Why It's Important To Keep In Touch

I'm really bad at staying in touch. When I was younger, I was truly awful at it. I was more withdrawn then. I knew people but I was quiet and not good at holding a conversation.

Case in point: when I was young I visited relatives in Greece twice. Once was when I was really young (4ish), but the second time was my junior year in high school. I have cousins who still live in Greece. It was fun to hang out with them.

But I flew back to The States and time moved on and I didn't stay in touch. Last June my dad gave me my cousin's phone number and we got in touch again. He was recovering from a cancer scare. We talked and it was good to catch up on the last couple of decades. 

And then I lost touch with him again for six months. Monday morning I talked to my dad over the phone again. My cousin's cancer came back. He passed away over the weekend.

It's times like these when I wish I was better at keeping in touch. You never know when it will be the last time.

Super Bowl Talk at the Leominster McDonald's

Sunday night I was on my way home. At the exit to my place I stopped at McDonald's because I was tired and not in the mood to cook.

I had my Patriots jacket and Wes Welker jersey on. I ordered McNuggets. I turned my back to the cashier as I waited for my order, and then I heard....

"The Giants are gonna win next Sunday."

The night manager, who uttered this, apparently was taken aback that I turned to look at him. Every so often I have that moment when I seem to intimidate someone without trying.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, backing up until he almost crashed into the fry-o-lator. "I was just kidding. I'm a Pats fan."

I chuckled and said, "I just spent the day with friends, a couple of whom were Giants fans."

The night manager said, "Wow, what the fuck is wrong with these people? This is MASSACHUSETTS. This is Patriots country."

Actually, I hadn't been in Massachusetts all day, but I hope I did my part to make sure the Leominster McDonald's stays true to the Pats.

Every Once In Awhile, I Get Cake

Turns out one thing that happens when you get an MFA  is cake.

Saturday night I was treated to a cake by Sebastian, his butler, limo driver and servants. It looks delicious. I'm told it's yellowcake, my favorite (and no I'm not talking about uranium enrichment). I haven't had any yet because, though it's not a big cake, I'm stuffed.

If anyone wants to help me polish it off, let me know.

Wheel of Tequila

Recently Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak admitted that he and Vanna White used to tape the show after having a few drinks across the street. This is not in the current incarnation of the show but back in the '80, when there was both a daytime and nighttime version. He later backtracked/downplayed his comments after receiving some criticism.

This is ridiculous. It's not like Pat and Vanna have a difficult job. Here are their job responsibilities:

* Pat calls on a contestant to spin.

* When contestant calls out a letter, Pat says "I'm sorry there's no D" or "Yes, there are 3 T's."

* Vanna looks at the puzzle to see which tiles are lighted, walks over to them, touches them and the three T's show up.

* Pat makes sure contestant has enough money to buy a vowel (at least $250).

* Pat makes sure contestant doesn't call a letter on the used letter board.

* Pat makes sure contestant correctly solves the puzzle.

Not a lot of heavy lifting involved. You should be able to do this drunk.

Besides, back in those days, many game shows were notorious for erratic (i.e, drunk) behavior from the hosts/guest panel. Match Game is a notorious example. So who cares?

Facebook Timeline

It's coming. According to published reports, Facebook will be forcing me to switch to Timeline soon.

I've always been a holdout to Facebook redesigns. They happen so often, I feel like they disappear once I get used to them. This one seems to be particularly nerve-wracking. People are scrambling to go back through five years of Facebook status updates to erase any embarrassing comments.

There's a certain narcissism to Facebook. I post a lot of status updates and links to my blog and funny articles and such and I'm sure I drive people nuts from time to time. However, I also like to think that I can count on one hand the number of things I've posted that I'm embarrassed about.

I'm not necessarily looking forward to Timeline, but I'm not going to obsess about it. I don't think I have to go back and delete stuff. And that's good. Because I like to sleep at night.

This Is Rude

A recent report shows that Boston is the fifth-rudest city in America.

This is total bullshit.

Fifth? Only fifth? No way in hell.

Behind Miami, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles? No way.

What's more disconcerting about this is that New York finished first. Going into the Super Bowl, this is not what I want to hear. A bad omen.

Tim Thomas

Monday, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who led the B's to the Stanley Cup last June, declined to meet President Obama at the White House, the only player on the team to do so.

On his Facebook page, Thomas posted his reasons why:

I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.
This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.
Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.
This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT

Reaction has been varied. Some people are angry at Thomas, calling him everything from an Obama-hater to hypocritical to unpatriotic. Others are happy that he took a stand and some take it even further by launching into a tirade on Obama.

Here's how I feel:

Tim Thomas is indeed a free citizen, and as such I respect and applaud his decision. He does not have to attend White House functions, nor should he be forced to attend. The United States not a dictatorship.

That said, if I were in his shoes I would've attended. I've never met Tim Thomas, but his Wikipedia page  says he's a Republican, so it's tough not to find it ingenuous when he says "this was not about politics or party." Also, while I can agree that the size and scope of government is larger than I feel comfortable with, much of the mechanism for that was in place long before Obama assumed the Presidency. And meeting with the President after your team wins the Stanley Cup/Super Bowl/World Series/NBA Finals is such a nonpartisan event, it'd seem like a better way to express your political loyalties to donate money to or endorse a candidate.

Lastly, this Tim Thomas controversy has taken valuable time on sports talk radio away from what's really important -- 24/7 talk about the upcoming Super Bowl. So knock it off, people!