eeeek!

erock - m&m

it occurred to me while watching olympic trap shooting this past weekend…

there were no americans in the final.

how can a nation that has the most recreational weapons in the world and seemingly prides itself on blind adherence to a certain amendment NOT HAVE ANYONE THAT CAN SHOOT WELL?

if i have to live through the NRA and sean hannity and some of my friends and, and…  ugh.  we cannot even shoot strait.

the dude that won, BTW, was from the czech republic and he went 25-25 in the last round.

i am also a big fan of “tradition” — applied to just about anything — but…  “trap shooting” is an activity.  not a sport.  no matter how long it has been an olympic event.

i flew from nyc (jfk) to syracuse last friday — on jetblue.  it was late afternoon and i expected to be delayed…

we all boarded, etc…  late, natch, and then proceeded to wait.  and wait.  about 20 minutes after our flight should have taken off, the pilot comes out of the cockpit — while we are still at the gate — and jumps on the intercom.

“frank?  frank from ATC.  where are you?  raise your hand, frank…”

(i cannot actually remember if the guy’s name was frank…)

some guy behind me raises his hand and the pilot says:

“everyone, this is frank from ATC.  he will be getting us some preferential treatment today!”

the main door is closed.  we push back and start heading toward the taxiway.  like most airports, there is an inner (close to the gates) and an outer (close to the runways) taxiway.  most people know all about the outer taxiway — especially in nyc — as it is usually the one with a gazillion planes all lined up.  it was no different that day.  i could see almost 20 planes (i later found out it was 23) ahead of us in line.  the pilot jumps on the intercom again:

“thanks to frank, we will be taking off right away!”

and so we did.  we hit the inner taxiway and bypassed all 23 planes in front of us for takeoff.  we never stopped at all and hit the runway at speed after making two sharp turns.

this was not the end of frank’s magic.

as we descended through 10,000 feet on approach to syracuse, the pilot jumped on the intercom again:

“thanks to frank, we will be landing immediately.  flight attendants, please be seated.”

i have flown A LOT over the years and i have never heard a pilot ask the FAs to sit down at 10,000 feet.  ever.  it usually takes ~20-30 minutes to land after you hit approach.

not the case here.

immediately after he finished speaking, he made a massive bank turn that had my window on the right side of the plane looking almost directly down at the carrier dome.  freaky!

it then took, no kidding, less than 5 minutes until we were on the ground taxiing toward our syracuse gate.

i don’t know who this frank character is/was.  in fact, i never actually saw him.  but he is clearly magical.  i highly recommend flying with him at any time!

this stuff just writes itself…

steven page — the guy from the barenaked ladies (no, not that guy, it’s the guy with the glasses) — was busted in, wait for it, suburban syracuse, ny.  (manlius, to be exact…)  for coke.  while at some woman’s apartment.  who is 10+ years is junior.  while bnl is on tour supporting a double album full of, wait for it…  children’s songs.

this is usually where the punchline goes, but as i dig bnl and page’s voice — i’ll leave it at that.

awesome!! alison sent me a link to the superhero quiz this morning. after looking at the questions (not to mention the fact that i own my own green lantern pint glass) i was hoping i would be green lantern… much to my surprise… i am! woo! i am green lantern!

You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 80% Spider-Man 75% The Flash 65% Superman 60% Iron Man 55% Catwoman 50% Robin 43% Hulk 40% Batman 35% Wonder Woman 28% Supergirl 28%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

yes.  bacon.

do you love to sprinkle “stuff” on things you eat?

i give you…  bacon salt!!

somebody is going to hell.

(thanks to mr. welty for the link)

there was a time…  long ago…  when i was in high school…

a bunch of us used to a) go to spilkas for seafood and bad beer and b) joke about going to spilkas for seafood and bad beer.  clams, man.  clams.

i would point to it every time i passed it on the way in to see my family in the last 15 years…  it was closed for quite a long time.  on my most recent trip, i saw the beautiful neon “open” sign all lit up.  spilka’s was open!  (i have no idea for how long…)

and then…

kevin sent me this article from a local utica tv station.  apparently, it is not only open, but people are (still?) getting whacked there.  harsh.  is the prospect of death worth the experience at spilka’s?  that’s a definite maybe. 

dear god.

a&e — a&e????? — is producing a “reality” tv thingee with corey feldman and corey haim called “the two coreys”.   (thanks for the head’s up, matt…)

and i thought all my reality tv viewing guilt was just for cooking shows…

must.not.watch.

as alison and i were driving in to clinton this past weekend, we were headed down route 5 past sangertown square and decided to cut through the mall to get to the grocery store.  approaching the mall entrance, there were a bunch of flares down on the road and a few police cars.

driving slow…  looking to see what happened…  we saw piles of “stuff” in the road.  indescribable, really.  although, i thought, at the time, that one of the pieces looked like a “side of beef”.

apparently…  it sort of was.  parts is parts, man. 

(thanks to kevin for the link…)

a while back, icebrrrg turned me on to a site called “woot“.  basically, it is a once-a-day super special on a random product.  i have purchased a few things — not the least of which was a wireless meat thermometer that…  wait for it…  talks!  it is usually something “gadget like”…

when i logged in today at woot, i saw another woot site that i am sure to love.  woot wine!  it is the same concept as vanilla woot, except with super deals on wine!  kick ass.