Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Today on ESPN.com/High School Videos

Today I read an article about Bill Self on ESPN.com, basically talking about how awesome he is and how good he's gonna be at Kansas. Well, I myself was a pretty big fan of "Coach Self", that is until he ditched the Illini. Reading that article pissed me off further, and now I hope he falls on his face at Kansas. Those Jayhawk fans might be welcoming him with open arms now, but after a few seasons of not making it past the Sweet Sixteen with talented players, they will be quick to turn on him. He will soon wish he was back in the lovefest that was Illinois, with his son being coached in basketball by Dan and Ray.

On ESPN.com Page 2, the look alike item was Josh Beckett and Lou Diamond Phillips. Add this to the list of matches that I have called in the past. I think the only movie I have seen Lou Diamond Phillips in was "Stand and Deliver", which I happened to watch twice because I took Calculus twice in high school. For a movie that they show in math class, I must admit that it was pretty entertaining. "Kimo I can count too: one.... two........... three"

Now I'm trying to think of other stuff they showed us in high school. I remember there was one short animated thing about the Mean Value Theorem where this guy gets caught speeding by a cop because they timed how long it took for him to go from one tollbooth to the next, and since his calculated average speed was over the limit, they screwed him by using the MVT. Yes, that was one of the more flaming videos I remember from high school. Other movies I remember include Breakfast Club, Roger and Me, and some Spanish movie about these Mexicans trying to cross the border. I'm sure there were a lot of other awesome ones I'm forgetting.

It seems like we watched the most videos in social studies classes, like US History, Political Science, Economics, etc. Probably because those teachers tend to be the laziest, in general. Looking back, I realize that they were pretty much all overweight, and extremely liberal minded to boot. Anyways, the one video I remember watching the most was this series called Economics USA. I think it was made in the early 80's and I don't think it could have been any cheesier. Then one day at home, I was randomly flipping channels and discovered that they were showing Economics USA on PBS. I was like, "wow, this is awesome". Then, a couple years later me and Chras took a self-paced COD class for Microeconomics during one summer. Basically, we just had to read through a text book, take a few exams, and watch a bunch of videos that we were supposed to rent from the COD branch in Westmont. It turned out that the videos were Economics USA. I swear, I just can't seem to escape "your host David Schumacher and economist Richard Gill".

One bad thing about my experience is, since I went to school in Taiwan for my freshman year, then came back to DGS for my last three, the two systems screwed me out of taking Health class at either school. I never got to officially learn about avoiding drugs and sexually transmitted diseases. I guess that explains why I turned into such a major crackhead/male slut. See, at least there's an excuse.

Monday, October 20, 2003

- Saw two movies over the weekend, Kill Bill and School of Rock. Both were pretty much what I expected from what people told me. Kill Bill was a good movie, as long as you don't mind a seeing lot of blood and limbs being chopped off. School of Rock was pretty good too, except Sarah Silverman didn't really have much of a part in it. I'd recommend either movie, but I don't know how much my recommendation is worth. It probably seems like I recommend a lot of movies, basically as long as it doesn't suck like The Medallion. Also, I have dragged people to go see Kung Pow with me in the past, so that might say something about my judgement.

- Something that really bothers me: Guys who wear shoes that sound like high heels when they walk. There seem to be a lot of these fruitcakes where I work and it drives me nuts.

- I discovered this fact a while back, but apparently the Blockbuster card I've been using is under my mom's name, and the credit card it's registered under expired 4 years ago. Hmmm, I think it might be time for me to get my own Blockbuster account.

- Since I always get hungry late in the afternoon at work, I've decided to spice up the situation by bringing a peanut butter & jelly sandwich every day. Yes, come today at 4pm, it's PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!

- I wasn't planning on dressing up for Halloween, seeing as I'm 23 and I haven't had a costume in over 10 years, but a friend mentioned a potentially awesome idea. How cool would it be if a whole bunch of people in Chicago dressed up as Steve Bartman? Ok, maybe not "cool", but you have to admit that would look hilarious if you saw everyone walking around with old worn Cubs hats on, headphones, glasses, green turtleneck, etc. on Halloween. I'm not saying I'm gonna do it, but someone should. Come on people, "do the Bartman"!

- Observation: When you play cards, it's very, very important to know the people you are playing with. Not so much to read each other's hands and betting, since I don't think any of us are good enough for that kind of stuff. More because with certain people, you have to be prepared to be sucked in to a bunch of crazy side games that keep you there later and put in more money than you should be. Among them, a friendly round of "Screw Your Neighbor" with a $40 pot. Ah yes... gotta love those.

Friday, October 17, 2003

It makes me feel old when I browse to random people's Xanga sites and their birthday was in 1988 or something. Then their blogs are talking about Homecoming and stuff, or how their mom and dad are mean.

*****

Most of the people I know miss college, including myself. I wonder how many people miss high school though. I was talking to Olivia about it last night and she definitely doesn't miss her high school years. Me, I'm kind of indifferent. Other than my last year there, I basically had no life outside of school anyways. Oh, except maybe for math team.

Anyways, my theory is that if you were one of the select few people that had the time of your life in high school, then you probably ended up fizzling out early in college. It's like you are already in a comfort zone in high school, and college forces you to leave that security behind. (Think of Mike Dexter in "Can't Hardly Wait"). So you get to college, and expect everything to be exactly the same way, smooth sailing and all, while the fact is that you still have a lot of growing to do as a person before all is said and done.

But for the majority of us, high school was an awkward stage, and college turned out to be the time of our lives. It's like the 4 years when we kind of "settled into our own skin" and started to actually figure out our own identity, and feel comfortable with it. Meanwhile, you're also figuring out who your real friends are and building relationships that last a lot longer than the ones you had in high school.

Then, I guess there's the people who don't enjoy high school or college, I don't know what becomes of them. Maybe they are the ones who end up being super successful like Bill Gates, some Hollywood director, or Nobel-prize winning cancer researcher.

*****

I haven't seen a movie in the theater lately. There's been a bunch that I kind of want to see. Since Piya doesn't recommend movies a lot, I'm gonna expect an awesome movie out of Kill Bill. Also, I heard Mystic River was good, and I want to check out School of Rock. Jack Black is pretty funny, but the clincher is that I heard Sara Silverman is in it too, and I think she is one of the most hilarious people in the world. Right up there with Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, and Conan O'Brien.

*****

When Aaron Boone jacked that walkoff home run last night, I laughed so hard. Cubs fans, I kind of feel sorry for, but I've got no sympathy for Boston fans at all. I wish they showed the "Boston bar" camera during yesterday's game like they did for the Jokeland series, so I could see all of their shattered faces. First with the "stomach punch" when the Yankees tied it up in the 8th, and then the inevitable "kick in the nuts" to officially lose Game 7 in the 12th inning.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Don't Blame The Fan

To all the die-hard, long-suffering Cubs fans out there, I feel your pain. You guys have a right to complain and feel down. Even I found it tough to watch them lose last 3 games, and I'm a Sox fan.

To all the people who never watched baseball until a few weeks ago, and suddenly became huge Cubs fans when they made the playoffs, please don't spend the next few weeks whining, because I could care less.

Anyways, here's my opinion on the whole "fan incident". The guy is stupid. So are all the people around him that were also going for the ball, he just happened to be the unlucky stupid one. If you sit in a front row seat, and a ball is popped up towards you, you should know to pay attention first to the field of play, and go for the ball second.

Then, the guy releases some lame statement. Sorry man, nobody wants to hear it. Maybe if you just shut up for a while, or just talked to a local reporter, looked into the camera, and simply said "I'm sorry, I'm a dumbass", it would all blow over within a few weeks. No, he tries to act like some important person, sounding like a cheesy politician's speech with stuff like "I ask that Cubs fans everywhere redirect the negative energy" and the painfully obvious "Had I thought for one second that the ball was playable ... I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way." Now, I'm not a Cubs fan, but if I were already pissed at this person, and then he talks down to me like that, I'd be even less inclined to forgive him and even more inclined to kick his ass.

With that said, there's no way you can blame losing the series on that one play. Yes, it made a huge difference momentum wise, but it didn't make 8 runs cross the plate that inning, nor did it make Kerry Wood give up 7 runs the next night. And it certainly had no part in the Cubs getting shut out the game before that. The fact is, a lot of other stuff went wrong, and if you can honestly blame a 7 game series on a fan's stupid play, then your team doesn't deserve to play in the World Series to begin with.

In a pure baseball sense, that fan cost the Cubs one out, if that much. Everything else is "shoulda, woulda, coulda" that you can debate forever. Maybe Moises doesn't catch the ball even if the guy gets out of the way, but then Prior goes on to strike out the next two guys and the Cubs go on to win. Maybe Moises does catch the ball, Alex Gonzalez doesn't try to rush the play to turn 2, and Cubs are out of the inning and winners also. Maybe the Cubs get out of the inning, but then the Marlins bat around in the ninth and win Game 6. But then Kerry Wood throws a no-hit shutout in Game 7. In sports, and especially in baseball, anything can happen.

If you watch the game of baseball and know how it goes, you should understand that there are a million variables, an infinite number of things that can go change in one play, but no matter what happens, you have to move forward and play ball with what you got. I've always hated those players who get a questionable call on strike 2, swing and miss for strike 3, then go back and complain to the ump about his call on strike 2. Maybe it was out of the zone, maybe it was in, but either way, you still had a chance on the next pitch and you missed. It's your own problem if you chose to spend your time and energy crying over spilled milk and licking your wounds, instead of focusing on the next opportunity. And that's exactly the case with people who will continue to moan about getting screwed on one play in one inning of a 7 game, 63 inning, 189 out series.

Oh well, that's enough talk about that for now. I'm sure this city will be sick and tired of talking this subject to death in the next few days, or maybe for years to come. If you Cubs fans want to turn into Red Sox fans, go ahead and keep feeling sorry for yourself about what happened until the day you die. Personally, even though I think cheering for "lovable losers" is dumb, I've still always felt that Cubs fans are much better than Red Sox fans, because they aren't as overly cynical and they still are behind their team with high hopes every year. So I'd suggest for everyone to just take a few days at most to mourn, and then look ahead to next season for bigger and better things.

*****

Maybe the following story will provide a welcome diversion. A week or two ago I was watching ESPN and caught the following news scrolling by on the BottomLine: "Jacksonville punter Chris Hanson out with leg injury (gashed with ax)". At the time, I was like "what the??" but figured I just read it wrong or something. Later, I saw part of the report on SportsCenter and it turned out that he actually was injured by an ax. Apparently, he nailed his own leg during practice as part of a motivational stunt where the coach had him chopping wood for some reason. How chopping wood can be a motivational tool for football practice, I'll never know.

Now, there's been plenty of bizarre injuries in the sports world. Among others, people have hurt their back carrying their own luggage at the hotel, strained neck muscles pulling their overly tight cap on, gotten tackled by their dog, and missed games because of a spider bite. But there's more to this story. For me, the "kicker" (meester son of a beetch... lets pliay some khards) of this whole thing came a couple days ago when I was listening to the radio and they were talking about the incident. I found out that this is the same guy who was part of a weird "fondue mishap" last year, which I remember hearing about at the time.

So in 2002, Chris Hanson injures himself by spilling hot fondue on himself at home. Then in 2003, he's out for the season after "gashing" himself with an ax during practice. Maybe no one else thinks it's that funny, but I've been snickering to myself ever since I heard that.

*****

During the Cubs game yesterday, I saw a TV version for the Bud Light commercial I talked about in the last blog. Wasn't as funny as the radio ones I've heard, and I guess the actual title is "Real Men Of Genius". Just thought I'd pass along an update.

*****

One final thing of note, for all the Illini fans out there... Kurt Kittner is getting the next start for the Atlanta Falcons this week. Yes, the legendary Kittner15!! Too bad he wasn't able to start the last game on Monday Night Football, and claim to be from Playa University too.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

This morning I woke up and my room was still dark. Unfortunately, it wasn't because I woke up too early, it was because it was all cloudy and pouring outside. You know, the rain sure puts a "damper" on my mood for the day, harharhar.

I think by far the best radio commercials I've ever heard are for Bud Light. Usually, commercials on the radio are either really lame gimmicky jokes, or just the basic "Call this number now for more information" kind of thing. But, there's this series of ads for Bud Light that's called "Real American Heroes" or something, that I think is hilarious. Each one "salutes" a certain person, like a Truck Driver, Coffee Shop Employee, or "Mr. Tiny Thong Bikini Wearer". So they play this slow cheesy rock music with a guy singing weird echoes in the background, and then they have a narrator explain why they are saluting the person. Like yesterday, I heard one for Next-Day Carpet Man, going something like this:

cheesy rock intro
Narrator - Today we salute you, Next-Day Carpet Man, because when we're jonesin' for some carpet, we're jonesin' for carpet
Rock Singer Echo - Jonesin' for some carpet....

And so forth. If you've never heard any of these commercials I'm talking about, then you probably wouldn't understand, and think I'm a dumbass. You're missing out though, so I suggest you pay attention to commercials on the radio more.

I've been listening to the new Outkast 2-CD set for a couple weeks now, and I'm not sure if I like it. The two singles they have on the radio/MTV right now are good, and the skits are entertaining as always, but it seems like there's a lot of garbage tracks of crappy songs they threw in, just so each of those guys could have a separate CD. They might've been better off combining it all into one disc. Or, maybe the stuff is just so weird this time that I just don't get it.

Outkast has always had some lyrics that are so random and barely make any sense, but I think it's awesome. At least it's good that they don't just rap about money, hoes, and being a thug gangsta all the time. Some of my favorites are:

"Softly, as if I played piano in the dark"
"Cause I'm cooler than a polar bear's toenails..."
"Lend me some sugar... I am your neighbor!"

This weekend I realized that it's now been over 1 full year since I started working at this job. Last September/October was when I interviewed, got an offer, accepted, bought a car, got some new shirts/pants, and started working. It was also around this time when Oiy had her birthday thing at Tequila Roadhouse (Happy birthday to Stork too by the way, if I forgot to say it before). That happened to be the first time I met two cool friends in Nina and Vira, as well as being around the time when Nina and Greg first got together. I don't know if you guys had your exact anniversary yet, but congrats on making it through the first year. Anyways, I always get a weird feeling to remember what life was like exactly one year ago, and see how much stuff has changed in the time since then.