Last Splash

The gene pool could use a little Chlorine.

The highest point to a pre-wedding, low-carb, no bread and pasta but whatever else you want diet? A tasty, monster size, thick as my freaking hand 10 oz. filet mignon grilled perfectly medium-rare that I had the pleasure of consuming (in it's entirety) tonight.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 03:40 | link | comments (1) |
meow, bridezilla

I think my friend's blog has me thinking about sports. I wanted to dispel a popular rumor about us 'Canes fans down here in the new Hockeytown (oh, my...Detroit fans are going to hunt me down and shove octopus...octopi?... down my throat). I don't mean this to be a detriment to our great fans, because I've been in a few other sports arenas around the way, and we really do have the loudest, almost electric feeling at the RBC that I've ever experienced. Seriously, when the decibel level is at about jet-engine territory, you know you've got a good thing going. And I'm not one of those who believe that the opposing team is really affected by all of this. They are, after all, professionals and could really give a rip about where they're playing as long as they smash the other team. But I think it does make it a little bit intimidating to come into an arena like that.

On to my point, which was going to be about what a loser our Commisioner is, and how he was so impressed by the fans in Carolina and how we stood for the whole game and he's never seen that anywhere and blah blah. Get off it, Gary. You never wanted to see us succeed here, you're never really going to give us an All-Star game, especially not after you had the misfortune to hold your draft here on the verge of a lockout. That was fun. Any now here you are, dropping in on our broadcasts, not really saying anything except that our fans stood for the whole game. Except we didn't...everyone wanted to, but trust me, we didn't. When you're sitting in the front row of the upper level, and there's an 83 year old sitting two rows behind you with her two rough and tumble sons (that have already started a fight with someone else sitting near you) and further down the row, the 58 year old lady that always wears all red, but not Canes memorabilia, more like knitted red sweaters (and I'll bet she has Christmas sweaters, too) shoves a guy because he came back to his seat too late after the intermission and he's blocking her view of the game (which is so FREAKING rude), well, you don't stand up. Not for the whole game, anyway.

I'm just tired of hearing about how great our fans are because we stood for the whole game and no one's ever done that. Is that what it took to prove that we really love hockey here? We have to go above and beyond what every other Stanley Cup winning fanbase has done in the past, because if we just do what they did, then we must not want it bad enough? Wasn't there any other way to prove we really, truly do like hockey as a sport, because the whole standing up thing seems a little like a cop-out to me. "I don't know, Barry, that girl didn't recognize the hooking call on Williams, but she must be a big hockey fan because she's stood up for the entire game..." I don't get it.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:00 | link | comments |
the sports report

I read something funny today while I was browsing some sporting blogs for fun. See, I have this unnatural attraction/fascination for Peyton Manning. Don't ask why. I think he has the looks of a complete and utter dorkwad, and when he speaks, he really does sound like his head is basically a box of rocks. However, I enjoy the way he plays football...I really like his intensity and focus on the game, and I have come to realize over time that his knowledge of the game, how to play it, and how to read his opponents is at near-genious level. He is advanced beyond any coach I've seen lately, and basically runs the entire offense of the Colts on his own. At the same time, as seriously as he takes himself on the field, I appreciate that he doesn't celebrate every freaking completed pass like it was a Superbowl-winning touchdown (unlike some of his fellow NFL stars). And I also think that off the field he is probably a really normal guy and able to laugh at himself, as evidenced by the ESPN commercials.

That being said, I really had to laugh today when I saw a young college student's "open letter to Peyton Manning", in which he says..."I hate you. You choke in big games, you talk like the redneck in Deliverance. I have a suspicion that you are illiterate. I think you make a fool of yourself every time you call those stupid audibles, flapping your arms around like some sort of homosexual hummingbird." He goes on to say much, much more about why he has such a loathing for Manning, mostly about him being homosexual, which I really doesn't cross my mind. In any case, the audible line is hilarious to me. I love watching Manning play mostly because of his audibles, especially when they focus on his face as he's about to call the play and he sees something in the DL that makes him change his mind, but after reading that today, it did make me laugh because he really does flap his arms around a lot. And I also think it's funny that he's the only quarterback you can hear during a game. I don't really have a point here, I just thought it brought some humor into my day.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 17:56 | link | comments (3) |
the sports report

I worked another store opening this week, and wouldn't you know that on my lunch break one day I passed a girl of somewhere between 17 and 20 (I'm really getting much worse at judging ages now...high school girls look waaaay too young to be driving) that said to her friend as they were passing Soho Shoes "oh, did you know they have Ugg boots?"

Now, I guess that because I have a somewhat interest in trends and fashions, seeing as how I'm a 'retail professional' or whatever you want to call me, this comment disturbed me. Because she didn't say it with a sneer, such as "can you believe they're still carrying Uggs...as if...". She said it with a "hey, Uggs are so hard to find around here where people don't wear turtlenecks and we get an inch of snow ever 2.7 years...I'm so glad there's finally a shoe store that carries them".

I guess I just assumed that all high schoolers were current on fashion trends b/c of the readily available Glamour-Cosmo-Jane-Marie Claire magazines that I, too, loved as a young adult [and still do as a guilty pleasure (except Cosmo...I realized somewhere around 6 years ago that they basically have a rotation of 16 articles that they just repeat in succession, changing names and minor details with each issue)]. But I guess I was wrong. And maybe she only reads trendy fashion mags circa 2002.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:11 | link | comments (4) |
meow, the retail beast

Contrary to what you may be thinking, I have not actually fallen off the face of the earth, I'm just planning a wedding, opening a brand new store in the middle of retail 4th Quarter, and trying desperately not to put anything else on my credit card. There is so much that you don't budget for when you plan a wedding, no matter how careful you think you're being. Do you have any idea what guest books, cake servers, and champagne glasses cost? I feel like I've cheated, because I registered for a beautiful runner that matches my wedding theme more than my place settings, and prayed for it to come early so that I could use it at the "grand bridal table". And I got lucky...thank goodness for out of town friends that can't attend the wedding and send gifts early. And of course, I've fallen behind on shower Thank You's...which I really did want to get done as early as I could. Of course, I really didn't want two bridal showers anyway, but I guess people (inexplicably) love me. In good news, we have a marriage license, wedding bands, and my best friend is coming a day early to help me make all of the corsages. That is, IF my flowers arrive on time and undamaged.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 17:14 | link | comments (1) |
bridezilla

I don't normally have much of an opinion on birth politics, as I'll call it, but I did read an interesting article in Self magazine today about sperm donor children and what happens when the parents try to get an accurate health history because their children are experiencing rare diseases. I have many feelings on this issue. I think it's terrible that parents are lied to (either by the donor or the Cryobank) and the children suffer from it. I also think that in an industry such as this, it is important to let the donor remain anonymous, b/c at the very least he does not want 14 children coming after him for child support, etc.

I may be slightly hypocritical when I say this, but I also think it's selfish to want to have a child so badly you'd be willing to buy someone's sperm rather than adopt a newborn that will probably suffer the horrors of foster care or worse as it ages. I understand that some people out there really want to have children of their own (like my fiance) but if it's not the genes of the two of you, then you really are not having children of your own, are you?

As with every other issue, I also try to remain as Libertarian about it as possible, and say that although it's sad that it happens, no one can honestly expect the government to step in and regulate every little technological advancement that comes our way. Be accountable for your own actions, people. What really needs to happen is that donors need to be honest, cryobanks need to spend the gobs of money they're making on research into donor and family medical histories, and parents that use sperm banks need to understand that they are taking the risk of not really knowing their child's full medical geneology.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:15 | link | comments (1) |
political bullshit