Funny Friday Story

Pimpbling emailed this to me at work. If you want a good laugh, click HERE to check out a Dodge ad that never ran. I guess it was too suggestive or inappropriate, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Actually, if this ad would have been run during the Super Bowl, it would have been #1 on everyone's list of best ad.

Serious Friday Story

Remember that story back in May published by the USA Today claiming that Verizon, Bellsouth and AT&T were giving the NSA tons of phone records in some "secret cover up" type of thing? Well, it looks like the story is essentially bullshit. It's funny how big that story was, and how much media coverage it got. It was all you could read about for a week. What about today's retraction/ correction by the USA Today? Nowhere to be found in the news. Makes you wonder, huh? Here is the LINK to the story in case you want to read it.

Hangover free

After feeling like garbage all day yesterday, I'm back to normal today. I've actually felt good all day. I can't figure out if I actually feel good or if I just feel so much better than yesterday that I interpret it as good. Either way I'll take it. Luckily, little escapades like Saturday Night (which years ago used to be a normal thing) now tend to happen every few years. No wine for me this week.

Saturday Night Trainwreck

I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out with Gunther and Xan last night. We chatted and drank a bottle of wine. We watched Live 8 and drank a bottle of wine. We listened to some music and drank a bottle of wine. After three bottles of wine I decided to pilot my Explorer home. Yeah, I know...really stupid. Luckily, I made it back safely. Unfortunately, today has been one of the worst days of my life. I wasn't even able to get out of bed until 3pm and even now, at 9:30 I feel shitty.....just less shitty than I felt at 9am.

Snow Patrol

I guess deep down in my heart I have a special spot for British/Irish bands. As some of you know, I absolutely love Pink Floyd. I would also consider myself a fan of Oasis, early U2 and early Radiohead. That brings me to Snow Patrol. The first song I heard from them was "Run" off their last album "Final Straw" last summer. It was an amazing song...one that just grabs you and holds your attention immediately. It's really hard to explain without hearing the song, but I was hooked.

I just bought their newest release this week called "Eyes Open" and it is also amazing. They seem to walk the line somewhere in the area between Coldplay, Blur and Radiohead. If you go to their website you can hear one minute samples of all the songs on the new CD. It will take you about three minutes to realize they write great songs. Here's the site: www.snowpatrol.com

Three Great Days

If you are a sports fan like me, the last three days has been amazing. With all the drama at the US Open on Sunday, the Stanley Cup clincher on Monday, and the Heat victory last night, I think I have been on sports-overload recently. Actually, I guess you could throw in the US Soccer team's World Cup game on Saturday if you want to make it four days. And the Dolphins first pre-season game is less than two months away. Life is good right about now.

What a long strange week it's been

Do you ever have one of those weeks where everything seems a little off? Not necessarily a shitty week, but you just don't feel right? Yep..that was how this week went. I couldn't seem to find any solid sleep all week even though I usually am out five minutes after my head hits the pillow. I got next to nothing accomplished at work. Tiger missed the cut at the US Open (which I can't say I am unhappy about) and the Heat pulled out of their funk to even the Finals at 2 apiece. Just an odd week in general.

Pattymelt arrived on Thursday Night at the Margarita Lounge. She went shopping with Cheryl all day yesterday and we are heading to my parents house tomorrow for Fathers Day. Depending on my mood, I might head to Casa de Hickman today to see Mr. Frotuss and swim in his pool. The US plays Italy today in the World Cup. Sure, I would love to see them win and I know they are fired up after being called out by the coach, but it's the World Cup. We are Americans, which means we suck at soccer and thats just the way it is. We like football, baseball, and basketball. I gave them about a 30% chance of winning.

And then we come back to Tiger. I am so happy that he missed the cut. As a lifelong fan of golf (and yes...there was golf prior to Tiger Woods), I am glad that NBC won't be clogging up the play of the leaders with coverage of Tiger. Has anyone else noticed this odd coverage phenomenon? Even if Tiger Woods is 15 shots off the lead with 2 holes to play, he is all they will cover. It's like the actual leaders of the tournament don't even exist. Sure, if Tiger is within a few shots of the lead...give him the coverage, but if he isn't even in the hunt, forget it. Actually, now that I think about it, this opens the door for NBC to do something different. Instead of covering Tiger all day today, maybe they can have a big two hour-long show on the details of how Tiger missed the cut. That would be great.

70 Years

I usually try not to insert "work stuff" into the Margarita Lounge, but I felt this was a good place to make an exception. I had an appointment with a couple today who are clients of mine. Mr. is 95 and Mrs. is 92 and they are going to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary next week. I thought 50 was a long time, but 70...damn. Good luck to the happy couple.

On an unrelated note, I still feel shitty. I don't know what it is, but I've been in this funk all week. I haven't been able to sleep at night, which is really strange for me. Must have been all the partying with the Senator last weekend that caught up to me. Usually I would be excited as hell as the US Open starts tomorrow, but the energy just hasn't been there. My apologies to everyone for being a lame ass this week but things will improve.

Runnin' on Empty

With Cheryl out of town for a few days, I decided to go out on Saturday Night and do a little partying with the Senator. After four hours of sleep, I was awakened by Lucy's barking for food on Sunday morning. I actually got some things done on Sunday, but I went to Boston's last night with my Dad and had a few more cold ones. Big mistake. I feel like a zombie right now. It's 630 and I'm already contemplating going to bed. Ugh...this sucks.

Actually, its been a pretty crappy day all around. It's cloudy for the third straight day courtesy of our friend Alberto....the US World Cup team got their asses kicked today.... ol' Ben Roethlisberger tried to kill himself on a motorcycle. Bah Humbug...I'm going to bed.

Alberto on the horizon?

Yes, it's hurricane season again in South Florida and it looks like the first tropical storm of the year will be developing in the next day or two near western Cuba. The experts have been watching the area all week but there has been too much wind shear for development. Unfortunately for us, the winds are calming down and they expect a storm or depression to form later today.

This sucks for me. Not because of the storm...I love tropical weather and follow it like a crazy man. It sucks because I will have to listen to all the local panic-people who will be going nuts the minute this thing becomes a Tropical Depression. Actually, Cheryl is heading to Miami today for her World Conference and I am sure there are people that are coming in from out of town who are going to be panicking too. Plus the Heat game is in Miami on Tuesday Night, so it looks like an interesting few days 'round these parts. Early prediction from the Margarita Lounge: Chill out. We'll probably get some rain and a little wind, but life will not end soon. Have a few cold ones this weekend and relax..it's summer time.

No wonder....

Pimpbling and I have finally found out while all these old people in Florida are so damn grumpy and miserable all the time....they watch WAY too much CNN. Think about it. If you had nothing to do all day but watch the news, you would have a rather warped sense of reality. You would think that the only thing going on in the world right now is identity theft, murder, and rape. You would think that Iran is about to drop the bomb on us. You would beleive that worldwide ocean levels were going to rise 10 feet in the next day or two. And you would beleive that the economy and the stock market suck and all corporations are out to screw you. That about covers it. This is exactly how you would feel if all you did was watch what the national news tells you every day.

Now, we all have problems and I don't disagree with that. We all get cut off driving to work one day and we all eat a shitty meal at a local restaurant from time to time. But really...life isn't that bad. There are murders, rapes and identity theft happening every day, but the other 99% of us are getting by OK. Iran is a nuisance, but the world isn't going to end tomorrow in a big mushroom cloud. Sea levels rise and fall over time but Florida isn't going to disappear in the next 10 years. The stock market goes up and down...always has and always will. Even after the recent sell-off, we are still up about 45% in the last three years and that ain't bad people. And yes, Ken Lay of Enron is a dirtbag, but there are a lot of people out there who work hard every day and don't screw anyone over. Have a Margarita and chill.

Back from Paradise

Mondays normally suck. Mondays after vacation really suck. I have included a few pictures from our trip last week to Emerald Isle, NC. Here is a picture from the beach of the house we rented, which was about a half-wedge from the ocean. Now you know why coming back home sucks so bad.

What a Real Beach looks like

I always hear people brag about the beaches here in Florida...I might have even been one of these people as of last week. All my opinions have changed. The beach isn't about high-rise condos and $20 Million dollar houses with big pools and palm trees. THIS is what a beach is supposed to look like...a wide stretch of sand, dunes, wood decks. I took this one morning around 7am. I think the picture pretty much speaks for itself.

Solitude

After the Memorial Day weekend wrapped up, things cleared out on the beach nicely. Not that it was ever packed, but it's nice to have nobody on the beach when you want to relax.