Recently I started a project of remodeling my front room, hallway and bedroom with a goal of being done by Thanksgiving. I’m running hard against the clock here but this weekend we finished hanging all of the drywall which was a very important step. Next to is to find somebody to to sand, tape, and mud the drywall. I was under the impression that it would be easy to find somebody to mud. I thought wrong. Among many of my mistakes in all of this is waiting too long to find somebody. The plan is for us to paint next Saturday, which obviously means that I will have to have it mudded well before then.

Early last week I started texting and contacting friends and family to see if they knew anybody. I came away with one guy who was interested but wanted to charge $500 for just the front room and hall. I thought that was a lot of money so I continued on trying to find somebody. By the end of this past week, I was downright desperate, sending a text to as many people as possible in the hopes of finding somebody. I left messages with about 5 people only one of whom called me back. So I asked other people at work if they knew of anybody. One lady gave me the number of a guy who I spoke to on Friday. First though I needed to finish up hanging the drywall.

Yesterday we got the rest of the drywall hung. As of this morning I had nobody to mud, so I started going ape shit trying to find somebody. I started to do something I should have done a long time ago which was look on the Better Business Bureau website. I wound up placing 11 calls to people, many of which who have yet to call me back, but of course, I’m not expecting a call back today as it is Sunday. I did however, get one person not only to call me but to come out. And he proceeded to give me a quote of $1,600 for just the labor of mudding. I was pissed. Fuming really. I had thrown his card in the garbage by the time he had gotten to his truck. Now I’ve got two other guys who will be coming out in the next hour. Fingers crossed one of them pans out.

Hey should I change my name to Hitler? See I was thinking of this today. Adolf Hitler totally ruined the Hitler family name. Well at least I’m assuming he did; I mean I find it hard to believe that there were other members of the Hitler family who were worse than him, shit even his ancient ancestors probably couldn’t hold a candle to him as far as evilness goes. If they were, they certainly didn’t get the press like he got. When it comes to evil, it is quite possible that he was the most evil person that ever lived, quite possibly even more evil than Regis. Although some might classify me as evil, it would be hard to convince people that I was even more evil than Hitler, therefore I could only improve on the Hitler family name. It might even be a win win situation.

Just think though if I did change my name to Hitler. Could you imagine the looks on people’s faces when they see my name? Or how about the uncomfortableness in their voice when they read my name. Shit, just picture the reaction to everybody in the restaurant when they hear “Hitler, table of four” announced over the intercom. Why, I bet people would even move their table when they saw Hitler coming to sit near them. And boom, I’ve got an entire section to myself, no annoying assholes yapping on their cell phones or kids crying about having to eat. See, already there are benefits. Or how about when I meet somebody and get introduced to their parents; “Mom, Dad, this is Hitler.” Nothing says awkward more than bringing Hitler home to Thanksgiving dinner.

The attention I would garner would be crazy; although I can’t imagine all of it would be good. Certainly there has to be quite a few people out there who would have a whole bias against the Hitler name. But, would they be stupid or crazy enough to say or do something about it? I mean, I can’t imagine somebody would beat the shit out of me because my name was Hitler, if anything they might be a little bit intimidated by the whole thing. I mean my name would be Hitler for shit’s sake, that will certainly make anybody do a double take or think twice before doing something against me.

Ahhhh fuck it. Changing my name to Hitler seems like an awful lot of work.

I’ll just get a sex change instead.

Tonight would have been the start of the NBA season. Would have been because the NBA is currently embroiled in a lockout that has seen the whole first month of the season canceled with surely more cancelations to come. Being a huge NBA fan, this upsets me on many levels. Now that baseball is done, I have a void that should be filled with the NBA. Oh sure, there is the NFL, but that is only one day a week. Basketball is three or four times a week which leaves me with a lot more free time.

Another reason why it is so upsetting is because my favorite team, the Chicago Bulls have a great team and one of the most exciting players in the entire league, reigning MVP Derrick Rose. I love watching him play and being deprived of seeing the Bulls play is killing me right now. Oh, I’m not crazy enough to think the Bulls could win the title this year, but certainly they have to be in the conversation after last season. And it is always fun to watch a winning team.

I can get into the specifics as to the reason for the lockout and the sticking points of a deal right now, but honestly, who gives a fuck, just play ball already. Some can blame the owners. Some can blame the players. Regardless, it doesn’t matter, I’ve still got no basketball to watch. I know a lot of people who say that they are done watching a particular sport when they start to lose games due to a labor impasse. But, I’m not in that group; after all, why would I want to deprive myself of something I love. Also, I’m not among the crowd who feels sorry for the fans in all of this; after all, this is entertainment for us, we are fine. Who I feel bad for is the same people I felt bad for with the NFL lockout: the other non player employees of these teams. There are thousands of people who are either not working or who’s income is severely impacted by the fact that millionaires and billionaires can’t find a way to divide up hundreds of millions of dollars.

And just like the NFL lockout, you have assholes totally overly exaggerating the lockout. In the NFL, it was Adrian Peterson comparing the players to slaves. In the NBA, it’s HBO dipshit Bryant Gumbel comparing NBA commissioner David Stern to a plantation owner and that he treats the players like slaves. Why is it that whenever somebody disagrees with somebody in this country we always feel the need to compare the other side to Hilter or liken their cause to slavery? Fuck, I can’t even begin to tell you not only how wrong it is, but also how offensive it is to millions of people.

And I don’t think either side fully understands how bad this is for the NBA. The Chicago Tribune recently had a poll among readers that asked if they will miss the NBA. Over 60% of the respondents answered no. And this is in a city in which basketball is fairly popular and that has a homegrown, exciting, young star playing for the Bulls. If the NBA isn’t concerned about the results of this poll, then they certainly should be. This is kind of different than the last work stoppage in 1999, some of the other sports have grown in popularity such as hockey, golf, and NASCAR. And of course, the NFL remains hugely popular. And to top it all off, there is a lot more competition out there for our entertainment time and money.

All that being said, get a fucking deal done and let’s ball already!