Fun with names ... and mustaches!

This one is for Lubs and any other GM2'ers that get it. Check out the match up of tonight's Yanks/Twins game.

Hee hee.

Also, this guy's name is funny when I say it in my head (click me). And while we're here, one of the auditioners on this season's So You Think You Can Dance is Vietnamese. And the poor guy's first name is Phucdat. Is there any salvaging this first name? I guess you can call him "Dat" which isn't so bad, but shame on those parents. Don't know how the kid made it through junior high with any semblance of self esteem.

And finally, speaking of mustaches, this guy is f'ing 12 years old. 12! His name is Sidharth Chand and he's 12. And he grows a 'stache like he's 20. And he took 2nd in the spelling bee this year. You can see all the words he spelled here. And you can see him in action by clicking the vid below.

Just look at that beaut. I bet Erin Andrews was sorta into him during the exit interview.

Please stop saying these words in this order

I've pretty much had enough of people saying certain phrases that have become extremely popular as of late. Either that or I just really hate them and notice them more than I should and hence they seem popular to me.

"At the end of the day"

Example usage:

• You know, we looked everything over and, at the end of the day, what matters to us is price.
• At the end of the day, it's hard for me to say I like any band more than the Pussy Cat Dolls.
• Look, at the end of the day, Manu Ginobili is a douche.
  

I understand the use of this phrase. My problem is that the people that use it seem to use it non-stop. I've heard people drop this phrase twice in the course of three sentences. How 'bout mixing in some totally acceptable synonymous phrases?

Acceptable alternative phrases:

• Bottom line
• Basically
• In summary

I'm a man that appreciates variety ... and is tiring of hearing about what happens and/or matters at the end of the day.

"If I'm being honest" and/or "I'm gonna be honest"

Example usage:

• If I'm being honest, Indiana Jones 4 was kinda weak.
• I'm going to be honest with you, it sounded like a whale singing karaoke at an underwater bar in 1964.
• I'm gonna be honest, Manu Ginobili is a douche.
  

I think I'm keyed into these phrases simply because I've been watching a lot of The Bachelor (who happened to be British this season) and American Idol (which features Simon who is also a Brit). Matt the Bachelor would declare his honesty at least twice an episode and by the end of the Idol season, it seemed like Simon felt the need to remind us he's not a liar before every judgment on every song. Why is such a declaration necessary? Is it now understood in our society that we're lying unless we explicitly say that we're not?

Acceptable alternative phrases:

• [Silence]
  

How about we do this? At the end of the day, I'm just gonna assume you're being honest whenever you talk unless I have strong reason to believe otherwise ... son of a B!

"It is what it is"

Example usage:

• Uh, I mean, uh, ya know, it is what it is.
• Der, um, ya know ... uh, well I mean ... it is what it is.
• Hi. I'm Manu Ginobili. My bald spot? Well, it is what it is.
  

This one is the worst. Because you're saying nothing. It's the newest hottest way to say "no comment" and cop out on answering something you don't want to answer. I can pretty much guarantee that Roger Clemons used this phrase when he didn't exactly apologize when it was revealed that he cheated on his wife often and over the course of years.

Acceptable alternative phrases:

• Come on, bro. Next question. [See Paul Lo Duca]
• I have no spine.
• I don't want to be honest here so ... [and then just trail off].

Let's work on not saying nothing when we say stuff. Okie dokes? Great.

P.S. Hi, Manu. You're the best.

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The saga continues

Well, I've decided it's best to probably not lead this girl on any more. She replied to my message about Olive Garden with the following:

And then, in my initial attempt at letting this thing fade to black, I wrote this:

We'll see how it goes from here.

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The Bachelorette Musings

Okay, f it. I'm watching The Bachelorette and I have opinions. I'm gonna go ahead and write about them. Hopefully if I do so while watching an NBA game, my man card won't be revoked entirely. Looking back on episodes 1 and 2 with DeAnna, here are my thoughts on The Bachelorette, Season 8 (I think?). Also, if you're just arriving, I've written a few words about The Bachelor over the last couple seasons. I have what you might call an obsession. I'd prefer not to call it that, but that's just me.

Kudos to Newnan for giving the boot to the personal trainer from NY on episode 1. You remember the, uh, "the coyotes" guy? The guy who ripped his shirt off. I mean, if that guy gets picked and then gets put in the house, he's gonna roid rage and punch through a wall or a human. His chest and back acne was out of control. Might as well have a giant back tat that says "I <3 'Roids".

Oh and let's give it up for that one guy who followed the tradition of drinking way too much and making an idiot of himself. He wasn't handing his undergarments to anyone, but he did ask engaged Jenni (gag me btw) to sit on his lap. Well played, brah.

Was it just me or were all of the initial 25 meet and greets the most awkward things ever? I could barely watch. Except for my boy from Chicago. His crazy accent and his "let me know if things get weird" and I'll come save you were great. And apparently enough to win both me and Newnan over. I was way surprised to see him get a rose.

Fun fact about everyone's favorite crazy jacket wearing snowboarder Jesse: he was the coach on an episode of MTV's show "MADE" where he taught a high school girl how to snowboard. He also gave her a quiz about snowboaring lingo. Do you think Newnan knows what it means to "shred the gnar"? Me neither.

My pick for an actually cool dude coming out of episode 1 is Chris from Texas. I really don't know what it says about me if I have a "pick" in the Bachelorette, but that's who I'm pulling for at this point.

Moving on to episode 2, I must ask: what is the point of the outdoor no-privacy shower for the men? Is that supposed to bring in female viewers? Or just make all the dudes feel really uncomfortable? I honestly don't know the answer.

I really dislike the karate guy, but I felt for him during his one on one time with Newnan and the "ghost piano". I really don't know if there's a way to handle a smart ass piano with grace while trying to impress a girl at a place like the Magic Castle.

Speaking of magic, did you see Ryan's (the 28 year old football playing virgin's) face when Newnan and Daddio (I can't remember his name at the moment) disappeared in that box. I really think he thought he just witnessed actual magic. "Illusions, Michael!"

Twilley bugs me. He is a walking ball of awkward. Whether he's telling the worst story ever in lieu of a magic trick or waiting for Newnan's date with Graham to end so that he can say pretty much nothing, he is not someone I'd ever want to hang with. You're a weird dude, Twilley.

However, in his defense when Ryan accused him of being insincere ... uh, what the hell does that mean? Ryan is an even weirder dude than Twilley. I believe he said he thought he was the most sincere guy there. Question 1: there are levels of sincerity? Question 2: how does one rank people in order of sincerity? What do you base it on? I'm guessing it has something to do with how often you use the phrase "faith, family and football". The "3 F's" if you will. I hope you lose, Ryan. And quickly.

Oh yeah, hey Greek guy. We get it. You're Greek. A lot of us saw the movie about how large and obese your weddings are. It sounds great. You have no chance of landing one with Newnan.

Let's talk about bro time, cat claws and the "frontrunner". This is NOT The Bachelorette I used to know. From what I remember of previous seasons, The Bachelorette = one dude or a group of dudes go on a date while the rest stay home and have a keg party and bro out. There's no calling your kid or bitching about who the frontrunner is or telling someone he's being too competitive. As far as bros go, this group of dudes are chicks. Bros don't have cat claws like these guys seem to. Less frontrunner talk, fellas. More keg stands and doing horrifying things to the first guy that falls asleep.

Jesse can do 98 push ups? WTF? Extreme sports representing, fools! Extreeeeeeeme!

Finally, who else is completely refreshed by the slight change to the phrase "Gentleman, DeAnna, this is the final rose tonight. When you're ready ..." Way to roll with the punches, Harrison.

F, Chris got the boot. He seemed to be the only funny one. Let's go Fred from Chi-kah-go.

Is Ryan one of the most hateable dudes alive? "Voted friendliest in 8th grade?" "Most genuine person I know?" "Can't fit a square in a circle?" Good luck making the AFL, dude. But not really.

Oh yeah, and Newnan is still weird. How can you know that your husband is in a group of 10 dudes, but just not know which dude it is. That's a weird outlook, right?

And finally, shamelessly, click on any of these little links below if you're so inclined. It'll maybe get a few new readers to the bloggy here. Onwards and upwards, ya know?

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This may be getting out of hand

So, in my last post, I introduced you to this girl who randomly messaged me on MySpace asking if we dated. Apparently my blog and my 2,600 pictures on Flickr weren't enough to help her deduce if she dated me or not.

Well, there's been some correspondence since ...

And then I said ...

And then she said ...

!!! I mean ... !!! If anyone knows me, Chili's is about as nice a restaurant as I can muster. Seriously, though, she always thinks about me? This might be getting out of hand. I'm wondering at this point if I should just let this thing fade away. And then before I could even respond, she drops another one on me ...

What is going on here? Let's assume for a second that we had dated. What kind of weird conversation is this? She doesn't remember what happened, but she's sorry? So, in summary, she doesn't remember me (obviously), she doesn't remember what restaurant we went to, and she doesn't remember ... pretty much anything. What exactly spurred her to think I was who she's thinking of at all? With a memory like hers, she could know everyone on MySpace. And gone to a nice restaurant with all of them. And then made all of them mad. And felt bad about that.

Well, taking into account that I might be a horrible person, I chose to continue to play long with this ...

That's where we're at. More fuzzy memories to come ... I gotta assume.

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I Love MySpace

So I got this message via MySpace today:

Keep in mind of course that my profile currently shows and says a lot about me including links to my blog, twitter, facebook account and about a billion pictures of me on Flickr as well as the following:

Is it really that hard to discern whether or not you've dated me? I can say for certain that not only have we not dated, but we've never even met. However, I can't help but play along with this case of mistaken identity a little longer. I couldn't help but respond with the following:

We'll see how this goes. Hopefully there's more to come.

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iTunes Registry is back

If you love stats as much as I do (insert whatever nerd joke you like here) and you also use iTunes, head over to iTunesRegistry.com, sign up and see what stats your library has been recording all this time.

After you upload your library file, you get a home page like this one (click here) and you can learn some crazy stats like these:

• Total listening time - mine is 344.07 days!
• Total play count for your whole library - mine is 112,488

It then also breaks down your stats by artist, album and track like below. Yes, my John Mayer man crush continues to reign supreme.

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