The Ides of October...

And what do I have for you?  Nothing.  It was Thursday, so I was at Gipper's taking in the NLCS.  Manny being Manny BABAY.  That's where my allegiance lies.  I want to see the LA Dodgers win it all, because I think Manny deserves another ring.  Guy was the best hitter in baseball, and he chose to juice...for the fans, OBVIOUSLY.  Can't question that kind of commitment.  To the Sox fans out there:  sorry, I'm a Manny guy.  Always have been (since his Cleveland days; he could always flat out rake and that's impressive), always will be.  Ya, he tanked an at-bat in a Sox uniform in a contract year.  But I look past that one for the 2000 good ones he had with that B on his head.  And I don't care what people say, the guy could play the wall.  Granted he got tested a lot, but for being a "mediocre" below average fielder he was always up there in outfield assists.  Just like with his at-bats...he baits you to sleep and the he capitalizes.  He's playing chess while you're all playing checkers.  And to you Yankee fans:  Piss up a flagpole you guys suck balls.  Everyone else...don't worry about it.  Ya, I know the D's probably lost tonight.  I don't care.  Not when Manny's being Manny.

In other news  need to work Friday and the world-traveling JMac of Portland is coming up north to visit (Jenny be jealous you were one week early..)...watch out, town.  Both of those, and the Ides of October have already passed...I guess I have nothing to beware of any more and hence no reason to post anything when all my good thoughts can wait for the weekend.  Cheers.

Nick's Quick...

Not sure how he came up with it, but young Nicholas posted the correct question early Tuesday evening.  Good for you...you win a pat on the back the next time we run into one another.  Well done.  Watched way too much television this evening.  The Factor was unimpressive.  This troubled me because I had not watched the factor over the past few moons.  I wanted pointed commentary on the health care debate and I got interviews on nothing of importance.  For shame, Bill.  And I think I'm hooked on Sons of Anarchy.  I've gotten pretty locked in on the F/X network, in general.  Goodness every night-ish.  Though I'm a little concerned about Wednesday's problematic situation at 10pm...be a little kid and watch South Park or be a girl and watch Nip/Tuck.  Decisions, decisions.  Both have their pluses and minuses.  Guess it'll either be a game time decision or whatever Marie decided to flip on.  I don't believe she's watched Nip/Tuck so I'd say there's a 75% chance Cartman and the boys will be on.  No worries.

O, but check this out if you like Jeopardy!...you'll be impressed and saddened at the same time.  Impressed because of the time and accuracy someone had to put in, and saddened because of the...time...and accuracy...someone had to...put in..

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What is...the question?

Earlier this evening Ma flipped on ABC and Jeopardy! prior to the Monday Night fooseball game coming on.  I had been taking a shower when she did this because it usually takes me about 2-3 hours to make my way to the shower once I get home form work because I'm lazy so while I was home from work before 5:30pm I was not in then shower until after 7:30pm, but at any rate I missed all of Jeopardy! but the "Final Jeopardy!" round.

Category: Anniversaries & Farewells.  

Answer: In 2009 it celebrated its 40th anniversary with a farewell tour of the British Isles, where it was built; today, it's in Dubai.

Anyways long story short I nailed the question (didn't think it was too hard being from around here.  Maybe this is just another example of

In honor of fall...a very swell season, indeed..

Their new album hits stores at the end of October.  If you have a half hour to kill then this can be a perfect escape.  I love these two...they're playing a show in early November in Boston.  I don't know if tickets are still available but if there's anyone interested in a low-key concert setting consisting of great music then I'm all ears.

Grace may be in order for mid-November, too...stay tuned..

Cheers (and more to come, I know last week I got a little lazy..).

I listen to country music..

And most of it, I enjoy.  But Darryl Worley's new song has been getting heavy airplay and it just bugs the shit out of me.  Ya, ya, it's catchy and it has that down home vibe which consists of everyone having problem and that's just the way it is.  But the song opens as follows:

Got a call last night from an old friend’s wife / Said I hate to bother you
Johnny Ray fell off the wagon /He’s been gone all afternoon

And so the unnamed protagonist heads to the bar Johnny Ray is at, Johnny Ray says he has various things going on which are stressing him out, and the unnamed protagonist says "it sounds like life to me."  Riveting storytelling, as are most country music tunes. 

But the shallow story is not the issue.  I take issue with the close of the second stanza (or whatever you'd like to call it...I'm no music major..)  Johnny Ray continues with his problems and then says he just found out that his wife, Sarah, is two months late.  So our unnamed protagonist responds:

...Hey bartender set us up a round / We need to celebrate

Are you kidding me?  Johnny Ray's a recovering alcoholic who just fell off the wagon and you're going to buy him a drink?  What kind of a friend are you, unnamed protagonist?  A shitty one, that's what kind.  Donkey. 

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I was going to continue on, but I'm le tired.  If it rains hopefully I'll get my act in gear and get some exercise in (Ya, I said it.  I've been working hard to plump up for my winter hibernation but I guess I've grown tired of that line of thought.  Stationary bike, here I come.  What, you thought I was going to jog?  Get real.  I need to get back doing something before I engage in that stupid activity..).  I may or may not have some randomly collected youtubes that I'd like to get up tomorrow, too.  Could be great, but don't get your hopes up because chances are I won't come through.  I'd say even odds.  Laziness is a tough mindset to shake..

Cheers (But it'll have to be a cranberry juice cheers tonight so I can help show Johnny Ray alcohol doesn't need to be present to have a good time or to solve your problems.  If you don't like cranberry juice, perhaps milk?  Milk.  That reminds me...Drink it up.  Yeah, that's the good stuff.. heh, heh..).

Oh, you didn't know?

It's official...I don't know what brought it on, but I'm caught up again big time.  I've been youtubing quite a few late 90's wrestling clips over the past week (Ed Note: I wrote this Friday but never had a chance to proofread it...and spent 4 hours Saturday doing the same thing.  This has been extreme.  If you have a problem with that I'll amck your lips off your face, pick them up off the ground, and make them kiss my ass.  Know your role and shut your mouth..).  Not in the new crap that's on now, but in the Attitude era WWF where the Monday night ratings war was HUGE.  When I was really little (think 5-7...and I was REALLY little then) I'd watch WWF when Hogan was king and there were millions of little Hulkamaniacs out there taking their vitamins and saying their prayers because those 24 inch pythons told them all to.  But, to be honest, I was never a huge Hoagn fan.  Rick Rude was my man.  Guy was a bad ass.  And had a bitching porn 'stache.  Nickname: Ravishing.  Always had a beautiful girl under his arm whose name escapes me (forgive me...I think I was 7 the last time I saw him on TV).  He was slightly more of a technical wrestler than the Hulkster (meaning he could do more than lock up, the "Test of Strength," forearm smash, and leg drop people..) but he was much more of a showman than a tactician.  Whatever, I was 7.  I could like whoever I wanted to like.  And Jake the Snake.  EVERYONE liked Jake the Snake.  I had his action figure.  It came with a snake.  Clever bit of marketing right there. 

For whatever reason I stopped watching for a few years but just before middle school business picked back up.  This was when the WCW and WWF blew back up.  And I was a pubescent boy and there was always T&A on the screen and a bunch of guys being assholes.  There really isn't much more a 12-13 year old kid wants out of his television (except the Playboy channel, but back then you couldn't win them all...The Godfather and his Ho's were a close 2nd..). 

Self....High...Five!

 Let's just say my DDP shirt made an appearance at the jobsite today (nothing like blue and purple graphics from circa '98)...and everyone FELT...THE...BANG! 

Cheers (And goddamn do I wish I would have remembered DDP about 195 posts ago so "cheers" could have been "BANG."  That would have been TOOOO COOL.  SELF...HIGH...FIVE!).

Back on the grind, y'all..

Yep, I got my shoes on a roof again today.  Three weeks off was nice (at times..) and not nice (at other times..) but obviously three weeks off comes with its own set of shortcomings.  Namely, my wallet is a bit more manageable (read: empty, so I manage by having nothing outside of my house I can do other than go to the library as long as I remember to return them before they become overdue because I'll have no way to pay my fine...it's a nail-biting, pressure-packed lifestyle I lead..) now than it was at the start of September.

I need a little cash cow (a little moo-la-moo..) to get back to living the lifestyle I've become accustomed to so I'm pretty sure working for some days will be a welcome respite from doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I also came up with a little rhyme in honor of my return to work, inspired by the classic American film Billy Madison:

Back to work
Back to work
To prove to Dad that I'm not a (dor.., no, lazypieceofshitwhohasnoambitionandnodesiretofindarealjobandwantstocontinue-skatingthroughlifewithoutanyoneholdinghimaccountabl.., no, let's go with the first one:) dork.

I've got my lunch pail here
And my shoes tied tight
I hope I don't fall off, that would be a wicked pain in my ass.

Cheers (and here's to getting over the hump..).

Jambalaya

As always I think of about 10,000 things a day and every now and again I take the time to write them down so that they don't go in one side of my head and out of the other.  I guess I have enough time to get some of this out, the only other plan I have for today is to watch Lebowski.  I had planned that to be my afternoon activity but I've been watching straight Food Network for about the last four hours.  Tyler Florence's Ultimate Chicken Cordon Bleu could very well be on the menu for later in the week at the Capone household if things stay the way they are and all I have to do this week is watch TV and twiddle my thumbs.  Giada has also redeemed herself today and whipped up a delicious-looking sausage, onion and red pepper baked omelet.  I'm a regular watcher of Giada but her recipes have left something to be desired during the month of September.  For shame, but way to bounce back today, Ms. De Laurentiis.

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Thanks to NatureWoman for providing me with her enchilada recipe which allowed me to contribute to my household in some way last week.  They came out masterfully, though I added quite a bit to Han's foundation.  I liked where your head was at in terms of simplicity...but I had a free Thursday afternoon to really get after it.  I whipped up a nice white rice, corn and black bean base to begin with, then used some shredded chicken thighs, sautéed onions and peppers, a jar of salsa, some diced tomatoes (sans salt, of course), and some fiesta jack cheese.  All that got layered into 9 inch tortillas, wrapped up, tossed in a baking dish and covered with more salsa, tomatoes and cheese then tossed in the oven to do the damn thing.  And the damn thing it did.

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When I was walking home from the Pub on Friday I had some thought go ::BANG:: into my dome piece and for the first time in awhile I had the original incarnation of my yellow notepad (an actual pocket-sized, yellow notepad...) and a

Is it still called homecoming when you've never really left?

I don't know, and I guess I don't care.  I'm just trying to be a philosophizer.  At any rate this past weekend was Homecoming for my alma mater which provided me with old new faces to imbibe with in the L/A area.  And an excuse to spend money that I don't quite seem to have at the moment.  But that's neither here nor there; I'm not here for a long time, I'm here for a good time.  Yep, that mindset reared its ugly head for the past couple days.  So be it...

What I've known for quite awhile is there's no use trying to plan anything in life.  Because, at least in my case, plans hardly ever seem to stay on point and go according to, well, plan.  This doesn't bother me at all.  Take this past Friday, for instance.  I had planned to watch the Eddies play some fooseball with Skip, grab a lager with Skip and be home by 10:30pm or so.  And of course this led to me running into Mr. Obeng (who I hadn't seen in quite some time...nice to see you, Eric) and walking from

It's 1:30am again and I'm still awake.

Shocking development when I sleep well through the morning on a regular basis.  Eh.  Having days free to do what you wish seems cool, but when you just sleep off and on for days on end then it's really not that exciting.  Maybe I don't really wish to do this?  I guess the jury's still out on that one.

Each morning this week I've set my alarm for 7:15am, and thus far each morning I don't remember shutting it off, but I know that I did because I roll over with the sun high in the sky and relative confidence that the sun high in the sky isn't what 7:15 looks like...as we are nearing the end of September.  Maybe tomorrow things will get back on track.  I'll rise with time to do something interesting or constructive with my day.  Perhaps I'll go to the library.  Jarhead was on F/X a couple of times today.  Maybe I'll read the guy's memoirs.  The movie Jarhead closes with a Tom Waits song.  I like Tom Waits.  I thought it was fitting.  My room is a mess, maybe I'll clean that up tomorrow.  Things to do, things to do.  Always things to do..

Cheers.