The Final Countdown!

Hey yaars,

Yesterday we celebrated what was my brother Zan's 18th birthday. The lil' fella is becoming more and more of a man before my eyes and I'm a little afraid he's now going to begin eclipsing me in many accomplishments I'm STILL too timid to try! There are more pics from the gathering we had which will be up soon enough!

I've been super busy pounding away at the Jays box office the last week. I had no idea how many hours I had worked until I handed in today's timesheet to discover that in two weeks I logged 94 hours (and that's AFTER breaks!). So as I delve into the abyss that is unemployment, I figure I ought to collect as much as I can beforehand!

I love and hate this time of year. It's amazing, as it's at this point that I'm nearing my wit's end with regards to patience with ignorant customers (you can only hear 'I need tickets for the Yankees' so many times!), so it helps to have some time off. It's saddening though that it means no more coming into work, seeing those familiar, friendly faces that make you feel all warm inside. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but for whatever reason something about the smell of artificial grass, stadium hot dogs, and crack fries gets me going! Hopefully for the first time many of us will get to meet. I'm depending on it in attempts to avoid reading depressing poetry come November!

I've taken quite a few photos since I came back from the Windy City with my Nikon, and am hoping to share a few soon. In the meantime, here's a look at Courtney having some of her favourite crack fries (soaked with ketchup of course).



Talk to y'all soon!

It Is What It Is

I HATE COUPONS!

Hey yaars,

Today was the beginning of the end at work. With 8 home games left (7 with NYY and BOS), I figured Tampa Bay this weekend would be decent. I was dead wrong.

All day long all we received were coupon after coupon. Which would be fine, were it not for the whinging idiots who feel they're entitled to receive a medal for being "subscribers". There's only so much one can do! Today I ended up receiving a total of 13 different types of coupons in numbers varying from 4 to 74 coupons for each type. Ridiculous stuff.

I'm probably going over the top just a bit, I'm just a bit fatigued. I think one can only pump out so many tickets before they begin to want to strangle someone. I'm scared I may have reached that point. God help any Yankee/Bosox fans who come my way ! :P

I'll stop typing now before I say something I will regret! Talk to you l8er yaars!

Love Truth, and Pardon Error

Hey yaars,

Today was a sleep in day. I must admit I did very little until about 5, where I managed to take the moms and bro out to get some meat (halal that is). I've just been lazing about catching up on TV shows, at which point I figured I'd give put pen to paper (or in this case finger to keys) on a few things on my mind. I've already started with the Voltaire, so hopefully I don't bungle this up any worse!

- Is it better to be well-liked and mediocre, or hated and excellent?

- Why is it that people can't seem to understand that pushing an elevator button more than once will not expedite the process any further. I truly think that the lights on elevator buttons are a placebo, a means for people to feel they have control. Let's face it, the elevator will arrive eventually, just don't sweat it!

- Yesterday I was watching CNN and for about an hour or so viewed a program on the "Hunt for Bin Laden". Realistically, don't you think that ship has sailed? In an attempt to find that 'pound of flesh', thousands of lives are being lost. The so-called war on terror reminds me of a quote the late leader of my religious sect wrote in one of his books...

"Swords can win over territories but not hearts. Force can bend heads but not minds."

- Is there truly ever an ugly baby? Any lack of aesthetic features surely can be dwarved by the beauty of their innocence. And yes, this applies EVEN after seeing the horrible photoshopped images I've seen at work courtesy of my fellow employees!

- My face : Better clean-shaven, goateed, moustached, or bearded?

Alright, well I'll leave all my idiocies aside and give everyone a lasting laugh by posting a few photos I took of myself days after getting my digital camera. Here's my "I'm curiously hoping this works but am scared" look...


... and for you who forgot, here's my gangsta' / tough guy picture. I re-iterate, I'm the softest, cuddliest, non-thug like boy you'll ever meet!



Talk to y'all later.

The bane of my evenings...

Hey yaars,

After coming to the conclusion that Zan has eclipsed my football video games, I thought I'd have a crack at him at MLB 06 - The Show. I think I'm beginning to regret my decision.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty damn good, I just can't find a way to beat the cocky dork. Like yesterday, when I blew a 8-3 lead in the 8th inning, or today when I lost in the 10th inning to him. He just can't lose! And lack of video game prowess is obviously a sign of old age. Quite frankly, I'm scared!

In REAL sports, I figure that athletes practice to try and get momentum back in their direction. Hence, I'm thinking of pulling a "Rocky" moment or two and going straight to the TV room. I need to show the lil' bugger I can beat him at most games. (FYI, I still can rock him at racing or soccer games!).

If at any point anyone out there is thinking I'm beginning to lose it, I just may be. Getting beaten by your younger brother usually does that to anyone! So if anyone has any sort of cheat codes for this baseball game, bring 'em on!

MOTTO of the day - Cheat to Win

Woohoo!

I just finished watching the Colts/Giants game and had a great time. I was reluctant in playing my first pro picks ticket of the year. Having already dropped $60 in a picks pool which got off to a horrible start today, I figured it couldn't get worse. My picks were as follows :

Peyton Manning to throw 24+ Receptions
Eli Manning to throw 20- Receptions
Tiki Barber to rush for 85+ yards
4 or more field goals in the game
Less than 5 sacks in the game

The sacks and Tiki were pretty much sealed right off of the bat. But it took until a minute in the 4th quarter to get the damn 4th field goal. Which was great, except the Giants were getting the ball and Eli needed 2 passes to kill my ticket. And as you've probably read in the title of the post, he obviously didn't.

I didn't realize I won until a few minutes later, waiting for Yahoo! Sports gamecast to confirm that Eli hadn't completed 21 passes. Which led to my obligatory HUZZAH!

So now I've won my first sports betting ticket of the year. The cool $30 in my pocket will just have to be spent immediately. Any suggestions?

Sunday @ Work

Hey yaars,

As the titles suggests, I'm spending my sunday morning working at the Rogers Centre (aka Cable Box). Thank goodness for NFL football as it's keeping me entertained. God knows if it weren't here I may have snapped and done something bananas! I have a great monday to look forward to though with J-Roc and Bungert to chillax with.

Stupid video streaming hasn't been working great so far. Though I finally maanged to get access to Seattle vs Detroit. Surprisingly Motor City is doing well. Here's to hoping the Seahawks play like they should (I could use the points spread pool winnings!).

Talk to y'all in a bit, when I have some more amusing stories to tell.

Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to send out my apologies to Courtney. Yes, I pussied out of going to the V-fest - the lure of money at the Jays was just too much. Hopefully my olive branch of a drink or two will help :P

Are you readay for some football ?!?

Hey yaars,

So today was the kickoff of the 2006-2007 NFL regular season. And finally, I have a team to support throughout - the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Before I continue, I'll once again let it be known that I didn't jump on the bandwagon post Super Bowl but enjoyed their games around the week 12 point, after they had lost to the Colts badly. Despite losing they showed a guile and determination that I enjoyed. Along with that, I took the following into account :

a) The Uniforms - So simple yet so perfect, the black and gold shirts are one of the icons of the NFL and just so damn cool. And they had the black jerseys BEFORE every other team in professional sports decided to add black jerseys to their repetoire

b) The Defence - I'm always a fan of aspects of the game most don't enjoy as much. Pitching in baseball, passing in basketball, and bowling in cricket to name a few. The Steelers have always been synonymous with having a great team defence and a grind-it-out mentality. Very blue-collar, much like my upbringing.

c) The Terrible Towel - If you've ever watched a big sporting event and seen thousands of fans waving towels, you should know it began in and remains best in the Steel City. And unlike other gimmicks, this one actually raises money for a good cause.

d) The fan base - How can you go wrong supporting a team Snoop Dogg roots for? Upon joining Steeler nation I was suprised to discover that I was joining a set that included the likes of G-Unit, Pete from the security desk, and our department's director. Let's just say it wasn't a horrible idea to wear my Roethlisberger jersey to work today :P

There are more, but at this point either you're laughing at me, or half asleep. They managed to whup the Miami Dolphins tonight, which is really good considering my brother Zan has loved them since the Marino days (his first ever jersey was a Marino one). He kept saying something about Culpepper still thinking about his damn boat cruises ;)

"You Can Call Me Your Fool..."

Hey yaars,

Thought I'd post while I have the mini-motivation to do so. Worked an unusual shift from 2 - 9:30 today in order to help be will-call for the Hootie and the Blowfish show for season subscribers. Going in I knew one of their songs (only because Dan Marino was in the video), and afterwards I still only know one song. Right when me and Jamie were done we managed to finally sit down to hear the last song, and the encore. I'm hoping the official scoring will NOT count this as my first concert, you guys can be the judge of that!

Quick note to clear up some possible confusion - no the blog is NOT going to be cut off anytime soon. In a previous post I mentioned something about retiring, but it was more in the sleeping sense. Yes, the olde English vocabulary spews threw me at times, and I was only referring to my pre-sleeping as oppose to calling it quits. Fear not, I have loads of useless, funny, and stupid information to report for my fans (and haters :P ).

Speaking of retiring, I have to wake up in a few so I'm going to hit the hay. Just so I remember for my next post, here are a few things I might write about...

- which NFC team I should support (or non-Steeler AFC team since I evidently jumped on their bandwagon)

- who to root for in the MLB playoffs

- what's the difference between a dwarf and midget (can't we just call them all little fellas?)

- Can Thugs really cry?

- my mother "whingeing" about something or another

- my brother being my brother....

Alright folks, the Sandman is calling! TTYL!