Falling Behind Already

I haven't even had this blog for an entire month and I'm already starting to fall behind. My "topics to blog about" section is getting huge. I still need to get something up here on my recent trip to Seattle and Kansas City. Hopefully that will be soon.

More Wrestlers and Steroids

More allegations of steroids in professional wrestling. You know sometimes it makes me wonder. Steroids in professional sports and wrestling. For a lot of these guys they have nothing to fall back on. Sure, some are charismatic enough to launch an acting or TV career, but other than that what else do they have? Even though these guys make millions of dollars every year, does a professional athlete salary suffice for a comfortable salary? Its hard for me to believe that it isn't but sometimes this money is squandered early on in a career (see Mike Tyson).

I think college athletes should be called "athlete-students" rather than "student-athletes". Granted only a minority of college athletes make it to a professional team and yet others go overseas to play. But how many of these college kids actually think that they should also have an education to fall back on because they won't make it? I'm not sure, but realistically it is probably not many. Understandable. They are chasing what in many cases is a childhood dream to become a professional athlete.

Once again, the single-mindedness is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, only those who truly put everything they have into attaining the goal to become a professional athlete actually make it (with a combination of innate talent/gift). However, I believe that this single-mindedness also leads athletes to block out any possibility of not making it. Even if this "student-athlete" does graduate college, do you think that he actually cared about his degree let alone remember anything while playing a sport professionally?

A lot of professional wrestlers are former high-school/college athletes themselves who couldn't make it to a professional team either due to injury or lack of talent. These guys are not really that educated. I would be interested in seeing the percentage of college graduates that are in professional wrestling. But, does this lack of education mean that these men are really that dumb/ignorant enough to knowingly take steroids? I would argue no. These men full well know what they are getting themselves into. The choice to take steroids to get them through the sheer pain that they put themselves through day in and day out for their passion in life trumps the option of quitting and trying something else. Given that a top wrestling superstar needs to be "larger than life" in persona and physical stature I don't think that this problem will go away.

Do You Work Too Much?

Take my poll about how many hours you work per week in the top right. I'm interested in knowing if the mythical "9-5" job still exists in America? Well, besides in the government. CNN had a little quiz that you might be interested in looking at. I heard that in France people only work 35 hours a week. Wow. Can anyone confirm this? I also heard that they get like 5 weeks of mandatory vacation. Mandatory vacation. There you go. However, I wonder how salaries compare to those here in America.

U.Va.'s Class of 2011 Will be Most Diverse

Apparently this year's incoming first-year class to the University of Virginia will be the most diverse in the University's history. 33.5%. A little bit above one-third. Although this is an improvement from the past I think the University still has a way to go. Take a look at the cover of the University's recent alumni magazine. Do you see any differences between the two pictures? No, I don't mean the colors of the photos or the different clothes. Look at the makeup of the two crowds. Namely, I don't think that 33.5% is a high enough percentage of diversity. Again, encouraging news, but I hope that the University will not be satisfied and will continue to increase diversity on campus.

Tiki, Eli, Vick, and the Metro

The latest report out of New York is that former New York Giants and UVA running back Tiki Barber is in a verbal sparring match with current Giants quarterback Eli Manning. There you go Eli. Way to lose focus by worrying about what a former teammate has to say about you. That's Tiki's job now. To talk about NFL players. Deal with it and stop being a baby. I think Peyton stole all the talent from his parents and left none for Eli. I wonder if Eli remembers his draft day when he demanded to be traded from the San Diego Chargers. I guess he thought having LaDanian Tomlinson as his teammate would have been a bad thing. Good move.

Does anyone think that Michael Vick will consistently be the first pick?...in the prison football pickup games with the rest of the prisoners? All joking aside, he will probably get the "Paris Hilton" celebrity treatment and Martha Stewart house arrest. What a sad story this has become. A few weeks ago on SportsCenter one of ESPN's brilliant commentators stated something along these lines: (Well, the Falcons will be a different team with Joey Harrington at quarterback versus if they had Michael Vick. Joey Harrington is no Michael Vick.) You think??? Thanks for the insight.

In other news, I am going to gripe about Metro some more. I was trying to get into D.C. yesterday during rush hour and one of the trains did not have A/C. Next it was decided that because of this the train was deemed "out of order" and everyone on the entire train was forced to get out and wait for the next one. The next one comes 2 minutes later but does not leave for another 10 minutes as "we are experiencing delays. Thanks for your patience customers". Lastly, why don't people understand that you walk on the left side of the escalator and stand on the right?

Off to Kansas City and Seattle

I will be traveling to Kansas City and Seattle tomorrow night until Tuesday evening so I probably won't get the chance to make any posts until at the earliest next Wednesday. I'll be sure to give a summary of the trips with pictures when I get back.

What Do You Think Of Your Boss?

Apparently there is legislation in the works that would give employees grounds to sue their employers for being mean. The article brought up an interesting point of the generation gap between new hires coming into the work force (Generation Y) versus retiring Baby-Boom generation managers and how the younger generation is more likely to complain about their supervisors and quit. I think this legislation will have problems defining what exactly is an "abusive work environment". It might be hard for an accuser to bring forth the proper evidence other than "he said/she said" especially if the abuse does not take place in front of other employees. If you get the chance to read the article but don't have much time skip to about 3/4 down the page and read some of the "horror" boss stories. Yikes.

Are You Fat?

If so now you can maybe blame it on a virus. An interesting thought that I just had: Do you think it would be possible to "infect" people who are in extremely poor countries with limited access to food with this "obesity virus"? Well, I will shoot down my own idea and say probably not because I would contend that these people obviously need the nutrients provided to them by food because of extreme malnourishment. It'll be interesting to see what further research shows.

Call Me Mr. Produce

I thought I'd take the opportunity to give you a sample of the food that I ate at a restaurant, the food I bought, and the food I cooked today. See if you can tell which is which. As Emeril Lagasse would say, "I wish you had Smell-a-Vision".

Also, not too long ago I had the chance to eat Maryland Chesapeake Crabs in Annapolis, Maryland for the first time. Good stuff.

On a side note, I had another what I would consider successful weekend at the batting cages. I got to use my old little league bats for the first time in a very long while. My friend told me that I should probably upgrade to a high-school level bat which is heavier. That might be added to my wish list. I forgot how much fun it is to hit a baseball. Oh, and I found out that the "fast" pitch I was hitting today was 65 mph. That means I could probably hit a change-up from a 2- or 3-A league pitcher. I think they should just call me up to the big leagues right now. If I had the money to buy a new house right now it would have a gourmet kitchen and a batting cage in the backyard.

Good Morning Sunshine

Up early this morning as I like to be most days. Plan is to hydrate up with water/Gatorade then go out for a run around the area neighborhoods. I started the early morning jog on the weekend habit about five years ago and absolutely love it. Remember those scenes in Rocky IV where Balboa is running through the snow in Russia all by himself in the early morning? I love that. Those training montages are great. One of my fondest memories from Syracuse was recreating that during the winter time. If you've never been up to Syracuse it snows. A lot. And it is absolutely frigid in the winter. So while I was there I decided to "take advantage" of that environment and get myself into Rocky Balboa shape. I remember getting up on those weekend days in the dead of winter when it was even too cold to turn around in your bed stacked with about five blankets to keep warm. I'd get myself ready (minus the whole drinking the raw egg thing), don the multiple thin layers of clothes and a hat, and take out my iPod...queued up with the all of the Rocky soundtracks. Stepping outside of the front door of the house was exactly like the movie. It was just me, the sun, and the snow. I remember one time where it was so cold outside that my iPod stopped working because I guess the hard drive froze. It was really quite an exhilarating experience that I'd recommend if you're up to it. I'd like to if I ever get the chance (like so many others have) recreate the running up the library stairs in Philly scene. Other fond moments come from when I was at Virginia and I would run by all the frat houses early on a weekend morning. One time I ran by this house and actually stopped because I could smell the alcohol emanating from the porch. I stopped long enough to notice that there several drunk kids sleeping outside on the porch. Good stuff. On a side note, does any one else who works a standard desk job feel like sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day is actually more tiring than it should be? I feel like I need to take a nap most days I get home but realize that all I did during the day was sit.