If Only I Had Something to Blog About

It’s a Monday night, but I seem to have a lot on my mind that I want to comment on. There is just not one dominant news article that bodes itself to a full blog posting, or a sports article that really grabs my attention.

Oh, I could blog about the All-Star baseball line-up and how Barry Bonds was elected by the fans to start in the game. If I did mention that, I would probably say something along the lines of how Bonds probably deserves the honor since the game is going to be in San Francisco and, like it or not, Bonds is the face of that franchise. Then I would probably add something that with interleague play not established in baseball, that the importance of the All-Star game is no longer as important as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

Then I would get done talking about baseball and would turn my attention to President Bush and how he used his pardon power to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. I would mention how Bush was right that Libby was convicted for obstruction of justice and perjury and not revealing the name of a CIA informant. I would then add that commuting Libby’s sentence and giving him probation and a fine is not being consistent.

Republicans, during the Clinton Administration, sought President Clinton’s removal from office for lying to a Grand Jury regarding his affairs. Clinton was never indicted by a criminal court, but was impeached by the House of Representatives. The Senate, though, voted against removing him from office.

I would then add that Bush is probably giving a break to a “trusted” White House official, and yet is giving more reasons why to countdown, even as a conservative, the days until the administration is timed out.

Then I would conclude with yet another posting regarding the ongoing investigation into what led to the Chris Benoit double murder suicide in which he killed  his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, before eventually killing himself. The latest being that Benoit’s personal physician, Dr. Phil Astin, had supplied steroids to the former heavyweight champion every three to four weeks between May 2006 and May 2007.

This finding gives more credibility to the roid rage argument that was dominating the news last week as a reason why Benoit did the unthinkable. Yet, it doesn’t answer the question of did World Wrestling Entertainment know Benoit was taking steroids and did they do anything to stop it?

And from there, I would probably close by wishing well to our friends from the north, celebrating their birthday today. July 1 is traditionally Canada Day, the day in 1867 that Canada became a self-governing nation, but since July 1 was on a Sunday this year, the official holiday, or day off from work,  moves to July 2, though the party still takes place on July 1.

That is, of course, if I had something to blog about.

Things worth contemplating this Friday

Today is official 300 day. The epic movie opens nationwide tonight and I can’t wait. Hopefully, I won’t be disappointed like when I went to see Titanic expecting to see a movie on the struggles of the passengers only to get a romantic movie. I still haven’t gotten over that one. That had to be the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life paying money to see that film … twice. At least the second time, I was trying to impress a lady in college.

It worked. Not for long, but it worked.

But the movie should be good and I can’t wait to see the graphics on this one.

One thing that won’t be coming to a theater near you is the story of the Duke men’s basketball team. After last night’s defeat in overtime to the Wolfpack of North Carolina State, the dookie’s reign of terror in the ACC went was terminated. It’s not like North Carolina State is that good. They have a depleted bench that forces the starters to play the majority of the game. Yet, they work hard. Duke, on the other hand, is having a down year. Of course, a down year at Duke is like a great year at Florida State, so keep that in mind.

Duke will still advance to the NCAA tournament, pretty much because of the name on the front of the jersey. I don’t think Duke plays long in the NCAAs.

I can’t be disappointed at the way West Virginia played last night. West Virginia took a legit Louisville team to double overtime after playing for its NCAA lives the night before. They were tired and it showed in the second overtime. Louisville was fresh. West Virginia was tired. Game over.

Note to the Big East scheduling department, keep these two teams on the regular rotation. This marks two games in the past three years that have been thrillers between these two. The first came in 2005 when Louisville came back from a huge deficit to knock off West Virginia in the Elite 8 to advance to an eventual loss to Illinois.

But back to West Virginia for a second, they played exceptionally well this year. After losing four of five starters from a year ago, the Mountaineers were expected to finish dead last in some preseason publications. Instead the Mountaineers have a legitimate shot, now, at the NCAAs. It’s going to be close and will depend a lot on what happens today with Illinois and Purdue. However, if you didn’t believe John Beilein could coach, I hope you do now.

And on one final college basketball note, LSU is looking for a new women’s basketball coach as the Tigers prepare for the NCAA tournament.  Pokey Chapman resigned this week amid allegations of “inappropriate sexual relationships” with her former player. That is not something you want hanging over your team’s head heading into the tournament. Don’t expect LSU to advance far on the women’s side now.

A Hootie and the Blowfish kind of day

I hate needles. Today I’ve been stabbed and poked with more needles than I care to admit. One day after celebrating West Virginia domination in the Big East tournament, I’m laying on the dentist chair getting enough Novocaine to give me a headache when I stand up.

Brilliant. I didn’t really need to feel my right side of my mouth. Of course, had I taken better care of my teeth I wouldn’t be making my third trip to the dentist - in three months. I think my dentist is going on vacation on my account. I guess that’s what I get for not going to the dentist in years, and I mean years.

So where does Hootie and the Blowfish fit into it? Well, I just needed someone to Hold My Hand when those needles went in.

I’ll admit to being a big baby with needles. Yet, I was going to give blood Monday, except for the whole stress related high blood pressure thing. Even as a young “Shannonasty,” I had to be held down by three or four people to get blood taken.

I don’t find anything wrong with it. So please, someone want to hold my hand the next time (hopefully it will just be for the check-up).

This is where game shows have taken us … back to 5th grade

Yesterday, I decided to watch the FOX game show “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” Being a fan of Jeff Foxworthy, I figured the show would be at least halfway entertaining.

Nope.

The show is a nauseating 30 minutes of questions and answers that feature some typically less-than-mind challenging questions. (Granted, I did miss the trapezoid question last night, but I never admitted to geometry being my strong point.) If you’re smart, or know how to play the game, you can walk away with a cool $100,000.

The problem with this game is that it doesn’t set itself apart from other game shows currently on the market, such as Deal or No Deal or 1 vs. 100, both hits on NBC. With Deal or No Deal, you have to take into account an own person’s risk factor as well as odds and a sound strategy. While 1 vs. 100, which I think is interesting, puts 1 person versus a “mob” of contenders, who benefit whenever the one person misses a question.

Sure, the kids are cute and adorable on 5th Grade, but I just can’t see this show staying on for long past this week.

Random Thoughts Going through the Mind

Ah, I’m having a time concentrating today. Perhaps its my exhaustion or maybe its the fact that looking at budget numbers can be quite mind numbing.  Perhaps if I clear my mind, I’ll be able to return to looking at the differences between continuation appropriation and expansion items, which I need to finish by tomorrow morning.

Next week, I’ll add another candle on the cake, but I’m not sure about what to do? I thought about having some people over for the conference tournaments, or even going to a concert. Though the one concert that I would be interested in hasn’t even posted ticket information. But it’s not even around the birthday; it’s a week later.

Probably the best birthday that I’ve had in recent memory was two years ago. I was finishing up my divorce and the WWE  was in town for the Monday night program. Two of their performers were going to be at a car dealership to sign autographs. Me and my now roommate then intern headed out to the dealership to meet Stacey Keibler and Chris Benoit. We could have cared less about Benoit, we were only interested in meeting Keibler. We didn’t go away empty handed. We got an autograph and a smile.

I could probably do better for a birthday celebration, but anytime you can celebrate your birthday and Stacey Keibler is involved (even if only through meeting at an autograph signing), it’s a good day.

I went home this weekend to the great state of West Virginia. As much as I love going home and being in the mountains of West Virginia, it always amazes me how much I enjoy leaving after a few days and returning to North Carolina. Both places mean a lot to me, each for their own reasons. Yet, sometimes I feel more at home in North Carolina than I do in West Virginia. Maybe it’s because I’ve been here for some time now, almost four years. Maybe it’s because I have a good group of friends. Or maybe it’s because of the barbecue, ok maybe not the barbecue.

I don’t tell a lot of people this, but as a young kid growing up in West Virginia I knew West Virginia wasn’t the end destination for me. The jobs just weren’t there and continue to not be there to this day. I always looked at North Carolina as the destination, especially Charlotte because of the “job market.” I’m not alone in that. Many people who grew up near where I did in southern West Virginia look at the Charlotte market as a place to move to to find a better job than working in the mines or at Wal-Mart. It’s the same for the people in the north, but they look more towards Pittsburgh.

That doesn’t alter my affection for West Virginia. It makes me appreciate more the struggles that hold the state back, from its antiquated tax structure, to its dependency on the federal government for money and jobs, and a business climate that is adverse to new businesses locating into the Mountain State.

For instance, West Virginia has a regressive tax on the sale soda products, especially on the items needed to produce soda, that has kept bottlers and soda companies from opening locations in the state. The tax has been used to build the West Virginia University School of Medicine, but the 50-year-old tax needs to go because it is keeping jobs out of the state. Pepsi recently opened a plant 60 miles from the border and company officials said they would not consider West Virginia because of the tax. Gov. Joe Manchin sought the tax’s elimination, however legislators changed his bill and made it a “study bill.” In legislative terms, the bill is dead, because in the line of government appropriations a lobbying effort from WVU or the government trumps the concerns of businesses that may or may not want to open locations (and thus create new jobs) in the state.

This is just one example. There are many more. My hope is that one day West Virginians see what is going on in the state. But whenever someone has tried they are accused of
being too political, dirty, and going up against the union.

More Funny Moments that Only Come From Being Me

This was a popular feature back in December when I did this the first time. Since there is enough accidental comedy in my life to go around, I figure there was enough material for Funny Moments, Part Deux.

There She Is … Mr. West Virginia?

Most of my friends know that I take a lot of grief for my first name, especially given the fact that I’m a guy. At least once every other week I get an email asking or “Ms. Shannon” or a look somewhere wanting to see my ID because they don’t believe I’m actually who I say I am.

Well, nothing was more embarassing than senior year of high school.

On this day, I’m sitting in science class when one of the office aids brings in a brochure that had addresses on them and handed them out. They were given to all the girls and then me. I’m assuming this is something where the organization had gotten our enrollment roster and preaddressed them and mailed them to the school.

So, I opened mine up and it was a brochure to participate in Miss Teen West Virginia. There is not a thing about me that reads female, yet I was invited to participate in Miss Teen West Virginia. I was going to participate, sort of like Screetch in that episode on Saved by the Bell where he wins the Ms. Bayside contest. My hope was just to be the grand prized winner for the winner.

Mom, please step away from the Governor

Another high school moment. When I was 16, I was raising money for Junior Civitans and the International Dance-A-Thon. The Dance-A-Thon, to give a background was where you raised money for mental retardation research. Students who raised enough money were able to participate in the Dance-A-Thon outside of Toronto.

So I was a pretty gung-ho fundraiser about not being ashamed at whom to ask for money. Knowing the governor was coming to town, I went to the event hoping to make the fundraising pitch to the governor at the time. My mom went with me. We participated in the meeting - which was about how to improve the town we lived in.

At the end, I was able to meet the governor where I talked to him about the plan and he agreed to support my effort. My mom was not next to me at the time. She comes in as soon as the governor asked how to donate. When I finished saying, you can pay with check, my mom comes around the corner screaming “you can ask the governor for a check.”

The governor laughed and handled it well. Everyone was pretty embarassed, especially my mom. He came through with the donation by the way.

Where’s My Room?

I don’t know if this one is funny as much as it is lucky.

In 2001, I was able to cover the Pocono 500 for the newspaper I worked for at the time. I secured the room near the track and was ready to head up. Well, I travel up there and followed the directions - or so what I thought were the directions - and arrived at the hotel. They have no reseveration and no available rooms.

Now, if you’ve ever tried to get a hotel room on NASCAR weekend when you don’t have one within a 20 mile area, it’s a mad mess. No one had room for the Big Guy. I went outside of Pocono by some 30 miles and found a Days Inn, or something like that, where they had a room. Well, it was more like a closet with a bed, but it was a room.

You’ve heard of fat guy in a little suit. Try fat guy in a little room with tons of NASCAR publications and documents scatered. OK, and pizza boxes.

Funny thing is, I would have a similar experience with hotel rooms and missing reservations on my honeymoon night during my first marriage.

That has to be the worst haircut of all time

I didn’t want to blog about this. I really didn’t, but it’s just such a fascinating, not in a good way, story that you just can’t pass it up.

Britney Spears is bald. We’re talking clean shaved as if she was ready to report to basic training. And now the hair is for sale … on eBay. What’s not on sale on eBay?

It’s easy to make jokes about Spears - the obvious one being one I heard on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” when one of the hosts said when Kevin Federline looks like the responsible parent you know we’ve got issues.

But, seriously, you have to wonder about Spears. You really do. Here is someone who has fallen so far, so fast, that rock bottom seems like a way up. From the images of her holding her child on the front seat while driving, to the infamous party lifestyle after her seperation, and now entering rehab with a buzz cut. My hope is that she turns her life around - soon rather than later - if not for herself but for the protection of her children.

Until then, this is just a sad, sad train wreck that no one seems to be able to avert their eyes from watching.

So long, Robert Adler. You did well.

Robert Adler died today. He was 93.

So many of our lives - if not all of our lives - have been changed because of his simple invention.

Who was he, you ask. Adler was one of the inventors of the remote control as an engineer at Zenith. Without this invention, where would we be? There would be no “couch potato” or electronic gagets that program everything from our television, cable, stereo, and DVD players all in one programable device. We wouldn’t even have the MTV game show “Remote Control.”

This device allows us to flip through the stations with the speed of light, fast-forward through commercials, and even annoy our wives and girlfriends by somehow always stopping on sports or movies with guns and violence.

Where would we be without the remote control? I don’t want to live in that world.

In all seriousness, Adler’s invention was revolutionary and changed society by making television watching a little easier. It’s hard to believe it was invended in the 1956, some 22 years after Philo Farnsworth showcased his version of the television in Philadelphia in 1934.

So here’s to Robert Adler. May we all remember his contribution to society by changing the channel.

Mr. 10,000, I am, which means more rambling-esque thoughts

So sometime this morning I hit the 10,000 viewer mark for this blog. I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to read my musings on life, politics, news, sports, and everything else that comes to my mind.  I hope to keep this blog going as my own personal journal as life continues to unravel itself. Enjoy.

But to celebrate, here are some random thoughts from the weekend that was:

After this weekend, I believe I can make anyone in a bar take notice of a West Virginia game. It’s hard not to when I’m on the edge of my seat throughout the entire game and being the one cheering the loudest. Yesterday, during the UCLA-WVU game, there was a group of fans sitting near me that every now and then would catch an eye on the game to catch the score.

That’s a sign of a good sports bar. I’ve had experiences where there were seriously brawls in the bar over words said amongst fans. Sports are fun. Sports can be passionate. But sports shouldn’t lead to brawls.

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I have no life. I’m watching the Grammy’s. Could there be nothing else on TV worth watching? I’ve seen Office Space 100 times. Same with American Pie. And we all know my thoughts on the NBA.

So it’s the Grammy’s. Thirty minutes into the show, we’ve seen the Police sing - awesome - and the Dixie Chicks, not to mention the Grammy’s being taken over by the reality show concept. Three people have a chance to sing alongside Justin Timberlake later in the show. I guess that is a big honor. I mean I think I’d rather cheer for the University of Pittsburgh than sing next to Justin Timberlake, but hey if that’s your thing rock on with your bad self.

—-

I don’t get college basketball rivalries. I spent a lot of time thinking about this this week as ESPN highlighted “rivarly week.” Now, I love college basketball, but are rivalries really that big in basketball? Of course, there is Duke-UNC, UConn-Syracuse, Kentucky-Florida, but I think when it comes to basketball these are weaker than their football counterparts.

Why?

If I wanted to watch Duke-UNC, if I missed the game Wednesday night - which I did - there is another chance to watch it in a few weeks. Then, if I miss that one, it’s possible I could watch it again during the ACC tournament. The fact you only play your football rival once makes the games bigger and must see television. Saying that in North Carolina may be a party foul, but even the Backyard Brawl - WVU vs. Pittsburgh - isn’t as exciting on the hardwood as it is on the gridiron.

—

I’m a Kevin Harvick fan. I’ve met him once during the Pocono 500 in 2001 (he walked out of the interview by the way, which was funny and cool). But watching last night’s Bud Shootout, when I see the new car colors I can’t help but think of Hulk Hogan. Granted, I think Harvick and Richard Childress Racing did the right thing in getting Harvick his own sponsorship, but yellow and red for Shell makes me think of bad pro wrestlers wanting to “Hulk Up.”

See for yourself:

       

Random thoughts to clear my mind

I’ve got a lot on my mind this week. Work. NFL Playoffs. But nothing confuses me more than the love affair with the show “24.” Now, I will admit to never have watching much of the show, though I did catch some of it last night while flipping between the Hula Bowl and the Three Amigos.

First of all, it doesn’t seem realistic to me. You’re going to tell me the lead character’s wife is going to be kidnapped twice … in the same day. That doesn’t happen. Then the love affair with California as it being the center of the political world is confusing. But, hey, what do I know? Personally, I believe for a television show to be somewhat successful it needs to have a level of realism to it for the average viewer to be able to follow. Now I know someone will mention the X-Files, which gets a pass because it was so unbelievable that to some it was enjoyable.

Not me.

Of course, after working all day writing about public policy and thinking about politics, I want to come home and laugh. Perhaps, that’s why shows like Scrubs, MASH, and The Office appeal to me more.

(Personal note, I full expect Greg to come and tell me that 24 is a show worth watching.)

*****

I can’t get over this weather. This weekend it felt like spring. I’m enjoying it. I refuse to let Al Gore and others who want to talk about global warming to keep me from enjoying it.

I just have one question for the global warming crowd - could it just be that the world’s weather goes through cycles. I mean follow me here, it wasn’t that long ago when every year there was a major blizzard in the northeast. I didn’t hear of global warming then. Neither did I hear much of global warming in previous warming years. Global warming is one of those issues that some people will take some small, small fact and try to make it into a major ordeal in an effort to win some political power.

*********

I’m excited for these next few months. When I think about it, I’m so full of anticipation for the life God has planned for me. It’s sort of like the football player who is in the tunnel before the game jumping up and down waiting for his named to be called to run out.

Well, maybe not so much. Where I’m going, when my name is called I’m going out not to show off, to score a touchdown, and to have everyone love me, but to go and serve others bringing people to a better, more authentic relationship with Christ, and a better relationship with those around them.

I can’t wait to serve.