Slacking off

Slacking off
Time to get cracking on the updates. There are some good excuses, but laziness is the easy one ...
-- Played tour guide for my brother his fiancee over Memorial Day weekend. Good times all around, even if we couldn't make it to the aquarium (I hope to do that before leaving town). I'll need to really brush up on my places to go in New Jersey and New York when I inevitably have my first guests visiting me up north.
-- Also spent part of Memorial Day watching minor league hockey. For the second straight year, I've seen a finals match featuring a Thrashers affiliate. Each time was a loss, but each time was very entertaining. And hey, I finally got to see a game with my favorite hockey fan.
And while it's unfortunate the Gladiators were downed in the finals, at least they didn't have to make a return trip to Anchorage to finish the series. Talk about some rough road tripping. That also means I've seen teams from Idaho and Alaska play in the Atlanta suburbs. No wonder the EC in ECHL doesn't stand for East Coast anymore.
-- Speaking of fringeish sporting events, all of a sudden I've become a softball fan thanks to the alma mater reaching the NCAA finals. Of course, even though the women have now won a second straight lacrosse title, a doubles tennis title and possibly a softball title, all anyone will remember is the soccer hazing stuff.
-- Also got caught up in the prime-time National Spelling Bee where "Jersey represent!" While it's nice to see the "up close and personal" profiles, you can see it wreaking some havoc with the timing and pace of the competition. And of course, there's that odd feeling of "I've actually heard of that word" -- but that was only in the daytime ESPN rounds and supposedly were the "easy" words.
What I wonder, though, is when ESPN Classic replays these bees in a few years (either on its own or on Cheap Seats), will some of the competitors get the same attention as this girl.
-- Speaking of spelling, I've had to moderate a bunch of comments for a blog at work. And while I'm blown away by the words these kids have to spell, I'm similarly baffled at how badly people spell in these comments. Forget "ursprache," try spelling "backfield" correctly.
-- In some ways, I'd prefer if people just spelled in internet/text message shorthand. At least there's some rhyme or reason to it. But before you learn how to post on any message board, be sure to check this helpful instructional video.
-- While digging up a new icon for some IM applications, I stumbled across something I'm stunned I didn't know before since it's just a couple of counties away. Check out the Cherokee County school board. Yup, that's the Dog-Faced Gremlin and famed Michigan alum.