good vs. evil

I drive a silver Toyota Prius. I know, I know. Insert "tree-hugger" joke here.

All of that aside, there is a war going on. Not the one in Iraq, either.

I work at a large high school, and there are several parking lots around the building. The lot I like to park in is right next to my office, and it allows for a quick exit at the end of the day. It often saves me 15 minutes in my afternoon commute. The lot fills up quickly, and I usually arrive at school right as it's filling up.

Prior to this year, I've never had a hard time getting a space. All of that has changed since the arrival of Evil Prius.

On multiple occasions this year, there has been a Black Prius that has cut me off in the right hand lane to pull ahead of me moments before I arrive at work. Every time, he has taken the coveted last spot in Parking Lot A.

It happened again today. I had to turn the car around and head back to the main lot. It would inevitably add 15 minutes to my morning commute, and it will almost certainly make my afternoon commute that much longer. But that's not even the worst part.

As I'm pulling out of the lot, I swear I saw him smile at me.

It's so on.

how i know i'm growing older

So I'm driving home from work today, and sports talk radio just isn't cutting it. The Bears were "officially" eliminated from playoff contention yesterday, so there was a whole lot of nothing to talk about on the AM dial.

So I flip over to FM, and I land on Q101 - the "alternative" station. Normally, I'm not a big fan, but today they're doing the 101 best songs from 1994.

I always thought it was odd how my parents could hear a song on the radio and tell me what year in high school it came out, or how they were able to connect the song to some specific memory, time, or place.

My ride home consisted of "Welcome to Paradise" (Green Day), "Dissident" (Pearl Jam), "Undone - The Sweater Song" (Weezer), and a bunch of other songs from my freshman year of high school.

I still remember playing air guitar with a baseball bat to Green Day in my bedroom.

I still remember riding with my dad to go to the record store to pick up Pearl Jam's "Vs." album.

I still secretly admit to really liking Weezer's "Blue Album."

Oh, and I knew it in 1994, and I still know it now: Oasis sucks balls.

Bring on the neckbeard!

Chicago...

...your quarterback has arrived.

How Nintendo Helps Form Friendships

Last weekend my friend from college came into town. For our purposes, we'll call him "Evan."

So, Evan, born and raised in New York is a big Bears fan. Why, you ask?

Tecmo Bowl. The 1987 Nintendo classic. It was a very realistic game.

Apparently, Walter Payton was really good in Tecmo Bowl, so Evan became a Bears fan. When I saw the Tom Waddle picture in his college apartment, I knew we'd be friends.

Every year Evan visits to go to a Bears game, and sadly, the Bears season came to an unofficial end with his '07 trip to Chicago. In a season of disappointments, I can't say I'm shocked at all.

In fact, the silver lining in the dark cloud that is the Bears '07 campaign, is the hope that Evan and I will be able to move up a few spots in our season ticket waiting list. Just think. After many years of waiting, we'll have our own seats in the nosebleeds of Soldier Field.

Men can dream. Men can dream.

The trip wasn't a total waste. I found out that Lionel Ritchie didn't sing the Bob Seger hit, "We Got Tonight." Who knew? I was waaay off.