Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Goodbye (for 40 days) to Fried Foods and Smart-ass Comments

Your Ash Wednesday Update...
For Lenty this year, we're sacrificing a couple things I am better off without: eating anything fried, and making smart-ass comments, especially to my wife. Anyone who knows me knows this might be the most difficult Lent sacrifice yet, and I'm not talking about the KFC. (I did make sure to call - and wake her up - last night to get one more line in before midnight). This is going to be tougher than giving up pizza in Hoboken that one year, or cursing another year, or kissing girls other than my then-girlfriend in college back in... eh, let's just move on. Anyways, being Ash Wednesday, and being on the road for work (in beef-happy Dallas, of all places), and having 15 minutes to find lunch that has no meat and nothing fried, it was a rough start, but a Subway Tuna Hoagie bailed me out. I even passed on the Baked Lays - just in case there's a little false advertising going on there. (Side note - when, oh when, will WaWa go nationwide so I'll be able to go to the Peter Luger's of convenience stores??)

It's not like Jen helps matters... I'll leave out details, but we'll just say there was only one person with a bag of ice on their leg at Fred and Doreen's engagement party. And that is just the tip of the iceberg... but I'm treading on thin ice here with the blog, so I'll let it go (for now, or until another good story comes out this spring).

Time for bed, traveling pretty much non-stop since 2/7 finally took its toll on me - Philly, then Arizona, then home for a weekend, now back in Dallas - and I was sick earlier this week, so it's one more full day here, then catch-up as February ends. See you on Easter Saturday at 11:59pm with a tub of Tater Tots, some Doritos, Southport's Fried Fish Combo, and a few (but not many!) comments for the lovely wife. :)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Hot Air In Phoenix

I surprised TJ with the hot air balloon when we were in Phoenix this past weekend. It was SO awesome, we had the best time.

ANYWAY, on our "descent" in the hot air balloon, we were really low going over people's houses, I mean really low, I thought we were going to hit some roofs. So I'm looking out and i have my camera ready, and I see this guy walking around his backyard totally naked!! (his backyard was fenced in, of course!)

So I am like "OH MY GOD!" And we are so low he hears me, and he yells "OH MY GOD!" When he sees the hot air balloon over him with 7 people staring at him. He took off running inside his house so most of the hot air balloon people only saw his jiggly butt as he was cupping his goods and running in the house. Seconds later his "friend" came outside, in a robe, giving us the evil stare. It was so funny! :)

Our pilot on the hot air balloon said he sees boobies all the time, but this was a first for a wee wee.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

It's February, T.J.'s Traveling, Steeler Luck, and Random Stuff

If you live in any of the following cities and I haven't gotten in touch with you, email me, cause Sharpie's coming to town: Dallas, LA, Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago. I've got to find someone in Houston - it's the only place I don't know anyone, and it'll put me behind Goldi and CHab in the "You Know Someone EVERYWHERE!" race. There's got to be some CMU dork or some relocated South Jerseyian there, although most likely it'll be someone with the hazily vague title "Used to drink with them". Step up, all locations, I'm making good use of my time away from house repairs on Republic's dime, although one week into it and my diet is already suffering pretty badly.


Read on TMQ this week, and unnoticed on the blown-call (clip of Tim Hightower), questionable-spot (crossing the goal line) INT TD by James Harrison at the end of the 1st Half of the Super Bowl: Larry Fitzgerald could have, and probably would have, caught Harrison 10 yards from the goal lins... if Antrel Rolle - Go figure, a U of Miami "graduate" - doesn't INTERFERE with his own player on the sidelines!! Watch around :27, and you'll see both the clip and a DB costing his team 7 points, and possibly the Super Bowl. And enjoy the gay music you stiller fans.


My favorite line of the holiday, from my lovely wife looking at a slightly fuller moon than she saw 24 hours previously - "is that the same moon as last night?"


Detroit... this economy and job market is hitting everyone tough, but man, the Motor City is just downright depressing. I got to spend 5 days there, and the whole area seems just dejected. Unemployment is high - closing in on 10%. The roads have more potholes than Baghdad Blvd. The city - at least the parts that house trash companies - are in disrepair. Hey at least they have nice stadiums though! The Palace at Auburn Hills was pretty sweet, we got some tickets from the local Republic guy, so Pfeif and Lori made the hike up from Curtice for that one. Plus, with all the nice Midwestern drivers, I was able to get us out of the parking lot in about 4 minutes by cutting across parked cars.

Even the food, an eclectic mix, doesn't stand out for anything special. On the weekly internet radio show I'm doing on occasion, I spotlight an NFL city for their tailgate/cooking and give a local-inspired recipe. Thank God I never had to do Detroit, I'd have no idea what to do - maybe Ribs 'n 40's. The pervasive food is "Coneys", basically hot dog shops/grills with varying degrees of food and price. I can understand stealing a signature item of another city to put on your memu - Philly cheesesteaks, Memphis BBQ, Cincinnati chili, etc... - but when the most popular eatery type is based on a city island 600 miles away, well, it just adds to the grey cloud sitting over the region.


Random thought - I might be in the minority here, but prime rib can't hold a candle to a good porterhouse or filet. Maybe it's because it's a rare meat aversion, or having to cut around multiple layers of gristle, or having to dip it into something for more taste.

MORE RANDOM LINKS

Ahhhh, Mets Fans... (from the700level.com) If you don't want to sit through all 9 minutes of hilarity then just fast forward to about the 7 minute mark. What a douche. Then again, he's a Mets fan.

Awesome - the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

I must be getting better looking - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080911/lf_nm_life/miami_dc_1

The recession is hitting a lot of people, but damn, this is tough.

Random observations:

  • I always knew Jen had the propensity to “debate” with others (mostly me), but even I got caught by surprise when we called our credit card company to dispute an APR raise – and she started arguing with the customer service rep AFTER they had agreed they messed up and changed our rate back. Josephine would have been proud… I can't talk much though, I had to phone into Delta for the third time in 6 months to change a redeye flight that they/I screwed up somehow, the same time, three times in a row. 30 minutes on the phone before I got to talk to someone who doesn't need the TOEFL test, but vindicated in the end and saved $150.
  • Jay and Tracey are expecting tentatively on April 5. I need to call Uncle Craig and get a primer on the importance of youth sports in your nephew’s life. Those old Pirates teams (after Erik and I left, of course) were good… Jen and I can’t wait to be Uncle T.J. and Aunt Jen. I’m even going to avoid the temptation on buying toddler Cowboys stuff, in hopes that subliminal means will work in getting Jason’s kids to root for Dallas. Or, they might just be taking after their Uncle Erik. (i am looking for my picture of him in a Romo jersey, if anyone out there has it, please send to me...)
  • On the flight home from Phoenix a few weeks ago, a man and his young son (~6 or 7) had seats in separate rows. The son sat down first, and the self-absorbed a-hole that was in the seat next to him didn’t bother to help, much less offer to switch seats with the father. Lucky for the father – and very unlucky for the guy – the lady in the middle seat next to the father offered to switch seats with his son. And the lady was NOT skinny. She waddled herself up to the middle seat and sat down right next to Mr. Inconsiderate, who now was hating life. It was pretty funny, the irony of the whole thing. Karma is a bitch…