F.I.R.S.T.

Remember that show Robot Wars? For years they televised what they refered to as "The Sport of Roboteering". That might be a bit of a stretch on the definition of the word sport, but I get what they mean.

My cousin has been on one of these teams for several years but I never totally got it. Well this weekend they had a Regional Competition in sunny Philadelphia and I was able to watch the whole thing via live stream online. It was simultaneously on of the coolest and easily one of the dorkiest things I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy (and I have done some dorky shit in my life.)

It was basically a glorified game of foosball where each team partner up with two other teams and got their robots to shoot goals, block the nets and hang on a pole for a bonus! I didn't totally get it and at times I wasn't even sure which team I was supposed to be cheering for but trust me it was impressive.

But as much as I respected the genius it took for these kids to build and operate these robots, I still couldn't ignore the fact that, for the most part, they were super nerds. I mean with team names like "Positrinic Panthers" and some thing about Vicotious Vulcans or Killer Klingons or some crap, I can't pretend like they were cool. Luckily my cousin team name is "The Brigaid" - perfectly respectable and not at all nerdy. Good job Tony.  To make it worse at one point the whole crowd did a geek-tastic rendition of the Cha Cha Slide. I was dying inside. But as much as these kids surely get made fun of, you can't deny that they are all headed for good places in their future. Indeed "The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth."

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Historic Bromo Seltzer Clock Restoration

My husband is working on the most amazing project at work. He's part of a very small team of guys in charge of re-finishing the hands of the most famous timepiece in Baltimore; the historic Bromo Seltzer Tower.  The tower and it's clock were built in 1911 and it's about to celebrate it's 100th anniversary. Unfortunately the clock face on the south side of the tower has not been working for several years so now they're going to fix it. As part of this they are actually taking the hands off of the clock and completely restoring them. The whole event has already been getting decent coverage in the local news.


I found a clip from the local CBS affiliate, WJZ, that included a quick shot of my husband at the very end - I'm not able to embed it but I do have the link to share. http://wjz.com/video/?id=68669@wjz.dayport.com


I also found some great pictures from maryland daily record.

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Muse & Dry Humping

Anyone who knows me - knows that I am a hermit.  But this year for my husband's birthday I bought him tickets to see a band that has been a favorite of his for almost 10 years, Muse. And I could have told him to take a friend but I thought it would be even more amazing if I actually said I would go with him. So last night I found myself elbow to elbow with one of the smelliest groups of people I have ever encountered. The texting with my friends and family began almost immediately ...

8:23 ME: I kinda hate being here, already.

8:24 WILL: I was wondering about you.

8:34 ME: Ok we're in our seats now so I'm happier. Plus I spotted a Starter jacket so that's mad decent.

8:35 WILL: Ha ha ha ha

8:36 ME: I seriously think John Park is sitting 3 rows up from us.

8:41 MOM: Call his name.

8:47 JAMIE: Ha ha u r retarded! He's asian, they all look the same.

8:48 JAMIE: Bowersox killed it dude!

8:49 ME: No! Don't tell me! I'm DVRing it.

8:54 ME: He's wearing teal pants and Kanye sunglasses it's pretty sweet.

8:56 WILL: Sounds phenominal.

9:09 ME: Ok, I just had a mild seizure.

9:10 WILL: Why?

9:10 ME: LASER - LIGHT - SHOW

9:31 ME: And they are doing the Michael Buble song.

9:32 WILL: What? Really? Now that's cool.

9:34 ME: Muse is major laser.


THOUGHTS:

That starter jacket was seriously sweet - it brought me straight back to middle school.

How sad is it that I was worrying about the American Idol Top 10 girls performances I was missing instead of enjoying the live performance by a legit band that was RIGHT INFRONT OF MY FACE?

The "Michael Buble" song I was refering to is Feeling Good which is not really Buble's song. It's was written in the 60's for a musical and has been covered by artists like John Coltrane, Olivia Newton-John, Eels, Ben Taylor, George Micheal and The Pussycat Dolls. But I think pretty much everyone knows it as the "Michael Buble" song so that's what I went with.

I didn't mention it in the texts but there was a couple across the isle from us dry humping the entire time and I felt like a criminal everytime my eyes would wonder from the stage to them .... but seriously how do you not look at that??

There were some confusing times when we couldn't decided if we were going to stay in our seats or stand in front of them and awkwardly "dance" like all the kids do. Once, I finally made up my mind that we were going to stand - but then the next song they played was "Supermassive Black Hole." Unfortunately this is is the song from the Twilight movie soundtrack which ment I had to sit immediately back down so everyone around us didn't think I was just a Twi-hard and not really a Muse fan (and you guys know I am a complete Twi-hard  so this was against my grain.)

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A Tribute to Paul Reubens

Many people seem to remember the great Paul Reubens for his less than glorious 1991 charges involving a popcorn bucket and a porno. But I like to remember him as the kooky? zanny? crazy? creepy? Pee Wee Herman. Or even better - for his role in Blow (great movie by the way - if you haven't seen it make it happen!).

I know I'm not alone in my appreciation of him but even I was surprised when one of Paul Reubens' biggest fans showed up in the strangest of places last night. On my television, smack dab in the middle of my American Idol.

I had no idea that Jermaine Sellers had such love for the man. But clearly after the bow tie / gray jacket / forehead poof presentation he gave, there can be no doubt. Maybe next week he will paint his face blue and honor the amazing John Paragon (aka Jambi the Genie.)

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