Detroit Lions Thanksgiving 2008: Epic Fail

Of all the signs that we brought into the Thanksgiving Lions vs Titans game, "EPIC FAIL" definitely was the most appropriate for the record-breaking pounding that the Lions got. But overall, it was a good experience. Ford Field is, indeed, a rather spectacular place for a football game. Our seats were pretty good. The pretzels, while expensive, were tasty. The United Way halftime show with Jesse McCartney was, as tradition on Thanksgiving, a suck-fest. At least it was interesting though.

Something that I didn't know, apparently there is a song that is sung at the stadium whenever the Lions score. While fun, it's pretty ridiculous, and the lyrics sound like they were translated from Japanese, and poorly.



So there you go. I've now been a part of this potentially historically terrible season for the Lions in person! Speaking of the game, it was similar to watching a (really expensive) high school game. Like when Pinconning used to play Buena Vista in high school basketball - you knew there was basically no chance of winning from the start, but you had at least a sliver of hope. Then it didn't take long for the hammer to fall. The Lions looked terrible, right from the start, mistake after mistake. It wasn't just that the Titans were good, the Lions were really really bad.

I checked StubHub before the game, and there were tickets available for 10 bucks. They were definitely the worst seats in the house, but I'm sure you'd be able to move around to something less terrible. The sections in the upper deck on the 50 yard line were mostly empty at the Thanksgiving day game, which I was surprised by...those seemed like they would be decent seats? Maybe those were guarded by ticket people, because I would be all about paying 10 dollars to get in then moving to those seats. At least then the pain is only on the field, and not as much in your pocketbook...

Happy Thanksgiving from the D!

Sesame Street Pinball Cartoon - Pinball Number Count

Another reason I love the internet, right here. Turns out this cartoon/series of shorts is called "Pinball Number Count" and was performed by the Pointer Sisters. It has its own Wikipedia page, available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Number_Count

So there you go.

Signs

These are two of the signs we're taking to tomorrow's Lions game.
Hopefully they let us in!

Happy Mohawk Appreciation Day!

Senior discount

Well here you go...

Server Maintenance

In case you were dying to see some pictures on my Gallery server and were greeted with some kind of failure, you'll be happy to know I'm working on it. As part of my temporarily-failed and previously-mentioned MythTV project, I wanted to do some shuffling around of my computer hardware. Finally, it's actually happened. The server that has been running for the last 6 months or so was a temporary (and practice) box while I installed Ubuntu Linux on what used to be my primary PC back in the day. It's also got one of the 3 Raptor hard drives that I won from eBay back in the day, so I'm excited to know they are all in use now, finally.

Anyway. Moral of the story, stuff might be busted. Pardon my dust. But hopefully it'll be a little faster in the end. Or if it's not faster, comfort in the thought that the box itself is physically taking up less space in the Man Room.

National Treasure 2: Seriously?

Molly and I just completed watching National Treasure 2. I have to say, on its own, it was a decent movie. If you saw the first one, then you knew what to expect. But there's the rub, it wasn't just a continuation of the first movie...it was the EXACT SAME THING as the first movie. Let's see...

• Romantic tension between Cage and whoever the lady is? Check.


• Treasure is a series of clues criscrossing the globe? Check.


• Baddies follow Cage and party through sneakery? Check.


• Baddies go along on "final hunt" due to threats? Check.


• Treasure is huge room full of random stuff? Check.


• Treasure room has a series of lamps that you can light one spot and the whole room lights up? Check.


• Entire plot is ridiculous? Check.

Honestly. Again, it wasn't a "bad" movie, but it was creepy how much of the movie was stolen from the first one. The entire plot was the same, all of it, just with different locations.

The only question I have left is do they really have the chutzpah to make a third National Treasure that's exactly the same as the first two? We'll see...I'm not gonna lie, I'm not holding my breath.

From the who-buys-this department

Valu-time meat?

Oh glorious day!

Turkey meatballs at Meijer!!!! Yeah!

EDIT: FYI, if you were/are confused by this, here's the story: I discovered turkey meatballs a while ago. They are pretty tasty, and marginally healthier for you than standard meatballs. Unfortunately, Meijer switched brands and then stopped carrying them alltogether. That was like a year or two ago, and I've been all over town looking for them since. I found them at Aldi's (which is as shady here as it is back in the tri-cities) and at Feldpausch (sp?), a local grocery store in Molly's hometown of Grand Ledge. Neither is convenient, because I don't go to either for anything else. But now, mercifully, Meijer has started carrying them again. It is a good day.

A bus stop without a bus

I ran across this news story the other day. Apparently outside of an old folks' home in Germany, they installed a bus stop that doesn't have any bus service to it to prevent Alzheimer's patients from wandering off. The patients will go to the bus stop and wait for a bus, then one of the staff will see them, and go out and offer them a cup of coffee. The patients totally forgot where they were going, so they are escorted safely back inside.

That is awesome.

Junk drawer defeated!

Lately I've been doing my best to eliminate "junk" that's just hanging around. And something that has been bothering me for a while now is my junk drawer. Everybody's got one (except maybe my brother?), just a drawer somewhere that's got random stuff in it. And sometimes, I think it's okay, as long as it's a themed junk drawer. Like I have a file cabinet drawer full of office-type supplies. Sure, it's pretty random, but it's all in the same category at least.

This junk drawer was the worst variety - the "everything else" junk drawer. A full 1/6th of my dresser's capacity was full of random crap. Some of the stuff I found?

• Tickets! From Tigers games in 2000 and 2001, movies from high school, WWE events, Saginaw Spirit games, a Ludacris concert, Detroit Vipers games (like the time that me, Howard, and Michelle Hasso were the only ones that didn't bail out on a trip to the Palace in the most ridiculous ice storm ever, yeah, that was pretty classic), and all kinds of other stuff. A surprising amount of Michigan Tech hockey games too.


• Yo-Yos - pretty much a classic junk drawer item, because where else do you possibly have one of these?


• Old pairs of glasses


• Earplugs


• A belt buckle - I don't think I've ever had a belt that needs a buckle


• A lanyard for the casino in Niagara Falls


• Two boxes of dead 9 volt batteries from the PHS drama program


• My first check register (including an entry for $421 paid for a external Firewire CD burner in 2001...ouch!)


• A Crew pin from McDonalds


• Cassette deck head cleaner


• Keys for PHS (oops, I guess I never turned those in...)

Some of the items survived and live on in various other "junk" places in my house. I see I have a "junk shelf" of random computer-type stuff...that's where the walkie talkies (Cedar Point trips anybody?) and mini battery powered amplifier now reside. A bunch of the Tigers tickets got their own hanging file folder (you can't throw away Tigers tickets!!), and I sorta punted on some framed rejection letters and put them in my "scrapbook" box in the closet. Yeah, that's pretty much a junk box, I know, but I can only do so much.

But there's still stuff I don't know what to do with. Like my commemorative baseball from this year's Crosstown Showdown (the Lansing Lugnuts vs MSU's baseball team)? I really don't want to put it on display, but I don't want to throw it away and sure can't sell it...so what to do? I'm taking suggestions. So if anybody gets anything random or "used" in their Christmas present this year, just know it's for the best that you accept it =)

Now to re-claim that empty space...

Stossel 2012

John Stossel should run for president in 2012. I mean honestly, who wouldn't vote for this guy? Have you seen his mustache? Back in the 80's he even survived a severe slapping from a pro wrestler, caught on 20/20 here:



John Stossel, a real American hero.

Wiis

A pallet of Wiis! They exist!

Live from Chicago!