Can't Find Adidas Deodorant

OK, I know this sounds like something stupid to post about on a blog, but I have not been able to find Adidas deodorant in any local grocery stores lately.

The stuff is cheap & works great... so why don't the big chains carry it in PHX anymore, where it's hot as hell? Can't find it at Walmart or Safeway. I'm still holding out hope for Fry's to have some, but I doubt they have it either (I think I've checked).

They could charge more for the stuff, they just need to keep stocking it in the local stores. Shoot, they can just send me 2 bars of Adidas deodorant a month and I'll be happy forever. :P

Seriously though... what's up w/ the disappearance of Adidas deodorant?

If you don't believe me that the stuff is great, read these other blog posts on Adidas deodorant:

• http://www.styledash.com/2007/01/17/drugstore-beauty-queen-adidas-deodorant/
• http://forums.men.style.com/thread.jspa?messageID=319528&tstart=0#319528
• http://www.xanga.com/GenWithaG123/569859821/two-day-hygiene.html

NASCAR Weekend - Las Vegas 2007

I was lucky enough to go to Las Vegas this past weekend to attend the NASCAR festivities. On Thursday, I didn't get there until about 11pm, but it was still fun to drive up there late at night. My fiance flew up on Friday night, but she missed all of the aircraft practicing their tricks and takeoffs Friday afternoon from Nellis AFB.

The race on Saturday was pretty cool... we were kind of above turn 4, so we saw the majority of the wrecks and the pussy wreck on the last lap. Why pussy?? Kyle Busch turned into Jeff Burton about 100 feet from the finish line. Instead of Burton crashing, it was Busch who went into a spin and crossed the line backwards & in 2nd place.

Sunday was fun too, but we had to leave about 80 laps into the race so we could make it back to PHX in time to pick up our son ;). We still didn't make it home until 9pm, so we probably should've left a few minutes earlier (ok, maybe a couple hours earlier).

Overall, it was a great weekend... very hot!

Bloggers Under Fire by Powerful People/Companies

It's certainly not the first time that a corporation or individual has blasted bloggers for what they do on their personal sites, or what the comment on other's blogs, but the issue is getting a lot more national attention this week because of two big stories.

John Edwards Chooses Controversial Bloggers for 2008 Presidential Campaign
The Caucus, a political blog on NYTimes.com, reports that despite the controversial nature of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, Edwards feels that the pair are a good option for him during his campaign. Basically, they're entitled to say what they want on their personal blogs, but he expects them to be professional and respect his full set of beliefs while promoting his 2008 presidential campaign.

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte’s and Melissa McEwen’s posts personally offended me. It’s not how I talk to people, and it’s not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it’s intended as satire, humor, or anything else.
But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake.

I’ve talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith, and I take them at their word. We’re beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can’t let it be hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the America we believe in.” More info on this story at NYTimes.com

I think this just goes to show that the popularity and influence of these two bloggers in the blogosphere is very high, and that Edwards camp is confident that whatever they say is going to have a bigger impact on the campaign, than had they gone w/ other bloggers.

The second big story of this week, which I hope is a real one & not some crap made up by you know who (bloggers), focuses on one of the biggest cell phone companies in the nation putting a choke-hold on employee blogging.

Sprint/Nextel Reportedly Will Fire any Employee Blogging About the Company
This is a pretty big statement by one of the largest cell phone service providers in the country. Basically, if you blog about us - be it positive or negative, it will be grounds for termination. An intracompany email sent on Monday by senior council Len Kennedy outlines the policy and describes the concerns that blogging poses on the company's competitive positioning.

Sprint/Nextel employees caught commenting or contributing to online venues, blogs, or consumer report-venues would be researched, identified, and documented via Corporate Security team and fired, announced Sprint senior council Len Kennedy via intracompany email Monday....

The Sprint Executive Service teams monitors online venues for potentially damaging PR or threatening legal issues seeming to arise from internal leaks. More on this story at Consumerist.com

We can only hope that other companies will not follow suit on this and will allow their employees to speak freely about where they work; provided they're not sharing company secrets, etc.

Christmas has passed

Christmas has officially come & gone for most people in the USA now.

This season was pretty good for me, although I did miss seeing my family & spending time with them. I did enjoy visiting w/ my fiance's family and going to her Mom's house for Xmas. Still, there's nothing like being around your family during the holidays.

I wasn't able to get gifts for everyone that I wanted to, but that's how things go sometimes - up one year, down another :P

Looking forward to New Year's!!!

Albert Pujols is Gay... Get over it

Reports have come out recently that Albert Pujols is butt-hurt that the Phillies' Ryan Howard won this year's NL MVP. Are you kidding me?

Ryan Howard led the league in home runs and RBIs. Albert Pujols did not. Howard played on a team that traded superstar Bobby Abreu to the New York Yankees, leaving him as pretty much the only option for the team. Albert Pujols plays on a much better team - see Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and semi-surprising Chris Duncan.

Pujols argues that the MVP should come from a playoff team... Last I checked, the Phillies actually had a better record (85-77) than the St. Louis Cardinals (83-78) when the playoffs started; they just weren't leading their weak-ass division like the Cards.

The MVP is decided for the regular season and doesn't include the playoffs... there's a reason for that. So Pujols running his sorry-ass mouth over not winning is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if your team won the World Series or not, or how well you might've played in the playoffs. You didn't deserve it during the regular season, so you DON'T get the award!

Please... tell me how Pujols has any argument for the award.

Screwed up Toyota Tundra :(

So this week started out really well, but it quickly turned sour...

A hard drive replacement on one of our hosting servers didn't go as planned, so not only were our websites down for more than 24 hrs, but I got about 6 hours of sleep over a 3-day period.

Friday we finally got the server back online, but I was still tired as hell and not totally "here" throughout the day. I was able to go to work later than normal and leave early, but it still wasn't enough apparently.

On my home Friday afternoon, I stopped to pick up some dry cleaning (big mistake). As I'm leaving and backing out, I notice some dork waiting for my parking space; he'd actually been waiting for at least a minute for no apparent reason - there were plenty of parking spots. Anyway, I'm backing up and don't even notice there's a big light pole behind me or that there are concrete posts protecting the light pole. I'm sure you can guess what happened next... BUMP!!!

I get out and look to find the whole left side of my rear bumper crumpled up like a piece of paper; my tailgate wouldn't open either. I didn't realize until later, but the damage also included a piece of the body on the left side. My insurance will cover everything except for my deductible (that sucks).

After that on Friday everything was cool... I went out with my sweetie to dinner, then some grocery shopping for her dog. Saturday included some tasty morsels for breakfast and then we went to paint some pottery. I painted a cereal bowl with the Eye of Ra (Egyptian) and some other stuff on the outside; it was actually really relaxing and fun.

I am moving in with my girlfriend very soon and it's very exciting. Hopefully I can get my truck fixed in time to use it for the move, otherwise I'll have to rent a truck or borrow my friend's truck.

More later...

July 4th Weekend

This is a big holiday weekend coming up, but because July 4th falls on a Tuesday, I only get a 2-day weekend :(

Should be a pretty boring weekend as my girlfriend will be out of town for most of it, but I hope to hang out w/ some friends as much as possible. She'll be back in time to watch fireworks on the 4th, so that should be fun!

Everything else is good w/ me right now... been pretty busy, so I haven't been posting here much. There also haven't been a lot of issues that piss me off, so I haven't had anything to rave about. :P

Later..

Britney Spears nude... OMG

Not a lot goin on

Not too much time to post anything, but a few things going on these days...

- Went to Vegas for the NASCAR race last weekend. Freakin' coldest place on the earth...LOL.
- Saw family in Vegas and had a great time!
- Went to Suns game the other night when the blew out the Clippers; it was a great game.
- Still liking the truck ;)
- Having fun w/ all my friends.
- Looking forward to this weekend and the next few weeks - more time w/ friend!

Don't forget to visit my Suns blog, where I have daily/weekly injury updates on Amare Stoudemire's return from knee surgery. Also, my playsation portable site is feeling a little neglected - go there and click on a few ads for me (just kidding).

"I'm out like mop water"

Little of everything...

NASCAR
Sunday Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 despite losing his crew chief Chad Knaus to suspension earlier in the week. Congrats to Jimmie... great race! Knaus has since been suspended for an additional 3 races and fined $25,000. I'm not sure exactly what he did to deserve the suspension (bending gray rules), but it does set a good example for everyone else.

Much to my chagrin, I was disappointed to see my boy Tony Stewart out on the track running into anyone and everyone who got in his way... A lot of people have been saying how he's taking on Dale Earnhardt's leadership role based on his comments before the race, but it seems his on-track actions are also helping him take the bad-boy image that Earnhardt also had.

NBA
The All-Star Game was pretty good over the weekend as well. Glad to see the West stars diverting to Tracy McGrady to help boost his spirits. It's unknown what's bothering him, but I'm sure everyone's been there in their own lives. Lebron was simply amazing leading the East squad to the victory, and the MVP tropy at the age of 21 is something special.

TRUCK
I got a new truck about 2 weeks ago and I couldn't be more happy!! I've been putting it off for years for a variety of reasons, but it's great to finally have it. I got a 2006 Tundra for a pretty good price and it drives great. My new alarm will ensure no one else gets to enjoy it too ;)

VEGAS
Nascar in Vegas is coming up!!! I'll get to see my family and enjoy the sights & sounds of the craziest city in the world (ok, maybe New York City is).

WEDDING
Two of my best friends are getting married during Easter weekend - it's about time (you know who you are!!!). Jokes aside, it should be fun to be there w/ both of them and enjoy a semi-vacation at the same time.

PERSONAL LIFE
I am having a blast right now and have no complaints. Enjoying the company of a lady as often as possible and it's great!

Uh..... what else? Nuthin....

Super Bowl coverage sucks

Just wanted to let my frustrations out in regards to the pre- Super Bowl coverage that the media is doing right now. I haven't heard any good stories or anything coming from the media...

All I hear about is "Jerome Bettis" in his hometown Detroit. So his "team" makes the SB and the only storyline is about this guy... their 2nd-string running back? Give me a break. All week I've heard how he got a "key to the city" joining Sadaam Hussein and one other lucky individual. Next, I hear that his Mom/Dad threw a big dinner last night.... big whoop.

Tell me about the game for crying out loud... There are better players on both teams besides Bettis, yet all we hear about is him. How many other players on these teams might this be the "only" Super Bowl they go to? Would it be great for Pittsburgh to win the game - hell yes. Would it be cool to give JB the MVP if he scores one touchdown and has 5 yards rushing just because he lives there - hell no.

Let's move on to other football stories besides Bettis.

How about Donovan McNabb and his comments about Terrell Owens "black-on-black crime"... from what I heard Michael Irvin say this morning on ESPN, McNabb and half the country don't even know the context of Owens' statement regarding "Brett Favre being able to lead the team better". This isn't a white/black thing... Brett Favre is going to go down in history as one of the best quarterbacks EVER - McNabb has a ways to go (sking color/race aside).

Apparently, Michael Irvin originally said that Brett Favre could lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl with their level of talent - this was said based on Donovan's performance throughout the season (which pretty much sucked except for 2-3 games). Terrell's comments were a follow-up or add-on to Irvin's (from what I've heard at least) and Donovan has taken it the wrong way. In fact, from McNabb's comments, I'd say he's the one that's racist or close to it at least... why should Terrell Owens have to compare McNabb to a black quarterback when discussing how the team could be better? In the interview, McNabb specifically mentions this - "why Brett Favre, why not Vick, McNair, Brooks, etc" - from my perspective, Favre is better than all those mentioned (this year excluded). Again, Owens is reportedly just commenting on Irvin's initial comments... he didn't start the story. I think Donovan needs to get over himself.

Btw - My pick is Pittsburgh over Seattle, 35-28