Who Buys This Crap?

Over the past few weeks I crisscrossed the country, flying to Denver, then to Seattle, then to LA, then back home. On the plane I flipped through the Sky Mall catalog a lot. Most of the products seem ok, but there is one business - Toscano - that sells some of the craziest things I've ever seen. Case in point: the Big Foot Garden Sculpture (pictured below).


For only $98.95 (+SH) you can have your very own Yeti sculpture to put... well, who knows where you'd put it. Believe it or not, this sculpture has a perfect 5 star rating from its 4 reviewers. For example, mikejp from Denver writes:

this item is a true work of art.
it is realistic and fine details just add to
this one of a kind piece.

Uh, if you say so, mikejp. In any case, I can't link to the item, but go to skymall and search for Big Foot Garden Sculpture if you want to read more about this true work of art. Better yet, search for "Toscano." They have a ton of unforgettable products.

Greek

On Friday I flew to LA to spend some time with friends. One of my friends, Carter, works as a producer and writer for the show Greek on ABC Family. He gave me a tour of the set and I got a chance to watch them film a scene for an upcoming show. It was a thrill. First, here's a behind-the-scenes video that features Carter. After the video are some pictures we took on the set.

At Dobler's with Carter.

With Spencer Grammer, star of the show.

With Amber Stevens, another star of the show.

Great Team Names

This article (post?) has some great names for co-rec teams. As a member of numerous co-rec sports teams in the past few years I appreciate the suggestions and wish I had had them before we ended up using some lame names. Here's hoping I can get our kickball team name changed to Multiple Scorgasm.

In case you are too lazy to click on the link, here are a few of my favorites/less offensive ones*:

• I Scored With Your Mom (Baseball/Softball)
• Freebasers (Baseball/Softball)
• Back Dat Pass Up (Football/Soccer)
• Multiple Scorgasm (Any Sport)
• Masterbatters (Baseball/Softball)
• Suck My Kick (Kickball/Soccer)
• 2 Balls 1 Cup (Golf)
• Kick Tease (Kickball/Soccer)
• Bowl Job (Bowling)
• We Got the Runs (Baseball/Softball)
• Booze on First (Baseball/Softball)
• Premature Shooters (Basketball)
• Where My Pitches At? (Baseball/Softball)
• Touchdown My Pants (Football)

*make sure to check out some of the names suggested in the comments section. I like Nads and Off Constantly for the great cheers they lead to

Yo, Adrian!

Its been almost two months since my last post. Wow. I'd like to say that I'll try to do better but who am I kidding.

For those of you that are still checking from time to time, however, here are some pictures from my trip to Colorado. I'm in Estes Park in the Rocky Mountains for Dan and Tori's wedding (which takes place tonight) and have seen some incredible scenery these past few days. These photos come from my phone - click on them if you want a bigger image.

the view from my window

on Trail Ridge Road - the Alpine elevation

at Lily Lake

the mountains over Lily Lake

Perfection

Dale Davis is a much better bowler than I am

Pretty cool story here about Dale Davis, a blind bowler who threw a perfect 300.

Truth In Advertising

At the end of tonight's concert at the JPJ, Bruce Springsteen told the crowd that we had just seen the rockingest band in the world. He wasn't lying. For over two hours Springsteen and the E Street Band put on one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

I should probably have started by saying that although I like Bruce, I am not the biggest fan. Before I bought Magic (the latest album) I probably had only a dozen or so tunes on my iPod. At the concert I didn't know about 1/3 of the songs. It didn't matter. The band plays with so much energy and passion, that even when the song wasn't one I could sing along to I was still marveling at something.

Highlights included: "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" during the encore, "Born To Run" with the lights on, and "Prove It All Night." The highlights also included most of the material from the new album. When I went to see Journey a few years ago everyone headed for the bathroom when it was "time to play some stuff from the new album" and rightly so. Not at this show. "Devil's Arcade" is beautiful and sad, the dueling guitar solos on "Gypsy Biker" had to be seen to be believed, and "Radio Nowhere" will be a concert favorite for years to come.

tonight's set-list: I got a copy from the soundboard guy

So my advice is this: if you are a fan of rock n' roll you owe it to yourself to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live at least once. Truly incredible.

Truly Trivial

One of my students told me about the Unusual Articles file at Wikipedia. Its a whole list of entries that are a bit out of the ordinary. Want to know the longest officially recognized place name in the UK? Its Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Curious about the only piece of art on the moon? Check this out. Do you wish movies were in Smell-O-Vision? Check this article out to find out more about it.

I can already tell that I am going to waste some serious time looking through these articles.

Is This Wrong?

This website asks an interesting question: how many 5 year olds could you take in a fight? Should I be proud or sad that I can handle 17 kids?

Random Thoughts

Didn't have internet access in Vegas so no Grand Canyon posts. This is a pretty busy week so don't look for too much more except to say that the GC was very impressive. I'll try to get some photos up soon. Over all the trip was great. Thanks to Chip and Judy for being great traveling companions.

Big game for the Yanks tonight. The team really needs to start hitting.

Looks like the Os free fall has begun. Cellar, here they come!

Spring Break Day 2 - Sedona

Thanks to a suggestion from Tim, we decided to stop in Sedona, Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon. Sedona is famous for spectacular rock formations and brilliant red rocks. Neither disappointed.

one of Sedona's many spectacular rock formations

After Sedona it was on to the Grand Canyon. We checked into our hotel, got cleaned up, and went to dinner at a place called Spaghetti Western. It was Italian food with a western theme and had posters from Spaghetti Westerns on every wall. My chicken marsala was ok, but neither Chip nor Judy much cared for their dinners.

Tomorrow: the Grand Canyon

Note: due to poor planning I forgot to bring my camera's adapter cable. Therefore all pictures will come courtesy of my iPhone. Good enough for the blog, but not my best shots. C'est la vie.