Don't Play This Guy In H.O.R.S.E.

Seriously, you have no chance of beating him. Sure the ball bounces a lot easier than a normal basketball, but these shots are impressive. I haven't even shot around in a few years so I'm not about to compare myself.

Thanks for the Memories and "What Not"

For the last five years of my working adulthood, my commute has changed in length, time, and route. The only constant for the drive home has been listening to the "Radio Gods" Don and Mike Show on WJFK. Sadly, today is Don Geronimo's (aka Michael Sorce) final show as Mike O'Meara makes it his own on Monday. Before the whole FCC crackdown on language and content, this show was spot on (thanks chef Ramsey). Even after the extremist censoring and Don's wife passing away, Don and Mike were entertaining enough to make my drive home seem less annoying.

Two years ago I actually participated in one of their contests and of course failed. You were given a random topic and had to talk about it for 30 seconds without pausing. I took a chance and got through. After remaining on hold for a good 10 minutes, I was suddenly on air and told to talk about Riverdance. Immediately I talked about its surprising popularity. That idea lasted for maybe five seconds before I thought of extending my talk to other popular forms of dance. About 10 seconds in they hung up on me because I had paused too long trying to transition from line dancing to the macarena. For a moment we connected.



So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye,
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye.

Now my drive home becomes less enjoyable when I get north of Route 198. It's at that point that I would switch to 105.7 for the show's simulcast as 106.7 becomes static. But I won't get to listen to Mike's new show because 105.7 now plays the Ed Norris show or Orioles games. No thanks. Plus, 105.7 won't even play the last hour of Don's final show today because of Orioles pregame. Just pathetic.

Back on point....I'll definitely miss Don and give Mike a fair chance on his own...that is until I'm north of 198.

Sportstalk 980 Updater - Al Galdi - Is Annoying

I've talked about my dislike for almost all of Sportstalk 980 (WTEM) because it could be so much better, especially if the general manager started by removing the inane John Thompson. (Did you hear him talk over (and ruin) the play-by-play call of Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer in the championship game?) During my morning drive, I flip between the Junkies and Steve Czaban's show. It helps that I fit both demographics and tend to agree with a lot of Czaban's arguments. However, the second he goes to a sports update by Al Galdi, I change the radio before Galdi utters his first syllable because I can't stand his voice. If Bergenfield's resident coach John Minko did the updates, I wouldn't change the station.

I find it hard to describe Galdi's voice, which I suppose makes it unique and why he's on the radio. I'll give him that much. But it's its uniqueness that makes me want to drive into a Beltway median. The first thing I notice is that he sounds out of breath, only speaking for 3 seconds before breaking for air. His speaking never gets into a rhythm or cadence because of the frequent breath breaks. When he does speak, he sounds like a robot with a cold speaking through its metallic nose.

"I love Al's voice, but then again I am a robot," said Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy.

Just as my Carl Kassell post has become a sounding board for his dislikability (work with me) with 15 comments, this post serves to vent my general annoyance with Galdi. I would love to look, I mean listen, past his voice because he's a fellow Terp alum, but he is on the radio so all I have to judge him by is his voice. He does a fine job writing the sports update and I understand he has to talk about anything Redskins whenever possible, but maybe someone else could read what he wrote.

New Layout...Do You Like?

You may notice a few changes around these parts now that I finally took the big leap into an easier to customize template. I kept the basic layout, but made the font darker and bolder. I also gave myself an original title picture at the top. Thanks to the programming folks at blogger, no longer will I have to do some heavy duty HTML work when I want to change something in the sidebar. Nowadays the blog looks best using Firefox.

Do you like? I sure do.

The Cleanest Bathroom You'll Find

I arrive for work early. I mean really early. As in before sunrise if I get myself out of bed before 5:45. It lets me beat traffic on Route 29 and usually lets me deal with Beltway slowdowns before they become Beltway stoppages around Georgia Avenue. I'm one of the first people in my office and almost certainly the first male on the floor.

One of the perks is being the first male is I get to use the uber-sanitized men's room every morning. It is by far the cleanest bathroom I get to use during the day. Granted, the bathroom at home is clean and I know the only other user, but it's not bleached, chlorinated, and nuked with cleaning supplies every evening. Plus, the home bathroom's daily quality naturally goes down because of my presence.

I like Mr. Bean's bathroom layout in case of blockages. (YouTube clip)

The early morning men's room smells clean, looks clean, and feels clean (or was that too much information?). It's nice knowing I don't have to worry about bathroom disease horror stories to start the day. I don't take the low amount of germs for granted because I still follow good public bathroom sanitary safety, but the chance of getting sick is at its lowest each morning. Of course after 9 AM all bets are off. At least this bathroom doesn't put me in situations where I have to walk around with my pants down just to see what I'm doing.

Where To Go When You're Bored Reading This Blog

When you get sick of my blog, be sure to checkout the blogs I've linked to on the left. For you email subscribers, you'll actually have to come to my blog's site to do this. I finally changed them to reflect most of the blogs I read during my lunch. I added a few sports blogs and another general blog written by MoCoLotion for a nice change of pace.

I Give Thanks For My Spring Break Commute

With what little space my humble blog takes on the Internet, I would like to thank the local DC, MD, and VA school systems for their spring breaks the last two weeks. A special thanks to the Montgomery County school system for its spring break this week. My commute on Route 29 and around the Beltway between Georgia Avenue and the American Legion Bridge has been spot on since Friday in fact. Not having to deal with school buses and their at-the-speed-limit driving has curved my urge to go all Grand Theft Auto on them and the kids waiting by the curb.

In 3-4 years, the stadium will be this full after the newness hype wears off and Washingtonians realize the team is awful. Exhibit A: My awful O's at Camden Yards the last 10 years.

Alas, commutes will return to a grinding halt after tomorrow. Daily drivers won't get a reprieve until vacations start in the summer. At least it can't get much worse than trying to drive through the District this weekend with cherry blossom tourists, the national marathon, and the opening of the new Nats stadium.