Guilty Pleasures

So we all have those things that we secretly love, that we either don't usually let other people know about or that other people would never guess that we like. Since I'm not a shy person (those who know me know how much of an introvert I am) here are some of my guilty pleasures:

The Amazing Race: as much as I rag on reality shows, this is the best show on television, hands down. Teams of two race around the world, competing in mental and physical challenges across the globe while trying to deal with the customs and cultures of all the countries. This year's race hit 5 continents and covered 72,000 miles. I would honestly love to enter an Amazing Race with my little sister - we'd kick some ass. Another guilty tv pleasure...

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: I love this show. It's usually pretty funny, and I like seeing all the crazy places they go and the nutty outfits they pick out for people. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll decorate my place and be inspired by the Fab Five. Regardless of why, I never miss an episode.

Burnout 3: Takedown: Jesus, I can't put this game down. Since the minute I put this gem on my Xbox I've been helplessly hooked. I keep trying to tell myself "big deal, it's just another racing game." But that's just a load of crap - this game is pure adrenaline and I love it.

Justin Timberlake's "Justified": Pop trash or R&B genius? While the majority of people would probably lean to the former, I say the latter. Sure, he takes from Michael Jackson and others, but when you boil it down, it's good pop with great beats and lyrics. And while we're on music...

Linkin Park: no, it's not "metal for kids" like some say, it's great rock music. Marilyn Manson said it well, rock truly is dead. While I'm not big on any of those nu-metal bands, I really do like Linkin Park. "Hybrid Theory" was good, and as was "Meteora" - but my favorite of their catalog is "Reanimation", which is a series of remixes of "Hybrid Theory." A great disc.

Redheads: okay, this isn't much of a secret to anyone who knows me - but how can you resist a redhead? They're fiesty and there's nothing better than a strongwilled woman who's willing to fight back. You know, I need to be put in my place sometime too.

TiVo, god bless you. You allow me to watch everything from the World Series of Poker to The Real World (yes I watch it, shutup!) to South Park when I'm working. For us night owls, TiVo's a necessity.

Joni and Luis' going away party

Two of our traveling nurses, Joni and Luis, just ended their stay at work. Here are the pictures from their going-away party and such.


Joni Godwin and Luis Gomez - best of luck in Miami


April, Maureen, Mike, Luis, Joni, and Rebekah all pose in Unit 2


Let the going away party begin!


Partying, continued...


Apparently I forgot Jenny P. was allergic to cameras.


Goodbye messages for our two leaving nurses

Best of luck to you two, and safe travels.

The NHL Lockout

So it finally happened. The NHL owners locked out the players, starting the second work stoppage in the sport in the past 10 years. From a financial standpoint, this absolutely had to happen. Professional hockey is a distant fifth place (behind the NFL, MLB, NBA, and yes, NASCAR) in popularity in the United States, and with the average player salary hovering around the $1.75M mark, the league was in dire financial straights. If player costs are eating the 75% of net profits as the NHL owners report, then you've obviously got to get that number way, way down or the league is toast.

But really, the league's been toast for a while. I really don't understand it myself - the NHL is a great product. I freaking love hockey. It's exciting, fun to watch, and stays rediculously competitive throughout the season. There are some major pitfalls of hockey though, and they need to be corrected to get pro hockey back into America's hearts again. Here are my opinions on what the NHL is screwing up:

1. The season is entirely too freaking long
The NFL, the United States' most popular sports league by far and away, has a whopping 16 game regular season. The NHL by comparison, has an 82 game regular season, followed by an extensive best-of-seven playoffs. With a shorter season, the NFL creates a sense of urgency in teams - every week matters, every game matters, every second matters. Lose two games? You could be kissing the title goodbye. There isn't that sense of urgency in hockey at all. Your team could go through a 9 game losing streak, and you could legitimately shrug it off because losing 9 games might not mean a thing in the long run. But who wants to see their team lose 9 games in a row and not suffer in the slightest for it? When NHL teams lose a game, they can just shrug it off, go home, and wake up the next day and try again. Shorten the season to 60 games or so, and you'll see those boys playing a lot harder day in and day out. Harder play means better product.

2. Ticket prices are rediculous
I lived in Atlanta for 4 years and probably went to 50 or so Thrashers games. Why? Because the Thrashers had a deal offering college students admission to games for $8. How much were normal tickets? Too fucking expensive. $10-25 for nosebleeds, and if you want to sit by the ice, it's gonna cost you triple digits. This is a major problem with all pro sports in America, but the problem with the NHL is that people just aren't willing to pay the price. Get people excited about your product, owners - slash some prices and get those fans in the seats night in and night out. You'll be shocked how many repeat customers you'll draw back. As it stands now, if a family of four wants to go catch a hockey game, you're looking at one hell of a chunk of change - something in the neighborhood of $150 for tickets, concessions, and parking. That's just absolutely insane, especially when for that price you could go to a freaking amusement park.

3. Too many teams
There are just too many teams in the NHL. Some cities love their hockey, and they're going to suffer because of this lockout. Places like Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Boston - I'm sure that losing a hockey season is going to devistate the fans in those respective cities. But in Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Washington, Columbus, Los Angeles, and countless other cities I doubt people will even notice until the football seasons end and there's a void of sports on TV. While I don't want my Thrashers contracted, it sure would make a lot of sense. Too many teams, not enough support. Does the state of Florida really need two pro hockey teams?

4. Everybody makes the playoffs
Allowing 16 teams, half the freaking league, to make the playoffs further detracts from the legitimacy of the regular season. If you can limp along, half-ass it every night, and still make the playoffs why wouldn't you? Since it's anybody's game when the playoffs roll around, and everybody plays at 100% [fyi, saying "110%" is just stupid] any team can have a legit shot of winning Lord Stanley's Cup at the end of the season. Half the league has a chance. That's just absolutely rediculous. Halving this number would create urgency and vigor within competing teams, and you'd see some amazing games. That, and it would shorten the playoffs - America's got a short attention span [see the loathing regarding the 2004 NBA playoffs and their seemingly 12-year length], so fitting an entire playoff within a couple weeks could hold America captive in early Spring, where there's not really anything else going on.

5. Salaries are too high
The NHL is the most physically demanding sport in played in the States, but they absolutely do not deserve to make the salaries they are currently pulling down. Hockey players have some of the most bloated, overblown contracts in all of pro sports. A salary cap really is the only way to keep the NHL around in the future. The NFL has a cap and its helped teams in smaller markets stay competitive with their big city rivals, and has kept the fans helplessly addicted to the league. Hell, even the worst teams [San Diego, Chicago, and Detroit] still find ways to sell out games.

6. Who the hell are these guys?
The NHL is the worst at marketing their players. Jerome Iginla, arguably the league's brightest star, could walk around New York City during rush hour and probably not get recognized but by a few people. Hell, he could walk around Tallahassee and I bet I'd be the only one to recognize him. Compare this with the other pro sports leagues: I would bet the vast majority of America would recognize Shaquille O'Neal, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Vick, or hell, even Jeff Gordon if they saw them on the street.

How many of these guys do you recognize?

Yeah, other than Randy Moss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tiger Woods, and pro poker player Chris Moneymaker, you're probably wondering who the other guy is. 4th from the left is Ilya Kovalchuk, the 2003-4 NHL season's leading goal scorer. And you wouldn't recognize him if he came right up to you and shook your hand.

7. Ties suck ass and point-based standings are stupid
No other serious pro sport has ties. Sure, you can have ties in the NFL but it rarely ever happens. The NBA and MLB each have extra play added onto the end of the game, and they keep playing till somebody wins. The NHL has overtime, but if they're still tied at the end, game over. With a tie. Ties are complete and utter bullshit. Ties are akin to shitting on your fans. "Sorry guys, but we ended up no better than where we started. Who's the better team? Neither of us! Nobody wins!" When nobody wins, it's the ticket-paying fans that lose. Institute the shootout, pro sports' most exciting time, when the overtime period is over. Winning a game on a shootout leaves fans excited, wanting more. Also, the rediculous points system the NHL uses to determine standings (wins, losses, ties, and overtime losses) is just plain dumb. Eliminate ties, and don't give overtime losers a goddamned thing. They lost the game, they shouldn't get anything. Pro football teams don't get a half game boost in the standings for making it through regulation tied with the other team, so neither should hockey.

There are lots of other rules than should probably be changed [offsides lines, wider ice, ban of black tape on hockey sticks to allow for better puck visibility, make the goalie net larger to boost scoring, ease up on the frivilous penalties] but the big seven are outlined above.

Now all of you who are moaning about me taking time out to talk about hockey, get over it. I like hockey a lot, and it's not like you've got anything to worry about now. With no season to speak of, the only hockey talk you'll hear out of me will be from playing ESPN NHL Hockey 2K5 on my Xbox. At least those guys won't let me down...


Best $19.99 you can spend right now, in my opinion.

Georgia Tech vs. Clemson 2004

First off, what an amazing game. I had to miss the entire 4th quarter due to having to be at work at 1030pm, and the game's 800pm kickoff time. Since last week's win against Samford (W, 28-7) wasn't televised, this was my first look at the 2004 GT football team, not counting the 50-odd games I've seen them play on EA Sports NCAA Football 2005 on my Xbox. Now, I think that there were a lot of good things and quite a few bad things about this game. I was initially worried with both Nate Curry, Tech's stud senior WR and Eric Henderson, Tech's stud DE being out of the game but other boys picked up the slack.


Tech's WRs had a huge day. Great job, Damarius Bilbo (8), Calvin Johnson (21), and Levon Thomas (7)!

The bad things mainly involved Tech's inexperience. Now, this team looked better than they did in just about every single game last year, but Tech's pass rush and pass rush defense both struggled mightily. The O-Line let a few huge sacks destroy a couple drives, and Reggie got hurried countless times. The defensive line just couldn't pressure Charlie Whitehurst into making hurried throws and bad decisions, and the safeties and linebackers got burned by two huge runs in the 4th quarter. But since GT won, it's hard to say the bads outweighed the goods.


Tuck and run, Reggie! Ball (1) completed 20 of 36 for 251 yards with 4 TD and 1 INT. He also rushed for 73 yards.

Now, the good. First off, Tech showed a lot of heart to never pack it up and mail it in. When Clemson's Merriweather broke free for the 63-yard rushing TD to make it 17-7, I just about lost hope. But Tech rallied back, never giving up. The WRs were absolutely incredible, with Calvin Johnson, GT's true Freshman all-state all-country badass recruit, ringing up 3 incredible TD catches and 121 yards. Not to be overlooked was Levon Thomas' 100 yard, 1 TD recieving performance. Of course, the other two huge keys were Reggie Ball's patience on the field and P.J. Daniels' great runs. The adjustment of loading the backfield to buy Reggie more time from Clemson's ferocious pass rush was a brilliant one, and Chan Gailey's game management showed he really has what it takes.


P.J. Daniels (45) does what he does best - powers up the middle. Daniels rushed for 105 yards on 24 carries.

Oh, and a lucky bad snap doesn't hurt either, does it?

Next up for the Jackets: at North Carolina (who got slaughtered by UVA this week).

And look at this beautiful catch:

Calvin Johnson's TD catch with 1:50 left to keep Tech in the game and set up GT's 28-24 win over Clemson. Whatafreakingcatch!

FSU vs. Miami 2004

So the annual game between the Seminoles and the Blowhards of Miami happened last night, and boy, it was one terrible game. I was raised a diehard Seminole fan, but after attending GT my love for the Noles greatly diminished. How much? Last night's overtime loss to Miami in the Orange Bowl would've probably killed me 6 years ago, but last night I just shrugged it off - much as I did last weekend when Wake Forest failed to beat Clemson in overtime. I would've liked to have seen the outcome go the other way, but it didn't.

The game was a pretty awful one from start to finish. At halftime, I stated my concern with FSU's lack of any semblance of offense in the 1st half (27 pass yds, 11 rush yds) and that the puny 10-0 lead the Seminoles had [thanks for the 67 yd fumble recovery, Antonio Cromartie - represent Lincoln High!] was far from safe from a Hurricanes offense that although they failed to score in the 1st half, was definitely the better offense on the field. FSU's defense had moments of sheer brilliance, but in the end it came down to the line tiring out against Miami's brusing, huge O-Line and FSU's defensive backs being unable to stop Miami's quick recieving corps. The screen pass to Moss to score regulation's final touchdown and drive the game into OT was a brilliant call, and when I saw Berlin dump the ball down to him, I knew he was in for a big gain.


Frank Gore scampers to the endzone to ice Miami's victory in overtime. Dammit, I really hate these guys.

Speaking of Berlin, both he and the awful Chris Rix stunk up the field. The QB play in this game was absolutely horrendous. Rix, who in my opinion is the 2nd worst QB to play at FSU in the last 25 years [behind Marcus Outzen, but my friend Matt Cooper argues "at least Outzen beat Florida"] was just pitiful on the field. He makes horrible decisions, throws off his back foot in some stupid side-arm throw far too often, and for a 5th year senior who's supposed to be well skilled in reading defenses, he can't pick up a blitz to save his goddamned life. He makes a habit of performing dangerous in-game rushing moves, as well as his typical 5-6 passes where he just seemingly closes his eyes and tosses it up into the secondary, hoping the ball doesn't get picked off. Against Wake Forest or Duke, these plays usually end up with FSU's recievers being able to outrun the coverage and catch the long strike touchdown. Against Miami and other schools with good covering cornerbacks, it's a probable INT. Chris Rix is an awful quarterback, and the fact that the equally bad Jeff Bowden was calling his plays made things just as bad. Bowden's impecable need to throw a 3 or 4 yard pass when it was 3rd and 8 just blows my mind. GT did that for years, and it just always made my brain bleed.


Chris Rix, after throwing 2 INTs and losing the game for FSU. Distraught? No way! Too concerned with looking pretty for that!

Chris Rix was inconsistent from start to finish, and every time he decides to tuck it in and run with the ball, you can hear every FSU fan's heart skip a beat. Why? Because he does stupid shit like this:


Chris Rix's 5 yard jump for a first down in the second half. Possibly the dumbest play I've ever seen.

FSU and Miami both played pitifully, but I thought Miami was by far and away the better team on the field. FSU's stupidity and ineptitude during the overtime period showed on the first drive, committing a holding infraction on the first play, then calling a REVERSE against Miami's speedy, constantly blitzing defense left the Noles at 2nd and 28 from the 47 yard line. Across Midfield. How does that even happen? How does a team manage to fuck-up so badly in overtime? Congrats to Miami on a well deserved win, but your day's coming on October 2nd when you roll into Bobby Dodd, you silly Canes.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of college football - I'd like to congratulate Troy State and Boise State for both pulling off huge games this past week. For Troy to play their first team from a BCS conference ever at home, let alone a ranked team, and for them to go out and drub #19 Mizzou the way they did was incredible. I'm sure they were partying in the streets of Troy, Alabama until the break of dawn, and it was well deserved. First stunning Marshall last week, then beating #19 Missouri at home - next up for the men of Troy are games at New Mexico State and South Carolina with a game at LSU later in the year. Best of luck to them. And when the hell did they stop being "Troy State" and become just "Troy"? I didn't get that memo.

Congrats to Boise State for beating their first Pac-10 team at home. It was really just a matter of time, as BSU is a program on the rise trapped in a horrible conference. The Broncos pulled off some magic last night, turning a 14-3 Oregon State lead into a 53-34 crushing. Way to go Broncos, you pulled off some magic on that strange blue field of yours.

Frances, Jay-Z, and Invites

Things of importance to me that Hurricane Frances cancelled: FSU vs. Miami, and me taking the GRE. Sylvan Learning centers, who host the GRE computer exam in Tallahassee, closed their offices on Friday statewide because of the hurricane. All that was written on the door when I arrived to take my 830am exam: "We're closed statewide because of the hurricane. Sorry!" No information about when they'll be back open, or rescheduling these expensive exams - just some stupid little note. The 15 other people there to take exams were about as pleased as I was. So I'll be taking the GRE this coming Thursday the 9th at 430pm. Whoo.

Allow me to apologize to Jay-Z. It took me a long time to like The Black Album, but after listening to it for a while now, I have to admit that it's one hell of an album. At least 5-6 solid club hits, the man's a master. "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" is incredible, especially when it's loud enough to vibrate your entire body in the club. And "Public Service Announcement" is great stuff too. Jay's intro after the speech at the beginning is just an example of kickass rap delivery. It's an entrance that gives me chills - it's like walking onto a basketball court, grabbing the ball, dunking over the other team on the first play, and shattering the backboard.

I swear to god I can't seem to give away all my gmail invites. Every time I get 6 new invites, and then give them away, they mathmagically replenish themselves. So if you want gmail invites, holla at me. And in gmail news, I finally reached 2% capacity on my mailbox.

Weekly Sports Round-Up [9/3/04]

I got to watch both ESPN televised college football games on Thursday [I slept through the Friday game] and I was pretty pleased watching both games. Utah, a team I admittedly didn't know a thing about, went out and dominated Texas A&M on the field. Now, as some of you know, I've never, ever liked Texas A&M, so I particularly loved seeing them get thrashed on national TV by a Mountain West team. Looks like the Aggies are in for another rough season. Ha! The final score was 41-21, but it was never close.

The second game, TCU vs. Northwestern, was both great and absolutely horrible. It was great in that no matter what TCU did, Northwestern's players mustered up the courage and drive to respond to the Horned Frogs, and they scored with seconds left to take the game into overtime. Overtime was great too - NW got the ball first, stalled 3 plays, and then the kicker missed a field goal - his 4th miss of the night. TCU got the ball, stalled, and when they attempted to kick a FG of their own, it was blocked. 2nd Overtime, baby. In this one, TCU got it, lost 10 or so yards, then kicked a 47-yd FG to take a 3 point lead. Northwestern got the ball, drove ahead a little bit, and then lined up for the field goal. The kicker let it go, and it sailed about 15 feet to the right of the goal posts. Game over, Frogs win. Now, I feel really bad for everyone on Northwestern's team for playing one of the best games they've ever played and losing it because some kicker decided to have an off day and miss FIVE FREAKING FIELD GOALS. The coach has to take some heat though, because if a kicker missed 4 field goals in a game for FSU or Miami, you can bet your ass they wouldn't get a chance to kick #5. That's why you have 2 kickers on your depth chart, coach.

I watched some of the Toyota World Cup of hockey today - the match between the Czech Republic and Germany. First off, why is Toyota, a Japanese company, the title sponsor? I didn't know the Japanese much cared for hockey. But then again, the "national championship" of Poker is the "Toyota Tundra Player of the Year" award. I digress. The Czech team was loaded with good NHL talent at pretty much every position, while I couldn't name a single player on the German team - which says something, cause I really, really know my NHL. The Czechs started out slow [Vokoun is a Czech? Since when?] but then got on a goddamned tear and obliterated the Deutschbags 7-2. Hell of a game, Czechs.

And how about my goddamned Red Sox? 10 games in a row now, after Pedro shut down the Rangers 2-0. Sox pull within 2 1/2 games of the Yankees, who lost Kevin Brown for the year after he decided he'd play Mike Tyson's Punch-Out with A CONCRETE WALL. Now KB's a GT grad, so I'm not going to bash him - but guy, you've got to know better than that. Next up for the Sox: 2 more vs. Texas, 3 at Oakland, and down the road, 6 more against the Steinbrenners. Go Sawx.

As much as I hate to say it, Chris Simms is looking pretty damned good at QB for the Bucs. His pass to Will Heller [ex-GT TE] was a thing of beauty in their preseason win over the Texans. Simms has a pretty bright future, and picking him up at the end of the 3rd round last year might have been one hell of a steal. For the love of god, Jon Gruden, please bury Brian Griese as far down on the depth chart as you can. We don't need another repeat of the Rob Johnson fiasco. Thanks.

Oh, and GT football kicks off in less than 12 hours. Hard to get excited about playing a I-AA team, and it not being televised, but I'm glad we've got NCAA football back.

And damn, I love this picture:

1-800-555-TELL

Okay, if you're like me, you probably have a cell phone. I personally am a huge sports fan, and when I'm not near a computer or a TV, I still want to know what's going on in the sports world (or any other important news). The most obvious option is using the Mobile Web features on my cell phone - but frankly, that option sucks ass. Most mobile carriers charge $5-10/month (Alltel charges me $5.95 + minutes) and the interface is slow and it all and all sucks.

Enter 1-800-555-TELL [8355].

You call that number, and the voice driven prompts allow you to navigate through their menus and hear reports on the news, weather, sports scores, stock reports, etc. A sample call:

[Dials 1-800-555-TELL]
TELL: Good evening, you're connected to 1800555TELL. Main menu: when you hear the one you want, just say it: Stock quotes, news center, sports, travel, popular shortcuts
Me: Sports
TELL: This is sports. Say the name of a sport or tell me my choices.
Me: College football
TELL: Here are the latest college football scores. Currently Utah is leading Texas A&M 14-0 in the 2nd Quarter.
Me: Baseball
TELL: Baseball - say American League, National League, or a Team Name. Also say Point Spread or Injury Report.
Me: Boston Red Sox
TELL: Currently the Red Sox have the lead over the Angels 3 to 2 in the top of the 3rd.

You get the point. It's free, and it negates paying for mobile web. Huzzah.

Free iPod [or iPod Mini or $250 GC]

So you want a free 20gb iPod or 4gb iPod mini huh? Honestly, I hate sales pitches, but this is one you should at least give a second thought towards. Yes, it seems too good to be true, but it's legit. Here's the real deal and what you have to do to get one:

First things first - yes, it's real. There are a lot of guys that have received their free iPods, and I figured it was time to get into the game. See the links below:

• The company running this is Gratis Intenet which has been in business for years and have a clean record at the Better Business Bureau
• The math makes sense...
• Check out this Wired article describing the deal.
• Some pictures of people that received their free ipods (and check out the site - it has more references).

What you need:

1. To be 18 or older and a US resident with a US mailing address.
2. An email account.
3. Credit card to complete most offers (although most of them are free as long as you cancel on time...).

How to get it:

1. Sign up here for an account. Use a real email, as it will be verified.
2. Complete the registration, make sure you verify your email.
3. Complete one of the offers. I have done the infone thing (free). My friends had a chance to complete an AOL offer (free), and a Video Professor offer ($7 - cancelled the same day and was not charged). I hear that the offers change periodically - so either check in a couple of times, or just join whatever seems the fastest to get credit for (immediate, 1-2 days, 1-2 weeks is what I have seen).
4. Refer your friends...

I will give gmail invites or $5 to the 5 people that will complete an offer under my referral and will be approved as an incentive for whoever want to jump on the bandwagon...

Notes:
1. You might have to use Internet Eplorer as the site scripts may not work with FireFox/Mozilla (popups, etc...).
2. Make sure that you do not sign up twice, or sign up with the same mailing address as your "friends". Gratis have been known to be pretty harsh in making sure that fraud is prevented (makes sense) - so don't try to beat the system, work with it...

What I did, step by step:
1. Signed up under a friend's referral link. You should use mine instead. [note: I'm not greedy. When I hit my 5 referrals, I'll take this down and put one of yours up instead. I'll also post them below if you want.]
2. Signed up for the infone offer. Provided a valid credit card and address (if you're squeamish about using your credit card for some reason, give yourself a Webcertificate, which will give you a "temporary" MasterCard with a limited value of whatever you want to put on it. Though honestly, I think that's probably a waste of time and money.
3. After filling out the infone offer, my freeipod account showed that my requirements had been completed, which I checked about 30 seconds after I submitted the infone offer. Crazy, eh?
4. The infone offer, which you cancel by a) never using the service [which means dialing the number and entering the pin you selected in registration] or b) giving a call to 1-877-477-7900 [or 1-888-411-1111 if that doesn't work] and letting them know you're cancelling - though I would wait at least 3-4 hours after signing up and getting your credit from freeipods, since the infone offer comes with a free $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com. You might want to wait for that to hit your email's inbox before you cancel on the deal, else you might not get the free GC.

Just to give details, infone is a service you call from whatever phone you register the number for, you input your PIN, and they give you movie times, directions, dinner reservations, and other things - it's like a concierge via phone. They charge you per-call with no monthly fee, so if you never call, you're never charged. The offer on freeipods is that you get your first 5 infone calls for free, but I'm not going to even bother using any of those.

5. Then after making sure the guy I followed the referral from got credit for me signing up (he did), I put this page up and hoped for 5 referrals.

Feel free to copy this page, alter it how you see fit, and then put it up somewhere to further your own cause in getting a free iPod. Best of luck, and one more time, CLICK HERE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.