairfax Connector also mailed me three $1 bus passes along with several bus schedules. So this message is simply to give credit to the Fairfax Connector.

I’m sure that I’ll criticize someone else again very soon.

Jeopardy Online Contestant Test

The online test for Jeopardy! is back. Here are the specific test dates and times:

EAST COAST
Tuesday, January 29th at 8PM EST

CENTRAL/MOUNTAIN
Wednesday, January 30th at 8PM CST/7PM MST

PACIFIC COAST (Including Alaska and Hawaii)
Thursday, January 31st at 8PM PST

These tests are for adults 18 and over only to qualify for the regional auditions. Eligible adults must register before taking the test by going to the Sony/Jeopardy! website.

Good luck!

Update 1/29 8:13 PM EST Well, you won't see me on Jeopardy anytime soon unless I'm in the audience and decide to run on stage to give Alex Trebek a high-five. I bombed the online quiz. Of course, having the George Mason-VCU college basketball game on television in the background probably did not help.

Sunday Morning Musings

This car commerical features Pittsburgh Penguins Colby Armstrong, Max Talbot, Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin. Talbot (the second player in the video) may consider the acting profession after his hockey career ends. (via Scribbled Noise)


All the Sunday morning news shows are obviously talking about Barack Obama's impressive win in South Carolina. However, I want to point out that Joe Biden, who quit the race several weeks ago, defeated Dennis Kucinich, who dropped out on Friday, 694-552 to finish in fifth place. (Bill Richardson received 727 votes to finish in fourth.)

Songs with Time

Every once in a while, I get an idea that I think would be brilliant to post here. In many cases, these ideas have to do with music (for example my list of the top songs of the 2000s and the 25 greatest Canadian musicians and my compilations of songs with alcohol in the title and songs with states in the title.) This time, I decided to create a list of songs that have a specific time in the lyrics. While Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers, Time by Pink Floyd and Time by Hootie and the Blowfish all literally have “time” in the title, I’m looking for songs like Billy Joel’s Piano Man which starts with the line, “It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday.”

Here’s what I’ve come up with thus far:

* Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4 (I still have no idea what this means)
* Matchbox 20 - 3 A.M.
* Simon and Garfunkel – Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and 7 O’clock News/Silent Night
* KLF – 3 A.M. Eternal
* Anna Nalick – Breathe (2 AM)
* Dolly Parton – 9 To 5
* Alan Jackson – It’s Five O’clock Somewhere
* U2 - 11 O'clock Tick Tock

* Bell Biv DeVoe – Do Me
"The time was 6 o'clock on the Swatch watch
No time to chill, got a date, can't be late
Hey, the girl is gonna do me"

* Destiny’s Child – Jumpin’ Jumpin’
And all you fellas leave your girl with her friends
Cause it's eleven thirty and the club is jumpin', jumpin'

* R. Kelly - Hotel
‘Cuz we`re having an after party, checkin` out 6 in the mornin`

* Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around the Clock
One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock

* Jermaine Dupri & Ludacris - Welcome to Atlanta
And parties dont stop til' eight in the mornin'

* Ben Folds Five – Brick
6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark

* The Bangles – Manic Monday
Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream

I thought I was putting together an excellent list until I found The Human Clock’s list of songs with time. After reviewing this catalog of dozens and dozens of songs, I quickly realized that I was wasting my own time. I guess my brilliant idea was not so brilliant. If you want to add songs in the comment section BEFORE you visit The Human Clock’s website, please feel free to do so.

This Is CHIP

I posted information earlier this morning about the Washington Capitals search for a mascot handler and the fact that I used to be a mascot myself. Thanks to Arjewtino for converting the TIF file to a JPEG, I am proud to show a sketch of CHIP.


Although I will always have fond memories of CHIP, you can see why he/she/it is no longer the festival mascot.

Mascot Chronicles

The Washington Capitals are seeking a Mascot Handler whose duties include ensuring that the mascot stays on schedule during games and events, assisting the mascot with interaction with the fans, and being the mascot's "eyes and ears." The individual must be outgoing, friendly and comfortable interacting with groups of fans. You may think that I am making light of the job, but the mascot handler is an extremely important position. I say this as a former mascot.

As a high school junior, I auditioned to be the school’s mascot. The audition consisted of me unsuccessfully attempting a summersault and cartwheel while dressed in full mascot attire. During the cartwheel, the mascot’s head fell off and while everyone laughed uncontrollably (including myself), the coach berated me because apparently the head was fairly expensive. Fortunately, I did not get the job.

Fast-forward about ten years, a friend of mine recruited me to be CHIP at a Northern Virginia festival that I have mentioned numerous times on this blog. You see, mascots, including CHIP, are not allowed to talk. In addition, it is difficult to see out of the giant mascot head. Therefore, you need a good handler to explain what CHIP is (CHIP is not a robot or an alien; CHIP is the festival mascot), make sure kids aren’t scared of CHIP and to be there for moral support (“Take a step up CHIP or you’ll trip on the curb.”). It was amazing how many kids loved CHIP, but conversely, CHIP made several kids cry. The handler must be able to steer the mascot near the kids who want to say hello but also away from the kids who are screaming. It’s a tough job. Of course, if you’re the mascot/mascot handler at the Capitals game, you don’t have to worry about drunk fans who want you to get out of the way! The Caps fans want you to block their view of Alexander Ovechkin on a breakaway. So to the potential Capitals’ mascot handler out there, good luck and be the best you can be!



P.S. In case you were wondering, CHIP has been retired. I wish that I had a picture of CHIP, but all that I have is a sketch in a TIF file, which Blogger does not allow me to add as a picture. If you know how to do add a TIF, please let me know, because you haven't seen CHIP until you've seen CHIP.

P.P.S. (or is it P.S.S.) A sketch of CHIP has been posted here.

Fun Tuesday Links

Here are a few activities for your Tuesday:

How many countries can you name in 5 minutes? I feel like I could do much better than 55 if I tried this again. Please note that spelling counts!

55

What is your blog wanted for? Apparently, Sean's Ramblings is WANTED FOR THE ABUSIVE ROBBERY of an ADORABLE DONKEY. How did they know? The reward is $2600.

I am the type of person who can look at maps for hours. They fascinate me. The folks at Strange Maps created this map in which the US states are renamed for countries with similar gross domestic products.
US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs. Enjoy!



Oh, try not to look at this map while completing the name the countries quiz. I think that would count as cheating.

Random Cloverfield Question

I saw Cloverfield over the weekend, and while I am not going to give away any spoilers, I have a simple question that anyone can answer just from seeing a preview or commercial. Although we do not know for sure, let’s assume that the monster came from the water and is rather large, based on the fact that he/she/it beheaded the Statue of Liberty. So why would the monster choose Manhattan over anywhere else?

I’m not an expert on New York City geography, so please correct me if I’m wrong. So you’re telling me that the monster goes from the Lower New York Bay to the Upper New York Bay to Manhattan with no one noticing until he/she/it announces its arrival by decapitating the Statue of Liberty? How deep is the water there? Wouldn’t the monster take out a few bridges along the way? Wouldn’t it be much easier for the monster just to attack New Jersey, Long Island or Connecticut? If the monster prefers colder water, it could attack Maine or Nova Scotia. Florida, Georgia or South Carolina would be much more convenient for a warmer climate.

Maybe the monster did some research and figured that New York would be the best place to attack based on its population and proximity to the water. However, by that logic, the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, which consists of the metropolis of Bombay and its satellite towns, would be a much better target. (I'm not an expert on Mumbai either, so please correct me if I'm wrong.) The population of Mumbai and New York City is similar, but the monster should have an easier time navigating and destroying Mumbai since it is much smaller in terms of square kilometers (according to Wikipedia, the area of New York city is 17,884 square km while Mumbai is 2,350).

Am I over thinking this?

Message to the USTA

Earlier today (depending on where you live – I think), Roger Federer defeated the 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. It sounds like it was an amazing match, which unfortunately I missed because I was asleep. Anyway, perhaps you noticed the final score of the fifth set: 10-8. There was so much drama, tension and energy on every point. I’m sure the crowd went crazy. However, this type of ending could never happen at the US Open. You see, as I mentioned in September, if the score is tied 6-6 at the end of the third set in a women’s match or fifth set in a men’s match, the winner is determined by a tie-breaker. What a terrible way to end a match! If anyone at the USTA, United States Tennis Association, is reading this, please change the US Open to follow the same format as the other three tennis majors. Thank you.

P.S. The fourth set of the Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis match airing live on ESPN2 is also amazing, especially since they are playing at 3:30 AM Melbourne time.

John Kerry is Kung Fu Fighting

I am a few days late on this one, but Express featured this picture on its Friday cover after John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama.



Am I the only one who thought that this picture showed Obama trying to hold back Kerry from a fight? I just hope that Kerry isn’t going to try and fight Nolan Ryan



or Mike Huckabee if Chuck Norris is around.



The Kerry-Obama picture is by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images.

Selling Out?

You may be surprised to know that the main reason I write this blog is for the money. Unfortunately, in the three years since I have started Sean’s Ramblings, I have earned a total of $0. Therefore, when I received e-mails over the past month or two with offers to send me free stuff, I jumped at the opportunity.

First, Turner Publishing asked if I wanted a complimentary copy of their title, Historic Photos of Washington, D.C. by Matthew Gilmore and Andrew Brodie Smith. I think I replied within two minutes of receiving the e-mail with a yes. This is one of the few books where you can honestly write that you could judge the book by its title. There’s a nice mix of pictures of historic events (Harry S. Truman’s inauguration in 1949; the Spirit of St. Louis arriving at the Smithsonian in 1928), monuments (the Capitol building and Washington monument) and pictures of everyday Washington people and places. There are some very cool pictures and makes an excellent coffee table book.



Last month I received an offer to receive the movie “Somebody Help Me” on DVD as long as I provided a review on my website. As I mentioned above, I’m all for free stuff, so in upholding my end of the deal, here is my movie review.

“Somebody Help Me” stars Omai Grandberry (better known as Omarion), Alexis Fields, Brooklyn Sudano and Marques Houston. You know all of these actors from um, um, well, if you are in your early 30s like me, you don’t know them. I guess you might know Omarion and Marques Houston from “You Got Served.” Omarion was also part of one of the worst named music groups of the past 10 years, B2K. Before I get into the movie itself, here is the description from the back of the DVD case:

From the director of You Got Served and House Party 4 comes this urban horror-thriller nail-biter on the order of Cabin Fever and The Hills Have Eyes.

Wait a second. There was a House Party 4? House Party starring Kid N Play came out when I was in high school. There was a fourth edition? How have I lived without seeing House Party 4?

Delivering a chill a minute, Somebody Help Me is the story of Brendan Young (Marques Houston) and Darryl Jennings (Omari Grandberry) as they head off with their friends and girlfriends for a weekend’s stay at a remote cabin in the woods.

"Somebody Help Me" is 100 minutes in length. There certainly were not 100 chilling moments during the movie. I’ve watched enough Law & Order so I may be qualified to write “objection, misleading statement.” The judge would support me.

After the couples settle in, things take an eerie turn.

Not Erie, Pennsylvania. The movie would have been less mysterious (and much better) if the characters ate at Perkins, Quaker Steak & Lube, or hung out on Peach Street.

One by one, the group ends up missing or dead, while the remaining few are forced to band together in order to figure out who – or what – is behind the killings.



I’ll freely admit that horror films are not really my genre. I watched some of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street films, but once was enough. Poltergeist freaked me out as a kid. However, I thought Scream was great because of the mix of comedy and horror. Therefore, I was hoping that Somebody Help Me would have a bit of Scream in it. Nope. I don’t remember laughing or even smirking once during the movie. The beginning scene features the four characters in the car on their way to a remote cabin. As the dialogue developed, I started rooting for the characters to die.

Here’s the basic story: they get to the cabin, see a strange neighbor, meet the sheriff who is mean at first but warms up to them, the main character dreams about a little girl on a swing, their friends arrive at the cabin and drink, a random person walks around the cabin, and then the friends go missing and die. There’s really not much more to the movie. It’s very predictable with a few gory moments (I fast-forwarded through them) and even set up for a sequel that I hope is never made. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but it wasn’t good. Actually, it was on the pretty bad side. While I haven’t watched a horror movie in some time, I thought they usually have nudity. Well, there was no nudity here, probably since the target audience is high school boys. Wait, that doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, if you like seeing predictable horror films geared for high school students with decent acting and not much of a plot but with some suspense and scary scenes, Somebody Help Me is for you. For everyone else, start working on your tax returns.

California Tortilla & Washington Post Updates

After 21 consecutive weeks of eating a California Tortilla burrito, I think it is time for a break. However, I still have 31 coupons for free burritos good only at the Reston location. If you are interested in buying a coupon or multiple coupons, please e-mail me at seanramblings[at]yahoo dot com. The regular Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito is $6.19 including tax and some of the other specialty burritos cost even more. I’m looking to sell the coupons for $4 each, but I am willing to negotiate, especially if someone is interested in buying multiple coupons.

As for the Washington Post, I am getting closer and closer to canceling my Sunday subscription. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I received the newspaper at 9:30 AM on Sunday, December 16 and then, the paper was delivered on Sunday, December 23 even though I submitted a vacation stop. Today, the paper again arrived just after 9:30. I submitted a comment on the Post’s subscriber services page, but I doubt that I will receive a response. If I do not hear from the Post by Tuesday afternoon since the screen stated that the Post’s “service representatives have received your message and are working to address it within two business days,” I will call them on Wednesday.

While I was waiting for Sunday’s newspaper, Good Morning America featured a story about an octogenarian couple in Edgerton, Wisconsin who have delivered newspapers for more than 50 years. The story mentioned that they generally deliver the paper around 5:00 AM. That would be 4.5 hours before my newspaper is delivered!

Silly Movie Claim

I saw a commercial tonight for the new movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. When describing the movie, the television advertisement featured the line “one of the most entertaining movies of the year.” Um, it’s January 10. There haven’t been many movies released in 2008, so of course, it is going to be one of the most entertaining of the year.

Post New Hampshire Notes

I have some thoughts following Tuesday night’s New Hampshire primary.

I was really hoping that John McCain or Hillary Clinton started their victory speech by saying "Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years."

When Mike Huckabee won in Iowa, Chuck Norris was on stage supporting his candidate. When John Edwards gave his concession speech after the polls closed in New Hampshire, James Denton of Desperate Housewives shared the stage supporting his candidate. Norris vs. Denton? Advantage Huckabee.

After Edwards’ speech, Keith Olbermann made awkward conversation by asking everyone at the MSNBC studio if they watch Desperate Housewives. Chris Matthews responded no, but that he likes Teri Hatcher. Thanks for that insight Chris.

Boo to John Edwards on several counts. First, he entered the room to “This is Our Country” by John Mellencamp. Find me a sports fan who likes this song after hearing it about 1,000 times in Chevy commercials over the past two years. In addition, Edwards gave a fairly depressing speech about people who have suffered since they do not have health care. Way to fire up your supporters!

Hillary Clinton also discussed serious issues during her speech, but somehow it came off better than Edwards’ speech. Of course, it helped by the excitement in the room. At one point she discussed children who "can't afford to go to college and pursue their dreams." This was followed by loud applause and cheering. Were these people even listening to the speech?

I continue to wait for one of the primary/caucus winners to end their speech by naming numerous states and finishing with "and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeaararh!!!"

Fred Thompson seemed like a popular candidate when he was just an actor considering running for President. Four months later, he’s in New Hampshire receiving 1% of Republican primary votes. Is he waiting for the writers’ strike to end before returning to Law & Order?

I am really intrigued by Rudy Giuliani’s strategy. He punted Iowa and New Hampshire and is hoping to win in the bigger states like Florida. It doesn’t seem like a very good strategy, but what do I know?

Although we are a long way from the conventions, I would love to a convention where we don’t know who will win. When was the last time this happened? That would make excellent television, especially on the Republican side if there’s still a chance that Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are all still vying for the nomination.

By the way, who came up with the ridiculous name Tsunami Tuesday? There was a traumatic tsunami that hit Indonesia only a few years ago? Is the name supposed to represent the tragedy of several candidates realizing that their dreams of becoming President are over? Let’s stick with Super Tuesday or even the Tuesday after Groundhog Day Tuesday.

How did I go through an entire presidential political entry without mentioned Barack Obama?

State of the Ramblings

Today marks the third anniversary of Sean’s Ramblings. Things have changed significantly here since its humble beginnings. I used to write about the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kevin Pittsnogle and how the Dr. Scholl’s “Are You Gellin?” commercials were the worst ever. Now, I write about the Pittsburgh Steelers, California Tortilla and how the Verizon Wireless commercial where the father goes around the house handing new phones to his wife and kids while telling them each individually that they are his number one is the worst ever. In all seriousness, I do think that this site has improved from when I started simply because my writing is much betterer than three years ago.

The past year has been a huge for Sean’s Ramblings thanks in part to referrals from Deadspin, DC Blogs, the Post-Gazette’s Blog ‘N Gold and Empty Netters and even Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people from all over the world visited this little place on the web looking for the Spider Pig lyrics from The Simpsons Movie (type Spider Pig Lyrics in Google and Sean’s Ramblings is listed third; second on Yahoo). More on this momentarily. Some of the highlights of the past year include my California Tortilla journal, the Jenna Bush wedding entry, my hockey road trip recap (parts I & II) and the post where I asked when Pittsburgh became a country town. In addition, there are some very interesting comments as a result of my posts about the Spice Girls, Daughtry and the terrible song “I Did Yo Boyfriend” by Melody. (Sorry for all the links.)

Over the past six months, I have averaged more than 100 hits per day primarily from people searching for Spider Pig lyrics, Jenna Bush’s wedding plans, the aforementioned Verizon commercial and the select a Presidential candidate quiz. The increased traffic is great, but my guess is that 99.99% of these folks visit this site once and never return. This is my quandary. I would like to increase the number of regular readers to this site, but I also like keeping my anonymity somewhat in check. In addition, I have read several articles stating that if you want your traffic to grow, you should focus on one particular topic. I’m not willing to do that. While I like writing about Pittsburgh sports, there are plenty of other great places on the web to visit for that information (and many of them are linked on the right). I enjoy writing about sports, but I also like writing about music, pop culture, television, and anything else going on in my life.

So as year number four begins, I still don’t know where this site will go. Since it is 2008, there will probably be a few more entries about politics and the Olympics. However, if I had to make a prediction, my guess is that I’ll continue to write what I want on dozens of different topics.

Thanks to all of my regular and irregular readers for your support, comments, and just for stopping by. Although it may not look like it, I generally put a lot of time and thought into what I write. I do this because I enjoy it, and I hope that you do too.

2007 Steelers Postmortem

Do you want to know why the Steelers lost to Jacksonville on Saturday night? Well, I hope that you aren’t looking to me to provide the answers. I apologize that I’m still in a bad mood following the game, but if you have watched the Steelers over the past month or two, you already know the team’s problems. The offensive line was useless as the Steelers rushed for a pathetic 43 yards on 26 carries and Ben Roethlisberger was sacked six times. The special teams gave up another big return and did nothing to really help the team. Besides Allen Rossum’s kickoff return for a touchdown against San Francisco in September, did the special teams do anything, well, special this year? I can’t remember any other big punt or kickoff return or a blocked kick. The play-calling, especially the Roethlisberger’s run on 3rd and 6 late in the fourth quarter, was questionable, as was Mike Tomlin’s decision to go for two after Sean Mahan’s “holding” penalty. Roethlisberger reverted back to his 2006 season in the first half with some poor decisions. While I thought the defense played well overall, they couldn’t make stops when it mattered.

You can read much more analysis about the Steelers throughout the internet, but I wanted to put the season in perspective by going back to my season predictions from September.

The team will finish 10-6 and earn a Wild Card playoff spot. They will win the first playoff game but lose in the second round.

The record was correct, but I was one round off for the playoffs.

Clark Haggans will lead the team in sacks. Ike Taylor will lead the team in interceptions.

Haggans only had 3 sacks this season. That’s a terrible number for a starting outside linebacker in the Steeler defense. Even last night, I don’t remember Al Michaels announcing his name. Meanwhile, Taylor did lead the team in interceptions with three and made a huge pick to help propel the fourth quarter comeback.

Ben Roethlisberger will have more touchdowns than interceptions. He will also not be involved in a motorcycle accident or have an appendectomy this year.

32 TDs and 11 interceptions in the regular season, but had 2 TDs and 3 interceptions last night. There were no known surgeries or motorcycle accidents.

Nate Washington will have at least six touchdowns.

I was close as Washington had five touchdowns. However, he really is hit or miss. Washington had 5 touchdowns in 3 games, but in the other 13 games, caught only 23 passes for 309 yards.

Chris Gardocki will not have a punt blocked this season (or any other season).

Neither Gardocki or Daniel Sepulveda had a punt blocked this season. In case you were wondering, Sepulveda’s punting average of 42.4 yards was 21st in the NFL and net average of 37.9 yards was 11th in the league. In 2006, Chris Gardocki finished with an average of 41.3 yards (30th) and net average of 36.7 yards (tied for 19th). That’s certainly an improvement but that needs to get even better next year.

Fast Willie Parker will have another 200-yard game rushing.

This one was wrong. Although Parker had 8 100-yard games, his high was 133 yards. Let’s hope Fast Willie has a speedy recovery.

Considering the fact that the Steelers had a rookie head coach, multiple injuries to key players and an ineffective offensive line, a 10-6 record and a division championship is a successful season. Of course, Saturday night’s loss still hurts.

Two final comments:

Boo to NBC. Instead of showing one of my favorite things about Pittsburgh, which is driving out of the Fort Pitt tunnel and seeing the city’s skyline, NBC covered the bottom of the screen with an American Gladiators promo. All you could see was the lights on the bridge.

I watched the Pitt-Villanova basketball game in attempt to cheer myself up. That didn’t help. Pitt had a 63-62 lead until Villanova hit two free throws with 10 seconds left. With a chance to win, Ronald Ramon lost the ball, Pitt’s 22nd turnover, to end the game.

Steelers-Jaguars Preview

Welcome to Wild Card weekend! I am excited and nervous about tonight’s Steelers-Jaguars game, so I have been searching the web to see what the “experts” think.

The ESPN folks made the following predictions:
Salisbury – Jaguars
Hoge – Jaguars
Jaworski – Jaguars
Schlereth – Jaguars
Allen – Jaguars
Mortensen – Jaguars
Golic – Jaguars
Wickersham – Jaguars (who the heck is Wickersham?)

In addition, Hank Goldberg picked the Jaguars on Sportscenter this morning and Bill Simmons chose the Jaguars in his column yesterday.

Over at Deadspin, five of the seven picks went for the Jags:
Cool Standings – Steelers
Football Outsiders – Jaguars
Michael David Smith – Jaguars
Big Daddy Drew – Jaguars
Dan Shanoff – Jaguars
AJ Daulerio – Jaguars
Deadspin – Steelers

Cris Carter on Yahoo picked the Jaguars as did Peter King and Dr. Z (he’s probably as real of a doctor as McDreamy) at Sports Illustrated. On CBS Sports, Harmon, Prisco, Judge, Davis, Richard, and “Spin” also selected the Jaguars to win.

Based on my detailed statistical analysis, 29 experts chose the Jaguars to win tonight and only two feel that the Steelers will win. That seems like a clear majority for the Jaguars, so they shouldn’t even play the game tonight. I guess NFL rules, NBC and the Rooney family are the only reason why this game will be played.

Now I certainly understand why everyone is picking Jacksonville. They defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh 29-22 just last month and the Steelers are playing without injured Marvel Smith, Aaron Smith, Max Starks and Willie Parker. However, the Steelers are playing at home where they had a 7-1 record this season. The team also has twenty players who have appeared in five or more playoff games. Something that has not been discussed (except for the Post-Gazette today) is the fact that this is Jacksonville QB David Garrard’s first playoff game. He’ll be playing in a difficult environment that will be much tougher than the game in Pittsburgh last month. Yes, he had a terrific season and the Jags rely heavily on the running game, but can he be mistake-free today and lead the Jags to victory? I say no.

Just as I was about to publish this story the ESPN NFL Countdown show aired the following statistic: Quarterbacks making their first playoff start since 2005 are 0-7 with a 55.7 QB rating. Apparently, these folks care little about these statistics as Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Emmitt Smith and Chris Berman all pick the Jaguars. Tom Jackson replies by saying that he is the only person in America picking the Steelers. You’re not alone Tom; Deadspin, Cool Standings and I are with you!

Sean On Fashion

Welcome to the latest edition of Sean on fashion. Previously, we tackled the shorts suit, Burberry scarves and what to wear at a football game. Today, I’d like to discuss the pictured polo shirt by Project E. While the picture shows the general sloppiness of the shirt as well as the trademark red Xs, the holes and tears on the sleeves may not be evident. I saw a shirt similar to the one pictured at a Northern Virginia store last week. I was amazed that a shirt in such shambles would actually be for sale. Here’s the best part: this shirt sells for $60; the one at the store was on sale for only $34.50! While I realize that I am probably not the target audience for this shirt since I have little fashion sense and no knowledge of popular trends, can you really wear a tattered shirt with holes and rips to work or even a respectable bar or club? Actually, who is the demographic audience for this shirt? This may be fashionable for high school or college students, but what students have the disposable income to spend $60 on a torn polo? For that matter, what parent is going to allow their child to spend $60 on a ripped shirt?

Although I still don’t understand the fascination of this shirt (and in full disclosure, I have never seen anyone actually wear this), here’s my suggestion if you want one of your own. Buy a plain blue polo shirt at Kohl’s for $15. Throw the shirt in the washer and dryer about ten times and make sure to jump on it repeatedly. Cut portions of the sleeve with a scissors if necessary. Then wear it and get ridiculed by your family and friends.

Why Do People Hate Hillary Clinton?

Although I rarely discuss politics, now is as good a time as any since the Iowa caucus is on January 3, 2008 (that’s tomorrow!). While many Americans have opinions about the presidential candidates, no one elicits such strong feelings as Democratic candidate and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. There seem to be a lot of folks out there who truly and passionately hate Hillary Clinton. My question is why?

I posed this question to Robert Bluey of Bluey Blog and director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a think tank whose mission is “to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.” Speaking for himself and not necessarily for The Heritage Foundation, Rob wrote the following:

Americans began to dislike Hillary during the 1992 campaign and only grew more hostile throughout her husband's eight years in the White House. I think part of the problem stems from the fact she had no intention of following the typical role of first lady, preferring instead to be a political bulldog. This partisanship alienated a large number of Americans who won't soon forget the Hillary of old no matter how hard she tries to remake herself.

Keep in mind that during Bill Clinton's eight years as president, America became a country deeply divided along partisan lines, leading to the contentious 2000 election. This wasn't entirely Clinton's fault, but because Hillary was so closely identified with his political and policy objectives -- beginning with her failed health care plan -- Americans were left with a bad taste.

This seems like a fair sentiment, but if Bill Clinton is responsible, even partially, for the country’s partisan division, why is he hated far less than this wife? So I ask these questions to anyone out there: Why do people hate Hillary Clinton or why do you hate Hillary Clinton?

“Because she is a bitch” is not an acceptable answer. Do you not like her ideas, are not comfortable with a female president or is it something else? If you’re going to leave feedback, please keep your comments constructive.

If this entire topic is too deep for you, don’t worry. I’m sure that I’ll write about the Steelers or California Tortilla very soon.


Update: Smart Bitches took this post even further with an excellent post and over 100 comments. It's a great read.

Happy New Year - Watch the Winter Classic

New Year’s Day used to be one of the best days of the year as a sports fan. This is not the case anymore. Yes, there are still six college football bowl games on television, but the games are not as important as they once were. Only five of the top twelve college football teams actually play today. The Fiesta Bowl featuring Oklahoma against West Virginia; the Orange Bowl with Virginia Tech facing Kansas; and the LSU-Ohio State National Championship game take place on January 2nd, 3rd and 7th respectively. There are still meaningful games today for regular sports fans. You can see Darren McFadden play one last time for Arkansas, watch Tim Tebow and Florida meet Michigan in Lloyd Carr’s final game as the head coach and determine whether or not Hawaii is up for the Sugar Bowl challenge. However, none of these games have any relevance in terms of crowning a national champion.

If you’re at home today and a casual sports fan, I recommend taking a break from watching some of the football games and switch to the Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres at 1:00 PM on NBC. This is the National Hockey League’s first regular-season outdoor game in the United States. Today’s forecast calls for snow showers early which will become steadier snow for the afternoon. The high is expected to be around 35 degrees with winds at 20-30 miles per hour. In addition, 1-3 inches of snow is expected. Between the weather and the 73,000 fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium, this will be a terrific atmosphere for hockey. Seriously, how cool does this look?



For more about the game, visit
Empty Netters, The Pensblog and the NHL website.

2007 In Review

Welcome to my 3rd annual year in review, where I take the first line or two of the first entry of each month in order to produce a random and (hopefully) interesting summary of 2007.

January: Our friends have a terrific and lovable dog named Hershey, pictured here. Hershey has been entered in the Dog Show USA contest, and she needs your vote!

February: When I went to my doctor's office last month, he suggested that I take Omega-3 Fatty Acid pills (I've talked about this before) and exercise to help my cholesterol.

March: I received a call from my college earlier this week for its annual student phonathon program. They were asking for money, which is fine since I’m glad to contribute a little.

April: Happy belated National Procrastination Week! National Procrastination Week took place the first full week of March, so I hope that you had a productive, or not so productive week!

May: Since I missed Ben & Jerry’s free scoop day a few weeks ago, I wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow (Wednesday, May 2) is 31-cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins.

June: I’ve been away for a few days, so I have not had the opportunity to write. It may also be tough to write this week between the Pirates-Nationals series and the Celebrate Fairfax festival.

July: The following were the top stories on Yahoo News today as of 12:42 p.m. EDT: Bush and Putin meet to discuss ties.

August: In celebration of an undefeated regular season, my ultimate frisbee team went to Rio Grande Café, a local Mexican chain, last night for food and drinks.

September: I watched a few hours of the US Open on Saturday and was really impressed with the young Americans John Isner and Donald Young.

October: This was a huge sports weekend, and I plan on writing about the Steelers, Pitt, Steve Breaston, fantasy football, fantasy baseball and much more later today or tomorrow.

November: I am writing live from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Yesterday, I arrived at the Albuquerque airport and traveled north on Interstate 25 towards Santa Fe.

December: I’m back from the 2007 hockey road trip, just in time to watch the Steelers-Bengals game.

Based on my summary, the first line of many of my posts have nothing to do the rest of my entry, especially for February. As usual, it seems like I wrote about a wide variety of topics.

Look for some exciting entries to start 2008. On behalf of everyone here at Sean's Ramblings (that would be me), have a Happy New Year!

Top Songs of the 2000s

Inspired by VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs on the 90s, I decided that I would create a list of the greatest songs of the 2000s thus far:

1. In Da Club – 50 Cent
2. Lose Yourself – Eminem
3. Bye Bye Bye – ‘N Sync
4. Smooth – Santana & Rob Thomas
5. Crazy In Love – Beyonce & Jay-Z
6. How You Remind Me – Nickelback
7. Yeah! – Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludaris
8. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
9. Hot in Herre – Nelly
10. We Belong Together – Mariah Carey
11. Fallin’ – Alicia Keys
12. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
13. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones
14. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
15. Breathe – Faith Hill
16. Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
17. Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell
18. Hanging on a Moment – Lifehouse
19. Apologize – Timbaland and OneRepublic
20. Rehab – Amy Winehouse

If you are looking for a specific equation as to how I determined these rankings, you’re not going to find one. I just tried to rank them based on my perception of how big these singles have been during this decade in terms of airplay and sales. I have no statistical data to support these numbers. So what do you think? Are there songs that I missed? I feel like a Black Eyed Peas song (either Where is the Love or My Humps) and Hey Ya by OutKast are other possibilities.

Calling Out The Washington Post

I am having some problems with The Washington Post recently. It has nothing to do with the content or any of the writers, just the manner in which the paper is delivered. I am a Sunday only subscriber and regularly read part of the daily paper on the Post’s website. On Sunday, December 16, I received the paper at 9:30 A.M. To me, that is unacceptable. You see, my brother was a paperboy and he regularly delivered the Saturday and Sunday newspapers before 7:00 A.M. When I had to fill in for him or took over a route from a friend when he was on vacation, the paper was also delivered early. I was awake around 8:00 on the 16th, and would have liked to have read the newspaper before I left my home at 10:00. Since I was out all day, I barely touched the paper.

I was away this past weekend, so I requested a vacation stop. Nevertheless, the Post delivered the coupon section on Saturday (we left on Saturday morning and the coupons were on our door step) and the Sunday paper on Sunday. What’s the point of submitting a vacation stop if the paper is just going to be delivered anyway?

I have already contacted the Post about the vacation stop and the fact that the coupons get delivered even when a stop is requested for the Sunday. I have not yet received a response, but that is to be expected since yesterday was a holiday. However, if the situation is not resolved, I may cancel my Sunday subscription. I would hate to do it, but I might come to that.

Steelers Sign Haynes; Not Important Enough to Verron

The Steelers re-signed Verron Haynes to replace the injured Fast Willie Parker. According to the Verron Haynes website, well, there's nothing new on his website. I'm sure that Haynes is excited to be back as a Steeler. Maybe someone will now update his site.

(The picture below is Haynes on the cover of Pittsburgh Magazine's 25 Most Beautiful People. This was also not mentioned on Haynes' website.)

Pittsburgh Wins, Five Year Olds Lose

Thursday was a huge day for Pittsburgh sports as the Steelers, Penguins and University of Pittsburgh Panthers all won. I felt like my remote control skills were pretty good switching between the Pitt and Steeler game (the Penguin game was not available); however, I was late in clicking back to the Pitt game and missed seeing Levance Fields hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds remaining in overtime to defeat Duke. During Fields’ shot, I was watching Ben Roethlisberger grab his knee after being awkwardly sacked. Roethlisberger finished the game, but he can’t continue to take these types of hits if the Steelers want to advance through the playoffs, especially with Aaron Smith and now Willie Parker out for the year.

Here are a two fun links to get you through the day:

Did you ever wonder how many five year olds could you take in a fight? Probably not, but this is fun nonetheless. I can take 17. (from Arjewtino).



If you played for Brazil, what would your name be (found on Deadspin)? Mr. Sean Ramblings would be Sea. That's not a very exciting or intimidating name. Here are some other "Brazilian" names:

Denzel Washington – Roberto Washingtidas
George Bush – Georgildo
Jamie Lynn Spears – Speundo
Kris Kross - Krson Pau
Myron Cope – Copito
Troy Polamalu – Polamalaldo
Ben Roethlisberger - Roethlisbergaldo
Hines Ward – Hinaldo

Finally Something to Watch on TV

As the writers’ strike continues and the reality television programs and game shows get worse and worse (is anyone really watching Duel and Clash of the Choirs?), I am struggling to find good things to watch. Fortunately, two of my favorite things have come together: 90s music and VH1. Every night this week at 10:00 pm Eastern, VH1 is airing the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. While I love 80s music, the 90s are truly the musical era of my formative years. Each song seems to have a different memory and takes me back to high school and college. Some of the songs I have heard thus far include Groove Is In the Heart; The Humpty Dance; Kris Kross; Tennessee; and I’m Too Sexy. Almost all of the songs are great in its own special way. (I’m not sure where Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” fits in, although I remember Myron Cope doing a funny parody of the song.) Like most of the VH1 countdown shows, they air parts of the video and incorporate comments about the song from music critics, comedians, musicians, and occasionally, the artists themselves. So if you want to know where I will be tonight at 10, I’ll be watching VH1.

Of course, I will not be watching on Thursday as its Pittsburgh night on televisions across the country. First, Pitt faces Duke at 7:00 live from Madison Square Garden on ESPN. Then, the Steelers meet the St. Louis Rams on the NFL Network or, in most cases, at bars and friends’ houses. However, I won’t really miss Thursday’s episode, as I’m sure that VH1 will replay the show again and again and again.