Did Everyone Think I Got Lost?

Contrary to popular belief, I have not disappeared. My life completely revolved around work last week and I just didn't have any time to check in. I was in the office a ridiculous number of hours, and believe me, it wasn't fun. My apologies to anyone who was truly disappointed. This week looks to be a lot better, so I should have more time to write some new material on the RPR. Let's catch up...

Let's hear it for helping out the community: Thanks to our good samaritan Jessica, a bunch of us signed up for New York Cares Day on Saturday. This is a city-wide service event with groups of volunteers helping out in schools and other places across NYC. Our group ended at a public high school on the Upper West Side, and it could have been a lot worse (how great of a story would it have been if we went to a school in the Bronx...now that's be something to talk about. The instructions would have included wearing comfortable clothes, bringing a few dollars for lunch, and a bulletproof vest.). We had read something that said we'd be painting murals around the "scanners" and when you think about what the "scanners" are, you realize that it's a nice synonym of "metal detector". Sure enough, our task for the day was to paint some murals.

We worked with some artist named Zoe. We were all convinced that she was too old to really be a Zoe, and apparently when she pulled out her credit card to smooth the tape that was used as a border from one color to another, someone caught that her real name was Ruth. Let's face it: only high society babies and little teacup dogs are really named Zoe. Regardless, this lady was nuts. She thought that we were all professional painters, when in fact, not many people in our group had even the slightest bit of artistic ability. Eric and I ended up working with 2 other guys on the simple mural...it was two colors: red and blue. We thought, "Great, we can't screw it up." Sure enough, we almost screwed it up on several occasions, but at the end of the day, it turned out pretty damn good. Also, it warrants mentioning that the girls did a hell of a job on their American flag mural. Nice work, ladies.

Saturday night, Penn State game. After that first Illinois possession, where they drove down the field for 3 pts, we were a little concerned. When it was 28-3 after the first quarter, we felt a little more comfortable, and when it was 56-3 at halftime, the only concern was how we were to go about finishing the three pizzas we had ordered. Let's hear it for Michael Robinson: 4 TD passes and 2 TD runs in the 1st half. His numbers from only 1 half of play are absolutely staggering, and he definitely deserved to rest during the 2nd half. Not much else to say about the game: after last week's heartbreaker, they needed to beat up on Illinois, and they did just that. Now, gotta gear up for the Homecoming game vs. Purdue (The Ross will be in attendance!)

Allow me to make a few comments on the Eagles game from Sunday. First off, I'd like to thank the geniuses with the NFL for their "contractual obligation to switch to the game in the home market" at exactly 4:15pm. The voice-over should have just stated, "We don't care that the game you are watching is coming down to the wire. You are in the New York metro area and that means we have to switch over to the start of the damn Giants game. And by the way, you'll miss a great ending to the Eagles game, where a guy blocked a field goal and another player returned it 65 yds for a touchdown with 2 minutes left. But it's ok, you caught the very beginning of the Giants game and didn't really need to see the end of the great Eagles game. Love, the National Football League and CBS television." No, I'm not bitter.

It seems like they have "Philly" Cheesesteaks every Monday at work, and every Monday, one of my co-workers gets it. And every Monday, I make the same comment. I tell them, "You don't know what a real cheesesteak is. You can't get one anywhere outside of Philadelphia." They never listen to me. With that being said, I really have a craving for a good cheesesteak since I've been unable to grab one on my recent quick trips home. Anyone in the Philadelphia area want to send me a cheesesteak wit wiz, onions, and mushrooms from Jim's?

Things that piss me off recently: (a)The voicemail that I get every few days on my cell phone from some credit card company. This has been going on for about 2 years now. (b) The lady who keeps leaving messages on my answering machine, once a week, in Spanish. Senorita, I believe you have el numero incorrecto. (c) See the item above about CBS cutting off the Eagles game. (d) When you think that TV shows are on at a certain time, and you make an effort to sit down in front of the tube right when it's supposed to start, and then find out that it's not on. There isn't much more of a bummer than that.

A heads up for my long-time readers out there....I am planning on getting a haircut tomorrow, and may have another run-in with Yolanda. Stay tuned for the latest episode of "Ross Goes to the Barbershop to get Ripped Off by a Recovering Alcoholic".

So let me get this straight....Brian Austin Green and Neil Patrick Harris are both back on TV and in new sitcoms? Is this 2005 or 1993? And is it mandatory to have the 3 names when you're an actor? Someone needs to clue me in on these things.

This is a good poll question that's come up in conversation lately... If you were to open up your own bar, what would you name it? Please post your ideas.

That's it for tonight...I'll be back tomorrow night kids.