Friday Fun = Super Bowl Run?

I now have seen photographic evidence that some friends of mine (Lil’, Helluva, etc) were hanging out with one of the Redskins’ biggest playmakers this past Friday night. Without going into detail, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that hanging out with these girls on Friday inspired this athlete to a career game on Sunday. Too cool.

Manic

Could my life be any more up and down? It’s a shear wonder that my head doesn’t explode:

• I just found out that my deductible for getting my airbags fixed is $500, on a ~$1,000 bill. Makes me re-consider “letting” Progessive take care of it in leui of a lawsuit on my own.
• Our party on the 11th looks to be shaping beyond our abilities to cope. I think the over/under is 70 RSVPs.
• I’m going white-water rafting this weekend. Nothing like risking your life for some cheap thrills.
• My birthday is coming up. Not a big fan of my 20’s vanishing in the rear view mirror.

Buenos Cumplea

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hoop Dreams: In the Money

The Independence Division has just cut a check to Hoop Dreams in the amount of $1,000. I want to thank everyone who helped put together the events that raised this money, and wish the good people over at Hoop Dreams the best.

VW: The Saga Continues

Just as I had given up on my insurance company, and was preparing to hire a lawyer and sue VW, guess who I get a call from? Progressive, of course. Bear in mind, I haven’t heard from them in over a week, and last we spoke I was told that I needed to deal with VW on my own.



So, out of the blue, I get a call from my case handler informing me that Progressive is going to pay for my repairs and then try to get reimbursed from VW. I was stunned, to say the least. I kept thinking of what hidden angle there might be. Would this go on my record as an accident? Would they count this against me when my premiums came up for adjustment?



Anyway, i didn’t want to over-think the matter, so I thanked her and promptly scheduled an appointment to get my car fixed.

Killing the Golden Goose

Let’s get some things straight about the Maurice Clarrett situation:

1. The NFL has become the best sports league in the country based in no small part to the quality of play that it been able to provide to the public.
2. The quality of play in borne of the agreement by owners to follow a set of league-wide rules. These rules cover everything from the amount of money teams are allowed to spend on their players (salary cap) to who is allowed to enter the NFL draft in the spring.
3. These rules are the antithesis of a free market

And guess what? That’s ok! A free market is what baseball has, where any owner with enough money (the Yankees) can run out and buy several World Series championships.


Can you imagine how compelling college baseball might be if MLB had the NFL’s age limit for the draft? Well, we’ll never know. But we’ll find out quick how fast the NFL can suffer from the ill effects of a Clarrett victory in this lawsuit.

Your articles are funnier when I’m stoned…

Here’s one of the funnier emails from this week’s Sports Guy mailbag:

Ok, I almost fell out of my chair. Am I evil?

Lemon Laws

I just spoke to a lawyer about my car situation. Seeing as how he does this for a living, he was very quick to map out thr steps I need to take to get my car fixed:

1. Write a formal letter to VW, asking my car be fixed/replaced
2. After they fail to reply (within 15 days), retain him
3. He threatens to sue on the basis of the Virginia Lemon Law, which could force VW to refund me the purchase price of the car
4. They flinch, and “settle”, agreeing to pay repair and legal costs

Interesting…

Been Awhile

A quick summary of the highs and lows of my life lately:



Highs

• My Fantasy Football team is off to a 3-0 start, thanks to a well-rounded effort from all my players despite a lack of explosion from any one of them. Starters: Maddox, A.Green, E. James, I. Bruce, C. Rogers, T. Brown, Shockey, Vanderjat plus some studs on defense (S. Cowart, et all).
  
• Had an amazing time during the hurricane on Thursday. All thanks to my friend, Jim Bean.
  
• Saw my good friend, Anne, who was in the country from Germany for a wedding.
  
• Had a great time at Erin’s PJ Party this past Saturday, and even lost my plaid PJ pants in the process during a game of sexual Jenga.
  
  
  
  Lows
  
• Car issue woefully unresolved. Seems like a lawyer (gag) is my last option.
  
• Redskins lost (in OT) to the freaking Giants, tying a team record for penalties in a game in the process.
  
• Got destoyed in my football pool this week, making it seem like my $100 is long gone and never coming back.
  
• Continue to tweak and strain my left knee during flag football.

Opus is Back!

Sometimes I look at this site, and I realize how little it represents the things that I care about in life. Obviously the design itself it compact and utilitarian. I’m not sure why this is, maybe it’s a subconscience way for me to keep most of my life to myself, who knows.



I got on this line of thinking because I just found out that Opus is coming back to the funny pages! For those of you who don’t know who Opus is… well, god help you. Opus was the main character in Berkley Breathed’s Bloom County (and later, Outland). Bloom county, along with Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side consumed my life for years growing up. Not only would I read them in the paper, I would buy the collections and read them over and over again. I went through a period of intense creativity/mimicry where I decided I was going to write a comic strip. Except of all my strips were stylistic ripoffs of the strips I loved. I’d post some of them up here, but they were long ago thrown away.



Anyway, what a blast from the past. If it’s a daily strip, I might even try to get in to it.