Hello again all. Trying to convalesce from Post Concussion Syndrome is no fun. I was taken to the Emergency Room from work the other day because of severe dizziness and sudden fatigue all based off of the concussion I apparently DID suffer on Sunday. So, as I have been ordered to stay home and rest, I figured I'd throw the iPod on shuffle and relax. Dangerously enough, that got me thinking.....
I thoroughly enjoy singing. I am somewhat decent at it, and find myself singing along to many songs that come on the radio, or the iPod, or whatever. I also used to be a regular karaoke singer, Not as much now, but still, on occasion, I will go to a bar, let people get drunk, and believe they're being entertained. I kid, but I really do enjoy it.
When I sing karaoke, I pick songs that I know by heart, because I find it very difficult to sing and read at the same time. I will pick things that I know most of, if I only need a word here and there, but for the most part, I don't look at the monitor. I also get this awful feeling when I hear people butcher the words to songs, so I try to make sure if I really like a song, and want to sing it, I will learn the lyrics. I have even gone online and searched for the lyrics to songs that I like to make sure I don't butcher them.
I sat back as I listened to my iPod and realized just how many songs I could sing word for word. I load a lot of full albums onto my iPod, and I have at last count 2,730 "songs" on it. Some of them are instrumentals, and some tracks are no more than 30 seconds, but as I listen to the wide array of music that shuffles through, I don't know if I'm like Rain Man, or just very musically diverse, but I can go from singing a beautiful Josh Groban song to ripping into a Disturbed song, then back to singing the entire soundtrack of West Side Story or In The Heights.
I have to be honest. I don't remember all my niece's and nephew's birthdays, but I can sit here as I am now, and sing along to "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Sir Paul McCartney.
Everybody sings along to something - whether they do it in public, in the car, or in the shower. If I had to guess, I could conservatively say I know the lyrics to over 1000 songs. I want to know how many - honestly - you know the lyrics to, and what weird obscure ones do you know? I can sing "The Streak" by Ray Stevens. Most of you don't even know that one!
So - hit me up @billwinters18 on Twitter, comment on Facebook, or right here. If you have any lyrics you're not sure about, let me know - if I don't know them, I'll look them up because that's what I do!!
Nice - Bruno Mars with Cee-Lo Green and B.O.B.!!! Yes, I'm singing along!!! "I'll Be Waiting On The Other Side" - and I sure will!!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Eating me out of House and Home - and not even home when they do it!
Hello friends. As I sit at home convalescing from a pretty good knock on the noggin yesterday (slight concussion and possibly broken nose), I have found something to rant about.
I have been to a casino exactly one time in my life. It's a very sneaky thing they do there. They make you exchange your actual cash into chips for the purposes of gambling. You basically exchange legal tender for chips with value imprinted on them. Mentally though, when you look at chips, you don't see them as "real money" and therefore find it easier to bet them. No chips = no money. Of course you don't realize that fully until you're empty handed.
The school lunch programs lately have done the same thing to us. Back in the day, we used to bring actual cash to school to purchase our lunch. On Fridays, my mother would give us a little extra for ice cream. You bought and paid for what you could afford based on the change or money in your pocket. If you didn't have money, you couldn't buy anything. Pretty simple. Good concept. Worked for us for YEARS.
Now, the kids have lunch accounts. As parents, we have to fund these accounts, then our children enter a passcode to make their daily purchases. Note, I didn't say LUNCH purchases....more on that in a bit.
Money was an easy concept for me as a kid. If I had money, I could buy lunch. Most of the time, I would bring my own lunch, because lunch boxes were cool back then. Of course, after elementary school, nobody used lunch boxes anymore, so we all bought our lunch. That's fine - we had money. It was easy to figure out.
I don't think my kids grasp the concept of what their accounts are. There is no tangible amount of money in their hand, so they feel as if they can just enter their code, and get whatever they want. I'll use my high school freshman as an example. Lunch at the high school is $2.75. My parents would have given me $3.00 cash every day and that would be it. Now, I have to fund this kid's lunch account. I put $20.00 on it, expecting to last an entire school week. Herein lies the problem.
Other than lunch, the schools have started offering a la carte items. Snacks and drinks that are separate from the standard lunch. He likes these things. Cookies, bottles of iced tea, whatever. The problem is he uses his passcode and account to buy these things too. So in one day, between all the extras, his daily expenditures went from $2.75 to $8.00!! It didn't mean anything to him, because all he did was enter some numbers.
I can't even go into the website I use to fund these things and limit their purchase choices, so I'm stuck. I am burning through literally almost $80.00 a week on school lunches for three kids because they like things like Gatorade and fruit roll ups.
Schools need not offer these extras. If they DO offer them, put them in actual cash accepting vending machines. Kids don't grasp the concept that entering those passcodes is actually using money every time. Is it just me, or was it a hell of a lot simpler sending kids with a few dollars for lunch? I don't want to hear that tired argument of "kids getting beat up for their lunch money". Kids bring iPhones to school - I don't think anyone will be threatening little Vinny of Debbie for $3.00 when they can take their $150.00 phone.
What is your opinion? Tweet me at @billwinters18, comment on Facebook, or comment here. I'll check out the replies while I'm at work, working to subsidize my kids' scholastic culinary intake.
I have been to a casino exactly one time in my life. It's a very sneaky thing they do there. They make you exchange your actual cash into chips for the purposes of gambling. You basically exchange legal tender for chips with value imprinted on them. Mentally though, when you look at chips, you don't see them as "real money" and therefore find it easier to bet them. No chips = no money. Of course you don't realize that fully until you're empty handed.
The school lunch programs lately have done the same thing to us. Back in the day, we used to bring actual cash to school to purchase our lunch. On Fridays, my mother would give us a little extra for ice cream. You bought and paid for what you could afford based on the change or money in your pocket. If you didn't have money, you couldn't buy anything. Pretty simple. Good concept. Worked for us for YEARS.
Now, the kids have lunch accounts. As parents, we have to fund these accounts, then our children enter a passcode to make their daily purchases. Note, I didn't say LUNCH purchases....more on that in a bit.
Money was an easy concept for me as a kid. If I had money, I could buy lunch. Most of the time, I would bring my own lunch, because lunch boxes were cool back then. Of course, after elementary school, nobody used lunch boxes anymore, so we all bought our lunch. That's fine - we had money. It was easy to figure out.
I don't think my kids grasp the concept of what their accounts are. There is no tangible amount of money in their hand, so they feel as if they can just enter their code, and get whatever they want. I'll use my high school freshman as an example. Lunch at the high school is $2.75. My parents would have given me $3.00 cash every day and that would be it. Now, I have to fund this kid's lunch account. I put $20.00 on it, expecting to last an entire school week. Herein lies the problem.
Other than lunch, the schools have started offering a la carte items. Snacks and drinks that are separate from the standard lunch. He likes these things. Cookies, bottles of iced tea, whatever. The problem is he uses his passcode and account to buy these things too. So in one day, between all the extras, his daily expenditures went from $2.75 to $8.00!! It didn't mean anything to him, because all he did was enter some numbers.
I can't even go into the website I use to fund these things and limit their purchase choices, so I'm stuck. I am burning through literally almost $80.00 a week on school lunches for three kids because they like things like Gatorade and fruit roll ups.
Schools need not offer these extras. If they DO offer them, put them in actual cash accepting vending machines. Kids don't grasp the concept that entering those passcodes is actually using money every time. Is it just me, or was it a hell of a lot simpler sending kids with a few dollars for lunch? I don't want to hear that tired argument of "kids getting beat up for their lunch money". Kids bring iPhones to school - I don't think anyone will be threatening little Vinny of Debbie for $3.00 when they can take their $150.00 phone.
What is your opinion? Tweet me at @billwinters18, comment on Facebook, or comment here. I'll check out the replies while I'm at work, working to subsidize my kids' scholastic culinary intake.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sports and Superstitions.
Greetings my friends! Today is a big day for me.... my favorite hockey team in the entire world, the New York Rangers, play tonight with a chance to advance in the playoffs. Not a big deal you may think, but note the title of this post, and you will be taken on a journey that goes from the ridiculous to the sublime. Mostly ridiculous though.
Athletes are a very superstitious bunch - almost to the point where it is borderline OCD. Baseball fans know the story of Wade Boggs, a tremendous hitter who played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and finished with the Tampa Bay (at the time they were the Devil) Rays. Wade Boggs had the superstition where he would eat the same pre-game meal before every game - chicken. Nothing else. EVER.
There are probably a ton of other stories like that, but I want to focus on fans and the superstitions we have. By fans, I am targeting....me. The cross-hairs are now fully aimed.
Hockey players in general, when their team makes the playoffs, consider it bad luck to shave, therefore growing a "playoff beard." Gillette has actually partnered with the NHL this year to encourage fans to "Grow One For Their Team" and support their team by growing a playoff beard as well. Kind of silly that a razor company would encourage not shaving, but that's another topic for another time. I decided I would join the festivities and grow a playoff beard to support my beloved Rangers. Granted, I have never grown anything more than a little goatee in my life, and on the few occasions I have done that, it usually only lasts a few days, then I get rid of it because it itches like crazy. This time, I started before the playoffs even began. I stopped shaving all together, and pretty soon had a decent growth going. Was I comfortable? No, but the Rangers were playing well and I know that the cosmic forces of my fantastic facial fur were the cause, so I left it alone.
Funny thing happened after about a month. The Rangers started playing badly, and lost a couple of games. Could it be that my scruff of good fortune had run out of luck? I thought so - plus by this time, my wife and daughter wouldn't even kiss me for fear of scratching their faces. So I shaved it off. Completely. I'm talking baby-butt smooth. That night, the Rangers won. Is that the end of the superstitious luncay? Nay nay...not by a long shot.
I ate my dinner in the living room that night to watch the game. Instead of sitting on my couch, I sat on my ottoman, about 3 feet away from the TV. I wore my light colored Rangers jersey, because they were playing on the road. In hockey, the home team wears their dark jerseys and the away team usually wears white, or something very light. My wife was wearing my Rangers cap that I bought at a game earlier this year, so I put on this ridiculous court jester, joker from the deck of cards hat that's red, white and blue with the Rangers logo on it. I don't even remember where we got it, but it worked. I drank one beer as the game started, not out of the bottle, but out of a glass.
So, for the next game which was Game 7 (win and move on, lose and go home), I did the exact same thing - shaved clean, sat on the ottoman, wore the same color as the Rangers were wearing (my dark blue for that game), drank my one beer from a glass, and didn't move from my spot at all while play was going on. They won again, and the player who scored the first goal was Marc Staal - whose jersey I just so happened to be wearing. A pattern was developing.
This past Saturday afternoon, they played again - but as is usual on the weekend, I had a lot of things to do, so I (GASP!) DIDN'T WATCH THE GAME! I also didn't shave that morning. Needless to say, they lost. This can NOT be a coincidence. The balance of the earth's core was off because my 200 pounds was not on my ottoman in my living room, and that HAD to be why they lost.
No taking chances Monday night. Clean shaven, dark blue jersey on (again, my Marc Staal), goofy hat, one beer, eating my dinner in the living room. The Rangers won in overtime - who scored the game winner? MARC STAAL.
If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup, I should get a ring. It is my routine that causes these wins. I'm certain of it.
So friends, are you as hopeless as I am? Do you have favorite teams, and superstitions that you follow because of them? I look forward to reading your comments up until 7:30 - then I must have my dinner in the living room, my Brad Richards Winter Classic jersey on (they're on the road tonight), my one beer and my ridiculous hat. You can see the hat on my Facebook page by the way - it's pretty easy to spot. Comment on Facebook or shoot me a Tweet @billwinters18. Just don't expect a response during the game!!
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!
Athletes are a very superstitious bunch - almost to the point where it is borderline OCD. Baseball fans know the story of Wade Boggs, a tremendous hitter who played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and finished with the Tampa Bay (at the time they were the Devil) Rays. Wade Boggs had the superstition where he would eat the same pre-game meal before every game - chicken. Nothing else. EVER.
There are probably a ton of other stories like that, but I want to focus on fans and the superstitions we have. By fans, I am targeting....me. The cross-hairs are now fully aimed.
Hockey players in general, when their team makes the playoffs, consider it bad luck to shave, therefore growing a "playoff beard." Gillette has actually partnered with the NHL this year to encourage fans to "Grow One For Their Team" and support their team by growing a playoff beard as well. Kind of silly that a razor company would encourage not shaving, but that's another topic for another time. I decided I would join the festivities and grow a playoff beard to support my beloved Rangers. Granted, I have never grown anything more than a little goatee in my life, and on the few occasions I have done that, it usually only lasts a few days, then I get rid of it because it itches like crazy. This time, I started before the playoffs even began. I stopped shaving all together, and pretty soon had a decent growth going. Was I comfortable? No, but the Rangers were playing well and I know that the cosmic forces of my fantastic facial fur were the cause, so I left it alone.
Funny thing happened after about a month. The Rangers started playing badly, and lost a couple of games. Could it be that my scruff of good fortune had run out of luck? I thought so - plus by this time, my wife and daughter wouldn't even kiss me for fear of scratching their faces. So I shaved it off. Completely. I'm talking baby-butt smooth. That night, the Rangers won. Is that the end of the superstitious luncay? Nay nay...not by a long shot.
I ate my dinner in the living room that night to watch the game. Instead of sitting on my couch, I sat on my ottoman, about 3 feet away from the TV. I wore my light colored Rangers jersey, because they were playing on the road. In hockey, the home team wears their dark jerseys and the away team usually wears white, or something very light. My wife was wearing my Rangers cap that I bought at a game earlier this year, so I put on this ridiculous court jester, joker from the deck of cards hat that's red, white and blue with the Rangers logo on it. I don't even remember where we got it, but it worked. I drank one beer as the game started, not out of the bottle, but out of a glass.
So, for the next game which was Game 7 (win and move on, lose and go home), I did the exact same thing - shaved clean, sat on the ottoman, wore the same color as the Rangers were wearing (my dark blue for that game), drank my one beer from a glass, and didn't move from my spot at all while play was going on. They won again, and the player who scored the first goal was Marc Staal - whose jersey I just so happened to be wearing. A pattern was developing.
This past Saturday afternoon, they played again - but as is usual on the weekend, I had a lot of things to do, so I (GASP!) DIDN'T WATCH THE GAME! I also didn't shave that morning. Needless to say, they lost. This can NOT be a coincidence. The balance of the earth's core was off because my 200 pounds was not on my ottoman in my living room, and that HAD to be why they lost.
No taking chances Monday night. Clean shaven, dark blue jersey on (again, my Marc Staal), goofy hat, one beer, eating my dinner in the living room. The Rangers won in overtime - who scored the game winner? MARC STAAL.
If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup, I should get a ring. It is my routine that causes these wins. I'm certain of it.
So friends, are you as hopeless as I am? Do you have favorite teams, and superstitions that you follow because of them? I look forward to reading your comments up until 7:30 - then I must have my dinner in the living room, my Brad Richards Winter Classic jersey on (they're on the road tonight), my one beer and my ridiculous hat. You can see the hat on my Facebook page by the way - it's pretty easy to spot. Comment on Facebook or shoot me a Tweet @billwinters18. Just don't expect a response during the game!!
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!
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