Long week going, big one coming up

Well, I've made it through four days of a tough week, and I feel like I'm in survival mode. Including commute times, I've put in 42 hours at CEC and another 13 at the Daily Herald. Usually, I'm off from the paper on Friday nights, but this won't be the case tomorrow. Chris cancelled our meeting so I'm working tomorrow as well. So just counting Monday through Friday, I'll be working 70 hours. My mother is back to work, so I have extra stuff to do around home, preparing dinner, grocery shopping, more house work, etc. So I've been to the gym once in the last 10 days.

And to tell the truth, I feel like I'm wearing down a little. Now I don't like to admit that. I have one day left before the weekend. And I'm not sure what I'll be doing outside of working out and a few hours at the paper late on Saturday. I'm sure watching the Mets-Brewers will be on the schedule...so there will be no Miller beer for me this weekend!

This will be a huge two weeks for my Mets. 3 games against Milwaukee (the so-called best team in baseball), 4 against the (groan) Cubs, and 3 against the Yankees, before 6 games on the road against the Braves and Marlins. I want 5 out of 7 against the Cubs/Brewers and I'll live with losing 2 against the Yanks, as long as we take two in Atlanta. It's time for us to beat them in a series this year.

The Rangers season ended Sunday in Game 6 in the quarterfinals. Great job by the Broadway Blueshirts, we just lost to a better team.

I had lunch out today, I got a Coke with a lime in it to drink and the lime was floating. That's good news. Next time I'm on a boat and it capsizes, I will reach for a lime. The lime will be my buoy for survival. My life has been saved by the power of citrus.

Thank God, it's 3.5 weeks left until my vacation.

Music pick: "Just to Satisfy You" Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

One of those nights

after 12 hours of working where I just pop in an ROH DVD, and load on crackers and peanut butter. Now what's running through my mind.

1) Why is Peter Pan peanut butter still not back on the shelf? How long does it take to get the bad jars off the shelf and make some good peanut butter? I can only take Jif for so long!

2) Republic of Tea's ginger peach iced tea is one of the best drinks I've ever had.

3) I'm thinking more and more that no matter how good advice is, it seems to mean a lot more when it comes from someone you respect.

4) How's this for a kick in the pants. Mom was supposed to go back to work Tuesday after 18 months of being out. Well, the powers that be failed to tell her that with new security codes, she had to have her fingerprints taken and it takes several days for it to be confirmed. So she has three or four extra days off.

5) If someone shows you compassion when you're in a tough situation, whether you want it or not, don't blow them off.

6) My June vacation can't come fast enough.

7) Has Larry King ever been on TV without wearing suspenders?

8) I go to the library to rent CD's as well as books. But looking for the CD's can be rough. 2/3 of the music is classical and opera. I can appreciate most types of music, but this seems a little out of hand. It's like calling a computer help line and talking to an operator who speaks English you can understand.

9) I was in Home Depot in the gardening section and I saw a product that was designed to water plants that were hard to reach. Now who would make their plants hard to reach? Doesn't that seem mean? Is someone keeping a wager on whether their tulips will last through the weekend?

10) Last, but not least, Ring of Honor debuts on pay-per view on July 1! Yes! Well, then again, I don't have PPV access at home. If anyone's house has PPV.....please?

The drama builds

Well, I'm feeling pretty good. The New York Rangers have battled their way back and have tied the Eastern Conference semifinals against the best team in hockey, the Buffalo Sabres, at 2-2. Plenty of people (Sabres fans and the media) have complained about the goal that wasn't ruled a goal that the Sabres scored with 13 seconds left in game 4 that would have tied the score. Well, there have been at least six calls like that which have gone the Sabres way in the playoffs. One was bound to go against them.

Bottom line: these have been great games. After a terrible showing in game 1, the Rangers realized they could not win an with all-out attack style agsint the speedy, deep Buffalo team. So they adjusted their strategy and roster to improve their defense and it has paid dividends. The last three games have been close and Game 5 on Friday should be too. Now the Rangers need to beat Buffalo in their building.

And it amazes me how many people in this country refuse to watch hockey. And I'm especially targeting Chicago with that statement. How any human being with a functioning brain can consider playoff basketball more exciting than playoff hockey, I will never know.

Time to vent

You know, people get on me for being negative with my teams. They say I talk about how the teams I hate get all the breaks and how I've gone 13 years without any of my teams winning a championship. Well watch the NFL draft from this weekend and that's all you need to know.

Now this past offseason, the Jets didn't do much. They got Thomas Jones from the Bears (thanks again, Bears fans) and a few no-name guys. The Patriots, meanwhile must have hired Daniel Snyder or Donald trump to run the team because they sign almost every decent free agent. They added linebacker Adalius Thomas (the best defensive free agent), cornerback Tory James, running back Sammy Morris, receiver/returner Wes Welker, and receivers Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington.

Now thanks to trades, my Jets wind up with only four picks for the draft. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots (the devil's team), make a few picks that I thought were questionable. So though I felt we had little to no shot to take our rightful spot as the best team in the AFC East (we already have the better QB anyway), the ultimate disgrace just happened.

Randy Moss gets traded to the Pats for a FOURTH ROUND DRAFT PICK! This is the most talented receiver in the whole league. And New England gets him for a middle round draft pick! If any other team were trading for Moss, they would have give two or three high level picks. And the kicker of this mess? He signs a reduced contract!

I should write Roger Goodell, the new NFL commissioner. Just cancel the league this season. Can we just give New England the Super Bowl now? Don't go through with the games. It's been painful enough watching the Devils win three Cups, the Bulls re-emerge as a NBA power at the expense of the Knicks, and the Braves win so many division titles (even if they've been clueless in the playoffs for 10 years). But this is a team who has won 3 Super Bowls with the coach who should have led the Jets to glory and quit on us after 1 day on the job and ran out like a weasel (and I'm not writing the word I want to).

Think I'm too dramatic? Try rooting for the kind of teams I root for in all four sports and see if you get out with no heartache and ageda.

Back on top, sort of

To quote Samoa Joe, I'll have you know that the champ is here. Jim, Matt, Eli, Kim, Cam, and I (Lazer) won the Willow Creek volleyball tournament on Sunday. In all fairness, it was decisive. We never allowed more than 15 points in any of the four games we won. So we win t-shirts (light blue) and 40 bucks to go out with. Something tells me for 6 bucks each, we'll be able to supersize those fries...

But you know something. Championships are a good feeling and a decent accomplishment, but that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm proud of my own work this season and I'm especially proud of my teammates. I know the work I put in the gym got me ready physically to play the best volleyball I've ever played. But with every league I play in, I see more nad more truth in a quote from Cool Runnings, the movie about the Jamaican bobsled team. John Candy's character is talking to one of the sledders and he says "A gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."

Well now it's softball season. We'll see what team I play on, if I even get an opportunity to play.

Sunday night rambling

And as Waylon Jennings said, don't mess around with any rambling man.

Well, I've got the house to myself for a week starting Tuesday. I'm actually not too thrilled about it. Hogan has to be alone in the house for nine hours a day minimum.
I'm going to see if I can bring him with me to work at night.

We wrapped up first place in volleyball and the playoffs are next week. But there's a new wrinkle. Now the #2 team (Mixed Nuts) has a full cheering section. As if it wasn't enough they have 10 players on their team and today they added an 11th who's 6'3! They brought 7 or 8 people to wave flags stomp on the bleachers, and do that God-forsaken wave. If there's one sports tradition that needs to go, this is the one.

I have eaten so bad this week. Burgers at Fuddrucker's, sausage, pizza, pork chop, sandwiches twice, well, at least I've gotten protein. I'm planning in hitting the gym 3-4 times this week after only going twice last week.

I made a big deposit in the bank today. Now why do they have to write two amounts of money on your paychecks? It's like "here's the money you bust your butt all week for. And here's what you're gonna get." What do we get for the taxes, all the free streetlight in the world? As far as I'm concerned give everyone a candle, give me my 150 dollars back!

I'm not going to go into specific details here, but I'm going to say a few things I've been wrestling with over the last few months. I think most times when we're undergoing major changes in life, we're aware something's happening but we don't know how it's going to look in the end. Well, I think I'm going through something like that right now. What's strange is I don't even know if I need a change right now or if it's something that's supposed to happen, or if it's just my own feelings. But I feel like I'm moving towards one place I'm new to and repelling away from another I've been doing for a long time. So I think about this questions.

Is it the excitement of a new experience?
Is it liking/not liking the complacency of what you know?
Is it having a hunger to add something fresh to a routine you've gotten used to?
Or is it that I'm just restless?

Basically, I don't have the answer to what's happening here. I don't want to abandon this thing that I know and have loved for a long time. But I feel it may time for me to take a hiatus for a while. Like the Eagles said, sometimes to keep it together, we have to leave it alone.

PS: Go Mets! Go Rangers!

Song pick: "Mr. Natural" Bee Gees

My opinion on the Imus saga

I know that a lot of people who read this will disagree me. That's your opinion.

By now, everyone knows about the comments radio show host Don Imus and his producer made about the Rutgers' women's basketball team. Last night, MSNBC pulled their TV simulcast of the show. And this afternoon, CBS radio fired him. A lot of people agree with that decision. They believe Imus is a racist old man should have been fired. I do not. I am disgusted with these picketing activitsts (Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson). I am disgusted with MSNBC. I am disgusted with CBS radio. I am repulsed at the way this situation has gone down.

Now as a guy who listened to the show from time to time, let me explain the nature of the show. Because I think a lot of people don't know Don Imus' nature. It's a funny show and had been for over 20 years. He pokes fun at people constantly. He insults his family and friends. And he gets on politicians and public figures. He's been doing that forever. So of course, he's ruffled feathers along the way and he has his oppponents. And those opponents have been waiting for a chance to kick him off the air. And that's what this was. I believe this was a personal attack on Imus. While I do not believe there was any malice on Imus' part, there has been plenty of malice on these critics. And I think they don't have the whole story.

Now I am not one of these First Amendment advocates. I don't believe in free speech no matter what. Without a doubt, I was very offended by Imus' and Bernard McGuirk's (the show's producer) comments. Calling those young women "ho's" was stupid and insensitive. He deserved to be suspended from the show and people should have been offended.

But even if the firing was inevitable, other people are conducting themselves far worse than Imus. MSNBC (who has no ratings aside from Imus' show anyway) and CBS radio proved they have no class. Today and tomorrow, WFAN radio (the NY sports radio station Imus broadcasts on and I listen to religiously) is running their annual Radiothon to benefit the Tomorrow Children's Fund and the CJ Foundation for SIDS. Over the last 18 years, this event has raised over 50 million dollars. And the networks both fired Imus DURING the radiothon. They didn't wait until after the fundraiser. They hindered the potential of this event and fired him as soon as they could to serve their own agenda which was looking good to the public.

And what's the reason they give for the firing? The networks claimed they were offended by the comments and the content and they could not allow that to be broadcast to America. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Detroit I can sell you. They fired Imus because sponsors were pulling out and they feared they would lose money. It was about money and image. This had ZERO to do with concern for these young women or race or gender.

Now onto these "almighty activists." And I'm going to focus on Al Sharpton. This guy needs to just go away. As soon as the remarks were made, he immediately said he would never go on Imus's show again. Turns out Sharpton is hosting a show on satellite radio. Two days later, he has Imus on. What a hypocritcal thing to do. He got Imus in his own environment so he could rip him. If he and Jackson and Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey and all these people don't call for a firing, they look like sellouts to the black community. They care about themselves and hide behind God, peace on earth, and race relations to make themselves look good. Where were these people making a stand against drugs, hardcore rap music, and gangs? Apparently those are fine? Intent doesn't matter? I think it does.

I ask you: if Howard Stern, who is insulting by nature, had said this, would he have even gotten punished? A fine? A suspension. You'll have a hard time convincing me he would have been reprimanded in any way. Because that is what is expected out of him. So to me, while the message was a huge factor, it was not the only factor. The person who says something is almost as important, if not as important, as the words that are said. Because I've heard other public figures say far worse things about certain races, religions, backgrounds, etc. and not even get a slap on the wrist.

And I hope Don Imus hosts a radio show again in the future. That's my opinion.

What's with this weather?

Talk about a cold spell. It's supposed to stay in the 40's through next Friday. We'll see how many more high school games get cancelled. At least I get a few more free nights out of this.

Well, it's Easter weekend. Went to two good Friday services yesterday, one at Willow Creek and one at Wheaton Bible. The former was very dark, lit only by candles. It was very visual in terms of images (They showed various stills of scenes leading up to the crucifixion and read a lot of Scripture). Tomorrow, I am serving at Willow. I believe I'm ushering but I don't know for sure. I do know it includes a really good buffet for the volunteers afterwards. Volleyball is off for this week and then it's Ecclesia tomorrow night.

I've started to re-read "The Life You've Always Wanted." I'm an avid John Ortberg fan and I think I need to get back to reading some of the books I haven't paid enough attention to as of late.

The Mets have outscored their opponents 30-3 over the first four games of the season. Now today we're pitching Tom Glavine against John Smoltz. I'll take a loss here, as long as we win tomorrow, win this series, and head back to New York for the home opener with a 5-1 record and in first place in the NL East.

42 down

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.