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Doesn't it look like from this map this country is leaning towards the Democrats? These are the states I've been to. New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon are my next three targets.

Impersonality

Over the last year, I've been getting into myspace a little, but I've spent more time on facebook. After looking through my list of friends, I realized a few things.

Some of these people on the list, I have not seen or talked to in 7 or 8 years. And now I have them on my facebook list. It seemes so impersonal. It's like you're not interacting, it may as well have been someone else or a computer reaction that added this person you used to know.

With so much technology that we have, it's cool that we can access info so quickly and in so many ways. But I think we have a lot more relationships that we only access through the computer. I think that's good and bad. It's fine to stay in touch, but what does it really accomplish when you're just compiling names and then not doing anything with the list?

An off night and a few thoughts on my mind

First and foremost, I just came from a wake. And so I'd like to acknowledge Jack Venezia, who passed away on Saturday. You may have heard about the crash in Dundee, IL where the SUV lost control and slammed into a Subway sandwich shop. I did not know Jack, but I felt as if I did. I work with his daughter, Mary Beth, at CEC. Now she and I don't get to talk much since we're on separate floors and she generally has more work to do than I do. But I remember in December when Jack had a heart attack and she was gone from work for a few days and she was feeling distraught.

So when I arrived at the wake in Crystal Lake tonight (which included driving through some of the nastiest rain I've ever seen), Mary Beth remembered that I was there for her when she needed some support and she gave me a hug. It was a good feeling in a tough situtation. But I have to point out it was a little eerie in that church. Jack was a devout Catholic and when I saw him lying in the casket with rosary beads on his hands, I was reminded of a little over a year ago when I saw my grandfather during his wake. Here is a link to the article about Jack.

Work has resumed for spring sports at the Herald. I'm not looking forward to it for the first time in a while. Between my other job, the commute, and going to the gym, this will be a trying couple of months considering I have a lot more on my plate than I did just a year ago. But I'll handle it the best I can.

Rangers continue to streak. They've gotten points in 10 of 11 games. They just beat Philly and are looking like they will make the playoffs. Now it's four straight games on the road. Just please avoid New Jersey in the first round!

Food recommendation: Corned beef sandwiches with deli mustard at Manny's Deli in Chicago. Holy freakin' mackerel, they are amazing.

Music pick: "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" by Don Williams

That is a tough woman, and etc.

University of Nebraska at Kearney women's basketball coach Carol Russell, who apparently preaches promptness to her players, was late for her team's NCAA regional game this past week. Her reason? Five hours earlier, she gave birth to her first child. She had the kid around 2 pm and was coaching basketball at 7 pm that night. Wow. I hope you're not looking for me to say anything else about it because I think that speaks for itself.

My NCAA brackets are looking pretty good through one night. Duke losing hurts but I didn't have them going far. In the two brackets where I have money, only 1 out of 32 teams I have in the Sweet 16 is out. Not a bad start.

Had my first fantasy baseball draft of the season a few minutes ago. Initially, I wasn't thrilled with my lineup though I did get Jose Reyes with my first pick. And I think starting pitching (Brandon Webb, Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia, Tim Hudson, Josh Beckett, and Bronson Arroyo) is my strength. I did that because that seems to be the hardest position to acquire during the season. My bullpen is weak, but closers change so often, I'm not worried about it.

And where I usually go with veterans, I went with young guys a lot this time. Prince Fielder, Jonny Gomes, Edwin Encarnacion, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, and Garret Atkins. It really doesn't look impressive on paper, but I think my team will get better and better as the season goes on.

I have nothing planned for St. Patrick's Day, coming up Saturday. I think last year it was on a Sunday, and I went to Muldoon's and drank some kind of Irish beer that I can't remember the name of now. It wasn't Guinness, but it was heavy enough. And for 6 bucks, one was definitely enough.

Song pick: "Poor Boy Blues" Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. There is some fine, fine picking on that track.

Can anyone hear me?

Now that I finally have a new cell phone, the answer apparently is yes. It's got the camera phone, which I haven't had before. But you know how after you buy some kind of technology for the first time? You have that feeling of you're cool, you're in the trend, you're a happening dude.
I had that feeling when I got my first cell phone in 2004 and I kind of had it as I walked out of the Sprint store today. The one drawback? My last phone had a background with a golden dog laying on a big beach ball. And that dog looks exactly like Hogan. Shame that wasn't on this phone too.

I'm amazed how some of these people who do demographic studies handle religion. They classify Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons under Christianity. I ask these people to look a little deeper and what these different religions really believe.

66 degrees today! Oh baby! You know there will be one more cold spell. but it was definitely good to walk outside today without wondering how quickly I could make it back to my car.

Volleyball continues to roll along. 3-0 against the team that last time beat us 2-1. And we played with 5 players. Now normally, we're not allowed to play with 4 men and 1 woman, but the other team allowed us to play everyone. After trailing 12-6 in the first game, I served 7 or 8 straight points. We wound up winning 25-22. The second and third games were both close before we pulled away late. What amazed me about this match was the way the other team basically self-destructed. They could not return our serves, got frustrated, and basically beat themselves. And I spiked as well as I have in a year. We could very well be on our way to first place after next week. Go Lazer!

Syracuse gets snubbed from the NCAA Tournament. That's just brutal. I don't really have a favorite to root for this year.

Good stuff in hockey. Rangers beat the Islanders twice, get a point against Pittsburgh, and get an incredible shootout win over Carolina today at the Garden. It's an incredible race in the Eastern Conference. Eight teams within seven points of seventh place. I still don't know if this team is going to hold up with their injuries and lack of scoring. But who knows.

The Mets play worse every day and going into this season, my expectations continue to lower by the week. I hope I'm wrong. But I just brought tickets for a game against Cincinnati in mid-July. I'm hoping for one thing. Mets closer Billy Wagner enters the game in a save situation so I can sing along to "Enter Sandman."

My non-work existence

February 24. Chicago, IL. Windy City Fieldhouse. Ring of Honor was great as usual, even if the new building was brutal. Here's a beautiful photo of Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs. And we will miss Samoa Joe. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a tear. And that was the night of the blizzard. When I got to my car around 11:30, my windshield was a solid block of ice. Ten minutes of defrosting, and scraping, and a few bloody knuckles later, we were on the road. And that was some of the worst snow and ice and wind I've ever drive through. Two hours after we left, I was home. But you can bet I would do it all again to see Samoa Joe's final ROH match in the United States.

I got to Aurora University around 8 am on Saturday morning to get my taxes done. The students over there will do them for free, as long as your income is under a certain amount, which mine most definitely is! I waited about an hour until my number was called and I met with two ladies who handled my information. It was pretty quick since I'm not a homeowner, am single, and have no kids (at least none that I know of). After ten minutes, it was done, and they told me to wait for it to get reviewed. Now I was #19 out of maybe 45. I was about the fifth to the last one out. Not knowing when I would be ready, I waited 2 hours and 45 minutes for them to call my name. But hey it was free of charge, and I actually got a refund!

Volleyball continues to go well. We played 5 against 8 this past week and won two of three games. The only thing I can complain about was our serving was a little off. But our net play was excellent, the communication was good, and we just came up with the the big shots right when we needed them. We're 8-3.

I'm out for the night.

Two weeks without a post

I guess I've been caught up in the rigors of work and so many other things that blogging just hasn't been high on my priority list. But I have a few things to talk about. I'll handle sports stuff here and talk about other stuff later on.

One, I just finished watching the Rangers-Islanders on tv. Folks, if you don't like sports, that's fine. But if you like other sports and can't get into hockey after watching a game like this, you probably don't have a pulse. The Rangers are fighting to get back into the playoff race in the Eastern Conference while the Islanders have quietly enjoyed a very good season that came out of nowhere. The Rangers had lost their last five games to the Islanders and this game was the first of a home and home, in MSG, on national TV.

What a game. The Rangers took 57 shots on goal, the most shots any team has taken in a game this season. Isles goalie Rick DiPietro was impeccable, making 56 saves. The Isles scored late in the first period and the Rangers tied it early in the third. Nobody could beat DiPietro or rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist in overtime. We went to a shootout. And Matt Cullen's goal in the shootout proved the difference as the Rangers won 2-1, elevated themselves into a 10th-place tie in the Eastern Conference, two places and two points behind Carolina and the playoff cutoff. The seventh-place Islanders are three points ahead of Carolina. These two teams play again Thursday, this time in the Nassau Coliseum. I have to say, I may actually go out to a bar and watch this game. Let's see what happens.

Credit the Knicks, they are playing better, and they may just make the playoffs. Finally won games on consecutive nights for the first time since December. With the injury issues they're facing, I don't really think they'll make the playoffs, but at least they're improving steadily. I just wish this team would dedicate themselves to playing defense and with a little bit of toughness. But I guess that's just the aggressive Knick teams I remember from when I was a kid.

Onto football. The Patriots just made another steal in NFL free agency, signing linebacker Adalius Thomas away from Baltimore. Probably the best defensive player on the market and it shows again the Pats success is due to the front office. And they got Wes Welker from Miami, one of the most underrated receivers in the game. It's amazing. Oh, and they signed former Jet first round draft choice bust tight end Kyle Brady. Watch him turn into Antonio Gates.

But there is good news. The Jets just traded for running back Thomas Jones of da Bears. For a team whose rushing attacked ranked 30th of 32 teams, this will be a big addition. And we got their second round pick for Washington's second rounder , which we owned. That's a difference of about 25 spots. But that's fine by me, there will still be plenty of quality players available late in the second round. At the same time, they need to upgrade the right side of the offensive line too. And they just do that, as they are apparently close to signing offensive tackle Marc Colombo, formerly of the Bears and Cowboys. He is also a cousin of one of my roommates in college. The only thing is he has had a lot of knee injuries over the years. I question his durability.

I feel myself really divorcing myself from the NY Giants. I may root for them in the NFC, but with the way they've been conducting themselves, I just can't root for them like I used to.

And as for the best team in baseball, the New York Mets, I'll have a preview in the next few weeks.