Bottom Of The Barrel: October 2006

What were you for Halloween?

Mr. Miami Ink, Kym's Mom Circa 1974, Sluty Pam [Beesly], a very young Marilyn Monroe and a SAR's Survivor.

Happy Halloween

Check out American Inventors 13 Haunted [est] Places in the World. Who knew the Tower of London, White House, and Queen Mary were haunted. How did our very own Lizzy Borden's House not make the list?

Need some pumpkin carving ideas? How about the Flaming Devil Pumpkin, CylonOLantern, or 3-D Frankenstein. I really want to try the flaming pumpkin and CylonOLantern next year [the sculpture is just not going to happen].

If you'd rather watch some interesting music video's, check out Yahoo's Halloween Horrowshow. This is their Top 25 scariest videos include Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Ozzy Osborn, Godsmack and Rob Zombie. Although they have MJ's Thriller at # 11, I don't think it holds the scare factor it did back in the day.

What is scarier than an alien popping out of Sigourney Weaver's stomach? Check out MSN's Top 10 Frightening movie scenes. Have to agree with the Jaws thing - I still jump every time and I know it's coming. Although I am shocked that nothing from the original Exorsist made the list. I say it's still the scariest movie of them all.

Lastly, if your up late tonight and have nothing better to watch [other than every scary movie every made], you might want to check out Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters who are, starting at 11 pm est, spending the night roaming around the Stanley Hotel - yep that Stanley Hotel which was the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining - on live TV for six hours. Note to Ghost Hunters, if you see young twin girls, a kid on a big wheel or a crazy guy running around with an axe - RUN!

Have a spooktacular day!

Is it really the end?

I was away in Chicago when this was announced, but is this the beginning of the end for tolls on the mass pike? The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board voted in principle to eliminate all tolls on the Pike west of Route 128 next June. Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey stated that they "found that we're collecting tolls to pay for the collection of tolls". I say it's about time someone had the nerve to call it like it is. I think it's tragic that it took the July 10 fatal ceiling collapse in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel [which lead to Governor Mitt Romney taking control of the situation and then appointing former state finance secretary Eric Kriss to review the authority's finances] to start the chain of events that lead to this [not so] surprising conclusion. What would be left are tolls from route 128 inward to Boston.

The board took no action on another proposal calling for ending all tolls on the Turnpike east of Route 128 except for the Boston Harbor tunnels by December 31, 2007. This should be the ultimate goal, how ever would that mean dismantling the Turnpike Authority completely? Probably, which means that might not ever happen but let's take a moment to applaud those who have taken the steps necessary to begin to remove our Cash Pike.

Goodbye to the Ford Taurus

Sometime today at the Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Hapeville, GA, the last Ford Taurus will roll off the line - ending a 20-year run. The Taurus, introduced Dec. 26, 1985, was a hit from the start, thanks to a design that stood out as cutting edge by cutting, I mean, rounding off the edges. With its aerodynamic jellybean shape the Taurus quickly rose to the top tier of passenger cars. Although the Taurus became best known as a family car, there also was a hot-rod version called the SHO - for "super high output" - that was sold from 1989 through 1999. By any standard, the Taurus had an amazing run: Seven million units sold; best-selling car in the United States five years in a row from 1992 to 1996. It is sad to see such a good selling and popular car dieing a slow death because it got lost in the SUV Crazy of the late 90's. Maybe Ford will use there Bold Moves initiative to find ways to continue to build and refine popular cars while looking for the up-in-coming markets without sacrificing one for the other. Godspeed to The Flying Potato!

HIMYM: Barneyisms

For all of the fans of How I Met Your Mother, like I am, you have a chance to create a line for the shows most outspoken and funniest character - Barney Stinson. TV.COM is running a contest to have a new Barneyisms written into the script by one lucky viewer. How cool would it be to hear your favorite saying being used week-in and week-out by none other than Barney?

For inspiration, here are a few classic Barneyisms:

"Suit Up!"
"Haave you met Ted?"
"Wait for it..."

For some additional light reading, check out Barney's Blog. The most recent posting about hunting A Cougar is quite amusing and frighteningly detailed all at the same time. Now go Suit Up!
Barney's Lemon Law

Dove - Evolution Video

Here is a video created by Dove as part of their Campaign for Real Beauty. It takes a quick but hard look at the whole transformation from real person to imaginary billboard model. Hair, makeup, lighting and Photoshoping all in 1 minute and 17 seconds:

A few marathon photos

RUNCHI: The End

ED LAVALETTE Bib #1860
MILFORD, MA - UNITED STATES
Age 35 M USA

FINISH: 4:31:16

Four hours, thirty one minutes and sixteen seconds. That is how long it took me to finish the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. It was the hardest thing [physically and mentally] I have ever attempted and completed in my life.

The race itself was really awesome. As the local papers call it: 40,000 runners, 1.5 million spectators and one unforgettable experience! And they were right. So many runners that you're never "alone" on the course. So many spectators along the way that the cheering never ended [a special shout out to the China and Greek town residents who came out in full force]. The course travels from Millennium park, to the northside, back to the loop, down to the southside and then finally back to the park. This was an experience I will never forget.

A big thanks to everyone who encouraged, prayed, ran with, cheered for and helped me over the past 2+ years to complete this enormous goal of mine. I could not have done it with out each of you who have helped in your own little ways. Thank you very, very, very much!

Chicago: A Marathon Story

Where did it all begin? Believe it or not the roots of this story are found in a bookstore. An airport bookstore to be exact. In December of 2003, on our way home from Florida from a Christmas trip to see my wife's Mother and husband, we bought the once famed South Beach Diet book at the Tampa International Airport. Having read this book, we tried the diet and it did work in the short term and I lost 20 pounds. Boy I was a porker.

One day at the gym late that winter, I saw a co-worker running on a treadmill and I thought I might give it a try now that I was a bit lighter. I enjoyed running but really hated the gym. The treadmill, for me anyway, is boring and I find it hard to run for any good distance, which at that time was about 2 miles.

Soon the spring of 2004 came and I thought I would give running outside a try. The first day out, I put on my headphones, cranked up Disturbed and took off. I got about 200 yards before I stopped, completely out of breath. This turned out to be much harder than at the gym but the scenery was so great that I had to do it again. I soon learned how to pace myself and found outdoor running to be a great stress reliever.

In June of 2004 I ran my first race, the Harpoon 5 Miler in Boston and had found 5 miles to be a great distance. Later in the summer, I saw a plaque at my friend Tim’s house who ran the 2004 Boston Marathon. What was truly inspirational about that situation was on that particular patriots day it was 86 degrees by mid-afternoon and it was the hottest marathon Day in Boston since 1976. I was told, from a runner who has finished a marathon to a new runner who was toying with the idea of running one, "You can do it!" On that warm summer day I did not believe him.

For my 34th birthday, I received The Runner's Handbook from the same guy who ran that very hot 2004 Boston Marathon and I read it cover to cover. Bob Glover’s book contains so much information about running, diet and training but it was the true life stories that really inspired me. Maybe it was the one about a one-legged man or perhaps it was the one about Fred Lebow’s nephew running for his late uncle. I’m not sure what is was, but the book showed me it was possible to run further and that’s what I did.

In October of 2004, I completed my first half marathon in Lowell, called the Bay State Half Marathon. I felt great finishing a race over 13 miles in length and after that I really felt I could really go for the whole thing. At a Halloween party a couple of weeks later, Suz and Brian, marathon friends of ours, suggested Chicago as my first. A fairly flat course, contained all to the city and tons of runners and spectators. Again, I was encouraged by fellow runners that I could do it.

January 1, 2006, the first day for registration, I signed up on for the Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon to be held on October 22, 2006. I was really going to do it and now I was committed. Now that I was signed up, I used the Running Handbook to develop a training schedule to build up to 20 miles and be as prepared as possible for the longest run of my life. Interestingly enough, along the way, I inspired several more runners to give this crazy sport a try. 8 of us ran the Harpoon 5 miler in 2006. Good job to Lisa, Kim, Kym, Scott, Sandy, Steve, and Rachel. The same race I had run for the first time 2 years earlier. Even more exciting was that 2 of the 8 were even more inspired and the three of us ran the Boston half marathon a few weeks ago. A big congrats to Kim and Kym, you guys did great.

So here we are, finally at the day more than two years in the making. In 2005, I ran a total of 600 miles and 2006 so far it has 715 leading up to a single day and 26.2 miles in and around Chicago. All starting in an airport bookstore in Florida and hopefully ending in Millennium Park in Chicago. See everyone on the other side.

1 day to go

Tomorrow is the big day and we're here in Chicago enjoying the city. The race starts at 8:00 in the morning and currently the weatherman is predecting a bit of snow for the race so it should be interesting... If you are online tomorow, feel free to check out bib number 1860 on the Chicago Mrathon web site.

The DCUP Initiative

No not those D-Cups [not that I'm apposed to them], but the DCUP initiative - Don't Clone Ugly People. Let's face it, human cloning is only a matter of time and doesn't just make sense that if we are going to clone people or body parts that we just use good looking people? I mean if you need a new nose/lips/ears/chest cloned and a exact duplicate can't be made of your original, wouldn't you rather have one made from Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria? Or for the men out there, maybe from Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, or Patrick Dempsey? Or for that matter, what about actual human cloning?

Wouldn't we want to see more people in the streets that looked like a Jessica Alba/Patrick Dempsey offspring? Or maybe Eva Longoria/Brad Pitt? Again if we are going to clone, let's do it right! So please contact your congressman, governor, mayor, boy and girl scout troop leader, local Dharma official, neighbor, friend and/or anyone else who will listen and tell them you support the DCUP Initiative!

Panoramas

At panoramas.dk you can see interactive 360 degree panoramas, also called VR Photography, by some of the best VR Photographers in the world. Note they are presented in Fullscreen and you need Quicktime in order to view these images. These 360 degree views can really give you the feeling of being there [as much as a 2d picture can]. I really liked Jook Leung's Tribute In Light. To honor the citizens who lost their lifes in the World Trade Center attacks, a 6 month anniversary was held with a "Tribute in Light" memorial from March 11th to April 13th 2002. From dusk until 11 p.m. each night two beams of light rose into the sky from a site near Ground Zero. Leung returned to the The Tribute in Light on Septemper 11 2004 and created a second VR. A big thanks from a guy who was not able to be there but is still able to share in the pwer of the lights.

5 Q's for the Mass Candidates

Five Questions for the Gubernatorial Candidates:

1. In what year do you foresee the end of tolls on the Turnpike? Would you push for the end of pike tolls in the next four years as the state governor?

2. Do you think the MCAS system is creating better students and teachers? Do you have any specific plans on how to bring the best teachers in the country to our public school system?

3. Do you endorse raising the minimum age to obtain a drivers license to 17? Do you think the state needs any additional laws to help protect our most inexperienced drivers?

4. Do you support the Sale of Wine by Food Stores? Would you further support the sale of beer by Food Stores?

5. What tax incentives can be created to help the states economy grow with new businesses? What can be done to entice Hollywood to make more movies in Massachusetts?

To our candidates for election , I offer for you to contact me [for a future post] with your responses to the above issues.

Cash Pike

The Transportation Finance Commission recently recommended that the Turnpike [I-90] reinstate the tolls in Western Massachusetts [exits 1 through 6] as well as for exit 16 in West Newton. Additionally then have recommended a 9 cent increase on the gas tax. It is further speculated that they want to place routes 84, 291 and 391 under the control of the Turnpike Authority which would surely mean more tolls. Finally the commission would like to extend the authorities charter from 2017 to indefinitely. The result of their recommendations is more tolls, higher gas prices and more tolls on roads that have never had them before. Interestingly enough, they did not recommend tolls for the roads near Boston [93, 95 or 128]. I wonder if this is because there would be such backlash from the voting public at large that it would never fly in this state? hmmmm...

While I am on the subject, when exactly is the Mass Pike going to be paid for? In May 1954, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority floated a $239 million bond issue to finance the proposed turnpike. Following the success of other turnpike issues in the Northeast, the Mass Pike bonds were sold out in three hours. The authority was projected to take in $500 million in revenue from both tolls and turnpike concessions over a 30-year period. It would seem that the road has been paid for several times over yet continues to be a toll road and now is being used to partially finance the Big Dig. This is the ultimate hypocrisy given that the Big Dig's main benefactors are those drivers who travel North - South, not East - West. If the Big Dig has gone 10 Billion dollars over budget, why not put a toll in Dorchester and Somerville which would create revenue from the drivers who take the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge or the expressway. Or maybe us Metro West folks should try this method of toll paying? It seemed to work out for that guy.

Part 2 tomorrow with the 5 questions from the BOTB to our gubernatorial candidates. Stay Tuned.

Rudy Part 2?

The official stat line from last night's Boston College/Virginia Tech football game was:

S. Aponavicius XPM 2 XPA 2 FGM 2 FGA 2 Lng 36 Pct 100.0 Pts 8

Footbally speaking, these seem pretty average [2 extra points and 2 field goals - 20 and 36 yards respectively] but it's within these average statistics you find a way above average story.

Steve Aponavicius [pronounced Appa-NA-vicious] has played in exactly 1 football game in his career and it was last night. At Easton High [PA], Aponavicius played soccer and baseball, but not football. As a defender in soccer, his job was to kick the ball as far as possible which is a good skill for a kicker.

As a freshman at BC, Aponavicius joined the legion of student Super Fans, accessorizing his gold T-shirt with a crazy sombrero that landed him a cameo shot on BC's football highlight video last season. BC graduate assistant Jay Civetti, who is credited with discovering Aponavicius last season, practicing alone at Alumni Stadium as Civetti cut through the stadium Tuesday and Thursday evenings on his way to his graduate classes. Aponavicius had began working out on his own at Alumni Stadium, hoping to get noticed. "When Coach Civetti came out, I thought he was kicking me off the field, because I had no idea if I was allowed to be out there" recalled Aponavicius. Civetti gave Aponavicius the e-mail address of Jerry Petercuskie, BC's assistant head coach and special teams coach and a week later he was on the team.

His teammates and coaches struggle with his name so he has been given a few nicknames such as Steve A-P or Viciousness or Sid Vicious [I happen to like Sid The Kid, but that's just me]. Head Coach Tom O'Brien likes the last one saying "That's what I call him, so that's what we're going with for now."

Aponavicius was promoted this week to starting kicker after junior kicker Ryan Ohliger was indefinitely suspending for his involvement in an altercation outside an Allston bar early last Thursday morning. But after last nights performance, maybe the reason for the promotion to starter isn't as significant is the story of the Rudyish boy who has now played his first football game, which happens to be for the 25th ranked Boston College Eagles. Go, Sid, Go!

Red Sox LOST no more

Cleverly, the writers of Lost got the 2004 Red Sox World Series winning moment on national television again last night. It was showen to Jack to prove the Others have outside contact from the island. This was perfect because for the first 2 seasons Jack and his dad have been saying "That's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series...". Maybe this will be an omen to come for the Red Sox to win it again next year or maybe they will never win the series [again]. Perhaps only Benjamin Linus knows for sure.

7-Eleven is a time and a store

7-Eleven has signed a clever marketing deal with the Chicago White Sox which will start all weeknight home games at 7:11 p.m. This is a win-win [win: Pam, Dunder Mifflin] situation. The team finds a unique revenue stream, the company gets, what they have termed, a "gentle reminder of our sponsorship" and the fans only have to wait an extra 4 minutes for the game to start during the week - and if Chicago is like most American cities, the fans could use the extra time to get to the park during the week. Although the terms of the 3 year deal were not disclosed, I think its

great the team will use the money to reinvest in the ballpark. I like it a whole lot better than the Red Sox idea of getting corporate sponsorship for a season which [just like naming a park] seems a bit intrusive. Now I have to stop into a 7-Eleven when I get to Chicago next week and buy a big gulp [with a Sox logo on it]!

Battle of the Album Covers

Clever video from YouTube [which was just bought by Google for 1.65 Billion dollars in stock - will it be renamed GTube??] showing album art coming to life. My favorite moments include:

- AC/DC's For Those About To Rock cannon aiming at Def Leppard's Pyromania building
- Eddy from Iron Madien's Killers steals and eats the nurse look-a-like dude off of Night Rangers' Midnight Madness
-The baby from Nivana's Nevermind diving into Def Leppard's High n' Dry pool and then getting eaten by Asia's self titled sea dragon
-Michael Jackson's Thriller reading Boy's Life
-Van Halen's 5150 bombing The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Loney Hearts Club Band

Enjoy!

Did you get a call from Dwight K. Schrute?

The Office DVD website has a feature where you can have Dwight call you [or your friends] with a friendly [and very Dwight like] message. Check it out, your friends will pee their pants when Dwight calls.

Also you will get a password [dwightrules] which you can access additional deleted scenes from last season. Dwight's Dustbunnies is pretty funny.

PS, His middle name is not fart.

BAA Half

Clear skies and cool conditions greeted the largest field in the history of the B.A.A. Half Marathon, presented for the fourth consecutive year in 2006 by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. When City of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino fired the starting gun at 8:05 a.m. this morning, nearly 3,500 runners set out on the 13.1-mile route along Boston's Emerald Necklace park system.

The 13.1-mile, rolling course features a combined loop and out-and-back route, beginning and ending at Roberto Clemente Field in the Back Bay Fens neighborhood of Boston (also known as the Fenway). With a start on Park Drive adjacent to Roberto Clemente Field, the course proceeds through the Riverway and over Route 9 into Brookline. The course then passes Jamaica Pond and the Arborway on its way to Franklin Park, with a turnaround in the Franklin Park Zoo.

Great job team [Kim - 1:46, Ed - 2:00, Kym - 2:21]!!!

Practical Car

This car is practical for our climate!

Hug it out, Bitch.

One more thing from Chicago

I made it safely back from my business trip to the O'Hare airport and I wanted to share 1 more observation from my trip. On our afternoon break yesterday, I took a walk over to the men's room. When I walked in I saw a guy standing there, at the urinal, typing an email on his handheld wireless device. Now it's odd enough that the guy couldn't wait 1 minute to send an email but the really odd thing he was typing with both hands on the tiny keyboard. I know they call them Crackberry for a reason but seriously, Put That Shit Down [in my best Chris Rock voice] when you are hitting the head. Your email is not that important.

Good last mile songs

Here are some songs you might want to use to push through your last mile of a run:

Dreams - Van Halen
End Of the World - REM
Got The Life - Korn
Guerilla Radio - Rage Against The Machine
Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5
Headstrong - Trapt
Here in Your Bedroom - Goldfinger
Land of Confusion - Disturbed
Machinehead - Bush
Right Now - Van Halen
Rollin' - Limp Bizkit
Take A Picture - Filter

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions. These are great and I'll be using some of them this weekend.

Chilly Chicago Morning

Running along route 45 north in this morning, I noticed a Mobile On The Run gas station with a Miller Lite neon sign in the window and it got me to thinking about our November ballot bill to sell wine in grocery stores. There has been a lot of press on both sides of the question [package stores want to retain their monopoly and are claiming a change in our law will increase drunk driving and under age drinking while grocery stores want to give the consumer more choice, added convenience and lower prices] however at the end of the day [just as it is in most business cases] it comes down to the almighty dollar.

Do the voters of Massachusetts really believe that the package store owners of our state are overly concerned with drunk driving and under age drinking or are they more concerned with losing market share? Do the voters here truly believe the large grocery chain stores are concerned with lower prices for consumers or are they trying to find additional products to place on their shelves to increase the amount spent at the register everyday? Personally, I see many, many states that sell beer and wine in gas stations, corner markets, and grocery stores and so far I have not seen any empirical data that shows either lower prices or higher drinking issues. So this November 7th don't forget to vote for the American free market system which is what we are really voting for anyway.

Stormhoek goes into the Blogisphere

Last year, South African Winery Stormhoek launched its blog-marketing campaign in the United Kingdom by offering a free bottle of wine to 85 bloggers. Some them wrote about the wine while other wrote about the marketing campaign. Their plan worked! They have since doubled exports of wine into the UK to 100,000 cases. Now Stormhoek is Coming To America [just like Eddie Murphy did in the 1988 movie]! Currently their wines can be found in the following locations here in Massachusetts:

Lenox Wine Cellar 60 Main Street Lenox MA 01240
Luke's West Yarmouth 511 Main St W Yarmouth MA 02673
Wellfleet Marketplace 295 Main St Wellfleet MA 02667
Wine Emporium Tremont 607 Tremont Street Boston MA 02118

Unfortunately for this blogger, none of the above stores are really anywhere near me so I won't be able to check out their wine - unless Hugh wants to send me a bottle... Blog-marketing part 2?

P.A.G. - The Band

There have been some questions about the mythical band P.A.G. that has had been mentioned here on BOTB, most recently in the Stay Classy, John Mayer post on September 27th. So what [and who] is P.A.G.?

P.A.G. is the brainchild of DJ Resin [Steve] and TheWino [me]. We have this concept that we could form a band and we could lip-sync and dance around on stage and from time to time provide actual musical compositions based on the drums and hip hop scratching. We have also had an offer for a stage only dancer, ala Ben Carr of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. To date, P.A.G. has yet to record any tracks or perform as a group, in pubic or private. But what does P.A.G. stand for?

The other mention of P.A.G. in this blog, which was much more subtle, was in the Say's It ain't so post on September 07th. Check on the bottom image, you'll see a concert ticket. The band that played the September 6th show at the Lavatorium Amphitheater in Milford Massacusetts is none other than Paper Ass Gasket. Ok, where did such an odd name like Paper Ass Gasket originate from?

Well for those of you who are fans of Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo [like I am] then you remember the character Detective Chuck Fowler played so well by William Forsythe. Detective Fowler approaches our hero Duce a couple of times during the movie to discuss his penis. These awkward moments lead to some the of the funniest parts of the film. In one of these scenes, he describes a rush trip to the bathroom where he "didn't have time to use one of those, you know, Paper Ass Gaskets". I laugh every time I hear that term and we thought it was the perfect name for our band or just P.A.G. to be more politically correct. So that’s the story behind P.A.G. and keep an eye out for the first single from the group, which has been tentatively titled Cannonball.

Invincible: A Movie Review

Invincible is the "based on a true story" movie about Vince Papale as a walk on player for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles. Mark Wahlberg plays the down-on-his-luck [wife just left him, lost his part-time job as a teacher, can't make the rent and only has a part-time night bartender job for work] loveable loser so well. He is seen as everyman who has nothing to look forward to and has no real self-esteem. Greg Kinnear portrays newly hired head coach Dick Vermeil who holds open tryouts for the Eagles mostly to create interest in a team that had been playing sub .500 football for most of the late 60's and early 70's. Elizabeth Banks of The 40 Year Old Virgin [Beth] and Spiderman [Betty Brant] fame is the very likable Janet, who is a Giants fan and Vince's new love interest. The film is another feel-good true-to-life sports story by Walt Disney Pictures, who also brought you The Rookie, Miracle, and Glory Road.

While the film is entertaining, is very well written and filmed and does really make you feel good about this man turned local sports hero, some of the filmmakers liberties can not be over looked. The real Vince Paple had a full time job teaching and was playing semi-pro football, which is what really caught coach Vermeil's eye back in 1976. Also when then 30-year old Vince was at training camp, he was given the nickname Rocky since the movie was popular at the same time. I actually commented after the film that it would have been a great [and funny] nod to Rocky to have added a person running in a grey sweat suit in the scene where Vince appears to run all over the city in a Forrest Gump like sequence. Run Vince Run!

Bottom Of The Barrel