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Trish and I went to Washington DC this weekend, where we met my Mom and Dad and they took us to see "The Lion King" musical performed at the Kennedy Center. Mom and Trish loved the play, which I am glad for. As for me, I could tell that what I was looking at was top-notch theatre: this would be an extremely difficult effort to pull off and the cast and crew did it brilliantly, the sets and the costumes were fantastic and well-thought out, the actors were wonderful and even the dancers were a joy to watch. If I was a professional critic, I'd have no choice but to give it full marks and a rave review.
But, as it is, I am a 26 year old engineer who never really liked the Lion King even when it was a cartoon. As such, I never really got drawn into the play and so...eh, let's give it three and half stars out of four. But if you do really like the Lion King and want to see some great theatre, I suggest you see it if you get the chance, you won't be disappointed.
We were staying in a fancy hotel on 14th street in downtown DC, only a few blocks from the White House itself. I don't know if the President was in town this past weekend, but as we drove down constitution avenue on the way in, past the Lincoln Memorial and the memorial to our wars fought in the last century, and up to the stately Washington Monument, I couldn't help but think of him.
It'd be easy to say something here about the greatetness of some of the men who are memorialized in stone, from Washington to Lincoln to the soliders whose names are carved in polished, black, granite, and compare them to the man who would be King who was, perhaps only a few blocks away rattling around in that big house. But I won't do that. Though I feel sorry for some of the messes his administration has made, I find myself feeling a little sorry for the man himself.
I feel sorry for him becuase he was a man who should have never been the President. I think it would have been better for him if he had stuck it out as owner of the Texas Rangers, a straight talking Texan who loves cracking jokes with the press and making decisions to buy or sell players on the fly as he clears the immortal brush from his Texas ranch. Heck, who knows, maybe he even bcomes the next commonisioner of Baseball, and maybe he runs the league into the ground. But who cares? It's just baseball, and that son-of-a-gun Bush is a helluva funny guy.
I wonder, as he clears brush well into retirement, if he wonders if he should have had that job, and maybe he's sad that he didn't have it.
I know I am.
Reluctant Chelsea Football Fan
27 July 2008 @ 08:08 pm
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18 July 2008 @ 09:13 pm
Yes, yes. We have all heard about the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev. Aside from hoping that Busch Gardens doesn't get sold and that no one really does lose their job, I don't particuarly care if InBev wants to own the Budweiser family of beers. It has been ages since I'd even had a Budweiser: I think I shotgunned once at a small party during a SNAME trip. To those of you that weren't there: I am sorry you didn't get to see this once in a lifetime event, never again duplicated. Unfortunately there are no pictures of this proudest of proud college moments. Anyways, that's what Budweiser had been to me in my 8 years of beer drinking: a beer barely worthy of shotgunning, blocked out of memory like the time that I...Yeah. That was something that I shouldn't have been unnblocked.
But tonight, as Trish and I sat in our local Texas Roadhouse, I saw a picture of a bottle of Bud on the front of the menu and something stirred in me, something way down in my heart. Perhaps it was the same something that lead our forefathers to risk their lives to declare indepdence from the British (which is something they really, really should never have done). Perhaps it was the same feeling that led Barrack Obama to finally dig that flag pin out from behind the cold pack of cigarettes that stare up at him when he opens his sock drawer, and that led Grover Cleveland to...do the awesome stuff that Grover Cleveland did during his time in office. Did you know that he is the only man to serve in the Presidency over two non-consequitive terms? You do now.
My friends, that feeling is nothing but true red white and blue patriotism seeping through my Euro-centric veins. I realized that it isn't right for these waffle-eating Belgians with their atheistic mores and floppy hats come in to buy a product that has done more to furhter the vast population of this great god-fearing land than any other product known to man. Its sad to see an American icon be no longer wholly American. And its sad to think what all those bikini-clad bombshells who star in the Budweiser ads are going to do when they are replaced by pale, sad looking Belgian men wearing speedos.
And so, in a euporia over my great nation and troubled by its great loss, I told my waiter to bring me a cold American-made Budweiser, in a frosty mug.
And make it a tall.
I could barely speak to my wife as I waited in anticipation for the 22 ounces of frosty cold American goodness that was coming my way, and when it arrived I could only marvel at its beauty. At last I raised the golden liquid up to my lips and....
And....
Nothing. It tastes like water, with maybe a little bit of essence of beer added before shipping. Hell, the Beligians can have our beer if they can make it better or at least promise not make it any worse. As for me, the flag lapel pin goes into the drawer until I can find a truly great beer for a truly great nation. I do beleive a trip down the Samuel Adams aisle is in my future.
Current Location: Texas Roadhouse
Current Mood: 
disappointed
disappointedCurrent Music: People dropping peanut shells on the floor and farting Martin Lutheresquely
13 July 2008 @ 04:33 pm
My brother asked me the other day a question that I believe is the most interesting question in English football (and by that I mean soccer) to ask over that long dark interval between May and August when there is no English Premier League.
Who, outside the top four soccer clubs, is going to have the best record in the Premier League this season?
For those of you who don't follow the sport, the Premier League is the top tear of English soccer, and in any given season the title is 95% likely to go to one of four teams: Manchester United, Aresenal, Chelsea (woot woot), or Liverpool. They have the most money, therefore the best players, the biggest fan base, and usually a good team manager and coaching staff behind them. In fact, over recent memory I believe these four teams have finished 1,2,3,4, in different orders.
What about the other 16 teams? The ones that aren't as good battle to stay out of the relegation zone. To those of you familiar with the facebook note this is construct by which the bottom three teams in the league get kicked out of the Premier League into the Championship league. Imagine if the three worst Major League Baseball teams got sent to AAA and the three best AAA teams moved up to MLB at the end fo the season. Wouldn't that be amazing!!?? The better teams try to win a trophy in various competitions and maybe, just maybe, try to squeak into fourth place in the standings.
So, to return to the question: which team outside the top four is going to be the best?
My first guess: Everton. They finished 5th last year, and there's no reason to really believe that they can't do it again: Except statistics. The odds that a team in 5th will finish in the same place the following season? They have to be small. So mathematically, they are ruled out.
That leaves Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Blackburn, Tottenham Hotspur and....yes, I do beleive I'll say it....Middlesboro. I won't go into my methodical analysis (which basically consisted of visiting the BBC website whilst eating an ENGLISH muffin and whistling "Its a Long Way to Tipperary), but in the end I settled on:
Portsmouth!
I just think it looks like they have the most positives going for them. They have the same manager as last year, they've pulled down a decent striker by signing Peter Crouch, they've got a tested goal keeper and it doesn't sound like their ownership is going to change anytime soon. They are thinking of building a new stadium and training ground and I haven't heard that people are upset about it yet. True, they are in the UEFA cup next year and that could destract them, but I just feel that more than anyother team they have the most positives in their column as far as players, lack of apparent boardroom strife, and management stability.
Of course, it just amounts to a big wild ass guess in the end. Once the season starts you never know what will happen...though you can bet with decent odds on who the league title will go to in the end.
Who, outside the top four soccer clubs, is going to have the best record in the Premier League this season?
For those of you who don't follow the sport, the Premier League is the top tear of English soccer, and in any given season the title is 95% likely to go to one of four teams: Manchester United, Aresenal, Chelsea (woot woot), or Liverpool. They have the most money, therefore the best players, the biggest fan base, and usually a good team manager and coaching staff behind them. In fact, over recent memory I believe these four teams have finished 1,2,3,4, in different orders.
What about the other 16 teams? The ones that aren't as good battle to stay out of the relegation zone. To those of you familiar with the facebook note this is construct by which the bottom three teams in the league get kicked out of the Premier League into the Championship league. Imagine if the three worst Major League Baseball teams got sent to AAA and the three best AAA teams moved up to MLB at the end fo the season. Wouldn't that be amazing!!?? The better teams try to win a trophy in various competitions and maybe, just maybe, try to squeak into fourth place in the standings.
So, to return to the question: which team outside the top four is going to be the best?
My first guess: Everton. They finished 5th last year, and there's no reason to really believe that they can't do it again: Except statistics. The odds that a team in 5th will finish in the same place the following season? They have to be small. So mathematically, they are ruled out.
That leaves Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Blackburn, Tottenham Hotspur and....yes, I do beleive I'll say it....Middlesboro. I won't go into my methodical analysis (which basically consisted of visiting the BBC website whilst eating an ENGLISH muffin and whistling "Its a Long Way to Tipperary), but in the end I settled on:
Portsmouth!
I just think it looks like they have the most positives going for them. They have the same manager as last year, they've pulled down a decent striker by signing Peter Crouch, they've got a tested goal keeper and it doesn't sound like their ownership is going to change anytime soon. They are thinking of building a new stadium and training ground and I haven't heard that people are upset about it yet. True, they are in the UEFA cup next year and that could destract them, but I just feel that more than anyother team they have the most positives in their column as far as players, lack of apparent boardroom strife, and management stability.
Of course, it just amounts to a big wild ass guess in the end. Once the season starts you never know what will happen...though you can bet with decent odds on who the league title will go to in the end.
09 July 2008 @ 07:10 pm
I was excited to hear recently that the Spin Doctors were going to rock Newport News at the annual 4th of July Festival, held way down in the southern part of the city. Normally I wouldn't risk getting mugged to go and see some fireworks, but the addition of the Spin Doctors made the decision to go or not a little more intriguing.
I was only 9 when the band's only real hit album, "Pocket Full of Kryptonite" tore up the charts. Their pop-sensibility and generally friendly lyrics are a part of my youth, for the band was still getting a ton of air time when I finally started getting interested in rock and roll when I was 11 or 12. It was a time of great change. We moved to a new house. I went to a new school. I got a dog. I woke up one morning and suddenly girls - and strangely, for some reason, root beer - seemed more interesting to me, but not so much as yet to cause extreme anxiety. Through this lovely little awakening "Two Princes", "Pocket full of Kryptonite" and maybe some other song I can't remember provided an upbeat soundtrack.
I never forgot about the Spin Doctors. When I was younger I considered buying their albums becuase I thought it was something I could get away with. I always thought if I bought albums from the bands I was really interested in like Nirvana or Metallica, my mom would listen to them and carefully and quietly remove them from my room while she put away my folded socks. But the Spin Doctors seemed like a safe alternative, a good compromise. I never bought those albums, preferring instead to spend my money on old Paula Abdul albums becuase she, unlike the Spin Doctors, had boobs.
Even later, when I shamelessly listened to Scandanavian Death Metal on my discman while eating my Sunday morning pancakes before Church my hardened heart still held one soft spot for the Spin Doctors, and a couple times in the music stores I came very close to buying one of their albums. A few times I even had them in my hand, and walked up to the counter, getting ready to fish $16 precious dollars out of my pocket.
But then I thought "Nah." And I'd go and blow my money on discount cigarettes I used to buy from a one eyed man named "The Dude" and then I'd spend the rest of the day playing Mario Kart and watching Beavis and Butthead. Thems was the days my friends. Thems was the days.
So maybe, I thought this past July 3rd, It is time to give the Spin Doctors their due, to thank them for providing a soundtrack to my years as a preteen and go see their absolutely free concert from which they will not see a penny from my pocket. I had the keys in my pocket and was on my way out to the car when I thought "Nah," and went back inside, popped a pill, and watched my favorite episodes of "Beavis and Butthead" on my high quality HD plasma screen TV.
I was only 9 when the band's only real hit album, "Pocket Full of Kryptonite" tore up the charts. Their pop-sensibility and generally friendly lyrics are a part of my youth, for the band was still getting a ton of air time when I finally started getting interested in rock and roll when I was 11 or 12. It was a time of great change. We moved to a new house. I went to a new school. I got a dog. I woke up one morning and suddenly girls - and strangely, for some reason, root beer - seemed more interesting to me, but not so much as yet to cause extreme anxiety. Through this lovely little awakening "Two Princes", "Pocket full of Kryptonite" and maybe some other song I can't remember provided an upbeat soundtrack.
I never forgot about the Spin Doctors. When I was younger I considered buying their albums becuase I thought it was something I could get away with. I always thought if I bought albums from the bands I was really interested in like Nirvana or Metallica, my mom would listen to them and carefully and quietly remove them from my room while she put away my folded socks. But the Spin Doctors seemed like a safe alternative, a good compromise. I never bought those albums, preferring instead to spend my money on old Paula Abdul albums becuase she, unlike the Spin Doctors, had boobs.
Even later, when I shamelessly listened to Scandanavian Death Metal on my discman while eating my Sunday morning pancakes before Church my hardened heart still held one soft spot for the Spin Doctors, and a couple times in the music stores I came very close to buying one of their albums. A few times I even had them in my hand, and walked up to the counter, getting ready to fish $16 precious dollars out of my pocket.
But then I thought "Nah." And I'd go and blow my money on discount cigarettes I used to buy from a one eyed man named "The Dude" and then I'd spend the rest of the day playing Mario Kart and watching Beavis and Butthead. Thems was the days my friends. Thems was the days.
So maybe, I thought this past July 3rd, It is time to give the Spin Doctors their due, to thank them for providing a soundtrack to my years as a preteen and go see their absolutely free concert from which they will not see a penny from my pocket. I had the keys in my pocket and was on my way out to the car when I thought "Nah," and went back inside, popped a pill, and watched my favorite episodes of "Beavis and Butthead" on my high quality HD plasma screen TV.
04 July 2008 @ 08:49 pm
It is a day when men everywhere can truly claim their independence, a new dawn full of bright possibility. Yes, at long last, the wait is over: Axe has developed a loofah for men. I saw a commercial for it on TV today. Its not even really a loofah, its like a sponge encased in black plastic or something like it.
I've been using body wash for 8 long years, and I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to go through the check-out line with this fluffy white loofah in your cart. But there are few other options. Yes you can try using your hand, but come on - there is no way you can build up the rich lather required with just your hand. Old Spice recommends the use of a rag, but I find once again you just can't get the same lather build up, which is really what body wash is all about.
So you do what you can - you buy a white or a green loofah, and for heaven's sake whatever you do never call it a loofah. A shower thingy is good, or a lather builder. But "loofah?"
I've longed for someone to put out a "loofah for men". It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but I'd always held my hopes high that one day I'd turn on the tube and see Mr.T or Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippin endorsing a loofah that looked like a basketball or an M-16. Something manly and tough that would still produce the luxurious lather that I need to really get myself clean. It appears that, at long last, that day has come.
Do I intend to buy said product? Well....no, probably not. I've arrived at an uneasy truce between my loofah and my sense of masculinity. Yes, you'd be right in guessing that I had to make some concessions to the loofah. I had to promise to forever more call it a "loofah" instead of "lather builder" and I had to basically surrender the bathroom to its will. Down goes the GI Joe shower curtains, the pin-up girls are ripped from their stately place on the walls, and my Brute aftershave is in the trash. In comes the candles, the body lotion, the bath oils, a little basket full of soaps, and a very tasteful white shower curtain.
But I won a little bit as well. The loofah agreed to no electric razors, accepted a wish on my part to never buy a GPS system for my car of my own free will AND the Old Spice Body wash gets to stay. And I don't mean the "Mountain Fresh" scent or "Sport". I'm talking Old Spice Classic. That is a scent that will put hair on your chest. Whether or not those hairs are going to stick around for long is the subject of further negotiation between myself and my loofah at talks at the loofah's Cape Cod estate. I hear the bathroom is just to die for.
I've been using body wash for 8 long years, and I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to go through the check-out line with this fluffy white loofah in your cart. But there are few other options. Yes you can try using your hand, but come on - there is no way you can build up the rich lather required with just your hand. Old Spice recommends the use of a rag, but I find once again you just can't get the same lather build up, which is really what body wash is all about.
So you do what you can - you buy a white or a green loofah, and for heaven's sake whatever you do never call it a loofah. A shower thingy is good, or a lather builder. But "loofah?"
I've longed for someone to put out a "loofah for men". It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but I'd always held my hopes high that one day I'd turn on the tube and see Mr.T or Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippin endorsing a loofah that looked like a basketball or an M-16. Something manly and tough that would still produce the luxurious lather that I need to really get myself clean. It appears that, at long last, that day has come.
Do I intend to buy said product? Well....no, probably not. I've arrived at an uneasy truce between my loofah and my sense of masculinity. Yes, you'd be right in guessing that I had to make some concessions to the loofah. I had to promise to forever more call it a "loofah" instead of "lather builder" and I had to basically surrender the bathroom to its will. Down goes the GI Joe shower curtains, the pin-up girls are ripped from their stately place on the walls, and my Brute aftershave is in the trash. In comes the candles, the body lotion, the bath oils, a little basket full of soaps, and a very tasteful white shower curtain.
But I won a little bit as well. The loofah agreed to no electric razors, accepted a wish on my part to never buy a GPS system for my car of my own free will AND the Old Spice Body wash gets to stay. And I don't mean the "Mountain Fresh" scent or "Sport". I'm talking Old Spice Classic. That is a scent that will put hair on your chest. Whether or not those hairs are going to stick around for long is the subject of further negotiation between myself and my loofah at talks at the loofah's Cape Cod estate. I hear the bathroom is just to die for.
Current Mood: 
ecstatic
ecstatic03 July 2008 @ 07:54 pm
Trish and I are likely to have a fairly quiet independence day. I think we are going to a party with some people that Trish and I know from Trish's work and babysitting. I'm not even sure if we are going to be watching any fireworks tomorrow. That's okay, because I know that in a few years we'll have to take our child to see the fireworks. I know that I am speaking for myself, but if I can wait a couple years before necessity drives me to fight the traffic and the heat to see a fireworks show I'm sure I'll enjoy it more.
That's been my approach to a lot of things of late. For example, I find myself eschewing family films. It's not because I find myself not enjoying them (some of them are great, especially the Pixar ones and the Narnia ones...though a really little kid probably can't watch Narnia just yet), but I know that for the next 8-12 years those will be my lot, for the most part. So I've been trying as hard as possible to watch movies with as much gratuitous nudity and cursing as possible, or at least as much as Trish can stand. Not so much on the violence.
The new job is going well. After only a few days I have a hunch that the work will be, on average, more interesting than what I was doing before. Maybe that's because the work my new department has me doing is more in line with my education. I find I can better focus on what I am doing because I actually understand the mechanics of it better; more of my intellect can be brought to a problem or learning something new.
I do hope, however, that I will be able to fit in with my new group. My old group was made up of aging engineers and designers who had won the right to complain after years of bitter service to the company. There were a little gripes and it was a little depressing. We also were not solidy behind our supervisor, we didn't think he was that great of a leader.
The new group is a little younger and though they gripe (who doesn't) they work very hard and morale is definetly a lot higher. have learned they like to play jokes on each other, practical jokes and verbal joshing, and that is what makes we wonder how well I will end up fitting in. While I can take a joke I can't design many, and I'm not a quick verbal wit at someone else's expense. I'm too nice to really do that. Sure, I can laugh with everyone else, but I don't think I contribute much. On the other hand, when I do, it will be a big deal...
I hope they don't try to scare me. Ask Trish about this. I am easily startled and when I am startled I tend to jump around and yell obscenities at the top of my lungs. It's not a pretty sight. I'm not sure about this, but I think its due to the time I spent alone on the Appalachian Trail. Not that anything wierd happened out there. It just messes a little with your mind.
That's been my approach to a lot of things of late. For example, I find myself eschewing family films. It's not because I find myself not enjoying them (some of them are great, especially the Pixar ones and the Narnia ones...though a really little kid probably can't watch Narnia just yet), but I know that for the next 8-12 years those will be my lot, for the most part. So I've been trying as hard as possible to watch movies with as much gratuitous nudity and cursing as possible, or at least as much as Trish can stand. Not so much on the violence.
The new job is going well. After only a few days I have a hunch that the work will be, on average, more interesting than what I was doing before. Maybe that's because the work my new department has me doing is more in line with my education. I find I can better focus on what I am doing because I actually understand the mechanics of it better; more of my intellect can be brought to a problem or learning something new.
I do hope, however, that I will be able to fit in with my new group. My old group was made up of aging engineers and designers who had won the right to complain after years of bitter service to the company. There were a little gripes and it was a little depressing. We also were not solidy behind our supervisor, we didn't think he was that great of a leader.
The new group is a little younger and though they gripe (who doesn't) they work very hard and morale is definetly a lot higher. have learned they like to play jokes on each other, practical jokes and verbal joshing, and that is what makes we wonder how well I will end up fitting in. While I can take a joke I can't design many, and I'm not a quick verbal wit at someone else's expense. I'm too nice to really do that. Sure, I can laugh with everyone else, but I don't think I contribute much. On the other hand, when I do, it will be a big deal...
I hope they don't try to scare me. Ask Trish about this. I am easily startled and when I am startled I tend to jump around and yell obscenities at the top of my lungs. It's not a pretty sight. I'm not sure about this, but I think its due to the time I spent alone on the Appalachian Trail. Not that anything wierd happened out there. It just messes a little with your mind.
Current Mood: content
content01 July 2008 @ 09:39 pm
So, for my first post on Live Journal, I have come down with a nasty case of writer's block.
I mean, what do you say? Your first entry. Your first blog...thingy. It's got to be real good. But the muse, I find, has packed her bags and gone to LA to gamble her life savings. She's going to let it all ride on 21 Red and just let it ride for double or nothing. She hasn't done much for me lately, my muse, but I wish her the best nevertheless. Perhaps if she can better secure her reitrement she'd be more willing to help me out.
So, a little about myself I guess in case you don't know me. I am about 26ish, I'm an engineer, I just started a new job, which looks promising. My wife, who has a live journal account and invited me here in the first place, is expecting a baby in December.
She writes a lot of things about me. I'm glad that at last you all will get to hear my side of the story.
I'd like to be a writer, and as you might have guessed from my username (if you can see it), I am a reluctant Chelsea Football Club Fan.
So that is what this whole Live Journal thing is about. Shameless self-promotion, my frustrations as a part-time and extremely unsucessful writier, Chelsea football club, and Family stuff. I hope you all enjoy.
I mean, what do you say? Your first entry. Your first blog...thingy. It's got to be real good. But the muse, I find, has packed her bags and gone to LA to gamble her life savings. She's going to let it all ride on 21 Red and just let it ride for double or nothing. She hasn't done much for me lately, my muse, but I wish her the best nevertheless. Perhaps if she can better secure her reitrement she'd be more willing to help me out.
So, a little about myself I guess in case you don't know me. I am about 26ish, I'm an engineer, I just started a new job, which looks promising. My wife, who has a live journal account and invited me here in the first place, is expecting a baby in December.
She writes a lot of things about me. I'm glad that at last you all will get to hear my side of the story.
I'd like to be a writer, and as you might have guessed from my username (if you can see it), I am a reluctant Chelsea Football Club Fan.
So that is what this whole Live Journal thing is about. Shameless self-promotion, my frustrations as a part-time and extremely unsucessful writier, Chelsea football club, and Family stuff. I hope you all enjoy.