Man, Could I Go For A Twinkie Right Now

We have visual confirmation. It's not the kids, it's definitely the parents out there smoking away. Now, I have no problem with what you do in your own home, that's your business not mine. But I do have an issue with it when you fill my house with the smell. I once had a friend who was the master at masking the smell of weed. You could be standing outside his bedroom door and would have no idea that he was smoking up in there. Our neighbors need to learn from him. Or pay more attention to the neighborhood wind patterns...

Mmmm Fritos..

It's 8:38pm.. and my house STINKS like weed. The entire house, everywhere.. and no, it's not coming from inside the house. The people next door have a camper in their backyard and right now there's just one light on inside that camper. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

My guess is that it's not the teenage kids either, it's way too quiet back there for it to be kids. Like my lovely wife just said, "I shouldn't be able to get a contact high in my own house." Personally, I don't mind it so much, but it's bugging the heck out of her...

More Evidence Towards The Wussification of America

First, they banned dodgeball.. then they stopped keeping score because kids shouldn't have to lose, now this...

Can you believe this story? This 9 year old isn't allowed to play because he's too good? Um what? He's only throwing 40 mph, that's really not fast or unusual for Little League. He's never hit a batter, so what's the big deal? This absolutely drives me crazy. These parents are teaching their kids to not ever bother trying because they might fail. Seriously, what kind of lesson is that? Every Little League has that one kid that's better than everyone else. It's just part of growing up. You know the kid is really good and you'll probably strike out or he'll probably hit a home run off you, but that one time you get a hit, or strike him out... man.. there's no better feeling.

I can understand the kids being scared to face the pitcher because they think he's throwing fast, but what are you teaching them by not even letting them try to be successful. Does anyone else see the irony here? The parents don't want the kids to try because they don't want them to fail, then they're playing the wrong sport. Baseball is a game based on failure. If you succeed three times out of ten, then you're one of the best. Failure is a huge part of the game...


It's like these parents want their kids to grow up in a bubble. Success is mandatory to them. If you don't fail from time to time, how are you supposed to learn how to succeed? When you fall down, you get back up. When you get knocked down, you get back up twice as fast. That's what I was taught and that's how what I'll teach my kids.

You participate in the sport, here's a trophy. There are no winners and losers anymore because they don't keep score (which isn't really true because the parents might not keep score, but the kids always know who won and what their record is). We were taught winning and losing and we turned out just fine. How's a kid going to learn anything about life by being taught to not even try if they know they won't be successful. Like I said, this is just another example of the wussification of America. This was quite the rant I know, but stuff like this just really bugs me.

Mmmmm Brinner...

For my money, there is nothing better than brinner. What's brinner you ask? Well you should already know, but since I'm here to inform and educate the masses, I'll tell you. Breakfast for dinner. Really, there's nothing better. Bacon and eggs tonight.. totally hit the spot...

So this weekend is the Blue Hill Fair, and we can't wait to go. Last year was a lot of fun, so I'm hoping for the same outcome this year, except maybe we'll come home with a rooster or something. The best part though, as is the allure of all fairs(at least to me), is the food. Fried everything. Things that you can't eat on a day to day basis are more than acceptable to consume at fairs. Plus seeing all those animals makes you feel like a little kid on a field trip or something. For those of you out there who haven't been, you're missing out...

A couple of weeks ago I went on the Obama website and subscribed to the text message/email thing. Good idea at the time, bad idea overall. First I got the 3am text message stating that Biden is going to be the VP candidate. 3am? Seriously? You had to wake me up at 3am to tell me that? It couldn't wait until 6 or 7am? Second, all these emails were filling up my inbox at an alarming rate. Do I really need five emails a day from the Obama campaign? No, no I don't.. so I went back on the site today and unsubscribed. My dabble in politics participation is officially over...

For some reason, this really interests me. Not sure why either as most of the science behind it is way over my head. Maybe it's because the name of the lab sounds like a group of evil doers in a James Bond movie. Maybe its because the science involved sounds like one of those baby step experiments that end up with the machines taking over the world. Or maybe it's because there are some out there that think this experiment could lead to very bad things happening...

So I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my brother finally got engaged. I got to thinking about it and some weird coincidences popped into my head. Both of us ended up with BC girls. Both of us haven't finished college but our respective girls are in grad school. Both of us drive/drove crappy cars when we got married while our lady friends drove/drive new much nicer cars. And we both bought houses with our lady friends before getting married. Small coincidences I know, but I thought it was kind of interesting.

The Weekend

Very good, productive weekend all around. Friday night we went to a friends wedding. Turns out, it was a Maine wedding and no one told us. We had a great time, and it was great seeing her get married, but we were a tad over dressed. She wore a summer wedding dress and the groom wore a tux, but the guests all wore their finest bbq attire. I of course was in my suit (when else do I get a chance to wear it) and my lovely wife wore one of her little black cocktail dresses. At the end of the night she said to me, "I was getting dirty looks from all the other women all night", to which I responded, "Yeah I noticed, but that's because their wives all look shluppy and you look better than all of them plus you don't have a kid on each hip". Mean yes, but true...We were home by 8, and playing Wii by 8:15.. sad, but lots of fun.

Saturday was spent in the yard cleaning up. If you remember when we first moved in, our yard looked like this...
Kind of a mess, completely overgrown, weeds everywhere. Well after this...
Ripping everything up and starting from scratch... it's much better now. We decided this weekend to take the remaining bricks from the front wall and build a raised planter in the backyard against the fence.
The wall is three bricks high(about 18 inches) and looks very unimpressive right now because we need to buy 7-8 yards of dirt to fill it up. Maybe next weekend, we'll see. But you've gotta trust me on this one, it really looks good in the yard, and it'll help cover the gap at the bottom of our neighbors fence.

That night, we went to the American Folk Festival downtown. We went last year, but went later in the evening so we didn't really get to see a whole lot. This time we went around six, and had dinner there, which was great for me, not so great for the wife (who knew eating a lobster roll from a booth at an all weekend festival would prove to be a horrendously bad idea). The music was great, we saw a bluegrass band and a group of gospel singers and they were both really good. But the best part of the night.. the funnel cakes. Really, it doesn't get any better. The yumminess of fried dough, but sooo much easier to eat without making a mess. I challenge you to name a tastier food than friedness and sugar! Not one exists I assure you!

Sunday, we got the bright idea to try to move a very large rose bush from the back of the house to the front of the house...It's not a very good picture, but you can see the bush (tied up) to the right of my lovely wife..
We spent a great deal of time trying to clear some of the smaller weeds/plants away from the base of the bush to make it easier to move...
Well, after digging the hole in the front of the house... we gave up. The network of roots just made it impossible to dig by the bush so its now part of our compost pile. I hated cutting it down, but it was just so overgrown.

On a lighter note... two weeks I had a physical, got weighed and didn't like the result, I was getting fat. Two weeks ago we also started going for more walks and purchased the Wii. In the past two weeks, I'm down seven pounds, coincidence? I think not...

Nothing much going on this weekend, just trying to make it thru to next weekend really. Labor day.. no plans, just the usual stuff around the house. Three glorious work free days, I can't wait. This is a great time in Maine, everyday (when it's not raining of course) is 75-80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and no humidity, really the perfect weather if you ask me. So hopefully it'll hold up thru Sept, when the family comes back up.

Links And Then Some

So I thought that this was interesting. Since we moved to Maine last year, this is actually something that the wife and I have noticed. When we hit the mall, or Target or any public place really, we notice that there tend to be a lot of bigger people out and about. Never mind the fact that you never see runners or people out for a walk. We go for a walk after work whenever we can and we NEVER see other people out walking…Its like the whole fitness thing hasn’t made it's up here yet..

This is my new favorite McCain story. He not only doesn’t know the price of a gallon of gas, but now he can’t remember how many houses he has. This says one of two things to me: either he’s too rich to care, or too old to remember, both aren’t good things. Remember though, he’s a man of the people! Well, at least a man of the Hamptons..

As my lovely wife said “Road trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!!!! Geez, there’s a phrase I never thought I’d say.” Now who’s in? This looks like it would be so much fun, just don’t get in the way of one. I think I’d opt for the water logged version. Being strapped in makes me think I’d end up getting really really dizzy which would lead me to get really really sick. So instead of swirling around in some water, I’d be swirling around in lunch…

This story brought back some memories.. Who doesn’t remember those Little League days, when as a 4 foot nuthin, 70 something pound who excelled at bunting and little else (at the time that is. By the time high school rolled around I would excel at infield chatter while on jv and riding the bench for the varsity) would stride to the plate to face Matt Jewel, praying to any god that would listen not to get killed.. Man, those were good times…

Anyone else out there watching the Olympics at all? I’m not really into it (after seeing athletes get completely hosed in the “judged” competitions, I’m more sure than ever that any judged activity is not a sport. Simple as that. When the outcome is out of your hands and in the hands of an “impartial” judge, then its not a sport, it’s a pageant. Sure these people are amazing athletes, but it still doesn't make it a sport.

Anyway, when did ping pong become an Olympic sport? Or maybe the question should be, why did ping pong become an Olympic sport? And what about BMX racing? I’m not sure the Greeks had this in mind.

So yesterday we threw a big party at work for all the residents. Basically the staff cooks hamburgers, hot dogs and other bbq type food for the residents. We also have karaoke, games with prizes and things like that. Well yesterday was crazy. Normally a certain person at work (not me) would handle all the party planning and mc'ing etc, but that person recently left and we haven't filled the position yet. So that left everything to me. However, my lovely wife was kind enough to come in and give us a hand. You'd be amazed at how many of my residents kept saying that Sarah doesn't look old enough to be my wife. Does that mean she looks young, or do I look old? The party went really well though, I only had to sing a couple of karaoke songs (old time rock and roll by bob seger and the locomotion.. and yes, i'm a horrible singer) and everyone enjoyed all the prizes.. good times were had by all...

Stupid Is What Stupid Does

So I'm at WalMart today..yes I hate Wal Mart too, but I'm throwing a party for 90 people, so I had to go there for supplies...it's idiot central. People standing in the isles, blocking my path, talking away like they own the place. My cart got rammed twice by people flying down the isles and turning the corners without looking. Just annoyance every which way I turn...

But the one true moron prize goes to my cashier. I don't think she realized that the scanner only works when the little lasers under the glass make contact with the bar code on the product. She would shake my stuff over the scanner hoping to hear that little beep. And when it didn't scan quick enough for her, what did she do? She shook it harder and faster thinking that the machine would just guess what she was trying to scan.

I'm not exactly the smartest guy ever... but stupid people really bug the crap out of me...

On a completely unrelated lighter note...according to google analytics, so far I've had people from 33 states, and 15 countries read this blog. How cool is that? Somewhere in Latvia, some 40 year old recent divorcee stumbled across this page and got really ticked off cuz he was hoping it was about this Morrissey. For some reason, that's funny to me...