tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92843562012-02-03T01:54:51.555-05:00Rantings about life in Greensboro, NC. Notes on music, sports, politics, nightlife, and personal life (or lack of same)d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.comBlogger2791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-33244655956269212302011-12-24T15:20:00.001-05:002011-12-24T16:10:24.205-05:00

I've already listed my "favourite 15 Canadian records of 2011" and my "favorite 22 non-Canadian records of 2011". I may or may not get around to the list of what's not on the lists. Yeah, I have those albums that other people are going nuts over. The ones by Bon Iver, Cults, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Girls, Real Estate, The Sea and Cake, Wilco. I like all of those. They just didn't make

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-29977312826277597462011-12-22T19:23:00.001-05:002011-12-24T15:14:07.744-05:00

On Tuesday I hurriedly, and with little commentary, compiled and posted my list of my favourite 15 Canadian records of 2011. Now it's time to tackle the bigger project. Last year, I made a list of my 15 favorite non-Canadian records. I'm going to expand it a little bit this year. I'm not one of these guys who's going to say that 2011 was a weak year for new releases. I think I got more new

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-15622054333213016652011-12-20T14:48:00.000-05:002011-12-20T14:48:02.127-05:00

It's that time of year again. Time for everyone to post their lists of "best (number) albums of the year". I do things a little differently around here. This is only my second year doing this, but I always make two lists. One comprised entirely of Canadian albums, and the other of "non-Canadian". And I'm careful to say that these are my favourite albums, instead of calling them the best.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-79441764099794951932011-12-13T14:40:00.002-05:002011-12-14T01:41:46.126-05:00

As I prepare to compile this year's lists of my 15 favorite long-players in the "Canadian" and "Non-Canadian" categories, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit last year's lists. To see how they've held up, one year later. Here's last year's top 15 Canadian records. I think that some of those records made the list simply because they were fresh on my mind at the end of the year. This is

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-31411137326003240402011-11-11T21:41:00.001-05:002011-11-12T09:37:56.580-05:00

There's been a recent spate of indie bands celebrating the umpteenth anniversary of one of their classic records by reuniting and "in support" of that album. They haven't all been good, or even a good idea, but the latest one was fantastic. Last summer, Dinosaur Jr mysteriously toured, playing their 1988 album Bug in its entirety. I'm not a huge Dinosaur Jr fan, but I do like them. That

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-69445766955084911852011-08-04T16:31:00.001-04:002011-08-04T16:42:42.885-04:00

It's heartbreaking sometimes to watch someone overstay their welcome. I'm not talking about your in-laws or a friend visiting from out of town. I'm talking about Sofia Coppola. When Coppola's newest movie, "Somewhere" was in theatres, I didn't bother. It wasn't because I didn't want to see it. I've liked, to some degree, each of her previous movies, and I wanted to see it, but I just chose

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-20225650124471155992011-07-06T02:58:00.001-04:002011-07-06T03:00:51.938-04:00

Regular readers (all two of you) know that I dig the Canadian music. July 6 is the day when the short list for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize is announced. Last month, a 40-title long list was announced after tabulating votes from over 200 jurors. I already wrote about my unofficial ballot, which is limited to five full length Canadian albums released between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. Of

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-13241203801388837612011-06-15T01:37:00.000-04:002011-06-15T01:37:14.786-04:00

I'm not Canadian, but I play one on teevee. And I sure do love the Canadian indie rock. Everyone knows that. This week will be a fun one for lovers of independent Canadian music because the long list for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize will be announced. The Polaris Prize, named for the North Star, is an award given annually (since 2006) for the best full-length Canadian album, based "solely on

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-50660477863229015892011-06-05T17:56:00.001-04:002011-06-05T18:38:01.123-04:00

I know some wickedly hilarious people, and this week they really showed their stuff.  I'm a part of an email music discussion group.  Mostly we write about the stuff that's playing in heavy rotation at our houses and why everyone else should be listening to our favorite records.  It's been really great.  I've learned about dozens of new bands that I would have never known about, but which I've

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-3784047040234904272011-04-12T00:37:00.001-04:002011-04-12T00:45:25.302-04:00

Anyone who has known me for any length of time and has talked music with me knows that I'm a big big fan of Throwing Muses and everything that was born of them.  Kristin Hersh solo, 50 Foot Wave, Belly, Tanya Donelly solo. I've seen the Muses a number of times, and this is about the most memorable of those experiences.  Saturday May 6, 2000  -- "The Gut Pageant".  This post is something I've

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-84011658017217159372011-03-08T23:56:00.001-05:002011-03-08T23:58:32.016-05:00

I've recently started writing about some of my concert experiences that were most memorable for me, and it looks like this might turn out to be a series of many parts.  Although I had planned to write about something else, I've had a request to detail the events of February 19 and 20, 1993.  A crew of my buddies and I saw The SUNDAYS on consecutive nights and went on a pretty memorable road trip

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-74501332521899964802011-03-07T22:34:00.000-05:002011-03-07T22:34:35.815-05:00

I've mentioned before that I used to go to a lot of concerts and that I used to make a point to show up very early. This is about one of the times that I showed up crazily early. I guess I was pretty excited about going to see Mogwai.  Too excited. I'm not able to pinpoint the exact date of the show, but I know that it was a Thursday. By my best recollection, it was the spring of 2000. I

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-54840679982929696902011-03-05T17:29:00.002-05:002011-03-05T17:38:04.865-05:00

I recently told a story to a new circle of friends about my first exposure to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, how I came to love that band and how this eventually led to a bizarre trip to Athens, Georgia.  I've been urged by them to retell the story in greater detail, so it gives me the perfect excuse to be more active on this page. The first part of the story, which I wrote here a couple of days

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-12646175054266803102011-03-02T23:22:00.001-05:002011-03-02T23:44:40.024-05:00

We all have a handful of events in our lives that stand out in our memories.  Of course there's the big stuff like weddings and births and deaths in our families.  September 11.  I'm not talking about those.  I'm talking about littler things.  Like the way we remember where we were and what we were doing the fist time we heard a certain record, or a certain band.  The first time we laid eyes on a

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-18892835185422508232011-01-03T07:52:00.001-05:002011-01-03T08:05:49.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a list of my favorite 15 Canadian albums of 2010. I had a pool of about 23 new releases in my library to work from, so it wasn't too difficult to narrow it down to 15. The non-Canadian list was tougher I have about 40 in that pool of new releases. A couple were added to the pool at the very last minute, and one even snuck into the top 15 with a late entry. Some

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-57586973953525585522010-12-21T20:16:00.002-05:002010-12-21T20:32:53.935-05:00

At some point in the late Aughts, I stopped buying new music.  It wasn't really by choice, and it definitely wasn't any fun.  Lately, though, I've been back in the swing of buying new records.  A few years ago, I started having an obsession with Canadian indie rock, and for the first time, I'm going to make a list of my favorite Canadian records of the year. Not much has changed in the last 20

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-50676620778910024292010-09-18T19:55:00.000-04:002010-09-18T19:55:12.850-04:00

Today, September 18, is (at least in the United States), the 20th anniversary of the initial release of "Heaven or Las Vegas" by ethereal dream-pop trailblazers Cocteau Twins. It's arguably one of the best and most influential records of the 1990s, across all genres, and one of my "desert island albums". If you own a copy, listen to it today. If you don't, you should buy, borrow or steal a

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-16016546545960038532010-09-05T17:51:00.000-04:002010-09-05T17:51:02.051-04:00

It baffles my mind sometimes when I think about the things we were allowed to do when I was a kid and the things that we were forbidden. I guess this thought was fueled when I was playing an arcade game version of lawn darts a week ago. The real thing, of course, has been banned in the United States and Canada since the 1980s, but this is the kind of toy that children were allowed to, and even

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-84314424870144123552009-11-04T17:34:00.003-05:002009-11-04T18:22:13.481-05:00

By popular request, I've opted to at least temporarily reactivate this dusty old blog. We'll see how it goes.I've often thought of myself as a bad (fill in the blank with your choice of: lay, friend, neighbor, son, brother, uncle, boss, boyfriend, writer, customer, etc. etc. etc). I don't usually think of myself as a bad person as a whole package. Yesterday, though, I had one of those moments

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-38726799298178604892008-07-14T21:00:00.004-04:002008-07-14T21:46:03.980-04:00

I want to present you, dear readers, with a challenge. I challenge you... I dare you.... I double dog dare you to get this song out of your head. The R&B/B&R video of the day: "My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!.Seriously, try to get it out of your head. You can't do it. Sure, you might be able to shake it for right this second, but maybe later today, maybe sometime tomorrow, there it'll

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-8930656456137941752008-06-30T21:27:00.004-04:002008-07-01T01:18:40.203-04:00

Since the hockey season is over, I have reached the point that I reach every summer where I get incredibly bored. Oh, sure, the Entry Draft came and went, providing me with about two hours of entertainment. The free agent signing period begins tomorrow (July 1), and that should provide me with a couple of days of excitement, but for the most part, the period between mid-June and early October

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-56183152633113359942008-06-24T17:35:00.004-04:002008-06-24T17:40:46.107-04:00

I've come out of hibernation only to say that if you were really my friend, you'd buy me a ticket to this.It's only a little over $400 per person, so if you've got that much extra dough burning a hole in your pocket, feel free. Actually, by now, the whole thing is prolly sold out, but it sure would be sweet. Sunday night alone would be well worth the price of admission.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-69049044666539589742008-02-26T01:13:00.003-05:002008-02-26T01:25:54.648-05:00

The New York Times has given my hockey blog some love! I've been asked to be the Carolina Hurricanes blogger representative in an ongoing q&a thing being hosted by the New York Times hockey blog. Each team has one blogger representing it, and we're all asked the same set of questions. It looks like they'll be posted division-by-division. The first installment is here, and it'll be a regular

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-16869108726457890522007-10-28T22:07:00.000-04:002007-10-28T22:59:02.198-04:00

After a few months of silence around here, I've decided to make another run at keeping this thing up. Like I always do, I'll make grand promises to be more devoted to this blog, but I doubt that I'll hold true to those promises. I've been thinking about a few different posts for this place, and instead of cranking them out old-school style, I'm mulling them over. A few months ago, I was "

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-25118038460805585862007-09-24T18:36:00.001-04:002007-09-24T18:36:18.600-04:00

...

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-21823715416632247522007-03-19T01:37:00.000-04:002007-03-19T02:36:13.124-04:00

Yes, I'm still alive. I haven't been around these parts lately, and I'm hoping that that'll change. I'm not going to make any promises, as all of my promises heretofore have been empty. However, I'll try to keep this thing alive. The other day at work, we played a fun game that reminded me of something I did on this page a few months ago. Way back in October of aught-five, I played a band

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-3037293575021446422006-10-24T20:39:00.000-04:002006-10-24T23:45:05.153-04:00

It's been a massively long time since I've written in this thing, and I wanted to try to get the cobwebs out, so here I am.To be honest, not much has been going on around these parts. I've been working two jobs and most of my free time is devoted to hockey.This past weekend, I played in a Scrabble tournament in Raleigh: my second career tournament. I played well enough to take third place in

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-55032992049410043732006-09-28T20:07:00.000-04:002006-09-28T20:26:01.123-04:00

Here's the thing. I like to make games of just about anything. Fortunately, at work, there are a bunch of other guys who like to make games out of the same things. We have several games involving the radio. The oft-mentioned "Two-fer Tuesday" game used to be the only one, but now there's a new one. The way we play this game, though, is a sad indicator that we spend WAY too much time playing

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1157047252585026502006-08-31T13:31:00.000-04:002006-08-31T14:00:52.623-04:00

So here's what I was thinking.The whistle is a very underrated musical instrument. People forget that it's not just for referees and traffic cops. It's a brilliant musical instrument. Sure, it can only play one note, but still it's cool. And under-used. There are many examples of songs in which the use of a whistle solo made it that much cooler. Right now, I'm thinking of three.Guns N Roses

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1157045323360215602006-08-31T13:01:00.000-04:002006-08-31T13:28:43.506-04:00

As promised, here is the very pavement-esque moment I had at work the other day.One of the guys brought in a cd with a bunch of Michael McDonald on it. Some of the younger guys had no idea what it was they were hearing. Granted, some of his solo stuff was garbage, but for a white guy, he could really belt out some songs.One guy, who really doesn't know anything about music unless it's on top 40

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1156443138861156102006-08-24T13:02:00.000-04:002006-08-24T14:12:19.106-04:00

Today, in Prague, the International Astronomical Union has booted Pluto out of the Planetary Union. At their 26th annual meeting, they declassified the planet, demoting it to the status of "dwarf planet", putting it in the same class with comets and asteroids.NASA has not shelved its $700M mission to Pluto, saying that it is interested in Pluto whether it is called a "planet" or a "garden hose".

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1156316435949946922006-08-23T01:59:00.000-04:002006-08-23T03:00:36.033-04:00

I don't watch a lot of tv these days. I'm actually considering getting rid of my cable. I could save some serious dough that way, but it would cause some serious trouble when hockey season starts. Football, I'll be able to watch without having cable. Not hockey, though.Anyway, lately I've been watching a good bit of tv. It seems like these damned Volkswagen commercials are on all the damned

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1154022360589527262006-07-27T11:28:00.000-04:002006-07-27T13:50:12.156-04:00

After reading Reid's post about revenue sharing and competitiveness in professional sports, I got to thinking about something that I was already thinking about. Reid mentioned that revenue sharing is good for the overall health of a professional sports league because it enables smaller market teams with shallower pockets to be able to field competitive teams. Although he doesn't specifically

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1153814997735851162006-07-25T02:55:00.000-04:002006-07-25T04:09:57.846-04:00

It's been a while...I had this notion that I was going to participate in the 2006 Blogathon, which is a 24-hour blog fest going on this Saturday. Bloggers of all kinds from across the world (although presumably mostly in North America) will be writing till their fingers bleed and their eyes pop out. The rules are that you have to post something once every 30 minutes, and that writing stuff

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1151691869165462622006-06-30T11:53:00.000-04:002006-06-30T14:28:37.726-04:00

As promised, here are the Top 11 things that make Canadian Football sucky. I had to do a lot of research on this, and there were some things that didn't make the list, but it actually was kind of difficult to come up with 11 things. It was even harder to put them in the proper order.I'm open to suggestions on improving the list, but here's my take.11. "Designated Imports". In the Canadian

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1151301344602836142006-06-26T01:13:00.000-04:002006-06-26T01:58:21.606-04:00

Holy crud! Two posts in one day! What's the world coming to?Since my "inbox" and "outbox" are full, and since I've been threatening to do this for some time now, and since it gives me something to write about, I'd like to share some of my favorite ingoing/outgoing text messages from my phone. Many of them are from/to the same person. If you're reading (and I know you are), you know who you

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1151298413106162612006-06-26T00:19:00.000-04:002006-06-26T01:10:46.636-04:00

Yeah. So one week later, I have the joy of telling you that I was indeed the happiest person you know on Monday of last week. My Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, earning the first championship for the Whalers/Canes franchise, and pissing off "original 8" hardliners everywhere. As soon as the game was over, and as soon as I watched the

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1150747384438559422006-06-19T15:56:00.000-04:002006-06-19T16:03:04.506-04:00

Tonight, dear friends, my whole world will be defined.As you may know, I am quite passionate about hockey and my Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight is game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Somewhere around 11:00 tonight, I will either become the happiest person you know, or the most soul-crushingly depressed person you know. Please think of me and my boys. Better yet, watch the game on NBC, starting

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1150089532423593022006-06-12T00:17:00.000-04:002006-06-12T01:18:52.466-04:00

It might seem like it, but I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.I haven't posted here in over a month, and I have almost nothing to say.I've been monumentally busy with hockey. Going to the games, writing the blog. I'm obsessive about it. Thanks to the team's success, and my insano mad-man devotion to it, the blog over there has really taken off. When I started writing that thing back

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1146338216606204932006-04-29T14:40:00.000-04:002006-04-29T15:16:58.663-04:00

I feel bad about the fact that once again, I've begun to neglect this place. I'm alive. I'm well.It's just that I've been massively busy. Not with work, but with hockey. The Stanley Cup playoffs have begun, and I've attended the Canes home games thus far, and have watched a LOT of the other series in the playoffs on tv. Between going to games, watching on tv, and keeping the hockey blog

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1145469580265026612006-04-19T13:47:00.000-04:002006-04-19T13:59:40.390-04:00

I'm doing a little bit of housecleaning around here. First, I eliminated the entire "Bands I (mostly) know" section of the sidebar. Most of the bands were either defunct or on their deathbed. In some cases, my friends have moved on to other bands, but for the time being, I'm not going to have that feature anymore. For funsies, I've added another link to the "Random Goofy Stuff" section. You

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1144960462264558142006-04-13T15:52:00.000-04:002006-04-13T16:37:17.580-04:00

These days, it seems like everyone I know is having babies. In the last few months especially. Almost every day I hear about someone else having one.However, last Thursday I received some news of a very different variety. I was sad to find out that Millicent King, who founded the Winston-Salem Scrabble Club passed away on March 1. She had been doing battle with colon cancer, but remained

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1144359938152455752006-04-06T17:32:00.000-04:002006-04-06T17:45:38.356-04:00

Here's a story of conicedence.Today I had to make a quick trip inside the post office. On my way in, I noticed a car with the personalized license plate "GEEK". I kind of chuckled, envisioning some egghead programmer guy. But immediately I wondered to myself "What if they're a "real" geak. You know, a geek in the carnival performer sense of the word?" Then I further wondered whether the

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1144349085506316672006-04-06T14:07:00.000-04:002006-04-06T14:56:14.776-04:00

One of the many cool things about working in the restaurant industry is that you find shit all the time. People leave stuff behind all the time. So at closing time, or sometimes, the next morning, we find lots of things left behind. Sometimes in the bar, sometimes at a table. Sometimes in the parking lot. Sometimes, but rarely, we find things of value. More often than not, it's crap.People

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1144219236681460362006-04-05T01:44:00.000-04:002006-04-05T02:40:36.836-04:00

Yeah. I'm a big dork. You all read my little piece about Thomas Dolby, and specifically "She Blinded Me With Science". I didn't recall everything from memory. I had to do some research to get the name of the album and the year, for instance.I did a "little bit" of research on the matter in order to write that post, and I kept some of it to myself. Indeed, as Bill pointed out, Thomas Dolby

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1143769080730830402006-03-30T18:39:00.000-05:002006-03-30T22:06:12.316-05:00

I'll make another post about music, and this time I'll take a page out of Bill's book. I'll dig up a memory from the Eighties and share it with you, dear brilliant and scrupulous readers.My '80s: Thomas DolbyMany of us (at least those who are my approximate age) started to like music at a really glorious time -- the early '80s. It was the confluence of UK punk, this new-fangled stuff called "

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1143662179768495702006-03-29T14:08:00.000-05:002006-03-29T14:56:20.010-05:00

As promised, I'll share with you some questions I have about Rod Stewart's 1971 smash hit "Maggie May". In the week of my birth, the song, which was on Every Picture Tells a Story, reached #1 on the Billboard charts. It stayed there for several weeks, and ended up being Billboard's #2 song of the year.Before I get into it, I'd like to make it clear that I think it's a great song. However, I'm

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1143616911993327302006-03-29T00:58:00.000-05:002006-03-29T02:23:34.960-05:00

I've written at length on these pages about the "Two fer Tuesday" game that is played at work. To refresh the memory, the "classic rock" station plays twofers all day long. We guess what they're playing for points. During the first song, you guess the second song for one point. During the second song, you guess the next artist for two points. Sometimes the games are high-scoring.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1143011818519737402006-03-22T00:39:00.000-05:002006-03-22T02:16:58.603-05:00

Monday night, I went to Chapel Hill to see Camera Obscura, who were playing at the Local 506. This is a band that I fell in love with when they played two summers ago at the Merge Records 15th year anniversary festival. I bought Underachievers, Please Try Harder on the spot, and I used it to get me through some really tough times in the following weeks. I was managing a restaurant that opened

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1141842549144619082006-03-08T12:16:00.000-05:002006-03-08T13:29:09.250-05:00

So here's another brief thing about Scrabble's new OWL2. I've already (sort of) explained how words get in the OWL in the first place. I get a lot of questions about the rules of Scrabble play. Although it is a general rule of thumb that foreign words and proper names are not allowed, there are many proper names that are allowed because they have other meanings. Foreign words sometimes are in

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1141325671391238682006-03-02T12:15:00.000-05:002006-03-02T14:20:13.256-05:00

Yesterday was a pretty big day. No, I didn't get a raise, or win the lottery, or land a hot new girlfriend. It was the day that the new Official Tournament and Club Word List (2nd edition) (affectionately called OWL2) became the official arbiter for word validity in official Scrabble play. The OWL was published in 1998 and had been the adjudicator since then.The OWL, and OWL2 (available only

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1141089509553683062006-02-27T20:18:00.000-05:002006-02-28T23:33:34.253-05:00

I've got some housecleaning issues I want everyone to know about. Some of my links were to dead sites or to sites that I don't give a shit about anymore. Those are gone. Don't worry. The link to your site/blog isn't going anywhere. Unless your name is Bill Purdy. The Bitter Buffalo, which is co-written by Bill, has been moved from the "I don't personally know" list to the "friends" list.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1140569135562552342006-02-21T19:02:00.000-05:002006-02-21T19:45:35.793-05:00

Okay. So now the word is that the substance for which Ricky Williams tested positive was not marijuana. It doesn't cancel the fact that he failed a drug test. That's a bit like being arrested for a fourth DUI and saying "oh, but I wasn't drinking whiskey this time". Notice that I said "A BIT like" rather than "EXACTLY like". Yes, I know it's a bit of a stretch, and it's possible that the "

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1140482486880627772006-02-20T19:40:00.000-05:002006-02-20T19:41:26.953-05:00

It seems like no other bloggers are writing about this, so I'll go ahead and take the plunge.Ricky Williams is a complete and utter moron. He has flunked yet another drug test, his fourth. He sat out four games this past season after flunking his third drug test at the end of the 2003 season. He then spent a year in exile, hanging out with Lenny Kravitz and getting high every day. The

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1140286189625882622006-02-18T12:19:00.000-05:002006-02-18T13:09:52.473-05:00

I had a dream about a month and a half ago, and it's sort of been bothering me since then. Almost everything about it was pretty cool, but it didn't make a lick of sense. The dream machine is very strange and non-sensical. But then again, the George Michael Sports Machine was the most non-sensical thing ever, and we never questioned that. Why, then, should we question the Dream Machine? I

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1139887018159661232006-02-13T21:28:00.000-05:002006-02-13T22:17:02.343-05:00

Here in Greensboro, you can't get away with blogging unflattering things about people in high places. Especially if you compare them to people in low places. First, it happened to my friend Kevin, then it happened to me. Kevin recently criticized some dude named Bill Brummell after reading a corny quotation on a Starbucks cup. Turns out, this Brummell dude is a tv producer/documentarian.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1139502546247414582006-02-09T10:58:00.000-05:002006-02-09T11:29:06.416-05:00

Mainstream media really sucks sometimes. Take for example the headline from this story, from Reuters:Sex abuse victim to carry US colorsThe story is about Chris Witty, who has been a Winter Olympics mainstay for the US in middle distance speed skating. She's won three Olympic medals, including the Gold for the 1,000 meters in 2002. In that event, she set a World Record time, which still stands.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1139386485371051662006-02-08T02:44:00.000-05:002006-02-08T03:14:45.500-05:00

I thought I would get some really negative responses to my "Stanley Cup is greater than Lombardi Trophy" post. Instead, I got some excellent questions concerning the Cup. I'll answer them as best as I know how.Lord Stanley's Cup was named for its benefactor, Frederick Arthur Stanley, the 16th Earl of Derby. He came to Canada and was Governor general for some period of time. He was always a

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1139343307694750632006-02-07T13:02:00.000-05:002006-02-07T15:18:02.496-05:00

>So there's a huge basketball game tonight. It's a mismatch in Duke's favor, but both teams always rise to the occasion, so we should expect a close game. It should be fun, anyway. I think there was a football game of some importance the other night, too. That's what I came here to write about. Sort of. Quick. What's the name of the trophy given to the Superbowl Champ? Think you could

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1139289786665495022006-02-06T21:36:00.000-05:002006-02-07T00:30:14.820-05:00

Saturday morning, I woke up thinking about Bauhaus. Specifically, their version of "Ziggy Stardust". About a month ago, I dusted off my "Bauhaus" section of the CD racks and listened to them for the first time in years. That was prompted by a text message from Hans, who recently saw Bauhaus perform in Chicago. I don't think that was what caused me to wake up thinking about Bauhaus, though. I

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1138679755749068042006-01-30T21:39:00.000-05:002006-01-30T22:55:55.900-05:00

Once again, I need to congratulate Kevin for another outstanding performance at a Scrabble tournament. He went down to Charlotte and came back with a nice chunk of change in his pocket for winning his division. He was 13-1 and won most of those games with ease.With that in mind, I wanted to share one of our recent games. We've been doing that Wednesday night thing, and we had a really good

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1137770115119710402006-01-20T09:31:00.000-05:002006-01-20T10:15:15.256-05:00

So here's the thing. I'm not really into making New Year's resolutions. However, I did recently set some goals for myself to reach this year. Some of them are general in nature, some more specific. One of the more general ones was to be better to myself and to take days off work when there's something I want to do. So far, I've been doing that. There's an out of town hockey game that I'm

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1137317753398577222006-01-15T04:00:00.000-05:002006-01-15T04:37:24.860-05:00

Just to prove I'm still alive.So I'm minding my own affairs, reading the online version of the Raleigh News & Observer. I came across this article about Duke University Health System. It caught my eye because my good friend Amanda is an RN at Duke. The article had nothing to do with her or her ward, but I thought I would read up about the goings on over there. Turns out, they fucked up really

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1135707850847771772005-12-27T11:36:00.000-05:002005-12-27T13:28:56.876-05:00

I'm not dead. I'm just a little .... underinspired. Is that a word?I've sort of crawled into a corner ever since my accident. Yes, I was uninjured, but I haven't done anything remotely social or extracurricular since then. Hockey games don't count. When I go to (or even watch on TV) hockey games, I'm actually "working" for my non-paying job. That, coupled with the onset of Festivus, which

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1134406871422571432005-12-12T11:40:00.000-05:002005-12-12T12:01:11.576-05:00

This whole ordeal with the car wreck has been a pain in the ass, but I've got a few parts of it resolved.One, the insurance company from the other driver automatically assumed liability and automatically assumed total loss, so they're going to (eventually) write me a check for what they think my car was worth. I figured as much, but it was still nice to know it for a fact. No word yet on how

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1133571195667617182005-12-02T19:32:00.000-05:002005-12-02T19:53:15.846-05:00

Dang.I was just involved in an automobile accident. I'm totally fine. My car, on the other hand, will never see the light of day again.I was headed west on a boulevarded street. Minding my own business. A car in the eastbound lane was attempting to turn left. We both have green lights, but she did not have the arrow. She turned anyway, and before I could react, the airbag was in my face.

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1133227264725874452005-11-28T19:45:00.000-05:002005-11-28T20:21:05.980-05:00

Yeah, so I was gonna make a more detailed post concerning the Dandys show, but somehow it ended up being very truncated. Now, I shall provide you with some of the details.Some band, presumably Shit Cereal was opening, but we didn't pay them that much attention. We arrived when they had just a couple of songs left, anyway. For those of you who haven't been to the Cradle in a while, the best

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1133203738929209442005-11-28T13:01:00.000-05:002005-11-28T13:49:00.093-05:00

The first order of business today is to pass along something that I should have caught on my own, but it was brought to my attention by Great White Bear, who suspended his "Hockey Friday" post and also took time out from his political rantings to report the death of George Best. Best was, as most of you loyal readers know, one of the best footballers the world ever saw. He passed away on our

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1132864742764805232005-11-24T14:55:00.000-05:002005-11-24T15:39:02.853-05:00

I know, I know. I haven't been around much. I don't know what to say. Not much has gone on that's been post-worthy. Today, though is the first birthday of this blog. So,HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG!!!I got my XBOX 360 in the mail the other day, and I've gotta say that the folks at Mountain Dew did it right. They gave away the full-tilt version of the game console. Complete with a the hard drive,

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1131641094963858402005-11-10T11:15:00.000-05:002005-11-10T11:44:55.153-05:00

Hey, remember when I was lamenting about not being cool?I just became extraordinarily cool without even knowing it. Actually, the defining moment must have been a few weeks or even months ago, but I just caught wind of it 20 minutes ago. And to be truthful, I'll only be cool to dudes between the ages of 9 and 40, and on a materialistic basis. To explain:Yesterday, the UPS guy left a slip on my

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1131384371117911322005-11-07T12:02:00.000-05:002005-11-07T12:26:11.243-05:00

This may be a shock to some of you, but for most of you this will not be news:I am not cool.I haven't the foggiest idea about the newest hippest indie rock that the kids are talking about.I don't play the guitar.I don't have a new car.I don't have a fancy I.T. job. I know there's still hope of being cool even without those things, but here's the real telling factor -- the inbox of my text

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1130785641145941332005-10-31T12:58:00.000-05:002005-10-31T14:07:21.323-05:00

Congratulations are in order for our great friend Kevin, who played in his first competitive Scrabble tournament over the weekend. He won his division, going 14-1 and had a cumulative point spread of something like +1600. Misfortunately, I couldn't play, as a hockey game interfered with it. You know how I won't let anything stand in my way when it comes to my hockey games. Only once since

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1130395168566313922005-10-27T02:24:00.000-04:002005-10-27T02:39:28.600-04:00

I don't know what to think of this.On Monday, this blog had 840 pageloads. Of those, roughly 813 of them came from one single visitor. In New York City. Whose ISP is Yipes Communications, Inc. Who uses Internet Explorer version 5.5 as their browser, Windows 2000 as their OS and had Javascript disabled. I know the IP address, but I'm withholding it. This person refreshed the main page once

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1130105373260160502005-10-23T17:21:00.000-04:002005-10-23T18:12:35.370-04:00

Do you like chess? Sure you do. What about boxing? Yeah, sure, why not. How 'bout mixing the two? this has to be the most fucked up thing I've seen in a very long time. Talk about a niche sport! I read about it in Sports Illustrated, to which I got a free subscription as part of a promotion (and subsequently forgot to cancel). I normally don't care that much about SI, but once in a while

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129847087158374052005-10-20T17:58:00.000-04:002005-10-20T18:26:15.746-04:00

Allow me to toot my own horn for a second.I am loved.At least in Canada and the Russian Federation. And Slovakia. And certain parts of the United States. And by one lone person in Latvia.One of my nuggets of genius over at the hockey place, concerning really bad hockey jerseys, was recently the subject of much talk. I was featured in the 11th Carnival of the NHL, hosted by the brilliant Jes

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129845006843682642005-10-20T17:15:00.000-04:002005-10-20T17:50:06.930-04:00

Here's to hoping that folks have the sense to google something, get a result that seems too bizarre to be true, and do the research to find out it ain't true.ORIsn't it funny how unreliable the "information" in the internets can be?Per our discussion about the inappropriateness of dating a girl in her teens, I got to thinking about that song from 1981 by Benny Mardones. The one about statutory

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129735584399702262005-10-19T10:40:00.000-04:002005-10-19T11:26:59.306-04:00

I went back to the open mic night thing last night. This time, sans friends. My reason for going there was simple: I was in search of a woman who I talked to last time. Sadly, she wasn't there.However, I did get approached, and I wouldn't exactly say hit on, but approached by a girl who is about half my age. Okay... probably not half, but I would say considerably younger than the Hales Law¹

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129273988785461442005-10-14T02:39:00.000-04:002005-10-14T11:21:10.916-04:00

After getting a big kick out of the Sidearm Delivery band name project, I decided to play along while I was at my internetless work. I came up with a few, and I'd like to encourage all of you to submit your own, or maybe to play along by doing this on your own blog. Archers of MeatloafBelle, Biv, DEVO & Sebastian (a three band combo!)Katrina and the Rogue WavesBow Wow WowhausSleater-Kenny

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129221969113074682005-10-13T12:27:00.000-04:002005-10-13T12:46:09.183-04:00

I'd like to encourage everyone to stop by Sidearm Delivery today for Dave's exercise in combining band names to come up with funny stuff. Remember Malmsteen Can Dance? Four Non-Malmsteens? It's like that. It is also my suspicion that Reid from areseven has ghostwritten Kevin's latest post at Southpaw Grammar. now playing:Bettie Serveert Attagirl

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1129148466948515702005-10-12T16:01:00.000-04:002005-10-12T16:21:06.963-04:00

I'm still alive.I should report, first of all, that the sports gods came through on the second part of my birthday wish, giving me a 3-2 shootout victory by my Canes over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both the football game and the hockey game had positive endings, but both had a little more tension than I would have hoped for. There is lots of stuff that I should be commenting about. From a

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1128528921271139082005-10-05T11:34:00.000-04:002005-10-05T12:15:21.620-04:00

Part one of my sports/birthday request came true. I could have lived without the tension of the furious comeback by Favre and Co./massive collapse by Carolina, but the end result was good, so I can't complain. The day itself was kind of strange. I stopped by work to check on something before I left town, and I had a couple of beers. Good times. Then I went to the record store and picked up

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1128311518278315882005-10-02T23:10:00.000-04:002005-10-02T23:56:13.956-04:00

After work last night, I went to that birthday party. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was kinda cool. Dr. A's girlfriend had already been drinking for a few hours by the time we got there, so she was pretty hammered. So was the (sort of) Birthday Girl. Her real birthday isn't until Friday, but she got the party a week early. Anyway, DA's old lady kept trying to introduce me to people

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1128018388916550802005-09-29T14:16:00.000-04:002005-09-29T15:06:55.790-04:00

I have been forced to buy some Old Glory robot insurance. Those comment bots have been awfully pesky, and although I don't like the tackiness of it, I've turned on the word verification for comments option. I don't even know why the scientists make them. now playing:Explosions in the Sky Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die/Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1128016646725502232005-09-29T12:38:00.000-04:002005-09-29T14:27:20.956-04:00

I'm going to break a longstanding tradition this coming Monday. Monday will be my birthday, and instead of spending it with a girl I have a crush on, the way I have for the past (I think) six birthdays, I'll be spending it with my parents. Thinking about this, by the way, has made me recall that one of those was my most crushing crush ever. Six years ago. A girl I had every chance in the

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1127835203485806732005-09-27T11:03:00.000-04:002005-09-27T11:39:48.626-04:00

Yeah..... another Scrabble post.See, I went through a spell for about a week and a half where all I could do was lose. I could blame the tile gods for doling out the cruddiest vowel-heavy racks, but I won't. I know that it was more than unlucky draws. I was playing like ass.My biggest weakness as a competitive player is that I try too hard to bingo. I swing for the fences instead of settling for

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1127319984687623042005-09-21T11:44:00.000-04:002005-09-21T12:26:27.073-04:00

Some things have gone on at work. A week ago, one of our bartenders was feeling really under the weather. We were really amazingly slow, so I made him some soup. The amigos watched in amazement, and one of them asked me "how do you know how to do that?". What, are you kidding? I've been cooking professionally for 13 years and managing kitchens for 10 years. Yes, I can make soup from scratch

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1126940618255552902005-09-17T02:26:00.000-04:002005-09-20T11:18:45.620-04:00

In the spirit of the list posted by my good friend Kevin, and in keeping with my obsession for posting bulleted lists, here's another.My top seven nine single plays (of 100 points or more)ever in Scrabble:(a lower case letter indicates the use of a blank tile)QUEUeING 212 pointsSTARKERS 194 pointsREPRISES 149 pointsaBORTIoN 144 pointsDETOXING 125 pointsQUILTERS 118 points (not landing on a

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1126899533477516622005-09-16T15:16:00.000-04:002005-09-16T15:39:39.186-04:00

The New Record gods are quite cruel. In a penny pinching effort, I haven't set foot in my favorite record store in a couple of months. As punishment for this, the New Record gods have bombarded the store with records I ought to buy. I didn't jot down the list of new records that made me go "Oh, hell yeah!", but it was long. Here's a partial list:The Dandy Warhols OdditoriumSigur Rós Takk...

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1126808695631405762005-09-15T13:15:00.000-04:002005-09-17T03:50:25.880-04:00

I don't really have anything of great import to talk about here, so I thought I'd introduce a fun list. Two lists, actually. One of things with which I am obsessed, and another of things with which I was recently, but no longer, obsessed.THINGS WITH WHICH I AM PRESENTLY SO VERY OBSESSED¹:Explosions in the Sky. A wonderful post-rock band out of Austin, TX. In the same vein as better known bands

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1126539688581499852005-09-12T10:27:00.000-04:002005-09-12T11:41:28.703-04:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS CONCERNING THE FILM "THE CONVERSATION". AVERT YOUR EYES IF YOU HATE SPOILERSMaybe I need to cancel my Netflix subscription. Every time I write about a movie I've just seen, it starts with "I finally got around to watching (movie), which I've had for about two weeks".I finally got around to watching The Conversation, which I've had for about two weeks

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1126204935446627182005-09-08T14:05:00.000-04:002005-09-08T14:42:15.560-04:00

I had another one of my crazy imaginary mix tapes going through my head the other day at work. It all got started when I was thinking about a fantastically brilliant song that I, unfortunately, can't share with you.To explain:I was thinking, because it's early September, about the song "September Gurls" by Big Star. Little did I know, but their frontman, Alex Chilton, lives in New Orleans and

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125947862848410652005-09-05T14:08:00.000-04:002005-09-05T15:18:16.336-04:00

In the wake of the ado/adieu discussion the other day, I stumbled upon something that made me laugh. Really hard. First I laughed, then I felt actual pity. Okay... I'll explain. It'll take me a while to get to the point, but the point is that I stumbled upon someone writing a phrase the wrong way, and in a way that was "breathtakingly bad". As you well know, I'm into hockey, and I've been

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125687722792859472005-09-02T14:25:00.000-04:002005-09-02T15:02:31.523-04:00

You may or may not recall that I work with a bunch of Mexicans. I've been taunting them for weeks about tomorrow's USA v Mexico soccer matchup. I've been telling them all along that it's going to be either 2-0 or 3-1 in favor of USA. To be honest, I know very little about our team, but I do know that Kasey Keller has some insane shutout streak going. I admit that I'm not really a soccer fan,

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125594992263271492005-09-01T12:15:00.000-04:002005-09-01T13:17:57.200-04:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT IS IN EXTREMELY POOR TASTE (CONCERNING HURRICANE KATRINA). PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTIONSometimes, if I get bored at work, I start thinking about strange things like bizarre movie connections, or people I haven't seen in 10 years, or some dumb shit that happened in the fall of 1993. Sometimes my thoughts flow into pretty good ideas, but more often

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125473138794232442005-08-31T02:14:00.000-04:002005-08-31T03:25:38.800-04:00

Just as soon as one member of the red and black is the new black and red family leaves us, another joins us. I ran into my friend Kevin tonight, who informed me that he's been blogging for a few weeks now. Here's his link. He's kinda new to this, and from what I've read, he likes to run a G-rated site. Don't let it stop you. He's a very intelligent and witty guy. Give him a read. Kevin

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125355057074933872005-08-29T18:10:00.000-04:002005-08-29T18:38:08.633-04:00

It is with a tear in one eye and adobo sauce in the other that I must announce the de-linking of a dear friend to the red and black is the new black and red family.The author of You Think You Know, but You Have No Idea has given up. Upon noticing the dead link, I actually was a little worried about the safety and well-being of its author, but she's totally fine. At a 1:00 press conference in

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1125254747165272092005-08-28T14:14:00.000-04:002005-08-28T14:45:47.233-04:00

I will thoroughly enjoy this day off. I got irritated with some of my co-workers yesterday, and my two days off are coming just in time. If all goes according to plan, we'll have Whiffle Ball in the Park, version 2.0. If it indeed goes down, I'll get some photos for you to enjoy. Last night was insane. The city was promoting this "get downtown" theme, trying to get the college kids to come

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1124912628987472782005-08-24T15:12:00.000-04:002005-08-24T15:45:13.630-04:00

I forgot to mention this the other day. I had the day off on Monday, so I took care of some important car issues, then I took myself to the picture show. After a long and furious debate (with myself), I finally decided on March of the Penguins.I thought it was incredible.I actually thought it was going to be a documentary about the Pittsburgh Penguins and their two consecutive Stanley Cup (1990-

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1124820148761108102005-08-23T13:37:00.000-04:002005-08-23T14:02:28.816-04:00

I finally got around to watching Catch 22, which I've had from Netflix for like a jillion years. Somehow, I managed to make it 33 years without reading that book. I don't know how. It seems like something I would have read in high school, but I haven't. Holy crud! What a cast that movie has! I've said it before, and I'll say again: Alan Arkin is great. Although he's a gifted comic talent,

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9284356.post-1124729295342099252005-08-22T12:40:00.000-04:002005-08-22T12:52:53.330-04:00

I've been meaning to pay more attention to this thing over here, but I haven't been doing a good job. I'll attempt to bring something to the table each day this week. Hopefully it all pans out.I know for a fact that Hansy hasn't seen the series finale of Six Feet Under, but I'm gonna go on about it anyway. Hans, avert your eyes....Holy crudballs. I haven't wept like that in a long time. There was

d-leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15772585727501344436noreply@blogger.com6