I can't believe I am compelled to write commentary about a spelling bee.

Neetu Chandak, 14 year old Seneca Falls student was recently eliminated from the Scripps National Spelling Bee when she spelled the word paravane incorrectly (incorrectly spelled p-e-r-o-v-a-n-e, for those of you keeping score at home). Incorrect, very sorry, good job, try again next year, end of story... right? Not exactly.

Mom stepped in and protested that her daughter was "mislead" when the judges told her that the word was of Greek origin. O.K., I suppose I understand since the Merriam-Webster dictionary has the etymology of the word placed in French and English origins, but one could argue that if she knew how to spell the word properly to begin with, the judge's actions would not be an issue. Does the average 14 year old even know how to spell this word let alone know if it is Greek, French or Swahili in origin?

I want to give the competitor the benefit of the doubt but this strikes me as a manifestation of society of coddling, entitlement and general protection from failure that some children are raised under. It's not just children doing this though. How many baseball fans this week bitched and moaned because Bud Selig would not (at the time of this post) overturn a botched call that would have given Detroit Tigers pitcher a perfect game?

Also buried in this article is this line:

"The audience gasped, shoulders slumped, and speller after speller was escorted offstage to the comfort room as the 48 semifinalists were whittled down..."

Comfort room?

I've played my share of competitive sports (mainly baseball for 9 years, didn't really get into the competitive spelling scene). I was on teams that had losing seasons (losing every single game) and winning seasons (winning every single game). There was no "comfort room" to retreat to when you lost. You just learned how to shake it off, dust your self off, learn from mistakes made and try harder again next game. Loosing was tough, but it made the winning moments so much more coveted and appreciated.

What are these kids going to do when they get into the real world where there is no "comfort room" to retreat to when bad things happen? There's no comfort room for when you lose your job or your business fails. There's no comfort room to retreat to when you are a surgeon who loses a patient on the operating table due to a mistake. And no amount of protesting from mommy is going to fix life's inevitable bumps and failures. You just need to learn from it and figure out how to move forward.

Maybe I am being too harsh, but perhaps learning from failure is a passing concept.

26 Years ago this past Friday…

Once again I have gone a few weeks without posting. Shame shame on me! It has been hard to motivate myself to write much, but there's always something on my mind.

I recently celebrated my 26^th birthday. I know I am still young but 26 seems a bit scary to me! Thirty is suddenly looking closer than twenty.

Overall, I am very proud of what I have accomplished on this planet in the 26 years I have worked through. I have earned my B.S. and M.S. degrees, landed a good job and somehow in this economy have managed to hold on to it. I have a great relationship with a wonderful charming young woman. ;-) I have done some traveling, read lots of books, done some exciting scientific research and learned a lot about the way the world works. Through the process I have asked many questions and answered a few along the way as well. Another year older, another year wiser.

I am excited about what the coming years have to offer and what questions I can answer along the way. I will keep you the reader clued into this as much as I can.

Three things I must comment on in the days to come

1. I organized a "Tea Party" of my own.
2. T. O. signing with the Bills!? WTF? Is this a blessing or a curse upon the Bills?
3. I also must wish a happy birthday to my cousin Eric who shares my birthday of March 5^th. Born 10 years after me… almost to the minute!
   

What is happening to the NFL!? Here comes a lil' dose of inner rage!

Packman Jones... Plaxico Burress... Michael Vick... Marshawn Lynch...

NFL players turned criminal!?

PLAXICO!!??? How the hell do you shoot your self in the leg with your own gun, turn your self in... then plan to plead "not guilty" to possessing said firearm? WTF!? So glad to hear the Giants are shelving this guy. I hope they outright release him by the end of the season... if he's not in jail (which he should be).

No doubt these guys are good players on the field. That's why they are making the millions that they are. But you would figure that with those millions they could afford to get involved in some lawful activities off the field as opposed to something completly off the wall like, oh, I don't know... dog fighting!

Is it my imagination, or is the Fox NFL pregame show sounding more and more like an episode of America's Most Wanted as they have to spend increasing amounts of time running down the list of player fines, suspensions and tangles with the law?

Honestly... what the hell is wrong with you people?

I'm likin' a lot of things right now.

I'm likin' the fact that the football season is upon us. I also like the fact that for the first time since 2005 the Bills have opened their season 2-0. NICE!

I'm likin' the beautiful mid-September weather. The weather has been very nice here in Rochester. It has been a very humid, almost tropical day today. Certainly a tough day to run a marathon or half marathon. Chris, my roommate, competed in the half marathon and said the conditions were pretty difficult with a relatively high humidity. Again, I felt rather dissappointed that my body has fallen apart halfway through my training. I have already set my sights on next year. I'm not giving up.

The weather for next weekend is looking good as well. Hopefully it will remain good enough for some golf and wine touring.

I am also likin' that for the second time in 2 weekends I went out on both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night it was to "The Old Toad" for some drinks in celebration of Tim defending his MS thesis. Since Tim was in town (he lives near Boston at the moment) we went out again on Saturday night to "Oxfords". I guess it is nice when you have a job, money and time to actually go out at night on the weekends.

I'm likin' it all right now. :-)

BART: ...this is exactly what Dad said would happen. LISA: Yeah, Dad was right... HOMER: I know, kids. I'm scared too!

O.K. When I make crazy off the wall predictions like this... THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO COME TRUE! I am a little scared.

But I have to wish Eli mad props for the complete upset victory. Way to be an inspiration to underdogs everywhere. How in the hell did Eli Manning escape the Patriots linebackers closing in the pocket to unleash that throw to David Tyree... and even more so, how did Tyree even catch that!?! My jaw literally dropped when I witnessed that play.

While this was all going down, Tim was sure to stuff all of our faces with our own body weight worth of deep fried chicken wing goodness. With the big group of friends from RIT's chemistry department that was there, I barely even paid any attention to the stupid commercials because we were all socializing so much.

And the half time show... as I previously mentioned, we replaced that with an intense "Dr. Mario" tournament. So unfortunately *sarcasm* we all did not hear a single note uttered from Tom Petty's mouth. No one seemed disappointed. The Dr. Mario tournament bracket was set up, started at half time and we finished it off after the game came to an end. I managed to come out of the first round with a solid victory. I proceeded to defeat Matt in the second round to move on to the final round. There I found my self down 2 matches to 0 in a best of 5. So I hung in there and kept at it... won 2 more matches to bring it down to one final winer takes all match. I was just about to pull an Eli Manning like come from behind upset... when Max finished me off!

Truly I have been bested by a Dr. Mario great.

All of that together shaped up to make, in my mind, the best Super Bowl ever!

Playoffs... Eli Manning and playoffs... don't talk about Eli Manning and playoffs. Playoffs!

Wow... Eli Manning and the New York Giants defeating the Green Bay Packers. I never would have thunk it! So here is how I see it going down:

The undefeated Patriots against the wild card Superbowl hopeful NY Giants... you would think that it would be no contest, but... the stage is now set for the Patriots to receive back-to-back year ending loses to a quarterback from the Manning family! It would be unprecedented! It would be even more unprecedented than a team going 19-0 and taking the championship. It goes without say that a Giants win would rob the Pats of just that! It would be an all too "perfect" ending to the Patriots season.

Although... it would be very cool to see a team go completely undefeated with a 19-0 season.

I can go either way on this Superbowl. What I am really looking forward to is the copious amounts of beer, fried food and the halftime show... which my friends and I decided will consist of a "Dr. Mario" tournament (played on Tim's antique Nintendo) between all in attendance.

This past weekend Emily and I watched "Superbad". Definitely a funny movie. We laughed our asses off and keep referring to each other as "McLovin". Just watch the movie and you will know what I am talking about.

Also, here's something that's got me a little pissed off. I have taken it upon my self to start training again for races. Well, after a single 3 mile running workout last Tuesday on a treadmill, I ended up with sharp pains in my foot when ever I walked and stood up. It was so bad I could barely walk! I have since diagnosed my self with peroneal tendonitis. WTF! So much for resuming training. Already I am having to take a couple weeks off to recuperate.

I'm not quitting that easily though.

A congressional double standard (again) regarding religion and the government... political corectness strikes again!

I was recently tipped off to this story this morning while listening to "The Glenn Beck" radio program. Yes, I reluctantly admit am a listener of talk radio in the mornings while I am working. I am only interested in this particular show because it is so interesting.

Here's what I learned today!

First off, it became public today that a 17 year old Ohio Eagle scout was given a flag certificate for a flag that was flown over the nation's capital to honor his grandfather. The certificate had the following statement:

"This flag was flown in honor of Marcel Larochelle, my grandfather, for his dedication and love of God, country and family."

However, when the young scout received the certificate, the word "God" was omitted because the U.S. Capital Architect feels that the word "God" is an inappropriate religious word for such certificates.

Now... at the same time this week, our congress decided to pass a resolution recognizing the Holy Month of Ramadan. ***At this point I must take a moment to laugh immaturely at the Moro Islamic Liberation Front... watch the movie "American Pie" and you will understand why it is impossible for me not to snicker at a group by the acronym MILF!***

I was happy to read further that 42 congressmen voted "present" and refused to vote yes or no. Unfortunately none of them were from NY.

What a double standard, wouldn't you say? It's kind of making me sick to my stomach. Or maybe that's just remnants of the cold I had this weekend.

And by the way... I watched every second of the Bills game last night. It was one of the best games I have ever watched. Buffalo lost but how could you not be impressed. The 32nd rated defense in the league intercepted Tony Romo 5 times (!) and really rattled the cage of the undefeated Cowboys. Even with a loss, every one of those players must have woke up this morning feeling pretty damn confident coming off of this game!

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

Yeah... that about says it all! I'm not into the whole Boston/New York fan rivalry thing, but I can not believe that a team that was 14 1/2 games back at their worst point in the season is now 2 1/2 games behind and in a position to overtake Boston!

I mean WTF?

FUCKING YANKEES... they do this every year!

Sabres vs. Penguins at the Ralph Wilson Stadium, January 1, 2008!

Sabres Game at the Ralph Wilson Stadium

COUNT ME IN! This is going to be incredible!

The first time a regular season NHL game has EVER been played outdoors and it's happening right in my backyard!

SWEEEEEEET!

Geekin' it out over the past few days... and watching football in the process.

Here I am on a Sunday evening watching the Patriots get out to an early 7-0 lead with a stomach full of a garbage plate from Pennfield Hots. How did I get here since we last spoke?

Thursday I went out to McGregors for beer and food in the company of the other RIT graduate students (Matt, Tim, Erin, Mary, Patrick). We were there primarily to welcome Jarrad as one of the new 2007 batch of students. He seems like a nice guy... he will fit in just fine. The food was greasy, the beer was cold and fufilling and the discussion was witty as per our usual custom!

Friday, I succomed to Jon's requests to allow him to update my laptop to make it operate faster. I am quite impressed with what he has done. With the purchase of a bit more memory it will get even faster. Additionally, RIT is getting rid of dozens of computer monitors from computer labs by GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE! They are not flat panel monitors... but who cares. I picked one up and made a nice dual monitor set up for my work station at home. (Hence the "Geekin' it out") So, this may lead to increased productivity... or increased procrastination.

Saturday I demonstrated that the extra monitor does indeed contribute more to productivity rather than procrastination by cranking out some serious thesis/journal paper writing during the day on Saturday. Then I went over to Em's apartment where we shopped for ingredients at Wegman's for "Pizza Meatballs"... a recipe we randomly found online. And for desert, miniature graham cracker pie shells filled with instant chocolate mouse. The meatballs were stuffed with mozzarella cheese that melted and oozed out of the meatballs upon cooking. They were incredible... I think I had a "foodgasm" while eating them! We then watched "Stranger Than Fiction", which we both enjoyed.

Sunday I was happy to have my parents and also my brother come up to visit me. The last time I saw them was probably towards the end of the summer. We chatted a whole lot about everything while watching the Bills game. I took them over to Emily's new apartment to show them. Em and I entertained them there for the remainder of the game (a 26-3 loss to the Steelers). We then went for a dinner of garbage plates at Pennfield Hots. This was the first time my parents had a garbage plate. They seemed to enjoy it! Then we said goodbye.

That brings me to the here and now... in which my garbage plate is still gurgling through my stomach (!!!) and the Patriots (much to my disapproval) have expanded their lead to 17-0.

I have not left the building!

Don't you worry. After a steady and consistent string of posts during the past month of August I don't want you to think I have already given up on this blog like my previous ones. I have been preoccupied with relaxing over the holiday weekend and starting work/new school year (extremely demanding and hectic). Also, I have had some problems with my internet connection at home... mainly being that it works only when it feels like working. The other residents and I are working on that.

In the mean time I will say I had a great holiday weekend (tell me about yours in the comments section!) even though my first day of classes was yesterday. Yes, no joke. RIT starts class on Labor day! One of the sucky perks that comes with attending RIT.

On the IL league baseball front, Rochester was defeated by Buffalo again on Saturday (in the 10th inning) thus eliminating Rochester from the playoffs. The following day Rochester returned the favor and took Buffalo out of the playoffs with a 3-0 victory. So much for rooting for Buffalo baseball in the post-season. Who cares! Next weekend is opening day for the Bills anyway.

Hopefully I will be able to tell a bit more about what has been going on these days once I get my home internet connection fixed.

I will leave with this. On the way to a Labor Day party on Saturday, Emily and I managed to see and spook a chipmunk at the foot of the wall to her apartment building. Now chipmunks are like mice on speed given the fact that they are the super-hyper skittish kings of the rodent world. This one was no exception. We meant no harm as we walked by yet he decided to flee from us by jumping head first into this drain pipe (you see his tail sticking out?). He did manage to escape after a moment, so no chipmunks were harmed in the construction of this blog post!

A night at the ball park.

Emily, scarfing down some cotton candy and a beer.

Erin (A.K.A. "Spaz") and Tim (A.K.A. "T-$").

Buffalo is winning 8 to 4 in the top of the 7th.

***Buffalo went on to finish the game for a 10-7 win. YAY BUFFALO! My apologies, but I have to cheer for my hometown team. Now Rochester and Buffalo are tied for the wild card position in the playoffs!