My Annoyances - Silver Bullet Commercials

By now you have probably heard the Coors Light radio spots that go a little something like this:

Announcer: It may come as a surprise to you to hear that Coors Light is the new official sponsor of Green Giant Canned Corn. But the similarities are obvious.

First, the corn comes in a can. Coors Light? Comes in a can!

The corn has a yellow color. Coors Light? Yellow!

And the eerie part of all this - the word "corn" starts with a "C-O" and has an "R". Coors Light? Starts with a "C-O" and has an "R"! Amazing!

I don't care if you are trying to sell Coors Light by linking it to the NFL, tailgating, baseball, whatever. The "eerie similarities" that you point out are stupid, pointless, and most importantly, not funny. Beer commercials need to be on the level of "Real Men of Genius" and need to have guys like John C. McGinley running an imaginary (but totally awesome if it were real) More Taste League.

Coors Light, this time I will let you off with a warning. I think you deserve a second chance after putting T.O. in a commercial doing what he does best. That's HIS quarterback! That's HIS teammate! The tears don't lie! But next time you fashion a series of commercials that lulls your consumers (of which I am one) into lethargic doldrums, expect to hear from me again.

LP Convention

The Libertarian Party National Convention starts today in Denver. It looks as if either Bob Barr. . . . . .or Mike Gravel. . .. . .will be winning the nomination for President. I don't think it really matters who wins the LP nomination, I will probably be voting for them. Although I don't necessarily agree with Barr or Gravel on all issues, they are at least in the right ballpark. The Republican and Democratic nominations are not (meaning BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG GOVERNMENT).

Allegiances

I received a comment about my sporting allegiances earlier this week, so I thought I would fill the void and address this incredibly serious issue. Growing up in Minnesota, moving to Colorado at age 10, and having family in Wisconsin has muddled my views on fandom in general. Some of the information listed below may be difficult to view. Please refrain from showing this post to people with heart issues, pregnant women, and small children. And now, a sport by sport look at the mind of a Flick Fanatic.

NHL:
Background: Let's start with the easiest explanation of the bunch. I grew up in Minnesota and I had a pulse, so I was naturally a North Stars fan. However, the team moved from hockey heaven to, simply put, hell (Dallas) in 1993 and I immediately lost all connection to the Minnesota professional hockey scene. Although I still pull for Mikey Modano (one of, in not the last, remaining North Star), I cannot fathom cheering for a hockey team from Dallas that was stolen from my home state. Thankfully, after moving to Colorado in 1991, the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 to become the Avalanche.

Verdict: I am an Avs fan through and through.
NBA:
Background: I was a Timberwolves fan until after I moved to Colorado. I remember going to Nuggets games with my Wolves gear on. After a few years, the glimmer faded and the Wolves apparel was gone from my closet.

Verdict: The NBA sucks. I do cheer for the Nuggets, but I find it hard to watch too many of their games without throwing up.
COLLEGE:
Background: My father attended the University of Minnesota. My mother attended the College of Saint Catherine. Take a stab at which of those two has Division I athletics. If you guessed College of Saint Catherine, please refrain from ever reading my blog again. You are too dumb to qualify for readership. I am the second of four siblings. I am also the second of four siblings to attend Colorado State University. This is where my Wisconsin relatives enter into the picture. They are all Marquette fans and University of Wisconsin-Madison fans. They have made sure that I had several Badger sweatshirts in my collection.

Verdict: I am a Ram Fan through and through. I bleed Green and Gold. However, I am still a big supporter of the University of Minnesota. I don't follow them as closely as CSU, but I pay pretty close attention during football and hockey seasons. I have a slight bias towards Marquette and UW-Madison, but the roots aren't deep.

MLB:
Background: Baseball is my favorite sport so it would make sense that my strongest allegiances are in this sport. Again, I grew up in Minnesota. I like the Twins. It happens. But when it was announced in 1993 that the Rockies were coming to Denver, I couldn't have been more excited. Finally, I once again had a local team I could follow closely.

Verdict: My Wisconsin relatives are all Brewers fans. Although I don't root for them, I don't root against them either. But my allegiances are strong - Twins and Rockies. They are in different leagues, so this makes this much easier. They play each other in the regular season once every three years or so. And they would only meet in the playoffs in the World Series. One day, that should happen. You would find me drooling all over myself for that week of games.NFL:
Background: I saved the most muddled for last. My dad's family is from Minnesota, my mom's family is from Wisconsin. One likes the Vikings, one likes the Packers. Packers and Vikings fans don't get along. Throw in a move to Colorado, and you have yourself one big mess.

Verdict: As strange at this may seem, I am a Vikings, Packers, and Broncos fan. The Broncos are the only AFC team, so that makes following them the easy part. The Vikings and Packers are not only both in the the NFC, but also hated rivals. Can I really say that I like one over the other? I would probably have to say the Vikings, because I have never lived in Wisconsin. But it would kill my mom's parents to hear me say that.

NLL, AFL, MLS, WNBA:
Background: Who cares?

Verdict: No one.

Funny little story about my mom's family. My mother is the oldest of 3 girls. They grew up in Mequon, Wisconsin, which is about 45 minutes or so north of Milwaukee. They are Packers fans. My mom married my dad, a Vikings fan. My Aunt Patty married a Gary. Gary is a Bears fan. My Aunt Mary married my Uncle Mike, who hails from Detroit and is a bum (meaning Lions/Redwings/Pistons/Tigers fan). When our family gets together, we have the entire NFC North taken care of. Let's just say we don't tend to agree on things sports related!

To the next post,
Mikey

Firefox Update

Everything seems to be working fine today. I don't know what the problem was (maybe Google's problem? maybe Mozilla's problem?) but I have had zero issues today. Weird stuff.

Good news story of the day - my boy Harry is finally back in Denver after living in Vegas for a while now. Lucky for him, he's been able to experience all four seasons in the few days he has been back!

Maggiano's leftovers are incredible. I support garlic bread and gnocchi!

Lastly, happy birthday to Kellie O!

Complaints

I received a complaint from Dagger himself that I wasn't updating my blog enough. So here is a new post with a couple points.

1. Ask and you shall receive, Dagger.
2. Check out www.crujonessociety.com. I really think you will enjoy it.
3. Today is May 12th and it snowed in Denver this morning. Unreal.
4. Gmail is not really working with Firefox these days. Don't really get it.
5. The next week or so is going to be pretty hectic at work for me. Not real excited about it, but anything is better than the thumb twiddling I have done in the recent past.
6. It is hard to believe that we are in May of 2008 already. This year has been the fastest I have seen.
7. I am ready for a camping weekend. Who's in?
8. Not a lot to talk about on the Jeep repairs. I haven't had a lot of time to work on it lately.
9. The Twins come into town next weekend. I can't wait!

Are there really any other choices?

Baseball is the greatest sport, ever. Don't agree?

Join the discussion: http://crujonessociety.com/2008/04/23/why-i-love-baseball/

Time for a bleg

No, that is not a typo - this post is a bleg, not a blog. A bleg is a weblog that is begging for something (at least that's what the Freakonomics blog states). In this case, I'm begging for a name.

Here is a picture of my new baby:

She is a 1957 Jeep/Willys CJ5. Sarah's grandparents have owned her from sometime in the 80's. Grandpa used to take her when they went hunting and fishing and they used her to get around the woods. Since his bout with cancer, she has sat idle on the side of Grandma's house, waiting to play again. When Grandma started talking about finally selling it, Sarah put a bug in her ear that I would be interested. A quick discussion with the wife and I became the proud owner of she-who-is-not-yet-named.





Now that she is mine, I need a name for her. Sarah's grandfather loved this Jeep and he and I had many conversations about it before he passed. Because he regaled me with countless stories of him and the Jeep, I was thinking about somehow making the name a reference to him in some way. His name was Paul. Hopefully, we can come up with a great name for her. Thanks for the help!

To the next post!

Mikey

Interesting. . .

I'd love to have you all read this and tell me what you think. . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2187811

Weekend Recap

Great, great weekend. Here's the recap:

Thursday:
Augie comes over for the night. He was planning on staying at our house all weekend to watch the dogs, anyways.

Friday:
6:45 - Wake up, get ready for day, load car with Phoenix luggage
7:30 - Drop Sarah off at her work. Silly girl didn't take the whole day off!
7:45 - Get to Las D's, not open, head across street to coffee house
8:00 - Las D's opens, deliciousness ensues! (Funny side story, the lady spoke to us exclusively in Spanish, although neither Augie nor I know a lick of Spanish!)
8:00 to 8:30 - Watch various coworkers walk to work. Suckers!! What a great feeling.
8:45 - Arrive at Greyhound Station to park car
9:00 - Stand outside of Sports Column, angry that they are not already open
9:30 - After walking around for a while, notice Tavern Downtown is open. Go inside. Run into a high school friend of mine and his dad. Have a beer, talk about things.
10:00 - Head back over to the SC. Definitely open at this point.
10:00 to 1:30 - Pitcher after pitcher after pitcher of Coors Light. And a Jagerbomb.
2:05 - Gametime. Too bad the Rockies played like ass.
4:45ish - Sarah and I head out of Coors Field to run home and get the camera we forgot. Then it is a quick turnaround and we are off to the airport.
8:00 - Flight takes off for Phoenix.
9:00 (Phoenix time) - land in Phoenix, get picked up by Jaime, head to her apartment.

Saturday:
Sometime in the morning - Wake up, lounge around, get ready, EAT IN-N-OUT BURGER (the capitals signify the most important piece of the puzzle)
12:00ish - Start the journey to Tubac, AZ (30 miles north of Nogales and the Mexican border)
3:00 - Jason and Sara's wedding ceremony - very nice, pretty short, very warm.
After this point, time becomes a blur. The wedding was at Tubac Golf Resort, as was the reception and our room. We went from the wedding to the reception, drank some beer, some wine, some champagne, did some dancing, had some dinner, the usual stuff. At some point, we headed back to the room and crashed. Good day.

Sunday:
Woke up somewhat early.
Had brunch with the bride, groom, and family.
11:00 - Left Tubac for Tucson
12:00 - Met Ninja Jamie for lunch right outside the University of Arizona main gate. The little Old Town looking place was hopping and very reminiscent of Fort Collins. Very cool place. Sat with the Ninja for a couple hours before he had to go home to go to bed and we had to head back up to Phoenix to catch our flight.
4:30 - Get to the Phoenix airport. Jaime has to work at 7:00 and she lives on the west side of the metro area right by her work. It was pointless and a waste of time to go all the way back to her place, so we just had her drop us off at the airport early. Sarah and I walked and walked and walked and I did the Tulo chant in every corner of the airport. Sarah loved it.
8:45 - We finally take off for Denver. Phew.
12:30 - Get home, unload the car, get into bed and try to get some sleep before work on Monday.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Congratulations, Sara and Jason.

I expect this will be crazy

By this, I mean this weekend. It starts tomorrow with Opening Day here in Denver. I am NOT working tomorrow, but I will not be home either. Augie (http://augieworld.blogspot.com) and I will be taking Sarah to work in the morning and then grabbing some breakfast before we hit the bars. With all the festivities going on around Coors Field, we should have plenty of entertainment before the game. Right after the game, Sarah and I are off to the airport to catch our flight to Phoenix. We are going to Sara and Jason's wedding outside of Tucson. Late flight on Friday, wedding on Saturday, meeting up with our favorite Border Patrol agent on Sunday. Should be a good weekend.

On to some random things:

• A few of my buddies have started a website that is fairly entertaining. It is called The Cru Jones Society and so far it has been a pleasure to read. The posts are fairly constant and I plan on disagreeing with them at all times. Check it out.
• The Rockies dropped their first series in St. Louis. Not cool, guys, not cool. What happened to the Rockies having the most potent lineup in the NL?
• The Twins have also started their season in a sucky way, dropping 3 of 4 against the Angels. I do miss Torii Hunter, but Carlos Gomez has a chance to be really, really good.
• Since baseball started, I have had this ridiculously large craving for baseball movies. I just want to take a day off and watch Bull Durham (lollygaggers!), Major League, 61*, Eight Men Out, The Sandlot ("You play ball like a GIRL!"), The Natural, For Love of the Game, A League of Their Own, and any other baseball movie I can get my hands on.
• I Am Legend is a disturbing and great movie.
• The Denver Auto Show was fantastic as always. The Nissan GT-R was the highlight of the show.
  
• The Avs are in, the Nuggets are in (right now). Let's hope it stays that way and they can do something once the playoffs start.
• As unhappy as I am that the economic stimulus package passed, it will be nice to get that check in the next month or so. How can our lawmakers completely disregard the future of this country each and every time they vote on something?
  
• The liquor law that would legalize Sunday sales of alcohol has reached a stopping point at the governor's desk. Looks like the supermarkets are not happy about the deal and they want to be allowed to sell regular strength beer, not just 3.2. I say let them all sell everything (including hard alcohol) every day. Whatever happened to economic competition?
  
• The Sin City graphic novels are an incredible read. I use the word "read" lightly considering a majority of my "reading" time is spent marveling at the artwork. Frank Miller does incredible work using a very hard artistic concept (especially for an analytical engineer like myself). His drawings are created by drawing the negative space, not the object. To me, it is a completely backward concept and I love looking at the effectiveness of his style.
• It is a sad state that we are in when every single political discussion that occurs around me ends up with me being angry or depressed. With all the crap out there, is there a bright spot anywhere? Someone please tell me if there is. I'd love to check it out!
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl is an incredible game. The one player game is actually playable (unlike the N64 version).
  
• Green tea has become my staple caffeine at work. I'm getting in the habit of grabbing a cup or two of that every morning at work. Great stuff.
• This website is a bit of a time waster, but it will challenge your brain. Check it out. The periodic table of elements kicked my ass. I think I ended up with only 28 elements. Terrible.

I can't wait for tomorrow. The first baseball game of the year is always a good time. It's even better when you are missing work for it!

To the next post,
Mikey