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Hair Vs. Hair Match

Thursday
March 13, 2003

Well, I did it... Took some clippers on a one guard and brought back the closed shaved hair look. Not all the way, razor-blade smooth -- at least not yet. But I didn't care for the inconvenience of having to go get it cut all the time, not to mention the way after a week it would poof up and not stay in place. At all. My hair has never been easy to manage, but when you start going bald on top it limits the ways you can style it. Besides, it was in the mid-80's today in Tampa. Hot weather is here. Like right now, my AC is running at 11:50 at night. So less hair is a plus.

I couldn't imagine having lived down here in the pre-air conditioning era. Talk about sweltering heat, it gets brutal. With the AC it's nice; you can cool off, then go back outside and enjoy the sun. But with no air conditioning there was no break to it. You've probably all been in that situation with blistering hot weather and no AC. In college my dorm, Hughes Hall, didn't have AC (and still to this day doesn't). They had T1 direct connections in 1995, but eight years later still can't get AC in the place. Go figure.

And by the way, when I think that it was eight years since I started college, I feel old. Real old. Or when I see a TV show from 1991 and laugh about the hair styles and the silly looking clothes... and then think, wait a minute, that's the year I started high school. I'm sure that people older than I have experienced it on a more pronounced scale. For the rest of you, just wait. It'll get you, too.

Speaking of things that get you, who has Tampa Bay Devil Rays fever?!? Umm, okay, well at least the team has reason to keep my interest this year with Lou Piniella as the skipper. He had an obscenity-laced outburst recorded by Orlando TV station WESH, and subsequently broadcast (in edited form) on TV and radio broadcasts across the country. Heh heh. Should be a lively year in 2003.

But at least the fans have reason to be excited. The D-Rays have been an embarrassment in their short tenure in MLB. I get the feeling that someday I'll be telling people about going to 2/3 empty ballgames at the Trop and laughing about the Rays after they've won the World Series, much like Bucs fans do about the old creamsicle orange, Buccaneer Bruce days at the Big Sombrero.

The sad thing with the Rays is what could've been. Look at Pac Bell park in San Francisco; there's no reason something similar couldn't have been constructed here. Or at least a retractable roof facility. Instead they play in the lopsided concrete dentist's office down in Pinellas County. I look to the Twins and the Metrodome to give me hope for someday.

Now keep in mind, I'm a Yankees fan, but I'd like to see my hometown teams do well. Of course the Yanks and Rays are in the same division, but that means the Yankees come to town alot and I have many chances to see them. Speaking of which, I need to make plans NOW to see a Yankees spring training game. I drove by Legends Field in Tampa today (en route to Airborne Express), and one interesting thing is the sign for "Steinbrenner Drive", a small access road next to the stadium. I'm sure there are people who'd like to t-bag it (though that would take a mighty tall ladder), or do other crude things to it, but I support Steinbrenner and I'm glad to see what the Yankees have been able to do for the Tampa community.

Last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live was hysterical. Lorenzo Lomas was on, and Kimmel and this week's guest co-host Jeffrey Ross were picking on him mercilessly. And Lomas is so smug and arrogant (at least in his on-camera demeanor) that it just fueled Ross to keep hurling insults his way. Classic stuff.

I caught a little bit of Letterman as well last night, when Bono was guest hosting. He did a great job; he seemed to have Sex & The City star Kim Catrell under a spell. I told my friend Shauna in Morgantown about that, and she was so mad that she missed it (she's a major U2 and Bono fan). The night before Vince Vaughn hosted and also did well. And then there was Whoopi Goldberg... well, you can't win them all.

I'm waiting for my dark clothes to finish drying so I can complete my packing and be ready to go to New Orleans in the morning. I need to swing by Bubba's office to take care of a few things before I go... But today was a very productive day, as was yesterday, and the productivity level is high. Hopefully we'll soon have the results to match.

Josh Tenisci confirmed tonight that he won't be making the trip to New Orleans. Which is a real shame, since he's never met Bob Lonergan or Nimesh Patel, two of the eight guys in our fantasy football league. Consider this: Bob & Josh have been in the league since 1995, yet have never met in person. That's eight years we're talking here! But Bob, Nimesh, Brook Gardiner and I are going to tear things up. And if we're lucky, we might get to see one or both of the SEC men's basketball semi-final games. I hope Mississippi State beats Ole Miss; I'd like to see Mario Austin play in person. Of course tickets may be tough to come by, but we'll see about that. As Brian Bossler said, "It's so easy in the Big Easy."

I'm normally ahead of the curve when it comes to technology, but I've never really messed much with the text messaging on my cell phone until tonight. It's kind of neat, though nothing different than I could achieve via e-mail. Plus it takes forever to write anything. But it's portable, unlike my Dell computer.

I talked with my parents tonight. They and my sister Mary Beth are coming down to Orlando on Monday, and then I'm going to meet up with them on Tuesday. And unlike past visits, I'll be used to sleeping AT NIGHT and actually get to spend some time with them. Imagine that! And with my job's flexibility, I can adjust my schedule as necessary. That's something you just don't get with TV news producing. Oh, and the holidays off is another nice perk, too. None of this working on Christmas crap. In fact the show normally takes two weeks off around Christmastime and New Year's. That's not to say that I'll do the same, given that there may be affiliate needs to handle and what not. But the flexibility is nice.

The Sunshine Network is finally back on my cable. It's about time. I guess Time Warner (or whatever company owns the cable here now) finally smarted up and realized that cable subscribers in Tampa and Orlando might want to actually be able to see the Lightning play on TV. Imagine that.

Well the clothes are about dry, so it's time to wrap this up and head to bed. I might have time for a quick something on here tomorrow before I split for Louisiana...


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