Category: General Musings

Will you be filling out March Madness brackets?

It’s March Madness, Baby! Yup, it’s that time of year when millions of men and a lot of women will look at this big bracket of college teams, some they have never heard of, and believe that they have a system for picking the team that will eventually become the National Champion, the best college basketball team in the nation, or at least the team that was somehow able to beat Gonzaga. Others, myself included, will search out the online contests where if you can somehow pick all of the winners of the tournament you will win $1,000,000, believe you have the brackets that will accomplish this task, and then, undoubtedly, but about two hours after the tournaments begin, be out of the running and have your bracket already busted.

Countless numbers of others will join office pools, that bastion of illegal gambling that rears its head for March Madness and the Super Bowl, and waste millions of hours of work staring at their computer screen, waiting for scores to upload, in the hopes of winning about a hundred bucks but more importantly, have office bragging rights because you picked the winning team based on the color of their uniforms and not because you have the ultimate faith in Coach K.

It will be fun, by sometimes Thursday I’m pretty sure I’ll be out of the running, but I plight: Will you be filling out March Madness brackets?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do you untie your shoes when taking them off?

Yesterday my shoe came untied. I suppose that’s not a monumental revelation but there I was, taking out the garbage this morning, and inside my shoe I felt the lace under my foot and it reminded me that I noticed it was untied the day before when I was walking Milo. That also means that I didn’t re-tie my shoe at the time, and as I was walking back from putting my trash at the curb I also made the conscious decision not to re-tie my shoe until after I got in my car and ended up where I was driving. Alas, I needed gas and at the fill-er-up station, with some time to kill, decided it was finally time to re-tie my shoe. In doing so I thought about shoe tying, about how I struggled as a youngster to learn how to tie my shoes (or at least my perception was that I struggled), and then, one day, my little fingers all worked together, and I could magically tie them. Then, through the years, much to my Mom’s dismay, I turned into a “slip off my shoes without untying them” person, much like many people are nowadays. Granted with my dress shoes and my boots there is tying and untying involved, but for my gym shoes rarely a time will come when I will untie them, and when I do have to re-tie them, as was the case today, I am very careful not to make them too tight so as to make the slipping off of the shoe relatively easy. So, as I was tying my shoe this morning I plighted in my head: Do you untie your shoes when taking them off?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do you put your car in “Park” when stopped by a train?

The other day I was coming upon a railroad crossing with a few cars ahead of me. This event will usually harken me back to saying in my head “Eighty-eight. Red Ball Freight,” but that’s another plight for another time. This time the crossing lights started flashing, the gates came down, and I whispered to myself, “Shit. Train. Now I’m going to be late.” As the line of cars approached the lowered gates, and the train was ambling by, I took my spot and put my car in “Park.” Sitting back, looking at my iPhone to kill some time, I finally glanced up and noticed that the brake-lights were still glowing a bright red on the car in front of me. There I was, relaxing, foot off the pedals, just waiting for the train to go by, and I tried to think back to when I was taught to put my car in park at a train crossing when waiting for the train. I’m going to guess it was my Mom or Dad who instilled this habit as usually, back in those days when parents had to entertain their kids and not leave them in the back seat with an iPad to play with or video to watch, getting stopped by a train usually meant waving at the engineer out the window, counting how many train cars there were, admiring the various types of train cars, and eagerly waiting for the caboose . It wasn’t like there was any hurry to get back across the crossing, I mean, you still had to wait for the gates to go back up which left plenty of time to put the car back in “Drive,” but for me it also, always, seemed safer to put the car in “Park” while waiting for the train to go by. For whatever reason I just always saw badness happening if you didn’t put your car in “Park,” like your foot would slip off the brake pedal and onto the gas, and if you were the lead car, there you were, smashing through the gates and slamming into the side of the train.

Eventually the train finally made its pass, I observantly watched the car in front of me to see if maybe they just were extra safe with their foot on the brake and car in “Park,” but alas there was no “flash” of the “reverse” lights. I envisioned, one day, that driver screwing up and slamming into the side of a passing train when their foot slipped, and then plighted to myself: Do you put your car in “Park” when stopped by a train?

That’s it for this plight! I”m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

How is your day going?

I guess, for this plight, I’m just wondering how the readers and visitors to Entertainment Ave! are doing today. I was going to write about my thermostat obsession, farts, or butt-dailing your phone, but I’m going to hold those plights for another day. As I’m typing this my day has been all over the place, kind of grumpy, kind of good, and maybe it’s because my body-clock is still getting used to the change to Daylight Saving Time or the gray day with a damp rain, but I just can’t get into things today. When the plight gets posted, however, things could be totally different so my actual answer might be different.

Here’s hoping your day is going great, or if crappy so far that it turns to great, and if it’s just kind of normal, here’s hoping it at least stays that way and doesn’t get crappy. And so I plight: How is your day going?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Did you remember to Spring your clock forward for daylight saving time?

As much as I like the switch to Daylight Saving Time it’s always that first night and first morning after the time change that are the tough part. First off, I have enough trouble trying to fall asleep, but with the time change, at least until I get used to it a bit, trying to get to bed an hour earlier than I’m used to kind of sucks. Even though I’m falling asleep at the same time that I used to do body-clock wise for a few days, this isn’t a huge problem, I suppose. The real problem is the waking up the next morning because work calls and it doesn’t really care what time you went to bed. Sleep aside I’m usually pretty good at changing all of my clocks (although I am a little less obsessive about all clocks being exactly the same, down to the second, as I was in college), but today I actually forgot to change my watch so when someone asked what time it was, for a few seconds I looked at my watch and was confused. Eventually things clicked, I was able to add the hour the time on my watch, and then thought I would plight: Did you remember to Spring your clock forward for daylight saving time?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Will you be watching “The Bachelor” finale?

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, but I’m a fan of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” series on ABC. There’s just something about the wacky concept of meeting your soul-mate over a TV show, being transported to various romantic locals and falling in love, and then coming back to your normal life and realizing “Why can’t we go to Thailand for a romantic getaway?” “Because we don’t have any money.” “Oh yea. Who are you anyway?”

This season they brought back Sean, whom I still don’t remember that well from his Bachelorette days, and if your name was a version of Ashley (there was an Ashley P., and Ashley H., and an AshLee F.) or a Leslie (or Lesley), you had a pretty good chance of being on the show. As of now there is only Catherine and Lindsay remaining, and my money is on Lindsay as Catherine seems to be the one he kept around for fun on his way to true, found on a TV show love. Of course, in true Bachelor fashion, there is something heart-wrenching going on as we see Sean get a letter from Chris Harrison on the final rose stop in the previews for the finale Monday night, but like all, except for Sean, Chris Harrison, and a bunch of other people sworn to secrecy, we’ll have to wait for the way-too-long finale show, full of thoughtful gazes by our contestants, out into the horizon, wondering if true love for them will be found on a TV show. And yes, I’ll be watching Monday, but I’m also plighting: Will you be watching “The Bachelor” finale?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Have you watched a Harlem Shake video?

I won’t drag on and on about the Harlem Shake, much has been reported about this phenomenon and the assorted videos found on You Tube. Instead, the only thing I find fascinating is that as goofy as we all found Gangnam Style, more of us seem fascinated with the Harlem Shake, so much so that when Gangham Style hit a billion views on You Tube, people wondered if that would ever be surpassed. Enter the Harlem Shake, on its way to beat Psy, who now needs a new song to regain the You Tube crown as an internet giant.

I haven’t watched a video yet, just seen the news blurbs, but I do plight: Have you watched a Harlem Shake video?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Artist: Alabama
Listenability Scale: 95%
Released by: BMG Entertainment
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

One of my favorite country bands of all times is Alabama so it should be no surprise that this is one of my favorite CD’s. As is the case with a lot of country albums, at least according to my secretary, it’s filled with sad songs, like “Lady Down on Love” and “Then Again,” but I must say Alabama does a better job at keeping things upbeat. This CD gives you a “Dixieland Delight,” a “Song of the South,” a “High Cotton,” and even a “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)” which although could have been a really sad song had daddy not been found, does show that sometimes the man upstairs is listenin’. A great live band, and a great CD, this one gets a 95% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. I would have given it 100%, but I can do without “Hats Off.” Just my opinion.

That’s it for this quick review! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Is it wrong to drive a Ferrari with a Honda license plate holder?

The other day I’m driving along and a few cars in front of me there’s a Ferrari. You don’t always see them around these parts as much as a Ford or Chrysler, but occasionally they pop up, and me, well, I will do my best to see if I can see who is driving it. I mean it’s got to be someone famous or rich, right? I don’t go crazy trying to catch up to the Ferrari, after all I’m driving one of those said “Fords,” and I have a pretty good feeling the Ferrari would leave me in the dust if I were to challenge it, however, as traffic would have it, I found myself behind the sports car, a lovely, red machine, and although I couldn’t see inside the driver’s side, yet, the next thing I figured I’d check is if the person had a personalized license plate. Nope, just a standard Illinois plate number, but then it caught my eye, the license plate holder.  A quick Google search shows that there are plenty of holders for the fancy car, most that just say “Ferrari” on them (Like we couldn’t figure out what kind of car it was?), and some with the Ferrari logo. And sure, there is the cute one that says “My Ferrari is in the shop!”, but as I was now mesmerized with the license plate holder on this car I couldn’t help but wonder in what world it was correct to be driving a Ferrari with a Honda license plate holder on the back, and I also wondered how the owner would let that happen. I suppose maybe he bought it from a Honda dealership, or maybe it was the owner of the Honda dealership, but in any case I just thought it was wrong.

Me, I’ve got a nice license plate holder promoting my website, a gift from my wife if I do happily say so, and many people will have car dealer plate holders from their dealer, but in the end, for this, fancy “look at me” car, I’ve got to plight: Is it wrong to drive a Ferrari with a Honda license plate holder?

Do You Like Trail Mix?

Lately I’ve been on a trail mix kick. Not just a trail mix kick, but tiny twist pretzels and trail mix. The pretzels are pretty standard, usually some Rold Gold as it would be, but the trail mix depends on who has what on sale. The only problem I have is that lately it’s been the Sam’s Club stuff that is the cheapest, but unfortunately their brand also has a ton of raisins. It’s not that I don’t like raisins, because I do, but it tends to have these clumps of raisins, kind of like when you open that small box of Sunmaids, and not enough M&M’s. Yup, I’m weird, especially as today’s daily plight is simply: Do you like trail mix?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!