Explore the Concrete Beach

That is the time I started writing this. I am currently at work at this odd hour. I started at 8PM to turn over a new system and of course when it was suppose to be easy, it’s not!

I’ve been listening to MIS people go back and forth trying to figure out what went wrong and they can’t so I am stuck here in my cube, in the dark because they shut off the lights on our floor at 9.

Luckily I have a light at my desk and the computer moniter to help me see.

It’s no secret I don’t like my job, really I’m more bored with it. A few days ago I sent off my resume to another company in another state. I’ve determined it’s time to move on. Sitting here at 12:45AM on a Friday night is not doing my 28 year-old self any good and it’s time for a change.

I hope I get an interview for the job I applied for, but we’ll see. I should here something in the next two weeks.

So what is the real reason the Penguins have to win tonight?

Well, for one thing it spares all of the City of Pittsburgh from having collective heart attacks at the same time, but the real reason the Penguins must end this series tonight is it will stop Pittsburgh sports writers and bloggers from posting the same story tomorrow.

If you’re asking “what story?” You don’t know your Penguins history and you can just sit tight on the bandwagon and figure out 8787 ways to yell “Shoooooooot” during a Power Play. I know every sports writer has their little anecdote ready for a game 7 piece and it probably goes something like this:

The first game played by the Penguins 43 years ago in the then Civic Arena was played against a now familiar foe, the Montreal Canadiens, but unfortunately for the Penguins that ended in a 2-1 loss to the Habs. Will history repeat itself? Will the Penguins find themselves removed from another Stanley Cup run because of a building coming “full circle”? Could the Pens time at the Mellon Arena end just like it began?  Quite possibly, if the blah blah blah criticize defense, Malkin, Fleury, the earth revolving around the sun, pigeons, Disco Dan’s tie or some other non-sense…

Yep, you’ll all read that tomorrow if the Penguins do not finish off the Montreal Canadiens tonight. So get praying to the hockey gods because any game 5-7 makes me queasy enough in the stomach to cause an acid volcano, I don’t need to add a heart attack.

And can you imagine the TV reporters going nuts with this story? I don’t to hear this beaten to death either.

So please hockey god’s spare use from “clever,” but un-original stories in tomorrow’s paper and hockey blogs and make them full of Eastern Conference Final stories. I don’t need to hear how history might repeat itself because of something 43 years ago, but I know every writer had their story ready to go before game 6 is even played.

There’s only one way the Mellon Arena should go, and that is to go out in style with  a repeat of last years history. 

And with that I say:

Yesterday was my hooding ceremony for my Masters Degree, woo! So things should start moving along here a lot better. It was an early morning as the ceremony started at 9AM and I had to be there by 8AM.

This is why:

Yep, water. Today I was volunteered for the Pittsburgh Marathon. I was at a water station in front of the Rivers Casino on the North Shore with a few people I’ve met on Twitter. After all these cups were filled with water and stacked two tiers high there was more water in the form of rain. Yep right as the first set of wheeled racers zipped by it started raining then as the day went on it went from pouring to a slow rain to pouring down again.

The runners didn’t seem to mind, a lot of them looked to be enjoying it. I could never do a marathon, or the half, maybe if I walked it…maybe.

I did get to see a lot of people I know so congratulations to them for finishing their race despite a bomb scare near the finish line. It was a good time and thanks to the location, I got to play some slots afterward.

As a Pens fan I am kinda of confused and happy about this. I know another player was seriously injured, but according to current NHL rules it was a legal hit as should to the head is allowed.

Honestly, after I saw the replay (which you can see below) I thought Cooke would be out for 5 games as he was suspended once before for an elbow to the head earlier in the season.

So what’s your take?

This weekend I went curling. If you’re asking yourself, “What’s Curling?” then you probably haven’t watched any of the Olympics in the last 17 days.

So, where in Pittsburgh can you go curling?

Well that’s they easy part! You can learn to curl at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center on Neville Island, which is home to the Pittsburgh Curling Club. It was an open house for anyone who had an interest in curling to get the basics down and find out more information.

Not RMU but this is what the rink looks like

I will start by saying this Curling is a lot of fun, harder than many people think and you’ll discover muscles that you never knew existed and they will be sore days later, but it’s extremely fun!

After saying that I will say, “HOLY CRAP that’s a lot of people.” This was my thought when I walked into the Island Sports Center. There were lines everywhere, which was really confusing because you had to buy a wristband at the front desk to actually curl for $10, which to me was cheap so no big deal there.

After you waited in line for the wristband you had to join another line to sign a waiver at the Pittsburgh Curling Club booth, luckily I all ready had one printed and filled out so I got to skip this line. The booth was right inside the front entrance causing a traffic jam for anyone walking into the place, but due to the limited area it was probably the best spot. After waiting for a few other people we got into the last line which moved slowly.

We waited in the third last line for TWO HOURS, yes TWO HOURS. Remember I arrived at 5 we didn’t leave to almost 8:30. There were some people who just gave up and left and considered their $10 a donation to RMU.

Yes, the thought raced through everyone’s mind to leave, but at the point of wanting to leave we were near the front of the line. The members of the curling club were walking up and down the line with bowls of candy trying to keep people happy and answered questions, which did help calm parts of the crowed.

Finally we were let in. What was the reason for the long wait? Well, they were only able to take about12 people at a time. There was limited room and they really didn’t expect 600 people to show up, but that’s what happened, which was great for them, but they were really overwhelmed.

Once our group was lead to the arena we were taken through a series of stretches off ice and were told basic rules and techniques of curling, then it was off to the ice to actually throw a stone and learn how to sweep.

"SWEEEEEP! HARRRRDER!" You hear that a lot!

Now this was the fun part. While on the ice we were taught how to throw the stone, which despite what you see on TV is a lot harder than it looks. The ice is different than hockey ice as it is beaded, which we learned was to make the stone curl. It also made it easier to walk and run on. After we each practice a few times throwing (Yes, I wiped out on my first try) we played an “End” which is like an inning in baseball.

Let me tell you sweeping is hard for two reasons. 1) You’re on ice and you got to keep up with the stone, which may require running and it’s a little un-nerving on ice. 2) You have to push really hard on the broom to really sweep the ice, it’s a workout and you don’t realize how far down the “house” is from the starting area (the exact name escapes me).

So, overall I have a new found respect for Curling. It is really fun, harder than it looks and probably with a little (or a lot) of practice you can become an average player and it’s great for any age. Even though it was a 2 hour wait to curl it was absolutely worth it in the end. I had a good time and will go back for another go at some point to play again. I actually signed up for more info on learn to curl session. They also have a league and mini-leagues too.

For more information on the Pittsburgh Curling Club or general questions visit their website http://www.pittsburghcurlingclub.com/

I don’t know why I am amazed at this, but Heinz unvailed a new type of ketchup packet today that I find genious. It’s called the “Dip & Squeeze” and I feel dumb for not thinking of this.

Let’s take a look:

Pretty niffty if you ask me. You can peel back the label and dip your fries this is kinda nice if you are eating in the back of the car.

or you can tear off the top and squeeze out the ketchup

The best part is each packet hold up to 3X more ketchup! That’s what makes me excited since I use at least 10 packets for fries.

You can read more about this new ketchup packet and another new product called Simply Heinz, which is made with sugar at Heinz’s website by clicking HERE. This will open a new window.

Here’s so generic footage Heinz released from Business Wire:

Heinz Dip & Squeeze Ketchup Packet

So what do you think of this new ketchup packet?

Sometimes I get fascinated with a concept I become borderline obsessed with it then my ADD kicks in and I move on to something else. I’m like a little kid who can be distracted by shiny objects at times, but then 6 months to a year later I pick up on it again. I use to do this with video games. I would play one game for months no matter how many times I would beat the game then I would get so bored with it I would just toss it aside and be all, “This game is so boring. Why am I even playing it?” Though it did entertain me for a good long while, I was really over it.

I wouldn’t call it a habit, but it still happens today. I will be so involved in a game, project or something around the house (like remodeling my bedroom) then I will just stop, I want to continue but for some reason I just can’t. I do this when I blog. I have so many ideas written down on what to write about and when I got to write, I say to myself, “I’ll write this tomorrow.” Then I never do. I get distracted with other minor things and then it just sounds like making excuses for not writing, but I just can’t. It’s hard to describe. I get everything ready from pictures or a YouTube video and then when I go to write the post that I have been formulating in my head from hour to days it’s like my mind let’s out a giant brain fart and poof their goes the desire to write and post.

Yet, when I am at work I want to write and post things. I find articles and other things I share on Twitter and people will respond to them and I feel like I should expand on my Twitter comment later when I get home so I can pull the images and videos I need since my job pretends to like communication and sharing thoughts and ideas, yet blocks the tools to do so, and then I just don’t do it. I don’t know what prevents me from doing so something just clicks in my brain and is all like, “Nope you’re not going to do it, go play Mega Man 3 on the Wii, Dr. Wily awaits. Look at the flashy screen the fast moving colors…what was I going to do again oh yeah Mega Man 3?” Evil laugh from my brain :Mwahahaha: because it clearly won again.

There are so many videos I want to make and projects I want to do but I don’t know what’s preventing me from accomplishing these things. I start working on them then poof. This happens when I have to do things like update my resume because it hasn’t been done in months. I think I look awful on paper, but I tend to way tougher on myself then other people are to me. This probably sounds awful, but I laugh at my resume, not because I think it’s bad but how random it is.

I have a B.A in Journalism only because my concentration was Advertising and PR, and I never claim to be a journalist and find most people that are “journalists” annoying and out of touch with the people they write for. I have an MBA in Sports, Arts and Entertainment Management. My work experience includes a long stint at an amusement park, then a radio station, retail and the banking industry. The plus side to all of this is I know a lot of random crap. It has its positives and negatives to knowing randomness.

I feel it’s better to know a lot of random things then just one thing. Because no one really cares if you can find a dangling participle, it’s something you don’t brag about, yet I know some people who are grammar Nazi’s and it drives me nuts. Instead of enjoying a funny story or column you get, “Well their comma usage is atrocious and their sentence structure isn’t perfect.” At that point I just sigh and say never mind, thanks for being a writing douche. I feel people write to share and if a person can’t lighten up and if the only thing a person can do while reading is criticize how something is written or if a comma is out of place, well then they got some issues. The funny part is the people who think they are the kings and queens of grammar can’t take the criticism when they make a mistake and I usually find their writing boring.

Well how was that for random post? There’s  probably two posts in this, but I don’t care. It’s what I was thinking and that’s what part of this blog is about.

If you watched the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien one of his first guests was Tom Hanks, who personally, I haven’t enjoyed in a movie since Big, but I find him funny in interviews like the one he had with O’Brien which he start calling Conan “CoCo” the audience loved it and people have called him CoCo since then.

In this “late night” TV ward where ever NBC show is hitting the Network hard with jokes about them (look at the SNL promos this week) it’s time to take sides. As you can tell by the title of this blog you know where I stand.

As a fan of late night comedy TV, I’ve enjoyed Conan since he took over the Tonight Show, sure some things fall flat, but it takes time to develope a show, look how long it took him to become popular on Late Night. So today I choose to side with Conan and really hope they fire Leno, because he’s not amusing, but still better than Letterman.

SirMikeOfMitchell.com has this image to download for your blog or Twitter. Clicking the picture will take you there.

Tonight begins the 9^th season of American Idol and probably the first season with a drastic change. I know they added a 4^th judge last year, but to me that is not as drastic as the loss of an original judge, Paula Abdul, the addition of comedian/talk show host Ellen Degeneres and the announcement this will be Simon Cowell leaving the Idol judging panel after this season to bring his British hi ‘The X Factor’ to America in 2011.

Good move for Simon, but I don’t think it’s the end of Idol.

Not yet at least.

Being a fan of the show since the beginning I can point to the bad, Wild Card Rounds, Katharine McPhee V.S. Taylor Hicks, Ryan Seascrest’s frosted tipped hair in season 2 and the good, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert (yes, his CD is really good), Melinda Doolittle, and if you can’t tell there has been a lot more good than bad in the past 8 seasons.

So, why won’t idol just go away after Simon leaves? The show pulls in 20+ million viewers an episode, and is a cash cow for Fox. It’s not going anywhere until something beats it in the rating and beats them badly. Secondly, the show is not about the judges for me. I tend to disagree with them a lot, they have been known to push certain people that are considered marketable, and they are not what the shows about. The show is about singing and I think many Americans forget that quite often, look at the Sanjaya fiasco in season 6, it was funny for a moment then it got old fast and yes better singers went before the screech fest that was Sanjaya was sent packing.

I hope Ellen actually judges. I know she was brought in to be the “nice” judge, but based on her appearance this summer on ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ I don’t have high hopes, but I will give her credit she can be entertaining, I hope her Idol judging seat doesn’t turn into an HBO Comedy Special like on ‘Dance.’

If there was one judge I would like to see go it would be Randy, who hasn’t had an original quote or though since season 2. I’m sick of hearing “you can sing the telephone book dog, but…” It’s old and over like his career. Randy in season 9 could you please be original and to Kara, please don’t ever write or co-write the winners song ever again.

Tonight starts with the Boston Audition round with guest judge Victoria Beckham. Should be interesting, but these audition rounds have lost their luster; let’s see if the producers can make them interesting again. They tend to follow people who make it past this round and tell their whole story during Hollywood week and then they don’t make top 24 and the audience is like ‘Why did you spend 6 weeks telling us their story?” Let’s find out about the contestants who actually make the show than ones that came close.

So another season begins tonight. I’ll be watching, but will you?

My co-worker, Kristine, said the other day said to me, “So, now that you’re done with grad school, what are your goals? Like what’s your 5-year plan?”

I gave her a look, which I often give to people and if you know me you’ve scene it before, the look of “you’re kidding right? :eye roll:” Yeah, the eye roll is a bad habit of mine, but I’m not one to hide his feelings on something. I replied to her, “I hate that question.”

Yes, I hate the “what’s your 5/10 year plan?” question. I don’t like to predict the future for myself and I don’t let “fate” take me wherever it wants, typically I find people who wait for something to happen usually get left behind.

I don’t believe in making plans for myself, because “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” When that happens you gotten continually change and adapt.

This poster is just so wrong.

Yesterday, I work I let it slip (mostly on purpose) that I wanted to find a new job by the end of the year. It’s not because I hate the company I work for or my current job, I just want to do something different and maybe more in tune with what I spent the last year in grad school doing. I mean how many people have a MBA in Sports, Arts and Entertainment Management? Not a lot, because my school is the only one in the country to offer it. It just feels like time to do something different.

My boss found it kind of surprising that I said I was looking for a new job, she said I couldn’t leave, I just laughed, but she knew this was coming and she knows I’m not one to hide my feelings or thoughts.

So what do I want to do?

Well, there lies the problem.  I’m not 100% sure. I’ve always been one of those people who learn about a lot of subjects and then fill the gaps as needed. I’ve narrowed down the companies and organizations I would like to work for to a select few, but looking at their job databases it’s hard to figure out exactly where I would fit and what job would be suited for me. I look at most jobs and think I can do that. When I started at my current company no one trained me, I learned the product and created procedures by myself, I had a few guidelines, but I learned everything by asking people questions and using commonsense. If you make mistakes, they are fixable no matter how badly someone blows the issue out of proportion ( :cough: sales people :cough: ), because that’s how I, and most people, learn.  

So, that’s where my thinking is right now, trying to figure out details and something new I want to try. If I set I goal it’s not 5/10 years out it’s for the 1 year at most. It’s all about enjoying the journey, not the end. If you haven’t realized that yet, you’re probably falling behind as we all ready know what the end is…right?

So am I crazy for not setting 5/10 year goals? Suggestions?