Baseball Post

Right now I am watching my 1st Mariners game of the year! (one of the last pre-season games) and you know what? It's always strange seeing the game and have the comforting, and familiar voice of Dave Niehaus chatting along with the sound of the crowd in the background buzzing. And then he goes bonkers when something happens, like a homerun, and you have to turn the volume down.
But what is most interesting about the game is that it becomes such an integral part of the summer, since it's a daily thing. So therefore, one can make the conclusion:

Summer is here, because baseball is here.

And also, fall will be here when the World Series comes in October, but that's a long ways away, especially for those playing fantasy baseball, but that's perhaps another post...

Baseball.

A new Perspective

Today I spent the morning and early afternoon at the Small Business Admin. downtown. I connected with much information and a member of SCORE, a group of retired executives that volunteer their time helping people with the problems of starting up. It was incredibly informative, and perhaps put a realistic perspective on an issue I've been coming to realize:

Starting too big.

What I want to do is going to be financially impossible, due to the lack of money. (if anyone wants to give me 200 stacks with no strings attached, I can make it happen.) I've realized that it's going to be best in the long run to start smaller and build up to the restaurant. It's another step, but will make things easier when it comes to getting the big money. And it perhaps is more profitable.

So, I've begun thinking smaller, and my group is going to discuss this matter tonight. It'll be good.

Helen Clarke Is HERE!!!!

Guess what? No, wait! Guess where your PM is?!?!

MY STATE!

This was forwarded to me from my stepdad, I had no idea she was here:

Gov. Gregoire Welcomes New Zealand Prime Minister to Washington



OLYMPIA - Governor Gregoire today welcomed New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to Washington . Governor Gregoire invited the Prime Minister to visit Washington when they met during her trade mission to New Zealand in May 2006.



“Prime Minister Clark and I have built a strong working relationship and I am glad she took me up on my invitation to visit Washington ,” said Governor Gregoire. “New Zealanders and Washingtonians share a commitment to protect the environment and share the natural beauty of our geography.”
While on her trade mission last year to New Zealand , Governor Gregoire met with
Prime Minister Clark and other officials to discuss collaborations to prevent shoreline erosion and promote a culture of sustainability.
Seattle and Christchurch , New Zealand , recently celebrated their 25th anniversary as sister cities. The Seattle-Christchurch Sister City Association builds a valuable connection across the Pacific Ocean through a wide range of cultural and education exchanges"

_______________

You know what really chaps my ass? That Christchurch, CHRISTCHURCH is Seattle's sister city!


I hope no one from Christchurch is reading this blog at this moment.
And man, SHORELINE EROSION! Awesome!

Late Nite Oly Syle

Whenever I come to Olympia, my home town, to spend the night, I know it's going to be BALLS TO THE WALL CRAZY! Actually, it is usually a very tame night, that involves Old School Pizzeria, hearing strange music, and recalling the time Trever (and possibly I) break danced in the Taco Bell drive through to make up for the fact we had no money. (That was a LONG time ago.....it may not have even been me)
So St. Patrick's day 2007, when I could've been at Kell's in Seattle, proclaiming to all women, "kiss me I'm Irish!" I find myself in Olympia waking up at 10pm from a nap during "Bridge Over the River Kwai" (a great movie though). I drop my brother off at a party, I find out none of my old friends are in town for the night, and I head home to watch tv. This is what I got out of that time:
-Yoko Ono ruined the Beatles. I know everyone says that, but rarely do they have better proof of how much she sucked than in the overall amazing footage from "The Rolling Stones Rock N Roll Circus." It was John Lennon, just after the breaking up, and he's playing a blues/rock number with a classically trained violinist going apeshit to keep up. It's incredible. And then, Yoko comes out from underneath her sheet, and start wailing. Shrieking like a harpie, she makes the violinist actually WINCE. And she keeps going and going. I tried to change the channel, but I wanted to see if the violin player smacked her. And this is the second time in 2 weeks I've seen Yoko come out from a sheet to ruin the music of Lennon. Highlight: Lennon calls Mick Jagger "Michael" in a sketch, and Mick's face is priceless. This is overall a really cool show, with the Who probably the most on fire.
Phew, and now the other part of this night is this, but it's not as good without the video. On the Christian channel (I was really channelsurfing) there were old music videos from the early 90's, and one group the Newsboys, had a hit in their hands with the song "One Heart." They made QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORST/BEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER. Think new kids, but 10 times worse, and one 20th of the budget. It's perfectly bad, the early 90's expressions of "I'm a badass. A god-loving badass." It's an incredible piece of musical direction, and sadly, YouTube has it not. And perhaps more incredible, Morgue's Favorite "Conservapedia" had no info on the band. Wiki does.
There were some other interesting things too, but they will be lost in my lengthy writing. Huzzah!

A couple of things

First, I'd like to post a link to the review of the Coppergate bar. I am the one who says, in quotes, "an affinity for the natural state of being." But I didn't get any credit. Overall I feel the review is pretty spo-on, although there are small differences in opinion between her and I. I refuse to say more than we never had the mussels, and that I thought it was the best damned pickled herring I've ever had.

Secondly, I'm sorry to announce that I watched THE FINAL EPISODE OF STARGATE SG-1 EVER. It was incredible. For many people that know me, this show is something that got started by Conan O'Brien's "Pierre Bernad's Recliner of Rage" segment on how great the show was. I started watching and instantly got hooked on the great story, revisions of history, and often perfect character interaction. I have spent way too much time of my life following this story-10 seasons, and after rough calculations, I figure it's been close to 150 hours (rough). I'm sad to see it end, it did a good job, but in truth, it probably should have ended after the 7th or 8th seasons. I have so much emotion over it, it's sad to say, but if you invest that much time in a story, and it ends, you're happy and sad at the same time.

What could I do with those 150 hours? What would you do?

Burley No More

I've cut my beard off. It was a subconsious thing I think. I've been threatening it to myself, and then today while trimming it, it just happened.

My hand messed up when my brain said be careful.

So I just had to progress down to the old look I decided. I did relish the stache for a few minutes though. I look, shall I say, spectacular, with one. Like Magnum, P.I. I just needed the mirrored aviators and there I was, ready for 1980.
But I remembered one of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Youngs songs, and started singing it:

(just the 1st verse)
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin kinda long
I coulda said it wasn't in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Cause I feel like I owe it to someone

It only sort of relates, but if anybody knows what exactly my freak flag would be, I'd love to know.


Look at that chest hair. My god.

I Pineapple Express!

This morning, or when was it? This daylight savings time messes me up....

EARLIER TODAY, I went geocaching on Queen Anne. I was ripping around in the light drizzle (fo shizzle) with my windows down, music blasting, and paying (slightly) more attention to the road than my GPS. I found myself in a part of the hill that I didn't know, and was searching for the 1st leg of the cache. I found the answer on a telephone pole, so I proceeded to the next stop, down the hill.
From there, I moved along to the Seattle Center (at the bottom of the hill for those that don't know) and wandered around in the rain and strangely warm weather. The "heat wave" of 60 degrees is from Hawaii, and if one closed their eyes, they could smell the hula girls on the wind.
But what was coolest is that I saw Seattle Center in a way I hadn't remembered:

Quiet, nice, and few people.

Usually, I've been theree for an event which draws thousands. This Sunday morning it was chill, and the opera house (or whatever it was) was all reflective-glass-and aluminum-swank.
I enjoyed that.

Back to Reality

Man it sucks having to pay bills.

Going and doing all those cool things, and then here I am, having to pay the piper.

I hate it. Why does repairing my car cost so much?

I am a now a restaurant critic

2 birds, no 3 birds with one stone!

First bird: Review a restaurant/bar -to be fair though, I'll get little credit, if any at all. BUT MY FOOD OPINION MATTERED. And that's what counts. Will post a link to the review, of course, if it ever gets printed, and I suspect it will.

Second bird: Get some insight for what works and doesn't work in an establishment from somebody who knows what they're talking about. More on last bird.

Third Bird (the best one): The local food writer for The Stranger, the superior of the 2 weekly papers in Seattle is quite an alluring writer to read. Or at least those into food pornography. I once declared aloud, "I think I have a crush on her writing style." I never wrote her to tell her so before I left. So, with my NZ-formed powers of being direct in what I want, I wrote her describing that I love her style, would like to drink-in on a review, discuss my project and get her insight. She acquiesced to a meet-up, and we went to a very odd locale. It was a (my description) "Scando-Chic bar with unsubtle illicit overtones." There were vintage Swedish sex toys over the bar. I kid ye not. And lots of naked women. And it was a CLASSY place. Great drinks, and THE BEST PICKLED HERRING I've ever had. They do it right.

We'll see what she says in the article, now won't we?


And, just cause I feel I'm ultra-cool by being in this paper for the second time in less than a year, I'm posting this

The image that was printed included me playing nails.

More Depressing News

It rarely occours on this blog: actual news/facts that aren't related to my personal trials. But this was a serious thing, brought to my attention by my stepdad:

Is America funding Sunni terrorist groups?

Shit.

More Mistah T.

I have a good story actually about Mr. T and his motivational video mentioned in the last post. Some may know it, but I recently got an update on it's fate.

So, back in the days me and mine were terrorizing ebay (can anybody say floppy discs?) by creating multiple accounts, overbidding on pencils for $33,333, and a web of lie-based user feedback reviews that culminated in an amateur web-sleuth proclaiming, "I know Falco Johnson is the same as ScrotumShaver!" there was a video.

The aforementioned, Mister T. motivational video. You know the one that introduced the NEW group "New Edition" feat. Bobby Brown? Trever decided to buy it on VHS, which was still a viable format, and we watched and were captivated by the T's ability for poppin' and lockin', or lack thereof.

Here enters the friend, Meghan into the story. Her father is a high school teacher in The Dalles, Oregon. His role in the educational system is to teach kids the "life" class- about sex, drugs and perhaps rock and/or roll. He was given a copy of this video to show the kids, and instantly became a hit, and known as THE video.

Numerous plots of kidnapping said tape have been countered. Bribes of $100 have been declined. Guarded by a pair of former Navy Seals, the video remains under lock and key at all times of the day. Laser beams create an impenetrable grid of red light around the actual lock. Do not touch indeed.

Here is where the story has been updated: The T video has been transferred to Digital Video Disc, or DVD. This is great. Now the poor quality won't degrade further. I am happy, and now I await my copy for the future.

And for semi-related reasons, the van Morgan and I WILL rock on our "America The Beautiful" roadtrip.


BAD. ASS.

Sweet-As

I found this on Wikipedia. The "sweet-as" roots. Mr T. would be proud. (wait for it.....)

Morgue was right all along!

This explains it's exhalted past.

....and you waited for it: Mr. T's Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!