The Rundown: Random Happenings

The past seven days has been a giant collection of completely random situations, from Sarah's need to have her appendix removed to our quickly put together revised travel itinerary. As such, there was nothing more fitting for today's Rundown...

Top Five Random Thoughts in My Mind

5. Somehow, Kevin Smith Hasn't Had a Heart Attack
He hasn't, or rather didn't because he stopped smoking and started eating much better than before. And it's a good thing, because I'm through about 30 pages of his latest book and Silent Bob and Co. rock the Griddle for breakfast nearly every day, with stops at Wendy's, Carl's Jr. and Mickey D's mixed in for variety.

4. When Am I Getting Sushi?
Before the whole appendix situation, I knew that there would be a bare minimum of two all-you-can-eat journeys, one in VanCity and one in TO. Now, post-op and with different arrival times, things are a little hazy. As it stands now, we're Googling sushi restaurants in and around London, as London proper doesn't believe in sushi restaurants. Suddenly, I'm a little less excited about moving there in May.

3. Strange Things Irritate Me
Like how soft cover books get that bend in the cover when you're reading them. I hate that. Newfoundland drivers, but I've covered that before. How stupid people stand in front of the viewing mirrors at the Sears Fitting Rooms. This is especially annoying because I'm not allowed beyond the doorway since I have testicles.... and I get funny looks for being there with Sarah and having opinions on her outfits.

2. Why Are Athletes Stupid?
And by stupid I mean why do they do stupid things that put their lives and the lives of people around them in jeopardy? In the wake of Jamaal Tinsley's latest incident and the recent death of Sean Taylor, you would think athletes would be taking a second look at their lifestyles and choices, but sadly, I don't think that will happen... read more of my views on this topic here or see what Jemele Hill at ESPN has to say or the fine folks at The Starting Five.

Note: Yes, I'm in 100% agreement with Jemele Hill here, which is a departure from normal. Maybe I was too quick to judge last week...

1. What Has Happened to Society?
Broad strokes, I know, but I long for the halcyon days of my childhood. Reality TV and things like TMZ.com and Perez Hilton hadn't turned the average people into gossip crazy celebriholics*, athletes weren't going to jail for dog fighting, nightclub brawls or trying to hire a hitman to kill their agent and gas cost 49 cents a litre. Sure those days had their problems too, but it wasn't like this. The question that scares me most is what's next?

* celebriholics: those who are obsessed with the lives and travails of celebrities, especially scandals. This is my word and I hereby claim it in the name of ESKimo Enterprises...

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The Rundown: One Sick Puppy

So I woke up this morning feeling like ass and it hasn't subsided since. Thankfully, I'm off tomorrow, which affords me to opportunity to do nothing but the five things that make up today's Rundown...

Top Five Things To Do When I'm Sick

5. Sleep
Pretty much the most obvious of the list. Who doesn't like staying in bed all day, sick or not?

4. Watch Old Movies
Since no one can sleep all day, there doesn't need to be any getting out of bed and old movies are the perfect solution. You've seen them hundreds of times, so if you do pass out - or need to run to the bathroom - who cares? Personal favourites include Pretty Woman (it's the only movie we owned when I was in high school), Thank You For Smoking and High Fidelity.

3. A Nice, Hot Soak in the Tub
I understand that following up Pretty Woman with a nice, hot soak in the tub is going to make some question my masculinity, but I don't give a damn... It's not like I'm adding in lilac bath oils or having a bunch of candles lit or anything like that; I'm just saying a nice hot bath soothes the aches and pains is all.

2. Read Magazines
I'm quite certain that trashy magazines and sports books like SI and SLAM were created for days like I'm sure tomorrow is going to be. Easy to digest, quick to read and requiring absolutely no mental effort whatsoever... just the way we like them.

1. Being A Total Sook
The only thing better than the four that came first, is getting to stay in bed and have someone look after you by bringing you your favourite movies and trashy magazines, then drawing you a bath when you finally wake up from your mid-afternoon siesta. In an interesting twist, Sarah is off almost all day tomorrow... SWEET!

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Update to yesterday: Still no Passion in St. John's, plus the website doesn't go up until tomorrow or so it says today... if I get up in the morning and it says Friday, I'm going to start worrying.

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ESPN has a writer named Jemele Hill, who I have to say, makes me angrier than any one person in the world has to date.

Ms. Hill likes to interject race into every single article she writes, whether it belongs there or not. I agree that sometimes race is a factor, but her post yesterday on the tragic death of Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor was not the time or place. I was impressed with her coverage until this:

Although study after study shows black men are more likely to be victims of crime, rarely do they receive victim treatment. When black athletes are crime victims, the undertone seems to be they somehow were at fault. Eddy Curry, Antoine Walker and Bucs cornerback Phillip Buchanon all have been victims of home invasions that seem as orchestrated as the one that claimed Taylor's life. In March of 2006, Buchanon was stripped naked and tied up by seven men in ski masks who robbed him and jammed a gun in his mouth. This past July, Curry and his family were bound by duct tape as men robbed him at gunpoint in his suburban Chicago home. The Pistons' Flip Murray narrowly escaped the same fate, slamming the door on two gunmen on his porch before he called police. Yet we seem to think it's much more likely a black athlete is holding the gun instead of staring down the barrel of one.

I haven't heard anyone saying Sean Taylor was to blame or at fault for the unfortunate circumstances that took place, nor did I hear anything like that in regards to Curry, Buchanon or any of the other athletes mentioned. The simple fact is that Ms. Hill didn't have an appropriate angle to play the race card from, so she created one on her own.

To me - and I know this might seem like the easy opinion and notion, but whatever - race will become less of an issue when people stop making it an issue, from both sides. Not everything in this world is racially motivated. Someone at The World Wide Leader needs to make that clear to Jemele Hill.

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