Could it be?! Are you really a douchebag?!

I love the word douchebag. It has a great ring to it. I use it often, especially when referring to people that cut me off in traffic or athletes on rival teams, be it teams I am playing against, or players from teams I don't like (ie. Alex Rodriguez is a douchebag). I recently found a couple of internet related items that help further determine whether or not you yourself are a douchebag.

This site is good. You type in your name, and a few other tidbits of info and the site will tell you whether or not you have a douchebag name. Don't be scared...

The other site refers to your hair, and whether or not your hair style makes you a douchebag or not. Let's just say, if you spend more than an hour on your hair, and spend more than, say, $10 a month on hair products as a dude, you are probably a douchebag.

And just for good measure, check this site out. We all know somebody that should be photographed for this site...

Enjoy!

Trade deadline is fast approaching, anybody want to make a deal?

The MLB trade deadline is Friday afternoon, and the internet is a frenzy with potential deals. Being a Red Sox fan, it is great to hear that they are linked to a few big name players that could provide an instant impact.

All this trade speculation makes me want to take part in it. Here is a list of things that I am looking to trade, give me your offers...

1) 2001 VW Jetta. She looks good, and doesn't have too many miles on her. However, she won't start. Looking to get at least a case of decent beer for her. Would prefer anything Dogfish Head or Geary's HSA, but would settle for PBR if necessary.

2) Push lawnmower. This work of art is only a little over a year old, has a mulching bag, and I will throw in a nearly empty gas can along with it. Downsides are that it has never quite run properly, and will overheat often. Hoping to trade it straight up for a box of Ring Dings and a can of Red Bull. My thoughts are this would give me enough energy to cut the lawn with some pruning shears next time.

3) 4 year old male cat. Tyson is a very affectionate, well groomed male cat. He loves to snuggle and will even occasionally play fetch. However, recently he has decided that his litter box is no good and he will only drop deuce in dirt that he removes from plant pots and on my white t-shirts. I'm pretty sure I can get at least a legal pad of paper and a box of paper clips for him.

4) Softball cleats and glove. Cleats, size 13, have only been used three times and glove is practically new. Both are Nike, and very nice. Would love to use them myself, but either the weather sucks or I am out of town. If you offered me an umbrella or a free vacation day, I would probably take you up on the offer.

Again, I am open to all offers, I just noted some thoughts on what I would like to get in return, and I realize I asked for a lot for some of the items. I just want to feel like I am part of this whole trade season, anyone want to play along?

Craigslist, the entertainment fix I needed...

Good friend, and fellow blogger Hokie recently wrote about his frustrations with using Craigslist to sell furniture before his big move. I too had a frustrating time using Craigslist attempting to sell some tire rims a few years back. However, Craigslist can also provide some amazing entertainment, and it doesn't take much searching to find it. On the left side of the front page, down towards the bottom, there is a link to the "Best of Craigslist". Here is just a few of the great posts found on the site from around the country...

The girl who took a dump in the Art Institute parking lot! - m4w


FOUND - Briefcase w/ Odd Items


Taxidermied hamsters for sale


Husband wants a rusty trombone for his birthday


Fun times. Enjoy.

Rants and raves...

I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep in the past few days, so I am going to rant for a few minutes, so please bare with me. Here is something that has been driving me nuts from the news from the past week...

Cambridge police officer in hot water for "racial profiling".

OK, this is just ridiculous. A white police officer, responding to a call about a possible break in questions an African-American professor from Harvard. Henry Louis Gates Jr, the Harvard professor, just back from a trip, was trying to get into his house, when a woman who worked down the road saw a couple of men trying to push open a door with their shoulder's and called 911. When Sgt James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass police department responded to the call, Crowley reported he told Gates he was investigating a break-in and an angry Gates replied, "Why, because I am a black man in America?" Now, I've never been a black man in America, so I don't really understand what it is they have had to deal with over the years from ignorant, insensitive people. That being said, this is complete crap. Crowley was acting completely by the books, and has a track record of being an upstanding cop. In my opinion, Gates is the one who brought race into the situation. This situation had absolutely nothing to do with race. If this had been a black cop arresting a black man, no story. If this had been a white cop arresting a white man, no story. Because it was a white cop arresting a black man, it has turned into a story. Had Gates just shut his mouth and did what the police officer has asked him to do, this would have never happened, I'm just saying...

44 arrested in New Jersey corruption scandal

I need to start out by saying that I'm not extremely familiar with New Jersey, only been there twice, once driving through to get to DC, the other time was in error, taking the Path from NYC over to Hoboken by mistake. That being said, I haven't heard much good about the state. This news doesn't make it sound like a great place to live either...

A total of 44 people were arrested in a sting that included rabbis, mayors, assemblymen, building and fire inspectors and city planning and utility officials. The network is alleged to have laundered tens of millions of dollars through Jewish charities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey, as well as black-market trafficking of kidneys and fake Gucci handbags. I'm a huge fan of The Sopranos, which took place in New Jersey. These guys were pretty tough gangsters, doing most anything they could to make money. Even Tony never considered trafficking black market kidneys! That's just nasty.

This is, apparently, a common problem in New Jersey, considering more than 130 public officials have plead guilty or have been convicted of corruption since 2001. I think there is only one solution to this problem, time to rid the US of New Jersey. If we were to nuke NJ, what would we miss? The New Jersey Nets?! Nope, they suck. Atlantic City?! Nope, put a few casinos in OOB or on Coney Island. Can anyone think of anything else? We could incorporate Washington DC as the new 50th state, so we wouldn't have to change the US flag. Anyone with me on this?

Hey everyone, I'm selling something... ME!

As most of you know, I recently started a new full time job with a real estate developer, working tirelessly trying to get things caught up after years of apparently not really caring what happened there. In addition to this I am keeping track of the books for 3 small boutiques in Portland, doing some sales for a credit card processor, managing a friend's condo and working with a friend to broker other places. After all of this I still spend half of my time with my family and we play soccer and softball 3 times per week. One might think that is crazy, but damnit I love staying busy. We have been running non-stop on weekends, going to weddings, camping and to Red Sox games. A typical summer for the Marcole family, with something planned every weekend until September.

Despite all that I have on my plate already I am still looking for more. I would love to do some work for another retailer or two. I would also love to work with anyone who is looking to rent out their home or condo. If you, or anyone you know is looking for somebody, feel free to give me a shout, I would love to help you out, for a small fee of course.

If you were wanted for gambling debts, where would you hide?

Antoine Walker, former chucker for the Boston Celtics, was wanted by Las Vegas authorities for gambling debts creeping up on $1,000,000 that he owed to three different casinos. This news has been all over sports radio and on ESPN for the past couple of days. Most people would hide out under an assumed name in a hotel, or reach out to the authorities and let them know you are working on getting the money. Walker decided to ignore logic and head to a casino, where he was later hauled out in handcuffs.

Walker apparently is on the hook for passing 10 bad checks, 6 to Caesars Palace and 2each to Red Rocks Casino and Planet Hollywood. I realize athletes and celebrities play by a different set of rules, but come on. Last December, just 8 months ago, Walker was bought out of his contract with the Memphis Grizzlies for $8,835,000. Um, where the hell did all that money go?

Antoine was one of my favorite players back when he was with the Celtics. He would mostly camp out behind the 3-point line and huck bombs up, but he was entertaining if nothing else. He created the Walker Wiggle, which I'm pretty sure I used once or twice in men's league (I know, weak). Now he is in police custody, owing about a million bucks to a handful of casinos. Interesting how life turns out sometimes, I'm just saying...

Legalizing pot would be a $1.4B a year business, in California alone

A bill to tax and regulate marijuana in California, like alcohol, would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue for the broke state, according to an official analysis released Wednesday by tax officials. A study done by The State Board of Equalization reports that California would rake in $990 million from a $50 per ounce fee, plus another $392 million in sales taxes.

OK, wait a minute. Did I read that correctly? $1.4 billion in revenue just for legalizing marijuana? Seems to me this is sort of a no-brainer. Let's break it down. People are going to smoke marijuana, regardless of it being illegal. If you legalize it, like alcohol, keep it for 21 plus year olds. It would still be against the law for people under 21. For those 21 and older, you would be allowed to grow, sell and use the marijuana anyway you see fit. I have heard the argument before that "people would abuse it if it were legal". Horsecrap. People that would abuse it because of it being legal would abuse it regardless. You would still be considered driving under the influence if caught behind the wheel. At the end of the day, it would be no different than alcohol. Again, people that are going to smoke pot are going to do it either way, why not use it to generate revenue for the state. It would certainly help narrow the gap in the budget deficits that seem to be a common thing recently.

What are your thoughts? Should this sort of thing happen in California? What about other states, or even Maine? Give me your thoughts...

Why are they called pet peeves, even if they have nothing to do with animals?!

So I have been at the new job for officially one week now, and I already have beef with somebody here. I typically bring my lunch in everyday, and will often bring in a beverage (Red Bull) and a breakfast item. Last week, on only my second day on the job, I went to get my afternoon pick me up in the kitchen, and somebody stole my Red Bull. Now, I want to preface all this by saying that I am far and away the youngest person here. One would think adults would know enough to not take something from the fridge that isn't theirs. However, when I went to warm up my frozen breakfast sandwich mid-morning yesterday, I noticed that one of the two was missing. Really?! Somebody opened up the box, helped them self to one of the sandwiches, and put the half filled box back into the freezer. People, if you didn't bring it in, it isn't yours, keep your damn paws off it. This sort of thing infuriates me, especially when you are working with adults. I just don't understand why people do this. I guess it is the cheapest form of grocery shopping, but have some common sense. Now that this has happened to me twice in one week, looks like I might have to put a note on the fridge, or rig up a camera in the kitchen to try to catch the dirty pirate hooker in the act. Hopefully this ends now, so I don't have to bring in my own personal mini fridge, I'm just saying...

This may explain a few things...

My new thing lately has been to listen to streaming sports radio at work. I typically listen to either the local guys, or a station out of Boston to get my daily New England sports fix. While listening yesterday I heard a caller reference a website that peaked my attention. This site had nothing to do with sports, but is absolutely worth checking out.

I love boobs, but you have got to be kidding me...

Have you ever had a co-worker or boss you couldn't stand for one reason or another? I mean really didn't like. I don't mean one that is kind of annoying or is always late or is always talking while you are trying to get a big project done. I mean the kind that lies and cheats to get ahead or tosses you under the bus for no reason at all. If so, I have a few stories for you...

I worked for this company a while back. It was a small, poorly run company when I started. They were looking to make some changes, bring some new blood in and get things turned around. They were hoping some changes would help bring them to a higher level. Well, this was never going to happen. They quickly fired the Operations Manager because he was trying to make things "too corporate". He was trying to put simple things like employee manuals and policies and procedures in place. The owners and long-standing employees balked at this and quickly ran him out of town. I would dare say that it was all down hill from there. One of the owners didn't have a stitch of business sense, constantly trying to spend big bucks on things that did nothing to help the bottom line, but "looked cool" or "added to the vibe" of the place. Really?! What good does that really do? Others in the company were fully supporting this attitude, and contributing to it. They were blowing ten's of thousands of dollars on all sorts of stuff that didn't do one ounce of good to increasing sales or attracting new customers. Not only this but he constantly relied on his employees, more specifically me, to take care of everything for him. Registering his car, ordering heating oil for his house and setting up personal appointments for him were just a few of the many ridiculous things I would have to do for him. This grown man had never done anything for himself, and the employees there saw nothing wrong with that.

The other owner had more business sense, but went about things in a completely ass backwards way. He would ask for something one way, get the info from you, then complain because he wanted it a completely different way (which is the way it would have been done mind you, had I been able to do my job). He added so many levels of complexity to even the simplest of tasks. There were times when I would do reports the same way for three months and then he would question things, despite the fact that it was done the way he wanted it. It was impossible to stay up to date with things when I was constantly going back and re-working and re-tooling things to make them come out the way he wanted them too. The other thing that drove me insane was having to send him things a handful of times. Instead of adjusting a spreadsheet or looking into his email for something he would constantly ask for things to be redone or resent. I would spend half of my day sending him things for the second, third and fourth time.

Now, I have no longer been with this company for a while, and have continued to help out from a distance. Most of this help went unpaid, but in return had my cell phone paid for by the company. This was to last until a predetermined date, at which point I would take over the plan and the phone was mine to keep. Now, despite the verbal agreement, one of the owners is fighting with me to get the phone back, threatening to bill me an insane amount for it. I would like to again point out that the phone is now mine based on the fact that the owner verbally assured me it was mine and not to worry about it. Now, I realize we are talking about a silly phone, but it is much more than that to me at this point. I lost respect for him as a business owner a long time ago, but now I have lost respect for him as a man too. His inability to be a man of his word is just plain sad to me. The company is continuing to struggle, basically hanging on by a thread. Seems to me that the downward spiral of the company coincides with his buying in to the company, I'm just saying...

What the hell just happened?!

So, we got a new movie from Netflix last night, pretty excited to see what it was, since I couldn't remember. Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. Huh. Really?! I'm pretty sure, in fact, I'm certain that isn't a movie I would have put on the queue. Nichole is looking at me in shock. Apparently the movie is about some dude who just broke up with his boyfriend and is now chasing after another guy from his college that swears he is straight. Why the hell would we select this and how the hell did this end up in our queue?! In fact, I didn't even realize you could get movies like this from Netflix! What is great is that Kerrigan was with us, and I'm so thankful she didn't ask to open it like she usually does. That would have been more than a little awkward!

My first thought is that someone at Netflix sent us the wrong movie in error, so I jumped on the computer when we got home to see what was going on. Nope, our queue is now full of foreign films and homosexual flicks, as well as Queer As Folk and The L Word, a couple of HBO miniseries. Clearly we were hacked some how, as these are not films we would ever even think of putting in there. Not that there is anything wrong with them, just not something we are in to. I had to delete about 20 movies and change our password, hoping this would never happen again.

In other fun news, one of our cats, Tyson, has all of a sudden forgotten how to use his litterbox, shitting wherever he sees fit. We are hoping it isn't a reocurrence of his urinary tract infection, as this will set us back a great deal. He would basically have to be turned into a female cat, and we are looking at a cost of $1200+, which isn't exactly in the budget. Let's hope he is just being a douchebag, and that nothing is wrong with him. We also have a water in the basement issue, thanks to the never ending rainfall over the past couple of weeks. I have attempted to shop vac it up, only to have the vacuum tell me to stop, by spitting water out the back of it. Knowing that things typically happen in three's, let's hope this is it for bad news for us, I'm just saying!