Ideas To Conserve Water

We recently received our quarterly water/sewer bill, and while it was not any higher than usual, it still seemed to be a little pricey. I called the water authority and learned that we used about 16,000 gallons of water over the past quarter and that this is within the average for a family of four. Despite being within the average, 16,000 gallons of water over 3 months seems absurd and excessive. With the recent news of California ordering mandatory water cutbacks, I need to find a way to cut back on water usage. Here are some ideas:

- Ziggy grooms himself by licking his fur and his front paws. Why can't the kids do this?

- I'm sure that I use a lot of water shaving nearly every day, so my solution is not to shave anymore. I could have the Brett Keisel or Kurt Russell look in no time.

- Drink less water but more alcohol. (Of course, that would lead to my next post: how can I spend less money on alcohol.)

- I need to be a little less anal about how well I clean dishes, cups and silverware before they go into the dishwasher. One of the worst things in the world is running the dishwasher and seeing food still stuck on a knife when putting everything away. I have to find some type of middle ground here.

- Two words: Toilet pool

- Since I don't own a pool, I guess I'll settle with just going to the bathroom outside behind trees and bushes. Hopefully the neighbors won't mind.

- Stop using the washing machine and start washing my clothes in the river. The Potomac River isn't that far from me.

- Start taking baths instead of showers. What a nice way to end the day with a bubble bath, a glass of wine, candles a book and maybe some Kenny G music (preferably his sax solo in Katy Perry's Last Friday Night). I guess the kids can fend for themselves during my relaxing time.



While this is a good start, do you have any other suggestions?

Uptown Passover Vs. Passover Funk

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, what have you done? I mean sure you created an incredibly catchy and successful song Uptown Funk, but now you've inspired dueling Passover songs.

In this corner, we have Six13 with Uptown Passover featuring the line, "Don't be slavin', just nosh."



And in this corner, there's Aish with Passover Funk and the line, "Fill it up, the Four cups."



Meanwhile, The Maccabeats went old school with Dayenu.



So who is going to settle the Uptown Passover-Passover Funk debate? Let's ask The Kosher Coupon Lady.



I'm so confused. How can you use a store coupon to get free matzo if you spend $75 at an entirely different grocery store? You lost me here, Miriam.


If you celebrate, have a very Happy Passover! It hasn't even started yet, but I'm already sick of matzo.

Pittsburgh Guest Blogger Event 2015

Today’s post comes from Stephen of the Crank Crank Revolution, and is part of a special day of shenanigans from other Pittsburgh Bloggers. You can see my post over on Jelly Jars where I share a never-written about story about trying to impress my wife by biking on our honeymoon.


I don't need to tell many people this, but Pittsburgh is a very interesting city. Its economy is unique, its rich history is amazingly singular, and--most importantly--its people are extraordinarily distinctive.

Pittsburghers pride themselves in being different, in whatever way that manifests itself.

I'm actually quite surprised, however, that there hasn't been a movement to create a sort of Pittsburgh currency. Sure, it's illegal, what with the Constitution stating that only the federal government gets to coin money, but the Constitution also tells you not to make a left turn first at the intersection, so whatever. Still, an unofficial currency that is indicative of the city itself would certainly be interesting.

Let's take a look at how we could pay various costs with some iconic Pittsburgh items. I'm assuming that all items are worth their full retail value, here, because double-entry bookkeeping is for charlatans and suckers.

If you sold 3,296 Smiley Cookies from Eat N' Park, you could have bought the August Wilson Center at a sheriff's sale.

In order to match the profits that UPMC totally didn't make in 2014 because they are a non-profit, you would have to win and then sell 7,600 Lombardi Trophies. There are people in Pittsburgh who think this is entirely possible, and I'm not gonna tell them no.

You would have to sling 1770 baskets of Potato Patch Fries to be able to pay the median property taxes in Fox Chapel. That's a whole lot of trips of sending your servants to an amusement park!

Franco Harris would have to sell 397,674,419 Super Donuts to pay off Penn State's legal bills. He's trying his hardest.

You would have to let 105,541 people into the Carnegie Science Center to match the amount that Henry Clay Frick left to the park to totally square things with all those people he shot in Homestead.

You would have to sell 4,065,470 CDs of Donnie Iris's 1980 debut album Back To The Streets to be able to pay the Pittsburgh Pirates payroll this year. If you are unfortunate enough to live in Lawrenceville, it's going to take 7,738,693 vinyl albums. If you drive a 1995 Ford F150 in Butler County, you would need to sell 62,096,774 cassette tapes to cover the cost.

You would have to sell 154 Wholey Fish Sandwiches to be able to pay for One Trash Can With Luke Ravenstahl's Name On It.

You would have to save 42,799,678 Parking Spaces With A Plastic Lawn Chair in order to pay for the entire North Shore Connector.

It would have taken 440,252 Terrible Towels to match the payout from the lottery that Nick Perry rigged in 1980.

Heinz would have had to shoot 6,533,200,000 pounds of Mount Lebanon venison in order to merge with Kraft.

I don't know about you, but I think Fuelperks just got a lot more interesting.


Please check out all of these amazing Pittsburgh bloggers participating in this now annual event:

The AP Collection

Lucy Quin

A Body of One's Own

Oh Honestly, Erin

My Blog n'at

Josh’s World

Pennies, Pints, Pittsburgh

Beezus Kiddo

The Wheezy Runner

Lunges, Long Runs and Lattes

Sole for the Soul

Gardening in High Heels

The Fashionable Eye

The Steel Trap

30-Something therapy

Pittsburgh Happy Hour

Pittsburgh is Beautiful

Downtown Living

Crank Crank Revolution

Sean’s Ramblings (hey, that's me!)

jelly jars

In Pursuit of Happiness

Red Pen Mama

Orange Chair Blog

Last Minute Panic

Emily Levenson

The Pittsburgh Mommy Blog

Pittsburgh Taste Buds

Don’t Forget to Eat

101 Achievements

Nicky D. Cooks

In Pursuit of Simple

The Almond Eater

Parmesan Princess

Yum Yum PGH

The Foodtasters

Small Town Dad

A Librarian’s Lists and Letters

everybody loves you…

 

You can also like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook.

Shades of Grey

One of the biggest current songs is Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding. The song is from the movie Fifty Shades of Grey which I'm amazed is a success since it appears to be based on the paint colors available at Home Depot.

Anyway, there's one part of the song that bothers me.

Yeah, I'll let you set the pace
'Cause I'm not thinking straight
My head spinning around I can't see clear no more
What are you waiting for?

What is this person waiting for? Maybe for you to think straight, have a non-spinning head and see clearly.

This does not sound like a romantic scenario. Sure Ellie sings that she'll let the other person set the pace, but those middle two lines sound like there could be potential for, well, something from a Law & Order SVU episode.

I think we should be grateful that the person is waiting.

Friday Video (Catfish & Blowfish)

Ever hear a song but have no idea the title or artist? This happened to me recently with Kathleen by Catfish and the Bottlemen. I know absolutely nothing about the group, but I hope they perform with Hootie and The Blowfish someday.

Enjoy this cool song.

2015 Celebrate Fairfax Headliners

Celebrate Fairfax!, Northern Virginia’s largest community-wide celebration taking place on June 5-7, 2015 at the Fairfax County Government Center, announced its headliners for this year's festival.

Friday, June 5th: BUSH UPDATE: See this post to see that Kongos are in while Bush is out.

Bush are a British rock band formed in London in 1992. The band found their immediate success with the release of their debut album Sixteen Stone in 1994, which is certified 6× multi-platinum by the RIAA. Bush went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s, selling over 10 million records in the United States. (From Wikipedia)

Should it be Bush is instead of Bush are? Regardless, this is a great get for Celebrate Fairfax. Plus, there's always a chance that Bush front man Gavin Rossdale's wife attends too. Maybe Gwen Stefani will take the kids to lunch at Coastal Flats before the show and then serve as a judge at the Fairfax County Karaoke Championship during the festival. She does have musical judging experience.







Saturday, June 6th: 3 DOORS DOWN

The band rose to international fame with their first single, "Kryptonite", which charted in the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band then signed onto Republic Records and released their debut album, The Better Life, in 2000. The album was the 11th-best-selling album of the year and was certified 6x platinum in the United States. Their second album, Away from the Sun, (2002) continued the band's success; it debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, went multi-platinum in the United States like its predecessor, and spawned the hits "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You". Since the start of their career, 3 Doors Down have sold over 20 million albums worldwide. (Again, from Wikipedia)





Bush and 3 Doors Down may be the best 1-2 combination of bands Celebrate Fairfax has ever had.

Sunday, June 7th: THE AMISH OUTLAWS

They look like fun.



Please click here to learn more about Celebrate Fairfax and you'll be able to buy tickets (discounted tickets!) around April 1st.

I know that I write this every year, but I have no idea where else you can buy such inexpensive concert tickets while also getting admission for dozens of other performances and activities.

Randomness & Links

There's a lot of little things I want to share, and it makes sense (at least to me) to put everything together into one post.

- We're considering giving up our home phone and relying solely on cell phones. I know many people do this, but I've always had a home phone. This scares me a little including the fact that my kids will need to use my (likely brand new) cell phone if they want to talk to their relatives. I guess that's what Skype is for. (That was the original title of a Dionne Warwick song.)

- Ever wonder what the most popular breakfast cereals are in the US? The answer is Cheerios which also matches the most popular cereal in my house. Meanwhile, I've never heard of Malt-O-Meal, the 10th most popular cereal. [The Washington Post]

- I've had the opportunity to get to know some awesome people through this blog. The talented Neal Coolong is one of those people. Even though we've never met, he was extremely generous in giving his time for my Pittsburgh Sports Blogger Interview Series, and he's always supported my blog. Neal recently shared that he's leaving Behind The Steel Curtain, the best Steelers blog around, and will announce his new gig soon. More importantly, his daughter appears to be doing better. [Behind the Steel Curtain]

- Nicholas, aka Tecmo, another friend that I met through this blog and actually met once in person at a Penguins-Islander game recently celebrated the 8th anniversary of his blog Pittsburgh Sports & Mini Ponies. He doesn't post as much as he used (that sounds familiar), but his blog is always a good read. [PSAMP]

- My friend Sarah (someone who is a friend from before I started this blog) was on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch podcast. She's really good. If you're a romance reader or know someone who is, they must check out her blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. [NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour]

- Inside Higher Ed regularly publishes commencement speakers. I love the fact that Ithaca College's 2015 commencement speaker, Meghan Musnicki, has a longer bio than some actor named Denzel. [Inside Higher Ed]

- Lisa of Lemon Gloria was an extra in House of Cards. There are some spoilers in the post, but I don't know any of the characters names, so nothing spoiled for me. [Lemon Gloria]

- I get jealous every time I read one of Christine's blog posts since I'd love to travel internationally. She recently visited the Seoul Olympic Park and shared lots of pictures like this one. [The Adventures of ChrisMichRob in Korea]

- Finally, I landed awkwardly attempting a diving catch during an ultimate Frisbee game at least five years ago. I was in significant pain at the time, but kept playing and felt better soon after. However, I still feel some discomfort in my shoulder when raising my arm to make certain signals as a soccer referee/assistant referee and when washing my back. It might be 30 years, but I'll probably need surgery someday.

Brazil, Brazil, Brazil (Express Fail)

Today's Washington Post Express features three stories about Brazil regarding a tragic bus crash, a massive march against the country's leader and people taking showers on pages 8-9. Guess which story had the most written about it by Express?

Keeping clean is important!

Please click here for past Express Fail posts. It's shocking to me that it's been about 18 months since my last Express Fail post.

I Love(d) Rax Too

Growing up, my family went to the Rax restaurant on Penn Avenue in Point Breeze/Wilkinsburg seemingly every week or two. While their signature item was Roast Beef sandwiches, the fast food chain also had a salad bar and a wide variety of other menu options. According to Wikipedia, Rax had over 500 locations in 38 states in the 80s, but is down to 14 as of March 2013 according to this Columbus Dispatch article.

However, according to this person's license plate, Rax is always in his/her heart:

Of course, maybe this plate belongs to a woman who loves Richard Adam Xavier.

Just for fun, here are two Rax commercials:





I miss Rax.

Trivia Tuesday

No time for an introduction today. Answer the questions from the picture below.

As always please leave your answers in the comments section and don't use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This week's trivia is brought to you by the fine folks at Trivia Kings.

How To End A Conversation (or People Are Stupid)

After a one-year hiatus, the annual hockey road trip returned for the 2014-2015 season last Thursday. While I'll write about the games and trip over the next few weeks, let's go back to Thursday when this happened:

As a result, every school district in the Washington DC area closed as did the Federal Government. My original flight from Washington National to Tampa scheduled for 11:00 AM was cancelled. I was rescheduled for a 2:20 flight which would get into Tampa at 6:30 (after a stop in Atlanta) giving me just enough time to rent a car to get to the Lightning-Maple Leafs game. However, after the plane arrived late, a mechanical problem needed fixed, the runway closed to be plowed and the plane got de-iced, the 2:20 flight left 2 hours late.

When we arrived in Atlanta, the 4 passengers continuing to Tampa (including me) were instructed to stay on the plane. As we waited for the Atlanta folks to board, I started talking to the flight attendant (who I learned had worked at Hooters in her previous life and once drove NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders in her car) and another passenger. The other passenger seemed like a nice woman who was heading to Florida to see the Baltimore Orioles spring training. When I mentioned that I was originally from Pittsburgh and went to Spring Training a few years ago, she said something to the effect that she was disappointed I was from Sh!tsburgh.

I know that I get defensive about my hometown, and I may celebrate the accomplishments of current and former Pittsburgh residents a little too much (Michael Keaton got robbed for Best Actor!). However, when is saying Sh!tsburgh to someone, particularly to someone you just met, ever appropriate? Did she want me to agree with her and trash my hometown? Did she want me to declare my love of the Orioles (though I did say that I liked Camden Yards) and state that Baltimore or DC is significantly better than Pittsburgh? Instead, I quickly ended the conversation and said I needed to use the restroom.

In case you're wondering, I arrived at the Amalie Arena in Tampa with 15 seconds left in the 2nd period, but that's for a future blog post.

Maybe A PG-13 Dinosaur Train?

During my recent haircut, the barber/stylist was making conversation, and somehow, the topic of my kids came up (as in my wife is watching the kids right now as I'm out gallivanting around town getting a haircut and going to the grocery store). It started with the typical stuff like gender, age, do they like snow, and then this happened:

B/S: What does your 3 year old like?

Me: Mostly dinosaurs and trains.

B/S: Awww. That's cute. Has he seen Jurassic Park?

Me: Um, no.

Now the barber/stylist is probably in her 20s and clearly hasn't spent much time around young kids. Dinosaur Train is much more of my son's speed than Jurassic Park, a PG-13 movie with scenes like this.





I mean, sure I let my infant watch Game of Thrones, but I don't think my 3 year-old is quite ready to see Jeff Goldblum in a movie.

Maroon 5's Sugar Sounds Like Michael Jackson's Beat It

I don't understand Maroon 5. I mean, I understand that they have a string of catchy pop hits, but they're as big as they are solely because of Adam Levine. Having a charismatic lead singer appear weekly on The Voice and get People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive does good things for a musical career. In my mind, Maroon 5 is Lifehouse without Adam Levine being Adam Levine. That's not a knock against Lifehouse either since I think their best songs are better than Maroon 5's best songs.

Anyway, I heard Maroon 5's latest song Sugar on the radio recently (yes, I still listen to the radio) and thought one part sounded a lot like Michael Jackson's Beat It. Apparently, Ben Schuller, as seen in this video below, agrees with me. Specifically, check out the part around the :23 second mark.



This isn't quite a Sam Smith-Tom Petty situation, and I'm not a lawyer or play one on the internet, but I think the Jackson family has a case to get some royalties here.

MLB Changing Playoff Format

With spring training underway throughout Florida and Arizona, new Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made a major announcement yesterday. After more than a century of the World Series featuring one team from the National League and one team from the American League, the Commissioner revealed a change in the playoff format effective for the 2015 season, so that teams from the same league could potentially meet in the World Series. Manfred said, "We want the best teams to compete for the World Series and revising the playoff format will help accomplish this goal. Seeing a Red Sox-Yankees or a Dodgers-Giants World Series would be amazing. Think of the ratings!" There were unconfirmed reports that Manfred then jumped into a Scrooge McDuck money pit.

The playoffs will still consist of six division winners and two Wild Card teams from each league. The one-game Wild Card round will also remain the same as will the divisional round. The major change occurs once baseball gets to the final four. Instead of an American League Championship Series and a National League Championship Series, the final four teams will be reseeded based on the regular season record. Here's an example of what could occur this season:

AL East Division Winner: Boston Red Sox
AL Central Division Winner: Kansas City Royals
AL West Division Winner: Los Angeles Angels
AL Wild Card Teams: Toronto Blue Jays & Detroit Tigers

NL East Division Winner: Miami Marlins
NL Central Division Winner: Chicago Cubs
NL West Division Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild Card Teams: Washington Nationals & Pittsburgh Pirates (yes again!)

Wild Card round: Pirates & Tigers advance

Divisional round:

Angels defeat Tigers
Red Sox defeat Royals
Cubs defeat Pirates
Marlins defeat Dodgers

Still with me here? Now, instead of the two league championship series, this would be the next round based on the regular season record:

Angels (100 regular season wins) vs. Marlins (92)
Cubs (96) vs. Red Sox (98) - Now this would be a fun series!

Of course, there's always a chance that things could backfire. Instead of having the teams with the two best records, you could have a Cubs-Miami World Series.




(Yes, I made this entire thing up just for the Back to the Future II reference. However, would you be surprised if the new Commissioner came up with some type of proposal to change the playoffs?)

Sean Analyzes Song Lyrics (Yes Again)

Do you listen to songs on the radio and think to yourself, I would love to know Sean's thoughts about various lyrics? Well, I'm back again to analyze lyrics from some of the biggest current pop songs.

FourFiveSeconds by Rihanna & Kanye West & Paul McCartney

Now I'm FourFiveSeconds from wildin'
And we got three more days 'til Friday

McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters ever. However, this is just a fancy way of staying that it's Tuesday.

I'm just tryna make it back home by Monday, mornin'

So, you have 6 more days to get home and you're singing about this now? Can you at least wait until Friday to start telling everyone that you need to be home by Monday?

Style by Taylor Swift

Midnight, you come and pick me up
No headlights

Even The Wallflowers had one headlight.

(and later)

So it goes
He can't keep his wild eyes on the road

Taylor, this guy is a terrible driver. Stay away!

I Don't Mind by Usher

Shawty, I don’t mind If you dance on a pole
That don’t make you a ho
Shawty, I don’t mind when you work until three
If you’re leaving with me
Go make that money, money, money
Your money, money, money
Cause I know how it is, go and handle your biz
And get that money, money, money
Your money, money, money
You can take off your clothes
Long as you coming home, girl, I don’t mind

Usher, you're 36 years old and have two kids. Why are you singing a song like this?

Centuries by Fall Out Boy

Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me, remember me for centuries

No, Fall Out Boy, we will not remember you for centuries. Think about it. How many musicians can you name from the 1700s? Mozart. Beethoven. Anyone else? Well, Fall Out Boy, you are no Mozart or Beethoven. In 200 years, maybe folks will know McCartney, but they're not going to know you. (Wow, this sounds really mean. Sorry.)

Click here for previous installments of me analyzing song lyrics.

Trivia Friday Video

See what I did there? I combined Trivia Tuesday with a Friday Video. With the Academy Awards taking place on Sunday, can you name the only music video that features two Oscar-winning actors, two Grammy award winners and Mr. T?

If you looked down the screen, you obviously know the answer.

Do Pretzels Go Bad?

I recently discovered an unopened bag of Rold Gold pretzels in my basement closet. (Yes, this truly is a "Found in My Basement" blog post!) My excitement in finding my favorite snack food was tempered by the fact that the bag shows a use by date of June 2014. While I don't use milk or eggs beyond the expiration date (well, maybe one or two days after the date if the milk smells okay), would an unopened bag of pretzels be stale or unsafe to eat 8 months after the expiration date?

I Don't Understand Gambling Odds

There was an article in Sunday's Washington Post about the teams with the best odds to win the 2015 World Series. The print version includes the over/under wins for each MLB team from Bovada and the World Series odds from the Atlantis sportsbook. Since this is the Washington Post, the Nationals were clearly the focus of the article as the team has the best odds to win the World Series (13-2) and are expected to have the most regular season wins (over/under 93). The odd part, though, is how these sites view the Pirates.

Bovada has the Pirates over/under wins at 85 1/2. After reaching the playoffs over the past two seasons, this is not unexpected. In fact the 85 1/2 is the 7th best in baseball behind the Nats, Dodgers, Cardinals, Angels, Tigers and Red Sox. However, Atlantis has the Pirates odds to win the World Series at 33-1 or tied for 17th best in baseball. Um, what? Look, I understand that the Nationals, Dodgers, and Cardinals all look like more complete teams and will be extremely tough competition for the Pirates. Meanwhile, the Mets (28-1), Mariners (16-1), Cubs (10-1!) and Padres (14-1) all have better odds to win the World Series than the Bucs.

I don't get it.

Meeting Benjamin Netanyahu

I visited Israel during winter break of 1996/the first day or two of 1997. It was an amazing trip. I was part of the leadership bus consisting of college students throughout the country. Most of the people on the bus didn't know more than a few others, so there weren't the cliques that you might expect. I became friends with a couple from the University of Houston and went to their wedding a few years later. My assigned roommate attended Texas A&M, and I remember him trying to bargain for cheaper ice cream at Ben & Jerry's since you're expected to bargain at retail stores in Israel. Obviously, this did not apply at Ben & Jerry's but the interaction between my roommate and the employee was hilarious. I made friends with people from George Mason University, Arizona State University and San Diego State, and in this last case, she vouched me, helping me get a job there.

Unfortunately, I lost all of my pictures from this trip. I don't know if I accidentally threw them away packing up after college graduation, but they have been gone for 18+ years now. However, I recently found a newsletter that included this picture of me with the current Israeli Prime Minister and the leader at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu.

I honestly don't know why I was picked to meet Netanyahu, and more importantly, why the Prime Minister took time out of his schedule to address a group (though a large group) of American college students. I think I probably said hello, but I doubt we said more than ten words to each other. I'm positive that I was much nicer to Netanyahu than I was to former California Governor Gray Davis.

Netanyahu is in the news quite a bit these days. He's currently running for re-election in Israel and may or may not address Congress in the near future. Whether or not you agree or disagree with any (or all) of Netanyahu's opinions and policies, how often can you say that you shook hands with a country leader? I mean, sure I got a holiday card from the Gore family, but Al Gore was only the Vice President at that time, and it's not like we actually met.

Garth Brooks Loves Pittsburgh Sports

Country star Garth Brooks recently played 713 concerts in Pittsburgh* and in various performances wore Steelers, Penguins and Pirates jerseys. Brooks showed that he either really, really likes the Pittsburgh sports teams or he's just pandering to the crowd. I'm fine with either (though I hope it's the first one). If only he wore a Pittsburgh Spirit or Pittsburgh Maulers jersey. Anyway, here's proof of Brooks wearing jerseys including a video showing Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin ("a huge Garth Brooks fan") and Hall of Famers Mel Blount & Lynn Swann singing Brooks a Happy Birthday.

Brooks also took a picture with Steeler players Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, Brett Keisel & Matt Spaeth. (I think Shaun Suisham & Greg Warren are also in this.)

* This number may be incorrect.

Photos from Y108 & Cam Heyward's wife.

History Made

On Sunday afternoon, at 4:12 PM in Arlington, Virginia, I turned on the car radio and pressed scan on the FM dial. I arrived at my destination at 4:26 PM. The radio scanned the entire 14 minutes, and despite stopping on probably 20 stations several hundred times collectively, I did not hear one Taylor Swift song.

I'll let Washington Wizards announcer Steve Buckhantz call this historic moment.



I sincerely did not think it was possible to go more than 5 minutes in a metropolitan area without hearing a Taylor Swift song. The next time you're driving, I challenge you to try to match this achievement.

Photo by Larry Busacca, Getty Images

The Worst Haircut In The Four Major Sports

This is a guest post from blogger Mark Stevens who (I believe) is no relation to former Pittsburgh Penguin Kevin Stevens or Shadoe Stevens. I'm really dating myself with these references.

Hair can define a person, for better or worse. Athletes who are constantly in the spotlight can have their hair become a major topic of discussion not only at the game, but on the internet. Here is one player from every major professional sport who is making headlines with what’s on top of their head.

Elfrid Payton

The rookie point guard for the Orlando Magic has been having a pretty solid year. Even though the team is not winning consistently, he looks like a guy who could be a major factor for them in the upcoming years. Most people know him as the guy with the weird haircut. There is really nobody in professional sports with a haircut like him, and therefore it really does not have a name. It first grew his hair out with the rest of his high school teammates, and now he just goes with it.

Bryce Harper

One of baseball’s most promising youngsters has been known to mess around with hair styles. When he grows it out and goes with some sort of a faux hawk, it doesn’t exactly win a lot of style points. Maybe it helps with his own brand, but the hair hasn’t helped him shake the reputation of being a bit of a prima donna.

Charlie Whitehurst

When your nickname is Clipboard Jesus, it isn’t exactly flattering. The lifelong backup received some playing time for the Tennessee Titans this year, and almost instantly people were cracking jokes on how he looks. As you would expect, his long hair and facial hair makes him look like common depictions of Jesus.

Scott Hartnell (Sean's Note: Hartnell is my second least favorite hockey player of all time. I'm not a fan of even having him mentioned on my blog.)

The veteran left winger has cleaned up his hair from time to time, but when he lets it grow out, he has a carrot top afro with a matching beard. There are actually a lot of hockey players with pretty nice hair out there, but Hartnell is one who just lets it do its own thing. Now that he is 32 years of age, perhaps his crazy hair days are a thing of the past.

If you haven’t yet checked out Daily Fantasy Sports, we’re offering a 100% deposit bonus on your first deposit for Sean’s Ramblings readers. Click here to get started today with your FanDuel promo code.

Parents Magazine (I'm Terrible At Creating Post Titles)

I recently started receiving Parents Magazine, and I have no idea why. I mean, I'm a parent, so maybe that's why, but I didn't subscribe, and they just started to appear in my mailbox. Here are some thoughts about the January 2015 issue:

- One of the first articles is titled "Got Mom Guilt? Shake It Off!" The idea is that "there are better ways to make the most of your mom time." If you have a spare 45 minutes, "you can plan to check in with the teacher about your child's current reading level, or you can plan your family's next long-weekend vacay adventure." This is an excellent point. Why bother with your child's reading ability? It's not like he/she will need to read in life.

- Mom guilt isn't really applicable to me, so how about sleep traps. The magazine states that "you want to put your infant in his crib before he gets too sleepy, so that he learns to connect going to sleep with being in his crib, not in your arms." My 9-month old crashes while taking his last bottle EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. So this is bad, Parents Magazine?

- While I'm really not sure what lip color is for me, I'm guessing that it's not Isla Fisher's purple.

- Did you know that "39% of adults spend more than 11 hours outside of work using electronic media each day," according to Northwestern University? I wondered how this is even possible but the article continues that playing Candy Crush while watching TV counts as double. How did the article know that I'm watching TV, typing this blog post, and playing both Trivia Crack and Xbox at the same time?

- Now here's an article for me: Real Eye Openers

1. Apply mascara to top lashes only. Done.

2. Dab a dewy balm on you lids. Um, what is a dewy balm?

3. Use the "starburst method of applying mascara. Is there any other way?

4. Know where your brow arch should be. I think this was the original version of a Whitney Houston song.

5. Never underestimate the power of curled lashes and groomed, filled-in brows. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS POWER!

6. Apply luminizer under your concealer. The Luminizer. Coming to theaters this May.

- "By just 6 months, your baby can see 20/30, or in other words, almost as well as you." That's really cute. My vision hasn't been 20/30 since elementary school.

That was fun. There are actually a few useful articles, so as long as I don't get billed, I'm certainly happy to continue to peruse Parents Magazine.

Trivia Tuesday

Happy Tuesday everyone! Let's get right to the trivia today. Your challenge is to answer the questions based on the pictures below.

As always, do not use the internet for assistance, and leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Pub Stumpers.

Friday Videos

Happy Friday, everyone! To get you fired up for the Super Bowl, check out the latest East/West Bowl sketch by Key & Peele.



My personal favorites are Stumptavian Roboclick, Vagonius Thicket-Suede and Snarf Mintz-Plasse. I really need to watch more Key & Peele.

Today's second video is a brief documentary about how 2006 Final Four run changed George Mason University.



I regularly attended Mason games before and during that season, and I thought they would lose in the first round since Tony Skinn was suspended for that game.

h/t DC Sports Bog

Express Goes PG-13

There was a time where I regularly posted errors from Express, the free daily newspaper distributed at Metro stations and a publication of The Washington Post. Fortunately for the paper (though unfortunately for me), the errors are pretty infrequent these days. However, today's paper contained several, um, unusual stories.

First, did you know that pollution is impacting polar bears' penis bones?

Yes, penis bones. Next, how much would you pay for coffee made from beans from a certain kind of cat poop?

Finally, there are balls on the cover.

I'm scared to see what will be in tomorrow's Express.

Hanson Brother Runs NHL All-Star 5K

The National Hockey League and the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the NHL All-Star 5K Race on Saturday since apparently the city of Columbus and the NHL thought that holding a 5K in mid-January was a good idea. I mean, Columbus regularly has 60 degree days in January, right? Anyway, tt seems like folks had a great time including this guy (who happens to be a good friend of mine) dressed as one of the Hanson brothers.

Fortunately, he didn't dress like one of these Hanson brothers since that wouldn't have made any sense.

Actually, the hair looks similar!

The Last VJ

When MTV debuted nearly 35 years ago, the video jockeys, or VJs, became nearly as famous as the musicians they presented. Folks like Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Pauly Shore, Downtown Julie Brown, Kennedy, Bill Bellamy and Carson Daly became stars. Of course, MTV and later VH1 became more about reality shows and less about music, so VJs began to go extinct. However, one VJ remained. Jim Shearer started at MTV in 2002 and served as the host of VHI's Top 20 Video Countdown for the past 5 or 6 years. Jim is great. He's funny, does an excellent job interviewing guests and simply seems like a guy that would be cool to hang out with. And yes I may be biased because Jim is also from Western Pennsylvania and agreed to do an interview with me here on Sean's Ramblings.

Inexplicably, VH1 decided not to renew Jim's contract for 2015. The Top 20 countdown is currently having guest hosts (Gavin DeGraw last week and Andy Grammer this week). I'm sure they are both swell people (plus DeGraw attended Ithaca College; I'll have to share my story about him sometime), but they are no Jim Shearer.

Fortunately, we can still see Jim. He started Gimme 5 with Mike Adam, and as usual, Jim is great. Again, I may be biased but Jim's top five are much better than Mike's picks.

You can check out their first two episodes below and follow Gimme 5 and Jim on Twitter.

Top Pop Songs of 2014



Best Rap Feature in a Pop Song



While I'm not sure he's looking for work, someone needs to hire Jim immediately!

2500

Welcome to the 2500th post on Sean's Ramblings. This blog recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, so that's an average of, let's see, 2,500 posts divided by 10, carry the one, 400 posts per year! Incredible!

While I feel like there are only about 4 people that read Sean's Ramblings, since I started using Google Analytics in February 2008, this blog has had visitors from 192 countries from Afghanistan and the Aland Islands to Zambia and Zimbabwe. Personally, I'd love to know what the visitors from Tajikistan and New Caldeonia thought about my opinions on Steely McBeam!

In case you ever wanted to know, here are the top 10 visitors by city:

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. Arlington, VA

5. Chicago, IL

6. London, United Kingdom

7. Reston, VA

8. Los Angeles, CA

9. Fairfax, VA

10. Sanzhong District, Taiwan

But Sean, while the visitor information is interesting, what are your most-visited posts? I'm glad you asked. Here are the 10 ten most-visited posts:

1. 2011 Year-End Credit Card Spending Summary

2. LeBron James Should Choose Pittsburgh

3. What Happened to Erica Blasberg?

4. News & Notes

5. Erica Blasberg Found Dead

6. Lady Gaga Needs a New Terrible Towel



7. Spider Pig Lyrics

8. Am I Strange? (TMI Thursday)

9. Why Do People Hate Hillary Clinton?

10. Jaromir Jagr's Biggest Fan Pleads Guilty

Finally, here are the top 10 search terms used to find Sean's Ramblings:

1. Jenna Bush Wedding Plans

2. Erica Blasberg

3. Free Birthday Food

4. Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental

5. Seans Ramblings

6. Cosi Prices

7. Sean's Ramblings

8. Spider Pig Lyrics

9. Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot

10. CVS Coupons

So random.

New 49ers Coach Coached at My High School

Anytime that a someone who was a coach at my high school while I was still attending high school gets a job as an NFL head coach, I'm going to blog about it. Congratulations to Jim Tomsula, who worked as the defensive line coach at Woodland Hills High School in 1990, on becoming the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers!

I decided to find my 1991 high school yearbook (for the 1990-1991 school year) to find a picture of Coach Tomsula. Here it is:

Um, Coach Tomsula isn't pictured or even listed as missing. Was he not a coach at Woodland Hills? Did he lie on his resume? Did I uncover some major news here?

I contacted a friend that was on the football team to see if he knew Coach Tomsula. He replied, "I had to see a pic. Yep. I remember him now. He was a defensive coach. Cool guy."

Since there is no scandal, I'll just post a picture of Jason Taylor, formerly of the Miami Dolphins and Dancing With the Stars, as a member of the basketball team instead. (I don't think he was on the football team until his junior or senior year.)

I also learned that Tomsula once lived in his car with a dog, cat and litter box.

While serving as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., Tomsula sent the family to Florida to temporarily live with relatives.

He slept in his car, an old red Cadillac.

Along with the family dog, cat, pet food and litter box.

I'm sure that he can now afford a much bigger car to live in with the family pets!

Publish or Perish: I'm Published!

In college and particularly grad school, I heard the phrase "publish or perish" on occasion. Basically, if you become a professor and want to get tenured, you must get published. If not, you're in danger of losing your job. While I'm not a college professor or play one on the internet, this phrase has stayed with me. I actually explain this phrase to my infant during nighttime feedings. I certainly hope that my wife turns off the monitor during these conversations.

Anyway, despite writing this blog for 10 years and having a dream of writing a book one day, I've never been published...until now. John Chamberlin of the Ya Jagoff! website recently wrote Above the Fries, "a culmination of silly, stupid jagoffery stories from the blog and a few un-published stories too." John asked to use my guest post about airport family restrooms (and also posted on my blog) as part of the book. I said that he could in exchange for $1 million.

He said no. Eventually, we settled on me getting a free copy of the book. Clearly, I won this negotiation!

So if you want to see my post in a paper (or Kindle) format, purchase Above the Fries from Ya Jagoff or Amazon today. Plus, you can read dozens of other stories from John along with an introduction by the legendary Rick Sebak.

You can also hear John's interview on HumorOutcasts Radio.

Sean's Ramblings Turns 10 (State of the Ramblings)

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Sean's Ramblings. When I started this blog in 2005, I was recently married, nearing 30 and thought that writing a blog was a trendy, cool thing to do. Now, I'm nearing 40, have been married for 10 years, have two wonderful (though tiring) boys and have spent a quarter of my life with this blogging hobby which no longer seems so trendy. (It's still cool though, right? Right?)

Around the anniversary of my blog, I've written annual State of the Ramblings posts with a look back at the past year and look ahead to the upcoming year. Since this blog is now 10, I'm taking a more global view of this blog this year.

John of the terrific Ya Jagoff! recently sent me a link with a FAQ about blogging. This is the second item on the list.

2. Find your blog topic or theme. Liesel is going to write about hot dogs. I have blogger friends who write about movies, crafting, photography, running or their kids and their day to day activities with them. It doesn't matter what you're going to write about, just pick your topic and go with it.

I don't do this. My blog is all over the place and always has been. I'm sure that I could have had a larger audience over the years if I stuck with one topic such as Pittsburgh sports or complaints about commuting in DC or fashion, but I never had an interest in doing this. I could have created a personal blog just about my life, but while I've shared more about myself than maybe I should have, I try to maintain some privacy, particularly surrounding my kids. I mean, do you really want to read months of posts about potty training? You'll also notice that there are only a handful of pictures of me on this blog and none of my kids, even though they are extremely cute. Essentially, I like the freedom of writing about whatever I want, and while I hope there are thousands hundreds dozens of people who can't wait to read my posts, I understand that most people find my blog for a specific topic, read an entry or two and don't return.

Some people have asked me how long I will keep blogging. I have no idea. Based on how much less I wrote in 2014 compared to previous years, I doubt I'll make it another 10 years. However, this has been a fun hobby and has given me the opportunity to meet some very cool people, even though I've never met some of them in person and probably never will. I guess I'll write until I don't want to anymore. When I first started blogging, I wrote constantly even on days when I didn't have much to say (some of my early posts are terrible). I'm now at the point where I write when I want to and this is how it should be. This seems like an easy concept, but it's not when you first start a blog.

As usual, I have no idea where this blog will go in 2015 and beyond. I'll definitely write more posts about being a father, but beyond that, who knows.

Thanks to all of you for reading this post and for reading any of my nearly 2,500 posts over the past 10 years. While I write for me, it's nice to know that others enjoy my writing. I truly appreciate your support.

Oh, you can follow Sean's Ramblings on Facebook. This is something new that I started over the past year. See, this blog is still innovative!

DeJuan Blair: The Song

If I had to select a favorite current NBA player, I would probably pick DeJuan Blair of the Washington Wizards. Of course, my selection of Blair has nothing to do with his NBA career, but rather that he is from Pittsburgh and played at the University of Pittsburgh. I attended a Pitt-Georgetown game at the Verizon Center in 2009 where Blair scored 20 points and had 17 rebounds. He also had 22 points and 23 rebounds when Pitt defeated the #1 ranked UConn and dominated Hasheem Thabeet. Blair really was fun to watch in college.

After starting his career in San Antonio and playing in Dallas last year, Blair joined the Wizards this season. Living in DC, I follow the Wizards, so I was excited about the former Panther coming to the nation's capital. While I rarely watch Wizards games, I always check the box score to see how Blair played. The other night, though, Blair wasn't listed in the box score. I did a quick search on Twitter to see what happened to Blair and stumbled across this (very NSFW) song:



I have no idea why this song is titled DeJuan Blair as the lyrics don't appear to mention him or have anything to do with him. I also have no idea who Woozy Wee is,* but based on this picture, I'm guessing that his dentist does. Although Woozy Wee's music isn't really my scene, I applaud him for naming a song for the great Blair and hope he has success.


* I did find a Weezy Wee who operates "a beauty & lifestyle blog written from the streets of Los Angeles." Weezy Wee and Woozy Wee do not appear to be the same person. This is not a sentence I ever thought I would type.

Sesame Street Live: A Review

Last month, we took a family trip to George Mason University's Patriot Center to see Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend. Naturally, I feel the need to share my thoughts about the show and the experience seeing Big Bird, Elmo and company.

- Despite the Steelers playing at 1:00 in Atlanta, somehow Ben Roethlisberger was able to be in Fairfax at noon to see the show.

- The premise of Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend is that Chamki, apparently a character from the India version of Sesame Street, travels all the way from India just to visit Grover for one day. According to the show, Grover and Chamki met on Fuzzbook, the Monster Social Network. (The joke went over just as well live as it did reading this on the screen.) I understand that this is a show for kids, but travelling across the globe just to get together for one day? Seems like this could be a plot from Avenue Q rather than Sesame Street.

- When the show began, my 3 year-old was focused on the tub of popcorn we bought while my 8 month-old was fascinated by the lights and music, had a huge smile and waved his arms around. Of course, he fell asleep about 15 minutes later.

- With tickets being reasonably priced, I wondered how Sesame Street made it money from the show. The answer: merchandising.



There were Sesame Street pennants, clothing and so much more. At the beginning of intermission, they brought out seemingly hundreds of balloons with Elmo on one side and Grover on the other directly in front of the stage to sell. At the end of intermission, there were maybe a dozen balloons left.

- I was disappointed that Mr. Snuffleupagus wasn't part of the show.

- When exactly did Elmo become the #1 character on Sesame Street? When I was growing up, I think Big Bird was the top seed. I don't even think Elmo was around when I watched Sesame Street as a kid.

- Why does Count Von Count dress significantly better than every other character? He's in a three-piece suit while many of his companions don't even where pants.

- Does GMU security enjoy the crowds at Sesame Street Live compared to those attending a WWE event? There's little chance for a drunken brawl at Sesame Street but all of the kids must present a different type of challenge.

Overall, my 3 year-old enjoyed the show which was the entire reason that we went. 90 minutes including intermission was the perfect amount of time since I don't know how much longer the kids would have lasted beyond that. I'm not sure we're taking this type of family outing anytime soon, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

2014 Sean's Ramblings Visitors

Happy 2015! Now that 2014 is complete, it's time for my annual post where I share data about Sean's Ramblings visitors and how people find this blog. I truly find this fascinating, and I hope you do too. The information below is courtesy of Google Analytics for January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014.

Top 10 Visitors by City:

1. New York, NY

2. Pittsburgh, PA

3. Chantilly, VA

4. Arlington, VA

5. Washington, DC

6. Deerfield Beach, FL

7. Los Angeles, CA

8. Owings Mills, MD

9. Chicago, IL

10. Johnstown, PA (Technically, just outside Johnstown)

I started tracking this data in 2009, and with the exception of the unusual amount of visitors from San-Ch'Ung, Taiwan in 2009, the combination of New York, Pittsburgh and Washington DC (not necessarily in that order) is always in the top 3. This year, DC slipped all the way to 5th. What's going on, DC? Do I need to write more posts about Metro or the DC blogging community?

London also fell out of the top 10 this year. I guess Will and Kate don't visit my blog as much as they used to with the new baby.

Remember, if your city is not in the top 10, visit my blog from multiple computers or mobile devices in 2015 early and often!

Top 10 Visitors by Country

1. United States

2. Canada

3. United Kingdom

4. Australia

5. Germany

6. Brazil

7. France

8. Philippines

9. India

10. Italy

While the top five countries are identical from 2013, I'd like to welcome Brazil to the top 10. Clearly, folks in Brazil looked to Sean's Ramblings for quality World Cup coverage like this.

Top 10 Keywords Used to Find Sean's Ramblings

1. Sean's Ramblings (or some variation of this)

2. Sally Wiggin Drunk

3. Sun Refining and Marketing

4. Talk Like a Pittsburgh Pirate Day

5. Don Cannon Drunk

6. Songs with Hawaii in the Title

7. Mark Melancon Singing Japan

8. Sean's Ramblings Daylight Savings

9. Delaware Hates Pitt

10. Erica Blasberg

These are almost completely different from last year where folks found Sean's Ramblings by questioning who is (or was) TJR, wanting Fleetwood Mac concert reviews, or, well, looking for something about Flavor Flav. In addition, I must have left out Sean's Ramblings from last year's list.

In 2014, people really wanted information about current and former WTAE newscasters being inebriated. Meanwhile, I'll have more about Sun Refining and Marketing and Erica Blasberg next week.

Thanks to all of you for visiting my blog!