Stupid Gifts and How My Mind Works

Az I was at my friend's place last night, and sitting on her table she has a post-it pad shaped like her first initial? Now, what on earth is the point of that? Yes, it's cute the first couple of times, but who wants to have a wall-full of pink letters near her desk? And furthermore, let's say your first initial is a "B," "D," "O," "P," "Q," or "R." You'll be writing your note on the paper and all of a sudden you'll come to a hole on the sheet. Do you continue writing on the other side of the hole, or do you continue writing on the next line? Give me a plain ol' yellow post-it any day. Oh, and I promised she could be a potential hero for giving me the idea for this post. Moving right along.

I was in synagogue yesterday morning praying the silent prayer, when I started to examine the stained glass windows at the front of the room. By the way, I'm recounting my thoughts here to give you all an insight into how my brain works. Anyway, earlier, one of the people sitting nearby mentioned how something on one of the windows evokes the old Milwaukee Brewers' logo, the one with the "m" and "b" made to look like a baseball glove. Az while I was praying I saw the logo look-alike, and I remembered an old ESPN.com article, which discussed potential nicknames for the newer baseball parks. Since the Milwaukee franchise is the Brewers, and brewers make beer, the sponsor for their ballpark is Miller. In the ESPN.com article, they jokingly referred to Miller Park as "The Keg." Brilliant. As soon as I thought of "The Keg," I immediately remembered one of the older Strong Bad e-mails, #44 entitled "Lures & Jigs." When Coach Z asks Strong Bad which lure he's using to attract the fish, Bad responds that he's mostly been using this one: "Hey fish! Hey fiish! I'm gonna, I'm gonna recommend that you guys come up here in the boat. We've got a, uh, a keg! Of worms! And, uh...phytoplankton!" Anyway, all of these thoughts were going through my head during the silent prayer. It's no wonder G-d is too busy laughing at me to actually grant any of my requests. That's okay, He'll come through for me in the end; He always does.

Peyton Manning and The Super Bowl

There are so many moments from yesterday that I'll remember for longer than necessary, especially considering that my team wasn't playing. Just as a preface, allow me to recall the first season of Peyton Manning's career. In an earlier post I mentioned the one football team with whom I lived and died, the 1998 Jets. The Jets started that season with Glen Foley as their quarterback, lost the opener 36-30 against the 49ers in overtime; a game in which he threw for 450 yards. They lost the next game before Foley went down with an injury. Next, they brought in the aging Vinny Testaverde who won the next two games before Foley returned. Foley was just awful in the next game, so Testaverde was handed the reins of a 2-3 team destined for mediocrity. Needless to say, Testaverde led those New York Jets to a 10-1 finish before they finally lost to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game. The one game they lost during their last eleven was to a lowly 4-12 Indianapolis Colts team led by rookie quarterback Peyton Manning. The Jets led 21-13 at halftime largely because Aaron Glenn returned a missed field goal 104 yards from his own end zone at the end of the first half. When Manning led his team to a second half comeback, even though his team was already eliminated from playoff contention, I thought to myself "geez, I really really don't want to have to play this guy twice every year for the next ten years." It's not often that you get to watch a legend in the making. Anyway, after so many failures despite a Hall of Fame career, Peyton Manning is finally going to the Super Bowl. Even though I'm impartial about the success of the Colts, I found myself rooting for them yesterday, mostly because I hate the Patriots, but also because Manning has this charisma about him, which is essential to the NFL, and if he had lost his career would have been over, figuratively speaking. After the Colts took the lead with a minute left, and Tom Brady trotted onto the field with his sights set on another game-winning drive, you could just tell what was going on inside Manning's head, "Uh oh, here he comes. Not again." The cameras panned to Manning sitting on the sidelines with his head in his hands as Brady led his team to the Colts' 45 yard line. I kept pointing at him and telling my friend, "look at him sitting there; he's a mess." But really, I was a mess. Regardless of the fact that I had money on the Patriots, I still would have been steamed had Brady led his team into the end zone. When Marlon Jackson intercepted Tom Brady with 16 seconds left, icing the game, I was relieved. Peyton Manning was finally going to the Super Bowl where he would join the Chicago Bears who won earlier in the day. (Just as a side point, the NFC Championship trophy is called the George Halas trophy, and the current owners of the Chicago Bears are the McCaskey family. Virginia McCaskey, formerly Virginia Halas is George Halas's daughter. Can you imagine being handed a trophy named in memory of your father, a pioneer in the desegregation of football; the man who's name is attached to the street on which the football Hall of Fame is found in Canton, Ohio?) I don't think you realize what that means. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are going to Miami to play against the Chicago Bears for the Vince Lombardi trophy. Talk about the game's greatest star finally playing on the biggest stage in American sports, with 75,000,000 people watching. It didn't really hit me this morning how emotional I was about the whole business. On Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN radio, they replayed Jackson's interception announced by the Colts' radio broadcaster shouting, "...throws it undernea-INTERCEPTED BY MARLON JACKSON, MARLON'S GOT IT! WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!" I remembered what I loved about football, what it means to play in the Super Bowl, and how much I want the Jets to get there someday soon. I started thinking about my good buddy who's a huge Bears fan, and how excited he must be to see his team play for the championship. I remember what a wreck I was during the baseball playoffs this year, but if I had to wait two weeks before my team played in the one game that would decide everything, I really think I would be utterly incapacitated for the entire duration. I can't wait.

ACPJrB Redux

Please allow myself to correct...umm...myself. I drove back the Heights today...again...via Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard at about 5:00, and I realized that during evening rush hour they switch the light sequence to be favorable going uptown. This is excellent; it's quite clearly the most cleverly constructed street in the history of New York City. However, my driving experience this afternoon fell quite short of euphoric. Here's why: There are certain reasons why there is so much traffic in New York. Some of it is because of double-parking, which really can't be helped, so that doesn't really bother me, unless it's those gypsy cabs waiting around to get a fare. Much of it is due to uncaring drivers. Most drivers don't care how much trouble they cause to other drivers as long as they get where they're going as quickly as possible. This is my biggest driving pet-peeve: If you're going to make a turn from the left or right lane, please please please signal your turn in advance. Don't let me get right behind you with the intention of driving straight ahead and then put on your signal at the last second. Not only will I have to wait until the cars going in the other direction let you turn, but also it's exceedingly difficult to switch lanes from a complete stop. Nothing about driving bothers me more than this. It's for this reason that my trip up memory lane, I mean ACPJrB today, took twice as long as it should have. Drivers beware, lest my road rage consume ye all.

Blogorrhea

Tuesday's urbandictionary.com word of the day: blogorrhea. Definition: To write a [blog] entry just for the sake of posting an entry, not because you have done anything interesting today.

That's not to say that I don't have anything interesting to say, I just thought it was a fun word. Anyway, over that past two days I've had to drive uptown to Washington Heights from the upper east side twice. Both times driving on the highway would have been poorly planned routes, so instead I pulled the ole' Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard routine. The "R" in "routine" stands for RRRRRRONG! you raving racketeer of recondite routes! (See SB e-mail #54, Morning Routine) Apparently, depending on the time of day, the sequence of traffic lights changes! That's right! Even though it's a two-way street, the light sequence works in your favor if you are driving downtown in the morning. At other times of day the lights work like every other two-way street, either all green or all red. (Disclaimer: This next statement could be viewed as being racist. I do these things to attract more readers.) This is the kind of brilliance I expect in higher-class neighborhoods like York Avenue or Central Park West, but not for a relatively unknown street existing only between 110th and 155th streets. But I paid the price for my racism. This morning I headed back to the heights along ACPJB only to realize, to my immense chagrin, that I got caught in the wrong sequence. Whereas last night I only hit two lights from 125th to 155th, I hit a light every five blocks this morning. This is not a mistake I intend to repeat; it was a lesson well learned.

24 Continued

Okay, I caught up on the first two episodes. It has the usual business, Jack somehow is able to completely recover from two years of torture and a recent stabbing and save the wrong guy from getting killed. Once again, if everyone just listened to Jack the show would be called "12." What's cool is there's an FBI agent whom we're not sure we like who's played by the same dude who played Cyril O'Reilly on Oz. Az, tonight we're back to the usual ritual, all-you-can-eat sushi at Eden Wok followed by 24. Should be good times all around. Lemme know if you want in. Constance does, do you?

Loaners and 24

Az since my car is still in the shop, I've been driving a loaner car around for the past week. It's great; I can basically do whatever I want with it until I have to give it back. I have no problem treating the engine like a tavern wench. I get the cheapest gas, I accelerate with no regard for the car's whining, etc. I should damage my car more often so I can get these loaners.
Anyway, tonight I was at a wedding so I missed the season premiere of 24. It actually causes me physical pain to know that some people have watched the first two episodes while I have not. I need my dose of Jack Bauer or else I might, like, turn not straight or something. I'm gonna spend the next two hours catching up, and then I'll get back to y'all.

Rock Bottom

Well, things are pretty stinky right now, but I won't break my own rule by sharing information from my personal life. Instead, let's explore the exciting word of Things-I-can-do-until-I-get-a-new-job. Oh, and the only money I'm allowed to spend meanwhile is for food and my car. So, without further adieu, onto the list!:

1. Finally sit down and write the great fantasy novel: This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Hey, if a 15 year old kid can write "Eragon" then I should be able to do at least as well, no?

2. Play Madden NFL '07 and Gran Turismo 4. It's a switch from my normal genre, but they should occupy me for a few weeks. Let's see, which teams should I pick for my Madden season? San Diego, Carolina, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and of course, San Diego, I mean New York.

3. Read lots of books. This isn't really a good idea, because after I finish "Eragon" and "Eldest" I'm gonna have to go back to Terry Goodkind, which means I'll probably finish rereading them all before the last one comes out.

4. Learn how to solve a 5 x 5 x 5 Rubik's Cube. I sorta learned how a couple of years ago, but I never practiced it enough to learn it by heart, so I can go ahead and do that now. Great party trick, that.

5. Work out. Well, the least I can do is start eating healthier and maybe go jogging every day. If I can fix my ipod it would be great.

Well, if anyone is around on days I'm not interviewing, let me know and we can play.