Neighboring Rentals

During this past holiday, I went to one of the local Mom-n-Pop video stores to rent a few new releases. Before I get to the point of this post, let me get on a tangential rant for a second..

Go and support Mom-n-Pop video stores. The days of Blockbuster are gone. They were once the place to go if you wanted to rent a movie, but they got greedy. Go sign up with Netflix, or visit the aforementioned local store. And if you're lucky, your local store may have a small room attached to it that is separated by a curtain.

Anyway, I was looking through their older movies when I came across these two classics which were sitting next to each other..



The one in the middle of the top shelf is Barbie of Swan Lake. People at imdb recommend checking out Finding Nemo or The Incredibles if you liked this movie.

The movie in the top right of the picture is the Bare Wench Project 3: Nymphs of Mystery Mountain. Users at the imdb recommend the Bare Wench Project 2 and Beach Babes 2: Cave Girl Island if you enjoyed BW3.

Tailgatin' in 2005

Man, what a season. Who imagined that we would be debating between the Outback bowl and Peach bowl at the end of the season? Who would have thought that Spurrier could take this skeleton of a team to 7 wins, with a possible eighth by the New Year?

Anyway, I compiled this video together for us. Right click on the link below it to download, it looks better in full screen.

To Download:
Right Click on this, then choose Save Target As

Dealing with the Public (Part I)

So I'm at the grocery store and this lady in a motorized wheelchair drives up next to me and she has this dog in her lap. I don't really think anything of it, we are in South Carolina afterall. So anyway, I continue to debate on which chew toy to get for my dog and this lady is idling in her wheels next to me. Then the manager comes by, and tells this lady that there are no pets allowed in the store and she responds, 'it's not a pet.. it's a service animal.'

That left me wondering, what type of service does this terrier provide?

Clearly, she isn't blind so it's not a seeing eye dog. Her go-cart of a wheelchair moves her, so it isn't used for locomotion.

Maybe the dog helps her pick out groceries?
Maybe it can smell when the peaches are ripe?

And while I'm sitting there debating all of this, she gets up out of her wheelchair and grabs a pack of paper towels off the shelf. I immediately gave her a triple-take topped off with a head-scratch.

I wanted to tell her, 'lady, if you're gonna pretend to be disabled.. just pick one and stick with it.' Don't go around pretending to be a paralyzed, blind woman who needs a seeing eye dog for her go-cart.

USC vs. Pickens County Technical College

Well hell.

It's that time of year where my blood just boils. It's that time in South Carolina where you can't even agree to disagree. I've been good this year. I've stayed away from the sports articles, the news, and even football buddies. This rivalry goes deep, but yall know this.

Yall know how you feel when you see urnge. Yall know how irksome Tigers on the Rag sounds. Yall know the ultimate Daddy's boy, Tommy Bowden. This rivalry goes so deep in South Carolina, I'm not sure if I can bridge friendships over it. I don't even like traveling through the upstate, especially the epicenter of the South: Greenville (it's only like an hour from Atlanta and there are pretty trees). It's the big game in a state that nobody else really cares about..it's like watching two ants fight over a bread crumb. The winner of this rivalry gets more than the crumbs though, they get the Braggin' Rights.

It's already been an amazing season. Who knew we could win after October? Who knew the Gamecocks could march onto the field with such a confident swagger? I hope whatever super-glue Spurrier uses can keep this team together for one more game. Our record doesn't mean a damn thing come Saturday. We might as well be 0-10. Heck, I'd rather have the mindset of an 0-10 team coming into this game. The only comfort I have right now is that Vegas picked the tigers by 2.5 and we know how accurate they have been. Oh well, let's just go play some ball..

Here's a little extra help to get focused.

Being Aware of Others

Here's a little buzzkill of a story..

So I spent a good bit of last week studying at the hospital library for a final. I was basically coming to class, going home to walk the dog and eat, then coming back to school. Midway through the week, I was just getting tired. I was tired of carrying my books, notebooks, board review book, laptop, and index cards around. I was just fed up and convinced myself that it couldn't get any worse. Well one of the nights, I was walking to the library with my armamentarium and I saw this lady just breaking down in tears. Her son (I assume) was trying to comfort her but was pretty much in the same state. I'm guessing they just found out some bad news from the hospital. That definitely put things in perspective. Something else I noticed was how oblivious other students were of these people. I watched two girls in sweatshirts and gym shorts (standard study attire) just walk by this distraught family. Another guy walked by them just yapping away on his cell phone. The whole scene reminded me of a few paragraphs from Tuesdays with Morrie..

"Morrie had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig's disease, a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system. There was no known cure. "How did I get it?" Morrie asked. Nobody knew. "Is it terminal?" Yes. "So I'm going to die?" Yes, you are, the doctor said. I'm very sorry. He sat with Morrie and Charlotte for nearly two hours, patiently answering their questions. When they left, the doctor gave them some information on ALS, little pamphlets, as if they were opening a bank account. Outside, the sun was shining and people were going about their business. A woman ran to put money in the parking meter. Another carried groceries. Charlotte had a million thoughts running through her mind: How much time do we have left? How will we manage? How will we pay the bills?

My old professor, meanwhile, was stunned by the normalcy of the day around him. Shouldn't the world stop? Don't they know what has happened to me?"



I guess to stick with this theme, I have to give credit to the halftime show at the Carolina game this weekend. I usually dislike the band and any halftime 'entertainment', but that was a good show. It was pretty moving when they recognized the widow of the first USC ROTC member to die at war.

Bring on the Gators

The Florida Gators come to town this week for the much anticipated reunion of Charlie Strong vs. the Gamecocks. Or was it Steve Spurrier vs. the Gators? I think this game is gonna be an instant classic for the Cocks. Here's a quick look back at the odds on a couple of games:

UGA: -17.5 (I won enough money off that to buy a mansion of a doghouse)
Tennessee: -14 (Scroll down to see my call on that one)
Arkansas: -4 (No comment needed)
Florida: -5.5

I think the oddsmakers might have goofed again. I can see the Cocks winning this one by atleast a touchdown if..
-We rush for atleast 100 yards
-We control the time of possession
-Williams Brice is swayin'. That is asking alot, as our stadium is usually placid at 12:30. Think back to the Kentucky game, the Vandy game.. and if you're really masochistic, think back to the Alabama game.
-I bet every player has a play or two they wish they could go back and redo. For our secondary, there are probably a half dozen bumbled interceptions that would fall in this category. If Leak throws us the ball, we need to catch it.

Our receivers just have to play at the same level they have been, the return of Carlos Thomas will definitely help. Also, Florida lost one of their star cornerbacks in the last game.

The Gators beat Vandy with the help of a ridiculous celebration call. A double-overtime win over Vandy will most likely have UF coming out with something to prove. I hope an electric noon atmosphere in Columbia can counteract that. Cocks win 20-14.

Animals of the SoD

I slapped this together the other day. Maybe I should spend more time studying. Anywho, leave a comment or shoot me an email if you want a copy..the fullscreen version isn't as dark. It may take some time to load..

To Download:
Right Click on this, then choose Save Target As

"Daddy daddy, where are you?"

I guess Halloween took alot out of me last week.

Charleston takes this holiday very seriously.. I went through 3 costumes in four days.



On top of the usual buffoonery, I participated in a ghost hunting trip this year. We took a late night trip out to Jacksonboro (right outside of Edisto Beach) to see if we could get a glimpse of the lights. It was definitely one of those 'you had to be there' trips, and I think I'll make it a yearly tradition. It wasn't as exciting as the midnight trepasses into the abandoned CCI (Columbia Correctional Institution) though.