It appears that Lenny Clarke is Barney Frank’s more svelte and better coiffed brother
chrislebrun.com
the OFFICIAL website of Chris LeBrun
Ranking the Freaks
I’m wearing my Patriots jersey for today’s game. It’s a Tom Brady home replica jersey but the #12 is faded in some places. I’ve worn this jersey every Sunday the Pats have played for the last 3 or 4 years. Hence faded numbers.
I’m also wearing a Patriots ball cap. It get’s worn more than just Sundays during the season and of course I’ve got a couple Patriots t-shirts that get worn regularly year round.
But it’s not just football. I have 2 Red Sox jerseys (a home and an away version) that get worn a lot during the endless baseball season. I’ve got only one Red Sox t-shirt and it’s getting kinda old and ratty (Christmas present idea alert)! There’s also the Kyle Busch #18 M&Ms Toyota Camry jacket that gets worn, along with the #18 hat and at least 2 Busch t-shirts. And did I mention the two hockey jerseys?
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m kind of a sports fan!
But it occurred to me this morning that this type of fan loyalty is not that much differentfrom Star Wars fans or Trekkies who show up to the convention or movie opening dressed as Darth Maul or a Klingon warrior! The only difference is that one form of fandom is globally embraced and the other is universally derided.
I’ll let you figure out which is which.
The Cricket Song — The Live Music Video
I’m guessing the majority of American adults have moments from college that they can’t remember, typically because of some drunken night at the frat house. For me, however, many of those moments that have become fuzzy recollections from my college career hail from times that I was completely sober. To make matters worse, many of them they came at times that I was up on stage in front of hundreds of my peers. So there’s lots of witnesses.
One such moment was the “infamous” Cricket Song.
Processing Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
It’s been a couple weeks since Chris, our eldest son, was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Since then, I’ve probably had a little SPD of my own, trying to interpret the onslaught of feelings and emotions that have hit me. My hope is that this will be a bit of catharsis for me – a way to try to articulate my thoughts. I also hope it’s a bit of education for people who don’t know what SPD is.
So let’s start there. The SPD Foundation describes SPD as “a condition that exists when sensory signals don’t get organized into appropriate responses.” This can happen with just 1, several, or all of the 8 senses (ya, I know what you’re thinking; you thought there was only 5!) And when the brain doesn’t interpret these sensory signals correctly, you can imagine how easy it would be for a child to respond in such a way that doesn’t make sense (pun intended) to the rest of us.
My Heroic Injury & the Problem with Health Care
I
’ve been thinking a lot about House lately – you know, the hit show on Fox. One reason for this is I’ve been hobbling around (sometimes with an umbrella cane) and popping Vicodin every few hours since tweaking my back Monday. How’d I throw my back out you ask? Well since I’m so humble, I don’t really want to go into it, but let’s just say it was very heroic and involved saving kittens and babies and Nuns (oh my)!
But I digress
Bad Will Toward Goodwill
Let me start off by saying I think Goodwill is a great organization, from what I can tell. From
a political perspective, it’s quite possible that Goodwill is one of the truly bipartisan companies: conservatives love the positive economic impacts the company makes on local communities while liberals love how the company protects our environment by keeping lots of junk out of the landfills!
That said, I absolutely hate taking things to Goodwill. I know it’s an irrational feeling but I can’t seem to shake the idea that the person receiving my stuff is looking at me, judging me based on what I’m delivering them. She doesn’t come right out and say it, but her eyes are telling me “Seriously, you think someone else is gonna want that junk?”
Movin’ On Up To The Southside
Today was my last day at my job of 4+ years. While I’m sad about leaving a job I loved and people I love working with, I’m very excited about my new job and all the opportunities it holds.
The only problem is I gotta move from Michigan to Florida. On the surface, I’m sure you’re thinking that’s a “rough” move. Come wintertime, I’m sure I’m not going to be complaining too much (Floridians turn on the electric blanket and space heater when it gets down to 50, or the average temperature for May in Michigan!) Let’s be honest, both Florida and Michigan have more extreme weather patterns and negative elements (take your pick: constant lake effect snow that mires every day life, or the occasional hurricane that destroys your house?)
We Don’t Need Your Stinking Loyalty!
For the last 25 years or so literally hundreds of companies, starting with the airlines and hotels, have been developing loyalty programs of some sort to reward their most loyal customers. The more you (fly, sleep, buy, etc.) the more they reward you. It doesn’t have to be much – even the smallest perks or rewards can make customers feel happy that they used a specific company.
One company that has no idea about rewarding customer loyalty is DirecTV. Which is one of the reasons I’m dropping them after almost 7 years of loyal service. And I encourage you to do the same if you have service with them.
Blame It On Bush
Gas prices soared above $4.00 a gallon this week in Southwest Michigan. The public outrage was immense. Hundreds of Michiganders picketed gas stations, blocked tanker trucks from reaching the stations, and ransacked the convenience stores at many local gas stations. As the kids said in the 90s — not!
The fact is that most Americans are spending hundreds of dollars more each month to do the things they normally do but there is virtually no public outcry whatsoever. Sure, there’s private complaints, passed back and forth from husband to wife. But by and large the media has been oddly silent on the subject.
That’s only because they haven’t quite figured out how to blame it on President Bush yet!
Nothing Better To Do
On Friday, April 15, the FBI shut down U.S. access to the three largest online poker sites, charging 11 executives of these sites with bank fraud, money laundering, & illegal gambling. It was the culmination of a multi-year investigation by the Justice Department that probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the FBI got the criminals!! Good for them.
In (apparently) unrelated news, The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children report that more than 2,000 children go missing each day. That’s more than 800,000 each year.
But thank goodness we’ve wiped out online poker! (more…)