
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Damn Nature, You Scary

Wednesday, November 24, 2010
For Those About to Shop, We Salute You

Well guys and gals, it’s that time of year again. Time to give thanks for everything we have and everyone special that helps carry us through this journey known as life. And what better way to do so than stuffing our faces with turkey, mounds of mashed potatoes, piles of corn, dumplings and one slice of each kind of pie sitting atop the checkered apron covered table. After the binge fest is done, we gravitate toward the couch, chair or open floor space to watch the Detroit Lions or Dallas Cowboys heave a football up and down a field while drifting off into the best nap of the year.
Once the sleeping pill effects of the meal wear off, we sluggishly shuffle to bed so we can get up in four hours to join the mosh pit about to turn stampede outside Wal-Mart. Some are lucky enough that they sleep all the way to 3 a.m. and just get up like normal and venture out in search of that sixty inch LCD HDTV. I bet some whacky owner of a retail store planned this out perfectly. They shared the common Thanksgiving experience, fell asleep, came to at four in the morning and decided it would be a fantastic time to shop! They kept all this excitement bottled up for a year and when mid-November rolled around they announced that they would be slashing prices for one day! And that day was the Friday after Thanksgiving! Perfect for Christmas shopping! The catch... it starts at 4 a.m.
When this little bomb dropped it spread like wildfire and caught the attention of every company owner from the docks of the Northeast to the beaches of Hawaii. Now we have what is called Black Friday. It’s a disaster of a “holiday” where adults that are hopped up on too much caffeine make the uneducated choice of bringing their five-year-old to the outlet mall. So it’s Tammy shouting at the top of her lungs for little Jeffrey to get back in the cart while daddy browses electronics with a blank look on his face. If you’re familiar with my blogs, I wrote something about it last year. It was mainly a dumb little how-to guide on surviving the crazy shoppers. So why write about it again? Such a fascinating topic can’t be ignored… I think.
I’ve had time to sit back and let thoughts bounce around in my head so I can get a better view of the brave Black Friday warriors. I’ve come up with a new theory during the past few weeks. These early bird shoppers are not much different than hunters. You know; the camouflage clad, gun toting, animal shootin’ gangsters of the woods. Chances are that you either hunt or know people that do so. These folks get up when the bar crowd is stumbling in just to tip-toe their way to some debacle of a tree fort in the forest so they MIGHT shoot some defenseless animal (Defenseless as in they literally are without weapon). When the potential animal is dead they drag it back to their F-250, load it up, strap it down, call it a day’s work and head back (enjoy some stereotypes).
Black Friday warriors (their new nickname courtesy of me) a.k.a. fanny pack wearin’, double shot latté chuggin’, cart pushin’ crazy people get up at the same time as those hunter dudes. No helpless little animal in their sights though, just a GPS, TV, some wicked new phone or the latest in fashion. They gather in a group outside the doors of retail stores around the country and wait like Usain Bolt on the starting block listening for a “POP!” so they can rush the doors. With the ferocity of a wild animal protecting their young and the focus of an assassin they rush the target. Throwing out an occasional white sneaker to impede another’s progress is commonplace during this hunt. No retreat, no surrender!! Getting to said target might seem like mission impossible but it’s merely half the battle. Now they have to apply some stiff arms, spin moves and possibly lower a shoulder to find the checkout line which is backed up to the freezer section.
Even making it to the end of this line is no treat because a very gruff and disinterested cashier who had to make their eggs a little too early waits for them. After making it through the labyrinth of a store, the BFWs (Black Friday Warriors) have to run their new toys out to the car, pack it up and avoid playing bumper cars in the parking lot. The work still isn’t done though. They have to unload the merchandise and for those who didn’t bring the kid, hide it while keeping junior in the dark about the shenanigans going on. This is one tough task as the little ones like to poke around. And now, now it’s time to relax. Oh wait! The dishes from the day before are still scattered on the counter and piled up in the sink. The BFW’s work never ends.
I hope you enjoyed the little blog and truly have a happy Thanksgiving (and Black Friday). Cherish the time you have with your family, friends, and take a second to breathe in order to tolerate that one relative who just stirs the pot. Besides, they’re entertainment so have fun. Most of all, be safe and love the ones you’re with. Until next time. God Bless.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
In the Defense of Geeks
Every day people around the world wake up, roll out of bed and into their house slippers, put on something extra to escape the cold of morning, eat some Cheerios; fight the urge to call in sick and apathetically get in their vehicles. With a belly full of boxed goodness and a black coffee thermos they move through stop-and-go traffic grumbling about the light that is NEVER green for them. After pulling into the parking lot and finally discovering that elusive space, they shut the car down and trudge to their place of employment. For some, the journey to work every morning isn’t so exhausting but it seems the majority doesn’t share their enthusiasm.
Throughout the day people dodge supervisors like they’re turtle shells in a game of Mario except, in this case, there isn’t a magic star that plays a catchy jingle which carries them to clock out time. Once that is about to come around, everyone is a fifth grader with a toe kissing their chair leg on a Friday at 3:59. BOOM! Parking lots turn into carnival bumper cars and traffic backs up like water in a folded garden hose.
People who once dreamt of becoming astronauts, cops, rock stars, pro athletes and knights, have settled on a less than spacious gray cubicle. I’m not at all saying it’s a bad thing, just the way of the world. Whether it is financial reasons or lack of talent, along the way people are persuaded to give up on potential and nestle into a career they barely or never considered. I’ve never understood the concept of “settling” until now. Living outside of my Mom’s house and forced to pay rent, among other bills, I finally understand why people fall into jobs. When push comes to shove, it all has to be paid.
I recently read an article about a team of videogame players that won a Halo tournament where they received $700,000! That’s right; people played a game and won nearly a million dollars! Crazy! Wait a second Adam; pro football players do the same thing. Yeah, well those roided –out ball handling jack rabbits get enough attention already. Don’t get me wrong, I love football but I have my opinions and that’s for another blog folks.
Seeing this article about gamers led me to bunch them with LARPRS, or Live Action Role Players. To many people, these LARPRS are the pure definition of the word “geek.” They dress up like knights in King Arthur’s Court and pretend to slay each other in a nearby park where fake castles are constructed. The winner of these fictional fights receives the glory of Achilles until the group gathers again so a new ruler can be crowned.
In our culture people like this are seen as “geeks” and ridiculed by the masses. While we accept a bunch of overgrown adult males throwing a brown ball down a field, we reject those who dress in mock medieval attire and smack people with fake swords. Are these activities really that different? I think not. There isn’t any significance attached to dudes wearing tight pants and matching shirts throwing or carrying a ball from one side of a big field to the other. Just like grown men jabbing each other with foam swords isn’t really important. The only difference is that the majority has declared football an acceptable form of entertainment.
There isn’t a beef with football here, just an admiration of the minority who decided to say “screw what others think, I’m gonna do what makes me happy.” No cubicles, just a bunch of people who kept the dream of being something other than society’s dog and pony act. With no cameras rolling, no audiences viewing and no money coming their way, the LARPR faithful join each other in sharing the spirit of ten year olds. There isn’t money involved, just B-movie acting (at best) and people with a common ideal getting together.
I find this simple crap so awesome it’s crazy. People who kept the childhood ideas of fake worlds and characters alive are to be admired. Don’t sit there and criticize me because you know you want to go back to age nine and kill the bad guys holding up your fort. This is the type of “I don’t really care” attitude that I want to adopt. They like what makes them happy and that’s what matters. So what if they’re happy going against the so called norms of society? They’re not fake reality TV buffoons that do what everyone else wants so they can make a dollar, just real people that love acting out of character for a day.
There have been so many times in my life where I’ve given in to peer pressure or thrown away things I like just to fit in or please others. I like movies, music and TV shows that others might not feel is “acceptable” but that’s fine, I like them. Life is simpler when people shed their semi-fake exterior and get down to what is real. We all have our quirks and insecurities to hide behind but who really cares? It’s crazy how much we can be alike when you get down to it. Until next time. God bless.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Well Played Facebook
Facebook. One word that instantly triggers a flood of emotions: friendships, groups, creepers, people with too much time, embarrassing relatives, nonsensical and careless statuses, etc. With a world full of differences, this little social network is something we can all relate to. The technological beast that is Facebook is dominating the Internet. If something cool happens outside your window at 3 a.m. it ends up on a status or wall post at 3:01 a.m. People can’t get enough of this craziness. You can’t avoid it either, it’s impossible. Like some Nordic giant warrior with a spear in one hand and wireless router in the other, it demands that you join its big, dysfunctional, mixed salad of a family. What happens? You join millions of people around the world in this big social web.
I remember hearing about Facebook during my freshman year of college and was visited by the Nordic giant so I had to get in on it. It was pretty simple at first; upload a picture and write some goofy crap about yourself. It was like your own personal baseball card, but not as many people wanted it. Now it was time to find some people you knew, people who they knew, and then people who they knew. It becomes a big, insane web of friends and acquaintances. Then that first friend request comes and you feel like a six year old on Christmas morning. “Who could it be, who could it be?! Wait a second… who is that?...OH! I remember them; they were in my 10th grade biology lab.” It’s almost like we expected it to be Bill Gates ,Tom Cruise or Whoopi Goldberg. Don’t be naïve.
It’s like turning 16 or 21, the excitement makes you check your Facebook account every 8.5 seconds to make sure someone didn’t post something awesome on your wall. But, much like turning 16 or 21, the excitement wares off and you continue a normal life… or so you think! What happens next? That damn Facebook starts churning out applications to keep you on their site 24/7! They turn into some 9th grade, attention stealing whore. Yes, Facebook is a whore. The McDonalds of the cyber world. I mean come on; people are on and off day and night. Games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars are plugged into requests that seemingly appear out of nowhere. They tried to pull the same stunt by allowing folks to create groups that reflected some part of their personality. Good call because they’re still going strong but apps are the game breaker. I could go into detail but there are way too many of them and they have a monopoly on the internet gaming world so they don’t deserve the satisfaction of being mentioned.
Let’s take it a step further! We’ll let people express their thoughts about other people’s statuses, pictures or wall posts by allowing them to comment or by placing obnoxious thumbs up signs below it. If that weren’t enough, they throw some yellow-faced emoticons at us so we can really get the point across. Yeehaaa, boo hoo, or wink wink; whatever floats your boat. Don’t get me wrong people, I’m just as much a part of this internet infatuation as everyone else is… alright, I might not be club leader but I’m the goofy kid in the back picking his nose and aimlessly following along which is what I think describes most people. We’re all passengers on the S.S. Facebook.
Enter Lamebook. For those who haven’t heard of this site, PLEASE check it out. It’s a site devoted to the most generally awkward Facebook B.S. I take a few minutes and browse this page so I can get a cheap laugh from the most ridiculous crap that the fine users of Facebook can conceive. There are a few things that I truly find puzzling but for the most part it is just people living their life the way they were taught or what they have experienced and from the bottom of my heart I honestly hope some of them don’t procreate. This isn’t insensitivity, rather a logical way of looking at people who shouldn’t be allowed to attempt to raise a child. But back to the Lamebook site as a whole, give it a shot. You might find yourselves paying closer attention to your own FB page just so you can apply some quick wit or to notice how goofy people are.
This isn’t a criticism or degradation of Facebook, just a subjective view. It’s my judgment on everyday human behavior. Right or wrong doesn’t play a factor here, just opinions. And if you do take it to heart, you should probably spend some time away from the internet and reevaluate life decisions. I use Facebook almost every day so I can’t really give it too much grief but I do notice things here and there and decide to write about them. Peel away all the excess crap that has been admitted to the forum of Facebook and you find a simple social network where people all around the world can connect and learn about one another. That isn’t so bad in my opinion. Until next time, God bless.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Quick Life Update and More Random Thoughts
Moving out...
It's definitely been a mixed bag of emotions. I'll catch myself just sailing along through the day and realize that this is my life now. It isn't some weekend in Columbia hangin' with friends where I get to go back to the friendly confines of 712 Linden Dr., this is the beginning of an entirely new chapter. I've always wondered how I would handle living by myself or without Mom being around all of the time. To my surprise, aside from a few homesick feelings here and there, things are actually going fairly smooth. Now, the only thing I need to do is find a job. That, my friends, is proving to be my most difficult task. Not to worry, tomorrow morning, like every other morning, I will leap out of bed, shimmy into my chain mail and shiny armor, grab my shield and sword, hop on my trusty steed and yet again attempt to slay the dragon of unemployment. I just made looking for a job interesting right there. I could have simply said "crawl out of bed, eat a couple slices of peanut butter toast (great stuff), watch Sportscenter for an hour, and look on the computer for a job" but I didn't, I chose to make my journey entertaining and slightly cheesy. You're welcome.
In addition to job hunting, I've been playing a lot of ping-pong with the roommates. I'm not quite to the level of Forrest Gump but my forehand is slowly creeping up on people. If you all don't hear from me again it's probably because I spent excess time playing the pong, got noticed by a scout somehow and am making bank playing professionally in China or Korea. Those dudes put some hot sauce on the ball! There's a 99.48 percent chance that wont happen so I'm sure you'll be hearing more out of me. Lucky you! Living with four guys or just anybody other than family for the first time has also been a real eye-opener. It's great for me because I'm a people watcher. Folks see me as a quiet person but I'm really just a deep thinking, laid back individual. There's a saying that goes "it's better to sit quietly and be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" or something like that. Don't get me wrong, I love socializing with people and can carry on a conversation but I usually lean more toward being quiet. Anyways, in my quiet moments around the house I'm able to sit back, observe every one's behavior, break it down and ask the question: Why? That is perhaps the single greatest question known to the human race, in addition to: who? what? when? and how? of course. The freedom within those questions allows you to apply it anywhere and with technology today being so advanced we can find the answer to nearly anything we ask.
I began to question one particular behavior the other day while watching two of my roommates discuss fantasy football. While they were going back and forth, stating opinions on who would be the best quarterback, running back, receiver or which team would put up the best to offensive or defensive numbers I began making the situation much larger in my head. By this I mean I started thinking of the shows devoted to the analysis of every player, team, coach, agent, decision, player's wife, coaches brother-in-law, and virtually every aspect of the sports world. Sportsnation, ESPN First Take, Pardon the Interruption are a few of the top shows that stay on the tube for simply stating their opinions regarding sports. Why do these shows play such a large part of our sporting know-how? Do we really care about what Skip Bayless or Colin Cowherd has to say about the future of Lebron James in Miami? I mean these people are paid to sit around a table throwing out opinions that most sport-watching males have and discuss every day. I know this because I'll sit on the couch with my buddy and do the same damn thing they did on TV. In that case, maybe these shows exist to give guys a topic of discussion and fill an otherwise quiet room with so-called words of wisdom. Just like One Tree Hill or Desperate Housewives gives the ladies something to gossip about beside the water cooler, these sport shows give guys a reason to tear each other's opinions down. I do it, my buddies do it, wonderful male bonding time. Perhaps the funniest things that I've noticed are all the snide remarks everybody makes about the athletes. It's crazy how quick these "analysts" and fans are to just cut the players down. Yet, the people who talk the most trash are usually the jackasses sitting on the couch with a beer in one hand, remote in the other and a bag of Lays which has all but wasted away by the time their Saturday or Sunday is over. I may not like some athletes but I respect them. They go out every week and put themselves on the national stage to compete in a sport so many can only dream about. But without fail, the next day there's always going to be someone with something spiteful to say.
I could even take this entire idea a step further and apply it to everybody. No matter how hard you try, how well you perform, or how much you achieve, there will always be someone that wants to knock you down a notch. And God forbid you mess up. Then it seems like every cynical comment just torpedoes your way. Do I really read this much into it? Maybe for a few seconds and then I go on about my day. It is amazing though, how just a few seconds can turn into a five paragraph blog. For the most part, I'm just entertained by human nature. Until next time. God bless.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Whats Up Real World? We'll See

Monday, April 19, 2010
Weekend in Quincy: Part One
This past weekend, Chad (Maverick), Megan, Breanna, and I (Goose) took a little road trip to the town of Quincy, Illinois. What was the occasion? Just a little weekend retreat to Megan's house in the country so we could attend the annual craw fish feed. Let me tell you a little bit about this awesome craziness.
We loaded up the Explorer with some clothes and beer. You know, the essentials. Letting Megan drive was a fantastic decision because this enabled me to throw back some cold, refreshing beer after a long week of academic madness. That, and I didn't know how to get there so it all worked out. We finally pull up to Megan's place and by that time, I think we're all ready to get out and cause some mischief in the town of Quincy. So we, The Four Musketeers, with the addition of my best pal Billy went out and got a little intoxicated. At some point during the night we made it to a night club called Phoenix and this was about the time where everything kind of ran together into some convoluted mess and not much seemed to make sense. So I was standing there aimlessly with Billy and that's when Chad approached the little group and stated that some douche bags wanted to fight him for walking by their crowd with "his fists clenched." Hmmm, interesting. After some other conversation unknown to me, Billy departed and then there were two. Chad and me, being in no shape to throw down, and our counterparts wandering elsewhere in the club, we took off out the door.
Now, I don't know exactly what we were thinking but apparently power walking through downtown Quincy sounded like a damn good idea at the time. As I sit here and think about it, I remember we were looking for another bar. The problem with this mission is that it was 2:30 a.m. and there was NOTHING else open. Plenty of neon signs we're strewn across the buildings but not one building had its doors open inviting us in for a frosty treat. In hindsight this was most likely a good thing.
As we continued our jaunt with absolutely no destination, we stumbled upon a gas station. It was almost like an oasis in a desert without the sand and sweltering heat. Nonetheless, we found some refuge so we waltzed in the door and began meandering through the aisles. This is about the time when weird cravings start hitting me so I snagged a fudge brownie off of the shelf.
Here I am with a fudge brownie walking out of this "very" convenient store along with Chad who was equipped with a bag of Cheetos. We made our way over to a bench out front and began to eat our snacks that had the likeness of steak dinners thanks to the alcohol consumption. The whack part of this whole snack-eating endeavour is that we just sat down with no care in the world. Never mind the fact that we wandered a couple of miles away from anybody we knew in a peculiar town. None of that had any precedence, we had our food and we were content.
Somewhere along the lines, we made contact with our sober chauffeur and figured out he would be there with the crew shortly. So as we sat on the bench, no concern for the rest of the world, we contemplated the journey that we just made across town. The ride home seemed fairly quick and everyone promptly proceeded to hit the sack. I'm going to allow you to process the former information and hit you with part two later on down the road. It might be the next blog I write, it might not. You'll just have to pay attention. Until next time. God bless.