Sleep Comes Like a Drug...

On my way to Phoenix with Amanda and Aaron for the weekend. Stopped in Joshua Tree National Park on the way. This place is just beautiful. Bono was right.

Box of Tapes

So there's this box of tapes just sitting by the sidewalk when I get off the bus. This strikes me as strange, and also as a cool picture. I sent it to a friend of mine who is an expert photog for validation.

Bush Doesn't Want to Show the Facts

You thought I was talking about our President, didn't you? Well, I can't blame you, but you're wrong.

Looks like Reggie Bush might not be the "Saint" everyone thinks he is. (Sorry, I know that was lazy.) According to an investigation by Yahoo Sports, Bush and his family might have accepted up to $100,000 worth of gifts and money during his tenure as a Heisman-winning USC running back.

Lots of athletes break the rules, that doesn't separate Bush from anyone. And nothing's final yet, so I'm not accusing him of cheating (just in case he was worried about my opinion of him). But what does strike me as confusing (at best) is this comment from Bush in response to the inquiry:

"It makes you want to go out there right away and tell your side of the story. Show everybody the facts, the truth. But you can't do that. That wouldn't be the right way to do it."

Really, Reggie? Then what would be the right way to do it? What would be a better way to do it than giving everyone the facts and the truth?

Yeah, But What's the Mileage Like?

Yeah, that's me next to the Batmobile. Don't ask me why, but it was parked on the sidewalk in front of the Hotel Figueroa as I passed it on my way to the bus after work today. I imagine Christian Bale was probably inside, swimming in a fountain with 2 waifish models. More pics below (although I'm not sure why so far below).

Thinking About the Longhorns

Wow. It's been almost 2 years since I've had to deal with Texas losing a football game, and I'd forgotten how hard it is. To "borrow" a gimmick from Peter King, the Monday Morning Quarterback, these are Ten Things I Think I Think. Some of them are from my good-sport side, some of them are from my sore-loser side. They're conflicted right now.

1. I think a loss early in the season is better than a loss later in the season, and I think a loss to a higher ranked team is better than a loss to a lower or unranked team. So, if you have to lose a game, I think losing in week 2 to the #1 team in the country is about as good a loss as you can take.

2. I think we still won the National Championship only 2 games ago. 2 games ago. And I think I'm still pretty damn excited about that.

3. I think Jamaal Charles is a stud. The kid can run through brick walls like the Kool-Aid Man.

4. I think that Terrel Brown should be suspended from the team for the rest of the season. He was one of the kids caught last Saturday night in a car that was pulled over with drugs and a gun in it. The drugs were in the car, and the gun (loaded) was on his lap. The drugs were not on his person, and he passed a drug test, so the drug charge was dropped, but here's my question: If you're not stoned, how are you too stupid to know that you shouldn't have a loaded gun on your lap IF IT'S NOT YOUR GUN??? Anyway, he was supposed to start for us at cornerback and match up with Ted Ginn, Jr. (94 yds. receiving, 1 TD). Listen, when you screw up, you screw it up for the rest of the team. We had HUGE coverage issues last night, and I'm not saying it would have been different if he was in the game, but it probably would have. He needs to learn his lesson from this.

5. I think that Greg Davis should be a little worried about his job. People (and not just me, a lot of people) were saying that we needed to get rid of him (and to a lesser extent, Mack Brown, who was stubbornly loyal to his offensive coordinator and wouldn't fire him) for years, and then the second half of the 2004 season happened, and the 2005 season happened, and everybody forgot about it and thought, "Maybe he's figured it out, maybe he's not that bad." I've got news for you: He is that bad. You know what the difference was in the 2004 and 2005 seasons? It sure wasn't the Offensive Coordinator's play calling. It was a guy by the name of Vince Young, a guy who is only vulnerable to kryptonite and written tests. Without Vince, Greg Davis must rely on mere mortals to run his plays, and HE NEEDS TO CALL THE RIGHT PLAYS FOR THEM TO RUN. We have two running backs (Jamaal Charles and Selvin Young) who are pretty unbelievable, and had 27 carries for 164 yards rushing between them (not to mention the 10 receptions for 84 yards they shared - as our top two receivers in the game last night) against an Ohio State defense that was having a legitimately hard time stopping our running game and gave up 171 rushing yards to ONE GUY in their last game. Yet on five separate third down opportunities, Greg Davis called passing plays that were incomplete. I don't really even know anything about football, but I could have done a better job, even with the amount of beer I had to drink yesterday. We lose another game this year, and I mean ONE more game, Davis needs to go. Brown can stay.

6. I think Colt McCoy has some work to do with his receivers. I know he's green, but your top two receivers shouldn't be your running backs, not when you've got Limas Sweed on your team. I think he's remarkably mature, though, when it comes to poise. Kid took a couple of pretty big hits last night and was able to remain calm, even while Greg Davis was busy knocking the wheels off of the whole operation.

7. I think Billy Pittman's teammates need to give him a Code Red while he sleeps one night this week, covering his head with a pillowcase and punching him in the arms, then pouring glue over his hands. He won't fumble on the two yard line again, I can guarantee you that. Just ask Lowden Downey.

8. I think we can still go 11-1, but we've got some tough games ahead. Luckily, we only have one really tough road game, at Nebraska on October 21, though Texas Tech will probably also be a challenge. I don't count Rice (in Houston) and Oklahoma (in Dallas) as road games, and we're home for the rest of the season, except for a late visit to Kansas State, who seem to have forgotten that they were a legitimate powerhouse about 4 years ago.

9. I think I'd love to know what that thing on Mack Brown's upper lip was during the game last night. Did anybody else catch that? It looked like his herpes was flaring up. Actually, if it was herpes, I'd rather not know about it.

10. I think that when we came home last night and watched Remember the Titans on tv, I teared up like I normally do when I watch most sports movies. However, I think that maybe some of those tears didn't have anything to do with the movie.

All in all, I'm handling this loss much better than I expected to, based on how I've handled them in the past. Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser. All I know is this: if we don't go 11-1, Greg Davis needs to update his resume.

GREEKFEST!!!!

Last night, Amanda, Naomi, Bailey and I went to the LA Greek Fest. The food was awesome (I had the gyro and Athenian beer). The girls made wreaths which they wore on their heads. I just watched. While I was watching, I saw the biggest spider I've ever seen. I didn't know they had spiders this big in North America.

Anyway, after they were done, we were watching some people dance on the dance floor, where a DJ was playing some Greek music that seemed to be never-ending. They kept publicizing the Zorba Dance Contest, and Bailey decided it would be really funny to go sign me up. When she did, she was more than mildly surprised to see her own name on the list, where I had put it about 5 minutes earlier. Neither one of us backed down from the challenge, though we tried to talk ourselves out of it a few times. We didn't win the contest (some guy who did the "robot" won, though we think he was some sort of professional, or at least a street performer on Hollywood Blvd.), but in the end, we're all winners, right? Except for maybe the crazy lady in the pink. And the old guy in the purple sequened shirt and shoes who signed up for the contest then bolted before it was his turn.

I've got videos of both my dance performance and Bailey's (she dragged Amanda out there with her also), which I'm in the process of uploading to YouTube and will post when they're done.

(Also, for some reason, I can't get my photos uploaded to Blogger right now. I'll go back and insert them into this post later, after they get over their technical difficulties.)

Man, those Greeks sure know how to party. Personally, I enjoyed being in a place where I wasn't even close to being the hairiest guy around.

Sorry Folks, Bandwagon's Full

What do these three guys have in common? Evidently they're all Longhorn fans. McConaughey I can understand, b/c he was a student there once, and Armstrong lives in Austin, but Jake Gyllenhaal?? Come on. I haven't seen a bandwagon jump like this since I started rooting for the Spurs back in 2003. He even admits in the article that he's not even really a fan of college football at all but watches the big games. Yeah, that's dedication, man. And yes, I do realize that I sold my ticket to the Rose Bowl and went to Hawaii. I stand by my decision, so kiss my ass. You know who you are.

So, for the record, we've got Lance "Is it too late to reconcile with Sheryl Crow?" Armstrong, Matthew "Wooderson" McConaughey, Jake "Brokeback mother-f'ing Aquaman" Gyllenhaal, Chuck "Potato Sack" Norris, and Cowboy Troy (who might be the worst singer of all time). Marvelous. Is there any other crappy celebrity out there who hasn't pledged allegiance to a college football team that wants to get on board real quick, before it's too late? Seriously, we'll leave the doors open until gametime tomorrow. Maybe Kevin Dillon, Nicole Richie, Chris Parnell (nothing but love for you, Parnell), Kathy Griffin, and George Takei will show up on the sidelines sporting their burnt orange. Is it that hard to find somebody who is a better celebrity fan than Matthew McConaughey?? Really, he's our best one?? The rest of these punks can't even carry his jock.

(I just had to duck a roundhouse kick. Man, that thing came out of nowhere! Ok, I'm through ranting.)

HOOK EM!

I'm Just Skelaxin

So, I mentioned that my doctor gave me some muscle relaxers the other day. This is what he gave me. Skelaxin. This has become my new favorite variation on the word "relax" since I heard someone say "chillax" a few weeks ago on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." So, after I pop one of these puppies and curl up with my heating blanket, I'm just gonna be skelaxin.

According to the packaging, adverse reactions can include nausea, vomiting, gastrointestinal upset, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, and nervousness or "irritability." It then goes on to state that other adverse reactions (b/c those weren't nearly enough) can include hypersensitivity reaction, characterized by a light rash with or without pruritus (whatever the hell that is), leukopenia, hemolytic anemia, and jaundice.

Yikes. Thanks, doc, but I think I'll take my chances with the pulled muscle.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

I'm sitting on the couch (big surprise there, right?) watching tonight's episode of Rockstar: Supernova, and I'm waiting for the effects of my muscle relaxers to kick in. I've got this pain in my neck and shoulder that has gotten steadily worse over the past 3 or 4 days (give or take 8 years), so I went to the doctor today and he told me he thinks it's probably a pulled muscle. I'm no doctor, but I don't see how I could have pulled a muscle while doing absolutely no exercise whatsoever, but I'll take the pills he gave me for a few days and see if it gets any better.

Anyway, like I said, I'm sitting on the couch watching tonight's episode of Rockstar: Supernova, and I'm wondering why I haven't been writing regular recaps of each episode this season. I mean, I am completely obsessed with this show, and what do I enjoy writing about more than music and TV? Probably nothing. Maybe I'm not as good as the folks over at Television Without Pity, but we're less than 20 minutes into tonight's episode and a few things are jumping out at me. My comments are live, by the way. Minor edits, but if I make predictions, I'm not changing them whether I'm right or wrong. Here goes:

- Brooke Burke is pregnant?? Damn. Does that mean she's remarried? Maybe, but at the very least, it means she had sex with somebody as recently as a few months ago. In a perfect world, I'd have more details for you on that, but it's far from a perfect world.

- Dave Navarro (with new band The Panic Channel) is going to join Supernova on their upcoming tour as one of the opening bands. Also opening on the tour is the House Band (are they going to call themselves "The House Band"??), with "our favorite rockers" joining them. If there's a concert I'll be more upset to miss in 2007, I don't know what it will be, but I just don't see myself dropping what will probably be upwards of $50 a ticket for a novelty act, even one as good as this one.

- The rockers each drove to the studio today in a Honda Element. They couldn't have all ridden together? It's a freaking SUV, for crying out loud! Nice, guys. Way to cut down on gas. Like I said, it's not a perfect world. Evidently whoever gets the encore tonight also gets the car they drove up in. The other four are heading back to the dealer. I hope Lukas didn't already get makeup all over the upholstery in his car.

- My man Toby gets the encore and the car (Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh). For some reason when they announce this, Magni stands up triumphantly and raises his arms. I guess they've become friends or something. Toby dedicates it to Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. For some reason, that confuses me a bit. I was surprised he didn't dedicate it to "that random dude The crowd loves it, again.

- Storm is the first rocker in the bottom three and she sings "Wish You Were Here" rather unmemorably. Is unmemorably a word? "This one's for you, mom," she says afterward. It's like she automatically thinks she's a goner and wants to get in a shout-out to her moms in case there's not another chance.

- Dilana goes next, with her crutches that look like they were stolen from a hospital owned by Steven Tyler. She sings "I Want You to Want Me," but she's having a hard time keeping up with the "punk rock" version that she's singing while hopping around on her one good leg. Also, it sounded like she might have forgot the entire first verse.

- Lukas gets the third spot, leaving Magni and Toby (a.k.a., the clear frontrunners) to sit and watch from a safe place. He sings his original, "Head Spin," again, which is about his mother, and dedicated to his mother. Man, Dilana's mom must feel like crap. Lukas kills it, giving it a much better performance than the one he gave it last night, which was a really good one to begin with.
- If I had to guess (and if not, what am I even doing here), we're losing Storm, but I'm going to go out on a short limb and say that one of the ladies is going home tonight for sure. If it's Storm, then her kickin body and positive attitude have gotten her farther than her voice would have, and if it's Dilana, then she's had the sharpest drop in the history of sharp drops. She pretty much owned this competition for the first 4 or 5 weeks, then some other folks (Magni, Toby, Ryan) caught up, and the past 3 weeks have just been a tailspin for her.

- Lukas is safe, and the three boys are watching as the ladies take their abuse. Tommy Lee just pulled the lamest move I've seen in rock and roll when he said he can't make the decision b/c it's too hard, so he made Jason Newstead announce who's gone. Punk. Newstead axed Storm. I'm a genius.

Next week, one of these rookies is gonna get called up. I'm psyched. I gotta say that I hope Magni wins this competition, but Toby and Lukas are also pretty awesome.