And on the 4th day...12/22/2011

First off I want to congratulate Tim Radway for winning the naming contest for my weekly Thursday blog entry.  His explanation for how he came up with the name: "A title for Thursdays, it should be "And on the 4th Day"...a semi biblical reference since it seems like you like God and whatnot, but also since Thursday is the 4th day of the week."  Funny guy with a funny blog, check his out here: http://tradwayone.blogspot.com/

Faith and Family

I recently had an exchange with a customer that went something like this:

Me: Happy Holidays

Customer: Now why would you say that to me and not Merry Christmas?

Me:  I say happy holidays to everyone.

Customer:  Well I say Merry CHRISTMAS to everyone

I obviously should have thanked this customer, they are "putting the Christ back in Christmas" after all.  Seriously though, are we so polarized and divisive now that saying happy holidays as opposed to Merry Christmas is frowned upon?  The phrase happy holidays includes Christmas, now if I had said "I want to wish you happy holidays except for Christmas", I could possibly see a reason to be upset.  I recommend reverting back to when Christmas was not a "political issue".

This year, we as Christians should strive to celebrate Christ's birth by spreading the good news through our actions and not our words.  Forgiving a friend or family member who has wronged you,  donating money or time to help those in need, or shoveling a neighbor's driveway seem more "Christmasy" than saying the appropriate holiday greeting or shunning the neighbor with the menorah in the window.  Christ's message of love and peace is a perfect one, and the anniversary of his birth is an ideal time to share that message.  Let's just not get hung up on terminology or one-upping each other's front lawn nativity scenes.  

Oh yeah, to all of my readers:  I wish you and your families the happiest of holidays and a blessed new year.

Sports

I decided to consolidate my NBA preview into a series of predictions with the idea that I would go more in depth prior to the playoffs (like last year: 2011 NBA playoff preview).  Hopefully these are a little more accurate:

Eastern Conference Playoffs:

Opening Round:

(1)Miami Heat d. (8) Orlando Magic (3-0)

(2)Chicago Bulls d. (7) Atlanta Hawks (3-1)

(3)NY Knicks d. (6) New Jersey Nets (3-2)

(5) Indiana Pacers d. (4) Boston Celtics (3-1)

Semi Finals:

(1)Miami Heat d. (5) Indiana Pacers (4-2)

(2)Chicago Bulls d. (3) NY Knicks (4-1)

Finals:

(1)Miami Heat d. (2) Chicago Bulls (4-3)

Western Conference Playoffs:

Opening Round:

(1) OKC Thunder d. (8) Portland Trail Blazers (3-0)

(2) Dallas Mavericks d. (7) San Antonio Spurs (3-2)

(6) Denver Nuggets d. (3) Memphis Grizzlies (3-2)

(4) LA Lakers d. (5) LA Clippers (3-1)

Semi Finals:

(1)OKC Thunder d. (4) LA Lakers (4-2)

(2)Dallas Mavericks d. (6) Denver Nuggerts (4-3)

Finals:

(2)Dallas Mavericks d. (1)OKC Thunder (4-3)

NBA Finals:

Miami Heat d. Dallas Mavericks (4-1)

MVP: LeBron James

Finals MVP: LeBron James

Leading Scorer: Kevin Durant

Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard

Rookie of the Year: Kemba Walker

Our World

These cars as Christmas gift commercials are getting extremely out of hand.  NO ONE GETS A FUCKING CAR FOR CHRISTMAS!  If an alien came to earth and watched TV for an hour they would assume that luxury cars were the most frequently given gift.  Recent commercials have taken it to a whole new level, they begin with the gift receiver obtaining what I guess is supposed to be a shitty gift, like a new smart phone or necklace.  Lo and behold the smart phone has a picture of the new car in the driveway and the necklace has a key attached to it!  Thank God it was not just a $500 gift! 

I guess I could be wrong and brand new cars are frequently given as gifts and I am simply unaware.  If this is the case, I will choose to remain ignorant.  This is due to the fact that if I came across such gifts I would beat the red bowed auto with a lead pipe until I proved my point or went to jail.  This economy is too rough to have to deal with these 1% bullshit commercials.  

Someone get me a baseball bat...

Tool of the week:

Rudy

Sometimes, deep down, we know something is true but refuse to accept it because it feels better to believe the story.  This very situation surfaced this week:  guess what, Rudy is a douche bag.  We all have seen the movie and we so, so want it to be true as told.  Sure we thought that the story was a little-bit embellished for Hollywood, but the general premise is so inspirational!  Well, it has been known for years that Daniel Ruettiger (Rudy) campaigned for the movie to be made and that many of the scenes were completely fabricated.  Joe Montana himself said the famed jersey scene never happened and that Coach Devine's depiction was ridiculous.

Up until this week all we had on our hands was a deceptive movie.  Now Rudy has shown his true colors, he has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by the SEC for a pump and dump stock scheme. He made a crappy sports drink, told stockholders it was outselling Gatorade then dumped his stock before his scheme could be figured out.  Watching Rudy will never be the same!

Beer of the Week

Fuller's ESB

Having recently booked our London/Paris honeymoon, Laura and I (well mostly me) have decided its time to get our English brew on.  Of the few different kinds I have had, Fuller's ESB is by far the best.  There are enough hops to give a delicious, not-too-bitter flavor.  The 5.5% ABV is reasonable and does not slow drinkability.  A Fuller's brewery tour has been added to the must-do list.