Three Words Back...

YouTube Tuesday: Wait, What's He Saying?

Snow |MTV Music

Did we ever find out if Snow was really the alter-ego for Brian Austin Green?

You're always asking what it's all about, so listen to my reply...

Barenaked Ladies |MTV Music

"Hot like wasabi when I bust rhymes / big like Leann Rimes / because I'm all about value" That's poetry, people.

Das EFX |MTV Music

...yeah, what they said...

Nirvana |MTV Music

this one was kind of obvious...but you gotta admit, "here we are now, entertain us" is a great line

And if you ever needed some help with the words to Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter, consider this your early Christmas gift...

On Almost Any Sunday Morning

Sundays tend to be my day off for the week.  So all the loads of laundry, errands around town, trips to the mall, watching football (or baseball playoffs for a little longer), reading books and magazines, and any other non-bank related activity all get crammed into a 24 hour period.

And it makes for one gloriously human day.  One day to not think about the bank (too much), and live something like all those "regular people" I keep hearing so much about.  Maybe I'll meet one of them some day.

After spending Thanksgiving with the fam next month, it looks like I'll be returning to the northeast for a little while.  Probably somewhere in Pennsylvania or New York, possibly Maryland.  Just in time for winter.  Yay.  On the one hand, the idea of giving up the hotel room life is looking more and more appealing every week.  But on the other hand, this move allows me to save more money.  So it's win-win either way, I guess.

This is one of those classic "no news" blog entries.  The maid staff can't seem to figure out how to make my bed.  Yesterday they left a bottle of spray cleaner in my bathroom, and yet they just HAVE to remove and replace my hand soap.  I'm booked here for something like 45 days...is there a reason I can't use the same hand soap for more than 24 hours?  Oh, and they always want to move around my toiletries.  Look Hazel, hands off my toothbrush and deodorant...I put them where I want them.  It's not like I left water or toothpaste all over the counter or something...I think it'll be okay to not get wiped down today.  So yeah, they got the day off from room 222 today.

I haven't talked about music in a while.  Nightswimming is on, and it's only one of the most beautiful songs of all time.  Even if you're not an R.E.M. fan, you should check it out.  Also, anything by Josh Rouse.  You could start with Under the Cold Blue Stars like I did early this decade.  I also just picked up a two disc collection of his - The Best of the Rykodisc Years - that hits the highlights of his five releases off that label.  A good enough introduction I'm sure, but I'm using it to get better versed in his early work.  My personal favorites from his catalog include Under the Cold Blue Stars, Michigan, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, Winter in the Hamptons, Feeling No Pain...I really could go on, but I'll stop for now.

Good luck with your Sundays, everyone.  Time for a shower so I can get started on mine.  Better late than never at 2:51 cst.

It dawns on me that Better Late Than Never would make a great title for the biography that no one's going to write when I'm gone.

YouTube Tuesdays: Paper - Rock - Scissors Championship Footage

Here's the scene at work last week:

Me: Let's do Paper - Rock - Scissors to see who goes to lunch first.
Assistant Manager: I don't understand.
Me: You don't understand the game, or you don't understand why we would use that to make a decision?
AM: No, I don't understand the rules.
Me: You've never heard of Paper - Rock - Scissors?
AM: I've heard of it, I just don't know how it works.

So obviously, we had a quick tutorial at the branch. 

And she beat me best 3 out of 5 to get to go to lunch early.

So in honor of the topic I didn't anticipate training on this week, here's a video of the Paper - Rock - Scissors Championship.  The announcers alone are worth the price of admission to this thing...

You Are My Face(book)

Why didn't anyone tell me that facebook is approximately 800x better than myspace?

And a special thank you goes out to Alicia, who texted me to ask if I was "coming out of the closet on facebook?"  Sure enough, I had mistaken the "Interested In" category for a "Gender" category...which I'm sure caused a few raised eyebrows and a few more broken hearts when it appeared that I had made quite the lifestyle 180 without telling anyone.

Anywho, me and my re-straightened outself are on facebook now, you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

Bottom 9

10:51  Tampa Bay has the unenviable position of needing to scratch out at least two runs against the best closer in baseball.  First up is Evan Longoria...6-3 ground out.

10:53  Carl Crawford steps in to take his cuts.  He's 2 for 11 lifetime against Paps. 

10:55  No one told me Terminator 2 was on AMC tonight!

10:56  Crawford whiffs and for some reason Tropicana Field is blasting that stupid "Apple Bottom jeans and the boots with the furrrrrrr" song.  See yesterday's post for my thoughts on current rap music.

10:57  Aybar lines out to end the game.

And just like that the Red Sox continue to show resilience while on the brink of playoff elimination.  Game 7 is tomorrow night.

Oh, and for those keeping track at home Boston is 2-0 when I live blog their playoff games.

Top 9

10:44  J.D. Drew and Jason Bay hurriedly make outs before I can think of any more punnish nicknames.  Cowards.

10:45  Commercial break while Tampa Bay changes pitchers.

10:48  Kotsay wastes no time ending the inning on the first pitch he sees from Trever Miller.  Bring on Papelbon and his mad dog stare!

Bottom 8

10:30 Justin Masterson comes on to pitch for Boston.  Meanwhile, I get a text from my boss reminding me of a work text that was due to go out an hour and a half ago.  See what you people made me do?

10:31 Bartlett is hit by a pitch, cue Jonathon Papelbon warming up in the bullpen.

10:34 Boston's pitching coach makes a trip to the mound, while the Tampa Bay press box plays a little "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  I got to be the Music Director for a few games in my stint with the Smokies.  Every sound effect, every "Charge!" cheer, every at-bat song, and every between inning filler music was keyed by me.  Fun times.  I might have played Mr. Jones twice one night.  Just maybe.

10:37  B.J. Upton pops up to second.  Random fact: Baseball is the only sport where the defense puts the ball into play.

10:40 Pena pops out to short, and just like that Masterson gets out of what started out as a very shaky inning.

Top 8

10:22 Crisp walks and advances to second on the Pedroia ground out.

10:25 David Ortiz gets the intentional walk to set up a potential inning-ending double play.

10:26  Youkilis and his ZZ Top in training beard end the inning in the above mentioned fashion.

Top 7, The Stretch, Bottom 7

9:54  Justin time for J.D. "Don't Call Me Nancy" Drew and The Case of the Fly Ball to Centerfield.

9:55  Jason "Playing In Tampa" Bay is hit by a pitch.

9:56  Somewhere in Bristol, Connecticut Chris Berman is stealing my jokes.  And probably doing that annoying "rumbling...bumbling...stumbling..." schtick.

9:57 Kotsay advances Bay to second on a groundout.  This causes Tampa manager Joe Maddon and his coke bottle glasses to go to his bullpen for a fresh arm.

9:59 Grant Balfour is now on to pitch.  Would you want a pitcher on your team with a last name that so closely resembles "Ball Four"?  Didn't think so.

10:00 Nic's wife must be asleep or otherwise distracted, because now he's texting me questions for the blog.  He wants to know if any other players from the 2002 Smokies have made the majors, and who were my other favorite players.  Let's see...Kevin Cash is a backup catcher for Boston.  Varitek doesn't normally catch when Wakefield throws, so I know Cash played the other night.  Other players that reached the big leagues include Dewayne Wise (CF) who most recently played for the White Sox, and pitchers Vinnie Chulk (Giants) and Gustavo Chacin (Toronto).  Also, while I was there then major league players Chris Carpenter and Esteban Loaiza had some minor league rehab starts for our team before returning to Toronto.

As for my other favorite players, there was an outfielder named Kenny James who was really cool.  I remember he was cut or sent back to single A ball not too long into the season.  A pitcher named Ryan Spille sticks out as being friendly at some community appearance or another.  I didn't spend a ton of time with the players, and when I did it was normally for something community related, or on my way to some errand requiring me to go to the clubhouse. 

*Stands, sings Take Me Out To The Ballgame, wishes I had remembered to buy Cracker Jacks

10:12  Okajima is cruising, he just retired Navarro on a lazy pop fly.  Glad he wore more than just a sock for this at-bat.

10:15 Zobrist and his comic book villain last name have warning track power only.  Inning over.

Bottom 6

Okajima takes the mound for Boston, and quickly retires the first two Rays.

9:48 Evan Longoria draws a walk.

9:50 Maybe it's just me, but I swear I'm hearing chants of "Let's Go, Prin-gles!  Let's Go Prin-gles"

9:51 Crawford grounds into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

9:52 It's worth noting that, no matter how many hotel rooms I check into, I will NEVER use a coffee pot that is stored on the bathroom counter.  Does anyone brew their coffee in the bathroom at home?  No?  Didn't think so.