Doogie is Gay

I don't consider myself in-tune with celebrity happenings, but how did I miss this one?

Although he plays a womanizer on "How I Met Your Mother," Neil Patrick Harris has been in a committed relationship with boyfriend David Burtka since 2004.



Doogie Howser, MD.

My Battle with the Pillow

Since I've graduated college I've had a very hard time getting to bed early and waking up early.

Recently I've had a bit more motivation to wake up early because I need to get myself used to waking up around 7. I won't say why I need to get used to this, but let's just say I need to do something important down the road at that time.

Anyway, I've been semi-successful at this goal this week, getting into bed around midnight. Ideally I should still be in bed at 11, but that's another checkpoint.

I've been waking up around 7:30 which has been okay. I do notice I feel tired around 2 or 3 though.

The good thing is that I leave work earlier. I also started going to the gym after over a year of not lifting. Maybe that's making me tired too. I know that it's making me sore as hell.

That's for sure.

How to Bring Your Career into Focus

The company at which I work (aka the bowling alley) recently launched a career opportunities portal. This was a banner ad at the top motivating you to use the new site.

I cropped the photo to cut out the name of the bowling alley for privacy's sake.


I find it pretty funny that the way to focus your career is to fire (or possibly kill) a bald old guy.

Oh well, at least he looks like a happy ghost.

What Would You Do?

These are some clips from a 20/20 series on ABC called 'What Would You Do?' It's a show that uses candid-camera like techniques to capture peoples reactions to a variety of issues like violence, racism, sex, etc. Not scientific by any standard, but thought provoking none the less.

Kids vandalizing a car - does race have anything to do with it?




Women Hitting Men


Interracial Couples Fighting


There's much more on youtube if you're interested, look it up.

Whatchu lookin' fo?

More good stuff from StatCounter

These are some of the keywords people are searching for when they reach my site. Some are pretty hilarious.

Apparently my blog feels like gay veal.

Friday, the XIII

You know what they say about Friday the 13th being unlucky.

Well, that's not true. You know how I know?



I'm still not dead.











Just kidding! Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

1000 Hits!

On March 31, I installed StatCounter to track some page statistics.

74 days later on June 12 I exceeded the 1000 hit mark. That's about 13 or 14 hits per day.

Not too shabby for a personal blog.

The most popular things on this blog?

- American Gladiators (tons of overseas hits)
- the garbage plate

After that there's quite a blend of hits...cool stuff.

A Return to Fantasy...

I like fantasy football. I might even be called an addict. Even though the start of the NFL season is months away the re-opening of Yahoo's fantasy leagues inspired me to do some analysis.

I'm a member of a 10 team keeper league, meaning that we get to keep players from our previous year's roster. Last year was the inaugural year and we set up the rules so we would keep 8 players.

I've decided to look at everyone's roster and come up with a 3-tiered system that judges players based on their past performance, potential performance, and also factors in age, injuries, and changing team circumstances. These are a lot of factors that I evaluated in my head based only on the knowledge I possess. No research was done for this, so take it as you will.

My spreadsheet - in Google Docs

Click each image to enlarge.

Is Smorgasboard Swedish for 'Buffet of Garbage'?

Paul Revere flees in horror after eating at the restaurant which bears his name.

This is one story I forgot to mention from my recent vacation to Ocean City, MD. We were looking for a cheap dinner that night and we spotted a place on the boardwalk called 'Paul Revere Smorgasboard'. They had a menu posted outside that looked pretty appetizing. Ribs, BBQ chicken, clams, pasta, tacos, salad bar, pizza, etc....all-American fare. After all, they wouldn't want to sully the good name of the Midnight Rider.


Don't be fooled by the menu.

So we went down the stairs and were met outside at some check-in table. We waited for awhile and watched kids amuse themselves by trapping each in other in wooden stockades. They actually looked pretty dangerous but somehow no kids got injured by the heavy wooden contraptions.

About 10 minutes later we were escorted in and given very specific instructions. 'Here's your ticket, go through the door, grab a plate, go through the salad bar and then a hostess will show you your table.'

Okay, that's a little weird, but whatever. Where else can you get a meal on the boardwalk for 11 bucks a head?

So we entered the dank, musty restaurant and immediately were herded into what literally resembled cattle chutes to the salad bar. Their strategy was clear - get you to fill up on lettuce and carrots - cheap fill before you hit the expensive meats. The salad bar was okay - it did have a good variety and some odd items. There were some round red rings that I thought were beets. They turned out to be apples, or at least apple flavored.

After we got our salads our hostess (who sounded European from her accent) took us to our booth. We ate our salad and noticed how big this place was and how full it was with families and other budget conscious folk. We ate our salads and then returned to the cattle chutes for the 'real food'.

It was utterly disgusting. The variety was there as promised but everything just looked horrible. The ribs were various bones and mangled shreds of flesh floating in a pool of grease and rank sauce. It looked like some large rodent had been butchered in the pan and put on the buffet line. I didn't dare touch any seafood, not wanting to risk getting food poisoning. Chicken wings were deep fried to char. Ugg...I can't go on. Everything in the buffet just looked sloppy, dirty and old. This was probably the least I ever ate at a buffet.


Actual photo taken (by someone else) of the troughs of slop.

I ate some strawberries for dessert which were unusually large. Perhaps some sort of growth hormone had been used on them. Oh and another thing, for some reason there's a large window right by the dessert area. The window is probably 4' by 8' and it looks into an elevator shaft. While I was getting dessert people passed in the elevator, giving us looks of disgust and pity - probably wondering what we had done to deserve eating in that dungeon.

None of us ate very much and we wanted to get the hell out of there. We get our bill and get this - MANDATORY 15% gratuity already added to the check! For a buffet where all the servers did was clear our plates! I always tip, but that's the beauty of a tip - it's voluntary. It was clear that this place knew we weren't going to tip for the quality of food or the service, so they decided to do it themselves.

We paid and got the hell out of there.

If you're ever in OC, MD don't go to Paul Revere Smorgasboard. Unless Mr. Revere enjoyed eating out of a dumpster, he's probably spinning in his grave over this sham of a smorgasboard.

Water with Lemon, Please

Now I'm not saying you should stop getting lemon in your water because frankly if you're going to eat out you might as well assume ALL your food has bacteria on it.

I'm no germophobe myself so hell, extra lemons for me.

I Put the 'Super' in 'Superficial'

“I'm so ugly, that's ok
Cause so are you”
- Lithium by Nirvana

Has anyone ever called you ‘superficial’? If someone has, they probably meant it as an insult. Maybe they meant you were vain, shallow, and quick to judge the proverbial book by its cover. They were probably right too.

But, I say, ‘What’s the big deal?’ It’s human nature to make judgments based on the path of least resistance. For example, when you’re in the grocery store buying apples, do you stop to smell each apple, cut it up and taste it? Of course you don’t. You look at which apples look the best and buy those. When you’re at Blockbuster browsing the shelves do you stop to read the description of every DVD before you decide which ones to borrow? I doubt it – you probably see which ones have the catchiest covers. Likewise with people, especially people on a dating website, you try to make the quickest evaluation possible.

Dating websites aren’t just about pictures, right? You can write about who you are, your life goals and priorities, your hobbies, your favorite food, the five things you couldn’t live without and on and on ad naseum. That’s all good content that truthfully offers a glimpse into your person, but the reality is that all of that fluff is for naught unless you can pass through the first sieve of human perception.

Yes, it’s all about your picture.

When you’re browsing profiles the first thing your eye sees is that picture and without even making a conscious thought you’ve already evaluated it. The instant that image hits your brain you get a positive or a negative signal.

Positive – ‘Oh, he/she is cute. I want to find out more about them’
Negative – ‘Ugh. Hunchback of Notre Dame, next.’

It’s as easy as that. You don’t like what you see; you don’t spend another millisecond on it. I do it and I know you do too.

Now some of you might say, ‘Well you’re no Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, or even Dennis Kucinich – what gives you the right to judge people?’ And I’d say my ‘right’ to judge people isn’t really a right at all. It’s merely human nature and is completely unrelated to my own level of perceived attractiveness.

Before you start cursing me out for being such an arrogant jerk, let me qualify some of the things I’ve said. While I think it’s true that people will never give a second glance to someone they find unattractive, I do believe it’s possible for someone to become more attracted to someone after getting to know them better, even if there was no initial spark.

I’ve experienced this myself many times. I meet a girl who I have no attraction to whatsoever, but somehow after getting to know her as a friend over time, she magically becomes more attractive in my eyes! It can happen folks! But the key thing to note is that I got to know the initially unattractive girl by happenstance, not because I sought out her company.

This is what makes online dating different. There’s almost no chance you’ll spend enough time with someone from a dating website just by chance that you’ll eventually find them attractive. Instead, you’ll only get to know them better if you CHOOSE to and that all comes back to my original idea.

Looks are the first filter. If you don’t pass that test, nothing else matters.

If you’re good looking enough to warrant further investigation, that doesn’t guarantee you’re in. That’s when the second filter kicks in – personality.

If you’re someone who only cares about the looks and not about personality – then you’re truly superficial.

Maybe there are some saints out there who really don't care about looks. If you're one, speak up. I'd like to see if you really exist. I know I'm not one of them though.

Online Dating - Breaking Tradition?

So, let's get right to the point. The topic of the day is one that you're sure to be very familiar with - online dating. Now, I'm old enough to remember the days before the popularization of the Internet, but it's undoubtedly been a huge presence in my life for the last decade or so.

The Internet has developed so rapidly and has become so pervasive that today people can perform almost all their day-to-day activities online. Think about that for a second. If for some strange reason you became trapped in your room, could you survive with just a computer and a connection to the Internet? You probably could.

In fact, there was a guy who did such a thing for a year. He bought his groceries online and had them delivered to his apartment. He bought his clothes, essential supplies, and entertainment via the web. He paid his bills online, he 'worked remotely' to maintain his income. He played games and socialized online. Who knows, maybe he even took care of his romantic needs with the aid of Hewlett-Packard?

OK, so we're not as extreme as that guy. We like feeling the sun on our skin occasionally and the sensations of breathing fresh air. We're NORMAL (right?). However, many of us do attempt to meet people online at websites just like this one. The online dating industry is huge - just look at the slew of sites that are advertised on network television. You know they must be raking in the bucks if they can afford all those cheesy TV spots and get celebrity endorsers like Dr. 'I want you to start living as a gay woman' Phil.

As of 2008, there's no doubt that online dating is popular and progressive. It allows people who may have never had a chance to meet face to face an opportunity to get to know each other. And if they mutually feel like there's an connection, they can arrange to meet in the ‘real world’.

It can be high-tech, utilizing all sorts of personality and socio-psychological tests to match people ‘scientifically’. It allows users to clearly state their demands and expectations, right down to income bracket and political viewpoints. It even offers you a quick way to reject someone you find boring or ugly. Hell, what could be easier than clicking the 'Not Interested' button and having an automated email sent to your unattractive stalker?

So, by many measures, online dating is much more progressive than what we might call traditional methods. You know, where you meet someone in the real world, have a conversation, maybe flirt a bit, and eventually exchange telephone (a tele-what?) numbers. However, my open question to all of you, specifically the women, is ‘Is online dating really that different from traditional dating?’

Let me clarify a bit. In traditional heterosexual dating, it’s expected that a man take the initiative. He’s the one who must approach the lady, express his interest and ultimately put his ego on the line. Now I know things have and are changing, but I believe that today, what I previously said is, by and large, true. In general, women like to be pursued. They like to sit back and watch the suitors roll in and understandably so. If I was a woman I’d enjoy that role as well. I think all men would.

Back to the progressive world of online dating – for once, the playing field is leveled so to speak. It is equally easy for anyone to initiate contact whether it be a email, a IM or a wink/woo/poke/etc etc. However just because both men and women have symmetrical avenues of communication doesn’t mean that both roads are evenly worn.

I’m going to go out on a limb and make a statement supported by nothing more than my own intuition. I say that for the most part, even in online dating, men are expected to and do make the first move.

So to all the ladies who are reading this, what do you say? Do you kick back and wait for the inbox to start filling up? Or do you actually go out and hunt your prey?

Moreover, if you are one of the wait-and-see types, why are you that way? Would it make you feel undesirable if you had to make the first move?

For the pro-active women: similar questions – do you think taking action makes you less womanly? But, do you also think you have more success meeting people because of your willingness to put yourself out there?

Well, that’s it for now. Let’s see if we get any interesting feedback.

I'm Watching YOU

I've only really been writing actively in this blog since the beginning of 2008. Aside from my mother, I don't really know who reads it regularly. Sometimes I ask a friend to give their opinion on something I've written, but outside of that I don't do any promotion. After all, this isn't some commercial venture - it's a place for me to write whatever I feel like writing.

That being said I've found it interesting that people from all over the world have been to my blog. See the counter at the bottom of the page? It's not just a counter. I'm not trying to scare you, but anytime you visit a webpage (anywhere, not just my blog) a lot of information is being collected.

I'll put up 2 displays of information StatCounter.com provides. These charts are current as of today (but only contain info for the last 500 page hits because I'm using the free version.)



As you can see the majority of my hits come from the US and Europe. Not much activity in South America, Africa, and Asia.



I'm surprised to see some of these tiny countries Luxemborg, UAE, Cyprus, and Moldova on this list. What are the odds someone from those countries finds their way to my page?

Pretty neat stuff. StatCounter collects other information too...but I won't post it for privacy's sake. I don't really have any use for the stats other than my own amusement, but it's neat to look at from time to time.

My Top 10 TV Women

I've watched a good amount of TV in my life, especially when I was younger. These days my TV is often on, but as background noise. With the rising costs of EVERYTHING I've tried to turn it off when I'm not watching it though.

I was thinking back to a lot of shows I've seen (some I watched regularly for years and others I've seen a dozen or so times) and I got inspired to compile a top 10 list of women from sitcoms that I've had a crush on at some point or another.

There were a few stipulations to my list:
- I'm rating them based on their appearance and fictional character on their show
- I'm rating them based on how I remember them back then, not how they are now
- I'm only thinking of women from shows I've watched at least a dozen times

So without further adieux...

1. Christa Miller - Kate from The Drew Carey Show
Her character was kind of a tomboy, always hanging with Drew and his crew, but she was much more easy on the eyes than the eponymous spectacled one. Not so much a stunning beauty, but cute in the girl-next-door way.


2. Deborah Messing - Grace from Will and Grace
I didn't watch this show that much, but I always liked Grace's curly hair and spunky personality.


3. Jennifer Morrison - Dr. Allison Cameron from House
Her character wasn't only a brilliant doctor, but also one with a sense of ethics and a conscience. Very pretty eyes.


4. Danielle Fishel - Topanga from Boy Meets World
Corey's lifelong crush - in a way she had a very similar character to Winnie from The Wonder Years. What an odd name - I heard she had some major weight fluctuations as well.



5. Christine Lakin - Al from Step by Step
Another very tomboyish character. Hell, she had a guy's name. I always thought she was very pretty though, even if she was a bit rough around the edges.


6. Candace Cameron - D.J. from Full House
DJ was the oldest daughter on the show and probably the least annoying. The Olsen twins and the girl who played Stephanie were really bratty.


7. Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Elaine from Seinfeld
I think Elaine only looks good with her hair down and curly. She's a bit of a nutcase personality wise, but also fun and quirky.


8. Patricia Heaton from Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond
Debra is probably the oldest women on this list and her character is kinda mean, but she can look pretty cute as well.


9. Emily Deschanel - Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones
Another doctor - although her personality is a lot more logical and robotic than Jennifer Morrison's. She's still attractive in her own way, but she seems to analyze too much like I do.


10. Peri Gilpin - Roz from Frazier
Roz was always kind of rough and tumble, but her character had its endearing aspects when she showed her more feminine side on the show.

Preview - Wrestlers, MMA

Coming soon...