More Things That Annoy Me

Sequels suck. How many movies have been ruined by crappy, straight-to-video sequels that you wouldn't watch if someone was paying you $25,657.83 to do so. Recently I wrote a post about things that annoy me and promised a follow up. Here it is. It might suck, but hopefully not as much as a typical Hollywood sequel. Without further delay, and in no particular order, more things that annoy me.

OK, I'll admit it; I'm short. I'm 5'7" and not a hair's breadth taller. I've always had a bit of a complex about it and I obsess about height. I think I've looked at every post on celebheights.com at least a dozen times. I would give my left testicle to be 6'4" and am very sensitive to all things height related. I'm sorry. But as a courtesy to us small people I would like to extend a challenge to tall people everywhere. Please be conscious of what you are doing and how it relates to the vertically challenged. I have given change to a great many tall people in my life. Almost always, when accepting change they hold their hand straight out in front of them. The problem with this is that straight out for them is at my chest! So now I have to reach up above my neckline to put the change in their hand. It makes me feel 8 inches tall. Can we put the hand down a bit lower please? You're the one with the gift. Look out for the little guy, literally and figuratively.

Tattoos are great. They allow you to express yourself, be creative, and express to the world that you are indeed NOT a badass. So surely if you are way into the tattoo culture, what better way to let the world know (besides that tattoo on your neck) than a t-shirt covered with tattoo inspired art? Such is the logic behind Ed Hardy t-shirts. At first it was interesting but they are popping up everywhere. Remember when if someone had a tattoo they were edgy and unique? Everyone has a tattoo now. I think they have a new tattoo shop opening up with a new line of Disney tattoos for elementary students. The same thing has happened with the Ed Hardy shirts. People buy them to represent what tattoos used to represent: badassness (not a word but if making up words is good enough for Shakespeare it is good enough for me). The rub is that they don't make you a badass, they make you a douche. Especially the long sleeve t-shirts. I've believed this for some time but now that Jon Gosselin wears them all the time, even in the shower, I have never been more vindicated. Who is a bigger douche than that guy? I would like to have a 6 month moratorium on the Ed Hardy shirts and see if we're still clamoring for them after the absence. My guess is that we wouldn't.

What is the reason for the rise in allergies. There is so much medication now for nasal allergies, seasonal allergies, allergies to pet dander and so many other forms of allergies that you could fill 3 medicine cabinets to combat them all. I don't remember hearing about all of these things even 20 years ago let alone when my grandfather was a young man. He joined the armed forces when he was 15 toward the end of World War II. I don't think they were too concerned about itchy eyes back then. There were more important things to deal with. Our lives have become too easy. All you hear about lately is peanut allergies. Even one peanut in the same gymnasium as someone with peanut allergies could lead to that person going into anaphalactic shock. Huh? How did we evolve in one generation to suddenly now have a brand new type of allergy that nobody seemed to have fifty years ago? Because of that one kid students cannot bring anything with peanuts or peanut butter to some schools for lunch out of fear that someone will become ill from inhaling the slightest whiff. On many flights they hand out some crappy fiesta mix because they won't have the peanuts handed out any longer. Can we all just CALM DOWN? Here's an idea. If you're the one person out of 5,000 who has a peanut allergy how about you just eat in a classroom or get home schooled? Why do the other 4,999 kids have to alter their lifestyle to suit yours? Pretty soon we're going to go to a baseball game and not be able to buy peanuts because some albino hemophiliac sitting in a luxury box might have a hint of peanut waft in through the air conditioner. These things never seem to be a big problem in Detroit or South Los Angeles or anywhere people struggle financially; only in Malibu or Seattle. Toughen up people. We don't need to proceed with all the histrionics every time someone MIGHT get sick.

There is this one area outside of the store where I work that is an oddity. It is a very wide concrete ramp between a handicapped parking spot and an open, covered outdoor area. Nobody is quite sure what its purpose is. The one thing everyone can agree on though is that it is not a parking spot. Inevitably though, I see cars parked on that ramp from time to time. This despite the fact that the ramp is the same width and looks the same as the ramp which leads right up to the front door of the store. I am never sure who parks on this ramp but I know they have at least one thing in common: the car they drive is a luxury car. I don't want to jump to any conclusions because, after all, I am the last who would ever do so. But it seems to smack of the rich guy doing whatever the hell he wants doesn't it? I'm not saying they are bad people. I sincerely believe that many of these people aren't consciously thinking about the fact that it might not be a parking space and parking there anyway; the thought never crosses their minds at all. This is the true problem. Those with money tend to have the ability to smooth things over far more easily than those without money. There are not major repercussions for actions. It makes people careless and they end up parking in areas that are not supposed to be parking spaces. Can we, as a society, pay some attention on the road? If the parking lot is full and there is what appears to be a prime parking spot open, can we stop to think about why that space might not be filled? Maybe it is because it is not a parking spot after all. Just saying.

On that same note why are we so afraid to be wrong? I don't know about you but I have been wrong a time or two, or fifty thousand, in my life. When I'm wrong I say I'm wrong. It hurts sometimes but I know that admitting it and learning from it will make me a better person. I'm not sure when it became a crime to be wrong but people would rather kill than admit they made a mistake. I never understood grammar much until I studied German in school where I learned about the passive way of speaking. Instead of saying "I wrote the paper" you would say "The paper was written". It shifts the subject from the person doing the action to the action that was done. This passive voice has been growing louder in recent years. When someone cannot operate a machine they say "the machine will not work" instead of "I cannot work this machine". They say "this screw will not go in" instead of "I cannot screw this in". You get the idea. We have become a nation of people who must not be at fault at all costs. Perhaps it is because of hyperlitigious attorneys who use any admission of fault to extort money out of unwitting persons. Maybe not. Either way I had to get my requisite shot at attorneys in sometime. I think it's because of the artificial self-esteem inflation that has happened in schools. We are taught that we are great, no matter what others say, so why would we think WE are the ones who are wrong? It must be the fault of something, or someone, else. If we all took more responsibility for our actions and a little more blame upon ourselves maybe we would learn something and become better human beings. Is anybody against being a better human being? I didn't think so.

Thank you for letting me get those off of my chest. There are plenty of things that annoy me but that clears things up for a little while. All I ask as you go through life is that you pay attention to what you are doing and ask yourself if it is a good idea, if it's the right thing to do, or if it will make the world a better place. If not, try not to do it. I wouldn't want you to end up on one of my lists someday.

Hai Majide

Choosing a Club

I like to grow as a person whenever I can. I try to improve myself little by little and maybe by the time i am 83 I will be halfway there. My new obsessing? International soccer. I love the passion of the fans, I love the high quality of play and I love the cool accents. What's not to love? I've even begun to call soccer football. (Which makes sense because you use the foot a lot more in soccer than in American football right?) Being that I am part English and I've seen more of the English Premier League than any other high quality football league, naturally it was a great fit for me.

I learned that one of my favorite columnists, ESPN's Bill Simmons, was also interested in pursuing this. I read oven some of his material and modified it slightly in order to come up with my own requirements to decide which club was going to be my permanently adopted club going forward. For better or worse, top flight or relegated, this is going to be my team for the rest of my life. I had to make sure that I really was making the best choice for me. I didn't have as many requirements as Bill Simmons; I was able to narrow it down to four.

Bandwagon Potential. I've always prided myself on the fact that when I choose a team I am very selective. All of my American sports favorites are teams that I inherited from family, are local, or struck me in a very personal way when I chose them. I've never been one to start liking a team because they are good or because they were on T.V. all the time. Could you imagine someone coming here from another country, deciding to follow baseball and then adopting the New York Yankees as their favorite team? Ridiculous. Therefore I cannot adopt one of the clubs that make up the "Top 4", so named because of their finishing in the top 4 spots in the league year after year. Those clubs are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Aresenal. I absolutely excluded those clubs right away.

Good Team With History but Room to Grow. In making a lifelong commitment to an EPL club I want to make sure I will still be able to follow the club in top flight play years from now. Every year the bottom three clubs in the standings drop to the second league, which is called relegation. The top three clubs in the second league are promoted to the Premier League. I cannot follow a team in danger of being relegated soon. What fun is it to follow a club that will be sent to lower division play for who knows how long? Therefore, the club I follow must have averaged a top 10 (out of 20) finish over the last 10 years. This lets me know they will likely be around for the long haul. I also needed a club that had a bit of history but hadn't won anything of note in a little while. Winning league and club football titles in Europe in the past is important because it shows tradition and the potential to be a winning football club. The club I will follow would have to have not won anything in a while though, because it would make any future success unexpected and more appreciated. I need room to grow with my selected club so the feeling of elation when a title is won is genuine and hard earned.

Great Place to Visit on Vacation. If I am going to follow a club for life, odds are there is going to come a time when I may want to take a trip across the pond to see them in action live. I sure don't want to have to spend a week in a town with little or nothing to offer. Manchester is out. So is Blackburn and Yorkshire. London is ideal but there may be a long shot lurking out there.

Great Uniforms. What better way to support your sports team than to wear a jersey on game day. I simply cannot spend upwards of $100 on an ugly jersey. It needs to be something I would be proud to wear in public. Something that catches the eye and lets the seasoned fan know where my loyalties lie. Pretty straight forward; the jersey needs to look sharp.

So taking all of these things into consideration, I landed on the club which I will be supporting in perpetuity: Tottenham Hotspur. They really had everything I was looking for. They are popular but not one of the "Top 4", so nobody could accuse me of liking them because they are at the top of the standings. They have won 2 league titles and placed well in European club championships but have not won anything since I was a toddler. The highest they have finished in the last 10 years is 5th but they have not been close to relegation. Indeed, they have failed to be in the top Premier League only once in the last 60 years so they are not going anywhere. They are based in northeast London so if I ever wanted to travel to see them play a match or two there will be plenty to do when it is not match day. Lastly, the uniforms are SHARP. I would be very proud to wear the jersey on match days to show my support.

Beyond these points there were a few other wild cards. Tottehnam has a natural rivalry with Arsenal, one of the "Top 4", which lies just 4 miles west. To be able to beat one of the 4 and have it mean so much would be extremely sweet as a fan. There are plans to build a fantastic new stadium on the site of the old stadium which will be right at the top of the league in terms of features, proximity to the field and fitting into the surrounding neighborhood. It will be an excellent place to take in a match should I travel that way and will provide a very raucous atmosphere. Not to be underestimated are the celebrities which call Spurs their favorites. Among them are Salmon Rushdie, Jude Law, Shania Twain and, last but not least, Baby Spice Emma Bunton. Being that I had a huge crush on Baby Spice back in the day, that really clinched it for me. Also, you have to love a club whose motto is "To Dare is to Do". I look forward to following the progress of Tottenham Hotspur throughout this coming season which kicks off on August 15. Go Spurs!!!

Another Viewing of the King

I guess the title is a bit of a misnomer considering there was not an actual viewing of Michael Jackson in the first place. Sure, you're thinking, another Michael Jackson story. But I swear this is an angle that hasn't been widely reported since his death three weeks ago. Everyone was so quick to focus on his music and his career that the last 17 years have been swept under the rug. The music was strong but I think people are almost as quick to remember all of the bizarre offstage antics during his life. But even to the extent these have been reported, hardly any attention has been given to WHY Michael Jackson was the way he was. I claim to have no inside information, nor do I pretend to have any definitive answers; all I have is my common sense and what I have observed of his life being very far removed from his world. This is not an attempt to disparage, slander, or spread gossip, but rather just throwing out a few theories.

We tend to forget just how young Michael Jackson was when he was Michael Jackson. The family moved to southern California from Gary, Indiana when Michael was a very young boy to strike it rich in the music industry. Michael and his siblings were pushed to great extremes by his father Joseph. It is very likely that Joseph abused Michael and his siblings in many ways including physically, emotionally and psychologically. From years of listening to the radio show Loveline, you knew if a woman called in and had a little girl voice she had been abused earlier on in life. I think part of Michael's voice comes as a byproduct of this abuse. Victims of abuse often are not able to interact well with others and have many true, meaningful relationships. It doesn't seem that Michael had any true friends, but simply an endless line of people who wanted to be around him or get something from him.

Due to the young life which was so structured in music I believe this is why he ended up in a state of constant youth. Michael grew up doing nothing but pursuing a music career and being at the whims of fame and his father. When he wasn't performing he was rehearsing. When he wasn't rehearsing he was recording. When he wasn't recording he was promoting. When he wasn't promoting he was doing his requisite schoolwork. There was no space in his life to be a normal kid, so he tried to be a kid his whole adult life. This isn't news. I do believe however that Michael Jackson always believed that he was a kid. Obviously he knew that according to his birth certificate he was an adult but always believed that he was no different from the kids. I believe that he did molest children but in a weird way, I also believe that he felt their equal and never felt like the responsible adult who should be looking out for them. In his own way, he felt like he was one of them and just acting out with his peers.

Being childlike also led him to be so dependent on others. Combined with his ability to buy whatever and whomever he wanted, did he really know how to do anything you or I would do without thinking? Could he cook? Do laundry? Mow the lawn? Wash a car? I think this led to his constant posse. He had handlers who took care of every grown up aspect of his life. This led to money being spent and eventually do his drug habit. He never had anybody to step in and say no to him because everyone around him was making money off of him being the celebrity he was. When people are on the payroll they are unlikely to stand up to you. His handlers simply allowed him to drift deeper and deeper into his habit and provide him with drugs. It was a very symbiotic relationship; they keep him high, he keeps them paid. It worked very well until 3 weeks ago when it all ended. We are still seeing the fallout from his death as it is now being treated as a criminal matter. Will we find out that certain people had something to gain from his death and planned it out to look like an accident? Time will tell.

I think the best modern comparison we can make to Michael Jackson's life (to the extent which it is possible to compare anyone's life to his) is Howard Hughes. Both grew up with wealth and in families which did not nurture them in a healthy way. Both had great success early in life (Michael with music, Howard with business). Both had fortune beyond anyone's imagination and pursued their own whims and interests with child like zeal. Both felt very isolated and lonely due to their celebrity and financial status. Both fell into drug habits which were perpetuated by a small group of handlers who were on the dole and didn't want to shake up the situation even though it would have been in their benefactors' best interest. Both died shrouded in mystery and will live on somewhat infamously even though both were arguably the best contributors to their respective pursuits as any of their contemporaries. Perhaps this will be the subject of a more in-depth treatment later on. For an honest, complete look at the life of Howard Hughes I would recommend HUGHES, The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters by Richard Hack. The parallels are a bit eerie.

Unfortunately, I believe Michael Jackson didn't get to live the type of life I'll bet he wishes he could have led. He wasn't free to do whatever he wanted, be with whomever he wanted, or go wherever he wanted. He was crippled by such an unusual, chaotic and traumatic childhood which caused him to not develop much of the adult sensibilities that most enjoy. He was forced to live in his own private world and those that were let in weren't the best influence on him. Perhaps if he was Michael Jackson, kid from Gary, Indiana he would have gone to school, went to college, met someone, had a nice career in another industry and settled into a "normal" life. Michael Jackson should have had the type of life that was so good that almost everyone would have wanted to trade place with him. Instead, he had the type of life that nobody would trade for. Regardless of what one might think of him Michael Jackson was a human being and now is no more. That's what's saddest of all.

Thanks for reading and big balls.

Things That Annoy Me

All my life I've grown up with people telling me how annoying they think I am. At first I was insulted and shot back a sarcastic response. Now, as a more mature adult, I realize that I was simply projecting. What I was projecting were the countless things that annoy me on a regular basis. Not just things that make me roll my eyes but which make me shake my head repeatedly and want to tell everyone within earshot and beyond exactly how pissed off I am. I'm no David Letterman and so there will be no top 10 list. It's just a collection. Without further adieu...

What's with the kids sleeping on a baseball field in sleeping bags with their parents? I love sports more than anyone I know and there is NOTHING about this that would have appealed to me as a kid. First of all, it's weird to be out on a baseball field with thousands of others. The field is pretty dark, aside from a few lights coming from offices and in the concourse which would make for a rather eerie sight. Who could sleep with all those other people around? Would it stay quiet? And how far would you have to walk if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? If you're in the very middle of the field, that's bad times. And the kids that wet the bed? If you're next to one of those, that's worse times. I would not like to have any part of that.

A handshake is very personal; at least it should be. It is your introduction to someone. It says something about who you are. I believe a handshake should be deliberate, thoughtful, firm. What annoys me is the people who are in a hurry to shake your hand. They want to get it over with as soon as possible. Fair enough, but in their haste to get it over with, they clamp down too soon. They end up grabbing your fingers and shaking them. One, it makes it so they are applying all the pressure to your fingers and you can't apply any back so it makes you seem weak. Two, if the person shaking your hands, rather your fingers, has a good grip, your fingers hurt like hell afterward. If you find you are one who does this, do us all a favor. I need you to wait until the area between your thumb and index finger touches the same area on the other person's hand, THEN clamp down into the handshake. Thank you.

Do I live in a black hole? A black hole has such a gravitational pull that nothing escapes, not even light. Since my house shows up on Google Earth I'm guessing no, I don't live in a black hole. Try to get your air conditioner fixed though and you'll think otherwise. There are four cities that border Rialto: Fontana, San Bernardino, Colton and Bloomington. I saw not one, not two, but three different air conditioning repair businesses who serviced all four of these cities but not Rialto. Also, regional borders for some companies also seemed to stop right before getting to Brea, Riverside from the south and Fontana to the west. Perhaps the crime rate is so high that it is prohibitively expensive to carry insurance if they operate in Rialto. We had to roll the dice on a local outfit and luckily they came through. Would have been much easier had Rialto existed on the maps of the more reputable companies.

When thinking of some of the biggest fashion don'ts of the last 30 years, some make me laugh and some make my eyes bug out. Only one makes me want to slap the person committing the fashion faux pas. That serial offender is the mandal. You know the ones I'm talking about; the sandals with the straps that originally were used by hippies for being outdoors but now is the summer wear of choice for every uncool, middle aged suburban dork. Seriously, flip flops are classic and eternally cool. Either wear flip flops or wear shoes. Mandals look ridiculous. End of story. And don't even get me started on sandals with socks.

I have a suggestion to people. Please listen! My wife would find it ironic that I would mention this since she claims that I hear nothing and ignore everything. It's true that sometimes I don't hear the first few words of a conversation. But usually when this happens I try to find out what I missed or I just don't answer. Lately at work it seems everyone has been answering questions that I didn't ask. I will ask someone what type of something they need and they answer yes or no. Seriously, if you walk into a place of business and are looking to get help from someone that works there, then it pays to listen to what they are asking. The only thing you accomplish by not answering my question is getting me annoyed by having to ask it again. Odds are you're not going to get as good of a product when I am annoyed. By all means, if this is what you want then please come in my store and antagonize me. Otherwise please pay just the slightest bit of attention and listen the first time. Thank you.

This is only the beginning to what annoys me and there will be plenty more posts like this in the future. I will have another one soon. In the meantime, please be conscious of what you are doing so you don't end up on my list.

Hai Majide

1/3 Baked Idea Put Back in the Oven

Is it weird to think highly of one of your own ideas? Conceited? I'm not sure but what I do know is that in my previous post I proposed an idea that touched a nerve in my own psyche. The idea was one of my 1/3 baked ideas; essentially to get everyone I went to high school with to allow me to add them as a friend on my new Facebook page. It came to me in a flash and I wrote my thoughts as I was thinking them. Now that I have had a little more time to digest the idea it has me sparked and thinking in a way that I don't remember in recent existence.

I have expanded the goal slightly. Not only would I like to see if I can get everyone from my graduating class as friends on Facebook but I would also like to find out a little bit about each and every person. Things such as did you get married? What age were you when you got married? How many kids do you have? What are their ages? What do you do for a living? Where do you live? Where did you go to college (if you went to college)? Ultimately I would like to get a broad view snapshot of where we have come as a collective group in the 11+ years since high school.

First thought that came to mind: can I do this? Is the goal actually realistic. I would say that it probably is not. There are some that simply would never set up a page on Facebook (or whatever the new medium becomes some time in the future while I am still endeavoring). It is possible that perhaps one or more of my classmates might no longer be alive, though I very sincerely hope that isn't the case.

Second thought that came to mind: what will be gained from this? I am by no means the smartest guy in the world, but what I've learned in my 28 years and counting is that life is too short to do nothing for no reason. Therefore just about everything I do must provide me with something constructive, be it knowledge, personal growth, entertainment. I feel that I will gain some knowledge from this should I prove successful. Learning a little bit about each person will be a unique way to connect to fellow human beings in a way that most don't and wouldn't. I find I will likely learn as much about myself as I would learn from anyone else I will interact with.

I then started to just think about what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. In your life you really have four opportunities to make lasting friendships. The first is school up through high school. For the most part, you grow up going to school with a group of people, sharing common experiences like teachers, cafeteria food, cultural flash points. The second opportunity is in college. College can really define who you become depending on who you spend it with. You hear about lifelong friends from college all the time, even more so than from high school. The coming of age which takes place during college is truly unmatched anywhere else in society. The third opportunity is in your career. You will work with many people for great lengths of time and have great chances to really get to know your coworkers and develop lasting bonds with them. The fourth opportunity is in the context of pursuing an interest or hobby, and I will include church in this. Having such a dominating common interest is a superb catalyst for connecting with people and pursuing relationships with those who share this interest.

I do not attend church or actively pursue a hobby which would let me interact with others who share the same interest. I have worked at a company where I have switched locations several times and never got more than a year or two with any one person. I attended a commuter school where everyone drove to school, attended class, then drove away to study, work or party with his or her own preexisting clique. My only real chance to make lasting friendships ended 11 years ago when we all drove down the hill after graduation. I am saddened to look back and see that I haven't had any connection with anyone I graduated with in 10 years aside from running into someone while at work or when out and about.

Don't get me wrong; what I will do is not an attempt to make friends. I will not pretend to be close friends with everyone I graduated high school with. Many I didn't know at all, other than hearing their names or seeing in the hall occasionally. What I will be is open to any and all possibilities that may arise from this endeavor. If that means I reconnect with past friends in a meaningful way I am open to that. If that means I connect with people I haven't ever really known that would be fantastic. Perhaps people have a very bad recollection of me and who I was and they want nothing to do with me. I would accept that too. I am going into this with a completely blank canvas and will allow the image to develop on its own, with no preconceived notion of what the final product will be.

Ultimately, as I stated above, life is very, very short. We never know how much time we have left or what waits for us when we wake up the next day. What we do know is that every minute gives us the power to make decisions to improve things or let them continue on their current paths. I'm not out to change the world. I'm just out to change my world; to embark on a journey that could take me to the tallest heights or to the lowest depths. I just want to try something new because of how it will make me feel to do it. I would wish that at the very least, everyone I interact with can understand this point of view and will be open to helping me accomplish this undertaking.

Thanks for reading, and big balls!

1/3 Baked Ideas

As you'll see on my links one of my favorite media personalities is ESPN Sports Guy Bill Simmons. On his podcasts he has on a gentleman by the name of Kevin Wildes who is famous for his "half-baked ideas". With all due to respect to Mr. Wildes I am listing a few ideas which are a little short of half-baked. I'll call them 1/3 baked ideas.

First 1/3 baked idea: a new concept in restaurants. We all enjoy a fresh, hot, homemade meal. Shoving forkful after forkful of delicious, steaming food into our mouths is the epitome of a good time for about 95.78% of us. But even better, I would say, is reheating the leftovers the next day. Whether it is pasta with red sauce, pizza, meatloaf or turkey, the food only gets better with a night's refrigeration. Why not extend this comfort food to eating out? I propose that there be a restaurant entirely devoted to serving leftovers. Food is prepared thoroughly one day, refrigerated overnight, and then reheated upon a customer's order. The food is delicious, comforting, the wait times for meals is minimal and naturally would cost a bit less than a freshly made meal. Tell me you wouldn't take a huge plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes leftovers over a large sized combo meal for fast food. I know you would.

Second 1/3 baked idea: getting every single person I graduated high school with as a friend of Facebook. The idea is to reach out to a few people that I knew well in high school and connect with them. Hopefully each one is connected with someone I didn't know and can get them added, then that person is connected to others and so on. I can also search for others on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Hopefully they will enjoy the appeal of the project and will agree to go along with it. This could be difficult because some will not be on these sites and I will have to try to get others to get them online. I could even have to switch everyone over to a different type of site later on if this takes a while. I could always chronicle this to put together something at the end. The possibilities are endless.

Third 1/3 baked idea (that sounded weird to say it): I will begin to attempt to lose some weight, tone up and get healthier. I will also chronicle the journey in great detail. List what I eat, document my workout regimen and also generally describe my emotions and preparation for what I am doing. I believe this would work best as a real time chronicle. I don't think I have what it takes to create a website but perhaps a blog dedicated to this purpose alone which would be updated daily. I've got to believe that while reading it every day would prove tiresome, to check in from time to time to see how I am doing would be interesting. I also believe that regardless of what the outcome would be, it would be fascinating to see the final result and look back to see what the reasons behind the success or failure would be. This would also make a good compilation after the fact.

These are my three current 1/3 baked ideas. I would definitely pursue all of these at some point in my life, if not right now. After reading this please give me your feedback on what you think of these ideas and the odds that any of them would be interesting and would work on any type of commercial level. Ask your friends to read this too. I'd be interested to hear a variety of opinions on the subject.

Hai Majide

I'm back. I know the world wasn't exactly waiting in anticipation but here I am. What a few weeks it has been. There were two reasons I was away. The first is that the past two weekends have been Father's Day and my 4 year anniversary. Needless to say not much writing was getting done during those weekends. We had good times and I enjoyed them very much. We have all taken to ABC Wednesday nights watching Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show. I have been looking for a line to sign off all of my blog posts with and I have found them. It will be one or the other. You'll see what I mean below.

The second reason I was away was due to my increased attention to sports. I love sports; so much so that when one of my favorite teams is close to winning a championship it consumes me. I read every article, watch every game, live and die by every play. Being a fan of the teams I am has been very rewarding this decade. The Lakers have made six trips to the NBA finals, winning four times, the latest being perhaps the most satisfying. My Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team made it to the College World Series this year, as they have 6 times this decade, winning the NCAA championship in 2004. The Ducks have made two trips to the Stanley Cup finals this decade and were able to lift Lord Stanley's Cup in 2007. The Anaheim Angels won their first world series in 2002 and have been consistent playoff contenders since. USC football has won two championships this decade and played in the BCS championship game in 2006. Even in some lower tier sports such as Major League Soccer my team, the LA Galaxy have won the MLS Cup twice, in 2002 and 2005, as well as making it to the final game in 2001. UCLA basketball has not won a title this decade but made it to 3 straight Final Four appearances from 2006-2008.

These are all teams I have followed since I was 12 or 13 years old (1993-1994 for those of you scoring at home) with the exception of the LA Galaxy who only started play in 1996. To have all of these teams having so much success this decade it makes it very easy for me to enjoy the sports even more. I never have to worry about a disappointing loss or end to the season because I know that another one of my teams will be playing at a high level and competing for a championship very soon. I would argue that the Southern California area has seen one of the greatest runs in championships by a broad range of teams in history. I have been privileged to be a part of that and can only hope that further success ensues. I am back to writing until another one of my teams is tantalizingly close to a championship. I have to go now. The United States men's national team is gearing up for their Confederation's Cup final in South Africa.

Thanks for reading and big balls.