Sean's RamblingsSean's RamblingsMy thoughts about TV, music, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports - GO STEELERS!), fun and informative links and updates of my life. Articles
Gender Analyzer
2008-11-19 15:52:00 If you have a blog, here's a fun website to try. Enter your web address and the Gender Analyzer will determine whether the author is a man or woman.According to the analyzer, they think that Sean's Ramblings is written by a man (74%). I figured the number would be much higher as I don't know of any woman who would wait over 5 hours to earn free burritos for a year!If the pregnant man had a blog, would the Gender Analyzer break?
Trivia Tuesday
2008-11-18 20:13:00 Trivia Tuesday is back. Hooray! Today?s challenge is to name the Julia Roberts movie by her co-star or love interest in which they did not play themselves (they played characters). Given is the year of the movie release and the co-star.1. 1999 Hugh Grant2. 1997 Dermot Mulroney3. 1993 Denzel Washington4. 2007 Tom Hanks5. 1994 Nick Nolte6. 1997 Mel Gibson7. 1998 Susan Sarandon8. 2001 Brad Pitt (there are two possibilities for this year)9. 1991 Robin Williams10. 2004 Clive OwenThe usual rules apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don?t. As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!Thanks to the folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes. More About: Trivia
Steelers Questions
2008-11-18 15:54:00 Is James Harrison the first person in NFL history to be responsible for a safety for both his team and the opposing team in the same season? I can?t take credit for this question as I think Messiah asked this during our liveblog of the Steelers -Chargers game.Good question posed on DC Steeler Nation. Since the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals are both in first place and have identical 7-3 records, who would you rather as the coach of the Steelers: Mike Tomlin or Ken Whisenhunt? I may or may not share my answer later.Photo: Getty Images More About: Questions , Pittsburgh Steelers
Nobody Beats the Wiz
2008-11-17 16:21:00 I caught the end of The Wizard of Oz the other night and noticed something that I never have before. The Wizard may be involved in some illegal activities. Although we really don?t know the full extent of the Wizard?s powers, he is at the very least convincing enough to force Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to fight his battles. He won?t even consider their requests until they bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Best case scenario for the Wizard is that the group defeats the Witch so that he can take full control of Oz. I guess the worst case is that the Witch kills the group, but the Wizard doesn?t seem overly concerned about them. Although immoral, this doesn?t seem to be illegal.My concern is when the group returns triumphant in their victory over the Wicked Witch of the West. (This is the whole "ignore the man behind the curtain" scene.) Instead of brains, the Wizard hands the Scarecrow a diploma for a THD, a doctorate in thinkology... More About: Beats
Sunday Links
2008-11-16 21:55:00 I attended my first ever blogger Happy Hour on Friday night hosted by lacochran. Although I was a little nervous, seeing that I have never met any bloggers before other than those I knew well before their blogging days, I had a great time. The following people were in attendance: Charlotte HarrisThe Restaurant RefugeeA Daily Dose of Zen SarcasmThe Gilahi BlogUrban BohemianIt?s ToastedThe Chronicles of TewkesburyCulinary CoutureLive It, Love ItWho Invented Roses(That?s Why) The Lady Is a TrampThey are great people, and I encourage you to check out their blogs, which are now also included on my links section.I will be part of a Steelers-Chargers liveblog today through White Nerdy Wonks. Stop by to share your thoughts about the game and you can get live updates of my fantasy football teams! (I?m sure my fantasy football team is exactly what you?d like to read about on your Sunday afternoon.)Want an addicting game? Try Super Obama World. You?ve been warned.I was again honored to b... More About: Links
Cortaca 2008
2008-11-14 16:45:00 Take a look at the Division I college football schedule this week. There are no games featuring two ranked teams, and the big Saturday night games on ABC are either #13 Oklahoma State (8-2) against 5-5 Colorado or 6-3 Boston College at #19 Florida State (7-2). Don?t expect huge TV ratings.So what?s the game of the weekend? The 50th annual Cortaca Jug game! Not convinced yet?* Fine. You want to see a match-up of two ranked teams, right? Cortland State (9-0) is ranked #7 in the current D3Football.com poll while Ithaca College (8-1) is #17. Looking for drama? Although Cortland has already clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs, a win could give the team a regional top seed. IC appears to be in decent shape to make the playoffs, but nothing is guaranteed. A win over Cortland would almost certainly be enough for a postseason berth. How about history? The schools started playing in 1930 and have met every year since 1948. Ithaca leads the all-time seri... More About: 2008
More Random Ramblings
2008-11-13 16:17:00 I was the referee for a soccer game on Sunday that featured a predominantly Spanish speaking team. At one point, a player on the opposing team came up to me and said, "You know they are swearing in Spanish, right?" (Swearing can get a player a red card.) Um, no. Apparently, several players said "puta" during the game, which I now know means bitch. That seems like a very odd expression to say when your shot badly misses the goal. Perhaps son of a bitch, but just bitch doesn?t seem to fit. Regardless, my New Year?s resolution will be to learn Spanish swear words and the appropriate expression to tell the players that I know what they?re saying so knock it off.I?m a little late in writing about this but Tuesday night?s Pittsburgh Penguins -Detroit Red Wings game was amazing. It's only November but the 7-6 overtime win will be the game of the year. I know there has been a lot of discussion about what to do with Jordan Staal, but if the Penguins are able to keep him at a reasona... More About: Random , Smithsonian
Announcement
2008-11-12 16:18:00 This blog gives me an opportunity to share important parts of my life. Whether it is writing about the various sporting events I have attended or trips I have taken, I feel like I can use this space as a forum to chronicle personal events and moments. Therefore, I am proud to announce a pending addition to our family...we?re going to get a kitten. Were you expecting me to write about something else?Sometime over the next few days, we?re heading to the local animal shelter to pick out a kitten. Perhaps we?ll see the Obama family there. Although I grew up with both dogs and cats, I have never had my own pet. Maybe I didn?t know any better since I was a kid and not responsible for buying pet supplies or paying for vet bills, but things seem much more complex than I remember. For example, prior to the spay/neuter procedure, we have the option of having pre-anesthetic blood testing of the pet in order to detect certain conditions. For $50, we can have a mini blood screening analy... More About: Announcement
Random Ramblings
2008-11-11 15:45:00 ? There are moments of everyone?s life that you regret but they are generally not broadcast for millions of people to see. One such moment occurred on Monday?s The Price Is Right. The episode was taped in September and a college student made it on the stage. Just before spinning the wheel, Drew Carey gave the student, who was wearing a "Block O" Ohio State T-shirt and a buckeye necklace, the microphone. The student shared his excitement about how Ohio State would beat USC the next day. USC crushed Ohio State 35-3. At least the guy won a vacuum cleaner or something.? I highly recommend visiting Wegmans at 2:00pm on a Monday afternoon. No lines and the friendly staff are even friendlier than they are on Sundays.? Embarrassed by the thousands of Steelers? Terrible Towels at the game last week, the Redskins are giving away burgundy towels to the first 50,000 fans at this Sunday?s Dallas game. Good luck with that!? PittGirl was interviewed via Instant Message in Pittsburgh magazi... More About: Random
We Are; Not Going to Win a National Championship This Year
2008-11-10 15:13:00 Despite the Steelers' loss on Sunday, the weekend wasn't a total bust as the University of Pittburgh and Ithaca College football teams both won. In addition, as a Pitt fan, watching the Penn State football team lose on Saturday to the University of Iowa makes me extremely happy. You see, Penn State coach Joe Paterno is to blame for ending one of the greatest rivalries in college football: Pitt vs. Penn State. After 96 meetings between 1893 and 2000, the rivalry ended because Joe Paterno decided that he wanted the schools to play two games at Penn State for every game in Pittsburgh. Rightfully so, Pitt refused. Instead, Penn State chose to play Coastal Carolina, Syracuse and Temple in its non-conference schedule. So the fact that Penn State lost and will not win a national championship during Joe Paterno?s 104th season at State College seems fair to me.In honor of his team?s accomplishments on Saturday, I encourage you to vote for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for the Liberty Mutual Coa... More About: Championship , National , Year
Metro Discount From Bus to Rail
2008-11-07 16:23:00 Lena Sun of the Washington Post is reporting that, "beginning next year, tens of thousands of Metro riders who transfer from bus to rail will save 50 cents a trip if they use electronic SmarTrip cards, officials said yesterday. The long-promised change is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 4, the same day the agency is eliminating paper transfers."This makes me happy. Bus fares are going up 25 cents in January, but now I'll end up saving 25 cents each day because of the 50-cent (you can find him in da club) transfer reduction. Well, maybe not. According to this chart, I'm only going to save 10 cents a day. Now I'm slightly confused, which really doesn't take much to occur. More About: Rail , Discount
Election Maps, Steelers and Great Authors
2008-11-06 15:50:00 My life the last few days has focused almost entirely on the election and the Steelers? Monday night game, though not necessarily in that order. I have a few links about both:I love maps and have spent way too much time looking at the county-by-county results of the Presidential election. From the map, only one county in the six New England states went to McCain : Piscataquis, Maine.Conversely, McCain won every Oklahoma county, and Obama only won two counties each in Wyoming and Utah and three counties in Kansas and Nevada. Of course, winning Clark County, home of Las Vegas, was enough for Obama to carry that state. McCain also won both Mineral counties. That would be Mineral County, Nevada where 49 total people voted and Mineral County, Colorado which had a whopping 64 voters. I spent over 20 minutes trying to verify these numbers from the Mineral County government websites, but I don?t think these counties have actual websites.According to the Pennsylvania map from the Pittsb... More About: Barack Obama , Great , Charles Dickens , Election
Random Election Questions
2008-11-05 15:51:00 What is the lowest moment of Anderson Cooper ?s career: Interviewing a hologram of will.i.am or hosting the Mole?Am I the only person who thinks President Bush could be a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in a few years?Did anyone see Joe Biden on Tuesday?Where were all the commercials featuring the Commissioner of the More Taste League? (Maybe I?ve been watching too many sporting events lately.)How long will it be until all the election signs get removed? More About: Questions , Random , Election
Election Live Blog
2008-11-05 01:45:00 The guys at White Nerdy Wonks have set up this live blog of Election 2008. Enjoy! More About: Blog , Live
Steelers-Redskins Recap
2008-11-04 15:20:00 I?m going on about five hours of sleep after attending Monday night?s Pittsburgh Steelers -Washington Redskins game. Since I need to head to work sometime soon (hooray for getting two hours off to vote so I slept five hours instead of four!), here are my notes from FedEx Field:- I saw at least a half dozen signs of Cooley for President or Portis for President. We get it; there?s an election on Tuesday and you feel like Cooley and Portis will represent the country better than McCain or Obama. That?s very clever and unbelievably original! If only Portis or Cooley were over 35 and eligible to be President.- The Redskins announcer sounded similar to Duff Man. Of course, his enthusiasm seemed to lessen in the fourth quarter. Oh, don?t tell me to cheer when the Redskins are on defense and to stay quiet when they are on offense. I?ll cheer when I want to cheer! Basically, don't tell me what to do as I may have the Reactance Bias.- Are the Redskins the only team in the NFL with a ma... More About: Recap
I Voted - Go Steelers
2008-11-03 15:41:00 Thanks to early voting in Virginia, I cast my ballot last week. Therefore, to all political candidates in the Washington DC area, you can stop trying to convince me to vote for you. You can continue to show your television advertisements while I?m watching football, but I don?t need to look. Show Chris Berman interviewing Obama and McCain during halftime of Monday night football; I don?t care. I?m not going to watch it as I?ll be at FedEx Field. I just hope that the Redskins don?t show these interviews at the stadium.Monday night?s game is the reason why I voted early. I won?t get home from the game until early Tuesday morning, so trying to wake up, wait over an hour in line to vote and then get to work at a reasonable hour just wasn?t going to happen.One surprising name on the presidential ballot was a Wayne A. Root, the Vice Presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket. Without knowing this individual, I wondered if it was Wayne Allyn Root, the Vegas sports handicapper ... More About: Steelers
Cortaca Jug 2008 Tickets
2008-11-02 14:09:00 To any Ithaca College alumni out there, tickets for Cortaca Jug 2008 between IC and SUNY Cortland go on sale today (Sunday, November 2) at noon. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Sales are limited to four general admission tickets per alumnus/a, at a cost of $6 per ticket. Try finding a $6 ticket for a JV high school football game!To purchase tickets online, you will be required to log on to the Ithaca College Online Community. Visit www.icalumni.net/cortaca2008 to purchase tickets (the "Purchase Ticket(s) button" will not be activated until Sunday, November 2 at 12:00 noon).As for the game, it is set for Saturday, November 15, 2008 at noon at Cortland. I?ll have much more about the game in the upcoming weeks, but this is all that you need to know for now. Cortland is 8-0 and ranked #7 in the D3football poll while Ithaca is 7-1 and currently ranked #21, but will likely move into the top 20 next week. There?s a reason why this is called the biggest litt...
100,000 Milestone
2008-10-31 14:28:00 At some point today, Sean?s Ramblings will have its 100,000th visitor. For some reason, I think it is fitting that this milestone is taking place on Halloween. Whether you visit this site multiple times a day (thanks mom) or are one of the thousands of people who have stopped by to learn about Ben Roethlisberger?s pool, Jenna Bush?s wedding plans, the Greg Lloyd Ebay auction, or why people hate Hillary Clinton, thank you.To those people who continue to find Sean?s Ramblings by searching for pictures of a shirtless Richard Ruccolo (the guy who was not Ryan Reynolds on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place), please stop.Update: Congratulations to someone from Brownsville, PA for being the 100,000th visitor at 12:26pm Eastern time! For this honor, you win a picture of a shirtless Richard Ruccolo (if he allows you). More About: Milestone
Obama Food vs. McCain Food
2008-10-30 15:42:00 Although the Presidential election is still a few days away, some businesses, such as the three below, want to get into the action with their own election. Visit your local 7-Eleven for the 7-Election (get it? 7-election instead of 7-11? clever) and place your vote by choosing either an Obama or a McCain cup of coffee. The website even has state by state results, although many "red" states have no 7-Eleven stores operated or franchised by 7-Eleven Inc.If there's any post about food on this site, California Tortilla generally gets mentioned. In this case, California Tortilla is tallying the number of each of the candidate?s burritos sold from October 13th through November 3rd and they guarantee that whosever burrito sells the most will win the election.The McCain-Chilada: Mexican rice, mesquite chicken, tortilla strips, velvety queso, fresh salsa, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with green enchilada sauce and garnished with sour cream and cilantro.... More About: Food , Barack Obama
The Hank Williams Jr. Experience
2008-10-29 16:25:00 I know very little about Hank Williams Jr., but I like him for two main reasons. First, the Monday Night Football theme based on his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" is an incredible, pump-you-up song. Second, Williams is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. These may be shallow reasons to like Hank Williams Jr ., but that works for me.However, I?m starting to get a little worried about Williams. He sang the national anthem during the Monday night game this week while wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey. I can?t say that I agree with him wearing a jersey other than a Steelers one, but I guess that he wanted to make a good impression for everyone in Nashville (even though you would think he would already be well received by Tennessee fans based on Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year awards and the Monday Night Football song). Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend for Williams. In the video below, Williams is shown wearing a Denver Broncos jersey and a Was... More About: Experience
Trivia Tuesday
2008-10-28 20:37:00 We?re back on a normal schedule as I went to trivia last night. Today?s challenge is to name the highest grossing domestic box office movie in the following decades. The year the movie was released is included below.1930?s (1939)1940?s (1940)1950?s (1956)1960?s (1965)1970?s (1977)1980?s (1982)1990?s (1997)2000?s (2008)The usual rules apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don?t. As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!Thanks to the folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes. More About: Tuesday
Sean Blogs
2008-10-28 14:16:00 Between watching the Washington Redskins-Detroit Lions game and monitoring my fantasy football teams, I decided to create a comprehensive list of blogs with Sean in the title. This is what happens when the soccer games I am supposed to referee get cancelled because of muddy fields. Anyway, check out the Sean Blogs !One of the best hockey blogs out there is Sean Leahy?s Going Five Hole. The blog is so good, that I already linked to it.Sean in Saskatchewan is Sean Shaw, who is a Professional Research Associate in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan and the Vice-chair of the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee. This is the place to go for Saskatchewan politics. (I have no idea if this is true, but this is the only place I have gone for Saskatchewan politics!)Sean the Baptist has been appointed as the Professor of New Testament Studies for the Uniting Church in Australia in the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, and within the Uniting Church'...
Steelers-Giants Recap
2008-10-27 15:13:00 The Pittsburgh Steelers had a lead late in the fourth quarter at home and lost. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked five times, hit at least another dozen times and threw four interceptions. The team was 1 for 10 on third down, 0 for 4 on fourth down and had 8 penalties for 59 yards, many of them pretty stupid penalties. Plus, the Steelers defense who led the league in sacks coming into the game, failed to register a sack and rarely put pressure on Eli Manning. It was clearly not one of their best games.However, let?s take a step back and put everything into perspective. The Steelers are 5-2 and have a one game lead over Baltimore, who they already defeated, in the AFC North. The 5-2 record is tied for second best in the AFC with New England and Buffalo behind only the undefeated Tennessee Titans. The Steelers are 5-0 against AFC teams, a very important playoff tie-breaker, which along with the Titans, is the best in the conference. Yes, the team has some work to do, but there?s n... More About: The Simpsons , New York Giants , Recap
Sunday Links
2008-10-26 14:56:00 At what age does it stop being fun to play in the rain? I worked two games as a soccer referee yesterday in miserable cold and rainy conditions. In the second game, where the weather turned worse than the first one, some of the 15 and 16 year-old kids seemed to be having a great time. I did not, but of course, I was not actually playing. On to the links:According to WJLA, Presidential candidate John McCain ?s brother, Joe, called 911 to complain about traffic on the Wilson Bridge. Not very smart.I don?t want to write about the Pitt and Ohio State football teams (it?s so frustrating being a Pitt fan; I may write about this in length some day), but at least Ithaca College won defeating Utica 42-7. The win guarantees Ithaca?s 38th consecutive winning season, the second longest such streak in any level of college football. If only the Pittsburgh Pirates would have one winning season!Jason has a video of the Wazzup guys eight years later.Puck Daddy interviews Kevin Smith , the direc... More About: Links , Sunday
Get Off the Express
2008-10-24 13:49:00 Perhaps you have heard of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award in which the winning college football coach receives $70,000 to donate to charity and the school?s alumni association. Perhaps not. Regardless, I want to write about one person who definitely does not deserve the award: Greg Robinson of Syracuse University.During the mid-1990s, I attended college in central New York about an hour away from Syracuse. I was surrounded by Syracuse University sports fans who always thought that this would be the year where they would win the national title. However, each year, it seemed like Syracuse would be ranked highly, lose a few games early to knock them out of national championship contention and then finish strong, so that they would be ranked highly again the next season. Although they never made it to the ?next level,? the team was always competitive and won bowl games and/or Big East titles regularly. The mid-90s teams featured future NFL superstars Donovan McNabb and ... More About: Express , Jim Brown
Trivia Thursday
2008-10-23 20:51:00 This is not a typo. Today really is Thursday . We missed trivia on Monday but went to another one last night instead. Your challenge is this: listed below are the artists. Name the Top 40 song they had beginning with the word "Ain?t." 1. Jennifer Lopez2. Bill Withers or DMX3. Diana Ross4. McFadden & Whitehead5. Helen Reddy6. Rufus and Chaka Khan7. Rolling Stones or Temptations8. Fats Domino9. Kid ?N Play10. TLCThis may be the hardest trivia ever; however, the usual rules still apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!As always, the quiz was created by the folks at Stump Trivia .
Fairfax Connector Fare Increase Proposal
2008-10-23 15:24:00 I feel like I?m up on my current events. I read the Express everyday so I can discuss Pearls Before Swine and the Blog Log with everyone on the Metro. (You should hear the deliberations as the entire car solves the Sudoku puzzle together!) I generally watch the first 20 minutes of Good Morning America and read the headlines on both the Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette websites. However, I?m in my own little bubble when it comes to local news. I usually have no idea what?s going on in the DC area unless someone tells me. So when my colleague asked me about the proposed fare increase on Fairfax Connector buses, which I ride to and from work everyday, I had no idea what she was talking about. Perhaps it?s that bubble thing, but I haven?t seen or heard anything about this. When Metro fares or Metrobus fares go up, the news seems to be everywhere. While the 20,000 Connector riders a day is much smaller than those who use Metro and Metrobus, this is still a fairly sign... More About: Proposal , Fare
Joe The Plumber Moment
2008-10-22 16:50:00 Have you ever met a political candidate at the grocery store while wearing pajama pants? I bet that you are thinking that I?m writing about a personal experience. You would be correct. After coming home from work last night, I changed into pajama pants and a T-shirt and ate dinner. Then, I walked over to the grocery store to pick up some very important items such as milk, bananas, and Apple Jacks. Just outside the store, I noticed a guy wearing a suit handing out flyers and introducing himself to everyone walking in and out. The guy turned out to be Mark Ellmore, a candidate for Congress in Virginia?s 8th district. He handed me a flyer as I entered the store. As I was grabbing Kleenex and frozen vegetables (and forgetting to pick up granola), I started reading said flyer. The first thing I wondered was the political party of Mr. Ellmore. It was difficult to find as Mr. Ellmore is a Republican. I?m sure this is something that he does not want to promote in Northern Virgini... More About: Moment , Jim Moran
Pittsburgh Sports Memories
2008-10-21 20:09:00 As part of Mondesi's House Readers Rule Week, I was invited to answer the Pittsburgh -centric questions listed below. I think that this will be posted on the site sometime Tuesday (update: it has been posted; click on the link above), but I wanted to share my responses here anyway.1. What is your all-time most memorable moment in Pittsburgh sports history? On Tuesday, May 8, 2001, I was living in Columbus, Ohio and watched game six of the Eastern conference semi-finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres with some friends. After the Penguins won in overtime, the ESPN announcers innocently stated that there were still tickets available for game seven. My friends and I looked at each other, decided to call the Sabres? ticket office and managed to buy tickets in the last row of the arena. We all left work around noon on Thursday, drove the 325 or so miles to Buffalo and watched live as the Penguins defeated the Sabres in overtime when Darius Kasparaitis beat Dominik H... More About: Sports , Memories
Fast Food News
More articles from this author:2008-10-21 15:52:00 Perhaps you heard about the Wendy ?s 60th anniversary special this Wednesday, October 22 in which all hamburgers will be sold for 25 cents, cheeseburgers for 30 cents, fries for 15 cents, and drinks for 10 cents. Unfortunately, it?s not true. For one thing, you would think that the Wendy?s website would promote this heavily. They do not. The biggest indication that this special is false is the fact the first Wendy?s opened on November 15, 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. It?s hard to have a 60th anniversary when you?re not even 40.In other fast food news, Long John Silver?s is awesome. I don?t get to eat there very often, so when I have the opportunity, I take full advantage, even if the meal and the crumbs take several months off of my life. I?d like to thank the staff at LJS in Abingdon, Virginia for providing an excellent meal and superb customer service. Everyone there was so friendly. It?s basically the exact opposite of the experience you receive at COSI in Arlington, Virginia.... More About: News , Food , Fast Food , Fast 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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