Thursday night and I have a few things to rattle off....I was so excited about the Bill Simmons book signing that I didn't even bother to mention anything else. Let's catch up.

- Was watching the Phillies game last night (the Wild Card dreams are all but squashed...what a shocker), and who's in attendance? TO and Freddie Mitchell! Holy crap, this is first FredEx siting in quite some time. I wasn't paying too much attention to the game, but wished I was able to hear the crowd's reaction when they showed the two of these clowns up on the Jumbotron. Just thought this warranted a mention.

- File this one under "Things I Don't Get": Blackberries and other wireless handheld devices. I understand that some people may need these for work, or maybe their job requires that they carry one with them at all times. But my questions revolve around people who choose to own & use one of these gadgets. I mean seriously, do you want people from work getting in touch with you all day, every day? Do you want to be checking email at all hours of the day? Do you want people to be able to reach you whenever they want? I don't see anything wrong with getting away from work when you leave for the day. In many cases, the same work that's there tonight, will be there for me in the morning. Again, if you are a sales person always on the road, then it's a great device, but you know there are plenty of people who own these devices that probably don't need them. They may want to always be connected with their work. As for me, I like to "sign off" when I leave work, and I'll be glad sign back on in the morning. (And if work needs to be done at night, I'll just bring the laptop with me. That's why they provided me with one, wasn't it?)

- I was informed today that the Indian buffet outing will occur on Friday. I'll have a report early next week. (I know you're all excited to hear about Ross trying new cuisine...)

- Here's something to look forward to: We have a guest columnist next week with a great article idea. Good friend from the Penn State, Janet (a.k.a. "J Mo"), will be writing an article about girls who date guys that are obsessed with football, and thus their lives revolve around football every weekend from September through February. I think the Jessica can relate to this one! Janet mentioned the article idea to me this evening and I loved it. We can expect this article probably on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Looking forward to it...

- Speaking of...big football weekend. Undefeated Penn State (!) at home against undefeated Minnesota. Should be a good game, and if the Nittany Lions can get there act together and play 60 minutes of solid football, they may actually have a small chance of winning. Let's hope they can pull it together at the right time. Also, we'll see how the Eagles do on Sunday in the hostile Arrowhead Stadium when they visit the Kansas City Chiefs. Eagles are a hurting squad, and as much as I like the Chiefs' Dick Vermiel and Larry Johnson (PSU product), I'll have to root against them on Sunday. I heart the pigskin.

I'm heading back to Philadelphia this weekend to see the parents. I'll be back on Sunday night with the recap. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend as well.

Meeting The Sports Guy

I have a good story for everyone, as today was a big day for me. I had the opportunity to meet my favorite journalist, Bill Simmons (commonly known as "The Sports Guy"). As mentioned in a post last week, Bill just released his first book titled, "Now I Can Die in Peace", which is about how the Boston Red Sox teams from 1998 through the 2005 World Series championship team, changed his life and renewed his love for baseball.

I'm not a Red Sox fan in any sense of the word, but I was happy when they won last year (I can root for any team that isn't the Yankees). Overall, I'm more excited to read his work in novel form rather than worry about the fact that the content is all about the Red Sox. Simply stated: I love this guy's writing style.

I check his website, The Sports Guy's World, each and every day, and was shocked to find out last week that Stamford, CT, would be one of his stops on the Book Tour (along with Boston, New York City, and DC). Now, you say to yourself, "Well this guy can't be all that popular since he's stopping in Stamford. Why would he choose such a place?" Simple answer...he lived in Southern CT for a while when he was younger, and I believe he still has some family in the area. And when ESPN is paying for your book tour, why not stop in places so you can see your family while you're at it? After all, he lives in Los Angeles, and doesn't come back East all that often anymore. Wow, I feel like I know this guy's life story.

So tonight was the night. Borders Book Store in Stamford, right on the way home from work. The signing was supposed to begin at 7:30pm, but I arrived at about 7:15pm. I couldn't tell how busy it was when I walked in. I was greeted by one of the Borders employees who instructed me to purchase the book first ($25 hard cover) and then get in line for the signing. So that's what I did. There had to have been about 40 people ahead of me in line, and the line wasn't moving too fast. Everybody wants to shoot the shit with Bill, so with each person spending about a minute or so talking and having him sign their book, it took me about 30+ minutes to reach him.

I had been thinking all day about what I was going to ask him. Finally it dawned on me when I was about 10 minutes from the book store. So I finally reach Bill, as I approach the table he is sitting at along side a publicist. I reach out for a handshake and tell him that its very good to meet him. I give him my book and tell him to make it out to Ross. And then the conversation goes like this:

Me: Bill, I have to ask you a question. I'm a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan, and I wasn't old enough to remember the last championship - the 1983 Sixers. Do you have any sympathy for me, after what you've gone through with the Sox?
Bill: [Shaking his head] Yeah, man, I definitely feel for you. Part of the reason I wrote this book is so that my readers would know how I felt after the Red Sox finally got that World Series last year.
Me: You had all of those great Celtics teams, and recently the Patriots dynasty, but the Sox had to have been different.
Bill: You have no idea. But I'm rooting for you man. It's tough not to see any of your teams be a champion for so long. You've seen a lot of great players though: Barkley, Iverson, McNabb...
Me: You think this might be the year for the Eagles?
Bill: I personally don't think so. Best chance might be with the Flyers.
Me: Thanks Bill. Great to meet you. Love your writing.

Call it cheesy if you will, but it really was a big deal for me to meet this guy. He was just your every day super sports fan who loves his teams, loves to write about them, and knows a whole lot about entertainment and pop culture. Definitely a cool thing that I was able to meet him and chat for a moment.

Regarding the fact that I brought up the Philadelphia teams, I had to do it. I was standing in a book store with 100 other people all in Red Sox hats, shirts, and jerseys. I needed to represent.

By the way, they ended up selling out of his books and had to send someone to the store 30 minutes away to pick up more copies. I guess he has a lot of fans in the area....

Oh, so how did he end up signing my book?

"Ross, Keep the Faith with Philly!"
- Bill Simmons

I Feel Like Rambling...

Tuesday night and some items of interest to cover...

- First off, the Indian lunch buffet didn't occur today, as the boss decided to take a raincheck until next week. So I'll postpone my commentary on that until I actually try the food.

- Forgot to mention last night that I think the new Burger King commercials where they transpose the king into football highlights, is absolutely hilarious. Even though there's only two versions (one highlight with Deion Sanders and the other with Randy Moss), I laughed every time I saw them on Sunday during the games. I guess because it's so unexpected to see a guy in a king costume running down the field for a touchdown. I can't be the only one who found it to be funny...

- I'm glad the Penn State Annual Fund found me at my new address. For those PSU alums out there, you may have received those return address labels along with a request for a donation. Luckily, those labels lasted me quite some time at the old address. However, I received a fresh set right before I was about to move. Bummer. However, they did get ahold of the new address and proceeded to send a new set, along with the 2005-06 donation request. I think it's about time I give some money to the Nittany Lion Club instead so I can possibly have a chance at football tickets some day.

- Sports update: Phillies have a perfect chance to make up some ground in the Wild Card race, and what do they do? They lose two straight to the Mets. I've been saying it for many weeks now...they are staying close but they'll blow it in the end. The Phillies letting us down is about as certain as the sun rising each morning. Additionally, is it safe to say that the New York Jets are in trouble when they put a call in to Vinny Testaverde asking him to be there backup QB? Who wants to bet that he'll be starting in a matter of a few weeks?

- You know what I love about the internet? The fact that I can hear a song in a commercial, search for it on Google, and find out the name of the song and the artist, all before the show I was watching returns. Case in point: that Volvo commercial where all of the old cars are transformed into new cars. The artist is Donovan, a 60's British folk artist, and the song is called "Catch the Wind". Sounds very Bob Dylan-esque and might be worth downloading.

- I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my sister, Jamie (Penn State freshman), who is apart of the Alpha Omicron Pi Fall 2005 Pledge Class. Not that this was a shocker in any sense of the word, but nonetheless, I'm happy for her. My sister, the sorority chick.....Let's hear it for Greek life!

Done rambling for this evening. Let's ramble on tomorrow night.

Monday Night Short Post

Not too much to report on this evening, but I thought I'd stop by real quick.

- I'm going to defer the Laguna Beach update to Alexis, so if she has enough time at work, she'll hopefully provide a little write-up for us. In the meantime, found this great article about Talan starting his music career. Actually, this makes me want to vomit and whatever "album" he releases should rank very high on the Unintentional Comedy Scale.

- I'd like to mention that in Jared's football pool, after a Week 1 win, I have had 2 awful performances in the subsequent weeks. Just goes to show that I may gave gotten lucky in Week 1 without knowing how well the teams would play. I have to mention that these teams have been all over the place so far though, looking great one week and terrible the next. I don't get it. At least I'm only down $40 at this point so early in the season, which is a hell of a lot better than last year.

- I've never had Indian food before, so wish me luck when we go out to lunch at the Indian buffet tomorrow. Let's hope I don't get any allergic reactions or Montezuma's revenge (oh wait, wrong type of ethnic food...)

That's it...I'm calling it a night. Back tomorrow night.

THE Weekend Recap

Back after the weekend in the city, so without further ado, here's the recap for your entertainment and pleasure...

Headed into the city Friday night and the first order of business was dinner. Interesting thing about New York...many of the Chinese restaurants don't really bother with any sort of "dinner special" as we know it. They mainly go "a la carte" and then you end up getting a huge thing of rice because you want some rice with the entree. Of course it ends up being too much and half of it goes in the trash can. Anyway, we found this one place with dinner specials, and for $7 I got my General Tso's Chicken, a side of fried rice and an egg roll. And the food was really good! So contrary to popular belief, there are Chinese restaurants in the city with dinner specials and it turned out to be worthwhile. Now we know.

Since the Blockbuster didn't have any copies of "Entourage" Season 1 DVD in stock, that had to be put on hold until a later date. The replacement: "Fever Pitch". I can't say it was a fantastic movie, because let's be serious...how great can a movie be with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore as the main characters? Regardless, you take it for what it's worth: entertainment value. The Ross recommendation: if there's nothing else to rent, check out "Fever Pitch". If you can find something else to rent, don't rent "Fever Pitch".

Saturday, the beginning of my heart attack football weekend. The Penn State game. Hmm, where do I start? First off, let's put it out on the table that this game was a tale of two halves. First half, Michael Robinson looked god awful with his interceptions and fumbles, and the usually reliable defense just let Northwestern run up and down the field at will. Second half, they got their act together and managed to pull out the victory. Overall, I was happy for the win, but man, they can't play like they did today and expect to win any of the next 3 games, which is the toughest stretch of the season (Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan). That stupid (and questionable) late hit penalty on Northwestern's 4th quarter drive almost cost them the game, but I also have to give Robinson at least some credit for the last drive and a nice pass to Derrick Williams for the winning touchdown. That was heart attack #1.

Saturday night was the "Wine and Cheese Extravaganza" at Jessica's apartment. Definitely a good time - those girls know how to throw a party. It was nice to see all of those in attendance, the boys and I had some quality conversations, and Jessica had a little too much wine. (Sunday morning comment: "I feel like I got tackled by a linebacker.")

Sunday...more football. Went to watch the game at a local bar, and the Eagles were keeping the blood pressure at a boil and providing me with heart attack #2. I have to say that the Raiders are a solid team this year, but had some bad luck with the schedule makers. First three games: at New England, home vs. Kansas City, and at the Eagles. That doesn't sound like a joyride to me. As a result, with them coming in at 0-2, I was still concerned, especially with the Eagles being somewhat banged up. McNabb definitely isn't as effective with his sternum bruise, abdominal strain, groin injury or whatever else he has wrong with him. Then, the quiet weapon, kicker David Akers has a strain hamstring, which at this point, I'm shocked that it hasn't completely torn, is out there kicking with one leg. I loved the fact that Akers was able to boot that winning kick and it showed some great heart and character. (Side note: During the post-game press conference when Akers was asked what the pain felt like on that last kick, he said it "felt like someone shot me in the leg". Now that if that doesn't sound intense, I don't know what does.) Another tough game for the Birds next week as they make a trip to Kansas City.

It should also be mentioned that Sunday night was a great night of television. "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" came back with a new season and each failed to disappoint. ABC really hit it big with these shows and I'm glad they're back on the air. Due to a scheduling conflict, "Curb Your Enthusiasm", which is on at the same time as "Grey's Anatomy", will be viewed on either Monday night or Tuesday night. HBO re-runs the shows like 10 times during the week on HBO Comedy or HBO2 West, or another one of the 11 HBO stations that I now get. So I'll report on that shortly.

Have a good week, leave me some comments, and I'll be back on Monday night.

Thursday Night Quick Post

Hey, I sit down to write on this blog and it just gets later and later. I have a lack of self-discipline when it comes to going to bed early. I need to work on this...

- A feature they need to have in iPods: I can customize my playlists, and that's all well and great. I can shuffle all of my songs in the library. That's great, too. However, I can't shuffle songs within a playlist. That's not cool. For example, I keep this one playlist with all of my current favorite songs. However, I don't always want to listen to it in the same order. The iPod doesn't have the shuffle within a playlist feature, so that's my suggestion to the geniuses at Apple.

- I'm a sucker for "The Apprentice". I thought I'd get sick of it after Season 3, but of course, I found myself watching Season 4 which aired this evening. Same type of cast with all sorts of characters. Due to the fact that there isn't much else on Thursday night, I'll probably keep up with this season. And no, I don't watch "OC". It's funny because everyone loves "OC" and "Lost" and I don't watch either. I guess I'm just anti-establishment when it comes to the most popular shows. Oh well...

- Big news: My favorite writer who I often refer to, Bill Simmons (a.k.a. "The Sports Guy") wrote a book, titled "Now I Can Die in Peace". Of course, it's about the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who are Bill's first love out of all of the Boston teams. Although I enjoy his non-Boston related articles more, I'm interested to read his book simply because I enjoy his writing so much. It gets better: I check his website today, and he's going on a Book tour. Where is one of the stops? Right here in Stamford, CT! Holy crap. He'll be at the Borders in Stamford next Wednesday, September 28. As Bill says, "If you want to get a book signed and have an awkward ten-second conversation with me, this is your big chance." That's good enough for me. I'll report back with this story next week.

- I'll be in New York City this weekend. Good times ahead: Penn State's first Big Ten game vs. Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. The Jessica/Jen Fuss/Rachel "Wine & Cheese Party" on Saturday night. Eagles vs. Raiders on Sunday. Now that's what I call a weekend. Full report on Sunday night.

-Where did all my regular commenters go? How about all of you who lurk out there? Write some comments people - otherwise I'm writing to an empty audience, and that isn't any fun.

Enjoy the weekend.

This speaks for itself

Long time and very good friend of mine, Bobby Hipp is doing some rotations at a hospital in the Allentown/Bethlehem area during his second year of Physician's Assistant school. They have him working like 100 hours per week or something crazy and I don't hear from him too much. However, people that know him will appreciate this Instant Message that I got from him this afternoon:

"Yo, i forgot to tell you... on the night of my first shift in the ER, i had my first cardiac arrest and the bastard died... then the other night i had my first gun shot wound [victim] ... it was sweet"

Like this title of this post says, this comment speaks for itself. We always knew that Bobby Hipp was crazy.

Wednesday Night - Short Post

I'm gonna make this quick since it's late and I should probably go to bed soon.

- I talked with Jared this evening and he said they're all bracing for Hurricane Rita down there in Texas. Although Austin is more centrally located in Texas, they are expecting heavy rain and strong wind, so I told him not to get blown away. In the meantime, he'll be working the entire weekend at the Austin City Limits festival down there. Now, I think it'd be cool to work the festival since it attracts some of the best new music talent these days, but since Jared isn't a huge music fan, he isn't all that excited. Additionally, he'll probably be a gopher all weekend. Jared - stay dry, my friend.

- No, I didn't watch "Lost" tonight since I never really got into it last season. But if someone saw it and wants to make a comment, please feel free. Instead, I was watching the Phillies (who actually won on Ryan Howard's grand slam in the top of the 10th inning. Holy crap the Phillies are hanging strong!)

- Altough my cable company pisses me off with their incompetency, I am going to call tomorrow night and get the HBO hooked back up (I never had it renewed when I moved into the new apartment back in late July.) Why now? Season premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Sunday at 10pm.

- CD I've been listening to a lot lately: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Self Titled. (If you don't know about CYHSY, I'll write more about them next week. They are one seriously hyped up band from Brooklyn and all over the music scene right now. The album is pretty damn good to back it all up.)

Not much else going on to be honest. Looking forward to the weekend. I'll be back on Thursday night, bitches.

Jessica and the New York QB's

As promised, here's the picture I mentioned yesterday. From left to right: Eli Manning, Jessica, her boss Marissa, and Chad Pennington. Jessica leads a tough life, huh?

More New TV

The Jessica wanted me to mention the exciting evening she had at a Sports Illustrated event. She got a picture with Eli Manning and Chad Pennington, which, once the photographer from SI sends it to her, I'll get it and post it on this here site. She said that Pennington (who is from Tennessee) has a thicker accent in person, and that Eli is really goofy looking in person. After a little meet and greet with the crowd, SI writer Peter King interviewed Chad and Eli, and in the meantime, it was all you can eat hors d'oeuvres and open bar. Not too shabby huh? I still like the party where T.O. showed up though...you can keep Chad and Eli. Side note: Jessica told a story of someone who was at this same establishment the evening before where Lil Kim held her "Going Away to Jail Party". I'm not going to comment on that. It's just to easy to make jokes, so I'll leave it alone.

Big decisions tonight as to which television shows to watch. At 9pm, I started watching the new and very hyped up NBC show "My Name is Earl". Now, believe me, I am a fan of Jason Lee, and gave into the high expectations for this show. Honestly, I watched it for about 10 minutes and decided that my time would be better spent watching "House". So I flipped over and enjoyed "House" instead. This also causes a conflict on Tuesday evenings because NBC also chooses to show "The Office" at 9:30, while "House" is still on. As much as I love "The Office", I can't miss the last half of "House". Anyway, I really need to get some sort of DVR or TiVo.

At 10pm, I checked out the new ESPN docu-drama "Bound for Glory" (how about that use of the word, docu-drama? I'm not sure that this show is really a "docu-drama" but let's just go with that for now. Thanks.) The premise is that NFL Hall of Fame linebacker, Dick Butkus, becomes the coach of a struggling high school football team in suburban Pittsburgh. This show was originally mentioned to me by loyal Pittsburgher, Julie, and luckily I stumbled upon the premiere this evening. I'd say it's a pretty decent show. At the least, we're intrigued to see how Dick Butkus can turn this team around. You see from their summer practices that there's not much talent and plenty of room for improvement. Plus, it's cool to see other NFLers that will inevitably show up on the program. This will probably make it into the weekly repertoire, if for nothing else than listening to these people talk with their funny Pittsburgh accents, which is something I don't hear too much of anymore.

Not too much else to report on tonight. Want to wish a happy birthday to a good friend, Jon "Belmania" Belman who is 23 years young on this September 20. Although he rarely checks my site, maybe he'll see this shout-out and join the crowd of regular readers.

Tonight was an Excellent Night for TV

Now that we are getting back into the new seasons for our favorite television shows, we have many great TV nights upon us. Tonight was one of them. Let's recap...

First, we had the season premiere of Arrested Development. As with many other shows, I didn't get into AD until a few months back. Luckily, Jen Fuss (roommate of the Jessica) had the Season 1 DVD and we plowed through them pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the Season 2 DVD hasn't come out yet, but I've decided to watch the Season 3 premiere tonight and catch up on what I missed at another time. This story sounds a lot like the Entourage story, huh? Anyway, Arrested Development might be on the funniest shows that FOX has put out in quite some time (right up there with Family Guy). The story lines are so unbelievably ridiculous that they are hard to believe, and the whole thing ends up being a comedy of errors. But I love it and look forward to this season.

Next, I decided to check out the new FOX show, Kitchen Confidential, with that guy from "Wedding Crashers"(real name: Bradley Cooper). This show ended up being pretty damn funny as well. If anyone saw that reality show "Hell's Kitchen" then you realized that Kitchen Confidential is basically the sitcom version of the reality show. All sorts of crazy happenings in the kitchen of this restaurant and some decent comedy writing. I like it. Ross Recommendation: If you didn't see it tonight, be sure to check it out next Monday.

In the meantime, we had not one, but two Monday Night Football games going on, and ABC was smart enough to put one on ABC and the other on ESPN, so I could flip back and forth to each crappy game. (Side note: I'm convinced that it's like Chinese water torture to watch an NFL game involving any team in the NFC East other than the Eagles. Seriously, I'm watching this Cowboys-Redskins game right now and I think I may be falling asleep in the process. And watching the Giants earlier wasn't any better. What a boring breed of football. But I digress...) Anyway, at least it was nice to have the option to watch 2 football games at once on Monday night.

And at 10pm on MTV, you know what that means....Laguna Beach! Honestly, I say this week in and week out, but this show really is annoying me. I'm convinced that I sat there for 30 minutes with the "Are You For Real?" look on my face. First of all, it must be nice to be able to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for Spring Break during high school. If I remember correctly, 3 years out of 4, my spring breaks in high school were spent at Track & Field "2 a days" where we ran until we vomited. Granted, senior year I did go on a cruise with my family, so I can't complain too much. Back to the show - so if I were Jessica, I would be afraid of Alex M. too. Look at her. Alex M. has a good 3 or 4 inches on her, plus Jessica is like 5 ft nothing and maybe 100 pounds soaking wet. Alex has that raspy emphysema voice, and has that quasi- Kelly Clarkson look when she wears the trucker hat (not that this makes her look tough, but is worth mentioning). When Alex bitched her out, it ranked pretty high on the Unintentional Comedy Scale, especially the following dialogue:

Jessica: Alex, what do you want me to tell you?
Alex: Tell me you're a slut.
Jessica: Ok, I'm a slut.
Alex: [Shaking head - in shock that she actually said that] That's low, dude.

I almost fell off the sofa at this point. Absolutely hilarious. Oh, and let me not forget how much of a dipshit Jason is. My god, this kid does not know how to communicate with other human beings. The girls flock to him like flies on shit, and when they ask him questions, he responds with "Yeah", "Ok", "I dunno", and other inaudible grunts. I just want to sock him in the face. In fact, I am legitimately getting mad as I write about this kid. I'm done.

Other loose ends: Julie requested my comments the other day on Britney & Kevin's new kid. You ask and I'm glad to oblige. My initial reaction is that this kid is doomed. He'll be in the public eye for quite some time, and god help him when he's old enough to realize that his mother was a pop idol for a short period of time and that his dad never did much of anything to gain "celebrity" status. I can't wait to see when this kid starts walking, and the whole family is walking around barefoot in public. Britney doesn't seem to have much in the way of common sense and may skip the baby food altogether and go straight for the KFC or McDonald's. Maybe Madonna's kid will be his mentor in Kaballah studies for children. Who knows? Maybe Preston Michael Spears Federline will become a child star or a pop idol himself. He might be in the 2023 version of 'NSync. Keep an eye out for the latest "Star" or "US Weekly" for P.M.S.F. update. By the way, he's gotta lose the dual last name. Pick one and go with it, hot shot.

That's it for tonight. Back tomorrow.

Weekend Wrap-up

I'm back from the weekend, when surprisingly, I didn't go anywhere. You may not believe it, but I do not head into the city every weekend. This weekend, I stayed in Stamford, and was lucky enough to get a visit from the Jessica. Overall, it was a relaxing weekend, so I can't complain.

Friday night - Rented "Entourage" Season 1, Volume 1 (first four episodes) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great plot lines, excellent writing, and a very interesting look at Hollywood in another solid HBO television series. As with many other shows that people generally speak highly of, I'm behind the game and don't get into it until it's in the 3rd season. Way to go, Ross. Anyway, I will be renting Season 1, Volume 2, next weekend to catch up as much as possible. Also rented a movie, "A Day Without a Mexican", which someone (can't remember who) had recommended a while back. The story is that all of the Mexicans in California disappear for a day, and how all of the other people in the state deal with life in their absence. The movie had its funny moments and its cheesy moments. Can't say it's the best movie I've ever seen, but kept me entertained for 2 hours. Ross' recommendation: Save your money on this one.

Saturday - Took care of some exciting errands: Got the car's oil changed. Finally bought an area rug for my living room (only 7 weeks after I moved into the apartment - I knew I'd get around to it eventually). Went to Target for some items. See, I told you it was exciting. Unfortunately, didn't get the Penn State game on TV here, so didn't get to watch any of the game. I wasn't overly worried though, because I plan on watching almost all of the games the rest of the season. Plus, if you have to miss PSU beating up on Central Michigan, then that's better than missing a key game against a Big Ten opponent.

Jessica and I took a little road trip up to New Haven on Saturday night. Since it's only about a 45 minute ride, we figured, why not? It's a nice little town. They have the downtown area which borders the Yale campus, similarly to Penn State, but on a much smaller scale. The downtown has some restaurants, bars, shops...all rather typical. After finding a good restaurant to eat dinner (and catching the end of that Notre Dame-Michigan State game...how about that one, huh?), we walked around the campus. Without the help of a map or anything, we did our best to figure out what the buildings were. Saw a bunch of the dorms (think West Halls stlye), some classroom buildings, and some of the intelligent-looking Yale students who were seen walking with textbooks on a Saturday night (I kid you not). After the short time in New Haven, we had seen enough, and headed back.

Sunday - Football day. I was happy to have the Eagles game on the TV up here, given that the Giants are on tomorrow night. Also happy to see them beat the crap out of San Francisco, 42-3. No better way to get back on track after a loss than beating up on the next team on the schedule. Hey Jared, excited for the Eagles-Raiders next Sunday? By the way, picking against the Eagles and their 13 point spread was a bad idea and came back to bite me in the ass. Lesson learned: Even if you don't think your team will cover some ridiculous spread, pick them anyway. Don't even think twice about it.

Side story: So you know how you submit a Change of Address form to the Post Office when you move, and then they'll forward to your new address any mail that is sent to the old address? Well, we always knew the Post Office is stupid. I receive 2 envelopes that had the forwarding sticker with my address. But I see that the envelopes were originally addressed to a lady at my old apartment building, who coincidentally had a last name beginning with "Wei". How can the postal workers not look at the name on the envelope and that the apartment she lives in is different than the one I had lived in at that building? Anyway, being the good samaritan that I am, I decided to just walk over to the old apartment and drop of the 2 envelopes, since they looked like important documents...one was from a bank and the other was from the government. Granted, I could have just dropped them in the mailbox, but let's be honest, if the Post Office didn't get it right the first time around, who's to say they'd get it right the second time around. What a bunch of dipshits.

That's my weekend in a semi-large nutshell. Back on Monday night...

Great George W. Bush Parody

Thank you to Jonny Kahn for sending this link to me. Very funny clip that parodies our wonderful president's lack of grammar and public speaking skills. I laughed, Jessica laughed, and I knew Julie would laugh so I sent it to her as well, and she did laugh.

Click here to check it out

Thursday = Almost Weekend

Alright, I gotta make it short tonight because it's already late. I spent way too much time deciding my picks for the Jared Football Pool Week 2.

- I'm convinced that one of the best summer fruits is the peach. I've been getting them from the market all summer and they've been fantastic. Plus, I've mastered the art of ripening a peach. Here's the scoop: I usually go the market on Sundays. I buy 3 peaches. When I get home, I leave them out until Tuesday morning, then I put them in the refrigerator. By Tuesday night, they are ripe, and then I have an excellent peach for me on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'm going to miss them in the winter time, at which point I'll have to switch to oranges, or some kind of warm weather fruit. And yes, I can't believe I just wrote a paragraph of commentary on fruit. Moving along...

- I've had my 20 GB iPod since last November. That was around the time that the iPod minis started to become popular - no big deal. Then, the iPod shuffles came out and I again wasn't concerned because it didn't really appeal to me without the screen. But now, man, I am jealous of this iPod Nano. This gadget looks pretty damn cool, and if I didn't already have my iPod, I'd get on that Apple.com or get to the Apple Store pretty damn fast to purchase a Nano. I think the color screen is very cool, plus the thing is as thin as a pencil, which is absurd. Is anyone planning on getting one?

- Eric called me tonight and mentioned that the Arcade Fire show in Central Park was absolutely sick. He said that David Bowie came out to perform with them for the encore, which I guess isn't too big of a surprise since he's been in New York the whole week. Eric said that he's going to do a review of the show for me. He's also gonna write another article about "2 Things I Saw Today That Pissed Me Off". I love articles about those things, so I'll be looking forward to that one. The expectations are now raised, Eric, so you better come through with some quality work!

- I'll be in the Stamford this weekend as the Jessica is coming up to visit me (!) Gotta run some errands and otherwise be hanging out. Looking forward to another weekend of football, of course. If I don't get a chance to write this weekend, I'll be back on Sunday night.

Wednesday's Ramblings

Got several things to get to, so let's not waste any time...

- New Mailbag article by Bill Simmons on his "Sports Guy World" site from ESPN.com Page 2. Very funny stuff... you wonder how the people come up with this junk to write in with. It's worth checking out. Also, Bill's book "Now I Can Die in Peace" is being released soon. I have to say that I was excited for a book by the Sports Guy, but I should have known it'd be about the Boston Red Sox, so I'm not nearly as excited. Regardless, it may be worth reading just for his writing ability and passion for that damn team.

- Sports news: File this one under "This is a bad move for your team, especially in Week 2" for the Baltimore Ravens, as they signed Kordell Stewart today. I guess anyone is better than Kyle Boller. Speaking of QB situations, Donovan McNabb (a.k.a. "5") has this chest bruise and I think it's a bad sign. Remember a few years ago, Steve McNair had the same injury to his sternum, and he wasn't any good the whole season. I'm a little concerned at this point, but like all other things, we'll see what happens.

Jumping to baseball, the Fightin' Phils are still in the Wild Card hunt! I basically wrote them off a few weeks back, but they are hanging around. Honestly, I am almost beside myself that they are in playoff contention in the middle of September. Don't worry -- they still have 2.5 weeks to blow it.

- Some music to report on:

• The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema - Indie pop rock at its finest, straight from Canada. Extremely catchy tunes, heavy at times, and I almost hurt my hand from drumming on the steering wheel.
• Death Cab for Cutie - Plans - I know I've mentioned this one before, but I've listened to it several times and wanted to reiterate. I wasn't sure what I'd expect from their first major record release, given the success of their prior record from the independent label. I'd say it turned out pretty damn good. Excellent lyrics and I have to admit that Ben Gibbard's voice may be one of the best whiny voices in the business. Check out "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" and "Marching Bands of Manhattan", in addition to my suggestions from the September 1st post.
• Arcade Fire and David Bowie - "Wake Up" from Fashion Rocks at Radio City Music Hall. I mean, come on...Arcade Fire. David Bowie. Together. David Bowie asked Arcade Fire if he could perform with them. What does that say about these guys? By the way, I am disappointed that I'm unable to check out Arcade Fire on Thursday in Central Park. I know that Eric is going, so I may ask him to give me a report.

- Finally, a very cool item for my Penn State crowd out there. This item was passed on to me from the Jessica and roommate Jen Fuss. This week is "Fashion Week" in New York City, which is apparently a big deal. My comment to the Jessica, "Oh, so it's for the fall fashion, right?" She responds with, "No, it's for next spring." Well, if that isn't pushing the seasons, I don't know what is. Anyway, designer Marc Jacobs had the Penn State Blue Band perform at his fashion show the other night. The idea is that he is big on the blue and white/silver combination for his new line, so he chose the Blue Band to come out before the models.

Excerpt from a Boston Globe review:

'Led by a baton twirler, the Penn State Blue Band opened the show with a brassy rendition of ''Smells Like Teen Spirit," harking back to the designer's famously controversial grunge collection of the early 1990s.'

Check it out here by clicking "Click Here to Launch Site", then "Spring/Summer 2006 Video", and be sure to turn your sound on. Let me know what you think...

Take it easy and I'll be back tomorrow night...

Tuesday Randomness

First off, my apologies for not writing more yesterday, but as the Jessica kindly pointed out, I'm not too much fun to be around directly after an Eagles loss. I was disappointed and wasn't in much of a typing mood. But I then realized that I came away with the Week 1 win in the Jared Football Pool, which allowed me to re-coup $130 of my $170 investment. It also puts me in contention for the annual Eric Steinberg "Week 1 Win and Crappy the Rest of the Season" Trophy. But we'll see what happens.

Season premiere of "House" was on tonight, and I really enjoy that show. I used to never be into medical dramas - never used to watch "ER" or any of those. But last season, I became a regular watcher of "House" as well as "Grey's Anatomy" simply because they are great shows. I was speaking with longtime friend Bobby Hipp a while back, and he's my medical guru (he's currently in school to become a physician's assistant, which is basically like doing 4 years of med school in half the time.) Anyway, Bobby Hipp was telling me how "House" is completely unrealistic, and I understand this; I take it for entertainment value. Dr. House is absolutely nuts and there's no way any human being can be witty enough to come up with as many smart remarks and snappy comebacks as he does. Just not humanly possible. The only thing that bugs me about the show is that it's fairly predictable. There's the underlying subplot as to why this person got sick, and they have some ailment that befuddles everyone. Then the doctors think they know what it is, but they're wrong, and almost kill the person. Then at the end, they do some quick reasoning and come up with the out-of-the-box solution. That's how it goes every show. The fact of the matter is that I'll still watch it.

So, LL Cool J was a guest on the show tonight, as he played a Death Row inmate who had some crazy disease. He did a nice job in the role, and it got me thinking: LL Cool J kinda looks like Jerome Bettis. Anyone else see the slight resemblance?




I can already tell that Julie will give me the same response as she did for the Byron Leftwich/Gary Coleman comparison. Come on, make LL's face a little fatter, and add that beard/goatee thing and you have a clone.

So I get my coffee every day at work, and I mean every day. Yes, I am proudly addicted to caffeine, to the point where if I miss my morning cup, I will inevitably get a dull headache around 2-3pm. There are two kinds of coffee to choose from at work: the crappy kind in the big silver urn, or the brand name "gourmet" coffee called Ritazza which comes in 6 flavors every day. I can get a medium Ritazza for $1.39. Then a few months back they implemented this token system where you can get 10 tokens for $10 + tax and you can use a token for any size coffee, tea, or fountain soda. Not a bad deal when you can get the same cup for $1. I even get the large coffee on those days where I feel like I could fall asleep right in front of the laptop, ahem "Thinkpad". I know some of you will comment with "Well, I get my coffee for free every morning, but it really isn't that good." And that's a valid point. However you can never put enough stock into a good cup of coffee. I'm telling you - I enjoy my medium Ritazza Costa Rican blend and it's one of the few good things about the morning. However, you get a crappy cup of coffee and it's safe to say you could be in a bad mood until the lunch hour. This is a completely pointless story, but the bottom line is...well there is no bottom line. They do need to get iced coffee at work though. I may need to write a letter on that one.

I'm calling it a night. Back tomorrow...

I'm in a bad mood

Eagles lose = no post on the RPR. I'm pissed off because this game could have been won and they didn't cash in. What a bunch of crap. More lost hope and anguish for this lifelong Philadelphia fan. I'm going to bed.

Operation: We Need to Make All Weekends Longer

The weekends are always a good time. Let's face it: even if I do nothing or go nowhere, it's better than being at work like the other 5 days of the week. That's the fact. So let's recap this past weekend...

Friday night, headed into the city once I got home from work. The first order of business was getting dinner at the Shake Shack down in Madison Square Park (23rd and Broadway, right neat the Flatiron Building). This burger and milkshake establishment literally is a shack, hence the name, and is located right in the middle of this small park. So quick story from this dinner outing. Right as you walk up to the shack, they had a big easel-like stand with the menu, so people take a look at this before they get in line to order. So I see an item called the 'Shroom Burger, which I automatically take as being a hamburger with mushrooms. Sounds simple enough. And meanwhile, I'm really excited for the hamburger because the Jessica had been talking up this place for about a week now, since the last time she went there with her roommates on Labor Day. She said it was so good that we had to go. So I order the 'Shroom Burger and then we wait a little while for the food. We get the food 15 minutes later, and I'm getting ready to take a bite, and notice that the hamburger looks a little funny. Turns out that the 'Shroom Burger ended up being a "crispy fried portabello mushroom with melted cheese on a hamburger bun", which I didn't expect. Now those of you who know me well know that I love mushrooms (the food, not the illegal substance...I've heard that joke before when this topic comes up). I love mushrooms raw, sauteed, fried...in salads, on burgers, with pasta...you name it. So this situation wasn't a huge tragedy, and it ended up being a fantastic choice. It was just disappointing since I was very much looking forward the hamburger. Pointless story, but lesson to be learned is to make sure you read the entire description on the menu before you order.

Otherwise Friday night, hung out with Alison and Reza and friends at Red Sky (29th and Park) that ended up being a decent bar, if only for the fact that it had a very cool roof on which to hang out. The first two stories were like frat parties, so if it wasnt for the roof, we would have gone elsewhere. Gotta take advantage of the nice weather before it gets too cold, that's what we say.

Got up nice and early on Saturday to get ready for our trip to the Joshua Tree for the PSU football game for the 2nd straight week. Turned out to be a lot of familiar faces there on Saturday, so it was good to see the fellow alums out for the game. Still feel like the offense is a little shaky, but at least Michael Robinson got his act together and made some nice long pass plays to the young wide receivers. How about those catches by Derrick Williams, Justin King, and Deon Butler (where'd this kid come from?) Very impressive and I would definitely like to see this type of play in the coming weeks. Defense had another decent game, but snoozed a little at the end (I think the second string was in at this point) when they allowed 2 TDs in garbage time. Hopefully if they can put together another few solid performances, they can sneak into the Top 25.

Saturday night, we attended the Housewarming Party at Alexis' apartment. The interesting piece of information is that Alexis has actually been in her apartment for about a year now. However, her crazy roommate (who I called Bitchface since I could never remember her name) moved out and the new roommate just moved in about a month ago. So really, it was a party for her friends and her new roommates' friends, which is fine with me since I'm a firm believer that you never need a specific reason to party. Randomness of the night: Saw some guy that I went to camp with back when I was about 11 or 12 years old, and thus haven't seen him in more than 10 years. Apparently, the Jessica knows him as well, from her days of being involved with the Jewish youth group. I'd say that's pretty random...

Sunday...opening Sunday in the National Football League. I've been waiting many months to say those words, and I pretty much sat around and watched football all day. You gotta love that. As Brian said earlier today, "I don't remember what I did with my Sundays when football wasn't on" and that pretty much sums it up. Of course you can't base any season conclusions on the outcome of the Week 1 games, but it's great to kick off the regular season. I'm looking forward to Monday night football....Eagles opener in Atlanta. Oh man, I'm excited!

Other items from the weekend:

-Extremely happy that Texas beat Ohio State on Saturday night. I'm sick and tired of Ohio State getting all the breaks in the big games. It was about time they met their match and were knocked off by another solid team. Also, is it safe to say that Notre Dame is for real after beating up on Michigan? A weekend when Penn State won, while Ohio State and Michigan lost? This all sounds good to me.

- Spoke to this girl on Friday night who worked for a cell phone company and she chose which ringtones would be used with each cell phone. Sounds like an interesting job and also sounds very fun. Then we got on the topic of these new "ringbacks". Have you guys heard of these? You buy a ringback, and when people call you, instead of hearing the standard ring before you pick up, they'll hear a song of your choice. Sounds pretty worthless to me, since you can't even enjoy the song you pick. What a waste of time. I understand buying a ringtone, because you can hear it every time the phone rings. Ringbacks though - can't see why anyone would buy them, but thats my two cents.

That's it for now...I'll check in sometime on Monday night depending on how the Eagles game goes...

Please Read: Posting Comments

I've turned on the "Word Verification" feature with regards to posting comments. This is to combat the comment spam that pops up rather frequently. Don't be alarmed -- all you need to do is type in a word that shows up on the screen after you post a comment (this is very similar to the feature used on Ticketmaster.com so that automated systems are blocked).

Thanks for your cooperation and let's hope we can get rid of the comment spam for mortgages, low-cost prescription drugs, and other wonderful advertisements.

Review: Coldplay 9/7/05

Coldplay show on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden was a very enjoyable, solid performance. These guys put on a hell of a show and I have to say that I'm glad I went. I think it worked out well that I hadn't seen them before, because the new songs from X&Y added a lot to their performance and setlist options.

First, a few comments on MSG: I like how it's nearly the size of most other sports arenas you've ever been to, but feels a lot smaller. The seats are on less of an angle so rather than feeling like you are 10 stories above the stage, you just feel like you're just several hundred feet away from the stage. (In that last statement, I show no sign of depth or distance accuracy, but you get the idea). Interesting crowd demographic: mostly 20-somethings, probably more guys than girls there, not too many kids, and there were even 4 black people sitting in front of us! And believe it or not, they knew the words to every song!

Chris Martin knows how to get the crowd going. He just holds some notes for a few seconds longer than normal, and makes a few comments in between songs, and the people go nuts. His dancing on stage was absolutely hilarious: hopping around on one leg, with one arm in the air, spinning around in circles. I'm not sure if he realizes what he looks like while doing that, but let's be serious: the guy is a rockstar, so he has free reign to do what he wants when he's up on that stage.

The lighting was fantastic. There were huge video screens in the background with some crazy effects going on that I can't even begin to describe - you really would have to see it in person. Additionally, I've never seen such clarity on a video screen of that size. When they did a close up on the band, you could see the stubble growing on their faces. The sound was also very good compared to other arenas that I've been to. This is something that you take for granted, unless it's terrible, in which case it can ruin the quality of the concert.

As for the music, they did a nice variety of songs from their 3 albums, with most of the focus on the newest record. Highlights include: Square One (as the opener), Clocks, The Scientist, Talk, Yellow (when yellow balloons fell from the rafters), acoustic cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", and Fix You as the closer. All of the songs were played very tightly and the critics don't give enough credit to the other band members, who are all solid musicians in their own right.

Overall, an excellent concert experience, and I've successfully had various Coldplay songs in my head for over 24 hours now.

The Setlist from the show:
Square One / Politik / Yellow / God Put A Smile Upon Your Face /Speed of Sound / Low / A Rush of Blood To The Head / Everything's Not Lost / White Shadows / The Scientist / Til Kingdom Come / Ring Of Fire / Don't Panic / Clocks / Talk/ Encore: Swallowed In The Sea / In My Place / Fix You

On another note: This is one of those "I Need to Get TiVo Moments". I saw the commercial tonight that Desperate Housewives and Curb Your Enthusiasm begin their new seasons on Sunday, Sept. 25th at 9pm. I had a panic moment, and then I realized that HBO always shows re-runs on Tuesday nights. Problem averted.

I'm heading back into the city this weekend and I'll be back on Sunday. As Jerry Springer used to say, take care of yourselves and each other.

Tuesday's Random Thoughts

Again, let me reiterate my liking for the short week - before you can even turn around, we're basically at Wednesday, which means we're well on our way to the weekend. And let's face it, when you're in the working world, there isn't a whole hell of a lot to look forward to other than the weekends.

But, this week is not the case. I have a very exciting mid-week event that I will be attending. I will be seeing Coldplay's show tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden ("The World's Most Famous Arena"). I'm pretty pumped since I've been meaning to catch Coldplay (play on words not intended) for a couple of years now, and to see them at MSG is an added bonus. I've only been to MSG once before, back in my teen travel summer camp days (1995-1996), we took a tour of the Garden while we were in NYC, but there weren't any events taking place at the time. I'll give a review of the show when I'm back on Thursday night.

Of course, the NFL is right around the corner, as the opening game is on Thursday evening. I'm as happy as a pig in shit when it comes time for NFL season, so I'll probably be writing a lot about America's new favorite sport (I'm deeming the NFL to be deserving of that monicker). First up, I hate ESPN NFL Analyst Merrill Hoge. He craps on the Eagles every single year and it annoys me to no end. The ESPN experts give their picks, and he's the only dipshit who doesn't pick the Birds to win the NFC East. Instead he picks the Cowboys. I think he deserves a good sock in the face for publishing such bullshit.

Now, as I've mentioned before, there are certain topics that the RPR doesn't often touch. One of them is politics. But I think it's worth mentioning that I really don't know what George W. Bush's rationale is behind nominating John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when the guy's only been a member for 6 weeks now. That's like some kid getting hired right out of college into a company, and then when the CEO retires a couple months later, the Board of Directors decides to promote the college kid to the CEO position. What do the other justices think? The RPR has done its research and found out that 2 associate justices (John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia) have each been a member of the Court since 1975 and 1986 respectively. If I were them, I'd be pissed. They are being passed over for a guy who is basically a rookie on the squad. And if the nomination for Roberts passes, we're stuck with this guy until he croaks or retires. Roberts is 50 years old now, so it's safe to say that this strong conservative could be in that position for 30+ years. What's worse is that Bush even gets to nominate yet another justice to replace Rehnquist. This is a bad situation folks, very bad. Why couldn't more justices leave when Clinton was around so he could have nominated some decent representatives rather than these crazy ultra conservatives that Bush is bringing on board? I don't think people realize the lasting effect this has on our country.... I think we should all be pretty scared at this point...

Don't worry, I will be back on Thursday night.

If I Could be the Director for Laguna Beach...

As much as I love "Laguna Beach" for its high level of unintentional comedy, I have to admit that the show is beginning to get on my nerves. I guess it's because I sit here and watch it every Monday night waiting for shit to hit the fan, and it hasn't happened yet.

Many things annoy me about the show, and this includes, but is not limited to, the following: Jason doesn't know how to communicate with other human beings and yet every girl in that damn town wants to be with him. Jessica can't be so oblivious to the world that she hasn't heard that Jason is seeing Alex M. Kristin is not God's gift to the world...Also, her voice is beginning to annoy me as well. Stephen is making way too many trips from San Francisco down to Laguna Beach. Believe me, I've driven from San Diego (about 1.5 hours below Laguna) to San Francisco, and its a good 500 mile ride. How often would you want to do that drive? So, Kristin and crew were up in the mountain resort while LC was there as well, and they never ran into each other? The directors disappoint me that they didn't set this up. However, LC's facial expression was priceless when Talan told her that Stephen had gone out to dinner with Kristin for Valentine's Day.

Anyway, fact of the matter is that if I was the director, I would have more run-ins between these cliques. If the Alex M. crew runs into the Kristin crew, then Alex and Jessica can get into a cat fight over Jason and put an end to all of this crap. Also, LC and Kristin need to have a run-in and just bitch each other out over Stephen, and put an end to that one as well. I know that these love triangles help their story, but enough is enough. There are plenty of ways to create story lines beyond these superficial relationships which go nowhere. I want to see every character meet up with every other character and just settle all the differences. I don't care how - they can fight, yell, do a tug-of-war - it doesn't matter. I just feel like the stories are spinning out like tires in mud. Let's hope things begin to come together in the next few episodes. And yes, the more I watch this show, the more I question my choice of television entertainment.

I Heart the 3 Day Weekend

Hello everyone, we're back after the long weekend. I have to say that I'm a big advocate of the 3 day weekend and the 4 day work week. In fact, I think we need to get ahold of someone to begin a campaign to put this idea into effect all year round. Who's with me?

So now here's the weekend wrap-up....Friday night, I headed into the city. The city is always a good place to be during the holiday weekends because there's a fair number of people who go away, and so it's not as crazy as it normally is. The Jessica and I checked out a Mexican restaurant, Cilantro, on the Upper East Side that we had never been to. Coincidentally, we ran into her brother and his wife, and ended up eating with them. I mean honestly, there are millions of people in New York City, so I'm always surprised when you run into people you know. Afterwards, checked out the B Bar in the East Village, which was a zoo.

Saturday = Football Day. First, we actually got our act together to go for a run in Central Park, which is always enjoyable, especially when you know you're going to be eating fatty foods and high calorie beverages for the rest of the day. Met up with the PSU crowd at the Joshua Tree (34th St. and 3rd Ave.) for the game and luckily ended up with a nice, big booth in the back corner, with a great view of all the big screen TV's.

Now, a few comments on Penn State's performance. Let me make it known that they could have very well beaten South Florida by a lot more than 10 points. That's a pretty obvious statement, but it's disappointing that this team can't run up the score on their non-conference opponents like they used to years ago. As expected, the defense was rather solid, but looked a little tired toward the end of the the halves when S. Florida scored their points. Gotta give credit to them for scoring a touchdown on the Alan Zemaitis fumble return, and setting up another touchdown on the Chris Harrell interception. On the offensive side, I like the potential of these young guys, Derrick Williams and Justin King. They should prove to be real good this year, and when you pair them with Tony Hunt (who ended up having a decent performance, helped by that 70 yard run), you'd think the offense would be potent. I'm not so sure though - Michael Robinson looked very shaky with his passes. We all know he has a cannon of an arm, but he has to improve his passing accuracy very quickly. Also, I question some of these play calls which have Robinson constantly running this dinky draw plays which go nowhere. If they keep this up next week, I'll be pretty concerned once the Big Ten schedule begins later in September.

Saturday night we did some BBQ'ing on the roof of Jessica's apartment. Gotta love BBQ's - cooking up some burgers and hot dogs, drinking some beers. Good time all around. Sunday, took a little trip down to Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood to have brunch with Aaron (old friend from home) who just returned to the US after spending the last year in Italy. Good to catch up with him and check out a new neighborhood. Afterwards, it was time to head back to Connecticut. Enjoyed the nice weather by going to the driving range for a little bit. I invested in a golf glove, so I can happily say that I came away without any blisters this time around.

Sunday night, the Jessica and I took a drive up to Westport, CT, to see Kelly. She's been up there for most of the summer, working at a theater with Paul Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward. I'd say that's impressive. Kelly showed us her culinary skills by cooking us a very fine dinner indeed, and it was great to catch up with her as well. It's a shame we couldn't get up there to visit her sooner, because that house they put her up in was extremely nice. Of course, as of today she was leaving to go back to West Chester, PA, for a little while before she gets involved with her next theater venture.

Lazy Labor Day for me. Slept in, sat outside for a little bit, went to the supermarket. Not too much to report on in that respect. Even though I didn't do much, can't complain about the day off - remember, it was given to us because we are the working citizens of this nation. I am deserving of this day off, and so I did nothing in celebration of it. Thank you very much.

A few more comments:

- The local rock radio station in New York, 92.3 KRock (WXRK-FM) had a 90's Weekend, and let me tell you, it was great. I sometimes miss all the great rock music that came out of the last decade, and not to sound like an old man, but the rock music today just isn't the same; doesn't have the staying power that some of the 90's music had. Speaking of, Eric and I had a discussion on the Best/Most Influential Rock Albums of the 90's, so I may write about that tomorrow night.

- Eric also requested that I post this great exchange we had on Saturday afternoon during the Penn State game, regarding starting WR Ethan Kilmer.

Eric: Hey that #43 made a nice play. Who is that? Kimmel?
Me: No, Kilmer.
Eric: Kimler?
Me: No, Kilmer.
Eric: Ahhh.... Edwin, right?
Me: Ethan.
Eric: Ethan.
Me: You're going to call him Edwin Kimmel all year, right?
Eric: Yeah, probably.

It should also be noted that Eric will continue to get Derrick Williams and Justin King mixed up all season as well. Let's go over this once more: Williams is #2 and King is #7. There, I put it in plain black and white for you.

I'll be back later tonight with a Laguna Update.

Labor Day Weekend is upon us...

Since I am a working citizen, I guess Labor Day takes on more meaning. It's a holiday to honor our nation's workforce, and how do we reward them? By giving them a day off, of course. That's sufficient enough for me. At least the weather, the last I checked, is supposed to be good in this area, so I'm looking forward to an enjoyable weekend.

- Looking forward to the Penn State game on Saturday. It's about time I see some meaningful football, since the Eagles preseason game tonight was a joke. No starters, no sign of anything that resembled a game plan. But now, Saturday we have my favorite college team kicking off its season, and then only 9 days until my favorite professional team opens its regular season. Honestly, this may be the best time of the year. (Oh, and by the way, the Phillies still hold the NL Wild Card lead. I'm as shocked as you are.)

- Note to Jared: I think Owen's calling you out with this IM I received from him this evening:

"I feel pretty strongly that Jared and I could have a pretty good competition for most comments on the RPR."

These are 2 of my biggest fans, so maybe they'll duke it out for commenting supremacy on the RPR. A little healthy competition is good for everyone. Gentleman, comment away. There's no limit to posting on the RPR. We're all here to have fun.

- That's it for tonight. I go to bed way too late and am probably cutting years off of my life with this whole 6 hours per night routine that I've become accustomed to. I need to become one of those early-go-to-bedders like the Jessica. But it's never been in my nature, and hence I have a tough time jipping myself of free time, where I can sit around and do nothing and write on my blog about how I lack sleep. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the life I lead. Hey enjoy the Labor Day weekend, watch some football, have a BBQ and some brews, or whatever suits you best. I'll be back in a few days.

Not a whole lot tonight

- I found this really cool link in the blog One Louder that I often read. It is an Interactive Music Quiz where you enter the name of your favorite band and then see how well you can identify their album covers. For my "RPR Readers at Work", you may be able to waste a good 30 minutes on this.

- Music Update: I downloaded Death Cab for Cutie's new album, Plans, and I think it's pretty good. Have to go back and get their prior album, Transatlanticism, because I've only heard select songs and some say that it's still their most solid record. Favorite tracks from Plans: "Someday You Will Be Loved", "Your Heart is an Empty Room", and "Soul Meets Body".

Additionally, I'd recommend A.C. Newman's solo album, Slow Wonder, full of very catchy rock tunes that are long enough where it'd keep your attention, but short enough to keep you yearning for more than 11 tracks. Favorite tracks include: "On the Table" and "Miracle Drug".

Excellent segue into A.C. Newman's band, the New Pornographers, whose new record, Twin Cinema is also on my list of records to check out. Anybody heard it? Which older album of theirs is worth listening to as well?

- I'm usually not too big on commenting on national affairs, current events, or politics (god forbid), but I just have to make a few comments about this craziness going on in the Gulf Coast states. The more I read about the devastation and destruction that's occurred down there, it becomes harder and harder to fathom what these people must be going through. Their homes are ruined, their livelihood has taken on a completely different course, and many have missing friends and relatives. I'm not telling you anything you can't read on the internet or watch on CNN, but I just felt the need to write something about the situation. Your heart has to go out to these people, and it's awful to think how long it's going to take to get the city of New Orleans and many other towns/cities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama back to normal. In the past few days, I've caught myself bitching about the imminent rise in gas prices due to the hurricane damage. When it all comes down to it, all we have to do is pay $3/gallon, but still have the luxuries in life that we're used to. The people directly affected by Katrina have issues of far greater magnitude to be concerned with. Let's not forget this, and hope for the best for them.

Enjoy the beginning of September and I'll be back on Thursday night.