I'm just about the sickest mofo in the world. I took off from work on Thursday and Friday of last week, but still, 4 days of rest and under the blankets, and 2 days with no smoking, I still feel like crap. Fever, congestion, dizziness, coughing, aches, pains, chills, and sneezing. This, I determined, was not sick enough to miss more work! Imagine what I felt on Thursday, then. It was the same symptoms, just magnified and multiplied. Excuse some crazy talk later in the post, I'm a bit hallucinogenic and think I'm writing this on a black notepad in black ink and storing it in a pouch I've sewn onto my back. Using Slim-Jim.

There's a bit of anger in the Muslim world because there's a drawing of "Muhammad" depicting him (sin) as a terrorist (more sin). Yes, it's bad to depict Muhammad in any way. I've seen multiple spellings so I have no idea how to spell it. Anyway, I plead ignorance if I ever drew him, or drew him in a way that is demeaning. But, Islam is a non-bull@#%t Religion. I've seen many depictions of Jesus, and some demeaning (the movie "Dogma" comes to mind), but Christians don't take to the streets and risk their own lives over it. Who cares? We don't mind what other people think. We can think that Kevin Smith is going to hell because of his "Buddy Christ", but other than that, what good does it do to complain about it? Nothing. You'll save other people from going to hell if you complain. I say, F#@%@ them, more room for me when I get to Heaven ;-)

The Steelers are good. That's all I have to say about that. (Other than they played every game away and won straight through, considering that at week 12 they were 7-5 and hardly considered to make the playoffs in the first place, and beat Indianapolis to get there). Mad props to Pittsburgh.

Kodie and I watched the game, and at half time, as I was getting my next load of laundry ready, I figured out how to stop smoking for good. Nyquil. First off, it's f!@#$ing disgusting. Ever taste that 5#%2? It's nasty because they want you to take it quick. Nyquil's better when you don't taste it, I learned. Just shoot it down like Grey Goose vodka (Freedom Vodka, as Kate's friends in Manayunk called it). I ended up waking up at 4am, then decided that I wasn't going to be in work by 6 (even though I could have left by now), and took another shot. I figure, when I'm quitting smoking, I won't be able to fall asleep because of withdrawal and "nic-fitting". So, why not take care of that problem? The hardest part about quitting smoking is doing things that you used to do while smoking. Since I always sleep when I'm smoking, this might take care of some of that. Or something. WTF? Wait. Oh, yeah, so it's hard to fall asleep when you're quitting smoking, so I just need something to help me in that department. The other stuff, like driving and smoking, or playing video games and smoking, or doing everything else I do and smoking... that sh@#%'s gotta stop. So, I figure, I'll just find something else to do. Like, drink coffee. But, that will just keep me awake, while the NyQuil is trying to put me to sleep. Obvious solution: coffee flavored NyQuil. That would be the bomb.

I may have more in a bit.

I added a new poll. For a while there, I had forgotten that I even have polls! Anyway, it works still :) This one's a SuperBowl poll and it only includes the teams that are at the top of their division as of today, December 23, 2005, based on this list. I'll add more teams based on Wild Cards later. Maybe I'll change the "Go Live" date so it doesn't show up until everyone's in there, so you might even ignore this post until then :)

Check the Polls page often.

Personally, since the Eagles aren't in there, I will be rooting for the other bird, the Seahawks.

[Update] Ok, I set it to go live on the 26th, after this weekend. Hopefully we'll have a better idea of who's in then.

[Update Nummer Zwei] Umm, so, I still don't know who's in the playoffs, so I'll officially go live with it at the end of the season! I'll work on Todd's suggestion until then, so it'll just show up either over or under the calendar on the right side.

I'm going to the Flyers game tonight! I don't know if Pete (Peter Forsberg) will be playing or not, but I hope so. Pretty much everyone on that team is my favorite player though, except for Therien, I hate Therien. Beaner invited me with tickets that he got from Mom and Dad for his birthday a few days ago! Thanks Bean! Woohoo.

Also, I have a new song up that I wrote using my Mac Mini, GarageBand, and my new keyboard that I bought to greatly ease the pain when trying to add drums and piano to my songs. Without it, you either use your computer keyboard or the mouse, and I can't use either without giving up in a few minutes. Plus, the keyboard I got is really nice. It's pressure sensitive, which is awesome. Say, for instance, I am hitting the key for the hi-ride (the tall cymbal [sp?])... if I tap it, it'll be like I'm just tapping the hi-ride. If I hit it hard, it's coincide with the sound that I get from it. Same with the notes if I switch it to Grand Piano. It's great, it allows for a lot of flexibility.

So, download the new song, it's called "Piano". It should be at the bottom of that list. Listen to it a hundred times.

Disappointing night overall. On the Flyers' end, one player spoiled the game. On the Eagles, it was a bunch of people, including one head coach.

The Flyers were looking good. Peter Forsberg had an excellent game, scoring two goals. Everyone played well. I look in awe at the performance of most of our defensemen... Joni Pitkanen, Kim Johnsson, even sometimes Mike Rathje and Derien Hatcher. Desjardins is always a solid D-man. The one left is the guy the Flyers have to get rid of. Chris Therien. He made two big mistakes that led to goals, and at least one other mistake that almost led to a goal. He singlehandedly cost the Flyers the game. I don't care what they tell you, it was Therien's fault. He stinks.

The Eagles. Oh boy, the Eagles. In my last post, I said Donovan was the key to the Eagles. If he plays good, the team does well, and also true on the reverse side. However, when he makes stupid mistakes, he can turn the other team's misfortunes into fortunes. He played well for about 56 minutes tonight. Not extremely well, but well enough to score 20 points, and the defense played well enough to only allow 7. Then things changed. Andy Reid makes stupid play calls, like when we're in the lead with 3 minutes left, to go long on a pass play. Reggie Brown, the aspiring rookie, misses a few HUGE passes, which would have meant that Akers wouldn't have had to try a 60 yard field goal attempt with a semi-100% hamstring and the unpredictable winds of Lincoln Financial Field. Donovan still tries to run a shovel pass even though he could hear the inside linebacker yell "Watch the shovel!!" We should have turned all of our field goals into touchdowns, and put this game out of reach for the Cowgirls by the start of the 4th quarter. That's not what went down though.

It sucks when two of your teams lose in the same night. But what's worse is not when the team plays bad, but when you can pinpoint one awful performance that might have cost the game.

The Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Eagles play the DallasSUCKS Cowboys. Should be a night to remember.

Quick comments on both teams. I love watching the Flyers. Peter Forsberg (or, as I call him, just "Pete") is incredible. He makes plays and I yell out "HOLY F@#%#@" or "J@ES#@ F#@%@# CH5#@%@!!" or just simply "WOAH!" All of this year's Flyers are exciting to watch because of the new rules, and having won the last 6 games makes it pretty cool too. Let's get "Flyer'ed Up!!". The Fly-guys will make a good showing this season. Go FLYERS!!

The Eagles are pretty bad this year. Donovan's hurt, but he insists on not using it as an excuse. I say, fine, I won't say you're hurt, just that you stink!! Make passes! Don't make stupid plays (like, faking a spike with no timeouts left, only to have the receiver that you want to pass to not be on the same page as you... pretty stupid...), and complete your passes!! Don't throw them at the f#@%#@$@#!ing ground!! Brunell of the Redskins looks unbelievable right now, especially compared to Donovan. They have to keep the defense off the field longer so they are rested, instead of going three and out for the first half of the game. Right now I'm not expecting good, but if they do good, then I'll be happy. The defense hasn't been getting pressure on the QB, so that's something to look out for as well. We're the F#@%!@$!#ing EAGLES, we should kick everyone's ass... but, right now, things just aren't going our way! Of course, T.O. won't be a factor tonight (either having him or not having him... T.O. was never a factor... now that we stink, and we've had T.O. all season, you look at something else that might be THE factor. And that's #5).

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!

Donovan McNabb recently said that the team would be "better off" without Terrell Owens, and right away, everyone jumps the gun and interprets him as saying that the team will be better without him? I don't see these two things as being the same.

Better: superior to another
Better Off: in a more fortunate or prosperous condition

More fortunate vs. Superior. Better compares two things, better off compares two instances of time and their conditions. Yes, the Eagles will be better off without T.O, and they might become better without him, but for right now, they are not better... but that's not what Donovan was saying anyway!! I hate the media and their need for controversy. It's like they have to misinterpret. Ratings. It sucks.

Today, I start my new job. All Souls' Day. Should be a good time. Yesterday, I was watching football, and I noticed that you can't really watch a football game, and see a crowd sweep, and be reminded that the day after is Halloween, because people are always dressed up, or have face paint on, or a mask. It's just sports :)

I knew it would happen. I said it a few times (not on this site...) that Chicago would sweep the Astros in four but I honestly didn't think it would be that close of a series. Tonight's game was 0-0 through seven innings. Both pitchers played incredibly, then were both taken out at the seventh. Backe for the Astros, Garcia for the White Sox. Jermaine Dye batted in the only run of the game. 1 - 0 final. Great game. Exciting plays to end it, however only five hits for either team. Very boring for non-baseball fans. The other games had more runs. Last night's game went five hours and forty one minutes, a World Series record.

Yesterday was my Aunt Cubbie's 65th birthday. We all went to Drexelbrook to hold a surprise party for this wonderful lady who is always whereever you would least expect her to be, like at your sporting events growing up, or every party you've ever had, who never forgets your birthday, who helps raise your kids if you're lucky enough to have any, and a number of other comments from everyone else in the room who had a story or a thank you for her and got the microphone from my Uncle Dave.

There was a DJ, and he played decent music, and some Sinatra, which I never object to. He also sang. He was pretty good. He played Mony Mony, and I found out that you can do the E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!! chant to it during the chords played after such lines as "Here she comes now saying Mony Mony". It fits perfectly. I started it, Steve noticed, then everyone at our table, the lucky number three, joined in during the next two verses. It was awesome.

We all walked out at the same time, me and my five brothers, when everyone else was in a circle on the dance floor, thirty to forty people, holding hands, dancing to "That's what friends are for." We figured it was time to go. It was almost 4 o'clock, the Eagles start at 4:15. We are studs. We all practically ran to our cars. We all would meet at The Beast's house, a shrine to the Eagles. Everywhere you look, there's a picture of an Eagles' player, or a football, or a PlayStation2 controller, lots of Eagles stuff.

The argument started after the Cowgirls' second touchdown. He dove out of bounds and reached across the goal line out of bounds, the ball seemingly never crossing the plane of the endzone, marked by the pylon, in bounds. It was ruled a touchdown. It was a big argument! It was fun though. I was watching for cops because I had about 5 Yuengling bottles, a Heineken bottle, and 2 Yuengling cans all day, I was feeling pretty good, yet somehow I manage to come up with some help for the argument. It was Steve, me, and the Dallas fan (Kel) vs. everyone else. It wasn't anti-Eagles or pro-Dallas, it was just football. My evidence came in this form... If you are running down the sideline, holding the ball over the out of bounds, you are not considered out of bounds. If your feet leave the field, then, all it takes for you to be out of bounds is your feet or the ball touching the ground out of bounds. Therefore, diving out of bounds, crossing the plane of the endzone is a touchdown. Steve argued that the pylon either marks the endzone straight up to infinity or the endzone goes all the way around the world. He knew the rules, and knew that it goes all the way around the world, and brought up a website on Beast's computer, owned and maintained by a former NFL Referee, that proved his point.

The others felt more like yelling. I have to admit, yelling is fun when you're drunk, especially doing the EAGLES chant during Mony Mony and on the way out of a party with all five of your brothers. Steve was willing to take back the bets. He had bet $20 with Pat and also with The Beast. He was saying "Are you sure you want to bet me? I'll let you take it back now, if you want, before it's proven and you'll owe me." I don't know if he was showing uncertainty or just being nice. Actually, I do know, he was being nice.

It was pretty funny. Steve soon became known as Pylon and some variants like Pylon boy. If there's one thing that my family is really good at, it's giving people nicknames. Not me though, although I do have some notoriety in the field. My brother Pat is named "Patter" because of me not being able to say his full name, Patrick, when my Mom introduced him to me when they brought him home from the hospital. I was 2, give me a break. Also, my brother Jeff lost one of his teeth when he was 11, playing hockey. So he's had a replacement ever since. He loses it sometimes, and the last time, very recently, he was going to have a temporary replacement until the real tooth came in. It was made out of porcelain! I came up with "Toilet Tooth" :) It never stuck though. Scott is the master nicknamer. The Beast is The Beast because of Scott. There are plenty others, like Stork, who was watching with us yesterday.

It was a great time. I woke up at around noon, and by 1:30 I was feeling pretty good. The dedication to my Aunt was great, she deserves it, and a whole lot more.

The Phillies finished their season the other night. The Cubs let us down, but took 2 from the Astros, giving us something to hope for in those final two games. The Astros took the last two, but we weren't out of it until they won the last one. We won the last 4 games just like we needed. Looking back, they lost a lot of unnecessary games in the season, hopefully next season is a different story. They need to win the close ones, and their bullpen can't suck the big one like they have.

Charlie Manuel was on Comcast Sportsnet last night. My brother and I watched with amazement as he actually seemed to answer questions without fumbling with his words. He's a good guy, maybe not the best manager, or so it seems. He made a joke when asked what he's going to do with Ryan Howard, the Phillies' possible rookie of the year. He was suggesting that they will find a spot for him, then he said "Ryan's left handed, he might be the first left handed catcher." It was funny. He seemed a lot better than normal, dressed in a suit, seeming a lot smarter, although, you can tell a lot of different thoughts cross his mind when he's answering a question, so he gets off to a shaky start when answering. He says stuff like "Well, yes, you know, umm, blah blah, sure", then finally starts talking. He didn't need a translator.

I owe $10, but Dan said he'd go double or nothing with me later. Great. Just what I need, to be in the hole $20. We might end up at the airport betting on arrivals, like in the Seinfeld I watched last night.

Today, I left work at 4, being my last day and all. We had gone out to lunch to celebrate my 5 months of service, all too short was everyone's sentiment. Four of us from work. My boss, 2 coworkers and me. We had a great time and the food at Maggiano's (12th and Filbert) is delicious. I got some rigatoni with some kind of incredible cream sauce and chicken. My boss ordered chicken parmesan and knew he wasn't going to eat all of it, so right away he gave one piece of chicken to me to take home. Also, being my last day, they insisted that I get dessert. This was music to my ears. They have the best pound cake ever. Ever. I sat and ate pound cake, and Towanda got coffee. It was bittersweet, just like Towanda's coffee, as she told us, she put too much "Splendid" (at least I think that's what it's called) sugar substitute in it, and only took a few sips from it.

It's amazing how short five months is, but it's amazing how long it is at the same time. Manoj (my other coworker that was there) and I had a great time working together. As did my boss Dave and I. We just joked around when we could, and were serious when we had to be. Funny guys, fun times. We all went to a few ballgames, work sponsored of course. I was the expert. Everyone would ask me about the game, about the Phillies, who to watch for, who's good, who stinks, etc. It was before the All Star game, before the Polanco trade, so the answer to the "who's good" question was Placido Polanco and Bobby Abreu. Of course, Chase Utley too, but he didn't play at the games that I went to with them, it was the time when Chollie would swap Polanco and Utley depending on the pitcher. Our boss (my boss' boss) worked out of Chicago, and he would conveniently be in Philly during the work sponsored Phillies games. He's a big fan of baseball, so he wouldn't need to ask me about the game, only about the Phillies. He noticed that the batting average of the Phillies as a team was in the mid 200s, which is pretty good, and wondered why they were so bad at the time. It's all about hitting with runners in scoring position. The Phillies season is an altogether different story, however... But we had a great time at those games. Five months is a long time because those games seemed like forever ago.

It was my first job in the city. I was a total n00b when it came to public transportation, but my luck always turns up. I got to the trolley on the first day. Obviously, having no idea how to get on the train or where to buy tokens, or how much anything was, or even what stop to get off at the train when I got going on it, I was scared to death. Waiting at the trolley, this guy comes up. He looks very familiar, but I don't say anything. He goes in the trolley first. I go in and am a total n00b, so I'm trying to pay, asking how much money it costs and everything. I pay and head to find a seat on this jam-packed trolley. I head up, and Chris, my brother's friend, the guy waiting for the trolley with me, recognizes me right away, and has a seat available for me. We shoot the sh%t, but I'm lost, so I have to ask what the f@#% the deal is with public transportation. He sets me straight. Buy a card, he says. He also will show me where to go when we get there. He works at 5th street, I worked at 11th, so he was on the train the whole time I was, and saw me to my stop. I had mastered public transportation, thanks to Chris.

It was very interesting working in the city. Everyday you'd see someone who you thought was either on an incredible amount of drugs or alcohol, or they were just plain crazy. We have ash trays outside of our building, so you'd see some people rummaging through them to satisfy a nicotine craving. Or they would ask you for a smoke, or maybe some money. I gave them money because I'm an optimist, always thinking they would spend it on food and not drugs. At least I gave the more seemingly sane people money. Like today, this guy comes up, and says "Can you help out a hungry man?" following with stuff about God. I said "I think I can help you out", and he said something about God seeing me give him money. I smiled at him. I accidentally started pulling out a $20 bill!! He's like "that'll do!". I told him I can't. I could, but it's my last day, and if I give him a dollar, he's well on his way to eating. Only if he had came to me earlier, I had a piece of chicken he could have had, but by this point, it was on the 19th floor of my building. It was worth more than a dollar though, when you meet someone like that, and are able to help them out a little.

So, I got home today at 5pm. I was going over some last things with my boss until 4, then went and said goodbye to everyone. My boss and I sat out front of our building and talked for a bit. He's displayed sincere discontent with what was going on. My department had cut my position. It wasn't finalized until two Mondays ago, September 19th. Manoj and I were the only developers in the department, and now it's just Manoj again. What we did every day was a lot more work than two people can handle. We were a good team, led by Dave, a good leader. I have gained some great experience to put on my resume. Also, I have outstanding references. My boss was "Employee of the Quarter" last quarter. That's out of, oh, nothing huge, just a couple thousand. There are 250,000 people employed by the company, but I think that award was just a departmental award. His boss, the Chicago-based- except-when-the-company- sponsors-a-Phillies-game boss, had sent my resume to other departments in the company. I was floored. However, nothing turned up there, but I can see myself getting called by them in the future, having been pushed by him, someone way up in the company and a great guy to boot. It's overwhelming, the lengths that great people will go to, the offers those people will make, the friendships you can make in 5 months. Afterall, it seems like such a short time.

My brother and his friend were out front drinking when I got home. I headed out to join them. I had a beer, sat with them for a bit, then decided I was going to eat my chicken. It had been 3 hours since I had last eaten afterall. Soon after, I felt like every bit of energy had just left my body at once. I was completely spent. I crashed right there on the couch, right after I had mustered up enough strength to put the fork down. I soon stumbled up to my bedroom. I almost seemed drunk, because I was relying on the wall to guide me, yet I had only one beer. I woke up at around 11pm.

I checked mlb.com. Phillies won, Astros lost. The Cubbies have now taken two games away from the Astros. We could be on the verge of a miracle. However, Roger Clemens pitches next for the Astros.

I'm going to play some video games. Good night world. Go Phillies / Eagles / Flyers!

I have a wager for $5 with Dan Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the sun will not set tomorrow. It's pretty much giving him $5. I also threw in there other conditions like if I drop a brick, it will go up instead of down, and also that I will be struck by lightning within the next 10 minutes.

Ok, not really, but close to it. I bet him that the Phillies will make the playoffs! In my short 26 years, I have seen stranger things. I'm just hoping that I will see another strange thing. $5 is not chump change, that's like my morning coffee and smokes (i.e. everything you need).

There is also a side bet on the Red Sox not making it. I bet that they won't make it, even though it's not how I really feel, it's just for fun. Dan's from Boston, so he knows what it's like for your baseball team to not win for way more than 12 years or 25 years. Hopefully Boston loses this time or I'll owe 10 bucks.

The Cubs won last night so the Phillies have a chance. The chance may be minuscule, like winning the lottery, but if everyone thought they can't win the lottery, then no one would play.

This happens to be another Phillies post. They aren't out, yet. They won last night, and are now 2.5 games behind the Astros. The Phillies are off tonight, and the Astros play the Cubs. The Cubbies are going into Houston with a 2 game losing streak, are 10 games behind (are out), and have no motivation to win any games against the Astros, other than to help the Phillies (and possibly maintain some dignity). Our E# (defined as "the Elimination Number, which is the combined number of wins (by the first place team) and losses (by the trailing team) that will eliminate the trailing team from winning the division") is 2. It's like in golf match play. If the winner is 3 up on the 15th hole, if he wins that hole, it's over. He wins "4 and 3". At 3 up on the 15th hole, the golfer who is behind will have an E# of 1. It gets more difficult when the teams aren't playing each other, then golf is no longer a valid analogy.

It's this in baseball: if Houston wins every game they have left, and the Phillies win every game, the season is over when there's 2 games left. Or the Phillies can just make it easy for them and lose 2 to the Nationals. Hand them the Wild Card.

But how about those Phillies?!!? 16-6 last night over the Mets. Chase Utley, I swear, doesn't even swing the bat and he hits homers half way up the foul pole. I'm not sure of the distance, but let's do some educated estimation and call it a mile. Another analogy with golf. You don't have to look like you're killing the ball to kill it. You take a nice easy backswing, follow through and down, generating massive clubhead speed, hitting the ball with the sweetspot of the club, killing the F@#%!@#$!@# out of the ball. It's what Chase has realized. You can look all calm up in the box, take a nice easy swing with a short follow through, and f@#%@#$!@ing smash the F%!#^!!ing thing 40 feet up on the f@#%#$!#!ing foul pole. Hit the sweet spot.

The Phillies had too many bogies this season, they need a hole in one on the last hole, a Par 4.

Mathematically, here is the situation. Phillies are 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros with 4 games left to play in the National League Wild Card Race. Here are the possible outcomes for tonight's games, both Houston's and the Phillies'.

Outcome 1: Phillies Win, Astros Lose
Result: Phillies 1.5 back with 3 left

Outcome 2: Phillies Win, Astros Win
Result: Phillies 2.5 back with 3 left

Outcome 3: Phillies Lose, Astros Lose
Result: Phillies 2.5 back with 3 left

Outcome 4 (AKA The Doomsday Outcome): Phillies Lose, Astros Win
Result: Season Over, Phillies 3.5 back with 3 games to play.

Essentially, the Phillies have to win every game and HOPE that the Astros lose at least 3. The Astros have 5 games left, and they play the Cubs for 4 of those. We have to assume that they are going to win all of those games, effectively stabbing a knife through the hearts of every Phillies phan, twisting it over and over again and laughing in our faces so hard that little bits of saliva spit out of their mouths, driving us insane as well.

The last reason that the Phillies have to win every game is because of the fans. Do you want to be hated, Phillies?! Wouldn't you rather win the last 4 games of the season and not get into the playoffs, than lose 1 or 2 of them and not get in? We are harsh (registration required). We'll rip you a new one. We chant E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!! at the games, and yesterday I heard a distinctive Flyers chant (Here we go Flyers, Here we go!!) I'm getting "flyered up" for that. Point: win every game.

Ok, maybe I sort of drew that after I edited someone's image after that someone deleted Bush's original bathroom message and put a funny message, and then a journalist got a hold of it and maybe kinda started a contest. I won't win, surely I don't deserve to, that thing took me about 3 minutes to do.