this will kill me

Sports.

There's no way around it, I am going to die while watching a sporting event. It will probably happen on my couch at home and most likely during a Red Wings playoff game, as these seem to evoke my most passionate responses. In typical fashion, I'll be sitting there enjoying the game when something will happen that will set me off and I'll go crazy.

Maybe it will be a bad call by a referee. Maybe it will be a cheap play by a player on the opposing team. Regardless of what sets me off, I will begin yelling at the TV as if the ref or player to whom I am directing my anger can actually hear me. The more I scream, the more my blood pressure will rise until my heart finally decides to give up.

I won't blame it. I put it through a lot, especially during the playoffs. Some people eat too much. I get too worked up over sports. Considering how little I exercise, a sudden increase in blood pressure like that can't be good.

I could try exercising more (yeah, right) or taking sports less seriously (not going to happen), but I'm sure there are worse ways to die.

What peaks my curiosity is where this passion for sports comes from. My dad enjoys sports, but they don't matter to him like they do to me. My mom certainly doesn't care. Maybe I just have an overactive victory glad that pumps liquid competitiveness directly into my heart, requiring me to win at all costs.

If you have a better theory don't tell me, because I'll just have to come up with something to beat you.

blogging is like riding a bike

On Friday, Robin and I took a short trip up to Baltimore to visit Justin and his brother, Matt, for their birthdays, which happen to be just three days apart. Matt wanted everybody to go out to a strip club, but I wasn't interested and Robin obviously wasn't so we managed to kill that idea pretty quickly. They didn't seem too upset.

We had some drinks at Max's on Broadway in Fell's Point and spent the night socializing. Max's was a pretty cool place because it was a bar where you can actually have a conversation with someone without having to yell. On top of that, they had an excellent beer selection that included a few North Coast brews that I hadn't yet had the pleasure of tasting. I had a good time and it reminded me that I need to hang out with Justin more than I do. We're still hoping to do another fishing trip to the Chesapeake Bay. Hopefully that will pan out.

I came across this Dilbert comic and it seemed like something I would say. That's not necessarily a good thing, but I don't really feel like it's a bad thing, either.

Check out my Google Reader links on the right side of the page. Just some stuff I enjoyed reading that I wanted to share with anyone who's actually reading this (thanks, mom!).

It's strange to me to think that the NHL playoffs start next week. It seems like it's too early for the season to end, but I guess that's what happens when you get used to your team dominating the regular season for years at a time. As a Red Wings fan, I'm a bit spoiled, but I still get pumped up at playoff time. I'm hoping the Caps make it too, because that will give me two teams to follow.

So far Robin hasn't had any problem with my sports obsession, in fact, she usually enjoys it when I watch sports because it gives her time to read or do other things instead of constantly entertaining me. I just hope it doesn't start to annoy her once I'm watching a different hockey game every single night (often multiple games at a time) and completely monopolizing the TV.

i'm back! (probably)

I keep thinking that I need to start writing and posting here again and the only way to actually start doing that is to go ahead and make that first post, so here it is. That's pretty much all this post is, just to say that I'll actually be updating once in a while.

So here's to hoping I'll actually do it.

new york - day two

Picking one day in New York as better than the others is difficult because they were all so enjoyable, but, if forced to choose, I would have to say the second day was the most fun. After going to bed sometime between 2 and 4 in the morning, we slept in until about 10 and left the hotel around 11 or 11:30. We stopped for a quick bite at a diner we had noticed the day before, which was just around the corner from our hotel. The food was good and relatively inexpensive.

Mother Nature decided it would be a good idea if we experienced an extremely light, but constant rain all day long. We did bring umbrellas with us, but barely used them because the rain was so light. It was slightly annoying, but other than that didn't affect our plans at all.

After lunch, we decided to head over to Times Square again in search of the Nintendo World Store. It was a fun place to visit with lots of Nintendo clothing and a small section that was almost a museum of old systems. They also had a large inventory of Wii Nunchucks, so Jeremiah picked up one of those along with a really cool hat displaying the original Nintendo controller and the words "role model". I picked up a shirt with the original Nintendo controller that said "old school". I was disappointed the store did not have any Kirby figures, but the store wasn't terribly big and there's no way they could have carried figures for every character Nintendo has ever invented. Thanks to my awesome friend Don for giving me the directions after calling him from the diner.

The Nintendo store was located on Rockefeller Plaza, so we were able to stop and see the famous ice rink there and watch some people skating. It was neat to see something that is such an icon and depicted in just about every film that takes place in New York. It was smaller than I had expected, but like many other things I've experienced it just proves how easy it is to deceive on TV or in movies.

After visiting the Nintendo store we made our way over to the theater to see if we could pick up our tickets early. The driving force behind our whole visit was the show we had bought tickets to, Evil Dead the Musical. Unfortunately, Jeremiah had taken the precaution of leaving his credit cards in the hotel room in case he lost his wallet or we were mugged and the box office required the credit card to pick up the tickets. At least we were able to find the theater for later reference. The tickets we had bought were in the front row, designated as the "Splatter Zone," which meant we were going to get covered in fake blood. We had even bought white clothes for the specific purpose of getting red on us.

One of the things I enjoyed about going to NYC with Jeremiah and Autumn was that they were not too concerned with making detailed plans. We spent most of our time just walking around and experiencing the city, which I don't think we could have enjoyed if we had tried to cram a lot of different attractions into our short time visiting. I would recommend this approach to anyone who can visit NYC and will have the ability to go back again. The city is an attraction all by itself and if you try to see too many things at once you could miss what NYC really is. Don't take my word for it, experience it for yourself.

We were in no rush to pick up our tickets, so we decided to leave that until later and instead made our way to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). We lost our bearings for a bit while searching for the MoMA, but were able to find it after a short detour. I'm sure it would have been interesting to see, but the price of admission was close to $30 and none of us had our hearts set on stepping inside, so we bypassed it.

Instead, we went to visit Central Park. Of all the places we visited during our time in NY, I think we spent the most time in Central Park. It was such an amazing place of calm in the big, busy city. The Park itself was much larger than I had expected and even though we walked for a few hours, we did not come close to seeing all of it. There was a zoo in the middle that seemed interesting, but because of the cool, damp conditions we thought the animals might not be as active as they could be and were content with seeing as much of the rest of the Park as we could. Central Park is Jeremiah's favorite park about NYC, and it's easy to see why.

This depiction of Alice in Wonderland was dedicated to someone's family, which we thought was an odd tribute considering the content of the book and the history of its author. Still, the statue was interesting and the picture gives a good idea of the day, overcast and wet.

The only thing remotely like Central Park that we have in DC is the National Mall, which is like comparing the actual Statue of Liberty to an overpriced souvenir. The Mall is completely flat, where Central Park is full of hills and rocks. And trees. This point cannot be overstated. The Mall has almost no trees, at least on the main part, while Central Park is nothing but huge trees, blocking out the skyscrapers and buildings that surround the Park to the point where you almost forget you are in the middle of New York City. Sure, the Mall can be used for things Central Park cannot (Screen on the Green was a really unique experience), but I would love to have a place like Central Park here in the city I work in.

By the time we emerged from Central Park it was getting late and we decided to grab some dinner and head to the theater for the show. We stopped back at the hotel, picked up Jeremiah's credit card, and finished off the remainder of the beer we had purchased the night before. We changed into the clothes we had purchased specifically for this show, which was a little weird because now Jeremiah and I were wearing the same outfit. Autumn said we looked like her bodyguards and insisted on taking a picture of us looking angry with a pretty flower between us.

After picking up our tickets at the box office, we stopped at a very small sushi place just a block or so down from the theater. The problem with eating amazing food is that it forever ruins your future enjoyment of that particular food, and that's what we experienced at Sushi Jun (302 W 50th St, New York, NY). I haven't had sushi since then, but Autumn assured me that it pales in comparison to what we ate that night.

After sushi we went to the theater. Finally, it was time to see the show that was the reason we were in NY in the first place. Almost. We had about an hour before the show started so we had a drink at the bar located in the theater. Slightly buzzed, we made our way into the theater and took our seats in the front row.

The show surpassed all of my expectations. Going in, I was a little worried that it would not live up to the joy I had extracted from watching the movies, but I my fears were unfounded. Although it seems impossible, the show may have actually been better than the movies, combining hilarious jokes, talented performers, and blood. Lots and lots of blood. It sprayed all over the stage and once it started it never stopped coming. It was easy to see the actors took immense enjoyment from what they were doing, pouring gallons of blood on the audience and interacting with us whenever possible.

[Actress wipes blood off the stage onto everyone in the first row.]
Jeremiah: "Why do you keep doing that?!"
Actress: [Makes mocking crying noise at Jeremiah.]

Another actor poured blood directly onto Jeremiah and one of the actresses grabbed my arm.

Possibly the funniest part of the whole show was when one actor was supposed to throw a few pages of paper into a trap door in the stage and missed, prompting him to curse, "Get the fuck down there!" The other actors could barely maintain their composure, grinning on stage and nearly bursting out laughing as the audience enjoyed this joke with the cast. Because the cast enjoyed what they were doing so much and didn't take themselves too seriously, this only added to the show and I'm thankful it happened.

Walking back to the hotel, we received a number of very strange looks, possibly because I was carrying a garbage bag of unknown contents while covered in blood. Possibly because we just looked like freaks. We returned to the hotel, changed our clothes, and, because we were still wired from the show, Jeremiah and I went out in search of food. Being used to DC where everything shuts down at about the same time the metro does, I was amazed by how active the city remained at 4 in the morning. The number of lights, billboards, and flashing signs lit the night as day. It was incredible. Even at 4 am we had to fight the crowds as we made our way through the streets, finally picking up some pizza and beer before returning the hotel.

What a day! We indulged our inner dork, wandered through a forest in the middle of an enormous city, enjoyed the best sushi of our lives, laughed until we cried, and got red on us. What more could a guy ask for?

new york - first impressions

And now, for New York updates!

If I had to sum up my trip to New York in one word, that word would be "awesome".

Getting into the city took longer than I would have expected because 5 lanes of traffic have to condense down into two lanes in order to go through the Lincoln Tunnel, which caused huge delays. Once we finally arrived in the city itself, late on Friday night, I was nervous. It was obvious that this city was a lot different from DC, which is the only big city that I've ever lived in. All of the people, lights, and general craziness made me a bit uncomfortable, but that didn't last.

Our hotel was $200 a night, which really isn't bad considering we were right downtown, just a couple blocks from Times Square. The hotel had its own parking garage attached where we parked for free during the entirety of our stay. That was pretty amazing because we estimated parking for all four days would have cost us around $90.

Once we got settled into our room, we decided to wander about the general area for the rest of the night and see what we could see. We scoped out a couple diners close by (because we would have to eat eventually) as well as the local convenience and liquor stores (because drinking is fun), then headed off in search of fun and adventure, which is seemingly around every turn in that city.

We had dinner at a small burger place near our hotel that was recommended by Jeremiah and Autumn's Not For Tourists NYC book. Huge, delicious burgers and about 50 different kinds to select from, along with thick, creamy shakes. The restaurant did not serve alcohol, but we discovered after the fact that you were allowed to bring your own in and consume it with your meal. It was a cool place with so much character.

After dinner, we spent the remainder of the night just walking around Times Square. What a place! That part of the city was unlike anything I had seen in my time in DC or my trips to other big cities like Detroit, Chicago, or even LA. Every building had some form of flashing sign to draw your attention. Instead of looking up at windows into offices or the simple sides of buildings, I was looking up at giant TV screens that completely covered the building they were posted on. Even McDonald's had a bright flashing sign that gave off the impression that customers would get a show with their Big Mac.

As we wandered around the city, I think the thing that struck me the most was how cool every single bar we passed looked. Every one of them appeared the type of place that I would enjoy just sitting down and having a beer. As Jeremiah put it, "Matt, you aren't a serious drinker, but you taking your drinking seriously." I considered that a fantastic compliment. Also, I never once had a problem with anyone being rude, as the stereotype of New Yorkers would lead us to believe. I think on my first night in NY I witnessed more displays of people holding doors for others than I have in my entire time in DC. I wonder why that is.

Once we started getting tired (not of Times Square, just of walking and because it was 2am) we stopped at a 7-Eleven, picked up a couple six-packs, and retired to our room for the remainder of the evening. Coming from DC, where the whole city closes down at about the same time the metro stops running, it was awesome being in a city where everything is open 24 hours a day. We spent the rest of the night having a few drinks and being continually amazed by the fact that we were in New York city.

Stay tuned for day two. I'll try to post some pictures if I can get some from Jeremiah and Autumn.

Edit:
For those curious, we stayed at the Travel Inn.

buddhism = serenity

Click the image for full view.

god has a sense of humor

slingbox, part 2

After much deliberation, I decided that the potential benefits of purchasing a Slingbox (I would get to watch all of my Detroit sports teams in reasonable quality) outweighed the potential negatives (I might waste $160). I had the box shipped directly to Andrew so he could set it up in Detroit. It took a bit of tinkering, but he eventually got the box working and I must say it is a wonderful product for my purposes. The quality is about what you'd expect from video streamed across the internets, not TV quality, but good enough to watch the Lions lose every week. Slingbox will be the best solution for me because I want to be able to watch all of the Detroit sports teams, something that would cost a pretty penny if I was to try to do the same through satellite. If you want a relatively inexpensive way to watch all of your home teams even while you're across the country, Slingbox is the way to go.

In other news, it's Friday!!!

not the billy bob thorton movie

For the past couple months I've been toying with the idea of purchasing a Slingbox. My idea was that I could have my parents hook it up at their house and then I would be able to watch all of the Detroit sports that I have been missing since moving away. The problem is that I have no practical experience with this technology. I've done a lot of research to see how the device works, but what I'd really like to know is the opinion of someone who owns a Slingbox. So if you own a Slingbox or know someone who does, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail to let me know if it's worth purchasing, especially for my intended use.

it was legendary

It's been a couple weeks since my last post, so here's a quick update.

Spent last weekend hanging out with Kurt and Justin. Kurt flew up for the weekend. I hadn't seen Kurt in a long time so it was really nice to be able to hang out and spend time with one of my best friends. We spent all day Saturday drinking in DC and then went to see the Violent Femmes at the 930 Club. Great show. Sunday was spent in Baltimore at Drew and Misti's house eating an incredible barbecue dinner, enjoying a few drinks, and just spending time socializing. (I'll post a picture soon.)

I purchased my tickets to fly back to Michigan over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll get see my family and go to the Lions game. Not sure who, if anyone, will be around, so if anyone is going to be in Gaylord over Thanksgiving let me know.

hemorrhaging money

I've made a couple large purchases in the past couple of days, something I very rarely do. Neither of them were planned.

A few days ago, my computer monitor died on me. It was a 19" flat screen CRT from KDS. I wasn't too upset because I had purchased it with a pretty good rebate a few years ago. I spent around $80 on it. Luckily, I had a 17" that I was able to use as my backup, but after using a 19" flat screen for so long, it quickly became apparent that this wasn't going to cut it for long. I needed something better.

After much debating, I eventually decided to go a little overboard and buy something unnecessarily large. I purchased a Dell LCD 20.1" Ultrasharp Widescreen and it is every bit as beautiful as it sounds and for 20% off the normal price it was easily worth it (it even has Picture-in-Picture, which I find absurd).

Today I purchased a pair of items that were also expensive and won't even last me as long as the monitor. I had decided months ago to go to the Lions' Thanksgiving Day game with my dad and knew that I could get tickets from Ticketmaster when they went on sale today. I should have been able to, but I screwed it up and lost the tickets. Determined to go, I bought a couple of tickets off Stubhub instead (which is a great site because you can get tickets to anything, just expect to pay a little more). The tickets cost more than I had expected since I wasn't able to get them at face value, but instead of sitting in the upper bowl, my dad and I will now be sitting in the lower bowl, row 14, at the back of the endzone. I can't wait.

it's funny...

...because it's true.

today's post brought to you by the word "ass"

At work yesterday, my boss had issues with the word "assess" that Tysen had used in a memo. He said it looked like "asses", which it sort of does, but in the context it would be impossible to get the two confused. Of course, he wanted to change it, Tysen wanted it to stay, and I didn't care, but found the conversation endlessly entertaining. So, Tysen and I made a few creative changes to the memo to include as many words beginning with ass we could find. Here is my paragraph:

The assertive assistant assassinated the assay before the assurgent associate could asseverate it. The associate is an assiduous asshole for assigning the assistant to assemble assorted asses and assuage the assumptions of the assault. We must assail the associate with assegais until he assents to assess the associate's assimilation and assure us it is an asset.

You can check out Tysen's paragraph here.

why do you always do this, metro?

I've had some interesting experiences on the Metro recently, and not all of them enjoyable.

Last weekend, Tysen and I went to a party at his friend's house. The party started at 10pm and we left around 8pm because the blue line was undergoing maintenance and would probably take an extra half hour to get where we were going. Even with the work on the trains, leaving at 8pm should have put us at the part a little early. Instead, we didn't arrive at the party until 11pm. Half way between Van Dorn and King Street, our train broke down. We had to wait until they could bring another train to pull our train back to Van Dorn. Then, they put us on a different train to King Street. It took a really long time and I was very anxious to get to this party. Still, we didn't get upset and just relaxed and eventually made it to our destination. On the plus side, our delay allowed us time to strike up a conversation with a guy on the metro named Riley. He was in a marine officer training program and just up visiting his girlfriend in DC. He was interesting to talk to. I hope he made it to his destination.

The following Monday, on our way to work, the entire metro station at Springfield closed down. Apparently, it was out of power. Instead, metro bussed everyone from Springfield to Van Dorn. We waited for quite a while before a woman, who apparently needed to get to work very badly, offered to give us a ride in her car so she could take the HOV (carpool) lane. We weren't even an hour late for work after that. It makes me wonder if it would be worth it to drive in every day.

Then there was the guy who tried to get me to sign up for Amway (or something like it). In case you don't know, Amway is essentially a pyramid scheme. It is possible to make money doing it, but most people don't. He initiated the conversation by "accidentally" bumping into me, then asking me where I worked and other random questions. He seemed like a nice guy, but I was wary since he was talking on the metro, which normal people do not do. I quickly figured out what he was trying to sell me, but I let him talk since listening to him was more interesting than standing on the train trying not to make eye contact with the other passengers. Maybe if I see him again I'll give him pointers on his approach.

The last of my metro stories, but certainly not the least interesting, happened when I was waiting for a train (I think it was at Metro Center). One of the pay phones started ringing and a girl answered it, listened for a second, then hung up saying, "Well that was incredibly inappropriate." The phone started ringing again and the girl's boyfriend picked up the phone, said something I couldn't hear, then hung up. I walked over and asked them what the person had said. Apparently, a very man with a very low, whispery voice said, "I want to suck your pussy." "That was friendly," was the only thing I could think to say. What would posses someone to do such a thing? People amaze me.

In an somewhat unrelated matter, on Wednesday I went on my first date since moving to DC. It was fun. Maybe I'll see her again.

back in the swing of things

Have you ever been to a movie you were tempted to walk out of? I never thought this would happen to me, but I was wrong. I went to see Miami Vice last week and it was every bit as bad as I imagined it would be. The dialogue was just terrible, on a level with Star Wars: Episode II (yes, it was that bad). The directing was bad to the point of being distracting, which is odd considering the same man directed Heat and the Last of the Mohicans. Despite all of that, the reason I felt like leaving is because I was bored. That's it. If this had been a rental or just a movie I found while flipping channels on my TV at home I would not have watched more than five minutes of it.

I wasn't surprised by how bad the movie was (I expected as much), but I was surprised by the lack of anything interesting happening.

Last night I watched WarGames (Blogger's spell check wanted to replace "WarGames" with "arguing". What?) on TV. Despite the fact that the film is so outdated it made me laugh (monitors with only the ability to display black backgrounds and green text, huge computer banks with randomly flashing lights that apparently mean something to someone), it really is one of the best "hacker/computer" movies out there.

Tysen, Kathryn and I have tickets to a free pre-screening of Little Miss Sunshine tonight. I'm looking forward to it from the previews. I've always thought Greg Kinnear was funnier than he got credit for.

Don is coming to visit me in a couple weeks. Should be a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've seen him (New Years).

updates galore

Wow, it's been well over a month since I've posted to my blog. At least now I know people do visit here once in a while because I was reprimanded by several people for not updating.

Another opinion is that I haven't been updating because I finally have a life, but we all know that's not really the case.

So much has happened since my last post, meaning this post will most likely be a rambling of sorts while I try to remember all points of interest.

Emily visited last weekend and I had a great time. We checked out the bar just across the street from my apartment which, for reasons I cannot explain, I had never visited before. It's a bit of a yuppie bar, but not a bad place to have a beer and watch part of a game. I may visit there once in a while now that I know what it's like.

We spent all of Monday in DC. We visited all of the big monuments and more. Both of us were totally worn out by the day to the point where we barely left the apartment on Tuesday. We didn't go into DC for the 4th of July fireworks because of the rain, but I wasn't very disappointed. Maybe I'll go next year if I'm looking for something to do. (Kathryn posted a cool picture she took of the fireworks on her blog.)

On Sunday Em and I spent the day watching the World Cup and drinking. By the evening, we had polished off a couple white russians, a bottle of wine, and some beer. We were inebriated. We then sat out on my balcony, in the rain, watching the spectacular thunder storm, and singing Red Elvises songs, while Della Resse told Richard Pryor in Harlem Nights to, "Kiss my entire ass!" It was a good night.

You can check out some of the pictures Emily took of the visit on her blog.

The weekend before, Greg came to visit and we also had a great time. On Saturday we met Justin, Matt, and Drew at the Old Dominion Beer Festival, drank some good beer and bullshitted all day. I can't ask for much more than that.

On Tuesday we went to Georgetown and met up with a couple of Greg's college friends, Jeremiah and Autumn. They were really cool and hopefully I'll be hanging out with them more in the future.

While I was at work Monday and Tuesday, Greg spent the day sightseeing. Unfortunately for him, it rained constantly for both days causing less than favorable conditions and the closing of a couple Smithsonian buildings (probably due to flooding or power loss). Of course, the weather cleared up the day after he left.

While staying at my place, Greg introduced me to a series of graphic novels called the Last Man. I picked up the first one at a comic shop in Woodbridge (along with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, Volume 1). After reading that first book, I'm really looking forward to picking up the second one (along with Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 2). I'm a comic book nerd.

I also ordered books V and VI of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I can't wait to read these, as the first four books have been by far the best Stephen King books I've ever read.

Last night, I went with Justin, Tysen, and Kathryn to a pre-screening of a Scanner Darkly. It was both interesting and strange. Justin said, "I think Philip K. Dick was a heroin addict," and I am inclined to agree. The entire film uses rotoscope animation, enhancing the already odd feel of the movie. If you're a fan of the sci-fi distopia genre, you'd probably enjoy this film.

Those are enough updates for now. There's a sizable chunk of information for you to chew on, compared to what I usually post.

it wasn't even cool back then

On Saturday, I spent most of the day in D.C. with Justin, Misti, Drew, and Drew's family. It was a lot of fun. Drew's dad seemed like a really cool, laid-back guy. We spent all day downtown eating lunch, drinking beer, and sightseeing. I even got to make it to the American History Smithsonian to see the new Muppet exhibit. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but it still had some interesting stuff. If you're a fan of the Muppets you should check it out. It was a long and exhausting day, but I enjoyed it.

When I got home from that excursion, I flicked on the television and, for reasons I cannot explain, stopped on the local cable access channel. They had different musicians on singing protest songs, mostly concerning the war in Iraq. It was interesting, but at the same time I couldn't help laughing just a little bit. These guys took themselves a little too seriously. Still, I admire their musical ability (something I do not have) and their fortitude to stand up for what they believe in.

Another issue of growing concern is the ongoing revival of 80s fashion. How can this be happening? In general, this movement appears to be limited to young girls, high school or early college age. I'm no expert on fashion, as anyone who has seen my wardrobe can attest, but can these girls actually think they look good? I think the vast majority of these girls have no idea they are imitating the stiles of the 80s. Sure, my generation imitated the trends of the 70s, but we knew what we were doing. We just didn't care.

Can anyone out there answer these questions for me?

• Do they think they look good?
• Do they know they are imitating the 80s?
• Were the 80s ever actually cool?
• When did wind chimes become a proper replacement for earrings?
• Isn't wearing a skirt over top of pants excessive?
• Can I start wearing those MC Hammer pants I've been saving?
• What's the fastest animal in the world?
• Do we need to worry teenagers will resurrect other crappy trends?
  

And while we're on the subject, are the children of this generation less intelligent than those of my generation? This is the way it appears to me and a number of other people my age. Are we, as a society, losing intelligence, beginning with our youth? If so, why? Or does every generation feel this way about the younger generations?

no news is good news

I would appreciate hearing some good news today. Post a comment containing good news, or least something that will put a smile on the faces of those who read it.

rfk is a hole

One of the nice things about moving to DC is that I now have a professional soccer team to call my very own. There is no MLS team in Detroit (probably because they would end up being known as the Detroit Violence, but that's another story). I feel no desire to cheer for any of the other DC sports teams, such as the Redskins or Capitals, but I'm certain this is because I already have favorite teams that cover these areas and have allegiance to more than one team in a sport can lead to trouble.

So now I have my soccer team. This last weekend was my first trip to see them live at RFK stadium in DC. I enjoyed everything about this experience, the game itself, the friendly and soccer-knowledgeable fans around me, and the crazy fans on the other size of the stadium jumping up and down and making their entire section shake (I wanted to be in that section!).

My one complaint is with RFK and those who have been there know what I mean. It is probably the worst stadium to see a sporting event that I have ever been in. It looks really nice from the outside, but inside it is small, old, and just worn-down. Our seats ended and dropped down into an area of just nothing. Here's a picture I took of it with my phone:


It will be better for everyone involved, especially fans and players, when they finally build this team a new soccer-specific stadium.

he's watching you

Ceiling Cat