Too Much Wine...

I am utterly exhausted.  Not sure if it was the getting up at 4 am to get ready for practice yesterday morning or staying out until 12:15 am last night or helping Paul and Jenny polish off three bottles of wine, but part of me thinks it was a combination of all three.

Bottle number one was a bottle of white Pinot Noir - it wasn't my favorite but it grew on me a little bit.  Tasted like a white wine.  For those of you who are thinking "This guy's a real doofus, Pinot Noir is a red wine!" - take a listen.  The color of wine comes from the skin of the grapes.  Red wine is made from red grapes and the skins are left on during fermentation.  Therefore, in order to make a white wine out of red grapes, you must remove the skins prior to fermentation.  There's your fun fact of the day, for free.

Bottle number two was an awesome red Pinot Noir from the Kosta Browne Winery.  It was smooth and had hints of cherry and a dry finish.  I have never been wine tasting and have never considered myself a connoisseur by any means, but there are some things I can taste, and it was pretty evident - or so it seemed.

I like to read and research the wine I drink in order to try to educate myself as to what a wine is supposed to look, taste, and smell like.  I think it makes me feel as though I've learned something while throwing back glasses of wine.

On the agenda tonight is another trip to NYC to meet up with my mother at a Mediterranean restaurant - not sure what to expect but I hope they have baklava - that shit is bomb.

Practice went well today - the pitchers threw the ball pretty well.  Velocity was up for the guys who threw live and they located pretty well.  Not bad for their first time out this spring.  Tomorrow is another 8am practice, so I get to sleep in until 6:30 am.  Sweet.

Time to count some sheep for a few.

Treacherous

Headed down to Battery Park City to meet up with Paul and Jenny and baby Isabella.

Gotta stop by Dinosaur BBQ to pick up dessert - you guessed it - Peanut Butter Pie.

Slow sledding out there.  Drive safe.

Wednesday Night Television

I watch as much sports as I can on any given evening.  However, on Wednesday nights, ABC (Ch. 7) has a pretty good lineup from 8:00pm to 9:30pm.  (I flip back and forth during commercials, and DVR the shows on ABC in case I mistime the commercials).

At 8:00 is "The Middle" - a show about a semi-dysfunctional family trying to make right with one another in small-town Indiana.  The dad (played by Neil Flynn) is a huge Colts fan, so I guess there's some sports incorporated into the show.  Their youngest son, Brick (12-year-old Atticus Shaffer) might be one of the funniest/smartest kids on television.  Give the show a chance, I laugh like an idiot.

At 8:30 is "Better With You" - a show about two sister at different places in their respective lives.  Their father, Joel (Kurt Fuller), is hilarious as is his wife, Vicky (Debra Jo Rupp - mother on "That 70's Show").  It's got a chance, just waiting for that breakout episode.

At 9:00 is "Modern Family" - if you haven't seen or heard about this show, climb out from underneath that rock and reintroduce yourself to the world.  It's about three different families and the trials and tribulations they face in their lives.  Al Bundy, I mean Ed O'Neill (Jay), is married to loud-mouthed Sofía Vergara (Gloria) to go along with her son, Manny.  The Dunphy's (Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell) have three children with three different perspectives on things.  Then there's the gay couple (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet) raising an adopted Asian baby named Lily.  It's a riot, and I DVR this one as well.  It is in it's second season, and hopefully Santa gets me the first season for Christmas. (Lindsay saw Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Mitchell, at The Standard while at brunch with Paul and Jenny)

Back to the shows!

Head Automatica; Muse; Twitter

  Wednesday night, I ventured into unfamiliar land to see one of the bands I've seen many times live, Head Automatica.  Despite the fact that they haven't put out an album in about four years, I still had an interest in seeing them.  There is also something to be said for seeing live music.  The show was in Brooklyn, a far cry from the Bronx - it's mostly full of fashion-forward, preppy, hipster wannabes who are looking for approval from their peers.  And they all dress weird as can be.  Anything seems to go in NYC, but Brooklyn is a different beast.  Anything goes means anything goes.  There is no right or wrong way to dress, act, eat, etc. etc. 

  The concert was good for the most part, Daryl (frontman for HA and GlassJAw) sounded good and they played a lot of new songs from their so-called "new album".  I saw them a year and a half ago, and they said the same things before they played the same songs.  I am a fan of music in general, and Daryl's music is a vice of mine.  But for the love of God, put out some new music already. 

  Another band I am a huge fan of is MUSE.  Although I have never seen them live, I have all their albums and never get sick of listening to them.  Saturday, however, I break my drought and will head to Nassau Coliseum to take it all in.  They have been dubbed "the best live band" year after year and I am geeked up to see them.  It's a shame they have to play at the worst standing structure in Long Island.  The Coliseum is jokingly known as the Mausoleum because of the way it looks and the condition it's in.

  All kidding aside, this is the most excited I've been for a concert since Lindsay and myself took a trip to Boston with Paul and Jenny to see The Killers.  That show was amazing.  More amazingly, we flew there - a nice little 45 minute flight from LaGuardia.

  One thing I want to sound off on is Twitter.  I'm guilty - I have an account, though I rarely check it or update it.  I go on once a month or so and I'll stay on continuously for 20 minutes at the most.  There has to be something better for mere plebes like you and me to do than post 140 character messages to one another.  I'm also guilty of updating my Facebook status quite often, but I don't make plans on Facebook.  I follow a lot of the television shows I regularly watch (Always Sunny, Modern Family) to keep up to date on what's going on.  I keep the world (those who give a shit what I'm doing) abreast as to my thoughts and feelings or how my day might be going.  It's a great medium to promote sports teams and college events, and also to get back in touch with people you haven't seen or heard from for years.  And then you realize why you haven't been in touch with them - they still think they're in high school with some of the crap they write.

  It goes back to a post I had about abbreviating words and sentences, lack of punctuation, and overall ignorance by said users.  Is it that hard to write a proper sentence or make a little bit of sense while typing out your thoughts?  If you're going to spout off about every Tom, Dick, and Harry and everything else you find the need to let everyone know, at least write it in English. 

  I guess blogging is sort of the same type of thing as Twitter or Facebook, but you choose to read this (I think).  I have to head out and go to the women's soccer game, where I might go through my phone and delete everyone I have no interest in speaking to.  Then, when I get a free hour, I will go through my Facebook and delete those people who's posts make me cringe.

  I bid you adieu, blog-world.  Go Yankees!

Misc.

Home of the 2010 MAAC Baseball Championships.  #1 Canisius, #2 Marist, #3 Rider, #4 Manhattan.  Same field as last year, different seeding, hoping for different results.

Coaches get their own rooms.  To quote the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "Woooooooo!!"  Just got up from a little siesta and buzzed the facial growth.  Couldn't really be good or bad luck, we won two and lost one since the last time I buzzed it.  Gonna wait to get ready for the dinner at 7:30pm because I sweat like an animal, even in the hotel air conditioning.

Listening to a wide array of music on this laptops version of iTunes, my home laptop has more, since this one was wiped clean.  It's pretty much as loud as it goes, which may ultimately end the life of this here laptop.  This thing is at least 8 years old, running on it's last legs.  Want to get inside my head, see what kind of music I'm listening to?  Here's a list of the past 8 songs I've listened to: "Shoot Frank" by Cage ft. Daryl Palumbo;  "We'rewolf" by Every Time I Die; "Supermassive Black Hole" by MUSE; "The Leaving Song Pt. 2" by AFI; "1,000,000" by Nine Inch Nails; "Mother Lover" by The Lonely Island; "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" by Eric Church; "1901" by Phoenix.  Got some indie/punk/rap, some metal/hardcore, some country, some industrial rock, some rock, some funny spoof rap, and whatever the hell Phoenix is considered, alternative rock maybe?  I actually dislike this song, but for some reason I can't turn it off. 

It's 6:09pm, still got some time before I dress up for this dinner - it's a banquet at the Holiday Inn, "Pleasing people the world over". (Tagline Guru)  Pretty cool site, who knew someone would dedicate an entire website to taglines.  I guess the same can be said for me, how the hell do I have the attention span to continue blogging.  Here's some cool ones, in my opinion, and you're reading my blog, so tough crap if you don't want my opinion:  "When it rains, it pours" is Morton Salt (my father loves salt, on everything, and I guess so do I - salt on a cucumber, try it); "Wake up and drive" is Mitsubishi's, which is pretty important advice - it's tough to drive when you're not awake; "The best kept automotive secret in America" is Peugeot - they really are a secret, I've never even heard of them/that - it's  probably something above my social/economic class - just looked it up, about $35,000 USD, or £24,500; one more, lets see here; here's a jingle, "I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper, we're a pepper, wouldn't ya like to be a pepper too, I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper, if you drink Dr. Pepper you're a pepper too" is a Dr. Pepper jingle from the 1970's.  Kinda catchy.  Just watched the YouTube video of it.

 Birthday shout-outs real quick - none of my Facebook friends birthday today.

Mike Myers, the voice of Shrek turns 47 today.  He also starred in Wayne's World, the Austin Powers movies, and a recent favorite movie of mine, Inglorious Basterds.  Oh, behave!

 
Stacy London, star of one of Lindsay's favorite shows, What Not to Wear, on TLC, turns 41 today.  Good thing Lindsay hasn't nominated me for that show, I pretty much wear mesh shorts and t-shirts to work every day.  I have clothes that are nice, but really only wear them when we go out to dinner or out with  Paul and Jenny. 





Oh, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson would have turned 208 today.  Why they put that on the website is beyond me.  (All birthday's I post about I get from www.myfamousbirthdays.com).

OK, time to freshen up and dress it up.  Suit is hanging up, just gotta tie this tie - that'll take 20 minutes.

I hope the food's good, that root beer float from A&W was good this afternoon, but the burger didn't really fill me up.

Trent Reznor

Happy 45th Birthday to Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor! 

NIN happens to be one of my favorite bands of all time.  Although people's view of the band is often times distorted, they are in all reality, a great band - well, technically they really aren't a band at all, as Trent Reznor is the only actual member of NIN.  He simply assembles a live band to perform with him every album, and when he tours, the members come and go.  NIN has been nominated for 12 Grammy Awards, only winning two:  "Wish" (1992) and "Happiness in Slavery" (1995).  Two of my favorite songs are "Discipline" from The Slip (which is available free online HERE) and "Burn" off 1994's Natural Born Killers soundtrack and also as a Bonus Track on the tenth anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Downward Spiral. 

They began in 1988, and have been going strong since - putting out eight major label releases since 1989.  The longest gap between albums was from 2002's double-CD The Fragile to 2005's With Teeth.  Here's a list of their studio albums:  Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, With Teeth, Year Zero, Ghosts I-IV, and The Slip.  All these albums have a similar electronic feel to them, and they are all great in their own way.

An often misunderstood fact about NIN - "Hurt" was recorded for Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral in 1994.  In 2002, the legendary Johnny Cash covered this song for his 2002 release, American IV:  The Man Comes Around.  Many people think that NIN covered the song - not the case!  Here are the links to both videos of "Hurt":  NIN's "Hurt" (live)  --  Johnny Cash's "Hurt".

Seen them several times, every time is great.  The last time was actually with Paul and Jenny and Jess.  Lots of lights, lots of noise, lots of people - some guy actually rung his shirt out to get rid of the sweat that was soaked in it, and some other guy tripped over the ATM machine (which was 4' tall).

Overall, NIN is great - take it or leave it.  And Happy Birthday Trent Reznor!! 

Sunday Funday

Not so fun for the Yankees.  After winning the first two games of their series with the Twins, the immortal one, Mariano Rivera walked in a run with the bases loaded and followed that up by allowing a grand slam to Jason Kubel, as the Yankees blew a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning today in the Bronx, eventually falling 6-3 to the Twins.  I watched from the seventh inning on, and was in total shock when Rivera blew it.  Hey, the guy is human.  He just fools people into believing he isn't.  Jon Rauch let up some hits in the 9th, but got Jeter swinging, Gardener swinging, and Teixeira looking to end it.  They must have been scared by his tattoos.

On a lighter note, brunch with Paul and Jenny was good - even though the Bloody Mary's we ordered had bird food in them.  Or so it seemed - there was so much pepper corns, and all other sorts of stuff that looked like bird food in it, it made it almost undrinkable.  It was a shame because the BM was actually pretty good.  But then again, I've only had a BM two other times, and both were made by a person under the influence of alcohol.  The omelet was great - had bacon and cheddar.  Lindsay got goat cheese and mushrooms.  And they made these donuts, cinnamon sugar, holy crap.  I could have eaten 45 of them.  Easy.

In our celebrity sighting of the day, while at the Beer Garden at The Standard after our brunch, Lindsay and Jenny wandered off to the restroom and when they came back, I was told to come take a look inside.  Thinking there was someone famous in there, I walked back in with Lindsay and saw Jesse Tyler Ferguson sitting at a table inside.  For those of you who don't know who he is, he plays Mitchell on ABC's Modern Family, probably the funniest show on television.  We were in the meatpacking district, so seeing celebrities is not too far-fetched down there.  Here's a look at who I'm talking about: 

So Sunday is almost over, weekend is almost over, and setup for graduation is almost set to begin.  Awesome!! (sarcasm).  I am exhausted, Lindsay is sleeping on the couch, Nathan is passing out on the window sill.  I am trying to hold it together enough to get this post done, take Nathan out to pee, and pass out.

See you tomorrow suckaaaaaaaa!!