finkipedia

Finkbowl wrap

2011-02-08T12:09:00.002-05:00

Finkbowl XV is in the books. The decorations are down, the final winnings have been paid out, and all travelers have returned home. Still got a fridge full of leftovers to work through, but that's part of the way I make this event last longer.

This has become such a great event for us. As I mentioned last year after the Snowmaggedon Finkbowl, it's humbling to have so many people travel so far for our little party. The locals seem to enjoy it too, and the nice weather this year allowed the traditional kids football game outside to resume after a year hiatus.

With the looming NFL lockout, someone questioned what would happen if there is no Super Bowl next year. There's no question at all: whether or not there's a game, the first Sunday in February will have a Finkbowl. We'll just have to find something else to bet on other than football.

Mad props

2011-01-31T15:02:00.005-05:00

It's been a while, but I've not forgotten about the Things I Love series of blog posts. What better way to jump back into things than to feature a Thing I Love fitting for the season: sports betting.

I enjoy gambling- I like the thrill of the games and the logic behind the betting. I've played poker since I was 13 or 14, with a coffee can of pennies I'd tote along on Boy Scout camping trips. I love table games like craps, black jack and roulette. In all those games though, the bet lasts only as long as a hand of cards, a roll of the dice, or a spin of the wheel.

Sports betting offers something unique: the ability to drag a bet out over several hours, or even longer, all the while enjoying an event in its own right. Just a few bucks on a game brings immediate attention to the contest, inciting interest where there previously may have been none. I'm way too cheap to bet more than a few bucks at a time, but it doesn't take much to create passion about something I may have not cared much about before.

One of my favorite parts of Finkbowl is the side action on the game- the bets on the coin toss and the commercials, the dollar-a-box bets, and the props throughout the game. I love looking at the list of props that are being offered by websites and casinos and finding interesting ones that are near even odds, then picking a side at random and placing a bet with someone (usually Judge). The fun in rooting for something crazy, like for more goals in the Penguins/Capitals game on Sunday than touchdowns in the Super Bowl (currently a prop offered at the above site), is well worth my dollar investment.

Resurrection

2011-01-28T16:50:00.003-05:00

Like a phoenix from the ashes, Finkipedia rises again.

With Finkbowl XV next weekend, a new Idol season just kicking off, and pitchers and catchers reporting in just a few weeks, I figured it was time to get back to the blog you and I both love the most. Thanks to those who asked where I've been- I hope both of you enjoy the multitude of posts I have planned for the weeks ahead!

Lock down the internets- Finkipedia is live again!

Things I Love: cover songs

2010-06-16T22:31:00.003-04:00

I'm resurrecting the "Things I Love" series that I started a while back so I can discuss in depth something I mentioned in the comments section of one of my Idol posts. I love cover songs. If you considered cover songs to be their own genre, I'd choose them over any other. It might have something to do with familiarity- that perhaps it's easier to like a song you already kinda know over something brand new. It might be the "They're fans just like us!" feeling you get when you hear one of your favorite bands playing the songs of another. It might be the appreciation you feel whenever someone presents something to you in a way you hadn't previously considered possible.

But I believe the thing I like most about cover songs is that deep down, it's what we all really want to do. Every time you sing a song- whether it's along with the radio, in the shower, or just in your head- you're covering it yourself. Every one of us with some musical talent has picked up a guitar or sat down at a piano to play a song we like. Some of us learned to play those instruments just for that purpose. When we hear cover songs, it justifies that feeling we all have when we hear a good song- that the best way to express our affection for the song is to belt it out and make it our own. Every cover song is a tribute to the original, and every one we hear encourages us to keep doing what we do- paying tribute in our own way. (Just without the royalties).

Up next: What makes a great cover song? Stay tuned. (pun intended)

If it weren't for Myrtle Beach, I'd restart their secession movement for them

2010-06-10T22:46:00.003-04:00

With no disrespect to any of the fine citizens of South Carolina, I'd like to express my disappointment with something I read today. It was in a column about SC gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and her statements from her website about her faith. (Haley is a Christian, and goes to great lengths on her site emphasizing that point.) The column reports that the SC constitution contains the requirement that "No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor who denies the existence of the Supreme Being."

From a constitutional law standpoint, I find it hard to believe that a state constitution can so directly contradict the federal constitution's stated right of freedom of religion. But aside from the legality of the requirement, I have grave concerns with the limitations it puts on the citizens of the state. The requirement does not go so far as to impose a belief system upon citizens of the state, but it does limit the positions that citizens without certain belief systems can hold.

I believe in "the Supreme Being", but also respect the right of others not to. I also don't see how an argument can be made that the governing ability of one who does not believe would be lesser in any way than one who does. The record shows that believing in a Supreme Being doesn't exactly keep you off the Appalachian Trail, if you know what I mean.

What do we want? REPLAY! When do we want it? NOW!

2010-06-06T16:15:00.004-04:00

By now you've no doubt heard of the umpire who screwed up and cost that guy a perfect game. (I'm leaving out the details not because I don't care but because they don't matter here.) The aftermath was the feel good story of baseball so far this year- guy screws up, guy owns up to his screw-up, affected parties forgive him, all is well.

All that making nice somewhat diffused the furor over the mistake and diverted the attention from the obvious issue- that baseball needs more replay. The argument of purists is that mistakes are part of the game, that the role of the umpire is essential to the integrity of baseball and makes the game what it is.

That's horsecrap. There's no industry out there that accepts mistakes as part of doing business. Umpires do their best to make the right call, but sometimes make a mistake. If there is an immediate way to evaluate the umpire's judgment, why not use it? When that immediate method (replay) is already being used and broadcast to viewers in real time, it displays the flaws and calls into question whether the outcome of the contest is legitimate.

Here's one group of people who deserve replay the most- gamblers. The outcome of the game in question here (the near-perfect game) was not affected by the missed call. But no doubt there are games that either have or will have their outcomes affected by a mistake. If a wager is lost despite visible evidence that it should have been won, it becomes an unfair loss (or a contrary illegitimate win) to the gambler involved.

Tennis has been using the electronic eye system for years. It does not replace but supports the line judges and the chair umpire in their jobs. It works. I've never heard a tennis purist, commentator, or player bemoan the system. They're happy that the calls are being made consistently and fairly for all players.

The technology exists to correct these flaws. There's no reason not to institute it now, in fairness to all. Too bad it's too late for Armando Galarraga (you know, that guy.)

Idol recap

2010-05-28T14:10:00.003-04:00

I'm a few days late to the internet Idol recap party, but none of you watch Idol anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

As you may have heard, paint store clerk Lee Dewyze beat out single mom Crystal Bowersox (this is the way they were both referred to all season) for the title of Season 9 American Idol, no doubt thanks to the millions of tweens and divorcees who voted early and often for Lee over the more talented Crystal. Really, it was the best possible outcome for the Idol producers as well, because in Crystal they have a talented artist who can become a marketable performer in her own right, and in Lee they have a likeable guy with a pretty face and a nice smile who they can label as the next American Idol and make a few bucks off of along the way.

Here's a few best of's for Season 9:

Best Performance:
3) Crystal and Lee, "Falling Slowly"- from Songs from the Cinema week, this Oscar winning song from the movie Once fit them perfectly and showed a ton of chemistry between them
2) Lee, "Hallelujah"- as posted previously, a haunting version of a great song
1) Casey James, "Jealous Guy"- I wasn't a Casey James fan at all, but I've got to give him credit- this was a beautiful performance, both on vocals and guitar, and the best of the year by anyone

Best Celebrity Mentor:
3) Adam Lambert- Helped that he was only a year removed from being in the same situation
2) Usher- Terrific- first of the mentors to actually offer constructive advice and tips on style
1) Harry Connick Jr- Head and shoulders above the rest. His ability to work with the contestants, along with his wit and charisma, make him my vote to replace Simon next year

Best Contestants Not To Make It To The Top 3:
3) Aaron Kelly- Kid's got chops. Huge voice, and may still have a career ahead of him. Eliminated at the Top 5.
2) Katie Stevens- I was surprised she didn't go further. I think she too is young enough and talented enough to have a career. Eliminated at the Top 9.
1) Lilly Scott- Huge surprise that she didn't make the finals, to no one more than her. She had a unique voice and style that I thought would take her pretty far in the competition, but perhaps her Patsy Cline song choice did her in. Eliminated at the Top 16.

Best Song Choices:
3) Crystal, "Me and Bobby McGee", Billboard #1 week- Kind of her stereotypical song, but fit her so well that it was easy for her to crush it.
2) Casey, "Jealous Guy", Lennon/McCartney songbook week- see above
1) Lee, "That's Life", Sinatra week- The perfect Sinatra song for him- meant to be a little free form and throaty. I think it's the song that sealed the victory for him.

Glad to have my Tuesday and Wednesday nights back, but I am sad to see Idol go. Truly surprised at how invested I became in the show and its contestants. Not ready to go buy a Ford just yet, but I am excited already for Season 10.

Back to the Future

2010-05-23T22:51:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe it was 2 years ago (almost to the day) that I posted about signing up for Twitter. After the first few test tweets, I decided that it would be fun to tweet in haiku only. Made for some fun and interesting tweets (sample: At a conference/ on physician leadership/ bad coffee, free pen!) but I went through long lulls in my creativity that limited my efforts. With the arrival of my new phone and the ease of tweeting and texting from it, I'm back on the Twitterwagon.

As with this old rag, there will no doubt be spells of inactivity in my Twitter entries as well. If you're in the Twitterverse, come follow along at @finkfpdoc. Or just read along on the newly re-established Twitter feed on the right. Not waxing poetic anymore, but can't rule out the occasional haiku if the mood strikes.

And then there were two

2010-05-20T09:36:00.005-04:00

Missed seeing this week's "Idol" live on Tuesday- we were out for a family dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Sidebar- there's a story itself. Not the cheapest night out, but for dinner and a show, you can't beat it. Kids love watching the flaming onion volcano and the corny accented jokes of the chef. Brendan caught a shrimp in his mouth before realizing that it was a shrimp- he probably wouldn't have eaten it otherwise- and loved it. Maybe the only way to get him to try new foods is to toss it into his mouth from 6 feet away.

Back from the digression. Watched the Top 3 show last night off the DVR. Others have written that the producers seem to have stacked the deck in favor of Lee, and it's hard to disagree with that point. Everything from the judges' song choices to their word choices in their critiques to the order of performances in the show worked in Lee's favor. Maybe there isn't a level playing field for all the contestants.

But that performance of "Hallelujah" by Lee on Tuesday night was hands down the best performance of the season. Strip away the lights and the orchestra and the choir, and you're still left with a passionate, intense vocal performance that was so good, I went and bought the single off iTunes within 15 minutes of hearing it. (The live performance is actually better than the studio single on iTunes, but the studio version is still fantastic.) Granted, the song lent itself to a lot more passion than the John Mayer song that Casey was handed, and I might be a little biased because I love that song to begin with, but you have to give Lee credit for taking a fastball down the middle and slamming it out of the park.

Watch it, if you haven't already, and see if you agree:

Just a suggestion

2010-05-16T22:26:00.003-04:00

One of the greatest things about The Google is how it helps finish your thoughts. There are entire blogs dedicated to this tremendous power and its hilarious results. Tonight I was looking up how to get my new phone to sync with iTunes. Started to type "how to sync htc incredible with itunes", got two words into it, and found out what Americans really want to know how to do (in the order they appeared):

how to tie a tie
how to kiss
how to lose weight fast
how to get pregnant
how to get a girl to like you
how to make it in america
how to solve a rubiks cube
how to lose 10 pounds in a week
how to train your dragon
how to make a website

By those results, it appears that millions of people are looking to trim down, dress up, hook up, get the job done and advertise it all on the interwebs. The rest of them are home playing with their Rubik's Cube while watching animated dragons.

Friends and Family Plan

2010-05-04T22:27:00.003-04:00

Busy time here in Finkland. Spent Saturday in NYC for the wedding of Dan and Jen (aka Puddin' and Jello). Dan's my oldest friend- known him since the first days of kindergarden. He's a regular at Finkbowl and a fellow Met sufferer, and is one of the most laid back, easy going people I've ever known. Had a great time at the celebration, not knowing until the next day that we were only about 8 blocks from an SUV filled with explosives. Crazy world.

Left Manhattan late Saturday and trekked north for the Sunday celebration of my nephew's first communion. Had a blast as always with my sister and her family in their great home nestled into the foothills of the Catskills. Long trip home, but well worth it to see the cousins enjoying each other.

Barely unpacked our own bags from the weekend when it was time to get Steve and Dolores from the airport yesterday. They arrived for a two week stay out east, spending a week here with us while Erin recovers from a second foot surgery then moving 90 miles south to the District for some time with Lady V and her folks.

Not much time to play with the new phone, but as I'm off this weekend again for another wedding, there may be some time then to road test it a little more.

Mr. Incredible

2010-04-30T10:45:00.004-04:00

Finally entered the world of smartphones yesterday. I've been lusting the iPhone for a while, but because I'm on Verizon, I've held off from switching carriers. Recently started looking at Droids, but was advised by the Official Finkipedia Brother-In-Law, Futures Division to wait until the end of April, as the latest and greatest would be hitting the market.

Well worth the wait. The Droid Incredible (their name, not mine) launched yesterday, and I was the first person in town to get one. (Kind of neat to be a techno pioneer). Totally satisfied so far. Still much to learn, but the apps so far have been fun, and the look and feel of the phone are great. To steal a pun from one of the reviews I read online, this certainly is the Droid I was looking for.

Next to come- blog updates from the field, more photos on the blog, and a resurrection of the Finkipedia Twitter feed. Fun for both of us, to be sure.

Midweek tidbits

2010-04-28T09:25:00.003-04:00

No scintillating commentary today, just a few random thoughts to keep the week going.

Don't look now, but the Metropolitans are in first place. I realize we're not even 1/6 of the way into the season, but it's refreshing to be competitive again
"Idol" is tightening up. Will be interesting to see who's in the bottom 3 tonight. Not a big Shania Twain fan, but some pretty solid performances last night
Got a new putter for Christmas and picked up a new Cleveland 56 degree wedge a week or so ago. Road tested them both for the first time this past Saturday and shot 83, some of my best golf ever. Itching badly to get out again (or maybe that's some kind of rash).
My favorite new kid quote: Somehow the topic of Roman numerals came up over dinner a few weeks ago, and I was quizzing the kids on what each letter represented. The boys went back and forth, but Molly of course was completely lost on the discussion. To bring the conversation back to her level, at a break in the quizzing she interjected apropos of nothing at all, "You know what's good? I like yarn." That's been my mantra since then.

My Three Songs, Jan Brewer edition

2010-04-25T22:34:00.002-04:00

It's been quite a while since we've played everyone's favorite game. You remember- it's the one where I give you three songs that have something in common, and you read the post but fail to even attempt a lame guess as to the connection between the three. I'm sure you know all three of these songs- perhaps singing them to yourself will help you discover today's theme. (While it would have been fun to include it just for Jan's sake, "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin didn't make the cut.)

The Beatles, "Get Back"
Steve Miller Band, "Rock'n Me"
The Eagles, "Take It Easy"

Hey, you never know

2010-04-21T11:44:00.002-04:00

$252 Million jackpot Powerball tonight. Got my ticket yesterday already. I'm one of those people who usually gets a ticket when the jackpot crests $100M, and certainly when it approaches and passes $200M. I realize that many lottery winners talk about how their winnings corrupted their lives, but I think it would at least be interesting to be given that chance, right?

Several years ago, on one occasion when the jackpot was close to $200M, I had my ticket in hand and as usual, began the mental arithmetic of what the lump sum payment would be, and what the annual return would be if I invested that lump sum, and who I'd donate to and what I'd buy. For some reason, on that particular occasion, I had an especially "good feeling" about my chances. The morning after the drawing, I drove past a billboard showing that the jackpot was now $15M, meaning that someone had won. I was convinced it was me.

I spent the next hour in the car ruminating no longer about how I would spend the money, but what I would do in the immediate aftermath of my winning: how I'd break the news to Erin, what I'd do about work, who I'd call first (my attorney? my accountant?). I was consumed with the idea that I was now a jackpot winner.

I got home, went about my usual business in kind of a fog, then late that night got the daily paper to check my numbers. Not a single match on either of my tickets.

When I relayed the story to Erin, she said, "Well, was all that wondering worth your $2.00?". And that, in a nutshell, summed up my love of the Powerball. I realized then that I'm not really paying for the chance to win $200M (because the odds are so insane that that chance isn't even worth $2.00). I'm paying for the opportunity to fantasize for a few days about what that life would be like. That's certainly worth the price of a shamrock shake.

Idol-ized

2010-04-16T10:13:00.002-04:00

It's true. I'm officially hooked on "American Idol".

My relationship with Idol goes back several years. Since about season 3 or 4, I watched about 30 minutes of one of the early audition shows every season- just enough to catch a few of the horrible or hilarious performances for that year. At the time, I had no appreciation for the good performances; in fact, they were far less appealing to me than the bad ones. I enjoyed that 30 minutes a season, and needed no more than that. Never watched another minute of it for the rest of the year.

This season, for some reason, I don't think I watched any of the audition shows (still haven't seen the "pants on the ground" guy). But at some point, the kids (led by Brendan, I believe) asked if we could watch Idol together as a family. The first episode we watched was the first episode of Hollywood Week, when all the contestants with the yellow tickets from the auditions get together for the first time to compete for the finals. I was intrigued. The talent was better than I expected, but most importantly, I felt drawn in to several of the contestants already after that first show.

We watched again together the next night, then set the DVR for a season pass to record it every week. By the second week, my fledgling attraction had become more like a passion. Now that the competition is in full swing, it truly is appointment television. Even though it's recorded, we're all in front of the TV every Tuesday and Wednesday night, and voting on Tuesdays along with 30 million others.

From what I read and hear, this year's cast of contestants is less interesting than some of the previous casts, but since it's all I know, I'm enjoying them quite a bit. I've already got favorites (Lee and Crystal) and ones I can't stand (Casey and Siobhan), and feel like the middle-aged hack that I am when I critique their performances and argue with the judges.

I'll be sad to see it go when it ends later this spring, mostly because watching it has become a fun family event but also because it's the first show in ages that I've watched on a weekly basis and I'll have a void that needs to be filled. By then, I think Molly will have rehearsed enough that she'll gladly stand in as the first contestant in our home game. Owen will be the witty schmoozing host, and Brendan of course will be the acerbic judge ready to groom his protege into a superstar.

Something's Rotten In Flushing (but you knew that)

2010-04-12T15:21:00.004-04:00

As last season ended, I think most of us Met fans had the sense that it couldn't get worse, but it probably would. The tragic collapses of 2007 and 2008, followed by last year's miserable injury-ridden season gave some hope to the fact that better days must surely lie ahead. They still might, but if this first week is any example of what this season holds, better days are a bit further ahead than 2010.

The rough part of being a fan right now is that the team just isn't likeable. There are a few bright spots, like the ever ebullient David Wright, but as a whole the team just doesn't have character. One bright spot though is that if things continue as-is, tickets won't be hard to come by.

Over Easter dinner I posed a question to the official Finkipedia brother-in-law (law enforcement division), who happens to unfortunately be a fan of the other NY baseball team: higher number at the end of the season- Yankee wins or Met losses. The Vegas line at the beginning of the season for Yankee wins was 94.5, for Met losses was 81. By that metric, it would seem obvious that taking the Yankees in the bet would be the right move. But the AL East is tough this year, and the Mets have so far set their bar at winning only 1/3 of the games in their division and are on pace for 108 losses. At this point, it's still early, and since both numbers stand at 4, still fair to bet either side. I can't really bet on my team to lose and my hated rivals to win, can I?

Resurrection

2010-04-09T12:53:00.002-04:00

I gave up Facebook and blog-surfing for Lent, as a way to direct my attention away from the interwebs and more toward other things. It worked, to some degree, but also led to an unintentional avoidance of this blog. Now that Easter has come and gone, it's time to get back on the blogwagon.

Six weeks off has provided me with lots of material for posting, so in the weeks ahead look for posts about a trip to the west coast, my new addiction to American Idol (no joke), the nascent baseball season, and the first formal golf instructions for Fink men in over 40 years.

Thanks for sticking with me, and spread the word- Finkipedia is risen! Alleluia!

Olympic Fever, Part Deux

2010-02-20T22:00:00.004-05:00

I mentioned a while back how much I love the Olympics, and that it's the Winter Games that really get me. I'm all wrapped up again, glued to the TV most nights watching things I'd never otherwise watch (short track skating? sure! curling? you bet!), and in my old-man, not-uncool-to-say-this-anymore state I'll even admit to watching and enjoying figure skating.

Really looking forward to the US-Canada hockey game tomorrow. As many have written, the Olympic hockey tournament is the best hockey tournament in the world. Olympic hockey rules allow for a more free-flowing, artistic game and the national pride (especially in this case for the home team) increases the passion and desire to win to a whole new level. I remember the "Miracle on Ice" fairly well, but didn't really appreciate the game at the time. The greatest hockey game I can remember watching was the gold medal game between Canada and Sweden in Lillehammer in 1994 that ended in a shootout. The shootout itself was of course exciting, but I remember the whole game as being just awesome. Hopefully tomorrow's game won't disappoint; perhaps it'll be a taste of a possible gold medal game a week away.

Snowmaggedon

2010-02-13T10:04:00.005-05:00

UPDATE: Apparently the videos weren't playing last week. Try them again- seems to be working now.

Thought you might like to see some footage from the first half of Snowmaggedon- the first one is midday Saturday at the peak of the snow, and the second is the aftermath. That's Googs and Scully with Brendan in the driveway. Owen is off in the distance towards the end of the shot.

A FinkBowl for the ages

2010-02-10T20:59:00.005-05:00

Every year at FinkBowl, the same stories of memorable events from previous years are told and retold- The Finkless Finkbowl, The Leaking Ceiling, The Pirate Ship Cake, The $120 4-3 pot. This year most of those stories stayed locked away in the story box (wait- that's right, there are no locks on Story Box) as we lived what will one day become the greatest of all FinkBowl stories- The Snowmageddon Finkbowl.

It was clear by Friday morning that the DC contingent would not make it here before midday Sunday unless they raced the storm out of town. Thanks to an early dismissal from the federal government, Googs, Rachel, Lady V (aka The Tiny Cuteness) and Scully arrived here in the 302 just as the first flakes were falling. Ciaran and Atti had arrived earlier in the day to help us get ready for whatever was coming. We hunkered down as the storm ruined the travel plans of all of our other Saturday Taco Night scheduled attendees (though the Min-Salvs of NY were hell bent on coming, snow be damned, until common sense prevailed). Texts and calls from LA updated us on the latest flight Judge had gotten on to, only to be cancelled soon thereafter. By late Saturday night, the unplowed streets of our development suggested that the 6 adults and 4 kids currently in the house would be splitting a double batch of gumbo 10 ways the next day.

Then, things started to turn. Plows came through around 11pm to clear the neighborhood. Locals called in on Sunday to confirm that the big show was still going on. Puddin' rolled up in his Zipcar Sunday afternoon, and soon thereafter the biggest surprise- in the front door walked Judge, keeping his 14 year streak alive by catching the 5th flight he was scheduled to be on. Final tally was about 35 non-Finks who braved the weather and road conditions to be here for our little gathering.

A great game was the icing on the cake for one of the most epic FinkBowls in history. Not looking to duplicate this mess next year, especially since it kept away many of our usual attendees. But it certainly made things unique, and offered yet another perspective on the power of friendship.

Bartlett's got nothing on this girl

2010-02-01T23:14:00.003-05:00

I never wanted this blog to be purely a listing of all the great and funny things the Fink kids do day in and day out (thus turning it into "The Family Circus" without the cartoons), but I think I forget sometimes that part of my mission here is to do at least a little bit of that. Molly's got more quotes and quotables on a regular basis than the rest of us combined, and I really should do a regular feature on them. We keep a book with some of the best of all the kids' quotes and favorite sayings, perhaps I'll go back and dig up a few someday to post here.

She let out a great one tonight- we were watching "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian", and Ben Stiller's character was talking to the female lead, a historical museum figure come to life. I asked Molly, "Hey Molls, who's that lady?", knowing that she had just gotten a McDonald's Happy Meal toy of this character and her famous plane within the past week. She looked unsure at first, then remembered and said "Oh yeah! It's Amelia Airforce!"

Little Red Light

2010-01-28T21:25:00.003-05:00

Had a fun experience the other night. I was asked by the local hospital system to appear in a commercial they recorded to advertise their cancer program. The spot featured another doc and myself reading a short script about the program while standing in front of some "high-tech equipment" (actually a cardiac catheterization table, which has nothing to do with the cancer program but looked nice and scientific on camera).

We worked off of a teleprompter, which was pretty neat, and got to see the finished product on the monitor when we were done. There was really no director per se, so no one could help me explore what my character's motivation was. I was reading a script about cancer, which I felt needed to be played with a serious undertone, yet I wanted to warm up the cold surroundings of the sterile-looking cath lab with an expression that said "I care. Really, I do." Unfortunately, the internal conflict about my direction, coupled with my steadfast efforts to keep from slouching, led to an on-camera effort the likes of which television hasn't seen since Cindy Brady was on a quiz show.

Rumor has it that I may be receiving an electronic copy of said commercial; if so, I'll do my best to post it here. It'll scare the cancer right out of you.

New Look!

2010-01-23T21:54:00.005-05:00

Still haven't gone that extra yard and learned to write the code necessary to truly customize this blog. But I have found a new template that I like, and I think you'll agree makes the posts much easier to read.

You'll also notice I returned the Twitter updates to the sidebar, but to a different Twitter account- the @finkbowl one I created for the countdown. Now even those not among the Twitterati can embrace the excitement of FinkBowl advent!

And, I deleted the "finkipedia-endorsed blogs" list. I've still got nuthin' but love for all y'all, but most of them, like my own "finkathon" blog, weren't active anymore. (Life (and blogging) still goes on at The Funny Farm, so if you'd still like to stop there and visit sometimes, be sure to bookmark it.)

Thanks for reading- hope your eyes don't suffer as much with the new layout as with the old. Would love to hear (or read) what you think.

FinkBowl ftw!

2010-01-13T23:09:00.003-05:00

In an effort to save trees (not to mention a few shekels in postage), we opted to go the e-Vite route for the annual FinkBowl invitations. After creating them I figured, why stop there?

So this year, it's FinkBowl all over the interwebs- on Twitter @finkbowl, on its own Facebook page, and of course here at the iHome of all things fink. I gave brief thought to giving FinkBowl its own blog, but since I have a hard enough time keeping this one going, I thought it would be doomed from the start.

Follow along somewhere online as we get ready for the best FinkBowl ever! (Unless it rains, and 25 kids are hoarded into my basement. That of course would be the ultimate fail.)

Leftover Bowl

2010-01-08T16:41:00.005-05:00

Some things I've learned (or beliefs that were re-affirmed) by watching too many bowl games over the past 3 weeks:

While a college football playoff would be nice, the bowl system should remain. No matter whether it was the official national championship game or just the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, most of these kids seemed to embrace each game as their own championship.
Those biceps arm bands make most of the guys wearing them look like they're in some sort of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka fanclub
Marching bands both look and sound better from a blimp
Penalties for "excessive celebration" are ridiculous. 'Bama was penalized 15 yards last night basically because the lineman who ran back the turnover for a TD at the end of the first half tossed the ball after he crossed the goal line. Taunting, I can see penalizing. Celebrating, now that's just having fun. If the other team's feelings are hurt- tough. Tell them to score more points.
The Rose Bowl parade is amazing to watch, but wouldn't the countless thousands of hours that people put into gluing crushed walnut shells and pansy petals onto a 65-foot wingspan eagle be better used in some kind of national service?
Since neither Army or Navy are likely to contend for the national title anymore, the Army-Navy game should be moved to Bowl Week
College teams run way more trick plays, fakes, and onsides kicks than the pros, which makes the games fun to watch even if the quality of football is less
Bowl games, except maybe the national championship game, should all be the week leading up to and including New Years Day.

Now starts the real fun though- NFL playoffs, and then the biggest bowl of them all- Finkbowl!

Dream weaver

2010-01-05T10:12:00.002-05:00

Had a classic dream the other night. For some reason, it was determined that I had to repeat the fourth grade, despite the fact that I was now an adult. I was reluctant to do so, so I showed up late the first day. The other kids in my school had already assembled outside and were on their way into the building when I reached the school. Knowing I was late, I started run-walking through the halls, but was nabbed by Sister Laverne (the principal of the boys' school), who said "John, I know you're late, but that's no reason to run in the halls.

Found my classroom and class, who were already all seated at their desks. The teacher (happened to be Owen's teacher this year) said something like, "I know you're supposed to be with us, but if you're OK with not being here, I don't think you need to be here". I gladly left, wandered through the halls, passing by a room set up for a retirement luncheon for "Sister Joseph James" (no idea who that's supposed to be, but I remember thinking in my dream that it's always been weird to me that some nuns take male names when they take their vows). I met Sister Laverne in the lobby again on my way out, and told her I was leaving. She was OK with it, but pointed to a 10 year old now standing next to me and said "Since you're leaving, can you please take Anthony home too? He lives around the corner from you". So I did.

That's about all I remember. I relayed this story to Erin when we woke up, thinking that it was one of the more classic dreams I've ever had. She replied, "I had a dream las night that I got hit in the neck with a B-2 bomber". Always has to do me one better.

The Aftermath

2009-12-28T13:00:00.002-05:00

A whirlwind of a few weeks around here. Erin had her foot surgery two weeks ago, and since then we've had: 1) Molly's Christmas pageant, 2) 2 feet of snow, 3) Christmas, and 4) a post-Christmas weekend in NJ with my folks and sister's family. Throw in a busy office schedule, and it's been a little busy for me, to say the least.

Nevertheless, it's been great. Erin's foot surgery went well, and she's been a model patient so far. Two feet of snow was a pain to clear from the driveway but made for some great sledding on the dirt mound across the street.

Christmas, as usual, came and went too fast. I did get a Flip video camera from Erin and the kids, which hopefully will mean some short clips here on the blog sometime soon.

Visions of Sugarplums

2009-12-16T22:29:00.002-05:00

Owen, some night last week. The anticipation is killing him...

Let it snow

2009-12-06T21:09:00.002-05:00

Had our first taste of the white stuff around here this weekend. It's all gone already, but the inch or so that fell yesterday was enough for the kids to get all decked out in full snow regalia and spend an hour or so attempting to sled and make snowballs. Fun to look at from inside while seated fireside watching some great football.

Quote of the day

2009-11-21T10:40:00.001-05:00

Brendan: "Can we watch a movie in the car?"

Erin: "No, we don't need to watch a movie. Let's just talk."

Brendan: "That's so 1990's."

I'm sure Ringo Starr never had this problem

2009-11-10T13:06:00.005-05:00

I have a love-hate relationship with Silly Putty. It fascinates me from a science/chemistry standpoint and is a great stress-reliever at times. I even have a Silly Putty egg in my top desk drawer at work, and often will stretch and pull the stuff while I'm on the phone. But the kids know that one of my biggest pet peeves is finding empty Silly Putty containers around the house, because an empty Silly Putty container means that somewhere else in the house there's Silly Putty stuck to something. (I hold the same disdain for magic marker caps for much the same reasoning.)

Molly's been playing around with Silly Putty lately, and fortunately gets it back into its ovoid home most of the time. Unfortunately last night, she was thwarted in her attempts to put away the Silly Putty properly as it had become adherent to the surface she had smoothed it out on- the rubber-coated drum head of the Guitar Hero drum controller. To her credit, she came to report the situation right away, but in a somewhat comical exchange, was pointing to the family room because she couldn't get the words out to explain what had happened. (This condition, which I refer to as "Fonzi's palsy"- named so because of Arthur Fonzarelli's inability to say the words "I'm sorry"- is quite common in the preschool population.)

It was clear immediately that the Silly Putty was not going to be removed easily. Cooling it with an ice pack for 20 minutes or so made it a little less pliable, but still didn't get it to chip off as I hoped it might. So I sat down, and for the next 60 minutes or so, slowly scraped away pieces of Silly Putty with a razor blade until only a stain remained.

Molly was happy to see that she hadn't caused any permanent damage, and didn't bat an eye when I told her I was throwing the Silly Putty away. Hopefully any further attempts at Silly Putty play will involve just the Sunday Comics.

Housekeeping issues

2009-11-08T20:41:00.002-05:00

I realize my pace of one post every few weeks has dropped readership to an all-time low, but after finally getting some spam-type comments, I'm having to beef up security around here just a little. You'll notice now that if you do choose to comment on a post, you'll have to enter a security word first before your comment can be posted. As for now, the comments aren't being moderated, so play nice.

Hopefully you'll see some more posts coming up in the next few weeks. I'm hoping to get back to about a twice weekly schedule by late December so as to keep the traffic from the post-Christmas letter bounce. But you're here now, which makes you special. You were always my favorite anyway.

The Punt of Red October

2009-10-28T22:27:00.003-04:00

Now that Satan's Series has begun, I should have plenty of time to catch up with the ol' blog here. Take a minute or two to read the great post that I linked to above- it's from one of the best Mets blogs out there, and puts into words just how most of us who bleed blue and orange are feeling right now.

There is no way I can root for either team in this series. The lesser of the evils may be the Yankees, but only because of the fact that I now live in the Den of Iniquity (otherwise known as the greater Philadelphia area). Yankee fans may be annoying and self-righteous, but Phillies fans are downright insufferable. God forbid the Phils win this year and become back-to-back champions- the city will demand that Congress return to Philadelphia after over 200 years and proclaim it the capital of the United States of Philmerica.

But there's no way I can root for the Yankees either, not with their $200M payroll and their Bronx attitude and their claims of ownership to October, as if they were some baseball team emeritus who get to come back and play in the World Series whenever they damn well please. Not to mention the grief I'd get from Yankee fans for rooting for their team, proving in some way that my team wasn't worth rooting for in the first place.

No, there is no team to root for. I'll root against both teams, pray for rain every night, pray for more horrible umpiring that will surely make the loud, annoying fans of each team more loud and annoying, pray for snowstorms and bug swarms and all the plagues that have corrupted World Series past. And I'll pray for February 15 to come soon, so pitchers and catchers can report to spring training and redemption can begin.

Off to the races

2009-10-08T23:24:00.003-04:00

The big weekend has finally arrived- heading out in the morning to Chicago for the marathon. Weather doesn't look stellar, but it seems like they've taken the rain out of the forecast so it'll only be the cold to deal with. Amazing to think that last year's race was run at 85 degrees, and this year will struggle to break the 50 degree mark.

Wish us luck- I think we're ready. If not, we'll be the youngest people riding those annoying motor carts in the airport on our trip home Monday.

Wicked good weekend in Bah Hahbah

2009-09-29T22:10:00.003-04:00

Had a blast this past weekend in Bar Harbor, ME celebrating the nuptials of Nappi and his new bride Christine. Nappi, as you may know, was the best man at our wedding, and has been saving himself for all these years for the perfect woman. By all accounts he has succeeded, finding someone who matches him in wit and charm (though is certainly better looking).

The weekend was fantastic- great times with old friends, beautiful fall weather and enough wine and spirits to bring out the breakdancers in a bunch of old farts like us.

Mazel tov, dear friend, and thanks for a great party.

Cakes + Snarks = Fun!

2009-09-15T13:16:00.003-04:00

Got a new favorite blog- Cake Wrecks. Don't remember how I came across it, but it's one of my daily stops on the interwebs now. Photos of unintentionally hilarious cakes, all done by so-called professionals (many of which seem to be from supermarket bakeries), and hilarious comments from the blog's author, one Jen Yates.

Definitely worth trolling the archives for some of the classics, like the Olympic Rings cake, the Fireman cake, and the iconic Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys cake.

Are you ready for some football ?

2009-09-10T21:19:00.004-04:00

Despite the fact that it's far from what Big Jack (aka Gov. Markell) wanted, today marked the renaissance of sports betting in Delaware. As you may have heard/read, Delaware was ready to go full hog into sports betting this fall, but thanks to heavy lobbying from the big leagues (namely the NFL), the state was limited to offering only sports betting at the level it was offered over 30 years ago. This means (at least for now) the state can only offer parlay bets- combo bets with the point spread on 3 or more games. They're also offering modified spreads which offer bigger spreads for lower payoffs.

Stopped in at Dover Downs this afternoon and got my two $5 parlay tickets- one for a 3-team traditional parlay against the spread, and another one for a 3-team "teaser" parlay, which essentially expands the spread by 6 points per team. If both tickets hit, it'll pay off about $46. If they don't, the investment will hopefully keep the dream of sports betting in the First State alive and the ticket stubs will be a nice memento of the day it all started.

Adding insult to injuries

2009-08-30T22:02:00.003-04:00

Leaving a lot of hanging promises on the blog these days (still trying to get around to reading more of that health care bill), so I have to deal with at least one of the unfinished stories from last week.

Went to Citi Field last week for the first time. Beautiful stadium, but as many Mets bloggers and fans have complained about, noticeably devoid of Mets historical artifacts. (Not that there's much history being made lately, at least the kind of history we'd like to have recorded). The game was against the Phillies, whose fans must have bought up every available seat on eBay and Stubhub. Thanks to injuries to almost the entire starting lineup, the Mets fielded a team that was barely recognizable to the casual fan. But the game featured the return of Pedro Martinez to NY, which alone was enough of a storyline to provide some intrigue for what was otherwise destined to be an old-fashioned beatdown of the home team.

It started off just that way, with the Phils jumping toa 6-0 lead in the first inning on two three-run bombs. But rather than allow us to be miserable, the Mets insisted on feigning competitiveness by chipping away at the lead one or two runs at a time. An inside -the-park homer, a few triples, a terrific diving catch in right, Phils manager Charlie Manuel getting tossed arguing a call... all great things to watch that kept the game interesting and kept us from leaving early.

Bottom of the 9th, score is 9-6 Phillies, Mets get a leadoff triple courtesy of an error, then score a run courtesy of another. A weak single followed, setting up runners on first and second with no one out, down by only two. Mets fans are now on their feet. The Phillies fans in front of us, who were gloating and loving life for most of the afternoon, suddenly were a miserable anxious mess. Runners take off with the pitch, line drive up the middle caught by the second baseman, who then steps on second and then turns to tag the runner from first. Three outs, inning over, game over, thanks for coming to the ballpark today, drive home safely. The Phillies fans are silent in disbelief. The Mets fans are silent in shock. Then, realizing what just happened, all 38,000+ yell in unison- some in joy, most in despair- and process out of the stadium together trying to explain to themselves what just happened.

Unassisted triple plays had occured only 16 times before, and only once before in history had one ended a game. It was amazing to watch, and something I'll remember forever. Unfortunately, it means I'll wind up remembering this season too, which is something like most Mets fans that I'd like to forget.

System failure- Information Overload

2009-08-27T09:29:00.003-04:00

Lack of posting recently certainly does not reflect lack of postable material. So much great stuff from the past few weeks, almost don't know where to start. Had a terrific week of vacation last week, spending time with my baby sis and her great family, then a few days at the Funny Farm with the McD's. Wrapped it up with a day and a half in Lake George, a place where I spent many a summer night playing mini-golf and skee-ball. Had a blast introducing my kids to things I did when I was their age and bringing them to places that haven't changed a bit in the 30 years that I've been going there.

Big thanks to Bucket for hosting me on my first trip to Citi Field. Was there on Sunday for a game you may have heard about, but more on that later...

My Prerogative

2009-08-15T10:36:00.002-04:00

It goes without saying that everyone's got their likes and dislikes. But there are some things we all dislike that probably confuse us and everyone else, because it seems like we should like them. It's been a while since I dropped a Top 5 list on you, so I figured that this would be a fun way to get back into it.

Here then, without further ado, the Top 5 Things I'm Supposed To Like But Don't (in no particular order):

Harry Potter- Maybe it's not fair to list this, because I haven't read anything beyond the second chapter of the first book, and have only seen one of the movies. But that's my point, I guess. I'm a sci-fi/wizardry guy, raised on Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons. You'd thing I'd be all into Harry. No desire at all.
Mustard- I'm a self-professed foodie. Love to eat, love to cook. Love flavors, especially strong flavors. Hate mustard. Can't stand it. I want to like it, because it's got cool varieties and goes with other things I like, but I just can't do it.
Modest Mouse- Might not be fair to put anything music-oriented on this list, because tastes there vary so much, but Modest Mouse is a band that based on other bands I love, you'd think I'd like. Every time I go to iTunes and buy something, or look at a band or track I'm interested in, Modest Mouse is on the list of suggestions for me. They've got critical acclaim and modest (pun intended) commercial success. But for some reason (I think it's the vocalist), I just can't get into them.
Scotch- Similar to mustard, this is something with a strong flavor that I really want to like, but can't. I love me some cocktails, and enjoy nothing better than sitting around with friends with an after-dinner drink just telling great stories. Scotch seems like the perfect fit there. I enjoy bourbon, and have had some really good scotches over time, but for some reason just can't develop a taste for the stuff.
Boston- I've been to Boston a few times, however maybe not enough to develop any kind of passion for the city. I love cities, especially the historical parts of them. Love the architecture, love the neighborhoods. So Boston should be just the kind of place I'd love. But of all the big cities I've spent time in, Boston fails to generate the attraction for me that all the others do. I love NYC, love Chicago, love SF and Seattle. Even like DC better than Boston. Go figure.

There's my list. Anything you can think of that you'd consider something you're supposed to like, but don't?

Day Laborers

2009-08-11T09:22:00.002-04:00

Had a little microeconomics session at the dinner table last night. Owen was lamenting the fact that his bank account balance was not quite at the level he would like it (a pain many of us are feeling, right?). I was lamenting that there were certain odd jobs around the house that I needed to get done, but just didn't have the time to do them. Supply, meet demand.

We went about the discussion in a very business-like manner. I explained to him the job I needed done- the "tomato garden" (in quotes because it's less of a garden and more of a compost pile because of neglect) is an absolute mess. It's overgrown with weeds, has tomatoes rotting on the vine, and because it is at the end of the driveway, it is a visible sign of my lack of commitment to it. I told him the entire garden needed to be cleaned out, however he saw fit. All I asked was that the patch of ground be clean dirt by the time he was done.

I estimated that the job would take him about an hour, and I asked him to submit a bid for the work. He asked for $7, I countered with $3, and we settled on $4. I told him that he could subcontract out some work if he wanted to, and that if he did, he would pay his subcontractors from the lump sum I paid him.

Brendan of course wanted in on some action too. We had a similar discussion about detailing my car, so while Owen is doing his job today, Brendan will be detailing the interior of my car for the same price. We'll see how all this works out, but if all parties are happy by this evening, it could be the start of a new business relationship.

Beachin' it

2009-08-03T22:05:00.005-04:00

Just back from our first ever trip to the Outer Banks, NC. Ciaran (or as the kids like to call her, Atti's Owner) and her brother Aidan rented a house there for the week and were kind enough to invite us down to visit.

We headed south Thursday afternoon, arriving there late in the evening in with enough time for an evening dip in the pool. Started Friday with a trip to Duck Donuts (fresh hot donuts hand-dipped in toppings and full of donuty goodness) and then walked the few blocks from the house to the beach. Great waves, plenty of sun- a perfect beach day. Capped it off that night with a shellfish feast- a take-out, cook-it-yourself steamer pot of lobster, crab, mussels and clams that was fantastic. Headed back to DE on Saturday with a little sunburn, great memories, and an appetite whetted for a return trip sometime soon.

The Ballad of Lucky the Fish

2009-07-30T08:54:00.003-04:00

I'm only about 75 pages into the 1000+ page health care bill, so it might be a while before I can post about my thoughts there. In the interim, I give you the tale of 3 fish that touched our lives and our hearts last week.

St. Joe's church carnival, last Wednesday. Three kids with a penchant for games of chance but without the skill to procure stuffed blue bears or Hannah Montana posters find their way to the Fishbowl Toss. A seemingly simple game, but plenty of players had come and gone before them with nothing more than a frown and a dollar less in their pockets. Nevertheless, the fearless 3 made their way to the table and offered the barker their fare.

First up was young Molly, who took aim with the first of her five table tennis balls and barely reached the table that held a baker's dozen of small fishbowls. The second ball was somewhat more on track, but careened to the side harmlessly. The third toss was wildly off-line, yet somehow struck the side of the backboard, caromed back toward the fishbowls, and landed squarely into the middle bowl of the second row. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Next up, Owen, who had no problem reaching the table but couldn't get the bounces to go his way- until the last throw. Soft toss, one bounce, nothing but bowl. Winner number 2.

Then Brendan, who after watching his siblings hit paydirt thought he was in for a fish for sure. Alas, despite his best attempts, he was unable to find the bottom of the bowl with any of his tosses, so he went away empty handed- at least for the moment.

After they finished, Molly and Owen walked over to the side of the booth to claim their prizes. The kindly folks in the booth offered to hold the fish for a while while we rode some rides, but the excitement of winning was just too much for the young champions. They each were handed a large plastic bag- the contents of which being about a quart of water and a solitary goldfish- and were delighted to have them (...for about ten minutes, at which time said bags were handed off to the closest adult).

Back to Brendan, who initially dealt with his defeat at the fins of the fish well, but after seeing the spoils unto the victors decided that this game of chance was worth further investment. He proudly stepped up to the booth for a second go-around, offering yet another 8 bits to the fish peddler. Upon seeing the desire for victory in his eyes, she took mercy on the boy, and decided it was her and God's will that a fish be unto him, balls be damned. So after the last ball tossed landed harmlessly between two fishbowls, she proclaimed "It's good enough- you win!" Fish number 3, now proudly secured.

We walked around for a bit more, stopping to chat with several friends and acquaintances, some with fish of their own. After a bit though, a situation developed that demanded attention. It seems one of the first-to-be-acquired fish had risen to the occasion quite literally, and was now resting in a permanent state of quiescence at the top of his bag. The suggestion was made that we simply trade this fish back in to the fish peddler for one that seemed perhaps a bit more alive. A valid suggestion, to be sure, but the fish booth had been depleted of its stock. We waited patiently for reinforcements to arrive, but before they could, tragedy struck.

It was now apparent that Brendan's fish was also in full horizontal recline. Down to one fish, and with no replacement options in sight, the command decision was made to abandon the first two fish in the nearest trash receptacle and head home with the lone survivor.

After some protest by the shorter members of the family, I proclaimed that this fish belonged to no individual now, but to the family. "He shall belong to all of us, and he shall be called "Lucky", for he has survived the afflictions which have befallen his brethren".

Lucky came home and was transferred from his plastic-walled home into a luxurious 14"x16"x8" tank. He was offered the finest flakes in the house, and devoured them readily. All turned in for the night, with dreams of Lucky and prayers for his comrades.

But in the morning, before the rise of the sun (or the sons), Lucky's luck ran out. He was found motionless, floating along side a few uneaten Goldy Flakes, as peaceful as the morning itself. Molly was downstairs with me, just in time to witness Lucky make his final passage into his porcelain grave.

We still think of Lucky sometimes, and talk of the time we shared together. His tank has been cleaned and put away, waiting for perhaps a new friend to come along. There won't be another Lucky though- at least until next year's carnival.

A bitter pill

2009-07-24T13:59:00.002-04:00

I feel obligated to post something on the current debate over health care reform, but feel uninformed enough at the time to do it. After about 45 minutes of searching online, I finally found the actual text of the bill before the House, and I plan to look it over this weekend. Should you care to do the same, you'll find it here. Hope you've got a lot of free time this weekend- the bill is 1018 pages long.

I realize that most bills are quite lengthy, and that most congresspersons don't read the bills they vote on for that reason. This one better get their full attention, because if the media is right, the content within could radically change our system.

More to come...

How to build a running playlist

2009-07-20T23:09:00.005-04:00

Just redid my running playlist tonight- long overdue, as I've been listening to a playlist I made for the last FinkBowl and not a true running playlist. While I won't share the entire 157 songs that made the cut, I will share what I feel makes a good playlist specifically for running, with some examples of songs on my current list.

1) Length- Thanks to digital technology, gone are the days of 12-18 song mixes you burned onto a disc, or *gasp* recorded onto a cassette (that you'd have to flip half-way thru a decent run). A good list needs to not be your whole catalog but should have enough songs for variety. This way, you can familiarize yourself with the tunes without getting sick of them. I think anywhere from 100-300 would work.

2) Song tempo- Obviously a big factor. Songs that are too fast will throw off your pace, and too slow will just bore you. Sometimes you've got to pick alternate songs from your favorite artists to fit the tempo criteria ("Cracklin' Rosie" over "Sweet Caroline", Neil Diamond, "The Way You Move" over "Hey Ya", Outkast)

3) Song length- Pick shorter over longer- you want to keep moving, not get bogged down by a long guitar solo or a bunch of "wiki-wiki-wiki-wikis". ("White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash over "Jam On It", Newcleus)

4) No Radiohead- A great band, but I've yet to find a Radiohead song that's acceptable to run to.

5) Good starts- Songs that get going quickly work great. I consider them either 'take-off songs', that start a little slow and rev up, like "Portions for Foxes", Rilo Kiley, or "Paint it Black", Rolling Stones, or 'blast-off songs' that come hard right out of the box, like "Panama", Van Halen or "Monkey Wrench", Foo Fighters.

6) Slow but steady starts- Some songs start slow, but because they have at their base a driving beat, they build and become motivating. Pick these over similar songs that start slow and build but don't really have that driving beat. ("Where The Streets Have No Name" over "Bad", U2)

7) Good memories- As long as the tempo and length are adequate, some songs that may not exactly rock can work if they generate some emotion or memories. I've always liked "Rain on the Scarecrow", John Mellencamp and "Around the Way Girl", LL Cool J, so when they come on I get lost in 3:40 worth of memories, which gets me that much closer to the finish.

8) Bang your head- Nothing helps you bust through "the wall" better than some loud metal or hard rock. Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Kiss, or Jane's Addiction would all be acceptable choices. Might I suggest "Jesus Christ Pose", Soundgarden? Or if you're a little more daring, try "Unsung", Helmet.

9) Classic songs- There are some songs, like Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime"and Springsteen's "Born to Run" that belong on any running playlist by virtue of their pedigree alone.

10) New blood- Classics are fine, but find a few new songs that fit criteria #2 and 3 to keep your playlist from developing that not-so-fresh scent. Perhaps "Percussion Gun", White Rabbits, "Around the Bend", The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (which you might know as the "iPod Touch commercial song"), or "The Good Old Days", The Lodger.

There you go. Now go open up your iTunes, pick a bunch of songs that fit this list, go to the iTunes store and buy 10-20 new songs, then sync your iPod, strap on your shoes and hit the road. No more excuses.

Stuff you should hear

2009-07-19T21:33:00.003-04:00

I never got around to doing a "Best of 2008" post back in January, probably because I was too busy playing all the new Wii games the kids got for Christmas. But if I had, I'd have submitted as my nomination for the "Best Podcast of 2008" the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast from HowStuffWorks.com. (I assume you can get the podcast from the site, but I get it and all my other podcasts directly thru iTunes.)

The podcast is a free download, a twice weekly production offering up presentations of articles that can be found on the website. The articles address questions on various topics, such as "Is spontaneous combustion real?", or "How do credit default swaps work?". The information is decent, but the hosts are not experts in any of the fields they present, so sometimes facts are a little off. And the hosts admittedly lean a little to the left, so depending on what topics they choose, the information they present can have a definite liberal bias.

What makes the podcast so great though is the rapport between the two hosts. Their style is at its worst funny and at its best hilarious. They are both smart guys, with a great fund of pop culture knowledge that they stir into their discussions. The end product is usually one with a little bit of education and a lot of humor, and at just about 25 minutes a show, the perfect length for the ride to work. Check it out- you might learn something, and you'll laugh even if you don't.

Maybe someday I'll be able to work from home

2009-07-17T14:13:00.003-04:00

Had my first real experience with e-medicine the other day. Saw a patient on Monday who had a nasty boil on his leg that I drained. He called 2 days later, saying it looked worse. We asked him to come in right away, but he declined saying that he was at work, about 30 miles away. He instead asked if he could just send pictures, because he had a very good digital camera and wanted to just e-mail some shots to us. Given that the alternative was him likely not getting his leg looked at at all, I said, "Sure".

I'll spare you the photos, but they were of good quality and showed that his leg certainly looked worse. With that knowledge I advised him that if he couldn't come down to us, he should get himself to the nearest clinic/ER near him.

There's obviously a good big of hands-on stuff that I do, but I'd guess that the majority of the information I gather for each patient encounter is either historical or visual . I can see a day soon when most of that information is gathered without me being in the room. But as long as the FDA says I'm the one with the prescribing power, I've got job security, baby.

It must be summer

2009-07-08T10:30:00.002-04:00

Must be summer if I'm home alone again. Kids and Erin are off for a short trip to upstate New York. They were at Niagara Falls yesterday, stopping at Corning today to tour the glass factory, then will be heading home. No definite plans for the rest of the summer, but more of these short trips are likely.

Must be summer if the Mets are swooning again. Went to the game on Sunday in Philly. Took the boys, which was fun, but was treated to a miserable offensive performance by the Flushing nine. Looking more and more like it's time to rebuild and start anew.

Must be summer if things are slow around the office. Not too busy these past few days, which in some way is good because it allows me to catch up on the pile of paperwork on my desk (not to mention the neglected blog you're reading now). But for any small business, too many "not too busy" days in a row make you a little concerned for the bottom line. Fortunately it seems swine flu may be back again in the fall- job security, baby!

Human Nature

2009-06-29T12:57:00.004-04:00

It takes the death of the King of Pop to bring me back to this blog after more than 2 weeks away. I'm finding through e-mails, IM's, and media coverage that everyone's got an opinion on the death of Jacko. (Even PTI devoted a short segment to his passing last Friday.) Not surprising at all, given the fame and infamy that defined his life. So I couldn't let the opportunity pass without throwing my two cents and silver glove into the ring.

I've always liked MJ. Never a huge fan, but appreciated his music and marveled at his talent. I listened to "Thriller" while I was cutting the grass this past Saturday AM, trying to identify what it was that drew so many people in. What struck me as the most identifiable reason was the passion in his voice. The songs are good, the lyrics are well written, but it's the passion in his voice that seems to set MJ apart from everyone else. Listening to the album, there's no doubt that Billie Jean is certainly not his lover. (And there was certainly never any doubt that the kid was not his son ;) ) Thinking further, it becomes easy then to see that same passion in his dancing, and also easy to see how his misguided passion completely screwed up his personal life.

I think it can be argued that Michael Jackson is the most famous person since Jesus. More than Elvis, more than the Beatles, more than Princess Diana. Michael transcended music- he crossed age barriers, race barriers, cultural barriers. For that reason, to the chagrin of many, his death will be a huge story for the media (and bloggers) for quite a while.

At your service

2009-06-12T16:37:00.003-04:00

Earlier this school year, I tried to help Owen improve his penmanship by offering him a challenge. He was getting B's in penmanship, but only because he would rush his work. Whenever he took his time, his printing and handwriting were fine. So I offered to him that if he finished the year with an A in penmanship, I would be his servant for the weekend.

After B's in both the first and second trimester, it wasn't looking good. But he persevered, worked harder at it, and with the help of some mystery "bonus points" (I know for a fact his teacher knew of the challenge), he got an A in the last trimester and somehow managed an A average for the year.

So, of course, he called me as soon as he got out of school this morning (half-day for their last day), advising him that my servitude was about to be called upon. Since I'm on call this weekend, I told him it was in his best interest to wait a few weeks to call in his winnings, so we'll do it sometime soon.

He's proud, I'm proud, and the way I see it, it saved me from paying for grades. Only problem is, Brendan's now trying to come up with some scheme to indenture me. Maybe I'll offer him Molly.

EXTRA!! EXTRA!! Green Lantern Dispatches of Lex Luthor, No Comment Yet from Superman

2009-05-31T16:51:00.006-04:00

Just watched some tennis commentators talking about how excited Roger Federer must be now that Rafael Nadal has been ousted from the French Open. Federer, despite his recent success, has never won the French and has lost to Nadal in the finals there the last 3 years.

It made me wonder how much athletes who have a particular nemesis in an individual or a team find their victories bittersweet if they haven't had to defeat their nemesis to get there. This first came to me about 10 years ago. The Mets, who had been the whipping boys of the Braves for most of the 90's, finally made it to the post-season in 1999 but were beaten a step before the World Series by the Braves. The next season, the Mets and Braves both made the playoffs again, but the Braves lost in the first round. The Mets won their series, and subsequently advanced to the World Series, but it seemed "cheaper" in a way because they didn't have to go through the Braves to get there. (Yankee fans need not comment on the final round of the playoffs that year.)

You think Federer is happy Nadal is out, or will he always be questioned if he does win because "he didn't have to play Nadal"?

Just call me "The Snake Whisperer"

2009-05-28T22:45:00.004-04:00

Was out cutting the grass today and out of the corner of my eye saw a rather large black snake sneaking along the base of the house into the front flower bed. About an hour later, I had finished mowing and was trimming along the back of the house and came upon the same snake, stretched out right in front of me, just sunning himself.

After a brief thought of just chasing him away, I decided that no matter how docile this guy might have been, he needed to go. So I went back to the shed, grabbed the hoe, and went back for him. He was no longer in the spot he was, but I figured he hadn't gone far. Found him just a few feet away, coiled up under the steps to the back door.

Our hoe has two sides- a standard blade side, and an opposite side with two prongs (kinda looks like a claw hammer). I reached under the steps with the hoe, pulled him out with the pronged end, then went to work with the blade side. He never stood a chance.

Pretty freaky, because even after I gave him that beat-down, he was still writhing somewhat. So I got the garden shovel, took it to his neck and rendered him headless, to which he responded by still writhing. He did stop moving enough for me to stretch him out- I paced him out at just over 4 feet long, and by his looks (and how much shovel it took to get all French Revolution on his neck), I figure he was a good inch and a half in diameter.

My brief internet research tells me he was likely a black rat snake, harmless and possibly helpful, as he was probably feasting on the field mice that live in our yard. While that gave me some regret, since mice are more of a nuisance than he would have been, I think the kids would be more OK with seeing a mouse in the basement than a snake in their playhouse longer than they are tall.

Blog fodder

2009-05-20T22:42:00.002-04:00

The cruel irony about having plenty to blog about is that it often means there's no time to do the blogging. Marathon training has picked up lately (although you'd never know it from the official finkathon blog, which has suffered the same neglect as this one has), and am still in the throes of getting this new business off the ground. This week's tasks- getting the bank to lend me some money, getting worker's comp insurance and a business license, and figuring out how I'm going to do payroll.

Lots of resources available online for small businesses, and despite never having done this before, I think I'll be able to do most of the management myself. Love to hear any tips you might have, especially things you wish you knew at the beginning.

To infinity...and beyond!

2009-05-12T08:37:00.003-04:00

I remember STS-1 well- watched it live in my 4th grade classroom and have been fascinated ever since. Haven't seen a live launch in many years, but thanks to this series of interconnected tubes, I can watch them whenever I want. No matter how many times you see it, it never gets old.

Here's STS-125 heading out on its way to repair Hubble. (From about 2pm yesterday)

Yes, I still work here

2009-05-08T14:58:00.003-04:00

Lest you think that my new "venture" has caused me to abandon this blog, I feel the need to at least post something to show you I still care about you.

For those who asked, the venture I referenced a few weeks ago is just a little side project from my current practice which will involve some nursing home care. I'll be hiring someone to help me with it, which necessitates the independent corporation. The legwork setting up the business side of things is nothing compared to the bureaucracy of enrolling in Medicare. Let's just say if you've ever wondered why things in Washington are seemingly impossible to change, it's probably because no one has figured out which of the nine gazillion government forms they need to do it.

On a brighter note, had a wonderful first communion celebration for Brendan this past weekend. Had everyone from the official finkipedia family (national division) present, and despite the rain had a great time.

Venture adventure

2009-04-24T21:41:00.003-04:00

Not much posting going on, as I've been occupied with a new side project I'm taking on. As part of this new venture, I'm setting up a corporation and am actually enjoying the process of getting things off the ground. (While technically I'm already a small business owner, buying into a corporation is just not the same as starting from scratch).

Filed with the state for my certificate of formation, and now have my official IRS tax ID number. Next step- licenses and a bank account. Hope to be operational by June, and soon thereafter taking advantage of all the benefits both personally and professionally that come from running my own show. Maybe I'll petition the Board of Directors (me) to hold the first shareholder's meeting (singular possessive) off-site- perhaps at Citi Field?

Resurrection

2009-04-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

Many have said the two things you can't talk about at work are politics and religion- that's what blogs are for. Touched on politics last fall, but I haven't really approached the third rail of religion yet, though not for lack of desire. In fact, I once thought about starting an entirely separate blog for matters of religion to allow for longer and deeper discussion. For now though we'll start here, and with no smaller matter than the entire foundation of the Christian faith.

I listened intently to yesterday's sermon in which the priest focused on the importance of the empty tomb. His point was that Christianity centers on the belief in the unseen, that Peter and the "other disciple" (John) left the empty tomb believing in the resurrection, though they hadn't seen anything. They went back and reported in, telling the others that Jesus had risen. Only Thomas doubted, and needed to see the risen Christ to believe. Jesus of course would soon show himself to Thomas and the others, but would then declare that with regards to the resurrection, "blessed are those who do not see, but still believe".

But what if the resurrection was more of a spiritual event than a physical one? What if it was more allegory than literal fact? Is it possible that those first two disciples came back from that empty tomb, professing their belief with such conviction that a miracle was born? What if it was not the return of Christ to a human body that was the true resurrection miracle, but rather the ability of those two disciples to believe that He would live on forever?

For Christians, a resurrected Christ is necessary to show God's ability to conquer death and to bring to believers the gift of eternal life. If the resurrection is not corporeal, than how could that need be filled? The answer is in the empty tomb. For Peter and John, the resurrection was not a vision of Christ. It was the absence of his dead body that caused them to believe. Once they believed that death had been conquered, the resurrection was real regardless of what happened to Christ's body. It is easy to question that if Christ did not return to his earthly body, then how did the tomb become empty in the first place, and how did Christ appear to the apostles later? That is not the point. How the body left the tomb does not matter, nor does his appearance later matter. Whether Christ rejoined his body at all does not matter. What matters is that we believe that after he died, Christ returned from death to live on first in John (because he got there first, of course), then in Peter, then the rest of us.

The sermon I remember more than any other was one I heard probably 25 years ago. It was given by a deacon about the gospel of loaves and the fishes. He suggested that perhaps the miracle that day wasn't Jesus creating food for 5,000 from thin air, but rather was Jesus convincing everyone other than the kid with the fish and bread to share the food they had brought with them. People in attendance, reluctant to share their food, were touched by Christ and produced enough food to feed everyone, with plenty to spare. Bible literalists would consider any possibility other than Jesus creating food to be blasphemy, but this exegesis struck a deep chord within me. It was a way to explain a miracle while still considering it a miracle.

If Christ can live on in each of us, than he has in fact conquered death. If we believe that Christ has conquered death, than we believe that we too can live forever. And if those beliefs are held in good faith, then isn't that what the resurrection is for?

Change you can believe in

2009-04-02T21:38:00.003-04:00

So it wasn't entirely an April Fool's joke. Most of it was true. I used to be a horrible typist, and truly couldn't find a shift key. Didn't matter much to a science geek who had few term papers to write, but with the advent of the internet, typing was forced upon me pretty quickly. So, I could either type slowly, or just forego capital letters in the interest of speed. I opted for the latter.

Didn't take too long to get skillz, but I kinda liked the lower case thing. Became a style, an M.O. But for a while now I've been growing a little tired of it. Looking back on this blog in particular, I do feel that an all lowercase font does make the entries a little more difficult to read. (I know, the background and layout need some big time work too, but that's gonna take some HTML skillz that I haven't got yet.) So, it's time to grow up.

You may see e-mails from me in all lowercase, and for effect I won't rule out a lowercase entry here from time to time, but from now on, it's a more traditional style here at finkipedia. Except for the name.

GOOD TIME FOR A CHANGE

2009-04-01T08:59:00.002-04:00

WHEN I FIRST STARTED USING E-MAIL YEARS AGO, I WAS A HORRIBLE TYPIST AND COULDN'T FIND THE SHIFT KEY. THUS, I'D TYPE ONLY IN LOWER CASE. WHAT BEGAN OUT OF INEPTITUDE MORPHED INTO A STYLE, AND IT'S BEEN HARD TO GO BACK.

BUT WHEN I RE-READ THIS BLOG, I FIND THAT READING LOWER CASE CAN BE A BIT DISTRACTING AT TIMES. SO I'VE DECIDED TO CHANGE THE FORMAT A LITTLE, AND SWITCH TO AN ALL UPPER CASE FORMAT FOR A WHILE.

FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR COMMENTS AS YOU'D LIKE, BUT AN ALL-CAPS COMMENT SECTION WOULD JIVE NICELY WITH THE TEXT ABOVE.

caring is creepy

2009-03-31T11:39:00.002-04:00

is there a time limit for leaving a dead person's voice on an answering machine message? i realize that for some people, it may be the only recording they have of their loved one's voice, but after a certain period of time after a death, it becomes a little odd hearing a voice from someone you know can't really call you back.

i'm sure there are situations too that because people don't really call their own homes, they may not even realize that their loved one's voice is on their machine. do you tell them? if so, how?

it's not anywhere near the top of the things-to-do-when-someone-dies list, but i'd propose that if the deceased is the voice on your answering machine, changing the message within a week would be appropriate. having a message still there after six months (as i experienced this morning) is a bit out there. you think i should submit this to miss manners or dear abby?

the holy grail

2009-03-23T22:40:00.002-04:00

i've said for years that the biggest breakthrough in medicine we may see in the next generation is synthetic blood. that's based solely on my opinion, as many would argue that potential advances in gene therapy, fetal surgery, robotics, neuroscience or stem cell therapy would qualify as even greater successes. but i feel that the development of synthetic blood would revolutionize surgical and trauma care, not to mention the benefits for cancer, cardiovascular and critical care in general. a theoretical limitless supply of blood would eliminate the need for blood banks and donor programs and eliminate the risk of transmitted diseases through transfusion.

for years, attempts at developing a synthetic analog to red blood cells have failed. no chemical substance has ever been remotely effective at replicating the red blood cell's ability to transmit oxygen throughout the body. until one is discovered, the only way to expand the world's supply of blood would be to create more blood somehow.

i read today that because of stem cell research, we are on the doorstep of this breakthrough. i've posted previously about the ethical morass that is stem cell research, but there is no denying its potential for revolutionary discoveries such as this. we'll save countless lives with this new therapy, but will we be better off? that's more philosophical than medical.

best weekend of the year

2009-03-19T14:31:00.016-04:00

parked in front of the couch per my usual routine for the first day of the NCAA basketball tourney. like last year, had another shamrock shake courtesy of erin. this year the technology of the finkstead has been upgraded, so all the games are in HD and the wifi will allow for a running update here throughout the day.

i'll keep you posted on how my bracket fares, as well as what brilliant insights the CBS commentators impart.

3pm: purdue/northern iowa- miserable game to watch. purdue is horrible, but NIU is worse. 3 for 3 on the early games- memphis, texas A&M and LSU

3:07pm uconn/chattanooga- what an ankle-breaker move by the chattanooga kid on the opening trip down the floor. if they could possibly get thabeet in foul trouble, this could be interesting

3:36pm back to back to back 3's for uconn, went from 19-15 to 28-15. game over. so much for the mocs

4:34pm still unscathed, thanks to purdue. unc and uconn are locked in, just hoping cal holds on over md to keep me perfect on the day. spaghetti jimmy wins!

6:37pm local and national news break for the games, so it's over to discovery channel for a little "cash cab"- great concept, great show. as for the bracket, i was cursed by spaghetti jimmy- maryland went on a run starting at about 4:35 and blew out cali. finished 6 for 7 in the early games, with mississippi state (my pick for a sweet 16 cinderella) not looking so hot against u-dub in game #8.

8:09pm 'nova/american- best game of the day so far. 41-31 american at the half. 'nova getting no love from the home crowd. oh, and dick enberg has on more makeup than joan rivers did on larry king last night.

9:27pm 'nova finally gets the crowd behind them, finally uses their size and goes inside, and punishes american in the second half. fun game for a while, though. maybe akron will sneak by gonzaga and be the cinderella of the day.

9:59pm ...or not- zags just too much. so much for the underdogs today- 2 #10s over #7s, but wins by maryland and michigan can hardly be considered upsets. binghamton not looking like much of a challenge for the dukies. maybe VCU or western KY will represent for the little guys. won't find out until tomorrow, though, because i think i'm tapped out. DVR is now taping ER and grey's anatomy for erin, relegating me upstairs to watch the rest from bed. means i'll be asleep in half an hour. great day though- looking forward to tomorrow night.

top o' the mornin'

2009-03-17T08:23:00.002-04:00

going green here on finkipedia in celebration of the holiday. made our annual irish dinner on sunday and have the leftovers for lunch today, including homemade soda bread. (green beer will have to wait until after hours). mmmm. looking forward to a shamrock shake to cap off my day this evening.

as they say in the homeland, may the road rise to meet you, may the wind be at your back, and may you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

in the meanwhile, enjoy the dulcet tones of shane mcgowan belting out my favorite irish tune.

finkipedia ('07, blog) **1/2 witty comments on ordinary life

2009-03-14T11:09:00.004-04:00

not sure who really reads the tv listings in the paper anymore, but i'm glad they're still printed. the increase in channels and the prime real estate of the newspaper page has forced the consolidation of the listings down to usually a 1/2 page. for some reason, the powers that be still find it necessary to include not just the name of the program but as much pertinent information about it as the space will allow. this means that most listings get 3 to 10 word descriptions that are rarely useful but often hilarious. no true gems in today's paper, but some good ones nonetheless (the asterisks represent ratings stars):

scifi, 8:00pm lake placid 2 ('07) * giant crocodiles
scifi, 11:00pm eye of the beast ('07) squid eats profits
nbc, 10:00pm law & order "by perjury" airline plaintiff murdered TV-PG (HD)
tcm, 8:00 pm rocky ('76, drama) sylvester stallone. a boxer trains for a championship fight
max, 8:00pm meet the parents ('00, comedy) *** a man meets his girlfriend's parents
starz, 11:00pm the game plan ('07) quarterback dad
versus, 8:00pm PBR bullriding "birmingham" (taped)

downhill lies

2009-03-10T22:45:00.006-04:00

spent last weekend skiing in park city, UT with some M'97 classmates. hadn't been skiing in about 9 years, since before we left cali. was a little worried i'd embarrass myself, or worse, break a bone or two in the process. was just like riding a bike, though. after a few warmup runs on the green slopes, i made my way up to mostly intermediate runs for the rest of the weekend. the weather was great, snow was perfect, and the resorts we hit (park city, deer valley, and alta) were spectacular. mix in some great steaks, great sushi, many beers and some poker, and it had all the trappings of the perfect man-cation.

hard to tell from the free sample image, but that's me, looking like quite the ski dork in my great gazoo helmet and trendy scarf.

wonder if they have a shamrock version?

2009-03-04T12:40:00.003-05:00

if you've never checked out thisiswhyyourefat.com, go and take a peek. it may gross you out a bit, but it might just make you feel a little less guilty about the cheeseburger you had for lunch when you realize what some of your other options were. this is one of the less revolting images you'll find in the archives there.

it's a pic of the mcnuggetini, a delectable cocktail made from a mcdonald's chocolate shake and vanilla vodka, rimmed with barbecue sauce and garnished with a mcnugget. if i were a cardiologist, i'd refer to this as "business".

the pestilence returns

2009-02-27T22:52:00.002-05:00

this time, it's brendan. not GI-oriented this time, which is good, but it looks like the poor guy has the flu. came out of school today with his head hung low, stating "i just don't feel good, mom". not what you expect from a second grader on a friday afternoon.

achy, feverish, sore throat, belly ache- just miserable. hopeful that a) it doesn't last long, and b) it starts and ends with him. full quarantine in effect.

"fifty-seven thousand six hundred minutes..."

2009-02-25T20:56:00.003-05:00

the easter season gets no love. easter is a more important holiday on the christian calendar than christmas, yet it gets nowhere near the commercial attention. hard to say whether the holiday drives the lead-in season or vice versa, but either way the weeks leading up to easter have nothing on those before christmas. i can't really say that advent gets any special billing, but the generic "christmas season" certainly gets its fair share. the pre-easter season kicks off with dirty foreheads, winds down with free palm leaves that clutter your house until you get rid of them just before the next year's holiday, and ends up on a total downer of a holiday, so-called "good" friday.

lent needs to go mainstream, get the people talking about it to drive up the word on the street. mel gibson tried, but he just brought everyone down with "the passion" (besides, the merchandising options were awful). we need something with a little life in it. so, as a means of bringing some much-needed attention to the season, i'm going to propose to the u.s. conference of catholic bishops that someone there just adapt a popular broadway show and create "lent- the musical". sure, they'll have to groom over some little things (like the gay sex and the aids and the drugs and all), but the songs are way better than anything from church!

c'mon, isn't lent really a "season of love" after all?

geography bee

2009-02-22T20:53:00.001-05:00

being the pedagogic parent that i am, i insisted that if i was going to have a pokemon battle with the boys on saturday afternoon, they would have to play a quiz game with me. i tried to get them to agree to state capitals, but they talked me into just quizzing them on the 50 states. turns out, that itself was an adventure enough.

the game went like this- i'd give them a letter, and they would have to provide me with all the states that started with that letter. first letter i gave them was L. owen's quick response: "lakota?" let it be said that the kid is well read, and he did go to custer's battlefield this summer, but i didn't realize he believed in statehood for native american tribes. with only a little prompting ("think south, near texas"), one of them quickly got louisiana and calmed my fear that this might be more of a lesson in futility for me than of geography for them.

we went on, covering most of the states with fair success on their part and only a few incorrect guesses (most were cities instead of states, as well as the almost expected incorrect guess of "new england"). then came T. right out of the box, both gave texas simultaneously, then paused for a good bit. finally, brendan broke the silence with "talabama?". classic. i believe i gave them tennessee because i couldn't bear the thought of anything worse.

but there was, sort of. i think the last letter we hit on was R. silence again, until owen responded with "richigan?". obviously he was playing off brendan's previous response, but when i gave him a "come on..." look, he replied "what? that's how scooby doo would say it." now the silence was on my end. you just can't argue with logic like that.

leading me here, despite my destination

2009-02-20T22:13:00.004-05:00

almost 2 weeks without a post, and now two in 45 minutes. couldn't let this wait, though. i'm adding this to my bucket list- somehow, someway, i want to see this with my own eyes. (i'd post the picture here, but it's a panorama and wouldn't fit.)

speaking of bucket lists, that sounds like a good idea for another day's post...

back off the DL

2009-02-20T21:29:00.002-05:00

about 90% recovered from a nasty go-around with the stomach flu earlier this week. owen came home early from school on tuesday with it, and was still feeling the effects into the evening. i was fine all day, had a great dinner, went to bed a little early more for the rest than anything else, then started having that not-so-fresh feeling.

at about 10pm the fun began, with visits to the vomitorium about every 60-90 minutes throughout the night. one trip was a touching father-son moment- owen staggered into our room sometime around midnight, vomited on our carpet, then finished the job in the commode. once i knew he'd run dry, i gently nudged him aside and contributed my share. now there's bonding.

the other 60% of the family has emerged unscathed so far. here's hoping diligent hand washing and personalized water bottles keep it that way.

'roid rage

2009-02-09T20:38:00.005-05:00

at the risk of starting a war of words in the comments section between wiley and 2white, i feel obliged to acknowledge the recent developments in the life of one alex rodriguez.

first of all, this news should come as no surprise to anyone who follows baseball. i've yet to see any of those before/after photos of a-rod, like the ones that sports outlets love to put up on bonds and clemens, but it's fair to say that a-rod now is nothing compared to the lanky shortstop that came up with the mariners. in a league where performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) were/are rampant, it's foolish to believe that after signing that almost immoral $250M contract, a-rod would have just turned his head and taken the moral high ground when presented with the temptation to cheat to succeed.

the signing of that contract, along with his antics on and off the field in NY, establish a-rod as a person with extremely low self-esteem. that low self-esteem was no doubt what drove him to feel the pressure to "'roid up", so as to avoid the ridicule that failure would bring after signing for 1/4 billion.

i give him some credit for owing up so fast. sure he's known for 5 years that there's a positive test on him, but if MLB wasn't going to leak it, why would he? his cop-out excuse seems lame, but i'm sure it's true- just make sure you interpret his feeling of "pressure" as more accurately an "immature fear of failure and loss of stature".

MLB is the real loser here. a-rod is the anchor brick in their steroid jenga tower- it all comes down now. there's no reason to believe that the 90's and early 00's were anything but a PED-fueled power trip. MLB must acknowlege that, acknowledge their outward denial, and allow all the records to stand and all the players during that period to be treated as equals. either that, or disavow the whole decade and a half and start anew.

those darn kids and their myface

2009-02-08T21:11:00.003-05:00

finally succumbed to the pull of the black hole that is facebook. signed myself up yesterday, and already have found some old friends from high school and earlier whom i haven't heard from (or even about) in years. from what i hear that's the point, right? (that, and posting ridiculous photos from those early years)

still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of the site and figure how it will factor in to my online life. at the very least, maybe it will direct a little more traffic this way.

friend me up, 'cause i may have some dirt on you somewhere just waiting to find its way to cyberspace.

finkbowl recap

2009-02-03T21:09:00.005-05:00

another great finkbowl has come and gone. thanks to all those who came from far and near- you are the ones that make the party what it is. some great food helps too, and i must say, this year's feature of BBQ pulled pork was a taste sensation that's sure to return next year.

a few special thank yous:

to the 2parm clan for making the trip for tacos on saturday
to the cast of lovemomworklife for sharing your whole weekend with us
to 2white for representing with GH-world tour
to googs and RK-K for being a great uncle and aunt and even greater friends
to puddin' and "jello" for homemade beer, NY cheesecake, and companionship during the finkbowl 5K
to CTB for a fantastic cake in a solo effort
to judge, for continuing to fly across the country every year just for the sake of a good party (and for finally losing back some of the money you've taken from us over the years)

hope to see all of you next year at finkbowl XIV, for which i invoke the divine right of party kings and hereby christen "the sun bowl"

things i love: convenience stores

2009-01-27T09:26:00.005-05:00

i've probably written in the past about the little things in life that i love, but i'm not sure i made it any kind of formal post. figured i'd start a new somewhat recurring series of posts about some of the esoteric things that bring me joy.

i love convenience stores. much of the appeal is derived from my love of road trips, which are always punctuated with frequent stops at gas stations and thus the convenience stores they often have. i love scratch and win lottery tickets (more on that in another "things i love" post), packaged processed food, and coffee- all staples of the convenience store. i love the classless atmosphere of the convenience store- guys in beamers and suits waiting in line for their coffee behind hardened women buying marlboro lights and mexican day laborers buying iced tea by the half gallon. i love the fact that you can see all these things whether it's three in the afternoon or three in the morning.

next time you stop for gas, see if you can appreciate the inner beauty of the quickie mart. it's america in a 600 square foot fluorescent-lit room (that smells like hot dogs).

they're the people that you meet, when you're walkin' down the street...

2009-01-25T21:46:00.003-05:00

a story from the holidays that i never got around to posting...

we (the 5 of us) joined fellow stags stacey and irish and their kids in NYC just after christmas to do the holiday city thing. met at 30 rock, saw the tree, walked up 5th to see the windows and made our way to FAO schwartz. cut across 59th from there to columbus circle to make our way back down broadway, walking along the park side of 59th street. (those unfamiliar with NYC- disregard that paragraph, as it adds absolutely nothing to the story other than the setting.)

we were across from the NYAC when a few black suburbans pulled up to the curb right next to us. a few guys get out to stop the westbound traffic on 59th so that someone from the car could get to the NYAC across the street. stacey and erin stood around watching to see who would get out, while irish and i marched forward with the kids. we walked back to ask what they were doing, and erin replied "watching some middle-age woman waiting to cross the street"- right at about the same time that stacey realized that the woman was hillary clinton. stacey clapped and gave a little cheer, and senator clinton came right over to her and erin and engaged them in conversation.

the guys and kids made it back to them in time to have the kids at least say hello and wish the new secretary of state well. i realize that while she wasn't campaigning she's still a politician, but she was nothing but pleasant, genuine and friendly. let's hope her meetings with heads of state are as enjoyable for her as this was for us.

a new beginning

2009-01-20T13:23:00.003-05:00

put aside your political ideology- today is a day to identify yourself only as an american. as with any new endeavor, the only way to succeed is to begin with the belief that we will. if you believe in the merits of intercessory prayer, then take a few minutes today to ask for God's grace on our new president and the country as a whole. if you don't believe in prayer, then at least wish president obama well.

then, republican or democrat, god-fearing or godless, pledge to do your part to correct this mess and get this country headed the right way again.

can't wait until he's in a group of his peers

2009-01-18T21:47:00.004-05:00

if you happen to check on the official finkipedia blogs, you might notice that delegate steve's blog now redirects to a new site: steve shannon for attorney general. steve's been in the virginia house of delegates for a while now, and is trying to take his platform of support for the police and victim's rights to the office of the attorney general for the commonwealth.

check out the site and support him with your good wishes and even a few sheckels if you so choose. i'd love to be able to blog about steve meeting his colleagues from other states, if for no other reason than to use use one of my all-time favorite pluralizations.

liberal media? you decide.

2009-01-13T22:11:00.004-05:00

as you know if you've been reading along, i voted for barack obama, and truly believe that he can make a difference. but i'll be the first to admit that in a broad sense, the media treated him with kid gloves and gave the mccain/palin ticket a much shorter leash on most issues. this of course won't stop now that the election is over- i'm sure we'll find that issues that arise during this presidency will be presented in an entirely different light than during the last.

case and point: just read that obama's nominee for treasury secretary, timothy geithner, has been found to have made some tax mistakes and had some issues with an immigrant housekeeper. nominees have been railroaded for both these issues in the past, yet the articles from wsj.com and washingtonpost.com both seem already to give geithner the benefit of the doubt. it may very well be true that these were honest mistakes, but both the journal and the post (especially the post in this blog post here) seem ready to sweep this under the rug so as not to disrupt the coronation next week.

only XXVII days to go!

2009-01-05T21:32:00.003-05:00

christmas and new year's festivites are over with, which can only mean one thing: time to get started planning finkbowl. creeping up fast- less than 4 weeks away, if you can believe it. preparations include: scouring the cookbooks for fun new recipes, paying for everything in large bills and asking for singles as change, and brainstorming for this year's saturday night contest (think i've got a good one this time).

and here's the official announcement of something i leaked to some of you over the past few months- super sunday this year will include the inaugural finkbowl 5K, to be run on sunday morning at 10AM. there'll be a 1 mi fun run and a full 5K, with prizes to the winners. i'm planning on designing some t-shirts too, hopefully will have them available for purchase at cafepress soon.

may be a bit ambitious for the morning after a finkbowl eve celebration, but i think it will be a fun way to bring a little fitness (not to mention yet another competitive event) to a great gathering. now get out there, get in shape, and show us what you've got.

happy new year

2009-01-04T07:53:00.002-05:00

winding down the christmas break. all the decorations are down, house is back to "normal" (whatever that term means), and the christmas music is gone from finkipedia.

should get back to a more normal schedule of posting here over the next week or two. some great stories from the break that, as erin likes to say, are "blog-able". hope to get the time to jot them down here.

welcome!

2008-12-22T15:01:00.003-05:00

to those of you dropping by after seeing the shameless plug in the annual finkmas letter, welcome aboard. take a bit to troll thru the archives- amongst the aimless opining on politics, music and baseball, you might actually find some updates from finkdom. hopefully you'll bookmark the site and drop by from time to time to check in on us.

open posting here, so feel free to drop a comment or two and make your presence known. we promise not to put you on our spam list.

(by the way- the background music is just a temporary holiday theme. if "rudolph" has left you with a lifelong fear of burl ives, please don't let that keep you from visiting here after the holidays.)

please enjoy the music while your party is reached

2008-12-16T20:39:00.006-05:00

in the beginning there was muxtape, and it was good. then the gods of the internet said "let there be a way for individuals to search for songs already on the internet, then map them to a playlist that they would create. let the html code for this playlist be made available to them, so the user may post this playlist on their own website." so the gods of the internet created playlist.com, and it was good.

you'll see the new feature on the right- the new home for the soundtrack of finkipedia. hope you're enjoying the holiday tunes- i was able to find only 3 of my top 5 christmas songs, as posted last year, so i filled in two other worthy stand-ins. this station will be all christmas music all the time until after new year's day, when we'll switch over to a whole new format.

blue (and orange) ribbon day

2008-12-11T21:59:00.007-05:00

nothing better to brighten a miserably rainy winter day than a dose or two of baseball sunshine. got a call from erin this AM while i was at work that "the seats" had finally arrived. they were packaged with wooden planks to be mounted on for stability, which need a coat of stain and varnish before i attach them. and while there's some appeal to the character that 40 years of back sweat, stale bud light and gulden's mustard give the seats, a good scrubbing with a magic eraser is in order before they're ready for public viewing and seating.

a few hours after getting the call about the seats, i read this about a huge deal omar had just worked out adding even more reinforcements to the bullpen. it means we give up endy, which just kills me, but overall i think this deal and the signing of k-rod put the mets in striking distance of a pennant.

until i can move my seats in front of the TV to watch the now-anticipated new season, i'll just leave them where they are here in front of the computer, so i can watch this over and over, toasting endy and wishing him well.

still here

2008-12-10T13:23:00.002-05:00

thanks for checking back. having a hard time finding even a few minutes to spend jotting down my thoughts of the day here, much less a few hours penning the ol' christmas missive. not looking much better for the rest of the week either- christmas shopping tonight, then school christmas concert tomorrow, then on call for the weekend.

gets much easier after that- no big plans for the weekend before christmas, talking about possible trips to NYC or DC to catch some big city christmas cheer. updates and reports here, i promise.

'tis the season

2008-12-03T10:15:00.003-05:00

transitioning from one holiday to another this week. had a fantastic thanksgiving at the kentagon in DC, complete with a short swing by the lincoln memorial just for fun. brought grandma D and big buddy home with us to DE and enjoyed a few days just hanging around with them.

picked up our tree on saturday and decorated it with the kids sunday. have most of the household tchotchkes appropriately scattered and the christmas tunes on constant shuffle. next project? christmas letter. anxiously awaiting the arrival of my muse so i can bang out another summary of a year in 500 words or less. maybe this weekend- the egg nog is chilled and waiting.

what i'm thankful for, 2008

2008-11-26T22:32:00.002-05:00

time to update the thankful list for this year- just a few of the things that come to mind for this year...

wood burning fireplaces
my new laptop
the running bug
edamame (get it in big packs from costco- totally addictive)
guitar hero for wii
blue moon belgian wheat ale
snow (thankful for it, just haven't seen too much of it around here in a few years)
the onion (check out the recent articles about the blue angels tryouts and GM- hilarious)

take a minute to think of yours.

are you ready for some 3D football?

2008-11-24T14:47:00.004-05:00

saw this article yesterday, which immediately conjured images of the last 3D experience the NFL offered us- the craptacular halftime extravaganza "bebop bamboozled". amazingly, i couldn't find video of this masterpiece online, so the only reference i can direct you to is a snippet in the wikipedia article about super bowl XXIII.

remember it well, because superbowl XXIII was the first time anything like a finkbowl occurred- had a bunch of high school friends over to the old fink estate on LI for the game, and we all shared in the pageantry of "bebop bamboozled" together. for some strange reason, i kept the official coca-cola 3D glasses from the event until just a year or two and as recently as last year saw them lying around somewhere. maybe the NFL will give me some kind of credit on new glasses if i can produce the old ones.

is that a buckle on your hat, or are you just happy to find religious freedom?

2008-11-15T21:21:00.003-05:00

stumbled across a random trivia question on another website last week. the question was, "in what year did the pilgrims sign the mayflower compact?". 4 choices: 1590, 1600, 1610, and 1620. made my choice, then upon redirect to the answer page, discovered that only 27% of respondents (about 750 to that point) answered correctly- no statistically significant difference from random chance.

the question i pose to you is not whether or not you know the answer, but whether you think you, me and everyone else should know the answer. does this date belong in the group of important dates that all americans should know?

the "longfellow" jokes must be just around the corner

2008-11-13T20:33:00.004-05:00

hilarious discussion at dinner tonight. just me and the 3 finklings, rehashing our day over a fine repast of leftover enchiladas.

from nowhere, brendan asks, "hey dad, what's that long word that starts with 'A' and means 'waves' or 'bubbles' or something?" complete blank.

"and it has a 'Z' in it". even more confused. a few blind stabs with "accessorize", "analyze", even "azimuth", all incorrect.

"it's a really long word, and it means, like, doing something or making something". still not entirely sure where he's going with this, but somehow i come up with "you mean onomatopoeia?"

"YEAH! onomatopoeia!" apparently, the word came up in his language arts class today. the lack of an accurate definition or even approximate spelling wasn't surprising, because those meant nothing to him. at the recitation of the word alone, he burst into laughter, repeated it a few times, and then he and owen moved swiftly into a chorus of "i-don't-wanna-pee-ya".

i tried settling them by getting all didactic, and giving them good examples of onomatopoeia, like "buzz" and "cluck" and "bang", and it worked for a second, until brendan came up with "toot", and the poetry lesson was flushed away again by toilet humor.

my 3 songs, veterans' day edition

2008-11-11T10:22:00.004-05:00

yes, i realize vets day here in the US was initially called armistice day and celebrated the end of WW1, and this post may have been more appropriate on V-E day, but vets means all conflicts now, right?

van halen, "everbody wants some"
split enz, "i got you"
oasis, "wonderwall"

ooh, that smell

2008-11-10T22:10:00.003-05:00

rediscovered one of my favorite smells of childhood- the smell of the halloween candy bag. not the halloween night, fresh-from-the-hunt smell, but rather the week-after, three-pounds-of-candy-sitting-in-the-plastic-bag smell. it's totally different than the smell that you'd get when you opened a bag of snack-size kit kats, or sniffed your own yet-doled-out halloween candy bowl. the week-old candy bag smell has the perfect dilutions of peanut butter and chocolate and twizzler and plastic wrap all mixed together, giving it its own aromatic uniqueness. it is a scent that is so tantalizingly pleasing, one could argue that the scent itself is what drives confusion into the minds of the candy chooser.

like any good thing, however, it can be overdone. after about 3 reese's cups and a mini 100 grand bar, the tantalization begins to morph into nausea. but as long as you keep the temptation of the milky way midnights from pushing you over the edge, the smell of that bag is pure olfactory bliss.

moving on

2008-11-07T13:17:00.003-05:00

now that the election is behind us, let's get back to the important stuff, like linguistics!

saw this great article today, and while it's not exactly grammar-related, it touches on more of my language pet peeves. i think this list is great- i'd of course add "literally" to their list, likely near the top, but can't argue with any of their choices.

anything you'd like to add to the list?

election night live

2008-11-04T21:36:00.005-05:00

finally have a laptop with functional wireless, so i figured i'd give some live blogging a try. just about everyone reading this will be catching it later, but this is my test run for a finkipedia live event for my absolute favorite TV day just 5 months from now, the opening day of the NCAA hoops tourney.

9:30pm- NBC just called ohio for obama, which probably seals the deal for him, but i like most am waiting to see what happens in florida and NC.

10:20pm- still no word on VA, NC, FL. i do like that map on the 30 rock skating rink. nice touch.

12:30am- been official for 90 minutes. speeches are done, talking heads are not. off to bed.

election 2008: final synopsis

2008-11-03T12:59:00.003-05:00

i won't drag this on, as saturday's post pretty much sums up most of how i feel.

this country needs a better sense of direction. while the obama plan might not be the thing to bring the dow back to 14K by march, i do think in most facets his overall plan has the right direction. on a personal level, i still worry about his health care policy, but i cannot overlook his desire to provide health care to almost every american. see my previous post for comments on his economic policy. never got a chance to post on the candidates' positions on the war, but in short, i think an exit strategy is better than an open-ended attitude. finally, i think obama's personality seems to lend itself better to the diplomacy skills a president needs both here and abroad. for those reasons and others, i'll be casting my vote tomorrow for barack obama for president of the united states.

one final note about tomorrow's election. i'm a little late in starting this, but i'd like to propose a movement to "keep home the vote". this doesn't mean that you shouldn't vote- what it means is that if you don't know whom you're voting for, then don't press a button, pull a lever, or punch a chad just because you think it's your civic duty. you should not be choosing candidates like my mom picks NCAA tournament teams- by their names, mascots, or colors. whether it's the presidency or your local sherriff's race, if you don't know a single thing about the candidates other than their names, don't vote. it's unfair to them, to the others who vote, and to the district you're voting in. take a second tonight to go online and read the synopsis of the candidates' positions for the races in your area. even if it's one little item that sways you, use that as a reason to cast your vote.

that being said, enjoy tomorrow. it's the greatest day of the year to be an american.

election 2008: taxes

2008-11-01T19:36:00.005-04:00

like with many things in life, this issue-by-issue breakdown of the campaign hasn't gone as i had planned. here it is just 3 days from election day and i've only posted a few reviews of issues. at this point, i should hope you all know who you're voting for, but i'll leave one last issue post because i'd like to discuss (rather one-sided, i might add) something i've become a litte fired up about lately.

i will direct you to the candidates' official websites here and here to review their tax plans if you haven't already. briefly, mccain suggests across-the-board cuts, while obama suggests cuts for most except the weathly. obama also supports increasing taxes on such things as capital-gains, large corporations, oil company windfalls, and estates over $7M. it is hard to find some of the specifics to the obama tax plan with regards to tax increases on his website- some are insinuated, others not mentioned directly at all.

was on an e-mail thread earlier in the week with wiley and a few others regarding the candidates and their economic policies. the debate mostly centered around obama's plans and whether his plans for tax increases on the wealthy and on businesses would do anything to help the beleaguered economy. many argued that his tax plan will hurt businesses to the point of forcing jobs overseas, forcing job cuts and forcing price increases. they argued that there was no proof that tax hikes would help the economy; rather, that history and economic research showed tax cuts across the board were better for stimulating investment and business. the claims of "redistrubution of wealth" were made, and it was suggested that the obama plan just moves money around, rather than helping everyone get more money on their own.

it is hard to dispute some of those claims. i would tend to agree that the mccain plan is more favorable for business, which suggests that it should thus be better for the economy as a whole. (there are however some prominent economists who argue that under democratic presidents and their tax policies (higher taxes for the wealthy and business), the GNP historically increases more than it does under republicans.) but while mccain's plan will put more money in everyone's pocket, it will do so in a way that will significantly widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

here's a graph the washington post drew up showing how different income brackets would be affected by each candidate's tax plans. now here's another interpretation of those same data, illustrated so that each group is displayed proportionate to its size. notice in those graphs how the mccain tax cuts get larger for each increase in income, thus bringing more money to those already more fortunate. notice also how almost 2/3 of americans, the 2/3 that need it most, fare significantly better under the obama plan, and 99% will be the same or better off. the increase in take-home revenue for those people should increase demand for goods and services. this demand should force businesses to keep prices stable, force supplies and thus production up, and create jobs, thereby offsetting the potential negative effects of corporate tax increases.

with regards to government revenue from taxes, when 1% of americans are essentially paying for programs and policies that the other 99% are more likely to use, it is hard to deny that there is a redistribution of wealth. this is where the debate leaves economics somewhat and turns to social justice. i would argue that "redistribution of wealth" is not a pejorative term, but a necessary process in a healthy society. to help the least of our society should allow them to be better suited to help society as a whole, thus contributing more and ultimately reversing their position from that of a financial drain to one of financial support. it's also the moral and ethical thing to do.

this process of rehabilitating the lower class takes efficient, well-designed social plans that require significant sums of money, money which must ultimately come from those who are more fortunate. it would also take way more time (and space) to discuss, so for now, i will leave you with my final assessment on the issue of taxes: for the reasoning i outlined above, i've gotta side with the obama plan.

tomorrow, my final assessment.

physician, heal thyself

2008-10-28T20:45:00.004-04:00

getting my late winter cold a few months early this year. started with just a scratchy throat last thursday, and has progressed to general misery, mostly in the head and neck. sound worse than i feel, but i have no voice. (good thing this isn't an audio blog).

thanks to the hoarseness i got a remark from just about every patient today, more than half quipping unoriginally "you need to see a doctor!" the other half thought i had been rooting too hard for the phillies. i of course told them i'd rather have tuberculosis than root for the phillies, and if they insinuated similarly again, i'd cough in their general direction.

6 quirks

2008-10-26T22:05:00.003-04:00

got tagged a while back by n., she of lovemomworklife, to post about 6 unspectacular quirks about me. "tagging" amongst bloggers is equivalent to chain letters, and i'm really supposed to "tag" 6 others now. don't have enough people to keep the chain going, but i will go ahead and post my quirks, because i think it's a fun idea.

1) i love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but they should be made with skippy peanut butter and welch's jelly (NEVER jam), and always accompanied by a glass of milk
2) i can sleep on either my right or left side, but i must face the outside of the bed
3) i eat ice cream with a teaspoon and cereal with a soup spoon, no exceptions
4) i can't watch half a movie. i've never left a movie in the theater, and won't start a movie on DVD unless i can finish the whole thing
5) i always keep the money in my wallet in denominational order, from lowest to highest, all facing the same direction
6) while i may forget the names of people or places, i almost always know how many letters are in the name of the thing i'm trying to remember

you can see n.'s 6 here and googs' 6 here. show us yours- leave your 6 in the comments section.

can it really be "classic" if one team has only been around for 10 years?

2008-10-21T20:57:00.003-04:00

as you know, i love baseball. and despite the b-list headliners of this year's fall classic, i'll be watching every game. plenty of reasons to watch, not the least of which to root, root, root against the hated phillies and their fairweather, bandwagon fans.

granted, the rays were a team that could barely attract 10K people even earlier this season and now fill their awful domed stadium with bandwagon hangers-on. but philadelphia fans are different. they come out of the woodwork every time a team of theirs gets into the playoffs and cry about how long it's been since their town has had a champion. happened all those years that the eagles were making it to championship games, and now that the phillies have a chance, it's resurgent again.

i say, if the phillie phaithful want to see a local champion, they can suck down a cheesesteak while watching the DVD of the philadelphia soul's arena football championship season from last year. let the rays join the '69 mets in the lovable-former-loser's hall of champions.