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.

November Golf Tournament

Yesterday I played in a golf tournament. We signed up weeks ago, but I was a little shaky on the weather. Yesterday was one of the nicest days I've had to play golf in a long time. It was 60 degrees and sunny, which is unheard of in central New York. The tournament was a captain and mate format which means that there are teams of two that both play the same ball. Both people swing, and you take the best shot. My team consisted of my self and my friend Richie. We make a good team because I have a really good short game, and he can hit well off the tee. I normally hit well off the tee but could not keep the ball straight to save my life yesterday. I made up for this with my short game though. We finished two under par with a 69, and tied for 5th overall. We did win our flight however, and got $75 to share. We did not know that there were two flights of teams because we showed up late, but it was a pleasant surprise when we finished. The tournament was called the Hot Chili Open because there was free chili for everybody at the end. The problem was that they did not make enough chili for everybody. We were one of the last teams to finish and the chili was gone because a lot of people went for second helpings before everybody was done. I received a free beer as compensation.

The tournament was fun. The night before we made a cocktail concoction for the tournament. We made a batch of Jack and Cider (sounds disgusting, but it is delicious). I normally make this by the gallon. I take 1/4 Jack Daniels, 3/4 Apple Cider, and add 1 sliced apple. This time I added some cinnamon as well. You let it sit overnight and it is a great fall cocktail. By the morning, you could barely taste the Jack, and you are left with a very sweet hard cider. By the end of the 18th hole our cocktail jug was empty. This leads me to believe that we could have scored a little better, but we had fun so it was OK. I sank two long puts for birdie, and Richie hit one as well. Rich was great off the tee all day, consistently putting the ball out 300 yards. I only had two good drives on the day, but made up with it with my irons and short game. I love to play golf and I'm very glad we had such a nice day yesterday. It is weird because the weather did not cooperate with us in other tournaments this year.

Sirius Satellite Radio

I have had a subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio for 4 years now and I'm never getting rid of it. I love all different kinds of music, and there is a channel for every type of music that you an think of. I enjoy my particular radio because I can store 30 bands and it alerts me whenever one of these bands is playing. It also lets me know what song is on and what channel it is on. Other than the music, I enjoy some of the radio shows. Particularly The Jason Ellis Show, Jackie's Joke Hunt, and Sonny in the Morning. I listen to the Ellis Show, every day at 3. The show goes from 3-7 so I try to catch what I can when I am in the car. Ellis is a former professional skateboarder, who talks about every subject imaginable. The show is normally very funny but sometimes he goes with a serious show. He was a former alcoholic and drug addict, and many people have called in looking for advice. I love the funny shows, but I like to hear these inspirational shows as well. Nothing on the show is scripted but they can all be very funny. He gets guests that include, Musicians, Actors, MMA Fighters, Skateboarders, and porn stars. Ellis calls himself the future of radio, and I would encourage everybody to check this show out, but be advised the language is pretty vulgar.

Jackie's Joke Hunt is only on Tuesday nights at 7. I only get to catch about a half hour of it on my ride into work. If you love to laugh this is a great show. Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling hosts this show with several other people. They go from person to person just telling jokes. They also have listeners call in and email jokes to the show. The language is vulgar on this show also.

Every morning I listen to the uncensored stand up comedy station, RawDog. Sonny Fox hosts a morning show that plays stand up comedy instead of music. I love starting my day off with a laugh or two, and this show always puts me in a good mood.

If you are a fan of music, I urge you to get Sirius, it is only $15 a month, and the entertainment is well worth the price. Along with these shows I mentioned I also listen to many different music channels which are commercial free and uncensored. Sirius also offers many sports and entertainment programs as well.

Raking Leaves

The fall has traditionally been my least favorite season. Even though my birthday is in late September, I still hate the fall. The weather gets colder, the days get shorter, and lawn care becomes a hassle. At my house, we have 18 trees on the east side of our house. In the summer time this makes for a great place to relax in the hammock or by the fire pit, but around October and November it is a real pain. I do enjoy all of the colors that come out in early September and October however. Every year millions of leaves fall down and I am responsible for picking them up. It used to be worse because we had 3 trees in the back yard and two on the west side. However, all of those trees are now gone. Most years we rake the leaves a little at a time. This year we waited until all of the leaves fell to the ground. Yesterday, my dad, my uncle and my self spent six hours cleaning up all of them. We filled my uncle's truck with leaves four times before we were finished. The town of Vernon has a compost heap where we dumped all of the leaves. That was a task in itself because leaves were so packed down in the truck that we have to use pick forks and shovels to get them all out. We are not finished however, because every year we magically get more leaves in our yard. Our neighbor to the west decides that raking leaves is not one of his top priorities, so his leaves blow into our yard. So, we started to pick up the leaves that had already blown into are yard, but I'm sure that there will be more in the weeks to come. Another thing about our lazy neighbor is that he will only mow his lawn once every two weeks or so. So, when the wind picks up all of the long grass trimmings blow into our yard, but that's a story for another time.
Every year I dread the thought of having to clean up all of those leaves. I have offered to pay for a lawn service to do it, but my father never goes for it. Most of the time my brother and sister help out, but this year they were both away at school the weekend my dad decided to do the clean up. When he picks a day to do the clean up, any plans I had are not important, they are immediately canceled. Leaves become my number one priority. He does usually reward us for hard work. Last night he made a steak dinner with a seafood pasta dish and bruchetta for myself, my parents and my aunt and uncle. When my brother and sister are home to help, he will take us out to dinner or something nice. It is nice to have all of the work done for this year and out of the way. In about 364 days however, I will once again dread the thought of picking up all those damn leaves.

Black Labs

My girlfriend, Amanda, and I recently bought two black lab puppies. Currently they are 12 weeks old. We've had them for about a month now. I am really surprised at what good pets they make. I have had dogs before, but never labs. They can be trouble sometimes, but overall they are very good. I am amazed at how smart they are and how fast they are learning things. They know their names, come when they're called, they are crate trained, and they figured out the doggy door at our house. We have a boy and a girl dog. Onyx, the boy, is a little slower than his sister Torre. I did not pick Onyx's name and am not crazy about it, but Amanda loves it. I picked Torre's name because of Joe Torre, the former manager of the New York Yankees, and current manager of the LA Dodgers.

Torre appears to be the smarter dog by far. She is a lot more relaxed and seems to take to things a lot faster than Onyx. Torre was a middle sized puppy from a litter of ten. Onyx was the runt of the litter. Onyx is a lot more hyper, and is a little slower at understanding things. Amanda and I have dubbed him "Special Ed." She finds this humorous because she is a special ed teacher, and found it only fitting that one of her puppies has a "learjavascript:void(0)ning disability."

So far, things have been great with the puppies. I love coming home and getting greeted at the door by both of them. They are always very excited to see the both of us, and follow us around EVERYWHERE. It is fun watching them develop and seeing the different things they learn everyday. It seems as though when one dog figures something out, the other catches on relatively soon. They are great pets and are a lot of fun to play with. I think Amanda hasn't fully caught on that eventually they are going to be big dogs. She likes to think they are going to stay puppies forever.

When it comes to disciplining them, it turns out I'm the softy. Amanda is very strict and yells at them constantly. I however, have trouble yelling at them because they are really cute. It's kind of like a good cop/bad cop situation. I let them break the rules once in a while, like getting on the couch. Apparently that is a big no-no, but I don't mind having them on the couch with me. They have started to realize when they do something wrong. This is apparent when they want nothing to do with Amanda when she is yelling, they usually go to their crate or to me.

I'm very glad we got these two puppies, they are a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time.

Political Correctness In Sports

I do not have a problem with political correctness overall, just in sports. When teams have to change their logos and names because of this I think it is a travesty. For one, names and logos are points of pride. A team calls itself the Indians, for example, because Indian warriors are thought of as fierce, proud, fearful people. The idea behind a logo or mascot is to identify a team with the characteristics of that mascot, not to belittle a culture of people. The only instance that I can think of that is overly offensive is the Washington Redskins. This is blatantly a racial slur towards Native Americans. This would be an acceptable to change the name.

Where do we draw the line though? Because teams are changing their names to avoid stereotypes, should Notre Dame change the longstanding name of The Fighting Irish? Should the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Raiders change their logos because they pictures of stereotypical pirates? The eye patch could be offensive to sea roaming, ne'er do-wells (pirates). Should the New York Knicks change their name because its an outdated word for pants? Should the Yankees change their name because its an offensive term for northerners?

Take for example my high school, Oneida High School. For as long as I can remember we were the Oneida Indians. Since the age of political correctness, we are the Oneida____. When I was in school, all of the Indian logos were taken out of school. We built a new gym and on one baseline it says "ONEDIA" and the other baseline is blank. On TV and radio we are still referred to as the Indians, but there is no such proof in the school itself. By using names like Indians, we identify that team with the proud characteristics of Indian Warriors. They are proud symbols that are celebrated by fans, not belittled.

Does it end when all teams change their names from Indians to the subtle, less offensive, Peacocks? Nobody is afraid of a peacock. This bring in Syracuse University. The logo used to be The Saltine Warrior, which was an Indian Warrior proudly shooting an arrow straight up into the sky. In my opinion, the coolest logo in sports. The statue of the Saltine Warrior is still on the Syracuse Campus today, but it is no longer in use. Instead of the proud Saltine Warrior, they use Otto the Orange. Fruit does not strike fear into the hearts of opponents.

Something needs to change before every team in sports has to change their name to something non-offensive. Its not even Native American groups that are causing the problem, most of them have no problem with the use of Native American names and symbols. Its the colleges, and team owners that are afraid of pissing people off, for no reason, that are causing the problem.

Things That Annoy Me

There are several things that annoy me. I am not a perfect person, nor do I claim to be. There are probably somethings that I do that are considered annoying to some. However there are a lot of things that I could do without having to experience in my life. These are just a few pet peeves I have about the world.

For one, I love to play golf, but there are a lot of things about the game that annoy me. I have a friend that will follow every rule of the game no matter what. He will get mad at me if I park the golf cart too close to the green. These don't bother me. What annoys me is that he will follow every rule except for the dress code. It is custom to wear a collared shirt and nice pants on the course. This is the only rule he does not follow. He will show up wearing jeans and a t-shirt. This is a gentleman's game, dress accordingly. Second, I cannot stand when there is a slow group of people ahead of me that will not let me play through. This is a violation of golf etiquette. Slower groups are supposed to let faster groups play through. I hate having to wait for a slow group after every shot. Thirdly, I hate when I am playing with a friend or two, and a guy playing by himself asks to join us. NO!!! Get your own friends you lonely bastard. I am out having a good time with friends of mine and do not want to have to spend it with a complete stranger. I have another friends that doesn't mind when this happens, I guess he is just more friendly than I am.

Restaurants annoy me too. I hate when I am out to dinner with a small group of people and somebody orders the same thing as I do. I'm not quite sure how this started, but I really don't like it. My family, my brother especially will intentionally order the same thing as me just to annoy me. I also hate when the waitress takes forever to bring the check. This is because I am pretty impatient I guess. I just hate waiting around because the waitress has to talk to her friend the bartender or has to go on a smoke break while I want to leave.

I love my brother very much, but I hate calling him. Not because I don't like talking to him, but his ring back tone drives me crazy. I often get songs stuck in my head (another thing I hate) but I really can't stand when I get a song I don't like stuck in my head. My brother has some catchy Nickleback (a band I cant stand) song as his ring back tone and it drives me crazy because every time I call him the song is stuck in my head all day long. I really don't like when this happens. One time I had "Every Little Thing She Does" by The Police stuck in my head for an entire weekend. I can't stand Sting or The Police. I just happened to catch the song on the radio right before I got out of the car and it stuck with me for days.

Bad drivers also make me nuts. When people change lanes without signalling it really makes me mad. It takes no effort at all to use your blinker, a monkey could do it. That is just pure laziness. I also hate when people drive below the speed limit. Driving at the speed limit is perfectly fine, but when you're going 40 in a 55 we've got problems. These people have caused me to be late on several occasions, because I always get stuck behind them when i'm in a hury, and when there are no passing zones.

These are just a few things a I could do without. If we could all refrain from these things I think the world would be a better place.

Jeter Milestone

On Wednesday, Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig, with 2721 hits, for 1st all time for the New York Yankees. This record has stood for over 70 years. It is only fitting that Derek Jeter becomes the all time hits leader for the Yankees. Jeter has been with the Yankees since the very beginning, he was drafted and came up though the Yankees minor league system. He has identified with the Yankee persona since coming into the leaugue in 1995. During the interview after the game Wednesday, Jeter said that it was great to tie Gerhig, but he did not know how to react to the crowd, because the Yankees were still trailing the Tampa Rays. Luckily, Jorge Posada bailed the team out with a 3-run homerun in the 8th inning. However, this speaks to the type of person Jeter is. He was more concerned with team efforts than with his personal achievements. He also mentioned that he felt awkward during the crowd's reaction because he did not want to show up the Rays.

Moments ago, Jeter passed Gerhig by getting his 2722nd hit. During the bottom of the 3rd inning, Jeter ripped a single down the 1st baseline, earning a place in history. The crowd roared for nearly 3 minutes as the rest of the Yankees came out to congradulate Jeter. Honestly, it could not have happened to a better guy. Derek Jeter embodies the game of baseball as well as the New York Yankees. Jeter is also on pace to become the first ever Yankee member of the 3000 hit club. This is strange to think that the Yankees have never had a player with 3000 hits, considering the storied history of the franchise. Jeter now stands alone on the all time hit list ahead of Yankee greats such as Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Bernie Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Don Mattingly, and Yogi Berra. Considering those names, that is almost enough to form an all-time allstar team. For Jeter to have more hits than all of these baseball legends is an amazing accomplishment.

When it's all said and done, Derek Jeter will end up enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. This is just another milestone reached in an amazing career. With many more hits on the way, this record is one that will stand for a long time to come.

Back to School

This is my first post, so don't expect anything major. I am currently going nuts juggling school and work. I have a full time job 5 days a week, and I go to school 3 days a week. From school, I drive an hour and a half to my job. The days are beginning to become a little taxing. I normally wake up around 7am and am out the door by 8. I don't walk back through the door until around 11:30pm. I have an hour drive to school, and then an hour and a half drive to work. Eating and finding time to do school work are becoming difficult. Most of the time I try to grab a bite to eat in between classes, but this is also when I try to finish school work. I have to fill up my car about twice a week with all the driving I have to do now. This has also become an issue, especially with my latest financial situation.

I am not too impressed with my student loans. I left school a year ago and have been paying back my loans since January. My loans were supposed to automatically get deferred when I started going to school again. However, the loan companies took the liberty of charging my account for the month of September. Not knowing this, I overdrew my bank account and had to borrow money from my parents to buy books. This was not how I wanted to start my last semester of school. However, my parents were eager to help me out, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Although, my weekend plans had to change. I had to cancel a golf game with a friend of mine, and wasn't too happy about that.