Ok, again I have to apologize for taking so long to update. Mostly it's because I'm still in mourning over what looks to be a complete and total loss of hockey this season. I wonder if I can blame the whole thing on Barry Melrose. Ok, maybe not the whole thing since he and I actually agree, but it's ESPN's bad commentating and his suits that keep the TV ratings down. That and the fact that ESPN only shows about 1/6 of the teams in the league if they show games at all.
Ok, enough about hockey (see, even I'm starting to write off the season and I'm the eternal hockey optimist. I'm still convinced that Lord Stanley is coming home to Pittsburgh every year.)
Well lots of stuff has happened since I last posted, that's for sure. Read Dwight's blog for a decent account of the terror of Ivan that went through Pittsburgh. I won't even try to describe what went on here in town. I'm just thankful that the majority of the people I know made it through unscathed with their personal belongings intact.
I also watched the Emmy's and can't for the life of me figure out what made them pair up Mos Def and Tony Shalhoub as presenters. I think they were the last two picked at recess or something. I'm not sure I liked the reality tint to the Emmy's with the control booth on stage, but I did enjoy the acceptance speech of the director (who, incidentally, won for the Oscars while taking care of the Emmys)
One of the little idiosyncrasies that I have in my professional career has been music. My first professional job afforded me the ability to listen to music (at a reasonable volume, and it was a reasonable volume so I was allowed) while I worked. Making the choice of what to listen to everyday became quite difficult after about a week and a half. So, I adopted this philosophy. I wanted to use my ability to listen to music at work to my advantage by listening to all of my music. So, starting with Alcohol Funnycar in my Alternative CD's, I went from one genre to another until I had finished with my CDs. Then I started on my cassingles and moved on to my cassettes. By the time I had left Lycos, I hadn't quite finished my cassingles. At my second job, I didn't even make it through the CDs. Now, I have progressed through my CD's, cassingles, and I started on cassettes.
Now, I told you that boring ass piece of information to relate a little about my current office. In the Comedy (Sung) genre of my cassettes are my "Weird Al" Yankovic albums. Al has apparently been to my office. Lyrics for Dare to be Stupid, Eat It, Fat, and Girls Just Want to Have Lunch all reek of having been written with my co-workers in mind. It was a little difficult to explain why I was seemingly laughing at nothing for most of the afternoon.
Another thing that has to be a sure sign of the end of the world and might even be eligible for the Fraught watch is "never ending popcorn shrimp HERE!!!! What the hell is that all about? Internation House of PANCAKES! When I think of pancakes and potential toppings for pancakes, I come up with chocolate chip, banana, blueberry, etc. Not trout, tuna, or shrimp. This is just another case of restaurants over-extending their menus to accomodate the fat-ass american who can't decide what to order so he/she gets one of everything. This ranks right up there with Atkin's Approved Menus. Hey, Atkins ain't approving nothing. He's dead. Deceased. Shuffled off this mortal coil. He's bleedin' demised. He's an ex-human. Those menus are almost as bad as the Italian food here.
Anyway, that's enough for today. It's getting late and I can't even console myself with a west coast hockey game. Though I will say it was a beautiful sight to watch Mario skate with the World Cup trophy. If the USA can't win, at least I got to see a superstar hoist the trophy.
I almost forgot to mention this show that I watched a few days ago. All in all, I was pleased with the majority of the choices. Number one was a given and most likely had the rest of the show's concept created around it. However, there were some nice surprises. Harper Valley PTA isn't a clear cut choice, but it certainly was funny to see it make the top five. One of my favorite songs for something like that has to be Toby Keith's, "How Do You Like Me Now." Which oddly enough is a song I don't own. So, months after Tom asks the question, I finally have an answer. It was interesting that they went with 40 and not 50, but still a good show. I couldn't think of any complete, smack yourself in the head yelling duh, absences from the list, but maybe you might.
And, how can I forget what today is? Today is perhaps one of the most memorable days in recent memory for people around my generation. It's the day the DVD world gains three new releases. Releases the people have waited for since DVD was in its infancy. Yes, Star Wars Episodes IV, V, and VI (the original three) came out today. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait til tomorrow to pick up my set and with Gage around, who knows how long it will take to make it through them, but they will become permanent editions to my DVD library less than 24 hours from now. That I can pretty much guarantee, unless of course I end up bleedin' demised between now and then.