I know, it sounds like an odd way to raise money, but the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Pittsburgh is doing a charity event to raise money and make a child’s dream come true. A couple of my buddies (Matt Nauyalis, Steve Smith and Brian McConnell) up in the Burgh are participating as brave “growers” this year. They have four weeks to grow the best mustache possible and awards will be given at the Stache Bash Finale on March 16th at the Buckhead Saloon in Pittsburgh.
You can check out the website for more information.
Here is Matt’s progress so far…


Now, the donation process is a little cumbersome, but it is all worth it.
You can either mail a check to Matt at his work address:
Matthew Nauyalis
500 Cranberry Woods Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
OR
Call Stephanie Pugliese at (412) 471-9474 and she can take a credit card donation in the name of any of the three guys listed above.
Thanks for all your help!

alright, maybe biting on bob marley isn’t the way to broach the topic. but i gotta have something catchy as a title right?
so its 2007. i didn’t know if some of you were aware of that. but it is. this is the technological age that we live in. you can pretty much get emails, texts, or have a conversation with someone at any given moment. everyone everywhere is totally accessible.
not only that, i think that the dating world as it exists has never been so forthright. so open. people know what they want and they go after it. whether it be in a bar, a church, online, at school, wherever, the world is geared to pair you off with others. not only that, but the level of communication associated with it is unprecidented. you can ask whomever you like out. vice versa. AND the openness has allowed you to say yes or no without any real repurcussions. makes for cut and dry, clean sort of communication. almost transactional.
those two points being made, how is it that someone in this world can still be stood up? sitting at a bar in a restaurant at an agreed upon time, waiting… what explanation is there for this?
none.
but i have to consider myself fortunate. i honestly think that this is the first time that i went to an agreed upon place and the person i was meeting didn’t show. how a putz like me made it to the ripe old age of 31 without that ever happening is beyond my comprehension.
so i thought about punctuality rules while i sat there and tried to make sense of it all. and i think this works for first dates and only when there is no call warning of a late arrival.
five minutes late is okay. it could have been traffic. not to say that those five minutes don’t feel like an eternity, but the big smile when they finally walk through the door makes it worth it. (maybe she did it on purpose to build anticipation?)
ten minutes is still a moderate offense. no harm done, but you were starting to cast doubts in my mind.
fifteen minutes? doubt has been cast. maybe she isn’t going to show. this means she didn’t plan ahead and that she really didn’t think high enough of you to be on time. unless “i am SO sorry i am late” are the first words out of her mouth followed by some sort of compliment, the first is more than likely going to be the last date.
20-25 minutes late? chick is seriously pushing her luck. she better hope that you agreed to meet somewhere with a TV with sports on it where you are going to feel like a schmuck for sitting there watching a game with a beer. (by the way, you can order that first beer between the five to ten minute mark. but don’t go chugging the damn thing because she will think you have either A. been there a long time or B. you are an alchy.)
after 25 minutes, i ordered grub to go. she wouldn’t have even had a shot with me if she walked through the door as i was settling my tab. its downright freaking rude. i got up, i stood up, and i walked the hell out. not the way bob would have finished the verse, but it worked for me.

i may have touched on this topic before, but i feel the need to expound…
so i am running around taking care of errands the other day and i needed to stop by the teeter and grab some beer. just a twelver of yuengling. no more, no less.
and just for the sake of ease, i step into the seemingly growing line at the self checkout. now, these are wonderful inventions. especially for quick purchases. nix that. ONLY for quick purchases. at least that is the way it should be.
so what happens? a girl in all her anorexic-ness is surprisingly having trouble ringing up the mountain of vegetables that she is seeking to procure. now, i am not going to get into my award winning rant on how i think that vegans are a sect of communist that are trying to topple capitalism by taking the contribution of the beef market out of the equation. kidding jenn (kinda). but there is a time and place for vegetables. and the self checkout “express” line is not one of them. no little plastic bags in the self checkout lane!
why is it that some people feel the need to make the things created for convenience the most inconvenient? if you are trying to use an ATM (MAC machine north of the mason-dixon) and your transaction is going to take longer than thirty seconds, you need to march your ass inside of the bank! there is absolutely no reason for you to make me wait for you incorrectly enter you PIN number, check the balance of all three of your accounts, ask for a measly twenty spot, and then not pay attention when it asks if you want another transaction. i can tell you what is in all my accounts right now and you should know too. its your damn money!
and for the love of all that is holy, if you don’t know what is on the menu at a fast food joint, why the hell did you pull in there for food in the first place?! do NOT make me wait behind you in a drive through (still refuse to spell it thru) line because you don’t know what is on a big mac! and you need to park the car and go inside if you are trying to change more than one thing about what it is you are ordering. the only two modifiers allowable in a drive through are “no” and “extra.” i might let you get away with “plain.” other than that, its going to take too damn long to make it for your picky ass. so go inside where there are tables.
all i am saying people is that when you are looking to take advantage of something that has been developed for the convenience of all, know you purpose before you get there.
thank you.

what kind of car do you drive? is it unique enough that you identify with other people that drive a similar make?
i know that jeep owners usually wave to each other. at least the wrangler people do. and i don’t think the wrangler or CJ owners acknowledge grand cherokee owners as jeep owners since the grand cherokee became a soccer mom grocery getting SUV instead of an off road vehicle.
and i know its not limited to just cars and trucks. bikers usually wave to each other to acknowledge the respect on the road.
i bring all this up because a guy in a MINI waved at me at lunch today. more specifically, he flipped me the peace sign. hard core like that. i felt all giddy in being identified in a new group. like a secret handshake in a fraternity.
but do i look down on him because he wasn’t in an S? MINI owners know that kick of horsepower that comes with the S, the beefed up suspension, the bigger wheels, etc. make the S a machine to be reckoned with on the roads. the regular cooper? not so much.
but i flipped back the peace sign. in the future, i think i will throw the horns. or maybe the shocker. but its nice to be recognized.

just a few things making their way through my melon this morning…

- why is it that i haven’t written an actual check in forever and a day and then when i do i forget and my account is accidentally overdrawn for three hours?

- never use the word irregardless in front of me. know why? it’s not a word. i will berate you. or i will use it over and over again in your presence to bring home the fact that you are an idiot.

- i heard around the water cooler this morning that they are thinking about passing a law in NYC to outlaw walking across the street with an ipod on or a cell phone in your ear because too many people aren’t paying attention and are getting run down.

first, i don’t know if this is true, but it sounds dumb enough to be. second, why do we have to use the lowest common denominator when developing legistlation? what is wrong with thinning out the herd of the people that aren’t smart enough? think about it. that annoying prick that was shouting into his bluetooth enabled crap walking next to you, you WANTED to push him traffic.

- i am really having trouble editting the word “like” out of my daily speech. its just the valley girl in me.

- “eh.” that is my response to people telling me that anna nicole smith passed away. am i sorry? yes. am i shocked? no. is it going to affect my daily life? not even close. trim spa, baby.

- they should rename binder clips to office chip clips. they are great for that little bag of combos and such that you have in your desk drawer.

- hope you all have a good weekend.

so i was looking at the entertainment section of the charlotte observer online this morning and i see an article about prince’s halftime show at the super bowl on sunday. the topic? his amazing transitions from cover song to cover song to purple rain and so on. no. the fact that while the sheet was blowing upward during the guitar solo of purple rain and prince was playing in the silohoutte it appeared as though his guitar was a phallic symbol in the shadow.
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!
he held his guitar in a manner that made it look like a giant penis. right.
nipple gate from two years ago at the superbowl opened the door for big brother (not you jas) and his censorship cronies. and now after every single event i have to hear about how some clown was offended by something.
i can just see it now:
“yes, i was on what i thought was going to be a magical tour of democracy in our nation’s capital when the tour bus drove past this ‘washington monument’. i was so offended by this monument that washington built… to his penis! please have it removed. thank you. -uptight american prick”
what is this world coming to? seriously? when you cannot sit back and enjoy the musical stylings of one of prince at the super bowl without bitching.
and i am not saying that prince is the cleanest of artists. the assless pants, hardcore sexual references, and more than suggestive dancing in his history, i think, put him right up there with madonna as far as sex in the 80’s was concerned. but the little minnesotan is in his forties. he has chilled out. but what did you honestly expect?
and this rant ends with this point: we live in a free country. we are garuanteed freedom of expression by the constitution. you are also afforded the right to choose what you are and are not exposed to for the most part. you could have chosen not to watch the super bowl. you could have chosen to change the channel at half time. you could have chosen to close your damn eyes.
but you chose to bitch about it. thanks for using the same right to freedom of expression that you want to censor musicians for using. dick.