Greetings once again and welcome to another set of Random Thoughts brought to you by yours truly. Since there wasn't an edition last week, I have an awful lot to say and get off my chest this week. With that in mind, enjoy.
- The inspiration for the subtitle of this blog is a reflection of what happened last week which caused me to skip an week's set of Random Thoughts. As I've stated in my status on my social networks, I had some computer problems starting a week ago Saturday. First my wireless mouse decides to quit on me and then the backup broke, all in the span of an hour. I had to use my keyboard's number pad to use the pointer, which was a pain. As a result I could not cut & paste, which for the creation of my blogs is a big-time necessity. If that wasn't enough, also last Saturday I started having glitch issues with video and graphic stuff on my computer and I didn't figure out until yesterday where the problem was. It was like a cascade effect (hence the subtitle) where one thing would fall into another and so on and so forth. It also seems like a regular theme in my life sometimes, but this time it was only with the computer (thank the Lord). As I cross my fingers and knock on wood as I say this, the computer stuff's been fixed and I'm good to go.
- You're probably wondering why even with that computer stuff I didn't just go ahead with a blog last week, like maybe go to the library and do it or just go to someone else with a computer, and if it had anything to do with the last blog entry. Well, to be honest, the last blog was an emotional and even literal release for me as I let go of a lot of things (and unfortunately some people). Once that blog was typed up, however, it seemed like the world stopped and after months of inner turmoil and just dealing with a lot of crap, outside of the computer issues it was all peace and quiet on my end for an entire week. Thus there really wasn't that much to talk about, and with the aforementioned computer issues I just decided to skip a week. That length of peace and quiet hasn't happened in a really long time and I took advantage of the chance to reflect and get ready to put a lot of things behind me, not just of stuff from the last blog but a lot of other things as well, so I can start moving forward. I want to thank many of you who helped me through a lot of this stuff and/or supported me throughout, and more importantly let me keep to myself and just left me alone when I needed it so I could start getting myself together...that is much appreciated. I'm sorry I was "away" and haven't been too involved or not as involved as some of you might have expected from me but now I believe I'm pretty much ready to re-engage with many of you that are still with me and the world once more. For me, when it comes down to it, Jakob Dylan said it best in a song...I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same.
- The major activity that was going on for me these past couple weeks was Westerville Browns Backers-related stuff. A week ago Friday I manned a table for Westerville 4th Friday outside of Jimmy V's (where we will be meeting for all the games this year). It got cut short an hour by an approaching thunderstorm, but it was good to get the information out about our group and that we've finally got a permanent home for our Backers group. There were also a couple of preseason games that had decent attendance for preseason, which bodes well for the main group who usually comes during the regular season...the regulars are going to get a shock as to how much is going good right now for us and we're looking forward to the upcoming season. For those of you interested, the first game is next Sunday at 1:00 PM against Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings, and we'll be at Jimmy V's in uptown Westerville for all the games...and I'm hoping the Super Bowl with the Browns playing in it.
- A quick reminder...with the upcoming NFL season I will be posting my Random Thoughts blogs at different times on Sundays during the season, so if the timing of when they're posted seems a bit irregular that is why.
- Speaking of the Browns, they have finally got their roster down to the 53-player limit. No real surprises in the cuts and anybody who played in last Thursday's game against the Bears was probably eligible for being cut from the team. I'm really looking forward to this upcoming season, more so because it seems like the team had some successes in this preseason. They looked like they had a plan throughout and really started executing it during the second game and since. That is something I haven't seen since they came back and it really is getting me pumped for this next season. Honestly, I don't expect much this season but if preseason was any indication it might be a decent year for the Browns....here's to hoping.
- I guess I'm going through a bit of fatigue concerning the OSU Buckeyes football team, since the last few years they haven't won a bowl game (they have beat Michigan, so that makes me happy). So this year my expectations were tampered down. I think they even may have been overrated by the media in the polls this year. In any case it is my alma mater and I still support them. Anyway, a lot of people were surprised that the Buckeyes were almost upset by Navy yesterday. I wasn't, because Navy had that triple-option offense that has led to success for them the last couple of years, and most teams would have trouble with it. Now, I've heard a lot of the pundits stating based on the game that they could be in trouble next week against USC. I think the opposite...because Navy gave them a tough game already, the Bucks will probably be more prepared and better focused for next week's game against a team with a more traditional offense. USC sorta had it easy yesterday and weren't as challenged as OSU was. Also, USC has a brand new and potentially exploitable quarterback and a lot of new players on both sides of the ball. On top of that, it's being played in Ohio Stadium. I'm not making any outcome predictions but don't be surprised if the Buckeyes do very well next Saturday.
- I actually caught the Daytime Emmys broadcast....if you could call it one. It seemed more like an exercise in how fast and how crappy a show can be produced. It went so fast that when I turned the channel a couple of times for like 20 seconds each I actually missed awards being handed out. The show started out alright but then it went into hyperspeed where only the Flash and Speedy Gonzales could probably keep up with it. There looked to be too much in too short a timeframe, with presentations and acceptance speeches cut off or shortened. It seemed like an exercise in television as a cram session, and a failure of one at that. The people the show is supposed to honor did not and do not deserve that type of poor production and abbreviation. I hope for next year's sake and future shows the Emmy people do not make the same obvious mistakes that this one did.
- I watched The Sound of Music last night and a weird takeoff of one of the songs in the movie popped into my head: "How do you solve a problem like DJ? How can you put up with all his CRAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP?!?!?" Is that a bad sign or is my imagination just going wild and getting the better of me?
- My church home: Crossroads World Christian Center.
- The hamburger chain Swensons coming to Columbus? One can only hope....they got GOOD burgers, fries & shakes.
- I'm still waiting for computer pics from the reunion I had with my mom's family over a month ago. The main reason is that I have a different look about me now that I want to use for my default pics, so if anyone has some, especially ones with decent pics of me (since when have I ever had a decent pic taken, but I digress), please send them my way. Thanks.
- The day August 31 has always been somewhat of an eventful one for me for some odd reason...maybe it's the end of summer, I don't know. This year was no different...an event happened that really shocked me: Disney bought Marvel Comics. Now, many of you know I am a fan and reader of comic books, so this is big news. It's probably the biggest comic book-related story of this year and possibly the past few years. Marvel is now on even footing with it's main competiion (and the comics I read most of) DC Comics which is owned by Time Warner. The new reality is Marvel is now a Mickey Mouse operation and Spider-Man is now Goofy's b****.
- Something else I've been watching in the past week was repeats of roasts of several celebrities on Comedy Central. Roasts are pretty outrageous affairs and the ones on last week were beyond even that. It's amazing seeing people insult you and other guests as they honor you...it's not something I can really handle (I'm a wee too sensitive for that type of thing), but props to those who can....and dish it out to boot.
- On Thursday night a despicable act occurred during the Boise State/Oregon football game. At the end of the game a BSU player tried to engage in some smack talk with LeGarrette Blount, a senior and starting RB for the Oregon Ducks. Once the BSU player turned around, Blount sucker-punched him and then started to bluster about it. Blount then went after some teammates and apparently even fans and coaches. It was a pretty disgusting thing to witness. There is no place for that type of thing in any sport, especially with the emphasis on good sportsmanship. I've seen comments saying the BSU guy deserved it, but nobody, and I mean nobody, deserves to be sucker-punched...it's a punk move. As a representative of the University of Oregon by virtue of being on its football team, Blount has to be above all that and not be a punk. Blount got suspended for the rest of the season, which means since he's a senior he's finished in college football. With Roger Goodell as head honcho in the NFL and his crackdown on poor behavior and bad sportsmanship, Blount can forget entering the pros. At least he is keeping his scholarship so he can get a college degree and possibly do something else, but he screwed things up for himself big time.
- I've been having some Flash-related issues on several websites on Firefox, so until they've been fixed I've been downloading and testing out some other browsers for Linux to see if I get some better preformance of Flash and generally to get a decent idea of what they can do. I have an older version of the Seamonkey browser and it worked with some Flash sites I couldn't get to work with Firefox...I think it's based on the old Netscape browser, but I'm not sure. It was a bit slower in load time but effective for the older Flash-type sites. I also got an unstable version of Google Chrome (the actual one, not it's Chromium counterpart). It's fast on websites but the browser is not a configurable as I'd like it. It seems more like a "take it out of the box and use it now"-type browser. I just got Opera late last week and so far it has some configurability that I like but not as much as I have for Firefox. The look of each browser is different and may take some getting used to. As with Firefox, I was having the same exact issues with Flash on both Chrome and Opera, so it seems that Adobe Flash is the issue in all this, so it will probably have to be fixed eventually especially for certain sites that slow down computers because of the apparent compatibility glitches. I'm stilcking with Firefox as my main browser, but I'm still gonna keep the others and tinker with them from time to time.
- Song on repeat: "I'll Still Be Loving You" by Restless Heart. A previous song on repeat, this is the song that has literally been on my computer music player on repeat for the past couple weeks. It is a calming, hopeful, and romantic song for me and, especially after the last blog entry, it has helped me tremendously.
- SLP to the following: Scotty, LaDonna (for the bulletin a couple weeks back), Mindy (happy birthday), Holly (happy b-day), Lynn (happy birthday), Dave, Mary, and Cheryl.
That's all for this week. I think I got writer's cramp from all I put in this week's edition. I am back on my regular schedule again on many fronts, including my Random Thoughts, and as I said earlier I'm getting ready to re-engage with the world and many of you. I look forward to seeing and/or hearing from those of you I've been away from and have waited to speak to or be around again. Until then and the next set of Random Thoughts...take care and God Bless.
DJ
