Weekly Homework Assignment

It's time once again for Mama Kat's weekly homework assignment.


I chose the following prompt: "Share an interesting email exchange you've had with someone lately." I chose to modify this prompt a little ... ya see, I have a fantastic e-mail conversation that I saved between me and my good friend Ray-Ray. I had this on an old website, and copied and pasted it here.


A hysterical E-mail conversation between Ray and I on July 18, 2001:

Los: Thank goodness that I don't have any more classes to take at Great Valley, so I won't feel the pinch.

Ray: Yep, that would suck. on a side note, i shit my pants this morning.

Los: Was it while you were at the track? I hope it wasn't on your way to work.

Ray: yep, at the track. I had a few beers with the umpire guys last night, my dad came up from the shore and had a hoagie for me, so i ate it. watched the end of the phils game and went to bed. get up this morning, follow theusual routine, sit on the pot and wait for things to happen. now, i know i have this hoagie and beer in my system somewhere and i seem to get rid of some of it. i clean up and head to the track. now i'm cruisin along and i'm gettin a little gassy, then things start rumblin and i know what's goin on, this has happened before. i guess all that bouncin shakes things up in the old bowel system, but i've been able to hold off before and finish runnin then go home and take care of business. not today. on my 6th lap i incur "a little accident." had to stop runnin, cut across the football field, saddle up on my bike and get home. i get up on my deck, strip, and things are a mess, and head to the bathroom, walkin kinda funny mind you. clean up, shit again, this time where i'm supposed to, clean up, and get in the shower. ah, finally clean. now i go back outside, get the hose out, and hose down my clothes. it's been quite a morning. i bet my flowers out back come up nice though. good thing it's raining, it'll wash away any debris that might have been left on the driveway.

Los: Now THAT is a funny story. I almost crapped myself reading it.

Ray: Yeah, hilarious. and i'm wearin white compression shorts and white champion shorts to boot, so the brown is just seepin through there like there's no tomorrow. so when i'm on my bike my big ass is in the air, cuz i'm not sitting down in the stuff, that's just gross, and all the cars probably see this big brown stain. lotta fun. i think i'm gonna start wearing diapers

Interesting Tidbit

Here's an interesting question for ya - what's the largest American (United States) brewery? You're probably thinking Anheuser-Busch, right? Nope - it's no longer American - bought out by some European company a little while ago. What about Miller or Coors? Well, they are same company now ... but, they've also been bought by a non-American company. So, who is it?

Currently, Boston Beer Company is first - it's the company that makes Samuel Adams. But, that's about to change. According to this article, the Yuengling brewery may overtake Samuel Adams by the end of this year. If you're not from the east coast, chances are you've probably never heard of Yuengling. It's the oldest U.S. brewery and has been operating since the early 1840's ... for most of this beer's existence, it has been just a regional brewery - basically just serving most of Pennsylvania.

I remember my friend's dad drinking this stuff out of the can in the early 1980's - it was a weird name for a beer. He swore up and down how great this beer was ... apparently, he's a visionary. This beer has grown every year for the past 20 years. When I was in college, I really started noticing this beer (early 1990's for those keeping score). This is the unofficial beer of Penn State - specifically, Yuengling Lager is the beer of choice - In these parts, if you ask for a Lager, you'll get a Yuengling Lager. Yuengling makes many other types of beer - a premium pilsner, a light pilsner, light lager, Lord Chesterfield's Ale, and a really good Porter.

They've grown quite a bit in the past 20 years ... now having a bunch of breweries up and down the east coast ... and by all indications, they could be spreading west ... exciting times for a "local" Philadelphia (well, Pottsville, but close enough) brewery! You can find out more here.

Song of the Week

As many of you probably know, I dislike country music ... no, it's probably closer to outright hating it. Look, I know they are talented musicians, but it's just not me ... I don't like the twanginess of the music, and I especially hate much of the themes.

That said, there are some country songs I like ... a very few, actually ... you can probably count them on one hand. This particular one fits in perfectly during this time of year - baseball season. Alabama, a legendary country band, put together a little diddy about America's sport (or, at least, what used to be America's sport) in the early 1990's, called "Cheap Seats."

Really, the song is more about minor league baseball, as opposed to major league baseball, but still, it fits. The "story-line" goes into following a minor league team in a small town, drinking beers, eating hot dogs with lots of mustard and relish, and how even though the world around this town continues to grow bigger and bigger, this town can always escape from this by going to a minor league game and "transporting back" to a simpler time.

Yes, there is some twanginess to it, but not that much really. Yes, you can tell it's a country song, but still ... the main chorus is really catchy, and the actual theme is more than tolerable.

You can see the video here:

Fast Food Corner

Burger King is a distant second (or third, if you consider Wendy's) to McDonalds for most things fast-food. However, the King is surprisingly close to the Clown when it comes to breakfast (in my opinion). Their Croissanwich's compete very well against McMuffins, and I prefer their hashbrowns to McDonald's hashbrown thingy. Plus, a couple of their calorie bomb sandwiches are pretty cool (you have to admire a fast-food company that doesn't care about nutrition) - like the "Enormous Omelet Sandwich.

But, I found something on the breakfast menu that is truly light years better than a comparable product at Mickey D's. Burger King has something called the "Breakfast Wrap." Now, I'm not sure if you can get this at every BK, because I'm having a difficult time finding it on their website. Anyway, it basically consists of scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese and a couple of hashbrowns in a wrap. McDonalds has something called the Breakfast Burrito - I guess in theory, it isn't that bad, but I don't like the peppers in the wrap - sometimes simple is better ... and to me, that is especially true when it comes to breakfast.

Plus, this BK Breakfast Wrap is extremely easy to eat whilst driving - a very important item to consider when ordering fast food. Bravo, Burger King, for getting it right with regards to breakfast! As an aside, I didn't try the BK Breakfast shots yet - these are kind of like breakfast "sliders" with your choice of bacon, sausage, or ham to go with the eggs ... obvously, ham is the worst choice.

Another Weird Story ...

You probably read about this earlier in the week - I just found this a crazy story ... 21 horses died at a polo tournament ... I guess the obvious punchline is ... did anybody tell the horses it was water polo? But seriously, folks ...

Unbelievable story ... I mean, what happens here? Does Alpo come a'knockin'? Yep ... unfortunately, I went there. I was thinking about going with the Elmer's glue comment, but for some reason, Alpo won out (Somewhere in heaven, Lorne Green is smiling down on me).

But in all honesty, what an awful situation ... I bet quite a few people thought they were just "horsing around." Nope, I can't even begin to be serious about this story.

For those of you who don't believe me, or want to read more, click here:

Sports Addict

I'm a sports addict ... yep, I've finally accepted it. I can't get enough of sports. When I'm not watching sports, I'm either listening ot it on a sports-talk radio station, thinking about sports, arguing with my friends about sports, or watching ESPN SportsCenter for the 5th or 6th time in a row. That's probably a good definition of addiction.

Here's the thing - when my home teams lose, and that happens more than a few times, I have a tough time watching SportsCenter or listening to sportstalk ... this is especially true after one of my teams loses a big game. Case in point - It took me about a week to begin listening to Sportstalk and watching SportsCenter after the Eagles lost to the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game. I was devastated. I was sick. And, I didn't want to think about it or be reminded about it. My guess is that many of you sports "freaks" are a lot like me (please, tell me it's true!).

What I'm wondering is - does this happen in other areas? Do people get this way when their favorite singer gets voted off of American Idol, or when a chef they like makes an awful meal on TV? What about you political wackos (on both sides)? Do you stop watching the news for a while when your candidate loses? Just wondering.

Weekly Homework Assignment

Tough call this week with Mama Kat's weekly homework assignment. I don't usually read books, but as luck would have it, I actually did read one, thanks to a recommendation a friend gave me at work ... heck, he even let me borrow the book.

I guess he came up with the recommendation based on my German heritage ... we may even have been talking about Cape May (I had recently taken a trip there), and some of the "mysteries" of the town. One of the mysteries or "legends" has to do with a German U-boat (submarine) that was sunk just off the coast of Cape May in World War 2. A book about this was written a few years ago, called "Shadow Divers."

The story itself is about a some scuba divers who discovered a wreck off the coast of Cape May, and spent the better part of a decade trying to identify it. The writing of Robert Kurson is so good, it makes you feel like you're searching the wreck with these heroic divers ... even at times feeling like you're oxygen tank is running out of air.

Best of all (in my opinion), it paints these doomed submarine crewmen as humans ... not devils who were part of the Nazi regime ... something hardly ever done when writing about World War 2 (I guess that's quite understandable, based on the atrocities the Nazis inflicted on the Jews and the rest of the world). It's a surprisingly quick read, and is really hard to put down ... I read so much, so quickly, that I had dreams about scuba-diving ... and I never have had an urge to do this.

Fast Food Corner

Back in the mid-to-late 80's, a "fast-food" German-style restaurant opened in my neighborhood. The concept of German "fast-food" probably wasn't such a good idea ... at least not if you served just German "fast-food." But, as weird as that concept was, the name chosen by this restaurant probably was even a less appetizing idea (no pun intended).

"The Wurst Place" was the name given to this place ... and the slogan was "The Best of the World's Wurst." Surprisingly, it lasted nearly an entire year before it closed its doors. I never got the nerve up to actually step foot in there and order something ... I kick myself for not doing so, considering my full German Heritage. I think my parents went there once, but only once ... which means, they really didn't care much for the food, either.

Maybe someday, there will be a "Renaissance" of sorts for German-style cooking ... heck, we've seen Irish bars explode in the United States in recent years. Maybe German bars will be next ... and at that point, maybe we'll welcome German "pub food" a little more openly ... after all, Irish food really isn't that great, is it?

A band came to my attention in the late 1990's - they were called the New Radicals - you probably remember the song "You Get What You Give," the song that got quite a bit of airplay - it's a catchy song ... and if you were lucky enough to purchase the album, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too," it's one of those albums you can pretty much listen to all the way through (seems like less and less of those albums are being made nowadays, unfortunately). The album itself masterfully mixes some early sounding rock with catchy pop, often criticizing society (according to Wikipedia) whilst glorifying drugs and sex.

Unfortunately, the New Radicals came and went rather quickly, and can probably be defined as a "one-hit-wonder."

Personally, my favorite song on the album is the opener, "Mama, we Just Can't Get Enough," probably due to the fact that they lifted the rhythm sound from "Sympathy for the Devil." The song is chocked full of catchy choruses, as well as witty and deep lyrics, in addition to some pretty intense piano playing at certain points of the tune.

Here's some more information on the band in case you are interested.

Madden retires .... NO!!!!

John Madden retired, and the NFL will never be the same ... it was kind of sudden, wasn't it? I mean, isn't he supposed to give us a 1-year warning or something? Couldn't he just announce one last season before shoving off? Why?

Well, I do have a theory? I mean, Harry Kalas just passed away last week ... he was 73 - the same age as Madden. Coincidence? Probably not. My theory is that Madden was hit pretty hard by the death of Kalas, and realized that he had a bunch more living to do, and didn't want to end things in his "Madden Cruiser." Just a theory, folks.

More importantly, what's going to happen to the Madden video game "franchise?" I mean, there hasn't been a sports video game as popular as the Madden series ... the new release every year is almost like a holiday ... many people purchase the game at midnight, take the following day off, and play the game non-stop all day (or week). It's pretty crazy, if ya ask me. But, now what? Will EA Sports continue to promote John Madden, or will they promote somebody new? And if so, who? Are we looking at Collinsworth 2010? Will we have a Gumbel and Gumbel release? Is this Brian Baldinger's big shot? More likely, the Madden name will eventually fall off, and the game will just be called NFL 2010. Just a thought.

We'll miss you, John ... now you can join Pat Summerall ... and he ain't even dead. Oh, and yes, I owned that first Madden game ... for the Commodore 64.

That's "Tree"-mendous!

As some of you many remember, I used to comment about some "interesting" news stories on a semi-regular basis. I pretty much tired of doing this (oh, and nobody really read it), so I gave up on it. However, from time to time, I'll still post a story or two that really "amuses" me.

And coincidentally, I just came across a really unbelievable story ... a man went to the doctor's office, complaining of severe chest pains ... the doctor expected to find cancer, some benign tumor ... but he never expected to find a tree ... yeah, that's right ... an f'ing tree was GROWING in this guys lungs! How does this happen? Did this guy have "relations" with a Fir tree? Nobody's really sure. The good news is that the man has fully recovered, and was back at work a week later. Truly, "Tree"-mendous!

Here's the story, in case you don't believe me:

Song of the Week

George Thorogood is many things - a heckuva blues guitarist, a successful rocker, a guy from Delaware ... heck, he was almost a member of the Rolling Stones (a blog post for another time). The first time I noticed Thorogood was when I watched his "Bad to the Bone" video on MTV - it may be one of the coolest videos ever ... Thorogood playing pool with the legendary Willie Mosconi. (Here's the video in case you've never had the pleasure of seeing it)

Not only is the video cool - the song is a true rock song, complete with overwhelming riffs, classic saxaphone, and a primal beat. Thorogood's voice is perfect for this song - scratchy, loud, and mean. It's one of those songs that just makes you want to go out, have a drink, and start some trouble (not that I'm condoning any of this). There are a number of fantastic guitar solos in this gem, as well as some cool/funny lines - "When I walk the streets, Kings and Queens step aside ... every woman I meat, they all stay satisfied."

Here's more info on Thorogood, in case you're interested:

Fast Food Corner

Remember back in the day when Wendy's had a taco bar? How cool was that? I miss it ... I miss it a lot. I mean, why did they give up on this? I have a guess/theory. You see, most Wendy's restaurants are kind of small. They have small tables, and small food trays ... both of these bother me to no end (but, I like the food, so I always return ... and then end up complaining). Anyway - did they get rid of the taco bar because they wanted to add more small tables? Kind of makes you think, I guess.

Speaking of which, I also miss Roy Rogers' free fixin's bar ... how has nobody else run with this idea? Heck, wouldn't it be easier to hand somebody a burger and say, "You can stop bothering me and just add whatever toppings you want over there?" Why hasn't McDonalds or Burger King jumped on this? Are they too lazy? Does Roy Rogers have a copyright on this? I gotta know! I wanna build my own burger, darn it!

Any other past gimmicks that you guys miss?

Weekly Homework Assignment

It's time once again for Mama Kat's Weekly Homework Assignment. This one's a pretty easy one for Philly ... in fact, I blogged about it just a couple of days ago. Here's the question: 3.) Tell us about a local news story that's all the buzz right now in your neck of the woods.

If you're from Philly, this is an easy one ... sadly. It's the death of legendary Phillies announcer, Harry Kalas. I think David Montgomery (main mouthpiece of Phillies management) said it best when he said, "The Phillies have lost their voice." Kalas was loved by just about everybody in Philadelphia - in addition to having a golden voice, the man had a golden heart too. He probably never, ever turned down giving an autograph or having a picture taken with a fan. Heck, he even recorded voicemail messages and wedding entrances for total strangers!

All of these are reasons why Kalas was so beloved by Philadelphians. But, a friend at work and I were talking about other reasons why this has hit us so hard. Certainly, because Harry announced just about every Phillies game for the past 38+ years, we relate life events that occurred during Phillies games (at least we sports fans) to Harry and his voice ... if you're not a sports fan, this may sound stupid. But trust me, it's true - the Phillies always seemed to be on TV or on the radio in the summertime when I was growing up ... and I always remember that voice. When I imagine Phillies highlight reel plays it's Harry's voice describing them.

Plus, Kalas never retired. He died AT THE BALLPARK, JUST A FEW HOURS PRIOR TO ANNOUNCING A GAME!!! He died on the job ... but he died doing what he loved doing, and I'm guessing if he had any say in this, he wouldn't have written it any differently. But, had Kalas retired a few years ago, this loss, though still shocking and painful, probably wouldn't have been AS painful. Still, we lost our voice, and even though the game will go on, and I'm sure at some point, another announcer will develop a legendary career whilst announcing for the Phils ... it just won't be the same.

God bless you, Harry the K! In case you want to hear his voice one last time (or for the first time, click here.

Too Soon?

A friend of mine e-mailed me this picture/potential ad ... not sure if we are ready to make fun of this yet ... definitely not in good taste (no pun intended). I wonder how McDonald's feels about it?

Hard to Believe, Harry ...

The "phans" of Philadelphia lost one of their own earlier today. Harry Kalas, the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, died suddently just prior the game against the Nationals earlier today. The news hit me hard ... I'm guessing it hit many of us in the area hard. Harry has announced Phillies games for more than 38 years ... that's longer than I've been alive.

The show must go on, but man, it's gonna be heard listening to the game, and not hearing that velvety voice of his, announcing the starting lineups, saying "Struck him out!," or using his trademark "Outta here, home run!" line. It seemed like in the summer-time, Harry was part of the family at times - his voice always on in the background, updating us from time to time on what the score was.

But Harry's voice will also be missed across the country, as Kalas was also the voice of the NFL - providing voiceover for numerous NFL shows, as well as games on the radio. The man was a legend - every bit as large as Vin Scully, Harry Cary, Mel Allen, and Jack Buck.

This season will not be the same for us, unfortunately. But, time heals all wounds ... I'm just guessing this one may take a little longer. We love you, Harry!

Trout Fishing Report

Ladies and Gentlemen - I went to my first trout fishing opening day in over a decade ... and I survived! I went with my good friends Rich and Mark - guys who have been carrying on the tradition for a number of years. It was a long day, but it was an excellent day.

After having assembled at my house at around 6:00 in the morning, we were able to find a Rite Aid that carried polarized sunglasses for Rich, and a Dunkin Donuts for Mark, and we made to our destination - Ridley Creek around 6:30 AM. We scouted our fishing hole and made it to our location at around 7:00. We had about an hour until first cast - more than enough time to prepare, tell stories, and most of all goof off.

We all did relatively well, considering the murky water, and gusting wind - I caught 4 trout, Mark caught 5, and Rich caught 3. We all missed a number of others, and sadly, I broke my new fishing pole. All in all, it was a great and wonderful day - and I can't wait to go out again ... once I get another fishing pole.

Song of the Week

There have been a couple of notable "theatrical" bands in the history of rock - Queen and The Talking Heads come to mind ... there's another more recent band that has taken the torch from these legendary art-rock bands - The Darkness.

This band has been around for longer than most people realize - dating back to 1991 ... sure, the vast majority of people didn't hear about this band until probably 2003 with the release of the "Permission to Land" cd - one that enabled them to play huge rock shows throughout the world, even getting the opportunity to tour with the legendary Metallica.

Their first major hit, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," is just a great sing-along song ... well at least part of the chorus is ... the lead singer sings about as fast as that guy who did the Micro Machines commercials talked (look it up). This song is filled with powerful guitar riffs, a candy-metal sound, and a lead singer loves to sing falsetto ... it's a song you probably won't want to openly admit to liking (kind of like that "Hey-Ya" Outkast song), but you probably secretly like.

You can find out more about The Darkness here:

Weekly Homework Assignment

It's that time of the week again - Mama Kat's Homework Assignment I chose the following prompt: What is an unpleasant experience you had eating? Write a poem, paragraph, or something else about the experience.

Reluctantly going to my aunt's ...
It was Easter, so I had to put on good pants.

I knew we were having ham for dinner.
In my mind this was not a winner.

I've hated ham ever since I was a kid.
I threw up on ham a number of times, yes I did.

I was hoping they'd have another dinner for me.
However, they did not ... no-sir-ee.

My mom told me to eat some of the dishes on the side.
But instead, I wanted to run and hide.

She asked if I wanted corn, broccoli, or apple sauce.
If I ate them, cookies I would toss.

Frustrated, my mom told me to eat a bowl of ketchup.
To which I happily replied, "Bottoms Up!"

I ate ketchup for as my meal.
To me it was no big deal.

No longer has ham been the only meat.
A side of turkey just can't be beat!

Fast Food Corner

A couple of us went to one of those Taco Bell/KFC "restaurants" this past weekend ... First, let me say that I absolutely LOVE these places! Think of the possibilities - I can order tacos AND pop-corn chicken without ever having to go to TWO restaurants! An awesome concept, to say the least. I'll even go a step further - I've seen a Taco Bell/KFC/Pizza Hut SUPER restaurant ... sure, it's hard to order a pizza from a place that serves tacos and chicken, BUT I find it much easier to order those delicious bread sticks from there ... but I digress.

This particular taco bell/KFC must've been the absolute worst fast food restaurant in Delaware County (and quite possibly, the world). Absolute chaos gripped this restaurant - no clear directions on where to stand to order food or receive food, listless workers doing the bare minimum to get paid, Van Morrison music on the radio (still can't get that annoying Domino song out of my head).

It wouldn't be so bad if the the bad times stopped there. No, the food itself was terrible - even for a fast food restaurant. These employees apparently decided it was ok to "improvise" with creating fast food - for instance, the Mexican Pizza, which is supposed to include flour tortillas, instead had corn tortillas ... oh, and it also was supposed to include beef and refried beans ... however, these employees decided it was ok to skip the beef entirely. Sometimes, innovation is welcome and encouraged ... sometimes. But, usually, these should be "piloted" on volunteers, as opposed to being served to paying customers ... ones who will probably never, ever come back again, based on the awful, awful experience.

But hey, at least there are other Taco Bells in the area, I guess...

Invention Needed

We humans have invented many fantastic and wondrous things - the wheel, the car, the computer, bacon ... I could go on and on ... anyway, there are some "uninvented" items that just make you scratch your head ... I mean, we can go to the moon, but we can't cure cancer? We can see galaxies millions of light years away, but we can't "cure" balding?

So, where am I going with this? Well, I had a meeting the other day, and during the meeting, I "noticed" that i had a "bat in the cave." Yep, that's right, somehow, my nasal cavity decided to produce a booger during this meeting. How embarrassing! This doesn't happen to me all the time, thankfully, but it only needs to happen once in a meeting, doesn't it? I mean, you start thinking differently about the person who has had that hanging booger, right? I've seen this happen to others - it's hard to look at them the same, isn't it? It's kind of like when someone comes out of the bathroom with a pee-stain.

Shouldn't there be some sort of "preventative" booger invention - something that you can insert to your nostrils prior to a meeting? Just a thought.

Ketchup Question

I'm a big fan of ketchup ... well, who isn't? I love heaps of ketchup on my fries, burgers, heck, even on hot dogs! I've never had a problem with ketchup - to me, there's really no way to improve it. However, some companies do not share my feelings.

In an effort to take ketchup to "infinity and beyond," ketchup companies have decided to make ketchup available in a variety of colors. For some reason, somebody in a board room with a tie came to the conclusion that red is not an ideal color for ketchup, and that other colors like blue, green, and yellow need to be added to the ketchup pallet. Did these people do customer research, and if so, did they really get feedback trends that were based on the actual color of ketchup? "Man, I love ketchup, but I really wish that it was blue." "You know what's missing with ketchup? Color variety, that's what!" This has to be the dumbest idea since the clear cola phase, right?

Not Sure About This...

A coworker/friend of mine and I were chatting the other day ... we have this game we do called "Dope or Nope" - basically we come up with a topic and decide whether we are cool with it (Dope), or are not cool with it (Nope). I wanted to get your help on this particular topic we discussed - women shaving their eyebrows and penciling eyebrows in?

Now, from my standpoint, I have wild-growing eyebrows, and constantly have to trim them, for fear of looking like John Madden or Andy Rooney. My eyebrow hairs sadly do not act as a team, and when they grow too long, they look like blonde crab-grass. So, I can certainly appreciate the desire to keep them short, trim, and well groomed ... but I think I'm not cool with with the shaving and penciling in of new eyebrows.

Here's the thing - it seems to me that you totally defeat the purpose - why get rid of eyebrows, just to add them again? Isn't that like 2 or three useless steps? Can't you just work with your current eyebrows? And, if you can't, please let me know why? Maybe I'm ill-informed on this topic.

Secondly, these penciled-in eyebrows always make the person look like they're shocked. Maybe I'm talking to you about the weather ... maybe I've asked you what you're eating for lunch ... maybe we're discussing some work-related issue ... either way, your eyebrows make it seem like I just flatulated on your face. It just doesn't look natural to me ... again, I'm willing to listen to counter-arguments or reasoning behind this - please, educate me.

Weekly Assignment

It's time for Mama Kat's weekly assignment again! This week, I chose the following prompt: What is a common misconception about you? Oh man, do I need to narrow it down? I mean, some people think I'm pompus, mentally challenged, genious, witty, non-caring, overcaring ... basically, it runs the gamet. I'm probably somewhere inbetween on all of these.

However, because I love to laugh, tell jokes, and goof off, there are many people who think that I can never be serious. Although, I'm not one who thrives when he's serious, there are times when I can be serious - especially when it comes friends, family and work. There have been many situations (too many, in fact, to even put on this blog) where I have been relied upon to be a good friend or family member - when a critical situation has occured, and "funny-Los" has to give way to "serious-Los." There have been plenty of times when we've hit crunch-time at work (again, probably too many to even list), and I've had to put on my "serious" hat. I am more than capable of doing this, and I've realized through the years that there is enough room in this world for both ... however, both need to be done in moderation.

Stoppage Time ...

Just some random thoughts creepin' and crawlin' inside my brain:

* I'm going trout fishing for the first time in years this Saturday ... does this mean I'm going up a notch on the "man-scale?"

* I'm watching Wrestlemania on Sunday ... does this mean I'm going down a notch on the "man scale?"

* It usually isn't a good idea to do a shot of Jamison's after 1:00 AM ... or ever.

* The college basketball tournament puts the NBA to shame ... with the exception of LeBron James.

* I'm reading a book called Shadow Divers ... fascinating story about a U-boat that was discovered off the coast of Cape May ... I highly recommend it (and yes, I know the book came out more than 3 years ago).

* I like the milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl ... is this OK?

* I want to play on a bar soft-ball team.

* Thank goodness baseball's back!!!! Go Phils!

* Weekends go by far too fast when you're having fun.

* What happened to Verne Lundquist's neck? Was it fired along with Billy Packer?