Yesterday was our 3 attempt this summer at a beanbag tournament. The first time we scheduled it for August 2, which we had to cancel because too many people couldn’t make it. It was rescheduled for August 16th which got canceled due to the tragedy in Dave’s family. So, we were all set for yesterday. The whole week I kept looking at the forecast and it called for a chance of rain. The closer we got to Saturday, the higher the percentage of rain. Friday it rained all day. Yesterday I woke up and it was raining. By the time I started to head over to Amy’s parents house it was not just raining but instead a complete and utter downpour. When I got there they had the garage door open with a tent (well not a tent like a camping tent, but you know, one of those tents that are used to seek shade or cover from rain) which extended the length of the door of the garage and added about 8 feet of cover to the front of the garage.

We told everybody that we were still hoping to play but if were unable to we would just hang out, eat, drink and play cards. Mark, Amy and their family love to play euchre, so thats what they did while we tried to wait the rain out. Every now and then the rain would slow to a drizzle, enough to make us think that we might be able to get in the tournament after all. But, each time it would start to pour again. It didn’t stop some people from showing up though.

The tournament was supposed to start at 1. Finally about 3, we decided to play anyway. We had 7 teams, I wound up on the team of a guy who is friend’s with Amy’s sister Allison and her husband Matt. Our first game was against John and Matt. It wasn’t long before the beanbags were drenched and soaked with rain. I have never thrown bags that were this wet before. The bags did not slide across the boxes, they instead would either land with a loud thump or just bounce off the box. They also expanded and I had several bags that landed in a way that they were too big to fit in the hole. We lost the game, but since it was double elimination we got to play again. This time it was against some other guy and his wife who managed to be on the same team. Again, we lost and that was it, our team was done. We didn’t just lose though, we got our asses kicked in both games. I refuse to use the rain as an excuse, after all each team had to deal with the same problems.

Soon John and Matt actually got down to the finals. Last year, Matt’s partner, Dave, up and left without telling anybody after they lost a game. It was double elimination so they were still in it. Everybody was pissed off at Dave, especially Matt. We decided to play a joke on Matt by having John get in his car and start to drive off before the finals. Matt ran off into the street in front of John’s car to prevent him from leaving. It was pretty funny. Oh well, I guess you just had to be there. Nevertheless, John and Matt wound up winning the tournament. It may have been an abbreviated tournament that had only 7 teams, but they still won. The funny part is that of the 3 brothers, Mark, John and I, John is the worst at bags, as both Mark and I are pretty good. What was even more ironic is that both my team and Mark’s team lost without even winning a game.

Later that night we were all hanging out as they all played euchre. I picked up Matt’s cigarettes and put one in my mouth. I didn’t light it but just sat there with it in my mouth. Now I should mention that I don’t smoke. In fact, I have never smoked. But, I decided to light the thing just to be cool. All the smokers tried teaching me to inhale and honestly, I thought I was inhaling because I thought I could feel it in my lungs and it did make me cough. Yet, everybody said I wasn’t actually inhaling. Then we gave it to Mark and he couldn’t inhale either. Being twins, Mark and I are very competitive with each other so soon it became a competition as to which one of us could inhale. Finally Matt took the damn thing away from us so that he could finish it before we ruined it.

Once again we have come to another anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. As usual, everybody wants to reflect and be sad and all that shit that really doesn’t mean much. They forward emails to everybody they know about how you should fly the flag on September 11th or have some sort of ceremony to commemorate the tragedies. They like to say or at the very least insinuate that you are un-American or unpatriotic if you don’t do these things. And then on September 12th, everybody goes back to their lives of forgetting all about it. Meanwhile, the man who perpetrated the biggest and worst attack on the US ever remains a free man. And not only a free man, but pretty much a non issue in America. I will be the first one to admit that catching him is not easy. Yet, we as a country have let him remain free. And nobody really cares. Oh sure, they might say they care but they don’t care enough to do anything about it outside of flying a flag which is about as useful as the pope having a big dick.

So who is to blame for him remaining free? Honestly, everybody from the president on down and that includes the citizens. People aren’t outraged like they should be. They ought to be outraged that he is still out there plotting against us. Now I will be the first one to stand up and blame “President” George W Bush. And yes, he does take the lions share of the blame. But, what about Congress? The media? And the people? All of which could have a rather significant influence on Congress and the president. Catching him is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Its not a political issue or a patriotic issue. Its a justice issue. And most of all, it is a security issue. And shame on the American people for not putting pressure on their elected officials to make catching him not just a priority but THE priority.  Shame on the American people for not writing their Congress person or protesting the fact that 7 years later, he is still out there. Shame on the American people for not noticing or forgetting that he remains free and not forcing Congress to do more. Now I’m just as guilty as every other American. Sure, I write about him still being free. And I talk about it year round, not just during the anniversary of September 11th. But, I have never written my own elected officials to demand justice. And I have not protested that he is still free. Shame on me. But, I’m going to write them. And I know what you are thinking, that I can not make a difference. And that might be true, why would my Senators, Dick Durbin or Barack Obama or Representative Judy Biggert care enough to listen to what I have to say. But, what if they were flooded with email after email about the issue? They would have to not only think about it, but probably even do something about it.

And shame on the press and media for not reporting and reminding not only the people, but also Congress that he is still not caught. Instead the focus for the press remains on trivial bullshit things that don’t matter. Things like what muff Lindsay Lohan is diving into today or that a politician’s 17 year old daughter got knocked up. They help to distract the American people from the true issues. Contrary to what Republicans like you to believe, the media is does not have a liberal bias and they do hold a vital and important role in America. The media does have a bias…………..towards negativity, ratings and money. In the end for them, going green means making money at any cost. And that is how important issues, like the person behind the September 11th attacks remaining free gets ignored.

Now honestly, who knows if either Obama or John McCain will be able to catch him. And honestly, does either one of them give us a better chance of catching him? Certainly, catching him is far down on the list of things to do for both Obama and McCain. But, it doesn’t have to be. We can’t afford to wait until he attacks us again before we remember that he is still free. Just because you fly a flag or wear an American flag pin doesn’t make you patriotic. And it doesn’t mean that you are remembering September 11th. Taking part in the democratic process by voicing your opinions to your elected officials does make you patriotic. You can fly a flag all you want but it is not going to help catch him. The cold hard truth is that it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. At the end of the day, putting up that flag is meaningless and does nothing to help our country. So instead of doing nothing, do something by reminding people and your elected officials that he is still out there and we can make a difference.

I had a whole idea for a post but after another bitter and disappointing Cubs loss, I’m not up for writing it. Up until tonight I was not panicked about the Cubs. Sure they had lost 7 of 8 but still have a decent lead in the division and the wild card if needed. But, after tonight’s loss, although I’m still not panicked, I’m definitely concerned. That being said, I still like their chances of going to the playoffs. As bad as things have gotten they would really have to get much worse for them to miss the playoffs. The teams chasing them, the Brewers in the division and the Phillies in the wild card can’t seem to win enough to pick up ground. And we are at a point in the season where every Brewer or Phillie loss is a gain for the Cubs, as it reduces their magic number. Sure, I would like for them to win the division, especially the way the season has gone, but the reality is that they don’t need to. Right now they are looking like the 2005 White Sox who had a great year until the first couple weeks of September where they damn near blew the division. They rebounded to not only win the division but also the World Series.

Saturday was my cousin’s 40th birthday party. I also had a card game that night as well. The party was in Minooka which is about a half hour south west of where I live. The card game was in Oswego/Montgomery (I can never remember which town) which is about a half hour west and slightly north of me. This means they were nowhere near each other. The party started at 2, the card game 6:30 in the pm which actually translates to just past 7. This was good because it meant that I would indeed be able to do both. Of course this also meant that I would have to leave the party early so I ensured that I would arrive right at 2. I got there about 2:07, which is close enough to 2. My cousin was throwing the party with her boyfriend and 2 of her friends, all of whom turned 40 this year. The party was at her friend’s house.

The party was on a farm………….ok, well maybe not a farm. Then again, when I think about it, it would certain explain the rather large backyard, the garage with the tractor and the crops being grown in a rather large field next to said garage. Ok, that’s it people, you have talked me into it, we will declare the place a farm even if it wasn’t a farm  Well there is really only one way to settle this argument, isn’t there now. Dictionary.com defines a farm as:

There were no animals here. Not even any pets, at least none that I could see. The crops next to the garage may or may not have been being tended to by the owner of the property. So let’s just refer to it as the property. Yes, that shall suffice. Anywho, it was a great place for a party. The property was large enough to not only have 2 sets of beanbags, some game call rodeo golf in which you throw 2 fake golf balls held together on a string onto some sort of plastic bar, a full sized volleyball court (not an actual court, but they had measured out an area on the grass big enough for volleyball) horseshoe pits, a big bouncy thing for the kids and later drunken adults, a large tent with table and chairs and a good sized patio. Also, there was a gravel driveway with a basketball hoop. All in all, it had the makings of a good time. Its just too damn bad I had to leave after 3 1/2 hours.

As for the card game, I’m glad I went. Although I did not win the first game, the 2nd game was a different story. I got down to heads up (we started with 10 people) against Scott. Now I had just played cards the night before (we had a mini guy’s night at Scooty’s. I didn’t do so well, but still had a great time) but was more than excited to play again. Anywho, Scott kept talking me chopping the pot but I just wanted no part of it. I was going to wait things out until one of us won, I would have none of this pussy bullshit in which we split the damn pot. First place got $120, second $60 so splitting it at $90 was only about a $30 difference. Still, I always like when things come to a full conclusion, also I had to make up for the money I lost in game one. Long story short, on the last hand Scott went all in before the flop. He had an 8 and a 5 and he was either sick of playing or thought that I wouldn’t call  him, as I had yet to call any of his previous 10 all ins. I was just waiting for a halfway decent had to call him on. I had pocket 4s, which was not a good hand by any stretch of the imagination, however it was a pair and I had to call him sometime so that he would stop pushing me around to win the blinds. So, we saw a flop and lo and be hold, the first 2 cards on the flop were both 4s! With 4 of a kind, that was it, I had won. Yay me. Yay.

I’m tired today because I didn’t get much sleep last night. See, was up late thinking about something and honestly, I can’t believe it took me this long to think of this.I’m sure you all know the Who song “I Can See For Miles”. Well, they are a British band so shouldn’t it be “I Can See For Kilometers” instead of miles? Shit, how the fuck do they even know about miles? The song was written back in 1968 and who knows if the Who had even been to the United States by then. Ok, so I know that bands always cater and change things to accommodate Americans, it helps to explain why British singers have an accent when they talk but not when they sing. But America is one of the only countries that does not use the metric system. Actually, I just looked it up online, the only countries that would even know what the fuck that song means would be America, Liberia, and Myanmar. So pretty much, the Who said a big fuck you to the rest of the world when that song came out.

So I was up thinking about this. I tossed and turned first trying to cry myself to sleep because I was so distraught and upset that I had not thought of this yet in spite of the fact that I had first heard the song about 15 years ago. Then I was in a deep panic conflicted over why they didn’t use kilometers. I started to write my own version but didn’t know what the distance of a kilometer. I dunno, I’m guess its more than an inch yet less than a light year. So then I started to pace back and forth, back and forth damning Pete Townshend for confusing me. So I wrote him a death threat on toilet paper. I had to use toilet paper as it was the only thing I had left after spending nearly 10 GRUELING minutes trying to write new lyrics. The death threat demands that he purchase a time machine, go back to 1968 and rewrite the song or else I would be legally forced to pay Keith Richards the handsome sum of $4 American (or .000001 Euro, what can I say the dollar is worthless)  to kill him and then tell everybody he snorted him. Next I started to sob uncontrollably as I could not find a word that rhymed with kilometer. What made things even worse was that they didn’t even rhyme the word miles in the song, which means I just wasted the previous 45 minutes. Death to Pete Townshend I say, death to Pete…………….errrrr, maybe death is a bit harsh. Maybe I can just settle for him to spill a third of a cup of luke warm coffee on his boxers. Yes, that should suffice. Come to think of it, this whole thing is a bit crazy. Some might even say stupid. That’s it, stupid and crazy.

Phew. I’m sure glad it didn’t happen.

A couple of things I forgot to mention from the other day. Mark brought over a cucumber from his garden. He handed it to me and like the jack ass I am, I started to swing it like it was a baseball bat. Well, I’m thinkin it wasn’t the best quality cucumber around because not only did it break in half, but the top of it swung of and nearly hit Mark in the head before hitting the wall and falling to the floor. Could it be that I don’t know my own strength?

Later on on the way home from baseball, Mark and I stopped off at 7-Eleven to pick up some Gatorade. Mark had driven and I told him that I would buy if he flies, meaning if he went in to get the Gatorade I would pay for it. He agreed and went in to get the Gatorade. About 10 seconds after he closed the car door I realized that not only had he taken keys but for some reason he rolled up the windows too. Now keep in mind that it was over 90 degrees out on Monday so inside that car it was probably over 100 degrees. And sure, I was only in the car for at the most 5 minutes but it still got pretty damn toasty in there which was made worse by the fact that I had been outside playing baseball for 3 hours. Still it was pretty funny that he would do that, but I did say to him that I hope he doesn’t do that to the kids!

So have you heard about this story? Since Barack Obama was having his speech outside last week, the conservative so called “Christian” group Focus on the Family had a video posted on their website asking for people to prey (yes, I intentionally spelled it prey instead of pray) and ask God to send down “abundant rain, torrential rain, urban and small stream flood advisory rain” upon Obama and his supporters.  They later took the video down and issued an an apology but not to Obama or the democrats, but just to the “Christian” viewers who thought the video was wrong. You can watch both here:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/

What a smug, arrogant fuckwad this guy is. Of course as we all know, the weather was fine for Obama and the Democrats. Now in one of those utterly delicious cases of irony (or maybe it was karma or divine intervention if you believe in any of that who-hah) a hurricane complete with “abundant rain, torrential rain, urban and small stream flood advisory rain” and worse hits the gulf coast and causes the Republicans to cancel the first day of their convention.

Isn’t that just so funny that I really don’t need to write anymore about it, except to ask that dope in the video if  maybe his God sent the hurricane to punish him.