Kick out the jams

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I’m looking for music – more specifically, good music that I haven’t heard before.

The album of driving music that I’m preparing for next week is still about thirty discs short of being full and I’m sadly running out of ideas for what to include. The key thing to note here is that I’m only putting in albums that I haven’t heard before – familiar bands and even songs are ok, but I want some new stuff to experience on the ride down, so any suggestions are more than welcome! I’m open to just about any type of rock, with an emphasis on acoustic performances lately, as well as jazz, island-type music, and even some pop as well…also lots of comedy! The only comedy albums I’ve got in there right now are the new Robin Williams album, a Rodney Carrington that I missed earlier, an older Henry Rollins and a compilation of Dennis Miller rants – it’s a tough category to fill because I’ve heard so much material, but I have faith in y’all!

So please post any and all suggestions – no comment is too stupid! If nothing else, you don’t want me stuck listening to talk radio while driving through the bible belt of America, do you?!

Arrgh, mateys…

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Well, Survivor: Pearl Islands kicked off last night and once again, I can tell you already that my Thursday evenings for the next three months have already been planned out! A lot of folks complain because the show repeats and does the same stunts over and over, but I guess I just don’t see it – this one has the potential to be the best one yet…we’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold, though. So far I’m liking the ‘Drake’ tribe the most, as they’ve got the least amount of annoying players – at least they’ve only got two cocky guys and they pretty much keep to themselves! As far as I’m concerned, “Young Ryan” is the only admirable player that the ‘Morgan’ tribe has and they would’ve voted him out last night, had it not been for Nicole spreading herself too thin too quickly. I don’t think I really care for Lillian, either, just because she seems so out of her element (despite the BSA deal), but I collectively hate the rest of the group even more, so that pulls her out of the spotlight for now.

But let’s face it – the Drake tribe has several cute chicks, a fiesty hippie, and someone who can actually speak the language of the land, so they’re clearly the stronger tribe for the time being. I’m a little leary of what’s going to happen next week, as the previews showed Blackbeard getting a little testy about the fishing, but chances are it’ll turn out to be nothing – I’m watching regardless! It may be a matter of getting up at five o’clock in the morning to drive my ass some eight hundred miles down to Chattanooga and still catch the show by 8:00 PM, but I’m watching!!!

And yes, that leaves only six more nights here in sub-arctic Northern Michigan! Okay, it’s still 58 degrees, but I hear that’s freezing where I’m headed! So much to do, so little time – I’ve got a few more things I want to blog about, but that’ll have to come in spurts tonight as you can only imagine just how much I have to do in the next several days…

Like right now, I need to go pick up a pizza, and that’s only the beginning!

Looking for love in all the wrong places…

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See what happens when you leave me unattended!!!

I got bored tonight while I was supposed to be writing my articles, so I decided to take a cue from Lori’s rendevoux with the old man the other night and screw around on some of the online dating sites myself. I’ll admit that I’ve browsed various ones a time or two before, with motives ranging from boredom to sheer curiosity, but this evening I decided to kick it up a notch and toss my own mug up there for the ladies to peruse! I’m not telling anyone which site I chose, so don’t even bother asking, but I thought it might be interesting to see who else is out there. Will Scott find true love via the Internet? Doubtful, but you never know…and as long as she doesn’t end up being a 300-pound dock worker named Earl, do I really have a whole lot of room to judge at this point?! If nothing else, I’m sure we can meld my experiences with online dating into a new feature for Just Laugh that would make Christian proud, to say the very least – cross’a the fingers!

Besides, the funny guy deserves a little lovin’ too, doesn’t he?!

Melting is for sissies…

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Saturday was fun…very wet, but fun nonetheless…

Troy and I took his daughter up to check out the Tahquamenon Falls in the U.P. Saturday afternoon, which would’ve been a truly awesome spectacle had it not poured like a mother for the duration of our visit! It was all bright and sunny when we left town, but crossing the bridge, all we could see was a huge mass of dark clouds in the distance – directly where we were heading! It was still a hoot, though – a lot of people gave us dirty looks for taking a baby out in the pouring rain, but she absolutely loved it and her Mom didn’t seem too peeved about it afterwards, so that was nice. I only got one or two decent pictures, which was actually my primary reason for the trip, but it was good to spend some time with one of my closest friends in town before I leave, anyways.

We got back and ended up watching Daredevil later on that night, which I actually did enjoy, except that under no circumstance should Jennifer Garner have been allowed to die in that film – she’s just way too hot for such peril! It’s quite sad knowing that she won’t be in the sequel, if there even is a sequel at all…

And John Ritter died the other day, too. That sucks on a multitude of levels because not only did he die before his time, but this also means a big halt in the career of Bruce Cameron, a fellow humor writer who was recently thrust into the spotlight for creating ABC’s 8 Simple Rules… – I hate to say it, but my guess is that the show will be toast, as you just really can’t continue after the starring actor dies. That was a sad day for comedians everywhere.

Randomness

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A Little of This, a Little of That…

I think the dog’s mad at me because I don’t hardly ever take her for walks anymore. It kinda sucks because I enjoyed them, too, but she might as well get used to it now because I don’t see anybody else doing it…

I want to start playing guitar again, but I don’t have the time. I want to get back into diving again, but I don’t have the time. I want to start working on about three different books, but I just don’t have the time. I think I need to hire a personal assistant.

I don’t care what anybody says anymore – I enjoy Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! Maybe it counterbalances the testosterone rush from American Chopper or something, but I’m not going to write off a show just because a bunch of my friends are homophobes.

The latest Phillip Morris commercial has me confused – why is it necessary for the company to advertise against the use of its own product just because it’s unhealthy? I don’t smoke anymore and I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone on the planet now understands that they’re not good for you, but you certainly don’t see McDonalds toting 90-second ads about how eating tons of their burgers will make you fat or Microsoft telling us that their software will be the ultimate downfall of your computer. Whatever happened to Joe Camel, anyways? Now he was cool…

I’d really like a new pair of Oakleys for the 20+ hour car ride I’ve got coming up here shortly, but I’m not so sure that I can justify the price tag right now. The last pair I had broke about a year ago and I’ve been wearing a cheap pair from Wal-Mart ever since, but they’re just not the same! The problem is that I’ve got so many different things that I could splurge on, it’s a very tough decision, if I even decide to splurge at all. Maybe I’ll make it a last minute thing on the way out of town or something – we’ll see!

I think I picked up a bad carton of ice cream earlier this week. Mooney’s has always been my favorite and their peanut butter cup is like a little taste of heaven, but if I just wanted a bowl full of peanut butter, I’d have grabbed a jar of JIF instead.

I really need to find the time to put some touch-up paint on my car this weekend because I really can’t picture myself having the time or place to do so down south. They’re only a couple of tiny chips, but I did already spend five bucks on the paint. I’d also like to get in to see the dentist before my insurance expires, but I think the paint has a better chance at this point!

Tomorrow I’m putting in a little OT at work because, well, it’s getting down to cut time and I’m sure the extra money will be nice at one point! My boss has still yet to show any interest at all in my departure, although he did mention something about taking up a collection to get me a stripper or two as a going-away present. I think he was kidding, but it’s more fun to pretend that he wasn’t!

Only 9 days left at work and 14 days until I’m halfway to Florida – talk about the anticipation. Woot!

And finally, I made it a point to get completely caught up with my e-mail this evening, some of which has been piling up for several weeks now. I’ve got so much to do and it seems like just none of it is getting finished – time is not something that I’ve got an abundance of anymore, but instead of making some headway, the wheels are just a spinnin’! Hopefully this weekend will be a little better than the last…

The World Trade Center, two years after ground zero

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Earlier this evening I watched a couple of documentaries about the World Trade Center, its collapse, and the plans for rebuilding it, and I just can’t help but thinking what a cool job it would be to be the Master Planner behind the creation of the new landmark. I know it sounds kinda weird, possibly even a bit morbid if you’re truly jaded, but the complexity involved with such a project just astounds me – there are so many different people that these buildings need to cater to, from the office workers and other large-scale corporations who will take up office space to the common passers-by that might just dine in the restaurants or tour the prominade below to all those who lost their loved ones in the attack – so much to do, and yet I have no doubt in my mind that Daniel Libeskind will see that everything comes together wonderfully and nearly everyone walks away happy…

(I say nearly everyone because I remember one very brief scene in a meeting where one of the victim’s family members expressed how she thought it was horrible that this was supposed to be a memorial, yet they’d no doubt be selling t-shirts and bumper stickers not far away, to which I suppose I can only respond that hey, this place is still in the epicenter of the largest commercial district in the world, memorial or no memorial. Besides, there’s no way that it could possibly be any worse than right after the attacks and every street corner had people selling flags and stickers and anything else they could paint red, white & blue to make a few bucks…)

I’ve never been to New York City, so I didn’t get to see the WTC before all of this happened, but I really wish I had. Nonetheless, I’ll definitely make it a point to see the finished project here in another 10 years when it all gets rebuilt. That should certainly be a sight to see!

It’s on now, baby! There ain’t no turnin’ back…

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Call me a joker, call me a fool,
right at this moment I’m totally cool.
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I’m in the prime of my life…
Well, things are certainly underway now – I turned in my notice of resignation at work yesterday, even though the boss wasn’t around at the time. I kinda would’ve liked to see the look on his face, but such is life – I’ve got plenty of other things to look forward to at this point!

So it looks like the remainder of my time here is going to be divided between saying goodbye to people and writing and frankly, I’d much rather be doing the later. In the best case scenario, I’d love to leave here with nothing but some new columns and Leaving Miami on my slate. It’s pretty much a given that there’s not much I can do in the way of packing up shop until a day or two before the big day, which means that in theory I should have about eighteen quality working days ahead of me…stay tuned to find out if I actually use them to the best of their potential…

21 days until Scott moves to Florida!

Damn you, Henley!!!

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And I just remembered that it was two years ago this summer that I had front row tickets to see Don Henley’s solo act when he was scheduled to appear in Northern Michigan as part of the National Cherry Festival.

He cancelled like two weeks before the show; I cried for like three days straight…