So this is what he does all day...

The unusual suspects

2010-04-17T14:37:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone. I had just checked out The Unusual Suspects Blog and I hope that you do. It has a lttle something for everyone, everything from movie reviews, videos and links to the day's news from journalism and there is a quite bit about pop culture and entertainment. So if you are in that sort of thing, check it out, bookmark it, and be a fan of them on Facebook. They will like it.

Here's the page, they have updated every day for just short of a month now. http://theunusualsuspects-blog.blogspot.com/

Yay for 26

2010-01-19T04:54:00.002-05:00

I guess Rod Woodson was 26 for a while too, both in age and number. But I am happy to be here and 26, which means I made it through 25. It has not snowed here this week, thank goodness. This blog just might see post No. 200 yet. Come on spring, get here soon.

So yeah...

2008-06-15T12:36:00.002-04:00

OK, I actually have decent topics to right about this time. And more importantly, actual time and desire to do it. I'm immersed in the middle of writing back a bunch of people this week and all that happy good stuff, so there you go, time for a post.

So anyways, last night was a pretty interesting night. I went to see a play called "Godspell Junior" It has a bunch of little kids, hence the junior I guess. But a reason I also went was to see new ECCOTA director and former co-worker Scoop. Now Scoop I would consider probably one of my closest friends in town. Probably when you have nicknames for each other, that happens. She calls me vamp, I call her Scoop. We also hadn't seen each other in about 7 months. Yuk. Thanks life. So the play was good. After the play, was better. See, before I know it, I'm at the Royal with Scoop and a couple others and I'm watching a karaoke competition. Good stuff too. One of the guys I was sitting with is now in the finals of said competition. Nice.

Today will be spent trying to not be so tired (good luck) and watching Tiger and golf. Not a bad day. Wish they would start a little earlier though. But otherwise fun.

I'm also going on vacation probably around the start of August or around that area. The 2nd statewide tour sponsored by Pontiac will be even better than last year's. Greensburg is already noted as a likely site and that could be followed by a bunch of other places to visit various lady friends. All right. And then of course I end up in Kittanning. Way to cap it off in style. NOT.

OK, I need to write one more letter and collect some sanity. Later Days.

In Someone's Face

2007-11-15T02:22:00.001-05:00

So here I am yet again. By no doubt, my fans are either tiring of my presence, or thankful that I still have a presence.

So I got yelled at on the phone today for no reason. Some guy from some corporation named ITL was upset about the paper's coverage of some lumber company's little ceremony today. I had nothing to do with this event especially since you will notice the lack of details surrounding this occasion which is only important to like a handful of people.

So the guy didn't want to yell at me, he wanted K. Well, K wasn't there. So I had to hear him rant for 5 minutes about stuff and how we're terrible and on and on. He did thank me for listening which was certainly alright of him.

Why do I delight in sharing this? Easy. At least this guy was direct in voicing his displeasure. One of my biggest personal pet peeves is people that talk behind other's backs, something that sadly happens more often than people think in the newspaper business. So, my advice. DON'T DO IT!

In other news, the weather can't decide what it wants to do. How frustrating is that. Oh, thanksgiving is next week, a fact that is puzzling many people. One fun fact was absolutely destroying "Soulja girl" and his song "Crank Dat." Now this song was used during a volleyball team's home game as the first song on their warm up track. Even then I thought the song was a tad annoying. Well, wouldn't you know it, I found out that RoboCop, Superman and lots of foul language are primarily mentioned. Oh, and those three steel drum notes that are prevalently heard throughout most of it. How fun is that.

I was happy to make a new Facebook friend. In another ironic twist, people in the SRU comm dept. (or at least this one student) decided to talk to me for a "Where are they now segment." Pretty cool for sure.

OK, that's about it for now, I suppose I should be doing more important things. Like sleeping. That would be great. Peace out. UUUUUU!

Hello Winter

2007-11-10T03:15:00.000-05:00

Autumn used to be my favorite season of the year. Seeing different colors of the rainbow and seeing the fall foliage from outside my room window was kind of cool. Notice, I said from my room window. I never went outside exclusively to see the fall foliage because, well, I thought it was boring, a waste of time, could be doing better things like petting the cat, things like that.

Well, now in Ridgway, autumn is much shorter. It usually lasts for about 3 weeks now instead of 2-3 months. Summertime in Ridgway lasted until October. There were some snippets of fall during October and slightly into November. Of course tonight going into work, it was snowing. Bye, bye, autumn! See you next year and thanks for coming to the party for 5 minutes.

My nickname at work is now Vamp. Well, it really is to just one person who I refer to as Scoop. Scoop just celebrated her 30th birthday the other day. That's the one that got the Peanut M&M's. It also should be noted that Scoop is married, ending any pitch thoughts. Thank you. Scoop has promised to buy me a bowtie for some unknown reason. Let's see when that happens. Scoop did leave me a post-it note thanking me though. So nice of her. Scoop also notices quite a bit about me already, very interesting.

Other than that, I've just been busy finding people on MySpace and having terrible dreams. Two nights ago, I had a dream where my lovely adorable gal pal from school, Jenna was there and I saw her. In the dream, Jenna ran away when she saw me and I ended up chasing her until I woke up. When hearing about this, Jenna told me "lol Greg I would never run away from u" That's how the kids talk these days.

Last night, I had two interesting dreams. The first included me in my dad's truck trying to get away from a delusional madman with a gun shooting at me. Yikes. The second one included me in the Bonnie learning how to drive in the snow and doing a terrible job at it. I did not wreck the car though.

So now that everyone thinks I'm a giant weirdo, I'll leave it at that. Later!

Waiting

2007-11-08T03:54:00.000-05:00

Waiting, waiting, waiting. I really could be doing more constructive right now than waiting for professional sports games to end on a computer. But alas, that is exactly what I am doing right now. There's no shame in that for me.

Today was certainly an interesting day. To not give away any secrets, there is a certain friendly wager among me and one of my other co-workers about how long the meeting will be. Today we both won and lost. She won because I didn't think everyone would show up. I won because I got the closest time. Needless to say, she has a bag of Peanut M&Ms on her desk. I got 2 bags of pretzels. Oh, and Thursday's her birthday. She's 30 and is looking forward to not being a twentysomething. I suddenly feel so young again.

I'm still trying to be set up on a date by anyone that can get a chance to at work. Just fantastic. But work has been going OK so far, can't complain too much about that. I actually got some of the apartment cleaned up. It's coming along and looking better. I also recently bought Scrabble for the computer to improve my vocabulary. That certainly won't help very much but it was worth a try. R.E.M. is on the radio right now. MegaRock is my nighttime companion. That sounds so naughty.

Good times for sure. I'm excited for Thanksgiving and coming back to SRU on Nov. 29 to be a judge for senior presentations. It will be great and a good time. I've been ordered to have a good time haha. I know I will. OK, that's it for now, I'll see everyone on the flip side dawg.

It's Cold

2007-11-07T18:21:00.000-05:00

Here's a newsflash for everyone. It's cold. I was reminded of this like three times yesterday. The funny thing? It wasn't that cold yesterday. At least in the afternoon, I thought. But it was a topical thing to talk about.
I voted on election day. No big surprise there, but at least the people that I wanted to win did, and it looks like the people that I wanted to not win, did not. Clever saying for sure.

It's been a lot of people's birthdays this week, including my dad's yesterday. Happy birthday to everyone. My dad brought home his new motorcycle, or as I like to call it "the little brother I never had." I will call him Silverback for the color. It's better than calling it "Beardy" for the owner.

Crazy that Thanksgiving will be coming up soon. I'm excited for that for sure. Who doesn't love feeling tired from turkey? Also, the cleaning process is proceeding decently. Not great. But decently.

OK, that's about it for now. Off to do something else.

Pizza

2007-11-05T14:29:00.000-05:00

I never thought picking up pizza would be such an enlightening experience. Today I ordered pizza because A) I was too lazy to cook anything and B) I figured I would do something cool since it was the day of Super Bowl 41 1/2. So I went down there and told someone that I'm here for my pickup. The guy there who obviously was injected with something I like to call "TJ Juice" replies back with something along the lines of "Ya, there's a Ford pickup back there." You know, some real corny answer. So he gets my order and it's like "Reedy, right. Your first name wouldn't happen to be Greg? I tell him it is and looks really surprised and excited. I found out why shortly.

"Do you know if you mix your first initals with your last name, what you get?
Me: "Greedy. Ya, I've heard that a couple times too.

Oh by the way, Tom Hanks = Thanks. I learn something new every day. And all of it from pizza. Steelers tonight. Against the hated Ravens. Oh and the Bills won today. I like them this year. Lee Evans had a whopping good game. Bloody good that was.

The Pitch

2007-11-03T04:03:00.000-04:00

I can hardly think of whenever the last time it was that I actually went and blogged on here. It's definitely been a while but for sure, it's been overdue.
In all honesty, I'm here at work waiting for football stories to come through so who knows how long that's going to take. I could be here for a while.

In other news, I'm actually getting some time off this weekend. I'll probably actually clean my apartment up a little bit. It looks decent right now, but my goal is to get it a lot better. Especially the bedroom. Where I sleep. And that's about it. Recently, I bought a bunch of picture frames for around the apartment to decorate. A lot of the picture are me and my friends. Most of them happen to be female, except for me and Chase. Chase is obviously a male. It might shock some people to know that females actually allow me to get close to them every once in a while but on rare occasions this does happen. To answer my Dad's impending question, Yes. They are all American.

Fall sports is over and so is football. My teams missed the playoffs this year so it was weird tonight to not have to go roam a sideline. It's a great workout to walk around 700 yards in a game (Total guess) and my thieghs are all solid now.

I've been to 3 weddings this year and the latest one involved my second cousin who will be referred to as TT. TT got married which of course raised the inevitable question of "Do you have a girlfriend yet." Just what I wanted to hear. I was able to avoid the garter and some poor 12-year-old preacher's kid (found that out after the reception) ended up getting the dubious honor. Kids today are just not into that. Me either.

I got the pitch again the other day from the pub. The pitch is this: It is basically someone's attempt to be a matchmaker and give the most creative or awful ways to ask someone out. Pub is really trying hard as is most of the people that I know I think which involves the professors at school, I think. I know Dr. Z will also ask me whether I have found a special lady or not when I see him on Nov. 29. In all reality, it would be really cool to date. But not real optimistic about it right now. MySpace girls are messaging me trying to "know more about me." That's quite interesting, but nothing has come of it yet.

Lindsay and I have been playing Scrabble on Facebook lately. It's a slow process but in our first game, Lindsay has a tight 78-76 lead at this point. Neither of our vocabularies got much help in 10th grade English from those vocab books. What a freakin waste of time.

OK, that's enough happy reading for now. I will write back again at some various juncture. New sports guy starting Monday. Hoody hoo.

We need an addendum to this story. See, in between the first passage of hilarious writing, I discovered I was once again given the pitch at the R2. It's always nice to know it's being done in secret too. Of course, I just shook my head and kept my minimal/non-existent/sensible expectations exactly that. I actually thought it was kind of funny. I really wish I got paid every time I was given the pitch. Oh right, Mallory gave me the pitch too on Thursday night. He asked me "Why wouldn't you like to go on dates?" Of course I had to clarify that I never actually said that.

This makes me smile though. I'm gonna just love hearing the pitch a few more times next week, because well, it always does come up.

Man, I wish my football teams were still in the playoffs. I wonder how Kittanning is doing. A real football team, SRU, destroyed a fake football team, Lock Haven Thursday night, a lot to a little. I also had to laugh. I jumped on the chance to run a story about how IUP is losing sports scholarships because of their dimwad coaches that got caught and then left the scene of the crime before they got caught. Fascinating timing. The story actually ran twice in the paper that day. I noticed and didn't say anything haha.

I think I'm really done this time. This will be a riot to whoever reads this. Oh and I need to think of big words for Scrabble or something.

Super Villains!

2007-10-08T13:42:00.001-04:00

Your results:
You are Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor		54%
Venom		51%
Dr. Doom		47%
Apocalypse		45%
Magneto		43%
Mr. Freeze		40%
Kingpin		40%
The Joker		36%
Juggernaut		36%
Two-Face		36%
Dark Phoenix		32%
Green Goblin		28%
Mystique		28%
Riddler		25%
Catwoman		25%
Poison Ivy		11%

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...

It's that good

2007-09-29T03:40:00.000-04:00

Hello to one and everyone. First off I'm not afraid to admit that most of
what I will type will be done from the glories known as work, but oh well.

Things have been busy but I have gotten out of Ridgway the last couple of
weekends which sure seems grand. Last weekend was the lovely trip known as
Edinboro and this weekend I hope to not get the real Beaver fever, yet I
will be quite fond of it, since I've never been there. Sounds like a good
time. I'm going to Kim's wedding, which I was quite happy to be invited to.
Kim seems disappointed that I am not bringing somebody. This should surprise
no one. I haven't brought a date to a wedding yet and I don't it will start
any time soon.

Work is the same old story on a different day. Usually it deals with me
being overworked and receiving a paycheck every two weeks. That is about it.
K is leaving in two weeks. That also does not surprise me, since I already
knew this was coming. So we will see what happens. Probably nothing, but hey
maybe something will. I think I could actually get to leave here pretty
soon. It's looking slightly more promising.

OK, that's it for now, I've drawn a blank in my mind. I'm pretty happy to be
getting out of here tomorrow for sure. I just hope I can get enough sleep.
Later fools.

For The Birds

2007-09-02T15:25:00.000-04:00

Wow, it actually has been a while since I wrote in here. Lots of stuff has been going on but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to write here in a while. I've been going to the Hummingbird Speedway for a couple weeks. That's usually a pretty good sign especially when it doesn't rain.

But, speaking of birds, I awoke one morning to find a stinking pigeon in my living room. I had to use the strategy of throwing empty coke bottles at it and after a few tries it did fly out the window. Stupid pigeon.

NFL season starts next week and that means the fantasy team gets ready for it too. Here's the team for this year.

QB - Tony Romo, Chad Pennington,
RB- Steven Jackson, Edjerrin James, Brandon Jackson
WR - Chad Johnson, Lee Evans, Joey Galloway, Santonio Holmes, Reggie Williams
TE - Chris Cooley, Daniel Graham
Defense - San Diego, Miami
K - Josh Brown, Olindo Mare

Looks like a decent team this year, I think better than what I had at the end of last year.
Work has been super busy, but then again you have probably figured that out already.

I'm drawing a blank, but I'll post sooner with some more good info.

An Away Message From A Real Man Of Genius

2007-08-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

This was up all night last night and surprisingly that wake-up call just never came. And neither did any message, either. I have no idea what to think of that, but the away message was so great that it gets its own post.

"Sleeping with the thought that I will almost certainly be getting a wake-up call at around 9:30 a.m. from Chief SleepVeryLittle haha all in good fun. Well except for me. It's sad when the chief has Reedy's "just got out bed voice" memorized."

Organization Has Never Exactly Been My Friend

2007-08-09T02:54:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's quite late but I'm here to give all three of my loyal fans an update on how things are going. First off, I'm well-aware I haven't updated in a while, but that's a given.

In what those that know me will feel is a funny experience, I had to switch desks today and move all of my stuff into Johnboy's old desk since I am now taking his desk. I'm not sure exactly why but what can I do. It just kind of happened that way. The organization part is fun. K and D don't exactly think it's all that great when they realize that cleanliness and organization are like oil and water to me, they don't mix and they've never been associated with me very much in my life. The family will reference a room that was never cleaned and my friends, especially one Mrs. Courtney will speak of pizza in paper bags and chip bags on my desk. By the way, right now there's a Sheetz bag and a box of Pringles on my desk. If K sees that, there goes the Pringles because there's a really good chance she's eating the rest of the can for breakfast tomorrow haha. That sounds really unreal but it is true. The last time I had a box of Pringles, I found it taken out of my drawer and on her desk with quite a few less Pringles. K is still great though just like Tony The Tiger.

The Pirates continue their perpetual slide towards their 15th consecutive losing season. They're getting close. I can't wait to make that phone call to Mallory. See, the last few years, as soon as the Pirates get their 82nd loss (signifying a losing season) I give him a call to let him know that the Pirates still suck as always.

In a rare surprise, I really would like to see The Simpsons Movie at some point. It looks pretty great to be honest. Simpsonize Me from Burger King is even better. It makes even me a member of the Simpsons. And what could be better than that.

I also have a feeling that I'm going to have to leave away messages up at night now. I can't say why but I just know that for sure. Speaking of cleaning, I really do need to clean up my apartment here pretty soon. It's not good.

I am REALLY actually looking forward to next week. Yes, most of you might think I'm insane considering the full brunt of fall sports preparedness is upon us, but two significant occasions are upon us. First off, Madden is coming out next Tuesday which is a momentous occasion. Secondly, next Saturday is going to be my Mom's 50th birthday which means I will be attending (I was also demanded to come and only slightly less demanded to "bring someone" whatever that means) and doing various non-rain dances. To quote my mom and Gary, "If it rains, we're screwed." I should note those two quotes were for different occasions. Although not confirmed, there is also the possibility of having the first Monday Hangover of the new season in a live taping at the Kittanning house of fun.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time, make sure you don't call ladies "Monkeyface."

Who's Ready For September?

2007-08-03T02:21:00.000-04:00

Well, hello to one and everyone. I'd like to cordially thank Homestar Runner for that fine choice of words. So yes, I'm still here in Ridgway and I'm not anywhere else. Oh well. I've been asked by roughly 10 people lately about my job status and what the dillyo is at the paper. Well, in the interest of those that didn't already hear, I will be becoming the sports editor at the paper in a matter of a few days. Should be a fun time. Let's see what happens.

In other more funner news, it's bloody hot here again this week. That's not making apartment living any easier but oh well, what am I going to do? I tell you I could definitely take enjoying some more of that air conditioning in the Bonneville. I lalalalove it. It's fantastic. Not having AC in the apartment, not so much. I'm definitely drinking a lot more fluids right now because of the way things are going right now with the weather.

I have no idea what I will be doing this weekend, hopefully something will come up soon. As the old saying goes, "I'm pretty open to anything." My sissy is coming home in a couple weeks from California where the weather apparently is nothing but perfect and the traffic is anything but. Gotta love that. We'll all have to go golfing at some point.

Darn, I thought I had more to talk about but I don't. Work is going better as of late. I'm getting along with everyone for the most part, which is always important. Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is Friday, it's been a busy last few days.

On the way to and from Erie Sunday for a game, I got to drive through a little town called Union City. For those that don't know, I think the only restaurant there is a McDonald's but the reason I bring this up is because back five years ago, I was in Regional Chorus there, spending three days in March near the snowbelt and seeing snow in March. I later found this to be a recurring theme. I got to stay with the band teachers after the original people we were supposed to stay with backed out. The high school eerily reminded me of my own, considering it was just about as big and just about as folky. Awesome time though. Interesting moments included me meeting Lindsey (who in a strange twist of fate was the FIRST person I met at SRU at orientation, she also worked at the Sheetz in Brockway, which I have now passed many times since then), dancing with a girl (yes, I'm not making that one up) and calling this one tenor "Timmy Joe Jacobs." Lindsey encouraged me to sing like a hick during this one song which was quite fun. So ya, Union City, not a bad little town. After the concert, we traveled down 8 and ate at Eat'n Park. What else could be better.

OK, I can't think of anything else. Until next time, don't bet on NBA games and make sure you get all the ducks in a row.

Oh Cascada

2007-07-28T01:08:00.000-04:00

So in a special Friday edition of the show, (or Saturday depending on when this actually gets posted) I still don't have a ton to talk about unfortunately, but there were a couple items of interest that I had to tell one and everyone about.

Firstly, while browsing through the greatness known as YouTube, I happened to see the video for Cascada's "Everytime We Touch." And let me tell you, Cascada is now one of my most favorite ladies to watch. In her video, she's fun, smiley, a great dancer and also a blonde. Can't beat that, and that is definitely what I would consider a winning combination. In all actuality, Cascada does remind me of one of my friends, Jenna. I actually got to talk to Jenna the other night and it was a good time. Jenna was nice and sympathetic Thursday while I was a mopey mess so that was clutch. It was also cool that I was listening to a podcast of ESPN guys talking about fantasy football. This year, I'm probably buying ESPN's help guide, since the guide last year I used didn't exactly give me a team that was all that great even though the team went 8-4. By the end of the season, the team in my opinion was smoke and mirrors and eventually lost to the league champion in the first round.

I should also note that I've been viewing Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" video on YouTube. That's also an interesting video. She's a good dancer as well even though I think she's a little older.

Work's been better as of late today. Although now I will always remember to charge my camera, thank you Canon for making it not work for leaving it on. Whatever happened to auto shutoff? Lousy camera equipment.

The Pirates are continuing their sucktitude with a nice after all-star game swoon which involves a 2-10 mark and an 8-1 score against the Phillies after 5 1/2 innings. Steelers training camp is going on which means absolutely nothing. It's glorified practice, people! Let me know when actual games start. (August 5, by the way, which is next weekend)

I've also been following the progress of the Indians a lot lately especially since they're a real major league team and I also am playing them in a season in the greatness known as MLB 07. The Indians just sent down Cliff Lee and re-acquired Kenny Lofton. Cliff's not having such a great season so far. He just got sent down to AAA which is not what most people try and do. Lee's last start was pretty disastrous especially since he gave a nice sarcastic tip of the hat to the fans as he was departing. Since Cliff and catcher Victor Martinez already got in a fight this season, I don't think Cliff's been really all that great so far. The Indians are having a great season so far. Pirates not so much.

That's about it for now. Until next time, keep it real, don't get lost on the way to the zoo and if you get a chance, go canoeing.

Fantasy Football Update And Much More

2007-07-26T16:19:00.000-04:00

At the end of the last post, I said I would give a fantasy football update heading to the upcoming season. The Ridgway Rockets (my team) start its 3rd year as the PCMCFL starts its third year of existence. While I don't have any team members yet, my history of getting high draft picks could prove very beneficial this season. A word of advice, don't draft Vick. The draft is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. Eastern (I have to put that because since there are west coast and central time represntatives the times they will be different. Way to represent the east side, Reedy. Look for full coverage of the league and of the Rockets this season on this blog. Also, the Monday Hangover will be returning for its second season starting in about 3 weeks. Look for the link on my facebook profile for those on facebook and for the rest, go to this site at www.mondayhangover.blogspot.com. Madden comes out August 14. That's not too far away. That should be pretty fun.

Work is picking up as of late. I've got an interivew later on today with a boxer but I'm waiting on a call to see what time that will be. I'll be happy to get that over with.

Not too bad up here today. It's a little warm, but I've certainly gone through a lot worse. It should be noted that I didn't really sleep all that great last night. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. Saturday, I get to learn about the history of my name. That might be interesting.

All right, that's it for now. Until next time, don't wake others up.

The Unabridged Vacation Story

2007-07-26T01:51:00.000-04:00

So, yes, I'm very aware that I haven't written in a while. Certain people have also loved to make that point clear to me as well. I got back from my vacation Sunday and I had a tremendously great time on it. In a stirring recap, let's revisit the good times.

Sunday night started with me visiting the Rocket wire headquarters and then going to the real place for smiles, Eat'n Park (Yeah, take that Ruby Tuesday!) Of course, what could be better than having breakfast at 11 at night and not feel one bit awkward about it. Then it came to a Super Wal-Mart which ended up seeing the wire trying to decide 37 times how much he should by. Deciding to put WWE One Night Stand away in some sort of department, I couldn't tell you how much he spent. But it wasn't a ton.

Monday came and saw Dr. Zeltner, Mike and myself go to Ginger Hill Tavern. I was very remiss in leaving out the fact that Zeltner paid. That's clutch. I think I had a burger while Rocket wire I know was sipping on some fun drinks. I was not. Of course after a few minutes, Zeltner asks me what everyone in their right minds want to now and that's if the lovelife has gotten any better in Ridgway. Of course I told them it hasn't which apparently stunned Zeltner to no end claiming "the women were following you all over the place, you just never got the timing right." Two particular instances includes a lady which has been previously referred to on this very blog as "Unnamed girl X" and then there's another girl who I think from our convo should be referred to as "Mysterious Stiletto Boots." Let the questions commence.

That night marked me watching the Sliders play and also my reemergence on-air. I'll post the link if you so desire to listen to it. The Sliders won 1-0.

Tuesday included a lot of bumming it but also a nice trip to Franklin. I really love traveling and ever since I got another ride, I've been able to do a lot more of that. Anyways, the road to Franklin goes up Route 8 and through Barkeyville (watch your speeds) and then takes a trek on what I call "The Road To Nowhere." This road is nothing but trees. Nothing. Riding on this road a couple times was really boring but I love the convenience of Speed Limit 65. Not too shabby. The rest of the night was spent being bored as I didn't really too much.Wednesday was the transition day from SR to Kittanning.

Wednesday also included going down to Eracers and go-karting (with my main thought being "don't flip it over.") and then going mini-golfing with a nice and tidy score of +6. Then it was another roadie down 356 as I went through Butler (taking a mass amount of time by the way) and then down to Freeport where I then tidied it around and took 128. Now growing up I always thought 128 went into Ford City. Well, it sort of does. That's if you take the right turn and don't drive by it as I did. Turns out 128 actually goes to Northpointe and you can go to Slate Lick if you keep going! (These small towns are going to love the affection and attention that I am giving them) So it was up 28 (one of my absolutely favorite roads) and over to Worthington for another nice round of mini-golf at Lick N Putt where I naturally played 18 holes of golf and then divulged myself in a hot fudge sundae. Afterwards I was done and it was time to go home.

Thursday was an interesting day for sure. I originally was just going to travel to Leechburg and it turns out I just kept going farther and farther south. I ended up in Apollo and Vandergrift (known best to me at least for the greatness known as Abs) and even took a stop at the thrift store in Apollo. Didn't really buy anything though. Then it was down to New Kensington with lots of construction and then the greatness of Pittsburgh Mills. And I do mean greatness. First stop was Best Buy as I got 3 computer games and a cheapo PS2 game in a store that looks ultra-modern. Oh, I how love electronics. That store was incredibly sweet. Then it was time to walk around the mall and be amazed at how many things there are to buy. Of course, 2 cheapo sports jerseys sure can do the trick (Daunte Culpepper and Duce Staley $10 each, it doesn't get much better than that!) In a whimsical twist I started the satirical campaign entitled "Losers for Losers" HAHA we have to support each other. Again to reiterate, this is just a joke.

Friday saw a lighter day which included an afternoon of driving back roads and then ending up on main roads. One of those main roads (422, otherwise known as speedway to New Castle) ended up taking me down to 119 and the magnificence known as Blairsville. It was really weird to even be around the place. Now as some of you may know, I've really only been to Blairsville once and even then that was only for like 3 or 4 days. But the only real reason that I got all warm and fuzzy inside (and now outside I guess too) is because of Heather. You can be directed to Heather and I's story by scrolling down to the January link of this year in the archives. Read it! It's one of the few times I will be "emotionally accessible." Lately, now thinking about this, it does make me think about the ladies in my life that I in all honesty probably could have a better chance of getting to know, but didn't. I do miss Heather a lot, and I even wonder what would have happened it I had given a second date to my prom date Autumn or maybe spoke more than one sentence to that one girl that poked me on facebook. It's hard not to think about sometimes, especially when things aren't going great.

But anyways, let's get back to Friday night. Mom, Dad, Captain Dan and I went to Lernerville Speedway and watched the hot racing action. I hadn't really been there in a long time (about 7 or 8 years) and it was cool to go. I wore the maroon R hat. EPIC.

Saturday saw me go visit grandma and then go up to Turney and Lori's where I sat near a fire and ate burgers, hot dogs and then wound up with bug bites. Fantastic.

Sunday saw me leave and play all my new toys! I really need to clean my apartment up soon.

Well, that's it for now, I'll talk to everyone next time about fantasy football.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

2007-07-17T01:16:00.000-04:00

In a special vacation update of this glorious orifice known as the blog, I am writing this square from the confection and lunch box known as Mike Mallory's apartment. After arriving last night, today was spent at the GHT with the Z-Man as we reminisced and he of course, asked me about my love life in Ridgway and remembered how "all the ladies were following you around."

One of the highlights right now other than crushing Mike in MLB 07 for most of the last couple days and also hearing the phrase, "Booger-eating pervert," is going to a Slippery Rock Sliders game as they took on the Kalamazoo Kings. Slippery Rock won 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th after a scoreless game throughout. Not a bad game overall, the weather was nice and so why am I going to complain?

Right now, the one and only Nate Collins is playing a Tom Clancy Shooter game with Mr. Mallory entitled "Rainbow Six" I am of course just incredibly enthralled. They're doing better than me though. I am absolutely loving vacation so far, it's nice to get away from work for a while. Maybe the work folks are thinking the same thing. I got to see a couple of the admins from the comm dept. today and they were all happy to see me. They say I still get talked about a lot, I still find that hard to believe. Who knows what the rest of the week will bring?

Well that's it for now, let's keep it real. Until next time, enjoy everything and make sure you don't drive a Ford Mustang haha.

The Weekend That Felt Like The Middle Of A Week

2007-07-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's some of the duties of the job and what would you know, this weekend is gonna have some of that workin on the weekend. Today was an interesting Relay For Life softball tournament which saw me sitting on a rock (literally) and thankfully staying sunburn-free at least to this point. It was lots of mayhem and me being referred to as "Ridgway Record." I was like a pseudo-celebrity which stunned one of the participants who had to seriously ask me if I was with the paper. Yep, I was there. Tomorrow is Legion baseball. Not the worst thing in life but when seeing the weather forecast will be hovering around 90, that's a pretty creepy scenario. Oy, I'll be so hot tomorrow. And not in the good way.

It seems like everybody is hawking an energy drink right now. I just saw an ad for "24" the new Jeff Gordon Energy Drink. WWE has a couple of them and when perusing BiLo yesterday, there was an entire section devoted to energy drinks and stuff like that. They're not that good, and I've had a couple of them. I already have enough caffeine as it is so I don't really need any more.
Watching the Pepsi 400 on TNT in their "Wide Open Coverage." which apparently stands for "Let's put 7 things on the screen and see what people will pay attention to. The bottom 1/5 of the screen is covered by TNT's ticker for some reason and it's quite interesting. Yikes.

I gotta pay my bills and thankfully I've already got everything ready to put in the mail. If that's the most interesting thing that's goes on in my life, that's not too great. Documentarian crews will not be coming to my place anytime soon.

I have zero energy to do much of anything but yet I found time to write in the blog. Maybe Monday will be better than tomorrow will probably be. This week should be interesting for sure. All right, I'm out. Until next time, keep the car on the track.

Fun On The 4th

2007-07-05T02:11:00.000-04:00

OK, first of all, I think Facebook will actually start importing my blog posts again. If you're wondering why there are three blog posts in a row there, that's why. Now that I've got that out of the way...

So today or (yesterday) I had a pretty interesting day. Well, not really, but you get the idea. A great idea was for me to sleep for 12 hours and wake up at noon. I am immediately greeted with a phone call from Mallory and a nice little chat. I wondered if he knew I was just waking up. I knew I could tell, and most everyone else can too. That's fun.

The afternoon was pretty boring. It was really gray and kind of blah. So not too exciting. After a while, I eventually was able to gather my wits together and go down to the laundromat (this included a 20-minute frantic search which I later found lodged in one of the seat cushions of my couch. So then after an exciting trip to the laundromat and washing my car (which will shock and awe everyone) I came back, and after eating some cereal and watching an old episode of The Office, I went to work. But during that weird time, I also got some cool text messages and all that great schtuff! So I decided to be patriotic and wish a lot of the ladies and a few of the gents a cool and happy 4th of July. Roommate Chaser talked with me for a while. They're letting him teach kids haha. He's getting married next year which is cool, hip and sounding like a good time. An incredibly exciting part of the day came when Chaser told me the pastor from the SR Baptist Church will be performing the ceremony! Defininitely a cool guy, real folky and down to earth.

After feeling kind of blue a couple nights before, maybe I made people feel a lot better tonite by keeping in touch. I'm sure that Brittany, Amy, Lindsay, Jenn, Sheryl, Chaser and the one and only Kristal (actually, they're all one and onlys, so I shouldn't single K out over the rest) felt pretty happy I heard from them. I know I was happy to hear back from them. Funny how that works. Usually, I'm all glowy whenever I hear anything from my close lady friends. But in reality, it's just because they're my friends (and my sister too) and them along with probably others that I didn't even mention, they all mean a lot to me. BTW, I talked to Courtney for a little bit too on Tuesday. Good times there. She wants to make me a "Good Hubby" and has forced me to eat bananas and oranges. She's also taking cake decorating classes. Maybe I should pick up a few pointers or something. I don't think my phone is working well as of late. Some of my picture messages are not displaying. That' s quite disappointing.

Pink Floyd is on the playlist right now. That's always a recipe for success. Hey, while I'm thinking of it (an amazing thing at 2:36 am) I wanna say hi to Jen out in Missouri. She got a completely random phone number for her move. Her new living arrangements look fantastic. Yay for Jen! All right, I'm out and until next time, make sure you didn't blow yourself up with that firework.

Zero Tolerance

2007-07-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

So the weather has been really good the last couple days and the apartment has been bearable to live in which is certainly a plus. It's sunny out though, which means I have to watch what I do when I'm outside so I don't get pink arm.

The Independence Festival was the last couple of days in Ridgway and it was a pretty good time overall as I got to watch some live music see people I know (mainly from sports) and overall have a pretty good day. I got another Ridgway hat from the Little League teams and it's great as I had always wants a Maroon hat with the white R on it. Fantastic.

Speaking of little league, the Emporium stadium PA announcer might want to take a few chill pills as before the game he has what should be called the "Zero Tolerance" talk. In classic Mr. Polka fashion this guy comes up and says "This is a ZERO tolerance area which means only positive comments. Also, there will be ZERO tolerance as the players must sit on the bench and not lean on the rail." Yikes. And of course, they think they are a big deal because they host little league and host some sort of state title thing there every year in Shippen Twp.

The Pirates are losing right now in a game I think K is at. I got a nice little picture message with the message "HA HA Suckers." That's SO nice of her. HAHA but in reality I'm happy she's having a good time watching the Pirates get smoked. (At least so far.) I have the game on TV in the background as I hope to clean up the apartment a tad today in anticipation of possible 4th of July visitation.

I think that's about everything for now. I'm going to listen to Lanny talk about his Dodge Charger instead of the game. HAHA The Coors Light 6th inning! EPIC!

Getting My Hair Sheared

2007-06-25T14:52:00.001-04:00

Well, hello once again. There's not too much again except the greatness known as summer heat and sweating off all the Coke I just drank.

As some of you may know, I got my hair cut Saturday at the wonderfulness known as Fantastic Sam's. You may now start laughing. I couldn't think of anywhere else to do that so on my way to the greatness known as Kittanning. To say it got sheared would be an understatement. When I come in, the lady that cut my hair first says, "You sure have an awful lot of hair." Which I respond with, "Everybody says that." So, what I liked here was that she was very soft-spoken and always called me by name, which is Greg by the way, if you didn't know haha. She asked why I came back here and I told her I was coming back to visit the folks. Getting my hair is usually surprsingly enjoyable, even though I only get it cut every 6-10 weeks or so. Sometimes growing it long it not too shabby.

I also got a round of golf in with the G this weekend which involved losing by 6 shots and finding out how incredibly great my short game. Of course the highlight would include a long downhill putt off the green that went in for a rare birdie on the Twin Lakes par 3 extravaganza. Excellent. I did shoot a 41, which is not a terrible score for me. Considering about two years ago, I shot in the 50s, I feel the improvement is there as well as the hotness from summer. HAHA I wonder how many hot jokes I can make without people getting either pukey or annoyed. I probably already reached that limit.

Watching some of "The Office" from season 2. Pretty good stuff. I was excited. Jen gave me her new cell phone number out of Missouri. EPIC!

That's it for now. Today's Monday, if you didn't know. That means I'm expecting just an assemblance of crap over the next few days. HUGE.

Stop Drawing On The Sidewalk

2007-06-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

So in a special update from Kittanning, which basically means that this update is coming from a slightly newer Dell and I'm typing from a climate that is slightly cooler since the computer is in the basement.

So while driving back here, I discovered that everyone has decided to draw on the sidewalks and in Ridgway's case, tear them up right in front of my apartment. The sidewalks have lots of weird markings that I have no idea what they mean. Then driving home, I saw the weird chalk markings continue. Oh yes, in college this was a daily and sometimes nauseating experience, walking to a class that I already didn't want to go to and seeing a "Vote for insert name party." Sometimes the chalk drawings were actually meaningful and funny and silly, but a lot of time they were kind of a waste. Thankfully, the sidewalks were snow-covered most of winter so I didn't have to worry about it all the time.

I should also note that Slippery Rock did a streetlight project while I was going to school there which made Main Street more of a bear than it already is. It made the town more retro and cool I guess and that's what the Rway is looking for.

I can't really think of anything else, so until next time don't overheat and look for "Gaydar" online!

You Take The Morning, I'll Take The Night

2007-06-13T17:01:00.000-04:00

Yes, as you can tell, everybody loves mornings. Unfortunately, cursed with the genetics of stumbling through the morning like a zombie, I got to do it again this week. People are generally more cranky in the mornings and more likely to roar like a lionabout the slightest things going wrong with varying levels of anger, not limited to punding a keyboard, slamming a phone, massive levels of profanity and staring at a wall for an hour. This week I had to answer the phone and Tuesday I was there with the full house of editorial which was quite shocking considering my theory of "If I don't have to deal with people in the morning, I don't have to be cranky." Usually no one talks much in the morning (good) and at least I seem to get out of the Friday morning arrangement. That's pretty awesome. Next week K comes back and I get back to staying up half the night and sleeping till noon. That's the college way of life! HAHA, I should probably say as well that I'm happy K is coming back for other reasons besides the fact I won't have to come in during the a.m. slothery and because our real fearless leader come back. BTW, Slothery might be a word.

My fridge isn't working so hot, or at all. Thankfully, though my freezer is still working so I still have cold pop. I had to throw some of that crappy frozen food out. Thankfully, ice isn't really piling up in the back of the freezer anymore so that's not too bad. I am getting asked about virtually every day. All right!

In a major shock for some of you, I'm on a YMCA co-ed volleyball team with a bunch of the people from the paper. Our team is called "The Record Setters" but sadly, we are not very good. With an 0-6 record in two outings, the team hasn't come out of the gates well and I think Captain Sugarland pulled a hamstring jumping. Let's hope for better luck in the future. I'm out next week thanks to work, but it's fun. Advertising all-stars S2 and KL make the matches entertaining, at least. No one ever said alcohol-fueled entertainment wasn't hilarious. Speaking of that, during the game, a guy on the bench is howling uncontrollably in the background, so bad in fact, that antoher girl on our team and myself look at each other and laugh.

Rumor has it we're switching to InDesign soon. This annoucement caused a mere yawn for myself since I already used and it's not that big a deal. So that's pretty good. If it wasn't on Macintoshs, that would even be better.

OK, that's it for now, I need to start writing the next sequel to "Grand Theft Auto." Let's go.

A Hodgepodge Of Hilarity

2007-06-10T16:34:00.001-04:00

There were some things I forgot about in the last post since I found that note that I was looking for which to blog in.

I don't know how I forgot to put this next point in. Last Saturday, I was having a fairly blah day, wasn't feeling all that great, it was kind of a pukey Saturday. Then at about 11:15 p.m. it changed thanks to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Right after watching the end of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals (apparently I was one of 13 people to watch it), I turned on to see the Cavaliers and Detroit Peons battle it out. The game was close entering the fourth quarter and then the Peons imploded faster than Three Rivers Stadium. (I also think more people watched that than the Cup Finals this year) So, my excitement level began to rise as Daniel Gibson (I am NOT calling him "Boobie") starting hitting wide-open 3s, LeBron started shredding the Peons defense, Billups figured out why he played for 13 different teams before becoming Mr. Little Big Shot and Rasheed Wallace fouled out of the game and then had a seizure as he was ejected from a game he already fouled out of. At this point, Doug Collins screams: "IF THERE'S A GAME 7, HE'S SUSPENDED!" Sorry Doug at that point there was a better chance of me hooking up with a girl in town then there was of seeing a Game 7. So then everyone celebrated as the analysts stood in shock over sucktacular the Peons played throughout the series. Of course, the Cavs celebrated like they won the championship while they will undoubtedly get crushed in the Finals.

All right, we're back on music. About a week ago, I had to endure the premise of today's hit music (which is pretty lousy in its own right) as well as "new" music from 2001. Now I'm not one to complain about old music, in fact classic rock is the bestest genre there is simply for the fact you can rearrange the lyrics to adapt to current life situations. (Keep on rockin in the free world anyone?) I've also noticed that certain singers/genres can only sing about certain things. For example, it seems like JoJo can only sing about how men are the worst creation in the history of the universe and especially how they can't treat women right (apparently, there is a song where she says women like to be loved, might want to get over that man-hating premise)

Country music talks about romance, your dogs or that beat-up Chevy truck or they like to make everyone pour out their emotions and make the floor look very flooded.

Baseball has had a common trend the last couple weeks. The last week saw every managers in existence get thrown out to varying degrees of hilarity. This week saw a lot of comebacks, extra-inning games and creative ways to blow games, such as losing on a walk, wild pitch or other fun times. I would say Pirates losing is a trend but then again they've been doing it for 15 years. Nothing new there.

That's it for now, until next time, get some sleep and don't get too lonely out there.

To Please The Adoring Fans

2007-06-09T23:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm well aware I haven't written in here in over a week. Deal with it. The fan club of the blog is getting restless and so I should ablige to that. I really did have a lot to talk about and so without further ado, here we go.

Living here, I've found there's only one good radio station here, Mega-Rock. Other than that, everything else is either country or annoying. (Or in country's case see both, hear that Sugarland, that will be the last time you depress me!) But listening to a certain radio station reminded me of listening to B-94 going grow up. Now of course for those that will remember and were actually from the Kittanning/E-town area zip code, B-94 was thought of by myself at least as the radio station "too cool for school." They played the hippest songs, had the snazziest Friday and Saturday dance parties and wanted to have a cool morning show. Unfortuantely, they played the latest and greatest hits every 20 minutes, played dance songs that lasted half the night and featured a morning show with a guy that I know more for mixing it up with a TV show called "Pro Wrestling Review" than I do for his morning talent. In a side note, PWR was a show done with as much technical assistance as say "Around the Rock." Not to diss a show I was working on, actually it sucks for them. We're the ones that aren't supposed to have the latest and greatest equipment. WSRU wasn't even allowed to give out pizzas.

Anyways, B-94 Pittsburgh version has a couple enduring memories for me, one of which includes having it listened to on my 6th grade field trip to Sea World. At the beginning, the morning show had said after Pittsburgh's Game 6 loss in the East Finals to Florida in hockey that "Ahh, we'll just get them in Game 7." The Penguins promptly went on to lose that game thanks to the ineptitude of Tom Barrasso, Pittsburgh's media darling. Also, I have the incredible memory of singing to "What if God was one of us?" along with the entire bus. Since the bus trip was 3 hours long, I'm just glad we had music.

Speaking of music, with this being the time of year for graduation, can people at least look like they're enjoying themselves without either having an emotional breakdown or just looking like they don't want to be there. My 2 graduations were incredibly great basically because I got to leave the 2 schools I attended and not have to deal with classes anymore! (especially the second one) Sure it's an adjustment and an end to a phase of your life. But you accomplished something great and you should enjoy the moment! Unfortunately, musicians decided to prey on the whole emotionally accessible aspects of graduation and come up with really really really sad songs they play at graduation and prom. Upon hearing these songs, I immediately want to bash my head against a desk and eat Pringles. Pringles are awesome.

By unpopular demand and circumstance, I am back to doing mornings next week for 3 days only which means the best of Reedy making mistakes, talking gibberish and listening to how many pages didn't get sent right the first time. Oh la dee freakin da. K is on vacation next week and G is going to be in there to enjoy the coffee. Unfortunately, I don't drink coffee, so I'll have to find something else. Code Red Mountain Dew anyone?

OK, that's it for now. I did have a lot with a lot more stuff on it to write about, but the whereabouts of that note seem to have been temporarily lost. So until next time, I'll just say I'm glad post-it notes are cheap and I'm able to write in 3-point font.

Others Before Self, What A Concept!

2007-05-31T19:26:00.000-04:00

"Most smiles are started by another smile."

I think that's a great way to describe Thursday. Not necessarily the whole smiling part (although that never hurts). In all honesty, I thought today wouldn't be the greatest day but after deciding to wear my now lucky red shirt, I came into work, had a great story credited to me which had to be changed and overall didn't have to deal with too many people complaining. I even scheduled an interview! (Not for another job, for a story) I think I learn something every day but one of the things that it pretty evident is if I make a specific effort to help other people, I might just feel better about myself. No one really ever recognizes the team player in sports, but without them sports teams don't win championships.

By the way, Facebook is officially the greatest invention ever. Browsing through other people's profiles (except for the first quote which I saw in the sign of a flower store in Kittanning) I find these great quotes, and I would be remiss to mention AOL profiles well (thanks Jenn and Amy) because they seem like they're chock full of them. Facebook also helps me keeps in touch with people that I haven't talked to in a while. A simple hello to catch up with people can really make a difference in someone's day. I know when I get them, it tends to make me happy and smiling. Kind of infectious. Then I start coughing.

Every once in a while, I do tend to get some funny forwards which do eventually get forwarded on to whoever.. One of them that really was funny was the "words women say" one. In case you missed it, here are some words men should really be afraid of.

FINE - This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
FIVE MINUTES - If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
NOTHING - This is the calm before the storm This means "something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"
GO AHEAD - This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it. LOUD SIGH This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"
THAT'S OKAY - This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
THANKS - A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint. Just say you're welcome. Send this to the men you know to warn them about future arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology! And send it to your women friends to give them a good laugh! Almost forgot "Whatever"...(it's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!)

There's one other quote that I saw on Facebook and I had to share it with K. It's the one listed below. She was all glowy about it. So I'll end with that. And remember, help people out if you can. Even if requires extra effort or going out of your way.

"There is a place you can touch a woman that will drive her crazy. Her heart." --Melanie Griffith

Aww, He's So Quiet

2007-05-19T16:05:00.001-04:00

Editor's Note: This is the third post today, so if you're reading on the blog there are 2 more additional posts to follow for Saturday.

As you probably noticed, there is quite a lot that I have on my mind to talk about. Last night, the Socializer had told me, "Oh, Patty, she was singing your praises." Now, for those of you that porbably don't know (which would be almost all of you) Patty is the circulation manager at work and basically reminds me of mom. She's rather chatty and likes to talk about every situation that happens. Very personable. So apparently, I had a 2-minute conversation with her about how Socializer wouldn't go and take DayQuil for his cold this week. Yesterday, I hear, "Oh, Patty said he's really coming out his shell and he's making better eye contact." Just fantastic.

I pretty much accepted a long time ago that the Q word is following me forever. Even in college, when I was completely rambunctious and I was quite fun to be around (at one point, calling my editor Kimmy Bear in good fun after I "took her on a date to Sheetz.") Dr. P still said "He's so Quiet." Rocket wire has said we have completely opposite personalities (which he's right) and now everyone at work is like "Aww, he's opening up more." Of course, I'm also becoming more emotionally accessible I guess considering before I was "Emotionaly inaccessible" I guess that's flattering. I didn't really get it either.But that's cool. It's quite fascinating, too. Who knows.

I'll probably be taking some vacation time in July as my co-workers have given me jabs about consistently leading the group in hours worked. At one point, Adam has kidded me about how I never go home. I actually do go home as you can see by the amount of time I got today to blog while the hockey game is on in the background.

By the way, if anyone would know how to fix my broken chairs that would be fantastic. OK, that's it for now. I'm going to watch hockey.

What's A Big Event Without Hype?

2007-05-19T14:40:00.001-04:00

Next week is one of the most anticipated events of the year, the 4th annual Twin Lakes Celebrity Showdown. This event which will take place at the Kittanning Golf Course of the same name, will mainly deal with incredibly high doses of hilarity mixed with semi-good golf play and Gary trying is hardest to win and not embarrass himself too bad on videol. That's right, this is going to be on tape which will provide quite a bit of hilarity and fun. To hype up next Saturday's event let's go back and give a brief history of it.

The Twin Lakes Celebrity Showdown began in August 2004 as myself along with the one and only Gary Ashley taped a golf round at the course using the power of digital camera and the editing greatess of Windows Movie Maker. Aftet early success, Reedy self-destructs on the final three holes including probably the most famous biff in the history of the series, the infamous miss on the seventh hole where I completely miss the tee shot and then top the ball and knock it about 2 feet. Also, what should be noticed is the incredibleness of my tee shot on the ninth where I hit it way to the right.

In 2005, we were joined by Gary's dad, Ed for the second annual event, which is most famous for the saying "THIS IS A CHARITY EVENT." and of course me getting interviewed on the seventh and then hitting the tee shot in the woods to the right. Somebody stole the flag and Gary scored a win with a 42. I had a 48 and Ed had a 49. Trailers biff reels, highlights and full telecasr debuted in 2005 to mass success.

Last year, we were joined by camera lady Penny Ashley as the event took place on a much cooler day (in footage, you can see I am wearing a coat) while Gary knockes his first ball into the woods after talking smack just about the entire car ride over. It should also be mentioned that Gary got approximately 10 seconds of sleep the night before. This also had the greatness of an audio post detailing my great victory. I have a felling practice will be done. This may or may not have gone on DVD, the mysteries are endless.

This year, there may be even more gallery members and the mass amount of hysteria will continue over the 9-hole stretch. Wal-Mart pop will be bought by the loser. So stay tuned as the 4th annual Twin Lakes Celebrity Showdown will take place Saturday, May 26 at 2 p.m. (weather permitting). It it rains, we're screwed.

Cleaning Apparently Makes Other People Happy

2007-05-19T14:12:00.000-04:00

Thursday, I had some time to kill in between typing and a ballgame so I decided to clean my desk up some more. I put a lot of the papers into a pile and after a few minutes K had noticed and once again, had a "You cleaned your desk!" moment with her smiley face and was all excited. I don't get it. K always gets beyond super-excited whenever I clean. I don't think she's the only one either. My sister and C always are shocked, shocked, shocked whenever I clean up anything considering at school my desk had what was described as "There isn't any pizza in a plastic bag smushed on the desk, or cheese fries crusted onto the desk." Apparently, my current desk was described as something along the lines of a tornado hitting which K demonstrated by spinning around a couple times. I told her I was glad I got to see that because it was pretty funny to see. Maybe I should clean my apartment at some point so people will come over. Good luck on either one of those happening anytime soon.

Yesterday, I decided to wear my new black polo shirt to work for a cool Friday. It was the second Friday in a row I had worn it and as most Fridays go, I matched with someone. K and I looked almost exactly the same, black shirts, blue jeans and actually, that's about it. Considering I think I've matched with everyone on the staff, it's quite interesting. We also ended up going to Rite-Aid and getting one of our co-workers a card as he's leaving on a missionary trip to Africa. I had to make sure she didn't leave her pen at the Rite-Aid desk. Hey, that's what guys are supposed to do, make sure their editor keeps her head on straight.

I'm going to the Spring Demo Derby tonight and it should be a good time especially since it doesn't look like it's going to rain which is always a good thing. I need to get lots of pictures and have a good time with that too. Hey, maybe they'll even be posted. Who knows, it depends on how ambitious I feel. That varies as well.

It's a pretty nice day here today, a little cool but otherwise not too shabby. It's sunny and not rainy which is always clutch. I just sneexed twice. Let's keep the great weather coming for the weekend so the baseball playoffs can get in there. Ridgway is taking on Clarion-Limestone Tuesday afternoon and might have to go to Clarion Thursday with a victory. Ridgway baseball has been one of my favorite beats that I've had here so far. Some of the kids actually talk to me a little and they fed me well after senior day with pasta, great cookies and much more.

Of course, the topic has come up lately about what else, me and the ladies. This gets talked about a lot and someone (to be nice, I won't say who, but you'll probably figure it out) has designated it as her job to ask about certain ladies. I know she desperately wants to set me up at some point. Good luck with that, considering even my dad jokes with me that I'll be bringing home that Russian girl from a telephone line at some point. It actually does gets asked about a lot even if I think it's just giving me a hard time. Yes, so actually a lot going on in the last couple days. Hockey's on the background and Macaroni and Cheese will be commencing shortly. It is Saturday you know.

The Greatness Known As iTunes

2007-05-16T14:35:00.000-04:00

About a year ago at this time, I was sitting at home freezing in my basement and now I'm sweating in my apartment. (Well, not today but give it about 6 weeks and that will start.) But the other thing that happened is I was just getting acquainted with iTunes. I don't even have an Ipod yet (although that would be great for someone to buy me at some point, just in case anyone would like to be charitable) iTunes is great because with the ever-changing landscape of music and TV, I can buy episodes of "The Office" or go ahead and buy certain songs that I like, including the incredibly "smart" lyrics of Gwen Stefani's "Breakin Up." Now the first time I heard this song I thought it was actually about someone breakin up with someone else. Instead after I plunked down 99 cents for the songs I quickly found out it was about not picking up reception on a cell phone, thankfully an only occasional problem in the apartment. Just look at the greatness.

"Come on, come on, I know you want to call me back."
"Hold up, I think I'm losing you."
"Tell me, can you hear me now."

Incredible writing talent right there. I do enjoy the synthesizer that accompany the piece which Gwen enjoys in varying amounts. I really do need an iPod though for music fun on those long road trips to Hershey. It could be Mansfield or Hershey. I've downloaded a ton of cool songs off of iTunes and there are also free podcasts which I will rarely listen to.

I think it rained here this morning but I don't know. I woke up at 7:30 am in a haze and saw the color through the blinds as a non-bright gray. I could also hear cars go through the water. I immediately went back to sleep after the middle-of-the-night pee break.

Been playing a lot of MLB 07: The Show lately as always as the Pirates and Indians continue to provide similar results to their real life counterparts. The Pirates are under .500 and the Indians have a slight lead over the Tigers and Jim Leyland. The Rocket/New Castle Thunder wire should greatly appreciate that plug about baseball and the Succos. In another sports note, if you know people that like Detroit sports teams, go ahead and call them the Sped Wings or the Peons! They will love you for it.

Election day was yesterday and I went and voted like a good civic citizen (give self pat on back.) There were lots of good local races for all those fun county row seats. In other news, I'm getting hoagies from the fun folks at church. At $2 a pop, who can complain with the price? I get to pick them up tomorrow night, probably after the Ridgway baseball game ends. There's an Elk County Spring Derby which will be Saturday, I think I'm gonna go and cover it. I went to one during the fair last year and it was definitely a good time.

OK, that's about it for now, time to do other stuff, maybe even clean the apartment. And yes, as a friendly reminder, post-it notes to the ladies can be greatly appreciated.

What Else Is New?

2007-05-14T14:24:00.000-04:00

It's a Monday in Ridgway and it's a very gray day countering the unusualness of sunny days around this town. At least it's not raining which it was Saturday at my softball game for the last 4 innings. Being outside covering a sporting event in the rain is not only not very fun, it does tend to make the job difficult. A little cool here today, but that's not too bad. The apartment is very comfortable. Yes, I still like the apartment since I do get that question quite a bit.

All the SRU seniors graduated Saturday which mean there are even more alumni to fill up an already crowded marketplace and hopefully fill one of the paper's newswriter positions. (That would be awesome) Mansfield had their graduation too Saturday and celebrated by eating paste haha) OK, I know they didn't really eat paste but it was rather funny. I'm especially happy for the seniors that I know from the Rocket and from school that are ready to go into the world, make their mark and still have time to go out and get schwasted. Trust me, there will be a few to find the time. But I have confidence that you guys will be doing fine and dandy like sour candy.

Speaking of sour candy, I'd enjoy that rather than being "moody." Moody is a funny word I think. In the technical sense, everyone should be moody. I don't think anyone stays at the same mood point unless they're on drugs. Everyone has different modd swings, hence the term moody. Pouty is a much better word. More concise and crap like that.

Two softball games today and a whole lot more to follow which should be an enlightening time for all involved, especially me I don't have to worry about being hurt by the evil sun. The good clouds have come in and covered it up for today. Very nice.

My buddy Ryan was on the "Tyra Banks Show" the other day to rave reviews by myself. Ryan got to date a lesbian who was interested in giving men a try. (That's how the show described it.) Ryan showed off the awesomeness of the Muldowney as the lady said she's sticking to girls. Apparently, Ryan went to a gay bar afterwards. He's a brave man. Ryan also got to meet Tyra. What guy wouldn't like that?

I've just been assigned the role of Facebook go-to guy. Lindsay asked how to import the blog onto Facebook while Courtney asked me about the greatness of mobile uploads. When did I become an expert? Who knows, but I'm still going strong.

OK, that's about it for now. Hopefully, Facebook will just import this post rather than the other ones again.

Facebook Fans

2007-05-11T02:03:00.000-04:00

In a brief note, thanks to Gary Ashley saying that doing this will "impress the ladies." I have decided to import most of my blog to Facebook. This should surprise no one since my blog's link has been there pretty much forever and ever for anyone to read. So anyways, let's hope the Facebook fans all enjoy. I didn't rip on anyone too much.

Sunny Skies, Pink Arms

2007-05-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

The evil sun has struck again. I unfortunately suffered my first sunburn of the summer Friday afternoon at a softball game prompting Gary to claim "work-related injury" When my fellow co-workers at work heard Kristal had some pity, Jonathan and Adam both had a good laugh. That is why sunscreen is the greatest thing ever during summertime. I'll have to apply it today as I sit outside at a baseball game. Good times.

Courtney has demanded a superhero name. My first thought was the romanticizer since she always does try to play matchmaker with me and (insert feminine name). I can't think of anything else good. Maybe "the Ripper" since she always rips on me about cleanliness, desk status, stuff like that. In a moment that C herself could probably be one of the only people ever could pull off, she has demanded that I eat a banana and an orange today, something that I will absolutely have to do. If I don't I will feel SO bad and guilty about it. That's Courtney for you. So great and the prankster princess at the same time. Maybe that should be her name. But after baseball today, I will have to search for bananas and oranges and hopefully not puke.

My dad's biker gang decided to make a stop in Ridgway Sunday as apparently most of the people questioned my existence. I had ice cream at Two Scoops and got most of it all over myself. The flavor was called "Birthday Bash" I had it even though it wasn't my birthday. I wonder if anyone in the community saw me with the Jason Kidd jersey on. I've found out that I get seen walking the streets more often than I would like by my fellow co-workers.

It's been great outside with warmness and baseball. Can't beat that. So anyways, I need to go and get sunscreened up. Baseball awaits.

April, Not A Bad Month

2007-04-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

This is one of the better times of year for me as far as sports entertainment value. Kind of like the all-encompassing viewing I get before I am bored much of the summer with baseball and counting the day till the NFL Pre-Season. I guess this got renewed by acquiring the Versus Channel last week. This channel usually is standard on many cable system but for whatever reason Comcast decided not to. So for a whopping $3 more I get Versus and a bunch of movie channel. Why is this important? Because Versus has the NHL Playoffs on cable, a usual rite of spring that gets people around the region to become hockey fans for as long as the Penguins remain in the playoffs. Playoff hockey is pretty fun to watch, especially in the later rounds. There are a lot of Penguin playoff memories, I have. Let's go.

1991-1992: The Pens win the Stanley Cup two straight years highlighted by teachers watching the parade (92) on a 13-inch TV which was probably all they could afford at the time.
1993-1995 - The playoffs begin choking during the playoffs with nothing memorable happening.
1996 - The Penguins get to Game 7 of the conference finals and lose thanks to the continuous ineptitude of Tom Barrasso giving up goals from the blue line a la gym class all-stars. This happened shortly after a field trip to Sea World. Yes, I sat in the first four rows and I sort of got wet I think. They made us wear these awful t-shirts to identify us.

2000-2001 - One year the Penguins beat the stupid Devils and a vivid memory is watching a game during a Sunday afternoon on FOX and seeing the Penguins score twice in the first minute of the third period making the Civic Arena crowd go crazy. Also, during this time I would sit on my bed sometimes and listen to the games on my Crayola clock-radio, absolutely praying the games didn't go to overtime since I had to get up for school the next morning. The radio coverage was hosted by the one and only Mark Madden who actually did a half-decent job until I realized he worked for WCW and promoted himself on the one and only ESPN radio. Sadly, I think high school was around the last time there were any playoff excitement until this season.

The NBA Playoffs started today which is not quite as exciting until the second round. Detroit teams need to lose at all costs. That includes the Red Wings, who I have no personal vendetta against except QTip is in love with the Wings and Pistons so they have to lose so I can point and laugh or something like that (like making a hilarious MP3).

Absolutely fantastic day outside today in Ridgway. I sat and watched Ridgway baseball. It's great to watch baseball when it's not snowing. Speaking of baseball, the Pirates continue to suck. I saw a quick 10-1 deficit after 6 innings last night to the Dodgers. Good for them. There's been a lot of rough stuff and cheap shots during the Hockey playoffs today. That's what makes hockey so interesting, except barely anybody watches it.

That's it. Until next time, make sure you keep yourself entertained and be happy because the sky is blue.

The Super Hero Treatment

2007-04-18T17:26:00.000-04:00

In the last week or two, I have started to develop what I would call superhero names for my fellow co-workers. Why? Because I really don't have anything better to do and I might as well make things as fun and interesting as possible. The superhero name also are beginning to translate to our YMCA Volleyball team that I will be involved in during the summer. Now that I have to pry you off the ground in laughter/shock, I must explain our team is a group of 10 from the paper, from all aspects as well.

My nickname is "The Silencer" because apparently I don't talk very much at work. This could also apply that I'm going to shut up the other team which would really be a cool aspect. The intimidation factor will be there. #3 is a given for me. BTW, I should mention T-Shirts will be printed with our names and uni numbers on the back.

Jonathan has been appointed "The Socializer." This should be a pretty self-explanatory one simply because of the name. QTip talks to just about everyone he cans while on assignment, not limiting himself to be buddy-buddy with many of the high school girls at sports events in the neighboring town. He wants us all to be emotionally available and accessible. I point and laugh at that.

Kristal is "The Designator" I originally had her as "The Paginator" but she wanted to change it. Kristal is something like #5 or 7, I can't remember which one. Adam had another name but I don't remember which one he had though. Should be exciting. By the way, it's still cold here and the Pirates still are terrible. Until next time, don't be cold and don't be cloudy.

It's Neat Being Neat,Greggy!

2007-04-11T00:47:00.000-04:00

Yes, a very surreal experience to begin my Tuesday. See, Monday night because of sheer boredom and time-wasting, I had decided to clean my desk. It really wasn't that difficult of a job considering most of it involved me throwing papers into the top drawer of my file cabinet. (Let's not tell the brass about that one) So, why is that important. Well, Tuesday I had to go cover an Emergency Services Meeting (Where a science degree would really, really help) and before I go do that I have to stop down at the office and get the garb. The following exchange happens:

Me: (Walks to my desk, doesn't really talk to anyone)
Kristal: Hi, Greggy!
Me: Hello.
(15-second pause)
Kristal: Did you clean your desk?
Me: Yep.
Kristal (with a glowing smile): Ooh, I'm so excited!

Two things to note here. First off, I know I'm not a neat person. But I get really surprised when I get the reaction like I just accomplished the greatest thing in my entire life whenever I clean. Courtney gives me this reaction too whenever I cleaned my desk too. However, in 2 years I think I only got that reaction 1 time so I didn't see it that too much. Later on, I heard QTip make a half-joke saying something like "The pressure's all on Reedy now to get a woman." Fantastic. Sadly, my lovelife has become an object of fantastic interest at just about every one of our jobs. Just what I signed up for.

Second thing: As you may have noticed, K called me Greggy today. Out of the blue. Back a couple months ago, I heard she was going to do it but it never materialized (a common theme). So basically, I didn't see that first thing in the morning (which was 9:36 a.m.). Why is the Greggy thing significant? Well, Kristal is the third person in my entire life (and I met quite a few people) to call me Greggy. The first two are my mother and Dr. W at Slimy Pebble. I should say Dr. W (a female) liked to call me "Little Greggy." One day in Nov. 2004, I was sitting in Media Criticism and at the absolutely wrong moment I decide to start paying attention. She was talking about how people act all innocent at home and are all wild and crazy away from home (nice topic). I look up and pay attention and Dr. W goes along something like "Aw, Little Greggy acting so innocent," stuff like that. I'd like to say that was the last time, but it went on all the way until I graduated. Every time I would she would see me, "Little Greggy" would come out.

Mom would always call me Greggy to basically get my attention/be her errand boy. Later on though, that got replaced by an annoying intercom that I never got the chance to smash into a billion pieces. So needless to say, I heard it a lot. While staring at the computer screen, I noticed something. Greggy has followed me from Kittanning to Slippery Rock to Ridgway and back. Yikes. So, K also said she's going to call me that from now on. Let's see if that actually happens, but if it does, I got a pet name and I have no idea what I did to get it. This story will absolutely delight everyone who will read it.

That's it for now. Until next time, clean up your act or at least come up with a nice nickname for yourself.

April Showers Kill May Flowers

2007-04-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

To borrow Gary's expression, this year instead of enjoying Easter with sunny skies I got to enjoy it with my snowbrush. It still feels like winter here even though it is now April which isn't that cool.

I haven't been able to type much here for a while as work has taken up much of my time, especially last week where I worked approximately 60 hours, much to the chagrin of my fellow co-workers. I won an amazing three pools this year for the tournament and my sister won too! What a coincidence haha! So we at least have bragging rights for a while. Courtney's response to that, "Dork." Gary thinks someone will be coming to "break my legs."

Lately, my view is to try and emit some sort of positive amount of energy at work. How do I do this? Well basically, what I do is write funny notes to Kristal saying such things as the Easter bunny sent the pages and UPS wasn't necessary. My other co-workers do like to get on my case such as time I couldn't find a spoon for my Sheetz Macaroni n Cheese (which I had to order because I couldn't find enough time last week to eat real meals at home) and of course many other things too.) I get called GReedy sometimes. There's a new one.

OK, that's all forn now. Until next time, make spring and baseball come back!

AOL Times

2007-03-21T13:48:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while, I have a night li,e I did last night where I just sit in front of the computer talking to many people online. What made it even better was that the two ladies I talked to are two that I haven't talked to in a while, Jenna and Courtney (Yes, the same one that is my arch-bracket rival). Courtney is talking smack on me for most of the time about my bracket and while Gary and Courtney are plotting the scenarios to get me to lose in our bracket pool. That's just incredible there is a plot against me to have me lose this bracket. I don't usually root for the Gators, but this year they need to win to save my sanity! Courtney aslo quoted a line from Lord of the Rings and was flabbergasted to learn I had never seen it. I was then assigned to "get a date with my couch and watch it."

I really cracked Jenna up too and she said I was nuts contributing sage advice from my Chinese fortune cookie. The one I had from the last time I went was "Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." I found it rather ironic that someone who acts so crazy outside at school thinks that I'm a nutjob. I was actually in a happy mood and it was late and I hadn't got a ton of sleep that day. I promised Jenna I would write her encouraging things to prepare for Rocket Thursday. Now to just figure out what to say..

The last few days I try to as inspirational and uplifting because I'm getting a lot of positive feedback on the subject. Hey, even sometimes I can be optimisitc too. So that's all until next time, talk to those online ladyfriends and make their day!

Why Talk When You Can Text?

2007-03-20T15:27:00.000-04:00

I've noticed that this is the latest trend among younger people with cell phones. One person I know (sorry K) is especially bad at this, and will text multiple times during the day. Texting is like the third thing people do besides tinkering with their MySpace page all day or playing World of Warcraft. I like to text too and in my funny moment of the day I text non-sensical messages such as "Moo Moo Milk" which got a nice laugh. Those are the thoughts you get when you come in and proof in the morning after getting 4 hours of sleep.

I've gotten quite a lot of great texts over the years which range from "Hocus Pocus" to "Aww, hope you feel better soon." My inbox only has so much space in it so I had to delete some of the less interesting and unimportant ones. I think it's kind of funny seeing someone using their phone like a Playstation 2 controller. Today, a phone is used for about everything else except for um, actually calling people up and having a converstation on the phone. You would think I would enjoy the text messaging trend because of the lack of human communication it requires, which would be a definite plus for me. But, it just takes too long to type a couple of sentences. I'm not a fan of getting the calluses on the thumbs either. People texting look like they're playing a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo and dealing with the issues those controllers could have, especially the Sega Genesis. Texting has its own language because of the sheer laziness it entails. For example "How r u doin" or "C Ya Later." It's like talking online without the computer or charges.

So, texting has become the new version of AOL, and I guess a bunch of people do it. It's fun and I like it. In other news, I guess SGA is holding elections for next year's presidency (Ghost riding not included.) I'd like to thank Facebook for keeping me involved with the process. I guess there's the Cornerstone Party, the B-E-S-T party and the Poplar Party. I always love the names of the party because every year there's one that goes with the acronym (HAHA like the B.E.E.R. party in 2002-2003 which was hilarious). The Poplar Party reminds me of those Penn State commercials (Maybe they should be named the pupular party, all that's missing is u, get it?) It looks like there will be some new issues dealt with this year and most of the same issues too, like Happy Bus stuff and diversity among the party members.

So that's all for now, I got quite a lot accomplished at work today so I'm not feeling too bad about that. Let's see if tomorrow will bring much of the same.

All About The Hoops

2007-03-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

March Madness is finally heating up as I predicted it, it really now starts in the second round with the competitive games. As of this point, I stand tied for first with Gary however UNLV threatens to push my arch-bracket-rival Courtney into the lead (She has UNLV, the rest of us schmoes have Wisconsin) I legitimately want to thank CBS for creating March Madness On Demand. Now I can go and watch a game that is out of my area. That means I can watch two games at the same time and maybe three if the two CBS affiliates are showing different games. A basketball junkie's fix for sure.

It went from spring back to winter in about a day in Ridgway. Around Wednesday or Thursday it was great out, especially Wednesday I think, Friday wound up with six inches of snow and me not even attempting to dig the car out hoping that warm weather will return and do that job for me. I think it will.

My sister is into March Madness and asked me to fill out her bracket. So far she is fourth and could be right in the mix if things continue strongly. She even asked me why Pitt is in the West region this year. (The quick answer is because the next two rounds, Pitt will play in San Jose, which is located in the west. I could get into more detail but my fingers would get too tired). I've also learned a lot from the commercials that play. For instance I now know that Buffalo Wild Wings seems like a cool place to go even though I've never been there, V-cast is a great phone and Pizza-Hut is selling that cheezy bites pizza. Yummy. Winter better end soon, I'd really like to not freeze while watching baseball.

All right, that is it for now, let's keep it warm until next time.

So What If You Can't Draw

2007-03-13T21:57:00.000-04:00

While doing the lovely morning duties at work today, I got to see some of the lovely children's weather graphics we put in there. The graphics are done by elementary school kids and some of them are funny and quite humorous. The object here is not make fun of their creations, it's to compare.

I can draw pretty much at the level of those kids. You know the ones that are probably anywhere between 1st and 4th or 5th grade. It's not anything bad, but one thing I hated to do in high school was play Pictionary in Spanish class and shutter when it was my turn. The anticipation of how bad it could actually be was electric. Sadly, that's probably about the most I took out of about 4 years of Spanish in high school.

Wow, what a great weather day today. It felt like spring in the apartment, at least late April last year at school when I would back to class without any type of coat on. That was incredibly great. Since it was also spring break this week, I just have to ask "Where was this weather during my spring breaks?" Usually, spring break meant huffing and puffing through the snow. Daylight Savings Time started like 3 weeks early this week too which means I get to not worry about it getting dark before dinner now. Not too shabby. But it's not that I actually did any of that fun stuff today, a lot of it dealt with me getting a nap in after work and paying some bills, you know doing grown-up things. Tomorrow, I have to chase a couple stories and hopefully get those interviews done as soon as possible so I can least have some sane time on Thursday to watch basketball.

Next Monday, Kristal, Krista, Cari and I are going on this "Reality Tour" which deals with the life of a teen dealing with drug addiction. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do. I didn't know about it until I was assigned a story about it Monday and got to talk to two of the people in it about what the deal was with it. It's supposed to be very intense. By the way, for those at are curious, the three ladies I don't really know that well (except for Kristal) and they're all my female co-workers. Interesting. I should also mention that I get a before and after picture taken of what I would like on heroin. THAT is something people will want to see.

I got NHL 2K7 the other day and it's definitely a pretty good hockey game, one of the best I've played in a while. I've definitely been someone who has been converted by the 2K product over from EA Sports. I like the realism the NBA game provide (i.e. not having dunks every 5 seconds on All-Star level) and on NHL where I've struck the right balance of not having too much scoring but not having too few. Sentences like that can make people wonder why the Reedman hasn't found a special lady in forever.

Apparently, one of my compadres saw me on TV in Hershey and I guess I looked legitimately enthralled to be there. Of course, this doesn't mean much considering Q-Tip thinks "Looking Alive" is my example of a good day. I really think the kiddos at work think I'm legitimately boring. Oh well.

Yet another glorious blog entry. I shall return at another time of my choosing. Until next time, keep it cool and get the adequate amount of sleep required to function.

The Crying Girl Syndrome

2007-03-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

Editor's Note: Yet again, I deal with girly issues. Nothing happened today to talk about except an afternoon of work and finding out my co-workers like to do "Reedyisms." That is really creepy.

This was something that I have seen probably too much of lately. The title of this entry is pretty self-explanatory. It deals with the crying lady and how guys pretty much don't have a chance of being anything but nice when dealing with the tear-jerker. I've seen a lot of this mainly on TV. In one Seinfeld episode, George tries to move his wedding day back with Susan. However, Susan cries and George caves. So George turns the tables and cries to Susan and promptly gets his wish. Pretty funny stuff. I saw this on Smallville at the hotel in Hershey when Lana was crying to Lex in some happier tears.

For me, dealing with the crying girl is not exactly something I hope to deal with on a regular basis. I have dealt with it over the years though as probably most guys have. It's tough to see your friend in my case just start bawling over the problems in her life or in Heather's case, seeing me leave her after Blairsville (That sotry should still be on the front page) I think one of the gratifying things it does prove is that the handful of ladies that have cried to me over the years have confided in me with personal/sensitive information and they need someone to help them. I had to ask someone what to do after a while and she told me "Just be there for them." And that's what I try to do, just be the rock and get them through it.

Now are all ladies criers? Of course not, I know a lot that I would never think would cry much. But there are definitely some that get much more emotional outwardly. So next time one of your lady friends starts welling up, comfort them and be there for them! I think they appreciate it more than you think! I know that's true.

Hershey Hijinks Yet Again

2007-03-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have come back from my second trip to the Land of Chocolate in a month. It was quite enthralling as I got to sit in a 10,500 seat arena effectionately known as the GIANT center. Apparently, GIANT is a food place much like GIANT eagle. It must be an east side thing or something. I was so excited to blog that I even wrote a list of topics down that I wanted to talk about.

Friday afternoon, I got some time to visit K-Mart. It was really refreshing considering how deserted it was at that time. I mean really deserted. Definitely very refreshing. I ended up buying two mega-huge Hershey's mega-chocolate bars for Kristal while there (I was requested prior to this to buy this or risk a woman's scorn, not exactly something I'm leaning towards right there.)

Now the next thing I can talk about is the GIANT center which basically should be called the No Fun Center because of the strict rules placed on the media. No hats allowed on the floor, no food or drink at the press area (I had to go to the bowels of the arena to get cookies and more cookies, yummy, yum there. Not.) I had to wear an orange bracelet at this again. The PA announcer there was incredibly jolly doing his thing. Almost jolly to the point of being fake. I really hate that.

I visited the outlets in Hershey again. They're much like the outlets in Grove City except I'm pretty sure you're allowed to walk on the grass in Hershey. (That's a slam against Grove City College and the stories I've heard about people visiting that place) I ended up buying a DVD and NHL 2K7 at this music store. Now while I'm on the road for 4 days, I have to go and sample the wide variety of restaurants from the area. When I was there the last time, I ate at this Italian place which was great and had great service. This time I started by eating at the place across the way, "Isaac's" I had this deli sandwich and it wasn't that great. But it was take-out so I didn't care. I also ate at Red Robin Friday afternoon, a Texas Roadhouse style place. Of course, I had a burger and a massive vanilla milkshake which had a refill! I got great service and got asked how I was doing quite a bit. I gave a good tip.

Unfortunately, no tag team titles were on the line at this event. (Coincidentally, I later learned this arena actually HAS hosted a WWE pay-per-view, 2003 Unforgiven.) Also, there was this huge group of students in green sitting in the peanut seats doing the tomahawk chop and stuff like that.

It's March Madness time, one of my favorite times of year and one of my mom's least favorite times of year. "I HATE THAT SQUEAKING, THEY'RE INTERRUPTING MY STORIES, I WANNA SEE WHAT HAPPENS WITH (Insert storyline)" I'm already in a Facebook pool but if anyone else is interested in doing another pool or inviting me, I'm definitely interested. I really need to at least beat one person, Courtney. If she beats me again, I get to hear about for quite a while. For those of you that don't know her, she can ride me about one thing for a really LONG time. BTW, if you think I'm being mean, I should say Courtney is definitely one of my closest friends so it's a nice friendly time. Probably not this week though.

Brittney, Kristen and Jill all posted on my wall this week (you can take a look and see what they said). They're all great people, but especially Brittney who I have gotten along with so well for a long time. I've known B for about 2 years and she's great. She got me a little Valentine's Day card last year and has demanded I see her again the next time I come visit.

Wow, that was long. By the way, this blog gets Googled on a regular basis, so let's see how it keeps coming. Enjoy!

The Unofficial Reedy Hotel Report

2007-03-06T16:02:00.000-05:00

I get to stay at a hotel again for the third time in a month. I'm moving up in the world and the greatest thing is I don't have to pay for it. All this hotel staying made me think of the greatness known as not getting a lick of sleep even though the bed is so huge. Let's do it.

Econo lodge in Hershey (1 past stay, 1 upcoming stay)
I'll be leaving for here tomorrow. The first time I stayed there it was all right except for the stupidity of myself not swiping the key the right way, having to have someone come up and show me once again how to do it made it fun. There's this great Italian restaurant right next to it that I ate at last time with a really nice waitress who was very smiley and who I gave a very generous tip to. She obviously uses a tanning booth. So bascially, it's a nuts and bolts hotel but the best thing is it's not too far from the arena. And I know how to get there, which is huge.

Holiday Inn Express (Sharon or West Middlesex, depending on whether you look at Mapquest)
Mapquest says this hotel is at Sharon while the real address says West Middlesex. My room was pretty sweet. It had a microwave with a complimentary bad of popcorn, coffemaker and there's an indoor pool there. I was up on the 3rd floor in room 308 but wasn't really in the room that much. There was also a pretty sweet breakfast which included donuts, milk and lots of other stuff that I was too asleep to notice.

Days Inn in Brookville (2 stays)
Those were some of the craziest visits. The first visit included playing some version of videogames (likely XBox), staying up really late and taking some time to put shaving cream and other stuff on a counselor's face and hands while sleeping. I also think it's interesting this is the only one I ever stayed at which had interconnecting rooms. That really didn't make too much sense to me. I also remember having a fake love note typed up by one of the ladies on the trip to some of the other guys in the room as well. There were legitimate concerns by the counselors about having an outside balcony near the room.

The HI express in Newark (2 stays)
I believe I stayed here from the 1st NY trip but at the second NY trip (the senior trip) our hotel room pretty much turned into Animal House with about 7-8 people in there watching various movies and basically not sleeping. Our wake-up call in the morning was Mr. Cosgrove pounding on the door until someone responded with something audible. We had to get up extra early to go to the Today show. None of us really wanted to go since we spent a small amount of time there.

The Roosevelt Hotel (New York)
Fancy schmancy indeed. Talk about your high-end hotels. This hotel had our journalism conference inside on the 2nd floor. I stayed on the 14th floor. The room ifself really wasn't that different from any of the hotel room we were at but the lobby was pretty sweet. There's like a gift shop and a mini-bar there. Oh, and we were there on St. Patrick's Day which added to the craziness.

That's about all the hotels I can think of where I have graced my presence. In a total unrelated topic, I think a lot of the ladies are going on the fake n bake circuit getting ready for spring break to show off their redness to complete strangers on the beach. Have fun with the artificial sunlight ladies. March Madness starts next week and word on the street is there will be another Facebook bracket this year with Gary. That will be incredibly awesome.

Open Up Reedman!

2007-02-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, there’s been a shocking development in the course of the last few days. After months and months of badgering by who I will refer to as A and K, I have started to become more open, with well, A and K. I guess this will be a process that will require slow steps. Apparently A and K were the two most interested in learning about this. I could say Jonathan was interested in doing this too, but since A and K are special ladies they’re the ones that have gotten to see me well, at least talk more about my life. They both seem very happy about this, and I don’t feel too bad about it either.

My toilet got fixed today. I called my realtor up and someone got sent up quickly, likely saving me a lot of money. I was very pleased. So I can flush my toilet again, which is very clutch indeed.

Since I know my folks read this on a regular basis, I will say that referring to them as A and K is way better than saying “unnamed girl X.” It’s a process. I’ve also introduced the unofficial “Good Deed of the Week” which has involved me buying K Queen size bars of Hershey’s chocolate and a bag of cough drops. She loves Easy Mac too. Maybe I should buy her a box. Today she got all interested when I brought up the idea of Easy Mac. I would give her the box I have right now except the use by date was Feb. 7. By the way, K is very open with me so that is why I know this stuff. It’s not like I nag or inquire or anything like that.

I’m going to Sharon this weekend. I have to see how my car is doing tomorrow to make the long trip. I should be stopping at SRU on the way back to see some of the peeps and 1 in particular. Good times. I’m hoping to make a long weekend of it with the last weekend in March. There’s an alumni mixer that Friday which should be a kickin good time. I will say Dr. Zeltner better be there.

That’s it for now, it’s time to make some garlic toast and get to bed whenever I run out of gas. Oh and by the way, K is taking ballroom dancing lessons with Jonathan so our publisher wanted to get in on this too. So she asked me to do it, and I said sure. It probably won’t happen.

That's Just Wonderful

2007-02-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

Amazingly, I have gathered enough time in my life to write something on this. Let's get it started.

Yesterday, I went and spent 12 hours in the wonderful land of Clarion covering individual wrestling. Ridgway was clearly the best overall team there and it showed with 5 champions. There is something I would like to see to all the wrestlers because while looking through the pictures this was true with all of them. Can you please just look like you're happy you won? Most of them have the same stolid face like they're ready to go fight someone in the back alley. I think I saw just one kids have a genuine smile on his face. Most of us were ready to get out of there as quickly as possible, especially the reporters that were there Friday too. Yikes.

I made Jello pudding the other day. It was pretty good too`, I greatly enjoyed the chocolate more than the vanilla. To add to my weekend of greatness, my toilet broke this morning. Well, to be more specific the handle on it. So I can't flush my toilet. That will have to be fixed ASAP. In some more random notes, the Oscars are tonight and I have no idea who is nominated in any of the categories but I will definitely watch/listen as do my wrestling writeup. I would normally complain but last year I studied the entire time for a Meteorology test that I didn't do that great at anyway.

The Rendezvous is over and it was a pretty cool time. Parking wasn't that great but it was cool to see everybody and those great carvings! And finally, I'm just hoping things can get better for a couple of my lady friends. They're going through some difficult times, but they'll be OK. That's it for now, talk to you whenever I feel like writing again.

Digging Out

2007-02-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

Yikes. I guess it’s been a while since I wrote in here last. I write that a lot in this blog. Well, in the past week we got a foot of snow and it was full of greatness.

Today I spent my time at the Chainsaw Carving Rendezvous which was certainly a unique experience. It was also very cold so that’s not too great. Then again it is winter. The fam is coming up tomorrow and I’ll probably show them around or something. I cleaned my apartment for them. It looks pretty good just in case anyone wants to come visit.

So Wednesday was Valentine’s Day. It’s traditionally been one of the less popular days with me just because it deals with sappy crappy love. However, I decided it my Valentine’s Day was going to be dull and lull, I would at least make the effort to make sure the ladies had a smile put on their face. And how did I possibly do that?

Easy, just go and write e-cards to 14 different ladies.

Now, I should preface this by mentioning that one of them was my sister and I’m pretty sure a few of them either didn’t get it or did and just didn’t care, but I did get a few thank yous and even a few thank you cards in return! I was real happy to find out that I made their days better. It’s like my pastor said at church last week: “No one come to a wedding to see what tuxedo the groom is wearing. They all talk about the bride’s dress.” Nice to know I will be overshadowed if I ever get married.

Haven’t been in the greatest of moods lately. Probably because of the sheer craziness of work. Hopefully, things will slow down pretty soon.

That’s it for now. Stay warm!

Snow And More Snow

2007-01-25T16:10:00.000-05:00

Things have been pretty stressful at work as of late. With only 3 people there instead of 5 we have to do more work. That's not fun. Kristal is managing well as of late and Jonathan and I are trying to keep her sane as much as possible.

By the way, it's snowing constantly here. Winter has arrived in Ridgway. I called Dr. Zeltner up too and we talked for like 4 minutes about how everything is going. So I know this is a short one but I don't know what else is going on.

A Weekend Where I Talked To People!

2007-01-22T16:08:00.000-05:00

That's right. I actually took a trip to the wonderful and mediocre land known as Slippery Rock University. What spawned this trip? Sheer boredom and also because I don't know when the next fun and uninterrupted weekend will be.

So after telling my 3 loyal fans about my imminent appearance and putting a red-colored breaking news alert on the Rocket wire, Moo-Shu Mike is second to greet me (of course the first few being the Adam Brewer group of cool and wrestling-related hysteria) and he greets me with the greatness known as Prepwear, anything in Polo Jeans Co. However, I did enough ripping of Mike in person, so I will not go ahead and rip him on the blog anymore considering he did let me crash on the couch while he slept in longer than I did (oops) Mike and I played NHL 2K7 on the virtouso machine known as a Playstation 3 which requires approximately a down payment on a house to purchase. (It's $600 just for the machine) The graphics look sharp but I don't think it's that big an improvement from the PS2 opposite to when the PS2 was a massive improvement over the PS1 which made me drool every night haha. After playing SD vs Raw 07, which has terrible controls by the way, it was time for the gloriousness known as Madden in which after nearly choking it away the Colts (me) defeated the Patriots, 41-36 in which Tom Brady threw 5 interceptions mainly off of flukes.

Eat'n Park was next and amazingly my order was not duplicated by anyone. I'm so very proud about that (oops again). Then it was bowling where I was soundly defeated by mostly everybody. I bowled an 80 and I was very proud to do that. Afterwards, Mike begged and begged for all of us to go to a local place called Palmer's (which sadly I had never heard of. And I went to SRU for 4 years.) At Palmer's, I sit there bored at the beginning with Mike, Brian and Dan-o. Then I see my friends Jenna and Elise. Jenna talked to me about her life and was asking me some advice about what she should do for the semester. I enjoyed her company and we had a couple hugs too! I didn't notice Elise there until she looked at me. Elise is my roommate's cousin and was nice to see her and catch up on how Chase and Heather are doing. We hugged too and I found out she is a Facebook stalker. That's always a nice thing to know.

Sunday came along and after sleeping and waking up, Mike and I watched an old wrestling pay-per-view. After doing that, I got to visit my friend Brittney which was absolutely great! Brittney and I got to catch up on everything and I got to take a picture with my lovely camera. I've know Brittney for a long time and she's really cool and sweet. I know she'll be successful when she graduates in the world known as television.

The weekend continued by returning to the glorious halls of ECB and seeing the differences in the department. There's a bunch of different stuff and posters on the wall and a couple of my lovely articles are plastered on the Rocket alumni board. I saw Rachel and Nate and Ivan in the Rocket office and got to see how that was too. All of those folks seem to be doing well which I was very happy to see!

I think this weekend proved that even when you're away from your friends for a long time they still care about you and miss you just like you miss them. I know that was deep.

So that was fun and now I guess the next weekend is almost here. Let's do it.

The Girl From Blairsville

2007-01-17T02:21:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: This story will deal a lot about a story that has rarely been told, and never told to the college folks. This will undoubtedly make them mad at me or make them cry or both. Let's hope for just the first one. Alas, this story will not be dealing with the usual sarcasm a blog entry does. But enough warnings, here we go.

It was Super Bowl weekend, 2001. I was in 11th grade at the time and was heading to my first District 9 Chorus extravanganza. For those of you that may not know, District Chorus was the best of the best singers from 30-40 high schools in the regions. Yep, before I was a great journalist, I was a great singer. The trip down was nothing to shout about and the early part of the night wasn't either. We arrived in Blairsville at the auditorium and it was kind of dark and all that crap. So it was time for my audition to go on to Regional Chorus. If you got in a certain percentage you got to move on to an even more select chorus "festival," which I later did a year afterwards. But there's one problem with this audition. See, I had a sore throat from practicing and wearing out my voice. Yep, not so hot. Plus, to make it even worse, the judges in the room decide to pick out the two songs I didn't really know so well. So let's just say I sucked it up like a vacuum cleaner sucks up fuzzballs. So I'm walking out of the room and I'm not feeling all that great about the "performance." And then there she is.

Her name was Heather Marsh and she went to Blairsville at the time. Heather had curly red hair which proves I don't exclusively have things for blondes. Her official reason for being there was that she was a "Bass I host runner" which basically meant she made sure people like me who are directionally-impaired didn't get lost in the school. Heather said I did a good job and we engaged in small talk and I really didn't think of it much at the time. From what I can remember, I think she really wanted to talk with me and offered to hang around me during the week.

The first morning comes around and we practice, quite a lot actually. Not so much fun. After the practice, there's Heather waiting for me and I think she went and gave me the tour of the school. (This was one of my favorite parts of going to other schools and somehow I got a tour of EVERY school I was at including Apollo-Ridge, Clarion-Limestone, Union City and of course Blairsville.)

One of the most memorable moments came whenever she started doing a cheer in the hall for me and anyone else that would listen. During breaks, usually we would end up finding each other along with her friend Jessica and hang out or just sit around and be bums (something I enjoy quite a bit).

Friday night was our first concert and afterwards there was a dance. No, we didn't dance together and the most memorable thing I remember about this dance was it was the first time I heard "We Like to Party." This dance had huge video screens too. Imagine if they had this at the prom.

Saturday morning came along and I remember our little group having a conversation and Heather begging us not to leave before our afternoon concert. That point will come up again. A lot of other stuff happened before the concert too. I remember talking with a group of guys about how low-scoring Super Bowl 35 would be between the Giants and the Ravens. We were all wrong, the Giants lost 34-7.

The concert comes along and is over with and thankfully in a short amount of time. It was the first time I remember sweat dripping down my back. It was also the first (but not the last) robe zipper I broke. The concert ends and I'm looking for Heather because I know she'll be so disappointed if I don't see here. It takes a little while and then I see her. And then she starts to cry. A lot. We embrace for probably a minute or two as she eventually settles down. She tells me to promise I will e-mail her back when I get home. (This was before I had facebook, AIM or even a cell phone.) So I'm walking out the door of the school with my folks and she comes whizzing by and hands me a note then screams, "E-mail me when you get home!" Of course, the first thing I'm thinking is "Why did you have to do that in front of my parents!" Questions followed and I think my grandmother thought I had a girlfriend which sadly was not true. This may have got around briefly in school too.

That's not the end of the story, though. Heather and I usually would e-mail each other once a week and update our lives. I would tell about my distain for physics (and the handy-dandy formula card) while Heather would tell how she gained confidence in singing from watching me perform. As a month or two went on, she started saying "I miss you" a lot more. I saved every e-mail. We got to talk a couple times online on MSN Messenger (HAHA! How dated is that!) and while talking she told me I have a beautiful heart and to never change for anyone.

Sadly, though, Heather's e-mail address became inactive and I haven't tracked her down since. I'm not too optimistic that I will any time soon either. But the reason I wrote this is because A) I was waiting on results at work and B) It just kind of popped into my head like a lot of the blog entries tend to do.

I think I want to end it like this. Almost every time, Heather e-mailed me she would sign off, "Love your friend always." Now normally, I wouldn't really believe that or take much stock in it. But with her, I do. Well, that's about it. Sorry if I made you all emotional. I promise the next one will be a lot funnier. People need to start giving kids normal names.

Hey It's A New Year!

2007-01-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote in here. Of course, lots of stuff has been going as expected.

The new year has come upon us and I'm pretty excited for it. I always liked odd-numbered years better than even ones because it seems like odd years are better. Oh well. I turned 23 on the 4th and I must say I had a very nice birthday with lots of well-wishers. My editor, Kristal went and baked me a cake which you can see if you have the lovely marvel of Facebook. Her cat went and licked part of the cake so she had to cut out three of the pieces. It was still a very nice thing she did. But speaking of Kristal, she's very sick with some sort of nasty stomach virus that I hope I never ever get. Lots of puking and not a lot of good times are involved. Yuck.

Rumor has it the spring semester is starting at school soon. HAHA!! And I don't have to pack or move or do any of that worthwhile crap that I hated while attending the fine institution of Slippery Rock University. It's snowed very little here so I have to thank global warming for having it be unseasonably warm. It's been in the 50s quite a bit in Ridgway lately. Just a little odd. I get to watch the NFL Divisional Playoffs this weekend which is pretty sweet in my opinion.

I hope to be visiting SRU for a weekend pretty soon to see the entire gang soon. (Or at least as many as I can rile up) I have one special fan that is especially anxious as well to see me come back. I think I will call her "Special Smiley." I don't know if she'll like that or not so I might have to come up with a better nickname.

I got lots of good stuff for my birthday. I went and bought Final Fantasy 12 and Sonic Mega Collection Plus, two of my favorite video game series. I grew up with the Sonic games and now I have them all! Incredible! As with FF12, so far it's been a pretty good game through about 5 hours. (If you don't know, the game usually takes 40-50 hours to complete, depending on how much you want to do with it.)

I'm amazed that the Sonic series seems so easy today when I'm 23 then they did when I got them at 11 and 12. The games usually take around 2-3 hours to complete, a drip in the water compared to these mega-games today. They're still fun.

OK, that's about it for now. Until next time, stay healthy and eat some pretzels.

Decembers To Remember

2006-12-17T15:23:00.000-05:00

Pretty interesting week in the world of the Reedman so far. Right now, the Christmas season is reminding me of a lot of things. Like that I still need to do all of my shopping. Or that I need to figure out what to get for everyone. But there was another thing I was reminded of.

People are important in life.

For whatever reason, I was reminded of this today while I was doing my “Day in the Life” story on a pastor. That’s right, this morning I got to hang around with a local pastor for a few hours and learn how he prepares for a service a “Day in the life” if you will. Another fun thins is that my picture will likely be on the front page of the paper tomorrow with me doing something (I didn’t know what it was because my new editor took the picture) I think that why I thought of this topic. Kristal and I are getting along well right now. Of course, Kristal offered to take me to breakfast at the American Legion in town this morning, (some good French toast) before I started hanging out with the pastor. I should be grateful, Kristal set this up for me on Thursday when I didn’t have any idea of how I was going to do this. Kristal’s first day as my new boss is tomorrow and tonight I get to interview her and write a short (and I will emphasize SHORT) story on her being appointed. Good times. In all honesty, I think I’m just happy to have someone around and we get along all right. That’s about all it goes to.

The reason I thought of that story was because of a conversation I had with Chief Broken Dish this week online. She’s now living in Maryland and was nice to catch up and see how the former chief was doing. Chief Broken Dish was part of another December memory during finals week a couple years ago. During my junior year of college, we went to Rachel’s Roadhouse for our semesterly dinner. Chief, J-Dye and Sheryl all rode with me and made sure I had a great time by basically making fun of me the whole time and making sure I had a ton of great laughs. The one endearing memory I have from this is stopping at a gas station in Grove City and while I am fueling I hear the three of them laugh really loudly at about the same time. Why? Well, since my windows were all fogged up, J-Dye wrote my name really huge on the one window, Chief wrote my name inside a heart and Sheryl wrote my phone number. Hilarious moments there. And in a strange bit of coincidence, all of them live in Maryland now. I think my unofficial name for them will be “The Maryland Gang.” Let’s see how long it takes for that to be vetoed.

The weather has been great all week and should continue to be that way. But for now, that’s just about everything I can think of. And by the way congratulations again to everyone who graduated this year and can now celebrate sweet, sweet freedom. Enjoy it!

You Can Take Reedy Out Of College, But You Can't Take The College Out Of Reedy

2006-12-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week this has been. As some of you may have heard, this week was the week to put together the Winter Sports preview, a mixture of pagination, tiredness and lots of caffeine. It also included what I like to call an all-nighter. Let’s explain the fun that was Wednesday.

The Ridgway all-nighter

10 a.m. – wake up

11 a.m. – arrive at work

Noon – am told there are problems with ads on one of our sister’s papers tabs. Have to fix it.

1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Paginate eight pages of tab while my co-worker gets yelled at for still doing his stories while I’m trying to paginate. We cut the tab from 12 pages to 8 while I do an awesome job of moving ads to get it to fit.

6 p.m. – I wait for composing to PDF ads while I hear entertaining stories about lots of stuff told by Jeff about Turkey and Gravy soda (apparently a real thing) and lots more great stuff.

6 – 9:30 p.m. – Ridgway boys basketball and losing for the first time this season. Not surprising since it was their first game of the year.

9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. – I think we get everything squared away with the tab.

10:30 p.m. – 1 a.m. – Write a story, upload some pictures do a scorebox and then I think I had to paginate sports as well.

1 a.m. – 3:30 a.m. – This part is pretty much a blur but I do remember learning how to PDF pages with the copy editor there. We’re getting along pretty well right now, which is always good.

3:30 a.m. – 6 a.m. – I was still there and again I don’t know if I was actually doing anything other than light typing for news.

6:30 a.m. – Go home and sleep. By the way I should mention the reason this happened is I had to come in and proof early in the morning. But since our paper’s press is broke, the deadline was moved up and going home and sleeping for 2 hours seemed useless at the time.

Let’s hope the snowy weather holds off for a while. Driving in that stuff is just rough. I’m surprised so many people like it. I’m not particularly fond of it just that much anymore. I can stand the cold to a degree and now I’ve gotten used to the wintery weather and cold, just like I did while at school. The only difference is the sidewalks in Ridgway aren’t icesheets and I have to actually drive.

I guess I really shouldn’t have been surprised to see last week go so tough. Last week just happened to be the last week of classes at the Slippery Rock. I remember what those weeks were like, and they were worse than finals week. They were rough because all the professors seemed to think it was a great idea to make projects due the final week. Doing three to four projects at one with my constant procrastination and it could turn really rough.

So that’s about it, and the semester is coming to an end with the holiday season coming up faster than a friend request on Facebook. Good luck to everyone in finals week and especially to those graduating soon. That’s all for now, it’s back to the grind tomorrow.

That's A Nice Set Of Horns

2006-12-03T18:22:00.000-05:00

Over the past week, I got to see a ton of happy people. People that just happened to have dead deer heads in the backs or trunks of their cars. Our paper sponsors a big buck contest and we had over 20 entries come in (Not literally, they stayed outside) and enter the contest while interested onlookers and passer-byers would ooh and ahh at said deer, especially its horns. Now for whatever reason, I had the esteemed duty of taking most of the pictures of the hunters. It made everyone else feel good for the most part, which is a huge key at work.

Lots of people have birthdays at the beginning of December which is really cool. I know quite a few and I wish them all a happy and swell birthday to grow a year older. Since it’s also the end of December it looks like the fall semester is coming to an end pretty soon. I also happen to know a few people that will be graduating soon, and I know they’re all excited. Trust me, I’ve talked to them and they have all told me so.

It must be the Christmas season. Everywhere I look, I see a commerical for jewelry anywhere from the typical family Christmas morning setting where the husband gets the wife some fancy schmancy jewelry or those other commericals. Today, I saw the relationship timeline of kisses, going from first kiss, to wedding kiss, to baby kiss, to middle-aged kiss, to good-bye kiss. (OK, that last one isn't real, but since this is America and one of out every two marriages end in divorce, it really should be.) So now I remember that "Every kiss begins with Kay." (Which I NEVER understood the literal reality of the saying until it just dawned on me today) Also, I guess if you really want to impress your mate, go ahead and go to Jared, because "it could only be Jared." By the way, the stuff that's ignored os the astronomical price of some of these diamonds. The real saying should be "You may not have lifelong love, but you'll sure have lifelong debt." Oh, yes, you all probably have realized that I won't have to worry about that at least this year. And I am more than OK with that.

I probably forgot a few things, but if I did, I’ll add them in at another time. Until next time, don’t get too stressed out and keep the Kleenex in the box.

My Green Chair Broke

2006-12-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

OK, I’m going to try and blog again. Let’s see how this one works. Apparently, people are reading it since the last 2 posts have had three comments about them. Let’s do it.

First of all, I had a sad moment. My favorite green chair broke that I’ve had for over three years. So if you’re planning your Christmas lists, guess what now you know what you can get me. I got the chair in May 2003 as it was originally my first college roommate’s at the time, before he generously and without much care, gave it to me as he was in as big a hurry as possible to leave school forever. (He dropped out) The chair had a lot of good memories and lived it three different dorm rooms, home and Ridgway not withstanding the countless hours of time I spent playing video games instead of going out and getting a social life with anyone I associated with.

Work has been going fine as of late, although this week will be busy because we are paginating our winter sports preview. Good times. I’ll be busy with that and will likely have to do most of the pagination.

By the way, thanksgiving was nice as I got to see the family again and do some other stuff as well. Yippie skippie doo. Mom made me take back my little small tree which is currently out of the box and positioned in my living room with garland and lights in there.

We’re in the baby processes of the next-gen systems with the Nintendo Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 where gamers that have WAY too much time on their hands, spent days and days in line to spend their life saving on systems that will go down on price. Needless to say, I didn’t go out to get one of those, I have something called a job that prevents that. However, I won’t rule out buying that in the future. And by the way, I’m getting a PS3 if I do because I’m avoiding any mention of the Xbox 360 (Especially HALO 2) and the Nintendo Wii (which is still living off Zelda and Mario).

Winter came back to Ridgway today, especially since it’s December. That makes enough sense. But speaking of things that don’t really make much sense, I read a certain post by my esteemed friend Jen about Rocket coffee. Now as many of you know, I used to work at The Rocket for a while and I guess I really never paid attention to the coffee, because I never drank it. But letting mold grow on the coffee pot? A little odd. And by the way, Jen’s not kidding when she says she turns into a bear when she doesn’t get the coffee. I’ve seen it. It’s not pretty, folks.

I heard everyone had a great time at their Senior Seminar dinners Thursday night. While you were at your etiquette dinners. Guess what I was doing? That’s right.
I sat at an etiquette dinner.
Thursday night, I covered the Ridgway football banquet and ended up sitting with the team boosters. And you know what, it was a good time, even though much like the senior sem dinner I had in the spring, I barely ate anything (OK, I barely ate anything compared to everyone else who cleaned their plates) and couldn’t put my elbows on the table. I must also say the table I was at it not exactly suited for anyone taller than 5’10” because I kept hitting my knee on the top of the table. That was a very fun banquet though, especially with coaches and players trading friendly jabs at each other. We laughed a lot for 3 hours. Now there’s a great way to spend your Thursday night.

Rain And Much More

2006-11-19T22:43:00.000-05:00

This will be a lot of miscallany crap because there hasn't been much going on to make a trend start. OK, that almost made sense. Almost. Let's get it started.

This first thing has been a common complaint of mine while I’ve lived here in Ridgway over the past 4 ½ months. (Can you believe it’s been that long?) It precipites here every day. That’s not an exaggeration. It literally rains, snows, sleets or freezing rains here every day. At least it did last week. It’s also been pretty cold here the last couple days. Apparently, it’s supposed to be warmer here this week. It better be. Thanksgiving is Thursday. It will be nice to get home and see the family. For everyone’s information, I’ve been home exactly one time since moving to Ridgway. Yep, there’s the real world for you.

OK, this next thing will anger a few people. I read on some other blog how a lack of interpersonal communication is ruining the world. Well here’s how I see it.

Interpersonal communication is overrated.

Today’s personality of talking through a computer is a sign of the times just like the cell phone, fantasy football and blogging. It allows people to be more free and more comfortable, especially people like myself who has always been described as “quiet.” A few people that have talked to me online know that I can produce the best of myself simply by having enough time to figure out what to say. Through the slinky magic of Facebook, I’ve been able to connect with people and write on Facebook walls. Freakin awesome. So I don’t know what the big deal is with complaining with the lack of interpersonal communication. The world still turns on its axis. It’ll still be overcast tomorrow. I’m still single. Everything has remained the same.

Working with the media, I notice certain trends with people. Like whenever someone sticks a microphone or a camera in front of someone, they automatically with do or say the stupidest thing possible. Now by no means do I want to pile on the current SGA and their situation because trust me, they’re not the first person/group to do something on camera and maybe regret it later on, in fact that probably just reinforces the point that people will do the weirdest and insane things on camera. They’ll crazy dance, chug, do all this stupid stuff and the worst thing is, it’s all on tape. So remember, next time you’re on tape use your left and/or right brain and think about what you’re doing.

“Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
I’ve seen that promo for “Heroes” about 8 times today while watching NASCAR and football on NBC. While typing, I just thought of the parallels between cheerleaders and another social group at school, sorority girls.
Think about it, in high school, cheerleaders were most often the most popular girls and most of them were very pretty. In college, the sorority girls are most of the time, popular (or at least have their particular one seen on apparel) and very pretty. I guess another reason I thought of this was because in HS, I got along with the cheerleaders alright, while in college, I didn’t have a problem with those sorority ladies either and most of them I got along with, or at least knew my name, which I figured was probably a nice accomplishment in my view. There were a few I talked to on varying levels of regularity and knew on a decent basis. So what does that mean getting back to that quote I led the paragraph.
I guess it means if you see a sorority lady in trouble, you should help her out! You might just save the world. Or at least the world that lives in one house.
And that’s the type of thing that my skills in interpersonal communication probably wouldn’t be able to produce. That’s why it’s still overrated.

TV Is Geared For The Ladies

2006-11-14T16:46:00.000-05:00

Yep, the title of this blog will definitely enrage the female gender. But in today's TV world (Especially the network world) look at most of the shows on primetime, especially dramas. A lot of them are shows built for women. "How I met your mother" stars Doogie Howser, M.D. masquarading as a straight man in a gay man's body. "Life with Brian" stars somebody from 7th Heaven the ultimate chick show from the television netherworld known as the WB. "Desperate Housewives" is trying to market the show towars college-age and middle-age ladies that are either actual housewives or college girlfriends that get absolutely nothing from their relationship.

But there's one show I see that falls into this category and I'll say this. "Grey's Anatomy" is definitely a chick show. Just look around and notice what people watch. Lots of girls plan appointment viewing around this show while guys would rather football or wrestling. As to why? I have no idea, I never watched the show and I don't really plan to. So fellas, if you're watching these shows, I'm pretty sure you're doing it as a favor to your girlfriend or getting paid. Or you absolutely have NOTHING better to do.

There's only really 3 shows I watch on a semi-regular basis other than sports. "The Simpsons, Family Guy and The Office" Notice there's all comedies and they deal a lot with slapstick humor and things are off-beat or things like that.

I need to find out from the Rocket wire what the latest and greatest chick flicks are. Again, not that I'm gonna probably have any ladies over to the apartment any time soon, but I'm just curious. I find they pretty much know what the 411 is.

All right ladies, don't be too mad at me. Until next time, tell the sky to stop raining on Ridgway.

The Time Warp Part 2

2006-11-07T00:04:00.000-05:00

Wow, there has been a lot going on since the last time I thrilled everyone with the dim light that is my life. And I certainly have a lot to talk about, and a lot that I will probably forget about anyway.

I guess you could say this is Part 2 about catching up with the past (but not “sleeping with the past” as the not so popular Elton John would say) One of the biggest unexpected thrills I had was talking to Mike from high schools, someone who I considered one of my best friends from childhood. I’ve known Mike since 1st grade, we were in the same classes throughout school and we talked quite a bit. Well, he messaged me online last week and we talked for a while. Apparently we both had a lot to catch up on. He got married and moved to New York City working in finance, not surprising me since I knew he was going to do something like that, just like he knew I’d be in the media. Craziness. The guy’s gonna be rich someday, no doubt.

Another one of my hobbies is watching shows and things I used to like in the past. Over the past few months I loved seeing the old NBA on NBC intros and music as well as the early 90s NFL on CBS intros with probably the greatest theme in the history of football. Here’s where you all can laugh. Growing up just like many of you, I watched Power Rangers quite a bit. Well, YouTube hasn’t decided to be cool yet and take them down so a lot of full length episodes are still up there to be watched from the pivotal moments of the series. And I’ve watched them over the past few weeks. Back in the second and third seasons, Power Rangers were probably at its apex followed with the surprising success of Power Rangers Zeo with pink ranger Kat (who was definitely an attractive lady, especially for someone who was 12 to 14 at the time and finding out that girls just don’t have cooties anymore, wow how much am I going to get busted on that one.)

There are some interesting perks to my current job. Free meals, free admission to high school sporting events and getting to go to high school football games are just a few of them. Well, Friday I ended up at the Area Transportation Authority taking pictures for Jonathan’s day in the life story. It was a pretty good time overall. The ATA has a pretty new building that was built just about six years ago. When we got there we were met by a nice redhead named Christy (Not sure on that spelling) who showed us around the place and showed us what she does during a typical day. After that we went to the transport area where we saw the people that are in charge of the routes and talk to the drivers over the intercom. They have a cool computer system where they can see where the bus is, where it’s going and whether the route is on time. The technology is pretty amazing and the people there were certainly interested in having us there. The director of the place was taking a pic of me taking a pic of Q-Tip for the paper. Good times there.

By the way, instant messenger is great, especially for catching up with people as well. That has certainly happened the past couple of weeks. OK, have a good time, talk to all of you soon. The new media class is ranting! IT’S GREAT!

Stuck In A Time Warp

2006-11-01T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hey it’s Wednesday, hump day. Halloween has come and finally passed and it looked like everyone had a fun time especially those at school. Not that I actually was at school but while I was facebooking and looking at “news feed” you can’t help but noticing all of the photo albums named “Halloween” and “Look at how few clothes I can wear and still have it called a Halloween costume.” Nobody dressed up at work. Although I did get complemented by the publisher (a female) on my green shirt I wore. The editor thinks the color (anywhere between booger and hunter green should be used as background for our web site redesign.

Browsing through the Halloween costumes, I didn’t really see anything that new, but there was one new one, the classic “Marilyn Monroe” costume. That was definitely a good one. Now I’m personally a little biased on this one because Monroe and I actually chatted on Halloween night on the phone for a couple minutes, a really happy moment for me. When you’re away from school and haven’t talked to some of your friends for 5 months, it’s nice to talk them again an re-connect. That definitely allowed me to release some endorphins.

Oh by the way, Jonathan, my co-worker, said I was “emotionally inaccessible,” last night. Yeah, take that for what you want to.

Moving on, the last couple days, a couple of the assignments that I worked on included taking a picture of the cast of a play in Ridgway and debates in Johnsonburg. I felt like I was in a time warp right back to spring 2002 in the hallowed and dank halls of Elderton HS and the class sizes of 45. The Ridgway kids in drama were energetic and a couple of the girls were excited to see the paper guy. Here’s a funny moment from the Burg experience. At the end of the debates, I got fed for free and sat with all of the teachers. I finally got the experience of eating “in the teacher’s lounge” separated from the rest of the students. I’m sure the kids had a good time not having to sleep through their normal classes. I know I would have. Oh by the way, the drama kids specially got out of class to have their pictures taken. Teachers weren’t happy. I don’t care.

I’ve gotten asked a couple times when I might be visiting the Rock again. And honestly, I don’t really know. Weekends are usually a time where I do have to do something so we’ll have to see when I get a complete and full weekend to have fun. We’ll see what happens. Surprisingly, or maybe not, not many have come up to visit the crib during my 4 months of living here. I’m usually pretty welcome to seeing people come up whenever they have a chance.

OK everyone, that’s all for now. There’s one final note, I want to wish my online smiley buddy a happy birthday today, hope it’s a good one!

There's A Lack Of Originality

2006-10-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted in the blog. I know my loyal fans in New-Media Journalism are just dying to get the latest dish on what is going on in my life.

There’s been a lot lately. I’ve covered my fair share of HS football and last Saturday I even got to cover a midget football game. That’s where I started noticing a disturbing trend; There really isn’t much originality around where I live. The cheerleading have been notorious for stealing cheers including the P-U-M-P, pump it up! Chant, (which gets used a lot by girls teams trying to get themselves ‘pumped up for the game’) and the victory cheer. The bands have been notorious for playing the same songs too. “On Wisconsin” is a popular one. My high school’s band plays about the same three songs throughout the game. Now that I’m writing this, it sounded much funnier like 3 days ago.

It won’t stop precipitating in Ridgway. Friday night it rained on my way up to Otto-Eldred the WHOLE time. Saturday, it precipitated the whole day with 40 mph winds. This morning on my way to church, It was snowing like crazy, covering the ground in town during the morning. An hour and a half, the snow was gone and it was a tad warmer. But not much.

The Steelers just lost to the Raiders. Season over. Good teams do not lose to bad teams let alone have their quarterback throw four interceptions while a certain fantasy football team owner picked him to be his starting quarterback. Oh well. I know I’ll probably read an insightful column on this on the Pittsburgh Sport Stop, where I can go read fair, balanced coverage with the only problem being spelling people’s names wrong. (Evgeni Malkin!?) That’s of course included with the MCT campus photo approved by Kevin McClatchy which automatically means it sucks.

The Slippery Rock football season is just about over and I only got a slight amount of delight in seeing Slippery Rock defeat my sister’s Edinboro Fighting Skirts, I mean Scots. They play IUP next week and I’ll be honest. I REALLY hope SRU beats IUP. (AKA West Philadelphia) Although I must say IUP has given me one of the top moments of my college life back in Nov. 2002. With the infamous IUP fight, Indiana beat SRU in overtime, runs toward this big rock in the east end zone and then EVERYONE heads out there. And I mean everyone. Players, coaches, people that lived on my floor, all those guys. And then the IUP cheerleaders head down there. Oh, how I would have loved to be in THAT press conference. Still not a fan.

Halloween is on Tuesday. Last week I had the task of photographing kids going around trick-or-treating through the various Ridgway businesses. Some decent costumes but again nothing that original. Halloween has changed for me over the years. I’m pretty sure I stopping dressing up when I was 12 and haven’t really cared for it much since then. At college, I saw my buddies use this time to get schwasted. In 2002, the Bard Hall crew took a mass group trip to Sheetz and the next year I got invited to a Halloween party at my photo editor’s house which I never made it to because I couldn’t find the house. This was not a big deal because I found out the party was lame anyways. It’s always interesting to see how the females dress for Halloween. I’ve noticed quite a few times throughout the last few Halloweens girls like to dress in um, skimpy outfits. For the guys, it’s not so bad. That’s why Halloween is not a bad holiday. Not at all. I went and bought candy in case any poor saps decided to visit me. That’s probably not gonna happen.

Wow, that was a really long post. Stay warm, I’ll talk to you later.

Just Plain Odd

2006-10-19T04:04:00.000-04:00

Yes I know it’s late. But fortunately for me, I don’t have to get up in the morning for class unlike the rest of yins, so HAHA! Yep, as always not much has been going on as of late. That’s pretty much the story of the Reedman’s life, it’s dryer than a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, has about as much fun as sitting through a meeting and generally has females going nowhere near it.

So after I praised Missouri’s undefeated start, they promptly went out and lost to unranked Texas A&M. Good job fellas. I’ll definitely get crap for that one.

Not a lot of extra news from the Rocket wire since it was fall break and everyone was out getting schwasted. Sometimes I just don’t know why I spend that extra $15 a month to have instant alerts delivered to my phone signified by Billy Joel lyrics. Sometimes the messages don’t even make sense, either, something along the lines of “I can tell you all the latest and greatest chick flicks,” and “I like moo cow milk, it’s good, great, not bland but grand!” My personal favorite though is “Thank you for calling the Rocket wire. Our trained staff of experienced phone experts and bottlerocket technicians are glad to take your call. Please wait 37 minutes and in the meantime, leave your address and we will gladly mail you our print edition which you will receive in 6-8 weeks.” Gotta love the Rocket wire. By the way, it’s not an actual wire.

Speaking of the USPS failing me once again, I ordered Season 2 of “The Office” on DVD and it hasn’t arrived yet after a week and half of patiently waiting and twiddling my thumbs. I have especially grown fond of this show because it reminds me so much of my current office setting and also my former office setting. The one character that reminds me of me is Jim. (NOBODY LAUGH AT THAT) Jim is an easy-going guy who has a massive crush on Pam, the receptionist. He makes the mistake of telling his boss, Michael about said crush and who goes and tells everyone about it, leading the whole office to know within seconds of this. Eventually, Jim transfers to another branch after professing his love. Moral of the story: Do not tell people who you like if you work in an office. Everyone will find out about it. By the way, just because I feel so suddenly compelled, the guy who I will refer to as DZ reminds me of Toby because he’s responsible and reports to corporate.

In a minor miracle, I cleaned my desk at work today. To most people, this feat would not be a big deal. But considering I cleaned my desk almost as often as I went to Economics class on a Friday, this merits it being a big deal. Why did I do it? Who knows, even I like to know where things are every once in a while.

So that’s all for tonight. Have fun in class and stay out of the rain.

Brisk Weather

2006-10-15T22:43:00.000-04:00

Lots has been going on the last couple weeks in Ridgway, not something I can always say. First of all, the weather has taken a drastic turn for the worse. It’s cold, cold, cold. I was all bundled up in my winter gear Saturday as I made my sojourn to Port Allegany watching Ridgway football. It snowed on the way up in a town called Mount Jewett. It actually dusted the ground and I wondered whether it was October or December. By the way, this beats the record for earliest snow in a winter season edging Halloween. By the way, the latest was late April 2005.

It’s brisk in my apartment right now, so I’ve had to deal with that right now. Lots of interesting things going on. I had garlic bread for dinner and it was alright, but a little too greasy kind of like eating Pizza Hut pizza during high school. Steelers won today blowing out the KC Chiefs. Right now, I’m watching the pile of suck known as the Oakland Raiders. Thankfully, the Steelers play Oakland in a couple weeks.

The last couple days, there have been a couple people complaining about high school teams running up the score. This is freakin ridiculous, especially with the circumstances involved. One of the situations involved Ridgway’s opponent coach complaining he didn’t sub with a 14-point lead. The other one complained in print that his team was having the score run up in the third quarter. Listen everyone. People in HS sports already complain enough about each other anyways. From parents, to media , to some coaches complaining about mundane topics, this is getting ridiculous. They already have the mercy rule in place, what more do people want? Either suck it up or tell your team to get better, don’t whine when you lose. People have to play the game for 48 minutes and when coaches tell players to play a complete game, they should do that regardless of the score, unless it’s an extreme circumstance.

The fantasy team had a tough week this week, but I still may pull out a win but I’m not too confident. The other guy has 13 points to make up with Chicago’s defense and kicker.

Everybody was freaking out about Friday the 13th being last week. I don’t really get, in fact I kind of embrace having the 13 just trying to defy whatever this is. I read two separate news articles dealing with Friday the 13th and how people are afraid of them. Very interesting.

OK, that’s about it. Talk to you next time. SRU has a fall break because the students need a break. Way to put that in AFTER I graduate.

Stupid Bugs, Even Less Sleep & Facebook Fun

2006-10-05T02:41:00.000-04:00

So last night, I’m out covering a soccer game on a pretty warm night. I’m down on the field taking some quality photographs when I notice bugs are flying around me the entire time I’m down there. I was only down there for the first half and really didn’t think about much after that.
Until this morning.

I stumbled to the shower like I usually do and notice there an itch around my hips. And my hands. And my head.

Yep, I have bug bites everywhere that seem to be swelling up every hour on the hour. Just what I wanted to do today, go and see big red and white marks all over. That’s just fantastic. Maybe next time I need to buy some bug spray or something.
The last two day I’ve gotten about five hours of sleep per night, so now naps are becoming a fast friend. You know, there’s a long lost song by Elton John called “Too Low for Zero” that talks about insomniacs and people like that. And who wouldn’t with lyrics like these:

"I'm too low for zero
I'm on a losing streak
I got myself in a bad patch lately
I can't seem to get much sleep
I'm too low for zero
I wind up counting sheep
Nothing seems to make much sense
It's all just Greek to me"

"Cutting out cups of coffee
Switching off the late night news
Putting the cat out two hours early
It isn't any use
I'm too low for zero
Insomnia attacks
Watching flies with my eyes till sunrise
It's daylight when I hit the sack"

As some of you may know, my buddy from home and dare I say, co-host of the Monday Hangover Radio Show (Which you can hear by clicking on the Monday Hangover link to your right) has created a new Facebook group entitled “Greg Reedy for Facebook Homecoming King.” First of all, I would have to say that this was his idea, not mine so for the moderate to epic success we’ve had in the day and a half of the group, I’ve got to give him the props. The idea basically came about when he said, “I’m nominating you for Facebook Homecoming King.” I say “OK” and it’s all set up. A lot of my friends are in, but you don’t even have to be my Facebook Friend to join it. You just have to be on Facebook. I even have my own campaign manager who made some gnarly flyers such as the ones below:

I also don’t know if this is a real competition or not, but the funny part about it, is that as many of you can probably guess, I was nowhere near being on the homecoming court in high school or college so the concept of this does make me laugh a lot. I seem to be getting a lot of encouragement from the ladies, which is always great. (Gotta love the ladies!, and yes I know someone will talk to me about it later on since that topic seems to be a good one for people to tlak about) One of the copy editors from the Rocket wire wished me good luck with it and even called me Dr. Greg, either because I magically became a doctor overnight or because I give such a good advice. (a la Dr. Phil) Either way, it was really sweet.

I also heard from the Rocket wire that if I talk about the New-Media Journalism class, this thing gets read in your class. Now it depends on whether I want to massage my deflated ego or just plain write any more tonight. But I must say Missouri had a very good season this season, even ranked in the AP Top 25! I learned a long time ago to never, ever, ever criticize anything about the University of Missouri. It’s just common knowledge. And through perusing the New-Media Journalism’s current class blog (A fine read, by the way) someone decided to lead his review with lyrics from Billy Joel. (Or as he would like to call them “quotes”, apparently the music industry doesn’t call words to a song lyrics anymore.) Billy Joel is one of my favorite musicians and I have his favorite hits album, I and II. I’d thought I would end this gregarious post with some lyrics that 99 percent of the typical college students can identify with. ENJOY!

"So you stand on the corner in your new English clothes
And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
But still your fingers gonna pick your nose, after all"

"But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Oh yeah, yeah"

Somebody's Been Drinking The Kool-Aid

2006-10-02T16:22:00.000-04:00

There’s a lot to talk about since the last post. Now the reason for the title is because I’ve sensed that a lot of people at the alma mater have been “drinking the Kool-Aid.” Now for those who don’t know, “Drinking the Kool-Aid” is a term used to describe a person who buys into a person or group’s ideas, ideals or plans for the future. Basically, they’re all optimists.

I think at my alma mater there are definitely some people that are drinking the Kool-Aid. For instance, I think there are people out there who think they will transform the campus into a thriving weekend excitement party town. Um, no. That’s not happening anytime soon. Look, I don’t think my alma mater is going to shed the rep it has of being a “suitcase campus” any time soon. There’s just not enough to do to keep everybody happy other than get schwasted and then get a disorderly house because you got schwasted.

Here’s another thing. Apparently, there are efforts to inject some school spirit into the campus with various “spirit groups.” While that’s a noble idea that is something that just can’t be manufactured, it has to be real or else everyone will see through your little mirage.

A lot of the same issues that were still prevalent when I left are still there. I heard through the Rocket wire that there were threats and now another debate with religion, two things that I personally had to deal with while at school. (Well, not the threats, but the issue behind the threats) I also heard through the Facebook wire that things are still about the same as they always were. Amazing. The bitter mood must be because of the Mondays.

In more pleasant news, I got my member information from AAA today including my card and all that other stuff that goes along with it. That’s right I went ahead and joined AAA, a fact that will thrill my Dad. It’ll be cool.

My paper is sponsoring the “Big Buck Contest” a contest to see who can kill the biggest deer. We had our first entrant today as someone brought into a buck that they shot with a bow. Now I need to know how to measure racks and points and all those other things that go along with. The guy brought the deer in the back of the truck, already gutted, so if you didn’t eat before reading this, be glad. I personally don’t mind seeing dead deer at all, especially since my Dad had me gut a rabbit when I was 6 years old.

It has been raining constantly around town the last few days, postponing various soccer and other outdoor games. I was not sad at all about this. Also, as many of you may have noticed, I went on a Facebook wall posting binge this weekend. Some of you reading this may have had me post on your wall. You may have been excited. You may have groaned. You may have even deleted it. (I hope not) I was definitely in a happy/cabin fever mood last Thursday and Friday. Good times.

The fantasy football team went to 3-1 with yet another win while the fantasy baseball team lost in the finals to finish second.

Homecoming, Laffy Taffy & Sanity Questions

2006-09-27T15:56:00.000-04:00

As this week has gone on and the Homecoming season gets into full swing, it made me think about what Homecoming is like both at the high school and college level. At the high school level, I think there is a bit more interest among the students since, especially at small high schools, everybody knows each other and there’s a lot more personal interest that way. At the collegiate level, it is not at that big a scale. Usually around my alma mater, what would happen is the candidate would be named, their small group of fans and supporters would chalk the sidewalks and then the king and queen would be named. The funny thing at the collegiate level is that there is actually a bit more opportunity for people to get on the court. I heard once that each organization can nominate someone for a king and queen. There are definitely some organizations that need to get on this in a big way.

The unique thing about my high school homecoming is that it was held in the dead of winter (Usually around December) before a basketball game because my high school did not have a football team. (Thank you Elderton, way to freakin go!) So at least there was no concerns about being rained on outside during homecoming.

OK, on a completely different topic, I think I saw Laffy Taffy gum the other day. After doing a search, I found it out. It’s an actual taffy. Laffy Taffy is made by Nestle and even came out with its own sub-brand called Laffy Taffy Flavor Flippers! But of course, the only reason I even heard of Laffy Taffy is because of the wonderful song of the same name that came out about a year ago. Certain people like to do dances to it and who wouldn’t. The production values are just so incredibly high. But at least the song was catchy enough for me to get it on iTunes.

As some of you know may know, I am a big fan of breakfast foods. Especially these few: Cereal, French toast, pancakes, sausage and Eggo Waffles. The reason I mention that is lately I’ve been eating breakfast foods at pretty much any time of the day except the traditional time for breakfast. For instance, yesterday I had French toast at 2 p.m. Last night, I had Eggo waffles and sausage after getting home from work. My one co-worker is incredibly disturbed by this habit. My family probably is too, considering I would have cereal late at night, and don’t forget about all those fun Eat’n Park trips where it seems like the ONLY thing I would ever order would be something off the breakfast menu. (And considering that often, my order would get duplicated by whoever was there must have meant that the food was good or I knew what I was doing, I’ll go with the first one.)

Last year, my one dear and close friend had asked me to write a “fairy tale” or short story for her. I came up with this and had my friends questioning whether I was all there. After reading this, you will probably do the same. This is actually already on the blog, but since I know many of you won’t take the time to search the archives, I have put the link for you to enjoy and wonder about my well-being.

http://srurocksolid.blogspot.com/2005/07/story-time.html

Cool beans

2006-09-24T23:46:00.000-04:00

I just realized this. In a momentous occasion, today is the 2nd anniversary of the creation of the blog! (First post: Sept. 24, 2004) So congratulations to me for remembering it 20 minutes before midnight. And what did I do to celebrate this momentous occasion? Watch the Steelers take a crap in the fourth quarter by losing to the Bengals 28-20. Seriously, fellas. Are you trying to be the #6 seed again? I bet the Pittsburgh media is in hysterics right now over their beloved Steelers losing a game. Trust me, they always are and they will always continue to be this way. Stinkin media types.

Since it's late I'll have to stop. But tomorrow there will be another post, probably about the quirks of homecoming. It is that season. Good night, and happy 2nd birthday blog!

Someone Brought The Charm Today

2006-09-21T02:37:00.000-04:00

When I woke up today at noon (not because I’m a bum, because I’m working the proverbial afternoon shift this week) I felt not so hot. It felt like I was getting the flu from Slippery Rock. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in the club as I saw two of my online friends had the same thing. That didn’t make me feel any better. So after stumbling around in a haze for a while, I finally go down to get my haircut after 10 weeks of letting it grow. My mother is finally relieved.

I go down there, wait for a couple minutes and then I am welcome. At first the lady didn’t realize who it was, but then she realized it quickly. “Oh, you’re the paper boy!” We talked a little bit about the paper but no less than about three minutes in I must have been laughing about something in my boyish way and she said “Oh, you’re cute.” I kind of laughed about it. Then she starts cutting my hair. She must have been impressed or something. Then I hear:

“Oh, honey, you really do have beautiful hair. It really is. Most guys don’t let it grow that long because it curls, but it really doesn’t look bad at all.”

By the way, calling people honey, such as me, must be a Ridgway thing because it does happen a lot. Now that you’re all shaking your heads, let me remind you that my hairdresser is 39, about to expect her second child at Christmas and unwilling to take time off for said child. Ahh, the things you learn while getting your hair cut.

I think what happened is I sacrificed 20 percent of my health to actually be a socialite for one day. When I left, the lady said “You have a really good day!” And I said “You too.” Like I usually do to EVERYONE.

Since it’s super late, I just thought of another story involving hair places. Back when I was in 10th grade in high school, I just decided out of the blue that I was going to dye my hair blonde. (Blonde hair is great!) So I went in there, had it done, and had a nice conversation with the lady, a younger engaged woman named Shannon. So I got home and I think like a day later, I overhear my mom being asked by someone, “Did those two know each other?” We didn’t. Then the other lady goes, “Well, those two were getting awfully chatty.” This was when I was 16. Continue shaking your heads and get your jaws off the floor. I wasn’t sick that day by the way.

Afterwards, I went down to the golf course to cover golf and I was lucky enough to find a quarter in the parking lot! I had dinner at Sheetz, came back and did pages and got done at 12:20 a.m. After I got home, I added tons of fun pics to my Facebook photos. (But then again, you already knew that by now)

Oh, and one last thing. I had my hair slightly gelled. That’s no big deal at all because I’ve done that a few times now. However, when I do it I use Suave hair gel which kicks the living crap of something called pomade (or I as like to say Ponce) cream each and every day and twice on Sunday.

The Weekend That Was

2006-09-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend was quite interesting indeed. It started off Saturday with JS and myself going out to Slippery Rock to watch my alma mater, the good old Slimy Pebble, take on the Mansfield middle-of-nowheres, I mean Mounties. Slippery Rock plastered Mansfield, 46-0, just like I plaster story ideas against a wall and then use the dripping that fall to the floor for pancake batter. Afterwards, it was good times seeing everyone again for chats, punch and food and flashing our high beams at the car in front of us multiple times. Definitely good times.

I got back to Ridgway in the early afternoon, watched football, wrote my story, downloaded some pictures and was a bum for the rest of the night. Except when I went to BiLo down the street and watched as the poor high school girl that was running the cash register absolutely screw up the lady’s order in front making it seem like the groceries cost $8,200. She then had to figure out how much change the lady gave. She owed $5.02 and originally gave the girl $20. Of course, I knew how much change she needed to give out right away and after a little while I whispered to her, “It’s $14.98.” So she was obviously shaken by the incident and I tried to reassure that it was OK and she would be fine. In other words, I got to play Dr. Phil yet again. I’m getting quite good at doing that.

I’ve been reading the New Media Class’s blog and they were really interesting. I found it funny that Jared had to read Glamour for his web critique. Everybody had interesting stuff. This brings me to the point of people trying to keep SRU from turning into one giant parking lot. If a facebook group has been created urging the students to keep SRU “Green” then I just know it’s a big deal. Even the group “Keep it green” which got created on Facebook and I saw for my own eyes because I was cordially invited as a member by someone I’ve never met will more than likely put their presence in the Rocket. Just watch. SRU is definitely full of um, outdoors enthusiasts, so saving the trees, the grass, and the leaves off the trees are their main priorities. I personally think there’s enough parking as it is (unless you were unfortunate enough to live in Rock Apartments and find freshman taking your spots) so making the university one giant parking lot just makes the university look like one boring corporate existence.

But overall, a good weekend back at the Rock. But now I’m back in Ridgway till the next time I decide to travel. Hope everything is going well.

The great afternoon shift

2006-09-14T01:02:00.000-04:00

Today I worked from 3 p.m. to about 11:45 p.m. with about a 1 1/2 hour break mixed in there. I got lucky because I was originally supposed to be cover a soccer game but when I got to the stadium no one was there so I think it got rescheduled for some other time. I was so proud that I got the layout of sports done before midnight so I could get home and right this for all the people that read this on even a semi-regular basis.

I've always loved the afternoon shift. My first acquaintance with it was in the summer of 2004 when I worked at a factory in Butler making Gelsoles for Dr. Scholl's. I worked from 3:30 to midnight and it was a good time, semi-lousy money and not much of a life in between. However, I've noticed that I get to sleep as long as I want to, I'm much happier and more productive. The good news is that I get to do it again. Way to go, me.

As you may have noticed, I have changed the colors of the blog for something different. Just like how the networks that broadcasts the NFL like to change their graphics packages. (Watch for it this weekend) I thought the look of the blog was getting kind of stale and outdated but I liked the overall template so I somehow managed to change the colors after 2 1/2 hours of work and browsing through the colors in Photoshop. The green, white and black is for Slippery Rock (and my high school, Elderton where I graduated in a class of 45.) The maroon and white are the colors of Ridgway High School, the school where I cover football.

Mansfield is playing Slippery Rock this Saturday. And you know what, I will probably be there in person to watch Mansfield get crushed. (I never say definitely in case things come up that screw up my schedule) See, my co-worker, Jonathan, he graduated from Mansfield (in 3 1/2 years no less, freakin smart kid) and I had brought up the idea to go watch our alma maters play each other in tackle football. So yep, I'll see the Rock football team and probably freeze in the process. It's cold there. That Rocket editor had a seizure when he heard. Something about how he was buying me and Jonathan pancakes at Eat'n Park just because he's such a nice guy! Way to be, Cap'n Hemp! HAHA Just kidding, Scoops is a good guy. But I'm pretty sure he still had that seizure.

I might get to sleep now

2006-09-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

Busy is about the only word that can describe the last few days for me. Well that and not sleeping either.

Last Friday I watched the good old Elkers lose to the Brockway Rovers 12-0. On a side note, I once knew a girl from Brockway and I definitely thought about that. We actually met at Regional Chorus in 2002 (Yes, I was in the chorus in high school and FYI I was a Bass I) and then she came to SRU for a while before eventually disappearing and not reappearing on Facebook. But enough about that.

The Rovers aren’t just all fun and games. They had their own student cheering section that wouldn’t shut up throughout the entire game with the usual chants of “It’s all over” and that “Goodbye” song you might have heard of. Here was my beef though. Little middle school kids that don’t understand to walk around people like me, bump into you and then not even realize they did it. (Which mean they didn’t even say sorry or my bad or look at you with those acne-riddled faces. My editor today said middle schoolers are all ugly. I’d have to agree.)

After sleeping for 4 hours, I got to go watch soccer for 4 more hours as it was the Elk Co. Soccer Tournament. I apparently got sunburned in the face. So after sleeping for a full night, I got to do nothing on Sunday as my folks brought up a computer desk they got at a yard sale. Not too shabby indeed.

Monday started at 5:30 a.m. after 5 hours of sleep with finishing sports pages, covering a commissioners meeting and yet another soccer game, a thriller as the Elkers beat their crosstown rival 5-4, scoring with 30 seconds left. Johnsonburg was down 4-1 with 18 minutes to go and tied it at 4 before Ridgway scored to win it. The fans were crazy, which brings me to my next point.

The overindulgent high school sports fan/parent. Go to a football game and listen to the parents that don’t like an officials call on the road especially if it’s their kid.
“COME ON STRIPES, CALL IT BOTH WAYS!”
There’s more too. At halftime, I’m standing where the players enter the field and some random guy is there giving his slightly loud words of encouragement and hitting them on the shoulder pads as they go out. Every freakin player. The fans are the most insane people out there and the players are actually the most calm and laid-back about the sports. The coachers are sane too for the most part.

I also like the folks that are living their dreams of being the coach without actually having to take on the responsibilities of being a coach. I was at a soccer game today and a guy is there screaming at all the players to “MOVE IT!, “GET IT OUT!” “HUSTLE! And give word of friendly encouragement such as “YOU GOTTA GET THERE QUICKER THAN THAT!” Ahh, how glad I am that I didn’t play high school sports. I’ve seen this for a long time and anybody that’s covered a high school football game in particular will absolutely know who and what I am talking about.

I actually did enjoy myself somewhat. I got to have some really cool online chats and one of them was even with a female. It was a smilin’ good time just like it always is! I also learn the latest and greatest news from Slippery Rock and also the latest and greatest from high school football.

My fantasy football team lost in week 1. I’m looking for a comeback in week 2 against the Los Angeles G’Dubyas. We can do it if we put our minds to it.
Some of the cheers the Elker cheerleaders do are actually catchy. I can sit at work and all of a sudden “GO! PUMP IT UP, PUMP IT UP! LET’S GO! BA-DUM-BA-DUM! GO! LET’S HEAR IT! RIDGWAY IS THE BEST! How sad is that.

All right, I’m done rambling. Just remember to not get too high on yourself because you’re just a stone’s throw from hurtin.

Blogging is fun

2006-09-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

So I see that there’s a link to my blog on the New Media class’s Web site. Very cool. I’m semi-famous. No more, no less. I’ll be interested in what you guys and gals are up to this year.

I thought it was interesting that the first year after you graduate from high school/college/whatever, I think about what is going on school. It’s probably normal, perhaps I’m going through a withdrawal syndrome. OR NOT.

In all honesty, I don’t miss school that much at all. There were many aspects of school that I didn’t care for, including dorm life, dealing with those classes I didn’t care for (Intro to Chemistry, anyone) or just the other things associated with it. Oh ya, I definitely didn’t miss move-in day or the angry phone calls, either. Do miss the people at school, which is definitely normal. Transitioning into the professional world does take some time and adjustments not only with the job aspect but with the life aspect too. There’s always growing pains with anything new in life. But I’m making it through pretty good.

On a completely unrelated topic, tonight is the start of the NFL season. I had enough gall to pick Miami in the Ridgway paper today. And amazingly, no angry phone calls about that. And with the start of the NFL season, that means it’s time for the start of fantasy football. My team, “The Ridgway Rockets” along with the other 11 teams in our league had our draft Monday night. It was a good time. I got Larry Johnson with the #2 pick and I think I got a good team. We’l see. Most of my draft picks from last season didn’t survive because they all turned out to suck (Jamal Lewis, Michael Clayton, Andre Johnson, anyone?) or got injured. (Deuce McAllister) And yet my team was still third. A lot of people are cringing at that right now, but hey, what can I say when there’s prizes at the end? Root for Chris Chambers and Heath Miller tonight.
I have to cover a boys soccer match tonight and maybe a boys golf match today, except I fount out it’s in Kane, so we’ll see what happens.

I ate Eggo waffles today, certainly a change from “Heart Attack on a Plate” that gets served at Boozel all the time. I also found about this new program called Skype. With this program, if you have a microphone either installed in computer or a separate microphone like I have, you can audibly talk to each other through your computer at no cost like you’re talking on the phone. That was interesting.
SRU football is traveling to Millersville Saturday. Let me tell you, that is a long trip, it’s about five hours.

All right, that’s all for now. Have a good one. And always obey your syllabus, even if you do it at the last minute.

The urban legend of the blog and New-Media Journalism

2006-09-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I got news off the Rocket wire that this incredible species of the Internet called a blog was viewed my many in Dr. Zeltner’s New-Media Journalism class. I was pretty surprised to hear that. Considering I really only started the blog in Sept. 2004 to let some of my relatives know what I was up to, I never thought this thing would be so epic or so interesting. But back to the story about New-Media Journalism. When the news came down, I really was surprised again, but also kind of weirded out considering that there are quite a few people in that class that know who I am. So now they know about my feeling about summer and my birthday and all that great crap.

It’s also been weird because I keep getting brought up not only at school but also at home too. My mom told me that they went to Eat’n Park in Grove City to move my sister back to Edinboro (By the way, the Rocket EIC, or as I like to call him, Sir-Calls-A-Lot, likes to go to Eat’n Park. It makes him smile.) and their waitress had been someone who went to SRU. So my mom divulges that I had just graduated from there AND that used to be at the editor. Apparently, this waitress knew who I was. Just thought I’d share.

So, just in case the powers that be decide to look at it again, let me just tell you how New-Media Journalism is like. I had this class with the one and only Dr. Zeltner back in fall 2004 and it was a good time. I got to review a professional wrestling website and it was a sweet website, too, dealing with Mexican wrestlers with masks. I also worked on a group project involving SRU TV legend Ryan Muldowney and Rachel S., a nice lady who had black hair. Rachel and I sat besides each other in class and it was cool, we got along all right. Now at this point, I unequivocally (5-star word) realize that divulging this information will lead to rampant running through the rumor mills and gossip trains and about 10 phone calls from people I know.

Our project dealt with interviewing Dejan of the basketball team and the coach of the team at the time. All in all, I think that turned out pretty well. Of course, Dr. Z got a couple shots in at me, one time saying “Did you really have to run that wrestling headshot so big? I would have run it smaller but I think it was all right.” But again, it was a good time. I got a B, which was pretty normal throughout most of my collegiate experience, considering I viewed studying as looking at the book 15 minutes before the test.

So I never realized how much the blog has grown its own urban legends ever since I started it. I think it’s kind of interesting because a lot of people that I know are absolutely scared to death about what I might write about them, even though most of the time the blog content was just unproductive and silly. At this blog, we keep our game tight like Kobe on game night. I did have this blog for a long time before anyone found about it. I guess I just never got around to telling anyone about it, and besides, I’m not the guys that will point his thumbs at himself and say “ME ME, ME!” I’m well aware others have done great things too and should deserve some attention.

The person who initially discovered this great masterpiece was someone who I will affectionately refer to as C-Mac. C-Mac is originally from Kane, which is only about 20 miles from where I live now. The paper there is called The Kane Republican and it’s actually part of our three-newspaper group owned by the same parent company. I’ve never actually been to Kane, but I’m sure it’s a fun time. C-Mac sat by me in Copy Editing. He said he enjoyed it everyday and wished he could do it again.

Now, to completely go off topic. For all you facebookers out there, you are now in a great and tremendous uproar because Facebook has now changed their settings so everybody knows what everybody is doing. For many of us, it has given even more reason to go on Facebook during classes like, oh, I don’t know, Copy Editing, and look at everybody as they update their profile, add new pictures and basically give their entire life histories away. I think they should make a new option called “Girls/Boys I’d like to date.” You could even have it on different levels depending on how much you like them all the way from “Wouldn’t touch if you paid me” all the way up to “Come on Over, there’s no one here.” Yep, that’s facebook. It’s a stalker’s paradise.

Just a final thought, I know that it will be Thursday once again soon. HAHAHA. Thursday is now just another day to me instead of the day I want to go stick my head in a vice because of the ineptitude of Macintosh. And has everyone wondered what will happen in the year 2525? If man is still alive? If women can survive? Just a thought. Now I’m off to pages and cover some soccer and golf tomorrow. Have a good time.

Um, do I know you?

2006-08-17T19:14:00.000-04:00

This has been a busy week this week. The fall sports preview is coming up in a couple weeks and I have been working hard to get my end of the stories done. It's crazy. But to reason the title, today I saw a bunch of people that I actually knew, all in the same day. I ran into the circulation manager at Sheetz while I was getting some dinner (that will make some people laugh) Then I ran into the girls soccer coach I had just interviewed two hours earlier at BiLo. Crazy day. I did three interviews for the fall sports preview today.

Yesterday was a day that reminded me of the first week of school last year. Our copy editor/paginator had gotten a new computer installed yesterday. Except without the great and standard features of Photoshop and News Edit Pro. The paper came out only slightly late though because of that. I have to be at work at 7 am tomorrow. Yay for me. I think this reaffirmed my theory that Macintoshes are bad, bad, bad. I got a disk from the football coach the other day and the disk wouldn't work. And since there is NO PCs in there, I was cooked like fish in an oven.

So that's it. I'm going to try and get some sleep tonight. Keyword: try.

The allure of Maryland

2006-08-11T23:25:00.000-04:00

Here's something I've yet to get. Apparently as journalism students we're supposed to move to Maryland for our first job because that is where the best opportunities are. And now many of my friends are following that same advice. Not that that's weird, but considering Maryland is about the size of a thumbtack makes it fascinating. The real reason this came up is because my former boss who I affectionately referred to as Chief Broken Dish will be moving soon to Maryland. I got an E-mail from CBD the other day saying her boyfriend had got a teaching job in Germantown, Md. and will be moving there soon. CBD will be moving there in a month or two after she gets a job and informs her employer she will be leaving. It's a little sad but at the same time I understand it happens. It definitely was surprising. But why do they all move to Maryland? Um, you do know there are 48 other states in the USA.

Quick time

2006-08-10T00:17:00.000-04:00

I'm part of a new blog called the Monday Hangover. Gary and myself talk quite a bit about football Check it out if you want to laugh or shake your head in disgust.

Nice facts about my birthday

2006-08-01T20:23:00.000-04:00

Your Birthdate: January 4

You have an extraordinary character - moral, responsible, and disciplined.
Your sincerely and honesty shine through in almost every situation.
Driven and focused, you rarely let your emotions get the better of you.
You're level headed and rational. People count on your to look at things objectively.

Your strength: Your unwavering loyalty and ethics

Your weakness: Your rock solid stubbornness

Your power color: Navy blue

Your power symbol: Shield

Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I'm back again and this is why I hate summer

2006-07-31T19:16:00.000-04:00

I'm finally actually writing in this thing once again. I think I will be writing in here once again whenever I get urges or bored. But other than that, let's get it started.

Well, actually a lot has changed since the last time I wrote or talky-blogged in here. I don't live in Kittanning anymore, a joyous and incredible feat. I now live in Ridgway, about 2 hours north of here. It's a good time, I have my own apartment above a Subway (the sub place) and lots of space. It's a busy time and it's very hot right now.

Some of you may be wondering why I put that fancy schmancy logo up there. Well, it's my logo for my fantasy football team that I will be competing with Jay and a cast of various other characters. The league is on ESPN and yes rumor has it there are "fees" to join this league. That's right, there's a money prize at the end of the road to keep things nice and competitive instead of owners tanking at the end of the season. I will be updating on how the team is doing later on.

I will also be contributing to the "Monday Hangover" a weekly recap on the NFL season. It will be glorious.

But, back to my original point. Yesterday and today, it hit me like a ton of bricks why I'm not a fun of summer and really never have been. First of all, there is no sports going on right now, which makes viewing just impossible even with 7,000 channels. I recently bought season 7 of the Simpsons and season 5 should be coming up soon. So since there's nothing going on right now, I turn to other things.

Next, it's bloody hot here today. Which makes it bloody hot in the apartment. Which makes me sweat. And drink a lot of pop. Very nice.

July is ending soon and tomorrow it will be August. Again not exactly my favorite month of the year. August has traditionally meant me having to pack up my crap for school or go back to school in the first place. That's not the case this year and I am thrilled. I will be even more thrilled when fall sports start. My alma mater, SRU has to play Mansfield on Sept. 16. Mansfield just happened to be Jonathan's alma mater, (He's my colleague on the Record). We might be going, schedule permitting.

So that's it. It's still hot.

my logo for fantasy sports

2006-07-28T18:26:00.000-04:00

2006-05-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

2006-05-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

Audio blogging is freakin sweet

2006-05-25T17:12:00.000-04:00

Again a long interval

2006-02-27T19:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize it was this long between blogs. This month has been flying by so far and March is just a short couple of days away.

Right now, it seems like SRU is catching a cold all at the same time. There's been about four people right now that have colds or worse. I am currently trying to stay away from them.

The job hunting has begun and um, I'm still looking. Not too much there to explain. Crazier things have happened before.

Applications were released for next year's editorial board so now I'm gonna have to hear what position everybody wants to have next year. That's always grand. The weather stinks up here today. Snowy and in the 20s. That's nothing new. I hate Tuesdays, too many quizzes. Wednesdays aren't that great either.

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time, stay warm and don't miss your wisdom teeth.

This will be a long one

2006-02-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

Lots and lots of stuff to talk about which will definitely be a change from the norm. So anyways, the big news from campus this week is that the administration is cutting eight sports team from the fray after this semester is over. There are fairly big varsity sports and an issue that has everybody assoicated with it in a bad mood. Especially the swimmming teams and water polo teams that got cut. Rumor has it there will be a rally on Monday in the Quad. That's incredibly fantastic and I'm looking forward to some really good photos and hopefully a couple of fights.

Today has been a pretty crazy day. It started off swell enough, with me being late to my Interactive Multimedia class by 5 minutes. Then I went to Giant Eagle and the post office to mail some stuff that I had sold off ebay and amazon. That's right, I had some old and useless textbooks around the room and I decided I wanted rid of them in the absolute worst way possible way. At first I was not thinking I was going to sell any of the three books I had put up there. Wrong. So far, I've sold 2. My health book sold for $36, and I just got rid of my old Broadcasting book for $4. (It was an old edition. The rest of those textbooks at home are definitely going to put up there pretty soon.

Then after that, I went to Rhoads to unpack the groceries I had purchased and some random nice girl in a pink shirt offered to carry my pop up there. That was nice. Who knows how that happened. I am in high demand as always to do promotional stuff. The TV station wants me to be there in the worst way to help out as the director. (The director is the most important job, how I got it is besides me.) Also, associated with the TV thing is the fact that we're having a big town hall meeting about the sports thing. Should be great. Then during the 20 minutes I'm down in the Rhoads parking lot, I get a parking ticket. Just my luck.

Mike calls me up right as I am getting in the car to go from the post office and says that Dr. P gave a big long lecture about how he libeled the president because one of the wrestlers said the president lied to his face, saying it wasn't about Title IX. Well, when I heard this, I disagreed with the matter and I think some of the other ones did as well. President Smith called Mike and said he thought there wasn't any problem with it. That made me feel a lot better.

Well, I told you it would be long. The Super Bowl is this weekend, just in case you forgot. Oh, and Jerome Bettis is from Detroit. That doesn't get discussed enough either haha.

Oh, by the way, somebody put a Seahawk flag on top of the water tower. There are some Steelers haters here, trust me.

OK, I'm still here

2006-01-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, it really has been a long time since I've written in here. I'll try and cover what's been going on here. First off, I just got through the first week of classes and Rocket. I never was a fan of the first week because it's so overwhelming at times with seeing 6 entire class schedules at once. Everybody at the Rocket is learning about In Design and sometime it can be quite painful especially when yours truly who has never touched the program in his life, has tu figure out what he is doing. The first issue did come out on time and everything went OK, as far as no major problems.

I have 16 credits this semester which means I'll less time for a lot of stuff, but at least I know it's the final semester. I've also been up here at school for about 2 weeks already which prompted my roommate to question my sanity. Chase is doing good as well. Rocket people ask about him all the time. I find that quite odd.

Nothing new really to think of. I have to go to Wal-Mart and shell out money for food and supplies for meteorology. Everybody is having a swell time with the Macs. I called Dr. P the "Mac Mommy" last night. Apparently I was condecending. I got a new writer named Amy for the opinion pages. She's really been good so far.

I'll try and blog in here more than once a month. No guarantees though. Some of my fans have asked for me to update.

Oh, I should mention that my birthday was a couple weeks ago. I really had a good time. Sheryl called me at 10 am to wish me well. She also woke me up, and realized it afterwards. But I wasn't mad. Many of the friends on Facebook wished me a happy bday as well. My Fantasy Hockey team fell into second place this week. That's sad.

OK, I'm really done this time. Until next time, I'll try to be like Radio Shack. If you've got a question, I'll have an answer.

Ready? OK!

2005-12-29T00:53:00.000-05:00

I know. It's been about 2 weeks since the last update. But not that much comes up in my lovely and exciting life for me to write about. Or it just is that I just don't take the necessary 5 minutes to make a post good. Laziness? Probably. But what am I gonna do.

I amazinly made it throught the first week of break without getting sick. Amazing because the past 2 years, I couldn't say that. Anywho, Christmas has come and gone, and it was a good holiday. Got to see some family and got some cool gifts too including 3 games in total, as well as the 6th season of the Simpsons. Lots of entertainment for those cold winter weekends next semester.

I finished 3rd in my fantasy league losing in the semifinals. Jay won the league which should be of no surprise to anyone. I particularly enjoyed those newspaper articles that were wriiten on our league message board. In my hockey league, I'm still first, but barely because Frank has now tied me. My birthday is Wednesday and I'll be 22. Craziness.

I just got called a "Cereal Monster" by my sister because apparently I like to have a bowl of cereal before I got to bed sometimes. What is the big deal with that. I'm very stress-free on my break so far. I know I need to enjoy it while it lasts. 2006 should be interesting for sure.

Here's my local gripe with the Pittsburgh sports scene. Everybody in the local news now think the Steelers are the greatest team in the league and must think they're going to the Super Bowl. It's disgusting how much our local media salivates when the Steelers do anything good. That will be my last bitterness for the year. Otherwise, I should be good.

So that's all. Until next time, Happy New Year and enjoy the warmness!

The almost end of the semester

2005-12-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

OK, I haven't blogged in a while again. But things are starting to calm down somewhat although I won't feel really relaxed until I get home tomorrow. I was supposed to go home today bt since the weather decided to brew an incredible ice storm, that trip got delayed a day. Oh well. My thanks to Sharon for helping me out with my thing for advanced reporting class. No journalism classes next semester. Life is grand. Finals week is over. Between studying for finals, cleaning out my stuff AND cutting out articles for awards (Always fun, reminds me of doing current events and stuff) it's been a hectic last couple weeks.

I've noticed something recently. I apparently look really smart walking around campus because I've been asked at least 10 times by adults of where certain SRU landmarks are. Why? I don't know. Maybe the nearest frat guy couldn't walk straight. Just a hunch. I didn't get asked to Eat'n Park the last couple weeks. Not too bad. Saw Serafin today. He's got long hair now. I was not surprised. Oh, the assistant news editor and the photo editor are dating now. That's always fun.

Two coaches got fired this week. That must make for a happy holiday season. I'm sure they will be getting christmas cards from all their buddies. Ron Artest wants traded. He's the modern Dennis Rodman.

I have no idea what I want for christmas. Seriously, I'm drawing blanks here. That's not good considering Christmas is 10 days away. I sold my books back today. A whopping $12.50 back. Some of my books are getting Ebayed. Oh ya.

Well that's it for now. Until next time, keep it real and don't mess up your lunch.

The Eat'n Park syndrome

2005-12-03T23:09:00.000-05:00

Here's something I've been wondering about. (By the way, sorry for the infrequent updates, but you haven't been missing much)

Lately it's been discovered that Rachel and Mike like to go to Eat'n Park almost exclusively, it's almost becoming a weekend tradition. Other people have raved about how frequently they go to the Park as well. I don't get it. I like to go out and eat every once in a whi;e. but a couple times a week? Not feeling that. Why am I like this? Tonight Rachel asked me to go to Eat'n Park again but unfortunately she asked 15 minutes after I had order pizza from Coffaro's. Darn. So I ended up being a social recluse again. Oh well.

The last week of classes doesn't seem like such a nightmare as it was last year. Sounds good to me. That's it. Until next time, keep it real and don't complain too much.

It's Monday and I actually have positive things to say

2005-11-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

You read the title. I'm actually having a fairly decent day so far. Except for the disaster known as my Advanced Reporting story, it was not too bad. I met with my advisor to get classes for next semester. I only need about 11 credits to graduate and I should get all of my classes. I'm PROBABLY GOING TO GRADUATE ON TIME! The accomplishment is fantastic.

Today, we went outside to film another skit for our fledgling new show, "Around The Rock" It dealt with being outside with a car that has been parked in the commuter lot that has been there for a month. Anyways, it was fun. The reporter there was smoking to apply some comedic humor to it.

I was at Pitt Saturday night for the SRU/Pitt scrimmage. The Pitt fans put SRU fans to shame with their taunting and such. Really interesting that fans actually showed up for a scrimmage. Definitely a good time though. It could be on TV in the future. That would be swell.

That's about it for now. Until next time, don't Facebook random people and smoking is only for outdoors.

The plague

2005-11-01T16:16:00.000-05:00

It must be that time of year again. Everybody is sick. Today C almost didn't make it through her Comm Law presentation having the obligatory hot flashes/cold chills that happen when you have the flu. She even said her throat got sore randomly. That's a terrible sign. Sheryl is sick as well, barely able to talk. I got a B on my Comm Law midterm, and I'll take it.

I finally took a good look at what I actually need to take next semester in order to graduate, and I found out it wasn't as much as I thought. Only actually needing 8 required credits is swell. Taking 8 credits to waste your time is not. I will be doing both of that next semester. The only thing that can seemingly stop me now is a stupid class getting cancelled again. That would suck large.

It's raining here today, nothing out of the ordinary at SR, except we did get like 2 nice days in a row at one stretch. That was nice. I just taped narration for something that one of our professors needed. It went good from what I can take. This is the second time I've taped something this semester. Julie asked me to tape a sports broadcast earlier. I should be getting paid from the Eagle sometime within the next week or two. I'm pretty much done with them for a little while just because the HS season is over and they have enough for any playoff teams that are there. I love paychecks. Well, things are actually decently calm as far as class goes. That's about it for now. Until next time, stay out of the rain and don't spill your coffee.

Even more complaining

2005-10-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

So it's Saturday morning and I'm waiting on the Saturday visititation folks to get down here so I can talk to them for like 2 minutes about how great the Rocket is.
Everybody is griping on the staff about various things. You can tell we need some time off. Fortunately, there's no issue next week. That's fantastic.

SRHS beat Wilmington, 3-0. Wilmington was undefeated entering the game, while SR is 3-0 in games I've covered them this season. Next week it's Grove City/Brookville for now unless they decide not to play it. Then I'm chillin Friday night.

This is a pretty quick update and something to fill time. Until next time, keep everybody under control and don't whine about pictures.

Mid-term week

2005-10-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

The title should say it all. This week many of the students have got mid-terms, which for those that may not know, is their biggest, best and sometimes only chance to have a shot at a good grade for X class. Yes, I am studying lots for the feared and dreaded Comm Law final, which I actually might do alright on. (And even if I don't, it's only half the fun, take home essays are the other part) So everybody is fairly cranky this week. That's enjoyable to an extent. Except not.

Gary is in a new video called Boneface and it's high-quality. Definitely a good time watching that. Gary did a pretty good job at his "drunken state of mind." SRU plays Edinboro in a game that will be full of seagulls rain/snow, and probably the flu. My fantasy football team is 4-2 after a 3-week winning streak. Let's hope it continues. In fantasy hockey, I am dominating after the first two weeks of the season. Friday night, I cover Slippery Rock at Wilmington before making a possible trip home to cash in one EIC paycheck. That will be sweet. That's about it. Until next time, stay warm and don't get hit in the leg with a wiffle ball.

SRU didn't lose...but they sure tried

2005-10-18T10:55:00.000-04:00

The PSAC weekend was extremely exciting and such. Except not. Slippery Rock tried their best to lose but Millersville wouldn't let them.

Slippery Rock (Hey, at least no one got arrested DURING the game) 21, Millersville (Hey, we brought 20 people disguised as fans) 15

So anyways, during the mass amounts of arrests during homecoming weekend, Slippery Rock bounded out to a 21-2 lead until special teams decided to take a coffee break and the punter decided he didn't need to catch the ball anymore. (To his defense, one-hoppers to the punters aren't exactly easy) So anyways, Millersville scores 2 touchdowns only to have their pathetic offense stall again. Slippery Rock now goes to Edinboro to get stomped most likely.

Edinboro (When does the snow come, we want to build snowmen and dive down the hill) 20, IUP (No more bar fights on the road) 10

So Edinboro won again defeating the hated IUP Indians or Native Americans or guys with red Coors Light bottles on the back of their bus. Edinboro apparently froze out those IUPers with snow, ice and that nasty moo-shu flu.

California (Out of the black hole) 41, Shippensburg (We're not just the Raiders, we're the Red Raiders) 13

California wins again over Shippensburg in a game that is bound to make the Central Pennsylvania folks cry. The Vulcans are one of the teams that actually has a winning record.

Clarion (Those tricky Golden Eagles) 16 Lock Haven (Those tricky Bald Eagles) 0

In this game of eagles the golden one shaved the bald ones clean. It was swell.

I have to put this is purely for comedic "genius." The PSAC really is that bad of a league this year in the annals of Division II football. Slippery Rock won though and IUP lost. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Friday and Homecoming

2005-10-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

So anyways, the week is again over and that is joyuous. A better week this week. I wrote a front-page story on the last second because news writers had crapped out on him. I got to cover an open panel discussion on the indigenous cultures week. That was interesting. They hate Columbus Day. I mean a lot.

The paper looked OK but there were some things that could have better. The English department caught on that they can write op-eds now. I had a new freshman e-mail me a sample. Really nice, because that means I don't have to do it. Tonight I'm covering Hickory vs. Slippery Rock. I heard Hickory's not bringing a dust cloud this time.

It's Homecoming this weekend. That means look for a boatload of freshmen in the police blotter this week (The LCB is here this weekend) as wella as some older kiddies too. They aren't too bright. Just think, Halloween is in two weeks and EVERYBODY has halloween parties. By the way, I get a week off after next week's issue. That's fantastic.

Even more football for the brain

2005-10-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

Since Gary does his typical football thing dealing with the life and times of the BFL's best teams, I will do the same. Except on a much smaller scale. Here's a look at the PSAC West which contains SRU as well as a number of the local schools in the area. This is my chance to make fun of Edinboro, IUP, Clarion and the rest. Here we go.

IUP "Beer Bottle Lane" 38, Slippery Rock (Anger Management Boulevard) 17

The annual bloodbath between these two teams was met with a lot of pushing, shoving and poor officiating. Trusted sources say many of the kids were outside on their porches littering the streets with plastic cups, beer cans and beer bottles. Way to go, IUP. SRU had a chance to win. Then they got off the bus.

California (Black Hole U, and we're not in California, the state either) 36, Edinboro (A flock of seagulls took a giant crap on that fan) 26

The battle between which 2 schools Lindsay was going to go to ended up going to the Vulcans after Edinboro massively got the flu in the second half. Cal also threatened to go to the Country fair instead of Sheetz. Those tricky Vulcans.

Shippensburg (Don't spell our name with an h at the end) 26 Lock Haven (At least there's nice scenery) 7

Typical result for this game. Everyone went 100 MPH on I-80.

East Stroudsburg (Where is that?) 56 Clarion (Not so golden, but at least we have Wal-Mart) 0

So anyways, Clarion got crushed by those mighty Warriors. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing.

For legal reasons, I have to put that is not to be taken seriously, it is solely for comedic purposes. The PSAC West is a loveable league and everybody is great. Well except for IUP. I honestly could care less. Come on you know, I got to SRU. I have to hate on the IUP Indians.

Way to go team

2005-10-09T21:00:00.000-04:00

So anyways, SRU lost to IUP in the annual football bloodbath. Apparently, since I was too cool to go to the game, I heard the officiating was horrendous. Way to go team, you had 4 tries to beat those stupid Indians and you couldn't do it even once. Unfortuately, no fights afterward. Just a lot of pushing, shoving, late hits, typical IUP behavior.

Today I was a bum. Sat and watched football and baseball while watching my beloved fantasy team throw up a stinkbomb. PL's team did the same though, so I'm up by 17 points. He has 2 guys remaining, I have none. That means I do have a shot to pick up a lucky win this week. That would be swell. In fantasy hockey news, Reedy looks like he's going to pick up the win over hockey nutcase Jared U this week. The world at least is doing great. Chase is working on a monstrously long research paper. I am barely working. Tomorrow is gonna suck for sure. I'll probably have to hear more whining. Just what I wanted to hear on a Monday. Oh yeah, it's cold here. Warm weather is gone til April. I am NOT exaggerating, believe me. That's all for now, until next time lounge around and don't spill the pop.

The Rocket

2005-10-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

Here's our lovely rocket staff. From left to right, Photos editor Nate, News Editor Frank, Web Editor Brandon, Copy editors Jen and Matt, Sports editor Mike, Life/A&E Editor Colin and of course me. Nate made it after my PCN TV appearance last year when I was wearing a suit. It's sweet. I mean really sweet.

Just admit that was what you said

2005-10-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

First of all, this is post No. 100. Yay.

This week, I've now had 2 people come and say they were misquoted in the paper. Please. Of course, knowing that we can change for grammatical errors and so you don't have to look stupid all the time, we can tinker with things of that nature.

Last night Wilmington beat Grove City, 20-13 in my game for the Butler Eagle. Next week, I got Hickory at Slippery Rock. That's fantastic because I have to drive about a half mile to the stadium for the game. All is swell. So other than that, not too much going on. Right now, I'm in the office waiting on the kids for Saturday visitation. The weather stinks up here again. It's in the 50s and cold.

That's it. Until next time, quit whining about quotes or use a tape recorder.

The eclectic array

2005-10-04T18:30:00.000-04:00

Today had just about everything you could ask for it. After waking in a haze again, I'm late to my broadcast announcing class in part because I couldn't find a clean shirt to wear. (Break out the quarters, it's laundry time again) Broadcast announcing was sitting in that depressing room with no windows in the science hall and listening to Dr. Barnett lecture. Not that fantastic. Comm Law was next and that was swell. Actually, it was cool. I got 48/50 on my Case Opinino, which means I am doing surprisingly well in my classes so far. Here's where it gets funky.

At 12:30, I was supposed to go to this job lecture at the ECB auditorium. However, I had heard it was business-casual dress. Let's just say at the end of Comm Law I was not in casual dress. So amazingly, I speedwalk back up to Rhoads, (not easy considering it's all uphill) get dressed in 5 minutes and then make it back to the auditorium with 5 minutes to spare. Comm Law was done at 12:05. That's a new land speed record. My legs are thanking me tonight.

Somebody from East Tennesse State called and interviewed me today. WHY? Because Ludacris is coming down there and the folks down there are non too happy. So they are apprently writing a story about the incidences from other colleges where Luda performed. He was here at SRU I believe in the spring of 2004. So that's swell. A journalism student from IUP e-mailed me as well as all of the other editors in the state system about doing a story on student government relationships and the like. Apparently, I get to talk to her now.

Oh, by the way at this thingy I was at this afternoon. First off, I actually didn't need to dress up (although most did) and secondly, the power went off halfway through it. SRU has the worst luck in the history of planet earth. In addition to having the worst weather.

Other than that, not too much happened. Rachel "frolicked" around the quad while Courtney came back today. Oh, and Mike as well as everyone else was there too. And I officially won my fantasy game this week. I'm now 2-2 on the season and playing one PL next week. Should be fun. Anyways, that's all for now, until next time, keep the lights on and bring your extra clothes with you next time.