Hokies of the Past Update

Just thought you all might find this bit of news interesting since this is primarily a VT blog...I found out today that playing in our Rec Adult Basketball League this season, we have none other than.....Brrrrrrrrrrrriaaaaaaaaaaaannnnn Raaaaaaaaaaandallllllll

Haha, might have to go watch one of those games. I thought that clown was a 3rd stringer somewhere? Guess hes strugglin a little bit if hes back here playing in our Rec League

A-Hole Drivers

So I know some of you live in areas where the traffic problems are four times as bad as around here but let me tell you what happened to boski this morning. First off I'm sick, not feeling good, and in no mood to be fucked with. I'm at a light and it turns green and I start to go. This white BMW Z4 is right behind me on my ass. I needed to get it over in the other lane so I'm checking the blind spot, making sure everything is OK and this fool cuts right over into the lane and zooms past. I give him the rock on hand sign and its some punk looking headcase/wanna be headcase (couldn't really tell with his tinted windows) wearing a hoodie with the hood up. First up why do some people who wear hoodies actually put the hood up in the car? Just to look more hardcore? This kid probably was like 120 pounds by the looks of it. So hes in front of me and gets into a turn lane to go into a parking lot, I go by and hes flicking me off so I flick him off. I think nothing of it and keep going about 2 more blocks to make my turn. Its then when I notice he is following me. He follows me all the way to my work, I get out of the car and he like does slow circle and is just looking at me. I just stop and stare, he slowly drives away, I just continue to stare. I then hear him say in a low voice "What?" and continues his slow roll away. OK if you are going to follow someone to their work at least get out of the fucking car. I mean WTF?

Bowlmania

If anyone wants to do that bowlmania thing, I set up a group on Yahoo:

League ID: 8155
Password: prime


Always gives me a reason to watch the bowl games which would otherwise be pointless to me (about 95% of them anyway)

Trips C Update (part 2)

Did anyone see trips C on Friday and think, "chin strap? Does the sketchiest guy that we know just randomly land on chin strap as being the best look?"

Thanksgiving Week

Just wanted to see everyone's Thanksgiving schedule.

I will be home Tuesday @ ~8Pm and am leaving late Sunday afternoon.

What about anyone else? When are we going out for Pex's bday?

new blackberry 9700 (bold)

i have tmobile and i think i want to get the new blackberry that comes out tomorrow. have you guys heard anything about it?

Triple C update

So i talked to sal last night and got some funny c mann updates.

i wasn't the only one he asked for money. Gerek gave chris $75 and when he didn't pay back the day he said he was, gerek threatened to kick his ass so chris borrowed money from his other friend gretz just to pay back gerek. but that's nothing compared to what else sal told me.

so chris has this gf and the gf calls chris' roommate (pat) asking if chris had been making any big purchases lately b/c her credit card got stolen 5 days ago. pat goes into his room and picks up a crumpled receipt that was on the ground and it was on her credit card, purchased 2 days ago ahha. fool stole his gf's credit card! he spent like $70 at Buf wild wings on that shit haha.

pat also has all of the sudden 2 xbox games and 2 dvd missing from his living room. chris mann has become the sketchiest kid i know by a long shot. wow.

Is Sammy Sosa going white???

Anybody else see this shit??? WTF???
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/race/2009/11/is-sammy-sosa-whitening-his-skin.html

Ghost of Kempsville past

So I received a text 3 days ago from chris mann asking what i've been up to. I haven't talked to him in like 5 years and know he would only text me for something, so i didn't respond. Anyways, i call Sal b/c he always has the scoop on kville peeps and he gives me the low-down on chris' story. Needless to say, Sal said chris is in trouble and will prob go to jail due to writing bad checks (sal got a call from a collection agency asking about chris and telling him that b/c sal was put down as a reference). Since Chris is so sketchy, I do not respond to his text.

Yesterday rolls around and I get another text. Out of pure humor, I decide to respond b/c I'm so curoius to see what he has to say. Word for word transcript:

Chris: Yo man u around?
Me: I don't live in va
Chris: haha I know what u been up to man
Me: Just working a bunch, u?
Chris: Got a question for u out of the blue
Me: ?
Chris: Well kinda need a favor. i moved into Pat's (sal's old roommate) and came up 300 short on rent, i am desperate and need a short term loan, any chance u could wire me the money and i will wire it right back friday next week with my 1st paycheck i just have nowhere else to go and cant lose my place i will have it right back friday i swear man i know this is out of nowhere but im desperate man.


This was yesterday and i still haven't responded. And I don't plan to either unless I decide to rip him a new ass hole. There are a few flaws in his story:
1) Rent is only like $350 or $400 a month, so when he says "i'm 300 short" it makes it seem as if he actually paid something of relevance. Instead, I'd be paying his entire rent.
2) Sal told me that Chris wrote Pat a check last week for rent and it never bounced. So that means Chris wants $300, and it's not for rent purposes.
3) Sal said Chris does not have a job. So what is this mythical "1st paycheck next Friday" shit?

In conclusion, I never even considered "loaning" him the money because I know I'd never see it again. In fact, I wasn't even going to ever respond to his random text in the first place b/c I knew he'd ask me for something. But the fact that he blatantly lied to me several times in the same text, makes me so mad that I want to send him a text calling him out on all of this bullshit. The only reason I don't is because it puts Sal under the spotlight when he shouldn't even be involved. Before writing this blog entry I wasn't that mad, but now I'm getting more and more POed by the second and want to let him know why he is such a dumb fuck. Who does he think he is? He can't pull one by the ol' ba ba ba ba booooooooon.

Halloween Costume?(Epic outfit build)

So not sure if peeps are going out to Halloween parties this year, just curious on what you guys are going to be if you do dress up. Me and the wife are thinking about going as John and Kate (all I need is a Ed Hardy T-Shirt, a fake ear ring, and backwards hat). As it stands now Jack is going to be a doctor (pex you've got some comp) and Coop is going to be James from Thomas and Friends (a.k.a. a red train). But of course that is subject to change. Anybody have any ideas on good get-ups for this year? I was posting in one of my forum websites I go to and came across this build. It wasn't for Halloween but was for one of those Comic-con things. Its a character from a game called Bioshock. Having not played a video game (excluding CS) in about 6 years I had to look this game up but I guess it was pretty leet. Anyway I didn't know anything about this game or this character but I found the build to be incredible. Peep it:

http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-daddy-bioshock.html

Vegas Trip

Anyone interested in a weekend Vegas trip end of year/early 2010? It is either that or I am making my DC trip that I keep pushing off.

So I was reading on GotFrag (don't laugh)

I just find this interesting. So I was bored and said hmm let me check out Gotfrag. I haven't looked in like 2 or 3 years so I figured i'd see whats new. Well nothing. In fact it seems like 1.6 hasn't changed much at all. They were saying that one of the reason why the game has gotten so stale is because of the maps. It seems like they are really only playing 4 maps now: Train, Nuke, Inferno, and Dust2. All other maps have really been dropped. I saw somewhere that Mill was still played in some tournaments and a new map called lite. The article I read said that the reason why the new maps get shot down is because they come out with a new map. The good guys will play it, don't have any strats on it, get beat by lesser teams and deem the map not good and the rest of the community follows along. I remember back in the day they had enough maps that made it interesting. What about Aztec? Prodigy? 3rd route? Cbble? They did say that Fire goes and then comes back and then goes away again. Can nobody design a decent map? I mean theoretically if Team Initial decided to get back into it we would only need to get our aim back because the maps are the same. I mean I'm not sure how many new strats have emerged over the past 4+ years but I can't imagine its anything that we haven't seen before in some variation. I mean all the strats/spots had been found when we were still playing. It was a good read, it was also interesting to see who is still playing..some of these guys have got to be my age or older and still playing.

Update

So not really a blog post, just figured this was the easiest way to update everyone without everyone finding out from the rumor mill or having to tell everyone indivudually down the road. But Prime is now single....not really any juicy details other then she just became more into her new dc life and grad student friends (aka total douches). No inspriring comments needed, unless you know a hot chic who I could bang

On another note, I just put $150 down on VT +3, my first real money sports bet since VT crippled my bank account twice last season when I picked them. Is this a retarted move? I feel like Miami is playing over their heads, and VT getting points at home is tough to pass up, but everyone seems to picking MIA so idk

So Team Initial has been challenged to a duel

In our fantasy EPL league we've been challenged. As you know we are in our own "mini league" of Team Initial. So not only are our fantasy teams going up against everyone who has a team but we are also competing against ourselves. Well our "mini league" has been challenged by another. The team is called 1912 Swim Team (I have no idea what that references) and basically its which mini league scores the most points per week. I just wanted to let everyone know so we all can elevate our game (CALLING BOON!).

boon's return to soccer begins today

after a 2 year hiatus, boon returns to 7 v 7 co-ed soccer. i'll let you know how many goals i score upon my return.

Worlds most expensive Shin Gaurd

So just for the record I told everyone in countless TI meetings that we should have jumped on the Carbon Fiber thing. Everyone laughed at Boski but now look at this:

So back when I still played soccer me and Term bought some shin guards from Adidas that were like $40 for a pair. We had to mold them to our legs. At that time I was like fuck $40 for shin guards. I thought we were a bit crazy. Not to mention that after those pair died I don't think either myself or Term has spent more than $10 on a pair of shin guards, opting for the cheap slide in ones that are paper thing. So I'm reading my Eurosport soccer catalogue that I still get (i occasionally get some new shoes from them) and decided to read the whole thing. I come to shin guards and I see these.....$100.00 for fucking shin guards. And guess what they are made out of....CARBON FIBER! They don't look any better than what a pair of $10-$20 pair would do. Their weight is the same. They do say they "withstand the demands of the elite level game". Not sure what the fuck that means, it also says they are designed for each leg so the left goes with the left, etc. This is not the first time Nike has done Carbon Fiber in soccer. They have a cleat that the outsole (bottom) is carbon fiber to reduce weight and they charge a large sum for. But at $100 you could buy a good pair cleats for that much. Any thoughts...is this just Nike trying to take advantage of peeps?

So team initial has 2 words currently in Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=typs

typs:
An abbreviation for the word typical.
"Jen said she wasn't going to drink anymore, and there she is, drunk and passing out on the bar. Typs." "Don't bring up the time I drove off without you again! That's so typs of you!" "I went out for dinner with my girlfriend and got stuck with the check again. Typs."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bosky

bosky(boski):
English pronunciation of a polish word 'boski', which means 'godlike'. Particularly, this is a nickname of leet and geek internet users.
-He is awesome! -Yup, he's bosky...

Updates

1) Boon will be coming to VB next Tues, and will probably hang around until that Thurs. So if any of you fools are trying to hang, let me know.

2) I was searching craigslist for VT - Nebraska tickets and was able to score one...I'm picking it up tomorrow for $100, so I'm pretty stoked. Scott, I'm not sure what you should do if you still plan on going, but I suggest searching craigslist....I got pretty lucky. As for bama, I think I just found a buyer for $175 per ticket, so I think that's what I'm doing. As for place to stay for the Nebraska game, I don't know. The closest hotels that are not booked are all the way in Roanoke, which blows. Joan's little sister goes to Tech and maybe crash there? doubtful, but just thinking of options...

Fantasy Prem League anyone?

So the EPL kicks off in mid August and wanted to know if anyone would be down to do the fantasy league this year. Prime said he would do it and I'm sure Term will but didn't know what Pex's and Boon's status is.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Labor Day Weekend

Hello friends,

I will be returning to Va Beach for Labor day weekend, starting Friday (I'll likely arrive late Thursday night) and staying through Monday evening. Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case the non-locals might be in town as well.

Nate- this also means I won't be traveling to Atlanta for the Alabama game. Obviously, I'm sure we will be watching it at mi casa and it should be a lot of fun with the 95-99% chance of drinking all day and Bagger calling for blocked punts left and right. My friend still is interested in your tickets...so whenever you think about pricing, etc let me know.

one love

USA National.....Club Team?

So on my 2 and a half hour drive to work today (HRBT flooded), I heard an interesting thought on one of the sports radio stations I was listening too. This was not a soccer show, so the dude was pretty much throwing out a random idea but it got me to thinking. He said soccer may be able to become popular for Americans if a rich millionaire owner got the US National Team together and paid them as a traveling team, and go around and play the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, etc. This idea probably isn't logical, but it got me thinking to another idea. Before I go into this, I know NOTHING about the details of how this would work logistically, money-wise, or with whatever league rules may be in place. But what if some owner did put together a team to play in the English Premier League (or Italian or one of the other Elite Leagues) and pay whoever we select to be Team USA as the players? Like I said, I don't know the details of how you start a team or how you are allowed to select your players, but if you could do this I would think it would be an awesome idea. Our players for one, would play together consistently against great competition (not Trinidad & Tobagao and co.), and also would finally be actually playing for something. I know personally I would definetly follow a "US" Team playing in the Premier League, Champions League, etc. pretty religiously. Two, I think paying Team USA players in almost a necessity if we want to be a powerhouse team, and this is a way to do it. Bottom Line, our country is motivated by $$, and if were paying our guys for performance I guarantee our team will improve.

Anyway, just curious what you guys thought about that. Another funny note was that the guy, who like I said really doesn't follow soccer, goes "And first order of business, fire that pathetic coach Bradley". Gave me a chuckle.

Oh, and a completely off my earlier topic but another interesting thing I heard on the radio.....some report was released with a study on the NBA and what colleges players were coming from. #1 college with NBA players = Duke. Very surprising considering the everyone says they do not produce any good pros (which still may be partially true). And to squash the people that say well they are all bench players, Duke has the highest salaries NBA players as well (average anyway, not the actual highest paid players).

Donovan rips on Becks

I read this on soccernet this morning...shit is pretty funny.


David Beckham has come under attack from L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.

In a new book due out later this month, Donovan claims Beckham has demonstrated little commitment to the Galaxy cause and has been a negative influence on the team since the ousting of former coach Ruud Gullit.

"All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us," Donovan says in 'The Beckham Experiment', authored by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.
"As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways - on the field, off the field.
"Does the fact that he earns that much more money come into it? Yeah. If someone's paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard."

Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham's absence, also questioned the former England skipper's leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings.

"Maybe he's not a leader, maybe he's not a captain," he said. "Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn't happened. And I don't think that's too much for us to expect. Especially when he's brought all this on us."

Beckham's first season in MLS was a largely miserable experience. He struggled with injury as an unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign.

Gullit's departure, which came a little over a month after Beckham's Galaxy debut, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club's marquee player.
"When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing," Donovan said. "He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.
"Somewhere along the way - and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go - he just flipped a switch and said, 'Uh-huh, I'm not doing it anymore'."

Donovan even claimed Beckham is a bad team-mate, because of his lack of commitment.
"He's not shown (he's a good team-mate)," he said. "I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good team-mate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with (Beckham), I'd say no, he wasn't committed."
Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home.

"My sense is that David's clearly frustrated, that he's unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it's a joke," he said. "I also kind of feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don't see dedication or commitment to this team, and that's troubling."
Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16, two days after Wahl's book is due to be published.

He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer.
"Let's say he does stay here for three more years," Donovan said. "I'm not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don't want to have soccer be this way."

This will finalize my opinion on Bob Bradley...

From ESPN: "Bradley believes they can cause an upset, though, saying: 'We came up against Spain before Euro 2008 and we played a great game. We've been watching them during this tournament and we've been taking note of their style. We know how to stop them and we are very confident.' "

If we lose by more than 2 goals, Bradley should be fired after acting like a cocky dick like that. You might take this comment as nothing special, but if you've listened to this guy talk about soccer over the past year you tend to get sick of him. Lack of coaching is one of the main reasons US soccer has not progressed over the past 15 years imho.

Bryce Harper/Age restrictions in sports

For those of you who don't know Bryce Harper is a 16yo High School student who was recently on the cover of Sports Illustrated and is being labeled as the "chosen one" in regard to his baseball talent. He recently announced that he is going to drop out of High School (he is currently a sophomore) and attain his GED so that he can be eligible for the draft sooner. He has taken a lot of grief from many people saying that he is throwing away his education and is growing up to quickly. What are everyones thoughts on this? To give you a bit of a breakdown of what American sports are requiring now:

MLB:
Must be at least 16yos and have completed High School (or attained its equivalent)
NBA:
Recently instated you must be at least 19yo and have completed HS (or equivalent)
NFL:
(no age restrictions) But must have +3 years after you completed HS (or equivalent). If you are in college and have completed your sophomore year you must complete junior year to be eligible for the draft.

The NFL has arguably the best policy for making kids go to college, and only recently did the NBA put something in place that will make it impossible for most kids to come right out of High School to go into the NBA. But is this the right way?

Look at Soccer leagues in Europe. The only age requirements is that you have to be able to get a work permit which in most European countries thats 14 or 16. You don't need to graduate High School, no need to attend college. This is often cited as the reason that American Soccer players aren't as good because they have to go through the "American" way which is High School, College, and then a Club Team/National Team. By the time they are 22 and coming out of college everyone else in the world has been playing on a club team for years. Should kids in American be able to join up a professional sports team whenever they want? There are obvious pros and cons.

Real Madrid break transfer record and then break again days later

Real Madrid recently re-elected president Florentino Perez. He was the president back in the late 90s/early 00s when they were the power house of the world. He was just re-elected this year and vowed to bring back the "Galacticos" era. Their first bit of business this week: signing Kaka from AC Milan. If you remember Boski blogged about how Kaka turned down a (and what would have been world record transfer fee) 100 million pound bid from Man City in the Dec. transfer window. He stated he did not want to leave Milan. Well it turns out he would leave the club, for less money, as long as it was a better club. He accepted a 56 million pound bid this week. I guess half of the money, but a much better club was all that he was looking for. Well they weren't finished there. They decided to sign, which has been rumored about for the last 1 1/2 years, Ronaldo from Man Utd. For the fee of 80 million pounds. So in one week they've spent a combined total of about $228,000,000 (in dollars). On two players!!!! Can you buy success? Chelsea proved it is possible back a few years ago, but after the initial success it quickly turned sour. Will this be Real's year to come back?

Laptop Help

Hey guys! This is basically just a follow up post to the one I previously put up about my laptop purchase. After the help I have received from you fellow bloggers, I am pretty much set on the Dell Inspiron, seems to fit what I am best looking for at the best price. Anyway, I'm going through the specs and just want to make sure im picking all the right things, so I'm just gonna post about them and see what you guys think:

Processor: Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Option: I can upgrade to Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6400 (2.00GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) [add $50 or $1/month1]

*Dont know what different this upgrade would be made. I am guessing it isn't necessary but let me know if you think otherwise, since $50 wouldnt cripple me

HD Display: Glossy, widescreen 15.6 inch display (1366x768)
Options: Upgrade to Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768) for $25

*Dont know anything about this option, so let me know if this is something that is pointless or worth the $25

Memory: 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz [Included in Price]

*No options to upgrade but I'm pretty sure this is good, alert me if not

Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
Option: Upgrade to 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 [add $100 or $3/month1]

*This was the one I was mainly curious about. Is this something that is needed as far as watching movies, etc.....or was graphics cards really just for high-level games like CS etc.

Battery: 6-Cell Battery (Option Upgrade to 9-cell)
*I'm guessing upgrade isn't needed here, especially since I'm not an avid traveler

Wirless Card: Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11 Wireless-N Mini Card
Upgrade Options:
-Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card with Netgear WGR614 Wireless Router [add $5]Dell RecommendedMay delay your Inspiron 15 ship date
-Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11 Wireless-N Card with Linksys WRT160N Wireless Router [add $80 or $2/month1]

*Any of these necessary for upgrade???


Those are the main ones I wasn;t sure on. I am guessing all of the services they offer (PC Tuneup, Extra Database Online backup, on-call plans etc.) arent really anything I need either, but again if you think otherwise let me know

most dominant survivor ever?

JT didn't get a vote against him the entire time. plus, in the finals, he got all 7 votes. You can't get any more dominant than that...

LOST (spoiler)

those of you that watch and have seen it, what did you think? I thought it was really good, but I'm pissed bc the last season doesn't come on until 2010. anyways, i have 2 questions:

1) I was watching jeopardy and the question was about a physicist from a while back, and the answer was Daniel Faraday. So why does LOST also have a physicist named Daniel Faraday?

2) Where the fuck is Claire?

Does sex sell? (any random observations from today)

So this weekend me and the boys went up to Tropical Smoothie to grab some lunch. I see approaching the place that there is someone set up out front with a table, it looks like they are selling something. I get up close and see its for D.A.R.E. Manning this table is 2 extremely attractive girls. WTF are they doing at a DARE table? Does DARE need me to purchase their board game to help keep kids off of drugs so bad they had to resort to hotties? I'm not complaining too much. The one chick had this strapless summer dress on with cleavage hanging out. Trying to lure me in with that ain't working, but they did nab many of other younger guys. This issue also came up last week when I was talking about document destruction. Every year we do a purge of old files that need to be destroyed. I was talking to one guy who we do are recycling program with who also offers shredding. I told him we had got a quote from another company and it somehow came up that their representative was a girl. He says "was she good looking?" Now she was ok, but he was saying how they also have a talk about sending girls out there and how a woman will outsell a man any day. I know I may visit issue more than most as 1. My company is a retail company and 2. I am often sold everyday by various reps for various things. As we are currently looking at purchasing some new copiers I've had a few of them in recently, all were cute and seemed like they were flirting with Boski to try to get the sale (either that or they were impressed by bod). So my question is do you think sex sells? Are you persuaded to purchase something from a good looking girl? Do you think it could back fire? Being hot in the furniture business is normally not a good thing. Most of the time you have couples purchasing furniture together and you don't want a wife/girl friend/etc. getting jealous over your man checking out the hot sales girl. What you want is a cute girl, enough to get the guy interested in her but cool enough that the girls are comfortable with her. Is it harder to tell someone who is hot that no I don't want to get the insurance plan on my new DVD player. What if shes got a crazy hot ass?

On a random note, last week while driving to work I see this girl (i think it was a girl, either that or a really scrawny, short dude) carrying a case, yes a case of natty light down the road. This was in some sketch apartment area and this person basically was like a poster child for trailer trash. Keep in mind this is at 7:45am. Well today I see the same person, and another case of natty light. She (or he) clutches this thing to their chest, holding it with both arms like its gonna fly away, the fucking case is almost as big as this person. The shit just makes me laugh, 730 in the morning and a case of natty just don't mix.

Give Prime advice on his 3 major purchases

So I'm looking at three major purchases in the near future, figured I'd see what you guys thought or if maybe you knew of some sweet deals or something....

Laptop - This is the main one I am looking for advice on, and would like to purchase relatively soon. Since CS I pretty much have no clue who are the top comp. companies now and what to get, etc. Basically I'm not looking for anything special....I don't see myself doing a whole lot of gaming so I don't need intense specs in that category, and I really don't use the comp for much other than looking at sports scores at night anymore so I think I could get away with a relatively low price comp. At the same time, I would like the think to be relatively quality as far as just general loading speed, and I do watch movies from time to time so I wouldn't want something that had zero graphics capability. Also, do you guys think its better to order a comp, or actually like go to best buy and get one. Top brands? Specs to look for? Fill me in

Car - Definetly would like to get a car this year for a number of reasons, 1) being i dont technically have one as the rodeo im currently driving is really my parents., 2) this seems like the time to buy and I think you get the sales tax back on any car purchased before november (ill need to research that to be sure). I'm 99% sure that I do not want to eventually get a place in williamsburg, so the biggest feature ill be looking for is gas mileage and a car that can handle a lot of miles. I was pretty much set on getting a civic hybrid, but after doing some research it seems like the prius may be better at the same price (except for the repuation of the prius as a homo car but whatev). Don't know if you guys know anything about those two, or any other options i should check out

Condo- After seeing how ridiculous high rent is when you rby yourself, and how cheap condos are going for right now, I think I'm leaning towards getting a condo/townhouse over an apt. For instance, condos in cypress are going for like 175k.... which by my calculation would be around a 1000-1200 monthly payment, which isnt that much higher than getting a nicer apt. This purchase isn't quite as definite as the others, but I have been looking around as I don't think I can last at home much longer without losing my mind. Don't really think theres advice to give on this one unless you know a sweet real estate person to hook me up with, but figured I'd throw that in there anyway

Survivor Opinion

So I heard on the radio this morning that Survivor will be in Baltimore this Sat. for casting. There will be cameras set up and you do a 2 minute speech on why you want to be in the show. Is it worth the shot haha? Also, I figure if I did do it, I'd have to do something weird to stand out, any suggestions??

Sonic Boom? Meteor? Aurora Spy Plane? Aliens? Predators?

I'm not sure how many of you felt or saw this. Obviously our out of area peeps probably don't even know this happened. Let me tell you my experience with it. Around 10pm lastnight Boski was in bed trying to sleep and heard and felt a loud BOOM. It made the house shake. The wife says to me "what the fuck was that?" I said I'm not sure it felt like a sonic boom. Now just for the record Boski has felt a Sonic Boom. When I was a kid NASA was flying an SR-71 Blackbird off of the coast for some research experiment and it was flying faster than sound at a range where the sonic boom was felt in the area. So she says "A sonic boom? What are aliens landing? It wasn't a sonic boom something hit the house." I said oookkk. I walked outside and saw nothing, no car, no branch, nothing. So I check out the news and lots of people in the area felt it. Many saw something. I talked to our HR manager and he was out by his pool hanging out and saw a fire ball of light go streaking by, which was confirmed by many other eye witnesses. So what was it? As they are stating now there were no storms in the area, and NASA, the Navy, and Air Force report no unusual activity. What does Boski think we'll I'm pretty sure it was a Meteor(ite) that probably crashed in the ocean. But since I love conspiracy theories I'm thinking it was some new Government aircraft (checkout Aurora spy plane on wikipedia). Those are my thoughts at least. You can also bring up any local news or paper website to check it out.

Status Updates

This may be a gay post, but the blog has been dead for a while.  Basically I was bored and trying to think of things to post, and I stumbled upon something that I'm actually interested in.  Obviously since most of us live far apart we aren't as close as we used to be, dont talk as much or what have you.  Anyway, how is everyone's life going?  I mean not to be too gay, but like what are you into nowadays.  What are your plans for the near and distant future etc.  Who knows, maybe no one really cares what I'm up to but I am interested in how you guys are doing, so reply or not.

I'll start off.  As of right now I'm a week away from spring break, my last one ever.  I'll be going home for a week (Mar 21-29).  I was considering flying out to Houston for a few days during that time, but I'm not too sure at the moment.  If anyone else was willng to go I'd be much more inclined.  Not that I don't wanna hang out with you Scott, but I need some persuasion at the moment.  I was planning to do something with the girlfriend, but she's having some family issues that I won't get into.

I have my medical board exam coming up June 20th, which is composed of information from my 2 years here at med school.  So pretty much its gonna be a bitch and I need to get cracking on studying for it asap.

On a day to day basis I have lectures, which I usually dont go to unless they are mandatory.  I listen to these lectures at home or somewhere on campus during my own time instead.  We do have mandatory stuff atleast twice a week though.  For example on Tuesdays I see a patient at our clinic and treat him with some manipulative techniques.  Like if they come in with back pain I can treat that, or neck pain or whatever.  Typically when they come back next week they say it helped a lot, so it makes me feel good and somewhat competent.  On Thursdays sometimes I have to go work at random clinics and do various things.  A few weeks back I had to give this 8 year old kid a full physical exam, including genital check etc.

Next year I'll be starting my clinical rotations, so no more lectures.  It'll be as close to the real world that I've gotten so far, pretty much like a job.  I'll be working in a town called Petersburg in WV.  Its in the middle of nowhere so its probably gonna be extremely boring outside of work.  Thinking about it actually depresses me, I need to do something about that.  I do get 2 months of elective rotations and 1 month of break though, so atleast I can look forward to that.  The elective rotations can be done anywhere, I'd like to do it in VB, so I need to find some doctor around there that will let me work with him.  At the moment I'm hoping that Polaks dad will help me out, I need to email him or something.

Anyway, I just wrote stuff as it came to mind, kind of haphazard.  This kind of reminds me of those Christmas cards you get that updates you on peoples family.  Whatever.

Favorite games you played as a kid

Like the title says what were some of your favorite games you played during your childhood? Both early and late. Some of these we will all be able to relate to (pool soccer anyone hell or perfect dark, bond, mario kart?). I'd have to say other than pool soccer one of my favs was soccer golf in the back yard. We would take beach balls, set up lawn chairs, etc. as obstacles and make "holes". We'd have par 3s, 4s, 5s, all based on where the "tee box" was. It was great fun because even with the age difference and physical differences between myself, prime, and term back then it was fair because those beach balls did not respond well to people who could kick harder. What were some you remember?

O rly?

Facts about the Obama Speech

Comments? I am extremely interested to see where this presidency ends up and if people will still love him after he can't come through on half his promises.

Survivor Brazil

So I finally got around to watching last week's survivor. I really like when they have challenges where people beat each other up...quality stuff. I also like how there are multiple idols around camp that no one has found yet.

People I like: Sierra (hot), Sydney (hot), JT (or TJ I forget), taj (but why the f is she allowed on the show when her husband is a millionaire?). I'm still undecided on Coach. I could see how he could be really annoying, but at the same time, i like him and glad they knocked off the chick with the huge knockers.

People I don't like: the old truck driver woman, and i kinda don't like stephen either...he is just a big fruit.

who do you guys like/not like?

People who rock flip flops and drive with the top down in the winter

Whats with people these days? Its fucking February! Why are they wearing flops? And I'm not talking about one of those freak 70 degree days. I'm talking 42 degrees with a windchill into the upper 30s and dudes are in flops. Not women, dudes. Look I love my flops. In the summertime thats all I wear. But in the winter???? C'mon. Your feet are white as snow and are also turning a slight tinge of blue from frost bite. What are they thinking? Prime, I caught the guy who drives "PHAT 4D" truck coming out with a winter jacket, jeans, and flip flops. It seems like an epidemic, I've never seen it like I've seen it this year. And then the chumps who are driving their convertibles with the top down. If its cold enough to snow the top should stay up. Especially if your in a Miata or something like that. You might be able to pull if off in a Ferrari but not in a mustang. People like that are opened for mockery. I'll pull up to them and be like aren't you cold? They tend to smile or laugh it off and I say seriously its like 35 what are you doing. I guess people are prepping for global warming????

another one bites the dust

Not really post worthy but I didn't think anyone was still reading the comments from the last one.....just happened to be sent this video of a blatant dive and thought it was pretty funny, not sure if peeps had seen it yet or not...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W00d3yJKl4

funny point about this, not only the stupid dive.....but the fact that he probably would have scored if he didnt dive

plays like this are way too common (not to this extent but the diving in general) in the little soccer I have watched, and are making it hard for me even to sit through a full game. one positive i will give the MLS, they rarely have blatant flops like this

Boski gets owned by old fart

So Boski is driving home for lunch today like I normally do and I pull into my hood. To help paint the picture the entrance into my hood is a long road that comes from Wesleyan Drive. It goes about 1/2 miles and then there is a stop sign and you can either go left or right. When you come up to the stop sign you are coming up a small hill and there is a low wooden fence/guard rail all around the areas. Boski pulls up to the stop sign, stops, looks both ways and notices a early 2000(s) Cadillac coming in to turn. It is going slow and has a handicap plate, I think about going but then say you know I'll wait for him (I am big defensive driver now). He signals and I notice he is turning very close to my car. I see him rolling down his window. I'm thinking he is going to say I have a bulb out or maybe ask for directions. He is an old guy, I roll my window down, turn my music off thinking lets see what this nice old man wants. Dude says "The stop sign is back there" and points behind my car and drives away. I could not respond, I was so shocked I couldn't even think of what to say. The stop sign is about 5-6 feet from the curb of where the street goes left or right. But you have to go past the sign to make sure you can see clearly. Here I am thinking I am being a good driver and this dick head makes this smart ass remark. After he drove away the first thing that came into my mind is make a U-turn and go after his ass. I did not. I've got the dudes car in my memory, and I know hes got a handicap plate. I will hunt this man down. But seriously I mean how much more of a ass can you be? I stopped, I waited for your slow ass, I was past the stop sign but you have to be. Fuck that old man.

boon's drunken experience

Last night a girl walks up to me and offers to buy me a drink. My reply is a swift "no" (pointing to my already full glass). Why? because I'm an idiot I guess. Then she asks if she can buy me a shot. I said ok....After taking the shot I ask her where she's from. Her response: Orlando. Have I ever been to Orlando? No. Do I for some reason decide to go into detail on why Orlando is the worst city in Florida? Yes. Why? I have no clue. She decides to drop me and go somewhere else....Of course I don't blame her, I would have done the same. The question is why am I such an idiot? Maybe if I was sober I would have done things differently? I don't know....

There really isn't a point to this story, I just thought it was pretty funny looking back.

Biggest Legislation of Our Generation

Obama's Stimulus Plan Passes in House

Obama's proposed stimulus plan has officially passed in the House and is moving to the Senate on an expedited schedule. Some high level details are outlined in the following link:

Stimulus 101

This blog is short, but simply pointing out that the summary of the proposed stimulus package is worth a read (if you haven't already). Another thing is to point out that contrary to the claims to "reach across the isle" and run a bi-partisan government, the stimulus package received zero (READ: NONE) Republican votes. It was opposed by 11 Democrats to end up at a vote of 244 to 188. Fear not Boski, your socialist government has arrived!!!!

The two items in the stimulus package that I most disagree with (beside the $819b being spent, $1.2 trillion interest adjusted) are:

1) 6.2% of the infrastructure investment goes to computerizing health care records. IMO, America needs investments in BUSINESSES/MANUFACTURING that have LONG-TERM economic benefits. This also applies to the renewable energy investment as well: this better apply to PROVEN renewable energy that is SUSTAINABLE with LONG TERM RETURNS. I would approve of this type of investment in proven, efficient technology. I hope its not some super bogus energy technology that will turn out to be nothing except appealing to the hippie masses. I do approve of the majority of the money going to education, though.

2) Tax breaks for small companies and companies 'affected by the downturn.' Small companies employ small amounts of workers; not going to save the US. A majority of the companies included in the 'affected by downturn' were probably poorly managed to begin with (hi auto and banks). News flash: every company is affected. The good ones just manage it better. But I guess it makes sense to reward the companies who are performing the worst!!!!!

"Increase weekly unemployment benefits by $25, and provide incentives for states to expand unemployment coverage" falls along the same lines. Lets reward states for giving money away!

Thoughts?

P.S- Cara said it was straight for you to visit Boz. Cleared it last night. Just book the flight.

H-Town???

Not really much of a blog post, but I just happened to be bored and was looking at plane ticket prices and they are helllla loooow right now. Houston trip anyone?

Boski's Inauguration Experience

Well gang Boski is back from DC after living through Obama's presidential inauguration and what a trip it was. I'm not sure if I will ever do it again but I was glad I was there and got to experience it. This post may run long and I will try to do things in chronological order. We departed VA Beach around 5:05 am. I was expecting to make it as far as Richmond before we hit stand still traffic. Boy was I shocked. The roads were wide open. I think everyone feared traffic and so headed in super early. We were getting reports in that there was already a million peeps on the mall at like 8am. We had to park at RFK and so we did a juke and got on 301 from I-95. Man did that work, we rolled in at 9am when we were thinking around 10 or 1030. They had shuttle buses going from RFK to the mall and from what we saw it looked like the line was hella long so we (our own group as everyone was on their own) decided to walk. In our group was myself, hova, debs, kathy g, and our owner. The walk was about 2 miles, oh and let me touch on the weather....fucking cold. Around 28-30 degrees and windy. Boski had one of those headband ear warmer hat things, hova joked me on it, and left it in my car so I forced to wear my old school adidas beanine. Which probably did a better job but left my hair crazy. We walk in and decide to head over to union station to get a starbucks. All I could see were people. I've never seen so many people before in my life. We got our starbucks, and headed out.

Oh and let me tell you about a VIP we had on our bus, little Joey. We did an essay contest that people could enter (partnering with the Urban League) and random peeps could enter their essay and try to win a spot on our bus. Joey is in 4th grade, and hes really into history. Basically hes really nice but a dork. Where most 4th grade boys have sports players, cars, and girls on their walls in their room little Joey has a copy of the constitution, pictures of the white house, and president bobble head figures....and yes that is the truth. He got an article in the paper about he wanted to go so bad that he decided to enter the contest. He didn't win, but we had some extra seats and so as a good publicity stunt on our part gave him and his mom a seat on our bus. We got great press from it. Well Glen Nye (one of our representatives from our area) read the story in the paper he decided to steal Deb's thunder (she organized the giving of the seats on the bus to Joey) and gave him actual tickets to get into the seating area. But little Joey still wanted a ride up. Well let me tell you this kid was a dork, and I think his mom kept him sedated cause he seemed like he was on another planet. More on Joey in a few

Another thing that we saw everywhere was headcases trying to hustle. Obama T-shirts, hats, pins, buttons, pictures, DVDs, flags, 1 for 5$ 3 for $10. Guys had raps..."Obama Ts and DVDs". It was nuts. There were only a few protesters. Some guy was walking around with a big cross. Saying he was a Muslim or something. No KKK members or anything like that though. The security was always present but never oppressive. So we start walking and come up to one of the gates were people with tickets were trying to get in. They weren't letting them in. Our owner spotted one of the Kennedy's (not Ted) who couldn't even get in. Boski folded up his little map and was yelling "I've got a ticket". I then tried to get a "LET US IN" chant going but it didn't happen. We ended up getting close to the capital on one of the side streets and didn't even make it to the mall. We couldn't really see very well but the big thing was we could not hear anything. There were no speakers in our area. We actually watched it on a TV in a bar through a window (they had the tv on closed caption so we could read what he was saying and some guy had it broadcasting on his phone). If anyone lived in Kentucky you would see Boski on the news as one of their local reporters was doing a report right in front of me. When they started doing the 21 gun salute people thought they were bombing for a minute which I found funny. After it was said and done we went back to union station, got on the metro and ended up somewhere on Pennsylvania Ave. and had to wait 40 minutes to get into a El Rodeo type mexican. It was cool because they had Margaritas by the pitcher, which we got and they gave us a shot of Tequila on the house for me and Hova. Before we got there and when we got off the metro we probably saw someone die.

Me and Hova had our backs to the guy and were standing in the street when we heard a loud "THUD" and it felt like the ground moved. It turns out this old guy had just something like a heart attack or a seizure because he fell from the curb straight onto the street and was stiff as a board and then started having convulsions. There were officers right there and radioed in for help and people started yelling for a doctor and some guy ran over and then everyone started circling around him so we just left. Dude was not in good shape.

We then heard that their was mini riot at the purple gate (the color coded gates was the areas that ticket holders got in). This was the same gate that Boski tried to get the let us in chant going. The riot was due to people not being let in. We did get some good views of snipers on the buildings and "uniformed" secret service guys inspecting union station as on of the balls was going to be held there. We'd see motorcades of black suburnas with like 6 cop cars escorting them and we're like whos in that one? We walked back to the bus and left around 5pm getting home around 9-930 which was not bad at all.

All in all I'm glad I went to experience but I don't think its anything I'll ever do again. My feet still hurt (i'm going to write puma as those shoes did not do the trick). They really should hold it in the spring when its you know above freezing. Oh and little Joey didn't make it to his seat. We found out from his mom that the reason why all the gates for ticket holders had problems was because the metal detectors started malfunctioning and they didn't have any back up ones. Joey ended up getting into Congress by calling Glen Nye and watching it in his office which is pretty cool. I'm not sure if I got everything down. I'm still thawing out.

Do the Dew...

Thought I could make a lighter blog post after the last few heated ones. The idea for this blog came from work, as this entire morning I have listened to three co-workers have a literal 30-45 minute debate over what the best fast food chain was. They literally went through every menu to evaluate them, at one point pulling out a piece of paper to put rankings down for each menu item to get a total score for each. Intense and nub, I know. But I thought it would be interesting to see what others would rank, so I made a blog. Below I have my top 5, may edit it with more thought, but here it is for now.

1) Wendys:
Strenghts: All of the chicken sandwiches, pretty solid chili for fast food, best value menu, frostys
Weaknesses: Fries (ive always rated wendys fries the worst, but nowadays it really just depends on the day whether you get good fries or not)
Overall: Not much you can hate on Wendys for, the Spicy Chicken I think I would have to rate as the best individual fast food item, and they have a pretty solid selection of other stuff.

2) Arbys:
Strenghts: Roast Beef sandwiches, chicken cordon bleu, I've heard there sandwiches are real good, but have no experience myself, best honey mustard sauce
Weaknesses: Price
Overall: The roast beef sandwich may be #2 behind the Spicy for me. Doesn't quite have the depth wendys has, but still solid.

3) Taco Bell:
Strenghts: Price - Nacho Cheese Chalupas with no tomatoes
Weaknesses: No real weaknesses, just obviously limited to mexican
Overall: Could be debateable to be above arbys. As Im writing this Im starting to think Nacho Cheese Chalupa may be the #1 individual item on any menu

4) Chic Fil A
Strengths: Breakfast, Nuggets
Weaknesses: Poor Honey Mustard Sauce, Limited Selection, Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Overall: Chic Fil A has faded for me recently. The standard chicken sandwich is good, but I still prefer wendys I think, and their grilled chicken sandwich is majorly nub.

5) Just found out we are having a nub staff meeting real quick, Ill have to come back to this as I am still debating my 5th

Kaka turns down largest transfer in futbol history

For those that don't keep up with soccer that much I'll give you a bit of background. Manchester City was recently purchased by the Abu Dhabi group. Which that basically translates into they were bought by Dubai. Which means they have more money then they know what to do with. They broke the British transfer record this year when they signed Robinho for 32 million pounds. Which converts to $46.6 million US. Dude did it just for the money as he was being lured by Chelsea and after it was all said and done he had no idea what team he had signed for. What makes this even funnier is that Manchester City are in 15th spot (out of 20). So during the January transfer month they claimed they would make BIG signings. So they approached AC Milan's Kaka. They offered him a record setting 100 MILLION POUNDS! or $145,691,115 DOLLARS! Dude would make $364k a week....a WEEK! He said he wants to grow old at Milan. I mean from a soccer aspect I would much rather play for Milan, they are much better than Man City. But the question is what would you do? And what do you think about this? For the record the most expensive soccer transfer in history is....Zidane from Juventes to Real Madrid back in 2001 for 48 million pounds or $69 million dollars.

What is your favorite soccer formation?

Quick post before my next official post. After watching Liverpool play a 4-5-1 with FUCKING KUYT AS THE LONE STRIKER and almost vomiting for hours on end, I ended up thinking about how I don't like the massive number of teams who play 4-5-1's recently. Although it seemed much more prevalent last season, I still don't like watching the slow, non-offensive 4-5-1 teams that play now.

On that same note, what is your favorite soccer formation? I think if I coached a team, I would lean to a 4-4-2, but my favorite formation that I ever played in was the 3-5-2 with 2 holding midfielders. I typically think that holding/defending through the midfield is much more important than having the 4th defender.

Opinions/thoughts?

Happy About Lower Gas Prices? INC Increased Gas Taxes.

Panel Urges 50% Gas Tax Increase

Due to the economic recession and the decrease in overall gasoline usage, gas prices are at about a 5 year low currently with the USA national average at ~$1.65/gal. This has brought much needed relief to "middle-class" America who are facing increasing debt and decreasing job security. This also has provided a relief to American companies whose sales have been dropping off (due to the recession) because they no longer have huge shipping costs for both raw materials and shipping their product to customers. Although oil companies are still pretty high on people's "I SWEAR I'D KICK THAT CEO'S ASS IF I SAW HIM AT THIS BAR" list, it has at least lowered some of the hatred.

Of course things this good cannot last long. The linked article above describes the current lobbying of The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing to increase gas taxes for funding purposes. Said commission states that "the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax fail to raise enough to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs." The recommendation is to increase the national gasoline tax by 10 cents a gallon and to raise the diesel tax by 12 to 15 cents a gallon. This means they want to increase the gasoline tax by 54%, which would raise the current tax to be 16.2% of the total gas cost ($1.65 average + additional 10 cent a gallon basis). Additionally, "the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation." This means that when inflation goes up therefore hiking up crude oil and gasoline prices up, the tax could increase even more.

Now backing up from the "I hate all taxes" stance, an increase of 10 cent a gallon really isn't too much of a deal breaker. I would actually be for this tax if the money would be used efficiently to increase the quality of roads and rail transportation (the future of the American economy IMO). The two things that WOULD majorly piss me off about this kind of a tax are 1) the government spends a ridiculous amount of money on the stupidest shit. I don't need to go into too much detail on the things I believe to be retarded; everyone has their list. Most people do agree that money is being spent in retarded places. How about we take some of that stupid money and re-allocate it to transportation (and other important things LIKE SCHOOLS). The second thing that would piss me off is, the people who improve the transportation systems in America are seriously idiots. How long did it take the Virginia DOT to finish the construction on I-64 west from Norfolk to Williamsburg? There is still construction going on here in Houston from the FIRST DAY I ARRIVED HERE IN 2005. AND TRUST ME IT ISN'T HARD STUFF. My feeling is that the state governments give the construction contracts to companies who do NOT deserve them. Most of them milk the government for more and more money while the people who approve these contracts get nice dinners and "gifts" from the head of said companies.

This means that you and I pay for "improving transportation" that could be paid for by smart government investing and improving the efficiency of construction. I don't necessarily blame the commission for wanting some money to compensate for the slowing economy. They definitely are not going to get it from the upcoming administration who is promising to cut taxes and is forced to bailout the increasing number of American companies. They have to turn to increasing the tax on the one thing we are all thankful that the price is finally going down for. This should concern all of us because this could be an increasing trend of increasing prices due to the recession (hello supply and demand). The worst example of this is the increasing cost of college tuition (which I hope to write about in the future). Do you think an additional 10 cent/gallon is a big deal or not much of anything?




Aside: this blog was more of a rant than anything revolutionary and was not really well written. I just wanted to get something down to increase the traffic of the blog (like Boski mentioned) and also get some of the small beef off my chest.

Also, cool website I found of historical gas prices when I was looking for how low the current gas prices are: http://www.massachusettsgasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx
Interesting to see how gas prices have tracked with crude prices.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well its 2009!!!! The blog has been slow this past month so I'm hoping it picks up some pace this year. What I want to know is what is everyones resolution this year? Do you have any? If not what are you looking forward to? I always thought New Years Resolutions were bullshit. Why pick this day to quit smoking? Why pick this day to start to work out? Shouldn't you have stopped stuffing your face with Mc Donalds 3 years ago? Shouldn't have put down that cig back in middle school? The only thing interesting I can say about 2009 is that it will be (if we have one) my 10 year high school reunion. Whats Boski say on that??? Fuck 'em. I didn't like most of them while I was in high school, I don't see or talk to 99.9% of them now, so I don't really care where they are or what they are doing now in their lives. As you know my wife is a bit older than me and last year we went to her reunion, it was really like their 12th or 13th year out of high school but they never had a 10 for some reason. When I think of a high school reunion the only reference I had was Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, boy this thing was nothing like that. It was soo boring and small and drab. The first 2 drinks were free, that was good. Then I started stealing other peoples tickets to get more free ones. The only highlight was one of my wife's friends had this boyfriend F.O.B. Italy. Dude was sooo funny. He bitched for like 45 minutes about flip flops and how Americans can wear them and how uncomfortable they were. I just talked soccer to the guy although he said his main sport was mountain climbing....go figure?