RIP Nikita N. Klucsarits-Zaikov 1/10/2001 - 6/17/2015

I never grew up with a dog. My only pet experience as a kid involved fish. Then I started dating a girl who had a dog. A dog who allegedly does not typically like men. My first meeting with Nikita at Jamie's apartment couldn't have gone better. It was love at first site (I also liked Jamie a bit too). I fell in love with this dog. I didn't know I had that in me. I never knew the bond between a person and their pet. Those fish didn't do any tricks. They didn't care about me. Nikita showed me what unconditional love is.

This dog changed my life. She has made me a better person. I'm officially now a dog person. I admit, at first, I cringed and made faces when picking up Nikita's poop. After a while you get used to it. I'll never forget that last poop. I teared up. Because of poop. Of course, most of you guys know I have an affinity for poop. But that's a subject for another day, ok probably never.

It's been almost a week since we said goodbye. I still walk through my front door with the expectation of hearing her collar jingle. I miss having Nikita get excited to see me when I got home. I miss taking Nikita on walks in our neighborhood. I miss Nikita chasing after bunny rabbits. Even in her last few days she had it in her to chase one. Cancer got the best of her, but cancer can never take away my memories of her. And I'll cherish those forever. I love you Nikita. And I love you Jamie for bringing her into my life (amongst other things).  We will definitely get another dog (almost certainly another Husky) but there will never be another Nikita.

That time UConn played Florida in the Final Four, Nikita was
soooooooooo excited that the Huskies won.

Nikita having fun on the bed, a special treat (for us, more so
than for her, usually)

Do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nikita's "professional" photo session, this
picture will hang forever at Chuy's on
Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw.

Nikita's Birthday tradition. A 6 oz birthday cake, errr steak.

Jamie and Nikita, post birthday steak.

I already actually miss this, Nikita loved
leftovers. She was so excited whenever we
ate.

Even I've never had my own waterbed.
She did, and she loved it.

Me and Nikita, post birthday festivities

Getting comfy on the human's bed. 

Such a happy dog, even with a cast on.

"Holiday" picture

Add caption

Snow!!!!!

I need DIS!

You're home! You're home! You're home!!!!! I
missed you! (Is what I like to think she was thinking)

Chillaxin on the porch-bed at the beach house!

Enjoying the beach in South Carolina

Chillin by the pier

Chick-Fil-A College Football Hall of Fame Essay Winner Winner!

Any time Chick-Fil-A opens a new restaurant, they give the first 100 customers free Chick-fil-A for a year (or at least 52 coupons to come back for free food once a week for a year). Typically people camp out outside the restaurant to win. Crazy!

The College Football Hall of Fame is relocating to Atlanta and opens on August 23. Chick-fil-A is one of the main sponsors of the Hall of Fame and is again giving away the same prize to 100 people, with a twist. 

http://www.chick-fil-a.com/first100atthehall/ 

Tell us why you love college football and you could be one of the first 100 fans to visit the College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-fil-A Fan Experience. In fact, you will not only get to visit the attraction but you will actually get to spend the night in it! You will get to tour the facility, engage in games and giveaways and camp out on the 45 yard field inside the attraction. The contest winners who comply with the Official Rules will win Free Chick-fil-A food for a Year (52 #1 Meals) and be the first guests to enter Chick-fil-A's new college-football themed restaurant located next door to the attraction. The first 100 fans will also have a chance to win prizes from Coca-Cola, AT&T, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Kia and others. Each member of the first 100 will be able to bring a guest to join in the fun!

-Tell us in 250 words or less why you love college football.
-Submissions must also include your first and last name, your favorite college football team, your home address, and a phone number where we can reach you.
-Essay submissions are due by July 27th at 11:59pm ET and the winners will be notified between July 28th and August 1st.
-Essays will be judged on passion for college football and creativity.
-Visit CFBHall.com to learn more about college football’s new home. 

And without further adieu, here is my "award winning" essay! (I may have gone a bit over 250 words, don't tell!)

I was such a spoiled rotten college student. My freshman year at Florida State, in 1994, was smack dab in the middle of one of the most dominant runs in college football history. Unfortunately for me, FSU won a National Title the year before I got to campus and again the year after I graduated in 1998. Luckily for me, after graduating, I continued living in Tallahassee. You can even say I lived with a local celebrity!

In 1998, my roommate Kevin Fulmer, along with another friend, Josh White, had the idea to birth what is now the tradition of the Garnet & Gold Guys. They actually looked pretty terrible that first game. Luckily that was just a pay-per-view game against Duke. They painted themselves in school colors and then covered themselves in glitter. You should’ve seen Kevin’s bathroom after a game, it literally looked like a blood bath.

In January 1999, FSU played in the inaugural BCS Championship game against Tennessee. Along with 2 friends, we made the cross country drive from Tallahassee to Tempe, AZ to watch our Noles play in the National Championship Game. We were so disappointed after the loss, we got right back in the car and drove 30 hours back to Tallahassee without stopping, taking turns driving. We made the best of it, and looking back it was a great experience. The first of 3 straight National Championship Games that both myself and my Seminoles would participate in.

I look forward to seeing Ron Sellers, Ron Simmons, Fred Biletnikoff, Darrell Mudra, Bobby Bowden, Charlie Ward, Deion Sanders and eventually Jameis Winston in the College Football Hall Of Fame!

So there it is!!!! I'll report back after the event! 

The Proposal

I realize I've basically left this blog for dead for a while now. Facebook and Twitter have kinda replaced the need for blogging I think. If I have a funny story, or something to share, I head there, not here. But, some things still have a place in the blogosphere. This is one.

So, it's been about 3 1/2 years since I've really done the blogging thing. There have been a few posts here and there for significant events - The death of my beloved Thrashers, the birth of my nephew (oh crap I never did post that! Sorry Micah!), and a "Why I'm Dumb" story of how I took someone else's luggage before going on a cruise.

I guess you can tell by the title of this particular blog, a lot has changed in 3 1/2 years. We'll skip the minor stuff and focus on Jamie, who very quickly became my best friend, and now fiancé (which is still weird to say).

We met playing kickball in Smyrna on or around Thursday July 14, 2011 (7:48pm, ish) The legend goes...we were on different teams. My team was an awesome powerhouse (ok, so we were below average) and Jamie's team was terrible (seriously, they were not good, we won 11-2). I was up and kicked a ball over everyone's heads (as I am prone to do). I ran around the bases as the outfielders went to retrieve the ball and just as I was about to finish off my inside the park homerun (there are no outside the park homeruns) guess who is standing in front of home plate, blocking it? I was not expecting that and just about accidentally ran her over. I managed to score without knocking her over, but that was the first time we physically crossed paths. (Although in the past, we have realized we were definitely in the same place at the same time before (going as far back to a concert outside Atlanta in 1999 that I drove up from Tallahassee to go to).

So fast forward to Wednesday April 10, 2013, 6:45pm, ish. We've been "together" for just over a year and a half. We had a late game (8:30pm) against the Hooligans, a different team that Jamie used to play on. Since the game was late, I suggested to the team that we meet at the league bar for pregame drinks. I certainly needed something. As we're walking out, Jamie says "we're just going to play a kickball game, I don't need my phone" (and left the phone behind). She left, I went back to grab the phone, knowing she'd probably want to make a few calls in a few hours (actually Tracy grabbed her phone since I couldn't actually find it). So that calmed me down, I now knew that Jamie had absolutely no idea that I was about to propose.

I had been in cahoots with the owner of the league, Eric, who is also the captain of the Hooligans. I knew I wanted to do this when our teams played each other. Basically everyone on the two teams are friends, which would make the event more memorable. A few weeks before the season began, I met with Eric to discuss my idea of proposing during a kickball game. We even were able to adjust the league schedule to have the game on a night that I thought would work the best. Next, I had to tell a few people from my own team about my plan. I had come up with a specific script for how I wanted this to go down. I wanted Jamie to be able to easily score a run, and I'd come meet her at home plate with the ring (and a "will you marry me?" sign).

The plan:

1st batter - (Terry) just get on base however

2nd batter (Jamie) I knew she was bunting, I had to make sure Eric (pitching) and Ashley (catcher) knew not to get her out.

3rd batter - (Scott) walk (this was tough, because if a guy walks and a girl is up next, the batter goes to 2nd. Brilliant because this gets Jamie to 3rd easily. Tough because it means that a run scores, which means Eric's teammates would probably be pissed!)

4th batter (Tracy) - This is where the first video picks up. She bunts, everyone's safe, bases loaded. Jamie still on 3rd.

5th batter (Kyle) - His job was to just kick it deep into the outfield so Jamie could trot home. Probably should've told him to take a pitch.

Each batter has their own at bat music (which I realized later I skipped Tracy's song, oops!), Kyle's song was ACDC - TNT. My plan was, when he kicked the ball, to change it to Bruno Mars - Marry Me. Well, he kicked the first pitch, so I had to hustle because Jamie was coming home full speed, so I forgot to change the music. So ACDC - TNT is now "our song" =)

I managed to get not 1, not 2, but 3 videos of the proposal...enjoy!!!!

Video #1 - via Meredith's phone. (My favorite noise ever happens at 40 seconds in)

Video #2 - via Christine's video camera



Video #3 - via Eric's Tripod mounted camera



For those wondering, we did have to restart the game, so the 2-0 lead (which would've really been at least 4-0 if I didn't interfere at home plate) didn't count. We wound up losing 6-4, but we'll chalk that up to some pretty serious distractions!

Why I'm Dumb (Part 300)

I've had a strange number of people in the last few weeks tell me I need to start blogging again. (Even though blogging is sooooooo 2010-BC) errr not 2010 BC, but as in BC are the initials of the quote, ahhh never mind. What I'm saying is...I'm dusting this thing off and let's see what happens. No commitments but I can at least write about my stupidity one more time.

So, flew into Miami yesterday where I decided to be obnoxious and wear my "Sucks to be U" anti-U of Miami shirt with my really really dirty beaten up FSU hat that I love. I noticed the guy behind me on the plane had an Oregon hat on, we talked college football a bit, he asked how FSU was gonna be this year, then gave me shit for our loss to USF a few years ago during "the lost decade" of FSU football. I just laughed it off, thought better of making any anti-Oregon comments.

But, not why I'm dumb. After a rocky plane ride, and a very slow de-planing process, we made our way to baggage claim. Mine & Tracy's bags came out right about next to each other. I remembered mine was wet from the rain and commented that it looked like it was a dead animal laying on its belly because of the way it looked on the baggage carousel. Anyways, grabbed the bags, headed to find a "welcome to Miami" sign to pose in front of and then off to find my parents who were circling the airport waiting on us.

Traveling in a strange city with my parents is always an event. 100% completely relying on their TomTom these days. Between that and 2 iPhones we still managed to need a few u-turns to find our way to our hotel. Part of the problem is i had a few random number missed calls disrupting my direction-giving. Finally we get on the right path.

I don't know how the majority of people handle missed calls from unknown numbers. I let my voicemail "Blondie" as my dad has named her, answer missed calls for me. The first one was an Atlanta number, "Blondie" sent me an alert that I received a voice mail from a Pamela. I don't know any Pamela's so i disregarded it and focused back on getting to the hotel. About 10 minutes later, another unknown number calls, this time from a Miami area code. Weird. But I didn't think anything of it until "Blondie" pops back up saying I have a missed call from Delta Airlines. Again, I didn't think much of it, I looked around the car to make sure I wasn't missing anything like my phone or my wallet (yes, even though I was clearly USING my phone the thought popped in my head that I may have left it behind). So I decide to give these voicemails a listen. Turns out, I grabbed the wrong suitcase!!!! I was almost afraid to say it after all the u-turns we had already made but I had to tell my dad that we had to go back the airport!

I can't believe I managed this, I've never seen anyone with the same bag as me, and I always check for my bag tag for my name! Except, thinking it over, I didn't this time. So back to the airport I go, called Pamela back and said how stupid, embarrassed and sorry I was and we'd be back with her bag in a few minutes. So back to the airport, I see my bag at the Delta office and saw three people sitting around waiting as if they were completely stranded...including... Oregon guy! He looked at me and said, oh no! You! I knew I shouldn't have took shots at FSU! Haha, "karma" I replied, completely jokingly. I again said how sorry, stupid, I felt. And so glad they weren't mad. Our bags weren't even that similar, I mean, same set, but she had the shorter fatter version, while mine was longer and wider. Whoops.

RIP Atlanta Thrashers 1999-2011

I never really had pets in my life other than a fish or two. So it's hard for me to compare losing the Thrashers to losing a pet. But I really am feeling heartbroken today. At noon today, a group of assholes from Winnipeg are announcing that they're buying the Atlanta Thrashers from THE BIGGEST group of ASSHOLES (The Atlanta Spirit Group) and moving my team to Canada. This hurts. It hurts a lot. I moved to Atlanta in 2001 and fell in love with the Thrashers around 2003-ish. I've been to probably 85% of the home games since then. I've seen 0 playoff wins from my team. 0. That's not easy. 53% of the league makes the playoffs every season. 53%!!!! The Thrashers have done it once. The stats major in me tells me there is a 0.03% of that happening only once in 11 years (although i'll admit to being rusty). April 2007 was the loan playoff appearance, against my childhood team, the New York Rangers. The Thrashers lost all 4 games, but those two home playoff games were right up there with the 3 FSU National Championship Games I went to from Jan 1999-Jan 2001 as the best sporting events I've EVER been to. Now my team is being taken away from me. And it's not fair.

In 1996 the Winnipeg Jets left town to move to Phoenix and become the Coyotes. The Coyotes have made the playoffs the last two seasons and have had very good teams. Despite that, the Coyotes have had lower attendance numbers each season than the Thrashers. The Thrashers haven't exactly packed the house, but who wants to go watch a terrible team, year after year? The one season the Thrashers made the playoffs, games were sold out, fan interest was peaking. Since then, it's been downhill, thanks to the worst group of owners imaginable. They've been fighting amongst each other for the last few years in court. As soon as that was settled - Dec 2010, they set out to sell off the Thrashers. And they did so in just 5 months. NHL by-laws state that to relocate a franchise, options to sell the team to local buyers must be fully exhausted. Which is pretty impossible in only 5 months.

The NHL has been so against relocation that when the situation in Phoenix got so bad, the NHL itself took over control of the team when the owners went bankrupt. Here's a crazy thought, why don't you move those fuckers back to Winnipeg! It was their team to begin with! But, no such luck. The NHL Commish Douchebag, Gary Bettman hasn't said a peep about our Atlanta situation, after being so incredibly, oddly dedicated to keeping Phoenix put. He's just standing by letting Atlanta lose our team. It just doesn't make sense why the league wouldn't do anything to try and help us like they helped Phoenix. Atlanta was never given a chance to succeed. As soon as it was announced that the Coyotes were staying put for the 2011-12 season, within days, it was announced that the Thrashers were likely bolting for Canada instead. Now, at noon today, it will be done.

Even with all the losing, i have such great memories of my short life as a Thrashers fan. I've done 2 tv-timeout games - which were blogged here and here. Still haven't used my $50 Hard Rock gift card yet now that I think about it. I've had countless huge beers at the CNN Center, I've played dodgeball on the ice, I got my name on the scoreboard for my 30th birthday, I've had probably a hundred games worth of seats in my company's suite which is right next to the injured players' suite. I sat in both the last row and first row for the 2006 NHL All Star Game. About the only thing I never did was ride the zamboni. The Thrashers were by far, my favorite thing about the city of Atlanta. And they're being taken away from me. It's just not fair.

Now what for me? What did Hartford Whalers fans do when their team moved the Raleigh? Do you still root for them? I still love the players on the team, I can't see myself rooting against THEM. But the prospect of what the team can do when they actually have owners who care is something I'm excited about but won't get to enjoy.

And I've now officially switched from the depression phase to the anger phase after writing this, my first blog in about 14 months. Thanks.

The AJC's Jeff Schultz just posted a column that needs to be read: http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/05/31/thrashers-atlanta-were-never-given-a-chance/

ATL Noise: Volume 8, Issue 1

So it's been 6 months since I've put one of these together, it's time! For those not familiar - this is my own personal researching of local concerts that I may might possibly be could maybe interesting in attending - especially the ones in bold.

Sun 03/14/10 Ben Folds and A Piano @ The Tabernacle

Sun 03/14/10 Craig Ferguson @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Sun 03/14/10 The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus @ The Masquerade
Sun 03/14/10 Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ The Masquerade
Sun 03/14/10 Suckers @ The Masquerade

Sat 03/27/10 Jarrod Gorbel @ Eddie's Attic
Sat 03/27/10 The Honorary Title @ Eddie's Attic

Sun 03/28/10 Chelsea Handler @ Fox Theatre

Fri 04/02/10 Grift @ Red Light Cafe

Wed 04/07/10 Blue October @ Center Stage
Wed 04/07/10 Hurricane Bells @ Center Stage

Thu 04/08/10 Vampire Weekend @ The Tabernacle
Thu 04/08/10 Abe Vigoda @ The Tabernacle

Fri 04/16/10 Dave Attell @ The Punchline

Sat 04/17/10 Dave Attell @ The Punchline

Wed 04/21/10 Nickelback @ Philips Arena
Wed 04/21/10 Breaking Benjamin @ Philips Arena
Wed 04/21/10 Shinedown @ Philips Arena
Wed 04/21/10 Sick Puppies @ Philips Arena
* - Note: I would leave before Nickelback goes on stage

Thu 04/29/10 30 Seconds To Mars @ The Tabernacle
Thu 04/29/10 Mute Math @ The Tabernacle
Thu 04/29/10 Neon Trees @ The Tabernacle

Tue 05/04/10 Bullet For My Valentine @ The Tabernacle
Tue 05/04/10 Airbourne @ The Tabernacle
Tue 05/04/10 Chiodos @ The Tabernacle

Wed 05/05/10 Three Days Grace @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Wed 05/05/10 Seether @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Wed 05/05/10 Chevelle @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Sun 05/09/10 Saliva @ The Masquerade

Thu 05/13/10 OK Go The Loft At @ Center Stage
Thu 05/13/10 Earl Greyhound The Loft At @ Center Stage
Thu 05/13/10 Robert Francis The Loft At @ Center Stage

Sun 05/16/10 Angels And Airwaves @ The Tabernacle
Sun 05/16/10 Say Anything @ The Tabernacle

Wed 05/26/10 Butch Walker & The Black Widows @ Variety Playhouse

Fri 06/04/10 Reverend Horton Heat @ The Masquerade
Fri 06/04/10 Cracker @ The Masquerade
Fri 06/04/10 The Legendary Shack Shakers @ The Masquerade

Fri 07/09/10 Serj Tankian Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Mon 07/26/10 2010 Vans Warped Tour @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 Reel Big Fish @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 Streetlight Manifesto @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 Sum 41 @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 Pennywise @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 Andrew W.K. @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Mon 07/26/10 and many many more @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood


Tue 07/27/10 Dave Matthews Band @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Tue 07/27/10 Gov't Mule @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood

Sun 08/01/10 "Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival" @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Sun 08/01/10 Atreyu @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Sun 08/01/10 Korn @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Sun 08/01/10 Rob Zombie @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Sun 08/01/10 Several Other Scary Sounding Band Names @ %^($'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood

My Second 15 Seconds of Fame

I know, I know, I've been terrible about this blog, so, sorry to everyone who depends on me to entertain you. IE - mainly folks I'm related to.

My first 15 minutes of fame - http://jznole.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-15-seconds-of-fame.html

Almost two years ago to the day (minus about 4 days) I got picked, with my buddy Matt, to do a contest during a Thrashers game, and we did not do so well, we "Lost All" in the Risk it All game. Fast forward two years (minus about 4 days) and I got a chance to redeem myself! This time, we were sitting in the 200-section, just above the concourse walk-way when I noticed J-Bird snooping around below, I've been to enough games to know he was looking for someone for a contest. He turned around and faced our section and asked a girl in the front row if she wanted to sing karaoke...she said no. Then asked Christine, who was next to me, she said no, and then I think she pointed at me. Then J-Bird turns to me and asks me to do it. Sure! I'll make a fool of myself!!!! So I go down there, he tells me the game. It's a karaoke style where they'll play a song and at some point stop it and I'd have to sing the next verse. Ok, that should be embarrassing enough! Awesome! Then he says, since we're playing the Boston Bruins, we're gonna be doing the Boston song - More Than a Feeling. Sure, I know that song. He starts singing it and it doesn't sound familiar AT ALL. Apparently the only part I knew was the chorus somehow. Awesome! I must've had a pretty serious blank look on my face because he was about to find someone else to do the contest. I said no, I wanna do it, even if I screw up it'll be fun! So, I had the brilliant idea, hey, I can look it up on the jphone! And bam! I've got the lyrics. I kept going over them over and over in my head until I thought I had it down.

As I said in my last blog, J-Bird is a weird dude. While the hockey game was still going on, he was doing play by play in an Austin Powers accent. I told him my name was J, he asked me about 4 times, I'm like dude, you've got the same name, how hard is this?

Finally it came time to actually do the contest. A couple of the Thrashers cheerleaders came by to make me look good. So thanks for that! If only we could do something about those logos on their backs!!! They made me take my jersey off and put on a Hard Rock t-shirt on. I had to fight to keep my hat on, I had a serious Jew-fro going on up there. So here we go, they introduce me to the crowd and go over the way the contest works. They play a few lines from the song and then stop it and I have to sing the next line. As soon as they started going I froze up, completely forgot how the song went, completely forgot the line I needed to sing. It was supposed to be - "I closed my eyes and I slipped away". I really have no idea what words I actually sang but I definitely didn't say slipped away. Not only that, but I kinda screamed it out more than sang. In front of about 12,000 of my closest friends too! Afterwards J-Bird said, hey you kinda went Ozzy on us there, nice! Luckily they said, close enough and said I was a winner. I got a $50 gift card to Hard Rock, and everyone in my row got $25 gift cards. Oh, and I won a free Hard Rock t-shirt.

Here are some pics from different friends from throughout the arena...with more to come

ATL Noise: Volume 7, Issue 3

It's been a while...as usual, here's just a minor list of upcoming concerts in the ATL, I

Tue 09/22/09 - Cold, Taproot, Killer and the Star, Datarock, Esser - The Masquerade

Sat 09/26/09 - Chevelle, HaleStorm, After Midnight Project - The Tabernacle

Sat 10/03/09 - Snow Patrol, Plain White T's - The Tabernacle (I'd definitely be at this one if it wasn't for it being the same time as the Thrashers home opener!!!! Priorities!!!!!)

Tue 10/06/09 - U2, Muse - Georgia Dome (I'd go just to see Muse and leave)

Wed 10/07/09 - The Airborne Toxic Event, Henry Clay People, Red Cortez - Variety Playhouse

Wed 10/07/09 - Blink-182, All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, Asher Roth - #####'s Amphitheatre At Lakewood

Fri 10/09/09 - Kings Of Leon, White Lies - Philips Arena

Sat 10/10/09 - Lisa Lampanelli - Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (Comedian)

Tue 10/13/09 - Blues Traveler - Center Stage

Sat 10/17/09 - David Cross - The Tabernacle (Comedian)

Tue 10/20/09 - The Bravery - Center Stage

Sat 10/24/09 - Atreyu, Hollywood Undead - The Tabernacle

Tue 10/27/09 - Paramore, Paper Route, The Swellers - The Tabernacle

Sun 11/01/09 - The Used, The Almost, Drive A - The Tabernacle

Tue 11/03/09 - Brand New, Thrice - The Tabernacle

Fri 11/06/09 - Mute Math, As Tall As Lions - The Tabernacle

Thu 11/12/09 - Jimmie's Chicken Shack - Smith's Olde Bar (I swear I've heard of these guys???)

Mon 11/16/09 - AFI - The Tabernacle

Sun 11/22/09 - All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Anberlin - The Tabernacle

Sun 11/29/09 - Miley Cyrus - Philips Arena (It's a Felony!!!!!)

Fri 12/18/09 - Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Meg & Dia, Never Shout Never - The Tabernacle

Brookhaven Parking SUCKS!!!!!

So I took a few days to cool down a bit, but am still pissed about the situation. And I'm not even gonna mention my flat tire from Wednesday!!!!

The Brookhaven area I'm talking about is home to 3 bar/restaurant places - Pub 71, The Hudson Grille and Mellow Mushroom (which is the official kickball bar).

These three places all have pretty large capacities, any ONE of them would probably come close to filling up the parking lot. It's gotten to the point where I refuse to even try to park in there after kickball, not only is there hardly any available parking, but the lanes to drive through are small and people drive like a bunch of ruhTARDS.

So far the last few weeks, I've been parking about a block away at a shopping center where NOTHING is open at night. There's anywhere from 20-30 cars doing the same, otherwise this HUGE parking lot is a ghost town. Well, this past Thursday, every single car got booted. Two people from my kickball team who left before I did texted me to tell me about their cars, and of course I'm thinking it probably was just them in a random act of booting. Nope. Everyone. But it gets worse.

The guy who came out to remove everyone's boot was a complete a-hole. By the time I got to my car there were 2 other groups of people waiting for the guy to show up. One of the groups had 2 fairly large black guys, who said amongst themselves while laughing but we were all pissed off, "man I'm gunna fuck this guy up" (or something like that). To which, the boot a-hole said, with a straight face, "I believe I've just been threatened, last night a group of about 6 guys threatened me and one of them left with a bullet in his chest." Wow!!!! What a winner, he really needs to brag about some guy getting shot?

So we finally convince him that no one's trying to fight anyone or shoot everyone, we just all wanted to go home. So, everyone's car had these lovely stickers on the window letting us know that we can call this phone number to get our cars released, and it said on there it is a $50 charge. Now, the first guys who he de-booted, their sticker had the $50 crossed out and $75 written in its place. I found that curious but didn't feel the need to question it from my side, because mine just said $50 with nothing crossed out. So he finally gets to me, I give him my credit card and he asks for my signature and I notice he charged me $75. So I fight him on it,

Me: "my sticker clearly says its a $50 charge."

A-Hole: "sorry I forgot to correct it on yours"

Me: "Correct it? This is an official sticker, what gives you the right to change it at all?"

A-Hole: "I ran out of our new stickers"

Me: "Well, I'm not signing this"

A-Hole: "Ok, I'll leave the boot on your car and the tow-truck can be here in a minute"

Me: "Wow, thats some bull shit, is there someone I can call to complain about this? Whats to stop you from charging me whatever the hell you want?"

A-Hole: "The number is on your receipt and Dekalb County has a minimum fee of $75"

Me: "Whatever, I need to get out of here"

Ughhhhh, I was FURIOUS, there was no winning an argument with this guy, and I certainly wasn't gonna let him tow my car for $25, but I'm still pissed about it. I mean, there's NO WHERE to park! So for now all I will do is boycott the area for the foreseeable future.

Dane Cook - ISolated INcident - I hope

So Dane Cook has a new CD out called "ISolated INcident" (I have no idea why the "S" and "N" are capitalized). He's been on tour for a few months and his last show was Saturday at Philips Arena. I was looking forward to the show, but I really didn't like his new CD. Its 90% over-the-top sexual humor. I really like his older stuff, but definitely not so much the new stuff.

So Saturday comes, I'm functioning on about 4 1/2 hours of sleep and spending 10 minutes (also 10 minutes too many) at some friends house with cats. So now I'm tired and my nose won't stop running. Awesome!

We get to the show, I was excited because we had seats in the front row of the upper level. Not necessarily close, but front row means not worrying about being too short or having to sit behind King Kong. So we head up to our seats and there's a bunch of Philips ushers sitting at a table blocking the concourse. They ask for our tickets and this guy takes them and says, we're gonna give you slightly better seats. They wound up sitting us dead-center of the arena, about 15-20 rows up!!!! Sweet!!!!!

The show starts (about 45 minutes late), two guys open up for him, and were definitely funnier than Dane Cook on this night. Finally, Dane Cook comes out and basically reads his CD to the crowd. Maybe not necessarily in the same order as the CD, but just by listening to the CD one time on the way to Jacksonville for Memorial Day Weekend...I already knew all the punchlines. I actually dozed off a couple of times during the show. I don't know, maybe I'm getting old, but like I said 90% of his material was pretty much graphic sex jokes. His old stuff was never like this, he hardly had any sex jokes, and he was actually funny. I was very disappointed in the show. He could've at least done some older material, ya know, back when he was actually pretty funny????

Why in the world would a comedian come out with a CD BEFORE he goes on tour????? I've definitely learned my lesson!!!!

Dane Cook, I give you two thumbs...down.

First NonAnnual Movie Review - Valkyrie

So now that pretty much all TV shows are off for the summer, I'm focusing on no longer wasting my Netflix account. I'm pretty sure I've held on to movies for a good 2 months before. Netflix loves me!

So last night I watched the movie, Valkyrie (where Tom Cruise tries to kill Hitler).

I have 2 beef's about this flick...

Now, I'm no history buff, but I'm pretty sure I picked up on one major flaw. Why would all these German soldiers be speaking ENGLISH? Pretty much all the time. Not only that, but some of those guys had various European accents while speaking English, so it was still hard to understand them most of the time, may as well speak German!

Beef #2 is more personal. As a pretty big Hitler and Nazi hater, and, with this being a MOVIE and all, why not, I don't know, give it a happy ending and KILL Hitler????? At the end of the movie (spoiler alert) Tom Cruise gets executed, THE END. After that there are some boring words on the screen, and then oh by the way, "Hitler committed suicide nine months later". Oh, C'mon!!!!! THAT'S what I wanted to see, show me the suicide! Make it gruesome!!! Is that so wrong?

Incredibly Useful Health Tips of the Day

I've been trying to spread the word on two very important topics for a while now and finally realized that this may be a good place to really get the word out.

First topic...hiccups.

We all get em (I think?) Ok, so I assume we all get em? Maybe there are some people out there without a diaphragm? I don't know. Apparently some dude - Charles Osborne - had the hiccups for 68 years. How do you sleep? Why didn't anyone try and scare him? Or drink a glass of water upside down? Or hold his breath? Why?????

So, here's my trick to ridding yourself of the hiccups. Ready? PEANUT BUTTER. It's never failed. Next time you get the hiccups, go get a spoonful of peanut butter (I've found that creamy works better than crunchy - sorry Lauren, I've stolen a spoonful every once in a while, now you know why!). Although not as much fun as watching a dog eat peanut butter, curing the hiccups may be the 2nd best reason peanut butter was invented.

Now for health tip of the day #2.

Flossing.

That's right, I'm gonna try and talk you into flossing. I was never a flosser, this is how a typical conversation went:

Dentist - "do you floss regularly"

J - "yes...once every 6 months"

For some reason they never find that as funny as I do. But one time I had a dentist determined to talk me into flossing. And it worked. He flossed my teeth, then here's how it went down:

Dentist - "I know how to make you floss"

J - "Really?"

Dentist - "I'm gonna floss your teeth and then I'll show
you"

J - "ok"

Dentist - after flossing..."smell this"

J - "OMG! Gross! That smells like ASS!"

Dentist - "so you're gonna floss now?"

J - "Yes!!!!"

So next time you're brushing your teeth, go floss real quick and give it a sniff. That's a part of what your breath smells like!!!!

I was reminded of this today at lunch, I had corn on the cob. It was all stuck up in my teeth, so I did some quick flossing at lunch just at my desk. A few minutes later, I got a sniff of my flossing finger and there it was. ASS!!!!!

FLOSS!!!!!!!

My Eyeball Update

For anyone that needs to read the prequel, go here

The cliff notes version - January 2007 I had a week of radiation on my eye to fight off a small tumor in the iris of my right eye. (And as my reward I brought Mitsa into my life, my 57" beauty of a TV)

Anyways, Tuesday I had my regular 6 month check-up, with parents in tow for support, as always. I was kinda nervous because after getting poked in the eye on the Sunday before by my favorite six-month old my eye had been kinda blurry since.

I'll go ahead and give the full play by play of these miserable appointments I have to go through every six months...

We got there at about 9:15. Emory has one of the worst parking garages I've ever tried to park in. The spots are way too small and everyone ignores the "compact cars only" signs. This makes for quite the lengthy drive up to the top level where I almost always wind up parking. I think it took over 15 minutes just to park.

So we get into the office, sign in, and they actually called me back pretty quickly. A good sign, usually they're about 30 minutes to an hour or three behind.

They give me this device to cover my good eye and to read the eye chart on the wall. Wow. I'm blind, I could barely make out the biggest row of letters, usually I can see those just fine, something is definitely wrong. Then the pull out this thing that also covers my bad eye, but it's got tiny little holes to see out of. I could actually see pretty decently. Apparently with that thing, I had 20-25?I think? vision. Until recently, I'd kept my 20-20. Not cool.

The technician then puts numbing drops in my eyes and I lean my head into this contraption so that she can look at my eye and check the pressure. She says everything looks fine, pressure is good, she doesn't even see a scratch from where Riley got me. So, ummmm, why am I going blind? Who knows!

From there, I go back to another waiting room before they take actual PHOTO's of my eye. They got me in there pretty quickly. This is a contraption where I put my head into this thing and the photographer holds my eyelids wide open and takes a picture (complete with a bright flash) of my eye from just about an inch away. Fun! This process is repeated probably about 25 times. The last 5-7 pictures includes the putting some kind of lens on my actual eye, with some weird gooey stuff between my eye and the lens. At least with this thing on its easier to keep my eye open since I CAN'T close it! Not fun at all. Luckily my eye gets to shower in saline when this part is done. They do all this so that my doc can compare each picture from 6 months ago, and 6 months before then and so on - to make sure the radiated tumor is lifeless. It'll likely never go away, but hopefully it's all just dead tissue now.

Head back into the waiting room, next up is an ultrasound. But first, why not just wait here for...I don't know, an HOUR. This is the worst part of these appointments, the waiting. And of course, to us, it looks like the doctors are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. So anyways, I finally go in for the ultrasound. I can't say I'm too familiar with the OTHER kind of ultrasound that most people are probably familiar with. Actually, maybe I am, I had one for my liver once, it was weird. But imagine having one on your eyeball! It's actually not too bad, the pour a bunch of (what I think is) saline in your eye followed by this glass contraption thing. From there, my job should be simple, just stare at the ceiling where they've got this picture of a small dog you're supposed to stare at. The only problem...it wasn't in the right place. Every time I looked at this dog, she told me to look slightly to the right. It's hard to stare at something for a reasonably long period of time without there being anything to actually stare at. Move the dog! Oh well, I survived. The ultrasound somehow completely measures the tumor, not only length and width, but how deep it is. I'll probably never understand how that works, but I guess I'm glad it does.

Finally up next is the meeting with my actual doctor after he takes a look at everything. But first...another hour-long wait in the waiting room. I think it was almost 12:00 before we got called in there. I should mention that I forgot to grab a granola bar for breakfast, so I've had nothing to eat or drink yet. So combining that with the anxiousness of not knowing what the hell was wrong with my eye got to be a little much for me.

I finally get called in, where a doctor I'd never seen before takes a look. She does her thing, sticking the magnifying contraption in my face and looks into my eye and then says, ok, everything looks good, your doctor will be in shortly. Great!

So after a little more waiting, finally my doctor comes in, it's probably about 1:00 by now, we'd been there for about FOUR HOURS. He does his thing, looks at my eye, and also says everything looks good. WTF? So I finally ask him...if everything looks fine why is my eye blurry? He says, well, lets dilate the eye and I'll take a look then. Great! Another 30-40 minutes for my eye to dilate! Yay! Finally after waiting out the next 30-40 minutes in there, he comes back, takes a look..."you've got a cataract".

Great, so now I've got something that usually only 80 year olds deal with. Awesome! But they warned me about it. Cataracts have several causes, obviously old age, but in my case...the week of radiation is what did it. The bad part is, he told me I have to wait til the cataract "ripens" before they typically take care of it. So, basically, what that means to me, is that my vision is gonna have to get worse before they'll do the surgery. The surgery itself is actually the most common surgery in the US. It's outpatient (what isn't these days?) and I'll just have to take it easy for a few days (obviously I will have to eventually plan this surgery during the kickball offseason!). After some research it seems like "waiting" isn't always necessary, so I'm hopefully I can get this overwith sooner, rather than later. Supposedly not only would things get blurrier for my right eye, but it could get sensitive to light. Which would make driving at night a problem. Right now its just slightly blurry, so it's not too bad, just annoying. Let's hope I can get this taken of before all that fun starts!

I go see another one of my doctors on June 1, this is the guy who probably will actually do the surgery. I'll be dragging my roommate (sorry Lauren!) with me to take notes. So, until then...wish me luck!!!!

Team Canada: WFC Update

After an 0-8 campaign to finish the 2008 kickball year, the revamped Team Canada - we're no longer Mounties, we're Flip Cuppers - is off to an amazing 4-1 start to the season.

Tonight's game by the numbers:
Team Canada - World Flip Cupper runs: 4
Non-functional CD Players: 1 (On songs NOT to have sex to night! Not cool!)
Songs able to be played in the first inning before it crapped out: 2
Runs allowed by Team Canada: 0!
Actual rounds of Flip Cup played this season: 0!
Terrible calls by the umpire: it would take too long to count.
Missing teeth by the umpire: see above.
Trying to come up with more of these so that I can say "priceless": Priceless!

Quote of the year - after the game, someone on the other team said, "There's a reason they're 4-1". :)

The one bad call I'm complaining about was on a pop up to the 2nd baseman, there were 2 outs, I was on first. He was just inside the base line, I was running towards second. He was well enough in front of me that I just went straight towards 2nd. At the last second he backs up right into my path and barely bumps me and drops the ball. I get called out for interference! WTF? Am I wrong? I can understand that if he's in my path I should go around him, but he's the one backed into my path at the last second! How am I supposed to account for that?

ATL Noise: Volume 7, Issue 2

There's really only one concert that I feel the need to announce. And they haven't even announced a venue.

Saturday August 1, 2009 - GREEN DAY - Atlanta, GA - TBA (Their new album, 21st Century Breakdown comes out May 15!)

Ok, fine...here's some more that I would might possibly consider attending.

Wed 05/06/09 - Death Cab For Cutie - Fox Theatre

Tue 05/05/09 - Shinedown, Halestorm - The Tabernacle (I wonder if I can still make it there after kickball??? It'd be close, but I really wanna see Shinedown!)

Tue 05/05/09 - Candlebox - Variety Playhouse

Fri 05/08/09 - Frank Caliendo, Bill Engvall - Fox Theatre

Sat 05/09/09 - Stephen Lynch - The Tabernacle (already got my tickets!)

Sun 05/10/09 - Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction - Aaron's (formerly Lakewood) Amphitheatre (ughhh, I can't believe we're gonna have to call it that!!!)

Sun 05/17/09 - Coldplay, Howling Bells, Pete Yorn - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Wed 05/20/09 - Gavin Rossdale - Center Stage

Sun 05/24/09 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - Variety Playhouse

Thu 05/28/09 - Old Men On The Corner Who Need to Go Away - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Tue 06/02/09 - Les Claypool, Matisyahu, Dub Trio - The Tabernacle

Fri 06/05/09 - No Doubt, Paramore, The Sounds - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Fri 06/12/09 - The Fray, Jack's Mannequin, Richard Swift - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Sat 06/13/09 - TV On The Radio, Grizzly Bear - The Tabernacle

Sun 06/14/09 - Better Than Ezra - Variety Playhouse

Wed 06/17/09 - Taking Back Sunday, Anberlin, Envy On The Coast - The Masquerade

Tue 06/23/09 - Eddie Vedder, Liam Finn - Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Fri 06/26/09 - Bill Maher - Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Thu 07/30/09 - Snoop Dogg, Stephen Marley, Slightly Stoopid - Masquerade Music Park

Sat 08/01/09 - Green Day - TBA

Sat 08/15/09 - Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Poison - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Sat 08/29/09 - Appetite For Destruction - Trib. To Guns N' Roses - Peachtree Tavern

Sat 08/29/09 - "Crue Fest", Mötley Crüe, Godsmack, Theory Of A Deadman, Drowning Pool, Charm City Devils - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Tue 10/06/09 - U2, Muse - Georgia Dome (Too bad I can't go in, see Muse and then sell the ticket!)

My First 5k

Around New Years I decided it would be a good goal to run a 5k. What better one to run in the one sponsored by Sweetwater??? So, the Sweetwater 420 Fest 5k was my goal. I guess when you're running a race like this, it's important to take it easy the night before and have a good night sleep. Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Friday night was my friend, Erica's 30th surprise birthday party. I played my part by offering her non-existent free Braves tickets for Friday night. Shockingly she turned me down. Good thing, because the Braves were playing in Pittsburgh, but I knew I'd get away with it. That made things fun for me! The party was fun, I managed to survive a Rochelle & Stevens' house party with only 1 beer! Who knew! So I did take it easy in that respect. But, not so much in the good night sleep part. I was there until about 2am. Oops! Oh well, for me, 6 hours is probably considered a good night sleep anyways!

So then Saturday I officially ran my first 5k...and I survived. Although, I should use the term "ran" loosely. I ran some. Walked, well, a lot. No one will be accusing me of being in great shape anytime soon, but I finished in 46:18. There were TONS of running uphill. Lauren called it, and I quote, "the hardest 5k ever, pretty much all uphill." So if Lauren says it, I' believe it. I knew better than to try and run the uphill portions. So I walked those and tried to run the flat stuff. And I did, for the most part.

The race started at 11am, which was nice, because these things have a habit of starting way too early in the morning. But there were soo many people, parking was ridiculous. I got to the area at about 10:30 and didn't actually park until about 10:55. Then I had to walk a friggin MILE just to get to the starting line. Seriously! There's no need for a mile-long warm up! Not cool. I met up with Tara, who was running the race with a stroller, pushing Riley the whole time. I had no idea that Tara was gonna run the whole thing like that! Jeez!!!! I kept up with her the first couple of minutes, she was literally weaving in and out of runner traffic with a stroller. It was fun to watch, but I needed a walking break. I mixed it up with running and walking. I can't seem to find a map of the race online anywhere, but when the race finally got to the intersection of Moreland/Freedom Parkway, there were a couple of girls out there cheering everyone on. "Good job! Only 1 more mile! Good job!" (rinse, repeat). So I looked at my watch, and was like, wow! I can finish this thing in about 30 minutes! This isn't so bad at all! After another 15 minutes or so, I got skeptical. Another guy was cheering people on (I assume someone's paying these people or at least giving them free beer) and he said "Good job! Only six-tenth's of a mile to go!" I was PISSED! I know I didn't take 15 minutes to run 0.40 miles. Oh well, just gotta keep on going. I did. We got to where North Ave hits Candler Park (right where I parked) and I knew we were so close. One more block and I would probably be able to see the finish line!!! I can still do this in under 40 minutes. So I kept going when I noticed something strange. A right turn!!!! Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Those teasing bastards had us heading right for the finish line, and then BAM. Not so fast my friend! Less motivated, and more frustrated, I pretty much walked the rest of the way. According to my watch, I finished in 46:18.

Here's me just before the finish line fake-running for the camera. My goal was to beat that dude with the stroller. Mission accomplished!

Crossing the finish line!!!! (Why do the 2 clocks have different times? ) For the record, remember, I started late!

Collecting the ever important free beer ticket!

From left to right (not including babies or Jill) Lauren's dad, Holly, Seth, me, Sarah, Jason, Tara, Lauren, another Jason, Josh.

Babies: Sage, Riley, Violet.

Lucky for you thats not quite the end of the story! After all of this, and after my one beer, I had to head home to get ready for kickball. Surprisingly enough, i had plenty of energy for it. My legs were tired but the rest of me was ready to go. So I made it to kickball, where my team, "Boobs on First, Balls on Second" pulled out an 11-8 victory in our last at bat and can finally say we won a game. Even after all that I felt good. We all went to Atkins Park for our post-game tradition, and I finally got some food in me, along with a beer. For those keeping score, that's 2 beers on the day (yes, it's important). After eating, another kickball tradition follows...flip-cup! Here's where the day goes downhill. In a hurry! After about 5-6 rounds (you drink basically a shot - an ounce or two - of beer each round) I felt my stomach saying I'm full. I really felt like I just needed to let out a good burp. I probably should've stopped playing until the burp came, but I didn't want to let my flip-cup team down! So...one more round. Ughhhh. After that, I went and sat down, I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to burp. When finally, I did. Only, I did a little more than burp. Luckily I was able to grab a plastic cup real quick and there went lunch. Somehow I pulled it off without anyone noticing (I think?). From there, it was off to the bathroom for "burp" #2. I finally had enough. Luckily home is about a mile away. I got to my couch, laid down for about an hour and felt better. Took a shower. Went back to the couch and pretty much stayed there til Sunday night. All in all (other than a sunburn) it was a good day.

5k + kickball + X + flipcup = -X

where X = lunch!

Catching Up With...Myself

Today we finally had the chance to sit down with JZ himself and see what he's been up to.

The J-Blog: So...haven't heard from you in a while, what have you been up to?

JZ: Well, I've been working on my new album, "The Blueprint³" which should be coming out sometime in September.

TJB: Album? Wait...I think we've got the wrong guy. You're Jay-Z. No one cares about you around here.

Jay-Z: Peace.

TJB: J!!!! What's up???

J: That guy is always trying to steal my identity.

TJB: What have you been up to? Haven't heard from you in a while, your blog has been pretty empty.

J: I know, I know...I've got no excuse.

TJB: I hear you've been doing a bit of traveling so far this year?

J: Yeah, I guess I have. I started out 2009 by going to Jacksonville for a few days for a wedding, went on a ski trip to Winter Park, CO in February, a surprise trip to DC for my sisters 30th in March and a trip to New Jersey this past weekend.

TJB: And you didn't feel like blogging about any of that?

J: Back off!

TJB: Alright! Fine, douchebag!

J: You're a douchebag.

TJB: We know. So any accomplishments so far in 2009?

J: Well, obviously what might be my biggest accomplishment so far in my life is last Tuesday in kickball I hit (kicked?) 2 home runs in consecutive at bats.

TJB: Wow! Has that ever been done before?

J: I doubt it.

TJB: Tell us about it.

J: Well, actually the first one was somewhat unexpected. I had an 0-3 count (you get 4 strikes in kickball) and I knew I had to keep the next one in fair territory. So far this season I was 5-5 by keeping the ball on the ground, but I noticed the right and right center fielders were disrespecting me by playing pretty shallow. So I kicked it over their heads and ran my ass off before my traditional belly flop as I crossed home plate! I was DONE! I'm not built to run like that...or at all.

TJB: Traditional?

J: Fuck you!

TJB: So tell me about the 2nd home run.

J: It was pretty similar, the outfielders were pretty shallow. We had a pretty comfortable lead, so I just gave it all I had. I kinda thought this one was gonna be caught but once I got to first and it wound up past the outfielders I just thought, oh shit, not again! But I took off and did another traditional belly flop.

TJB: Is it safe to assume those were your first two career homers?

J: Fuck off.

TJB: Traditional...LOL. So, seriously, a couple of fly balls in kickball has been your biggest accomplishment so far?

J: Well, it's not official yet, but I run in my first ever 5k on Saturday!

TJB: Run? really?

J: Ok, so I'll probably be walking half of it, but its a start.

TJB: What made you decide to do this? Your a lazy fat ass!

J: I know, but, I decided it may be time to work on that. In January at work there was a 12 week weight loss competition, and I decided to give it a shot with running this 5k as a goal, after all it's the Sweetwater 420 Fest 5k!"

TJB: Have you been training for that?

J: Well, I've ran an almost 5k on my own twice.

TJB: Twice? I guess you didn't win this challenge.

J: Ha! No. I did finish 5th though.

TJB: So only 5 people signed up?

J: Fuck You.

TJB: Chill out, that was too easy, I had to.

J: Yeah I know.

TJB: So you finished 5th, I guess running twice wasn't your big secret?

J: Yeah I can't claim that I guess. To be honest, I've been eating a little better and I bought a Wii Fit is what did it for me.

TJB: Seriously, you're gonna claim a video game helped you lose weight?

J: No shit man. There's stuff you can do on there that will make you sweat. Specifically the rhythm boxing.

TJB: So how was skiing?

J: It was pretty exhausting. The altitude really got the best of me. I spent most of my time with Ryan and Nikki at a bar by the ski slopes.

TJB: Nikki?

J: She was our server every time! She was awesome!

TJB: Do anything else while you were out there?

J: I did get to cross the Pepsi Center off my list of stadiums I've been to. Me, Matt and Ryan went to a Montreal Canadiens vs. Colorado Avalanche game.

TJB: What did you think?

J: I've gotta say...I wasn't impressed. Philips Arena is soooo much better. Besides the hockey (the Thrashers wound up finishing with a better record than the Avs), the environment, the PA announcer, the entertainment during stoppages was all...boring. The folks at Philips put on a much better show. I had no idea, but I've been spoiled by going to Thrashers games!

TJB: I'm bored, what else?

J: After that trip was a surprise visit to DC for my sisters' 30th birthday.

TJB: So you actually made it up there without her knowing?

J: I did. She was suspicious that my parents were gonna be there, they showed up Friday night, I flew up Saturday morning while she was on an all day wine tasting tour. When she got home, I hid downstairs, then my dad called her to come down and I snuck out and back in upstairs. Then I just hung out on her couch until she came back up. Got her!

TJB: Not bad.

J: Yeah, she's off to a pretty good start in her 30's. A couple weeks later she managed to win my March Madness Pool. Out of 95 entries, she was the first to turn one in and nailed it. I actually had to give her $600!!!!! I held out as long as I could but I needed her help to finish up my taxes :)

TJB: Aren't you an accountant? You can't do your own taxes?

J: I'll leave. I'll leave right now.

TJB: You won't. So what else? How's passover treatin ya?

J: Passover isn't my favorite holiday, but good things definitely come of it. For the most part it turns into a big family reunion every year. And the bigger tradition is going to White Castle. I flew in before Passover began and met up with my Uncle David and Cousin Josh at Newark and we made our way to the family beach(less) house in Manahawkin, NJ. We picked out a White Castle and headed right for it. I don't know what it is, but those things are so much better than Krystals burgers. Between the 3 of us, we easily finished 20 burgers. We knew that some others we would be meeting would want some, so we got back on the road with a plan to stop at another one as we got closer. And we did. Another order of 20, unfortunately we overestimated this time and most went to waste, but it made the car ride smell good!!!! We even made another trip back after passover started, but because I can't have bread, I made due without. Without the bread that is. Wrapped the burgers with a few fries in the middle. Delish!!!!!

TJB: I think there's something seriously wrong with you

J: yeah, yeah, I think its because there's not a White Castle anywhere near Atlanta, just makes em taste better. So other than White Castle trips, I got to spend a lot of time with the family which is always fun. There's always drama, but I'll save that for when TMZ comes callin me. Amongst other things, I've become a dominant Wii Bowler now. Thanks Scott!

TJB: So we're just about caught up, right? Any other highlights so far?

J: Well, I actually read a book.

TJB: No. Seriously. I mean something YOU did.

J: Seriously.

TJB: There's no need to make shit up, we both know no one's reading this.

J: It's true. Not exactly my proudest accomplishment, but I read Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands. She's a comedian, and a jew. Turns out she was quite the whore. But she was really funny in telling about her adventures. So I read the book over my 2 plane rides in the past week. And now I'm planning on getting my hands on her other book, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (which was actually #1 on the NY Times best seller list for a while). So I'll give it a shot. No promises. I'm not gonna become an avid reader. My TV's too big and beautiful for that :)

TJB: Reading a book is definitely an accomplishment for you.

J: Considering I'm still on the July 2008 Maxim...hell yeah!

TJB: Alright I don't like where this is going, we need to rap it up. Any important last words?

J: I have not and never have liked fish sticks (or Kanye West)

Facebook - Old Testament Style

I know it's been way too long since I blogged about anything. I don't really have a good excuse. But I had to share this link I've been laughing about since I first saw it yesterday. My cousin Rob stumbled across it, so he gets full credit for finding this gem.

http://9a4440c5.fb.joyent.us/haggadah/ultraModern2.php

Enjoy!!!! (It's much funnier if you're a facebook user)

Oh No Canada!

It is a well known fact that I'm a fan of Canada. I like to convince people that I'm from there...it's fun. I like hockey, that's enough to convince em. But my favorite part of Canada is their National Anthem. It's really a GREAT song. And there's no place better to witness it than a hockey game. Just...not necessarily in Atlanta. Whenever a Canadian team comes to Atlanta, they play O' Canada. I really don't understand why they don't play it every game. I'm not sure what the league percentages are, but 42% of the players on the Thrashers (9 of 21) are from Canada. (For fun - 5 are from the US, 2 each from Sweden, Finland, Russia and one 6'7" dude from Czech). Actually, I just found a study from the 2005-6 season, 53.6% are Canadian, 18.5% from the US. So to me, they should play the US & Canadian anthems every game. And mix in the Finland, Sweden, Russian, Czech anthems on a rotating basis.

None of that was the reason for this blog though. Yesterday, I was at the Calgary Flames-Atlanta Thrashers game. Got to my seat just before the anthems started. First up...the Canadian Anthem. I took my hat off (ok, so I wasn't actually wearing a hat) and started singing. Not sure who the girl was who was out there singing but it was bad. Actually her singing was pretty good...one slight problem...she DIDN'T KNOW THE WORDS!!!!! Several times she managed to keep up with the song while looking at a piece of paper with the words. But one time she paused for probably about 10 seconds. I am NOT ok with that. It's almost as bad as Thrasher fans yelling "KNIGHT" during the US anthem (only because Atlanta used to have a MINOR LEAGUE team called the Knights. USED TO!). In Canada, it's so much easier. The anthem singer can just sing the first verse and then hold the mic up and the crowd sings it. It really is pretty awesome to listen to! I just don't understand why someone would accept the honor of singing the two anthems if you don't even know the WORDS!!!!!