October 2007
Nothingness
I've been wanting to post for a while, but I can't seem to find anything of interest to me, so I haven't been loading you down with it. Things I've considered posting about:
- The Ambien story (funny but a little personal)
- The new crappy reality show "The Next Great American Band" – yeah, I actually watched that. Waste of 2 hours. 12 bands out of all those that tried out and it should come down to Sixwire and some other random band but it'll probably end up being Dot Dot Dot or some other crap, just like American Idol.
- Steelers loss in Denver. Pain.
- Why can't I freelance for the local paper if this guy can?
- Where the hell did all this drug-resistant staph come from all of a sudden?
- Am I supposed to feel comfortable sending my daughter to school in a district where a teacher just went somewhat slightly ballistic and tried to force his way onto an Air Force base because he was attempting "suicide by cop"?
- And speaking of said daughter, how do I get her to realize that while, yes, a C is an average grade, that it's not good enough? (Yeah, she said that. "A 'C' is an average grade.")
- When I know that I hold the ingredients to the key to my exit from the corporate world that I so despise, why is it so difficult for me to get all the ingredients together into one functioning piece?
- Am I really ready for NaNoWriMo? (I'm MiamiShyner there too if you're interested in adding me as a writing buddy.)
- Where is my direction?
Okay, enough. I wasn't supposed to load you down with my crapola. But I needed to get it out. Thanks for listening/reading if you actually did.
I've been listo on the board for so long that my arm is tired. Someone please say hep.
QotD: World Series 2007
What are your predictions for the World Series?
- Two teams, one from the AL and one from the NL will play at least four games of baseball.
- I won't watch it.
- I only know that Colorado is in it because they talked about it during the football game last night. (sigh. what happened guys?)
- One day it will be renamed the U.S. Series. Sure there are players from all over and even teams located in Canada, but do we really think that the US+Canda=World?!?!
Steelers country
Let it be known that I grew up loving football and bleeding black and gold.
So let's see. In about 1996, my girl and I absolutely loved to be out and about in the Burgh. We were regulars at The O, hung out in Oakland, and went to places that we had no business being. Without fail, we'd head out to ladies night every week, only to get lost (going to the same place) and miss free cover by 10 minutes. The door guy got used to us and asked why we couldn't ever get there on time. We were those girls. We dressed like sluts and our mothers told us that we were gonna catch a cold in our coochies for wearing such short skirts out in the cold.
Anywho, this was the time when Rod Woodson still played for the Steelers, as did Yancey Thigpen. I figure, if you've gotten this far and you know football, you probably know what Rod Woodson looks like, espcially since he's still on TV as an analyst. Below is Mr. Thigpen.
As successful athletes often do, Rod Woodson opened a restaurant in Pittsburgh and called it Woodson's. Yes. Original. Despite being overpriced for a steelworking town, the restaurant did well. The food was just okay. The atmosphere is what kept it going. On this particular Sunday afternoon, the place was busy, but not packed and the game was on their 85 TVs placed side by side to make a huge screen.
So there we sat, enjoying a late lunch, people watching and talking shit. That's what we did. We were also stranger magnets. (Probably because of the way we dressed, but that's neither here nor there.) As we sat watching the game, a gentleman came over to our table and asked if he could sit down. It was obvious to us that he worked there since he was adorned in kitchen garb. Never ones to pass up an opportunity to possibly get a free, if not at least discounted meal, we welcomed his company.
He sat with us and chatted a while and subjected himself to the torture of listening to the running commentary of two smartasses. At one point, there was a close-up of Yancey. (Please notice the space between Yancey's eyes and above his nose that is occupied by eyebrows.) This is where our story gets, ahem, hairy.
Being the sticklers for the anti-unibrow movement that we were, we immediately started with the giggles regarding the unibrow. This probably went on for about 5 to 10 minutes where we were on a roll about his eyebrow and how he made enough money to get it cleaned up. Our new gentleman friend had a good laugh about it as well. A little more time passed before he decided that he really should get back to work. We bid him farewell and continued watching the game.
Five minutes couldn't have passed before we had another visitor. Again, an employee, I think he may have been the host. His visit was short and sweet and went a little something like this:
Host: So, do you guys know who that was that sat down with you?
Us: Uh, no. One of the cooks?
Host: Well, yes, but he's also Yancey Thigpen's brother.
Us: Outbursts of laughter.
The host didn't understand why we thought that was so funny and we didn't bother to tell him. He hung out for a couple minutes then went back to his duties. We stuck around until the end of the game to see if the other Thigpen would come back out, but he didn't and we paid our bill and took off for more troublemaking.
We didn't think about that lunch until the next week when the Steelers were playing and we got another close-up of Yancey, sans unibrow. HYSTERICAL! I guess that little bro told him that the ladies were having a good laugh at his expense and so he remedied the situation. We felt better that we could watch football without breaking into fits of laughter and we felt the best because a public service had been done. Yay us!
UPDATE:
I sent a link to this post to aforementioned friend who replied with more memories:
Yes I do remember, we actually got dude’s number if you remember we ended up going to a Steeler party later per his invite (another week or so) and he and a couple of his boyz tried to get us to go to Yancy’s apt, we declined the offer cuz we had other (nice looking) hook ups waiting for us. We were a trip. Thanks for the memory……..LOL
Ahh, good times.
It's been a year
I'm not "celebrating" per se, but I am acknowledging the fact that one year ago today was my first post.
In honor of that, I'm going to tell you a story about Christmas in Rostraver Township.
Christmas means snow. Christmas is not the same without snow. (This is why I can't get into it down here.) When I was but a tyke, there were no sugar plum fairies, oh no. We had something way better.
During the evening of Christmas Eve, all the kids knew to leave a jacket and boots by the front door after getting settled in for the night. Why? Because Santa comes not only twice a year, but twice a night in the township. After dinner and dishes, it's time to settle in for some Christmas Eve television or to gather round the ole record player to listen to The Temptations Christmas. Nothing could break the feeling of the moment. Nothing, that is, except for the sound of sirens in the distance. No, no, nothing bad has happened. The sirens let all the kiddies know that it's time for boots and jackets.
After getting all bundled up, we would run out into the front yard like lunatics, all excited. Not just the kids came out. All of our neighbors were out as well. Patiently but anxiously we would wait until we could first see the lights. The flashing red strobes were getting closer. The sirens were getting louder. And finally, we could see the fire truck. And this was not just any fire truck, this fire truck had the distinct honor of carrying Santa.
We ran around the yard, more excited by the second as Santa approached. As he got closer, you could hear his "Ho, Ho, Ho" and "Merry Christmas!" blaring out of the truck's loudspeaker. When he finally got to us, the truck slowed down, Santa yelled out to us and tossed us a crapload of candy. The perfect end to the perfect day before Christmas.
I miss those days. It's only now that I can really appreciate what our fire department did for us every year. These guys (we didn't have any women) took time out of their schedules, away from their families, to make the kids happy. I don't know if they still carry on the tradition, but I hope so. I know that the next generation is growing up there now and they deserve all the happiness our little township can give them. Merry Christmas (or Hannukah or Kwanzaa, please excuse my spelling for whatever you celebrate) a couple months early. 🙂
UPDATE!! :