Friday, July 29, 2005

"O" Zone T-Shirt Experience Extravanganza!

This is just soooooo stupid. So incredibly stupid. This coming season, the Ole Miss Sports Marketing Department (in association with WasteOFmoney, inc. and in conjunction with StupidIdeas Intl.) wants all Ole Miss fans to wear a silly read t-shirt, developed by Nike. The full atrocity is memorialized here:

http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?id=4585&mode=full




"By being called the O-Zone Experience, the desired atmosphere is expected to offer the 2005 Rebel football team a competitive home field advantage, one that is full of electricity and enthusiasm. "

What? There's not enough of a home field advantage, you know, playing on our, well, HOME FIELD? Are these the same nitwits who came up with "Red Alert" and similar nonsense?

"Having a unified athletic T-shirt is a concept that many other universities have utilized," said ASB president Rebecca Bertrand. "I plan to wear my 'Are you Ready?' shirt to pep rallies and athletic events to show my support, and I think this type of collaboration between athletics and the fans will help build momentum for the O-Zone Experience."

I don't wanna be a downer but this is just silly. No atmosphere has ever been created, anywhere, as a result of some stupid marketing program or silly slogan. You do it by winning important games. If smart marketing and clever programs were all it took to create "atmosphere" then Duke and Vandy would be incredibly intimidating places to play.

Besides, how many fans wear t-shirts to Ole Miss games? Not many. Something tells me that the majority of those who already wear t-shirts to games will think this is a GREAT idea, REALLY COOL MAN but those who don't will pass.

It's just silly. Besides, is O-ZONE threatening or intimidating? Of course not. It's just silly. O-Zone. Stupid.

I'll keep my ears open for the "Red Alert" so I can catch that "Rebel Express" to the "O-zone". And hell yes, I am ready........

Friday, July 15, 2005

When I Paint My Masterpiece

My favorite Dylan cover by The Dead. Sometimes I forget how well they did it. Plenty of their Dylan covers I didn't care for (Desolation Row, Memphis Blues), but this one always satisfied.

Here's a splendid version from Red Rocks on August 11, 1987.

"Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rentWhen I paint my masterpiece."

Friday, July 08, 2005

Jamaica Bloggin, Mon - part II



Well, we endured Hurricane Dennis. Some people have taken to calling it Dennis "The Menace". Quite clever. We enjoyed a nice dinner and when we got back to our room, we found out that some of the cable channels had been restored!

There were a lot of evacuees from other resorts staying at our resort last night and some of them were quite obnoxious, complaining about the rooms, or the food, or whatever. Seriously, if you find something to complain about here, you're not gonna be happy anywhere. There's just no pleasin some people I guess. At breakfast, some princess from another resort complained that the resort did not have an indoor pool. In Jamaica, you know right next to the OCEAN? Princess was also disappointed that her room did not come with her own personal butler and that she had to walk to get to places. Her new husband (they were on their honeymoon) is in for a long life....

That picture above is of me enjoying a pre-hurricane cigar on our porch. Maybe I'll make it the main photo for the blog?









We went shopping this morning. We got some coffee, some McVittie's Tea Biscuits, some cigars, and some other trinkets. Then we picked out wedding photos, and ate another fantastic lunch. The food here is really, fantastic at every meal. We will eat at Feather's tonight for our last night. Feather's is the highfalutin fancy place where they serve stuff with a demiglaze and reduction sauces (I want more mon, not less, don't reduce the sauce!). I'm enjoying a fine Monte Cristo #4 as I blog. We'll get one more good breakfast before heading to MBJ airport for the flight home. We're a little burned, fat, happy, almost broke and pretty close to being ready to go home.


We sure will miss this though:








Thursday, July 07, 2005

Hurricane Bloggin Mon, part III


7 pm here in Jamaica, and it's dark. There's a stiff breeze and a few scattered sprinkles. The restaurant is way crowded because they've shut down the other 2 restaurants for the night. Everyone is in good spirits and every staff person we see asks whether we're having a good time, feeling safe, etc. Just a top notch facility. They came by earlier to put the masking tape on our windows and we stayed out on the porch for a while and enjoyed a cigar before heading in to pack up a few things, get them elevated since we're in a beach front toom (see post below).

At the top of the post is the view from our seat at the restaurant as I type this. They say we'll get a lot of wind and rain tonight, but that it should be mostly cleared out by noon tomorrow. Not much else to report. See ya next time on Hurricane Bloggin Mon......

Hurricane Bloggin Mon - part II

So now it's close to 1 and the eye of Hurricane Dennis is just northeast of Jamaica, mon. We have some cloud cover and some light drizzles (which just started), but lunch is being served and preparations continue. We prepared for Dennis by floating on rafts in the sea and watching 5 beach weddings in succession. The staff removed the couch cushions from our veranda couch and also put the chair in the room. We have coffee, snack mix, water, smokes, meds and most everything we will need to ride it out.

All excursions and activities were cancelled today though, aside from probable traffic issues, we could have gone shopping. We got our DVD from Rob (the guy who did the wedcast) and were able to sift through the wedding photos (just the 35mm, the digital ones will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest).

Wendi's getting her a Caesar's salad and I'm prepping for lunch with coffee and cigarettes. This Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is exquisite. All the food has been spectacular and the service is impeccable (by our standards anyway).

People were floating in the sea, playing beach volleyball, eating, drinking and walking on the beach all morning. We enjoyed some Bizarre Banana drinks (bananas, coconut milk, nutmeg, etc, quite tasty and refreshing).

We'll try to post some pics soon. If we do, they will be located here.

Hurricane Bloggin, Mon!

So Hurricane Dennis is on the way, predicted originally to hit Jamaica at 8 a.m. Well it's 7:30 and while the sky is overcast and it's humid, no rain and no wind to speak of. Even hurricanes are late in Jamaica, mon.

Yesterday was the outside tour to Mayfield Falls,


Jamaica's #1 eco-tourist attraction! High in the mountains, the falls were beautiful and the trip (aside from the stop-n-go, bumpy bus ride) was wonderful. We got a lot of pictures and one of the guides made a DVD which we can purhase later. Who knows, maybe if you're lucky, we'll invite you over to watch ALL our vacation videos (pausing frequently to point out small details that the casual viewer might overlook). Don't worry, we'll have chips and dips there for ya. We would add more pictures to the epson photo album (including some additional wedding pictures) but the connection here is too slow to upload the photos to the site. You can view the wedcast and the reception here. Click here and here to get the videos to play without going to the outside site (available only for a limited time). Here is a candid photo of our nuptials:



Everyone here at the resort seems, for the most part, unconcerned about the coming storm. Some activities (parasailing, skiing, etc.) will be cancelled today for sure. We are going to try to go shopping at 10:30 (the storm is now expected to hit the island around 2 p.m.) today rather than tomorrow as we initially planned. We're at breakfast now and people seem to be going about their business as usual. We will go pick out our wedding pictures in a few, as well as try to schedule the shopping expedition (this is a rare occasion where shopping will not be as boring, because there's an element of danger involved. It's not just shopping, we could DIE, we could get in the middle of the hurricane. That's what I'm talkin about, DANGER shopping.....)

We have an emergency bag packed in case we're evacuated to the shelter across the street. This is reasonably possible since our room is directly on the beach. The staff here has moved all the beach chairs and tied them up and has even knocked out the coconuts from the trees (and promptly split them open and ate them).

We will just ride it out and do the best we can. No problem mon!

Monday, July 04, 2005

Jamaica Bloggin, Mon -- part I

So we're on day 3 of our weddingmoon (note: this refers to a combination "wedding" and "honeyMOON" -- I've combined the 2 words to create a NEW word. Pretty smart, huh?) in sunny (well, mostly sunny) Jamaica at the Couples Swept Away Resort and Spa in Negril. We left at an insanely early hour of the morning from the Jackson "International" Airport. Here

is a picture of us leaving (well, not actually leaving, but being dropped off at the airport (well, outside the airport to be completely accurate. Did I mention it was INSANELY early?)).

The weddingmoon (see explanation above) started somewhat dubiously as NorthWorst Airlines left our luggage at home where, suffice it to say, it was not needed. The crack staff at Montego Bay Airport knew where our luggage was upon our arrival so, bruised but not beaten (more cliches to follow, I'm sure), we ventured to Negril through the charming, quaint (ie, SMALL) roads of coastal Jamaica. We stopped at a stop-n-rob outside of some place with "Town" in the title (but not, regrettably, "trenchtown" of No Woman No Cry fame) for some overpriced sugar water and, for me, cigarettes (since I packed my smokes in the bag which was still in Jackson). Here's a picture of Wendi at said stop-n-rob:

For you nerds out there who are wondering "Why didn't yall take a picture TOGETHER? Well, we were tired and I didn't trust that driver dude with our camera -- he almost got us killed! And there weren't even seat belts on that bus, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't up to "code" -- whatever that means down here. Did I mention the roads were TINY?

Upon our arrival at the resort, we were greeted with a cold towel (woo HOO!) and lots of smiling faces. After rejecting the offer of free champagne, twice I think (we must have been the first two people to refuse FREE champagne! Hey, mon it's free, you sure you no want. Yes, mon, we're pretty sure. I don't remember champagne being all that good to start with (too many bubbles, man)). After waiting around a bit (but not, alas, for our luggage because it was not gonna get there that day), we were escorted to our......

BEACH FRONT ROOM!!!!!! BEACH FRONT ROOM!!!!!

They called it a complimentary upgrade, I call it awesometotallyawesomewickedgoodlike! Wanna see the view? C'mon, ya know ya do (BOTH OF YOU!), so go ahead and take a look.

and another.

and another.

Well, you get the idea.

Right now, imagine me in front of you pointing my finger and saying "You, you, in your face,
YOU, we got us a mailto:$#@$%#$ beach front BABAY" (Wendi, on the other hand, would obviously not be doing any such thing).

Needless to say, we were pretty stoked.

This place is fantastic. The food is amazing, and there's just loads of stuff to do (if you're into "doing stuff"... Mostly we've just vegged out (well, we've done some swimming and played ping-pong, got massages, walked on the beach and right now we're listening to possibly the WORST cover band I've ever heard (they've played just about every song in the American pop music catalog with the word "Twist" in the title) but it's still fun, and we've smoked a couple of cigars).

We had dinner on the beach last night and it was quite nice. Here's a picture of us at that dinner.

Our luggage arrived on Sunday morning (don't worry, the smokes were in there).

The Big day is tomorrow. We met with the wedding coordinator, Tameika, today (how many of you gals can say your wedding was planned by a gal named Tameika?) and everything but the weather is set. The forecast calls for rain, as it did today, but today it was just intermittent showers. The nuptials are scheduled for 2 p.m. but it might be delayed on account of rain (that is SO cool, the wedding, just like a baseball game, might have a rain delay. Not to worry, we'll get in the full nine innings somehow). Check it out HERE. The wedcast should be up for about a week after it's done and watch this space for updates (if we feel like it).

That'll have to do it for now. We just finished dinner and we're on the 2nd story overlooking the dance floor listening to the aforementioned cruddy cover band.

We gotta go....They're playing "Mustang Sally" and we just GOTTA DANCE........

Friday, July 01, 2005

Bush's half-assed Mississippi support

Check out this bit from dailykos. Seems as though 1/2 of my fellow Mississippians now agree with me that Bush is doing a poor job as president. These numbers have to be disenheartening to the wingnutosphere. Seems all but the most wingnuttiest are finally coming around to what we freedom-haters and terrorist-coddlers have known all along....

Bush is at 50 percent or above in only 11 states --
Utah (63), Nebraska (60), Wyoming (58), Idaho (56), Montana (56), Alabama (54), Alaska (53), North Dakota (52), Kansas (51), Kentucky (50), Mississippi (50), and Texas (50).

Bush is at 40 percent or lower in 14 states --
Ohio (40), Wisconsin (40), Maine (39), Massachusetts (39), Delaware (38), Nevada (38), New Jersey (38), Michigan (38), California (37), Connecticut (37), Illinois (37), New York (33), Rhode Island (33), and Vermont (32).

The weighted average (based on each state's percentage of the US population) is 43 approve, 53 disapprove.

Yikes:

Poll here.