Obama/Edwards '08

Be the first person on your block to get an Obama/Edwards '08 bumper sticker. With Edwards dropping out of the race today, this seems to be a likely match. After Edwards' decision to end his candidacy came out this afternoon, Obama had this to say:

"John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn't popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who's up and who's down, he made a nation focus again on who matters - the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington."

Let me translate that paragraph into: " I want to thank John Edwards for dropping out of the race right before Super Tuesday (February 5th), so that I can receive his votes over Hillary Clinton. The least I can do to pay him back for this is name him my running mate in the Fall."

If you are planning on printing these bumper stickers up, please consider that two years ago, I declared the Browns would finish the season 13-3 after starting the season 0-3.

A Wing In Any Other Time Zone Is Still A Wing

I realize I haven't written in a long time, but I have been really busy planning a trip to Vegas (12 days and counting) and a trip to Ireland (116 days and counting). The amount of work you have to put into your own customized trip to another country (other than Canada), is more than I ever imagined. We have just finished booking six places to stay in five different cities along with car rentals and flights around Ireland. On top of this, we are still working on the Vegas trip as we try to get the most for our money while we are in Sin City for four days. Through all of this, you can imagine I have already done research on the most important thing in both Las Vegas and Dublin: Wings! I am going to the Peppermill in Las Vegas for recommended wings, and we will be doing the same when we go to the Elephant and Castle in Dublin for wings. It might be a different time zone, but I still have to eat my wings.

I Will Be On Tour This Year

Last Saturday I signed up for the World Beer Tour at the Winking Lizard, and after one day, I can tell this is going to be a life-changing event. When you sign up for this tour, the restaurant gives you one year to drink 100 unique imported beers. For more information on the tour check out the link above. From what I have experienced during my first day on the tour is that it makes you feel like you are always on vacation because you are constantly ordering things you wouldnt normally drink. That part alone makes whoever created this tour a marketing genius. My favorite part, however, is that you have a swipe card to track what beers you have already consumed and which ones still need to be consumed. I have never felt like such a classy beer drinker.

Not only am I doing the beer tour at the Winking Lizard, I also feel like I am actually going on a world tour this year. Last week we finalized plans to go to Ireland and Northern Ireland to travel the countryside from May 24th to June 5th. More plans will follow regarding this trip, but I have never been more excited to plan anything in my whole life. Speaking of planning, I wonder if the Winking Lizard has any plans to expand to Dublin, so I can still continue the beer tour while I am there. Ironically Guinness is one of the beers you have to drink on the beer tour at the Winking Lizard. I should get used to it now because I am sure to have my fill of it during my trip to the mother land.

Word Of The Day

I have come up with a new word. This new word is: Resolutioners. Please see my definition and story below:

resolutioners \REZ-O-lush; IN-erz\, Noun: people who make a resolution after New Years to lose weight and then go to the gym only to annoy the hell out of the people who have been there for months.

I went to the gym yesterday and was surrounded by "resolutioners." They were using my normal machines or at least attempting to use these machines while I had to stand by patiently waiting for them to figure out they didn't like that machine. Once I was able to get on and begin my work out, they would interrupt me, and ask me how the machine next to me works. Who interrupts someone who is in the middle of a workout, sweating and listening to music on their earphones? At first I just gave quick instructions, but then as this woman next to me began to look like she might hurt herself, I actually stopped working out to show her in more detail. After a minute, she walked away anyway. Luckily I found this article from 2004 that did research on the average length of New Years Resolutions. The results were that most people didn't follow through for more than 17 days. I am hoping this still appplies to this year, or I might just let more people get hurt on the machines I use.

Free Stadium Mustard When You Meet Your Deductible

Two years ago my brother and I had a contest to see who could name the most sports stadiums that aren't named after corporations. (Yes we can make a competition out of anything.) The first stadium we both mentioned was Jacobs Field-the field our very own Cleveland Indians play on every summer. Next time we become sports dorks and decide to have this competition, Jacobs Field will no longer be on that list.

Sadly, Jacobs Field is now going to be called Progressive Field. When I first heard this I really hoped it had something to do with the changing political landscape in Cleveland. This was not the case. Peter Jacobs, Cleveland's richest man and the founder of Progressive Insurance, has bought the naming rights to Jacobs Field. Jacobs, who has his name on half the builings on the East side of the city, has now decided to move downtown. The whole thing is a little depressing like most sell-outs, and is enough to make me want to leave the country. Luckily, I got my passport yesterday, which makes that possible.

Happy National Championship Day

You may think everyone in Ohio graduated from Ohio State tonight. When the Buckeyes play tonight in the BCS Championship Game, everyone in the state will be wearing their scarlet and grey while watching the game. With all the pride in the state, you would think all these people actually graduated from Ohio State. As a matter of fact, I don't know one person who graduated from Ohio State. Not to say people don't graduate from there, I am sure they do, but I just have never met an Ohio State graduate. However everyone I know owns something that says Ohio State on it. It always makes me think back to when I would tell people I went to Ohio University (located in beautiful Athens, Ohio), and everyone thought it was in Columbus. It is on days like this, that people forget there are actually other schools in Ohio that play sports. In fact, last year Ohio University played in THE historic GMAC Bowl, yet nobody seems to remember that-not even this Ohio alum who had to double check on-line to make sure that was the correct bowl game. Hmmm...maybe I did spend four years in Columbus going to school.