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The Cast
Date: 14 April 2020
FILLERBUSTER’S ELEVEN
BACKGROUND: This started as a long-winded numbered blog. It transformed into an organized long-winded category blog. Now, it is a quick-hitter to ease your pain. I lack time. So, the preparation of the blog actually made me procrastinate from writing the thing. Let’s see who makes the cut. Barely edited as usual unfortunately, so please excuse any mistakes during my stream of consciousness. I feel the need…the need for speed. Let’s turn and burn.
SETTING: This is written Monday evening after dinner primarily. Tailored, edited, and released on Tuesday evening.
- EVERGREEN 1: REALITY. The economy will open back up eventually. We will be back with friends before too long. Businesses will open up. We will talk about what we accomplished during the quarantine. We will debate the new normalcy. Sports will try and start back up in many, many interesting and clever ways. But, how soon and how are obstacles overcome? We are not even experts, and we could sit here and outline 25 different situations that would hinder any clever solution from happening. I won’t steal the author’s thunder though. I read this very, very sad article this week and wanted to make sure you did also. For all of the articles we read about the plan when the smoke clears, it sometimes is good to have a reality check too. It is sad, but the hedging is needed. The reality overcomes the dreams. Don’t get too excited about resolutions for baseball, basketball, or hockey. And prepare for the worst or “different” during a football season. Anyone’s football season. I assume you are into sports if you are reading this, and just know this story’s ending is not happy. Enjoy Stephanie Apstein bursting YOUR bubble. https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/04/10/sports-arent-coming-back-soon
- EVERGREEN 2: HOOPS. This is not a problem you can solve AFTER the fact, but should not be a problem at ALL. I don’t get this. At all. Jayson Tatum says he has not picked up a ball since the lockdown. Well, a couple of things on this. HOPEFULLY, he has and has at least dribbled around his large house. Giannis said he doesn’t have a hoop, so Jayson is not alone. But, if you make that much money, and that is your craft, isn’t that one of the FIRST things you get on your FIRST paycheck? A hoop? A court? I had a hoop as a kid, and I just ended up selling software and writing this blog. Not to say you can predict something like this happening, but aren’t you going to predict that occasionally you might not feel like going to the practice facility to shoot? Aren’t you going to WANT a court in your house? Do you plan on hosting only parties with NO basketball players so there is never an urge to go play a quick game? Do guys these days NOT solve life’s problems by shooting and rebounding for each other? Of all the people who DO, Mike Conley does. What an odd guy to have the full setup at home. I don’t get this problem. Even Steph Curry had to order one online and construct it himself. And I know. Some of the guys have to live in the city. OK. I still am constructing an offshoot to my condo with a 10-foot high hoop. What the hell? It is basketball. Bottom line. If it is my craft, and I have the Benjamins (which they all do), I have a court at my crib…somehow.
- EVERGREEN 3: COVID. My weekly stash of random COVID notes. A third of the country didn’t pay rent last week. A total of 6.6 million people filed for unemployment last week. The warm weather might not stop this bug. The federal government had to release another 2.3 trillion for the economy. In Nevada, professional gamblers were just given unemployment pay rights. A 32-year old person pushed an 86-year old at a hospital who had dementia and grabbed the 32-year old’s IV pole and broke social distancing and the fall killed the 86-year old. I know it is supposedly a “briefing on the pandemic,” but the Trump show never disappoints daily and I enjoy it enough to catch 1 out of 4 times or so, but have to space viewings out because it is so ridiculously about glorification, stat checks, partisan politics, and other non-pandemic things. This Monday, Trump came out SWINGING as apparently his sensitivity to the media backlash has hurt his feelings. It became a propaganda briefing. I picked a good one to tune in to. Dr. Fauci/ “Tony” even got a little mad at a question in Monday’s briefing. And, if you miss the briefing, you can read the stupidity of Trump on Twitter, which is the next best thing. He even retweets someone saying he is going to fire Tony. Again, how has Tony not earned the right to be called “Doctor,” even by the President. The Miami Heat made a boatload masks from unsold jerseys and that is awesome. A bishop who said that God is larger than Covid-19 is now dead…from COVID-19. There has been a 96% decrease in air travel, and I would be curious to interview the people who ARE flying to find out what is so important. Some losers online are enlisting Instacart and then deleting the tips after they get their stuff but before it is processed. That is sad. A Lake Tahoe woman LICKED $1800 worth of merchandise in a store. I heard that Ammon Bundy was going to defy stay at home orders for an Easter celebration, but never heard whether he actually did it. Don’t tease me with a story and leave it incomplete. Sweden refuses to do any lockdown, has 793 deaths, and apparently is going up or down in their own style. New York overtook all other countries, not states in COVID-19 cases. I am putting on my post-COVID to do list to get a cooler looking mask, so I can show my personality better when I venture outside. Fifty-one people got COVID, got out of quarantine, and then “re-activated” the virus, and that is a little scary. We don’t even fully understand how to beat it or what happens after you beat it. The postal service has let the government know it will become insolvent if we stay closed for a longer than intended time. Trump had time to make an anti-Biden ad during all of this? Impressive. Astronauts are posting advice on living in isolation. 3M sues a company over mask production. A private jet was turned back in France when a bunch of people decided to go on a group vacation. Czech Republic nudists were allowed to stay naked, but told to put on masks. We are hitting the point where some mom and pop local stores are closing in cities, and it is very sad to read about. Netflix is releasing, by chance, a new series about a bunch of swimsuit clad good looking people who can make $100k if they don’t have sexual relations with anyone else, so basically a social distancing show at its roots. I am getting used to non-delivery places delivering stuff. Now that they have worked out the kinks during a pandemic, can they just keep doing it after the smoke clears? We are being spoiled by being told to stay home. Friday’s 8pm howl in Denver ended with an odd horn across the city that sounded too much like The Purge. Tribal casinos have lost $4.4 billion in revenue since the lockdown happened. A donor in a small Midwest town bought 549 people three $50 gift certificates to his chosen local businesses, helping the people receiving them along with the businesses. We apparently are in the “hair dye” phase of our quarantine. I don’t think my wife would appreciate me doing that. Always wanted to bleach it again though. I feel bad for employees having to figure out new processes. I needed a receipt for the items they were out of at the grocery store to make sure we were charged the correct amount, and I almost broke the system asking for an email receipt (ended up driving back to store to get paper copy). Some Massachusetts decided to go through a McDonald’s drive thru on their horses, and if I had some horses and a pasture, I think that would be a marvelous idea. Mmmm.. McDonald’s. Fries… Sorry. Moving on. Maybe we can still find a way to curtail traffic when this is all over. Los Angeles has clear air, I could see Pikes Peak in the Springs VERY clearly from my house on Saturday, and people in India can see the Himalayas from cities for the first time in their lifetime. Amazing views all over the globe. I was talking with my Vegas people for work the other day, and I asked how weird it was that The Strip was vacant. They said it is NOT vacant. There are so many people trying to get photos of the “vacant” Strip that it is actually busy. Ironic. When you do curbside pickup for groceries, it is very interesting to see the “replacements” to certain items, and which ones they just don’t fill. It is cold this week in Denver, and although it is nice to have some snow outside while you are warm inside, it is much better to be quarantined in nice weather where you can take a jog or walk or something. Plus, we unfortunately get to read about upticks in domestic abuse when it snows. How come “quaroutine” isn’t used more? I was hoping I came up with it. If someone is ahead of the curve and thinking about making a COVID-19 movie, HOW would they do that right now since we can’t gather? I would say most of us need to remember to take our cars for a spin every few days. I don’t know anything about cars, but I assume they need to run here and there. It would have been SO simple to spend FIVE minutes at the beginning of this and which industries would boom and put some money down. I would have bought into Drizly, GrubHub, or other delivery companies. Amazon is actually hiring 75,000 MORE people this week. It is kind of cool to see the towns where animals are taking over with no one in the streets. I love watching those videos. Three countries are about to lift their stay at home policy, and the experiments will be in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Denmark. 550 people on the Teddy Roosevelt are COVID positive with 92% of the tests in (not refreshing the info from Monday night). One is now dead. The chain of command is more the question though. I still am floored by any innovations a company does during this to stay afloat or take advantage of the situation. Love to see the ones that are successful in pivoting. Because some people are baking more, from what I hear as it is not happening in this house, Doubletree released its cookie recipe. That is nice. You can now buy a car contactless. Not sure where the test drive comes into play, but at least you can eliminate those irritating sales people who use all of those sales colloquialisms. Six people were shot at a Cali party, so not only were they violating the stay at home order, but they decided to get mad and violent too? Weird party. Coronavirus can do its damage on cities, but please leave the tribes alone. I am hoping that the kid from the Yanomami tribe who died is an exception and not a trend. A pork processing plant that is pretty important apparently shut down this week. Does that mean pork will start selling like toilet paper? I didn’t really read the article. But I like bacon a lot, so hopefully not. A restaurant owner had to go to their expensive stash to keep afloat. He researched price and pitched a bottle of bourbon for $20k. A local veteran wanted to help more, and voluntarily gave $40k for the bottle. Nice gesture and they can now stay open, pay employees, and stay afloat. Andrea Bocelli is a famous Italian opera singer that apparently I was supposed to know about, and when Lindsey made us watch his performance for the country, I admit it was very, very moving. Empty cathedral for beginning, empty outside with a mic for the rest, and pictures of empty large cities during the whole thing. And, of course, his voice is pretty darn amazing. Fremont, CA is apparently 50 plus miles from Santa Cruz. Seven guys decided to go to Santa Cruz to get essential drinks on a Saturday night. They were busted and given a $1000 fine each. Bravo. We have gotten to the point where we look down and penalize anyone thinking these rules are dumb. There is a hospital in Detroit where pics leaked of corpses from day being stored in a room because the morgue was full. Pretty disturbing. States are starting to form pacts and partnerships in strategizing on how to open back up, and that just gives Trump another excuse to tell us how powerful he is and how they will still do what he says. We can hear more about TOTAL authority and a full retreat on a Tuesday after he obviously got advised to ease up a little. Since we are always home now, I feel really bad for our pets in one way. They have no Secret Life of Pets now, right? They can’t have their adventures when we go to work now. I think that is why the cats are more angry with us. I am not overly religious, but I do know that it must really hurt churches and masses to have this hit during one of the most religious times of the year. We are apparently hitting the peak. Right now. Man, I hope so. I think all of need the curve to go the other way before we lose our mind. I wrote a couple weeks back that the Philippines law was planning on SHOOTING anyone violating the shelter in place directive. Indonesia probably has a little more fun solution. There are people pretending to be ghosts, who attempt to SCARE people back indoors. Not sure how the pretend ghosts aren’t violating the directive also, and I didn’t finish the whole article, but you have to admire the creativity.
- NFL: A Buffalo restaurant is welcoming new recruit Stefon Diggs by having an item on its menu called Can You Diggs It. It is a four-patty burger. FOUR. Are there really people out there who aren’t satisfied with 1 or 2 patties and need four? Wow. Well, I have been to Buffalo, and I guess I have seen a few folks who put down a four-patty lunch. The NFL Draft will have more people watching it this year than others BECAUSE it is not on a stage, in front of fans, and not face to face. I know I will be curious of this whole process and might hang on longer the first day. Are Jameis and Cam telling anyone who calls them they HAVE to be a starter? I am so confused how these guys aren’t picked up yet. I said it last week. I would take either as my backup any day of the week. It must be them rejecting teams and being too selective. Has to be the reason. The Rams trade Brandin Cooks to the Texans, meaning both teams with a horrible long-term plan are at least doing it with each other. The Rams are now paying 1/5 of their salary cap money to players no longer on the team. The Texans basically have told us they care not about their draft picks and took the very, very long way to replace star WR Hopkins with lesser Cooks. The NFL is nixing sky judge and PI challenge calls, meaning we are pretty much back to where we were before that NFC Championship Game that inspired this whole thing. Full circle with no progress, like the Texans roadmap. What is with Tom Brady and constant Trademarking? I hear he is looking into Tompa Bay and Tampa Brady, and I will say that both of those plays on words are not winners. Reaching, Crocs boy. Todd Gurley will wear Deion’s #21 for the Falcons and there was some back and forth about whether he was wearing it with or without blessing. Apparently, Deion was joking, but I like his line when asked about the jersey. Prime made the number. The number didn’t make Prime. LeSean McCoy would like to play two more years. I am definitely giving him a call if I need insurance in the backfield. Hey, Steelers, I am good with you paying him market price. Give him a ring. The Colts are tweaking their uniform along with their logo. I guess this quarantine does funny stuff to everyone, and football teams are getting antsy and changing their uniforms. Christian McCaffrey will become the highest paid RB in NFL history. I like paying this guy right now. I LOVE it actually. Lock him in because it is the right thing to do. And he is MORE than just a RB. And he isn’t even 24 yet. Elliott and Bell are #2 and #3. When looking at some stats of the highest paid backs, I was happy to see that Bell averaged a ridiculously low 3.2 yards per carry last year. I hope he has a worse year this year. I hope you and AB get into trouble together. Dak is so worried about his new contract that he is having people over to discuss. He was busted for having a party this past weekend. He says he won’t participate in virtual workouts coming to the NFL, but he hasn’t even signed his franchise tender, so technically he doesn’t have to threaten anything yet.
- COLLEGE FOOTBALL: I am less concerned about football season happening for my enjoyment, and more for colleges’ finances. It would be a monstrous hit to lose football after losing spring sports. I watched Tua’s video he did instead of pro day. I know it is just a video, but if I liked the kid before seeing that video, I sure as hell don’t like him any less now. Man, his accuracy is ridiculous. Mike Leach probably didn’t understand the gravity of his funny tweet given his new location, and he has apologized, but football enthusiasts can’t be happy with him right about now, as the DL who initially had the problem with the tweet just announced he is transferring to FSU. Big loss. Mike Gundy apologized for his dumb comments on the virus and the timing of when football would begin again. Thanks for the apology. It WAS pretty dumb though, and it is hard to apologize for just being dumb. It was something a 40-year old man would do, and not a 52-year old man. You are regressing into your mullet.
- COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Bob Huggins wants next season to just start with the NCAA Tourney. Not sure about the logic of it, but sounds fun, Bob. I will say there are NO bad ideas during this brainstorm of how to do seasons when we don’t know WHEN and don’t understand HOW. I love Juwan Howard. You probably love Juwan Howard. Who doesn’t like Juwan Howard? Well, probably the TWO Michigan players who entered the transfer portal this week. That is not a good sign. Neither is losing the #2 PF in the next class, Isaiah Todd, who will not attend Michigan and pursue pro options instead. Arizona lost Josh Green to the draft, and there is a heck of a lot of talent leaving that perennially underachieving team. Losing that talent makes it so much harder to technically underachieve. Vernon Carey declared for the draft, and Duke has become the new Kentucky. The new kids will BE the good kids. One and done U. Devon Dotson declared, and KU is more mad at the virus than most teams. They would have been favorites and the overall #1 seed, and now they lose the Robin to their Batman. It won’t be a national story by any means, but Texas Tech, who will lose Mr. Ramsey to the draft, just picked up Wichita State transfer Jamarius Burton. That is a pretty sneaky stellar pickup. Arizona State picked up its biggest recruit since James Harden, who didn’t turn out to be too shabby. SG Josh Christopher, a #10 guy and the #2 SG, signed on.
- NBA: I can’t comment on the HORSE game because I didn’t watch a second of it. Sorry, like the bad substitutions at grocery curbside pickup, I am not substituting real basketball with a fake game played on different courts. BUT, at least these folks OWN courts, so that is a step in the right direction. No, I am NOT watching this NBA 2K crap either, and have no idea who is winning, but DID find it funny when reading the story about how the Jones-Durant results leaked, everyone had bet on Jones, and therefore the sportsbook had to pull all future bets. I read about this testy Gobert-Mitchell relationship, and I find it hard to believe a virus ruined that relationship. Might just be the capper. I was sad to hear that KAT’s mom died from COVID complications. Thoughts and prayers to his family. Shame. Dion Waiters continued to show his talent above his shoulders, as he gave his all-time top five in a public conversation, and somehow did NOT put MJ in that top five. Top five, bro. Top FIVE.
- MLB: I was REALLY sad to read about Josh Hamilton hitting his daughter. To take you down memory lane, he was one of the best baseball prospects coming out of high school, battled drugs and mostly they won, and now this after becoming a family man. Sad to see. The Yankees and Dodgers were named the most valuable franchises, and that pretty much makes sense and that is how they can afford to be the biggest payroll at different times in the last 20 years. Reading some of the possible baseball season plans are just nuts, but entertaining to read regardless. You might be a Braves fan or a Braves hater, but they were in the headlines this week for the best purpose. They were the first baseball team to pay their employees through the end of May. Greg Maddux turned 54 years old today. Happy Birthday. And he had 355 wins in his career. Amazing that the day we live in, NO one will win 355. Just won’t happen. Bartolo Colon is 46 and in a different league with 247, and Justin Verlander is 37 and second with 225. The game has totally changed, and the top of the wins people will stay there for a long time.
- MISCELLANEOUS: I am including hockey hear today. I was all over the Avs before the season to win it all. NOT because I am from Colorado. Anyway, if you are curious what some others thought, here you go. https://www.si.com/nhl/2020/04/08/stanley-predictions-if-hockey-season-not-postponed SUCH a sad story about hockey player Colby Cave, who died from a brain bleed this week. Sad enough that he died at his age. More sad that because of COVID rules, his family couldn’t even SEE him in the days before he died. That is tragic. The Predators raised over $2 million for their town, which got hit by Mother Nature and COVID. Big wigs from ESPN and Disney can override a tribal casino or private island renting. I thought Dana White could pull off UFC 249 and he had a good fight card ready, but the heat in even having a sporting event is too negative. I think the fan that is trying to sue Tiger and his caddie is reaching, and I have read the interviews, watched the footage, and read analysis. Stop trying to find the freaking loophole. The XFL laid off its staff and won’t be back next year. Filed also before press time. You know what? I feel bad for that league. They FINALLY got the cash and motivation and following to try it one more time, and COVID tossed them off the rails like a pillow. Wrestlemania yielded a COVID case. WWE wants to bring back live shows. I am Chandler and have “too many jokes” on why they are trying to be the frontrunners on any of this, both entity and fan base related. Check this out. Florida apparently has tagged WWE as “essential business,” so they will take over some of those spelling bee replay time slots, and probably re-activate the virus while they are at it. You know. Grocery stores, pharmacies…wrestling. Ronda Rousey lost a lot when she lost, but now calling her fans “f-in ungrateful” probably is not going to help her love cause. I found out about it too late, and my wife is very happy about, and I know they are actual people and not characters in the greatest gambling movie of all time, but I still would have watched Matt Damon play poker with Ben Affleck, Tom Brady, Bryan Cranston, Adam Levine, Sarah Silverman, Tobey Maguire, and Jon Hamm for a cause. Pagenaud won the virtual Indy race, and did not use racial slurs. Kyle Larson was also in a virtual NASCAR race, and he decided TO use racial slurs. If you are doing that during a virtual race, I hate to hear how you sound during an actual race. Sounds like he should go eat at that McDonald’s in China that won’t allow black people and haven’t figured out this is 2020. Some people are finding things to bet on. One guy doesn’t hate his quarantine. He bet fifty cents on five different horse races and hit them all for $500k plus. I noticed ESPN replaying a National Spelling Bee from 1997. Say it aiin’t so that we are now playing historically noteworthy spelling bees.
- THIS AND THAT: The additional episode of Tiger King was the interview version of the documentary with Joel McHale providing comedic relief…train wreck and you can’t turn away. I have to admit I thought it was well done, whether it had to be virtual because of a pandemic or not. The ending monologue is epic. Joel said “more evidence there is no job I will turn down.” I am glad I was doing a puzzle while watching that thing, so I at least accomplished something constructive from the train wreck. In West Virginia, for one single hour, you could bet on the political primaries and results. No word on whether someone was as lucky as the horse betting fellow. We did the Bindery for Easter brunch, and it was good enough that we will order from them again. Whatever they did to their potatoes was so simple yet so ridiculously good. If you care, pairing Merf’s Hand Grenade hot sauce and ham is like the best thing ever. I was recruiting my new workout songs, and hadn’t heard the Disturbed song Hold On To The Memories. Great song, and surprisingly how chill they deliver it. Their singer has one of the unique voices in all of rock. How did I miss Post Malone and Ozzy Osbourne teaming up for MULTIPLE songs? I am horrified and impressed at the same time. I think NextDoor posts during quarantine are out there, somewhat ridiculous, but worthy of reading here and there. Kind of like watching Tiger King. Olive Garden is doing delivery? We are getting that next weekend, and I will put that on my growing list of places that didn’t deliver that I would to continue to deliver AFTER this thing is over. Sweet Cow delivers. Yes, we had delicious ice cream brought to our house. Streams you should be interested in. We did Billy Strings, Chris Toler, and Motet on Friday night. Funny that we got in the front row for this concert at Red Rocks for Motet, so we kept seeing ourselves in between songs. We watched my buddy DJ Rob (Meagher) spin on Saturday night (we got so entranced that we missed the 8pm howl) along with a little Brothers of Brass (Denver band that sound like a New Orleans band). Sunday was Widespread Panic (Never Miss A Sunday) and Jack Johnson from a previous night. Any or all were and are worth your time moving forward. Garth Brooks was on the Billy Joel Sirius station (meaning my wife drove to Littleton in her car) playing his favorite Billy Joel songs and it was fun to listen to his personal touch. Here was his #1 by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBPbOjA_cWg Denver was 70 on Saturday, and dropped to 21 on Sunday night. Love Colorado weather. Let’s talk more about Chris Toler though. He is a Denver guy who lives in Key West. When we go to Key West, my wife becomes a little bit of a stalker. But, if she is going to stalk someone, he is the right musician. He plays guitar, does the coolest looping and rapping you have ever heard, has a very unique voice in his own right, and has no interest in becoming famous. He could win The Voice right now, but just is a Key West dude happy with playing the local bars. Life is good for him. Check him out though. And he doesn’t say “yes.” He says “YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSSSSSSSS.” Say it out loud. He says it frequently during his gigs. It is so cool and refreshing. I am now knee deep into The Wire Season 1, and the explanation of chess to the street kids is one of my favorite parts thus far. Hearing him explain how the queen is all powerful and the king can’t do much is epic. Explaining how a pawn can BECOME a queen is also epic. Got stuck in White Men Can’t Jump again this weekend, and it has such great hustle scenes. Watched the end of Once Upon A Time IN Hollywood because Brad Pitt is so good in that movie. If you think he doesn’t deserve an Oscar, watch that movie. Great performance. I don’t really watch the HGTV network, at least I don’t think I do, but apparently it was quite a surprise when Brad Pitt showed up to help. We watched the new SNL. The virtual one. It got a little confusing when Tom Hanks signed off and said that is our show, and then it disappeared and then reappeared again, but we got through it. I like How Low Will You Go, Andre 2000, the Hal Willner tribute, the Zoom meeting debacle, Larry David doing Bernie Sanders, and, of course, my favorite…Weekend Update. Don’t worry-I won’t get too in the weeds religiously. Peter from The Sanctuary Denver always does a character or something different for his sermons for the big holidays. He did an excellent sermon on social distancing and its history in the Bible. Very interesting stuff. He talked about his love with his wife, and how they were separated for a while to be together forever. He tied that into what we are doing right now, and how we will be different and stronger after this brief sentencing/ separation to quarantine. His references Oscar Cullman, how Bill Gates and the kid stocking bananas in the grocery store were still part of our one “body” and are both important, and surprising realizations from social distancing, along with examples from the Bible about social distancing. Cool stuff. Papa John’s Papadia seems to be just a pizza folded over, but it could be me. If someone makes money off of how some of EAT an existing pizza, I might be bothered. Joseph Baena, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son, recreated his father’s pose because he has time during quarantine. Check out the picture. It doesn’t look like it. I think he needed a second opinion. The arms are in different positions. Well, at least the one they marketed outright. The one on the right on this link is what was at front and center of the articles. Misleading. https://www.google.com/search?q=joseph+baena+recreates+arnold%27s+pose&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS882US882&sxsrf=ALeKk02ul2ySNrmGwb7cBxdEQNGoyG25Tw:1586885315148&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGu4i8uOjoAhVLV80KHdQUBmwQ_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=TqPqGpjsULFt5M A zebra at a zoo had sex with a donkey and they are calling it a Zonkey. Not sure how that story made my list, but I already typed the damn thing. I read an interesting article about how Trump didn’t really beat Hillary as much as he took almost all of the votes where someone disliked BOTH candidates. So, basically he was less hated, rather than more liked. Anyway, apparently, he will have to do the same thing to get re-elected. He will have to make us slightly dislike Joe Biden (or increase our paranoia about how old he is). Handwritten lyrics to Hey Jude were auctioned off for over $900k, and I have to say, that the price actually seems a little LOW to me on this one. I am sometimes floored by an auction price, but this one I was like “Hmmm. I would have paid that if I had that under the mattress and a private jet.” My wife finally watched the Schitt’s Creek ending. It was much shorter than I expected, or then it should have been, but they compressed everything pretty well. I would never watch the show on my own, but it definitely wasn’t the worst show my wife went on her way with. It snowed for like a day and a half in Denver, and we got like three inches. Weak. I either want a bunch of snow, or no snow. Hate the teasing snow. I call it “weak snow.” But, I mainly criticized the snow more when it meant I could stay at home from work with it. Pointless now. I talk about the magical Melting Pot garlic seasoning all the time. When we went for pickup fondue at Melting Pot, and there was a guy behind me in line (about 6-7 feet away of course) who came ONLY to buy two containers of that seasoning. Maybe we have time to listen to more music, maybe he is just rewriting the record books, but it is impressive whatever it is. Drake tied Mariah Carey for most debut #1 hits with his third, and tied the Beatles for other records about most hits in top ten at same time, #1 records, #1 songs, yada yada yada. I can’t keep track of his records. Dude is blazing a large personal trail. We had a little snow as I mentioned, but our quarantine has been quiet with mother nature thus far. I can’t imagine being in the Southeast, where storms are adding insult to injury. That is one cool human being. Delta Airlines will temporarily load their planes from the back to front during this pandemic, meaning they are loading the plane the way it makes sense to all of us right now, before, forever. Keep doing it. Sorry it took a pandemic for you to figure that out.
- THE FILLERBUSTER: I spent Thursday and Friday having the Masters replays on in the background while working. Very relaxing. I didn’t make my wife watch last year’s Tiger win on Sunday, as I am trying to let her fully enjoy this sports break before the shit hits the fan again. I haven’t shaved in a week, and pretty sure my wife doesn’t like that. I will shave it once I start looking too much like Santa Claus. I noticed Deion Sanders has the same problem. Very white beard for Prime Time. My wife just showed me a video filmed right by her parents’ old house in Genessee. Video starts with a cute raccoon in a yard. !0 seconds later, a mountain lion goes by the camera with the raccoon in its jaws. Reality TV. I find it entertaining when Alexa turns on and we don’t know what combination of words triggered it. Kind of like when you hit three accidental keys on your computer keyboard and your screen does crazy things. Linds and I finally decided to do a yard work day. I think we are now deciding between the refined or “natural” yard look, with my vote firmly being in the latter category. If refined wins, I guess I will be calling some landscaping companies, because I am not doing it. I got the lawnmower to start amazingly, and I guess I should write a review of Toro Lawnmowers after this blog, as I can’t believe that hand-me-down is still trucking. That was a very big moment during my quarantine…whether I had to watch my yard become a field because of a non-working mower. I am waiting for that jogging day when I somehow run farther than the previous day, but it hasn’t happened yet. TRX is working fine though. Still continuing on the Spanish lessons well, and not as productive on the keyboard refresh or guitar learn, but that will uptick this week. I think my wife and I are finally in a cadence for The Wire, and I only ask for one episode every two days. When I did curbside pickup for groceries, I felt like I was going out into the wild. My cats won’t eat the most random flavors for their food. HOW do we know exactly what animals like and don’t like? I would like to be part of the process if we re-do this logic. And how do we make the cats understand we are all on quarantine, so maybe they CAN’T get the brand names they could before. Geez. Show some respect. My wife is taking away some of my ESPN channels to save on the monthly bill, and that makes sense, and I probably DO have way too many sports channels already. I have decided to overhaul my Google Docs, and that could take me the full quarantine time if I did nothing else at all. Terminix came over to do their thing, and weird giving directions to a guy from 10 feet away and then going inside. I haven’t bartended regularly for years, but for some reason, I am having bartending dreams again. It is very frustrating serving people who aren’t there with drinks that won’t pour and giving change from a drawer that doesn’t exist. Before the snow hit and we still had nice weather, my wife and I played Scattergories and Scrabble on the front porch. Playing games against my wife is so depressing. I swear I am pretty smart, and then she just smokes me. Quarantine is a dangerous time to get hooked into movies at random times during the day or night. This weekend, we got sucked into Hunger Games AGAIN. How? It was HER freaking movie, and suddenly I like it. Horrible. I feel like Catniss’s (that is a lot of s’s) scoring rounds are similar to a mini-Rocky training montage. My wife thoughtfully got me an Easter basket. Along with some skin and toiletries that are for the mature person (I feel like they are coming more and more from her now-hint from wife), I got a new wallet and a glass JUST for IPA beers. What a lady. We are thinking about using this time to get a dog. No better time, right? When looking up things about cats and dogs, I discovered there is such a thing as “feline bullying.” My black cat would be the one who would pull that off. Close to pulling the trigger on a Golden Retriever, but I still worry about logistics on the flip side. My brother told me his mask for this is an Elevate training mask. This is one dude who doesn’t have to worry about someone breaking the social distancing parameters. Picture a 6’8” monstrously muscular dude walking around town with an Elevate mask. No problems on his watch. He lives in the county in Jersey that is doubling each day, so their apex is apparently NOT now. Good time to be intimidating on the street doing essential business. I have noticed that some people really, really stink at being responsive working remotely. What are you DOING? Taking a long walk? Ok. On PTO? Probably not. You have to be SOMEWHERE close to your computer. As far as my workouts, I did my run of every three months research into new songs. Below are the new recruits that I will be uploading today. Very excited when I bring new songs onboard.
Wasn’t this prophetic, from the greatest movie of all time?
Also, speaking of masks, my buddy’s partner (Erik and Dan) decided to head to the grocery store in this outfit.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK:
ALTERNATE CATEGORIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT:
- THE BEST WORKOUT SONG EVER FOR THIS WEEK (because the best song this week IS the best song ever…for now):
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK
- LINKS TO SAVE YOU TIME IN LIFE
- TRAVEL
- THIS WEEK’S LIST
- MY NUMBERS
- GONE FISHING (the riddle for money):
- PICS BY MY PIXEL (pictures from my phone):
- LIFEGUARD ENTRY:
- NHL
STREAMS I RECOMMEND:
Jack Johnson https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=529047541131730&external_log_id=1eaeb3b02980f5455bc3f4667b00421f&q=jack%20johnson
Widespread Panic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e87nphZmGBc
DJ Rob https://www.facebook.com/rob.meagher.9
Brothers of Brass https://www.facebook.com/denverbrassband/
Motet https://www.facebook.com/groups/motetfunkfam/
Billy Strings https://www.facebook.com/billystrings1/
This is the eulogy my wife wrote for a friend, Joe, we just lost. Very touching.
I guess it took me a week to get my thoughts together.
The day you moved in, Annette and I had never met you. You had come highly recommended by nick, who knew the empty room for rent in my condo was your ticket out of the El Paso desert and into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We took the first of many trips to pub on penn, and just like that, we became lifelong friends. We had so many adventures, wing nights, snowball fights, Benny Blancos, baseball games, capital hill exploring, Sunday night HBO with family meals, beer pong and shot skis in the kitchen (remember we even got my dad to do one on his 60th birthday!), I could go on and on. You became one of my family and friends with all of my friends. You treated my sister and brother like they were yours and my parents and their home stood in when you couldn’t make it home for holidays or special occasions; though you probably were just there for the puppy cuddles and the Mountain View’s. When Olive came to live with us, she would only poop if you or Mark walked her, and you taught her how exciting squirrels are (I’m sure Avery appreciates that). You always knew how to have fun, make me laugh, make everyone feel loved. I think you hugged me almost every day we lived together. Your way of cheering up someone when they were sad was to blow bubbles on them. Who’s problems wouldn’t that fix?!? After we moved out of Pennsylvania, we didn’t see each other everyday anymore but we stayed connected. It didn’t matter how long it had been we always picked up where we left off. You were still there for me whether we reunited at Bills or at my new house. The last pictures I have of you are there, you with olive. I loved that I was traveling so much recently that I got to see you often, and you introduced me to everyone at timberline-every time-as your roommate. Like the impressions you made in the fresh powder each time it fell, you have left your mark on my life. I so vividly recall your voice and your laugh, and I hope that never fades. I promise never to forget your compassion for others and will try to live by your example. Fly high, snow angel. Til we meet again.
The theme? Again, Chris Toler doesn’t say yes. He says YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. My wife and I debated on spelling of that and that is what I came up with. We should all too. Best singer I have heard who is just happy playing in bars in a small beach town. No interest in getting big. Sad in a way, but also it is his life. And Key West doesn’t exactly suck. Talented dude though and worth a look. He is also the coolest looper I have heard ever.
And our weekly reminder of the greatest sequel ever made coming out this summer…errr…this Christmas (thanks Covid)… Top Gun 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epgkqPJ_bc0
MWTILMGBDEOASMGUWGEMCDFTWBIPMFBRMBWC
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed. Remember two things. First, feed yourself, feed your family, but always, always remember to…feed the wolf. Second, if you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker. Will I blog again? That is a CLOWN question, bro. As one shepherd said to the other shepherd, let’s get the flock out of here.
| THROW IT BACK IN THE POND |
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25 day nba program announced
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| not into backgrounds on zoom |
Px wallet
Wife wants sopranos now too
Laughing on video stream
Bulls fire gm
Larson fired for racial slur
Yanks hank Steinbrenner dies at 63
World Series MVP Steve Pearce retires, says red sox didn’t cheat