People do Strange Things in Cars

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I do about three hours of driving a day. I have picked up a habit of noticing what people are doing while they are driving. I have seen many strange things. The most common thing I have seen is talking on cell phones. No matter what road I'm on, I see somebody talking on a cell phone and driving. Texting is very common too. Next is smoking. I always see people smoking while driving, either cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana. I've seen people smoking pot while driving several times. I also notice people rocking out while in the car. Most of the time they are by themselves, but I have seen a group rock out session before. It is pretty funny, because they think that they're alone and are really getting into their music (guilty). I have driven behind my girlfriend before, and she does this all the time. She will even dance while driving. I have Sirius Satellite Radio in my car, and I often listen to the comedy station. I know people have driven by me and seen me laughing hysterically. Hopefully, they noticed the antenna on the top of my car, and realized that I'm not insane. I always see people eating too. I don't get the fascination with eating and driving. I've tried it before, and it is very hard to do.

Now for the really strange stuff. Constantly I see people picking their nose while driving. I think it is because they think that they are alone that it is OK. However, they fail to realize that people can see through their windshields. All the time I see people knuckle deep, picking a winner. The other day, I was coming home from work, and there was a cute girl driving in front of me. I saw her face through her rear view mirror. She then casually picked her nose and then ate it. I started laughing hysterically. The weirdest thing I ever noticed was when I was driving with my mom a few years ago. We were behind this car, and we noticed a small shoe fly out of the back window. A couple miles later, we saw another shoe fly out the window. Eventually we got next to a car at a red light. We noticed a small child in the back seat that seemed to be very happy after throwing his shoes out the window. Then we noticed why the mother did not realize what the child had done. The mother was sewing while she was driving.

Un-Plowed Roads

Today, I had to risk my life driving to work on unplowed roads, while my girlfriend sat at home because of a snow day. If the roads are too dangerous for kids to go to school, then work should be canceled also. I live in Oneida, and work near Utica. Normally it takes me about 25 minutes to get to work, depending on traffic. This morning it took me almost 50 minutes to get to work. The roads were not plowed until I got to Kirkland, which is about 5 minutes away from wear I work. The drive is normally all 55 mph. This morning I did not go over 35mph, and I was fish-tailing everywhere.

How is it that everytime we get the first snow of the season, the roads are never plowed? This year the snow came late, and all of the plow people were just sitting around waiting for it to snow. WHY THE HELL WERE THE ROADS NOT PLOWED!!!! I was 30 minutes late for work this morning, but my boss understood because the weather was really bad. Twice a week I have to be into work at 5am, the roads are never plowed that early. The other 3 days a week I have to be in at 7, the roads should be plowed by 6:30 when I'm on the road. 7am seems like a normal time for people to go to work, there is always a lot of traffic on the roads. I would think that towns would want to have a clear, safe path for people to travel in the morning.

Yankees Picked up Granderson

Last night The New York Yankees agreed in principle to a three team deal that would land all-star center fielder, Curtis Granderson in NY. This is a great move for the Yankees. Granderson hit 30 homeruns last year with Detroit. Next year should be an even better offensive season for Granderson because of the short porch in right field. The young left hander will make a great addition to an already potent lineup.

The Yankees gave up pitchers Phil Coke and Ian Kennedy. They also gave up one of their top prospects, Austin Jackson. This was the one part of the trade that I didn't like. Jackson is supposed to be the next big thing in the Yankees minor league system. Trading away prospects seems to be one of Brian Cashman's (Yankees GM)favorite hobbies. Trading away prospects got the Yankees into trouble a few years ago. It seemed like Cashman traded away all of the Yankees top prospects for aging talent in the early part of this decade. Doing this let the team get old, and Joe Torre was to blame for the lack of production, when the blame should have landed on Cashman's head. However, this time he traded away a prospect for a young, proven all-star.

Where does this leave Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui? I believe that the Yankees will resign Damon and put him in the DH spot. I think that Matsui will end up signing with Seattle to play out the rest of his career with Ichiro. The Yankees also resigned Andy Pettite to a 1 year deal. Even though Pettite is aging, he is still a big game performer, as he proved this post season. All in all, the Yankees look to be among the top teams in the American League again this season. The Hot Stove League, as the winter meetings are called, is one of the most exciting times of the year. This is when all of the teams meet and make deals. The Winter Meetings have just begun and there are plenty more deals to be made.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands, but by all practical reasons they should not still be around. They have made many decisions that would have been catastrophic for other bands.

First, look at their debut album. Ten was one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Normally when a band's debut record is a smash hit, they struggle to do it again. I could be wrong, but I believe all ten songs were released as singles. Either way, it is still one of the best rock albums ever, and if you haven't listened to it do yourself a favor and pick it up. The repeated success is uncommon, but Pearl Jam successfully produced albums for almost 20 years now.

Next, look at music videos. During the 1990's music videos were still a very popular medium for music. Every band that released a single created a music video, that is just how the industry was working at the time. During the entire decade, Pearl Jam released only two music videos, and there were years apart. Their first video, "Jeremy" (off the Ten album) was a huge success. It is also regarded as one of the better music videos ever made. The band then went years before producing another music video. I'm not sure if it was because they thought they could not repeat the success of the first video or if it was just Eddie Vedder taking a stand against the music industry. Their second video was "Do the Evolution," off of the Yield album released in the late 1990s. This video was entirely animated and was not as big of a success as "Jeremy." Pearl Jam was still one of the largest selling rock bands in the 1990's even through the lack of music videos.

Next, look at the Ticket Master feud. Pearl Jam began to boycott Ticket Master, because they believed that they had a monopoly on the ticket industry. Pearl Jam then sold tickets to their concerts through local ticketing outlets and box offices. The band decided not to be associated with the biggest ticketing firm in the country and still survived. The band sacrificed the availability of their tickets for their beliefs.

Any band could most likely survive one of these incidents alone, but there is no practical reason for Pearl Jam to still be around, having survived all three. They recently released their newest album and it debuted at the top of the charts. There is either something very special about Pearl Jam, or they made a deal with the devil, I'm not sure which.

Random Thoughts

My brain is always thinking. I'm always wondering about different things and scenarios. I do about 3 hours of driving a day, so I have a lot of free time to think. These are just some of the things that I think are worth a second thought. Some of these thoughts are my own and some are borrowed, but all of them are worth thinking about.

A Test for Telepathy
If you want to know if somebody has telepathic abilities, look at them and in your mind, call them an asshole. If they give you a dirty look...RUN!

Morbid Obesity
Morbid obesity has got to be the worst disease imaginable. It is strange to think that somebody could be so fat it could kill them. There is hope however, a morbidly obese person has 2 options. First, work really hard, diet, exercise, and strive to be obese. Or, they can stay at home and go for the record.

The Battino/Mitchell Theory
There has been a recent trend of girls wearing ugly boots. A couple years ago, my friend Leo and I came up with a theory about good looking girls and their boots. There is an inverse relationship between hot girls and ugly boots. The hotter the girl, the uglier her boots. Hot girls have a habit of wearing the ugliest boots imaginable, but other girls admire them, and want the boots. They don't really want the ugly boots, they want to be good looking. The exception that proves the rule is when an ugly girl wears ugly boots. This is because they have a false perception of their own beauty and/or they aspire to be good looking.

Feminine Products
Often, my girlfriend will ask me to buy her feminine products. My ego will not allow me to do so. I have a huge problem with buying tampons and such, but I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure the cashier will know that they are not for me, but still I refuse.

Politics
George W. Bush is the reason why people should not tell their kids that they can be anything they want to be.

Riding in Cars with Girls
Have you ever been on a road trip with three girls when their favorite song comes on the radio? It is absolute torture. I was on my way to Cortland with three girls, and they went nuts when The Backstreet Boys and Hanna Montana came on the radio. For the first time in my life, I wished I was deaf.

Tattoos
I do not like tattoos. But if I were to get one, I have a couple good ideas. First, a tattoo of an elephants head right above my genitals so that my penis would look like the trunk. Second, and this is a borrowed idea...If I were ever to lose a testicle, I would tattoo a squirrel running up one leg, and another running down my other leg with a nut in its mouth.

Music
Jim Morrison would have died of AIDS anyway.

Black Labs Part 2

Torre and Onyx are now 15 weeks old. They are getting really big. Onyx was the runt of the litter, but now he is much bigger than Torre. He is going to be a huge dog, he has a very big head and large paws, so he will probably be around 100 pounds when he is done growing. Torre is still much smarter than Onyx, for the most part. They are at that stage now, where everything is a chew toy for them. They have destroyed two pairs of my sneakers, my girlfriend's shoes, her roommates bra, and a couch. The couch was not so much a big deal because we got it for really cheap, and it is in the dogs' room anyway. They chew on everything from wood to bottle caps. Onyx also likes to eat rocks for some reason. A few days ago, Torre got into my girlfriend's hair dye, and dyed her arm red. Situations like this I can only laugh at. They are still very playful and friendly with everybody. They really like to play with my parents' dog Bailey. Every time we bring them over, the dogs play the entire time. Speaking of Bailey, our dogs can't be that stupid because Bailey ate a pencil yesterday. It seems like we have to buy them new toys all the time. We bought them squeaky balls to play with and within minutes they no longer squeaked. We bought three of them and were watching them play. It was really funny to watch them try to carry two balls at once. They couldn't do it but it was not due to lack of effort. Playing with them is one of my favorite things to do. No matter how bad a day I have had, when I get home and see their wagging tails, it seems like nothing else matters. For the most part they have been very good dogs. They come when their called, they sit (most of the time), and are almost house broken. It didn't take them long to figure out the doggy door at our house. At this point I would recommend black labs to anybody looking for a great pet.

Grandpa D

Five years ago, on November 5th, my life was changed forever. I awoke that Friday morning to hear that my grandfather, John Dimao, was killed in a car accident. That morning I woke up at 6:51 am, and could not get back to sleep. This was odd because I was out at a party the night before, and had no intention of waking up before 10. My father called my around 7:30 to tell me that my grandfather was gone. When I got home and talked to my grandmother, she said that my grandfather had been pronounced dead at 6:51, and that he woke me up to say goodbye. That always hit home for me, because at the time I was the only person away from home. I remember every event from that day, from the kindness the community showed my family, to the grief we all shared.

This became the darkest period in my life. I struggled with depression for a few years, and it is the reason why eventually left school. Now, I seem to have my life back on track as I am graduating in December. I'll never forget the day he died, my uncle Eric said "Just finish school and you will have done right by him." This has been the main reason why I came back to school to finish. The past few years I have felt inadequate in the eyes of my grandfather, and I am desperately trying to change that. I always felt bad about not playing football in college. My grandfather enjoyed watching all of his grandchildren play sports. I had the opportunity to play football at Hartwick College, but I decided to go to Cortland instead (his alma matter) and give up football. He always told me that he could make calls on my behalf, but I never took him up on it.

My grandfather was a pretty important person in his town. He was the long time athletic director for Canastota High School, and after retiring became an assistant athletic director at Colgate University. In the days after his death I heard stories from many people about he specifically touched their life or helped them out in one way or another. Both Canastota and Colgate honored my grandfather. Canastota named their basketball court after him, and Colgate held a private memorial service in which faculty and student-athletes attended. During that service, my grandmother turned to me and said, "I had no idea your grandfather was this important." I responded, "I did."

Some strange things have happened since his passing. The strangest was a few years ago. First let me start by saying the number 22 is my aunt Jackie's favorite number, and since his death the number has been popping up everywhere. In our family we take it as a sign that he is still watching over us. So, a few years ago, my sister had a basketball game in a big tournament. Before the game, the shot clock was stuck on 22. The thing about shot clocks is that at the end of the game they are unnecessary and are shut off. When they are shut off they are reset back to 30 or 35 seconds. This caught the eye of everybody in my family (we were all in attendance). As the game began my sister scored the first 10 points of the game and never missed a shot. After scoring the 10 points she then had 3 assists, as her team went out to an 16-4 lead. For whatever reason her coach decided to take her out at that point. Another strange thing that occurred was when my aunt and uncle were pregnant with twins. This is 2 years after my grandfather died. My uncle received and email from my grandfather's work email. He was not a tech-savvy man, I doubt he even knew how to email. Anyway, all the email said was "1." Days later my aunt and uncle found out that one of the twins had died and they were only going to have one baby.

Now, I can see my grandfathers attributes in every one of my family members. We are still a very close knit family, which is one of the things he always stressed. My mother, and her sister and two brothers are still the best of friends. Myself, my brother, my sister and all of my cousins are all close friends. At the funeral, my Uncle Eric said that he saw his father in all of us grand kids, and he was absolutely right because I see it too. He specifically mentioned all of us and what he saw. For me, he mentioned that I have my grandfather's intelligence, honesty, and sense of humor. I take great pride in that.

He has been gone for 5 years now, and is still a big part of my life. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him in one way or another. Every time I drive by his house I expect to see him on the front porch swing, with his big head of white hair smiling and waving. He was like a second father to me (not that my father is insufficient). I am glad that I got to say goodbye. About a week before he died, I was home on October break. I was about to head back to school, and I stopped at their house to say goodbye. He wasn't home from work yet, and my grandmother told me to wait for him. The last time I saw him, He hugged me and gave me a check for $100 (a very common thing). I will be forever grateful to my grandmother for making me wait an extra twenty minutes for him to get home because I got to say goodbye the last time I saw him. While he was alive, our entire family used to vacation in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, every summer. We would get a huge house on the beach and would do everything together as a family. My cousins and I used to play wiffle ball on the beach. The last year he was alive, some kids from Baltimore challenged us to a game, and we kicked the shit out of them, something like 18-2. I can't even explain how happy that made my grandfather. This past year was the first time we went since he died. We had an amazing time, but it was still different because he wasn't there.

As the years have passed, it has been easier to deal with, but the pain is not completely gone. I still miss him very much and wish I could talk to him today. I would tell him that I fell off track for a little while, but I'm fighting my way back to success, and I think that he would be proud of me, and that makes me very happy.