Who remembers the Armenians?

Certainly not our president. Or rather, he wishes he didn't. He vetoed a bill to recognize the 1915 slaying of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey as a genocide. I mean, really, what's 1.5 million people? Bush is on a veto streak and didn't want to break it. Genocide? Nah. Healthcare for kids? Who needs it? Incidently, the title of this post is a quote from our old pal Adolf Hitler to justify his genocide on the Jews. Hmm, Bush and Hitler mentioned in the same paragraph... interesting.

Anyway, fall seems to finally have arrived, thankfully. I love brisk weather (it's my penguin nature). Work was blah, not surprisingly. Gonna be stressful tomorrow, with the baseball game crushing my usual routine.

When I got home I plunged forth into Halo 3, playing the second level on Legendary difficulty, which lives up to the name. I tell you, playing that stuff co-op is soo much easier than alone. I may try to play through the whole damn campaign alone, but I may run out of steam before that. Still, I'm really enjoying the game now. It's engrossing.

Too much entertainment

So my weekend continued to be fun after my Sunday drive. I got called into work on Monday and had a nice 12 hour shift. Ohh yeah, nothing better. I did get to watch most of the stuff I usually watch on Monday nights, How I met Your Mother (still excellent) and Heroes, which I wish I could just wait and watch in a marathon at the end of the season, but I can't wait. It's soooo damn good.

I also watched a lot of the Cowboys-Bills game. I was rooting for the Bills, both in order to win my fantasy game and to spite Mike. Neither payed any dividends. The Bills screwed themselves and the Cowboys got just enough luck to turn a certain loss into a win. Screwy. I still think the Steelers are better.

Anyway, I finally did get to relax some today. Trip and I had some BBQ for dinner and then played some NHL 08. High quality game, really feels like hockey. I schooled Trip, but tried the A.I. tonight and yesh, not pretty. I also played some Halo 3, although not exactly the way I wanted. But I managed to achieve officer status finally.

I also downloaded Puzzle Quest, which is pretty sweet. It's like a puzzle game with a RPG thrown in as spice. Way too many good games coming out now. Halo 3, NHL, Puzzle Quest... I want to get The Orange Box, which has three distinct games in it, but seems a little silly with all the stuff I've already got. Also Virtua Fighter 5 comes out at the end of the month and I'm def. getting that. I'm inundated.

I also picked up the new Douglas Coupland book, The Gum Thief. I'm about a third of the way through and his insight into the lives of the underemployed is impressive. That is to say, he writes about the stuff I think a lot. Which is both amazing and sad.

Why not commute for fun?

Maybe I should just quit watching football. I slept through the Steelers game today and they dominate Seattle, I'm winning my fantasy game until I tune into the second half of the Bears game and Desmond Clark catches a TD to make my 12-point lead a 1-point deficit. Stunned. Now I need Lee Evans to outscore the Dallas defense by two points... I don't like my chances.

It's been that kind of weekend tho. Everything I go to do has not turned out how I wanted this weekend. An example you ask? Well last night I was told I needed to work today (which is a long drawn out story that I will not bother with) so I drive in to work and find that Misty is already there to do the job, in spite of everyone's expectations. So I got a nice two hours in the car today for no reason at all.

I think I'm gonna open a bottle of wine and finish it. Cheers.

Overly aware of my own insignificance

It's been a fairly shitty day. Both the Steelers and The Evil Penguin lost. Steelers pissed the game away and the Penguin was never really in it. Ohh and the Mets lost, dropping a seven game lead in the last couple of week. I doomed them by rooting for them I suppose.

I did enjoy playing some Halo 3 for a while... yep, that's the highlight of my life, a video game.

Finishing the fight

No time for blogging, I'm playing Halo 3. It's awesome. It's a simple return to all the things I loved about the old Halo games with a few new tweaks to make it even better. I tried some of the online coop the other night with Trip and Danny and it's sweet. I wish I had more time to do that. Now I'm forced to settle for randomly shooting tards in multiplayer... ok so it's not that bad. Lovin' it!

Black sun in a white world

Soooooooo tonight is the night that Halo 3 drops. Yes, I'm completely aware of how nerdy I am. I care not, for I have nothing to prove. Nerdy is where it's at folks. I will be in waiting in line with my fellow geeks at my local Gamestop. I'm hoping my stomach settles down a bit, it's been in an uproar all day.

Part of that may be that I had to rise early to carry my Grandma to the doctor. I'm not good at pre-noon times. After I finished with that I went to get a haircut. Now there are four women cutting hair at the mall. Three of these woman fall within the standards I have for attractiveness. Guess which one cuts my hair? Ding, the one who looks like she has a dog's ass for a face. Also, she seems to think "I want to keep most of the length on top, just trim it." to mean cut off 3/4 of it. These are the reasons I wear a hat all the time.

In fantasy football news, The Evil Penguin has a hefty 192-105 lead heading into Monday night football, with only Deuce McAllister left to play for my opponent, Warchant. Looking pretty good. My team finally showed up for the most part, although Lee Evans and Maurice Jones-Drew continue to freeze out the Evil Penguin squad.

The Steelers also steamrolled the Niners and are 3-0! We may be for real! It's good stuff. We got the Cardinals next week in Arizona. That's not a gimme, considering that their coach, Ken Wisenhut, was offensive coordinator last year. Lots of motivation for him to win, but I'm not sure their defense can get it done.

Are you shitting me?

Work really sucked tonight. Just every-fucking-thing being annoying. It's a pain in the ass. Too much nonsense. I have to attend one of three sexual harassment seminars, all of which are scheduled in the a.m. How convenient to the nocturnal. Also, fuck sexual harassment training, it's fucking stupid. I haven't harassed anyone and really, only see like three people when I work.

I watched Because I Said So last night, because it had lots of attractive women in it. It was ok, not especially great (Meh.). I also watched a couple of Upright Citizen's Brigade, Season 2 episodes. I was lured into buying it the other night when I hung with Kevin and Reed and we hit Walmart. I love the UCB, great absurd humor. The mythos is awesome. Astronauts are social pariahs, Supercool is a drug and The Titte Bros. are a popular band. Very silly.

I'm off to watch Hot Fuzz now, ta.

Kills the people he once saved

This looks totally badass.

Dreadful

It was a bad weekend for fantasy football. The Evil Penguin was dealt a loss by the rookie Fish Eyes... the horror. It wasn't close. By the end of the 1pm games I knew I was done and went to get dinner. Bleah. Ahh well, on to next week. At least the Steelers won in dominating fashion.

I haven't posted a lot lately. Seems like all my time is accounted for, of late, although I have no idea what I'm actually doing with it.

See what all the howlin's for

In deference to my non-football fan readers, I will start with topics other than my fantasy team. Not that there is a lot to report. It's been a relatively blah kinda time. I'm suffering from some kind of emotional constipation and just having difficulty finding joy in anything. Not really sure why, just nothing is overly exciting of late. I dunno, maybe I'm overstating it, but I think since my vacation is over and I've nothing major to look forward to until Dec. I'm just feeling depressed.

I did finish the new William Gibson book, Spook Country, which is a sorta sequel to Pattern Recognition (one of my top five of all time). It didn't wow me. It took forever to claw my way into it and only really captivated me in the final 100 or so pages. Still it's an interesting concept and Gibson knows how to turn a phrase, so it coulda been a lot worse. I'm going to say +1 chainmail, but only because of my deep love of Gibson.

On to the football! It was a good weekend on the gridiron with both the Steelers and The Evil Penguin notching wins. Pittsburgh looked pretty damn good routing Cleveland. Here's hoping that is going to be the norm this season. The Evil Penguin struggled out of the gates, but came on strong late to condemn Heavens Own. Here's to Lamont Jordan racking up the yardage.

Anyway I'm gonna go find something to read while defragging my hard drive.

Expressway to your skull

Had an annoying night at work. Little bullshit piling on that will end up pissing me off. That catapulted me into a depressive state, which sucked. I finally picked myself up a little after getting home and listening to some NFL related podcasts. Tomorrow being opening day helped.

I'm finally starting to recover from the weekend. Sunday I worked and then stayed up all night before heading to Fayetteville to hang with Gabe, Kelly and Cameron. We had a good time and I was surprisingly not a total bastard. We stopped for some PF Chang's on the way home and that was tasty. I finally got some sleep at 8pm after around 30 hours of being awake.

I then slept for more or less 16 solid hours. That tied my all time record I do believe (achieved in college in a competitive sleep off against Noel). I finally got my car street legal after rising and then spent too much money on clothes. Gotta love end of summer sales.

Anyway now I'm eagerly waiting to see some real football tomorrow, even if I do have to work through it. I'm thinking the Colts are gonna win the game, just because history says they will. I'm also hoping for Reggie Bush to have a bad game, as Kevin will be starting him against me this week.

His moment of power and fame

Hooray, I get to rise early tomorrow. Going to Fayetteville to visit my brother. Sigh, I've been booked for like the last month doing stuff every weekend. I shouldn't complain, I suppose. It's nice to feel like I have a large contingent of people not only willing to put up with me, but who make an actual effort to be in my presence.

Still it can be tiring for someone who is heavy on the antisocial tendencies. I should probably just shut my noise tube and get over it. Although I do proclaim loudly to anyone who will listen that next weekend is sacred and will be a day of rest, but probably not relaxation. Nay, I will be pouring over fantasy stats all day and reveling in the glory that is NFL football. I get so giddy this time of year.

It was nice to have meaningful games being played this weekend a la the collegiate realm, but it's not the same as the pro game. I face Heavens Own in the opening weekend and believe The Evil Penguin can crush them under his razor-clawed flipper and dispatch these holy infidels back to whatever "heaven" they call home.

Curious development

So it has been brought to my attention that my draft rankings were pretty much in the exact same order as the draft itself (with only Heavens Own rising three spots). This was purely unintentional and just the way things panned out in my opinion, which has been known to be wrong on occasion.

While I am occasionally concerned that teams with one of the premier running backs have a bit of an unfair advantage, I wouldn't say it makes the whole draft unfair. And I wouldn't say a team with the best RB in the game is a shoo in to the championship, although it certainly helps. Between injuries and little known players coming out of nowhere, anything can happen.

One through 10

I know some of you are waiting on my fantasy football ratings (and some of you definitely aren't). But here they are, either way. Before I'd start I'd like to note that this is the most even draft we've had in the Techmo Lucky Break League and ranking them is incredibly difficult. Anyone could win and if a couple of things pan out or an injury occurs these will be way off. Still, as of two days after the draft, here's how I think things are:

1. Team Vipperman - He had LaDainian Tomlinson and a powerhouse trio of WRs. I don't know how Nick manages it, but he always has a monster draft. His biggest questions is his second RB, E. James. No guarantees, but Team Vip looks like a contender.
2. Warchant - Almost rated Cal first, it's really close. His WRs could be a bit better, with TO being the only standout. But he does have a nice stable of RBs and Carson Palmer. Gonna be a tough opponent.
   
3. The Evil Penguin - Honestly I could have rated myself a couple of spots lower and it wouldn't be unreasonable, but I believe in my guys. My RBs are pretty solid (so far) and my starting WRs are good as well. MY WR depth could be better, but I don't have a glaring fault out of the draft, although I really need Maurice Jones-Drew to come through again this season.
4. LEESBURG LEGHOUNDS - Again, I could have pretty much interchanged the 3-6 spots and been reasonable, we are all neck and neck. The Leghounds big questions are his WRs and the question of how Larry Johnson is gonna be with a less than stellar O-Line. Pretty good top to bottom.
5. DALLAS DANGLERS - Last year's champ did not have the killer draft he had last season, but remained respectable. He went with a lot of unproven talent that if it pans out could be dominant, but at this point the questions are big. Also QB could turn into a big problem if his longshots don't pay off.
   
6. Heavens Own - May be underrating the heavenly host here, but I'm allowed some flaws. He is pretty solid across the board, my biggest knock on him being depth both among RBs and WRs. If his starters stay healthy he will be in contention, but if not it could be bedlam.
7. Hudson Street Hellraisers - Solid QBs, but some questions at RB and WR. Also I'm not sold on his defenses. Again depth is the big problem here.
   
8. Innsmouth Fish-eyes - A solid rookie outing, with a couple of rookie mistakes. Running back depth is a serious concern, (particularly with Brian Westbrook). Honestly that's about the only big problem, but it's a big, big problem if things go awry.
9. St. Nick Kringles - His draft philosophy is completely different from mine, so the low ranking may be partly caused by that. Still his RBs have questions and aren't terribly deep. Of course, Peyton could pick this team up and carry them to victory.
10. The Zors - Another rookie, who has some questions on his squad. His RB depth is suspect (particularly with Portis). Also not sure about his defenses being top notch.
    

Well there you have it. I would like to restate that there are no gimmes this season. Every week you need your team to show up or you are gonna suffer an ignominous defeat. It's gonna be nerve racking, but I gotta tell you, I'm gonna win this motherfucker. The Evil Penguin refuses to lose!

Filled with football

Been a long day. I didn't get to sleep as much as I would have liked after a totally hellish night of work. I then got up and headed on down to the Vipperman residence for the Techmo Lucky Breaks League fantasy football draft. Draft was fun, but longish. I think I did pretty well, but there was no one who was that bad. It's anybodies guess. I'll probably rank the drafts a little later on, but right now I'm too beat to bother.

Once more into the breach

I go back to work today. Blah. I could use another week off. Alas.

The last couple of days I've kept myself busy. I cleaned my room up some (it was filthy) and I have been trying to take care of some last minute fantasy football stuff for this weekend's draft. I'm trying to get t-shirt's hooked up, but there seems to be road blocks at every turn. Ahh well.

I also am trying to cram in as much fantasy knowledge as possible, although it's hard to come by. Too much crap out there and most of it's for beginners. I know to wait until late to draft a kicker, I need more substantial information.

Boop

I have returned from my beach trip and must say that it was quite awesome. Everyone seemed to have a great time start to finish, myself included. I drank too much, got too much sun on the first day and tore the hell out of my tender feet. Ohh and I petted a baby tiger (no that's not a euphemism), which was a lot more fun than I initially thought it was gonna be, despite some serious time constraints.

My drive back was an exercise in frustration and I took a wrong turn early and had to backtrack and then got routed wrong again later taking alternate 220 through the backwater of N.C. instead of cruising comfortably at 75 m.p.h. I would attempt to recreate the cursing that went on, but fear that it may strike the more faint hearted blind in its fury.

Today Trip and I went to see Superbad, which was so fucking funny. My only complaint is that it lacked gratuitous boobage. Still, it lived up to the hype and for that it receives filet mignon stature with headcavingly orgasmic potential.

Love those Myrtle Beach waves

I am heading to the beach, folks, for some well deserved R and R.

Go Steely McBeam!

Only two more work days to go! Of course, I still haven't packed. That will be a last minute activity I suppose. Ahh well.

So it's fucking hot. Man I hate the heat. I wake up sweating. You aren't supposed to sweat when you sleep, the whole point of sleeping is the opposite of sweating. It's brutal. At least I have an air conditioned car now. If I was still driving the Jeep I would have killed someone at work by now.

So some of you have heard of the new Steelers' mascot, Steely McBeam. I have ot admit I was put off by him initially, that is, until I heard his porn star-esque name. He's goofy, but still better than the Cowboys' guy... He's not wearing chaps after all. I would have preferred cheerleaders, but bah, who cares? Football is upon us and we should all drink deep it's heady flavor!

I'm the champ!

"N****s want me dead,
but they scared to step to me.
Rip your guts out,
like a hysterectomy."
- Ghostface Killah

Thought I'd start things off with some poetry. It's rather new school, I suppose. Striking.

I spent a large portion of the night sitting in front of my computer and listening to music. I've been too wrapped up with podcasts of late and have neglected the joys of music. I put together a nice mix for the beach drive and whatnot. Only four workdays until vacation.

I also switched up some music on my iPod to tune into the laid back party vibe of the beach, as opposed to my usual need for depressive or angry music.

I still need to get started packing... May do that tomorrow. We'll see.