What a bummer week already. The Dow went into freefall today, again. We're finding nasty new surprises in the stimulus bill. GM's begging for 30 billion dollars, and part of its pitch is, "We're gonna cut 47,000 jobs!" I thought the fucking idea was *not* to see all those jobs get cut! I thought a lot of things. I want to believe in Obama, but this is scaring me and I don't like it. If anyone's got a word of encouragement or can tell me why I'm seeing things wrong, well, I'm listening.
I was looking so forward to the Daytona 500, but what a disappointing finish! As ConnieJane observed in my comments, "Calling the race because of rain is NOT a WIN." Now, I don't begrudge Matt Kenseth, but I don't see what he was crying about. Well, I'd probably get overcome and cry if I won the lottery, so maybe that's it. Though it's been a while since I did an interior decorating job, I remember the technical language most of the contractors used on my jobs, and I used extremely technical contractor language throughout the race.
Tony Stewart's debut as a driver/owner was pretty strong, with an eighth-place finish, so I was glad to see that. He and his Stewart-Haas team run Chevys, so for their sake, I hope GM can work something out that doesn't involve slashing all those jobs. I hope Ryan Newman, his teammate/employee, gets some good equipment under him next week. Tony had to drive a backup car, but Ryan drove a backup to a backup! One nice thing about the two of them as teammates is that they have similar body types, so they don't have to change out the seats when they share cars. And, of course, Joey Logano has not yet done justice to Tony's old #20 ride.
Then there are my Pittsburgh Penguins. Apologies to Dr. Deb, who has already noted that they are having a "banner bad year," but do you know how bad the New York Islanders suck right now?
They suck like American Idol does this year.
They suck like the Dyson factory on product testing day.
They suck like those great pro-family advocates Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber doin' opposition research at the nastiest gay bar in town on Friday night, that is how much they suck!
And...they...beat...the...Penguins...yesterday! It came down to a shootout in overtime, and the Pens sent Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the first and third best scorers in the whole NHL respectively, out to take care of business, but they managed to screw that up! Seriously, there was only one reason for them not to be completely humiliated, and it was this: they were playing with a shiny new coach. Pens fans have been criticizing Michel Therrien all year--basically, it's like he was a very average teacher trying to control a class of gifted kids. (And they are kids, too--mostly in their very early twenties.) So Therrien was yanked out Sunday. Yes, this Sunday. Yes, the day before the game, and quite late in the day, too. Dan Bylsma coached the minor league's answer to the Pens, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, until this weekend, and he was literally preparing for one of their games when he was called up.
Oh, well. As an Office fan, I have to love that the Pens are getting help from Scranton. It seems to have helped the Washington Capitals to give Bruce Boudreau, formerly the coach of the Hershey Bears, a sudden call to come to DC on Thanksgiving 2007.
I just don't want it to get to the point where the bad news going on serves to distract me from sports!
Links, links:
Now here are some fun and easy ways to go green! Check out what's being done, and can be done, in the adult entertainment industry!
Since they have Neanderthal DNA in their possession, scientists might be able to clone a Neanderthal one day. But should they? And if so, what rights should the Neanderthals have?
I've been admiring Greta Christina's stuff at AlterNet for a while, but her rebuttal of the most annoying arguments against atheists--the ones that pretty much say "Shut up, that's why"--finally made me put her on my Blogroll and comment today.
I am a Pagan, but I have good reasons for allying with atheists. One is that they are so damned cute and cuddly! I am the wife of one and the sister of another. Another is that the same people tend to hate both groups. For example, this shameful excuse for a public school teacher in Vermont.
Finally, Archie McPhee has some new reasons to let go of just a little of your money. Check out their new sarcastic "green" grocery bags and their temporary tattoos for wimps!
13 comments:
You know as far as Obama... I'm afraid that he was right when he said that it was going to get worse before it gets better.
Yep, right now we're all anxiously keeping an eye on the future of Detroit.
Addressing an older comment, I will say one thing about the Wings/Pens rivalry, though - it's rather passionate. I learned this when I took some flack fro wearing my Jagr Czech National jersey to a Wings Pens preseason several years back.
Whatever happened to Jagr? I mean I know he's still playing in Russia, but seriously, once he left the Pens, what happened? That stretch with the Caps was rough on him.
@ Snooker: I believe him now! Believe with all my heart!
@ Alpharat: Welcome back! I am a very new hockey fan. I only really got into it last year, and I chose the Pens because penguins are cute and they had enough skills to really frustrate L'Ailee. She admired Malkin, too. (She in turn initially chose Kevin Harvick as her driver because a cap in his old colors went with her outfit, and she needed a cap the first time she saw the 500 live, and she asked me, "Is this a good driver?" Turned out he was, and small and aggressive like her to boot.) What fun when they faced the Wings for the Stanley Cup!
L'Ailee and I are a mixed-culture couple. I am a redneck woman from Florida, hence the "Cracker" in my username, and she is from Siberia and moved to NYC in her teens. So it was...interesting...when I got her into NASCAR, which is my first love. I learned about her beloved hockey to "pay her back," but the Pens actually really got me into it.
Sorry about the biography! You didn't ask for that. All that is to say, I'm gonna have to ask L'Ailee about Jagr. She and her best friend (another Nuyorussian) follow the comings and goings of pretty much *all* the Russian players in the NHL. You said Jagr's Czech, but they might know about someone who's playing in Russia, too.
*sigh* The economy...I read a comment on an article today that said "The American standard of living was unsustainable. This is a necessary change, just a bummer that it's happening to us instead of our children/grandchildren!" I'm hoping against hope it was tongue in cheek, otherwise, how can we be surprised to be here?
teaching the Bible...first, I grew up where we read the Bible in school in English class as "literature." But guess what? we still read the Bible. *sigh* the comments on this article were more disturbing to me than the article itself ~ but that seems to be a trend in my world today.
@ Pobble: I hope that comment was tongue-in-cheek, too. I find comments more interesting than the original post sometimes!
Sometimes I feel like we (Americans) have been living in this big, beautiful house, and never ever once checked for termites, and, well, the Orkin bill is due and the solution will be a hard one to take.
We had "reference Bibles" in my English classes in Orlando, so we could understand what Shakespeare or Steinbeck were getting at, but never the Bible itself as literature. I guess there are fundier places than Orlando. Then again, I'd have thought Vermont was more liberal than to harbor a guy like that teacher, too.
Awww...
I believe that chocolate works better to distract you from bad things.
... What? Just because I have a t-shirt which says 'Save the earth. It's the only planet that has chocolate' doesn't mean I'm biased. :D
Even if you're a latecomer, welcome to the world of hockey fandom. Be careful, though, it can become an obsession.
Addressing another part of your post, I heart Archie McPhee. Every year at Christmas, we make a large order for gifts for our friends and families. Plus, it's twice now that we've made a pilgrimage to the store.
Years ago I had someone tell me when the words "global economy" were first being bandied about that what that meant was that everyone else's wages and living standards would rise while ours sunk to meet them until there was a global standard instead of a national one. I so hope they were wrong, though they are no longer here to see it happen!
Thank you for your kind words and your worries. We've been through the "down times" before, so we'll get through somehow...I'm not smart enough to lie down!
In the meantime I plan on catching what I can of the new season and rooting for Tony and Ryan and A.J. and hoping that a certain little brunette can kick some tail with her new spotter in that other series...
alan
Hi.
I posted under Dawn/Morninglight earlier and added your blog to my blog list... Do you mind awfully? :)
I don't mind at all, RB! Thank you!
I like lots of links. So much to learn.
You know, I also agree that Idol is sucky this year. I thought it was only me.
Hey, I keep coming by to see when you'll post again. Miss you.
~Deb
April 4, 2009
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