Thursday, April 27, 2017

Five Top 5’s



The Top 5 Players I Would Like to See the New York Jets Draft Tonight 1)    Jamal Adams 
2)    OJ Howard 
3)    Marshawn Lattimore 
4)  Malik Hooker 
5)    Leonard Fournette (if they trade down)


The Top 5 Audio Books on My Audible List
1)      “Yes” Daniel  Bryan 
2)      “The Game” Ken Dryden 
3)      “The Case for Christ” Lee Strobel 
4)      “When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box” John Ortberg 
5)      “When Pride Still Mattered” David Maraniss

The Top 5 Sides for a Steak 
1)      Garlic mashed potatoes 
2)      Lyonnaise potatoes 
3)      Baked potato 
4)      Creamed spinach 
5)      Sauteed mushrooms

      The Top 5 Cities in America I Would Like to Visit That I’ve Never Been 
1)      Seattle 
2)      Honolulu
3)      San Jose
4)      Savannah
5)      Kansas City

The Top 5 Country Music Drinking Songs 
1)      “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” Merle Haggard 
2)      “Whiskey River” Willie Nelson 
3)      “Killin’ Time” Clint Black 
4)      “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” Hank Williams Jr. 
5)      “Drinking Me Lonely” Chris Young

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Another Saturday night

1) I just needed to be out of the house. It may not benefit my social skills, but the weather is finally warm enough where I can just drive my car to an abandoned dark place have a couple of beers and play music. Those are some of life's simplest pleasures.

2) Thank God for Waylon Jennings music. It seems every other month that I discover a song that knocks me on my ass. The latest: The Wurlitzer Prize.

3) A picture may be worth a thousand words, yet all their words mean nothing.

4) I love my mother. I appreciate her and I respect her. But getting along with her is challenging sometimes. We didn't even have any kind of major disagreement today. She just communicates on a different level, maybe it's a male vs female dynamic or maybe it's my age vs hers. She felt I blew up at her three times. And honest to God, I hadn't felt frustration or anger for her, except for maybe ten seconds. And that was because she dropped hints, she expected me to understand exactly what she was saying. I guess she just held onto her frustration all afternoon, even through Easter service. How sad.

5) And this was the worst part. She actually had the nerve to say to me that it's no wonder I can't keep a woman. That comment did make me angry and it hurt. Because I didn't feel it was fair. I'm far from perfect, but I truly believe I would make a very good boyfriend and eventually husband. Summer is creeping in and in this warm weather, it does hurt that I'm alone. But then I remind myself that I'm a good man and I have a lot to offer. That's not ego, that's just an honest assessment of myself. And whether I'm in a relationship or not does not determine my value as a man.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

A review that got over

I've been writing reviews on the Yelp website since 2009. In that time, I've gotten a good amount of feedback. The vast majority has been quite positive. Sometimes I get some negative responses from owners who night think I'm a little tough on them.

But sometimes, there is a positive review from an owner. Those are the ones that surprise me every time. Because some owners review social media diligently while others would rather ignore it. It just pleases me when I can positively impact a business, and that can be done just by giving the manager an unintentional boost of confidence.

Such a review happened earlier this week. I reviewed Piece, which I mentioned in a previous post. The owner had an incredibly grateful and kind response and because it was so well received, I'm posting my review of Piece here.

When people think of pizza, they typically think of two cities: NYC and Chicago. New Haven, CT needs to be put right on the same level. And it's amazing that I can get that style of pizza in the Midwest.

Take note Chicago. This is how you do a thin crust pizza. It's not cut into little dinky squares. It doesn't have the toppings buried under the cheese.

I like that the pizzas aren't shaped in a perfect circle. They're more like oblong ovals that are cut into randomly sized triangular slices. The crust has a great crispness on it with just a tiny hint of chew. Personally, the ideal crust for me is crispy all the way to the bottom and also chewy and crunchy on the outside. The only thing I would want done differently is a touch more chew on the crust.

I have two combos that I go to. One is the red pics with chicken and sauteed mushrooms. I don't know what they do with these mushrooms but they are packed with flavor. And the chicken doesn't dry out, which is always a risk when it's on a pizza.

But then there's what I call the New Haven special. The white pizza, with no sauce, topped with mozzarella, bacon, clams, and roasted peppers. At first thought, this might seem like a crazy combination. But the combination of bacon and roasted peppers provides that perfect combination of sweet and salty. They load the pizza up with clams, they definitely don't skimp on them either. And it's the only pizza I've ever seen served with lemon wedges. A little lemon, and plenty of Parmesan and crushed red pepper, and I'm ready to go.

The small pizza is supposed to feed 1-2 people, but I have no problem taking one of these down by myself. I wish they would expand into the suburbs. There's really no other place to get pizza like this outside of the Northeast and that makes me feel sorry for the rest of the country.

Monday, April 03, 2017

My race has been run

It's crazy to think I spent all those weeks, all those training sessions, all that time, and all that money just to get ready for a period of time that lasts less than 40 minutes.

I woke up at 5 am and downed a peanut butter sandwich and a liter of water. I drove to Bartlett instead of my usual West Chicago stop, since the first train out of West Chicago on a Sunday doesn't leave until after 7 a.m. I later had a banana on the train. After getting off the train at Union Station, it was a 20 minute walk straight east on Jackson St to get to Grant Park.

I checked my gear in and stretched out, but it was probably about 45 minutes between arriving at the site and starting the race. As far as the temperature, it was cloudy and it must have been in the 40s. It was cold, but not unbearably so. Wearing my Saucony sneakers, black Fila shorts, orange Dri-Fit Mets t-shirt, black headband, and royal blue wristbands, I purposefully strode into Corral C, the fourth division behind the Elites, A, and B.

It took about 20 minutes to actually get started as they kept sending us out in waves. I started north in a steady jog while playing Springsteen's "Born to Run." Original, I know. After 4 minutes, I switched to Keep on Chooglin' by Creedence. As I've mentioned, Doug Clifford's drumbeat kept me running at a perfect 8.0 mph for almost eight minutes.

Around the first mile, I felt a little discomfort in my side, that early sidestitch. It wasn't sharp, but it was just enough to keep me uncomfortable for the whole race. I grabbed Gatorade right around mile 3.5. Right around this time, I could feel my legs turning into Jello. I was so anxious to see the Mile 4 marker, as I knew I could kick it a little harder at that point.

During the last mile, as I ran south on Michigan Ave huffing and puffing, that final left turn towards the finish line seemed like it was just never going to come. I did pass one kid waving a stupid white W flag. I screamed at him, "I'm gonna beat that stupid flag" as I found my next gear and blew right past him. There's nothing like pure rage to inspire a speed burst.

All I wanted to do was maintain my pace. Even though I wanted to stop and walk a couple of times, but I could not even let that be an option. Because I knew if I did stop, there was no way I was going to live it down. The recovery was going to happen over a period of time, but losing those 30 or 45 seconds for a brief walk was going to be difficult for me to accept.

I made that left on Roosevelt and went over that tough hill which goes over the Metra train tracks, back downhill, and then it was one last left turn onto Columbus. I could see that beautiful word elevated in white letters surrounded by lime green. That word was "Finish." I tried one last sprint, but it wasn't quite the speed I wanted .But I kept going and never stopped for that last two tenths of a mile until I was across that finish line.

My final time was 36:39, only about a minute and a half slower than three years ago. I feel good about it, though I know I can do it faster. If I could do the training over again, I would not do the interval running. I'm not sure if it really helped me. I think I should have ran at that harder speed a little more but for not as long a period of time. The only injury that I'm feeling 24 hours later is a strained right Achilles tendon.Climbing stairs right now for me is a nightmare.

So the question is will I race again? As of now, I really don't know the answer to that question. I can definitely do a 5k, and I'm sure I will do at least one at some point this summer. But I think my ceiling is to do a 10k and I'm not sure if my feet can handle any more pounding than that. We'll see what happens.




Sunday, April 02, 2017

2017 MLB Predictions

National League
East
NY Mets
Washington
Miami
Atlanta
Philadelphia

Central
Chicago
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Milwaukee
Cincinnati

West 
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Colorado
Arizona
San Diego

American League
East
Boston
Toronto
NY Yankees
Baltimore
Tampa Bay

Central
Cleveland
Kansas City
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota

West 
Texas
Houston
Seattle
Anaheim
Oakland

NLCS
Mets over Dodgers

ALCS
Red Sox over Blue Jays

World Series
Red Sox over Mets

Wrestlemania Predictions

Pre-show
WWE Cruiserweight Championship match
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Prediction: Neville

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Prediction: Braun Strowman

Main Show
Triple Threat Ladder Match for Raw Tag Team Championship
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Cesaro and Sheamus
Prediction: Enzo Amore and Big Cass

Six Pack Challenge for SmackDown Women's Championship
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Carmella vs. Mickie James vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya VS. Naomi 
Prediction: Naomi

Intercontinental Championship Match
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin
Prediction: Dean Ambrose

Mixed Tag Team Match
John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse
Prediction: John Cena & Nikki Bella

United States Championship Match
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Prediction: Kevin Owens

Four-Way Elimination Match for Raw Women's Championship
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
Prediction: Sasha Banks

Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles
Prediction: AJ Styles

Non-Sanctioned Match
Seth Rollins vs. Triple H
Prediction: Seth Rollins

Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns
Prediction: Undertaker

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Bray Wyatt (v) vs. Randy Orton
Prediction: Bray Wyatt

WWE Universal Championship Match
Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
Prediction: Brock Lesnar

Saturday, April 01, 2017

The big day is tomorrow

OK, the Shammrock Shuffle is tomorrow. My six weeks of prep is over. I am now nine hours from starting my race. For my final run, I ran 3.5 miles in 25 minutes on Thursday and felt great afterwards. This morning, I did the Below the Belt DDP yoga workout for 40 minutes. I ate absurdly clean too: a protein smoothie, pasta primavera, and a salad with rotisserie chicken, and drank about 4 liters of water.

So here's my schedule for Sunday morning. I'll be getting up at 5 am to take a 6:05 train from Bsartlett to Union Station downtown. I will be arriving around 7:15 am and starting the race around 8:30. Hopefully, I'll be done within 37 minutes; that's my target to beat.

For my pre-race meal, I'm thinking an almond butter sandwich with a banana. It seems like bananas are to runners what spinach is to Popeye. So I think I'll put that theory to the test. I have a couple of free slices of pizza at Dimo's, maybe I'll indulge over there after the race.

I also have my iPod playlist ready to go:

  • Keep on Chooglin'-Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen
  • Mama Said Knock You Out-LL Cool J
  • F'ing In the Bushes-Oasis
  • Hold On Tight-ELO
  • Rock and Roll Is King-ELO
  • Metalingus-Alter Bridge
  • Fight (Kevin Owens)-CFO$
  • Eye of the Tiger-Survivor
  • Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)-Bill Conti
Keep On Chooglin' was a recent find for me. What I like is the drumbeat is a perfect 8.0 miles per hour. The song is almost eight minutes long and it's going to be a good pace-setter.

The ELO songs are new additions, but I like the speed and the energetic spirit of these two tunes.

Metalingus was Edge's theme in WWE and Fight is for Kevin Owens. I'm defintiely finishing with the two Rocky songs and those will probably get me through the  mile or so.

I'm ready. Let's freaking do this.