I actually didn’t watch the universally-panned “The Decision” on ESPN wherein LeBron James decided to tell all of Cleveland in the most public forum possible that he was leaving. I’m also proud to say that I completely forgot it was on, being busy with other aspects of life (playing video games, naturally).
My own thoughts on the matters are fairly simple:
1) No matter what, I felt good because he didn’t go to the Knicks, or the Nets, even. Apparently, there is some speculation that neither one was even considered to be a top choice. This was the most important thing for me, just because the amount of hubris and arrogance coming from NYC fans was absolutely galling; for 2 years whenever a basketball fan in this city said something about LBJ in free agency, they acted like it was a given — that the city alone, and not the fact that James would have to go to a very poor team and wait for another 3 years or so before even being considered a contender, was all that mattered. So, for me, it was nice to see that sense of entitlement shattered.
2) I said all along that wherever he goes, it’ll be where he thinks he has the best chance to win a ring, and to do so now. Certainly, with Wade, Bosh, and James on the same team, it looks more likely than it did in Cleveland. Of course, now, if fates should decree that he does not win a ring with Miami over the next three years, his legacy will be tarnished moreso than if he had stayed in Cleveland and not won. But hey — every Cleveland sports fan knows the truth: now that he is out of Cleveland, he’ll win the championship next year. That’s just the dark cloud that looms over our town.
3) Finally, this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. LBJ wore a Yankees cap to the Indians home playoff game. At the Browns home opener against Dallas, he hung out the whole time talking to the Cowboys. And growing up, he followed the Bulls, not the Cavs. Maybe Akron really is his home, but, outside of his contractual obligations, he certainly never was a part of Cleveland sports.
I have not laughed this hard at a video in a long, long time. 
It’s 3 and half minutes, so you can definitely sneak it in between meetings.
I had neglected to mention a certain occurrence upon my return from the airport:
It was late, and surprisingly hot for the evening, especially since I had figured that ha left all of the heat back in Florida. As I unlocked the door to my humble bedroom apartment, I was greeted with the stretch of putrid poultry and rotting pork.
Cripes, I thought, I could have sworn that I had cleaned out the fridge, and emptied the trash. Where was that smell coming from–
“Hello,” said The Bearer of Bad News.
“Oh,” I replied, as I felt my stomach tighten and intestines cramp. “It’s you.”
“In the decomposing flesh,” TBoBN cheerfully replied. “How was your trip?”
“Since you weren’t there,” I noted, “you should guess that it was really quite good. More relaxing than I realized.”
“Glad to hear it,” it said with a nod. “Maybe it’ll soften the sting.”
I merely grumbled in response as I dropped my luggage off on my bed and starting opening windows before the odor melted the glass.
“First of all,” it continued, following me around like a hellhound puppy, “you recall those Disney Trading Pins that you bought? The ones that cost about $50? Yeah, they’re gone. Lost like a tourist trying to navigate the West Village.”
“Swell.” I didn’t mean it, of course, but you can’t encourage The Bearer of Bad News. Not that it needs encouraging, really.
“Also, you know your fear about losing your job over vacation, like last year?”
“Kinda hard to forget,” I answered.
“Well, you still have your job, so rest easy on that part. But there’s been a major foul-up happening, not by any fault of the company, mind you, and your paycheck won’t be coming in for a while yet.”
I grunted. That one hurt.
“And just to top it off and show why you should never, ever, ever go on a vacation again, that one girl that you had a few dates with – you remember, the cute one that was a huge World of Warcraft fan – has decided to stop seeing you because you don’t have a living room set.”
There was a pause.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Yeah,” it replied in a voice of uncertainly. “Honestly, man, I don’t quite get it either. I think it has something to do with the fact that you, as the modern day adventurer, do not look like someone who has all that stable of a career. And I mean, hey, given what I just told you, can you blame her? People don’t get involved in games to get rich.”
“Well, that’s all just spiffy,” I said sardonically. “Are you done now? I have pictures to transfer over to the computer.”
“Yeah, my work here is done,” it said cheerfully. “Oh, and before I forget: don’t use the bathroom for a while. I sort of cut a hole in the ozone when I was in there, if you get my drift.”
“Unfortunately, I do,” I said, fighting my gag reflex.
A snap of thunder, flash of deep red light, and the ending notes to “It’s a Small World” echoed through the apartment as The Bearer of Bad News vanished.
As always though, it’s going to take more than a bottle of Pine-Sol to get the stink out of my nose.
Walt Disney World, to be precise. It was a fun trip, visiting with the family, despite the fact that I lost every single Disney Trading Pin I bought there, which was about $50 that went down the drain. Oh well — at least I didn’t lose my niece’s pin, which would have been far more sad. I think it’s just a sign that I should stay away from the whole pin aspect.
I took many, many pictures in many, many locations. This basically means that I will be spending many x4 hours uploading, balancing, and organizing them. But, hopefully it won’t take too long, and I will be able to post several on the blog.
Now, I need to work on catching up on a wide array of things, and thus shall be off. Onward!
Tom Izzo should take money out of the equation as he ponders Cavaliers | cleveland.com.
For the 23 people on the planet who are not aware, LeBron James is currently a free agent. Lesser known outside of the NBA is that the Cavs are also looking for a new coach, who may or may not have LeBron as a player.
Terry Pluto has written a nice column about why the potential coach, Tom Izzo, should not be looking at the money when considering the job, and brings up a truism that I’m reminded off often in my line of work:
I once took a project for the money. But I made a list of all the non-financial reasons that I wanted to do it. The idea was to convince myself that I wasn’t doing it for the money.
It was self-deception.
The project also was a disaster. Because money was the ultimate bottom line, and my heart wasn’t in it. When challenges came, I wanted to bail out. I finished the job, but it wasn’t anywhere close to my best work.
I had a discussion with my mom last night about whether or not I had made the right choice with my current job, as opposed to the offer from the larger company, which would have paid more.
But in the end, everything else about my job is great: the people, the work, the working climate. As a small game company, money is always going to be a concern, and it’s something that I knew going in.
Of course, I suspect that I would have really liked the people and work at the other company, too, but I doubt that we’d be having nearly as merely discussions about Team Fortress 2, The Disney Afternoon, or why Captain America could totally take out Batman in a fight.
For those who don’t already know, the birthday went pretty well. I went in to work, had a basketball game that night (we lost three of four, but at least won the last game), and afterward hit up a little restaurant/bar with the teammates for some nice celebration time. I had 4 shots bought for me, and also drank 6 beers, and hence wowed the crowd with my Plotecher tolerance. I had a slight buzz, but nothing major. I felt fine when I went to bed, and still felt fine when I woke up the next morning. It’s nice to know that I at least still have the “good” genes from Wisconsin….
I also have started the beach volleyball league, which is definitely more causal than the basketball one. Some folks, truth be told, are still a wee bit too serious about it, but overall it’s definitely more relaxed. My v-ball skills aren’t quite up to snuff (the serves were less than graceful), but hopefully it catches up next week. Especially as we lost all three games the first night.
This post shall be short, and to be frank, the main reason for my silence the past couple of weeks has be due in large part to my rediscovering Team Fortress 2! I forgot how fun, well-balanced, and often hilarious it is. There are still people who are just too good to be real, but the flip-side is that since it is a team game, you can actually have those guys on our team as well, and recently it seems like my wins and losses have been a bit more balanced. I’m also looking at getting back into WoW, so it’s probably really good that I’m already signed up for beach volleyball, or I might have some issues getting out of the house.
Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench.
I ran across this today, and it’s one of those cool graphics that basically puts things into perspective that deals with height/depth — I knew the Grand Canyon was deep, but not that deep.
And just why the heck do Sperm Whales have to dive that deep in the ocean? What secrets are they harboring down there? Someone should investigate!
FIFA World Cup Murals by ESPN | CreativeRoots – Art and design inspiration from around the world.
I’ve seen a number of these around the subway stations, and always thought that they were pretty cool — this link displays all of them, which is nice, as I haven’t seen a number of them (there are like 33 total).
Days like today reinforce nicely my belief that I can can sleep in and still have a productive day. I was up until around 3:30 AM last night, revisiting the glory that is “Pyschonauts,” and so this morning decided that I didn’t need to get out of bed until around 1 PM. And it was great. When I did get up and start moving around, I swung into action like a summer blockbuster hero:
- Caught up with some emails
- Did my 30 minutes step aerobics
- Played through another level of “Bikini Samurai Squad” during that 30 minutes (the game is a good one for that, because it really doesn’t require a lot of concentration)
- Got my car’s oil changed (by the way, I have 8,500 miles on my 3-year old Escape; this is so odd for someone who used to put on close to 20,000 miles a year)
- Got a much-needed haircut; the poof is gone… for now
- Picked up groceries
- Walked over to CostCo for a few items
- Dropped off my rent check in the mail
- Finished up the laundry
- Sorted through the heap of papers in my bedroom
And it’s still pretty early. This will be spiffy, as it means that now is a good time to go ahead and start working more on the computer, but I won’t feel like I should have been outside.
Incidentally, I think the two main reasons why everything seemed to click today was because with football season over, I have much more time on the weekends, and since I had been waiting to take care of a few things, I had a nice string of things to do in all one trip. Efficient, my friends!
More is on the plate for tonight:
- Make pasta for dinner
- Wash dishes
- Chop veggies for the upcoming week
- Wash off grapes and get them in a snack-ready bowl
- Play some more Pyschonauts
- Reply to some more emails
- And so much more!!!
Also, while at the Oil Change spot, I started resorting the tasks I have listed in my Blackberry. Doing so has made it much easier for me to scroll through and see what it is that i want to tackle, still. I have to admit, doing this now has shown just how many other projects I want to knock off. I should be able to do some work on one or two of them tonight, although I suspect that actually wrapping one up may be a bit too much.
As long as I maintain some momentum, though, heck, I’ll call it a success.
In the game (so to speak) of WiiFit, there is what’s called a time piggy bank, or a time bank, or whatever. This keeps track of how much time you’ve put into the game, and by extension, your exercise. When you first start out, it begins as this rather bland brownish color, although shiny. But, a while back, I noticed that when I topped 20 total hours, it shifted to a silver — ah! The brown was actually a Bronze!
I guessed that if I topped 40 hours it would turn gold, and last night, I was finally able to confirm it. This was quite spiffy, although I’m wondering if I get to 60 if it shifts into platinum, or diamond, or something. If not, well, then, I guess we might as well give up now, right? Can’t get any better.
The sad part is that 40 hours over the past 325+ days that I’ve had the game is not all that impressive. In fact, it sticks. Basically, it means that I’ve been using it much, much less that the lovely golden piggy bank would have me believe. True, there have often been times when I have not recorded in the WiiFit (via the Activity Log) my exercise for the day, such as the various rec league sports I partake in, but the reality is just that I tend to swing back and forth in spurts of activity. The past week, I have gotten back into it, and hopefully I can keep it up for a while. If nothing else, just doing something outside and then recording it in yonder Activity Book would be good. After all, I have managed that in the past, and it was quite cool to look over my month history and see some work happening every day.
Beach volleyball is supposed to start up, so I’ll be continuing to hammer away at WiiFit, I think, both to stay moving, as well as to try to make a last ditch effort to get myself “beach ready.” Personally, I would need a personal trainer, personal chef, and an act of God to shape up within the week or so that we have, but every little bit helps, right?