What if......

One of my favorite rap songs ever is a song called "What If" by Fredro Star.  It inspired me to write this:

What if I was born 100 years ago?
Would I have lived this long?
Would there have been medicine to save me?
Would the doctors have diagnosed me wrong?
What if Twitter existed in 1991?
How would the athletes be?
Would Magic still announce on television he had HIV?
What if Amy Winehouse never overdosed?
She may never have been the best singer in the world but she'd be close.
What if Axel never had Slash?
What if Paris never had cash?
What if no one ever found Bernie's 9 billion dollar stash?
What if George Clooney stayed in TV and never left ER?
What if Whitney never did cocaine?
Would she still be a star?
What if Mike Vick never got busted?
Would he still be in Atlanta?
What if Christmas was more about Jesus-would kids believe in Santa?
What if Kanye never interrupted Taylor on stage?
What if inflation considered minimum wage?
What if Tim Tebow was black?
Would he get this many shots?
Or would he be buried on the depth chart and left to rot?
What if Facebook was down?
for 11 months a year?
Could you imagine all the voices you actually might hear?
What if steroids were allowed in the 4 major sports?
Records would be shattered.
No athletes at the Supreme court.
What if cancer didn't exist?
No more chemo. No more drugs.
What if marijuana was legal?
No more buying from street corner thugs.

What if Ron Paul became president?
Would we find a reason to hate?
Would all the young one's supporting him
stick by his side when policies are late?
What if I never bought that first cell phone?
Would I be alone?
Would people still want to be around me if the shirt on my back was all I owned?
What if Jesus didn't rise from the dead?
Would people believe in him then?
What if skinheads grew their hair out?
What if Stimpy didn't have Ren?
What if we didn't have a Revolution?
Still under English rule.
What if Ohio State merged with Michigan and became one school?
What if JFK didn't get shot, no matter who it was by?
What if Bill Clinton never had his affair
and told his stupid lie?
What if David Tyree dropped it,
instead of pinning it to his head?
The Pats would've been the champs,
but it was their only loss instead.
What if I never read Silverstein?
Would I ever want to write?
What if  Tiger never cheated?
He and Elin would still be tight.
What if Charlie didn't go crazy?
No more winning, no more insane.
What if there is no God?
You couldn't use his name in vain.
It's a crazy would we live in,
I think about it sometimes,
when I sit here out of boredom
my questions turn into rhymes.

David Brooks and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day.

Wow, I need to clear the cobwebs off of this thing.  It has been a while since I last wrote a blog.  I lost inspiration and the desire to write.  Some events in one's life will re-ignite the flame.  It has been said that 4 out of 5 comments about a product or service are complaints.  When things go well, one doesn't feel the need to compliment.  In some ways, this is the problem with society.  People don't see everything one does right.  They see the one thing that person does wrong.  Yes, we are all guilty of complaining about the wait being too long at a restaurant, or the food being too cold.  We've complained that Francisco Cordero can't close games well enough for what the Reds are paying him.  We complain about traffic, and the way others drive.  We complain about the price of movie tickets and gasoline.  We complain about almost everything but there's always the other side.  Now normally I look at that other side.  I give people the benefit of the doubt.  I am very patient.  I am sure very few of you have ever seen me lose my temper.  I will wait when there's a wait at restaurants and never complain of my food being cold.  Maybe it's just because I hate the thought of someone spitting in my food and the hatred of confrontation, but I never complain.  I see Francisco Cordero as an asset.  He was in the top 5 in Save percentage since he was with the Reds.  I never complain of traffic because what if someone is seriously hurt at the end?  They had a worse day than you.  Give a little, and if someone cuts you off, just let it go.  What's the point of escalating it in to something that could end up bad for both of you, and don't blame movie theaters for their high prices.  The only money they really make is on concession and those prices are through the roof due to inflation.  The movie ticket money goes mostly to the movie producers, directors, and talent. Now gasoline, I can't defend because it's frustrating that we have to buy oil from these people who basically just toy with us.  We use way much more oil than anyone else in the world though.  The gap is more than Anthony Davis' block total compared to 2nd place this season in college basketball. I'm getting off track because this blog isn't about gasoline or crappy waiters, but it does have to do with customer service...something I can't defend.  


Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment.  I took off work about a half of an hour early to make it on time.  I've been having some twitching in my feet and stuff I wanted to get checked out, not really any severe pain, but more like an annoying constant thing, like mist compared to rain.  Anyway I arrived no later than five minutes late.  I had to stand behind a guy wanting to make an appointment for his hemorrhoids.    He was a slower talker than Wilford Brimley.  The guy kept complaining about having to see a nurse practitioner rather than his regular doctor (who was on maternity leave).  By the time I got to the sign in sheet, it was 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment at the latest.  The lady signed me in, and gave me my sheet to take back to the doctor.  I then played the waiting game, as normally done at the doctor I believe to be intentional to get you sick with what everyone else has in the waiting room to get more money from you, but that is not proven. Anyway, I watched as everyone began clearing out of the waiting room, including the people after me 15 minutes went by, then 30.  I started to grow concern, but with me as patient as I am, I waited.  45 minutes passed and a woman who didn't even have an appointment got taken in before me.  An hour went by and then it was time to ask about what was with the wait.  I saw the associate lie straight to my face,  "I don't think I checked him in.  I have him as a no call, no show at 4:30."  They preceded to tell me that my doctor had left and there's no one else who could stay and see me.  First of all I was there long before 4:30 and the lady did check me in.  I had proof from the paper she gave me.  Secondly, how dare you lie right to me to save your own butt?  The customer is always right, and when others started asking about what happened behind the desk I let it be known that the lady had checked me in.  She made a mistake and didn't want to own up to it.  All I really wanted was an apology and to make it right.  In reality, they were rude.  "Well, why don't you just stay for after hours?  It's only 45 minutes from now."  Umm lady, I've already been sitting here an hour from your mistake.  Aren't doctors supposed to help someone who's in need anyway?  Not one of them could stay and look at me after I waited an hour?  It was mostly that she didn't admit her mistake that made me mad.  Just apologize even if you think you're right.  How could you lie and make me look like an idiot in front of all of your co-workers?  St. Elizabeth sucks all around.  They are getting too big for their own britches.  I went home, cooled off and went back in for after hours reluctantly.  I knew at after hours, they don't thoroughly look at you.  I was right.  The guy basically said I have too many problems for him to figure out what was wrong and I needed to see my primary doctor.  I informed him that I tried and failed.  He said I would have to follow up.  So I just wasted a bunch of money and time for no peace of mind?  I get it.  You want me to stay sick for money.  I hate to complain but I had no choice.  I see why 4 out of 5 comments are, "don't go there; the food is nasty," instead of "Gosh, Mike Brown did a heck of a job building this team; I'm going to go to a Bengals game next year."  I'm still going to give people the benefit of the doubt but not yesterday.  I can't.

Breakfast at Taco Bell, Me in the Kitchen, Taping kids up at work, and Hugo

I must start with this because, quite frankly I don't know what to think...Taco Bell introduced a breakfast menu at nearly 800 restaurants in 14 states today.  They plan on having breakfast at 5,600 locations nationwide by 2014.  Some places I can't even look at in the morning, and anywhere that sells Mexican food is on that list.  Well Taco Bell isn't Mexican food and I hate that kids think that Taco Bell is Mexican food.  Are they going to sell gorditas and cheesey beefy melts at breakfast? By lunch time, we'd all have the runs.  Everyone's stomach would be unsettled by noon.  Think about this, have you ever felt good after eating Taco Bell? No.  Have you ever been hungry and said, Taco Bell sounds delicious? No.  Do we all for some reason still eat it from time to time? Yes. Does David's Brain know the answer to such a question? No.  But I do know this: when I was 16, I had this Spanish teacher who was from Mexico..  It was her first year teaching there and frankly she didn't know all too much English.  We taught her the English language as much as she taught us Spanish.  Well anyway, we would have these fiestas from time to time and we'd all have to bring in these Mexican dishes.  I would always go in with John Holmes, no not that John Holmes you perverts, and he'd make guacamole.  He knew he was going to be absent for the next fiesta, so I was on my own.  I couldn't cook anything but ramen noodles, french toast and pizza at the time (nothing has really changed in that department).  This teacher would always complain how terrible Taco Bell's food was, so what.  I went through the drive-thru, ordered 11 soft tacos, which is all the people we had in the class, unwrapped them and served them at the fiesta.  The teacher, a Mexican native, said they were the most delicious tacos she'd ever had.  Anyway rambling about this reminds me of home ec in 8th grade.  I am not known for my cooking skills which is why I need to find me a lady that is handy in the kitchen.  The way to my heart is through my stomach.  Well anyway, I was in this group and we were making French toast or what we call Freedom toast if we are patriots, which I'm rooting for the Giants in the Super Bowl so I don't want to hear that term in any good way and I love French toast and it wasn't Freedom toast at the time anyway and I don't want Freedom to remind me of patriotism which will remind me of Brady throwing 10 touchdowns next Sunday so we will just call it French toast.  We were making French toast in this group and there were 5 of us; if you were in my group remind me because I can't remember or I would give you a shout out.  One of my duties was to dip the bread in the eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla mixture.  We had to make 6 pieces.  I dipped the first one in and went to sift the powdered sugar.  I forgot that the piece was in there and it absorbed almost the entire mixture.  My group was busy doing other things.  This piece of toast weighed at least a pound.  It was heavy.  I remember handing it to the cook and it was dripping with the egg goo.  I then was asked to prepare the next piece of bread.  I only had enough mixture to cover 1/2 of the bread.  and I had 4 more pieces to go after that.  I didn't know what to do.  Needless to say I cost my entire group a D on the project.  Sorry guys.

Here's a stupid video Stuart and I did filmed at the Taco Bell in Newport:

Winner of the Day:Hugo.  It is Martin Scorsese's most recent film.  It leads this year's Oscars with 11 nominations.  Martin is known for his violent gangster movies, but his wife read the book and basically said to make something his daughter can actually watch so that's why he did it. The story.

Loser of the Day: Mustard Seeds Childcare.  Why did they hire this girl (okay so it's Ludlow but still)?  She looks insane.  And they let her work around kids and she found yet another use for duct tape by taping a kid to the floor.  And fix your name.  Nothing screams bring my child here more than mustard seeds. Read me. 

Quote of the Day: The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is. – Charles M Schwab

Song of the Day: Purple Rain by Prince

What were you thinking over and over again of the day?:

Friends

I am writing this blog today from the comfort of my own home.  My readers usually expect these in the morning, but I hope they like a little night cap.  I am getting fairly busy at work so I'm going to try to write my blog in the evenings because I have a million thoughts swirling in my head I'd love to share with you all.  Friends come in all shapes and sizes, races and gender, ages and income levels.  You may see some daily and others you may see once a year.  We all have that friend who will have your back no matter what.  You can fight with them and the next day you both shake it off like nothing happen.  We have the friend who we call when we are in trouble and know they will be there to help with no questions ask and expect nothing in return.  They forgive and forget.  They see you laugh and see you cry.  They pick you up when you are feeling down and help you with questions when you are stuck at work.  They pick up your heart when it is ripped to pieces and put it back again.  They help you through relationships; support you even if they don't always approve.  They are critical, but only because they care.  They know what you are going to order even before you even know.  They put you first when others put you last and make you feel better just by ripping off a one liner.  They meet you for lunch when you have no one else to ask.  They defend you when you aren't there.  They treat you like a brother.  They let you lean on their shoulder when the times get rough and you return the favor whenever you can.  Good friends don't have to brag or gloat; they are just part of your script that is life.  They are there to tell your stories when you can't remember.  They are there to celebrate when you graduate or get a promotion.  They pick up right where they left off even when you go weeks without seeing them.  They are there to talk when all you want to do is chat.  They will take you in when you have nowhere else to go.  They are your friends.  I would say, "Just say thank you,"  but don't because they already know.  Don't forget to be the best friend you can be, because you never know when someone needs you most. To my friends, I love you all.

The Super Bowl is set.

Super Bowl XLVI is set.  

The Giants and Patriots will face each other in a rematch of the Super Bowl following the 2007-2008 season where the Giants upset the undefeated Patriots.  This one has nearly the same script.  The Giants had an up and down season and got hot at the end of the season.  And how about Bernard Pollard?  He was responsible for Brady's ACL injury in 2008, Welker's ACL tear in 2009 and now Gronkowski's injury going into the Super Bowl.  That's a little eerie.  The storylines going into this Super Bowl are similar to Super Bowl XLII, a mighty Patriots team going against a surging Giants team with Eli leading the offense and the D-line carrying the defense.  The Giants were able to stop the high powered Brady offense in Super Bowl XLII, only allowing 14 points.  I believe this game will be a little more high scoring than the last battle, and I'm trying to get the balls to pick the Giants again, but Brady seems determined this season.  I will wait to make my prediction, but this Super Bowl has a ton of storylines I can't wait to unfold.  Chad Ochocinco is heading to the Super Bowl.  He will most likely be inactive since he can't even learn the playbook.  

The End of the World, The People's Choice Awards, Morgan Freeman, & the Elvis of Dinosaurs

According to the Mayans the world is supposed to end this year on December 21.  I'm not sure it is going to happen.  The rapture was supposed to happen last year and I am still waiting on that.  Before that Y2K was supposed to end all things in 2000.

  The truth is no one on this planet has a clue when this place and all we know comes to an end. If there is a God, he is the only one who would know. We wouldn't even be here if a meteor didn't come down and destroy the dinosaurs millions of years ago.  

A meteor could hit us at any moment.  The second ice age is due.  Maybe something like that will happen.  It won't be The Day After Tomorrow style though I don't think. 

 There's no point in worrying about it.  Just live your life not worrying about it and live every day as if it were your last on this planet anyway.  Clear up any loose ends.  Live with good ethics and by good morals.  Do everything you've always wanted.  It's like football.  When you're in the playoffs, you don't want any plays in your back pocket when the game ends; you want to give it your best effort.  Life is the same way.  You never know when it's going to end.  I may live to be 100 or I could walk outside and get hit by a bus, so just be ready in case it ever does happen.  Be the best person you can be.  You owe it to yourself.  Don't let anyone else call the shots for you.  You only live once; this isn't Super Mario Brothers.  When you're gone you're gone.  Worrying is a waste of time.  It doesn't solve anything.  Kim Jong Il's son is apparently crazier than him and he's in power now.  There is a chance of a nuclear war.  You have to live life though you can't just sit around and wait for the bastard to blow the country up. 

Think about if the world ended December 21 like the extinct Mayans predicted.  We would have just sat through one of the worst Presidential elections in our history.  Not one candidate impresses me.  I also thought about how funny it would be if the world ended on December 20, 2012 instead.  Everyone would be caught all off guard and it may make the whole thing easier. 


In other news, the People's Choice Awards were on last night.  I tuned in late, and the jokes were terrible.  Kaley Cuoco was the host from Big Bang Theory fame.  She's awful to begin with but throw in some bad writing and a bunch of C list celebs, you get the worst awards show on Network TV.  At least Morgan Freeman was there.  His black dots on his face were as awesome as ever.  I still wish I was one of those.  You get to listen to Morgan talk all day and you'd have a bunch of friends to chill with all day. 

Winner of the Day: Bacon Bits.  He's a pig that was taken in by an all dog shelter because some lady pig sitting got stuck with the animal after its owners wouldn't take Bacon Bits back.  A farm has since adopted him. Read here. 

Loser of the Day: LeBron James. He came up short again in a game last night.  He wants to be "the guy" but comes up short every time.  It's time to dish the ball off to Wade, LBJ. Read.

Quote of the Day: "The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not."-Charles Barkley


Song of the Day: Something's Got a Hold on Me by Etta James.

Dinosaur of the Day: Brachylophosaurus (Excerpt from http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/brachylophosaurus.html by Jennifer Viegas)

"Brachylophosaurus may be its official name, but many affectionately know 

this relatively "new" dinosaur as "Elvis," due to its unusual head crest that 

resembles the famous rock 'n roll singer’s hair. Fossil collector and 

paleontologist Charles Sternberg first the dinosaur described it in 1953. No 

other specimens existed until noted dinosaur expert Jack Horner identified 

another Brachylophosaurus skeleton from Montana’s Judith River Formation 

during the 1980s."

Random Thoughts on Skittles, movies based on books, Ipods, and CoCo Cordero

Random Thoughts

So when you eat Skittles, and I know you have all eaten them at some point in your life, are you the type to eat one at a time to taste every flavor or are you the type to just throw a handful of Skittles in your mouth all at once.  I'm a handful guy.

It really busts my balls when someone watches a movie based on a book and in turn, complains that the movie wasn't as good as the book.  You should know going in the movie isn't going to be the same as a book.  A book goes deep into character thoughts, which is really hard for a movie to do.  It is only based on a book as much as a movie is based on a true story.  Your expectations cannot be very high to begin with.  You have to judge both mediums as separate entities.  Think about the process...someone reading a book, must then write a script based on the book and a director then makes a movie based on how he interprets the script.  It goes through several hands.  With that being said, I believe there are hardcore readers who want to still expect the movie to be like the book word for word, and some movies have made it close, but it will never be perfect.  I've read very few books in my life, but To Kill a Mockingbird is one I have read and the movie stuck to it pretty well.  It is possible to make a good movie based on a book that is nothing like the book as well.  Like I said you have to separate the mediums and not judge them against each other.  Just go into the movie based on your favorite book and expect little.  Whenever I go into a movie, regardless of whether it's based on a book, the lower my expectations, the better I feel about it, so expect to be disappointed.  It always works for me.

The Reds are not bringing back Francisco Cordero for sure now as they signed Ryan Madsen.  Madsen closed for the Phillies last year, but let me be the first to thank Mr. Cordero for his contributions to the Reds over the years.  He was signed for $48 million which is far more than this market can afford, but I think he lived up to it.  Sure every save was shaky, but more often than not he did close the door.  We just remember the losses, but he was a vital part of the Division champion team in 2010 and he was one of the most accurate closers in the game during his stretch here.  He was also a good community guy and he took the blame and owned up to it when he had a bad day, but was still there to take the ball the next.  He was a mentor to the younger Latino pitchers and was a father figure to some of them including Aroldis Chapman.  I will miss Francisco Cordero, but welcome Mr. Madsen.  You have big shoes to fill and let's hope you slow my heart rate down at the end of games unlike your predecessor.

 My Ipod Classic has seen better days.  The darn thing is not playing my music for some reason.  Technology can be cruel sometimes.  I refuse to upgrade to the touch, because I need a lot of gigs to carry around my diverse music collection.   Somehow the Classic still runs for $250.00 which is ridiculous, but Apple is like McDonald's, they get you at a young age and you get hooked.  I am more of a PC guy than a Mac.  Mac people, sorry if I offend some of you, are like a cult.  I own an Ipod but I hate having to pay for just flashyness.  The Ipod is clearly better than any other mp3 player but when it comes to computers, it's just looks to me.  I've worked extensively on both computer systems, and I love the presentation of the Mac.  It seems cleaner.  Maybe it's because looking at Windows everyday gets old.  Speaking of that I wish the old games like Golf from Windows 3.11 still came on the new versions.  Anyway, some programs that I used in school for editing like FinalCut Pro only was made for Macs and I thank Mac for running them but I still believe that both systems can do the same things and the PC is just cheaper.  That's just my opinion.

Winner of the Day: Stacy Keibler,  the former wrestler and current girlfriend of NKU's pride and joy, George Clooney. She has a ground rule for the actor... he can't play pranks on her .  What a ridiculous demand.  I mean he's not Ashton Clooney.  If I was Clooney, I'd prank her then walk out and never look back.  Who is she? Except an ex wrestler. The story...if you want to call it a story.

Loser of the Day: Joran Van Der Sloot.  Remember, he killed that Halloway girl in Peru but it kind of got swept under the rug?  Well his ugly mug killed someone else and he pleaded guilty.  He's pathetic.  Read here.

Quote of the Day: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."-Robert Frost

Song of the Day: Life goes On by Tupac Shakur

Word of the day: Music Slut.  Basically it's definition is someone who listens to a variety of music and doesn't just stick to one genre.