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.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Super Hero Treatment
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
It's Neat Being Neat,Greggy!
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.
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.
Monday, April 9, 2007
April Showers Kill May Flowers
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
AOL Times
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Why Talk When You Can Text?
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.
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.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
All About The Hoops
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
So What If You Can't Draw
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.
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.
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Crying Girl Syndrome
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.
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.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Hershey Hijinks Yet Again
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
The Unofficial Reedy Hotel Report
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Open Up Reedman!
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
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.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
That's Just Wonderful
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.
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.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Digging Out
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!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Snow And More Snow
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.
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.
Monday, January 22, 2007
A Weekend Where I Talked To People!
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The Girl From Blairsville
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.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Hey It's A New Year!
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.
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.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Decembers To Remember
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.
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
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!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
You Can Take Reedy Out Of College, But You Can't Take The College Out Of Reedy
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.
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.
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