Some Items from the Weekend

A few small items to wrap up the weekend....

- Friday was Cinco de Mayo, and as if the people in the 18-34 year old range need a reason to drink, the celebration of Mexican Independence Day is as good as any. In New York City, people have stopped caring whether or not the establishment is based around the same nationality as the holiday: case in point, people were happy with ordering Coronas and Cuervo margaritas at an Irish pub or American sports bar. They didn't need to be at a Mexican restaurant. What I still wonder is... do people in other countries celebrate the American holidays or are we just freeloading off of any nationality that we can get our hands on? Are people all over Europe celebrating the 4th of July by having barbeques and drinking Budweiser? I doubt it. Americans just love other countries' holidays, but the funny part is that they couldn't give two craps about ours. The good 'ole US of A!

- So Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants were in Philadelphia over the weekend, and the red hot Phillies swept the Giants, and have now won 8 games in a row! Barry did hit a monster home run on Sunday evening, to give him 713 for his career and is now 1 shy of tying Babe Ruth for 2nd all-time. However, the Philadelphia fans wouldn't miss out on their only chance this season to give Barry an earful and express their displeasure at the potential tainting of his game due to the steroid allegations. My favorite is the sign below. The Philly fans warm my heart.

(Picture courtesy of the Associated Press. Found on ESPN.com)

- On Saturday, I took a walk over to Lincoln Center to check out the craziness surrounding David Blaine and this nonsense that he's partaking in. In case you haven't heard, he's living in a glass sphere filled with water for 8 days, and then will finish off the whole stunt on Monday night by holding his breath underwater for a record 9 minutes. Let me just say that the guy is nuts. Of course he's gaining a ton of publicity for these stunts, but he's setting himself up for potential physical and mental damage. His skin is shriveling up to nothing, he has muscle atrophy, he's eating liquid food through a tube, and is using a catheter for waste. Apparently, he is able to get a few hours of sleep underwater each night, but otherwise it's a circus around his sphere. Since it's right in the middle of the Lincoln Center courtyard, people are constantly around, taking pictures, waving, and just watching in awe of Blaine.

Since I had some free time on Saturday afternoon, I had to take a walk over there to see for myself. I wasn't about to wait in line, so instead, I walked in through the exit and got about 25 feet away. The best reaction was from the little kids, who stared at the man in the glass bubble like he was some kind of marine mammal from the zoo. They placed their hands on the sphere and gave thumbs up signs for good luck. Blaine is being great about the crowds, and seemingly loved having all of the people out to see his stunt and wish him well. After checking it out for a few minutes and getting a few shoddy pictures on my cellphone camera, I was bored and went on my way. I am intrigued to see how this whole thing ends, so check it out 8pm, Monday night, on ABC.

That's all I can dig up. Another fun-filled week lies ahead so feel the excitement!