Pumped

I am so pumped for the final 4 games tonight. More so than I can remember in a LONG time. The Oden Hibbert match up could be absolutely epic. I am less excited about the UCLA-Florida game. I know they play some great defense and just shut people down, but I absolutely hate watching cousin Ben's team play. I hated them when he was at Pitt, and it is no different now. They play that ugly rugby style basketball that I just HATE. I am honestly hoping Florida wins that game so I don't have to watch UCLA play on Monday.

Kill American Idol

A friend of mine just brought this site to my attention. http://www.votefortheworst.com/ How awesome is that?? I would be so giddy if this brought about the end of American Idol. I can only hope at least. I highly doubt it would really kill the show, as a matter of fact I think the show is on a steady decline leading to a slow and prolonged death anyway. I just hope that this guy ends up winning. That would be so damn awesome. The last few winners have sucked beyond sucking anyway, so there is no way it can hold whatever popularity it DOES have. I do know this, I haven't watch that show in a LONG time. The boycott has been in full effect for me for quite some time.

The only big problem is that if it DOES go off the air, Fox will just replace it with some other crappy reality/game show. I can only assume it would mean yet another version of deal or no deal. Has there been a more boring/annoying show ever on TV?? Here is a pretty thorough rundown of that show: Pick a number.. ok pick 5 more... Deal or no deal?? ok pick 4 more numbers... Deal or no deal??? now... pick 3 MORE NUMBERS.. DEAL OR NO DEAL?!?!?!? AND IT NEVER ENDS..

How is this broadcast during a prime time network time slot? isn't this something that should be on in the hour of vacuum between 7 an 8 eastern ?? you know.. the wheel of fortune, jeopardy, Access Hollywood etc. time slot. Or maybe like 10 am-1 when all the other game shows are on. What the hell is this? why are they doing this to me?? It's no wonder the networks ratings suck.. who wouldn't rather just watch yet another episode of MXC on Spike than this crap.

And don't even get me started on the high level of suck on the actual scripted shows on the networks.. whats up with shows like Lost and 24 constantly playing distracting music throughout the show? There are frequencies in there that make my dog get up and leave the room.. and you know, I kinda want to follow her. Watching her drag her ass across the carpet has turned into a more entertaining enterprise lately.

That's just sad.. it really is.

Basketball coaching

This past year I volunteered with the local rec league to coach boys 14-15 year old basketball. I personally just thought it would be a fun time and really just a way to play a little ball and be around the game a little bit. The result was that I literally had about as much fun doing anything as I ever have in my life. I had an absolute blast, and I think my enthusiasm carried through to the boys. I have already received several pleas to coach again next year. It really was one of the easiest and most enjoyable things I have ever done. A learning experience for sure, when isn't working with teenagers educational...

I never really ever thought about myself as a coach. I never thought it would be something I would even remotely be good at, or that I could even do it without making a fool of myself. The question I am now faced with is, what do I do with this new found knowledge that not only can I do it, but I really love doing it and I actually did it pretty well? I don't know really.. about the only thing I can do is keep volunteering, or try and get a job doing it. The second one is the tough part.. I don't really want to be a school teacher.. too many family members have chosen that life and while socially rewarding, it is a profession that makes you more and more jaded the longer you do it, and lets not even get into the pay scale of it. So no, coaching high school, while it would be fun.. the school teacher part may be too much to ask of me. College coaching is about 100X harder to get into, with good reason.. the money is better and it is just a more desired type of position. So anyway, if any of you would happen to know a coach out there that could use a good assistant (volunteer or otherwise) for next season, let me know.. It is definitely something I would like to try and pursue if possible.. Otherwise I will just keep volunteering and enjoying the hell out of that. I mean.. getting paid to do it might actually ruin it for me. I doubt it, but it is a distinct possibility.

Working with weed again

This is technically privileged information, but I am working with weed today. I can't say the company is, but a marijuana inhaler is pretty cool no? For some reason whenever I work with this stuff, after about an hour or 2 I am always in a GREAT mood and REALLY hungry. They say there is no way for this stuff to get into my system due to the PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) so maybe it is just a placebo effect.. I don't really care.. I just know I feel better when I work with it. Doesn't matter if it's all in my head or not.

Anyway, people may ask, how could you hate your job.. You leave early everyday, you work with interesting stuff like weed inhalers and high pressure mixing vessels. I say that I just can't take orders anymore. I can't stand it. It doesn't matter what it is.. "can you hand me a pen?" My first mental reaction is "Fuck that!" Am I just an asshole? Could be. I am just not meant to be sitting here doing other people's bidding. I am doing nothing of worth to society, The drug I have been working on for the last 6 months is a generic for a product that has been on the market for 25 years. I am supplying nothing new or useful.. Even the Marijuana inhaler is lame to me.. In my opinion there is and has been a perfectly effective delivery device to the lungs for THC. So even something as cutting edge as that to me is just redundant. This is what drug companies do. One person comes up with an idea, and all the rest copy it, or change it just enough to market it as something different. This industry spends more on patent lawsuits than probably any other. And people wonder why health care and prescription costs are so high... You gotta pay for the 5 years of research and trials, as well as the raw materials, Patent lawsuits, and other production costs once it hits the market. Patent lawsuits are one of the bigger chunks too. It is just a bunch of companies fighting over their little share of the market. They don't care about making you healthy, they just want your money. And before you say that drug companies are just evil and herbal remedies/supplement companies are on the up and up.. they are all the same.. there is a reason why it costs you an arm and a leg to get anything at GNC. They are in it for money too and they don't even have to jump through the regulatory hoops the drug companies do. So tell me why THEIR shit costs so much.

So yeah, you could say I am burnt out. I am through with this industry. I'm not helping people, unless you include my managers getting bonuses and the shareholders getting dividends. I am completely uninterested in what I am doing (I am working with weed and I am completely indifferent) and I am tired of doing what I am told to do and when to do it. So anyway, sorry to all the folks out there that have REALLY crappy jobs.. and have to work 20 hours a day for peanuts. I really do apologize. I realize I do have it better than plenty of people in the world. I am just saying that I don't like what I got, and I want to change it. I'm not being a spoiled brat, I am just being human. I hope none of us just give up and resign ourselves to the fact that "we don't got it so bad." or, "it could be worse." My attitude is simple.. "It could be better, and I am the one that can make it that way."

Movies

If you have not yet seen the 300, you owe it to yourself to drop whatever you are doing and go see it right now. I don't care if you are at work and busy, there are more important things. Literally, there was very little to this plot, but it didn't matter. It was a great movie based on awesomeness alone. Who doesn't want to watch Spartan warriors kicking ass for a couple hours. My only objection is that it wasn't long enough. I am hoping that there are roughly 2 more hours of deleted battle scenes on the DVD. I honestly want to go see it in the theater again. This doesn't happen often with me, usually I see a movie as a totally ripoff, but not this one.. DO NOT WAIT FOR IT ON DVD.. you MUST see this on the big screen. trust me... you will thank me for this.

Also, for the small screen.. Rocky fans out there, if you have not seen Rocky Balboa yet, you owe it to yourself to check this movie out. For closure sake, it is a must see. Definitely a fitting ending to the Rocky saga. It was easily the closest thing to the original movie out of the entire series. It had it's vintage Rocky cringe scenes.. but that's what we love about Rocky right?? my main objection is that they didn't find just a truly ripped actor to play his rival in this movie. Mr T was menacing. Apollo Creede was unstoppable.. Ivan Drago.. Towering Eastern Euro Fury.. this guy.. not so much. Now, I know he is a legit fighter and would tear me apart... but the true greatness of a Rocky villain is in their larger than life feel. They would have been much better served finding a huge ripped actor Ala Mr. T. Than a boxer that is looking to act. He just had to pretend to know how to box anyway. So why not just find some 6'8 300 pound wall of muscle that Rocky has to fight.. how would that have not made fora better movie???

Vanderbilt screwed/UNC given gift

Last nights sweet 16 games were all of what you expect out of March Madness. PLENTY of excitement, tons of commercials, bad coaching decisions and horrible referees.

In the first game we had Vanderbilt leading Georgetown virtually the entire first half with the second half turning into a true back and forth battle. The entire game can really be summed up in the last 15 seconds. Georgetown has the ball down one and run an extremely sloppy out of control play finished off with Jeff Green banking in the winning bucket with 2.5 seconds left. Vanderbilt immediately takes the ball out and tries to dribble the length of the court in less than 3 seconds and settles for a desperation heave from half court. Upon further review it became abundantly clear that Green traveled badly on the play. Just a terrible missed call that cost one team the game and awarded it to another. This is indeed somewhat of a theme for the NCAA tournament. They are paying these refs quite a bit of money. You would think they could fin some that are competent, but please don't look in the ACC. For a conference that has the best basketball most every year, they easily have the worst referees. But that's not even the whole story. How does Vanderbilt, holding 2 time outs, not call one after the basket. With 2.5 seconds left you can't dribble the length. You need at least 4-5 seconds for that. You HAVE to throw a long pass to give yourselves a chance. Everyone on the planet has seen the Duke/Kentucky play from 92. Coaches have been using adaptations of this play for years.. a perfect example would be Valparaiso with Bryce Drew several years back. You absolutely have to call a timeout there and set up the home run pass. If it doesn't work, so be it, but it gives your team a better chance than 2 dribbles and a half court shot. An absolutely horrible call courtesy of Stallings to end a game. This is the kind of thing coaches should be fired for. At the very least publicly admonished, which is what I am doing here.

The second game of the night was a really sloppy and in my opinion horribly played game between USC and North Carolina. All North Carolina was trying to do the entire game was outrun USC down the court, and failing that, they had nothing. USC only had a few attempts at one on one moves and a forced shot. Some really crappy offense was featured in this game. The story of the game for most was North Carolina's INCREDIBLE 16 POINT 2ND HALF COMEBACK. I will honestly give them credit for sticking with it and trying to make plays. They did have some incredible luck down that stretch that bears mentioning, as well as some very helpful calls, and a terribly coached USC team. All those things allowed for the comeback to happen. First off, Marcus Ginyard came up huge. Big time put backs left and right. UNC won that game based on second chance buckets alone. They couldn't make a jumper to save their lives, but always seemed to have a man that wasn't blocked out with a free run to the hoop for the put back. This is where USC coaching comes into play. How hard is it to block out. Do you not hear from every coach at every level that you have to do it. So how does a D1 college team so spectacularly fail at it. My blame goes on Tim Floyd, instead of throwing a hissy fit over bad foul calls, perhaps a timeout and a little focus on blocking out and running some offense would have helped. Maybe he did do that and his guys didn't listen or respond.. If thats the case, don't look for USC to ever do anything important while he's coaching there. It will just get worse as far as players ignoring the coach once OJ Mayo is there. To me, that was the game, but one of the biggest reasons for the ability to get offensive rebounds at will was the loss of Taj Gibson for most of the second half for USC. He was whistled for his 4th foul with about 12 minutes remaining. It was a VERY soft foul. Extremely suspect in my opinion. It all but lost the game for USC, and it was terrible. Hansbrough would play 3 minutes a game if those fouls were called on him. When he finally reentered the game with 8 minutes left, the lead was gone and the momentum was completely out of the Trojans. They were absolutely devastated in the 4 minute span. A timeout may have helped, but again.. Tim Floyd was coaching.

Thursday nights theme was well played and great basketball. Friday nights was sloppy play, bad calls and horrible coaching moves. I admittedly did not see any of the games from the Midwestern region, but from what I can tell, they were pretty similar to the ones from the east. Plenty of close games last night. but that doesn't always mean they were good.

Tubby the Gopher

It would seem that all anyone wants to talk about today is Tubby Smith. HOW SHOCKING!!! he left for MINNESOTA!!

Is it really that shocking people?? He was going to get fired. There is no way UK was going to extend his contract with the high amounts of dissatisfaction coming from the Kentucky fans. They did not like their coach. Plain and simple. His time was not long for that job. So he took the highest paying and most readily available offer. It is no secret that the man had been saying for several years.. If you offer me X amount, I will leave Kentucky. He knew they didn't want them there, so he walked. Why is everyone so stunned. He will make nearly 2 million a year in a program where he won't have to recruit well... which really is Tubby's largest flaw. Sounds like a good fit to me. Please contain your utter shock that anyone could willfully leave the greatness that is Kentucky.

This is definitely turning into a trend.. Coach with a dissatisfied fan base pre-emptively leaving before they can fire him.. Herb Sendek did it, Steve Alford has now done it as well. And make no mistake Tubby Smith did it too. Can't wait to see who tries it next.

It will be very interesting to see who winds up in Lexington next year as well. Too early to call, but the Kentucky fans want Donovan really bad.. that is yet another probation waiting to happen for one of the more historically dirty programs in the country.

What the heck happened???

When I went to bed last night at about 11, Ohio State was down roughly a million points to Tennessee. UT was making every 3 they took, Oden was in foul trouble. That game was over. So what the hell happened?? I mean, I have been saying that whoever beats Ohio State will have to have a really hot shooting night and get Oden in foul trouble. Both of those things happened last night. So how the hell did they not lose that game? This is the top reason that I hate CBS starting the second game at 10. How many people actually stayed up to watch the second half of that game? It was a 20 point blowout, it was over... There was no reason to stay up.

Anyway, this whole thing where they want to start every big game no earlier than 9 has got to go. West coast teams don't go to any lengths to make it possible for east coast fans to see the games. I admittedly did not watch a single Pac-10 game this year.. one because I think they suck, but the other is that they never start before 10. so why is it that the East coast has to sacrifice so the west coasters can watch all games in their entirety. Start the first game at 6. yeah sure, they would complain about not being able to see the first game, but, as it is the entire east coast (making up a higher number of the population might I add) misses the late game. I know Roy Williams has made it his personal mission to rip on the 10PM start time for the Tar Heels. I just hate how everything has to start and thus end so late. Monday night football has always been the biggest offender to me. There have been some epic comeback/endings on Monday night football that the entire east coast never saw because it happened after 12:30. Nobody cares about the beginning of the game anyway.. move it up an hour.. or.. 2!! and let everyone see the ending. Would that not make more sense???

ESPN finally feeling the effects

I have been saying this for a long long time and I even have friends that have boycotted the network altogether, but ESPN sucks. They broadcast a sensationalized and commercialized version of sports and it has really turned a lot of people off. According to this blog: http://sportsbybrooks.com/espn-website-traffic-goes-to-the-dogs-now-behind-fox-sports-website-for-first-time-12441.php. they experienced a 3 MILLION hit drop last month from January, but not only that, but Fox Sports received more hits for the month. It would appear that the people are beginning to voice their opinions of how THE NETWORK does their business. Page 2 for one thing has absolutely turned to pure crap, then the web page itself takes 8 minutes to load anymore.. add in the annoying commercials that you constantly have to wade through and you have an overall disaster of a web page. Would we expect more from them??? This is the same network that made a made mention of shady dealings in Columbus over Maurice Clarett every chance they had, but you barely get a 3 paragraph article out of them over the USC/Reggie Bush dealings. And don't even get me started on the constant attempts to stir the pot with the whole "Duke Referee Bias" crap they try to bring up every time there is a 50-50 call that goes the devils way. They have totally gone to the crapper.. the ENTIRE network, the web page.. everything. Do they even show sports on that network anymore?? I thought it was all a bunch of sports writers trying to "make it big" yelling at each other and coming up witty retorts. and Sportscenter has completely lost it in my opinion. The anchors are horrible, the graphics are horrible, the stories they choose to endlessly harp about are horrible. Don't even get me started on Stu Scott... does that guy even speak english anymore?? seriously.. I caught a basketball highlight last night where Lebron goes in hard and gets a layup through contact.. not a particularly exciting play, but it was highlight worthy, and Stu starts quoting some rap song.. no idea what the hell he was talking about.. he might as well have been talking over highlights for a bull fight. Just completely non-sensical. I realize he has been pulling this shtick for years, but it used to at least somewhat make sense. Anymore he just comes off like a senile old man sitting on a porch somewhere yelling out random phrases.

Whatever, I am glad to see that the masses are beginning to voice their feelings to the people up in Bristol. I would like to see this trend continue.

eh

How do you know you have an asshole for a boss?? the first clue is when he schedules a meeting at 4PM and shows up for 5 minutes.. spends that 5 minutes lecturing as if you are incapable of figuring anything out on your own, then answering his phone and saying.. "sorry gents, I have to be somewhere else. I think I can trust you to figure this out." So what was the lecture about?? Apparently we AREN'T idiots when it serves you. And why again was the meeting at 4? I had somewhere else I needed to be as well.. It's called home.

Now, the other way is when certain issues/problems are brought up in a meeting to bring to management's attention and the first thing out of his mouth.. "what can we be doing to fix this problem?" Our answer, "You're the manager, you tell us.." If we had the damned solution I am thinking we never would have brought it up to you dumb shit. We, unlike you, don't ask questions that we already know the answer to in attempts to prove how very smart we are.

Probably going to bite me in the ass

So I just realized that this blog will probably one day bite me hard in the ass when some possible future employer google's my name and finds it. Like I really care though.

Side Jobs

No, this is not some weird thing that they do in Singapore.. but I am sure this happens everywhere... You come into work with a set agenda, I got this, this and this to get done today, but at about 9:30 you get a call from the boss that your priorities have changed and you now are expected to pick up the slack for X employee... This is a pain in the ass. I realize everyone has to deal with it, but why?? why does every company have this X employee... I leave 3 hours early every day, but I have yet to have anyone else "pick up the slack" for me. So how do these tragically overworked souls manage to get here and have everyone else do their work for them? For us, that Employee X is a certain somebody that is technically a part time employee, or in other words, she comes in 4 hours a day and then goes home to "raise her children." It isn't the amount of time that bothers me, or that she is part time... but the Bitch got a promotion recently. How does that happen.. a part time employee gets a promotion? It isn't like she was putting in the extra hours. The explanation I was given for this was that she cried for it, which I can believe, but also that her defense was that she "gets so much done in her limited schedule." She gets 8 hours of work done in 4 so they say... the reason for that is of course that I routinely have to come in and "wrap up" her work. To be totally nice about it, she puts in some effort, and ACTS really sympathetic for laying work on you... but there is nothing even remotely close to wrapping up going on.. if by wrapping up it means she starts it and gets about 10% into it and you do the other 90%, then yeah.. I wrap up her work. I like to call it doing her work for her though. So yeah, she gets 8 hours of work done magically, and she absolutely takes all the credit for it. Here is the thing though.. I get 8 hours of work done a day in 4 hours all the time.. AND they pay me for the full 8, so I guess I win... it just doesn't feel like it.

Meetings

So I just found out that I have a meeting scheduled for 4PM today.... Who the hell schedules meetings at 4. I try to leave here at 4 at the latest.. one because I hate it here, but also because it magically takes me a good half hour longer to get home if I leave at 4:15 as opposed to 4:05. I hate this crap. I won't get home until 6 tonight because someone wants to chat about the data. Screw them.. I hate late afternoon meetings.. the only thing worse is the late afternoon FRIDAY meeting. They have to know that nobody wants that. god I hate this place.

Mcgruff??

So, something just rolled across my desk. Apparently they are having a kids day here at work sometime in the next couple weeks. With that they are having an afternoon of kids events such as the fire dept will be here so kids can check out the big red firetruck and that sort of thing. I have one question about that... if the fire dept can just drop everything and come on over so kids can try on the coats and helmets and pull the big horn and all that stuff... why don't they just do that every week? Tell me you wouldn't love it if every Thursday afternoon the firemen came and let you play on their truck.. I know it would make working here a lot more bearable...

Anyway, aside from that the police department will also be here.. yeah all 3 of the morrisville town officers will be present.. but not only that, but they will be bringing with them McGruff the crime dog.. This is the part that really interested me.. mainly because I was like, "they still have McGruff???" Wouldn't he be like 275 in dog years by now. On top of that though, there is the scenario of someone actually having to put on that suit and spend the afternoon with a bunch of spoiled kids. So which deputy gets THAT job... here you are just walking in to another day of protecting and serving and waiting for you in the locker room is a giant dog costume.. "get ready rookie, you get to be the dog today."